Brucie was the first back on his feet, pushing himself out of the bent and broken ladder. In spite of the situation, and the numerous cuts and bruises that his body had accumulated over the course of the fights, the shark laughed with exhilaration. 

"Good fight, you are," he said, turning to Lily who was still in the process of climbing back onto her feet. "But I am afraid this is the end." He raised his right arm, aiming the water cannon squarely at the staggering woman. "Bye-bye." 

Water tore through Lily, punching a hole through her abdomen and into the machine behind her, causing her eyes to widen and mouth to open in a soundless scream. Blood poured from the wound, more dripping from her mouth. Her tails fell lifeless, unmoving, as she slumped over, unmoving. 

Brucie sighed, sounding somehow neither satisfied nor disappointed, as if the deed done was a foregone conclusion. "You fought well, girl," he muttered, "but not good enough. Sharks are better hunters than foxes, after all." He turned around and made as if to call for Oren when the telltale sound of electricity suddenly came from behind. He whirled around and instinctively lashed out with one of his mechanical arms, forcing Lily to duck to avoid getting a faceful of metal.

"How did you?" Brucie exclaimed, swinging at her again only for her to jump out of the way, electricity abandoned for the moment. 

"You weren't quick enough," she replied tersely. 

[hr]

Brucie had almost killed her just then. Two seconds later and that jet of water would have done to her what she showed through her illusion. As long as Brucie had that water cannon she couldn't rely on ranged combat as much as she wanted to, and getting in close was hazardous.

Even now she was ducking and weaving, avoiding both teeth and metallic claws to the best of her ability. It seemed that now that she wasn't running away immediately, Brucie was more than happy to engage in the brutal series of swipes and bites, trying and failing to get ahold of her. Or, more accurately, trying to rip her to shreds. 

Her speed and agility kept her out of reach of his claws, thankfully. She needed to get an advantage somehow. She did not possess the same natural weapons or raw physical power that her opponent did, so doing anything in melee that did not involve dodging was likely to yield either very little or no results whatsoever. But at range his cannon became a problem: It did not overheat, nor did it need to reload, and the fact that it was water made it a dangerous tool. Too much water on her tails and her ability to do anything but illusions and blasts of force would be voided. 

[i]And therein lies the answer,[/i] she thought. A well aimed force strike should destroy his cannon. She just needed a clear shot. 

She jumped back, lightning once more dancing in the palm of her left hand, and then lunged forward. Brucie, having seen this trick before, moved his right arm so that the rubbery muscles blocked her strike, and in doing so gave Lily the opening she needed. Her right hand came forward, palm almost touching the cannon. A wave of invisible, kinetic force washed forth, pummeling the small construct until it was bent and broken, no more useful than a regular water pistol. 

Lily did not give her opponents time to react from the sudden destruction of his one remaining weapon, instead disappearing into the shadows where she had the advantage.

"You cannot catch me," Lily said, voice disembodied and sourceless. "And your only remaining weapon is broken. You no longer have a chance of winning, so give up and I will let you live. I have dealt out too much death in my life already. You have one chance." 

The rumble of Brucie's laughter pushed away the silence that followed Lily's statement. "You underestimate me, girl." From a small compartment in his left leg, he withdrew two small devices. "Watch and learn," he called before slamming the two together. 

Out of the blue a massive bubble, easily big enough to cover the entire room, seemed to blink into existence. From up above Lily saw the unmistakable circles of warped space that signified a portal. From it rushed unbelievable amounts of water, flooding the floor and quickly rising - far quicker than it should have. It took twenty seconds at most before the entirety of the room they were in was flooded in seawater. 

To Lily, who had tried desperately to keep herself dry, there was only one word that properly encomepassed her thoughts on the matter. And that was [i]"Shit."[/i]

Fire would not work, and electricity would be hazardous. She could still create force pulses and illusions, but those were of limited use when surrounded by water. She had to find a way to win, but Brucie was not in the mood to just let her think. 

It had not taken him long to find her, swimming toward her far quicker than her waterlogged body could move. She hadn't a choice. She had to try. She extended a hand and unleashed as powerful a blast of force as she could. It hit him head on, but far from as damaging as it would have been aboveground, the water taking the brunt of it. The blow forced him to veer off, making him circle her instead, waiting for the oppertune moment to strike.

Seconds ticked by, each moment bringing Lily closer to the point where she could no longer hold her breath. She needed an idea and she needed it now. She could only keep pushing him away for so long, not that exhaustion from continuous use of her powers would be a problem, as she would drown or become fish food long before that happened. 

Brucie struck again, and again she shot at blast of energy out into the water, pushing herself out of the way. Barely. Metallic claws raked at her, leaving another line of shallow cuts along her leg. 

[i]I don't have time for this. It is the only thing I have that might work. If this fails - Tsukiko, I am sorry.[/i] 

Brucie was still reorienting himself after his latest failed attack, which gave Lily the time that she needed. For the first time in years she pulled upon everything that she had, gathering every ounce of electricity that she have stored up within her, directing it to her hands. [i]Focus![/i] She told herself, gritting her teeth and fighting to not let it all out and electrocute herself. She could not afford to let even a little of it flow through her before it was unleashed. She had herself, and her target. From A to B, that was the only path allowed. Anywhere else and she risked death.

Brucie circleed her once again, eyeing her. 

Lily raised her arm, the other supporting it, one finger extended. 

Their eyes met. 

Brucie grinned and made a rapid turn, speeding towards her. 

Lily gave it her all to keep everything concentrated on only one point.

Then she fired. 

From the tip of her finger erupted a flood of electricity, lightning striking Brucie before he even had time to register the attack, followed by a thunderous boom that shattered the bubble cause of water to spread everywhere and quickly reducing the water levels, allowing her to rise to the surface and finally breathe again. 

It was over. She had won. She looked around at the rapidly dwindling, quickly finding the shark-man floating around in the water, or what remained of it. She watched as the remaining vestiges drained away, leaving the two of them on the ground again, though only Lily appeared to be conscious. 

[i]Strange.[/i] Now that she looked at him outside of the chaos of battle, she took notice of his own phylactery. Like hers it beat in a slow rhythm, much like that of a heart at rest, glowing a warm red as it did. It seems to still be active, which meant that he was not dead yet. The fact that she had not, after all, killed her opponent actually made her smile. She picked herself up and walked over to him, taking her own phylactery out in the meanwhile. [i]He mentioned a mosquito.[/i] The thought flitted through her head as she bent down and punctured Brucie's phylactery with the syringe-like parts of our own.

Whatever she had thought would happen, it was not the pained screams of a tortured animal that currently came from Brucie. He thrashed and screamed, clearly seeking a way to diminish the pain, but whatever he tried the phylacteries remained remained locked together. 

This one for thirty long seconds, after which both the erratic movements and the screams ceased. When they stopped, Lily was kneeling beside him, looking sorrowfully down on the creature she had just tortured so. 

"I'm sorry," she said, almost at a whisper, meeting his now open eyes. 

"Why are you sorry?" He asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"Because of the pain I inflicted you. I have seen it before. Once." She fell silent, at once wondering why he did not attack her as well as being grateful that the fight was now over between them. 

"Why are you here?" He asked, still lying down. 

"There is a man. I lost him a long time ago. He is the only thing I ever had that even resembled a parent." She paused. "Why are you here?"

At this Brucie laughed, weakened as he was. "Bein' a freak show's great for rippin', killin', and destroyin', but there's more to life than that... A lot more. I don't wanna be a weapon anymore. I wanna be human." He sighed. "Ship's sailed, I guess."

[i]Someone wanting to be something they were not.[/i] The idea was not an alien one. She had met many such people in her life. The young ones wanting to be something strong and awesome, or the elderly ones simply wanting to not be harried by time. 

"That's not impossible," she said at length, eyes trailing upwards. She pronounced each word slowly as if they came to her as she spoke them. Finally she looked down upon Brucie again, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "I used to be human. I used to not have any powers whatsoever, but look at what I am now. In my world, we have the technology to change your very body into a completely different species. If you go there, they should be able to help you. They [i]should[/i] be able to make you human. Once Oren gets here, let's see if we can get hold of some College people who can help you make a trip to my world. They should know how to get there. Help you visit."