VIP Customer Parking Lot – Westfield London
"White Audi… white Audi… aha—there it is."
Syd dropped the unconscious body of Palmer Lake onto the floor of the VIP-level parking garage. He pointed at him, signaling Seraphina to keep watch over the man and told Jody to keep an eye out for any passerby.
CLACK. CLICK. WHIRR.
It didn't take long for Syd to hijack Palmer's vehicle. Together, the three of them loaded the unconscious man into the back and drove off.
"Phew... I almost lost my balls back there. Thanks, Seraphina. Do you know how important those are?"
"Don't tell me. I don't wanna know. Gross."
Syd took the driver's seat, Jody rode shotgun, and Seraphina sat in the back. Palmer's body lay across the rearmost part of the vehicle.
"Ew! Blood got on me! Ugh—gross!"
Seraphina frantically wiped Palmer's blood off her clothes.
"Poor bastard. I mean, I've got skin-swapping powers, but this guy? Nothing."
Jody glanced back at the man.
"Look at the blood on his pants…"
"Say what you want, but I don't show mercy to anyone who points a gun at my junk. You feel me?"
"Wow. Just casually talking about your nether regions in front of women, huh?"
"Right?" Seraphina added. "Especially in front of two spicy babes like us."
"Pfft, I've dealt with way spicier. This is nothing."
Syd stepped on the gas.
But Seraphina suddenly had a bad feeling. She twisted around to check the back of the car just in case—and her eyes widened.
"Syd!! He's gone!!"
?!
Syd slammed the brakes just in time.
"What?!"
"Palmer! He's gone!"
She scanned the interior and spotted a blood trail leading… to the small emergency trunk access.
She looked outside.
Palmer was crawling away across the pavement, clearly trying to escape.
"There! He's right there!!"
No time to think. All three of them leapt out of the Audi and took off after him.
"How the hell did that bastard get out without opening the damn door?!"
"He slipped out the trunk hatch!" Seraphina shouted.
"How?! Dammit—Jody, go around the other side! Seraphina, block the exit!"
"Got it!"
—
Palmer, meanwhile, was staggering down the garage, breath ragged.
"Huff… huff… damn it… all three of them have powers?! Huff… huff…"
This is insane… they're way too fast. I gotta run!
As he zig-zagged through the lot, the injuries on his body from earlier began to heal.
He looked down. The bleeding had stopped. The gashes were drying. Palmer grinned.
Heh… good thing I took that pill after all… otherwise I'd be dead meat.
Even with the healing, he was still hobbling.
But then—Jody and Seraphina appeared ahead, cutting him off.
"Tch!"
Palmer turned to flee the other way… only to find Syd barreling toward him too.
Shit. I'm getting boxed in.
The blonde chick… that spinning wind around her fingers—dangerous. But that punk Syd… he's worse.
And then, it happened.
Palmer's body melted, like gelatin liquefying into slime. And he lunged—not at Syd, but at Jody.
!?
He was so fast she couldn't react. But suddenly, a wall erupted from the ground between her and Palmer—glowing faint pink.
She didn't need to ask who that was.
"That aura… it's hers!" Palmer realized.
He pivoted. Instead of Jody, he turned and slammed into Syd.
"?!! Ugh—?!"
The young man was caught off guard mid-charge. Palmer's amorphous body wrapped around him like putty.
Syd tried to tear him off—but Palmer was too sticky, like living slime or synthetic rubber that wouldn't rip.
Then the goo tried to strangle him, tightening around his neck.
But that wasn't all. It expanded, coating his entire head, trying to smother him completely.
"Gghh…!!"
Now Syd looked like he was being devoured alive by a mutated slime creature.
"Jody!!! SHOOT IT!!!"
His muffled scream pierced through the goo.
"Shoot?! But—Syd's in there too!"
She hesitated for only a second.
"JUST SHOOT!!"
With his shout, she had no choice.
FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!
Air bullets blasted into the creature—hitting parts of Palmer and Syd alike.
The force was enough to blast both of them backward, slamming into a nearby parked car with a heavy thud.
KROOM!!!
The car door crumpled inward from the impact.
But that wasn't the worst part. The collision triggered the headlights to flash rapidly, followed by a blaring emergency alarm that echoed across the parking floor.
BEEEEP! BEEEEP! BEEEEP! BEEEEP!
Syd Barrett struggled to free himself from Palmer.
As for Palmer Lake—though parts of his body had been blown apart, the effects of the drug he took allowed him to regenerate the missing flesh.
You bastard! You really think your ability can do anything to me?!
But then—Palmer noticed the boy's body glowing, a red aura spreading over both himself and Syd. And in that moment, he felt his jelly-like form being replaced... by something else.
And it really was.
Seconds later, Syd began to tear Palmer's body off of him—effortlessly this time.
?!?!?!
Palmer was stunned. How was this happening?
He quickly leapt backward, detaching from Syd Barrett.
Wh-What?! What the hell's going on?! Why is my body suddenly vulnerable?!
But this wasn't the time for questions. Not with Jody and Sera still nearby.
Now that the boy had broken free—
KRNNNNNN!!!
The concrete beneath the garage floor shot up into a wall, separating Palmer from Syd—followed immediately by a barrage of air bullets from Jody.
THWACK!!!
Palmer's jelly-like body took the full brunt of the attack. His flesh tore open from the impact. But this time, the way it tore... didn't resemble jelly at all. It was more like... paper.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
Palmer screamed in pain.
"What the hell?! M-My body?! Why is something that's supposed to be elastic... tearing like paper?!"
"Because it is paper."
THUMP!
The boy peeked around the wall—and when Palmer turned, he saw Syd holding a torn piece of paper glowing with red aura.
"I swapped the toughness of your skin with the fragility of this paper. That's why I can tear you apart so easily now."
KRNN...NN...NN...
Palmer's breathing grew shallow. His eyes shook, locked on Syd.
Paper...
When Palmer looked closely, he recognized the torn paper in Syd's hand. It was the fake contract Sera had handed him earlier.
Y-You...
cough cough
Damn it... the side effects...!
He coughed up blood. His body slowly shifted back to its normal form, his limbs returning to a human shape.
"G-Gah! cough cough cough!"
His coughing grew heavier, and blood poured out with each heave.
"Yeah... you're done, aren't you? But you've still got a lot to answer for. Like how someone with no ability suddenly has one."
Even knowing he was surrounded, Palmer refused to give up. In a last-ditch effort, he activated his power once more. His body liquefied into jelly again—and lunged away.
"Syd! He's getting away!"
But just as Palmer's melted form was about to slip past the wall Sera had raised—
VROOOOOM!!! KROOM!!!
He was slammed head-on by a car that had come barreling straight into him.
"UGH!"
Palmer's eyes rolled back. He was knocked out cold.
His body tumbled across the floor like a rag doll before going completely limp.
"Huh…?"
Jody blinked in confusion. Why had a parked car suddenly rammed into Palmer?
She walked closer and saw dozens of hands inside the car, gripping the wheel and controls.
No doubt about it... that was Sera's power.
"I don't know how the hell this creep turned into jelly, but the biggest weakness of something squishy like that... is blunt force trauma."
Sera said smugly.
"Well, look at that—you're finally useful for once."
"Excuse me?! What's that supposed to mean?"
She turned and glared at the boy.
"Let's get him in the car. And tie him up this time. This bastard probably thought we were just some amateur mafia crew... figured he actually had a chance of escaping."