Chocolates for a Scorpion

"Jes stand still and take yer whuppin' like a man!" Prowl leaped back as the meaty fist of Spinebuster The Bionic Redneck swung in a heavy right hook, the former pro wrestler turned super villain growling and striding forward in his black t-shirt, sleeveless denim vest, worn blue jeans, and heavy tanker boots. "Not that it'll matter in a minute once Dirge gets that D-Reverberator up and running!"

"Not to you, it won't," the hero shot back, dodging another heavy swing and then darting forward and low, sweeping around behind Spinebuster and grabbing him about the waist. He heaved and threw himself backwards into a classic German suplex to smash the brawler against the ground and stun him for a few moments. Rolling away, Prowl shook his head. Stupid and showy, fighting like that, but Spinebuster always brought that out in him.

Theirs was not the only fight raging across the flattened, almost sawed off peak of Devil's Tower. Rampart grunted as he grabbed hold of the wrists of the bronze automaton Talos as the ancient Greek mechanoid reached out for him; the two powerhouses struggling with all their might to gain the slightest leverage against the other. The Masked Marshal rushed from one broken pile of rock to another with his six shooters blazing as the black-hat wearing Outlaw fanned his own revolver in an attempt to gun down the latest bearer of the mystery lawman legacy. The speedster White Lightning, darling of the South, came into vision as she slowed down here and there as she tried to chase down the teleporting villain Dead End. Mistress Mine laughed and lashed her whip as she sent mind bolts to rattle the golden glowing Zenith as he grappled with her feral slave Rampage. Lights and sizzling bolts of energy flew through the air as Star Thief and Chain Reaction clashed with Cosmic Crusader and Lilith. Razor limbed Cut-up cackled madly as he attacked Galatea in a frenzy while Quantum came to the aid of young Rook and Sugar Rush against Skinwalker and Cherry Bomb.

Past them all and so far uninterfered with was the mysterious grey-clad Dirge; an armored figure clad in thick plates of varying shades of grey, helmed and masked, chanting in some ominous language that seemed to darken the air as the ancient pieces that the Desperados had collected over the last week flew and spun together, assembling some arcane device with impossible angles and shifting geometry.

But there was one villain he didn't see. And he knew she was here. He could smell her. God, and it smelled good. Where in all this chaos was the Scarlet Sting? He could find her afterward. Right now, he still had a clear shot at this Dirge. Prowl rushed forward as Spinebuster started to stir and groggily get to his knees. He leaped over Dead End, startling the man just long enough for White Lighting to blaze in and thrash him with a flurry of kicks that snapped like a whip as her foot broke the sound barrier, and dodged between the legs of Talos. Almost there!

That's when her scent hit him redoubled and he glanced to see her pacing him. His eyes went wide as he saw her for the first time since their parting the day after Valentine's Day. She looked fantastic; bold, beautiful, sexy, strong. Her large, pert breasts heaved in the halter-style strap top she wore, her green hair flew out behind her in a long, thick braid, her shapely, long legs pumped to keep even stride with him, her chitin-clad scorpion's tail arched and tense. He faltered for a step, giving her enough space to whip in front of him and cut off his charge. "Scarlet! I-" He stopped himself, not even sure what he had been about to say.

"Sorry, can't let you do that, Prowl," she said, waggling a finger at him. "Once the D-Reverberator is finished, we'll all have our heart's desires." Which meant she'd have him. At least she thought she would. This had all gotten kind of out of hand. She'd joined the Desperados because she knew it meant she'd run into Prowl again and soon. She just hadn't envisioned it being like this. "Why don't you play with me a little instead?"

"If only," he growled and meant it. Damn it! Their next meeting wasn't supposed to be like this! This wasn't what he wanted. "Scarlet, listen, that thing it's not what you think! And neither is Dirge!"

Scarlet blinked. Was this a trick? "What do you mean?"

"He means," came a rich feminine voice from the faceplate of Dirge as the figure slowly turned to face the battle, "that you all played your parts perfectly." The armor suddenly blew apart and flew in all directions, the sound and flying metal parts enough to still the conflict raging across the butte as all eyes turned towards the speaker. Where the massive armored Dirge had been was a woman of average height with a shapely and sinful figure wrapped in tight black leather and silk bindings, chains strung under her arms as she raised them to form a kind of steel cape. Her skin was white, purest alabaster, her lips redder than red, her hair lustrous ebony, her face equally impossibly beautiful and cruel.

Outlaw spat, "Devil dick, we been had!"

Scarlet took a few steps back to stand next to Prowl; her own wine-red eyes wide and her heart suddenly pounding in her chest in fear. "M-Midnight!" She was Zenith's archenemy, empowered by ancient dead gods who hungered for all life in the universe to join them in death. No villain would ever work with her; they all knew her end goal was the death of everything that lived, including any allies she had, and even herself as the last casualty once all other life in the universe was finally snuffed out.

The woman laughed, "That's right, Scarlet Sting! And with the artifact I have now completed, my Death Reverberator, and the lay lines that meet under this mountain, I will have MY heart's desire and all of yours will be answered! After all," she laughed again and jet black abyssal energy surged from her into the spiraling, ever changing artifact behind her as it rose into the air, "none of you will desire anything when you're dead!"

Golden light flared and the butte was illuminated as if the sun had risen just behind it. Solar flames licked over and around Zenith as he pointed at a spire rising from the artifact, channeling the inspiring power of the sun to give him insight. "There! Everyone, hit the spire with everything you've got!"

Prowl gathered his will and his fists were suddenly wreathed in the power of the Wolf Fang Strike, even as those with ranged ability lashed out. Cosmic Crusader's blue bolt lanced along-side the iridescent shimmering pillar of power that Lilith blasted forth, Chain Reaction's sickly green rad beam and Star Thief's blaster fire spattering against the growing spire. Quantum spun one of Cherry Bomb's orbs in a gravity well before firing it out at insane velocity to explode at the spire's thickening base. Rocks rushed past Prowl and slammed into it as Talos, Rampart, Spinebuster, Galatea, and White Lighting threw their all into it. Mistress Mine simply took staggering steps back, too terrified at her impending death to react, Rampage cowering and whining behind her.

He leaped as the spire cracked. Scarlet reached out for him and he felt her fingers brushing the back of his heel, "Prowl, wait, it's going to-" He was at the apex and his energy wrapped fist started to swing as the spire cracked further and then there was a roar like a dozen trains barreling down a tunnel towards him and all was suddenly a brilliant, burning white light that seared his eyes and mind and sent him screaming into unconsciousness.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scarlet Sting's head hurt. Her eyes stung and she could feel them watering behind their closed lids. She was lying down on something soft but hot that was strangely giving. The air was warm and heavy, unfamiliar smells mingled with the tang of...sea air? There was a sound...a repetitive thumping crash. She felt heat beating down on her body but pleasantly so. This wasn't what she expected from hell.

She groaned and slowly sat up, one gloved hand going to run over her face and flip her braid back over her shoulder. There was a faint hiss as it moved and she felt granular particles raining down on the luscious parts of her curves her costume left exposed. "Sand. Sand and sea, where the hell am I?" She opened her eyes and winced as the brightness of sunlight bouncing off of white sand assaulted her. She pulled her legs under her and stood up, her tail swaying back and forth to feel out the area around her.

The buxom villain shaded her eyes with one hand and squinted. Ahead of her the sand darkened as water rolled over and against it and then away again. She was on a beach that ran for maybe a quarter mile in either direction in a sort of crescent moon shape, the arms of it growing more rocky as they reached out into the water. Directly in front of her was a broad lagoon encircled by the beach's arms, white water crashing between them out where the big waves broke. Her vision carried past that point and she saw only blue. Rippling, moving, water stretched out endlessly as far as she could see. She glanced behind her and saw that the beach went for another fifty feet or so before green started and towering tropical trees cast it into shade. "Okay then. So, yeah. If this is Hell...not so bad."

She crossed her arms under her breasts, rubbing her arms and sighing. This hadn't worked out the way she wanted. Scarlet had joined this iteration of the Desperados for the same reason she had the previous two; she knew they'd go after the Vigilance Committee and that meant Prowl. Those past times she wanted to fight him, humiliate him, but this time she just knew it was a way to encounter him. She'd hoped they'd go after their opposite numbers in small groups; she'd be with the one that captured Prowl, he'd be a prisoner, she'd go in and talk to him...maybe have her way with him in his restraints...ohh, that'd be so delicious and so naughty! But it hadn't gone that way. She grimaced. That Midnight! She was in for it, all right. Nobody turned on the Desperados. They were the one villain team with a sense of unity and camaraderie, old members looked after new, and it was a sign of prestige, of skill, of respect to be a part of any version of the team. Betraying that group was not a smart move.

Not that thinking about Midnight getting her alabaster ass kicked helped Scarlet now. She was pretty sure she wasn't dead. But other than on what looked like an island, maybe a peninsula, that'd be better, she had no idea where she was. "Better start finding out just how bad this is," she muttered and turned to her right to walk along the beach. She grew more glumly certain that this was an island as she walked along, particularly as she drew near the curve of the beach that swept back. Scarlet paused and frowned, looking back at the greenery. Maybe she should check that out first, then scout the shoreline.

She tensed as she heard a low, pained groan from behind a cluster of rocks at the water's edge. She wasn't alone! She leaped to the top of the highest rock in a crouch, her tail tensed and held high, ready to sting, "No fast moves, or else I'll-" She blinked. "...Dumb fucking luck."

Laying on the sand, his feet in the edge of the surf, was Prowl. The lean bodied hero didn't seem to notice her at all, his eyes closed and his expression pained. His russet locks were wild and disheveled; he was unconscious and there were slender trails of blood from his nostrils and his ears. Scarlet raised her eyebrows. "Okay then, again. If this is Hell...pretty damn good."

~ ~ ~

The blackness was receding from Prowl and much of the pain seemed to have gone with it. He could feel himself lying on some warm, soft ground. The air was hot and humid and he felt a slight stinging on the exposed skin of his face and the portions of his arms his costume left bare. His eyes hurt and felt rough and grainy; he had to resist the urge to lift his leaden feeling hands and rub them. He kept them closed for now. His nostrils burned and he smelled mostly the dried scent of his own blood mingled with the sting of salty air and a green smell of a kind he was not familiar with. He tasted the coppery tang of blood and his tongue ran over a slightly ragged part of his inner cheek where he'd apparently bitten himself. His ears rang and even the sound of his own breathing was oddly distorted. His head throbbed as if his skull was two sizes too small and starting to crack from the pressure of his brain.

That blast; the light and the sound were both so intense it had hit him with his superhuman senses incredibly hard. The sensory overload alone had been enough to knock him cold. Even with his recuperative abilities, the damage was not yet undone. But he couldn't just lie there and heal. He had to try and figure out where he was, if anyone else was here. Prowl drew in a deep breath, not to just breathe but to also capture the nearby scents through the stink of his own clotted nosebleed and try to get some sense of who or what was nearby. His brow furrowed and he grimaced at the sting of pain the motion brought from his throbbing head. Wood, some dry and some wet but all with an unfamiliar smell. Greenery with it, not the diffused vegetal scent of the environment but more immediate and smaller, with a slight sharpness to it as if a growing plant had been snapped. Vines, maybe? But not intact ones. Used as a tie or rope? Strange but informative; primitive or just in use thanks to a lack of real cordage was the question.

He snorted to try and clear his nose and took in another breath, hearing the soft sounds of nearby movement as he did so. Hell! Someone was there! Damn his battered senses for missing that! He sniffed to learn what he could, eyes still closed, trying to play dead even as he felt who or whatever it was drawing closer. Then a thin tendril of scent reached him through the tinny tang and wet green odors and he tensed despite himself. "Dumb fucking luck," he breathed.

Scarlet knelt beside Prowl, looking down at him with concern in her eyes. Had he actually been doing things consciously or was he still out of it? She was actually a little worried if he was. He wasn't a super healer or anything but he was no slouch either; wolf being resilient and enduring and all that crap, bouncing back from anything that didn't kill him. "Hey," she said softly. He winced and she lowered her voice down to almost a whisper, "You with me, Wolf Boy?"

He smiled despite how rough he felt, even though it hurt and made him wince to do so. "Yeah," he answered in a raw, dry throated rasp. "I'm with you, Scarlet."

The relief in her sigh made him feel pretty good, he had to admit. He heard her moving and felt the warmth of her close; he could envision her sitting next to him Indian style in his mind's eye. "Good, 'cause I wasn't looking forward to having to play nurse."

"You'd look so good in the outfit," he countered.

She snorted, "Yeah, you'll be fine. Sensory overload, right? Like that one time I was with the Wolfhounds and Orion had those sonic blasters, remember? And that super pepper spray stuff."

His expression would have been wry had it not distorted into another pained grimace. "How could I forget? You guys had me dead to rights. If Blue Blazer and Achimi hadn't come along, I'd have been toast."

Okay, Scarlet. Maybe reminding him of one of the times you actually got close to killing him isn't a good idea while he's all vulnerable and you want to try going out with him. The green haired villain shook her head, "I'm, you know, glad they did. I wasn't then, but I am now." She fidgeted and then her eyes narrowed as a small smile rested on his lips. "What's that look for?"

"You're just...really cute right now, all worried about upsetting me or my being hurt. I bet you look adorable."

"Shut up!" But even as she glared, she felt her the corners of her own lips twitching.

He laughed softly, "That didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. You snapping, I mean. My senses may be clearing up a little." Prowl groaned and then slowly and carefully sat up, bowing his head. He opened his eyes and groaned, "Feels like someone ran sandpaper over my eyes." It was dim where they were and he had a sense of brighter light nearby, stinging at his eyes at the very edge of his peripheral vision. "It's warm here...tropical?"

"Something like that," Scarlet answered. She watched as he turned his head to the right, stretching his neck muscles, then to the left before moving to look up at her. His eyes were bloodshot like he'd been drinking bargain whiskey and smoking discount cigarettes for about a day straight but he still looked good. She shrugged, "Some kind of island from what I've been able to scout out. But no idea where. Could be the Caribbean, the Pacific, South Atlantic, assuming we're still on Earth." The villain grimaced and leaned back on her hands, "With that thing, we might even be on a totally different Earth."

"Magic artifacts are such a pain," he agreed. Prowl closed his eyes again and sat up straight to take several long, deep, slow breaths. He pursed his lips. "It's Earth, I'm pretty sure of that...no way to know where on Earth or if it's ours, though." Then he grunted and twisted his shoulders to one side, stretching further, "No point worrying about it now. Anyone else around?"

"Not that I've seen," she replied. Scarlet's eyes moved over him as he moved through a set of sitting stretches before carefully moving to stand and continuing to limber up his body. She smirked and raised her eyebrows; she liked the show. "It's just us, the jungle, the beach, and the sea."

Prowl looked down at her. God damn, did she look good. And they were all alone? Even with his head still pounding and his body sore, he felt his emotions and instincts stirring at that thought. Down, boy. "Not that I like being potentially lost for who knows how long...but good." She quirked an eyebrow and he paused a few moments before saying, "I think we should talk. There's something I need to say to you, to ask you."

Scarlet moved to her feet with inhuman grace and her eyes were bright. Her scorpid tail swung from side to side. He was still into her! Well, yeah, of course he was! She hadn't been worried. Much. "I want to talk too. And we will." She then shook her head, "But we should talk tonight and use daylight to try and get what we need to survive. So...later, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay." Then he looked around them, really looked around. The light still stung but it was lessening. They were at the edges of a green area of low underbrush and even some kind of grass and in the shade of some tall trees; some were a kind of palm...but those were coconuts in those over there. The immediate area had been roughly cleared and there was a pile or driftwood with a small heap of small twigs, and scrabbly dried grasses. There was a low, rough, off angle rhombus frame of some more generally regular pieces of wood forming the start of a raised bed. They were tied with freshly snapped vines, though not well. Off to one side was a sun bleached red plastic lunch box, a large piece of plastic tarp, and a few bottles as well as what looked like a nasty snarled tangle of fishing line. He blinked, "You did all this?"

"Yeah. I mean, I'm no outdoorsy survival type...but I've seen some stuff." Scarlet shrugged once more, "Weaver has some weird crush on Les Stroud, you know? ...Don't let her know I told you that." The nineteen year old super criminal walked to the frame and nudged it with a foot. "So I was trying to set up a camp. I knew I should head inland to look for water or scout the beaches for more junk, but I didn't want to leave you." Her cheeks colored faintly and she cleared her throat, "In case, you know, something happened. For all I knew you might stop breathing or something." She crossed her arms under her breasts and gave him a look that dared him to contradict her.