It's a bright, sunny day at the Denver Zoo, where the zoo is hosting a mass field trip today. Students of all ages are packed into groups like sardines in tins, walking through the zoo and looking at the exhibits. Everything is idyllic and happy, as if nothing could go wrong.

If only they knew.

Watching up from far above, is what seems, at first glance, to merely be a bird. An eagle, as a matter of fact. Not necessarily out of the ordinary. What nobody can see from so far below, however, is that patches of feathers on the eagle's body are instead replaced with reptilian scales, the patchwork creature taking in every detail of the zoo's layout like a deep breath.

Tarrasque has always both hated and delighted in this aspect of his powers, his inability to be 100% of any single creature. He remembers trying to morph wholly into a dog oh so long ago, his power forcing his head to stay unchanged. That was a shock. He hated it for that reason, that he could never be just one thing except himself. But he delighted in it, because it let him get creative sometimes. After all, if he couldn't fully be one animal, he could just be a slight hybrid of two. Hence his scouting out of the zoo like this.

He could only wonder how things would go, as he scouted his target from up above.

Samantha was enjoying her time on the field trip, her neck draped with a plush snake and a little flag with a monkey on it. Sipping from a cup of tea held in both hands. She'd been trailing after her group all morning as they trailed from exhibit to exhibit, the parent chaperone in charge of the six students not paying the most attention. Her bag bounced against her back, and tucked at the bottom of it was her costume. Between the exhibits her mind kept wandering back to the maps of the city that she'd been studying, still trying to work out what might be her best patrol route.

The bright redhead of hair would lean over the railing to the elephant environment. Humming happily to herself. The only thing that would make this day any better would be actually knowing anyone she was here with.

Seeing a chance, Tarrasque's eagle-snake form dives down towards the zoo before slowing down and landing on the roof of the reptile house. He shifts back to his human form, his self-made costume already covering him back before he flew over here. He quickly checks around before dropping down to the ground by a door clearly marked "Staff Only", which he forces open using brute force before disappearing inside. Though he was going for speed rather than subtlety. While nobody else seems to have noticed... that doesn't mean that he went unseen.

Once within, Tarrasque moves with purpose, having managed to get some info from an employee that worked here. Alcohol has a way of loosening tongues, after all. Thus, Tarrasque knows exactly where to go to find where the remains of shed reptile skins are. He gets samples from the Komodo dragon and the green python, putting them into sealed preservation containers and adding them to his bandolier, grinning behind his mask.

The only downside is that to get anywhere else, he has to go through the open space of the zoo, packed with civilians, while in full costume. Meaning that he's only got so long to grab what he's here for, once he shows himself.

Sammy wasn't really paying much attention as she slipped away from the group watching the elephants, her fingers swiping over a few pictures she'd taken on her phone. She sent one of the selfies she'd taken to her mother then pocketed it. Just looking up to see if she could find a sign or something that would lead her towards a trash can. Something blurring through the air caught her eye as she did and the girl curiously wondered what kind of bird that had been.

It looked like it had ducked down behind one of the staff buildings, and curiously she followed it, pausing as she heard a bang! No one else blinked twice, the sound was something akin to a door slamming and wasn't too out of the ordinary. But something about the sound just seemed so out of place to the teen. Slowly she would creep around the corner, slipping away from the group chaperone and moving to investigate. What she found surprised her, one of the back doors to the reptile house looked like it had been dented open?

"What the heck?"

Her fingers fiddled with her bag and she shifted from foot to foot. What was going on? Did this.. need a super hero or was this just someone having accidentally broken a door? Who would want to steal something from a reptile house anyway? It wasn't like someone was just going to walk out with a gilla monster or one of the komodos without the guards getting called. Maybe she should just...

A minute later, after ducking behind one of the electrical boxes, Sammy would emerge sans her backpack and souvenirs and with her costume on. A simple padded vest, elbow and knee pads, and a pair of goggles that she had made off a youtube tutorial that could show her expression even while she wore them. All while the multitude of her cheek freckles was hidden under a thick layer of black greasepaint. She still wished she'd taken the time to visit the Protectorate and sign up for that program she'd been told about, but now wasn't really the time. Taking a deep breath she'd approach the door and call in.

"Hey, everyone all right in here?"

After taking a quick moment to finally grab two more animal samples - from the Thorny Devil lizard and the Loggerhead sea turtle - Tarrasque starts to leave, planning on heading for the aquarium next to swipe a couple of critters from there. All he needs is a quick sample, and besides, it’s not like he’s going to kill any of them. Maybe some scales or part of a fin, that’s all.

But as he’s starting to leave, he hears someone call in from the exit doorway he entered through. Damn. Guess his time’s up. Then again, maybe if he’s quick, he can get them to keep mum…

Tarrasque waits for a brief moment, turning some of his focus to the shifting of his body. His power subsumes his mask as his head becomes a hideous and terrifying fusion of lion and man, while fusing crustacean chitin and his newly-acquired turtle shell keratin to create plates of natural armor across his body. He decides to add in an extra touch by channeling the Thorny Devil’s DNA as well, wicked spikes extruding from the keratin-chitin plates as he finally stalks out into view.

He gives a nasty glare as he notices a costume-wearing kid. Really? Some kid thought they could take him on? Granted, they probably didn’t know it was him at the time, but even so. He twists his vocal chords enough to let out a beastly growl, his lion-man face snarling.

“Just fine, whelp. Now piss off… before I decide to teach you a lesson. I don’t usually care for picking on kids, but I can make an exception if you’re that desperate for a spanking.”

Sammy's first thought when she saw the man creeping into view was simply "HOLY SHIT!?" A rush of revulsion ran through her and in an instant she forced a grin to hide her disgust at the thing she was looking at. It was clearly a guy, one who was an asshole sure, but a guy nevertheless. Casually she leaned against the dented door frame and lifted her palm up.

At first it looked like there was a blister growing from her hand, but it quickly gave a little 'pop' and she was suddenly holding a bright, cherry red ball roughly the size of a softball. Cal could feel the contents of it roil, heavy and slow like some sort of boiling gelatin. She was familiar with this sort, typically there was a pretty heavy impact before it split like a water balloon. Perfect for this sort of situation. Her grin widened.

"First off, rude. You don't even have any witty banter to try other than that creep-o material? I guess that makes sense with that beating you took from your power's ugly stick. Really though, what the heck man? This place is filled with kids and their families. You couldn't have broken in any other time? You had to pick the one where your ugly mug was most likely to be seen by like every kid in the city?"

"Just because your mirror gives you nightmares it doesn't mean that others need to be subjected to.." she made a hand motion with her empty hand, indicating all of him. "...that."

If he was watching the ball, it reached a certain size (around that of a melon) and the growth became slower, incremental to the point it was hard to see if it was still expanding unless he looked away and glanced back.

The beastly Changer sneers at the girl and her haphazard costume and lackadaisical attitude. He takes the time to shift his body some more - packing on some bear and more lion to enhance his musculature and bones, and choosing to add on a new touch he’s never tried before - a pair of sucker-covered octopus tentacles, each one sprouting from the back of each of his shoulders. They, too, are armored with chitin and keratin, thickening to be more like flailing clubs. For extra intimidation factor, he shifts his eyes to those of a wolf, and grows some extra spikes and chitin to help armor up his face into a horrific visage as he towers over the kid.

He notes the red ball, as well as the kid’s confident grin. It looks like a huge zit to him, but he’s not one to judge about the appearance of powers. Not after the brat’s spiel about his current look.

“You think I care about being subtle? Fat chance, when I can be a monster whenever I want to. So what do I care if some lily-livers can’t handle the sight of me? They’d shit their pants anyways if they say someone like Iron Maiden show up. And besides…” He gives a dark chuckle as he takes a step, the tentacles extending to help add to the looming over her. “Where’s the fun in just taking what I want without a fight? Though I’d prefer to fight someone a bit older than you, little rabbit. What are you, twelve?”

He’s purposely undershooting, mostly to try and provoke a reaction. But in the end, he’s just taking the time he can to try and ramp himself up a bit more without the chance for a distraction. He knows he can probably shove her aside and book it for the aquarium, and once he’s there… he just needs to get a bit from the critters there. He read on the website that they’ve got lionfish and archerfish here…

The girl shrugged, using the action to disguise her movement of her free hand, slipping it behind her back. She had her phone tucked into her belt she just had to do what she'd practiced. She felt the little click of her phone unlocking and had to hide her relief that this was working. Just had to send the text to the right person or this was really really going to hurt.

"Dude, you're mixing insults like they're not important. What do rabbits and kids have to do with each other? It's like you're intentionally trying to mess it up to seem dumb. Or are you actually as dumb as you are ugly?" She paused, playing up that she was musing to herself.

"Nnnnooo, if you were that dumb you'd probably have forgotten how to breathe." To the girl's credit, even as the villain advanced she didn't back down. Still grinning up at him.

"So what brings you to the zoo? Pretty sure they don't have ass faced baboons if you were looking for the family meet up."

The redhead moved her arm again, this time Hyde could see through the crook in her elbow with his height. The glint of a phone, thumb tapping across it. Then it getting tucked away into her belt.

"Before you get your butt kicked, you wanna find out why they call me Calvin Ball or do you want to figure out the rules as we go?"

He sees the phone for a fraction of a second, taking note of it as his morphed teeth twist into a wicked facsimile of a grin. Looks like there’s gonna be some bigger fish on their way in due time. Sure would be a shame to turn down a chance for a warm-up before the real deal makes it here.

He gives a dark chuckle, noting the reference. “Watterson’s work, eh? Used to read it when I was your age. You’re annoying enough without having a stuffed tiger. But nah… I don’t mind learning as we go. The main course will get here, eventually… I wouldn’t mind an appetizer to keep me busy.”

With that, he flat-out rushes the girl, tentacles lashing out to try and grab her and toss her to the wayside during his exit from the building he’s in. He can handle a wannabe hero and grab the other things he’s here for.. he just has to be quick about it and think on his feet. After all, the only consistent rule in the kid’s namesake game is that the players make the rules.

"Oh wow, someone actually got it!" The redhead crowed cheerfully, even as the massive mutated villain lashed out at her.

Calvin had been ready for him to lash out, the man hadn't seemed like the "chat it out" sort and her whole body had been pulled taught like a rubber band, waiting for the moment he attacked. Simultaneously the girl would tip the ball out of her palm, drop herself to the ground, then lashed out with her foot. Not at him, but at the ball itself. Like a rubber kickball launched off her sneaker it would go rocketing towards his center of mass.

The ball hit him in the side with the force of a bucket of cement being dropped off a roof. A solid impact, despite how it had looked squishing off her shoe, then a burst of a grey fluid splattered out as the red skin of the ball burst. The stuff was solid at first, then quickly it turned into a thick coating of slime on whatever it touched. It wasn't really sticky, more of a mess than anything. But that original impact, if Hyde hadn't had his thick carapace in place it likely would have cracked a rib. Either Calvin Ball had some serious strength behind those legs of hers or the projectile was meant to hurt like a son of a bitch.

As he bulldozed onwards with the intent to rush past her, the red ball hit him in the side and popped, the viscous contents of it practically dousing his torso before hardening over his natural body armor. The impact of the ball hitting him ended up sending him staggering for a moment, before the beastly Changer was clear of the doorway and out in the open.

He was spotted almost instantly, starting a domino effect of screams and shrieks. This only got worse as Tarrasque relished in the fear he was causing and let out a monstrous ROAR, which caused everyone to rush away from him in an attempt to get clear of him. He couldn’t help but laugh as he felt the adrenaline rushing through his body, blood pumping hard enough he could hear it in his ears. He gave a catcall for the kid who had plastered him in this slimy stuff.

“What’s the matter, hero?” He gave the last word a mocking emphasis on it. “Gonna leave all these people defenseless and scared? I thought you goody two-shoes types were supposed to keep them safe from freaks like me!”

His mind conjured up all sorts of ideas for what he could do to make himself scarier, stronger, but he held back for now. Some things, he needed to keep close to the chest. Just because he could do it, didn’t mean he should.

Calvin pushed herself to her feet, stumbling a little bit, then hurried after the villain. Forming another ball in her hand which, upon feeling, made her quietly curse. Another roiling ball, but this one was hot, very hot. Odds were this wasn't the sort she wanted to throw at full strength. Hell she debated shoving it into the ground to detonate but she had to get this guy's attention back on her.

Running at a full sprint, the redhead would slap her hand down over her palm that held the growing ball. Her fingers squishing and pinching it until it split into five separate jawbreaker sized spheres. She scooped three into one hand and held onto the other two, whipping the trio at him from an angle she was pretty sure wouldn't hit any fleeing civilians if she were to miss.

"I'm right here big guy!" She shouted, shifting the two remaining 1/5th power spheres into each hand whipping them at him with a twirl.

These orbs, much like the first one, contained a liquid. But there wasn't the same impact behind them. Sure they hurt, but this time, when the skin burst the fluid inside glowed a cherry red. Molten rock splattering onto whatever it hit. Cooling with a supernatural quickness and leaving scattered patches of black glass on whatever they had flash scorched.

As the first three orbs come flying at him, Tarrasque dodges two of them and moves to swat the third of them away with one of his tentacles, causing it to rupture in molten rock and scorch the amphibious limb, eliciting a roar of pain from the goliath as he observes the damage, before turning to snarl at Calvin Ball. This gives him just enough time to notice her rebuttal and the other two larger spheres, which he ducks away from.

Internally, his mind is working in overdrive. First, that quick-dry cement stuff; then the molten rock. Does she control it? Is there any limit to what she can do? He’s not keen on finding out, but there doesn’t seem to be a visible choice that he can have in the matter. All he can do is try to work around her as he goes for his objectives.

He pulls on his power’s archives once more, shifting his form until a pair of eagle wings emerge from his upper back. The massive wings beat once, twice, as he starts lifting up into the air with a cackle.

“Catch me if you can, hero!” He yells, before lifting off and making a veritable beeline for the aquarium.

Calvin inhaled sharply through her teeth. Steadying her breath as she broke into a practiced sprint. She wasn't the fastest girl at her old school, but she'd been able to place in the top three a couple of times. Seeing the veritable tank of animal parts starting to take off, the heroine made a beeline for him. Slender limbs carried her quick and when she leapt it was with her hands outstretched. One hand gripping onto one of the thorny devil spines while her armor took the brunt of the rest of them.

Though jumping onto a scaled pincushion wasn't exactly comfortable, Cal grit her teeth and ignored where she felt her clothes get poked through. Her other hand wrapping around the base of one of those massive wings. Gripping hard and trying to twist the joint and turn them away from whatever direction the guy wanted to go. She didn't know what he wanted, but she knew his ego would take a blow if she didn't let him have it!

"You're not exactly.. the broadest side of the barn dude. You're expecting me to miss?" She growled through gritted teeth.

The extra weight of Calvin throws him off just a bit, swerving slightly as he lifts off the ground properly. The moment she starts to mess with his wing joint, he lets out a roar of pain as he begins to lose control of his flight path, flailing around almost uncontrollably as the girl messes with his wing.

Finally, after a few seconds of this, Tarrasque snarls and reaches his uninjured tentacle down to coil around her before throwing her through the most convenient target that will result in minimal grievous harm - the glass window on the wall looking into the entryway of the aquarium section. He makes sure to use enough force that she’s definitely going to go through with a bit of force, but she at least won’t get any broken bones.

Once that’s done, he flies in after her and then ignores her in favor of heading deeper into the building, peering into the various exhibits in search of ideal species to go for.

The redhead groaned as she lay upside down inside the entrance area of the small aquarium. Having to work to get her feet under her and scrabble after him. It wasn't exactly a heroic chase but if she could just keep him busy long enough someone would show up who could actually stop him. By now the cops and the Protectorate had to of been called by someone out in the panicking crowds right? She had to trust in her fellow citizens if this guy was going to get taken down.

Panting, she'd pick out a few pieces of glass from her palm and try to follow the sounds of people yelling. "It will be okay, I've got this!" She told the people who were rushing past her. Most paid her little to no attention. Others just looked more scared when they realized their "heroine" was covered in scratches and small cuts.

Eventually though, she'd find where the villain had run off to and called out.

"HEY UGLY!"

Another ball blipped out of her ragged palm. Rising into her grip. Her eyes went wide for a second, then gritting her teeth she continued to pump more of her power into it. The sphere was that sort of heavy she could feel in her bones. Like it should be impossible to lift but while it was wrapped in the weird red skin, it was hers to control. Her fingers dug into the rubbery surface, letting her grip it in an underhand hold. Then pointed at him.

"Stand down or this thing is going to knock out so many teeth your villain buddies will be calling you the Gummy Bear!" ...Wow Cal, that was lame. She thought to herself.

When Calvin Ball finally makes it to where Tarrasque is, she can see him dragging his arm through the silt and sand in the bottom of one of the fish tanks, the one with the lionfish in it. While she was getting up, he’d already done the same to to other tanks of fish - the archerfish tank, and the tank with blind cave fish. As Cal is watching, he pulls his arm out of the tank with a handful of silt and whatnot, a faint glimmer of light revealing that he’s ended up getting some of the shed scales as well. He carefully pours it into one of his preservation containers and then slips it into his belt just as she yells at him. He turns to her and watches, grinning after her threat.

“Heh. Bold of you to assume that you can do it. Doesn’t matter much, anyways. I’ll just grow them all back in a matter of days.”

He turns his body to face her, looking around at the tanks of fish. One of his tentacles reaches down into the lionfish tank and brushes against the sole fish occupying the tank, spooking it in the process, before retracting back out.

“I remember interacting with animals a lot in my childhood. Stray cats and dogs, fish and frogs in the stream, all sorts of bugs and whatnot… people thought I was some kind of weirdo for it. But even then, I could tell what everyone else took for granted. That animals had innate advantages that we never would.”

He holds his arm out in front of him… and right before Cal’s eyes, familiar scales and spines start sprouting into being on his forearm. He grins at her, his body working in the background to work in archerfish traits and shifting his biology around to sprout a third tentacle, this one fashioned to act like a pump. He shifts it over to a tank of fresh water, the liquid empty.

“Except now? I can have all of them that I want.”

And with that, he suddenly spits a blast of water at her from his mouth, with all the strength of a fire hose.

Calvin listened, trying to figure out what he was trying to get across with this monologue. Had he been here.. for the fish? The sand in their tanks?? Whatever, all that mattered were the seconds that passes while he wasted time talking. People were getting further away, and heroes were coming. She knew that in her heart, they were on their way.

Then she noticed he was pulling something, one of the tanks he'd cracked open at the top was draining. But she couldn't see where the water was going. In the moment that his lips parted to spray the water Cal's instincts told her to dive to the side. Instead, she chose to be an idiot. She jumped, and spiked the solid ball at the villain, sending it barreling at him with all the speed the girl could muster. Right over the jet of water that hit her square in the chest.

The impact was violent enough to send the girl off her feet. Slamming into the wall behind her, head cracking against the drywall. Her world went dizzy and she slumped. A weak groan dragged itself from her lips and she tried to keep her eyes focused. Did she get him? If the damn room would stop spinning she could tell.

Tarrasque has not been expecting the projectile, just able to dodge enough that it hit his shoulder rather than his head, eliciting a tremendous shriek of agony from him as it is dislocated by what feels like solid metal.

He manages to recover a little bit before Calvin does, observing the injury with a grimace. The carapace is cracked, and the joint itself has jumped the socket, thought that is fixed easily as he braces against a nearby pillar and levers it back into place with a shout of pain and exertion. After that, he observes the offending projectile that caused such pain - a softball-sized sphere of pure, dense gold.

On the one hand, it’s a thing that might certainly net him a pretty penny. On the other hand…

He swivels his attention to his opponent, eyes shifting from canine to serpentine as they narrow to slits menacingly. Especially as he notices that despite what she’s been put through so far, she doesn’t look too worse for wear.

That means a Brute factor of some kind. Which means the kid gloves are coming off.

He stomps over to her, shoving an empty fish tank aside in his approach before his two tentacles grab her and start coiling around her, another four tentacles emerging from his back to do just the same. They wrap around her in a vice grip that slowly begins to clamp down with gradually increasing pressure as they bring her face up to his.

He snarls at her with a leonine growl. “No more playing around. Game over, little bitch.”

Cal tried to push herself up as the villain stalked towards her. Hand slipping on the wall as the blood from the cut made the palm slick. Before she could fall, disoriented and dizzy, the crushing grip of the muscled limbs wrapped around her and managed to actually lift her from the ground. She let out a pained yell as the limbs pressure compressed her limbs in close. But a second later she stubbornly forced her grin back to her face.

"Dude urk.. two words... Breath. Mint."

Cal managed to get out. A pressure building under one of her hands, pushing against the tentacle grip despite their strength. Trying to think of something to get her out of this. She could feel the vision at the corners of her eyes going fuzzy.

The door that the pair had come through already was easily kicked off it's hinges, the now loose metal flying across the room to clatter loudly as Cylynx clad in her power armor walked through.

"Sir, the gift shop is at the end of the tour. I'm going to have to ask you to put the child down, you can get a plushie instead." Her whole body was flooded with her chemical cocktail, and it already felt like he was taking too long to respond. "Only warning, stand down and come quietly into custody."

Her focus was on the villain, meanwhile the Nemean was giving Calvin Ball a once over and reporting what it could tell to Cylynx.

The noise causes Tarrasque to glance over, immediately recognizing the armor-clad heroine for who she is. His snarl twists into a dark grin as he starts to chuckle menacingly.

“Fair enough on the gift shop part… but then again, I’m not quite done with the tour.” He slackens the grip of his tentacles just enough that Calvin Ball can retain consciousness and breathe, but keeps her firmly restrained. “I was hoping to get a peek at a couple more exhibits, after all. Especially the hippopotamus enclosure. Those jaws are to die for.”

Out of everyone’s field of view, he morphs a few finger-sized spider limbs, two of which work together to make a pair of keratin blades to act as makeshift scissors. They covertly snip a few hairs off of Calvin Ball’s head, before starting to pass them down towards his body in a train of limbs, each disappearing into his mass after they’ve finished passing it on. This quietly continues while Tarrasque keeps talking, until the hair is safely tucked away in a sealed container in his belt.

“Honestly, I didn’t entirely plan on fighting anyone today. I was just here to pay a visit to some interesting animals, take some notes and all that. Not my fault a brat decided to stick her nose where she shouldn’t have. And besides… in case you didn’t notice, kitty cat, I’m the one with the hostage. Ever wonder if a big enough octopus can tear apart a human being?”

The six tentacles briefly pull Calvin’s limbs taut a single time, the implied threat very clear. After all, Tarrasque's angry enough at her that he’s only partially bluffing. He doesn’t like wanton murder, but if he has to kill to get what he wants… well, you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.

Calvin was gritting her teeth as her smile only widened in response to the pain. Though at this point her expression looked a bit manic. Her eyes were darting around wildly underneath her blank white goggles as she tried to think of a way out of this. She needed a knife or something.

She was still in the middle of fighting off panic when she heard the door crash inwards and the familiar voice of the feline themed heroine calling out.

"Now that's..urgh.. some proper banter." She muttered to herself under her breath. Hyde likely not paying enough attention to her to hear it.

All the while her hand remained clutched, blood dripping from it faster and faster. Calvin could feel the clutched power sending small fractures through the bones in her hand. She could feel it, writhing like an angry hornet in her hand. The core of energy that wanted to explode from the confines of her grip with a fury that was only growing.

"Cy, I'm fine." The girl assured the heroine, even as she felt her limbs straining against their sockets. "He's.. Mutating! When he touches something!" She yelped as the pressure intensified. Her jaw tensing to the point where she was scared her teeth would crack. In the back of her mind she thought it might be hard to explain why she had her arms ripped off to her mother. That conversation would suck really bad.

"New rule. Cy, mimic me!" Calvin would clutch her eyes shut behind her goggles. Then open her hand as it was outstretched.

The quail egg sized ball would drop from her palm then start to rapidly expand in the air until it just touched the ground.

Light, searing light, enough to leave an intense burn on exposed skin, exploded from the ball. Filling the room like a bomb.

"If you aren't finished your tour, I'll have to ask you to pick your souvenirs later." She flexes a little, lowering the Nemean's center of gravity slightly. "The hippos are actually out today, they're on vacation. Sorry to disappoint."

"Kids are inquisitive, unfortunately hers just led to foiling your little heist. And don't you know? Cats are just as curious." Her eyes flick around to the tentacles as they pull on Calvin, she wouldn't be able to fix all that... Not fast enough to save the girl.

Then she spoke to Cylynx at least indirectly. "Banter is and always will be the most important part of the parahuman relationships we form." Cylynx snickers, "An adaptive changer? No, parasitic?" Were they related to Mask? "Good show kid." Cylynx laughed as the Nemean compensated for the blinding light at the same time as she charged forward, the armor's boots digging into the concrete.

"C'mere you bastard, it's time to dance."

Tarrasque grins sinisterly as he stares down the Tinker, thickening his carapace and preparing for the impending brawl. It’s been a while since he’s had a good fight, and he’s sure looking forward to see how his shapeshifting holds up against a Tinker’s tech.

Just about then is when Cal pulls her flashbang stunt, blinding the Changer as he howls in pain at his eyes being rendered useless. He instantly drops the tricky little scamp and throws himself to the right in order to avoid getting hit, snarling as he puts away the tentacles for now and draws on his recently acquired blind cave fish biology so he can navigate despite being blind.

“Dancing, huh? Maybe, maybe not. You’ll have to lead - you know what they say about having two left feet!” He guffaws as his hide of chitin and keratin once more is covered in wicked barbed spikes, though he also starts adding in dozens upon dozens of lion fish spines.

He can hit things without having to aim. After all, there is such a thing as accuracy by volume.

“New rule, heroes! EVERYTHING BREAKS!!”

And with that, the spines go flying off of Tarrasque in all directions at high speeds, each coated in the pain-inducing venom of the lion fish.

The teenager dropped to her feet and nearly collapsed. Every joint in her body hurt. The man's tentacled grip had left bruises where it had squeezed. she was pretty sure her ribs were bruised. Thankfully nothing had cracked. She could feel her burns on the lower half of her face fading slowly. Her hand still felt like she'd touched a belt sander. But she closed both fists and scrambled to flank the villain.

"He grabbed something out of the sand, I don't know what it- Oh shit!!"

Calvin would move, grabbing something, then throwing herself in a direction.. but not to take cover. She turned her back and threw out her arms. Keeping as many of the spines from smashing into the tanks as she could with her short frame. A few cracked, embedded with the spines. But the majority had hit the girl and the thick cardboard stand of a cartoon octopus. The spines tearing through it almost all the way but it had helped minimize the damage a little more.

Calvin herself stumbled, then dropped to her knees and screamed out in pain. The venom of dozens of spines coursing through her. Her vision going white with blistering pain. Already she could feel her body writhing around the spines. pushing them out millimeter by agonizing millimeter.

She ignored the damage to the area, and forced herself to ignore the damage to Calvin. The kid would have to rely on her own regeneration until they could get her some anti-whatever Hyde had done.

"Not good enough." Cylynx growled as the spines broke against her armour, "And you've just fucked up, I don't take kindly to kids getting hurt. Rule note, Villain... Everything includes you."

The hero closed the gap between them, muscles flexing out as she swung. A simple one two punch combo to gauge Hyde's defenses... At least as simple as punches equivalent to a heavyweight boxer could be considered.

He hears the cries of pain coming from Calvin and mentally cheers, finally glad that the brat is getting some comeuppance. He does not have very long to celebrate this, however, as Cylynx comes barreling at him with a pair of punches that all but knock the wind out of him, bits of chitin splintering as his natural armor cracks at the sites of the punches.

He staggers back, trying to thicken up his shell at those key points as his mind goes into overdrive figuring out how he’s going to fight back against something this strong. He’s only got so many animals in his archive right now - it’s not been easy acquiring what he’s built up to by this point, and he hasn’t been able to get his hands on some of the more exotic species he’s been after. What he has will have to do, for the time being.

Thankfully, what he has includes his experience as an underground fighter. By that same token, however, he is well aware of what kind of sleeping dragon he’s just woken up. He knows the feel of someone trying to gauge an opponent. So this is what that’s like on the receiving end. He probably won’t be able to take a punch stronger than those two.

So if he can’t tank the blows, he’ll have to avoid getting hit in a way that matters.

Once more, he sprouts octopus tentacles, a whole eight of them sprouting from his shoulders and back, foregoing the chitin plating from last time in favor of barbed spike hooks, and sends them to try and grapple the Tinker. As this happens, he starts trying to move away from her, taking stock of his surroundings for an escape attempt.

"Grappling? With me!?" Cylynx laughs as the tentacles find purchase, hooks catching and scratching over the Nemean sending shooting pain through her body. "You can't hate yourself that much."

She had planned to let Nemean look after Calvin Ball, allowing the rudimentary onboard assistant to keep her safe while Cylynx broke every bone in Tarrasaque's body. But plans never survive contact with the enemy.

"Is this all you've got? A cheap imitation of some pervert's wet dream?" She barks, grabbing for one of the tentacles to wrench on it with all the strength that the Nemean could provide, this would either rip it off the villain or drag him closer for a severe beating. "You know how curious us cats get, let's see what I can learn playing with you."

The Changer manages to hold out against Cylynx’s enhanced strength for all of a second before the tentacles end up ripping off of him, causing him to roar in pain. Serves him right for not reinforcing them at all.

He withdraws the torn stumps of the tentacles, growling in frustration as he weighs his options. Brawling against her won’t work, trying to grapple her didn’t work.. guess he’ll have to improvise. Thankfully, he sees another tank of water with nothing else in it, and an idea comes to him. He rushes over to it and sprouts a pair of arms from his back, after which he turns around so they can grab the tank. A single tentacle once more grows from his back, running into the tank and converting itself into a sort of pump, and his mouth again channels archerfish biology. If nothing else, this will help him keep away.

But just for good measure, he grows a whiplike lizard tail, covering the end of it in thick, extra-reinforced lion fish spines.

As a final touch, he sprouts a pair of avian wings from his back as his form slims out a bit, switching from bipedal to quadrupedal while his body shifts its musculature from powerful and mighty to agile and flexible, the ever-present leonine head snarling at Cylynx. “I can satisfy that curiosity of yours, alright.. but I wonder if satisfaction will bring you back?”

With that, the villain spits a pressurized blast of water at Cylynx before darting around, flinging a cluster of venomous spines at the hero as he switches from head-on fighting to hit-and-run tactics.

Cylynx grins behind her mask, stepping towards the villain with a laugh. "My satisfaction will come from you behind bars."

The water jet is unexpected, stopping the hero in place but luckily it doesn't do much more than take some of the paint off. "Come now! Show me what passes for fury among your misbegotten kind!" The spines dig into and break themselves on her armor, sending further shocks across her body, ignored in her chemical fueled strength.

"C'mere!" Cylynx growls, crouching and leaping after Tarrasque. "When I get my paws on you, it won't be pretty!"

The villain does his utmost to stay out of Cylynx’s reach, continuing to launch venomous spines at the hero in hopes to gradually wear her down. All that really matters for him right now is avoiding getting hit.

Eventually, though, an idea comes to mind, but it’s going to take some time to cobble together. He maintains his mobility and avoidance of Cylynx, while his biology shifts his larynx to include biology related to several of his archive’s selections, all of them known for being able to either reach high pitches or volumes, or for having a lot of vocal modulation range.

Because of his focus on the shapeshifting he’s secretly doing and on not getting caught by Cylynx… he isn’t paying attention to someone he thought was already out of the fight.

They always counted out the plucky young heroine. Calvin had managed to struggle to her feet, the lionfish venom oozing from her wounds as the taffy like tendrils of flesh reached across the wounds. Muscle and skin knitting together as she held her hands tight together. She had to prop herself up against the wall, shoulder digging into the false rocky texture. Blood dripped from both hands.

The sphere that grew between her palms strained and she could feel it swirling like a whirlpool held within her hands. A ghost of a sting prickled at her nerves. This one was painful. It was going to hurt. But this villain wasn't holding back. He was killing innocent animals and spraying venomous quills around like a pissed off porcupine monster. He was scum and she wasn't going to feel too bad about this.

"New rule.." She muttered to herself. "Burn."

"CY BACK!"

She shouted at the same time she spun, launching the ball like a shot put right at the square of his back. A clear liquid splashing over him that would almost immediately begin to hiss. Calvin did not know this, but as scientists the both of them might know just how devastating hydrochloric acid can be to flesh in its purest form.

Cylynx leapt back putting space between herself and the villain as the ball of something splashed him, taking all of a second before it hissing started. Before the smell of flesh being chemically burned and turned to waste would start to emanate off the villain.

"Calvin, oh fuck!" Cylynx swore, she never swore it wasn't Heroic, as she scrambled for sealed hatches on Nemean. Rushing for her aerosolized nanites and a container of the same as a paste. "Nonono." Her medkit forgotten, the fast acting morphine auto-injectors inside would have helped at least for a minute.

So focused is Tarrasque in his hit-and-run chase with Cylynx, and on the shifting of his vocal biological structure, that he doesn’t notice Calvin’s projectile until it’s far too late for him to dodge. Immediately the acid begins eating through his natural armor and skin, and it causes him to suck in a deep breath and let out a ragged scream.

Except… this is no ordinary scream.

You see, Tarrasque had been shapeshifting his larynx, voice box, and vocal cords using various animal species available to him, specifically ones meant for high frequencies, high volumes, or both. The plan had been to use it as a sort of makeshift sonic attack. He’d also altered his lungs so he would be able to take in a deep breath and let it out over a very long period of time for maximum effect.

And now, Calvin Ball has caused him to reflexively make a loud noise, as loud as he physically can, as a reaction to pain.

Thus, when Tarrasque screams, it does not come out as a mere scream. No, it is an ear-piercing, gut-wrenching SHRIEK of agony and rage that just barely hits with a physical force before worming its way into one’s ears to savage their hearing. The various frequencies make sure every living thing in earshot can hear it, and the volume is so loud - loud enough that the reinforced glass of the tanks of water are shattering one by one - it is safe to assume that the entire zoo can hear this racket, the deep breath taken ensuring it goes on for a good long while.

Once Tarrasque finally stops screaming, vaguely remembering to shift his biological structure to compensate with a higher healing factor and toxic defense (good thing he swiped that axolotl scale while he had the chance way back when!) as he recovers, he staggers to his feet and returns to a humanoid form long enough to snarl at the heroes and then jerkingly hobble-run to the ball of gold he got hit with earlier and then start making a break for it.

Every good fighter knows when to cut their losses. And the time for Tarrasque to do so has been made quite clear.

The girl would slam her bleeding hands over her ears as the villain let out a screech that could never have truly been human. Her teeth grinding hard enough that she thought they might crack as she struggled to block it out. Stumbling back, away from Tarrasque just to escape the sound.

Her ears were still ringing when her mind pushed past the agony to realize that the villain had made his move, hurrying away from her. She seemed a little shocked by what had happened. The smell of chemically scorched flesh hanging in the air along with the scent of the shattered tanks spilling out across the hallway.

"I.. it was supposed to be hot water. What was that?"

The Nemean blocked some of the horrific noise, but there was only so much technology could do. Luckily for Cylynx her auditory implants kicked in and cut the rest of it from her soundscape, as if it didn't exist. She was beyond thankful at that moment that her previous team captain had allowed her to finish the upgrade.

"That!" She points at the now fleeing villain, "Was pure hydrochloric acid!" The smell of flesh hanging in the air, joined by fish and salt water. "And you are coming to the HQ for power testing and training!" Her finger flicks to Calvin as she steps toward the young Hero. "Do you need assistance?" She grits her teeth, as her mind is torn in two directions. The need to look after the young Hero and the need to chase the prey villain, if Calvin declined she would be out that door after Tarrasaque in a moment.

Tarrasque ran - rather, hobbled - for a while before shifting into a large winged form and took to the skies, taking no chances in his escape. He rather preferred to not end up in prison, thank you very much. He growled to himself, extremely pissed off towards Calvin Ball. He would remember this for sure.

Thinking of the brave little hero-ling reminded him of the strange healing factor that he'd noticed she was in possession of, prompting him to channel it briefly during his flight. He winced briefly as his flesh started moving to put itself to rights, and grinned as it slowly began to do so. This could certainly come in handy.

That he would be able to recognize the face of said hero-ling in the future and perhaps plan some of his future endeavors such that she could come and fight him later on... well, that was merely a happy little bonus. Especially since he wasn't responsible for whether or not Calvin Ball decided to jump into any potential escapades he may or may not have in the works.

Tarrasque chuckled quietly to himself as he kept flying, carrying a ball of solid gold in strong talons. Yes, the future would not be boring... especially since last he'd heard, a certain entomologist he'd been keeping an eye on was due to receive some rather interesting specimens in the near future. Perhaps he'd finally pay a visit...

All Calvin could hear was a painful ringing. Her head ached and she could feel warmth in her ears.

But Cylynx was talking to her. She was pretty sure? They had a helmet on that made it hard to tell.

Speaking louder than she needed to Calvin would nearly shout.

"He's getting away! I'm not sure what that stuff was but it really seemed to hurt!"

"Should we chase after him? Shake or nod your head I can't hear you!"

Cylynx groaned, the LCD screen on her helmet writing out words for Calvin to read.

"He's gone for now. Your health is the priority, there's always next time. You splashed him with pure hydrochloric acid."

She reached for Calvin's chin to turn the young Hero's head and check her ears. She knew they healed but it never hurt to be safe...

Calvin would flinch at the hand moving towards her face. But let Cyclynx move her head to the side.

"I don't know what that is! Acid is bad though right? Shit, I didn't mean to hurt him that bad!" She said aloud at a much higher volume than needed. Her ears had crimson in them, though the woman could see the flesh writhing almost imperceptibly.

"Should I go back to my school group?! I'll probably get in trouble if they can't find me!"

Cylynx would nod slowly, "Yes, Acid is bad" scrolled over her visor. "No, you won't be going back to your class. I'll have a PRT trooper explain that you were taken for questioning and a medical check up since you were close enough to the fight after you came out of the bathroom to get a good eye on it. We're going to Protectorate HQ. A handful of other civilians will be picked up as well."

Scene End or Timeskip to the PHQ, author's choice.