[ Lucy's had a stressful few days. First, Adam Smasher had appeared on the news. That was bad enough. And then, she'd gotten herself corrupted by a lepidoperative. She only remembers half of what happened during that, blurry memories of fighting Otherworlders and clinging onto the side of buildings, eight legs underneath her, her body modified in ways she'd never have anticipated.

Luckily for her, she'd been uncorrupted, and she's not a torso on a big chrome spider body anymore. Go team.

It doesn't solve her other problems. Smasher is still out there, though Lucy's doing her best to dissuade any Otherworlders from seeking him out. She's still running on sheer terror, but even her resilient mind can't function like that for long: days after Smasher's appearance, the terror has become blunted from exhaustion. Or maybe it's even worse. She can't tell. Her heart is still beating too hard, always, all day.

And then she sees fucking Gilgamesh on a city security camera setting fire to shit.

When she gets there, he doesn't sound like Gilgamesh at all, and-- shit. He's been corrupted, hasn't he? That's terrible fucking news, because when Lucy gets corrupted she can still be beaten by excellent fucking fighters. Who the fuck is going to beat a corrupted Gilgamesh? She stands precisely zero chance. But she's got to try anyway. ]

I think people are gonna have an issue with that plan.

[ She makes herself known behind him, blowing out a cloud of vapor from her verve vape, deliberately casual. ]

Besides. If you purge everything, who's going to be left to begin it anew? I think I found a flaw in your plan, goldilocks.