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Logistical problem in the climactic battle of my fic

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Metalitia Transsexual needs <3 from New York City Since: Jul, 2009
Transsexual needs <3
#1: Dec 4th 2010 at 1:27:09 AM

The context: I have an Action Girl and her Love Interest (one of them, anyway) standing between the bad guy and his escape route, firearms aimed squarely at him. They've just (with help from deputized recruits) incapacitated 3 of the bad guy's lackeys and all that's left is him.

What's about to happen: the bad guy will reveal he had a FOURTH lackey that they hadn't seen, who will show up to promptly get dealt with, but while the 4th lackey is being dealt with, the Action Girl needs to get killed via a BFS swipe (that won't be the problem) from the bad guy, and the deputy Love Interest, who gets a trio of Big "NO!"|s in response, before grabbing the Action Girl's lethal gun (his is equipped with non-lethal rounds) and doing away with the bad guy.

The problem: The Love Interest needs to get slashed across the face in his eye area (blinding him and causing super-intense pain), after the Action Girl is killed (she gets better, and so does he), and by the time the lackey's dealt with and the bad guy gets killed, there won't be an opportunity for that, save for an Ass Pull (the bad guy's death rattle or something; or worse, the Love Interest getting the killshot off via Dare Devil-like radar-senses or something that never showed up beforehand to begin with) that I really just don't wanna do.

Basically, I need, in roughly the following order:

  • 1. incapacitate the 4th lackey (not a problem)
  • 2. kill the Action Girl
  • 3. Love Interest kills the bad guy and, distraught over losing his love, is about to use her gun to blow his own brains out but is stopped by Action Girl's wife (a Battle Couple with the Love Interest basically turning them into a polyamorous situation, but that's not part of this problem)

  • 4. and finally, blind the Love Interest in a plausible manner either before or after he (it HAS to be him, since I don't want to deny him the big revenge kill for both the Action Girl and his maternal Sexy Mentor's deaths, immediately and hours before, respectively) gets the killshot on the bad guy.

I was thinking possibly an explosive device via deadman switch on the bad guy/lackey that would cause the blindness, but by that point, Action Girl #2, who'd be on the scene at the time, would be able to cover the Love Interest and save him from the shrapnel. Plus, that would negate the part where Love Interest tries to kill himself over losing Action Girl #1.

So basically, I need a scenario where the villain is now dead, Love Interest is stopped from killing himself, AND THEN he gets painfully blinded (which leads to the ending of the story—it's an origin story) and Action Girl #2 can't prevent it.

BTW, moving the 4th lackey's appearance to after the bad guy's death wouldn't be effective, since the Battle Couple generally has nano-enhanced senses and reflexes and would've stopped him before he could swipe at Love Interest.

Gah, I hope this bunch of text didn't sound too weird—I'm up at 4:30 AM typing this and I'm a little wired.

edited 4th Dec '10 1:34:29 AM by Metalitia

It's better to be right than liked. Really. I Just Want to Be Loved
RTaco Since: Jul, 2009
#2: Dec 4th 2010 at 1:32:46 AM

You could have the villain blind him before getting shot. The love interest firing blind doesn't have to be Daredevil-esque; the bad guy could just be loud and/or close enough for him to know where to shoot.

Metalitia Transsexual needs <3 from New York City Since: Jul, 2009
Transsexual needs <3
#3: Dec 4th 2010 at 1:39:36 AM

Bad guy is genetically enhanced, and is wearing both a deflector shield AND a vanish-cam (like the invisible car in The World Is Not Enough) displacement field. It takes precise, trial-and-error aim to hit the part of him that'll bounce to a kill-point, and the one character doing it blind amounts to Dare Devil-level Ass Pull (and like I said, I didn't wanna write anyone else getting that kill), so it's unfortunately not an option.

It was actually the first solution I'd thought of, too, but then I realized how ridiculous and not-set-up-well-at-all it would've been.

edited 4th Dec '10 1:47:06 AM by Metalitia

It's better to be right than liked. Really. I Just Want to Be Loved
66Scorpio Banned, selectively from Toronto, Canada Since: Nov, 2010
Banned, selectively
#4: Dec 5th 2010 at 9:27:25 AM

Bad guy kills Action Girl and tries to make good his escape. The Love Interest rushes to her side and thinks she is dead. The bad guy pauses, turns, and makes some comment or gesture to the Love Interest who, enraged grabs Action Girl's gun. At this point, the bad guy is standing on or near something large and explosive. Instead of shooting the bad guy, the Love Interest shoots the explosive thing, blowing up the bad guy but taking a shrapnel wound himself that temporarily blinds him.

Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are probably right.
Metalitia Transsexual needs <3 from New York City Since: Jul, 2009
Transsexual needs <3
#5: Dec 10th 2010 at 6:08:35 PM

Update: I have resolved the issue, in roughly the way mentioned here.

The solution: Action Girl gets slashed to death (she's dead, but she comes back to life much later in a lab), Love Interest fires everywhere he can until Designated Bad Guy's shields fail, and Love Interest can finally shoot Bad Guy accurately (and non-lethally, now that the shield and deflector don't PWING the shots away), and Bad Guy collapses, with a gun being tightly held in his other hand. As Action Girl 2 shows up, Bad Guy reveals his gun is also a Deadman Bomb, and with a Creepy Grin, he lets go and Action Girl 2 pulls Action Girl 1 and Love Interest out of the explosion range, but is just slightly too slow as both she and Love Interest get shrapnel'd. Action Girl 2 has Healing Factor (even though there's a huge piece sticking out her back), but Love Interest loses his eyes (from the shrapnel) and the explosion itself scars his face.

(Luckily, all 3 of them get better over the course of the next several paragraphs.)

Thanks for the feedback, you two. I'll be posting a link to the story on my troper page when I put it up.

It's better to be right than liked. Really. I Just Want to Be Loved
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