2.15

The way it stands now, there’s no way I can count on popping all of the… targets dotting the creature’s body, especially not with how scattered they are. The thing is the size of a horse, with two large talons emerging from its neck, and smaller limbs dotting its flank. It’s mostly covered in chitinous plates, but where flesh is exposed I can discern a strange, corded texture, not unlike muscle.

I’m not exactly high on reserves. I haven’t made any major changes using my power, and I’ve just been eating enough to stay mostly in shape, and using my power to make up the rest. Which means I’ve only been eating a little more than I used to. I won’t be able to do any large alterations or heal any serious wounds without compromising mass from some other part of my body.

This fight isn’t one I’m going to win; it’s one I’m going to survive. I’m going to need to be quick, take minimal damage, and destroy the glowing orange tumors in the safest way possible. I’ll destroy a couple of them in my initial rush, and play keep away until Jet arrives.

So, I make the first move. Gripping my tonfas, I drop into a slight crouch before leaping in a low dash towards the monster, closely tracking the movements of its front limbs as I close in.

It swings with its left talon, a lumbering motion that I easily duck under, even as it splinters the tile beneath me. I fall into another crouch and pull back my right tonfa for a right hook with as much power as I can muster, aimed directly at a tumor on its underside.

The weapon connects with a sickening thud, and the pustule bursts, spraying neon orange liquid over my face and arm. I don’t have the time to blink the fluid out of my eyes, so in response to movement from the corner of my eye, I drop into a backwards roll, barely avoiding another swipe from the creature’s jagged blades.

I blink away the gunk just in time to hear the thing grunt and watch one of the insect-things attached to a hostage let go and buzz its way on a collision course with the main body. It slams into the thing’s flank, melting and sliding under its skin with a sound like wet mud.

“N — not bad, appetizer! I may yet enjoy this!” The monster croons as Rebound edges around behind it, beckoning to the released victim. It lopes towards me, raising one of its larger blades above its head.

I stand and sidestep the resulting strike, wincing as wind from the force of the blow brushes my face and strands of my paper-white hair flutter detached in front of my nose. The talon buries itself in the tile with a crack, and I take another step back as the second talon descends into the ground next to it, spraying tile against my armored shins.

Too close for comfort, but it’s made a mistake; both limbs are occupied. I step around its arms, preparing to sprint forward and slam my tonfa into the tumor on its side when, just as I’ve shifted my weight forward and committed to the strike, a third limb bursts from its flank. It’s long and jagged like the other two, and it lashes out from above with surprising speed considering it just formed.

I kick the ground, halting my momentum and jerking my torso backwards. The talon skims my chest, tearing up armor and carving a thin spray of blood from my skin. It craters the tile, most of the shrapnel deflecting off of my armor, but I can feel sharp stinging as a couple shards pierce the suit and lacerate my shins. I think I hear one of the others cry out.

The creature twitches, and I can’t shake the thought that the attack was meant to be fatal.

I hesitate, just for a second. My first instinct is to use my power, seal the burning pain in my chest, but I can’t do that and act at the same time.

The creature doesn’t wait. All three talons are currently still buried in mall tile, but it’s still able to lurch closer as another talon bursts from its flank, warping and sliding from the main body into another overhead swing.

I yank myself backwards to avoid the strike, and then again and again as more and more full, bladed limbs emerge from the thing’s body, reabsorbing the former ones embedded in the ground as it goes. It barrels forward like a semi-truck, throwing out overhead slashes one after the other in alternating patterns, while I desperately back step the storm of talons.

My back hits one of the square pillars, and I twirl around behind it to avoid the next strike, ignoring the screaming pain stretching up from my torso to my shoulder.

The creature chatters, and I can hear it struggling to free itself from the pillar.

I take a moment to activate my power, letting the pulsing red film settle over me and the constant stream of biological information flow through my brain.

I seal the gash along my chest, as well as the smaller cuts along my shins, repairing skin and smoothing over musculature just enough to be operable.

The creature chitters on the other side of the pillar, even as I can hear its limbs grinding against the plaster and concrete. “More than I ex — expected, appetizer! Keep this up, and I may save you for last — perhaps you’d be better as d — desert!”

I grit my teeth. I need to be faster. If Jet gets here before I can get it to give up more of the hostages, she might not be able to free all of them fast enough.

 Plaster splinters and cracks, and the creature heaves itself free. “Come, meal! Prove your life!”

While it chortles, I spin back around the opposite side of the pillar, raising my boot and stomping on its leg. The limb snaps under my heel, and even as it dissolves and tries to reform, the thing falls, just slightly.

It’s enough. I grip the tonfa in my left hand and drive it straight into the glowing tumor at its neck, bursting it and spraying miscellaneous liquid over my arm.

The monster screeches, and every bladed limb that’s buried into the floor bursts into a flowing swarm of insects, clouding my vision with their dense mass. I stumble backwards startled, and before I can reorient myself, the swarm is gone, and the creature’s pulling back an enormous multijointed limb dotted with spines.

It blurs, and I feel the impact reverberate throughout my body with a sharp crack. The world spins, and my boots briefly leave the ground even as I’m launched back, skidding across the tile and dropping to my knees.

And then the pain hits, radiating from a point on my chest outwards. I choke down a scream and a fair amount of blood, trying not to breathe too heavily.

The creature chitters, and slowly stalks closer. Is it not going to attack…?

I decide to take advantage of its apparent hesitance. A red film clouds my vision.

My sternum and several of my ribs were broken in the strike, and from what I can tell there’s a large amount of internal bleeding and minor abrasions.

I… I don’t think I have enough left-over fat to completely repair bones.

“Hmm? What’s wrong, m — meal? That was only the first blow,” It taunts, voice warbling. I’m only distantly aware of it as I’m stitching myself back together, but I still feel the fear creeping in.

“Maybe you aren’t as filling as I’d thought you’d be. Maybe I’ll move on to the ne — next course sooner than I thought,” It says. I finish my repairs and exit the trance, preparing to make the first move again, when I catch movement outside the store.

I look away immediately, struggling to maintain my composure. I just need to hold out a little longer.

I lift my head to face the monster and wiping the blood from my lip. I can’t take much more damage. I need to buy time.

Gritting my teeth, I make a gamble.

“So,” I wheeze, “why the game… if you’re just gonna eat all of us anyway?”

“Red?!” I hear called out from behind me.

I shake my head subtly. “The map markers, the hostages. What’s the point?”

The insect thing stalks closer, its clawed, digitigrade legs scraping against the tile.

“You’re daring, meal. And durable. Well, I suppose…” It tilts its head, antenna twitching.

“This little excursion was a distraction, a task assigned to me by the terrible one who calls himself Faust. A dusty creature, you know, not fit for a meal,” it mutters.

“...A distraction?”

“As you say. A curious thing he is, you know? St — strange… one would think he would be greater.”

I glance back at the other two. Shield Warrior’s leaning to the side with a hand to his helmet, while Rebound stands protectively in front of the hostages. I jerk my head towards the giant insect. Rebound shrugs, a little desperately.

“But… we’re not the only heroes in the city?” I ask, turning back to it.

“Heroes? Ah, you tiny great ones. I suppose not, but you are the only ones watching him. Isn’t that strange?” The thing stomps the ground, sending shards of ceramic scattering. “Your master, a pathetic, greasy thing, great one though it may be,” it warbles, “it watches our terrible one and he will do nothing. Frustrating, yes?”

The creature rambles, and I watch as Jet slowly creeps through the entrance and settles into a crouch. I subtly motion for her to stop, and she stills, setting her hands onto the tile in a runner’s position.

“And he is obsessed with that pretentious museum, of all places!” The thing screeches, stepping closer until it’s practically spitting in my face. I tense. “He won’t let me eat this world, he won’t even let me eat a couple morsels! What kind of —”

I grip my tonfas and dart around to the thing’s right, ducking under a talon. Another one swivels over its neck from the other side, carving a thick gash into my upper left arm and spraying more blood onto the now-pinkish tile. I drop the tonfa in my left hand.

“Did you think I would not predict —” It starts. I ignore it and the pain, dropping my other tonfa as well and hauling myself up onto its back in one smooth motion. It immediately starts to buck, and I grab hold of a protruding spine with my uninjured arm to secure myself.

One of the tumors sits in front of me, near the base of the monster’s neck. My left arm isn’t usable even if I take the time to patch it up, and my other arm is occupied.

I don’t hesitate. All at once, I activate my power while leaning forward, taking a second to stop the bleeding in my arm, sharpen my teeth and slightly increase my bite force.

Then, I bite. The pustule bursts, flooding my mouth and nose with an overwhelming sickly tang, spraying all over my face as I tear it away from the thing’s body and let go of the spine I’m clinging to.

The monster screams and curses in its wheezing, warbling voice while I tumble onto the floor.

Spitting out the mess of glowing pus and stretchy skin, I shout. “Well?! My point, right?!”

“W — waste! Waste!” It crows, even as a third insect detaches from its hostage and slams into the main one. “Not even worth the effort!”

“Fine with me,” I mutter, raising my hand and pointing sharply across the cluster of hostages.

The creature tilts its head.

Jet leaps from her crouched position, firing at full blast from her palms and heels, kicking up dust, grime, and smoke. She clears the distance from the store’s entrance to its center in less than a second, nothing more than a shining blur across my vision.

She skids to a halt a good distance away, down one of the wider aisles, and slides into a low crouch, gloves and boots smoking.

“You’re crazy, Red,” she says, panting.

The smaller insects are piles of melting ash and flesh, dripping off and onto the floor.

A grin I didn’t even realize I was wearing stretches wider. “Checkmate, bug.”

Shield Warrior snaps a barrier into place in front of the three hostages near him. Then, he slides a puck across the tiled floor to the other four, a tall, rectangular barrier following it and sliding into position in front of them.

Beside him, Rebound leaps forward, static flowing off of her in waves. The creature splits down the middle, flesh melting and stretching where it separates and tries to move out of the way.

It doesn’t matter. Rebound touches down and the distortion around her pulses, a crater erupting and carving through both instances of the creature with the shockwave.

One of them bursts into a swarm of struggling insects immediately, but the other tries to retaliate, screeching and reforming its body into something that might have a huge upper talon.

It doesn’t finish before Rebound spins, fist connecting with it dead center with a crack.

The last insectile monster bursts into a cloud of flies.