[4-14] The Town

[Gildarts]

Within the dark flash of a blink, the secondary was ripped in half and died drenched in his own blood. Gore splattered the ground while pink intestines fell into a dense, sloppy pile; still etched into her eyelids was the depth of the horror in screaming secondary’s face. His name... What had been his name?

Blood coated her vision and pounded in her ears as she witnessed their enemy’s scaly skin wretching and distorting with each attack her allies unleashed into him. Trench-coat man stood tall while the party of primes seemed to take the upper hand, the beast almost looked human in the flickering toneless light of a nearby streetlamp and so did that menacing snarl protruding on his lip. The kraken-like tendrils swept across the street, falling onto the plague marine, the robot, and her man. Okor glanced down at the pest that had woven itself around his forearm, denting his beaten, rusty armor. He clutched the fleshy vine in his hand, grappling with it before his powerful wrath tore through it, delivered by an immense blow from his hammer. Raw calamari fell to the ground severed, while the other two weren’t so lucky. 

Colonel struggled as the serpentine tentacle slithered around his waist, dragging him in as his heels dug into the ground, sparking yellow against the rough asphalt. Abner’s ankle had been snatched, plucking the ex-soldier off his feet while knocking the air from his lungs. A groan escaped him as his head smacked the ground and he attempted to shoot at the tentacle that was drawing him closer to certain doom. Christa snapped from her daze and crouched on one knee, centering her crosshairs on the narrowest part of the Tyrant’s fat slimy appendage. Through the darkness, she caught the glossy gleam of its sickly skin, Abner was still anchored and in tow. Shots poured sporadically from his blaster and even fell on the sizzling cartilage but it lacked the sheer power to boil itself all the way through. 

Her perched finger never left the trigger as keen eyes trained their target, waiting for the right moment while Abner was dragged too close to the range where Trent had been torn apart. At a little over ten yards away, his fate hung in the balance of a single bullet, cocked in the sniper's chamber. The swiftness of the tendrils took her by surprise and Abner was suddenly dangling six feet from the ground. Shit. Christa’s fingers wouldn’t stay steady enough for a clean shot, true trepidation drummed loudly in her chest. The ex-trooper was swinging side to side like an upside down pendulum, strumming the strings of her fear, each for a different sound. If she missed or the monster jerked, she could hit him in the head and that'd be his tragic end. Brace yourself. she thought, smothering the world from her thoughts and aimed an inch above Abner's foot.

The sniper’s hand steadied.

Splat! The immortal hold on his ankle was freed as he fell on one side, the wave of harsh impact painfully extended to the furthest corners of his body. A severe screech of anguish grated against their ears setting those closest into a recoiling flinch. Next, she loaded a shot in the chamber for Colonel, who had since extended a glowing-green saber from his arm, slicing the tendril in an eruption of goop. Okor grunted to Colonel something inaudible, and the soldier navi dove into position.

It seemed liked they needed a decoy or distraction so Christa threw a shot, which crashed into the streetlamp’s crumpled silver frame, causing the steel to fall, missing the creature by a mere foot. Damn. The .EXE unloaded it’s huge fucking cannon into the aberration. Christa grit her teeth as she watched the large Nurgle swing the pole like a bat, ramming it right into the Tyrant’s face. WHAM! and he was down! But no one was vain enough to rejoice yet. Okor took this time to practice being a lumberjack, scoring one good hit into the mass of downed trench, but within the next swing, a larger hand extended upward and instantly, the hammer was stopped mid-air. 

The plague marine was seething, enraged smoke steaming from the cracks of his ancient armor, while the Tyrant wouldn’t even grace his nemesis with the bitter sound of its laughter. It rose, tossing off the navy trench coat and revealed a transforming body. Bubbling skin stretched to great lengths, revolted and remastered by fresh muscle mutating against the swells of dark bruises. “GRAHHHH,” the Tyrant roared, accepting his new form as though he were a butterfly freshly free from its cocoon. 

Around its muscles, creases of its skin glowed orange, Christa pumped a shot into the beast’s perfectly sculpted chest. It staggered at first, but she witnessed no pain. A twinkling copper shell fell to the ground next to her, a second replaced it. The beast’s sharp eyes caught on her and with remarkable speed, the assumed zombie-gone-wrong lurched out of sight. Seconds later, there was a sound of crunched metal as a compact car was launched into the dark air, perfectly aimed to descend on her very position. Abner couldn't tear his eyes off of her as he willed his lips to move faster than his legs, "Look out!" Christa scrambled to a stand, struggling with the painful weight of injury intermingled with fatigue that collapsed into her lungs. 

Whoosh-CRASH!!!! came the sound of clattering metal as Christa was clipped by the car and forced to the ground. The wheel's rims kept the car from pinning her legs completely to the cold tar, but it had been too close of a call. Tucking into her shoulder, the rifle’s sights lined up on the beast, now moving with enough finesse to juggle the three primes before her. The gunslinger didn’t have time to wonder where Red was, only enough time to squint her eye through the scope, and pull the trigger.

T1 supermove used. SP: 2/9 sp used