So I stood there, a group of armed men in front of me, and one of them is a half-giant who managed to almost shoot off my leg. Any sane person in this situation would go out and say, "Hey, this is fucked up! We should probably leave before we FUCKING die." - and to that, I think, I'd say that I agree but there's only one tinny, tiny problem with that; There are other people with me currently doing the job.
Well, they're not the exact problem per se but see, when you're a mercenary, you usually don't abandon other mercs you're working with on the job because that sort of thing is a bad habit, and often, bad habits continue. Which is why, when the others find out that I have that sort of habit, they're gonna try to fix it out of me.
Mainly through the removal of my head.
So that I no longer think about such bad habits.
Or think at all really.
Which is why, it's with all my heart that I stood up and pushed myself through the pain eating out my leg. I threw both my arms out into a showman's pose and then proceeded into a bow, "See that?! Heathens?!" I yelled, trying to keep the pain out of my voice, "This is what it means to be the fucking best!" What was I saying?
I, in fact, didn't know what I was saying at the moment but seeing the confusion in their face would've been ideal! But since they are wearing masks... Eh, this is a gamble anyways- "Now, let me show you what I can do to you as a Wave 8 Mutant!"
The moment of hesitation that I saw on one of the guards was opportunity enough and my hand reached out to grab his neck before any of them can react. I pulled, and he didn't even try to move until he was right next to me getting strangled to death. My arm coiled around the guy's neck, throwing his life under my own whims. He won't be a hostage, his friends are just gonna shoot him and hope their bullet pushes past his body to reach me when I do that.
No, instead, he's gonna be- With a kick to the ankle, I pushed the guard off of the roof and let him hang, "Hup!' - thrown back into his friends.
He tried to grab onto my arm as he dangled, probably hoping to pry them off of his neck but everyone knows what kind of outcome is gonna result to that. With a painful breath, I started running right. The slanted roof didn't help with the pain but who knew that my body is actually damage resistant enough that I can keep moving even with a bleeding leg?
Bullets followed me wherever I go and looking down, I saw that some of them were even specifically targeting my club. He was bleeding now, with his completely dyed in dark red.
When I reached the edge, I took in a mouthful of air, Theikos went through my skin and then absorbed to turn into minor regeneration. My legs started to heal by a little bit and that was preparation enough- "Hup!" I threw the arm holding the guard out like a fisherman casting his hook, my limb extended, getting further, and further. When I thought it was good enough, I turned back the way I came and started running whilst also slugging my arm toward the guards.
I jumped to dodge the shotgun shot of the half-giant. Then I tried my best to not look at the massive hole it made on the metal walls whilst calming my racing heart. It did not work.
Panicking, I ran past and away from the guy and watched as the result of my impromptu wrecking ball struck home and hit a large group of armor-wearing men. The weight of my "ball" also helped when some of the guards just so happened to be in the way of my "chain" during my throw. And I know, arms aren't supposed to be stronger than porcelain lined armor but hey, it happened. I know no one's gonna believe me when I tell the story but it really did.
I'm gonna tell people anyways.
I dodged a few ear bleeding shots from the giant until he ran out of bullets. And when I saw him remove the magazine from his gun, I just know that the two of us have had to have a conversation.
So as my arm went back to me after an attack, I used the other one to grab onto one of the holes before going down to where the giant is, dangling in the same manner as my ball did just now. I pulled my arm back in preparation for a punch, "HEY! DID YOU KNOW THAT MY ARM IS STRONGER THAN PORCELAIN?!"
His face distorted into confusion, "SERIOUSLY! IT REALLY HAPPENED!" When his eyebrows furrowed even further, I said, "WATCH."
My fist met his face and I got to learn firsthand that he did, in fact, have mods. The sound of a church bell echoed out through the entire street as if it was Sunday and we lived in topmost Gloria. I pulled my arm back, "Ouch." I said, trying to shake the pain off but the dull throb remained.
"Guess your arm isn't stronger than Gravity Metal." He grinned.
"Well, I said my arm-" And I was gone, pulled back by my other hand into the safety of the rooftops once more. "Hey! That's not fair!" I yelled to the man whose arm is stretched outward fist first. "You can't just punch someone when replying to a banter!"
"Heh." He scoffed, which somehow, is also deep. "We're not in the upper parts of Gloria, kid. You attacked the wrong warehouse for your first hero gig." He growled, "Ace doesn't like it when his shit gets threatened.
"Hah!" I laughed. Not because of his reply, but because somehow, he thinks I'm just some two bit hero trying to attack the warehouse of a criminal lord- Drug lord? Slum lord? Whatever. Point is, he doesn't know that I'm a merc, and that means the other four haven't been found out yet. 'I wonder what they're doing?' I was halfway tempted to press my comm device and talk to them.
Another puff of Theikos went used to boost my regeneration and I felt my leg and hand heal. A kick told me that it's now good enough to run without tripping me up from the pain.
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"Hurts. Doesn't it? Lasto wanna be." He pointed his shotgun at me again, "Let's see you survive-" Something under his arms began to glow and when he pulled the trigger, it was like the shotgun's recoil didn't affect him at all. "-This-" I ran, another shot, "-And-" Another one, "-This-" The bullets kept coming relentlessly, turning into heavy rain that peppered the metal walls behind me, turning them into swiss cheese and for the ones that were already shot, to shreds.
"Howee!" I said, faking a fall from the edge of the roof, I kept most of my weight on my legs as I threw my chest over the ledge and started rolling my arms into wide circles. I pulled back and stabilized myself before quickly facing the half-giant, "Can't believe you almost killed me!" I faked a cackle.
He snarled and tried to reload his gun even faster, even fumbling for a bit- "You know what? Mister half-giant?" I said, badly adapting the voice of a child. Which came out more as a constant crack in my voice.
"What?" He growled out.
"I'm gonna take out your people!" I jumped from the rooftop and into the ground with one bound and started running around the other guards- a stream of constant fire followed my wake as I used my flexible body to pull off backflips and do cartwheels like never before. Seeing that their armor managed to shrug off any other bullet that didn't come from the half-giant's shotgun, I felt pretty discouraged from using the gun Oliver gave me, and seeing that even their neck is covered, I didn't see any reason to use my throwing knives in close quarters.
I quickly leaped away just as I landed and found myself a few feet away from the nearest guard as well as safe from the shotgun blast that tore apart the upper half of a guy unlucky enough to be in the weapon's line of sight.
With my sped up perspective, it took one look for me to assess the entire situation; first, the guards are now almost half less than they were when this entire thing started, and second, the giant's magazines are starting to dwindle down into manageable levels. If I keep things up, I think I might even reduce that number down to zero.
So with that in mind, I observed the giant's face, especially his eyes. I know that the entire thing is modded, and with him carrying the weapon he has, he definitely has top-of-the-line mods, so shoving my knife down his eyes is a bad idea. His nose though... Come to think of it, does carbon-chain mesh stretch? Well, I'm about to find out.
Everything went back to normal and my hand quickly slid into one of my pockets to pull out a single throwing knife that I begun spinning around. I know that plasma bullets is probably enough to damage the giant but since I don't know if it will pass through his skin let alone kill him, I decided to test things first so knife it is.
With one jump, I went back into the middle of the guards and they went back to trying to shoot me down to no avail, only ever doing damage to their ranks instead of me. 'The giant especially,'- I thought with a wince as a man got blown to bits by a single pull of a trigger.
Feeling a bit confident now, I started moving close to some of the guards for a quick peck on their joints, armor, and at one point, I shoved my knife up someone's jaw to great success. And when that happened, I just started doing that as I went around the battlefield, dancing, moving, and stabbing up someone's mouth to kill them.
More and more of them fell now that I'm helping the giant cull their ranks, and I think he got an epiphany when he saw just how many of the guards were left because he stopped firing shots wildly and attempted to get close to me for a grab instead.
I didn't let him, of course, and I always moved behind guards so that there's something between me and imminent death.
A shotgun blast blew a four feet from my right and I twisted my heel and put all my weight in my ankle as I wrapped my arm around the neck of a guard elbow first, he coughed when I tightened my simple choke and that cough turned into a loud fit filled with viscous blood when I shoved my knife up his throat. I let the warm liquid run down my hand, dripping into my sleeves and soaking it wet.
I pulled out the knife and flicked my wrist, blood spewed forth into the floor and some went into his eyes, which he unfortunately just wiped off without flinching. I stared at the half-giant and he stared back, "B Listers are really different from us mortal men aren't they?" a deep rumble of a chuckle escaped his throat. He shook his head, "Amazing. I'm jealous. You know?" He said, cocking his shotgun, "It's just-" He pointed it at me and I dodged the blast. "-Unfair." His lips twisted into a scowl.
"That was the last guard." I ignored his complaints and looked around, "The only one left who didn't run away. Aren't you gonna do the same?"
"Do you always talk like that?" He asked.
No, but I'm not gonna tell him. "Are you running or not?" I unholstered my gun and flicked the safety twice, plasma shots can get used later. "So?" I pointed it at him.
He laughed, "It really is unfair. Here we are, me, modded, and you a mutant. We both have guns but we know who's going to win aren't we?"
I shrugged, "Whatever." I always thought that pre-fight banters would've felt cool, but instead, I had to deal with some jackass who's complaining about the unfairness of being a mutant when he's basically already half of one.
I aimed my gun and pulled the trigger, firing off two shots consecutively to get a feel for my weapon. The recoil didn't hurt and I barely felt them. The giant palmed his chest, "Didn't even hu-" I took another shot.
Running around him is easy now that he's alone and the man couldn't do anything as I unloaded my magazine into his face. Getting close and past the mouth of his shotgun made doing so easier as well. Seeing his frustration, I decided to turn my ammo plasma, "You should've picked a weapon that didn't have such a long ass body, then maybe this sort of thing would've been easier."
He opened his mouth to reply and that is when I shoved my gone into his mouth and continuously pulled the trigger, "See?" I said as he backed away in pain, after all this time, I finally managed to see something liquid seep out of him. It wasn't blood but motor fuel but it counts. "You wouldn't be able to do that with a shotgun."
A bestial roar muddled by water came out of his mouth before his internals glowed for the second time- an action that caused even more black liquid to flood out of his mouth. Though, the half-giant didn't mind one bit as he raised his gun and started firing recklessly and I, having already experienced it once, dodged the barrage easily by circling around the man faster than he can turn.
Click- "Ah. Time's up." I said, getting close and dodging an open palm ready to grab and shoving a knife up the man's nose. I didn't get to see the micro-carbon expand because the blade of the knife defied all of my expectations and cut through it with relative ease, tearing it apart and causing actual blood to go out.
It only took one more thing for the half-giant to fall- a barrel to the nose wound and two plasma shots later and his body limped. I watched as his body, either passed out from the pain of getting his nose cooked or actually dead, fell down. I stared at him emotionlessly as motor oil started to go down his throat, flooding his lungs and undoubtedly making the clean up later harder.
I raised my hand to tell the other four that I was done but stopped, 'Radio silence.' I reminded myself just as an explosion of ebony roses erupted from the warehouse right next to me. The plant grew mindlessly, encroaching the metallic building and reaching titanic proportions in a matter of seconds, "I think none of the four have that." I thought out loud.
"OH REALLY?!" Anissa's sarcasm was audible even through her scream.