Fury raised his hand, and the Sonic burst seized.

"What was that?" Fury asked.

"Black Gem, Sir?" Clint answered.

"Snipers, watch for that, and Don, crank up the volume."

The sonic tanks went crazy, ramping up the volume and intensity. The air vibrated, and the beast in front of me shook and splintered as entire limbs popped up and evaporated. Only the black gem was left when Fury's guys were done. I shot at it with my rifle, earning another notification.

You've defeated an Eldritch Propagator. You've earned 60 Red Orbs.

The kill brought my count to 242 Red orbs, and I opened the Devil Arms tab, investing 100 red orbs in the weapon I'd had my eyes on for over a month.

Rebellion (Bonded) Grade 1, First Evolution (0/500 Red Orbs)

Arbiter (Unlocked) Grade 1, First Evolution (0/500 Red Orbs)

Osiris (Unlocked) Unlock for 350 Red Orbs

Aquila (locked) Unlock for 500 Red orbs

Eryx (locked) Unlock for 500 Red orbs

Ophion (Unlocked) Grade 1 (First Evolution (0/500 Red Orbs)

Ebony & Ivory (Unlocked) Grade 1 (First Evolution (0/500 Red Orbs)

I was tempted to summon it immediately and give it a cheeky swing, but the Propagators had other plans. The ground between the trucks burst open, and tentacles made of splintered wood and black ooze.

They lashed out, latching onto dozens of SHIELD soldiers, and wormed their way into their bodies.

Desperate screams ripped through the ranks, and I used Burst to close the distance between me and a leaping tentacle aiming for a soldier.

Rebellion materialized, mid-swing, severing the tentacle into two. My hand shot out, grabbing a hold of the retreating tentacle, and I yanked hard. The ground beneath us shattered as I pulled the monster to the surface.

Clint shot the bulbous mass below without prompt, causing the monster to shriek and squirm, but my grip grew tighter. With one final heave, I pulled it to the surface. The Propagator had taken over the body of an overgrown mole and had black ooze mixed with earth and wood chunks for tentacles.

With a disgusted scowl, I switched to Rebellion and ripped it to shreds with the Trillion Stabs. My hands blurred, and nearly 80 endurance points disappeared instantly, but when it was done, I'd shattered the gem animating the monstrosity.

It fell limp, and I received a notification.

Congratulations: You've defeated a Lesser Eldritch Propagator. You've earned 30 Red Orbs.

Nick Fury's POV

Everything went to shit.

One second, Donald had the monster on the ropes; the next, its buddies flanked us, but not from where we'd expected.

Five Big tentacles broke to the surface and attacked agents, three of which caught people off guard. Natasha fired an overpowered electrical attack from her Widow Bite gauntlets into the fourth tentacle, holding it steady enough for Clint to rip it apart with an explosive arrow. Dante practically teleported to the fifth tentacle and cut it in half with a sword he summoned out of nowhere.

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Before I knew it, he and Clint were two-timing the monster, and in a blink, it was dead. Dante pulled out a bullshit sword move from his ass that shredded the monster like Tofu.

Damn.

When Charles said he was exceptional with weapons, I expected some combat experience, not whatever the hell that was.

"Donald, call the lab and have them triple-reinforce the containment system."

I hope we don't need it, but I'd like to be prepared just in case.

As soon as the monster went down, the kid flickered again, appearing between two soldiers, and shoved them back. A modified gun with markings appeared in his hand, and he pointed it at the dirt while the whole world writhed around him.

The other tentacles had successfully seized soldiers, and they charged Dante as one, even as Units 2,3 and 5 ripped into them with shotguns.

Dante's gun glowed golden crimson, and a shot rang out, penetrating deep into the soil and eviscerating the monster below.

I heard a shrill scream as the monster broke to the surface, writhing. Dante pulled out a second gun and began rapid firing while he bounced on his feet, gaining some distance from the monster.

"Lend the Kid a hand. Take out the body!" I yelled to Team 2.

"Donald," I called. "Adjust the parameters…again."

Dante took the shot when the black gem in its main body revealed itself and faced the remaining tentacled monsters.

He raised a hand again, and his gun slowly gathered energy as he dashed towards Natasha with a jump kick, removing the head of the puppet soldier she was beating back with her bo staff.

"I didn't need your help," she said, "but since you're here, make yourself useful and help me distract it."

"Yes, Milady," he smirked and dashed toward the monster. It swung its broken arm around, aiming a rifle at him. Dante summoned one of his own and fired before it did, shooting the gun out of its arm as he laid into the beast with a nasty sidekick to the knee, dislocating it.

The bugger didn't even flinch.

Instead, it unhinged its jaw and snapped at Dante. The kid danced back, his body flashing with dark red energy, and socked it in the jaw, lifting it off the ground.

Exploiting the opening, Natasha pulled a dagger from her boot and swiped through the tentacle, separating the monster from a soldier.

She leaped onto the coiling, retreating tentacle and shoved a live grenade into the oozing wound before backflipping off it and landing on the ground.

An explosion sounded underground, tossing the monster to the surface. Dante summoned his other gun and ripped the monster to shreds, firing alongside every free gun on site. His charging gun went off, and the monster went limp.

Clint followed Natasha's footsteps, and another died thirty seconds later, but the last one on the surface did something we'd not expect.

It released the puppet soldier, who was nothing but bones at this point, and dove underground.

A second later, the ground beneath us began to shake, and I knew we were in trouble.

It was trying to combine with the monster that went underground after Natasha and Clint cut its tentacle.

"Fuck me," I swore. "Everyone clear out. Donald, overload the Sonic cannons. We can't let them finish."

–

Dante POV

Everybody gave the tanks a wide berth, even Donald, Fury's right-hand man. I guess it wasn't Coulson's time yet.

I was several meters away from the tanks when they went crazy.

The air screamed, and even the specialty earpieces that Fury had us wearing could not completely protect us from the damage. A few soldiers lost their footing momentarily, and others put even more distance between the tanks, but I drew closer, summoning Rebellion and a grenade.

When the monster broke to the surface, all hell broke loose. Three giant wood, stone, and metal-covered tentacles snapped out of the ground, lashing wildly. It sent several tanks flying, driving our team further back.

Fury let out a 'Mother fucker,' and ordered the soldiers to fire. They punched holes through tentacles, but the monster was still going strong. I threw a grenade at one of the limbs, completely devastating it, but to my surprise, one of the less injured tentacles scooped up dead soldiers and consumed them to regenerate its lost appendage.

I watched in curious alarm.

"That's new."

"Bring that son of a bitch down," Fury roared, and his soldiers sprung into action, slotting grenades into the launchers attached to their guns.

A few pulled out RPGs, and we fired as one, rocking the forest floor.

The monster came to the surface with a sharp screech. It was an amorphous, bulbous thing with three huge tentacles, dozens of smaller ones, soldier limbs, guns, and a vague mole-shaped head. It towered over us, standing at nearly twelve feet, and rushed at us with surprising speed.

"Scatter!" Fury ordered, and the soldiers bolted.

My muscles tensed up as I considered my options.

Fury's team needed breathing room to fight, and they wouldn't get that chance if the monster kept gobbling up soldiers.

"Put some space between you and that thing, but don't stop shooting," Fury ordered. "Dante, can you hold that thing back."

I set my jaw and let out a sigh as I summoned Arbiter.

"I'll take care of it."