“Grab your partner and get the hell out of here!”

Oliver didn't take the time to see if the officer listened, as he immediately turned and rushed back into the gym. With one of them badly shaken and the other near senseless on the floor, they were easy prey for the creature. Even if he was willing to let them die, which he wasn't particularly inclined towards as they were just doing their job, doing so could cause more problems- the system prompt specifically said that these creatures eat people to produce more of their kind.

And he definitely didn't want to try to fight two at once.

His face twisted in disgust and horror at the sight that greeted him on crossing the threshold into the gym. Purple glowing light flashed as the Rift pulsed and contracted. With each contraction, the creature within was pushed closer and closer to the nightmarish aperture until it fell to the floor with a wet sounding 'plop', despite the lack of moisture anywhere nearby. It reminded Oliver of a birthing video he had watched for an anatomy class, but twisted and wrong.

An image Oliver instantly wish he could scrub from his mind.

The creature flopped awkwardly on the floor in an uncoordinated heap, and Oliver saw the opportunity for what it was. He had no idea what things were like on the other side of the Rift, but it was clear the creatures needed a moment to adjust to this reality before they could function. Oliver practically flew over the gym floor, his Psi Blade appearing in his hands as he closed the distance. Every second, the creature adapted and grew more coordinated.

Twenty feet: the creature rolled over onto its side.

Fifteen feet: it flopped onto its stomach.

Ten feet: it managed to get its arms and legs underneath it.

Five feet: the creature pushed itself up to a crouch.

Oliver lunged forward, wind whistling from the speed of his blade passing as he sought to end the fight before it even began. Black, tar like blood splattered across the floor. With a small thud the severed hand hit the floor as the creature rolled away from the nearly lethal strike.

Chasing after the creature as it awkwardly rolled to its feet, he swung again and again. The ungainly creature was forced to dodge and tumble, constantly being pushed back. Cut after cut marred its pale flesh, and, for a moment, Oliver was thrilled at finally being the aggressor in the cat-and-mouse game he had been forced into with these creatures...

Then he saw his advantage slowly slipping away.

With every bumbling roll or graceless dodge, the wounds he was causing were shallower. The creature was adapting far more rapidly than he had expected. It had already reached the point where the loss of a hand was the only thing truly keeping their fight even. 'I need to change things up and regain the upper hand before-'

“What the hell is that!?”

Oliver's thought was interrupted by the shout, and his head snapped over to the gym door where it came from... And he immediately knew that he had fucked up. That brief moment of distraction was too much, as the creature went on the offensive. Its remaining clawed hand lashed out at his chest, and Oliver pivoted in an attempt to avoid it. He could feel as his armor, Lita, resisted the razor sharp claws, slowing them just enough that the attack skittered across his ribs and left three deep gouges.

Instead of ripping out his heart, like the monster intended.

Backing away from the creature, he shot a glare over its shoulder at Officer Beau before snapping at the man. “Get the fuck out of here you IDIOT!”

With the creature lunging and swiping at him, he couldn't afford to split his attention anymore. Left hand pressed hard against the bleeding wounds, he wove a frantic defense against the creatures attacks. The clang and clash of blade against claws rang out a discordant symphony...

'Or a dirge.' Oliver thought to himself grimly.

He didn't expect the accompanying percussion, though he hardly considered a pistol to be a musical instrument.

A gunshot rang out, and barely staggered the creature. But it was enough. Oliver feinted at the creature, causing it to skip back and giving him a chance to stabilize himself. It hunched forward as though preparing to pounce, not even flinching when the next shot shaved a chunk off its back.

'And why should it?' Oliver mused. 'Those bullets are doing less to it than my Psi Blade.'

The sudden impact and piercing pain in his shoulder sent him stumbling back, and he lost his grip on the blade in surprise.

Sensing weakness, the creature pounced.

Teeth gritted in pain and frustration, Oliver found the situation reversed once again as he took the creature's place awkwardly tumbling around the gym floor just to stay alive. Panic and desperation grew in his heart along side the number of cuts across his body. All the while, gunshots continued to ring out.

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Oliver cursed aloud when he realized that the cop was reloading!

And cursed again when the idiot actually helped him.

A shot to the head must have temporarily disoriented the creature, as its next pounce was off a couple feet to the side-right into the concrete wall. Rolling to his feet, Oliver pulled the shotgun from the system warehouse, raised it to his shoulder, and pulled the trigger. He roared in anger and pain as the gun kicked against his wounded shoulder. Then he shot it again. And again. When the creature opened its mouth to shriek at him, he jammed the barrel into its mouth and pulled the trigger.

The back of its head being blown out surprised him enough that he almost dropped the gun.

“So your insides aren't quite as durable, eh? Good to know.” He nearly groaned.

Reforming the Psi Blade, Oliver grimaced. He had burned through more than half his Psi already, and had no idea how long this job would last... And he wasn't sure exactly how fast his Psi would recover. A night of sleep would recover all of it, but he doubted he would get much sleep for now.

“A couple points an hour, I think? It was something like that when I tested it... So, something like six hours, give or take. Fuck, why didn't I keep notes?” He muttered to himself as he decapitated the creature.

Dismissing the Psi Blade, he reloaded the shotgun and stored it away again. It had already saved his ass twice, and possibly would again, so he didn't want to take the chance of forgetting his shot count if things turned rough once more.

Now that the creature was dead, he needed to take stock of his injuries... And figure out what happened to his shoulder, though he already had a guess.

Lita peeled back from the wound slowly, and Oliver could see it wasn't very deep. He could even make out, just barely, the deformed bullet buried in his flesh. With a glance at the dissolving creature, he could easily imagine what happened- the cop either shot him by mistake, or an unlucky ricochet. Probably a ricochet, and Lita had managed to slow it down more so it wasn't as bad.

It sucked either way. And it hurt, but the pain he could mostly ignore.

Looking around, he easily found the cop. Wide eyed and gun still shaking, Oliver was amazed that the man had managed to hit anything... And thankful that he hadn't been shot more.

“You mind putting the gun away? I really don't want to get shot again.”

Oliver's voice was soft, almost sympathetic. While he didn't really mind facing off against a monster straight out of a nightmare, he could only imagine the effect it had on someone else- after all, he was pretty messed up in the head and knew it, but other people didn't have that particular advantage... Or disadvantage, depending on the situation.

He felt it was definitely an advantage in this situation.

Beau twitched but didn't fire again. Slowly he lowered the gun, his mouth working soundlessly as he struggled to find the words. After a moment, he blurted out, “What the hell was that?”

“Let's step out in the hall to talk, ok? No! Don't look over there!” Oliver brought the officer up short as the man had started to turn towards the Rift again in his shock. “That thing will fuck with your head, and I think you've had enough of that already, right? So lets just calmly step out and talk.”

'I don't think you'll like this conversation, though.' Oliver thought to himself.

----------------------------------------

Oliver leaned against the wall, gently smearing antiseptic cream into the numerous cuts he had gained during the fight, while Officer beau checked on his partner. The man wasn't sobbing anymore, but it was clear it would take a while for him to recover.

At least he thought the man would recover. He couldn't really be sure.

“What the hell was that? What is going on? And who the hell are you?”

Oliver sighed and turned his attention to the officer who was simultaneously a huge pain in the ass and actually fairly impressive- his resolve was impressive, that is. His help... Less so, though he did manage to help, Oliver begrudgingly admitted. A little.

“You're not going to like the answers-”

“Don't tell me what-”

“Don't interrupt. Just listen.” The officer flinched at the cold tone of his voice and closed his mouth, though the glare he directed at him was intense. Oliver sighed and softened his tone a bit. “Look, I get it. You take your job seriously. But you just got slapped in the face with something crazy. Something you don't understand.”

“Then you look at the masked guy in front of you that looks like a criminal and think 'I know how to handle this, at least'... But, I hate to tell you, this whole night is beyond you. Sorry, but fighting monsters is kinda beyond most people.”

“Monsters aren't real.” Officer Beau scoffed weakly. When Oliver just waved vaguely at the gym behind him, the man flinched before seeming to rally himself. “Then... Then we need to call for backup. Or the army or something!”

Oliver smacked away the hand reaching for a radio and shook his head sternly. “Stop and think about it for a second. First off, do you really think anyone will believe this shit? You get on the radio to tell your boss that there are monsters here and you'll be out of a job in seconds.”

“Maybe they will say its drugs, or a nervous breakdown.”

“Second... Even if someone believed you, how long would it take for the army to get here? Or even enough reinforcements to matter? Your pistol barely annoyed the thing. A rifle or shotgun hurts it-a little- but those things are hard to put down. And, as you saw, those things are faster and stronger than most people can handle. How many of your people do you think it would go through before you manage to stop it? If you managed to stop it at all.”

The officer seemed to deflate as fear and confusion set in. “Then... Then what...”

Oliver awkwardly patted the man on the shoulder to console him. “Like I said, I get it. You became a cop to help people, to protect them from the bad guys. But in this situation... The only thing you can do is take your partner, get out of here, and tell them that it was just some random vandalism. Maybe post up outside to keep people away until the broken window can be covered.”

“Then you try to forget everything that happened here.”

“Just forget all of this?” Beau asked, bewildered.

Oliver shrugged. “What else can you do? At least you know there are people that actually can fight these monsters... And hopefully you'll take me at my word when I say that I don't think shit like this is very common. That's not much comfort, I'm sure, but it's all you've got.”

Beau nodded in resignation. As he stood to gather up his partner, he glanced at the multitude of wounds the masked man was just starting to bandage. “Could you even fight another of those things right now?”

Oliver waved dismissively. “I've had worse... I think...”