A Friend You'd Never Wish For

[Zachariah Irons]

Zach was walking down the road slowly, hands in his pockets, enjoying the fresh air. It was a sunday and the sky was cloudless surprisingly. For being in the North East, he'd figured they'd have rain/snow every day for the winter but today was just a little cool, hence the zipped up red leather jacket. He figured he might even go out on a limb and invest in a scarf.

He was passing by an elementary school, deserted on the weekend and probably the only one around for miles. The chain link fence that surrounded it brought back some childhood memories for Zach and he suddenly felt old. He was confident that he shouldn't feel too old but he still felt it. As if it was amazing enough to think that kindergarden had been 17-18 years ago. Someone older would probably tell him to just wait until he hit 40 or something but fortunately none of them were around.

He pulled a babe ruth candy bar out of his jacket pocket and slowly unwrapped it. He loved the candy but hated how crumbly it was when he tried to eat it. If he didn't hold it up above his head, he'd spill crumbs all over and wouldn't find the little pieces of chocolate until after they'd already melted themselves to some article of his clothing. And so Zach continued down the sidewalk, beside the elementary school, trying not to get his candy bar all over his jacket.

[Abomination]

Tracking...
Target heading Southwest through residential area. Unit one, what is your position?

Black combat boots scuffed noisily against the uneven pavement; the target had passed this way not too long ago. The leading operative of the unit jammed a gloved thumb against the red button of the link device that was attached to the shoulder of the completely black uniform worn.

"Standing by at the east end of the residential development."

Continue standing by, Unit one. Unit two is about to engage the target at the Silvercreek Elementary School.

-----

There really was no formation to their offense as the target would see right through it. Up until now, it had only dodged around their convergence points; not that it hadn't suffered for it. It was confirmed that several tranquilizer darts had been seen penetrating the creature's shell, but obviously it was still on the move.

Gesturing the team forward, the leading operative of the second unit tore around the right corner of the school block and came face to face with the man who appeared to be eating a candy bar. Blond brows slanted beneath the black mask he wore and he lifted his NYX issued rifle.

"Get down to the ground, now!"

[Zachariah Irons]

What the...?! Zach dropped the remaining half of his candy bar as he looked down to see a bunch of neofascists in black with rifles pointed at him. Guns? Who the...?! Zach slowly went down to his knees and then braced himself against the ground with his hands. He hated the feeling of hot concrete against his hands. Hated it. He kept looking up though as the black figures began to advance. What were these guys doing in the playground of an elementary school? Seriously?!

[Abomination]

Ignore the civilian and locate the target!

One of the unit operatives glanced down to the tracking beacon on his wrist device, his eyes widening behind the black goggles adorning his face.

"It's right on top of us, sir!" The man shouted, spinning around anxiously and searching for any signs of the creature. A terrible silence assailed the playground and then perspective flashed back to the commander and the young man.

"Stay down, kid.. if you want to live..." He murmured, heavy breathing amplified by the equipment strapped across his face. "This thing is-"

Crunch...

--------

Was it really her fault that they left themselves so open? She couldn't even imagine this guy's thoughts as he watched her. Massive jaws opened and came to unhinge right before his widened gaze and dripping fangs came to bury themselves deeply into the human's cranium after piercing the mask. The soldier screamed, a terribly exciting sound, and his gun fired wildly in the air.

Rolling her eyes, she added just a hint of pressure that had bone and armor alike collapsing. After that was done, she pushed off his torso with her clawed feet and flipped around to his backside, shredding flesh as she went. More guns went off and the creature known only as Abomination gazed down in mild annoyance at the darts protruding from her neck and abdomen. Wretching them out impatiently, she flicked a glance to the man on the ground.

"You should be running..."

[Zachariah Irons]

You should be running...

He should be running! Jesus! That thing just ate that guy's face off!

Zach felt like wetting his pants was okay at the moment given the circumstances. But the dead guy, well, who's advice might not be best heeded given he died shortly after giving it, had said to stay down if he wanted to live. He wasn't too sure that would really work anymore given this... thing in front of him.

"Uhhh..."

Zach felt his body tense, that sensation of his whatever-power-it-was clicked in and as he braced himself to stand, the concrete sidewalk beneath his hand shifted and cracked. He instantly let up on how... dense he felt, but not nearly enough to let his guard down. He couldn't escape something that moved like that. What could someone do against something as totally twisted looking as that!? And it even bloody talks!

And why were those guys only shooting darts with those guns? What was going on? When did Zach step into the twilight zone and ask for elementary school playgrounds to become open warfields.

[Abomination]

The moment the ground cracked, she was tearing away from her location beside the young man. Surely they hadn't sent someone like him to assist in her capture? If so, she could only assume that things had been taken out of Erebus' hands because it really wasn't his style. Now, these black clad goons had his stink all over them.

Abomination let out a feral sound that was, curiously, a hybrid between a hiss, a growl, and high-pitched scream. Then, after little debate and even less warning, the creature began to tear into the other operatives situated about the school yard. They just kept coming...

"Get the hell out of my way..." She growled, her throat contorting. Opening her mouth wide, she sprayed the trio of soldiers before her with the digestive acids that had built up in her throat sacks and admired how swiftly they dissolved into piles of green gore.

Then, light and terrible sound.

Slapping her clawed hands over her ears, she flew backwards and collided with something solid. Something.. warm..?

[Zachariah Irons]

Zach's ears were ringing as he struggled to get up. What the...?! Where had that come from? What blew up? And how had Zach been blown beneath debris standing on the side of a street in a practically open field? Debris? From what?

The white flash imprinted into his eyes slowly faded and reality seemed to catch up with itself, the ringing persisted however. It took about three to five seconds before Zach was officially freaked out. The acid spitting, face eating, clawed... thing was laying on top of him. He wasn't sure if the flash had knocked it out or what but he really wished he was anywhere but here at the moment. He was literally scared for his life that she might turn around and vomit her acidic spit all over him the second she regained some ounce of awareness.

And there was his half-eaten candy bar, just out of arm's reach on the sidewalk.

[Abomination]

A rather horrendous slew of quiet expletives left the creature's mouth, but other than that it failed to take action. White hot lights were still exploding behind tightly sealed eyes and there was a dreadful ringing in those ears that were hidden behind folds of black cartilage. The fall, admittedly, wasn't as bad as one might have projected it to be. Rampant signals darted around the massive cerebral cortex tucked safely behind a reinforced skull. The soldiers in black were rapidly, but cautiously, closing in upon the location of the crash landing.

She would always be one step ahead of them..

Dermis stratum slowly peeled away from the powerful extremities draped carelessly over the man she had toppled upon. How simple it would be to let torrents of acid spill from her lips and melt down the matter that served as her cushion! However, this one had harmed her none at all and so she'd leave him out of this rather unfortunate circumstance. She. The feminine aspect of the creature was becoming more and more apparent.

Wiry tentacles that had spilled forth from her head like lively dreadlocks retracted back into their origin and the last of the black coating faded away from the flesh of her face. Hidden beneath layers of the monster's guise was a girl of no more than nineteen; her head was topped with a drastically modern haircut and her toned but pale frame was exposed to the howling breeze.

"Nnn...." Came the girl's voice, no longer contorted by the overlapping vocal chords. "Stay quiet... they're coming..." She murmured, opening her disoriented gaze just a crack.

The soldiers had yet to record the speed of her transfiguration. She'd use that to her advantage and slaughter them all when they came into range to collect her.

[Zachariah Irons]

Holy... What in the... Zach suddenly had the image spring to mind of that kangaroo on that weird End of the World flash they used to watch at college all the time saying 'WTF MATE!?!?'

Because this blue haired femme fatale, stark naked as she was, had just told him,

Stay quiet... They're coming...

What was going on?! Zach was so confused that he was on the verge of developing a headache.

"Hold on, one sec, lemme get up. I'll talk to 'em. They won't shoot people in broad day light, c'mon. Lemme up."

[Abomination]

The young man was rigid beneath her, murmuring hurried pleas that meant so very little; she'd been shot several times and talking things over with these guys was as good as surrender. That was entirely below her; Years of experimentation had turned her into a monster but she still had a hint of humanity in one instance, her pride.

"You're sweet, but no." She replied in a whisper, leaning her face closer to his own. The movement was so subtle even the soldiers would have missed it. Upon closer inspection, one might witness the writhing flesh as it prepared for transfiguration. Saffron eyes bore down into the young man's own and the ghost of smile curved her lips before they parted. From the black chasm of her mouth came a tongue, completely reptile. The sleek muscle glided against his cheek and then retracted. Transformation struck.

She inhaled sharply as three of the soldiers came into range of her tail. The utterly strong extremity tore through her human flesh and the honed tip sliced away chest protection covering her shocked targets' bodies. Another swift swipe split chest cavities and spilled hefty amounts of bodily gore across the shattered pavement.

Darts went wizzing past her head and she promptly flipped away from the man she had landed upon. She tossed a glare behind her at the remaining soldiers. This would be a piece of cake...

[Abomination]

[Silly computer. My bad.]

[Michael Lawston]

Well now this was interesting. Saladin had caught notice of their destructive little reptillian friend and promptly sent Arsenal to investigate; whether or not that was a wise idea would remain to be seen. As from the current situation, the man had caught a good portion of the battle from his unassuming perch atop the school’s roof where he could see all.

But this was positively boring him, confidant as she seemed…or crazy possibly, it was all the same in Michael’s book…at the rate things were declining the girl would find herself strapped to a gurny and pumped full of who-knows-what-kind-of-drug.

As such Arsenal decided it was easier just to end things himself. He rose to his feet and steadied a rifle that materialized out of thin air.

BANG

BANG

BANG


And bodies of the three remaining mundanes fell to the ground. Bored once again after the short rush, Arsenal dropped from the top of the building and leaned the rifle against he shoulder.

“Neat trick you got there. Strip-tease could use some work though.”