[REND] 20.1 - Big Bad Wolf to the Rescue

Jumping off the boat, I decided to follow Dario, one of the top assholes in the city—I wasn’t too sure about this since I hadn’t done a surv

Jumping off the boat, I decided to follow Dario, one of the top assholes in the city—I wasn’t too sure about this since I hadn’t done a survey, but I was confident he’d land a high rank. Dario must’ve planted a tracker on the ship and was now returning to the other hero wannabes… and Deen. Would be fun to see how my best friend was doing.

Dario rearranged a bag slung over his shoulder and fiddled with something inside it. What came next was an explosion further ahead. He might’ve caused that; I remembered a plan to plant bombs during our meetings. It wasn’t a powerful bomb—it was more for making noise and spreading smoke instead of destroying stuff.

I let Dario pull away while I locked onto his scent. Gross, I’m smelling an asshole. I’d rather smell a mountain of garbage than this annoying guy. But I also didn’t want him suddenly looking behind him and spotting me.

Wait… why not? Wouldn’t it be fun if he saw me?

And why stop there? I could pick a fight with him. This would be a test of how much his powers would work on me.

Dario was boosted, but I was transformed! I had already faced two Adumbrae—Purple Mohawk and Smug Corpse—and they posed a challenge comparable to fighting children. Not that I had tried fighting children… as an adult. When I was a child, I had hurt several stupid kids. They got what they deserved for annoying me.

I bet Dario’s boosted headache field couldn’t knock me out. If I could comfortably endure it, I’d rough him up a bit. I could even bite off his arm. It’d be a preview of what I’d do to him someday.

I dismissed the idea of killing Dario right here and now because there were too many unknown variables at play. Like, what would the Professor’s reaction be? Would he send over a new leader to replace Dario? He might end up worse than what we already have. Or the secret organization might shut down the whole experiment thing, capture all the test subjects, and cart them to the labs.

And that included my pretty self. Wouldn’t want that to happen, so Dario gets to live another day.

I hopped on the roof of a long warehouse so I could see my assholey target. How should I make my entrance? Maybe I could loudly growl while hiding. Make him a bit scared. I could also just drop down in front of him and immediately attack. He had bothered me enough that I should be able to strike first without violating Rule #4.  

How much should I hurt him? There was also the problem of controlling my urge to eat him after he’d hit me with the headache field—I bet that’d activate the predator mind of this body. I wouldn’t want him headless after our encounter.

Huh… What’s he doing?

Dario threw an object into a smoldering crate that he passed. My super keen eyesight revealed that it was parts of an augmented arm—this must be one of the items that Johann bought at Marsh Row. He was making it appear that some augmented people were part of the attack.

Time to say hello to Dario since he seemed finished with his business. I didn’t want him to reunite with the hero wannabes before I got a bite. I sped up across the roof, growling to announce my presence. But a sudden burst of gunfire covered my suspenseful sounds.

A pickup truck had stopped ahead and unloaded a bunch of guys with guns. This was the ride I was looking for!

Dario didn’t bother attacking the armed guys, swerving left and finding another way to the largest warehouse in the base. His priority was rejoining the team. The regular humans chased him while continuing to shoot.

Regular humans? Or not.

Something odd with the sound of their footsteps. They were heavier than they should be. I also couldn’t hear even a single heartbeat from their group. No human scent either. Instead, I picked up a note of earthiness. They were the terracotta warriors!

Going to be fun to see Dario’s reaction to them. But first, I needed to secure my ride out of here.

I leaped off the warehouse and landed on the roof of the pickup, right above the driver. He screamed like a choked banshee. I left my shopping box on the roof and dropped to the side. I growled at the driver, hoping he’d scrambled to the passenger’s side and exit the door. Instead, he shot a gun at my face.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he yelled in a high pitch as he quickly emptied his pistol, shattering the window.

I was freaking right there, but most of his bullets missed. A couple did hit my forehead. It didn’t hurt me—I didn’t crave for his flesh—but that should be enough for Rule #4. This was his fault.

“Grooarrghh… roohhh,” I growled. I gave you the chance to escape. I reached through the window and caught his head. A tiny squeeze to compress his skull, and he was dead. Blood oozed out of his eyes and ears. That was almost painless, except for one moment of extreme pain.

I wasn’t a sadist who relished torturing people. I was such a good person.

Then, I unlocked the door from the inside and draped the corpse over the driver’s seat. There. Why would anyone bother with the truck with a dead guy on it? This man was like my scarecrow. I also took the key, ensuring no one drove away with my truck. I placed the key inside my box of goodies. Then I stowed the box in the backseat of the pickup.

Everything was going well—I’m jinxing myself, aren’t I? I had finished my shopping and secured my getaway vehicle. Now, I had to wreak more havoc to make my escape easier later, while making sure that Deen was alive. Oh, and I had to mess with Dario!

Following his scent, I found him at the side of the main warehouse, karate chopping a terracotta dude into rubble. I looked down on them from the rooftop. Judging by the other pieces of broken pottery around him, he had already discovered their shenanigans. There were also some spots of blood on Dario’s clothes. How did he get hit?

Oh! The idiot!

I could guess what happened. Dario neared the clay pot boys to use his headache field, expecting them to drop unconscious because they were supposedly normal humans. His powers didn’t affect them, obviously. And then, his moronic ass got shot. Well, the pottery guys didn’t manage to kill Dario because he was tough, and the booster made him tougher. He made short work of them with his fancy martial arts.

Dario closed in on the last terracotta dude, weaving like a fly to dodge the bullets. With a kick, he knocked away the clay guy’s hands and the gun he was holding. Dario twirled for another kick to smash the clay guy’s midsection.

But the clay guy blocked his kick. Dario jumped back just as the terracotta guy punched… with a reformed hand? It was no longer an earthen figure! It had turned into a person. An Adumbrae, judging by how fast it moved.

Is this the Adumbrae who controls the terracotta warriors?

Smug Corpse mentioned his name, but I couldn’t remember it. Something that started with an ‘F’. He’d be known as the Clay Coward, from now on, because he just sends his minions to fight instead of showing his face.

However, he decided to switch to his creation now for some reason. He might think that he could take on Dario, but he didn’t know I was here, too. Another Adumbrae brain to add to my shopping cart!

I dove down on Clay Coward, who got into a boxing stance to fight Dario. I landed on Clay Coward, who shattered into a bajillion pieces. Only the clothes, including the body armor and helmet, were left behind.

What? I was certain Clay Coward was there right up to the last moment. I heard his heartbeat. How did he know I was coming?

My ears wriggled. I looked right, at a red shipping container. On top of it stood a man, completely covered head to toe like the other terracotta dudes to hide their true nature. Clay Coward had switched over there. He lowered his visor to reveal human eyes.

“I got you there, didn’t I?” he shouted, chuckling. “You’re such an idiot for—woah!” I threw a helmet at him, hitting and shattering a terracotta body.

Instantaneous switching with his creations? How could I—? I looked at Dario. Oh, right.

Dario didn’t attack or run away. If I were to guess, he remembered my story about a mysterious woman who defeated Purple Mohawk, saving Deen and me when we were kidnapped. He’d be right to suspect that it was me.

Did he think I was a possible ally? A lead to Kelsey’s location? Another enemy faction?

“Are you fighting them?” Dario asked, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Mark and Big Marcy’s organization? We’re fighting them as well.”

“Grraoo hraoor…” I’m going to attack you if you don’t leave. Of course, he couldn’t understand me. And that’d be his fault.

I was in a dilemma. There was awesome drama potential in pretending to be allies with Dario. I was after the drama and confusion—I had no plans of allying with Dario for long. But I also couldn’t let him be without at least losing an arm for being an asshole. Yep, the artificial Core was beneficial to me, but Dario still bothered my peaceful life big time. Since I couldn’t talk with this monster mouth—dialogue being my favorite part of drama—I picked fighting him.

“I propose an alliance,” he began to say. “We’re open to working with Adumbrae and—”

I lunged forward with my claws. He evaded with the least movement necessary to keep up with my speed. His headache field activated. It felt like drills were boring into my brain. I couldn’t think straight, and my vision became hazy. Taking advantage of the opening, Dario landed several kicks and punches on my body, flinging me against the side of the red shipping container.

An insolent creature! He was just prey!

The rage that burst inside of me fought back the pressure on my brain. I didn’t care about the migraines! I didn’t care that I couldn’t see straight! I charged at Dario, relying on my nose. He threw something at me. I caught it with my claws. The object sent massive shocks through my body. I crushed it, and the flow of electricity stopped.

Dario was already running. Too bad for him that I was faster.

As I was about to catch him, he twisted around and grabbed my arm. He did some kind of judo bullshit hold. A sudden weakness overcame me. But I was still stronger than him, fueled by anger and hunger. I broke out of his grasp with sheer strength and latched my claws into his arms.

Dario didn’t make a pip as my claw drew blood, only grimacing. His headache field came on again. He forcefully pulled away as I got stunned for a moment. My claws tore his flesh, but he didn’t care, desperate to free himself. As he jumped up, I managed to grab his right ankle. I pulled and slammed him against the shipping container, and then the ground.

I bent down to bite his face off, but he lodged his right arm across my mouth. With the other hand, he grabbed my head and used his weakening touch again. My predator brain wavered for a moment. The sanity of my Erind self surfaced to take control.

Don’t kill Dario! I had uses for him, and I wouldn’t give him such an easy end!

I closed my jaws and bit off his arm. That finally made him scream. Quite satisfying.

But before my predator instincts ramped up, forcing me to eat him, I threw Dario to the roof of the warehouse. Then I ran away and headed to the other noises of fighting. My idea was to get into another fight to switch targets, distracting me from Dario.

His severed hand dangled from the side of my mouth; the skin had snagged on my fangs. I tossed my head, throwing the hand up. I caught it with my mouth and munched it.

Wrong move. It fueled the urge to finish off Dario. I willed myself to continue running. Large creatures nearby. Inhuman heartbeat. Sounds of large movements. Adumbrae, who had transformed? And maybe Myra, too.

Was that her scent? I hadn’t smelled her in my transformed state before, but I had a suspicion this was her. I climbed the side of three stacked shipping containers to get a better view.

There! Two monsters were fighting!

One was a golem of metal and cement—most probably Myra. The other one was a pile of muscles. Was that the head? An arm? I couldn’t understand it. And it smelled, really, really weird, as if several people were inside. Thick tentacles shot out of the mass, whipping at Myra. The sounds of the powerful impact were like explosions.

Pieces of Myra’s armor got chunked off, but she just reformed them, sucking up the ground. Tentacle Pile changed tactics; its tendrils grabbed Myra’s limbs and started to pull her toward it. Its tentacle oozed acid, chewing through Myra’s armor.

Was the Adumbrae trying to absorb her? She struggled to break free as more and more tentacles appeared.

I walked off the side of the container stack and joined the battle, slicing away the tendrils to free Myra.

Tentacle Pile tried to grab me, but I was too fast. I shredded any tentacle that came close. I should’ve let it injure me to trigger my predator mind, but it was just a fucking gross creature.

I glanced at Myra, pointing at her, then at me. The alliance plotline had another chance with Myra. Think of the branching storylines this tandem would create! The confusion and misunderstanding! Myra would think I was good, while Dario would have a different view.

But Myra simply stared at me through the slits of her giant metal helmet. Did she understand that I wanted us to work together? She probably was suspicious of a monster showing up out of nowhere and fighting the 2Ms. I had to demonstrate that I was on her side.

I sprinted at Tentacle Pile and tore away everything I could reach.