Meanwhile, Hunter was lost in town.
"…damn it…" he growled to himself. "I'm gonna get that kid if he's been leading me on."
Suddenly, something crashed directly in front of him, whilst snarling.
Hunter stopped with a wary step back. Slowly, the figure turned towards Hunter, and he saw who it was; a towering hippopotamus, who cracked his neck menacingly. "….oh great…" Hunter growled sarcastically.
Roaring, the hippo suddenly spun around to punch at Hunter. Hunter ducked under the punch, and used his telekinesis to hurl the hippo over himself into a building.
It didn't take long for the hippo to suddenly charge out of the hole in the building; holding a barrel as he hurled it straight at Hunter. Hunter stopped the barrel right before it would hit him, and just hurled it right back at the hippo. With another roar, the hippo just smashed the barrel as it shot towards him. Hunter made sure to keep his distance while the hippo was on the offensive. The hippo simply roared as he grabbed nearby objects to hurl straight at Hunter. Hunter either deflected the objects with his telekinesis, or tried throwing it back at the hippo. The hippo proved to be exceedingly powerful, as he simply charged his way through the objects Hunter flung back at him.
Hunter grunted. "You're certainly a hard tub of lard if I ever saw one."
The hippo simply snarled, before aiming to ram into Hunter. Hunter made a barrier this time, trying to push the hippo back. "Hey, you even talk?" he asked.
The hippo roared in response, whilst hammering against the barrier.
"Guess not," Hunter grunted as he hammered against the barrier. Without letting up, the hippo kept beating against the barrier without stopping.
Hunter expanded the barrier, and finally, simply used that force to try and blow back the hippo, releasing it. With an outcry, the hippo was blown back from the sudden expansion of power; being knocked straight into a building.
"I don't have time for you!" Hunter bellowed, turning to run off.
As he ran, though, the hippo burst forth and began charging after him; snarling viciously.
"Oh sonova-!" When Hunter noticed the hippo, he just kept running, keeping his eye on him. The hippo just blindly charged towards him; roaring as he stomped down the road after him.
At this, Hunter sighed. "…I gotta get rid of him…"
And he threw more objects at the hippo to try and stop him, which was more debris from ruined building. However, the hippo merely barged through these whilst roaring. Hunter finally stopped running, gritting his teeth. "What's it gonna take to stop this guy?!"
As the hippo caught up to Hunter when he stopped, all of a sudden, something was hurled straight at the hippo; knocking him back considerably.
Hunter just blinked.
"GodDAMN that hurt!" yelped another voice that sounded like a woman. This was presumably the one that had been knocked into the hippo.
Roaring, the hippo thrashed about before tossing the woman off him; glaring at her with a roar.
"It's not my fault!" yelled the woman, who turned out to be a ladybug. "I was thrown out of the fricken building!"
The hippo merely roared at that.
"...hmph. Some elite you turned out to be." a different, though familiar voice spoke out.
"Finally, I was looking for you," Hunter huffed with relief, turning to the familiar voice.
There, standing on the edge of a hole in a building, was Queen; hands clenched as she simply looked down at the hippo and ladybug. "Seems like I arrived just in time."
"Ain't that the truth…" Hunter sighed.
When the ladybug and the hippo got up, the ladybug growled at them. The hippo simply snarled at Queen.
"...we can't waste much time here." Queen spoke, as she clenched her hands. "I'll deal with the hippo. Hunter, you take the ladybug."
"Right," Hunter agreed on.
"Oh, but they aren't the only ones…"
Hunter suddenly felt the need to duck, and the next thing he knew, a giant elephant Mobian had tried to punch him, narrowly missing thanks to his duck. Then Hunter used telekinesis to throw the elephant away, but she stopped herself on her feet.
Queen narrowed her eyes, and in that instant, leapt out of the hole, just as it erupted into an explosion behind her. "...grenades." she uttered.
"Bingo." Suddenly, another being shot in front of Queen, in mid-air; clutching to two grenades. A flying squirrel, it was; and she was hovering in front of Queen as she hurled them straight at the bear. Narrowly did Queen manage to knock them out of her way to let them explode elsewhere in the air, before she landed.
When the elephant charged at Hunter, so did the ladybug, circling around Hunter as they tried to kick and punch him. Thankfully, Hunter kept up barriers to block their attacks, while trying to shoot telekinetic blasts at them that they avoided.
Immediately, the hippo broke into a mad dash towards Queen; swinging his arm in a wide arc towards her. Without moving, however, Queen thrust her arm up against the incoming swing; effortlessly managing to block the attack, whilst glaring at the hippo.
"Holy... didn't think you'd be that strong." the flying squirrel hummed, as she kept floating in the air; pulling a red grenade from her pockets. "But you won't last against this." As she pulled the pin, she hurled it towards Queen, who swiftly caught it and prepared to toss it away...
...except the moment she took it, it erupted into flames; causing Queen to yelp in pain, before the hippo took her moment of weakness as his cue to kick her away from him.
"Queen!" Hunter could see she was starting to have some difficulty, which distracted him from the punch that the elephant threw at him, knocking him into a wall.
"Want to give up yet?" The ladybug chuckled.
"Not even close," Hunter growled, throwing bricks from the broken buildings at them.
Her hand still burning, Queen kept trying to put the flames out, but the flying squirrel was now tossing grenades all around her; forcing her to keep moving, all while the hippo madly charged towards her.
"Damn it King, where are you?!" Hunter growled, trying to evade the elephant and the ladybug.
Well King, meanwhile, was still dealing with Baltimore.
Breathing out, he glared at his foe whilst clenching his hands. "...damn it..."
"What's the matter, King?" Baltimore hummed, approaching King. "Getting tired?"
King's response was to grab the nearest object he could find of decent weight, before hurling it at Baltimore. Baltimore simply caught the object before he crushed it in his grip, tossing the object away while he kept approaching him.
"What happened to all that gung-ho earlier?" Baltimore sneered. "I was enjoying that, you know."
King simply growled, as he stood his ground.
"I must have talked about some pretty personal things of yours before then, if you're acting this way," Baltimore hummed. King still didn't say anything, as he merely glared at Baltimore.
"…honestly King; why are you so cold?" Baltimore spoke. "I only wanted to get to know you a bit more…"
"...I got nothin' to say to you, you bastard." King hissed in response.
"Not even about a supposed woman in your life?" Baltimore hummed. "You really reacted at that one."
With a snarl, King suddenly shot off another bolt at Baltimore. Baltimore raised the lightning rod, absorbing that. "Indeed, like that," Baltimore remarked. "So it must be true, surely?"
"Shut up!" With little regard for that, King kept firing electricity at Baltimore.
The lightning rod kept absorbing the bolts while Baltimore continued. "I bet she is a beautiful woman then?" he asked.
"None of your goddamned business!" King roared, as he fired off more intense bolts at Baltimore.
Baltimore kept absorbing them into the lightning rod, but then he realized that the bolts were starting to overwhelm the rod, so he shot back at King with all the built up electricity.
Surprisingly, though, King was shooting electricity even in spite of Baltimore's tactic; causing the two opposing electric forces to clash and struggle against each other.
"You must love her dearly," Baltimore supposed.
"...more than anything!" King growled, as he kept pushing against the electricity from Baltimore's lightning rod.
"…then you'd really do anything for her, would you?" Baltimore hummed.
"…especially if she was in danger?"
King snarled. "...if you're threatening her...!" he roared, as he took a step forward whilst forcing more electricity against Baltimore.
"And what if I am?" Baltimore spoke, stepping closer for the lightning to be even more intense.
"...then I'll make you regret it!" King snarled, as he took another step forward in response.
Baltimore knew that the rod was only going to take so much, and so he ended up getting blasted backward when King overcame his power, rolling awfully close toward the flames that further engulfed the village. Snarling, King slowly stomped towards him; electricity brimming off his body whilst he grit his teeth. Slowly, Baltimore got to his feet.
"…and yet…you're here…who's to say no one will take advantage of her right now as you are here?" he mentioned.
"...no one would do that..." King snarled, as he kept stomping towards Baltimore.
"But imagine your island…taken over by GUN…" Baltimore hummed. "…so many possibilities…"
"...my men would never let something happen..." King growled. "...I know... even with the blockade, they're all safe..."
"But how do you know that for sure?" Baltimore asked.
King stopped, as he glared at Baltimore.
"Honestly, you can't always just trust words…" Baltimore continued.
King snarled more, as he growled.
"…and who knows if they aren't just…taking advantage of her in secret; the GUN soldiers…" Baltimore went on.
King snarled, as his glare grew fiercer.
"Your woman, cornered by men…and you aren't there to help her," Baltimore spoke. "…oh, I'm sorry; is this unpleasant for you to hear?"
With a ferocious yell, King shot towards Baltimore; throwing a punch at Baltimore's face. Baltimore stumbled back a bit, rubbing his lip.
"I'll take that as a yes," he muttered, throwing a punch back at King. The punch struck home, but King swiftly responded by throwing himself at Baltimore in a tackle, directly into the heart of the fire.
Baltimore managed to roll over and pin King to the ground, punching him repeatedly. "How's this now? We seem to be trapped by the flames!" Baltimore pointed out. King simply growled, as he took the punches, until he saw one opportunity to just bite down on Baltimore's fist before he could properly land the punch. Baltimore's fist jolted back and Baltimore actually yelped at that, not expecting it.
With him distracted, King swiftly grabbed him by the torso and pinned him down; beginning to rapidly punch the raccoon beneath him. Baltimore took the punches; bleeding from his nose the more he started to take from King. King remained silent, but his punches were still mercilessly hammering against him.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Baltimore took out the rod and stabbed him in the abdomen with it, allowing the rod to jolt him while it was stabbed through his middle. King's eyes widened, and he hacked up blood, as his body was surging with electricity which wasn't brimming from his own being. Baltimore took that opportunity to push King off of him and throw him onto the ground, yanking out the rod as he stood over him. Clutching to his abdomen, King hissed as he kept coughing blood.
"…would you like to know what I would do…should I encounter her?" Baltimore decided more taunting would be appropriate before he'd finish him off.
King managed a small glare at Baltimore while he breathed slowly.
"…I wouldn't abandon her like you would…I would treat her right…" Baltimore said. "…at first, anyway…lull her into a sense of false security…"
King's eyes slowly widened, and he hissed lightly.
"…and then, when I had her all by herself in a place she can't get away from…" Baltimore leaned closer to King, pinning a foot against his chest to keep him down. "…Oh, I'd make her feel good…"
King hissed even more, as his eyes wavered somewhat in building fury; electricity sparking from his hands where he held his wound.
"I'd get her down to where she would be her most vulnerable; practically begging for me," Baltimore whispered malevolently.
King snarled more and more, as more electricity brimmed from his hand.
"…then I'd rip her frantically beating heart out of her chest…crushing it before her eyes…" Baltimore hissed coldly. "…the look of betrayed agony stained on her face as she dies."
King's eyes widened considerably, and he just glared up at Baltimore.
"I would have my way with your woman before ripping that heart out, and then tossing her to any of her loved ones to see for themselves just how foolishly manipulated she was," Baltimore spoke, no longer sounding sane at all. "And those bold enough to try and jump me for it will also suffer a painful death…until there's no one left."
"...b-bastard..." King hissed, as he clutched to his abdomen now, with electricity sparking wildly from his hands.
"…and all after I'd kill you…" Baltimore spoke. "…so don't worry about your grieving girlfriend…I'll make sure she won't have to think of the pain you would cause her again."
That tore it. With a sudden burst of energy, King suddenly shot up onto his feet; grabbing Baltimore by the head whilst glaring at him. As Baltimore would see, the wound he had inflicted had been cauterized; likely by the constant flow of electricity King had sparked. Baltimore had been totally taken by surprise by that. King glared directly into Baltimore's eyes; clenching his hands down on his head as he snarled ferociously. Due to the electricity jolting from King's hands into his head, he was unable to move or even speak. Still, King remained silent, as he just glared darkly into Baltimore's eyes, as if gazing into his very soul... but then, he did say something; a lone word...
"...burn."
Gradually, the electricity output from his hands seemed to grow stronger, but very slowly; as if intentionally making this as painful as possible. Baltimore could only utter out screams as he felt the pain of his brain being fried by the electricity. Still, King's grip only grew tighter, as he kept forcing electricity within Baltimore; glaring at him like a demon hunting its prey.
So much electricity was pumping through Baltimore that he actually burst into flames all around his body, which only made him scream out more as the fire burned his body. Even as the heat was spreading onto King's hands, he paid it no heed; all he could do was focus his hatred, and therefore his electricity, against Baltimore with no hint of mercy. Baltimore suffered greatly as King put him through this…at this point, he couldn't even think straight anymore…the longer this went on, the more a vegetable Baltimore had become, only screaming in his agony. Not even when the smell of burning flesh pierced his nostrils did King stop; so deep was his hatred that he could only focus on causing this person as much pain as possible, and boy, did King really cause him pain.
Baltimore couldn't even move anymore; he was still screaming, but the life was being torn out of his body from the torture, continuing to further tear apart his mind. It got to the point where sparks of electricity shot from King's own eyes as he kept building this force to tear Baltimore apart; brimming with electricity as he still glared at the burning mess that he was torturing. It was absolutely unbearable for Baltimore, and perhaps, King went a little too far.
The electricity was building up so much in his head that it was overwhelming…and forcibly compacted enough that it was finally ready to burst.
Which meant that Baltimore's head pretty much exploded at that point, silencing his screams for good while a shower of blood splattered onto King's face, and the rest on the ground, as if he burst a water balloon full of blood. It was the pop and the splatter of hot liquid across his face that finally snapped King out of it but by then it was already too late. His eyes widened considerably, and the electricity output rapidly diminished, as he slowly looked down at the burning carcass before him that had fallen to the ground.
The realization slowly set in for King that he had actually killed him.
"...I..." King's eyes were wide, and he looked at his hands with a betrayed look on him. "...I..." His entire being trembled, and eventually, the shock of it all just got to him. He spun around and fell onto all fours; heaving, and subsequently vomiting.
He found himself just gazing at the ground as this all just set in... but by this point, the fumes from the flames around him were getting to him; and being in a daze from just having killed someone, he collapsed to the ground; breathing as his body desperately tried to calm itself down... but he couldn't.
"...what have I... done...?"
It didn't help that the flames were growing farther and farther, getting closer and closer to King, making the heat more and more extreme.
It was so bad that even the other warriors on the other end of town were starting to take notice. Hunter had stopped, smelling smoke, and when he turned, he could see a fatal glow of orange in the distance with sparkling embers.
"…the town's on fire…" he uttered.
Queen stopped and noticed that as well. "...hn..."
The flying squirrel glanced in that direction with wide eyes. "...that's... the camp! What happened?!"
"…King went over there…" Hunter uttered, and then he grew uneasy. What if King was still there?
"The boss was over there too!" the elephant yelped.
Hunter shot a startled look at the elephant. The hippo roared out.
"...shit... shit!" The flying squirrel quickly took to the air to shoot towards the camp.
Queen closed her eyes as she seemed deep in thought. That got the ladybug and the elephant to run in that direction too.
"…Queen…you gotta go free those townsfolk!" Hunter said. "Before the fire gets to the hotel!"
"...already on it." Nodding, Queen rushed back towards the hotel; jumping up into the hole before she ran through it to get the townsfolk out.
With that, Hunter took off into the air with his telekinesis. "I gotta find King!"
In the meantime, Queen swiftly rushed through the hotel; tearing open the locked doors she came across; eyes darting about as she could see some townsfolk scattering out of those doors.
Suddenly, one of the doors she flung open revealed only one hostage, and the precise one she was looking for.
Dax perked up suddenly at the door being ripped off its hinges with a gasp, and became thoroughly relieved. "Queen!"
Queen gave him a small nod. "...words can wait. We have to evacuate the town."
"Wait!" Dax tried to shoot up to his feet, but his weakness knocked him back down in a painful reminder of how much he had been beaten. "They took my robotic arm! I have to find it!"
Queen walked over to him. "That will have to wait... the town burns, Dax."
Dax's eyes widened. "It's on fire?!"
Queen merely nodded, as she helped him on his feet. "...I suspect that something happened while King was searching for a means to free you..."
"…a-alright…" Dax uttered.
"...now come on... we have to get out of here." Queen uttered, as she led Dax out of the room.
"…wh-what about all the other townsfolk?" Dax uttered, as he limped down the hallway with Queen.
"I've gotten the hostages out of the hotel." Queen spoke. "We need to lead them out of town... Hunter's retrieving King, so hopefully he'll find your arm while he's at it."
Dax sighed with relief at that.
Meanwhile, Hunter was flying above the blaze, shielding his face with his arm from the sparks and embers that fluttered up at him. "King! Where are you?!" he yelped.
No response... though eventually, he could spot the unconscious tiger surrounded by flames; though thankfully, the flames hadn't reached him yet.
"King!" Hunter descended down to the ground right next to the tiger, looking him. For the most part, he wasn't hurt, though the strange wound on his chest concerned him a bit.
Then he noticed a burnt carcass near him, bewildering him. "…what in the…" and looked back at King. Did he have any kind of struggle with someone? If so, it looked like it didn't end very well.
Gritting his teeth, he picked up the tiger onto his back. "Hang on King! We're getting out of here!" King remained silent; he didn't look like he was waking up any time soon. With that, and a protective barrier of telekinetic energy around the two, Hunter flew out of the way of the flames. King eventually started to cough as he was pulled away from the smoking fumes.
"King? C'mon, speak to me," Hunter muttered, getting farther and farther away from the flames.
King coughed a bit more, and slowly, he opened his eyes.
"...Hunter...?"
"Good, you're awake," Hunter sighed with relief.
"...nh..." King groaned, as he briefly closed his eyes. "...my head..."
"We're gonna meet back up with Queen and then hopefully get out of here," Hunter told him, "so hang on."
King merely groaned. "...nh..." He blinked a bit. "...Dax... is he...?"
"Queen went to go get him," Hunter answered. "My best guess is that we'll see him when we find Queen."
King closed his eyes. "...but... the town..." He then grit his teeth. "...because... of me..."
"Don't worry about it King; you'll strain yourself," Hunter warned, finally landing in an area of town that was not caught in flames to start walking, still holding King on his back.
King coughed more, as he slowly looked back at the towering inferno behind them.
"…did you fight someone King?" Hunter finally asked, and though he wondered if he really should ask or not, he was still curious.
At that point, King fell... deathly silent.
"…not pleasant, was it?" Hunter hummed.
"...I... killed him." King eventually uttered.
Hunter looked at him in silence.
"...he just... made me so angry... I wasn't thinking straight..." King uttered, as he closed his eyes. "...so I... I killed him... fried him alive... watched him burn... a-and then he..."
"…hm…" Hunter mumbled. It's not that he wasn't ignorant of what King was telling him, but he didn't seem surprised for some reason.
"...after so long... I thought I could get away from all that..." he hissed. "...but then that guy just... had to make me..." He gripped his own head in frustration; gritting his teeth.
"…he attacked the most personal thing you had…didn't you?" Hunter assumed.
King blinked. "...y-yeah..." Slowly, he looked back at Hunter. "...how'd you..."
"…King, I want you to think back on those unpleasant years when we were being trained," Hunter told him. "…you remember that time you found me? I was pretty freaked out about something, but I never told you what it was…there was a lot of reason I didn't tell you what it was…"
King blinked a touch, as he thought back...
…He and Hunter went on a mission, just the two of them, and this was just when they were able to really only stand being around each other; nothing more. King and Hunter had a pretty rocky start when they first met, and it was only years after working with each other that they developed the friendship they did…but during this mission, King had been separated from Hunter…
He only turned a corner before he finally found the wolf he was looking for, trembling in the corner. He was used to seeing him hiding, since he only did that to keep himself from transforming, but tonight wasn't even a full moon to hide from…
…this felt like a different type of anxiety that Hunter was going through, to King.
King blinked, as he approached the wolf. "...hey... what's wrong with you?" he uttered.
Hunter just looked up at King shakily."...geez, you look like hell." King uttered, as he tilted his head. "What happened?"
Slowly, Hunter helped himself back up.
"…n-nothing."
"...you sure?" King uttered. "It doesn't look like nothin', if you ask me."
Hunter suddenly just glared at King. "…I'm not talking about it and that's that."
King stepped back. "Geez, alright! Man, what crawled up your back, anyway...?" he murmured, as he glanced around. "...now, we've gotta finish the mission. We wasted a lot of time because you had to go and get lost, ya know!"
"Whatever…" Hunter shoved him aside to walk past him, shaking off his uneasiness finally.With a huff, King followed.
"…you and I have always killed during those times, but you've never really seen me make any sort of reaction to any of them…" Hunter said.
"...well... no..." King murmured, as he looked away. "...honestly... killing was kinda second nature after a while... no thanks to what that colonel put us through..."
Hunter looked at King then, solemnly.
"…yeah…I never made any reaction…except that one time."
King's eyes widened in realization. "...what happened...?"
"…when we got separated, I was confronted by some bastards giving me some smack talk, but it wasn't really anything I couldn't handle…" Hunter said.
"…at least…up until they said something about Ani's mother…"
King blinked. "...oh, yeah; you knew her even during the training days, huh..." His eyes narrowed. "...you didn't..."
Hunter was silent then.
"...Hunter..." King murmured, before he looked away.
"…it's not something to be proud of…I know…" Hunter muttered. "…I couldn't tell you not only because it had to do with her, and saying anything about her would've endangered her…but…well, you know I had a lot of issues back then."
"…I guess I know how you feel…but there's a difference," and Hunter looked back at him. "That was back in a time when we got used to that thing…but…we've been able to leave that behind for a while…"
King remained silent.
"…but remember this King," Hunter said. "…whatever he said to you, whatever he might've threatened to do…if you didn't stop him, then he would've lived up to his word, and haunt you later. Sometimes…you don't have a choice. You know that as well as I do."
King merely nodded.
"…now let's get out of here and find Queen," Hunter said, trudging on. Nodding, King merely looked back at the inferno.
Little did the two of them know that back in the inferno, the four elites were still trying to put out the fires in a desperate attempt to find their boss.
"Goddamn it, where the fuck is he?!" the flying squirrel hissed.
"Calm down, we'll find him," The elephant assured.
The hippo let out a roar as he tore away debris around the area.
"Is there any way we can get rid of this fire faster?" yelped the ladybug.
"Nh..." Looking around, the flying squirrel hissed... and she noticed a nearby water tower. "...I think I got it." Swiftly, she took a couple of grenades out, before hurling them at the hippo. "Toss 'em!"
Grabbing the grenades, the hippo roared as he pulled the pins, and hurled them straight for the water tower's support beams; intending to make it collapse right on top of the fire. That did the job just fine, and the elites ran out of the tower's way as it tumbled down, shattering and showering water all over the fires. Smoke came from what was left of the inferno, and thus the elites were able to hurry farther through.
Finally, they came to the wreckage of the camp, looking all around.
"...what a mess..." the flying squirrel murmured as she narrowed her eyes from the stench.
"I'll say…" the elephant muttered.
The ladybug was a bit farther than the other three, and suddenly, her foot tapped something. When she turned her neck down to look at what her foot hit, her eyes widened, and she let out a shriek in horror. The hippo glanced in her direction, and with a growl, hurried ahead.
"...oh shit... that ain't good..." With a huff, the flying squirrel flew over as well. The elephant hurried too.
The ladybug backed away from what she was looking at, still looking horrified when the other three showed up, and when they saw what she was gawking at, they stopped too.
The hippo just growled in stunned surprise, while the flying squirrel's eyes widened. "...what... the... fuck...?!"
"…it…can't be…" The elephant uttered, walking over to it. This, which was what the four were staring at, was the burnt, headless carcass on the ground that had been here all alone in the inferno. It hadn't been burned by the flames too much; enough to know it was a body.
The elephant examined the body, and after enough examination, her head hung low.
"…it's…it's him…" she spoke solemnly.
"...fucking hell..." the flying squirrel uttered, "...is... is his head... and... oh god..." She clasped her hand in front of her mouth in horror and disgust.
"…who…who did this?!" the ladybug uttered.
The hippo snarled, as he knelt down by the figure to place his hand upon it... and with a roar, pulled back as a residual spark of electricity emitted from where his hand had rested against the carcass.
Their eyes widened at that.
The elephant's eyes then narrowed. "…there's only one guy who can use electricity…"
The flying squirrel hissed a touch at this revelation. "...King..."
The ladybug clenched her hands into fists, shaking in her anger. The hippo merely let out a roar of pure hatred at this sight.
"…what do we do now…?" the elephant uttered.
"...what else can we do...?" the flying squirrel murmured, as she looked down at the body. "...we've... gotta bury him. After that... we've gotta do some thinking..."
They nodded at that. The elephant picked up the burnt carcass, and with that, they started to walk away. Though the hippo momentarily stopped to glance behind him, but as he saw nothing but the torched wood that the fire had burnt down in the center of the town, he turned back to follow his comrades.
It wasn't until they were farther away that someone stepped out, which turned out to be Hunter. Once he met up with Queen, he handed King over to her and promised Dax that he would find his robotic arm, only to stumble upon the scene of the elites discovering their dead leader. He found it foreboding, to say the least. Would this mean that if they came across these guys again, would they want some revenge?
…this was not something they needed.
"Hm?" When Hunter caught something out of his peripheral, he saw something on the ground. Quickly, he fished it up with telekinesis and brought it to him. He lightened up, recognizing the object as a certain robotic arm he was looking for. "There you are."
With that, he scurried off.
Sage's group needed to stop for the night, since everyone had been pretty tired. Already, Rudy, Charmy and Boomer were asleep in the tents. Wiper and Sage were patrolling the area for the moment, which allowed the others, like Newt, to slumber as well. However, one person found herself unable to sleep; simply gazing up at the starry sky with a thoughtful look.
"…you doing alright?" hummed another voice next to her, as Cal came over and sat down beside her.
Glancing at him, Natal simply nodded. "...I'm fine. Just... thinking about things."
"…thinking enough that you can't sleep, huh?" Cal assumed.
"...yeah." Natal mused, as she glanced back ahead again.
"…same here…" Cal answered, looking over at where she stared at.
They sat there for a while, with Natal looking thoughtful as she gazed ahead.
"…Natal…" Cal muttered. "…I've been thinking for a long time about something…"
Natal blinked somewhat, as she looked back at Cal. "...about what?"
Cal was uncomfortably silent for a long while, not looking at Natal.
Then…
"…when…you ran into my blade to stop me…to keep me from being overtaken by Corruption…"
Cal looked like he was trying to select his words carefully.
"…you did that…because…it wasn't the first time Corruption overtook me…was it…?"
Natal's eyes widened. "...Cal...?"
"…you…were really frightened…" Cal muttered in disdain, not enjoying the memory of what he accidentally did to her one bit."…almost as if…you've seen it before…"
With a slight gulp, Natal glanced aside awkwardly. Cal looked at Natal, and noticed how awkward she was. This only added to the tension in the air between them.
"…so…then it's true…?"
Initially, Natal didn't respond. She simply glanced down at the ground with an uncomfortable look on her...
"...yes."
Cal bit his lip, and looked away from her.
"...I'm... honestly not surprised that you didn't remember... it happened a few months after Deity was finished off..." she mused. "...I'm the only one who remembers what happened that day..."
"…at first…I didn't remember anything…but now…"
Cal held his head in agony. "…I'm starting to remember images…every now and then…"
"...it must be because of the Corruption..." she murmured, as she closed her eyes.
Cal looked over at Natal worriedly.
"…what…happened…exactly?"
Natal looked back at the sky. "...it happened... during one stealth operation. It was just the two of us, since GUN didn't want to risk a certain crime syndicate catching wind of their involvement... so, I posed as a candidate for a secretary, while you planted a bug in their system..." She sighed. "...and then... things went wrong... very wrong..."
"...and that is why I believe that I'm suitable for this job." Sliding a resume across what seemed to be a standard office desk, Natal, clad in a black suit and wearing sunglasses, was speaking with who appeared to be the figurehead of the crime syndicate that GUN was digging up information about. Around this time, she figured that Cal would have planted the necessary bug before heading for the rendezvous point.
Not only had he already planted the bug, but he also was hiding in the vents with cloaking, making absolutely no sound whatsoever. He trusted Natal and her ability to work, but even then, he surveyed to make sure the mission didn't go wrong.
"You don't say?" The figurehead was a weasel, who scooped up her resume and glanced over it.
Natal simply nodded. "I'm sure during this time of year, the amount of applications must be overwhelming." she mused, as she adjusted her sunglasses. "As such, I am grateful that you took my application in for review as soon as you did."
"Yeah, well, don't get your hopes up," the weasel said. "We only take about two or three to look at…" and he continued to browse through the resume.
"I completely understand; and with all the applicants..." she mused, as she simply nodded. "...still, I'm grateful that you decided to look over mine first."
"…hrm…" The weasel continued to look over the resume in silence.
Cal in the meantime adjusted himself to be more comfortable. He had to make sure that this went according to plan. Still, Natal simply remained silent as she waited for the weasel to send her off.
"…alright, everything seems to check out just fine," the weasel said. "You can—!" and then the door suddenly opened, interrupting him.
"Boss!" A slug ran into the room; holding out a small object for him to see. "We found this planted in the offices! Someone's spying on us!"
"...oh dear." Pretending to be surprised by this, Natal looked back at the slug. "That sounds serious..."
Cal grit his teeth, gripping the hilt of one of his katanas while he was still cloaked, but he waited. That's it, stay cool Natal…they haven't found you out yet… he thought, hoping that they could salvage some of the situation at hand.
Even so, he was prepared if anything went wrong.
The weasel growled, grabbing the small object, which seemed like a tiny microphone. "I thought I told you to make sure and watch for any suspicious activity! How could this have possibly happened?!" and he glared at the slug. "Answer me that!"
"I-I dunno, boss!" the slug yelped. "Security hasn't seen any suspicious folk roamin' around the place!"
"...a security breach sounds serious..." Natal noted, as she tilted her head somewhat. "...is this a bad time? Should I just take my leave for the moment?"
The weasel looked at Natal, and nodded. "That's probably for the best. Until we decide to hire you, I don't want to involve you in any of our issues."
Cal eased a bit with some relief. Being dismissed like this was the least bad thing that could happen to them. Natal nodded in understanding. "...then I'll take my leave. Good day." With that, she rose from her seat and began walking for the door.
"...uh... we'll try and find the spy ASAP, boss!" the slug sputtered, as he swiftly turned to head for the door; but as he ran for it, he accidentally bumped into Natal, causing her sunglasses to bounce off her face. "Oh, shit! Sorry, miss; dunno what I was doing!" With a slight mutter, he bent down to pick up the sunglasses... and he froze. "...wait."
Natal stopped the moment he said that; eyes momentarily widening. Cal's eyes widened too. Oh no…
"What is it?" the weasel demanded.
"...boss... check this out." And the slug tossed the object towards the weasel... a similar microphone to the one they had discovered earlier.
Without moving, Natal just stood there; slowly closing her eyes as she braced herself. The weasel looked it over... And slowly, he narrowed his eyes, looking over at Natal suspiciously. "...well now...what do we have here?"
Natal remained silent.
"...answer me! What is this?!" The weasel demanded.
Natal still didn't say anything... but...
"...I'm afraid our time here is up." With that, she suddenly pulled out a small sphere, and tossed it to the ground; creating a massive, blinding flash of light.
"GAH! Boss, I can't see!" the slug yelped out as he covered his eyes.
"Get security! Follow her!" The weasel yelped.
At the same time, Cal slipped quietly through the vents with the intention of making sure Natal got out safely.
As for Natal, right now she was racing down the halls; grabbing a couple of janitor brooms as her eyes darted rapidly about for an exit. Have to get out of here...
"Hold it right there!" Suddenly, a bunch of burly looking thugs appeared and surrounded Natal.
Stopping, Natal looked around at them; clutching the brooms like a pair of swords. "...don't do anything foolish..." she whispered.
"We could say the same about you!" And the thugs all tried to grab her.
In that instant, though, Natal began rapidly slamming the brooms she held against the thugs; weaving past their grip as she simply looked for a way past them. Just as she had knocked down those guys, more showed up to chase after her. With a small hiss, she simply leapt away from the incoming thugs, as she ran through the halls. And thy charged onward after her.
Rounding corners, Natal narrowed her eyes as she kept charging... and eventually, she just found herself at a dead end. "Shit..." Hissing, she spun around...
...and she saw the thugs cornering her back into the dead end.
Narrowing her eyes, she spun the brooms around. "Anyone who wants it, come and try your luck." she spoke in a threatening tone.
They all smirked menacingly at her as they stepped forward...
...then suddenly, a noise from above startled them, as a vent cover fell to the ground. They looked up at an open, empty vent in confusion.
Seeing that, Natal narrowed her eyes. "...nh..."
...and suddenly, the thugs were getting beaten and thrown about in the air, startling them.
She simply hummed. Took you long enough... she mused, as she looked back at the thugs. "...I warned you."
When all of the thugs had been beaten to the ground, Cal appeared from nowhere, turning to Natal with his hand stretched out to her. "Let's get out of here."
Natal simply nodded, as she took his hand. "Lead the way." Then she giggled. "Next time, we should make our bugs less visible."
Cal smiled. "Yeah, I'll make a note of that."
Just as he turned though, something jumped out at him and hit him in the abdomen, jolting him and making him yelp out in pain as well as releasing Natal's hand.
Natal's eyes widened. "No!" Swiftly, she swung the brooms at the one who had struck Cal. She had whacked away a thug who held in his hand a taser. Thanks to that, Cal was hunched over with electricity sparking out of his cybernetic parts in stunned pain.
"Kkh..." With a hiss, Natal grabbed Cal, and began running. "Hold on; we'll get out of this...!" she uttered.
Just as she turned a corner though... they were ambushed.
More thugs came from all around grabbing them and separating them from each other. Not only that, but they beat on Cal while they restrained Natal away from him. Natal's eyes widened, and she thrashed against the thugs to try and escape their grip. "Let go of him!"
"That's enough."
In came the weasel, and once he had spoken, the thugs stopped beating up on Cal. Then the weasel walked up to Natal.
"So there wasn't just one, but two spies from what it looks like," the weasel hummed. Natal just glared at him; still struggling in the grip of the thugs.
"Tell me girl; who do you work for?" The weasel asked her.
Natal remained silent.
"Don't make me ask again or you're going to regret it," the weasel growled.
"...you really want me to tell you?" Natal uttered, as she looked at the weasel.
"I would like that, yes," the weasel replied.
In that instant, Natal just spat in his face. "Tough shit."
The weasel growled even more, wiping his face where she spat, and brought out something; another taser. "I said... WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?!" and he drove the taser into Cal's abdomen, making him scream out in pain.
Natal's eyes widened, and with a yell, she shot her tongue out from her mouth; grabbing the weasel by the throat to pull him back. "Don't you dare touch him...!"
"ERK!" The weasel gulped when he was jerked back. "Restrain her!" He snapped at the thugs that held Natal, whom grabbed her tongue to hold away from him. Hissing, Natal glared at the thugs, before looking back at the weasel.
"...hrm...maybe the monkey will talk..." The weasel hummed, grabbing Cal by his hair to hold his head up, making him look up at the weasel.
"Look..." Cal huffed from the abuse they were giving him. "We're not going to tell you what you want...you're wasting your time questioning us."
"Oh really now?" The weasel hummed.
"...he's right..." Natal spat. "...you won't get a word from either of us..."
"...well, your partner requested quite bluntly not to touch you, so perhaps I might respect those wishes," the weasel begin. "But what about her...hm?"
Cal glared deadly at him. "You're not going to hurt her, you hear me?"
"Oh no, I wouldn't hurt her, don't worry," the weasel hummed. "...I'm thinking of other means of persuasion..."
Natal's eyes narrowed. "...you wouldn't dare..."
Suddenly, the barrel of a pistol was pointed at Natal's head, courtesy of one of the thugs.
"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way," the weasel said, turning to Natal, "And I'm sure there's no need to go into detail about what the hard way would be."
Cal tried to struggle, "No!" But then he got shocked by the taser again.
"And if you try anything, monkey boy...she'll suffer for it all the same," hissed the weasel.
Natal just grit her teeth, as she glared at the weasel. "...and what could you possibly do to make me say anything you'd want to hear...?"
"Oh, it's not you that I'm going to make talk," the weasel spoke, approaching Natal. "If the monkey boy knows what's good for the two of you, he will tell me all the information I need to know."
Cal grit his teeth. "I'm not talking."
"Very well."
The weasel took the front of Natal's suit and started unbuttoning it.
Natal's eyes widened, and with a shocked expression tried yanking herself away from the weasel. "Hands off!"
The thugs slammed Natal against the wall of the hallway, still holding her tongue and all, and the weasel simply finished up the unbuttoning of the suit, opening up for a buttoned up white shirt underneath. "Now then, who do you work for?" the weasel asked, directing the question at Cal even though he didn't even look back at him.
Cal started to get worried. He didn't like where this was going, and he didn't want to put Natal through this experience, but he knew that she wouldn't want Cal to give up for her sake. "…I'm not saying anything."
"Next article of clothing then," and the weasel reached for the white shirt.
Natal simply glared at him as she clenched her hands into fists. Cal gulped. He was getting angry, that's for sure. He didn't want anyone touching her like this…but he was pretty helpless, because if he did anything, they were going to use that gun against her head, and it wasn't going to be pretty.
The weasel finished with the white shirt, opening up to find Natal's upper body with a bra. "I do say, your partner is actually quite an attractive woman," the weasel commented.
Natal just hissed. "...it must say quite a lot that you can't see a woman's body unless you hold them at gunpoint." she sneered.
"Well now, such sharp words for someone," the weasel hummed. "Now then, if you would monkey boy, before things get drastic…"
Cal grinded his teeth nervously. He didn't want to show that he was nervous, but it was hard to hide it.
Still, Natal's expression remained spiteful. "...don't tell him anything." she spoke in a calm tone. "I can handle whatever this creep can dish out..."
Cal shut his eyes. …but that's the thing Natal…I don't know if I can handle it…he thought.
"I'm going to take that silence as a no," the weasel spoke. "Next, the skirt." And he reached over to that.
Still, Natal just glared at him. "...sure taking your sweet time. What, is this your first or something?" she taunted; though her tone was still as ice cold as the first taunt she had given him.
"You're lucky I'm patient with your words, girl; otherwise, that gun to your head would have spilled your pretty face to the floor," the weasel hummed, and once he undid the skirt, it fell from Natal's legs, showing her figure in her undergarments.
Cal couldn't watch this, but when he turned his head away, the thug simply took it and made him look back. When this happened, the weasel actually looked back to observe Cal and how nervous he was in this. "…hm…what kind of relationship do you have with this woman, exactly?"
"E-Excuse me?!" Cal uttered.
When the weasel specifically looked back at Cal, Natal's eyes narrowed. ...Cal...
"…what…what brought up that question?" Cal uttered.
"I see quite a reaction out of you when I do this to her, so I don't take you as any ordinary partners," the weasel mused.
"…even then…I'm not saying anything about that any less than who we work for…" Cal growled.
With a small hum, Natal nodded. ...good, Cal... just hold on...
"Well then…" The weasel hummed, turning to Natal. Then he pulled out a knife. "I guess I'll continue then."
Then he used the knife to snap apart Natal's bra, releasing her breasts. This made Cal shudder even more.Though she winced a touch, Natal remained stoic in expression. The weasel reached over, then, and groped her. "…hm…soft," he hummed.
Cal started to lose a little control, struggling in the thug's hold, but they knocked him back down firmly. Not sparing a glance to the weasel, Natal just looked at Cal whilst wincing at feeling the weasel's hands.
"You have a couple more chances," the weasel hummed at Cal. "Tell me who you work for, or I might be forced to take the last piece of clothing…and even if you don't talk then, I might have to do some…humiliating things to your partner."
Cal growled at that. This was making his blood boil now…
Natal looked back at Cal with a concerned look. ...Cal... compose yourself...
"No? Well then…"
He sliced the last bit of clothing Natal had, making Cal gasp as the ripped underwear fell to the ground.Natal closed her eyes, but she still didn't react at all. Cal could feel something inside of him growing, and it didn't feel pleasant. Inside, all of his anger and anxiety was welling up into something strong…almost like a beast in a cage inside of him that was rampaging and struggling inside; with only a matter of time before the beast was released.
This could be quite visibly expressed as severe tension as the weasel looked at him. "Now what's wrong? You were doing fine a minute ago," he pointed out.
Blinking, Natal looked at Cal... and her eyes widened. "...what...?" It was as if she could sense what was wrong... and it actually struck fear in her.
"…touch her one more time…I dare you…" Cal didn't even nearly feel like himself anymore. He was ready to tear out this weasel's throat for what he was doing.
"Oh, feeling bold are we?" The weasel hummed.
Natal kept looking at Cal in worry, before she looked at the weasel. "...don't do it... you'll regret it..." Surprisingly, her tone wasn't spiteful... it was honestly worried.
"Is that so?" the weasel murmured.
And he reached toward Natal.
Natal's eyes narrowed. "...I mean it... do this, and you..." She looked briefly at Cal again, before looking at the weasel. "...you won't even live to regret it..." What she said was what she thought would be the worst-case scenario... but with how Cal was acting.
"Oh…well, if he knows what's best for him, he wouldn't do anything that could put you in danger," the weasel hummed, tilting his head at the gun.
Then when he even simply touched Natal…
…Cal snapped.
He let out a roar, and jerked his arms away from the thugs that held him down with significant strength. This actually startled the weasel with his head twisting around to witness him thrash out. Then Cal lashed against the weasel and threw him against the wall by his throat, growling.
Natal's eyes widened, as she witnessed this. Even if she had been expecting the worst... she hadn't expected that. "CAL!"
The thugs were skittish, but they held the gun firmly against Natal. "Stop, or we'll-!"
Cal just screamed out, shooting a certain dark energy out which knocked away the gun, as well as some of the thugs. The weasel just shuddered at this. "What are you?!"
With the thugs knocked aside, though, Natal took this as her chance. Wresting out of the grip of the remaining thugs, she rushed up to Cal and grabbed him from behind. "Cal, snap out of it!"
Cal just slammed his arm against her to knock her away. There was a dark aura that grew around him, and he roared, throwing away the weasel against some of the thugs to send them flying into the walls. Then he started rampaging around, slamming into walls himself while he held his head in agonizing misery, screaming. The Corruption inside of him was reacting very negatively to him.
Natal's eyes were wide, as she just gawked at this. She almost felt a sense of... endless despair as she watched him rampaging like this...
"...Cal... STOP!" Out of desperation, she swiftly lashed her tongue out to try and yank Cal away from where he stood and over to her; hoping that she could hopefully try to calm him down. She managed to yank him to her, but he only ended up ripping off the tongue and pinning down Natal, revealing to her as he growled at her that his eyes were red and demonic.
He no longer seemed like himself.
Natal's eyes were wide as she just gawked up at him; her entire being trembling. "...C-Cal..."
He yanked himself away from Natal again, screaming out. Spikes shot out from his body, especially around his arms, and he charged at the thugs, proceeding to rip them apart with his spiked hands. Natal could do nothing but just sit there; eyes wide as she watched Cal basically slaughter the thugs.
Meanwhile, the weasel collapsed weakly, crawling away as Cal stumbled toward him menacingly. "…n-no…" the weasel uttered.
Seeing that, Natal hissed. Even as violently as Cal reacted to this... she couldn't let him kill the weasel; they needed him for the mission... "...CAL!" she yelled, as she quickly grabbed the broom and hurled it at him desperately; just to try and get his attention towards her.
Cal stopped, turning around and growling at her, stomping toward her instead as the weasel shuddered in fright. Natal's breath was rapid out of fear, but she tried keeping herself composed as she kept walking backwards; motioning towards Cal. "...that's it... come here..." she uttered; determined to distract him long enough for him to regain control.
Cal stumbled more and more, and suddenly, he stopped growling.
"…Natal…?"
Her eyes widened, and she took a small step towards him. "...Cal..."
…and suddenly, Cal just collapsed onto the ground. Seeing that, Natal rushed over to Cal; kneeling by him with wide eyes. "...Cal..." She swiftly checked his pulse, to see if he was still conscious. His pulse was fine, and he was breathing heavily; wheezing even. He didn't sound too good.
Gritting her teeth, she just held Cal closely. "...don't worry... I'll get you some help..."
…and with that, Cal passed out.
"...after that..." Natal murmured. "...I had the figurehead arrested, and you sent in for a hospital check-up." She adjusted her glasses. "The casualties of the mission were swept under the rug... I made sure to leave out your... outburst... from the debriefing following that mission."
Cal just stared at Natal in disbelief at what she told him.
She closed her eyes. "...it must be hard to imagine, but... it's the truth..." she murmured. "...I've tried blocking it out from my memory, to focus on the present... but I still recall that visage... that... feral sight of you towering over me..."
Cal just stared at her for much longer after that. Then he looked away.
"…you were…that afraid…?"
Natal didn't say anything in response, at first at least...
"...yes... I was..."
Cal bit his lip. "…I'm sorry…"
"...don't be..." Gently, Natal settled her hand against his. "...it was... so long ago..." She smiled at him. "...besides... I could never blame you, Cal..."
"...I know you wouldn't blame me Natal..." Cal said, holding her hand. "...but to...to traumatize you like that...to realize I could hurt you any time I lose control over myself..."
"...Cal..." she uttered, as she just looked at him. "...don't blame yourself..."
Cal just looked at the ground, not responding to Natal. Natal, in turn, just looked at him in concern. Cal finally just looked back up at Natal solemnly.
"...Cal..." she uttered.
Cal simply put his arms around Natal and hugged her closely. With a small sigh, she wrapped her arms around him to hug him back.
"…I don't want to know that I can hurt you…" Cal muttered, hugging her tightly. "…what if…what if Corruption changes me? Changes how I act entirely to the point…where I'd take advantage of you? Even enjoy that I would…?"
"...no... don't worry about that..." Natal uttered. "...we've been through worse... something like that won't happen again..." she added, as she hugged him back.
Cal trembled at the thoughts, but Natal managed to reassure him for the most part, calming him down. Noticing him calming down, Natal smiled a touch.
"…we should try going to sleep," Cal recommended. "We'll need the energy…"
"...right..." Natal hummed with a small nod.
I'd be pretty scared too...
