Quick name reference: Zima=Sonya, Istina=Anna, Gummy=Lada, Leto=Rosalind, Rosa=Natalya, Absinthe=Zoya, Carrion=Mikhail (the OC)
Unleashed
Mastermind meant to cure Oripathy by completely removing all originium from an infected organism. For that end, she created a substance capable of commanding originium around the body. By injecting it into an infected patient, the sickness would concentrate in a particular region of their body and, by removing it, the infection should go away with it. A limb or two was a cheap price to pay for the many years of life regained.
But it wasn't money that motivated the scientist. Her goal was to vanquish the disease to make sure nobody had to endure loss because of oripathy. Everything else was secondary or irrelevant.
Infection, however, tended to quickly crystallize some areas of the patients' bodies. When the catalyzer beaconed to the originium, these crystals would cut through the shortest path available, creating multiple hemorrhages from within. So they had to look for another way to keep the subjects alive.
"By dissolving the crystals into the blood torrent, the doctor hoped to make the experiments a success, but it either didn't last long enough or killed the patient by poisoning their blood. There was no middle ground. The research came to a halt, but then Mastermind came up with another idea. By putting the patients into a coma, the body's rejection would take a bit longer to take place, giving the argent enough time to start working."
"This is sick."
Nouvian closed her eyes. She agreed with the operators. It was inhuman and amoral… but someone had to do it… or oripathy would only keep racking up its kill score. "Mastermind didn't really want to experiment with your friend, but he wouldn't allow us to touch the other test subjects… I don't know the details of his particular case, but when the originium started moving towards his arm, something went wrong."
The vouivre trembled just from remembering it.
"Crystals kept growing on his skin even though they had been freshly melted. It was the first time something like that happened… The originium was stuck to his body. When I was ordered to slice his arm off, crystals grew over it as if to protect itself. Then his arm mutated into that thing and… …"
The mercenary had seen a lot of gore through her life, but it had been her first time watching a monster being born. When it started eating people… Nouvian shook her horned head. She didn't want to remember anymore.
Gathered around their temporary base at the village, Absinthe stood up and punched Zima's face.
"This is for earlier." Her shaky voice explained, her red eyes as stern as they could get. She picked her gun and pointed it at the fallen ursus. "And this is for leaving him behind."
Click pushed her arm up, making the shot miss the target. "Zoya! I get that you're mad, but this is not going to solve anything! Mik is… Mik is… Mikhail turning into that thing is not Zima's fault!"
The cop pushed the streamer aside, her heart flooded with grief. "Of course it is! She could have prevented this from happening! She could have stopped him from trading places with me!"
The mouse stood up again, nearing her reddening limit. "Then you would be the one on death's door, stupid! How do you think Mikhail would have felt like if he abandoned you, huh?!"
"I perfectly know how that feels!" She shouted, falling onto her knees and starting to shiver. Her voice barely made it out of herself "I have been unable to think of anything else since we got here… I had been so close to confessing to him this morning… and now I have to just accept that he's gone?! Don't fuck with me!"
Click couldn't even say anything in return. She understood her friend's pain perfectly well. It was the first time her reddened self cried on her behalf.
"Oi, oi, oi… That hurt, you punk…" Zima protested as Gummy helped her up. "How can you consider yourself that bastard's friends when you're so fast to give up?"
"Z-Zima? You heard what Amiya said…" The blond ursus mumbled.
"An execution team has been dispatched to dispose of him." The blue-haired one explained.
"So what? That just means we have to beat him back to normal before they get here. Besides! You heard what the Doctor said. We are free to do what we think is best."
The white-haired ursus glanced at the brunette, a smile taking over her lips. "We are on our last gasp here. And you still plan to keep going?"
"Please… save the mister…" The siblings attached to the aristocrat's sides begged.
"I'm saving the teacher! You are coming as well, right, Cannon?"
The forte reached for her weapon of choice and rubbed the elafia's hair. "Of course. We still need his guidance to keep growing as operators."
Zima then punched Absinthe, taking everyone by surprise. "Did you really think I wouldn't get back at you? Think again! Now sit tight, take care of Leto and watch as we save your boyfriend or whatever! If we fail, I'll let you hit me as many times as you want!"
However, Zima had yet again misgauged her strength and knocked the cop out cold, setting for quite an anticlimactic turn of events. She just stole the poor girl of the chance of joining the rescue effort. As her friends stabbed her with biting comments on her greatest failure yet, the ursus roared to get back into the swing of things.
"Whatever! Click, you stay here and watch over the injured. Be careful of the- o-oh?"
The streamer hugged the bear who promised to save her friend. It was a touching moment… until Click looked up, her red eyes full of hatred for what she just did to Zoya. "If you fail, I'll make you regret you were born."
Zima flicked the mouse away, unfazed by the threat. "As if I'd fail! I'm not doing this alone anymore. Let's go, everyone! To save that bastard!"
"Would it really kill you to call Carrion by his name?" Her friends groaned while shaking their heads in disproval.
How hard could it be to find some spot to drop dead? His soul was no longer willing to go on, not after being seen by the people he cared about in such a macabre condition. There was no going back possible for him. A monster. The carrion made a cackle-like noise. It used to claim to be such a thing, back in the day, hoping that a frightened girl would break out of her fears. How ironic.
Then it noticed the things between its teeth and tried removing them with its tongue. Was there really anything? Either way, the creature couldn't stop worrying over it. When it instinctively tried to use its fingers to cause vomits, it realized for the first time how big its hand was.
"No…" That wasn't his hand. It lacked the correct fingers, but it wasn't his.
The black rocky limb was not his own, but it hurt all the same. There was something inside his body that continuously tried to melt it away, only for it to retake its former shape. More worrisome still, the rock appendages didn't necessarily stay in his arm. They grew, melt and regrew on his chest, his head and even his toes.
Tumbling down through the forest, the carrion started panicking from its own twisting shape. Then it crossed paths with a different creature. The white rabbit was petrified when it saw the odd-looking human, but with originium or without it, the animal still begun its retreat right away.
A hunter's hunger took over the failed experiment and it jumped towards the bunny, throwing a punch that got buried into the earth. When it pulled itself free, there was nothing in the hole. Had it missed? Or was the thrust so violent nothing remained from the fluffy thing?
The beast fell to the grown and squirmed again, overwhelmed by the next wave of pain melting its veins. Each time it hurt, his hunger only grew that stronger. Something in the back of its mind said not to eat, but instincts were stronger than reason.
The carrion had to eat… so it followed the scent of life. Would it lead it back to the people it left behind? Or would it stumble upon some unfortunate hikers? Maybe a streamer, with her cop friend and an instructor with his students? The beast shook, finding it hard to discern whether the people before itself were real or not. The sight of a redhead felt somewhat familiar, but it still couldn't remember. Its mind was too agitated to stop quaking and focus on something.
Before it knew what it was doing, the rabid thing reached the end of a forest. In the distance, there was a nostalgic landship not too far from a small town. The monster smelled the scent of prey. Of people enjoying their daily lives. The beast hammered forward, but the legs remained next to the forest's edge.
Don't go, someone said.
But the carrion thirsted for blood.
This is not you, that voice cried.
The monster dropped to the grass and flailed around, claiming that they made the decision together at that school.
If you go, I won't forgive you.
Someone had worked hard to learn how to let go of his guilt… but there was a limit to how much he was willing to accept. The carrion was no longer surrounded by evil scientists or wicked mercenaries. It was free. It still had a choice. The monster could turn back and get lost into the countryside… or it could give in and go have a blast releasing its cannibal instincts.
Mikhail fell to his knees, his heart beating so hard it visibly made him twitch. He lifted the source of his torment and slammed it against the ground. The pain had subsided enough for him to regain his senses, but the carrion would be back soon enough. Before that happened, he had to cut it off.
No scratch and no bite freed him from the growing rocky arm. There was nothing he could do. There was an axe still trapped into the formation, but it was out of his reach.
"Yo! You have something that belongs to me, bas- I mean, Mikhail!"
The redhead turned to look at the party of operators that found him.
"Stay away from me! I can't- Ghu! Ghnnnagh!"
As if awakened by the beast's survival instincts, the carrion took over, roaring at the familiar newcomers. A cannonball flew straight at him, but the blast didn't even put a dent onto the solidified arm of originium.
"Oh-oh. What now?" Salvager shrunk.
The commander raised her fist. "Now we beat his ass! To arms!"
The ursus sniper followed up on the cannonball with her own shot. Her skewers had so much strength they would surely pierce through its armor… if only it didn't dodge and start running towards them.
Gummy dashed through the hills to clash against the monster, putting her shield forward. She pushed back once. But the beast held its ground. She tried again. The carrion rose its deadly arm to slam it onto her. The defender clenched her teeth and put her back into it for the third time, sending the monster flying. While the air-time should have been short, the supporter used her arts to amplify its duration.
Following up on the chance created by Istina, the vanguard jumped high and landed a mighty punch onto the target, crushing it against the ground. Zima then reached for the axe stuck in its monstrous limb, but a little elafia tackled her before she could pick it up. As the leader was about to snap at Salvager for getting in the way, the monster gathered all of its originium around its torso and created a dark pulse, leaving behind an infectious mist. Even the grass underneath was starting to crystallize.
The red-haired monster inhaled the dark mist and regrew the solid limb that had broken the bones of his arm long ago. The carrion then reached back and created a whip-like extension from it, starting to cackle like a true maniac.
"That thing is made of active originium! If you get hit by it, you'll get infected!" Istina warned, preparing to react to any of its attacks with arts of her own.
When they reported the situation back to Rhodes Island through the ballistic communications device, the response team didn't exaggerate how dangerous entering combat with the carrion would be. No matter what happened, they had to put a stop to it before it reached the town… or else.
At least they weren't being complete morons about it. Mikhail was still in there, trapped within the chemical chaos. He could still be saved… but what would be the price? Istina created a slowing area around herself, stopping the approaching whip. However, just as the thin limb decelerated, the beast pulled it back, tearing its whip in half and dashing forward while morphing its weapon again. Its sudden change of targets allowed it to catch the Gummy by surprise, grabbing the defender from the neck and lifting her. It licked its lips as it prepared to perforate her chest with its blade-arm.
An explosion announced the shot. The cannonball collided against the carrion's head, but the monster had solidified its forehead in anticipation. The hit still made it release the defender, who gasped for air as she reached for her shield and her frying pan, blocking another strike just in time.
"Move aside!"
The aristocrat sniper fired her siege weapon again, catching the beast by surprise and piercing its strong arm in one shot. The projectile's dents opened and the retraction engine started pulling at full strength. The sneaky elafia pulled the axe out of its arm and prepared to throw it. Zima stood over her friend's shield and jumped high in the air. The axe found its way to her hands and time seemed to slow down. Or was it Istina's doing?
Regardless, during the moments she was falling towards the monster, she made eye-contact with him just as dawn poured new light across the valley.
"Get your shit together, Mikhail! You're not a freaking monster!"
The mass of melting originium was too slow to reinforce the flesh and the axe cut through the arm in one swift motion. The beast fell to the ground and squirmed in incredible pain. Rosa stopped the engine and raised the voice of alarm. The severed limb was starting to glow dangerously red. Everyone took cover when the originium limb exploded like a fragmentation grenade.
The acid spilt from his severed arm in a mixture of greenish red blood. Voices kept bombarding his ears, but his mind was still too confused to process anything. As everything faded into darkness, the redhead wondered who the girl next to him was… his gratitude escaping as a mere whisper.
The carrion was defeated… and Carrion was about to bleed to death.
