Call Me… Doc Ock – Arc One: Origin
Chapter 21: Grab Your Stuff and Go!
As bullets, bolts, knives and who-knows-what started flying, I ducked behind a fallen piece of the ceiling. A quick glance showed that everyone had ducked around behind broken furniture, slabs of wood, etc., and were trying to pick each other off from behind cover.
*SWHIIIING*
"FUCK!" A silver knife flew right by me. With an audible twang it embedded itself into the wall.
"HOLY SHIT!" That- that had been way too close! 'Dammit! I need to get out of here now!' I looked myself over. 'Right now, I'm completely exposed except for this loincloth! I have my tentacles.' A ball of light began to form in each of the mandibles. So that's working now, but I need more than this against these nutjobs!' My eyes flashed towards the knife in the wall, maybe-
*THUNK* *BOOOM*
"GYAAAAH!" I was sent flying from the slab as it was hit with another knife then an explosive bolt.
"Ugghhh!" Taking a moment to shake my head, I dove for cover behind an overturned table as more firepower came my way.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" So that knife was a no go. There had to be something! 'I need my bag! But where is it?!'
*SPLAT* 'Oh… that's- that's definitely a dead body.' I couldn't help but stare at the corpse that had landed in front of me. The upper half of its head had been blown clean off. 'That… that-that smells awful!' I was amazed that I could keep my breakfast.
'I- I need to- I- need to move.' Slapping my face with both hands, I clung to the sudden sting in my cheeks to focus. "Okay… everyone's trying to kill each other. I just need to find my stuff and/or get the hell out of here!" Steeling my nerves as best I could I took stock of my position.
*THUNK* "GYAAHHHH!" Leaning away from the knife suddenly poking through the table, I couldn't help but scowl. "Okay! Enough with the fucking knives!" Quickly reaching around with a tentacle, I grabbed the knife and pulled it back in. I inspected the glowing dagger and seeing its reflective surface, I nodded and shifted over to the edge of the table. Extending the knife a bit forward, I examined the situation.
By this point, things were beginning to escalate as all sides were now lobbing explosives.
*BOOOOM* *RUMBLE*
I looked up towards the ceiling, dust and debris were falling down. Just from the look of this place, I could tell that it was only a matter of time before it all began to collapse. Looking around some more, I then spotted the entrance to a stairway not too far from where I was. Just before it though, there was a bunch of broken glass, steel and wood. Looking down at my bare feet, I felt queasy just thinking about trying to run in that. It was a miracle that I hadn't stepped in anything by this point!
"But what do I do now? I can't just run around this place with all that crap laying on the…" My eyes fell back to the corpse. On its feet were a pair of boots.
'…fuck it! It's better than nothing!' Reaching out with a tentacle I pulled the corpse in and quickly pulled off its boots. It took a bit of work, but I managed to pull them off and stuff them onto my feet. "Okay, decent fit, now what?"
*BOOM* *BANG* *THUNK*
"Shit!" Taking a glance at the knife's reflection I could spot some of the wackos making their way over to where I was. 'Don't have time! I need to go now!' With that I got to my feet in a crouch and got ready to run. With my free tentacles, I reached around the table and fired some shots.
*FWSSHH* *FWSSHH* *FWSSHH* Three bolts flew out.
"WOAH!" "GA-DAMMIT!" "FUCK!"
As several of the men ducked for cover, I took my chance and ran, holding up the corpse for cover.
"HEY! HE'S GETTING AWAY!" "AFTER HIM!"
I could feel the impact as several of the bastards tried to take shots at me. As soon as I reached the door, I dumped the corpse and started running.
As I ran as fast as I could through the hallways and stairs, it was quickly becoming more and more apparent how much of a mess this place was. Even with people chasing after me to kill and/or sacrifice me I was trying desperately to avoid stepping into anything that really looked suspect.
'Oh God, I'm gonna need a long, hot shower if I get out of here.' I shuddered as I came to a stop in front of what I hoped was a pool of mud. Even if it wasn't, the stench was awful enough to make me wanna wretch anyway. "And to think, I could have been dragged through this place."
"I think I saw him come down this way!"
The voice snapped me out of my spell, and I set aside my own disgust to figure out a way from here. "Okay, okay, okay… I need to put some more distance between myself and those assholes. Now… which way, which way, which- oh, hello, what's this?" My eyes had landed on a hole up above. A few feet below it there were several steel bars jutting out from the walls and ceilings.
"All right, let's hope those bars can support my weight." I quickly reached out towards the lowest one with my upper left tentacle and pulled at it. When it didn't fall out, I jumped as high as I could while pulling with the tentacle. When I felt the bar begin to give a bit, I reached out with my upper right tentacle at another bar and quickly pulled myself up. From there I kept going with my tentacles until I reached the hole and pulled myself up.
Now on a higher floor with windows, I could see outside. From what little I could see through the clouds, it was getting closer to sunset. Given that it was mid-March, I had to assume that it was near 7:00 pm. A light breeze passed through, and I shuddered slightly as I was reminded of the fact that I only had a loincloth and boots on.
"Right, let's see if I can find my stuff." Looking both ways, I considered which way to go. I thought about just heading outside, but I would have been way too exposed for comfort. "Now if I were a bunch of cultists, where would I stash my intended victim's things?" These guys must have been setting up shop for some time now, so I had to assume that there would be people watching over the place just in case anyone got to close. So… "Maybe… the patient rooms?" This place used to be a treatment center for mental health, so there had to be some place for the staff and patients to sleep.
"Keep looking!" My head snapped down to a voice coming from below. "There are more of Logos' rats to find, not to mention our main target!"
"Shit," I hissed. Looking left and right, I finally went left down the hallway moving things aside as I went…
"Seriously, how the fuck did they manage to put up wards this far out without anyone noticing?!" Vincent Azelea drove through traffic at speeds that would have been considered dangerous on a good day. Currently, with fresh fallen rain on the road, his police car had nearly swerved off road more than a few times.
"They likely had plenty of time due to all the lack of attention that this part of the state gets from the Master- OH SHIT! WATCH OUT FOR THAT TRUCK," Sol Rama shouted as he sat in the passenger seat, hanging on for dear life as Vincent barely slipped past the truck. "FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND JUST, VINCENT!"
"SORRY! SORRY!" As a general rule, Vincent didn't normally like to drive after the rain when he could help it. He had seen enough stupid drivers on a bright sunny day get into the most ridiculous mishaps, but right now, time was of the essence. "Hey! H2H! How close are we?!"
In the back with two other mages, the android's eyes flashed green. "WE ARE CURRENTLY TWO MILES FROM THE SIGNAL."
Vincent nodded. "Alright. Listen up everyone, as soon as we get there our first priority is to find Isaac and get him to safety. After that, we find whatever protections these guys set up to block us from using the sling rings. Once we do that, we'll send for the rest of the available mages."
"Right!" "Mhm!" "Got it!"
Eventaully, H2H's eyes flash again. "WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE GENERAL VACINITY OF THE TRACKER."
Leaning forward a bit, Sol pointed. "Look! There!" Everyone turned to the right taking in the sight of the dilapidated facility. Sol grimaced. "Ugh… even from here I can already tell this place is a mess."
"Hey! Look over there," one of the mages in the back pointed. Following his direction, Vincent frowned as he spotted several trucks past the gate. "Those look like the same trucks that Curwen and his knights were using."
"Oh, that is not good," Sol bemoaned.
*BOOOOOOOM* A sudden explosion from somewhere near the dome reinforced his point.
Vincent pulled up to a spot near the front and parked the car before getting out. "Okay everyone! Let's get going! Sol, can you guys work on taking down the wards," Vincent asked.
"We can," Sol nodded. "Alright you two, it's about time you got a lesson in dealing with wards anyway."
"Yessir." "Understood!"
As the three went headed out, Vincent turned to H2H. "H2H, I need you to find that tracker!"
"CONFIRMED." The android turned to the right and ran; Vincent following after it.
"GRRK!" Another one of my "extended relatives" fell to his knees, clutching at the dagger that had lodged itself into his throat. As he fell to the ground our eyes briefly met before his went glassy. I held back a grimace as I hid above, hanging from the ceiling using my tentacles. So far, that had been about seven that had been taken out by either Curwen's knights or Clan Akkaba.
Now I wasn't an expert in fighting, but from what I could see so far, it seemed like most of my "family" didn't have much experience in actual fighting altogether. There had been one or two that could put up a decent fight so far, but in those cases, they had the element of surprise. It looked like they were really banking on using me as a vessel for their "patron" to survive.
I shuddered as my thoughts turned to that… thing. 'Seriously, of all the Goddamned Monsters I likely had to deal with… they had to get that one!' I… as soon as I had woken up in this world, I had been trying to psych myself up for the possibility that I might find myself faced with one of Marvel's biggest and baddest Big Bads. 'But… really?! THAT One?!' …did it make me a bad person to think that Curwen and Clan Akkaba were doing the world a favor in wiping out my family?
"Knight! Report," a voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I refocused on the armored man with peppered hair addressing the two others standing at attention. "Sir! So far, we have taken out over a dozen of the devil worshippers," the brunette with glasses stated. "Further ahead it would seem that they have made camp further down the hallways. They appear to have stocked several supplies. Knight Joseph is currently cataloguing the inventory while others are conducting a sweep of the halls."
The older man nodded, before turning the red head. "What of the freaks? How goes our progress in curtailing them?"
The redhead saluted. "Sir! So far, the freaks have proven resilient to any attempts to go on the offensive. Based on what conversation we could pick up from them, they appear to be looking for a specific target to eliminate."
The older man frowned. "A specific target? What are those freaks- no, wait!" The older man shook his head. "It matters not! All that matters is that these affronts to the Lord are put to the sword!" He pointed to the brunette. "Squire Mason, you return to Knight Joseph and assist him!" He then turned to the redhead. "Squire Tavish, you're with me! We're going to scour these halls and eliminate every last abomination that we can find!"
"Yes! Sir Donavan," the two younger men saluted. As they separated, I moved along the ceiling following after the brunette. If my "family" had set up shop in the halls ahead, then there was a chance that my stuff was there. Hopefully, the brunette should lead me right to where my stuff was being kept.
*BOOOOOM* Another explosion, rocked the place and it was all I could do to keep to the ceiling. A piece of the ceiling ahead of me fell through and I was forced to find a way around the hole because of the support beam coming loose. I couldn't risk grabbing it, it looked like it would come loose with one good tug. 'Shit! God, it sucks having to sneak around like this!' Looking ahead I could see that the brunette squire was quickly getting further away. 'Dammit! I can't let him get away!'
Looking around my eyes fell to a hole in the wall leading to the outside. From what I could see it wasn't raining but it was definitely getting dark. Looking down at my current attire, I braced myself for what I was about to do. 'Oh, this is gonna suck!' With that thought, I pulled myself outside and gritted my teeth at the sudden chill. 'Fuck! Cold! Cold! Cold! Cold!' Crawling along the wall with my tentacles I caught up to the brunette as quickly as I could.
Soon enough he reached an area that was lit up and I edged closer to one of the windows. Peeking around I could see several armored men moving stuff around. 'This has to be it! Okay, now where is my stuff… come on… come on, come on- There!' Over towards the wall on the opposite side I could just make out my bag being carried off by one of the armored men out of a door at the back. Sweeping across the room to make sure no one was watching, I braced myself for a bit before launching myself with my upper two tentacles up to the next floor. Grabbing onto the window I pried it open as quietly as I could and slipped inside.
I found myself in a patient room and pressed myself against the door. Opening up the door a little bit I took a moment to look through the hallway to see if anyone was nearby. To my left, I could just make out a balding man coming this way, checking each room carefully. Stepping away from the door I considered my options.
I… needed to get past him and quickly… I glanced at the knife in my left hand. Its bright silver glow suddenly seemed more ominous given the situation. 'Am I really going to…?' I… was I really going to… do this? 'Okay, let's take a moment to consider the situation. Pretty much everyone here, wants you dead. They are all armed to the teeth or apparently have superpowers to follow through on that intent. And none of them seem like they're gonna hesitate to do so. So really, is it wrong for me to… to take a life in this situation?'
I felt… uneasy. You know I've read entire forum threads with people getting on superheroes cases for not killing the bad guy. They go on about how the bad guys need to be put down like rabid animals… but really, it's easy to say that when they were sitting on their asses typing away at a computer screen. It was one thing to go on about killing someone and actually being stuck in a scenario where you might have to take a life.
The sounds of steps getting closer snapped me out of my thoughts. I quickly pulled myself up to the ceiling and watched as the balding man peeked his head in looking around the room. When he stepped into the room, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. As the door swung close, I waited for him to get closer to the window before readying myself. 'Okay… it's now or never…'
Hanging from the ceiling with my upper tentacles, I took a moment to gather my resolve and then… moved! The lower tentacles lashed out. Ensnaring the man just below.
"What the- mmph!" grabbing him around his mouth and torso, I pulled him towards me and thrust the knife forward.
"HRNNK!" I held the man in place as the knife buried itself into the back of his neck. The man's body went limp, and I gently lowered it to the floor.
I stared at the body. I had to take a moment to process what I was feeling right now. So far… so far, I got… nothing… that… was that… not normal… I mean I just… did it… But… I… I didn't feel anything. I stared at the knife in my hand. It was dripping red. …I didn't feel anything. …was that good or bad or…
"…you know what… I'll… I'll try to figure this stuff out later," I decided. Taking a moment to look over the body I noted that he had several pouches and a sheath with a short sword and holster with a pistol attached. "…well, might as well," I shrugged. Taking his pouch, I looked at the contents. "Let's see… salves, grenades, a flashlight, a swiss-army knife, some bandages and… some protein bars…" Looking at the body… I shrugged. "Well, it's not like he's going to need it."
I popped a bar into my mouth and peeked out through the door. When the coast was clear, I slipped out and moved ahead. Eventually, I came to another hole in the floor with some light peeking through, going into a crouch I crept up to the edge, with my tentacles prepared to grab onto the walls in case the floor gave up. Down below, I could see two guys down below.
'…hey! That's the guy! And that's my bag!' The guy from before was currently holding a list while the man next to him was dumping some other stuff into a trash bag. Next to them on a shelf with some other objects I couldn't quite make out, was my bag. Looking around on the current floor I made sure that there was no one around before I reached out to the ceiling with my upper tentacles. Stepping to the edge, I slowly tipped over until my feet were touching the edge of the hole. Bending over a bit I checked to see if there was anyone else with the guys in the room. Seeing no one else, I pulled myself back up.
'Okay… two guys, armed and close together. How do I do this?'
Knight Bronson scratched his shaggy brown hair as he categorized all the heathens' belongings. As much as he wanted to be in the thick of things, cutting down heretics, he was well aware of the importance of jotting down information on what their tools did. It would make things much easier for the Swords of the Lord, if they knew how these blasphemous tools worked so as to counter them. So, he couldn't complain too much.
Next to him, Knight Davis was not so patient. "Honestly can't believe I'm stuck doing clean up duty! I am a proud knight! From a long line of knights; each of us acting in service of the lord. Yet here I am dealing with all this garbage," he growled.
"Knight Davis, calm yourself. I can understand your frustration with this menial work. But you must understand that such a task is important for our work. We need to know how the devil-worshippers think. These tools will give us insight into their minds."
"Pah! What's the point in trying to understand them," Davis retorted. "We'll end up killing them all the same." He dropped a bag. "Honestly, I'm about done with all this chore boy nonsense. I'm a Knight of God, not some lowly housekeeper." He pulled out a gleaming silver blade. "I say we forgot about this and join our fellow knights in our holy mission."
Branson made to respond before-
*BOOOOOOM*
"SHIT!" FUCK! WHAT WAS THAT?!"
The two men looked in the direction the explosion came from, their blades drawn.
Branson leaned towards Davis. "I'll go ahead first, watch me and I'll watch you." At his fellow knight's nod, Branson crept forward towards the door, looking back towards Davis every few seconds. Once at the door, he pushed it open slightly. Poking his head out and seeing nothing, he stepped out through the door and observed the hallway. Eventually, he stepped back in and shook his head at his fellow knight. Davis frowned at this while pulling out a second sword. "Nothing?"
Branson shook his head. "No, nothing." He scowled. "I don't like this; we need to report-"
*Tink*
Branson's head swiveled back to the hallway looking around. When he felt something hit his foot, he looked down and felt his blood freeze at the sight of a live grenade.
"OH FU-!" *BOOOOM*
"BRANSON!" Davis rushed forward. When he got halfway to the other side, something came down and wrapped around his arms and pulled him up.
"WHAT THE-!" *BANG*
I let out a breath. "…sorry…" I dropped the corpse to the ground. Putting the pistol back into its holster, I quickly dropped down and rushed over to my bag. Checking it over, I was satisfied to see that the bastards couldn't get past the locks. That it looked intact meant that they had not been able to cut it open either, which is just as well, considering that Isaac and Otto had worked on making it as durable as physically possible.
"OVER HERE! THE EXPLOSION CAME FROM IN HERE!"
Looking back towards the door, I could spot several people with flashlights making their way to the room.
"Well, that's my que to go." After taking a moment to grab some things from the corpse, I reached into the hole in the ceiling and climbed back up. 'Right. Let's find a place to hide and suit up!'
With that I made my way further into the next floor above.