10-18-2018, 04:40 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-04-2018, 02:28 PM by Nika Raskov.)
Pond agreed. “Yeah, there’s a time and place for ‘Amelia.’ Mostly when I’m in trouble…” She grinned and brought out the dimples. The two women walked onward through progressively deepening water, knee-high now, around a bend and under the footbridge as they talked. The runoff came to a pool interrupted with large drain pipes and the like leading doubtlessly into the creepy beyond. Amelia looked around. “Well then, no ladder,” and was shushed. Really. Who is Rune? Not a cop. Atharim? That would be hilarious.
Nika almost laughed aloud but the other woman seemed serious enough about her search. Sharp ears? The assassin hadn’t heard anything. BB would be a little too far out still to affect a scan. She looked around, the pipes were certainly big enough for them to fit in so maybe something was in there. The left pipe had a sturdy-looking grate but the right drain grate was hanging agape. Amy swiveled her head, about to suggest a reconnoiter but was interrupted by a flash of monochrome and a lot of teeth. Surprise!
It had been watching them. Waiting. The beast took the littlest one first; the monster’s speed and strength showcased by the effortless extraction and distance it took her before killing her.
Her companion, however temporary, was left with only a disembodied grunt. The sound hung in the space Pond had occupied a only blink ago. There one second, gone the next.
It took her all the way under the bridge at their backs. Again in a blink. The monster was impossibly fast. They landed as one with a loud splash in the dark shadow cast from the structure above. She was pinned and it attacked without pause thrashing wildly in the water. Sharp talons tore at the girl’s abdomen and chest. Sounds escaped the darkness as though straight from a horror vid. The beast snarled. Cloth shredded. Globs of detritus flung wetly into the bracketing walls. Pained, sickening gasps and gurgles more liquid than air echoed briefly from the space. Then nothing. Over and done in less than six seconds.
A green apple bobbed from the shadows.
The monster revelled in its victory. The girl lay below the water’s surface; oddly encased arm bent defensively upward near her face, the other flung wide. A necessary sacrifice. The other would be easier now. It could almost taste the blood in the air; more blood. It grew eager, excited to feed again.
Silence from the darkness until something stood.
The thing moved away from her. Patience. She was patient. Nika held her breath and counted the passing seconds to calm the small part of her brain still screaming about what had just happened. Fighting initially had not had a high probability for survival. This had been the only viable option and it had worked so...yay.
Her head rose naturally with the ebb of the water and she breathed again ever so delicately through her nose. Only years upon decades of training kept her from gulping in all the atmosphere at once. Mental focus kept her systems in check; channeled them toward something useful.
Still playing dead she slit an eyelid. Barely. The creature was in full view and moving away still. Patience and calm. Infinitesimally she moved her arm back toward her body. Toward her gun. Waiting. She needed more noise from anywhere else but her. What was the phrase? Careful what you wish for? Well Holy Shit, there was another one. It had just gone for Rune; she was about to be flanked in a very bad way.
The assassin exploded into action. She drew her weapon and raised herself into a crunch simultaneously. Wrist braced atop her knee, she fired. Three times, sound and flash suppressed; the tool of an assassin. The grouping was intentionally tight for the first two; stacked through the back right where the heart was. The third was a headshot. Nika knew her ammo, had picked it specifically for certain attributes. The rounds fragmented upon impact and shredded anything inside a five and a half inch diameter. What that meant was, even if the thing’s vital organs weren’t where they should be...its brain was mush right now. It also meant she hadn’t just sent three rounds through a monster into her ally.
The monster, her assailant, was dead before it even hit the water.
Nika almost laughed aloud but the other woman seemed serious enough about her search. Sharp ears? The assassin hadn’t heard anything. BB would be a little too far out still to affect a scan. She looked around, the pipes were certainly big enough for them to fit in so maybe something was in there. The left pipe had a sturdy-looking grate but the right drain grate was hanging agape. Amy swiveled her head, about to suggest a reconnoiter but was interrupted by a flash of monochrome and a lot of teeth. Surprise!
It had been watching them. Waiting. The beast took the littlest one first; the monster’s speed and strength showcased by the effortless extraction and distance it took her before killing her.
Her companion, however temporary, was left with only a disembodied grunt. The sound hung in the space Pond had occupied a only blink ago. There one second, gone the next.
It took her all the way under the bridge at their backs. Again in a blink. The monster was impossibly fast. They landed as one with a loud splash in the dark shadow cast from the structure above. She was pinned and it attacked without pause thrashing wildly in the water. Sharp talons tore at the girl’s abdomen and chest. Sounds escaped the darkness as though straight from a horror vid. The beast snarled. Cloth shredded. Globs of detritus flung wetly into the bracketing walls. Pained, sickening gasps and gurgles more liquid than air echoed briefly from the space. Then nothing. Over and done in less than six seconds.
A green apple bobbed from the shadows.
The monster revelled in its victory. The girl lay below the water’s surface; oddly encased arm bent defensively upward near her face, the other flung wide. A necessary sacrifice. The other would be easier now. It could almost taste the blood in the air; more blood. It grew eager, excited to feed again.
Silence from the darkness until something stood.
The thing moved away from her. Patience. She was patient. Nika held her breath and counted the passing seconds to calm the small part of her brain still screaming about what had just happened. Fighting initially had not had a high probability for survival. This had been the only viable option and it had worked so...yay.
Her head rose naturally with the ebb of the water and she breathed again ever so delicately through her nose. Only years upon decades of training kept her from gulping in all the atmosphere at once. Mental focus kept her systems in check; channeled them toward something useful.
Still playing dead she slit an eyelid. Barely. The creature was in full view and moving away still. Patience and calm. Infinitesimally she moved her arm back toward her body. Toward her gun. Waiting. She needed more noise from anywhere else but her. What was the phrase? Careful what you wish for? Well Holy Shit, there was another one. It had just gone for Rune; she was about to be flanked in a very bad way.
The assassin exploded into action. She drew her weapon and raised herself into a crunch simultaneously. Wrist braced atop her knee, she fired. Three times, sound and flash suppressed; the tool of an assassin. The grouping was intentionally tight for the first two; stacked through the back right where the heart was. The third was a headshot. Nika knew her ammo, had picked it specifically for certain attributes. The rounds fragmented upon impact and shredded anything inside a five and a half inch diameter. What that meant was, even if the thing’s vital organs weren’t where they should be...its brain was mush right now. It also meant she hadn’t just sent three rounds through a monster into her ally.
The monster, her assailant, was dead before it even hit the water.