Summary:(Major gore warning!) A hunt goes bad resulting in two mutants turning feral against their enemies. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
  |
Domino still has her job with RESCUE..for now. She's still on okay terms with Posse..for now. She can even continue to work side jobs..for now. This last detail is especially important given that she wound up losing out on ALL of her money from BOTH of the Ukraine dealings. When paired with more than enough unwanted emotional energy flying around in her immediate orbit there's only one known cure to her current ailments.
Take another job.
A fast, frantic, bloody job.
Luck once again favors her in the form of a Disaster Zone hunt. Something about a mutated feral dog being on the loose. Hunt the dog, KILL the dog, get paid. It even has some feel-goods knowing that she'll be cleaning up the area a little and eliminating one more potential threat to public safety.
Oh Hell Yes she took the job.
It's overcast and sixty degrees outside, fantastic weather for some outdoor operations. The albino's kitted out for the kill with FOUR pistols, plenty of blades, a serrated machete over one shoulder and a short barreled semi-automatic shotgun over the other.
She probably could have gone for the long range option but she needs to make sure that it's a successful kill. Losing the body in the ruins could be bad, especially if she only wounds her mark. This run is going to be close and personal.
Just like her days in the Abyss.
Bright eyes gleam as she drops down from a crumbling second storey office building, sliding down the steeply angled remains of a wall to drop on top of the roof of a badly crushed car. She's just stepping to the edge when something shifts and the car suddenly pitches three inches to the side, causing the mercenary to lose her footing and stumble off of the edge and drop face-down into the dusty remains of the street.
-Staring directly at an unusual pawprint.-
"Got you now you sneaky little bastard."
*
At another part of the Disaster Zone, there's another hunter out seeking mutate hounds, Hank McCoy, the Beast is kitted out with…himself, and, his armour. Yeah, that's probably enough! The armour does have a harness over the top with a bunch of pouches, he's not Batman, but he's got a fair number of useful items tucked away in it all the same.
Alas, there's no such thins as Beast Shark Repellant. Nor any Beastarangs. Or Beastmobile…unless Bessy counts!
It is interesting that Hank is seeking 'hounds', but then he tabulated all the known sightings and attacks, did the math and concluded there were two hounds with a very small chance of three. Since one of the attacks left a six year old girl an orphan…yeah…this needs to end.
Hank followed a mathematically precise search pattern, and found a bit of scat. Scenting it, he got a good idea of the originating creature, especially when he finds some scent marking, definitely a hound, male from the behavior.
A low growl, and then Hank starts following the trail. And yes, blood is very much on his mind…the scat had human scent markers, whatever he's tracking /eats/ people.
*
Up ahead the ruins come together to form a narrow twisting tunnel just barely large enough for a person to walk through without hitting any sharp edges. Neena's back on her feet and silently drawing the twelve gauge while the concrete dust breaks free and falls away from her thermal attire all on its own.
A short ways through has her stopping to examine the end of an exposed piece of rebar. Getting past it isn't easy yet there isn't any sign of fur caught on the end. She's still on the right track, the prints are fresh… Peculiar.
Creeping further along leads her to the smashed rear entrance of a former diner, the afternoon wind carrying with it the sharp nauseating stench of rotting meat. More tracks line the floor, dusty prints upon crumbling tilework.
The albino takes another step inside when one of those bits of tile snaps and crumples beneath her boot, the sound sharp throughout the otherwise silent kitchen.
*
Behind Domino she hears a VERY menacing growl, low and throaty after that snap of tile. Yeah, if there was EVER an 'oh shit' moment, that growl would be it. BUT…of course that's not enough 'oh shit', not even close. Her senses would scream alarm as another growl comes from above, where she can see a hideously mutated hound. The hide is thick and leathers, and covered with very short spines, spines currently tinged with red. The hound is about six feet long and has way a good couple hundred pounds, and the fangs? Massive.
There comes the sound of the other Hound stalking up to the edge of the diner, and /looking/ at Dom, a bit smaller, sleeker, but same build. If it is mutated it was by design, that's for sure, these look to be a species…perhaps a breeding pair? That would suck, what if there's pups?
There's literally no warning save a moment of stillness, the quiet before the tempest…and then the one behind lunges for Dom's legs and the one above leaps down going for a throat grab.
*
There comes a moment during nearly every contract job where Domino has the sudden feelings of 'more intel needed' and 'shoulda brought a bigger gun.' It isn't enough to find The Hound she had been tracking. Apparently there's TWO of them. They don't have fur. They're barely recognizeable as DOGS. Reflective eyes gleam with a faintly hissed "Shit" right before the two make their moves.
Neena jumps and twists around in the air, leaping over the first hound which slides across the tile with claws raking up the weathered mortar before crashing into a table and sending pots and pans clattering.
The second gets a solid bite onto one of her boots, the hardened polymer shell surrounding the lower half of the limb stopping the teeth from puncturing through. It still interrupts her leap, twisting the albino about and -slamming- her back to the floor as claws rake bloody furrows across the side of her caught leg.
The angle is all wrong. She can only get one hand on the powerful and heavy shotgun. She twists around with a yell and snaps a shot toward the one hound, the solid slug exiting the short barrel with a dust-dispersing *BOOM!* The slug only catches a glancing blow across the side of the beast's armored hide, doing nothing more than to leave a five inch streak of brass across the spiny form.
The mangled remains of that solid chunk of metal whizzes out of the diner, smacking the edge of a shattered window and rebounding off of a mangled street light before zinging right past a certain blue-furred mutant with mere inches to spare!
*
Deflected ammo, a moment later the thunder of the shot gun, and yeah…it sounds like a fight. Hank doesn't hesitate, guts churning that he might be too late, he arches his back and lets loose a bellowing roar, a challenge unlike anything an ape, or a hound, or any natural creature would make. But damned if it ain't loud!
Charging forward, he proves that something big CAN be something graceful as he vaults over and around obstacles, and finds the diner too.
Eyes of yellow narrow and he growls low, and throaty, hunkering down atop the same rooftop the male was on, and bares fangs when he sees the one savaging Neena's leg, and other about to join the fun.
"Not. Today." He snarls, and his hackles raise as he leaps down to attack the male, the ground /shuddering/ with the impact of 29 stone worth of furry rage, spiderweb cracks and a small crater forming and likely pitching Domino to the side as he backhands the brut on her leg with an impact that sends a puff of dust and debris radiating out in a half circle.
The brutish non-dog is sent HURTLING into the kitchen, impacting the grill, and crushing metal. Yeah, it didn't enjoy that in the least. And the wet sound of it's breathing? Yeah…it is likely not going to be moving too fast too soon.
Of course, this leaves the female able to act just fine.
*
A howl?! What the hell just howled?! Oh -fuck- there's a THIRD one!
Domino's too busy being flung about like a floor mop to line up a second shot, dirt and grime streaking across the tile as small bright crimson dots start to fall from the wounds on her leg. There's only enough time for another wide-eyed stare as the third monsterno, the third BEASTcomes crashing into the diner and strikes the ground so much that Dom swears the kitchen is no longer room-shaped so much as bowl-shaped.
Somewhere overhead an old pipe bursts under the strain and causes cold water to jet out across the room.
The hound which had crashed onto the grill soon becomes the albino's next target as three more of those devastating slugs scream across the diner to punch baseball-sized holes into the grill. One splits open the gas line. Another catches the creature's hind leg with enough force to snap it almost completely in two.
Hank may have dealt with the male but the female is soom leaping up over a serving tray, knocking it over with quite the clatter of plates and utensils as she lunges through the air to leap onto Hank's back! Wickedly pointed fangs snap at the unprotected shoulders and neck on the furry behemoth, her tail lashing about and sending even more hanging cooking accessories banging around and flying to the floor.
Neena kicks back across the floor and brings the stubby shotty up in both hands, drawing a bead…and finding the chamber empty. Hank's on his own!
*
Once again Hank roars, holy shit that's a lot of decibels! Hands to either side with fingers upcurled and three inch claws at full extension.
And then the female lands on his back, biting and tearing at his furred shoulders and throat. Now his howl turns wild, and bright blood spurts as a major blood vessel tears, a crimson spray spattering the ceiling.
More red wells and flows freely from ancillary cuts from the not-dog's scrabbling claws.
And then the Beast unleashes the beast within, one long arm reaching up to clamp a dinner plate spanning hand onto the hound's skull, massive fingers driving three inch claws through hide even as the spines lacerate his hand, and then the bone beneath is rent. There is nothing of style, of grace, or finesse here, just two brute animals /rending/. Each other.
The dog-thing howls piteously, and then Hank hurls it off him before staggering a moment. And bracing a beefy hand on the floor.
Eyes of yellow track to Domino and there's /nothing/ of the Man there, nope. Not a dram.
And then…yes, as the female scrabbles awkwardly to her feet, her head visibly deformed and bleeding copiously from the punctures…a /third/ animal growl can be heard, this one several octaves deeper. Just outside there's a thud of a mighty paw, and a /third/ not-hound comes around a wrecked van. And this one is MUCH bigger than the other two - it is at least eight hundred pounds of muscle, and there's a lot of battle scars, and the thing is /easily/ the size of a sub-compact car.
Oh man…this is not a good thing AT ALL.
*
In that final violent motion of Hank ending the female hound the pale mutant gets spattered with a fine cherry-hued mist, right up across her face. Nostrils flare, mouth left slightly agape, eyes flicker and gleam… Then fall onto Hank.
Onto -Beast.-
Her last encounter with the creature within the mutant had been ..eventful. It led to a full redecoration of a kitchen being necessary. Now here he is, -completely- off his chain. Surrounded by blood and ruins with no concern about collateral damage.
But he has a bigger threat to worry about, doesn't he?
They BOTH do.
The empty shotgun clatters to the drenched floor as both of Domino's hands go to her favored karambits, the viciously hooked blades flicking about upon her fingers before coming into palms with their points reversed. It's perhaps the last flicker of humanity within the wiry mercenary before those hematite-gleaming eyes focus..then widen..immediately followed with a deep hiss befitting of a freaking xenomorph queen.
Dom's head ducks low and shoulders bunch upward as she starts to stalk to one side of the mother hound, the spray of water coursing down her thermal suit like animated vine-like rivers.
This is going to get ugly. Really..really ugly.
There's no one left here but animals.
The Mother gives this smaller creature a glance but she barely registers as a threat to the massive hound. That honor goes to the Beast. With a growl deep enough to rattle some of the nearby pans the den leader's claws curl into the ruined floor before springing toward Hank with a roar—
—as the Hellcat-possessed albino leaps onto -its- back with both clawed blades slamming into the mother's armored hide.
*
Mommie Fearfest leaps to the attack and despite his injuries Hank surges to meet her. This /creature/ dares challenge BEAST? The younger female hound manages a few more whines, and then slumps, eyes glazing…the the light dying behind them. This serves to draw another howl from the bigger animal as she leaps to the attack.
Is there any creature in nature - even something as clearly unnatural as the not-hound - more savage than a mother defending her young? That is exactly what this appears to be.
The mother goes for a head bite, slavering jaws spread wide enough to engulf Beast's entire head. Even as hurt as he is, Beast is fast, a fist partially deflecting that bite enough that it is his -other- shoulder that gets chomped, his other shoulder that spurts red, the other shoulder that has bones crushed. Another report as Hank's ham sized fist connects to armored skull, another shock wave.
The massive hound-like creature yowls at the bite of the karambits into her hide, and that lets Hank get a grip on the brute's jaws, upper and lower. She forces him back, feet doing still more damage to the floor as he relentlessly forces those massive jaws wide, his blood staining white teeth and red tinted spikey hide at the mouth.
It steps forward and /that/ step is the last straw.
The entire floor collapses in a rush, strained beyond bearing.
Darkness and dust and debris swallow them all.
*
Honed steel slowly rips and tears into the giant creature's back, the smallest of the remaining three creatures snarling with rage while corded muscles try to sink Domino's 'claws' deeper into their mark.
She doesn't get far. Only far enough to be able to hang on when the floor gives way and the fight is sent into the basement.
Water, grit, blood, and a fair portion of the kitchen rains down into an old electric substation where current still flows through some of the machines.
The battered Beast ends up with a wicked paw crushing down onto his sternum.
The lacerated Domino gets slammed into a metal encased machine amidst a series of sparks then struck again buy a thick rat-like tail, neatly flinging her backward where a sheet steel panel caves in from her impact.
The den mother shakes her head then pushes upright with a rib-rattling rumble, the creature's deep dark eyes gleaming with seething hatred as teeth are bared once more.
The next motion is lightning-quick as the mother tries to sink teeth into the blue mutant's head then twist and thrash him around like a ragdoll until something more important might break.
She never notices the Hellcat until it's too late, one of those bloodied knives biting into the hound's flank as the other comes around and neatly clips the tendons of one of her rear legs, rendering one of the hound's four limbs completely useless.
Too bad for Beast, the pained and outraged howl happens to be sent right to his face.
*
Beast is absolutely wild with Fury, in this state he's essentially immune to pain though he'll pay for it later. Fortunately he's also VERY tough…and especially so when the trauma is blunt. Like a fall with eight-hundred and change in brute hound landing on him, and another buck fifty at least of Hellbion Murder Cookie when considering woman and arsenal on top!
The impact on the ground is enough to stun him, not due to pain, but due to the /air/ whooshing out of his lungs.
Tearing at already ravaged muscles he once more grips the she-hound's throat, holding her head at bay.
The ground down in this substation? Not in great shape with nigh a half ton impact from some six or eight yards above.
And then she howls in Hank's face, and his super hearing is assaulted it…one eardrum shatters, more blood trickling. Beast responds by BITING back…his fanged maw attempting to savage the hound matron's face - specifically her nose.
*
Somehow the den mother's cry only grows louder as it rises in pitch. Blood spills out around her nose as the Beast's teeth sink into such a delicate area. Her remaining three limbs thrash against the ground, raking across the blue behemoth's front as well as the albino's side.
One of those claws catches Domino's harness and whips her about, slamming her against exposed brackets and conduit lines, dicing up her thermal gear with so many fresh bloody gashes forming beneath.
The electrical equipment seems to be taking it just as hard…especially as so much of that water falls onto freshly damaged equipment. Something starts to pop. The thick scent of ozone starts to fill the basement.
The albino returns with a throat-splitting scream barely within the realm of a human larynx, karambits piercing into the creature's side before slicing vertically between the den mother's ribs like a giant scissors working in reverse. More blood immediately follows. The hound's whine turns into a baleful howl as her motions turn frantic. Desperate.
One of the electrical boxes gets crushed.
A power line within the diner sparks and ignites the out of control gas leak.
Up at street level the diner suddenly explodes, shoving untold amounts of wreckage and ruin outward as the second, third, and what had remained of the fourth storey crumble inward.
A solid steel beam SLAMS down end-first into the ground, nearly crushing Hank if not for how the mercenary 'plays' the den mother with those savage steel claws. Large chunks of concrete rain down around the three for all of a moment before the ground gives way once more…
Beast and Domino crash through the rotting wooden ceiling of an 1900's era subway car.
The den mother isn't so lucky, getting impaled upon the splintered remains of the railcar's wall. Under the strain they snap like toothpicks and leave the mortally wounded creature falling onto an ancient hand-tiled platform, spilling and spattering so much blood across the station which time had forgotten more than a century ago.
The darkness is absolute.
*