33 Chapter 33 (1/2)
I leaped up in the air over the Wendigo's charge, shooting it with my repulsor gun with beam after beam, scoring across its fur. It laughed, seeming reveling in the pain as it slammed into Creel. Creel took the charge with a bit of struggle, digging his heels into the ground as he flashed into a bluish-white and shiny metal I recognized as osmium.
A paper grocery bag of osmium would weigh as much as a car. Creel was a lot heavier than that.
He came to stop very quickly. The Wendigo reared back, swinging a claw at him, and Creel flashed into his vibranium form, the claws bouncing against Creel's body.
I landed on a bookshelf and kept shooting at the Wendigo's back, breathing and relaxing with every shot, though it was easy to hit such a big target. Portions of the Wendigo were sliced off with each shot, only for it to heal back instantly, leaving me growling in anger.
”It's just healing back!”
”Not for long!” Creel punched the Wendigo in the face, shattering its teeth and sending it back.
”Wen-digo,” the monster giggled, only to gasp when Creel stepped forward and uppercut it in the stomach with a left, following with a right cross to the creatures face.
The creature moved with sudden speed and wrapped a claw around Creel, spinning and tossing him aside.
”Shit!” Creel shouted, getting sent flying through the air like a cannonball, tearing through several tables and bookshelves, tumbling through the air.
The Wendigo turned to smile at me. ”Wen-digooo.”
I glared, not willing to let this thing scare me and shot it in the chest from my spot on top of the bookshelves.
A shot in the chest did nothing but nudge the creature a bit while leaving a quickly healing wound. It smiled even wider, fangs flashing, then slowly walking towards me. It didn't move with the same speed as before, clearly wanting to enjoy this.
I rolled my eyes, going for bravado even as tension made my voice a little squeaky. ”You really think I'm scared of you? Black Widow is scarier.”
Seriously. WAY scarier.
The Wendigo kept walking towards me as I shot it, barely moving as repulsor beams sliced off pieces of its body. I checked the Omnitrix. Still a solid red.
”Fine,” I said, glaring at my superpowered watch as it seemed to mock me with its red color. ”I'll do it myself.”
The Wendigo swiped at me. I jumped over it with a yell that was part fear and part anger, flipping in the air and putting my rifle away to grab the Model 3. The handle attached to my wrist in mid-air, then snapped a blade outwards and around my wrist, becoming a sword. My other hand brought forth my shield in a smaller and more manageable form as I landed behind to Wendigo, staring up at it with a glare from beneath my helmet.
”Come on then asshole!” I yelled, trying to psych myself up to fight something twice my height.
The Wendigo spun and slashed at me with blinding speed. I barely blocked the attack on my shield and was sent flying across the floor with my feet skittering on the pavement until I hit a desk, shattering it. Still standing with my shield raised, I ducked under a blow from the Wendigo and slashed at its stomach with all of my suits speed, cutting a deep line into its gray underbelly that began to heal immediately. The Wendigo snarled, raising a fist up and swinging it down at me like a hammer. I spun away from the blow and swung my sword into that arm, slicing it off. As the arm went flying in a spray of red that soaked my blade and the Wendigo's fur, the creature screamed.
”WEN-DIGOOOOO!”
Howling in pain, it unleashed a blind swipe that sent me flying. I flipped through the air uncontrollably, my force-field barely holding after a Hulk level attack, then lost my shields completely when I slammed into the stone ceiling above with a cratering smash.
”Ahhhh!” I yelled. Groaning in pain, I stared down at the Wendigo, who was glaring up at me while his arm slowly grew back. Because of course, his arms could grow back. Oh, and it was licking at the blood pouring out of its still leaking arm because it was a freak. My HUD sent me damage reports, showing that several dozens of the catoms in my armor had been obliterated, but I could still fight. Growling, I pressed my feet against the ceiling as I began to fall and pushed off towards the Wendigo, activating my jumpjets to give me a boost. The Wendigo jumped up towards me.
I hit him sword first, slamming into his chest. It roared, spinning in the air to hold me close. We hit the ground hard, the Wendigo still impaled on my sword, but also on top of me. He pressed into me, clawing at my shield as I held it up, depleting my force fields and clawing at me.
”You smell like shit!” I yelled up at the musty creature.
”Wen-digo...” It leaned down and tried to take a bit out of my face, teeth scratching at my helmet. The movement of its jaws made my neck muscles hurt as it pulled at my head.
”Aaahhgh!” I screamed in pain and fear, struggling with it, kicking at his thighs. I was breathing fast, my HUD sending me flashing alarms about the damage I was taking while my heartbeat skyrocketed with fear and adrenaline. ”Get off of me!”
I let go of my shield, grabbed my handgun from my thigh holster, and pressed the gun to the creatures head, firing bullets at point blank range into his face, my helmet muffling the sound as the bullets hit the Wendigo. While the bullets bounced off his head, the Wendigo released my helmet from my jaws and rose off me with a whine of pain. My sword was pulled out of his chest with a 'Schlick' sound.
I rose up and kept shooting my handgun, putting it away once I was on my feet. I was panting hard as I rubbed at my helmet, wiping away his saliva. ”You bastard.”
He smiled sadistically, scratching his claws at the floor.
Then Creel came in with a haymaker that sent the Wendigo back.
I fell to a knee, trying to catch my breath. ”The hell took you so long!?”
Seriously, thank god my armor was so good. I could still fight, and the catoms were functioning, but fighting a Hulk strong monster is always a damn grating prospect.
”He threw me into another room!” Creel grumbled, stepping forward. ”Why didn't you change into the tiger or something?”
”Because the Omnitrix is still-” I was cut off when it turned green mid-sentence. ”Oh you did that on purpose,” I grumbled at the Omnitrix, opening it up as Creel hit the Wendigo with another punch. Then I found myself blinking at the hologram that popped up, flipping through the menu to confirm what I was seeing. ”...When did I get these two!?”
”Hey!” Creel yelled, getting lifted and thrown.
I discarded the thought, flipping to one of the aliens. ”Guess this guy's in theme,” I mumbled, pressing down on the Omnitrix. ”It's Hero Time!”
Electricity surrounded my form. My muscles grew outwards, exploding. Growths similar to stitches appeared across my biceps, stomach, face, and back. Two large Tesla coil-shaped pillars of organic metal grew from my shoulder blades pointing straight up while another two grew out my lower back pointing at the floor as three smaller discs showed up on my stomach. My hair was still in a ponytail, but it had gotten longer, while my beard had gotten shorter. My skin changed to green as I rose to my full height, and I grinned.
”Frankenstrike!”
Green lightning fell from nowhere to hit the metal pillars on my body, sending a surge of power into my muscles and bones. I grinned, my green eyes flashing with lightning as I met eyes with the Wendigo while a surprised Creel looked on. When I spoke, it was in a voice tinged with lightning, reverberating from vocal cords that would have been considered damaged by human standards.
”You know what they say about he who fights monsters,” I raised a hand filled with electricity. ”They become them!”
Green lightning flew from my hand to slam into the Wendigo, sending it back to hit the concrete walls behind it.
”Hey Creel?” I asked, walking up to him while electricity danced around my form. ”Wanna try something cool?”
Still confused, he nodded.
The Wendigo, snarling with rage, struggled to rise, only to blink when he saw us.
Creel was grimacing in pain from where he was floating in a bubble of lightning but still managed a smirk in his metal form. I held him aloft on magnetic and electric power over my head, power flowing from the four metal Tesla type coil things on my back to hold Creel up. Green bolts surrounded us like a forest, and one crashed down in front of us.
”Might as well say it,” I said with a grin, raising my arms over my head as Creel curled into a ball. ”Fastball...” I threw my arms down, the thrust them towards the Wendigo, launching Creel forward. Electricity flowed through me, gathering in my hands as I lowered my hands into a classic Kamehameha pose. ”Railgun!”
Creel, held in a wave of electromagnetic power, disappeared in a blur. In science, electromagnetic weapons could launch metallic objects at speeds of up to Mach 8.8 with ease. Creel was too heavy for me to be able to do that without some prep time.
KABOOM!
That said, the sonic boom that sent me stumbling back was gratifying. But not as much as Creel embedded deep in the Wendigo's chest, blood pouring around his fists as they flew into a concrete wall and disappeared past it into another room, sending concrete dust everywhere. The force of the sonic boom destroyed even more tables and desks around us, sending wood, metal, plastic, paper, and glass flying in a circle away from all three of us.
I rushed after them and found they'd landed in a room full of old laboratory equipment. The Wendigo was rising up, three deep holes in its body that were healing more slowly than they had before.
”Yeah,” I said with a grin at the beast of sorcery. ”Screw magic. Give me science any day.”
”WEN-DI-Oof!” Creel punched the Wendigo in the face, sending it back. Creel unleashed a series of quick and powerful blows, driving the creature back with sheer boxing technique alone. When the Wendigo swiped at him, Creel was forced to back off.
Then I blasted it with electricity. The spikes in its body gave me a perfect target, allowing me the attack it with all the lightning I had. I laughed as pure power filled my veins before flowing out and electrocuting my opponent. I let up to allow Creel to get some hits in, then blasted the Wendigo again. ”It's alive!” I cried out, laughing in a voice of lightning and damaged vocal cords. ”IT'S ALIVE! HAHAHAHA!”
Yeah, I've seen way too many movies. On the plus side, Bucky was going to love this.
The Wendigo roared, falling down to its knees and glaring at us despite the hundreds of thousands of volts burning its fur off, charring its flesh and leaving a smell in the air of burnt fur, ozone, and grilled meat. The creature roared once more, the sound somehow twisting like a scream, and scratched at the floor, trying to reach us. Portions of its face burned away, revealing a blackened skull, only to heal back again.
I stopped the electricity, and Creel stepped forward once more. He didn't let up this time. He gave the Wendigo a left, a right, then kicking it in the chest, hard.
The Wendigo fell on the floor. Creel and I stared at its silent form. Then, slowly, it struggled up again.
”Oh, come on!” Creel yelled, annoyed.
Seriously, if it wasn't for my advanced equipment, the Omnitrix, and Creel's powers, the Wendigo would have torn us apart with us being unable to touch it, and healing from anything that could injure it. As it was, we had one problem.
”What do we need to do to actually take this thing down without killing him?” I thought for a moment, staring at the large and furry bastard. The Wendigo was a monster, and I could tear it apart with Creel's help. But not without killing it. According to what little I knew about the Wendigo curse, it was also an innocent person, unable to fight against the things forcing it to attack. This wasn't the human's fault, all of this death. I wasn't willing to kill someone for the monster they'd been forced to turn into. Be a bit hypocritical of me... Then I came to a realization. ”Creel, lead it out here!”
I turned and ran out of the hole Creel and Wendigo had created.
”How the hell am I supposed to- ah, hell with it!” Creel ran after me. ”Come on, follow me you B movie reject!”
The Wendigo roared weakly, moving with less speed, but still chasing us. It giggled, spasming from the electric shock still running through it. Even then, I could still see the burns on its body were healing, and much more slowly than the other wounds had. I entertained the idea of simply burning it, either with electricity or by turning into Swampfire. But the goal wasn't to kill it. Waiting across it, Creel and I stood, both of us knowing the plan as we lingered near its former cage.