CHAPTER 37
Nick woke up to the sound of combat. A keening howl sounded out then cut off into a wet gurgle after a crunching thud.
"Everybody up!" yelled Cait from outside the tent. "Shitbirds incoming!"
The crack of gunfire announced that Warhawk was a light sleeper.
"What the fuck is a shitbird?"
Nick shook himself, the haze over his senses evaporating as they came awake and expanded. His body immediately broke into a cold sweat, as he slingshotted himself out of the tent using the stakes. He didn't know if everyone else could see it, but the camp was surrounded.
SURROUNDED he sent over the comms, getting a simultaneous 'What?!' from Cait, Sonder and Warhawk. At that, the keening howl from before was echoed by countless throats, and while more were struck down by the team, there were too many to stem the tide of sound.
Nick sensed his friends gathering around the fire, lashing out at any form that approached from the surrounding dark. For him though, the difference between night and day was semantic. These monsters didn't know that. It was time to hunt.
When Nick needed to, and hell, given how often Cait was surprised he was behind her, even when he didn't, he could move silently. Keeping his tentacles low to the ground he was well below the level of the tall grass.
He'd found himself oddly at ease in the wilderness, like it was what his senses were made for. The civilized world was so predicated on light and visual input, but that wasn't how he perceived things. When he'd been in the 'Shell, he'd been adapting to circumstances. These few days outside of it had taught him that he'd been made to be a hunter.
He slithered through the grass, lashing out pinpoint attacks at anything isolated and in range, working around to the area where he sensed a large group flanking the team's strongest frontliners. Dawn got her shit together then, and a glowing tree shot out of the ground under the fire, bathing the area in soft light.
At that same instant, Nick finished processing something he should have noticed much earlier. The scent he'd been tracking for days, that he'd stayed so closely attuned to, was here. As the light revealed the flanking group, a gleaming figure shot out of it, tearing into Bullrush. The huge Altered roared in fury and pain as Ironhide's claws tore through the thick hide of his raised arm like it was tissue paper.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck Nick repeated, spearing Coonbeasts in turn as he broke stealth, rushing to help the big Minotaur. Ironhide had set this ambush well, making sure all the melee Guardians were spread out around the weaker combatants, dealing with regular beasts, leaving him 1 on 1 with someone who had no real defense against him. Bullrush was big, strong, and fast, but Ironhide was faster, and didn't need to fear his strength. It might as well have been a detriment, as the Minotaur tore his fist open on Ironhide's razor fur. Ironhide grabbed that arm, bringing his other forearm down like a blade and shearing it off just below the elbow.
JESUS CHRIST
DISPATCH GET BULLRUSH OUT OF HERE
Nick whipped out a tentacle, feeling the burn of a thousand cuts as it was shedded on the fur of Ironhide's ankle. He ignored it, yanking back as hard as he could, toppling the beast. Releasing the ankle with a hiss of pain, he jammed the injured tip into one of his blastrings, before slamming it back onto Ironhide's chest and sending the neural signal to fire. The pain of the cuts gave way to a searing flash of agony as the ring activated, burning away most of the appendage as it fired.
Ironhide howled, and Nick's heart fell. Dead things didn't howl.
Actually that might not be a hard and fast rule.
It had been enough for priority number one though, as a mandala portal opened, Samsara dashing through to touch Bullrush and pull him through another.
"Was that Samsara?" called Warhawk, "What the fuck is going on over there?"
IRONHIDE MAIMED BULLRUSH
"Ironhide is here!?" She yelled. "Amaranthine, intercept him!"
"Fuckin' where?" Cait responded, busy with her own cluster of beasts. In the chaos, Nick didn't have a lot of options. He whipped out another tentacle, wrapping it around his friend's waist. Ironhide was rising to his feet, and they couldn't have that. Using Cait as a makeshift mace, he slammed her down on the wounded monster. A surprised yelp sounded from both of them, and he brought her up and back down again. Cait was the first to get her bearings.
"Hell yeah brother!" she yelled, pumping her fists in the air as he raised her again. "This is the only time you're gonna hear me say this, but harder Daddy!"
Wrapping more tentacles around her, he put all his strength into another swing. Cait assisted, thrusting a powered punch down as she fell. The ground shook with the impact.
"Fucker's bleeding!" Cait cheered as she was raised back up. "Again, B-boy, full send!"
SLAM SLAM SLAM
"Cait!"
SLAM SLAM
"Cait!"
SLAM
"GODDAMMIT Amaranthine! There's another one!" cried Warhawk, finally cutting through Nick and Cait's blood frenzy.
Panicked, Nick reached out his senses, picking up the cold light of Ironhide's abilities seeping out of another monster. Said monster was currently on top of Hotglue, mauling the helpless Guardian.
"Throw me!" Cait commanded, and Nick whipped her like a fastball. This body was a better athlete than he'd ever been in his past life, and she flew fast and true, slamming the second Ironhide off of Hotglue. If the arterial spray that followed them was any indication, it was far too late.
Cait began to ground and pound the new addition, before weak, but very angry, growls drew Nick's attention. A charred metal claw gripped the side of the crater they'd made and the first Ironhide pulled itself to its feet at the edge. Its skin was charred, blackened, and cracked, seeping blood from shattered metal. But it was, most certainly, not dead.
Nick hissed as the beast howled a challenge and charged him.
Even like this, not the best matchup for me.
There wasn't any choice though. Nick whipped himself around, using trees, stakes, even surrounding beasts to keep himself out of the things reach. All the while he shot out precision strikes with the tips of his tentacles, aiming for cracks or joints, anything to slow it down.
SONDER, FINGERGUNS, I NEED FIRE SUPPORT.
He was unwilling to give up more tentacles to blast the thing. They took too long to regen when they were burnt away like that, and he needed all the mobility he could get. He'd already lost two more appendages when he was too slow withdrawing them after an attack.
Seconds after he'd called for it, a torrent of acid slammed into the beast. It let out a disturbingly human keen of pain as it began to smoke, and the cracks of exposed flesh bubbled hideously. Nick could sense Sonder behind him, focusing her power on this Ironhide as it turned towards her.
All or nothing, I guess. If this thing doesn't kill me, Cait will if I let Kennedy get hurt.
He pulled out 8 rings at once, leveling them at the advancing monster.
This is gonna fucking hurt.
A flash, pain, and blackness.