((As a out of character note. Tadek can regenerate the primary cybernetics of his body because of Cyborg Hindu God Body stating that they can be regenerated. However, this does make it to where he still loses cybernetics that are outside that perk. Second... Any weapons formed from his limbs are actually extensions being grown around his cybernetics and not the cybernetic aspects being altered.))
To Accept What You
Have Become
Fire and
smoke filled the air, people screaming and buildings collapsing wherever that
beast chased me. Further and further into the city the fight went, leaving pain
and destruction in our wake. I attempted to step away from the city and lead
him to a deserted area, but the large, viral monster did everything it could to
keep me near these people and the structures they resided within. I came to
realize that it was to make sure it continued to have fuel to regenerate and function
with, as well as a psychological tactic against me.
My
companions were spread throughout the city, helping where they could to get
everyone out of the city while I simply kept the blasted thing busy. It wasn’t
in my nature to help everyone, but the least I could do was give them a chance
and prevent a few casualties that the abomination, and at times my stray
attacks, were causing. Fire worked… Anti-regeneration worked… but, both were
temporary as even anti-regeneration was never permanent, at least the form I
possessed. Only really worked against the immediate injury and still allowed
for extreme levels to surpass it. Heck, I saw the thing pull flesh around the
injury for limbs and physical structure to work by bypassing the injury
entirely. It simply grew flesh around it instead of healing until the
anti-regeneration ceased.
Sad thing
was, it was pulling out everything while I continued to suppress abilities that
it had nothing against using, primarily those that came from this world itself
and I wouldn’t activate my Ghost Rider aspect or use Mantra… Not here and not
against this thing. The downside was I couldn’t even figure out why I wouldn’t…
They would help to end this sooner rather than later and it didn’t have access
to them.
I did not
have any time to really think about why, instead being knocked through
buildings, the monster always caught within the chains of my flail to keep it
within reach, but I could not pull it around, only fight to keep it from going
off and eating. That was up until it tore the length of the coiled links from
it’s body in a show of blood and torn sinew. It’s claws closed in around it
and, with a sharp yank, swung me around into a nearby building.
Next thing
I knew, I was on the ground with a chunk of rebar sticking out of my side and
glass slowly falling away from my body as each were individually pushed out by
my comparatively minor regeneration. Like they say… Material matters not if
they can hit you hard enough… Best example from back home was a record that was
half-way into a foot thick, wooden pole from a tornado.
With a
sharp groan, I rolled over and took a hold of that piece of rebar, slowly
pulling it out from my body while I watched the monster take it’s time to
recover. People were running around us, trying to find refuge where they could
or simply get some distance. Honestly, it looked as if that walking virus was
taking it’s pick from the running humans around it. “Look at them run. Does it
remind you of anything? Of anyone?” It asked, taking a moment to stretch it’s
claws and transform one of it’s arms into a coiled, bladed length that I
personally knew as a Whipfist.
“Ah, shut
the fuck up. You’re just trying to get under my skin.” I forced myself up to my
feet, ignoring the concrete that fell away as, despite having been half-way
buried in it, the weight meant nothing to me. “Even if I am not a hero, I am
not a monster. While that means I can’t defeat you, at least according to what
you say, I can at least make your life hell.” The rebar came right out with a
sharp hiss of pain on my part as I tore it out of my torso, the thing having
just missed what I think was still my liver by an inch or two… Not that such a
thing would kill me at this point.
The
creature didn’t comment at first, instead flexing the shifting coils of it’s
arm and the massive spearhead where the thing’s fist used to be. “Then, if
you’re neither hero nor monster… You shall not care if I feed.” Up to this
point, I really hadn’t cared in the same way that most others would. A few dead
were to be expected, after all. All were adults from what I could tell… I
expected non-adults to be caught in the fight, sadly, but it was something I
tried to avoid to the best of my ability.
My
attention turned over toward where the monster was looking. There were two
children off near some of the rubble, one attempting to get the other one free
of the rocks with tears streaming down his cheeks. The creature looked back
toward me before turning and sending that Whipfist out, the links extending and
seeming to grow in number as it shot toward the two of them. “Fucking shit!”
Yes, I
expected even the younglings to be injured during all of this, but that was a
direct attack toward them. My feet moved first, my arms second, and with only a
following gust did I cross the distance. Concrete tore up underneath me as dust
blew past, my hands gripping onto the spread digits of the Whipfist to keep it
from reaching the children in front of me. Wait… In front of me?
Glancing
down, I realized that in my rush I didn’t actually turn the correct way, the
claw-like protrusions that came from the spearhead had gone through various
points of my body before I had grabbed them to stop them from advancing any
further. Blood ran down my body, those claws starting to close on my torso,
catching metal, bone, and flesh at it tried to close. “I… am incompetent… when
it comes to saving people.”
While the
children were safe, my feet came out from under me as the monster pulled me
close, the length of the Whipfist curving as I flew through the air and was
brought straight down through one of the closest semi-untouched skyscrapers,
going from the twelve floor straight to basement, the building closing in on
itself as glass, concrete, and all came down around me. At least those claws
were out of me, but I felt hollow… Physically so, as if chunks were torn out of
my body as the spearhead had been retracted.
I couldn’t
see much, but I could feel plenty. My body was wrenched in odd ways… Limbs
forced to take unnatural positions, rebar and glass sticking out of my body
while I denied my physiology from doing as it should through the use of
‘Toggle’. Hmm… Seems I was going to die here… A world left to die as I would
either remain dead or be forcibly sent back… I didn’t know which, honestly. I didn’t
like the possibility of either, but it would be my fault a world died, too
stubborn to accept the cards I had been given and took so that I could stop
something worse than I.
Nah, come
to think of it, that would make me worse. Condemning an entire world to death
and worse just because I refused to change and to accept, grasping onto old,
corrupted ideals and thoughts simply because I didn’t want to change. My eyes,
clouded by dust, stone, and blood, slowly started to close, my body weakening
as I could physically feel myself dying… and then I refused.
My teeth
clenched, a broken jaw being pulled back together by dark tendrils, my body
slowly pushing up against the weight that was resting upon it. Limbs forced
themselves back into place with sounds of shifting metal, bones and metal being
forced back into place as wounds closed and fire enveloped them all. As one of
my arms snapped back into place, it erupted through the stone to grasp and claw
at whatever it could to help pull me through. Thing was… My arm wasn’t that
long, the biomass itself listening to my desires to make it all possible.
When I
refused to die, to condemn a world, I accepted everything else. I was no hero…
but, I could be a monster… and by what I was given, I wasn’t human by even the descriptions
of my perks. I climbed out of that hole, my blackened body crawling out as
smoke filled the air, the very stone and metal around me melting from the warp
fire surrounding me. “You’re… Fucking… Dead!” I called out to get the
monstrosity’s understandably surprised attention. He knew what I could recover
from and what I refused to activate… but, I don’t think he expected me to
accept it.
“You’re
right… I’m not a hero! I am not even human anymore! Not physically, not
mentally… but, that doesn’t mean I have to slaughter others… and I am fucking
done focusing on the past!” My hunched form stood up from the rubble, a black
and grey carapace growing around it as I stood straight, the flames dying away
to reveal the faint, blue ones that escaped from any gaps that they could find
in the forming armor. “Always beating myself up over it… Letting the horrors I
caused tear at me when it is all in the past! I may not have had a reason to
fight, to kill, to go against what I thought was right… Nothing justifies what
I have done, but if I let it continue to consume me, I won’t ever grow!”
My feet
slowly stepped forward, my arms dangling in front of me as I stumbled along, my
body forcing everything back into place underneath the armored carapace. The
flesh and the carapace moved as commanded, my fingers elongating, segmenting
into proper, forearm length blades as I continued forward. “Too stubborn to
accept new ideals… Too thick headed to realize I could be so much more or even
act upon it when I realized such… and I am tired of giving these speeches when
I realize something!”
The
creature was speechless, it’s large frame shifting as it actually seemed to
take a step back away from my advancing form. “And now… I actually care. I care
what is going to happen… Looking forward and in the present instead of focusing
on the past. My name is Tadek Pezrin…” I took a solid step forward, my back
snapping straight as I did. “I am no longer human, but I am not evil…” I took
another step, my claws stretching out as if they, themselves, ached to sink
into whatever they could. “And I will stop whatever gets in my fucking way in
making sure others don’t do or see what I have wrought before!” If I wasn’t
pissed, I would realize how cringy this was.
After those
last words left my mouth I burst forward, concrete beneath me being turned into
miniature craters of dust and sundered stone with every movement. The monster
was quick to act, knowing full well what was to come. One of it’s arms shifted
into the iconic sword and came forward and came forward. I simply walked right
into it, my body coming to a stop once it was firmly nestled into my abdomen.
“Seems you’re not as scary as I though-“
I cut him
off, one set of claws sinking straight into his arm to hold it still while the
other came around to cut it off at the bicep in a spray of blood, fire, and
torn flesh as I severed the limb, leaving behind a trail of the blue, holy fire
from being a Ghost Rider where I had freed the sword from it’s owner. As the
creature stumbled back, I calmly pulled it out, the flesh and metal sealing in
behind it as it was freed before simply tossing it away. “Got your arm… You
know how many times I lost mine.”
I had him
at this point, the creature starting to turn so it could take a tactical
retreat, only to be stopped as I leapt on top of it’s back, those segmented
blades tearing and cutting away at anything they could reach till the
thrashing, fleeing creature’s very body gave in and collapsed. The flesh that
was left behind tried to seal itself, but the fire prevented it from healing
too quickly and, after a few seconds of this, it began to slow down any
further. Every time it tried to stand, I turned around to grab a leg and tear
it away, slinging it away with little care for where it went. Another arm here…
Flesh there… Tearing the skull away every few moments till the creature finally
stopped moving and it’s regeneration had come to a crawl.
As a point,
I didn’t stop. People kept their distance from what I could see out of the
corners of my eyes as I widely tore away at a lifeless, burning corpse,
attacking till the blood and the sinew had melted away into nothing but ash and
scorch marks. Once it was all over, I eventually clambered up to my feet and
started to wander off, the armor, claws, and fire vanishing in a rolling, black
wave across my body to be replaced by my usual, classy appearance.
Taking just
a moment to pull out my cigarettes, set one between my lips, and light it
before stashing the container away and turning to wander off… Only to be
greeted by the watching eyes of a large crowd of people that were hidden away
in buildings, behind cars, and various other means of cover and the nervous
gaze of those waiting for me to attack. Just how long was I tearing at a body
for people to actually stop running? It wasn’t until I saw my companions, who
were split up across various points in the crowd that I actually felt a little
nervous as to what was going to happen next.
Celestian
would never approve of this by ANY means, nor any of the other Sisters of
Battle more than likely. On top of it, Bang seemed to have hopes that I could
one day become a hero and I went out and outright denied, potentially even
refused the possibly in his eyes. Yankaka, well… I don’t even know how she
might act to such a thing when it came down to it after watching me be put
through so much, only to do things that no normal being should be capable of.
They knew
that I had all those perks… It was probably fine, right? They knew I was
infected, that I had those Ghost Rider abilities… They knew I could do things
that humans shouldn’t. I was given my answers when they each stepped forward, a
few people trying to stop them only to be put at ease or simply pushed away,
depending on the person. First… Were the Sisters.
Celestian
came up and gave me a disapproving glare, one of her hands coming up to adjust
her monocle before she spoke. “The initiates and I have come to an agreement,
Mr. Pezrin. We had assumed that there was the chance that you may succumb to
what you were and we came to the conclusion that, if you happened to do so, we
would have no choice but to leave.” That caused my heart to sink to my stomach
and, while I did take a glance at the other Sisters, they glanced away
uncomfortably. I could understand why, though. For them, they honestly had only
been through a few decades, but… They were indoctrinated into certain beliefs
and they had few actual ties to continue staying with me at this point. “We
will await a suitable universe, however, before we leave… As long as you keep
control of yourself.”
Bang
stepped up next, setting his hand on my shoulder as he did. “Don’t worry,
Tadek. I will stay around. Even if you think of yourself a monster, I know you
aren’t. Even if you are, I shall help lead you onto the correct path!” He
stated firmly, offering me a reassuring smile just before stepping away and
allowing Yankaka to step up.
Her ears
were pinned back and, really, I had no idea what to expect as to how she might
react to the overly dramatic mess I had caused. It took a moment, but she
eventually stepped up and simply wrapped her arms around me and rested her head
against my shoulder. “Nice Guy isn’t a monster. Not normal, but not a monster.”
I simply returned the embrace and, while I realized that I had bigger issues to
handle… For one, I need to get all of them out of here before the military
catches up and shoots us, but I also need to see if I can work something out
with the Sisters, if at all possible.
All in due
time, I suppose… All in due time.
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