The presence of Howard Cowell was enough to make me sweat just a little bit. He eminated something, that felt the same as it was with the Mystery Man just a few days prior on the island. What it was exactly, I couldn't quite place, I haven't felt it before, not even from the people I knew I couldn't beat back in school. It was something different.
The three of us stood back, as Cowell emerged in front of us, seemingly out of nothing. So this was his [Power] then? Could I even compete with mine? Could I even use it against him, even if I wanted- no. That's not what I should be asking. What I should be asking, is whether we, together could beat him.
"I won't be using that [Power]," I told my friends, "Not unless we need it, okay?" I was waiting for reassurance, but I got something different.
"I'll beat him, alone. I need to get this cazzone, okay?" Francis looked at me, and I saw a fire in his eyes, that I wasn't used to. I don't know what happened to him, as just before he was still in shock, but he seemed determined enough.
"Very well, if you think you can take me, then I'll let your little friends through," he said looking down at us.
"I'll catch up to you, Tentazione!" he yelled after us, and we were gone.
----
As Dan and Baulder made their way through towards the potential captive Caleb, Andromeda was starting her fight against Ivan Dubinsky. Well, rather than jumping into it, they spent some time evaluating the situation. Meda was outnumbered, with about seven opponents in total, most of which held the same plasma rifles, that took out Baulder and Caleb back at the hangar, and the last one seemed to have some sort of a different firepower.
"And who might you be? The Sin's little toy? Maybe a bit more, than just a toy, huh?" Dubinsky started his part of the conversation with a little bit of a taunt.
"Any of your business?" Meda replied with her usual sharp tongue - that was quite dull, as usual.
"Oh come on, are you trying to lie to me- no, you're lying to yourself?" Dubinsky opened his eyes so much, that his fake eyelashes were about to fall of, being held up by just a breath.
"You're not making any sense, you know?" Meda replied quick, as she grew tired of these false accusations.
"Of course I do. You just don't want to accept it," he continued with his, well, taunting, I presume?
The situation grew quite electric. On one hand, Ivan Dubinsky seemed to understand something about Meda, that even she didn't know. Was this one of those awakening moments? Well, it might lead to one.
"What are you implying? That our partnershipm in crime isn't what's going on? That's what you think?" Meda lashed out.
"Exactly. I think you might have a thing for this Sinner boy," Dubinsky replied while covering his mouth with only a few of his fingers.
"That's ridiculous," Meda instantly replied.
"See? Denial," Dubinsky said, but before he could continue, Meda leaped, transforming into her [Lioness] form mid jump.
The Deacon jumped back, propelling himself with two blue fires coming from his palms. As Meda landed right at the spot her opponent was standing, she finally realized to some extent what level of a [Power] she's fighting against. Even though she was [Mid-Tier], [Werebeasts] were commonly said to be the closest thing to a true [High-Tier]. Depending on her actual abilities, using her Power, she might easily be able to defeat someone much higher in the scale than her. Although one thing that most people don't realize, is that these [Tiers] might not even exist.
At that moment, where she was most vulnerable, all the henchmen lined up, and fired their beams of radiation at her. This sort of weapon was best utilized in these sort of situations, having it's target stationary, by some means. If it was a pouncing lion, just after landing, this weapon should be able to land at least a few hits, right?
Without much of a problem, she jumped away, well, rather above one of these beams, landing right on top of the man, who shot it. From then on, she cleaved through the henchmen with ease, chopping off limbs, after heads, after - you get the picture. She dominated them, with relative ease. The problem was their boss.
----
Running through these corridors was an actual nightmare. We didn't knoe what was coming after each turn, and there was nothing else really. A few rooms labeled as 'Lab' or as 'Barracks' were the only things that would show up. I could probably run faster, but the Big Guy wasn't really an athlete, and I couldn't just leave him behind. I needed his strength, and defensive ability in the upcoming fight, whoever I might have to defeat.
After a short while, we finally made it to our goal. An even huger room appeared right in front of us, with most sides covered in these weird medical capsules, like the ones filled with liquid, that have humans in there? It looked like a cloning facility. It might have been, for all I knew. As for what we saw right in front of us, well, it was him. Caleb finally showed up, sort of beaten up, with some cuts on his face, some deeper, some just sort of around. He probably even had a few broken bones, judging from the bruises on his uncovered torso, and arms.
"Hey, Caleb! Hang in there," I shouted towards him, but he didn't respond.
"Is he knocked out?" Baulder looked at me with slight panic on his face.
"Yeah, it looks like it," I replied, then walked up to the man.
He was sort of tied up to this weird T-shaped object, made out of wood. He was kneeling in front of it, with his arms holding him up, via this thing. I untied him, then laid him on the ground to stabilize him. Had to minimize potential damage, after all, we didn't really know what was going on. And that's exactly when shit hit the fan.
"Charm boy?" the sweet and creamy voice of my ex-classmate rang in the room, "You came to me?"
"Yeah, fuck off Claire, I don't have time for you," I replied coldly, not moving an inch on my face, that would imply an emotions. I was quite pissed off, to be honest.
"That's not a nice thing to say, to an old friend is it?" the disembodied voice of Claire resonated from the walls.
"Okay, got it. Come out, I'll beat you to death, and we'll be even, right?" I asked sarcastically. I really wanted to kill her already, but at the same time this really wasn't the time for a fight. I reached into my pocket, and pulled out a small device, sort of a little box, made of steel, and mythrill. Light, and durable, yet easy to expand. I threw it up in the air, and watched it unfurl into a small robot. A medical robot, to be exact.
I brought this one along, just in case of an emergency. It can also contact the jet, which is quite handy. It flew towards our downed companion, and started doing a basic medical checkup. As it was doing that, me and my pal Baulder were trying to figure out where Claire's voice came from. This bitch better show up soon, or I'll blow this whole place up, just for good measure.
"Is that what you really want? Fight me again? Last time you could barely touch me!" she said from somewhere in the shadows, trying to play with my emotions. I wasn't going to take that.
"Yeah. Come on, I don't have that much time, or do you want to hear the exact details of how I blew your daddy's brain on the floor?" I taunted her.
And that always works like a charm. I don't understand humans' thoughts. Like are they that easy to aggravate? I would love to hear that story about my dad, so I don't know why that's a problem for them...
I might be the weird one here...
She leaped out from behind one of those tanks, training her aim right at me. She shot out her acid, and I knew I couldn't dodge. I raised my shield for protection against it, but before that -
"Don't you worry, Tentach- Ten, I got this!" Baulder shouted, as he slid right in front of me, making a huge barrier of wood in front of the both of us. He could do that ?!
"Thanks man!" I was totally ignoring the fact that he stumbled with my name, that's just how it goes with the big man, doesn't it?
I jumped on his shoulder, and decided to do that combo once again. He's the body, I'm the brain. Between his four extra arms, and my endless tentacles, I think we had quite the advantage. I gave the signal, and we charged forward, straight toward Claire.
Could she take on the both of us?