Jason and Athena stared at each other, the tension around them building. It seemed as if neither one wanted to make the first move, content with feeling each other out. Suddenly, Athena grinned and shot forwards like a blur. Jason widened his eyes at the speed she possessed and quickly dodged out of the way. He was just in time, as her gleaming claw passed by his head.
Before he could even catch his breath, she had attacked again. This time, he couldn't react and was punched in the stomach, sent flying away as if he weighed nothing. His organs cried for help as he slammed onto the ground and found himself in a pit. Ignoring the pain, he rolled out of the way of Athena's downward strike.
At the same time, his left arm transformed into a blade which struck her wrist. However, Jason was shocked to see it only go a quarter of the way before stopping. Athena growled in pain and used her other hand to punch him in the face. While he flew off, she gazed at her wound. When was the last time she saw her own blood? She had almost forgotten the color of it. A bright, delicious red.
With a grin, she licked it and watched as the wound closed in just a few seconds. Looking up, she noticed Jason flying high in the sky with his wings, making her frown slightly. Unlike him, she didn't have anything of the sort and was stuck on the ground. And yet, she wasn't worried. Their clash thus far was just her testing him out a little and she liked her chances of victory. She liked them a lot.
Jason, hovering in mid-air, watched her approach as he clicked his dislocated jaw back into place. His inner wounds had already healed up, and by the looks of it, so did hers. Though, her regeneration was a good deal higher than his own based on the time it took.
Raising both hands, he shot out a few dozen bone spikes towards her. Suddenly, they exploded before they even hit her, sending a black and red liquid flying everywhere. Athena dodged the majority of it, but a portion landed on her shoulder. She screamed out in pain as it started to melt her armor. As if it had a mind of it's own, she could feel the liquid dig deep inside of her body to spread further.
While Athena was hit by his Blood Poison, Jason didn't become inactive. He dived down towards her, claws for hands and Hooks coming out of his back. With all his strength, he thrusted his right hand directly at her head.
Athena managed to tilt her head to the side as the poison tried to paralyze her. Luckily, it wasn't strong enough to do such a thing, only slow her movements down. At the same time, she brought both claws up to puncture Jason's stomach as his Hooks dug into her back and shredded it. He wanted to back up, but was too late. Both of her sharp claws went straight through his defense and came out the other side.
They both looked at each other, connected via Hooks and claws. It was almost romantic in a way, until Jason head butted her in the face, allowing himself to get off her claws. While taking off into the air, he shot out his tongue in her direction. It automatically severed itself and went to work, distracting Athena as he landed on the ground some distance away and shot something out from his wrists.
His arms then transformed into Spiked Whips and sent them into the ground. Seeing this, Athena could sense them traveling underneath her feet. Using her claws to shred the annoying tongue, she backed away just in time. A massive boneyard of spiky tendrils popped up out of the ground where she originally had been.
With excitement coursing through her veins and the poison already worn off, Athena bolted straight for Jason who was taking back his tendrils. Just as she was about to reach him, she suddenly saw something in front of her. A thin, silvery line which was almost invisible. Using her claws, she sliced through the majority of them.
However, while distracted with his webs, Jason took this chance to punch her in the face as hard as he could. He frowned as he blew on his numb hand.
"Christ, she can even see that? Her arsenal is practically nothing in comparison to mine, but it seems she doesn't need such things." He was certainly impressed. Frustrated, but impressed nonetheless.
As for Athena, she had slid for a dozen meters before stopping. She stared at her opponent deeply, chuckling lightly.
"Time to kick it up a notch..." Licking her lips, she got down on all fours and rushed towards him again, her speed almost double than previously
"What the fuc-!" Jason had no time to react and was smashed into, sending him flying away as his skin split open. Before he could even get his bearings, he witnessed her grinning visage as she grabbed his face and slammed him into the concrete.
She dragged him through the ground as she ran, laughing like a maniac. With gritted teeth, Jason tried getting the hand off his face, but it was like an iron clamp. Roaring out, he used all his strength to spin the both of them and flapped his wings at the same time. In mid-air, he kicked her in the stomach and finally released himself.
As she fell to the ground, Jason used this opportunity to dive bomb her. His two arms transformed into their bladed form and pierced her in the chest, causing her to grunt in pain. Their descent to the ground quickened, producing a loud boom and a shockwave when they smashed into it together.
Jason tried to rip out her throat with his teeth, but she simply chuckled and brought both legs up to kick him off. Instantly, she got to her feet and jumped up high. Grabbing onto his wings, she tore them off and wrapped her arms around him to throw back into the ground. Jason shook his head and rolled out of the way to dodge her fist.
At the same time, he placed one hand on the concrete and threw a kick right at her face. She only took a few steps back as Jason got a good look at her. Something seemed to change within her now that he was paying attention. Her form was a little larger and her breath was heavy. Her eyes were bloodshot as he witnessed her muscles expand.
"Berserk mode? Great. As if I wasn't getting my shit kicked in enough." Athena stared right at him, sending a small chill down his spine.
"Let's keep playing!" She rushed right for him, making Jason tense up in defense. Thinking of something, one of his arms transformed into a durable looking shield as he braced for impact.
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"Hurry it up you worthless trash!" Asura roared at the prisoners as they left the cargo ship. On either side of them were countless infected, dispelling any illusion they could run away.
He could tell how much the infected wanted to rip them apart, but the Master's orders were keeping them obedient. He believed there had to be a reason for keeping these flesh sacks alive, however he would not question it. It was not his place to do so. All that mattered, was that his Master was finally acting as he should have been from the beginning.
Something he found idiotic however, were the humans who tried running away. They were so frightened and scared out of their wits, yet their actions only got them killed by getting brutally torn apart. Then there were the ones who even tried to fight back and ended up in an infected's stomach. Truly, he could not understand the human mind and emotions in a time of crisis.
Suddenly, he heard a world shattering noise from a distance away and turned to look. Not only him, but every person and infected did the same. It wasn't the first time, but it was certainly the loudest. They could see a flying object getting closer and closer extremely quickly. Within just a few seconds, he had flown past them and landed on the ground some tens of meters away.
Asura hurriedly rushed over and saw his Master lying in a deep pit, his left shield arm completely shattered. He heard a gasp and witnessed Jason get up with difficulty, his own blood all over him. After shaking his head, he jumped out of the deep pit and was right next to Asura.
"Fucking hell..." Jason's voice was hoarse as he looked at his broken shield and was stunned. A massive hole was in the middle, right where the berserk maniac had struck. It was bleeding massively, but it was also healing slowly visible to the naked eye.
"Master?" Asura's voice broke him out of his thoughts. He changed his shield back to a 'normal' arm and was about to explain.
"That-" Suddenly, he shoved shocked Asura away. As soon as he did so, he swiftly bent his back backwards and grabbed both of Athena's wrists who came out of nowhere.
At the same time, he fell down and brought both legs up to kick her in the stomach. The impact sent her flying away as he chased after her. He didn't want their fight to mess with his research materials. When she landed, both of Jason's arms changed into their Spiked Whip form. He sent one into the ground and made it move towards her.
Athena noticed this and jumped up high to dodge the Boneyard. However, this was what Jason wanted. His other whip shot for her throat the instant she jumped and wrapped itself around her neck. Just as he was about to slam her, Jason was befuddled to find her simply grab the tendril, and pull him with.
Still in mid-air, she swung him around twice and flung him away. He smashed through the container wall and several buildings before finally stopping. Jason wanted to get up, but found himself being straddled by Athena who jumped on top of his chest.
Using her fists, she punched him in the face over and over again, breaking his bones with a sadistic grin to her face. Jason himself could feel his consciousness slipping and knew things had to change. This was the end, he could feel it. However, he needed to get one last lick in.
From his stomach, his Hooks popped out and dug themselves into Athena's back, causing her pain. While they pulled her back slightly and halted her attack, both of his blades were thrust into her chest as he stood up. With gritted teeth, Jason flung her off his blades and threw her through multiple walls before swiftly chasing after her.
When he caught up to her, she dug herself out of a wall and tried punching his head. Slipping it by just a hair, he brought up his right fist for an uppercut. Just as he was about to continue, she pierced his stomach with both claws and lifted him up, before slamming him onto the ground. She got on top and quickly shredded his flesh open like it was made of paper.
"Do you give up?" She said, licking her lips and grabbing his cheek with one hand. The other was pointed at his throat, ready to behead him at any time.
Jason's breath was heavy as his body was trying to heal itself. Unfortunately, the accumulated damage thus far was too high and it slowed his regeneration down immensely. Looking at her grinning face, he was surprised. Unlike what he'd think, he didn't feel humiliated in the slightest.
"I give, you bastard." Chuckling, Athena got off him and walked away happily.
"You did quite good. Though, I expect better the next time we spar." When she was out of ear shot, Jason groaned and got up with a bit of a struggle.
"Fucking spar? Here I was fighting for my life and she treats it like a spar? Jeez…" But he was actually grateful for Athena. Thanks to her, he knew just how strong he was.
Although he wasn't on the level of her overpowered self, he wasn't as far behind as he believed. With only one or two weeks of serious consuming, Jason believed he could at the least become equal to her. Of course, that was only off the basis of what she showed. If she was actually stronger than what happened, which is likely because she said it was a spar, it would take a longer time to catch up. But for now, he had other things to worry about.
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It took hours to transport the prisoners from the Docks all the way to the Orion Facility. With Jason and Asura leading the way, nothing went wrong besides the occasional moron who decided life wasn't worth living anymore. Thankfully for Jason, the Facility had actual cages for humans.
Unfortunately, he had too many prisoners for the amount of cages and had to do two things. One was to cram has many as possible inside a single cage and care little for how uncomfortable they felt. The other was to use random unused rooms as prisons and post infected as guards. The only thing that was missing was the power, but he already had a plan for that.
Before he left to accomplish turning on the lights, he set up Queenie in her own little corner. A system of caves, dug out by himself for her deeds and desires. He made sure to make it as large as possible, but not so big it would collapse. He also connected it to the surface via a separate entrance. She was happy to have her own home and cave, but was devastated to learn of Jason leaving.
"I know darling, but I need to go do something. I'll be back in a few hours, a day at the latest." Jason comforted and gently pet her. Only after a few minutes of hugging him did she finally let go.
Released from Queenie's grasp, Jason left her alone and went to find Asura who was overlooking the prisoners.
"Master?" The three headed monster was a little confused, but bowed nonetheless and waited for his orders.
"I want you to take that Lone Wolf guy plus a bunch of Night Hunters and capture two hundred Bolters. Alive, mind you. Time for them to start pulling their weight." Asura nodded with all his heads and left to complete his mission.
As for the job of prison warden, Jason decided to have Trixie and Chair-Holder watch over the research materials. While she happily accepted the job and Chair-Holder cheered like the moron he was, Jason decided it was time to finally deal with a problem he had been putting off for ages.
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In the front entrance into Michael's main safe house, an exhausted guard on top of a tower was watching the area like a hawk. His eyes were droopy and he had bags under them, but he didn't dare slack off. The fencing was torn down, blood and bodies everywhere as people tried to clean them up. The storm had done some real damage to them. Thankfully, Michael's preparations made it so they weren't wiped out.
Unfortunately, the other bases weren't so lucky. Two more were completely destroyed, while the others suffered major damage. However, the guard wasn't too worried. He had faith that Michael would get them past this hurdle. He had done so before, and would again.
Suddenly, he noticed a person coming towards him and aimed his weapon at them. But when he got a better look, he relaxed and lowered his gun.
"Greg? Why'd you come back?" The so-called brown haired and average looking Greg sighed deeply.
"Forgot my knife! I swear, lose my head if it wasn't attached." The guard shook his head and chuckled, used to such a situation.
"You moron. Better be more careful. One of these days, it'll be the death of you. What about Mary, Trevor, and Muhammad?" Greg came beneath the guard stopped, consenting to a Virus Detection Syringe test.
"Waiting for me around the corner. 'Course, Mary chewed me out for being such an idiot." They both laughed at the same time as the person testing him began checking if he was a Mimic.
"She is a fiery one, give you that much. Though… must be good in the sack huh?" The guard gave a knowing and lecherous smile as Greg did the same and licked his lips.
"Yes sir, not too bad at all. She's easy too, takes barely anything to get her going. Wanna take a hit?" The guard chuckled and seemed to think it over, but shook his head.
"Nah, I got a good thing going with Razor. She'd cut my dick off if I fool around. Literally." He shivered slightly, remembering her vivid threat still in his mind.
"You're good to go." The person testing Greg said, letting him pass by.
"See you in a few minutes man!"
The guard waved his hand and shouted at him.
"Hurry it up Greg, or Mary might tear you a new one." The two laughed as Greg went deeper into the base. Looking around, he noticed the exhausted people closing up blood stains and body parts.
Whether it be the newer or older Reapers, they would throw up from time to time cleaning up the guts and blood from their former friends. Besides human corpses, one would also be able to see infected and even the occasional Night Hunter. Their armor was cracked, flesh torn apart by a hailstorm of bullets.
While Greg went through the base, Michael was inside his office speaking to Yori, Gabe, and Ram about the events which had happened. He was giving them orders and plans to both repair the damaged base and improve upon them further. The storm had a hidden blessing, showing them the gaps in their defenses.
"That'll be all. Leave, I need contact the Sub-Leaders." They all nodded and walked out the door, before separating to their respective jobs.
When alone with Princess, Yori pouted and roughly kicked a passing door as hard as she could. Startled, the big muscular black man spoke with a gentle and concerned tone.
"Are you okay?" Yori snorted and continued walking.
"Stupid Michael! I understand kicking those two out, but why me?! Hmph!" Princess was a bit confused at first, but then realized she and the boss man had relations.
"Maybe he just needs some space? Or perhaps his work is really important and needs to be kept secret." As if she was enlightened, Yori stood in place and lowered her head with a contemplative look.
"That's it! I have to be an understanding girlfriend and not a clingy bitch! Thanks Princess!" She turned around and hugged the big black man, shocking him. With a smile, he wrapped his arms around her. There were no bad thoughts in his mind because to him, Yori was a little sister he had to protect.
With a pep in her step, Yori continued down the hallway they were in. But then, she saw a random average looking man turn the corner and go down the way they just came. Right to Michael's office. When they passed by each other, she frowned slightly. There was something about him that just set her on edge. Like he was a wild apex predator about to gobble her up.
'Who is he? I don't remember seeing him before. Did Michael call him? But... he said he had to speak to the Sub-Leaders. ' As she watched him walk away, a bad feeling began creeping up in her heart.
"Something wrong?" Princess could tell something was up by the way she was acting.
"Maybe. Let's follow him, just in case. Get ready for anything."