A target coming back from death was something that has never happened in Circle history, let alone resurrecting and evolving into a superior creature. Wendy the deer was no longer a deer, she was now a full-blown monster.
"HQ, what just happened to Wendy?" asks Rina.
"And why is it that every time some unexpected monster spawns in I have to be part of the team dealing with it," Rina complains before looking back in her scope and shooting at the new and improved Wendy.
Her shot hits where Wendy's heart was supposed to be but the energy bullet doesn't make it through. Wendy's hide was now significantly tougher and with faster regeneration to boot.
Wendy looks back at Rina's direction.
"Uh oh," says Rina.
Ghost and Harley re-join the battle, making a beeline for Wendy who was eyeing the faraway Rina, employing a pincer attack against it while Kristoff's drones also rain down beams at it from up above.
In its right flank is Ghost, whose stab which he had directed to Wendy's side was blocked with its long arm. Although it seemed thin in contrast to its size, its flesh was deceptively tough. Ghost's blade plunges and gets stuck in the ar. He attempts to slice the entire arm off with his other blade but it only gets stuck as well. Wendy looks down at him, tilts its head, and gets the stuck Ghost off its arm by forcefully wagging its arm around, sending the assassin off into the distance.
Wendy proceeds walking, making its way towards Rina who hasn't stopped shooting. It takes one step, now Harley on its left flank. He attempts an aerial downward slash on the monster but it simply grabs his glaive with its arm and manhandles him with the other.
It throws his glaive away and holds him with both of its hands, not forceful enough to crush him, but enough to ensure that he wasn't going anywhere.
From the tip of its antlers, a pale blue light starts to glow. In the middle of both antlers, a large ball of light starts materializing – Wendy's signature antler beam. It lowers its head, putting it closer to Harley. Wendy was planning a point blank shot.
"You fucking animal," says Harley who was seconds away from sure death.
A fast and large beam hits Wendy's upper left back. It didn't go all the way, but it was strong enough to penetrate and even melt some of its ribs. The monster's kill is interrupted by Kristoff's reinforced drone beam. He combined and stacked his four small drones in order to fire off a stronger beam, aiming for Wendy's heart. Unfortunately, the combined beam wasn't strong enough yet.
The near-fatal wound starts healing. Wendy cancels the beam and throws Harley away. It looks up, trying to locate where the attack had come from. Another beam hits, this time on its skull and this time, it had no effect whatsoever. This last attack gave Wendy a better idea of where it had come from and it sees the drone hovering in the sky at immense speed.
"Agents," a voice echoes through everyone's ears. It had to be someone from mission control. "The second unit is deployed and are on their way. Hold the target off if you can. In the meantime, we have personnel stationed at the nearby lab who will be able to provide some assistance."
Wendy starts channeling its beam and shoots at Kristoff's flying drones. It was too fast for the monster who was struggling mightily with shooting it down.
"The only second unit that ever arrives on time is Sebastian and if he isn't here yet, no one will be," Rina points out as she starts shooting at the mutated deer again.
"So we're fucked is what you're saying?" says Harley as he was getting up after getting hurled at a large tree.
"Not yet, but we have to assume that we are," Rina answers. "We need all the help we can get, we need to lure it to the lab."
"Running's really not my style, if you must know," Kristoff comments.
"Well unless you can shoot it down with your puny lasers you don't really have much of a choice."
"Sheesh, when'd you get so sassy," says Kristoff.
Unfazed by the target endlessly swatting him away, Ghost rushes towards the distracted Wendy yet again and this time, with much more ferocity. Ghost is now much faster compared before. Wendy was no longer capable of effortlessly sending him flying into the trees, now seemingly playing on the defensive, only deflecting the ferocious Ghost's slashes with its sharp fingers.
Harley interrupts the duel. "This isn't a one-on-one, fuckface," he whispers before slashing at Wendy's back. It wasn't fatal, but it was strong enough to catch the monster's attention.
The monster turns its back halfway, making sure it could handle the two at the same time. A shot hits its skull from Rina's direction and again, to no effect. Rina clicks her tongue in disappointment. Wendy faces Rina's direction again, annoyed at the constant bullets hitting it.
"What are you looking away for," says Harley before slipping in below the large, distracted monster. "Over here," a large swing from him lands at the monster's leg, attempting to hack and chop it clean but unfortunately failing.
But this didn't matter, time for plan B. Harley immediately removes his glaive to make room for Ghost, now the assassin's turn to hack the monster's leg. The sweet sound of meaty flesh being ripped apart follows. Part of the monster's body is finally cut off thanks to the duo's combined effort. But they knew that this would count as nothing more than a few seconds of distraction.
Wendy loses balance for a short second before it starts to quickly regenerate its maimed leg. Kristoff's combined drone and assassination drone continue shooting at its body, attempting to distract it while Rina does the same.
The cornered Wendy lets out a loud, airy, voiceless scream. It channels its beam, much quicker than before and starts unleashing a continuous stream of destructive, pale blue beam everywhere, no longer aiming and just directing it at wherever it could.
This wild beam forces Harley and Ghost to fall back. The large beam even reaches Rina's vicinity who was just a little over 70 meters away but she was also able to safely avoid it.
With the attacks on Wendy ceasing comes what everyone was watching out for – the invisibility. The large, gray monster starts fading away from sight.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit," Harley mutters as the killing machine in front of them starts disappearing.
"Stop looking at it and just run!" says Kristoff who was now just a couple of meters away from them, too.
"Everyone, head for the lab!" Rina reiterates what they were all thinking. They couldn't afford to lose sight of it then when it was just a deer with laser beams. Now, it was a quick, bloodthirsty monster with long, sharp claws, instant regeneration, and an even faster and stronger laser beam. The stakes are now infinitely higher.
Kristoff's combat strategy was mainly reliant on his inventions. He was still capable of head-on battles, but his common strategy was to fight from a considerable distance. Out of the four agents, he was the least physically-capable and he was running a few meters behind Harley and Ghost.
He reaches into his left ear with his left hand which was covered by part of the large visor he was wearing. Several, probably about a thousand small nanobots start crawling down his arm, forming what looked like a large, wide, flat-ended glove on his hand. One of his small drones fly down and attaches itself at the end of it. A weapon he could use at close range if needed.
Through his visor, he was constantly monitoring the perimeter. If the target was to show up, he would see it immediately.
"Wha—?" Wendy turns off its invisibility and starts appearing again, just three meters away from Kristoff. He looks over his shoulder and sees the monster's head faced directly at him, a large ball of light glowing at the end of its antlers.
Kristoff couldn't say anything. Unlike Harley and Ghost who had to fight and stare death in the eyes countless times, this was a first for him and he didn't know how to react. His legs started to slow down unconsciously as soon as he saw the monster's location, realizing that the grip of death was uncomfortably near.
"RUN, YOU IDIOT!!" Harley screams at him.
Ghost stops running forward and immediately heads the opposite direction at 120% speed. The light of Wendy's beam starts reflecting on Kristoff's face, his entire body, and the rest of the leafy ground as he was just staring at it, completely stunned.
A high pitched ringing followed by a large explosion echoing throughout the forest so loud that even the faraway Rina heard it like she was just nearby. A massive cloud of dust and smoke covers the area where Kristoff and Ghost who had went back were.
"SHIT! SHIT!!" Harley was in deep anger and frustration.
"WHAT HAPPENED??!" Rina asks loudly, no clue whatsoever, all she knew was the large explosion.
"Kristoff got caught! Ghost went back for him!" Harley answers, frustration evident in his voice.
Rina felt the same but didn't say anything about it. She could tell Harley was already shaken, she had to make sure not to lose composure and not say anything that would make the situation feel even worse. Her ability to stay level-headed made her the perfect unit leader for every group mission.
"We're 90 meters away from the lab, just keep going. We can't do anything about it now," she tells Harley.
"Mission control, what's the second unit's ETA?"
"Agents Caelel, Xu, and Restus' ETA is 40 minutes."
"We'd be dead in 30. Can't you just get Seb?"
"Agent Isaac is still currently deployed in another mission."
"Tsk," Rina was always optimistic but even she knew the situation was starting to get really bad.
From the cloud of dust emerges Ghost, carrying Kristoff over his shoulder, both unscathed and surviving a near-miss from Wendy's beam.
Harley lets out a small sigh of relief which was replaced by discomfort just a second after as he sees Wendy right behind the two.
Luckily, Ghost was extremely quick and deceptively strong, able to run at such speed despite carrying the unconscious Kristoff over his shoulder. They were able to outrun the monster particularly quickly who turns invisible again as soon as it notices the distance between them increasing.
Ghost catches up to Harley, deadpans to him, and gives him a thumbs up. Harley couldn't help but let out a smile. "You're as crazy as that prick Sebastian, you know that?" One could argue that Ghost was even crazier. Sebastian could pull off a stunt like that with minimal risk as it only takes him a split second to go from point A to point B. Ghost had to run back and away.
"Is it them?" asks Rina.
"Ghost and Kristoff, yeah."
"Good. How's Kristoff?"
Harley looks over at the man Ghost was carrying. "Passed out."