Chapter 56

My lightsaber blazed to life as the eldritch monstrosity slowly tore itself out from the ground.

“What the hell is that?” Steve asked.

As much as I wanted to say I didn’t know, the shifting flesh made it pretty damn obvious. Red muscle twisted and changed constantly, sections of its body turning into stone, wood, and God-knows-what else.

HYDRA must’ve gotten their hands on the Mimic’s corpse and started fucking around with it.

Goddamn super geniuses. Why couldn’t they ever make a cure for cancer or something? No, it always had to be some crazy shit like this.

...Maybe I’d lucked out, and this was the only place they kept samples.

God, who was I kidding? This was fucking Marvel.

“A monster that should be dead,” I said with a grimace. “If it’s the one I’m familiar with, it can probably shapeshift. Probably manipulate its density too.”

“You know that thing?” Steve shot me a look.

“While that is certainly interesting, I believe we have more pressing concerns, gentlemen.” Magneto frowned as he stared at the creature. “Would it be prudent for me to assume we cannot simply allow that... thing to leave?”

“It... grows stronger by eating people.”

There was a moment of silence as both men took a moment to digest that fact.

Magneto’s lips thinned. “Wonderful.”

He shook his head before waving one hand, pulling together a platform of metal beneath him.

“Captain Rogers, if you would be so kind as to check on the status of our companions.” His gaze remained fixed on the monster. “I mean no disrespect, but this task appears to require a bit more... firepower.”

The remains of the shattered planes groaned as they lifted into the air around him and slowly began to spin.

Steve shot one look toward the monster. “None taken.”

I quickly pulled the Crystal Spear out of my bag of holding and passed it to him. “Probably not gonna want to touch them. There could be more of these things down there.”

“Thanks.” Steve gave me a grim nod before sprinting back into the base.

I turned around and frowned as the gigantic flesh monster finally finished dragging itself out of the ground and began marching toward us.

It was huge, and I might’ve been seeing things, but it looked like it was still growing.

“Blessing.”

Power surged through my body. I quickly slotted Blessing out and pushed Ratio Technique into its place. Pulling out a pen, I opened Riptide with my other hand.

Magneto merely watched me with an interested look.

“Are your preparations complete?”

I nodded.

“Good.” Magneto began to rise into the air. “I trust you’ll be able to handle yourself, then?”

“Try to keep up.” I shot him a smirk.

The older man merely snorted as I disappeared in a blink.

The air crackled as Thunder Breathing filled my lungs between each burst of movement. The giant flesh monster grew larger in my vision as the distance vanished, letting me appreciate just how freaking enormous the thing actually was.

Pushing my speed to the max, I reappeared barely more than arm’s length away.

It must’ve had some kind of senses, because I couldn’t see anything resembling eyes, yet one of its tentacles immediately whipped toward me.

I’d be the biggest idiot in the world if I couldn’t dodge something that obvious.

My feet tore across the snow with a crack of thunder as I easily juked the gigantic tentacle.

It crashed into the ground with an earth-shaking boom.

Even as the ground trembled beneath me, my hands remained steady.

I activated Ratio Technique. Lines appeared across the massive limb.

Riptide slashed directly through the seven-to-three point.

The flesh around the weak point was almost annihilated as Riptide tore through it explosively. With what amounted to a casual swing, the ginormous tentacle separated from the monster and crashed into the snow.

A roar of pain erupted from the flesh monstrosity.

I couldn’t help the savage grin that spread across my face as I marked the severed limb again, this time bringing my lightsaber down.

The critical hit caused the saber’s burning blade to devour huge chunks of flesh, leaving the severed end nothing more than a charred, smoking mess. I had no idea if the damn thing could reattach its limbs, but there was no point in taking the risk.

More tentacles shot toward me, their flesh rippling and shifting into jagged materials covered in blades and spikes.

I stood ready with both blades in hand.

Turned out I didn’t need to.

Gigantic blades of metal debris screamed through the air and slammed into the monster’s flesh.

They didn’t stop there.

The metal ripped free, spun around, and crashed into it again.

Even with its enormous size, the beast stumbled beneath the sheer force of the barrage.

I glanced back and whistled.

Magneto floated a short distance away, staring at the creature almost contemptuously as he continued his assault.

Chunks of its flesh rippled and shifted from red muscle to stone in an attempt to endure the impacts.

It didn’t seem to matter. Magneto’s barrage was relentless. Flesh rained down as he shredded and tore into the monster without pause.

Still, the monster was huge. Even under the relentless onslaught of metal, it continued to scream and writhe.

I grimaced, this was going to take a lot of cutting.

—

Bucky didn’t really have much of an idea what modern life was supposed to be like. No surprise there. Memories from assassination missions back when he was the Winter Soldier weren’t exactly a great frame of reference.

So despite finally getting his first real chance to live a life again... even being lucky enough to have one at all, Bucky couldn’t help but feel empty.

Seeing Steve had been a balm against the constant discomfort he’d felt ever since breaking free, but even then, Bucky couldn’t help diving right back into the fight. It probably wasn’t healthy, but damn did it feel right to kill those HYDRA bastards. The satisfaction of vengeance washed that empty feeling away almost immediately.

He’d even found himself wishing they hadn’t routed the base so easily.

Although now... he was kind of regretting those words.

“To your right!” Mystique shouted.

Bucky quickly swung the HYDRA blaster around and fired. Blue beams tore through the air, slamming into the barely humanoid flesh thing and making it stumble. A fleshy hand reached toward him, but Bucky made sure it never got the chance.

He fired again, putting a blast straight through its head.

A quick glance showed Logan currently carving his way through the rest of the human nightmare-flesh monsters.

Bucky shot the strange blue woman a nod as they continued speeding through the compound.

Strange as it was to be fighting alongside other people, let alone... whatever the hell these guys were, he was grateful for the help.

Bucky wasn’t all that confident in his chances of getting out alone against these new monstrosities. They’d finally figured out where some of the secret exits were, only to nearly get trapped by that giant squid thing.

His metal arm slammed into another human-squid flesh monster as they sprinted down the hallway.

They pushed through another set of doors and rounded the corner at a run.

Steve was duking it out with several of the monsters using some shiny new spear. Bucky quickly raised his gun and opened fire. Logan and Mystique joined in a second later, making quick work of the rest.

“Ditching the shield?” Bucky joked. “The American people would weep.”

“I think I make it work,” Steve shot back.

Both of them snorted.

Even seventy years later somethings at least stayed the same.

Still, the good mood quickly disappeared as a roar echoed down from the surface.

Logan wiped off his hands as his claws retracted. “Where’s the kid?”

“Outside. He’s dealing with—”

A deep rumble rolled through the compound, hard enough to make the walls tremble.

“...That.” Steve grimaced.

Mystique sprinted toward the nearest exit, and the rest of them followed close behind.

The moment Bucky stepped outside, he froze.

Somehow, impossibly, the giant squid-like monstrosity had grown even larger than before. Its warped body towered over the snowy grounds, tendrils thicker than buildings whipping through the air.

Which only made what was happening to it even more surreal.

Metal rained down from every direction.

Chunks of shattered aircraft, twisted beams, ripped-apart machinery, and God knew what else screamed through the air before stabbing into the creature’s flesh. Wreckage twisted together in midair, forming gigantic hands that grabbed hold of the monster and literally tore chunks out of the damn thing.

And apparently that still wasn’t enough.

There was a blur.

One second it was near the ground, the next it was halfway up the monster’s body, and then Bucky lost track of it completely. He could barely follow the thing as it vanished and reappeared around the monster faster than his eyes could keep up.

A crack like thunder split the air.

One of the monster’s enormous tentacles suddenly separated from its body and came crashing down. Bits and pieces of it scattered across the snow like somebody had emptied out a goddamn butcher shop.

The thing roared loud enough to shake snow from the trees.

Bucky, Steve, Logan, and Mystique just stood there for a moment, silently watching the nearly fantastical battle unfold in front of them.

Steve slowly exhaled.

“...You know, I think I preferred just punching out Nazis.”

Bucky couldn’t help the tired chuckle that escaped him.

“You and me both.”

—

My breathing grew heavier as I continued to swing, swing, and swing.

I’d lost track of how long I’d been at it, my entire focus narrowed down to cutting this thing apart.

But it was like some angry fucking weed.

It just wouldn’t die.

I disappeared a fair distance away and sucked in several deep breaths. Ratio Technique wasn’t that costly energy-wise, but the drain added up, even with the Sun Princess Ring on my finger. Spamming Spatial Displacement over and over wasn’t exactly helping either.

Still, it wasn’t like we’d made no progress.

A sea of torn and severed flesh covered the ground around us, and the towering monstrosity had noticeably slimmed down.

The annoying part was that it had stopped trying to fight back.

Instead, its tendrils had folded inward, flesh shifting into some dense cage-like material around its core. Magneto’s massive scrap-metal hands kept tearing and ripping at it, but we were barely making any progress.

I snarled.

My eyes flicked toward the Ring of Fire Resistance on my finger.

Fine. A little risk, then.

I quickly pulled out my deck of explosive tags and layered all five across Riptide’s blade. I didn’t hold back either, pouring as much energy into them as I could.

Pocketing my lightsaber, I took one deep breath.

The air crackled. Then I vanished. I blinked closer and closer until my feet finally landed against the creature’s ever-shifting flesh.

Through one crevice and the next I went.

The flesh around me twisted as I moved, spikes and jagged protrusions forming in an attempt to skewer me.

But it was too slow.

I kept blinking forward, forcing my way farther inside until I was almost at the center of the monstrosity. A jungle of twitching tendrils surrounded me from every direction.

My eyes locked onto the deepest point I could see.

Ratio Technique activated.

Lines spread across the flesh.

There!

I hurled Riptide straight toward the marked point.

Then I blinked like hell. My head burned as I pushed Spatial displacement to the limit.

A terrifying boom erupted behind me.

Heat slammed into my back like a physical wall, sending me spiraling through the air. I ducked my head and curled into a ball as I hit the ground. The snow barely softened the impact, and I felt something crack as I skidded across the ground.

I groaned as I rolled onto my back, my eyes slowly fluttering open.

[Feat Achieved! Kaiju Kaboom]

[+1 Platinum Gacha Ticket]

I looked off into the distance and could just barely make out the remains of the eldritch monster scattered across the landscape.

Fuck you, you big eldritch bastard.

[Rolling Platinum Gacha Ticket]

[Empty Key]

|Epic Item|

An ornate crystal key that, when turned in a sufficiently large area, creates a portal leading to a dimension of total emptiness. The dimension measures 100km x 100km x 100km, containing nothing but air and a glass-like floor that is completely indestructible. The portal leading back outside always remains open and connects to wherever the key was last used.

A raspy chuckle escaped me as an ornate crystal key dropped into my palm.

Useful… for the next time I had to fight some big fucking kaiju monster, I guess.

“You good, kid?”

I turned my head and saw Logan staring down at me.

“Just peachy. No issues at all with winning.” I shot him a shaky thumbs-up. “Just... need to lie here for a bit.”

“Crazy kid...” Logan snorted. “Still, good fucking job. That probably takes the cake for the craziest stunt I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m honored,” I snorted.

Logan smirked before glancing around and letting out a sigh. “Look, as much as I’d love to give you that time to rest, kid, we’ve kind of got a problem.”

I frowned. “Did they send—”

Logan raised a hand. “No, it’s not that kind of problem. The rest of our ragtag little group is just  making sure none of those monsters are still roaming around in the base.” He scratched at his jaw. “No, the bigger problem is... all this.” Logan gestured around us. “You got any cleaning powers, kid? Because I imagine we don’t wanna be leaving this stuff around for the Russians.”

I blinked and finally took in our surroundings.

Literal buildings’ worth of flesh was scattered across the snowy plains.

Ah shit.

***

Comments and Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Likes are like a drug to me and boost my creative juices. 

I have advanced chapters lookup Daisyberry if you wanna read ahead.