Tails And Scales
Its has been a week since Zane received his powers and Talum. He underwent basic combat training and is now a full-fledge exterminator.
"ZANE!" a voice shouts.
Zane wakes up gagging as if he was woken up using electric shocks. He looks in front of him. It's the group captain.
"good morning sunshine, get dressed we got work to do" says the captain.
"ugh-" Zane grunts
He gets out of bed
"yes sir" says Zane
"wow you really sleep well" Archie scoffs.
Every group in the corps is assigned to exterminate small scale Azazels on a daily basis. Since lower category Azazel's spawn frequently it is the exterminator's job to eliminate them. Larger Azazel's require a battalion, a brigade or the entire division itself depending on the Azazel's size.
Zane opens his closet. He had received his standard issue exterminator armor just yesterday. It was a full body, black ribbed, leather-like suite with Kevlar reinforcement and on the chest, shoulder, forearms, thighs, back, shins and calves were white metal plating. Helmets were also issued but were optional to wear or could be custom made too, most of Zane's group except for Harold did not wear a helmet but had other headgear like protective glasses or masks. It was light and easy to move in the suite but it was a nightmare while wearing and gearing up. The suite regulated the core and body temperatures as well as act as armor. On the left shoulder was the insignia of the 4th division on his right was his group number. All exterminator ranks were shown on the right-hand forearm. Also as standard issue was a pistol along with his Talum.
Today would be Zane's first mission as exterminator.
#
The group exited their barracks. They walk across the hallway opposite from the main entrance with Captain Will in lead. They then exit onto a large parking compound. The captain walks over to a guard.
"40th group, we are heading out to red hills we got a call from there" says the captain.
"affirmative sir your authorised for the mission" says the guard.
They walk towards an armored truck.
Zane looks at it and sees the large truck enough for a family of 4 to live in.
"alright boys get in ill brief you on the way" the captain commands.
Lieutenant Rodney and the captain sit in the front seats while Pierre along with the others move into the back. The truck soon starts rolling. There is just one window and Zane happens to sit beside it with archie.
"look out for what you see newbie" says Pierre.
"yes sir" Zane complies.
#
The group soon reaches the site. It's a large mansion belonging to a billionaire. There is already a perimeter made by marines with the owners and nearby residents evacuated.
"alright boys" the captain announces over the in-built PA.
"so we have a possible reptilian type category 3 inside there. The marines told us its almost 15 meters tall and looks like a snake. It got extremely hard shell like skin and secretes acid out of its fangs. Its slithering somewhere around the property. Empty the truck and ill choose who is gonna go."
The group leaves the truck and is by the entrance gate. A marine shows up to the captain to brief him. the captain then orders him about something. He turns to the group.
"alright so the residents are evacuated and all marines are in defensive positions. Now I want Robert and Archie to be on the frontlines, Harold will be their backup in healing position and Zane, your gonna stay behind and watch their backs. This is gonna be a test of how good you are so show me what you've got. All others including me, we are gonna be on standby" the captain orders.
Zane, archie, Robert and Harold enter through the gate. They go up towards the entrance to the mansion. Its like the palace of a royal family.
They enter the mansion into the grand hall. It is torn upside down. Robert looks behind to the 3 other men. He looks at Zane then.
"alright I think we should split up because this thing is definitely hiding so, Zane you go with Harold to the left me and archie will go to the right" Robert says.
"hey its not viable I'll go with archie how about you go with Zane" Harold exclaims.
"he has a point, Zane is new. you know what I'll go with Zane you and Harold look around" archie says.
Robert frowns for awhile but then gives in to archie.
The entire mansion is dark and soundless with the only light coming from the windows. Not only is the Azazel hiding but it might even be waiting for an attack and watching from above. Zane had less to worry about as he was with Archie. His Talum was a pair of giant claws and his powers allowed him to pounce on targets in close quarter combat like a tiger. His claws could rip meter thick concrete or metal. Ranged combat with close combat was a perfect combination
"I can't sense anything" Archie says.
"maybe we light up the place a little" Zane suggested.
"no if we do that and we can't find it, not only would it find us, it will scan an opening an pounce us from there" archie replies.
"I didn't think category 3 were that smart" Zane says.
"well lemme enlighten you, when the logistics department determines a category for an Azazel its not always concrete. Sure, we use different things like size, attributes, types etc but we can't really measure intelligence. Sometimes a category 2 Azazel, that's singular, if it has enough intelligence, will have its category moved to 3 or even 4" archie informs while looking around vigilantly.
Zane is amused. Intelligence of an entity can really equate to a lot of things. Its almost as if it could count as one of its attributes. If this Azazel is smart, it might be over for a normal team. Fortunately for Zane apart from him, all of the groups members are type-6 in power ranking excluding the captain and the lieutenant who are type-8.
Just then Archie stops in his tracks.
"what's up?" Zane asks.
"I thin-"
just as Archie tries to reply he is whacked across the hall of the mansion with tremendous force and is embedded into the wall.
"TEAM BRAVO WE HAVE CONTACT I NEED BACKUP!" Zane shouts into the walkie talkie as he is trained to do before defending himself with another blow from the Azazel with his spear.
"argh-"
Zane is thrown off his footing. He lifts his head up to see a large snake towering over him. He is frozen in terror. His hands shake in fear and looks around quickly to see Archie, barely conscious, and notices just in time back again at the creature trying to strike him and barely dodges it.
He cannot run too fast. He feels just too weak. The Azazel looks on to him, its fangs ripped open, with acid dripping, its long brown scales as hard as rock intending to never be penetrated. Zane is traumatized.
He charges his spear but its taking him time as he tries to dodge the monsters vicious attacks.
"where the hell are those guys" Zane wonders.
He finally shoots a long blast from his spear directly at the monster's opened jaw. It was a powerful strike it even destroyed the ceiling and all the things around the monster with a powerful explosion.
"wha-what the hell?"
Or so Zane thought. The attack had done little damage to the monster. The next thing Zane knows is being violently thrown up towards the ceiling, breaking his ribs and vomiting blood. He falls on the ground. Was this all he could do? couldn't he have a little more chance, why was he so weak? He wished mike was here with him. Is he going to die? He cannot leave his sister alone. He tried to stand up but he couldn't even feel his legs. The monster was there towering over him just mere meters away from gobbling him up.
A rush of air goes past his ears.
"c'mon kid you can't die just yet" Zane hears as he sees claws whizz by him.
Archie leaps over and rips the entire right side of the Azazel admirably. The monster goes mad by the blood loss and pain.
"eat this you damned freak" Zane hears Robert shooting fire balls from his talum, a gauntlet with guns on its sides, exploding and destroying the scales and underbelly of the Azazel.
"hey Zane, c'mon get up, tell me where your hurt" Zane hears Harold in his jolly tone.
"r-ribs" Zane says while spitting blood from his mouth.
Harold opens his suite and touches his chest. His ribs are broken and piercing his lungs and maybe his core.
"alright this might hurt a little just stay still" Harold tells Zane.
He attaches four tubes on his chest that come out of his back. As soon as it attaches Zane feels his ribs rearranging itself. He feels intense pain.
"I secrete enzymes that rearrange cells as I want them to be from these tubes, relax your gonna be fine."
Robert and archie keep fighting the Azazel, wearing it down and injuring it every second by clawing through its body and destroying its scales.
"WHERES THE CORE?!" Robert shouts.
"I DON'T KNOW!!" Archie yells back.
Zane looks at the Azazel. He notices that the claw marks at its tail have regenerated faster then the ones on its head.
"Harold let me through" Zane says as he removes the tubes.
"Zane wait-" before Harold can say anything Zane stands up and his hands start to glow.
He points his spear at the mid-section of the tail. He concentrates and tries to aim at the rapidly moving tail. But he can't get a shot. So Zane instead runs towards the tail. Archie and Robert look onto him in confusion and anger at his supposed antics. Zane climbs on a ladder placed nearby and jumps onto the tail. He times and presses the button on his spear just as he lands on his target.
A massive blow and explosion occurs and the tail is obliterated with Zane again thrown away from the explosion.
The monster drops down on the ground motionless, its eyes losing the glow and its scales falling off. Zane had killed it. Before him lies the amber core of the monster, shattered.
The fighting comes to a sudden halt.
"wow kid, you really are something. Congrats on your first kill" Robert says to Zane as he walks over to him.
"Azazel exterminated, mission is a success" Archie says over the comms.
Both Archie and Robert pick him up out of the site as logistic teams come in to take care of the site and the corpse.
"oh, this is fun" Zane mumbles in exhaustion.
Harold, Robert and Archie look towards each other.
"sure is kid, sure is" says Harold as all three men laugh, amused at Zane.