"Ryn! Watch your left! Tobias, back up! Alex, 6 o'clock!"
Lock shouts the necessary callouts as he fires his pistol, aiming for a headshot. He watched with a bit of annoyance as the bullets barely pierced the snake-man's scaly skin, only to seemingly send the being into a deeper berserk state.
"Damn it! What did this guy even inject himself with?! He should be dead by now!"
Rynoske yelled, narrowly dodging a tail strike that would have knocked him to the ground, potentially delivering a fatal blow. Meanwhile, Tobias manages to parry a strike with his shield before switching it to his warhammer form and swinging it once before backing up from a possibly fatal bite. On the other hand, Alex dodged several debris pieces sent flying their way, continuing their dash attacks on the snake-man. However, their strikes didn't seem to make much of an impact; sparks flew as metal met scale.
"I think we should be more concerned about why his scales are almost as thick as a komodo wyrm!" Alex called out, dodging a claw slash from the being.
As they flipped backward, multiple throwing knives flew from their hands, though only one managed to penetrate the snake-man's thick armor as it found a chink in his armor. In response, the being shrieks in pain, its eyes wild as it focuses on Alex. Realizing the change in the snake-man's target, Alex lowered their arms slightly.
"Oh, well then, this just got more interesting."
Turning around at an almost inhuman speed, before running with the snake-man in pursuit.
" Think you can escape from me? From Heitler!" the snake-man confidently cries out as he slithers after Alex.
" Great time to announce his name! Not to mention it is also a sad one!" Alex retorts, vaulting over reinforced barricades, only for the obstacles to be obliterated by the snake-man, who is relentless in his pursuit.
Seeing Alex in trouble, Tobias moves to help. After a few heavy breaths, he grabs his warhammer and steps forward, but Lock quickly stops him.
"Tobias, change tactics. Take his attention and hold it as long as you can. Mye, Ryn, rendezvous back to me." His presence seemingly appears out of the shadows as he relays the order to the extranicus.
Tobias nodded, refocusing on the fight, and charged after Hietler and Alex. Meanwhile, Alex was barely managing to stay alive, dodging and weaving around lethal strikes. Fatigue was setting in, and their body was beginning to deteriorate.
"Some help—" Alex ducked and dove away as the snake-man threw its weapon toward them. "—would be great!"
Just as they finished their sentence, Alex felt a small, hard object trip them. Their body collapses, and they look up to see a large silhouette of a tail rising above their head, ready to slam down.
"Shit..." Alex murmured, raising their arms in a futile attempt to brace for impact.
"Skree!"
A screech echoed as Tobias's large silhouette appeared in front of Alex. With his upper arms, he blocked the strike. Then, with a quick swing of his hammer, he sent the snake-man flying into a pile of quarried rocks. Dust filled the air as Tobias glanced back to check on Alex.
"About time, big guy," Alex said tiredly, giving a thumbs-up with their lower left arm before Tobias turned his attention back to the dust cloud.
Footsteps rush toward them as the rest of the team arrives. Mye immediately kneels beside Alex upon reaching them, her eyes full of concern despite her expressionless face. Alex laughed lightly, placing a hand on her head.
"I'm fine, Mye. Just a little trip." Mye continued to stare at them, unconvinced.
"That might change quickly. If we don't wrap this up soon, we're—"
Before Rynoske could finish, the quarried rocks that Hietler had fallen into earlier exploded outward, and the snake-man rose again, looking more feral than before as his eyes glared in their direction. The team stared at him, stunned.
"—screwed…Can this guy die from an overdose?" Rynoske jokes, but a bit of hopefulness can be heard in his voice.
"Enough jokes, Ryn," Lock says, drawing his combat knife. Like he even has the capability to use it with a damaged leg.
Enraged, Heitler slithers towards them, but is intercepted by Tobias as the extranicus screeches back into his face. This moment hopefully buys the team a bit more time as Rynoske turns his head to Lock.
"You got a plan then?"
Upon Rynoske's remark, Lock looks around their area of operation for a while. His processor seemingly runs through multiple scenarios before his eyes snap upward to spot a crane with a large bag on the end that seems to be holding large boulders hanging in the air. Not seeing any time to fully analyze its success rate, he turns to his teammates.
"Ryn, can you help Tobias draw his attention for a little while longer?"
Rynoske raises an eyebrow at his statement, " Probably, but I can't promise-"
"Just get a few good hits in and push him under that bag that is hanging over there,"
Lock gestures towards the crane. Looking towards the pointed out direction, Rynoske glances back and nods.
" Drop rocks onto him?"
"Those should be enough to crush him to death."
"I hope you're right." With that, Rynoske takes flight again and heads on in advance.
Lock turns his attention over to Mye who was patching Alex's leg with an improvised splint from a few metal scraps with some strips of cloth that look similar to Alex's jacket.
"Mye."
Hearing her name,she glances his way as she finishes wrapping the splint up as Alex winces.
" Can you use that magic of yours to hold a person in place?"
The splint secured, Mye turns her attention to Lock and gives a nod with her head.
"How long? Think you can hold him until we can finish him off?"
Mye stares for a while before she glances away, which doesn't set right with Lock. Though, Alex places a hand onto Mye's shoulder and glances up at him with a thumbs up with their other hand.
"Have some faith, boss, she won't let you down."
"...alright, be on standby somewhere close to the crane, I'll give you a heads up when the time comes."
Mye gives him an acknowledging nod before she stands up. She seems hesitant at first, but she quickly hurries off and disappears behind a few machinery which were destroyed earlier from the fighting. Turning his attention to Alex, his eyes avert to their splintered leg.
" Can you stand?"
Alex gives an attempt, but their left leg buckles, and they drop to one knee. Despite this fact, Alex forces a light painful laugh.
"Barely, but what do you need me to do, boss?"
"Think you can cut the chain holding that bag up there?" Lock asked, pointing to a nearby piece of machinery with a large bag of rocks dangling close to the action.
Alex chuckles, pulling out a serrated knife and twirling it to grip the blade in their hand. They gave Lock a confirming nod.
"It's a bit far, but I can try,"
" I'll provide some aid if it comes down to it, I'm going to help the other two push him into position."
" I will be on standby then, don't die on us."
Almost like a cruel coincidental joke, a large sheet of metal impaled the ground close to the two. Lock turned with his pistol, expecting Rynoske and Tobias to have trouble. Though it looks like they have the situation somewhat in control as he stands up to join them.
As for the fight, Tobias and Rynoske are showing progress in their teamwork. Taking the blunt of a thrown rock that shatters against his shield, Tobias steps aside as Rynoske flies in for the counterattack. Sending Heitler skidding back a few more feet, He quickly takes off before a tail swipe nearly sends him into an eternal slumber.
"Missed again!" Rynoske mocks despite nearly meeting his maker a few seconds prior.
"Do you ever shut up?!" Heitler hisses before coiling himself up to do a lunge attack.
Rynoske grinned, flipping out of the way of a lunging attack, intentionally aggravating Heitler. He barely avoided the snake-man's tail by inches when he noticed something slightly off. Realizing what he saw, Rynoske quickly drew a few daggers and dove in for a fly-by. Fending off Tobias who was forced to back away, Heitler caught Rynoske's movement in the corner of his vision. Aiming to intercept, he coils and launches upward in another attempt to take this blabbermouth down once and for all.
However, Rynoske grins as he anticipated the attempt, and throws the daggers. At the sight of the flying blades, Heitler instinctively raised his arms to block them—exactly what Rynoske wanted.
" You are getting way too predictable, idiot!"
Rynoske slammed his fist into Heitler's arms with a loud crack. At first, he thought the punch would be shrugged off, but to his surprise, the results were way more than satisfactory. Crashing back to the ground, Heitler did manage to recover, but the distance he skied following the slightly sluggish recovery was more than enough to confirm. Without wasting time, Rynoske flew back just as a claw strike ripped through the air where he had been moments ago. Morphing his hand into a human-like form, he pressed his comms device.
[Seems like our snake friend here is losing some steam, we can snuff him out right now!]
[Then let's wrap this up quickly. Don't let him recover for a second.]
Finishing his response, Lock leaves his cover and proceeds to fire several shots towards Heitler. The shots slammed into Heitler's head catching him off guard. While they didn't penetrate the scales, the force of each bullet staggered the creature as the onslaught between Rynoske and a tired Tobias made everyone else an oversight. Heitler turns his torso to locate Lock, but before he could, a heavy force slams into him from the left. Tobias's hammer sent him tumbling, debris flying in his wake.
"Skreee!" Tobias' mandibles open wide as he shrieks a chilling noise that sounds like an old metal door scraping across another metal surface.
Barely managing to catch himself to return upright, he could feel his body growing heavier. He struggles to rise fully back up. His strength waning as he could feel the stimulant effects fading from his body along with all the damage he sustained catching up to him.
"Ssshit... I need more…"
He reaches for another syringe, but his hand finds only the interior texture of the leathery pouch meant to hold his supply. His face fills with disbelief.
"What—"
Before he could comprehend anything, the glimpse of a crimson red scaled hand came into his peripheral view. With a powerful swing of his clawed fist, Rynoske slams Heitler into the ground, stunning the swamper as the air is knocked out of his lung.
"Sucks to suck, scale-head!" Rynoske mocks before he quickly retreats away.
With Hietler now in position and a clear opening, it is time to execute the finale.
"Mye, do it now!" Lock ordered.
Mye, who had been waiting behind cover, stepped out, facing her palm toward Heitler. Her glove glows with energy, and her eyes begin to illuminate as she brings her hand up towards her target.
"I am going to-RRh?!" Heitler's eyes dilated as he suddenly felt a stinging pain in his head. "What the hell?!"
Heitler let out a deafening scream, clutching his head in agony. Mye's expressionless face contorted in strain as she fought to maintain her psychic hold. Her skin paling, and cold sweats forming from her forehead.
"Perfect! Keep him there!" Alex called, taking aim with a throwing knife.
Without hesitation, Alex threw the dagger upward toward the chains holding the rocks. Sparks flew as the blades sliced through, but it wasn't enough. Alex clicked their tongue in frustration, realizing they only had one throwing dagger left.
"Shit! I only got one more!"
Just as Alex finished, a series of gunshots rang out. Lock's pistol fire shattered the chains, and the boulders dropped to the ground with a resounding thud, crushing Heitler beneath them.
With a final shriek, Heitler's cries were drowned out by the weight of the rocks, and silence filled the air as the dust settled. Mye collapsed to her knees, exhausted, her arms lowered as her breath rattled herself. Lowering his pistol, Lock looks over towards Tobias who is on one knee using his hammer's handle to keep his body from falling over.
"Tobias, make sure he's actually dead," Lock calls out, catching the extranicus' attention.
Tobias nodded, making his way to the pile of rocks, warhammer in hand.
Hearing the flapping of wings, Rynoske landed beside Lock, grinning and patting him on the back.
"First fight together, and we all made it out alive! Good one, team lead!"
Lock merely shrugged him off and pressed his finger to his earpiece. He couldn't make out what was being said, but Rynoske's facial expression grew concerned as Lock darkened. After a brief moment, Lock lowered his hand and glanced at each team member before turning to Rynoske.
"More trouble, huh?"
Lock nodded, holstering his pistol and sighing in frustration. Noticing the serious expressions on both Rynoske and Lock's faces, the rest of the team can only guess what is to come next.