Parallel: United Front

Chapter 33: Diversion

Dayle sported a wry smile as he closely examined the monster.

The monster, which appeared to have been created from patching several monsters together, stood at 8 feet tall on a pair of stocky metal legs. Its upper torso was messy, with misaligned tufts of hair from various monsters stitched together over a massive chest. Tubes jutting out from its chest and back ran up to some sort of conduit at the nape of its neck. Even more disgustingly, the monster's head was a massive lump of flesh covered with dozens of eyes, some natural, and others bionic.

A pair of metal gauntlets covered its arm and then ended in meter-long claws that sparked with electricity. Dayle had no doubt that if that thing hit him, he would be carved into two without the slightest resistance. But as if the claws were not enough, the tell-tale muzzle of a miniature Gatling gun rested atop both arms, prompting Dayle to wonder what it used as bullets.

Dayle did not have to wonder long, however, as the monster suddenly raised its left arm without warning. Dayle senses the danger and immediately dashed behind a pod for cover.

Dudududududu!

Dayle's eyes blanched as he watched the ground explode where he'd been just a moment ago. What the hell kind of force was that!? That bullet would obliterate him in seconds! Dayle was still piecing together the absurd difficulty when the hairs on his neck tingled. Dayle looked up and gaped in disbelief as the pod he was hiding behind 'flew' into the air.

The exposed agent's eyes widened in shock as he glanced at the monster. Dense radiation streams revolved around its left hand which was raised in the air. The condensed, yellow energy was the tell-tale sign of a bionic ability being used - but that was supposed to be exclusive to humans!

Before Dayle could question what was going on, the machine gun on the monster's right hand whirred to menacing life. The young man quickly dashed to the left as the onslaught destroyed the ground.

Bang! Bang!

Not one to silently take a beating, Dayle retaliated with two shots as he retreated. The bullets struck true, puncturing holes in the monster's torso. To the young man's dismay, however, the bullets fell out of the hole moments later as the injury healed.

"Fuck! What the hell is that thing!" Dayle cursed. He fired off a series of shots, but the results remained the same. The monster's regenerative rate was beyond monstrous. All injuries healed in the blink of an eye. Dayle grimaced as he once again took cover behind a pod.

For whatever reason, the monster appeared to be heavily adverse to the idea of damaging the pods. It always raised took the extra second to raise the pods before shooting at Dayle. That extra second was more than enough for Dayle to quickly pop out, take a shot, and then run off in a random direction, making it immensely difficult for the monster to pin him down.

However, Dayle did not have it any easier. Every second that passed was one which reinforcements could use to get there, and the only door to the next section was behind the monster.

What was meant to happen would eventually happen. Just as Dayle was about to sprint out of cover, as usual, his hairs suddenly stood on end. "Fuck!" Dayle cursed and dropped to the ground. A salvo of bullets flew overhead and then struck the pod behind him. To his surprise, however, the pod didn't break.

Dayle quickly looked at the monster and then spotted two Nexus bots standing by its side. The bots, whose rifles were trained at him, once again squeezed the trigger. In response, Dayle scrambled into a forward roll that took him past the impact point.

This time, however, he noticed that the bullets bounced off the ground, then struck the pods and bounced off.

Rubber Bullets!