Usurper of Fire

The behemoth crashed into Cadivus and Hunter, smashing them through the door. They kicked him off them and into a wall, but he flipped and pushed off it with his feet, cracking the surface as he did. As he soared toward them he extended his arms, and performed a double clothesline. He grabbed Hunter’s foot and threw him into a wall and; then picked up Cadivus by the neck with one hand and slammed him against another wall.

“Ants? Ants in my home!” Sigma said, smiling. “I crush ants!”

Gunshots rang out as Hunter unloaded a cylinder into Sigma’s back. But the bullets barely impacted Sigma’s flesh, bouncing off and embedding into nearby walls and floors. He holstered his gun and removed metal knuckles from his pouch. He equipped them, and charged at Sigma, and punched his liver. The blow made the giant flinch, but Sigma caught the next swing and squeezed his fist.

Cadivus, still held against the wall by the neck, grabbed at the figure holding him, trying to peel his fingers off.

“Remember those side effects I talked about?” Hunter said, catching Cadivus’s eyes. “Oughtta be any second now…”

Cadivus’s eyes squinted as his stomach growled.

Sigma tilted his head, uncertain of what was happening.

“I’m going to beat the shit out of you two!”

“No need,” Hunter said.

A horrible stench filled the room. Cadivus grimaced with his legs shaking. Hunter removed nose plugs from his pouch, and clogged up his nose as the wet fecal matter dripped down Cadivus’s pant legs.

“You nasty ants!” Sigma released them both and covered his mouth and nose, gagging uncontrollably.

Cadivus took as many deep breaths as he could through his mouth. Hunter nodded toward Sigma, and they both attacked. Hunter punched at the behemoth’s organs and Cadivus kneed him in the nose. The combo attack caused him to flip onto his back.

“You think I’ve never fought with shit in my pants before?!” Cadivus kicked at his legs. “Take this!”

Hunter mounted the man and rained metal punches into his face.

“Get the code, I got this guy!” Cadivus said.

Hunter rolled off him, and searched around the room. Sigma tried to stand, but Cadivus punched the side of his head, which only made him slightly flinch. He grabbed Cadivus’s arm.

“Bye bye stinky man!” He then threw him out a window. Cadivus’s head hit the windowsill, and he flipped and landed on the roof next door. Hunter looked back and saw Sigma focusing solely on him.

“Now, you die, ant!” Sigma charged at him again, but he rolled out of the way and pulled his gun out. “You’re out of bullets to bounce off me! Give up! Let me pull your limbs off!”

He smirked, flipped the barrel out and quickly swapped to another set of rounds.

Sigma laughed and flexed his chest “I’ll give you one last chance!” His lat spread was impressive, perfect form.

“Not too bright are ya?” He shot a round into his arm.

The bullet hit and stuck into Sigma’s skin. He looked at the small wound and smiled.

“Pathetic ants!”

The round then exploded. Smoke and red mist filled the room as he screamed.

Hunter ran to the window to check on Cadivus, who was beginning to stand.

“Jump over! I’ll catch you!” he called out. Cadivus shook off the brain trauma and cracked his neck.

“Just don’t drop me! I can only land on my head so many times today.”

He got some space, ran towards the edge, and leaped off of it. As he reached for Hunter’s hands, Sigma hit Hunter’s side, removing him from the window. Cadivus hit the side of the building, bounced off it, and fell down three stories to the alley below.

Lucky for him, a pile of trash broke his fall. He groaned after colliding with it. Feeling the diarrhea crust on his skin, he rolled out of the trash and made his way to the front door.

Dazed, Hunter looked around the smoky room. A shadow ran toward him and he ducked. As the smoke left through the window he saw Sigma holding his half of an arm with his other hand, still smiling.

“For me ouchies, for you death!” Sigma said.

He raised his weapon to fire another shot, but Sigma disarmed him. Sigma grabbed him into a bear hug with one arm and slammed him into the floor, crashing through it and landing in the bath below. Sigma tried punching him down, but the water prevented his blows from being effective. Sigma stood and raised him up, who was visibly dazed. The behemoth headbutted him, causing a rush of blood from his nose, and licked his lips at the sight of it.

He tossed Hunter outside the bath and got out himself. He stood over his body and thought as hard as his boiled brain could. “How to kill? So many ways to kill.” He found Hunter’s gun, at his feet, he picked it up, and examined it. Yet his finger couldn’t fit in the trigger guard, so he had to use a corner of his fingernail to pull the trigger. “This good.”

Hunter looked up and sighed, accepting his fate. Sigma’s towel fell off, and Hunter saw while his upper half was gargantuan, his legs were remarkably skinny.

“Watch this dive!” Cadivus said as he fell from the floor above and landed in the bath. He had taken his pants off, which he now held in his hands and he whipped them around Sigma’s neck. He grabbed the other pant leg and pulled the behemoth down by his neck until his face was underneath the bathwater. Causing Sigma to drop the gun on the floor.

Hunter stood and held his legs so his waist teetered on the edge of the bath. The water turned brown as Cadivus’s body got washed of its excrement. Hunter, with his metal knuckles, punched Sigma’s solar plexus, causing all the air to rush out of him. Bubbles formed at the top of the water. Still holding his legs, Hunter grabbed his gun and held it to his stomach. But before Hunter needed to pull the trigger, he stopped struggling and went limp. They released their grip and pushed him out of the tub and onto the floor.

“Bout damn time,” Hunter said.

“Yeah. He was pretty tough,” Cadivus said, washing off the rest of the residue.

“I meant you. What took you so long?”

“Do you know how much brain trauma I’ve suffered today? Consider yourself lucky that I don’t think I’m a doorknob.” He got out of the bath and blinked rapidly. “Oh heavens. I think there’s shit in my eye! Not again!” He ran to a nearby clean bowl of water and washed them out.

Hunter holstered his gun and checked on Sigma. The behemoth still had a light pulse.

“Tough bastard,” Hunter whispered. “Let’s get that code and get out of here, kid.”

Cadivus didn’t move, still cleaning his eyes. His bare cheeks shook back and forth as he rubbed at them.

“And let’s get you some pants while we’re at it…”

He turned around, placed his hand on his hips, and nodded. They went back up to the room and looked around.

“If I was a muscled psycho where would I keep my code…” Cadivus said.

“There’s gotta be a secret safe somewhere,” Hunter said. “We’ll have to find it and crack it quick.”

“Found it!” he said, waving Hunter over.

Under the bed’s pillow was a paper with several crossed-out numbers. One set at the bottom wasn’t crossed off though.

“I think this is it.” He handed the paper to Hunter.

Hunter shook his head and smiled.

“I wouldn’t have thought to check there.”

“That’s because you're not built like us,” he said, mimicking flexing poses.

Though Hunter tried not to, he found himself laughing at the display.

Soon after, they found a chest with clothing. The pants fit snugly on Cadivus, thanks to Sigma’s aversion to leg training.

He admired the black pants with a white stripe going down the sides. “I like it…It’s freeing.”

Footsteps sounded behind them.

“What have you done?” a man asked. Cadivus ran over and grabbed the man, but realized it was the guy they had tied up earlier. He brought him over to Hunter.

“We have business here, and we can’t have you sounding the alarm just yet,” Hunter said as he pulled a white vial from his pouch and opened it.

“Wait! Wait!” the man said. “My name is Bradley. Pleasure to greet ya. Did you really beat up Sigma?” Bradley looked at them in anticipation.

“Was that not obvious?” Cadivus said. “Your captain is defeated, and your bath is soiled!”

Bradley smiled and shook his head.

Cadivus and Hunter stood there, confused.

“Oh man! What was it like? Did he cry or beg or anything?” Bradley asked his questions without waiting for an answer. “Wow, you guys must be strong! Especially this guy!” He said while pointing at Cadivus. Cadivus blushed and a smug look drew upon his face.

“Well, all in a day's work for someone like me,” Cadivus said. “My friend here nearly shit himself.”

Hunter frowned and shook his head.

“Put that vial away. This guy’s all right.”

“A few compliments is all it takes to gain your trust eh?” he asked.

Cadivus grabbed the man’s cheeks with one hand and displayed his face to him.

“This is the face of a good man here. I think he can keep a secret for a few more hours, can’t you?”

“Uh-huh.” Bradley said through his squeezed cheeks. He moved out of the grip. “I won’t tell a soul! I’m just gonna write about this in my journal.”

Cadivus’s eyes widened.

“Oh, a journal! I should start keeping one of those. Might come in handy when people write about my life.” He rubbed his chin. “It’s decided then. Retrieve me a journal, my lad.”

Bradley smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

“Hell yeah, man! We’re gonna be journal-bros!”

They touched forearms, and he ran out of the room, giggling.

Cadivus smiled and sighed as he watched him leave.

“I like that man.”

“You’re an interesting guy, Cadivus, I’ll give ya that.”

“And you have a lot of things, Hunter.” Cadivus said with a baffling amount of sincerity.

The two then headed off for the next part of their mission.