[Outside the bookstore]
"Move in! Neutralize the target and sweep the area for additional threats!" a commanding officer barked over the comms.
"Yes, sir!"
Boots thundered across shattered glass and splintered wood as the soldiers stormed into the bookstore, rifles raised.
"Clear left!"
"Clear—!"
They froze.
Fuzzy Lumpkins had been blasted clear across the room, his massive body embedded against the far wall.
The entire right side of him was ruined—his arm completely gone, torn off in the blast. Flesh was blackened, fur scorched, his body twisted and mangled in ways that should've left him dead.
But he wasn't.
His chest heaved.
Once. Twice.
Then again.
His yellow eyes snapped open—glowing, feral, burning with something far beyond pain.
A low, guttural growl rumbled from deep within his chest.
"Target still alive—OPEN FIRE!!"
—bang! bang! bang! bang!—
Gunfire erupted instantly, bullets tearing into his already broken body, punching into flesh, ripping through fur.
Fuzzy's body jerked violently with each impact—but instead of going still…
He grew.
Muscles swelled grotesquely, bulging beneath torn skin. His frame expanded, bones cracking and shifting as raw anger flooded through him, forcing his body to bulk up—larger… heavier… more monstrous.
"RAAAAGGHHH—!!"
"Why isn't it going down?!"
Through the storm of bullets, Fuzzy's remaining hand fumbled at his waist—gripping the small lamp tied crudely to his side.
"Genie! Genie! HELP ME! HELP ME!!" he roared, his voice cracking with desperation and fury.
He yanked it free, clutching it tightly.
"Help me, or we ain't makin' it outta this—!!"
The soldiers didn't stop firing.
—bang! bang! bang!—
Then—
The lamp trembled.
A thin wisp of smoke curled from its spout.
Then more.
And more.
Until suddenly—
FWOOOOOOOSH—
A thick cloud of swirling smoke burst outward, expanding rapidly into the air, coiling and twisting between the soldiers and the raging, mutilated figure of Fuzzy Lumpkins.
The gunfire faltered.
"Hold fire—what the hell is that?!"
The smoke churned unnaturally, rising, forming—something.
Click. Click. Click.
!!!
"It's armed—!"
Bang!
Within the cloud, a few instantly made out a set of bizarre barrels—
All attached to a grinning maw with a murderous glint in its eyes.
"How pitiful… to think someone with your body would fall."
The soldiers cocked their rifles—
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets tore through the walls and the lingering mist.
They resumed firing as they heard the click of a weapon not their own.
"It was a trap!" a higher-ranked officer shouted. "Pull back! Pull back!"
"I repeat—pull back!!"
He stepped back, firing three more rounds. His unit watched in fear as the silver-white-faced creature remained unaffected and aimed seven of its own guns.
Three men were shot through the chest with black-and-white spikes.
"AHHHHH!!!"
They didn't even collapse—the spikes spread through their ribcages, piercing vital organs—
RIPPPP!!!
Then tore everything out through the entry wounds.
They screamed in agony as their organs ruptured outward.
"M-men down! I repeat—men down!!"
They struggled to maintain composure.
"If you can't find any use for it… why don't I take it off your hands~"
Ben faced Fuzzy Lumpkins' broken, rage-filled body, his tendrils stabbing into him.
"AHHHHHHH!"
"Genie! I asked you to save me—not this! AHHH!!!"
Fuzzy screamed as his arm was pierced.
"I am saving you," Ben said, completely unempathetic.
His screams continued, but Ben didn't listen as he bound himself to the burnt flesh.
The two melded beyond a cellular level.
His symbiotic antibodies merged into cryptid flesh—
"EUGHHHH—!"
Fuzzy raged internally, his body trembling with tainted colors. His bones snapped, and his destroyed arm spewed string-like fluid, reforming into a symbiotic claw.
Crumbling…
The wall collapsed as they emerged.
Claws gleaming, jaw hanging open with rows of teeth—
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ben's Anti-Venom bullets tore through multiple layers of armor. His mutation still provided his only long-range attacks, as several guns were strapped to his shoulders.
They took aim as he crouched low.
!!!
"Throw your grenades and run!!" the officer yelled, unpinning his first as Ben fired.
Swishhh!
The grenades landed at his feet and detonated in a blast of orange flames.
They tried to use it as cover for their retreat, thinking it would stop him—but it only gave him more camouflage.
"Keep your eyes open—!!!"
Swish!
—
Ben's POV
I've taken two loans, needing seventy Action Points to pay off in two weeks—or I'll have to pay even more interest. I could rely on this week's evaluation to cover it, but the problem is… I don't know what my total will be.
I also don't know what happens if I can't pay it back by then.
That's why I have to make sure my Action Points are staggeringly high in the first week alone.
I sprinted out of the explosion, the heat only slightly affecting me as I rushed the nearest member of the military unit.
"GRAAWR!!"
I grabbed the man and flung him across the room.
He slammed into a bookshelf, grunting in pain.
My eyes shifted to the next soldier—
I smiled, grabbing his rifle as he struggled to keep hold of it. He stepped back, then lunged forward fearlessly, forcing the barrel toward my face after realizing he couldn't break free.
Bang!!
"HHHHHAAAA!" he screamed, veins bulging as he fired at the seven-foot giant I'd become.
He emptied the entire magazine into me.
"Heh… haha… hahaha…"
I laughed, feeling the blood leak from Fuzzy Lumpkins' body.
"Minor… Heal," I whispered.
The wounds closed as tendrils pushed the bullets out.
Crunch—scrunch!
I tightened my grip, crushing and twisting the rifle before yanking it away.
Green plus-sign particles floated over me as I grabbed him by the collar, lifting him high—
CRACK!!
—and slammed him into the tiled floor.
"ARGH—!!"
His spine shattered, and he screamed in agony.
His eyes watered, teeth clenched, as his hand fumbled toward his waistband. He pulled out a grenade with shaking arms.
I smiled as he primed it.
"For freedom we live… To protect the innocent is our duty… To serve and protect is our cause…"
I reveled in the trembling bravado he tried to exude.
"…How foolish~"
BOOOOM!!!
The explosion hit at point-blank range, shredding into my alien flesh. I writhed as flames spread—fire, the natural weakness of symbiotes. It burned, melted, and scarred.
A perfect counter to what I'd become…
But it didn't matter.
The blaze didn't affect my symbiote's core structure.
"You were facing the offspring of a genie… and you didn't even think to beg for your life."
I lifted what remained of him.
"Hahahahaha…"
I laughed loudly—for their mics, for whoever was watching.
"Tell me… is this how all of you want to die?"
I layered on the persona—separating this monster from the lamp…
…and from the boy who would be a hero.
"The target's still standing!"
A soldier reloaded—bang!—he tried to fire again.
Swish.
A shot pierced through him.
"AHHHHH!!—AHHHH!!"
His chest ruptured as I commanded my bio-bullets to tether and rip outward, dragging his organs with them. His body collapsed, hands desperately clutching his torn torso.
I turned and fired at five more—
Roar!!
I charged, claws extended—
Slash!!
My hand tore through a man's face.
"AAAHHH!!"
My fingers carved deep trenches through his jaw. Blood spilled over my hand—warm, wet—
Addictive.
I grinned. Nothing else compared to this.
CRUNCH!!
I twisted, extending my other arm and slamming his skull into the wall.
It fractured.
His voice cut short.
Brain matter splattered.
I rolled my shoulders, cracking my neck, staring at the remaining soldiers.
"RAAAORRRR!!!"
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Fuzzy's body kept growing, fueled by rage—by the damage done to what it considered its property.
And that rage only made us stronger.
This body is insane.
I smirked, feeling my strength push far beyond human limits.
I clenched my fist and punched a man clean out of the store—across the street.
The angrier I got… the stronger I became.
Thud. Thud.
My footsteps echoed as the gunfire finally died down.
I stepped outside.
Beyond the barricades stood police, civilians, and reporters—all being held back.
They froze when they saw me.
Cameras struggled to focus.
Soldiers barked into comms, calling for backup—reporting that the secondary threat was far more dangerous than expected.
Secondary threat?
I frowned.
Weren't they here for Fuzzy?
…That was concerning.
Multi-threat scenario?
Crrrrrr—
Three tanks rolled in, forcing the press back.
Their barrels turned toward me.
I didn't give them time to aim.
I kicked off the wall, launching myself sideways. My hand shifted—two fingers raised—
Ssshhh—!
A web of organic fluid shot out.
Another trait inherited from the symbiote.
I latched onto a nearby building just as—
BOOOOM!!
A rocket slammed into where I'd been.
I landed on the opposite wall, glancing back.
"…Wow."
The explosion had obliterated the entire top floor of a two-story building.
"You're not holding back anymore… no fun."
I chuckled.
Grenades were one thing.
But that?
Yeah… that would've killed me.
BOOOOM!!
I leapt again just as another tank fired, swinging over them.
My fist slammed down—
Punching straight through the cockpit.
My arm tore into the space beneath the cannon.
I heard the crew panic.
Didn't care.
"Raaagh—!!"
I ripped the launch assembly free at the base.
"Guess this is goodbye…"
Grrrk—clink!
RRRIPPPP!!
The tank's top mantle tore loose.
"…One last gift."
"HUUUGH!!"
I leapt, webbing the cannon as I spun midair, channeling all of Fuzzy's rage—
"Now!!"
I released—
The tank head flew into the next unit.
The second tank fired—
BOOOOM!!!
Metal collided in a heated rumble that shook the street.
I landed moments later.
The ground trembled beneath me.
Then—
A suffocating unease washed over me.
My body froze mid-motion.
It felt like a massive presence stood behind me. The world turned red, the taste of blood lingering in the setting sun.
I looked back—not at the soldiers, not at the tanks.
Something else.
A woman—no, a man—wearing high-heeled boots, a skin-tight red dress, and a fluffy collar. He twirled his hair with a claw.
"My, oh my…" his voice shifted from high to low. "To think I'd be sharing the stage today."