Well, seems things are turning to shit as always. It feels like it’s the only constant in my life these days.
Not enough that Theodor was mumbling about some eldritch class being making its way into our reality. No, the freaking Inquisitor herself was coming here.
That crazy bitch.
And of course, right at that moment, the doorbell rang.
I froze, staring at the door, as apprehension followed me.
Theodor stumbled from his room, staring at me with his empty, dead eyes.
“What’s going on?” he asked in a tired voice.
I ignored him and answered the door.
“I presume you’ve been informed about my arrival,” her voice sounded from the door intercom.
“Yes. I have.”
With that I opened the door and a few moments later I found myself face to face with her.
Marcia looked anything but normal. I could tell right away that this was a cold, calculating woman. Her face was as carved from marble. No emotion, nothing at all. Her clothing comprised a plain, dark robe. Her eyes were light blue and long platinum hair surrounded her face. She might have been beautiful once, but no, there was nothing to her. The word that came to my mind as I looked at her was empty.
“Exterminator 7D11087,” she said in a monotone, almost bored voice.
“I’m Exterminator 5A00114, Marcia Loggia. I presume you’re well aware that I’m here to take over command of all operations in this city. As of now, you and exterminator 4B98344, as well as… that thing you’re keeping around are under my command.”
“Thing?” I asked.
The moment the word escaped my mouth, her face changed to anger.
“You’re not to interrupt me, Exterminator 7D11087. You talk only when I tell you so. Understood?”
I grumbled something to myself and right away, a man I presumed to be her partner stepped up to the door. I hadn’t seen him before, but I could tell right away that he wasn’t normal.
He was quiet, not saying a word and clad in plain, dark cloth, similar to her. What made me shiver was the mask he was wearing. The only thing I could make out of his face were the eyes. They were bloodshot slits and when they focused on me, I couldn’t help but take a step back.
Marcia raised her arm and bod the man to step back.
“At ease.”
It was all she said, but the man instantly returned to his prior position.
“As I said. From now on, I’m in charge. I’ve been informed that certain operations here have gone out of hand some actions take here might have gone against protocol.”
As she said this, I saw a hint of a smile on her face. The bitch was enjoying this.
“This will change from now on. Are we understood Exterminator 7D11087?”
I nodded.
“Good. You learn fast. So how is Exterminator 4B98344’s condition? I was informed she suffered injuries during your last incident.”
Again, I nodded, but this time, she seemed to wait for me to explain myself.
“Yes. That’s correct. Because of our encounter with an A-Class creature and her using all of her mental powers, she received massive damage to both her body and mind.”
“Interesting. A mentalist like her failing like this.”
I was about to speak up when Theodor walked over to us.
“So, what’s going on here?” he asked.
Marcia’s face turned dark.
“I presume that’s the thing I’ve been informed about. I’ve never heard of exterminators keeping pets like this.”
“Who are you calling a pet, bitch?” Theodor called out to her.
In an instant, her partner was about to rush Theodor. I quickly pushed myself in front of him.
“Stop it! This is not important right now. Mar- I mean, Exterminator 5A00114, with all due respect, but I believe we’ve got bigger-“
I was cut off when she shrieked, and I felt a powerful surge of mental energy from her.
Great, another freaking mentalist. I should’ve known there was more to that bitch.
“Exterminator 7D11087,” she began, her words dripping with condescension. “I’m well aware of your theories that another incident of similar or worse magnitude is coming. However, I assure you, that headquarters sent me here for this exact reason.”
I bit my lip in anger.
“Exterminator 5A00114. Excuse me if I may speak up again. What we think is going to happen here is beyond A-Class. Theodor suspects we have an E-Class coming.”
“Nonsense,” she said coldly. “There’s no such thing as E-Class.”
Theodor laughed and shook his head, but didn’t say a thing.
Now the brief smile on her face was back.
“Either way. Exterminator 3B66901 and I were sent here to take over operations. You are now under my command. For now, I’m going to let your transgressions slide, but should you approach me in this manner again, I have no problem replacing you.”
Her eyes went from me to Theodor. For a few moments they rested on him. They were all but empty, but for a moment I could’ve sworn that their light blue turned a tad bit darker.
I could almost hear her thoughts and I knew exactly what she was thinking. She wanted to get rid of him, get rid of this abomination.
Shit, this was going to get ugly.
Theodor, though, turned around and made his way back to his room.
“Understood,” I finally pressed out.
Without another word, she turned around.
“We’ll see to finding a new base of operation. For now, you’re to remain here, given Exterminator 4B98344’s condition and… failure.”
She said the last word in a voice of pure and utter contempt.
“In case of an incident, we will contact you.”
With that, she and her partner went on their way. Once they were gone, I threw the door and rubbed my temples.
“All right, who the fuck’s that bitch?” Theodor, standing in the door to his room, asked.
“Our new boss, it seems,” I said in a slightly joking, slightly annoyed way.
“Well, isn’t that great?”
It was at this moment that I hit up headquarters myself.
“All right, so what’s the deal with all of this? Are we still on leave? What about Exterminator 5A00114? What about-?”
“Exterminator 7D11087,” I was cut off. “As we stated before, all operations in this area will be handled by Exterminator 5A00114 from now on. You are to follow her orders. That is all.”
With that, the connection was cut.
“Fucking shit!” I cursed.
“What now?” Theodor asked.
“Don’t you get it? They are cutting us out. That bitch is going to take over! And I know what she’s going to do. Shit’s brewing and they need a scapegoat for their fuck up. That’s why she’s here.”
Theodor gave a frustrated laugh.
“And of course, they plan on blaming it all on us. That comes as a real surprise, Dylan.”
I turned, but he’d already vanished, not caring about any of this.
I cursed at myself before I walked into the storage room and rummaged through the box the medical personnel had left for us.
After going through it for a bit, I popped two of their emergency healing contraptions. Burning heat surged through my body. I was in terrible pain as the healing of muscles and bones was sped up. I cringed, started shaking, and almost crashed to the floor because of the pain. Once it was over, though, I could breathe without pain for the first time in more than a week. Shit, that stuff really did the trick.
Turns out, I was just in time. The next day, after I’d barely gotten up, I received a phone call.
“Exterminator 7D11087, a new signature has appeared. The data is being transferred to you as we speak. Make your way to the location right away.”
Isn’t that great?
“Theodor, we’ve got work to do,” I called out to him.
As I waited for him to emerge from his room, I checked the data. A C-Class creature, confirmed to be a remnant of our last incident.
I stared at the phone. This was fucking bullshit! There’s no way a freaking C-Class creature could hide its presence! She knows this is bullshit, and she knows I know.
Fun times, fun fucking times!
Well, there was nothing I could do about it. So I stocked up on weapons and protective armor, handed Theodor his trusty combat knife, and with that we were on our merry way.
I could tell that Theodor still wasn’t himself. He seemed shaky, skittish, and still looked tired as hell. As I stared at him, I wondered how long it had been since he’d last slept.
Great, I’m on my way to meet up with some power tripping bitch and her freak of a lapdog and the only one on my side was this guy. Nothing that can go wrong here at all.
Marcia was already pissed when we arrived at the location of the incident, an abandoned building complex.
“You are well aware that any call requires immediate action! How did it take you so long to make your way here?”
I bit my tongue and swallowed the insult I almost spat at her.
“We’re sorry, Exterminator 5A00114. As you are aware, we still haven’t recuperated from our last incident. We had to make sure to come prepared to assist you to the best of our abilities.”
She stared at me for a moment, and I could see the condescending look she gave me.
“At least you came prepared. Now get going and handle the extermination.”
“Wait. You’re sending us in alone? There’s no way we can handle a C-Class incident in any satisfactory manner. What if something were to-“
“Exterminator 7D11087, are you refusing orders?”
Theodor pulled out his combat knife and started on his way to the abandoned complex ahead of us.
“Fuck it,” he said in a low voice.
Yeah, that’s great. That’s fucking great!
The briefing had told us that the creature was a humanoid type, most like a shapeshifter who’d created its lair here in this complex.
As I hurried after Theodor, I heard Marcia and her partner coming after us, but of course, they stopped a short distance in front of the complex. Those fuckers, they wouldn’t do a thing.
I ripped out my gun the moment I set foot inside. The iron smell of blood was heavy in the air, and it took me only a moment to see the two dead bodies in a corner.
Then I heard something from nearby. I pointed the gun and was about to press the trigger when I wounded man stumbled towards me. For a moment I was about to shoot, but then I saw his pleading eyes, the blood in his body.
“Get the hell out of here,” I yelled at him and the man dragged himself towards the exit.
Now where are you, you fucker?
Theodor had already moved on and made his way to the next room. And yet, I had a bad feeling about this, it almost felt like I was being watched.
My eyes scanned the room, but there was nothing here. Then I heard the sounds of claws on metal, and a moment later something threw itself from the ceiling.
I threw myself back, barely avoiding the creature’s surprise attack.
Its twisted mouth opened wide as it giggled at me. I raised the gun, but my body was still weak and in an instant the thing rushed me and batted the gun aside.
“Fuck,” I cursed in pain.
Right at that moment Theodor was back, combat knife in hand.
The creature had wanted to attack me, but Theodor was already upon it. It blocked his attack with one of its clawed arms, but the combat knife sunk deep into it. Flesh and muscle tore, then bone, before the arm was sliced off.
“Back away, Dylan, that fucker’s mine,” he brought out.
He dodged an attack by the creature’s second arm, then his hand closed around it, twisted it and tore at it.
The thing screeched in pain as Theodor ripped the second arm clean off. Then he plunged the combat knife deep into its body.
There was no hint of his usual grin. No, his face showed nothing at all.
Suddenly my phone went wild, notifying me of a second signature. How the fuck did a second signature appear here just now?
No, I realized, it must’ve been here all along. They must’ve suppressed it. That fucking bitch! She knew there was more than one creature here. I glanced back at her, but there was no change in her cold, emotionless expression.
My eyes darted through the room and a moment later I saw the fucker. It burst from a doorway and charged right at Theodor. Not going to happen, I thought, as I lit the fucker up.
Bullets trailed towards, but only one of them hit. It didn’t do a damn thing, and for a moment I wished I had some of the explosive ammunition left.
Right away, the fucker turned from Theodor to me.
Its claws were scratching over the ground before it propelled itself forward. I could barely dodge the onslaught that followed, and a moment later I felt a sharp pain in my left arm. The fucker had torn right through the protective armor.
A long black tongue lolled from its mouth and it grinned at my pain. Two more appendages burst from the creature’s back. An ear shattering screech escaped its throat.
It was about to rush me, but right at that instant it noticed Marcia outside. Its expression changed instantly from anticipation to fear.
At that moment, I saw my chance and shot again. This time the bullets hit, and this time the fucker was hurting.
I’d expected it to attack me again, but it rushed back to where it had come from.
“Oh no, you’re not getting away,” I cursed, already holding a grenade in my hand, but Theodor hurried after it.
This time, I saw the slightest of grins on his face as he threw himself at the fleeing creature. His knife came down on the thing’s back, brought it to a stagger. Then Theodor pushed it to the ground and I could see him thrust his hand deep into the creature’s body. I saw him twist his arm before he tore. Blood and guts sprouted from the thing’s body.
Again and again he rammed the knife in his hand into the thing while screaming incoherently.
“Theodor,” I said, stepping up to him and putting my hand on his shoulder. “It’s dead. We’re done.”
For a moment he stared at me. His face was still tired, and I saw the grin had long vanished.
Without another word, we made our way outside.
Marcia was still there, but her partner was gone and so was the man I’d sent outside.
“Where’s the survivor?”
“We’re following procedure.”
“Wait, what are you-?”
“To the book,” she cut me off.
Then her head jerked towards Theodor and came to rest on his blood covered body.
“Why didn’t we get confirmation of the second creature?” I spoke up.
Marcia didn’t react. She had only eyes for Theodor, and her face was distorted by anger and disgust.
“Exterminator 5A00114, why was there no data about the secondary signature?” I asked again, this time louder.
“There was no hint of a second signature,” she brought out in a trembling voice and turned back to me.
“Let me ask you, Exterminator 7D11087. Why is a thing like THIS allowed to be here? Why hasn’t it been exterminated?”
“This thing is named Theodor, and he’s been a valuable asset until now. Exterminator 4B98344 got confirmation from headquarters that-“
“Until now,” she cut me off.
At this moment, her partner reappeared.
“Call the clean-up crews,” she instructed him.
The man nodded and hit a few buttons on his phone.
“This incident is over. You can return to your base of operations. As for Theodor,” she said with a grin. “I’ll get into contact with headquarters. There might be need to ask for special permission.”
With that, she and her partner turned around and left.
As I stared after them, I couldn’t help but curse again.
Fuck monsters and fuck special permission.
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