"I don't lose, asshole. I never lose! And what the fuck was that pussy move, hitting in the back when I wasn't looking? You're going to pay for that shit." He said the last low and dangerous. His boots echoed across the warehouse as he ran. He ducked under a swing and caught the gorilla in an uppercut, rocking its head back.
"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Mason yelled as it stumbled backwards. He grabbed it by the fur on its chest and pulled it forward, slamming his fist over and over into its sternum. He grinned savagely as he heard ribs crack. The gorilla cried out in pain.
"THAT'S. WHAT. I. FUCKING. THOUGHT!" Each word was punctuated by a fist slamming ho. He reeled back once more, arm cocked behind him. "Nighty-night ti!" He put his entire body into the swing and blood exploded from the ape's face as it was sent rocketing back a second ti.
Mason pointed at it as it landed. "I fucking told you!" He turned to face the n on the far wall. "I fucking told all of you!"
Their eyes widened and Mason realized his mistake - again. This ti he dropped into a roll as an arm swung through the air where he'd been standing monts before. He was back on his feet in a second. He feinted a punch then kicked out, steel-toed boot smashing into a knee and buckling it in an unnatural direction. It cried out again as it collapsed, clutching at the limb.
"Oh, you thought this was a fair fight? This is a fucking bar fight, asshole, and there's no rules here! You don't have those where you're from, do you? Stay the fuck down!"
He ran forward and leveled another kick at its knee, then its thigh. He knew first-hand how much a thigh kick hurt. Then he was kicking its ribs over and over. He'd make this motherfucker bleed out of its lungs for what it did to him!
Mason was so caught up in the bloodlust that he didn't notice the swing coming for him. He slamd into the far wall, feeling sothing in his back go wrong. He groaned as he steadied himself on his feet.
"Okay, gotta admit - that one hurt. You're gonna pay for it thou…" he drifted off as the gorilla climbed to its feet. It lifted its head high and beat its chest, magic swelling in the air around it. Mason watched in horror as its crumpled chest cracked back into place with jerky motions and its knee reset itself. It finished its roar, now fully healed, and beat the ground in victory.
"Hey, you can't do that! That's not fair!" He turned and leveled a finger at Tom. "Can he do that? You didn't say anything about that!"
Mason turned his attention back to the now-charging gorilla, dodging under a wide swing. He was too slow this ti and the gorilla caught his ankle. Mason found himself in the air being whipped back and forth, slamd into the ground over and over. Starbursts filled his vision with each hit and he was knocked too senseless to try and break free.
Then he was flying again, landing in a sliding tumble. "That's not fair," he grumbled weakly and then he was snatched up again. This ti it held him with one hand, punching him with the other.
Mason dipped his head and let it punch him in the hardest part of the human body - especially for Mason - the top of the head. The ape cried out in pain as two of its knuckles broke. Mason flexed, forcing the fingers holding him apart. He dropped to the ground and took unsteady steps backwards, hands up.
"Okay man, look. I think we're done here." He cast a worried look to Tom. "You guys can jump in now, I proved my point."
Tom's look was level and the shield stayed up. Mason gritted his teeth and turned back to the fight.
The ape looked at him with intelligent disdain before charging. Mason dodged, ducked, and weaved - landing punches and kicks where he could, but he was on the back foot. They traded blows, which would have ant death for any man, but this thing was no man. Mason was on the losing side of their exchange.
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A rare mont of introspection happened for him during the fight, possibly brought on by mild brain trauma. I need a new trick, man. Strength just ain't enough.
He tried dodging like a boxer, but his footsteps were clumsy. He tried so of the shit he'd seen on MMA fights, but he didn't know what he was doing. He even tried grabbing it by the leg and suplexing it, but it was like moving a mountain that had fists. He tried everything and, for the first ti since The System, it wasn't enough.
Flashbacks of his ti before The System, of all those who laughed at him behind his back, who didn't take him seriously, who thought he was so sort of poser - all of it ran through him in an instant. He felt slow, stupid, and small. He hated feeling small. He hated it more than anything else in the world.
He roared in rage, and the gorilla roared back. One of them was going to die now, and Mason sure as shit knew it wasn't going to be him. They ran at each other again, Mason's boots hamring the polished concrete just as hard as the ape's fists. Mason swung with everything he had left.
Mason's broken body slid to a stop as he bumped into the barrier. One of his eyes wasn't working right and the right side of his body was on fire. He tried to turn his head, but even the terror flooding his veins like poison wasn't enough to make him do it. He knew he could - he wasn't paralyzed, he just didn't want to see it coming. Couldn't.
He gave General Tom a pleading look. "Please."
Tom nodded and the barrier ca down. There was noise and lights, but Mason had no taste for it. Even as the group's healer bent over him, restoring him to full health, he couldn't bear to look. The gorilla cried out in pain and anger and more pain, n scread and yelled and whooped in victory.
It was over. The beast was defeated and Mason had lain on the ground while they did it. These small n had done what he hadn't been able to. A deep part of Mason that he never acknowledged was laid bare, and he was unable to look away.
He'd been weak. He'd been small. He'd been afraid. Tears pricked his eyes and he slamd them shut, refusing to set them free. They ca anyway, each trail that tickled his face a deep wound that cut into his soul.
There was a sudden series of pops and Mason opened his eyes. General Tom stood over him, hand out.
"Let help you up, sir."
Mason reached for the hand and almost pulled Tom over as the man helped him to his feet. He looked around in surprise - all of the n that had accompanied them, including the barrier specialist, were on the floor, blood leaking from holes in their heads.
"What - what happened?"
"No witnesses, sir," Tom said. He held up a 9mm pistol that was still smoking. "In this day of magic and skills everyone seems to forget that bullets work just fine."
Mason held back tears for the second ti, these ones different. He clasped Tom on the shoulder, then pulled him into a hug. Tom stood stock-still, body rigid.
"Thanks, man, I an that. Thank you. If this had gotten back…"
Tom didn't miss that Mason hadn't thanked him for saving his life, or having the foresight to bring a healer. He was thanking him for removing the witnesses. Not that he minded. These hadn't been his best - not by a long shot - they were just the right combination to deal with any type of foe they'd encounter. It wasn't a true loss.
"No thanks required, sir. Just doing my duty."
Mason chuckled, a shaky thing. "Just doing your duty. That's funny. Duty."
"I don't understand, sir."
"That's because you're not as smart as , Tom. Co on, let's get back and tell the n how I kicked this thing's ass."
"As you say, sir," Tom said. He was going to have to quarantine this building, or have a cleanup crew get rid of the bodies. Hopefully The System would provide and their bodies would find their way down the gullet of a monster or sothing. For now, he'd mark it as a dead zone, already explored and with nothing interesting inside.
The walk back was long, made longer as Mason retold the story of the fight over and over, the details changing with each retelling. By the ti they reached the mansion the gorilla had killed everyone, and General Tom was only alive because Mason had managed to defeat the beast before it could kill him. The worst part wasn't that Mason fully believed the story he was telling, it was that he hadn't even gotten a skill or level out of it.
Tom shook his head. Sothing needed to change.
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