@evoheal : "LOOK OUT!" Rex called out, but it was too late -- the energy bullets were already being fired towards Ben. There's no way he'd be able to dodge in time, he's too busy focusing on something else!! So Rex does the only thing he can think of -- yep, you guessed it. He jumps in to try and push Ben away! Soon as he does, though, the bullets hit him, and he falls to the ground, limp and gasping for air. Then .. utter silence, and his eyes unfocus. Oof. It's safe to say Rex Salazar ... is /dead/.
unprompted except it was totally prompted ;) ask // always accepting
His reflexes were always sharp enough, but getting smacked in the head right as the watch was timing out transferred over more than the usual bumps and bruises Ben acquired after the change from alien to human wasn’t helpful. Perhaps if that hadn’t happened, he would’ve registered Rex’s voice urging him to duck---------- to evade the bullets being shot his way. He only had time to look up and see the bright bolts of energy being tossed his way before it felt like he was being run over by a car.
[ Would not recommend being pushed out of the way by a six foot plus boy------------- especially when he can grow all kinds of metal weapons from his body. Dude is REAL dense, and not how a person would think when describing someone that way. ]
His fall by grace did not land very well as he found himself unable to catch himself, and his right cheek was going to be a bit rough looking the next few days. Right now, that wasn’t was he cared about. That GASPING sound for air that yanked at his ears---------- the sharp intakes very familiar to him caused Ben to look to the source of the noises. Toxic eyes dilated seeing what lay mere feet from him.
❝ R E X ! ❞ The assailant was laughing, not taking advantage of the teen running over to his friend, and Ben was soon finding his chest closing up with the anxiety taking its familiar, and unwanted grasp. Now was not the time for an anxiety attack; that would be for later when this would be on repeat. Having been fighting aliens did NOT make him any less squeamish-------------- just better at hiding how much seeing blood, organs, and the entrails when they were scattered around in fights. Big emphasis on WHEN. If he was honest with himself, the last time things got needlessly bloody was the night he and Gwen were looking for Jennifer Nocturne. Just one of his many recurring nightmares that plagued him at night when he managed to get sleep. This event was just going to be another.
Like clockwork, the watch made a familiar beep. Faster recharge than he was accustomed to, but Ben always felt that the Omnitrix knew when it was time to go alien than Ben did. The enemy--------- the killer in question had begun to raise their gun, likely ready to take advantage, but oh so slow. The hyper aware hero nearly gave himself whiplash, and the enemy froze for just a brief moment. Inhuman eyes that contained the very Universe within themselves sent a shiver down the assailant’s spine; [ ‘ Those are not the eyes of a benevolent hero... ‘ ]. A flash of green overtook Ben, and before the enemy could even register what was happening, they were forced back.
To XLR8, the speed he was going at was a simple jog, but to the villain held up by his claws as he ran, the enemy was surprised that their neck didn’t SNAP! as the HARD, INHUMAN stop from running at, what felt like, 300 miles per hour. The sensation of SHARP, LONG claws in their scalp made clear they were sparred a quick death. The trickling of blood coddled the back of their head.
[ Sparred was a terrible word, as they would come to learn after the event ]
Thrown down to the ground at inhuman speeds, the killer wheezed. They were not built to be thrown down at intense speeds onto concrete. They certainly weren’t built to be able to brush off the coming talons rapidly piercing them. They screamed; heroes did not attack at these velocities. [ Or as viciously ]
❝ You... KILLED him! YOU! KILLED! HIM! ❞ Oh his voice was so hoarse.
Pierce. [ scream ]
Pierce. [ scream ]
Pierce. [ scream ]
CRUNCH. SQUISH. [ C R Y ]
[ ‘ OH GOD HAVE MERCY! ‘ ]
Mercy did come. Eventually. For THEM, it may have seemed to last hours, but in reality... it was thirty seconds of an endless bloody stream of sharp talons piercing their chest. Relentlessly, and by seven seconds, XLR8 ( in an uncharacteristic silence, and ONLY angered grunts ) had breached past rib cage, causing the sickening crunch. Getting stabbed with the talons of something akin to a Velociraptor at a low ( for the alien ) speed of 75 miles per hours would lead to a rather battered victim. By twenty seconds, the assailant was crying as they wheezed. Ben finally halted by second twenty six.
He knew if he went for the full thirty seconds or minute he had in mind, the villain would’ve been long dead. And Ben wasn’t giving them that luxury. Shutting his face visor, talons covered in blood and the bits of tissue that were stuck to them, he stared coldly at the villain before saying,
❝ You better hope the Universe is nicer to you than it is to me. ❞
And with that, he sped back to his friend. [ Unbeknownst to him, had already been healing from his, thought to be fatal, wounds. ]
