Fractal’s Breakdown Begins, Part II (Conclusion)

Posted on Thu Sep 28th, 2023 @ 4:17pm by First Lieutenant Bethany Harrison & Private Mattias Tonelly & General Dyami Bentley (Tribal : Bent Leaf)

Mission: HYDRA: Another Head Rises
Location: Shaman's Cabin
Timeline: Present Day

The young woman’s jaw clenched as Talon went on about Jon’s choice. “In the end, he chose me because it was physically and mentally painful to be apart. Just the distance between us caused him to start drinking again, and was just slowly killing me. Sure, he loved me, but he also feared me. Cece is his ideal woman, I was what he got stuck with.”

“Do you really believe that he valued you so little?” Dyami asked, pausing for a moment, his predatory eyes studying her. “I cannot believe that. He moved mountains for you, killed for you,” the shaman leaned in, his voice lowering, a touch of anger in his tone, as he continued, “He sacrificed himself for you.”

“You haven’t exactly been walking in my shoes the last few years, have you?” Bethany nearly hissed. Then her voice started rising, fury burning in her colorful eyes. “I never wanted him to die for me! What the hell good would it do for either of us? Now he’s stuck here just to keep me alive, like some twisted battery! You did this to us! You ruined his life! You act like I’m supposed to be grateful for this? What? For the chance to suffer a little more?”

By the end, her body was glowing along with her eyes and she dove at Talon, her frightening speed and honed agility on full display. The glow of her body moved to her hands, and she struck at the shaman’s midsection, blasting him with a series of sharp, punishing bursts of photonic energy to reinforce the rapid double body blows.

The heavy blows delivered by his protege were, if he was honest, to be expected. The force behind them was a bit more than he was ready for. As the body blows landed he instinctively allowed himself to go limp, absorbing most of the energy. This, however, had the side effect of blasting him back a dozen or so feet.

Sliding to a stop, he let out a slow rasping growl from somewhere deep in his chest. Snapping up and forward he covered the short distance between himself and Fractal in what seemed less than a blink of an eye. As he moved his form shifted and grew. Talon, as he now appeared, snatched the girl off the ground with a single enormous clawed hand that gripped around both sides of her torso.

With a smooth fluid motion he lifted her in the air and slammed her back to earth causing cracks to appear in the hard soil and a small shockwave of dust and dirt to encircle them. Leaning down, his monstrous voice spoke while the girl was stunned, “Jon didn’t want you to die for Cece. No one wants their loved ones to die for any reason. And I bet if you asked him, Jon would volunteer to be a battery to keep you alive.”

A wicked smile slid over the creature named Talon's face. He leaned forward, drawing his tongue along the side of the young girl's neck and face, knowing this would drive her mad.

Seeing Dyami suddenly morph into a creature that he would expect to see in a major Hollywood movie, and one that typically hunted the movie's hero at that, his pulse started to race and he could feel a stirring deep inside of his body.

Fractal actively had to fight off the involuntary shudder that Talon always elicited, even in her infuriated state. This part of her adopted father always made her skin crawl, as he was the dark, twisted half of the equation. But it also meant she was far less likely to hold back against him.

“Then he’s a fool!” she growled from underneath him, her chest constricted by Talon’s massive claw. She raised her hands to his chest again, and unleashed another powerful blast, this one with a bit more heat, burning fur, singing flesh, the force further cracking the ground beneath them.

The creature holding her to the ground bellowed in pain from the searing light emanating from the young girl's hands. Knowing that if he released her they would be on more even footing, he opted to pick her up and slam her into the ground again, this time adding, “You know exactly what I like, little girl. You can do better than that.”

Laughing wildly he continued. “I rarely get to play with you, let's make this fun.” He then lifted her again to slam her down.

More quickly than the human eye could process, Fractal simply became light, slipping from Talon’s grasp as easily as the beams from the moon. She reappeared directly behind him, and said, “I’m not a little girl, you freak!” as she landed an overcharged kick to the back of his head.

Talon's smoking head slammed viciously into the ground where the girl had once been. “Damn you and your abilities,” he mumbled into the dirt. Moving even faster than before he spun and swiped at Fractal with his clawed hand coming only millimeters from her chest, a rapid succession of light swipes followed, keeping the young fighter on her heels for the moment. As she blocked she could tell he was looking for an opening to land a heavier blow.

All the while he taunted her, as was his way, “You can’t keep this up forever little light-bringer. You just need to submit to Dyami and make a deal with the demons inside you. I could set up a meeting if you want.” Laughing, he landed an exploratory hit to see how she would react, slicing a small chunk of her thick hair, and watching it fall to the ground.

Fractal kicked off of the ground and hovered just out of Talon’s simple reach, calmly raising a hand and cauterizing the tips of her bleeding hair. She rose higher off of the ground, eyeing the creature before her, her head tilting slightly to the side. The young brawler knew that this beast would hurt her badly, just because it was fun. And it would keep her from leaving, as those wounds tended to take time to heal.

“Maybe another time,” she said, that icy tone and manner returning. “I’m not really great with the whole submission thing.” With that, she gave a quick glance towards Matty, then, in a bright streak, she was gone.

Talon screamed after her even though he knew in his heart she would not hear the words, “Coward!” He then proceeded to throw a short fit tearing at the trees and bushes in his general area.

Calming down and panting a bit from the exertion, he looked to Mattias. “Don’t worry, I'm not allowed to touch you. The Old Man wants me to answer any questions you might have, since your teacher just ran off like a scared whelp.”

Though this was the second time he had seen Dyami in his alter form, Mattias was still reacting to its appearance. In a voice that sounded far deeper and more powerful that his teenaged frame should possess, Mattias replied. "Anytime you want to scrap with someone more your size, I'm game." His eyes flashed slightly as he spoke.

Talon laughed a wicked laugh and answered the brave young man, “My, my, my aren’t you a brave little boy. Trust me we will have fun when you are a stronger little one. Until then I am not here to fight you. I was tasked with breaking the light-bearer, but since she ran away I am to answer any questions you have. Don’t waste an opportunity to get answers just because I gave your girlfriend a haircut.”

Mattias's jaw flexed when Talon referred to Bethany as Mattias's girlfriend. While he cared for her, he felt a stronger bond than one would have with someone dating. "Why did you attack her?" He growled softly as he spoke, not calming any.

“Hey, in my defense, she did hit me first,” the preternatural beast said, holding his gigantic clawed paws out to his sides innocently. He even threw in an innocent kitten face for good measure. “Besides, she knows the rules. If you dish it out you have to be able to take the response.”

While he still didn't like seeing Bethany attacked, he couldn't argue with Talon's logic. Taking a few quick beats, he got his thoughts in order. "What exactly are you?" The question, while asked bluntly, had an air of honest curiosity to it.

“Straight to the point, I am beginning to like you kid. I am a Nightmare Demon, from the Realm of Nightmares, that Dyami defeated when he was learning to be a shaman. I made a deal with him to serve him and be one of his alternate forms if he would spare my life. In return he also gained my abilities of sight, scent, and stealth, which enhanced his own rather remarkable senses in these areas. In those areas he is second to no being I can think of.”

Mattias considered the beast for several long seconds. Then, he asked, "If Dyami and Bethany spar often, why did you come out? He could simply say a few words to knock her out."

The Beast laughed, shaking his gruesome head. “Because the old man has a soft spot for the girl. He felt that it was best for her to stay here but couldn’t bring himself to do what needed to be done. So, as usual, it is up to me to do the dirty work. You know, fighting dirty, scaring the shit out of people, corpse clean-up, that kind of thing.”

"So he really has no control over you, if you can just come out if you want to." Mattias started to feel tense again. "What then is to stop you from attacking me?"

“Gods, I wish that were the case! Do you have any idea how much havoc I could cause if he couldn’t control me?” the beast exclaimed. “No, no he rides right here,” he said pointing to his head, “and we have what he calls a working relationship. I don’t do anything that would piss him off, like say devouring children, or summoning a horde of demons into a school. And he doesn’t beat me until I beg him to kill me.” The demon held his hands up in an expression of surrender. “He calls that a win-win situation. Although I can’t really disagree much.”

Mattias still wasn't completely convinced, though, he decided to give the creature a little trust, hoping that Dyami truly had control over it. "So," he finally asked, "what exactly do you have to teach me?"

“Teach you? Oh no, no, no. I am no teacher,” the dark entity chuckled to itself, and continued. “Unless you need to have an example of what the old fool doesn’t want you to. I am here to answer questions and that is all. If there is nothing else you want answered I will go.” The creature waited to see if the boy had any follow up questions.

Mattias thought about it for several seconds, then he looked the beast in the eyes and asked, "How do I get close enough to the woman who murdered my parents, and kill her, without her sensing my presence?"

Talon thought for a moment. “I don’t have an answer for that. The Old Man has been searching for her for years. She is a key General in HYDRA’s army. But she always seems to be one step ahead of us. But if I know him, he recruited you because he thinks that you can help. He has been hunting HYDRA for almost two hundred years.”

This bit of news surprised Mattias. "Two hundred…?!" He knew that Dyami was old, but not that old! He then remembered something and his brows knit together in confusion. "Wait…how could he have been hunting HYDRA for almost two hundred years? They came to be by a group of SS Nazi's, during World War II? Steve Roger's and his Howling Commandos fought and beat the Red Skull, the dude who started it all."

“They were not called HYDRA at the time, but some of the villains that originally started what would become HYDRA have been pulling strings behind the scenes for hundreds if not thousands of years. The organization has existed in many forms over that time, and they have been the cause of the downfall of many groups, alliances, and even nations have fallen to their machinations,” the demon responded, adding to the boy's knowledge of the enemy he would face.

Mattias took in this new information as he thought about what he has already learned in both school and on his own. He then looked back at the demon and asked, "They began after Apocalypse arose in Ancient Egypt, didn't they?"

“I don’t think that anyone knows for certain. But there is a good chance that is true. They have their fingers in almost everything today. It is very hard for anyone to be completely trusted without an enormous amount of proof.” The demon shook his head, continuing, “I think that is enough for now, unless you have any other burning questions.”

Mattias shook his head. "No. Go back into your prison, Demon. I wish to speak to Dyami alone."

“Oh, just wait until the next time we meet, little man. It will be so much fun.” The cat demon winked at Mattias.

Dyami returned his alter ego to the Nightmare realm to resume its duties. The Indian stood in the place where the demon had just occupied. He looked weary and a little out of sorts. “Well it appears that your teacher has other things to do. Let us go get something to eat, I am sure you want to talk.”

Mattias nodded. He then rolled his chair along beside Dyami, as they began to truly speak.

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FIN

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Bethany Harrison
Fractal
Mutant Underground

Dyami Bentley
Talon
Mutant Underground

Mattias Tonelly
(Unnamed Trainee)
Mutant Underground