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It was just another boring night on another boring bar in the Shard Republic. Not even the alcohol could light up the mood. This location, near the edge of a city, was the place were Ricochet and Dallas were just drinking and talking about useless stuff. Nothing better to do that night.
Or that's what they believed until the boring calm was suddendly erased because of the sound of an explosion, and what seemed to be an earthquake that lasted just a few seconds.
— What the hell was that?! — They both asked at the same time.
They didn't have to wait more than a few seconds to get their answer, when a giant, horryfing animal made its way into the bar, completely destroying the door when it bumped into it.
The beast was large, at least two meters tall, with sharp claws and fangs, covered in shiny black fur that looked more like bristles, and with no eyes at all. No doubt, this creature came from the wildlife outside of the cities, evolved to survive the perpetual glass rain out there. It roared furiously and started walking slowly around the place, while most people started running away in panic.
Only Ricochet and Dallas remained with the beast.
— One of those things?! How did it even get here?!
— WHO FUCKING CARES, WE HAVE TO GET RID OF IT NOW
— We're near an edge, we should be able to find the hole where it comes from, if we manage to push it there…
— ALRIGHT
Dallas instantly turned his skin into metal and lunged towards the beast, but it was useless, too large and heavy to move it anywhere. He tried to dig his claws into its skin, but it was also useless, just cutting a bit of its fur leaving a tiny scratch on its side. The beast responded with a headbutt towards the metal man, sending him to the other side of the bar, breaking a table as he fell on it.
As soon as Ricochet saw Dallas able to stand up by himself, she was the next one to attack, running at the beast with smoke on her fist, but when she tried to set it on fire, it somehow reflected the attack, throwing a fireball into the wooden tables, who quickly started to burn.
— That thing is though, huh — Dallas didn't seem hurt at all
— THEY'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE FIREPROOF
Ricochet started panicking while searching in her pockets for a communication device, but it was nowhere to be found. Before she knew it, Dallas and the beast returned to fighting, more like brutally pushing and lunging at each other repeatedly. Her skin went pale the moment she noticed her device being crushed into small pieces below them.
— S-SHIT
— WHAT'S THE MATTER?!
— I'LL NEED YOU TO CONTAIN IT WHILE I GO FOR HELP
— AND WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M DOING RIGHT NOW? GO FOR WHATEVER YOU NEED TO DO!
Not even five minutes passed, but the whole place was on fire already. The abnormally dry wooden tables were near to ashes right now, alcohol bottles exploding everywhere, trowing glass shards in all directions. Fortunately for Dallas, his metal skin protected him. Unfortunately for Ricochet, she didn't have metal skin. Unfortunately for both, the beast had evolved specifically to not be hurt by glass shards.
Ricochet had to crawl her way out of the bar, avoiding both the shards and the smoke, but before she made out, she noticed the revolver lying on the ground. She knew that if it stayed longer in that place, the heat might make it shoot by itself, so she took it with her and, as soon as she got out of the bar, she left the revolver right by the door, and started running as fast as she could, looking for a way to contact the government as soon as possible.
But, as she ran along the border of the city, she noticed that there wasn't any hole, any entrance that could have let the beast in.
… no, that's not what she had to be worrying about, the priority was to find a way to defeat the beast before it broke free into the streets.
Meanwhile, the fight between the metal man and the beast was not going well. No matter how much he'd attack, the most damage he could do to it was a few scratches here and there. He got lucky that the smoke quickly found a way out so he wouldn't suffocate, but at the same time, he got the worst luck of being hit in the head by a broken bottle that came flying from who knows where. He fell on his knees, feeling disoriented and his head spinning. The heat and the fact that he was literally in the middle of the fire didn't help at all.
He wasn't able to get up yet, but was conscious enough to notice the behavior of the beast. It was trying to get out of the bar, but hot shards of glass on the ground were making it nervous, unable to find a way out. He heard the fall of wood and concrete near the entrance, so they were both trapped there. A big piece of concrete fell right on the beast's head, leaving it knocked out, but not for long.
He was trying so hard to snap out of his headache and get up, he HAD to take that chance to beat it. His senses were both dulled and overstimulated, he couldn't even tell what was he feeling, until a particular ache caught all of his attention.
His skin was burning. His metal skin was burning. It didn't feel the same way as a sunburn or putting his bare hands on fire, it was less direct, like if the heat of the place was closer to him, but not directly touching the vulnerable parts of his body.
It didn't feel like being inside of an oven.
It felt like he was the oven.
He wasn't feeling any better, but he still managed to get up. He looked at his hands, the tips of its claws had a different color than the usual cold-looking metal.
He has burning red, like blood red, even a little brighter.
How long did he spend in the fire to have his skin THAT hot? It felt like seconds, and like hours at the same time. It didn't matter, now that he's on his feet, he had to win.
The beast woke up, roaring furiously. Dallas looked at it, his hands shaking slightly, but he wouldn't waste any more time before running at it and piercing its skin with his red claws. For the first time, it's successful, and the beast lets out a deafening screech and steps back, while a gross amount of blood spills from its wound.
— Not so invincible after all, huh? — Each word he said took an insane amount of effort, barely able to breath correctly. — Well then
He coughs and that causes a terrible pain in his chest.
— You won't leave this place, I'LL KILL YOU
He lunged again and again, clawing at the beast who was completely defenseless at this point. The sharp and burning pain made it uncapable to do anything, it kept losing blood and strenght, until it finally gave up, it stopped screeching, at the same time it stopped breathing.
As soon as Dallas realized he won, he stopped attacking, and just then he noticed how weak his body felt. He felt heavy, barely able to breath, his whole body was shaking and he was barely able to stay on his feet.
His vision was blur and his head was hurting even more, still he was able to find a broken window, the same that all of the smoke was escaping through, and as fast as he could he got out of that place.
He felt the still warm, but not as much as inside, air of the exterior, which made him more relaxed. That feeling of relief became stronger when his body got even colder, he didn't even know how was he cooling so fast, maybe he was just too tired to realize that a firetruck was just in front of him, and a strong jet of wáter was falling right over him. When the jet stopped, he fell on his knees, and turned his skin back to normal.
Ricochet ran to him and tried to prevent him to falling on his face, while covering him with a blanket and making sure that he's at a normal temperature.
— DALLAS, COME ON, DON'T PASS OUT NOW
He said something but she couldn't understand a word.
— You… you're way too hurt, man. I don't think you'll survive long enough to take you to a hospital.
The revolver, did you take it? Gideon can take care of this
The world "revolver" made Dallas zone back, he turned his head all over the place, trying to not have a panic attack. He tried to say something but the words wouldn't leave his mouth. Ricochet understood that and ran back to the ruined bar, finding the gun right where she placed it before. She pointed it to the sky and shoot.
Gideon instantly let out a scream of pain, and even before Ricochet told him to do it, he used his time powers to reverse all of the damage on his body, and as soon as he was done with it, he lost consciousness. At least he was safe, and everyone was.
He had the chance to rest and recover in the hospital while the government took care of the remainings of the fight. They removed all of the rumble of the bar and took the corpse of the beast to analyze it. Not much to see due to the fact that its body was damaged beyond recognition, but something that caught their attention was one single hole in the back of its neck, definitely not caused by Dallas, most probably like a… needle?
Maybe there was a bigger mystery behind the unexpected appearance of this beast. But that's not something that the metal man, nor the pacifist doctor, should care about now. They can rest.