You were out of your depth and floundering.
This was so far outside of what you'd ever expected to find yourself involved in and doing that it wasn't funny. You knew you couldn't let that stop you however, as the man before you wasn't going to make any allowances for the fact that you were mentally unprepared to take whatever steps were required to incapacitate him further.
You had to take those steps, you had to deal with this man in a fashion that would prevent him from recovering to the point where he could take you back to the agency - to ensure whatever grim fate awaited you there was carried out.
"You can't do that, we're in puiblic, people'll see," you challenged as you tried to buy time to think of some manner of dealing with him that was within your capabilities.
"Look around you... Nobodies stopping for this scene. Nobody wants to... Get involved," came Tom's response as you glanced about. There were a few people around, cowering fearfully in their parked cars as they watched, a few peering out of windows. The vast majority didn't care to do more than slow their cars to do more than get a brief glance at the scene.
Worse, Tom already sounded better, the prior breathless efforts to taunt you into surrender were already sounding stronger than they had prior.
"Make it easy on... On yourself. Surrender now," Tom continued as the injuries on his face finished knitting and the stump of his arm started to knit as the flesh there twitched. It was going to take him time to regenerate his arm and here you had shrapnel embedded in your shoulder. You didn't want to think about that though, you didn't want to think about the injury you had taken - focusing on the growing sensation of pain from it as adrenaline and shock faded was going to distract you from the task at hand.
You had to survive.
How could you deal with this entity though when you couldn't even control your powers?
Those powers were something you'd have liked to be able to count upon at this time, to simply wrench this man from between these two vehicles and cast him skywards.
You could have tossed him over the river, into the far buildings.
Almost in response to the desire to do such, you could feel the sensation of heat building in your chest and radiating down towards your fingers. You weren't calling upon this power, yet...
Yet, it felt as if something had changed about you, as if that power could flow a little more freely through you without exausting you - as if you yourself had changed deep inside to better accomodate it.
You didn't understand how that was possible, you still didn't know how you were supposed to control it but it was something that you found reassuring. This was the sole thing that you had in the way of reassurance at the moment - that you, Alyssa, weren't completely without options.
Though this was an option you had been warned from, told that it could attract things words than you could possibly comprehend to come after you.
A more mundane solution would have been to cause him further injury, yet you didn't know how you were meant to do that - you had ideas, ranging from simply bludgeoning him with whatever you could find in the area, to finding something to stab him, yet...
You didn't know what injuries would most effectively slow him down - and quite honestly, the concept of dealing such injuries to somebody was rather unsettling. The lurid scene before you was already more than you could stomach, so adding further to it was something you would take no delight in.
Before this power had awoken within you, the worst you had ever done was in games and there was a vast disconnect between the world of a game and its tiresome and over the top gore and the actual blood you were shedding and whatever this man was bleeding everywhere.
Nausea wasn't something you could afford to give in to at this point, however.
"You should be the one surrendering to me," you challenged as you attempted to buy further time - or even get this man to stand down and accept defeat in a situation he had the potential upper hand in. "When Joy recovers from-"
"Jötunn or not, she won't recover in time to stop me," came his calm response as he pushed weakly at the car trapping his legs with his remaining arm. This was both good and bad news, the good news was that he had just made it clear that she would actually recover from this injury.
The bad news was that he was sure he was going to recover faster.
"I wouldn't try running again if I were you. In a few minutes I'll be recovered to the point I can overpower you and running will simply have me take you in tired."
A few minutes, you had to come up with a means of incapacitating him in that space of time.
Joy was out of comission, your powers were unreliable at best, your ability to injure him was limited at best.
Perhaps you could look deep inside, take this moment to search yourself for reseves you never knew you had.
Perhaps, in this moment of need, you could find some power deep inside yourself, some knowledge that had been obtained through the ghastly manner in what you had evidently been stitched together.
Deep down, there had to be an answer, a memory of the kind of power that you had at your fingertips - a way to deal with this man, perhaps even render him powerless in a way that'd completely neutralise him.
If you could just neutralise the very root of his power, you'd be able to prevent him from threatening you on terms beyond your own limited ones.
Yes, this was a great answer to the problem.
But you didn't have the time to see if it was more than just a theory that you could find such an answer, such memories or answers deep within you.
Right now you needed a more immediate solution, that was why you quickly hurried around the back of the jeep, thanking whatever gods were watching over you as you found the boot had been popped open by how you'd ran the police car into it.
Moments, precious moments that you couldn't afford to waste were spent sorting through the boot of this jeep as you found a first aid kit amongst a number of locked chromed metal boxes, boxes that many heavy objects shifted about in with heavy, metallic clunks as you shifted them about.
Perhaps these were boxes with weapons in them?
If this was a gun box, you could... Well, you didn't want to think about the step that followed in detail, but you could shoot the man.
You just hoped this box had ammo in it, too.
And that you could figure from games how you'd played just how to actually load and fire the weapon.
The heavy box was raised from the boot of the jeep as you shifted towards the edge of the layby, raising the box as you turned the locked side towards the curb and swung it downwards.
Your head turned before the moment of impact, a shuddering impact that reverberated through you as you heard the clatter of metal against paving, as you briefly dared to feel hope at having found a solution to the problem you had to deal with.
Only for your heart to sink into your stomach as that brief moment of elation faded.
The boxes lock had indeed given way, yet inside the box wasn't a weapon as you'd hoped - inside that box was a number of tools that looked as if they were intended for repairing the jeep or replacing its wheels or other such things.
There was laughter too, laughter at your crestfallen expression as Tom struggled weakly to turn and face you.
"Didn't find what you were hoping for, Alyssa?" he taunted as he tapped his body armour. "If you were looking for a gun, all the ones you'd find are on me. Why don't you come take one?"
No, this was too much for you.
Here you were with pain blossoming in your shoulder anew from your efforts to open the box, a box that had let you down in your moment of need. Here, you had Tom taunting you as he was certain that he was going to come out of this atop you, that he was the one that had the upper hand now.
"You're pathetic," he continued as he watched you sink down onto your knees, your good hand raising to your face as you started to wipe away at the tears you could feel running down your cheeks.
"Pathetic woman, crying hot tears of shame. I suppose it's all that you're capable of now. All I need to do is push these cars apart and-" Tom's taunting continued as you felt something snap inside you.
"Excuse me?" you responded unbidden, your voice a growl as you snapped your head back to look at the man.
"Oh look, the puppy learned to bark. You're going to need teeth before you can bite though," Tom snorted as he started to slam his palm into the back of the police car, seeking leverage as he dismissed you with his attitude.
No, you weren't going to tolerate this, you weren't going to let him simply laugh at you now of all times.
You felt disconnected from your actions as you saw youir hand reach out for the nearest of the fallen toolboxes contents - a large wrench, something that you could feel the cool of in your hand, the weight of as you hefted it upwards.
You rose, knowing that at this point you had to be the most ghastly of sights given how you were injured, given how you were soaked with the mostly dried blood from your prior injuries. A sight that was to be this mans last, you found yourself thinking as you paced towards the pair of vehicles.
"I have teeth you condescending piece of shit," you hissed as you came up alongside the junction of the two vehicles, the wrench hefted over your shoulder as you tilted your head. "It's a shame I have to get them dirty by biting you, though," you hissed as you shifted your weight from one foot to the other. You'd picked the side where he had lost his arm - a blind side more or less to assault him from, knowing that he couldn't protect himself with an arm that wasn't there.
He twisted, he turned, he attempted to defend himself, yet pinned as he was there was little he could do as that glancing blow struck his head.
There was a gasp as he slumped forward, stunned by the blow as his remaining arm rose to cradle his head, to cover it from behind.
The wrench rose and fell once more, this time aimed for the mans arm as you aimed for the joint of his elbow, telling yourself if you could break his arm, that he couldn't protect his head.
Tom's voice rang out as a howl of agony as your blow struck against his upper arm, missing his elbow by a few inches. It had the desired effect however, you could see that you'd managed to break his arm as he twisted and attempted to protect himself from the heavy wrench in vain.
"Lights out, asshole," came your words as the wrench rose again.
You slumped down against the side of the police car, the blood stained blouse you wore showing the worst of the black blood - the ichor - that had splattered against you as you'd laid into Tom with the wrench.
You were numb, shocked that you had found yourself to be capable of such a horrific act.
The man that had threatened you now lay slumped over the back of the police car, a wrench embedded in his skull, something that the very thought of having done had you feel nauseous.
You had just...
No, you didn't want to think about it, you just wanted to stare up at the skies, the skies, so far away from here, so disconnected from now.
The skies, that bore witness to the horrific and brutal act you had-
No, you'd...
You'd get to your feet, yes, and move over to the railing that would let you look down at the river and...
Those muddy waters had Jötunn in them, Jötunn like Joy, who had-
It wasn't your most dignified of moments as you sank to your knees, pushed yourself through the lower part of the railings and added to the rivers pollution - it didn't help much with how nauseous you felt either. Emptying your stomach in such a manner simply left you feeling nauseous in a whole new manner.
This was how Joy found you, Joy, who pried you away from the railing you had clung to for an unknown amount of time.
Joy, whom turned you away from the scene as she ushered you into the passenger side of the car.
"Alyssa," she whispered as she knelt beside you, her tattered uniform contrasting against her newly regenerated flesh. "I have the worst headache right now, so I'm going to cut the crap about protocol, justifiable force and such. I'd ask if you're okay, but I can see you're not, i've called reinforcements in, I'm not sure how the radio was being blocked earlier, but... Do you still wish to meet with Pride or would you prefer to put that off for now, given the circumstances?"
Even as Joy asked that question you started to turn, a morbid sense of curiosity over if the man you'd assaulted with that heavy metal tool was showing any signs of recovery yet - something that Joy was fast to prevent as she raised a hand to cup your cheek.
"It'd be better if you don't - It's not a pretty sight," she whispered as she turned your face towards her.
"Your hair-" you mumbled as you pointed at it, shocked.
"Yeah, it regrows as well," Joy smiled, weakly.
"No... It's... Your hair's... Completely grey now."
"What?" Joy paused as she glanced in the mirror "Son of a..." she sighed as she brushed her fingers through her hair. "I was hoping I had at least a few more years before that happened."
"You could... You could dye it?"
"It doesn't take to my hair," she laughed, weakly as she brushed her fingers through it. "They told me when it started going grey that it wasn't age or stress, it's something to do with pigments and... Keratin and... Things being replaced by metallic elements."
"Your hair's... Metal?"
"My hair and scales have traces of metal and other such impurities in them."
"So... They're really tough then?"
"No tougher than usual, it's not enough to make a meaningful difference. Anyway, enough about me looking like an old woman now-"
"You don't look like an old woman, your skins too smooth."
"Hey, I said enough, I wanted to know if we're going to see Pride or not?"
"I'm... I'm a mess," you mumbled as you looked down at yourself.
"Sure, but we run a shelter for the homeless and such, for some reason beyond my comprehension. There's facilities for you to clean up at, and spare clothes there."
"Oh..."
You felt lethargy setting in, an indifferent sense of disconnected depression threatening to swallow you as you tried to block out how you felt. It was different from the exaustion you had felt before when you'd exausted yourself with your powers.
Joy had softened to you considerably, her reaction to this suggesting that she wasn't exactly surprised - though she was being insistant on getting an answer from you.
An answer you didn't want to give.
You just wanted to sit here and remain disconnected from it all until it all went away.
Yet you knew you had to answer in some manner.
Just how would you answer, though?
---
Sorry! Your reply came some time during my write-up. Prior to that it was pretty much evenly split as far as I could tell at a glance between the various courses of action.
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Topic: I told them I could be anything... (Read 27186 times)