Chapter 3: Something Inside Me Snapped

Standing atop the roof of Rising Heights' Central Bank Hall is Maksim Abdulov. His light blue military jacket is blowing through the wind as he watches smoke fill up the night sky. The sight he's looking at is a sorrowful one. One full of chaos, destruction, and death.

Yet he still can't take his eyes off of it. Eventually, the lion-like monster makes its way over to Abdulov and rests beside him. As the monster licks some blood off of its yellow fur, Abdulov lightly pets it.

"Don't worry," Abdulov tells the monster, "This shall be over soon enough."

PROJECT MONSTER

Razor exits the RV, shutting the door behind him. Tire walks over to lock the door only to once again have trouble getting the key out.

"You need help there buddy?" Razor asks.

"I'm fine," Tire insults while struggling.

"Okay then," Razor shrugs as he makes his way over to where Anastasia went.

As he walks over there, he sees just who exactly those two monster killers that they chatted to on the phone were; Katina Rotten & Dmitri Morozov.

"It's you?" Razor asks befuddled.

"The interview guy?!" Katina asks befuddled.

"Sup," Dmitri calmly says as he has his hands in his pockets.

"I didn't know you guys were monster killers," Razor admits.

"Surprised?" Katina teases.

"A little."

Katina goes in for a quick friendly hug leaving Razor caught a bit off guard.

"It's so nice getting to see you again Randy!" Katina celebrates.

"It's Razor," Razor corrects.

"Oh my bad."

Anastasia clears her throat and begins to speak, "Any sign of that other monster?"

"Not yet," Dmitri answers, "But we'll keep an eye out for the little bugger."

"Good."

Razor looks around and notices that his apartment building is just a few buildings down. That's when he remembers; Nadia called him! He reaches into his pockets only to find them not there. During his scuffle with that critter, he left his phone at the bar.

Razor stares at the apartment building before his attention turns back to Anastasia. 

Anastasia commands, "All right team listen up. Dmitri & Katina; you stay on the ground and look for the rock monster. Razor and Tire; you two will join me as we sneak up to Abdulov. Everyone clear?"

Tire finally manages to get the key out of the door and replies, "Got it!"

"Good, let's move-" Anastasia begins to say but stops as she hears the ground start to shake.

The group looks down the street to see the shrieking rock-like monster rolling down the street straight toward them.

"Oh hey guess who decided to show up?" Dmitri smirks.

Anastasia, Tire, & Razor quickly make their way into the central bank hall leaving Dmitri & Katina to face the creature alone.

"I lost track of whose turn it is to name the monster," Dmitri remarks with a smug grin.

"I think it's my turn and I have a decent name for it," Katina says as she grabs onto Dmitri.

Activating her blast, Katina's whole body turns into red gelatin. She then bounces her & Dmitri out of the way of the incoming monster. As the two land several feet away, Katina lets go of Dmitri.

"I was thinking Gum Drop," Katina finishes.

"Works for me," Dmitri states.

While chatting, Dmitri notices that next to him is a piece of rebar snapped in half. He picks it up before looking at the newly named rock-like monster; Gum Drop.

"Betcha its core is that big green thing it rolls on," Dmitri suggests.

"I'll try to distract it, so you can go in for the kill," Katina says as she bounces toward Gum Drop.

As she gets close to the monster, she punches it causing her to bounce backward and Gum Drop to roll back slightly. The monster roars in anger before it rolls towards Katina.

"Not a fan of that, are you, Big Guy!" Katina replies as she bounces towards the wall of a building.

Though when she looks back she can see that Gum Drop manages to launch off of the ground and onto the building. The green core that he has clings to the building. Katina starts to fall as Gum Drop rolls down after her.

Dmitri quickly runs over to the building with the rebar in hand as both Katina and the monster get closer and closer to the ground.

"Any second now," Dmitri says as he grips the rebar.

Katina and Gum Drop get even closer to the ground.

"C'mon!"

Katina is close to hitting the pavement as Gum Drop is just inches away from her as he keeps rolling down the building at a high speed.

"Now!" Dmitri yells.

Katina quickly bounces off of the building as Gum Drop rolls down the surface. Unable to stop or launch himself off in time; Gum Drop is forced to hit the ground as its green orb is pierced with the rebar Dmitri is holding. Gum Drop screams out in pain as green blood oozes out of the orb until it bursts. Katina turns into her regular state again and looks to see she has green ooze all over her clothes.

"Aw man, I just got these!" Katina complains.

"That must suck," Dmitri replies sarcastically.

Katina looks over at Dmitri to see that he is covered head to toe in the monster's green blood. Katina begins to laugh as she asks, "You good buddy?"

"Nothing a hot shower can't fix."

Katina stops laughing as the two look towards City Bank Hall.

"Let's go help out the others," Dmitri says.

Katina nods as the two run over.

_______________________________

Up on the roof of Central Bank Hall, the door leading to the stairway opens as Anastasia, Tire, & Razor exit. The air around them is filled with all of the smoke trails caused by Abdulov launching fireworks into several buildings. The lion-like monster lies next to Abdulov.

Tire grabs his right hand with his left before pulling on his right hand ever so slightly. This causes the hand to get separated from the stitching on the bottom of his wrist. He then uses his left hand to spin his right hand around until it falls off, almost as if it was like a screw.

"Are you okay?" Razor cautions.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Tire whispers.

Tire's right hand then begins to move its way closer to Abdulov while Tire, Anastasia, & Razor are hiding behind the wall. 

"What are we doing?" Razor whispers.

"I'm trying to do a sneak attack on him," Tire whispers back.

Anastasia takes out her pouch and pours some of the sand onto her hand. She then blows on it and the sand forms into a construct of a giant hammer.

"I'll deal with those two," Anastasia whispers as she walks out of hiding.

Tire & Razor start to panic as Anastasia lunges towards Abdulov. Just as she's about to swing her hammer down onto Abdulov, the lion monster pounces on her and starts trying to bite down on her. Luckily she has shoved the handle of her hammer into its mouth.

"That was a clever attempt, Petrova," Abdulov begins to say as he turns around,  "Unfortunately for you, my dear monster Mane can sniff you out quicker than you can attack. You're no longer in your prime."

"Oh shut up," Anastasia says as she struggles to get Mane off of her, "We're both the same age Abdulov."

Anastasia headbutts Mane in his nose, causing the monster to move back a bit. This small opportunity gives Anastasia the time to get back up on her feet.

"And besides," Anastasia continues, my age doesn't even matter when I've got people helping me. Isn't that right, Tire?"

Confused, Abdulov looks to see Tire's detached right hand crawling up toward his shoulder. And out from hiding comes Tire & Razor as they face him down.

"HAND, ATTACK!!!" Tire shouts.

Tire's detached right hand grabs onto Abdulov's hair, propels itself up to the top of his face, and then lets go. 

As the hand is falling, its nails begin to dig into Abdulov's face and it scratches the man's eyes. 

Tire rushes forward as the hand falls right below Abdulov's chin and he slams his right arm into his detached right hand, causing his open palm to slam into Abdulov's chin, and having his hand reattach.

"Time to finish you off!" Tire shouts as he goes for a kick in the groin.

Unfortunately for Tire though, Abdulov manages to catch the leg as he shouts furiously, "You damn kid! If you wanna play dirty then so be it!"

Both Tire & Razor have a look of horror on their faces as Abdulov uses his free hand to punch Tire in the groin repeatedly until he lets go of Tire's leg. This sends Tire down onto the ground writhing in pain. Mane goes to chow down on Tire but Anastasia slams the hammer into its side, causing them to be flung backwards. During all the commotion, Abdulov spots Razor.

"Abdulov…" Razor begins to say.

"Smirnov!" Abdulov shouts, "When I said to just watch, I didn't expect that you'd want to get a better view! So how about I give you a front-row seat?!"

Abdulov creates a giant firework that he sits on and it launches him towards Razor. Abdulov grabs Razor and the two go flying towards another rooftop where the two land on.

"ABDULOV!" Anastasia shouts to no avail.

Anastasia quickly turns to look at Mane who is charging straight towards her. She swings the hammer down on Mane but the monster uses its giant fishtail to hit the hammer, causing it to break into sand.

"Shit!" Anastasia grunts as Tire slowly gets back up.

"I don't… I don't think I'll ever be the same again," Tire cries out in pain.

"Tire, I know it hurts but I need you to focus and find a way to distract Mane enough for me to make another weapon," Anastasia explains as she dodges one of Mane's lunges.

"Oh yeah sure," Tire groans in defeat, "Already lost my sack, might as well lose my life too!"

Tire stands up as he uses his right hand to unscrew his left arm from his body. 

Mane turns to look at Tire and sprints closer and closer to him. Tire stands still as he holds his detached arm almost like a sword. 

As Mane opens his mouth, ready to bite down on Tire, Tire shouts, "You wanna bite down on something? Bite down on this!"

Tire tosses his detached left arm into Mane's mouth. By some miracle, Mane doesn't bite down on the arm and Tire's detached left arm begins to wiggle in Mane's throat. This causes the beast to trash around violently as it tries to cough out Tire's left arm.

"Are you almost done getting a weapon?! My arm is feeling things no arm should ever feel!" Tire yells.

Anastasia pours the sand from her pouch into her hand and blows on it. A spiked mace made of sand is formed and Anastasia uses it to hit Mane across the face with it, sending Tire's saliva-covered arm flying.

"Yeah, I'm done," Anastasia says as she then slams the mace down onto Mane's head. 

As Mane falls to the ground and bleeds out, Anastasia turns her attention to Tire.

"Are you alright?" She asks.

"Physically? I'll live. Mentally? That's a different story," Tire replies.

As they stand there, the door to the roof opens as Katina & Dmitri come rushing over.

"What happened? Where's Abdulov? Where's Razor?" Katina questions.

"While Tire & I dealt with this monster," Anastasia says motioning to the bloody Mane before pointing to a skyscraper and continuing, "Abdulov flew off with Razor to that building. You all ready to head out?"

"Yes!" Katina replies.

"Sure," Tire shrugs.

"I suppose," Dmitri answers.

"Good," Anastasia states.

Anastasia then pours out some sand out of her pouch and into her hand one more time before blowing on it. The sand then begins to form something much bigger than a weapon.

_______________________________

Up on a rooftop of one of the city's many skyscrapers, Razor gets up and runs towards Abdulov.

"What is with you?!" Razor asks as he goes to punch Abdulov, "You think destroying the city is gonna do some good?!"

Abdulov dodges and replies, "You wouldn't be saying these things if you knew what I did!"

Abdulov goes to get a few jabs in but Razor puts up his arms so they block the hits.

"I don't give a damn about what you know! Look at all of the destruction you're causing!"

"You think I haven't noticed?!"

Abdulov steps back as he points his left hand towards the left of him and he begins his speech, "Allow me to educate you on something Smirnov. If you want to get the attention of those in power…"

A giant firework is formed by Abdulov's extending hand and it shoots outward towards a building. It hits the building causing half of the top to be destroyed. Abdulov continues, "Then you're going to need some high statistics."

Though despite his speech, all Razor could focus on was the destroyed building. 

The building where his apartment is. 

The building where his sister is in.

As he saw that several emotions began to flood his mind; shock, confusion, concern, fear, sorrow, and…

Rage.

As his emotions started to bubble over and malice fills every inch of Razor's soul, Abdulov aimed his hand toward Razor's head.

"Now then, I think it's about time that you get added to that statistic," Abdulov says as he fires a firework at Razor. 

It explodes in his face causing the area around him to be covered in a cloud of thick smoke.

Abdulov lets in a deep breath as he lets his small victory in. However before he can move onto a new target, he notices something.

A foot steps forward through the smoke.

To Abdulov's shock, he sees Razor stepping forward through the smoke. Except, Razor looks different. 

All around his body is a green metal coating with black markings, a ruby at the center of his chest, two smaller rubies on his wrists, and his eyes covered in thick black smoke.

And as Razor emerges anew from the smoke; something inside of him has just snapped.

"How are you able to use a blast?!" Abdulov asks, confused.

Razor is silent.

"No matter," Abdulov remarks as he aims his hand toward Razor, "I'll still strike you down!"

Abdulov fires a firework straight at Razor and it hits him directly in the forehead. Razor stumbles back due to the attack but he then looks forward just a few seconds later, more furious than before. Razor rushes toward Abdulov on all fours as Abdulov begins to fire several fireworks toward the rabid Razor. 

But all it does is just slow him down a little bit. Finally, Razor grabs Abdulov by the neck, slams him to the ground, and then begins to slam his fists into him.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Right when Razor goes for one more punch, his fist gets caught. Razor, finally coming to, looks to see Dmitri is there now. 

Dmitri's hand shakes as he tries to hold onto Razor's shaking fist, a bit of blood starting to drip from a cut on his hand.

"Hey buddy," Dmitri begins to say, "the dude's knocked out, you can calm down now, alright?"

Razor stops and takes a look around him to see that a construct of a sand helicopter has landed on the roof with Katina, Anastasia, Tire, & Dmitri there too. As the metal covering his body begins to dissipate, Razor looks down to see Abdulov's face.

It's bloody and bruised and he isn't even conscious anymore. Razor stumbles back as Dmitri catches him while the metal continues to dissipate. 

As things finally begin to settle down, and with all of the monsters defeated, Razor loses consciousness.

See You Next Chapter!~