Chapter : 87 Shotgun Showdown

Descending into the dark, dank depths of the sewer, Bane assumed a low crouching position, his grip on the shotgun tightening as he braced himself for the imminent encounter.

The air was thick and stale, carrying a pungent odour of dampness, decay and sulphur.

The night vision goggles painted his surroundings in shades of eerie green, casting the broken walls and pipes in ghostly hues as he scanned the dim tunnel ahead.

The sewer was littered with twisted, writhing bodies as the abominations heaved in pain, yet they were far from defeated as they slowly began to regenerate.

KIIHHHKK!!!!

Slimy tentacles wriggled from their bodies, whipping and curling in restless anticipation, and nine glowing eyes dotted their grotesque faces, each pair fixated on him with a hunger that bordered on madness.

But Bane didn't give them any chance to recover as he lunged forward towards the nearest abominations that were writhing on the muddy ground, their tentacles twitching as they attempted to regenerate. 

He knew their healing wouldn't stop unless he destroyed all three hearts hidden in each one's torso. So, he aimed his shotgun at the nearest abomination, its flesh burnt and bubbling from the grenade's blast, and pulled the trigger.

*BOOM!!* 

The shot hit the abomination's dead centre, tearing into its torso with a spread of poison-laced pellets. Dark blue blood sprayed as Bane fired again, blasting through its torso. 

"khikk" The abomination let out a final screech, its three hearts shredded by the shots as it collapsed, its tentacles convulsing before going still.

"Thank You past 'me' for not foolishly using the shotgun ammunition against those imperial soldiers and instead using the revolver instead." Bane muttered as he turned around, his shotgun still smoking, to find the second injured abomination. 

"Growl!" The abomination's body was a mess, gaping wounds from the grenade blast oozing viscous blue blood as its flesh struggled to mend itself. 

Bane closed the distance and aimed his shotgun at its torso, gritting his teeth as he fired another shot directly into the mass of exposed tissue. 

*BOOM!* 

The blast tore through the abomination's torso, and Bane watched as it shuddered, the life draining from its multiple eyes as its hearts were destroyed.

'The impact itself may affect these creatures but the poison in the shells don't ' Bane thought as inspected the dead creature but before he could think further, the remaining abominations, now fully regenerated, lunged at him from all sides, tentacles whipping through the air with brutal force.

"Growll!"

"Alright, come and get it bastards!" Bane muttered, his voice echoing in the cramped tunnel. 

He raised the shotgun, but one abomination struck faster, its tentacle lashing across Bane's forearm and sending a sharp, burning pain through his flesh. 

"Shit-" He staggered, using the momentum to swing the shotgun's stock into the abomination's head with a powerful backhand. 

The blow connected with a sickening crack, and the abomination's head snapped back, its eyes momentarily dazed.

*Thump*

Bane didn't waste the opportunity. He pumped the shotgun, took aim at the dazed abomination's torso, and pulled the trigger. 

*BOOM!* 

The shot hit home, blowing open a chunk of its blue, pulsating flesh. He aimed again, firing another blast into its chest as it screeched in pain, writhing violently as he blew apart its hearts. It slumped, tentacles twitching in the air before falling limp.

The others pressed in, undeterred by their fallen kin. Another lunged, and Bane turned in time to see the sharp tips of two tentacles racing toward his face. 

*Swish*

He ducked, spinning to avoid them, and fired point-blank at the abomination's side, his aim lower as he targeted where he guessed the hearts would be. 

*Boom!*

The blast ripped through its torso, sending bits of flesh and slime flying as he pumped the shotgun again, gritting his teeth against the recoil.

"This weapon's potency at close range is damn good, but the recoil is so intense that it threatens to shatter my bones," Bane hissed in frustration.

As the abomination flailed, two of them slithered closer, each one's eyes gleaming with a manic fury as they charged at him. 

Bane backpedalled, quickly scanning for any vulnerable spots. He fired again, this time hitting one of them on its side, pellets tearing through its flesh, but not enough to stop it entirely. 

Tentacles whipped forward, and he swung the butt of the shotgun in a defensive move, smashing it into the abomination's head with all his strength. 

*Growl*

It staggered back, growling, its eyes flashing with rage as it reoriented itself.

"Shut the fuck up and die!" Bane growled back, loading another shell. He raised the shotgun and aimed, blasting another round directly into its chest. 

*Boom!*

The abomination screamed, its body convulsing as two of its hearts shattered under the force of the blast. 

Bane pumped the shotgun, feeling the resistance as he fired again, this time catching the third heart in its torso, and the abomination  collapsed in a mess of blue and black viscera.

Only a few remained now, but Bane could feel the fatigue setting in. 

'I don't know how much longer I can hold out' His hands were shaking, blood trickling from fresh cuts on his arms, but he forced himself to focus. 

*Boom*

He fired again, the shotgun roaring, but he'd lost his rhythm, the blast only grazing the abomination  nearest to him. 

It lunged, tentacles wrapping around his arm and squeezing tight enough to bruise. Grunting in pain, Bane yanked his arm free and, with his last shell, aimed at its head.

*BOOM!* 

The blast exploded the abomination's head into a mess of blue flesh, the toxic pellets searing through its skull and showering the tunnel with blood. 

But the recoil had taken its toll, and Bane realised, grimly, that he was running out of ammunition.

"Damn it," he muttered, fumbling to reload. His fingers were clumsy, his hands slick with blood as he reached for the last few shells in his belt. 

The abominations weren't giving him a moment to breathe as the two of them advanced, their tentacles lashing forward, and Bane barely had time to jam a single shell into the chamber before they were on him.

*Growl!*

One of the abomination knocked the shotgun from Bane's hands, its tentacle smashing the barrel, bending it beyond repair. 

The weapon, rendered useless, clattered to the ground, forcing Bane to face the monstrosity without any means of defense. 

He cursed, backing until he felt the cold stone wall against his back.

'I can bring out Jormungandr, but I don't think my body will bear the burden in my current state. Also, I have to save it for the worse.' thinking this, Bane reached into his belt, pulling out a grenade. 

He gripped it, his thumb on the pin as he glared at the abominations, their nine-eyed faces staring him down, sensing his exhaustion. 

*Growll*

They moved closer, their tentacles writhing as they prepared to strike.

"Come here, fuckers," he muttered, gritting his teeth as he yanked the pin and lobbed the grenade straight into the middle of them. 

With a quick dive, he threw himself away from the incoming explosion. The grenade exploded with a deafening sound.

*BOOMMM!* 

The blast sent shockwaves through the tunnel, tearing the abominations apart in a fiery cloud of blood, flesh, and shrapnel. 

But when the grenade had detonated, the shockwave hadn't spared Bane. 

The blast had thrown him further down the tunnel, his body slamming against the slick stone floor, disoriented.

His vision had gone blurry, and every bone in his body seemed to ache from the impact. The blow had left him struggling to stay alert.

As the smoke cleared, Bane raised his head, panting heavily. The tunnel was littered with bits of tentacles, shattered flesh, and fragments of bone splattered across the walls and floor. His body ached, and his left arm was slick with blood, but he'd won.

With his shotgun useless at his feet, he wiped the sweat and grime and pushed himself to his feet, the silence of the sewer now filled only with his labored breathing.

Bane took a deep, steadying breath, glancing down at his ruined shotgun. The bent barrel was twisted from the relentless combat, and the final tentacle strike had rendered the weapon useless. 

He let out a breath of frustration, muttering, "Good thing aim doesn't matter much with these things. If I had to get every shot perfect, I'd be dead by now."

The shotgun had served him well in the close and brutal fight. The weapon's spread had allowed him to do significant damage with each blast, even with his less than perfect accuracy. 

Despite the ineffectiveness of the poison, the shells dispersed widely, achieving multiple hits with a single trigger pull. But there were trade-offs. The recoil was punishing as fuck, and the constant need to reload left him vulnerable to the creatures' attacks. 

He looked down to see a jagged tentacle half-buried in his thigh from the explosion's shrapnel, a fresh line of blood dripping down his leg. 

The blast had thrown him back against the sewer wall. His night vision goggles shattered from the impact, their glass fragments digging into his cheek.

"Good, now I can't even use this to see around in this dark tunnel." Groaning, he slumped against the wall, reaching into his withered, torn jacket and pulling out a roll of bandages. 

His regenerative abilities were impaired, although his bones, fractured by the shotgun blast, had healed. The external wounds, however, continued to bleed, the edges failing to close naturally. 

He ripped the bandage with his teeth, then tightly wrapped it around his thigh, the makeshift pressure stopping the worst of the bleeding. 

Another strip went around his arm, his fingers moving clumsily as he felt the ache of exhaustion settling deeper into his bones.

Just as he finished securing the bandages, he heard a faint sound echoing through the tunnel. 

*Tip*

He froze, instincts flaring, reaching cautiously for his belt where he'd stashed his flashlight. Flicking it on, he aimed the beam down the dark, debris-littered corridor.

The narrow cone of light illuminated something small and white in the distance, low to the ground. 

Bane's eyes narrowed, the blood loss and exhaustion nearly making him doubt what he was seeing.

A small white dog stood there, seemingly out of place in the midst of the sewer's carnage. It was an insignificant creature with white fur, bright against the muck of the tunnel. 

Around its neck, a thin red leather collar glinted dully under the torchlight. 

The diminutive canine, improbable survivor amidst the savagery of the tentacled creatures, stood before him on its hind legs with an air of unconventionality.

But what made Bane's heart beat faster wasn't the dog's strange behaviour or its appearance in this place, but what it was doing.

The dog was chewing on the severed arm of one abomination, its small but sharp jagged jaws working at the hulking, fleshy limb as though it were a bone from the butcher's. 

'How can it eat that poisonous arm and not die' Bane thought numbly.

As the light shone on it, the dog paused, looking up from its grotesque meal to fix its gaze on Bane. 

Its beady black eyes were dark, almost lifeless, yet they held a disturbing depth that made Bane's skin crawl, as if he were staring into an abyss.

And as Bane stared back, unease blossomed into something sharper, a pang of recognition that clawed at the back of his mind.

His eyes shuddered as memories flickered to life, scraps of information buried in his mind. 

He had seen this creature before, or something like it, in Najenda's diary. 

The memory struck him with chilling clarity, this was no ordinary canine. Instead, it was an imperial Teigu, a bio-engineered weapon known as 'Hekatonkheires'. 

He felt a jolt of panic rise within him, and his instincts screamed at him to summon Jormungandr. 

But, perhaps owing to his exhaustion, he lacked the mental capacity to invoke his teigu. Nevertheless, a colossal fist emerged before him, charging towards his face.

'Fuck' The last thing Bane saw was the enormous fist connecting his face as everything went black.

A/N: Guess who's coming?

Alright, now for another topic. How do you guys feel about the pacing of the story? Don't be shy, comment honestly. If anyone has any (logical) complaints or feedback, feel free to drop those too. And if you've got any good ideas, let me know. I'd love to try implementing them if possible.

[Chapter length: 2100 words]