Chapter 5

At the Brooklyn Port, the creature crashed near an abandoned factory. Steve, holding the door of a cab as a makeshift shield, spotted the creature attempting to use a child as a hostage.

However, at that moment Agent Devlin had blindsided the creature, tackling it into the factory. The concrete wall collapsed under the force of impact. Slowly standing up and shaking his ringing head, Agent Devlin readied himself. 

"Steve, take all the civilians to safety. I can't fight this thing and protect them at the same time." 

"No, I'm not leaving you kid." 

"I'm just going to stall it until backup arrives. Protecting the civilians takes priority." 

Finally relenting to Agent Devlin's argument, Steve began to guide the civilians away. 

'This is going to hurt.' Agent Devlin thought while watching the massive creature slowly get up from the rubble. 

The creature had now fully mutated. Its bulging muscles had already torn his shirt and his skin had turned a deathly pale gray. The vial was still safely stored in a briefcase lying next to the monster's feet. 

He took out his hand cannon and slightly lowered his body. Not letting the monster take first blood, he accelerated towards it. It swung its massive arm towards the smaller dark haired teenager in front of him causing a shockwave to ensue on the ground but Agent Devlin easily ducked and balanced himself while taking 3 close ranged rapid shots at its gut. 

Black blood sprayed onto Agent Devlin's body and face yet he remained unfazed and furthered their distance with a backflip while picking up the briefcase. The monster's stomach now had a deep hole dripping with blood. 

"RAAAAAHHH" 

Once the monster saw the briefcase in Agent Devlin's hand and recognized the pain in its stomach it lost all reason. Its eyes were now bloodshot with black blood and his blue irises turned silver. Black veins began to sprout and pulsate all around his body.

Agent Devlin saw a blur flash before him and he nimbly redirected the lethal strike but the force of the strike had his body flying against the concrete wall. Slightly cracking it. 

'The suit would've been helpful.' 

Coughing out blood, Agent Devlin saw 3 images of the menacing gray creature before him. Swallowing back the blood in his mouth he ducked under another swing before shooting 2 shots in its knee cap. 

The creature roared and thrashed at him but Agent Devlin successfully rolled away. His little maneuver had his head spinning and the inhuman roars weren't helping. Swiftly reloading a new magazine, he readied himself once again. 

Its right knee had been damaged yet it didn't extinguish its rage. Fragments of bone and black blood were dripping onto the ground beneath it. Instinctively knowing that it wouldn't be able to escape with the serum, the monster chose to at least kill the operative in front of him. 

"RAAAHHHH"

The monster slammed the ground with all of its might causing a shockwave that created a spider-like web pattern to unfold and threw a massive piece of concrete at the unstable Agent Devlin. Unable to dodge due to his feet not being planted on the sinking ground he tensed his whole body before getting hit by a wall. 

The wall exploded on impact. Severely injuring Agent Devlin and sending him flying onto a foundation wall. 

The monster watched as the small black haired youth in a bloodied and tattered suit got back to his feet while stumbling about before getting into a familiar combat stance that slightly swayed. Looking at his indifferent orange-reddish eyes and his body releasing some sort of steam, a memory flashed before the monster's eyes. 

Overlapping over the youth's body, a haunting visage donning a black suit with a badge on his shoulder and glowing eyes appeared before him. 

"T-the Cursed Griffin." It tepidly growled before shaking off the illusion and roared at the small agent.

In perfect synchrony, they both moved towards each other, locked in a deadly dance. The monster threw a menacing hook but Agent Devlin evaded it by rolling towards his blindspot and grabbed a loose pipe on the ground before using the monster's chest as a foothold to grapple on its head.

The monster's left arm swiftly clamped onto Agent Devlin's, threatening to tear it from its socket. Yet, Agent Devlin contorted his body unnaturally, mitigating the force, and emptied his entire clip into the creature's shoulder, creating a gruesome crevice. He then brutally plunged the sharp pipe into the wound.

The monster's grip remained unyielding, though the limb dangled from a few remaining muscle fibers. Agent Devlin flipped his body over to sever the remaining connections, producing a gruesome squelching sound and a roar of agony from the creature.

Running on sheer determination, Agent Devlin turned to confront the armless monster, growling through his bloodied mouth, "Hail Hydra," causing the creature to momentarily freeze in horror.

Singing in relief, he ignored the throbbing pain coursing through his battered body and the blinding headache. He deftly disassembled his empty handgun, winding back the sharp barrel. With a decisive, forceful motion, he repeatedly stabbed at the monster's eyes, relentlessly until its brain was reduced to mush.

He tossed aside the blood-soaked metal, moving to pry open the stiff, lifeless fingers still clutching his arm. Blood finally began to flow, triggering an excruciating wave of pain to shoot up his arm. Seating himself atop the monster's chest, Agent Devlin greedily gulped down deep breaths to relieve his pain. 

"Agent 009!" 

Turning his aching head towards the sound, he saw Colonel Philips and all available personnel at the entrance of the factory. Their faces were filled with horror and shock at the corpse of the monster quickly decomposing and turning into dust. Its last ember of life had finally been extinguished. 

Slowly getting up and picking up the broken suitcase with the shattered vial inside, Agent Devlin walked towards the Colonel. 

"Enemy neutralized, sir." He told him, while handing over the destroyed briefcase and leaving the factory. 

The spectating agents and soldiers opened a path for him while giving looks of awe and fear at the last remaining member of the GRIFFIN unit.