Becoming Monsters Tidbits 22

Becoming Monsters is the creation and property of Ai Loves, setting used with permission.

Returning this chapter are Gooey and Hush, the main characters of Stay In Vegas, the ideas for whom came from Moonwing. An enormous thanks to BronanTheLibrarian and TheNyxianLily for helping whip my ending into shape. Frankly embarrassed at how bad it was on review, glad it's fixed now.

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Chapter 22: Hand Over Fist

The sounds of Bradley's footsteps thundered. So did Todd's heart rate. The casino atmosphere that evoked Las Vegas so much had been missing something that now threatened to forcefully intrude on his life: fight nights. In one corner was eight feet of ebon-black burning muscle with a bunch of Brawler levels and bad attitude. In the other was five and a half feet of pasty exhausted nerd. Todd didn't know what the exact odds looked like, but he was fairly sure what direction they leaned.

He couldn't run. Too much interfering with his paths, Bradley was faster, and he had wings anyway. Todd would just die tired. He couldn't fight. Even the thought was laughable, Bradley was one of the five or six most dangerous individuals on campus, and Todd was easily in the bottom ten percent. Doing nothing wasn't going to work, either.

Todd had to think fast. "Bradley, please, I don't want a fight." Hopefully it would work to at least delay until staff could intervene. None of them seemed to be moving particularly quickly, though.

The huge Demon stopped about ten feet away. "Get. Away. From. My. Girlfriend."

"I'm not even in Alpha Omega anymore!" May still had her tail wrapped around Todd's waist, even if she had let go of his hand. "And I never was your girlfriend. We had a deal and you decided you didn't need to keep up with your part. I can find food elsewhere."

"Food?" Todd was looking around frantically. If he couldn't fight, flee, or freeze, that left only one thing. Desperately praying it might work, he screamed in the inside of his head

I need help!

Bradley chuckled. "And until you come back to me, every man you feed on is gonna find himself meeting the same fate." He pounded one fist into his other palm. "Your little meal here has about thirty seconds before he isn't going to be feeding anyone else. Ever." The last was spoken with a certain dread finality. He glared at Todd. "You got any last words, twerp?"

Todd raised his hands, palms out. "I said I don't want a fight. There's too much at stake, and I'm just here for an education." The crowd was moving backwards, opening up space around Todd's encounter and the tables surrounding it. The only people who weren't were the ones personally invested in the goings-on.

"Then you should have thought about that before you decided to touch May. Pity your last words were wasted." With two long strides forward, Bradley swung one enormous fist. Todd closed his eyes and raised his hands desperately to try to block what he could.

With an unholy crash, the attack struck. Todd opened his eyes. He hadn't felt it, and he knew his own forearms didn't sound like rock when punched. He cracked one eye open. Standing between him and the demon before him was the rocky form of Tiny, arms crossed to block the strike. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size, Bradley?"

The enormous Greater Demon looked down at the six-and-a-half foot Gargoyle. "In case you missed it, you don't qualify." The hand which was already pressing against the Knight's forearms suddenly grabbed them, and with a heave tossed the Gargoyle to the side. Tiny didn't have enough time to get himself righted and use his wings before he crashed into one of the nearby tables with a shockingly loud crunch. The only consolation is that the sound was obviously wooden. Bradley turned back to Todd. "You can't even do your own fighting."

"You are already digging your own hole, Bradley. If you stop, right now, you can probably get away with calling it intimidation. My friend isn't hurt. Just property damage." Todd had no way to know if any more help was on its way. It should be, but no way to know. Either way, the fact that he couldn't run remained true. Even if May's tail wasn't still wrapped around his waist and holding him firmly. She wasn't trying to trap him, he knew that, but right now she was as badly shaken as him or more. She needed someone to lean on.

Bradley, it seemed, did not care about that. He dove back in at Todd, only to meet another unexpected obstacle. A flying roundhouse kick to the jaw, coming from a Malinois Beastkin in combat boots. Despite the fact that Alastor was half his size, Bradley staggered back a couple of steps. Alastor launched a couple of bolts of blue flame at the Greater Demon, but they did no apparent damage. "Never was a fan of bullies. Especially big ones like you."

Bradley stood straighter. "Never did like you, Dog boy. Now you gave me an excuse."

His next charge was interrupted by an uppercut. Not from the Malinois Monk in front of him, no. This one was a fist of earth and stone emerging from the ground to make contact with his chin, rocking him back two steps. To the left, standing in a wide stance that gave her good contact with the ground, was a red-furred Nekomata, her cat ears folded back and split tail held low. Standing next to her was a Glass Slime, obviously charging something up. Hush and Gooey, from the last time he'd gotten into a fight. The red catgirl reached up and opened her hand, the arm of dirt and stone opening its own hand in response. She snarled. "Gooey, how long on the charge?"

The Glass Slime glowed slightly purple, but it was intensifying. "Minute or two. Rather not use this one if I don't have to."

"More of you? Gnats. Joining in a fight that isn't yours." Bradley delivered a backhanded swipe to the construct in front of him, scattering the dirt and stone. Hush reacted as though slapped, but stood back up and started charging another spell. Bradley turned back to Todd and May, still standing before the counter where they turned in their tokens, and took two steps forward.

"Protect the asset," came a low woman's voice from the crowd. Suddenly, three more foes were on him. Beastfolk all, in matching black coloration with faintly glowing blue markings. A Rabbit and a Tiger dove in close, delivering strikes with terrifying speed and precision. Behind them, a Fox charged a magical attack of some kind. Timothy's team, leaping in to the defense of the one their master had spoken to earlier that day. Without a change of expression, Megan the Fox unleashed a ruby red ray that struck Bradley square in the chest.

He roared, whether in pain or anger it was impossible to tell. Todd remembered then than Megan was a Sensate, using her own experienced emotions and physical sensations as weapons. There were a lot of nasty ones to choose from just then, but despite it giving the other two a chance to land more solid blows Bradley was not done. He rushed the two assailants in his face knocking them flying into Megan and sending all three into a painful tangle of limbs.

"Megan!" Suddenly, there was a Weasel engaging the Demon. Martin had two knives and zero regard for his own safety, launching himself into the air with death in his eye. It did not matter that his foe was twice his Level and three times his size, nor that the woman he was defending had made it clear that she'd dumped him less than twelve hours prior. Martin's knives traced lines of pain on the skin of the much larger man, Bradley's blood glowing red hot as it began to show. Where it dripped, the grass sizzled.

To his credit, Martin stayed in the fight for much longer than anyone expected. Problem being that this meant it took nearly a dozen seconds before the Greater Demon landed a solid strike with one huge black fist. Martin flew in the same direction Tiny had, but the Gargoyle caught him. Tiny had been ready to get back into the fray, but the force of that impact nearly sent both sprawling again. Bradley was once again free of his enemies, and when he turned back towards Todd his face had a vastly different look on it. Previously, he was here to punish the skinny nerd for daring to touch the woman he viewed as his. Now, he wanted nothing more than to reduce Todd to a paste on the ground. "You're gonna wish you'd never been born, Todd."

May's tail came unwrapped from Todd's waist as she looked over her shoulder at him. Resolutely, she turned her head forward, towards the ebon Greater Demon before them. "I didn't want to do this, Bradley. Please, don't make me."

"May, don't stand between me and that worthless slug behind you. I'll take you back to how we were after this, but first he has to pay." Bradley was nearly upon her, his towering height bringing her eyes barely to the bottom of his ribcage.

Her eyes hardened. "That was the wrong answer. Fine. If you want me to Feed on you, then so be it."

What she did wasn't visible. His reaction was. Bradley suddenly bent over forwards and started yelling. The sound was strange, mingled pleasure and pain, and it just seemed to keep going.

May was holding her hand up at him. She spoke up to be audible over his voice. "Give up and leave, and I stop. Keep fighting and I will keep going until you are out of Hunger, until you are out of life. I will drain you completely dry, Bradley, like I should have done last year."

Dimly, to one side, Todd heard Gooey the Glass Slime call out "charged and ready!" To the other, he could see Alastor the Malinois charging some kind of attack of his own, hands glowing with blue flames. Megan had another one of her Sensations loaded and ready to fire, as well. If Bradley made the wrong choice, it would be the last one he ever did.

The authorities decided that moment was the right one to intervene. Five or six staffers swarmed the area where they had been previously content to stand back and watch the proceedings, and three of whom were wearing protective gear and diving onto Bradley to take him... somewhere. The others were going around the circle, gathering up the others who were involved in the fight. Including Todd, despite the fact that he had objectively not thrown so much as a single punch. The group that got pulled aside was shockingly large to Todd's eyes. Himself, his team standing with him (plus May was more directly involved). That was four. Tiny and his crew were three more, plus Alastor, plus Martin, plus the three thralls, plus Gooey and Hush, plus three others Todd had simply not noticed who had begun to move forward and charge attacks. Seventeen people. Bradley was many things, and an enormous threat when he was mad. Nearly twenty people ready to rock, nearly all of whom were dangerous in some form or another, was enough to put down most mid-ranked Dungeon monsters. Todd coughed quietly. "Thank you, everyone. You didn't have to do that."

Alastor barked a laugh. "Yeah, we did. No use keeping my hands clean and not being able to bring myself to wear my dog tags again. Don't know about the others, but that's me."

"It wasn't even your problem, Todd." May said. "It was mine. You just got caught up in it."

"ALRIGHT break it up all of you." Mr. Harrison looked mad. Understandable, really, but given he was standing by them and not Bradley it was awkward. "No talking to each other until this is done. You." He pointed at Todd. "You seem to be at the center of this. Explain."

"Not much to say, sir. May used to be his girlfriend, she left him and Alpha Omega behind this week. She joined me and my suitemates, Bradley got mad about it and tried to attack me. I thankfully have friends willing to jump to my defense, since I'm not exactly a fighter."

"I'll be the judge of that. You." He pointed at the Malinois, Alastor. "Why did you strike him? That was a hurricane kick and multiple ki fireballs."

"If you were counting my attacks then you know that Tiny here," Alastor pointed one thumb at the Gargoyle, "had already intercepted the first strike and got thrown into a table for his troubles. A Class-backed punch aimed at someone half his size. Everyone after me was responding to continued aggression, so unless you have more relevant questions I'm calling a lawyer and a news organization and recommending the others do the same."

"Just one." Mr. Harrison's eyes narrowed. "You." He looked straight at May. "You were using a life draining effect with stated intent to continue until death. Explain yourself."

May's tail was once again wrapped around Todd's waist. "He was threatening Todd's life. I used my Feeding Aura to nonlethally disable him and give him a chance to stop his assault. He used to demand that experience from me regularly."

Mr. Harrison seemed to realize something then. Specifically, that he was outnumbered seventeen to one by an increasingly-hostile group of people who had just demonstrated the ability to take down a major threat. He looked over his shoulder at the others who were leading a stumbling Bradley away. A police officer was coming, having finally arrived from the school's tiny station.

The man was Human, though somewhat short and squat. He was, however, openly armed with both a pistol and a clipboard full of papers. "I'll take it from here, sir." Mr. Harrison looked around the circle before taking the hint and leaving, hustling off in the direction Bradley had been taken. The police officer looked at the students around him. "Alright. I'm Sergeant Maximillian Michaels. I've done this a few times, so let me tell you all how this is going to go. None of you are going to leave this location until I release you absent life and death circumstances. Every one of you, regardless of your involvement or not, will fill out one of these witness event forms. Don't skip any of the boxes I've highlighted, but feel free to fill in more if you know it. Anyone who fired, not just charged, a Race or Class ability will need to talk to me more after this." He looked at Todd. "Plus you. I get the feeling I will need more information from you from what I've seen. I'm going to try to keep this casual and friendly. Please don't be belligerent and make me do it the hard way. You don't want that, I don't want that, my bosses don't want that. Sound good?"

It sounded like the best deal they were likely to get, so the students pulled out pens and got to it. Convenient thing about being students, it meant that most of them had appropriate implements near to hand. The few that didn't were covered by their friends. One by one, the quicker writers who hadn't actually jumped in got their papers done and turned in. One by one, Sergeant Michaels gave the accounts a quick scan and dismissed them. This unfortunately included most of Todd's friends. Jem, Ghata, Song, Corey, Chester, and Gooey were not permitted to stay in the area once they turned in their own papers regardless of how much they wanted to provide moral support.

Another officer arrived, though she looked slightly disheveled as if she had to get ready in a hurry. Once she did, Michaels started bringing the remaining participants around a corner of the building to get some privacy and got to asking questions. First Tiny, then Alastor. Each only lasted a couple of minutes. Hush was next, then one by one the three thralls. Martin took longer, and when he emerged Todd noticed that he was missing his knives. Finally, the officer stepped around the corner and saw only two people remaining. "Todd Reed. You're up."

Todd had made it around the corner before he realized something was off. "Wait a moment. I thought May would be next."

"Decent pattern recognition, but you got the wrong pattern. I'm going to need more information from her than you, so it makes no sense keeping you longer."

"I'm sticking around to walk her home. No offense."

"None taken, but you won't be allowed to. If she needs an escort, one of us can provide it. No offense." Sergeant Michaels said it completely deadpan.

"How far away do you need me to be once you dismiss me?"

"Out of this quad." The police man was obviously curious where this was going.

"Then once May is finished she will be able to find me in line of sight, standing one inch outside the area. I'd appreciate it if you told her that."

Sergeant Michaels shrugged. "We'll see. Still, you are a curious case. Bard, Level 6 according to the paper you filled out, caught up in a situation that I've seen quite a few Bards in the last couple of years. And yet, no fewer than seven people leapt to your defense, instantly and without question. Eight if you count the Weasel, but I'm not sure I do. Your accounting of the events was also unusually detailed. Care to explain?"

"My form of Bardic Knowledge granted me nearly perfect memory. I can give a play-by-play of a chess game I had last week if you'd like. This wasn't exactly challenging."

Michaels was writing in a notepad, very quickly. "Must be useful in class. Now, I get the feeling that this is not the only incident that has occurred between you two. Am I right?"

Todd's eye ached in remembered pain. "You're right."

The officer smiled slightly. "And I assume that major records of the previous encounter will be remarkably difficult to find, but when I do they will show that you ended up with at least one injury consistent with being punched by an eight foot tall Greater Demon?"

"You are good at your job."

"This wasn't exactly challenging." Michaels's smile remained.

"Alright, I deserved that one. Do you need anything else, sir?"

"No, no, I think I got everything I need." Well, that wasn't ominous at all, was it? "Context is important. What you gave me matches up well enough with everyone else, too. I will be in contact, though, please do not try to blow it off if I ask for more information. You may go, and do not speak to May before I get the chance to get her side of things."

Todd decided against fishing for more information. He walked back around the corner and toward the nearest border of the quad. He made sure that May saw him, made sure to make eye contact and subtly gesture towards where he would be standing. The police officer called her around the corner, and she was out of sight. Todd found the exact border of the cement squares making up the quad, and there he stood.

Soft footsteps came up behind him, stopping a decent distance away. The voice that came from it was not the one Todd expected, harsh and buzzing like a speaker unable to keep up with the bit rate of the sound. "I apologize for not getting here in time to help. In retrospect it seems obvious that Bradley was going to do this."

"Lucas, you are the last person I expected to offer that help. There were thankfully enough others present and willing to jump in that he did not make it to me, so your absence was not critical." Todd did not turn to face the Protogen, instead keeping his eyes focused on the corner he knew May would soon be walking around.

"You malign me. If this is about the scavenger hunt, that was not anything personal." Lucas stepped up to Todd's left side, facing the same direction. "I have failed in the task set before me by my Order Leader, and that means that he in turn has failed. This is not acceptable."

"It's hard to not take that one personally. Should be obvious, but I feel it needs to be said. You kind of cheated to stop my friends and I from claiming the top tier points in that game."

"It was not cheating. Just teamwork in a form you were not ready for."

"Six of one, half dozen of the other. You smacked around eight people to keep us from winning a scavenger hunt."

"We seem to be getting off topic, Todd." It was odd talking to someone who simply did not make extraneous noises. Lucas did not breathe, nor did he shift around once he was in position. He was just there.

"Maybe. Then again, maybe we aren't. Lucas, I'm standing here waiting for a friend who quite possibly risked her life and freedom to save mine when she didn't have to. I know you have a lot of deep, philosophical questions going on, but cards on the table? I neither know nor care about how you resolve them as long as you are a decent person. Same as anyone else. Angels and Demons get the same chance from me."