The blonde Ionadian looked down upon the short woman screaming in terror with a flicker of curiosity in his eyes.
He wondered what she tasted like.
He knew what the unconscious man tasted like.
Very salty. A little too salty, but also nice. The sort of thing he would tell the head chef at home to make him when it was his cheat day.
Every single moment on this wretched planet felt like his cheat day.
He licked his fingers, and then his palms, savoring every bit of his meal. He worried he didn't consume enough blood for his ability to work, so he wanted to get as much of it inside him as possible. As he licked his fingers, he took a bit of glee in the small mutts' fear as they watched him. He deliberately made loud smacking noises and stared at them, his eyes lingering a little longer than they should.
He only stopped when they looked away.
The mongrels spoke to each other in their garbled words. Their language wasn't even proper. A mash of many languages, a soup with too many cooks. They spoke their incomplete words in front of him as if he weren't there.
It infuriated him.
"Stop ignoring me!"
They all flinched, and a rainbow of colors flickered in their eyes. No longer scared, they looked up at him in fury.
"Such language is not befitting of you," Natio said.
Dio shuffled through his pockets, his bloody hands ruining the interior of his already filthy pants. Everyone tensed, expecting him to take out a gun, but became confused when he brought out...a compass.
An old, rusty compass.
"Oh, sweetheart, you don't need the affection of these creatures. What you need to do is focus," Natio told him.
"Stupid Leofric sent me to this stupid planet to find stupid rocks! Don't tell me to focus! I'll—"
Dio took a sharp breath in through his nose, and his eyes turned black.
He exhaled through his mouth, the cold, crisp air turning it into a cloud. He closed his eyes, and silver rippled across his skin. He opened his eyes again, and he was high on power. The fix was always temporary, but he was going to ride the dragon as long as he could.
"Oh crap, I think we're borked," Jimmy said.
Julia and Annie looked at him in horror.
"Ohmigod, I think that's like the worst thing I've ever heard Jimmy say," Julia said.
"We don't need words. We need fists," Mary Jane said.
She ran at Dio, putting as much weight as she could behind her fist. She aimed right for his heart, gritted her teeth, and connected the hit.
He didn't move.
It wasn't much of a fight.
The force of her fist rippled in a outward in a shockwave. Dio's eyes lit up in surprise. The shockwaves went through him, and he stifled a cough. The building behind him took the brunt of the attack. The glass shattered; the panes tore off. Bricks flew in every direction, and everyone but Dio and Mary Jane covered their faces.
Mary Jane was in too much pain to move.
Her right hand was broken.
It was mangled in several places, the hand still in its general fist form. The fingers were all twisted together, like snakes in a bundle. Her pretty acrylic nails had sunk into her hand, pointing out like thorns. Only her right thumb still worked. She flexed it back and forth. Blood dribbled down her right arm; she fell to her knees and let out a scream that echoed through the night.
Annie ran to her aid and held her as she cried in her arms. She had never felt such pain before in her life. Annie couldn't bear to see Mary Jane suffer, because her pain was also Annie's. She looked up at the devil in front of her, and to her abject horror, he was smiling.
He smiled, growling, speaking his pale-devil tongue.
"I have never seen one so strong. Do you think she knows where those stupid rocks are?" Dio asked Natio.
"Oh goodness, I doubt she knows. But what I do know is that she should come home with us!"
"That's a FANTASTIC idea," Dio shouted.
Mary Jane cried about being unable to write again if her hand didn't heal properly.
"She could make you a wonderful wife, give you strong children," Natio proposed.
"You know I am insufficient! I cannot have a child with her," Dio replied.
"Ah, I forgot, my love. You could keep her then, as a pet? Use her abilities whenever you deem fit," Natio suggested.
"That's the best idea you've had all night! We—"
Dio was smacked into the building behind him; the force was so strong he went through it.
Boom, boom, boom.
Three buildings.
Metal protected his body, but his insides shook, vibrating like Jello. He heard a bell ringing in his ears, and with every wall or pillar he passed through, he grunted. No matter how much damage he took, Dio's iron grip never let go of the compass, squeezing tighter when he rolled to a pitiful stop in a parking garage. Rubble rained down on him from above, trapping him on the bottom floor.
A Dio-sized hole went right through all three buildings. Julia cautiously approached the nearest building and peered through the holes. Ash mixed with cement dust and snow left a grim haze in his wake.
Jimmy's thick, rubbery arms shlorped and slurped, receding back into his body.
"Like using a flyswatter," he announced.
Mary Jane stifled her tears while Annie wiped them away gently.
"Why did you use your fists? You're not invincible just because you're strong," Annie said.
"I don't know. I...I was just angry," she admitted.
Annie rubbed Mary Jane's back, then got up and went over to check on Bruno. She knelt beside him, pressed her ear against his chest, and sighed with relief.
"I don't know how, but he's still alive. We need to get him out of here," Annie said.
She lifted him with ease, slung him over her shoulder, and awkwardly walked back to Mary Jane. Little clicks echoed as Annie approached. When she drew nearer, she saw the source of the noise.
Click.
Mary Jane, silently, tears streaming down her face, was pushing her bones back into place.
"Stop," Annie said.
Mary Jane continued.
Click.
"You need to stop!"
Click.
Pop.
Mary Jane winced. She didn't put it back into place correctly.
Click.
"Dammit, Jane, just come with me and leave," Annie begged.
Mary Jane paused to address Annie.
"If I don't fix it, our advanced healing will mess up my hands. If I don't fix it now, I can't kill him."
She went back to fixing her fingers.
Click. Click. Clickclickclick.
All the bones returned to their place, and Mary Jane gave a sudden shudder of relief. She held out her hand in front of her face to inspect her handy-work, and in the distance she noticed movement. The rubble was shifting. He wasn't dead as she suspected, and all of them braced for another fight.
"I'll do it. You're hurt. I can do it," Julia said.
Julia crossed her arms, protecting herself. It was clear she didn't want to, that she was scared, but she knew that it was the perfect time to fight. The more terrified she was, the sharper her screams, the more intense her power. Without waiting for an answer, she ran down the street, past the broken walls, and found Dio emerging from the rubble.
"Nasty. Disgusting," Dio groaned.
For a moment the silver layer came and went in waves, and Dio was losing stregnth.
"I need more. I need a battery. I need her," Dio said.
"There's one right there. Go get her," Natio whispered in his ear.
Julia jumped over cement blocks and bricks, fighting her fear and hot tears. Dio was caught off guard when she jumped on top of him and pinned him to the ground. Quickly, she placed her right hand over her throat and screamed with all her might.
"DIE!"
Everyone who heard the magic word would perish. Not a soul would be spared. Julia prayed the other four were far enough away so they couldn't hear her. She waited for the same ending she had given a few men in her life.
And it never did, for Dio.
He pushed her off him, and she shrieked when she fell off. He was on top, and Julia was paralyzed with fear. He went straight for her throat, choking her, and her eyes went black. He looked up into the giant hole of the second floor of the parking garage, wishing he was somewhere else.
"Dirty beasts and their stupid half-language. Haven't a damned clue what she screamed at me," Dio lamented.
"Told you to die," Natio informed him.
"Cute."
Dio released his iron grip on her throat, and she coughed violently, gasping.
"I'll never beg," Julia coughed.
"No idea what this witch bitch is saying. Natio?"
"She thinks you're ugly," Natio lied.
"Bitch."
Julia clawed at his hands when they closed around her throat again. This time he looked into her soft brown eyes, watching the light in them go dim. Her eyes rolled up, her face went red, and her hands slowly went limp. Dio saw the finish line when another runner made a Hail Mary.
"Behind you," Natio said.
Dio turned too late.
Mary Jane, with her one good hand, jumped onto his back and pulled him off Julia. He stood up and tried to pry her off, but he couldn't. She wrapped her arms around his face so he couldn't see, and he flailed in confusion. In a moment of clarity, he purposefully fell backwards on top of her. She immediately put him in a sleeper hold, but it didn't work with his metal skin.
He flipped her over, now on top of her back, pulling at her long, beautiful hair. She screamed in agony, her voice echoing through the parking garage. Julia came behind him, now trying to pull him off, and Dio was at his wits' end.
"I am done playing games," he said.
A burst of wind pushed out from his body, and the women flew away from him in opposite directions.
"I am taking one of you home with me."