Black hair curled around small shoulders as blood dripped from the throat of a young girl into a tin pail. Jase's stomach twisted violently as he looked at the corpse, realizing his paranoia had been right. This probably wasn't little Maggie but it was someone else's kid. Someone else's kid who had been murdered and their body shoved under the floorboards of an old apartment. So the hag turned out to be a Smile after all.
Removing his guns, Jase gritted his teeth and got out of his wheelchair. The time for that was over. He was an Agent of Stingray. And it was his sworn duty to protect the citizens of Last City from monsters.
Entering the living room, Jase pointed his guns at the Smile who was dangerously close to Kova. Both of them jumped away from the other in surprise, Kova's hand twitching towards his own gun, ready to fill the Smile with bullet holes. Of course, he didn't know that the hag was a Smile, but Kova wasn't exactly the type of person who needed a good reason to pick a fight.
"Hands up, lady," Jase growled.
Something dark and dangerous flashed beneath the hag's eyes before false surprise glossed over, a cheap trick to delay the inevitable. "I don't understand. What's going on?"
"How about you explain why there's a corpse under your floorboards," Jase said. The Smile's eyes flashed with surprise before they turned into something monstrous. If there ever was a human element in her dark eyes, it was gone now and Jase was staring into the black sclera eyes of a monster.
The morph made her taller. It returned to her the power of her youth. And she used that power to lunge without hesitation. Jase fired his gun with the same lack of mercy, his teeth ground together and eyes locked on his target. The Smile flinched when Jase's shot hit her square in the chest, sensitive eyes hurt by the bright flash of blue light that was emitted from his shot, but it barely slowed her down. She kept charging towards her demise.
Jase didn't feel fear. He wasn't a little kid anymore. There was just the steady beating of his heart as he fired shot after shot that looked random to the untrained eye. However, he was actually trying to get a clear shot of one of her weak points, but she was well versed in fighting against humans and kept her wrists tucked out of sight.
Then, almost as if he came out of nowhere, Kova fired at the Smile's neck, coming to life as he launched his own series of attacks against the Smile, drawing her attention. She spun on him, fangs bared as Jase aimed for her neck, but her hand flung up, blocking any shot Jase could make.
Things went to shit as the Smile ripped the gun straight out of Kova's hands, crushing it in an instant. Jase muttered a curse, trying to get a clear shot of her wrist. Anyone who said Smiles were mindless killers was gravely mistaken. They were smart and they knew that once a human lost their gun, they were as good as dead.
Thankfully, Kova was more demon than human to begin with and he just pulled out his knife, igniting the blade and kept swinging. His footwork was flawless, as though he'd been born with a knife in his hands, movements low to the ground but fluid as he jabbed and stabbed at the Smile, drawing her attention from Jase who could once again focus on finding her weak point.
Jase continued to fire shot after shot, struggling to hit one of her weak points but she was moving too fast and Kova was going to tire eventually. But... sooner or later the Smile was going to slip up too. Jase just had to wait for that opening...
"Wrist!" Kova snapped.
Jase took aim and fired before a normal person could bat an eye. But the opening on the Smile's wrist closed just as quickly as it had appeared as she lunged and knocked him to the ground. Jase dropped his guns as he struggled to keep the Smile from biting him. She was snarling, snapping at Jase's throat, her rancid breath burning against his cheeks.
Old terror flooded Jase's veins. He was going to die here. He couldn't breathe. His muscles were straining to keep the Smile off of him, even if it was for just a few more seconds. But at the very moment Jase swore his arms were going to give out, Kova swung his knife at the Smile's face, knocking her off Jase.
With trembling arms, Jase forced himself up and snatched his guns up off the floor. He was still alive. He could still fight. Kova, on the other hand, seemed to be at the end of his strength. His breathing was labored, panting and puffing. Jase shielded him as he began to shoot, aiming for the Smile's wrists. However, she was still doing an annoyingly good job of shielding her weak points as she danced around the room, toying with Jase.
Unfortunately, the Smile got bored of that a little too quickly for Jase's liking.
"Shit!" Jase snapped as the Smile advanced, a wild grin on her face as she tore across the room. She was on Jase in an instant, her long black talons clenched around Jase's windpipe as she lifted his body up off the ground, his feet dangling in the air. For a panicked moment, Jase didn't know what was happening.
And then Jase realized he couldn't breathe.
His brain switched to survival mode as Jase - for some idiotic reason - dropped his guns and began tearing at the Smile's wrists with bitten down fingernails. However, they did nothing against the Smile's skin as her grin only widened, revealing the rows upon rows of fangs. That was until Kova pressed one of Jase's guns against the Smile's neck.
"Drop him." Kova's voice was deadly precise.
The Smile said nothing. Jase didn't expect her to. They never said anything so long as their fangs were out. They were more like animals with a human level of intelligence. Clever killing machines. She made no move of dropping Jase either as he kept struggling against her grip, his mind going fuzzy. Jase could feel his consciousness slipping.
And for some reason, Kova wasn't doing anything. Through his haze, Jase saw Kova's shaking hands, his pale face, and the terror in his eyes. He had frozen up. He had frozen up and now Jase was going to die. No, no, no, no! He couldn't die here! He had yet to do anything yet! Red was still so far away and unless Jase figured something out right now... something... out...
With his last ounce of strength, Jase pulled the knife he'd forgotten from its sheath and stabbed it into the Smile's wrist. She dropped him, letting out a howl of pain as she stumbled backward. Jase gasped, down on all fours on the floor.
Kova seemed to come back to life as the Smile swung at his cheek, claws digging into his skin and tearing it open. It was a sloppy, half attack from an already weakened beast but it still looked like it hurt. Kova barely even flinched. He just swept his leg under the Smile's feet, causing her to fall flat on her face.
Jase grabbed his other pistol and did not give her the opportunity to get back up. He shot the back of her neck, once, twice, three times.
There was a silence as both Jase and Kova panted, looking at the corpse. Three shots meant she was triple dead. A tingle of excitement went down Jase's spine. He'd killed his first Smile. However, once Jase managed to catch his breath, that excitement turned to anger as he glared at Kova. "What... is wrong with you?" he wheezed, throat aching.
"Chē?" Kova asked, touching his bleeding cheek.
"You froze," Jase snapped. "You're the best fighter I've ever seen and you froze!"
Kova looked away, unable to say a thing. He tugged at his sleeves, shifting back and forth. "I..." Kova started, but apparently, his excuse died on his tongue. "I did not mean to."
"You didn't mean to?"
"You would not understand," Kova muttered.
Jase clenched his fist. "Then explain it to me!"
"Drop it, talaa."
"Kova!" Jase snapped, frustration welling up inside of him as he glared at his partner. However, Kova's blue eyes had suddenly turned very, very dark.
"I said, drop it."
And for once, Jase listened.
[author's notes]
first mission completed. yay????