Rain fell in sheets of needle-like curtains across the patchy grass field. Puddles rippled constantly; their tiny waves crashing on the petite mud beaches. Flashes of electric blue lightening and roars of hateful thunder rolled across the plains, adding to the symphony of the never-ending downpour. The knee-high grass waved wildly beneath the harsh winds, taunting the storm to hit its green hide with everything the typhoon could offer. A streak of light slashed into a nearby tree, splitting the thick trunk into a hulk of burning waste. Fragments of burning wood sizzled by Angelseed’s head, while embers and streams of water showered down his chest.

His feet sloshed through the thick mud as he made his way down a gentle curve in the field. The rain slid off his oily black wings in huge drops. His hair was soaked in spiky dreadlocks that weighed heavily against his shoulders and forehead. Fog escaped from the syco’s nostrils in long haze plumes to join the black clouds guarding the sky. Through thin strands of hair, golden eyes peeked through, their light reflecting off the steam. Water channeled through the golden grooves of Angelseed’s armor, staying with the hunter as he moved down the hill to a small house in the middle of the dreary storm.

Faint orange light glowed through brown paned windows, adding a sense of warmth to the loathsome setting. A thin metal chimney bellowed thick white smoke. Angelseed could smell sweet flesh cooking over a stove. The angular roof repelled the storm’s onslaught, creating waterfalls crashing into muddy basins around the white, plastic shell walls. A flash of lightening struck a large puddle a few feet from the house, sending up a blossom of vapor and energized water.

"Hm…." Angelseed crouched watching another bolt of lightening strike around the house. "Curious." The hunter cocked his Omega cannon, switching the weapons settings to sniper. A scope rotated out of the large silver chassis clicking into place. Through the scope Angelseed could see an enhanced version of the area in thermal reds with the cross hairs, arc, wind, and other calculations in green. "Static shield." A dome of fluctuating energy glowed whitish red inside the scope. Angel switched the Omega cannon to grenade launcher with a growl and a frown, arcing the cannon. A hollow boom and smoke filled the air as a cylindrical projectile exited the largest barrel of the weapon. The grenade traveled over the house then turned back with the wind, exploding into the shield. Flame erupted along the backside of the shield, causing the protective field to fizzle and fail.

"Ah!" Three distinct screams could be heard under the raging storm. Angel growled, tensing his muscles. The front door slid open revealing a slender human male adorn with scars all over his face. He ran from the building stopping five feet outside when he noticed Angelseed; wings extended fully, eyes glaring through the dark in a dramatic display.

"Oh crap." The man turned around for the door but a hail of bullets tore through his spine, splattering blood against the wall of the house. His body slid through the mud with the momentum from the shots, slamming the corpse into the wall. The puddle the man fell in quickly turned red from the blood quickly fleeing the carcass.

The other two followed the first but quickly slipped back into the house closing the door. Angel slid down the hill to the muddy border around the house, stomping to the front door. "Knock, knock." A fury of bullets shredded through the thin plastic and plaster entryway, cutting the door loose from its mounting.

Angelseed slowly walked through the new entrance to be met with a few blasts of laser fire from behind an overturned table. The blasts darkened the hunter’s gold and green armor, causing almost no effect to the juggernaut. Dozens of tendrils hissed from Angelseed’s spine, darting towards the table, wrapping around and breaking through the wood. Splinters flew from every angle, unveiling the two attackers cowering in fetal positions.

To the left was a female human adorn with tattoos along her arms and leg and long black hair. Her eyes where squeezed shut, afraid to look at the instrument of her death. The black leather she was wearing was torn from the slivers of wood, and soaking with her own urine. To the right was a Kilr male whose deep red fur was matted down with blood. His canine face was glowing with hatred and fear.

"Which one of you is Breaker?" Angelseed aimed his gun at the Kilr’s head while his tendrils wrapped around the woman’s arms, legs, and throat.

"I am." The Kilr stood clenching his blaster.

"I’m here for you." Angelseed flashed a golden stare flexing his obsidian wings. "I’d like to go now."

"I’m not going anywhere with a Braazk half-breed." Breaker raised his gun, firing four shots into Angelseed’s chest.

"Pff." Angelseed raised his weapon, firing a string of bullets, severing Breaker’s arm from the shoulder. "Are you done?"

Breaker stared in disbelief and pain at his disembodied limb. "Gah….wh…what…"

"Is this woman with you?" Angelseed nodded towards the woman in the grips of his tendrils.

The Kilr stammered dumbly. "L-let her go."

"I see… Girlfriend?" Angelseed stared coldly into the woman’s eyes. "Oh…wife?" Her fear made it easy to read her mind. "Kilr aren’t supposed to crossbreed. It’s against your religion. I’ll fix that."

Tendrils dug into the woman’s flesh biting and tearing away the skin around her arms. Blood poured to the tiled floor, running in crimson rivers between the square slabs. Angelseed took the skin, stretching the tattooed hide, wrapping the skin tight around the mouth of the screaming woman. Breaker charged at Angel only to be flung back against the wall by a massive black wing. Angelseed glared down at the prone Kilr. "Don’t do that again." The hunter dragged his fingers down the human’s face, lacerating from her forehead to her nose. Tendrils slipped across and around her hips, spreading her legs wider and wider. Bones slowly began to snap, her screams muffled by her tattooed gag. Her legs popped out of her hips, hanging loosely inside her muscle.

"Stop it!" Breaker yelled struggling to get up off the floor.

"We’re almost done." Angelseed jabbed a talon into the human’s stomach, making a circular incision around the belly button. A layer of skin and leather fell to the floor with a sticky plop, while Angel invaded her torso with his thumb and index finger, cutting the long intestine in two with razor sharp talons. He pinched the organ, yanking the gray worm from her body, quickly unraveling the intestine from its dying container. With a final sob the woman rolled her eyes into the back of her head and went slack. The tendrils retreated back into Angelseed’s spine, causing the body to fall to the floor.

"Now…" Angelseed turned his attention to Breaker. "Shall we go?"

Breaker gasped at his wife’s corpse. "You bastard."

"Don’t make me tear off your other arm."

"Burn in hell."

"Typical." Angelseed wrapped his tail around the dog like creature’s throat shedding a few velhalla spines into the thick skin, causing Breaker to slip into unconsciousness. Angelseed looked down at both creatures, his stomach churning from disgust of their inferiority. "Halo, come pick me up." He said into his comm..

"I’ll be there in two minutes." The AI clicked off.

Angelseed grabbed the Kilr by the back of the neck, dragging him to the door then out into the monsoon.