Bring The Heat

44. From Shadows (GOJS ARC 15)

-(MINT AND BEN)-

The elephant crashed into the front of the building as Mint and Ben dashed inside, but it seemed to retreat quickly.

The adrenaline that coursed through their veins petered out quickly, and was quickly replaced by the full weight of the loss they had just faced. Robin had just disappeared... she was dead, wasn't she?

"No. No, I know Robin. She's still alive... she's not gonna just die like that." Ben explained, but his words had the bitter taste of denial.

Mint hung her head low and screwed up her eyes, biting her lip to hold back her grief. But no matter how hard she tried to hold them back, teardrops began to strike the ground, so she punched the wall in frustration.

"FUCK!" she screamed, at her wit's end after losing yet another daughter figure. "Fuck..." her anger petered our into despair, as she sank to the ground lifelessly, cursing to herself.

Ben just breathed heavily, completely frozen. He... he couldn't believe this. She had come to save him... it was his fault.

But the two were only allowed just a moment to grieve, before quick footsteps grew louder and louder as they approached.

Ben drew his gun swiftly, and pointed it into the darkness where the sound was originating... a loud, animalistic snarl rang out as the creature pounced on him before he could react.

A lion! It's teeth clamped down on his arm, scraping deeply into the metal, trying to keep the thrashing beasts jaws away from his throat. He reshaped his gun into a thin barrier, the massive beast scraping its teeth on it feebly before pressing down with it's paws.

The weight of the big cat bore down heavily on Ben, crushing his arms to his body. He yelled out as he pushed back, but couldn't take the sheer force...

Suddenly, Mint ran up and tackled the lion. In one hand, she held a large dagger that she had drawn from a leather sheath on her leg, and with the other she smashed into the lion with all of her might!

The two rolled across the ground past Ben, and both tried to stagger to their feet. Unwilling to lose momentum through her rage, Mint sprang over to it on all fours, and took a heavy swipe to the face as it batted at her, but brushed it off, and slammed the dagger down into its skull violently, killing the beast instantly.

She let out a victorious yell of anguish, equally animalistic as the lion's snarls. Panting heavily, Mint kneeled, paused for a moment, then looked back at Ben, reforming his dented arm. He looked back in shock.

Blood poured down Mint's face from where she had been scratched by the lion, big claw marks running all the way along the side of her head. A chunk of her ear was missing, ripped off... but she didn't feel the pain.

Their attentions were drawn instantly to the sounds of even more footfall approaching. Both shot to their feet, Ben forming a shield, and glancing over at Mint in worry. But she seemed... focused. Ready to kill. Almost desiring the bloodshed. She reached back and gripped her pistol in it's holster...

Another lion jumped out at her from the darkness, but she hadn't spent her years on Jewel Street doing nothing. No, she had the quickest quickdraw you'd ever see. Within seconds of her even being able to see it, the lion was shot dead in mid air, bullet in it's brain and gun in Mint's hand like a flash of lightning.

But then another pounced on her from behind, slamming her to the ground heavily as it pinned her down with it's massive paws, tearing into her overcoat and back.

Ben looked over and began to yell something, but this distraction was exactly what the third lion was waiting for. It shot out from the shadows, sinking it's massive teeth into his ankle and dragging him into the darkness.

He cried out in pain, bashing it's face with his shield as it grunted back, until his sense overcame adrenaline and he formed a gun. But the second the shield was reabsorbed, the lion then pounced directly on him, pinning his gun arm to his side with incredible strength. Seconds before it could tear into his face, however, a bullet shot straight through it's head, and it fell dead to the side.

Mint. Mint had lined up her pinned arm to shoot Ben's attacker, after struggling and failing to shake off her own. Ben just looked at her for a second, as the lion, the biggest and strongest of them all, finally reached her skin, and drew blood. She just gave him a look of complete focus, and... satisfaction. All she wanted to do was keep him safe at any cost. All these years, it was all she had wanted to do...

Ben shot to his feet and fired off 3 bullets into the beast. They struck it's side and flank, injuring it and catching it's attention but not killing or disabling it. As it charged him, Ben reshaped his gun into a combat knife's blade, and swung. The blade glanced off of the lion's skull, but stabbed deep into it's shoulder as it jumped on him.

But even with his injured leg, the weight of the lion didn't topple him... because now he rested on a metal frame, holding him up so the lion couldn't pin him. He had shot metal down his sleeve and throughout his clothes! The beast flailed wildly, tearing at his skin, but wasn't nearly strong enough.

Ben tore the blade from it's shoulder, and stabbed over and over and over again in a frenzied attack. Blood splattered everywhere, both his and the lion's until finally, one fatal stab to it's head put it down for good.

Ben and Mint drew quick, heavy, ragged breaths, the pain now coming back to them both. Mint slowly rose to her feet, holding her back and hissing in pain. Exhausted, Ben pushed the lion's body aside, but when it hit the floor, it's snout... snapped off?

"What the fuck?" Ben muttered under his breath. He crouched down to investigate.

Peeling back the skin of the lion's face (which seemed far too easy), something horrifically disturbing made itself clear.

The face of a dead human lay underneath.