hero's shadow // mha

86) too late, too early

Sansa stares into the eyes of a corpse, fur prickling, and he notices its pupils dilating when he crouches down near its head. He shines a light over the Nomu's smoking body, nose twitching at the acrid smell.

It may be dead, but he still has to be careful. There's no telling what last minute defenses this thing was equipped with before being sent out.

With over twenty legs jutting out from its elongated body, Sansa gets the feeling this creature was supposed to resemble a worm or some kind of centipede. The back end of it is still twitching and writhing, trying to regenerate even when there's no more life left in its body. Thick black blood spurts out from its multiple wounds, coating the cracked asphalt all around it. The head is smashed against the ground whereas the end is splayed on the top of a small building.

The size of the Nomu itself is massive, so it must've been absolute hell to take down; Sansa's ears flatten in silent respect upon glancing at the two heroes responsible for neutralizing it. They're currently being taken on stretchers to be transported to the nearest general hospital, both having fallen unconscious shortly after the take down.

"We have the area locked down," an officer says, coming up on Sansa's side. He grimaces when he steps in a blood puddle, shaking out his shoes after quickly stepping back. "We should be able to have this cleared in an hour if we're lucky."

Sansa moves to take photos of the underside of the Nomu, taking note of the tangled intestines drooping down. "What time did the heroes respond?"

"They were the first on scene. Apparently this thing crawled right out from the sewers right over there." The man takes off his cap and messes with his hair before putting it back on. "The skin is made of a spongy, almost jelly-like substance. That's probably how it managed to squeeze through and bounce back from most of the attacks."

"This is the first of its kind that we've seen, so we need to have additional units in this region for the next few weeks. This is obviously a test of some kind, so we need to be prepared for more."

"A test of what, to see how well it performs?"

Sansa nods, eyes narrowing. "That's been the case for the others, at least as far as I've seen. None have been fully equipped with the powers the Nomu from the attack on UA did, so we can only assume these are trials for newer, updated versions."

"They're popping up all over the nation, though," the officer replies, following him. "You think the person behind this has facilities in each district where they're making them?"

"It's likely."

The officer leaves him alone with a muttered curse, going to help some of the other cops on scene.

Sansa takes out his notepad and scribbles down what he sees, sighing when it begins to storm once again. They're in typhoon season now, and it seems like it's raining more often than it is shining. He's responded to a few of these calls in the couple of weeks that he's been stationed here. Nomu sightings are always reported nowadays, but rarely are they actually identified and put down—this is just another side effect of the horrific attacks during Hosu.

Everyone is scared, and rightfully so.

At the end of each leg, a set of three spiky talons are curved inwards. This creature was engineered to dig to the surface and hold onto its victims without letting go, as evident by its lack of teeth.

Creating as much destruction and wreaking as much havoc as possible—that seems to be the only reason this thing was thought up. It's a mindless killing machine.

No exposed brain, Sansa thinks. Rare for a Nomu.

Could it be that each attack, each sighting, is a field experiment for the villain responsible for all of this? The demon king? It has to be true, because each Nomu builds upon the weakness of the last. Each creature has a different task, a different genetic makeup courtesy of the human remains used to start them, and a different perceived purpose.