NIGHTSHIFT 41: MEN'S BATHROOMS (M41-M80)

[sixth_attack]

[From here.]When Sechs shuffled past the door, he had hoped to find himself somewhere that was less dark and more familiar. Yet to his aggravation, the Replica saw that he had just entered a shadowy bathroom instead

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[sixth_attack]

When the surreal image ceased its mimicry of his movements, Sechs took another step back, putting a foot of distance between him and the monstrosity in the mirror. Sechs felt another surge of panic at how the decomposed version of himself stared back at him like that...and the way it pointed its rotten hand at him... The Replica felt his hair prickle up from the wave of chills cascading over his skin.

Was this some sort of illusion? A sick twisted joke programed to play for anyone who happened to be looking at their reflection? The warped distinction between what was real and what wasn't strongly reminded Sechs of his battle with Whophan. His past challenger had cast a chaotic illusion upon Sechs and even the audience watching the tournament. It was only when Sechs used a reflective surface to see around Whophan's hypnosis that he defeated his foe. Now it seemed everything had reversed roles, this time it was the reflection that was working against Sechs.

The corpse's sudden punch against the mirror sent Sechs flinching and snarling like a threatened animal. Immediately Sechs readied himself for attack. "You want outta there? Is that it?" he shouted at the expressionless form in the mirror. "You wanna fight?! Then let's have at it then! I haven't got all day!" The Replica spread his feet apart while he clenched his left hand into a fist towards the mirror. He held his injured arm defensively close to his waist.

Ugh... What was he thinking?! Challenging that... that thing to a fight, when he was stuck in a weaker body with a damaged wrist? He didn't even know where he was or who/what he was dealing with right now! Well, it didn't matter anymore, Sechs wasn't going to back off from this. And who knows? If he won this, it would certainly make a great story to brag about with the others, 'specially Alita...

[damned_monsters]

The remnants of dessicated lips drew back into a grotesque parody of a smile at the challenge, baring a mouthful of unevenly spaced shark-sharp fangs, already stained with what looked like dried blood. It seemed eager enough for a fight, or at least the chance for fresh blood - its unarmed and already injured target could hardly be a serious opponent, now could he?

The creature's fist slammed against the glass again, then, even harder, and a network of cracks scored through the surface from the point of impact. It struck again, and again, the cracks running deeper and farther each time, and more of the decayed flesh clinging to it dropped away from its skeletal frame.

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Sechs' muscles stiffened painfully at the freakish grin being leered at him from the mirror. It resembled Sechs' own blood-thirsty sneer when enthralled within the heat of battle. Was this how Alita viewed him and the other Replicas? An offensive shadow that reflected an animalistic nature that she couldn't bare to face? Was that why she had loathed him so much?

His fervid thoughts over his Original were stopped short when the creature pounded even harder against the glass, giving form to a web of cracks that swiftly grew upon its surface. Any moment now and Sechs' decaying doppelganger was sure to emerge from its reflective barrier...

If he could just arm himself with something... But would he have time to find a makeshift weapon? And if so, could he even get and ultimately use a weapon with only his left arm in this weak body? A sharpened twinge from Sechs' wrist reminded him of his vulnerability. He was going to have to think fast if he didn't want anymore of that stubborn pain to torment him...

His anger and anguish gave way to a rise in adrenaline and his thirst for combat, blurring the insistent pain from his one-track mind. Not taking his eyes off his opponent, Sechs shifted his footing to keep his left side facing the deteriorating mirror, ready to attack or dodge when needed. He shot back his own tooth-filled snarl at the reflection.

"You wanna screw around with me?! Then let's get serious, shall we?! C'MON!!" Sechs roared at his monstrous rival.

[damned_monsters]

One more blow and the mirror finally shattered, the creature's skeletal fist driving through with a spray of glass fragments. Seemingly unaffected by the jaggedly sharp edges still remaining in the frame, it pulled itself through the uneven hole left behind.

As it emerged from within the mirror it immediately lunged, fangs bared in a wide rictus of a grin. The invitation was quite welcome indeed, and it saw no need to wait at all to attack.

[sixth_attack]

Sechs quickly threw his left arm up to shield himself from the flying debris. Yet despite his attempts to block off the shards, some sharpened pieces still managed to nick the exposed skin of his left arm. Sechs gave out a grunt from the fresh pain as traces of blood seeped out upon his skin. Better it was his left limb than the sprained one at least.

Then the creature leaped at him, its mouth open wide and hideously murderous. Immediately the Replica pitched himself away from the attack with a half spin, throwing himself to the side of the monster and out of its forward range. However his maneuver was unbalanced due to his right arm still being tucked in to his torso. He nearly skidded over when he landed on his feet, but his quick reflexes saved him from falling flat on his face when his left arm shot down to the floor to act as a support. Even with such a less than satisfactory landing, Sechs couldn't help but experience brief relief that he didn't use his sprained arm to stop himself from falling over. Exerting pressure on the injury was the last thing he needed now.

Once he scrambled into an unsteady crouch upon the tiled ground, Sechs' amber eyes caught a piece of glass laying near his hand, its jagged edges were structured like a misshapen knife. Without hesitation, Sechs grasped the shard with his left hand and held it up like a dagger, ready to slash away at the creature once it made another move towards him.

"Let's see how much you like glass when I shove it in yer throat!!" he yelled between heavy breaths.

[damned_monsters]

Despite the fact that it missed its intended target, the mirabis twisted to land in a similar but far neater crouch than Sechs. Almost as though it was still mimicking the man's movements even on this side of the mirror, it likewise scooped up a nearby shard of silvered glass, then rose halfway, poised to move again.

The skeletal creature regarded Sechs for a moment, then huffed out a breath in what might have passed for a dry laugh. The threats did nothing but amuse it, clearly; when it was missing of the flesh that had once wreathed its neck it hardly missed losing much more.

It abruptly shifted its weight, darting in to lash at the man's left arm with the shard of glass it held. That attack was merely a decoy, though, to distract from its other hand, slashing toward the man's throat with its unnaturally sharp nails.

[sixth_attack]

Sechs glared at his moldering foe, noting the way it still imitated his own actions. The wheezy laugh sent another chill through Sechs' spine; such a vile sound was far worse than how Will kept snickering away at him earlier. So Sechs' words only amused the abomination of a copycat eh? Well, let's see if his actions could do any better...

The creature dashed in for another attack and this time Sechs didn't dodge it. Instead he swiftly moved in to engage his assailant, his own dagger flying towards the creature's armed limb. Sechs directed his glass shard for the monster's hand, aiming to knock its weapon away or even cut into its arm if he were lucky enough.

As he swung his left arm forward towards his target, Sechs' sharp eyes caught the sight of claws blurring in towards his neck. Uttering a curse under his breath, the Replica instinctively threw his right arm up to block the nails from lacerating his throat. A nano-second later Sechs deeply regretted the move as his injured arm was instantly bombarded by the monster's cruel claws.

The new torrent of pain that ripped into his already inflamed arm brought out an agonized holler from the assaulted Replica. The attack and its resulting pain knocked him off balance, sending him into a backwards fall upon the hard bathroom floor. As he tumbled over, the creature's nails sliced past his arm and unto his chest, tearing away at the yellow face printed on his shirt.

[damned_monsters]

The man's improvised weapon gouged deep into the creature's arm, tearing away a chunk of rotted flesh and sinew and scraping into the bone, but still it seemed hardly to even notice the fact. It certainly didn't impede its attack in the slightest bit, and it gave another of those rattling wheezes of laughter as its claw-like nails dug into the man's arm, as though a mockery of his yell of pain.

It glanced briefly at the handful of shredded fabric it had come away with, then almost disdainfully shook it free from its bony fingers and returned its focus to its fallen prey. This time it moved to pounce upon Sechs before he could rise again, uneven-spaced fangs bared and ready to tear at living flesh.

[sixth_attack]

Sechs' sense of triumph barely lasted a second when his shard had no stopping effect on his attacker. The decayed tissue was slashed off like a simple piece of dead, un-feeling meat. The creature didn't even flinch from Sechs' attack, nor did it heed any regard towards the chopped chunk of flesh that noisily splattered onto the floor.

As he was sprawled out upon the ground, Sechs tightly clutched his bleeding arm, his panting deepening from the heightened pain. Long, freshly opened cuts could be seen underneath his torn shirt, tainting parts of the grey fabric with blood. An incredulous expression took over the Replica's face as he watched his opponent unceremoniously discard the torn clothing from its hand. He was in too much pain and bewilderment to take advantage of the moment.

What was this thing? It wasn't any sort of cyborg that Sechs had ever encountered. The theory that the creature purely consisted of nanobots made no sense either; its nanomachines should have been restoring any damage it took, not letting itself literally fall apart!

It was then when Sechs stopped his panicked thoughts over what the creature was, for it made another aggressive leap at him, this time with its hellish teeth hungry for a bite.

Forcing out a wordless shout, Sechs twisted his body to the side and swung his right leg up, aiming his kick towards the side of the monster's hideous skull.

[damned_monsters]

Once committed to the attack it was a bit too late for the creature to entirely evade the kick, no matter how fast it managed to move without half of its musculature intact. It did manage to avoid being struck in the head, but the blow instead landed squarely against its shoulder with an ominous-sounding crack, and sent the creature flying into one of the bathroom stalls.

It took a moment before it moved again, having been apparently stunned by the impact, and once it started to push to its feet again the mirabis appeared to be favoring its left arm now. Nothing of its expression had changed, though, and it lacked none of its eagerness to attack as it slowly turned to look at its prey once more.

[sixth_attack]

Sechs flopped over onto his stomach and watched the monster crash into the stall. Undeterred by the pain and exhaustion he was experiencing, the Replica shook with quiet laughter at the sight. "Geh heh heh... Did you like that, you piece of shit?!"

Uttering out a pained grunt, Sechs scrambled to his feet with visible effort. His bleeding arm was tucked against his bare chest while he still held the soiled shard in his left hand. Sechs shifted his footing to better steady himself while he took on his predatory slouch. He faced his opponent and watched it recover from the impact. Noticing how the creature was cradling its arm, Sechs couldn't help but sneer. "Aw shucks! Does your arm hurt too now? Well, that makes the two of us then!"

Without giving the creature any chance to respond, Sechs bellowed and made a reckless leap towards his foe. His armed hand swung in for another stab at the creature, its rib cage now the new target for Sechs' weapon.

[damned_monsters]

Instead of trying to evade the attack the mirabis instead merely remained where it was; if anything it only shifted its stance slightly as though bracing for an impact. The chunk of glass sank deep into the moldering flesh between two of the creature's ribs, but again it barely reacted to the wound at all.

The creature's right hand moved, quick as a snake's strike, to curl bony fingers in an unexpectedly strong grip about the man's wrist. It paused there for an instant, holding the man's wrist in place, then bared its teeth in what passed for a triumphant smile and lunged forward. Now that its target had brought himself close enough for it to bite...

[sixth_attack]

Sechs' makeshift weapon drove deep into the monster's ribs, giving out a disgusting squelching sound as it bore into the putrid tissues. Yet not even a sharpened piece of glass stabbed into where its vital organs should have been brought no effect on the creature. Sechs released the shard, leaving it to stick out from his enemy's side. It was now obvious that cutting away at the creature with such a small weapon wasn't going to work. Sechs would just have to compromise then... and this time with blunt force.

For a creature that lacked any proper amount of sinews on its limbs, its speed was surprisingly fast when it grabbed a hold of Sechs' wrist. Sechs reacted by pulling his arm back but was firmly held close by the monster's underestimated strength. Before he knew it, the monster's gaping mouth bore down on him...

"OH NO YOU DON'T--!!" he hollered. With a quick shift of his feet, Sechs leaned back away from the monster's mouth as he used its grip to keep himself from completely falling over. As he moved back, he then struck his leg up to kick away at the creature's gut. If this maneuver didn't work, Sechs could find himself falling back with the creature's teeth heading straight for his right shoulder...

[damned_monsters]

The kick struck true in the creature's midsection, but it was something that would have been more effective against something that felt pain like a mortal creature did. On the mirabis the blow merely sank into too-soft rotting tissue, driving air from its mouth in a hoarse wheeze; its grip remained firm about the man's wrist, and it used that leverage to pull itself close enough to sink its teeth into living flesh.

[sixth_attack]

Wha--?! Even THAT didn't work?!

A mixture of revulsion and shock came over Sechs' face as he felt his foot practically squish into the creature's non-feeling gut. It was like kicking a flesh-filled punching bag that knew no pain or defeat. Out of all the days to not have his Titan Blade for a battle like this...

In desperation, Sechs stumbled to withdraw his kick and strike again but he was too late. The abomination drew in the struggling Replica towards its terrible mouth like a fish on a hook. Sechs fought to get away but he was unable to stop the uneven incisors from plunging into his right shoulder.

If the holler that Sechs emitted earlier was loud, the scream he was giving out now was even worse. His agonized wails echoed throughout the bathroom and into the hallway outside.

With the immense pain and blood flow engulfing his shoulder, the survival mode that Sechs experienced when Will strangled him came back in full force and then some. Teeth grinding and eyes dilated, the Replica madly thrashed about in the creature's toothy hold. Blinded by rage and terror, Sechs fought and kicked the creature and even pounded his injured right hand against its head. The bloody skirmish was becoming so distorted that Sechs' skittish footing threatened to trip him over.

[not_rly_fai]

[[from here]]

Yuuhi had no idea what they were running into, but when he heard the pained screams coming from the men's bathroom, he had a feeling he knew where they'd be headed. He did manage to outdistance Subaru at least, and was the first to push his way into the room.

The other man's peril was obvious, so he wasn't going to waste a lot of time with small talk. He jumped up and kicked hard at the side of the creature's head. It might jar the man a little, but hopefully the blow would knock him free of the nasty bite.

"Oopsie, looks like we're interrupting," he scratched his head dumbly, stumbling slightly and acting apologetic. Mostly he was glad feeling had returned to his right arm. "I hope you don't mind company."