The Chameleon Loop

The lead dazzle operator stiffened, unintentionally lowering the emitter. Soft words slipped through stalagmites, caressing the operator’s mind with–

“Daddy! You’re home. I’m so happy to see you. We’ve waited so long for you to come home.”

Nox saw the voice’s source, an untransformed feline dopple crouched between a stalagmite and a particularly bright cluster of crystals. It was a grotesque mockery of humanity, hunched, with hairless gray skin, and absurdly sharp teeth. Fangs that were over an inch long, impossibly large given the appearance of a human mouth, but this thing wasn’t human. Its feline eyes and enormous ears warned him of that fact.

“Garcia, at your three o clock, pop the dopple.” Whispered Nox.

The ranger took a knee and swept his flashlight across the tunnel, failing to identify any targets.

“My peepers aren’t half what yours are sir.” Muttered Garcia.

Cursing, Nox reached for his pistol, unholstering it right as the lead dazzle operator dropped his scanner. Corporal Evans dived forward, one hand extending to catch the sensitive thermal scanner and the other trying to snag the dazzer operator. Unfortunately for everyone, he only caught the dazzle operator who dragged him forward, out of reach of the scanner.

Lights faded and spun as four rangers tried to catch a squirrel of an operator. Blind spots appeared all around them, increasing with frequency as they struggled deeper into the widening cavern. Nox aimed blindly at where the dopple had been, emptying his magnum rounds into the crystal. Eight shots sent crystal shards scattering, like a hand grenade filled with glitter.

The voice shrieked and fled, escaping Nox’s aim as the slide to his pistol locked open, empty. He fumbled with another magazine, trying to reload quickly and failing. A beam of light roved the tunnel, falling on the dopple’s back.

POP POP

POP

POP POP POP

Six rounds from Jenkin’s MK18 rifle staccatoed into the hunchback. It jerked after each impact, staggering forward only for more rounds to find it. Rogers and Garcia wrestled the operator to the floor, clearing Evan’s line of sight. He raised his own Mk18 with one hand and flicked the selector to ‘automatic’. Thirty rounds of sintered copper and mana crystal zipped through the dungeon in the next half second, spraying the dopple.

It didn’t bleed, instead it collapsed like an ice sculpture that decided to become purely water, or a spilled blueberry slurpee. Blue jelly splat-ed across a nearby stalagmite; bringing tears to the dazzle operator’s eyes. He broke down weeping, sobbing uncontrollably. Meanwhile the other operator picked up the scanner, face splintering as he saw the spiderweb of cracks across the scanner’s face.

“Maldito, damn thing is dicked. Jones, what the hell were you thinking?” Snapped the rear dazzle operator.

Jones couldn’t reply, he only rolled into a fetal position and wept.

“Reform a line! We can’t let them get behind us!” Shouted Nox.

Three rangers obeyed, while Corporal Evans kept one hand on operator Jones, keeping him restrained.

“Get it together man!” Shouted Evans, pinning the man’s helmet. “Why are you so broken up from my dead grandma’s voice?”

“Dead Grandma? I heard my mom’s voice.” Said Garcia.

“You two hit your heads while swapping spit?” Snapped Jenkins.

Nox checked the dazzle operator’s tag again. He’d gotten so used to dismissing them that he stopped reading them. [Reverse Trisha’s divorce and keep Rosie in my life.] Was written in bold white letters above the man’s chest.

“Who’s Trisha and Rosie?” Said Nox, thinking out loud.

“What? Trisha’s his cheating ex-wife and Rosie is their daughter, well, supposedly–” Snapped the functioning dazzle operator, making operator Jones wail.

Corporal Evans took charge of the dazzle emitter, zip tying Jones’ hands together and passing his MP-7 to Nox. Exotic calibers had come into popular usage due to the nature of mana crystal bullets, before dungeons lead, brass, copper, nitrocellulose (gunpowder), and primers had all been cheap, but now that each bullet had to be constructed from fragments of mined mana crystals, every thousands of a gram came with a measurable expense. Pea shooting calibers like 4.6x30 HK could be used on full auto with remarkably little consumption of mana crystal. Largely due to its bullet being only 4.6 millimeters in diameter, far narrower than the standard 5.56 millimeters of the MK18 rifles, or the 7.62 millimeter battle rifles like Mary-sue’s kalashnikov.

Nox filled the pockets of his cargo pants with MP-7 magazines, and pulled back the charging handle halfway, just far enough to confirm the carbine’s chamber was loaded. He thumbed the Truefire flashlight on, tapping the button repeatedly to cycle the beam onto a mid-powered setting. Then he threw Evans over his shoulder and C4-less backpack.

“I can carry one of you, no more. If you hear a voice that didn’t walk into this tunnel with you, aerate that shapeshifter. Don’t let them talk!” Snapped Nox.

“Yessir!” Echoed back to him, but Nox knew the truth.

These rangers were mostly green, inexperienced, untested. Sure they had completed the army’s ranger school, but what did that even mean? They lacked the determination rangers had become known for, and were beginning to fray under the pressure. They might be experiencing mana sickness, I’ll rotate them out, after we clear this tunnel. Thought Nox.

Corporal Evans proved himself with the dazzler, detecting four dopples in the next five minutes. Each was marked using visible lasers and the rangers collectively gunned them down. Then the voices began. Whispering to the different members with every supplication under the sun. Promises of sex, money, power, or just heartfelt pleas from loved ones. Sons and daughters, or wives all cried out, feigning wounds or injury.

Specialist Jenkins answered them all with hand grenades. The man was silent, jaw wired shut as he hurled grenade after grenade into the darkness, often hitting the crying dopples. Yet no joy shone from his eyes as the dopples died, only an unrelenting ocean of emotionless death. His sorrow and determination impressed Nox, and he found no surprises when Jenkin’s tag read [kill every monster in every dungeon, so no one will lose their pregnant wife again.] .

That settled it, Nox didn’t know what the tags were, but he was certain they showed someone’s subconscious desire. Whether it was their strongest desire or something else, would be something he’d have to explore later. For now he dismissed all tags, deciding only to check them after he got to know someone naturally. Or at least after he had said hello to them. Simply having access to another human beings –sapien or venatorus– was wrong. An intrusion so deep that it made him feel like a pervert who got off reading people’s diaries.

A shriek echoed through the tunnel. Bloody pain and nauseating levels of mana hit Nox, knocking him to his knees. Jones slid off his shoulder, dry heaving and convulsing.

click click click click click click

Six phantasmal clicks echoed through the cavern, infintesimally small noises compared to the shreik that had preceded them, yet they thundered in the silence. Making the five rangers check their shirts. Flashlights wandered, dulling as they fell upon the walls and floor.

“Eyes forward!” Shouted Corporal Evans, guilty re-aiming his own MK18.

[Mana 120% / 100%]

A warning appeared next to Nox’s mana bar,

[mana sickness stage 1] !!! spend mana to delay symptoms!!!

Hey, you’re way more useful than Loki! Thought Nox. But I can’t exactly transform into a dopple to burn mana… The rangers would riddle me full of holes! Mentally cursing the dungeons Nox tried to unlock the minotaur soul, only to receive [insufficient mana].

Without any other choice, Nox stuck his hand inside his shirt, altering it back and forth until his mana bar reached 99% and the warning faded to a blinking yellow.

“Sir are you alright sir? Mana saturation is critical, our badges popping means we’ve reached our daily allowance for mana exposure, SIR WE HAVE GOT TO LEAVE!” Shouted Corporal Evans, fighting to suppress his panic and taking it out on Nox’s hunched over form.

“Shut up!” Snapped Nox, “You’ll be fine. That shriek, it’s probably the boss… Did you come this far just to turn tail and run?”

His words immediately focused the soldiers, dying to mana sickness wasn’t a fate they could stomach. But killing the boss… Well, that would qualify everyone for a promotion, a bonus, and a holiday. And it would prevent the Corps from sanctioning Nox for failing a dungeon.

Ashley caught Nox’s arm, and pulled him onto his feet, exposing his clawed hand to Jones, Ashley, and Corporal Evans. The three of them froze, uncertain of what they were seeing. Out of panic, Nox shifted his hand back to human form.

Which was the worst possible course of action. Evans spun, giving Nox an unobstructed view of his MK18’s barrel, glowing slightly from the blue mana crystal bullet loaded in the chamber. A blue ring of death. Ashley reacted with confusion, but caution, twisting his hand and raising her Mbar.

“Wait! I’ve been with you the whole time!” Shouted Nox.

“Drop the gun.” Ordered Evans.

The Mp-7 clattered to the floor a second later, shattering the aimpoint red dot on it. Nox winced, hoping the Corps wouldn’t charge him for it, and knowing they probably would. What did it matter that the rifle wasn’t his? Or that the military had a dozen replacements waiting back at base? No, sapien laws protected sapiens, at the expense of the venators.

“Would you believe me if I said shapeshifting was my hunter talent?” Asked Nox.

That stopped Ashley in her tracks. And cracked Evans’ patience. He pulled the trigger, sending a mana crystal bullet into Nox’s shoulder. Nox’s heightened senses perceived the bullet faster than any human could, but his body wasn’t conditioned, and reacted slowly. He leaned back, caught by Ashley’s hand. I can’t drag her into the bullet’s path! Thought Nox, reversing direction as he heard the MK18’s metal hammer strike the titanium firing pin. A blue laser appeared in the barrel, zipping through the air towards him. Nox thrust himself forward, pushing Ashley back and taking the bullet full in the cheek. It penetrated his orbital bone, deflecting a few millimeters and swimming through his flesh. The laser exited his face via the earlobe, tearing skin, bone and muscle at once.

HP 55%

Red blood splattered across Ashley’s hand.

“Stop!” She screamed, stepping in front of Evans.

His MK18 barked once more, igniting another laser beam. Instead of hitting Nox, the bullet was aimed at Ashley. Nox felt time slow, he was looking between Ashley’s girls, not out of some perversion, but because that is exactly where he lost sight of the MK18’s muzzle. Ashley’s heart lay between Evans' bullet and Nox.

Mom’s dying, dad is dead, if I lose Ashley I’ll be completely alone.

On reflex he shoved Ashley, making her stagger backwards even as the second bullet pierced her back. It zipped through her skin, striking her left hand ribs at an acute angle and deflecting off them towards Nox. He knew there wasn’t any time left to dodge, and accepted his fate. I’ll be back… And next time I’ll figure out my powers earlier. He thought, bullet entering the left side of his neck.

Bullets move at supersonic speeds, creating a pressure wave that follows behind them. A neutral depiction of this event is referred to as a sonic boom, which is the pressure wave interacting violently with static air. However, this effect persists in soft tissue as well. A discovery Nox made when the bullet caused a pressure wave through his neck, temporarily squishing his esophagus, both carotid arteries, and both jugular veins. He collapsed and his brain shut off for a split second.

Whispers of leaves against concrete echoed through the tunnel. Dozens of dopples sprang from cover, emerging from nearby mana crystal clusters and stalagmites, some were even passing themselves off as the rocky cones. Caught off guard the rangers were outnumbered and on their back foot. A claw raked across Ashley’s face, opening her cheek in four places, but she was a D ranker, and punched the dopple square in the jaw, smashing the mandible hard enough to introduce the dopple’s spine to its front teeth.

Private Rogers throat was torn open, making Nox blink twice as his brain began to function again. One glance at his health bar showed HP 50%, and steady. Whatever the bullet had hit wasn’t fatal, nor was it causing him to bleed. The MP-7 lay near his head, and Nox snatched the weapon just in time to send a burst over Garcia’s shoulder. Twelve rounds buzzed past the ranger and into an oncoming dopple, popping the creature like a condom filled with blue cornstarch.

Around them, rangers and dopples battled, five armed men dwindling to four, then three. Nox was on his feet now, he emptied the rest of his forty round magazine into a nearby dopple, then reloaded dropping the empty magazine into a growing puddle of blue jello as he slammed another magazine into the gun. Hunter basic training guided his hands, and while the MP-7 was a carbine, it was unusually small often called a Personal Defense Weapon (PDW), and loaded more like the 1911 he carried. With the magazine entering the gun via the grip.

Nox’s eyes roved across the tunnel faster than light, eight dopples remained, with two trying to tear apart Ashley and being kept at bay by her D ranked strength. Three rangers remained, Corporal Evans was firing with precision, landing two rounds to each chest, and a third to the head. A mogadishu drill that seemed to inflict sufficient trauma to dismantle the shapeshifters. Garcia was holding his own, but only barely, blasting away with a half dozen rounds for each dopple and even shooting at the puddles of dead dopple. The dazzle operator was pinned under a dopple, wresting the shifting monster and losing.

The dopple on him grew a third arm from it’s chest, little more than a giant three jointed bone, the perfect limb to perforate the operator. Nox shot him first. MP7 barked as a six round burst pewed through dopple goo, showering the operator with gunk that would take weeks to scrub out. Next he shot over Garcia’s head killing two dopples before the bolt locked open.

Simultaneously, Evans’ Mk18 ran empty, and a dopple tackled Garcia. Claws rang against steel armor, narrowly missing his heart. Fearing another fumbled reload, Nox dropped the MP7 and drew his 1911. Five dopples remained, but two were fighting Ashley, he had a window of a half second to gain an advantage over the three dopples. So he emptied the magazine, sending eight rounds into the dopple on top of Garcia. The man screamed as some of the bullets overpenetrated the dopple and entered him.

But pain fueled the ranger, he drew his Mbar and slashed through the dopple’s throat, snarling as the dopple became goo.

Evans’ dropped his rifle, throwing himself headlong into a dopple and drawing his Mbar midair. They traded blows evenly. The dopple fracturing Evans’ arms and clawing open his plate carrier for every slash and thrust Evans’ landed.

An MP-7 roared in the silence, cutting down another dopple. Nox jerked in surprise, confused at where the shots had come from only to notice the dazzle operator crouched and unloading a full forty round magazine into the dissolving creature.

Nox took two steps, one to clear Garcia and the second to juke a stalagmite, and raised his knee. Then gave his best impression of Vinicius Oliveira and aimed his flying knee at the dopple’s ribcage. Feline pupils narrowed as the knee connected, shattering bones and making the dopple scream–

Until Evan’s blade unzipped its throat. Warm breath escaped the opened esophagus, bubbling through suspiciously viscous blue blood. The ribcage wiggled away from Nox, bones melting and reforming as their proper wholeness. Blue blood flowed over the dopple’s throat resealing the wound in seconds.

“On no you fucking DON’T!” Screamed Evans, stabbing the prone dopple a dozen times.

Nox caught the dopple’s arm, sawing through the elbow with his Mbar until the limb came free. Severed from the body, the limb turned to goo, flowing through Nox’s fingers and splashing against the floor. Whatever half formed intelligence belonged to the dopple went insane, thrashing furiously as Evans stabbed it again and again. The dazzle operator joined in, holding the dopple’s shifting limb while Nox brought his mbar down in an overhead hammer blow, driving it’s tip through the dopple’s eye and breaking open its skull with his hunter strength.

It finally dissolved, freeing the last ranger. Just in time for Ashley to tear off her own opponent’s head, ripping it apart with her D ranker strength.

“Show off.” Muttered Nox, his heart fluttering with relief.

“Shut— ah– up…” Said Ashley, gasping for air after the fight.

“You shot me!” Shouted Garcia, trying to use a tourniquet on his leg.

“You shot me first.” Answered Nox, feeling especially bitchy.

His health bar hadn’t moved, but he could feel blood dripping down his neck. Before he could examine the wound Ashley was at his side, using her healing magic.

“No, Ash, I’m fine, help Garcia.” Said Nox, reloading his 1911 and walking away to retrieve the MP-7.

Hopefully he would be able to smuggle the gun back to camp, he was becoming quite fond of it. Well, despite the shattered optic.

“Nox! Your neck is bleeding!” Shouted Ashley, not ready to abandon him.

“Heal me outside.” Snapped Nox, picking up Jones only for the man’s head to remain on the ground, totally severed.

“Well that fuckin figures.” Said Nox.

The team scrambled to recover the wounded, with Nox and Evans keeping a watch over the tunnel while the dazzle operator checked on the bodies of his fallen comrades. Ashley was able to plug Garcia’s bullet holes, but he would need surgery before he could walk unaided.

Diamond scales scraped across stalagmites, cracking several as a serpent appeared near the tunnel’s end. It slithered forward, eyes flicking shut when a flashlight fell upon them. A translucent python, capable of blending into any surrounding approached via a circuitous route, slowly coiling itself forward. The boss had arrived.