The Great Belligerency [Round 4: Static]

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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Dove ducked behind ‘Lord’ Reinhardt, as the officious vermin dared to represent himself, and came face to face with the barely human mass of insects. Internally he sighed. This extermination was far from optimal, in fact so far one might have described it as something of a clusterfuck. He had underestimated the abilities of the human, and the allegedly human, vermin; his own vendetta against humanity causing him to overlook the nature of this battle, and of his adversaries. These vermin were a far cry from the street vermin he was used to exterminating; living their peaceful boring and above all disrespectful lives, some of them were probably glad to wake up to Dove standing over their bed, vines wrapped around their limbs and the short and painful death that would ensue. He would not catch his opponents unaware, that much was becoming clear.

Cole’s fists connected with Dove’s chest before he even had time to defend himself. The blow was accompanied by a mild electric shock and he fell back against the basement wall, blood trickling down his face, and little breath left in his lungs. His mind was working overtime, making up for the lack of thinking he had been doing as he made his way down here; this battle was theirs. They had all of the advantages, Dove had wandered into this fight half-cocked and arrogant, his only real weapon a bunch of overstretched weeds pulled all the way from the front of the house and through which a debilitating rot was spreading. Dove needed out of this fight right now. He would have this fight on his terms or not have it at all if that was what it took. Cole loomed over him, while the Reinhardt vermin was watching with a smirk on his face; to him his point had been proved, all that remained was to put the traitor out of his misery.

“Humanity…” Dove said, only doing so to remove the triumphant smirk from Reinhardt’s face. “Humanity are blind ants, crawling along the earth. Blind to the damage they do, blind to the pain they inflict, ultimately blind to their own insignificance and fragility. Humanity exists because the planet deigns it so; and one day your planet will deign you to not be worth the effort any more, and it will send someone like me to deal with it; and the species you which hold in such high regard will be wiped clean from the face of the world.” Reinhardt was no longer smirking, his expression would perhaps he better described as one of repulsion and anger.
“If you’re quite finished?” He asked as he strode forwards, before suddenly plummeting to the floor, a thick tangle of weeds having suddenly closed around his feet. As Cole turned to get a better view Dove leapt up punching him in the face. It was not much of a blow, Dove was not used to fighting with his fists, and hoped that he would not have to get used to doing so, but the suddenness made a difference. Cole stumbled back, and Dove pushed past him, leaping into the puddle in the middle of the room. Liquid hands pulled him down into the water and Dove did not protest, wherever this deceptively large puddle led it could hardly be worse than the situation in which he found himself at the moment.