Aria Blaze lunged away from the moving pile of branches and sticks, holding the rifles ahead of her. As she hit the ground, Aria learned two things. The first and biggest was that even though the suit was supposedly bulletproof, she could still feel impacts against her body. She could feel the rocks slamming into her as she landed on them, likely leaving at least one bruise. The second was that the inner lining of her pants pockets were not so resistant. Pain exploded through her leg as the wooden claw cut through the lining into her thigh.
Dropping one rifle, Aria turned over, bringing the other up to her shoulder as she pointed it at the creature.
What she had mistaken for a pile of branches, sticks, and leaves now looked like a wolf. Like someone took a bunch of pieces of raw wood and worked it into that shape. Sickly yellow light glowed from where eyes would have been, and Aria was sure that they were looking right at her. Wooden jaws opened to reveal "teeth" made from dozens of short, thick, sharpened teeth. A very wolf-like growl emanated from the throat. One large wooden foot stepped forward.
Aria pointed the gun at the creature's face and pulled the trigger.
The trigger did not move.
"Shit," Aria whispered to herself. Taking her eyes off the wooden wolf, she looked down at the rifle to try and figure out what had gone wrong.
Cursing at her own stupidity, she turned off the safety, brought the gun back up, and pulled the trigger once more.
There was a puff of air and a yelp from timber beast. Its head tilted as the yellow eyes focused on the dart sticking out of its nose, the back end covered in a bright red feather.
"Oh, fuck me with a baseball bat!" Aria cried out.
The creature let out a snarl, and lunged.
Turning the weapon sideways, Aria held it up and thrust it forward, slamming it into the monster's open mouth.
"That wasn't an invitation!" she snarled.
The wolf let out a snarl and pushed forward, snapping its jaws. It had a breath, and it smelled like vegetation rotting on a humid summer day. Amber sap dripped from its open mouth like drool, landing on Aria's face.
With a twist of her body, Aria put as much of her strength as she could into kicking the creature. There was a loud thump as the toe slammed into wood.
The monster did not even notice.
Releasing her grip on the barrel, Aria pulled her hand back as far as she could, and punched the wooden wolf in the face. She felt her bare knuckles strike the wood, hitting it in the cheek just below the eye. The wolf did not even flinch. Instead it bit down harder and yanked its head back, pulling the rifle from Aria's grasp, and shook it with a snarl.
While it was busy doing that, Aria grabbed the hunting rifle. Her finger flicked over the safety, turning it off as she brought the weapon up. The tip of the barrel pressed directly against the wood of the creature's face.
Aria pulled the trigger.
The thunder-crack of gunfire filled the air. The wooden wolf let out an unheard yelp as the bullet struck the cheek, making it splinter apart. It gave a shake of its head, then reached up with one paw to rub at the shattered spot.
Aria pulled back the bolt to reload, aimed, and pulled the trigger again. The next shot missed the head, but slammed into the creature's shoulder. The third missed completely. The fourth somehow managed to strike one of the hind legs, causing the wooden animal to fall onto its backside.
With a push of her elbow, Aria sat up. Reloading one last time, she brought the barrel up under the wolf's jaw and pulled the trigger.
The head exploded in a spray of splinters and shattered wood.
Dropping the gun, Aria flopped backwards onto the ground. She stared up at the what she could see of the sky, panting. Her heart pounded in her chest, slamming against the inside of ribs until they ached. Her ears rang with the echo of gunfire.
Pharynx appeared, looking down at her.
"What happened?" he asked.
Aria held up a finger.
"First," -- she pointed a finger at him -- "fuck you. 'Not a horror movie' my ass! Second," -- she pointed at where she thought the pile of wood was -- "that was our target. Shortly after you entered the cave, it came to life and attacked me. So I had to fight it off."
"So it's dead?"
Aria shifted to glare at him.
"How the fuck should I know?" she snapped. "I'm not an Equestrian magic theorist or whatever they would call themselves. I don't even know if the thing was actually alive or just..."
The words stopped, but her mind kept going, working through numerous possibilities. Aria sat up, staring at the pile as one particular possibility stuck in her mind. After a few seconds of it playing over and over, she stood up and walk to the pile.
"Grab a piece," she yelled. "Take it away from the rest. Toss it in the cave or something."
Grabbing one of the leg pieces, she carried it over to the river and tossed it in. A grin spread across her face at the splash, and she watched as the massive piece of wood floated away.
Pharynx walked around to the other side of the wood pile, staring down at it.
"Why would I want to do that?"
"Because we don't know if it's dead!" Aria snapped. Her brow furrowed as she walked toward the remains again. "Not even sure if it was actually alive in the first place." she picked up one of the other legs. "So, it might be dead, OR it might be recharging its energy so it can rebuild itself."
Another leg was thrown into the river with a splash and floated away. As she stood there, a fresh twinge of pain reminded Aria of what had happened to her thigh, and what had caused it. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the now blood-stained claw, and tossed it in as well.
"Which it may not be able to do if the parts or too scattered," Pharynx finished. Giving a nod, he picked up several pieces and carried them to the cave.
As she pulled a large part of what had been the chest off, Aria caught sight of it.
A heart.
Like the rest of the creature, it was made of wood, but nowhere near as crude. It was a single piece of dark wood, carved into the perfect shape of a heart. Not the symbolic heart, with its twin rounded tops and pointed bottom end. It was an anatomical heart. There were even noticeable veins across the surface of it. A glow that matched the creature's eyes now came from the openings for the arteries, shining from deep inside the heart's chambers.
"I think I found the focus," she blurted out.
"Take off your jacket, and wrap it around that," Pharynx said. "Hold it close and casual, like you took it off because it was too hot and you didn't want to wear it any more. Look as sore and tired as you possibly can, and don't say anything."
Aria turned to look at him, curiously.
"Hurry!" he snapped.
Aria quickly took off her suit jacket and wrapped it around the heart. Next, she undid her tie, but did not take it off, letting it hang around her neck. With that done, she was able to undo the top buttons of her shirt, opening it to just above her bra.
As for looking sore and tired, that was all too easy. The adrenaline of the battle with the monster had pretty much worn off. It left her feeling worn out and tired. Between the pounding of her heart on the inside, and impact of the rocks on the outside, Aria's chest and back ached to the ribs. Her limbs felt like boiled rubber. The gouge in her thigh throbbed in time with her heartbeat.
A wound that reminded her of its existence as she moved to stand up.
Pharynx picked up the two dropped rifles and gave them back to her. The two of them started walking, making their way along the shore and back the way they had come. It was at a slower pace, one that Aria was being allowed to set. Pharynx kept close, walking beside her when there was enough space, and behind there when there was not. She was also pretty sure that he had been looking at her leg multiple times.
Aria tried to keep her mind in the present, and on making it to the car. In a way, it was kind of interesting. Because of how sore and tired she was, she was forced to go slower as she walked through the forest. With that walk, memories of the past pushed at her mind. Those past memories, combined with her most recent experiences, made her want to do nothing more than get out of the forest as fast as possible. If she did try to go faster, however, it would just wear her out faster and make her hurt more, forcing her to go slower.
If there was some sort of Equestria deity, Aria was sure that it would be watching, and laughing.
At some point after they had gotten back to sloping sides instead of a canyon-like groove, but before they had reached the point where they had come down to the river, Aria caught sight of two others.
"Remember what I told you," Pharynx said, not looking at her.
As they got closer, Aria was able to make out more of the other two. Both of them were dressed in black suits like her and Pharynx. In the classic comedy duo pairing, one of them was tall and thin, while the other was short and fat. The tall one had dark, wine-red skin and deep red hair, while the shorter was so dark and light in grey it was almost black and white.
Pharynx said something, but it was too soft for Aria to catch it.
"Pharynx!" the shorter one called out, waving a hand. "Hey, Pharynx!" The voice was masculine, and there was a hint of a lisp. "How are ya?"
"Grubber," Pharynx stated flatly. His head then turned slightly and eyes narrowed. "Shadow."
"Pharynx," the taller one said in a feminine voice. The woman, "Shadow," quickly turned toward Aria -- letting her catch the blue eyes, and scar running from brow to cheek -- looked her up and down, and then turned away again. Aria had just been dismissed, and it pissed her off. She found enough strength to clench a hand into a fist, even if it felt like every muscle in her arm had to be forced into movement.
"We were just leaving," Pharynx said as he took a step forward. "Move."
There was a glint as Tempest Shadow held up her left hand. Except it was not a left hand. At least, not a real one. It was white, and shiny, like highly polished ceramic. A light of some kind came from it, but it was too hard to make out in the sunlight.
Pharynx took a step back, glaring at the hand.
"We heard the sound of gunfire from this direction," Shadow stated. "Do you know anything about it?"
A second passed. Two. Three.
"And why should I be inclined to answer any of your questions?" Pharynx growled out.
When no answer came, he pushed past the two and walked on.
Aria followed after him. Once past, she had to resist the urge not to look back at them. Because, as Adagio pointed out multiple times, "That would ruin the dramatic exit." Plus, it could be seen as a sign of weakness, something that gives the person being looked at an advantage.
It was a bit difficult, though. There was a story here. And it looked to be an interesting one. One that seemed to involve Pharynx and Tempest Shadow.
As it turned out, whatever the story was, she was not getting any time soon. At least, not from him. He did not say a single word, did not even look at her, all the way to back to the SUV. Once there, what he said was not to her, the phone as he called headquarters.
"We have intercepted the rival agents," he announced. "They are Grubber and Tempest Shadow of SCOWL."
He did not say anything more on the drive back.