The Night of the Living Dead (Open to two)

Isabel, now down an arm, took a moment to regain her composure on the ground. Playing possum, as it were. No, no, she definitely wasn't coming to terms with the incredible pain she was in. She loved pain! Usually... even she had to admit that getting your arm eaten by a giant worm was more than she cared for. Yeah, she was going to take a moment.

The creature used it's signature acid in an attempt to melt the Benighted One- which was simply an amazingly cool code name. This seemed to leave it open wide enough for Big Hands to slam a tree into it. The beast flew backwards at the impact, hitting the building with a loud crash. Damage had been done, but definitely not enough. Not yet at least.

"It's..." Isabel called with a grunt, getting on her shakey feet and holding her missing left arm, "a devouring worm. It will eat and grow endlessly. Unless we destroy it quickly. Luckily, physical attacks still work on the magic creature."

Isabel took a calming breath, focusing her energy to create a large boulder then hurl it at the worm. The worm was fast though, and instead slithered out of the way as the boulder shattered the building. That wasn't good. It started on a course towards Isabel, intent on swallowing her whole this time!

"Deadly work there- awh shite..." Roxxy was proud of herself for a whole few seconds before seeing the worm on the move again. Apparently it had an actually name that sounded like it came from a cheesy video game- she didn't care if its name was Frank! She hated it, and it needed to be "The dead worm." "Time fer me to do what I do best then, and punch the feckin' shit out of it! OI! Leave'er alone!" Roxxy tapped her knuckles together as it dodged Isabel's attack, and proceeded to go after her. Roxxy wasn't having any of that, and if she didn't manage to punch the side of it, she'd go for the tail and try to swing it... well given the situation, there were already angry dead people so what's a few more?

Eating and growing didn't sound like they were aspects associated with the dead. It was possible the giant worm thing wasn't one of the zombies at all. Kiara peeked out from behind the melting house and witnessed Roxxy smash into the side of it. The officer used her massive gauntlets to wrangle with the beast and crash it through some more animate skeletons. The worm writhed back, getting cast off into the air, where it dropped several metres from them amongst ravaged graves.

The shaman came to float beside the zomgirl and the brawler, waiting for a continuation of the onslaught. The devouring worm flexed its body into a barrel roll and plunged its mouth into the earth. Rock and soil disappeared like mulch beneath it, and in five seconds it was gone.

"That's probably bad." Something that ate endlessly. Continuing to grow. Not dealing with it now was an inevitable disaster. But it had given up on them and was fast getting away in search of easier prey, "Uhh. I can catch up. But-" The Benighted One almost tripped on some shattered skeletal remains.

She then used her staff as a lever to help snap free one of the skeleton's ribs. It was still linked in to the necromancy going on around them. Tapping into that magic would likely be dangerous to her. Given that she was, y'know, living and stuff. But it was the only tool she had to use.

She brought it to- Uhh. Isabel. Yeah. She placed the rib against the open arm wound with scant regard for pain caused, "Listen! Using the zombie magic as a path to travel, I'll link you to the worm. And then you use your magic energy to do, uh, gah, a thing. A clever thing. I don't know. We'll figure it out."

Kiara linked Isabel in to the necromancy flying around. At least she was compatible with the stuff. There would probably be other complications she wasn't thinking of here, but that was a tomorrow problem. "Give me a moment!" Without waiting for much input Kiara dropped her staff on the ground and flew down into the hole.

The tunnel wasn't very stable, partially slumped in many areas, leaving barely enough room to get by. Kiara used the purple glow of her magic to light the way, but it was barely sufficient. The noises around her seemed vague, vast, and directionless. But all too soon she had caught up. The flailing muscular back-end of this wriggler blocked her progress further forward.

She held the rib like a dagger and thrust it overarm into the flesh. It bounced off its thick hide, snapping in two. Kiara panicked, unable to find the greater part, left holding a shard that was barely enough to maintain the link. There was no way she could break through the beast's skin.

"I need to stop following omens..." Kiara let the worm inch a few metres away from her before she hit it with an astral blast. The worm felt the short drain on its vitality and began moving faster. In moments it had completed an unholy version of the three-point turn and was facing the other way. Its jaws chomped together, searching for her, dripping acids.

The Benighted One threw the bone shard into its maw and flew back the way she came. The thunder of progress sounded behind her. "AAARRRGGGHHH!!!"

Roxxy seemed to have the firepower to at least put some hurt on the giant beast, but The Benighted One seemed to be lacking in that as the beast started a retreat. Isabel wanted to curse, but fought the urge. Useless, her masked friend was not. As Isabel prepared to shuffle around until stumbling upon the great enemy again, a path lit her way. A short explanation was all she needed from her magical partner to figure out what was happening.

Well, loosely. This stuff was kind of complex.

"Right, I'll have to see if I can't... hold it or something. I just need a minute to think! Distract it!" Isabel pleaded but the small girl was already ahead of her. Oh yes, the way the Benighted One clearly had the hungry terrifying beast on the ropes showed off her expert prowess. The shell of the worm was too thick for the shaman, and the beast was too fast for Big Hands... so the clever idea felt obvious now!

Isabel ran towards the side of the beast with impressive speed. Really, if she had to breathe she'd be gasping for air but this was a benefit to being undead. As the worm closed in on the Benighted One, Isabel used her magic to create a giant black hook. The death magics from the shaman and the zombie seemed to weaken the beast and the giant structure that Isabel created to sit in the ground did its job.

Just like a hooked fish, the work was pulled backwards. "Big hands! The underside! It's weaker!"

Hoping that Isabel was loud enough to get across the field, the worm would be thrashing around. Hooked and anchored for the time being. The weaker underbelly an easy target for the powerful police officer.

To say Roxxy was getting a workout would be very... odd to say given the parts working were cybernetic. But through an unholy marriage of mechanics and biology, Roxxy wouldn't question it if she did start to feel the wear and tear of tussling with the giant worm. But it wasn't dead yet, which was her main objective. "Feckin'hell- oh no ya don'ya fecker!" Roxxy didn't resist the urge to swear, and went in after it with Isabel- something about Mask catching up, whatever.

But it wasn't too long unti they were facing it down once again- only this end was probably infinitely worse to deal with and there wasn't as much room to avoid it- since the bloody thing was so big. The lil living dead girl managed to string it up with what Roxxy was going to simply conclude was magic and call it a day, hooking it like a fish- or in this case like a giant punching bag. "Finally! A punchin'bag big enough fer me!" And with that Roxxy used her cybernetic legs to give her lift, pulling both arms back and combining her legs and the momentum of "punching" out with her arms, went flying into the belly of the beast!

The great worm... popped. For want of a better word. One moment it was a writhing mass of cartilage and muscle, resisting the impact of Roxxy. The next it broke. The hole where Roxxy entered released a current of rancid air. All mass and framework was lost. The skin was the only thing left and the inside was empty. The worm arched in the middle and the mouth began to expel everything which had been consumed. Rock and gravesoil were cast 100 feet into the air like a mud fountain. Eventually Roxxy followed. There was far more inside the worm than the dimensions suggested.

Kiara took cover beneath a statue's plinth as the rockalanche pattered around them. It decimated the construction, and left her dirty and bruised. But she was alive. She slumped against it panting.

And it was at that moment, that Roxxy realized she made a mistake- in exactly the way she was thinking as she burst what may as well have been a septic tank full to bursting. That a gross enough image for you? Well stomach acid flying everywhere that melts seemingly everything isn't much better! Roxxy didn't know which way was up for a moment as she was tossed from the giant worm balloon popping, immediately getting pelted with acid as her other cybnetics informed her that the ground was infront of her. One "FECK!" She swore as she practically landed on her face, hissing with the hissing of stomach acid that she got splattered with as she took cover under the easiest thing she could find- her giant metal arms. Would it be enough? As it turned out, yeah. But as her nanos started to patch up her body from the acid burns, her arms suddenly became... well... they weren't operational to put it simply- what was left of them.