Iseult staggered to me from the room.

“What is the situation?”

“Check it yourself.”

I gestured to the charging Squat. Its tentacles swept the ground to keep us from evading beneath it. Silly Squat, kicks are for trids. As it neared, I shifted Iseult and myself into the wake of destruction.

The monster screeched, its voice taking on a wavering pitch as if it was going through puberty. It turned back and bounded for us. How many times did I have to teach you this lesson, old man?

Oh, it did learn. Instead of charging through us, it skidded to a halt and attacked us with its innumerable tentacles. They whipped around without regard for walls. At this point, the ceiling should have buckled. They must have made this lab super sturdy or something. Props to the engineers.

Tentacles whipped at us with reckless abandon. I pretended to dodge, but in actuality, I redirected the tentacles with teleportation. I had to look good for my man. He certainly looked like a tall glass of water as he slipped through the tentacle rush. His injured shoulder didn’t slow him at all.

He slid out two semi-automatic handguns and barraged the Squat with all his power. As expected, the bullets bounced off. Even the eyes on its back deflected projectiles with a clear hard shell.

Its regular eyes didn’t share the same defence. A bullet struck its left eye causing it to scream in anguish. From then on, it protected its face with a tentacle. Iseult clicked his tongue and traded the guns for knives. These fared better against the Squat’s tentacles, but they couldn’t cut deep.

“We need to stop this fucking beast.”

“Hey, that’s a derogatory term. He prefers to be called a Squat.”

“Squat?”

“Squid cat.”

A tentacle brushed past Iseult’s face in his stunned disbelief. A few tense seconds of dodging passed before he answered again.

“I think those shitty Genewall peons controlled the beast.”

“No duh, Sherlock. What gave you that idea?”

He glared at me.

“Therefore, we should also have some means of controlling it.”

The commander guy did reach for his waist when the Squat didn’t listen to his commands.

“It’s probably an item.”

“Perfect. We need to search their shit for said item.”

“The Squat crushed their stuff.”

Iseult paused. Iseult.exe rebooting. Error—he couldn’t comprehend my vast wisdom.

“What?”

“Yeah, it freaked out and hopped all over the place when I stole its food. Imagine that orange kitten from the award-winning film Aristocats, first movie of the titular Aristocats film series.”

“And you did not think to save their gear?”

I hemmed and hawed.

“Hey, it’s not mine.”

He groaned.

“Right. That plan is fucked.”

The Squat evidently didn’t enjoy our conversation. Its jaw unhinged, revealing its immaculate rows of teeth in their full glory. The Squat’s throat undulated, vibrations rippling down its body. Oh no, hairball time. Better leave the splash zone.

“Mis… ter. Can we… play now?”

Well, that was creepy. It spoke. Was there a human in there, too? The tentacle woman from the first Genewall building, was this her? Tombo… I’d need to give him a stern talking to. This was not okay.

“Where… am I? I want….”

Iseult seemed shaken. He failed to dodge a tentacle. It slammed into him and he spun through the air, but I caught him before he hit the ground. Tentacles washed by us as if an invisible umbrella parted the rain of blows. Iseult coughed as I held him.

“Ugh, you could have stopped those fucking tentacles at any time?”

“I wanted to look cool.”

He scoffed.

“For your Youtube channel?”

“For you.”

Iseult grunted and glanced away. Oh, was that a blush. Cute. As his vision passed over the Squat, he returned to his serious self. Iseult staggered to his feet. He’d lost a lot of blood from his untreated gunshot wound, and the hit to his chest further winded him. He looked ready to charge the monster, so I held him back.

“We should take a rain check on looking for your partner. You need to get treated.”

“No, I am fine. I can fucking do this.”

“Please don’t force yourself. It hurts to see you injured.”

He wrenched away.

“I am fine.”

Iseult flew at the Squat and snaked out two fully automatic handguns. While he let loose, I misdirected the tentacled mess seeking his life. Seriously, this guy couldn’t do anything without me.

He bounced through rubble and kicked off stray tentacles to build speed. The monster charged toward him, jaw unhinged. Iseult materialized before the Squat’s face and used his momentum to impale the monster’s eyes with hidden daggers. The creature howled in pain, its back eyes all shifting to glare death at him.

“That’s close enough, Iseult. I have a hard time influencing such a large space.”

Iseult tangled with the tentacle forest, bombarding the Squat’s back with bullets and slipping behind it. Shooting it up the butt, huh? Good plan but no dice. Bullets made the Squat madder.

The monster flipped around and chased after Iseult. He glided from the Squat’s reach while shooting its face. The monster rushed, walls collapsing like Jenga blocks as it passed. I’d need to move the scientists if their struggle went too far.

It jumped at Iseult, but I shoved it to the side. Instead of its intended target, the Squat gnawed on a vent. Chemical vials shattered in its mouth causing it to scream in pain. Oh, weakness get?

It shifted half its eyes toward me, but before it could move, the building released a horrible groan. Oh no. Engineers, don’t fail me now.