Ben can tell that this thing is bad news from the moment it appears. You don't have to have whatever Cole's powers are to see the way the crystal has warped and distorted whoever the person used to be - a long long time ago from the looks of how wrecked their once-human shape is. It's giving off light and heat; Ben can see it shimmering in the air around it.
He freezes in place, and for one moment there is nothing but blind, full-body terror. He doesn't want to be here, he never wants to be here, why hadn't he run in the opposite direction? Why is he always letting himself get talked into going on the front line? His whole life it has been this, and nothing has changed at all.
But then Cole is speaking - pleading, really - saying how much suffering this monster is in and imploring Ben to end it. Ben's breaths are harsh over the communicators in the radiation suits, heart racing as Cole moves out from in between him and the thing he needs to kill. Training kicks in, and Ben braces himself for the pain as he throws open the portal. It doesn't help, of course. It never has. But it's a familiar agony, and Ben has to spend all his attention trying to control them as they come pouring out of him, ravenous and hateful. He doesn't think he's just forgotten how bad it was; all those years without Ben to use them, to let them out, has left his friends from the other side more vicious than ever. It's all he can do to point them in the direction of the behemoth, and the rest, they take care of. There is a struggle, and Ben can feel it when the monster cuts the tip off one of the tentacles with its club. It falls to the ground with a wet thud and is trampled underfoot as even more tentacles shoot through, wrestling with their opponent.
Ben knows it is all over as soon as they get a good grip. There's that awful moment of anticipation, and then they are pulling the creature apart, limb from limb. The radiation suit, at least, keeps any of the blood (which looks strange and rotted) from getting on Ben as it splashes in all directions. He lets them keep going, ripping at the remaining hunks of monsters until Ben is sure it is dead. Then he forces them back, inside himself and through, and slams the portal shut.
He only realizes, then, that he'd been screaming. Maybe the whole time, he's not sure. But he's light-headed and his throat feels raw. Awfully, the tattered pieces that are left of the behemoth do not immediately disappear, the way that the statue's head did. Neither does the severed bit of tentacle, which is coiling, half-mashed, in the dust.
Ben twists around to check that Cole is okay, wiping some of the gore from the face shield of the radiation suit so that he can see better. He really hopes these things can be washed thoroughly...
cw for gore
He freezes in place, and for one moment there is nothing but blind, full-body terror. He doesn't want to be here, he never wants to be here, why hadn't he run in the opposite direction? Why is he always letting himself get talked into going on the front line? His whole life it has been this, and nothing has changed at all.
But then Cole is speaking - pleading, really - saying how much suffering this monster is in and imploring Ben to end it. Ben's breaths are harsh over the communicators in the radiation suits, heart racing as Cole moves out from in between him and the thing he needs to kill. Training kicks in, and Ben braces himself for the pain as he throws open the portal. It doesn't help, of course. It never has. But it's a familiar agony, and Ben has to spend all his attention trying to control them as they come pouring out of him, ravenous and hateful. He doesn't think he's just forgotten how bad it was; all those years without Ben to use them, to let them out, has left his friends from the other side more vicious than ever. It's all he can do to point them in the direction of the behemoth, and the rest, they take care of. There is a struggle, and Ben can feel it when the monster cuts the tip off one of the tentacles with its club. It falls to the ground with a wet thud and is trampled underfoot as even more tentacles shoot through, wrestling with their opponent.
Ben knows it is all over as soon as they get a good grip. There's that awful moment of anticipation, and then they are pulling the creature apart, limb from limb. The radiation suit, at least, keeps any of the blood (which looks strange and rotted) from getting on Ben as it splashes in all directions. He lets them keep going, ripping at the remaining hunks of monsters until Ben is sure it is dead. Then he forces them back, inside himself and through, and slams the portal shut.
He only realizes, then, that he'd been screaming. Maybe the whole time, he's not sure. But he's light-headed and his throat feels raw. Awfully, the tattered pieces that are left of the behemoth do not immediately disappear, the way that the statue's head did. Neither does the severed bit of tentacle, which is coiling, half-mashed, in the dust.
Ben twists around to check that Cole is okay, wiping some of the gore from the face shield of the radiation suit so that he can see better. He really hopes these things can be washed thoroughly...