7 Expect the Unexpected

(A/N): This chapter was fun to write.

It has been pointed out to me that I failed to develop the side cast in a meaningful way. And for that I am sorry, I just wanted to get to the important parts of what I wanted to write and neglect the more subtle aspects. I could do one chapter for each side character introducing them, their personalities, and interactions within the team.

Vote Yes

Vote No

It has also come to my attention that I have been doing a lot of "Summaries" so I will try and refrain from them even when a good chunk of time has passed between chaps. For example, in this chap, MC is roughly the same age as the last chap so that is one of the reasons I have not done the dreaded summary.

Some people have also taken literally the part when I wrote that MC changed personalities. That part was pointed out by a child character whose "great change" could be the MC not making as many jokes as he used to. MC is roughly the same, maybe a little more guarded/cold since he lost years' worth of 'social interactions' memories. (Edited out that plot hole)

And for those that think the story is heading towards a goofy MCU direction. It is not, so don't worry about it. The fact that there are "Overwatch" characters doesn't mean the Omnic crisis is bound to happen. If it helps you think of the "fictional" characters as OC's that only share the appearance/name and some aspects of their powers. Their backstory is completely different and they are not bound by their counterpart's paths. For Example, Kurapika in this story is willing to kill and steal from innocents for his own interest, something that his counterpart from HxH would NEVER do. (Edited the previous chapter to provide an explanation by MC)

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It was a Friday on the thirteen's of May. It was already dark; only the full moon shone above the sky, faintly illuminating the area around the forest. Among the shadows of the tree, a lone tall humanoid figure could be seen walking towards a lone cabin. As the leaves rustled and the wind picked up, some of the moonlight shone over the figure.

The approaching figure appeared to be a tall, pale thick-skinned humanoid with terror-inducing features. Slight-mouthed, glowing red eyes, slight for nose, unnaturally elongated arms with sharp claws, hairless, and a face devoid of warmth or emotion. This figure provoked a feeling of dread in all who gazed upon it. It walked with a purpose, there was a certain swag to it. Upon closer inspection, its movements appeared haggardly, as if it was tired and unfaced as it closed in at the cabin.

At the cabin's porch, a lone figure could be seen leaning against the wood; while gazing intensely at the 'thing'. He was a tall man, with all his body covered in camouflage theme armor. No defining feature was visible, his helmet resembled that of a bikers and his body appeared like that of a peak athlete. On one hand, he held his customized shard-releasing handgun pointing down, while on the other he held a book.

As the creature came closer the man lazily tossed the book towards some nearby grass and reached for the shotgun that was leaning on the wall beside him. Then he approached the 'thing' that now looked injured. When inspecting it he noted 'Its' hands had traces of blood and guts while its left arm looked damaged. He concluded that 'it' must have been involved in a recent conflict.

Now both stood at a standstill; 30 meters from each other, man and monster stood. Gazing at each other, looking for any sign of conflict. A cold wind shook the trees and chilled the environment, the nearby animals retreated while the moon illuminated the soon-to-be battlefield.

While both of them were on a movie-like standoff the creature surprised him when it spoke in a guttural voice and said "What are you waiting for Chief" while readying itself for the imminent conflict.

Chief raised his eyebrow, surprised that 'it' knew how to speak and more so how it knew his code name. He concluded that this abomination of nature must be one of his targets for tonight.

Chief while given a mission often was given a description of his target's abilities and appearance. On occasion, he would omit the appearance debrief to spice things up. After all, life is nothing without surprises. Yeah, he was quite surprised right now. He has yet to find anyone or anything more monstrous than this 'thing'.

"I was under the impression that there were going to be five of you, not only one. What's up with that?" Chief said while turning the safety lock of his weapons off.

"I know of your reputation Chief, I could not allow you to hurt them like that. So I decided to give them a merciful death myself. I even burned their bodies, so the Association has nothing to find. After all, people don't care how the job is done; they care that it is done." said Cthulu while elongating his nails and teeth.

"That's a new low, even for a villain... Question, How long do you want to prolong your death?" asked Chief while raising his loaded guns towards the 'thing'. He was one of the few Heroes that was allowed to kill villains that he deemed went too far.

"Long enough for me to kill you!" Cthulu said as he charged towards his opponent; just like that, the battle started.

Chief in response to Cthulu's sudden movement, unloaded a rain of bullets from his shotgun. Cthulu evaded some of them by contorting his body unnaturally while others hit his thick skin, barely leaving marks. He then propelled his nails towards Chief's armor joint cavities. In the nick of time Chief evaded his attempts.

Chief shot and shot but no bullets appeared to penetrate his opponent's skin. Seeing that he was ammo was decreasing at a fast pace, he quickly placed his shotgun on his back strapped his gun to his waist, and resolved to engage with his enemy in close quarters.

Cthulu lounged towards Chief's neck cavity, gently ripping the fabric apart while grazing his skin. When he felt the razor-sharp nails grace his skin Chief's adrenaline finally kicked in. He began launching kicks and punches, parrying Cthulu's own. Blow after blow; both contestants were fighting to the death. One punch here, one kick there; both opponents were landing some blows on each other, but no significant damage was done.

Chief then stepped back creating some distance between them and threw a knife towards the creature's joint. Cthulu, expecting this avoided the knife while jumping in the air in an attempt to close the gap between them. As he was dropping down he went for an ax kick, gunning for Chief's head. Chief sidestepped and in a fluent motion turned his body, reaching for the knife on his waist. The momentum made his moment carry a lot of force, making the knife stab Cthulu deeply in his right arm joint.

A knife was lodged in Cthulu's right hand lower joint making it unusable. While a lesser man would have wailed, Cthulu knew that he had an opening. In a fraction of a second, he gyrated his body in a grotesque way while jabbing his left-hand nail into Chief's upper right arm chest cavity; ripping the fabric while successfully penetrating his joint.

At that moment, Chief using his left hand, reached for his handgun and shot Cthulu. Being so close up, Cthulu couldn't avoid the bullets entirely, so he evaded some, but ultimately his skin was penetrated. More specifically, his head, a bullet penetrated where his cheek was. Not wanting to waste the brief moment opening, Cthulu swung his nails towards Chief's upper left arm chest cavity ripping the fabric but not being able to penetrate his joints due to Chief firing his shotgun again.

The bullets, landed all over Cthulu's body, penetrating parts of it. Both opponents jumped back to create more distance and assess their opponent. The fight was evenly matched, meaning it could go either way.

"You are pretty good for a villain" said Chief warily while gazing at his opponent's injuries.

"A villain, you say?" replied Cthulu with unconcealed disdain.

"Are you not? You have your comrades' blood over you. And you are awful familiar with those nails of yours. You are no 'Rookie'. Who trained you?" Chief responded in a cautious but curious tone.

"Do you really want to know, or are you stalling?" Cthulu stated with a bored tone, since making pointless talk was one of the oldest tricks in the book.

"Both really, I am just surprised. If the Association had called anyone else, they would have died" Chief said while reloading both his guns. Chief didn't give praises often, the fact that he did was a testament to the prowess of the villain's skills and the threat he posed.

"The Association trained me" Cthulu drily stated while elongating his nails once more readying himself for battle.

"The Association...If that is your attempt at a joke, it's not working" Chief said, believing that the villain was lying.

"If the Association was not involved with me, how did they tip you off exactly where and when I would be then, and why call for you specifically. After all, you yourself said it, anyone else would have died by now" said Cthulu with mirth, amused at the fact that this hero was so naive.

"Enough talking, I have deemed you worth dirtying my hands over. You are too dangerous to be left to roam this earth unchecked" replied Chief while raising his left hand holding a shotgun.

"I am ready when you are Chief" Cthulu replied mockingly prepared for the final clash.

Chief then threw the gun high in the air sprinting towards Cthulu at a lightning-fast speed. As he reached his unaware opponent, he unfastened his knife and threw it towards Cthulu's injured joint. The unexpected pain jolted Cthulu's reflexes, narrowly avoiding Chief's well-timed attempt at a head stab.

As he bent his neck, avoiding the knife by a hair's length, Cthulu was able to see the falling shotgun and catch a glimpse at Chief jumping in the air to retrieve it.

Seconds, this exchange occurred in the span of three seconds. Cthulu was able to piece together Chief's move and prepare accordingly. Just as his opponent fired his gun, Cthulu morphed his head into a bottlecap avoiding what otherwise would have ended him.

'Fuck, I only have two shells left' Chief thought as gravity pulled him down.

Cthulu hadn't revealed one of his secret moves, he had the ability to morph his extremities into weapons, but it took quite a lot of energy and concentration out of him. He figured that this would be as good a time as any to try his "sniper shot".

As Chief was falling down in a predictable trajectory, he vaguely lowered his guard. He expected his opponent to have shown all his cards at this point since who would subject themselves to the amount of pain his opponent appeared to be suffering while still holding back. Bleeding from everywhere, having one arm unusable and the other damaged. Even with all that damage, his enemy proved to be a challenge. If anything he respected him. After all he respected individuals that had exceptional mettle/conviction which his opponent had in spades.

Chief's tension skyrocketed when from where he was falling saw his opponent morph his left arm into a sniper rifle and point it at him. That kind of weapon in the right hands could cripple him in one shot.

Struggling with the pain, Cthulu raised his 'left arm' with one eye closed and another open he was locking on his target. The moon shone, and the wind blew, Cthulu made his shot.

The bullet left his "arm" and propelled directly towards Chief's upper diaphragm. That spot was not that protected having only the fabric that held his chest plate together. Cthulu chose this spot for two reasons. First, he had been chipping away at the armor's fabric since the start of the fight in order for his chest plate to "fall off" for a final attack. Second, if the bullet impacted where he wanted, Chief would probably die. Sadly, he expected his opponent to be able to slightly dodge the bullet so he was banking for the fabrics to be ripped.

In less than a second Chief turned his body 90 degrees, avoiding a fatal shot but nevertheless accomplishing Cthulu's main objective. Finally landing on the ground, Chief was in a bad situation. His chest plate had fallen off, leaving him unprotected against his opponent. His opponent is too skilled for him to be able to win this without taking damage.

"How do you feel now that you don't have that annoying armor protecting you?... Huh, Cat got your tongue Chief?" Cthulu was taunting his enemy. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but the art of taunting was always amusing.

After some seconds, Chief asked "What is your name villain" asking the name of one of the most troublesome enemies he has ever faced.

He respected strength, and his opponent was able to put even him in a precarious situation. He has been a Pro Hero for almost 30 years, has lived through a lot of situations, and has even been on the verge of death several times. Amusingly he has never felt more alive than now. Fighting an equal is exhilarating and worth remembering, so he wished to attach a name to that memory.

"Cthulu" said his opponent with a tone of finality. He was growing tired of prolonging the fight.

"Let's finish this Chief!!" Cthulu was running out of 'morphing energy' so he relied on his elongated nails for his final attack.

Cthulu charged towards Chief, successfully penetrating Chief's torso. He was gunning for his hearth, but it wasn't where it normally would be. Chief raised his shotgun, and from point-blank range, he unleashed his second to last shell in Cthulu's head. Being so close and out of energy, Cthulu could only receive the damage.

Cthulu blood erupted from his skull and fell on his back to the floor. His nails unlatching from Chief's torso as he fell to the ground. Moments later, a pool of blood surrounded Cthulu's body.

"I hate when I encounter the fucking 'irregulars'" said Chtulu with both pain and amusement in his voice.

Chief laboriously approached Cthulu while positioning the shotgun above Cthulu's head.

"Any last words?" Chief said, wanting the enemy that provided him with such a glorious battle to at least have that dignity.

Cthulu chuckled and said "Always Expect the Unexpected"

(Bam) The shotgun fires on Cthulu's skull, apparently killing him.

Chief then drags and throws the body several hundred meters towards the nearest large body of water, which in this case is a river. He was told to discard the body in the best way he saw fit, so he thought that having his enemy float Viking-style was fitting.

He left and never turned back believing he had won that encounter, but strangely his enemy's words still plagued his thoughts.

(Always Expect the Unexpected)