THE KING OF THE CONVENIENCE STORE

Several casualties. Elise had been called into this situation - a Chimera at some nearby store, wreaking havoc. As the CERCNA team slowly pulled up to the location, they struggled into their headset and crept quietly towards the door. There would be several people watching them, waiting, but none would be directly supporting them - perhaps from whispering distracting-at-best nothings into their ears.

They walked in confidently; no weakness was allowed in this sort of situation. Elise walked through the doorway, and they could already feel the burning stare of a creature far, far more powerful than them.

The store was completely cleared - all shelves, tables, holding containers and otherwise were all piled into the far end of the inside of the building. And at the top of the pile, there was a Chimera, staring at her with piercing yellow eyes.

It was perhaps the same length of an elephant, but far longer in length. Its features still held some resemblance to the human that it had once been - a stretched, hairless face with forward-facing eyes that were far too calculating for Elise’s liking. This Chimera was reminiscent of a sphinx or manticore; its body, somewhat recognizably human, outstretched into form that, although alien, reminded Elise of a big cat. So did the expression on its face. Its cracked, thin, bloody lips - muzzle, maybe? - stretched into a smile. Its canines were large, its gums still red and weeping from the transformation.

Elise’s slight frown deepened as the Chimera locked eyes with them; no matter how terrifying, how physically imposing they may be, they had progressed far past the point of being shaken when one directed its attention at them. It was almost a honor, really, at this point. For both Elise and the creature.

With one hand, they presented their CERCNA badge, small, glimmering and golden, to the creature almost a whole room’s-length away from them. If they were still human, Elise would’ve doubted that their vision could distinctly pick up the badge in their field of view. But they knew that the Chimera could see the badge, and know what it meant.

“Good morning,” they said. There was no use besting around the bush here - they both knew what was going to happen. “At the end of this encounter, you will be dead, as per CERCNA guidelines. I suggest you let me do my work, as regardless, the end result will be your death.” Copy-and-paste from the script.

“Good morning,” it said, its face still twisted in a wide, hideous smile. “I know that there was to be a meeting between the two of us, but I wasn’t aware that you would come so early.” It took a moment to regard them, its fierce toadlike eyes baring into their own soul. A pregnant pause.

Elise refused to speak, and just stared right back at it, their arms back on their sides. Was it expecting to catch them on an awkward moment of silence? Surely not. These were elementary-level tactics at play here.

Its voice could almost be recognized as human. Perhaps to another barely paying attention, they could mistake it for a regular person. But its own vocals, the own spirit of its false tongue masquerading as a human tongue, were awkward, like an AI voice translating a complex paragraph into speech.