Gregor stood in front of the flailing chimera surprised. He had just grabbed the goat by its beard and yanked it to the side, trying to change the aim of the beam away from the people. Unexpectedly, he had managed to deal with one of the chimera's heads at the same time.
He had already planned to deal with the chimera, the thing was far to dangerous to leave on Earth. The only reason he had pushed back against the general was because of his overbearing attitude, something Gregor would no longer be putting up with, from anyone.
Gregor moved toward the chimera to finish it off. It had been struggling to stand, slowly adapting to having only the 2 minds, but was now fully on its feet. The goat and snake bleated and hissed angrily, the chimera charging towards Gregor, any previous sense of caution lost with the lion. Confident in his ability to overpower the beast now, Gregor also picked up speed, leading to a thunderous clash.
The chimera slammed both paws at Gregor which he dodge backwards, before turning himself into a human rocket and launching at one of the chimera's knees. It's right foreleg buckled with a sickening crack, the chimera crying out in pain. Gregor climbed the beast in less than a second and approached the goats head. He threw a punch at its neck, stopping the pained bleating and forcing its head to drop. Gregor leapt into the air to land on the goats head and strike a killing blow to the brain when he was snatched out of the air.
The snake had caught him in a moment of carelessness, flinging Gregor down into the pavement below. His impact shattered the street around him, and he could feel the gaping wound in his stomach. He had long since developed an immunity to poisons, but this particular kind was corrosive, eating away at his organs and delaying his recovery. Regardless, he stood to face the beast again, the goat still shaking off the throat punch and the snake eyeing him warily from a distance. The chimera seemed to be backing towards the portal, trying to escape.
Gregor was in no hurry to fight the beast if it was going to run away, but when he say that the rift was no longer flooding and back to its original size he new that this fight was to the death. He began running at the beast, stopping just short of the creature before quickly dodging to the side, narrowly avoiding the snake. Before it could recoil, Gregor flattened his fingers and struck both hands into the snakes neck, sinking in until he could feel the snake's bones, grabbing them. He then began to pull, attempting to pull the entire snake out of the chimera by its spine, the snake hissing and writhing in pain. Gregor stomped his feet into the ground, bracing against the chaotic movement of the snake.
Not seeing any results other than the beasts pain, Gregor changed tactics. He pulled his right arm out of the snake before punching its neck above the joint of the vertebrae his left still held. He rained down blows, continuously hitting the same spot. Eventually the snake's scales in that spot started to crack, followed by its flesh tearing open. Gregor continued to hit the beast, the flesh tearing more and more until all Gregor was hitting was air. The snake's head dangled from the rest of its body, barely connected by a scarp of skin and tendon.
Gregor grabbed the hanging head and finished ripping it off the chimera for good measure, tossing the head away behind him. The chimera lay on the ground, it's legs occasionally twitching as the final head's tongue hung out of its mouth, one mind completely incapable of handling the bodies functions.
Gregor approached the beast to end it. He struck once in the center of its forehead, shattering its skull, before ripping open its head and turning its brain into paste, ending any chance of its survival. He emerged from the skull covered head to toe in blood and brain. Stumbling slightly, he made his way back towards the line of people near the barricade. At first he could not hear, but as Gregor got closer he heard cheers from the defenders, smiling slightly to himself. He had never been cheered before.
Gregor stopped and closed his eyes to enjoy the feeling for a moment, unaware that a brief second was all it took for his exhaustion to take hold. He dropped to the ground, the defenders rushing to his side.
General Willard Hunt arrived next to the passed out Gregor and looked down on him. He didn't like the man's attitude, and definitely didn't appreciate being tossed at the chimera like that. He would teach this man the meaning of respect, but until then he had to make sure he didn't die.
"Get him to the infirmary," Hunt said, "and tell Barle to run his DNA, I want to know who he is!"
------
Gregor awoke to an acoustic tile ceiling and the various noises of medical equipment all around. The panic he initially felt instantly subsiding as he remembered he was no long in the Hell Rift. He looked down and noticed he was wearing a hospital gown, a welcome sight considering the last of his clothes had disintegrated over a year ago, and had been in the nude since.
He looked around and saw good sized medical room, with 20 full beds. Most of those on beds were asleep, only a few kept awake by their wounds, softly moaning in pain, drifting in and out of consciousness. Gregor saw through a nearby window that it was night now, though he had know idea how much time had actually passed. He moved to the door to leave, but paused when he heard a voice behind him.
"I wouldn't go out there, they're waiting for you."
Gregor turned and saw a small, mousey man sitting behind a desk. He had neatly combed black hair, large wire rim glasses, and wore a tweed suite with a bowtie. Slightly thrown by the mans odd choice of clothing, Gregor let his hand hover above the door knob.
"Who is waiting for me?"
"Gregor Kitsov, age 24, though that was before the Hell Rift, so 27 now. Power having to do with regeneration, clearly that's wrong with the strength you showed during the fight, though you did recover far to quickly for it not to be a part of your power. You'll need re-testing and appraisal." The mousey man looked up from the file he had been reading for the first time and spoke as he looked Gregor in the eyes. "The generals men are waiting for you."
Gregor closed the distance between him and the man and lifted him by his throat. To his credit, the man did not show any fear, merely calmly meeting Gregor's gaze. Realizing this man could not be intimated, and feeling a slightly dangerous sensation from him, Gregor let him go and asked, "How do you know so much about me?"
"I ran your DNA while you were passed out, on the general's orders. I'm Oriole Barle by the way, the senior medical officer for Hell Base 1, or at least until they let me go back to my lab."
That made sense, Gregor had to put down some information to volunteer for rift exploration 3 years ago. They would have all that and likely more if there was much more to know about about him.
"Why shouldn't I meet the general's men, they already know who I am if you do, and I want to leave as soon as possible."
"Then you may be in for an unhappy night, for whatever reason Hunt seems intent on keeping you here. I gathered from the grumbling I hear every now and then from soldiers visiting their friends that you're to be detained if you try to leave the base."