Wind screamed like a chorus of banshees as the bay doors cranked open, revealing inky abyss above and a sea of storms below. His visor flickered to life; GPS, vitals, ammo, proximity sensors, and the all-important timer. With a [i]Pop-Hiss[/i] the exosuit disengaged from its wall moorings. “Package is secured, ready for drop on your mark,” he said after fastening the straps to the saucer-like container on his back.

“T-minus twenty and counting, Reg. Chop put us behind schedule so you’ll need to make up for it on the dive. Try not to leave a crater.”

“Your recommendation is noted.” Numbers ticked down. “See you in five,” Reg promised before leaping from the prop-driven beast’s belly into the maw of charged clouds. They accepted the offering eagerly, rain and fog enveloping his vision while electricity danced across the suit’s nanofibers. More screaming, this time with an ectoplasm concentration warning rune appearing on his display; the sound in the plane hadn’t been [i]like[/i] banshees, unfortunately.

Safeties disengaged as the suit’s integrated plasma cannon began charging with the abundant ambient power coursing through his exo. “Engaging.” A brilliant blue beam seared the sky and the wailing ghast that had been following his gravitic rainbow, dissolving it into unstable motes, soon followed by utter nothingness.

“Your lightshow got the attention of something big, keep an eye out on your six.”

A blip appeared on his proxy sensor; not only was it solid, unlike his previous pursuer, it was also larger. Much larger. “Varghoul?” he asked as the cannon cycled its ammunition to something more mass-centric.

“Likely.”

He burst from the cloud cover, rain spitting against the cherry-red gun barrel as it swung back and forth looking for a target.

It didn’t have to search for long as the Varghoul followed in his wake, trailing wisps of cloud from its leathery wings.

Gruesome and ungodly, as if man and vampire bat had their worst aspects merged together and then been draped in mottled, decaying flesh. The new, steaming hole in its stomach was an improvement, although its roar of anguish and fury suggested the feeling wasn’t mutual. A [i]clunk[/i] reverberated through his arms as the spent shell was ejected and a new solid-silver 30mm round took its place.

“Thirty seconds until you’re at minimum safe deployment.”

“I know. Shit.” The second round went wild as Reg was rocked by a crosswind, allowing the monstrosity to draw in closer as bits of viscera and guts left the wind-whipped wound. The third grazed its leg, drawing a snarl, and then the thing was upon him.

Clumsy weightless swings with the retractable silver blade cut the monster, but not nearly as much as its wicked talons and claws cut him as it scoured Reg's body for the container on his back. Disemboweling was staved off by the suit’s plating, but it wouldn’t last forever. He dropped his guard, allowing the beast to score a vicious slice across his chest that rent the armor and grew warm with blood. In return the knife swept cleanly through the wing membrane before slowing momentarily on the bone, then biting into open air once more.

They came apart as he kicked away from the Varghoul trying in vain to fly with two-thirds less wing than usual. He brought his legs and arms together for a moment, then spread them out in his own facsimile of flight as the exo deployed its wingsuit fabric. He allowed himself a brief smile at the hybrid crunching into the earth below before his attention turned back to his own landing.

Reg yawed up and flared his limbs to catch the air and slow down, although it wasn’t quite enough to keep himself from going into a clumsy roll upon landing. The wingsuit retracted as he did his best to maintain the momentum into a sprint, the timer ticking into the single-digits. Time was of the essence; even a second too late and this would have all been for nothing, an empty gesture in exchange for a full stomach. He slid the package from his back and dove for it.

His finger met the doorbell and the clock stopped on [00:02].

The door opened. “Hey, guys, pizza’s here!”