The few moments of calm before the horrors of the mission were, in Oak's opinion, always the worst. Taking in the scene before them and processing everything, hands twitching to touch or hit something was not the best feeling, even in a mission where their life wasn't at risk. But a mission with four dead and deformed bodies with blood splattered over most of the floor like the most gruesome bloodbaths they'd only heard in true crime podcasts was enough for them to practically feel the chlorophyll churning inside them.

Unfortunately, they had a job to do and Poison Oak had been specially chosen by Jason Grace, one of the most influential and respected people in the Triumvirate Agency. Being chosen by the "Golden Boy of the Decade" was a high enough honor when you had a total of two friends who actually liked you. They needed to do this, even if they would rather chop off their left leg before going near the copious amounts of blood that covered the tiles of the warehouse.

They took a deep breath and led the way in, Lavinia and Don close behind them. As they reached the open warehouse doors, Don let out a blood-curdling scream.

Oak quickly turned to him, squaring their feet into a boxer's stance and sending concentrated amounts of urushiol to their arms and hands. Lavinia spun and aimed her crossbow toward Don.
  
"The leaves!" Don whispered, pointing to a pile around the side of the warehouse. "The–The pile." He gulped like he was in a children's cartoon. "It's a very suspicious pile of leaves."

Oak's hands fell to their sides and did their best to hide an annoyed scoff. Lavinia seemed to disagree with that sentiment and groaned. "There's nothing in the leaves, Don," she said, exasperated.

"Shush!" Don took a deep breath. "I will investigate the leaves."

Before anyone could protest, Don sprinted toward the pile. Lavinia rolled her eyes. "Come on, he'd just get in the way anyway."

Despite the fact that Oak would rather die than enter that warehouse, they followed Lavinia in.

In moments like these, burdened with anxiety and a steady and steep increase of adrenaline–both of which make them itch for a fight–they always felt grateful for their dryad abilities. Any Poison dryad who worked with the Triumvirate or fought in general could attest to it as well. While the chemical that made Poison Oak, well, poisonous, was often a burden in everyday life, as soon as they hit action, that lovely little chemical, urushiol, was their best friend. They had an ability to send immense amounts of it onto their skin and make it work faster and be even more lethal. They managed to consistently give someone a rash in ten seconds in combat.

The thought was their only comfort as their shoes squelched with each step into the semi-dried blood at the entrance. The sound and ugh the smell–

Stop. Focus. The anthropophagus could be anywhere. Oak squared their hips, bringing their fists just beneath their chin, scanning the warehouse.

Boxes. A lot of boxes. Even more boxes. Yet another... "Oh," Oak whispered as their eye caught on one more body, mutilated and deformed, atop a crate. They swallowed the bile that rose in their throat and looked behind them. A ladder.

Lavinia seemed to notice it as well. "I'll go up. Get a better view," she whispered. "You stay down here. If something happens I'll cover you."

The most they could do was simply nod in response as Lavinia started climbing up the ladder, her shoe soles painting the rungs of the ladder red. Soon, she disappeared above all the boxes and crates, and Oak was all alone.

"Fuck me," they muttered, gazing at the narrow path created between crates. Only one way to go.

Apparently, the way to go was to smack Don upside the head as he came back into the warehouse, leaves stuck in his unruly hair, and ran straight into a pile of crates, knocking at least three of them down. The sound echoed across the silent warehouse, making the ground shake ever so slightly. Oak was going to kill him. Judging from the distant annoyed huff, so was Lavinia.

Unfortunately, Oak never got the pleasure of committing any violent acts towards the faun. The root hairs on the back of their neck rose, and the disgusting scent of sweat, meat, and rotting blood filled their nose.

"Hey, do you smell that?" Lavinia jumped down behind them, a hand on her manuballista. Before Oak could respond, a loud indiscernible noise came from their left, startling both of them. Don let out a loud yelp, because of course he did, and a figure lunged out from under a pile of crates, jaw wide open.

Oak didn't have time to think before pivoting and going into a boxer's roll to dodge whatever was lunging at them. The anthropophagus fell, blocking the exit. Over its head, they could see Don sprinting away–wow, thanks Don–and Lavinia climbing atop one of the crates, pulling the string back as she reached the top.

The anthropophagus got up, turning to them. It looked eerily human, except for the face. It didn't have a nose or even a neck, at least from what Oak could see. Instead, it had a large, gaping mouth filled with sharp teeth with shreds of human flesh hanging from the sides and a trail of blood dripping down its chin.

It lunged at them again, and Oak fell into a defensive slip, grabbing one of its arms, instantly feeling blisters bubble from their touch. The monster screamed and yanked its arm back, flinging them to the side. They rolled as they hit the ground, trying to evade its frantic punching and grabbing. They couldn't roll fast enough and their right leg got caught in the monster's hands, sticky with blood and other fluids they did not wish to ponder on.

Oak shrieked and tried to bring their arms up to attack, or send every ounce of urushiol to their legs, but it didn't matter. Their legs were covered and the anthropophagus flung them into a wall with a sickening crack from their shoulder followed by immeasurable pain. They didn't know where they were or how far they were thrown but their head must have hit the wall too. Their vision was spotting and their ears ringing as they heard it running back.

Somewhere in the distance, Oak could hear Lavinia let out a string of curses they would have found impressive if not for their current situation. Maybe after their imminent death they could appreciate it more.

Slowly, their vision started to come back and the ringing in their ears became more diminished. The anthropophagus barrelled toward them. They tried to move their right arm, but it was clear that would not be happening any time soon. Welp. Here's hoping they could touch the roof of this thing's mouth before dying. Because dying would certainly suck ass.

They prepared themselves to jump, as the monster stepped back to pounce. Just as it was about to jump, someone shouted, "Hey, um, thing! Over here."

Oak silently thanked Lavinia and tried to get up. The pain in their shoulder was starting to dull, and their back was a bit stiff. They could tell as soon as this adrenaline wore off, it was going to be unbearable. Still, they managed to get to their feet and scanned the warehouse for the anthropophagus, which had somehow gotten out of their sight.

They couldn't hear Lavinia anymore and Don was, of course, nowhere to be found. But they found the anthropophagus rummaging through some boxes. Odd seeing as, like, five seconds ago that thing was gonna eat Oak and also Lavinia and also probably Don assuming he hadn't run extremely far away (which he probably had). It must have been looking for something. Maybe it found another snack.

Oak took the opportunity to creep up behind it, jumping up and latching onto what must have been its neck. The anthropophagus screamed in agony as its skin turned red and purple with yellow blisters bubbling and popping with slime. They let go before being thrown again and watched it turn toward them. Now it was weak and probably disoriented, they could make it out alive if it pounced.

They readied themselves as it leapt in the air, awaiting the perfect time to strike, but that chance never came. A massive metal arrow came flying, lodging itself into the anthropophagus's leg, making it fall. Given the previous injuries, Oak was certain it was almost completely immobilized.

They could hear Lavinia jumping down from wherever she was hiding as they walked up to the monster.

It looked up at them with a terrifyingly human grin. "Triumvirum laudat. Salvete Neronem principem."

Poison Oak almost screamed. It fucking talks. Did they understand it? No. But still, that thing fucking speaks.

Lavinia's brows creased and she lowered her weapon. "What?"

The anthropophagus only laughed, a husky, breathless laugh that sent chills down Oak's spine, but it was cut short by the distinctive sound of Don screaming.

What the fuck would he do this time?

Huh, it seems he had managed to find a spear. He was going to kill them all. Oak was going to die because Don decided he wanted to find a spear. Lovely.

He threw it and Oak awaited the sweet release of death, but the tip landed directly in the monster's throat. Alright then.

They didn't really care that much, but Lavinia gasped and yelped in protest as the anthropophagus erupted into dust. Dead. The mission was complete.

But why did it feel like there was more?

Oak ignored the feeling and instead asked, "Do you know what it said?"

Lavinia looked up, like she was surprised to see them there. "Oh. Yeah, but it doesn't make any sense. It said Praise the triumvirate. Hail emperor Nero." She sighed. "It's probably nothing. I mean, that thing was on its last leg."

That didn't do anything for their nerves. "Yeah. I'm sure it's nothing."