He carefully backed up, knowing instinctively just what the status of the unidentified creature represented: an unwinnable fight. A sound like that of a tongue clicking emitted from the four-armed entity as it stared right at him, lifting its bottom-right arm to aim the mountained barrel towards him.
'A gun?' He questioned.
It was difficult to decipher just what the contraption was, as it resembled two, sable poles running parallel with a glow of silver between. Just as it hummed with malice, he waited for it before–click.
The otherworldly weapon fired with a brief flash. At the very same moment, he stepped to the side, avoiding the incorporeal projectile entirely–
"Ngh?!"
An impact drove against his chest, rippling through his sternum as he was thrown off his feet, slamming against the back wall. As he gasped for air, finding the front of his suit entirely blasted away as a black-and-purple bruise formed on his torso, he questioned what happened.
There was no mistake in his mind that he avoided the shot, yet nonetheless, he was hit.
[Heart momentarily stopped…Restarted; bruising on sternum and fractures on two rib(s).]
He gasped as chest remained tight, finding no respite as the four-armed, silent figure held its weapon towards him again. This time, he moved quicker, using the enhanced strength in his legs to run closer, yet—
Another click, another firing of the enigmatic technology. The fleeting flash birthed a spiraling shot, spinning right towards him. Clear as day, he saw it; he contorted his body, sliding beneath it as it passed overhead—
"Ghh…!"
An impact drove into his side; the very same force, crushing a pair of ribs with its harrowing arrival. More than the pain, what he felt was the complete "pause" within his body. His vision blurred before he caught his footing just before he could collapse.
[Heartbeat resumed. Body receiving critical damage. Recovery attempts failing. Prioritize disengagement.]
'I can't evade it…Whatever it's shooting me with, it can't be dodged. How do I fight back against it? No, the System is right—I have to get out of here,' he thought.
With each breath, he felt his lungs being pressed against his displaced ribs. Rather than directly approach the hovering lifeform, he instead bolted to the left, taking himself behind the giant cube. The air around him vibrated the entire time as he moved, attempting to quietly navigate through the maze of black squares.
He maneuvered himself, having to scoot sideways between a narrow fit of the cubes, not wanting to experience the influx of memories in desperate circumstances. The sound of the air flexing with the movements of the four-armed hunter behind him only encouraged him to move faster, scooting his feet hastily.
It wasn't simply a fear of death itself that motivated his escape; he knew his life was an invaluable asset to humanity. Dying countless miles away from Earth–it wasn't an option. He huffed, slipping between the cubes as another "click" made his heart skip a beat.
Just as his eyes laid on a doorway at the side of the chamber just a few paces away, the weapon's shot permeated itself through an impact to his calf. It brought him to stumble as he gasped, catching himself against the dark-gray, steel wall before he could collapse.
"Hff…" He exhaled.
[Critical damage received to lower leg – movement compromised. Accelerating adrenaline flow through the body.]
As the pain was dulled, he caught his breath, glancing back to see the writing dreadlocks of the hunter peeking through the cubes. Beside the closed doors was a terminal with keys of an unknown language. With little time, he simply ran his fist across it, hoping for the best–
It opened, much to his surprise; the steel barriers folded in on each other, dismantling to give way to the corridor behind.
He ran forward into a corridor built of sleek steel, outfitted with peculiar tubes that carried a glowing, emerald substance that ran along the interior. No shortage of doorways left him without any sense of direction.
'Where to?!' He thought hurriedly.
The vibrations at his feet warned him well enough of the pursuer's presence. He chose the closest door, running straight to the left as the foreign threshold automatically opened itself for him.
A room filled with beige rectangles laid on the other side of the doorway. Each of the objects hovered just a foot above the ground, anchored together by a series of tubes funneling a green light.
"What the hell is all of this…?" He mumbled, looking around.
An assembly of "beeps" and "boops" filled the ambience of the chamber as the peculiar rectangles chattered with flickering lights. There was no sense of direction he could gather within the room of technology far past his understanding.
"Psst! Hey there…! Human guy, yeah, you!"
A raspy voice called his attention over as he looked towards the right side of the room. From a misplaced plate in the ground, a head of green skin peeked out.
He squinted, unsure of what to make of it before watching a hand peek out as well, gesturing for him to come over.
"Hurry now…! Do you wanna get turned into paste slop for the bottom feeders?!" The green fellow hissed in a whisper.
The rumbling of the pursuer in the corridor right behind him forced him to take a risk, running over. He found the hole in the floor, hopping into what was a rather claustrophobic labyrinth of tunnels.
"Close it, close it!" The green-skinned figure hurried.
He obliged, grabbing the edge of the steel covering before sliding it over, perfectly setting it in place. From above, the vibrations shuddered through the steel; there was no mistake that the four-armed hunter was in the chamber.
In front of him, the green helper held his slender finger in front of his covered mouth, requesting his silence.
As he sat there without making a sound, he studied the unique appearance of the extraterrestrial figure. What had the voice of a middle-aged man who likely smoked countless cigarettes was the size of a human child, no taller than a few feet.
The stranger was dressed in a greasy, pale jumpsuit with sable eyes and a pair of antennas that twitched. As the rumbling vanished into the distance, they could finally exhale.
"What the heck are you?" Seven asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Huh?! Hey—is that how you talk to the guy who just saved your behind?!" The green-skinned fellow barked.
"Right…What's that all about, anyway?" Seven questioned.
The inhuman figure grumbled before starting to crawl through the metal tunnel, "C'mon. Don't want the Venator catching us here. The name's Bob, by the way."
"Bob the alien? Wait—Venator?" Seven whispered, following behind the alien helper.
"The guy that was after you. Real trouble, lemme tell ya…Well, I'm sure you get it," Bob huffed, continuing forward.