Editing Homonculus (section)

=== Duchamp Homonculi ===
Uniform in appearance, half the size of an ordinary person, pale, bald and spindly, with fingers like a spider’s legs and no noses or ears to speak of. Their mouths are wide and crowded with teeth, their teeth and fingernails mismatched. Some were diseased and cavity-ridden to the point you could see through them, the rest were so featureless that it almost suggested there was nothing to them but tooth and nail.<ref name=":5">The first arrivals had already showed up at the landing on the staircase where I’d dispatched the clock man. Too uniform in appearance to be goblins, they were half the size of an ordinary person, pale, hairless and spindly, with fingers like a spider’s legs and no noses or ears to speak of.  Their mouths were wide and crowded with teeth. Their teeth and fingernails looked like they’d been collected from people who’d lost theirs.  Diseased, cavity-ridden to the point I could see through some, torn, splintered, crusted with plaque or fungus…<br><br>The rest of them were so featureless that it almost suggested there was nothing to them but tooth and nail. They seemed fairly craven, shying away as Eva’s eye fell on them.  Mustering up the courage as more crawled up from downstairs. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/10/11 Excerpt] from [[Duress 12.2]]</ref>

Fragile enough to be easily fought off by a human, but dangerous in large numbers against a distracted opponent.<ref name=":6">I wasn’t sure what the story was with the little guys, but they weren’t fighters.  I plunged into and through the water, to appear in their midst.  Four seconds of action, not with any style, but raw brute strength, both hands on the Hyena, slashing at center mass.<br><br>Six to eight of them, reduced to twitching bits of gore and blood in the water.<br><br>They hadn’t put up much of a fight, but there were a good number of them, and the sheer amount of foot traffic in the hallway downstairs suggested there were more on the way.  If one of the little guys got to someone like Tiff, Ty, Alexis or one of the Thorburns, I was betting they would lose the fight with the human, but from the look of those teeth and nails, the human would get sick pretty fucking fast.  That wasn’t getting into the damage those mouths could do, biting out a pound of flesh.<br>[...]<br>The little toothy bastards were climbing over the barricade – a dresser and two chairs piled against the stairs.  Eva was dealing with them much as I had.  Almost effortlessly.<br>[...]<br>I emerged, grabbing one of the weedy little tooth-and-claw creatures by the throat, and struggled forward, shaking off others as they scratched and bit me.  My focus was on the mountain man.<br><br>Still holding the toothy motherfucker, I slammed it mouth-first into the space where the mountain man’s thigh met his buttock.  Teeth sank into muscle that stood out like steel cable, and the force of the hit dislocated the little guy’s jaw.<br><br>The rest were clustering on me, each no more than twenty pounds, but there were enough of them that I was weighed down.<br><br>I let myself fall, moving out to the nearest reflection.  The creatures fell away as I disappeared.<br>[...]<br>Behind the automaton, another group of Others gathered.  The small toothy motherfuckers were heading upstairs, climbing up the railing to head for Ellie, Andy, and Evan.<br><br>''Fuck.''<br><br>“Those tiny fuckers!” I shouted.<br><br>Eva spoke without taking her eyes off the mountain man.  “Homonculi from Sandra’s extended circle.  Anyone who loses a fight to one ''deserves'' to die.”<br><br>Homonculi.  Right. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/10/11 Excerpt] from [[Duress 12.2]]</ref><ref name=":7">Without even looking, Callan barreled into the left arm of the clockwork man.<br>
The arm didn’t budge.  Metal, held ''firm'' by resistance, like a piece of the building. Had we been more coordinated, maybe Ty, Tiff, and Alexis might have been able to ease up the pressure and stop trying to push the doors closed, giving the clockwork man less bookcase to leverage himself against, but we weren’t, and they couldn’t.  If they eased up, there was nothing to stop him from simply striding inside, the remaining Others following.<br><br>Callan sprawled at the automaton’s feet, and one of the homonculi seized the opportunity to bite deep into his thigh.<br><br>More of the homonculi swarmed him, burying him beneath their collective mass.<br>[...]<br>She took the lead, grabbing the chair by the desk.  Holding it by the backrest, she swung it at a homonculus, killing the thing.<br>[...]<br>In a courtroom or business meeting, she would have been a tyrant.  Now she was the second tallest person in the room next to Callan, who was in the process of losing a few feet of height to tooth and claw, and probably the heaviest.<br>[...]<br>Callan was still struggling as he was eaten alive by both the toxin and the homonculi.<br>[...]<br>More homonculi slipped into the room. Kathryn swung the chair, striking two, and the remainder backed away, unwilling to venture further.<br>[...]<br>It said a lot about just how ''shitty'' the homonculi were in a fight that Ty, Alexis and Tiff were fending them off pretty damn well with periodic kicks, while still holding the bookcase-doors in place.<br>[...]<br>I was also aware that there were a few homonculi lurking about.  One or two that had apparently collapsed as Kathy had hit them with chairs or one of my friends had kicked them were gone now.  Slipping away while our collective attention was elsewhere. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/10/14 Excerpt] from [[Duress 12.3]]</ref> 

Their teeth and claws were nasty and seemingly poisonous.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" />

Smart enough to avoid threats that have taken out their comrades and to feign unconsciousness so they can slip away.<ref name=":7" /> Also smart enough to fear a [[Djinn]] or [[Witch Hunter]].<ref>The Djinn turned his back, walking away.  It was going to come back, most likely, and it was going to act.<br><br>''Fuck.''<br><br>Big and bad enough that the brainless little homunculi were afraid to approach while it was taking point.  - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/10/18 Excerpt] from [[Duress 12.5]]</ref><ref name=":5" />