2.14

While Rebound and I try to calm down the hostages, I keep half an eye on Shield Warrior discussing our next steps with the others.

“If you really only have the one…” He sighs. “Can it be activated again?”

Gadget nods. “It’s just a wave disruptor. Originally, I think it was supposed to be a stun device, but since it utilizes sound, it wasn’t hard to tweak it to act continuously.” He ducks his head. “Sorry. I’ve been trying to keep away from making, uh. Explosives.”

“Right. Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do,” Shield Warrior states, gesturing. “You’re going to escort these five to the exit with the device. I was concerned we’d have to split the team in order to escort everyone efficiently, but if you can get this done on your own, the rest of us can move to clear the rest of the building.”

Gadget nods again. “It should be fine.”

“Good. Introduce yourself to our tag-alongs, and then we’ll head out.” He turns away and puts a hand to his helmet, I assume radioing in to notify the surrounding USMW Squadron of the plan.

Gadget steps up to our little huddle just as we’re getting them to pull it together.

“It — it’s just the sensation, y’know? Oh my god, I can’t — are you sure you got all of them?”

“I’m sure. It’s over now, miss, we just need to get you out of here,” I try to reassure the woman patting herself down for any sign of insects. She doesn’t find any, I suppose because whatever we were fighting has a sense of efficiency.

“Listen,” Rebound starts, raising her voice a little. “Boy Gadget here is gonna take all of you to the entrance. He’s got a, um. Thingy. That’ll deter the bugs, so you’ll be safest if you go with him. Just follow his lead, got it?”

They all nod slowly, so Gadget smiles and flips the device in his hand in response. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep all of you bug-free! Come on, let’s get a head start.” He gestures for them to follow as he jogs lightly down the broken, rusty escalator and into the wing we entered from. The victims stay close behind, and they seem a little calmer than they were.

It catches me kind of off-guard, actually. I didn’t know he was so good at this.

Shield Warrior nods his head towards the other escalator, closer to the central atrium. “This way, we’ll take another look at the map, see if we can get the USMW to keep an eye out for more bugs.”

We take our own path down to the ground floor with our eyes peeled for anything buzzing. It’s quieter than it was when we arrived, without all the flies.

Well. Without most of the flies. As we step off the escalator and get a good look at the map, I notice that the cluster of black insects squirming against a spot on the map hasn’t disappeared.

It’s not gone, it’s just moved. This time, it’s indicating somewhere near the end of the west wing — to the right of the one we came from.

We all take a second to stare at the bug dot while Shield Warrior radios the squadron outside.

“...Why is it telling us where it is?” I ask, breaking the silence.

“Maybe it’s being cocky?” Rebound suggests.

Jet rolls her eyes. “Who cares why. It fucked up, didn’t it? Let’s go get the damn thing!”

“We shouldn’t assume it’s telling the truth,” Shield Warrior instructs. “Recon is still necessary. Still, it’s at least worth checking out. Redline, Rebound and I will inspect the marked location. Jet, fly out to the other wing, and keep an eye out for bugs.”

“Ugh!” Jet complains.

“When you’re done, you can fly back. We will likely need you if the creature shows up again,” he placates.

“Whatever,” she says, stepping away and blasting streams of heat from her limbs, carrying her in a low hover that leaves the mall tiles stained with soot and wafting smoke.

“Keep up,” Shield Warrior says, breaking into a jog in the other direction. “We’ll want to make it to the end of the wing before she finishes searching, at least.”

We dutifully follow along, and I elect not to bring up the sinking unease I felt staring at that location on the map.

—

“At the moment, our best defense is a careful application of Rebound’s power. Once Jet arrives at our location, her heat will be essential. But, in the event that we encounter the creature before her, a defensive strategy centered around your shockwaves would be ideal,” Shield Warrior says, jogging a couple steps ahead of us.

“How… did you do that, by the way? I thought you just reflected stuff,” I probe.

She shrugs. “My power lets me absorb any kinetic forces acting on my body, including my own. I basically just activate my power and try to move a whole bunch. Then, I can release all that energy at once from my fists.”

“Ah. So you’re taking kinetic energy from your entire body and packing it into a point at your hands.”

She nods. “Yeah! I don’t usually use it like that when I’m fighting something stronger than me, but obviously flies aren’t going to give me much energy to work with, huh.”

“Still, the nature of the technique means you will need time to charge it regardless. I’ll act as a bastion, and Redline will be our lookout. Sound acceptable?” Shield Warrior proposes.

“Mhm.”

“Sure, big guy.”

The location we’re meant to be going to starts becoming more clear the closer we get. The flies have returned, skittering and buzzing between the cracks of abandoned buildings, clustering in chitinous clumps along the walls and corners and only getting more dense as we get closer to our destination.

An electronics store, large enough to be a building on its own. The glass doors are shattered and ringed with a thick layer of insects.

The interior seems normal enough aside from the obvious, with a small help desk next to the larger reception area, framed by aisles of products and thick square pillars made from something like plaster.

Rebound tightens her stance, and I unlatch my tonfas from my belt. I don’t have much practice with them, but it feels better than nothing.

“Is this…” She starts, staring intently at our surroundings as we pass through the fly-ridden entrance and into the reception area of the store.

The entire building is infested with them, clustered into balls of chitinous flesh in every nook and cranny. Far more than the small swarm we encountered earlier.

And just as we near the help desk, there’s movement from one of the aisles close to us.

It’s a hostage — more than one, stumbling out from behind shelves of old tech, and my first instinct is again to step forward and help.

I don’t. As the full seven people stumble out into the light, wide, sharp talons pressed against each of their necks become visible in the sterile white of fluorescent lamps.

Each of them has a small but dangerous-looking insectoid growth latched onto the backs of their necks, chattering softly and angling their many sharp limbs at any vital points they can reach.

I subtly turn on my radio. “Rory!” I whisper. “What do we do?”

His voice crackles back. “I — don’t know yet. We need to remove the creatures quickly enough…”

“If neither of you come up with anything, I’m gonna start punching them really hard,” Rebound mutters.

“I —” He’s interrupted by a shadow forming in the middle of the reception area. Dark spots squirm as a mass of bugs droop down from the ceiling in an enormous teardrop, writhing and clinging to each other on their desperate journey to the dusty carpeted floor.

Before it touches the ground, a long, spined limb bursts from the center of the mass, spraying bugs across the area and shredding carpet as it slams into the floor. More limbs follow, bursting out and digging into the soft ground as the swarm folds in on itself, consolidating into chunks of hard black chitin and interlocking plates.

And finally, a vaguely insectoid head, complete with mandible-like features and too many antenna, heaves itself out of the muck of bugs with a cry.

“I w — wouldn’t be so hasty, chil — children!” A voice calls, interspersed with chattering and inhuman clicks. “My c — claws are sharp, and m — my wit is sharper!” The voice is thin and reedy in spite of its volume. It sounds more like a poor imitation of speech than anything real, like air being pushed through a tube in a vague sort of pattern.

“It can talk?!” Rebound hisses, tightening her stance.

Shield Warrior raises his hands in a placating motion. “We’re calm, we’re calm! What… what do you want?”

“Hmmm… I d — don’t know. Maybe a snack?” The creature replies, and a hostage behind it cries out in pain.

“Okay! Okay. We get it. You’re in charge.” Shield Warrior shouts, and the growth stops pressing the tip of its talon against the soft parts of a hostage.

“Mh? Oh, of c — course. Now, then, I was thinking s — something like… a duel.” The insect replies.

“A… duel?”

“Yes, a fight. One on one, me against, let’s see… the r — red one, over there,” It decides, casting one of its long claws towards me.

A shiver crawls its way down my spine. “Me?” I say reflexively.

“Redline, I expressly forbid you from participating,” Shield Warrior starts over the radio before he’s interrupted by a chittering laugh.

“Yes, you! I think y — you’d be an acceptable appetizer!” It clacks at me, taking a threatening step closer. “Here, I’ll even give you a re — reward.”

Chunks of flesh start to protrude from the creature, changing from a dark, almost-black to a softly glowing orange and swelling until they hang off of it like grotesque lanterns.

“For every p — piece of shining flesh you ca — carve from my body, I will release one m — morsel from my care.” It chatters, head tilting. “How is that? T — tempting?”

“Redline —” Shield Warrior starts.

“We don’t have another way to release the hostages!” Rebound hisses, a frustrated expression creasing her masked face.

“Still, this is wildly unorthodox —”

“Can you get me in contact with Jet?” I interrupt.

Shield Warrior hesitates. “... I can.”

Jet’s voice crackles over the radio. “What? What is it. I’m kind of busy staring at empty fuckin’ stores, y’know.”

“How fast can you be at the end of the west wing?”

“If I rush? A minute, maybe.”

“And if you’re trying to be discrete?”

I hear Jet sigh over her end of the radio. “I dunno, three? Listen, Red, I don’t usually do discrete.”

“You know, children, you ha — have to be decisive when seizing a meal,” the creature intones, and the smaller insects tighten their grip on their victims, eliciting a terrified sob from some.

“Fine!” I hear myself shouting. “Fine. I’ll do your — your contest.”

“Good! Food is so much b — better when it doesn’t resist!” The thing chitters, heaving its mass from side to side.

I begin to walk forward, reaching up to grip my helmet in both hands.

“We’re in an electronics store near the end of the mall. The perpetrator is in here with us, and it’s holding seven hostages,” I mutter over the radio.

“Wh — Red, what? What are you —”

“Counting on you, Livvy.” I pull the helmet off, taking in the pungent stink of life wafting off of the creature in front of me, and toss it to the side, ignoring the protests from my teammates.

Pulling my tonfas from my belt, I begin moving in a slow circle to my left, keeping a close eye on its movements. The creature lumbers closer, limbs twitching and mandibles dripping in anticipation.

“Ready to die, appetizer?” It wheezes.

“Something like that,” I respond airily.

And then I lunge.