The Awesome Finale to a Boston Trilogy

It should be noted that Alexis had a lot of faults. Hell, some might argue that she had far more faults than virtues. However, whatever tribalist instinct made her revile the 'them' also made her very protective of the 'us'. And while she and 'Black Belt' had not gotten off to a good start, she could see the signs of suffering plain on the woman. Terri was currently part of the 'us' in Alex's mental equation.

Alexis immediately went to her aide, conjuring a comfortable chair for her to have a sit upon and a large glass of cold lemonade. She even offered an ottoman and a cold compress for her head. She was the sort of packrat that had those things in her storage, after all.

Once Terri was seen to, she turned toward Niao and her plans. The fashionable ringleader's outfit was gone now, replaced by the cloak and leathers she had adopted earlier. She joined the Sages conversation, and said, calmly, "I've... developed a power recently that makes me resistant to toxins. As I can also carry a large amount of poison with me, so I think I would be the best candidate for that task."

Jeannie was happy dabbler shared her love of having fun.  Probably was a good idea dabbler volunteered too  Terri seemed a bit tired. Lucky  Alexis was there to take care of her, her popping up stuff trick was a neat one.

Jeannie goes and shoots the apple off dabbler's head. the comedy duo keeps up the act, with Jeannie continuing to shoot apples off dabbler's head throughout the conversation.  Jeannie was somewhat paying attention to sage. then got distracted when Alexus did more poofing stuff magic.

that's so neat Lexi you're like Mary Poppins huh have you considered being a magic nanny? you'd be pretty good at it.  sage mentioned something about poison and Lexi taking it to the buggies.  umm poison doesn't work on me. that's how I got away from the bugs when they tried to get us. so I can help if Lexi doesn't want to go alone, can I have some lemonade to lexi? looks yummy

Terri was just a bit too dazed to really realize what was happening around her, until she was already sitting down with a glass in her hand.

"Oh- uh."

She further blinked as Alexis offered more items to her. The cold compress especially, was appreciated immensly- though she would have to take off the helmet and show her face... screw it.

The helmet collapsed to the ground, as she then attempted to cover her face with the compress somewhat quickly. At least just when she knew people were around or looking at her, before she repositioned it more over her forehead. She wasn't supposed to work this much up a sweat from that, was she? She ran around quite a bit, and barely felt affected apart from fatigue. It was almost like she had a fever, though that should entail other things she wasn't feeling.

"Thanks... you."

She forgot her name. Why did she have to forget, at such a time? It was an 'A' name- Aaaaeeey no. It was Al, something? Alex? Now that Black Belt was having trouble, she was scared to attempt and say her name and end up getting it wrong. Thus, she stayed silent further, despite feeling maybe a bit wrong not to say more.

Instead, she turned her attention to the discussion. The new positioning and comfort helped her focus, especially the decrease in temperature.

"The paralysis venom said I do not, sorry."

She sipped the lemonade as they continued. Although, what Alexis said somewhat peaked her notice. She developed a power recently? Did she hear that correctly, or was she just a little too far off to hear clearly amongst everyone present? Perhaps it wasn't uncommon to develop more powers over time? Though poison resistance was a bit of a stretch from... what was this, a creation ability?

...Lexi- Alexis! That was her name! Damnit!

SAGE, ALEXIS, JEANNIE

Sage looked at Alexis and Jeannie. “Very well, we three will deliver the coup de grace against them. The rest must stay here and hold the wasps. They will likely suspect treachery soon.”

Minutes of resting up and planning pass, and the course of action was set, the destruction of the Hive was now committed. The only thing left was how much resistance they would have to face. Sage again makes an entrance into the ground. “Let’s hurry. They probably wonder why the dwarfs have not moved against Boston College.”

She again becomes a Dragon, descending into the depths of the earth, glancing at Jeannie and Alexis to ensure they were right behind her. Sage begins her earth dragon song, a low and slow melody that echoed with an almost musical quality in the confines of the tunnel. It was almost like a whale song, strangely calming and pleasant, sending out waves of energy that molded the earth smoothly, as if solid rock and dirt were as liquid as ocean water. The tunnel was as precise and smooth in its roundness, nearly perfect 9-foot diameter circle, much like its creator.

DABBLER, TERRI AND THE DWARFS

Shortly after the team leaves to enact their mission, whistles at the perimeter of the dwarf camp sounded. With drilled movement, the squad leaders immediately put on their helms and go to their companies. “Incoming! Incoming!” The perimeter guards shout from their watch towers, where the Warrior Wasps throw them from a great height. Large flight formations fly overhead, raining barbed spines down on them. These were not paralytic needles for abduction from before- these were large, heavy sharp spines, meant to kill. The ghost dwarf warriors form testudoes with their shields, but the massive spines manage to penetrate and down a few.

The Pay Master, standing near Terri, lunge and cover both of them with his shield. A trio of warriors flew overhead and shot at them, and he could feel a barb dig into his shield arm. “AAAAH! Blighted buggers! With armor piercing spines! GET THE ARTILLERY GOIN’!” He looks at the metahuman, who ten minutes ago was trying to break his head open over money. “Well lass if you’ve got any more of that magic you used on me fifteen minutes ago???”

The dwarfs turned their war machines against the hybrids. Massive repeating bolt launchers were aimed to the sky, loosing massive steel tipped arrows. Multi-rocket artillery batteries, like a rack of fireworks, were prepped as well, and were fired into the air. With the rockets’ red glare, they impacted the monsters with powerful explosions.  But these warriors were bigger, thicker, stronger than the drones sent to ambush and retrieve civilians. Standing over 7 feet tall, and as broad and muscled as the dwarfs. Steel bolts punch right into their carapace, or rockets exploded in their face, and while some were killed, the others endured, landing roughly but getting back into the fight.

The lines crashed, and pitched battle was joined. The wasps had flight and superior individuals; the dwarfs had numbers and tactics. Oaths were made, curses thrown out, while the wasps cackled with insectile glee. Axes, hammers and picks viciously traded with barbed pole weapons. Not five feet from Terri, a quad of them landed in the midst of an artillery crew; they hack and hewed, and while the crew wore mail like their warrior brethren, the wasps’ blades cut through limbs, soaking the grass and soil with blood. Malevolent red eyes within a yellow and black insectile head sees the fighter, and two of them advanced on Terri and the Pay Master.

“Damnable Monsters! Why don’t ya come here and have a taste o’ me!” The Pay Master steeled himself to fight, the veteran moving in deliberately, then sidestepping to put one wasp in front of the other; his expert axe and shield keeping deadly blows at bay.

Even surrounded and outnumbered, their powerful thrusts with their barbed pole weapons cut through dwarf armor and flesh, hooking in, and being pulled from their defensive formations, to be ended once peeled away from the safety of their formation. Their new dwarf allies were pressed into defense, as their artillery and crossbows did most of the heavy lifting in this battle.

As another squadron of warrior strain wasps landed, Dabbler was quick with her magic. Alien words emerged from her mouth and alien tentacles sprang up from the ground, to ensnare them. The wasps were definitely much faster, a few avoiding them entirely, and stronger, as they were attempting to break free of the grasping tendrils of Yog, and it took many tendrils to merely choke out and snap the limbs of the wasps. The tentacles only manage to incapacitate two warriors, before the rest bring their stinger blades to carve through the fleshy tendrils holding their allies.

“YESSS NOW THIS IS MORE LIKE IT! CHALLENGING ENEMIES! CHANCE OF PLAYER DEATH: VERY HIGH! HAHAHA!” Dabbler was cackling mad, shooting blasts of chaos lightning, but the wasps manage to be far more resilient, merely collapsing after taking a powerful direct hit. It was only when her stunty squad was surrounded, did a question rear its ugly head. “UUhhh! Wait a minute, who’s in charge of the animals?!”



THE HIVE
UNDERGROUND JELLY CHAMBERS

Sage periodically pulsed with her seismic sense to detect the presence of the hive, and soon enough she sensed large earthen vats of a viscous liquid. She concludes her song and quietly makes a small opening for the poison resistant agents. “Open the bottles and toss them into the jelly. Try not to inhale the poison even if you have resistance. We will wait them out here once they’ve had their drink.”

Even arriving at the hive’s lowest levels proved to be macabre and unpleasant, as the chambers revealed the final fate of all the Wasps’ need for bodies. They had no use for slaves for any labor- no, they needed humanoid cattle to incubate their young, and like that one movie about a parasitic alien, they devoured their hosts from the inside out, leaving husks bereft of torsos. Men, women, children, human, dwarf, orc, monster or animal- all were fair game. Worse still, some other species of tick-like farming insect were rendering them down, their balloon-like bodies filled to bursting with fluids, which was converted by some morbid internal fermentation process into the wasps’ jelly.

Four massive earthen open cisterns of the depraved Jelly sat very lightly guarded by a small handful of Drone strains, rather than actual warriors. However, their attention was turned upward to the hive, listening to their queen speak on her high pedestal.

QUEEN’S CHAMBER
In her personal chambers, Vespania, the large and most monstrous sovereign of these wasp hybrids, admired the cocooned form of the Silver Lady, who had finally been brought to her by her machinations with the witch. The paralyzed angel could only shoot Vespania a death glare, as the monarch slid her carapace finger under her chin.

“At long last, I have captured you, my mortal foe, my… Silver Lady. You will make a fine progenitor for the next Hive Queen, my daughter.” She said, taking sadistic glee as she described her final fate. But, before she could call for the royal queen larvae, a Royal Guard – one of the males of the species, and enormously greater than even the warrior strains – came to report a turn of events.

“The pale ones have become turncoat, my queen. The Hive stands alone. Our first wave of warriors has already engaged them. We may be ground down by attrition.” He said, kneeling and keeping his head down.

Vespania struck the wall in anger. “Damnable, greedy, tunneling vermin! They could not be trusted. We should have made larvae-food of them.” Her wings aflutter, she went to the balcony of her chamber, overlooking the massive hive and all her hybrid people.

THE HIVE
“My subjects! My children. Tonight, we are alone in this place, this Boston- but not for long.” She started, getting all the remaining warriors and drones’ attention.

“The need is dire, and so I decree - Imbibe of the royal essence, and you all shall be warriors and royal guard; after this night, we shall have scores of the man-cattle create a new generation of drones. Go! Drink! And this world will be ours to prey upon!”

A buzzing cheer went up, and the Drones obeyed. They descended onto the wasp jellies, eager to evolve to their warrior strains, completely unaware of the treachery that awaited them. Sage watched the events from a small hole in her place under the ground, while waiting for her friends to return to the safety of the earth.

There was possibly no time in Alexis' life where she had been more nervous.  She remembered waiting for the announcements for the Rhodes scholarships to be announced, and that was less nerve wracking than this.  Of course, she was walking behind a transmogrified dragon-woman tunneling a passage into a literal hive of scum and villainy.  That wasn't something her life to date had prepared her for.

Frankly, Alexis was uncertain as to her previous motivations for doing this.  Maybe it had been the horror of what had been done to them; too many long hours in the dark plotting what she would do.  Then she closed her eyes and saw Noid's arm come off.  Saw Niao shutter in the dark unable to get warm.  Saw them eating from a trough of rotting gruel like starving pigs.  

Those memories were a part of Alexis now, all she had to do was close her eyes and she'd be right back there.  Revenge was for idiots.  It would not have been too difficult to summon one of the bigger players, she knew.  There were entire teams of Capes who would froth at the mouth to deal with a problem like this.  

There was no profit in it.  Hell, she had just blown somewhere around $600,000,000 in gold on bribing a group of dwarves as a taste.  That Sage could easily replace that sum with a few hours of work wasn't the point.  She had blown more money than she would ever have to her name on roughly 200 mercenaries; $3,000,000 a head.

Alexis reflected she really needed to get a raise.  

To keep herself sane, Lexi had decided to go full Mom mode on Jeannie.  Not only did the animal tamer get lemonade and brownies and one of Alexis' coveted deli sandwiches, but she also didn't even have to walk the entire way.  Alex produced an entire working rickshaw from her data storage, complete with an umbrella on top.  It was part of her 'emergency rescue' kit but decided not to mention that to the upbeat animal tamer.

Alexis reflected she'd be a terrible mother, but a cool aunt.  She was built to spoil children rotten and encourage their worst habits.  Magical nanny was probably the worst possible career track for her personality, Alex reflected.  Mary Poppins had nothing on her.  Not only would those children have all the tuppence for bird feed they wanted, but she'd overhaul that bank's entire financial structure to better utilize its existing assets and...

Then Adjunct felt it.  The invisible tether of a psychic bond began to reach out toward Jeannie.  With an effort of will, Alexis tugged it back.  She looked guiltily over her shoulder at Jeannie and focused on pulling the rickshaw.  She kept her head down and said nothing until they reached the hive.

The time was upon them, and Alexis discovered how much of a fool she was.

Life seemed to have a way of showing Alexis Ada Lovelace just how soft and foolish she was.  She thought she knew horror before; thought she had seen it in a child's severed arm and the cruelty they had faced.  It was nothing compared to this.  No matter how hard or mercenary she pretended to be, there was softness inside her that rebelled on the site surrounding her.  Despite the knowledge that they had to hurry, Alexis stumbled to the side and leaned against one of the vats.  She was going to be sick

The mind crushing horror of it, the stench, awoke something again in Alexis.  She had read Lovecraft before and hadn't understood why some sight or smell or experience could evoke insanity in people.  She felt it now, gnawing at the edges of her mind.  

They hadn't been taking the slaves and reprocessed them.  They had taken the slaves and repurposed them.  She had been so set in her methodology she hadn't understood.  These creatures weren't people, they were monsters.  Alexis stretched forth her hand and called for Death.  

The orbs of the Sage's poison appeared as she bid them.  They appeared over the vats in swirls of blue mist.  As each one manifested, Adjunct summoned a silenced pistol and shot each one, causing the contents to splash into the soup.  However, before she did this to the last one, an opportunistic part of Alexis overruled her.  She reached out and seized a goodly portion of the contents of the last vat, then added the poison.  

And then, finally, when it was done, she stumbled over to the side and let herself vomit quietly in the corner.

Yay snack time!  Jeannie loved how Lexi could provide limitless snacks for her. She eats the treats and enjoys the pleasant wagon thingy ride.

She noticed sage had become a dragon to dig their way into the hive. A neat trick can you teach me to be a dragon? That be fun!

Jeannie thinks about flying around as a dragon. She was comically cheerful given where she was. Running about in circles holding her arms out like wings.

So are you like a human that turns into a dragon or a dragon that can disguise as a human?

While Jeannie was distracted Lexi was planting the poison things. Eww, what was in those smells like bottled farts
She watches curiously as the goop bubbles.  Well, that was easy how do we tell if it worked?
She noticed Lexi getting sick.
She goes to check on Lexi.
Are you ok Lexi? Did you get the fart juice up your nose?

While the plan to poison the bugs was going well the war above ground was getting ticky.

Luckily Lexi's buying off the Dwarfs gave dabbler and Terri some backup.  Also, there was Jeannie's animal army and they were in the good hands or paws with her right-hand bear teddy leading the fury force.

Wearing an army general costume. The big bear was directing traffic sending the animals about the battlefield to help.

The dwarfs need help little guys can't get the bugs if there flying up high, we need to clip their wings! Send in the ninja bears!

At his order, some bears dressed as ninjas appear in a poof of smoke. They climb onto the bevers' catapults and are lunched like fury cannonballs towards the bugs.

The surprisingly agile bears summersault through the air and land on the bug's backs. Unable to fly with the bear's weight weighing them down and pulling at their wings.

They crash into the ground where the dwarf's axes were waiting pined by the bears it was off with their heads for the grounded bugs.

As the ninjas repeated their trick general teddy had more tricks up his furry sleeves.  Time for the big guns bever tanks move in!
As if the catapults weren't impressive enough the wacky bevers had made tanks of sorts.  Large wooden carts with giant crossbows mounted on them. The bevers launched large logs knocking more bugs from the sky and running over ones on the ground. Unfortunate to have crashed in the way of the wooden vehicles.

Biological warfare units attack!   Bears wearing gas masks use slingshots to launch skunks at the bugs. The skunks spray stinky gas at the bugs. They drop like flies shoot with nature's bug spray.

Wolves fetch boys! The wolves run about grabbing the bug's spears and taking them like sticks causing distractions for the dwarfs to strike down the now helpless enemies.

Send in the air force! Birds swoop down dropping eggs, pine cones, and rocks on the heads of the bugs. Teddy looked on proud as his army was doing their job of making sure the bugs had a really bad day. he looks to see where dabbler and Terri had got to. Jeannie said to keep an eye on them.

he wasn't too worried about the witch she seem to be enjoying her role of human bug zapper sending lightning about.  The monk was a bit more concerned as she seemed the most out of her depth with this of the odd women he found himself working with. probably a good idea to check on her.

Although still fatigued, the monk got up from her chair as everyone left. The lemonade can wait, as discontent she'll be to leave it behind. If it'll still be there when this whole thing is over, which given everything else, was very unlikely.

She watched as the... should she refer to them as anything special? The trio? The Extermination Squad?

She watched as Sage, Alexis, and Jeannie adventured into the ground, on their way to the hive. She hoped she would see them again... well, more-so, she hoped she would be able to see them, as in be alive to have the choice to do so. Also, they didn't seem like bad people, connections considered. Not that she really knew them, but...

More important things to focus on, Black Belt. Crap, she was thinking of herself with that alias now-

Terri didn't bother with the helmet. Until she knew why it heated up exactly, it wasn't reliable. Besides, it was heavy, and she was more of an agility centered person. The cold rap was laid behind her on the chair as she swung her bo-staff over her shoulder.

She flinched at the whistles, and she, for a moment, wished she had gone with the others, even without poison resistance.

The woman noticed she went stiff for a moment, as she was brought back to reality at the Pay Master's call. Her voice choked, in her attempt to make a response. Those were a lot of bugs. Really, really big bugs.

Time slowed down as more armor-piercing spines were sent at them. The Pay Master Dwarf was in front of her, blocking attacks. Terri's eyes were wide, and focused. She didn't exactly know what, or how, she did next.

The monk leapt forward. The spines pierced metal, so armor wouldn't do much. Impulse overtook her, against all reason. She skidded and bent low, her arm stretched out.

A spine went right towards her hand, and it slid into her grip harmlessly.

She spun, and with the same arm drawn back-

Deflect Missile.

0.5

Her arm went forward, chucking the projectile back towards the swarm. It pierced a descending wasp in the upper abdomen, disrupting it's landing as hit just below where it's neck should be. Pale dwarves would finish the job. More spines would of course be coming dangerously close to the two, but instead of attempting the stunt again, Black Belt utilized her bo-staff to block and break the projectiles with a quick spin, powered by a third-a-second's charge.

"...Just so you- know, I don't know if I could- replicate that, again-!"

She yelled, aimed towards the Pay Master.

She charged before the squadron descended around the artillery, entering close quarters. 2.5.

The quarterstaff was dropped and gripped again, allowing the monk to grip it near the end. 3. With a three second charge, the staff was swung similar to a baseball bat, it's length being sufficient to strike and clobber the closest wasp- oh, that's blunt decapitation. Physics were fun with bo-staffs, especially given the nature of her abilities and sudden aptitude with the weapon.

Her body kept bending as she moved, leaning side to side yet keeping perfect balance. She paused for just a tenth of a second this time around, charging just the least amount of force, before she thrusted her bo-staff straight into the neck of another wasp to the side, giving the dwarves it and the other one were dealing with more space and an opening.

Her body was practically moving by itself, and she wasn't sure if she was comfortably with that. Thankfully, she didn't have to be comfortable. The bo-staff spun, as Terri continued her onslaught on who was in her range, with focus on keeping the artillery standing and relatively protected.

DABBLER AND THE BATTLE

The animals came in and proved the decisive hammer to the dwarf anvil. The hybrids were taken completely aback by the combined arms assault of the intelligent animal army, and they realized now they were caught in a pincer; their attempts to flee were cut down when their wings were taken from them. Dabbler looked at the mayhem that ensued and laughed. She switched to supporting the animals, opening a portal to bring Teddy and his forces directly into the middle of the fight. “Come on, come on! There are still some wasps for you! Anyone who doesn’t get a hybrid wing has to pay for the snacks!”

Terri’s rampage did not go unnoticed and a truly massive unit, a Royal Guard, landed, stabbing the Pay Master on the inside of his arm and tossing him aside. He blocks Terri’s staff and immediately counters with a blow with his own organic pole weapon, putting his massive strength into an attack aimed at her collarbone.

Fortunately, this was not a duel. After a brief attack on Terri, the Royal Guard found himself zapped by a familiar red lightning, and he roared a monstrous cry as it coursed through his body, scorching his hairs. Though, he was powerful enough to shrug it off, standing up to prepare to fight. Oh wait, no, A bunch of bears rushed him and tore his wings off and held him down.

The Pay Master, his one arm limp, came up face to face to the Royal Guard. He had only a few words for him. “…I never liked you.”

“Feeling… mutual.” He said, as the Pay Master jammed his blade into the weak spot in his neck carapace. Bright green blood spilled onto the ground, and the last wasp is dead.

“You… okay… lass?” He asked Terri, falling onto the grass, completely and utterly exhausted. The wasps are surrounded and utterly crushed. A few stragglers manage to flee, but here in this place, they were beaten. But it was no easy fight. Once the chaos of battle ended, and survivors accounted for, the dwarfs suffer immense casualties losing 200 of the 300 presents, the survivors badly wounded. More than a handful of animals were also killed.

The battle of Boston was won. It was Pyrrhic victory, but the threat of the wasps spreading out to the rest of the country was finally squashed. All the remained, was the Hive, and their Queen…

SAGE AND THE HIVE

Once the poison was served up, Sage reverts to her human form to hide from the wasps above them. She walked cautiously to rejoin Jeannie and Alexis, though her eyes went to the harvested dead of the hybrids. Sage had been stoic even through her imprisonment and starvation; the sight of the dead, eyes wide open from paralysis, looking up, shook terrible memories in her.

= = =

Dramatic Flashback

She closed her eyes, and her own memories returned. The kilometer long lines of workers carrying stone, earth, clay, water and straw. The lash of the whip, the cruel words of the soldiers. The frigid snow, the driving rain or the blistering heat.
It was not long until the first infirm worker died laying the foundations. “You! Peasants! Get that corpse out of the foundation!” The soldier ordered the others.

“Do not bother. Leave him there.” A young Sage commanded, seeing the task of removing bodies a waste of time.

“You heard the overseer. Keep working!” the soldiers snapped their whips, and so it was, the workers worked amongst their own dead. Even as they laid the stones, they saw their fellows beneath them.

= = =

Sage snaps back to their reality. The group quietly watched on from their hiding places as the wasps descend and distribute. Just their luck that it was some kind of ritualized event, and they didn’t drink it right away. They gathered before their Queen, arrayed and kneeling in subservience, until everyone had their cup of the jelly.

“Vespania eternal!” they cry, and all at once drink the poisoned brew. Its effects were dramatic- the lanky wasp drones soon began to grow in muscle and size, roaring in triumph and rage, in anticipation. It was a quick and terrifying transformation, as some of the hybrids began to rapidly flap their wings, and they start taking off. Nothing seemed to be happening until…

… until one warrior seized up midair, right before departing the hive. He fell down, through some of the vent holes of the vat chambers, landing before Jeannie and Alexis. The warrior glanced up at them, coughing up his green blood and his entrails. He tries to reach out to them, trying to attack them, before he stops moving.

One became two. Two became four. Four became eight, and soon the two hundred or so drone wasps, who had grown inhuman proportions, instead began to die. Most feel onto the floor of the hive. Handfuls fell into the level below, Sage taking cover from the rain of wasp dead.

Vespania the wasp queen let out a cry of horror. “Wha… what is happening?!” She fluttered her massive wings and descended downward to the Hive. Vespenia and her remaining royal guard – two of them – come down to investigate. Sage looked up as the Queen came down, and prepared her hiltless blade. She looked at Jeannie and Alexis, to prepare to ambush them, to launch an attack. She supercharged the blade and launches it upward, cleaving through a Royal Guard’s wings clean, but being stopped by the sheer thickness of the Queen’s musculature. This was still enough to make her roar in pain, and get her to land, her one good wing struggling to keep her airborne.

“You, vile queen of these mutants. You are going to die a horrible death.” Sage finally reveals herself, cursing Vespania.

The Hybrid Queen, larger than more mutated than all others, reached around and tore her useless wing off. With scathing vitriol she looked at the mortals who were clearly responsible for her Hive’s downfall. “I don’t even know WHO the hell you ARE!” She brandishes the Silver Lady’s cryo-sword and raised it in challenge at them. “Say your last words, vermin, for you have earned Vespania’s ETERNAL. HATRED!”

It was Jeannie that finally gave Alexis the strength to get up.   Confronted by the sheer horror of her surroundings, Alex had shut down mentally.  All she could see were the holes; pits in their chests where they birthing wasp larvae had burrowed their way out.  Yet she peopled their faces not with those unfortunates that had died screaming, but of people she knew.  Her mother, her father, her lost siblings, everyone she had ever known.  Dabbler, Sophie, Black Belt, Niao...

...and when she had looked to Jeannie, she had seen that kind face twisted in a rictus of agony as a dead gray creature wormed its way past her clavicle.  The vision nearly broke her again.

Then, Alexis found... something inside her.  It was lodged in her chest; a coal of anger glowing with a dim red fury.  Whatever these creatures had been, whatever they had started out as, someone had made the deliberate choice to seek power at the death of others.  To reap them like animals, but even animals didn't deserve this.  "Jeannie," Alexis breathed.  

Something changed.

"Stay here, ok?  Keep safe."  Alexis said, wiping the last of the sick from her mouth.   She gave her a squeeze on the shoulder then got up.  Alex coughed only once, and then stumbled forward.  

Quietly, Alexis queried her computer's status.

...Adjunct Online.
...Good Morning, Alexis.
...What do you wish to accomplish today?

In the cold darkness of her cell, Alexis had nothing but time and her computer.  After she had set herself well ahead of Dabbler's high score again, she had spent some time with the Souls franchise.  Inspiration had come when she beat Elden Ring for the third time.

Games were Adjunct's outlet.  They let her assert control even when she felt like she was out of it.  So why not lend her movements a little bit of that control in the real world, too?  

One of her fondest memories had been playing games with her family.  She had squared off in epic combat with plastic lightsabers with her older brother.  She had faced monsters with her little sister and shown the BLORG it was the wrong galaxy to invade.  But one of the fondest had been the rhythm games she played with her mother.

"Load Program:  Fight Fight Revolution."

A small rectangular image appeared in her vision.



...Loading
...Player 1 - Alexis
...Select Ordinance:

Her eyes flicked through her options.
...Selected: Twin CZ Scorpion SMGs

A pair of machine pistols appeared in Adjunct's hands.  And, because Dabbler was a bad influence on her, they were colored pink and covered in Hello Kitty decals.  

...Select Mode: Golden Gunman

While the poison had affected the newborns, chemistry was sloppy, and not all of them had been affected equally.  Those still mobile now had ghostly squares of blue light overlapping their forms in Alexis' vision.

...READY

Alexis breathed; in and out.  This was just like Sunday Morning with Mom.  Only she had a pair of guns loaded with high velocity, armor-piercing rounds that would probably have broken both her wrists in the time before she was through.  A pair of green, spectral arms floated in her vision.  

Song Selected: Bombastic, by Bonnie McKee

Yes, it was perhaps not appropriate for the horror show around her, but it somehow... fit the vibe that Alexis was going for.  After all - she was on a mission to search and destroy, wasn't she?

...BEGIN

As the first notes of the song began to play, Alexis ran forward, arms moving as the program bid.  The weapons barked mutely as Alexis fired in time with the commands.  

A scrawl began at the edge of her vision:
...Great!
...Great!
...Good!
...Great!
...Great!
...x5 COMBO!
... Great!

The bullets flew as well, striking down any mutant that came into the range of her vision.  While her aim was not always perfect, the projectiles struck something every time they discharged.  The rounds penetrated the thick chitin of the warrior caste, leaving nasty wounds.  Even while Alexis did this, however, she advanced toward the Queen.

Alexis pointed both weapons at the enraged monarch.  She did not say anything to her 'Eternal Hatred' speech; Alex was too focused for words right then.  Instead, she lit up the Queen with all the anger and fury she could muster, emptying her clips again and again toward the monstrous creature.

Jeannie was happy Lexi was ok and watched amused with whatever trick she seemed up to.stay safe ok she watched Lexi make some guns pop up.

you like pink and hello kitty too neat!
Jeannie was confused when Lexi started talking about game stuff then started shooting up the bugs. oh so by staying safe you want me to stay here so I don't get shoot, ok well I'm here if you need me.

she watched Lexi's murder spree comically moving her hands like she had a game controller.  she might as well have been playing as Lexi as both her movements and choice of weapon skins had a very Jeannie feel to them.  not wanting to spoil Lexi's fun Jeannie sit back and watched. she'd wait for Lexi to tag her in she guessed.  
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back outside the battle was over the animals howled happily.  teddy looked at the hive then over to dabbler sense with Jeannie not around he guessed the witch was his boss.   so looks like we got them all. do we wait for them to come out? we could take the monk back to the cave to see her folks.

Terri continued on in her onslaught. In the back of her head, she wondered if the... what was it? She wondered if the Barbarian was a closer class to her style. They're the more mindless rage type of guys, right? Although, she couldn't exactly say she was raging, just... spontaneously reflexive. Yea, Monk was more fitting.

She was dealing with a downed wasp as the Royal Guard flew in, it striking the Pay Master before she could aim her full attention to the thing. The monk turned and swung, but her recklessness may have finally trumped her. Her staff was knocked away, and she couldn't counter, as the polearm was sent to her clavicle.

0.01

The polearm made contact, but her body was more inclined to be pushed away from the attack than normal. Terri fell to the ground, as she watched crimson lightning strike the wasp before it could attempt and land another blow. She rolled loosely backwards as the bear-cavalry entered and mauled the giant wasp. She winced in pain as her arm stiffened, the same side as the royal guard managed to target.

Everything seemed quieter, although in a strange way anti-climactic to her senses. It began, it went on, and then it ended. They... they won?

Her gaze went to the Pay Master.

"Gonna hope I don't have a fracture... you? Or is that stupid to ask?"

Her body nearly collapsed to the ground, but she stood. She had a place to be, maybe items that remained. Luckily, she didn't stray too far. It seemed like the dwarf could use a seat.

She was expecting everything to go wrong, but there it stood. The chair that Alexis granted her, and the lemonade set beside it. It was untouched, in the carnage, to Terri's unbelieving delight. She took another step towards i-

A belatedly fallen wasp, or at least pieces of one, fell atop the chair from the sky. The chair crumbled, falling to it's side, while the lemonade spilled it's contents into the dirt, mixing with the strange colored blood of the enemy.

Aw.

...She returned to the resting dwarves. Almost without thought, she unwrapped a fist wrap from her hand and went to the Pay Master's side. There were likely many more dwarves to be tended too, but frankly, when she could only tend to one, she figured she shouldn't think too much on it. She decided to try and at least staunch the bleeding best she could, before the dwarves could hopefully bring their own equipment to the field.

"...Ey, Dabbler. You don't happen, to have anything to, heal, do you...!?"

She yelled, out of breath as she talked. Would it be noticed that she didn't particularly thank her? Or would the other matters be enough to distract her from that?

AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE

Dabbler found herself sitting with Teddy, talking over the end of the battle. Survivors were doing what they could to cope. She took off her hat, and produced a chocolate bar from it and munched munched, giving half to the Hat to be messily masticated then digested. “Hmmm yeah. I was half expecting things to go to roll credits, maybe some kind of closing song. I guess real life isn’t like video games or TV shows.” He asked what more was there to do. Dabbler turned to Terri. “Hey Black Belt. You want a Bear Uber to go be with your family now?”

That was when Terri asked Dabbler to help the dwarfs. “Why of course I’d love to help!” Dabbler snaps her fingers and her witch garb was replaced with surgical scrubs, gloves and mask. She produced a first aid kit, However, her medical supplies consisted of some cotton balls and iodine… and an industrial stapler and duct tape.
“You… you stay away from me… foul witch…” The Pay Master, half conscious tried to crawl away, but with the ability to teleport over in the blink of an eye, Dabbler was on him.

“I have only a vague idea what I’m doing!” Dabbler goes to work on the Pay Master, eliciting a torrent of cursing and resistance, but the eager doctor worked to clean and seal up wounds, extract fragments of stingers stuck in his body. Her little demon raven familiars were also wearing scrubs and masks, handing her power tools. Did she really need an acetylene torch?

Once she was done, the Paymaster was a wheelchair bound half of a man bound by duct tape and staple wire. Dabbler tossed aside an organ she removed by mistake, looked like an appendix, it was probably his appendix he didn’t need. He was still alive and cursing behind his mouth cast. If he wasn’t already bound and cleaned up, he’d likely have lunged at her with a knife. As things were, the remaining dwarfs cart him off.

Dabbler turned to Terri again. “Well, That was interesting. I think I might branch out into medicine now! Are you sure you don’t need some first aid? No? Then I guess we should wait and see who comes out of the Hive.” She offered with a wicked grin.

SAGE AND THE HIVE

As Alexis began her skirmish, Rocks started flying towards the Queen, inconveniencing her, distracting her. Sage’s mind told her she should stay back, skirmish and whittle down the already wounded queen. In her heart, a rare instance of rage stirred; she needed much more than merely defeat this Wasp responsible for all their misery. She quietly went into the ground and hid away.

The Royal Guard saw Alexis’s skill with her firearm and the deadly projectiles that she used. Once Vespania flinched as a shot glanced her face, he knew what he must do. “For my Queen!” He said, most devotedly, placing himself between Alexis and Vespania as they descended. He whole heartedly took rounds, feeling the rounds pierce his thick hide, his limbs, and finally his heart. He plummets to the ground, allowing Vespania to make it unscathed.

“…For the Queen… and the Hive…” He muttered, his selflessness sadly going unnoticed by Vespania. He had filled his purpose, nothing more, and the Queen crushed his body beneath her icky bug feet to emphasize she was awful.

“Foolish Mortal. You face a god queen!” She grasps the Cryo-Blade, and splits it into two. She plunges one blade into the ground, coating the whole area in a thin sheet of slippery ice; then she swings the other, sending freezing icicles towards Alexis.

Emerging from the ground behind a large pillar and climbing up on a perch, Dragon Sage lunged at the Queen from the back, utilizing her formidable physical abilities for once. Her primal nature demanded satisfaction, and overrode her tactical mind. This was an enemy that must be dealt with fang and claw. Her claws sank deep into the queen’s wing muscles, the whole thing gushing green blood as she dug deep into the flesh. Her jaw reaching for her head; but the Queen was quick enough to raise her arm to protect herself. So instead, Sage clamped down hard on her chitin covered forearms, the satisfying crunch of shell breaking in her jaws, teeth sinking into the flesh beneath. She twisted as hard as she could, tearing the entire thing below the elbow off.

“EAAARGH!” The Queen, relieved of one of her arms, loses one of the cryo-blades, sending the sword clattering to the floor near Jeannie. For her trouble, the Queen turned around and thrust the cryo-blade twin into Dragon Sage’s heart; she twisted away and it passed through the scales on her shoulder, cutting deep, and sending a deep chill into her body. Sage recoiled at the blow.

With her wings both ruined, Vespania landed on the ground, her mobility crippled without her wings.

“ROAAAAR!” The Hive rumbled with Sage’s roar of pain. Her limb went numb quickly, and she crashed on the ground, though tenderizing it into fine sand on impact. Sage was now limping as her one arm was numb with cold. Sage cursed the dragon rage; she was not as practiced in giant physical combat. She hobbled backwards, up against the wall, now on the defensive like a cornered cat.

Luckily, Fight Fight Revolution wasn't just a program for helping Alexis reenact Equilibrium.  She may know Gun-Fu, but the program was more of a general battle assistant.  And besides, every person that played a rhythm gamer knew about those pauses or weird blocks that would trip you had to deal with.

So when a hail of sharpened ice shares came hurling at her as the floor went slick, Alexis was prompted to use the suddenly frictionless surface.  New targets were highlighted as she went to her knees, the forward momentum of her headlong rush carrying her on.  She bent backward with a surprising degree of physical agility, her hands still moving to shoot objects out of the air.

It was not perfect, however.  The program relied on Alexis' sight lines and had to use predictive modeling for those shards not in her vision.  So, while Alexis racked up another series of GREAT!s, a sliver or two still hit her.  Most of these were just absorbed by the fine leather armor Alexis wore, but a shard the size of her pinky tore a hole in the flesh above her clavicle.  Tinier shards peppered her body as well, leaving a bevy of tiny cuts over the exposed parts of her body.

Alexis cried out at the hot, wet pain.  She lost her rhythm for a moment, sending several shots wide.

...BAD!
...BAD!
...BAD!

The shower of ice now gone, Alexis looked around and assessed.  There were hardly any wasps left.  The titanic battle between the Sage and the Queen had reached a pausing point, both combatants catching their breath.

The song in her ears reached a crescendo, and so Alexis pulled out the showstopper.  Materializing on her shoulder was a rocket propelled grenade.  She set the launcher and sited her shot and smiled grimly.

"Get away from her, you bitch."  Classics never die.  

She pulled the trigger and the rocket hissed away like a battalion of angry cats.  Yet, the Queen was not done.  A wall of ice sprang to life in the path of the missile.  They collided; the shockwave of the explosion punching through the thin sheet of frozen water and ripping a sizeable chunk of the Queen's carapace away.  She was down, but definitely not out.

"Shit."

outside the hive, teddy watches dabbler's questionable medical practice and calls a bear uber for Terri.

back a the hive Jeannie watches Lexi blast the bugs and sage turned into a dragon. looked like they had things wrapped up.

then she noticed the klinky sound of something besides her. it was a shiny sword. oh pretty she picks up the sword oh shiny she swings the sword around hey look what I found! Jeannie is surprised when it shoots a beam of ice out.

well that's cool she noticed sage was in trouble, luckily Lexi blasted the bug queen away. ewww guys tag me. I got a good idea.

she holds up the swordhuh hope this works I have the power!

well, it works for heman so Jeannie thought it'd be a good idea. she does a sailor moon magical girls transformation.

a bunch of ice comes up around Jeannie and then it shatters and her costume changed into a mix of She ra and Elsa from frozen.

yay magic ice princess Jeannie! Jeannie is somewhat distracted by her new costume.sparkly, oh right time to save the day.

she looks over to the bug queen who was stubbornly not dead from Lexi rocket. dumb monsters never know when to die already. right time for you to chill out!

she points the ice sword to her dragon pal and a beam of blue shins from her frozen arm and the sword. sucking out then numbness. if you not going to play nice no neat toys for you.

she holds out her free hand the second ice sword that was knocked free of the buggy queen's grasp when Lexi blasted her. floats up from the ground and flies to Jeannie. neat like thor's hammer!

Jennie's eyes turn icy blue when she grabs the second sword and it starts to snow inside the hive. Jeannie is kinda confused she doesn't really seem to notice the cold. blue energy crackles from the swords.

Jeannie turns toward the bug queen your icky bug reigns gone on long enough, time to let it go! snow mist whips around Jeannie she starts running toward the queen. Jeannie jumps up and ice shoots up in a wave propelling her forward.

Jeannie swings the swords toward the bug queen that was getting up as Jeannie reached. the icy blades become a blue blur with Jeannie unleashing a furry of attacks. her attacks get faster leaving behind icy after images of Jeannie.

then after the images disappear the real Jeannie appears holding up both swords she rushes the bug queen and she brings them down in an x slash as she dashes by the bug queen. kinda like the final attack in the old samurai moves Jeannie and the queen stand still a bit.

then a blue light in the shape of an x appears from the wound Lexi's rocket blasted in the queen's armor. Icicles start bursting from the bug queen. she is instantly frozen solid. Jeannie looks at the gruesome statue.boop she boop pokes the bug queen's nose tipping her over and shattering her.

Jeannie hops back surprised then looks over to sage and Lexi holding up a peace sign v for victory. an odd voice echoes through the hive saying Jeannie wins fatality. Jeannie looks around wondering where it came from then skips over to her friends.

yay guys we did it!

"I would... love to, but I'll wait to see if everyone comes back."

Which, now that she thought about it, they really just assumed they'd be successful. Like, what if they were captured? There was no set time for them to be out by, no real outside indication, unless the retreating few wasps was something more than just them becoming wimps. Could they be dead? If there the same sort of forces she, Dabbler, and the dwarves faced were also inside the hive... well, hopefully they could handle that without an army.

Terri backed away as Dabbler approached, and her fatigued mind realized belatedly the mistake she may have just made.

"Actually, wa-"

But it was too late. Dabbler was already on the case, to the horror of all observers. Terri watched, feeling helpless, as she turned to hurl out contents of the lemonade. The moment passed, and the monk walked away without looking behind her. She was walking towards her chair, before looking at and remembering it's current state. She didn't want to sit on bug blood.

She turned only at Dabbler's question, with a resounding:

"No. No to both of those- no first aid, and never touch a medical tool again."

She hoped, prayed to no particular god, that these people weren't real, and that the dwarves would just disappear and not remember the harm that befallen them. Maybe if was that hope that kept her from getting too depressed over the lives lost in the war. Maybe it was just that she didn't pay any attention to it, her sudden phase of reflexes having taken a toll on her. Was everything she did self-harming somehow? Was she cursed to not go a day without a bruise, without a scratch, without a hurl?

Maybe it was a bit much to question that when so far, everything happened to her on this day and this day only. Not like she got into a lot of fights in prison, largely dramatized if you knew what you were doing. That or she was just lucky, back then.

Why was she thinking about the past all of a sudden? She really was beginning to lose it.

Dabbler teleport-paced back and forth impatiently. Time was passing but no one was rolling credits or yelling cut. Maybe this wasn’t like those stories in books or movies. She decided to go find out how things were going. Maybe she was going to walk in on some dramatic scenario, and she’d have perfect timing.

“Well, they sure are taking a long time. Let’s check it out!” Dabbler invited Terri to see how things were going to end. She opened portals, taking about 6 portal hops to quickly cover the large horizontal distance to the Hive’s exterior. Being a hive of flying wasps, there was no ground level entryway. Dabbler scratched her head at how to access the big hive. She saw a small window and yelled at the top of her lungs.

“Hey Sage? SAGE! Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and thyme! If you’re in there, can you open us a door?? HELLOOOO ANYONE HOOOOME?” Dabbler asked, and when no answer was forthcoming, she resorted to summoning tentacles out of the ground to start tearing a hole in the wall. This would take only a minute. "Get ready to go in swingin', Black Belt!" Dabbler warned Terri just in case.

= = =

The Queen was caught off guard by the power of the modern weapon, tearing through an ice barrier and blasting into her carapace. Without the ice she may have died or been critically injured. Before she could muster another retaliatory attack, a third assailant appeared from nowhere, one that could utilize the cryo-swords no less. Sword slashes too fast to see caused wounds to appear on her body faster than she could perceive them, and sure enough her body was numb with cold and frost.

She didn’t quite shatter after being frozen, given the sheer size and power of her body, standing as tall as a two-story building. But she was soundly beaten, her carapace blasted open, Her torso bleeding thick ichor. All over her body, her flesh was frozen and rent asunder by Dragon fang and claw. With Jeanie proficient enough to restore warmth to her numb limb, Dragon Niao approached the kneeling Queen, the formerly proud, monstrous monarch mustering the last of her breath to make a desperate plea.

A tear fell down her cheek, as her last thoughts went to the fate of her hive. “…Please… my… children…Spare...”

Dragon Niao blinked and pondered for a second, before she chomped down on Vespania’s mutant head, the skull crushed like a water melon. Her lifeless body collapsed onto the Hive floor, blood spilling down through the honeycombs, to the emptied vats below.

“ROOOAAARRR!” Dragon Niao exulted and roared in triumph, the Hive shaking from the earth dragon’s fulfilled rage. She transformed back, falling to all fours, now absolutely exhausted. She coughed up the vivid green blood, spitting it out. “Blegh, I could wash my mouth out with boiling water right about now.” She spoke. Tired, a small, simple stump of stone rose from the ground. She made Jeannie and Alexis their own seats too. With surety, it was over- at least, the threat of Vespania to the American continent. Sage was spent- other heroes will have to deal with the Maldeth situation, whoever they were.

The wall in the hive was opened up by a familiar set of alien tentacles, making an entryway.

“…NEVER FEAR! DABBLER IS HERE! SHOW ME THE QUEEN AND I'LL MAKE HER GET ON HER KNEES IF YANNO WHAT I MEAN!” The witch dramatically teleported into the center of attention, only to realize that the big bad Queen was now a headless giant corpse. And Dabbler was standing in her blood. “Awwww gross!”

Sage spared Dabbler a smile and two chuckles, high praise from the Transmuter. “I guess there’s just the matter of the final business. The larvae chamber, then I recall a Lady was captured by the Queen…and…” Sage glanced at the bodies below them. Leaving them in that state would not do. Sage could not stomach witnessing such indignity again. “…And I will lay them to rest outside.”

Sage turned to the witch. “Dabbler. Samantha.” Sage approached and addressed Dabbler by her human name. “I’d like to ask a favor. Two actually.”

“Sure Parsley. Whadyya need?” Dabbler agreed with a friendly grin. Calling Sage 'Sage' got old much too quickly for her.

“First, those dead bodies in the layer below. I need you to bring them outside of the hive. To a nearby clearing bordered by the woods.”

Dabbler looked down and saw the victims of the Hive, so callously tossed aside. Evil had standards, and Dabbler’s mood turned sullen at the sight of those who fell to the wasps. “Oh.” It was morbid work, teleporting the dead, but Dabbler did so anyway.