Monster Cell
It was really too nice of a day.
The sun was just setting and it was casting gorgeous hues of purple and pink across the sky. It was only just starting to get chilly and the dying breezes brought enough warmth to make it seem as though the heat of the day had never left. It was a storybook summer day.
So, of course, that was the day the hunters found them.
Everything has been going along great until then. An old factory town, turns out, was the perfect spot for a band of monsters to camp out. The district of large, metal buildings that hadn't even turned on their lights in a decade was no where anyone in the picturesque town perched beside it all wanted to be. The few people who did try to camp out, hitchhikers and hobos mainly, were never reported missing.
Apparently, however, people had been calling out the disappearances. Worried loved ones and cafe owners who hadn't seen Joe the homeless man in a few days had grabbed the attention of hunters and brought them down in full force. Ever since Eve rose to join her children upon the Earth, all hunters were on edge, which meant five missing idiots equaled two dozen hunters from all across the USA slowly circling the last factory on the block.
Eve, unsurprisingly, was greatly annoyed by this revelation. She didn't like hunters on the best of days (they killed her children for a living- of course she didn't like them), but she rather liked the little squad of monsters she had collected and seeing them die was high on her to-not-do list.
Not only that, but somehow the hunters were blocking her link. Being Mother of All, she had a natural mental connection with all her inhuman offspring. Only a few minutes ago, she had been enjoying the feeling of raw power as a horde of vampires feasted on a small town they had been lying dormant in, the blood rush intoxicating. Now, she could barely see what was on Dave's mind, and he was five feet away from her, chewing on Joe the homeless man's ear. Never had she felt this cut off from her family, and the feeling was extremely unpleasant.
"Suzy?" She called out, turning to face the witch. "How's the membrane?"
The blond looked up from her work to spare Eve an annoyed glance. "It's Susan. And terrible. It's never been under this much stress before."
Thomas looked out the window, carelessly leaning on the pane despite the broken glass. Glancing up, he tutted in concern at the purple dome, which was sloping inwards like a deflating balloon. The four hunters in his line of sight were standing right on the edge of it, one of them beating on it with their gun while the others scattered herbs and muttered lines that sounded quite ominous.
"Now, I'm not an expert on magic dome-membrane things, but aren't they supposed to look, I don't know, a dome?" He asked as he pulled back into the rusted metal building.
Susan turned her attention to Thomas, raising an eyebrow at him in mockery. "You want to make it better? Go ahead." She said, slapping the side of what everyone was pretending was a cauldron. In reality, it was just a pile of metal pieces that had been forcefully fitted together until it was (mainly) leak free. "And be careful. No need to smash your hand up and make it easier for the idiots outside."
Thomas held up his hands, showing the uncut skin. "It just glass. Besides, just because a paper cut incapacitates you doesn't mean some of us can keep going."
"At least I have some experience, kid. Centuries of witch trials have hardened me. I can deal with pain."
"Prove it." Thomas replied, cocky.
With a look of set deterimination in her eyes, Susan straightened up and, without flinching, effortlessly popped her shoulder out of its socket. After a moment of awkward silence with her arm dangling unnaturally, she unceremoniously shoved it back in place with an ugly sounding click. Acting as though nothing had happened, she just went back to her work.
"Well, that happened." Adeline said, clearly more focused on the threat than Susan's unusual display. "Now what the heck are we going to do about the overexcited plaid models out there?"
"Don't worry, I've already sent out a summoning spell. Any monster within a ten mile radius knows that we need help." Susan replied, sounding as though that solved all their problems.
Adeline didn't seem satisfied with this answer, however. "Monsters typically avoid hunters. What makes you think they'll show?"
"The fact I also included Eve among the cornered." She glanced towards the dark-haired meatsuit the Mother of All had been sporting since her escape from Purgatory, who was trying to keep Jack and Jill from tearing each other's throats out. "I've got to say, she really pulls in the crowds."
Adeline simply shrugged. "I suppose you're right. I haven't left the forests of Pisgah in decades, and yet the moment she came strolling through I was behind her."
"So, wait, what's happening?" Dave had wandered over, tugging awkwardly at his stained dress-shirt sleeves as he listened to them talk.
Adeline smiled. "Oh, sorry Dave. Didn't see you there. Susan was just talking about how she's, well, sent out some signal molecules. They're looking for more monsters to keep our cell nice and functioning."
Dave's eyes lit up at this. "Oh, okay! I assume our marker and receptor proteins are fine?"
Susan twirled her hand over her makeshift cauldron. "Of course. All monsters have their own marker proteins to let them in, and all nasty hunters can sit outside. No marker, no getting past the receptor proteins, right?"
Dave nodded. "Right."
"Hey, Dave?" Dave turned to face Robin, who had just shrugged on a leather jacket. Behind him, a pile jiggly, bloody skin and fat lay, open for anyone who cared to take it.
Seeing that, Dave waved a hand when Robin tried to continue. "Used up all your energy on creating some lipids?"
"Uh, yeah." Robin replied.
"Here." Dave bent his hand forward, letting the long, bone-like spike extend from his wrist. With the utmost care, he gripped the very tip of the needle and broke it off. Grinding his teeth in pain, he offered the broken spike to Robin.
"Thanks." Robin said, bending down slightly to drink out the black fluid that had begun to leak out. When he finished he straightened again, wiping his lips of the leftover residue before once more thanking Dave for the "energy" and heading back off towards one of the windows to check on how they were doing.
"You two want any?" Dave asked, holding out the spike to Adeline and Susan.
"No thanks."
"I'm good."
With that, Dave placed the tip back onto the needle, grunted as it molded back on, and retracted it. The hole it had created by coming out healed instantly. Dave nodded at the ladies before wandering off to help Eve with Jack and Jill.
"He's nice." Adeline commented once Dave was out of earshot.
"You wouldn't know he sucks people's brains out from behind their ears by the looks of him, would ya? It's a shame what happened to him." Susan agreed.
Before Adelane could respond, the room shuddered. Dust rained from the rafters and a bolt hit Thomas on the head.
"What the Hell?!" He yelled, turning to Susan. "What did you do?"
Susan waved her hand over the golden surface of her potion, causing it to briefly turn a violent orange colour. "Something's getting through my force field! Something huge!"
"What!?" Dave shouted.
"Channel proteins!" The witch replied, too concerned with what was happening to expand on that thought. Up above, the roof shook once, then twice, then
CRASH
Metal and wood rained down from the sky. One of Adeline's wings shot out to cover Susan, Robin ducked into a doorframe, Jack, Jill, Dave, and Thomas all rushed to protect Eve as dust rose around them. Coughing as it all settled, the group looked up.
Slowly descending in front of them was a black dragon. It's entire body was covered in gleaming scales, the only exception being the large leathery wings that rose from its back. As it landed, it opened its mouth almost in reflex, revealing a fireworks show of red and orange in the back of its throat.
"A dragon?" Robin whispered. "But I thought they were all extinct."
At this, the head of the dragon turned towards the shapeshifter. Robin froze, trying not to focus on the sharp horns that were now pointed at them.
Instead of attacking, however, the dragon began to shrink. Its wings folded down onto its back, seemingly melting into the scales as its horns also seemed to flatten out. Dark brown skin covered scales as the dragon sat back on its hind legs which were looking more and more like human ones. In a matter of seconds, the dragon was gone, replaced by a woman with long brown hair and a dark cloak held in place by a golden pin.
"You thought wrong." She said, her voice deep. Now that she was their size and nothing was falling on top of them, the other creatures slowly got up from where they had crouched on the ground and approached her cautiously. All but Eve, who launched herself towards the dragon.
"Jetta! I haven't seen you in ages!" Eve said as she embraced her daughter. She pulled back briefly to look her over. Aside from her burning crimson eyes and unnaturally long nails, she looked perfectly human. "You're gorgeous! How has England treated you?"
The dragon, Jetta apparently, smiled. "Just fine, although it was much more fun two hundred years ago. I left when my brethren put out the call that you had been raised in the colo- um, I mean, the US."
"I hate to interrupt the family-bonding, but we do have a problem to deal with." Susan spoke up before Eve could respond. "I assume you're here to help, Jetta?"
Jetta turned towards Susan. "Of course I can help. And, please, call me Jet."
"You can help?" Jack spoke up.
"How?" Jill continued, earning a glare from Jack.
Jet waved her fingers in response, little trails of red flashing through the air before disappearing. "Magic."
Adeline shook her head. "Impossible. Dragons do have minor magic, but it's all pyrokinesis. No offense, but a deadly light show isn't exactly what we need right now." She said, gesturing upwards. The gaping hole in the roof created by Jet made it easy to see the force field, which was even more sunk in than before.
Jet simply smiled at this assertion, however. "My race is so ancient, there are few hunters who even believe we once lived. Over time, our abilities have become… extremely underrated."
"It does help that Jetta has always been one of the strongest of her kind." Eve added.
"Fine, then." Susan said, turning back to her cauldron. "Do whatever you want."
Adeline shook her head. "Come on, Jet. I'll show you to… wherever you need to go to do your magic."
"Where's a good spot to work on the force field without putting myself in the hunters' line of fire?"
Adeline gestured towards one of the corners of the room, where a long but thin gap provided a good look at the dying purple dome. Before they could head over, though, Dave stopped them.
"Wait, what's going on?"
Adeline waved her hand behind her, continuing to lead Jet away. "Oh, nothing much, Dave. The membrane just needs some help, that's all."
"Like a cytoskeleton?" Dave questioned.
"Uh, probably, yeah."
"Oh, okay then."
Once they had gotten to the corner, Jet faced Adeline. "What was that all about?"
"Hmm?"
"The whole 'membrane' and 'cytoskeleton' bit. What is this, biology class?" She asked.
Adeline laughed. "I suppose you wouldn't understand. You're new."
"What wouldn't I understand?"
Adeline sobered up immediately. "Wraiths don't have a lot of weaknesses-"
"Yeah, only silver hurts them." Jet interrupted. "I've met wraiths before."
Adeline looked annoyed. "Not just silver." She replied. "Vicious head trauma can screw them over as well. Dave had a bad run-in with some hunters that he barely escaped from. They didn't kill him, but they did screw his mental resources up. His ability to grasp ideas is almost completely gone."
"Almost?" Jet asked.
"He was a biology teacher before his… incident. As long as things are explained in terms of cells, he'll understand it. It's sort of interesting, actually, seeing who everybody is in our little 'monster cell.'" Adeline finished.
"It is, eh?" Jet said, focusing her attention on the force field. "Give me some of them."
Adeline settled back and leaned on the wall. "Sure, why not? Easiest, I suppose, is me. I'm the Golgi apparatus, since I-"
"Backup there a moment, uh, you."
"Adeline."
"Adeline." Jet repeated. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I've never met a monster like you. And I've never really taken any modern day science classes, either."
Adeline laughed at this. "I guess you wouldn't have, would you? It's no problem. My race of creatures is rare and lives mainly in Mexico. Not many hunters or monsters know I exist."
"I understand that." Jet replied as she ran her fingers across the dome's surface. Red, glowing lines appeared, supporting the dome and giving it its shape back.
"I suppose you would." Adelane said grimly. "Anyway, I'm an aswang. I mainly just eat people's organs. Normally I just hole up in a cave and survive off of a couple for a few decades, but Eve was resurrected in the forest I was living in. She was calling out for help, so I came."
Jet nodded along. "I like your style."
"Thanks. All of that makes me the Golgi apparatus. Golgi apparatuses bubble proteins to keep them safe from things that would like to eat them early, I guess. Dave's the expert, really. But I can seal up corpses filled with food. Normally, I just do it to get rid of the organs I can't eat, but nowadays I use it to carry blood packs and extra organs in human suits. Keeps it safe from hunters and cops alike." Adelane explained.
"Interesting." Jet said as she finished with the section of the dome. Adelane glanced at it. The neon lines Jet had been laying were criss crossing over the entirety of that section of the force field, creating a magenta colour where the purple met the red.
"I'm impressed." Adelane said, tracing the lines, careful to not touch them. "This going to keep the membrane from collapsing?"
"If you want to call it that, yeah. It'll keep the membrane from collapsing." Jet replied.
"Guess that really does make you the cytoskeleton."
Jet smiled, amused. "Is that a good thing?"
"In our case, yeah." Adelane laughed again. "The cytoskeleton basically keeps the membrane from collapsing. Supports it, shapes it, all that jazz."
"So, I'm the cytoskeleton and you're the Golgi-thing. So, since the witch is creating the entire dome, that makes her this membrane thing you keep mentioning?" Jet asked as they moved to a different section of the dome to work her magic on.
"Yeah. The membrane keeps everything in a cell. It also has different proteins attached to it, to only let good things in and keep bad stuff out, which is also important." She gave Jet an appraising look. "Those proteins are the only reason you got in."
"How so?" Jet started her magic again. She hadn't had a conversation like this one in a century, and she was enjoying it. The last one was with some old vampire who thought he was related to Dracula. Fun talk, even if he was a little batty (no pun intended).
"Well, you wouldn't have known we needed help if it weren't for the signal proteins that went looking for monsters to help us out, marker proteins recognized you and didn't electrocute you like they've been doing to the unidentified hunters, receptor proteins let you in, and channel proteins helped get you through the membrane, even though you're a large one." Adelane winced at her choice of words. "Uh, no offense intended."
"None taken." Before Jet could say anything else, there was a sound like a dozen flies attacking a bug zapper at once. In front of her, bullets flew at the force field, only to sizzle and ping when they hit. From the way they echoed, it seemed hunters on all sides were making the attack.
A minute later, however, and the noise had stopped when their assailants realized they were just wasting ammo. Thomas leaned out a window, yelling taunts and insults.
Adelane shook her head. "They're getting desperate. Hoped their bullets would be able to pass through, even if they can't. Doesn't matter. No marker proteins, no entrance."
"Let me guess, only monsters have marker proteins?" Jet said as she went back to work.
"Yep."
"Who's mister sunshine over there?" Jet asked, vaguely gesturing at Thomas after he had thrown a particularly nasty insult.
"Oh, Thomas? He's new, in the sense that his species has existed for all a month or so."
"Really? Do tell."
"Eve created him after her escape from Purgatory. A mix of wraith, vampire, and shapeshifter with a touch of werewolf- she calls him the perfect monster." Adelane explained with only a slightly mocking tone.
Jet chuckled at the obvious jealousy but didn't mention it. "This perfect monster have a name?"
"Eve never named them, although apparently the first hunter to have to deal with one called them Jefferson Starships."
The dragon nodded. "Thomas Jefferson Starship."
"Yeah, he doesn't like to be called that. I should know." Adelane added the last part in conspiratorial whisper.
"So what part of the cell is he?"
"Lysosomes. In real cells, lysosomes take care of things like bacteria and decaying organelles. Thomas is the strongest member of our team, so he beats up plenty of 'bacteria,' aka hunters. He's also eaten dead team members before."
"What?" Jet's steady line jarred for a second. "When?"
Adelane laughed. "Caught your attention, have I? A while ago, we had some zombies on the team. I don't even remember where we picked them up. Long story short, they got mauled by a band of hunters and weren't even able to crawl anymore. None of us really wanted to eat them, we had other food that wasn't rotting, but Thomas? Man oh man he was all for it. He went at them like a kid in a candy store."
"Well then." Jet was going to continue before someone was calling out for Adelane.
"Hey, Adelane? One of 'em's waking up!"
"Sorry, I got to go." The aswang pointed at her mouth. "Paralyzing saliva."
Jet waved her off. "Have fun."
The dragon went back to her magic laying, slowly moving across the room as she went. Caught up in her work, she didn't notice the two people arguing right in her line of work.
"Hey, careful there lady!"
"Be nice, Jill."
"You be nice, Jack!"
"I am!"
Jet stopped when she realized she accidentally had bumped into them. "Uh, sorry." She put in quickly, sensing they wouldn't just stop their argument for her.
"Oh it's fine, really, just a bump."
"Such a suck-up, Jack."
"Like you aren't, Jill."
"So who are you?"
Jet didn't respond at first, not realizing they had switched to talking with her again. "Jet."
"Not your name!" The woman, apparently Jill, berated instantly. "I meant the part of the cell you are."
"Oh! I'm the, um, cytoskeleton." Jet said as she went back to the work.
"That's nice."
"Do you even know what a cytoskeleton is, Jack?"
"Do you, Jill?"
"So are you two related, or…?" Jet had no clue who the two monsters next to her were, other than the fact that their arms and faces were covered in black tattoos. Since they didn't seem to be getting ready to leave, she decided she might as well talk to them. It was better than listening to them verbally attack each other again.
"You think I'm related to that idiot?"
"You are related to this idiot whether you like it or not, Jill."
"Barely. I'm way better anyway."
"You feed off of fear!"
"And you feed off happiness, like a wimp."
"At least my victims enjoy their last moments!"
"What's the fun in that?"
"Guys, really! Who are you?" Jet interrupted, not interested in getting caught up in their argument.
"I'm Jack."
"I'm Jill."
"Well, yeah, I got that part. I mean what type of monster are you?"
Jack and Jill exchanged disbelieving looks. "You don't know what we are?" Jack asked after a moment.
"I"ve been hiding in England for two hundred years, trying to avoid hunters. I don't see other monsters very often." Jet explained.
"Makes sense." Jill said. "Djinn have never really lived up in England. Too stuffy for our tastes."
"Did you say… gin?"
Jack looked like he got that question a lot. "Djinn. D-J-I-N-N. Same pronunciation, huge difference. We're like genies."
"Like in Aladdin?"
"No, nothing like Aladdin!" Jill replied angrily. "Geez, you've been in hiding for two centuries but you still find the time to get out and watch movies?"
"Caves get boring eventually." Jet shrugged. "So if you're nothing like the genie in Aladdin, what are you like?"
"Mega-Awesome-Super-Cool." Jill said in a single breath, as though it was one word.
"That's neither a word nor a proper response, Jill."
Jill just rolled her eyes. "Yes it is."
Jack chose to not get into another fight, instead addressing Jet. "We don't grant wishes, per say, like in Aladdin. We trap people in their heads and grant them their one, deepest wish. While they enjoy their imaginary world, we slowly drain their blood."
"Pshhhh. That's what you do."
The longer Jack and Jill talked, somehow, the more confused Jet got. "Wait, you guys don't do the same thing? But aren't you both djinn?"
"Technically, yes, we are..."
"But," Jill cut in, "we aren't. Like, at all."
"Then what's the difference?"
"I'm a fear djinn."
Although Jill looked like this should instantly clear up all questions and concerns, Jet had no clue what a fear djinn was. "A what now?"
Jill huffed in annoyance. "I do the same thing as any other djinn, except that the world I put my victims in is ripe with their worst fears. Fear is muuuch more tasty than happiness."
"Well, then."
"That's it? 'Well, then?' Don't you want to know what part of the cell we are?" Jill demanded.
"Uh, what part of the cell are you?" Jet said, hoping to appease the fear-hungry djinn as she slowly scooted into another corner of the room, her red lines flowing across the dome.
"Thank you for asking." Jill responded, acting as though she hadn't told Jet to ask the question. "I'm rough endoplasmic reticulum, or RER as everyone prefers to call it."
"I'm also RER."
"No one asked you, Jack."
"I think she asked both of us."
"So, could you explain what makes you RER?" Jet once more interrupted, growing sick of the constant fighting.
"Sure. Endoplasmic reticulum- ER- creates pathways through cells. RER has ribosomes attached that pick up anything they need as the stuff flows through to create proteins." Jack started.
"The blood of our victims is our molecules, and our veins our pathways." Jill interjected dramatically.
"Eh, more like the blood bags we siphon it into. Using our magic, which are the ribosomes, we can change the victim's happiness,"
"Or fear,"
"Into blood. The more of the emotion, the more blood or protein we get." Jack finished, ignoring Jill.
"That's cool."
"Just 'cool?' that's all you've got? Shouldn't you be more impressed?" Jill said, annoyed.
"Jill, what did you want her to say?"
"What do you care, Jack?"
"You're badgering the lady!"
"Oh, yeah, leave it to you to be Mr-kiss-up!"
"Jack? Jill? Why don't you go help the others start packaging up our food?" Eve said in a calm voice. She had come up behind the two djinn as they argued. Still a little miffed, both of them nodded and walked off.
Eve smiled as they walked away before she turned to admire the dome. About half of it had been covered by Jet's crimson magic lines and as a result it was beginning to look like a proper magic force field.
"Any reason you had to pick up the two djinns who hate each other?" Jet asked jokingly.
Eve laughed. "Fear djinn are few and far between, and most plain djinn don't like them very much. We already had Jill when we met Jack. Jill said that she was here first and that Jack couldn't join but I insisted. We can use all the extra blood we can get."
"Things that bad?" Jet said, glancing over at her mother.
"Let's just say that the less humans we have to steal off the streets, the better." Jill turned her attention from the dome to Jet. "But enough about that. How have you been getting along with the team?"
"Just fine, no worries. I find your monster cell very amusing." Jet replied with a wink.
"I thought you might. It's good to have something fun these days."
"So, I got to know. What are you?"
"The nucleus." Eve paused. "Let me guess, you don't know what that is?"
"Always been more of a chemistry dragon myself."
"That's fine. The nucleus isn't hard to explain. It's basically the brain of the cell- holds DNA and chromosomes, directs cell activities, that sort of thing. As the leader of this group and the mother of all, I suppose I'm fit for that role."
"I'd say." Jet agreed.
"So, have they told you about everyone else already?"
"Everyone except," Jet looked around, "those two." She said, pointing.
Eve looked over. "Well, the one in the crumpled white shirt is Dave, and the one with the black leather jacket is Robin. Dave's-"
"The wraith that forced everyone to take the which-organelle-are-you-quiz?"
Eve chuckled. "If you want to put it like that, sure. Robin's our resident shapeshifter who changes between forms of some fictional character they call 'the Doctor.'"
Making the connection, Jet glanced at Robin again and laughed. "I didn't even realize it. He's the 9th Doctor right now."
"Nice to see you keeping up in pop culture."
Jet shrugged. "It's England. Even monsters watch Doctor Who."
"I see."
"So tell me, what part of this cell are they?"
"Well, Dave is the mitochondria, which basically means he takes energy our team can't really use and makes it usable." Eve began.
"How so?"
"Wraiths eat a certain part of the human brain that most monsters can't ingest. At least, they don't get any energy from eating it. The brain, however, is what makes up the fluid inside their spikes, which we can eat."
"Okay." Eve pulled a face. "A little gross, but okay. And Robin?"
"I assume you already know about ER?"
"Jack and Jill, uh, explained it for me."
Eve grinned. "I'm sure they did. Robin is, instead of RER, SER, which is just smooth ER. Instead of making proteins, it makes lipids. Once again, the molecules getting transported are Robin's victims' blood, which flows through their veins."
"And the lipids?"
"When Robin changes forms, they shed their skin. Their skin is mainly fat, which is a type of lipid."
"So… you eat Robin's skin?" Jet asked, looking unhappy.
"For better or for worse, yeah."
"That sounds delicious." Jet replied sarcastically before she pulled back from the final corner of the room.
"Are you done?" Eve asked, turning around to see all of the dome now laced with red lines.
"Almost." Jet walked into the middle of the room, looking up and out of the hole she had created. Against the now-dark night sky, the purple dome was easy to see, the very top of it still sinking in.
Checking that everyone else was busy on the edges of the room, Jet took a moment to focus before she let out a roar. Everybody looked over as the dragon let out a tower of flame that shot straight upwards and pushed the top of the force field up and into shape. A shock wave of red fire burst through the dome before it went back to normal, now completely inflated and strong.
After she stopped screaming, the rest of the monster cell came over.
"So, are we good now?" Jack asked.
"Of course we are, idiot!" Jill answered.
"Look at it. It's perfect." Susan commented.
"Wait, what happened?" Dave said, looking around the circle for answers. Before anyone could provide them, however, the dome began to shake.
"Again?" Thomas complained. "I thought we just fixed it!"
Eve turned to Susan. "What's going on?"
The witch glanced back into her cauldron. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no!"
"What is it?" Robin said, sounding concerned.
"It isn't my magic, right?" Jet looked up, checking to make sure her cytoskeleton was holding.
"It's their magic that's the problem." Susan replied, looking horrified.
"What do you mean?" Everyone asked, almost in unison.
"The hunters! They've gotten their hands on some magic and are using it to push, uh, through the membrane even without marker proteins." Susan explained, quickly throwing in the biology terms to keep Dave in the loop.
Dave moved to the window. Hunters were flinging down spice bags which exploded in a puff and surrounded them in bubbles that, after facing some resistance, forced them into the forcefield.
"Susan, how full is the cell?" He asked from his viewing spot.
"Very. It's set to pop if too many more things get inside."
"Why would it pop?" Jet asked.
"The force field, uh, I mean, cell, is only designed to hold so many living things. Too many and the membrane bursts open, even if they aren't pressing up against the sides of it"
"That doesn't make any sense." Jill complained.
"That's magic for you."
"That means the hunters are getting in using phagocytosis, which is a form of endocytosis, which is a form of active transport!" Dave exclaimed, sounding like he was both worried and trying to give a lecture at the same time.
"Explanation for those who skipped science class?" Jet asked.
"The hunters are forcing their way into a place that's already too full." Adelane replied.
"That doesn't matter right now." Eve pointed at the two humans who were in a heap. "Jack and Jill, you're in charge of the food. Adelane, make sure they're ready to move. Rest of you, get everything together. Once all those hunters are in, they'll attack." She turned to Jet. "You think you could fly us out of here?"
Jet smirked. "No problem."
As everyone went off to do their tasks, Eve focused on Susan. "Suzy?"
Susan looked up from where she was transferring part of her potion into a bag. "It's Susan, but yeah?"
"How close to bursting is this membrane?"
Susan held out her fingers, showing them almost pressed together. "This close. Honestly, three more hunters in and the dome collapses."
"What does that mean for us?"
"Well, everyone inside the dome would be crushed. The more powerful of the group would probably survive, but it would take a while to crawl out from beneath it."
Eve scowled. "Time we don't have. Is there anything we can do to stop it from collapsing before we've left?"
"I don't really know. The force field cares only about the living things inside. So unless you've got a team member you're willing to sacrifice…"
"Wait." Eve turned to observe the room. Broken metal, rotting wood, water puddles, rusty equipment…
Water puddles.
"You said that all life in here would fill up our space, right?" Eve said, turning back towards Susan.
"Um, yeah. Why?"
"Would the microorganisms in those water puddles count?"
Susan snapped her fingers, catching on quickly. "That would work! If you give me a second, I can clump it altogether. You'll just need to pick someone who's willing to do a quick run to the edge to throw it out."
Eve nodded and let Susan hurry off to the puddles. Quickly looking over her group, she motioned at Dave to come over, as he was the only one who didn't seem to have anything to do.
"Yes, mum?"
"Would you be willing to take that," Eve pointed to the large water bubble that was now floating over Susan's cauldron, "out to the edge of the membrane so that we can stop it from bursting from the hunters who are coming in?"
"Like osmosis? Y'know, water leaving an area of high concentration-"
"Into one of low concentration; yes, exactly like that." Eve finished.
Dave nodded. "Of course."
Susan pressed a bundled up rag into his hand. "This is what the water is anchored to. Just get close enough to the membrane that you can throw it out, and the water will follow, no problem."
Dave nodded again before hurrying off through one of the cracked walls, the water altering its shape to squeeze through with him.
"How much time will that buy us?" Eve asked, he eyes still on the crack Dave had disappeared through.
"It will allow the rest of the hunters to get in, but just barely. The dome will be under great strain the entire time."
"But it will hold until we can get out?"
"Probably, yeah."
"I'll take probably." Eve muttered under her breath right before Dave came back in. Aside from an already-healing cut across his shoulder that had torn his shirt, he looked fine and flashed two thumbs-ups at Eve and Susan.
The dome shuddered again. "And that means, ladies and gentlemen, that our time is up! We have about five minutes before this dome collapses and I do not intend to be here for that!" Susan shouted, knocking over her cauldron and letting the potion drain into the earth.
"What did you do that for?" Jill asked incredulously.
"With the potion binding to the earth, it'll give us a few more seconds and make sure the hunters can't use it for themselves." Susan explained curtly.
"But that doesn't-"
"Guys, it doesn't matter." Jet said, interrupting Jill before things got out of hand. She was already beginning to change back into a dragon; she had doubled in size, her skin had tightened to showcase the gleaming scales that lay underneath, her clothes were beginning to melt away like the illusion of magic they were, she had doubled in size, her teeth, sharp and pointy, stuck out over her lips like fangs. "I'm ready to go when you are."
Eve surveyed the room. The two human food-bags were still paralyzed, Jack and Jill supporting one each. Everyone else seemed ready to go, with Robin watching the walls, waiting for a hunter to burst through.
Deeming them ready to move, she yelled, "Let's go!"
Instantly, everyone rushed towards Jet, who had grown even bigger, her arms having changed back into legs. Getting down onto all fours, her wings burst out of her back as she finished transforming, waiting for the rest to get on.
Eve was first on, followed by Jack and Jill. Adelane was just getting on, with Robin helping her up, when the walls crashed in on themselves.
In a matter of seconds, the group was surrounding on all sides, with three to four at each wall. Instantly, Thomas was on the offensive, standing against the two largest groups that stood directly in front of Jet's escape path. Dave and Susan stood at the back, with Robin staying beside Jet.
No one moved, everyone eyeing each other uneasily. The hunters, while well-armed, didn't seem sure exactly what sort of monsters they were all facing and, as such, had no clue what weapon to draw first. The monsters were trying to figure out if they had the time to attack before being attacked themselves.
Eve felt like cursing. Normally she would just order her children about mentally, hopefully having one of them clue in Susan (a friend, not a child of hers with a mental link), but these hunters had something on them that was blocking her. Appraising the situation, she saw only one possible course of action.
Carefully, she leaned down next to Jet's ear, trying to move slowly as to not attract the hunters' attention. Luckily, they seemed occupied, and didn't notice her whisper to Jet, "Roar."
Understanding immediately, Jet open her mouth and let out a roar, flames making their way to the front of her mouth. The only reason she didn't let them out was the risk it posed to Thomas. The guy might be close to invincible, but getting burnt would slow him down for sure.
At the sound, all the hunters flinched, too caught up in deciding their next move to be prepared. Instantly, Susan and Dave rushed backwards and onto Jet, with Robin following after them. Thomas started slashing his way through the seven hunters in front of him.
"Go!" Eve called out as the hunters began to gather themselves. Jet started moving forward, slowly at first to adjust to being back in dragon form with an added weight on her back, but getting quicker. Thomas grabbed her tail as she went by, climbing on to her back as she got closer and closer to the edge of the dome.
The hunters were not ready to give up, however. Still unsure what exactly they needed, each hunter picked a gun at random and started shooting. Silver, rock salt, and witch killing bullets- marked up with carvings to make sure the witch stayed dead- all flew past them. Most of them bounced off of Jet's scales, met by her only with grunts of annoyance. But some of them were getting uncomfortably close to hitting someone on Jet's back.
"Suzy." Eve called, getting the witch's attention.
"What is it?" Susan didn't even bother to correct Eve, too focused on what was happening.
"Can't you do something?"
Susan just shook her head, frowning. "No, I- I can't. I don't have the spices to make any miniature force fields or paralyzing potions. I'm sorry."
Eve looked forward. "It doesn't matter. We're almost out." Jet was another two steps from the dome. Launching herself forward, her wings sprung open as she went…
...only to become trapped halfway through the dome.
"What the hell?! What's going on?" Thomas yelled as Jet slowly continued through the membrane, a bubble forming around her as she did so. Apparently, from the looks of it, the bubble was pushing back the sides of the dome, allowing her to get through.
Dave slapped his forehead. "I know what this is! Really, we should have seen it coming…"
"Seen what coming?" Susan asked, worriedly watching the hunters reload.
"We're trying to get out through diffusion, which is just going from an area of high concentration to one of low concentration."
"We know that! What does it matter?" Jill screeched.
"Well, Jet is big! No offense." He added quickly. Jet just grunted in response. "Which means to get through, a vesicle is forming around her to actually get her through, aka she's getting out via exocytosis."
"Then why hasn't the bubble formed all the way around her?" Jack asked, gesturing to where the entire back of Jet was open to attack.
Dave shrugged. "The vesicule seems to be forming in time with us going through. I don't know why, exactly, but there's nothing we can do about it."
"So," Robin asked from where they could see the hunters beginning to once more take aim, "we won't make it out before this next round of attack?"
"Yeah." Dave admitted quietly.
"Alright then." Robin didn't have time to think about this. Eve was in danger. The monster cell was in danger. They needed a distraction. They needed a distraction now.
"I'm sorry guys." Robin said, inching closer to the back. "It's been fun."
In a second, everyone knew what Robin was about to do. Susan and Dave, the closest to them, instantly lunged forward, but it was too late. Robin had jumped off.
In horror, they watched as mid jump Robin shed their skin, the lump of fat and blood landing on top of three hunters, Robin going straight for the other nine. Instantly the hunters fired their guns, filling Robin with lead, salt, and, most importantly, silver.
Robin was dead before they hit the ground.
Jet shook as the monsters watched, a sign that she had finally gotten all the way through the dome, and instantly started flying high into the sky, where no hunters could hit them. The dome shook once more and, from their new position high above, the group watched as the hunters plunged out of the dome just in time to escape it folding in on itself, crushing the entire factory beneath it.
Instantly, Eve felt her mental connection come back. Whatever the hunters had been using, it was either too far away or had been destroyed in the collapse. But the joy at having it back was overshadowed by the emptiness she felt when, no matter how she tried to reach out, she couldn't sense Robin's presence.
Susan crawled over and patted Eve's back. "I'm sorry, Eve. This is- this is awful."
"Yes, Susan, it is." Eve said quietly.
Down on the ground, the hunters were clearing debris with makeshift bandages wrapped over their injuries, knowing they couldn't stay too long before people came over, but also knowing they had to clear the area before they could go.
Two of them stood in the very center of the pile, looking at the only-barely visible hand of the skinwalker who had diverted their gunfire long enough to let the rest escape.
The taller one looked down at his own hand, where the remains of an ancient necklace, said to block the Mother of All's mental ink with her children, were being held. He hadn't even noticed when it fell out of his pocket as he and the rest of the hunters escaped the factory.
His companion was kicking the rubble. "We were so close!" He yelled before sending a particularly large lump of metal flying, followed immediately by curses of pain.
"Don't worry." The tall one threw the broken amulet away. "We got one of them, at the very least. And everyone knows cells don't survive long when they're missing pieces." He finished, watching the dragon disappear into the night sky, just another black speck against the stars.
The End
Key
All parts are referenced in the text, but I put them here for easy checking.
Cell membrane: The force field protecting the monsters throughout the story.
Marker proteins: The reason only monsters can get through the force field- they have marker proteins, hunters do not.
Receptor proteins: Allows only monsters into the force field.
Signal molecules: Used to call for the help of Jet.
Channel proteins: Helped get Jet through the force field.
Mitochondria: Dave the wraith, who converted inedible brain into edible black goo.
Ribosomes: Jack and Jill's magic that converted certain emotions into food.
RER: Jack and Jill, the djinns, who moved blood while converting certain emotions of it into food/protein.
SER: Robin, the skinwalker, who moved blood and produced fat in their skin when they shed it.
Golgi Apparatus: Adelane, the aswang, who sealed food in corpses, so that the food would be safe when they traveled.
Lysosomes: Thomas, the Jefferson Starship, who broke down threats and useless team members alike.
Cytoskeleton: The magic produced by Jet, the dragon, which supported the force field and helped it keep its shape.
Nucleus: Eve, Mother of All, who led the monster cell, controlling their movements, and can create any monster.
Plant cell structures: N/A; not a plant cell.
Diffusion: When the monsters left the force field after the hunters had come in.
Osmosis: Throwing out the puddles when the hunters were coming in.
Active transport: The hunters forcing their way in, despite the force field being almost full.
Endocytosis: How the hunters were getting through the force field.
Exocytosis: Jet leaving the force field.
Phagocytosis: How the hunters were getting through the force field.