Alice was currently sitting on top of the gym bleachers painting a spring time flower with other art students. She had developed a respect and love for the talent. Other students were busy as bees peeping the gym for the spring dance soon. Abby had come up with the theme herself as head of the dance committee, and had worked on the idea for awhile.
After Abby and Ty had joined the team, everything became faster and more efficient. Ty and lab rat had managed to make glasses that could see in the dark, analyze data, and look at things close up. After they heard that Alice was not entirely human, they had become increasingly interested in her abilities. They were all eagerly awaiting a new mission.
"Surprise, surprise, a school event and Abby Archer is sticking her nose in the middle of it." A annoying voice ranged. Everyone had stopped whatever they were doing to look.
"Paige" Abby gritted out. The girls were instant rivals as of now and anything set them off. The two Paige drones were trailing behind her as they surveyed the area in distaste.
" look at this place!"she practically yelled, in a calmer voice muttered." This is... interesting. A nature theme, um... listen, I have a few ideas of my own." Her drones pulled out a picture that Alice and Abby groaned in annoyance. "We'll need pink, make that a lot of pink, and plenty of sparkles- I love sparkles." She hummed. She then turned to Rudy on the latter. " You! That should go over there" He lowered the bee. " A little more... yes the trash." Both Abbey and Alice ran to face the brat.
" Memo to Paige, one of us is in charge of the dance committee- and its not you. The bee goes up!" Abbey said as Rudy complied.
" Well, I'm in charge of the student council, bee down!" She yelled.
" The only reason you have that job is because of your dad! " Alice murmured.
Abbey's Eyes looked murderous, but they looked to see Ty waving at them." This isn't over Paige. Bee up"
Before leaving, Alice looked back. " And it better stay up"
" Ugh, I believe her sole existence is to get under my skin." Abbey said when in the hall.
Alice couldn't agree more. " Just like a parasite"
Ty just seemed amused. " Everything has a natural enemy"
Abbey scoffed. " Oh yeah? what's yours?"
" Clowns" He simply answered. Alice gave a small chuckle, they had flipped open a grossology pager.
" Agents, there's been an incident at the library"
Ty look puzzled at the lack of information." What kind of incident?" The director hummed a moment.
" the books are gone... all of them. Get over there and stake it out" He signed off with a beep.
" I think it's time for a little snooping" Abbey said.
Ty eagarly responded" Grossology style" She nodded.
" Oh yeah! Let's go" Alice whooped.
Police were surrounding the building. Inside, half of the shelves were dissolved and covered by police tape. There were piles of white stuff around and everywhere.
"Someone was hungry" Abbey observed.
Ty was practically weeping. "This is worse than I thought"
"I know" Alice agreed. She felt... weird. Like something was bubbling under her skull, chanting ATTACK!
" I never seen such destruction. So many novels and books gone! And I haven't read them all." He whined.
They walked by the detective waving a hand in front of the woman's face. " The only witness was a librarian on duty. But I don't think we'll get much from her" Abbey stated, the librarian fainted.
" So you think it was someone with a thirst for knowledge...like an old bookstore owner"
Ty asked before Alice snorted in laughter. That was before...the noise and bubbling started again. Both hands went to cover her ears as Ty and Abbey kept on talking. Suddenly, they fell through the floor one at a time.
"Abbey, Alice, are you two alright?" Ty's voice was concerned. Alice could only nod, The feelings were worse down there.
" Lucky for us this broke our falls...ug...lucky in a gross kind of way!" Abbey shuddered . " Uh...guys...I feel something moving" Then, movement came under them. Abbey picked it up, revealing a baby termite. The bubble sound from it was, 'dig, dig, dig!' Abbey smiled at it a little. " Hey little guy.."It dived back into the excrete.
" Was that a termite?"
" If it was, its 50 times too big"
Ty pulled out a sounding pager, Lab rat was calling. " Hey guys, I've got a reading on the sample. Frass, termite excrement. But its not normal, almost as if its been.." He trailed off as Ty spotted an army of soldier Termites charging chanting ATTACK!
" Mutated?" Ty squeaked.
" Yeah, how'd you know" He asked
" Just a guess" He answered as more termites came. " Talk to you later"
"Remember to get a live specimen!" Lab rat called out. They were surrounded by Termites the size of dogs, they snapped their pincers at the trio as they advanced.
" So which one is the cutest?" Abbey asked, nervously. Alice snorted at the attempt.
" We're looking for a specimen, not a pet" Ty stated. Abbey picked one up, but it slipped through her fingers.
"Slippery little guys, aren't they?" Abbey said as it dropped. Ty fished out a book and clamped it between his claw.
" I'm sorry notebook buddy" he whimpered as he tossed it into the termite sea. " I hope you want dessert"Then, he launched a grappling hook to the library ceiling. It reeled them back up to the surface, bringing the baby with them.
Alice cooed as it landed on her hands. " We got to bring this termite to the gag lab."
Abbey looked below at the retreating others.
" Strange, they're all leaving...together." Ty murmured.
Alice held a squirming Termite in her hands. " Yeah, don't you hear the buzzing?"
Lab rat held the termite on the lab table. " Timmy here is a subterranean termite, aren't you Timmy" he cooed. Abbey and Ty looked at him oddly.
" Timmy?" they wondered aloud. Alice nodded her head.
" I thought it was a good name" she shrugged.
Abbey looked unconvinced."Are you sure you can handle two pets?"
He looked offended." What's the problem! Hermes and Timmy get along fine" Hermes turned his little head away and hopped onto Alices shoulder.
Lab rat turned to the computer which showed a queen termite. " There's a lot of things you need to know about termites: they come in different groups, we call them casts. First is the queen, she gives all the orders, so she's the one you need to find ASAP."
" Sounds like the student council president" Abbey mocked.
"Who?" Lab rat looked confused. Alice mouthed Paige to him, before shaking her head.
Ty pointed at Abby who was seriously scowling. "Bitter"
He flicked a switch." Next are these cuties called the off spring wing reproductive, watch out for these, it means our problem is spreading. " Another switch of screen." Then we have soldier termites, the blind defenders of the colony. And you DON'T want t cross them" He held up Timmy " Then we have Timmy, the worker termite, he maintain tunnels and cares for the colony" His voice then started cooing. " Don't you Timmy, and I bet you do a great job" He patted his head.
The three field grossologist looked at him funny. " He's been mutated, which is why he's the size of a small dog" he got out " And what's worse is he's getting bigger, fast!"
Abbey Straightened up. "We got to stop them, we just need to find who's pulling the strings"
" The queen?"
Abbey shook her fist " the queen!''
The library took no time to come back to. The team stood over an open sewer grate.
" Back to the scene of the crime " Abbey noted. Alice nodded at her position of crouching down and looking into it.
" We need to dig a little deeper" He gestured toward the opening. " Ladies first"
"Come on, let's go!" Abbey jumped in. Ty gestured for Alice to go.
"You coward" She teased before vaulting inside. Ty crawled in and shut the lid.
"Abbey, Alice" He fixed his goggles to where he could see them. Okay, the goggles needed some work. "Whoa! big sister close up! You should wear green more often, really brings out your eyes."
Abbey shook her head " Knock it off. So... where do you want to start?"
Ty pulled out his pager and tapped a few buttons. " Well when termites eat, they get flatulent"
"You should feel right at home" Abbey laughed. Alice snorted along.
" Funny...hmm?" His pager beeped. " picking up serious emitions" Something was down there, a shadow past and farting sounded.
"Smells like termite toots to me" Abbey sniffed. Ty waved them forward.
" Signal is strongest this way. C'mon." Ty walked. The beeping continued until further down the sewer tunnel. They stopped for Abby to pull out her pager.
" Heat signature points to something way bigger than an insect. " Abbey gasped as something dripped onto her glasses. The big shadow crawled creepily on the tunnel top. They ran after it, firing the goop shooters. They missed until Ty hit it.
" Good shot" " Yeah" They all whooped and laughed. As they went to look at it, the appearance was a lavender humanoid with pink eyes.
" What is that!?" " Its a ...human!" They gaped out.
The creature yelled out offended" Never call me...that!"
Abby scanned it with a blue light. " Lab rat, can we get an ID here?" It searched the databases for a picture, landing on one with the creature smiling twistedly.
" Oh boy" Lab rat started. " This is Cara Chitin, AKA, Insectiva. Cara was a promising student in Entamology, the study of insects."
Insectiva spoke up behind them" What is this? My life story?"
"Shh!'' Alice held a finger to her lips.
" But her interest grew to obsession." He continued.
" I prefer devotion"
"seeing how insects were treated at her university, one night, she freed them all and ran into the darkness wth her six-legged sidekick."
The story thundered through the empty tunnel. " From then on, Insectiva plotted for a day when insects rule the earth."
" Insects already outnumber and out mass you mammals" She spit out. " I'm here to help them out think you" She grunted to spray a pink mist. Alice twitched, it was over powering.
" uh... sis? she's leaking, it smells awful!" Ty turned towards his sister.
Abbey gasped." She's the termite queen! Queens control their colonies with chemical pheromones. Bees and ants do it too."
Insectiva hummed" You get an A...for annoying!" They watched the fumes travel down the sewer. Oh no! A solid earthquake shook the ground. The soldiers marched forward to save the ruler. The trio fired at them, but could only watch helplessly as they took Insectiva away. She laughed as the grossologist fired at stragglers.
" You weren't kidding about those termite farts." Abbey panted.
" I never kid about farts" Ty said seriously.
The bell rang at school, Abbey was thinking about the villain ordeal. Alice saw a very pink flyer with a flamingo on it. She stripped it down to look at it.
" How do you defeat a queen when she has a whole colony behind her." Abbey finally voiced her thought.
" Depends. Are you talking about Insectiva or Paige" Ty snidly said. They all gasped when they walked into the very, very pink gym.
"The gym is pink!" Abbey said in disbelief. Then angrily corrected herself. "Paige! This all comes down now!'' Rudy lowered the flowers.
"no, it stays up"
"down!"
"up!"
"Down!"
Paige rubbed her temples" Arguing with you is giving me stress lines. I need moisturizer" Her posse hmped.
" It's amazing" Ty commented.
" I know, what a couple of drones!" Abbey angrily yelled.
" Inside voice Abby." Alice said not taking her eyes off the paper she still held.
" No I mean you and Paige. It's like two queens battling for control of the same colony."
"The only way Paige will be queen is if I crown her. don't tempt me"
" With more than one queen, the pheromones get all mixed up."
" That's it! Pheromones!"
Alice looked up. " hey, what happened to the gym?"
Four color coded vials was on the lab table. Two were the same color.
"This is perfect! Insectiva will never see this coming." Abbey said.
Ty agreed" But her termites will, or smell it coming" he grinned.
Lab rat picked up on of the blues" This is trail pheromone, Cal's them to a food this and they'll follow it anywhere."
Abbey picked up a green one. " This is the queens distress call?"
" yep, it let's workers know the queen is in danger. It makes them scrambling to protect their precious ruler, whether that's Insectiva or you"
Abbey picked up the last one- an orange. " What's this ?"
Ty plucked it from her fingers." I ordered that one its time to fight fire with fire. Its enough -" A sounder interrupted him.
" Grossologist, their all over the city...so itchy...I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! LOOK!" He showed a picture of a mound.
Ty was shocked" That's the mother of all termite mounds! These bugs are moving in for good!"
Abbey clenched her fist. "not in my town"
They climbed the mountain until they reached an opening. A charged vibration warned them of oncoming charges.
"Watch out!" Abbey yelled. They ducked for the Winged reproductives.
" Swarming termites only mean one thing, their making new colonies."
"And more colonies mean hundreds more hungry termites!"
" This isn't just our cities destruction, it could be the country!"
"Or the world!" Abbey shouted dramatically.
Alice grabbed a blue vial and slid down the mound. " I'll take care of them, you get Insectiva!" She started to spray and run. It worked pretty well, until they thought Alice was the food. She grew her claws and slashed one that ripped her grossology suit. She had to cartwheel a few times to re-balance.
They were hungry, and swarmed the next food source- the school decorations. One was making a new mound while the rest ate the paper and producing Frass. She sprayed the pheromone to get the attention away from the unfortunate dance committee members. They started to follow her back to the mound, very effectively. They swarmed inside to another source, probably the other two.
Alice flashed a fanged grin and dialed the police and Detective.
Abbey held a termite terrarium, and Alice held Timmy. Insectiva laughed while being toted away. Yet another villain down for the count.
" Thank you grossologist," The Detective said. The director stepped forward to take credit.
" Yes it was nice to have you along as I saved the day from termites the size of gorillas." he exaggerated. Alice put Timmy down.
" You mean like that" he looked down. " don't worry, we'll shrink Timmy too."
" SO ITCHY... All the legs!" he freaked and ran away.
The detective looked unimpressed." guess he had more important things to do..so many people to save, so little time."
"one Queen down, another to go." Ty said at school. They walked in and saw a huge mess and Paige on a pile of Frass, sobbing.
" They dance is ruined!" she cried. Abbey looked around.
" It's not ruined, we need to be creative." They went to get more decorations.
" This is pretty nice" Ty said. They mixed the themes together for a pink nature look.
" Hey Alice!" The two painters on the committee waved her over to dance. She smiled and went to have fun. Awhile later, the group was split by the Paige posse rescuing their Queen, much to her dislike.
" Put me down!"
