Evolution 3.07 (1)

Behind me, the rumble of tornado winds and explosions was a dull crescendo of booms howling from the centre of town. Diluvium was still going mad, despite every hero in the city and then some trying to power him down. In the centre of it, it would be a pandemonium of chaos and violence, but looking at it from this distance it seemed like an almost serene light show of blasts and sounds.

This far from the chaos, the streets just felt unnervingly quiet and deserted.

I jogged through the empty docks, still limping with every step. At one point, I think a gang of hooligans tried to mug me. They took one look at the teenage girl running around the streets, wearing a black mask, carrying a machete, and flanked by a cloak of bugs, and they promptly ran away. I didn't let them escape, of course.

It took me about half an hour to find Pan's trail again. I had enough bugs on him that I could feel him distinctly. I knew he was in the city, I knew he had been flying north, and he knew that he was injured enough that he would need to rest. After that, it was just a matter of time.

Pan underestimated me. He clearly never knew about my range. That was the first mistake he made trying to run away from me.

The second mistake? He decided to come to a stop in the docks, hiding in an abandoned warehouse. For the first time all night, I sighed a breath of relief.

I had whole warehouses of modified bugs in that warehouse district at the docks. It was where I kept my breeding pools. For the first time all night, I was actually close enough to use them.

I took a deep breath to focus as soon as the huge concentration of insects came under my precise control. So many insects flooded my senses all at once, I had to stop running just to process them all.

I'd been going too long with half a swarm. Suddenly, I had a full army at my command. I could feel wasps, mutant spiders, centipedes, even some of my particularly interesting species of cockroaches and ants.

This is better, I thought quietly, taking a deep breath. Much, much better.

At once, my army stirred into life, all insects moving into formation. I had to be careful, I couldn't let Pan see me coming. Instead, I used the sewers, and within minutes there was a solid mass of bugs being forced through the sewer system.

I could feel my powers kicking into life. Already, thoughts and images of formations, tactics and patterns of assault flashed before my eyes.

I paused, still panting heavily while I let my power ramp up in the background of my mind. I groaned slightly as I flexed, trying desperately to focus.

My clothes were soaked through and my body was chafing against the wet fabric. Even my mask was still half-scorched and completely black on the right side of my face. I could only see through one eye patch, but there was nothing for it. I had plenty of silk in my warehouse, but no pre-made costume, so instead I just ordered a squadron of bugs to bring me a spider silk sheet that I could wrap around me like a cloak.

It's better than wearing a mask with jeans and t-shirt, I thought with a gulp, wrapping the sheet around me like a poncho.

"…Taylor… is …ok?" Lisa said in my ear. My headset was crackling terribly. I think the batteries were finally running dry.

"I've got this," I said with a deep breath. "I've found the Lost Boys. I can take them."

"…Stalker… coming…" Lisa said through the static.

"Right. Let's finish this," I muttered before quietly flicking the switch and turning the headset off. It was more static than anything right now, I wanted to preserve what little battery I had left.

I could feel the Lost Boys in a warehouse two blocks away. I needed to keep my bugs discreet – I couldn't let anyone catch a glimpse of the swarm or they might bolt before I was ready – but I could still pick up on the distinctive sound of yelling. Pan was screaming at someone. The other voice was quieter, I barely recognised it. Shadow.

" –You'd be nothing if it wasn't for me!" Pan screamed. "Nothing!"

He was arguing with Shadow. Good, if the team was falling apart, it would just make things easier for me.

The warehouse was an old, empty building. A storehouse left over from the days of the shipping industry, with broken glass windows and a flimsy metal roof. Barely anything even left inside of it except rubbish and cobwebs. There were distinct tags on the wall – the Merchants must have used the warehouse for one of their raves at one point.

I focused on the topography being relayed to me. There were two floors to the warehouse, an upper one overlooking the lower, with rooms partitioned at the back. There were three exits, two at the front, one by the back, but plenty of broken windows. Plus, the part of the ceiling on one corner had broken away at some point – the whole steel roof looked like it was drooping under the weight of rust and age, it was barely being held together.

Overall, it was a good place for them to hide out. Quiet, out of the way, but large enough that Pan's power could still be effective, and plenty of openings if he needed to make a quick escape into the sky.

At once, I gave the order for any spiders I could find to start weaving silk. I need strong webs across all of the entrances, windows, and any potential escape points. Hell, I could just cocoon the whole building. Pan's power was tricky enough that I didn't want to take any chances. Only once the building was fully secured could I actually attack.

Vaguely, I was aware of the argument still going on. Shadow's responses were quiet, in a dark voice that I could barely hear, but I could make out Pan's screaming easily.

" –has to be done!" Pan screeched. "The next time I ask for more, you give it to me straight away."

Nervously, Wendy tried to inject with something. Her face was still bleeding in hundreds of tiny bugs bites. Her eyes were red raw. "…Adam, don't…"

"Shut up!" Pan snapped, spinning around onto her. "You were the one that let Alexandria escape! You let the Queen Bitch get the drop on you! Don't you say a fucking word!"

Shadow muttered something darkly. Pan nearly growled. "You need me!" He snapped. "You both do!"

Wendy whimpered quietly. Pan was on her in a second. "Do you remember who saved your life, Wendy?!" Pan demanded. "Me. I did. I was the one who dragged you from the basement, I did!"

She muttered something so quietly I could barely catch it. "… My name is not Wendy Wind…" She muttered. "..Adam, I'm Claire…"

He didn't respond. I heard Wendy's voice crack slightly. I thought there were tears in her eyes. "…Adam, can you even remember my name…?"

Pan stiffened. For a second, I thought he looked almost uncertain. Then he blinked and scowled. "Your name is Wendy," he spat, before storming away, heading towards the bottom floor.

Shadow took her hand and slowly pushed her to one side. I only caught snippets of his quiet mutter. "Leave him… you know what it does… prepare…"

There are others in that building, I realised suddenly. Pan and the Lost Boys were on the top floor, but I instantly felt a haggle of figures grouped on the bottom. There were nearly a dozen other people, nine men and two women, all huddled together, talking in quiet whispers at the other side of the room. I didn't know who they were, or what they were doing, but through the kaleidoscope of blurry insect vision, I saw that their faces were covered.

So that's fourteen in the building. Three Lost Boys, and eleven unknowns. There was no time for anything else, I was just going to treat everyone in there as a threat.

Tinkerbell wasn't there, I noticed quietly. I didn't recognise her costume, and I suspected she would have the worst of the bug bites than anyone. Good. A teleporter would be the most annoying of any opponents to ambush.

My swarm was already in position. I had tiny, incredibly strong silk nets surrounding the building, and the main bulk of my swarm was already moving in.

Then Pan has a dozen allies with him, I thought coldly. Me? I've got millions.

At once, my insects attacked. They attacked from all sides, with wasps flying in through the roof while swarms of spiders burst through the windows, and whole swarms exploded out of the drains.

I took a deep breath as all the bug senses rushed towards me. Standing where I was, it was all of those insects felt like part of my body, and I was closing my grip tightly around the warehouse.

For those inside the building, it was like absolute hell just charged into them.

I heard the screams. I heard the panic. I didn't care.

Pan was bellowing orders, but with all the chaos I could barely even make out the words. "… Ready…!" He howled. "… Everybody…!"

I directed my swarm like an army. There was no emotion, no hesitation, just a relentless onslaught of insects.

No warning, no banter. I never saw the point.

I went for Pan first, using giant wasps trailing silk cords from all sides. Pan looked like he was about to jump into the air, but then hesitated. Instead, he pulled out an object from his coat and snapped it into the air. A gun, I realised when I heard the gunshots reverberating. Pan must have picked up a handgun somewhere.

Two of my giant spiders lost legs from his frenzied shooting, but that was meaningless. I had a two dozen more jump on him from the roof, each one as large as a small puppy. Pan screamed in panic, but then there was silks net being weaved around him with relentless efficiency, spider fangs poised to strike over his face, and armies of insects around him, each one clutching the ends of the silk cage to hold him to the ground. I felt my bugs turn weightless as he thrashed furiously but there were already so many surrounding him it was useless.

Wendy screamed in panic, trying to push back a horde of wasps that was attacking her, but then another horde got her from behind. There was no hesitation from me as the wasps jabbed stingers through soft flesh – just enough to be agony, not enough to risk her life. I heard her sobs and screams of pain.

Shadow practically collapsed to the ground under the first wave, unable to fight. I ordered spiders to secure him, just in case.

The others went down just as quickly. They were all screaming in mad panic, a few of them trying to rush towards the Lost Boys, but it was useless. My army was relentless and unstoppable.

I felt one of those men summon a jet of fire from his fingertips and scorch my bugs, right until the centipedes got him from behind. Another one, a large man, tore through my silk nets with ease, and his skin was hard enough that my spiders had trouble piercing it, but then extra strong nets and precision bites to the soft flesh took him down. Another one, a girl, screamed in terror and for a second there were three different phantasm duplicates of her, but my swarm took down her and all the copies without even pausing.

Realisation clicked. I did recognise some of the other members – they had been at the villain meeting. They were capes from Boston, new triggers as well, but for the life of me I couldn't even recall any names. None of them had been significant enough to warrant remembering names, and I guess a few hadn't even came up with capes names. Apparently the Lost Boys must have just recruited some help.

Right now, I was willing to bet those capes would be regretting that decision.

Take no chances, I thought coldly. I don't know most of their powers, but I don't really care.

Cocoon them all.

The 'battle' was as one-sided as it was short. There was about thirty seconds of screaming and panicking, followed by five minutes of muted terror as the insects never stopped swarming. Suddenly, there were fourteen shapes thrashing around a mass of insects that never stopped swarming. The floor of the warehouse was a carpet of skittering black.

Pan was the only one still yelling words. The rest had dissolved into incoherent panic. "You bitch!" Pan screamed, as the webs kept on wrapping around him. "You bitch!"

"Enough!" My swarm bellowed. The sound of the bug-speak was deafening. I focused the mass of the swarm onto Pan. "Where is Amy?!"

He screamed but didn't reply. His handgun was torn from his grasp. He had so many webs around him that he could barely even move his limbs.

"Where is Amy?! Tell me now, or suffer!"

Pan's body clenched, his jaw tightened, but then, suddenly, he started to laugh. He was being strung up by mutant spiders and the psycho was laughing.

"Like I hell I will!" He screamed. "Where the hell are you, Queen Bitch? You don't even have the fucking balls to show yourself?"

One of the other cocoons, a man, broad shouldered, wearing a cheap dollar store mask was screaming. "Pan!" The man roared in terror. "This wasn't part of the plan–"

"Shut the fuck up!" Pan snapped. "She can't hurt us! She hurts us and Amy is dead."

I growled slowly. My hands gripped the handle of the machete as I dropped it under my cloak and slowly started limping towards the warehouse. Pan really was going to make this difficult.

"Anything that happens to Amy…" My swarm said dangerously. "… Happens tenfold to you."

Pan's face sneered. "Like hell it will, Queen Bitch."

I ordered my bugs to tighten their grip around him. Pan was trapped in more silk than any of them, with poisonous insects poised at every inch of skin they could. I could kill him in a second.

I wondered briefly how much pain so many insects could inflict. I wondered how much it would take.

"Do I have to you hurt to make you tell?"

"Give it your best shot!" Pan snapped, his face twisted. "You know nothing of pain."

I pushed open the door with a load bang. The tide of bugs parted around me as I walked slowly towards Pan. I made sure that he could see me coming. I wasn't rushed, I wasn't panicked. Everyone in that building was securely restraint by silk cocoons and swarms of giant bugs around them.

I was quiet for a long moment as I stared at Pan. My voice was dangerously low.

"… Do you know something?" I muttered quietly, walking towards him. "I seriously have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do you if you don't tell me where Amy is. For your sake, you really don't want to find out."

Pan flinched, trying to thrash uselessly. "… Why do you care so much, anyways?" He snapped. "I took the healer, I thought it would piss you off, but no, you really care, don't you? What, are you hot on the little bitch or something?"

My gaze darkened. "I care…" I said warningly. "… Because Amy is a good person and she really doesn't deserve trash like you targeting her."

I slowly drew the machete out from under my cloak. My heart was pounding as I met Pan's eyes. I had bugs amplify my voice ominously while the swarm buzzed around me. "… Now I'm getting tired of asking. Where is she?"

Pan paused. He was practically snarling. "She's in the Arctic Circle. I went and dropped her off on the North Pole. Right alongside all the bears," he said finally.

He frowned theatrically. "…No, wait, I'm wrong. I actually went out over sea and left her on an abandoned oil rig."

He pretended to think about it. "Oh no – that was a different healer bitch," he said finally. My hands clenched. "With Amy, I went south, and I left her in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Or maybe it was on a mountain. Or in a volcano." He smirked. "Goddammit, you know, I really can't remember. All of the places that I could have left her just really blur into one, you know?"

I didn't reply. He was grinning. "One thing's for certain – I sure as hell didn't leave her with any food, water or blankets. How long do you think she's going to last without help soon?"

My heart was pounding. He's taunting me. The thought caused my blood to burn.

"Now, I know what you're thinking…" he continued slowly. "… You're thinking 'hmm, maybe I get one of my Thinker friends or government buddies to track her down?' Don't fucking bother. I'm the only one who knows where I left her, and I don't have a trail to follow. Hell, I just picked a random direction and flew in it. You've got absolutely no way of ever finding her without me."

I felt absolutely hollow. I've never tortured a man before. The thought scared me. I wasn't even sure if I could.

Then, I met Pan's eyes and realised that I absolutely could. That thought scared me even more.

"… I will ask you three more times, politely…" I muttered slowly. I refused to let Amy die. He only ever targeted her because of me, I refused to let her die because of me. "… And then I will stop asking… Where is Amy?"

He growled. "You think I wouldn't die to just to spite your fucking corporate ass?"

I hesitated fractionally. "I could hurt your friends to make you tell me."

Next to me, one of the cocoons squirmed. A girl, fairly stout, wearing tattered clothes. She squealed. "Pan–"

"Shut up!" He snapped. "All of you, shut the fucking hell up!"

I glanced around the eleven newcomers. "New friends of yours?"

"New recruits, actually." Pan sneered. "In fact, you introduced us. We met at that little gathering you held. They've been pretty interested in joining my gang."

I held the machete up fractionally. "Then you're all idiots!" I shouted, loud enough so the whole warehouse could hear.

"Oh, I disagree," Pan said coldly. "You really have no idea, do you? They want to join up with me, because I'm one of them. I survived Boston. We survived Boston. We survived the hell, we survived the floods, we survived every last piece of shit that came next, only to be left to starve when suddenly the government turns on us and says 'nope, you're just inconveniences'. Do you have any idea what that was like, to be fucking left by the establishment to suffer?"

"Cry me a river," I snorted. "You're nothing but a monster trying to cling to a cause. Whoever follows you is a fool."

His eyes flashed. "What choice do they have? Join up with you and be lackeys? Join up with the Teeth and kill each other? I gave them another option – a way to make a difference. A way to actually make something."

"You've killed dozens – hundreds – of people tonight."

"Pardon me if I don't lose sleep over it. This city never gave a fuck about me, I don't give a fuck about it."

The moment paused. His eyes flickered from the other cocoons, towards back to me. Pan's eyes narrowed.

"Do you want to know what I promised them to get them to join up?" He said quietly. "I promised them you. I promised them that I'd kill you and make a name for myself. I promised them that I'd be big enough to make a difference."

The air was deathly silent. Barely anyone was struggling. Even the insects paused. "That's the whole reason I targeted you from start. I needed to make a name for myself, to put myself above the others." The grin widened. "And it worked too. Hell, the Fallen, the Teeth, even Diluvium isn't going to last much longer – you've been taking out my competition all night."

"So what…?" I said slowly, feeling my hands clench even tighter. "That's all tonight was for you? Just one giant recruitment drive?"

"I suppose you could say that," Pan sneered. I met his gaze. "Honestly, I really went all out to try and kill you. I used up all my tricks going after you. I mean, how the fuck are you still alive? I dropped a fucking battleship on you."

"I'm special like that," I growled.

"Yeah, I suppose you are," Pan admitted. His smirk was growing. I've seen that smirk before, I realised slowly. "… And I was just obsessing over it; I mean, I've got a deadline coming up, and how the fuck was I ever supposed to catch you now?"

I never replied. I didn't like his gaze. He was still smiling, and there was a glint in his eye. No one swarmed by insects had any right to look that smug. "It was only then that I realised…" he said slowly. "Do you know, what's the only sure-fire way to catch a Queen Bitch…?"

His grin split his face. I frowned.

He continued slowly. "… You stand perfectly still, and you let her ambush you."

There was a long moment of quiet.

That statement… I struggled to understand it, but Pan was grinning. Pan started squirming, slowly and methodically trying to slip himself free from the silk webs.

I raised the machete defensively. "You stay still otherwise you start losing body parts."

He was grinning right as he yanked his hand free. "… I don't think so."

Without even hesitation, I ordered all of my bugs to attack. Bite. Cripple him. Make him suffer.

My heart went still as all of the spiders surrounding him never even twitched. Pan laughed as he slowly shook the insects off him, twisting himself free of the webs.

All around me, the others were squirming free as well.

I felt the dread creep over me.

Stop them. Restrain them. Bite them.

Around me, the carpet of insects never even twitched.

I could still feel them, I could still feel the stream of feedback coming from every single bug with perfect clarity, but none of them were moving. They aren't responding to my orders.

I took a deep breath, trying to force the orders as loud as I could. Move.

"One thing you should know about me…" Pan said mockingly, as he ripped his feet free of the webbing. He had to leave his shoes behind as he slipped his feet out. "… I like to talk in the middle of fights. It gives my main man Shadow there enough time to make the connection. You got her?"

"I got her," Shadow replied quietly, not even moving from where we was lying.

All around me, the capes started to move towards from all directions. They were crunching over bugs with every step. The insects weren't even moving.

I could feel the coldness creep through my body as the dozen capes walked towards me slowly.

"How…?" I gasped.

"I guess no one gave you the explanation?" Pan said smugly, dragging himself over the nets. His bare feet crunched over insects, but he didn't even seem to notice. "Shadow's powers – he can shadow other capes. He makes the connection, only one at any time. Now, he can either use that to boost someone…" Pan opened his arms wide. "… Or he can restrict them." Pan pressed his hands together.

I slowly stepped backwards. A wordless agreement past between the group. I felt my heart nearly stop as I saw the figures surrounding me.

Pan was practically choked up with laughter. "… Yeah, the little healer bitch was pretty surprised by that one as well," Pan chuckled. "So was Alexandria, too, actually. We like to keep that little trick up our sleeve."

He blocked Alexandria, I realised suddenly. I suddenly remembered how quickly Pan had gotten the upper hand in the fight against Alexandria, how stunned she had been. Shadow had been blocking her powers. Of course he had been.

My powers were still there. I could feel them. I could feel every bug, I could feel every one of their senses. They just weren't responding to any of my orders.

My army was surrounding me, and it was useless.

It was his plan from the beginning, I thought numbly, struggling to process it. He had been desperate, so he took a gambit. He ran to where his friends were hiding, and he waited. He knew I had been frantic about finding Amy, he betted that I would try to interrogate him straight away rather than killing him or sending him to the PRT.

He played me. Pan completely turned the situation around.

Behind me, one of the capes, a fire generator, started to burn through every insect he could see. The Boston capes all had bite marks covering their bodies. They all looked shaken, pale faced, but they were angry, glaring at me, furiously. I was left powerless, vulnerable.

Wendy was gasping as she staggered up from the pile of inert bugs. "…Adam…" She wheezed weakly.

"Don't call me that, Wendy." Pan snarled. His eyes were fixed onto me dangerously. "I'm Pan."

Run.

The thought cut through my shell-shocked brain. Outnumbered, and crippled. Backup was too far away. I have to run right now.

I turned and sprinted. I barely got two steps before Pan barrelled into me, sending me reeling with a backhanded slap to the skull. He turned massless to come in so fast I couldn't dodge, and then became heavy as he collided with me. The impact caused floor to spin. I hit the concrete hard.

Pan's foot was in my stomach a second later. The blow took my breath away. The machete slipped from my grasp.

"Come on, Queen Bitch!" Pan howled. "Let's end this, right now."

The capes were surrounding me, a wall of bodies blocking any escape. They circled me and Pan. One of them hesitantly took a step forward, and Pan shot him an evil glare.

"Stand up!" Pan ordered, shaking himself free. His eyes were feral. "You and me, right now. You can't be the new meanest kid in the schoolyard unless you get rid of the old one."

My body trembled. Pain, shooting up from my ribs, I could barely breathe. The other capes were forming a ring. A fight ring.

He wants to fight me, I realised dumbly. He wants to prove himself in front of his new recruits? Some sort of macho testosterone buzz?

All I knew was that Pan was growling as he whipped his leg upwards at a kick towards my skull.

I tried to block, but then I felt the weightlessness hit me. At once, the world span and I was left shooting backwards. Physics stopped making sense. The air blurred madly, and then, two seconds later, I had bounced off the cape standing behind me and ended up twenty feet away. The disorientation hit me so hard I was nearly sick. The moment I felt gravity take over again, my legs stumbled and I tripped to the ground.

I could barely even process it as Pan's foot collided with my stomach again. This time, I just felt the pure, painful impact rattle my bones. I was left gasping on the floor.

"Boy, does this feel like déjà vu," Pan chuckled. "Me and Amy, well, we had a lot of fun doing this as well."

Pain, could barely process it. Figures moving, too fast, couldn't even think properly. All I could hear was his laughter – that laughter – and then the next kick hit me.

…Foot. Pain. Concrete. Hurt…

I was left gasping for air, feeling my heartbeat race.

I need to run. I need to escape. I need some way of being clever, or distracting him, or –

The punch hit my jaw so hard I felt it crack. There was blood in my mouth. I felt a tooth crack.

I need to–

There was laughter as I collapsed onto concrete. They were laughing me. Laughing.

Just me, trapped in an abandoned warehouse, with a psycho beating me to death.

There was a grunt as Pan hoisted up a heavy object. It was a sledgehammer, over a metre long, thick wooden handle, with a bulky metal head - the type of weapon for heavy duty demolish. My heart raced as I saw him struggle to lift the sledgehammer off the ground. He had brought a sledgehammer. I had seen it lying on the ground, but I hadn't made the connection. I had dismissed it as junk.

He's planning on beating me to death with a sledgehammer.

The fear soaked me to the bone.

– Need to – need to –

I couldn't even think. I felt all rational thought fail me.

"Oh, this brings back memories of Amy too…" Pan said fondly, grunting as he dragged the heavy hammer over the ground. "Of course, she got a metal pipe. Still, since our resident metal pipe swinger isn't with us, I guess I just have to make do with this hammer…"

… need to…

The hammer swung. I jumped backwards instinctively, but I still felt the metal head collide with my shoulder. If I hadn't have jumped backwards, it would have cracked my ribcage. Instead, I just felt the pain rocket through my spine as I crashed backwards onto the hard ground.

I screamed. The pain nearly caused me to blackout.

There was laughter around me. Laughter.

I was wheezing for breath.

…Hurt, body, not working, everything…

… Adrenaline, blacked out…

… Bone screaming, couldn't cope, couldn't think…

The fear just overwhelmed everything.

Pan was roaring victoriously, his bloody face absolutely psychotic.

"Why don't you just admit it, Queen Bitch?" Pan roared. "Underneath that mask, without all the scary insects, you're nothing!"

I felt the blood swelling up my throat. "… nothing except a scared, little girl."

...

The terror and pain blacked out my mind. For a second, all plans, all coherent thought, everything just completely failed me.

… Outnumbered, outmatched, outplayed, I had no plans left…

I felt something sting my eyes. I'm crying, I realised suddenly. The thought was so strange. I could barely even remember the last time I cried…

"… You're right," I said quietly, my voice so low it was barely a whisper. "I am."

There was a long moment of quiet. I felt my heartbeat calm slowly into a steady rhythm. My muscles weren't trembling so much anymore.

I took a deep breath, carefully pulled myself off the ground, and then slowly raised my fists upwards.

"… This scared little girl is about to kick your ass."