Chapter 21: Survival Instincts
The spiral corridor led Creepie and Skipper pretty far underground, though they weren't sure exactly how far down they went. The dim lights that lined the walls were still shining though, so they didn't get lost anywhere along the way. Eventually they reached the bottom of the spiraling tunnel and emerged into a longer corridor, that led to a massive central chamber further down. The two of them stopped at the entrance of the chamber, peering in before daring to step foot into it. There were hundreds of moth-hybrids sitting around on the floors and leaning against the walls. Many of their bodies were limp, but they didn't seem to be injured at all.
"Whew…" Skipper whispered and covered his nose. "What is that reek?"
"If I had to guess? That would be Insectiva's pheromone." Creepie replied in a soft whisper. Her head dipped down slightly when she felt herself suddenly growing a bit lightheaded, her vision beginning to turn the world around her into a strangely dreamlike blur. "Nngh…" Creepie raised one hand to her head in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on. It was hard to think, hard to even keep herself on her feet.
"Creepie?" Skipper's voice seemed to echo through the haze, and the next thing Creepie knew she was being dragged through the rock tunnels by six strong arms clutching her around the torso. She tried to blink her way through the strange haze, but her vision remained clouded over.
"Oogh… Skipper…?" Creepie's voice trembled as she spoke.
"Relax, Creepie, I've got you." Skipper's voice told her. Creepie felt herself being gently set down on the ground, with her back leaning against a nearby wall. "You're not immune to these pheromones, Chris-Alice just used a blocker on you. It must be wearing off."
"I still don't get… why the pheromones work on me… differently…" Creepie grunted.
"Maybe it's because you're naturally this way, everyone else was just mutated. You're still one of a kind." Skipper guessed. Creepie nodded, feeling herself slip into the haze again. "Creepie, don't, don't go to sleep, don't lose control, you have to fight it." She felt one of his hands press against her cheek, stroking it with a gentle touch and making her eyes open slightly. "Keep conscious now, I'm afraid if you go to sleep you'll be under her control again."
"Hard to keep my eyes open…" Creepie replied. "Go… go after Insectiva… stop her and I'll… be okay…"
"No, Creepie." Skipper pulled her away from the wall, helping her stand up. Creepie stood with some difficulty, leaning heavily against his side. "You can do this. You've never let anyone tell you what to do or who to be, ever. You can't let Insectiva win, and I can't do this without you. I need you with me now, Creepie." She felt his lips press against hers, his arms still holding her on her feet. "Stay with me Creepie, stay with me."
"I… will…" Creepie raised one of her hands slowly, putting it on Skipper's shoulder and pulling him into another soft kiss. When she released it a few moments later and opened her eyes, she was looking straight into his, as crystal clear as they'd ever been. "I will…"
Skipper smiled happily and pressed his forehead against hers. "Thank you…"
"That's my line." Creepie returned the smile softly, then pulled away and took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm fine, I can handle this, really."
"Good, so… what's our plan now? We have a bunch of people who are being exposed to strong pheromones, but no way to counteract those pheromones." Skipper stroked his chin in deep thought. "Do you think Abby and Ty have had any luck looking for Regina?"
"We can only hope. Come on, let's go see if we can find them. These look like the lowest levels, they have to be down here somewhere." Creepie turned to walk away from the massive chamber, stumbling slightly on her feet as her vision blurred again for just a moment.
"You sure you're okay, Creepie?" Skipper asked worriedly.
"I'm fine…" Creepie replied and raised a hand to her head. "I'll be fine…"
***
Abby walked with her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at Ty and Regina up ahead, who were heatedly discussing their plans to put an end to the current crisis. For a guy who just got together with the love of his short life, Ty sure was hanging on Regina's every word. Then again, Maria had warned that Regina was packing pheromones too, and those pheromones were capable of affecting humans. She wouldn't be using those against them, would she?
Just when Abby was starting to notice that they weren't running into any of the hybrid creatures who inhabited this place, Regina stopped inside a moderately large room with holes in the floors just barely big enough for a person to fit through, spaced out at even intervals. "This is Insectiva's prison cell, where she keeps her human prisoners." Regina told them.
"Does that mean Chris-Alice is in here?" Abby approached one of the holes and looked down. It was so deep the light from up here could barely reach the bottom, and it had no lights inside.
"Yes, it does." Regina nodded.
"So which hole is she in?" Abby approached one of the other holes, cupping her hands around her lips. "Chris-Alice! You in there!?"
"Abby? Is that you?" A voice hovered back up from inside one of the deep, dark holes.
"Chris-Alice!" Abby rushed to the pit and skidded to her knees beside it, narrowing her eyes to peer down into the darkness. She couldn't see anything but the vague, shadowy shape of a human figure. "Chris-Alice! Hold on, I'll find something to pull you up wi-AAAAUGH!" Abby gasped when something slammed into her back, shoving her forward over the hole. Her arms shot out to the sides, managing to grab the sides of the hole and hold herself up, though there was no way she could get up from this position being supported by her arms and legs.
"Hey! Regina, what are you doing!?" She heard Ty yell in surprise. There was a thud right over her, and she heard a crash against the floor nearby. "Leave my sister alone!"
"Do you really want to fight me, Ty?" Regina's voice was soft, almost sultry as she spoke. "Are you really sure you want to fight me?"
"I… I mean…" Ty stuttered.
"Yes! Yes you do!" Abby shouted as best she could over her shoulder from her precarious position. "She's a traitor, Ty! Bring her down! Huh?" Abby turned back to the shadows when she saw the shape move below her, moving toward the wall and slowly beginning to ascend towards her. "Chris-Alice? Is that really you?" The shadows remained silent as the figure moved up towards the slivers of dim light that shone into the hole around Abby's body.
A blue-gloved arm appeared in the light, gripping the rocks, followed by a second… then a third and a fourth arm appeared, gripping the rocks and easily pulling the figure up the side of the wall. Its fiery red hair swayed against its back as it climbed up towards her, turning its familiar face towards her to reveal a pair of glowing yellow eyes and a cocky smirk.
"Oh God… Chris-Alice!" Abby yelped in shock moments before Chris-Alice threw herself off of the wall, the small, narrow wings on her back carrying her straight up towards the top of the pit. Her four arms wrapped around Abby's torso and yanked her back down, despite her best efforts to cling to the top of the hole. The four arms heaved her down through the air, sending her crunching even harder down on the solid rock below.
"Guaaagh!" Abby grunted in pain when her back slammed into the rock hard ground. She tried to roll away, but Chris-Alice's foot came down hard on her side as she came down to land, kicking Abby into a skid across the rough stone. Chris-Alice lunged for her again, but Abby managed to haul herself out of the way, her back skidding across the wall for a moment before she managed to land on her knees and lurch to her feet.
"Wait! Wait!" Abby raised her hands in front of her as Chris-Alice turned towards her, her glowing yellow eyes glaring without a shred of recognition in them. "You don't want to do this. You don't. We're friends, and together we saved your best friend, remember?" Abby backed away from the creature until she felt her back pressed against the far wall, preventing her escape. "We haven't known each other very long, but I thought we were getting along, didn't you? Come on… you don't wanna do this!" Abby raised her arms in front of her in a combat position, watching Chris-Alice approach more slowly.
For a moment, Abby thought she saw Chris-Alice hesitate. Then, however, the creature lurched forward with a furious howl, her four arms raising into the air to come down on her all at once. Abby tried to fend off the blows, but they came too fast, two arms knocking hers aside so the next pair could slam into her face and torso. Again and again the fists rained down in waves, knocking her back against the wall, helpless to stop it as the blows landed all over.
She tried to fight her way out at first, swinging her arms in blind desperation, but she felt one arm sweep her defenses out of the way before two right fists slammed into her stomach at once, hard enough to lift her feet from the ground and slam her back against the wall. She yowled in pain as the fists lifted her up higher, scraping her back across the jacked rock wall before heaving her away from the wall, hauling her overhead and spiking her head-first onto the ground like a football.
Abby's body bounced off of the rocks, rolling once before coming to a stop face-down on the ground. She groaned in pain and grabbed at the ground, struggling to catch her breath and open her eyes. Her visor was gone, she suddenly noticed, shattered on the ground nearby where it lay in several pieces. She was also surprised to see blood on the ground below her head, dripping from the corner of her mouth. She reached up with one shaking hand to wipe at the corner of her mouth, gasping for air.
Oh my God, she thought to herself. Chris-Alice wasn't going to stop… she was going to kill her.
She grunted in pain when suddenly a foot dug into her side, kicking her to her back on the ground with a grunt where she curled into the fetal position, trying to get her mind clear enough to do something. She was in so much pain… but she had to fight it. She had to think, she had to move.
She grunted in pain again when two strong arms grabbed the end of her long ponytail, hauling her head off the ground and pulling her up to her knees. Chris-Alice's other two hand moved up to cup her cheek and throat, feeling her face while her lips twisted into a wicked smile.
***
Ty's breath was heavy as he struggled to remember what he was doing, what he wanted. He could hear the sound of the scuffle below in the hole carved into the ground, but he couldn't work up the nerve to do anything about it. It felt like his legs were rooted to the spot, held in place by a heart that was heavy with doubt. His limbs were trembling as sweat beaded on his brow, running down his cheeks. His heart only raced faster when he felt a soft hand wrap around his arm to touch his chest.
"That's a good boy." Regina's voice whispered softly into his ear. "Listen to my voice, and nothing else will matter to you."
"Why… are you doing this?" Ty had to practically force himself to speak. He wanted to listen to her, to listen to her voice, to melt into it… but Abby's grunts and cries of pain from below wouldn't let him. They kept breaking through, making his mind spin. "We wanted to be your friend, Regina… we wanted to help you."
Regina's hand closed on the front of his shirt, gripping it in a tight fist. She yanked him around suddenly, bringing him face to face with her glowing yellow eyes, with her wings and four arms spread out to the sides. "Do you really think you can be 'friends' with this as you are? I have never met a human around whom I could truly be comfortable, around whom I could truly be myself. Not even Skipper could look past this. What Insectiva seeks… could solve all of that."
"I…" Ty winced reflexively at the ferocity in her eyes, that looked like they wanted to swallow him whole. That was exactly what she was talking about, he realized. It was what Skipper had done when he saw her. "You're right…" Ty grunted. "You're right… you are horrifying to us… I can't deny it." Ty forced himself to look away from her.
"Then why should I trust any human when I could help Insectiva bring the world in line with us?" Regina put one gentle hand on his cheek, turning his head to face her again. "Why shouldn't I be around those of my own kind?"
"Because we can learn." Ty's eyes squeezed shut again when he heard a sickening impact from down in the hole. By now his sister's voice had gone silent, a fact that made him tremble as tears dripped down his cheeks. "We can learn, Regina! We can learn to accept you, but you have to give us a chance to do that! You can't jump into the world and demand to be accepted, you have to prove that you're worth accepting! You have to get to know people, and let them get to know you! That's how it works for everyone, human or not!"
Ty winced at the sound of another impact from inside the hole behind him. "Make her stop, leave Abby alone, she didn't even do anything to you!"
"Would you show such concern for me if it was me down there?" Regina asked.
"Please… stop it." Ty shook his head furiously, then brought his arm back. "STOP IT!" Without even thinking, his fist lashed out without warning, catching his captor completely off-guard. The blow slammed into her cheek, knocking her roughly back against the wall with a dull thud. For a moment she remained standing, then she slowly tilted forward and hit the ground with her eyes closed.
Suddenly finding himself able to move again, Ty whirled to rush back to the opening in the ground, his arm digging through the backpack on his back to pull out a shining metal gauntlet with a beak-like pincer on the end. He could see the redheaded, four-armed creature standing over his sister, its fists clenched at its sides as its wings spread proudly behind its back. His mind whirling in anger, Ty threw himself into the hole, raising the gauntlet above his head.
Chris-Alice didn't even have time to turn around before the gauntlet slammed into her head with a deafening 'thock'. Ty brought the gauntlet back, gripping it in both hands. "Leave my sister alone!" He swung the weapon as hard as he could. It connected right on her left temple, glancing off, but connecting with enough force to topple her limply to the ground on the rocks. The Goop Grabber was shooting sparks after the beating it had taken, but he didn't care. He tossed it aside and rushed over to Abby, who was unconscious on the ground.
"Abby!" Gripping her shoulder, he turned her onto her back, wincing when he looked at what was usually a pretty, if somewhat squirrely, face now dotted with red and blue bruises as a trail of blood ran from the side of her lip down to her throat. He slipped his arm around the back of her neck, pulling her off the ground to pull her cheek up against his chest. "Abby, are you okay? Please talk to me here, tell me you're okay." He shook her softly, trying to get any sort of response out of her.
"Nngh…" Abby twitched and grunted as one of her eyes began to open. She squeaked softly as if being struck again, but Ty just held onto her with a firm grip.
"It's okay, you're fine. I've got you." Ty held her close, smiling gently. "Geeze, you had me scared for a second there."
"Ty…?" Abby looked up at him in surprise, then smiled gratefully. "Wow, you actually resisted her to save me… I was sure I was gonna…"
"Well you're not." Ty told her with a soft smile. "Do you think you can stand up? Without Regina's help, our plan is shot… we have to get out of here and regroup."
"I think so…" Abby nodded and gripped his shoulders while he stood, pulling her to her feet. She wobbled a bit on her heels and fell against him, leaning on him for a few moments while her head cleared.
"Let's get out of this hole, right now, before they wake up." Ty moved towards the wall.
"Wait, we can't leave Chris-Alice." Abby complained suddenly.
"What? She just-"
"She was under Regina's control, I know she was. We can't just leave her here like this. We have to save her." Abby insisted.
"I guess…" Ty looked down at the unconscious hybrid bee girl in front of him with a bit of a glare in his eyes. "Alright… come on, let's get her out of this hole, then."
***
"Come on, we've got to get out of here." Ty gripped one of Chris-Alice's arms while Abby grabbed the other, and together the two of them yanked her out of the hole in the floor, pulling her out and laying her flat out on the ground. "Well… I'm glad she's not any heavier, I don't think I would've been able to lift her."
"Yeah, well, at least we're finally out." Abby plopped down on the ground for a moment, panting. "I don't like the look of this at all Ty, they knew we were coming and they were ready with this trap…" Her eyes widened. "It WAS all a trap! Of course, Regina knew we'd be coming!"
"You're right!" Ty's eyes widened. "That means they'll know Creepie and Skipper are here too! They're in trouble!"
"We have to find them and get out of here!" Abby jumped to her feet suddenly.
"How do we find them before Insectiva does?" Ty climbed to his feet as well. "Especially when we have to haul Chris-Alice around?"
"I don't know, but we have to try. Man, I can't believe we were so stupid…" Abby leaned down to grab her friend's arm, lifting it from the ground and heaving it over her shoulder. Ty took the other side, lifting her off the ground between them, her lower set of arms dangling in front of her while she hung from their shoulders.
"Hey, who knew Regina would turn on us? I thought we could depend on her…" Ty shook his head for a moment, then turned his eyes toward the tunnel in front of them and took a deep breath. "Come on, we've got to hurry, before Insectiva gets to the others." His sister nodded urgently and they both turned to leave, carrying Chris-Alice between them.
Neither of them noticed when Regina's head turned to look after them, her four hands clutching at the ground.