Evolution 3.07 (2)
The building was so dark and gloomy I could barely see except for the flickering light through the grimy windows. I was just standing there, my shoulders slouched, in a filthy warehouse, surrounded by a dozen shifting shadows while droves of bugs still lingered uselessly on every surface.
Still, my attention was focused firmly on Pan. For a second, I saw him hesitate, momentarily, and then he punched forward.
If I didn't have my bugs on his body, I would never have kept up. I couldn't control the bugs, but I could still use them to track movements.
He grunted as he swung the sledgehammer around, but then he turned weightlessness for a brief moment to shoot forward. He rose the hammer above his head in a blink of the eye, but then he was heavy again as he was bringing sledgehammer straight down into my face. In the dim light, I glimpsed his eyes bulging with rage.
I spun to the side at the last moment, lashing out instinctively. I heard the distinct thud of solid metal colliding with the concrete floor. My fist collided with his shoulder weakly, but then Pan was already twisting around, spinning his sledgehammer with ease, while I shambled backwards.
A sledgehammer was a cumbersome weapon in a fight. It took two hands to swing it properly, it was too heavy to spin easily, too much inertia to change direction easily. He was broadcasting every swing, it was easily avoidable, and it completely shut down both hands. I should have been able to dodge it easily.
Or usually, at least. I only realised at the second swipe what Pan was doing. He was swinging it, making the hammer massless, accelerating it furiously, and turning it heavy just was about to split my head open.
There was no force required as it changed direction, barely a pause in his wide swings. It was as heavy as a wrecking ball when it collided, but in Pan's hands he wielded it with grace of a dagger.
I nearly cracked my skull as I practically tripped over trying to avoid a long swing. Behind, one of the capes jeered something, but I ignored it. They were all around me, a ring of figures shouting insults and cheering.
I could feel my heart starting to race again in panic. Pan's swipes were too vicious, too fast, I couldn't get close. That hammer would hit and it would splatter my brains out with a single blow, I didn't stand a cha–
Focus.
I gasped, struggling to prepare myself. Pan hoisted the hammer upwards again, preparing himself to strike.
He can only attack using downward strikes.
He needed to use gravity to attack, otherwise the sudden weight would just take it out of his hands. That was predictable, at least.
Pan lunged at me. I dived backwards to avoid a viciously fast downwards strike. It was only in that moment, when Pan's reach overextended, I saw the moment his grip shifted as the hammer became as light as candy floss. That was the moment I stepped forward.
I barely even felt it as the weightless hammer bounced off my thigh uselessly. Pan screamed shrilly, trying to turn the hammer heavy, but that completely upset his balance and he stumbled mid-swing. I grunted with pain and exertion as I brought both of my hands slamming straight into his chest. For a brief moment, I felt a solid impact, but then Pan himself was weightless and bouncing away.
He stopped five feet away, switching to heavy again with barely a stumble. He was screaming something at me. I didn't listen.
No point in running, I wouldn't get away. I took a deep breath to clear my head, I needed to think clearly. Focus.
Pan jumped forward. I jumped forward to meet him. We collided in a flurry of frenzied swipes and weak blows.
He swings light but collides heavy. Interrupt him mid-swing and he's useless.
He swung, I practically dived into him, so close I could only elbow him in the chest. He turned light to avoid it, but the sledgehammer shot straight out of his grip. The hammer flew from his hands and shot into the air, only to crash back out of the sky two seconds later. I almost dropped onto of him push him into the floor, and Pan growled and suddenly he was heavy again, colliding the floor painfully, but with enough mass to kick backwards and slam his foot into my chest.
It hurt, I barely felt. My mind flickered as I realised what happened.
If he's not careful, zero weight is just as much of disadvantage to him as it is to everyone else. He's good at changing states at the right moment, but he's not infallible.
Previously, Pan had always tried to control the setting and the type of fight, never attacking straight on, always playing to his strengths. As soon as you pushed him outside of what he expected, like charging into a swing rather than diving away, then he floundered.
"Fuck you!" Pan spat, bouncing off the ground and jumping to his feet. Flickering states quickly, going light to move, heavy to attack or change direction. It was all about the timing and balance with him. I had to learn how to do it too.
My breath froze as he leapt at me, hands outstretched. No way to avoid it, I just had to brace myself as suddenly –
Physics stopped making sense. I was shooting backwards, air rushing around me, spinning uncontrollably as my foot bounced off the ground…
Two seconds. His power only lasted two seconds.
I was ready for the moment when it ended, but I still stumbled as my legs clattered to the floor, and the disorientation hit me like a truck. Still, I was up just in time to raise my arms as Pan tried to jump on me with a heavy punch.
I blocked, kicking him backwards as he shot out of the way. There was no force, he turned light.
He's fighting differently, I realised suddenly. I saw him against Alexandria or when he was dropping cars, this was different.
Before, it had been like Pan's whole body had covered in an aura that no one could touch without instantly turning light. It had made him almost invulnerable. Now, it was like that aura was focused only in his hands, and he couldn't apply the way he used to. There was a brief delay in that moment he tried to use his powers, it was slower, easier to predict.
He used to have a better mass limit, longer time of effect, faster, stronger powers, but that was gone, I thought slowly. Instead, he's fighting differently. He's flickering states more often, maybe better fine control?
Through the corner of my eye, I glimpsed Shadow, watching the fight some distance away from the circle of capes. I still couldn't control any bugs, they just weren't responding to me.
But Shadow could only affect one cape at a time. So long as he was blocking me, he couldn't boost Pan as well. No more throwing cars or instant death touches for Pan.
When Shadow was boosting him, Pan became nearly untouchable. I would be dead already if Pan still had that level of strength. Without that boost, though, then the restrictions of Pan's power started to creep up on him.
"What's the matter?" I said coldly. "You're not so tough when it's actually you fighting, huh?"
His face twisted. "… And how would you know?"
Pan shot so fast he blurred. He jumped, he landed, he swung, he parried, he dodged and dived in again. Light, heavy, light, heavy, light, heavy.
My jaw trembled as his knuckles hit my chin. Heavy. I think I might have cracked another tooth. Still, somehow my body shot forward without even a hesitation. Pan's hands jabbed into my body and we both turned light. Still, we also went in the same direction, and then we were clattering on top of each other in a pile of thrashing limbs.
He was on the floor, I was on top of him. I heard screaming in anger as I punched downwards straight into his forehead. Back against concrete, he couldn't avoid that one. I heard the satisfying crunch of knuckles against skull.
He lashed and kicked out in pain. I thought the blow might have cracked his skull, but then he was up again, practically snarling as he dived at me.
Damn, he's a good fighter. He isn't as strong or even as skilled as someone like Brian, but he's fast, he's tough and he's scrappy – and that power of his more than makes up the difference.
"…You punch like a girl," he hissed, blood dripping from his face, rugby-tackling into me furiously. Suddenly, we were both massless, sent flying backwards into the far side of the warehouse.
The blood rushed to my head as I felt us dropping out of the sky from four feet up. Suddenly, Pan was on top of my, his hands wrapping around my throat. I gargled, trying to thrash madly, but it was useless. He turned me light and he stayed heavy, with his grip around my throat so I couldn't breathe, couldn't …
Think massless.
My legs twisted upwards, pushing my back into the floor while my legs shot upwards. No gravity, but enough leverage and momentum to twist around. Pan was still gripping my throat, but then I was pushing my whole body into his, causing him to stumble as the lack of inertia sent me shooting backwards. He lost his grip and I was suddenly sent cartwheeling out from underneath him.
Two seconds later, and I dropped to the ground. Pan was left shambling from a bad position, he never reacted in time as I pushed backwards and slammed my fist towards him. The first punch was a feint, but it was could enough to make him flinch as I pushed myself so close that I could slam my elbow into his broken nose. Then, my knee was shooting upwards into his groin as we both crashed backwards into the ground.
I heard him howl in pain. "… You fight like a bitch," I hissed, through wheezy breaths.
My head was spinning. The disorientation was nearly crippling, even as I tried to clamber up again. I could feel the pounding in my skull, so painful I nearly blacked out.
We were both staggering off the ground, clutching weakly at injured foreheads and chests as he both dragged ourselves up. Pan's eyes were rabid, but he was a tough bastard. He was howling and cursing in pain, but I never saw it once affect his actions.
We glared at each, staggering to our feet. If I took Pan, I stood a chance at escaping. So long as he was the only fighting, I could take him down.
His advantages: stronger, angrier, more experienced with his powers, good powers for close combat, supported by his group. My advantages: desperate, better situational awareness from bug sense, early warning through bug sense.
I need to add more advantages to me.
"Pan!" Someone called. The other capes were rushing towards us.
"Stay back!" Pan snapped. "I told you, she's mine!"
I hesitated slightly. Even I beat Pan, the others would still beat with my pure numbers. Fourteen against one, I wouldn't win…
My eyes narrowed as I focused on Shadow, the only one standing back from the fight. If I could take control of my swarm again, I could finish it. I just needed to get through Pan, and get to Shadow.
Pan stared at me, eyes narrowing, sizing me up. He could win if he just called for help, but he was too dumb, proud and obnoxious to even let anyone else intervene. Still, he paused, sizing me up.
"…Wendy!" Pan shouted after a moment. "Bring me my sledgehammer!"
The girl hesitated, but then rushed to grab the heavy hammer. I needed time to think, if I could just get through Shadow's power nullification. No, I thought quietly, he's not nullifying my powers – I can feel them still there, I can feel all the insects – it was more like he's just countering my powers. Restricting them. Constantly interfering with my powers, stopping me from doing anything useful with them.
So could I break through, then? I took a deep breath as I focused on a single insect, ordering my abilities to take control. I could feel my powers screaming orders, trying to push through, but it was like Shadow was a wall in the way. I pushed, struggling to force the connection harder…
My head felt ready to burst. Too many brute force impacts to the head, too quickly. The pain was intense, I could barely think…
My hands tightened. I needed to focus on Pan. Get him talking. Get a bit more time. "… Just tell me one thing," I said slowly. "Amy, is she even still alive?"
Pan smirked. His teeth were bloody. Wendy was running towards him with his sledgehammer, but he never took his eyes off me. "Oh, she's alive." A slight pause. "Or at least, I think she's alive. She was the last time I looked, anyways. She's a weird bitch that one – I've got no idea how she survived, actually."
"What did you do to her?" I growled. The pain hurt, but focus. Needed more focus.
He raised his hands in mock innocent. "Hey – wasn't me. I wasn't the one who beat her skull with a metal pipe." His grin extended. "Oh wait, I was the one, however, who dropped her out of the sky a little bit. Damn, she was tough little healer, you know? Didn't like to die, I guess."
"You beat her with a metal pipe and dropped her from the sky?" I snarled. "Why?"
"Why? Because she deserved it," Pan shrugged, with a vicious smirk. "And it was fun."
And there it was. I felt the rage again.
I leapt at him so fast we both went cluttering backwards. We rolling around the ground, so hard that the other capes had to jump back to avoid us.
"Shouldn't we help–" One of them muttered hesitantly.
"Don't you dare!" Pan roared, diving towards me. He was punching, kicking and screaming "She's mine! She's mine, mine, I have to make her feel it! I have to beat her–"
Struggling to drag myself off the floor I slapped out with a backhanded fist. Pan's eyes widened in surprise as the blow hit him, but he turned weightless to avoid it.
That was the moment I was waiting for. As soon as he went knocking backwards, I turned and ran in the opposite direction.
Running straight for Shadow. No one else reacted in time, I just changed targets and ran back towards the centre of the warehouse. Shadow hesitated suddenly, but I ran at him furiously. If I could only stop him blocking my powers…
Pan howled. Behind me, he paused to pick up the sledgehammer, and then jumped massless, accelerating in the blink of an eye.
I didn't care, I was running full speed at Shadow. If I could just take down the Trump, get free of his powers, and then I could… then I could…
My head split open in pain. My powers were screaming at me. I went down to my knees in pain.
… waves of data, screaming, so much feedback, senses overwhelmed as so much information…
Pan swung the hammer down. I blinked, diving instinctively to one side, as the sledge chipped a solid indent into the concrete floor with a painful thud.
I was gasping weakly. All of the information from the bugs around me built a perfect 360 degree awareness. I couldn't control them, but I could still use all my bug senses as Pan swung the hammer again –
The recoil. He has to turn heavy to stop himself flying from the recoil.
I snapped my leg out at exactly the right moment. I felt my foot crunch into his stomach. Pan collapsed, dropping the hammer out of his hand as it clattered to the floor.
He rolled in pain, raising his hands to try and push me away. It was what he did. Every time he fell into a bad situation, he tried to turn me light to get out of it, but there was nothing I could do to avoid it as his hands shot towards –
The sledgehammer.
Without even a pause, I gripped the handle of the sledgehammer with one hand and snapped out my fist with the other. Pan's hands pushed me in the shoulder, but I didn't turn light. His eyes widened in shock, my fist cracked against his chin and I pushed myself into him.
Pan's unboosted power had a mass limit. He couldn't turn anything weightless that was heavier than himself. He was scrawny too, but bigger than me, he weighed more and normally I was vulnerable, but so long as I was gripping the sledgehammer that was enough of an extra weight that he couldn't make me light.
Better position, I'm on top of him. Get him to the ground, and punch the living daylights out of him…
I nearly felt like I could cripple him, but then I felt the force push my legs out of me. I lost my balance and fell.
Wendy Wind. She was keeping her power discreet, but she was using it.
They were trying to pretend that Pan was beating me by himself – putting on a show for the new recruits – even as she helped with a telekinetic push. I could feel the force pushing me backwards, unable to stop…
…Pan recovered again, gripping my cloak tightly, holding me as his fists collided with my chest…
…I gasped, feeling the pain rocket through my body, but my head, my head was buzzing so much…
"Queen Bitch!" Pan roared, slamming me into the wrong position. "Not so tough now, are you, Queen Bitch?"
I'm not going to win this.
The thought was so sudden it cut through the haze. Instantly, I was aware of absolutely everything that was wrong with this fight. My footing was lousy, my movements slow, my muscles injured. My position was failing, Pan was reacting to my moves better than I could react to his. My punches were desperate, I had better awareness, reaction times, probably better fighting style too, but Pan had the advantage in size and body strength. I couldn't match him in any wrestling match.
Combined that with the fact that Pan's power was much better suited at avoiding pain in a direct fight, and then there was Wendy's assistance against me, I knew instantly that this was a fight I just wasn't going to win.
Strangely, when I thought of it like that it wasn't so painful, or terrifying. It felt more like I was watching someone else fight, or playing a game.
It's a game I'm going to lose, I thought with shock. Another punch. He was pushing me up against the metal wall of the warehouse. I was transferring and burying all of the pain into my swarm, but the injuries were still stacking up quickly.
… So how do I change the rules?
At once, I felt my thinking change. It was like there was a supercomputer working away in my head. All of the data was flowing into it, all of my memories from the fight, the feelings of Pan's fists, and suddenly I felt it quick into action.
Avoid bad solutions, judge previous action, move towards possible alternatives. Fill the environment, extrapolate different scenarios…
Optimise.
I gasped weakly, but my body was already moving. At once, I slid out of my cloak, leaving Pan holding nothing but a silk sheet, dodging backwards with Wendy's push instead of trying to fight against it, all the while my hands got a better grip around the sledgehammer.
I staggering backwards, muscles groaning as I lifted the heavy hammer up off the ground. My hands were trembling, but I forced myself to lift it a bit higher, readying it to swing…
Pan's eyes flashed viciously. In the hands of anyone who couldn't negate mass and inertia, a sledgehammer was a terrible weapon in a close fight.
"What the hell do you think you're going to do with that?" Pan said with a smirk, pacing forward. I could barely even lift it, but my arms were on autopilot as I started the swing…
… The warehouse was deathly silent, all eyes focused on me, staring at the little girl backed up against a corner, swinging a weapon she could barely lift…
… But I swung it anyways, letting the momentum take me and twisting my legs until I was swinging it backwards like a hammer thrower. The heavy metal sledgehammer collided with the wall of the warehouse with a resounding metallic bang. The recoil felt like it nearly shattered both of my hands.
My heart almost stopped as I saw the hammer head slam a heavy dent into the metal girder. For a second, absolutely nothing happened.
… And then we all heard the creaking as the rusted roof of the warehouse shuddered dangerously. The metal support had a knock cracked into it, and it was starting to creep.
"I could do that," I muttered breathlessly, staring into the surprise in Pan's eyes. The metal roof was still creaking and trembling. The warehouse was old, rusted and unkempt, the roof had already been giving way, and all it took was one good blow.
I had barely even realised that my powers had somehow calculated the spot structural vulnerability of the warehouse even in the back of my head. I had insects all over the building, tiny insects reading everything about how the building was standing up – I had all the data I needed, and then my powers just took that data and gave me intuitive knowledge of exactly where I needed to strike.
The warehouse was decrepit, and ruined long before I came in. The roof had barely been standing up. A good strike with a sledgehammer at the most vulnerable point was all that it needed…
A chunk of the metal sheet roofing collapsed. The whole wall behind me was giving way, and bringing the roof and upper floor with it. We were all standing on the bottom floor, watching all of that heavy metal tremble dangerously…
When you couldn't beat the game, change the rules.
There was screaming all around me. The capes started to run. I could have run, but I knew instinctively that it wouldn't be far enough.
The whole ceiling was going to come down, I could feel it creeping towards breaking point with every insect I had on the building. The capes that were closest to the exit might stand a chance, but I was too far away to make it.
– In about fifteen seconds, I'm going to be crushed under tons of steel and the only person who can save me…
Pan.
I charged at him while he was still staring upwards in surprise. He lashed out, but I took the blow and forced my way towards him, wrapping my hands around his shoulders and hugging him tightly.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Pan screamed, trying to throw me off. "What are you–"
"Fly me away, Pan," I snarled, gripping him so tightly it hurt. His elbows and knees collided against me, but I didn't care, not when that ceiling was about to come down… "Or you're going to get crushed right alongside me."
Pan couldn't turn massless to avoid it unless he turned me massless too.
If he wanted to save himself, he was going to have to save my life as well.
I saw his eyes widen in shock.
Behind me, the wall cracked and shattered. The roof dropped.
I blinked, and suddenly I was bouncing madly, still clutching onto Pan with arms around his torso, as the debris shot everywhere. As soon as the first chunk of metal hit the ground, the explosion of dust was enough to send our weightless bodies shooting backwards. Metal girders were dropping everywhere, but we were just bouncing off them like leaves in the wind before they could crush us.
Pan was screaming, trying to throw me off, while we bounced straight off a steel girder collapsing. The air rushing everywhere, dust sending us mad, I could barely keep track of our movements, while above the roof collapsed over half of the building.
I felt Wendy Wind run to the exit, while Shadow dived to the far side of the wall by the skin of his teeth. At least another four of Boston capes weren't so lucky, I felt them bodily crushed under tons of steel, like insects stamped out of existence.
The air spinning, the recoil bounced Pan and I upwards, spinning towards the wall at the back of the warehouse, while debris crashed behind us –
Suddenly, the weightless dropped and we both sent crashing to the floor painfully.
The dust sent me into a coughing fit. I could barely even breathe, and I felt blood swelling in my mouth. I lost a tooth, one of my molars, I realised slowly. I saw the tooth in a bloody gloop as I coughed out blood. Right now, that was the least of my problems.
Pan and I ended up on what little remained of the upper floor of the warehouse, towards the back where the building was partitioned into rooms. The lower floor was just about completely crushed, and suddenly I had a clear view upwards into the sky. Half of the ceiling had been torn away, while the other half hung like a twisted skeletal structure of metal.
"… You bitch!" Pan gasped, lying winded on the floor. He wasn't looking too hot anymore either, though. "You bitch!"
At least half of the other Boston capes must have survived, but they ran to the exit and there's a ton of wreckage between them and us now, I realised suddenly. I quickly laid out the topology of the half collapsed building.
They'll either try and get back in, or rush around to the other entrance, but that just leaves me and Pan alone for now.
I have to finish this.
I was staggering onto my feet as I limped towards Pan, still on the floor. The sky was open now. Pan could flee any chance he got. I couldn't give him that chance.
Pan glared at me. "… You bitc–"
Then, I was on top of him, punching him in the face. The first blow felt lousy.
– Elbows in, twist the shoulder, hold him firmer, more power in the upper arm –
The second punch felt like it cracked my knuckles.
– Readjust fist, change target, avoid hard areas like jaw and cheekbones –
And the third punch just felt so satisfying.
Pan was struggling, trying to wrestle me to the ground, while I wrapped my legs around, keeping him pinned. His face was bloody and raw. He had lost a tooth too.
He lashed out, twisting himself around, and then we both rolling on the floor, desperately beating the absolute crap out of each other.
"I'm trying to free people here! I have to get rid of the oppressors. Clean the status quo!" Pan screamed furiously, pushing me backwards. "Don't you have any idea what I'm trying to do here?"
I didn't stop kicking and thrashing. My blows lacked power, but they were steady and consistent. "I. Don't." My voice was a growl. "… Care!"
He roared and tried to push me away. I twisted inwards, hunkering down, covering my head, all the while keeping so close, hanging on to him so hard, his power was useless.
… At the end of the night, after all of the superpowers, the screaming, and the running, all it came down to was two scrawny teenagers, rolling around in a warzone and beating the crap out of each other.
I gasped, still feeling my head pound, but it was easier. I could feel streams of data coming into me – the force of every blow, the timing of every punch, every slight movement, and every body language, every pained scream and grunt – and my powers just handled it.
I was fighting for my life, feeling every punch of adrenaline and pain, but my powers just handled as if I was controlling my swarm. They were taking the information, directing my actions, and they were optimising.
– he grunts before he swings with his right arm –
I blocked his arm with one hand, taking the chance to get a better grip around him.
– he punches with sequence left, right, right and left –
His right fist collided with my cheek.
– he punches with sequence left, right, right and then either left or right –
Pan roared as he tried to throw me off, I took a better grip around his body, lashing out with knees and elbows because there was no space to swing fists or feet.
– body tensing, preparing to twist positons –
– he screams louder after nose collisions than cheek hits –
– legs buckling, prepare for –
– breathing pattern unsteady –
– left arm is slower than right –
I almost screamed as the waves of information nearly caused me to black out. Pan pushed me off, while I still clutching my head, struggling to think through all the waves hitting me–
– machete. He's going for the machete –
My eyes widened in shock. The machete that I stole from Shadow was littering across the floor. Pan was rushing for it.
My legs started sprinting. I wasn't fast enough, Pan darted into weightlessness enough to zoom through the air, skidding to a halt just as he picked up the machete from the ground.
I saw his bloody grin as he wielded the metal blade at me, pausing momentarily. I halted, almost tripping over the rubble and debris littering the floor.
There was a pause. Pan had the blade in his hand, pointing at me. I stopped suddenly. We were both wheezing for breath, our bodies slouched, but there wasn't even a hint of surrender in either of us. I had given every bit as good as I got in the fight and then some, but Pan was still standing, still fighting
He's a tough bastard, I thought quietly, watching Pan stagger through breath. His whole face was bruised bloody. Mine was too, underneath my mask. The sky was wide open, he could have flown away at any time, but he didn't – he wasn't about to flee when he thought he could kill me.
Then again, I didn't try to flee either.
There was a long moment of strange silence. "You bitch…" Pan growled wheezily. "… I'm going to kill you for this…"
"Give it your best shot," I panted, slowly raising my hands in a fake boxer pose. "I'm not letting you kill anyone else."
Around the building, I felt footsteps through my bugs. People coming closer.
"I'm doing what I need to do!" Pan snapped, eyes bulging. "They needed to die, they need to change! That's the only thing I've ever wanted – change. Right from the moment I picked up these powers, I've only ever wanted change!"
There were definitely people getting closer. Pan was still holding the machete, but hesitating as he planned his next attack. Still, something about that statement made me frown.
"'Picked up'?" I repeated quietly. It was a strange way to describe a trigger event, but just the way he said it… "What the hell are you talking about? What was your trigger?"
Pan scoffed. "Hmm. You've got no idea – I didn't fucking 'trigger'."
He paused slightly; he must have noticed the footsteps too. His eyes narrowed. "After Boston, I was left begging on the streets. Begging for just enough money to pay for Wendy's medication. Can you imagine that, begging?" He spat the word viciously. "And then, one night, this weird woman in a suit came by. She dropped a vial of liquid in front of me and then walked away without a single word – that's how I got my powers."
I blinked in confusion. The statement didn't make any sense, how could a vial give someone powers? There was no time to focus on it, I felt the figures running towards us. It was Wendy Wind, along with Shadow and half a dozen of the other Boston capes. They had escaped the collapsed, ran around the collapsed building, and towards the rear entrance still standing. They were coming straight for us.
– approximately twenty seconds before they reach us–
The group collided with the door. The door was jammed by a chunk of debris.
– approximately ninety seconds before they reach us –
Pan grinned, listening to the thuds as his gang tried to force open the door. As soon they arrived, I would be outnumbered again. I barely managed to react in time as Pan dived forward, swinging the machete downwards in a wild arc.
I felt the metal blade almost cut my shoulder open as I darted backwards. Pan kept on charging, swinging madly back and forth, trying to cut me into pieces. He had the advantage of reach now, I couldn't do anything except skitter backwards, desperately trying to avoid the metal edge.
My heart was pounding, even a second of hesitation and that blade would crack open my skull open…
– left arm swings –
I twisted right, easily avoiding the blow mid-swing, getting just close enough to push Pan away. He growled as he nearly stumbled, before lashing around and preparing to lunge.
– aiming for lower left chest –
I darted out the way barely in time, just as the blade slashed forward.
– he reacts to the right, prepare for undercut –
He tried to follow up the blow, but my body had predicted the move before he was even lunging. Instantly, punched him to the ground.
The waves of data in my head just didn't stop, but they calming into a steady flow, like a river of information pulsing into me.
– calm breathing, relax abdomen, left arm too tight –
– focus on eyes, he always flickers left as he attacks –
– he favours wild swings followed by lunges, prepare for counter clockwise dodge –
– his right leg is hurt, always stumbles with movement, attack from left –
Pan swung again. This time, there was barely even a conscious thought in my head as twisted to either side. Pan followed with swing after swing of wild, crazed strokes.
– left –
– right –
– left –
– left –
– hard left –
– lunge with left foot –
– Pan screamed as suddenly my foot tripped him over, sending him scattering to the ground. He overreached himself, I knocked him over with ease. I was panting, but more out of surprise as I dodged between each swing like I had been doing it all of my life. Some of them came so close the blade nearly brushed against my skin, but I knew they wouldn't hit me.
My powers are optimising for him, I realised slowly. I wasn't breathing so hard, I didn't feel so panicked, instead my body just felt calm, but ready. My powers had already interpreted all of his behaviour, all of his stances, his instinctive reflexes, and they were improving my stances and movements to match.
I was controlling and optimising my own body as if it was just another part of my swarm. It was all just optimisation.
I hadn't been much of a fighter, but my god I was learning quickly now.
He charged. I saw it coming, I saw his body tense and his legs pulse as if I had been training for it all of my life. My powers were optimising quicker and quicker with every action he made. He swung the blade, but this time it didn't even come close.
I was sidestepping each swipe before he even made it, dodging each swing so easily it seemed almost idle.
"How are…" Pan gasped, his eyes suddenly uncertain. "… How are you…?"
Focus, I thought quietly. That stream of data in my head had been overwhelming, but I was standing to handle it. I couldn't block it out, I had to let it flow.
I nearly gasped as I felt the torrent of pure information hit me. I didn't even know what information it was, there was so much of it that it didn't feel like 'data' at all, it just felt like… felt like a feeling… like a connection…
Like a connection to what? I thought confusedly, struggling even as my body moved on auto-pilot. The torrent in my head didn't stop, constantly increasing in intensity…
All around me, the whole, ruined warehouse started to squirm as every insect and bug started to move again. I felt the buzzing fill the air. The bugs were just moving aimlessly, but they were moving, and I could feel my control starting to come back, slowly – like overwhelming river eroding away a wall…
By the door, I heard Shadow scream in pain as he clutched his head. Wendy Wind looked panicked as she stared at all the bugs around them that were skittering again. Her cute little face was covered in welts and bites, her costume ruined.
"Shadow!" Wendy screamed, flinching away from the insects. "What's going on, you're supposed to be stopping her…?"
"She's overpowering me!" Shadow bellowed, clutching his head in pain. His black full-body suit helped hide the injuries, but I knew they were there. "Her powers... it's like she's trying to force me out...!"
"What? How's that possib–"
"I don't know!" Shadow snapped.
"Get the door open, quickly!"
The group was crashing against the door, trying to push the way the rubble. They looked scared, but they weren't breaking, and they were nearly through…
My attention was diverted as Pan screamed, breaking his normal pattern and trying to charge right at me. I saw the way his fingers clenched as he was preparing to apply his power, even as he brought down the machete.
I barely even registered I was moving. It was a move that a professional martial artist would be proud of. At once, I was dropping backwards to the ground to avoid his hand, even as mine darted upwards and clutched the collar of his scarf tightly. I collided with the ground rear first as his machete slashed downwards, but I dragged him down with me and at once I was twisting the out the way, letting the momentum take him over head as my over hand when for the machete handle and my knees kicked upwards…
I was left gasping as suddenly I cartwheeled straight underneath him, sending Pan crashing to the ground. My hand was now clutching the machete, tightening my grip. I disarmed him and kicked him away so fluidly he couldn't even react.
Pan turned weightless to avoid the collision with the ground, but the move still him breathless. He was clambering to his feet, looking more and more uncertain with every second. My whole fighting style was changing – I wasn't desperate and frantic anymore, it felt smoother, fluid. Optimising. Adapting.
We both stared briefly at the rear door. Pan's gang was nearly through…
I saw Pan's eyes. He wanted to kill me before his backup arrived. He wanted to be the big guy.
At once, his posture changed. He turned and ran, but I knew he wasn't fleeing. He had changed tactics, he decided that he couldn't beat me in close quarters, he was going for a new plan.
My eyes noticed it too late. Pan was rushing through the rubble, back where we had started the fight in the first place. I noticed it only by the bugs that were skittering around, while Pan remembered where he had dropped it.
The handgun. The same one that Pan had been using before my swarm disarmed him. He was running for the gun.
I couldn't dodge bullets.
– run –
My legs sprinted. The gun was left between chunks of debris and sand. I was closer, but Pan had a head start.
We were both clambering over the damaged floor, struggling to move over the jagged drop as the upper floor of the warehouse broke away.
Still, then I saw the way his body tensed and I realised he was going to get there first. He would turn weightless, shoot forward, and grab it.
My heart pounded. I saw him shoot forward, I couldn't stop him, he was going to grab the gun and shoot me, I couldn't reach –
– jump –
I felt the command hit me. There was no conscious thought involved. At once, my legs pounced forward, and the next thing I knew I was colliding with a shape in the air. Pan turned heavy to stop himself flying mad, and we both went crashing painfully to the ground.
My whole body screamed as I felt the impact jar my back. I heard something crack, but my arms were still wrapped around Pan as we wrestled…
… the gun was less than three feet away. His fingers scraped against the ground as reached for it…
… but the machete was in my hands. Without a second thought, I lunged.
Pan was there, grabbing the handle as well to stop the blade. We were both rolling over each other, next to the jagged edge of the end of the floor, struggling to get a grip with the sharp machete between us.
Pan was on top of me. He was bigger and stronger, trying to wrest control over the machete as he tried to push it towards me. The blade hovered, and then slowly crept towards me. My muscles strained as I tried to desperately to push it backwards. I could see the blade coming towards my neck.
"I've got you Queen Bitch…" Pan hissed, grunting each breath as we wrestled. The strain was killing me, my muscles could barely… "… I've got you…"
There was a banging from the door. The other capes were nearly in.
I was gasping. My hands were on the handle, but Pan's hands were over mine, forcing the blade downwards. I felt my grip slip just a little bit more.
– move elbows together –
– leverage shoulders –
– right hand failing, push higher up –
Pan was screaming furiously, trying desperately just to push the blade down a few more inches. The machete wobbled…
– readjust position, left arm higher –
– twist handle upwards –
– push upwards with abdomen, core muscles tighten –
I could feel myself getting better and better, constantly adjusting my leverage, exploiting my body stance, improving with every moment. Pan was trying to just force the machete downwards, but if I could take the advantage and better exert my strength…
Pan screamed as the machete's blade start to hover upwards. He moved his body to trying and force more weight down, and that was the only chance I needed.
At once, I kicked upwards, my knees slamming into this stomach, and then I was wrapping my legs around his torso as I twisted.
For once, I saw the absolute fear in Pan's eyes as I reversed the positions, pinning him to the ground with my legs around him so he couldn't turn me weightless. Still, I don't think that Pan could turn me weightless – the weight of me plus the heavy machete must be slightly more than he could manage.
The machete was still hovering between our chests, but it was creeping closer and closer to Pan now.
He was still pushing, but his movements were frantic, jerky, more desperate. He was kicking and squirming, but he didn't even dare take either hand off the handle otherwise it would slip straight into him.
I was forcing the better grip, twisting it until I was pushing straight down while he was at a wrong angle. He was bigger, stronger, but it wasn't about mass or size anymore, it was all about leverage. I was nearly there, he was nearly…
I hesitated fractionally as I realised that I was pointing a sharp blade straight at his chest.
Behind me, the door crashed. They were nearly through. Within seconds, all of Pan's gang would be on me.
I was staring into Pan's eyes. There was blood dripping from his face. I couldn't see obnoxiousness or anger there anymore – there was only fear.
We were both panting as the moment froze, the machete, in my hands, pointing downwards at Pan's heart.
"… If you kill me…" Pan forced, his voice low and pain. "… I'm the only one who knows where the healer is… There's no trail…You will never find her in time."
My grip didn't slacken. I could feel the blood pounding through my body. They were nearly through, and they would outnumber me. I wouldn't be able to fight them off…
… not if I also had to wrestle with Pan at the same time.
For a moment, the only sound in the world was the pounding off my heart and the heaving off his body beneath me.
"Do you hear me?" Pan choked. There was no anger in his voice, there was nothing left except pure, raw panic. The machete blade hovered. "If you kill me, she dies… if you kill me, Amy Dallon dies too…!"
My breathing was level. My whole body clenched.
"Yes," I agreed, my voice barely a whisper. "… I know."
With that, the machete plummeted downwards straight into Pan's chest.
He screamed. I felt the pressure hit me as steel chipped against bone. I was cutting straight through his sternum. Blood swelled everywhere. Pan lost his grip as he thrashed and he punched, but I barely even felt the blows as I twisted and pushed downwards with all of my strength.
It was harder than I expected it to be. I half expected the blade to just plunge right in. Instead, all of that muscle and bone was tough, and the machete wasn't that sharp.
I felt the painful grind as metal sawed against bone. I pushed harder, twisting it back and forth like a hacksaw. The feeling left me numb.
Pan was alive, thrashing and screaming, face bloated red, even as he heaved the blade slowly into his chest. He was gagging on blood, but still alive, still struggling…
Strangely, the sound of his gagging reminded me faintly of raucous laughter.
I'm killing him, I thought numbly, watching the scene as if it were somebody else's hands on the knife.
I remembered the list of all the people I had killed. Those had been accidental, or indirect. This one wasn't.
Guess this makes Pan my twelfth victim, I thought hollowly. His struggles were flimsy now, weaker, like a body thrashing on impulse, while the blood splattered and gurgled everywhere…
There was a crash as the others forced there were through the door. The charged into the shattered warehouse, just to stare at me pushing a machete through their leader's chest. Wendy was at the front of the group, her eyes wide.
"NO!" Wendy screamed with pure rage and grief. There were tears in her eyes, I noticed vaguely. Her hands shot upwards, and I felt the force hit me.
It knocked me over Pan's still body and I stumbled. I could feel it pushing me, like a firm gust of wind, but there was nothing to hold onto nothing to grip as I slid slowly towards the edge…
Then, my hands gripped around the firm handle of Pan's handgun. I was pulling it upwards and pulling the trigger without a second thought.
The gunshot echoed through the building.
I could have shot her in the leg, I thought numbly. I could have hit her in the shoulder, or arm. There was absolutely no reason why it had to be a kill shot, there were absolutely plenty of ways that I could have taken her down nonlethally.
Instead, there was no conscious thought involved as my arm pointed straight at her head.
I never even aimed, I never even thought about it, my hand just moved and my finger pulled the trigger.
And then Wendy Wind was collapsing to the floor with a bullet straight through the middle of her forehead.
The whole building was quiet for a moment. My heart was beating so fast that everything seemed in slow motion, watching the girl's body collapse…
There were eight others, Shadow along with seven Boston capes – all staring at me at shock. I never knew their powers, I never even knew their names. I didn't really care, either.
Fuck it, I thought numbly. Once you kill over a dozen people it's pretty pointless keeping track.
The gun shot twice in quick succession. I had never really fired a gun before, but my aim was dead on. Weirdly good shots, actually, but with my swarm sense my spatial awareness was perfect.
Before they even had time to flinch, there were two teenagers, a spotty teenager in a jacket and a tall one with a goatee, dropping to the ground with only a blood splat and a gurgled gasp.
At once, I was staggering off the floor, with a gun in one hand and a machete in the other.
I saw Shadow turn and try to run. The five other capes either reacted too slowly or were dumb enough to try and fight me.
One of them raised his hands and a torrent of fire gushed out of his fingertips towards me. A fire generator. I shot him in the head first as I clambered towards them. I barely even needed to aim, I realised slowly. I just hit.
Another cape, a big man with broad shoulders and a dollar store mask, tried to intercept me. I shot him in the forehead, but I heard the bullet ricochet off his skull. Hmm, Brute, I decided, before dropping to the ground, and kicking out with my feet. He was still dazed with from the gunshot, couldn't react in time as I kicked him to the ground.
Good durability, not so much super strength, I thought emotionlessly, as the Brute tried to clamber up. Before he could I was there with my machete, jabbing the tip of the blade twice, straight into his soft, fleshy eyeballs. I vaguely heard the scream and he tried to thrash in pain, but I easily avoided the blows. He howled blindly, and then I took the chance to slam the nozzle of the handgun straight into his open mouth and pulled the trigger. The bullet went straight through the top of his mouth, into his brain, but didn't come out the back of his skull. The gunshot still reverberated in his head and pulverised his brain. The man collapsed limply.
I'm running out of bullets, I noted, as I moved onto the only three capes still standing. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had been counting the bullets – I only had one bullet left now. I decided to save it as I lowered the gun and hoisted up the machete.
The first one tried to scream – some kind of supersonic scream power, I guess, it definitely hurt a bit. Still, it took him a couple of seconds to warm up, and my machete was splitting his skull open like an eggshell before he could reach full-power.
The next one, a duplicator or illusionist of some sort. She was a fairly stout, podgy girl that made copies of herself, trying to distract me. I never found out if the copies were solid or not – I had bugs on the original that led my straight to the original as I plunged the blade straight into the stomach. I saw her guts slip out of the wound as she collapsed.
It was definitely easier going stabbing in the stomach rather than the upper chest, I noticed. Less bone there, the blade slid in much easier.
The final one, a short, skinny guy with neck tattoos, tried to stick me with a knife as I finished off her. I felt him coming, and I easily sidestepped out of the way, pulling the machete out and swinging it so hard that I cut the teenager's hand straight off in a single swipe. He dropped to the ground with the severed limb, but I noticed strangely that there wasn't so much blood and the wound seemed to be closing quickly. A regenerator, then.
There was no time for him to react as I twisted the machete around and stabbed it straight through his neck, severing his spine. He dropped to the floor. Just to be on the safe side, I left the machete sticking out of his throat.
It was only afterwards that I figured I had bug swarms that might have helped me. Strangely, I didn't really feel like I needed them.
It was over in less than a minute. They had all been new capes, uncertain, weak with their powers. It hadn't been angry or desperate, just fast and bloody. I barely even registered the blood, I just felt numb.
My whole body was beaten and bruised. I'm pretty sure I've got fractured ribs, and a broken leg, I told myself numbly. My powers were focusing out the pain, but the injuries were still there. If I had shown any hesitation, they could have taken me easily.
… I just don't feel strong enough to be merciful anymore.
It was only after a few seconds that I realised the other figure who had been trying to creep up on me. I flinched as I pulled the handgun up, but then lowered it as I recognised the dark hood.
Shadow Stalker looked stunned as she phased through the wall, still clutching a loaded crossbow. "… Um…" Shadow Stalker muttered, certainly uncertain. "… Lisa sent me here to help you?"
You're a bit late, I would have retorted, but the words felt bitter in my mouth. I glanced around the dead bodies scattering me with a frown. My whole body felt so numb I could barely breathe.
The thought of Amy flashed before my eyes. My hands clenched and I grit my teeth, but I couldn't feel angry anymore. I just felt cold.
"I'm good," I muttered quietly, before turning around and limping away.
Shadow Stalker stared between the seven corpses littering the ground, the collapsed warehouse, and my blood-soaked clothes.
"Holy shit…" She exclaimed breathlessly after a few seconds. Her voice was thick with awe. "… You are one badass bitch."
I didn't reply. I just kept on walking.
There's only one person left, I thought angrily, glancing at the night sky. I have to end it.
I felt Shadow running away, sprinting frantically as he tried to escape. I didn't sprint, I just limped slowly. I felt him turn around the alley through my bugs. I went around an adjoining alley, cutting off his escape as he tried to run towards the main route.
As soon as he turned the corner, I was on him. My hand outstretched as I gripped his jacket and slammed him headfirst into the wall. Shadow Stalker followed, almost hesitantly, but I really didn't need her help.
I slammed Shadow up against the wall. He was begging something almost incoherently, but I never heard it. With one hand, I ripped the mask off his face and with the other I pressed the barrel of the gun against his forehead.
It was the first time I saw Shadow without his mask. He was young, a teenager, with dark hair, tan skinned and distinctly Latino features. His cheeks were pale as he stared at me with absolute horror. My mask had been dyed with blood.
"– I'm sorry, it was all Pan's idea, I never meant to go so far!" Shadow squealed frantically, dropping into the wall, hands raised. "Oh god, please don't kill me, I just –"
"Shut up." My voice was a growl. The gun didn't twitch. "I want you to boost me."
He stammered, blinking repeatedly. "… What? I d–"
"That's what you do, right? You either restrict or you extend a person's powers." My voice was cold. "So you are either going to stop blocking me and start boosting me, otherwise I'm going to shoot you."
There was a long moment of silence. My voice wasn't loud, or even threatening, just matter-of-fact. Shadow Stalker hovered behind me, looking absolutely stunned, while Shadow stared at me with a mixture of horror and panic. The night rumbled quietly in the distance.
"… I think that letting you shoot me might be the safest option here," Shadow said finally, his voice a whisper.
I shrugged, pushing the gun further towards his head. "You've got five seconds to make that decision."
There was a moment of quiet. Mentally, I started counting. I reached three before Shadow closed his eyes, and appeared to concentrate.
At once, I felt the restriction on my powers lift. Instantly, all of my bugs were following orders again, rushing to obey commands as they dropped into file. It felt somebody was taking a chain off my powers, allowing them to expand.
And then, they just kept on expanding.
I gasped as suddenly it felt like I was shooting up into the clouds, looking downwards as I stared at the coastline, viewing the entire city as a bulk of black, skittering shapes…
...
Expansion. Awareness. It was like I had been living with one eye closed and suddenly they were all open. I saw the world like I had never seen it before.
Extend. Almost tentatively, I reached out with my abilities, feeling the tendrils of sensory perception and information, feeling the world squirm around me. Images hit me, thoughts, data, metadata…
Growth. I reached out, feeling the world crumble around me, previous restrictions slipping away. It wasn't frightening, it felt more… more like freedom. It was like becoming whole, stripping away a skin prison that just didn't fit…
It felt like an insect bursting out of its cocoon.
Everything kept on expanding, taking new form…
...
I heard screaming.
I was screaming. My hands were on my head, keeled over as I screamed in pain. The pain was so intense that I couldn't even process it, it was more like the afterimage of pain. The faint memory of a pain so intense that it was unimaginable, like something bursting out of my head.
In the distance, I heard Shadow Stalker bellowing at Shadow, wielding her crossbow. "What are you doing?!" She demanded. "What are you doing to her?!"
"I don't know!" Shadow shouted in panic. "It's never had this much of an effect before, I don't –!"
The words disappeared. I felt it pulse again, my powers extending, harder and faster, like a jet engine pushing away from me. It was more than I had ever…
...
Experience. So much experience. No more cages, I could finally stretch myself.
I was everywhere. I had six legs and solid carapace, mandibles snapping as I skittered over rough soil. I was in the ground, with rough, spineless segmentations as I pushed through dirt, my body wriggling. I was in the ocean, salt water around me, swimming with fleshy shells and pulsing appendages through the current like dirt in the waves. I was sitting in my web, multiple eyes passive, poised but relaxed, as my hairy, eight-legged body curled and waited.
I didn't know why, I didn't know how it happened, I didn't know a thing. I just knew my purpose and knew what I had to do.
Learn.
Optimise.
Control.
...
My body sagged as I blinked furiously, trying desperately focus. I could feel my range extending with every second.
One mile. Two miles. Three miles. Four. Five. The distances just felt meaningless, though, as if it was only the amount my tiny little mind could focus on. It just all washed away in the pure tsunami of information. I could barely even keep track as I felt my powers grow.
In my head, it was like a could see a whole topographical map of the entire city built of insects, right down to all the insects crawling deep within the earth.
Seven miles, I realised vaguely. I had a radius of seven miles, but even that was still creeping outwards slowly. It was so large that I could even feel the slight curvature of earth in the landscape, extending from one edge of the city to the other. The thought sent shivers down my spine.
It was like a god's eye view of absolutely everything.
The numbers hit me. They were absolutely mind-boggling huge. Even I had never really comprehended just how many bugs there were in the world.
It wasn't millions, or even billions. It felt like trillions.
I couldn't count them all. I couldn't count them in the same way I couldn't count the cells that made up my body, but my powers just controlled them all. It felt like being more than just a person, it felt like drifting away into a pure mass of information and control.
No, it was more than just control. It felt like the bugs were a part of me; like I wasn't a teenage girl anymore – I was the swarm. Every single bug was just some appendage of mine, like fingers or tendrils groping out from a huge, invisible body…
Focus! It was so hard to even direct my powers, like trying to steer a cruise ship. I could even feel the delay it took for the orders to pass through the entire swarm, there was a lag. Still, they responded – they all responded to my command, like an army stirring into motion.
I need to focus, I realised suddenly. I knew I was still physically kneeling in a dark alleyway, but it was so hard to focus on the scene around me when I felt like a huge entity seven miles wide.
I had barely had a reference left, every second threatened to wash me away on the immense tide of data. I need a purpose, I need a direction.
Focus on my city. I knew my city; I knew the buildings, I knew the layout. Brockton Bay had to be my anchor.
The world scaled into view. I saw everything take shape, the buildings sketched out by the bugs that were in them, but I had to focus my attention on a point.
I saw it. Right in the centre of the city, a hundred thousand bugs were reporting scenes of chaos – of wind and of explosions and figures shooting through the air and firing lasers.
Diluvium.
I need to focus on Diluvium.
At once, an uncountable number of insects shifted into motion. The feeling of that much complete control was exhilarating, terrifying and so weirdly natural it boggled the mind. I could feel the small, limited part of me protesting, still clinging onto my human body, but the rest of me was everywhere – an army of bugs and insects, a consciousness so vast it was legion.
I could see Diluvium. The man was a force of nature in his own right. He was screaming, standing in what used to be the centre of city as wind, explosions, debris and water burst from his body. The tornado still raged around.
The tornado roared, while around him there were capes shooting through the air. Every hero in the city and then some – every hero that could respond in time – was coming to Brockton Bay, more arriving every second, and Diluvium was facing off against them all.
The heroes felt so small I could barely even recognise them. I think I saw Alexandria trying to plummet through the winds and explosions to wrestle him, while more and more capes appeared in absolute frenzy. Eidolon wasn't there, at least, but there were plenty of other heavy hitters, so many it was difficult to make out any figures in the clutter of explosions.
It wasn't a formal, organised assault like against an Endbringer, though; it was a disorganised mess that had caught absolutely everybody off-guard. The situation was probably Class A yet still rising, but the PRT was in shambles, the response was chaotic, and between the riots and the other chaos I could believe why everybody was in mess. Diluvium took advantage of that, pushing himself as far as he could possibly go and carving a huge scar through the city to prove it.
Diluvium was an absolute beast – he seemed intent on fighting every hero in America and, from the looks of things, he was holding.
But he can't possibly hold against me, I thought coldly, feeling weirdly detached as I surveyed the scene as an unearthly entity. As big and as powerful as Diluvium was, I was bigger.
Around me, every wasp, bee, beetle, moth – every flying insect within seven miles – took to the sky and converged towards a single point.
The buzzing started of low, but became deafening.
I felt the collective gasp of the whole city as the swarm of black blocked out the sky.
Force of nature.
My concentration tightened as I forced my insects into formation, pulsing around me. The swarm took minutes to gather, moving together from miles away, but I could barely even keep track of time. I forced the bulk of insects together, tightening it into a huge column of mass that spiralled up into the air, larger than any skyscraper.
Around me, I felt panic. I felt screaming and I felt pandemonium, but I didn't care. They felt like insects to me now.
The swarm was my body. I was flying through the air, built of a mass larger than the eye could see, so many buzzing wings and fluttering that the ones in the centre were suffocated by the size of it. I shooting up into clouds, before spiralling around, returning back towards the earth in a black cloud of bugs.
Almost idly, I reshaped the swarm into the shape of a hand, outstretched and so large that it could have clutched the entire city centre. The palm itself was larger than a football stadium as I brought the hand of bugs downwards…
It crashed downwards like the hand of god, swatting downwards into Diluvium, crushing his tornado and all.
I felt the shredding wind kill millions of bugs at once, but that didn't matter because I had billions. The mass of bugs just forced their way through. The insect corpses dropping out the sky was like a flood.
I felt Diluvium screaming, unleashing explosions, debris and floods one after another, desperately trying to keep the swarm away. I just kept on pressing downwards, ordering every bug to charge blindly to their deaths – a billion suicide troopers scratching and clawing against the elements to try and reach the man inside.
I felt Diluvium's onslaught start to slip. He was running out of mass, but so desperate he ejected anything and everything to even keep the swarm away – like a man splashing water against an unending swarm of black clouds. The bugs didn't stop. There were so many of them they could just crush him with the pure mass of so, so many tiny bodies.
Then the slower bugs, the ants and spiders reached Diluvium as well, crawling both on the ground and underneath it, breaking through from the earth and swallowing him whole. He didn't stand a chance after that.
I felt Diluvium being consumed by the swarm, choking on the pure mass of insects, still frantically trying to claw his way out of the tidal wave of black.
Just like that, the roaring of the tornado and the explosions disappeared, and the only sound was the unholy thunder of a legion of bugs clicking and buzzing.
I felt every civilian and cape staring at the clouds of bugs, still growing in size over the city, with a mixture of awe and terror.
As soon as Diluvium looked like he was about to stop squirming, I ordered my bugs to retreat. He was still trying to breathe desperately, his face bloated, as the ocean of bugs parted and he dropped to the ground. Still alive, but barely, and completely empty ready for PRT custody. I was willing to bet I gave him something more than just Leviathan to fear.
More, I ordered, as the bugs skittered into shape, a black gloop rolling through the city. I could feel the entire city. I could feel every burning building, every mob that was still going, every looter, every single person that was keeping the riots going.
I ordered my bugs to end it all.
Every single person in the city that my powers recognised as being disruptive, I swarmed mercilessly. Every single one, all at once.
My swarm voice said only four words – four words so loud they were deafening – as they descended onto the city like a plague of apocalyptical proportions. A biblical reproduction.
"YOU MADE ME ANGRY."
The riots ended very quickly.
...
I blinked repeatedly as I felt myself return to my body. The boosting effect was wearing off slowly. I could still feel my extended range, but it was changing, narrowing – as if some of the walls were returning gradually and I was falling back into my body.
I was back in the alleyway again, kneeling on dank ground as I stared at my hands in shock.
For the first time all night, the city felt deathly quiet.
Next to me, Shadow was staring in shock, his mouth hanging open. Shadow Stalker was covered by the hood, but even she nearly dropped her crossbow as she stared.
I took a deep breath as I slowly pulled myself off the ground, and brushed myself off.
"… It's done," I muttered, before dropping the handgun onto the ground and limping away.