Warring Enigma: Blackstar Emergence

by WarringEnigma

Log: Due to currently unexplainable circumstances I have been somehow transported to Earth - however not the one I recognize. No ship, warpdrive fried, Genysis no where to be seen I'm alone. Fine enough - ZR, cybernetically enhanced merc with top of the line guns, been through hell and back. Seems normal - until I realize fucking superheroes and monsters exist. Stuck in Sim. again?

1. New Earth

Warring Enigma: Blackstar Emergence
Chapter 1: New Earth

Beeping and whirring sound intermittently ongoing in the background. The rhythm and volume rapidly increased, almost overwhelming. With each interval that lapsed, there was a long buzz then immediately after the crackle of electrical static. Again and again, the temporary numbness and involuntary jerking, convulsions followed by a faint grasp of autonomy and in-between moments of ever-growing openings in the darkness. Flash after a flash of light, more jerking, and convulsions, as well as the beeping, whirrs, and buzzes. Nonstop they continued until an apex was reached and transitioned into a familiar sensation.

A long continuous beep goes off, followed by what feels akin to a massive jolt of electricity coursing through me. Abruptly, I feel myself leave my perpetual slumber as I burst back into life, and soon after all feelings of kinesthetic, aerobic, and neurological control quickly return. The first source of light I see amidst a pocket of darkness, was blue text, digital feedback of my helmet's HUD interface. Visual feedback displaying data of my current condition.

[THORACIC DEFIBRILLATOR ACTIVE]...[SCANNING]x3……..[OPTIMIZING NANOBOT FUNCTIONALITY]...[CYBERNETIC ENDOSKELETAL INFRASTRUCTURE REBOOTING]...[ANATOMICAL ANALYSIS INITIATING]...[PROCESSING]……………………[ DISPLAYING DIAGNOSTICS]...

EKG- [CARDIAC ACTIVITY NOMINAL: 5PBM

BPL- [BLOOD PRESSURE LEVEL NOMINAL: 125S/85D

EEG- [NEURAL SYNAPTIC ACTIVITY NOMINAL: 3.45z [CURRENT: DELTA WAVE]

· NEURON CONDUCTION VELOCITY(NATURAL): BURST- 4000km/h, GENERAL- 400km

· [AWARENESS STATE: CALM]

· CEREBRAL ANATOMICAL CYBERNETIC INTERFACE [COM-ENHC: PASSIVE- 100QD/PM

· [NO OBJECTS CURRENTLY DETECTED]

· BRAIN INFORMATION PROCESSING ENHANCED

· NERVOUS SYSTEM ENHANCED

· NANOBOT NETWORK RE-OPTIMIZING VITAL ORGANS

· CYBERNETIC ENDO-SKELETAL MUSCULATURE ACTIVATED

· OCULAR NERVES ENHANCED; OPTICAL SENSOR ACTIVE

ALL SYSTEMS ARE ACTIVE AND UPDATED. ANALYSIS COMPLETE. ACTIVATING NEURAL UPLINK WITH HELM-OPT; SUIT-SYS; UIT…..ESTABLISHING CONNECTION……………

A few seconds later the optical camera sensors inside the faceplate activate. Visual feedback quickly pixelates, proceeding to load and display the HUD and each of the following readouts- Ammo counter, Currently equipped weapons, Motion Sensor, Compass, Reticule, Armor Integrity, Shield Energy Level, Health, as well as various other situational and environmental information readouts. With all systems online and the camera sensors fully receptively active, my initial view of the outside was of an open blue plane, speckled with white wisps and puffs.

I was peering directly up to someplace's sky. Narrowing my eyes, confused, I twist my upper body around, planting my hands on the ground as I re-orientate and proceed to prop myself up. Standing up on my boots, I immediately noticed the bowl-shaped depression I was inside, however, on closer inspection, I quickly realized I was inside a crater, 20 feet in diameter and 7 feet deep. I looked up towards the sky, thinking that this impact crater was made as a result of a plummet from high up in the sky, or event space. I was almost in disbelief,--this wasn't the first time I've fallen from extremely high heights. I think this was the fourth time, maybe the fifth? I've lost count.

"Well, better climb out of this crater and see where I wound up," I said monotone, with a hint of humor. "Come to think of it. How in the hell am I outside? Where is my ship?" I questioned, completely baffled by the circumstance.

Climbing myself up out of the crater, I got a good look at where I was. Looking around me, it would appear I had landed in the middle of an arid landscape, and based on the sparse vegetation distantly spread, this was likely a subtropical one. I figured it was safe to assume this world was likely hospitable enough for life, due to the presence of visible vegetation - and possibly things more complex.

I didn't intend to remove my helmet of course, due to a variety of reasons, but, in any case, I'd do a quick scan on the air and earth to get a read on the chemical composition. For some unknown reason, there was a strange familiarity with this place. Cycling my sight around in a swivel motion, I proceeded to scan the air. Moving side to side and up above; I'd briefly stop as I would stare up at the star shining brightly above, my visor filtering out excess light. There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy, it was just a singular plain old yellow G main-sequence star though there was something that struck me.

I knew a handful of the colonies orbited one, and of course Earth--but I had a suspending feeling I wasn't present on any of them. Continuing then with my scan of the environment, I input information on the dirt I stood on and the tufts of plant life scattered around the surface, looking out for any signs of activity from the indigenous fauna (So far there were none).

A few seconds later, the MMC scanner finished collecting and processing the information; displaying the results of the analysis on the HUD inside a separate window. I transferred the data to my wrist-mounted computer and viewed the information there in greater detail. The Utility Implementation Tool a.k.a. UIT via a light emitted holographic projection displayed the data as well as the planet to which the characteristics belong. My eyes widened when I saw the results of the analysis.

[Atmospheric composition: [N2]Nitrogen(78.09 %), [O2]Oxygen(20.95%), [Ar] Argon(0.93%), [CO2]Carbon dioxide(0.038), [Ne]Neon(0.012%), [He]Helium(0.005%), [Ch4]Methane(0.002%), [H20]Water Vapor(0.001%), [Kr]Krypton(0.000733%), [H]Hydrogen(0.00011234%), [Xe]Xenon(0.000085%) and [O3]Ozone(0.000015%)]

[Atmospheric/Barometric Pressure: (101.325kPa), (14.696psi)]

[Gravitational intensity: (9.81m/s2)]

[Estimated Average temperature: (59 degrees Fahrenheit: 14.6 degrees celsius)]

[Current temperature: 70 degrees Fahrenheit: 21.111 degrees celsius)]

[Terrestrial composition: [O2]Oxygen(46.6%), [Si]Silicon(27.7%), [Fe]Iron(5.0%), [Ca] Calcium(3.6%), [Na]Sodium(2.8%), [K]Potassium(2.6%), [Mg]Magnesium(2.1%)]

[Likelihood of life: 90% possibility]

[Identity of Planet based on accrued data: Earth 90%]

I raised an eyebrow, perplexed. "Earth? How is that possible?" I asked myself, briefly looking away from my UIT. While I stared out in ponder, I decided to look up at the sky; I specifically set my sight on the star shining brightly above. With my helmet's optics filtering any blinding or harmful light, I started to scan the star- using several cameras, lasers, and computer processing to calculate its distance and size, as well as its luminosity.

Scanning……..Processing data……….Star detected………….. Accruing information……..

[Radius: 432,690miles(700,957.8km)/ Diameter: 865,380miles(1,401,915.6km)]

[An estimated distance of orbit: 92.448 million miles(149,765,760 million km)]

[Equatorial surface gravity: 274m/s; 28 x Earth]

[Mean radiance(L sol: 3.828x10*26W;~3.75x10*28lm;98lm/W efficacy]

[Center density: 162.2g/cm*3; 12.4 x Earth]

[Elemental composition: [H]Hydrogen(70.30%), [He]Helium(28.60%), [C, N, O]Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen (1.5%), Trace elements {Gold, Silver, Platinium, Palladium(0.5%)]

[Surface temperature: 10,500 degrees F(5815.5556C), Core temperature: 27,100,500F(15, 083,593.333C), Coronal temperature:~1,000,000 million F(555,537.778C)]

[Identity of star: "Sun" 90% possibility]

My eyes would divert between the data displayed on my HUD and the star above; I turned away and stared distantly into the landscape, pondering in puzzlement. I wondered if the data collected by the computers was a coincidence or a possible malfunction, or maybe a miscalculation. Which at first didn't seem unreasonable, as I've been to a few planets where there was some unseen object that was giving off residual EM signatures.

However, I knew that wasn't the case considering the extensive EM shielding and the hardware upgrades that I've built and modified--and I would assume I'd have received a notification notifying me of such an issue. As I wondered about that I'd try to contact Genysis, who, I assumed, had likely already arrived on the designated planet for the next mission or just preparing to warp, at least. Considering the many hundreds of light-years there were between us, I'd have to assume it would be a little bit before I or he would receive or send a transmission, respectively; I'd link my UIT to one of the satellites above using a complex series of firewalls and jammers to mask my ID code while utilizing a specialized software program to mimic the code of the system I'm infiltrating. After a few seconds of code crunching and software manipulation as well as implantation, I was seemingly successful but before I sent a signal to the other satellites and comms stations within the network I immediately noticed something incredibly peculiar. Initially, this didn't strike me as out of the ordinary but as I continued to flip through the various channels and servers I'd quickly start to notice that all of them were coded in some kind of Asian language, specifically- Japanese.

Confused, I at first thought I might have been stuck in a loop, as the UIT software would automatically jump to different networks if the security measures were in the process of intercepting a breach. I would disconnect and rescan, searching for new networks but would come to the same result; I'd find that despite some variation in security and server infrastructure, all of the channels, websites, and networks were designed to be interpreted in the same language- Japanese. Public, Private, Government, and Military networks were all designed around that same language. No English, Chinese, Russian, French, or anything else European in nature; or any other Asian or Mediterranean, or Indonesian language or dialect to speak of.

"This doesn't make any sense," I said, puzzled. "Why is everything in Japanese.? Am I missing something here?"

While I continued to send out a transmission to Genysis as well as to my ship, I surfed this ' Global Information Distribution network or in another term- The Internet. I spent a short while, maybe half an hour or so, rapidly switching between different Educational, Cultural, and Social websites and channels to gain a small bit of knowledge of this ' Society' I was present near. Skimming through everything, I saw that much of how these websites worked, for the most part, was similar to what was found in the 24th-century digital design and aesthetic, nothing new there. However, aside from everything being designed around the Japanese language and its dialects, it would appear the actual digital and technological architecture was much less advanced and in-depth; none of the tech that was then futuristic and conceptual, now in the 24th century modern and commercial, which wasn't the case here.

No global-spanning transport systems, no sign of commercial or military spacecraft, no neural-interface-based technologies, or any info on the established colony worlds or moons. No ICAS, WarCorp, Meditek, Claron Inc, solar energy, or any of the other major Corporate or Paramilitary organizations I'm familiar with. Nothing to suggest I was present in the 24th century–more like I was in the late 22010sor early 22020s at least from what I could tell so far from what I picked up on the internet. Much of the websites and satellite imagery showed what looked like Post-2025 Japanese Architectural and Infrastructural design language, which was very compact and inter-connected. Now that I looked at it more closely, or precisely zoomed out, much of these cities appeared to be built and concentrated on one rather massive landmass. Now that of all things so far is what I found most telling and--bizarre. This couldn't be Earth but it s--but how? Nothing was making any sense--Might I be stuck in another simulation again?

"I wonder if the EXODUS machine is malfunctioning again?" I muttered, trying to rationalize the situation. "Can't tell what's worse- Being stuck inside a digital program or maybe I truly did…." I stopped speaking and shook my head in dismissal. "No. I didn't travel back in time….not even that. I couldn't, it doesn't….." I paused for a moment, attempting to come up with a more logical explanation, but couldn't think of one. "Did II somehow wind up getting transported to…...another universe? But how?"

My train of thought was briefly interrupted when I felt a small vibration in the ground. Initially, I didn't think much of it and figured it was just a small passing tremor; I would continue to refer to my UIT as I waited for a signal from Genysis; though I'd find myself continually diverting my attention to it. Intuition kicking in, I unlatched my ASIS ARM-11 from my back armor plate and proceeded to leave the crater to investigate. With my assault rifle drawn at the ready, I would head where the vibration was felt last while using the data collected by the seismograms in my suit to best estimate where the next tremor will be stronger.

I walked some 300 meters from the impact crater, heading North for some time then West, and as I did I halted momentarily, waiting for the next interval and gauging its duration and intensity. For a time it seemed each wave had gradually grown in strength as I drew closer to the source (as for what that may be I wasn't certain.) I would go on for another few hundred meters until the tremors seemed to stop altogether.

Concerned, I walked around the perimeter, stopping at different points as I'd scan the distant landscape; I would peer out, zooming in on different points of the desert terrain, magnifying any that fell within my helmet's optics sight. I wanted to see if anything else might have been causing the tremors or if they were spawning anywhere else in the desert. No more seemed to be pulsating elsewhere, or anything that wasn't residually generated from the original focus point. While looking around I felt another tremor--this time much more intense and right beneath my boots.

Alarmed, I turned around and drew my ARM-11, directing it towards the spot I felt vibrate; I kept my aim trained on the area as I backed away, briefly, my eyes drifted to a nearby hill covered in tufts of robust vegetation. A short bit later, a group of hoofed mammals appeared and after scanning them they looked at a type of antelope belonging to the genus addax, otherwise known as the white antelope or screwhorn antelope.

The three sandy-coated creatures, a female and two larger males (likely in competition with one other) wandered their way over into the 20-meter zone I believed the source was located. I watched as they calmly walked towards a tuft of brush from which they began to feed, as they grazed I would notice the vibration levels would gradually increase as shown on the readouts. The system automatically scanned the area and immediately highlighted the suspected site.

It seemed the antelope were growing weary and becoming aware of something off, they shot up their heads and erected their ears in alertness but before they could gallop off- another tremor shook the earth and then in instant the ground beneath them collapsed, the sudden force created a large cloud of dirt as the bovids, presumably, were pulled underground to their deaths.

"What the hell caused that?" I questioned, holding my left arm in front of my face. "Is there a cavity below? Explosive? No, I think something else caused this."

The explosive force generated by whatever was burrowing underground left a thick dust cloud that expanded into a sort of fog. Visibility inside the cloud would prove to be somewhat impaired but I could manage by switching from Infrared and my regular vision, carefully backing away as I would aim my assault rifle around in front of me. It wouldn't be very long before the wind carried away the dust particles, the cloud quickly broke away and dissipated until the area was clear again. During that short lapse I noticed a brief spike of activity on the motion sensor, though I was unable to get a visual on what exactly surfaced due to the density of the following dust cloud it was probably safe to assume it was likely a large creature and possibly alien.

Now in open view was a large cavity approximately 60 feet in diameter and 15 feet in depth, or so the computers estimated based on visible dimensions. I decided it was smart to keep my distance, in fact actually taking a few more paces back as I continued to train my aim on the hole; I stopped and knelt down, waiting for something else to happen. At this point I knew full well that there was definitely something moving around underground and I had a tense feeling that it was prowling for its next prey - me. I kept my sight fixed on the pit, so far inactive with an air of silence reigning over for a short time.

The ground would begin to vibrate again, I drifted my eyes then to the motion sensor, squinting, as I saw several blips flickering at different points and intervals; I widened my eyes and immediately proceeded to move from the position I was in, realizing something was burrowing directly below. Just as I darted off, the ground quickly collapsed as something moved beneath the surface.

Right as I gained a good amount of distance, I turned around watching the ground, preparing for whatever was about to surface; I felt the ground where I stood shake, I then looked at my feet as I noticed several more blips appear on the motion sensor. Ahead of me, I watched as the earth became disrupted as some kind of armored serpentine creature partially breached the surface.

"What kind of creature is that?" I asked myself, squinting my eyes as I inspected it. "That thing doesn't look like a native species."

Finding myself fixated on the creature, I immediately diverted my attention to my feet as I continued to feel the earth beneath vibrate. Confusingly, I noticed the movement I detected earlier was absent, my sight briefly diverted back ahead of me, that creature also having disappeared. A few moments later several blips suddenly flooded the motion sensor, abruptly followed by the ground rapidly collapsing beneath; I immediately bolted from my original position as several of those serpentine worm-like creatures bursted through the surface, each narrowly missed grabbing hold of me as I dodged and weaved through them.

Rolling forward out of reach, I turned around to get a better view on what I was dealing with- sprouting from the surface were several worm-like creatures, seemingly eyeless with dark brown exoskeletons segmented in plates along their lengthy bodies. Their maws opened wide like toothy flowers, whipping back and forth as each attempted to bite and engulf me; they proved to be a nuisance, but I otherwise easily dodged their snapping strikes. Every Time they opened their mouths, I pulled the trigger and fired a burst from my ARM-11, each shot gave a pop then crack as each left the chamber and whistled through the air. I aimed specifically for the inside of the mouth, most of the 8mm AP-FMJs landed and caused notable damage, drawing a good amount of blood as the bullets blew apart tissue and bits of bone.

The creatures would screech in pain, clearly affected and harmed but I would also notice some rounds would stray and hit their exoskeletons, barely leaving a dent--and these were rounds specifically designed to punch through incredibly strong composite combat armor. I had a feeling their exoskeletons would be bullet-resistant to some degree though I didn't expect them to deflect harmlessly off like that, if admittedly not the first time I've encountered species with similarly tough hides.

"Looks like I'll need to aim for their mouths." I surmounted, eyeing the worm creatures in examination. "Might need to resort to explosives or my heavier weaponry."

Seemingly having enough of my assault, the graboid type creatures reversed their motion and retreated back underneath the surface. I had to suspect they weren't done just yet and in just simply letting their prey alone; I quickly primed the grenade launcher and waited. Once I felt the ground vibrate again and saw movement on the motion sensor, I waited as the dirt would collapse then at the last second I'd jump away and dive into a roll. Just as anticipated, one of the worms breached through the earth; I'd quickly snap around and prepare to fire off the GL, but before I could launch the grenade, another one of the worm creatures sprouted from the ground beside me. I diverted my attention, watching as it snapped towards me at a surprisingly incredible speed; I quickly fell to the ground- dealing a swift, powerful kick to its maw as it was just about to grasp me with its mouth.

There was an audible crack and crunch as my boot impacted, the speed and force delivered blew apart a portion of the creature's maw, sending fragments of flesh and bone, which caused it to retreat underground. Turning my attention back to the previous worm, I let out a short of 8mm rounds into its maw as it was in the midst of a striking pose, deterring it; immediately after I fire off a grenade, the launching mechanism gave off an electronic thump as the 40mm warhead propelled magnetically through the air. In a instant, a sizable explosion follows as the creature's entire head and several feet of its body completely blows up into several hundred chunks of flesh, cartilage, and bone--the normal kill radius would be 25 meters but the body of the creature absorbed much of the energy, my suit's armor and particle barrier more than durable enough to tank the residual concussive and heat waves.

"That's one down, three to go." I counted.

As the dead worm's corpse plummets lifelessly, I prop up from my spot and quickly change positions. While I'm on the run I reload a new magazine, the movement signatures of the worms soon reappearing and hard on my trail. Anticipating their movement patterns and breach points, I drew my ARM-11 and directed the underbarrel grenade launcher in the expected one of them to surface. Sensing one of them traveling below, I immediately veered off as one bursted through the ground like a subterranean missile directly behind. While on the move, I glanced over my shoulder and directed my ARM-11 one-handed, proceeding to fire off another 40mm HVGE grenade projectile. Whistling through the air at high subsonic velocities, the grenade lands but to my surprise it seems to miss its mark as the creature shifts its body so as the explosive impacts and detonates on its exoskeleton, the explosion destroyed that area but otherwise left the creature relatively unharmed. I continued on the run, so far seemingly only pursued by the one worm; I noted this but otherwise maintained my attention on the one following me.

As it would swim underground and then breach the surface, exposing itself; I would take account of its quick reaction time, firing a grenade at the ground ahead of it, causing the creature to hiss in pain as the heat and concussive wave forced it to recoil back. Momentarily stunned and rattled, I temporarily halted movement and drew my ARM-11; I directed the underbarrel GL, and fired off one of the two remaining grenades, the explosive whistled through the air and hit its mark, landing directly inside the creature's maw.

A loud boom echoes as the grenade detonates, obliterating the 'Graboidite's' head and upper body, completely vaporizing organic material immediately affected as well as sending bits of tissue, bone, and dirt around the area. As remaining bits containing broken pieces of exoskeleton, flesh, blood, and earth come falling back down; I start to dot my eyes around, looking for the two remaining worms.

"Just two more to eliminate. Now where are they?" I said, skimming my sight around. As I pondered over something, fleshy chunks and dirt fell down onto me, initially thinking nothing of it. Contacting my particle barrier- organic material sizzled as it quickly melted and vaporized away; earth molted and rapidly dropped off to the ground. Brushing away remaining material, I pondered over how to kill the last worm without causing too much damage. "Hmm. Wonder if I should find an alternate way to neutralize the final worm? Maybe leave as much biological material as possible for more proper analysis?"

Setting those thoughts aside for now, I tried not to remain stationary and proceeded to get back on the move. Monitoring for their movement signatures, I would carefully move around and get out to a perimeter around the craters and last area of major activity. I mostly kept my aim trained to the disturbed earth or the zone of previous activity, thus far I saw no more signs of activity and detected zero movement. Knowing better, I had to assume the 'Graboidites' burrowed deep underground and were almost certainly moving around underneath using their enhanced sensory organs to anticipate my movements via vibration, and rather accurately too.

For a brief instance I debated the decision to activate my LRS or light refraction system; I'd utilize my cloak and maybe wait it out until the worms left the premise, letting there instinct conclude I either disappeared or died--realistically I knew full well that wasn't going to be viable, as per the acuteness of these creatures specialized sensory organs and of course becoming extremely difficult to see meant nothing when your enemy was already blind to begin with. I did wonder if I'd be able to lead them with my own movements and whilst I grabbed another object via psionic emission, maybe trick them and send them off to track the vibration caused by the secondary vibration. Of course the more I thought it over, the more I realized how pointless it'd actually be--they'd just follow my movement via my residual vibrations, anyway.

A little more than ten minutes lapsed leaving a rather concerning void of silence and inactivity, it wasn't necessarily disconcerting or caused any unease, though it did irk me. Continuing my patrol around I would briefly stop and scan the ground as it would intermittently vibrate; I would pick up no movement but the data indicated that the intensity and frequency was in fact gradually increasing. Growing impatient, I immediately became more alert when I felt the vibrations return and soon detected movement on the motion sensor; I drew my ARM-11 forth when a blip appeared, and one of the worms appeared some distance away. Bizarrely, it would appear that only one of them surfaced while the other still remained missing from view. The 'Graboidite' just sprouted upright without much activity, only undulating its body to maintain its posture. Puzzled, I maintained my aim on the vertebrate worm, ready to press the sensor on the GL but oddly found myself unable to do so; I wasn't reluctant or physically incapable, however, some unknown mental barrier prevented me from action, possibly stunned from sheer bafflement?

"It's just positioning itself there--not moving or doing anything." I muttered, in confused questioning. "Might it be--acting as a decoy? No, that thing can't be capable of complex thought such as that." I tried to rationalize it to pure coincidence, but this was rather strange behavior it exhibited. I didn't accept the possibility though I didn't exactly dismiss it either. "Something tells me I shouldn't treat these things as mindless as I initially thought." I briefly glanced at my UIT, specifically, at the exclamation mark shaped module. I opened and closed my hand in a clasping motion, as I searched for a connection.

Searching……….[Neural-Magnetic Remote Manipulation]...pending…………….Extra-Neural abilities in reconfiguration……….Estimated_reroute_time……...750 seconds………

"Shit" I muttered, cursing. "It'll be a bit before I'll be able to use that again. Damn."

Focusing back on the giant annelid, I noticed it would manipulate its four interlocking jaws ever so subtly opening and closing them creating a series of strange clicking and chattering noises--almost like it was communicating with the other surviving member. Recognizing this, I prepared to fire but as I was about to launch the last grenade, the earth beneath my boots stirred and threw off my stability and aim. Disorientated temporarily, I looked downrange and immediately noticed the worm from earlier disappeared back into the earth; I quickly regained my bearings and drew up my ARM-11. Just as I was in the midst of changing positions, one of the worms breached the surface, however, instead of directly attacking me, it slid or more accurately crawled with its many tiny spines, rapidly coiling around me. Seeing that it was intent on constricting around my body, I darted my sight around as I looked for a place to jump towards; I thrusted myself upward at the last second as I dived over the annelid's sedan-sized body, landing into a roll.

The worm creature growled in annoyance at its failed attempt to squeeze me, I simply gave a slight chuckle as I got back up on my feet. I aimed down sight at the creature's temporarily exposed maw, quickly letting out a couple bursts of 8mm into its mouth. A third of the rounds landed inside it's oral cavity with the rest smacking against its bony beaks, damaging but not completely destroying them; the annelid screeched in pain as it spat out globs of blood and flesh chunks. Visibly enraged, it writhed back and forth wildly, erratically whipping its head around as it attempted to snatch me with its maw. Easily avoiding it's strikes, I continued to fire off more rounds into its maw with about half either landing inside its mouth or deflecting off the beaks or exoskeleton. Before long the creature seemed to reach a breaking point, its reverse motion gave the impression of it retreating but then in an instant immediately coiled its body around in a corkscrew motion, rapidly increasing in speed; as it did, the centrifugal force generated a fast spinning funnel of wind as it brought in air, creating a large dust cloud in the process. Less than 30 seconds later, the dust cloud thickened to where visibility could be considered impaired with wind velocities quickly accelerating in excess of 110km/h.

I fought against the swirling winds fine enough, while inside, the dirt being kicked up almost completely cloaked the worm from immediate sight. I wasn't sure what it was trying to do, though it was likely attempting to throw me off so it could escape or strike me while blinded, or so it assumed. Stepping away a few paces, I switched on my helmet's IR setting; I used the heat generated from its metabolism to get a bead on it, interpreting its body from the splotches of orange and yellow. Making out the outward portions of orange to be its head, I raised my ARM-11 intent on firing off the GL when I felt the ground below vibrate.

Before I could fire off the grenade, another blip appeared on the motion sensor as one of the annelids burst through the earth; I felt the sensation of added weight pulling on me, upon looking downward I saw that the other annelid engulfed the calf of my left leg in its maw. Narrowing my eyes in annoyance, I directed my ARM-11 towards it to fire but before I could squeeze the trigger, the worm immediately pulled me from my feet and I felt the odd sensation of weightlessness. Without relent it started to vigorously flail me around akin to an overly enthusiastic dog with a chew toy. It was clearly trying to disorient me and force my weapon from my hand, as it recognized it as a threat and as incredibly annoying as it was, raw strength and magnetic padding on the palm of my gloves prevented that.

The wild shaking made it difficult for limb manipulation, but for the most part my helmet's optics and the encephological cybernetics automatically adjusted for the radical movement. With my leg in its mouth, I could feel it impress as its teeth grated against my armor plating and undersuit, trying to crush my leg as it swung me around; it growled with irritation as it did so futilely, the film of magnetically molded degenerate gas effectively prevented any further progress, inflicting burning damage as it compressed. Still, it held onto me in animalistic anger and stubborness.

Despite smoke pluming from its mouth, it continued to aggressively swing me about like a titanium-cladded ragdoll. With some of the control I had, I clasped one of the beaks of its maw, applying a girder-denting hold and then in a quick motion tore the beak from the maw as well as strings of tissue and blood vessels. As it screeched in pain, I directed my ARM-11 towards the wound about to unload fire into it, the annelid however wanted nothing of it and proceeded to flail around in even greater speed before slamming me into the ground with unrelenting ferocity. Plumes of dirt kicked up, leaving indentations in the ground each time I impacted; I shifted myself around, trying to keep my torso perpendicular to the annelid's head. When I went to move my free hand to grasp the GL, its companion shot from the earth clamping its mouth onto my hand. "Son of a bitch." I cursed, in elevated annoyance.

"Well, maybe I can use this to my advantage." I said, muttering. With both worms clasping a hold with their maws, they started to use their reverse motion to pull my arm and leg, attempting to rip me apart with their combined oral and bodily strength. I countered with my own strength, though I focused mostly on just trying to get myself into a more stable position; I planted my other foot onto the maw of the worm biting down on my leg and directed my assault rifle, unloading the last of the magazine into its still bleeding wound. 14 8mm x 56mm AP-FMJs slapped into the exposed area of injured tissue, each consecutive round blowing off chunks as the one following it penetrated deeper and deeper, shredding internal tissue apart as they tumbled around inside. Not long later, I felt the annelid's grasp loosen as it released it's hold, sliding its maw off until it dropped lifelessly to the ground, dead. Leftover organic matter rapidly melted and vaporized once my leg was free.

With my range of movement freed, I latched my ARM-11 onto my back and proceeded to swing myself back and forth. Unable to feed a new magazine and refraining use of the underbarrel GL, I intended on getting a foothold onto the worm and pulling myself free; I continued to swing my body, kicking my legs in separate directions as I used my free hand to grab a hold of the annelid's maw. Pressing my boots into its exoskeleton, I held myself in place and used leverage as well as my own strength to pry my left arm from its maw. Its incredible jaw strength was notable, I was quickly able to counteract it but just as I was close to completely pulling free, the annelid worm resorted to flailing me about and slamming against the ground. Somewhat expectant of that yet growing more vexed, I repeated what I did earlier, this time, attempting to force open its maw with my other hand. As I was about to liberate my arm, the worm swung me around a few more times before in an instant, it darkened around as I found myself being dragged through the ground beneath me. Admittedly caught off guard, I switched on my night vision to compensate for the lack of light. I wasn't sure how far underground it pulled me but at the rate it seemed to be moving, I had to be at a few hundred meters already.

Unsure of where it was heading or what it intended to do, I would feel myself weaving around with the worm and then before I could anticipate it I'm released as I get thrown through a hole. Falling several dozen meters, my momentum carries me some distance as I smash into another surface creating a loud clap, rolling rapidly until I'm able to slow myself and control my movement. I shifted myself into a mountain climber posture and smashed my fist into the hard surface, completely halting my momentum.

Up on my boots, I looked around seeing that I appeared to have fallen into a pit of some kind. Seemingly devoid, I began detecting movement on the motion sensor, one after another a blip flickered and appeared until there were several hundred, almost blending into a solid mass of red. A chorus of shifting dirt and squirming immediately proceeded, as hundreds of small creatures coiled their way towards me, the larval offspring of those worms or more likely a queen. A meter long, each were of little threat alone but with the large numbers they were amassed, their accumulated mass and weight could quickly overwhelm and devour their prey, if not crush them. Slithering along on the rock at surprisingly quick speeds, dozens of them would approach and surround me like an insect carpet, attempting to coil around my legs or leap at me. They were quick, nasty little things but I killed them easily, either stomping them into a pulpy goo or crushing them into paste with my hands, each time giving an audible crunch as their weak exoskeleton broke. After killing a couple dozen of them, clearly dispatching them with my bare hands wouldn't exactly be the fastest or most efficient way to go about it.

Crushing a few more of the tiny annelids, I brought up my UIT and primed the flamethrower module; I extended my arm and let loose a torrent of fire. I cycled all around me, dousing the tiny pests in blue-hot flames, the intense heat instantly incinerated the creatures, chittering and then immediately screeching as they popped like popcorn under temperatures in excess of 1000 degrees celsius. For nearly a minute I sprayed fire, those not within 40 meters still melted from the residual heat or outright asphyxiated from the carbon monoxide build-up, smoke quickly accumulating from the molten rock and the continued fueled reaction with the air. Once movement ceased and the motion tracker was clear, I cut off the stream and deactivated the flamethrower module. Blankets of flame crackled, the glow of molten rock and yet intensely burning fire illuminated the pit, a nest partially visible burned underneath and all larva present within burnt to a crisp. Despite this, I had a feeling this wasn't the only nesting area--there were undoubtedly more present deeper inside.

"Wonder where my big ol' worm friend went off to?" I muttered, sarcastically. I quickly became more contemplative as I looked around. "If there's a queen somewhere, then there's likely to be other soldier types."

Doing a topographical scan of the pit, I soon found another hole some 60 meters on the other end. I unlatched my ARM-11 from my back, a soft metallic click as I pressed the mag release and fed in a new magazine. Moving on, the uneven ground of the pit curved upward and I'd find myself almost climbing my way up as it steepened, somewhat going into a crawl as I tried to distribute my weight. Ascending in an S movement pattern, nearing the edge of the hole, I turned around and looked back down to the nest floor; I squinted, trying to discern whatever lay in the nest, obscured under the massed tufts of glowing flames.

These worms based on their behavior were almost certain to be carnivorous, if not omnivorous, either way, I assumed some kind of food source had to have been carried from the surface and into these nest pits- whether it be one of the indigneous fauna or some poor sap that wandered into these worms territory. I hung there for few seconds, scanning, and it seemed I wasn't seeing any visible remains of any corpses, whether it be from man or beast--granted, the flames undoubtedly burned away whatever biological matter may have been previous present--though I did detect brief trace percentages of elemental carbon and sulfur pre-chemical reaction speckled around in the spawning spots.

Moving upward again, I climbed over the edge of the hole and thrust myself back up on my feet. I clutched my ARM-11 and proceeded down the small entrance tunnel for a short distance until I came to another larger tunnel; I looked around, seeing it only led in two directions, left or right. Either direction of the tunnel appeared to run without a visible end, further down more holes ran along the sides of the tunnel's length, likely leading to other nest pits, or so I imagined.

Unsure of where either direction led, I scanned the layout of the tunnel searching for any signs indicating the higher level of traffic; I found that after doing a topographical scan, the ground down the left side of the tunnel appeared to have a greater degree of surface depression based on computer measurements. Scanning a bit more, the MMR scanner showed higher levels of fecal matter and dead skin cells being picked up on the same side as well- "Follow where the shit drops I guess". Chuckling to myself, I looked around seeing where I'd headed first- I knew the left likely would lead me further into the network of burrow tunnels, then there were the other holes further down and I had to assume there were likely to be other nests.

Alternating my sight briefly, I decided to head right, in the mind of clearing out any other eggs or larva inside those pits, and maybe the possibility of coming across something worthwhile--probably not. I was reminiscing of previous occasions of cave spelunking and subterranean exploration when not very long later, the motion sensor was triggered by movement. A yellow blip flickered, undoubtedly from the first closest hole up ahead, dirt shifting was audible and magnified through the earphones acoustics and the data showed something of notable size. Slowing my pace a bit, I drew my ARM-11 and cautiously approached, anticipating whatever was on the move.

I narrowed my eyes as I waited; I held a finger on the trigger and a thumb on the GL's sensor pad, tensing up slightly as another annelid came into view- though this one appeared to have a few physiological differences, it being a darker earthy brown with rows of independently pliable spines and a flat, almost square shaped head. This had to be a carrier-type that ferries the eggs laid from the queen and transports large clutches of them to the nest pits. Like its brethren it lacked eyes and was just as ugly.

The bulkier looking worm lifted a portion of its upper body, chittering, as it circled its head around sensing its surroundings. It turned to me, its mandibles undulated as its maw slowly opened and closed. " Wonder if it sensed the vibration of my footsteps." I thought, mouthing. I waited there as it maintained the same pose, it looked to still be sensing the environment and it would seem it didn't detect me. Just as it seemed it would pass me by, unaware, a surprisingly powerful tremor shook the confines of the subterranean tunnels including the one I was currently present in, causing me to briefly lose footing. Looking around in a puzzled manner, the tremor registered a lvl 6 on the Richter scale as detected by the seismograms throughout my suit.

While I wondered about the source of the tremor, I turned back to the carrier annelid and briefly to the motion sensor- the flickering yellow changed to a solid red blip indicating the worm became aware of my presence and labeled as hostile. " Damn. That tremor must've given me away when I momentarily lost my footing." I thought, nearly mouthing a curse. " Wonder if it'd be able to alert the others of my presence too?"

Before I could think or do anything else, the carrier annelid chittered and hissed, then without warning it rapidly zig-zagged towards me in surprising speed despite its bulkier body. Instinctively, I quickly dotted my sight about and fired off a grappling hook, narrowly missing the worm as I rapidly carried through the air; I felt the wire tighten as the grapple head punched into earth above, running along the top of the worm's vertebrae as it pulled me several more meters. As I let my momentum keep me going, I retracted the grapple back into the UIT, and leaped off the annelid landing further down the tunnel. Turning around seeing it still in motion, I waited until it reared its head towards me; I whipped myself around and directed my ARM-11, launching the last grenade inside the canister. Whistling through the air at high subsonic velocity, it impacted the worm's face just as it was about to react- the explosion boomed and caused the annelid to recoil backward, dirt showered from above as it slammed into the tunnel. While it was momentarily stunned, I reached for my back and grabbed another grenade pack, sliding open the underbarrel and inserting the grenades into the revolving canister with a click indicating a secure lock. As I directed my ARM-11 towards it, I noticed the spines along its back would fluctuate, waving back and forth; I momentarily stood there, narrowing my eyes in confusion before realizing what it was about to do.

[PROJECTILES INCOMING] Flashed on the HUD

I ducked as the annelid launched a volley of its spines towards me, half a dozen 2m projectiles narrowly missed as they shot through the air like chitinous projectiles, embedding in the ground and parts of the wall several dozen meters back. I wasn't sure if those spines would have actually disrupted my particle barrier or penetrated my armor, despite their size and velocity; I wasn't intent on finding that out. While it was partially trapped under tons of dirt, I briefly thought about using my UIT's flamethrower module, however, it started to shake itself as it loosened the dirt around before rapidly coiling its body and stirring away the rest of the soil. I retreated back to get some distance, heading towards the hole it came out of; I maintained my aim on it as I double-timed in reverse, watching as it reared its large, square-shaped head.

Through the sight, I noticed it manipulated its mandibles in an odd manner as though trying to force something up through its esophagus--I watched as it widened its maw, finding myself dodging something being lobbed towards me. Very quickly I'd find that it was regurgitated material, a mixture of thick mucus and digested matter- essentially using its vomit as a weapon. I would continue to backtrack while dodging its slime globs, increasing in frequency the further I traveled. Almost there, I would roll aside, dodging several more globs and as I was about to make way to the hole entrance of the next pit, it managed to lob another one towards me, finding one of my legs caught in the sticky ball of mucus.

Wincing in disgust, I shook my leg, finding the viscous material's adhesive properties surprisingly strong, though nothing to be overly concerned over and with a combination of the particle barrier's heat convection and my own strength, I pulled free and quickly dove back, right as the next glob hit. I bolted to the pit entrance as soon as I was up, planting my back to the wall; I heard it hiss in annoyance, as I remained there thinking of my next move, the subterranean system shook again, dirt showering from above and partially covering me. I brushed the soil off of my shoulders.

"What the hell is causing these tremors? The Queen?" I questioned, confused and slightly annoyed. I did feel a flicker of curiosity grow. Suddenly, I saw a window pop-up- graphs and data accrued by the EKG and CACI displayed on the HUD.

Neural.Synaptic.Activity_collected_and_registered…….establishing_link to [NRMGM-MOD]...Extra_Neural_Capablities_Active…...Updating…...Functionality_77%

Moments after, I feel an electrical tingling sensation coarse through me; my head pulsates as the CACI reconfigures and enhances synaptic activity in the neocortex, thalamus and motor cortex. There's a brief instance of lethargy as well as minor heat flash before my condition rapidly normalizes.

"Damn I hate that sensation." I uttered. I raised my left arm on which the UIT was mounted, manipulating my hand in a clasping motion as I inspected the respective module. I clutch my hand into a fist and smirked. "About time that was online."

I noted the red blip hadn't yet changed position, the annelid still likely in the same spot as it tried to get a bead on my location. Slowly peeking around the corner, I saw that it was still in the same spot, rotating its head around as it sensed the surroundings. Using the element of surprise, I pull out from around the entrance wall, slowly but steadily walking towards the annelid, attempting to limit the amount of vibration I created. Apparently working, I walked until I was about 15 meters from its head, roughly its body length; I extended my arm out, opening the palm as I let a stream of magnetism flow.

Once I saw on the HUD I had a connection, I clutched my hand into a fist- the annelid proceeded to hiss and screech, writhing in pain as pressure from continuously adjusted polarized magnetism flowed. As it tried to fight off the unknown force, writhing, it would shoot off more of its vertebral spines, most hitting random parts of the tunnel, mostly towards the ceiling.

With a quick, twisting motion, I twisted the upper portion of the worm's body, an audible squelch and pop followed as its flesh tore and its segmented exoskeleton broke open. As its blip disappeared, I released my hold, an audible thud created as its crushed upper body collapsed onto the ground. I picked up no more life signatures from it and though I was almost certain it was dead, I'd check to be safe; I clutched my ARM-11, keeping my aim on the worm as I cautiously approached its body.

As I inspected it, as its insides oozed out like a meaty goo that should have been evident but even then I wanted to be certain there were no more heartbeats, and not just speaking of palpitations--as this thing had multiple hearts, six to be exact. I raised my UIT and scanned along its body, the analysis showed zero organ function, with much of the internal anatomy suffering massive hemorrhaging. This thing was definitely dead.

Looking around, I'd find myself wondering over the recent tremors, thinking it might be from the occasional movements of the Queen down below, if there was one that is but my thoughts would gravitate towards other possibilities.

Carrying on, I would continue to head opposite of where I figured the main tunnel network was, I stopped by the pit entrance I was previously at, instead of entering I stood there. With my ARM-11 still in hand I extended my left arm and fired off the flamethrower module, letting loose a torrent of flame into the opening of the entrance hole.

I remained there for a little over a minute and a half, firing off a continuous stream of fire into the cavity of the pit until I could see visible flames spreading into view inside. Smoke gradually plumed, wrapping around the whole entrance with tendrils dispersing throughout the tunnel system. I wasn't certain if I'd come across any survivors and while something I considered I also had to imagine those possibilities were likely to be slim to none.

Proceeding onward, I went about like I did before, one by one I went to each nest pit and cleared them out of their contents. While in my infernal hosing, I inevitably encountered more carrier worms as well as the other standard ones. Whilst engaging them, I would rely mostly on my psionic emission, seldomly using my other weapons in effort to conserve the limited ammunition I possessed, less than 200 rounds or about 6 clips for my ARM-11 and 4 mags for my MkP-50 magnum, everything else in the single digit quantities including my anti-material rifle. Down the way I had to encounter seven or so worms, I managed to quickly kill two off, both of them being of that soldier type I first fought on the surface, I utilized psionic emission to crush their heads into meatly pulps.

Though these tunnels were large enough in volume to allow about 5 worms to move about, I threw aside the annelids I killed to remove any obstruction in my path. The large carrier annelid was the furthest back, its upper body raised upright as it spat out its intestinal content, lobbing the slimy projectiles in an arch over the other worm types that slithered their way towards me. I would either side-step the globs before they hit or catch them with psionic emission while they were airborne, either throwing them aside or launching them towards the worms that were on approach, sling-shooting them with a high amount of force. While the globs being launched were a nuisance I covered ground quickly;

I condensed one of the slimeballs into a smaller, denser ball and shot it towards one of the worms, as it traveled breaching supersonic velocities, it impacted like a cannonball, obliterating the upper half of the annelid it hit. As it burst like an exploded watermelon and collapsed, the other three annelids immediately split off, one of them burrowing into the ground while the other two continued to slither towards me at an increased speed. One of the two opened its maw and thrusted itself forward, as it attempted to leap at me, I grabbed it via psionic emission and made a flicking motion, forcibly smashing it into the other causing them both to impact and lodge into a nearby wall.

While temporarily stunned, I reached for a grenade, clasping the pressure based safety handle, I popped it open and pressed the button, proceeding to launch the explosive via psionic emission into one of the annelid's maws. A few seconds later, the 60mm grenade detonated, containing a much stronger explosive, the explosion was significantly more powerful, obliterating the worm it was inside and killing the other with raw concussive force. Just the last two to neutralize.

Dodging the slime globs or throwing them back at the carrier worm, I would divert my attention to the ground beneath me, feeling for the vibrations of the other annelid undoubtedly burrowing below my feet. Waiting patiently for a few seconds, I picked up movement on the motion sensor and began to feel the soil vibrate beneath my boots.

I waited for the soil to start collapsing and as the rate dramatically increased, I hopped backward. Right as the worm popped out I latched my ARM-11 on my back and immediately grabbed hold of it; I clutched it by its mandibles, its strength noteworthy as I wrestled with it a good bit. I gripped harder with steel-crushing pressure, feeling its mandibles break apart as I maintained my hold; I repositioned one of my hands further back on its head and clutched one of the exoskeleton's segment edges. With a more secure hold, I quickly overpower it, slamming it's exposed upper body

unto the ground; I placed one of my boots in one of the spaces between the mandibles and relocated my right hand, proceeding to force open its maw. With about a foot of space opened up, I reared my left arm and primed the flamethrower module, letting loose a stream of flame into its oral cavity. Screeching briefly in agonizing pain, the large annelid dies within a few seconds as flames reaching in excess of a thousand degrees celsius rapidly burn and vaporize its insides.

I hop away as the corpse quickly expands, abruptly exploding from the rapid vaporization of organic material and expansion of other gases, bracing myself as remaining viscera and fragments of chitin as well as other calcified material blow out in all directions. My particle barrier hissed, burning away the biological gunk that had accumulated on me.

Unlatching my ARM-11, I briefly waited as the carrier worm would continue to lob slime globs, using the partially destroyed corpse as cover. In the pauses between, I broke from behind and moved forward once more, double-timing it as I continued to dodge incoming slime balls. I covered some 75 meters in a couple seconds, halfway from the worm ahead; I watched as one of the globs traveled towards me, quickly extending my hand out as I caught mid-air via psionic emission and launched it back towards the annelid. It covered the distance in fractions of a second, hitting directly inside the annelid's maw, right as it was in the midst of spitting another slime globule, sealing its maw shut. As it whipped about struggling to dislodge its own reflected slime ball, I reached forward and directed magnetic energy towards it; I clutched my hand, locking my hold on it. It would continue to aggressively resist, writhing around, attempting to arch itself forward to release a volley of its ballistic spines, of which most miss and hit toward the tunnel ceiling.

Any that do travel towards me I easily duck. I compress my hand and shoot my bent arm in a quick upward motion, simultaneously crushing the head and upper body, ripping it from the rest of its body- bits of tissue and exoskeleton blow outward from the sudden force, viscera and blood oozing out as the corpse falls to the ground.

"That's all of them. In this part of the tunnel at least." I muttered, looking around. "If there's this much worm guts to walk around, it's not gonna be fun when I get further in."

I noticed the tendrils of smoke trailing from some of the pits I lit, conforming around the form of the tunnel. It accumulated to some degree though would likely dissipate and disappear within an hour or two--not as if that mattered when I'd keep continuing lighting up these nests and the smoke build-up would gradually kill these worms off after everything set and done.

Moving onward again I passed further down the tunnel I was currently in, traveling another 10kms as I went from pit to pit and I must have incinerated well over 20 thus far. I encountered similar numbers of those worms, though the frequency of engagement decreased and would be slightly more intermittent. Killing off the last batch I previously engaged with either psionic emission or my flamethrower module, I proceeded onto the next pit nest, picking up unexpectant movement on the motion sensor. Confused, I watched as a yellow blip appeared, flickering, just on the cusp of detection range, within 150 meters and closing. I questioned the likelihood, skeptical of anyone surviving any extended period of time, let alone these worms killing any prey that stumbled over their grounds. There was no way some average joe wouldn't have just been killed off by now--need at least a battalion and an extensive armament of military hardware to completely wipe out these nests. And maybe some serious chemical agents for good measure.

I stopped briefly, looking down both directions of the tunnel, watching and listening for any incoming annelids. With the area clear for now, I proceeded to enter the pit nest, in which the movement was detected. I swayed my ARM-11 here and fro, checking around as I went; I cautiously approached the main part of the pit, stopping just at the edge before the downward incline. From the elevated position: I scanned around the layout of the nest, the ring of soil occupied with several hundred eggs, much of which unhatched.

Those broken open let free at least a couple dozen larva, squirming towards a food source, a mound of indeterminate biological matter present in the center of the nest. Looking around further, I noted the brownish-gray webbing that matted around the walls of the nest pit. I watched the blip flicker continuously, my motion sensor pinging as I searched for the source; I briefly diverted my sight to the HUD when a new readout popped up- a heart rate, that of another. It was weak, faint and intermittent, alternating between 6-10 bpm. A few seconds later, I detected something at 3 O'clock; I directed my ARM-11 toward the source before zooming in with my helmet's camera optics. Magnifying my vision 3x, I made out a figure of what the conforming webbing and whatever was underneath, undoubtedly a human shape. Visual of the individual's appearance was obscured under the coarse, dense webbing, so I briefly switched to thermal vision to confirm that there was actually something underneath there. Via a thought, I switched from night vision to thermal, the mosaic of cool blues to warm yellows, temperatures of various things in the environment. Blots of orange and red form a human figure from the detected radiating bodily heat which looked to be within a stable range, between 98 and 100 degrees fahrenheit. This indicated the individual in question was captured recently, likely no more than 2 or 3 days prior. Which had me raise a question- Why were they captured but not killed and immediately eaten? Also who sent them? If they by chance didn't come here for some personal reason.

My internal inquiry was broken by the sounds of consecutive squelching, more and more worms breached their eggs. Most squirmed towards the food mound, of which appeared to be regurgitated matter likely consisting of mucous and the meat of killed prey - possibly including human flesh. Several dozens more of the small annelids hatched from their egg clutches, instead they headed directly to the victim mounted to the wall inside the webbing. Seeing this, I extended out my hand, utilizing psionic emission to remove them from the webbing and remotely carry the individual and the cocoon in which they were encased away right as the larva were near on approach.

Curling my arm, I reeled them back to my position, slowly twisting myself almost 90 degrees around before proceeding to carefully lower the encased individual onto the ground beside me, releasing them. Peering inquiringly at the cocoon for a moment, I turned my attention back out toward the bile-like silk substance; I did one final brief scan of the setting, searching for any other possible life signatures before making the next move. Finding zero other signs of life, I extended out my left arm and primed the UIT's flamethrower module - catching visible movement of the ever increasing number of larva hatching and beginning to squirm towards my position in mass swarms, I quickly respond by loosing out a jet of fire, slowly walking toward the edge as I did. For half a minute I did this, motioning my arm in long horizontal S patterns, lathering bright orange flames upon the area in a few second increments after transfer of each movement. I kept minor contact with the motion sensor, watching for each of the flickering blips ceasing appearance - of course monitoring the barely registerable minute movements of foot long sized worms was practically needless. With a dozen or so winding trails of burning flame left, I cut off airflow to the module and retracted my arm, watching the fiery trails rapidly spread and intersect, soon merging into one solid carpet of fire - obscuring and scorching the webbing as well as the larva which squirmed beneath.

"Always satisfying to watch nasty buggers like this torched to a crisp - Culled a few thousand of them at least." I commented with some modicum of satisfaction and a little vague amusement. Sight drawn to the accumulating flames and pluming smoke momentarily - almost contemplatively - I shifted my attention to the cocoon - or more specifically to the unknown individual encased inside. My helmet ran passive scans on the cocoon as I inspected its surface, while lowering my free left hand to get a good sense of the silk-like material's texture and possible thickness- it had some give, mucousy but also felt sturdy and a tad dense.

Glancing at the readouts displaying analysis data, the cocoon contained baseline components such as proteins and sugar-based compounds - of course water being fundamental as well, along with containing a notable amount of mucous. Curiously, a small but significant percentage of Calcium deposit patches appeared visible as well as traces of Sulfur which provided the silks yellowish tinge. With no more delay then I placed both hands onto the cocoon, grasping hold where I expected the head to be - holding my fingers together, I applied pressure into the cocoon surface, digging in as much as deemed necessary.

Getting a firm grip on the folded, compressed portions I tore away, I sensed a small but notable amount of resistance - otherwise I had no issue ripping through the silk like it was wet paper. Spending a few more seconds digging away the admittedly thick silk-like material, I had gotten through a majority of the outer silk shell layer - interestingly, there appeared a thin carpeting of the regular silk over some type of slimy membrane composed a concentrated mixture of water, mucous and sugar compounds. Questioning if this mixture was responsible for keeping alive somehow, I did much the same thing as with the initial silk layers and dug through the membrane - didn't take too long either; just one good scooping motion and I was through.

I peered inquiringly at the individual in question and despite the thin, moist film that remained, I had a pretty clear view of them - from what I could tell so far, it looked to be a young caucasian male, short dark hair, somewhat sharp looking eyes and eyebrows and appeared to be in their early to mid twenties. I looked off briefly, contemplating - disregarding the oddly sino-centric set-up, I don't think it would have hurt to get a read on this individual's identity and background information network to see who I was dealing with - of course, this guy could have just had a stroke of shitty luck for all I know.

Continuing sight on the individual's face, the UIT's computer automatically booted up the Camera Imagery Recognition system inside my helmet's optics - 2-D and 3-D metric functions manifested as the program's software began to measure and map the man's head shape and size via rapid image capture and continuous LIDAR projection pulsation. Several seconds lapsed as the process took place - soon later, the sophisticated camera imagery recognition system-software started to yield results, with multiple windows popping up on the HUD displaying data regarding background information linked to individual from multiple social media websites, public domains as various private organizations and institutions: medical records/hospital visits, place of birth, age, residence, occupation as well as curiously catalogued activities - achieved of course via heavily encrypted backdoor program software. In that minute I surfed the global data network transitioning between different websites connected with the individual, I soon came across one particular domain that raised some curiosity - also confusion.

Peering in examination, I apparently stumbled upon a website belonging to what appeared to be some type of government or corporate disaster relief organization - apparently functioning under the name of 'Anti-Disaster Measures' or more simply ' Hero Association'; the website page seemed to consist mostly of colorful text boxes and tab-bars all neatly organizing topics and categories corresponding to the organization's background, the individuals employed, types of disasters they operated for and non-classified catalogs of specific activities and operations they conducted - and of course advertisements and icon links to various social and video media websites.

Looking around, I found that the organization was found and owned by a curiously cleft-chinned business man simply known as Agoni with half a dozen or so prominent investors, of which were also highly wealthy businessmen or entrepreneurs; several hundred employees oversaw and coordinated operations within the privately owned body, low to high clearance. - from civil affairs relating to disaster events, federal-approved information gathering and private conducted infrastructure projects and most importantly, para-military based applications specifically dealing with the special type of disasters beyond government intervention.

Which came then to the real crux of interest - the main and, strikingly peculiar class of personnel they dispatched to deal and intercept with the specific type of disaster this organization operates to handle. Transitioning between two different tabs- under both Hero Ranking/data and Monster information - according to information provided, this organization recruits and employs superhuman individuals, operating under the title ' heroes', gifted with varying degrees of physical prowess, supernatural abilities or sufficiently advanced technology to subjugate and terminate powerful creatures of varying origin a.k.a ' monsters' that might otherwise wreak havoc on civilians or building infrastructure; natural calamities or cosmic phenomena also appear to be on the repertoire as well. And my friend here looked to be one of these so called ' Heroes'

"What the hell even is this? This shit can't actually be serious." I remarked, chuckling in disbelief. "Nonsense."

Searching further, I soon found the asshole's profile.

Name: Nevan Tsyuri

Age: 24

Height: 177.8cm (5 feet, 10 inches.)

Weight: 75 kilograms. (170 ibs)

Hair color: Black

Eye color: brown/yellow

Hero name: Punk dagger

Hero rank: B-Class, rank 47

Combat type: Close-range, Fighter, Weapon-user (Daggers)

Evidently, this chap wasn't ranked very high - it appeared C-Class was the lowest tier, following B and A class with the highest being S-Class, the best and most prestigious tier of 'heroes'. There currently appeared to be 16 members of this class: ranging from a child tech prodigy, some ronin dressed asshole, a guy in a dog suit and the second highest looking to be a fluorescent green haired woman gifted with incredibly powerful telekinetic abilities - who also possessed an adolescent, underdeveloped body. Along with a motley of other equally strange individuals. The green haired lass appeared to have a sister sitting in rank B with similar, though likely significantly less potent abilities.

The monsters and disasters looked to be categorized with their own ranking system - ranging from Wolf, Tiger and Demon with the higher tiers being dragon and God. Couldn't help but question and contemplate the nature and validity of these rankings, along with the creatures and disasters tied with them - apparently anything that causes harm to a single individual upwards to a city or even humanity at large can fill into these categories - though even then, it was mostly vague.

Pondering about that aside, I should have probably focused on leaving this underground nest.

Ceasing my scan of the individual, I started from the previous hole I ripped open and tore away at the rest of the cocoon encasing him - took a short bit, damn silk case was thicker and more dense than it looked and I could have only imagine the unpleasant musk wafting off the fluid inside. A few seconds later I ripped the cocoon open at the furthest points above the head and below the feet, pulling away until I opened enough room to grab hold of the individual, moving around the upper portion of the cocoon and pulling him out with grip under the pits.

Once he was fully out, setting him down a few meters away, I briefly walked over to the breached open cocoon and gave it a good kick into the luminous, burning inferno that had filled the nest; soon walking back over to the unconscious chap. Resting balled up fists against my hips I loomed over the man in question, running my sight up and down his person having laid him out flat with an open view in entirety - to say he didn't strike me as a member of a privately owned, professional disaster reaction organization would have been an understatement.

To describe what the general attire language seemed to be, was something like a cross between your stereotypical Australian outback explorer and a touch of gothic punk - his outfit looked to consist of a black, well maintained if not slightly weathered studded leather vest branded with various stitched personalized decals parted open to showcase a dark gray shirt decaled with a large orange skull with presumably a dagger embedded offset in the cranium; down below were a pair of matching, multi-pocketed cargo shorts held up a double studded belt brandishing a buckle with a another orange skull similar to the one on the front of his shirt albeit with the dagger positioned sideways - interestingly, it appeared to serve a dual purpose as in locking the belt in place as well as being able to be manipulated to adjust tightness. On his feet he wore thick leather combat boots, mid-calf height and also studded; other notable accessories included skull earrings, various tattoos, elbow and knee guards and of course his weapon of choice: daggers, of which he appeared to have a half dozen, either sheathed on his the front of his vest or on an arm of the opposite position. Again - not someone I'd expect to be dispatched to deal with natural disasters or supposedly powerful, essentially supernatural creatures - but who knows, he might end up surprising me. Then again he did get captured by worms.

Chuckling a bit in humor, I saved any amused jabbing for a later point and did another quick check on the poor chap's state. Kneeling down, I took a closer more firsthand look - the thick milky, mucousy film that lathered and saturated his clothes aside, I could see he had sustained some moderate physical trauma with several patches of nasty bruises along the arms, legs as well as on the face though to a much lesser degree (undoubtedly blocked attacks to avoid damage there), marks and abrasions of varying severity also appeared, likely either from blunt-force impact afflicted from the worms or getting slammed around the environment.

His clothing was torn and blood-stained in places otherwise it seemed for the most part those types of wounds had healed or were in far process of coagulation - good thing considering all the medical equipment and medicine was aboard my ship. . . which I had no clue in hell had wound up and Genysis was nowhere to be seen either. Squinting, activating via neural link, I switched my helmet's optics to x-ray mode, to get an idea of the damage underneath- particularly the skeleton.

Active - thousands of thin lasers emitted outward, fluctuating in wavelength and frequency when moving and rotating in conical, uniform action to each beam shifting independently in direct, horizontal/vertical intersecting patterns as each optic sensor moved individually; two windows brought up on the upper left-side of the HUD displayed and monitored the mapped internal structure as well as information pertaining to anatomical status. From head to toe I ran a scan a few times getting as much detail as needed - less than a minute later I finished the analysis and got some rather interesting results - reading over the collected data, it appeared extensive micro-fracturing had occurred on various areas of the skeleton: from the radius and ulna bones of the right arm to several ribs and the collar-bone of the chest to the tibia and fibula of both the left and right leg - while not a severe or particularly debilitating, the rate at which osteo-cellular regeneration took place was considerably faster than that for a documented average human.

Further- moderate level contusions were shown to be afflicted on the abdominal area, predominantly around the sternum and chest - beneath the skin layer where damaged capillaries were, the lungs, stomach and the upper-section of large intestine looked to have sustained moderate tissue bleeding - curiously, the body seemed in process of isolating the breach points, absorbing escaping blood and feeding white blood cells to clot the wound. Aside from a minor concussion, there didn't appear to be any other injuries of note - with maybe the exception of whatever semblance of pride this chap had. One thing for sure was that this bodily healing process of a normal human - it was baffling to say the least.

Questioning the abnormal healing rate aside, there was the matter of the rapidly declining oxygen supply to the brain, drifting my sight toward the thorax- specifically the chest area which appeared visibly weak and intermittent in diaphragmatic movement, evident of obstructed breathing. I suspected it was the residual cocoon fluid still occupying the volume space of his lungs and esophagus - maybe should act accordingly. Feeling a slight amount of hesitance, I nonetheless proceeded forward, first turning his head aside then shifting myself a bit to align with his body a little more as I lurched over - placing one hand atop one another, holding my arms straight, I set my hands onto his chest.

Lightly pressing down initially to get a feel of his body's natural resistance, already feeling feedback of the fluid equally stiff displacement, I gradually upped the amount of strength and pressure to force the fluid from the cavity without overexerting - then again at the rate I was going the average person would have suffered broken ribs and possible internal bleeding by now, even if it was just tiny fraction of my overall strength - odd was one choice word.

Spending about a minute or so apply a little under a dozen moderately fast compressions later, I could feel some space quickly being vacated inside the lungs and soon the esophagus - with good progress made, I decided to briefly elevated the intensity and rate of the compressions - pushing down with one or two heavy compressions, hearing a faint crunch, I otherwise was successful; the individual soon expelled the mucous fluid, projecting outward, following with a bout of short, intense coughing before ceasing entirely.

Gradually then his condition appeared to improve, aerobic function rapidly beginning to normalize - aside from a few broken ribs among other minor things he'd live and properly recuperate with adequate medical attention. Though I couldn't help but grimace in disgust at the fact he was essentially coughing up someone else's snot. Next thing to do now was to find a way out of these damn underground worm tunnels - certainly wasn't going to be fun lugging the bastard around while trying to fend off giant hostile annelids.

" Alright you gothy dunce, let's get you out of here." I muttered, walking over his unconscious form, beginning to grab hold of him by the torso and hoist his body onto my left shoulder, his clothes still quite notably saturated and slick with the slimy film. " Gonna be a pain to deal with this slimy crap all over him." Taking one final contemplative look at the burning nest pit, I turned away, walking off toward and down the short tunnel passageway of the cavern. Making my way down, I had brief passing concerns of my decision, questioning whether or not I made a wise choice. I didn't normally bother with civvies, so I wasn't sure why I took this action - hopefully it didn't come back to bite me in the ass.

Re-emerging back into the main tunnel, coming out to the center of the passageway, I took a short look down both ways, sparing a glance then at the both 2-D topographical layout of the motion sensor indicator as well as the 3-D nav-map I pulled up in a separate window on the HUD - I had only cleared maybe a kilometer's worth of so far, much of the area beyond grey out and unknown and it was evident I didn't have a solid clue what direction lead where. Letting my thoughts cook, I unlatched my ARM-11 from my Armor's backplate - peering at it concerningly, I was well of my limited ammunition count, with one current mag locked in and 3 spare, 128 rounds total, and it was a similar deal with my handgun and AMR; both equivalent in mag count - the 8mm AP showed not to be particularly effective against the annelids thick hide, even then was enough deterrent to keep them at bay.

Of course I had the grenades; one canister for the underbarrel and 2 HE fragmentation - even still, they were also extremely limited in number, so I had to be wise in use. Psionic emission will probably be the thing I'll be relying most on.

While I didn't have a very solid basis of what path led to where, I did have somewhat of a premise to go off of - though it didn't have anything to do with the layout itself. I had to imagine that since I'm managing to get a reasonably decent signal down here, there was some form of open access point somewhere further down these tunnel networks - so at this point it would make sense to actively monitor the rate increase of data flow, as slight as it may be. Shame Genysis wasn't here - otherwise I'd have had a detailed map of the tunnel system by now, and a bit of mech support as well. To aid with my approach, I decided to activate my UIT's Ultra-low frequency radar emitter, utilize the pulses of short burst high-intensity radio waves surface bounce to provide information to the various computers and create a map that way - figured I'd be okay since WarCorp was nowhere to be seen or anyone else around to detect the energy level spikes anyway.

Going through the utility function settings, switching the mode on, a pop-up notification presented up towards the upper right corner of the HUD displayed the indicator readout for mode active status - in layman's terms, the radar emitter was active.

Before going anywhere, I debated the direction I was actually going to head, seeing as how I had minimal reference to use anyway. Glancing briefly at the bandwidth strength level indicator present on the upper left of the HUD, I could see minute fluctuations in upload/download data flow rate seemingly higher down the path ahead - guess I'd head that way then. Assault rifle drawn and ready, I started to move forward, clutching hold of the individual's legs against my chest while keeping him as stable as possible - his weight was nothing but the space occupied lugging him was already a noticeable hindredrence. Every three second interval the ULF radar emitter pulsed omnidirectionally in strong initial waves, a hard ping each instance it covered several hundred meter radials followed by a soft ping indicating shorter interval, significantly weaker pulses covering smaller few dozen meter ranges; each interval nonetheless painting new areas on the nav-map.

As I went along, swaying my weapon's aim from wall to wall, regularly monitoring movement on the motion tracker and my other sensors input, I sensed faint movement from the man I shouldered and glimpsing every now and again I'd catch weak but noticeable jerking motions his body make; I had to surmount this due to his brain recorrecting chemical imbalance within the body, renormalizing neural function as he undoubtedly inches toward consciousness - though in his state, I could imagine it'd be a few hours before he eventually came to. Then again considering the apparent elevated immuno-regenerative response, it could be much sooner - if, of course, he was actually one of these superhuman individuals this Hero Association supposedly advertised. I still had my suspicions.

Walking at the reserved pace I have been, covering a hundred or so meters during the time, I came across the entrance to a tunnel passage - it was similar in size to that of the cavern I left earlier, undoubtedly another nest, even picked up a large volume of minute movement on the border of detection from it. Naturally then, I had the initiative to veer off and purge the nest - standing just outside the entrance hole then, I drew forth my left arm and loosed a torrent of orange flame at a slight upward angle down the gullet of the tunnel. Glow from the radiating heat illuminated some portion of the tunnel passage ahead, maximum effective range of the stream upward 50 meters - shy a couple dozen meters from the furthest point, the dryness of the soil and the intensity of the flames were enough to make up the difference evidently.

Blips on the motion sensor began to disappear at a gradual pace, rapidly increasing in rate until the point where concentration of movement ceased entirely- presumably as the inferno within the cavern engulfed everything inside. I peered down the tunnel passage, its gullet now filled to the brim with fire crackling and burning at its highest intensity, thickening smoke pluming and wafting out of the tunnel - surely nothing within the cavern was going to survive.

" Better move on while I have the time to get ahead of this smoke." I muttered, glancing at the chap hung over my shoulder, expressing some degree of concern- as miniscule as it was.

I pulled my sight aside from the burning tunnel, setting forward again down the large main tunnel; my head on a swivel as kept an eye out for more nests and hostile graboidites- undoubtedly sensing the ever increasing heat and the scent of bitter smoke. Hopefully I can discover a way back to the surface before having to carve through more worms then ammunition stock would permit- then there was the matter of actually transporting the individual to a safe location and preferably without any unwanted attention.

Letting my thoughts and concerns marinade as I progressed down the tunnel, my eyes glanced briefly at the frequency intensity indicator displayed on the HUD as some moderately low Megahertz frequency was registered. Curiously it appeared to fall on the radio wave portion of the EM spectrum - though the source seemed too muddled and distant to be properly identified; however based on the data collected, it was likely to be some form of short range communications equipment, possibly a FM radio. Given it seemed to function on a specific channel and frequency, I had to imagine it was almost certain to be transmitted by an outbound military outfit or some other private organization - I thought for a passing moment regarding the possibility of a team dispatched by that Hero Association collective.

Whatever the case, I had little info to discern whether or not it was ground based or airborne vehicular movement- though I was partial towards some form of aerial transport, a helicopter or airplane maybe? It remained to be seen.

As I went on for some time, the ULF radar emitter pulsed in regular intervals as it had been, soon another area of the tunnel system opened up on the motion sensor backdrop topographical map. Moving a hundred or so more meters upward, I soon came to a wide diverting fork in the path - one way looked to lead further upward, and the opposite appeared to descend further downward into the cave tunnel system.

" The other path seems to incline upward - radio frequency consistency is slightly stronger too." I quietly surmounted, peering down the right pathway, intent on traversing down it. " Has to lead to an out-point somewhere - no need to debate which way to take." Walking forward then a few dozen meters toward the right pathway, I could sense faint vibrations reverberating from ahead though initially had little concern - finding myself stopping as I glanced at the readouts on the HUD showcasing a notable increase in seismic activity, my sight snaps ahead as soil content from the surround ceiling of the pathway shifts and collapses, dust and particulates wafting as hundreds of tons of dirt fill the tunnel.

" For fuck sake - had a feeling that was going to happen. It's like some unseen entity doesn't want me to leave this place so easily. Wait." Cursing my misfortune, I felt a pulse of overwhelming discomfort in my head - releasing my left hand off the individual as I clasped my helmet where my forehead would be, out of the slim view of my almost closed eyes were flashes of hallucinatory visions - strange, anomalous glyphs of some ancient affiliation, soon immersed by some bone chilling cold inexplicably piercing the heavily reinforced barriers of my armor with barely perceptible ghostly, visibly eldritch figures passing around me. Fighting through the mental disarray, unintelligible eloculations, seemingly alien and imperceptible, a series of whispers faded in and out grew in audibility as well as intelligibility - even becoming recognizable.

( There you are - new place, walking grounds anew .), ( The machine you found, implemented, and so deemed sufficient to counter and cast me away - your attempts grand, worthy of praise - yet ultimately, humorously futile.), ( I hold no hate, feel no contempt, such mortal sensations mean nothing - only amusement and curiosity weigh value to a being of innumerable magnitude.), (I am here always - watching, waiting, expecting - wondering what you will make of those and the world ahead. Until another time of significance - Wispful one.) A familiar chuckles rumbles in the background, sadistic and alarmingly disturbing, soon fading into the ether.

" What the fuck? Was that what I thought I heard? N-no." I muttered, eyes widening from a brief shock of realization, quickly calming as I made an attempt to rationalize the occurrence. " There must be something that explains this. Mind must just be playing tricks on me - maybe."

Groaning, shaking my head, I continued forward.

I scanned all down the tunnel passage I passed, both sides as well as top to bottom, searching for other nest pits - as well as a potential egress point. Though I had a mind to search for any possible form of communication equipment, like a walkie talkie or satellite-phone of some kind - the cell phone appeared dead and visibly damaged; unlucky bastard was gonna need a new one.

"Think this supposed professional, impractical attire aside, from a private PMC type organization, would keep suitable comms equipment on his person." I remarked, in humor but pointing out the amateur lack of utility implementation. " Maybe something here somewhere. Rather not be here all day. Lugging this sob around isn't helping either."

Walking for what felt like a half hour or so of time, covering nearly a kilometers distance in notably concerning silence and calm atmosphere - my suit's sensors started picking up faint, albeit very intermittent EM signatures. I glanced my eyes to a window on the HUD containing relevant data feed - appeared the wavelength type detected matched that of radio wave transmission. Oh- that's promising. Or a possible trap. Radio, or sat-phone maybe? I wondered.

Signal strength being picked up was as intermittent as it had been but seemed to gradually become consistent in pattern if stronger in transmission. Sensing vibration from movement, it seemed the fellow I shouldered consciousness was slowly picking up - though not quite awake yet.

Wandering some distance, I started to notice much of the tunnel I was in began growing more empty, no sign of branching paths or openings. Soon enough, it appeared I eventually came to cease in the path and a dead-end entirely - though until I saw a hole barely visible at the end. Likely, it seemed, descent further below via this burrow or downward tunnel.

Stopping, my scanners also notify me in an updated reading on the HUD. Looking around, I noticed an initially vague appearing object; via visual marking on the HUD and the data readout, it would seem I had been able to triangulate the signal source. Zooming in view with the camera optics, I could make out a blocky, rectangular object - spotting an antenna fully extended, I discerned it was a walkie-talkie or a satellite phone of some kind. Aside from being a good few meters on the opposite side of the hole, the damn thing looked coated in thick, sticky clear mucus-like slime. Was gonna be fun rummaging through that for sure.

Nearing the burrow hole tunnel, vibrations were starting to reverberate through the ground - though minute, and barely registered on the seismometer sensors. While I didn't immediately deem them of concern or natural either, I only stopped when occasional waves were of sudden and sporadic intensity. Quickly was I beginning to wonder if I had been subtly directed into a trap - a lone communication device left in such an open, visibly accessible spot couldn't have been coincidental. Something felt off; I wondered if there was more to whatever might be leading to these seemingly simple animalistic worms.

Curiously, the tremors appeared to cease - at least for the time being. The burrow hole looked to be calc'd at close to 5 meters in width though depth wasn't immediately detectable - approaching the rim, some 10 or so meters and closing, I quickly debated whether to inch along the narrow, if barely manageable banks or simply leap across the gap.

I narrowed my sight, debating whether or not I should jump across simply hug along the sides - neither seemed particularly great given the unconscious bastard resting on my shoulder.*

The moment I started moving again - just a few steps from the hope, the whole damn thing collapsed in on itself. "Shit." I cursed, almost caught off guard by its sudden occurrence. Realizing what I should've done in the first place; I reached my arm out and latched the sat-phone with psionic emission. Able to catch it at the last second as it rapidly sank, nearly out of sight I quickly pulled it back; blowing off any gunk present. "Gotcha you son of a bitch." I said, relieved I had hold of it.

Halfway to me, more of the damn ground beneath my feet disintegrated. Attempting to backtrack as fast as I could, it sank faster than I could move - just to add that, I could sense more vibrations as several worms burst from the shifting soil at high speed towards me. Growling, annoyed, expecting this to happen yet cursing the vulnerable position I was in, I pulled back and returned fire. Instinctively firing a burst from my ARM-11, 6 8mm AP slugs hit the closest worm's carapace, denting it with half that managing to strike inside the mouth, blowing apart fleshy bits.

"Piss off." I spat, forcing back one of them.

Quickly pulling back the sat-phone, noticing the bastards trying to bite at it, I got hold of it and stuck it, magnetically, to my belt. When one of them lurched , I rapidly reached out, catching it with psionic emission and followed by slamming the son of a bitch into the other son of a bitch. With a loud, audible crunch as there hides smashing into each other, I brought my other arm back and launched a 60mm HE grenade toward them, having aimed just as there maws smacked together at the closest point. With a clapping thoom, the grenade warhead detonated, a ball of fiery combustion, dust and concussion Shockwave ripped into both the worms and blew both upper portions of their bodies into smoldering bits and areas of open viscera.

Both the worms had been fended off - but the soil beneath my boots still disintegrated and was rapidly sinking in. I had ran for several dozen meters for those short few seconds, ripples of cracking and flowing dirt eventually caught up - next thing I know I lost footing, that brief instance thinking to fire a grapple hook but that seemed out the window given the likely structural integrity. Wasn't long before I felt the sensation of compromised grip and brief weight drop as my boots sank and I topple downward.

"Shit. Seems I'll be descending below one way or another." Calling out.

Glancing back, I see I'm now fully in the midst of a plummet with my speed gradually beginning to increase. Trying to stabilize and slow my speed of descent I feel my hold on the still unconscious chap starting to loosen. In an awkward position, my point of gravity shifting and oscillating, I temporarily released him and let the body fall below as I manipulated my limbs and body to a more stable posture. Probably shouldn't let him fall too far ahead of me. I thought, noticing how far he had fallen.

Reaching forward, contorting myself to briefly minimize my point of gravity and surface, I feel closer to him and get a grasp. With a hold, I purposely fell faster as I went into a spin; several rotations of this, re-stabilizing position, I got hold with a bear hug almost enveloping as I braced for the inevitable contact with the bottom. Several minutes would pass - seemingly much longer, like an eternity descending down a pit to who knows where

Almost catching me off guard, the fall suddenly stopped, striking the bottom like a boulder dropped from a high altitude, a dull thump and cloud of dirt and rock picked up. I was unharmed and the companion, still unconscious, no worse for wear or more than they already were - still not a pleasant sensation nonetheless. "Reached the bottom at least - sense a trend of me plummeting down unexpected pits or from high elevations." I commented, noticing my peculiar brand of luck.

Switching on the headlamp, I looked around, lighting ahead of me - appeared to have fallen into another tunnel and it seemed all radio contact had been lost. Curiously, it didn't look to lead anywhere behind me - since it was literally unbroken soil and a dead end. With no other direction to go and upward a no-go, it was evident I had to progress deeper in. I began moving again, the tunnel ahead was straightforward and without any branching paths - couldn't help but sense this was nearing the end of the road and I was closing in on a significant section of this underground nesting system. Knowing scenarios similar to those I've encountered in the past on alien worlds - I was bound to come across the queen of this colony eventually.

Hero Association was it? Whoever, in their infinite wisdom, were these higher-ups think sending some ill-equipped jackass in retro punk goth to exterminate a massive, man-eating annelids single-handedly a good idea? Supposed superhuman or not smells of lazy, bureaucratic decision making - unless they purposely sent this guy on a suicide mission to rid a expendable asset. You know that doesn't surprise me. Military would be all over this.

Walking for some time, a little over half an hour or so, data registered on the HUD from vibrational sensors and seismometers. Nothing on the motion trackers was detected - however the data found didn't indicate anything naturally occurring or result of minute tectonic shifting. Based on the window of periodic time and kinetic footprint - something very big was moving about, its residual vibrations felt all the way from here - that had been a sign. Looking over, the sleeping goth prince seemed to stir more and more often - internal and external injuries in notably better state than they were a couple hours ago. Wasn't certain what to make of that - a liability either way.

I had covered some 200 or so meters; each step closer it seemed the vibrations felt reverberating from ahead becoming more notable in strength. Soil around and above dusted off - reaching around, unlatching my assault rifle, I couldn't help but scan around, eyes darting side to side. Already I felt, subconsciously, I was heading toward a trap or ambush of soon to be lain - yet this was the only practically viable way out.

" Hope I'm able to find a quick and potent enough way to kill the Queen - already seen how resilient the subordinates were." I muttered, a mixture of concern and annoyance felt. Seemed the inconvenience was more troubling than any potential peril - especially in regards to the unexpected companion that I had decided to carry for reasons unknown to me. " Gonna be a whole lot of fun ahead."

Residual vibrations continued to grow intermittently; further on, it darkened to a point natural vision failed and prompted the helmet light to switch on. With the beam of bluish-white light illuminating ahead, I noticed the tunnel appear to slope downward - it wasn't too significant but still noticeable at 25 degrees, so I didn't need to worry about having to scale my armored ass down. At some point, somewhere at 80 meters in, the motion tracker had started to get triggered by occasional movement - though distant, a blip more solid and consistent in position appeared, along with dozens of occasional pop-up blips. Something told me the big one was the queen - or something else of at least similar size. As I continued to move, nearing the possible entry point to the main cave, my helmet's audio sensors started picking up noise in the background. Seeing the soundbite data beginning to compile and register - it sounded like someone, or something, was talking. Vaguely human yet hard pressed to jump to that conclusion - it sounded close but wrong, almost animalistic if monstrous. What the hell was in there?

I could see an opening ahead, the end of the tunnel I could tell - it also seemed to have become steeper than initially anticipated. Not long after I found myself having to keep a firm hole on the surface as I carefully climbed down - it'd take longer then expected. The asshole on my shoulder didn't help matters either. Descending some several dozen meters, I looked down and decided to hop off and downward from the last meter or so of stretch - a faint thump and crunch followed after contact - something about the distinctiveness was concerning to me.

Approaching the opening, my movement slowed and footsteps silenced to a minimum to lower chance of detection - curiously light seemed to bleed from somewhere inside; its source unknown. Sounds detected earlier became more frequent - choruses of scratching, writhing and various crunching and contractions began to permeate the background. I seemed to be in the right place. Emerging through, I came out into a massive, open cavern-like, burrowed-out earth space - I stood above on one of the large banks that dipped down, networks of troughs and partly concealed tunnels, intersected by tall pillar-like structures extending from the ground to the ceiling or walls in numerous angles. Most prevalent in sight, if the most disconcerting - was the mass, writhing commuting colony of annelids swarming below. Slithering the troughs, worms moved between the various nesting areas: from the vast clutches of eggs, waste pits to the horrific mounds of rotted matter from decayed corpses to indiscernible material - this undeniably the food source.

"Not the most horrific scene I've witnessed - still hits with that uncanny gnarliness to the primal senses." I commented, surveying the setting as I assessed the layout for viable points and avenues of maneuver. Still, something was amiss - where was the Queen?

The tremors and vibrations returned again, felt beneath my boots once more - the source was yet determined, however the vibration resonance could be graphed for direction. Magnifying vision via optical focusing, I zoomed sight several times in and out as I scanned the surroundings and foreground; to aid distinguishing aspects of the environment, geometry in the structures of the setting were highlighted and color-coded. Peering out past the rock structures and protrusions, several hundred feet out, my line of sight hovered around the central section of the cavern; there a large, a partly open structure towered above everything else in the setting, its foundation appearing to comprise of stone and some form of solidified organic material, likely calcium based.

Though I couldn't see anything above I could imagine there being some potential rock formations that could be destroyed for future utilization - at least enough mass to drop that is. Next biggest hurdle then - was what to do with this bastard in the meantime while I figured out a way to escape. Had to find a place to put him while I engaged the threat and the fighting started; the asshole was no use unconscious. While I looked around for a spot, the vibrations kicked up again and something began to fill in space in the back - narrowing my sight and zooming in, my eyes widened slightly in surprise as a gargantuan mass rose above the rim of the structure ahead. Quickly, I scanned around - finding a protruding rock formation off to my 3 O'clock, just large enough of a surface area to fit a person, I laid the bastard on the ground and picked him up again with psionic emission. In a quick but careful enough fashion, I directed the unconscious body over and onto the rock - heard a bit of a crunch but I'm sure he'll be fine, nothing on the vitals suggested any significant harm. Good - he was out of the way for now.

Snapping my attention back, I magnified the vision setting again, peering down ahead. The form rose again, this time exposing more of what was visible of the larger body - my eyes widened again, the almost serpentine mass unwinded, soon the upper body visible where one would expect the head and maw. Zooming in once more, I saw, where one would expect to see the face, a comparatively proportionally smaller upper body - monstrous yet humanoid with similar anatomical features; like an insect Medusa though the face strongly bug-like despite human facial structure, a massive crown shaped crest extending from the head and brandishing authority.

Rising further upright, two proportionally sized arms became visible with the hands or claws so to speak subtly manipulated. The entity was now fully upright, twisting and orienting its body around - it appeared as though it had just woken but more notably looked around as though it sensed something was off. Couldn't help but clutch my assault rifle as it did, ready - evident it picked up on a disturbance.

From a distance, it hissed, almost like a snake, chittering intermixed - definitely looked pissed. " There is… a disturbance in the atmosphere. I sense… an unwelcome visitor in my lair?" The voice spoke, its sudden appearance catching me off guard; deep, intimidating yet still recognizably feminine. "WHO DARES DEFY MY HOLD OF THIS TERRITORY? ANOTHER OF THOSE FOOLISH APES? ALMOST TOO DISGUSTING TO FEED ON. SHOW YOURSELF!" Her voice boomed, echoing throughout the cavern, anger radiating from the soundwaves.

I stood there, motionless; part due to not wanting to be detected but also just puzzled from what I saw. What the hell did I just stumble into; I expected a monster of a worm but something so monstrous yet vaguely human - could this be part of the reason for some of those subordinate worms' strange head structure? The human-like faces - something tells me this isn't a natural creature yet there still much amiss. Could this be one of those so-called 'monsters' this Hero Association described on that website? Whatever the case - matters just got more complicated.

While it looked around and surveyed the surroundings, I activated my suit's cloaking system - it switched on as normal, the air around manipulated magnetically and warped surrounding light but there seemed to be minor hiccups in the energy distribution, the reader on the HUD showed fluctuations but otherwise remained functional. Raising a brow in brief concern, I decided to move on and simply keep an eye on the monitoring status; moving to the edge of the massive bank I was closest to, I surveyed below and around for a starting point of the path I'd take.

Scanning the topography for a few seconds, I picked out a pattern of somewhat spread out protruding rock formations though clustered close enough for viable scaling. Cautiously, I moved down along the bank edge, some few dozen meters where the rockwall was from my position; my sight glanced down below occasionally - the worms swarming about did appear to indicate active hunting behavior but that was bound to change soon. The massive Queen continued to move her upper body about, contorting and twisting in visible agitation; hissing heard as she became angrier from being unable to discern the source of alarm.

Reaching the wall I clasped the closest protruding rock - feeling another vibration again, broken stones crumbling off, I looked ahead briefly then back to the rock behind in minor concern. Nothing to note, I turned forward and moved along; there, I shimmed up and got up on a secure foothold. Next then was being deliberate in movement and negotiating the admittedly disconcertingly spaced rocks - the occasional vibrations from the colony Queen's motions didn't exactly help for smooth scaling. Hardest part now was actually crossing over without a rock breaking off plummeting to the ground and making noise or just me falling off at right - had to avoid using the grapple or manipulating the environment lest I made unnecessary noise or vibrations.

" There is something, someone here. I can smell a strange scent - something metallic." The worm queen's voice boomed out. "I know you are out there! Find them my children! I am beginning to sense another as well."

Oh shit. Didn't think she picked up his scent that quickly. Need to hustle. I thought, growing more concerned.

Ramping up my pace while still remaining on the err of caution, I quickened as I clasped hold of each immediately available rock, almost hopping slightly as I traversed the 60 meter plus span. Moving along, I made rapid progress, effectively transferring hold with my hands and boots - admittedly close to slipping a few times - despite that, I was close to the space and rock formation on the other side with only a few meters to go. " Ok, just a short stretch to go - should be able to leap the rest of the gap." Muttering as I eyed the remaining amount of space between me and the rock formation; giving myself a few seconds, calculating the amount of force and distance I wanted to jump, I took one hand off and lurched forward before thrusting off the wall - just enough to push away without causing too much damage to the rock wall and making noise. In a single bound, I covered a little over 5 meters of space and landed on the rock surface - fortunately, the thick rubberized reinforced soles dulled the overall sound.

Unlatching my assault rifle, I moved forward - the surface of the rock formation sloped slightly, enough to merit careful footing, being at 20 degrees. I proceeded slowly, my sight of the other side partially obscured by the rock pillar with the gap between only showing more of the formation.

Vibrations continued to reverberate periodically; not particularly strong but resonant enough to occasionally throw off footing - the surface started to incline, soon finding myself needing to climb to progress with less space to work with, almost like a tunnel itself. Closing in on the Queen's blip location I'd start to notice the movement signatures of the subordinate worms appeared to cross path vectors and visibly converge - as though something had quite their attention, or more accurately the Queen's. Could it be?

" If that goth hamhead is awake and tries anything - I'll kill him myself." I muttered, glancing over my shoulder briefly as I climbed up the last bit of the rock formation. Using the clusters of rock spread about the surface, I scaled upward and over the arching of the slope; climbing over onto the top, I crawled the rest of the way until the view ahead widened.

Looking up, I got a better picture of the Colony Queen - big bitch was certainly insect-like in phenotype traits yet still in that uncanny valley of human anatomical structure; two pairs of proportionally lengthed antenna, peach colored flesh where the brown exoskeletal carapace didn't cover, two pairs of smaller arms of nearly half length that of the main pair, spikes protruded along the spine and partly around the torso, a strange rorschach like pattern present on the chest - and bizarrely, breasts? I've seen my fair share of mutants of the natural and experimental mishap variety - but this was in its own category 'the bizarrely familiar yet uncanny'.

Glancing, I look upward then at the cavern ceiling - data collected displayed on the HUD as the computer sensors highlighted and marked the geographical element. Dozens of variously sized rock formations and protruding boulders were situated above; most seemed part of a larger formation or one solid piece, ranging from from under a meter to over 5 in size - scanning, several had some exploitable weak points and were easily in the multi-ton range. Enough there to crush this bug bitch and her spawn, possibly a way out of this place - that much rock however would need to be dislodged with explosives and I was in too precarious a position to use psionic emission. Had to make it count.

Can get this, Bitch right here and right now from this spot. One shot and it's done - ought to be able to do this without issue. I thought to myself, glancing up with confidence.

Carefully picking myself up from the prone position I was in, I stood in place and readied posture. Looking up again, I raised my ARM-11 and clasped the underbarrel grenade launcher readily. Feeling a strange vibration beneath my boots, I press the sensor trigger - at the very second as I do I momentarily lose my footing as the grenade fires up, the mechanical thump faintly echoing as the explosive launches at several miles per hour. The momentary disturbance causes just enough of a miscalculation that the grenade misses its mark and detonates on another rock cluster - a bang and thoom follows, the explosion blows apart the formation it hit, only causing a cloud and harmless showering of smaller rock fragments to fall.

" Shit." I quietly cursed, equally annoyed as angry. Looking down, I saw the rock beneath my boots had broken apart and collapsed several dozen meters downward into the recesses below - crunching and echoing still as some fragments continued to plummet and tumble. Just a few more centimeters and I'd have fallen off below. " Hope that didn't blow my cover - son of a bitch." I cursed again, slowly glancing over ahead to the Queen.

Unsurprisingly, she reacted immediately, soon gazing up as she twisted around to look - as surprised as she was furious. "What is this - what caused that commotion, disturbance? That sounded as though something exploded above me." She hissed, snapping back as she immediately surveyed the surroundings. "It's almost as if. . ." Her sight turned to my direction - it was like she sensed it but couldn't quite pin down the exact source or location. A new, now visible second pair of eyes, beneath the insect pupils - almost human, peered inquiringly toward me. "There is more than one - and they are both in the nest." She stated, calm yet menacingly toned.

Grimacing, I looked up, clasping the underbarrel launcher as I contemplated firing off another round at the ceiling. I raised my left hand, looking at the UIT and the emitters on my palm - was considering just pulling what chunks of rock I could with psionic emission. As I contemplated, I noticed another blip pop up on the motion tracker; it was yellow color coded with a neutral IFF tag - it appeared to be moving along with the other, identified hostile coded blips heading towards its direction. I already knew what - who it was.

A loud, resonant hiss erupted from the Queen soon after, something clearly drawing her attention- and wrath. "I smell - and sense the pest, it's awake. Be rid of it, not worth feasting upon!" She shouts, proceeding to look around again. "I know there is another! Find the second trespasser."

Damn it. I simply uttered, in thought.

Before I made another move, I suddenly picked up yet another blip on the motion tracker - this time coming up right behind me. Turning around, I caught sight of an annelid working its way toward me - barely a second of warning, it sprung off from place and lurched toward me. Somehow pinpointing my location, I immediately sidestepped, dodging it as I delivered a heavy right hook into its maw plating, cracking it and causing the worm to recoil slightly while I pushed back from the force. Before it could attack again, I caught it with psionic emission; holding it place, I quickly ran up, forcing its maw open and pulled off a grenade, forcing it down its gullet and pushed the worm furthback, some 20 or so meters.

Unavoidably causing some notable vibrational energy, the annelid blew apart into bloody chunks after the grenade detonated - without hesitation then, I turned back and rushed toward the end of the tunnel. The Queen, still unaware of my presence, I lifted my arm and targeted the ceiling above - in one swift fluid motion I grabbed hold of the broken up rocks above, and pulled as much as I could in one fell swoop. Soon, hundreds of tons of boulders and soil showered downward.

"I'll rid this land of you filthy bugs!" A voice shouted, faintly picked up on my UIT's and helmet's audio sensors. Is that who I think it is - probably. I questioned, raising a brow - couldn't help but sigh.

Snapping forward, I caught sight of the Queen turning back - barely a moment to perceive what happened next, she had managed to react to the rain of rock falling over and with a few fluid, rapid swipes of the tail end of her body whipped around until everything was dust and miniscule fragments. Almost sounded like she was breaking the sound barrier with each swipe and stroke. This was going to be a bigger pain in the ass than initially thought.

Goddammit. Strike two - got to think up something else to pull. I thought, groaning with a greater degree of annoyance.

Without a moment more to think, I find myself ducking down and flipping over the edge as a massive tail whips toward my direction at an unexpectedly, almost blurry speed. Dodging at the last second, I avoided getting smashed as the tail bashes into the rock formation behind, blowing apart the structure and wall, needing to evade or calculate when to bear impact from fragmentation above - several instances where my cloak flashes off as the energy barrier activates, briefly exposing me; the hissing and whirs of heat transfer from rocks contacting the shield didn't help limit my signature.

Sliding down the sloped rock face of the formation I reached the bottom, of which appeared to be one of the recesses and pits - remembering the rubble still falling above me, I pushed forward. I continued to weave and dodge, or stop taking hits when unavoidable, letting the energy barrier help blunt impacts. Once I escaped range of the plummeting rocks and soon ceased, I momentarily stopped, spending a moment to survey - granted, the walls of the recess and pit structures obstructed visibility of other sections within the nest - could at least listen in and track movements of the activity brewing up. According to the movement patterns and regularly disappearing blips - seems to be holding their own, surprisingly.

" Gah. Disgusting bugs, too damn many." The voice says, pressured but calm - definitely sounded like a stereotypical goth archetype. "Come to think of it - wonder how I got here? Woke up, last remembered blacking out." He says, evidently unaware of my location and presence. "Bah - need to take out the Queen somehow. Will need evidence I took her out; the Hero Association will never believe me if I don't have proof. Fucking phone busted - again."

"Guess he's fine for now." I surmised, satisfied enough. "Ought to find a different position to attack."

Pushing forward, I scanned the setting, navigating through the surprisingly complex network of smaller tunnels, open pathways and the connected sectioned off dens. Curiously, the density of subordinate worms present in the area was surprisingly sparse, most seen seemingly ignoring me as they migrated to the hot zone. Detecting no visible signs of immediate threats, I increased my pace a bit, going from a hurried jog to a full-on sprint to cover longer distances - things appeared to be quiet for a time.

Following the path I have taken, I seemed to have strayed further off from the nest's central point, some 50 or so meters deviation. I also appeared to have descended further underground, not necessarily significant, maybe 5 meters at most - vibrations above intensified periodically, most likely from the Queen's movements - had to keep moving. Naturally, going deeper, less ambient light had been present, getting notably dark again; switching on the headlamp, I shined ahead, ending up in a particularly large den, multiple access points from connecting tunnels on both sides. Nothing was picked up, it was quiet, at least initially - still found myself slowing to a careful walk, watching out in vigilance. Suddenly, I started picking up movement in the motion tracker - several blips coming in from ahead and the flanking passage points.

Uncertain if they were directly going after me, I nonetheless waited - three blips had appeared, coming in from 3 of the 6 passage points inside the den. While they made their approach, I pushed forward; stopping at the last passage on the left side, I shined the light down, the moment I saw the worm emerge into sight I drew up my ARM-11 and fired off the remaining rounds in the current magazine, firing in bursts, aiming for the exposed connective muscle in the maw - the shots cracked, a few rounds hit the calcified exoskeleton bone but enough managed to land their marks, shredding through the flesh. This caused the annelid to hiss in pain, rushing toward me with maw agape; continuing to fire, the remaining rounds ripped through the air and blew apart chunks of flesh until the worm spat blood after a coughing fit, soon dropping.

Recognizing that likely drew the attention of the others, I put aside the empty magazine and latched my ARM-11 onto my back. Seeing there movements increase in pace, I stood, waiting for them to close on my location, watching both points - once they were in view, moving in rapidly, about to lurch - I hopped back, rolling off to the side - a clear audible crunch sounds as the two impact each other's exoskeleton carapace.

Back on my feet, I unlatched my anti material rifle, quickly training aim and letting off a shot - a beefy crack ripples as the 1100 grain tungsten carbide slug rips through the air at mach 7 velocity and punches clean through the head plating of the worm on the right, blowing out calcified fragments and liquidized tissue across the soil several meters behind.

"Just you and me, big. . .guy." I muttered, barely a moment to react or utter anything else as the largest annelid sprung toward me like a wound up coil with deceptive speed. Found myself standing there holding it back, just mere centimeters from its massive riddle with jagged teeth like a blender of death. "Damn. Even for your size you're far stronger than I thought. Pure muscle." I muttered, even beginning to feel myself partly struggle, boots starting to dig into the ground. The ground shook again, just based on the tracker alone, the activity above appearing to heat up.

Looking up in concern; needed to haste things up. "But I'm more than mere flesh." Quickly latching the AMR to my back, empty mag, I delivered several hard soccer punches to the opposite side of the maw as it chopped at me, breaking pieces of outer carapace, drawing some notably vile and pasty blood causing momentary recoil. Just as it snapped its maw at me again, I side-stepped to the right; immediately then drawing up my left arm, firing up the wrist mounted pneumatic turbine flamethrower - the jet of orange-red flamethrower hissed and crackled as it spewed forth and into the maw and down the gullet of the gray carapace annelid.

Liquid hissed and popped as the fluids inside its body violently vaporized, steam wafting out as it expanded and distorted the worm. Before it detonated on me like an organic bomb, I quickly grabbed it with psionic emission and whipped it off toward a far end of the den - I sprinted toward the exit the moment it was far enough away until I was out. A loud, wet, squelching pop echoed behind just a few seconds after I O

left.

Another quake followed, soil dusted from above the tunnel ceiling I was in. "Jesus. Seems like it is starting to rile up above." I looked up, concerning increasing slightly. "If he's engaging the Queen - I don't plan on saving his stupid ass a second time."

Ahead it seemed to go straight, the occasional twist, turn and incline change. I encountered several more annelids along the path, either quick dispatching them psionic emission or simply ignoring them as I pressed onward. Taking slightly more time than expected I eventually resurfaced, er well, back onto the surface level of the cavern; I climbed up a small rock formation, carefully navigating some rough and uneven surface for some time. Navigating around varying degrees of incline, cautiously moving as I slipped through different crawl spaces and other tight spots. Eventually after some 15 minutes of scaling and surface traversing I walked the rest of the rock formation, leveling it for several dozen meters - further back appeared to be mostly unbroken rock surface and back corners with no visible passage points.

" Okay let's try this again." I muttered, intent on succeeding on the second attempt - hopefully.

Inching forward, hugging along the remaining pillars and squeezing through some tight spaces along the way I closed in on the Queen's blip again - now in sight once more. There, in open view, she remained in place overlooking the fight ahead - it seemed to sound closer, and more intense, her notably more tense in stature as though ready to enter a state of aggression.

Peering out momentarily, noticing numerous unmoving bodies and almost uncannily quick movements, I didn't hesitate and pushed on; inching closer again until I had a view of the boulder cluster nooked in the ceiling above. I intended to cloak and pull everything down from above with psionic emission but couldn't help but find myself standing in place - it wasn't long before I noticed a familiar blip close in, less than a hundred meters and a recent IFF tag. Son of a bitch.

"Huh?" A voice uttered, some distance away. Looking ahead in the direction heard - it was the goth hero. Evidently puzzled by my presence.

Took little time for the Queen to pick up on this and snap toward my direction - shit. Seeing the extremely minimal window I had I quickly reached up, letting the magnetic energy connect to the rock above and pulled down as hard and much as I could. "I KNEW IT! You were hiding!" She hissed loudly - during the time she did that, a dull but echoing crunch reverberated as thousands of tons of rock and soil broke loose and showered over.

"Ah hell! Whole damn cave is gonna collapse in. What'd he do?!" The goth shouted, attempting to move out the way of the incoming rockfall.

That had to do it. At least ten times the amount as last time. Big bitch should be drowning in rock. Yet I continued to pick up vitals and movement signatures from her. Before I could get a proper bead on the situation, all the rock that plummeted from above immediately started to disintegrated - yet not even hit the ground - in an almost a whirlwind of tail swipes and arm strikes much of the rock was utterly annihilated at inhuman speed, especially for a creature of such size, easily in the supersonic range with multiples cracks following each hit. Whole damn shook like a miniature earthquake and multiple heavy explosive ordinances were going off. What the hell was this thing?

" Motherfucker." I simply cursed, still in a mutter but definitely more pronounced this time. " Excellent time to pop in, huh?" I remarked, in agitated sarcasm. Ripping off any exploitable and usable rock fragment or boulder I could I used psionic emission and launched it towards the Queen at supersonic plus velocity.

"Little more than those tricks to defeat ME!" The Queen hissed, cackling then erupting into a roaring hiss. Without so much as breaking a sweat the massive insectoid monstrosity effortlessly intercepted the mach 2 rocks thrown, blowing them apart - in the brief moments that followed, I had to rapidly pull back as the whole section of cave I was in was completely demolished, echoing with exploding rock and plumes of picked up soil. Ended up thrown back, diving out of the path and from the incredibly strong gust of air blowing outward, a temporary thick cloud of rock powder and soil pluming out in the space I was in.

"Damn. Danger close." I let myself recalibrate for a moment as I recontextualized the situation. Looking back at the HUD, as well as the hellish quakes vibrating around, it wasn't difficult to tell the engagement was going south, the goth struggling to even stay back. Damn blip was all over the place. "Dumbass is going to get himself killed." I sighed, somewhat more concerned but mostly annoyed.

Pushing forward through the cloud of dust and soil I emerged back out in the main cavern - it was a hectic sight to say the least. Much of the cavern midsection had been almost completely annihilated, the central nest area open in view, even the various tunnels and formations gone with a mostly flat, level space left. " Gah. This insect broad is way stronger than I could have imagined. No way this is just a Tiger level threat they anticipated - could this be a Demon level threat?" His voice is heard, picked up on the audio sensors, clearly some distance further back than was initially; some 100 or so meters off. "Come to think of it - who was that guy? Never seen armor like that before. Government agent? Military? Could he be one of those special agents the Hero Association sends out? Something isn't right - I do remember being knocked unconscious before this."

Almost sounded like this 'Hero Association' was trying to get rid of this guy - does sound like he never shuts the fuck up. Still, it's evident they should have done more intensive reconnaissance before sending in a proper extermination force - Might they actually be that incompetent after all?

I ceased my train of questioning when I heard the loud bang of crunching rock being violently busted apart. Snapping forward, I saw the Queen deliver several increasingly fast mach level punches and swipes, the ground and area vibrating with each hit - somehow, the goofy ass looking goth asshole still alive if not making any actual progress or giving proper resistance - in fact, he was push all the way back to the corner. For the meantime, however, didn't seem to move despite her enormous range. Had to think of a plan to kill the Queen while making some use of this clearly mostly useless asshole while not getting his dumbass pasted across the rock.

My eyes narrowed and widened then as I watched the Queen beginning to wind up and deliver a tail whip strike. " Oh shit! This is going to be the death of me." The goth yelped out over the audio sensor reader. Reaching out, I snapped my left wrist forward - tagging him with psionic emission, I quickly grabbed him and pulled back. Just half a second shy, the 200 meter long tail whipped out at mach 3 plus, a loud thunderous snap as it struck the southern cavern walls, demolishing the rock face and generating another thick plume of dust. "Grrrr. What is the meaning of this? Where did that pest go?" The Queen hissed loudly.

" WOAH! What's going on here? Feel like flying - except I'm not in control." He cries out, caught off guard. Pulling him toward then slightly off from me, I release control and drop him some dozen or so meters from my position - naturally, causing him to tumble some distance. While the Queen is momentarily stunned by her confusion, I switch to my DAMR-62, latching my assault rifle briefly; charging a round into the chamber after feeding a new magazine, I aim down the computerized scope and fire a round off, a metallic clap echoing after.

"Huh?" Sounds the Queen before getting a 1100 grain TC armor-piercing slug in one of her insect eyes. An ear-piercing screen echoes as the mach 7 round turns her eye into mist and brain to jelly as it punches clean through all the way to the other side of her head. This appears to have great effect causing the monstrosity to wobble and collapse back onto some remaining rock foundation - despite this, she was still alive and even healing, though at least fazed for the time being.

"Damn good shot. Looks like that might have got the bug bitch - wait, were you the one that saved me back there?" Said a voice behind me, undoubtedly the goth hero; though unsure if he was referring to the cocoon or me pulling him away earlier - didn't really matter ultimately.

I didn't respond right away, only glancing back in question briefly. My sight returned to the Queen, her vitals still very much there and rapidly stabilizing again - it was evident, based on data shown, she possessed a very strong regenerative factor, her individual cells exhibiting similar traits to stem cells. "That doesn't matter right now - she is still very much alive. This fight is far from over yet." I coldly stated, watching as her original wounds heal and become unrecognizable, beginning to pull up from the rock formation she had fallen against. "Alright. This is the. . ." Before I could finish, the Queen had lurched forward and went to deliver strikes with her scythe-like hands - I managed to react fast enough to catch her with psionic emission, only mere feet from our positions.

"Get around her and locate the egg sac. That'll weaken her enough and prevent her creating more soldiers. . ." I find myself beginning to strain as I'm slowly pushed back, boots starting to sink into rock as they crack and break. "I'll distract her - NOW GO!" I barked. Blinking, he transitioned to a look of determination and nodded. "Roger that. Don't get yourself killed." The goth said, voice trailing iff as he quickly darted off from the spot as he followed an alternate route around the Queen.

"Grrrrr. Damned pest. What is this? How are you holding me back like that? Are you one of those godforsaken espers?" She hissed, held back but quickly regaining her motor control. "Nevermind it. You may be a tougher nut to crack than that - silly dressed ape. But I will squash you like the inferior bug you are!"

On the cusp of breaking free, there is a faint gradually more audible crunch heard - it appeared while she was fighting back and resisting the magnetic binding, it was slowly compromising bodily structure, her arms and portions of torso squelching and bleeding as they were ripping apart. "Gah! Let go of me, you ANT!" She bellowed, hissing loudly in agonizing pain. Rearing back, she puffed out her torso and her neck expanded - expanding her maw like a snake, a fountain of acidic bile sprayed from her gullet, dark green and steaming hot.

"Fuck me." I cursed, eyes widening in surprise. Forcing her back with psionic emission and taking an arm with me, I released her, quickly banking as the rain, or more accurately, the waterfall of several thousand liters of hydrochloric strength acid fell over. " Fucking acid - figured." I muttered, annoyed. Warning indicators flashed on the HUD from damage taken as well as regarding the biohazard material - some minor structural deformation on the right shoulder and thigh guard with some burn marks on the graphene weave undersuit. Otherwise, the energy managed to flick on and cover my ass from the remaining acid fall.

"Raaaagh! DAMN YOU, YOU FILTHY FILTHY LITTLE PEST!" She screeched out, almost like a clap of thunder. Copper colored blood spewed out from the exposed joint wound, her clawed hand grasping it while it slowly healed.

Escaping the acid fall, I briefly turned back, surveying the surprising amount of damage caused by the acid; a new section of the cavern almost created from the acid still boiling through rock, numerous craters and depressions spread across nearly 3000 square feet of area. "Jesus, that's some scary strong acid." Thanks to the Teflon composite layer and particle barrier kicked in, otherwise that would have royally fucked me up.

Sliding to a halt, I turned to the Queen, who appeared to be momentarily stunned again, drawing up my AMR to fire another shot, this time aiming right for her exposed neck; afterward, I grabbed a moderately sized boulder and launched it with psionic emission, quickly smelting it with the flamethrower module - she somehow dodged the slug instinctively but the molten boulder at least managed to land a mark on her chest, melting into her as flames began to spread.

Screeching like a Demon from hell, in both immense pain and fury, she erected back up and lurched forward at astonishing speed, barely visible as a blur. "DIE!" She roared out.

Wasn't even able to react - losing any sense of control overcome by brief weightlessness. At the instant I regained sense, I felt myself launch upward from the ground, air howling until a loud bang and crunch echo as I slammed against the ceiling, rock behind cratered me - only a few seconds before I loosened and plummeted nearly 200 feet down. Another crunch and metallic clank followed as my armored self impacted the ground.

"Oh fuck! Hey, are you still alive over there? That was one hell of a hit!" The goth called out - couldn't tell but I already knew he probably realized his mistake. "I'm not done with you yet you annoying vermin!" She hissed, sounds of earth breaking and the ground vibrating indicating she turned her attention on him - fortunately, the sensors showed he was far enough off and managed to stay out of range. " Hang in there." His voice was distant, and trailing off.

[ WARNING: BODILY DAMAGE DETECTED.] [LEVEL 2 INTERNAL BLEEDING FOUND- TEAR IN LARGE INTESTINAL TRACT DISCOVERED; RIGHT LUNG PUNCTURED] [THREE RIBS FRACTURED; MINOR SHATTERING IN LOWER RIGHT SECTION.] ADMINISTERING SEALANT AND PROTEIN-STEM BASED BIOGEL AGENT. NANITES DISPATCHED TO INJURY SITE. ESTIMATED RECOVERY TIME: 230 MINUTES; MINIMAL PHYSICAL EXERTION RECOMMENDED. Indicators flashed for sometime on the HUD, the interface layout flickering orange while the healing process occurred.

" Damn - I feel like hammered shit. That royally fucked me." I muttered, losing bearings momentarily as immense chest and head pain waved over as well as a brutal sense of vertigo. Feeling a gag reflex coming on, my helmet automatically opened and slid up - trying to stand up, I collapsed again to a knee as I vomited a combination of blood and bile. Almost a minute of puking up dark bluish almost black thick liquid - iron saturation and the chemicals from the NEN serum responsible - it finally ceased. " Fuck me I hate vomiting - especially the shit in my system.

" Looking up, I saw that the Queen was still distracted - that goth was still alive somehow yet; surviving by whatever antics he appeared to be doing to keep the Queen at bay. But it was apparent this couldn't last long - that game of cat and mouse won't last long. "I'm fucked up good - but I can't stay long. Got to pick myself up."

Fighting through the searing pain, gritting my teeth as I suppressed it, I propped myself up and gradually stood. With adrenaline starting to pump through my system, greatly enhanced by the nanites, the healing process started to speed up - but would ultimately eat at energy reserves while risking further injury and wait time if not careful. "Haven't been this fucked up since that encounter with that mutant monstrosity - Hyperion." My mind momentarily drifted to those hellish times. With the compromised strength left, I pushed forward, cloaking to limit exposure.

Glancing on the move, I noticed significant damage had been afflicted on the cavern grounds, numerous craters and pockets created from the strikes the Queen had inflicted - curiously, she had seemed to stop, looking very agitated and puzzled, seemingly losing sight of the goth. "Dammit. Where did that monkey go? You cannot hide forever!" She hissed, slowly beginning to inch from her nesting spot, which appeared mostly destroyed from her tantrums. While I couldn't get a visual bead on him, his IFF and motion tracker signature was detected, flickering occasionally as well as his vitals - based on the data he was likely underground, using the newly created pockets to hide in and whatever tunnels remained to maneuver. Guess he was gifted In hiding like a moderate.

Having moved some several hundred meters from where I last was, the ground now visibly more flatten and lacking in pits and tunnels, I headed for one of the remaining rock formations present on the Northeastern section of the cavern. Before I reached there, I ripped a rock from the ceiling above; waiting for the Queen to fully face forward, opposite of me, I launched the 1 ton boulder - fast enough to be near sound barrier breaking but just shy of actually crossing.

The boulder wisped across the air - and actually managed to land its mark, a loud crunch as it smacked into her back, causing notable damage. Leaving a huge bleeding gash in her back with portions of flesh and even interior bone exposed; the boulder completely disintegrates upon impact while the Queen screeches in pain, recoiling forward. "WHO DID THAT?!" Bellowing out, furious now, dotting her bug and human pair of eyes all around - didn't take long to notice I was gone either.

"W-Where did the armored pest go?! I thought you expired. Did he flee? NOOO….I can still sense him. He's moved somewhere else. . .but he's injured." She noted, undoubtedly picking up on the small pool of blood and chemical saturated bile. "I will find and finish you!" She threatened, beginning to cackle.

While she was looking off and distracted by her own speech, the goth managed to peek out and quickly scurry out from the hole he was in and traverse the ground until jumping into another pocket, the scans showing navigated through another tunnel towards my position.

Reaching the rock formation, boot shaped, I started to climb up the rock deciding to discard utilization of the grappleshot to not draw attention. Taking a bit longer than I'd have liked, I eventually scaled the 50 meter height, climbing over the edge and setting foot onto the relatively level surface of the formation. Overlooking much of the cavern topography, I had a pretty wide open perspective of most everything below - much of it opened up due to the Queen's powerful strikes. The Queen was still fairly far off, some 200 or so meters off, so didn't have much concern of her spotting me - plus it probably helped that I was cloaked. Scanning out, I attempted to locate the egg sac; even suspecting it somewhere within the vicinity of the central nesting site, there were no visible traces of it present - intuition was beginning to kick in, sensing it was hidden beneath the ground.

Focusing back on the central nesting site, now more heavily damaged then before, I spot the worm, almost serpentine part of her body, segments of legs even visible - however the body did appear to stop, or become no longer viewable in sight, focusing in further clear the rest was, in fact, underground even further. This was certainly going to complicate matters.

Standing there, I continued to track the goth's process, his blip occasionally popping in and out as the signatures cut out, though evident he was still making way toward me. Starting to feel disorientated again, my composition waned and returned, the injuries still very much affecting me as the nanites continued to tirelessly repair bodily damage - still felt like shit, only adrenaline and mental discipline keeping conscious - well, mostly adrenaline. Good news - only had to wait an hour and half for full recovery - will feel like my ass was whipped with a fatigue club after all is set and done though.

Feeling myself about to drift off, partly from the effect of my injuries, as well as my not necessarily uncommon 'zone-outs'; I noticed the Goth's blip disappear for some time before appearing again, this time much closer than before. I hear a psst before a projectile indicator warning flashes - of course, it didn't matter because it was late and I sensed something hit my helmet. A faint thunk and crunch, probably a small rock hitting my head. I looked over, peering in annoyance, the Goth standing not more than 10 feet from my spot.

"Hey. I tried whispering to you and flailing around like a jackass to get your attention. But you just stood there like a lifeless stature - you zone out or something." He justified, crossing his arms in an unapologetic manner. "Also how are you handling it? You got hit real good and looked like a ragdoll thrown up and down from some pissed off child."

I glared at him, narrowing my eyes as I debated knocking his ass out and leaving him for dead. "I'll live - survived far worse before. Nothing new." I calmly scuffed, looking forward again. These weren't the worst injuries I've been dealt but I wasn't going to pretend it didn't hurt like hell. Giving it a moment, I realized it. "Wait - how did you see me? I was cloaked." I said, looking over, confused.

"Huh? No you weren't. Your hulking armored ass was pretty well in open view - you actually stick out like a sore thumb when it's not completely devoid of light, I mean." He chuckled, raising a tri-ring pierced eyebrow. "Look like you got blood and puke stained on your chest and left shoulder pad there - is that yours?"

Peering at him in question, I glanced down at myself, noticing the fist sized blot shaped stains running down my chest plate and left shoulder pad. " Dammit. Gonna need to clean that out good - damn that's unsightly." I muttered, almost as embarrassed as I was annoyed.

"Hope you clean it after this is done. Can smell that from here - it's unspeakably dreadful." He comments, clinching his nose and wafting his hand.

I growled, irritated, but otherwise remained calm. "What did you find down there? Any traces of the egg sac?" I asked, sighing

He sighed, breathing out in vexation. "Nothing unfortunately. Just a lot of tunnels and empty dens - also killed a bunch of those smaller worms beforehand. Tough bastards, way too many to take on at once, especially a B-class like me." He says, footsteps indicating he was moving closer. "Good thing the big bug cunt isn't very bright - be damned her mere vibrations alone are dangerous. No way I could do this solo. So what's the plan, Bucket head?" He remarked, sounding so either in joking or insulting manner.

Ignoring his dumb comment, I continued looking out as I contemplated. "First is finding that egg-sac; prevent her from birthing more subordinates and weaken her enough to implement a proper means of finishing her off." I explained, scanning out then glancing over briefly. "If it isn't visible on the surface as is - its further down the rest of her annelid body - somewhere further beneath the ground within the central nest area."

His eyes narrowed in question, widening slightly in concern. "Uh - why do I feel you are implying something?" His tone, indicating worry.

I glanced over and nodded. "Yes - we're going to lure her; coax her so she exposes the rest of her body, in turn making the egg-sac vulnerable to attack." I explained, glancing at him then back out ahead - the Queen still had no clue where we disappeared. "Now this won't be easy - well, in terms of not fucking you up - and it certainly won't kill her. But it'll be sufficient enough to injure her to the point of disorientation and stalling her movement."

He clasped his chin as he listened, nodding lightly. "I see. . .then what?" Inquiring, not giving any noteworthy feedback. "Tough bitch - putting her down will be the hardest part."

I sighed. "I know that. For now - it's getting her attention long enough to lure her and destroy that egg sac the moment it's exposed. We'll start the next phase when we get to it." I stated, somewhat debating the success of my own plan. But I thought of nothing else and stuck to it.

"Best I could think of - Alright. Ready when you are - wait." He says, his train of thought seemingly halted. Concern evidently striking him.

"What is it?" I asked, before quickly realizing what he was implying. "If you're wondering who's going to distract her - yes, I will. She'd flatten your dumbass into a gory, blood-drenched human pancake anyway." I sighed, scuffing as I glanced over at him in annoyance. "You just need to destroy that egg sac the instant it pops into view - think of it as popping a zit on that silly, make-up caked face of yours." I shot back.

He growled, clearly offended and angry. "Yeah, yeah - Sir 'Black night douchebag '

Everyone's a moron but I don't need anyone' -alot." He retorted, scuffing as he chuckled. "Give the go and let's get this started."

Almost as much as the physical pain of my internal injuries did I resist the urge to backhand him and leave his unconscious ass for dead - or just kill him myself and just leave. However, even I have my code of ethics - mostly because I did not want to be haunted over by a failed rescue mission that was no fault of mine. Of course, I was a professional if not anything else - I always completed my task. If all the other 'heroes' are like this - we're going to have issues.

Well, let's get this over with. Hope this goes as planned - and leave here in one - or alive. Looking back I tagged a boulder sticking out some 10 or so meters behind me, I ripped the rock from the wall and pulled it toward me with psionic emission.

"Wh- wait what are you doing? You could do that this whole time?" I heard himself say, noticing the surprise and puzzlement in his voice and facial expression with some minor annoyance now recognizable. "Are you some kind of esper or something? Why can't you use that ability to kill the Queen instead? Squish it or launch an object at it reared fast - you not that strong of one?"

Esper? I thought, not unfamiliar with the term but surprised by its significance - was someone like that present in this world? "That isn't important. It's complicated." I replied, glancing over to him, slightly annoyed by his line of questions. "Anyway, I'll draw Queen bug bitch's attention - hang back awhile."

"What - so you just want me to wait for you to do most of the work and get the glory huh? I'm not that use. . ."

"Wait for the signal - just keep back and out the way until you see the egg sac. Alright? Get ready." I shot back, calm but more visibly irritated, sighing then. "I've handled worse - now move." I brought the 2 meter boulder in front of me and readied myself, peering intently at the Queen ahead.

"Hope you know I'm not you hoard all the credit! I'm the real registered hero here." He proclaimed in a slightly raised but still mostly suppressed tone, backing up as he started to move off. "We're doing together!"

Would you shut it, Sir numbskull. Going to prematurely draw her attention toward us! I internally scolded, aggravated by his unnecessary need to speak as much as he did. I waited until he was out of sight and beyond the detection range of my sensors. "About damn time. Was getting on my fucking nerves." I scuffed, shaking my head disapprovingly. Clutching my fist tightly, I narrowed my sight and stared ahead in determination at the Queen. With a baseball pitcher rearback, I launched the 4 ton granite fragment toward the Queen - with faint woosh, it flew fast enough the distance in a short time and sufficiently below the speed of sound.

In just a few seconds it covered the 200 plus meters, a distant and faint crunch as it smacked right into her back - unsurprisingly it shattered into pieces and really caught her attention. "WHO DID THAT!" She bellowed, hissing with the intensity of crackling fireworks. "YOOOUUU! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONE! I SHOULD HAVE KNEW IT." She hissed, clearly very angry now as her voice reverberated. "I WILL MAKE CERTAIN TO FINISH YOU PROPERLY. YOU AND THAT - DISTASTEFULLY DRESSED SIMPLETON!" I looked over instinctively to wherever the Goth was, sensing that might have riled him up - something was definitely muttered but couldn't be properly detailed over sensor readings.

" Come at me then already." I muttered, narrowing my gaze further; unfazed and simply wanting to end this incursion. Breaking off another rock from the wall, slightly smaller, I bring it forward and whip it toward her much faster this time as a loud sonic boom echoes several times and the boulder ignites from the air friction.

Seeming she was in midst of deflecting the fiery boulder, a loud crackling hiss echoed as it violently disintegrated like a meteorite burning up in Atmospheric entry, scattering smelted fragments across the Queen, even appearing to damage the arm she struck with. "DAMN PEST! DIE!" She screeched, almost roaring out. Definitely pissed now.

Readying to make a break, I watched as she lurched forward at inhuman speed, appearing as a blur - thrusting forward like an enraged cobra, she covered ground faster than anticipated. " Shit. She's quick." I muttered, widening my eyes in surprise, almost shocked at how fast she moved. Bolting from place as fast as I could, I could already pick up the wind she generated and the formation began to fall apart from the force. Sensing it getting too close I fired off a grapple out, pulling myself away from the grapplehead anchored in the cave ceiling - swung away just mere seconds from the impact. A thunderous crunch echoed out, the ground vibration even felt being airborne as the formation behind crumbled with a cloud of dust and soil rapidly diffusing outward.

Carried out for several dozen meters from where I last was, far enough to drop off, I rappelled downward then retracted the grapple once close time to the ground. Falling another couple dozen meters, I braced myself as best as I could - amounted to very little given I was in a dense metal suit - a crunchy thud followed as my titanium alloy boots hit the ground, cracking the surface before I tucked in and finished with a forward roll. A wave of pain slammed into me, the burning sensation and soreness from yet healing internal tearing and fractured ribs remained.

Still stings like a mean bitch. My mind briefly ran, holding my chest for a moment as I waited for the pain to subside as adrenaline regulated again. I looked back, my eyes widened slightly, taking a moment to gander at the destruction; the whole formation was gone, nothing but rock fragments and several large craters spread across the northern corner.

Psst. Hearing this, I raised a brow then looked over - already knew who it was. "Hey I'm over here." The Goth said, peeking out from a small rock formation, clearly apprehensive. "Doing a great job by the way - really trying to get yourself smashed into the ether. So - any sign of the egg-sac?"

Shooting a mildly unamused glare at him, I looked over, scanning. Eyeing out for a few seconds, magnifying vision, I focused on rubble around the central nesting site; switching between normal and IR vision, I saw still much of her normal body - but using the traces of varying heat signatures I spotted the egg sac. 15 meters below the cavern ground but at least much higher then it last was. "None visual on the cavern floor - however picked up on my helmet's IR optical sensor. Still about half a football field's worth of… 45 meters below the ground."

"Damn - that's still a lot. Are you sure this is going to work?" He commented, eyes widening briefly, his tone clearly doubtful. "Hope this amounts to something - causing hiding like this isn't very dignified. Being a hero, especially."

"Enough of that Hero bullshit - I got this under control. Just wait. . ." I scuffed, vibration felt drawing concern and causing me to turn around - seems the Queen was getting the hint I wasn't there nor dead, signs she was taking notice of me soon. "Don't move - think Lady of the worms is getting wise." It would be any moment she'd find me, turning around more and more.

"Better think of something soon then because. . ." He warned, his face contort to concern then brief fear as another vibration was felt.

"Ahhh! There you are! I knew you would have managed to slip away." Her voice echoed, hissing with equal annoyance and amusement. My back still turned, I contemplated, subtly reaching down toward my utility belt to grab one of the fragmentation grenades strapped.

" What are you doing standing there? She's going to attack - wait, what is that in your hand?" The goth whispered. Is that a grenade?"

My back turned, a tenacious look as I glanced back."Just stay there." I simply replied. Picking up subtle vibrations, indicating she were about to lunge any moment, I unlocked the trigger sensor and tapped - electrical-chemical fuse set off, I cooked it for a moment, then quickly twisted around and threw the grenade as hard as I could. Several times faster than a pro league pitcher, I further its acceleration and speed with psionic emission - just after it reached her, about to dodge instead of deflecting, the grenade detonated. Hearing a loud bang, the Queen screeching as she got a face full of several hundred kilos of tnt and superheated steel fragments, I booked it and launched a grapple to carry me away at the last second. Like an abused bull with anger issues, the massive insect Queen drove close behind with a fury of a tornado. The times I pulled a fast one on her, amused me - couldn't keep doing this for too long. Had to finish this soon.

Airborne for a little longer then I would have liked, I noticed that I was only picking up the vibrations she gave off every time she moved - but didn't seem to attack me, concerningly. Wondering what she was doing I glanced back - she had stopped, her party burned but mostly undamaged face angrily glaring, body tense and appeared to be contorting for an attack. My eyes widened when she brought up her exposed tail end - in the brief instance she was manipulating that part of the body and prepared to strike, I caught a glimpse of a portion of the egg-sac visible. Hearing a loud snap, I watched the tail rip toward me like a burning whip - in those few microseconds I had I kicked my legs up and used my core strength to contort myself further up. Mere inches close, the tail passed below - the force it generated sent a gust of air, slamming into me; finding myself blown off course, I attempted to re-correct my trajectory as I'm rapidly flying through the air akin to a plane losing its one main wing. A faint crunch followed a clank, I lost my anchor point as the grapple breaks loose and I plummet again - the third time that's happened already within the span of an hour. Unable to retract and fire off again quickly enough, I braced again as best I could before slamming into the ground; a hefty thud followed as I hit, sent into a wild tumble for nearly a dozen meters - unsurprisingly this didn't help my previous injuries. Coughing up blood partly splattering the inside of my visor, chest burning almost unbearably for a brief moment, I eventually managed to get a hold and halt the violent tumble, after sliding for another several meters. "Fuck that hurt - goddammit." I cursed, as pissed off as I was assaulted by pain. I needed to end this - or this could kill me. Picking myself up, as difficult as it was the pain afflicting me, adrenaline working overtime; I glanced over - where I landed, some 30 meters from me, I could just barely make out the egg-sac, more of it exposed through the rubble surrounding it. Vibrations felt again, I could pick up the Queen's movement - her IFF showed she was much closer then I had been able to anticipate, able to sense her very malevolent presence. It felt familiar - that dire moment back on that abandoned colony, the city around burning from a hellish rumble.

"You're weakened; I can see it. Finally have the insolent vermin you are, right where I want you." She hissed, beginning to cackle deviously.

Got myself in a real predicament now. I thought, glancing up - the monstrous being towered over, eyeing down at me like a bug to be squish, the irony not lost on me. Leaning over, closing in, her vaguely human if heavily insect structured visage, distorted as it became more bug-like, and more fearsome.

"All you humans are the same. Hypocritical, Undeservingly critical, so unbearably intrusive - and worst of all - thinking you are so superior just because you build meaningless tools and slightly more competent apes. But you are barely anything more." She lectured, anger and resentment in her speech. Each word her visage became less humanoid and more monstrous, rows of spines and eyes circulating around her head and maw now not dissimilar to her children. "I became

an outcast because of my fascination with insects and their nature - unlike apes, they can form a collective harmony under one mind. No petty desires or silly squabbles." Her maw expanded, revealing thousands of razor sharp, jagged teeth and two sets of manipulatable scythe-like mandibles. "I know you are one of them underneath that shell - I can sense it." Her mandibles clicked repeatedly as she manipulated, raising an arm as she intended to reach out and grab hold of me - not hard to tell what would happen next.

Mere inches from her clutches, my scanners pick up something on the sensors as an object is marked on the HUD flying toward the Queen - a faint thunk is heard as something hits her head, a rock? "Hey! Look over you big ugly bitch. Forget me?!" A familiar voice called out - the Goth's. I could make him out, his arms waving about as he attempted to get attention.

Surprisingly, or not, this pisses her off; her monstrous, leechesque face snaps toward him, eyes glowing red as she whips her tail at the Goth. The rock hit crumbled and plumed out in dust - the Goth's vitals were still registering if slightly injured and a barely audible girl-like scream let out as he had jumped down. "I have not forgotten you. Pitiful little ape - a surprise you have not fled like a coward." She spat, angrily.

Menial as the attempt was, it was enough time to distract her - not wasting a second, I thrusted up and fired off with my flamethrower module. A stream of yellow flame loosed, catching her maw as she turned around and eating a torrent of 1000 degree plus superheated air current - flowing right into her maw and right down her gullet, she screeched out far louder then she had before; wailing like a banshee in agony.

"IT BURNS! AGGGGHH! YOU FILTHY UNDERHANDED VERMIN DEVIL! YOU WILL PAY!" She cried out, barely able to speak or breathe as her body, inside and out, burned and boiled.

Overwhelmed and nearly incapacitated by the flames engulfing her, I did not remain there, bolting it from place. She made several albeit severely weakened attempts to strike at me as I ran, flames doing well to keep her occupied and unable to move, easily avoidable swipes as I quickly moved out the way.

Reaching a cluster of boulders, I climbed up onto the biggest one; with a better visual, I could see more of the egg-sac, much of it still further underground being significantly larger than initially estimated - I spotted the Goth some distance away, briefly exchanging sight, waving him off. "Get back! I got it. Gonna bring it all down. MOVE!" I Shouted out, him not seeming to protest.

Turning back to the egg-sac, debating whether it was necessary now to destroy, I decided to take measure anyway as subordinate worms were beginning to mass in larger numbers from all around. Unlatching my ARM-11, I drew it up and aimed - with an electrical whir and metallic thunk, the 40mm high-explosive warhead launched from the underbarrel tube and whistled through the air at 200 meters a second.

Only a couple seconds later, a boom echoes as a 6 meter ball of smoke, soil and thrown soil explodes out, quickly vaporizing the fountain of fluid and tissue; worms nearby are killed by the concussive waves or high velocity fragments. The Queen screeches out more intensity as the egg-sac is blown to smithereens, destroying her means of creating more subordinates.

"Time to finish this bitch off." Peering at her in annoyance and vindication. Lifting my head up, I peered at the almost bowl shaped, now much more voluminous indentation - it even looked like it was about to collapse with just a minor disturbance. With one brief glance back at the Queen, still burning like a witch at a stake, I looked up again and tagged the protruding rock that would likely disrupt it all. With one, big single pulling motion I reached up and ripped out everything the magnetic field tagged - series of crunching; faint, increasingly more audible and pronounced as rock dislodged. Rock and soil, starting as a minor shower rapidly fell in density; from single digit tons, to dozens, hundreds, thousands of tons falling like heavy rain.

"YOU THINK I'M DONE HERE! NOT WITH YOU YET!" The Queen hissed, screeching almost deafeningly in a slurry of anger, pain and hatred. Despite burning alive and being hammered by thousands of tons of rock and soil, she was still resilient enough to remain alive and moving - almost like she was close to a second wind, fueled by a hellish fury, she swiped and slashed about wildly with her scythe-like hands and whiplike tail. Smashing apart rock all around a corned animal, set alight in fire and adrenaline - it was evident she was severely weakened, as the falling rock from above slammed into her.

Her vitals were dramatically declining, the rock plummeting now solid and fluid akin to a waterfall as tens of thousands of rock and soil flowed in at a much more violent rate. Rock was starting to fill in from the ground up; the Queen was all but drowned in rock and sediment.

"Jesus. Bitch isn't visible anymore. Completely buried underneath rock, might be dead by now - no, it won't be that simple." I stared at the rapidly piling rock, the ground floor no longer visible as earth from above filled in. "Now it's just a matter of getting the hell out of here."

Hundreds of thousands of tons of rock and soil had filled in just a span of minutes, the boulder I stood on just a few meters above the fluid like rock that had risen over 20 meters already. Eventually, I started to notice the cavern had become gradually less darkened as light from the surface broke in, the beams of sunlight looking almost ethereal. "Wonder where the Goth went?" I questioned, somewhat concerned while looking around. Wasn't picking up movement or vital signs anywhere. I could look for him later; first is waiting for that rockfall to cease.

Soil and rock continued to fall for some time, though did appear to gradually be slowing. It had filled to the point that the boulders I stood on had been buried, pushing me back further inside the cavern - it wasn't long before I had to avoid being carried away or crushed by the rockslides crashing down the continuously forming massive mound of rock. "Fuckinh ay - looks I'm not finished yet. Still got the damn rock falling and piling up." Feeling myself becoming more progressively irritated and patience running thinner, nearly fumbling multiple times as I simultaneously and over tumbling rock accumulating from above. "Alright, where is dumbass?" Questioning as I barely refrained from calling his ass out in annoyance.

"Asshole in not so very shiny armor! Are you still around out there?!" His voice called out, sounding as confused as he was unamused. "These fucking rocks! Some fair warning would have been nice, dickhead! Miracle, I haven't been crushed."

Initially out of sight, I was beginning to pick up his movement and IFF signature - though still just on the range of detection, fairly far off. Probably wise to take it slow and avoid being crushed before regrouping with the Goth prince.

[WARNING: OBJECT IMPACT] Flashed on the HUD a few times, catching my attention.

Looking up, I caught sight of a 10 meter, building sized boulder smashed into the pile atop, causing a ripple effect as it rolled down and generated another rockslide - as if the rockfall wasn't enough. " Oh for fuck sake." Cursing, irritation already high. Tagging the massive boulder with psionic emission, I was pushed back some distance, nearly losing footing but managed to cease its movements; holding it in place, I used the boulder as a shield wall and diverted the rocks falling and the ones flowing down the mound. Eventually, the rock fall would slow as well as what would have accumulated in and atop the pile. Several minutes, feeling seemingly much longer, passed until it returned to silence.

Looking up above, the indentation once there was several dozen meters larger in diameter and now a portal, hole to the surface above; an almost singular, wide beam of light now illuminating the cavern almost entirely. "About damn time it quietens down." I commented, admittedly welcoming the calm change in atmosphere. I looked around, somewhat puzzled as why there appeared no sign of the goth - crushed maybe?

Fixing my footing I turned back to the massive boulder in front of me; tagging with psionic emission I clutched my left hand, carefully beginning to lift it as the magnetic particle field dispersed out, so as not to dishevel the compounded rocks beneath further. Once several meters in the air I brought it around me, maintaining as variable of a stationary footing without disrupting the rocks beneath; behind me, I opened the palm as I loosed the boulder, one decently quick flick of the wrist - a dull echo and admittedly stronger vibration then anticipated as momentum carried it for a hundred feet or so until impacting the carpet of rocks below. "Little more rocky than I would like."

"Great pun, asshole. Now how do we get out of this pit?" A voice some distance off spoke, the goth struggling somewhat to maintain footing on some rockpile he was attempting to stand on, looking up. "Jeez - looks like that's a good hundred meters up."

Admittedly that was a good question. I had a grapple hook and could ascend that way - but I'll be damned if I have to hold the bastard while I go up. Looking back from the sinkhole above, I reached out toward the goth and tagged him with psionic emission. "Wh-what are you doing? What the hell is going on? Are you really using that telekinesis shit to lift me up?" He called back, his tone and expression suggesting doubt and possibly a shred of fear. "Wait? You aren't about to do what I think you. . ." Lifting him up some meters off the ground then a few more further up, I twisted my left arm slightly and pulled him back down some - with a good flick upwards, I released hold, letting momentum and the trajectory calculated to carry him to the surface. " FUCKING ASSSSHOLE!" His voice echoed for a few seconds before a faint thump was heard. Could still pick up his vitals, so he was fine. Probably.

I kept a view on the sinkhole, narrowing my eyes as I thought to myself - now and again couldn't help but glance at the rock pile atop which I stood - almost could feel vibrations, extremely faint, yet something there; like the bitch was still alive somehow. Didn't seem to be any signs indicating so I tried not to dwell on it. Moving a foot forward attempting to climb up I could sense the deceptive looseness of the rocks beneath; I didn't lift a foot further, looking up again. The very top of the pile was about 20 meters from my position - not particularly stable enough to start rappelling from. "Well - guess this is the best of any spot to start." Gazing almost fully upright, I traced the border walls of the sinkhole as I attempted to establish an anchor point.

"HEY! Are you still down there? What the hell are you down tin man?!" I heard the goth shout out from above, his voice echoing. "Are you making sure she's down or something? Are you crazy or what?!"

I could partly make him and his silly leather emo outfit though I did not care to increase visibility. Giving myself a few moments to tag a spot, I fired off a grapple upward into the sinkhole, a faint clank followed by a crunch as the grapplehead punches into the soil, left side, just a few meters below the rim. Letting it retract a bit, become more taut, I reactively glanced down as I felt a weak but still very noticeable vibration on the sensors - even for a brief instant vital readings jumped. " Well, that's awfully concerning." I muttered, uncertain. Wasn't sure if it was fluke or just mind playing tricks on me - sensors never been this inaccurate before.

"Better not waste any more time." Shuffling a bit to get an adjusted footing, I looked up again - the cord gave off a surprisingly loud tink as it briefly slacked before beginning to retract. After a brief moment of weightlessness, I'm pulled by the contracting titanium alloy wire at a moderately quick rate. "So far, so good." I uttered, not necessarily surprised but yet still relieved that nothing came off the readings. A few meters from the bottom rim of the sinkhole, I picked up activity on the sensors with health reading data suddenly appearing again - as a blip appeared on the tracker, the sound of rocks breaking and tumbling down broke the silence along with a notable distortion in the air.

" Huh - what the hell?" I muttered, watching a red blip confirm and similar health data re-appear - just as I glanced down I felt a tremendous pressure compress around me. Glancing down, I saw the Queen, though heavily disfigured and wounded, clamp around my body with her massive scythe-like hands, managing to burst part of her upper body and head through the pile of rocks below.

"DID YOU THINK ESCAPE WOULD BE THAT EASY?!" The heavily injured, almost zombie-esque looking Worm Queen screeched. "IF I'M GOING TO PERISH DOWN HERE SO WILL YOU!"

I growled in a tsunami of burning pain, as my still healing ribs and internal organs began to be compromised again; I could feel the almost unbearable sensation of my ribs cracking again within the metal infusion coating and my large intestine perforate from the outside pressure. This bug bitch might very well be the death of me. Should have seen this coming. My mind raged, irritated by the circumstance.

"Hey metal boy are you up yet. . .wait the Queen is still alive?! Looks like she got you in a bad way. Oh shit!" I heard the goth call out from above - my senses beginning to deteriorate as the pressure increased and time passed. "Just wait there!"

Not responding, I simply just attempted to remain conscious and fight with the rapidly comprising health I had. In the compromised state I was in I could not properly defend myself - it wasn't long before a coughing fit started as my chest filled with blood. Nanites in my system diverted and worked overtime to slow damage as well as maintain repair processes; despite the thick gel cushioning in my suit, the sheer amount of pressure overwhelmed protective measures.

As a last ditch effort - not to mention the sounds of the grapple head beginning to loosen - I utilized the Cybernetic Anatomy Cerebral Interface, CACI, the computer controller mechanism to redirect power to my energy shield via neural impulse command. On the HUD, the normally adaptive strength level quickly reached 100% then beyond, a plus mark indicating energy threshold governor bypassed - from the normal, only momentarily visible topaz, the compacted gas continued ionize, sizzling as it transitioned into a solid, almost blinding violet. Temperatures rapidly climbed into the thousands of degrees celsius, melting and beginning to violently burn away the exoskeletal structure of her hands.

Momentarily losing the Goth's IFF and movement signature, my sensors picked him up again - a curious vibration and notably slow movement found in his blip.

A thunderous wail was let out as her massive hand began to violently boil and evaporate away, portions even popping as they evaporated in an explosive manner. As her hand deformed and fell apart from tens of thousands of degrees celsius worth of heat transfer, I saw readings flash on the HUD. [WARNING: IMPACT IMMINENT] flashed several times - glancing up, trying to make out what my blurred but gradually improving senses could, I saw what appeared to be a large boulder fall off the edge above and plummet down into the sinkhole. Watching it come down, sensing the air it pushed away blow down into me, I waited a few seconds before it was several meters above, kicking away, a whoosh as it narrowly missed me falling below. A loud, crunchy thunk echoed as the calculated 30 ton rock hit the exposed top of the pile, crushing the burning, mortally injured Queen below - not wasting a second, with the returning senses I had, I secured myself in place as best I could with my other free limbs as I relocated the wire winch dispenser onto my back magnetically; extending my arm downward I fired of the flamethrower module, a torrent of blue hot flame spiraled out down below.

For nearly a minute, I released a sustained a stream of superheated air into the pile below - temperatures exceeding 3000 degrees fahrenheit melted the rocks, glowing red to orange as the material gradually but continuously molten; outside temperatures reached over 300 degrees celsius as the conventional heat from the flame radiated out. Once everything below was nothing but glowing molten rock and absolutely no forms of vital signs or activity signatures were detected did I stop. "Agh. . I think that'll do it. Damn." I groaned, still assaulted by pain but feeling otherwise relieved.

"Uh - big guy? Are you still alive down there?" His voice echoed, sounding notably concerned. "Jeez. What the hell did you do down there? Looks like the gate to hell."

Not immediately responding, I gazed down into the steaming, molten mound of earth and a Queen now more certainly dead. "Yeah." I simply replied, my mind drifting briefly - let out a suppressed cough, a minor if less significant amount of blood released. Vision and other senses returning to near stable levels, I shifted around on the rock wall in the admittedly awkward position I was; almost climbing upward, I shimmy myself up, grabbing the titanium wire and pulling myself up as I free hang from the anchored grapplehead and reattach the WWD module. Once connected again, I started rappelling upwards once more.

With my compromised injuries prematurely disrupted from their healing process, it would be another 2 hours before their nominal state - at least it'll be calm for a little while. Several minutes of tethered scaling and regular hand contact climbing, I was just ten or so meters from the top edge - my vision and seeming perception of reality became distorted, not from my injuries - from something indiscernible beyond yet not unfamiliar.

Strange, unearthly whispers and imperceptible eloculations rumbled within my mind and some unexplainable foreground. ( Ehmmm - very good; entertaining introduction indeed. An initial significant encounter well fought - though, a few unfortunate missteps in foresight not gone unrecognized. Possess triumph much rewarded; but never stray thought from circumstance such as this, this road, these obstacles unavoided. The next chapter begins soon. Until next time - wispful one.

Hearing crunching and a metallic tink, my vision returned to normal as the strange state of my mind recorrected - blinking, shaking my head, I felt a brief sense of weightlessness as I find myself having losing my grip and dangling from the applehead tethered above, some slack resulting from experience. "Shit. Goddammit it happened again - what the hell was that? That fucking voice - so familiar but I can't recognize anything." I cursed, annoyed by my loss of focus but more so the strange phenomena that overcame me a second time. From where I was, I taut the wire again and began to climb up once I had firm grip.

"What the hell is wrong with you tinman? Keep dozing off and losing track of yourself. Fuck, man." He scuffed, hinting more concern than annoyance. "Here. I can help you the rest of the way - grab my hand." He says, reaching out his hand.

Stopping just a couple meters below the rim, I glanced up, raising a very puzzled brow. Does he realize I weigh over 300 kilos in this suit? Couldn't help but look at him like he was a moron - then again he's proven he's not exactly a normal human even with his terrible taste in attire.

"Yeah yeah. I get it; I don't look very strong by my physique and I know you're an anvil on legs - but I assure, as a B-class hero I'm far stronger than C and your average joe." He retorted, more exasperated but otherwise calm. "Just waiting on you now, asshole."

Narrowing my eyes, momentarily doubtful and no less annoyed, I shook my head and signed. "Alright." Looking up, I got myself a secured footing, some rock broke free and tumbled, I pushed off and leaped upward. With sense to keep the grapple head anchored, I managed to catch his hand, surprisingly able to handle my weight but also maintain footing - though, on closer inspection seemed to visibly struggle somewhat, he pulled me up while I also pushed up on my end. Once I over the edge and back on solid ground, he let go and I retracted the grapple head as I was back on my feet.

"Glad that's finally over. That was literal hell - used to fighting Wolf level monsters; Tiger seemed extreme to me. But this - no way I was gonna take that one down. Heard rumors of something powerful residing deep beneath this desert's sand. The Worm Queen was definitely a Threat level Demon- if I could even properly gauge it." The goth spoke, relief present in his voice but notably taken aback from the encounter - surprised he hasn't gotten PTSD after it all. "Hate to say it - but if you didn't randomly show up like you did - I'd have been a goner. Thanks." Sounded like that took a lot out of him to muster, almost scuffing.

Hearing him, I hadn't responded right away as I felt my sight drift out as I scanned the surroundings. The calm wind blowing by only seemed to further detract my attention. "Don't mention it. Just thank your lucky stars that I happened to you - truthfully was never my intention to save you in the first place." I replied after a few short moments, briefly glancing back at him but otherwise focused on the desert surrounding - there was nothing particularly that caught my attention, I just didn't like direct eye contact with people.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked, slightly more curious than concerned. "Also what are you looking at?"

Walking a paces away; initially ignoring him, I looked around, momentarily above as I passively attempted to link with more satellites above. "Found you all wrapped up in their silk; they managed to knock your ass unconscious and gift wrap you for dinner. Pretty scuffed up too - as in some internal bleeding and a few broken bones; a nice concussion cherry on top." I explained, glancing back briefly. "You're lucky I was feeling unusually charitable - used a special medical agent to help get you back to speed and heal your wounds."

He sighed. "They were that bad huh? Damn - really must have cornered myself." Heard faint, embarrassed chuckling come out from him. "Won't let myself be that reckless again. Anyway what now? We're out in the middle of nowhere; my cellphone is busted and quite frankly have no idea where my walkie talkie is - lost the damn thing back in the cavern system below."

Glancing down I reached for my utility belt and pulled off the communication device from my waist - naturally from the brutal exchange it was now a busted piece of junk. "Picked it up somewhere down the tunnel system I navigated through." I replied, holding the walkie talkie out straight with my arm. Only then to fall apart as soon as I released hold of it - some broken pieces carried off by the whistling wind. "Unfortunately it didn't fare as well - the fight with that Queen ended up far more intense than anticipated."

"Fuck me." He breathed out as he spoke, defeat seemingly present in his voice. "Now how am I going to send a message back to HQ. . .er well this city's regional office. Then again - doubt they'd even believe me - being lowly B-class and all. Shit." There was a moment of silence before I heard footsteps and picked up his blip moving toward me, glancing back reflexively. "That thing on your wrist - looks like some kind of communication device or even computer am I right?. Looks pretty advanced too - way beyond anything I've seen. Wait - may we use that! Looks pretty powerful too."

Extending my other arm back instinctively, I blocked him from getting further. "Utility Implementation Tool. And yes - it's a wrist-mounted supercomputer device." I answered, narrowing my eyes in annoyance as I glanced back at him, finding difficulty in restraint from turning his head into mush. "Don't like strangers - or really anyone - from getting uncomfortably close to such an important instrument. I'll use it when I intend to do so. Back off."

Blinking, he stepped back. "What? Was just asking if you could use that thing to transmit - and possibly contact, you know, the organization that employs me?"

"Employs you? Thought you were a hero? Business practice and heroism is the last combination I'd think of." I replied, genuinely confused - then again, recalling that organization's website content it actually makes sense now. Well, aside from what seems like corporatism and heroism blended like an oil and water mixture. "What makes you think they'd even take the brief instance to believe you're alive, let alone succeeded?" I turned around, finding myself standing over him, peering down in interrogation.

Appearing intimidated by my height difference or sudden aggression, he took a step back again. His eyes widened before contorting in visible anger. "Look asshole, I may not have done much with the Queen herself, I admit that - but I got the attention of your ass at times. And oh that Boulder I dropped not more than a minute ago. Didn't expect her to be that powerful you like you admitted." He retorted, his voice at a higher tempo and notably raised in vexation. Clutching his face, he walked off in visible frustration before sighing. "Look - you're probably right. Knowing how they treat anyone below S and A class, they'll probably just dismiss the claim, hell probably just laugh about it behind curtains. To be honest I can't blame them." He went on, calming, with defeat in his tone.

Following his movements, I raised a brow in question; debated whether to care or not about his workplace issues - I did not. "Listen, Dumbass - don't know the state of affairs in your field of employment and quite frankly I don't care." I said, looking him down with narrowed, stern eyes - too harsh? Debatable really. "My only concern is getting away from here and figuring out what to do next and maybe more importantly - how the hell I ended up here in the first place." Found myself beginning to pace, occasionally glancing up to the sky as I tried to rationalize my abrupt and inexplicable appearance on this world - wondering if Genysis is out there listening.

"Wait - you didn't show up here on your own accord or were sent by someone?" He questioned, his puzzled voice breaking the silence. "Gaah! Nevermind that - look, I'll want to know how you intend on leaving here. I mean - it doesn't look like you came here with any form of transportation. And well admittedly I didn't plan any either - figured I'd make the call if someone would show up." A faint chuckle escaped his breath. "Come to think of it actually- they might listen to you. While they might not heed my words, someone intimidating and doesn't take shit like you might be able to. They definitely could use some of your expertise - and some of that gear you have looks pretty handy."

Walking off, more or less drowning him out, I had wandered some good distance away as I contemplated. Transportation was one thing - still utterly baffled as to where my ship had end up and how my big metal sealed ass wound up outside it in the first place - bigger question though was what the hell I even going to do after this all? None of my major resources or recognizable enemies even in this bizarre doppelganger of a world - was this even Earth? Am I losing my damn mind? Actually that one was debatable.

"Hey! Where are you going? Nearest part of V city is like 70 kilometers from here. You intend on walking all the way there?" I heard Goth boy yell out.

Referring to the nav-map on the HUD - yeah he wasn't wrong; it'd take a good 6 hours at the pace I was going. Though truthfully didn't have much of a reason to travel in the first place - time passing by though reminded me, as well as the situation I was in, I didn't have many options. Hell, most if not all the supplies for an operation were back on my ship - only it was on my back. I stopped and sighed. "Alright. I'll do it." I said, feeling a sense of relent but primarily just uncertainty. "Just one thing."

"Uh - okay. What is it?" He replied, sounding more cherry.

Moving back toward him, I kept my arms lowered at my side in a casual manner, feigning a casual friendly smile. "Hey pal - uh what are you doing?" He asked, his expression transitioning into that of concern. Once I was about less than half a meter away from him, I quickly drew back my arm and drove a titanium-cladded fist directly into his face - there was a brief metallic clank followed by a faint squishing and crunch. The impact sent him back on his ass and caused sufficient damage to render him unconscious but not injure him too much - maybe minor mandible and zygomatic fractures.

"That was for the times you broke my cover, jackass." I scolded, glaring in cold burning annoyance at his unconscious body. Frankly, it was also because he was just getting on my nerves - hate being hovered over when doing anything like that. "Got some brief peace and quiet at least."

I had started walking off some distance as I finished linking to the satellites above - or those my UIT could immediately detect and 'negotiate' access to. The process would take a little bit of time as the heavily encrypted surveillance program ran - taking the moment to notice, I saw it had darkened significantly; hours seemingly passed as it was noon last I checked, now close to 7 pm, the sun closer to the horizon.

[SAT-SYSTEMS_DISCOVERED: 24; LOCAL SCAN_LINK COMPLETE] [COPYING NATIVE CODE; CUSTOM-USER_INTERFACE COMPLETE]

Once that flashed on the HUD I implemented the satellite systems under my control to scan for specific signal frequencies. Utilizing a custom, Trojan type hacking software - I collected any data of the internet for my computer to examine as well as root out channel frequencies connected to any Hero Association communications system otherwise inaccessible to regular contact.

"Shouldn't be too difficult. Pried into far more sophisticated security systems before." Watching the flow of data coming in, nothing too unrecognizable albeit visibly archaic, seemed it was just a matter of tracking a signal, finding a location and remotely accessing a tower or other form of transmitter equipment and going from there. Admittedly, there were a few roadblocks - seemed I was getting somewhere but running into another form of firewall or false code links. "Damn. Who designed this gauntlet of firewalls is a real piece of work." I grimaced in annoyance but found the slight bit of challenge somewhat amusing.

Curiously, after a short while, the Trojan program eventually found a backdoor - funnily, exploited from a communications system and ISP of a location well beyond the intended target zone. There were a few minutes of authentication processes, re-scanning and transmission making - on the UIT, data crawled as the signal picked up buffered, a solid flashing ring icon spun and flashed as the process took place.

Soon, I appeared to have obtained access to whatever form of mainframe their system was organized and implemented with; now I had access to files containing: hundreds of dossiers, event and activity documents, IFF tags, locations, inventory content as well as a library of audio and visual logs. "Bingo." I simply uttered, satisfied by the results. Provided a large list of channel frequencies and phone numbers, I narrowed a location first then matched corresponding activity and transmission instances.

[SCANNING…LOCATION DISCOVERED: HERO ASSOCIATION HQ, A-CITY.]

"That was easy." I chuckled, somewhat surprised I managed to get to this point - few stopgaps withstanding.

Waiting, I went into my UITs menu and settings, activating the Pneumatic-luminal emitter sensors and projecting a hologram-type display for greater discernible visual readings. After a minute or so, the updating data collected from the satellite optical camera sensors began showing the layout of a complex, notably a very large city - one seemingly spanning for at least several miles in all directions. As the satellite imagery improved rapidly, magnifying, upscaling resolution with advanced ai based software - one particular section became tagged and highlighted, at first a dark, almost pitch black object faintly shined.

Narrowing my eyes, I zoomed in closer and entered into an artificially generated, though very sophisticated topographical mapping program; panning around, getting a more horizontally aligned view, I saw what appeared to be a very tall, almost fortress type skyscraper towering above the city. "What kind of building is that?" I questioned, peering at it in almost disbelief - not that fortress type building was present in the heart of a city but its design language as was. Scanning it further, I discovered much of the building material was mostly unknown metals and composite bonding materials - though titanium and stainless steel did appear present on that list. Impressive - but why a skyscraper and in the middle of a large city? Also why metal?

Searching further I found that curiously, the designer and engineers responsible were not a company or collection of construction groups - turned out, one of their own, had built it; in fact, one of the top dogs, an S-Class hero known as metal knight. "Well isn't that interesting? Iron man type huh?" I commented, glancing at the data that crawled in on the window along the side. Evidently, not much information was available on him - aside that he was highly secretive and implemented drone based technology to battle this organization's enemies.

Deciding not to dwell on it for too long, I figured I'd dive more into info gathering later. Now it was getting myself some technical support - something tells me this is the command hub for coordinating the majority of operations and where the big wigs conduct planning. Had to find the channel frequency and network code this place operates with. Minimizing the satellite imagery window, I checked over the window displaying non-visual data; having isolated locations with similar channel frequency and network as well as communication transmission signatures, I narrowed down the list further with corresponding location data and lapse of time between most recent transmission instances.

After a few minutes of processes of elimination and sifting through dozens of locations within 150 kilometers, I narrowed down all the recently emitted radio signals from that section of the city and instances when utilized. Once those were catalogued, I triangulated the point of origin to the black tower - and just based on the evidently infrequent instances these specific channel frequencies were used, it was safe to say they were for important individual and very particular situations.

"Think that's all she wrote." A smirk crept on my face as I watched the data update, seeing the sinusoidal curve on the graph and location match.

[SCANNING…UPDATING] [UPDATE: NEW FREQUENCIES FOUND_LINKING]

Curiously, the channel frequencies appeared to range from the 25 kilohertz ultra low frequency to 600 kilohertz high frequency range. Imagine the latter was due to the nature of the building structure. At this point it was a matter of picking and choosing - one particular channel frequency and network tag however caught my eye; had to bet it was from the highest level section of the control room. Now it was just simply implementing the custom channel and getting their attention.

"Alright. Let's see how quick they are." I chuckled, finding myself oddly amused - maybe hacking into the servers of an important private organization was part of it.

The system beeps as it adjusted the signal quality received, static present in the background momentarily as it connected. While it was finishing connection, I opened up a new window for visual feed; also made sure to hide myself via edited video software. Soon, the video feed window displayed a recording session; on the other side, I had a view through their surveillance feed or some form of camera system - curiously with a similar type of luminal projection.

Seeing no-one just yet, but certainly hearing voices, I saw a control panel and surveillance system built atop a platform raised above the rest of the command room, that itself large and spacious with other sophisticated advanced control boards and interfaces; some staff wearing formal suits appeared, the females wearing a curiously designed 'windowed' patch on their chests. Switching between the hologram displays, I saw various types of information shown; surveillance feed, location tracking, satellite positions - curiously, looking closer at the global map I noticed designation of cities and their regional states, or possibly countries, all labeled by Alphabetical letters. Oddest, and most eye-opening was the fact it didn't even look earth - appeared much of the population was present on what appeared to be a super-continent, akin Pangea. Also why the cities were designated with single alphabetical letters - seemed a bit lazy.

Getting a bit impatient - maybe I was a bit too covert, possibly no indication I was there. Rolling my eyes, I messed about in their mainframe's operating system, gaining access to the server; from there I remotely accessed control board functionality and triggered an incoming transmission indicator sound - a beep went off every five seconds, making sure to successively run it until someone noticed.

"Come on, assholes I haven't got all day." I grumbled, slightly vexed though primarily just bored. Noticing some heads turning, clearly confused, two of them walked over while the other staff members just continued working or conversing. Watching a woman carrying a clipboard and a beard, a dark haired man walked up the steps; they emerged into full view, the man sat while the woman, a bob-haired brunette stood - both looked very puzzled. It was highly amusing.

"*There's nothing on the feed. Just appears to be a desert in the middle of nowhere.*" commented the lass with the clipboard in her hands, lowering to speak with the beard gent - equally confused but also visibly concerned. "*Are we having a hardware or software issue? Appears to be a visual feed of some kind, possibly a camera or phone - the resolution and format don't match however. Something isn't right." Noticing him type on the board, he showed he was growing more concerned and perplexed, evident he was attempting to fix the supposed issue. "*Could we have been hacked?*" the female whispered, showing growing concern as well. "*Maybe we should get a technical expert in here.*"

Found it necessary to jump in from there. "*Ahem.*" I cleared my throat to draw their attention - it worked, as they recoiled back slightly with surprise and possibly a bit of shock. "Don't be concerned with the apparent disembodied voice, that's edited. Also don't attempt to triangulate my position - as far as your systems are concerned I am one of you. I've got something - or rather someone for you." They exchanged puzzled looks, equally concerned as were; both looked back, the bearded man spoke, calm but noticeably more stern. "Who am I speaking to? How did you manage to access this channel and these servers?" He asked, stone faced but I could tell he was very worried, the assistant visibly similar. "That is not important and I'm afraid you are not in a position to ask these questions and demand answers." I replied, calm but a notch more serious.

"Anyway - I assure you I mean no ill intent or even want anything from you. I am going to show the result of one of your half assed planned operations. Do rumors of a hidden worm colony ring a bell? And a powerful Queen commanding them?" Moving my arm around, I directed the visual feedback from the desert landscape until it was on the massive sinkhole behind me. Didn't take long to widen their eyes in surprise upon seeing it, though a little more might need to be cut it. "Not convinced? I've got physical- visual evidence to prove it. Take a look." Opening another window on the hologram display, I switched through a montage of video recordings and camera imagery - passage through the tunnels, the nests and uneaten victims in cocoons, saving the goth from his fate and the direct engagements before, between and the ones after; including the battle with the Queen herself, any view of me edited out with some showing the goth himself. Shock was now clear and evident on their faces, some glints of fear also showing - bearded man even looked ashamed, of only briefly. "I- our reports indicated no presence or traceable signs of activity. How could we miss an area such as this? Couldn't fathom a colony of such creatures could be so well hidden - and the Queen herself, a monster I dare not bet even A class heroes could handle." The man spoke, seemingly vaguely apologetic in his tone but still calm in expression.

"Now, about what I said earlier." I chime in, turning the feed onto the goth - still unconscious, lying on the ground sprawled eagle. This really hit them, both gasping in shock, the female recoiling back while the bearded male sighed and remained with a silent disconcerted expression. "*B-Class hero: Punk Dagger*." the bearded man muttered. "What have you done to him? Is he . . ."

I interjected, and quickly replied. "Yes; he's a bit fucked up - mostly in attire choice. But he's alive and breathing - is he not one of the expendable dogs you sent, no?" I questioned, feeling myself become vaguely annoyed. "I know how you corporate bots operate - anyway, asshole was the one who assisted me on this op.

That sinkhole, now a burning pit of death, is the aftermath. Everything is dead, crisis averted." I knew they technically weren't a corporation - but being funded by the rich and corporations, the populace too stupid to factor in, they may as well have been.

He sighed, seemingly in defeat, though most likely in uncertainty. "We were unaware he had been operating in that region, warnings aside - he didn't listen, possibly due to communication issues. Listen, I apologize for the misunderstanding and improper foresight; we thank you for your completion of the task. Hero Punk Dagger will surely receive credit and a rise in rank.." He sighed, looking down, visible stress on his face. "I don't know how we can repay you. . ."

I scoffed. "I'm not concerned with that. Just get this tool off my shoulders - this is my one good deed for the day. Send transport as soon as possible for extraction - very strongly prefer it be within the next hour." My sight briefly drifted to the sky as I thought, speaking in a dull tone, the hint of demand in my voice.

"I am not sure if we'll be able to dispatch a search and rescue crew in such short notice. We still have yet to pinpoint your locat. . ." I interjected, somewhat annoyed. "I was getting to that." After a few moments, I send visual and numerical data as well as a high resolution of the setting. A 3-D global map as well as the coordinates were sent. [27 degrees, 3 meter Elv, 500 kilometers South] "There, you got the information you need. If not, I'm smack dab in the middle of a desert 140km Southeast of U-City." The two conversed, whispering quietly enough I couldn't pick up the chatter, bit ot a pain in the ass - finishing, they looked back at the screen.

The bearded man sighed before speaking. "We may be able to pull some members of the search and rescue team for dispatch - only request if you remain where you are until transport arrives. Does that suffice?" He offered calm with a hint of professional sternness. I looked off, sighing faintly. "Yeah. That'll do - don't waste time. I won't be for long." The man nodded slightly before turning to the assistant. "Get me a hold of the Emergency Relief department. Want them to scramble whoever they can and dispatch as soon as possible." He instructed in an authoritative tone and manner, the girl nodding and hurrying off out of view. "Please. Remain where you are, I promise help will arrive before sunset and whoever you are - thank you. But please, do not access this channel unauthorized again - or I'm afraid there will be dire conseq…"

With all I needed to hear, I cut off the transmission and closed that channel for now. "Damn - glad that's over. Hate talking to people I don't know or give a shit about." I scoffed, just satisfied to be done with the tedious ordeal."You owe me big time, dumbass." I scolded, looking over my shoulder in mild annoyance. "Now all there's to do is wait."

With only silence and inactivity for the short while ahead, I debated what to do to pass the time. As I paced about, occasionally my UIT for a more in-depth look at update, looking around bored to shit - started to feel the adrenaline begin to wear off, the aching in my chest and burning sensation of my torn apart insides smack me like a hammer to the face. Forgetting how fucked up I actually was, I could feel a rush of light-weightedness and my vision begin to become blurry as the effects of my injuries fully set. "Ah hell." I muttered, senses rapidly overwhelmed by the pain - as my disorientated state became too much, I wobbled about until I finally slammed to the ground like a tranquilized Buffalo. Eye becoming too heavy, my internal systems going into extreme repair mode as I began losing consciousness until it all fades to black.