I'm sorry it's taken so long to get back here. Hopefully you've all noticed that some other stories are getting the updates they so desperately need (Mind Control!). In the meantime, here's the next instalment of Project Z!
Disclaimer: Man, this again…
The siren blares it's warning, echoing through the empty habitat. Zap and Tung hold their hands to their ears in reflex.
"What's going on?" the bug boy shouts to the workers. Through squinted eyes, Zap sees a broad grin stretch out on the leader's face.
"There's a bug!"
"What've we got?" he races into the control room where Jenny types at the keypad. A satellite image of Metro City pushes through the heavy layer of mist to close in on the local park, noticing a large yellow beetle calmly grazing on the browning turf.
"It doesn't seem to be bothering anyone," Zap asks, noticing Jenny turn to him.
"It doesn't need to be," she explains, standing and grabbing her knapsack. "But whoever called this in isn't happy with it. Besides, if we bring it back we can simulate its habitat. It'll be much happier here."
Dex types on his communicator, his two team members devices ringing in response.
"We're all synced up and ready for this," everyone follows his pace down the echoing hallway, filing out of the building and standing on the shore of the island. Heavy fog masks their view, squinting to see any land in front of them. The wooden row boat laps pitifully.
Dex tugs at the strap of his bag. "But…there's always a catch."
"The boat won't fit all of us," Jenny removes a scanner and holds out a detection rod, scanning the air in front of her. "And this level of condensation is the worst I've ever seen registered. I don't even think we can take the boat."
Dex drums his fingers on his chin, eyes continuing to dart at the boat. Rough pebbles crunch under Jenny's boots as she approaches her boss.
"Zap could fly us?" her cheeky tone sends a chill down Dex's spine. He dares a look behind his left shoulder, seeing the stranger glancing around in hopeless thought. Dex shifts uncomfortably.
"I'd rather he fly us there individually," he whispers back to her. He sighs as his hands hit his sides, activating his wristcom. The image of the insect flashes on the screen, catching the leader's attention. The bright yellow shell entices the entomologist, knowing a bug like this has no known information stored in their database. There was so much they could learn from this one simple mission if it wasn't for these damn obstacles.
His stomach sinks as he comes to the only conclusion he can live with, looking to his two team mates for reassurance.
"You did fix the ship, right?"
"I can't believe you're doing this, we're doing this," Jenny chuckles as she checks off items on her inventory. "This is so unlike you Dex. I mean you'd never…"
The clone stops as she catches his dead-panned expression. "…I'll stop talking now."
"Why are we taking the ship?" Tung pipes up in his childlike manner. Dex closes the hatch of the compartment above his head. "It's illegal, isn't it?"
"We need to get that bug, Tung," he pushes past the tracker, standing near the front of the ship. The windscreen remains black with the habitat's garage. "And we can't keep sitting around for much longer. From where I'm standing, the benefits outweigh the costs."
A shuffling catches his attention, turning right to the driver's seat. The silent guy keeps his eyes firmly on the steering wheel. The leader places his hand on the back of the chair.
"No offence," he begins, stepping between Zap and the steering wheel. "But I can take it from here."
Stale tension hangs between the two as Dex keeps his stare. Soft boots approach Zap.
"You can take my seat," she places her hand on his shoulder, gesturing to the passenger chair. "Still a good view."
"Jenny, I'll need you to navigate."
Lips purse at the instruction, Jenny sidestepping around Zap to get to her chair. "Sorry."
"Buckle up everyone," the ship's engines ignite, pulsing under the feet of the crew. With steady control, Dex lifts the ship out of the metallic doors and into the skies of Metro City.
Jenny's lips keep twitching at the excitement, but from the corner of her eye, she notices Dex's hand trembling on the gear stick. She analyses the sonar tracker, seeing no other crafts in their vicinity.
"It's fine Dex," the engineer tries to reassure, yet the leader's face remains firmly staring ahead. "No other ships are near us and if anything, the fog is giving us cover for any visual identification."
Dex swallows the lump in his throat. "Almost there everyone."
"Hey Tung," Zap whispers to the tracker. "Can you give me a run down on how missions are supposed to work?"
Tung bites the inside of his cheek as his thinks.
"Sorry dude, come to think of it, this is the first official mission we've had," he notices the other team members shifting in their seats. "We haven't all left the habitat together at the same time, plus this is the first time I've been in the ship."
"Seriously?"
"Ok everyone," Dex speaks up, keeping his red gaze out of the screen. "From what I can tell, this bug is harmless. It'll only charge if distracted by bright colours or very loud noises. So far, a citizen has called this in from an office building, so we know they're away from danger, and hopefully no one else is near our target location. Seatbelts on, we're in for a bumpy landing."
The heavy ship rattles as it presses into the soft grass. Dex is the first to leave, darting his head from side to side in search of anyone who could become a witness for their illegal travel. Jenny tails behind him, holding a ray gun in front of her. Tung rolls out behind her, holding his nose to their air and inhaling deeply.
"It's around the corner," he explains, noticing Zap standing beside him. "There's lots of mud too."
"That's unusual," Dex removes his own gun from his belt holster, turning off the safety. "We're not near any bodies of water. Maybe the bug is producing it."
Jenny hangs her backpack off her shoulder casually, half zipping it open to retrieve two pairs of goggles. She passes one pair to the leader who accepts it quickly, then holds out the other pair to Zap.
"Here, we don't know if this bug could do anything to damage our eyes," he takes the grey goggles from her, glancing up at the pink ones sitting atop her head.
"They're a simple design of mine, we can communicate through virtual presence," she gestures to the green pair Tung wears, accentuating his large frog red eyes. Glancing down at the goggles in his own hands, Zap can see an image of the frog boy waving frantically at him. With a shrug, Zap pulls the goggles onto his face. The heavy fog fades to the sides, giving him a crystal clear image of Jenny.
"It also helps with dissipating the fog so we can see what we're doing," her pink pair fall onto her face. "Let me know if you're having trouble using it."
"Guys please, keep the noise down," Dex crouches past the group with his finger on his lips. His focus turns entirely back to his mission. "I can hear it."
A roar in close range spreads a tingle down the spines of the group. With their weapons, they move together, slowly and quietly, around the corner of the park monuments to spy a large yellow insect happily chomping on grass. Narrowing his eyes, Dex emerges from their hiding place, walking in a large safe zone around the bug until his team can no longer see him. His boots slide in the slick, thick mud that's pooling from under the insect.
"Jenny?" Dex's image appears in her goggles. "Do we have a pheromone mister or something that we can release here? It seems pretty docile but perhaps we can usher it into the cargo haul."
"I don't have one of those," the clone argues, almost agitated at Dex's suggestion. "I told you I wasn't finished writing up the schematics for that one."
The creature stirs in its meal at the elevated volume of the conversation, turning its head to Jenny. The group steps back in response.
"Guys. Keep it down!" At his voice, the insect roars again, legs twitching and squishing around in the mud. It spies Dex standing alone, his red shirt glaring and bright. "Uh oh, new plan. New plan!"
In quick action, the leader turns on his heels, sprinting away from the advancing bug. Jenny pulls on Tung's sleeve, pulling him into the action.
"Come on, we've got to help!"
Zap stands on the sidelines, watching as the team scrambles and shouts at each other. In the centre of the quagmire, the insect continues to follow the bright red uniform of the leader. From behind, Tung messily tries to aim his weapon, happily oblivious to his untied shoelaces. His foot steps on the others' shoelace, bringing the tracker chin first into a pile of mud. The bug, upon hearing the scream, turns around in fright and scrambles towards its new source of distraction. Tung stands still, remembering what Dex had said about movement.
The leader appears in the trackers vision. "Stay…very…still."
The yellow bug moves towards the tracker with slow, sludgy steps; mouth opening, teeth baring; saliva dripping. Tung remains frozen in his spot as the massive creature sniffs closely to his face.
"Don't move," Dex continues to whisper his words of advice. Tung glares in his direction.
"Yeah, I got that the first time you mentioned it," he grumbles through gritted teeth. Dex activates the weapon in his hand as a precaution to Tung's movements. The device whirs loudly in his grip as it powers up, catching the attention of the bug. It snarls in the direction of the leader, but before Dex can raise his weapon in defence, he's struck in the chest.
The mud oozes down his uniform, bleeding into the fabric and leaving a memorable stench. Glancing up, he raises his brow in the direction of Zap, hands covered in mud from the throw.
"Do you have a problem?" Dex appears in Zap's goggles, his whisper sharp and furious. Zap keeps his composure, ignorant to Jenny's look of pure shock.
"It's your uniform," Zap whispers back, Dex noticing the bug no longer eyeing his target, instead its interest had taken to chewing on the grass near Tung's feet.
"You said it doesn't like bright colours. Tung's covered in mud."
Sighing, Dex turns his attention to Jenny. "Ok, so what's the plan?"
The engineer stands, overalls covered in mud. "We need to trap it. You should have a grappling hook-like device in your utility belt. If we can get the three links to line up we should restrain it enough to get a tranquillizer to a soft location."
She spins a gun-like pistol in her hand, loading a hook in the cartridge and taking aim. Dex and Tung follow suit. The metal pierces the air as they fly above the shell of the insect. It roars in response to the noise, shifting the cords loose.
"Quick, reload!"
The wires retract into the guns before being shot again. The insect moves drastically to avoid capture, making their shots pointless. A light fluttering approaches the bug as Zap soars directly above. He catches the ropes and ties them together, pulling them tight to trap it. Jumping quickly from body to head, he slams his closed fist down, bring the insect to the ground.
Jenny runs forward and pulls the plastic cap off the top of a syringe. Stepping to its side and away from a potential kick zone, she injects the tranquillizer into its leg joint. A loud screech resonates through the park, resulting in every member to hold their hands to their ears.
"Everybody ok?" Jenny asks once her hands slowly return to her sides. She races over to Tung, pulling him to a standing position as Zap flies down to join them. Dex anchors his rope into the ground.
"That was pretty good," Tung cheers, giving Jenny a high-five. He offers his hand to Zap, but the pilot turns away. Dropping his head in dejection, Tung lowers his hand, only to have Zap slap his hand in response to the high-five. His face spreads into an overjoyed grin, bouncing happily.
Jenny smiles, wiping the mud off of her uniform. "We make a pretty good team. Honestly it needed every one of us to get that bug."
"That's great and all," Dex interrupts, approaching the group. "But we still have the issue of getting this thing into the ship and flying back unnoticed."
"No worries. We can let Zap fly us back."
"Oh for crying out loud Jenny he's not flying the ship!"
At the sound of his voice, the insect stirs restlessly. The ropes tremble at the tension; fraying and splitting as the insect fights to get free. The ties break with a crack, and with invigorated anger, it sets its eyes onto Jenny's bright pink outfit.
It roars loudly, scraping its tiny leg through the mud as though to charge. The engineer holds her finger over another weapon in her holster, ready to use, until a dark figure blocks her path. Zap stands between her and the bug, covering pink with his all black uniform. He stares at the insect, piercing blue eyes threatening. Meeting his gaze, the bug shuffles out of the ropes and wanders off, scurrying quickly away from the group and out of sight. Dex groans, fingers pressed to his eyes.
"How did the tranq not work?" Jenny whispers from behind. "It should've taken down a bug that size."
"It doesn't matter," Dex responds, moving to a rehearsed cleaning up of the failed mess. "Let's just get this all back into the ship."
"Answer me this," Zap speaks up, startling the leader. "If I wasn't brought here to fly you guys, why am I here?"
"You want the truth?" anger boils out from him. "I wasn't exactly about to leave you in the habitat with one of my crew."
Zap's face turns red at the accusation. "If you don't trust me, then there's no point in me being here," he turns around abruptly, pulling the goggles off his face and placing them roughly in Jenny's hands. "In fact, when you head back to your "habitat" after this, you can just leave me here."
"Fine by me," Dex shrugs his shoulders, arms crossed tight. He pushes past Dex roughly, fingers threading into his hair in frustration. Still visible to the group, Zap screams loudly and punches the stone fountain centrepiece of the park. It cracks and splits at the force, crumbling to pieces before them. The team stares with gaping mouths. Zap spreads his wings and speeds off before anyone can reach him.
"What's the matter with you?" Jenny yells at Dex. "He was finally opening up to us."
"Struth Jenny, didn't you see what he just did? As far as I can tell I was right to keep him away from our home. Keeping him with us was just dangerous."
"He's part bug, he was alone and he worked really well with us," she moves past him, focusing her goggles. "I'm going to get him."
Dex grabs her arm, turning her to him. "No you're not. He's not coming back with us."
"You take in strays," she shouts, green eyes glaring at his. Her voice lowers. "You took both Tung and myself in. We were both him once."
Dex, taken aback, feels Jenny roughly pull her arm from his hold. She jogs away from the pair, nearing the corner that Zap had just disappeared behind.
Jenny stops short, eyes widening at the sight as large brown wings and a white skeletal tail slink away into the shadows of the concrete building.
Dex looks at Tung, rubbing the back of his neck. His communicator chirps in alarm.
"Huh, looks like we've had another bug sighting."
"Yeah," Jenny responds in her communicator. "And I think I know who it is."