Chapter 24 – Lizard Watching
"You think anyone can take him down?"
"What did he mean by his master?"
"Is he gonna come after us to finish the job?"
"He's the one that sent the attack on us, isn't he?"
All this and more speculation enveloped the room as the battle of the Demongos ended on Huntor's monitors. With everyone talking, it was getting hard to think, much less talk.
"Hey, Alice." – Doyle said loudly as he put his hand on her shoulder to get his attention.
"Yeah?" – Alice yelled to be heard over the chatter. Though, it was still hard to talk to each other with all the noise around them.
"Alright, that's enough!" – Doyle yelled out to everyone in frustration. "Disperse! Movie's over!"
And at that command, the crowd of Agents slowly flowed out of the room. Only Noah, Alice, Thompson, and Huntor remained.
"Sometimes this place is like a classroom full of kids." – Noah sighed. "I feel like the substitute teacher."
"You don't get paid enough for this shit?" – Alice teased him with a smile on her face.
"Okay, witty remarks aside, we really need to discuss it." – Doyle told them firmly, ignoring Noah's joke. Noah noticed this from him. It wasn't like him to miss an opportunity for banter, but this time he was really serious. Probably because of him seeing Calan's soul used as a pawn.
"Okay, where do we begin?" – Noah asked him.
"Alice. Your expertise is important here. You should tell us everything you know about Fusions and their behavior so that we don't miss anything and know what we're working with." – Doyle told her what he had been meaning to earlier.
"Of course. So, Fusions are usually created when Fusion Matter interacts with someone's close personal item. They can take direct telepathic control over the Fusion Monsters, and their influence actually changes the Monsters' behaviorisms somewhat. For example, Creepasauruses Rex usually can't stand each other on sight, but under Fusion control… they don't even growl at each other."
"Do the Fusions possess some kind of autonomy from the Fusion hivemind?" – Thompson raised his hand.
"Well, yeah." – Alice confirmed. "I think we just saw the biggest evidence of that right now. I mean, Fusion Demongo declared that he was going to use Aku to overthrow Fuse and rule Planet Fusion himself… I think."
"Yeah, question, mate. Who exactly is this Aku, anyway?" – Huntor interjected.
"One entity at a time." – Doah cut him off. "We'll get to that later. For now, we're discussing Fusions."
"But how can a Fusion plot against Fuse?" – Thompson asked. "I mean, I thought the whole point of their existence was to serve him. Right?"
"Well, yes and no." – Alice sheepishly said. "There's been instances of Fusions acting up. It usually happens with Imaginary Friends, because Imaginary Energy kinda messes them up and they actually end up either leaving subtle clues to help us commit their undoing… Or – and this literally happened to me on my way here – beg me to shoot them in the head so they wouldn't be around Cheese anymore." – Alice explained, really straining her voice at the last part to emphasize how crazy the whole thing was.
"That feels like an understandable reaction." – Noah casually shrugged.
"So do you think Imaginary Energy was at play here, then?" – Doyle asked Alice.
Alice paused for a moment to give her answer. It's not that she wasn't sure, it was because she had to accept the fact that for once, she didn't know everything.
"Actually, no, I don't." – Alice answered. "Well, there could be, but we've seen zero evidence of Imaginary Energy so far. I guess the only thing we can pin this on is the fact that Fusions are messed-up versions of their counterparts. The good guys are evil, and the bad guys are even more evil. I guess the Fusion Matter took Demongo's sense of loyalty, twisted it, and gave Fusion Demongo a strong self-serving agenda, strong enough to even defy his own purpose. If I had to guess…" – Alice considered. "…that's how I'd explain it." – she established.
"So… does that mean that they have capability for free will?" – Doyle questioned. "Going against his own master… he went against his very purpose. That's… pretty much free will, right?"
"Kinda makes you feel bad for all the Fusions you've killed, huh?" – Noah remarked. Though, judging by the stares he got, his feelings were unreciprocated. "Yeah, me neither. I was just saying things…" – he quickly took it back.
"All in all… it would make sense for Fusion Six to do what he did." – Doyle concluded.
"Your Fusion was also probably with him. Those two work in pair." – Noah pointed out.
"Yeah, sure. Okay, we need to comb through all the recent footage on every camera we can. Especially in Dinosaur Pass. Maybe they caught something that we missed. A clue as to what Fusion Demongo was up to, or Demongo himself."
"What about the thing Demongo took?" – Agent Thrompson pointed out.
"What thing?" – Alice asked. "You mean the essence?"
"No, before the battle started, Demongo took something from a hollow tree. Then, he specifically turned towards the camera and winked." – Doyle explained to her.
"Here, I'll pull it up." – Thompson said as he rewound the camera to the moment Demongo looked at the camera.
"Dude broke the fourth wall." – Noah joked.
"Not the time, Noah." – Doyle cut him off.
"Okay." – Noah said, accepting that this was too serious. "So, we already knew Demongo knows where basically all the cameras are, right?" – he turned to Huntor. Huntor nodded. "Okay. Well, we can see who left the thing for him, then. That's where we start." – he concluded, and Thompson started rewinding the feed further.
"Hmm. You know what doesn't make sense?" – Doyle suggested. "Why would his mystery benefactor leave the thing for Demongo to find right in front of the camera? That just let us see the whole play out, and could give us clues on his plans."
"Except he wanted us to see it." – Noah replied. "I mean, Demongo was in on it, wasn't he? Why else would he wink right at us?"
"Well, why would they want us to see it? What could they possibly get from THAT?"
"I have a better question." – Alice interjected. "Who exactly is Demongo's mystery benefactor? He's not exactly known for working well with others."
"You've got a point." – Noah considered.
"It's not that Shala again, is it?" – Huntor growled. "He already gave him my chronoton particle. Who knows what else he's been doing?"
"Nah, no way." – Alice laughed. "Shala's my cousin. It can't be him. I know my cousin well enough." – she said with conviction.
"Well, then who is it?" – Noah said. "I mean, I'm pretty sure no one has gone in or out of the camps recently, and definitely not in Dinosaur Pass."
"Ah, but you're mistaken." – Huntor told him as he switched cameras with a fang-bearing smile. The large screen in the center now showed Naver and Cheese hiding in the bushes as they the battle unfold. "That mate of Shala's. The nosy one, with purple eyes. He was right there the whole time."
"Naver?" – Alice said, surprised. Of course, it couldn't be Naver, but at the same time, she wasn't as sure as she'd be with Shala, since she's only known him for three days.
"Okay, I think I got it!" – Agent Thompson said as he pulled up the hollow tree on the main screen. A figure shrouded in a cloak approached the tree and, indeed, seemingly dropped something into it.
"That could be anyone!" – Huntor growled.
"Okay, when was that, Jame?" – Noah asked Thompson.
"'Bout three hours ago."
"At least we know the time." – Noah concluded.
"That doesn't mean your mate didn't do it." – Huntor told them.
"Oh, for the love of…" – Alice sighed. "Thompson, can you find where Naver was at that exact timeframe?"
"Sure thing, Al." – Thompson told her as he started looking. And it didn't even take a minute.
"THERE!" – Alice pointed at the screen. "Naver was fighting Frillos in another area while the thing was Demongo was being planted. Happy?" – She asked Huntor. Huntor didn't respond, just growled of discontentment.
"So it's not any of our people, and it's not Naver. Then who could Demongo's accomplice be? Another Fusion?" – Noah supposed.
"Why would a Fusion be helping Demongo, though?" – Thompson asked him.
"Maybe they wanted Fusion Demongo out of the way." – Noah explained.
"But then, what's the point of putting it on camera?" – Alice retorted. "No, it must be something else." – she said, thinking. "Wait. There's one other entity Demongo is famously associated with." She knew this one was a stretch before even voicing it out loud, but she had to take it into consideration.
"Who?" – Noah asked her.
"His master." – Alice said, and hesitated, as if just saying the word would have consequences. "Aku."
A slight discomfort fell around the room, as if even uttering his name would make Aku jump out of the shadows and attack them.
"Aku? The Shapeshifting Master of Darkness from the legend?" – Noah skeptically said. "Didn't he, you know, die in the legend? If he was ever real, that is?"
"If Samurai Jack says he's real, then he's real." – Alice shot him down. "And Jack also says that in the timeline he found himself in, Demongo was Aku's most loyal servant."
"Okay, but if the legend is true, hasn't Aku been dead for centuries? Judging by what Demongo said, he's trying to bring him back to life, so he can't possibly be the benefactor."
"Maybe… I don't know, he's like half-alive and powerless, and that's why he's wearing the black cloak, and Demongo is trying to restore him to full powers?" – Alice proposed.
"Then how would Aku be the benefactor of Demongo? It'd be the other way around!"
"I'm just throwing the idea out there alright?" – Alice defended herself.
"Whatever it is, it seems like we have a new entity to look out for on the island." – Noah said conclusively. "The Cloak."
"We're NOT calling it that." – Alice interjected. She paused for a moment to consider the options. "If Samurai Jack was here, he'd know all about it, probably." – she finally said. "At least we have the next best thing. Kinda." – she added.
"Wait, what's the next best thing?" – Noah asked her.
"You remember the guy we met in the caves before we found Huntor's? Jay Zoomringer. He was a trained under Jack, and as far as I know, he's probably the person Jack told the most about Demongo. Although, he's not really the cooperative type."
"Well, you try and make him cooperate, if he's as important as you say he is."
"Dude, you don't get it." – Alice stopped him. "For us, this is like, just another threat that we just found out we have to deal with. But this guy, it's like his whole life mission is to stop Demongo. If anything, we'd be the ones helping him."
"Whatever it is, as long as we catch Demongo in the end." – Noah agreed.
"Unfortunately, he'd put it in a different way. He'll likely think we'd get in the way. I mean, I tried. I tried my hardest to help him." – she slightly tensed up her voice, already agitated from even talking about him. "But no, he'd rather do everything on his own and wallow in his own loneliness than accept help." – she continued ranting.
After that, an awkward pause fell in the room. Nobody wanted to say anything, as it was clearly getting into personal territory with Alice. Though, Doyle, who had been staring intensely at each screen, didn't seem to be paying attention to the conversation in the first place. He was too busy thinking the whole thing over.
"Quickfeet." – he turned to Alice.
"Yeah?"
"Tetrax said that we should all have a meeting of the leaders, right?" – he asked her.
"Yeah, but it's not decided yet. We don't know if any of the others agree, or where it'll be…"
"It's gonna be the SACT camp." – Doyle said conclusively.
"What? How do you know?"
"It's in the middle of all the other locations. Plus, the airship is in Hero's Hollow of all places, the Plumber base is hard to access up the mountains, and this place is underground. It only makes sense."
"But why are you asking about it now?" – Alice asked him.
"He's about to say that he wants to leave." – Noah pointed out. He'd known him long enough to know what he was thinking.
"Any objections?" – Doyle said somewhat challengingly, specifically towards Noah. He really seemed deadset on it. In fact, Noah couldn't recall if he had ever seen him this determined before.
"Well, not exactly "objections"." – Noah sheepishly said. "I just think we need to think things through before making a hasty decision."
"Nothing to think about. We've been rotting in here for too long, doing nothing. I'll go on that conversation between the leaders. Coordinate our forces. You can call the shots here in the meantime."
"Dude, we need you here more than ever!" – Noah objected. "The worm attacks have been getting worse, and Demongo is gonna be the least of our concerns if we're torn to shreds by the Fusion Monsters! I-I can't run this place alone, okay? It's too much. And it's not what we agreed on."
"Oh, grow a pair, Nixon." – Doyle dismissed his complaint.
"Doyle, you're acting like Winthrop. Just because you want to avenge Calan doesn't mean you get to make rash and ill-thought decisions, okay?" – Noah retorted. "You're not the only one that misses him. This entire team was relying on him, and it doesn't give you the right to act the arrogant jackass that plays by his own rules!"
"Do they always have arguments like this?" – Alice whispered over to Agent Thompson.
"I haven't seen them this agitated before, but pretty much, yeah." – he confirmed.
Alice got frustrated. The island was hanging by a thread and these two couldn't even agree on what to do. If there was one thing Alice hated seeing… well, there were actually a lot of things, but a big one was inefficient leadership.
"Alright, listen up, you two." – Alice boldly intervened in the argument. "You're the leader. You need to start acting like it." – she told Doyle first. "Think. Things. Through. Or else we're gonna get slaughtered faster than you can say Scoria Cephalopod. We don't even know if the Plumbers got the message yet, or when can Tetrax make it here." – she said firmly.
"Finally, the voice of reason." – Noah commented.
"And you." – Alice turned to him. "There's no such thing as "half a leader", Noah. You're taking as much charge as Doyle. When Doyle's not around, everyone's gonna be looking at you for orders. You're gonna have to take it on yourself." – she laid it out. "Now you two figure it out." – she said as she got up and left.
"She's got a killer instinct, that one." – Huntor, who almost everyone forgot about, commented.
"Maybe she should be the leader." – Agent Thompson remarked towards Doyle and Noah with a cheerful grin on his face.
Tetrax was back at the control room of the airship, monitoring the scanners. The ongoing crisis situation had fallen into somewhat of a routine, but even though it seemed less urgent, Tetrax knew not to drop his guard or get comfortable. They were still in Hero's Hollow, after all, close to the Fusion Nest and right next to the other airship that got too comfortable.
"Uh, hey, is the crystal brickhouse around?" – Tetrax heard someone enter the room. He turned around to see one of the airship's occupants.
"Wayne." – Tetrax stated, recognizing him one of the few fighters on the ship that were somewhat competent. Though, he didn't exactly seem like it to Tetrax. "What is it?" – he asked.
"And I've got a deal you can't refuse." – he said with showmanship in his voice.
"Make it quick. I'm somewhat busy." – Tetrax responded completely flatly.
"Don't worry, this will just take a moment of your time." – Wayne said as he moved in confidently, just like a salesman that got his foot through the door. "I'm offering to donate a vast collection of various weapons and ammunition, as listed here…" – he pressed a button on his DexCom and a hologram appeared, showing an entire list detailing everything in Wayne's collection for Tetrax to see. Bio-Plasma Cannons, Triple Threats, Bazookas, Leviathans, Chaos Guns, Diskotechs, G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A.s, Vulcan Carbines, etc. It was impressive.
"That would be a reasonable help to us." – Tetrax admitted. "How did you even amass this stockpile?"
"Those people out there are nuts, they have no idea what they're sitting on and are willing to give it all away for what they think is better. And I happen to be a natural salesman. I did run a DVD store for 5 years." – Wayne boasted. Tetrax was impressed a little bit less at this.
"I assume you want something in return?" – he asked him.
"As a matter of fact, I do." – Wayne nodded. "If you remember, I had a spot in one of your rooms, until you decided to give it away to one LG Shala." – he stated.
"Of course it's related to Shala…" – Tetrax thought, but didn't say out loud.
"And what I require in exchange for these weapons of mass destruction is simply a spot in another room. I just can't sleep under the open sky, okay?" – Wayne continued.
"Hmmm…" – Tetrax considered. "I can't just kick someone out. They'd be dissatisfied and accuse me of favoritism."
"Yeah, that'd be a terrible idea." – Wayne sarcastically remarked.
"If it's only a spot to sleep that you need…" – Tetrax hesitantly said. "Then the control center might provide a suitable alternative. As long as you don't disturb the work of me or my engineers. Got that?"
"Meh. I'll take it."
"Hey, Tetrax, Jim and I can't agree and we gotta double-check, was it the red wire or the yellow wire that set off the airship's auto-destr…" – Macy came in. "Oh." – she said when she saw Wayne. "Movie snob." – she coldly greeted him.
"Studio shill." – he similarly responded.
"What are you doing here?" – she asked him. "Last time you were here the ship almost crashed!"
"What?!" – Tetrax demanded to know.
"I live here now." – Wayne braggingly told her.
"Wh- is this true?" – Macy turned back to Tetrax. "He's gonna be sleeping in here with us?"
"Unfortunately, yes." – Tetrax confirmed.
"Oh, no, I absolutely refuse!" – she objected.
If petrosapiens breathed air, Tetrax would have sighed right now. Never a boring day on the airship, it seems.
"So, what's life in the underground like?" – Alice asked Cindy as they met up in one of the empty hallways.
"It's so much better than the Fireswamps, dude. Fusion Monsters be damned, I'd have died just from the sunburn." – Cindy joked. The two of them laughed.
"Aren't you feeling a bit crowded here with all of the tension between everyone piling up, though?" – Alice then asked her.
"The leadership already driving you crazy?" – Cindy asked Alice, already noticing that she was somewhat ticked.
"A bit. Yeah." – Alice admitted.
"Honestly, they're not doing a bad job. They just have to work it out with each other, you know? There's nothing you can do about it."
"Yeah. Hate that feeling, though. – Alice admitted.
"Speaking of working it out with each other, what're you gonna do with Jay?" – Cindy then asked her.
"Cindy, come on."
"What? You've been on edge ever since you came back. It's because of him, isn't it?" – Cindy incinuated.
"If you know the answer already, why are you even asking me?" – Alice annoyedly asked her.
"Well, you saying it out loud will help you work through it." – Cindy suggested. Alice got annoyed at the fact that she was right, since she really didn't want to talk out loud about it. The farther this conversation went, the more she would have to admit the reality she genuinely did get a crush on Jay. Yes, a crush, like some schoolgirl, and Alice hated that that's how Jay made her feel, since he refused to understand what Alice had been telling him.
"Yoo-hoo, Earth to Alice. Are you stuck in the Jaylands?' – Cindy mockingly told her with a playful smile on her face.
"Oh, har dee har har." – Alice rolled her eyes.
"But no, I'm serious. Talking to him about it is the only way to get it over with." – Cindy advised her.
Maybe she had a point.
"Plus, a little romantic action would definitely suit you."
Maybe she did not.
"What?" – Alice stared at her, weirded out. "What do you mean by that?" – she asked Cindy, who gave another playful smirk. "No, seriously. What do you mean by that?"
Cindy could tell that Alice was trying to figure out what was the best way to kill her but she was too shocked to decide on just one.
"What? It's true." – Cindy continued despite and Alice's continuous glare. "Noah told me about how you blew up at him and Doyle. And come on, when was the last time you had some action? High school? What I think is that it would do everyone a service if had a guy to do it with and unstuck that massive stick from your-"
"Cindy…" – Alice interrupted, but then took a moment to articulate what she wanted to say. "You are SO not passing the Bechdel test."
"You're just proving my point!" – Cindy told her.
"You have a point?"
"Okay, listen. I've known you for a while." – Cindy told her, trying to rationalize it as clearly as possible. "And, you're usually very invested into your own work, right?"
"…Yeah?" – Alice answered, not exactly sure where Cindy was going with this.
"And I'm right in assuming that this isn't a new thing, and you've always been like that." – Cindy continued.
"Uh-huh." – Alice nodded. Ripping her head off wasn't off the table just yet.
"And, well, what I'm saying is you must be, well, repressed…" – Cindy hesitantly told her.
"I'm about to set my Sonic Smacker from "stun" to "kill", Cindy." – Alice threatened.
"You're still doing it, Alice. You're doing it right now. You need to stop avoiding the comic and face it head on. I mean, unless you and Noah are "friends with benefits…", right?" – Cindy shamelessly asked.
"Wh- are you crazy? No!" – Alice immediately denied.
"Yeah, I didn't think so. Winthrop SO owes me 50 taros." – Cindy exclaimed.
"Is this still supposed to convince me that I'm sexually repressed?" – Alice demanded from her.
"Okay, okay. So, yeah, in comes this dark horse that swoops you away so now BAM! You're suddenly all messed up inside because neither of you is really capable of emotional performance. Does that sound about right?" – she finally asked Alice.
Alice was left speechless.
"Of course, there's also your desire for control in your life where any and all unknown factor has to be tamed, but that's another can of worms entirely." – Cindy kept going.
"Cindy… I love you, but if you keep this up, I'm putting Huntor's hair trimmings in your food." – Alice deadpanned. And at that, they both laughed. "Leave the armchair therapist to Noah, okay?" – she told her.
Still, she was relieved this was over, because if Cindy kept pressing on, she might actually start believing it herself, and those doubts popping up in her mind were terrifying to her. Although, if she was this scared to think about it, did that mean Cindy was actually right?
"So…" – Alice said to change the subject. "How's Maison been holding up these past few days? You two have been really working it up in the medlab, right?"
"She's… not well." – Cindy said. Just the mention of her gave her a worried look on her face, completely erasing the shadow of her jokey expression she had just had before.
Alice nodded with a heavy heart, but she knew that wouldn't have changed.
"She keeps thinking the monsters are gonna break in here and we're all gonna die. She's a wreck and at one point she confided in me and said she was actually seeing things and couldn't tell if the monsters are real or not. And her nightmares, Al… she talks in her sleep. Names. It's mostly names. Probably the people she couldn't save. It's horrible, and I just don't know what to do."
"And what about Fix?"
"What about him? He hasn't come in to see her in days! I don't even know if he's at the base anymore!"
"I'll… find and talk to him." – Alice decided. She was going to see him anyway, as there was something she could use that he might have had.
"Yeah, good luck getting anything out of that weasel." – Cindy remarked.
The door to the airship's cabin suddenly slid open.
"Hey! Ever heard of knocking?!" – Shala yelled as Tetrax walked in. "You have no idea what I could have been doing in here!"
"What could you be possibly be doing?" – Tetrax asked. "You're sitting in your bed and eating chips."
"That's… something that I'd rather… not talk about. With you." – Shala deflected the topic, remembering who he was dealing with, as he shoved some more chips in his mouth.
"By the way, you're gonna have a roommate from now on." – Tetrax casually told him.
"What? I thought the whole point of the mission was for me to get my room back all to myself!" – Shala objected.
"The point of that mission was to recover the transmission module, Shala. And as for your room, well… I apologize, but the airship is tight on space. At least it's somebody that you already know." – he told Shala as Macy stepped into the room, holding a bag of her stuff.
"I have to share the room with Macy?!" – Shala raised his hands towards her.
"Yeah, I'm not too thrilled about it, either." – Macy told him.
"Does the concept of privacy just not exist in petrosapien culture?" – Shala turned to Tetrax.
"You're free to leave the room anytime." – Tetrax told him with a sense of irony.
"Ugh, fine, whatever." – Shala groaned and moaned and rolled his eyes, emphasizing the fact that he was as against this as possible in order to make Tetrax feel at least a twinge of guilt. Tetrax felt none.
"I'm the one that keeps the bed, though." – Shala said firmly. "You can have the floor." – he told Macy, and she tossed her bag to the free corner.
"Very gentlemanly, Shala." – Tetrax deadpanned, earning annoyed glares from both Macy and Shala. "Okay. you can work it out amongst yourselves." – he backed down with the sarcasm.
"Well, there are worse possible roommates." – Shala shrugged as he offered the bag of chips to Macy in gracious hospitality. She grabbed a fistful, though crumbs fell all around the floor.
"You're cleaning that." – Tetrax told him.
"Don't worry, the ants are gonna eat it all up and it's gonna be as if there was nothing there." – Shala waved it off.
"YOU MEAN YOU'RE THE REASON THE SHIP HAS AN ANT INFESTATION?!"
"Uh… hi." – Alice said as she entered the storage unit which Huntor used for all of his scrap. Fix was sitting in the corner, tinkering with something he had picked out of an old space junk pile. The sight reminded Alice of Shala.
"Someone told me I'd find you here." – Alice told him.
"Oh, you're back." – Fix said, somewhat surprised, but not moved.
"Yeah." – Alice said. "So, I'm looking for something, and this place might have it."
"Yeah?" – Fix asked, though coming off as somewhat rudely. He seemed to be eager to get back to his work.
"If Huntor has a spare universal translator." – Alice asked.
"It's the purple one on top of that pile." – Fix lazily pointed as he continued with tinkering.
Wordlessly, Alice went over and picked it up.
"Do you, uh, know… how to use this?" – she asked him.
"How would I know? I don't need to use that thing." – Fix told her.
"Okay…" – Alice awkwardly said. She turned around to leave, but stopped and decided to ask him something.
"Hey, so, uh… you and Maison are in a relationship, right?" – she asked.
"Yeah."
"So… why aren't you talking to her?" – Alice continued the interrogation. She knew he had been brushing her off for a while now, and it seemed unfair to Maison, who was emotionally fragile and dependant.
"Nosing in on other people's business, much?" – Fix demanded to know.
Alice stared at him. Finally, she decided to turn around and leave without saying anything else, but then he spoke up.
"I want to break up with her, but she couldn't handle it." – he said, finally, opening up, with contempt in his voice. It wasn't directed at her, though, but rather, the situation that caused this mess, and somewhat, himself.
"Why'd you start dating her in the first place, then?" – Alice asked in frustration. "She's completely emotionally dependent on you!"
"You think I don't realize that?" – Fix snapped back. "I thought I could cheer her up. But it didn't work. Whatever she saw at Hero's Hollow, it's like it broke her. But if I say something, I'm afraid she's gonna… you know. What Rodriguez did." – Fix tried avoiding saying it.
Alice recalled what Agent Rodriguez had done when they were making their way though the Fireswamps. He had killed himself to ease the burdens of the rest of them, and Maison was the first witness. So, no matter how much she disliked Fix's way of handling it, she had to admit that he had a point.
"What do you think I should do?" – Fix asked her, reaching out for advice from the dark place he had isolated himself in.
Alice sighed. "Nothing you can do will help unless you keep being there for her." – she said and left.
Fix groaned. He already knew that. But he had yet to come to terms with it.
"Is that really what you do all day?" – Macy asked a relaxed Shala, who was lying comfortably on his bed. "You're so lucky."
"Work hard, play hard is what I always say." – Shala retorted.
"I can vibe with that, but does the work part ever come in?"
"I don't know. Right now I'm decompressing from the last mission."
"Shala, that was yesterday."
"So?"
"Come on, you've had enough decompressing. I could use your help on something."
"On what?" – Shala lazily asked.
"The shield generator. The wiring's been messed up ever since we took a hit and I think we can get the shields back to at least 40% capacity if I sort it out. And I could do with your advice. Come on."
"Fine, fine." – Shala begrudgingly followed.
"So? Anything?" – Alice asked, eager to find out.
"Not exactly, no. They weren't carrying any significant variations, or anything like that. So, yeah, I don't think your hypothesis holds any weight. I mean, there was a variation of the Satapliasaurus DNA strain, but…"
"But?" – Alice repeated impatiently.
"But it was just a minor mutation. Nothing that's worth delivering to Fuse's Lair, definitely nothing that would prompt mass Fossil Brawler migrations on the island. So, yeah. It's not a DNA discovery that's forcing all those monsters to move from Forsaken Valley. At least, not based on the samples that you brought me." – Winthrop concluded.
"Are you positive? Did you check the RNA chains as well?" – Alice pressed further.
"Yes, Alice, I checked the RNA ch-"
"And what about the mitochondric DNA?"
"Hey, I don't tell you how to conduct your research, do I?" – Winthrop snapped. "If you wanna see a dinosaur, go in the basement. Huntor's got a live one locked up."
"Wh… what?" – Alice repeated, her jaw dropping. "A… an actual live dinosaur? Here, on the island?"
"Bottom floor, next to the garage." – Winthrop said as if it was nothing. "It's the room Huntor wouldn't let us in before."
"You're shitting me." – Alice said, with her jaw still open.
"Y… nobody told you?" – Winthrop asked her. "Damn. Guess there's just so much going on that even a dinosaur is an afterthought." – he said, but at this point he was already talking to himself, because Alice had rushed out the door and down the stairs to see her a damn dinosaur.
She ran down the stairs at breakneck speed, skipping three steps at a time and nearly rolling down the rest of the flight, supporting herself with the sealed metal wall so that she didn't lose balance and fall over. At the bottom landing, she saw a Providence Agent. It was the one that didn't talk a lot, but Alice knew his name. It was Agent Rivera.
"Where's the dinosaur?!" – she asked him.
Rivera, though usually stoic, was now visibly surprised by Alice's sudden shift in character, as she was usually always composed. He pointed over his shoulder at the door behind him. Living up to her name, Alice quickly ran across the doorway and pressed the button on the console to open it. Though, now that she was here, only now did she realize that she had no idea what kind of dinosaur was expecting her in there. Winthrop had neglected to mention that part. Ideas flashed through her mind. Was it a carnivore? Herbivore? It couldn't possibly be a Brachiosaurus or anything like that, it wouldn't fit, right? But it could just be a young one… although, what would she even do if she stepped in and there was a damn Tyrannosaurus Rex waiting for her?
Though, as she looked inside, she was pleasantly surprised. In the large chamber, standing next to Huntor, was a short, stout quadrupedal dinosaur. Though, it was only short for a dinosaur, as it was still over 5 feet in height, not to mention around 18 feet in length. Its body was covered by armor plates with spikes coming out, which Alice knew the scientific names of were osteoderms, and its tail was adorned with a thick osteal bulge, making for an effective mace. Anyone would recognize this dinosaur, and most would know it by the name of Ankylosaurus, though Alice recognized it as an…
"Ankylosaurus magniventris of the Ankylosauridae family, which lived in the late Cretaceous Period 66-68 million years ago." - she said under her breath. And yet, a living, breathing one was standing in front of her. And it was magnificent.
"Holy shit. Winthrop was right, you really do have a dinosaur in here." – Alice said. Though she was addressing Huntor, who was also in the room, the only reason she said it was to hear herself speak, or else she would have gone crazy with excitement.
Huntor, who was in the process of feeding the Ankylosaurus entire leaf-adorned bushes, turned his head towards her, though didn't say anything.
"Does it… is it aggressive? Can I come near?" – Alice asked Huntor, somewhat hesitant. Of course, no amount of research could determine if the Ankylosauruses were aggressive towards humans, but if it was cool with Huntor…
"Knock yourself out." – Huntor carelessly said.
"I have… so many questions." – Alice said as she approached the prehistoric miracle.
"Course you do." – Huntor sighed. "Maybe I should open a bloody petting zoo and charge everyone that wants to see it. That's why I never wanted you lot in this room in the first place, you won't leave the bloody thing alone!"
Alice hesitated to say something else. So, was Rivera visiting the dinosaur too? She watched as the dinosaur bit a large mouthful of leaves with its beak-like mouth and swallowed them entirely.
"You're the researcher, aren't you?" – Huntor asked with a sigh. "I suppose you're not gonna let this be."
"Yeah, I'm a zoologist. A xenozoologist, actually." – Alice told him.
"Wha's that even mean?" – Huntor asked her.
"I study the behavior alien biological organisms. Fusion creatures, specifically, but I had other stuff going before the invasion hit."
"And what's an Earth dinosaur got to do with it, then?"
"I admit it's not exactly my usual area of expertise, but, come on. An animal that was extinct for 68 million years? Who can resist that?" – Alice told him as she slowly approached the Ankylosaurus up close.
"I can agree with you on that. When my cameras tracked down a living one, I couldn't believe my eyes, either. I immediately knew it had to be mine. It's a shame, really, that these creatures are from a different era entirely. They would have made Earth so much more… thrilling." – Huntor said with lust, as he imagined all the exciting hunts he'd have been able to go on had Earth still been populated by dinosaurs.
"This… this kinda changes everything." – Alice said as she hesitantly held her hand out, slowly, towards the dinosaur.
"How so?" – Huntor asked her.
Alice didn't reply at first, as she was slowly about to touch its scaly skin… as she did, she expected a reaction from it. Indeed, the Ankylosaurus turned its head over her, exhaled through its nostrils loudly, then continued eating. The skin on its wrinkly, textured face and the black, shining eyes… Alice could hardly believe it was real. And if there was one dinosaur in the Darklands, there could be more. But what was the logic to it? Why was there just the one? And how was there one?
"Well, until now, we only knew that this island was somewhat wonky, you know?" – she tried to rationalize the answers to that, while also answering Huntor's question. "Like, sure, the archaeological teams kept finding fossils and settlements that were completely out of place with carbon dating compared to what they were supposed to be, you know? But all that could… somehow… be explained. Now, this? This is a real-life temporal anomaly we have on our hands. I mean, you could learn so much from it that you can't from fossils. How it behaves, how it interacts with other animals… I mean, the freaking thing has a bludgeoning mace for a tail that it probably used to fight off Tyrannosauruses."
"Hmph." – Huntor smiled. "You're sounding like a hunter."
"A hunter?" – Alice repeated. "Hunters kill animals. What could I possibly have in common with a hunter?"
"The Hunt is way more than just killing." – Huntor told her. "You have to know your prey first. Stalk it, day and night, figure out what it does, what it wants, how it thinks… How acute are its senses, when is it hungry or thirsty, and how will it react to danger. Only after you've tamed the intricacies of a beast's mind can you call yourself a hunter, and it – your prey."
"Huh." – Alice blankly said. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she had more in common with Huntor that she had realized. "All that… only for you to violently end its existence afterwards?"
"Such is the Law of the Wild." – Huntor wistfully said. It seemed to Alice that he was remembering something.
"You didn't kill this one, though." – she pointed out.
"Are you kiddin' me? This thing's a walking tank! Not to mention, the only one I've got. No, missy, I'm riding this one into battle like you humans ride your horses. It'll be a good day to hunt when I hear the sound of bones being crushed under this… Ankylosaurus' feet."
Alice looked up at Huntor for a moment, then shook her head. She couldn't stand to see this temporal miracle get enslaved by this poacher of a man. Though, what could she do about it, though? Get everyone kicked out of the base over a scientific discovery she knew they wouldn't care about?
"So, what's its name?" – she asked him, hoping to change the subject.
"Beasts carry no names in the wild." – Huntor carelessly told her.
And that was the last dialogue Alice and Huntor shared. She stuck around for a while, watching as the dinosaur ate, even daring to feed it herself, and she touched it on its face and back, caressing the surprisingly soft skin and unbreakable armor shells. She wanted to connect to it, but it felt impossible with Huntor being around. She decided not to mention she was borrowing his spare translator to him, even though she had it on her mind. And eventually, she left. As much as she wanted to research a dinosaur, there was more important work to be done concerning the Fusions. She went to find Noah.
"Hey, Simon, you got a moment?
"What's up, Jim?"
"There's a Dexbot out here going out of control. The vehicles vendor. I think it's overclocking because of a due rent that got messed up because of the lost connection. Can you figure it out? It's close to the Mandroid interface, right?"
"Legally I'm obligated to say no, and so are you. But I'll see what I can do. By the way, did you hear? Macy's gonna be sleeping in Shala's room from now on."
"Yeah, she told me."
"And how does that make you feel, Jim?"
"Huh?"
"Suspicious? Jeeealous?"
"Why would I be jealous?"
"Yeah, you've got a point. I don't think they'd have a thing for each other. She's like a female Shala already."
"Simon?"
"Yeah?"
"If you put that image into my mind again I'm personally pushing you off the airship into Green Maw."
"Got it."
"Alice?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are we here?"
"Because fate decided that us being stranded on this isle of the damned would make for a good laugh, apparently." – Alice responded, though she didn't tear her gaze away from what she was watching with her binoculars.
"No. Alice, I mean, why do we have to stake-out at the old base specifically when any other area would do just fine?" – Noah corrected himself. "We've done stake-outs in other places before."
"I don't want to be around this mass graveyard any more than you do, but these are new circumstances I have to examine. I'm trying to see how the monsters are reacting to the base being abandoned." – Alice explained. "God, it's hot out here, though."
"Yeah, you're telling me. At least you're wearing open sleeves instead of this janky ass Providence armor." – Noah responded. "And like, I was used to the heat, but those few days in Huntor's Nest really lowered my tolerance. I can barely even breathe anymore."
"Yeah, no kidding. Cindy said the same thing." – Alice agreed. "I forgot how bad it was out here. And we lived like this."
"Well, discovered any new behaviorisms yet?" – Noah asked her out of boredom.
"The Creeposauruses Rex seem to have moved in comfortably." – Alice remarked.
"Didn't you tell me those are the super territorial ones?"
"That's the one."
"What are they doing to the human bodies in there?" – Noah asked her out of concern that his fallen comrades were being deprived of their peace in death.
"They're ignoring them, I think." – Alice answered, watching them intensely through her binoculars. "Their main concern is each other." – she added.
"How come?"
"When I say they're territorial, I mean really territorial. They can't even stand each other intruding on their land. Especially each other."
"Really?" – Noah asked, wondering how far the individualism of those monsters went.
"Yeah." – Alice confirmed. "In some cases, they even fight each other to get them off their territory. Like now, there's three of them and it looks like they're about to draw at high noon." – Alice remarked.
"Have they ever killed each other, fighting like that?" – Noah asked her.
"It's happened, yeah." – Alice confirmed. "I mean, I haven't had the chance to witness it, but I've definitely come across the scattered rocks covered in Fusion Matter that obviously once made up a Freakasaurus. And it couldn't have been a person that had killed them because they'd have absorbed the Fusion Matter through their DexCom or NanoCom."
"Interesting." – Noah said to himself. "You ever think about how individualistic these Fusions tend to be?" – he then asked Alice. "I mean, we've got monster infighting, we got Fusions betraying their master, Fusions taking out other Fusions… is it even considered a hivemind anymore?"
"That's all I ever think about when I'm studying these things." – Alice responded. "My working theory is that it's the elements of the Earth that cause these behavioral anomalies."
"I don't get what you mean." – Noah admitted.
"Like, Fusion Matter in its pure, undiluted state is the hivemind. But, when it comes in contact with outside stuff, such as animal DNA or Fusion Creation Items, they adapt aspects of that personality and become "tainted". And that's when it starts deviating from the hivemind somewhat."
"Well, why would it be going around invading planets if it's only gonna taint it?" – Noah raised the question.
"Well, that goes more into Fusion geology than Fusion zoology, so less of my area of expertise, but as far as I'm aware, that's how it spreads. Like, it has to devour the planets to be able to get bigger. Have you ever wondered why even though Planet Fusion has supposedly been around for millennia, you can only see like, ten planets sticking out of its core?" – Alice asked him.
"Why?" – Noah asked, wondering why he had never thought of such an obvious question before.
"Cause it's already digested the rest into the goop." – Alice grimly said.
"Oh."
"Yeah. But before it can digest the planet, first, it has to prep its meal. Like how a spider injects its venom into a web cocoon to digest and dissolve the prey that it's captured, and then the spider can just slurp it down like a smoothie afterwards." – Alice said with a certain fascination in her tone of all of these inner workings of the animal kingdom.
"Well, thanks for putting that disturbing image in my head." – Noah commented.
"And to be able to spread the infection more effectively, the Fusion Matter has to adapt to the Earth first. Which… brings us to that." – she said and to show Noah, she handed him the binoculars and pointed at the wrecked camp.
Noah peered through the binoculars and watched the monsters bicker menacingly.
"I wonder if Fuse ever had similar problems on other planets, or is Earth just stubborn like that?"
"I wouldn't put it past us." – Alice said and chuckled.
"Wait…" – Noah said, noticing something. "There's more monsters coming in from outside." – he pointed out.
"What?!" – Alice exclaimed as she grabbed the binoculars out of his hand.
"They look like the Lizard Queens. Or maybe the Lizard Kings. I can't really tell them apart." – Noah informed her.
"They've got different body composition in joints. And the Queens are bigger." – Alice quickly explained, not letting a piece of trivia go unmentioned.
"You can tell from that far away?" – Noah asked her, amazed.
"Wait, what are they…?" – she mumbled to herself.
"What?" – Noah asked, deprived of a chance to watch along since they only had the one pair of binoculars.
"It's a bunch of newborn Lizards. Can't tell if those are Kings or Queens. They're entering the camp, and they babies accompanied by a couple adult Queens." – Alice commentated as she was watching.
"Babies?" – Noah repeated in shock.
"Yeah, the Lizards spawn small and then get bigger over time." – Alice explained. "We wiped out most of the Lizards during the siege on the camp so the Terrafusers have been working to repopulate quickly. We came across another batch when we were fighting Fusion Courage, too."
"Come to think of it, Thompson mentioned something about tiny lizards… but then, why are the full-grown Lizards with them?"
"That's what's fascinating to me." – Alice answered while examining the Fusion Monsters. "They don't reproduce like normal lizards do, of course, they get pumped out by Terrafusers, but it seems like the adult Lizard Queens have a sort of a "motherly" function where they accompany and protect the young ones? But, why would they chaperone the horde to our old camp?" – she asked herself.
"Maybe it's a Lizard field trip. Are the momma lizards explaining "Son, this is where Mommy and Daddy wiped out a Providence outpost, and one day, you can too…"?" – Noah remarked ironically. Though, he thought it was somewhat in bad taste.
"Knock it off, I'm trying to watch." – Alice told him. "Uh-oh. The Creeposauruses don't like this "field trip" one bit." – she told Noah, though still using his term for it. "They're snarling at the Lizards, and the Lizards are also in hostile stances, as well."
"I thought they were cool with other monsters, as long as it wasn't other Creeposauruses?" – Noah asked her. "But then again, I'd be pissed too if someone brought in a daycare onto my territory…"
"What could the Lizards possibly be doing in the outpost?" – Alice asked to himself, ignoring Noah's cheesy jokes. "Wait…"
"What? What are they doing?" – Noah kept asking, while trying to make it out from afar without the binoculars.
"The baby lizards are ripping apart the metal structures like the barracks…" – Alice said as she watched it happen. "They're absorbing it… That's how they build their armor. The Creeposauruses aren't too happy about it though… they might attack."
"I've heard enough." – Noah decisively said. "Let's go." – he told Alice as he got up and grabbed his weapon, the Fullbore Bazooka.
"What the hell are you doing?" – Alice asked him, as if he was about to commit some big blunder.
"What? It's our one chance to wipe them out before they grow into massive man-eating crocodiles." – Noah answered. He, on the other hand, didn't realize why Alice wasn't on board.
"Hold on, hold on, this can be an information goldmine! I gotta watch them further and study the maternal relations these lizards might have!" – Alice objected.
"You're not listening to me. Massive fire-breathing man-eating crocodiles." – Noah firmly repeated.
"And you're not listening to me." – Alice sternly responded. "This is our one chance to study Fusion psychology on this level."
"What do you even need to study them for? How is their babysitting habits going to actually help us fight them?" – Noah retorted. At this point, the two of them were up in each other's face
"If it wasn't for stakeouts like this, we wouldn't know about the Creeposauruses' territorialism, the flight patterns of Terrordactlys or the where Tar Titans are spawned!" – Alice snapped back. "Understanding the Fusions is key to defeating them." – she said firmly. "And I'm not letting you ruin this for me!"
"Alice, come on!" – Noah responded. "Okay, yeah, that might end up being useful in the long run, but for the time being, the short-term consequences are more important. We've got no supplies, no backup, no comms, and every Fusion matters at a time like this."
"You seriously expect me to make this discover breakthrough in Fusion zoology and then not follow though?"
"I know you can get a bit obsessive when it comes to your research, and I'm not sure what happened between you and that Jay guy to get you this agitated, but you also get caught up in your work sometimes, so try and think rationally. There's like twenty Lizards down there we can take out before they reach maturity. Twenty. That number may not seem like a lot compared to what we've been through, but it could have made the difference for Morrison's life. Or Donnie's. Or Calan's." – Noah argued.
At that, Alice's expression immediately changed, her vehement determination breaking down into hesitant shock. Finally, she made an exasperated groan so hard that Noah felt her exhaled air on his face. Though, this was a sign of her admitting defeat.
"Thank you." – Noah sighed as well. "Come on, let's just get it over with." – he said and turned away towards the outpost, but Alice grabbed his shoulder.
"Hold it." – Alice stopped him.
"What is it now?" – Noah whined.
"We don't have to go down there just yet. The Lizards and the Creeposauruses might break into a fight on their own. All we have to do is wait for them to pick off one another. We can at least watch that, can't we?"
"Good point." – Noah nodded. "Who do you think is gonna win, the Lizards or the Creeposauruses?"
"Pfft. The Lizards are gonna tear them apart." – Alice snorted.
"I don't know, they are pretty small compared to the Creeposauruses…" – Noah wondered.
"You wanna wager that?" – Alice challenged him, the tension of their argument immediately fading away.
"Hey, free 50 Taros is free 50 Taros, as long as you're good for it…" – Noah grinned.
Tetrax decided to take a break from the radars and reconsider their course of action. He called Jim to keep watch of the scanners while he was gone, and took a walk. The exterior of the ship was crowded with people. Nearly a hundred. That'd constitute for a formidable fighting force if most of them weren't so… incompetent. The amount of people he could count on, he could probably count on his two hands (with 8 fingers). And he also wondered if these people understood the magnitude of their situation. They were still lining up for Burger Frenzy and other novelties instead of preparing themselves mentally and physically for battle. Truly, Earth and Petropia couldn't be any more different from each other.
Tetrax continued walking and noticed one of the humans loudly yelling at the rest of the crowd. He remembered this one, Fryman. He's had outbursts like these before.
"THERE'S A TREE IN THE NORTHERN PART OF THE ISLAND THAT TAKES ROOT FROM THE ALMIGHTY WORLD TREE OF YGGRDASYL!" – Ronaldo was yelling, to no one's pleasure. "BUT IT'S BEEN INFECTED BY THE FUSIONS AND ONE DAY IT'S GONNA GROW LEGS AND COME FOR OUR SPACESHIP! WE GOTTA PREPARE MATCHES AND FLAMMABLE OIL!" – he kept yelling.
Tetrax wasn't even sure what was wrong with him. He considered detaining him before he caused a scene, but nobody seemed to pay attention to him anymore, so it wasn't worth it at all.
He went to the airship's corner which oversaw both Hero's Hollow and its infected lake, Green Maw. Somewhere a bit further was Fuse's Lair itself. Only a couple miles separated them from the source of the infection… he wondered what was Fuse planning. Taking out the airship, thus eliminating the commms… then immediately following it up with the siege of the Providence base, the most populated armed force… Though, now, things seemed quiet. Either Fuse wanted to lure them into false sense of security, or he was playing the long game. Was he going to try and starve them to death and prevent reinforcements from the mainland from arriving? Was he going to pick them off, one by one, as he had been until now? Or were all these a distraction so that Fuse could carry out a secret plan? Tetrax didn't know, but what he was sure of was that the status quo wasn't to last. He had come to a decision.
"Jim.' – he said as he headed back to the control room. "Just a heads up. As soon as Naver returns from the mission, we're moving the ship."
"To where?"
"We'll be joining the SACT forces at Huntor's Crest. It makes more sense to keep our forces united."
"Aye, aye, cap!" – Jim dutifully replied as he charted their course in the ship's interface, getting ready in advance to when they would take off.
"Okay, to be fair, those Creeposauruses looked really big…" – Noah said in self-defense.
"C'mon, Noah, you really thought you'd one-up me in my field of study? I'm literally writing a PhD about this. Sometimes you just gotta listen when someone's telling you." – Alice went on, jolly for winning the bet as they both descended the hill they had been observing the base from.
"Hey, you were wrong once already today, I was hoping today was my day." – Noah smugly retorted.
"Oh, get over yourself." – Alice rolled her eyes. "What's the strat, Captain Nixon?" – she asked him as they approached the main gates.
"Okay, I'll get up on the walls and try to take out as many of them as I can with the Fullbore Bazooka. They're gonna head for the only open exit, and that's where you pick the rest of them off." – Noah strategized.
"Sounds good. Let's go." – Alice agreed as she got her Sonic Smacker ready.
Although, as they stepped in, they looked around and the disturbing image that they had tried to forget returned, clear as day, right in front of them. Around forty or so dead bodies were lying on the ground, lined up along the insides of the castle's walls. It was a sight they resented, one they blamed themselves for, and one they had helped create – they participated in relocating the bodies when the siege was over. So it was only natural that the two of them hesitated to step forward in front of the reminder of their shared failure.
"Well…" – Noah then said to break the morbid silence. "We gotta do what we came here for. No point in dawdling." – he said. He was talking to Alice, but it was obvious that he was trying to reassure himself as well.
"Dawdling?"
"Read it in a book once."
The Lizard Queens that were raiding the camp for its metal supplies were just up ahead. As Noah got up on the wall, Alice felt singled out, alone and vulnerable, but he reassuringly yelled "Don't worry, I'm covering you!" – from up there.
And just a couple minutes, it was all over. The camp was secure once again. And even though Alice didn't want to wipe out her research material, ultimately, she agreed with Noah that in the present situation, that was the best call to make. Maybe Noah was shaping up to be a good leader after all.
"Okay, this heat is really starting to get to me." – Noah admitted.
"Yeah, same." – Alice sighed.
"I know one place where it's cool, but you're not gonna like it…" – Alice warned him.
"Where?" – Noah asked.
Alice didn't answer verbally, she just jerked her head towards the in-between of the two areas. The cellar.
"Oh." – Noah sighed. "Yeah, alright. Let's get in."
As the two of them walked to the barracks, Alice tried not to look to her right, as she knew she'd see a dried-up puddle of blood that belonged to a brave man. Noah was aware as well, but he didn't try to avoid it. In fact, he glared at it as he passed by.
"I will do right by you." – he thought to himself.
And so, they reached the narrow slit in-between the two torn down buildings. Alice felt a wave of pent-up trauma wash over her, and she started feeling claustrophobic.
"Okay, let's get in." – Noah said and opened the hatch, revealing a dark hole neither of them was keen on getting into.
"Okay." – Alice repeated. "Let's get in." And with that, she descended down the ladder.
Noah followed afterwards. This time, as he got down and looked up, he watched the bright blue sky.
"Don't close the hatch!" – Alice told him from down below. "I don't wanna sit under the bunker's flickering lights anymore. They're gonna give me PTSD."
"Yeah, like I was gonna." – Noah responded, not exactly keen on it, either. "Okay, it's definitely cooler in here." – he admitted.
"I think Helzinger would sneak off into the basement sometimes to cool off." – Alice told him.
"Was that why Calan was yelling at him all the time?" – Noah asked her.
"Probably not even the half of it." – Alice responded, and the two of them chuckled.
"Okay, we probably shouldn't be laughing about that. Speaking ill of the dead, and all that."
"Yeah…" – Alice agreed.
The two of them sat down facing each other in the adjacent corners of the basement. The daylight coming in from above couldn't penetrate the darkness in the entire cellar, but as they were just under it, it wasn't a problem for them.
"Okay, I gotta take this off to let the fabric breathe for a bit." – Noah said as he reached behind his back and took the Agent's pack off. He then unclasped the straps on Providence chestplate and removed the armored part, leaving only the long-sleeved black fabric on.
While he had the backpack taken off, he opened it and got his food rations. He had a couple of weird-tasting floppy sausages and mashed potatoes that had dried up and reformed into solid chunks. Alice, watching him eat, got her snack out of her own Bunny Bag too – something from Huntor's vaults. Something alien and plant-based. She wasn't sure what it was called, and it tasted weird, but it felt quite filling. The plant was, in fact, very chewable, like rubber. The two of them shared their meal in silence.
"You think we're ever getting out of this hellhole alive?" – Alice asked him when they were almost done.
"Probably. They're gonna have to come for us eventually, right?" – Noah replied. "Weird that they haven't done it already."
"Fuse launched a large attack on Twisted Forest right as we got marooned, so they probably have their hands full." – Alice explained, recalling what Jay had told her.
"Yeah, but so much so that they can't even spare one S.C.A.M.P.E.R.?" – Noah asked.
"I guess? I don't know." – Alice gave up. "Or, we could build a boat and sail to the mainland ourselves."
"A boat?" – Noah chuckled. "Who's gonna build a boat?"
"My cousin could." – Alice claimed.
"Well, whatever it is, I hope we get it soon. I'm thinking of asking for a transfer." – Noah admitted to her.
"Really?" – Alice asked him. That felt disheartening.
"I don't know. It might just be the stress of the situation right now." – Noah told her. He gave a long, exhausted sigh to let it all out.
"I really miss Claire." – he then told Alice.
"That's your girlfriend, right?" – Alice asked to confirm.
"Yeah. It's just been so long, you know? Until now, I was video calling her every day, but even that wasn't as good as me actually being there with her. And with the comms down I can't even do that, either." – Noah told her. "I just… really miss her."
"Why did you come all the way out here in the damn Darklands if you knew you couldn't handle being away from her for this long?" – Alice asked him.
"I wanted to be there to help against Fuse. More… directly, you know?" – Noah told her. "I wanted to contribute to when we'd save the world. It's… it was like a calling."
"Well, looks like you got your wish to contribute." – Alice jokingly said.
"Yeah, well, didn't think it'd be like this." – Noah answered. "Well, what about you?"
"What about me?" – Alice repeated.
"Are you gonna study Fusions somewhere else?"
"I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not." – Alice answered.
"I thought you were sick of this place too."
"Yeah, but it's still the best source of information to study them."
"Come on, there's gotta be other Fusion Monsters that you can study. Like, uh, those things in the Twisted Forest. The Horror Kings?"
"Creeper Kings." – Alice corrected him. "Horror Kings are in Galaxy Gardens at Townsville"
"My mistake." – Noah smirked at Alice's encyclopedic knowledge. "That's probably the ones I was thinking of."
"Well, sure, there are plenty of monsters to study. But the ones in the Darklands, well, they're the most complex and interesting ones. It's not the heart of the invasion for nothing, you know? Some of the ones in here weren't even spawned on Earth, they come from the asteroids Planet Fusion infects along the way. How interesting is that?"
"That is… very interesting." – Noah had to admit. "You know, I always wanted to ask you something." – he then told her.
"Shoot."
"So, you know how Fusion Monsters are your main obsession, right?" – he said. "What are you gonna do when the war is over and the Fusions are wiped out?"
"Obsession?" – Alice retorted.
Noah gave her a funny look. "Well…"
"Studying them is my profession, so of course I'd be dedicated to it." – Alice firmly stated.
"Okay, but you gotta admit, you have a somewhat… obsessive personality." – Noah sheepishly said. The conversation was going in a direction he did not want it to go and he was powerless to stop it. He even noticed a displeased frown on Alice's face.
"That's ridiculous. I do NOT have an obsessive personality." – Alice told him.
"Well…" – Noah awkwardly stretched it out again. "From what I've noticed, it seems to me like you feel the need to be on top of everything, you know? Like, be aware of any and all information on a given subject."
"That's just good research." – Alice coldly said.
"No, it definitely goes beyond research. You do it to people, too. I'm willing to bet that's what happened between you and Mr. "It's complicated", as Cindy put it." – Noah continued. Though, he was liking the conversation less and less. Especially now that he was bringing what seemed like a sensitive topic for her.
Alice considered his words. On one hand, they seemed absurd, but on the other, they made total sense. She had once read five different medical textbooks on dentistry as a child to fully grasp the subject of shedding baby teeth, and ended up being more well-informed on the subject than an average dental student at only 8 years old.
"So, what ARE you gonna do when the war is over?" – Noah repeated his original question to change the topic.
"I don't know. In an ideal world, I'd have some of the Fusion creatures would be preserved in a containment unit or a zoo or something like that, but I get that they need to be wiped out permanently." – Alice told him while thinking about the future. "And, yeah, it'd be a shame to see the subject of my research completely wiped out, but that's what it was always gonna be. But Fusions aren't the only aliens I've studied. They're just the main priority right now."
"Oh." – Alice remembered something. "By the way, did you know that Cindy and Winthrop apparently have a side bet going on whether or not me and you are secretly dating?"
"Seriously? Them too?"
"What do you mean, them too?" – Alice asked. Was the entire outpost thinking this?
"Doyle was asking me the same thing!" – Noah told her, also barely able to believe it. "I mean, what is up with people, can't a boy and a girl just be friends, anymore?"
"And you have a girlfriend!" – Alice pointed out.
"Exactly! They don't know how much she means to her, or else they probably wouldn't be making these jokes."
"I bet Cindy started it."
"She totally did. – Noah agreed.
"You're gonna go back to the base and Cindy's gonna be all like oh, back from your makeout session?" – Alice joked.
"Pfft. She wishes." – Noah said and they both laughed.
The two of them sat quietly for a bit. Noah was looking up at the sky through the entrance hole while Alice looked around the dark chamber.
"You think Claire is looking at the sky right now?" – Noah asked her.
"Oh, my god, just go to her, dude." – Alice rolled her eyes. "As soon as the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s arrive, you get on and go see her."
"Yeah, I will, I will. Word of advice, though, you should probably go see him too."
"Oh, if it was that easy. It's him that's the problem." – Alice told him. Though with all the "obsessive" allegations she's been getting from her friends, she had a twinge of doubt about that now.
"Trust me, you don't wanna miss out and then start pining on him when you're separated." – Noah advised her. "It's worth giving it another shot, isn't it?"
"Yeah, maybe." – Alice considered it. "You promise you guys will be fine without me?"
"They're in good hands." – Noah assured her and smirked.
End of Chapter 24.
Extract from Alice QUickfeet's Fusion Monster research log:
Fusion Spawn
Fusion Matter type: all 3
Power Level: 1-2
Boss: Jumbo Fusion Spawn
Location: all over the globe, Infected Zones, spawning grounds, Terrafusers
Size: varies from 8''-16'' diameter
Boss size: 20'' diameter
Weight: varies 6-20 lbs.
Boss weight: 30 lbs.
Special types of attack:
Eruption – none
Corruption – none
Description:
Fusion Spawns are the quintessential Fusion creature. They are made completely out of Fusion Matter in its viscous state, composing into a sphere of 8 to 16 inches in diameter with a pointy fin slicked back on top of its head. They have massive red eyes and jagged mouths, which they use to bite and spit Fusion Matter. They themselves are as viscous as the Fusion Matter that makes them, making them somewhat flexible, stretchy and giving it the ability to move around by jumping.
Behavior:
Fusion Spawn is the lowest form of Fusion monsters, and therefore, one of the weakest. It is completely unadapted with the Earth, but has the biggest capability of changing its own structure to adapt with the environment. It is therefore able to evolve itself into stronger, more dangerous Fusion Monsters by using the objects from the environment, for example merging with office supplies to turn them into Vile Cabinets.
Fusion Spawns are created through Terrafusers. They get spit out in groups of three or four. Fusion Spawns are highly "social" creatures, so if one of them notices one of its brethren under attack, it will immediately jump in to help and rile the rest of the Spawns as well. So, be careful on Spawning grounds, as they are full of Spawns that WILL gang up on you. They usually bundle up in groups of 3 or 4, sometimes one of them being the Jumbo Fusion Spawn, but as pointed out before, these trios are all very close to each other, tightly packed in a specific area they have infested.
In combat, a single spawn, or even a group of three or four, as they often like to huddle as, are not extremely dangerous. However, if the rest of the Spawns see you, you might be overwhelmed by their high numbers. It is highly recommended to bring a shattergun, a rocket, or a melee weapon, and advised to pick off the spawns one by one without the rest seeing you. Perhaps with a Sneak Nano.
Fusion Spawns are spawned at varying sizes, though, all of them have the ability to grow further in size and become a Jumbo Fusion Spawn. The Jumbos have a certain degree of command over the others, and even the relatively large, but not quite Jumbo-sized Spawns benefit from this size hierarchy.
Area spread:
Fusion Spawns are found practically everywhere, as they are a vital evolutionary chain for most Fusion Monsters, especially the ones that adapt to Earth objects and environments. (As opposed to the ones based on animal DNA, which are created by specialized Terrafusers as they are, skipping the Spawn stage).
The biggest source of Fusion Spawns are, naturally, the areas Fuse is paying the most attention to. These are Townsville, Bellwood, Beach City, Aberdale, the Darklands, Nowhere, and other cities important to the war. There are certain areas in these places that are not quite Infected Zones, but still with a dense vegetation of Terrafusers that pump out as many Fusion Spawns as they can. They usually remain on their Spawning Grounds for a certain amount of time (varies from location to location) until they move out into the rest of the world and evolve into more adapted Monsters. Some of these evolved Spawns, like the Sneaky Spawn, Creepy Spawn, Noxious/Putrid/Toxic Spawns still resemble the original greatly, though pick up specific phenotypic and behavioral quirks that allows us to differentiate between them.
Under Fusion control:
Fusions rarely resort to controlling Spawns in combat. Instead, they control them to direct their purpose – Fusion hands often have a say in what type of Fusion Monster a Spawn evolves into, since they are the ones that strategize their Fusion armies.
Known Fusions that have controlled Fusion Spawns:
Virtually all of them.