Orb Weaver: Wrath of God, 19

The room dissolved in chaos, a few emergency lights doing little more than plunging the space into a hellish gloom while the bellows of my insects made it impossible to speak and be heard at anything under a scream.

And screaming people didn’t help anyone stay calm.  Menja and Fenja screamed, slapping their hands to cover their eyes where my wasps had deposited their stings right on the eyeballs.

Good. I’d been worried that they might have a brute level even at rest.

 I didn’t do that to Kaiser. The last thing I wanted was a man who could create forests of blades blinded and in agony in the same room I was in.

He was shouting and Menja and Fenja were screaming and flailing and…

Fuck. Growing. Right, I hadn’t considered being in the same room as two giant, flailing parahumans. Above, I gathered my swarm, more and more coming into me, complete “paths” forming to let them breath, and then I rose up above the building, for a moment forming into what bystanders might see as a vast serpent like form. There were so many bugs that there were actually flashes of light, sparks, from the amount of static electricity being generated, what must have looked like little flashes of lightning to any outside observers.

Enough to kill tens, hundreds of thousands of insects, but…

Not many compared to the vast mass I had summoned.

Fenja lashed out blindly with a foot, and I went flying, something going “crunch” in my pelvis. She was already nine-feet tall and the acoustic tiles were raining down.

I slammed the mass of bugs onto the roof. They were repelled, the ones in the front actually being mulched. But the field was contiguous with the structure of the building, not a projected sphere, which gave me an idea. It probably needed the building’s structure.

And… some were getting through. I moved the mass, rising up like a gigantic cobra preparing for another blow.

Huh. I wondered what the people watching this were thinking?  In any case, it was time. This time, I slammed down, but the outer edges struck first. Thousands, tens of thousands, millions of insects pushing down, the sheer weight cracking the building’s roof. Inside, my actual attackers, wasps, bees, and hornets were pushing forward, as the field started to deform and shift…

I rose up again, another strike. This with several hundred tons of combined biomass. More than an office building’s roof was rated for. There were cracks, and a smashing  sound, audible even from the room…

And then the field flickered and died.

I was right. It was dependent on having some kind of anchoring point.

“Well, well, well, Max, here I am…” And on that note, hundreds of thousands of bugs started flying into the building.

Down below, Mr. Thomas had gotten the kids out the front door, the Empire guards having fled in panic—or were gagging and choking as I sent bugs into their mouths.

Given the chaos, I couldn’t risk stinging them. Anyone having an allergic reaction now would die long before they got medical attention.

I would destroy the Empire. But I would not casually kill.

“There is a yellow car, fifty feet to your right. The keys are in the sunvisor pocket. Go.”

He didn’t say anything, just moved the terrified students through the mass of roaring, spinning insects, while I opened a path to the car for them.

Upstairs, the regular guards were screaming and fleeing, while Kaiser shouted, his voice lost in the swarm. Now that nobody could see me, I crawled to the table where my gear was, as insects covered my body.

No. I wasn’t thrilled that a bunch of Nazis had gotten a look at me in my underwear. It also ensured that even if they did see “me” they’d see a humanoid mass of bugs, not someone who was supposed to be dead.

But right now, I barely dodged a swipe from Menja, so it was time to deal with them, as they were wrapped in endless bugs. They were still blind from the stings, panicked, as Orb Weaver screamed at them in a dozen voices, some of them “My victims,” begging to be let out. I even slipped some pleas from “Lebensraum” in there. But more importantly, I was using the mass of my insects to push them to the window. They couldn’t see, just flailing and suddenly, with the sound of smashing glass, Menja discovered her power didn’t include flying.

The fall  wouldn’t kill her, but now I also had a busted window for my to access.

But now Kaiser was starting to panic. I rolled to the side as a sword nearly impaled me, and the last of the guards fled, save for one unlucky wight who was bisected by a forest of blades.

“Come now, Max, why not just give in… After all, you can have so much company…”

In a way,  I was lucky. Body hopping capes and capes like the Fairy Queen were known. So I wasn’t actually doing something that could be dismissed as outright impossible. But I ducked, barely avoiding Fenja’s weapon. She was over twelve feet, her head and upper torso already smashing to the next story. I needed to neutralize her. I got up, gasping from the agony in my pelvis…what the hell had she broken? I could feel my heartbeat thundering in my ears, but I got to one of my guns. I grabbed it, flipping it to the tungsten penetrator rounds, max-velocity and aimed. I couldn’t see her, not through the swarms of bugs, but that didn’t matter. I had a bug on her knee, and that was all I needed.

She was durable. It took three shots before her knee exploded. Her scream rose higher, and she staggered, before tumbling out after her sister.

And then, Kaiser turned and fled through the door, blindly moving by memory.

I didn’t need to follow, but then my legs started to give way, my vision graying out.

There was only so much the human body could take. And I didn’t have my stimulants ready…

No. Wait. I needed a boost. Something to keep me awake, just for a few more minutes.

I staggered to the table, rooting around—there. A plastic bag. Leaves in it.

The Gympie-gympie. I hadn’t expected to use it for this bu—

“FUCK!” I said, the bugs rumbling around me as I reached in and rolled the back of my hand on those green leaves. The pain just ran all the way through me, somehow making the torn cheek, and fractured pelvis (at the least) tolerable.

But I was awake. I was definitely awake.

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub I could feel my heart hammering away.

But now I was following Kaiser. He was heading for the rear stairwell, and below it was a car parked by the building, now abandoned by his minions.

“All alone are we?” I rumbled. “Come now, Kaiser, chases make me hungry-Let me in—and you can’t actually escape—Let Me In—and well, it’s not so bad—LET ME IN!”

Other voices I sent up, crying children, men begging to be let out of the dark, rising and falling.

I had sworn to Sheila Cho that I would have vengeance for her. I had sworn I would break the Empire. And Kaiser claimed to be the Empire, so… He would be broken.

Not killed. I would not be so kind.

Kaiser was struggling, so many bugs in the corridor that they were nearly a solid mass. Swords  erupted from every surface, mulching tens of thousands of insects…

Out of millions.

More and more landed on his armor, and the very CO2 levels rose, rose to where he was getting woozy. As I planned.

Upstairs, in the room empty save for the dead, I staggered to the door. The PRT was moving in, along with the Protectorate and—I blinked.

They brought her back? Director Piggot must have given the order when Victor was taken, and it made sense.

Kaiser and Orb Weaver alike were utterly dangerous shakers. So who best to handle them?

Someone who didn’t need to use her real body.

Above the clouds, some of my higher flying insects detected flying figures. New Wave and above them, someone moving much faster.

Legend.

But right now…

I sent a message to Emily Piggot.

Ah, Director Piggot, so good that you have brought the right person to the right place. Soon, Kaiser will be surrendering.

And another to PHO.

It is the sixth day and so the Empire dies. Please watch this security cam footage for their… ah, ‘glorious’ last stand.

Kaiser meanwhile was forging through the bugs in the hallway, sobbing with effort, every thought focused on the door to the stairwell.

I let him get to it, push the door open and then he stopped, looking down to the lower part of the stairwell, filled entirely with bugs, roiling and twisting like the ocean’s waters during a storm.

 Max screamed and tried to push back, but then I gathered every insect in the hallway and as one, semi-solid mass, pushed him into the stairwell, the ruler of the E88 toppling into the mass of bugs.

He thrashed and screamed and sword after sword appeared. But I had more bugs. I always had more bugs. And outside, I started laughing through my bugs, the sound unnerving.

“Kaiser, Kaiser, Kaiser, this is your glorious last stand? You disappoint me.” People looked up at those words.

Inside, I started forcing insects into him. Whenever he cracked his armor for some air, centipedes, roaches, bugs of all types came in, nipping, biting, forcing themselves up his nose, into his mouth, into his ears—into his eyes, between the eyelid and the eyeball, working their way back.

“It will be over soon, Max.” I kept working wiggling them, not biting—but then the feel of a centipede’s legs on the back of your eyeball had to be very disturbing.

“But…oh my. Legend. I fear I have badly upset Director Piggot…” I paused. “Hmmm… I suppose I could give you to her, as a peace offering. But no, you would never surrender, would you? So best to finish it.” I started the bugs wiggling again, and Max screamed.

“I surrender! Please God, I surrender!”

“You ask for God’s mercy?” I said, my voice growing louder. “Oh Max, it is not God’s Mercy you face, but His judgment.”

Upstairs, I shook my head. I felt my heart pounding.

Lub-dub-lub-dub-lub-dub… Faster than it had been.

“But it is not enough for you to surrender, Max, Oh no. We shall make a contract. You must humbly beg for sanctuary from the first Protectorate or PRT officer you see. You must do so with your face uncovered. Then, and only then, will I consider our business concluded. Otherwise…” I wiggled the centipede in his eye, nipped at his ear drums…

“Yes—yes, Oh God, YES!”

“So be it.” I sent the bugs pouring out of the stairwell. Save for masses adhering to the walls and ceiling, and I even pulled the bugs out of his eye sockets, but I left all the ones between his armor and skin, more hanging off of his armor, heavy enough that Max fell to his hands and knees and started crawling for the door.

“Do hurry. Or else I might reconsider our arrangement.”

Upstairs, I gasped, heading out of the room, to a room where I could look down and see. It wasn’t enough to see this via bugs. I needed to see it with my eyes. I left a slick trail of blood, and every time I moved, it felt like something was grinding away.

Lub-dub-lub-dub-lub-dub— now there was an odd stutter to it.

But I had the view. In sight of the security cameras, of the PRT troopers and Armsmaster, held back. Huh, I guess he hadn’t moved yet, or had been recalled. But in front of them all was a shadowy figure wearing a gaudy uniform. One of Krewe’s numbers, and I bet Aisha herself was as far away as Piggot could get her.

I hadn’t planned this, but given what the Empire had done to her…

Hell, maybe God’s vengeance on Kaiser wasn’t just a scam I was running.

Kaiser was crawling, literally crawling, insects dropping off of every part of his armor. Then, he was looking up at Aisha, his armored helmet withdrawing to reveal Max Ander’s tear-streaked face, whatever strength he had gone.

“I… Sanctuary, please!”

I wondered if Aisha was going to be cheerful, snarky or… Nope, she was behaving like she was a regular Protectorate cape. The single worst thing she could do to Kaiser, not even treating him like he was worth any special attention beyond what any dangerous criminal merited.

“Sir, I’m going to have to administer a sedative for your safety and that of others. Orb Weaver, please withdraw. We have him in custody.” With that, she held the injector up to Kaiser’s neck, and he collapsed.

Oh, that was glorious, glorious. I’d have to ask Aisha is she’d come up with that on the fly or had rehearsed it. But…

“As you wish.” And I started sending all my bugs home. Some to the bug reactors, but the fact was I couldn’t be certain they’d stay there so others I had tear each other apart, falling to the ground, while still others I sent flying away from the city, not stopping until they were exhausted. Some would die, others would find their place. My numbers were immense, but spread them out over twenty or thirty miles, and they’d lead to a brief increase in the population.

I—my legs went out from under me. What the…

Lub-dub-lub-dub-lub-lub-dub…

“Director Piggot, the Little Detective needs assistance.”

I didn’t think I was going to be able to walk out of the building. That had been my first plan. Armsmaster and several armored PRT troopers were entering the building. One stopped by the corpse of the ganger Principal Thomas had killed.

I tried to meet Armsmaster, I could hear him coming up as the bugs covering me flew out the windows. But for some reason my legs just weren’t working.

“Armsmaster,” I called, but my voice sounded so fucking weak.

“I—Fuck!” he said, moving from the door to me in a single stride. Something was scanning me. “This is Armsmaster, have a trauma team standing by and alert Panacea!” He looked down at me, but now everything was graying out. “This is going to hurt.” Then he picked me up.

“I—“ I cried out, not bothering to move the reaction to my bugs. In fact, it was…everything was graying out as Armsmaster jumped through the window, little jets on his armor slowing our fall, and then he started running for a PRT transport. There were people there, talking rapidly.

Then the vehicle was moving, and someone was on top of me? Hammering at my chest?

Oh. I couldn’t hear my heartbeat anymore.

Then everything went dark.

Next: Consequences.