There was a loud humming coming from the hangar. As Kaleb turned to see what it was, he saw the Phreak’s hover dump truck speeding toward them. Kaleb sighed as he guessed who would be behind the wheel. But, it was probably a good thing if they wanted to escape.
The dump truck hovered a little higher and barreled toward the floating soldier ants around D34d-I and Two Gun. Kaleb thought he could see Roy’s figure in the driving seat. The truck spun at the last second swinging its large bed at the flying ants. Two Gun and D34d-I luckily dodged aside when the big truck battered the ants aside. Surprisingly, the flying ants didn’t die.
Kaleb ran toward the dump truck, shouting. “Our rides here.”
Two Gun and D34d-I were already moving toward the cab of the truck. Jar-lock threw a final Icicle spell and jumped into the bed of the dump truck. But, Claire, Abby, and Mass were to into their own fights to hear Kaleb’s shout. Kaleb gripped one of the side handles near the back of the truck and hung on as the truck lifted back up into the air.
Kaleb continued firing his Sun Gun, and he heard D34d-I’s rifle firing from the front seat. As the truck rose into the air, Kaleb could see the others on the ground were about to be surrounded. Roy turned the truck in a wide angle and aim for the worker ants around their friends on the ground. As the truck charged into the melee Kaleb saw a figure in the sky ahead of them. The person was falling through the sky toward the top of the anthill.
Kaleb gave a sigh of relief as Bob slammed into the top of the mound. Vibrations filled the air, and the ground shook as Bob unleashed his power. The horde of ants seemed to vibrate of the spot. The ants closest to where Bob landed shook until they came apart in a gooey mess. It disoriented the ones near the bottom of the hill and the fighting came to an almost complete stop.
Roy crashed through a few ants to get to Claire and the others. Kaleb shouted from where he stood on the side. “Get in!”
Abby hesitated as the Claire and Mass dove into the truck’s bed. “What about the old guy?”
Before Kaleb could answer the giant ant hill sank back into the ground. Kaleb gaped wide-eyed as the four story tall mound of dirt rippled and quickly sunk into the ground. The ants seemed to shake themselves awake as their nest came under attack. Abby quickly moved around to the handle on the other side of the truck. Kaleb smacked the side of the truck twice with his metal hand and Roy took them back up into the air.
A stampede of reddish brown ants climbed toward the collapsing hill. However, the flying soldier ants seemed intent on stopping their truck. Kaleb fired a few rounds from his Sun Gun as Jar-lock sent Fire-Balls hurtling toward the ants. It took a few seconds, but Kaleb realized the truck wasn’t moving. Glancing around he could see Roy’s face as the boy stared in wonder at the sinking ant hill.
“Someone should tell Roy to keep us moving. The soldier ants can knock us from the sky.” Kaleb shouted over the noise coming from the collapsing hill, the hovering truck, and the buzzing ants.
“How?!” Claire shouted back from the bed of the truck.
“There’s a hole between the cab and the bed!” Kaleb shouted as he blasted the wing off a flying ant.
Claire didn’t respond, but soon the truck lurched into movement again. The truck was nowhere near as maneuverable as the ants but they stayed away. Unfortunately, Kaleb’s Sun Gun ran out of juice and it left him just watching the various ants below. Holstering his gun he kept an eye on the anthill that had now almost fully collapsed in on itself.
He couldn’t see any sign of Bob, but the ants were scuttling over the dead bodies of their comrades to get to the security guard. The crack of D34d-I’s rifle and the sizzling of Jar-lock’s spells snapped Kaleb’s attention back to the still flying soldier ant that were following them. Kaleb drew his Magic Gun and focused on a Lightning Spell that would jump between.
He felt the flow of Mana charge through his body and out the gun as he fired. The lightning bolt of energy arced through the sky until it collided with the thorax of the nearest soldier ant. As the bolt jumped Kaleb felt a little more of his Mana drain away. Then again, when the bolt jumped to another flying ant. The lightning seemed to drop every ant it hit, but Kaleb’s Mana was draining fast.
Soon he had to cut off the Mana before he fell off the floating truck. Jar-lock had also stopped firing from inside the dumpster truck. Mass and Claire were clearly taking a breather and Abby seemed more concerned with holding onto her handle on her side of the truck. Movement near the ant hill caught Kaleb’s attention, and he moved to see Bob floating out of the ground.
Waves of vibration seemed to pour out of the man as the ants charged him. But every time they got close the ants would literally shake themselves out of their exoskeletons. Bob walked through the hordes of ants as his vibrations killed them by the score. The ant hill collapsed inward and the ants numbers dwindled.
Kaleb slammed his hand against the side of the van and pointed down. Roy somehow got the message, and the truck descended toward the old security guard. Kaleb looked into the truck's bed and shouted.
“Get ready for round 2!”
Claire nodded as Mass just smiled. Jar-lock still looked a little sweaty, but he gave Kaleb a thumps up. Abby still seemed more concern with holding on then looking around. As Roy got the truck closer to the ground, Kaleb saw Bob stagger and the surrounding waves seemed to shrink closer to his body. Kaleb leaped down as the truck got lower and a charging ant immediately tackled him to the ground.
The ant gripped Kaleb’s waist and shook its head like a mad dog. Kaleb felt its mandibles crunch into his armor and his breath caught. Without thinking Kaleb reached down and grabbed one its mandibles and wrenched it hard. Eventually the thing ripped free and Kaleb jammed it down into the ant’s compound eye.
Kaleb fell down and moved away from the ant as it shudder and skittered around in pain. Claire and Mass jumped from the back of the truck and swung their fists into the bodies of nearby ants. Jar-lock slid from the truck behind them and lifted Kaleb from the ground. Abby put her feet on the ground wobbled slightly, it looked like she would need some time to get her feet back under her.
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Kaleb moved over to cover for Abby as Jar-lock conjured and tossed a large rock. One of the nearby ants caught the small boulder in its jaws and tossed it back. Kaleb dove for Abby as Jar-lock dodged the oncoming boulder. Kaleb hit the ground with Abby before standing up again and looking around. Kaleb was starting to think he was useless without his weapons.
Abby seemed to have gotten her legs back under her as Kaleb lifted her up. Her arms turned pitch black and arm length blades grew from each one as she dashed to the nearest ant and carved it up. Kaleb looked around and found an ant’s severed head, crouching down Kaleb ripped off its sharp mandibles with his metal arm.
Wielding the ant’s jaws as large knives Kaleb moved next Abby and jammed one mandible into the skull of an ant. It took a couple of tugs to pull free but once it did, Kaleb attacked another ant aiming for this one’s large eyes. The fight seemed to drag on as Kaleb and Abby stabbed and slashed at any nearby ants. Jar-lock and D34d-I provided covering fire, while Kaleb assumed Two Gun was on the other side of the truck helping Claire and Mass.
Soon the ant’s numbers came down to a handful and Kaleb exhaled deeply gripping a stitch in his side. A Soldier ant dived for him as he stood still and D34d-I’s rifle cracked again, shooting it from the sky. Unfortunately, it also made the ant’s blood cascade down on Kaleb and Abby. Kaleb just stared at the duck, too tired to speak. But Abby seemed angry enough for the both of them.
“Damn it, Duck! That stuff itches!” Abby yelled wiping the blood from her skin.
Kaleb could see that her once pale arms were now red from some kind of skin irritation. Looking down at his own though, proved that whatever was in the ants blood didn’t affect him. At least not visibly.
*Quack*
“Then you should move quicker.” D34d-I said shrugging his shoulders and taking aim at another flying ant.
Kaleb shook his head and looked around for any more ants but it looked like they were mostly all dead. Kaleb sighed and rubbed his bloody hands across his pants. He moved around to the other side of the truck to see Claire and Mass beating the last few ants on their side to a pulp. Looking around for Bob, Kaleb saw the old security guard stumbling toward them.
The old man looked like he had aged years and his face was covered in sweat. Bob looked like he was panting hard and as he got closer Kaleb thought he could hear the old man wheeze. Kaleb and Jar-lock ran over to help and Bob dropped whatever vibration shield he had been holding. When he did Bob fell forward and Jar-lock and Kaleb were just barely in time to stop his fall.
“Oh, I’m too damn old to be doing stuff like that.” Bob wheezed heavily.
Kaleb and Jar-lock laid the old man down as Jar-lock chuckled. “Maybe, but you sure showed those ants what an old man can do.”
Bob smiled weakly. “That I did.” Turning to look up at Kaleb he added. “Boss, I will have to request a few days off. This old body can’t handle the vibrations like it used to.”
Kaleb nodded. “Shit, take a month, Bob. You’ve earned it.”
Bob nodded before he closed his eyes and fell unconscious. Kaleb panicked for a few seconds, thinking his old gate guard was dead. But then he saw that Bob was still breathing, and he calmed down. Mass finished the final ant with his large meaty fist and then glanced around. Roy finally exited the truck and grimaced at all the carnage.
The group just stared at each other, all breathing hard, and all tired from the battle. As Kaleb looked down at the mandible in his hand, a thought occurred to him. He looked up and met eyes with D34d-I asking.
“How about this stuff? Can we keep it? Or are we also supposed to turn this over?”
D34d-I gave him an incredulous look before he quacked.
*Quack*
“Considering we are still private citizens, we can make a case to keep the material, maybe. If we were under contract, then yes, we would have to hand over a portion to the city as payment for helping with the clean-up.”
“What if we do our own clean-up?” Kaleb asked.
“Pass!” Claire said out of breath.
“Ditto.” Two Gun muttered.
“Yeah, I’m not doing clean-up.” Abby said.
“We already have enough stuff to work on, boss.” Said Roy.
“Yeah, plus I’m still holding your damn flies.” Jar-lock griped.
Kaleb put up his hands and shook his head. “Fine! Fine, I give up! But if we can keep some ant parts, I’d like too.”
The others just shook their heads at Kaleb words. Kaleb looked around and waved his hands toward the hangar. “Let’s get Bob inside and out of this heat. We can deal with all of this later.”
Roy got back in the truck as the others all trudged toward the large hangar. Kaleb and Jar-lock picked up Bob and threw his arms over their shoulders. Two Gun slowed down till he was walking next to Jar-lock and Kaleb.
“Either find it weird that we aren’t hearing any sirens right now?” Two Gun asked.
Jar-lock adjusted his grip on Bob’s waist. “A little, but maybe they don’t monitor this area. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was private airspace.”
Kaleb nodded, but Two Gun shook his head. “I don’t like it. What if they didn’t just come up here?”
“Then the whole city is probably dealing with these guys right now. We can take a few minutes to rest and recoup. Not to mention, aren’t you out of ammo?” Kaleb said.
Two Gun glanced down at Kaleb’s Cybar pistol he held in his hand. “Yeah, I really need an upgrade.”
Kaleb nodded. “Let’s all take a breather and I’ll get right on it.”
Two Gun nodded as they crossed into the hangar. The others were standing near the center, wiping off the ant blood from their bodies with whatever they could find. Jar-lock sighed as they set Bob’s large body on the cold cement ground.
“You will want to wash that all off as soon as possible.” Jar-lock said.
Claire gave him a withering look as she and Abby wiped blood from their arms and clothes. “I believe the phrase: No shit, Sherlock. Would sum up our feelings right now.”
Jar-lock just smiled. “I just meant that it is formic acid. In small amounts it’s a skin irritant, but in large doses…” He trailed off and waved his hands.
Kaleb sat down next to Bob and exhaled loudly. Looking at the large space of the hangar he said. “We have got to buy chairs at some point.”
*Quack*
“Another thing for the list.” D34d-I said wiping his rifle down with a white cloth.
Kaleb nodded. There was still so much work to get done and who knew if the ants would push their way back up. Kaleb laid back, closed his eyes, and tried to catalogue what the base needed to get done first. As he lay there, he heard footsteps coming up from the stairs. He cracked an eye and looked over at the stairs to see Vivienne enter the hangar.
The blue-robed Wizard’s smile faltered as she looked at them. “What happened to you guys?”
Kaleb just smiled and put his head down as he thought about what he wanted to do next.