It was dusk in the Amazon. The air was still and everything seemed at ease. But then, a tear in the fabric of space and time disrupted the quiet air, a crackle of energy forming. It started to expand into a wider doorway, providing a link between two corners of the world. One by one, the five Omega Knights stepped through the passage connecting the Nexus to the rainforest. The futuristic armor worn by the Omega Knights would have been drastically out of place in the Amazon, except for the fact that no one was around to notice the discrepancy.

They materialized in a clearing and were instantly met with a reason for the quiet. Bodies were scattered across the forested landscape. Olivia gasped as soon as she saw them and her instincts as a caretaker took control. She immediately went to the closest body—a man in his twenties—and found no signs of life. His skin was red and lined with boils. When she checked the other bodies around, she found they were all in a similar condition. There were at least two dozen, and that was just what they could see.

“My god…all these people…”

“How did they die?” asked Rachel as she knelt beside Olivia and the corpse.

“I’m not really sure,” said Olivia. “Though if I didn’t know any better, I would’ve sworn it was insect bites.”

“Have a look over there.” Alexa pointed to some mechanized harvesters and skidders not far off. Trees cut into logs were stacked together and had been being prepared for transport on large trucks before the workers were attacked. “These guys were loggers. Maybe they got what they deserved.”

“How can you say that?” asked Olivia. “Whatever their job, they didn’t deserve to die like this.”

“They’re making it harder for all of us to breathe,” said Alexa. “I’m just saying I’m not going to shed any tears.”

“They might be scumbags, but that’s still a bit harsh,” said Ethan.

Alexa shrugged. “Sorry if I’m not too broken up over these guys. You read some of the stuff they’ve been up to down here, and you realize they’re pretty terrible people.”

“I can promise you no matter what damage these people were responsible for, it’s nothing compared to whatever came through that breach is capable of.” Tom tapped a few commands on his Gauntlet. The helmet projected a heads-up display into his retina, searching for energy signatures. “My suit’s sensors are picking up some unusual activity deeper into the forest.”

“What do we do about all of them?” asked Olivia, gesturing to the bodies.

Tom sighed and looked away. “May sound heartless, but it’s too late for them. We need to keep moving and stop whatever did this before it causes even more damage.” He started in the direction of the energy signature. “Blue and I will take point. The rest of you stay behind. Pay attention to your HUDs. They’re keyed to alert you of any extra-dimensional energy signatures.”

Rachel rose from beside the corpse and moved next to Tom. The two of them started to press forward. Olivia lingered another moment, still feeling uneasy about leaving the bodies just to lie here. But she eventually stood and followed behind Tom and Rachel. Ethan and Alexa followed next.

As they progressed deeper into the forest, there was a cascade of chittering noises echoing all around. Like cicadas or grasshoppers, but more intense. The chittering increased to deafening levels, Alexa even instinctively yet feebly pressing her hands to the sides of her helmet.

“God, that damn sound…isn’t there some way these fancy suits can cancel that out?”

“Seems it’s too intense for that, just have to bear it,” said Rachel. “Never expected it to be this loud, though…”

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Ethan moved behind the group, his head on a swivel to get a sense of the surroundings. His HUD was pointing in several different directions at once. “Tom, is my HUD broken or am I using it wrong? I don’t know where to look.”

“No names in the field, Green. Stick to color or Titan designations,” said Tom.

“Excuse me, Red.” Ethan huffed. “Can you answer my question now?”

Tom was about to scold Ethan for not knowing how to use the system, but two things stopped him. The first was that Ethan hadn’t yet received the proper training—he just got this suit yesterday. The second was that Tom’s sensors were now showing multiple readings.

“Your suit’s not broken, Green. We’ve got multiple signatures. Multiples of multiples, in fact.”

“Oh shit…” muttered Ethan. “Yellow? I think you were right about insect bites killing that guy.”

“What do you—” A gasp from Olivia cut off her own sentence.

The chittering was coming from all around them. And above, they looked up to see a swarm of massive insect-like creatures. Their chitinous bodies were pale yellow with gossamer wings. Giant red eyes composed of hexagonal shapes gazed upon the Knights and mandibles extended from their jaws, twitching in anticipation.

“Everyone get ready!” Rachel shouted as she herself wasted no time. The Thunderbow instantly formed in her hand and she drew back the string to conjure several electrified arrows into existence, nocked and ready to fly. The arrows flew from the bow, chained together by bands of electricity pulsing between them. Each one struck one of the insectoid creatures, the electricity jumping between several targets and incinerating their chitinous bodies.

A group of creatures descended around Tom, closing in on him. He swiftly kicked the closest. Another came at him and he ducked to avoid its path. Tom righted himself and summoned the Flameblade. Fire forged around the edges of the sword and he sliced through one of the insects, burning it to ash. The others were quickly made short work of in equal measure.

Alexa darted as a group gave her chase. She jumped and then used a tree trunk as leverage to jump higher. The insects flew behind her and she swung on one of the branches, her legs knocking a few of them off-course. Alexa released the branch and flew through the air. Her hands reached for another branch, but she just missed it and fell to the ground. Once she hit the forest floor, the insects swarmed her.

“Get off!” she screamed as their mandibles tried to dig for her flesh. The armor was strong enough to protect her, but the onslaught alone was terrifying enough. Alexa swatted them away with her hands and tried to roll free. But for every creature she knocked back, five more came to replace it.

Water flooded over her, flushing away the insects. Alexa sat up and saw Ethan with his Aquatrident. He used it as a pole to propel him forward, his feet slamming into one insect. Then he raised the trident over his head and slammed it down into the beast.

Alexa got back up and summoned the Zephyrwhip. As another group converged on her, she swung the whip, its tail striking down one of the insects. Others came at her, though, and when she tried to use the whip on them, she found that she missed just as often as she connected.

Olivia had summoned the Terrastaff, but mostly she relied on it for defensive purposes. She swatted away the insects as they came at her, trying to keep them at bay. There were too many of them, though, and the HUD’s alerts were more distracting than helpful.

Tom finished off the group he was fighting and moved to assist Olivia. His flaming sword quickly cut down her antagonists, giving her a reprieve.

The insects seemed to have no end. Rachel found her arms starting to tire with all the shots she had to take. It seemed that whenever she took out one, another was ready to take its place. It wasn’t just mindless swarms, the insects just knew when to move forward and when to pull back. They had some way of communicating with each other and only one conclusion made sense.

“It’s a hive…” she whispered to herself. And then she spoke louder for the rest of the team to hear. “Guys, they’ve got a hive mind!”

“Great, so what’s that mean?” asked Ethan.

“If they’re an insect hive, they probably have a queen,” said Rachel. “We kill the queen, we destroy the hive.”

“Okay, so where’s the queen?” asked Ethan.

“Inside the nest,” said Tom. “Everyone, get behind me.”

Once the Knights closed ranks around Tom, he raised the Flameblade up. He summoned the Phoenix’s power into him, channeling it through the Flameblade. Tom started waving the sword around, flames trailing the blade and swirling together until they formed into a sphere. With a final thrust into the center of the flaming sphere, it shot up towards the insects and exploded, creating an explosion that would be seen from miles away.

The explosion incinerated a number of the insects and the remaining ones engaged in a retreat. Tom pointed at the fleeing creatures with the tip of his sword.

“We follow them, we find the nest.”