The Queen stood revealed, her appendages flailing in anger as the remnants of her flooded nest fell around her. Her thorax had a thick, yellow shell and had massive mandibles that were almost tusk-like in appearance. Massive red eyes lined with hexagonal patterns spotted her prey as the smaller creatures she called her children formed a perimeter around the Omega Knights.

“Okay, so we got her attention,” said Olivia. “What do we do now?”

“Now we finish it.”

Tom brandished his sword and rushed the Queen. He jumped, raising the Flameblade up in a reverse-grip. Fire surrounded the mystic sword, pointed right at the Queen’s thorax. The Queen just watched this strange human’s defiance and in a simple movement, swatted him aside with one of her appendages.

The sword’s flame extinguished as Tom flew through the air. He went well beyond the perimeter formed by the insects and the rest of the team couldn’t even see where he landed.

“That’s why Level 2s require at least three Knights,” Rachel grumbled.

The Queen chittered as the long antennae twitched in the direction of the four remaining Knights. The insects around the perimeter moved in for the heroes and once more, the three rookies and their now sole veteran were faced with the onslaught of their horde. But the Queen added another wrinkle to the battle. As the Knights tried to fight off her brood, her wings started vibrating, creating a shrill sonic wave that emanated out from her at the center.

The helmets provided some measure of protection against her sonic attack, but it was nowhere near sufficient. The continuous ringing tones rattled their skulls and threw off their equilibrium. Olivia and Ethan were the first to fall to the ground. Alexa and Rachel had slightly better control over their balance, but even they succumbed not long after.

Cries from Candace and Marcus over their communication systems went unanswered. The intensity of the sonic wave overpowered the comms and it seemed that the Quantum Group was on the verge of losing yet another team of Knights.

Olivia braced her hands, palm-down, on the ground. She could barely concentrate with the intensity of the sound, but it was the only thing she could hope to try. Her hope was it would provide at least some small respite before the insects could burrow through their armor and into their flesh. Already, she could feel their tiny claws trying to dig at the nanite-fused suits.

Clutching her eyes, she imagined the Unicorn Titan she’d briefly met on Sanctuary Isle. She pictured the yellow energy emanating from his horn, arcing all around her and moving through her body, flowing towards her palms. From her hands, she imagined the energy moving into the ground.

Tremors started to shake the landscape, but they were of a greater intensity than the ones from the Queen’s emergence. And the tremors were quickly accompanied by the sound of rock scraping against rock. Slowly, the Queen’s sound became muffled—not enough to completely block it out, but at least for the team to regain their balance. As the four stood, they saw that they were surrounded by a wall of earth.

“Liv…you did this?” asked Rachel.

“Color signs in the field, Blue,” said Olivia with a satisfied smile behind her helmet.

A smile tugged at Rachel’s lips as well. And now, she could hear the pleas from Control in her ears again. “Blue copies, Control.”

“Thank Christ…” muttered Marcus, almost too low for Rachel to hear.

“We’ve got one angry insect Queen here, Control. Don’t suppose there’s any hope of Titan support?” asked Rachel.

“Still not an option,” said Orion, perhaps the first time Rachel can recall hearing him on a Control line.

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“Damn, was afraid of that…”

“What about Red? He with you?” asked Candace.

“Negative, we were separated.” Rachel hesitated to ask the question that her mind was screaming at her. It took a minute to get out, and in almost a choked voice she asked, “He’s not…I mean…is he…?”

“We’re still reading his vital signs. He’s alive, but not responding to our calls,” said Candace.

“So it’s down to the four of us then,” said Rachel. “Okay, we’ve got to finish this together. Purple and Blue, you’re on insect-watch. Keep the brood away from us, don’t let them get too close. Use water and wind to hold them back.”

Rachel then looked at Olivia. “Yellow, I need you to keep the Queen off-balance. If she’s distracted by the earth moving beneath her feet, it’ll hopefully keep her from trying another sonic attack.”

“And you?” asked Ethan.

Rachel conjured the Thunderbow, nocking a lightning arrow against the string. “I’ll finish her off. Do whatever’s necessary. Everyone clear on what their part is?”

“Got it,” said Ethan.

Alexa flashed a thumbs-up. When Rachel looked at Olivia, the Yellow Knight gave a nod.

“Okay, drop the shield and we’ll go to work.”

Olivia brought the rock walls down and each of the Knights did their assigned part. Alexa swung the Zephyrwhip, generating gusts of wind around the perimeter to keep the insects from getting too close. A few did manage to break through, and Ethan was ready for them with the Aquatrident. Sometimes, he would unleash high-pressure water beams, others he would just stab with the trident and finish them off in a more conventional way.

Olivia stood facing the Queen, whose sectional eyes glared at her. The Yellow Knight slammed the Terrastaff into the ground. Vibrations moved from the end of the staff into the ground, keeping the Queen from maintaining her footing. Just as Rachel had surmised, the constant quakes kept her too distracted to be able to use her wings again.

With the Queen distracted, Rachel came into the battle next. She drew back the Thunderbow’s string and released the instant a lightning arrow appeared. Rachel continued with the onslaught of arrows, launching lightning bolt after lightning bolt. And soon enough, the Queen took notice, chittering her annoyance at the Blue Knight.

The Queen’s massive appendages came after Rachel. They were sharpened at the end, like massive pikes. If even one of them struck Rachel, she doubted her armor could protect her. Rachel ran from the Queen, dodging and rolling to avoid those massive legs. Olivia did her part to try to help by sending more shockwaves in the Queen’s direction. It worked for a time, but not enough.

Rachel was starting to doubt the effectiveness of her plan. If her arrows weren’t going to cause much damage to the Queen, then she was running low on options.

“Control, I could use some advice over here!” she said as she dove into a roll to avoid one of the Queen’s legs.

“No need, Blue. Cavalry’s coming.”

Tom’s voice echoed in Rachel’s helmet, confirming his return before he reappeared on the battlefield. His Flameblade cleanly sliced through one of the Queen’s arms, eliciting an ear-splitting shriek from the monster and causing her to stumble.

“Was starting to think you were dead,” said Rachel.

Tom glanced at her. “Not gonna get rid of me that easily.” He looked up at the Queen. “I think there’s only one way to finish this up—have to go for the head. But I need help getting up there.” Tom glanced at Olivia. “Can you give me a boost?”

“I can try,” said Olivia.

“Purple, get over here!” Rachel called out. “Green, stay on crowd-control.”

Alexa finished off one of the insects she’d been contending with, her whip splitting it in half. She snapped the whip and created some winds around to keep the others off her back and then she ran to join her teammates.

“Yellow’s giving Red a boost, I want you to steady him with your winds,” said Rachel. “Can you manage?”

“Only one way to find out,” said Alexa.

“Good, I’ll help Green with the perimeter,” said Rachel, running to use her Thunderbow on the insects and preventing them from getting too close.

“Okay, let’s go,” said Tom.

Olivia slammed the Terrastaff into the ground and a portion of the earth beneath Tom suddenly sprung up. It could only go so high, but it was all he needed for a jump. As he was in the air, he could feel the wind steadying him, raising him up as if they were cradling a child.

The Queen’s eyes were now right in front of him. She glared at him and Tom could see his reflection a hundred times over in the hexagonal shapes. He swung the Flameblade and thrusted it right between the Queen’s eyes.

She roared her defiance as Tom jumped onto her head, dragging the sword behind him. He ran over the top of her head, the sword pulling behind and slicing through the Queen’s chitinous armor. Tom pulled the sword out and dropped to her shoulder, then cut into her neck before jumping off and flipping in the air.

He landed in a crouch as the Queen burst into flames, her screams echoing throughout the rainforest. As she went, so did her brood, collapsing in the middle of the battle until the only live creatures left on the field were the Knights.

“We did it?” asked Alexa, as she surveyed the dead monsters. “Holy shit…”

“Yeah, but we’re not done yet,” said Tom. “There’s something I need you all to see.”