Jimmy exited the dungeon — the streets were more deserted than normal, but he could hear cheers and clapping coming from behind another building. As he looked up, he saw purple magic bolts flying around and realized that Alex and Sarah must be putting on a show. Still, there were a few people near the dungeon looking at the two spacecraft with some suspicion.
Jimmy didn’t recognize any of them as Eagle Empire goons, but that didn’t matter anyway. He just needed to press the buttons and hoof it.
One of the bystanders, an average looking man with sandy brown hair, called out, “What the hell are those things?”
“Fuck,” Jimmy whispered under his breath and slapped one of the buttons, and punched the next one in a panic before sprinting away. “Stay back!” he yelled at the bystanders who obliged and searched for cover.
Both ships started humming and clicking like an old dusty computer. The humming grew higher pitched by the second and then fire spouted from the bottoms of the crafts. Even though Jimmy was over twenty five feet away, he could feel the heat and knew that they would have melted the flesh off his bones if he had lingered. He shook his head, thinking about how casual Rick had made it sound to launch these things.
The Pest Control ships launched into the air with surprising speed and force, nearly knocking Jimmy on his ass. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched them shoot toward space.
Jimmy’s breath caught as he heard booms and higher pitched whistles. Some sort of anti-aircraft defense went off. It seemed more like pre-integration weaponry rather than a defensive array. The Pest Control ships' own defensive software picked up the incoming rockets. Doors on the sides of the ships swung open and unleashed a cloud of what must have been the drills Rick had talked about.
The ships may have looked fairly crude, but the drills swatted the incoming missiles away with ease, filling the sky with detonations loud enough to burst an eardrum.
The Pest Control ships continued their ascent, but the drills spread out, nearly imperceptible to his eyes so far above.
“Shouldn’t they be returning to the ships?” Jimmy thought to himself.
The Spell & Sword distraction had stopped working the moment the ships launched. Jimmy found the street flooding with people – some of whom were coming his way to ask questions. He didn’t waste any time getting into his security booth, but couldn’t help but notice the gaze of the man who had first asked what the ships were. His eyes were a mixture of fear and malice.
Jimmy held his gaze through the flood of people when something impacted the man’s head. His eyes never closed, but blood fountained from the wound, followed by screams of those closest to him.
More impacts of System grade metal finding flesh sounded out, but Jimmy watched the man curiously as his skin sloughed off, revealing what looked to be living marble. A smaller mouth replaced the human one he wore before. It had thin lips and an indented nose, like an insect. After a moment, it fell, limbs twitching slightly. The creature’s life fizzled out as a drill emerged from its body again and shot towards the sky.
What now lay in the street hardly resembled a human. White eyes with white skin, streaked with black lines zigzagging in a random pattern.
“Chrotos,” Jimmy whispered. Atrono said that they were supposed to be simple creatures, but clearly, the ones that had infiltrated Earth were anything but.
Pandemonium broke out all around Jimmy as the drills sunk into people, revealing their true forms.
Jimmy hunkered down, ready to flee back into the dungeon if he needed to, but stayed to bear witness. Not all were lucky enough to be inside of their own security booth as people began firing off their abilities amidst the chaos, trying to keep the drills away from them, unaware that they were not in danger from the alien technology.
To his surprise, none of the goons from the Eagle Empire had been targeted. Nor had they started unleashing their powers in fear. Instead, they were the only people who had any sense of calm in the area and began barking orders at people to take cover.
Jimmy thought the chaos couldn’t grow any more tense, but was quickly proven wrong as wood and bones from the deceased flew into the air.
Gus stood on a platform of dead material, surveying the area. His eyes landed on Jimmy.
Jimmy flinched, expecting a quick death at Gus’ hands, but the old bastard didn’t appear angry. Rather, he looked at Jimmy with questioning eyes and floated down to him, ignoring the drills zipping around him.
“Explain,” the leader of the Eagle Empire said, hovering above Jimmy’s security booth.
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“Rick made these on a hunch after gathering intel on what might have infiltrated Earth,” Jimmy lied.
“I think it’s time Rick and I had a chat,” Gus replied calmly. “Why hide this from me?”
“What about everyone out here?” Jimmy waved a hand, motioning at the chaos gripping the streets.
Gus gazed about and nodded before producing a System artifact from a pocket that looked similar to a small microphone, “I’ll tell everyone to get to —”
A figure slammed into Gus at fighter jet speed. Despite the surprise attack, Gus managed to coat his body in wooden armor before slamming through the wall of a tall building.
Jimmy looked at the figure floating in front of him now. Its skin had the same marble appearance. The black streaks shifted as if they were a parasite writhing beneath the surface. Hundreds of drills spun on the creature's skin, attempting to get in. Other drills slammed against it from the sky, some shattering on impact. It turned its head toward Jimmy and locked onto him with white eyes. The Dungeon Attendant could feel pressure from its gaze, but only for a moment before it realized that Gus was emerging from the building on another wooden platform.
The Chrotos creature flew at Gus like a superhero, attempting to slam into him again. This time, the old bastard was ready. Bones from the dead Chrotos below ripped from their bodies and intercepted the flying Chrotos, joining the swarm of drills.
“Who are you?” Gus shouted. “What are you?”
The creature’s mouth twitched like an insect, revealing small, sharp teeth, “I am nobody. There are thousands of lieutenants just like me. More will come soon.”
Purple lances of magic shot at the lieutenant Chrotos, followed by gunfire and golf balls. There was even a flock of inky black birds that emerged from a hole in the sky, joining the swarm of death surrounding the Chrotos signaling that Lazaro had also joined the fight from afar.
Gus smiled as he saw his people come together and defend him, but the barrage wasn’t enough to down the creature. Using the distraction to his advantage, Gus fused the bones of the dead Chrotos high in the air, forming it into a large spike, and brought it down like a lightning bolt on top of the lieutenant, slamming it to the street below.
Even then, its marble skin barely cracked and it began to laugh with what sounded more like a pleasurable purr. What it didn’t realize was that the crack was all a solitary drill needed to find purchase and wiggle its way in.
The Chrotos’ laughter stopped as more of the drills began following suit like a colony of ants, pouring into the small wound. Gus saw this as well and doubled down on his attack, lifting the bone spike and slamming it into him over and over.
The creature writhed in pain as the drills coursed through its body, turning whatever was inside into Chrotos pudding. Finally, it stopped moving and the drills exited the same way they came in, buzzing off in all directions in search of another Chrotos to kill.
A cheer from not only Gus’ men, but all who were present, erupted in the street.
Despite the frame of an old man and a face to match, Gus looked like a god as he floated above – victorious.
“My people! I apologize for the abrupt attack,” Gus’ voice boomed out over the street, reminding Jimmy of a king atop a balcony – speaking to the kingdom’s peasants. “We couldn’t be sure who was an infiltrator in disguise, but rest assured – I vow to kill them all. They can no longer hide from us.”
Jimmy scanned the crowd as Gus took credit for killing the aliens. Everyone except for him and the Spell & Sword looked at Gus with hopeful eyes. They didn’t see a power hungry maniac. They saw a protector. A leader. Someone who they could rely on to keep them safe, despite the chaos that had just occurred.
“These vile creatures seek to take our planet and wipe us out,” Gus continued. “I will not let that happen. We will not let that happen. I am also offering 100,000 Credits to anyone that brings one of these monsters to me alive.”
A cheer rang out from the street, calling out Gus’ name and chanting for the Eagle Empire.
As Gus was talking, the drills had trickled out of the area. The shrill sound of their spinning became a quiet hum.
“Now, go about your day without fear,” Gus said comfortingly. “I must consult with my officers and others who helped put my plan into action.”
The crowd wore smiles as they dispersed, chattering about how incredible Gus was during the fight.
“Your plan, huh?” Jimmy said once Gus was close enough to hear him without shouting.
“Let’s discuss these matters in the privacy of the dungeon, shall we?” Gus motioned his hand to the door. His eyes twinkled – still high from the praise he received from everyone who had witnessed the fight.
“Sure, but you might want to take a look at that,” Jimmy said and pointed to the sky behind Gus.
The old man looked up and squinted his eyes. From the northwest, large jet streams shot toward space. “More of the ships you launched?” he asked.
Jimmy shook his head, “Looks more like rockets in pursuit of them.”
“It’s to be expected that retaliation would come. I just didn’t think it’d happen so soon. My reports indicate that they’re stationed in Colorado. For those to be visible to us already means that they must have fired them off nearly instantly,” Gus surmised. “It makes the meeting all the more urgent.”
Jimmy nodded in agreement and knew that he couldn’t stall it any longer. It actually worked out quite perfectly in his opinion. Not only were the Pest Control crafts insurance on Gus, but they might give the people of Earth a fighting chance against the invaders. If he openly supported Rick in producing more, they’d have invisible leverage.
“After you, Mr. President,” Jimmy joked and opened the door to the first floor, shutting off the Challenge feature so that their meeting wouldn’t jump to a broadcast.