CJ raced forward past the chicken cop preventing his team from advancing. The cop to his credit flared its wingspan only troubling CJ more. At the end of their wings was a five feathered hand. He didn’t understand how they held their weapons or put on their cloths with such a floppy appendage.

Dodging around the wing, CJ slid low under the yellow barricade while Monty hopped right over it. To his right was the black armored swat vehicle and from this side he could see multiple stingers denting in the metal plating. Briefly a mana blue sheen spread over the vehicle before disappearing. Directly on CJ’s left were a few parked cop cars with their lights strobing. Even more wasps were flying up through the hole now. CJ shot at the first two, nailing them center mass. There was an explosion of chitinous gore from each target. Then the stingers began landing all around CJ.

Upon closer inspection the wasps fired out corkscrewing stingers from their lower thorax. Then to make matters worse, a new one grew back in a mater of seconds ready to be used again. Unfortunately for the wasps, several seconds in a battle is like a lifetime. CJ got off two more shots striking true on each moving target. Then Jenn appeared to his left side.

She pointed her new sprayer up and arced a gout of greenish pink fluid at the oncoming swarm. The fluid gunked up their legs and wings. Forcing them to land or fall back into the two car length wide chasm. Several of them fell to the asphalt. Most of them aimed for CJ on their way down.

“Get the fuck out of my way!” screeched Elena before bonking the chicken cop right on the head with her free hand. It dropped to the ground before cowering at her feet. “I said move.”

That was all the time CJ had for the events happening behind him. The wasps were almost upon him. CJ got up to one knee before trying out his new spell. He cast Earth Fist for the first time. Loose gravel and pavement swirled together solidifying with brown earthy colors. Around CJ’s right wrist sprung up a circle of brown mana. Within the circle were small sigils in a writing CJ had never seen before but understood instinctively. It linked the motion of the four foot tall hand of earth with his movements.

The hand struck out with a fist crushing the first crawling wasp on its way to CJ. He then flexed the fingers on his right hand watching the earthen hand do the same. Two more grounded wasps were incoming as six more flew up from the lower level. They all took shots at CJ. Two of which struck home. He took a stinger to his right shoulder and another scrapped across his skull skidding off of his kinetic barrier. Falling to the ground in a heap he noticed his mana regen had reached seventy two points after the cost of the earthen hand.

I can work with this; he thought before bringing the hand up in a defensive position. It was just in time too as the grounded wasps were upon him. The first climbed over the fist in an attempt to clap its mandibles around CJ’s head. It received his last bullet to the dome for its troubles. Another came around to the right side before Elena buried her chainsaw in it.

“Get up, unless you like fighting from the ground.”

There were steadily mounting dead wasp carcasses in a semi-circle all around them. Elena’s timely intervention gave CJ the time to reload. Jenn continued to spray down their opponents keeping their air superiority to a minimum.

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New Message from Party Leader CJ: Monty, do you think you could make it across the gap if Elena tossed you?

New Message from Monty: Not over your dead body.

New Message from CJ: We need that crane to lower this section of the bridge down.

New Message from Psycho: Why don’t we ask the chickens to do it?

New Message from Party Leader CJ: Brilliant!

CJ patted Elena on the shoulder and nodded at him. She took his position behind the earth hand as CJ mantled the barricade heading back toward the chicken cops. They were all huddled together behind riot shields trying to avoid any flying stingers. CJ rolled his eyes noting there haven’t been any shot in the last few minutes.

“Hey, are you guys in radio communication with that crane operator,” he pointed to the machine holding up the missing pieces of the bridge. “Or do you have another officer on that side of the bridge?”

“Yes, but orders were to keep that section aloft, so the hive didn’t spread to the other side of the bridge.”

“What hive?” asked Deacon before slapping his own forehead. “there’s a wasp nest hanging from under this part of the bridge above the lower level isn’t there?”

All the cops began nodding their beaks up and down in affirmation. One then pointed over the lane divider that separated east from westbound traffic. Looking down CJ could see a massive hive that bridged across the divide. He felt like an idiot for not realizing where the wasps were coming from earlier. He looked down at it realizing his little flame dart device was not going to do the trick. He quickly scanned all the backed up vehicles. There was tow truck with a winch, several commuters, a mass transit bus, before his eyes landed on flat bed truck hauling compressed acetylene canisters.

Too big.

If he were to use that, it’d not only kill most of the people in these cars but likely blow the bridge apart. Failing two of the dungeons’ objectives. Then he turned back to the fight at the gap. There were no wasps flying up anymore and those that were crawling around on the asphalt were being handled by Elena.

New Message from Party Leader CJ: We need to clear the nest hanging from below our feet.

New Message from Elena: Of course there’s a nest. Can we just drop it in the bay?

That was a good question. CJ didn’t know what would happen if they just detached it from the underside of the upper level. He decided to ask the chicken cops some more questions.

“Did you get the cars on the lower level out from under the nest?”

“We did that first thing. Swat was ready to detach the nest when we got attacked. If you four hadn’t shown up, we probably would have been overwhelmed by that last wave of enemies. Who are you guys? You special forces or something?” clucked the one wearing an official hat.

“Yes,” answered CJ liking the sound of that, “We’re special forces sent here to finish this. If my team can get the nest detached, can your people lower that damn section of bridge?”

“If you can end this, we’ll wrap that section of bridge in a bow and name it after you. What do you need from us?” asked the chicken cop in charge.

That gleam ran across the swat vehicle again just after the cop asked him that. Then CJ smacked his forehead for a second time. His title, Dungeon Diver, had been trying to tell him there was something hidden in the armored vehicle.

“Open this door.”

The armored vehicle door swung wide revealing hanging sets of body armor, black AR-15s, boxes of full clips, and what CJ was hoping for hanging from pegs against the far diamond plated steel wall. A 37mm drum grenade launcher. Gleaming black aluminum and steel construction, all-purpose war machine. CJ smiled ear to ear as he began slipping fully loaded clips into his shirt sleeves.

New Message from Psycho: All quiet up here, what’s going on?

New Message from Party Leader CJ: I found some new toys. The kind that go boom.

New Message from Monty: He’s looking at hella guns and pulling on himself.

New Message from Elena: I knew it.

New Message from Party Leader CJ: What the fuck?! You knew what?

New Message from Elena: Just like a man to punch the clown while the women do all the work.