Vespidian, Arc 6, Chapter 11 Cat Tastrophe
“Be gentle, will you? It hurts!” cried a trembling woman in shattered armor, one of her arms was missing.
“Now, now, now stop being such a baby. It was just an arm,” replied Neon Nurse mending the exposed flesh expertly. “Now let me tell you, this could have been a lot worse. I will have you fixed before you know it.”
“Got more wounded over here!” shouted several paramedics, dragging over a bulky cyber swat member in a suit.
Neon Nurse turned, her suit coated in blood. Around her were bodies in varying states of repair. Some were missing arms or legs and others were already put back together, getting a feel for their new limbs. Her medical equipment had been set up as a cyborg chop shop, running out of the back of the ATV. That was the good thing about cyborgs, you can remake them. The mechanical hands ripped apart armor, digging out shrapnel and setting bones before syringes stabbed into the open wounds pouring in her coagulating foam. Her movements were mechanical, precise and well versed, this was, after all, going into her hundredth thousand surgery at this point. She motioned and the man was brought in front of her station.
“Oh my, oh my, good thing you got him here when you did.”
His bottom half flopped off and the juniors looked like they were about to lose their lunch for the third time in the past twenty minutes. Squeeze could not take it and ran off, retching outside. Neon Nurse shoved organs haphazardly back into the dying man. He had been sedated or else there would be screaming, this was not a time for gentle. The syringes worked their way into the joints connecting the torso and she aligned it properly foam stuck the two halves together. She gave him a final glance and nodded while her teams dragged him off to keep him stable.
“How do you do that?” asked Dick Jockey, looking worse for wear.
Neon Nurse ignored him for a moment before replying with her hands, arm deep inside another person. “You get used to blood. Eventually, you will be very desensitized like me. It also helps that I turn off my emotions during times like this. Glide go get me some more patients.”
“On it.”
“Sunshine wants to do something too!”
“Just stay around here, for now, I don’t want you running off.”
“But, but Sunshine could help-”
“I said stay here. Why don’t you make the stable patients feel better with your light show or something? Don’t want to follow orders? Then sit in the ATV, I am busy.”
She could tell that they wanted to help, but that did not mean they were of any real use. Enthusiasm was always a good thing, however, it had to be directed or it could be destructive. Their medical training was not nearly up to snuff for these wounds, let alone the finer nuances of dealing with cyborg anatomy. In other words, they were just getting in the way. Sunshine could not be trusted to know how to tie a tourniquet as far as Neon Nurse was concerned. Their only real use would be to help move people, but that meant going into the area where the fighting was still raging. Enforcer was still engaged, lost an arm at some point, but considering that he was more machine than man at this point that did not really matter too much, it could be replaced. So far they were winning. Burnout was more or less on the ropes. Whatever high she had been riding was coming down and hard.
Neon Nurse’s eyes scanned the area while her hands tied together a major artery in a leg. This was easy stuff, she could likely do it while sleeping. The only hard part was when they were almost dead. Dreamer had run off somewhere. She did not think too much about that other than that the leader of this should not have left without notifying people and putting someone in charge. Things carried on as more people were frantically carried over to her station, patched back together and thrown back out to keep fighting. Glide came in with another swat member, he was about to go back out when a brilliant crescendo of violence unfolded on the other side of the battle.
Glide screamed, holding his face as did several others, “My eyes! I can’t see!”
She pulled them in, preparing for what was to come. Neon Nurse stared as the explosion cloud rose up. Wind lashed out, throwing debris ahead of the shock wave. Her shield bucked from impacts as the back of the ATV closed to keep most of the damage out. Everyone besides her had lost their composure and were like animals trapped in a sinking ship. Her mechanical hands held the juniors by the scruffs of their necks to keep them from doing anything stupid, like opening up the hatch and trying to make a break for it. From how close they were, this was practically ground zero. This was not part of the plan at all.
She cursed under her breath and warned, “Hang on, it is about to get bumpy!”
The metal walls shrieked as things collided with it. A sudden jolt tilted the vehicle before flipping it and everything inside shifted. Medical instruments became projectiles and syringes flailed through the air. Broken glass scattered and bodies bounced. Neon Nurse lost her footing as it was ripped out from under her and everyone else inside. The robo arms grappled onto the hand rails to keep her stable, otherwise, she would have crushed Disk Jockey under the suit’s weight. She looked at the groaning people sprawled across the former ceiling of the vehicle.
“Everyone in one piece?” asked Neon Nurse, her pink lights illuminating the interior.
Sunshine climbed out of a pile of fluffy critters that squalled unhappily. She had used them to cushion the fall for just about everyone, “Sunshine is fine, desu?”
“My eyes, damn it, I can’t see!” yelled Glide.
She bent over him, prying the eyes open and shining a light in, to see. It was bad, well to her not so much, he would just need new eyes. Which she had an abundance of back at her lab, not that that would help them here though. Although, they might be salvageable. She had a feeling that he would prefer to have his original eyes rather than cybernetic ones. It was one of the more baffling things about organics. After all she had gone through Neon Nurse had trouble rationalizing why people still clung so desperately to their inferior organic bodies when a robotic one was far superior. She would ask for permission later, after explaining things to him. For now, he was essentially useless and needed to be evacuated. Speaking of which, with an explosion like that either Burnout just got higher than she had ever before or someone had brought a portable mini nuke here. As such this was no longer a matter of capturing the Mad Dogs, this was search and rescue.
They sat in the low glow of Neon Nurse, waiting a minute or so longer for everything to settle down outside. She opened the hatch with a Geiger counter out. It was blipping a little, but not too badly, not like the sewers anyway. She gave an all clear motion and they emerged out into the desolate ruins of what used to be a makeshift command center. She tapped her head patching through to Enforcer, coms were down. It must have had an EMP effect. It was more of a nuisance than anything else. Her eyes looked over her HUD display monitoring vitals and sifting through optical displays to see where people were. Enforcer was… alive, as were a lot of the Cyber Swat members. She nodded to herself, a twinge of pride that her creations had survived filled her fake chest. She pointed her arm up to the sky. After a moment several sets of flares fired up, marking their location for Medavac and Fire Chief, since they had not been participating directly. It was insurance, in case something happened, which paid off. No one was really expecting a nuke, though.
This changed things, the tentative slap on the wrist treatment that they had been giving the Mad Dogs recently was likely to be thrown out the window if Glitter Kitten did not get turned. Which meant that they would stop pulling punches on the full moons and actively go about killing the rabid animals. It was their own damned fault, it is one thing to peddle drugs and get into street fights, but it was a whole other when they bombed the city. They could be considered domestic terrorists now. That meant one thing, Chimera was going to come now. They did not like terrorists and it was one of the few things that would actually catch their attention away from Kraken. That being said, it was still ponderous that they had not saved LA. Neon Nurse felt a little bad for the Mad Dogs, opening up a can of worms that they should have avoided. They had been skating by under the radar for years, but this was something that would draw attention. She could only hope that the Hero League would not get caught up in the crossfire. She had carved out a nice little nook here and she was not planning on giving it up anytime soon. For now, though, there was work to be done.
“Spread out and find survivors,” she ordered as people set to work sifting through the rubble.
Neon Nurse crouched, letting the robo arms get a good hold on the side of the ATV, with a strained heft it budged and finally rolled back over. These things were hardy and could take a punch or two from a Rank 6 Super, so she was not surprised that it was still in one piece after all that abuse. Things were not as damaged as she thought on the inside, most of the equipment was still operational. She looked out over the cratered ground not four hundred yards from them. The Cyber Swat members were dragging themselves out of the rubble like zombies from the grave. Limbs destroyed and stumps scrabbling for purchase on the soft slope. Wires and sparky bits were exposed that should not be, she bit her lip mildly. There was not too much that she could do now her reserves were already running low and there were only a couple of robo limbs left for swapping.
Sirens blared in the distance as Fire chief and the backup was en route. Overhead the thundering growl of Medavac’s drop ship resounded before it appeared through the murky sky. Neon Nurse nodded to herself, thinking things over. It looked like they would have this under control. The Villains had already fled and this area was safe now. The wind gusted out from the spinning turbines as the drop ship lowered to the ground. Medavac’s teams poured out of the back like ants and he emerged shortly after, surveying the destruction. After a few moments the visor on the suit flipped up and he chewed on the cigar.
“Reminds me of the Hellmouth Incident,” said Medavac stretching his arms.
“I don’t see any radioactive zombies so I think you are a bit off,” chuckled Neon Nurse, patting him with a robo arm.
“True, but I would take zombies over feral animal people any day. How many did we lose?”
“Don’t know. I would guess 50 or so. We were doing fine until that explosion. You know where Dreamer went?”
Medavac looked around with a slightly worried face, “She is not here?”
“Nope. Took off with Panther and Captain Metal.”
“Shit, if we lost all three of them then this is really bad. Any news about Vesper?”
“I am not too worried about Panther, he can take care of himself. No, but I am getting a blip on my radar, she is around here somewhere. How about you take over here and I go look for her? Ran out of robo replacements a bit ago, so not much use for me to stick around.”
“You have a point. Alright, leave this to me and Chief. Don’t be getting into any fights though, we can’t lose you too.”
Neon Nurse smiled wryly, “Don’t worry, don’t worry. Oh, before I forget, take the juniors with you.”
“Sunshine wants to help too. Sunshine will save Nee-san,” said the flustered magical girl, butting into the conversation.
“I don’t think so,” said Neon Nurse.
“But, but you will need help. Nee-san could be in trouble.”
“She is right, it is dangerous to go alone, take this,” said Medavac, pointing at Sunshine.
Neon Nurse eyed Sunshine for a moment, “Fine, just keep your head down.”
She prepped the ATV flipping switches and checking gauges to make sure everything was still working. All the while Sunshine hovered over her shoulder watching. Everything looked alright, so she shifted it into gear and the hatch closed. The treads picked up speed as she watched the surroundings through the cameras, all while following the blips of Vesper’s tracker. The good thing was that she had settled into one spot and was no longer moving. Oddly the location on the map seemed familiar. But where had she… Dr. Arbor. Neon Nurse almost kicked herself for not realizing it earlier. Dr. Arbor must have been down here observing the Subhumans and saw the altercation. This was good, really good, best news she had heard or rather figured out all day. It meant that Vesper was safe.
Now knowing where she was going the ATV picked up speed navigating the maze-like streets. If she remembered correctly, this was an observation post that Dr. Arbor had set up a while back. Her real lab was set up under the old Nicky Mouse Land amusement park on the fringe of the slums. People kind of gave up on it after the mutant animals decided to move in. They built a new one on the north side of the city and as such this one was abandoned. The ruins of it could be seen from here. An old derelict ferris wheel loomed through the gloom of smog. She had been there a few times, helping Dr. Arbor with her various experiments. Due to how volatile Mutigene was robots were needed to handle it. Unless of course, you had a death wish.
****
I sat on the slab, suckling at the metal tube. Protein paste poured out and all the while Dr. Arbor watched me from the side. Why does everybody always watch me while I eat? Is it that interesting? So what if this stuff is white, thick and warm stop looking at me like that! It did not really have a taste though… kinda like eating glue or something, not that I would know what that tasted like or anything. Why can’t it taste like chicken or something? I would eat this stuff all day if it actually tasted good. I mean I know it is good for me, but that does not mean I want to eat it. Then again, I was starving over here so it would have to do. I had to gulp it down before giving her a dirty look. It did not even faze her. It is hard to eat when people are watching you. Makes me self-conscious.
“Do you mind?” I asked, shaking my head at her.
“Just observing.”
“It is creeping me out.”
“Don’t worry about it and just keep eating. You need to replenish your protein reserves.”
“Can’t you make this stuff taste better? With all your damned sciencey stuff I would expect you to know how to season food.”
“I am a Professor, not a chef. You should know that my patented S.O.Y. is considered a super food. If it was easier to synthesize I could have ended world hunger years ago. A cup of it will feed a person for a day with all the essential nutrients and vitamins required and then some. I suppose, I could give it a flavor, though, what exactly were you going for?”
“Chicken sounds nice. What exactly is this stuff made of anyway?”
She gave me an appraising look, “That is a closely guarded secret.”
“It is people isn’t it.”
She rolled her eyes, “This isn’t soylent green. You watch too many movies. Besides, orphans are not people.”
My eyes got real big and I threw it up, “Orphans!?!”
“Hey! Stop throwing up on my floor. I was kidding. I do not have an orphan grinder in the back. I am a genius, not a psychopath. Look, it is a bioengineered animal, alright? It has only one purpose in life and that is for me to kill it and turn it into S.O.Y.”
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“Does it have lots of legs?”
She looked around kinda shiftily… wait a minute that means it does have lots of legs! “Well, I would not exactly call them legs. At any rate, that is not important. It doesn’t even have a brain so really I don’t know why you are making such a big fuss about this.”
I was about to retort when a beeping sound rose up from the panel beside Dr. Arbor, “What the hell does that mean?”
She looked it over and a camera feed appeared. One of the ATVs had just pulled up outside and there was Neon Nurse, climbing out of the back. She looked around with a worried expression, holding up the little thingy that I knew was a me detector. You know, as handy as that thing is, if it fell into the wrong hands, I could potentially have some serious problems. It is bad enough that I am chipped like a dog. Or actually, I guess I am more of a hissing cockroach, but that is beside the point. Dr. Arbor hit a button and the hatch opened up, it was well camouflaged so it was doubtful they would have found it. Reminded me a bit of a trap door spider burrow… bad thoughts, why spiders?
She poked her head in since apparently her suit was too bulky to fit into the small corridor down, “Vesper, Dr. Arbor? We need to go, everyone is pulling out and soon the Mad Dogs are going to retake control of the area.”
I looked at Dr. Arbor and she nodded, I climbed up the ladder and the hatch sealed shut behind her. I guess she was done here. I had hardly stood up when Neon Nurse hugged me and then she slapped me, “Do you have any idea how worried I have been?”
“Not like I got kidnapped on purpose,” I replied, rubbing my face. That really stings you know?
Sunshine looked like she was about to cry and hugged me too, “Nee-san is safe. Sunshine was so lonely.”
“There, there,” I smiled lightly patting her.
Our little reunion was cut short when a terrible crunch exploded behind them. I was not looking, so I did not see exactly what happened, but the ATV had been crushed in the middle. Vaguely it looked like a bent tin can. Now, what the fuck did that? It did not look like an explosive had been used more of blunt force only thing was that there was nothing that hit it evident. Or so I had thought when a figure climbed out of the wreckage.
Glitter Kitten appeared crouching on the ruined ATV, “Nyahahaha! Where do you think you are going little meowsies? You should know better than to try and steal from a kitty.”
“You idiots, you led her straight to us!” yelled Dr. Arbor.
“Glitter Kitten just calm down. Remember? You said you were going to let me go,” I said looking around uncertain.
“I never said that,”
“We had a deal! Besides, where the hell is my suit?”
She wagged her finger at me, “So gullible. I am a villain after all, what? You think I am not going to lie to you? If it means getting something that I want, then why would I not lie? You see originally I was going to take you back tomorrow and show them what you really are. However things have changed a little. What with your friends attacking, so I decided to do it today. Ah, well your suit… I would not be too worried about looking for that it kinda made a big splash.”
Neon Nurse pointed at her, “You turned her suit into a bomb!? It makes sense, I was wondering where the hell you would get raw materials for something like that.”
“Ah yes, you see we had a plan and it worked. It did not quite go exactly as it was supposed to, honestly, we were surprised too when the explosion was that big. But results are results. Nyow then. Vesper are you going to come quietly or am I going to have to drag you back, kicking and screaming?”
“I want to go home. Look, I like you and stuff, but I am not a villain.”
“Kicking and screaming it is,” she frowned.
She moved so fast, a blur, a flicker of movement and her clawed feet sunk into my stomach. She had dive kicked me. My body rag dolled away from the impact and crashed into a concrete wall, shattering it. Yellow oozed out of my mouth as I gasped for air, since all of it had been knocked out of my lungs. Fuck! She is strong! Something tells me she is holding back too, otherwise, I don’t think I would still be able to move. Don’t think anything is broken just some internal bleeding. Shit, are we done for? How the hell are we even going to fight someone who moves too fast to see? I mean she is faster than a bullet. Wait, we have to outsmart her, take advantage of her instincts. Well, I could think of a few things she might fall for. Only one way to find out!
“Sunshine!” I gurgled, “Throw yarn balls at that bitch!”
She looked surprised, peaking out from her refuge of glowing knights, it seems that she heard me though, so we were going to be alright… wait, what the hell is she doing? She raised her hand, guffawing, “Foolish Skankubus! You think your sultry stripper moves will triumph over love and peace!? It is Sunshine’s time to shine! Behold your undoing vile villain!”
I face palmed, god dammit Sunshine! Don’t monologue in front of a villain! You want to die? Cause that is how people die! This is not a magical girl anime. Now is not the time for that Moon Sailors stuff. We need anti-cat measures not anti-bimbo. It was too late though, she had summoned the glowing hunks of love and friendship. Admiral Moon, Captain Mars, Captain Mercury, and Captain Venus appeared from the glowing mist. Their strained speedos and hulking man muscles glistening in the strobing lights. Somehow I was getting the feeling this was not going to end well. Contrary to my expectations Glitter Kitten had not obliterated Sunshine. She had stopped in her tracks with a questioning expression. Clearly this was the first time she had seen Sunshine’s power in action. Wait, then maybe we have a chance.
She took a cautious leap backward, trying to assess the situation, “Nyah? Who the fuck are you people?”
“Admiral Moon, slayer of slores!” declared the chiseled man, flexing his guns.
“Who the fuck you calling a slore?” yelled Glitter Kitten shaking her fist at him, he was unfazed. Well, it is kinda hard to scare a figment of somebody’s mind.
Admiral Moon pointed at her, “Fear not, soon you shall be cleansed of the evil of Evil Queen Bambi!”
She shook her head, “Who is Evil Queen Bambi?! You know what, I don’t care, you are dead!”
She lunged at him and collided with a stripper pole that materialized out of thin air, slowly she slid down, dazed. This isn’t going where I think it is, is it? Oh god, she won’t fall for that… or will she? Things were going how I thought they were, Sunshine was predictable, to say the least. The Moon Sailors were going to fight like, well, Moon Sailors. They start thrusting and dancing, grinding on those poles. Then there was Glitter Kitten, staring at them from the opposite side of the glowing stage. It was obvious she had been expecting a fight with fists, not pole grinding moves. I could tell that she did not know what the fuck was going on anymore. I did know one thing though, Glitter Kitten was a rather prideful individual and she just got challenged to a dance off. From what I have seen, she would not let something like this slide. It was an insult to her on a professional level.
“Nyahaha! Is that all you got? I will show you real dancing!” declared Glitter Kitten.
In other words, this just turned into a stripper fight. Sunshine puffed up her cheeks and concentrated real hard, she did not like to lose either so this was getting both of them fired up. Speakers formed and music started up. It was some electric-funk stuff from the show, which meant it was pretty catchy and great to dance to. This particular song was “All Night”, it was one of the original songs from the early episodes. The Moon Sailors had the home field advantage since Glitter Kitten had never heard this song before, it did not stop her from tapping her foot in time with the heavy beat to get it down. Admiral Moon and the others bobbed and weaved, clapping with their coats swishing through the air. They posed and strut like peacocks flaunting their eye candy bodies all over the place. All that muscle quivering and shaking, it was entrancing. They ended in their victory poses, which consisted of Vs for victory and other cheese ball crap like that. And then it was a certain kitty’s turn.
Glitter Kitten showed her dominance on the pole by lightly spinning around it. Once she started it was like a whirlwind of seduction as she curled up worming all over that stiff metal bar like a vine. She bent in ways I did not think were possible. I don’t think even Evil Queen Bambi could put up a fight against this and she was a voracious space stripper who was conquering the galaxy with her slutty dance moves. Ah crap, we were in a dire pinch. And I am popping a lady boner… god damn it. How are we supposed to out seduce a provocative cat like that? We are so fucked! Ah shit, we are going to lose at this rate. Wait… why are we not running while she is distracted?
“Neon Nurse,” I whispered, “lets get the hell out of here.”
“Well, we can try. Not sure how far we will get though.”
I grabbed Sunshine’s hand and dragged her along. We made our escape through the pink mist, heading back towards the city and relative safety. Unfortunately, we did not make it too far before Glitter Kitten realized we were making a break for it. The Moon Sailors tackled her, but she dragged them along chasing after us. Oh great, she was gaining on us even while weighed down by all that man meat. We needed a distraction.
“Sunshine yarn, I need yarn! Make a big assed ball of it and throw it over there.”
She nodded and made the glowing ball with string hanging down. Glitter Kitten’s eyes got real big when she saw that thing. Sunshine hurled it and it bounced away, dragging several trails of thread. The pussycat pounced, chasing it on impulse. She scurried away tail swishing wildly as she pursued her prey. Her claws digging into it and she dragged it down like a gazelle. Now was our chance to escape. Dr. Arbor had the right idea, she had already taken off running and she was fast. I had forgotten how quick she was. I don’t blame her, she is not exactly a combat Super after all. Neon Nurse was sprinting and for the most part keeping up with us, but her suit was not designed for expedited movement. It was a bit clunky and borderline waddling as a result, she was starting to lag behind.
“Just leave me. I am slowing you guys down,” said Neon Nurse, glancing over her shoulder.
I turned and got on all sixes it took a moment, but she got on my back, after I said, “Considering how fast she is it doesn’t matter we are not going to out run her. Just get on, I am not going to leave you.”
“I will try my best to keep her off of you.”
I glanced over and Sunshine was riding on the back of Admiral Moon. Dr. Arbor was gone… where the fuck did she go? She must have another hiding spot around here. Damn you! At the least let us in on it too! Glitter Kitten was, oh shit she had already destroyed the yarn ball and had vanished somewhere. All the little hairs on my body stood up. I knew this feeling. It was fear. The feeling of being prey, we were being hunted. We slowed our pace, looking over the surroundings better. A deserted, derelict street with broken buildings that had funny angles due to their collapsed forms. The pockmarked road meandered into a dead end of wreckage. Ahead, to the side was a small, almost canyon-like pass between two fallen skyscrapers. Everything inside of me was screaming not to go anywhere near that since it would leave us open to attack from all sides due to blind spots. The problem was that we were blocked in and it was the only way forward. In other words, we did not have a choice since we could not go back.
Sunshine lit the way with kittens as we proceeded. If the situation was different I might like this place there were lots of nooks and crannies to hide in. They were not going to do us any good since I could smell Glitter Kitten nearby, which meant that she could smell me, if not see me. A rock clattered down behind us and I nearly jumped out of my carapace, scurrying ahead to get away from it. That was when she pounced. Glitter Kitten lunged out from the side, tackling Neon Nurse off of me. It was so fast that had she not been waiting and ready that we would have been defenseless. Even still she hardly had time to stab one of the loaded needles on her four extra arms into the feisty cat. Whatever it was that she just got injected with slowed her down. Neon Nurse did not emerge unscathed from the transaction, her left arm had been torn off and servo fluid gushed out like blood.
“Oh dear, she got me good,” said Neon Nurse injecting herself to cut off the flow.
“Glitter Kitten just leave us alone,” I cried. She might be a bad person, but I still don’t want to see her or my friends get hurt. Why the hell can’t we just get along? “I don’t want to fight you.”
She licked at her wound, pulling out the needle with her sharp teeth, “You don’t belong with them. Just stay here with me. We will have lots of fun together. Don’t you want to play with the kittens?”
“I can’t, alright.”
“Can’t or won’t? What is stopping you?”
“I have family and friends who care about me. That is what. I don’t even know if you actually like me or not. If you did then you would not have lied to me.”
She was about to reply when her ears flicked and my antenna picked up on the same sound she heard, the low rumble of an ATV speeding this way. Her fur stood up and she looked over us for a moment. Thinking something over. She lunged for me, but Sunshine blocked her off with a phalanx of knights. She swatted one down only to have two take its place. She tore through them like butter as Sunshine desperate kept materializing more and more things from her mind to keep her at bay. Her eyes shut, teeth clenched, a vein appeared on her forehead and then the world got weird.
The dark and dreary surroundings suddenly vanished as green grass spread out underfoot. Flowers sprouted, trees grew with vibrant leaves, and butterflies filled the air. Glitter Kitten slowed her attack and I knew exactly why, she must think that she was tripping balls. I know I would be if this was the first time I saw this sort of shit. Cotton candy clouds spread out with rainbows connecting them. Kittens and bunnies frolicked without a care in the world. I heard a snap and it repeated, leading into a song. Wait a minute… I know that song. It was at this point that I started to freak out. Mr. Sun and his troupe of sunflowers appeared. What the fuck were they doing here?! I thought that was a dream. How does Sunshine know about my dream?
“You take the gray skies out of my way. You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day,” sung Mr. Sun overhead while his army of sunflowers circled Glitter Kitten, swaying and laughing hysterically. That is kinda scary actually, was it always like that?
She lashed out cutting them down, but they sprouted right back smiling and laughing. Their leaves snapped as they circled her. They had her cornered coming in from all sides. It was at this point that Glitter Kitten lost her shit. She was putting out the vibes of a rabid animal. She snarled, eyes darting all over for a target and she found it. I was already running. I knew what she was going to do. My legs bristled as I threw myself at Sunshine, my hands shoved her to the side and then I felt the searing agony tear through me. It flared up and the wet sound of fruit splattering on the ground resounded. Only, it was not fruit, it was my lower half separating from the top and my organs flopping all over the ground. The yellow ichory blood pooled. It did not hurt as much as I thought it would. Of course, I was in shock, though.
Everything started to get kinda hazy and I felt a tad sleepy, but I kept my eyes open. Glitter Kitten had reared up, fur all ruffled and she looked somewhat crazed. She was attacking Neon Nurse who held her at bay with the grabby robo arms and she had a clear shield in between them. Claws raked at it, scratching and marring the material. Sunshine was not looking too good, I must have missed when it happened, but the greenery had fade and everything was dark. She lay to my side, unmoving. Lightly I pat at her, still warm as my hand crept up to her face and sat over her mouth for a moment. She was still breathing. Oh, thank god. Then what is wrong with her? Did her power backlash or something? Did I hit her too hard? It was hard to think.
Pain tingled through my legs or rather my brain still thought I had them. It kept sending impulses to move them and every time it was like fire and ice, numbing, burning. Was this phantom limb syndrome? I wanted to move, needed to and yet I could not. Neon Nurse’s shield was already splintering and cracking. She needed help. Only I could not do anything. Never before had I felt so powerless in my entire life. I could feel my strength draining and at this point, my arms would not even move. Why? Why is this happening? I just wanted to be a hero. Make my dad proud. Maybe do some good. Super Regeneration… what a fucking joke, what a useless power. I can’t even save my friends.
My gaze moved over the struggle and a figure had emerged seemingly from nowhere, of course with my consciousness fading in and out they could have just walked up and I could have missed it. Admiral Moon? My eyes shifted over to Sunshine, she was still out. Then who? Wait, I know that American flag print leotard. Bronsonman! Oh shit, not you too. Glitter Kitten is going to kill him. Too weak, I can’t even warn him. He grabbed her from behind, wrestling her off of Neon Nurse. It worked for a moment, until she kicked him in the groin and got some distance. Wait, he was not alone. Some weirdo in a safari outfit appeared from thin air, stabbing a needle into Glitter Kitten’s ass. She reeled back, taking off and Bronsonman shook off the blow to his manhood, chasing after her. Are we saved? I thought we were all going to die. I can sleep now right?
~~~~
Sub pat me on the head, I could feel her coiling around me, hugging me, so warm. ‘Yes, it is over now.’
Love you Sub.
‘Love you too.’
Sub spent a long time just holding me to the point that it felt like I was sinking into her. She was so affectionate with her kisses if only she was real outside of me. We would run away somewhere together where no one could ever find us, disturb us, hate us. Unfortunately, even I was not delusional enough to believe it could happen. I remember this feeling, it was what happened when I first changed only, this time, I was not alone and there was no pain. Instead, a pleasant, mind-numbing pressure exuded from all around, I suppose it could be compared to lukewarm water. The low thumping of a heart resounded, but when I listened to it closely I realized that it was three synchronized to beat as one. This was nice. It was peaceful, in fact, I can’t remember the last time I was ever this calm. And it was only because Sub was here, all around me like a blanket of love. I don’t know what I would ever do without you, Sub never leave me. There had always been something to distract me, something to worry about, something to bite my claws over, and yet now the real world seemed so distant and everything was so insignificant… was it even real or was this truth? Did the girl dream of a wasp, or did the wasp dream of a girl?
I don’t know how long we stayed like that, but it ended all too quickly. My eyes squinted at the bright lights as they peeked open. I feel like something like this happened before. I moved to block out the rays from the open window, meeting mild resistance as something fell over, plopping down onto my bed. It was an IV stand. I blinked, wiping away the fog from my eyes. A low beeping sound came from my side as I watched the line move up and down smoothly. White washed walls, blanket, sheets everything was sterile. Ugh, a hospital. It was only now that I realized I was not alone Neon Nurse was there with Sunshine, Medavac and Chief and even Dr. Arbor. My eyes wandered down my body, still a wasp… welp, don’t know why I thought that would change. A faint grasp drew my attention and there was Dad, holding my left hand.
“Dad, sorry I missed our dinner.”
“We can always do it another time,” he wiped a tear and hugged me.
“How long was I out for this time?” I asked, mildly squeezing him back and nuzzling up against him.
“A week,” replied Neon Nurse.
“What happened to Glitter Kitten?”
They kinda did not make eye contact at the mention of her. What? Is she dead? Chief spoke up, “She got away.”
“Oh,” I said, I did not really feel anything about it. I was torn a little bit, on one hand, I hated her on the other I knew where she was coming from unless all of that was just a lie too. Who fucking knows, I don’t want to think about it. I was not really expecting anything, to begin with. “Well, not much we can do about that. When am I getting out of here?”
“You should be discharged after a couple days since you are awake now,” smiled Neon Nurse.
“Good, I will be in your hair in no time. I could go for a steak dinner about now. Hey, who is up for lobster?” A stupid grin crept across my face. They all smiled at me and I knew I was finally home. This, this was the place that I belonged.