The Vespidian

Arc 1 Contamination

Chapter 11

With a whip at my back and crocodiles in front, I chose the lesser of two evils. I sighed, resigning myself to stepping forward. Crocodiles were not so bad; at the least, they did not have an electric whip. I stared down at the writhing mass of scales and gulped, stepping onto the chain. The thing was greased up, and I nearly fell. My claws wrapped around it in a death grip, but I started to slide to the side, dangling like a piece of meat above them. They snapped their teeth as they jumped, and I forced myself to move forward, grasping the chain with my lower arms for stability.

Suddenly, a bright red light glared past me. I stared at the burn mark on the ceiling where it hit. You don't see that every day. Slowly, I looked back down and realized that they had laser guns attached to their heads... Oh, fuck me. They have lasers! You sick bastard, Dr. Tesla! This is your lab. There is no way you did not do this. Another shot grazed by, and I hunkered down to avoid falling off. Using all six of my clawed hands and feet, I scuttled across the rope like a damned cockroach. It was almost second nature. I threw myself up like a whale breaching the surface and flopped flat at the other end, breathing heavily. I made it. I hate this!

I looked back at the start with a grin, and Molotov was reading a newspaper while smoking. That bitch was not even watching my life-and-death struggle! She crinkled it and gave me a stern look, chewing angrily on the cigar. That did not look good. I averted my eyes and gazed upon what horrors lay before me. I thought it was just rolling pins; oh, how foolish I was. Of course, they are not just rolling pins. There were three platforms over a pit of grinding metal saws. Spiked rolling pins, each the size of a small car, moved in a pattern to knock anything on the platforms to their deaths. Should I fall, there was nothing to hold onto, and the platforms were perfectly smooth to prevent a grip, making it hard to jump to the next. This looked impossible. There was not nearly enough time to make it between the platforms. I would get a face full of spikes and get ground up. There had to be something else to this. I looked at it from the side, and then I saw what looked like a ladder stretched across the room's roof. I almost missed it because it was black and blended in. So the platforms were just a clever ruse? That is fucking diabolical!

I squatted down and lunged up, grasping the first set of bars. My legs and arms were burning. She planned this, didn't she? Making me tired just before doing this, to make it even harder. The rolling pins came very close to the top. There was barely enough room to squeeze through, so it was not just an easy climb. It forced me to compress myself and resume bug-like movements. I dropped down on the other side and stepped forward into the following array of death.

I took a long moment, gazing up and down that cold wall. There were handholds, but everything looked wet. I could easily assume there was some oil or grease all over it. The top ended at the ceiling, and there was a ring about five feet below to enter the next stage. Between me and the wall was a moat of tar, roughly five feet across and who knows how deep. There were no platforms, only that perfectly flat wall. The holes were spaced out enough that for each one, you would have to stretch out and get it. It looked like a slow and dangerous process. If one fell... Well, you would likely have to be fished out, but knowing what I had just gone through, there was probably some other horrible fate awaiting anyone who fell besides ending up like a fossil. I scratched my face, thinking how best to try and ascend. I could try to fly, but I felt safer just jumping. The wing muscles are tough to use, and I was nowhere near ready even to attempt it.

After a deep breath, I jumped. It felt like a bug on a windshield when I smacked into it. Slowly, I started to slide, and my hands grasped for anything to root me in place. They managed to find a few holds, and my ascent began. The oil smelled terrible, and I had a sour, scrunched face since I smelled it. This one was not so bad. It was slippery, but it could be worse... I just had to open my big mouth. The tar below me lit on fire. I had forgotten about the goddamned fire! An irrational fear swept over me. Did I have pyrophobia? The oil caught flame at a rapid pace. In the span of two seconds, I had a mere ten feet between me and the fire. That might not sound so bad, but I was thirty feet up with another ten before I could put myself through that ring of fire. My pace grew much quicker. Hands slipped and slid, unable to get a firm purchase at times. If I did not have four of them, I would have fallen. The fire at my heels made me leap, and I grasped the hole's edge. That was an idiotic thing to do. Now, I was on fire; I was soaked to the marrow with a flammable liquid! I did not care anymore and heaved myself over, falling to the other side. I crashed into some other fluids that snuffed out the flames.

It was some sort of goo... It just had to be good. I clambered out, still smoking and heaving. A long corridor stretched out at a slow decline from where I was. I watched for a moment to see what was happening, but it was silent. Way too quiet; something was wrong with this place. The floor and walls were tiled like some old temple. This whole damned place was screaming traps. Cautiously, I took a step, and nothing happened. That was a first; it won't last; I know it won't. I was scared to go further, but Molotov would come in and get me if I took too long. That was worse than whatever this stupid place could throw at me.

I stuck to the wall like glue and tried to make my claws hold the tiles between them to not set anything off. I almost fell for a tripwire but stepped over it into a pressure plate. The side wall opened next to me, and darts shot out. Dodging forward, I floundered right into another set of traps. Giant axes crashed from the ceiling, and spikes jutted from the floor. I dove into the spikes and avoided being cut in half. I managed to prevent most of it, but I did take one to the ass. It only blunted off, but damn. My booty was sore. It would have done some severe damage to a human. It hurt less than I thought it would, probably because I have buns of steel now.

I climbed out and tripped over something else. Oh, fuck me. What now? A low rumble shook the whole hall, and I hoped it was not what I thought it was. Unfortunately, it was exactly what I feared. Who the hell was I? Well, apparently, I was Jindiana Jones, the drunken archaeologist! A gigantic metal boulder slammed down back at the start of the corridor. There was no room to squeeze past it, not unless I was Nicky Mouse. Although I had a suspicion she would have problems with this, then again, I heard what she did to that octopus. The ball initially rolled slowly but picked up speed after about two seconds. My legs started running before I even told them to. My blistering pace was hampered by traps, darts, saws, pits, snakes- Ah, snakes! I fucking hate snakes! I screamed, ripping rattlers and cobras off of my face. Who the fuck puts rattlesnakes and cobras together? Dr. Tesla, what is wrong with you!? Are you trying to kill people? I thought this was supposed to be an obstacle course! Molotov, you lied to me!

Rolling death was gaining on me, and I felt I could run faster on six limbs rather than two. It felt weird scuttling around like some bizarre bug; I am a people, damn it! I did not wanna do it, but I had no choice. Biting the bullet, I dropped on all sixes, and that gross rhythmic movement propelled me about three times as fast as I had been running. It was like autopilot; my body knew what to do. It was creepy. I could feel the wind, and my antennae acted like a dowsing rod of where the hell I was going. Was I really a wasp girl, or was I the wild and elusive cockroach girl? I was beginning to wonder with all this instinct stuff taking over. It all felt right to my body but terribly wrong to my mind.

A wall loomed at the end of the hallway, and I realized there was no exit. I screeched to a halt, and my eyes swam over my surroundings until I felt the airflow. Above me, by about ten feet, was a vent. Everything inside of me told me that it was a nice safe place; I was inclined to believe it. My legs thrust, and I kicked straight up into the air. The metal dented as I hit the roof of the vent. I dangled there for a moment before clambering my way inside.

So this is what a monster feels like; no wonder they like the vents so much. I grinned and turned my head to find Molotov sitting there, holding her legs with a very bored expression on her face. I screamed and nearly fell back out. "What the fuck?! How did you get in here?"

"Da. You slow, was worried got squashed like bug," she replied vaguely.

"Slow?"

"Da," she pointed down the small vent, and I started to move. "You should have been done five minutes ago, but are only halfway."

"Only half way? Oh Swolix above, what else is there?"

"Nothing crazy. Let's see. Laser mirror room, robo snake pit with door at bottom, oh, I take back, forgot about the end. The last room is puzzle that if you fuck up poison gas fills room and robo scorpions pour out of floor. Usually, takes me about three seconds to remember correct sequence and not get lung full of death."

"Robo snakes and scorpions!? Why damn it, why?" I started to cry. "What is Dr. Tesla's problem?"

She shrugged. "Robo snake not so bad. Scorpion though... They like to pinch. Let's just say they like nipples. Dr. Tesla loves to make complicated dungeons to protect his inventions since he is a noncombatant Super. This is basic stuff here. You should see what he has down there. He has literal giant cyborg squid that has human brain in basement."

"I guess it is a good thing that I don't have nipples then. He did what? Are all of you insane?"

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"Everyone little crazy. Dr. Arbor is nutcase, stay hell away from her. She did that to squid after all. Poor, poor squid, he was just a boy."

"Why? What is wrong with Dr. Arbor?"

"Ah, she is brilliant, but mad bioengineer. Let's just say never drink her tea. Unless you want to wake up on operation table."

"How come I don't see her around at all."

"That would be because we had fight. Over you, no less."

"Wait over me? What the hell did I do?"

"Da. She seems to think that she owns you and she has hots for your tight wasp ass. She was one who dissected you while in coma."

I gulped and felt utterly violated; my voice quivered. "Am I going to have to deal with her at any point?"

"Da. She is leading researcher on Mutigene and the Spore. She is considered mother of modern biological science. Her specialty is anything Spore related. If anyone could fix you it would be her. She only allowed over under my direct supervision, so you can rest easy. I won't let her diddle your naughty bits."

"Why would she want to mess around with me?"

"You would have to ask her yourself, but I stopped her experiments prematurely on you since she wanted to do things that there was no going back from. She has no morality, nor humanity. She only sees test subjects and you are something close to holy grail to her. Only reason you in one piece is because she is piss scared of me, with good reason."

"Why me?"

"New species and she wants to know what makes you tick. She is a bit eccentric," flatly replied Molotov.

"What do you mean by that?"

"She is obsessed with the Spore and anything related to it."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"She has plans to breed you."

There was a notable silence as that process, "Does that mean she wants to see how I do it? What the hell? I don't even want to see that!"

"Your abdomen would be considered treasure trove of data. Extra hearts and new organ has been driving her fantasies wild. She has been fuming mad since I stopped her from cracking it open and seeing how everything works."

"Let's not talk about her anymore. I don't want to know."

"Da. You have been slacking this whole time instead of finishing course. Keep in mind you still have two more runs through here before I will let you sleep tonight."

"Two? What the hell?!"

"Da. Next run I give you five minute head start, but one after you only get minute."

"How long have I been in here already?"

"About twenty minutes due to our little chat."

I grumbled as she kicked me out of the vent. I landed hard on a smooth floor, collected myself, and rose up. It was the laser room. Mirrors were all positioned so that they would move, and on the far side of the corridor sat the laser beam itself. Slowly, it started up, and the red glow bounced between the mirrors before ending right next to me. It moved, and the beam's heat could be felt feet away from it. I dropped to the floor and crawled beneath the mirrors. They shifted, and the beam scalded right in front of me. I ripped a panel off and hurled it at the laser gun. It bounced off... The damned thing was sturdier than it looked. I ripped another mirror off and used it like a shield, running down the corridor.

The reflectors realigned and tried to burn my legs off. I jumped when they moved in. It was their last-ditch effort to kill me. Panting for a few to catch my breath. My muscles burned and ached. Swolix above, do I have to do this twice more and even faster? I let some steam out before continuing. Well, I was learning how to vent manually. At the least, something good was coming out of this.

I found myself facing the gaping hole that I knew was the robo snake pit. It makes it worse since I know what is in there. Robo snakes, maybe they are not as bad as real ones? Only one way to find out. I shimmied over the edge and started my descent. There were holes everywhere in the sides of the pit; for a brief moment, I thought they were meant for climbing. Then I heard the hiss. A metallic mouth lounged out, biting into my face! Oh, Swolix, it is in my eye! I screamed and grabbed it out of reflex. Unfortunately, my grip no longer existed, and I plunged down.

The fucker was on good! Metal tubes embedded, and I felt something being pumped into me. It felt like acid or something eating away at my flesh. This wasn't good. I gritted my mandibles and ripped it off, throwing it to the side. My vision was barely free before I realized how far I had fallen. I was pretty close to the ground. I concentrated hard on my muscles, and the wings spread. They flapped, then started to undulate at a faster pace. It was too late for them to completely save me, so I tried to minimize the damage. The air gusted from my exertion, and the ground smashed into me. My legs snapped like twigs. The agony made the world flicker for a moment.

~~~

"Wake Up. You have to wake up. They are coming." rose a symphony of voices from the blackness surrounding me.

The voices that had been terrifying me seemed almost caring and concerned. They had my best interest in mind if I didn't know any better. Perhaps, perhaps they were looking out for me. Their concern seemed to grow as their voices grew louder. They were urging, commanding me to wake up.

~~~

Wincing, my eyes opened a buzzing pierced through my mind. I shook my head, wiping blood from the corner of my mouth. My body was numb, but I could tell that something was damaged. My guts were churning like something was running around in there. It was going to make me sick; I could feel it. My legs shifted, and I stood wobbling at first. The rustling of metal and a chilled sensation ran up my spine. It took only a few moments to realize the sound was coming from above. I did not like what I saw at all. Thousands of robo snakes were crawling out of their holes; some had even thrown themselves through the air to get to me faster. The door I needed to find it now! There was only darkness. My hands felt the floor, and I worked my way to the wall. I finally found it. Just as the first snakes hit the floor and started slithering toward me, it was not a hard choice, and I slammed the door shut behind me.

This was the last room I stared at the pedestal, and across from it was the locked door to escape this death trap. Vents lined the ceiling and walls. The floor had a grid-like design, which could only be assumed to hold the robo scorpions. I approached the altar in the middle, wondering what sort of riddle I would have to unravel to escape alive. There was undoubtedly a riddle and three blocks that I had to place in slots in the correct order. One was a rose, a crescent moon, and the sun. What a weird combination.

The riddle read. "He who sees me, adores. She who knows me, scorns. All who try to understand me are fools. What am I?"

Wait a minute; I have heard this before... But where? I sat for a long time, dredging up various stories, but none of them fit. My mind was bristling when I recalled this very thing. It was from the Shattered Realms Online... Did Dr. Tesla play that game? This was from that game; I know it was. This was a riddle that you had to do in the Shadow Realm to get to Lady Luna's sanctuary since she was reclusive as hell. If you got it wrong, you had to fight Lady Camelia, the Demigod of the Devils. You only got one chance because if you messed it up, she would remember your character and bar entrance. You could not kill her either; she was immortal. If you did kill her, she just got back up with a full health bar after about five seconds.

Confidently I arranged the tablets in the order of moon, sun, and rose. They clicked into place, and the door across from me opened without robo-scorpions or gas. I was in the free and clear; I still can't believe he knew about that. I kinda wanted to have a friendly chat with him about it later. I mean, I was a game addict, so we would probably hit it off over that. I walked out to the elevator that was waiting. The door opened, and there was Molotov with the whip in hand. All the blood and adrenaline drained from me.

She smiled with violent eyes, "I see you made it. Well then, ready for round two?"

I shook my head... Oh, that hurt. My neck felt weird, like there was something in there. My stomach was going crazy too, and it felt like something cold and hard was thrashing. "I don't feel so good. I think something is in my stomach."

"Let me take look," she said, motioning with a finger.

My jaw is unhinged, and my face is lifted up, gaping open. I knelt down to her level. She raised an eyebrow before seriously looking it over. She reached back and then jammed her hand into my mouth. I reeled, and she held me still. Molotov was not gentle at all, as she went farther until she was arm deep and rummaging around in there. I don't have a gag reflex, as it turned out. Otherwise, I would be spewing chunks everywhere with something that big in there. I shuddered when she grasped something and yanked. A robo snake writhed in her grasp, and she crushed it. How the fuck did that get in there? I am going to be sick.

"Seems to have been parasitical type," she said, looking it over. "Typically used for observation. Seems that Dr. Arbor has not given up yet."

"Wait, those things are Dr. Arbor's? Where did it come from?" I covered my mouth, feeling my latest meal trying to come up.

"Nyet. Snakes and scorpions are work of other Super, but Dr. Arbor bought some recently."

"Hey, what did those snakes have for venom?"

"Sulfuric acid. Oh, I see you got bit as well. This one was outfitted with cameras, so no internal bites."

"I don't feel good. I landed badly in the snake pit."

"You said you fell?" asked Molotov, pulling a little chip out of the snake. "Snake likely went in during time you were passed out. Very well, for the time being rest."

"What is that?" I asked, pointing at the chip.

She wiped it off and put it in a pouch. "Data chip for cameras and like. I will be looking it over, to see if she was trying more insidious activity than simple observation."

I nodded reluctantly. A four-foot metal snake was in my stomach; just thinking about it made me feel desecrated and ill. Dr. Arbor is a sick person. I hope I never have to meet her. Was I even safe here? What if more of them came? I could have died countless times today, yet the thing that really got to me was this thing inside of me. It doesn't matter if it did nothing. The fact that it was in there was revolting. I shuddered. Why are Super Villains so messed up in the head? Surely, the Hero League can't be this bad? I mean, nobody would join if this sort of shit happened.

Fuck Molotov, fuck Dr. Arbor, fuck Dr. Tesla... Robo snakes, death dungeons, these people are fucked in the head. They are trying to turn me into one of them. I have to get out of here before I go crazy! I will bide my time and figure out where the hell I am, then escape when they let their guard down. That was going to be a problem; Molotov was very crafty.

She led me back to my room, and I lay on the bed. I wanted to sleep, but there might be more snakes or something else. Who knows, Dr. Arbor is crazy! I rolled into a ball, coiling my abdomen to cover me in the corner of the room. The room was quiet, but I kept hearing the metallic scrapes of those snakes. Was I going crazy? It is like I am hearing voices in my head, but they aren't saying anything, just hissing and slithering. My eyes closed slowly, opening at the slightest sound, but eventually, sleep took me.

It was the first dream I had, had in a long time. It was so wonderful, not being a monster. I did not even do anything. I just lay there, basking in the sun. Then it ended, and reality came creeping back. My eyes opened, and I was still in this prison cell. Still, some freak and still at the mercy of crazy people. I can't rely on these people; they are mad. I want to go home... But it is not mine anymore. Where will I go?

The Hero League would take me in, right? I mean, I am a Super, right? I might look scary, but it should be fine as long as I don't hurt anybody. It should be fine, right? My tears started flowing again. Damn it, why am I always crying? Can I not be happy because I am a bug? I have to escape! Molotov will only get worse. She is not nice; I know she is not. She is only preying on my weakness and vulnerabilities. I sat there, hugging myself in despair. How much longer will I have to endure this?