The Vespidian
Arc 1 Contamination
Chapter 3
The Spore. My eyes lingered on the tendrils that drifted out from the moon. Slowly, effortlessly they shifted, groping through the black sky; beyond them, the stars twinkled. It was expected to see that space jellyfish thing up there in the sky. It had been up there since the first time I looked at the sky and even before that. However, apparently, it had not always been there. I tapped at my head, trying to remember history lessons from high school. Oof, that was a few years back. Hard to remember that stuff. I frowned. My memory was somewhat blurred of that time. Or rather, I didn't want to remember it. I am embarrassed about how I was back then.
At any rate, I liked the Spore. There was just something about it that seemed… familiar. Calming even. It might be because I would come out here and cry alone as a kid, always looking up at that thing. Guess I was feeling nostalgic after wallowing in my own woes for a bit.
On the other hand, it might also be because of my gratuitous tentacle porn collection. I mean, I wouldn't be against it if some alien tentacle creature wanted to do things to me. Though that would be a fantasy, I would likely die from that sort of thing, and no sex could be good enough to die over. I am not that desperate.
I sighed, the brisk night air misting away. It was getting cold, I should probably go home and sleep. I stood up, patting my knees. That was when I noticed the noise. A low, dull droning. A… buzzing noise. Almost sounded like when there was no sound. Where was it coming from? I squinted, looking about the dark forest. A slight movement above caught my attention, again drawing it to the stars.
A strange dot appeared way up high. Oddly enough, from this angle, it looked like it was coming from the longest tentacle of the Spore. Speaking of said tentacle, it definitely shifted since the last I looked. The dot was red, and it was moving. I started to think it was a comet, watching as it drew closer and closer, skating across the sky. It wouldn't be the first time the Spore had slapped an asteroid out of the sky. At first, a low rumble began to echo, and I felt it crawl through the ground and shudder the air. At this point, even I could figure out that it was not some cosmic thing; rather, it was something man-made.
A strange sound echoed, and the clouds parted around it. It streaked right overhead, trailing metal pieces spiraling away from it as it plunged into the forest with a terrible crash. An explosion rang out, and orange plumed up, billowing smoke. The mountains loomed in the background. I stared in disbelief. Something had actually happened way out here. This just reeked of Nope. I mean, I really shouldn't go look at it, but… maybe I will find something cool? I should run home and hide under my bed, but how often did something like this happen? If I was lucky, I might even get to meet Captain Metal or something. I could get his fucking autograph!
Well, that settled it. Away I went.
I held out my phone, shining light on the path. The crash did not seem that far away, and it looked like it was just over the hill. I climbed along the trail I frequented back when I was just a snot-nosed kid. It wound its way up the mountain like a serpent, but at last, the trees gave way, and I stood, gazing down at a small valley that started up the side of the mountain proper. Nobody lived out here, and only the hardcore hikers and backpackers would bother to come out there.
The fire filled my eyes, burning brightly against the forest's black. It hit one of the meadows that lead into the bogs out here. I might be a basement-dwelling nerd now, but I know this place well enough; after all, I spent my childhood running around out here. The walkway was overgrown, though, it was not too bad to descend.
All the flames had died down a bit by the time I muddled my way through the undergrowth. The clearing where the wreck lay was filled with the snaps and crackles of the twisted metal. The craft was tube-like in its structure. A thought crossed my mind; it looked like it was a section of a space station. Maybe, kinda hard to tell with how messed up it was. The end that hit first was crushed into the ground. It was not very likely that anybody survived that unless they were a Super. I had heard of a few that were borderline indestructible. Let's see, there was Atomic Train and Armadillo, but that was about it. There could be a lot more, but I don't follow Supers that much. I know some of them, but like football, I never really got into it. I don't know too much about them besides what I occasionally see in the news. Most of the time, it was about the subhumans in the slums. All of it was bad.
I stared at the flames, not really knowing what to do. The whole of area was lit up. While aimlessly circling the crash, I saw a strange metal canister lying about fifty feet away, along with a trail of debris leading off into the woods. This is the type of thing you see in movies. So I did what anybody in my position would. I got a large stick and poked it. An idiot would have just run up and grabbed it barehanded. I was not going to just go up and touch that shit. If it was important or something, I could turn it in for a reward, but I did not trust it as far as I could throw it.
It seemed alright, so I gave it another prod, and it rolled out of the depression it made. That was when a green glow filled my eyes. The damned thing had already been broken open by the crash, and this is precisely why I did not walk up and grab it.
I had seen enough horror movies to know where this was going. When has a fluorescent goo ever been a good thing? Oh god are those fumes?! This is how you get cancer. Just about everything gives cancer these days, but something tells me this might be super cancer. Back away, not today! I was getting a terrible feeling about this place. The inclination that I was in way over my head came to mind, and this was something that I should not be involved in.
Fuck it, no autograph is worth this. I am out.
Uneasily, I stepped back, giving it a wide berth. I turned around, getting ready to leave, when I noticed that trail of destruction clearly leading off into the forest away from the crash site.
It wasn't where the station had come down; rather, it was going north deeper into the woods. I pondered on it, hearing a crash resounding out there, along with a yell. Hearing the words was a little too far away, but it sounded like somebody was hurt. I hesitated, looking between the deep depths of the woods and the trail back home. Acha, well fuck me. What if somebody is actually hurt? I looked at my phone, no signal. I should help, right? Eh… I should, but what if something happens to me too? This would be a nope moment, I suppose but damn it. If that was me out there, I would want somebody to help me.
I bit my lip and gave the way home one last glance before I trudged along the broad path of upturned trees. Yeah, the more I looked, the more this was looking like a fuck this kinda situation. I mean, what the fuck even did all this? I found a hint of it, or instead, I fell face-first into it as I stumbled into a depression in the soggy ground. It was deep. Ugh, now my pants were all muddy. This stupid hole! I stood back and gave it a good look. It was oddly shaped, with two long outward marks from the top section and one from the back. Ah, there were more of them, a trail going down the path. I glanced at the much smaller depressions going along between them, footprints. For the distance between them, they were either very tall or running.
It must be big, whatever the hell it is. The prints are bigger than me… well, about the same size as me. Was it an experiment that escaped from the station when it crashed? Although, with how big it is, it could be a mecha. I mean, these don't really look like animal tracks. Oh, a giant robot sounds cool. I wonder who made it? Could it have been Adamantine or maybe Mecha Man? Though I thought Mecha Man was in Japan?
I should go-
A scream echoed, and an explosion went off deeper in, illuminating long shadows for a moment. The trees were quivering and shaking as the ground rumbled. It was just ahead. I froze for a moment debating between fleeing and going the last few tree lengths forward to see what the hell was happening. Somebody needs help. I might be a bit of a wuss, but I am not evil. Leaving somebody to die out here is fucked up. The thought was gnawing at the back of my mind, compelling me. Finally, I moved forward, edging quietly to the side of a tree, peering out into the clearing ahead.
Cratered glass, still smoking, reflected the moon's light around a figure. It was facing away from me. Blackened, glistening blue like velvet in the silvered light. Something about that figure sent tingles and shivers all through me. The first thing I noticed was the massive long thick tentacles waving through the air. Of course, that is what drew my attention. I slapped my face to get my mind out of the gutter.
Terror, a primordial fear from my very depths. I should not be here. Yet my body would not move, and I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It was immense, tall, taller than the trees looking down upon something as the tentacles slowly weaved through the air behind it. An orange material flowed from the back, dragging on the ground to create an immense cape. It covered most of the figure though shadows pierced through the almost see-through material.
It- She spoke, "Finally, we end this game of cat and mouse. No more running. Pitiful, foolish little human. Tell me, what did you seek to accomplish by coming to this place?"
That... that sounded like some Villain shit right there. Typical monologue. Who was she talking- ah, I could see a much smaller figure in her hand. You know, that bitch sure is big. I mean, some person is being squeezed to death in her hand. Oh god, that is a villain, isn't it? I should really go, huh? I could hear the cracking of the man's bones from here as he screamed… No, NO. NO. Nope. Nope. Nope to the Spore and back. I should go. It is past my bedtime. I mean, what am I even gonna do? Look at that fucking thing. I am unarmed, with no superpowers, nothing. Don't even got a taser, got a stick, but what the fuck am I gonna do with that? If they were injured, I just wanted to help somebody, not get involved in a superhero battle.
I turned to escape as quickly and quietly as possible. Slinking away a single step before my blood ran cold. The voice caused me to freeze mid-step. "You, over there behind the tree. Come out and prostrate yourself before my magnificence. I might let you live."
How did she- She was still facing away from me. I stared at her in silence; a slight glisten made me give the back of her head a better look. It almost looked like a lens or a… my heart hammered in my chest harder as the massive eye on the back of her head blinked. The glowing red iris seemed to glare at me from the pitch black surrounding it. Reflexively I gulped even though my mouth had dried in an instant.
"Come, pitiful creature, I have little patience for insects such as humans."
It was about this moment that my survival instincts slammed into high gear. My first instinct was to run as fast and as hard as I could. But my legs would not move. Damn you, body! This was fight or flight, and I sure as fuck can't fight that. Flee, damn you, Flee! Move you stupid legs! The eye of the predator had me firmly in its sight. Remembering my earlier run and how I was not in the best of shape, my inclination to run withered away.
Slowly I stepped out, crunching along the glassed ground. It was odd how it glowed with a slight heat.
At my approach the immense figure turned revealing an unnerving sight. It was uncanny, human yet… very not. The haunting face of bone white creased into a smirk that cracked the hardened features. Eyes, many, many eyes, gazed down upon me. Oddly, unsettlingly she had an alluring, feminine body sculpted from some sort of hardened material. Plated like armor. Was it some suit? It really was one of those, I really shouldn't put my dick in there… however-
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With a clawed finger, she motioned down, "Bow before your better pathetic worm."
Well, when she put it that way… I lowered myself to the ground. I am a worm; step on me, mommy, just don't kill me.
"Tell me, who are you? Where is this place?" she asked. I could hear the tentacles sliding over one another, undulating through the air above me.
I stammered, “Momm- mean um, I- I am Vesper.”
She paused thoughtfully, tapping her chin… the movement seemed familiar to me. It reminded me of what I would do when thinking, well, I know a few others that did that too, so I guess even Villains do that. "That is an unusual name. And?"
"And?"
"Where is this place?" she asked.
"Bronson, California."
"Bronson?" she scowled in disbelief. "Impossible, it has been years since-"
"I swear, I am not lying." I pleaded, and the words just kept spilling out, "I don't know who you are or what you want but, but just let me go. I swear, I won't say anything to anybody and will forget this all happened. Just, just let me go."
The massive wasp woman's eyes flashed with understanding as her voice boomed into an evil cackle that sent shivers down my spine and toppled over a nearby tree, "Oh. Muhaha Hehehahaha! Is that what you did. I guess you finally lived up to your name, Timeskip. So it worked then, and here I thought all this rumored time jumping was just a ploy. A clever ruse, misinformation during the war. To think it was real, so this was the Great Reset I had heard of. Here I thought you humans would destroy the world just to spite me. Yet this, this is far more interesting. Is this all going according to your plan? Did this already occur?"
The man, Timeskip, I assumed, replied, "Third time is the charm, Eva."
"Empress Eva, So, now that you have my undivided attention," she leaned in face to face with the man, "Tell me. Why here? Why now? What did you hope to accomplish here, now?"
"As if I would tell you. Even if I were to die here, you would learn nothing," Timeskip spit in her eye.
She didn't even blink.
Eva seemed amused, "Is it a loop? So we have done this before? Does it change? Or is it the same every time? So many questions, though I doubt you will answer me willingly. I suppose I will just have to eat your brain to find out."
"Vesper Walda Vasska," choked out the man.
"Yes? Wait, how do you know my name?"
"You will pay dearly for all you have done, Eva!"
"Empress Eva. Get it right, you disrespectful worm." She sneered back.
"Empress, bah you are no ruler. A tyrant. A fiend. You don't even care about your own children's lives. You sacrificed them all, and for what?"
Though confused, the face of the giant woman seemed to come to a realization. Her grip tightened as she snarled. She hurled the man into the ground, audibly bones broke, and the glassed earth shattered. She stepped on him, her talons gouging deep into the ground as blood shot out. The thin veneer of humanity that was Eva's face cracked and split open revealing her for the monster she truly was.
"All I have done? You humans were the ones who started this! I just wanted to live with my children in peace. You wretched things slaughtered my children! Burned my home! Murdered my mates! You bastards killed the only one I ever loved. The earth is stained with the blood of billions. You wretched fiends did this. There will be no quarter. No mercy!" her claws scraped and flexed, cutting at him, "You have failed, child of Man. To think you would bring me back, how ironic. Your last hope has become your ruin. Humanity will burn. It will suffer as I have. This time I know better than to try to coexist. Seeing how Bronson is still here, this is clearly before the War of the Wasp, before the Day of Descent. The Spore yet sleeps, and I will awaken it once more. Today Humanity ended thanks to your failure, and my Vesperium begins!"
She bent down, grasping him even as his lower half was pinned, pulling him between massive fingers all four arms, pulling, crunching, tearing. I could hear every bone in the man's body breaking. She was doing it slowly, as painfully as possible. He ripped in half. Even though he screamed, he started to laugh, "My future is just beginning, but yours ends here!"
Lost, confused. No idea what the hell is going on here. I sat up and looked at him. I couldn't see his face behind the cracked helmet, but his voice had felt accomplished? The hands around him glowed and evaporated as a bright light filled my vision. A tentacle smashed into me hurling me back. It faded to black as heat rushed through me. I felt numb all over. Vision blacking in and out as I lay there. Is this how I die? Caught in a pissing match between supers. Death by laser. At least it doesn't hurt all that much. Can't really feel much of anything. I knew I should have just stayed home.
Vaguely, I heard a crunching, tearing noise as the massive form rose from where it had fallen. Only the bottom half was there. The rest melted off. Flesh and muscles rapidly growing, circling, and entwining as they pulsated and bulged. Soon the bluish-white skin faded below that familiar hard black armor. The haunting visage of Eva reformed, glistening in the light of the Spore above. Slowly she turned, gazing down in my direction.
"So he ran again."
She bent down, almost affectionately placing that cold, hardened hand on me, "Poor, poor little thing. And they call me Evil. As I learned long ago, you can never trust humans."
The world blurred, fogged? I couldn't move. I could feel a dull stinging, perhaps? Burning? Was I dying? Everything felt weird, like I was watching some movie playing out in slow motion.
"Do you want me to end your suffering?" asked that white face that loomed before me, filling my vision.
"I want to," I choked and felt something hot roll out, oozing out of my mouth, "live."
"To live is to suffer." Eva smiled, at least. I think that is a smile. It seemed sunken and sad for some reason. “Very well. Life is my gift to you, My dear Vesper. My other-half. To think I would see you again. This time will be different."
Woozy. Faint. Vaguely, I could see the mouth gaping. The maw extended out as though to swallow the world. A tendril came forth and thrust forward. That face, the bone-white mask filling my eyes as they glazed over. Every second, a pulsing sensation radiated through my head. Slowly it grew in intensity as the tube throbbed. It was pumping something into my head.
~~~
The world around me seemed to fade. Everything became white and red and yellow.
Scenes, broken distorted views of a distant frozen hellscape materialized, a ruined world burning. It was burning, and yet it was so cold. The sky was black with bodies moving in a swarm, shifting as it descended. The ground was littered with dead or dying wasps, machines, and men piled together. Mountains of bodies raining down with every boom as the guns below thundered relentlessly. The snow dyed yellow and red as the two sides clashed endlessly. Great and terrible machines of war and super-powered beings cutting desperate swathes through the endless horde. A giant of a being was swarmed and dragged down below the tide of flesh and carapace that surged forward. Every flash swiped back the wave of carapace, and the screams silenced briefly.
I felt it flow through me. An unbridled raging sorrow. As though all the light in the world was extinguished and all the happiness crushed. My great clawed hand motioned them forward more and more, descending as the clouds of wasps, my children, parted around a titanic tentacle that came crashing down, shattering the world.
Pain.
Power.
Rage.
Sorrow.
Black.
Quiet.
Nothing.
~~~****~~~
The fire filled my eyes, burning brightly against the forest's black. This seemed familiar, yet it was wrong. Distorted. The sky was flickering. The Spore above pulsates with every beat of my heart. Every breath seizing in my chest. Something was wrong, very, very wrong. As though I had already been here. My thoughts were foggy, fragmented, mushed. I was here for something. It seemed to have hit one of the meadows that lead into the bogs out here.
This was… things pieced together haphazardly as though someone was throwing memories against a wall to see what would stick. This place was… behind my house in the woods. I might be a basement-dwelling nerd now, but I know this place well enough. After all, I spent my childhood running around out here. The walkway was overgrown, though, it was not too bad to descend.
All the flames died down a bit when I muddled through the undergrowth. The clearing where the metal wreck lay was filled with the snaps and crackles of the twisted metal. The craft looked like a small cargo plane; it's hard to tell how messed up it was. A stabbing pain rushed through my brain as images overlapped. There was the section of the space station that had crashed.. The whole front end was crushed into the ground.
It was not very likely that anybody survived that unless they were a Super. I had heard of a few that were borderline indestructible. Let's see, there was Atomic Train and Armadillo, but that was about it. There could be a lot more, but I don't follow Supers that much, kinda like football, I never really got into it. I don't really know too much about them besides what I see in the news every now and again. Most of the time, it was about the subhumans in the slums, all of it was bad.
I stared at the flames, not really knowing what to do. The whole of the area was lit up, and while aimlessly circling the crash, I saw a strange metal canister lying about fifty feet away, along with a trail of debris leading off into the woods. This is the type of thing you see in movies. So I did what anybody in my position would, I got a large stick and poked it. An idiot would have just ran up and grabbed it bare handed. I was not going to just go up and touch that shit.
If it was important or something, I could turn it in for a reward, but I did not trust it as far as I could throw it. Seemed alright, so I gave it another prod and it rolled out of the depression it made, that was when a green glow filled my eyes. The damned thing had already been broken open by the crash, and this is exactly why I did not walk up and grab it.
A sense of oddity came. I… I have been here before. Done this before. I was sure of that. My head hurt. Throbbing, pounding. It felt like something, something was crawling through my brain. Sick. I feel sick. Yet, I soon realized my body and my thoughts kept moving. It was as though I were a passenger observing.
I had seen enough horror movies to know where this was going. When has a fluorescent goo ever been a good thing? Oh god, are those fumes?! This is how you get cancer. Almost everything gives cancer these days, but something tells me this might be super cancer. Back away, not today! I was getting a horrible feeling about this place. The inclination that I was in way over my head came to mind, and this was something that I should not be involved in.
Uneasily, I stepped back, giving it a wide berth. I turned around getting ready to leave when a low whine pierced through the air around the ship. Not liking that, I back peddle away as quickly as possible. Suddenly an explosion ripped through the crash, and I threw myself back onto the ground to dodge any shrapnel. Unfortunately, I was a bit late as several impacts resounded through my back. It surprisingly did not hurt as much as I thought it would.
My chest felt wet. Ah fuck, it is blood, isn't it?! I ran my hand down to feel. It was warm and squishy, green pervaded everywhere. Oh, fuck me. I am soaked in this shit! The glow was mocking me. It had seeped through my jacket, ruined my jeans, and I could feel it in my hair. I screamed, clawing my way out of the depression, and tried to stand, only to find a jagged piece of metal sticking out of my leg. I could tell that I was still in shock. Otherwise, something like that would hurt like a bitch. My right leg was useless, and that goop was getting into the wound. I hobbled towards the bog. My clothes were torn off as I went, and I threw myself into the filthy muck.
Wrong. This was wrong somehow. My thoughts were reeling. Being shifted. Changed. Something else had happened. Yet my thoughts fled. Gritting, forcing all my attention and will to remember, to see what had happened.
It, She appeared looming over me, tentacles slowly sliding over my body. Held in her hug? Embrace? It was almost tender. Images flashed of a cold white bone face smiling. That overwhelming presence a shadow, an all-consuming expanse before me. Within it was the hum, the droning of countless voices culminating into that face.
'Empress loves you, Vesper.'
Too strong. It faded away as the outside lurched violently. Already the memories faded into cold dark silence. Submerged and drowned, yet the whispers remained.
I could not get the jeans off. The metal was lodged in there. A throbbing spread and the serrated metal cut my fingers from trying to pull it out. Rubbing the mud over it did not help; now my skin felt like it was starting to burn, melt even. Thousands of stings radiated over my skin. It was worse than that one time I threw a rock at a massive killer bee hive.
I wallowed about in the black mire, scraping my skin to the point it was bleeding. This is what I get for going outside. Why didn't I just go home? I was burning up, my skin blistering and popping. It hurt more than anything I had ever felt before. Can't even describe it. It raged and seared without end, even after I was too exhausted to move.
A light appeared, and it swept over the area. I could only vaguely follow it. Pounding filled my ears, and a rhythmic sound reverberated overhead, and I realized it was a helicopter. The wind rippled the waves and made them slosh when it set down nearby. Figures poured out as two more landed, and they scattered all around, searching for something. In desperation, I crawled towards them, hoping that they could help. They were covered in thick suits, and lights beside their heads shone wherever they looked.
A loud voice, gruff and heavily accented, rang out. It sounded like a huge Russian soldier from some movie I had seen somewhere. "Da. My team has arrived on site, securing the remains. Check hazmat suits quickly. Do not risk contamination. You will die. Be quick about it. We must remain undetected. Heroes will arrive in five minutes."
"Comrade, one canister is left, but it is damaged." Shouted a subordinate, running over to one of the helicopters. He held that metal tube that caused all of this.
My eyes blurred as someone stepped over, stopping right in front of where I lay. My mind swirled and churned. I wanted to yell, but I could only cry out incoherently.
"Seems to be survivor. Bring girl along, be careful she is covered in Mutigene, and place her in the sterile transport container. Dr. Tesla, we are returning shortly."
One of them approached with some sort of syringe-looking thing. I have always hated needles, and this thing did not look friendly. I retreated a few bumbling flops, but he pressed my chest to the ground with his knee. I felt a prick in my neck, and all the pain flew away, along with the world.