The Vespidian
Arc 9 Twilight
Chapter 5
Xava and I stood in the meeting room as Chief and the others were arguing over what to do. Medavac had gotten out by the skin of his teeth. Lucky for him, he was already leaving when whatever happened, happened. Apparently, a lot of the others had not made it out. Overseer, Dreamer, Panther, Captain Metal, and just about the entire City Central staff had been caught up in it, not to mention all the normies in the surrounding blocks.
Chief turned to the room and looked us all over, before he said, “We can surmise that this is Sunshine’s doing, but we don’t know how she got this powerful and we don’t know why this is happening. For now, we have to stop her before it spreads further. The scouting team we sent in hasn’t reported back yet, but we can’t wait too long with how fast that bubble is expanding. Our objective is to put Sunshine down.”
“Put her down?!” I yelled at them.
Xava nodded, “We need to incapacitate her to disrupt her powers. With these doses of Nartonin, we should be able to put her into an induced coma and shut her powers off.”
“Nartonin?” I asked.
“You know, the sedative I use to capture people.”
“Ah, the sleepy time juice. A coma? Will she be ok?”
“Yes, it is a medically induced coma, she will be fine. We can bring her out when we are ready to deal with her,” said Xava, handing me a syringe.
“Ok,” I nodded, taking the injector filled with blue liquid.
Chief kept talking, “From our estimates, a mile wide area has been taken over. If this rate of expansion holds, then the entire city will be consumed within a week. By tomorrow the city center will have been completely taken over and it will start encroaching on all the surrounding sectors. Enforcer, I am leaving you in charge of all the outside forces. If we don’t stop this thing within a day call for a citywide evacuation in the meantime clear out all the areas that will be hit first.”
I looked them over, “Evacuation? Wouldn’t the bridge get backed up and the tunnels too? You are not going to make the normies go through the slums are you?”
“If it comes to that, then there is no alternative,” he replied.
“Do we have to go that far though? I mean this is Sunshine we are talking about here. At worst, there will be some Moon Sailor stuff running around, but nothing that could do that much damage. I think you guys are blowing this out of proportion.”
Medavac shook his head, “I don’t know what the hell happened to Sunshine, but the things I was seeing in there were not normal for her. Sure the outside is pink, but it felt like something dark was watching me.”
“I think we should just talk to her. This is Sunshine we are talking about. She doesn’t like to hurt people and we can reason with her.” I said.
“I am not staking our chances on reasoning with a rogue Super,” said Chief, “We have to handle this ourselves and fast before outside forces decide to interfere.”
“Outside forces?” I asked.
“Chimera or hell, even Kraken might get interested if this goes on too long.”
“Wait, why would Chimera come? It is not like Sunshine is a Kraken villain.”
Medavac answered, “You ever hear of the Hammer Protocol?”
I shook my head and he continued, “Chimera is the world police of rogue or extremist Supers, all be it that most of their attention is on Kraken. In the event of a powerful Super going rogue, usually, rank 7 or higher, Chimera is deployed to subdue the individual. We have some leeway, but if the Hero League fails to stop this then they will intervene and either take control of the city or if it is deemed too dangerous, then they will nuke Bronson off of the face of the earth. You heard about Germany didn’t you?”
I feel like I overheard something on the news a little while ago, but I had not been paying attention at the time. Now I am starting to wish that I actually watched the news.
“No? What happened? Last I had heard Panzer was trying to maintain order with all the suicide bombings and super terrorism going on over there. I mean shit London got blown up earlier this year.”
“Panzer and all of those that opposed the U.N. interference are dead.”
I gulped, “He is dead? Who killed him?”
Medavac scratched his chin, “Well, no one saw who did it, but we all know who did it. Arachnaon and her team.”
A tingle shivered up my spine at the mention of that name. Uh oh, the big bad spider is out and about. “She wouldn’t come here, would she?”
Medavac shook his head, “Likely not, but I wouldn’t want to deal with Centi or Mantia.”
“Who are Centi and Mantia?” I asked, I had never heard of those two before.
“They are both Rank 7s. Both are on Arachnaon’s personal team and like her are insect subhumans. Centi is reminiscent of a centipede except a lot larger, we are talking six meters long. Mantia is similar to a preying mantis, she has clawed scythes as her main weapons.”
I paled a little even though my face was bone white to start with. Rank 7s and both sounded like scary bugs. Why can’t there be like a butterfly or something instead of all these mean assed predatory bugs. So there is a team of Super hunters that consists of a spider, a centipede, a mantis, and who knows what else. I can see why Molotov was wanting to avoid getting into a fight with these. I was starting to get some flashbacks from my sewer adventure and old miss skitter. Six meters… that is pretty big, isn’t it? A meter was slightly bigger than a yard, right? Then… so, so like twenty feet long then. Igh, how many legs does it have?
He continued, “Alright, so you know what will come should we fail.”
I looked out the window thinking over exactly how bad things were. Don’t wanna have to deal with Chimera. I wonder what could have made Sunshine do this or even what she is doing in that bubble. She was probably playing with her glowing critters. As though my thoughts had manifest themselves, I noticed a pink glow outside and a face that I knew very well was brightly smiling at me from the other side of the glass. It was Sunshine. Why was she here… wait how is she here? My thoughts shattered as the window did and she hit me like a shooting star, knocking me off of my feet.
“Neesan! Sunshine was looking everywhere for you,” pouted the glowing princess latched onto me.
She looked different than usual. It was her outfit, she had a skirt that was shorter in the front and trailed behind her in the back. Long white gloves and stockings covered her arms and legs, leaving her thighs and upper arms exposed. Her shoulders were poofy and there was a large heart shaped jewel in the middle of her chest. She wasn’t wearing a helmet instead it was a heart encrusted tiara.
Everyone in the room had taken up defensive stances. Medavac had drawn his shotgun and Enforcer had his grenade launcher honed in. It didn’t feel good having every weapon in room pointed at the Sunshine and by extension me since she was latched on like a lamprey. Xava had brandished several syringes ready to pounce, but slowed her approach and cocked her head to the side.
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She asked, “What are you?”
She stood up and spun her heart-shaped staff before planting it onto the floor and striking a pose, “Magical Girl Sunshine, desu~”
Xava waved away the reply, “It is lying, that is not organic and the cybernetic arm is missing.”
Sunshine frowned and fumed a little bit, “Sunshine doesn’t lie!”
Mellow popped out and I crab-walked away. It was looking at me. I hate that thing and its sparkly magical eyes always trying to lull me into a false sense of security. It seemed to have become even more colorful and hypnotic than last time. The wings on that thing were swirling as well as the eyes. Just looking at it was dangerous now.
“I asked what you are, not who you are.”
“Sunshine is Sunshine?” she said, tilting her head as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
That was the reply that we got. Sunshine was the only one who talked like that and so, I was convinced that it was her. I mean, who the fuck else talks in the third person and has magical glowing stuff following them around? Sure, she looks a little different, but she got stronger recently, so maybe she just felt like changing her costume a little? That sort of shit happens all the time in anime when the main character gets a power-up. Ah, right, that brought up some questions.
“Sunshine, what happened?” I asked.
She tapped a finger to her mouth thinking over how to reply. After a brief pause, she came to a conclusion and gave us a thumbs up, while sticking her tongue out cutely, “Sunshine is free, desu~”
As adorable as she might be, that didn’t sit right with me, “Free? Free from what?”
She beamed back brighter than the sun, I get the feeling I am going to go blind here, “EVERYTHING!”
Xava was unfazed, “Stop being vague. You are not organic, nor mechanical, so you must be a projection.”
Sunshine started tapping her finger against her mouth again, “Mmmmm Sunshine doesn’t need her body anymore, but she does, but she doesn’t?”
Xava nodded, seeming to have understood her, “Sunshine, where is your physical body?”
“In the Kitten Kingdom, of course, where else would it be? Oh, oh right Twilight-chan is guarding it and dealing with those nasty people who hurt Sunshine, but that doesn’t really matter,” smiled Sunshine pointing to the ceiling, “The Dark Moon approaches, we must unite the Trinity and defeat Evil Queen Bambi!”
“Who was hurting you?” I asked her, she didn’t look hurt, but this was a projection after all.
“Nightmare, but she is just a puppet now, dancing to strings like all the others,” Sunshine waved her hand as though brushing off a bug, “Evil Queen Bambi is the true evil! If she is left to despoil the world, then all the men of earth will be devoured by her space strippers and the slore spells will convert the broken-hearted women into air headed bimbos!”
Wait, that sounds familiar… That is the whole damned storyline of the Moon Sailors. Could it be that she is recreating that in reality or rather her fantasy land? Sunshine is even more of a weeb than I am. Of course Sunshine wouldn’t be Sunshine if she did normal things. That is kinda her appeal after all.
Medavac wore a heavy frown, “Did you just say Nightmare?”
Sunshine nodded, “She killed Dreamer and took her place. She wanted to make Sunshine do bad things, but Sunshine made Twilight-chan and now she is punishing her.”
“What sorts of punishment?”
Sunshine shrugged, “Sunshine left that to Twilight-chan.”
Nightmare I feel like I have heard that name before… my memories were dredged up about a conversation I had a few months ago with Medavac no less. “Wait, you mean Chimera’s Nightmare?”
They nodded and I gulped, “Then this is bad right? I mean she is going to squeal on us and Chimera is going to crack down.”
“Only if she gets out alive,” coldly said Xava with shining eyes.
“So we are going to kill her then?” I asked.
Chief put up his hand, interrupting us, “Wait, we are not killing a Chimera operative. That is the last thing we want to do in this situation. We are not in the business of killing people. That is not what Heroes do. We have strict by laws and regulations on this.”
I crossed my arms and stared him down, “You heard Sunshine that bitch killed Dreamer and was trying to brainwash her to do bad things.”
He squinted at me with a face of stone, “Be that as it may, we are not judge, jury, and executioner. She will be detained and put on trial once this has been resolved.”
I shouted, pointing at him, “That is bullshit! If even a quarter of what I have heard about that bitch is true, then she is worse than most of Kraken!”
He glared at me, “You don’t understand how this works, do you? If we kill a Chimera agent they will come. If we kill Nightmare not only us, they won’t stop with us. They will cull the city in retribution. Do you want your parents to die? Arachnaon comes personally when high ranking members of her squad are killed. She holds vendettas the likes of which wipe countries off of the map. There is a reason nobody fucks with Rank 9s.”
I bit my lip and balled my fists, “That is not fair. There is no way she is going to get convicted if she goes on trial. Nobody in their right mind would put themselves in that much danger. Let alone the fact she might just brainwash all of the witnesses and the judge to let her off. So you are saying we have to put up with her? What the hell is the point of the Hero League if we can’t even bring criminals to justice?!”
“Life isn’t fair, I thought you of all people would have learned this by now.”
I had been ignoring it up until now, but my antennae twitched smelling a certain stench that I knew fairly well, “You are scared.”
“Of course I am scared. You would have to be crazy not to be.”
“You are too scared to do what is right. You are no hero. A hero would do what needed to be done no matter what.”
He rubbed his grizzled chin and laughed a little, “Naive. There are no heroes like that and if there were, they are already dead. Picking fights out of your rank will get you killed. This isn’t one of your comic books or cartoons, where you can just believe in the power of friendship and magically there is a happy ending. This is the real world and no matter how hard you try there will always be sacrifices. People will always die and we have the burden of having to make the hard choices and limit the casualties.”
Sunshine didn’t like that and puffed up her cheeks, “Wrong! With the power of love, anything is possible, you just have to believe hard enough!”
“Shut up you demented and delusion drug addict! This is all your fault, to begin with, if you didn’t exist, none of this would have happened!” He shouted at her and raised his hand.
He, he was going to slap her. I reacted before I could even think it through and swung at him, connecting with his stomach. The blow knocked him back and dented in his suit. He staggered and shook his head in bewilderment. What the hell did he think was going to happen? Like I am just going to stand there and let him hit my friend? Fuck that, fuck him. I stood in between him and Sunshine.
“What do you think you are doing?!” he steadied himself and raised his fist, but Medavac grabbed him and held him back.
“Chief just calm down. We need to work together on this or we won’t get anything done.”
“Why are you protecting her?”
I crossed my arms again, “She started this, so she is going to help us fix it, isn’t that right Sunshine?”
Sunshine seemed lost, “Fix what?”
I turned to her, “We have to stop your imagination land.”
“Why? Sunshine isn’t hurting anyone.”
“That bubble thing is eating the city.”
She thought it over and started frowning, “Is that so? Sunshine is hurting people? Sunshine is bad?”
I held her hand, “It is not like you are doing that on purpose, we can still fix this and put the city back to how It was.”
“If Nee-san says so, then Sunshine will believe you,” she wore a bit of a pained expression.
“Good, Sunshine, can you show us to your body so that we can suppress your powers?”
She smiled, “Nee-san wants to come and play?”
“This is serious, but once everything calms down, sure I will play with you.”
“Eh? No play?”
“Not right now.”
“Fine Sunshine will show you,” she said, not at all that enthusiastic.
“Thanks.”
“Anything for Nee-san,” she smiled vaguely and then her face twisted in surprise as she smacked herself in some sort of realization, “Sunshine forgot to wake Nee-san up!”
I was wide awake though… “What are you-”
Sunshine spun her staff around and started dancing. Out of nowhere, pop music sprang forth, it sounded a hell of a lot like a certain amusement park’s theme song. Sparkles shot everywhere. Guah! It is everywhere! Sunshine, no, not the glitter bukkake! It is in my eyes!
“Go, go!
Love-love transformation!
Para, para, pyon, pyon to neko, neko, nee, nee, Nyan!
Come forth ally of Justice!
Mahou Shoujo Nyan-chan!”
Who the fuck is Nyan-chan? Now that was just a bunch of gibberish if I ever heard any. That still didn’t help matters though. The pink goo washed over me and it felt like I was floating in warm custard, not that I would know what that felt like. It was sticky and heavy, even for the suit. I could feel it on my carapace, a mild tingling sensation. How did it get into the suit? This was different than that time she turned me into a girl. I could feel it. My vision warped and tinted into colorful pastels. It felt so… warm and peaceful.
The surroundings faded including my outstretched arm that seemed to melt right off. It was hard to focus, hard to think. Dimly, I could hear Xava screaming something, but it felt like it was far away, down a distant corridor. In another world. A happy fog settled over me and I felt tired, very, very tired. All that I wanted to do was sleepy sleep. I curled up, this feels like a good place for a nap, nyah.
Wake up stupid, you are going to get eaten!
Nyah!? That don’t sound right at all!
I had been sinking into something and struggled, resisting it. Sub grabbed my hand and kept me from being pulled any deeper into the swirling quicksand-like abyss of pink. She couldn’t get me out though, the more we struggled the deeper and harder it pulled. We were at an impasse, we could not move or it would get worse and I was stuck in a limbo between the chasm of colorful swirls and kittens. Hands started emerging and grasping at me, pulling and pulling until Sub slipped and lost her grip.
Shit! I will save you, just, just hold on.
I swirled around the edges of the maelstrom, every pass going deeper in the whirlpool. Every circle Sub got more and more distant until I could not even hear her voice anymore. I wanted to believe that Sunshine had the best of intentions in all of this, but I was scared. Terrified as the world seemed more and more distant with every moment. The sloppy mud like substance pressed in heavier by the second. I was drug below the surface. I expected the horrifying sensation of drowning alive. The searing of my lungs filling with liquid to rise and yet it didn’t.
A happy warmth flowed into me as the world went still and silent.