The giant bug writhed and screeched in the basement of a company office. It was tied up in chains so heavily wrapped around it they threatened to crush it. In front of it was a single table opposite of which stood Victor, Cooper and some of the other Wielders.

“And you found it just wandering around?” Lillie asked him. More than anything, she was annoyed by the time he was wasting in his hunt.

“You’re complaining, but you came back early from your mission,” Victor replied.

She’d been gone for days at that point with Amadeus. She’d been going on progressively longer and longer expeditions as of late, until Victor thought she might just escape with some Seeds, weapons and resources. But she always came back, and that’s how Victor knew she still cared for Audrey and the rest of Angel Heights.

“Because it’s an important target, Victor, and someone might come after us to get to it,” Lillie scolded him.

“I agree. You should’ve thought be- cough,” Daphne added before she broke into a deep coughing.

“You should be back at the apartments with Dean, Daphne,” Lillie told her.

The old woman wasn’t holding up well to their current conditions. Victor didn’t want to see the old woman suffer, so he sat her down in one of the other chairs in the vast room.

“Instead of bickering, let’s interrogate the Vintaric himself,” Cooper told them.

The bug stopped twitching in place and quieted immediately.

“You can understand what we’re saying, clearly,” Cooper said.

“Are you going to speak or do we have to make you,” Victor pulled out his ignistone, ignited with blue flames.

“Your weapons arrrre good, human, but your threats worthlessss!” the bug spat out.

“If you like the gun so much, why don’t I give you a taste?” Victor pressed it against the monster’s skull.

“I’ll just grab some other Vintaric from your hive and bring him back here instead. You’re weak as any of them, after all,” Victor told it.

The bug laughed a laugh that sounded alien to Victor. It was almost like coughing mixed with chittering, and he only grew angrier at the monster for it.

“What’s so funny?” Victor asked.

“Our leader will make short work of you. You and otherrr humans,” the Vintaric said. “Your new magic is nothing against him. He has been around for decades you cannot comprehend, and it has given him power above all of you.”

“And who is your leader?” Daphne asked him.

“Altar is hisss name. He embodies the weapon more than any other Vintaric from any hive!” the bug said frantically, with a fervour that bordered on fanatical.

They tried a variety of tactics afterwards to get the bug to talk, but they all came up short. Victor pulled away his gun from the monster and it actually seemed annoyed with him.

“Bring that back here! Give it to me!” the monster shouted with its pincers. It tried to move to Victor’s guns and take a bite but couldn’t.

“Think there’s a better way to convince him?” Amadeus asked.

Victor looked down at his weapons.

“Yeah, but we’re not going to like it.”

****

A few hours later, Professor Cooper came back with some of the weapons they could spare from the hideout. The good Professor had even found it in him to bring different kinds of ammo, calibre and even some of the weapons Victor had Strengthened.

“You won’t bribe me with that, human,” the Vintaric had insisted.

But after some cajoling, it seemed to weaken, and Victor could feel the hunger building up in its body.

“We’ll give these to you, and let you go if you want. All we ask in return is a bit of help with our investigation,” Victor told him.

“The Hive will have my head for this,” the Vintaric replied.

“And why should you be loyal to them. Did they ever do anything for you?” Victor asked.

The monster seemed to consider his words, and the sight of the weapons didn’t seem to dull that any. By the end of the day, the Vintaric finally broke, and Professor Cooper got to work.

“My name isss Chekhtana,” it said in the middle of its feast. Victor didn’t bother to remember it.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He gave the Vintaric a taste of each of the weapons like it was another experiment.

“Which one of these tastes best?” He asked the Vintaric with a checkboard next to him. he was noting down reactions and treating the Vintaric little more than an annoying lab rat.

“It seems the stronger the weapon, the more he enjoys the treat,” Cooper concluded.

He showed a graph between the taste and strength of the weapons, and it was an upward curve.

“It strengthens them somehow. No biology can accomplish what the monster is doing. It must be that same magic that we use that allows them to digest and strengthen themselves from the materials they consume,” Cooper told Victor while the rest questioned the Vintaric.

“It’s not unlike that Metamorph Brute you mentioned once. The one in the caves filled with crystals. It must’ve integrated them into their biology.”

“Like we do with the Seeds?” Victor asked.

“Much the same, but more… natural, I’d assume,” Cooper said.

He turned back to his research a moment later, and Victor was left to deal with their prisoner.

“There has only ever been one Vintaric who could beat Altar. Scepter was her name, and she has since fled deep inside of Angel Falls to escape him,” Chekhtana explained.

“Do you know where we can find her?” Amadeus asked him.

“All the tunnelssss coalesce the further down you go. But Scepter keeps herrr hideout a secret, and those of the hive that have ventured down there rarely come back up,” Chekhtana replied.

“We’re not going to find her searching blindly,” Lillie told him. “I say we leave the Vintarics alone on this. Take all the survivors we can and move somewhere else.”

“We can’t,” Victor replied.

“Why not?”

Times like these frustrated Victor with how long the explanation would take. He instead opted for a simpler explanation.

“It’s safer in cities. The further out we go, the less hiding places we have from the monster. Our best bet is to drive the Vintarics out, not ourselves,” Victor explained the best he could.

Lillie shrugged, but it seemed a good enough explanation for her. The rest of the guys there kept trying to wring out information from Chekhtana, which helped them find the root cause of this whole mess.

“Grandsssmith Tower. The Gate is in the fountain,” Chekhtana said.

“The building with the inner courtyard?” Lillie said in amazement. “I’ve delivered there a few times when I was working my flower shop.”

“That doesn’t explain why we haven’t seen them coming out of the building. Vintarics aren’t the stealthiest monsters, after all,” Professor Cooper said.

Chekhtana shook his head in a very human gesture.

“We carrrved tunnels through the ground. Tunnels through the sewers, forrrtified them,” he said, “It is easy to move around and pop out from buildingsss.”

The monster then went right back to chomping down at the weapons below it. While Victor and the rest planned their infiltration of Grandsmith Tower, Cooper was more concerned with the Vintaric’s eating habits.

“Why do you eat weapons, anyhow?” he asked it.

“Stolkatans love weapons. We can sssniff them out from leagues away. And you, Wielder, are one who we yearrrn to capture,” Chekhtana told him.

“What? Why me?” Victor perked up and looked back at the Vintaric.

Chekhtana looked to his chest, where the Weaponsmith Heart was beating. He didn’t think the Vintaric knew, but he could feel something.

“You’re after the Seed?” Victor asked.

“It is imporrrtant to us. It belonged to the heir of Altar himself. We sent him to prove himself, and you killed him,” Chekhtana told him, “The Hive doesn’t know where the Seed is, but we can sense it within the city. They will find you, Wielder, and will stay in the city till it’s carrrved from your chest.”

Victor took a step backwards. The invasion had been related to his Seed after all. That meant that the first loop, the deaths… they were his own fault.

Victor had taken the Seed from the chest of one Vintaric and it’d cost him all those lives. He glanced back at Lillie and the images came flooding back into his mind. Of her, and of the children that had died in the wake of that disaster.

If he’d just stayed away…. This would never have happened. His mistake, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The world seemed to love playing pranks like those on Victor, having done it twice now.

The others also stepped away from Victor at the same moment. They looked at him anew, and some of them refused to meet his gaze.

“If you left now, Victor, wouldn’t they leave too?” Lillie asked.

Daphne and Leo seemed to agree with her. The others slowly came around, and Victor could tell where the vote was going.

“You’re going to kick me out?” Victor asked, betrayed. He’d known them for years and yet…

Yet they didn’t know him at all. He bit his lip till it bled. Another loop wasted. He was going to have to spend the next nine years out in the wasteland, surviving off of scraps and whatever else he could find.

A dark thought crossed Victor’s mind. If Daphne were dead… but he recoiled at the disgusting idea. But what else could he think of to ensure Lillie’s loyalty?

“The Vintarics will not leave so easily,” Loki interjected. He’d been quiet all night, but he spoke for the first time then.

“They’re already too well-established in the city. Even if some of them leave to pursue Victor, many more will stay behind. He is our best hope as of now, and I will not allow you to throw him out,” Loki told them.

“I’m with Loki,” Amadeus said. “He’s done too much for us to turn our back on him now. And… if you throw him out, I’m leaving too.”

Some of the tension eased out of Victor’s heart, and Amadeus nodded at him appreciatively.

Lillie was rubbing her head in concentration, as if considering her options. Victor didn’t know whether she’d tell Audrey or keep it a secret, but he hoped for the latter. After a few moments, she finally came to a decision, and sighed.

“Fine, but you’ll be responsible for driving out the Vintarics, then,” Lillie conceded.

It was a relief, but Victor felt the lingering pain of betrayal. It wasn’t her fault for not remembering where he did, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.

They made a plan that very day, to venture beyond the Gates and into the mines. Chekhtana would’ve been killed had he returned to his Hive, so he decided to tag along instead. Ashley also came along, and Victor wondered why when she’d sided with Lillie to kick him out.

“Think of it as an apology. Wasn’t thinking right,” she said as she packed her bag full of the essentials.

“Thanks,” Victor told her. The cramped apartment complex made for little room for privacy, so Lillie was in the same room as them, crossing out locations on a map. Victor wondered what they were for, but when she glanced back up at him, he looked away.

Loki had wanted to go with them, but Victor forbid it. It was best for someone strong to stay behind, and Victor could’ve left the whole city to Loki without losing sleep. The team was him, Leo, Amadeus and Ashley once more, along with Chekhtana.

The four of them gathered the next day with all of the supplies they could spare, and entered through the Gate in the centre of Los Angeles once more.