Marigold Station

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

There was a park near the mouth of the Metro station at Grayditch's eastern edge, long ago. A few of the rides are still present- the fulcrums of the see-saws, the rusted-out remnants of the monkey bars, even the pitted, corroded sheets of metal that had once been the slides. It lies a little lower than the surrounding road-beds, but it offers the easiest access to the Marigold Station metro entrance- and currently, the park is free of ants.

"Okay," says Ellen to the people following her. "Who wants to go in front, and who's going to guard our rear as we head in?"

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I'm not sure," says Ellen. "But if these tunnels go deep enough-" She nods towards the downsloping floor up ahead; it leads to a balcony with rusted elevators and stairs on either side, feeding down to another level. Those who come from urban environments will recognize the level below as being the actual train platform, with tunnels stretching off in either direction, and the bulk of dead metro cars looming in the shadows. "-then people might've tried to hide from the bombs here... so I'm guessing keeping them out?"

An effort which didn't work very well, one might note. Up ahead, on the other side of the crumbling information booth with its map of the Metro system, there's the skittering sound of ant legs.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Ants ahead." Spoon calls, declining to explain why he has projectile issues. Some things you just don't spread around.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

And sure enough, from the other side of the info booth, a mandibled form emerges, its antennae twitching angrily.

Oh, and it's not alone. The other one is just a little further back, that's all.

[time_dancer]

Val steps off to the side to get a line of fire, looking around for any other places the ants can come from as she does so. She's got her gauntlets charged and ready but she's not going to fire quite yet, Spoon is still between her and the ants.

"You okay with energy blasts if I keep a meter or so away?"

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"It's bullets I have problems with." Spoon informs her quietly.

[bprd_agent_red]

"Got him," Red says, already moving forward towards the first ant.

As the bug lifts its head to start spewing flames Hellboy slugs it in the face.

"Keep it to yourself, Zippo."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

One good punch from the stone fist is enough to send the ant staggering backward, head crippled; it won't be breathing fire any time soon, and it's as likely to wander off the platform edge as it is to manage a straight line. As for the other ant, it skitters sideways, trying to avoid the chemical signals of its wounded companion.

(Which puts it well to one side of Spoon.)

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon quickly and efficiently puts two plasma blasts into his ant's head, eyes half-lidded and lips stretched in a grin under his mask.

It's probably best not to ask about the quiet giggling.

[time_dancer]

Val adds a blast of plasma to Spoon's pair to make a three-of-a-kind and, after a moments thought, sends another blast toward the ant Red has wounded. Don't want it struggling back home to warn the nest after all.

[magic_ferret]

Struggling back home would be for ants that aren't wrapped in glowing green magic chains.

There seems to be a shortage in the immediate area.

[alertcommando]

Tanya can easily recognize overkill: this is it.

For now, she is just keeping an eye on the rest of the area in case the fighting attracts more bugs.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

It's a very bad day to be a killer fire-breathing ant, yes. There'll be lasers shortly for any ants that haven't already been killed; Ellen does love that pistol of hers...

When the smoke and the plasma clears there are three dead ants up on the platform and another dead on the rusted escalator leading down. (Yuuno did a grand job of immobilizing an incoming attacker.) As far as other ants go the only sign of anything moving is down the one side tunnel that's not completely blocked by rockfall. Partially blocked by train car, yes- but only partially.

"Red?" says Ellen warily, prodding one of the dead ants with her toe. "Can you move that at all, or are we going to need to use other means?"

[bprd_agent_red]

Stepping back from the dead ant he tilts his head at the train and nods.

"No problem."

Moving to the blocked tunnel he finds a good place to brace his legs, sets both hands against the side of the train and pushes.

It's an effort but with a lot of grunting and shoving he gets it moving. When the metal buckles underneath his hands he switches tactics and starts swinging, beating the wreck back the rest of the way until their path is cleared.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Okay, that? Was impressive. Ellen makes a mental note never to get Hellboy mad, ever. "Thank you," she says, wide-eyed. "I think we should keep going now..."

This is definitely the right tunnel. For one thing, there are blackened bones and lumps of former cloth at intervals all over the place. For another, it smells like smoke. And for a third, well: the bursts of fire up ahead sort of give it away, don't they? There's a lot of ants in this tunnel, just as one would expect of the main route out of an actual nest.

[time_dancer]

Val was going to offer to help but Red seemed to be having so much fun, she decided to stay quiet. The more time she spent with this guy the more he reminded her of her Uncle Ben.

Seeing the number of ants, Val makes a field to plug the tunnel. She does leave a pathway about three meters wide straight down the center for elbow room.

"I've make a field everywhere but three meters in the center," she says. She takes a minute to check the height of the tunnel in case she needs to send Tanya up.

[alertcommando]

"Now I wish I had brought some flashbangs with me to rattle the bugs." Tanya shakes head, ready to follow. "My first time thinking I did not bring explosives enough."

[magic_ferret]

Yuuno's usual crowd subscribes heavily to Rule 37. That said he doesn't have a grenade handy. He'll just Bind the first ant that's hittable through the opening that Val left. The green glow should work as well as anything else for targeting.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

It definitely helps. Ellen's flashlight isn't worth much in here. She starts firing on the ant as fast as her laser pistol will allow. The thing's bigger than most of the ones on the surface, and a lot tougher, too. "We must be getting close to the nest," she calls. "Ants protect their homes, don't they?"

[time_dancer]

"Yes," Val says as she adds in her own blasts to the fray. "The nests of typical ants are protected by soldier ants. They are stronger and more aggressive than the worker or scout ant."

Thank you Ms. Science.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Really?" says Ellen. "I didn't know that. Well, that explains a few things- oooh."

There's several ants outside the gap now, and one of them is near enough for her to aim for specific head-parts. "Try for the antennae!" she calls. "Red and I found out they'll go nuts and start attacking each other if you blow their antennae off!"

[alertcommando]

"Like this?" Tanya lines up her gun and starts blasting away antennae, at the very base, making sure to keep her line of fire well away from Spoon.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"That'll do it," says Ellen, as Tanya's target ant lets out a high-pitched scream and starts tearing into its fellows instead of trying to press through the hole in Val's forcefield.

It's about to get ugly out there.

[time_dancer]

Val not as good a shot but that doesn't mean she's not going to try. Plus her gauntlets are more of a shot gun type of weapon. Two more blasts are fired and then Val changes the shape of the tunnel.

She keeps the same three meters nearest the party but widens the end facing the ants, give them more room to tear into each other.

[magic_ferret]

It's so very weird to be in a fight and not be the expositi- back to the ants, ferret boy. Back to the ants.

Yuuno switches off from binding an ant with the antenna shot to an undamaged one. Well, probably undamaged. Maybe? The tunnel is a lot harder to keep track of things in than most of the fights he's been in the thick out before.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon wades in where needed, although he stays as far away from the #$(*%& gun as is possible.

If anyone had the space to breathe, they could watch him flinch with every report from the muzzle, jerking with memory.