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]

"... so anyway," says Ellen, cutting off the man's flow of information. "How do you plan on fixing all of this?"

"Well, if I can reach my equipment, I can issue a chemical signal that will cause all the ants of the current brood to immediately begin attacking one another instead of humans- or anything else, for that matter," the man says. "It's the ant queen's nest guardians that make this so difficult, you see. There are five of them- filthy little abominations."

"When you say little-"

"Well, that isn't precisely correct. They're only little by comparison to the queen. I'd say any one of them is probably about as big as your red-skinned friend there."

Ellen winces. "Can they breathe fire too?"

"Oh, most indubitably. But if you can just take out the five of them and come back here, I'll issue that inhibitor pulse and there won't be any more trouble from these creatures what-so-ever."

[bprd_agent_red]

"Only five?" Red grins. "Piece of cake."

[time_dancer]

Val's been listening to the man and it all sounds reasonable except..."I assume you have a way of keeping the virus from mutating? You are sure it can not infect humans or other animals? And how far away is the nest? Is it easy to get to from here?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, the FEV is highly resistant to the random vagaries of simple mutation," says the man. "It requires deliberate manipulation or exposure to massive quantities of radiation before it mutates on its own. This particular strain has been tailored solely to latch onto insectile DNA, since I'm only interested in working with the ants. As far as the nest goes, it's through that door right there-" He gestures to the door in the opposite wall of his overstuffed, tiny little lab. "Down the long corridor, to the left, and then through the gap in the wall that leads into unfinished stone tunnels. You can't possibly miss it."

[alertcommando]

"Depending on the size of the lair... I can make it cave in with a few detonations in the right places." Squish queen.

The talk about this 'FEV' thing? Way too creepy to be commented on.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"No caving anything in until he's issued that pulse," says Ellen. "If he can really make the ants kill themselves from that terminal, we won't have to fight our way through them to get out of here."

[alertcommando]

Tanya raises a brow at Ellen. "Of course." Specially since making the queen's lair cave in would mean being there...

Already past any guardian ants.

[bprd_agent_red]

"So let's go do some pest control."

Sticking his head out of the lab he calls out, "Hey, Spoon! We got some guardian ants to take care of. Big like me, outta be fun."

[time_dancer]

"Yep, he's just like Uncle Ben," Val thinks as she checks the charge in her armor, which is doing well.

"If the Guardian's antennas are injured will they react like the scouts and soldiers?" she asks the scientist. "I'm ready."

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

"Sounds like a plan." Spoon agrees, putting the pack of gum away and stretching.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, any ant specimen will react that way when deprived of their primary organs of lateral sense," says the scientist. "At least in my own experience thus far."

[alertcommando]

Tanya listens, pondering what would happen if she shot off, say... the left antenna and a right leg.

She plans to find out. "Never imagined I would be doing bug hunting with firearms."

"Or almost having fun with it."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Really? I mostly learned how to shoot by hunting radroaches," says Ellen. "They're about the size of one of my calves... if everyone's ready, let's go."

The other door out is unlocked whenever Hellboy or Spoon opens it, and leads on into another maintenance tunnel like the one they just left. The air here is more chill and stale, and the fungal patches on the walls aren't always glowing- although there's still enough dim green light to see by before Ellen turns on her Pip-Boy's flashlight.

[bprd_agent_red]

"Only 'almost'?" Red grins at Tanya. He's obviously having quite a good time.

Opening the door he steps out and starts moving along the tunnel.

"Hey, Ellen, these glowy plants, are they toxic or anything?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Not that I know of," Ellen calls back. "Out here they're probably irradiated, though, so don't eat them unless you want to go through decontamination and chelation when this is all over."

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

"Lass, you have got one fucked up world." Spoon murmurs, gliding along behind Red and flipping through vision modes.

[time_dancer]

Val follows along taking up the rear as before and on guard. She start to imagine shapes which could be useful against the ants and then remembers a video game her brother Franklin played.

If anyone could tell when Val makes her force fields, they'd notice she is now holding one shaped like the "swords" used in Final Fantasy. It's not very sharp but still, it'll crack ants well enough.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

There are a handful of ants in the maintenance tunnels- they're about Ellen's size or a little larger, so they're obviously not the nest guardians. But they're still there, and at the sight of the oncoming humans (and others) they start bracing themselves to spit fire.

This is probably a very bad day to be an ant.

[alertcommando]

Tanya's gun whispers a little song of death, and four bullets fly, expertly aimed as far away from Spoon as possible and perfectly at antennas and leg joints.

Two ants should be finding the day even less fun now.

[bprd_agent_red]

"Hmm. Nah, I wasn't going to eat it. Thought it might be cool to take one back but I got cats." And there's no telling what they might decide to nibble on.

"Heads up, guys."

He alerts the others then charges forward to take on two of the ants. A little fire spewing isn't going to bother him none.

[time_dancer]

Well, he won't have to worry about fire spewing as Val has just encased each ant's head on a bubble. Sure the fire most likely won't hurt the ants but it will probably blind them.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

One of the crippled ants goes down under its berserk nest-sibling's onslaught, but that leaves the others still alive and raring to go. At least, until Hellboy gets there. Then... Well, 'ant pudding' is probably the simplest way to describe what's left after Hellboy gets done with them.

[magic_ferret]

Yuuno's been slower than usual moving up to a spot where he can see as ha avoids the glowing fungus that he is no longer OK with.

"Val," says Yuuno when he's closer to her, "When we come to the guardian ants if you can isolate some of them with your force fields, then I can Bind the remaining ones. What do you think?"

They probably don't need to, but why not win overwhelmingly?

[time_dancer]

"Good idea. I can also pin them but leave certain spots open for Tanya to shoot, like the antennas. I could also set you and her up on pedistals off the ground for better targeting and safety from any fire blasts," Val answers as she side steps an ant leg.

[alertcommando]

"I definitely approve of that." Tanya is highly allergic to flame-baths.