lepidope

Word association Game!

peace

Light of The Rebellion

Matias watched as his stalker fell onto its knees, holding itself up with its hands. It slowly got up on its feet, dwarfing Matias by at least two heads. Matias's hand hugged the base of his gun as he gave himself some distance from the thing.

"YOUR COMRADE'S THREATS MEAN NOTHING TO ME," the bug signed, "BUT I WILL KEEP MY WORD. YOU BEST STAY OUT OF TROUBLE, HUMAN."

Matias's face scrunched up in exacerbation. "Piss off, Mothman."

His expression completely reset when the bug loudly spread its wings, showing off their white, circular patterns. What sounded like a motor powering up filled the empty room, and the resulting blast from the bug soaring away was enough to jolt Matias back some. From below, he watched the creature fly to an open window and then out of it.

"Good riddance."

He turned to the boss.

"Alright... What's left to do?"

Light of The Rebellion

Matias couldn't help but scoff.

"Seriously. The last thing I want to do is stress myself kidnapping a bunch of weirdo– I mean, mystics. I just want to live my life. It's bigots like YOU who're making the situation worse, if anything."

The bug lowered its head, a steady flow of blue smoke oozing from its helmet.

"YOUR MORAL ARGUMENTS ARE OF NO INTEREST TO ME. I FIND IT PECULIAR THAT YOU EVEN NEED THE HUMAN TO PURSUE YOUR WORK. YOUR SKILLSET SHOULD BE ENOUGH."

It wriggled once more in its binds.

"I WILL PURSUE THE HUMAN NO LONGER. BUT I DEMAND TO BE RELEASED AT ONCE. I HAVE OTHER MATTERS TO ATTEND TO."

Matias rolled his eyes before grumbling, "Not a very good liar."

Light of The Rebellion

Matias looked back at Scarlet, his gun still pointed at the captive.

"Just playing cop," he sighed, "I'm assuming the power's gonna return in a bit."

He looked back at the bug.

"Anyway... I'm no patriot. None of us are, pretty sure. I think whatever your goal is, you're mistaken."

"YOU ARE NOT A GOOD LIAR," the bug signed. "YOU KNOW TOO MUCH ABOUT THE MISSING MYSTICS. A HUMAN HAS NO PLACE IN MYSTIC MATTERS UNLESS IT WANTS TO DISRUPT THE CAUSE."

The bug's wings flickered.

"YOU. THE SWORDSMAN. YOU ARE DETECTIVE DANTE. WORKING SIDE BY SIDE WITH A HUMAN IS NOT GOOD FOR YOUR REPUTATION. YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS."

Light of The Rebellion

An angry huff was thrown Bane's way as the bug was seemingly going to try to defend itself, but that specific tension ceased with the boss's approach. Both eyes focused on the void in front of it. The lenses of the bug's mask began to flicker and gleam, a soft series of beeps and scan-like noises accompanying this. After a few seconds, the bug tiled its head. It managed to yank its other arm from the shadow's grip, as much as it made them wince. With both hands in front of its face, it began to gesture.

"I REFUSE TO DISCLOSE MY MOTIVATION," it signed, the robotic voice serving as direct translation. "BUT. I NEED SUPPLIES. THAT IS WHY I AM HERE."

"Either you tell us," Matias growled, pulling out his pistol, "or I'll take you out myself."

Matias's vision filled with blue smoke as the bug growled at him.

"I WILL NOT SUBMIT TO THE THEROAN GOVERNMENT OR PATRIOTS LIKE YOU."

Light of The Rebellion

Matias folded his arms and wide-eyed Dante, his anxiety stabilized to a tolerable level.

"Pretty sure that's the tail," he said, staring the bug in the face. "I recognize their eyes."

The beeping came to a halt at that point, but not the squirming. The bug managed to hold up its one free hand and move it around, gesturing quickly.

"LET GO." a harsh robotic voice blared from the helmet. "DO NOT REMOVE. LET GO."

"So you can stalk me some more?" Matias growled. "Please. Just put a bullet in its brain or something. I came here for one thing, and it wasn't pest control."

Light of The Rebellion

Matias had to hold on to Dante for a short moment to regain his balance. His legs felt like jelly, as did his arms, so he clung for dear life. Adrenaline surged through his body, and his heart was about to beat out of his chest.

"Someone's here," he snarled, "and I don't think they wanted to play nice."

There was a sudden cacophony of clattering and clicking in the distance that drew Matias's attention. Still trying to catch his breath, he pointed a shaky finger towards where he heard the noise.

"Boss nabbed the bastard, it looks like..."

A rapid succession of loud beeping signalled that the shadow was returning with a catch. The enemy was brought to the light. This creature, or a person dressed as one anyway, struggled in its confines like a bug trapped in a spider's web. Appropriate, considering it looked the part. Long, bug-like wings clicked and flicked behind it, and its antennae swished this way and that. The beeping seemed to come from its face, now clear to Matias that it was in fact a metal gas mask that was vespine in appearance.

"Well," Matias huffed, "Bet you feel pretty stupid right now, cabron."

The creature huffed right back, a blue steam-like gas escaping through the sides of its head.

Light of The Rebellion

Matias allowed Scarlet some room to take off, the resulting heat making him back off just a little more.

"Nah," Matias replied, "this place is pretty closed off anyway, I kinda doubt anyone else would be here anywa– Oof."

His back came into contact with something solid. He felt a slight warmth, indicating that whatever this was was in fact alive.

"Sorry," he mumbled as he turned around, "I can only see so mu–"

When his eyes reopened, they became wide and unblinking. He paused all other movements, his throat growing a lump.

Towering over him was a shadow that peered down at him with huge red eyes that almost seemed to glow with the wisp's light. The light allowed Matias to see part of its face but not much else: it was dark and metallic, only a few red accents decorating a long proboscis that came out of where its mouth should be. It seemed to heave with every breath it took.

Matias reached for his pistol with a very, very shaky hand. He had the "benefit" of being close to this thing, so if he could manage a shot...

Which he wouldn't. Because the thing shoved him back and proceeded to scurry into the darkness.

"Shit!" he barked as his scrambled footing threw him straight onto the concrete, earning him a nice bump in the back of the head. It took him a hot minute to crawl back to his feet, hand on head.

"I... take it back."

Light of The Rebellion

It was then that Matias had realized that he'd forgotten a flashlight in his haste. Luckily, he was quick to retrieve one from the van while everyone was leaving. He quickly tied the lanyard to his belt loops before walking past Bane, but not too far from the group. A hand tapped against his thigh as he examined the area, or what he could of it at least. It was so dark that all he could make out was the ground and the vague outlines of something brick.

"Any idea where these generators are?" he asked. "Are they spread out or together?"

Light of The Rebellion

Matias was the one to close the doors behind everyone else. He settled himself in his own corner, legs folded up to give room to the others. The van purred to life, the rumbling resonating through Matias's body. It was enough to lull him to a nap, although the bumpiness of the ride made sure that he couldn't get too comfortable. The innards of the med kits rattled incessantly in their confines, contributing to most of the constant albeit soft noise. There was a single strip light going around the interior that proved somewhat effective as the darkness caught up. It still proved slightly difficult to make out faces at that point.

The medkits were finally silenced after about a half hour. The van and everything in it were currently still. Matias cracked his neck before peeking out the back window; it was too dark to make out a thing, but he was sure they had made it. With one hand, he popped one of the back doors open. The open air welcomed his skin with a gentle breeze.

"Finally," he said, pulling the rest of his body out. His boots crunched against what felt like dirt.