“Thank you for your help, dear,” Mira said to the tall spider girl. She glanced down at the little tree-stump chair behind her to make sure there wasn’t anything gross on it, then took a seat. While the room they’d been brought to was inside of a gigantic tree and was constructed of bark, dirt, and vegetation rather than, say, concrete or tiles, she found it surprisingly cozy (though she wasn’t a fan of the tiny little worms and critters crawling around). “And I do apologize if we caused any trouble…”
“Not at all,” the spider girl assured, grabbing hold of the (still unconscious) BB’s broken jetpack with one of her many legs and carrying it over to a workbench nearby. “It’s understandable why you are here, and I would like to help in any way I can.”
After BB had passed out, the spider girl, who introduced herself as Myga, invited the GLYPH girls to her home, and even set BB down in her bed to let her rest until she awoke again. Mira had provided a brief explanation of who they were and where they’d come from, and thankfully it hadn’t taken much to earn Myga’s sympathies.
“Are you familiar with FORMA?” Mira asked.
“Yes, though I’ve only learned of them recently,” Myga replied, examining the damaged jetpack with several of her legs, rotating it around in all directions and tapping at it with tiny little barbs. “A few months ago, we lost one of our own – the [River] FORMA.”
“Oh my…”
“It sent our people into quite a panic,” the spider girl continued. And then, to Mira’s surprise (and mild disgust that she tried to keep bottled up), she watched as Myga passed the jetpack along her legs until one of them held it aloft behind her big bug booty. Out came a set of spinnerets that quickly began spritzing silk along the different fractures in the jetpack. “Having our rivers just…vanish in the blink of an eye.”
Once that was done, the legs passed the pack back to Myga at her workbench. She grabbed a few strange-looking tools vaguely reminiscent of ones from Earth, and continued tinkering with the device. “Ever since then, the queen has been giving orders to our troops to invade other worlds and take their FORMA. And I believe her top soldier, Vispae, is the one who took yours. He has been the most eager to ransack other worlds, and just recently returned with one.”
Just then, the two heard BB groan and stretch in the bedroom before stumbling into the living room, rubbing her head. “Ugh…The hell are we…?”
“Are you alright, sweetheart?” Mira asked, standing up and moving over to the younger agent. “We’re in Myga’s home. She’s helping us.”
“Who the hell is…?” BB began before her eyes naturally settled on the big spider girl. She felt her body freeze in place, and a chill raced down her spine.
Myga reached up to brush some of her blood-red hair from her face before taking a polite little bow (with just her humanoid upper body half). “I apologize for frightening you. I suppose it is to be expected that seeing alien beings would be a shock to many.”
The spider girl held the jetpack out towards BB, who jerked backwards and held her hands up as if ready to fight. However, having prepared for this, Mira quickly began to hum, though it only maintained its simple, recognizable status as a hum for a short period.
In mere moments, that hum somehow became accompanied by more instruments in BB’s ears – pianos, violins, flutes, and many more that escaped her basic music knowledge. It also felt as though actual vocals were being sung, too, and not just from Mira, but from an entire chorus of singers. It was a strange sensation, but it soon did its job, as BB felt the tension in her muscles quickly evaporate, and her thumping heart began to settle down and her fists unclench.
“Whoa…” she mumbled, feeling her arms fall down to her sides. “What the…”
“It’s a relaxation spell,” Mira explained, having finished her mysterious humming. “I doubt it will last long on you, but it should keep you calm for now.” The older woman gave BB a gentle little side hug. “I’m sorry for casting it on you without permission, dear, but I didn’t want you to do anything rash here.”
BB nodded slowly, still keeping her eyes on Myga and her movements the whole time. While her heart rate and tensed muscles were gone from her for now, she was still conscious of her fear of insects – Mira’s spell had momentarily taken away the fear from her body and heart, but not her mind, it seemed. “Kinda freaky, but aight…”
She held her hands out and accepted the jetpack from Myga, who explained, “While I am not familiar with technology from your world, I believe this device should be functional again, if only for a short while. I would recommend saving your usage of it until you are ready to leave to ensure that you are able.”
“Tight, cuz I’m bouncin’ right the fuck now, thanks,” BB replied, slinging the jetpack over her shoulders.
“Wait, we still haven’t retrieved the FORMA,” Mira said. “Honey, I know you’re uncomfortable here, but I don’t think I can do this on my own…”
“Well I ain’t gonna run around this place lookin’ for it! The sooner I’m outta this joint, the better. I’ll…get somebody else to come in here and help ya or whatever.”
Mira frowned, though not from sadness, but rather disappointment. While she sympathized with BB’s fear, seeing how easily she was ready to leave lost her quite a few points in her book. And evidently, her disappointment was strong enough to break her professionalism long enough for her to mutter her feelings aloud. “Hmph. Dahye wouldn’t abandon an ally like this…”
BB’s head snapped around. “The fuck’d you just say?!”
Before things could get worse, Myga stepped forward, causing BB to flinch and lean away a tad. “If you’re concerned about having to spend time searching, I can assure you you won’t have to. I know where the FORMA are being kept, and will happily lead you there.”
“Thank you, Myga, you’ve been such a big help to us,” said Mira.
BB was a little more skeptical, raising a brow. “Wait, why are you helpin’ us anyway? What’s yer deal?”
“I do not support the queen’s decision to steal FORMA from other worlds,” came the spider girl’s answer. “I believe it will cause great harm to many worlds to fight over them like this, and I would like to help return yours to your world.”
BB narrowed her eyes up at Myga’s numerous blood-red ones. While she prided herself on being able to tell when someone was bullshitting her, it was difficult for her to maintain eye contact with the spider girl, but after forcing herself to look into them each time they strayed away, eventually, she let out a sigh, setting her hands on her hips and tapping her sneaker against the mossy floor. “Tch. Aight, fine. If we can make this shit quick, then let’s hurry up and get it over with.”
As Mira’s frown curled up into a smile, Myga added, “I should warn you, however, that it will likely be dangerous. While most of the queen’s soldiers are currently out searching for more FORMA, there will still be a squad on guard duty. We will most likely have to fight them, and I am unfortunately not much of a fighter myself.”
Catching the glint of her silver Big Bang Bat leaning against a wall nearby, BB walked over to it, kicking it up into her hand and slinging it over her shoulder. “‘s fine. I’ll beat the shit outta whoever’s in our way.
“While I have faith in you, I must warn you about the queen’s top soldier, Vispae,” Myga said. “He’s unlike any other soldier in our world. Highly dangerous, skilled, ruthless… I don’t know if he’s currently on guard or out on patrol, but hopefully it’s the latter…”
“Tch, am I s’posed to be scared or somethin’?” BB replied. She glanced over at Mira with a smirk. “Cuz unlike that stuck-up, blue-haired bitch, I ain’t afraid of gettin’ my hands dirty. Any bug dumb enough to step up to me’s gettin’ stomped.”
“-et yer stupid ass up already!”
Hiroto hissed as he was suddenly risen from unconsciousness at the screeching and pecking of Hazird’s fiery-hot beak jabbing at the side of his face.
“Gah! Cut it out, asshole!” he barked, swiping his hand to shoo the hellion phoenix spirit away. Unfortunately, though he was able to stop the pain of Hazird’s pecking, he was not able to stop the pain of the giant rock that suddenly struck him on the side of the head and sent him bouncing away.
“That’s on you, not me,” Hazird retorted. “Been tryna wake yer dumbass up for minutes, now.”
Hiroto spat out a glob of saliva and blood, whipping his head around to locate the source of the rock. Another one came in from the same direction, and though he was still disoriented, he was able to narrowly avoid this one and catch sight of what appeared to be a large, humanoid pile of rocks with glowing orange eyes. The rock monster was standing beside a pile of stone, and already reaching for the next one to hurl.
“Who the hell is that?!” he asked, shaking his head and hands to get some sensation back into them.
“It’s a golem. Guy walked over, saw you, and started chuckin’ rocks,” Hazird responded, flying over and settling on a branch in a tree behind Hiroto. “Can’t really blame him.”
“H-hey, where’s my helmet?!” Hiroto said, rolling to the side to avoid the next stone before scanning the rocky wooded area he’d suddenly found himself in. “And the HYPER HAND?!”
Hazird took off from the branch, flying higher up towards the rocky cliff wall situated behind the golem. “Prolly fell offa ya when ya bounced off this mountain. I’ll look for it. Have fun, hero boy.”
As Hazird vanished from sight, Hiroto focused his attention on the golem, though he was a little too pissed off to focus just on dodging. This time, he ran towards the monster, narrowly slipping his head beneath the incoming projectile. “Eat shit!” he yelled as he closed the gap, spinning around and throwing a haymaker across the monster’s midsection, given it was far too tall for him to aim for its head.
His fist was immediately stopped on the golem’s rocky body, and a sharp pain shot up his arm, causing him to yell out and jump backward.
“Did you try and PUNCH the golem?! How fuckin’ idiotic are you?!” came Hazird’s voice from high above.
Cradling his injured arm against his stomach, Hiroto scrambled to retreat, aiming for the wooded area to try and camouflage himself within it and use the trees for extra defense. Though the second the golem’s next rock tore through a thick oak tree beside him like it had already been converted to paper, it became apparent that wasn’t really an option.
And then, to make matters worse, as he emerged from the other side of the wooded area, rather than a place to hide, he was immediately greeted by yet another golem, and this one did not hesitate to clobber him with its massive arm, slamming him right into the ground.
The resulting impact caused the ground to collapse beneath both him and the golem, and the two fell downwards into some kind of underground cavern, though it was difficult for Hiroto to get a proper look around, thanks to the massive dirt and sand cloud that had come from the collapse, as well as having had the wind knocked out of him.
Though he didn’t have much energy left in him, as he heard the golem nearby begin to stir, he knew he had to push himself to continue running, even if he was no longer physically capable of doing so. Gritting his teeth, he crawled away from the golem as fast as he could, mentally yelling at his legs to get their shit together and allow him to stand.
But in his messy retreat, he soon came face-to-face with the wall of the cavern, leaving him cornered with nowhere to go. Eyes widening, he flipped around to see the golem stomping towards him for the kill.
“What the FUCK are you doin’ down here?! Can’t you stay put, idiot?!”
Hazird dived down into the cavern from above, clutching the HYPER HAND bracelet in his talons. As he sped towards Hiroto, he launched the device towards his human host, and the latter jammed his fractured hand through the loop as quickly as he could. As the device locked around his wrist, he held his hand up, and the bracelet quickly expanded into a proper golden gauntlet. Hiroto became surrounded in bright red flames, and when those flames died, there stood HYPER HAWK.
The superhero leaped forward from the cavern wall, diving right at the charging golem. “Eat shit!” he yelled as he closed the gap, spinning around and throwing a haymaker across the monster’s midsection, given it was far too tall for him to aim for its head.
This time, his fist blasted through the golem’s torso with ease, cutting the monster in half and sending its upper half flying away and crashing into the wall, causing the cavern to shake.
HYPER HAWK spun around in the sand, reaching for the compartment of HYPER DRIVES in his belt, retrieving one and installing it into the slot on the back of his HYPER HAND. A digitized voice emanating from the glove roared out: “HAMMER!”
The superhero opened his hands, and a massive, glowing blue warhammer manifested itself in his grip. “RAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” He dashed towards the severed upper half of the golem, jumping into the air before bringing the hammer down onto the monster’s head. The monster exploded in a blast of little rock chunks and dust.
“Hey! The other one’s up top!” Hazird called out, noticing the first golem standing by the rim of the hole up above, brandishing more boulders.
“SHIELD!” HYPER HAWK swapped from the HAMMER HYPER DRIVE to the SHIELD one, turning around and conjuring a glowing blue energy shield. As the incoming boulders touched the shield, the rocks completely dissipated, as if they’d been deleted from existence.
With the projectiles dealt with, the hero’s shield vanished, and he instead held his right hand out, palm open, aiming it at the golem while holding his wrist steady with his opposite hand. “BLAST!” the HYPER HAND roared, just as a wave of emerald-green electricity shot out from HYPER HAWK’s palm, shooting up towards the golem.
The rock monster was immediately reduced to charred bits and dust as the electric projectile tore through it like butter and continued up towards the sky before eventually exploding in a burst of sparks like fireworks.
Though the enemies had been dealt with for now, Hiroto suddenly turned around to face the other golem’s dead body. He began throwing harsh kicks and stomps into the monster’s rocky corpse, further breaking each giant rock into smaller and smaller pieces. “Piece! Of! Fuckin’! Shit!” he barked with each stomp.
It wasn’t until Hazird flew down and began pecking at him again that he stopped. “Hey, it’s already dead, genius. Let’s get the hell outta here.”
With a scowl beneath his helmet, Hiroto threw one last angry kick at the monster before flying up out of the cavern.
Or, he would have, had he not suddenly been grabbed by the gigantic hand that emerged from the ground.
