Time couldn't possibly move any slower. Lolling my head to the side, I stole a glance out my window. Sure enough, Talon was still out there talking to some zebra. I didn't even try to stop the groan from escaping my throat. They've been out there chatting it up for like forty five minutes! What the hell did they need forty five minutes to discuss?
I could also see Stonewall and Grace, on either side of Talon, slowly losing their minds with me. Sure, maybe they weren’t as expressive as Firecracker or me when it came to this sort of thing, but I could still see their tells. Stonewall's constant adjustment of his arms, crossing and re-crossing; Grace's claw tapping and digging the dirt away. It all pointed to them too longing for the conversation's swift end.
Luckily they didn’t have to wait long. Soon after, our new friend began to lead them away into a small town made of various tents. The motley crew only got so far before the zebra froze in place. He started scanning the area, looking around for something. Slowly, his head began turning left until it stopped… right on me. As if that weren’t enough, he started to give me a grin that slowly closed his eyes and spread ear to ear. His smile—ugh—it was so… weird! It made his face look impossibly fake, like some kind of twisted porcelain doll. So artificial. So unnerving.
That’s it, I'm done!
If his mission, before escorting those three, was to totally freak me out, then mission accomplished, guy!
Turning away from his creepy ass face, I decided to actually get something done. Anything to get my mind on something else. If I recall correctly, Source Code needed some help prepping the ship for the mission. She already had Sunburst and Moon Runner setting and calibrating junk, but maybe she's got something else I can do. Now then, where was our resident unicorn right now?
~~~
"Just a little more…"
Source Code's voice sang through my earpiece as I set a newly refurbished engine in place.
"A little more, aaand done!"
About time too, this thing's heavier than a hydra's tail!
"I'm reading a steady energy output from the new engine."
"How," I asked, "the damn thing's not even operational yet?"
"Doesn’t have to be, not mine anyway."
"And how's that supposed to work, is that magic too?"
"I built it, remember?" she chirped. "Trust me when I say 'it works.'"
I could only roll my eyes at that answer.
"Fine, whatever. So, this is the last one, right?"
"Correct. All sixteen engines are now at optimal efficiency."
"Thank Celestia we only had to change three…"
I gave the new engine a sideways glance. Hard to believe that s ingle unicorn could be responsible for creating and modifying eighty five percent of this ship! She truly was a prodigy. Kinda made me wonder what she was doing screwing around here with us instead of teaching at some fancy pants university or somethin'.
"Sure that's it," I nodded at the marvelous hunk of metal, "you don’t need me for anything else?"
"Thank you, but I'm good here. If you’ve really got nothing more to do, I suggest you run through your equipment one more time before heading out. Talon's on his way back, and both Sunburst and Moon Runner are prepped and waiting for him at the hatch. Plus, once I'm airborne—"
"'No one's allowed back on the ship.' Yeah, yeah, I got it."
The feed cut out and I was by myself again. She did make a good point, though. Don’t want to head out, just to find out that I left something important behind. Better get to it then.
~~~
Let's see now, got my extra crystals, got my dual hoof cannons, got Cerberus, my buck knife and machete, enchanted amulet for protection, a couple dried meals and some snacks… yup, that should do it then!
And not a moment too soon. Talon had already returned from his meeting with the regional director of Torchwood, with minotaur and hippogriff in tow. Their expressions gave nothing away about the meeting, so I can only assume it went well.
"So, how'd it go?" Firecracker ventured to ask.
Stonewall just turned to Grace as she uttered a very textbook response.
"It went well."
Bingo.
Firecracker didn’t seem too satisfied with that answer, but what was she gonna do? When Grace gives that answer it usually means don't worry about it. She wasn’t about to say anything else.
"I expect your all ready?" Talon's voice cut into the idle chatter.
We all voiced our confirmations.
"Then let's move out!"
Talon tapped a piece of plastic in his ear before continuing. We all followed suit, hearing static clear away.
"Source Code, get this ship airborne!"
"Right away, sir!" Her voice came alive in our earpieces. "I'll keep in touch with every one of you, so stay alert for any new developments I may come across!"
And with that, the rest of us turned our attention to the impressive looking jungle ahead. The ship's engines roared to life, kicking up a storm behind us. With the grace of a goose, it shot into the clouds above, out of sight. No turning back now. Forward, march.
~~~
Humid, hot, and alive with noise in every direction, the jungle seemed only beautifully peaceful from the outside. Inside was a whole other story. Within the first hour of our being here, we've been approached by jaguars, assaulted by mosquitoes, and attacked by over-sized flytraps! This place really drove home the nickname: Living Jungle.
Aside from the surrounding nature, the whole trip was fairly silent. Occasionally, Talon would call on Source Code to confirm they were on the right track, but nothing more. She did mention something about the jungle's signature, but really, I was barely paying attention. Firecracker tried to illicit a response from the others, but when that failed, even she gave up.
Maybe it was just too hot. Maybe everyone was in a pissy mood because of how hot it was.
~~~
A little deeper in, while I was at the front, I saw the craziest thing. A centipede the size of my leg had crossed a little ahead of us! It stopped and let its antennae wiggle around in the air, before making a mad dash towards me. It was fast too, covering twenty meters in five seconds! I could swear I saw it salivating as it closed in.
As impressive—and disgusting—as it was, I didn’t feel like wasting a charge on it. Instead, I simply pulled out the buck knife and hurled it through the air. The blade lodged itself deep into its head and even managed to pin the arthropod to the ground, like, a few inches from reaching me!
Even while being impaled through the head, the damn thing kept squirming. Flailing in every direction, I had to be careful when getting close. Sure, I was wearing a high impact armored vest lined with chain mail, we all were. And of course we each had amulets that were magically charged to further protect us when in combat, but I still couldn’t help but be cautious. I read that centipedes are constantly releasing dangerous toxins from their bodies. This coupled with the fact that their needle-like appendages would have little to no problem getting through the skin and, well, you can see why I would have second thoughts.
Retrieving the blade, I could see the clear, viscous fluid coating the end. Nasty stuff.
Flicking it away and sheathing the knife, I gave the centipede one last look before turning to the others.
"Do you see that thing? It's like the size of my—"
The joke died in my mouth as I saw the team gazing into the trees and readying their weapons.
I really didn't want to.
Every fiber of my being told me not to, but I did it anyway. Slowly, I let my head tilt; my eyes scan the trees above. I instantly regretted it.
Crawling down the sides of the trunks were more of the grotesque insects. A lot more.
We all gathered back to back in a defensive circle. The buck knife wasn’t going to cut it this time. But while everyone else drew primary weapons, I settled on my side arms, the dual hoof cannons. I didn't want to use my primary just yet.
Common sense dictates that the bigger the weapon, the bigger the punch. Consequently, the smaller the weapon—well, you get the idea. I had two customized hoof braces that operated on a similar principle as a standard COLT. The housings contained small enchanted crystals that could be agitated into releasing magical bursts through a polished and insulated bore.
Problem was that since the crystal, and the apparatus in general, was small, the kind of shots capable of being fired were pretty much limited to concussive ones; they used the least magic and were least likely to destabilize the small device. In a standard firefight, this would leave one at something of a disadvantage.
But this wasn’t a standard firefight.
Once the centipedes hit the ground floor, Talon, Grace and Firecracker began to hover overhead. The rest of us trained our weapons on those likely to reach us first.
"Source Code," Talon called into his mic, "where the hell was our heads up!?"
"What do you mean?" a confused unicorn responded.
The insects got closer by the second.
"Why didn't you let us know we were wandering into a damn hive?"
I stole a glance around at the converging army as a realization started to sink in.
"What hive? What are you talking about?"
We would all end up burning through every one of our crystals, before we managed exterminated them all.
Talon's look of frustration melted into something else, something oddly reminiscent of worry.
"Source Code, can you see us?"
A centipede bolted past the others and made a beeline towards Stonewall.
"Yes, I see you all."
It stopped short and seemed to compress itself for a moment.
"Tell me, what do you see moving about around us?"
The large insect instantly sprung alive and rocketed upwards, homing in on the minotaur's face.
"I don't see anything."