Flying The HIVE

Boring, Oregon. 12:00

The foul, tepid darkness the vampire nest called home corrupted the ground with a wickedness that permeated the area. Evil hung in the air like a miasma, indicating to any who dare enter that something... was not right. One such visitor pushed open the rotting wood door to this nest, built out of a decrepit and decaying victorian-style home.

“This place smells like shit.”

At the first visitor’s side was a young woman with long, dark hair and verdant skin - not sickly or pallid, but brilliant, like an emerald. She spoke with a voice like tinkling gems, but in a hushed tone,

“Grant, you should keep it down. They might hear you.”

“They won’t. And on the job, it’s ‘Ravager’.”

Ravager dressed in a tight black suit with gleaming silver scales covering the right half of his torso and stretching to a gloved hand. His visage was hidden behind a silver helmet, only his lower face visible. He raised his hand and gave a gesture down one of the home’s hallways.

“Take point, Jade.”

Jade raised an empty fist, which began pulsing with a faint green light while Ravager crept down the hallway, grabbing a pistol from his belt. As he reached the end, Ravager abruptly stopped. He saw littered across the room dozens of hibernating, man-sized bat creatures, some hanging from the ceiling, some spread across tattered carpets, most of them partially stained red with blood, all of them absolutely disgusting. Ravager whispered behind him,

“I need a flashbang.”

The green-skinned girl nodded and pressed her hands together while her companion aimed his gun at one of the hanging vampires.

“Now!” Ravager shouted and a ball of bright green light - no bigger than a marble - launched from Jade’s hands into the center of the room. The whole house erupted into a cacophony of terrible shrieks and gunfire as the nearest vampires were disintegrated into ash by the powerful light. Ravager thanked the eye protection afforded by the dark orange lenses on his silver helmet. While Jade proved unaffected by her own abilities.

Vampire corpses - those that weren’t vaporized in the flash - dropped to the ground with heavy thunks as the survivors scrambled to escape amidst the panic. When the room finally went quiet, no fewer than twenty-five corpses covered the floor,among tall piles of ash .

“Alright…” Ravager said, stepping out from his cover, “Time to deal with the stragglers.” He unsheathed a sword from his back and pushed into one of the corpses on the floor. Every so often, one would spasm and Jade would flinch a little before it croaked for good.

Jade mentioned, “I think there’s two or three of them left.”

Without looking up from his work, Ravager answered, “Two. One fled up the stairs. Last one is in that closet.” He nodded his head towards the small room against the far wall.

Jade raised her arm towards the closet and fired a bolt of energy, forcing the rickety old door in and crushing the vampire behind it in a bed of splintered wood and rusty nails. The creature's mouth hung open, its jaw broken by the impact.

“Gross.” Jade said to herself.

Once Ravager finished checking the bodies, he headed up the staircase to finish the job, reflecting on his lifestyle. He was an exterminator of sorts, pest control for things that had no right existing: fiends, ghouls, and presently, vampires. Though, of course, he wasn’t the Terminator he aspired to be. At times his job could be routine, however-

One of the bloodsuckers leaped out from a side room with claws bared to strike. Ravager thrusted his sword ahead, forcing the creature to skewer itself on the blade.

His job brought him satisfaction.

“All clear up he-!”

Ravager was interrupted by a creature tackling him to the ground, its slobbered mouth flingling saliva over his armor. His sword clattered to the ground out of reach and the knife-like teeth of the vampire descended closer to his face.

The creature’s feral strength was overpowering. His left hand dug into the floor while he used the rest of his strength to keep the vampire off of him. For a half-second, the sound of splintering wood perked up its pointy ears before Ravager managed to rip a shard of oak from the floor and plunge it into the creature’s heart.

The vampire fell limp and Ravager shoved it off of him.

“Clear!” He shouted, wiping bat snot from his chest.

⬣ ⬣ ⬡ ⬣ ⬣

HIVE Facility, Somewhere in the Mojave Desert. 16:00

Back at base, Jade - known out of costume as Jennie - and Grant walked past a large hexagonal crest in a beehive pattern. Encircling it in large letters were the words, “Hierarchy of Investigation to Vanquish the Extranormal.” Grant kept his eyes forward as they passed, but Jennie had no such reservations, always marvelling at every inch of the sleek modern facility when returning from a mission.

The whole facility was always buzzing with exciting new ways to kill threats to humanity. Scientists experimented with basilisk anti-venom, agents moved from assignment to assignment, and alerts of extranormal activity constantly flooded in for admin to delegate. In the center of this maelstrom of ordered chaos was Adeline Kane, Director of the Hierarchy, or as most called it, HIVE. She looked in her late 40s with a bountiful head of brown curly hair that fell down past her shoulders, only just beginning to grey. Looking at the petite older woman in a lavender pantsuit, it was easy to underestimate her. Those who made that mistake only did so once. She spoke with a commanding presence,

“Ravager, Jade. What’s the situation report on that nest?”

Grant’s tone sounded almost bored, “Dealt with.”

“Any complications?”

“None to speak of.”

Adeline nodded in approval, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have business to attend to.”

Grant took a step closer, “Mom, I was thinking I could sit in on a meeting this time.”

Adeline didn’t seem phased, “Absolutely not.” She took another step forward, but Grant put himself in her path.

“I’m twenty-two years old. Don’t you think it’s time for me to start treating me like an actual adult agent?”

Adeline’s creased in dissatisfaction. Jennie stepped back, familiar with how these fights went down.

“Grant Josiah Wilson. I will not repeat this discussion. Step away or I can no longer shield you from the consequences of insubordination.” She spoke with a deadly calm that paralyzed passersby, leaving them fixated in such a way that you could hear a pin drop.

The look of anger on Grant’s face slowly washed out to cold indifference. A keen eye might’ve noticed the glint of determination in his eyes. “Understood, Director.” He said, stepping out of the way.

With that, Adeline nodded and walked away, the clicking of her heels creating a path through the busy floor like Moses and the Red Sea.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Grant pulled Jennie into a quiet part of the facility.

“I’m done with them treating us like kids.”

“Grant, I know you’re mad but-”

“I’m not mad, just done.”

Jennie looked puzzled so Grant continued, “Which is why we’re going to figure out what’s so important in that meeting that they don’t want us to know.”

“I don’t know…” Jennie’s eyes tracked the ground.

“I know there’s no way you’re not pissed too. You were born and raised here and they’re still keeping secrets. Don’t you want to know what they’re hiding?”

Jennie pursed her lips in thought for a few seconds, then looked up at Grant. “Yeah…”

“Alright then, let’s go! I know exactly where they’re meeting.”

Grant hurried Jennie down one of the many hallways bearing an identical metallic sheen.

“But if it looks like we’re about to get caught, we leave, right?”

Grant grinned.

⬣ ⬣ ⬡ ⬣ ⬣

HIVE Facility. 16:30

Grant peered around a corner - nothing but a large metal blast door. This was the place. He nodded his head to signal Jennie and the two pressed on. The hardest part of the infiltration was constantly having to assure Jennie that they wouldn’t be caught. Outside of that, Grant was familiar with how the facility’s security functioned.

Suddenly, he collided with something. As he hit the floor with a thunk, Grant was bewildered to see the air in front of him shimmering. By the time Grant had pulled himself back to his feet, there was a surprised teenage girl in front of him.

Jennie came hustling around the corner, “Sorry, we just got lost didn’t mean to-” She stopped abruptly. “Who are you?”

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but Grant explained before he had a chance to. “Daughter of on of HIVE’s scientists, Terrance Thirteen. What I don’t know is what that was.” He vaguely gestured to where the shimmering air pocket was. Weird invisible teenagers were usually the sort of thing he got sent out into the field to deal with, not that any of this was usual.

The girl seemed annoyed, “My name is Traci Thirteen and that was a minor arcane illusion. Now, if you’d please shut up, I’m trying to listen.” She pressed her ear against the door and Grant raised a finger in protest, but was silenced as Jennie pushed herself up to the door beside Traci.

Grant rolled his eyes and followed suit, listening in on the meeting.

A man’s voice spoke deliberately, “So we’re in agreement? Dispatch three new agents to supervise the Charon situation developing in Europe?”

Adeline responded, “It seems so, Terrence. Give the word.” A pause. “Next motion on the docket, a boy named Edward Bloomberg - brokered a deal with a Class-4 demonic entity and was transformed into a lower demon. Currently being held onsite in Detention Facility A, cell 451. What is the course of action?”

A different man’s voice, “Has he been compliant? There’s always the possibility of recruitment.”

Adeline swiftly responded, “Perfectly submissive, but recruitment seems unlikely. Bloomberg is sixteen and from a civilian background. I recommend termination.”

A look of worry spreaded across Jennie’s face.

Terrence Thirteen seemed to agree, “Seconded. We can’t rule out Bloomberg having been planted as a saboteur. His file says he went with HIVE personnel will little resistance.”

“Any further objections? Then it’s agreed.”

Traci mouthed the words ’What the fuck?’ as she backed away from the door. It seemed none of the three were interested in hearing more from the meeting, cutting back through side rooms to reach a quiet area they were actually allowed to be in.

Traci looked furious.

“This is ridiculous! They’re killing a sixteen year old kid!”

Jade fidgeted, rubbing her arm, “I-I’m sure there’s an explanation.”

“An explanation for murdering a kid just because he got tricked by a demon?!”

Grant exhaled, “Yeah, it’s messed up. Welcome to HIVE.”

“You’re both okay with this?”

Jade raised a finger, “We’re probably missing something. Maybe if we talk to them-”

Traci interrupted, “Oh yeah sure! Totally! Hey Dad, I was spying on you with a couple of HIVE agents and we found out you were planning on killing somebody? Let’s hash that out. That’ll go over well.”

Grant raised an eyebrow, “So your solution is…?”

“We bust him out. Today.”

Grant guffawed, “So you’re suicidal. Have fun with that, Thirteen.”

“So you’re fine with just letting him die then? What even is your deal? I-”

“I’m in.” Traci and Grant stared at Jennie with surprise, still confirming she had actually said that.

“You’re…?” Traci trailed off.

“You’re right. HIVE is going to kill him. Unless we do something.”

Grant tightened his fist, “This is a bad idea, but fine, I’m coming along.”

And for the first time since they’d met Traci, she smiled.

⬣ ⬣ ⬡ ⬣ ⬣

Lockup. 17:00

Grant leaned against the wall trying to look nonchalant. Standing behind him were Traci and Jennie, both failing to hide their anxiousness. In front of him was the jailer, a miserable looking man in a glossy black and yellow uniform. The sheet of hardened plastic protecting his ribcage jutted out like a medieval breastplate. The jailer was playing Frogger on his desktop when Grant coughed,

“So,” He glanced at the dandelion lettering on his arm. “Muller. I’m going to need you to open up cell 451.”

Without looking up from Frogger, the jailer mumbled, “Credentials and purpose.”

“I’m Grant Wilson, codename: Ravager. Behind me are Jade and uh...Night...Witch. We’re here to transfer the prisoner for his execution.”

Traci glared at Grant.

The jailer slammed his hand against the desk, prompting Grant to reach for his sidearm - rubber bullets - these guys were just doing their jobs after all.

“Fuckin’ missed the log.” He stood up, leaving his Frogger game on the ‘Game Over Screen’ and walked to the far wall, punching a string of numbers into the keypad. With a whooshing noise, the plexiglass door to the detention center slid open. “Head over there and I’ll buzz the door open.” The jailer sat back down curmudgeonly, clicking through camera monitors.

Grant and Jennie walked through the cell block with Traci following closely behind. Strange noises and rumblings echoed through the room, no doubt from one of the cyclopean horrors housed there. Every time one of the subjects thrashed against the metal plate separating Traci from a monster, she recoiled and picked up her pace.

Soon, they reached Bloomberg’s cell, distinguished from the others only by the black ‘451’ printed on the door. Grant waved at the CCTV camera, but the door remained closed.

“Muller?”

Instead of the sound of a door opening, Grant heard heavy footsteps from where they came. In no time, a half dozen HIVE Agents were on top of them, each pointing a rifle in their direction. The leader, standing in the back, ordered them, “You are not authorized to be here! Step away from the cell and get on the ground!”

Grant sighed. He knew this was doomed to fail from the start. He was crouching to the ground when a small emerald light flickered in the corner of his eye. Grant barely had time to squeeze his eyes shut before the hallway flared with green light. When he finally opened his eyes, Jade was slinging bolts of light at the HIVE agents, they were less bright than the ones she’d used one the vampires, but Grant saw them sting as the bolts made contact.

He turned to Jennie with a look of total shock, “What the hell?”

She didn’t respond. Green bolts of light sent disoriented HIVE agents to the ground amid Jennie yelling, “Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!”

Grant pulled himself back into the moment, “Alright, we’re in this now. Traci, can you get the door open?”

Traci nodded and pressed her hand against the cool metal of the door. Overhead, red lights pulsed alongside sounds of an alarm. Jennie had incapacitated three with her bolts of light by the time Grant stepped in. He rushed one of the agents, still off balance from the photon flashbang, and tackled him to the ground. A swift punch to the head and he was out cold. Grant saw from his periphery a rifle turning to face him. Grant raised his pistol in that direction and squeezed the trigger three times in a quick staccato. As Grant’s target fell to the ground. Jennie finished up the last of the agents - for now.

Grant turned his head, “What’s the progress on that door?”

Traci answered, “Just..one...more..” The door’s access panel made an approving beep. “There!”

The door slid open to reveal a teenager with cardinal red skin. Messy white hair draped down to the bottom of his neck. Most eye-catching were the onyx horns, pushing upwards out of his forehead. Grant might’ve fired if not for the ‘Bloomberg’ sewn onto his orange prison jumpsuit. The prisoner was awestruck. He stepped out of his cell and spoke at a mile a minute,

“Are you guys superheroes? I’m Eddie. Are you here to bust me out or somethi-”

Grant already looked annoyed, “We’re leaving.”

Eddie nodded and the group sprinted down the hallway

Traci spoke, “I hope you have a better plan than sprinting into the desert.”

“We’re stealing a jet.”

“What?”

⬣ ⬣ ⬡ ⬣ ⬣

Outside HIVE Facility Hangar. 17:10

Jennie knew most of the facility’s layout by heart, having lived there her entire life, something Grant found immensely useful when finding their way out. They’d hit minimal resistance by sticking to maintenance paths and shortcuts, but now, they’d hit a brick wall. Or rather, one of plated metal. The hangar was sealed by a blast door. Traci had already rushed to open it, but she was hitting a block. Without turning from the door,

“They disconnected it! I’m not getting through.”

Grant drew his pistol and pointed it down the corridor, “We’ve got sixty seconds tops before they catch up. Figure it out!”

A smile spread across Eddie’s face, “I think I have an idea.”

Before anyone could ask about the idea, he turned to the blast door and began ripping chunks of steel from it with his bare, taloned hands, letting the shards clatter to the ground. In a few seconds, there was a person-sized hole in the metal, leaving a straight shot to a jet.

Jade stepped through the hole precariously, but once on the other end she gave a thumbs up, “Good work, Eddie.”

Traci and Grant followed soon after to one of the jets prepped to takeoff. Traci pressed her fist to the ground and with a faint click, the jet’s stairs unlocked, clattering onto the tarmac. Everyone hurried inside the plane with Eddie entering last to pull the stairs back up.

Grant stepped into the cockpit, “Hopefully they haven’t locked me out yet… User authorization: Ravager.”

He held his breath until the onboard computer started up, “‘Authorization: Ravager’ accepted.”

The jet’s engines came to life and Grant wasted no time pulling out of the hangar. He turned back to the cabin, “Rough takeoff, everybody!”

The plane shuddered at being forced into the air so quickly, but it held. Just a few minutes later, the group was gliding above the clouds, all coming down from an adrenaline high.

⬣ ⬣ ⬡ ⬣ ⬣

50,000 ft above Sea Level. 17:30

Traci was meditating - well, meditating was being generous - really. Traci was hoping if she breathed slowly enough she wouldn’t have to think about betraying her father’s clandestine organization and escaping on an airplane with an assassin, a demon, and a green...something.

Her meditation was interrupted by an equally useful distraction. Grant’s called from the cockpit, “Anybody have a destination in mind? I was thinking Vegas.” He chuckled.

Traci’s eyes wandered to a map of North America on the wall. Small hexagons were scattered across it, one of them in a familiar part of the Mojave desert. She took a step towards the map,

“I might have an idea. What kind of place are we looking for?”

Eddie was the quickest, “Somewhere with people to save!”

Grant turned in his seat, “Nix that, we need to hole up somewhere without interference. Unless we want a million HIVE agents on our doorstep a few hours after touch down.”

Traci nodded, “Gotcha, no people.”

Eddie looked disappointed, but that quickly turned to astonishment as Traci pressed her hand against the map and one by one the hexes sizzled off the paper leaving only a dark charred circle in their place. Eddie’s leaned in closer,

“Whoa! Are you like, a wizard or something?”

Traci couldn’t help but smile. It felt good to have someone be impressed when they saw what she could do. Not that Traci was sharing much anyway at the Hierarchy of Investigation to Vanquish the Extranormal.

By now, all the hexes had burned away except for two. One of them positioned in the interior of Manitoba, the other on the Louisiana coast.

“What have we got back there?” Grant asked.

“Looks like an uninhabited HIVE base in New Orleans, Louisiana. Probably abandoned, not a single person there.”

“You sure?”

“My specialty is in city magic. I’d feel it if there were any people still staffed there.”

“Alright then,” Grant conceded, punching settings into the ship’s console, “Everybody strap in. Setting a course for Louisiana.”