Chapter 97: Hive

Crimson Hydra’s battle up Canal Street was brutal.

For all that James was an unstoppable force within the Hound, he was but one speck of resistance in a sea of slaughter. People thronged, pushed, screamed, and were killed. Nem3’s were everywhere. Leaping off buildings, charging into where the crowds were thickest, flipping cars, shrieking their delight.

James worked his way up the broad street steadily, his Vault Cannon on limited fire, spilling endless rounds across the blocks. Gloria-enhanced smite bullets as almost a foot long made short work of whatever they hit, but there were always more demons, always more death.

Overhead Olaf maintained his Circle of Protection, the others forming a mobile death-dealing platform. Shields floated about them, parrying harpoons, and Serenity had put on some headphones so that she could rock out to music as she poured her Eternal Fire upon the demons, a cigarette clenched between her jaws. Jason made occasional forays out over the crowd, lashing the demons with his aura, but the danger was too high; harpoons targeted him the moment he made himself a target.

Kimmie’s voice was growing hoarse from exhorting the public to work together, to flee or crouch, or when things got really bad, just trying to bring a little light into people’s last moments of terror.

Through it all strode James. Inexorable, implacable, focused only on destruction. Nem3’s charged at him and fried upon his aura. They hurled bone harpoons which bounced off the War Hound’s armor. They screeched their hatred and died.

Your rank is now Acolyte 3

You have 5 unspent points.

Despite the rate of killing the levels were coming much slower now. Perhaps Nem3’s were meant for Novitiate leveling, and now that he was Acolyte, he’d need Nem4’s to maintain the same pace.

No matter. In the War Hound he could fight all day long.

James tracked a Nem3 as it leaped through the air, blasting it apart even as it reached the apex of its jump, and then felt it. An explosive boom of dark energy, as if a bomb had gone off to the south. Nothing changed around them, even the leaves on the sidewalk trees stayed still, but James felt a flare of alarm and momentarily staggered as he lost his poise.

“What was that?” Denzel yelled. “What the fuck was that?”

“Getting altitude,” shouted Serenity, and her Wing immediately began to climb. The Nem3’s a block ahead were shrieking their delight, and as one began to stream south, ignoring the cowering people and the battle coming their way.

Jelly? What just happened?

I’ve not felt that before, James. But if pressed, I’d hazard that it was something bad. Hmm. Real bad.

One of the drawbacks of being in the Hound was not having access to a radio. Unable to call in, he focused on Serenity as she climbed above the five-story buildings around them.

“Fuck!” she shouted. “We’ve got a live symbol down on the south-eastern edge of Manhattan!”

“Live symbol?” James’s voice boomed off the walls. “What do you mean?”

She dropped perilously quick, pulling up from her dive at the last second. “Black fire hive. They’ve brought one of the dead symbols back to life.”

The other Wings clustered in close.

“They can do that?” asked Jason. “God damn it. Should we head that way?”

“Yo Star Boy,” said Serenity, thumbing on her radio. “We got eyeballs on the southern Manhattan symbol. It just lit up like a black-fire piñata. You want we should go take care of it?”

“Copy, Serenity. Yeah, get the fuck over there, pronto. I’m seeing tons of Nem3’s heading that way. You know how they’ll power up. Problem is, I’m seeing other groups of Nem3’s escorting Nem2’s into the city. It’s creepy as fuck. Like the Nem2’s were just waiting for this to happen.”

“Escorting?” Serenity frowned. “That’s some high-level shit. Can you get other teams on them?”

“Trying. You don’t know how bad the situation’s got. We’ve lost a third of our entire force already. Just… just too much going on. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Copy, Crimson Hydro out.” Serenity released her radio. “Fucking hell.”

“Let’s clear that symbol,” said James. “Last thing we want is all these Nem’s to get buffed.”

Kimmie scanned the area. “What about Yadriel?”

“He’s gonna have to catch up. We don’t have time to wait for him. Let’s hurry.” James turned south and left Canal Street. He knew exactly where the symbol in question was. Just south of the One World Observatory where he and Jessica had chilled a lifetime ago. That meant a straight shot down Broadway, six or seven blocks, then four of those mega-blocks west, then three or more south on West Street. Ten, fifteen minutes at most.

They powered their way south. The very air felt different, charged and dangerous. The Nem3’s were all fleeing ahead of them, making their way toward the symbol as quickly as they could. Fuck. The hive was like a drain, sucking in every demon in the area. Which would give the local teams a respite but result in massively boosted Nems.

How many? How long did it take for the hive to buff them?

James pushed himself harder, leaping two, three cars at a time, occasionally taking to the broad sidewalks to race south, slamming signposts, newsstands, and even small kiosks aside as he charged.

Even as he made his way, he kept his Vault Cannon firing. Its range was staggering; if he could see a demon, he could shoot it, even several blocks ahead. Problem was that the farther the demon was, the more he had to guess which way it was going to go to lead it with his shots. No matter: infinite ammo and no damage to anything else meant he just blazed away as he went.

The Wings kept pace, limited by his speed. James’s frustration was tempered by his awareness of how deadly their last attempt to hit a hive had been without a Hound. What was the point in getting there fast if they’d get their asses handed to them?

James, just a warning: our Pool is at 578/729. If the Nemeses are attempting to activate multiple hives, it’s possible we’ll need to quench several over the course of the day. So we can have fun, but we can’t go buck wild.

Buck wild?

I learned that from Serenity. She’s really interesting! She was telling me that before this invasion started, she used to put on this latex outfit with strategic holes cut out and go to these -

You know what? That’s OK. No need to explain.

They reached the turn. The closer they got to the hive, the more James could sense it, like a dark center of gravity that both oppressed and drew him in.

Damn it. The Nem3’s were escorting Nem2’s in? Was that their idea, or were both groups guided by some higher intelligence? The Monitors? No, they’d remained outside of this all until now. So…

An idea came to him.

Shit.

What had appeared in the center of the burning hives? The Nem2’s had forged into a queen. Had the Nem3’s merged into something greater as well? Something capable of orchestrating something like this?

All the more reason to nuke the hives. Too bad every single one was located in the center of the most populous parts of every city.

So thinking, James turned on West Street. One World Observatory towered above him, a finger pointed right at the heavens, and along the right side of the street rose older, grander buildings from a previous era. The avenue was massive, easily four lanes per side, and glittering towers rose here and there, fabulous and improbable, abandoned, no doubt, once all industry and work had collapsed.

But James focused on the demonic symbol up ahead. It rose high in the air and beneath it burned a new hive, a dome of living flame set in the midst of old residential high rises, their hundreds of windows glittering as they reflected the flames.

Nem3’s were pouring into the hive in startling numbers. Hundreds were entering every minute.

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“All right,” boomed James. “This time it’s going to be different. Stay on your Wings and guard the perimeter. I’m going in alone.” Serenity immediately went to argue but James cut her off. “No discussion. I’m the only one equipped to deal with what’s going on in there. If I need to retreat, I’ll do so, but until I see what’s going on we can’t risk another Philadelphia. Clear?”

“Yes sir,” said Jason.

“You give the orders,” agreed Olaf stoutly.

“Fine.” Serenity scowled. “We’ll keep new arrivals from reinforcing the ones inside.”

“Then let’s go.”

James led the way, loping forward, closing on the hive. He trained his Vault Cannon on the Nem3’s leaping and scrambling across the street, blasting them apart as he closed, but his attention was focused on the huge dome.

Could the War Hound stand up to the enhanced demons within?

One way to find out.

“Here we go,” he boomed as he drew close and broke into a run. The Hound pounded the pavement, cratering it with each step. James primed his Empyreal Gun, took a deep spiritual breath, and then leaped to cover the last dozen yards.

The wall of black fire flew at him, endlessly rushing upwards, and then he hit it and was through.

James entered the hive with his Vault Cannon blazing on both barrels even as he dropped his first Heavenly Assault.

The lightning bolt was weakened as before, forcing it way through the burning canopy overhead, but still it slammed down into the street and sent a shockwave of gold and silver flooding over the Nem3’s.

Who turned as one, their bodies aflame, licked by ebon power, and roared at him.

James slammed down onto the ground, asphalt crunching beneath him, and broke forward, Cannon entering maximum fire. 4,000 rounds/minute, Gloria-enhanced, Smite enabled, sheer wicked heavenly fury. The bullets raked across the assembled ranks and shattered bodies, blew off limbs, pulverized skulls.

But as before, what was effective on the outside was more limited here. Each demon could take more punishment. It didn’t matter, however; the rounds came so fast and furious that they were still torn apart.

The demons closed in, hundreds on each side and James roared his defiance, unleashing his Empyreal Gun on his left flank as he dropped another Heaven’s Assault on his right. And a second, and a third.

The superheated Aeviternum plasma flooded over the demons, immolating scores of them, quenching their black flames and ruining them where they stood even as the triple Heavenly Assaults wrecked the ones on James’s other flanks. His Vault Gun hit the end of its thirty seconds and entered cooldown, so James blasted Sacred Smites ahead of him as he charged on, one flash of righteous silver-white after another.

Harpoons slammed into him from all sides, buffeting him, challenging his balance. These burned black and did damage; he felt several embed their wicked heads into his Angelus Steel plating.

But he powered on. Again his Empyreal Gun roared and Nem3’s danced, incandesced, melting and shrieking, but the harpoons kept slamming into him and staggered, nearly toppled over.

Fuck this, James thought, and brought a dozen Heavenly Assaults down all at once.

The roar of their impacts was thunderous and the shadowed world turned bright white, the golden overtones underscored by blue shadows. Nem3’s were torched all around him, several hundred dying all at once.

Your rank is now Acolyte 4

You have 5 unspent points.

Your rank is now Acolyte 5

You have 10 unspent points.

James dropped the ten points into his Arete, bringing it to 130 and his Bronze Aura up to 7.

Aeviternum Pool at 542/729.

Just getting started here.

The dozen blasts had cleared the block. James pounded forward, seeking the heart of the hive. There, a side street between the brick residential towers. The remnants of the flesh-walls the previous Nem2’s had built for their hives.

Nem3’s were pouring toward him, emerging from the ruined fortress building, their skin aflame, their harpoons flying immediately.

The cool-down on the Vault Cannon ended and he returned fire. Harpoons thudded into him, dozens upon dozens landing direct hits. Half bounced right off, the rest sank home, piercing the Angelus steel.

How we looking, Jelly? Damage update?

Armor is at 78% integrity, James. Once we drop below 50% the Hound’s internals will begin to take damage. Below 25% we’ll take quadruple damage.

Then we need to finish this fast.

James reached for the heavens and summoned another six Heavenly Assaults. The lightning strikes fell in an arc before him, their blast radiuses overlapping, and another hundred or so Nem3’s ashed.

James ran on, reached the shattered flesh walls and leaped over their broken ramparts. He landed within the great circle that enclosed the burning stream of black flames that raced upward.

There was no spire like he’d seen in the Nem2 hives he’d cleared. Instead, he saw a large stump of glistening raw meat some three yards tall. Thirty or so Nem2’s were clustered around its base, rapidly extruding more human paste, a handful of them clinging to the stump as they accepted the new material and layered it on.

Atop the stump hovered a small black egg. Its facets gleamed with unholy light.

Bingo.

The Nem2’s turned to regard him, their ivory masks still set in their horrifically disdainful smirks.

James reached for another six Heavenly Assaults. The sky lightened, but the Assaults slid around the outside of the fortress as if a smaller, impenetrable dome encased the actual heart of the hive.

For a moment the sky burned brilliant white as James stood within a bowl of living silver flame, but then it flickered out and was replaced by the black.

James, to our left.

James tore his attention with great reluctance from the spire to where a large shape had detached itself from the shadows wreathing the flesh-walls.

Fuck, James whispered. The Nem3 queen.

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