Arriving in Fort Wayne, we immediately headed to the address provided by our client. The building was quite old, and looking at it, you'd think a stiff breeze would knock it over like a house of cards. Herman and I went in to check the apartment—it turns out he used to be a private investigator, and Arclight took this job mainly because of his expertise. I, on the other hand, was just working as a bloodhound.
In the Car
"Great. They went to do their investigation, but why am I stuck here? Don't tell me it's in case our target returns, because if he hasn't come back before, it means he noticed he was being followed and he's not an idiot who'd walk into a trap," Gambit asked irritably.
"No, you're here so you don't pull any more stupid stunts," Arclight replied.
"And why doesn't Bruce get the same level of supervision? He was involved too, wasn't he?" Remy asked, brimming with righteous indignation.
"Bruce has been paying his dues all month and hasn't tried to run away from the base every third day. So sit down and shut up," Philippa answered, giving Remy a murderous look.
"Yes, Mommy," Gambit agreed sadly.
In the Apartment
The rooms were quite filthy; it was obvious no one had cleaned here for at least a couple of months. The lack of any food in the refrigerator was also strange. While I was scanning the rooms, a strange sound from the bathroom caught my attention—an ordinary person wouldn't have even heard it, but my enhanced hearing caught a buzzing in the ventilation above the tub. Standing on the edge of the bath, I removed the grate, which seemed to be held on only by a viscous liquid rather than screws. Peering inside, I found a beehive that was almost dead: only a few insects remained, sitting on the outside of the hive and occasionally making buzzing sounds as if they had lost their purpose in life. Even when I poked them, there was no reaction. I'd never seen bees build hives in places like this, but given the state of the house, they probably weren't its worst residents. Though it looked like even they had decided to move out. Just as I was about to continue my search, I heard Herman calling me.
"Bruce, come here. I think I found something." Approaching him, I saw a stack of papers covered in formulas and several letters in his hand.
"I don't understand the formulas—not my specialty—but the names of the equipment mentioned in them are quite interesting. This gene injector is a very expensive piece of kit, and only a few labs have one."
"And let me guess: there happens to be one in this city?"
"We'll find out. But more interestingly, look at what this thing is used for. It's for genetic engineering experiments: animal testing, but this crap works for humans too. You heard of the Lizard?"
"Big, green, regenerates, and thinks his species is the future of humanity?"
"Well, I don't know what he thinks. But he was brought into the world using something like this."
"Wait, if our target already has powers, why does he need an injector?"
"I think these notes will tell us that," he said, pointing to the back of the formula sheets.
"We can look through this in the car."
Back with the team, we ran a check on laboratories equipped with an injector. Unsurprisingly, one was located right here in the city. When I searched for the injector's appearance, I was, to put it mildly, surprised—it looked somewhat like the chamber where a simple kid from Brooklyn named Steve was turned into the World War II hero, Captain America. Only it was larger and had two operating modes: one for humanoid creations—monkeys and very curious scientists without self-preservation instincts—and a second one, personally approved with an SS quality mark: gas chamber mode, where processing occurs throughout the entire zone inside the injector. It's usually used for insects and plants. All in all, a very pleasant device, practically begging someone to climb in and become a furry's dream.
After an hour of pleasant research, we learned that his mini-diaries were mostly self-flagellation about how he could have "trusted them" so easily and how to fix everything. He didn't specify who those deceivers were, but I was starting to guess, seeing a crude drawing of a skull with tentacles in the bottom left corner of one of the pages. Perhaps the most interesting find was the most recent sheet—it contained only a few sentences: "They are trying to spin out of control, and this cannot be allowed. I have finished the formula. It just needs to steep, and then I can go to the injector. Or should I give up and hand over control? No! We haven't worked this hard just to leave this world without those bastards!"
Reaching the laboratory, we decided he would make his move to the device at night. Exactly when was unclear, as the notes said the formula needed to steep. However, since no attack on the lab had occurred in the past three days, and given his fervent claims about time running out, he would likely strike in the coming days. Therefore, we had to finish this quickly.
While waiting for our psychotic friend, Arclight suggested using the time productively, so we scouted the future operation site: identified all exits that weren't hidden, memorized camera positions, and found good entry points. Now, all that remained was to wait for our dear scientist.
After sitting in the car for two days, we were, to put it mildly, not thrilled. Judging by the guys' faces, the option of capturing the target was losing its appeal by the hour; everyone was itching to just kill this Fritz.
"God, Thomas, at least lick yourself clean; another day in the car with you will make me immune to tear gas. Besides, isn't your sense of smell almost as good as the kid's? How can you not smell how much you stink?" Remy asked with the face of a martyr.
"Are you going to shut up yourself, or should I help by ripping out that vestigial organ of yours?" Puma replied viciously.
"Guys, how about we get out of the car, leave him inside, and lock all the windows, huh? Maybe then he'll be able to smell his own stench?" Gambit suggested hopefully.
"Well, I warned you," Puma growled, clearly starting to shift into his combat form.
"Both of you, settle down," Shocker said, turning around.
"Both of you, settle down," Arclight said at the same time.
Just as I thought we'd spend another evening in vain, I noticed a strange figure in a cloak rushing toward the building. Waking the others, my partners and I approached the building and saw a dead guard at the entrance. His entire body looked unhealthy, as if pierced by dozens of needles.
"Looks like our suffering is over," Schultz said with genuine relief.
"Let's go through the back door," Philippa said.
Navigating a maze of corridors, we reached the necessary laboratory, where the sounds of machinery and someone sobbing echoed.
"If you want to keep your hand, I'd suggest you hurry up."
"I... I can't start it any faster. It has to go through setup. It will take 2 minutes."
"I'm going on the attack. Werewolf and Puma take the flanks, while Gambit and Shocker provide cover from a distance. Any objections?" Sonntag asked quickly.
"You know my attacks lose more than half their power in long-range mode," Shocker said, puzzled.
"You'll join in later if we need help, since we don't know what this Super is capable of, and you're our only one without powers," Arclight replied.
"Fine." It was obvious Shocker wasn't happy about the reminder of his normalcy compared to us.
"Puma, do you hear that sound?"
"What sound?" Puma asked, bewildered.
"A buzzing. It's coming from the target."
"We'll figure out what sounds he makes later. We start in 10 seconds," Arclight interrupted.
Ending the discussion, we lunged at him. I immediately opened fire and put two bullets into his legs, but to everyone's surprise, he didn't even flinch.
"They sent you, didn't they? Die, Nazi curs." I certainly didn't expect such a speech from a man named Fritz.
Then he stepped into the light, and I realized where the sound came from. His entire body was covered in bees. He resembled the love child of Freddy Krueger and Candyman. His appearance stunned us all for a few seconds, which he exploited by setting a swarm of bees from his hands upon us. I had no idea what to do with them—killing them with claws would take until old age, and bullets were useless. I really needed a flamethrower. But help came from an unexpected source. Gambit was very effective at tearing apart the miniature enemies with his cards, and the electrical damage from the charges released by Shocker was more than enough to fry the bees.
Taking advantage of the opening in his defense, Arclight and I rushed him while Puma hacked at the bees manually. Taking my full form while running, I struck at his arm, since we get paid more for a capture. Arclight didn't hold back and struck his torso, but both our blows failed to connect with a body and passed right through. We backed away in shock, realizing he simply had no physical body. He looked at us and showed a scene worthy of the best horror movies.
"I cannot be killed like an ordinary man! There is nothing of a human left in me! Except for thiiis!" His bee covering parted at his chest and head, revealing a completely bare skeleton with not a scrap of meat on it.
"I get the feeling we're going to have to rethink our combat positions," Pierce said anxiously.
"Agreed. Gambit, Shocker, only your attacks are having an effect, so you're now responsible for damaging the target. If the regeneration of his bees doesn't start slowing down within 10 minutes, we abort the capture attempt and you hit him with maximum power," Arclight said.
"Easy. I've got something for you, beehive on legs!" Gambit replied.
"For maximum charge power, I need to strike from close range," Herman informed the team.
"Then you only attack if Gambit lacks the power," Arclight said immediately.
"I'll be right back," Rain said sharply, before disappearing around the corner.
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Realizing I was currently of no use, I decided to acquire a weapon that had long proven effective in such situations.
"The kid's been gone for 5 minutes, where is he wandering off to?" Shocker asked with concern.
"I don't know! You don't think he..." Arclight said worriedly.
"No! I just don't get why he's been running around for so long," Shocker interrupted the burgeoning theory.
Suddenly, the power in the room cut out, the lamps switched to the backup generator, and a few seconds later, that cut out too.
"NO! NO! NOOOO!!!!! What have you done?! I was almost finished!" The ferocity of the attacks that the swarm of aggressive bees now unleashed was staggering. It seemed he had been holding back some power in case of attacks on the injector. Now, he was using every available option. The swarm began to cover the entire room, and there seemed to be no end to its growth.
"Gambit, hit it with everything you've got!" Arclight shouted.
"Got it, Mom." Eight cards began to glow in Remy's hands at once, their light much brighter than usual. Waiting for the swarm to close in, he threw them inside, and a massive explosion occurred, destroying a huge portion of the yellow cloud.
"Can you do that again?" Philippa asked hopefully.
"Out of energy." Gambit's face showed how drained he was after such an explosion.
"Shocker?" Sonntag turned to the other team member.
"I can't see where his body is, and my area of effect isn't that large," the German replied dejectedly.
Arclight showed hesitation, but she finally uttered the only correct phrase in this situation: "Retreat!"
Just then, I returned to witness the scene of my team fleeing from a giant yellow cloud. My prepared gift was practically itching in my hands at the sight. I waited for them to put enough distance between themselves and the cloud, then I threw a bundle of 17 canisters with lit rags wrapped around them. Of course, for a big boom, there was no contact with what was inside them, but I easily corrected that with a well-aimed shot at one of the canisters. A truly fiery performance followed, and I heard screams of agony from within that Asian barbecue.
Everyone stopped and stood together, watching the mesmerizing sight.
"And what are we supposed to provide as proof of his death now?" Philippa said dissatisfied.
"I'm sure we can find a few bones from his skeleton somewhere in this hall," Rain replied.
"Fine, two explosions in a row must have alerted the police by now, so start searching," Arclight said, waving a conciliatory hand.
While everyone was busy looking for something to give the employers as proof of the bee-man's death, no one noticed a few dozen insects flying into the ventilation.
"I found the skull!" Puma shouted happily.
"Great! That should be enough. Let's get out of here!" Arclight said, not hiding her relief.