The Blackhawk’s rotor blades cut through the air. Each rotation drummed against the roof with a thunderous rhythm. Down below, the mantid stronghold churned like a nest fully possessed and disturbed with hundreds of mantids who weren’t expecting the kind of Tinyling retaliation they were about to receive.

  The mantids glinted green as they moved in overlapping patterns across the hallway tiles below them. Their armor flashed with mirrored hues of green and brown. A mist of spores shimmered around mushroom-rooted walls. They smelled the scent of rotting fungus.

  Beau tightened his grip on the harness straps of his P-1 combat armor which hugged his limbs with stiff pressure. Next to him, Tessa rested her hand on the chemical bomb’s casing. She didn’t look up at him, just stared forward, lips thin, eyes flat.

  “Are you sure you’re good with this?” Beau asked. “Last chance to let your conscience get the better of you.”

  Tessa nodded. “I’m ready. I made my choice.” She turned to the pilot. “Rick, how are we?”

  “We’re hovering directly over the densest part of the stronghold. Go! Go! Go!”

  Beau and Tessa grabbed the handles of the cabin doors and slid them open. The rush of air hit them. If they weren’t strapped into their seats, it may have pushed them out.

  Beau hurled his bomb over the edge. Then he turned and grabbed another. Tessa dropped her bomb, also grabbing another. They managed to drop a total of six bombs which fell toward the fortress.

  A breathless moment sat between them.

  Then—the bombs impacted.

  The bombs struck the tiles hard. As the bombs hit, they made a muffled whump sound and then a hissing shriek. Thick and pearly white smoke erupted from the canisters which rolled across the ground in massive predatory tendrils. The vapor clung to everything it touched—pillars, towers, furniture, and completely coated the dense clumps of frantic mantids.

  The creatures fluttered and shrieked. They grew slower. Their limbs jittered, spasmed, then crumpled. As the clouds of poison spread, more dropped from the sky.

  The screams weren’t human, which made it easier. Mantid screams were something deeper, shrieking like blades on glass.

  The mantids tried to flee but they fell once they choked on the noxious fumes. Some leapt into the air only to crash against each other in blind confusion. Others ran along the walls, antennae curling, their wings seizing. The chemical scorched their nervous systems first. Then it killed.

  Beau watched it unfold with clenched teeth. His palms were slick inside his gloves. For added measure, Beau and Tessa gripped their Vindicators and fired fully automatic volleys of slugs down into the dazed mantid swarms. What Beau felt, spraying them down, wasn’t just a victory. It felt disturbingly good.

  From the air, the poison gas looked like spreading white mist. But then, Rick lit a road flare which crackled red and then dropped it from his window. It fell for what seemed like a solid minute. And once the red flare connected with the top of the gas, it ignited and a great wildfire spread and lapped up ever mantid in the fortress in a great flame. The heat rose and made their helicopter shake. The mantids below popped and sizzled.

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  A sick grin formed across Beau’s face who relished in seeing the destruction. He glanced over at Tessa, who reloaded her magazine and fired wildly into the burning colony, screaming and releasing her war cry.

  Rick swung the helicopter around, back toward the atrium. “We did it. We actually—”

  The rest of his message was lost to the rising roar of death underneath them.

  A shrill, chattering screech tore across the sky; a squadron of mantids rose from the rear of the foyer, cutting through the haze, wings buzzing in a harmonized screams. Their formations were tight and vengeful. At their head was General Karakis, his massive form silhouetted against the moon light spilling into the corridor through the glass panes on the exit doors.

  Beau snapped back into reality. “Karakis!”

  Rick banked hard left. He tilted his nose down to gain speed. The plastic creaked under the torque. Beau and Tessa braced against their seats as Karakis’s squadron dove at them to flank them.

  Tessa twisted toward the cabin window. She aimed her Vindicator and squeezed the trigger. The electric rifle kicked with a soft pulse. Po-pop-pop. One mantid took a slug straight through the thorax—its chest burst into a green mist and clear viscous slime. Its wings seized and it spiraled down like a paper doll tossed into a fireplace.

  Beau hit the opposite side. He angled his Vindicator as another mantid slammed into the chopper’s side. The impact rocked the frame. Beau gritted his teeth and fired into its face. The slugs landed with wet crunches. The mantid’s head split open like an overripe fruit before it tumbled down to its death.

  “We’ve got three more on us!” Tessa shouted. She ducked and missed a swiping claw from a frantic mantid who soared past.

  “I can’t shake them!” Rick barked.

  Beau didn’t hear the rest.

  Karakis dove like a bat—his wings folded in, his carapace a blur of black and algae green. Behind him, a smaller mantid—leaner, faster—pivoted in a perfect arc, ignoring Beau and Tessa’s shots, and zeroed in on the tail. He became a blur of motion too quick to target.

  “NO!” Beau yelled.

  The mantid didn’t stop. It twisted mid-air and slammed its body into the rudder assembly. It shredded apart, but the damage was done.

  CRACK.

  A horrifying screech of sheared and snapping plastic split the air. The Blackhawk jerked violently. The rudder twisted once—then tore free.

  They spun like a toy hurled down by a god.

  The details inside the helicopter cabin became a blur. Beau and Tessa slammed into each other. They tried to grab onto something to stabilize themselves, but they couldn’t find purchase on anything.

  “Brace!” Rick yelled, pulling hard on the controls—but there was nothing left to control. The Blackhawk dropped from the sky.

  They impacted hard.

  First the tail hit with a sound like a sledgehammer on ceramic. Then the belly slammed, cracking open a floor tile and sent spiderwebs of debris out in all directions. The rotors shrieked as a blade snapped free. The entire frame rocked, bounded, and skidded across the dark corridor floor.

  At first there was silence. Then, Beau heard the ticking of coolant piping through a tube and the buzz of fried electronics.

  Smoke filled the cockpit. Beau’s helmet was cracked. Tessa lay slumped against her harness. Blood trickled from a cut under her hairline. Rick groaned, clutching at his ribs, his pilot suit smeared with blood.

  Beau coughed. His throat was raw. His eyes stung.

  He heard the mantid’s flapping wings above them. They were coming to finish them.