#altno.15

Wong had a particular fondness for movies that explored the occult and supernatural in completely inaccurate ways. One of those films was 1999's The Mummy. While its interpretation of ancient Egyptian powers was laughably wrong (oh, if only Hollywood knew), the movie was genuinely funny and enjoyable.

He realized that, as he and Stephen stepped through the portal and he saw the two-foot-long, insectoid alien creatures for the first time in person, that they reminded him very much of the fictional variety of scarabs that featured heavily within the movie. Only instead of just flesh, these things were eating concrete, trees, and… yes, that was definitely a bicycle wheel in that one's mouth. It looked like the area had been evacuated, at least.

At the smell of their fresh blood, however, a good two dozen several yards away abandoned their lifeless meals to charge right at them.

Wong immediately threw a Flames of the Faltine at the first wave of the beasts coming at them. "Please tell me your oath doesn't cover these things," he told Stephen.

"It definitely doesn't cover these things," Stephen affirmed, bringing down the Bolts of Balthakk upon another wave of them. "They lack any sort of ability to reason, and transporting them to another dimension would simply doom that dimension."

That's what he thought. He swiveled about and quickly blew away several with the Winds of Watoomb that were getting entirely too close for comfort.

A loud scream came from a building just down the street, and Wong sighed. "I thought you said they evacuated everyone."

"Clearly not!" Stephen said, his own frustration leaking through his tone. "Can you handle this for a minute?"

Wong only replied, "Yes," and there Stephen went. A minute would definitely be doable.

Two minutes later, Stephen's astral form appeared out of the ether. Wong raised his brows at him.

"So, bad news," said Stephen. "By 'evacuated everyone', it appears they meant 'evacuated everyone that wasn't within half a mile of the hatching spot because we couldn't reach those that didn't immediately run'. They just weren't able to get to some people, and it appears most left behind have barricaded themselves indoors— though who knows how long that will last."

"Not long enough," Wong said.

Stephen nodded. "Cloak's keeping my body up in the air and I'm going to scout through the buildings and get everyone remaining out."

"What about this so-called hatching spot?" he asked as he fried another wave with the Bolts of Balthakk.

"It's like a nest of some sort," he answered. "At least, there was one in Houston. They don't know the exact location here, but it'll be in this general area. Try to see where the bugs are coming from."

"All directions, currently," he retorted, and blasted another row away with the Winds, just to give himself some breathing room (and watch a handful of them splatter against corners, which was useful). "How did you kill the nest?"

Stephen grimaced. "I didn't. There was an enhanced human in Houston who could kill things with touch. I cleared the immediate area and she just touched the inside and rotted everything within it. Useful, if not completely terrifying." He looked over his shoulder. "Gotta go, Wong. Good luck."

"Mmm," he replied in turn, and Stephen disappeared.

Right. Time to find the nest. Flying, while possible, would simply expend too much energy with using magic alone, so walking it was. He called upon the Flames of Faltine again to clear his immediate radius of about ten feet, then set a Shield of the Seraphim about himself and began to walk northward, where quite a few of the alien insectoids seemed to be coming from.

Thankfully, these aliens' ability to eat through anything physical did not extend into the mystical and the shield remained intact as he pushed the aliens bugs off his path. They began to crawl around and then over the shield, attempting to dig through with little success; when they fell off, they'd just get right in the back of the very large crowd of alien bugs following him. Whenever they crowded his view too much, he'd spin in a quick circle to shake them off, then continue walking once more.

By the time Wong found the nest about ten minutes later, he had an impressive collection of ravenous aliens all about his shield. He shook them off again, then approached the nest to get a better look.

It reminded him of a termite mound, the large, bumpy stick of rock and dirt that had burst through the ground and ripped a hole through the street. It probably went rather deep, too; a quick check for life below him confirmed that.

Right. If this was going to work, he was going to have to be creative. He walked around the perimeter of the alien nest, again felt the general distance the amount of life underground went in its depth and width, and considered what spells he might use.

Wong pressed his lips together at a thought. Yes, that might work. It would take everything out of him, but he was certain he could manage it. He looked up at the alien mound and hoisted himself up on one of its lumps; better to be on top of the source for this next feat.

Ignoring the large bugs still scrambling all about his shield and gnawing unsuccessfully at it, he started beginning the movement and internal chanting needed to invoke the Seven Suns of Cinnibus, which would blast his immediate area and "all dark places" connected to the mound's entrance with burning light, ensuring that it would go through every tunnel dug through the city. Midway, he brought in the incantations necessary for the Flames of the Faltine, weaving it within the primary spell to turn the bright light into a searing heat specifically targeting these alien bugs. A bit like blasting the area with a selective microwave, if he had to explain how he cleared out the nest to some Avenger (though honestly, he was more than happy to leave all that to Stephen).

The two spells were woven together and in one swift movement, Wong dropped the shield and slammed his palm into the ground. The searing light combined with the fire-strength heat incinerated the bugs all around him and blast through the tunnels within the earth, moving at a speed faster than rushing water.

Wong held it for about five seconds before he fell to his knees, breathing heavily.

Well, he was completely out of magic. But that should have gotten everything within a mile radius around the nest, alongside every dark crevice within the tunnel system below.

He lowered himself off the mound and grimaced. Now he needed to find Stephen, because there was no way he was going to be drawing any dimensional gateways for a good twenty-four hours. Wong rubbed at the light headache starting to form at his temples, then started walking in the direction he had come from.

About ten minutes later, somewhere near where they had portalled in and near the border of the mile radius his spell managed, Wong discovered, much to his chagrin, that two of the bugs had wandered away a little bit farther than a mile from the nest. And now they were very much interested in having him as food, and he couldn't weave so much as a shield at the moment.

Wong looked around his immediate area and saw an abandoned broom outside of a half-open shop door. He grabbed it, twisted off the broom end and chucked it at one of the approaching alien bugs, then immediately used it to fend them back, giving them sharp hits across their hard shells and swinging the stick to whack them away. He could possibly eventually kill them this way, but in all honesty, he was just biding his time until Stephen came from wherever the hell he was and took care of them in a more efficient manner so they could get back to Kamar-Taj.

Rather annoying, though. There was a reason he rarely used such spells; having nothing left in reserve was hardly an ideal situation. And if Wong was going to be completely honest with himself, the spell had drained him physically as well and he could not keep this up forever.

Unfortunately, it turned out he may have overestimated his remaining physical strength and underestimated how much the spell had drained him. Wong was able to keep them away for about two minutes before misstepping on a piece of uneven, cracked roadway. He quickly corrected himself and moved to block one of the bugs jumping at him, but he just missed and it latched onto his left arm and bit through the sleeve.

Shouting in anger and pain, Wong rushed to the nearest wall and slammed the alien bug into the concrete wall even as he used the stick to keep the other one away from him. The one on his arm finally detached after five hits as its shell cracked and its head was smashed in. Wong went to reposition himself defensively against the remaining bug, but a sudden wave of dizziness hit him and he had to lean against the wall. After whacking away the insectoid again, he spared his arm a glance.

That was a lot of blood. That was too much blood.

He hit the bug again, then grimaced and tried to use the wall behind him to apply pressure. He wasn't sure how long he could keep standing, but he knew it wasn't going to be for long, not with how his head was feeling.

Another hit, and he lowered himself to one knee. Wong could not help but be a bit annoyed; out of all the things to die from, an alien bug bite was really unexpected and unfortunate.

This was very, very unfortunate.

As the alien bug charged at him again and he prepared to whack it back once more, it suddenly burst into flames. Wong fell to his other knee even as Stephen landed just behind the burnt thing.

"Wong, where are you hurt?" Stephen asked as he knelt beside him.

"Arm," he grunted, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes. "No energy."

Stephen didn't ask any questions as he positioned himself beside his arm. The Cloak was suddenly against him, applying pressure to the bite and he felt his friend place a hand on his head and the feeling of energy course through his body. He knew this spell; he was trying to encourage the heart to slow down a little, to pump flood a little less quickly, and while he did that he was sure Stephen was looking at the damage.

"Brachial artery. No time," he said lowly, though Wong wasn't entirely sure what he meant. He then heard something plop onto the sidewalk and when he opened his eyes, he saw a medical bag, of all things.

Stephen wrenched it open and grabbed a tourniquet. "You've lost too much blood already," he said even as he wrapped it over his left arm to secure it, before he began twisting. "Mundane will work better, now."

Wong had no idea. Wong wasn't a doctor, so he was more than happy to allow the other sorcerer to take over here. But… "Where'd the bag…?" he asked, and found himself vaguely annoyed as the rest of his words slurred away. This was incredibly annoying.

"Personal pocket dimension," Stephen answered. "Less magic than a portal, which still confounds me."

"Space," he said.

"No, I know the theory and the theory makes sense, but at the same time it still doesn't make sense." He finished applying the tourniquet and pressed his lips together. "The Cloak's completely wrapped around your arm and I don't want to remove it. I'm going to levitate you into the healing wing and see you situated, then take care of anything remaining here."

Wong usually would rather not be levitated, but at the moment he was too tired to be bothered about the circumstances. He closed his eyes and felt himself being carefully lifted off the ground and positioned to recline more, and then the atmosphere completely changed to the smells and sounds that he well knew around Kamar-Taj.

Knowing he didn't need to keep his guard up any further, Wong let himself drift off.

Logan now properly situated, Dee waved his hand for them to begin walking, and turned to address Virgil and Patton. “I need you two to find yarrow and coconuts.”

“Roger.” Virgil nodded, eager to be doing something physical to help out rather than wallowing in his own anxieties.

“But, Logan—” said Patton, eyeing the still unconscious man on Roman’s back. “I can't just leave him, I—”

“Relax, padre. Dee and I have it under control.” Roman grinned at him, and Dee silently thank Roman for his positivity and trust in him. “Besides, you know flowers best of any of us, right?”

Patton dipped his head somewhat regretfully, still wearing a tense expression. “I thought I did, but—”

“Patton, we need you to do this,” Dee interjected, turning to survey him, increasingly aware that every passing second was valuable time lost. “How else are we going to bring Logan back to full health?”

Virgil tapped Patton’s shoulder, pulling him out of whatever spiral he had thought himself into as a hopeful smile flickered across his face. “I know what a coconut is, luckily, but not the first clue how to find yarrow. You've gotta help me out, Pat.”

Dee watched as Patton glanced between each of them, eyes lingering on Logan the longest, before turning back to Dee. “Okay. We’ll see you back at camp ASAP.”

Taking Virgil’s hand, the pair exchanged a look before Patton began to lead them ahead, hastening over the uneven floor and prompting Roman to call a, “Stay safe!” as Patton began to explain to Virgil what to be looking out for.

Even though Dee had been trying to keep his emotions on the lowdown, it seemed Roman had a keen eye today as he turned to him.

“It's bad, isn't it?”

Dee allowed his façade to drop, a grim expression donning his face. “It's… not great. What Logan touched is called acicularis solanaceae; the only reason I even know what it is is because it gives Jekyll allergies.”

“Ah.”

Jekyll, one of Dee’s snakes, was especially prone to allergies, and despite the frustrations it had entailed he was now more thankful than ever for the tidbits of information it had caused him to learn. He pondered briefly if all his snakes would be doing fine without him, but he trusted they were being looked after. He hoped they were being looked after. He missed them.

“In humans it can cause a bad fever and a rash, but it's perfectly treatable with the correct medication. That's just… hard to come by, out here.”

They walked in silence until they got back to camp, Dee cycling between watching the path, racking his brains for herbal remedies feasibly found on a remote island, and checking on Logan.

As soon as they cleared the trees, Dee was met with the sight of Remus swaying uneasily from foot to foot, Patton nervously clutching a bouquet of what he hoped was yarrow and Virgil doing his best to crack open a coconut with the blunted rock Remus had insisted would come in useful.

Remus spotted them first, dashing over with a shrill cry of, “They're back!”

“We're back,” Roman agreed, smiling tiredly at his brother. “Help me put Logan in bed?”

Remus’s face fell to something resembling stern, leading Roman over to the sleeping area after an affirmation from Dee. “I have prepared it wondrously for him.”

Dee headed over to Patton and Virgil. There was so much to do—but they would manage. They had to.