Marigold Station

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

There was a park near the mouth of the Metro station at Grayditch's eastern edge, long ago. A few of the rides are still present- the fulcrums of the see-saws, the rusted-out remnants of the monkey bars, even the pitted, corroded sheets of metal that had once been the slides. It lies a little lower than the surrounding road-beds, but it offers the

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, I leave them precisely where the colony's queen lays them- in the hatchery," says the man. He eyes Spoon uncertainly before continuing. "Unfortunately it seems my calculations contained an error that caused the specimens to develop a new biomechanism, pyrosis, rather than reducing them to the size of ordinary ants- an ability which makes it more than a little difficult to reach the majority of my equipment."

"Wait," says Ellen. "You seriously think you can make these creatures' next generation that small?"

"Well, perhaps not the next generation, but one extremely proximal to that," says the man, adjusting his glasses. "I estimate a likelihood of about five generational turn-overs before the current oversized cohort is completely replaced by specimens of less than an inch in length."

Ellen glances over at Val, who she knows is far better educated than she- for all the Vault's trying- and then back to the man. "How do you expect something like that to even work?"

"A modified strain of something called the Forced Evolutionary Virus," says the man proudly. "I obtained a sample some time ago and have been attempting to modify it from producing monstrous mutants to rendering organisms significantly smaller and more tractable-"

He goes nattering on, but Ellen turns to the others. "I think we need to find the hatchery," she says, "but I think we also need to be very, very careful what we blow up. If he's using a virus to change these creatures, and we blow stuff up without making sure it all burns, we could get exposed."

[magic_ferret]

One of Yuuno's best friends was abused by a mad scientist. Spoon's not the only one with issues.

"Let's- let's just shut this down," he says then taps his headset, "I'll keep an eye out in case Spoon runs into anything that gives him serious trouble."

Then he ducks out to keep watch on the werewolf.

[there_is_a_me]

"Some people," the werewolf says to the boy, "need to fuckin' contract a serious case of fuckin' dead."

There are a number of less structurally sound bits of wall than there were when he came out.

[magic_ferret]

Yuuno attempts a should bump to Spoon. It could have gone better.

"Not for us to decide," he says, "All we can do is try and minimize the damage."

Sometimes being support instead of command sucks.

[there_is_a_me]

Spoon takes it in the spirit offered. "Innit the truth."

When he was human, if Yunno was an adult, this would be the point he offered a fag. He doesn't smoke anymore, so he offers a stick of gum instead.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"... so anyway," says Ellen, cutting off the man's flow of information. "How do you plan on fixing all of this?"

"Well, if I can reach my equipment, I can issue a chemical signal that will cause all the ants of the current brood to immediately begin attacking one another instead of humans- or anything else, for that matter," the man says. "It's the ant queen's nest guardians that make this so difficult, you see. There are five of them- filthy little abominations."

"When you say little-"

"Well, that isn't precisely correct. They're only little by comparison to the queen. I'd say any one of them is probably about as big as your red-skinned friend there."

Ellen winces. "Can they breathe fire too?"

"Oh, most indubitably. But if you can just take out the five of them and come back here, I'll issue that inhibitor pulse and there won't be any more trouble from these creatures what-so-ever."

[bprd_agent_red]

"Only five?" Red grins. "Piece of cake."

[val_von_doom]

Val's been listening to the man and it all sounds reasonable except..."I assume you have a way of keeping the virus from mutating? You are sure it can not infect humans or other animals? And how far away is the nest? Is it easy to get to from here?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, the FEV is highly resistant to the random vagaries of simple mutation," says the man. "It requires deliberate manipulation or exposure to massive quantities of radiation before it mutates on its own. This particular strain has been tailored solely to latch onto insectile DNA, since I'm only interested in working with the ants. As far as the nest goes, it's through that door right there-" He gestures to the door in the opposite wall of his overstuffed, tiny little lab. "Down the long corridor, to the left, and then through the gap in the wall that leads into unfinished stone tunnels. You can't possibly miss it."

[tanyadams]

"Depending on the size of the lair... I can make it cave in with a few detonations in the right places." Squish queen.

The talk about this 'FEV' thing? Way too creepy to be commented on.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"No caving anything in until he's issued that pulse," says Ellen. "If he can really make the ants kill themselves from that terminal, we won't have to fight our way through them to get out of here."

[tanyadams]

Tanya raises a brow at Ellen. "Of course." Specially since making the queen's lair cave in would mean being there...

Already past any guardian ants.

[bprd_agent_red]

"So let's go do some pest control."

Sticking his head out of the lab he calls out, "Hey, Spoon! We got some guardian ants to take care of. Big like me, outta be fun."

[val_von_doom]

"Yep, he's just like Uncle Ben," Val thinks as she checks the charge in her armor, which is doing well.

"If the Guardian's antennas are injured will they react like the scouts and soldiers?" she asks the scientist. "I'm ready."

[there_is_a_me]

"Sounds like a plan." Spoon agrees, putting the pack of gum away and stretching.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, any ant specimen will react that way when deprived of their primary organs of lateral sense," says the scientist. "At least in my own experience thus far."