The Mantis Variant - Book One - 24. Chapter 24 - Rescue

Lahari led Agrell and Ilya from the apothecary through the dark streets of the Spritehood to one of the few ways to the underground. The sun was starting to rise over the harbor as they reached it, but they were stopped by a group of Biological Shift guards right inside the entrance. Each was unique.

"No one is permitted below," declared an individual with transparent skin and organs; the bones beneath their flesh were visible.

"It's me," Lahari stated, and she pulled back the cloak that hid her uniqueness.

"We are here to help," added Agrell.

"I can't let you in," the guard replied, "and I'm definitely not allowing humans down here, especially not an injured one." He eyed the crutch under Ilya's arm.

"Looks can be deceiving," Ilya told him.

Lahari stepped up to the guards and stated in a calm voice, "Not only can you not stop me from entering," and they all braced themselves against her, "but as far as I can tell, the underground needs as much help as it can get right now."

Agrell and Ilya looked on without understanding the exchange between Lahari and her fellow Biological Shifts.

"Now, move," she commanded.

Then the guard's demeanor changed and he spoke in a pleading voice that was unexpected by either Agrell or Ilya.

"We're under strict orders. There are many dead bodies that we are trying to deal with, and instabilities have occurred in some of the structures below. It's really not safe and," but he was interrupted.

"How many of us were killed? Tell me," Lahari demanded.

"Last we heard, there were 14 of our folk unaccounted for, but there was a collapse," the guard added, "some people may be trapped."

"Let us help!" begged Agrell. "I can help, I really can," she reiterated, and she picked up a massive chunk of broken wall in one hand.

This caused all of the guards to activate their cosmic abilities.

"She's a fucking Messiah?!" one of them yelled. His eyes went white and smoke started issuing from them.

"How dare you bring her here?!" screamed another, whose body started to enlarge right before their very eyes.

A third guard lashed out with his energies, and a radiance like that of the sun appeared at the entrance to the underground.

Both Agrell and Ilya flinched and cringed away from the luminous assault, but then the light vanished and the guard fell to his knees.

Lahari was standing in front of the other two women with her arms outstretched. If Agrell could have seen her face in that moment, she would have recognized the expression. Lahari was frowning. The black quills that protruded from her arms and legs and face extended like hundreds of tiny onyx daggers. They moved and flexed in a way that felt threatening to everyone nearby. The young woman's physiological uniqueness even seemed to quell the determination of the guards, and the offensive positions they took a moment before were replaced with cowering.

Another fell before Lahari, but she spoke over whatever protest or pleading they intended.

"We are going into the underground, and you are going before us to announce our arrival." She pulled the guard to his feet. "Now, move," she demanded.

With Agrell and Ilya, she entered the mouth of the underground, and they began to descend. Soon they arrived at the place where the attackers first clashed with the Biological Shifts who live beneath the city. Dried blood streaked the floor, and strange burn marks that were not made by fire scorched the walls and stone steps. There were no bodies.

They headed deeper underground and came to the first congregation of people. The three women could hear the murmur of talking and see the glow of light coming from a chamber ahead, and as they approached they were announced.

The guard stepped into the doorway and declared, "Lahari has come from the city above with a Messiah and a human to help us," but before anyone could respond, Lahari grabbed him by the back of his neck and thrust him up against one side of the doorframe.

"She is not a Messiah," she snarled through gritted teeth. Lahari looked over at Agrell with her sparkling yellow eyes. She leaned in very close to the guard's ear and said in a voice loud enough for everyone present to hear, "You will not call her that again,". She stepped past him into the room. "Agrell is very strong," Lahari declared, "and she's here to help."

The guard was looking rather shell-shocked, and Ilya stepped up beside him. "I'm not a human," she stated in a proud voice. "I'm a Shift," and she felt uplifted to state that personal fact aloud. Ilya could not remember having ever said those words before.

Lahari's fellow Biological Shifts informed her that everything was worse farther below, and they continued deeper.

"What happened?" Ilya asked Lahari.

"You mean above?"

"Yeah, what happened with that flash?"

Agrell added, "And why did they all seem afraid of you?"

"I can't exactly explain my power," Lahari replied, "but when I was young, one of the much older Bio-Shifts, who I looked up to said it was like there was a black hole within me. I can absorb energy, including the energies projected by other Shifts, Biological or otherwise. One of those guards up there tried to blast our new friend here," and Lahari nodded towards Agrell, "and I didn't let that happen."

The two made eye contact. "And the reason why they all seem afraid of me," she elucidated, "is because what I did up there was merely a passive display of my energy absorption."

She continued. "There was a man last year who wanted to be with me. We both possessed similar appearances with our skin. However, I knew his reputation, and I wasn't interested in him. At first, that was enough, but he was persistent, and I gave in to his constant bothering."

Lahari signed before she admitted, "We ended up spending some time together. He wanted more from me than I was ever willing to give, and eventually, he decided to try and take what he wanted by force. Everyone in the underground knew that he abused a few women in his past, but he swore to me that he changed, and he would never do anything like that to me. I was young," Lahari added. "I'm still young," she declared, "but he was quite a bit older than me, and stronger than me, and his determination to have me pushed him to attack me."

Before she could finish her story, they arrived at a large chamber. Many of the underground dwellers were gathered, and they were engaged in a heated discussion, but the guard stepped into the doorway and again announced the three women. Only some of the people present paid any attention to him.

"Lahari has just arrived from the city above with two," he hesitated "others, and they want to help."

One of the leaders stepped up and replied, "We lost people. They took prisoners. If you want to help, you can be part of the rescue party."

"When is it leaving?" Lahari asked.

"Now," declared one of her fellow Biological Shifts.

Agrell thought the person bore an uncanny resemblance to an elephant. His skin was grey and deeply wrinkled, and a pair of pale protrusions extended down along both sides of their head that were akin to tusks. The elephantine character stomped towards the stairs.

"They want to treat us like monsters?" he asked them all. "We'll give them monsters!" and he led the group of Biological Shifts with Agrell and Ilya back up towards the city above.

Lahari continued her story to Agrell and Ilya. "He was bigger than me, stronger. Even with my constant denial, he eventually told me that he thought we'd spent enough time together that I owed it to him. He actually told me that I owed him my body." She scoffed.

"When I adamantly refused, he forced himself on me. He punched me in the stomach and shoved me down. I couldn't catch my breath, but in order to defend myself, I reached as deeply into my powers as I could."

Ilya stumbled with her crutch and winced at the lingering pain that sometimes throbbed from her side. Agrell helped steady her, and Lahari continued.

"Even though he was not using his special abilities at the time, somehow, I absorbed his energies from within him. He was climbing on top of me when my powers unleashed. He screamed, but once I released my fury, I did not stop syphoning from him until he fell away from me and collapsed."

"Did you kill him?" Ilya asked. "Is that why they're all afraid of you."

"No, he did not die," Lahari replied. "We now keep him in a chamber."

Ilya looked relieved. "Oh, good, he's locked up."

"Not exactly. The leadership discussed my powers with me after the incident, but we couldn't come up with a clear idea of what happened to him. He's not in a jail cell, but he's also not a threat to anyone anymore. I absorbed his powers, but I continued to draw from him until the point that I no longer felt in danger."

Lahari sucked air through her teeth and said, "You know how I mentioned that he looked like me? His skin was covered with thick stony scales similar to mine, but what I released from the grip of my powers was a soft pink thing like a giant embryo. His finger and toenails dropped out, and his eyes became useless glassy orbs. He's little more than a vegetable."

"It sounds like you did something to his mantis gland," Ilya pondered.

"Yes, that's what a few of the leadership suspected happened. I would have killed him," Lahari added in a conclusive but not cold voice. "He deserved to die, but I think his current punishment is appropriate."

"There's more punishment?" Agrell asked her.

"No," Lahari replied, "I just mean that I would have killed him for trying to rape me, and for every other woman who was abused by him before me, but I think it's appropriate that he live out the remainder of his days as a giant useless fetus."

The group emerged from the underground and were greeted by the light of the morning sun that was starting to wake up the city.

"The tower is this way," someone said, and a few minutes later, they arrived at its base.

A pair of energy beams from two of the Biological Shifts blasted the heavy metal gates open.

Ilya grabbed Agrell and Lahari's hands. "Wait," she said to them. She pulled the two women back as the rescue party raced inside and found the chamber empty.

She pointed up at the very top of the tower, and the columned, open-air pavilion that used to be the old base’s watchtower. "Look, something's happening up there. I can fly," she stated. "Let me see if I'm healed enough to use my powers. I'll fly up over there," and she turned and pointed towards one of the tall buildings a little ways away, "and see what I can see."

"If you think you're up for it," Agrell said with concern in her voice.

Ilya nodded, and she began to lift off the ground like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Agrell looked on in amazement, as the crutch Ilya was using fell to the concrete, and she rose above their heads.

Lahari's yellow eyes were also sparkling with wonder.

Less than a minute later, Ilya was back with her feet on the earth.

"They're up there!" she declared. "There are a bunch of Biological Shifts all chained up together at the top of the tower. I could only see one guard, but there must be others."

"I bet I could break the chains," Agrell told them, "if you could fly me up there." Then she realized that Ilya was standing without her crutch. "Hey, look at you!"

"I know," Ilya replied. "I feel better, somehow, but I'm not sure if I can carry you up there or not. And what about the guard?" she added. "However many there are, they are going to be Messiahs. Since you're basically invincible and as strong as them, I think you will end up in is a stalemate at best."

"What if you bring me to the top, and then as you fly off, you drag the guard over the side and drop him to the street." Agrell’s timid voice spoke the harsh words, and they were like the threat of rolling thunder from an oncoming storm.

Lahari and Ilya looked up the countless stories to the peak of the tower. "I suppose we could try that," Ilya agreed. She sounded uncertain.

"I don't think the Messiah will die if you drop him off the top of the tower," Lahari added, "but at least he won't be up there anymore. I'll stay hidden down that alley," and she pointed to a narrow side street. "Come back down and get me after."

Ilya and Agrell wrapped their arms around each other.

"Let's see what happens."

She activated her powers. The two of them lifted into the air and hovered for a moment. Then Ilya soared straight for the top of the tower with Agrell.

Without letting her feet touch down, Ilya dropped Agrell beside the group of prisoners, and she grabbed the guard. She pulled him, but the man snatched her with strength she could not match, and he threw her over the side. He thought that would take care of the surprise attacker, but Ilya flew back to the ground and grabbed Lahari.

"That guard was way too strong for me, but we've gotta get back up there and help Agrell!"

"Let's go!" Lahari cried out, as they sped through the air.

The guard already overpowered Agrell and was holding her in a headlock. She was on her knees but still conscious. He was a trained soldier, and she was no match for him.

Another Messiah climbed up the stairs and grabbed the Biological Shift with four arms who was still unconscious. Just as Ilya and Lahari landed, the guard stuck his blade into the man’s neck.

"No!" screamed Lahari, but the Messiah began to saw into the flesh and blood poured onto the floor.

Lahari pulled herself from Ilya's hands, ran at the guards, and grabbed each of them by one of their shoulders. She closed her yellow eyes and tapped into the cosmic energies within her.

Her powers consumed.

The two guards shrieked, and Agrell broke free from the one who held her. The men fell to the floor and convulsed in Lahari's grip. She knelt over them, devouring anything and everything that made up their life. Their voices faded, but still, Lahari held onto the guards.

Before Agrell and Ilya's eyes, the two men's bodies began to diminish. Their mass was disappearing, and when Lahari finally released them, she rose and stood above what looked like mummified corpses. However, both of them were still breathing.

Lahari made a sound of contemplation. "My powers seem to be even harsher against Messiahs than they are against my own kind."

The two men wheezed like living skeletons.

Agrell was breaking chains and pulling apart shackles with her bare hands, and Lahari started naming her fellow Biological Shifts. She gently slapped their cheeks to help rouse them.

Footsteps from the stairs warned that other guards were almost upon them.

"Use something as a weapon!" Ilya commanded Agrell. "You're strong, but you need an advantage over those other Messiahs."

Agrell looked down at the chain in her hands, and then at the murdered Biological Shift at her feet. The body was almost decapitated, and the handle of the knife still protruded from the flesh. Blood was pooling around the corpse.

They are killing Lahari's people, she thought.

Agrell screamed. She flailed the chain like a whip, and it wrapped around the first Messiah's neck as his head came up through the stairwell. Agrell then pulled with all her might.

Cannibalizing a Shift's photonova gland grants the eater with nigh invulnerability, but it does not affect the individual's weight.

The guard’s neck was unaffected by Agrell's initial assault with the chain, but her subsequent pull yanked him off his feet and through the air. She released her grip, and the chain and the Messiah sailed out of the tower. This again left her unarmed.

"I need another weapon!"

"Anything can be a weapon!" Lahari barked at her, while still trying to help her people out of the remaining chains.

Agrell looked at one of the stone columns that held up the upper pavilion’s roof. She placed her hands on either side of it, and with her skinny arms, she snapped the massive pillar like a twig. Agrell held it like a battering ram and ran to the top of the stairs.

The next Messiah to emerge from the stairs caught the brunt of her impact in the chest. He was knocked off balance, and Agrell used it to push him over the side of the tower as well. Then she changed her grip on the column and held the enormous thing like a club. She again screamed in fury and swung it overhead. The stone pillar crashed onto the skull of the next guard. It did little except to slow the Messiah down, but Agrell’s attack did enough. She no longer fought alone.

The Biological Shift man with thick fur stepped in front of Agrell. He unleashed multiple devastating bolts of blue energy down the stairs✪