Children of a Lesser God

Despite the fact that dozens of these man sized cockroaches were charging by in front of them, no one looked too nervous. Compared to the pressure caused by the rampaging sky whale off in the distance, they felt like there was little to fear from these guys. More than that though, they had trust in Laz's abilities and if he said it wasn't going to be an issue, then they knew it wasn't going to be.

"Dwayne?" Jennia was probably the only one concerned about Dwayne. Not because he was being used as bait, but because there really was no way to know what was happening on the other side of the gate. Because of that, she looked over at Laz who was watching the incoming hoard closely.

"Baby. You sure your friend is going to be ok?" Ruby asked. She didn't really care about the guy one way or the other but he was technically Laz's friend.

"He's fine. The moment he gets in is the moment he will play dead. No worries.."

"You know that for sure?" Jennia asked, worried.

"No. But that's the best path to take, all things considered. You know, Dwayne isn't as useless as you make him out to be. He's got a good head on his shoulders and he is a loyal man. Just those two things alone are hard to find. You should cut him a little slack." Laz lectured Jennia after getting some idea about what was going on between them having witnessed them together. He felt the sparks between them and they didn't seem like just violent sparks. There was some real concern in there as well.

That probably meant she liked him. Of course, Laz had no idea if the feeling was mutual.

"I hope your right," Jennia said, still worried.

"Him aside, what about everyone on the other side of the gate?" Helen asked, thinking out loud.

"Now that... they should be alright...." Laz said, not one hundred percent convinced as he said it. He had thought about it before doing this, all be it briefly. The barriers were up and there was a whole load of chosen as well as normal solders on the other side. They should be able to handle these bug like creatures coming through.

Still though, Laz was a little worried as he didn't think his bait would be this effective. Watching the throngs of the native people rush through, Laz had thought they would send some through to chase Dwayne, but not this many. Still, the die was cast and there was nothing he could do except wait.

And what was he waiting for?

For them to stop rushing through so that he could sneak his people in amid the chaos and escape.

Based on his estimate, there was only about five minutes left before the system came back on line. Either that, or the system was never coming back on line. With this line of thinking, Laz took another look at the large beast, destroying everything in it's wake.

Just as Laz looked over, a sudden earthquake made everyone fall on their butts, including knocking over the natives who finally stopped rushing with this new development.

"Remi has a bad feeling..." she said, looking panicked.

"What feeling?" Laz asked her.

"I feel... like something... is wrong.... and that we should run."

"What the hell does that mean?" Jennia said, looking at her.

Helen and Ruby were both eyeing her too... wondering why she would feel this way. Suddenly, Ruby tensed up as well.

"Baby... I think...".

"Prepare yourselves. We are going through..." Laz didn't know what the Ruby was going to say, but there was something else he noticed. The temperature around them was increasing at a noticeable rate and the remaining cockroach natives had started to retreat.

While those gathered might question each other, they wouldn't question Laz.

"Laz..?" Ruby asked.

"The shaking was caused by the sky whale, but it wasn't the only reason," Laz said, looking at the ground around them.

"Then what is it?" The four Ivy's asked before anyone else could.

"You know that's kind of freaky when you all do it at the same time right?" Laz said, looking at the girls.

"Sorry," they again said together on que.

"Nevermind. Everyone ready?" Everyone had adjusted their packs while lifting up their overwhelmed comrades.

"Go." Just as Laz gave the order, a burst of air flew up a ways away from them after having caused the metal flooring to puff up like a balloon and pop. And right behind the puff of air was a glowing, fear inducing liquid substance that oozed out of the ground like a popped pimple.

"FUCK. GO. WE ARE ON TOP OF A FUCKING VOLCANO..." Laz said, waking everyone up from their stupor and getting them to move.

He now understood the feelings that Ruby and Remi had. Their abilities were based on animals and animals have always been sensitive about pending disasters.

Without a second look, everyone starting going through while Laz hung back. He even sent Ruby to the front of the line to lead the way.

Although it was getting increasingly dangerous to stay here, he had one last thing he had to do.

As the last of his team fled through the door, Laz glanced at the barely noticeable gages on the bottom of the gate and realized that after he went through, something he had better do quickly, the gate would close from a lack of power. Not only that, but the gate on this side would then be in the mouth of an active volcano.

He highly doubted it would be usable after that, but there would only be a few people he would tell that too.

'Let them lose some men to figure it out,' Laz thought to himself as his gaze turned to the sky.

The whale would be over head from him in less than a minute, having destroyed the entire outpost minus the area where the gate was located. Laz couldn't be sure if that was intentional, or by accident, but he wanted to say goodbye to the beast, even if it was just at the behest of his fallen master.

Just as Laz tried to think about what to say, the beast let out a mournful wail and charge straight at him. Without missing a beat, Laz circulated his inner energy, causing his appearance to again take on the form of an Asura with golden eyes and stood tall against the mountain like pressure crushing down on him.

Just as the beast was about to crush Laz beneath itself, it stopped.

:It's.... you....: It's voice was both resonating and weak at the same time. It would have almost of been melodious had it not been tinged with so much pain.

:My master wished for me to escape, because he didn't know if you would still have your wits about you. But for him I couldn't leave without at least laying you to rest.:

:Broth.... er....?:

:He has passed. I now carry on his legacy although I don't know how far I can take it.:

:My.... people....:

:He asked me to fine them, along with his own.: Although that wasn't technically true... It wasn't false either.

:They... are.... gone.... all.... gone....:

:If there is even a glimmer of your people still within this great big universe, I promise I will do what I can for them.: Laz couldn't help but wonder at the real relationship between this massive beast and his master and the real story behind them. Mostly because Laz had a lingering feeling that this giant behemoth in front of him.... might have been female?

:He... trusts.... I.... trust....:

Laz was confused by this but before he could even clarify, something with some weight appeared around his neck. After that happened, the massive sky whale, this impossibly large creature, suddenly started to shimmer and fade away.

As it did so, Laz got a glimpse of something impossible. An extremely beautiful woman was also contained within that shimmering light. It was impossible to make out her features so Laz might have been wrong, but just the bearing with which she held herself made Laz want to kneel down to her. Just as Laz's jaw was about to hit the floor, she smiled and vanished.

The rumbling of the ground along with several more air vents opening up was enough to wake Laz. Without another thought, he turned around and jumped through the gate, leaving the alien world behind.

What greeted Laz when he arrived on the other side was something he never expected.

Dozens of bodies were laid out on the ground, bleeding and broken. The smell of acidic putridness languished in the air without a breeze to brush it away.

Laz ground stood around, horrified by the sight. The ones dead were not just chosen or military, but also several people dressed in civilian dress, indicating that they were part of the media.

And to top it all off, there were only two of the cockroach like creatures laying around, their bodies so broken apart that they could barely move. But even then, they were still alive.

Seeing the dozens of bodies that littered the floor, Laz couldn't help but wonder just what the hell happened? He had sensed those creatures and knew that they weren't that big of a danger.... although they weren't pushovers either. The strongest among them, the rather large leader that entered first, was about the same level of Tommy. All the rest, were at most in the late stage of the foundation realm. With the abilities of the chosen they should have been able to stop their rampage here at the cost of many of their lives.

But it seemed like things didn't go as planned. Even worse than that, Laz couldn't even sense the remains of chosen energy in the air or on the ground. It was like the chosen didn't fight at all.

Only if that was the case would this scene before him be possible. With the weaponry available to the armed members here, they would have been hard pressed to kill one or two of them before they were overrun.

And that looks exactly like what happened.

While everyone else was at a loss for words and trying to not vomit, Ruby couldn't help but ask a question.

"Did we make a mistake?" She turned to Laz.

"We didn't make a mistake, we made a miscalculation. It seems as though those chosen of god decided it wasn't worth it to sacrifice even a few of themselves to stop these creatures and instead, left it to science. And this is the result."

"So where are the rest of those creatures?" Helen asked before he gave followed the trails of blood and bodies that lead to both the stairs and elevators.

"Fuck..." She said in understanding.

"Now what do we do?" Jennia asked, her face a pale shade of mocha.

"Now we get the fuck out of here and see if we can figure out what the fuck went on," Laz responded before walking forward to a pile of bodies in front of him and kicking it hard.

"OUCH! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?" An angry voice called from the pile of bodies.

"How long are you going to nap there under the human blanket?" Laz said with a smirk. He knew that the person under the pile didn't want to be there. He just wasn't sure it was safe to leave yet.

"DWAYNE!" Jennia said, seeing him stand up with some help from Laz.

"I can't believe you did me like that brother..." Dwayne said, looking at Laz.

"You didn't die and you are the only one who would have survived that. So thank you for getting us all safely through that," Laz said, trying his best to not laugh.

"Thank you!" Helen added.

"You're the best!" The four Ivy's said.

"Remi thinks you're impossible to kill."

"Aww... you guys...."

'Poor Dwayne,' Laz thought, seeing how easy he was to play.

"So what about this whole thing?" Laz asked.

"I had a bullet or two in my one ear, but as for what I heard from my other one was that ice asshole saying something about blowing this up to pin this on us?" Dwayne said, trying to see if he could find the right memories. Those things were hard to hang on to after dying a few times.

Laz and Ruby looked at each other with alarm before dashing upstairs.

Remi, Jennia, Helen and the girls all lifted their heads as they understood at the same time as well. This caused Dwayne to be left alone without any answers.