FicWad

-Ace felt like he was falling in a bottomless pit of eternal black. He couldn’t see anything, feel anything, or hear anything other than his own echoing thoughts inside his head. It was strangely peaceful in that oblivion. There were no people telling him what to do, or how to act, but it was boring as hell. Ace wanted out. He wanted action, noise, the feel of his bike between his legs and the wind in his hair. He wanted to wake up.

-Ace opened his eyes to find himself resting face down on the ground, but something was wrong. The ground was black and solid, but it wasn‘t smooth asphalt. It wasn’t exactly rock, but it wasn’t dirt either. He slid his hand across it and found that it was moist and warmer than it should have been. He picked himself up quickly, not wanting his skin to be in contact with whatever he was on. He looked at the ground suspiciously, not sure he could trust it, as if he half expecting it to come alive or something.

-He heard a moan and turned to see Rooster on his back a few feet away waking up. Ace looked around and spotted Ruckus and Feral as well. Now that he knew he wasn’t alone, Ace took a better look at his surroundings. The black rock he was standing on seemed to go on forever. The sky was dark despite there being no clouds out, but Ace didn’t see a moon, so it wasn’t nightfall yet. Another thing Ace didn’t see was activity. There was nothing moving around except for his people.

-Ace moved to help Feral up, but stopped. He had heard something that hadn’t sounded human. Ace stood frozen, straining his ears to pick up any sound no matter how faint. He caught the sound again, and his pulse quickened. It was a soft, chittering noise which brought to mind images of insects. Ace looked around but couldn’t find the source of the sound. Nothing was moving around, and there didn’t seem to be any holes on the ground for something to come out of. The noise continued, more excited chittering noises, now from several sources.

-Ace wasn’t the only one who heard it. Feral and Rooster had picked themselves up and were looking around, trying to see where it was coming from. They walked over to Ace, seeking safety in numbers. Ruckus didn’t seem to mind standing on his own, confidant that his large size could handle whatever was out there. They all nearly jumped when they heard a soft crunching noise behind them. They turned to see Pyro, looking up at the sky with a dreamlike daze on his face, seemingly unaware of his immediate surroundings. The chittering noise continued to grow in intensity, but Pyro didn’t even seem to notice. Ace pulled out his revolver. His philosophy had always been to shoot first.

-Rooster pulled out his cannons, and Feral whipped out a switchblade. Ruckus clenched his fists and lowered himself into a fighting stance. Pyro continued staring skyward without a care in the world, not that he had a real weapon on him anyway. The chittering noise became so loud that Ace wanted to cover his ears. He couldn’t even hear himself think. Then the noise stopped.

-Silence thicker than the chittering had been choked the air. Feral and Rooster were holding their breath for fear of making noise. Ace slowly thumbed back the hammer on his piece, cringing with the mechanical click it made. A bead of sweat dripped from Ruckus’s chin. It was so quiet that he heard it hit the ground. Pyro finally looked away from the sky to his friends, as though the silence was more interesting than the noise had been.

-Everyone including Pyro turned in the direction of a sudden digging sound in time to see the ground collapse a few feet away. They watched as a blade-like arm reached up and planted itself in the surface. It sounded like a sword as it punctured the ground. The arm pulled up the creature it belonged to: some kind of giant insect. Ace noticed that it had a pair of those blade-arms. At first glance it reminded him of a praying mantis, except it was eight feet tall, had two, almost human looking legs, and a long tail with a scorpions stinger on the end.

-“Man, talk about a bad trip,” Rooster said as he and the others gawked at the monstrosity.

-The creature looked at the group, its head twitching around like a fly’s. Its face seemed to be made of very soft tissue, but its mouth looked like a meat grinder. Shiny black mandibles moved around, chewing nothing. They made soft clicking noises as the mouth parts touched each other. Ace had a sinking feeling that it was the creature’s equivalent of drooling over a meal. He wasn’t going to wait and find out. Ace aimed his gun and fired two bullets into the creature’s head. Its face came apart, and it fell back down into the hole it had emerged from. Ace smiled, pleased with himself, but that didn’t last long. More chittering noises came from the hole, and dozens of creatures identical to the one that Ace had just killed came pouring out like ants. The closest of the creatures looked straight at Ace. Its mouth parts opened up, every sharp blade moving in unison, and it let out an enraged roar.

-The creatures charged the five bikers. Ace fired his three remaining shots into the monster that had roared at him. One of its oversized eyes exploded, and two holes appeared in its body. A thick green blood oozed from the wounds, but the creature did not go down. It ran at Ace impossibly fast. When it got close enough, it raised up one of its arms and swung down at him. Ace jumped back just in time to avoid the attack. The creature’s arm impaled the ground, cutting through the black rock easily. Ace looked up at the beast as it raised its other arm to finish him off. He knew that he couldn’t dodge it forever. He heard a loud report, and the creature’s head exploded. Ace was showered with green blood and insect brain matter.

-Ace looked to his right to see Rooster pointing one of his cannons in his direction, a wisp of smoke floating out of the barrel. Rooster laughed hysterically with his eyes far too wide. He began blasting away at the creatures. Every time he pulled the trigger, the recoil of his weapons shook his entire body, but he seemed to be enjoying himself more than he should have, given the situation. Ace saw that Ruckus had grabbed a hold of one of the creature‘s stingers and was swinging the beast around. That image gave Ace pause for concern. Ruckus was strong, but he was throwing the monster around like a rag doll. He wasn’t that strong. Feral had managed to split one of the beasts up the middle with her blade and was currently ripping out its intestines.

-Ace smiled and shrugged as he reloaded his gun; his crew were having a rumble, and he wasn’t about to let them have all the fun. He didn’t have the slightest clue what was going on, and he didn’t care. He loaded the last bullet, flipped the cylinder closed, and pulled out his bowie knife from the sheath that ran horizontally on his lower back. The blade looked like a miniature machete with a serrated back edge. Ace gunned down the creature closest to him, and when one of its companions came at him, ace cut its head off with a yell. The decapitated monster’s body flailed around blindly on the ground as Ace left it to find another one.

-In the midst of all this chaos, Pyro stood untouched. His face held a tired, bored expression as his companions fought with the giant bugs. He lazily looked over at Ace to his left, screaming and yelling ace he hacked and slashed the monsters with his blade. Pyro didn’t use guns or knives; he just liked to burn things. He had his trusty lighter and some matches, but nothing to use as an accelerant. He looked around for something that would hold a flame, but the area was totally barren. A vague expression of disappointment passed through Pyro’s eyes. There was nothing to burn here. He heard an inhuman screech and turned slowly to see nearly a dozen of the creatures baring down on him.

-Pyro stood perfectly still as the monsters charged at him. He didn’t scream or flinch or give any indication that he even saw the monsters. But Pyro did see them. He watched them coming at him, and he wanted them to burn. We wanted to see them engulfed in flames and turned to smoldering embers. He longed to watch them fight helplessly as they were swallowed by the swirling flames which consumed all. He could almost see it, and the more he thought about it, the more he desired it. The beasts were mere feet away from him when he narrowed his eyes and softly whispered, “Burn.”

-A massive blast of flames seemed to shoot out of thin air in front of Pyro. It shot outwards, engulfing all of the creatures in its path, just as Pyro had wanted. The insects let out high-pitched screams as their exoskeletons cracked and exploded from the heat. Pyro’s eyes widened, but it wasn’t a look of fear or surprise, only a feverish madness which fed the flames. Streams of fire branched out from the main body, seeking out the remaining creatures like the tentacles of an octopus. They coiled around the monsters and incinerated them all until the land was covered with black ash. The flames coalesced and plunged into Pyro’s chest until they were gone. He looked around at the others with a casual expression, as if nothing had happened.

-“How the fuck did you do that?” Ace asked. He and the others were staring at Pyro with wide eyes and open mouths. Pyro didn’t even have a burn mark on his shirt where the flames and hit him. Ace looked down at the charred remains of the monsters they had been fighting and wondered how close he had come to ending up a crispy critter himself. The others slowly put away their weapons and came over to join their leader as he approached their fifth member.

-“Dunno,” Pyro answered. The others waited for him to say something more, but he just looked around the area, lost in his own private thoughts. Ace wanted to press him, but knew that it wouldn’t do any good. Pyro wasn’t the kind of person you could force information out of, and Ace doubted that he knew much more than they did. Besides, he had more important things to figure out. He walked over to the hole where the big bugs had come out of. He saw the first creature he had shot laying on its back at the bottom of the hole. There was a tunnel that continued on underground. If there were more of those things, he didn’t want to be near this hole if they decided to come out.

-“Let’s get the fuck out’a here,” Ace said as he turned away from the hole.

-“Leaving so soon, little human?” a female voice asked. Ace and the others all turned to find a woman standing on a small hill near them. Rooster gave out an impressed whistle as he looked her over. She was dressed like she belonged in an S&M bar. Tight fitting black leather hugged her curvy form with a slit in the middle from her belly button to her collar bone. A black cap hung from her back, though Ace couldn’t see where it was attached. She had a dark tan and silver hair that went down to her ass. Her long, bare legs were complimented by pointed toe boots with metal spikes for heels. A narrow sword hung from her hip, and her left hand rested on its pummel as she looked down at them with a cold smile.

-“Damn I’d like a piece’a that,” Ruckus said. He took a step forward, a hungry look in his eyes. The woman tilted her head as she looked at him, as if she were wondering if he was really up to the task. The smirk on her face said the answer was no.

-“I think I might be more your type,” another female voice said. Ace and the others turned to see that this one looked nothing like the first. She could have passed for Ruckus’s sister, or a professional wrestler. She was nearly seven feet tall with bulging muscles. She wore an animal fur vest and little else. Two horns emerged from her bristly brown hair and pointed forward like a bull’s. she was holding a long pole with a blade on the end of it in one hand, letting the shaft rest across her shoulders as she walked toward the group with a very cocky smile on her face revealing fangs.

-Ruckus smiled as he looked her down. “Yeah. You look like my kinda bitch.”

-“I wanna play too!” A third woman seemed to fall out of the sky. She hit the ground and slid to a halt crouching down like a cat. Red was obviously this one’s favorite color. Her short hair was red, her tank top and short shorts were red. Her staff was red, and even her thin, hairless tail was red which was wrapped around her staff was red. Unlike the other two, this girl’s smile was happy and innocent, almost naïve.

-Ace watched the arrow-headed tip of the girl’s tail sway back and forth, and he realized it wasn’t just a part of her outfit. He looked back at the large woman and wondered if her horns were real as well. He heard another women behind him say, “Five of them, five of us. This should be fun.” Ace turned to see a woman who looked like a mermaid with legs. Green fish scales covered her body like a dress and glittered despite there being no real sunlight. Her green hair looked wet and had a starfish on the side. She planted the blunt end of a golden trident into the ground as she looked directly at Ace.

-“I think your math is off, hunny,” Ace said as he stared back at her. “I only see four of you chicks.”

The first woman chuckled. “Poor Scylla, overlooked again.” She looked away from Ace’s crew. Ace followed her gaze and spotted a fifth woman that he hadn’t noticed before. This one stood straight and was covered in a grey trench coat. she had a baray of the same color and her long hair covered the right side of her face. The one eye that Ace could see was glaring at him with vicious anger.

-“Oh I don’t mind, sister,” Scylla said. Her voice was even, but Ace could tell she was pissed. “I’ll be sure to make an impression that thy won’t soon forget.”

-“Who are you bitches?” Ace asked. He didn’t like being surrounded, even if it was by a couple of women.

-“I am Jade,” the first woman said.

-“Hellen,” the horn-headed woman said. Her voice was deep and husky.

-“Call me Kikki,” the red head giggled. Ace couldn’t believe that she actually giggled.

-“I’m Siren,” the Fish woman said, holding her head up proudly.

-Ace’s crew looked to the woman in the trench coat. Her eye scanned over them before she said, “You already heard my name.”

-“What are your names?” Kikki asked. She tilted her head to the side like a curious dog. She had a friendly smile on her face that was so childlike, Ace found it hard to take her seriously. He stepped forward and introduced his people. As he did, he noticed the other women watching him with the same look he gave to people he was planning to mug, or kill. He didn’t like the situation at all.

-“Now that we’re all introduced and shit, you wanna tell me what you bitches want?”

“We want to play with you,” Kikki said. “And we’re not bitches, we’re demons.”

-“Demons?” Feral asked. She shook her head and gave an incredulous laugh. “You look like a ditzy cheerleader dressed up for Halloween.” She flipped out her switchblade and started walking towards Kikki. “Lets see what you look like without that costume.”

-If Kikki was nervous, she didn’t show it. She smiled pleasantly at Feral as if she were bringing her an ice-cream cone. This lack of a reaction pissed Feral off. She ran at Kikki. When Feral was close enough, Kikki grabbed her staff and swung it upward, catching Feral under her jaw and lifted her off of her feet. Feral landed on her back nearly unconscious. When she managed to sit up again, she saw Kikki perched on the end of her staff which was sticking up like a pole. The impossible display of balance seemed effortless to the girl.

-“Well it looks like you have your dance partner, Kikki,” Jade said. She looked at Ace. “I think I’ll give you a try.” Ace narrowed his eyes at the woman who had just challenged him. He brought up his gun as fast as he could, but before he could even aim it, Rooster jumped in front of him with both of his cannons whipped out.

-“Play with me, bitch!“

-Jade’s sword pierced through Rooster’s chest before he got a shot off. Rooster hadn’t even seen her draw the sword, let alone throw it, but she stood posed on the hill with her right hand extended. Rooster looked down at the sword hilt sticking out of his chest. He reminded himself that this was just some kind of bad trip. The drugs were fucking with his head; there was no way some demon lady could have thrown a sword through his chest.

-Despite his insisting to himself that it wasn’t really happening, he felt pain seep into his chest and spread throughout his body. His hands became heavy, and he lowered his guns. He tried to hold on to them, but all the strength left his fingers, and the weapons dropped to the ground with a dull thud. Rooster fell to his knees and reached his hands up to try and pull the sword out, but it was no use. He couldn’t believe that after everything he had been through in life, he was going to die like this. His hand fell limply to his sides. He looked up at Ace with a pleading expression to his eyes and then collapsed to the ground.

-The moment Rooster went down, Scylla pulled out a whip from inside her coat and lashed out at Pyro. Just before it struck him, his eyes went wide, and flames trailed along the whip back to its owner. Scylla blinked in surprise, but a quick crack of her weapon extinguished the fire. Pyro made a sweeping motion with his hand, and another torrent of flames shot out. Scylla stood stoic as the fire rushed towards her. The flames engulfed her, rushing past her and obscuring her from view. When the flames disappeared, Scylla stood untouched surrounded by steam. If Pyro was surprised it didn’t show on his face. The two of them stood, staring at each other like statues.

-Hellen charged at Ruckus, spinning her halberd above her head and bringing it down to split the earth where Ruckus had been standing. He had dodged the attack and stepped down hard on the shaft, breaking the weapon. Hellen discarded the broken pole and rushed at Ruckus. The two of them grabbed each other’s hands, interlocked fingers, and engaged in a test of strength, trying to push one another back. Ruckus was impressed by Hellen’s strength, but he had absolute confidence in his own physical superiority. Neither one of them managed to overpower the other. Unable to push him backwards, Hellen pulled ruckus into her and cracked their heads together. The tension in the man’s body went slack immediately, and Hellen capitalized on her advantage. She pulled him forward again, this time driving a knee up into his stomach. Ruckus dropped to his knees, but was lifted up again. Hellen began swinging him around and threw him away. Ruckus flew through the air and landed on top of Rooster’s immobile body.

-Feral didn’t wait to be attacked by anyone. She charged at Kikki, screaming with rage. She slashed at the redhead again and again, attacking relentlessly, but Kikki dodged every blow with a smile on her face. Her movements were graceful and fluid, as if it were a dance that she had practiced before hand. The more Kikki made light of Feral’s attacks, the more vicious Feral became. She threw her weight into every strike, but Kikki jumped and skipped around, using her staff to pole-vault over her opponent with ease.

-Ace fired his gun at Jade, but her cape spread out, and Ace realized they were actually wings. Jade took to the air and flew straight for him. He fired off all of his bullets but hit nothing but air. Jade swung her feet forward and drove both of them into Ace‘s chest. The spikes in Jade‘s heels punctured Ace before the impact sent him flying. Jade landed in a crouch next to Rooster and Ruckus. Without looking at them, she reached over and drew her sword out of Rooster‘s body. Ace went flying backwards, and Kikki landed in his path. She swung her staff and batted Ace in the back. He screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground. Feral tried to take advantage and catch Kikki, but the demon jumped away gracefully with a laugh. Feral screamed with frustration before going after her again.


-Pyro casually turned his head to see how his companions were doing. If their poor condition bothered him, he showed no sign of it. Scylla lashed out with her whip again, taking advantage of his distraction. Pyro crouched down low, ducking under the whip and turned to look back at Scylla at the same time. “burn,” he said in a soft voice. Another torrent of flame came out of nowhere to race at Scylla. Again she was engulfed, and again she was unharmed. Pyro stood up and frowned at Scylla. More steam was rising from the ground around her, and she looked like she had just come out of a rain storm, but there was no water in sight.

-Scylla gave a half smile at him and asked, “Would you care to try again?”

-“Yes,” Pyro answered in a very flat voice. Another burst of fire rushed towards Scylla, but before it hit her, it separated and went past her as a shield of water appeared in front of her. Scylla turned around, surprised by Pyro’s move. The flames attacked her from behind where she was unprotected. She raised an arm as if to shield herself, but another wall of water materialized just in time to protect her from the flames. Pyro watched as the water took the blast and evaporated, leaving steam and water vapor hanging in the air. Pyro looked away from Scylla and saw Siren standing a short distance away. She was squinting with concentration in Scylla’s direction. Siren was the one conjuring the water shield to protect Scylla, and if that was the case, Pyro would never be able to hurt Scylla.

-Pyro heard Feral scream again and looked in time to see Kikki give her several good smacks with her staff. Feral dropped to the ground, leaving Pyro as the only standing member of their group left. The five women surrounded him, smiling like a pack of wolves closing in on their kill. Pyro’s eyes went wide, but not from fear or panic or even anger. It was an unnatural expression with a meaning that only he understood. He screamed for them to burn, and flames erupted from him and spread out in all directions. The women were caught by surprise as tendrils of flame licked across the ground towards them. Siren protected herself with a wall of water, but she couldn’t do the same for the others. Her sisters were assaulted by the flames which tore the ground apart in wild, unfocused attacks. It was like being in a tornado made out of fire.

-Siren’s sisters were desperately trying to fend off the flames. Kikki tried her best to avoid the blasts by jumping around and dodging, but the movement of the flames was too chaotic to predict. Hellen and Scylla both tried to brace themselves against it only to be knocked to the ground and singed. Jade took to the air until one of her wings were hit. She was thrashed by another column of flame before she dropped to the ground, unable to get to her feet again.

-Pyro stood in the center of the inferno unfazed. He didn’t move a muscle. He just stood their with his eyes unnaturally wide, staring at nothing. Sweat ran down his face making his bald head shine. Siren’s water shield finally gave way, and she was thrown black by a direct hit. The flames had beaten the five women into submission. The columns of fire rose into the air like a multi-headed hydra. They struck down at the helpless women, and then dissipated. The fire died down to nothing, leaving the ground scorched. Ace and the others were miraculously untouched, but the demon women were all in bad shape. Pyro’s face was slack, his eyes heavy with fatigue. His body swayed a moment before falling like a tree cut down in the woods. He landed oh his stomach, face slamming into the ground. He was out cold.