And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
- Do not go gentle into that good night Dylan Thomas
Collision: Part Eight
Assault, otherwise known as Ethan when off duty, smiled as he lounged on a small barricade, a hastily constructed position. After they got the message on PHO, the army had quickly set up a forward base at the edge of the designated location; a homestead and pasture nested in the middle of the woods.
"I wonder who owns the house."
"Don't know; hopefully They're alright," Miss Militia replied next to him. She was resting her rifle on the cover, viewing the area with its high power scope. Assault sighed just a little as he noticed the tension in his comrade's voice. It was often forgotten, but Assault was pretty good judging both someone's character and mood. For that reason, he's always tried to keep things light, especially in times like these.
Miss Militia had been somewhat agitated for the past hour. Assault was pretty sure he knew why as well. Militia had a soft spot for kids that Assault was sure related to her trigger event. She tended to
hate endangering them, and they were pretty sure that Alcott wasn't the only child in the zone at the moment.
Probably worse was the fact that the danger was utterly unknown. For all, they knew the bugs were giving the kids milkshakes and candy. However, working in the field of Parahumans made one have to develop a healthy fear of unknown circumstances.
Assault guessed it was time for a little distraction.
"So tell me, you grew up on a farm, right."
There was a small pause before she replied, "Ya, my adopted parents raised horses; it wasn't too different to this place actually."
Assault grinned just a little, "Did you ride?"
"Yes, I was terrified at first, but I was eventually able to. I rode Thoroughbreds and Quarters like the ones out in the field here."
"Oh, so Brockton Bay's own American patriot was also an all american cow-girl,' Assault said a voice laced with teasing mirth.
"I… I was not a
Cow-Girl!"
"Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that," said a new voice from behind the duo
The voice belonged to a man in combat greens and military hardware, a face that was obscured by both an advanced helmet and some sort of large scarf. He was a special force, or, more precisely, an Army Parahuman Force member. A group Assault
wasn't comfortable with but not precisely against either.
"Missy here was far more of a horse girl than she's letting on," the voice was jovial and teasing.
Assault looked from Miss Militia's curious expression back to the soldier.
"Do you two know each other?"
In response, the man moved his shoulder. There was a patch sewn into his uniform, a feather symbol.
"Reed? But I thought you retired!"
It took a minute for Assault to remember that name. Reed was one of the first Wards, actually a member of the founding Wards team. The Reed v.s, the PRT case, created the Youth Guard Foundation that's been the symbol of love and hated for young parahumans since. Vista absolutely hated them with the passion of a star. Reed himself had shortly dropped off the radar.
"Not quite, Missy, I go by Samuel now, Captain Samuel. I was pulled out of the Wards, but you know how that goes."
Assault didn't know what he was talking about. He never had to deal with his parents, nor those of the Wards.
"So you said something about um
missy," Assault was remembering that nickname, "And being a horse girl?"
"Oh ya, little Missy was big into competition; barrel racing, polo, and jumping. Hero would make us all go to cheer her on."
Assault smiled, "Oh, really."
"
Reed!"
"I think I still might have some pictures too."
Samuel raised his hands in surrender at miss Militia's murderous glare.
"Kidding, kidding. You always were fun to mess with Missy; I expected you to have shot Mousy one of these days."
"I did, didn't do anything."
Assault laughed along, adding the mental note to explore these photos. He can survive getting shot.
"So, Capt. Sam, as much as I love some embarrassing child-hood tales, I think Missy here would like an update if you have one."
"About that, just got done telling the big boys, but we've got more than ten signatures on thermals inside the house. At least we think so, it's muddled."
Assault saw Miss Militia's weapon change several times, a clear sign of his comrade's agitation.
"So, a trap?"
The army parahuman shrugged, "Maybe, the thinkers can't give a straight answer, but the signs point towards no. The President thinks the Bugs are going to let some of the prisoners go as a peace offering. And I think we're about to find out."
"I guess it really doesn't matter, dragon's running overwatch on this one."
In moments the camp was alive with activity as Army personnel and PRT operatives, and Capes readied themselves for anything. Miss Militia, Samuel, and several others dropped beneath the protection of the barricades.
"Movement at the porch."
"Two figures."
"I can confirm one human and one Bug."
Assault did not join the activity; arrogant maybe, but he trusted his power to keep him safe enough. Instead, he turned his attention to the house; squinting Assault could make out the two figures walking from the house. It was just too far away for details, however.
"So it starts; Puppy's going to hate missing this."
It did not take long for everyone to get into position. Alexandria, along with Miss Militia and Assault, took point for the delegation as they walked out into the field. Making up the rear of the group was Captain Samuels Parahuman Force team; Assault had to admit that their focus and professionalism were quite impressive.
As they approached the two beings, Assault was able to get a better look. One, the human was nothing particularly special, just a college kid if he had to guess. He was most likely the user they were supposed to be meeting. On the other hand, his friend was far more interested in the weird limbo kind of way.
Assault reflexively clenched his fist as he approached. It was a response he could barely control. Maybe it was a part of human psychology, biology, or years of living his dangerous lifestyle, but Assault was usually able to pick up on threats. Many might call it the 'flight or fight' response system, but whatever the case, when fighting capes the ability to recognize threats could mean life or death. Assault's were going a bit haywire at the moment.
The Bug wasn't big by the standards of the cheesy sci-fi movies Ethan had watched when he was a kid. The Bug was at height with the human, about 5'8. There wasn't anything particularly horrifying about him either. There was a sword-like thing at his waist but nothing particularly threatening.
Was it the ease at which he stood? It was hard to tell the Bug's body language, like looking at something real but also not; a similar feeling he had had with the pictures but in person, it was on another level. Even thou that haze of uncanniness Assault could still feel as though the man, or, bug-man, in this case, was confident, or uncensored with facing ten unknowns by himself? Was Assault misreading it?
Assault started to reevaluate the laissez-faire attitude he had been presenting. Whether the Bug in front was supremely confident, cooky, or merely standing relaxed, it was a fighter and a good one.
As they made it within speaking distance, the young man stepped forward somewhat hesitantly and waved.
"Wow, I knew I'd be meeting some important people… but it's another to see it," he laughed.
A moment of awkwardness came over the group before the kid stepped aside, "So, I guess introductions should be underway. May Introduce Quirrel, The Master of Knowledge for The Kingdom of Hollownest."
"Thank you; It is nice to meet you all. We are happy for your agreement to see us," Quirrel said as he stepped forward, hand raised.
Assault knew he wasn't the only one to be shocked at the effective use of English.
The President was the first to push back the awkwardness, stepping forward to grab the Bug now identified as Quirrel, "We are also glad for the invitation mister Quirrel. This is Legend, head of the Protectorate, and Deputy Director of the PRT East North East. I am Shamus O'Gillen, The President of The United States."
"I am glad to see that you are taking our request seriously then, Mr. President." If Quirrel was surprised by the importance of the men in front of him, he didn't show it.
As the Quirrel was about to turn around, a voice interrupted, Alexandria's.
"Before we continued
Mr. Quirrel, we were told this meeting would be limited to ten. You brought far more than ten; why?"
Assault and all the other parahumans tensed, ready to pounce on Quirrel if he tried anything. The Bug in question curiously tilted his head before looking at the human. The human just shrugged.
"Probably a Thinker or use of infrared cameras… what," the boy stepped back at the accusatory glare from Alexandria, "It's not a fucking secrete, they know what infrared light is."
"But to be able to develop such an instrument is fascinating. You,
Humans, have such interesting inventions."
Assault had a momentary spike of pity for the kid. He was going in M/S containment for a long time, and probably a CIA interrogation cell afterward.
"Anyway… we would like assurances," The President said.
"We only brought ten Hollownest citizens with us. The Queen thought you would want to see that your people are well taken care of, so we brought some. Now please, She is eager to meet you."
Quirrel did not precisely wait for a confirmation before briskly walking back towards the house.
Waiting on the patio were two more bugs; tall mantis-creatures armed with large spears. Quirrel nodded his head as he passed. After him came Legend and Alexandria, then the rest of the group. Assault had the feeling the mantises were eying him with a mix of suspicion and haughty contempt as he passed. Before entering, Assault heard Captain Samuel order two of his men to hang back, probably to shadow the mantises.
The house itself was pretty spacious and finely decorated, too. Whoever owned this cabin was a hunter of some kind. The living and dining areas were not separated but one room, especially noticeable with all the furniture being moved to the far ends.
Dominating the center of the room was
the table, or more specifically, the delegation at the table. Sitting on the far left was a tall Mantis in a similar if slightly more decorated armor than the two outside. A tall bug dressed head to toe in a weird assortment of wrappings and gold accessories, sat on the right side. Standing behind the table was a Bug not too dissimilar to Quirrell. This Bug was carrying for what looked like a clipboard.
On either side of the table stood Bugs dressed heavily armored in red and black plate. These two, Assault did not recognize from the photos but were obviously an Elite guard of some sort.
Standing in front of the table was
Her; the Queen named Hornet.
Assault was starting to get past the
weirdness of the Bugs on the superficial level, so it was something to say the Queen was special in that regard. Like a living statue that you couldn't quite tell was real or not but none the less attention-grabbing.
Dangerous was the next thought. Similar to Quirrel but with no ambiguity involved, Hornet was
Dangerous.
The Queen walked forward; everyone tensed immediately; even the invulnerable Alexandria was tense. Assault didn't know if the others had gotten the same feeling he did, or it was the fact that she was armed. Not a single Bugs was unarmed, something Assault just noticed.
"I am delighted that you accepted my invitation. I am Hornet, Queen of Hollownest."
Assault didn't know what he expected from 'The Queen'; if anything, Assault would say her grasp of English was even better than Quirrel.
"Well, I could hardly refuse. I am Shamus O'Gillen, President of the United States of America," The President accepted the handshake and turned to both Legend and Renick. "This is Legend head of the Protectorate, and deputy Director Renick of the PRT ENE, the branch that manages this area."
Assault was not sure if that was a subtle dig from the President, but it definitely was a reminder. The Queen did not react.
Is that a mask or her face!? Assault was starting to suspect a stranger effect was in play or something.
"Yes, we do have much to talk about; please have a seat."
"Before that, we would like to make sure that our people are safe."
The Queen looked over to the side hallway and shouted a word in her language. Almost immediately, there was a cascade of small footfall emanating from that part of the residence.
"Heroes!"
"Legend! This is so awesome!"
"Hey, hey, can you fly?"
"Shoot Laser beams!"
"Can you sign this?"
"No, sign mine first!"
"Alexandria! this is sooo cool!"
"Oh, is that a gun?"
"Can I hold it!"
"Oh, who are you?"
Assault looked down at a kid, maybe seven or eight, that had snuck upon him. Giving the kid his trademark roguish smile, Assault spoke, "I'm Assault, a Brockton Bay Hero!"
"Never heard of you." With that, the kid ran off to join the others bothering Miss Militia.
"Talk about a scathing review."
Assault had not expected this when he thought about hostages. To be fair, he wasn't exactly sure what he had expected. Was it nothing, a ploy, a sadistic game? Was she making sure that they didn't start anything?
A few loud claps pierced the cacophony of sounds that could only be caused by small children. The children all stopped to look at the cause of the interruption.
"Miss Hornet!"
"No. It's Queen Hornet."
"I knew that."
The kids did not seem to have any apprehensions about the Queen of the Bugs.
The Queen knelt to face the google of kids at eye level. Assault eyed the other older teen, who he never caught the name of, taking a photo of the scene. Assault internally cursed; That was going to be the highlight of PHO in the next hour, and probably was the point of the whole stunt.
Assault had a sinking suspicion that a lot of metaphorical baby-kissing and hand-holding would flood the web by the time this was over. PR was going to go ape shit on this one.
"Now, children thank you for coming out and spending time with us, but the adults have to talk about a bunch of boring stuff, okay."
The kids looked disappointed but none of them tried to dissent. A chorus of okays and "ja's" followed the Queen's question. A bug in dark red and black armor with a cape of similar red came to stand next to the Queen.
"Now follow Sir Stucker here and be good. I'm sure your heroes will be willing to give you some autographs later."
The kids nodded and followed the armored knight out the back to who knows where.
"This is dragon speaking, There is what appears to be a cave or mine shaft-like structure behind the house. {Knight Strucker} Just entered with the children. A possible point of entry for hostiles."
Dragon's voice was low and calm, coming over their earpieces. Assault looked over to both The President and the Two members of Triumvirate. The two Parahumans did not move to the new information; instead, they let O'Gillen take the initiative. The man in the high office went with the cold and calm approach.
The Queen walked around the table to sit down at the center of her group. The President mired her with Director Renick, Legend, Alexandria, and finally Assault himself taking the other seats. As he sat, Assault finally noticed the two other members. One was a snail-person that had walked out with the kids, and the other was…
a girl?
Sitting next to the Queen was a child wearing one of the Bug cloaks and gloves. She also had one of the
weird white masks that obscured her face and eyes, it seemed to be modeled off the Queens. At least Assault though it was a child, a human child, she had long locks of brown hair. Of course, the pictures of the Weaver character seen in the bay also had hair. Were they not humans, after all? Was there a species of Bug in this Kingdom that had that feature?
If she was a girl, Assault would have to guess that it was the Alcott girl. That implied the Dinah Alcott girl was a Parahuman, and if that was the case, a whole can of worms was introduced.
Assault looked over to Renick to see if he noticed. The Director wasn't obvious, but he had noticed. They needed to broach this topic at some point.
"Miss Hornet, Is it okay if I call you that," the President began with a tone that sounded friendlier than the situation might suggest.
"Go ahead."
"Before we begin there is some major con-"
The President did not get to finish before the Queen interrupted.
"About our abilities to influence the mind, yes?" The Queen, Hornet, pointed to the snail, "The Snail-Shaman's ability with Soul was used only to dream walk and nothing more. We would never use those
Master abilities, especially on children."
"Children?" Legend spoke up a bit startled or confused, Assault couldn't tell.
Hornet looked over to Legend, "Yes, I was told the adults were very uncooperative. Luckily once separated, your young were far more mature about the whole thing. It took multiple dream sessions and some word association games, but we now have it settled."
"Why was there a need for
separating the kids from their parents
?" Assault crooked an eyebrow at Legend. He sounded surprised even though the fact the Queen brought the kids as a bartering chip kind of presumes separating them from their parents.
"This brings up a good topic. There are some large differences in culture between our two peoples. In the guards and their commanders' eyes, the adults were inept and dangerous, so they removed the children for their own safety. We were actually convinced they weren't the parents for a time."
"Why?" was the only response Legend had. He seemed a little dumbfounded by the reasoning.
Hornet gave a pitying expression, "When I was younger than most of those kids I was given to another Queen as a ward, and I was trained in the arts of statecraft and combat. Ours is a bloody history Mr. Legend, and so we all learn to fight, and from a young age. Young are not coddled, yet I could entrust any citizen to look after my daughter if need be."
Assault had a feeling she was making a subtle statement to them. He did have to admit it was interesting, it sounded somewhat like sparta, although he might be getting the wrong idea. It would explain why everyone had sword-things. Assault didn't need to see Miss Militia to know she did
not like that idea.
"Anyway, as I said, different cultures," The Mantis barked something in their language that caused a laugh amongst the remaining guard and 'possible-Alcott' girl. Assault realized that the girl knew the bug language. All he needed to know was whether that meant the kids knew the bug language or the Alcott girl was, in fact,
not Diana Alcott.
Speaking of, the girl leaned in to whisper something to Hornet.
Hornet nodded to the girl before looking back, "Do you feel satisfied in this topic; no reason to send for reinforcements and blow this nice home up. "
Assault's eye-brows rose, just slightly. That implied that they knew more about the firepower at side than they had thought? From Alexandria's and Legend's expression that wasn't a particularly pleasant thought.
The President smiled, "We can leave the details for later but I think we should move on."
The Queen moved her hand to introduce everyone at the table, "Let's Introduce everyone. You know myself and my Master of knowledge; This is Lord Sanji of the Mantis Tribe, The Voidseeker of the Voidseekers, Snail-Shaman Beeby of the Snail Tribe, and finally, we have Lurien here; she's helped set a lot of this up."
The Mantis Lord did not speak and just nodded it's head. The girl Lurien didn't either. The snail spoke something in its own language but sounded friendly.
"May the Heart of The Void welcome you into its loving embrace," The feminine voice of the gold-covered Voidseeker spoke. It did not take a genius to understand the context there.
The President made motions and introductions to each. Then he introduced the 'human' at the table, "It is a pleasure to meet you all. Besides the representatives you asked for, we also have Alexandria of the Los Angeles Protectorate and member of the Triumvirate, Miss Militia, and Assault of the local Protectorate. Our two guards sadly prefer to keep their names secret for events like this; I hope you understand."
The Queen just nodded at the President.
"I think first on the agenda should be obvious; Where do you come from and what are your intentions," the President's statement and smile was almost deadpan in it's delivery
"We don't come from here, that's obvious, and we don't know what brought us here." The response was short and utterly dismissive of the topic. "We have no idea if our world was an alternate Earth, planet, or another universe. You don't have to worry, though, if it's something from your end that brought us here. The event transported the entirety of my Kingdom, so there are no hard feelings."
"How magnanimous of you" was Alexandria's first comment since sitting down. The Queen looked over and did a winking smile at the world's famous hero. Assault almost wanted to laugh, especially at the returned scowl. These bugs and their anti-Thinker field seemed to be getting to the woman.
"As for our intentions, we are hoping we can set up a peaceful working relationship."
"I hope you realize that keeping our people prisoner is not the best opening move."
The Queen smiled, "They will be released today as long as you're willing to agree to a... non-aggression pact. You must understand that to be trapped in a single Kingdom as large as your own is
concerning."
The President paused, looking at Legend and Renick before speaking, "I can agree to non-aggression, but any more concrete treaty will take some time. Further negotiations and the like will need to be held. Before any of that, I demand my people back. I understand your position Miss Hornet, but you must also understand ours."
"As I said, we are prepared to release them; tonight if that's what you would prefer. All you need to do is put your promises in writing. Included in that would be an agreement to keep the current border-zone around Hollownest."
Assault knew that was something that everyone wanted to avoid another containment zone being set up. It was hard not to notice how the country was turning to swiss-cheese.
The Queen looked at the girl again who nodded. '
Thinker' was starting to appear over the little girl now. Assault looked over to the others for a moment. They seemed to have come to the same conclusion.
"I think I might be able to agree to that."
Was the girl a lie detector or something? Maybe a minor precog?
"Good, and," the secretary bug handed the Queen a stack of papers. Hornet took the stack and flipped through it, before sliding it to the President and then to Legend. "this should be a good basis to help your delegation for the negotiations; culture, religion, etc. We do want peace, Mr. President."
It was Legend who spoke up, "That is appreciated, and the feeling is mutual. I assume it also includes anything we need to know about the
Soul you mentioned earlier? Also, any other special abilities that might be problematic.
"Yes, although that is a different set of issues, we will need to talk about it later."
"No side effects, I hope?"
"No, although we are still unsure how you Parahumans react to it."
The President nodded to the Deputy Director, "We have one more,
pressing, concern Miss, Hornet before we can move on to the more mundane topics." He slid a smart pad forward, on it the pictures of the Bug's in the bay. As soon as she saw the image, she passed it to the others: a few gasps and some chattering, especially from the golden Bug, Voidseeker.
Hornet turned her gaze back to Renick, "That is a Hollownest citizen, my brother, and-"
The Queen tilted her head towards Lurien. The girl whispered something quickly to her.
"And someone of
extreme importance."
Well, that answered the question of how important they were. Assault had a feeling Piggot was going to be
very upset at this turn of events.
They were there for three hours. By the end, Assault wanted to either fight something or go to bed.
A/N a little longer than I first thought 
thank all for reading and as usual any feedback is encouraged
P.s. A/N When they say the bugs have an "Anti-thinker" effect I was trying to say that it muddles thinkers not blocking them out; I don't know if I got that across
P.s.s A/N Next will be with Taylor back at the docks.
also edits.
