They Called Me Madder: The Mad Series Book 2

by Pal, J

  “Remember, Matt, you’re a long, at best mid-ranged, combatant,” Kitty said through a private communications channel. “I don’t want to see you getting in melee range. This is the big nest which has spawned multiple bosses. Chances are the king and queen here will be stronger than the ones we’ve faced before. If anyone gets in trouble, have Winnie pull them out. Let Diesel and Morpheus get up close and personal.”

  “You don’t have to repeat yourself, Kitty,” I replied, keeping my voice down so the others didn’t hear. Liam most likely picked up even the slightest of whispers, so there was no point in hiding anything from him. “I’ll be careful, I promise. You just make sure to have Diesel do all the tanking. I don’t want a repeat of what happened with the exploding auranther kitten.”

  “Morpheus has more armor plating when I merge with the cart, but don’t worry. I need to split my attention between healing and crowd-control, so Morpheus won’t be taking too many attacks. Besides, the platyhawk beaks are terrifying.”

  “Believe me, love, I know,” I said.

  “Arjan is on the roof behind us.” Liam transmitted the image to my goggles. I barely recognized the fire-wielder without fire coming out of every orifice and the soot covering his skin. “He doesn’t appear hostile, but they’re watching us.”

  “I doubt they’ll try anything until we split up.” I struggled not to look at him directly. No. The arsehole was no longer a person. Thinking of it as such would only make things difficult when we faced it in combat. “Either way, keep your drone detached and scouting. Winnie and Caitlin’s drones can watch ours.”

  “I think we can take care of him,” Kitty said. “If they come after you, Matt, let us know and run. We’ll try to collapse on them from behind.”

  “That should be the plan no matter who they go after. For the record, our odds against him are better than yours. All three of you encase yourselves in metal, and he uses fire. Caitlin can shut him down with her weapon charged to full. All my projectiles can rip him to shreds too. Regardless of whether they come at us divided or together, we can’t risk facing them unless we’re together. It’s not just their powers that are a threat. There can be centipedes that sneak up on us too.”

  It took us a couple of hours to reach our destination on foot. The locals gave up on following us halfway to our goal, but Liam still kept his Recon Drone out. We would’ve reached the stadium that formed the prime nest much earlier if not for the many roadblocks. We couldn’t tell whether it was the centipedes messing with us or if the crushers had expanded their territory and gone on a destructive rampage. Between the destroyed vehicles and piles of rubble, we failed to identify the culprit. I hoped it was the former. If not, that meant the Alvans had meddled with the crushers to make our lives harder.

  The sun’s rays had only just colored the skies yellow when we entered the titanic structure. It was still too early for the monsters and like in the observatory. We focused on taking them out quietly. That meant everyone but Kitty and I could take part. Miley and Winnie helped though.

  Now that we had baby platyhawks growing in the Hub, the party struggled to put down the infant and adolescents. Our specimens were superior, but they still shared similarities. Watching Winnie skewer them with his foot-long spikes pulled at my heartstrings. He bounced around like a little ninja, moving with more grace than Caitlin did. Miley was a lot less graceful. She crushed whatever got in a path or pierced their spines and heads using pointed tentacles.

  I was most keen on watching David and Anna in action. Much to my disappointment, the former’s newest upgrade made as much noise as the Coil Gun, so he grew a foot-long blade with a glowing edge out of his multitool. It sliced through elites and ordinary platyhawks like they were made of butter. Most impressive of all was Anna’s newest weapon. She kept it as a bladed staff and used it in melee with surprising proficiency. Her entire body took on a blue hue, making her move much faster than humanly possible. Her artifact glowed red, cutting through everything like it was butter.

  Liam used the spider-bot’s base weapons to slaughter mercilessly. His kill methods were a lot less clean, but he still managed to stay efficient. He had to hold off on using the gun drone, even though it wasn’t incredibly loud. I didn’t question him and let him do as he pleased.

  Caitlin appeared to be the only one enjoying herself. She didn’t smile, but I could see it in her eyes. How the hell did she and Jay get along? It made no sense. Her marksmanship left me feeling jealous as well. She fired frozen plasma bolts from the hip with no issue and didn’t miss a shot. To be fair, stationary targets didn’t put up much of a challenge.

  After a while, I got bored of the slaughter. Kitty pulled Winnie out of the almost-genocide and instructed him to follow and obey me. I activated the lab coat’s camouflage function and set off to explore the building. Winnie followed me closely despite the invisibility. The little bear’s senses must’ve undergone phenomenal upgrades.

  The sheer number of platyhawks in the stadium was overwhelming. My goggles mapped out the structure and transmitted the information to Liam. I flagged eggs we’d eventually retrieve for the Hub, clusters of elites, and a couple of bosses in the making too. Once we had explored the entire structure, we made our way over to the stadium’s field—or what remained of it.

  The platyhawks had dug up the field—it now formed a giant crater. Eggs larger than any we had seen before lay within, and an equally large king and queen cuddled on top of them. It surprised me that their combined weight hadn’t destroyed the eggs yet.

  “Guys, I’ve found the emperor and empress,” I whispered through the communications link. “They’re sleeping on top of what I’m sure are boss eggs. The pair are fifty percent bigger than all the kings and queens we’ve faced too.”

  “Does the system recognize them as emperor and empress, or is that you exaggerating?” Kitty asked.

  “The former, and the eggs they’re incubating are twice as big as the normal ones too. They’re breeding the next generation of bosses. We should try to save as many of them as possible.”

  “No,” Liam stated, his voice stern. “Get that idea out of your head right now. Our objective is to kill all of these creatures. Any eggs that survive are a bonus. We shouldn’t take any risks by avoiding damaging them.”

  “You’re right.” I sighed. “Just got greedy for a second, I suppose.”

  “Stay where you are and map out the boss room. We’ll try to clear this place and be with you as soon as possible.”

  “I don’t think you need to worry,” I said, noting the empress’s giant stomach. Bones littered the area around their crater. “I reckon these two have been busy baby-making and the other platyhawks are bringing them food. As long as we keep quiet, they shouldn’t be waking up any time soon.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Liam stated.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chaos Of Battle

  Things didn’t go how we’d hoped. They rarely did. The smoothest run we’d ever enjoyed was when we’d taken on Mama, and that had ended in Rajesh’s death. All things considered, the first rat queen we’d faced had been fairly routine too. It had been our first boss fight, and we were scared shitless. In the end, we’d pulled through without suffering any injuries. It had been thanks to Pallav playing the role of the vanguard though. Damn, I missed him.

  The party’s chosen entryway housed a platyhawk boss not ready to fly the nest. It dropped down on them from above. They put it down almost straight away, but the monster’s death rattle rang throughout the structure. We then discovered that it wasn’t just the emperor and empress that we needed to fight, but several almost-matured kings and queens too. They’d been sleeping between their parents. The monsters awoke in unison, screeching loud enough to make the stadium’s ruined plastic chairs rattle.

  “Caitlin, set all eight drones to wire mode and get them on the ceiling,” I said, watching them from above while waiting. “It’s too late to get a net on them, but we can still keep them fro
m escaping through the roof.”

  “Got you,” she answered. Caitlin needed to get in the habit of responding with the agreed-upon terms. “What about the rest of the setup?”

  “It’s too late for any of that. Liam’s scouting didn’t tell us about the extras.”

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Not your fault.” I cut him off. It wasn’t the time for arguments or excuses. Instead, I doled out directions through the comms link. “Get in the air and try to keep anything that flies confused. There’s more of them than us. Might be possible to get them to fly into one another.”

  “Roger,” he replied.

  “Caitlin and Anna, I want you to stay together and snipe these bastards. Once your weapons are charged up, unload implosion shots or exploding arrows whenever they’re clumped together. David, stay with them and used ranged shots. If any platyhawks approach them, it’s on you to defend them.”

  David and Anna responded with a “roger.” Caitlin did not.

  Kitty didn’t need instructions. Despite the padding, Diesel’s giant feet thudded as he charged into the mass of platyhawks. Much to my surprise, Miley jumped off the ground and wrapped around his torso and arms. As soon as he reached the monsters, liquid metal spikes exploded from him, piercing multiple targets and making them screech. Damn. Perhaps it was time Kitty started giving directions and taking charge. Morpheus ran in behind Diesel. Kitty had moved all four of the golem’s wheels to his feet and he was roller skating about. She sprayed them with the inbuilt flamethrower, angering the platyhawks further.

  Within seconds, everyone fell into their assigned roles. The empress’s bloated stomach and bone-plating kept her from lifting off the ground. Her mate stuck by her side to protect her. They relied on their children to protect them. Unfortunately for them, that’s what we were hoping for. The emperor wouldn’t cease skin-to-skin contact with the empress, so we ignored them altogether.

  Liam’s erratic flight pattern and bullet spray managed to enrage the monsters. As soon as a trio started chasing him and got clear of Kitty and her golems, Anna and Caitlin started firing. Since the Void Rifle had limited implosion shots which took time to charge up, Caitlin stuck to the frozen plasma. Anna started off with a golden arrow. It ripped through a bone-plated platyhawk. The creature screeched, falling into the crater. The empress roared as her child died and took several eggs while at it. She flapped her massive wings, trying to take off, but failed. The movement sent a strong blast of wind through the stadium, disrupting Liam’s flight. Fortunately, the platyhawks chasing him were affected too, and Kitty froze one of their wings. It fell outside the crater, and I picked it off with the Coil Gun.

  Instead of actively taking part in the fight, I kept an eye on Morpheus and the ranged attackers. If any elites or almost-bosses tried to sneak up on them, I shot at them. In order to conserve energy and not aggravate my shoulder, I stuck to low power shots for most of it. Once in a while, when I spotted a creature on the brink of death or in a vulnerable position, the Coil Gun got an extra burst of power for kill shots.

  Probably tired of standing idle, David took the initiative and shot at the emperor and empress. They screeched and roared. More of their children took to the air, flying at David and the girls. He managed to keep them blinded with his bright projectiles. Caitlin and Anna focused their fire, killing a platyhawk with every third or fourth shot. This left Liam vulnerable though, and it was on me to keep him safe.

  While I was busy lining up the crosshairs and eliminating the winged monstrosities, Winnie got into action. Several elites had managed to sneak up on me without my noticing. Instead of flying, they had crawled on the ground, hiding in the aisles between stadium seating. The bear golem stretched his limbs much faster than he could before. His arms wrapped around the closest elites head before spikes exploded from every inch of his body. It killed the beast instantly.

  A pair of platyhawks managed to flank me, charging from either side. I sprayed the ground to my left with the Gloop Shooter’s glue. Meanwhile, my prosthetic switched from Coil Gun to the Sonic Shotgun. I missed using the beauty. It boomed like a base speaker, knocking the creature to my right backwards. Winnie assaulted it next, dispatching his target as quickly as the first.

  When the second elite hit the glue trap, it skidded through it, slowing. The quick-drying adhesive restricted its movement but didn’t arrest it altogether. I used the Sonic Barrier Projector to stop the platyhawk. It charged my Sonic Shotgun to full, and I fired at point-blank range. The platyhawk died instantly, and I turned my focus on the other sneaky elites.

  Unlike the last fights, I felt calm. My heartbeat was still elevated, but I managed to keep my breathing under control. We had this under control. The empress shrieked, and several of her children flew for the ceiling, trying to escape. They flew straight into the wire trap. It didn’t kill them but shredded their claws and wings, forcing them back to the ground. My friends worked on picking them off while I blasted an elite that jumped at my face.

  The Sonic Barrier Projector’s power had grown significantly now that it could draw power from four McGuffins. It stopped multiple lunging attacks without depleting the energy bar completely. The platyhawks kept recharging the shotgun, so I continued to hit them with it. Winnie jumped between them, shredding wings, beaks, and killing them altogether.

  “Matt. Dodge to your left.” Anna’s voice spoke to me through the comms. I had made her own earpiece and camera the night before. I did what she said, and a heartbeat later a bone-covered platyhawk crashed to the ground next to me. “Keep your eyes on the air,” she told me. “Now that they know escape isn’t an option, these things will go mad. They always do.”

  Perhaps Anna was trustworthy after all.

  We had almost taken out all of their children when the emperor and empress joined the fight. Since she couldn’t take off, the latter charged at Morpheus and Diesel. The bike golem zipped backwards, using the Flash Gun like a strobe light to disorient the platyhawk’s keenest sense. The empress blinked her eyes, trying to block it out. Diesel took the opportunity to duck under her head. He grabbed her neck and bulging stomach and lifted the beast onto his shoulders. I’d never expected Kitty to be a wrestling fan—I recognized the move. It was a fireman’s carry drop. Diesel dropped the empress facedown into the backed dirt, stunning her.

  The emperor roared, charging at him. Liam and I both pelted him with our weapons, but they pinged off the biometal. His armor was a lot tougher than we had assumed. I’d have to switch to the Coil Gun setting to inflict fatal damage, and it was too early on our outing to damage my shoulder. That’s where Anna came in. We were on almost opposite sides of the stadium, but her following arrow glowed so bright that it lit the area up like a floodlight. Golden light spiraled around the projectile, and red consumed her bow and shoulders.

  Anna claimed her power had improved by leaps and bounds with the upgrade to B-rank. It still suffered one major problem though: complex and powerful imbuements took time to build up. The limitation was mostly applicable when transferring the energy out of her body into a foreign object. I used the goggles to zoom in on the bow, and its filters helped me see through the light. The biometal arrow had adopted the yellow light’s spiral. Finally, I understood why she had enhanced the artifact and her body too. Holding on to the violently vibrating length of biometal would’ve been impossible otherwise.

  When Anna fired, it looked like she had released a projectile of pure light. Aiming such a projectile must’ve been difficult, because Anna failed to kill the empress. It shot through where the creature’s left foreleg met the joint. The empress screeched, trying to pull her arm away. The limb fell free. Her mate roared, turning towards Anna. He beat his wings, and this time the blast knocked over not just us but the golems too. Then he charged at the trio across the stadium. Caitlin must have spent her downtime charging up the Void Rifle—she fired, and the implosion didn’t just consume the king’s tail but a large portion of his left hind leg too.
<
br />   It was a good thing we didn’t celebrate too early. The fight was far from won. Parts of the ceiling collapsed, destroying the netting above. The entangled platyhawk kings and queens rejoined the fight. It wasn’t just them, though—more monsters followed from outside: full-grown bosses and elites.

  “Take out the empress!” I exclaimed. “Focus fire on her.”

  “We should be going for the emperor!” David protested. “He’s the bigger threat!”

  “Just do it! Kitty, retreat while we focus fire.”

  Only David hesitated. He was right about the emperor—the monster might have lost a tail and a foot, but it was still mobile. However, after weeks of observing the creature, I had realized: the platyhawks were fanatical about protecting their matriarchs. She laid the eggs and then used her bone armor to protect them through infancy after all.

  As soon as we started our barrage, all the platyhawks at the stadium rushed to shield her. They got massacred. I increased my Coil Gun’s power to penetrate biometal armor and took out king after king; David blanketed the area with his arcing balls of volatile energy; and Caitlin fired an implosion projectile into their midst. I expected Anna to shoot exploding arrows, but she didn’t. The teenager continued to barrage the monsters with golden projectiles. They didn’t pack the same power as the one that had severed the queen’s leg but still managed to take out multiple platyhawks.

  It was all over in a matter of minutes. The emperor roared, crawling towards the ugly mass of flesh, biometal, and bone-plating. All of a sudden, the fires started by our combined attack flowed into the emperor. The biometal lining his back and metals took on a crimson glow. The tail stump stopped bleeding, and the wound burned itself closed. But, on the other hand, the severed foot regrew.