Rei blinked in disbelief. The redhead was not even fully clothed and she was going to go back in to warn people she had just met moments ago. She was clearly too noble to have any common sense whatsoever.

The platinum blonde shook her head as she quickly followed Minerva down the tunnel. She could not expose her thought outloud in front of the Trixian. She would have to wait until they got further down the tunnel to try to convince the beautiful redhead that this was a fool’s errand.

“Yes, that works,” Sparks agrees as far as sucking the oxygen out of the air. From what she knew about these insects they needed oxygen just like the others she had encountered thus far.

“That's correct, G4.” She was already removing her flamethrower for he Hel'Corian to tinker with Granted there were only a few tools he could improvise as well as using his claws as tiny knives to open and slip into cracks but he had to work with less. Sparks had somethings on hand to use.

The tunnel ahead was lit by that same phospherent mold. They were cooler and there were glow rods left on the ground in areas where there had been none. Dead Ashlyn lined the passage of the Trixians as well and occasional echoes of a fire fight could be heard every now and again.

The communicator did not connect, not for a long while then a voice and static. “Assistance … G8 … dead ...” a voice cut in. It sounded young and afraid but with a connection it was close.

Hurrying ahead following the path of bodies there was something out there. Something both primal and intelligent though it's intelligence was at a different level altogether. It was similar to what Minerva had encountered before dispatched to deal with the meddling soldiers when they proved to be too annoying.

They were too close to the royal prisoners to keep ignoring by the Queen though now there were only two … Sparks and one other. A shot in the near distance a hiss and a scream. It was one of those hybrid blue chitin colored spiders much larger than the last.

The chitin was a lighter blue in places where new chitin replaced old injuries denoting that the creature had been through a lot. At present it was unaware of them holding a young Trixian by the throat, a rifle on the ground as the woman squirmed in it's grasp. It must have heard them as they arrived on the scene flinging the woman and rendering her unconscious as it spun around to face the two women.

The Trixian solder seem to agree with Minerva at best plan of action. At least it would limit the insects movement some.

Already the soldier was handing off the flamethrower to the Hel’Corian. He began using his claws to pry open the device to try to work on the flamethrower on the inside. At least for now he and Sparks would be able to put it together.

The redhead agent was already heading down the tunnel to find the remaining Trixians. The mold glowed in the darkness showing the carnage that filled the hallway. There were dead Ashlyn all over the floor sometimes an occasional fallen Trxian.

The sounds of gunfire seemed to be push the beautiful redhead further ahead. Rei could never understand while Minerva was so foolishly brave. But a scared voice broke through the static and asked for help over the communicator.

Any attempt to use logic on Minerva was now gone. Agent Miss Goodie-Two-Shoes was not going to let someone in distress go unaided. Rei briefly considering shooting the redhead in the leg to try to prevent her from getting them further in trouble, but decided that it was only going to infuriate the agent.

This is crazy, Minerva! We are only two people, and your not even really dressed. How do you expect to… A shot and a scream cut off Rei pleas for sanity as they moved up the tunnel. They soon could see a hugh blue spider that was the largest that either had ever seen.

The creature had several locations that were lighter blue in places, as if they were newer chitin that had healed from earlier battle damage. Rei could not tell if they were from this battle or some battle in the past. For the moment the creature was holding a young Trixian by her throat. The creature tossed the unconscious woman down as it turned to face the two women, the agent and the former agent. Rei immediately brought her rifle and tried to hit one of the lighter blue patches on the creature.

There were a series of eyes about it's head in a symmetrical pattern, two at the rear and six space out more or less to the front. It dwarfed the two humans though not quite twice their size it was broad. Mandibles clashed together menacingly and above each wrist at the back of the clawed hands were spinnerets that allowed it to fire forth webbing rather than from the back of it's abdomen.

A rifle blast lit up the passage though it made no effort too dodge though it was probably too big to have done so well especially with some of the smaller passages where it could still fit but had no wiggle room … at least the passages meant to allow humanoids through though there were even smaller ones that the Ashlyn used when not moving animals or people.

The energy bolt struck the creature head on. It growled in irritation, the shot hurt, the chitin had not been healed completely as the older wounds were easier to target though Rei would find that most of the energy from the weapon had been diffused.

It merely bent a hand firing a sticky strand of webbing at the offensive rifle, snaring it and jerking it away from the former agent. At the same time it had not forgotten about Minerva and aimed another spinneret at her from one of the lowest arms …

Had she a good look she would have seen that the ones on the lower arms were different. This creature was different from the one she had faced and that had gone back to the origins of the Ashlyn themselves … once upon a time they were simple insects until the Aschen began to experiment on them. Just as these spiders had been there own experimentation or rather just this one to start with..

The lower and central arms had been spliced with Ashlyn DNA … a good deal of the creature was changed while retaining it's resistance to cold. From the lower arms it could fire forth darts, essentially filled with the same genetic substance of the Ashlyn drones, an aphrodisiac. From the central arms it could use the green and blue Ashlyn slimes and from the top most webbing.

Without pause to see if the attack hit or missed it advanced on the two women trying to close the gap where brute force was likely to over power them. That and a plethora of limbs to grapple the two with ...

Rei fired on the creature, it had nowhere to run and no way to dodge for such a large creature. The Ashlyn had apparently designed these caves for beings of the size of the two women where now were in the tunnel. How this creature could have made it down here, was a complete mystery to the platinum blonde outlaw.

The blast hit square on the lighter blue chitlin portion of the monster eye. The creature growled in pain from the hit, but was otherwise unaffected as the blast spread through its body and diffused. The blast lit up the tunnel allowing the women to see their foe. It was not just a larger version of the creatures that Rei and Minerva had fought earlier on their own.

The creature was almost twice the height of the two women and nearly just as broad. It had eight eyes though when it turned to face the two humans, they could only see two. It arms looked different that those of the spiders they came across before, as these seemed to be almost clawed hands.

One the arms bent to point at Rei, only a sticky strand of webbing to hit the outlaw’s rifle. It hit all the barrel of the discharged weapon and with a single yank of the creature the rifle was pulled out of the platinum blonde hands.

Another hand from the creature turned the face the redhead, more webbing was shot at Minerva. The agent instinctively ducked and rolled out of the way of the creature as it fired. It was clear that this creature was different than the spiders they faced. It had the ability to shoot webbing from its arms. What other abilities did it possess?

Minerva quickly tried to think options as she lowered her gun to aim it at the creature. Rei weapon seemed to have little effect on the creature as it seemed that the monster had some resistance to Trixian weaponry. Ah what the agent wouldn’t do for an old fashioned slug thrower. She looked around for something she could use to her advantage.

The creature began to close on the women in the meantime, confident that it could subdue the two humans. As it did so, Rei reached for a pistol in attempt to use it before it was upon the pair…

As it moved forth I fired needles a Minerva who dodged the darts and scanned the area quickly. The creature had blocked her sight to the region beyond it as it was quite large nearly hitting the ceiling. There had seemed to be nothing useful around her though she could barely see the Trixian on the ground behind it from between it's legs but t was too tough to tell if she had anything useful on her. Maneuvering in this tunnels would have been a chore for it though it was a prototype … later versions would be smaller but the idea was to block off passages with it's sheer size, a last line of defense to the Queen though they would obviously need more they were testing out how the prototype did first.

Not too bad, save for the fact that it was too big to dodge nothing was going to get by while it was conscious at least and even then it's body would have to be climbed over to do so. A slugthrower or archaic pistol would have been more effective penetrating that chitin rather than being diffused as it had been now.

Managing to get to Rei as she managed to draw her pistol I seized her by the neck lifting her off the ground by the neck squeezing tight enough to make breathing difficult but not tight enough to do any other damage. T had intended to make her pass out. Though it now fired familiar green slime at the agent, it turning it's attention toward her only to snarl out again and drop Rei, a shot to an eye giving a clue that it was somewhat vulnerable at least there. It went into a frenzy as if servilely hurt or frustrated shooting out streams of green slime, needles of aphrodisiac and webbing all at once as it tried to keep it's eyes shielded behind an arm as it turned it's head away shooting at the two blindly ...

The creature continued to fire needles as it moved closer towards the two women. The redhead was just able to avoid the dart-like objects that were launched in her direction. The agent struggled to look to see if there was anything that might be useful. However the creature was so massive that the young woman could barely see anything beyond it. The only thing the redhead out could see was the shadow of the fallen Trixian lying between the monster’s legs. Minerva could not make out if the Trixian was even breathing much less if she had any gear that would be useful against the creature. Even there was, the redhead would have to dive underneath the creature.

The creature may not have been able to move very easily, but it made little difference. Minerva cursed the Trixian weapons the girls were using. Energy weapons were find and good in some situations, but when came across something that had an immunity, they were next to useless. If she only had her trusty rifle, this would be a completely different story!

Rei struggled to get her pistol out to attempt to try to defend herself. The outlaw finally was able to get the weapon ready when a shadow towered over her. The platinum blonde had just enough time to look up when a claw grabbed her around the neck and lifted the woman into the air. The former agent struggled to breath as her hands struggled helplessly against the claw around her throat. Rei could barely make out it firing some green slime elsewhere, probably Minerva. It was then that the outlaw’s pistol when off. The creature let out a snarl as it let go of the platinum blonde. Rei fell on her butt, as the creature howled in pain from the shot to the eye. The monster released a barrage of slime, needles, and webbing in almost every conceivable direction. With Rei prone in front of the massive creature, only Minerva really had much of a chance of dodging it…

It was blinded essentially as it sought to protect it's face with an arm and turned head. Minerva was able to dodge only due to it's inability to aim and her taking a gamble in darting beneath it. Eventually even she would have been hit as Rei was, attached to the floor with that green slime that began to dissolve the new clothes while pinning her more or less at the feet of the creature.

The cavern was full of spider webs in the direction ahead of it as it continued to fan it's arm back and forth, then up and down though the webbing fortunately was behind Rei and not at the feet of the creature.

Using the green slime it had peeked back out so as not to get snared in it as well even though one arm dispensed green slime another dispensed blue. It had not seen Minerva though and the corridor itself made it so that a creature of it's size would be slow to turn around..

Mandibles snapped together angrily as it believed a stray shot would have hit the agent and it began to turn around albeit slowly. Either Minerva managed to move back far enough that she was on the opposite side of that web, which was very unlikely as she would have probably been snared up in the process or she was as it had deduced behind her.

The Trixian was alive but unconscious. On the ground Minerva could see a communications device, a rifle and a pistol both of Trixian make. On her person was a knife and two grenades, though closer inspection would reveal that they were smoke grenades.

It was half way turned around at this point, looking back in Minerva's direction, who could see that one of the eight eyes had been blasted clear off it's head and a blue goop had escaped it draining down it's face ...

Rei was helpless as the creature sprayed random of the webbing, darts and smile in every possible direction, giving the platinum blonde no where to go. As the young woman looked up green slimed covered most of her body pinning the outlaw to the ground. Already her clothes began to dissolve in the slime that was already beginning to harden around her body.

Though it was not of any comfort to Rei, she was fortunate not to be caught up the webbing that now filled the cavern behind her. It had been a futile attempt to capture the redhead head that had been able to allude the creature.

There had been so much green slime sprayed throughout the cavern that the creature had to be careful where it moved, lest it became stuck in its own trap. It seemed to begin spraying blue slime to try to dissolve a path for it to move.

The mandibles seemed to snap as it almost seemed angry at the redhead. She didn’t know how much longer the creature would be distracted, but she did not expect that it would be for long. She was going to have to check the Trixian quickly for any weapons on her that would be use in this situation.

Sadly she had the energy pistols and rifle that the Trixians loved to use. There was some smoke grenades that might be useful, but she would have to time it just right to get the maximum effect out of the grenades.

The creature was starting to turn towards where Minerva sat, almost instantly Minerva looked up and brought her newly acquired pistol into aim at one of the good eyes. She hoped to blind another eye as then quickly through a smoke grenade for cover.

Due to the cramped space it was difficult for the creature to move around. It was doing so rather slowly and while Rei may have been pinned to the ground by that green slime there had been some blue slime that she might reach through some contortion. With it's attention on Minerva she had time to struggle and though the unconscious Trixian had no real weapon that could assist he Minerva found the smoke grenades and had determined that the woman was still alive. There were tracks behind hr making it clear that the Trixian team headed out that way and the woman fled back to this point with the creature in pursuit.

The creature was only about half way turned around when she shot though it winced in reaction before the smoke grenade went off soon thereafter.

Both it and Rei had been obscured with the smoke as Minerva fell back. The creature would pursue once it had been fully turned in her direction and it's absence would give the now mostly naked Rei time to react to the slime.

Further along the passage Minerva would find the point where it had ambushed the team of Trixian women. The first was unlucky and decapitated though the other two were pinned to the walls either by the green slime or webbing. The passage had opened up into a good sized chamber and it was clear that this was the reason that it had selected this place since it had room to maneuver. There was the luminescent moss and the chamber was quite large, the size of a football field. At the opposite end there were two passages. She would note that while conscious the women were beat read both sporting several of the darts within them which had to have some sort of arousing eff3ect on them. Weapons were scattered here on the floor … pistols and rifles both energy sorts though the large rifle near the corpse showed why she was killed probably at once.

She was a threat. The weapon was a bolt action slug thrower with large caliber shells, armor piercing rounds. It had to be a personal weapon of he deceased woman who wore a bandolier of shells.

From the sounds of it the creature had been coming now …



Rei had been left in the cloud of smoke. In the tight confines of the cave the smoke lingered longer though most of it concentrated at the ceiling of the cavern's passage. She would stretch and contort trying to get at the blue slime before a hand pressed to her shoulder. The woman, now conscious, had been at her side.

“Here, allow me.” She scooped up some of that blue slime and began applying generous amounts of it to her arms and legs letting Rei handle he own torso.

Minerva fired her shot at the creature and was sure she had hit the creature dead on. It seemed to wince in the reaction. It was clear that the strange alien being had some sort of shock on its face, but whether it was from pain or surprise, the redhead was not sure. She had little time to determine what kind of damage when the smoke grenade went off. It quickly obscured the giant creature as well as poor Rei who remained pinned to the ground by the slime. There was nothing Minerva could do for the moment than try to find a better weapon. Fortunately the creature seemed to be content in chasing the agent rather than dealing with the pinned outlaw.

Minerva made her way as quickly as she down the passageway from the chamber containing the creature. She need to get some distance from the creature, but at the time she had to be careful where she walked. Being clad in only in a borrowed oversized top, the redhead winced in pain when she stepped on a rock.

The redhead continued to move as quickly as she could as she saw some luminescent moss ahead, a good sign of another chamber and perhaps another chance to find something she could use against the creature.

As Minerva entered the room, she came across what appeared to be a deadly ambush. A Trixian was laying on the floor missing its head. Nearby was two other Trixians that were pinned to wall nearby, one seemed to be covered in green slime, her body quite nude at this point. The other was trapped in some sort of webbing. The two women were both very conscious but were beet red and moaning slightly. They were clearly quite aroused and had completely lost in their own lust, each had at least a couple of darts jammed into their body. The ambush site had several weapons, more of those energy pistols and rifles that the Trxians loved to used. However near the dead Trixian there was another far larger rifle than any of the other Trixians possessed. Minerva bent down to see what kinda of weapon it was.

She found was some sort of bolt action slug thrower, it had large shells that looked like they were more than capable of hurting the creature. Offering a silent prayer to the deceased woman on the ground, Minerva went to work trying to retrieve the weapon before it was too late…