Chương 91: The One In Which There Is A Giant Crab (Part 3)

One big animal shouldn't be capable of this much chaos. Buzzbird had passed the word along to others, that we needed to focus on keeping the massive crab busy. If we could get its eggs back, it might be content to go back into the water. Since we were down for the count on the heavy hitters who could just carry it back, that was our best bet. The issue was getting it into a position where it wouldn't be a threat in the meantime. The Forces of Nature were doing everything they could.

Black spheres from Midnight kept forming around its joints, keeping it from trudging more than a few dozen feet at a time. Jack-o-Lantern's walls of weird fire he was making slowed it down further, but it just kept busting through. And the buffets of wind and blasts from Texas Tornado and Buzzbird seemed to just be pissing it off and making it stumble angrily at this point.

While I was stuck in analysis paralysis from trying to figure out my next move, the entrance to the hotel blasted open, the doors flying off down the road. La Cuerna lurched through it while a few more civilians, including the deaf woman, came scrambling out. They followed her direction towards the military trucks the soldiers had fled to while she approached me, rolling her shoulders.

"Alright, you're your team's strong guy, right? What's your evaluation on how hard we gotta hit it?" She asked. I could get a proper look at her costume now, without the adrenaline distorting my senses. She just dressed like a pro wrestler, with this realistic tiger mask, with this colorful mane on it that I think blended in with her real hair. Scars lined across her shoulders and midsection like tiger stripes. Seemed… plain.

"We're not gonna be able to hit hard enough." She clicked her tongue, hands on her hips.

"What've you tried?"

"I threw Humvees at it. Nothing. They shot rockets at it earlier, also nothing."

"Not the end of the world. We need to get it moving back, though." Suddenly, Buzzbird's voice could be heard.

"Hercules told me about how it might be looking for its eggs, and he got his boss to work on locating them!" Looking around, I saw Buzzbird off around the crab, flying gracefully around me.

"How the Hell are you doing that!?"

"I control vibrations! I can throw my voice a good couple miles away! And I can hear your voice clear as day! I manage team comms!" Well, that was useful, at least.

"Okay!" I called out, before looking back at La Cuerna.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure some criminals I was surveilling were selling its eggs to some rich people. Does 'Smythe' sound familiar?" She nodded.

"They're off-coast, on the Trinity Islands. They run a bunch of horse ranches. Old money."

"…Supervillain old money?" I asked.

"Not that we've heard of. They're pretty on the up-and-up. Normal old money. Have you mentioned it to your boss?"

"I-" No I didn't. But if they bought eggs, the mother might notice any missing.

"One sec." I then planted a finger on my earpiece as I spoke.

"Tancred, the chaos made me forget a detail."

"Oh, now you wanna try normal communication after you tried sounding all tough! You're lucky I'm taking this too seriously to give you the cold shoulder. What is it?"

"The buyers of the eggs. Some guy with the last name Smythe, from Trinity? He came in on a helicopter, had a big S on the side." Silence for a couple of seconds.

"Yeah, rich family. Rich people always buy weird shit, delicacies are the elite's main vice. Well, one of them. They have a lot depending on the area. I'll send a notice to the FAA, see if they can get in contact with the copter. Anything else?"

"…What's the status on finding the other eggs?"

"Your team should've just landed by the location. We need time, Herc. That's your job. That, plus figure out how we're even going to get the eggs to it given it's mid-meltdown." Silence again. I sighed before glancing over to La Cuerna.

"They're gonna look into it. We need to buy time…" I glanced up at the crab. Examining its form. Those legs were long and spindly, and the arms seemed too far out to the side to reach over its head. Were crabs known to have strong shoulders? Just looking at how it moved, it probably couldn't do much pushing overhead.

"Cuerna… how… how strong are you?" I ask.

"I've held Guapo Galera still. Snapped all the muscles in my chest doing it, but I did it." Exhaling, I nodded.

"Okay. I have a stupid idea. Just want confirmation… Buzzbird, do you think this thing would be able to stand back up if we flipped it?"

"…How the Hell would I know tha- You know, I would know! Not me! But I know who can tell us! Tex, 'Night, Jack, keep it busy for me for a second!" Buzzbird zoomed over to us, landing with a skid on his feet as he procured his phone. Looking past him, Jack-o-Lantern was practically baseball batting walls into it to keep it from moving forward. Midnight's spheres of darkness were instead being used to blot out where its eyes should be. Buzzbird pulled a phone out from his suit, dialing away.

"…Who are you calling?" Cuerna asked.

"We know a guy who turns into animals- He's answering!" He leaned towards his phone for a few seconds, before speaking.

"Hey, Crimson Coyote! I have an animal anatomy question and I could really appreci-" Yelling could be heard over the phone before Buzzbird interrupted it.

"No, no! Actually important! Put the news on if you don't believe me." More silence. I looked at La Cuerna, raising an eyebrow. She spoke, crossing her arms.

"Jungle Brigade on the West Coast, their leader can turn into animals. You not familiar?" I shook my head.

"Just really knew about Redwood." She nodded.

"Makes sense. Not sure what he's trying to do though, they're not gonna get here from California any time soon."

"Just get Weaver to hold your phone!" Buzzbird called out.

"THANK you!" More silence.

"Hey Weaves," Buzzbird said.

"Just let me know if he can flip over while he's crabbed out." I looked back up towards the crab. Its approach was slowed down significantly by the joint efforts of the other three Forces members.

"They'll be fine," La Cuerna assured.

"We're not all the strongest, but we have a pretty good frame for tackling basically any problem. They can hold for as long as you need it, so long as there really is a light at the end of the tunnel." The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Awesome! Thank you so much guys! Also can you guys try to figure out how crabs communicate? Text me the details!" Buzzbird hung up and slipped his phone away.

"Okay, great news, it shouldn't be able to stand itself back up. Bad news, how are you going to flip it?"

"La Cuerna and I should be able to yank on one of its legs enough to get it started, but we need to make it run. I saw on the way here, there's this big green spot just up this road. Super flat. No one should be there. If we can get it there, we can flip it onto its back with plenty of room and avoid serious collateral. But we need to tunnel it towards us. Can your team do it?" Buzzbird hummed in thought, before speaking up.

"Hey, Tex, you hearing all of that?" He then held a finger up, a little blur of that bluish, white vibrating power his wings were made of came from the tip of his digit. A little southern drawl spoke from it.

"Oh, we can do that easy. Midnight, you're with me at its back. Jack, you're gonna make the walls at its sides. Buzzbird, you push it towards those walls so that it doesn't go off route!" Another voice could be heard." HELL YEAH!" Masculine. Must have been Jack's. Buzzbird zoomed back off towards the crab as I turned towards the little military embankment we were in. They were all gone by this point, all it took was catching some rubble and they were convinced to get running. But there was still more in the road.

If the crab tripped over any of it, the collateral would be severe.

"We gotta clear the way!" La Cuerna gave a thumbs up.

"On it!" We hurled ourselves across the road to push all the rubble off to the sides, down alleys, even through doors of buildings when we confirmed no one was inside. Meanwhile, the crab started to move ahead. Whenever I passed along the road, I could see the corralling process they were doing. Texas Tornado and Midnight were blasting it from behind, causing it to be shunted ahead.

For split seconds, these massive waves of glowing red as long as the road and as tall as the lower buildings swung down on either side of it. These almost tidal waves of energy from Buzzbird would then shove it into that wall while it moved forward, keeping it consistently on a straight path towards us. La Cuerna and I began to speed up, needing to keep outpacing the crab as it began moving at a clip far more than normal.

When we made a decent head start and could focus on convincing soldiers to pull further away, past the park we were going to flip it at, I took a glance at her.

"How're you holding up? This is tiring the Hell out of me," I admitted.

"Hardest workout I've had in months. Dunno how a string bean like you is keeping up with me."

"I used to be thinner."

"Guess that's why, then! Come on, no more delays." She slapped my shoulder before rushing off to push cars and signs out of the way. We had long since gone past where building debris had fallen. Now it was just people's larger belongings, mail boxes, anything that might interfere with its path. It wasn't the heft of any particular items that wore on me, it was having to constantly lunge around. My cardio could be better. Would have to work on that if I made it out of this. When I made out of this.

Looking back, the long walls being produced by Jack-o-Lantern were getting shorter and thinner. I could barely see him. It seemed he used the projection of them to fling himself around in midair, flipping around almost like a gnat. His movements seemed sluggish at this point. He was wearing down.

"They gotta start moving faster," I muttered to myself. Buzzbird's voice echoed in my ear.

"Jack's pushing himself as best he can, he's just a guy. And if Tex and 'Night hit the crab any harder, it might get hurt. We're not trying to piss it off." Didn't need the correspondence, but he was trying to be reasonable. I let out a shuddery exhale as I shoved a bus out of the way, looking ahead. Maybe a couple hundred feet left until we could get to a spot. Road was clear. I walked towards the middle of the road, where one of its long legs kept slamming down, cracking the asphalt.

I held up a piece of building. Didn't even know I could do that. Maybe I could flip this stupid crab. Maybe. Definitely. This was gonna be possible. A hand found its spot on my shoulder. La Cuerna's, as evidenced by her voice coming up from the same side as the hand.

"Just to let you know, I've never thrown a kaiju before."

"Neither have I," I admitted.

"Sounds like we're both popping our cherries, then. You ever throw anything before?"

"…Not with any real skill. Just my strength." She hummed.

"I think you might be stronger than me. So you might be more important as the thrower. But I know how to let out my explosive strength better. A good hip-toss requires you to take the ground out from under them. Big sweeps get big throws. Instead of us both trying to pick it up, do you want me to go for a sweep on it? Then you just have to control how it falls."

"Why trust me with that?" I asked, looking up at her. Up close, I could see her mask in more detail. Specifically, the open maw of that tiger's face led further. You could see a bit of her face below it. Her mouth, a clear scar along the left side of her lips. It pointed towards where her nose should be. Her lips were curled into a smile. Warm.

"New heroes need as many big moments under their belts as possible. Don't worry. If you think you need help with the throw, you yell my name. We'll figure it out." Her hand came off my shoulder, then slapping me on the back.

"Let's go. It's closing in." She ran off ahead of me. That second I used as an opportunity to take a deep inhale. There was nothing else I could tell myself. Just to do it and get it over with. I sprinted, my eyes shutting for half the run as I could hear the crash of its legs into the ground with each step. My eyes opened as the sound grew louder, and I could see the leg we wanted raising up, right over me. And down it came. I thought I was ready, readier than anything.

The sheer force its weight sent through me had me gasping for air before I even finished feeling its weight. I felt a burning snap in my ankles. I just didn't prepare in time. My body was already fighting me for even making this stupid decision. But I clung. I dug my hands in as best I could as the leg slipped further past me, embedding in the rock as I embraced it. Trying to yank already, my fingers barely piercing the shell on what I imagined was equivalent to its own ankle to find grip.

This almost tigrine roar echoed out behind me as La Cuerna shot out in this colorless blur, pushing its leg in and sending the limb tipping forward. I stood in the shadow of its knee bending, and with one last push from Texas Tornado and Midnight, I could feel it coming forward at a speed it wasn't prepared for. It was losing balance. I yanked, tipping my body forward as much as I could while just pulling with every muscle in me. My biceps burned. My back screamed. I couldn't hold onto my mind at this point.

Colors and names and sounds and feelings were all gone. I gave it all up for that moment to just find the strength to hurl this fucking thing and never deal with it again. The amount I had given up to just focusing on my strength caused a storm across my nervous system. It couldn't tell what temperature it was. For some moments it was humid and arid like the coast we were near. Other moments it was frigid, like a cold wind blasted at my back. Cold pangs of pain hit my neck and arms like an endless cold rainstorm.

My ears couldn't withstand the overload either. It was starting to invent sounds, of men screaming and howling, a perpetual thundering like a thousand charging horses in my forehead, the hissing roar of crashing waves. Just digging for any sort of information to keep me from snapping completely, maybe. It reached a crescendo as the crab went fully overhead. Its entire body weight leaning down on me. I felt concrete give under my damaged legs. My senses continued to delude me.

The cracks in the leg my fingers had formed stabbed into my digits like the barbs of antler-tips, a lingering terror from the crab as though it could feel fear rocked through its leg and into me. I guided it all down, as though simply swinging a blade. Like it was natural to me. BWOOOOOOOM The ground shook.

The only reason I knew my eyes weren't simply vibrating with an impending eruption from all the pressure was I could feel it rocking through my feet and up my thighs and into my back and finally all the way up to my head. Vision finally returned to me, washing away rolling hills and rainy forests and snowy mountains painted by my haywired nervous system, displaying to me a crab on its back, legs frantically jabbing into the air for some point of balance, some kind of purpose. I did it. I threw a fucking kaiju.

And all I could think of was how terrified the poor thing looked.