“There we go,” he says, petting the console. “Good, Future Betty.”
The Tsuchi closes the distance in time with us, but thus far is ignoring our presence. Nemesis stands still, her back to the approaching Kaiju spider.
She doesn’t know it’s there. Is she still stunned?
“Turn around,” I say, but I lack the connection to the beast that Maigo has. I look for the girl, but between the smoke and filtered sunlight, I can’t see the back of Nemesis’s head clearly.
“I see someone,” Collins says. “On the back of her head.”
I squint, trying to see. Someone is definitely there, but it’s just a small, black-clad shadow moving over Nemesis’s skin, quickly scaling the neck. I place my hands against the large touch screen, pulling them apart to zoom in. The cameras mounted around the ship’s hull obey the command, focusing in on the action. I catch sight of the figure’s legs, but I moved too fast past it. When I sweep back, I stop at the sight of a thousand thin, black tendrils wrapping around the figure and pulling it back into Nemesis’s head.
She made it. God dammit, she made it.
The Tsuchi crashes into view, slamming into Nemesis’s back, driving them both to the ground and kicking up a fresh bloom of dust. Woodstock pulls up, keeping us above the cloud. The dust swirls beneath us, kicked up by furious movement I can’t see.
Is the Tsuchi still attacking?
Is it killing Nemesis?
Is it killing Maigo?
Maybe she’ll be expelled again?
Too many questions, and no answers imminent.
A flash of light filters out through the dust.
“Hold on!” Woodstock shouts, accelerating straight up.
The explosion isn’t as big as the previous immolations, but it kicks the dust cloud away, giving us a clear view of Nemesis, and giving Nemesis a clear view of her adversary.
That was smart, I think. Too smart for Nemesis.
Maigo...
Kick its ass, kid.
The Tsuchi, being of small mind and infinite aggression, isn’t impressed by the explosion, or the way Nemesis is flexing her body, opening and closing her fingers, like she’s just getting warmed up—or simply getting used to her body.
Dropping down and scurrying over the blackened battlefield, the Tsuchi darts forward, standing suddenly and spinning around. Its massive tail swoops around, moving at incredible speed, directed at Nemesis’s side.
The ancient goddess of vengeance just stands there, calm as can be. And then with a burst of speed of her own, she snaps her hand up and catches the stinger, which looks small in her gargantuan hand’s grasp. The Tsuchi, perhaps thinking it has struck flesh, spurts a rhinoceros-sized larva into the air. The glistening white super-slug arcs toward the ground, where Nemesis grinds it under foot.
The Tsuchi attempts to pull its tail back for a second strike, but Nemesis holds it fast—and squeezes. There’s a moment of resistance, but then the stinger snaps and crumbles, spraying blood and viscous white fluid.
The Tsuchi writhes and shrieks, yanking its tail, but failing to free it. And then Nemesis pulls, dragging the Tsuchi back. But the Tsuchi falls forward, digging all eight legs into the ground. The two Kaiju have reached a stalemate, but Nemesis is already shifting tactics.
Thinking.
Adapting.
The berserker rage is gone, replaced by a cold, calculating logic.
Nemesis twists her body without letting go of the Tsuchi, pulling the tail tight and swinging her own tail, heavy and tipped with three large blades. She brings her tail down like an executioner’s axe, striking the Tsuchi’s long tail at the half-way mark.
The blow doesn’t sever the tail, but cuts half way through. The Tsuchi reacts by running forward. Nemesis leans back, her powerful fingers locked onto the tail as the sliced open wound stretches, and then tears. The Tsuchi, suddenly free, spills forward, while Nemesis falls back, the tug-o-war coming to an abrupt end.
The Tsuchi, still on its feet, spins around and scurries back at Nemesis, who is rolling over and climbing to her feet...too slow. The spider lunges, catching Nemesis in the side. Its four rear limbs cling to Nemesis’s leg while its mandibles bite into her shoulder, shuddering her body with a stunningly bright lightning display. All the while, the four forelimbs become a blur of frenzied strikes, shredding Nemesis’s thick skin and drawing blood from the softer flesh hidden beneath. Not even our most powerful bomb was capable of inflicting that kind of damage.
C’mon, Maigo. You can do this!
And then, she does.