Against the World

Confrontation

Chapter 6: Confrontation

Streaming through the skies over the Atlantic Queen Bee flitted and twisted through acrobatic loops around her less maneuverable partner. "Holding up in there?"

Keeping one armored arm up to ward off the word of the jet stream, her once restrained hair now hopelessly flared out behind her Bomblebee shouted back to be heard over her suit's thrusters,"What does it look like?"

"Like Evillustrator is having another go at you."

Bomblebee waved her free arm at Queen Bee, the empty ammo bins of her weaponry clicking over again and again as the weapon dry fired.

Queen Bee flew in closer, matching Bomblee's speed and turning with a grace her gravpack allowed her, stilling flying in the same direction despite curling protectively around Bomblebee's head and shoulders, blocking out most of the windblast with her own body,"Better?"

Her mirror image shook her head, not in negation but to clear it from the battering wind's aftereffects. Her hair still whipped back but she could speak somewhat more reasonably,"Much. The Queen suit is so much more elegant than this horrid thing. All this power, but it's like being Ivan on ice skates."

Queen Bee gathered up her counterpart's hair as they flew, braiding it against the wind,"Well, think about it this way. If he'd Cataclysmed me in this suit I'd be dead."

"No, that's me. You get all cracked and insane."

"Are you sure? I thought it was the other way around."

Bomblebee paused,"You might be right."

"Not sure which is better though." Queen Bee tucked Bomble's braid into the collar of the armored suit with a satisfied nod.

"As long as I go first."

Queen Bee took Bomble's face in her hands,"You stop that you hear me?"

Bomble grinned,"Make me."

"I know better than that." Queen Bee grinned back.

Turnabout is fair play they say. It was in stark parallel to their own ambush that Bomblebee was suddenly torn from Queen Bee's hands. A streak of Red Blue and Gold slammed into her from above.

Majestia grappled with Bomblebee, immobilizing the suit in a crushing grip as they spiraled down to the water. With a casual squeeze she crushed the main thruster's exhaust port,, turning the suit into little more than deadweight over water a kilometer deep. The hero pulled both of them out of the dive and spun Bomblebee in her grip like a child,"Hold tight kid. The game's over for you."

After a bewildered shake of her head Bomble grinned,"I've still got an extra guy." Bolts blew out the waist of the suit, legs and pilot both obeying gravity and slipping from the abandoned upper torso. Chloe plummeted in freefall, spinning and losing the last of her suit's armor.

Majestia shook her head in amusement, she threw the discarded armour from her, but even as it left her fingertips the unused gas ammo in the pack detonated. As before a cloud of thick yellow gas blossomed in the air. The toxic miasma wasn't enough to overcome Majetia. Her superhuman lungs filtered it out in painful but unhindered breaths,"Brat." she cursed with the patience of the invulnerable.

There was a brief buzzing, a click and the orange glimmer of a flame, then conflagration. One of Queen Bee's drones lit the flammable toxic gas ablaze. Majestia had time to appreciate the combination as the fireball engulfed her, and more importantly, ignited the gas she had already inhaled.