The Lantern Bearers

chapter 31: HIVE strider

Ever since that night, i questioned myself of my actions.

What was i thinking?
What did i think i would gain?
Why did i hurt San like that.....

Did my mentality swallow me whole and i gave into my psychotic, love drunken tenacity? No, there's no questioning it... that's exactly what happened. I raped San and didn't care about him, only what i wanted..... i nearly killed him.

Dammit...

Why did i do all that??
Just.... why??

"Phantom....phantom strider, are you there? Over." Said a familiar voice on my radio.

I picked up the receiver and brought it to my lips and pullingthe trigger to the receiver.

"This is phantom, who am i speaking to?" I asked, releasing the trigger to the receiver.

"Oh come now, you know who i am." The voice said.

"Just indulge me." I said with a smirk, knowing who he is.

"It's hive, dammit!" He yelled over the line.

"What do you want, junkie?" I said.

"How dare you call me a junkie! I am not addicted to the bliss serum!" He protested.

"Anywaaaaays, god take a joke...." i said, rolling my eyes.

The bliss serum.

An injection us striders are "rewarded" with. It tops anything you could find both on market and the streets of the capital. Upon injection and a few minutes, it grants the user such a high, that it seemingly takes their mind to a completely different dimension. However, it should only be used once a week, as the side effects of over use can cause people to possibly mutate and lose their minds.

Hive shoots himself up every time he gets his hands on the stuff and bums it off the other striders. An absolute addict, that gets cranky when he hasn't had a shot of the stuff in a while.

"Meet me at the nearby plateau, the coordinates is on your PDA. We need to talk business...." he said ominously.

"Ugh, like i want to see your ugly mug...." i said with a scoff.

"I'm aware of what my..."pleasantries" does, and that's why i wear a mask to be curtious to others." He growled.

"There's no mask to hide that, freak." I said bluntly.

"You bitch! Ugh, anyways, meet me there. It's important. Hive strider out!" He snarled before "hanging up".

I would sigh deeply and would use my warp powers to get to the destination easily.

Using my anomaly powers is second nature to me, but would be strange to others. It's simply like jumping through a window or door to another destination that is usually a short distance away. Most users would experience something similar to motion sickness, know as "warp lag" that will make the user disoriented and unable to function temporarily over the span of usually five minutes or so, extensive use would make the user vomit uncontrollably or make them faint, and fainting mid warp could lead to.....deadly consequences.

My tolerance to the usage is tied to the training both me and san went through. We were trained to the blood and bone to perfect our skills. Most of us have anomaly powers, but....he doesn't have any from what's been recorded or seen, but his survival and combat skills make up for it.

Once i arrived to the destination, i would see Hive strider's cloak glow approaching.

He is always hunched over a bit, due to the mutation property of the drugs, a gas mask that covered his ugly ass face, and had a raspy voice, again, due to the drugs. He used to sound human and sounded very sophisticated, as well as handsome according to some of the other female striders we have at base, but once Hazard Strider, our leader, introduced the new drug as a potential reward, it only took one hit for Hive and he became an addict.

"Have you captured Demon Strider yet?" He asked.

"What do you think, dumbass?" I snarked, coldly.

"It was a rhetorical question. We know you keep failing." He chuckled.

"Like how you keep failing to capture the marked one you're tasked with and just keep toying with her, instead of doing your damn job?" I retorted.

I could tell he was snarling underneath his mask. Everyone knows his schtick at this point. He has a hate boner for the one called Willow. He loves tormenting her and sticking around to watch her suffer. Dude has serious problems.....but don't all striders do?

"The marked one is one thing, a runaway strider is another! He was one of our top agents! You had him where you wanted him, why didn't you nab him??" He yelled.

I didn't respond, i simply looked away.

"You let your feelings for him get in the way....." he growled.

I remained silent, i had no excuse.

"You're so easy to read these days." He said.

"Yeah, much like how everyone knows you have a hate boner for the girl." I snarked.

"I do not!" He protested.

"Everyone knows you hate her. You hung around while those men used her, just to get your rocks off and you gleefully took up the mission to capture her. You hate her for no reason, it's probably your addiction that has warped your brain." I said with a smirk.

"You mind your own business! Or do i have to mention your little act on San?" He said with a chuckle.

I didn't say anything. I knew that if that information ever got to Hazard, i would be severely punished. He has strict rules with strider to strider interaction.

The bigger question is, how did he know? Did that freak spy on us? Maybe hes sicker than i thought....

"You know what? I know what haven he's staying at. Therefore, i will finish what you have started!" He yelled.

"He's my target!" I exclaimed.

"Not anymore! Boss said since mine is with yours and since you failed, he gave an offer! If i nab both, i get two shots!" He cackled.

"You don't know him well enough to fight him, hive."

"Well apparently, you know him too well enough to let him slip through your fingers multiple times! You're too soft, karma!" He exclaimed.

There was a moment of silence.

"You know what? Knock yourself out. If you somehow win, then shoot yourself up to death on bliss for all i care." I said coldy.

"Fair enough, but hey....least you'll have your man heheheh!" He said before he hopped down the cliff into the darkness and out of sight.

The guy sounded like a comic book villain. So cheesy and stupid, but nonetheless dangerous. He's captain of the siege and invasion unit after all. He can create an seemingly endless supply of clone of himself at the drawback of them only using knives and being weaker, as well as draining him of stamina.....which he would shoot himself up with a stamina stimulant akin to that of the old drug, cocaine. This keeps him going during an invasion so he can overwhelm a haven if need be, but once he's injured even once, the clones disapate and he suffers a huge backlash effect, making him unable to function really.

He's severely underestimating his targets.....