28: Life isn't fair -Jay-

I was bleeding bad and god only knows what was going on outside, but I could hear the thumps of the Moth god's hits all the way in the lab that I'd been thrown into. How could we possibly stop something like that?

The Moth boy was nearly impervious to any physical damage we could deal him, and seemed to possess a strength I could only dream of. My body wanted to panic but my mind tried it's hardest to push those thoughts from my head.

This was all new to me. I'd never fought an actual god, I've always been on the side as support for Carl and John as they stood face to face with these leviathans. No human alive could kill something like that; I was sure of it. I pushed the idea of killing it from my head and centered on distraction.

My mind immediately leaped to John's selfless attempt to save my life, but I didn't have a moth and I would not be so foolhardy. I had to find a way to distract the boy without putting myself in that kind of peril.

I pulled myself to my feet and stole a look around the room. The room that I had previously thought to be a lab looked like it hadn't been used as one in ages. Instead the tables were stacked with boxes and several giant high-powered light stands. Moths. Light. It took me only a few seconds to realize that it was not only a significant distraction, but also a potential way to end this horror for good.

It didn't take long for me to finish what needed to be done. I heard Robby say something outside and knew it was nothing good. I slid under the exposed wires and made my way to the window. Looking outside I could see Robby dragging John away from the Moth-boy. John wasn't moving. It was now or never.

"HEY! Butterfly boy!" I stepped back from the window as the boy looked at me, "Surprise!"

I flicked the switch and the room flooded with light. I shielded my eyes and glanced outside before I turned to the second step of my plan. It was working. The Boy was breaking up and making his way to the room I was in. I slipped under the wires again and grabbed the plug that I'd left near the outlet.

The loud noise of fluttering filled the room and I yanked the lights. The boy immediately formed together in the middle of the room looking dazed as the lights went out.

"Wha-Where's the light's go? They were so prettyful." He tried to move toward me but got caught on the wires going through his abdomen.

Stretching across the room were exposed wires, all crossing in the center of the room where all the lights were pointed. He looked at me confused and I smiled.

"Bug. Zapper." I slid the plug into the wall and watched as thousands of volts of electricity coursed through the wires. Smoke began to rise and moths fell as the energy flowing through them turned them into ash.

"But I was righteous!" The boy cried as his body burned away, "My cause. I was wronged and I don't get vengeance? How is this fair?"

I stood and stared down at the last fluttering moth and sighed, "Life sucks. You either let it get to you, or keep going until it kills you," I pressed my foot down and listened to the satisfying sound of a crunching exo-skeleton, "Either way you end up dead."

26: Too Fast -Jay-

John was really beaten up. The moth had broken his elbow and probably a few other bones that he didn't know about yet. I wasn't that well off either. We didn't have a lot of energy or time.

"You guys need to find a scientist named Emma, and then get out of there," He spoke with urgency, "Patrick is going to bomb the place whether you're there or not."

"He's a real dick, and when we get back we're going to have a long talk about how much he should be telling us on these things." John sounded pissed.

Robby was the real miracle, but he wouldn't talk about it, or his new appendage. When ever asked he would open his mouth to talk, but no words would escape. Eventually he just gave up. He was moving toward the door when he was suddenly thrown back by a torrent of moths. They shot him in to the sky and then body slammed him on the pavement. He was out cold.

Up ahead the moths slowly came together till they formed a small boy. Ever since we'd gotten here it had been one surprise after another. Things we should have known were becoming evident and the extent of Patrick's was becoming very evident. I wasn't shocked that the moths had taken the form of a young boy, nor that he had just taken down a grown man. The thing that shocked me was the fact that the boy looked like me when I was younger.

"Jay, what's going on? He looks like you." John sounded just as shocked.

"Who are you?" I called out.

"We are angry that you would kill one of us. You deserve no answers, only death." With those words he broke into hundreds of moths and reformed a mere inches away.

The air was knocked out of me as his fist smashed into my gut, my face and my groin at the same time. Wait, three hands? I fell to my knees and looked up to see the third arm fade into his shoulder. He could form his body to what ever he wanted, or just not reform it at all. What the hell?

His foot came up and caught me on the chin, sending me hurtling backwards until I slammed into John. We both rolled backwards until friction slowed us to stopping. I was still trying to catch my breath, but John was up and ready.

The boy fluttered his way into close quarters and went in for the thing he did to me, but John was ready. He slipped under the face hit and used his arm to block the groin. The shot to the stomach went through, but John spun with the momentum. John's elbow found the boy's head with a loud smack. Several moths dropped to the ground dead.

The boy didn't seem fazed, instead another arm formed in his side walloping John in his broken elbow. John's knees hit the ground as he howled in pain. Quickly the boy kicked John backward. The kick wasn't strong enough to send him flying back but it hurt. John fell back as the kid swung his foot into John's shin. A loud crack was heard and I knew John's leg had been broken.

"You people are nothing. The fact that you defeated one of us means nothing to our power, only our hearts. I strive to kill you now, not because I'm an evil being, but because you have killed a part of my family. But you wouldn't understand that, would you? You kill for fun, while I kill for survival."

He put his foot on John's chest, and raised his arm. He was going to kill him. I forced myself to regain my breath, but even as I pulled myself to my feet I knew I was too late.

The boy swung down with ferocious force.

23: Hero's Call -Robby-

"You know what I like about you guys?" The voice was old and wise.

I opened my eyes and slowly sat up. My arm was still gone, the only thing left was a tiny stump dripping blood. There was no pain, instead I felt calm and comfortable.

"Oh God."

"Don't panic."

"But my arm. My fucking arm is gone!"

I heard him laugh lightly and glanced over. He was an old man that had a look in his eyes that was very similar to Patrick, except older. He smiled and it made me feel like I'd been complimented by a parent.

"I like people like you and your friends, because you're willing to put yourself at great risk to save others. It's something I hold very highly. Most people I have contact with are so willing to do what I say that they sometimes forget the real reason they're alive. It's . . . disappointing."

My arm became second priority right at that moment. This guy was old, really old.

"Who are you?"

"Gilfred Odephius Doorstop. It's nice to meet you finally, Robby."

"That's not what I meant.", I stared at him.

"See that? Free Will! THAT'S the real reason. Choosing your path for your own instead of having another person choose for you. Being able to decide not to trust the person that's keeping you alive right now."

"Is that a threat? Don't screw with me, we already have another deviously manipulative prick. Having another would just really piss me off."

This time he laughed out loud, "Listen, you and your friends are the closest things to Heroes that I've seen in a long time, so I'm gonna give you some help."

He reached down and touched my shoulder. Tendrils of bright light flowed over me and formed an arm over my stump. The light slowly hardened into a clear-gold substance.

"I hope you don't think I'm going to owe you or something."

"I wouldn't ever ask you something like that." I believed him.

"Is that all? My friends are in a lot of trouble down there I'm sure."

"Yes, they are," He leaned close, "but you have a choice to make. Right now your friends are leading that moth to a gas station where they will attempt to blow the creature up and they will succeed. How ever, inside that gas station is a family of survivors who will not survive the blast. You could allow them to do it, allow those people to die, the moth would be dead, and you could find that delightful little girl that your boss is looking for. Or you could stop them from blowing the place, the moth would not die just yet, the family would live, and your friends would still be in danger."

I stared at the old man's face. It was serious, almost scary serious.

"How am I supposed to choose that?!"

"If it was easy, than you guys wouldn't be important."

He looked at the sky and then back at me, "I've . . . stayed here too long and given off too big a signal. I have to leave. You have only a few seconds to find a way to stop that moth from exploding."

"But I didn't even choose yet."

He laughed and for some reason it made me feel good inside, "Didn't you hear me? You guys are heroes. There's really only one option for you." He slowly faded, "Hurry up."

"FUCK!", I grabbed the edge of the roof and jumped off on to the fire escape.

He was right. There was only one choice.

I had to stop the moth from blowing up.

21: The Easy Part -Jay-

It didn't take too long to get up the moth's throat, and wasn't really difficult either. There were a few close calls of going back down, but I managed to keep steady. In a matter of minutes I found myself at the back of its tongue, feeling the heaves of breath flow in and out. The smell of the stomach below finally got to me now that I was out of it. I pinched my nose for a moment in hopes of drowning out the horrid stench. It didn't work.

The moth kept roaring in pain, its tongue flickering at the sides of the mouth. I guess John must have left a decent amount of damage for it to cry so much. I looked around in order to locate the beginning of its windpipe. The whipping of the tongue made it a bit harder to focus, since it meant trying to keep my balance. I risked a jump to the right side of the mouth, jabbing my knife in to the tongue by mistake. A wicked screech pierced my ears as the giant muscle flailed about with me holding on tight.

I began to feel dizzy, leaving me unable to do much until the thing stopped freaking out. I may have stabbed it on accident, but it turned out for the better on my behalf. One moment, the world of the inside of a giant moth was blurry and made no sense to me. The next thing I knew, I was flying down a tube; the windpipe. I clenched my hands to make fists. The blade was still in my hand.

This moth just made my job all the easier. As I fell, I slashed and hacked at what ever was around me. I felt no solid connection; only air. Turns out the tube was a lot wider than expected. Me being skinnier had nothing to do with this task. Either John just wanted the more convenient escape, or he felt that I was more capable of this. Maybe it was both.

Up ahead, I noticed a glow of light. I ended up plummeting to a pretty soft landing. The whole lung was lit up with a faint tint of yellow. Since when did the innards of a moth give off any light? Guess I should be glad that I have some light while stuck in here.

I remained seated after landing. It seemed pointless to try and stand in such an environment as this. Cutting this thing wide open seemed simple enough though, due to how fragile the lungs are for any creature. I gripped at my knife and started slicing away, leaving large holes behind. While doing this, I kept my free hand clinging to the floppy leftovers that were attached to the tube above.

It soon became obvious that the giant moth was struggling for breath, raspy sounds echoing through out it. I placed my blade safely back into my pocket and ripped a piece of the remnants for a source of light.

I may have only took out one lung, but it would get the job done. Any longer in this thing and I may not stand a chance of ever getting out. I kept on climbing with my arms, it feeling like eternity to reach the exit. Ten minutes later and I found myself at the top again.

Carefully, I made my way towards the front and clung to the bottom of its mouth; adding my knife in for insurance. The thing snapped its jaw every few seconds, making me wary of just jumping straight out.

I leaped in, landed in a stomach, climbed a throat, flew down a breathing tube and made it back up to where the exit was just ahead, and freedom was right there. Regardless of these feats, the threat still remained before me. It would seem getting in and doing the job was easy.

Getting out would be the hard part.