BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

"Remember," Mira said. "They spot us once, and we'll have the entire hive on us. This means we have to strike the guards without letting them even utter a sound or a pheromone in case they use this to communicate."

The others nodded in agreement. Then each of them checked their equipment one last time. Emily tightened the straps on her sniper rifle. Amber tested the edge of her blades, and Mira checked the string of her bow.

She then signaled to the Chimaeric Demons. As soon as she did, they spread out along the perimeter wall. Two transformed into small lizards and went toward the guard bugs near the nest's main entrance.

The others went into some other strategic points around the courtyard. They had to intercept any patrol or guard that might stumble on them, so their role was pretty critical.

The group moved through the debris like ghosts, using the twisted metal and broken concrete as cover. June took point while Emily covered their rear.

Mira wanted to ask the others if they were done with their preparations. Unfortunately, she couldn't utter a sound, or the creatures would hear them. They were too close.

When they reached halfway across the courtyard, one of the guard bugs whirled, and its antennae twitched. It must have seen or sensed something.

However, before it could react, a clone struck it from behind. It shapeshifted fast enough to make claws and increase its size enough for him to one-hit kill the creature but prevent anything else from noticing him.

Not getting too large also helped him find the weak spot between the creature's armored plates. The bug dropped without a sound, and the clone shapeshifted again into something small.

A second guard turned. Mira moved and knocked an arrow, which flew and then slid between the bug's mandibles and up into its brain. Its legs twitched once, then it died.

The clones quickly dragged the bodies behind a large and half-collapsed wall, hiding them from view, while the other clones took care of the remaining bugs and then did the same once everything was ready.

"Is everything done?" Mira asked.

"Yes," a clone said. "I can't be certain, but I doubt they noticed us."

Another clone nodded. "Yeah, we would have been swarmed otherwise."

That was reassuring, but since the real mission had just started, they couldn't lower their guard.

Emily checked the entrance, not before having given a look at it through her scope.

The others gathered to talk.

"The building's main entrance is sealed," June said. It was made of two rather large steel doors, but it wasn't sealed because of time or human intervention; rather, the bugs sealed it. "We could break through, but the noise would alert every bug in the building."

Indeed, it wasn't hard for any of them to bust open the entrance.

"That means they're using the maintenance entrance we saw earlier to get inside," Amber said. "No other way they could move in and out otherwise."

All other entrances had been sealed off over time—either deliberately blocked or collapsed from structural damage. The few gaps that remained were far too small for anything larger than insects to pass through.

The side entrance was different, though. The western wall must have been completely destroyed, leaving a hole in the building through which the bugs and everything else could enter, at least based on what the group was seeing.

However, the bugs had rebuilt it using their nest-building materials, creating a new wall that mimicked the original's strength and maybe even surpassed it. The wall also had some kind of tunnel-like entrances. Since the bugs were rather large, a human could fit easily.

Mira turned to the nearest clone. "This means we can only use the side entrance," she said, not without reluctance. "As per plan, I say you go in and check the place out. Can you do it?"

"We agreed the first time; there is no reason for us not to do it anymore. We'll shapeshift and check inside," the clone said. "Small, flying forms should let us move undetected, and we will turn invisible if necessary. We can map out the safest route and come back with a full report. Of course, if that's possible to begin with."

The main goal was, of course, to see if they could find some valuable information inside.

"Do it," Mira agreed. "But try to stay in contact." The problem was that in such a situation, without Erik, doing so was hard, if not impossible. In all other circumstances, the clones partially shapeshifted their features to human-like so that they could talk, but here, shapeshifting into something small didn't allow them to bring the radio. This meant they had to find an alternative way to communicate.

"If something goes wrong, we need to know immediately."

"We'll see what we can do."

The clones' shapeshifted, turning into small flying bugs. With near-silent wingbeats, they slipped through the tunnel-like entrances the bugs made and vanished inside into the building's darkness.

They stuck to the shadows, making seeing them even harder than it would have otherwise been. It was completely dark inside, except for some glowing mushrooms that grew in some wet spots. It looked like even the bugs couldn't stop water from seeping inside the building.

Being transformed into insects gave them the ability to move rather easily in the darkness since their senses didn't overly rely on sight, and even if they did, the eyes were specialized to see in the darkness, or to make up for it. However, they also mashed up some different features from many species to get near-perfect visibility.

Aside from dark, the inside was old and falling apart. This forced the bugs to personally act. Whenever something looked on the verge of collapsing or breaking apart, they reinforced it with the weird material they used to make the rest of their nest.

It was an organic, waxy, paper-like material that easily clung to walls and ceilings. The creatures used this substance to create the tunnels and chambers throughout the building's interior.

However, they didn't fix everything. Some rusty metal walkways were still there, broken and hanging loose. Water was leaking from broken pipes and some other places, making puddles on the floor. The bugs didn't seem to mind.

The bugs had built something that looked like a giant insect nest inside the building. This turned all the hallways into a confusing maze.