Shame

Rochelle & Tiffany ran as long as the man could, and hadn't heard the creature for a half-hour when they came to a stop. Only the man was out of breath. He set his head against the wall and wheezed, slumping in to the ground. "I-I fear you'll need to...to use Contagion on me. I-I am not a host, you'll have-have no trouble controlling me."

"You sure?" said Rochelle, glancing at Tiffany.

"Y-Yes, I- I don't have the s-same endurance you two do."

"Okay." nodded Tiffany. She handed Contagion's walnut to him and he swallowed it, his eyes going limp.

Rochelle looked to Tiffany, down her shirt, then back up to her face. "…you can't make him tell us why we're escorting him, right?"

Tiffany laughed. "Babe, you know it just controls their limbs, it's not actually mind control."

"Yeah, but they can't see or hear anything when they're like that, right?"

"Uh, I wouldn't have gone down on you like that last week if they could."

"We should do it again sometime." mumbled Rochelle.

"Mm... sounds good. Hey, should we just wait here to see if Mia and Serena show up?"

Rochelle glanced up & down the hall and nodded. So far as they could tell, these catacombs split in to several forks and larger rooms. As they sat down together, Tiffany took some of the snacks out of their bag, and Rochelle started teasing her breasts & between her thighs while they ate together. Even this did not feel as good as it once had for Rochelle, however, and she asked Tiffany to have their Contagioned civilian watch them as she started sucking at one of Tiffany's breasts.

But, she was just about to start at the other one when the creature's screams began behind; the three shot to their feet, turning their eyes behind -

- just in time for it to carve Tiffany's chest open in a shower of blood; she shrieked as she stumbled back -

" - Twinfast!"

- and a sweep of Rochelle's tail bolted her wounds shut as Tiffany shoved her shirt back on, a second tail-sweep seeking the creature's legs -

- but a stalactite of concrete burst out of the ground, pinning and impaling it to the ceiling; Rochelle laughed as she stepped back, knowing it to be her girlfriend's work, one of Contagion's walnuts having taken control of the floor.

The creature shook rabid, and in the next instant -

- the stalactite collapsed and shattered, suddenly hollow as it fell back to the ground; the three ran back as the creature screamed to sudden pursuit behind -

" - it got rid of the walnut!" shouted Tiffany as they ran; a second concrete pillar formed behind -

- and was just as quickly hollowed out again, creature only twenty feet behind now -

- but the next scene was instant. A dozen pillars burst out of the walls, leaving a section smaller than the creature open; and in to the bars it smashed and stumbled, stopping for a moment as the three ran further away.

Rochelle's tail swept the air behind, bolts forming a bar of solid air in the middle of the corridor.

"Wait, it's hollowing it out?" panted Rochelle as they ran, thankful to see the creature still idiotic behind and fork up ahead. "Isn't that - that's like, the opposite of Blackburn -"

" - shit -" winced Tiffany, taking the right path, and up ahead -

- was the creature again; the three shrieked and stumbled back, turning back and readying to rush down the other path -

- just in time for it to grab Rochelle's neck -

- but the next scene was instant. Her tail swept a bottle of water from her bag, smashing it open on the creature's head -

- and a dozen bolts pinned the film of water direct it to it, suddenly drowning overwater as it stumbled back and released Rochelle -

" - just keep running!"

- and the three ran back down the left.

+++

Sometime in Mia's younger years, she had heard her father talking to her mother at the dinner table, felt it was something serious, and stood against the wall to listen.

"Well, how do you expect them to want to unionize when they've been putting out propaganda for years against it? They just said lately, in the Supreme Court, they said that they're upholding right-to-work laws in the Constitution. They say it gives people freedom, and individual choice." He snorted. "Individual choice. That's what they want, so they can break us off and sink us in one by one. Legally, there's not a damn thing that can be done. I don't think you can do a damn thing in the courts."

"Well, the Republicans forced them to pick-"

"I don't give a damn who's on the court, the problem is who owns the court, because the man owns the court. They own all the courts, and the cops. If the working class is going to have any dignity in this country, then we need to be the ones in control of it. Somebody's got to tell somebody what to do. I don't think anything can be done about what's wrong in this country unless the working class has control of it. I just don't think there can be any dignity until the working class is in charge of something."

"They have control over the courts, over the police." continued Mia. "I just don't think there can be any dignity until the working class is in charge of everything. Somebody has got to tell somebody what to do."

"Okay, but what was his Revenant?" said Serena.

Mia just blinked. "…er, well. When I peeked in to the room, he wasn't there. He was talking to her through Styx. He was hiding in her shadow."

They continued walking.

"But we still don't know how the police knew about it, after he stole the money, and..." Mia frowned. "…I remember, specifically, that they waited until I was home to arrest him. They barged in, and they immediately knew who I was, and they immediately started asking me questions about it. I didn't even understand what he had done at first - my mother was the only person who knew about the bank beforehand."

"So did they question her, too?"

"Yes, but he confessed as soon as they tested him for a Revenant. I still don't know what he told her, exactly, but I remember she would sometimes leave for a few hours, and come back without telling me where she had gone. But she was never worried about money again, after."

"Damn." muttered Serena. "But wait, why wasn't it students arresting him?"

"Because they knew students wouldn't have agreed to do it." (Mia had no clue if they had asked.) "I've never met anyone else on campus who would have agreed to it. There were people in my first semester who would, er, sometimes ask me about it, if they recognized my last name. But they understood that he didn't kill anyone, he just stole from a fucking bank who already had thousands and thousands of dollars, and..." She started angrily mumbling about the cop who had questioned her.

Serena scratched her neck. "Um, Mia, you remember the time I told you when I got arrested for prostitution, right?" (Mia nodded.) "Yeah. I was scared people would somehow know about that, too, even though I didn't... I mean, they just put me with the men for a day, but your dad got sentenced for eight years-"

"He wasn't sentenced for eight years, Serena. They removed his Revenant when he confessed. The natural lifespan for hosts is 200 -- they took a hundred years away from him."

"But he didn't ever really have *those* years, did he? I mean, wouldn't they still have, um, removed it eventually? Somebody would have gotten suspicious if he was 90 without any wrinkles. I mean, was that something you lost or something you wanted?"

Pause on this moment, dear reader, for the rest of it will not be given to you directly.

What Serena remembered was that, upon asking this question, conflict grew in Mia's expression as a burr of faith dislodged itself from her brain, and began pattering down its stalk. She gave an answer like: "What does that matter?", then hastily reversed subjects back to the cop who had interrogated her, before they were attacked.

What Mia remembered was that she had already worked this thought in her mind, and replied: "It matters that he would have had an extra twenty years," before telling Serena more about the cop who had interrogated her, before they were attacked.

Both are plausible, so to focus only on the objective: the cop who had interrogated Mia was certainly not the only reason she despised the police, for the idea that one moment could encapsulate a person is soap opera.

Yet he remained one potential entry point in to her universe, one whose cosmic explosion had crafted branches of galaxies and stars who still whispered greenly within her, and one that with every expansion risked being returned to retrograde of ignorances or insecurities: yet in this growth, just as the Andromeda, so too could all police officers only be ragdolls who wore many ages & skins, and sometimes names like Kirihara, yet were all progeny of a primordial matter as equally reviled.

And as Mia continued whatever it was she had said, she paused, Serena heard something from the corner behind them, and in the next instant -

- and halted as they heard it behind, past a corner.

"Here we go." winced Serena, sudden whisper as they turned -

- and there, a hundred feet away rushed the nightmare, glowing white as its howling filled the corridor -

" - Worldwide!"

- a wall of ice erupted ahead; but in the next instant -

- the frozen wall collapsed, hollowed out and shattering far quicker; the two started their rush that felt eternal down the labyrinth again. Icicles formed in Mia's hands as she ran, streams of fog filling them as she threw the projectiles back -

- and the sharp ends of each pierced through the creature, burrowed inside its body -

- and a dozen explosions erupted from within, explosives Serena had planted within the icicles blasting and tearing inside the beast -

- and still it chased, no apparent harm done.

"It's … not invincible from the outside, fuck -" groaned Mia, relevantly; the two turned their eyes back as they ran, and in the next instant -

- Serena shrieked as a second one appeared above and threw her to the ceiling, smashing her neck against the concrete -

" - Worldwide - Frozen Ray!" shouted Mia, aiming her palms above -

- and a frozen beam erupted from her palms, immense chill stopping the creature and releasing its grip; and Serena fell again, frantic streams of fog refilling her wounds. They started their fleeing again -

- and the two creatures disappeared, the women still running, trusting nothing within the maze.

"Here, Serena -" said Mia, handing a scarab to Serena and seeing the fork ahead - " - if it goes out of range -"

" - stay where I am if I can, yeah -" nodded Serena -

- and Mia took the left as Serena took the right, tracker scarab ensured in Serena's grip as they ran.

++++++

Rochelle glanced at their zombie and hoped Tiffany was sure he was blinded, given what they had done a few hours ago. Noticing Rochelle was watching, Tiffany made his arms outstretch and she laughed.

"Grraaaaiiinnnss..." he said.

"Isn't it 'brains'?" said Rochelle.

"Yeah, but I can't figure out how to do the 'b' yet." She poked him. "You know, it's weird, because I know he can't see or hear anything, but I dunno what Contagion actually does. When I tested it, people said it's like they were unconscious, but if I tap them, they react. If I pinch them, they say 'ow'. Isn't that weird?"

"Do you think if you tried to talk to them, they'd talk back or something?"

"Hey, maybe. Maybe if I knew some like, name that they knew and I said it, and it made them think about some pet they owned or something. I dunno. Maybe you can talk about that in your next interview, right? Going on some super secret mission like this, talking about this."

"Uh, Tiffany, it's confidential."

"Confidential?"

"Like, top-secret."

"Oh. I guess so, yeah." Tiffany smiled. "Maybe they could put you in a suit, like that, um... who's that one guy? The secret spy?"

"Uh, James Bond?"

"Yeah! That's it, like that. Jeez, you'd look so sexy in a suit."

(Rochelle smiled as Tiffany rubbed herself, and her big tits, against her.) "Wait, you were in a suit on the cover of that one magazine you did, right? Ebony?"

"I- uh, yeah. You know, I still see copies of that cover sometimes when I'm out, but I... I don't really like it."

"Why? You looked great."

"It's not about how I looked, it's just..."

"Huh? Oh, are you talking about that time a cop recognized you because he saw you on that magazine? Something like that, right?" Tiffany looked up at Rochelle. "You know, I still don't get why you just let him go. If it was me, I would've just killed the guy."

Rochelle scratched her neck. "I- anyway. It's not about how I looked, it's… and all of the articles they do with me, too. How many times can they just ask me the same stuff? Like, my mom said to me one time that it used to be they reported news and not produced it. And that's why it's so shallow, too, you know? I mean, why is someone like me even getting interviewed and covers and everything like that? I'm just a student. I'm a good student, but I'm not like, a scientist or archaeologist or really great artist or somebody like that, somebody who still contributes to society after they're gone."

"But you risk your life to save people every day."

"Well, yeah, but then ask me about Revenants. I know Revenants, but then they try to ask me how I feel about politics, what I think should be done about stuff, what I think about veganism and stuff like that -- but I don't know shit about any of it. Just because somebody's smart or good at one thing doesn't mean they're smart in another way. And then, when they're inviting me to do these videos with these makeup models, or Tiktok food gurus, or try to get me to endorse their wellness products and all these other types of scams, it makes me think what's the point of us being equal if we're gonna be just as shallow?"

Rochelle sighed.

"Ugh. But not like... And even the way they talk about me, where they say I'm the highest-ranked **Black** student. Sometimes I get calls from people trying to ask me to write about a book about racism, even though I don't know how to write anything. They just think it'll sell because they can market it with my name on the cover and make somebody else write it. It just feels like we wanted to get in to the system and we didn't think if that's where we needed to be."

Tiffany shrugged. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. I wish I looked like some of those models on Instagram do, ugh. It just made me feel kinda like shit when we were in LA."

Rochelle grimaced.

"Uh, Rochelle, I gotta pee, okay? Stay here."

Tiffany walked away, leaving Rochelle & the zombie. Rochelle watched how Tiffany's ass swayed, then sat down with her phone, scrolling through the pictures: some that Tiffany had sent her & others Rochelle had taken of her. After Tiffany came back, Rochelle stood up, then checked around before showing her a few & asking if she wanted to take more. Tiffany was bored and wanted to feel pretty, so she agreed, took her top off and let Rochelle film her a little, before redressing and continuing to walk in the catacombs.

They groaned as they heard it scream behind; and in the next instant -

- the keen end of an icicle pierced Rochelle's back; with the speed of ice she turned, seeing another volley heading for them ahead -

" - Twinfast!"

- but a sweep of her tail froze the frozen projectiles, claws ripping out the initial projectile and bolts stitching her wounds; behind, Tiffany sent the man fleeing, and in the next instant -

- the icicles burst in to flames, immense heat suddenly burning their skin; Rochelle threw her hands forward, desperate bolts trying to stop the heat, creature still fifty feet ahead. A rumbling began below, and in the next instant -

- a fissure erupted at its footing and shot with the speed of sound towards the women, carving and swallowing the ground in its wake; no option left, the women ran back and away, desperate to avoid the fissure growing closer by the second -

" - it's gold, now -" said Rochelle as they ran - " - so - Worldwide, opposite, gotta be - "

" - fire, ice - ground, armor!" shouted Tiffany, and Rochelle nodded, eyes turning back -

- and seeing the creature burrowing in to one of the walls, disappearing out of their sights, and before they could react -

- it erupted out of the ground ahead and blocked their path, suddenly only twenty feet away; it swept down in to the ground again -

- and burst out beneath Rochelle's feet and up to the ceiling, carving her chest as it flew up and disappeared; the agony staggered her back -

- just in time for a blue beam to erupt from the end of the hall -

- and slice her right leg clear off, blood bursting as she fell back -

" - C-Contagion!" shrieked Tiffany, desperate walnut shot in to Rochelle's skin -

- and her controlled limbs ensured durability as Rochelle bolted her leg back on and wounds closed, walnut fading and control returning as she stood again.

At the other end of the hall, another blue beam erupted outward and sought Rochelle's chest; instincts too quick for her mind, she threw her hand out -

- and the beam carved a clear hole through her palm, swift bolts forming to keep it trapped in place, grunting and cursing as she staggered back; but she had no time to rest.

A rumbling began from the wall right, and as the creature burrowed out -

- a sweep of bolts froze it halfway out, trapping and pinning it; and with no time to waste, the women ran again.

++++++

"Man, this sucks." mumbled Serena, checking her phone for signal again.

"The walking?" said Mia.

"No, I can handle that, it's just nothing except walking. Like, I usually have something to watch or listen to, even when we're just d-driving somewhere, but now I-I don't." Serena rubbed her neck, a little scared. "I mean, it just makes me feel, um, anxious."

Mia nodded. "It'll be alright, Serena."

"Um, can you gimme something to drink?"

Mia handed Serena a bottle of water, and she drank from it fast enough some of it dribbled down her chin and on to the floor. They continued walking forward, and Mia turned with the speed of light as she felt a presence behind -

- to see Akira stepping out of Mizuchi's maw; she turned Serena around as the two stepped away. He still had a scar from the last Solar Beam.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" said Mia, aiming her palms forward.

Akira laughed. "I'm not going to fight you, Crystal Ryumi."

"Kamehameha his bald ass, Mia." whispered Serena, relevantly.

"Whatever you're fighting, it's at four counters." Akira glanced back. "I assume you recognize what that means."

Mia frowned. "I do. It counters individual Revenants."

"If it finds you again, form a bottle of water. 23 degrees Celsius, so I can tell it apart."

"Why?"

"What, so you can get us out?" said Serena. "Why the hell are you helping us?"

"I'm ensuring Worldwide's survival." He glanced at Mia, and before Mizuchi swallowed him again, said: "Perhaps its host, if I'm so inclined."

Serena frowned. "Man, what the hell was that about?"

"Serena." mumbled Mia. She pat Serena on the back, reassuring her they would get out soon, but also to no longer speak.

For a reminder, and what Mia was thinking of as they began to walk again, Akira was the bald man who had kidnapped her at the end of their trip with the artifact, and who had given her soda-themed nicknames like Diet Ryumi, Ryumi Lite, 0-Calorie Ryumi, etc. That he spoke of Ryumi & Magnus and clearly knew both had let Mia know he was a former employee of the Eastern League, the agency Magnus (sans Ryumi & Akira) murdered, yet why Magnus hadn't killed Akira, well... She had thought it was some post-humous test, but his reappearance now, after she had realized last month that Magnus had been concerned about Worldwide's *colony* surviving, not his wife, was something she felt must be connected.

So she frowned as she formed a bottle of water: if not yet at 23C.