15

This is the Chinese botanical garden. Rand Enterprises finances much of it. And for the most part, he's in good company. A certain herbalist plans to use this in her epic defensive of two magi she barely knows.

Davos ventures out into the leaves. They're as high as his waist. He looks around. Most of the garden's visitors have left. Perfect. They won't want to be around for what follows.

Carson's in his ear. He tells Davos he's going to get a bug's eye view of the place. He'll contact him if he sees the herbalist. With that, he leaps out of Davos's ear, lands on a flying black ant in mid-fall, and commences reconnaissance.

He gets far from Davos. And that's not the only thing he gets far from...

The garden sings to him. Its shapes are distorted. Carson's used to this; size control has played tricks on his subconscious before. He ventures on.

The sunset is pink. So are many plants in the garden. He flies past many flowers. They're big and red. They look like they host a LOT of seed. They smell like their nectar is so sweet...

The ant leaves him on the ground, and flies away. He doesn't even react.

Thunder causes an intense earthquake. The first time, he dismisses it. The second time, he falls over. He looks up.

He sees...Giganta. She towers over him like a colossal horror movie monster. He can see up her skirt. He can't tell if that look on her face is... He's not looking at her face. There are just SO many parts of her he can see better from down here.

He knows not, and cares not, how she sees him. But she bends over, and picks him up with her humongous fingers...

Outside, this is all just a hallucination. In reality, Johnson has set a trap for Carson. And he's fallen into it. And she's seen it all.

She picks up his small body by his leg. She chuckles, as she marvels at how small he is. He drops him in a bag full of herbs, seals it, and leaves the bag in her purse. One down; one to go...that she knows of.

Not far off, Davos stalks through the flora. His fists are as dim as dark. They won't be for long. But then, it seems that if the target is a mere herbalist, he won't be needing as much of the Serpent's Sting as he anticipates...

The pink sunset streams through the sky. A bug flies in Davos's eyes. He rubs them. It feels so good for him to rub his eyes, that he forgets where he is or what he's doing...

He's on a beach in Singapore. The sunset is a very seductive pink. Yellow girls in white bikinis wander the beach. They've flat chests and small bodies. They make a path for him as he stumbles about. They giggle about him.

He THINKS it's about him. He's not sure...

Singapore's such a nice country. Why can't more be like it?

Yoshida Brothers music plays in the background. It's such a seductive evening. It's in moments like these Davos takes shame in being single. But then, it might actually be a better thing that he is...

It's such a nice night. There's only one person who could make it better...

And he sees her: Alfre Woodard in a swimsuit. In her sixties, and still smoking hot. She's a cougar if Davos never saw one. And as cougar bait, he is SO desperate to be hunted...

She narrows her eyes, and stalks in circles around him. She seems tempted...

Davos wonders why his family isn't here. He doesn't usually spend his vacations with them. He usually doesn't take a vacation at all. Something's wrong with all this...

She's right in front of him. She touches his shaved head. Her hand is so soft. It's as if she's not even there...

He stares down her chest, of course. He'd love to be Carson right now, if only he could go rappelling down her downblouse...

The beach is attacked by a terrorist. Davos barely sees him. Except, he's not your usual terrorist. He hops like a toad. He flicks his tongue, and eats one of the beach girls. The beach girls scream and run. He leaps around in the background. Davos is lost in this moment with Alfre Woodard...

Davos is shocked that terrorist didn't bring along the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Oh well; he'd have a devil of a time snatching Alfre away from him...

Toynbee lands just behind Alfre. Davos can see him...but doesn't react. He's in love with Alfre. Toynbee seizes the opportunity, and flicks his tongue towards Alfre's thick ass...

The vision disappears. Instead, Davos sees Batroc strike a little black girl, and knock her unconscious. She falls down between them. She must be the herbalist Davos and Carson were sent to take down.

Davos glares down at her, with a disgusted face. "I can't believe I thought you were Alfre Woodard." He brushes himself off. "I'd hate to think you're her daughter." He acknowledges Batroc. "Don't you have captives to guard?"

"The captives are no more," Batroc says, in his French-Algerian accent. "They have been re-tasked."

"Re-tasked? For what?"