Dohi tried to mask the sounds of their approach but it was nearly impossible with the slurp of his steps. Their only saving grace was another rash of explosions in the distance and the overpowering odor of the dead and dying masking their own smells.
He held his hatchet at the ready, and Fitz gripped his Ka-Bar. The Variants stood in front of another set of wooden doors which were cracked slightly open.
If something was in there, maybe the Prophet, Dohi didn’t want to give any warning that they were outside.
He peeled back more vines until he was just a few feet from his first target Variant. The beast gnawed at a bone. Another two were focused on a cocooned body, pulling out stringy lengths of flesh and chewing them.
Fitz counted down with his fingers.
Three.
Dohi inhaled sharply, cocking back his hatchet. With his other hand, he pulled out his knife.
Two.
He took a step forward and aimed at the spine of the first Variant.
One.
Dohi lunged, swinging the hatchet. It cleaved into the creature’s diseased flesh and cut into bone with a sharp crack. Fitz attacked the second, catching it from behind and sawing his knife straight through the cartilage and flesh at its throat.
Ace and Rico engaged two others, leaving a final abomination that twisted toward Dohi with an open mouth, ready to let loose a shriek.
Dohi threw his knife into the black hole, breaking teeth as it plunged into the throat. The monster shuddered, then fell backward.
The others circled around the open doors, their targets down. Dohi wiggled his hatchet free and then retrieved his knife.
Fitz signaled for Team Spearhead and Corrin to join them. Toussaint and Neilson were in no shape to perform room-clearing maneuvers, but they kept close behind.
Dohi prepared to enter what he hoped would be the lair of the Prophet. All the dense webbings led to this spot. If someone or something was controlling the operations in Vegas, it would be orchestrating the monsters from this place.
He raised his rifle, heart climbing into his throat with anticipation.
A nod from Fitz and Dohi slipped into a vast room, zeroing in on movement at the opposite end. Past the stringy columns of webbing, shapes rushed their position, letting out growls and snarls. Behind them was a much larger creature, hunched to fit into the room, its flesh hanging in folds like the surface of a brain.
A mastermind.
But was this mastermind the Prophet?
Either way, it wasn’t alone. A group of Variants crawled around the room.
Fitz gave the order to open fire.
Dohi sighted up a Variant on the webbing, the others following his lead. Bullets lanced into the beasts, dropping them from the ceiling and walls.
In only a few seconds, several were bleeding out on the ground. Another group of four careened from a side door. More suppressed gunfire echoed in the room. Two monsters crashed forward against the webbing, dead. One of the survivors slammed against Rico, knocking her on her back.
“No!” Fitz charged the monster and grabbed its shoulders, trying to tear it off Rico.
The other Variant shouldered into Ace, knocking him flat on his back.
Dohi couldn’t get a clear shot without risking hitting Ace. Instead he tackled the monster, freeing Ace.
The creature hissed and snapped at him, teeth coming inches from his face. Dohi pushed the head back, but it was stronger than he was and inched toward him with jagged, yellow teeth.
A bulky shape lunged overhead.
Ace.
He wrenched the Variant’s head back, twisting it violently until a sickening pop echoed in the room. Ace gasped for breath, letting the monster drop, then offered a hand to help Dohi up.
Ten feet away, Rico and Fitz had recovered and approached the mastermind.
Only now, Dohi had time to see what kind of room they were in. Chairs were scattered throughout the space and a long table lay on its side. What used to be glass walls appeared to have shattered, letting the vines spill out from a neighboring corridor. Behind the mastermind were more sweeping views of the city covered in fire and smoke.
The beast was nearly twice as tall as any of the operators, but it seemed to cower at their approach. Using claws, it tugged on the tendrils of the network, undoubtedly sending messages for help.
“Ain’t no one coming to help you, sweetheart,” Ace said.
“This looks like the heart of the comms network,” Dohi said. “But unless that thing is the Prophet, I don’t see anything else.”
“This hunk of meat is the Prophet?” Rico asked.
Corrin squinted from where he stood near the entrance of the room, tugging on a few of the red vines. “No, this is just a normal mastermind.” He held the vine. “It’s scared of us. That’s why it’s sending all these messages.”
“You sure?” Fitz asked.
“Yes, the Prophet is not one of these organic computers,” Corrin said.
“Fine,” Fitz said. “Kill it.”
The group opened fire on the beast, aiming for its head. Bullets plunged into the flesh, drawing blood wherever they pierced. The monster writhed, pulling hard on the vines, backing away from the gunfire. One of its eyes popped, viscous fluid leaking out, and the monster let out a pained roar. It fell backward, arms still flailing, and broke the windows behind it.
Beaten back by gunfire, the mastermind plummeted out, snapping vines. A moment later, Dohi heard a sickening smack against concrete.
“Let’s move,” Fitz said. He pointed toward the corridor they hadn’t yet explored to their right.
Did the Prophet go that way before they had arrived? Were the other New Gods leaders waiting for them?
Before they moved, voices filled the first corridor where they had come from. Spearhead hobbled into the room, shutting the door behind them quietly.
Neilson signaled that they had seen more contacts.
Those voices grew louder, permeating under the door. There was no mistaking their rasping, crackly words. Chimeras were on their way. Dohi tensed, aiming his rifle at the door, waiting for them to burst through.
But the beasts went quiet.
Corrin sniffed at the air. “I smell something sharp. Like gun powder, except…”
“TNT,” Dohi
