Showdown at the Buggy Corral (Muse)

>> "You are welcome…I have not been to the museum before anyway."

Agnes was definitely appreciative because she would have hated to have to be around all those bugs by herself. She knew that her powers affected not only the bugs that lived within her, but also seemed to draw others to her. That was something she really did not want to experience by herself. She freaked out enough when she was simply at the mansion and watched several different types suddenly crawling out of the woodwork to her. She would hate to have to be in that museum alone and try to fend off thousands of them on display.

Why was she doing this again?

Then she remembered Maya’s face and she nodded. She was here to learn more about her powers. She could not simply rely on learning to control her abilities without doing more to try and understand the little buggers that were so attracted to her.

>> "Do you really like bugs? Or we are just doing dis for research?"

The question pulled her attention back and Agnes smiled a bit uneasily. “Um, this is more for research,” she replied. “I want to learn more about my powers. The bugs that protect me, I need to learn about them so I figure out how to control them.” she shrugged. “At least that is what the X-Man suggested I do.”

She paused as she turned to look outside. They were getting closer to the Natural Museum, she could tell by the traffic that was beginning to build up. Not only that but one every other lamp post she could see signs that were advertising Bug-apolooza today. The long banners waved in the afternoon breeze and held images of several different types of bugs: beetles, flies, ants, all were done in a very cartoony way that gave the bugs large eyes and big smiling faces. They looked a lot more pleasant on those who came to her in real life.

A glance back to Sveta and she noted the odd look on her face. She must have been curious about who she meant when she said an X-Man advised her.

“Oh, sorry, um,” she knew she neglected to tell her something. “The school doctor suggested that I train with one of the X-Men to get a better handle on my powers. Then…ugh,” she rolled her eyes a little. “This scrawny kid showed up took me to the danger room. Anyways, long story short, I got a little handle on my powers, but I can do better.” she nodded. “Best way for me to do that is to understand bugs better.”

The story was long and something that she ended up omitting a lot from. She did not want to Sveta to know about what followed, about how Gawain had tattled about her scars, about the guidance counselor she had to see, about her breakdown, and about attacking Maya with a bag of marshmallows. It was a long story and to be honest Sveta did not need to know that much about her life. After all, she was nice enough to help her, that did not give Agnes a right to talk her ear off about every little thing that happened to her.

Once the museum came into view, Agnes took a deep breath and steadied herself. “Looks like this is it,” she muttered with a little bit of apprehension. She really hoped she was making the right decision in walking into that building.

>> "Dis can be fun…And if dere is any problem, let me know. I am here to help."

Agnes smiled appreciatively at her friend and nodded her head. She really was happy to have the woman here with her. So far Sveta really was her closest friend. She liked Gina and Liz well enough but she was still working on being friends with them. Gina and she announced that they would be sisters, but Agnes felt like they had rarely seen one another lately. Not that she could blame her. Classes were in session and it was difficult for them to pass by each other in a regular basis. Most of the time they only saw each other at the end of the day. She would definitely make time to see her more regularly.

As they pulled up to the front of the museum, took another shuddering breath. The steps up to the front doors were clamoring with people from all walks of life: men, women, children, professionals, artists, intellectuals, many different citizens had showed up for the fun. Agnes was definitely not looking forward to this, but it was necessary.

Another glance to Sveta and she nodded. It was time to go. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a few bills she had earned doing other students homework, she was very secretive about this, and handed them over to cab driver.

The ride fully paid for, Agnes climbed out of the cab and waited for Sveta to join her on the sidewalk. When she did she smiled to her.

“I…I don’t know what’s going to happen in there. If…you know, those bugs start to get a little crazy, drag me out? Okay?” she asked, trying to make Sveta promised.

Whether or not the woman promised, Agnes did not completely care. She was thankful for Sveta, but if she sensed that things were getting too crazy, she would eject herself. What she should have asked the young woman was if she would make sure that Agnes STAYED inside the fair and actually learned something about these insects. It took most of her willpower to take the taxi ride, she did not know how much she had left to actually stay IN the building.

Gulping, she turned and glanced to the entrance. She could always seem some collectors bringing pet carriers with insects scuttling around inside them. Though she could not actually see them, she felt as if each and every one of their thousands of eyes were on her. She really hoped that was simply paranoia and nothing more.

“Gawd, what am I doing, what am I doing, what am I doing?” she chanted to herself as she hugged her notepad to her chest.

***

Arthur Slump wheezed and huffed as he made his way up the steps of the museum. The very large, balding man with thick glasses and a t-shirt that was way too tight for his…ample frame was dotted with sweat as he carried several containers that each held a deadly looking array of exotic insects. The man coughed as he took a puff from his asthma inhaler and stopped to rest against a column and stared at the entrance.

For years Arthur had been one of the most enthusiastic collectors. He had collections that surpassed anybody else’s and all his studies and hobbies were devoted to them. Nobody, absolutely nobody knew more about insects than he did. That was why he was supposed to be hosting this shindig, he had the collection, the knowledge. But imagine his surprise when the leaders of this fair denied his application to host. They wanted a “pretty boy” to be the face of Bug-apooloza, not some overweight 30 year old asthmatic with an acne problem.

Drying his sweaty palms against his shorts, Arthur held up one of his cages as a wide grin crept over his face. With a wink of his eye, the rhino beetle began to dance and twirl as if it were something it did every day of its life. The reality was that it was all Arthur…and his mutation to control insects.

“Don’t worry, my pretties,” he wheezed as he looked between all his insects. His eyes lit up as he turned to look at the museum where many, many, MANY more were sure to be. “Well make this a Bug-apooloza they will NEVER forget.”

Agnes did her best to keep Sveta’s words of encouragement in her head. She would be okay, She would be okay, She would be okay…she had to keep remembering that. It was no use to stay afraid of her own abilities for the rest of her life. The only way she was going to gain any control over her power was to learn about it. And that meant that she was going to have to learn about insects. The whole idea made her skin crawl a little.

It was not that Agnes had problems with insects, no. She always found them fascinating while in school, but it was the fact that she had to expose herself to so many that left her own edge. That was why she hugged her notepad close as she walked in through those large, double doors and entered a world of six-legged, large eyed creatures.

The museum was decked out for Bug-apooloza. The same banners she saw along the street were here, including many more of other cartoony insects. Agnes found herself staring at these for the longest time before she fully walked into the room. Lining the edges were various tables that held whole assortments of insects. One table specialized in various types of millipedes, centipedes, and other most poisonous creatures. Across from that table were larger containers that held actual hives inside and showed a mass of bees clamoring around, allowing people to take in the full look of a honeycomb. And behind them, further back was a table dedicated to arachnids and held all sorts of spiders, scorpions, tarantulas, etc.

It was definitely a bug lovers dream…and Agnes was terrified.

>> "It is going to be all right. Vere do you want to start?"

Agnes took a steadying breathe as she nodded. She tried to hide how apprehensive she was about going through with her. The white in her knuckles as she clenched the notepad for dear life proved that. But try as she might she could not bring herself to run. She needed to know and that meant facing her fears. With a tiny gulp she glanced at a table that held all types of roaches: German, Madagascar Hissing, Chinese…

“I…I guess the roaches would be the safest place to start,” she mumbled as she began to head that way.

And the second she stepped closer to one of the table then she caught various insects begin to crawl over the walls of the container that she was closest to. They were catching her scent and every insect table she passed immediately took notice of her. Feeling their billions of eyes upon her Agnes visibly shuddered as she continued to move on to the roach table where, in every case, they began to crawl on the walls and ceilings, attempting to get to her.

Agnes sniffled as she held up her notepad and began to jot down notes.

“Why?” she asked more to her herself than to anyone. “What do they want from me?”

****

Arthur panted as he made his rounds, seeing the usually pathetic attempts at bug collecting that this place seemed to bring in. Everyone had all the common and most basic types of insects. The few that were interesting he had already collected long ago, one of the first, actually. That is why the man walked with a superior air about him as he walked to the last table and began to set up his collection. Only his most rare bugs were being displayed, including Walking Sticks, Japanese Hornets, Goliath Birdeaters, Rhino Beetles, Centipedes, etc. All his bugs were hugs, scary and some especially deadly.

He would show up every one here and with his collection, he would make the heads of the Bug-apoolza council pay for not accepting his application. But first…he had to try and appear like everyone else. He would have his revenge but if there was one thing he knew, was that women bug-aficionados made the best lovers...

Or so he heard. It was never too late! So with that in mind, after he smoothed out his Arthur began to circulate around the room, eyeing certain women, ignoring others (as if he really had a choice) and scoffed his fellow bug collectors displays. It was then that he spied a blonde beauty standing with another young girl near the roach table. A flop sweat came over his as he heard the woman speak with a Russian accent and he had to calm himself down. Clearing his throat, spitting into his hand to slick back his hair (or what was left of it), he sauntered over to the Russian beauty and beamed.

“Aaaah, Periplaneta americana,” he grinned, speaking to Sveta. “American roach. You…a BIG fan?” he asked, his breath smelling of peanut butter and sardines as he waggled his brows. “You should see my collection. Best in the state, the world, even.”

>> "Dey look... kinda cute…I think they like you"

“Ugh,” Agnes shook her head distastefully. “I would appreciate it they liked me a little less.” she muttered as she looked at all the various cages of roaches. They were all clamoring around their cages.

She could not believe that Sveta really found them as cute. For a second she was going to accuse her of just saying that because she was trying to make her feel better but Agnes ended up not saying anything at all. In truth she was too busy getting past her emotions of feeling all the insects looking at her and trying to focus on the research of the pesky critters. She jotted down notes as she watched several of the bugs attempt to crawl down to the bottom of their cages and circle around. She had seen her own roaches do that when she was agitated. It was as if they were circling her like a barrier around her feet. Now she was watching other bugs attempt to do the same thing.

Slowly she got over the tears and sadness and the paranoia of being watched and simply watched. Needless to say it was rather interesting to watches the roaches do this. They did not seem threatening to her, they only wanted to be near her.

Hmm…maybe…maybe that’s what that smell is? she thought. There was always a smell about her that she had figured was just because of her living on the streets. But even at the mansion, taking shower after shower, the smell was only masked and did not fully die away. Maybe that was what attracted them.

Quickly she jotted down this question…and was promptly interrupted by another voice…

>>“Aaaah, Periplaneta americana. American roach. You…a BIG fan? You should see my collection. Best in the state, the world, even.”

>> "Huhh...? I, ummm…Do not really know much. Just looking around…Ve are doing a school project."

Agnes turned and spied the disgusting looking man with the lecherous look in his eyes. Really? They were still in their teens and this man was drooling over Sveta? That was just utterly disgusting and completely wrong. She shook her head as she turned her attention back to the roach cages and kept jotting notes about their behavior.

“Beat it, tubs, she’s with me, all right?”

Arthur scoffed as he looked between them and shook his head. The tone of Agnes’ voice seemed to make the man twitchy. “Hey, no need to be rude, ladies. I’m only saying that if you want to really learn about bugs, well, it might be beneficial to bring your tight lil behinds over to my booth.”

The runaway stiffened up, turned with a wide-eyed look on her face. That man was still leering at them both with a tiny bit of spittle at the corner of his mouth. Agnes, unsure of how Sveta felt, immediately felt offended for the both of them.

“How dare you!” she said. Her hand, nothing more than a blur shot through the air and slapped the man directly into his flabby cheek.

“GAH!” the man whimpered as he held his burning red face. “What the hell is your problem!? You insane…!” the next word that followed out of his mouth would have stung the ears of every woman present. It was low grade profanity and its worst and something that should have stayed within the confines of the imagination and never allowed to be spoken in public.

Agnes was fuming after hearing that word and glanced to Sveta…

>> "Leave us alone…We mind our own business and you mind yours, and if you do not walk away, I will call de police."

Sveta was upset, Agnes could see that but the woman was much more calm than Agnes was. The runaway was getting upset. Her eyes narrowed, her nostrils fumed, she looked like a bull ready for the charge but as she stared at the man, she could only taste bile coming up in her throat. This specimen of “humankind” was anything but perfect. The man was crude, disgusting and warranted that slap to the face. If Agnes could have legally done more she would have. Unfortunately his type was something she saw far too much of in the streets. She doubted that the slap were deter him from further escapades, but for the moment it seemed to really implant the shock and humiliation he needed to feel right now.

Her companion’s calm words and Agnes threatening looks, as well as those from the rest of the females around them seemed to all have the desired effect on Arthur. As the man stood there, trying to regain some of his dignity, Agnes could not help but feel just how utterly pathetic he was. Standing there, sweating, smelling to high heaven of fish and peanut butter, the red mark blazing red on his cheek…Agnes could only shake her head.

“I’d listen to her if I were you. Go…NOW…” Agnes whispered harshly as her hard eyes drilled holes into the man.

Arthur grumbled as he stood there, all eyes upon him as he attempted to covered the hot imprint of a hand on his face. He looked humiliated, defeated, and at the same time, utterly pissed off. Shaking with what seemed to be rage, the man quickly wiped away some of the sweat from his forehead, slowly backed away and finally turned to head back to his booth. All eyes watched the man go as Agnes was left standing there, staring at the back of him (which was not a pretty sight).

She took a calming breath, a little proud of herself for having maintained her control over the swarm. But as she turned around back to the table, she noted that all the insects there seemed to be extremely agitated and all were pointed directly at the heavyset man as he shuffled away in defeat.

Agnes paused as she stared at them, noting that none of them seemed intent on anything else except the man who had made her feel so threatened. They were picking up on it.

Quickly she jotted this note down before she turned back to Sveta.

“You okay?” she asked earnestly. Immediately she began to feel guilty for bringing Sveta here. This should have been her task and task alone, no one else’s. She should have known better. “I-I’m sorry you had to go through that. If, you know, you want to leave you can. I can get back to mansion myself,” she said as she moved over to another table, watching as wasps began to climb all over the wall facing her. “Really,” she said with a nod. “I’d understand.”

****

Arthur fumed all the way back to his table, his eyes aimed directly at the ground for fear of all the various women who were glaring at him with such hatred and anger. Never did he feel so small, so utterly pathetic and useless in his life. He wanted to find the deep, darkest hole that was possible and crawl into it, after which, he would pulled the roof in after him. He was so humiliated, angry, and made into such a pariah. It was true to say that Arthur felt as low as the lowest belly crawler in his collection.

And it was all because of the people in this convention.

The sudden idea that it was Bug-apooloza’s fault and not his began to fill and germinate his mind. He was deadest to make every single one of them pay now. He had had it that was enough! No more would they have him to push around because making fun of him was easy. He would make each and every last one of them pay for his embarrassment.

A string of drool lowered from the corner of his mouth as he panted and wheezed his way back to his table. All his insects were doing their everyday things in their cages: sleeping, pouncing, crawling about with no sense of what they were or where they were at. They would exact his revenge for him…on everyone.

Grabbing the nearest cage, Arthur giggled madly to himself as he grabbed a couple more, ignored the odd looks he got and disappeared behind a curtain. Slowly he undid the tops of the cages of his most dangerous and terrifying insects. Then gently, one by one he set them loose, hidden behind the stage and immediately took control of their minuscule minds. His bidding would be carried out to the letter.

It time all of them knew who the real master of bugs was!

Agnes was still greatly irritated and sorry that Sveta had to go through that. It simply was no cool to have had to go through what that man had done. He was a monster and really, Agnes felt that the man should have gotten much more than just an angry look and a threat for a call to the police. Maybe it would have been a lot better if she had thrust her foot up in between the man’s legs and see what he would have spit up. After all, if that was the man’s problem then she would have no issue with removing or at least severely wounded the root of his major malfunction.

But while the fantasy floated around in her head, Agnes was brought back to her senses with Sveta’s comment…which was quickly followed by praise for keeping herself under control.

>> "I'm fine…I have seen worse…Good job…You know, wid control."

Agnes felt a little uncomfortable since she did not always care to receive praise from people, but she had to admit that it really did feel good. She had gotten more upset during this incident than she normally allowed herself to get and still she had managed to hold back the Swarm. The buzzing echoed deep in her chest, but she did not get the usual feeling of hundreds of multi legged creatures trying to crawl up her throat. She got angry, but she managed to hold them back…

Maybe that Danger Room session with Gawain really did help. As much as she hated to admit it, she was definitely going to have to schedule more with him, or Maya, in order to gain even further control.

Speaking of which, she would have to return to the bugs that skittered around their cages in front of her…


>> "Looks like everyone wants to protect you."

Agnes scoffed a little as several of the insects continued to crawl around their cages, trying to get close to her. She sighed as she shook her head and began to jot down another not about their behaviors.

“Yeah, so it seems.” she shook her head as she turned back around to face her friend. “I just…I just wish I could, you know, talk to them. Understand what they want. Of course with these powers, the one I don’t get is actually talking to them. I wish I knew someone, anyone, a mutant, an insect psychic, a giant bug that could speak English, to help me translate what it is they want from me.”

Visibly frustrated, the young runaway sighed as she shook her head and flipped through the few pages of notes that she had written down. So far she was getting at least a little understanding into the behavior of the roaches; now she just needed to explore other insects and attempt to figure what in god’s green earth they wanted.

She sighed as she shook her head, but her frustration was short lived, when, before she knew it, an ear piercing scream shot through the air. Immediately, a startled Agnes looked up and watched as a woman at the far side of the room, threw herself back as several long centipedes were latched onto her face, hands and arms. She flailed but the burning pain she was obviously experiencing did not allow her to stay on her feet for long. Suddenly, foam at her lips, she toppled to the side and into a heap on the ground.

“Oh my god,” Agnes said as she shared a look with Sveta. “Did she get too close to a display or something?”

But before she could question further, a security guard at the entrance suddenly gasped and reached for his own neck. Around him, several large, red and black Japanese hornets buzzed. Agnes had heard about those before and the reports of their unusually large size were definitely not mistake. They looked like winged demons as they buzzed around the guard and blocked the entrance.

“What on earth…?” she started to say as mayhem broke loose. It was then her eyes fell on Sveta and she saw the huge, Birdeater spider crawling up her Russian friend’s shoulder. “Your shoulder! Your shoulder!!” she screamed…