"Sweet bunker baby" was not amused by the new nickname given by the bug but she knew better than to enrage the only person that was stopping the poncho lady from filling her body with lead, so she shut her mouth and moved closer to the red woman to wait further orders.
She waited in silent beside the crimson lady, observing the ridiculous scene with a mix of curiosity, fear and disbelief. It was all real, she was sure of that but at the same time, a surreal veil covered everything. What she saw was impossible, yet it was happening in her lobby as if it were the most common thing on earth. The giant cockroach was speaking as a polite and cultured man, using a mix of values and customs long forgotten that contrasted greatly with his bug-like appearance. He was addressing a woman wearing a poncho that was very hard to spot and that gave Celeste a headache each time she tried to focus on her face. At least she had her name: Seyta. She will make sure to burn that name so hard on her brain that she would never forget.
Then, there was the red woman carrying a trident as if she were Poseidon's daughter, she was most likely a cousin of Venus and of course, a mutant. To complete the silly scene that took over her once peaceful bunker, there were a lot of smaller roaches poking at the furniture with child-like glee. If she were not a hostage of these monsters, she would have laughed very hard at the unreasonable scene but since she was their prisoner, she was not amused.

A very sharp noise made her flinch back to reality or at least back to the joke that really had become. She looked with desperation at her chest, clearly expecting to see blood gushing from a freshly opened wound but there was nothing there aside from her almost pristine clothes. She raised her gaze in confusion, to find that the source of the noise was produced by a broken vase. He questioned her before she could even register the destruction of that beautiful piece of furniture, when she managed to decode what he asked, she hastily negated with her head.

The red woman name was Jezebel. She had another name to add to her list. Poor Celeste, she was so young and with so many arch-enemies... she had to do something to reduce the size of that list at some point in the future but not at that moment. She had more pressing matters to attend to, as the bloodstained trident the woman was pointing at her. If that was not a pressing matter, she did not know what it was.
Celeste lifted her gaze from the bloody tip of the weapon to her face, glad to take her eyes away from that dangerous triple spear. She was rewarded by a very sweet smile from the red woman. Her expression puzzled the girl. What did it mean? Was she trying to tell her something? Maybe she was on her side... no, she was not. Her sweet smile was fake and soon faded into a very hostile expression that chilled her blood and sent shivers down her spine. The red of her skin made that expression worse, it was as if she was covered in blood from head to toe, Celeste's sweet blood.

Before Princess Jezebel could even think of repeating her order, Celeste was already speeding toward the door that separated the lobby from the kitchen. She glanced back one time, to make sure that the woman was following her and then continued walking pass the orderly kitchen toward a smaller corridor that ended in a medium size service elevator and a cold metal ladder. "How much do you weight?" She asked the red woman with delight in her voice. Celeste knew very well that the elevator could carry both of them and more without problems but since the female version of Venus did not know that, she decided to play dumb and started to stare at her as if she were extremely obese and would not fit in the lift. If she could take the elevator alone, she may be able to gain some advantage. "You may have to use the ladder." It was a step ladder, difficult to descend, harder to ascend. She grinned.

Seyta glared at Roach, as well as everyone else there. She was going to teach this girl her lesson no matter what. If she had to be patient to do that... Then so be it. While the small bugs attempted to play with everything Seyta left the girl to Jez. She was blindly loyal wouldn't hurt her unless told to. Roach did know how to pick his pawns well.

For now Seyta wanted to let things get settled into the new plan. Then she would have the freedom to explore the entirety of the bunker and help herself to just about everything. The rooms where small enough that her field covered almost the entire space, including below her. Since the others where heading down the elevator Seyta could move virtually unimpeded. Until then she would simply wait against the wall and out of the way.

Things were going well, weren't they? Yes, everything was going according to plan. He was about to have his greatest desire fulfilled! Nothing could ruin this moment for him. He clasped his hands together expectantly as they approached a very competent looking elevator, and the little blonde told him he may have to climb.

Had he a smile, it would have turned into a frown, could he frown. Instead, his hands tightened on each other, and his mandibles gritted against each other. He looked up at the ladder, and then to Jezebel, and finally to Celeste again. With a slow click, he summoned out a little cockroach with a bent antennae, and chittered lowly at it. It gave what could only have been described as a nod, and flew from his shoulder, and into the lining of the elevator shaft.

"Sweet, sweet child... Riddle me this... Why would a girl so prepared as you... have an elevator that cannot hold a few adults... I thought it a bit odd at first, that you would absolutely have to separate yourself from us in order for my sceme to work... but then I thought.... Nukes are heavy. Very heavy... So much so, that I very much doubt you would be able to get them down an elevator shaft without... say... An elevator that worked very. Well."

With that, the bug wiggled out of the lining of the shaft, and flew back on over, chittering in his ear. He gave a quick nod, and then allowed the bug back into his shell. "Simple counter weighted operation, with steel cables, able to handle a couple of tons, no problem..." He looked at the girl, tilted his head a little bit, and slowly reached out for her neck...

As if he changed his mind half way, his hand averted, and landed on her shoulder, where he crouched down so that they would be eye to eye. He spoke gently, yet solidly at the same time. "Child... I don't wish you to come to any harm; I really don't. It's counter productive of my goals... But if you try to trick me again... I'll eat your face...okay?" He nodded a little, and then stepped into the elevator, waving Jez and her little captor on in.

Her triumphant smile did not last for long. It clung into her lips for a small fraction of a second but as soon as the roach approached them, it vanished along with the small hope it provided her. She tried to move away from the monster but the tight corridor did not allowed her to escape and soon her back found the hardness of the nearest wall. The creature was terrifying just by standing there but just in case she could gather enough courage to defy him again, he clenched his mandibles in a way that shook each bone of her body.
Then, as if that sight would not be enough to scare the bravest of men, the giant roach produced a small roach from within his body and sent it flying to the elevator. As scared as she was, the girl still managed to press her back harder to the wall to avoid the flying cockroach. There was plenty of space for the four of them and several of his minions but all of a sudden the corridor looked extremely small.

The question was easy or at least a lot easier than the one about what he wanted from her bunker... but the words got stuck at her throat. She experienced a moment of great bravery when she thought about tricking them into using the old ladder but now she was a scared little girl again, begging for her life with her tired black eyes, silently asking the giant insect for mercy. The situation was overwhelming to the point Celeste could not think of anything but horrible ways to die, so lying was out of question and so was escaping.

The flying roach returned to its master and somehow informed him of what he found about the elevator. Celeste did not hear any word but the giant roach was now in possession of some knowledge about that heavy duty machinery that moved the cage, then he moved toward Celeste to deliver her punishment, his hand was extended toward her and all she could do was to close her eyes and hope for a quick dead. Instead, his hand landed on her shoulder so she opened her eyes to find the roach crouching and staring into her eyes. She gasped in horror but her muscles could not move, so she listened in silence. When he finally finished with his not so reassuring speech, she nodded as quickly as she could and then let him guide her to the elevator. She waited there for a moment and when the red woman got inside the compartment, she closed the door and pressed one of the many buttons in the console. She could hear the sound of electricity reaching the motor and then, the whole cage started to move downward in a very smooth motion. A moment later, the elevator stopped moving and a tiny display confirmed them that they had arrived to B1, the storage room. It was a big room, very alike to a warehouse that contained a lot of tall shelves filled with different products. Some contained canned food, others shelves have bottled water, different articles for daily life and a lot of the things that she had exchanged. But what they were looking for was behind all that, in the farthest corner, covered by mantles that formed a lump. The nuke.

Yes. That's right. When Roach ascended that elevator he, or rather his big red henchwoman, had a nuke.

He stared at it fondly on the ride up, petting it as if it would purr. "Ahhh... It's like a piece of beautiful modern art... For countless millennia human kind struggled against nature, and failed... And here, the symbol of their greatest victory, and their greatest defeat." And I will use it to end their plague for good... He cooed at the thought as the door opened, and he beckoned the entourage through into the main room.

It was then that one of the minions eyed the nuke for a moment, raised his gun, and shot it.

"GAH! WHAT DID I SAY?! ONE THING! DON'T SHOOT THE NUKE!"

"Shoot da nuke?" They all aimed their rifles, and he stepped in front of it.

"No. No shoot nuke. Shoot nuke bad... I... I really must put you through school or something. This is just incomprehensibly stupid."

The minions lowered their weapons and looked around absently for a moment, and then started kicking the furniture.

Gregory sighed, and then turned to Celeste.

"To the door. Now."