Moth hybrids are really cool! I was looking at some different moths the other day!!! There's a white one that I think is pretty cute! :D People call it a sky puppy moth
beans used to draw moths for me a while ago and i still have the art downloaded to my phone, and what I wouldn't do to com someone to draw a sky puppy moth hybrid. They're precious and look constantly pouty, what's not to love?
In the Acute Care scenario (the Dark Conspiracy RPG) the hospital is run by alien bug monsters who delight in torturing and experimenting on the hapless patients. This is not at all a metaphor for the American health care system.
Finally filling my Wong space for the @stephenstrangebingo (oh hey third bingo). I've not really written from Wong's POV before, either, so this'll be fun. Card at the end.
I sort of have 2000 words of build-up before I actually get to the Whumptober prompt itself, but it is present! I just uh, well, I guess it wanted story first. So that comes first.
Warnings: Uh, by the time we get to the prompt, lots of blood and a mix of magical and mundane healing/emergency field medicine. I don't think it's graphic, but… tell me if it seems on the more graphic side? I'm a horrible judge at such things when it comes to my writing. Oh, also, big alien scarab bugs. Lots of bugs.
27. Alt #15: Field Medicine / Wong
Ever since The Situation With Thanos, Stephen Strange was on retainer with the Avengers to consult on more mystical artifacts and, on rare occasion, to help out with threats. When these threats came, the Master of the New York Sanctum was called in as last-minute backup, wherever they were in the world. His ability to be anywhere in an instant made him perfect for the job.
Wong warned him about getting too embroiled in these mundane affairs. Unfortunately, Stephen had a very stubborn streak of "if I do nothing and people die, that's my fault" embedded within him that the head librarian wasn't able to quash.
When the agreement was first made, not long after the Decimated came back into being, Wong was honestly worried that they would use him as an easy solution for every terrorist group, every new so-called supervillain, and cleanup projects that would eat up all of Stephen's time. And Stephen, guilt-ridden for every life he wasn't able to save, would have done every single one without complaint.
Thankfully the Avengers weren't being complete idiots and calling him in for every so-called emergency. Since the agreement was made, he was called for two scheduled, non-emergency consultations and only one nasty invasion of something that was alien in nature and going to quickly eat everything, living or not, in the city of Houston without immediate intervention. That was fine, and Wong began to relax at the new norm of occasionally crossing paths with these so-called superheroes.
The second time Stephen was called in for an emergency, Wong was with him. They were in the library at Kamar-Taj when, in the quiet of the room, even he could hear the buzzing from a pocket on Stephen's robes.
Stephen shot him an apologetic look and left the library to take the call. When he returned, his expression was grim. "I have to cut this short, Wong. Remember Houston?"
"How could I forget?" He wasn't there, but he saw the footage. Those alien things were… unpleasant. Seemed more inter-dimensional than alien, but they were definitely from their dimension, just very, very foreign to Earth.
"Yeah, they're back, but this time in Mérida, Mexico."
Wong raised his brows. "The Avengers want you to go to Mexico?"
"The Mexican government has already called the Avengers to Mexico, but by the time they get there from New York, Mérida will be half-gone." Stephen was carefully pecking out the name 'Mérida' on Google Image Search on his phone for a reference. "Apparently they've evacuated the area of all civilians. Also, I don't know if Mexico has any enhanced people in that area, so it might just be local law enforcement and whatever people in the army they've managed to get there. Those things are vicious, so I'm going in."
"I'll go with you." Stephen looked at him in surprise, and Wong continued, "As you said, they are vicious. And someone needs to watch your back."
"The Cloak does that," Stephen retorted, but he didn't argue otherwise and, a moment later, created a portal into the heart of Mérida.
Wong had a particular fondness for movies that explored the occult and supernatural in completely inaccurate ways. One of those films was 1999's The Mummy. While its interpretation of ancient Egyptian powers was laughably wrong (oh, if only Hollywood knew), the movie was genuinely funny and enjoyable.
He realized that, as he and Stephen stepped through the portal and he saw the two-foot-long, insectoid alien creatures for the first time in person, that they reminded him very much of the fictional variety of scarabs that featured heavily within the movie. Only instead of just flesh, these things were eating concrete, trees, and… yes, that was definitely a bicycle wheel in that one's mouth. It looked like the area had been evacuated, at least.
At the smell of their fresh blood, however, a good two dozen several yards away abandoned their lifeless meals to charge right at them.
Wong immediately threw a Flames of the Faltine at the first wave of the beasts coming at them. "Please tell me your oath doesn't cover these things," he told Stephen.
"It definitely doesn't cover these things," Stephen affirmed, bringing down the Bolts of Balthakk upon another wave of them. "They lack any sort of ability to reason, and transporting them to another dimension would simply doom that dimension."
That's what he thought. He swiveled about and quickly blew away several with the Winds of Watoomb that were getting entirely too close for comfort.
A loud scream came from a building just down the street, and Wong sighed. "I thought you said they evacuated everyone."
"Clearly not!" Stephen said, his own frustration leaking through his tone. "Can you handle this for a minute?"
Wong only replied, "Yes," and there Stephen went. A minute would definitely be doable.
Two minutes later, Stephen's astral form appeared out of the ether. Wong raised his brows at him.
"So, bad news," said Stephen. "By 'evacuated everyone', it appears they meant 'evacuated everyone that wasn't within half a mile of the hatching spot because we couldn't reach those that didn't immediately run'. They just weren't able to get to some people, and it appears most left behind have barricaded themselves indoors— though who knows how long that will last."
"Not long enough," Wong said.
Stephen nodded. "Cloak's keeping my body up in the air and I'm going to scout through the buildings and get everyone remaining out."
"What about this so-called hatching spot?" he asked as he fried another wave with the Bolts of Balthakk.
"It's like a nest of some sort," he answered. "At least, there was one in Houston. They don't know the exact location here, but it'll be in this general area. Try to see where the bugs are coming from."
"All directions, currently," he retorted, and blasted another row away with the Winds, just to give himself some breathing room (and watch a handful of them splatter against corners, which was useful). "How did you kill the nest?"
Stephen grimaced. "I didn't. There was an enhanced human in Houston who could kill things with touch. I cleared the immediate area and she just touched the inside and rotted everything within it. Useful, if not completely terrifying." He looked over his shoulder. "Gotta go, Wong. Good luck."
"Mmm," he replied in turn, and Stephen disappeared.
Right. Time to find the nest. Flying, while possible, would simply expend too much energy with using magic alone, so walking it was. He called upon the Flames of Faltine again to clear his immediate radius of about ten feet, then set a Shield of the Seraphim about himself and began to walk northward, where quite a few of the alien insectoids seemed to be coming from.
Thankfully, these aliens' ability to eat through anything physical did not extend into the mystical and the shield remained intact as he pushed the aliens bugs off his path. They began to crawl around and then over the shield, attempting to dig through with little success; when they fell off, they'd just get right in the back of the very large crowd of alien bugs following him. Whenever they crowded his view too much, he'd spin in a quick circle to shake them off, then continue walking once more.
By the time Wong found the nest about ten minutes later, he had an impressive collection of ravenous aliens all about his shield. He shook them off again, then approached the nest to get a better look.
It reminded him of a termite mound, the large, bumpy stick of rock and dirt that had burst through the ground and ripped a hole through the street. It probably went rather deep, too; a quick check for life below him confirmed that.
Right. If this was going to work, he was going to have to be creative. He walked around the perimeter of the alien nest, again felt the general distance the amount of life underground went in its depth and width, and considered what spells he might use.
Wong pressed his lips together at a thought. Yes, that might work. It would take everything out of him, but he was certain he could manage it. He looked up at the alien mound and hoisted himself up on one of its lumps; better to be on top of the source for this next feat.
Ignoring the large bugs still scrambling all about his shield and gnawing unsuccessfully at it, he started beginning the movement and internal chanting needed to invoke the Seven Suns of Cinnibus, which would blast his immediate area and "all dark places" connected to the mound's entrance with burning light, ensuring that it would go through every tunnel dug through the city. Midway, he brought in the incantations necessary for the Flames of the Faltine, weaving it within the primary spell to turn the bright light into a searing heat specifically targeting these alien bugs. A bit like blasting the area with a selective microwave, if he had to explain how he cleared out the nest to some Avenger (though honestly, he was more than happy to leave all that to Stephen).
The two spells were woven together and in one swift movement, Wong dropped the shield and slammed his palm into the ground. The searing light combined with the fire-strength heat incinerated the bugs all around him and blast through the tunnels within the earth, moving at a speed faster than rushing water.
Wong held it for about five seconds before he fell to his knees, breathing heavily.
Well, he was completely out of magic. But that should have gotten everything within a mile radius around the nest, alongside every dark crevice within the tunnel system below.
He lowered himself off the mound and grimaced. Now he needed to find Stephen, because there was no way he was going to be drawing any dimensional gateways for a good twenty-four hours. Wong rubbed at the light headache starting to form at his temples, then started walking in the direction he had come from.
About ten minutes later, somewhere near where they had portalled in and near the border of the mile radius his spell managed, Wong discovered, much to his chagrin, that two of the bugs had wandered away a little bit farther than a mile from the nest. And now they were very much interested in having him as food, and he couldn't weave so much as a shield at the moment.
Wong looked around his immediate area and saw an abandoned broom outside of a half-open shop door. He grabbed it, twisted off the broom end and chucked it at one of the approaching alien bugs, then immediately used it to fend them back, giving them sharp hits across their hard shells and swinging the stick to whack them away. He could possibly eventually kill them this way, but in all honesty, he was just biding his time until Stephen came from wherever the hell he was and took care of them in a more efficient manner so they could get back to Kamar-Taj.
Rather annoying, though. There was a reason he rarely used such spells; having nothing left in reserve was hardly an ideal situation. And if Wong was going to be completely honest with himself, the spell had drained him physically as well and he could not keep this up forever.
Unfortunately, it turned out he may have overestimated his remaining physical strength and underestimated how much the spell had drained him. Wong was able to keep them away for about two minutes before misstepping on a piece of uneven, cracked roadway. He quickly corrected himself and moved to block one of the bugs jumping at him, but he just missed and it latched onto his left arm and bit through the sleeve.
Shouting in anger and pain, Wong rushed to the nearest wall and slammed the alien bug into the concrete wall even as he used the stick to keep the other one away from him. The one on his arm finally detached after five hits as its shell cracked and its head was smashed in. Wong went to reposition himself defensively against the remaining bug, but a sudden wave of dizziness hit him and he had to lean against the wall. After whacking away the insectoid again, he spared his arm a glance.
That was a lot of blood. That was too much blood.
He hit the bug again, then grimaced and tried to use the wall behind him to apply pressure. He wasn't sure how long he could keep standing, but he knew it wasn't going to be for long, not with how his head was feeling.
Another hit, and he lowered himself to one knee. Wong could not help but be a bit annoyed; out of all the things to die from, an alien bug bite was really unexpected and unfortunate.
This was very, very unfortunate.
As the alien bug charged at him again and he prepared to whack it back once more, it suddenly burst into flames. Wong fell to his other knee even as Stephen landed just behind the burnt thing.
"Wong, where are you hurt?" Stephen asked as he knelt beside him.
"Arm," he grunted, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes. "No energy."
Stephen didn't ask any questions as he positioned himself beside his arm. The Cloak was suddenly against him, applying pressure to the bite and he felt his friend place a hand on his head and the feeling of energy course through his body. He knew this spell; he was trying to encourage the heart to slow down a little, to pump flood a little less quickly, and while he did that he was sure Stephen was looking at the damage.
"Brachial artery. No time," he said lowly, though Wong wasn't entirely sure what he meant. He then heard something plop onto the sidewalk and when he opened his eyes, he saw a medical bag, of all things.
Stephen wrenched it open and grabbed a tourniquet. "You've lost too much blood already," he said even as he wrapped it over his left arm to secure it, before he began twisting. "Mundane will work better, now."
Wong had no idea. Wong wasn't a doctor, so he was more than happy to allow the other sorcerer to take over here. But… "Where'd the bag…?" he asked, and found himself vaguely annoyed as the rest of his words slurred away. This was incredibly annoying.
"Personal pocket dimension," Stephen answered. "Less magic than a portal, which still confounds me."
"Space," he said.
"No, I know the theory and the theory makes sense, but at the same time it still doesn't make sense." He finished applying the tourniquet and pressed his lips together. "The Cloak's completely wrapped around your arm and I don't want to remove it. I'm going to levitate you into the healing wing and see you situated, then take care of anything remaining here."
Wong usually would rather not be levitated, but at the moment he was too tired to be bothered about the circumstances. He closed his eyes and felt himself being carefully lifted off the ground and positioned to recline more, and then the atmosphere completely changed to the smells and sounds that he well knew around Kamar-Taj.
Knowing he didn't need to keep his guard up any further, Wong let himself drift off.
((See, I am actually capable of beating up characters that aren’t Stephen.))
