“I saw her,” Blake repeated venomously. “On top of a building on the west side of the street. They’ve kept her hidden, protected. And she has to be on Earth so she can…can lay or spit out troops or whatever.”
Tommy was chewing his lip. “Why would they risk having something so invaluable in a war zone?”
Blake felt himself deflate. He didn’t knowthat.He just knew she existed.
“Because transportation would be too risky,” Gabriel answered. “What’s the worst thing you can do around an enemy? Be predictable. Their ships haven’t moved since they entered our atmosphere. Either because they can’t, or don’t want to. But, if they had some kind of transport between the ship and the ground every three days, the Off Formers would just destroy it. They can’t risk their Queen getting destroyed, so they leave her on the ground.”
“Or their transporting abilities were destroyed,” Phin supplied. “Maybe when they stopped the Zappy Balls.”
Hope flickered in Blake’s chest.
“Okay, so wait, the Monkey Cats have a Queen, and the ones running around killing us are what? Her harem of sperm donors?” Alvarez’s lip curled.
Victoria scoffed. “Why would you even go there?”
“He said they were bees!”
“I said they weresimilarto bees!” Blake threw up his hands. “I just—look, all I know is what I saw. She’s on that roof.”
“How do you know she’ll still be there?” Judd asked, tapping the marker on his lip. There was a black mark on his chin from where he’d mistaken which end was open.
Blake felt his grin widen as he looked over at Irving. “Because she’s entrenched behind walls. Safe in her burrow like a ground spider.”
Irving’s eyebrows twitched. He was looking through Blake, his mind parsing through everything he’d just been told and the implications.
Judd smirked. “Bees, spiders, and aliens, oh my…”
No one laughed.
“We don’t have to kill hundreds of Monkey Cats,” Blake said, turning back to Gabriel. “Just one.”
Recognition flickered across his handsome features. “And the rest will die out in three days.”
Irving wheeled back into his office. Blake heard paper rustling, and then he returned with a map of DC. It had a dozen or so holes from thumbtacks. He brought the map to the whiteboard, and Judd splayed it over his crimped writing. Alvarez came forward to help them pinpoint exactly where they were when Blake saw the Queen.
His legs felt shaky after his big moment, and he stumbled back into an empty chair. He brushed his hair from his face and tried to calm down.
That was the first time he’d used what he’d considered an off-putting quirk like a superpower. An ability he’d trained for. One that was good for something besides movie trivia and reading faster than anyone else he knew. For possibly the first time in his life, Blake was good at something besides being a paramedic. He could save lives with something beyond his hands.
He looked down at his shaking hands and didn’t see blood or the grooves of an axe handle.
“All right, great.” Phin stood up. In the small space, he seemed to tower over everyone. “Killing one Monkey Cat sounds doable until we factor in that she’s got to be protected. They’re not going to leave their army making printer without something heavy guarding her. And she’s still a Monkey Cat. Killing them isn’t a walk in the park.”
The soldiers immediately latched onto the problem of killing something. In a way, that was simpler. Things like what and why didn’t matter, as long as they could focus onhow.On what gun or piece of weaponry would be enough?
“I’m telling you, a blade is our best option,” Judd said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Ease up, David Bowie.” Phin rolled his eyes. “Even if you could get within stabbing radius of the Monkey Cat, those moving plates will snap your blade in two.”
“Not if I had a big enough blade.”
“Oh, you find a Katana in some Virginian farmer’s shed? Maybe pull a saber out of your ass?”
“You know, you talk about my ass an awful lot for someone?—”
“Enough,” Gabriel snapped. “Focus. Monkey Cats are flesh and bone. They aren’t impervious. We need something simple.”
Victoria scoffed, leaning back on her elbows. Over by the front desk, she was well outside the pool of testosterone the rest of them were simmering in. Blake thought he might join her.
