Cedric had never liked ants, if he was being honest. They were small, irritating, and showed up in seemingly infinite numbers. Above all that, he couldn't imagine living in complete subservience to another, it was disgusting.
So he decided that he would end said disgusting existence, because he was a nice person that way.
Of course, he would need the help of his squad members. Cedric was grateful for his strength but he was even more aware of his mortality.
They were running through the tunnels at a respectable pace, their guards to the maximum, in case some soldier ant came up at a corner and killed them.
Cedric looked over his shoulder, "How're you doing, Wilson? Let's hope some exercise isn't enough to do you in."
Vera just rolled her eyes, "You would think that being a musclehead like you would show results, but I guess not."
Cedric flared in indignation, "I show plenty results!"
"Tell that to your flab."
Zari, from ahead of them did a poor job of stifling a laugh.
Cedric knew a lost battle when he saw one and changed the subject. "Zari, how much further are we from the router?" He asked.
She responded, "We're getting closer, stay sharp."
Almost immediately after she said that, the wall burst open and what greeted them was another one of the ants. From the look of it, it was a soldier, although smaller than average and burning in darker colored flames.
It charged forward, aiming straight for Vera with an outstretched claw. Cedric acted on instinct, pushing her backwards and planting his massive tower shield into the ground right in its path. The shield was 9 feet tall and weighed almost 400 kilos. The ground rose up and reinforced it, before both of them solidified, becoming stronger and more sturdy.
The ant slammed into the makeshift wall and rolled off to the side. Zari was there waiting for it. She waved a dagger and space responded to sever her target in half, which it did halfway. The other half was dealt with by Vera, who made it's organs explode form pressure differential.
They stood above the burning corpse, looking around in case something else decided to surprise them.
Cedric sighed and summoned his shield back to his side. He had an Affinity for gravity, metal and earth Aether, which was the only reason he could wield it. The shield split into dozens of black metal plates and reformed comfortably on his gauntlet. He summoned his axe too, just as long as the shield, it was a one-sided monstrosity with a blade the swept outward and down like 2 feet. The handle was ramrod straight and had some buttons that connected to a massive lever that extended down from behind the blade. They were only there to control the two Hawkeye jet thrusters he had attached to the other side himself. The familiar weight in his hands was enough to crush his trepidation.
He took a deep breath and lightened the weight of his weapons. He turned to the girls, noting Vera's fans and Zari's daggers becoming a dull grey color, not reflecting any light. They were getting serious.
He looked into the hole in the wall and asked, "This should be the place right?"
Vera looked at the map and looked up again, "Yeah, it seems to be... let's just be careful."
They walked through the hole, which opened up into a wide cavern that had slabs of rock running from roof to floor all over the place, like library shelves. Except where books would have been, there were 20 foot crevices that contained... what looked like...
Ants that they had killed reforming.
Their bodies were covered in stinking mucus, and their bodies were being reformed cell by cell by some special Aether type that was made almost entirely out of the will of something. The queen probably.
Cedric was sick. His head pounded, his lungs couldn't seem to get enough air, and something dark and slimy was trying to erupt from his churning stomach. Panic burned through his entire body. He struggled to regain control.
And he failed.
Before Cedric realized what was happening, his axe was tearing through the shelves of ants, spinning through the bodies. It was propelled by its thrusters and whenever it passed through a shelf, the stone that made it boiled and melted, while gravity around it crushed the paste into flat ground.
He was acting out of sheer panic, but at least it worked.
Before long, the entire cavern was bare and empty, except for a pillar in the center, which had a glowing point in the middle. Zari and Vera gave him sympathetic looks, although they looked like they were about to scold him too.
Vera opened her mouth, seemingly to question his decision, no doubt telling him how idiotic it was in the process, until she noticed him still hyperventilating and decided to say nothing.
"Well," He said, trying to lighten the mood, "At least we don't have to fight them anymore."
Zari looked at him, "You're right... But the noise attracted even more of them. Almost 30 Ants are coming this way, we'll need to defend it until the rest give the signal."
She raised her hand and a pulse of grey swept out of it and sunk into the cavern walls. It would signal to the rest that they were ready. They would receive similar pulses when the other teams were ready too.
Cedric looked around at the empty space he created in distaste, at both himself and the space. Although it gave him a wide open space he could play with, it also gave him less ammunition to throw at his enemies, as well as less cover and space for their significantly bigger adversaries to maneuver freely.
He sighed and turned to the girls, "I'm sorry about the outburst. But we also have a blank canvas to help us in the upcoming battle. Zari, what's our ETA?"
Her eyes seemed to shine slightly, and she bought out her daggers and started sharpening them, she didn't look up as she said, "ETA 5 minutes. Make it count, Cedric."
"Alright. That's just enough for me to work with." He responded.
Cedric took a good look at the pillar at the center. The node seemed to be the glowing orb in the center. He looked closer at it, ignoring the light. It was an opulent pendant, with branching chains and dangling crystals that glowed with Aether.
He briefly wondered what it was doing there, before turning away from it and making a pillar of earth rise up beneath him until he was could reach up and touch the ceiling.
He surveyed the entire place, already formulating a plan in his mind. A column there, an arch there to support two walls, oh, and maybe a massive gravity well to tear apart that pathway with shrapnel.
He kept on muttering to himself already having created the blueprints in his mind, and some malicious ideas he planned to bring to life.
He stopped muttering briefly and smiled.
"Yeah, this'll do."
He raised his hands and got to work.