The A-Force (Book 2/4)

The Beetle

Once we told Doreen about the extremities of the situation, there was a loud noise. It sounded like a buzzing of sorts. We all flooded to the window. There were a swarm of tiny creatures on the horizon. Jessica immediately identified them as bugs. Insects. Winged rhinoceros beetles, to be exact. I knew who we were dealing with then. Ace Ventura, pet detective. God's sake. This shouldn't be too bad. I hope. In the centre of the colony was the Beetle herself. She was very easy to distinguish. Mostly due to the fact that she was much larger than the actual bugs but also because she was wearing a distinct purple costume. The suit had a jet gray metal shirt, with a layer of purple over the top. She wore a mask that covered her entire face and there were large bug eyes on the front, with a purple rim and blue at the centre.

When she landed on the ground, her wings folded into the mechanical compartment on her back. Hi-Tech, I thought. Although, everything is nowadays. Cool! Well, not for us but you get the idea. I examined her armour. It appeared to be of a higher strength than even mine. It was on a defensive level higher than one of Iron Man's armours. Very advanced. It was strange, though. I wondered how she got her hands on an armour like that. And then it dawned on me. Stolen Pym tech. Hank Pym is the greatest scientist on Earth and has the largest mind to prove it. He discovered the Pym particle which is the very building block of the universe that determines the size of things. He harnessed the power of it and built the first Ant-Man suit which he wore and became an Avenger. You know, that guy! I believe that the suit that the Beetle wore was the Stinger outfit that Pym designed for his niece when she wanted to join her grunkle in action.

Janice Lincoln (The Beetle) was now approaching quickly. She raised her arm and fired a small bolt of electricity at us. Not a problem. Or so we thought. The sensation that the damn thing left on my arm was possibly a fate worse than death. It was similar to a wasp sting if the wasp had taken 10 doses of steroids. I decided to take the first charge towards the woman. Sword in hand, I struck at her chest. The metal clanged, leaving a ringing noise in the air. My blade didn't even make a scratch. Crap! Now what? I ran back to my friends and told them what happened. We all started thinking about what to do next. Then, all of a sudden, Chavez came up with a stupidly brilliant plan. "Guys, I'm going to create a dimensional portal and kick through it on her face," she stated, the excitement in her eyes. I then learnt what kind of person Chavez is. Absolutely crazy. "Chavez, I don't think this plan is wise," claimed Medusa.
"It's fine," replied Chavez.
"America, no".
"AMERICA YES," screamed Chavez and ran towards Janice.

She ran very fast. There was a blue trail of fire behind her. When she was about 5 foot away from the woman, she raised her leg (making a formation with her foot) and a star shaped portal appeared. She then proceeded to kick directly through the shape, shattering it and knocking back The Beetle's head dramatically. Janice was flung back and dropped to the ground, blood spilling from her head. The helmet dropped off of her. "Loot!" yelled Chavez. Everyone looked at her with looks of dismay. We then proceeded to collect Doreen Green and went on our way. Until...

The Beetle stood up again. She seemed fine. Except her eyes. They were cloudy. In the distance, there was clapping. A man was walking towards us. He was accompanied by two women. The first woman was lacking in age. She held a bow and arrow and wore a pair of black sunglasses. The other woman was very peculiar indeed. Her body was multicoloured and she had long white hair. Once the man came into view, he wore a purple suit and had combed hair. He spoke, "Hello Carol, I believe you've met my friends, Kate Bishop and Karolina Dean. Do you know what they're doing with little old me?"...