Chapter 36

A pair of jets roared overhead, causing the remaining members of the blockade to scatter. Thankfully, Odin had been fast enough to scoop up six and a half of them before that. Unfortunately, the Lion swallowed the portion of the remaining Human that held the man's brain. They didn't gloat about stealing the meal. They didn't say anything at all. Not when explosions rumbled from the nearby city. They didn't even speak when one of the warplanes swung back around to fire a missile at the bridge. Odin managed to release himself from it before the structure was reduced to a cloud of dust and shrapnel.

It pissed Odin off.

He wasn't angered by Humans trying to kill him. That was to be expected. He was an aggressive alien life-form sent to conquer the planet, after all. Even if he had allied himself with Humans, there was no way for the military to know that. The fact that the jets were striking other locations in the city lead him to believe they were targeting members of the Hive like the one he was facing. Striking anything else would be madness.

No. What pissed him off was the Lion keeping their damn mouths shut as they toyed with him.

As expected from a Special Strike Team, Odin thought to himself.

He had worked with their sort before. Professional, stoic, and infuriating were some words that came to mind. Special Strike Teams were, generally, sticklers for Tradition. Clearly that had changed, even if they were still going about their orders in a cold manner. If that was the case, then there was a chance he could crack the Lion's figurative armor and put them off their game.

"I suppose Tradition is out the window," Odin said in Hive Standard.

The Lion replied by leaping at him. Odin shifted, shrinking in size quick enough to evade the attack, slipping beneath them and using one of the ruined trucks for cover. The lion cleaved the vehicle in half lengthwise, spilling oil, fuel, and transmission fluid across the asphalt. Odin rolled out from under it just in time to avoid a similar fate, then shifted again, transforming into a ball of tentacles, slithering up the concrete retaining wall.

"You know I wasn't helping the Humans because the Local Probe told me to. Don't you wish to know why I have also forsaken our Tradition?" Odin barked through several hidden mouths.

The Lion sneered at him.

I'm close to getting under their skin.

"You do realize the Hive has left you for dead as well," Odin added.

"Only dead weight has been left behind," the Lion finally said.

Odin laughed. "So, we're both dead weight."

The Lion shifted again, increasing their size and number of whip-like tendrils so they flowed off their body like an angry water fall. Odin readied himself, careful not to give away his plan. Fleetingly, he knew Humans called this a 'game of chicken' thanks to one of the men he'd recently eaten. Most of the memories he had gained were only from the last twenty-four hours since Odin hadn't taken the time to properly digest them to save things. Someone had tried to play chicken with the blockade a few hours before Odin, Gunner, and Zoe had happened along. It hadn't ended well for them.

I'm going to die here today, Odin thought.

The Lion launched themself at him, sailing through the air until a brilliant light struck them in the middle, slicing them in half with energy hotter than the nearest star's corona. The Lion flopped to the ground, shifting their front half back to their Host's original form to recover from the wound. They turned on all fours toward the source of the shot just before a second, smaller weapon fired a long length of metal, pinning them to the road like an insect. They struggled for a moment, half shifting additional limbs as their body spasmed, until finally going limp.

Oh fuck.

Odin shifted as he slowly lowered himself to the road, resuming his Host's form to make himself a smaller target. There as nothing visible in the direction the shots had originated until Kira-217 decloaked her warship. It hovered just above the road.

"Oh, thank goodness. We didn't kill the wrong one," a voice came from the predatory ship.

A similar voice, albeit one just barely containing rage spoke next from the vessel, "Of course not. My scanners can easily differentiate between Hive members."

He didn't break eye contact with the ship as he spoke in English, "Thank you, but that was not necessary."

"Of course it was, silly. Indeed. You would have died had we not intervened. There will be no more deaths in my Unit today."

"More?" Odin asked. He padded forward. "What happened?"

"You need to go back to Freyja. We've got...something to take care of. We have someone to kill," Kira-217 said.

"Will you be neutralizing the rest of the Special Strike Team?"

"Can we? If we encounter them along the way, yes. Thank you for saving Odin, 217. I did not do it solely for you, Kira." The ship dipped forward slightly before backing up and vanishing. "This was to repay Freyja for Page. Tell her we may not return."

"I shall," Odin said out loud.

Odin looked up at the hulking corpse of the Lion. Pieces of it echoed the Hive member's Host, but other portions were clearly from Humans and other animals they had devoured, mixed with several creatures from off-world. Like himself, this Hive member could access his shapeshifting memory from before landing on Earth.

Odin flipped himself, changing back into his Human form, not bothering to extract his clothing just yet. He grabbed the metal tube, shifted to use all of his strength to remove it from the body and drop it to the side. Then he opened himself up to devour the front half of the Lion, savoring the victory, even if it was handed to him. The metal rod had sliced the Hive member in half. The death had been painful, so close to being able to heal their host but not themself. A terrifying end, but one he found cathartic. If he had been able to determine where in the Host the Hive member had been he would have struck them in a similar fashion. He moved to the back half and ate it too. Finally, he resumed his Human form and clothed himself. He didn't want to draw attention as a member of the Hive flying through the air back to Kait's house. So, instead, he strode to one of the trucks he had moved. It had a pair of large tattered American flags fixed to the back of the bed on tall plastic poles. He didn't bother removing them before climbing inside, starting it, and driving back the way Gunner had gone.