No, Noble's eyes were not deceiving her. There were two rabbits. Two!
"I don't suppose you already had one of those critters here and are playing a prank on me, Yoa." Spade stroked his goatee.
"No…"
The researcher was almost too stunned to respond.
"What just happened?" Noble tried to make sense of the scene.
Yoa started to scratch his head but caught himself before the needle made it to his brow.
"I…am not sure. The quickly growing fruit seems to have triggered something in the Nightmare creature."
"And caused it to clone itself?" The professor had no words. Imagine if it did that to people. That would be terrible!
"Yes, well. I'm glad we started small." Yoa smoothed his lab coat and went to grab a second syringe. "I might need a little help to…"
The two rabbits began feasting on the rest of the fallen fruit, devouring it before Yoa could finish his sentence.
"Oh no…" Noble wanted to rub her eyes, but she knew it would do no good. Two rabbits were now four. Two heartbeats later, they were eight.
They stopped munching on just the fruit and began inhaling the leaves, grass, and even the bark of the trees. As eight turned into sixteen, the green landscape turned bare. The fuzzy little rabbits had run out of fuel.
And it had all happened in seconds.
"Th-they're locusts!" Noble had no other word for what she was witnessing.
The beautiful indoor forest was ravaged.
"At least they've run out of food. If we can sedate them, I'll figure out exactly what went wrong." Yoa fumbled to get the necessary supplies.
The rabbits froze in their frenzied movement. They turned their little heads toward the researcher, and Noble stifled a gasp. Their front teeth were elongated and sharp, dripping with the red pulp from the veins inside the modified trees.
They hissed in unison.
"Devil Bunnies!" Noble covered her mouth.
The first furry mammal jumped at the transparent barrier, crashing into it and sliding down with a screech. A trail of red was left behind as the creature's teeth scratched at the polymer.
"That's...upsetting." Spade winced.
Another rabbit rammed into the barrier. The crunching sound was sickening, but the creature barely seemed to register it.
All of the rabbits joined the fray, hitting against the transparent wall with all of their might. Their little bodies should have been cracked and broken, and yet they persisted.
"Tough little things," Noble noted with a small amount of admiration. But her amusement quickly shifted to concern.
One of them alone would not have done much to the sturdy polymer. It was made to withstand at least a Master's power. However, the sixteen creatures hit at different points in a strange, eerie sequence that the containment field had never been designed for.
The polymer began to ripple and then undulate. The warped material started to lose its shape.
Spade summoned a mace, preparing for the breach.
"No!" Yoa stopped him.
"They are going to break the barrier." The explorer furrowed his brow. "We have to stop them before..."
"I want them for research. I have to know what went wrong." Yoa insisted. He scrambled for more syringes full of sedative.
"Let me help. Does it matter where the needle goes?" Noble had no medical training beyond basic field dressings of wounds.
"The hind leg is best. We need to avoid their lungs or heart." Yoa handed over a needle and plunger to the floating woman. She examined them for a second to get the dimensions.
A second was all she had.
The frame of the wall bent, allowing the polymer to pop out of it at one end.
The rabid rabbits seized the opportunity to gorge themselves on human souls and further their replication.
The first bunny squeezed through the hole, his eyes burning with an unholy light. He jumped at Yoa, only to be doused with water and swatted to one side. The researcher caught the creature by the back leg and pressed the reinforced needle into the pelt. The creature reared to sink his teeth into the man's wrist, but it never got the chance. It fell limp and tumbled to the ground.
That was one down and fifteen to go. But there was no time to revel in the victory.
The rest of the all-male colony followed their leader through the breach.
"Watch out!" Spade moved to the side to avoid the next demonic furball.
The rabbits tumbled into the room like a white waterfall. Before they could hit the ground and nip the ankles of their prey, something strange happened.
Their soft, white hair stood on end as gravity reversed itself. The hares lifted into the air. Noble's eyes swirled as she focused.
The rabbits writhed against their forced levitation. They scratched at the air, their claws growing longer to strike out at the humans.
They focused on their captor and growled in unison.
Spade grabbed Noble's wrist and pulled her behind him. A moment later, a caustic liquid spewed from the creatures' mouths, covering him.
"Spade!"
"Don't worry, I'm immune to the acid," he assured Noble, wiping his goggles before they could disintegrate.
Unsuccessful in their quest, the bunnies flushed with anger.
'No, really, their fur is pinker than before."
"Hurry!" Yoa lifted another syringe, but the rabbit he sought was just out of reach.
A moment later, the needle was pulled out of reach as well. Fifteen sharp agents of sleep lifted into the air as Noble gave her best impression of a dart sharpshooter.
'Now!'
All at once, the syringes sailed forward like tiny missiles.
Noble felt her mind going in over a dozen different directions as she guided the needles and positioned the creatures to receive the shot.
Growls and hisses filled the room as acid was spewed from between crimson-stained teeth.
One by one, the rabbits felt the sharp puncture and cool sensation. Their reddening skin paled once more. Their nails retracted, and tongues lolled out of their mouths.
Noble counted down as her shots hit true.
'Four, three, two…'
The last rabbit, in a fit of rage at seeing his comrades stabbed and sedated, twisted to exact his revenge on the humans just outside his reach. The needle missed its mark. It soared into the wall, cracked, and dripped down the white surface.
"Another!" Noble called to Yoa.
The man opened the drawer and paled.
"That was the last one!"
The rabbit seemed to realize his victory, for he tried to swim through the air to exact his vengeance. Not that his vengeance would be swift or even that harmful. He might be able to toss acid, but the creature was still very small.
His color darkened to match that of his crimson eyes, making him look more like an apple than a hare.
A whistle like the sound of a tea kettle filled the air. The two men went on high alert. Yoa continued to rifle through his things in search of a sedative.
Spade backed toward the door, no longer concerned with cleaning off the liquid from his armor.
He called forth a shield, knowing full well that it wouldn't manifest in time. Spade's warning was not a moment too soon.
"He's gonna blow!"