"A motorcycle." Deccanus said as he dismounted the APC and Adam let out the others from the back.
"Yes. I'm surprised that you-" Adam started before he turned to see one of the soldier ants in the doorway of one of the stores looking ready to kill them all. This was one of the reasons he brought so many friends. Killing these ants before they grew too big of a colony and became a problem for Naper was the best help he could give them on short notice.
"We will talk after. That is why everyone is here." Adam said pointing to the ant, which now is charging at the group from that exited at the back of the APC.
Pearl grabbed hold of her super sledge, ready to kill it, but SGT. Fyre was the first one to make a move.
"DIE COMMIE SCUM!" He yelled as loud as his speakers would allow as he fired thrice into the giant ant with his plasma gun and then swapped to another armature where he shot out a gout of fire that killed the ant by the time it got close to him.
"Buddy, activate Combat Mode." Adam said, deciding he could be casual later.
"Activating combat mode." Buddy said as his systems began to, once more, overclock.
"Ah, an ant hive." Deccanus said, almost unimpressed. "Kill the queen, the rest shall fall." He said stoically.
"I'm glad I got my wildlife expert along. Come on, we got an ant hive to clear." Adam motioned with his hand for the group to follow him.
The group headed into the smoke shop, the entrance to the ant hive home and Adam let Deccanus and Pearl clean out the few ants that were topside at the moment as they were the close combat experts.
Once there Adam looked down the hole in the ground that the ants had dug. It was more than enough for even Pearl to go through, though it was steep. Getting out would be a pain in the ass but not impossible. However some of his team, namely Buddy, would be unable to get out once inside, so leaving him topside was much smarter.
"Buddy, begin a nearby patrol of this strip mall complex, fire upon hostiles and wait for us to return." He said commandingly.
"Understood, beginning patrol." Buddy said as he began to wander out of the store. Adam then looked at Deccanus and was about to jump in but Deccanus beat him to it. Adam was next to follow after. Pearl and Fyre came moments later.
Once inside Adam turned on his pip-boy light as well as helped Pearl turn on hers, Deccanus turned on his own and they saw a rather innocuous dirt cavern before them. They could hear the skittering of ants up ahead and for the moment the path was straight so they simply kept moving forward, looking for the queen. They did not have to wait long.
Shortly after they arrived into a massive underground chamber that once was clearly a water drainage system now converted into a hatchery for ants. From the sewers into all the various cracked concrete walls were tunnels heading off every which way, clearly these ants were not just present at the smoke shop but had multiple exits and entrances. But killing the Queen would be enough to kill this hive, in theory anyway.
The Queen took no time at all to notice the intruders and wiggled its mandibles in the air before a small swarm of giant ants began to pour out of the tunnels from every direction but the one they came from.
"Fyre, handle the incoming bugs, Deccanus back Fyre up and ensure he is not surrounded, Pearl, kill the Queen!" Adam ordered as he pulled out his laser rifle and got ready for the fight.
"Die you red bellied bastards!" Fyre yelled as he began to light a crowd of incoming ants ablaze with his flamethrower. Pearl on the other hand charged right through an ant, knocking it over as she swung her super sledge down hard on the carapace of the queen, cracking her abdomen instantly.
Adam began to lay into the queen with his laser rifle ensuring that the Queen was kept off balance enough she couldn't get a good hit on Pearl.
As the ants began to come in from multiple directions to the North, where most of the tunnels were and where Fyre was holding the line, one of the ants got close enough to try to take a bite with his mandible at the Mr. Gutsy. However, as instructed, Deccanus was there to pin the ant into the ground with his spear and then decapitated it a moment later, taking position at Sgt. Fyre's back to ensure no more ants could sneak up behind him.
Pearl was making quick work of the ant queen and Adam had switched tactics to try to make use of the damage Pearl had already done by compounding his fire into the same spots too. It did not take long after that for the Queen to go down.
After the queen died the rest of the ants seemed confused and disorganized. Where once they were attacking with fervor now some of them seemed to be lost. It did not take long for the remaining ants to simply turn around and scatter, running back into the tunnels they crawled out of.
Despite the potential danger and number of enemies they had actually handled the fight cleanly and efficiently. Clearing out the nest far quicker than Adam had assumed. However despite the fight clearly being over and the remaining ants in retreat, Sgt. Fyre did not seem to have sated his bloodlust yet.
"Come back and fight me, you commie cowards!" He yelled as he tried to chase one of the ants into the tunnel.
"Fyre, that's enough!" Adam called out to him before he disappeared entirely into the tunnel. "Let them run, they are no threat to us anymore, no sense hunting them down." Adam said more calmly the second time as he saw Fyre immediately stop in his tracks. Sgt. Fyre made the sound of clicking his tongue before turning around, away from the tunnel he was about to enter, and heading back to Adam.
"Another day, another red bastard who still lives. My work is never done." He said to himself. Adam almost found it amusing that every enemy that Fyre comes across was registered by him as a communist, but there was no sense correcting him. It was just a quirk, simple as that.
"Good work everyone." Adam smiled as he put his laser rifle away.
"Pearl did good job, yes?" Pearl asked.
"Yes, you did an excellent job, Pearl, thank you." Adam smiled at her and then turned to look at Deccanus who was inspecting the carcass of the Queen.
Deccanus, what are you looking at?"
"The corpse. I believe the ant queen pheromone sack is still intact." He mused aloud.
"And uh… what is that used for? Is it valuable?" Adam asked, curious, having learned that a lot of wasteland creatures have things of value that can be scavenged for those with enough skill in butchery.
"It is an aphrodisiac, and yes, it is very valuable." Deccanus said with a small grin.