Swarm

Warped to Egypt. Again, painful. I hate the Godsway. Anyway, Suez was supposed to be where the 3rd plague would start. And of course, I soon saw him. A man carrying around a large stone gourd. I approached him from behind.

"Haji!" I called to him.
He turned around and said something in Egyptian.
"No hablo Egypt, pal," I said. "You speak English, right?"
"Yes," he said. "Who are you and how do you know my name?"
"My name is Daniel," I said. "And I know that you serve the Intrusion."
He chuckled. "So you're the one who wants to stop the plagues?" he asked.
"That's right," I said. "Call off the Intrusion. I may have hesitated when I fought the Blood Vessel, but I have no problem beating the hell out of a guy."
"I serve the Intrusion," he said. "It's not the other way around. I can't call them off, and you can't make me."
"Then let me talk to them," I said. "I'll convince them myself."
"They won't listen," he said. "They listen to no mortals."
"And what about Bill Dawson?" I asked. "They listened to him."
"He is no normal human," he replied.
"Neither am I," I said. "I want to speak to the Intrusion."
"Even if you do speak to them, you will be unable to dissuade them," he said. The swarm will begin within the hour. You'd best seek cover if you want to survive."

He fled. I lost him in the crowd. I ran for as long as I could. I was running out of time. But then I saw them. Birds began to flock toward the city, in huge numbers. The Convocation had arrived to back me up. Then I heard a familiar voice call down to me.

"Hey Danny!" Crow called from atop a building. "The birds found him! Come with me!"

He tossed down the end of his whip for me, and pulled me up. He then tossed it into the air, and a bird, I'm assuming Alexander, caught it and carried us both into the sky. We landed right next to Haji, just as large numbers of insects started to rise from the cracks and crevices. Every nook and cranny seemed to contain bugs.

"Shit," I said. "What do we do?"
"There's other Nest's here," Crow said. "Even the Witch of Gatlingsburg has graced us with her presence. We and the Convocation will try and hold the Intrusion back. You take out their servant."
"Okay," I said.
"And listen," he said. "I know you're kind of a goody-two-shoes and stuff, but don't show mercy on this guy."
I nodded, and turned to face Haji.
"So, you have the Convocation with you?" he asked. "All right. Let's see how much good it will do you."

I drew my Sonic Sword and started fighting him. He swung that gourd around like it was nothing. I kept fighting. I took some hits, but I was able to use his strength against him eventually, and knocked him over. I raised my sword to strike, just as he guarded with his gourd. As the two collided, his gourd cracked open and bugs flew out. I quickly hit the sword against the ground and created a sound wave loud enough to drive them away from me. Hurt my own ears in the process, but it was a small price to pay. Haji then got up and jumped back.

"Khepri!" he cried. "I give my self to you, mind, body, and soul! Give me the power to exterminate this pest!"
"Me?" I asked. "A pest? Look who's talking."

The bugs started burrowing into his skin, and he went through a change. Razor sharp wings sprouted from his back. His eyes divided rapidly (and disgustingly) so that they became multifaceted. Chitin grew over his skin. Antennae sprouted from his head. He had turned into a bug man.

"Shit, what now?" I said out loud. I was getting tired.
Let me handle this, I heard Justin say.
"You sure?" I asked.
You have to trust me, he replied.
"Alright," I said.

I allowed Justin to control my body. My form shifted. My clothes dissolved into black mist and reformed into his black clothing. My sword vanished as well, and his scythe appeared. He charged, and began fighting Haji. Haji was strong and fats. But Justin was the Archangel's power on his side. He was able to weave behind Haji and clip both his wings in a single slash. He attempted to slash him, but Haji's armor was too strong. Just sprouted a pair of wings and floated up to the top of a building and transformed his scythe into a shotgun. Hr aimed, and fired. It penetrated Haji through the heart.

You killed him! I said.
He was already dead, he replied. He wasn't  human anymore. The Intrusion took that from him.

Justin returned control of the body to me. I looked around. The Intrusion was retreating. Crow approached me.

"We lost a lot of good Nests today," he said. "But we averted a world wide crisis, and that's the important part."
"Yeah," I said. "Thanks. I guess I owe you?"
"Don't worry," he said. "We'll come by for a favor later down the road, but it'll be a small one, and it shouldn't be too big. I have to go. See you."


So that's that. Three plagues prevented so far. My next stop is Sacramento, California on the 28. I have to stop the Plague Doctor from poisoning the entire world. Something tells me this won't be easy.