Rehab for SuperVillains (18+)-Chapter 124: And then…

Rhea said, her voice thick with nausea, her amber eyes still fixed on the carnage.

"I wish I could say the same," Freya replied, a wry smile tugging at her lips, her blue eyes glinting with grim humor. "We killed the queen. Time to get out."

They turned toward the exit, their boots crunching on the blood-soaked pavement, the tunnel’s oppressive weight lifting slightly with the queen’s death.

But before they could take another step, a bone-chilling shriek tore through the chamber, reverberating off the walls like a banshee’s wail.

They spun around, hearts pounding, and froze as a new horror emerged from the shadows.

A figure loomed, twice Freya’s height, its muscular frame rippling with unnatural strength.

Its whiskers twitched, it was adorned with a pink ribbon tied around its forehead and a golden crown glinting atop its head. Its glowing eyes burned with a fury that shook the air, its voice a guttural roar that rattled their bones.

"How dare you kill my daughter!" it bellowed, its words dripping with venom. "Now you are my chow!"

The queen—the true queen—charged into the chamber, her massive form splitting the shadows, her horde of rats surging behind her like a tidal wave from three different directions.

Freya and Rhea exchanged a glance, their faces pale but resolute.

"Fall back!" Freya shouted, her voice raw, her blue eyes blazing with defiance.

They unleashed a desperate barrage—Freya’s ice shards and Rhea’s fireballs flying in tandem, a chaotic storm of frost and flame aimed at distracting the queen and her horde.

The queen roared, swatting the projectiles aside with her massive claws, her glowing eyes locked on them, unyielding.

Rhea and Freya sprinted back toward the entrance they’d come from, the tunnel’s walls closing in, the rats’ shrieks a deafening cacophony at their heels. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

"Bring them to me!" the queen’s voice thundered, her horde charging with relentless fury, their claws scraping the pavement, their glowing eyes a sea of malevolent stars.

Rhea ran, her crimson hair streaming, her hands shooting burst after burst of fire behind her, each explosion filling the tunnel with heat and light, slowing the rats’ advance.

The flames illuminated the writhing mass, their hides burning under the onslaught, but the queen’s roars drove them forward, undeterred.

Freya matched Rhea’s pace, her ice powers flaring to cover their retreat, freezing the pavement in patches to trip the rats, their bodies slipping and crashing in a tangle of limbs.

The tunnel shook with the queen’s pursuit, her massive form a looming shadow in the firelight, her shrieks getting more and more annoying.

Rhea’s flames surged again, shooting another burst of fire, buying them precious seconds as the rats recoiled, their chittering drowned by the inferno.

But still, the rats, chased relentless, closing in on them.

And then...

"DUCK!!!"

A familiar voice bellowed, slicing through the chaos like a blade.

Freya and Rhea reacted on instinct, dropping to the slick pavement as the tunnel erupted in a deafening sound.

DADADADADADADADDADADADADADADADDADADADADADADADA

The relentless chatter of a machine gun tore through the air, each burst a thunderclap that drowned out the rats’ shrieks.

Bullets ripped into the charging horde, shredding their hides, blood and stone spraying in gruesome arcs.

Kael strode into the fray, a manic grin splitting his face, his hazel eyes alight with adrenaline.

The machine gun in his hands roared without pause, a relentless beast mowing down every rat that dared advance.

He moved forward with predatory confidence, passing Freya and Rhea, who stared in stunned disbelief, their breaths catching at the sight of their leader unleashed.

His boots echoed on the pavement, each step heavy, stable, his gun never wavering it’s aim as it carved a path through the writhing mass.

The rats, cunning and desperate, hoisted their dead kin as shields, dragging the charred corpses forward to absorb the gunfire.

But Kael’s weapon was unforgiving, its high-caliber rounds punching through the makeshift barriers, piercing the living rats behind.

Their glowing eyes flickered out, their bodies collapsing in heaps, the tunnel filling with the acrid stench of gunpowder and blood.

A bone-rattling roar shook the chamber as the true queen emerged from the shadows, her massive form dwarfing the horde, her golden crown glinting ominously.

Her glowing eyes burned with fury, her whiskers twitching with rage.

Kael’s gun didn’t falter, bullets slamming into her hardened hide, chipping away at her armor but doing little to slow her.

She charged, her claws gouging the pavement, her roar a promise of death.

Kael’s grin widened, his eyes narrowing with focus.

He shifted his aim, unloading a barrage into her face.

The queen recoiled, wincing, her massive paws swiping at the air.

Undeterred, Kael targeted her knees, the bullets shattering bone and armor, forcing her to collapse with a thunderous crash.

He advanced, relentless, his gun trained on her face, firing until her skull split, brains splattering across the tunnel walls in a grotesque spray.

The chamber fell eerily silent, save for the echo of his gunfire.

Kael scanned the shadows, his grin turning feral as he spotted the remaining rats—frightened, retreating, their glowing eyes darting nervously.

He didn’t hesitate.

DADADADADADADADADA

Unleashing a final, merciless volley, cutting them down like a madman reveling in the slaughter.

The tunnel became a graveyard, the pavement slick with blood and ash, the air heavy with the stench of death.

Wrrrrr...

The machine gun whined, its ammo finally spent. Kael looked down at the weapon, his grin softening to a fond smirk.

"Good boy," he muttered, patting it like an old friend before slinging it over his shoulder. He turned, his adrenaline-fueled gaze meeting Rhea and Freya’s wide-eyed stares.

"Good job, girls," he said, his voice calm but laced with a wild edge, his pupils dilated, veins pulsing with the rush. "You got the queen. You passed the exam. Let’s head back."

Before they could respond, a piercing shriek cut through the silence.

The surviving rats, realizing Kael’s gun was empty, seized their chance for revenge.

Their glowing eyes flared, their chittering rising to a frenzied pitch as they surged forward in a vengeful horde, claws scraping, teeth bared.

Freya and Rhea tensed, their hands igniting with ice and fire, ready to fight.

But Kael remained unnervingly calm, his grin never faltering.

With a casual flick, he unhooked two grenades from his belt, pulling the pins with his teeth.

He tossed them aside, and a thick, gray smoke billowed out, filling the chamber at an alarming rate.

The rats faltered, their shrieks turning to choked coughs as they clawed at their throats, blood foaming from their mouths, their bodies convulsing before collapsing in heaps.

Kael pulled a gas mask from his pack, slipping it on with practiced ease, and tossed two more to Rhea and Freya.

They caught them, securing the masks over their faces, the filters hissing as they breathed.

"What’s that, Kael?" Freya asked, her voice muffled but sharp, her blue eyes narrowing through the mask’s visor.

"Rat poison"