Unbelievably Huge

Bex Waterworks.

Zach Marks was a maintenance worker at the waterworks. This was his tenth year working there, and he knew the plant itself was more than three times as old.

For many years, the waterworks had been haunted by some unsettling rumors. They were hardly anything original when examined closely—just the sort of tales often spread about old hospitals and dormitories, claiming that evil spirits dwelled within those crumbling buildings.

Zach figured that any remote building like this would breed such stories once it got old enough. They were only meant to scare newcomers and children. Old Zach had never believed in ghosts or spirits. He thought horror stories were pure nonsense, things people made up to scare themselves. He had worked at this waterworks for ten years and knew every shadow and corner of the place like the back of his hand. He could cross the entire plant with his eyes closed. What was there to fear?

It was two in the morning, and he was leading a newly transferred worker on a pipe inspection. Earlier, strange low noises had come from the pipe room, accompanied by creaks like those of a rotten wooden door. It sounded as though something was about to snap beneath a heavy weight.

Zach had never encountered anything like this before. Was there a problem with the water pressure?

The newcomer trailing behind him had been shaking like a leaf the entire time, unable to even hold his flashlight steady. He kept muttering under his breath, "It's the Long-Tongued Monster. It has to be the Long-Tongued Monster..."

Zach asked, "What's a Long-Tongued Monster?"

"You haven't heard?" The newcomer looked at him in surprise. "There've been lots of rumors lately. They say there's a Long-Tongued Monster around here that comes out at night to do evil. It picks off lone passersby. One sweep of its long tongue, and it drags people into the darkness where it nests and eats them. It doesn't even leave bone fragments behind..."

Zach rolled his eyes.

Did young people these days actually believe this stuff? How pathetic.

"Relax, kid. It's just a pipe malfunction." As he spoke, Zach swept his flashlight around. "All we need to do is find the problem, and then we can... huh?"

Zach froze.

He aimed his flashlight at a section of pipe and slowly walked closer.

In the golden beam, he seemed to see some kind of liquid... He was not sure it was liquid. In any case, it was something black and sticky, slowly dripping from the pipe onto the floor.

Zach had never seen anything like it, but in that instant, an intensely ominous feeling arose within him for no reason at all. It was as though every cell in his body was instinctively warning him of the danger right before him.

He felt like a sheep facing a lion.

Richard jolted upright in bed. He sucked great gulps of air into his lungs, wheezing like an asthma patient.

He was sitting on his bed, and the electronic clock on his nightstand read 02:11.

A nightmare had startled him awake.

It had been an exceedingly abstract nightmare. Richard was not even sure what he had dreamed about. He only remembered scattered sounds and fragments of meaningless images. He remembered what seemed to be a very dim space, surrounded by pipes twisting through a complex network. Perhaps it had been some kind of factory. He remembered a bloody gaping maw that seemed to carry the stench of blood, and whip-like things flying through the pitch-black air like vicious snakes.

He also remembered screams—heart-rending screams, the sort of despairing cries that could only come when a person's fear had shattered past its limit.

Then he realized something else.

Richard steadied his breathing and held out his palm. A faint white radiance curled around it, gradually condensing into the shape of a white rod.

Evolution Trust.

Just now, his power of light had leveled up.

Now, Evolution Trust was shining in his hand more brilliantly than ever before. Within its dim central core, a dark green light flickered on and off. It was an indistinct sensation, but he seemed able to feel every flicker through his body with perfect clarity, as if something were calling to him.

Almost instinctively, Richard got up, changed his clothes, grabbed Evolution Trust, and left the house.

2:35 a.m., Bex Waterworks.

A cordon had been set up, all unauthorized personnel had been cleared out, and the entire waterworks had been sealed off immediately. Several transport aircraft bearing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s eagle emblem were parked in the open space outside the plant, while a Quinjet hovered overhead on alert.

Senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson stood in his signature suit, watching heavily armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents jump down from the transport aircraft one after another. The one leading them happened to be Ward Grant, the agent who had accompanied him to question the Daily Planet last time.

Like the others, Ward wore S.H.I.E.L.D.'s standard black combat uniform and carried a submachine gun. He walked over to Coulson. "What's the situation inside?"

"The 'Long-Tongued Monster' has appeared," Coulson said. "Two workers were dragged inside."

Ward frowned. "Are you joking?"

"Unfortunately, no." Coulson's expression was grave. "We've been tracking rumors of this 'Long-Tongued Monster' for some time. Absurd as they may sound, people really have been disappearing. Something is hiding in this area... something quite dangerous. We need to proceed carefully."

Ward glanced at the entrance to the waterworks beyond the blockade. "And that thing is inside now?"

"Our experts are trying to confirm that. It should be soon..."

"It's inside."

Before Coulson could finish, a Black doctor in a white lab coat approached, holding a tablet. He looked incredulous. "You won't believe this. Whatever's hiding in there has an incredibly vital life force. I've never seen readings like these... And you need to see this too. It's thermal imaging."

He held the screen out to them. Coulson and Ward leaned in together, but all they saw was a vast field of red. Nothing else was visible.

Coulson looked baffled. "Why is this entire area red?"

"That's the problem!" The Black doctor held his breath and lowered his voice as he pointed at the waterworks. "It means that whatever is hiding inside, its size is so enormous that it exceeds the limits of thermal imaging mapping. And... it should be alive."

Ward and Coulson exchanged a look.

"You know," Ward said, "I'm starting to not want to go in there."