Anansi-The-Spider

Part Two

An hour later, the four were prepared to drive to Emma Hanson’s mansion in Obuasi in Dr. Anoki’s SUV.
It was an hours’ drive and they had time to talk in the car. Jo was in the front seat while Dr. Powell and Joel were in the back.
Joel explained, “The Red Ants have two forms, the human form and a much inhuman form. That is the form that we must take up when we are in the Emma’s presence. Only she had the authority to make any of us look human in her presence.” Jo turned toward Joel and asked, “And why are you now telling us this?” Joel retorted, “Because it just came to me”
Dr. Anoki immediately pulled over and said, “Now listen to me you two, we are having a big mission ahead of us; we are going to do something that none of us has done in our whole lives. The success of this mission depends on your illusions, Jo and your knowledge, Joel; so I expect that both of you cut out these useless quarrels and get yourselves together before I get out of my seat and whip the spiders and ants out of you. Now shake hands”
Jo wanted to protest but Dr. Anoki insisted with a strong voice. The two reluctantly shook hands while Dr. Powell laughed at them and took a picture of it with his iPhone.
Dr. Anoki continued the drive toward Emma’s house and soon enough they had parked the SUV about a mile from Emma’s mansion.
Dr. Anoki said, “Okay, so going over our plan, Jo, you’ll use your illusions to shield the two of you. Once you’re inside, Joel would split and go and find his friend. Remember Joel, after injecting him, you must calm him down or else your cover would be blown. Jo, you go and find some legitimate documents and a sample of the serum.
If all goes as planned, rendezvous with the Joel and his friend at the same place where you divided at and Jo would take it from there. Don’t forget to report every progress to me through the walkie-talkies I gave you. It’s all we have for the moment.”
The two nodded in agreement and began to walk away from Dr. Anoki. Before leaving, Jo approached Dr. Powell and confided a secret, “I’ve always stood up for people who couldn’t stand for themselves and that gave me quite a reputation. Sometimes I’ve had to use my fist but oftentimes, I trick my opponents. What I’m trying to say is, this is big… maybe too big”
Dr. Powell put his hand on Jo’s shoulder and said, “The spider totem reached from the depths of the earth and chose you Jo; the totem chose you to wield its power because it’s you who merit it. When you were human, you faced only human problems.” Jo asked, “So what am I now?” Dr. Powell replied with a smile on his face, “Now Jo, you are superhuman; your problems are no more going to be human problems. When you had human obstacles, you scaled them. Now, you have a superhuman problem. Scale it”
Jo nodded and boldly turned toward Joel. “Let’s go and expose that freak show”, Jo said. Joel nodded a smile in return and the two began to run toward the mansion under Jo’s illusion.
The huge mansion had unarmed guards everywhere. Of course, Jo and Joel knew why. Jo’s illusion caused them to be invisible to everyone so they walked past the guards undetected. Joel, who knew the building, escorted Jo to the front door. They entered without detection and walked to the center of the room.
“Emma and Dr. Andoh have their rooms on the topmost floor. I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for there”, Joel said to Jo. The latter nodded and they went separate ways.
Joel left Jo and became visible then went down the stairs to the metal room that gave access to the Underground Village of Red Ants. As if by a force of compulsion, Joel began to transform. His arms became slim, tough and scaly and grew long spikes along it. His hands changed to fit his arms. His body arched and his shoulders rose, drawing out his neck in the process. His head became bigger and developed huge, dark, bulgy eyes. Two short antennae grew on his head in the process. His legs became thin, tough and scaly with long spikes along it as well. His feet changed to fit his legs and he was naturally tip-toeing. He grew an ant’s abdomen as well.
The transformation was painful and when it was finished, Joel looked into the reflective walls to see the hideous creature that he had become.
The room had a mechanism that transformed him even against his will. Still, no time to waste, Joel checked for the syringe that he had brought to save Delali, his best friend; he found that it was still safe.
When he stepped into the Underground Village, although he expected to see a lot of Red Ants, he was still stunned to see such a great number. The number has greatly increased in the recent past and that is really threatening. “She could take over the whole nation if no one stops her”, Joel said to himself. Many Red Ants like him were rushing past every minute. Since all of them were under mind control, they had no time for useless chatter. Everyone was always working.
Emma made the Red Ants dig the base of her mansion deep and wide. It has ten floors in depth and stretches for the full width of her mansion. The floors and roofs of the Underground Village were raw sand and earth but had white lights lined up every five meters.
Joel began to make his way down through the maze pathways in the UVRA.

Meanwhile…
Jo began to trace his way to the elevator. He got into the elevator at the last moment and it was only when he was inside that he realized who he was with.
It was Mr. Appiah and the same young men that he had found tied and gagged in the bungalow. It seems they doubt that Dr. Andoh would hurt them and now they were coming for an appointment with him in his own lab. Jo had wanted to delay them but decided that since they would lead him to Dr. Andoh, he might as well allow them.
“Don’t forget what I said”, Mr. Appiah said. “First, ask about his health. Then express how much you wish for those criminals to be put behind bars forever and things like that; and that is where we offer him the gifts.” One of the young men said, “Don’t worry Mr. Appiah, we can handle it. We’ll be in the sports group before the end of today” The others murmured their agreements among themselves. “Ah okay, if you say so” Mr. Appiah said and ended the conversation. Soon, they were off the elevator and were heading toward Dr. Andoh’s lab with Jo walking invisibly behind them.
Jo saw more young and handsome men guarding the floor. Still, none of them was armed. Two of the young men joined Mr. Appiah and his group and escorted them to where Dr. Andoh’s lab was located. At the door, Mr. Appiah and his students were asked to wait outside while one of the escorts went inside to inform Dr. Andoh.
Seeing the opportunity, Jo slipped into Dr. Andoh’s lab with the escort before the door closed. He found himself in a huge modern science laboratory with many modern gadgets and equipments. Jo recognized Dr. Andoh in a corner of the lab working on a science formula. He turned as soon as the door opened and asked, “Have they come?” The escort nodded. “Bring them in.” Dr. Andoh said. “Remember to bar the door.” He added before the escort would walk away.
Jo knew immediately that something was going to happen. This was a trap. Dr. Andoh was going to harm them again. Mr. Appiah was a bad man but Jo couldn’t allow this to happen.
Jo heard the metal doors open and the footsteps of Mr. Appiah and his students entering. He heard the metal door close and as expected, the sound of a lock being turned. “How can I stop an attack that I know nothing of?” Jo thought to himself. “How about taking advantage of the time at hand to have the element of surprise” “I haven’t practiced how to use my powers for the offensive much but here is one thing that I don’t need practice to do… triggering a fire alarm”
As fast as possible, Jo looked around the room till he found the fire alarm. He run as fast as he could for it but before he could trigger it, the enemy launched their attack.
From the roof, five huge and ugly creatures that resembled ants dropped from the roof and fell between Dr. Andoh and Mr. Appiah’s group. Jo was on Dr. Andoh’s side. The sights of the creatures were horrible and one of the students collapsed at once.

Back in the U.V.R.A…
Joel walked down to the hole where he spent his resting hours as a Red Ant and found that it was not empty. He walked toward it and saw that the occupant was not at all a Red Ant. It was a human. He stuck out his head from the hole and said, “Welcome home Joel”. “Akofa!” Joel exclaimed in shock. The short, ugly and round man stepped out from the hole and stood in front of Joel. He was holding a pole that had a taser at the tip. “Don’t look so surprised Joel” he said, “Red Ants are never surprised”. “I am not a Red Ant”, Joel retorted in anger.
The short man eyed Joel’s ant features and laughed teasingly then said, “Dr. Andoh told me that one of his flock has gone astray and as Guardian of the Village, I had to do something about it. I told him that my men and I would find you but he told us not to worry about it. You would come to us by yourself. We don’t know how you got in here but as soon as you reached the ‘mecidide metal room’, we knew exactly where you’ll head next so we prepared a welcome-back party for you.”
Joel heard some giggles behind him and saw more human men step out of various holes on that floor. They surrounded Joel and all held tasers of different forms; some of them were made on baseball bats, others on hockey sticks, others on tennis rackets. “Now, just allow us to tase your antenna, then you’ll go to sleep, then we’ll take you to Dr. Andoh, then you’ll be back among the flock in no time. Trust me; the pain will be worth it.”
“Where’s Delali?” Joel asked. “Your friend? You should be proud of him. Unlike you, he’s out there in Dr. Andoh’s lab ambushing a couple of young men who would soon be joining our cause.” Joel’s eyes widened as he said out, “Jo!”
Having no time to waste, Joel decided he had to attack first. He employed a tactic that he always used in fights while he was still human. He went straight for the boss first.
The short man saw that Joel was about to attack so he put his pole on the defense but that was all he could do. Joel rushed past the pole into striking range and knocked the short man in the face with a very strong punch that threw him back into the hole that he emerged from.
The others were shocked with the speed of the attack and they were confused for a moment. Eventually, the one who was closest to Joel pressed forward with his hockey-stick-taser but Joel used his spiky arm to hit the middle of the stick, breaking it into two halves. The assailant decided to hit Joel with a punch but the latter was faster; he hit the man’s rib and used his open palm to hit his face. The hit threw him back a couple of meters.
The next opponents decided to come in twos. They hadn’t planned their attack well; two baseball bat holders charged at Joel and swung their bats together. Joel docked very low and listened as the two knocked each other with their bats very hard. When they fell, Joel picked up their bats and looked at the remaining attackers. There were three of them remaining and they each held tennis rackets that had their nets made of charged up electricity.
Without hesitation, the three charged at Joel with anger and determination in their eyes.

Meanwhile…
“What is going on Dr. Andoh?” Mr. Appiah asked the evil doctor. “You are about to undergo one of the most amazing processes in human history.” Dr. Andoh explained, “You are about to be mutated. You are going to be transformed from your wretched forms into a much superior race”, he added pointing at the closest Red Ant beside him.
While Dr. Anoki spoke, Jo decided to put his fire alarm on hold and scout the laboratory in search of a sample of the serum first.
“I would escort you to the mutation room. If you resist, these Red Ants would crush you in one hit. They love to do that. Isn’t that right, Delali?” Dr. Andoh asked the closest Red Ant to him.
“Delali”, Jo thought to himself. The name sounded very familiar but Jo couldn’t tell where he had heard it before at. At that same moment, he found two test-tube racks; one which said, “greantopholia mecidide Queen”; and “greantopholia mecidide Raw” He took a test tube from each rack and stacked them in separate pockets.
“We should have listened when they told us you were the one behind our capture”, Mr. Appiah said regretfully.
“Whatever”, Dr. Andoh said. “The room is this way”, he added pointing ahead of him to a wooden door.
When Mr. Appiah and the others were about to follow the direction they were told to go in, the action began. The fire alarm began to scream out in madness as Jo triggered it. Water began to spray down from the roof to add to it.
The loud alarm and the water from the roof confused everyone; especially the Red Ants and they all began to scream in agony as they crouched and knelt down.
Dr. Andoh looked toward the switch and saw Jo standing next to it. “You. How did you…” Before ending his sentence, Dr. Andoh drew out a gun and began to empty a whole round at where Jo was standing.
The additional sound of the gunshot was the exact distraction that Jo needed. The version of Jo that was standing near the fire alarm was just an illusion that he had created to distract Dr. Andoh. While the doctor was shooting away, the real Jo crept behind him and went to Mr. Appiah and the others were. “Follow me”, Jo said when he was close enough to Mr. Appiah.
Without hesitation, Mr. Appiah and the young men with him began to follow the hooded figure through the room to where the exit was. Jo heard the locks in the door being withdrawn and he immediately signaled to the others to be quiet. Dr. Andoh’s gunfire ceased and he was running to check if the person he shot was really a goner.
At that same moment, the huge metal doors flung open and outside stood a lot of fully morphed Red Ants ready to strike.

Back in the U.V.R.A…
The three assailants who were holding electrically charged tennis rackets were now lying unconscious on the floor and Joel was standing on one of their heads.
He still wielded the two baseball bats that he had picked up earlier and was prepared to escape the Underground Village. Just as he stepped out and was running back to the ground floor, he heard a very familiar whistle blow out loudly. That was the sound that called for all Red Ants in the area to attack. Somehow, the short man had woken up and was calling for support.
Joel knew very well that the Red Ants would be merciless. They would try to tear him apart limb by limb. There would be no pity in the eyes of these mindless creatures. As he sped off, his antennae twitched to the left and he knew immediately that and attacker was coming at him in full pelt.
At that moment, Joel thought about how the short man had said if he tased his antenna, he would ‘go to sleep’. He decided to employ only that tactic against all Red Ants that came his way; starting with the one that was coming at him now. Joel jumped very high without breaking his run and as he soared above the Red Ant; he used the taser end of one of his baseball bats to tase one the creature’s antenna.
When he landed, he turned around and saw that as soon as the taser touched the Red Ant’s antenna, the creature collapsed at once like a deactivated robot.
“Ha! Thanks for the heads-up Akofa”, Joel said as he looked at the baseball bats in his hands. He then continued his run; fully confident at what was coming at him.
Three ants intersected him, and then surrounded him. Before any of them would attack, Joel waved his bats wildly to hit their antennae. The first two went down before they knew what hit them. The third one dodged three attacks that came at it and charged at Joel; pushing him back with its big head. Joel took advantage of the situation and used both of his taser to tase the Red Ant’s antennae. The creature fell limp on Joel at once.
From behind, Joel saw that a much bigger number of Red Ants were coming toward him led by a very furious Akofa; and from the left, another big number of Red Ants. The only way was forward. One of the Red Ants which had run far ahead of the others reached Joel and was about to pounce on him.
The Red Ant that Jo had just stunned was lying on his thighs so he mustered his superhuman strength and threw the creature over his head to hit the one that was about to pounce on him. The two of them fell back a few feet but Joel wasted no more time. Je rolled over his head and back, then stood to his feet. As fast as his legs could carry him, he continued to speed off toward the exit of the U.V.R.A.
Up ahead, there were more Red Ants and Joel knew that there was only one way through. As a sportsman, Joel knew Javelin Throw and applied his skills as he volleyed one of the baseball bats at the closest Red Ant. The throw was a very good one which was rewarded by stunning two of the Red Ants’ antennae before it fell.
Joel held the last one with both hands as he ran toward the remaining Red Ants; about four of them, human guardians involved. Since this part of the U.V.R.A was thin, the enemy could only attack in a single file and this provided the only advantage that Joel needed.
He gathered a lot of strength up his arms and smashed the first Red Ant in the thorax. The hit pushed the first ant to hit the rest of the assailants and they all fell backwards like dominoes. Joel realized that one of the Red Ants had recovered from the hit and was coming at him, walking on the walls. “We can do that too?” Joel asked the Red Ant. Without a moment’s hesitation, it sprang at Joel but the latter had prepared the tasing baseball bat and he stunned its antenna for it to fall to the ground…
The footsteps behind were getting closer and Joel knew that there was no time to waste.
He picked up the baseball bat that he had thrown earlier and dashed forward. He was a short distance away from the ‘mecidide metal room’; running his legs away, when all of a sudden, it happened.
A strong hit that Joel hadn’t anticipated came from the side and hit his big ant-like head. The thick pole that delivered the hit snapped into two on impact and it would not have harmed Joel that much if not for the electrical charges that charged up the pole.
“Why hadn’t my antennae detected the attack?” Joel asked himself after he quickly recovered from the strike. Then he saw Akofa step out of a corner with more human guardians and Red Ants.
The short and round man approached Joel and said in wild cheer, “I am the Chief Guardian of this lair; I know everywhere; and you are going nowhere”
In one second, all the lights went out in Joel’s mind and body after Akofa tased his antenna.

At the Exit of Dr. Andoh’s laboratory…
Jo and the people he came to rescue were staring at the huge number of Red Ants that had just opened the door. To the amazement of Mr. Appiah and his students, the Red Ants didn’t react, they were not even looking in their direction. They were only concentrated on the mess in the laboratory. Jo had used his power of illusion to make them seem invisible.
At that same moment, Jo’s clone-illusion disappeared and Dr. Anoki turned his attention to the opened door. He shouted at the Red Ants there, “Don’t let him get away. What? Where are they? Where is everybody?” He was shocked but recovered and reacted immediately. “They must still be here. Lock the doors and don’t let anything or anyone out. Some serious magic is going on here”.
Before the Red Ant at the door would close it, Jo gave up the illusion and mustered a lot of strength to punch it straight in the nose. The punch threw it off back and away with the ones behind it. “FOLLOW ME!” Jo commanded the others as he dashed from the room.
Battle skills came to Jo easily ever since he began to wield the totem. Dr. Anoki told him that the totem always stored something peculiar about its wielder inside it. Some previous wielders of the spider-totem were warriors, hunters, farmers, musicians, fishermen, merchants, kings, kings’ advisors, thieves, murderers and many more.
At this moment, beholding eight big Red Ants in front of him; Jo felt no fear at all. He felt like he could take all of them down. Neither he nor the Red Ants were hesitant so the fight started in one quick move.
“Come and get some, you squirmy morons”, Jo shouted out. He and the first Red Ant charged together but it was Jo who was able to think faster. He lowered himself and came up with a mighty upper cut that sent the creature soaring high heights.
Before the next one would move, Jo was already in front of it. He punched its stomach for it to bend, then held its big head and used it as a battering ram to push back the rest that were coming at him. “Come on”, Jo shouted to Mr. Appiah and his students. They stepped outside the laboratory and followed their hooded savior.
The previous five Red Ants that were flummoxed by the fire alarm and the water had now recovered and were escorting Dr. Andoh as he chased after Jo and the escapes. Dr. Andoh and his pawns saw Jo and the escapers running down the hallway but when they turned the corner, they saw absolutely nobody.
“Don’t give up the search. The last one is some sort of sorcerer. Don’t let him get away.” Dr. Andoh shouted to his escorts.
Jo had used his illusions to make the escapers seem invisible but there was still one major problem. The stairs and elevators were on the other side of the hallway; and the party of Red Ants and Dr. Andoh stood between them and their egress.
Jo stared as more and more Red Ants recovered from his previous attack and came to join the search party.

WATCH OUT FOR PART THREE

Part Three
If he delayed any longer, the whole hallway would soon be full of Red Ants and their chance of escape would be slimmer than ever. His talkie vibrated but considering the circumstances, Jo ignored it. He then remembered that he hadn’t reported any of his progress since he came in.
At that moment, Jo thought of one trick that he could get his illusions to perform for him. He had succeeded earlier on in creating a doppelganger but that required a lot of concentration and a significant amount of physical exertion. Now, he needed more of them. From self-examination, Jo could tell that he had only about enough strength to take him and the escapers out; meanwhile, Jo still felt his body demanding battle. He still wanted to fight although he wasn’t strong enough; “That’s probably the spirit of the fighters in the totem, like Dr. Anoki said”.
While he planned, more Red Ants began to fill the hallway with Dr. Andoh and among them; Jo recognized the one that the evil doctor had called, “Delali” among them. “Stop! STOP!” Dr. Andoh commanded. He seemed to have received a phone call. “Your Highness, I’m a little busy … You’re here!? Who? Joel Ankrah? Excellent. It seems he brought some sort of sorcerer with him. We have him surrounded; I’ll be down in no time. Hail the Queen Ant”
At the sound of Joel’s name, Jo knew exactly where he had heard Delali’s name from. He’s the one that Joel came to get; and it seems Joel had been captured. Worse, the Queen Ant, “No more time to lose”, Jo said to himself as he prepared to launch his one man assault. “At my signal, I want you to dash as fast as your pathetic legs would carry you to the elevator. When you get in, don’t wait for me; Understand?” Jo said to Mr. Appiah. The latter was about to be offensive about the insult but simply nodded.
Following his fighting urge, Jo surged toward the Red Ants with no verge.
When he reached the first Red Ant, he somersaulted over its head and held on to its shoulder before he landed on the other side. When he landed, he threw that Red Ant over his head to go and hit other ones that were standing in the way. Jo then became visible and all the Red Ants and Dr. Andoh turned to him. “Joel is by far the most annoying guy that I’ve met in my entire life.” Jo said as he reached for the fist of the Red Ant on his left. He caught it before it hit could hit him, then went under that Red Ant’s armpit and threw it over his head to smash the ground on its back.
“Still”, Jo continued to say as he dodged an arm-swing from one of the Red Ants, “I cannot leave him to become what he doesn’t want to.” He added as he dodged more and more attacks from the Red Ants.
Jo didn’t allow himself to be stopped as he continued to make his way toward Dr. Andoh.
When he finally reached the evil doctor, the Red Ants stopped attacking him for fear they might hurt their master in the process. Dr. Andoh tried to aim his gun at Jo but the young man quickly slapped it out of his hand. “You see,” Jo said, “It is my responsibility to him and to the whole of Ghana, Africa and beyond”.
Dr. Andoh drew another gun but before he could aim it, Jo slapped it out of his hand too. “I’ve been granted great power so that whenever threats like you and your squirmy queen begin to act against the freedom and security of the public”, Jo said, then slapped away a syringe that the evil doctor was about to use against him. “Then I’ll counteract you”. The evil doctor yet again tried another attack which Jo allowed to succeed; a punch. The punch hit Jo’s chin hard but he didn’t as much as twitch his head. The evil doctor rather shook his hand in pain.
“What? How is that possible? But you’re only a human playing hero.” Dr. Andoh asked as he stared at Jo in shock. “Wrong!” Jo replied in a bold voice. “I’m a superhuman; a SUPER… hero”.
“Who are you?” Dr. Andoh asked, as he tried to distract Jo from a back attack. The Red Ant that was trying to sneak on Jo jumped at him from the back but his spider reflexes alerted him and he jumped over his assailant and landed back in place. The attacker however fell onto Dr. Andoh instead and that knocked him out.
“Now!” Jo shouted as all the Red Ants turned their attention to him. He had sped down the hallway towards where Dr. Andoh’s lab was. While doing this, he removed the invisibility illusion from Mr. Appiah and his students and at Jo’s signal, they also took to their heels towards the elevator.
When the elevator opened, Jo knew that it was time for him to start heading that way.
Breaking the run with one leg, Jo turned around, gathering a lot of strength to his upper body in the process and directed the strength to both of his hands. The Red Ants that were directly behind him were almost in a single file so when Jo turned around he was confident that all would go as planned.
He allowed the first Red Ant to reach up to less than an arm’s length, and then he pressed both hands to its chest. With all the strength that he had gathered, Jo pushed back dropping the hanging leg in the process; and as the creature blasted back, he felt a surge of ecstasy flow through his body. The push brought with it an unseen blast of energy which blasted everything on that whole hallway away. Even Mr. Appiah and his students who were in the elevator across the hallway felt the push a little.
Within his body, Jo felt a whole lot of strength building up inside. “The totem is truly powerful”, Jo thought to himself as he got up to his feet and began to walk confidently over all the fallen Red Ants. When he reached Delali, he picked him up and carried him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes then continued walking toward the elevator.
When he entered, Mr. Appiah and his students pushed themselves to one corner in fear of the unconscious Red Ant. “When the doors open, there’ll be more like this one here but they’ll be alive and ready to kill”.
Shocked and afraid of what their hooded savior said, Mr. Appiah asked, “What…so like what … what do you suggest we do?” Jo replied, “I suggest you keep your big head out of the way” then to the students, Jo asked, “Guys, don’t you see that this dude has got an awfully big head?” Mr. Appiah’s students murmered their agreements among themselves and one of them added, “Worse of all, he always keeps it fully bald and shiny” Jo asked, “Really?” Everyone in the elevator began to laugh at Mr. Appiah while he folded his hands in anger.

Meanwhile…
Joel woke up to find that he was on the ground floor in Emma Hanson’s mansion; where a large number of fully transformed Red Ants stood with one pretty young lady who wore a very fancy robe made to look like a golden ant. She was full of grace and she had the air of someone who never stops thinking. He recognized her at once. It was Emma Hanson; the Queen Ant. He was still in the ant form and was locked head and hands with a thick chain.
She was staring straight into his face when came back to. “Welcome back Joel”, she said in a very smooth and high accented voice. “We missed you”.
“Let me tell you something Joel.” She said as she sat on the floor beside Joel. “Insects have very interesting uses. Dr. Andoh proved that to me when he discovered the mutation formula that he created to put humans in a state and form between human and red ant using a gland that he drew from the red ants. He needed funding and test subjects but no one; not even my dreadful folks wanted to help.
So, when Uncle K.A. told me that I would be the Queen of his Inventions, I knew that I was old enough to take over from my raggedy rich pathetic parents; may their souls rot in pain. I tied and gagged them in their sleep and left them on an unpiloted speedboat on the sea for them to go for another honeymoon on the sea.” She paused and laughed at this part before continuing, “The best test subjects are those who train a lot so we started by buying up one of the biggest sports organizations. Uncle K.A. wanted the toughest, I wanted the handsomest. So it was set. We got our men and told them that we were running tests on them but rather began to run our experiments.”
At this point, Emma stood to her feet and walked back a little bit before continuing.
“Ghana, Africa, the whole world must undergo this mutation. All must eventually rise and Hail the Queen Ant”, she finally added. “The serum shall be fed to the water lines in the city and it’ll spread like a waterborne disease that’ll slowly mould the whole world into a colony of Red Ants that serve me; the Queen Ant”.
“Your Highness?” Emma Hanson heard a voice from behind her say. She turned around and to her surprise saw Jo and Joel (in his human form) standing together at the doorway. Jo said, “Thanks for telling us your biography; we’ll make sure you get a place to write it all down in details; behind bars!” When Emma Hanson looked at the place where Joel was previously imprisoned, the Joel there faded into empty chains. She shrieked back in surprise.
“Surprised?” Joel asked. “My friend here can show you tons of stuff that you really don’t want to see. Your confessions just gave him enough time to come down your elevators and steal the keys from you then unlock me.”
“Impertinent Ant,” Emma shouted at Joel, “Who gave you the right to be human in my presence?”
Ignoring her question, Jo added “Now, we are going to bring you and your uncle to justice, and then we’ll find a way to cure these Red Ants.”
“I’m sorry gentlemen, or whatever you are, I can’t go to prison. I’m the Queen Ant; Queen of the Underground Village of Red Ants. Red Ants! Rip them to pieces and litter the whole floor with debris of their brains.”
“Are you fit enough?” Joel asked Jo with a challenging grin on his face. “Are you asking?” Jo replied with a similar grin on his face.
Just then, they heard a groan behind them and turned to see the Red Ant called Delali. Jo asked immediately, “Hey, have you still got that serum that the doctor, the other doctor gave you?” “Yea! why? Who’s that?” Joel asked arching his head toward the Red Ant while he dug his pocket for it.
“That’s a little parting present I brought from Uncle K.A for you”, Jo replied with a smile. “I’ll hold them off while you bring him back.” Jo added.
Taking the syringe out of his pocket, Joel immediately stood up and said, “No. You do it. I have news for the queen. Now, imagine what the queen would say if I told her that some spider was delaying my progress”.
Collecting the syringe from Joel, Jo said with a funny bow, “Oh my, she would be really displeased. Let me stall you no further. Ant Along Already”. The two laughed and turned to their various sides. “Don’t be long”, Joel said before he pounced on one of the closest Red Ants.
Jo knelt down beside Delali and saw that the Red Ant was coming back to quickly. Without wasting a second, Jo slipped the syringe from its container and injected the full content into the creature’s neck.
Before the creature would struggle, Jo began a body-locking move where he was under the creature and was using his hands and legs to lock the creatures’.
While the creature was struggling in his grip, Jo realized that it was taking a human form slowly. Jo whispered encouraging words into the creature’s ears, telling it “It’ll be alright. There are friends here too. We have come to help you. Don’t be afraid. Joel is here”. When Delali heard Joel’s name, it calmed down and asked in a husky voice, “Where’s Joel?”
“Protecting you”, Jo whispered into its ears. “I am going to release you now but you have to know that things are no more the same. You have changed; physically. But we are going to help you so please; when I release you, please don’t freak out”.
Delali agreed.
When Jo released Joel’s friend, the latter looked at Jo like he had seen him somewhere before. Delali was in a state between half ant, half human, “You… you are Joseph Asare”, he said. “I think you are mistaken”, Jo replied, trying to hide his face deeper under the hood he was wearing over his head.
“Don’t worry; if you want secrets, I don’t mind. The fact is, Joel is your brother.” Delali said to Jo. At first, Jo looked surprised but quickly recovered and asked, “Bah, how is that possible? His surname is Ankrah and he speaks with a different accent.” Delali said, “His real name is Joel Asare; he adopted the ‘Ankrah’ name from my family because he lived most of his life with us. He… we were coming back home after we heard the news of your parents’ accident. He received a call to come back home to watch over you but he wanted to secure his membership in GBSC.”
Jo was shocked with what he heard. His brother is Joel after all. He had a brother and it was that annoying insect. He turned around and saw that Joel had been surrounded by a lot of Red Ants.
“Stay here and recover”, Jo said to Delali while he stood to his feet.
“HEY!!!” Jo shouted out while he was walking toward the Red Ants. Joel was standing between the Red Ants and their queen but he was surrounded and would be overrun in no time.
All the Red Ants and their Queen turned to look to Jo. “Enough of the Squirmy Anthood of psycho Ants crap. I can see that taking down one ant aint a problem for y’all. Come and try some spiders”.
Jo realized that he had started to burn with the same power and energy as he had before he escaped the laboratory. He felt like he could take them all down and he began to charge at them with superhuman speed. The first Red Ant took a fist in the chest; the next one tasted Jo’s foot in its mouth; the next one which had thrown its hand, received a jab in its armpit; the next two were simply dodged and avoided; the next ones were many and were covering the place where Joel was trapped.
That was when the unexpected occurred; a trigger was pulled; a bullet was shot; shot from the gun in the hands of Emma Hanson, the Queen Ant. Another, and then another followed before everyone realized where it was coming from.
Down went Joel in one heavy drop onto the tiled floor. The Queen Ant had killed Joel. “NO!!!” Jo cried out as he saw his brother drop dead. The cry was very strong; filling the whole building and beyond with its echo.
Jo knew he had to end the battle at once. The energy in him greatly amplified and great power flowed through him like never before; he felt godly. The spider totem; which he always hangs on a necklace under his clothing began to glow in gold.
Great power and majesty exceeding that of Queen Ants’ filled the whole area. Everyone in the room felt the presence of a very great and powerful being in the whole room. His presence was compelling and everyone, even the Red Ants could only think of worshipping him. All the Red Ants that previously wanted to rip Jo to shreds were now bowing down to his new; much godly form. In one wave of his hand, all the Red Ants in the room dropped into an unconscious state at once.
He walked past all the Red Ants to their Queen and only she was proving untouched by the power in the room. “Queen Ant is what thy calleth thyself”, Jo said with a local dialect in a voice that sounded like thousands of people chorusing. “Yea”, Emma responded in a fearing voice; acting like she wasn’t afraid.
“Thou hast killed brethren of mine and thou hast harmed the lives of these young men. Thou shalt be punished by ANANSI, the Spider God”, Jo said in that same voice; then began to form his hand into a fist slowly. While he did so, Emma Hanson began to choke and scream in agony.
Jo was somehow magically killing her with an invisible strangle.

Watch out for part 4

In front of a Science Laboratory on a University Campus,
Three men who were clothed in all black were facing the science laboratory holding bottles of strong alcohol with pieces of torn cloth in them.
“Remember this day guys”, one of them said, “This is the day where we get rid of crazy Marvin’s research and save our jobs once and for all. Another one of them, the shortest and fattest, said, “Yea Dave; after we terminate this maniac’s bee-hive-laboratory-farm, the school would do the rest… Hahaha”.
The three men crept to one of the windows where they saw a middle-age scientist standing writing some results down from a test he just performed. “He’s occupied, let’s go”, one of the men in black whispered then the three of them crept forward. They walked around the laboratory to the back where there was one high window.
When they reached under it, one of them climbed the shoulder of the shortest one and the third one held on to the bottles of alcohol. The one who had climbed said, “Light ‘em up Anthony”. The one who held the bottles put two of them on the ground, then took out a lighter from his pocket and lit the cloth at the mouth of the first bottle then handed it over to the one who was on top saying, “There you go, Frank”.
After looking inside the room that contained many beehives, Frank looked down to his friends and said, “Crazy Marvin says he had to travel very far to find the legendary Mmboro; Queen of all queen bees and he would be putting her on exhibition tomorrow. According to him, that creature is magical. Let’s see how her magic works against this!!!”
Immediately, he threw the first flaming bottle into the room. In one moment, the glass bottle broke, the alcohol spilled on the floor and the fire began to lick it the alcohol bit by bit. The next two bottles followed and hit different parts of the room.
In a few seconds, the man who was in the other laboratory rushed into the room where the beehives were. “What in heaven’s name is going on here?” He exclaimed. He looked around and saw the flames building in the room. He quickly rushed for a fire extinguisher on one side of the room and began to blow away at the mounting fire.
“NO! My bees, I’ll save all of you”, the scientist said as he continued to shoot the extinguisher at the fire. He was too weak to fend off that strong fire but he kept fighting.
Outside the laboratory, the three men who had attacked the laboratory were teasing the scientist with mimicry of whatever he said. After a short while, they sped away from the burning laboratory, leaving the scientist alone. The one called Frank shouted, “So long doctor Marvin Essuman!”
Back in the laboratory, Dr. Essuman dropped the fire extinguisher and rushed back to the room he was previously in. There, there was a very big beehive hanging over his front desk. He sped to it and knelt down on the floor beside it and said, “Save us Mmboro. Your subordinate queen bees and their hives are in trouble. All the hives are burning. I never believed in magic till I met you. Please save us all.”
He immediately snatched another fire extinguisher beside him and rushed back to where the flames were still growing. When he reached there, the flames were very strong now and the smoke was all over the place. He tried to remove the hives and throw them outside to save the bees but he didn’t notice the huge plank that was falling behind him. It hit his back and drove him down into some wild flames. Satisfied with nothing, the flames ate up the skin of the poor doctor down to his inside flesh. He kept calling, “Mmboro!” while he was slowly perishing in the flames.
That was when things changed for the better for his sake. Out of the huge hive on his desk came a very big bee; as big as a human’s fist. It flew majestically with many drones behind it; more than the hive could naturally contain. More and more drones flew out and escorted the Queen Bee toward the place where the flames were.
They charged inside and wherever they were, the flames and smoke scattered around them. The sound of the beating of their wings was very loud and it attracted all the other bees that hadn’t perished in the flames around it. Every bee that hadn’t perished flew and joined the croon of beating wings. As their number increased, the flames in the whole area abated and they saw Dr. Essuman lying close to death on the floor.
“Thank you for saving your fold Mmboro”, the dying man said to the wonderfully huge flock of bees and their ultimate queen bee.
All the bees retreated a short distance, then charged unto the man on the floor and when they reached him, stung him, then dropped dead, leaving their stings in his skin. He screamed out in agony as each sting poked his bare flesh and stayed there.
Finally, the queen bee added her sting to Dr. Essuman, at the exact location of his heart, and then dropped dead. After seeing this odd sight, Dr. Essuman also collapsed.
 
Jo and Dr. Powell had been in the nation’s capital, Nkran, for only 24 hours and they already knew that everything was wrong. The streets were ruled by gangs; gangs and cops had no issues; but somehow, there was always a gang war going on.
Those on the top were very corrupt and mostly preferred to focus on how they gained from the nation’s economy. A hero was needed and fast. If not controlled, the situation might end up making everyone a criminal; a City of Criminals.
The two were now in a huge house that belonged to Dr. Powell’s father while he was still alive. Looking down from a high window into the bright lights on the far off streets of Nkran, Jo said, “This place is horrible. I cannot stand for all this injustice. Those responsible must be punished. Everyone must know that Anansi-the-Spider is here in Nkran and he wouldn’t rest until every criminal scumbag is lying where they belong; behind bars.”
“That’s a very big step Jo; and despite the great power you possess and all that, you’ll still need more preparations.” Dr. Powell said. “Say that for yourself Dr. Lecturer. You quit your job. How’ll you fend?” Jo replied. Dr. Powell said, “Come on man, there isn’t just one university in Ghana. I already took a transfer to the University of Ghana, Legon (UGL).”
“That said, I already made preparations for the place we’ll operate from”, Dr. Powell added.
Jo said, “Speaking of which… What did you say your dad did when he was here?”
“He dealt in electronics. He was one of the first private agents in Ghana to import electronic gadgets into the nation.” Dr. Powell replied. “Nice”, Jo replied. “So, the preparations for me, what are they?” Jo asked after a short while.
“Follow me”, Dr. Powell said.
While escorting Jo up a flight of stairs, Dr. Powell explained, “When my dad was here, he had a place that he personally used to spy on everything related to him.” Jo asked, “To spy? Why?”
“Well, a white man in Ghana after the independence wasn’t so easy so my dad had to watch his back, and ours.” Dr. Powell replied, and then continued his explanation, “It is well hidden and according to everyone, it doesn’t exist.” Dr. Powell led Jo up a ladder and past two curves till and they reached a big hall that from the outside would be seen as the roof of the house. While they cut a final curve, Jo said, “Wow, this place is full of cobwebs.”
“That’s the name”, Dr. Powell said, turning around. Before Jo would ask, he continued, “The Cob-Web”. Jo was confused and wanted to ask what Dr. Powell asked but he was more amazed with what he saw next.
“Anansi-the-Spider, welcome to your Cob-Web”, Dr. Powell said.
“Good God!” Jo exclaimed when he saw the huge hall in front of him. “Which one amazes you the most; is it the hall itself or the content?” Dr. Powell asked
The hall was filled with 20th Century technologies and gadgets that were interconnected in many ways to different other electronic gadgets. “Both man, both!” Jo replied as his eyes scouted the whole room with his mouth open in awe.
“Your dad had a hideout in your house?” Jo asked. Dr. Powell replied, “This was where we all moved to hide whenever gunshots reached this neighborhood. Well, no one could successfully cross my dad’s electronic security at the time”.
“Did anyone try?” Jo asked. “Armed men of many types, even some hired military attempted to break into our home but not once did the security fail. My dad controlled it all from here.” Dr. Powell replied. “Must’ve been an ugly experience back then”, Jo said. Dr. Powell answered, “Yes it was. The nation has changed much since I left here as a child… but there’s still more work to be done. This is the time of the spider; this is the time for Anansi-the-Spider.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Dr. Powell pulled down a big switch that powered the whole hall bit by bit and all the electronic gadgets too.
Many monitors were in the room and systems of different sorts were in also arranged everywhere. On one of the huge screens, the television news was being played live.
“And in current news, the mysterious hero Anansi-the-Spider; he hero that wore a red hooded jacket is still a mystery to the nation. According to stories, he managed to single-handedly stop an illegal mutation program known as the Underground Village of Red Ants; the UVRA for short; which was going behind the scenes of the late Emma Hanson’s Sports Organization; Gideon Boots Sports Complex. The Kumasi Police Department were able to arrest the scientist who invented the serum that caused the mutation. With him were other men who referred to themselves ‘Guardians’ of the UVRA. On the bright side, a hero scientist from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Dr. Anoki Annan was able to find a cure for the victimized Red Ants.”
“With Anansi-the-Spider, the public has nothing but praise and gratitude for him for bringing their sons back to them. Here is what some of the mothers have to say”. The screen changed to one old woman who had recently reunited with her three sons.
They were standing beside her in a crowded market place while she spoke her gratitude to the camera. Jo and Dr. Powell listened as more and more women expressed their feelings; some, more touching than others.
After listening for a while, Dr. Powell said, “Wow, the people love you.” Smiling back, Jo said, “You can’t say”.
Back in the University laboratory…
Dr. Marvin Essuman woke up with a heavy plank on him. The whole area was full of strong black smoke and it was difficult to see. The scientist remembered getting burned to the flesh with fire and he had to die but somehow, he had woken up again with fresh new hands and body.
He tried to push off the plank on him but he found that his body passed through the plank by turning into many bees that disorganized and reorganized.
“Mmboro and her bees have sacrificed themselves to save me. This is unbelievable. Your sacrifice shall not be in vain; those evildoers who attacked you and the rest of us. Yes, the humans shall pay for attempting to obliterate our race. This is genocide. I am Mboro, and your stings have made me into the vengeance of all bees that have perished in this fire”.

Back in the Cob-Web…
While one of the mothers on the TV News was expressing her gratitude, the screen switched back to the telecast office where the News Presenter said, “Breaking news, there has been a fire outbreak in one of the science laboratories on the University of Ghana Campus. Here is a live feed with our journalist Catherine Kuomah. Good Evening Catherine; tell us what is happening there in UGL”.
The screen switched to the campus of the University where many people had gathered around a building that was in fumes. Catherine Kuomah said, “I’m fine thank you Marcus. This is the science research laboratory that was apportioned to lecturer Dr. Marvin Essuman to research on bees. No one has an idea how the fire started but when we reached here, the fire service already had the situation under control. Some of our sources however tell us that the flames mysteriously died by themselves and left the building blowing out this thick black smoke into the air. The place also smells like burning flesh… and honey. We also know that Dr. Essuman was the only one in the laboratory before the fire but no one has yet ventured into the fire to bring him out; that is if he is still alive. This is Catherine Kuomah, KTV News…” Before the presenter would end her closing remarks she heard the voices of the public growing loud and everyone was pointing at the black smoke.
Out of it came a swarm of bees; many of them. There were many of them, and they flew together in a defined pattern. They kept together and flew up out of the smoke. Moving together, they formed a coil that mounted straight upward.
The bees formed into a huge head figure with the face of Dr. Essuman. “Humans!” the bodiless head shouted out to the public, “My name is Mboro; and your vengeance is Now!!!”
Immediately, the swarm of bees flew into the mounting crowd around the science laboratory. The bees violently stung everyone with their golden stings that didn’t stay in the skin. The bees survived every sting they gave and continued stinging more and more people.
Back in the Cob-Web,
Without wasting a further minute, the two stepped out of the house; Jo taking his red hooded jacket with him.
Moments later, they were in Dr. Powell’s jeep and were driving toward the University Campus that wasn’t so far away. Dr. Powell drove very fast and soon they were curving to the University Campus. When their car pulled over near the scene, they saw that everyone in that area was lying on the floor. Swells were on everyone and they helplessly panting, crying and wailing on the floor.
Jo, with the red hood on walked to the scene. He looked around for some time and just when he thought it was safe, out of the black smoke came the swarm of bees, charging wildly at him.

Watch out for part 2