“I thought—“

“It’s not you, I promise; I’m just looking for something more. Something exciting.”

“I’m ‘exciting!’”

“Yeah, sort of, I guess. Science is cool. And bugs are important and stuff, but, you know?”

Scotty Chrysalis was watching another potential romance start the process of decomposition. He hated it had become the norm. So many women had run him through the same speech. But Laurel was different; he liked her. If only he could tell her the truth. Tell her who he really—

“What is that?”

Scotty turned around just as a massive object eclipsed the sun. Screams of terrified citizens scrambling to escape filled the food court.

Scotty scooped up Laurel and ran toward the entrance of a nearby coffee shop just as the windows exploded into countless shards. Powerful gusts from massive insect wings upended tables, sending patrons smashing into each other as they tried to escape.

“What’s happening?!” Lauren asked from relative safety behind the counter. “What is that thing?”

Scotty looked at her, then back outside at the massive, two-story-tall monster, his old nemesis. “It’s The Dragonfly.”

“The what?”

“I don’t have time to explain.”

“Explain what? What’s going on, Scotty?”

Sensing danger, Scotty pulled Laurel in close. He leaped, carrying them both through a doorway into a mall hallway connected to the cafe. He twisted to protect her from flying debris in one acrobatic motion as a full-size sedan smashed through the counter they had just been hiding behind.

They landed, squeak-sliding along the linoleum, stopping just in front of a Bug’s Life cardboard standee outside a nostalgic gift shop. “In here,” Scotty said, pulling Laurel inside and hiding behind a display of A-Team lunchboxes and Goonies action figures.

They both took a moment to catch their breath. He had to tell her. He might not survive the fight he was about to have and needed her to know the truth.

“Four years ago, there was an accident in the lab. Everyone got out okay, except for two young grad students: me and that thing out there.”

“That’s a person?”

“It was. Once. Now, I don’t know what it is, but it wants me dead.”

“Why?”

“Revenge.”

“Revenge? For what?”

“The accident. It was my fault. I got cocky. I forgot to check the Plasmocon. We were hit by thermogenic photon rays. We were both working with insects at the time. Charlie was working with Dragonflies. I guess somehow he transformed into that massive thing out there.”

They both flinched as the shadow of massive wings darkened the floor before them. “We need to move. Those skylights won’t stop him.”

“Wait, tell me, what happened to you?”

“I’m still human, but I also, you know, developed… powers.”

“What kind of powers?”

“Superpowers. Sort of, I guess.”

“Like what?”

“I took on the abilities of the bug I was studying, too. A caterpillar. So, you know, I can, like, jump high and climb stuff, and I’m stronger than you think. Like, a lot stronger.”

Laurel’s head was spinning. “And you have fought him, that, it, whatever, you have fought before?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you not get killed? That thing is massive.”

Scotty’s cheeks reddened. “I have one more power, well, more like a weapon.”

“Then use it. That thing is going to kill us!”

He hesitated. “I don’t want to.”

“What? Why not? You have to!”

“It’s sort of, well, embarrassing.”

“Are you serious? I don’t care. If you’re like a superhero or whatever, you need to do something!”

Scotty looked up. The light from outside was gone entirely as the skylight started to creek and groan under the pressure of the massive insect.

“Mmm… nah.”

“Scotty, c’mon! You have to. You have to be a hero!”

“I really, it’s, uh—“

Glass and metal rained down as Scotty’s nemesis dropped through the roof, cratering the flooring and concrete. Laurel covered her ears and screamed.

“Scotty, do something!”

“Uh…”

“What is it that is so bad? Scotty, you have to! Hurry, it’s coming toward us!”

“I compact something and, uh, shoot it. It’s, really,” Scotty dodged a bench as it crashed through the store doorway. “It’s really unpleasant to watch!” he yelled.

“Scotty!”

She was right. They were going to die if he didn’t.

It was his destiny. His gift. His power.

Scotty focused. He bore down, tightening, straining, compacting fecal matter deep within his bowels. He dropped his trousers and took aim.

“Wait,” Laurel yelled, “you’re The Skipper?!”