Rad - Fire to plant

Hovering over him and waving its sticky leaves was a giant plant that even a vegetarian wouldn't try to eat. Through the panic creeping into his brain, Jack recognized it as a huge Venus flytrap.

But Jack knew it wasn't looking for flies. It seemed to have him in mind for dinner.

The plant swooped down its sticky, lobelike leaves and scooped up his body like food onto a platter. Jack remembered watching flies die in these plants when he was a kid. It hadn't looked like a nice death then. And it didn't seem much better now.

Jack thought over what he had learned about plant warfare in spy school. Zip. The bionic arm was his only hope.

But it was stuck like the rest of his body in the gooey secretions of the plant. Jack guessed that the trap's mouth was watering from the idea of eating him.

Things got worse fast. The two halves of the plant started to close together like green jaws. Jack could see only a dim light through the huge bristles on the edges of the leaves. He was getting dizzy and nauseous from the horrible smell that the plant's chemicals were giving off.

It was a fight to stay awake. Jack told himself that he couldn't die this way. He wanted to go out with his gun blazing, throwing grenades at his killers. Now here he was, dying like an insect.

Jack blacked out. Then he came back. Just as he felt himself going under again, he remembered the hot finger. If he could just… stay awake… long enough… to push the activator.

Jack forced all his concentration onto the bionic arm. He pushed the HEAT button on his index finger and pumped its heat up to the max. Then he jabbed the finger as far as it would go into the plant's protoplasm.

There was a sickening rush of heat. The plant had caught on fire! All around Jack, the chemical goo began to smoke with noxious fumes. Jack felt himself start to cook like a marshmallow over a campfire. He had just made things worse! Now he was going to be cremated instead of digested!

The plant started to writhe in agony as its feelers turned red hot. Jack felt a sudden rush of air as the lobes opened up. A second later, he was flying through the air as the plant swayed in its death dance.

His body slammed into an algae-covered wall, then slid into a goo-covered, repulsive heap on the floor. Slowly, Jack picked himself up. He was pretty sure he was alive. Either that or he had died and been reincarnated as the Blob from Outer Space.

***

Worlds of Power: Bionic Commando, Chapter 11