2620 A.D.
Hey there, Petra. You look as beautiful as ever today.
It’s been a while, Luke.
I see your tongue hasn’t dulled one bit.
You flatter me.
I’d much rather be inviting you to a ball than this top secret conference.
I hear President Goodman’s a much better dancer.
Oh.
He looks even scarier in person.
Yet, his domestic approval ratings seem to be higher than yours.
And, although it’s not public knowledge, he…
Yes, I do believe I’ve heard.
21 years ago,
he was one of the few to return alive from Mars.
Yes, from BUGS II.
2599 A.D.
We’ve finished analyzing the atmospheric composition.
All functions normal.
The pesticide spray will be finished in 10 minutes.
No movement detected within one kilometer of our position.
The analysis team will check the soil composition.
Once the spraying is done, the extermination team will commence the cleanup operation.
Combat team, assemble in one hour. Perform contaminant checks.
If the containment box breaks down…
Hey, Shokichi! Get yourself together!
That is all. Get going.
Aki, could you just do all the work for me?
Oh, come on. You were so eager up until yesterday too.
Ugh. Now that I’m in the field… It’s, like, different, see?
Didn’t you get the surgery for the mission too?
Yeah, sure, but…
What choice do we have?
We don’t have anything else.
Nobody else would hire people like us.
O-oh well! Once it’s all over, we’ll be able to live proper lives.
Let’s try our best, Shokichi.
You’re right.
Let’s do this!
Ak—
What’s wrong?
The hell is that?
An alien!?
It’s making eye contact…
Aki…
Get back!
We’ll be fine, right?
We can talk this out, right?
Wait, where have I heard that before?
You said it yourself when you chased that moth out of my room.
We can talk it out. With a moth.
A nice guy like you should be able to handle even an alien.
Go on, say something.
Fine.
Hello, nice to meet you.
Can you say anything?
Where you from? Mars?
Encounter with the Known
500 years before the beginning of this story, humanity made a choice to deal with their booming population.
They decided to make Mars into a new home for mankind.
In other words, terraforming.
To that end, they sent a special moss and an abundant organism to Mars.
The cockroach.
Aki!
Hey, Aki!
Stay with me, Aki!
Hey, Aki!
Aki!
Aki!!
Don’t go off to play without my permission!
Spread your legs! I’m gonna teach you a lesson!
Aki!
You’re dead.
I’m gonna fucking kill you!
Sho… kichi… Don’t…
Stop...
Stop it...Shokichi...I don't want to see you...
Like that… Ever again…
I know… you can talk it out…
Hold it.
You shouldn’t shoot just yet. Look.
Look.
They had antennae… and cerci.
They are, without a doubt, cockroaches.
I heard they’d grown larger, but I never…
I never even imagined…
That happened… to Akita… so easily...
I can’t do this anymore.
Let’s return to Earth, Captain.
You just reported back to HQ, right, Captain?
What did they say?
Continue with the mission.
The crew of Bugs 1 were the best of the best.
However, the crew of Bugs 2, you included, are pitiful wretches with nothing to their names.
You understand the reason behind that, don’t you?
You forsook your humanity for money.
Please! Let us go home, Captain!
That won’t be happening.
After all, we haven’t even completed a tenth of our mission, have we?
You look so upset.
Is it that rare to see someone’s neck snapped in the blink of an eye, Jap?
Is it really so sad for a woman swamped in debt and living like a maggot
to get surgery and actually become a maggot,
then die like a maggot?
Well?
That’s what the dogs in the government are thinking right now.
Our lives have no value.
We can’t go home or get paid until we kill them all like we’re told to.
Well, that’s how it’s always been.
I’ll handle this.
Those roaches won’t be able to handle heat.
I’ll take their corpses back to Earth,
And jam them into their lockers at U-NASA.
Wait up. You can’t do this alone.
I’m coming too!
A samurai and a muay thai boxer would only slow me down.
Is this really okay, Captain!?
Lee’s seen more combat than any of us here.
He’s been a guerilla fighter for 26 years in Israel.
And…
His ability is well-suited for combat.
Dr. Newton, have you lost your mind!?
I just heard about BUGS II.
Are you making them fight!?
They’re meant to exte—
Those without money have no human rights.
Are those not your own words?
I will admit to that, but still!
I have granted them the power of insects.
The power…!?
Did you really think we gave them an operation with only 30% chance of success just to let them walk on Mars?
Using the BUGS surgery, we can insert insect DNA into their bodies.
You could say they're the same thing as the cockroaches we sent to Mars.
But in spite of that…
BUGS I was a failure.
If humans can’t do it, then we have no choice but to send Spiderman.
That was fast…
Pheropsophus jessoensis.
This insect, which acts as the base for Lee’s surgery, can fire thunderous bursts of high-temperature benzoquinone.
If Lee performs that on a human scale…
It produces a flamethrower-sized explosion.
However, the cockroach easily adapts to any environment.
In 2009, cockroaches were discovered in Korea that did not die even after being baked in an oven.
The king of vermin does not die!
Wait...
Captain! There’s something heading this way!
That couldn’t be…
It’s almost here!
Captain! There’s a swarm of them!
They’re coming for us!
Why!?
Why is this happening!?
Captain!
Guys…
Stand back.
I… should have done this.
We’ll fly out with my ability.
Hang on tight, guys!
It’s all on you, Tejas!
Let’s go!
The steninae water skeeter’s gas emission!
A single sting from this insect is as painful as being shot with a bullet.
Thus, it is commonly known as the bullet ant.
Paraponera!
It is the strongest ant.
And, the strongest insect.
Ichiro!
The car escaped successfully.
The oxygen supply will be stopping shortly as well.
I see.
I should have stayed and fought with the captain…
Is that what you’re thinking?
The captain’s strategy was to lure the roaches in and make a vacuum inside the ship.
Ichiro’s ability makes him the best fit for that plan.
I’m…
gonna kill those roaches…
All you want to do is get revenge for Aki, and die.
Like when you were about to inject yourself.
You’re fighting to die,
not to live.
Why… in this shitty life…
And what happens next?
You think she’ll be happy to see you in the afterlife?
What…
do you…
You think I don’t get it?
Stop, Shokichi.
We come from different countries and different faiths.
But, we’ve got common ground where it counts.
Go home and make a grave for Akita.
Do it, Shokichi.
Aki…
I…
What’s that?
What’s it doing here?
Isn’t that…
BUGS I?
H-hey!
Not that I expect the crew to be alive,
but we might be able to find some info on them inside.
It’s cleaner inside than I expected…
What do you think this means?
Did they launch something back to Earth…?
22 years ago…
right after they lost contact with Earth…
What was that!?
Outside!
John! Redon!
They’ve been shot!
Who in the world...
Thien…
Yeah.
Ichiro…
Thanks… all of you…
Thank you for calling me Captain!
Bring it…
you vermin!
The mighty cockroaches surrounded them in great numbers,
In their hands, likely stolen from BUGS I,
were modern weapons.
While some thought of nothing but defense or escape…
Noo!
Jaina!
The only ones who thought to hunt…
were these two.
The desert locust.
Even among insects, it has one of…
…the strongest kicks!
The hazardous organism…
who has killed more than any other.
The most dangerous wild animal is not the bear, or the shark…
It is a wasp.
Endemic to Japan, it is…
…the Japanese Giant Hornet!
He strikes once!
twice!
Three,
four,
five,
six times!
This insect can continue to stab as long as its venom lasts.
Until its black foe…
dies.
Shokichi…
Yeah…
Thien, Vice-captain!
We’re…
…gonna fight…
and win!