Growth and Lust Ch. 06 - Wicked One

He didn't even have to speak, only showing her the quick memory before hiding it away, a sobbing woman he knew as Litel. A woman that meant more to him now than he could have ever guessed when he had first met her. Five puncture wounds in her belly, appendages mangled as she screamed in pain, snarling at the ones on the other plane that called her to join them.

The cries of new life in the air, light shown on a babe as a song began, the way she pleaded with Gresh or anyone else who would listen. Pleading for the crying baba to be a girl, to not be plagued with the harsh luck of being born the other. Meaning they would have been subjugated to the Banished ones promise.

"What is that, consume what?" Bakaree demanded, pushing Perta to one of the cabins seats and taking the one next to him. One of her upper arms wrapping around his shoulders to shield him from whatever horrors may unfold.

Teloo looked at her, pausing to ensure the gravity of the situation was understood. "Hunger, hunger is something understood by every being, every animal, every 'thing' in the infinite. Hunger can turn friends to foes and foes to family, Hunger can drive a single entity to fight an army. If you were hungry, starving, so devoid of nourishment that you thought you would pass. What would you do, what lengths would you go through to have your appetite sated? Would you lay down and die, resolve yourself to hearing the last note of your song as it drifts away on the wind?"

"Or would you fight, hunt, take what you saw as filling?" Teloo looked remorseful as she thought of the things her daughter would do. Not proud to see this side, but understanding that it was not a choice made by Ginrar. Instead, another one deemed it necessary, the one named Veronica that would keep what didn't belong to her away from the returned daughter.

Teloo glared at the two, "Ginrar is hungry, and she has chosen..." She focused on Perta, feeling now that the first key of the plan was a gamble. One that may have been too farfetched to put so much weight on.

Bakaree narrowed her eyes, bordering a scowl as she began to understand the seriousness of Ginrars actions.

"She will not take nourishment, except for water." Teloo said.

"Salt." Perta replied, almost a whisper.

Teloo looked at him, "The salt will ensure she loses what may hold her back, it will teach her what failure means. By the time we reach the Blackstars, she will have one driving force, one desire that can sate her hunger. Right now, she's focusing on that desire, letting the hunger consume her, so she may consume her desire in return."

Everyone stayed silent as they mulled over what Teloo had said, the seconds ticking by as everyone contemplated the promise.

Teloo took in patient breaths, holding silent as she narrowed her eyes and prayed to whatever higher power may be listening at the moment.

Saffee and Gresh looked at Perta as if he was mad, Reedus pursing her lips with her eyebrows bouncing for a moment.

The faintest hint of a smile crossed Teloos lips.

'Humans.' Reedus thought, 'The most dangerous in the galaxy.'

Teloo forced her smile away, staring at Perta as he was the only one on the ship that could do it. With him in motion, the Mohreb was sure to follow.

Bakaree had noticed and began glaring at all of them, then looking down at Perta who was sitting next to her. She placed her lower hand on his knee and squeezed, leaning slightly so she could look at his face. But seeing him stand in response left her dumbfounded for a moment, then storming around her and back to the hallway. Bakaree stood to follow, ready to enter their bunk room and comfort the man, but she almost tripped over her own feet as she saw him go to Ginrars.

"Perta!" she blurted out, her mouth hanging open as she watched him stop and glare at her.

Perta looked at the Mohreb, 'Alone.' He thought as he stepped towards her and grabbed her wrist, dragging her to follow. 'She can't do this alone.' He pulled her towards the door.

Bakaree protested, "Wait, Per-"

Her voice was cut off as she saw those enrapturing steel eyes look at her, his hand coming forward to grab the collar of her shirt. Yanking her towards him, allowing his hand to slip into the locks of white hair and grip her tightly. Taking her to his lips and kissing her, embracing her as a lover in the hallway.

Bakarees brain stuttered, the mental drive misfiring as the quiet man showed a new side of himself. Feeling him break the kiss so he could look at her, his breathing steady as he seemed to understand something she didn't.

"You've claimed me."

Bakaree gulped at the words, feeling conviction filling her chest before finally speaking. "I- I have."

"And I claim you." He retorted.

Bakaree couldn't help herself, flustered and feeling like a naïve girl that was just swooned by some romantic heart throb. What kind of man was this, taken from the mountain and so kind, but now in the face of true death he seemed so resolved.

"She won't be alone through this." He said, hitting the door open button and yanking her inside.

Ginrar ground the salt into the roof of her mouth, every taste bud on her tongue screaming in agony as her gut boiled and frothed. Hearing the door open and the man from before standing in front of her, twisting her head as he crossed his legs. Then bent them to come sitting down in front of her once again, she let her mind travel out. A spindly mental arm wrapping delicate fingers around a mind scape so far from her own. The boy alone in the room, scarlet visages of coughing death surrounding him, a Mohreb standing with him. Resolute.

"The Blackstar estate spans over ten acres for the main area, there is also another 98 owned by them and left bare except for staff quarters. Pump houses for water also dot the property but no one resides in them, maintenance staff shares a building with security. Their dorm is outside of the walls, it's three stories and houses the trainees along with teaching staff. Security dorms are on the two lower floors, the third floor on the top houses the regular staff."

Ginrar smiled, about to speak as she flashed her fangs in the low light of the room.

'She stands at five foot eight inches tall, her attire of choice is high heels with long dresses. Her hair is kept in a bun as its easier to maintain.'

Ginrar bit her tongue, looking at him, hearing his thoughts as he spilled everything he knew for her, every fine detail.

Perta let every bit of memory flow, the tears Peter let fall, along with the disappointment Veronica felt. No ability to close the Tallhee out like a more guarded man might be able to, he decided to let her see everything.

The way Peter would awake crying on Toray-su after fleeing.

How Veronica would avoid dealing with her father, the fake enthusiasm shown when she was forced to.

How sometimes Peter would stand at the window, just to look out and maybe imagine a different life.

Memories of Peter, before Roke.

Bakaree looked to Ginrar, then down to Perta, hearing him speak and ramble about whatever he could think of. She felt fear as the woman on the other side of them pinched her meal and listened with great care.

It was only for a moment that Perta was silent, she thought she saw the beasts eyes waver, just a sliver of want that didn't bae for blood. Something almost soft.

Then hardening again as she listened with intent desire.

Bakaree steeled herself before lowering to sit behind Perta, scootching close to him and letting her legs flank either side of him. She rested her upper arms on her bent knees, staring at the woman across from them. She smelled Pertas sent, his neck just damp enough with nervous sweat to let his essence rise and meet her nose. Her mind slipping for a moment before she gulped and remembered where they were.

Ginrar saw it, the ease he felt as the Mohreb was near his back, the same man that sat with her before. But now more resolute as she flanked his sides and enveloped him in her attendance. "I expect you to show me the respect I deserve." Ginrar growled at the Mohreb, jealousy boiling as she silently demanded the ship quicken its pace to her lover.

Bakaree lowered her chin, using her lower hands to reach behind her and under her shirt, drawing the two weapons from their sheathes. She kept the tips pointed down but wrapped her arms around Perta, letting the weapons be seen by the Tallhee.

Ginrar glared at the salt, as her mind screamed at the galaxy in blood lusting anger.

'GIVE HIM BACK!'

Her fingers digging into the salt and stuffing it in her maw, her senses burning as her body begged for life.

......

779 was past the point of trying to understand what was happening, seeing Peter changing into something she could have never imagined. She sat upright on her neck, left on the steel table in the observation room where Veronica had abandoned her. The doctors and nurses in the room had gone about their business like she wasn't there. Finally retiring for the night and shutting off the lights, leaving her alone in the room with the few security lights illuminating the area.

She wondered if she would ever be able to sleep again, thinking about the mechanical skeleton Veronica had her operating before. She couldn't call it sleeping, rather Veronica just turning her off, darkness enveloping her and then nothing. 'Was that death?' just nothing around you as you ceased to be, times like this she often wondered. Left alone and forgotten, restlessly staring at whatever wall she was put in front of as the hours ticked by. She couldn't see a clock this time, the realization almost made her happy. Remembering how the one time she did; she had to agonizingly watch the seconds tick by through the night.

But she could see something that was just as torturous, left in the observation room and in front of the window. Looking at the decapitated naked female body in the other room, the body she used to own. What should have been her natural born right was taken away, poked and prodded. Veronica had teased her about what her body would soon be used for, preparations complete and allowing the stiches time to heal. Her flesh would be much more resilient than Peters, everything they had learned from him was applied to her now.

'You wanted it, well now you'll get it.' She remembered Veronica telling her, 'Get it from every man and beast on the property. I'll make sure you feel every bit of it as you watch to.'

The memory would have made her cry, but now that it was ingrained into her she resolved to just let it happen. What else was she supposed to do, looking at the feminine figure on the table, bare and visible to any horny prick that walked through the door.

779 looked down to the table she sat on and thought about her future, then seeing something move in her peripheral vision she looked up. Curious for a moment, before fear filled her again, she should have been accustomed to it by now. But she was surprised how she could still feel terror every now and then, that feeling of her stomach sinking even though it was no longer there.

"No." she murmured, looking through the glass at her body, "No." she tented her brow and begged it not to continue. To stop whatever it was doing and to just listen, watching with confusion as her body on the table. Began to sit up right, shaky and unsure as it shuttered and jolted.

'Don't, don't do this' she pleaded to it, mentally trying to get her brain that used to control it to reach out.

It folded almost in half, stopping with limp shoulders as her arms fell off the table and dangled at the side. Then leaning so her back was straight, flailing sharply to the right and letting the lame appendages flop about. Yanking the other way and falling from the table, hitting the floor with a thud akin to a dead body.

779s mouth opened as words refused to come out, seeing her body fall out of site. She couldn't understand what was happening, was it the device that they put on its neck? Some kind of control processor having circuit issues and distributing electrical pulses down her spine and lighting up her nervous system? Then she yelped when she saw it stand, shaking with loose balance as it slowly tightened up.

She watched the right arm raise, her hand turning and her fingers moving, as if her body was testing out its muscles. Doing the same with the left arm, seeing it turn and take an unsure step forward, followed by another. Beginning to step normally as it showed more confidence, 779 wanted to scream as she watched it get to the door of the observation room. Then seeing the door open on its own and the headless cadaver walk out of the room.

"I've gone mad." She whispered as she watched it leave.

......

Gresh sat quietly in the same chair he had been occupying through most of the travel. He knew soon he would be able to rise and move, to run and show his skill. He hoped he'd be able to perform well enough that he may gain favor with the one in the other room.

The one stripping away what she was; to turn into something brutally unforgiving, he wondered if it could be worse than what she was that night. When the Mountain God coven was torn down to a blood-soaked carcass of what it once had been, but what it had been wasn't much in the first place.

"Gresh?" Reedus asked.

He looked up to see Reedus looking at him, a perplexed look on her face, "Yes?"

"You seem distraught." Reedus said, "We'll be arriving soon, please do not worry."

"Teloo, the informants sent another message!" Saffee called out as she looked at the console.

Reedus fell in line behind Teloo as the mother marched forward, watching her lean towards the screen and rest her hands on the dashboard.

>I'm making my way through the estate, it appears there are five separate hard lines out. I'm working to sever these so it will be a quieter visit for all of you.<

"What does he mean by hard line?" Saffee asked Reedus.

>Communication lines out of the estate, I believe I can null the other forms of communication by putting the system into life safety test mode. This will capture all automated calls to emergency services and send out a test notification so the estate may be ignored. Other forms will be easy to stop as all lines of contact go through a security filtering system, I'll just close that off so no one can reach out. I'll find a way to unlock the doors throughout as well, but there's so many you might have to back track if I can't get them all open.<

Reedus nodded as she wondered if the informant was listening to all of their conversations still. She took a deep breath and looked at Teloo, "Is Ginrar going in through the front still?"

Teloo nodded, "She'll bust through alone, I want Reedus and Saffee going in from the furthest opposite point. Gresh will enter through the shuttle port, ensuring they aren't able to slip away."

Gresh heard the order and rose from his seat, happy to be the spearhead in closing off the main escape prospect.

"So are hard lines actually hard, den?" Saffee asked, still hung up on the subject.

Reedus shrugged, "Probably not-" she fell silent as another window opened on her screen and an image became visible.

It was grainy at first, glitching to pixilated boxes for a moment before coming in again, the Tallhee crew members watched in confusion. Seeing what appeared to be a security camera watching a naked body walk and stumble down a hallway. This would be odd in itself, but the fact that it had no head and seemed to be human just compounded the perplexing scenario.

"Is-... what is that?" Reedus asked.

>The estate has enough money to do whatever they want, and Veronica is more twisted than I initially thought.<

"What is this, why are we seeing this?" Teloo hissed.

>You were the one that wanted to go in through the front door! That usually means a lot of noise, which means law enforcement!<

The body stopped at a door as it unlatched right next to it, one of its arms reached out and pushed it open fully before the body walked in.

"Can anyone else see this?" Teloo asked.

The screen changed, showing a room with shelves of cleaning supplies, buckets and mops leaning on the wall as it walked passed them. Making it to a shelf and bending over, extending hands reaching for something on the lower level.

>I've looped the camera feeds for the time being, I don't know how attentive the security detail on the cameras are. But I figured we can just do this, even if they find out and this thing gets shot up or detained it doesn't matter.<

The body on screen came back out with a set of bolt cutters, stumbling slightly before regaining its balance and walking again.

>This poor thing used to be some womans body, Veronica had it altered.<

"Altered how?" Reedus asked.

>Altered enough to withstand planned abuses that made me throw up when reading. Just don't worry about it. She calls it 779, or at least that's what she calls the head portion of it.<

"Head portion?" Teloo asked with exasperation.

>She was in service to the estate for quite some time, but it appears she made a mistake. Records show that she passed, but through medical engineering with implants and a small fortune she was brought back. But, nothing in this life is free.<

Reedus gulped, her eyes refusing to blink as she watched the explanation roll across the screen.

>Since she passed away under contract of the Blackstar estate, her body is now claimed under medical science, and she lost all autonomy of it. In simple terms, she is legally owned as a puppet by the estate. I do not think the father is aware of how far Veronica has gone with 779, but her head still retains sentience.<

"Sentience, she's alive?" Teloo asked with a grimace.

>That is an ethical debate that you shouldn't worry about at this time.<

Reedus boiled with anger, "Don't let it get hurt!" she blurted out.

The being on the other side didn't answer for a moment, guiding the body down the hallway and beginning to go down a set of stairs.

"Why not?" Saffee asked.

Reedus gulped, "If Roke was pushed to do bad things by Veronica, then it's safe to say this 779, was pushed the same. You saw Pertas memory," She lowered her voice, "Roke, if it wasn't for her, he would have never escaped. But he was mournful of what he did to her."

Saffee cocked an eyebrow, "But how much of her is left?"

>I'm controlling it through an open remote input, if they raise a security firewall or lock it down I may lose control of it. I'm using the security system to watch it as I control it on where to go, all of this to say: I don't know if I can keep it from getting injured. I'm opening the doors remotely to get it to proper sections. Going through the most recently revised architectural drawings of the estate I've found the five conduits merge to leave the estate for a communication switch panel. Veronica reinforced its bone structure so her frame won't break under massive weight or with brutal...<

The typing paused and everyone watched the screen nervously, engrossed in what they were saying.

>..."Pounding"...She also had synthetic muscle fibers integrated into her mass, so she can lift and pull a far greater amount than a human should be able.<

"Just try to keep her somewhat safe." Reedus said.

>Fine. But I'm still using it to cut hard lines, but now you'll have to disrupt the main switch gear that delivers power to the estate when the emergency power comes on.<

"How were you going to do that before?" Teloo asked.

>I was going to use her to cross the legs of power and cause an arc flash, but now you'll have to find a way to do it. If you're not familiar with high voltage power solutions, do not touch it with anything you're not prepared to lose. This thing would have probably been blown to bits.<

Reedus huffed, happy she voiced her concern before that happened.