Sweet Venom Arc 02 Ch. 01 - Separate Ways

Arc 2 -- Separate ways

Three days prior

"Situation report guard captain! Over."

The sound of heavy gunfire rang out through the radio before the response.

"Moving towards the hanger! ETA 60 seconds! Over."

The ship commander sat in his chair, sweating profusely as the sound of gunfire rang through the radio, tapping on the arm rest restlessly.

"Radio in when you get there, over."

"With all due respect- Erron, I can't do my fucking job when you ask me to babysit the mic. Let me concentrate, please. Over."

There was an awkward pause, followed by more gunshots.

"Understood. Proceed as you please. Over."

The guard captain did not radio back again, raising his massive rifle to his shoulder once more and firing a couple of rounds down the corridor, slugs the size of a human fist erupted from the barrel in a gout of flame and burst through the approaching Slaves, turning their torsos into a chunky meat slurry as the rounds penetrated and thudded into the wall behind them, punching deep into the metal.

Safely sealed within his mechanised armour, the guard captain led the way, heavy boots clumping against the metal flooring, his squad following closely behind, weapons raised and armed, tactically firing at corrupted attackers when they showed themselves in an unorganized manner. So far, the journey had been smooth, the squad encountering little they couldn't shoot down.

He raised his hand, signalling for the team to stop, his helm was informing him about an unusual electrical signal coming from a nearby room, something that didn't match the ships standard profile. They took the next left, heading into the lunch room from earlier that day. The place had been wrecked and showed signs of fighting all over, but not the tactical combat of a well trained squad, this was a bitter last stand. People desperately using anything on hand to defend themselves. Blood stained cutlery and trays were littered over the floor, corpses strewn about overturned tables and chairs, the food tables had been smashed and shoved aside, broken glass and blood mixed into the still hot soups that bubbled gently in their heated containers.

"This is gonna be a pricey clean-up, huh lads?" The captain chuckled, reading the scan signals and following the trail. They left out the other side of the room and continued down the next corridor.

"I think I found our mole... Wait... Is that Lamp's room?!" The captain growled a little as he spoke. Cautiously, the team approached, barging into the room with weapons raised, but it was empty aside from the human corpse laid out in the middle of it.

"What in the stars happened to him?! His heads fukkin' mush! Awh, thats gross." One of the guards turned away from the body, deciding to check somewhere less gory.

Lamp's private dorm was off to the side with the door still closed and her small work office opposite it, within said office, a laptop was jury-rigged up to the wall with far more wires than a normal laptop should require. Strangely, it had a trail of unidentified black ooze down its screen and keyboard.

"She hacked our fukkin' cameras?!" The realisation made the captain swell with anger. "That is the last straw -- I've fukkin' had it with this creepy little shit stain. If she's survived this crap, she's off the ship forever. Ban her ass. Enough is enoug-"

"Boss! You gotta see this!"

One of the guards pushed open the door to Lamp's room, no more than an oversized cupboard with a bed and on-suite wetroom, to the guards on-going horror however, the black goo that was dripping down the laptop was plastered thickly all over the room, coating its walls and bare furnishings, dripping from its ceiling, the bed was heavily damaged and had another green fluid pooled around the middle of it. The place was an complete wreck...

"I'm getting weird readings from this oil goo shit, boss. We'll need to decontaminate when we get back." The techie of the group chimed in, holding his arm out and scanning the room, various blue lasers shining out from the optics on his gauntlet. "There was some sort of struggle in here too, there are tracks in the goo, over the walls... I can't tell what made them though..."

"We'll deal with whatever the hell happened here later, Veigar, get the laptop and clean it up, we need to know how much information has been transmitted. The rest of you, with me. Lets get this ship off the ground." The captain ordered, checking his ammo and armour condition quickly.

The techie, now identified as Veigar nodded and went back to the other room, looking over the laptop as the others marched back into the corridor. The thudding of their armoured boots and hissing of the power armour servos echoing down the empty hallway of the ship as they strode towards their objective.

Veigar briefly scanned the laptop, taking pictures of it and then unplugging it from the wall, as he did so, he heard a presence behind him and span around, drawing his pistol.

Behind him, stood a frail looking woman, covered in the same black goo, her hands grasping something tightly in front of her, too smothered in goo to be identified.

"Is that you, Lamp?" Veigar questioned, but seeing the woman lurch forward prompted a response from him-

*Blam*

The girls body dropped to the floor with a thump, going limp as the bullet punched through her skull.

The object in her hands began to bleep as her arms parted... The techie's eyes bolted open as he recognised the lights barely shining through the goo on the object.

"Oh no... BOSS! SHE HAD A PUNISH-"

A thunderous explosion rattled the corridor, shaking the remainder of the squad in their armour, they immediately turned back and charged straight into the room, finding its interior completely decimated, the metal walls bent outwards by the force of the grenade. In the remains of the office, a broken form of the techie Veigar laid dead, his armour destroyed by the grenade.

Before they could collect their thoughts however, the guts of the ship bellowed with the angry roar of the horde, massing in the corridors nearby, the shuffling of feet could be heard in every direction, closing in on the team. They raised their weapons again and prepared to weather the oncoming storm...

Present day

Diego stumbled out of the captain quarters, clad is loose white shirt and cargo shorts, airy and light, his thick mane of hair had a beautiful sheen to it that complimented his rather happy expression as he propped himself up against the metal walls of the ship and made his way a couple doors down towards the kitchen.

Upon entry, he took a couple minutes to steady himself, leaning against the work surface and catching his breath. I could get used to this... Grabbing some ingredients around the kitchen, he began to prepare something for himself and the anyone else who fancied. Something simple and sweet was on the menu today, a nice treat. He scrubbed his hands, wrists and arms thoroughly in the sink before getting started.

As he began to cut up the fruit and heat a pan, Oxyi made herself known, knocking on the wall as she entered.

"Hey! Diego! I was hoping to catch you! What are you making?" Her face lit up upon seeing him. He cooks too?

She was dressed in a hoodie and some combat slacks, easily the most casual Diego had seen the Lioness.

"Oxyi! Grab a stool! Fancy some fried simonfruit?"

"You can fry simonfruit?" She pulled up a stool and sat opposite him, the line of work surfaces also acting as a breakfast bar.

"Yeah but you gotta be quick, too long and the juices degrade, there's a trick to retaining the flavour and caramelising the outside." He had a sway to his body and a remarkably cute smile as he cut the fruit up and added a splash of oil to the pan.

"Caramel-what-now? You seem to know what you're doing! Sure, i'll have some if you're offering... you seem in a good mood! Did ya' do something with your hair?" Oxyi caught a glimpse of some multi-coloured marks on his neck but couldn't see what they were exactly.

"I'm in a wonderful mood! I'm hopeful and things are looking bright!"

"That... was what I wanted to talk to you about..." She angled herself to see down his shirt a little better as he sliced the fruit into smaller pieces one final time and gathered them up in his hands. There were definitely several glistening amethyst and sapphire marks just slightly visible under his collar on his sable skin. "Erm. Sorry. SO! What is the plan? We've been away from all that hell for a few days now and whilst we're all very glad to be away from it, I wanted to know a little more about what we're actually going to do? You said you might be able to call in help?"

Diego nodded and chucked the fruit into the pan, the sound of sizzling oil filling the room with a sweet aroma accompanying it.

"I have some friends within the Warlocks of Detromus that owe me, when I explain the situation I imagine they'll jump at the chance to help. I reckon I can wrangle half an army at least now that we know what we're dealing with."

"Oh damn! You know the WoD?!" Oxyi struggled to pick her jaw up. "T-that would do it! Could we get some Witch Gunners?! Or Wisps?! Mage knights?!?"

"Hell yeah we could. We'll need to head to an outpost though, they won't accept any action from a call due to imposter tech, so here's my plan. The nearest outpost is about three weeks away at our current pace, I propose we make some short pit-stops at the Nomad stations between us and them to warn them about the threat and the lost freighter, lets ensure people are informed as we go and then we head straight for the outpost. It'll take a few days for the Warlocks to get forces down here so hopefully Leech and Moltezz don't get up to too much trouble during that time."

"I'm guessing those are the other Czarite's responsible for this? Leech and... Meltezz? Metnezz? Mehellnez?"

"Moltezz." Diego corrected, flipping the fruit in the pan. "And yeah. They... weren't so keen to change what they were doing. So they're the enemy right now."

The two heard footsteps in the corridor outside and Plasia appeared in the doorway briefly, her glassy orb-like eyes looked at the pair and she gave Diego a shy wave, gently biting her thumb as she hide her mouth behind her hand. Oxyi watched the two closely as their bodies seemed to draw to one another subtly. The huge sapphire creature quickly moved on though, seemingly towards the shower room on this deck and left Oxyi with numerous questions.

Before she could ask though, Diego finished the first batch of fruit, removing the pan from the heat and serving the seared fruit onto a place, drizzling thick sauce over the top and pushing the plate along with cutlery towards Oxyi, before re-oiling the pan and grabbing another simonfruit.

"Oh damn, that smells goooood!" She grabbed a spoon and took a mouthful but began to flap her arms and breath through her mouth as she chewed, realising that it was still extremely hot.

Without missing a beat, Diego grabbed a glass, filled it with water and passed it over to her, prompting a thumbs up from the Lioness as she downed the glass. As she flapped and cooled her mouth down, another set of footsteps came down the corridor and the huge amethyst form of Seeth appeared in the doorway, ducking under the door and making her way over to the bar quite politely.

She was wearing a dressing gown that was obviously way to small for her, the bottom of which hung over her knee caps, the midsection was tied to it tightest and struggling to contain the body within but she was covered at the very least.

"Hi Oxyi." She took a seat a little away from the Lioness.

"Seeth." Oxyi's pleasant demeanour chilled off somewhat.

"I'm sorry again about what happened in your flat. Is your neck OK?" Seeth appeared genuine, leaning forward slightly and trying to shrink her form.

The sound of frying fruit filled the room again.

"Its fine, Seeth. I told ya', no need to keep apologising. Long as you intend to help us put it right. Besides, I think half my friends and family have tried to kill me at some point!"

Seeth nodded firmly, turning to face Oxyi and looking at her sincerely.

"This is no act, Oxyi. Me and Plasia are going to make amends, as much as we can." She paused for a second. "My god, that does smell good. What do I need to do to get some of that?"

"Its on the house." Diego smiled again and served the fruit in the same fashion as before, bringing a plate full to her.

She raised a spoonful to her face and blew on it rather seductively for a few seconds, pursing her glossy violet lips and then taking the fruit into her maw.

"Goodness, Diego... that's delicious! A crisp coating and rich body flavour, juicy despite the heat and you kept the delicate flavour through-out my palette? Incredible! My tongue is tingling!" She licked the spoon and went for another mouthful. Next to her, Oxyi looked mortified.

"I-i think its awesome too! MHMMMM!" She went for another spoonful and forgot yet again that it was still too hot to eat and began to breath and chew at the same time, sucking air into her mouth loudly to try and cool it down. *harash-rash-rash-rash* "So good!" she cried out, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

Diego quickly provided another glass of water for her which she downed again.

"That's quite an intense way of eating, Oxyi. Most people would slow down to avoid burning themselves." Seeth held back a snicker expertly.

"Yup, not me though! No time to waste! Apparently..." She sighed in a defeated fashion stared down at the fruit on her plate. Suddenly, Tivy came bounding into the room, leaping up onto the work surfaces and staring at Seeth intensely.

The room became oddly silent. Diego turned around and frowned at the feet standing on the worktop, Seeth and Oxyi were both looking at Tivy, rather confused and Tivy continued to stare down Seeth in confusion herself.

"Is... everything OK, Tivy?" Diego queried. "You shouldn't be standing where food is being prepared either..."

"Shush! A moment!" Tivy commanded, her eyes never once leaving Seeth. "Most odd..." Suddenly her demeanour changed and she relaxed. "Nevermind! Ohhhh! Simonfruit?! Smells good!"

"Have some of mine if you, Tivy?" Seeth offered, seeing Diego wiping the worktop where Tivy had been standing.

"Or mine, Tivy? Be careful though, its hot!" Oxyi bounced in a little on her stool and Tivy went to the Lionesses plate as it was on her way off the worktop, she grabbed a slice off the plate and hopped off, popping it into her maw and running out of the kitchen as fast as she arrived.

"AHHHHHHH! SO GOOD! SO HOT! AAAAHHHH! THANK YOU DADDY-DIEGO!" Her voice faded as she scampered down the corridor with speed into the bowels of the ship once more.

The three in the kitchen looked at one-another, Seeth snickering, Oxyi perplexed, Diego absolutely mortified.

"D-did she just call me 'Daddy Diego'?!? I think i'm gonna be sick..."

"Any idea what that was about?" Seeth questioned, going for more fruit from her plate.

"In the little time i'm known Tivy, I've come to the conclusion that she's... a wee bit different. Maybe you offended her with choice of clothing or something?" As she spoke, Oxyi's eyes drifted back to Seeth's body, noticing how even sat on the chair and leaning over, her chest was pressing against the worktop. Oxyi's cheeks began to flush red... I-is that what he likes?! Those are gigantic!

"Maybe! She's welcome to come talk to me if I've offended somehow. I'll put it right." Seeth looked at Diego and the two shared a warm smile.

"Could be anything with Tivy. Breast not to think about it." Oxyi bolted upright in the stool, covering her mouth. "Oh tits! AHH! NOTHING! I better go! T-thank you for the fruit, Diego!"

In less than a second, the Lioness shot from the chair and departed from the room, despite Seeth calling after her to say it was fine, leaving Diego and Seeth together in the kitchen. He served himself up a final batch of simonfruit but saw Seeth beckoning him over with a single finger.

He slid over and felt the coolness of her soft hand rubbing against his face and gently pulling him in, she leaned over and gave him a wet kiss on the side of his face and ear, leaving a amethyst coloured mark on his skin, making the man blush madly.

"How titillating..." She giggled to herself, reaching down, placing more fruit onto the spoon and popping it straight into her mouth, unphased by the heat.

Diego tilted his head, the fruit was still piping hot.

"You... didn't need to cool it down at all, did you?"

Seeth shook her head.

"I didn't want to show her up... I know its hardly a thing to brag about but..."

"You joking? That'll be the talk of the ship -- iron mouth Seeth can eat fruit at any temperature. What a skill!"

"Pft! Yeah, alright Daddy-Diego. I can eat a lot more than fruit."

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY SHE SAID THAT! SEETH, HELP ME UNDERSTAND! PLEASE!" He buried his face in hands and shook his head. "That better not catch on."

Seeing his discomfort, Seeth didn't press on.

"I think she sees how you try to take care of people. Myself included. I think she meant it in a nice way, you sweet thing. I'm going to lounge about in the bedroom for a few hours, keep the weight off my legs. You're welcome to join if you want, no offence taken if you need a break." She winked at him and finished off the last of the fruit, eyeing up what was left on Oxyi's plate. "Think she'll want the rest of that? You're a really good cook, shame to waste it!"

The two continued to talk idly, discussing if the fruit should be saved for others for not. Back in the corridor, Oxyi quickly made her way to the other end of the ship, going straight for the cockpit where Geralt was sitting in the large captains chair, looking rather alarmed as he swivelled around on it, his hairs standing on end. He was looking around at the various different screens surrounding him, although they all looked normal to her.

"Hey Geralt, something up?"

"Yeah, I think there is..." He continued to stare at the screens, watching all of them closely.

"Can I give you a hand? Did you spot something?" The Lioness suddenly felt a lot more comfortable, dealing with security problems was something she could actually handle.

"I think something may have spotted us. No word of a lie, I was just relaxing here when every single screen blinked on at the same time, black screen with a single blue line in the centre of it, looked a bit like an eye. Just for a split second, then it stopped and I can't get it to come back... Nothing has changed about our auto-pilot and the sensors aren't showing anything close to us, but fuck me, its shit me up a bit."

"Huh..." She tapped on the console closest and had a look through the settings, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. "Wonder what that could be?"