Sweet Venom Arc 02 Ch. 12 - Finale

Chapter 12 - Spade

"OPEN FIRE!"

A wall of bodies met a line of waiting guns, Scasers thumping loudly as their red rounds zipped through the air, repeaters unleashing metal hell from fortified positions. Slaves crumbled and fell under the attack, their bodies punctured and half melting, slamming to the floor and tumbling down the Freighter's ramp.

The distinctive metallic clank and thump of the nail drivers rang loudest, punching through multiple invaders at a time, often sending them skidding backwards from sheer force.

"Oh please. Really. Nail-guns?" Moltezz smirked, standing tall amongst her horde as they charged past her. Her senses focused. Her hand shot up and snatched a "nail" out of the air with a satisfying clap, it was on point to impact her chest.

"Unacceptable." Her eyes narrowed, the meter long nail clasped tightly in her fist surged with heat, glowing bright orange from tip to head. She reeled back and hurled it forward like a javelin, directly skewering one of the defenders and completely decimating them, their crudely built cover falling to pieces as the red hot metal punched straight through it.

"I'll take her out! Keep them off me!" One of the mech pilots called out, pushing his mech forward through the wave of incoming bodies, the huge rock drill on its right arm began to swat back and forth, carving through the flesh in front of it with grisly efficacy, but the swarm suddenly parted and avoided the mech, like a river around a stone, leaving it a clear line of sight to Moltezz.

It advanced as fast as it could, stomping forward on its heavy triangular feet and opening fire with its nail driver.

PANG-PANG-PANG-PANG

The air around Moltezz grew dark and heavy, forming a pitch black ashen shield that halted the nails, their metal bodies barely able to penetrate through its sudden, rocky density. She advanced confidently with her full body ashen shield, walking forward to meet the mech in close quarters. All around them, Slave's were being cut to pieces by gun fire, stray limbs flying through the air, the conflict currently at an impasse.

Moltezz and the mech met in the middle of the fire-fight and the mech through its blood dripping drill towards her, the cloak of ash dropped to the ground and revealed her again, her forearm rising to meet the drill's body, just behind its spinning, jagged head. The mech hissed and pushed forward with all of its might, trying to crush her, but the alien stood defiant and firm, her muscles quivering slightly under her clothes but the metal body of the drill was beginning to creak and deform around her parry.

"Meek. My expectations were low and still, they have not been met." She scoffed, meeting eyes with the pilot through the thick tinted glass that protected him.

Her other fist glowed with blinding white and orange light, searing and brilliant. She threw it forward and it impacted the glass of the cockpit with a deafening crack, bleaching white noise and blinding light filled the hanger in a rippling shockwave.

Two smouldering yellow metal feet were half welded to the floor, bits of rock drill embedded in the wall more than one hundred meters behind them. Any exposed flesh from both the horde and the defenders had been half roasted by the heat flash.

The mech was gone. Scattered, melted, destroyed.

The defenders scrambled around, as did the horde, both levelled by the attack. The pain of their burnt skin was slowing them, some had even been blinded. But the horde was quicker, much quicker. They didn't care for the pain, and as long as one of them could see, they could all see.

The second mech turned to face Moltezz, its arms whirring as it brought its nail driver down at her, but her response was overwhelming. A clustered volley of fire bolts flung from her hands drowned the mechs frame in scorching orange fire. It's hydraulics bursting, circuits failing, pilot melting into his flaming chair.

It collapsed to the ground with a chest shaking thud, half liquefied by her volley, molten glass, metal and flaming oil oozing from its immolated carcass.

Only a couple of weapons were brought back to bear, the others were overwhelmed, their armaments dragged out of their hands. The heat coming off the flaming mech warmed the air too much and the fire suppression system kicked in, several small nozzles emerged from the ceiling and sprayed it down with white foam, dousing it to a blackened, unrecognisable slurry and preventing the hanger from burning up.

There were screams from across the hanger, rapidly muffling as the horde seized the last defenders. Most were still alive, if not badly burnt and wounded.

Moltezz turned her attention towards the far side doors, leading to the civilian hangers, where the evacuations were in progress. Her stride began as more Slaves and Nodes poured out of the freighter, heading into every door, vent and access way they could.

"Preserve the station. Pick it clean. Bring as many alive as you can."

*

Trent's foot bobbed anxiously as he waited by the airlock door, armed with a Vulcan rifle he'd looted from their ship, his face twitched slightly.

Moltezz is coming- repeatedly echoed through his head. The heat, the pain, the pleasure, it all came flooding back at the thought of her name alone. He hated that part of him wanted to go back to her. He wanted that part of him to die forever, but the more he pushed it down, the more immortal it felt.

His thought trail was swiftly derailed as the doors hissed open and revealed Oxyi and Geralt, both of whom wore an exhausted look and a hue of dismay heavily upon their slumped shoulders.

"A-any luck?" Trent asked quietly, peering behind them both briefly. Oxyi pushed past the fox, her eyes glassy and lip wobbling, leaving just Trent and Geralt in the airlock.

"Nothing. They've both just vanished into thin air and Plasia..." Geralt paused for a second to gather his composure. "... Venner says her guards fatally wounded her and the entire wings life support died a few minutes after her video footage ended. The chances she's still alive are..."

Trent ruffled his hair awkwardly and nodded. It all seemed to fall apart so fast. They both felt pulsing vibrations through the metal underfoot, buzzing through the airlock's connection to the station. They exchanged a knowing, sorrowful look.

Behind them, Oxyi yelled loudly to ensure she was heard, her voice stuttering repeatedly.

"W-we gotta go! now! That freighter has just docked and they're gonna be here, there is n-no more time!"

Both men made their way to the cockpit to see Oxyi sitting in one of the chairs, facing away from them, with little Tivy standing at her side, reaching up to hold one of her hands.

"I-I couldn't find him..." Her chest shuddered with each breath and tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'm just a failure... there's no other word for it."

"It's not your fault, Oxyi!" Tivy hopped on the spot, shuffling closer to her, feeling her own eyes beginning to sting. "Don't say that about yourself!"

The lioness thudded her head back against the seat and shook it vigorously in disagreement.

"I-it is though! I knew Venner was up to something at the beginning! I should have said something! I should have... I- It doesn't matter. We need to get the ship off the station. Now."

Tivy exchanged a hurt look with Oxyi for just a few endless seconds before sadly turning around and hopping up onto the pilots chair, gently pressing the correct arrangement of buttons to initiate the main engine start up.

Oddly, it did not start. It didn't even begin to.

Tivy tilted her head and stared at the control panel, pushing her tongue against her cheek.

She pressed the sequence again, more thoroughly this time, ensuring each button was firmly tapped but once again, the ship did not roar itself awake... Concern crept into the damaged crew as they saw Tivy's actions becoming more frantic, she hopped up onto the control panel from the chair and repeated the sequence once more, every button push was deliberate to ensure it's accuracy.

"What's going on, Tiv? We got a loose wire or something...?"

"W-we need to check the reactor! There's no ignition surge to the primary chambers!" Tivy spun around to address the men, her pupils like tiny dots in her eyes, her little body quaking as she stood on the controls.

Trent, Oxyi and Geralt stood and all made their way silently through the bowels of the ship to the lowest deck, nothing but the clanking of their boots on the metalwork and the various paces of their anxiety-stricken breath to fill their ears, the engine would usually be humming loudly by now, but it was silent, just creaking slightly from behind its armoured door.

Trent approached the door first, letting it slide open and reveal its inner workings, his breath silent as anxiety crept through his chest.

"Tivy! It looks like its been ransacked!" The three gawked around the room. Various chunks of intricate machinery had been torn out, leaving it gutted and stuttering, sparking wires and unresponsive hissing panels were one thing, but a sudden splitting *CLANK* made the three of them jump backwards, staring around the damaged reactor with increasing concern for their safety.

"I-is it fixable? Can we just undock from the station at least?!?" Trent felt increasingly small as the situation progressed, behind them, a scuttling noise revealed Tivy as she came bounding down the corridor, skidding to a stop in the middle of the room.

Her body physically stuttered, mimicking the conflict in her head. She alternated rapidly between looking at the door and glancing around the ruined reactor. They all noticed a couple of small blue drips on the floor in the middle of the room and together, they began to understand what exactly had happened.

"Tivy?!"

"W-we gotta get off the ship!" Her eyes focused briefly on a panel on the other side of the room, the gauges on it were anything but encouraging.

"We can't! We're one of the last ships docked and the freighter has landed! There's no way we can find another ride! Can't we just plug those wires together or something? Just get enough power to undock?"

"NO! You want to die slowly in a metal box?!? We'll die from an overload before Moltezz! W-we... Maybe we can - I... T-that!" Tivy's eyes spotted something, and she jerked towards it, the others following her closely. "I-I need tools! I might be able to use the charge in this surge capacitor to-"

Her words were cut short by a thud coming from upstairs, the distinctive hiss of the airlocks opening and closing...

They all stared at each-other in silence, Oxyi and Trent instinctively reaching for their weapons.

"Tivy, can you and Geralt make a start on your plan? Remember, we just need to undock and get away from the station, even if it's just a few meters, we can radio for pick-up if we're lucky... Trent, you come with me." Oxyi pointed at the ceiling. "Let's hope this is a friend; but if it's not, I might need your back-up."

The team split into pairs as Oxyi asked, leaving Tivy and Geralt to attempt to salvage some power from the wrecked reactor, just enough to break their connection to the station.

Oxyi brought her shotgun up to her shoulder and took the lead, with Trent a few paces behind her, mimicking her stance with the Vulcan rifle. Exiting the lowest deck, they cautiously paced down the corridor into the main deck of the ship, their ears twitching as they listened closely for noise.

There were multiple sets of quiet footsteps through-out the ship.

Ahead of them laid a corridor with a few blind doors on each side of the wall, leading to the different areas of the ship. The first two were just bunks for the ex-soldiers of the craft, the third was the lounge/kitchen area, the biggest room on the deck.

Oxyi turned the first corner, shotgun ready- and shuddered in her skin as a monochrome Slave was stood in the centre of the room, facing away from her and currently staring around the bunk.

*BANG* - *CHU-CHINK*

The slave dropped to the floor instantly, the back of its furry head full of steel buckshot.

"Not friends, then?" Trent gulped but was met with a firm "shush" gesture from Oxyi, who immediately turned towards the next door. She readied herself and waited next to the opening for a second, before pouncing around the corner and seeing the same thing, but this time, the Slave was turned around and looking at her.

*BANG* - *CHU-CHINK*

More buckshot through more flesh, it dropped to the floor with another thud, blood slowly pooling around its head where it fell.

The room appeared clear and so Oxyi moved on again, a gentle haze of smoke wafting from the barrel of her weapon.

The lounge and kitchen was next and Oxyi carefully crept down the corridor once more towards its door, pausing next to it and cleanly leaping around the corner with her weapon ready.

The room initially appeared empty, but Oxyi caught sight of something huddled behind the white, glossy breakfast bar directly ahead of her.

"Show your hands or be shown your innards!" She yelled, strafing into the room, her weapons sights fixed on the crouching figure.

It grunted back and crawled around the bar, keeping cover between it and Oxyi.

"Trent! Flank this guy!" Oxyi yelled, having made her way into the middle of the room.

Trent appeared in the doorway and took aim with his weapon as the figure had exposed itself to him whilst staying out of Oxyi's line of sight and he opened fire, the Vulcan rifle spitting a handful of needles in a loud roar and in less than a second, the Slave collapsed, cut to pieces.

"Hell yeah! Teamw-UGH!"

The air was punched out of his chest; Something ambushed Trent from behind, dragging him away from the door and out of Oxyi's line of sight.

"Trent!" She approached the door rapidly, half skipping with her feet but keeping the shotgun up.

She heard Trent's rifle clatter to the floor, followed by two thumping noises and a sickening, muffled crack.

Before she had any time to think, Trent suddenly reappeared in the doorway, held up by a much larger figure behind him and the two rapidly approached the Lioness.

"Hello again, Oxyi! Let's try this again, shall we?"

Behind him, a Feline Node held Trent's limp form up in the air and used him as a shield to approach Oxyi, the Lionesses eyes bolted open as she recognized her-

It was the Node from her flat!

Oxyi tried to get a good shot at the Feline, but she held the knocked out Trent in front of her perfectly and charged across the room.

The Lioness side-stepped the charge and flicked her shotgun towards the Node's form, but felt it twist violently away as the Node grabbed the front of the barrel and pointed it away from her. A twisted grin spread over her face as she dropped Trent to the floor with a thump and yanked the shotgun out of Oxyi's hands.

Oxyi let the weapon go and went for her pistol strapped to her side, rapidly retreating from the Node as far back as the room would let her, but the Feline followed, her larger size making her no less nimble and Oxyi could only fire a couple more glancing rounds into her stomach before the Node grabbed her wrist.

Her options were running out, she fumbled for her knife, currently strapped to her thigh and thrust it as hard as she could with her one free hand, but the Node caught that too, holding both of Oxyi's wrists with overwhelming strength.

In the blink of an eye, the Node wrenched Oxyi's arms to her sides and headbutted the Lioness in the face, letting her fall onto her back with another thud, pouncing onto her and kneeling on her shoulders to prevent Oxyi from fighting back.

She kicked and thrashed around, blood dribbling from her nose but the headbutt felt like impacting a wall, with all the give on Oxyi's side. Her eyes slowly focused again from the hard impact and were met with the victorious grin of the Node, staring down at her with insidious jade eyes. Try as she might, she couldn't shift the 7ft Feline off her. She kicked with her legs again, but it was useless, the Node was perfectly balanced and overwhelmingly strong.

"I'm going to savour this. Moltezz sent me to rectify how this played out last time." She brought her head low and licked the blood dribbling from Oxyi's nose, in a slow, taunting fashion. "The Rewritten will not be denied! I will not be denied!"

Slowly, the Node reached down with both hands, her fingers dancing against the sides of Oxyi's neck. She pressed her fingers against the Lioness's fur and skin, intimately, and slowly formed a grip around her neck, applying an increasing pressure against her throat, her smile widening as the grip tightened.

Oyxi kicked and fought back again, flashbacks to her flat with Seeth briefly entered her mind and once again, the Node was too strong to move. Pinned down, she would feel the fight drain out of her, strength fading. She began to turn a pale blue as the veins in her neck bulged between the Node's fingers, she could hear her flesh and bones creaking under the pressure.

Watching the life drain out of her prompted a seductive, soft giggle from the Feline Node.

"Mhmm, look at that, you're turning blue! Such a perfect colour for you. Matches your eyes."

It was a slow, deliberate strangulation. She breathed in every detail of Oxyi's form, closely watching the pained creases around her eyes, how the Lionesses skin deformed around her grip.

The Node bit her lip and let out a satisfied moan.

Just as Oxyi looked fit to faint, she relinquished the grip just enough to keep her conscious.

"Enough foreplay. Lets-"

"LET HER GO! NOW!" Seeth's voice bellowed out from the corridor.

The Node shuddered, going weak for a second and leaning on the breakfast bar to her side.

"S-Seeth? W-what are you doing here?"

She stood from Oxyi, prompting the Lioness to take a huge gasp of air and cough it back out, twisting on the floor in pain.

Slowly however, the shock induced in the Node faded. Her temper steeled and she snorted loudly.

"Hmm. Good try."

The remaining Slaves aboard the ship charged out from the far rooms, a brief commotion was heard and the struggling bodies of Tivy and Geralt were dragged into the room. Tivy screamed out with Seeth's exact tone but it faded back into her own as the Slave held her out like dirty laundry.

"Gotta admit, that was pretty creative. You had me for a few seconds."

Geralt protested his capture initially but upon seeing the Node, the colour drained from his face and he went limp.

"N-Naomi?"

The Node grinned at him, looking him up and down.

"Hey Dad."

A billion thoughts hung shrewdly in the silence but Geralt choked back his tears as best he could.

"Y-you're not immune?!? I-I thought it might run in the family! Naomi, i'm so sorry-"

Naomi rolled her eyes as Geralt poured his heart out.

"Oh shut up, will you? You don't need to feel sorry for me, Dad. I've achieved more in a few weeks in the Rewritten than I ever did before. We were a family of underachievers, you know that."

Geralt couldn't summon the words, his eyes kept bouncing around her new body. He barely recognised her at all.

"And now, you get to see what a big, strong Node your child has grown into whilst I corrupt your friend!" She paused for a second to meet eyes with him, her face softened for a brief moment as she watched him retch in pain. "Moltezz is going to make me her go-to Node after this, Dad. I'll get her to treat you right, better than the others."

She turned on the spot and picked up Oxyi from the floor, holding her by the neck with a single hand and pressing her against the wall, the other hand began ripping at Oxyi's clothes, tearing them off with little effort.

"Naomi... please... I'm begging you, leave her alone..."

She tore off Oxyi's belt and flung it across the room, ripping at her pants next.