Sweet Venom Arc 03 Ch. 02

She pounded her fist against her chest angrily with a menacing thump, and flashed a middle finger up to the camera. As she turned back towards the drill, she caught sight of Seeth's frame, peering around the door.

"You...!" She scowled, spitting at the floor and seizing her massive club with both hands. "Well, don't just FUCKING stand there, you massive purple bio-hazard cunt! I shoulda known Garnet would send for his favourite strider hoe!"

Seeth sighed loudly, dropped her rifle gently to the floor and reached her for the club instead, before walking quite calmly into the bay.

"C'mon, Tora. We don't need to do this. Why don't you tell me what this is about?" Makes sense why Garnet wanted non-lethal now... Seeth thought, casting a quick glance over to Tora's hostages. Although they were a little beaten up, they all seemed fine.

"Fuck you - trying to appeal to my reasonable side! Garnet is FUCKING HIDING SOMETHING FROM ME! He thinks I'm not up to the task! He's TESTING ME." Tora snarled, gripping both her hands around the club tightly, twisting them around its handle.

"Tora. Don't make me kick your ass." Seeth stated firmly. Her eyes stared directly into Tora's, but the demoness wasn't to be intimidated so easily. The drill continued to work in the background.

"FUCK YOU - DON'T MAKE ME KICK YOUR ASS!" Tora yelled, pointing the club directly at Seeth with one hand, and flexing her other arm, her muscles pressing tightly against her armour. "I KNOW WHY YOU WEAR THAT SUIT! I DID MY RESEARCH!" She yelled again, and began a slow stride around the room, Seeth mimicked her pace and the two began to circle one another.

"Watch your words, Tora. I haven't wronged you. If you need more money, we can work toge-"

"FUCK YOU! You're a corrupted czarite! That weird sex thing that's doing the rounds - That's you! That's why you're so fucking big! It doesn't fucking matter though - you think you're hot shit, but you're not, I'm gonna take you down - wait, am I immune? You can tell, right?" Her demeanour suddenly changed, and a sharp grin erupted over her face.

"Yes. You're immune." Seeth answered uncomfortably, her fist gripping her club tightly. The material shifted between her fingers.

"Ahh-hah-ha-ha. YES. I'm gonna make you my bitch after this! You're single right?!? It don't matter, I'm gonna take you from whatever bitch boy OR GIRL you got anyway! Gonna prove Garnet wrong, get those contracts, get YOU between my legs, and shit will be tight! TIGHT-TIGHT-TIGHT!" Tora chanted triumphantly, her eyes focused on Seeth with predator-like vision.

Seeth shook her head and huffed angrily, flinging her now bent club across the room. Her breath was like fire on her tongue.

"Garnet did say you get a tongue on you when you're pissed." She drove her fist into her palm with a meaty clap. "Stop shit-talking already and put your club where your mouth is."

"FINALLY! BRING IT ON, BIOHAZARD BITCH!"

The two giant girls threw themselves at each-other, pounding across the surface of the bay with thunderous strides, where they clashed dead centre.

Tora swung her club straight at Seeth's head with a huge sweeping arc, but the czarite ducked below it and sent a strong punch into Tora's abs. Her fist crunched against the crimson skin with a solid thump, and Tora retaliated with a flurry of club swings, trying to slam the studded metal into Seeth's limbs. The alien proved too nimble up close, and she managed to catch the club in her bare hands.

In mere moments, Seeth had pulled the club and its wielder towards her. She flung her head forward, the crown of her carapace smashing into Tora's nose with a bloody and sickeningly loud crack.

Tora tumbled backwards, landing solidly on her rump and looked up at Seeth, who stared down at her and tossed the club aside.

"You down, or you want more?"

"Oh get fucked, I'm just getting started!" Tora placed her hands either side of her nose and crunched it back to its original position, blowing a wad of blood from one of her nostrils and leaping up to her feet. She charged at Seeth, and made to grapple her around the waist, but the czarite met her charge and the two locked arms. For a few seconds, they both struggled, bodies quivering and shaking as they tried to overpower one-another.

Tora's legs quaked as she began to fall backwards, slipping and sliding against the metal floor as Seeth pushed her back. Realising her position, Tora suddenly dropped back to Seeth's midsection, reaching around and grabbing her plait firmly with both arms, yanking it downwards like a church bell. Seeth's head jerked backwards, and she was thrown off-balance. As Seeth stumbled, for just a second, Tora released her grip, reeled back onto her heel and kicked out, knocking Seeth off her feet and onto the floor, with a sharp scrape and a thud.

As she tried to scramble to her feet, Tora suddenly pounced on top of her chest and sat there, feet pressed down on Seeth's forearms, flexing her knuckles threateningly, as though she'd already won.

"Told you! You don't gotta worry though, being my bitch is gonna be fun! GIVE IT UP ALREADY! I'm gonna - NUEFH -"

Seeth pulled her arm free, clamped her hand around Tora's armoured neck brace and yanked her head down, driving her carapace crown into Tora's nose once more with that same shiver-inducing crack. As Tora recoiled, Seeth kicked her legs up and pushed her feet against the demoness' trunk, heaving her off her chest in a single swift motion. She kicked her legs out and Tora flew through the air, and landed with a meaty thud as she hit the ground.

The two of them rose to their feet, Tora stumbling, Seeth's stance absolute. As Tora attempted to nurse her nose once more, Seeth brought her fists up and bullied her backwards, jabbing at the demoness until she was pinned against the wall, not far from the drill. With Tora's back to the wall, Seeth suddenly stepped up her game and began a cold, methodical, staggering assault, throwing punch after relentless punch against Tora's rapidly bruising frame.

It didn't matter where she hit, against her armour or flesh, each hit landed caused a shuddering, breathless gasp from the demoness as she desperately tried to block the hits and defend herself, but it was startlingly obvious to anyone in that room that Tora was thoroughly outclassed. She looked clumsy and weak as Seeth drove several, bone breaking punches into her torso, each one smacking into her body with a shuddering, splitting efficacy.

The last one struck her dead centre in her chest with a mighty crack, leaving a visible and lasting impression on her skin. The demoness bounced off the back-wall and collapsed to the floor, winded.

After a few seconds of silence, Tora finally gasped as her lungs started to work again. She spread her battered body out against the cold floor.

"You down?" Seeth demanded, standing tall over her.

"I'm down." Tora responded between gasps, weakly pawing at her armour. "I get it... Sorry. I might have let my temper get a hold of me there..." She coughed out weakly, but genuinely.

"You need first aid?" Seeth asked bluntly.

"Nah. I'm gonna wear this beating for a while. Hey - say sorry to Mel for me, I roughed her up a bit to open the hanger, she didn't deserve that."

Seeth merely nodded in response, and began to survey the room.

Tora didn't move from her defeated position on the floor, whining a little as she reached for her nose again. As Seeth went to untie the hostages, a distinctly southern, enthusiastic voice called out across the bay.

"Seeth! Is that you? I swear I just watched a ghost beat up Tora on the cameras! My den's haunted!"

"Garnet!"

A somewhat short, portly, otter stepped out from the door on the other side of the bay. He had traditional brown fur and a round belly. Both his tail and left foot had been replaced by dark grey, rustic-looking bionics, and both his eyes were sewn shut; he relied on a small red optic attached to the side of his head just above the ear to see instead. Dressed in a plain white t-shirt and brown cargo shorts, he appeared a rather casual, if unusual man, standing just shy of five feet tall.

"Well darn howdy, look at that! She was drilling into my safe! I don't keep no contracts in there, just guns and armour and bombs and stuff. Glad you came, Seeth!" He spoke quickly, and was staring in the complete wrong direction of his addressee. He held a hand out and Seeth came over, meeting it with her own and guiding him to face her.

Two of Garnet's assistants came out to untie the hostages and stop the drill. Soon enough, things seemed to be back under control again, with the otter seeming rather unphased by the whole incident. He made to leave the storage bay, and gestured for Seeth to follow.

"You wanna tell me what that was about, Garnet?" Seeth asked the otter as he made his way back through the door and into his office, a small but comfy space with a solid wood desk in the middle of the room. The office was kept delightfully warm and the smell of a fresh pie gave the room a wonderful, cosy feel. Seeth sat down in one of the chairs closest to them.

"Bah, I will! Just gimme a second here!" He waddled over to his oversized seat on the other side of the desk and sank into it with a sigh, drumming his fingers against one of the leather arms. "Firstly, I'll wire you a sum for dealin' with Tora. She's a good egg, but she was being fried on both sides and frankly, she was overdone! I don't blame her none and we'll make sure she's alright but either way, many many thanks to you for turning up so quick and dealing with that nonsense non-lethally. Lord knows I'd hate to see you do to her, what you did to those two brothers! Although those brothers had it coming, mind you!" He continued to ramble idly, twiddling his fingers faster against the arm of his chair.

"Garnet. I can tell you're avoiding something." Seeth sighed, flexing her neck a little. "Why was Tora mad? What's going on?"

The otter paused, his head sinking a little on his shoulders.

"C'mon Garnet. You know you can trust me... Is it about my condition? Because you know i've got it under contr-"

"What? Seeth, darlin', Seeth- No! Absolutely not! Hell no! Don't you be silly, we already spoke 'bout that. Hell no." He paused again, his nervousness obvious, and looking slightly past her, in the wrong direction.

"Maybe it's not my business then, that's fine." Seeth pivoted. "I've never seen you look so uncomfortable before."

"That's cuz I'm not really comfortable with what I'm about to ask you." He hopped off the chair and walked towards a narrow door on the far wall of his office. He opened it slightly, just enough for him to slip through, but Seeth could just make out the inside - it seemed to be a simple supply room.

"We need help, Seeth. Tora was mad because she thought I was keeping some high payin' and classy jobs from her."

"Right..."

"Truth be told, Seeth. I was savin' her life. I do trust Tora, I think she's a total hotshot, but she ain't ready for this." He came back out holding a substantial cardboard box, filled to the brim with filed paper contracts. Garnet popped it onto the desk with some effort; the box was practically as big as him.

"You know I look after my mercs. I don't send 'em where they can't handle themselves. I know all too much 'bout that." He remarked sadly, his mechanical gaze landed on the less original components of his body. "But these contracts keep coming in by the shitload. These ain't just odd jobs for cash. They're a necessity, people are dying because these contracts are unfulfilled. And now I'm stuck between a rock and a real hard place and I'm stressin' Seeth, I really am." A slight glint of tears appeared in the corners of his eyeless sockets.

"What are they, Garnet? What's going on?" Seeth stood from her chair, deeply concerned.

"Truth be told, Seeth, y'all might be the only person I trust who can deal with these. And even then, I got my concerns." He paused again, leaning on the box and flicking through the files with a pair of trimmed claws. "Have you ever heard of them Vora Barons...?"