Sweet Venom Arc 03 Ch. 19

Her question was met with a roar of laughter from the Barons plugging up the stairway.

"No."

No... Such a short word. But the power, the finality of it echoed inside her head. She needed to act, now. Too much time had already been wasted.

Do or die.

An uncomfortable shiver shuddered through her. She knew what she needed to do.

Clenching her fists, she took one final peak up the stairwell.

They were all looking in her direction, but no one was watching the Baron at the very top of the stairs. She took note of what arm he was holding his auto-cannon in, and the way he was standing. In the darkness, she mimicked his posture. Standing legs apart, right arm hooked around the body of a long auto-cannon.

She blew a stressed, hot sigh out from her pursed lips, gritting her teeth together, her heart pumping steadily in her chest. Either this was going to work, or everyone was going to die.

Now or never, Seeth.

She visualised the Baron in her mind and let her body do the rest. She lifted her leg like she was descending a staircase and leaned back slightly, as if she was teasing a teetering cliff edge.

Then, fire and frost.

Her bones and muscles felt molten hot, but her skin was prickled and cold. The corridor filled with a nightmarish clangour, caught between tearing and popping. Where once the farthest back Baron stood, Seeth now occupied his hollow carcass, his body forcefully splattering over the walls around him and the Barons in front of him.

The auto-cannon looped into her arm perfectly, as if she had been the one holding it the whole time.

*BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM*

She held it firmly and unloaded several shells into the barons in front of her, punching through their unarmoured flesh easily. They tumbled down the stairs lifelessly and gracelessly, left as a pile of perforated bodies. She quickly snatched a second auto-cannon and looped it under her other arm, ignoring the gore splattered over her once white dress and splashed over the walls.

Her mind focused, calculating. She stepped out into the corridor, bathed in gore, an auto-cannon slung under each arm, fingers ready to snap onto the triggers the very second she confirmed no friendlies were in harm's way.

Her guns spat a wall of lead down the corridor, punching through more barons and what few ragers remained. Their punctured bodies collapsed into the already carrion filled corridor as empty casing rained to the floor either side of her. A body and mind of steel, surrounded by spent brass and split corpses.

Only the very bottom of her dress had any semblance of its original colouration, the rest of her slick and shiny with crimson. She advanced up to the next doorway with her storming automatic-fire, pausing at the break in the corridor to let the barrels of the looted weapons cool. Hearing the invaders scramble around and scream at each-other, she pushed herself up against the wall to ensure she couldn't be seen.

Every place they couldn't see was somewhere she could be. It felt so odd at first, she knew where she couldn't be, even though she couldn't see it.

But then again, she didn't need to see it. She was a soldier, and she hadn't spent her first few weeks here meticulously studying the blueprints and memorising the layout of the Den to be caught out by a technicality.

She could feel their presence in the lobby, but the rest of the Den felt empty, the Barons had already dragged the nomads out. The only other place she could feel their presence was in the workshop, where her equipment was currently being kept.

My weapons. I need my weapons.

She focused, and teleported to the very bottom third level of the den. This level held nothing but a workshop, purely for the refurbishment and repair of Garnet's mercenary gear. A fresh line of Barons were marching into it, separated from the main force and searching for more bodies. They didn't notice the blood dripping from Seeth's splattered frame, as she teleported behind them, over their own laboured breaths and creaking equipment, their focus firmly fixed forward.

She made to fire, her fingers pulled firmly against the triggers, but as she did, both auto-cannons suddenly seized up in her hands, clacking loudly and refusing to fire.

Shit. SHIT! I don't have time for this. Eyes forward fuckers, I can only hope this hurts as much as it looks like it does.

There was no time to mimic their stance this time. She needed them gone. Now.

The workshop filled with that same disgusting fleshly pop, organs and gore spraying everywhere in a vile, thick crimson spew.

Again.

In the blink of an eye, she warped through one after the other, starting at the back and warping her way forward, straight into their bodies. The same pop, the same splat, the same crunch, every time. The noises blended together, seven Barons mulched in less than a second, filling the workshop with a prolonged organic crackle, like someone was driving a pair of scissors through a very long, wet piece of paper.

Her skin prickled with blood stained frost, her bones ached with fire, her joints cried out in agony as if they were clogged with rust. She stumbled to the workbench, panting loudly and slamming her hands onto it for balance. The Barons were eviscerated and spread all over the workshop but the pain shooting through her body was excruciating, like someone was sanding her bones away from inside her.

FUCK! N-Noted. That stings something fierce.

She pressed through the pain, gritting her teeth as she looked around the blood-flooded workshop, ignoring the pitter-patter of baron blood raining down on her, dripping ichor down her carapace.

The SAFU lay disassembled on the main workbench. Although, judging from how the auto-cannons took to being teleported, she wasn't sure she wanted to risk warping with it anyway. Her eyes drifted instead to her axe, leaning against the workbench, freshly sharpened and ready to be wielded.

*

"You fucking bitch, we were gonna wait until you lot were loaded up on the ship before butchering you! But you've earned a few slashes for the journey." The Baron growled, blood dribbling down his nose and teeth.

Tora struggled furiously in the grip of a second baron, a thick, fat arm hooked around her neck from behind. The two men struggled to keep the demoness under control as they dragged her into the adjoining bathroom of the Den's lobby.

The second Baron positioned himself behind Tora, grabbed her wrists and pulled them behind her back, locking her in place. Despite her furious thrashing, there was a vengeful smile on Tora's face as the Barons managed to close the door behind them.

"The fuck you grinnin' at?!" The first baron snarled, pulling a thick metal knife out and holding it to her face, while his other hand clumsily unbuckled his belt.

"Do whatever the fuck you want, asshole! You're all fucking dead and you know it." Tora laughed.

Before he could reply, the squad chief bellowed from within the lobby. He was a human male with several bionics grafted onto him, including a thick metal leg, more akin to that of a war mech than a typical bionic.

"YOU GONNA START SEALING THAT DOOR OR WHAT?!"

"Sire, we-"

"THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE EASY! WE BROKE GUILD LAWS FOR WHAT?! SOME MEAT?!" He gestured broadly to the Den's captured inhabitants. Venner, Oxyi and Geralt were strung together and sitting on the ground in the corner of the room. Garnet and Tivy were on the opposite side, Tivy face down against the same wall, lying still. Garnet was bound and gagged, but fighting with every ounce of strength he had to break free. "We're leaving. WE'RE LEAVING RIGHT NOW! Before the fuckin' bounty hunters turn up."

"We can hold them." Another Baron disagreed, kneeling by the security door that led to where the party was taking place, preparing to seal it shut.

"No, we can't. This was a bad idea. A BAD IDEA! No matter where we go, we'll have a fuckin' target on our backs now! Barred from guild services forever!" He turned away from his remaining barons and stared up the boarding ramp back to his own ship. "As soon as that door is sealed, we're out of here."

"Eat shit, Baron!" Oxyi spat, her eyes sharp like daggers but widening in horror as the Baron stomped over to her, frothing from the mouth.

"DON'T TEST ME, MEAT!" He screamed, raising his massive metal leg above her. "I'M NOT IN THE MOOD TO BE BACK-CHATTED BY -"

*Clack*

The room was suddenly bathed in darkness, the lights all across the Den snuffed out.

The Baron's fear intensified and he swung around in the darkness. The lobby now was illuminated solely by the Baron's shiplights, shining through the Den's front windows. The scuffle in the restroom intensified, a muffled crack rang out from behind the door, followed by two thumps, and then silence.

"Gorge?! Barma?! You deal with that demoness?!"

The Baron leader waited a couple of agonising seconds for a response but none came. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a silhouette flicker behind the other Baron. Shrouded in darkness, he could swear it wasn't real, or maybe he just wished it wasn't.

An executioner, clad in a dripping red dress, gripping a massive axe in two furious hands, illuminated only by the flickering light of the welding torch.

The blade swung through the air and sliced the baron crouched at the door in two, cleanly severing his body, dropping his welding torch to the floor.

The final Baron reached for his pistol desperately but saw a final blur of movement in the darkness.

Speared straight through the shoulder, the axe was slung at him, handle first like a javelin, knocking the pistol out of his hands and sending him clattering to the ground.

He hardly had time to breathe before she was upon him, she ripped the axe free of his body and brought the blade down on his head, ending his life with a final vicious slam.

It's over.

With the final Baron dispatched, she tore the keys free off his belt and slung them over to the girls trapped in the corner. Seeth quickly turned her attention to Tivy, crouching gently over her still body, and gently stroking her antenna. Drops of blood pattered faintly against the ceramic floor from the bottom of her dress.

A wave of relief washed through the Controller as Tivy stirred, every inch of her body trembling with fear. She rolled over and caught sight of Seeth's silhouette in the darkness, her blood-dripping exterior thankfully obscured, but the eye-watering stench of wet iron still present.

"Are you okay, Tiv? Did they hurt you?" Seeth's eyes softened as she glanced over the trembling girl.

Tivy couldn't find any words, her body was shaking too much. She softly felt her head and winced, slowly reaching a hand out towards Seeth. Seeth went to hold it, but stopped as Tivy's finger straightened out into a shaking point.

Her eyes met with Seeth's, pleading.

She was pointing towards the kitchen.

Seeth hadn't even noticed Garnet run out of the room, but suddenly she heard him scream, a blood-curdling, heart-wrenching scream that shook Seeth to her core.

A fresh jolt of anxiety shot through her. She stormed through the lobby, ignoring the concerned expressions of the nomads now freeing themselves, and tore through the half-opened doors with her bare hands.

Her heart thumped in her chest as she rounded the corner and surged into the kitchen. A dead Baron lay slumped in the middle of the room, his body pierced with several oozing wounds, and many kitchen knives still lodged in his corpse. The floor was slick with a mix of blood, soup and crushed food, all mixing together to make an unrecognisable, metallic stench.

At the very back of the kitchen, illuminated only by the soft glow of her still warm oven, V lay still, slumped against the ground, a pool of blood spreading around her neck.

The Barons had claimed a victim after all.

Garnet was hunched over V's body, screaming and cradling her in his arms.

"Wake up, V... V, please wake up!"

A painful, suffocating ringing threatened to overwhelm her senses. Seeth's heart pounded in her chest. The pain she was feeling in her body from the fight, was nothing compared to how her heart was feeling now. She could feel a pair of fast, heavy footsteps from behind her, and suddenly Tora was rushing past her, throwing herself over V's body and wrapping her arms around Garnet, squeezing him close. Seeth caught a brief glimpse of the oni's tears rolling down her cheeks, before burying her face against Garnet's shoulder.

Seeth could hear them, Garnet's shrieks and cries, Tora's shaky sobs of pitiful reassurance, but their words were muffled, both distant and close, and impossible to understand. Her own laboured breath was the only thing she could hear, with any degree of clarity.

And that ringing in her head...

Garnet's empty eye sockets clenched painfully, squeezing a dribble of blood between closed eyelids, dripping down his face mixed with tears. He wheezed painfully, choking on the air, barely able to breath as he quivered over V's body.

I... I can't look at this.

She turned to leave the kitchen, only to be met with a gathering of mercs and nomads at the door, concerned by curious looks across their faces. She pushed past them, her stride surprisingly calm, as she moved back towards the lobby. A deep, stinging anger was welling up in her chest.

A voice broke through the white noise for a second. Tora.

"GET OUT! DON'T YOU HAVE ANY DECENCY?! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM US!"

She was screaming at the top of her lungs, followed by a heavy slam of a door.

Seeth didn't know exactly how to feel. Her thoughts were spinning out of control.

I was supposed to save them... all of them...

But, through the noise and the madness, the fear and the carnage, a single coherent thought solidified in her head. It led her back to Garnet's office, back to the other day, back to the last person they'd spoken to, about the attacks...

A fresh, new rage flowed through her. A hoarse, curdling scream wrenched itself from her chest and out of her mouth:

"SOMEONE GET ME JACE KOA! NOW!"

*

The Den was busy again, but the mood now was very different compared to the lively, bubbling atmosphere that had occupied the Den just a few hours ago. Several friendly merc ships had arrived, and even some less-friendly ones too, and were offering aid. The Vora Barons, after all, were an enemy of all. The Baron's own vessel had been stripped of parts, detached from the Den and promptly scrapped via repeated volleys of ship carronades.

The gore and viscera spread throughout the Den was being cleaned by friendly faces, and those eager to help in any way they could. The sheer destructiveness of the attack only further cemented Seeth's reputation.

Not that it mattered, at that moment.

The atmosphere was surreal, deep sadness and loss, mixed with hope, bizarrely. Seeth couldn't quite piece it together, as she sat alone, in one of the spare rooms within the Den, glancing out over the friendly ships that were still arriving to help.

It was refreshing to see the nomad's coming together, if perhaps a little too late.

But as she sat on the room's windowsill, gazing out over the station, an unsettling feeling took over her. Something had appeared in the cosmic horizon, and was moving impossibly fast. In the blink of an eye, it went from being a speck in the distance, to being right in front of her, hovering mere metres outside the window.

The sudden closure made Seeth jump to her feet, ever cautious, ever ready for a fight.

It was some sort of drone, too small to be a piloted craft, around the size of a lorry-cab in its entirety. With a shiny, black body and a large, singular orange optic on its front, sleekly built into its frame. The chassis had a faint marking on its side, two triangles pointed towards one another, almost like an hourglass.

It appeared to be looking through the window, scanning the room, its optic twisting in its frame slowly, adjusting and taking in information.

I wonder if it's looking for me? Good luck with that. Seeth thought to herself, watching the drone scan the room fruitlessly. It didn't seem to be aggressive, at least.

She sighed loudly, hoping some of the other ships would notice and shoot it down. There wasn't exactly much she could do from inside.

Suppose I could tele-kill it if it turns hostile?

She continued to watch the drone with cautious interest as it remained entirely fixed on her room, watching as its orange, plate-sized optic continued to adjust itself until -

A shiver suddenly ran down her spine.

A large, dark line materialised on the optic, splitting it down the middle, almost like a giant iris.

It could see her.

She could feel it, it was looking directly at her.

Shit - SHIT!

The drone's attention stayed locked on her, its giant eye fixed on Seeth as it slowly hovered closer to the window. Its optic twisted slowly in its frame again, almost like a curious dog.

She didn't know what to do, she didn't know how to react. It kept on its slow approach, gently hovering closer and closer to the window until it was practically touching it, all the while locked onto Seeth with an unnerving, machine-like focus.

Locked in a staring contest with the drone, Seeth froze, her mind desperately searching for anything that might resemble what the hell this thing was.

It's not DA, looks way too advanced to be DA... So what are you?

But, before she could ponder much longer, the drone suddenly retracted.

Its eye disappeared into its body, its body changing shape with several massive, intimidating weapons suddenly protruding from it. Its form now much more war-like and threatening compared to its inquisitive former version, but thankfully it did not give Seeth the chance to worry, as it turned away and rocketed back into space, disappearing as suddenly as it had appeared.

The tingling down her spine faded away; she was no longer being observed, but any relief that she felt was accompanied by a mixture of confusion, concern, and curiosity.

What the fuck was that..?