Heavy Weapons - Sweet Venom

"You promise you're not gonna leave me, right?"

"Yes, for the one millionth time, I promise I won't leave you."

"What if someone starts talking to me?! What do I do?!"

"I don't know, talk back?"

"Don't be ridiculous, you know I can't talk to people!"

"You'll be fine!" Seres stifled a sigh and flashed the security guard a smile, as she all but shoved Liena through the doors to the club. A deep bass and the tinny twang of electric guitar reverberated up the stairs towards them. The deep, rumbling music had already entered Liena's body, her already pounding heart now pounding to the beat instead.

"Why do I let you do this?!" Liena yelped as Seres took her by the arm and guided her down the stairs. "This isn't how I celebrate, this isn't how I do things, so why do I let you do this to me?!"

"Because it's good for you to try new things. And I refuse to spend another night sitting in that tiny room watching slice-of-life anime and talking about genetic drift vs gene flow."

"Hey, drift and flow always get mixed up and they're not the same thing!" Liena snapped. "It's interesting."

Nomad space had a more prevalent club scene than either of them had been expecting. While the clubs were generally pretty grungy, an underground area with sticky floors and the faint smell of damp, the scene itself was undeniable; lots of people and good vibes all round. They might not have been as big and grand as the DA ones, the bright disco lights not as vibrant or the sound quality not quite as clear through the rattling old speakers, but the music was good, and the drinks weren't too bad either.

Fair play to nomads, they knew how to have a good time.

They went and took their seats at the bar, Seres carrying a surprising amount of flirtatious grace considering her powerful build. She pushed her chest out as she swung her leg over the barstool, and rested her bust over her crossed arms, which in turn were resting against the table. Liena wasn't quite able to match her friend's level of grace and overshot the stool, swinging her leg into the bar with a loud bang as her goth stompers made contact with the wood. She hissed in embarrassment as a few people looked around, and did her best to inconspicuously hide her face. Luckily the bar was busy, and people quickly went back to their own business.

"At least you made it onto the stool this time," Seres chuckled, a light, flirtatious chuckle.

"That was a strider bar! The seats were almost as tall as me!" Liena muttered, blushing and glancing away as Seres sat forward, pushing her chest out further.

"Wait, are those my old boots?"Seres asked, glancing down at Liena's feet.

"Y-Yeah. Why, you want them back or something?" She snapped defensively.

"No! Calm your tits, Liena -"

Pfft what tits. Compared to the huge honkers you've currently got splayed out.

"- I just never realised how big they are on you!"

"Oh, are they?" Liena asked non-chalantly. "They fit fine."

"They do not! They're way too big for you, why are you wearing them if they're the complete wrong size?"

"I dunno. I like them. So what happens now?" Liena asked loudly, quickly trying to change the subject. "We don't have any money, what do we do when the bartender comes over?!"

"Just chill the fuck out and wait." Seres replied. There was a small selection of free nibbles before them, just a few snacks including nuts, crisps, and little cubes of cheese and fruit on cocktail sticks. Seres picked up one of these and delicately popped into her mouth, smoothly pulling the treats off with her teeth and absently playing with the leftover stick between her fingers.

Liena glanced over the bar at the various multi-coloured beer taps, evenly spaced out before her. She'd never seen any of these drinks before, and a sudden pit opened in her stomach as she contemplated what she'd even want.

"Seres...?"

"Hmm?"

"How do you know which drinks are nice? I-I don't know any of these at all!" She pointed with a slightly shaky finger at one called 'The Lewd Kobold,' which had a provocative image of a skimpily- clad kobold on its front. "Is that legal? Can they do that?"

"Honestly, Liena, I have no idea either. I usually just drink what's given to me. If a guy is offering to buy me something, I just ask for what he's having. What they drink gives me some idea of who they are. It also tells me what they think of me."

"So you can tell a lot about men by what drinks they... drink. But you don't know what drinks are nice...?"

"Shut the fuck up." Seres giggled, punching Liena playfully on the arm. "I'm sure 'The Lewd Kobold' is just wonderful, as are its patrons."

"What about that one?" Liena smiled back, pointing at an ominous tap simply labelled 'Hurt Juice.' "What kind of guy buys that for you?"

"Oh. If someone offers you a glass of 'Hurt Juice,' you find a new place to drink." Seres replied flatly, and Liena's face dropped.

"H-Have you had it before then?"

"Nah. Never heard of it." Seres suddenly smiled back, her grin intensifying as she watched Liena's face contort.

"Awh Seres! Cmon! You can't do that to me! I thought you were being serious!"

Seres went to respond, when she noticed the bartender. She could see him pouring two drinks and glancing in their direction.

"Heads up, Liena. Lets hope its not a pint of 'Hurt Juice.'" Seres smirked as the bartender approached them.

"If it is, you can have it." Liena replied quickly. And I'll leave.

"From the gentlemen across the bar." The bartender winked as he placed two drinks down in front of the girls, the ice clinking gently against the glass. They both glanced across the way as the bartender went to serve someone else, and indeed there were a few men, their own drinks in hand, chatting amongst themselves but glancing over towards the girls, a teasing smile on their lips.

"See?" Seres smiled. She put one of the drinks into Liena's hand. The glass was cold, and condensation trickled down her fingers as she received it. "I told you we'd be fine."

The next few hours were a blur of bright lights, loud music and a mixed concoction of sweet, sour, smokey and fruity drinks through multiple exchanged hands. They gradually moved from the bar and into the main section of the club, where some people were dancing, and others were sat enjoying their drinks at tables. Seres did most of the talking; although, the key seemed to be to not actually do that much talking at all, just to sip their drink, smile and laugh and nod along and listen as the groups they moved through tried their luck. The whole thing was incredibly boring, and Liena didn't much care for these hopeless romantics' stories about their absolutely embellished labouring roles. Working on an 'ice crusher, going from comet to comet' was fancy talk for 'water miner who'd probably never stepped out of this sector of space in his life' and she bloody well knew it. But, feeling too anxious for laughing and nodding, and definitely too anxious for talking, she resorted to doing the only thing she felt she could.

She drank.

And with each glass she drained, wincing at the strong alcoholic flavour, people around her would cheer and immediately order her another one.

On the flip side however, Seres had a rather attractive man hooked in and the two of them were actually getting along rather well. Before too long, he was sidlingly up close to her and teasing her with a playful nibble on the neck. Much to his surprise and delight, she reciprocated and within minutes, he posed the question...

"Do you wanna come back to my place?" He asked in a low, playful voice. "Its a dive, but it's private and there's room for two..."

"Depends if you can handle me, big man. I top." Seres grinned, expecting him to shy away. But instead, he blushed red and scooted a little closer to her again.

"I was hoping you would."

But just as she felt her body flush with desire -

"Sereeeeeeeeeeees!" Liena giggled and slurred as she staggered towards her friend, grabbing hold of her arm and clinging to it as though it were a matter of life and death - or perhaps just staying upright and falling flat on her face. "Come dance with me, this is BORING!"

Oh my god she's completely smashed.

Seres' initial shock slipped into a genuine grin, which she quickly tried to hide from the man she had been chatting to.

"Two seconds, Liena!" Seres replied. "Sorry, this is my friend. We sort of come as a pair. Could we take her back with us? She doesn't go out like this very often, maybe she could sleep it off on your sofa, while we..." Seres placed a hand on his thigh and went to lean in, until she noticed the barely concealed grimace on her potential partner's face.

"You can't leave her here? I'm sure she'd be fine for a couple of hours." He asked as Liena began to swing herself side to side in the music, still pulling on Seres' arm. He seemed to realise his mistake straight away though, as Seres' face hardened, her smile all but gone. "I-I mean my place is only small, I've only really got room for two... three's a crowd and all that -" He went on, trying to laugh, but quickly realising his fuck up.

" - If you'll excuse me," she interrupted dryly, placing her unfinished drink down, "I'm going for a dance with my friend. Thanks for the drinks, have a good night."

"FINALLY!" Completely unaware of the ethical cock-blocking which had just transpired, Liena dragged Seres onto the dancefloor and immediately erupted into a wild, uncoordinated dance. She didn't know many of the songs that were playing, but it wouldn't have mattered if she did; Liena was moving with little regard for the beat, a wide grin on her face as she whipped her dreadlocks around, staggering about in a pair of boots three sizes too big for her and lurching her arms all over the place. There weren't too many dancers on the floor, but they quickly all vacated to the sides to avoid Liena's terrifying octopus-windmill moves. Seres' hands hovered cautiously around Liena's hips, ready to catch her if she fell (which she did - multiple times). But despite her badly timed thrashing and multiple near-miss incidents per song, Liena was having the time of her life. Her intoxicated smile was pure, her energy infectious and Seres couldn't help but join her, wholeheartedly.

Usually, Seres would be more interested in maintaining some level of social cred and mystique to keep the drinks and conversation coming, but right now, throwing her body around the dance floor with Liena was the only thing that mattered.

Maybe it's good for both of us to try new things.

Song after song went by and their grins only grew, despite their aching legs and feet. They spent the rest of the night dancing together, miming the words they knew and screaming the ones they didn't. As her energy finally started to fade, Liena rested her head heavily against Seres' chest and the two of them swayed together instead, holding onto one another's hands as bright LED streaks of green and purple light enveloped them.

***

Chapter 10 - In Plain Sight

One heavy blink at a time, she awoke from the dark into a hazy dream of green and blue. The leaves swaying in the gentle breeze overhead were slow to focus. Her arms were heavy, and her fingers numb as she ran her hands slowly across the grass beneath her, tickling against her skin. There was a sweet taste of summer in the air. And for one blissful, peaceful moment, she wasn't entirely sure which her she was...

Alas, with the stiff, iron taste of blood and the ache of her bruises, one wound at a time, reality clarified around her.

Leech groaned and pressed a hand to her temple, as her head began to throb. Seeth's beat-down was well and truly kicking in.

Owwww. Fucking hell. She still got a mean swing on her.

She blinked a few times, clearing her vision to the window of clear blue sky, peaking out between the swaying treeline. It was so refreshing to see the sky, after being in space for so long. But her moment of peace was shattered as a metallic cobalt blue flashed into her vision. A DA first response ship, barely a dot in the sky... but there nonetheless.

The fleet was coming.

Shit... SHIT! We gotta go! Right now!

Leech bolted upright from her rest, clawing at the mud in a desperate scramble as her heart hammered in her chest. The ship wasn't descending - for now - likely it was waiting for more reinforcements. But the clock had struck its first chime, and if they waited much longer, their chances of getting safely back to the dreadnought would be pretty much zero.

She thudded over to the wrecked ship, still dripping with oil and coolant from its shredded chassis, and clambered over to Ink, who was out cold on the floor.

"Ink! INK! Wake up! C'mon calamari, we need to move!" Leech shouted, furiously slapping the downed Controller. After a few firm slaps across her cheeks, the giantess pried her eyes open, confusion plastered over her blood-soaked face. "Oh thank fuck!" Leech allowed herself a breath of relief. "I didn't fancy my chances at hauling your big ass back. We need to move, the DA fleet is coming!"

She stared blankly at Leech for a few seconds, the words rolling around her brain like sludge, but her eyes widened as the realisation finally hit her, and she rose from the earth like a titanic zombie. Her body was still running with fresh, dark blood, trailing from her multi-meter long lacerations and spreading like a spider-web over her skin, poisoning the earth it soaked into.

The two of them began their frantic scramble through the forest's undergrove, as fast as their damaged frames would allow, back towards the fields where they'd hounded Diego only an hour or so ago. Thankfully, Darkpaw dropships were already starting to land, and Nodes were rushing each-other and their Slaves towards the dropships' ramps.

As they broke the treeline Ink started to sprint, charging for the nearest dropship as a threatening thunderclap filled the air. More DA ships were warping in, larger ones this time, cruisers and destroyers. The hum of their cannons tinged the atmosphere with their electric crackle, but despite the imminent danger, Leech slowed down. She stared across the field at the large, scorched circle, fading orange streaks of lightning burnt into the ground, erupting from the epicentre and branching across the surface of the scorched earth.

The field was a burnt mess of corpses and half-corpses, barely clinging onto life. The glimmer of psyonic golden fire still permeates many areas, dancing in an almost hypnotic fashion. Leech could feel survivors through the hierclasty, Nodes buried amongst their dead kin, desperately hanging onto life under the crushing weight of the dead. But they could not find the fight to move in their battered bodies, and would be left behind...

... unless she did something about it.

C'mon you lot, you need to move too.

With all the force she could muster, she pushed deep into the hierclasty, her iron grip squeezing every single body littering the field and forcing all of them to their feet. From the croft of corpses, wounded Nodes erupted from the ground, their groaning bones protesting the forced motion, but nevertheless subservient to the Controller's unyielding orders. Even the scorched Slaves, dead or beyond saving, all twitched and squirmed at the command. The blackened mass before her became a writhing mess of jolting limbs and bodies, with a trickle of charred Nodes and Slaves marching out from the corpse pile.

From further afield, a march of new slaves caught her attention. Towering at least a head above the usual Slaves, the Barons had been turned to their cause. Their vacuous eyes now filled with a new hunger as their jiggling bellies wobbled in time with their upbeat march. Smaller Ragers also accompanied their once rulers. Their distinctive rage engine now had a sickly crackle to its fans, like it was perpetually trying to clear a tickle in its mechanical throat.

An uncomfortable bubble stuck inside Leech's throat. This hadn't been a 'repopulation' mission, but of course a little corruption was inevitable. Although there weren't many, there were even a handful of fresh draconic Slaves and a couple of draconic Nodes, staggering their way forward. But the Barons... Leech's eyes narrowed momentarily. While she was more than aware that the Rewritten were far from a cause for good, she did not like the idea of them associating with Vora Barons, not one bit, even if it was in a corrupted capacity.

There were more than enough dropships to ferry everyone back in a single trip. The logistics back on the dreadnought seemed to have been to be well handled, but a pang of guilt hit Leech as she watched the survivors stagger towards the ships.

They had been expecting more.

It was only glancing around at their numbers, or lack thereof, and the dropships that were already starting to take off - empty, that Leech finally shook the disgust from herself, and allowed the Barons to come forward. Now wasn't the time to be picky. They could cull later, if needs be.

Another thunderclap rippled through the air then, this one rumbled through her chest and rustled through the trees either side of her.

She glanced up to see an immense white hull hanging in the horizon, far closer to the planet than the others were; a battleship, with a full suite of weapons already coming online. She felt an uncomfortable shiver as several pairs of eyes landed on her, followed by a surge of adrenaline as she realised what that meant. Target finders aboard the battleship were surveying the area, looking for invaders for their gunners to obliterate. And she had very much been seen.

"~FUCK! FIRE UP THOSE ENGINES, WE NEED TO LEAVE!~"

She threw herself at the closest dropship, where Ink was waiting. The giantess' gaze was locked on the battleship, she'd felt it too. Leech ascended the ramp and latched her hands onto the ceiling rails. She did a quick final check within the hierclasty to ensure everyone was on-board, revealing that all but one corrupted Baron had made it.

Sorry fat-so. Good enough. We're leaving.

She felt the dropship lurch into the air as the ramp closed behind her, cutting their view of the battleship off. Anxiety sliced straight down her middle like a cold knife as she swore she saw its many turret-mounted weapons turning towards them through the final closing crack.

It was out of her hands. All she could do now was wait as the dropship began to shudder and shake, the roar of atmospheric escape filling her ears.

How desperately she wanted to assume control of the Node piloting, just to see through her eyes, but it wasn't worth the risk. She wasn't in charge of logistics and transport, and the plan had been set for a reason... It was best not to interfere, even for a moment, just for a peek.

The shuddering of the dropship reached its climax, her legs rumbling beneath her, feet like concrete. Then, the rumbling died away as they crossed the karman line. A haunting nothingness filled the atmosphere, a far cry from the screaming, gunfire and carnage of the last few hours. Only the fire of the dropship's engines could be heard now, usually a comforting white-noise to those well travelled.

But Leech did not travel well.

The sickness in her stomach blended and thrashed around deep inside her, quelled only by the thought that if she was about to be vapourised by a DA battleship, she would do so with dignity, not drooling sick down herself. The thought made her laugh, an awkward giggle that hiccuped out of her and thankfully went unnoticed by both Ink, and the only other occupant in the dropship; a new Node she didn't recognise.

It was hard to shift the thought of imminent instant death from her mind. and so, Leech feigned for distraction, deciding to focus on the new Node. She was a tall and immensely busty dragoness with magenta red skin. A small pair of amber crystal horns protruded from the top of her head and were flanked with a larger pair of curling white horns, along with a small pair of sharp ears under her messy, goo-clogged black hair. Her eyes complimented her amber horns, framed with a beauty spot under her left eye. Leech imagined she would have quite an elegant affair if it wasn't for the copious amounts of dried black goo around her mouth, and dripping down her neck. Her clothes had torn open where her figure had expanded and, as a result, she was wearing little more than scraps. She looked more lost than anything else, unsure of where the hell she was, why she was here, and who she had become.