***
"Listen, I get that you're nervous, but I'm really fucking hungry and I'm getting fed up of hearing you go on." Seres snapped, harsher than she meant to. "So can we just… get on with it, please?"
It felt like they'd been walking for hours. They'd managed to stick to a rough dirt path for the majority of the trek, but the forest was getting thicker now, and the worn, man-made track had long been reclaimed by nature. Seres' frustration was building quicker than she'd like to admit, but her head had been filled with nothing but the sound of her stomach rumbling for the last forty-eight hours, and she honestly believed her body was on the verge of eating itself. At this point, she was more excited for the free lunch the interviewer had offered, than Liena's job opportunity.
"It's not my fault your merc jobs dried up!" Liena snapped back. Her eyes were glued to the maps app on her phone. She'd received the co-ordinates of the drop-ship's pick up location a few days ago, but now, as they moved further and further away from civilisation, her crippling interview anxiety was churning into something more… real. "This just feels weird to me!" She tripped over a tree root and almost went flying. "Why are they meeting us in the middle of nowhere?!"
Seres inhaled deeply. "Because it's a military station, Liena! Look at it!" She gestured roughly up at the treeline, where a glimpse of a massive space station was visible through the leaves. The station itself had been built into a solid iron meteorite the size of a small moon which, although mostly still fresh and silver in its colour, had flecks of rust on its surface from ventilation leakage. There were several red buildings and structures forming the bulk of the architecture, however most notable about the station were the giant red and silver rings, orbiting the moon over and over like a gyroscope. The rings projected various multicoloured containment fields around the station visible even from the planet. Likely, these projection fields supported the station when warping, the sheer size of it making such travel unusual, and no easy feat.
"It's a research station! The lady never said it was mil-"
"It's a private station with high staff turnover and no public info, that parks itself at the edges of nomad territory that's in desperate need of scientists and mercenaries. It's obviously military."
"Then we should just turn back. I didn't leave the DA just to end up building bombs or something for someone else."
Seres spun around, and Liena almost walked into her. "We need the money, Liena! Do you think I wanted to be doing all those merc jobs? Do you even know what I've been doing?!" She asked incredulously. "You think it was my dream to follow people around, 'protecting' people who didn't need protecting, just playing bodyguard? The amount of jobs disguised as security which actually just turned out to be 'we need all these really heavy boxes moved from this warehouse to that one, and yeah, the pay's half of what we said.' And then when I did have security work, it was the most mind-numbingly boring thing I have ever done! Literally patrolling water farms, watching water drip down condensation boards!" Seres rubbed her hands down her face and stared Liena directly in the eye, a stare which Liena quickly broke. "And the worst of them all? Disposal and clean up. Did you know dead people SHIT THEMSELVES after they die? And that some mother fuckers just decide to WAIT to SHIT ALL OVER YOU when you pick them up and sling 'em over your shoulder?! IT IS FUCKING DISGUSTING! It has been months, months since we left the DA, and you have absolutely nothing to show for it! Did you actually think you'd leave one of the top scientific capitals in the universe and just walk into your dream job, in nomad territory?" Seres shook her head. "You're so smart, Liena, but your head is full of numbers and… I don't know, atoms. Do you actually know anything about real life?"
Liena shifted awkwardly on the spot, staring at the floor. "I guess not." She mumbled.
She looked so defeated. The dress shoes on her feet were scuffed and covered in dried dirt. Her modest black dress was darkening with sweat stains.The blazer that went with it had been abandoned somewhere about an hour ago. Her tights were laddered from catching on twigs. She'd seen before they set off that the drop point was out in the forest, but she'd insisted on dressing smart. She'd wanted to make the best impression she could.
She looked so small. Seres sighed and hooked her arm around Liena's shoulders.
"I'm sorry." She said softly. "I'm angsty, that's not your fault. But I promise, this is completely normal. We did drops like this all the time in the army."
"Okay. I trust you." Liena smiled tiredly.
"I'll look after you." Seres smiled back and carried on walking, gently guiding her over the roughage. "If anyone comes up and tries to start networking with you, come tell me immediately and I'll beat 'em up."
Finally, they started to make out a clearing ahead. They were close - or at least they assumed they were. "I'm not getting any signal!" Liena growled, holding her phone up in the air. She waved it around, but the bars remained unchanged.
"I can't say I'm that surprised." Seres replied, brushing past the heavy foliage.
As they emerged from the trees, a large, grey building came into view. It wasn't anything particularly spectacular to look at, it appeared to be an abandoned factory, a concrete box several stories high. Parts of the walls were starting to crumble away. Windows were either cracked or boarded up entirely. Some old pieces of machinery, log splitters, circular saws and band saws, and wood chippers were still about, both outside and inside following a curious peak through the windows. It looked like the factory had once been a lumbermill, and maybe assembled furniture on site too. A little ways away from the main factory, now overgrown with patches of grass and stubborn weeds, was the remnants of a landing pad.
"I think that's it!" Seres said excitedly, and started to make her way towards the landing pad. As she did, she noticed a silver dropship with scarlett detailing, large wings and heavy vertical engines descending from the station at significant speed. It was surprisingly quiet for such a fast descent. It was about the same size as a small shuttle bus, designed for running between stations and planets. "Look at that, right on time!"
As the dropship grew closer the wind picked up, whipping Seres' dreadlocks around her. She turned back for Liena, and realised that she was still some distance back, hovering close to the treeline.
Seres waited for the roar of the craft's powerful engines to fade into a gentle hum, as it hovered slightly over the landing pad, then landed gently. When Liena still didn't move, she padded back over.
"There should be signal here, we're out in the open now." Liena was saying.
"What?"
"We're in a clearing! But I've still got no bars!" Liena shoved the phone in Seres' face. "I can't access anything!"
"This isn't the DA. Shit's choppy at the best of times in nomad territory."
"W-Well… There was plenty of space to land our own ship out here! Why did they say there wasn't? That we had to walk?" Liena demanded.
"You're being paranoid now. There's only one landing pad, and there's not that much space. The state our ship's in, I don't think it's got another landing left in it." Seres could feel her temper building again - she fought to swallow it. "You said you trusted me, right?"
Liena hesitated, then nodded.
"I promise, it's gonna be fine." Seres smiled. "Stop letting your anxiety dictate your life! Live a little, Liena. And remember, I'm always here."Seres held her hand out.
"A-Always?"
"Always."
What if I just kissed her. Forget the job, forget everything. Just wrapped my arms around her neck and kissed her and we stayed here. No scary ships. No horrible jobs… Just us…
But she didn't. She took Seres' outstretched hand and let her pull her across the clearing, past the factory, to the dropship. As they got close, the door clunked and opened, steam hissing from its vents.
"L-Ladies first." Liena said shakily, dropping Seres' hand and hiding behind her, barely daring to peek inside.
"Oh no! You deserve this. This is all your hard work, your perseverance, your determination. This is your moment, and I refuse to take that away from you. Now get your tiny ass on that ship!" Seres nudged Liena forward. "I'm right behind you!"
And so, her hands shaking, her heart in her mouth, Liena stepped into the gloom.
The ship itself was nothing too special. It was a simple transport pod, with around fifteen seats placed around the walls of the ship in a circle, leaving a decently-sized open space in the middle. Although there was something in the dead centre - a tall pillar, maybe for standing support?
Liena continued forward, Seres moving up the metal steps behind her.
The moment Seres stepped inside, the door slammed shut. The drop ship plunged into darkness.
"S-Seres?" Liena cautiously stepped back, reaching with her hand.
The pillar suddenly opened.
The upper, outer walls of the cylinder peeled back, unfurling back on itself, sprouting into a fluorescent bloom to reveal a jagged purple crystal, about the same size as a clenched fist.
Its surface pulsed and throbbed with an unnatural, unsettling motion like it was alive, or perhaps pretending to be. It seemed to react to their presence, clicking and creaking as its hardened parts grated against one another.
Liena's eyes widened as she stared into its rich, amethystine glow. She was frightened. Every instinct she had was screaming at her, run, turn away, do something… but she couldn't pull her gaze away.
The longer she stared at it, the louder - more agitated - its beating became, twisting in on itself, like it was trying to hide from her gaze.
A single moment of clarity flashed through her head -
Perception reactive crystalline matrix… Is it… anomalous?
- Before the crystal shattered.
Shrapnel flew in all directions across the pod as though a grenade had just gone off. Seres managed to twist her body, cover herself with her arm and hide her head as crystal shards struck into her skin. Blood immediately started to trickle from the cuts.
Liena screamed.
She staggered around, face in her hands. Her entire front was covered in the tiny empaled shards, tearing through her pretty black dress, little glittery shards of purple glass embedded into her skin.
"Seres! I can't see, I CAN'T SEE!"
Seres lurched forward, coughing. Her heart was pounding. The crystalline shards that hadn't hit them had smashed on impact with the walls of the pod, and disintegrated into a fine dust that was impossible not to inhale. It scratched and burnt as it crusted her throat, her lungs.
Her arm was starting to sting.
She managed to reach Liena before she fell to the floor. Blood seeped through her fingers. "Let me see, Liena, let me see!"
Liena shook her head furiously as Seres pried her hands away. She gasped.
The shards impaled into Leina's eyes were bright with luminescence, the colour rapidly shifting from their initial purple hue into a toxic green glow. From the shards that had embedded into her face, black rings were seeping into her skin.
It was a small mercy that Liena couldn't see Seres' paling face.
"You have to get them out, g-get the sh-shards out." Liena was stuttering. "I c-can tell you h-how, s-s-safely, j-just please, I c-can't s-s-see -" Her sentence was cut off abruptly as she started coughing too, choking on the crystal dust.
Then the pain started.
Seres staggered for the door just as Liena started screaming, writhing, blindly scratching at her skin. It felt like it was on fire, scorching her skin and spreading inside her. Seres immediately went back and grabbed her, lifting her into her arms.
I've got you.
The pain in Seres' arm had spread now too, a raging inferno across the rest of her body. She seethed and clenched her teeth as she tried to push past it, tried to push past the burning in her lungs as she gasped at the toxic air. She lifted her leg back and kicked the door. Again. And again.
You were right. I fucked up.
The impacts shuddered through Liena's body as she broke into a cold sweat.
I'm so sorry.
She felt Seres sway. The kicks became lighter. The last one she missed completely, and they crashed to the floor. Liena tumbled out of her arms.
"Seres?" She gasped hoarsely.
Seres didn't respond. Liena weakly reached out, scrambling at the floor, trying desperately to find her friend.
"S-Seres, I'm scared…"
Darkness swirled before her eyes. Liena lay flat on her back, convulsing, her nails gripping the floor of the pod so hard that some of them broke. That pain was nothing though, compared to the fire that was currently burning through her body. It sunk into her bones, her organs, the very fibres of her being. Her body strained to keep them in place. A sharp ache started in her limbs. Her bones felt like they were trying to push themselves out, she could feel them, hear them grinding and grating against one another. Finally, the pressure gave way as she felt her shoulder dislocate with a loud snap.
She shivered.
There was something else. Something beyond the pain… The shards in her face, she could feel them writhing uncomfortably, prickling, like her skin was standing on end… It was an itch… no, it was worse…
It was like someone was watching her.
She couldn't bear it.
She twisted and curled, bringing her knees to her chest, ducking her head down low. Hiding within herself.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Liena slipped unconscious.
***
Chapter 20 - Laid Bare
Fiiiiiiinally. The brains girl.
She sniffed the air as multiple aromas filtered through her nose. She plucked each one, and analysed them individually. First was a dry warmth. Air filtered through the numerous fans and heatsinks present. Second was static and plastic, blended together into a faint but ever-present chemical tingle. Plastic sheets and wrapping were present throughout the room. Third was sweat, humid and lowly, both from within the lab and from behind her. Some of it was filled with the stink of stress, the rest humid labour… Fourth was semen, sickly and mellow, only faintly detectable over the sweat but present all the same. Two males, different species… Goblin and wolf. Then, finally… Controller produce. Sweet, rich, dark and overpowering. Something she'd spent the last few days becoming intimately familiar with. It tingled up her muzzle and down her throat, threatening to tip her into a begging mess…
Skrrr. Detour was worth it.
A hungry growl escaped her throat as she prowled around the lab. She could hear the footsteps of hundreds of ORG agents, hovering close to her position at all times. They were all nervous, their hearts, organic and artificial alike, thrumming in their chests. They were not to interfere with her directly, just remain close enough so that if she did do anything… Well. They'd try to stop her.
She giggled to herself, the dual tone of her voice almost lost within the city-scape of a laboratory in front of her. A hustle and bustle of blinking buttons, rattling dials, diamond glassware and silver-sheen steel. Many of the machines were already humming away, but a few were still sealed in their plastic wrapping, waiting patiently for their opportunity to contribute to the cutting edge. The lab's lighting held a distinctive blue tone to it. The metal plates beneath her feet had long, narrow drains carved into evenly spaced grooves between the tiles, all but invisible without closer inspection.
Her winding path through the tall steel and tightly turned pipework eventually took her to the heart of the lab. At the far end was a twin set of staircases rising to an upper deck, but the central area itself was otherwise surrounded by a series of massive glass containment tanks, each one flanked by various advanced computers and intricate pipework that fed into the tanks themselves. Most of them were empty, but a single one had a vague dark silhouette of a czarite submerged in thick, sludgy fluid. Her finer details were impossible to make out, but her roamer-sized silhouette held a broody, dark aura to it, like they'd trapped a storm cloud in an oversized bottle...
Suddenly, high above the warmth and hum of the machines, a single drip splattering against the floor caught her ear, followed shortly by a sharp swat and a muffled, high-pitched moan.
She glanced towards the intriguing noise where the lab was abruptly divided by a sharp wall, lined with the aforementioned staircases leading to an upper deck, at least twenty feet up. There was a substantial void between the lab and the ceiling above, giving the whole area quite the sense of space, along with plenty of room to fit heavy duty trusses, lined with cables, chains, fixtures and a lone mug that had been left behind during the construction, high above. The upper deck, whilst still plenty roomy, was closer to the ceiling and had more personalised fixtures hanging within the owner's reach. From her position, she could just about make out a couple of chains hanging from the ceiling above the upper deck, suspending something…
No…
Someone.
Curiosity gripped her with a sneer and she surged over from the captive czarite, towards the stairs. She moved quieter than a whisper and in the blink of an eye, already gently peaking her head above the floor to spy on the activity above.
It was a spacious area, much more personal than the lab below, with an enormous data-board spanning most of the back wall, and a collection of smaller instruments and desks lining the edges of the deck. The centre of the space held a couple of comfy-looking, large chairs, and a substantial collection of more lude sitting devices, complete with ropes, chains and shackles. A tall green czarite was standing in front of the data-board, clad in a white lab coat - only a white lab coat - and holding a black riding crop tightly in her hand. The tip of the crop was gently teasing the lips of a goblin, hanging upside-down in chains, bounded tightly but not cruelly. His pretty face was red as a cherry, it seemed any moment now steam would start to rise from his pointed ears. He was wearing a harness of vibrators that buzzed against all the sensitive parts they were supposed to, their buzzing lost in the hum of the lab but driving the lad to near hysteria all the same. A long strand of cum dripped from the tip of his throbbing cock whilst he clenched with all of his might to hold it back. The goblin's desperate struggle against the vibration was all recorded on a camera located in the rigging, getting a good view of his entire supple body as he gently rotated in the chains, sometimes showing the red playful lashes marking his buttcheeks.
Held in a similar situation, aside from the chastity cage that locked his manhood up, was a timber wolf. His cheek bore a large green kiss mark, staining his fur deeply and he appeared to have a gem studded butt plug pressed firmly inside him, vibrating in the same stubborn, coaxing manner. Finally, both males had a single wine glass placed under them, slowly filling with their seed.
She glanced at the chastity cage again, her eyes sharpening in disgust.
Weak.
Her focus shot back to the whip, teasingly stroking the goblin's ears now.
What does she want from her subjects? I don't understand.
The drizzle of semen from the stranded goblin poured out in one continuous thin line, with the Controller not even giving him a glance; her focus was entirely on the data in front of her. Suddenly, the goblin clenched, squeezing his legs and interrupting the flow. The resulting light patter of fluid was immediately followed with a firm swat to his ass cheeks.
Ahhh. She's fun.
"Focus, Jaxxx. Or it'll be your turn in the cage."
"Y-Yes, Leech!" The goblin moaned, biting his lip as he wrigged in the chains.
Mhmmm. Yes. I want it. She thought to herself, with a flicker of her forked tongue.
But as she went to make her ascent, the data-board flickered with an incoming call, and she immediately ducked down behind the stairs again, her ears twitching intently as she laid herself flat against the steps.
"Ah, as expected. Better see what his highness wants. Keep it down you two, not even a murmur or I'll double the vibrator count."
Her words were followed by a small beep of the call connecting.
"Salem! I'm busy making your stuff mine, so make it quick!"
"Leech! Thank you for accepting my call. I'll make it snappy. How's the lab coming along?" Salem replied enthusiastically, seemingly unphased by the Controller's forward greeting.
"Fucking splendid! I think it's the best lab I've ever seen, nevermind worked in. We're still setting up the equipment but I've got a lot of it operational already."
"Can't say I'm surprised it's running so fast. I've been told you've worked around the clock to get it working! On that note, I must immediately extend my thanks to you for fixing Princess Thirty-Three's reproduction issues. I've authorised a full batch of genetic samples for you, along with the potential of some play time once we've established how she fairs with the corruption."
"Playtime too, huh? Fuck yeah." She could hear the grin spreading across the Controller's face.
"Is that Jaxxx I see behind you? He looks like he's having fun." There was a hint of jealousy in the caller's otherwise charismatic voice.
"He's currently being punished for breakingflow. But he's enjoying himself all the same. I'll be sad to see him go when he's needed back on your end. He's been fun to play with."
"You did win his time, fair and square. I apparently still have more to learn. How's the latest guest fairing?"
"She's a broody one!" The Controller's voice shifted to a different, lighter tone. "She's currently in one of the incubator tanks in central. I'm trying something new and letting the corruption slow-take by chilling the tank down to just above five degrees. I think the metabolic impediment will give scope for greater changes, so I'm kinda excited to see how she turns out. She's taking a while to change, but that's kinda the point."
"Fascinating! You truly are at the cutting edge of your craft! My clients are thrilled to see more from you. And may I ask how the immunity project is fairing?"
"I… think I've cracked a major milestone. My first live testing of the decrypter-vials on subjects will start this week."
"And what type of immunity are we looking at? Is it a temporary thing? Full immunity?" The caller's interest seemed to peak, his considerable enthusiasm only continuing to swell.
"It's… more complicated than that. The decrypter-vials are more like a key to a single corrupted individual. They make someone immune to that specificperson. Permanently as far as I can tell."
"Interesting… It may even be better that way actually. We could sell them as access passes to corrupted individuals."
"The whole process has been incredible to indulge in. It turns out that our secondary hearts, which I've named encrypter hearts - what an honour to name something! - all have unique, individual coding which is passed into the corruption directly. With that in mind, I've started establishing various different ideas and routes for exploration. Whilst the vials present the closest working prototype, we may be able to synthesise more complex solutions if there does turn out to be a discernable pattern between different Controllers' encrypter hearts. I just can't believe how complex this corruption is and keeps proving to be! Everytime I think I -"
"- Amazing!" The caller quickly cut in. "I can feel the possibilities growing already. On that note… I've requested that all czarites are to be sent to you for processing, informally of course."
"...Oh yeah?" She could feel the drop in the Controller's voice, stark compared to her excitement before the interruption. "Did I impress?"
"You certainly did. Whilst the converted agent has refused to take part in any hiring I've offered, the pictures of her have generated an immense amount of interest. My clients are burning to see more of your skills. Fusing that snake body to her successfully and seeing the frankly gorgeous colourations that took hold was thrilling from a distance, nevermind up close. I've already informed Moltezz of my preference and she seemed to be in agreement, but I won't stick my nose in any more."
"Good. Don't. Moltezz made our partnership conditions clear. As much as I appreciate the lab and the help, leave me to do my thing and we'll get along like peaches and cream."
Peaches and cream.
"Peaches and cream. Marvellous. I'll let you continue, thank you again, Leech."
"See ya later, second place."
"Pfft. You wait. I'll win Jaxxx back."
The call ended with a quiet beep, and after a moment the Controller sighed.
"Alright. You can come out now. Or are you just going to eavesdrop from the stairs like a total creep?"
Skrrrah..! She knows I'm here..?!
She stood from the stairs, stepping up to meet the Controller, as she spun to face her with hands on her hips.
"Skrrr. Hello. My name is Navarta. I am not creep."
The distasteful frown on her face was suddenly coupled with a loud snort from the back of her throat. "'I am not creep!'" She repeated mockingly. "Yes the fuck you are. Creeping around my space uninvited."
"If you actually left this lab, I would not have to invite myself into your space!"
"Hmm. Not good at taking hints, are we!" Leech cocked her head then, eyeing the intruder with a level of caution but interest. "What the fuck is your accent? And why do you speak common so fucking badly?"
"Vik-SHIIN!" The intruder retorted with an angry flick of her tongue. "That means 'crybaby' in your common tongue. It is not my first language."
Leech's eyes slowly scanned over the girl's form, taking in her unusual gait and proportions with increasing interest, which she did her best to hide.
On the surface, she may have looked like an eclectic dragoness of some kind, clad in grey-purple skin with both dark and bright V-shaped stripes over her thighs and upper arms. A large pair of upright ears were caught somewhere between a rabbit and a bat, and were flanked by a pair of curling black and purple horns, curving backwards and behind her ears. A massive crystal white punk hairdo was curled over her left shoulder, fluffy and vibrant. Her tail was a stark shift away from the dragonic comparison however, with it being thin and almost whip-like, but ending in a solid, angular hook-like appendage. Her proportions were also unusual, standing around Controller height and even similarly proportioned, with some muscle on her arms, a sizable bust and powerful thighs. But her digitigrade legs became remarkably thin towards the feet, to the point she almost looked like she was on stilts. Both her hands and feet had shining black, retractable claws. Her maw was lined with sharp vampire-like fangs, and was an extra set of sleek nostrils on her muzzle. A more unusual detail Leech noted was a seam in the middle of her bottom jaw. Her cunning amber gaze had just the slightest flicker of emerald, and she met Leech's stare with a purring chuckle.
It appeared the dragoness was more than comfortable in her birthday suit; she was wearing little more than a string thong, tied in such a manner that a single string pull would unwrap it instantly, and black nipple tape. It wasn't a leap to assume that what little clothes she did have on were more likely an ORG formality, than anything to do with her.
Leech continued to watch the dragoness cautiously, as she glanced around her upper deck curiously. Her eyes narrowed to daggers as a question tore from the back of her throat.
"Do the others know you're an Azuri?"
The dragoness' head instantly snapped back to Leech, eyes harsh at first, but softening rapidly.
"How did you know this?" She asked, the lighter portion of her voice taking the lead.
"Woah woah woah there. How did you do that with your voice? You've been all weird and dual tone this whole time and now the baby angel voice comes out alone?! That's fascinating!"
"Ksk-ksk. I have two voice boxes. I usually speak with both, but I can independently switch them if I want." The latter half of the dragoness' sentence immediately displayed the ability rapidly, alternating between a bassy, low tone and a higher, sweeter one. "Duh.Idiot. Now answer my question. Please."
"Well… how the fuck was I supposed to know that the legendary twin voice box bitch was gonna crawl up in my lab and sass me today? As for your question, you made it across the dreadnought, on foot. You scaled the inside of the lift shaft in the blink of an eye. The only other people I think could do that would be the Battle Sisters, and you're far too big to be one of them. Duh. Idiot."
The dragoness seemed to have a visceral gut reaction at the words 'Battle Sisters.' Her claws briefly extended from the tips of her fingers, like the unsheathing of a blade. But the display only lasted a moment, before she returned to her previous sassy demeanour.
"Kshhhh. Smart. Smarter than I thought." Navarta turned her head away and continued to peruse the deck's equipment, flicking through some neatly packed glassware on a nearby desk with her claws. "Correct. I am an Azuri. Sawnvinth."
"Sawnvinth?" Leech asked, doing her best to mimic the pronunciation.
"It means… intruder on privacy…" The dragoness pondered, glancing up in thought, knowing there was a better way to describe it, just on the tip of her tongue. "... Nosy! Yes! You are a nosy vik-shiin!"
"Sawnvinth vik-shiin, huh? Well I got a vik-question for you. What the fuck are you doing in my lab? Calling me fucking nosy, the nerve."
"Skrrrrrr. Meeting everyone! Polite." She stuck her forked tongue out at the Controller. "You are the most boring, so I put you last." Navarta giggled. "Moltezz said I could go where I want, as long as I do not cause… ffirne - trouble."
"Most boring?!" Leech recoiled, offended, before broadly gesturing to the two men doing their utmost best to stay focused. "I cracked out the finest glassware for my two toys here and you're calling me boring?! I'm the reason why an entire barracks wing is being converted into a pay-as-you-go sex machine arcade! I might be a nosy crybaby, but I am not fucking boring."
"You told the ORG swine that you were cooling the tank. Why?" Navarta asked, completely ignoring Leech's retort.
"Great. Illiterate and deaf. As I said on the call, it should give the corruption more time to develop." Leech rolled her eyes, shaking her head.
"Not the answer I wanted. Why?" Navarta insisted, her eyes narrowing.
"You… want to know the scientific reasons?" Leech asked, her suspicion growing.
"Talk about it." Navarta huffed, folding her arms. "Gesthia - Explain."
"Erm, okay." Leech frowned. "It's because of the way the corruption penetrates the cell layers within a person. After the initial penetration of the membrane, the cell is – Oh you motherfucker."
The dragoness stretched her arms into the air as she yawned deliberately.
"Mhmm. Boring. Let's do something fun."
"No." Leech scowled, folding her arms. "Not right now. I'm busy."
"You are rejecting me?" Navarta asked quietly, the playfulness dropping from her voices.
"N-No. I'm not rejecting you. Dramatic twat. I'm in the middle of something and I don't like my flow state being interrupted. So you can wait your damn turn or go find someone else. If you recall, I'm having a whole deck set up so you can go fuck yourself." Leech scolded the dragoness, pulling a chair up from the side of the deck.
"Mhmm. Flow state. Okay." Navarta nodded, the playfulness returning instantly. "I will wait. Machine fun can be later."
"Ugh. Fine. But stop fucking with my glassware with those scalie little fingers. Moltezz said if you mess us around then the agreement is off."
"No messing. I will behave." The dragoness nodded, glancing around the deck curiously. "Do your thing. I will observe."
Leech's tongue flickered between her lips sharply, and the Controller spun around to sit herself on the chair. She scooted over to one of the desks at the edge of the deck which held two sealed containers, secured via code locks and fed with a multitude of wires and cables. Both containers held a single vial in a tight magnetic field, leaving the curious glassware suspended.
"What are these?" Navarta asked genuinely, keeping her distance from Leech.
"None of your fucking business." Leech scowled back. The words seemed to actually cut the dragoness, and she shrunk a little on the spot. Guilt twinged in Leech's stomach, and then confusion at said guilt. "A-Are you actually interested or just trying to set me up again?"
"Interested! The others speak highly of you -"
"- Pfft. I fucking doubt that right now."
"And I am…" Navarta pinched her claws together in thought. "Thausfawn - Curious! About you."
Within moments, the crop whip was laid to rest against the desk leg and Leech tapped the code into the left-hand container, her claws clacking against the metal buttons. The lid popped open with a hydraulic whizz and a cascading table of numbers ran down the data-board. Both Leech and Navarta paid close attention as the seemingly endless numbers described the chemical contents of the vial down to the exact molecule.
"This is an experimental formula I've produced to test something I've been thausfawn over. The corruption allows for substantial biological mutations during the transformation, but we've been static afterwards. I'm looking to test if our biology is still malleable, or if the corruption just provides a window to change and then locks you in after."
Soundless words left the Controllers lips as she analysed the information and after a few seconds of observation, she plucked out the vial with one hand and grabbed a ready prepared injector with the other. The vial slotted in with a neat click and the Controller took an uncharacteristic deep breath as she rolled the device around in her palm. Her thumb teased the button on the injector, causing a single bead of clear fluid to seep from the needle.
"You will inject that into yourself?" Navarta asked, eyebrow raised.
"I'm daft, I know, but I'm the best subject I could get on short notice."
"Hmm. Stupid, yes. But brave. What will it do?"
"Check out this sawnvinth slut, wanting to know what my secret experimental formula does. You'll have to find out!"
"Ksk-ksk-ksk! You are funny. Your numbers are off." Navarta grinned cheekily, sniffing the air.
"Fuck off. What are you on about." Leech huffed, spinning on her chair towards the dragoness.
"The composition. Your percentages are xevt - incorrect."
"H-How do you even know that?!" Leech sighed angrily, her eyes narrowing.
Navarta pointed at her multiple nostrils lining her muzzle. "Sensitive nose. Your, uh…" She paused for a moment to re-read the information on the data board, mouthing to herself. "Hmmm… 'activator solution'...? It is denser than your table stated. Too much so-di-um."
Leech stared at the dragoness blankly, unsure of exactly how this made her feel.
"How much by…?"
"Nought-point-seven percent." Navarta pointed at one of the data-tables insistantly. "Outside tolerance figures."
"Barely! It shouldn't matter."
"If it didn't matter, why put tolerance at that point." Navarta rolled her eyes. "Make tolerance bigger. That is entire point of tolerance."
Leech grit her teeth and turned back around, preparing the injector in one hand and holding her dreadlocks up behind her head with the other.
"I wanted to prevent ingredients from binding and the tolerance was to prevent that. But my scans are showing that nothing is binding, which means that it's fine. And continues to be fine."
"Mhmm." Navarta continued to sniff at the air, seemingly unimpressed. "Flow state, activate."
"Shitass sassy dragon. Right. Wish me luck. If I collapse to the floor, frothing from the mouth, please unhook these two idiots some time in the next week. I'd hate to vibrate them to death."
"Sks-sks-sks. Okay." Navarta giggled, casting a glance towards the two men, both of whom were now managing to stick to their instructions and were locked in pleasurable concentration. "Good luck, boring girl."
Leech took one final look at the vial, inhaling deeply before lining the needle up with the back of her and pressing the tip into the base of her hair. With the metal tip now puncturing her skin, she quickly pressed the button and injected the entire vial, leaving it for a few seconds before removing the device and laying it back on the desk.
The lab remained silent for a few moments as Leech glanced around, feeling a small warmth spread through her head before it numbed out and disappeared all together.
"Huh. Nothing yet… but no adverse reaction."
"Tch. That is a shame." Navarta shook her head. "But perhaps expected?"
"You are such a vibe kill, and I've literally just met you. UGH." Leech ranted, waving her hand dismissively at the dragoness.
"BORING! All the others were fun! You just yap yap yap." Navarta turned away dismissively, looking around the lab for anything of interest.
"You want to get chained up to the ceiling too then? Don't test me. I got space for more yet."
"You could not imprison me, czarite. I am too strong. Ksk-ksk."
"And you call me boring… Great. So I'm cursed with your sodding company until what? We fuck and then you move on to the next Controller in your great sampling session?"
"Meh. I am no longer engaged…? Activated? Hmm… Sexually thrilled. I am bored. You are very boring." The dragoness continued to glance around idly before zooming over the stairs with alarming speed, and pointing insistently once again at the single occupied tank within the centre of the lab. "Show me the tank girl! That will be exciting!"
Leech pinched the space between her eyes with a long sigh and stood from her chair with an intense scowl creasing her face.
"Fine. Fine. I need to check on her anyway. But you're on thin ice."
"Ksk-ksk-ksk. Okay, vik-shiin." Navarta giggled, her hook tail whipping through the air as she turned back around.
The pair made their way over to the tank separately, with Leech clomping down the stairs whilst playing with her dreadlocks for any sign of change. Navarta on the other hand surged off the upper deck in a single jump and landed in front of the tank with a weighty bang, peering into the coloured sludge.
"Who is this one?" She asked as Leech approached, the Controller checking the controls on the side panel.
"Another ORG donation. Voluntary. She even had a name picked already for herself. Wants to be called 'Mazuul' when she comes out."
"Will she be big?!" Navarta asked excitedly, pressing her face right up against the glass. Within the stormy silhouette, pin-pricks of white light emerged, shining through the slime for a few moments before fading away as quickly as they arrived in the first place. A palpable sense of excitement gripped both Leech and Navarta as they both watched the tank, wondering silently what the czarite within was going to develop into. "Ink big. Too big. Didn't fit. Still fun."
"I have no idea." Leech huffed, her frustration taking back over again. "Parts of the corruption can be measured and predicted, other bits of it are down purely to chance. But I've tried a lot of new things with this one, so we'll see what sticks and what doesn't."
"Mhmm. More flow state decisions?" Navarta teased, poking her tongue out at Leech.
"Yes, actually. But we'll find out."
"How long until she is ready?"
"FUCK! Do you ever stop asking questions?! You'd suck the fun out of a glory hole!" Leech snapped, her face curling in disgust. "You could at least ask interesting ones! How about I ask you some questions instead? See how you like it!"
"Sure!" Navarta smiled, seemingly unbothered by Leech's frustration. "Seems fair to me."
"Fine!" Leech scowled, gently tapping some instructions into the side of the machine's computer. "What the hell even type of Azuri even are you? Aside from a horny asshole on stilts."
"Vhaser dragoness." Navarta smiled back, still trying to get a good look at Mazuul.
"Well, I have no idea what that means?" Leech retorted, trying to mimic Navarta's endlessly sassy tone.
"Hmmm… Easier to show you. May I have some… water…?" Navarta asked surprisingly politely.
"Could've asked when we were upstairs, jeez." Leech started rummaging around the various pockets of her lab coat, until she found a half empty bottle of water. "It's mostly backwash, hope you don't mind." She smiled sweetly. "Go on then, let's see what you can do."
The dragoness took the bottle quickly, sliced the top off with a single claw and gulped the water down, before turning towards Leech with a toothy grin and staring at her.
"Wow. That thing didn't stand a chance, you merciless bottle slayer." Leech stuttered in disbelief. "That's incredible. Wow. I –"
Her sentence was cut off by a stream of water splashing over her face, spat directly from Navarta's mouth. The Controller stood in defeat, wiping her face in open-mouthed shock as Navarta stifled a laugh and looked up towards the ceiling.
"What the actual fuck was that?! Are you high?!"
"That is my special vhaser ability." Navarta snickered, biting her bottom lip.
"Your special ability is… is… spitting water?!? So… You know when I said you were on thin ice…?" Leech stuttered, feeling an increasing urge to eject a bitch.
"Oh shush. I made a joke. Zarr-ne-teeeeigh… Watch… There." Navarta pointed up at the mug that had been left on one of the support beams up in the rafters, barely visible and nearly fifty feet above them.
"This better be good or I'm kicking you out." Leech huffed, squeezing the collar of her lab coat dry and turning to face the cup high above them. "Last straw, bitch. Make it count."
Suddenly Navarta sucked in a lung full of air, whistling through her nostrils more like she was an industrial piece of equipment rather than a person, and spat a single droplet of water through the air. The cup shattered instantly like it had been shot and shards of ceramic clattered to the floor in the corner of the room.
"Okay. That was actually fairly impressive." Leech conceded, turning back to face her. "Did you have to spit on me first though?"
"Yes." Navarta replied sincerely. "Funny. Vhasers are… living weapons factory. We drink things, refine them, spit them as weapons. Some of us specialise. Oil. Acid. I do not have a specialisation yet." She pouted briefly, before snapping her jaws at Leech playfully. "But maybe soon!"
"You refine things?" Leech asked, her curiosity starting to grow. "How so?"
"Make things more potent. Oil more flammable. Burn hotter. Longer. We swallow and hold it inside." Navarta pointed at her bust with a single clawed finger. "Plenty of room. Store inside, spit when needed."
"Interesting… Is that why you have such a keen sense of smell? Helps you find what you need for your in-built fluid cannon?
"Yes, vik-shiin." Navarta poked her tongue sassily, flicking her hair to the side.
"Please, it's just vik." Leech grinned, finally feeling like there was something of interest here. Her response made Navarta burst into a hearty, sustained giggle. When she wasn't being an obnoxious piece of trash, she could be quite cute…
"Ksk-ksk-ksk. Okay. Vik-Leech. Or just vik?"
"Whatever makes you behave. It doesn't matter to me. I'm much more interested in seeing if you refine the corruption - Wait." Leech suddenly interrupted herself, like a neural flashbang just went off in her head. Arousal flushed through her body, turbulent and confused. "Did you just imply you store fluids in your fucking tits?!"
"Ksk-ksk! Yes, dummy!" A light blush fell upon the dragoness's cheeks as she replied.
"And they like… get bigger…?"
"Sawnvinth! Again! So nosy! You will have to find out, Vik-Leech."
"Hey! You offered that information freely! You can't call me nosy when you teased me with it. Do you think your body would make our corruption more potent if you stored some…?" Leech pondered, unsure of how the dragoness would take to her sudden switch. To her surprise, Navarta seemed to match the energy, sliding closer to her with a mischievous glint in her eye.
"Maybe… Maybe not. Anomalous nature is… unpredictable. Maybe we should test."
"I suppose that is the very nature of science. Exploration and experimentation…" Leech's eyes landed on the dragoness's body, despite her unusual stature, she was somehow still packing a lot of ass.
"We can help each-other." She slid closer to Leech again, standing in front of her and opening her mouth wide, letting her long tongue hang loose. Suddenly she kneeled down in front of the controller, open mouthed and pining for the alien's attention with her sharp eyes. "Feed me, Vik-Leech. I am hungry."
But before the Controller could even retort, she was on her feet again, giggling to herself and teasing the collar of Leech's lab coat with the hook of her tail. "Ksk-ksk. So cute. I love your kind. Best I have ever had."
"Well… That was something." Leech cleared her throat. "So, am I less boring now?"
"Mhmm. Ksk-Ksk. Less boring. But still not fun. I will show you fun. Come out with me." The dragoness smiled, sliding up close to Leech and poking her tongue out.
"Out..?" Leech blinked. "Like, out out? With you..?"
"Come out with me!" Navarta repeated, more insistently this time. "Me and you. Fun. No more boring. No arrangements."
"Like… on a date?"
"If you like. I do not mind what it is called. Just do not call it boring." Navarta giggled, the dual wisp and bass of her voice both adding and taking away from the cuteness.
For the first time, perhaps ever, Leech had been rendered speechless and sassless. She'd never been asked on a date before. She'd never gone on a date before.
"S-So you just… fucked the other Controllers, why do I get the pleasure of a date?" She finally asked, her tongue dry and heavy as she tried to force her usual sarcastic tone.
"Just say yes! Stop with the questions! Stop with the thinking! Get your clothes on. Then, you can test me. Might even let you chain me. Sks-sks-sks."
"So you did notice my massive, bitch-breaking wang pushing through my lab buttons then?" Leech shoved her fidgeting hands back in her pockets and winked, watching Navarta's pupils dilate at the very mention. Despite the lab coat reaching her shins, there was plenty of Controller body to admire through the thick cotton. "I was genuinely wondering if you'd actually noticed."
"I noticed immediately." The dragoness licked her lips hungrily. "But compelling conversation stopped me from saying. I hoped if I annoyed you, you might use it to shut me up."
"That is still on the cards, believe me."
"Good! But I want to go now. No waiting. You did your stupid injection thing. It didn't work. Flow state, no state. My turn."
"You don't even know what that injection was for, asshole! You couldn't know if it succeeded or failed!"
"Be truthful, has it worked?"
Leech turned away and grumbled under her breath. "I don't think it has but that's not even the point, frankly."
"Ksk-ksk. Career ender."
Burying her own smile, Leech pointed a scolding finger at Navarta's cheeky grin as the dragoness danced back. "You watch your damn mouth, missy! You have no idea -" Leech's words suddenly stuck in her throat, threatening to choke her as something caught the corner of her eye.
A few strands of her lengthy jelly dreadlocks had risen in the air, and were pointing at Navarta with all the same sass as her arm…
Navarta's expression shifted from a grin to deep curiosity as Leech took a moment to absorb the second bout of open-mouthed shock that had overcome her. Her dreadlocks were coming to life one strand at a time. Life pulsed through the jelly in front of them both, with more and more of it rising to meet the rest until her entire bundle of dreadlocks was curled around her shoulder, pointing at Navarta in a wave of shimmering green sassiness.
"I-It worked! I did it! Holy fuck!"
The locks shifted back behind her and stretched themselves out, like a cat clawing at the carpet as Navarta approached again cautiously and gently played with the dreadlocks, feeling them between her fingers.
"What does this mean?" She asked genuinely, taking the sudden progress with the same levity as Leech.
"I-It means that the corruption can sustain additional changes past initial metamorphosis!"
The dragoness held a strand in front of Leech's face, feeling it wrap around her wrist and squeezed it.
"Does not feel like Ink. Different genetics…?"
"No, I didn't copy from Ink. Ink's tentacles are very different from our dreadlocks. I took samples from the ORG's living goo gal and broke down how she locomotes, adding that to the existing infrastructure of my hair. I wasn't sure how it'd turn out but… It expands the corruption even more than I realised."
"What percentage of change is czarite compared to corruption? Czarites adapt very well. Think Nodes could also adapt? Next experiment perhaps?"
"Great question. I think it would be a bit of both. I'll need to whip up more samples and experiments, but Nodes are usually less drastic with their corruptive evolution than Controllers." Leech pondered the question in silence for a few moments, letting her newly adapted hair fall back behind her. "Tricky one. Speculation might be dangerous."
Navarta's face suddenly softened, and she turned her attention back to the stormy glass at their side.
"Hmm. Maybe you are not so boring. Ksk-ksk-ksk."
"Holy fuck, was that a compliment from the universe's most creepy Azuri stalker? I am in awe! I'll have you chained to the ceiling in no time!"
"Ksk-ksk. Only if you promise to feed me - in the name of science." She grinned again.
"Of course. A purely professional face fucking."
"KSK-KSK-KSK!" The dragoness broke into hysterics as her face turned rosy. "I… KSK-KSK-KSK!
…
OKAY."