Chapter 29 - The Past Waits for No-one

"Lockblade in the flesh! I've heard a hella lot of things about you!" Theo smiled as he clomped through the airlock and aboard Seeth's ship, taking extra care not to scrape his metal leg and tail against the floor's shiny new plating. He glanced eagerly around the inside of the destroyer.

"Good things, I hope. And 'Seeth' is fine." The Controller replied thinly. 

 "You got some nice digs! I like it!" Theo continued. "Orion tech has such a reliable gloss to it! If I was gonna go to any of the terra-corps, it would be Orion. They know how to make a rifle that kicks, you know?" He offered out his hand.

"Thanks. It wasn't cheap. Officer Kintrax, was it?" Seeth eyed the dragon's outstretched hand, then shook it firmly. The dragon responded in kind.

"Theo. Seriously though, it is great to meet you. Jace has filled me in on all the guild work you've done out there. Taking Vora Barons on like that alone is… commendable, to say the least. Bah!" Theo pulled a face. "I think my inner Jace just came out."

"I… appreciate it. Can I ask why you wanted to meet me?" Seeth asked cooly, raising an eyebrow. If Theo noticed the edge to Seeth's mannerisms however, he didn't show it.

"Jace has asked me to facilitate the exchange, so I'll be the one taking you planet-side and helping to smooth the whole thing over. Just figured I'd duck my head in and say hello before then! If you're going to spend the whole weekend floating above the planet, I figured I might as well introduce myself, rather than just float about with you awkwardly." Theo grinned. 

Seeth contemplated that for a few seconds, then nodded, satisfied. "Fair enough." She replied, allowing herself to relax a little - as much as she could anyway. The anticipation of finally being able to see Diego again was eating away inside her. "I'm just glad this is finally happening."

"Agreed, but he never should have been here in the first place." Theo tutted. "Absolutely disgusting how this all went down. It's not necessarily my place to, but I sincerely apologise on behalf of the draconic empire. Both you and your partner have been treated like shit. I would say though, trust that Jace had his reasons. He's a good man, even if he did fall short this time."

His response prompted a small shift in Seeth's demeanour, her previously harsh stare softening as she analysed the older dragon.

"Huh. It's… refreshing to speak to someone from the DA who isn't a bureaucrat. I appreciate that, Theo."

"Thank me when you're back with your partner! Until then, I'm just another DA dipshit." He laughed in response, his scales creasing around his eyes like old, worn denim. Seeth smiled too.

"When we were teenagers, me and a friend used to call you guys the R-M-Douchbags."

That made Theo laugh harder. "I can't say that much has changed!" He grinned. 

At that moment, the doors behind them slid open, and Oxyi stumbled awkwardly inside the hangar. She glanced back at Tivy, who had seemingly pushed her inside and was smiling widely, poking her head around the doorframe. Trent stood a few steps behind Tivy, wearing a similar grin, and flashed Oxyi a thumbs up.

"Erm!" Oxyi cleared her throat loudly, already beginning to blush. "Hello! Uh…"

"Is everything alright, Oxyi?" Seeth asked. "Is Venner doing okay?" 

"YES! Yes, Venner is fine. Geralt's looking after her right now. Um, I, we, were just interested to meet the officer who's returning Diego to us! I - WE, we've never met someone from the DA before." Oxyi gestured shyly towards Theo.

Theo smirked. "Draw the short straw, did you?"

"N-No!" Oxyi stammered. "I just, erm -"

"She needs to get better at talking to men!" Tivy shouted excitedly from the door. 

"Tivy!" Oxyi screeched, red with embarrassment. Theo however roared with laughter.

"It's alright. I suppose us older dragons can be a little… intimidating." He crouched slightly and reached his hand out to the lioness. "Officer Kintrax, at your service."

"Oh!" Still blushing, Oxyi gingerly reached her hand up and shook Theo's. "Um, Oxyi. T-That's Tivy and Trent." Oxyi pointed behind her, and Tivy waved happily from her perch behind the door. 

"Nice to meet y'all!" Theo replied. "Seeth, you didn't tell us you were bringing a crew with you! You'll have to introduce me to everyone!"

"Oh." It was Seeth's turn to feel uncomfortable now, although she did her best to hide it. That's because I was supposed to come alone - I can't believe I let myself get caught up in the moment like that. "Well, they're not really my crew… If anything, we're probably Oxyi's." 

"M-Me?!" Oxyi stammered, shocked. 

"You've really taken charge and gotten to grips with things over the last six months. And there was a lot to get to grips with. I for one don't know if I'd be here if it wasn't for you." Seeth suddenly smiled. "Oxyi, you keep working on that confidence of yours, and in no time you'll be unstoppable."

Oxyi looked genuinely taken aback, but secretly pleased at Seeth's words. "Y-You really think so?"

"I do. Yo-"

Just then, Seeth suddenly felt a wave of connections to her brain, like thousands of tiny branches of electricity reaching out their feelers and tickling at her senses. It was a sensation that she was intimately familiar with, but hadn't felt in months. It was unsettling how fluid the transition was. Sharing a brain with so many others so seamlessly, their neurons available to browse at your leisure. Parts of her body tingled as the metaphorical doorway of the hierclasty beckoned her with an almost seductive poise. 

"Seeth? You… okay?" Theo asked, having noticed immediately the change in Seeth's expression.

Nodes and Slaves were tingling at the edges of her mind, the connection weak, but there. There was zero doubt in her mind. They were here. She could feel them, although they felt more guarded than before, as if the other Controllers were blocking direct entry, as if they expected her presence.

Before she could utter another word however, the destroyer vibrated and shook, rocked by the sudden appearance of a titanic new craft now in orbit around the planet. Oxyi shrieked and staggered back towards the door, where Tivy was now hiding behind Trent, peering fearfully out at the strange ship.

Seeth pointed past the dragon, through the thin horizontal window to the side of the airlock at the enormous attack-ship that had appeared in orbit around the planet.

"W-Why is there a dreadnought full of corrupted warping in?!"

Theo spun around and stared at the ship. A rush of anxiety visibly shook the old dragon on the spot. Old memories flashed before his eyes. 

What the fuck is THAT doing here?!

"The corrupted?! Does that mean the other Controllers are here too? Oh shit, a-are they here for Diego too? This can't be a coincidence!" Oxyi spluttered, moving forward and pressing her face up against the glass to get a better view.

"Following us to Barru X was one thing, but warping balls deep into DA territory…? Wait… are those…?" Seeth stepped forward too, staring at the craft intensely as she spied the clumps of 'escort' ships hovering around it. Most had already begun to descend towards the planet's surface, some more violently than others, as though they'd been caught off-guard. "T-Those are fucking Vora Baron barges! What the fuck is going on?!" There is no way they're working with Barons, is there?!

Theo tapped quickly on his gauntlet, sending out an emergency distress signal to any and all nearby fleets, including the crew on the ground.

"Shit. It's gonna be about three hours before any backup gets here. The local garrison here is small, nowhere near enough to hold for that long without losses." His piercing aurelian eyes locked onto Seeth's. "I don't expect you to help us, Seeth. I wouldn't even dream of asking. But I know I'd sure as hell appreciate Lockblade right now."

In the distance, a bright orange fireball flickered and caught Seeth's eye. A descending ship erupted into a burning inferno, falling apart mid-descent.

"I'll gear up and take Venner's ship to the surface, can you make sure I'm not shot down on the way in?" Although the Minitaur might have seemed like the more appropriate ship to take into combat, she was worried about its size; the destroyer would be greatly slowed by the planet's atmosphere during its descent, and would therefore be an easy target for Moltezz. Venner's ship, which they'd docked in the destroyer before leaving the space station, would be much more manoeuvrable, and able to descend and ascend quickly.

"Done and done." Theo tapped a few more buttons on his gauntlet. "Follow my lead when you're ready to launch, we'll touch down in the nearest evac point to your boyfriend's location."

"You got it." Seeth nodded firmly and turned tail to grab her gear. The airlock hissed open behind her and swiftly closed as Theo returned to his own craft.

How the fuck did they even know he was here?!

"Wait, wait!" Oxyi stuttered. She had regained her composure somewhat following the dreadnaught's appearance, and she marched up to Seeth with a newfound air of confidence. "I'm going with you!"

"No, you're staying here." Seeth stated firmly. 

"Hey, what happened to 'my crew?'!" Oxyi argued. "Let me help you! I want to get Diego back just as much as you do, and you know I can hold my own! I've fought this corrupted lot twice now!"

"Oxyi." Seeth pulled her SAFU sling over her shoulders, secured it around her chest and turned to face the lioness. "You do know someone from the DA. You've lived with her for the last six months."

"You… You're..?"

"I was born in the DA, trained in the DA military for eight years. Trust me when I say this, you have no idea the hell and the carnage that will be waiting down there. And it won't just be the corruption we're fighting this time, those are Vora Baron barges too." Seeth gestured to one of the barges which was currently hurtling towards the planet at break-neck speed. "I almost lost you to just the Vora Barons. I refuse to put you at risk here."

"B-But -" Oxyi started to protest, but Seeth interrupted her.

"Stay here, with your crew. They need you, so look after them. I'll be back soon, Diego with me. I promise." 

*

Still tucked within the soft, warm sheets of her bed, Karen nuzzled her head into the crook of Diego's neck, purring softly. A slither of white morning sun seeped through a crack in the curtains, and cast its light across the bed.

Diego rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned a quiet whine. Slowly he pried himself up, prompting an unhappy groan from the dragoness as she weakly grabbed at him, playfully attempting to keep him between the sheets.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, I promise. I just need to stretch my legs." Diego smiled.

His smile quickly faded though as he padded across the thick woollen carpet towards the window, now that his back was turned to Karen. Despite still being half asleep, he could remember the… events of the night before with a harsh and unwavering clarity. Did I do the right thing? Diego thought to himself. The rage he'd felt only a few hours ago had fully dispersed from his body now, leaving him with an uneasy feeling in his chest… 

He stretched his arms above his head and poked his muzzle through the crack of the curtains, peaking out at the day ahead.

Immediately, he knew something was off.

The fields outside were… frosty, a stark contrast to the warm early-summer heat of yesterday evening. The strands of grass adorning the grounds were tipped with a glistening white as far as the eye could see. He hadn't noticed the cold; Karen's heating must have kicked in automatically. 

There was something grey moving in the distance amongst the far hills. Humanoid, and holding what looked like a rod, or maybe a rifle?

Suddenly, it unleashed a volley of sky-blue vulcan fire into the sky, and Diego knew. The manor's sound shield might have prevented its mechanical BRRRRRRR from reaching their ears, but Diego knew the harrowing sound of a macro-vulcan rifle well enough to hear it clearly, even in its absence.

"Karen. Karen, you need to get up, now." 

"Huh?" He could hear the rustle of sheets behind him as Karen rolled over. Her voice was soft and muffled. "Why? What's Fairylin done?"

"There is an active dragoon in the distance, and it's just opened fire." He craned his neck up towards the sky, but couldn't see what the mech had fired at.

"What?" Karen sat up, rubbing her tired eyes wearily. "What do you mean?"

Diego pulled his head out of the curtains and quickly looked around for something to wear, but all he had was his suit from the previous night.

Oh fucking hell, that'll have to do, he thought as he pulled the buttonless shirt over his arms.

Suddenly, the whole manor shook violently. The building creaked, followed by the sound of shattering glass outside the room.

Karen froze. The colour drained from her face as Diego finished pulling on his clothes, and made for the door.

"Get dressed, Karen. We might need to leave, quickly. I'll go see what that was."

His firm but calm voice commanded a sense of relief in her, and one limb at a time, she pulled herself free of the covers, despite her quaking body's attempts to stay within the safety of the sheets.

Cautiously Diego exited the bedroom, stepping out into the hallway. Glass from the windows opposite him was strewn over the floor, littering the thick carpet with sharp, shining daggers. In the distance, he spotted the cause of the shaking.

A barge had crashed into a nearby field. It had ploughed through the once pristine paddock, leaving a dark, burning trail of clawed mud behind it. Its damaged carcass was not completely eviscerated however, and he could just about make out figures scurrying out of its burning exterior.

"We've got a crashed ship. Let's get you to the panic room in the basement." Diego instructed, his gaze locked on the barge.

"Panic room! Yes! Perfect!" A third voice called out from downstairs. It appeared that the ruckus had also woken the Thornscales, and Fairylin's voice definitely sounded more shrill than usual. "Wait, D'Boris! Where are you going?!" 

Diego heard the front door creak and, from above, watched as D'Boris hurried out of the manor, shuffling with all the might his bare-footed, tubby body could manage, down the road and back towards his own house.

"Ugh! Silly man! They have their own panic room!" Fairylin called out after him. "Fine! Leave me here then! I'll have a better time with Karen than with you anyway! And I bet hers is bigger!" But D'Boris paid no heed to her yelling and continued on, with all the effort he could muster. Something had scared him, that much was obvious.

"Glad to hear they're both fine." Karen sighed, poking her head out from her bedroom. She was now dressed in a woollen jumper and a pair of leggings. "There'll be enough room for all of us in there. I'm sure the defence fleet is on its way."

"Alright. Let's get to the ba-"

A blood-curdling scream suddenly filled the manor, precipitated immediately by the sound of more smashing glass, and a sound that Diego did not quite recognise.

It sounded a bit like gurgling, like… something wet?

Karen's eyes widened with fear, and she looked over to Diego for support.

"Stay upstairs. I'll check it out."

Diego held his breath as he vaulted over the bannister, and landed softly on the ground floor below. He turned towards the kitchen, and immediately found the source of the strange noise.

Fairylin was locked on her knees in the kitchen doorway, tears streaming down the corners of her eyes. Her hands were desperately clawing at a thick, brown tentacle that was forced into her mouth. It bulged against the front of her throat, pushing deeper into her body with a threatening pulse. Thick, black goo dripped along the length of the appenditch, running down Fairylin's chin and neck, staining her purple skin. 

A giant Controller, ten feet tall with long purple dreadlocks, dark ebony skin and large, piercing amber eyes, stepped into the doorway.

"Wow! Look at you! The dark prince!" The monster giggled. She was so tall that she barely fit inside the room. The tentacle sloooorped out of Fairylin's quaking body and returned to its place against its master's back, and the dragoness went limp, collapsing to the floor with an undignified thump. Her eyes glazed over, her face caked in this black slime that dribbled between her lips. Diego wrestled his eyes away from Fairylin's body, back onto the towering corrupted czarite that was turning to face him.

"Karen! I need you to deactivate the collar!" Diego called out. He ripped the wooden bannister beside him out of the floor with a loud wooden crack, and gave his makeshift club a couple of test swings. "We've got intruders!"

"Y-You broke the pad! I'll need to find the spare one!"

"Then do it! Quickly!"

The monstrous Controller stepped forward over Fairylin's lifeless body, her lamp-like eyes locked onto the lizard with a ravenous hunger. Her murky ebony body was tightly bound in black tactical gear and an oversized rifle was strapped across her back, but the armour did nothing to obscure her obscene figure, or defined muscles. Six brown tentacles protruded from her back, licking the walls and leaving massive black streaks over everything they caressed. One of her tentacles lurched up the stairwell and lunged towards Karen, who had been peering over the bannister. She screamed and stumbled back, scrambling towards her bedroom and slamming the door shut behind her.

"Good. Just me and you now. You can call me Ink." She giggled, showing a glimpse of her razor teeth from behind her glossy black lips. "I want you to know who brought you in. It's important I'm recognised." Her eyes narrowed hungrily, and the floor creaked beneath her as she stepped forward.

"So, you're what Leech and Moltezz have been up to… What the fuck are you doing here? How did you find me?!" Diego yelled, trying to get a look at Fairylin between the giantess' legs as she approached him down the hallway.

"Commanded by the Molten Mistress herself." The Controller rolled her eyes at the mention of Moltezz, but she quickly refocused her gaze on the lizard, biting her lip hungrily as she eyed the lizard up and down and took another step towards him. "I'm here to bring you in. Now, are you going to come the easy way, or the fun way?" She flexed her arms menacingly at him, her tentacles still whipping at the walls impatiently.

"Moltezz sent you?" His grip tightened on the makeshift club. "Karen! The collar!" He yelled, backing away. His eyes searched for a more capable weapon or any kind of escape, but she was already so close, daring him to try something with a threatening flourish of her tentacles.

Diego grit his teeth, his knuckles white. "If I -"

"No trade." Ink cut him off, her grin ever wider. "I already know what you tried to 'arrange' previously. You're coming with me."

"KAREN!" Diego yelled again, backing up to the far wall as the Controller took another menacing step forward, her tentacles almost close enough to touch him. 

Ink waited for just a second, glancing up and squinting in anticipation. But the bedroom above them remained quiet, not even a creak of a floorboard gracing their ears.

"Tut-tut. This is the company you keep? Useless." She laughed condescendingly, then launched herself at him. For such a large Controller she moved frighteningly fast, and Diego only had a brief moment to swing his club at her. The club was immediately snatched from his grip by a constricting tentacle. It curled around its midsection, before snapping the club into an explosion of tiny wooden splinters. She locked arms with him, tentacles wrapping around his limbs and binding him tightly before lifting him up and forcing him backwards, pressing him against the hallway wall.

Her body squeezed against his, rubbing herself against him and in less than a second, Diego was completely under her control. He struggled and tried to pull himself free, but the Controller was overwhelming.

"You're mighty for your size, Diego. But I am stronger! I thought this would be harder!" Her tongue flicked between her lips at him and a new, ravenous look overtook her. Her tentacles pulsed and inflated, still retaining a strong grip but softening over his frame, They locked eyes as she pressed herself even tighter against him, her giant breasts now pressing against him closely. 

A wordless exchange between them as her golden eyes gazed deep into his amethystine glare. And Ink felt it. Suddenly, Moltezz didn't seem quite so insane. She could feel it for herself, the dark prince. Ink's face softened as she stared, fixated, into Diego's eyes. She could feel herself losing control, her body instinctively leaned towards him. 

Both seemed caught in one another's orbit.

"You could be more than this." Diego whispered to her. "I can help you. I've helped others like you…"

Ink felt her heart throb and beat faster against her chest, pulled in two very different directions. However, her mouth answered faster than she expected.

"I don't need help…"

Ink leaned closer to him, her heart pounding in her chest, despite having this man completely subdued in her grip, she felt tiny… She lapped up his scent in the air, the corners of her mouth twitching as the hunger within pulled at her more fiercely than ever.

"...I'm already perfect."

Suddenly, the collar around Diego's neck beeped softly and clicked, but the lizard remained focused on her, seemingly just as enthralled as her.

"Last chance, Ink. It's not too late… If I can do it, so can you."

Ink laughed nervously. She felt surprisingly… vulnerable, considering the position she was in. Her gaze darted away from him, like a shy highschooler talking to their crush. 

"I get it now. I understand why Moltezz sent us here. If someone else spoke to me like that, I would pull them apart. But you…? I want to hear more. The only one who doesn't seem to get it is Leech…" Suddenly, she shifted back, her tentacles tightened over his body once more and she hardened in front of him, visibly shaking the arousal off herself. "N-No. You did this to Moltezz. You're just lying. You want me to drop my guard…"

But the lizard leaned forward in his organic bondage, still staring deep into her eyes.

"Fuck that. I've been cooped up without your kind for months… You have no idea how much I've missed this… I want you to drop your pants, not your guard." He responded hungrily. He had her attention again. Her tentacles softened. "But you know what I need more than that?"

His voice captivated her. It left her breathless. The word trembled silently from between her lips.

Me.

Diego's face twisted into a frustrated snarl.

"I NEED YOU TO STOP FUCKING CORRUPTING PEOPLE!"

His body crackled with energy and a massive bolt of golden lightning blasted Ink straight off her feet, sending her flying back down the hallway and crashing into the kitchen with an earth-shattering slam. Her rifle clattered to the ground, already lost in the fresh rubble.

"Enough is enough!" Diego snarled, his eyes narrow. "You won't win! End this, now, and no-one else has to get hurt!"

But the spell was broken. He watched as the Controller, enraged, pulled herself up, her tentacles still curling and seizing with electrical crackles. 

"Not fucking done are we?! Fine!"

"I'm going to rape every hole you've got! And we both know you're going to love it!" Ink cackled madly, her tentacles snapping to attention as the electrical pulses finally fizzled away, and pushed her back onto her feet defiantly. 

A flush of sinister energy enveloped Diego. His limbs crackled with a deep crimson pulse of pure psyonic anger. Ruiner's Surge. He cracked his neck loudly and headbutted the wall next to him, excess power punching straight into the brickwork effortlessly. 

"That's more like it. Challenge me." Ink grinned, rolling her shoulders.

Diego threw himself down the hallway and charged straight in her grip again, her tentacles flailing rapidly in an attempt to bind his limbs. But his flesh was more like refined steel now, and he refused to budge even an inch under her writhing grip. As they locked limbs, he kicked out one of her legs from underneath her and she collapsed onto his shoulders. In one motion, he launched her up into the air, smashing her through the ceiling. She crashed straight through the ground floor ceiling, erupting into the bedroom above in a shower of crushed pipework, splinters and floorboards, before plummeting straight back onto the kitchen floor. She landed heavily but quickly launched back to her feet, rushing him again with a bone-chilling roar. Her cocky grin had been replaced with a furious, fang-baring grimace.

She attempted to bind him again and again felt that defiance, her tentacles slithered over him but once again failed to restrain his shimmering red limbs. As they locked arms again, she suddenly remembered that she was a lot bigger than him. She lifted him off the ground, but the lizard was two steps ahead of her. He seized her by the scuff of her outfit and drove his forehead straight into the crown of her carapace with a loud crack.

She shuddered violently in pain and dropped him. Her vision was blurry. She felt gently at her head to check the damage done, when she felt a slight pressure around her neck. She retreated back for just a brief moment, her tentacles whipping around the room in a blind frenzy, slapping various items at Diego. Briefly covered by her volley, she clawed at her neck and felt the thick, metal collar wrapped around it. She hissed with fury; how dare he. How dare he attempt to own her, to control her. She would not be owned. She would not be mistreated. She would not be looked down upon ever again. She clasped her hands tightly around it, when an unusual noise caught her attention. 

A loud screech, followed by a gentle hissing… 

She had but a brief moment to refocus her vision, to see the black and red blur of the lizard, wielding what looked like a big, black… cube? He whipped it through the air like it was little more than a toy block and it smashed into her side with staggering force, sending her ploughing through the outer wall of the manor in a forceful ejection of stonework chunks. She thwacked loudly against the outside patio.

It turned out that the cube had been an oven. The offensive object rattled to the ground next to her, spinning almost comically on one of its corners before clattering to a halt. Glass and metal tumbled out of its mouth as it clumsily littered the garden with its obliterated innards. She snarled and went to press herself to her feet, when a bright yellow flash suddenly enveloped her -

- and everything went black.

Diego dusted his hands off in the ruins of the kitchen and breathed out the anger, allowing the red energy to fade as he glanced over at Ink's twitching body. A quiet growl escaped from his throat, half furious, half hungry. 

Holy fuck. I forgot how alluring they are…

A low gurgle snapped him back to reality. Fairylin's unconscious, goo-splattered body remained still on the ground, her skin already starting to change colour. 

But this? This cannot go on.

It was too late for her. The corruption was already firmly rooted. Did she deserve some misery for her awful attitude and outright racism? Absolutely. But this? He shelved the thoughts. There simply wasn't time to muse over her fate. With Ink down, for now, he became aware of other noises, other presences, lurking just behind the stone wall, beyond the garden. The volume and intensity of the low-approaching rumble was more than familiar to him, likely several hundred people, all making their way to support their master. A brief glance out the new hole he'd made revealed several grey hands, already gripping the top of the wall…

He pulled himself away from the warzone of a kitchen and leapt back upstairs. Karen stood at the top of the landing, eyes glued to the back window overlooking the garden. Her fingers were gripped white around the datapad, pressing the 'neutralise' command on the display over and over again.

"Hey! Well done, Karen, you did such a good job…" Diego spoke soothingly, gently placing his hands on her shaking shoulders. She turned round to stare at him with wide, terrified eyes.

"Have I - I-I-Is she… g-g-oi… Where i-s F-F-Fairy-"

"Hey. I'm gonna keep you safe, okay? I need you to focus. What's the DA's standard procedure for planetary assault? Can you remember?" He asked, slowly pulling the datapad out from Karen's grasp. 

"I-I… I think we need to head for the village…"

Diego glanced up, out of the broken bedroom window at the crashed barge, directly between them and the village. He grimaced in anticipation of the nasties it would inevitably hold.

"Okay, we need to move. Stay close okay? I'll protect you."

"D-Don't leave me! Promise me you'll stay by my side!" She cried, her eyes darting to his now collarless neck.

"I promise I'm not leaving you here. But we need to go. Now."

The two navigated their way through the broken glass and wrecked wood now strewn throughout the landing following Ink's forceful entry. Together, they made their way out the front of the manor, the sound of approaching feet already scuttling towards them. He quickly led her through the hallway and out the front door, taking care to shield her from Fairylin's corrupting body. They ran through the front gate and were immediately met with the mechanical roar of macro-vulcan weapons being fired in the distance, as they exited the manor's sound shield. Distant fires engulfed wrecked ships, falling through the sky in great flaming balls as they were dissected by the dragoons in precise fusillades of scale-steel needles.

They sprinted out onto the road and towards the fields, Diego leading Karen by her hand as Slaves closed in from behind, swarming over the fence and attempting to surround them. Ahead, towards the crashed barge, a significant number of dispersed figures turned their heads towards the pair. They couldn't make out who they were, but it was obvious to both of them that the unknown group's attention was on them, and they began to approach.

Behind them and to their flanks, a wall of Slaves was rapidly gaining on them, charging across the countryside, their eyes locked onto Diego with a dead-eyed hunger.

"You ready? We're gonna need to be fast." Diego said, bracing to run. 

"No, wait, wait!" Karen suddenly shouted. In a burst of adrenaline-fueled vigour, she pressed her fingers to her lips and whistled as loud as she could.

"MALOCH!"

And over the orchestra of noise, a heavy, rolling thunder enveloped them.

The Slaves that stood between the mighty warshee and his rider were tossed aside like mere ragdolls as he pounded across the grass. He reached them only seconds before the approaching Slaves did.

The beast skidded to a halt, kicking up grass and mud as his claws carved their trail. Diego quickly helped Karen onto his bare back, then thumped his chest twice and inhaled deeply - but before he could finish the cast the Slaves were upon them, diving from different directions to try and pull Karen off, and bring Diego down. Two dived straight onto him, interrupting the warcry and pulling him to the ground, and suddenly, Diego was surrounded. Energy crackled and dispersed from his fingers as he clenched his fists to fight instead.

~REND HIS PARTNER, RIP HER TO PIECES~

Maloch bucked and kicked his legs, booting several Slaves into mushy pieces, stomping over others. One of the Slaves managed to get in front of his face and was desperately clawing at his eyes, which Maloch responded to by bringing his mighty jaws down, biting him in two with little resistance.

Diego swung his fists left and right, his skin flashing red with psyonic force with every blow landed, sending the impacted Slaves skittering across the grass. The force of his blows cracked and broke their bodies with little effort; even weaponless, Diego was able to hold his own. Karen cried out and held onto Maloch for dear life as the beast did his best to fight off the waves of Slaves, but as Diego looked around them, at the sheer number of bodies that were appearing and rushing towards them, he was struck with the creeping realisation that things were only going to get worse if they stayed like this.

"Maloch! Run! Take her to the village!" Diego yelled, pointing towards the wrecked barge blocking the road. 

But Maloch was spooked. His eyes rolled and he roared in anger and confusion. He couldn't focus on the command while his body was being clawed at from so many different angles. He didn't know how.

Another crash rang out directly behind the group, from the fence surrounding the manor. But there was no time to check it out, Diego was already frantically fighting off a fresh wave of Slaves, driving their hungry faces into the ground with punch after bone-shattering punch. Scared as he was, Maloch fought bravely, Slaves clawed at his scales and climbed across his bucking body. Suddenly there were Nodes in the horde too, cracking bright white energy whips at him, trying to bind his trunk-like legs as Karen continued to cling to her beast desperately… Then, the dragoness screamed.

A goblin Slave had managed to leap onto Maloch's back, a set of sharp, black claws protruding from her curling fingers. It slashed at Karen, slicing the back of her legs and cutting straight through her wings. The assault only lasted a moment before the Slave was bucked off, tumbling under the warshee and disappearing into the ground with a wet squelch as the beast crushed it beneath its feet.

"MALOCH, RUN!" Karen screamed, clinging onto him as hot blood poured from her back.

He could hear the pain, the fear in her voice. It grounded him. He may not have known what he was doing, but he knew that it was his purpose, what he was born to do. He had to protect his rider. Maloch turned towards the ship, using his tail to swipe another load of Slaves to the ground. He knocked most of them down but not all, they clung to him closely and crawled up his body. His legs tensed up and he made to gallop - 

- when suddenly, he yelped in pain, and shuddered to a halt before he could even start.

A pair of black tentacles curled around his back leg and squeezed it tightly, the leg deforming under the pressure and buckling at the knee with a foul crunch. Maloch roared again as he was dragged backwards into the wall of Slaves. The warshee cried out, his black beady eyes wide and desperately searching the crowd. Finally, he managed to make out Diego's rippling black form as the lizard fought off more and more Slaves. More hands were grabbing towards Karen's shaking frame as the warshee tried to pull free. And he knew what it had to do.

In one defiant motion, Maloch bellowed loudly, twisted and bucked, throwing Karen into the air straight towards Diego, who just managed to catch her. He shot a glance back towards Maloch's swamped body, the warshee's beady eyes finding Diego once more through the swarming bodies. He had caught her. She was safe.

And as soon as the warshee saw her in Diego's arms, he changed tactics. 

"Maloch! No!" Karen screamed.

But Maloch had done his job. 

He lurched around and sunk his teeth into several more of the surrounding Slaves as Ink dragged him further and further back, away from Karen and Diego. It whipped its tail again and managed to shake Ink free of its wounded leg, turning now to face its attacker directly. Maloch threw himself forward into a limping charge towards Ink, pushing her back into the estate. 

Ink met Maloch's charge, clamping her tentacles around the width of his head and sealing his oversized jaws shut, but the warshee pushed with his all might, shoving Ink further and further back, ignoring the Slaves ripping into his body with their dagger-like claws.

~IT'S BUYING TIME FOR THE PRINCE TO ESCAPE! CHASE THEM! LEAVE THE BEAST TO ME!~ Ink ordered through the hierclasty, and her horde immediately obeyed. They turned around as one and began to run with everything they had after Diego, who, with Karen between his arms, was bolting across the fields towards the distant village.

Ink and Maloch were alone.

Her bind over Maloch's head was tight, and her tentacles began to crush down onto his head, cutting into his scales painfully. But the warshee hissed and, apparently unphased, continued to push her back, towards the edge of the pool. 

"I AM STRONGER THAN YOU, BEAST! I WON'T BE BESTED!"

Ink wrapped her hands under the warshee's chin, straightened her back out and lifted with all her strength. Maloch yelped as his entire body was lifted by his neck and she flipped the warshee over herself in one massive, arcing swing. The entire length of the warshee swung like a pendulum over Ink and he flipped over her and landed on his back with a deep, gut wrenching CRACK on the edge of the pool. He tumbled into the pool with an ungraceful crash and sank into the water, limp, lifeless…

Ink was breathing deeply, her limbs shaking from the excursion and the adrenaline rush. The silence around her was deafening, now that the beast was down, the horde was gone, and she was back within the manor's sound shielding. She shivered and turned, a smug smile plastered across her face.

"Weak." She tutted, flexing her arms in victory. She went to assume control of the Slaves again -

- ROOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!

With a loud undignified splash Maloch launched himself back out of the water, scrabbling to pull himself up to the edge of the pool with his front legs. He lunged for Ink with his blood-splattered jaws, and sank his huge teeth into one of her tentacles. Maloch yanked back with all his might. With a curdling scream Ink was pulled off-balance, a horrendous ripping noise vibrating through her back, followed by a rush of pain, and warm fluid...

The warshee crunched down on the tentacle in his mouth defiantly and shook it back and forth like a dog with its prey. He was still clawing at the edges of the pool but couldn't pull himself out; his back legs hung limp within the depths of the water.

Ink was shaking with fury as pain rippled through her body. She turned back to face the warshee.

"Beast…" She growled between clenched, furious teeth, staring Maloch down as the warshee crunched her tentacle over and over again, black goo dribbling down over his teeth.

Ink reached for one of the large metal parasols that had so thoughtfully been installed for Karen's party. Violently she pulled it free from its metal base, clenching its body tightly like a spear.

"You dare… you DARE wound me!"

And she charged. Straight for him. Maloch splashed and twisted and bucked his head and roared in defiance, but despite his best efforts, Ink sent the base of the parasol straight through his face. Maloch roared again as his jaw strained to open around the metal pole punctured through it. A sickening grin spread across Ink's black lips as she watched the warshee strain. She tore a fresh parasole out of the ground. The metal tip glistened in the inky black depths of Maloch's wide, frightened eye. 

He knew what was coming. 

Ink's hand almost crushed the pole she held onto it so tight. She launched it straight into his eye socket like a knight with his lance, provoking another roar from the trapped beast. She grabbed another, and speared him again, stabbing it into the side of his neck in a single, furious motion. One after another, she ripped the metal poles free and stabbed them into the quivering creature at every angle she could, punching straight through scale and bone. Finally, the warshee let out one long, final bellow, his body untensing with a longer shudder, and sinking onto its impalements. He collapsed back into the pool, the water permeated with the crimson leaking from Maloch's broken frame as Ink tore yet more parasols down, and speared them into the water, her anger spilling out as she clenched back furious tears.

*

"Maloch! No!" Karen screamed.

As the warshee forced Ink backwards towards the manor, Diego turned around towards the crashed barge and made to run, only to see a ring of Slaves already moving to surround him, standing between him and the barge. The Nodes, who had been watching closely, ran towards Diego, preparing their energy whips and nets. 

A glimmer of auric power shimmered across Diego's free hand, solidifying into threatening crackles of energy between his fingers… when a rusty grey blade punctured straight through the middle of a Slave's chest, right in front of him. Rusty teeth clamped onto the Slave's neck from behind and tore out a chunk of its body, eagerly gulping down the still-hot flesh.

"Oh fuck." Diego mouthed quietly. Famished.

Diego was unfortunately more than well-acquainted with the Voras Barons and their monstrosities. He didn't have time to question their presence however; the mechanical horrors sprinted from the barge and impacted with the Slaves with all the grace of a car crash, tearing through their unarmoured bodies with ease, shearing them to pieces and quickly pouncing on the limp corpses, eager to devour the corrupted flesh.

Karen whimpered loudly against Diego's shoulder, her legs too badly cut to walk and her wing-stumps bleeding profusely over her back. She clenched her eyes shut, afraid of what was unfolding around her and curled around his shoulders.

"I've got you. I'll get you out of here." Diego whispered to her, his body tensing as the Slaves behind him prepared a defensive line, and the Famished ahead of him eagerly tapped their blades and hooks together. This was going to be bloody for both sides…

He steeled himself, slamming his fist against his chest and roaring into the air. A golden after-image coated both his and the dragoness, crackling with power as Diego weighed up his next move.

Get to the village. There will be help there. Hold on tight, Karen, this is going to be a bumpy ride. 

The frosted grass crackled under his bare feet as he threw himself forward. His step lighter, his pace faster, as he charged straight for the thinnest point of the Famished horde. Their twisted metal bodies turned to address him, the blood trickling from Karen's shredded body catching their nose hungrily, but the lizard erupted from his start, exploding through their line. The single Famished that stood in his way was batted aside, its blades clattering off his psyonic armour. A squad of them immediately began their pursuit. 

Behind him, all hell broke loose as the Rewritten engaged in frenzied, blood drenched combat with the Famished. The Baron's victims were deadly up close, driving their blades through slave bodies with little effort. Slaves worked together to grab at the Famished and pull them apart, yanking their crude prosthetics free of their craftwork bodies with sheer brute strength. Blood oozed over the frosted grass, dripping from slashed limbs and spraying from violent punctures. Nodes frantically leapt in to help, using their larger size and strength to physically rend the Famished, tearing the plastic organ sacks clean from their chassis and breaking their robotic bodies over their knees. The sound of failing mechanical bodies mixed with the gnawing and gnashing of the pro-occupied, feasting Famished, tearing into the already fallen slaves with little regard for their own safety.

A furious Ink came stumbling out of the manor's grounds, towards the ensuing melee, leaving her own trail of blood and goo behind her when she spotted the lizard in the distance. A second wave of Famished collided with the slaves with the bone-chilling noise of metal shearing into flesh, the Nodes using their slaves as literal meat-shields once again, prompting an angry growl from the already enraged Controller. She fixed her hands on the collar around her throat, and pulled it apart in one mighty heave, discarding it effortlessly.

Diego was fast, already outpacing the Famished following him, even with the dragoness curled around his shoulder. A singular Famished stumbled towards Ink, having been kicked in the side of the head by a node and Ink immediately snatched its frame up into her hands and pulled it in two in a single motion, much like the collar. Its metallic spine pinged in two loudly and she threw its two halves in opposite directions, her eyes never once leaving Diego's distant frame.

Fine. You run, Diego. I will not fall so easily next time.

Ink roared loudly and shunted forward, slamming into the fight, her remaining tentacles curling around heads and crushing them flat. Each swing of her arms sent multiple Famished scattering through the air. With her help, it only took a few seconds to scrap the remaining aggressors. But it appeared this was only the start of the fight... She casted a angry glare upwards to see more Baron barges coming down. Some were landing, others were shredded by bright cobalt vulcan fire, tearing through the sky-line with frightening precision. Leech had been right; anything trying to land too close to the village was getting the business end of a dragoon's macro-needle rifle.

The assorted nomad ships that made up the Rewritten fleet quickly swooped in behind Ink, arriving with fresh Nodes and Slaves, just within the 'safe' distance. It was at that moment that something caught her eye. Two ships, that she didn't recognise. These were descending directly onto the village without drawing fire. One was DA, one was not. Suddenly, a new fire arose in her heart, along with a scheming smile.

That has to be her. 

She could bring both Diego and Seeth back to the Rewritten. She cracked her neck and her tongue flickered out between her teeth. The blood was already thick in the air as more and more of the Rewritten horde gathered behind her, mixing with the toxic smog of fuel-leaking Baron barges and the sour grit of still-pulsing Famished corpses. Another Rewritten dropship landed a few speeder bikes next to her, Nodes already mounted and armed with net-guns, their tires skidding against the grass, waiting for Ink's orders.

Two more barges slammed into the ground on the outskirts of the village, these ones bigger than the first. Almost immediately, Barons came pouring out of its burning carcass. 

With a single thought and a deafening howl, the Rewritten battleline surged forward.