by Prax Venter
“You’ll know first if one of those things are coming. Be careful.”
Ahnix slowly faded from view before their eyes and was gone. Mark had to assume she teleported out into the hallway.
All was still and quiet for a few throbbing heartbeats, and then an obnoxiously loud voice vibrated the glass in front of him.
“Unauthorized heat signature detected! Security alert!”
Three things happened then; Ahnix became visible a few paces from the door, red lights flashed along the corridor, creating an animated path of dots leading to the security office, and an automated turret descended from a panel in the ceiling.
Vale wasted no time charging through the glass as the turret opened fire on Ahnix. The agile cat-girl dodged the first few searing red shots with tight backflips, but she was caught in the arm and landed hard on her side.
Mark fired his crossbow up into the turret, and it exploded with a shower of metal and sparks. He rushed to the cat-girl's side as she was picking herself up from the floor. Roo and Vale covered him while he inspected her arm. Burning fur assaulted Mark’s nostrils, and he poured his healing energy into her relatively minor wound. She leaned against the wall as he enveloped her body with blissful healing power. Right as Mark finished, they felt the wall behind them shake and a security bot launched out of the hole he had seen earlier.
It spun to face them, but a shaft of metal lodged in its eye before it could fire. The single-wheeled robot stayed upright for a moment longer, its internal gyroscope doing its job, but the smooth metal beast fell over fairly quickly.
“Over here!” Vale called, and Mark turned his head to see the security bot who passed by the office earlier had returned. It blasted a hole in Vale's shield, the blue beam stopping at her chest.
He saw Ahnix vanish from his side and reappear behind it, then yelled, “Doom Kick!” cutting it in half with a roundhouse.
Mark felt a deep rumbling in the wall rumble again, and he looked over at Roo standing at the opening with her hand out. If she didn't move, she was going get run over or blasted, or both. And his heal was still on cooldown.
“Vale!” the fabric-girl yelled. “I need you to Shield Bash this.”
As Roo spoke, a large metal cube grew in her hand and then launched outward, wedging halfway into the hole and knocking her off her feet.
Vale glanced over her shoulder to see what Roo was talking about. Upon seeing the plan, the giant naga quickly turned and wove up to the blockage. Vale brought the arm with her shield across her chest, winding up, then instantly made contact with the metal cube in a motion so fast that Mark didn't see her shield move. The blow shoved the object deep into the hole just as they heard an impact on the other side. Mark moved to stand next to the heavily armored giant naga and could see a single wheel squealing against the floor as it tried to desperately push Roo's obstruction out of its way.
Ahnix dashed past him and tore open a panel near the security office door.
“Cover me while I fix this,” she demanded. Mark watched the black and gold cat-girl type commands into a small service keypad with a claw, her tail flipping behind her. It was a sight he never imagined he would see.
Another collision in the security bot chute brought his attention to the very real danger around them. Mark, Vale, and Roo took up position around the cat-girl as she tried to break into the security office. Mark looked up at the animated red lights in the ceiling. There were probably hundreds more bots wheeling down the halls toward their location.
“Square peg in a round hole- very clever, Roo,” Vale said as she scanned the hallways for threats.
Mark felt the velvet-girl swell with pride, and he shot a quick smile in her direction.
“Got it!” Ahnix said, and the red lights faded out, returning to their normal, steady white glow. “Now the door,” she mumbled and reached her hand up into the panel, looking for some component buried deeper in the wall.
A handful of minutes went by without incident, and Mark had a chance to catch his breath.
Now that the dim lights were back to normal and his heart wasn't beating in his ears, he noticed a decorative fountain recessed into the wall directly across from the security office teller window. Its gentle bubbling helped to calm his mind further, and he realized that its serene ambience was strategically placed to affect people waiting in line in to see the teller.
The more he looked, the more the water looked a bit off, and Mark killed some time by walking over to get a closer look. This was way too dark to be water.
“Hey, Vale,” he called out, turning. “Can you toss me that flashlight?”
The giant naga flipped it to him, and he pressed the button. In the bright circle of light, Mark saw a thick, red liquid that bubbled and frothed as it splashed into flat disks. He took a step backward, the fountain's relaxing influence completely reversing polarity.
“I-is this...”
“Blood,” Ahnix said distractedly as she worked. “I can smell it from here.”
“There's blood coming out of the walls?” Roo asked.
The thick door to the security station slid up into the ceiling, and Mark jumped a little at the hissing air-pressure noise. He was also surprised by the small amount of essence entering his body from the direction of the hacked security office door. Now that Mark was paying closer attention to his ethereal essence storage, he noticed that he had more sloshing around than he expected. He was nowhere near full, not even at ten percent, but everyone getting stronger off Ahnix hacking doors was a pleasant discovery.
“Nice work, Ahnix,” Mark said walking up to the door. “You're really kicking ass with your new ability path.”
Her half-lidded, exotic eyes locked on his and she shrugged.
“Still have a lot to learn. I should have anticipated stronger security measures.”
Vale slid up to them and put her hand on Ahnix’s furry shoulder.
“We're still alive. Come on, I can't wait to be armed again.” The giant naga nodded to the open security door.
They all entered the security office, and Ahnix relocked the reinforced security door behind them. After about half an hour of exploring dark and empty cubicles, going down a ramp to a lower level, and passing some vacant jail cells- they came to another locked door at the end of a hallway that said 'Armory'.
Mark watched Ahnix use the touchscreen terminal near the door for about thirty seconds before growing bored. The abandoned security station seemed safe enough, but Vale was diligently facing back the way they came, and he found his eyes drawn to her backside.
Her black, star-speckled legendary armor hugged her hips like a second skin, and he really enjoyed her voluptuous curves. Mark's eyes were drawn to the iron shield she had secured to her back. Her trusty slab of metal had been through everything with them, and now there was a perfectly round hole in it.
He walked up to her and reached out with his fingertips to trace the smooth edge of the hole. She sensed his closeness and looked over her shoulder.
“Your poor shield,” he said.
Roo came up to stand next to him and tilted her head to one side as she inspected the hole.
Mark suddenly remembered this damage was caused by a beam of energy that ended in his giant naga’s chest. He circled around to her front side and looked her in her large, violet eyes.
“I've seen you get hit a few times by those icy blasts from the eye bots. You don't need healing, do you?”
“No, thankfully the Star Scale Mail stops most of the attack. The incidental cold damage that gets through is minimal and heals on its own in a few minutes.” She smiled. “I've put some points into faster healing. Your wonderful attentiveness should be reserved for more serious injuries.”
“Vale, hold still for a second,” Roo said from behind the giant naga, still looking at her shield.
Mark walked back around to the other side and watched as Roo put her soft hand up to the hole in the iron slab of metal. She squinted her eyes, and concentrated
on something Mark couldn't see, then an iron disk grew to fill the gap in Vale's shield. The disk had a groove around its side, and as it expanded, a lip on either side locked the patch firmly in place. When the disk filled the entire hole, Roo took her hand away.
Vale pulled her shield off her back and inspected Roo's handiwork, running her hand over the smooth nub that securely filled the hole.
“This looks pretty good,” she said. “Thanks, Roo.”
The door to the armory behind the whooshed open, and Mark felt a tiny bit of essence whoosh into him.
“We're in,” Ahnix said.
Vale went in first and the emotion they all felt was the “kid in a candy store” kind of excitement when she saw rows and rows of weapons.
It was like a library with several bookshelves, but with a futuristic arsenal instead. To his right was a small firing range for target practice.
“We're never going to get her to leave,” Roo said, her jet-black eyes taking it all in.
After a brief search, Vale had collected an armload of different weapons and brought them to the open area near the firing range and set them down gently in a neat line. Mark and Ahnix watched Vale try out various laser weapons like she was trying on dresses in a department store while Roo explored the shelves and lockers.
First was a laser sword that buzzed in the air when she swung it around. It was her top pick so far, and she talked as she tested its balance.
“These new laser types don't receive a huge strength bonus, so I don't really get an advantage from melee weapons. Now that I'm holding this, I don't know. It's too light. It doesn't feel like I'm holding anything.”
The giant naga pressed the button on the hilt, and the glowing blade of yellow light fizzled out into thin air. She placed it on the table and picked up her next possible choice, a laser pistol.
She held it out, checked the sights, and squeezed the trigger with her finger, sending bolts of red light downrange and into the wall in the back. Mark thought she would look pretty bad-ass with a shield and a pistol, popping robot heads.
“I like the range, but... I feel like a mage with this magic bolt caster. I don't believe this fits me.”
She placed it on the table and then picked up what looked like another deactivated laser-sword. When Vale activated it though, a long, glowing rope-like substance flickered into being. Vale was holding a laser whip. A smile spread across Mark's face. This had to be perfect for her.
“Hey, guys...” Roo called out from behind them. “What's in here? It looks pretty.”
Everyone turned to see the velvet-girl pointing a soft white finger at a wall-mounted case, right by the entrance. They had all walked right past it to gawk at the rows upon rows of weapons.
When Mark was close enough, he saw an enormous, futuristic shotgun surrounded by an energy field.
“There's a level six lock here,” Ahnix said, studying the case. “I don't think I can hack this open yet.”
Vale crossed her arms under her massive breasts. “Now I really want to know what this does.”
Mark was going to suggest they just come back later when he remembered he could possibly do something about Ahnix’s hacking ability. He turned to his cat-girl and took her furry hands in his. Because of their potent connection, she instantly knew his intent and took a deep breath, bracing herself for the wave of pleasure he was about to unleash on her.
They locked eyes, and Mark sought out the edges of their deep bond. He was infinitely happy she had found purpose for her life again, and he zeroed in on that part of her. Going deep into her mind he found and surrounded Ahnix's will to learn about computers. While floating around her core, he saw that a large part of her drive to master this path was so that she could learn more about the true nature of her own existence.
He was in awe of her raw determination and force of will.
With a shuddering breath, he wrapped his mental arms around the concept of his beautiful, deadly cat-girl from an ancient desert mastering information technology and bent the universe in close around them in a cyclone of potential.
He could feel her body jolt with intense ecstasy as a torrent of energy filled her mind. When Ahnix opened her squinting eyes, her normal large, black pupils were replaced with glowing, white fire. She seemed to be totally at peace despite the intense series of orgasms she had just experienced.
The ultra-enhanced cat-girl turned to the case and put her hand on the keypad. Without her seeming to move at all, the lock clicked, and the force fields surrounding the weapon turned off.
After the case was open, Ahnix blinked and her exotic eyes returned to normal.
“Mark,” she said breathlessly, putting a hand to her furry chest. “Now that was a powerful enhancement. I saw...” Her eyes unfocused, and he felt a light frustration wash over her as if she forgot something important. She shrugged and focused her eyes on him again. “It's gone now.”
Mark and Ahnix got out of the way and let Vale in to retrieve the mysterious weapon. The giant naga wrapped her hand around the thick, square-shaped single barrel, pulled it from the clips holding it in place, and inspected the impressive-looking hardware.
As she turned it around, checking the weapon from all angles, she began to mumble about what she was learning.
“The Judge 559... nice heft. Three mode operation: obliteration, stun, and club. Photon scatter acceleration... tight clump spread. Twenty-year battery life. Mmm recoil reduction- Oh, strength and size allow me to wield this one-handed!”
She firmly grabbed the stock and thrust the shiny, black hunk of death-dealing metal outward with one tightly muscled arm, and Mark knew it was all over. Vale had found the puppy she was going to be bringing home.
She took a deep breath, lowered the gun and looked around at the others.
“I can't even fire this advanced weapon without putting half my available points into the Laser Shotgun path-”
“Do it,” Mark said. He could tell she wanted to use this but was leery about the huge, permanent investment.
Roo chimed in too, smiling. “Yeah! You two make a cute couple.”
Ahnix gave Vale one of her rare half-smiles, exposing a pointed fang and simply nodded.
Vale's eyes unfocused as she accessed her personal growth interface. After the essence was spent, she pointed her new weapon up to the ceiling and rested the stock on her bicep. An uncharacteristically sinister grin spread across her chiseled face. With her legendary, black scale armor wrapped tightly around her muscular, voluptuous body and her new epic laser shotgun- the image was one of the most beautiful sights Mark had ever seen.
With a twinkle in her vividly violet eyes, she said, “Let's go clean up this space station.”
- 5 -
Mark and his Enthralled exited the security center and followed Vale down the dimly lit hallway, toward their next step on their path to the manual solar panel controls.
The giant naga reminded them quietly about the plan as she continuously scanned the walls and the corridor ahead.
“We're looking for a door labeled G8X6. It’s a vertical tube like the last one.”
“This place reminds me of my home dimension,” Roo said, staring straight down the endless hall.
Mark nodded as he helped Vale keep an eye out for the right door. “It seems like a never-ending metal maze.”
“Quiet,” Ahnix said, holding her hand up and stopping. They all froze as she tilted her head, listening. Her eyes narrowed, and she silently took point, leading them down a side corridor.
They all followed behind the stalking cat-girl as she honed in on a sound only she heard, but as they moved closer, Mark began to hear it too. It sounded like humming.
As they rounded another corner, they spotted a squat, gray robot with various hose-like tentacles working at something on the floor, against a wall.
The sounds it was making almost sounded like a child humming a tuneless song as they played.
Ahnix sent Mark an image of her stealthing in to get
a closer look at what it was doing, and he sent her back an affirmative.
She faced the group and held up a furry hand, signaling them to wait. She faded from sight, and Mark waited. If he had to guess, the brushes on some of the robot's arms had to be used for cleaning- it didn't seem dangerous at all. The humming was slightly unsettling though. The more he focused on the dome-shaped machine, the more Mark thought he was getting an emotional reading from its direction.
When Ahnix sent him a closer image of a crude, wire doll being made to dance along on the floor, held in one of its mechanical tentacles, he was sure of it.
He was getting a serene, nostalgic hint of a child contently playing outside alone, under the warm summer sun. Encouraged by this peaceful emotion, he stepped around the corner slowly.
“Hey there,” he said softly.
Mark was about to add, “we aren't going to hurt you,” but the small robot squealed, threw its arms up in the air and quickly scooted into a panel that opened along the wall. The plate slid closed, and it was gone.
Ahnix dropped her cloak and bent down to retrieve something off the floor as the others approached her. Mark inspected the cluster of wires twisted into a humanoid shape held in her hand and wondered if the cleaning robot had made this itself or found it somewhere.
“Was that thing playing with a toy?” Vale asked, one eyebrow raised.
“Looked that way,” Ahnix answered.
Mark sighed. “Something odd is going on here, and we need to find out more. That machine felt alive.”
He sensed all of his Enthralled stiffen at his words. It was a subject close to home for them. He took the doll from Ahnix and placed it near the tiny door in the wall.
“Come on,” he said. “Nothing more we can do here.”
They followed Vale back on track to search for the correct door. Ahnix walked alongside Mark, and he could feel a rumbling of disquiet in her mind, vibrating along their connection. He sent her an image of his open arms- a reassurance that he was always here for her.
She looked over at him as they moved. “You aren't feeling anything from those security machines, are you?”