Chapter 13: Chapter 13 – Deal with the Devil p/2

 

Chapter 13 – Deal with the Devil P/2

Too little, too late. Story of her life. Whether it was her fault or not, she would once again be left to suffer the consequences of just being herself... she was stood in front of her laptop, anxiously flicking through the security camera display that she definitely should not have had access to but nevertheless it briefly displayed views of the surrounding corridors, the cafeteria on this floor, the hanger bay, the rest rooms, the insides of private rooms and bed areas... they all showed the same thing... thousands of unidentified people assaulting, capturing and subduing the people on board the freighter, the lower levels were completely lost already and the remaining guards were locking security bulkheads down and preparing defences, but the ship was stranded. Without a physical rewire, the ship was configured to be impossible to take off whilst the hanger was open and with the hanger in the possession of those attacking, it would remain grounded until the hanger could be reclaimed...

 

She flicked back to the camera view showing the corridor outside her quarters and a cold shiver ran down her spine, there was a group of people kicking the doors in and checking the rooms in her corridor! They were maybe two or three doors away from her own, 20-30 seconds max- her heart leapt into her throat as she stumbled for her cane and hobbled back to her private quarters with all the speed she could muster, bolting it shut behind her as various thoughts coursed through her panic stricken mind.

 

She needed an escape route, there was a decent sized vent hatch in her room but it was screwed on and would take a few minutes to get loose but it was her only shot... she scrabbled through her bedside drawer for the tool kit, limbs shaking in fear and shuddering as there was a loud thump at the front door, there was no where near enough time to even begin removing the vent cover... there was a much louder bang behind her as they breached the door in. Lamp collapsed to the floor, desperately reaching under her bed, fumbling about for the only thing she had that might make the difference here. Her motion was not undetected, two large female aggressors burst into her room, seeing her on the floor with a hand under the bed, they sprinted over and grabbed her by the legs, dragging her towards them, but rolling her over revealed something that caused them both to back off and hold their hands up in surrender.

 

Clutched tightly against her chest with trembling hands, Lamp was holding onto a Pulveriser grenade, something she'd “borrowed” from the guard detail on the ship, it was certainly powerful enough to kill her and the two attacking Nodes. They kept their hands up and backed off from the terrified girl who was slowly making her way onto her feet.

 

“S-stay back! Or i'll k-kill us all!” She struggled to stand without her cane but managed to prop herself up using the bed, her eyes bolted wide open as she tried to understand what was happening.

 

The Nodes merely nodded and retreated further back, fear in their eyes as the terrified Lamp kept her fingers on the pin. You could swear for just a second, there was almost a smile on Lamp's face as she drove the intruders back... They retreated out the breached front door but were replaced with a much larger figure who did not care for the grenade so much and strode in confidently, called by her underlings to something of great interest to her.

 

“You looking for a way out or just to do some damage in your last moments?”

 

The intimidating form of Leech thudded into the room, ducking under the door frame and hunching over to avoid hitting her head on the ceiling. Fear surged through Lamp at seeing the massive venomous looking creature and she held onto the grenade even tighter, watching Leech's every move...

 

To her surprise, the massive Czarite calmly walked into the living room and began to casually look around, before turning back to face Lamp and take in her details.

 

“Oak's disease, right?” Leech stated blankly, her eyes looking at Lamp's every feature.

 

“Wha-what?” Lamp was taken off guard quite firmly and she furrowed her brow with confusion.

 

“Oak's disease. You were born with it. Your ankles are bowing inwards, I can see your struggling to stand without support, hard to tell if your hyper ventilating is due to fear or due to the reduced effectiveness of your bronchi. Go get your walking support... its OK, I won't go anywhere.”

 

Lamp craned her neck as she took in what the huge creature just said... she was right... It was difficult to tell where this was going but she thought it might be a good idea to get her cane anyway, carefully she followed the walls using her arms to support her and went back to her room, fetching her cane and hobbling back out, the intruder had not moved and was still presenting herself calmly.

 

“I was born with Oak's disease too but they cured me with gene therapy. Were you not born within the Draconic Alliance?” Leech puzzled, taking more details in about the room.

 

“N-no. I was born in Nomad territory. Why are you asking me these things? I saw on the cameras you're taking people and changing them... I don't understand what is happening.”

 

“Whats your name?” Asked Leech, ignoring Lamp's confusion.

 

“It doesn't matter... no one calls me my name anyway, everyone just calls me Lamp.” She stated in a defeated fashion.

 

“I can see why, you do kinda look like a Lamp, no offence. Its the eyes.” Leech grinned, appearing unphased as Lamp clutched the grenade tighter in reaction with her one hand.

 

“Yeah.. well... what happened to your face?” Lamp wanted to change the subject and noticed that the massive creature opposite her had several nasty looking wounds, with a split lip and badly bruised cheeks.

 

“Me and my best friend had a disagreement. She betrayed me... she had no respect for me apparently. Is that something you find happens, Lamp? Do people respect you?” Leech could see her words cutting deep, the hurt of many, many memories painfully reminding her that, no, people did not respect her. “Look, Lamp. You know theres no way in hell you're escaping that grenades detonation radius and you sure ain't throwing it far enough either. This is your last stand. If you have a final monologue to get off your chest, let it out, i'll listen.” Leech seemed incredibly genuine with her last words and like a dam being broken, Lamp suddenly let her feelings loose.

 

“I am so-so-SO SICK of being treated like crap by everyone around me! I hate it so much! I try and I try and I try and all I ever get is shot down and kicked around by everyone else! I'm ugly! I'm slow! I'm diseased! I have so much to give but people never give me the chance because of my appearance!

 

People shun me which makes me do strange things which makes people shun me more! And its been going on so long that I don't know which was cause and which was effect! Is it my fault that people don't like me?! Or is everyone just awful?! I don't know and I don't care anymore! I've had enough!

 

I got fired from my job for reasons beyond my control, I've got no money AGAIN, i'm hungry and tired, the only reason I have a place to stay is because the guy thought I was gonna be pretty like the other Czarites on board but when he saw me he laughed out loud! The guards all bully me, the other passengers say mean things all the time, I've got nothing and no one to help me! Thats the way its always been! So fuck everything and fuck everyone!” She was shaking all over, gritting her teeth, cane quaking in one hand and grenade clutched in the other.

 

“That... was pretty good.” Leech smiled again, watching the little ball of anger frothing as her feelings spilled over.

 

“W-why am I telling you this anyway! Who the hell are you?!” Lamp growled, her bright yellow eyes staring at Leech with fury.

 

“My name is Leech. There isn't an easy way to explain whats going on here but put simply, i'm building an empire based on some sort of gift or perhaps curse I was infected with. Thats not important for now though. Whats important is what you were just talking about, Lamp.”

 

The two met eyes as Leech began to pace back and forth slowly.

 

“You're not the only one who's been the victim of the universes cruel tendencies. People are shit, Lamp. Through and through.” The smaller girls eyes lit up upon hearing the words. “How familiar does this sound? People only respect you if you can command their respect. Until the boot is big enough to stamp their lights out, they will always tread on you instead. Your only crime was being born, Lamp. The cosmic dice that produced you decided you would be a victim your whole life. A Nomad Czarite with Oaks disease? You never had a chance to be anything more than a punching bag. It stunted your growth, robbed you of your physicality and made you easy pickings for anyone who wasn't the embodiment of good itself. Which happens to be most people.” Leech's eyes narrowed as she saw Lamp fiddle with the grenade. “But i'm not taunting you, Lamp. I'm not here to bully you or make you feel weak. I'm here to offer you something. An opportunity to be the boot instead of the neck...”

 

She relaxed off the grenade again, staring at Leech with deep curiosity.

 

“Tell me if this is correct, Lamp. Your whole life, you've just wanted someone to take a chance on you. To let you prove what you've got to offer and look past your flaws, to build something incredible with someone.”

 

Lamp nodded slowly, her eyes turning glassy, many nights she'd spent hoping someone would turn up and rescue her from her hell-hole of a life and it would never happen.

 

“I need that too. I thought I had it and I didn't. I need someone I can trust that isn't going to stab me in the back and assault me in my own lab.” She scowled as she spoke. “I need someone who is willing to get their hands dirty with me to exact some much needed revenge. I will give you what you've always wanted, Lamp. As a gift, I present to you, the scummy fuck head who you shared this room with.”

 

The words uttered, a terrified human was dragged into the room by two large Nodes, held firmly by his arms and shoved onto his knees in front of Lamp, who was watching speechless, trying to comprehend the situation as it presented yet another twist.

 

“This is him, right? Don't worry about how I know that, you'll find out if you accept my offer. But this is the man himself? The one who laughed in your face when he saw you? You said he only let you stay because he wanted to fuck you, right?”

 

Anger balled up inside Lamp once again and she limped up to him, her face scrunching up as she thought of the words to yell at him.

 

“Go on Lamp, let it out. You can do whatever you want to him. I won't judge. I'll never judge you.” Leech urged her on.

 

“Y-you... scumbag... you laughed at me! You and your friends called me names! You stole my food and let me go hungry! You locked me in my room for a day!”

 

He was wounded and desperate, he thrashed around and tried to break free but the Nodes behind him were holding him down firmly and there was no chance of escape.

 

“Look at that, Lamp. He'd rather run than just apologise to you. Disgusting.” Leech tutted, shaking her head and coming closer.

 

“Please! I'm scared! I'm sorry! My son is missing! You have to let me find him!” He pleaded, desperate to find a way out.

 

“Do you even care at all?! How much you had me suffer?! I cried every night for a week whilst you and your friends imitated me at your stupid card games! I was watching you through the cameras! You pretended to limp and laughed!”

 

The man stared at her in disbelief, realising she'd been spying on him over the last few weeks somehow, a mixture of regret and fear echoed through his stress-wrecked mind.

 

Seeing his reaction, she welled over this anger and began to hit him with her cane, thumping it against his face and chest, all be told, it wasn't a particularly damaging assault but she put her heart into it, limply pounding the wooden stick against him multiple times, the Nodes holding him still as he tried to get away once again. After half a minute or so, she backed off, panting heavily and staring at him with anguish, he wasn't much worse for wear.

 

“I-i'm sorry... please... I beg you... L-lamp-”

 

“He doesn't even know your name, even when he's begging for his life, he can't recall your name. Cmon man, show a little respect here.” Leech crouched down to Lamp's level, staring her in the eyes. “He's scum. He's not sorry about hurting you, Lamp. He's sorry that someone bigger and stronger than him had a problem with it. He's only apologising because he's being forced to. Do you think he'd be apologising if the tables were turned? We all know the answer to that.... I want you to decide what we do with him.”

 

“Kill him.” Lamp stated blankly, turning to face the human once more. She didn't even hesitate.

 

Leech reached out with her hand and simply squeezed the mans head in her grasp, reducing his head to nothing more than a fleshy, bone riddled mush as it popped in her grip, his body ceasing motion as blood dribbled between her jade fingers and the body being quickly whisked away by the Nodes that held him down. Done in less than a second, a life snuffed out with little effort.

 

Lamp wobbled on the spot, dropping the grenade, leaning on her cane heavily with both hands and taking a very long, deep breath. Her eyes wide and unblinking, skin tingling as what she just did sunk in, eyes darted from the floor, to the spot where she just saw him executed and back to Leech. She took a few more seconds to grasp the gravity of the situation and let the white noise buzzing through her head subside, it hadn't felt real until just now. Now things were different.

 

“I'll level with you, Lamp. I don't think someone steals a grenade from the guard quarters for self defence. I think you had a plan with that grenade. I think you had a plan to exact your revenge on this godless shit-hole for all the crap they put you through. Deservedly so by the way. But I will give you something far, FAR more powerful than a grenade.”

 

Leech held out both her hands to Lamp, one was empty and the other had her grenade in it.

 

“Your choice. Either you take this grenade back, I'll let you escape back into the rest of the ship and you can see if you make it out with them, or blow them up or whatever your plan was – or - you can take my hand and I'll share my gift with you and together, we can have our turn at being the ones on top.”

 

“Whats your gift...? What will it do to me?” Lamp was well aware that Leech was far, FAR bigger than she should have been, it hadn't passed by her that Leech, even in her battered state, was attractive, shapely and highly desirable.

 

“It will transform you. I will make you strong and beautiful. It will cure your Oak's disease too, I promise. All I ask, is that you're loyal to me, you remember what i've given to you and how i've treated you. I'm hurting Lamp, and you are too, but we can put that right together. All you wanted is a chance- I will give you that chance, not just to be the one in charge, but to be loved and desired. To be wanted.”

 

Lamps bright yellow eyes shot back and forth between the grenade and Leech's empty hand, slowly but surely, she reached up and placed her hand softly within Leech's.

 

“You have made the right choice, Lamp. Together, we will be the ink that rewrites the ledger, no longer a victim to cosmic chance. Its time for some payback.”

 

“What happens now...?”

 

Leech scooped Lamp off the floor and into her arms, slowly taking her to one of the connecting bedrooms and passing the grenade to one of the Nodes who came back into the room.

 

“I will make you feel incredible and then you'll be reborn into something powerful and beautiful. And together, we will tear this place apart.”

 

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Each step was burning his muscles to their very core, his joints aching under the tremendous weight, but he pressed on slowly, one foot forward at a time. His warcry from earlier had faded and the weight reducing component of it that made him light on his feet had left him at the worst possible moment. He needed to preserve what little psyonic strength he had left at this point but at the very least, the wounded and deeply humbled alien draped over his shoulders was keeping the Slaves and Nodes away, but the corridors of the dungeon had never felt so long and endless as they did now.

 

She wanted to ask him everything, she had questions bubbling in her brain, feelings boiling over, things she needed to say to him. But the poor guy was using every ounce of strength in his body to shift them down the acrid stone-work and there was no way in hell he could hold a conversation right now, so instead she remained silent and held on tightly to him, grasping onto his smaller frame to steady herself and keep her weight centred.

 

There was still a massive part of her that believed this would fail but amongst the ruins of her psyche, there was a hope that the lizard could pull through once again, that he'd have some amazing trick up his sleeve. She couldn't stop staring at him the whole time, he was absolutely determined to get her out, should have collapsed 100 paces back but he pressed on, focused and absolute, sweat dripping down his brow, muscles shaking, breathing controlled but heavily laboured.

 

They'd just passed by her quarters, her home no longer. Her thoughts when back to the first night, bringing him down here, the passion they shared over those nights, she wanted to stay in those memories forever but more than that, she wanted to forge new ones with this man. Why he'd given her a chance she'd didn't understand, but even through the pain and the sweat, her skin tingled and her heart fluttered at the idea of being with him...

 

Progress was slow and steady, but each painstaking step brought them closer to freedom and out of this crumbling, half melted hell hole. One foot in front of the other, one step at a time, progress by inch eventually leading them to the staircase out, forty floors of concrete stairs laid ahead... if anything, what he'd done so far had just been the warm-up. He gently placed her down to regain his breath, he needed to prepare for the next stage of this. He placed his hands together and searched through his own being to find how much psyonic power he had left but something pulled him out abruptly.

 

“Diego... I feel weak...”

 

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Seeth's face was turning grey, blood was pooling beneath her, the journey had ruptured something in her legs and Diego immediately knew what the remainder of his strength had to be used for.

 

“Awh fuck, stay with me Seeth, I can halt the bleeding!” He rolled her over to see the wounds of the back of her legs and saw one of the wounds was bleeding profusely. “I am not losing you now after all this.” He pressed his hands together once more and slowly drew them apart, orange web-like strings formed between his digits and he quickly pressed them onto the wound, they seemingly knit the flesh together akin to stitches and Seeth felt a flood of warmth through her lower body, the psyonic aid halted the bleeding immediately and the warmth within her filled her chest, clearing some of the fog in her head. One by one, he repeated the process across all of her gaping wounds and avoided a prolonged death for her.

 

“I'd have done that earlier if I knew you were gonna start bleeding like that!” He wiped his brow of thick sweat and let out a sigh of relief seeing her stabilize, helping her back up so she was sitting upright against the wall. Her skin tone started to return to her but she looked rough, not that the lizard minded.

 

“You... saved me in the middle of saving me. That's twice I owe you now.”

 

“You can thank me later, you're not safe yet. I still got like, forty floors of pain to go yet!” Diego glanced over to the stairs, deeply concerned about the mountainous task ahead of him. As he sat by her, he felt her reach over to grasp his hand shyly, turning back to face her, she looked like she was about to burst into tears and was battling with all her might to keep them back.

 

“Was it something I said?” He grabbed her hand back and stroked over the top of it with his other one, her skin was still silky soft, despite it being covered in dust and blood.

 

“I have so many feelings right now... Diego... I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since I met you... I thought you were such a twat when I first saw you...”

 

The lizard let out an exhausted but hearty belly laugh as the sentence did not match his expectations.

 

“Oh you did?! Don't blame you to be honest.”

 

“I mean come on. You were standing there, armour that shows your abs off, a sword as long as you strapped to your back, slicked back locks... I'm not being funny but you look like you do shampoo adverts for a living. I love your hair, its gorgeous but I couldn't piece together what you were. A dainty pretty boy? A show-off? An overconfident fuck-boy maybe?”

 

“Little of this, little of that. What did I turn out to be then?” He smiled warmly at her, still softly stroking her hand.

 

“Not what I expected. But everything I think I needed. I mean... you're great at taking dick-”

 

“SEETH! You can't just blurt that out!” He laughed heartily again. “Oh, what's your good qualities Diego? - Anal depth and durability. – Oh sure, thats great!”

 

“I'm joking, pretty boy... well i'm not, you are good at that, but you're my little lizard hero right now and I think you always were. You told me in this stairwell that you'd help me and... you seem to keep your promises...”

 

“They're important... I want my words to mean something, so I make them matter.”

 

Seeth inched closer to him, their eyes meeting as she tried to find the words she was looking for.

 

“Jeez Seeth, you keep looking at me like that and i'm gonna melt! Pft, I should not be flirting with someone who was nearly bleeding out a few minutes ago... feels like i'm taking advantage...”

 

“The only person who's taking advantage here is me... Every time I look at you I get tingles all over...” She reached out with her other hand and caressed his cheek, taking a deep breath to steady herself, he gazed back, his heart thumping against his chest for multiple reasons now. “Diego... I think... I think I lo-”

 

A bloody roar rattled down the corridor and made them both jump out of their skin.

 

“SEEEEEETH?! DIEGO?! WHERE ARE YOU?!?” Moltezz's voice boomed through the facility and she sounded like she was on a warpath.

 

“We gotta go, now!” Diego leapt to his feet and began to pull Seeth up onto his shoulders once more, grunting loudly from the effort. Once she was settled and up as comfortably as possible, he tread slowly over to the staircase and mentally prepared himself, his legs were aching already but the entire facility suddenly shaking prompted him to make his move.

 

Leg up and foot down onto the first step, pain shot down his back and legs, he drew breath in time with the motion and started to ascend, dust shook free from the walls and floated about the air as the staircase rattled violently again and another gut twisting roar echoed up past them.

 

“I KNOW YOU'RE HIDING SOMEWHERE, I'M GOING TO BREAK YOU, DIEGO!”

 

His body quivered from the physical effort but for the first time, his mind shuddered too... he was now completely defenceless, disarmed, psyonically drained and exhausted, if Moltezz was to find them, he would have no way to defend himself or Seeth.

 

“I WILL FIND YOU!”

 

More crashes could be heard as Moltezz furiously rampaged through the dungeon, searching room after room and tearing the place apart as she did so.

 

“YOU WILL NEVER SEE THE STARS AGAIN, EITHER OF YOU!”

 

Moltezz's threats were booming through the stairwell and etching into his brain, fear began to accumulate in him as he managed to reach the top of the first stairwell, leaving thirty nine more to go. Moltezz was beyond furious and the sound of tearing the place to pieces was gradually getting closer...

 

The stairwell shook again and nearly knocked him over as a tremendous explosion rang out, followed by a near deafening roar from Moltezz, bleaching his ears and replacing everything with a painful white noise, his legs felt like they were made from stone, becoming agony to move, but just as everything started to feel overwhelming, he felt a warm, loving whisper in his ear, piercing through the white-noise with perfect clarity.

 

“I believe in you. You can do this.”

 

He grit his teeth so hard that one of them split, his breath felt like fire on his tongue and yet, he pushed on, faster this time, one step at a time towards freedom.

 

“YOU WILL FAIL!”

 

“You will beat this...”

 

“WEAK, PATHETIC CREATURES!”

 

“Strongest man I know...”

 

“WORTHLESS SCUM!”

 

“My little lizard hero...”

 

Without fail, for every harrowing shriek or insult Moltezz would bellow, Seeth would whisper something back in his ear, something to keep him going and he pushed on, ascending a step at a time and clinging onto her with all his strength.

 

“TIME IS TICKING AWAY, I KNOW I'M GETTING CLOSER, I CAN SMELL YOUR FEAR, DIEGO!”

 

Her voice sounded closer than before...

 

“SEETH'S CHAMBER PERHAPS?! AHAHAH!”

 

“You're doing amazing Diego... just a little further my precious man...”

 

Agonising steps were making his legs feel like they were turning inside out but never the less, his will was absolute and his pace continued.

 

Suspiciously however, Moltezz went quiet and the two of them felt a sudden danger, at the next level, they stopped for a second and waited, ensuring they couldn't be seen from below...

 

A fireball sailed straight up the central column of the staircase and exploded at the top but both Seeth and Diego remained silent and still, they knew what this was...

 

“Theres no way that disrespectful little liar made it up there with Seeth in her condition... maybe they're in Plasia's unfinished quarters...?” Moltezz was heard thinking out loud at the bottom of the staircase, watching it closely for any sign of movement or noises. She huffed loudly and stormed off, her footsteps getting distant again and giving the terrified couple a brief moment to rejoice at their luck before the lizard pressed on again...

 

It felt like the longest few minutes of his entire life but step after step had taken him right to the very top of the staircase, Moltezz's rage had returned during the journey and continued to rock and melt the very earth itself but at this critical point, his strength was waning, he was panting furiously, his body thickly covered in sweat, every limb quivering and just one final set of stairs...

 

“Come on Diego... you can do this...” She whispered quietly, he lifted a leg up but couldn't get it up the stair and fell backwards a bit. “Diego... you're so close!” Her volume picked up as she became desperate.

 

He tried again, lifting the same leg and managing to plant it on the first stair, but he couldn't push off and get the other one up.

 

“Diego! Y-you can do this! Come on!” The stairwell shook violently again as Moltezz's rage was poured into the dungeons foundations below them.

 

“I-i... I can't do it...”

 

“Yes you can! You've come this far! Its just a little further!”

 

“I-i...”

 

“Then drop me and leave me behind! You get out of here!”

 

“Seeth... I won't-”

 

“No! I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself for me! You drop me now and save yourself!”

 

“I am NOT LEAVING YOU BEHIND!” He yelled with fury, pushing up another step. Seeing his insistence, Seeth changed tactics again, just praying that Moltezz wouldn't hear them below...

 

“COME ON DIEGO! YOU CAN DO IT!!!” She screamed, matching the lizards fury, he roared out and took another step, and another, the door now visible to them both. They howled together as he pushed through the wall of pain that was seizing up his legs, another two steps were pushed up and a few more after that until there was just one more... one more step and then they were at the factory level... there were no more words of encouragement that would do this, he tried with every ounce of strength that he had but there was so little left to give...

 

“VERY IMPRESSIVE- BUT YOU'RE NOT ESCAPING ME, DIEGO! YOU WILL DROWN IN MY LOVE SOON ENOUGH!”

Moltezz bellowed below them, their encouragement session had not gone unnoticed and she quickly made her way back to the stairwell and was charging up the stairs at an absurd pace, gaining on them with every second... Even if he made it up the stairs, there was nothing either of them could do...

 

“If this is the end... then... I love you. I love you! I'm so glad I got the chance to meet you and-and-” Tears poured down Seeth's face as she clutched onto the lizards chest tightly. “I'm so sorry Diego... I love you... please leave me! You have to get out of here!”

 

She felt her body move up as the lizard pushed up one final time...

 

There was a sickening crunch within the stairwell...

The walls cracked and shifted.

Concrete parted and crumbled.

 

The stairs under Moltezz gave away, too damaged from her furious assault to support her weight and she hurtled to the ground below with a muffled thump and followed by a shrill silence.

 

At the very top of the stairs, both feet firmly planted on top, Seeth still upon his shoulders, Diego stood.

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