Chapter 9: Chapter 9 – Out of the Depths

Chapter 9 – Out of the Depths

The male finished clasping his armour on and drew his sword, pointing it towards the door, aware that he may need to drop it and just fight with psyonics due to the enclosed nature of the environment, the footsteps drew closer and closer, the sobbing louder until to his surprise, a heavy thud rang out and the hysterical form of Plasia landed on the floor right in front of the armoury door, she was absolutely terrified and kept looking back down the corridor she had just walked up from, her face was badly hurt, one eye cut up and bleeding badly, her skin bruised and weeping across the same side of her face.

“Plasia?! Are you alright?!” Diego rushed forward, putting the blade on his back and kneeling down by her, great concern washing over his face and deep into his chest. She turned to face him, hyper ventilating and shaking all over, reaching out with a shaky hand, her larger sapphire digits met with his darker toned ones softly.

“D-diego?! I... I don't know whats going on! Someone hit me really hard and-and-and I hurt and people are screaming and-and I don't know what to do!” She was absolutely terrified, barely able to stand and trembling violently. But she felt a sudden warmth on her shoulder as the lizard placed a hand on her.

“Hey, look at me.” He came down to her level and the two basked in each-others stare. “Its time to go Plasia. We're leaving this awful place and you're coming with me.” He smiled at her warmly, standing up slowly and offering his hands to help her up, as she stood she was absolutely fixated on him, unable to look at anything but his kind violet eyes.

“W-wha-w-whu-what? What d-do you mean?” She wiped a tear from her eye and slowly came to her feet, processing the words she'd just heard.

“I'm getting you out of here.” Diego said firmly with a nod. “I said I'd help you, remember?”

Plasia took a second to process the words, her eyes darting from one of his eyes to the other before she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, nuzzling into his neck and crying into it loudly. She couldn't believe it was actually happening, it was so much to take on board but her focus was squarely on him.

“Cmon you, we're not out yet!” he gently reminded her, grabbing her hand and leading her towards the staircase out. “We've got a ton of stairs to climb...

Ahead of them, Trent, Geralt and Tivy had began the ascent to freedom and found it suspiciously quiet so far, the stairwell was dimly lit and carved from solid concrete, with no decoration or hand rails either side, with a small gap between the winding stairs that allowed them to see the height already climbed and the dizzying amount left.

Every couple of stories would reveal a metal door that went to upper parts of the dungeon, these had been closed up until the latest floor, the team slowed down as they approached it, hazy yellow light beamed out from the doorway and the unnerving sound of Slaves hobbling around within was clearly audible.

Trent signalled for the team to stop and they gathered on the floor below to discuss quickly.

“What should we do? If one of them spot us, we could be in for a fight at least... there could be hundreds in there!” Geralt questioned, awkwardly playing with his rifle.

“They're generally not too attentive unless a Node is about... Tivy, think you can see what its like up there?”

She nodded and scampered up the stairs silently, edging up to the door and peering around the corner. The room itself looked akin to a underground carpark, just a massive open room with random support pillars, little in the way of furnishings or comfort, aside from some hay on the ground and what looked like feeding troughs. Thankfully, there weren't many Slaves in the room, only a few standing around idly, they appeared to be sleeping upright and there were perhaps no more than 60-70 of the monochromatic figures standing about.

Tivy returned to the two males and gave them the good news.

“So I think we're clear, they seem to be sleeping I think? Lets just carry on quietly-”

*BANG*

The team shuddered as Geralt accidentally let a round loose from his rifle, all three of them looking horrified at one another as the realisation hit them and the ringing in their ears slowly stopped...

“Tivy?! How many?!” Trent fumbled for his weapon and began to ascend the stairs towards the door.

“50 maybe?!”

Trent half leapt out of his skin as a hungry monochrome face leered around the door and stumbled towards him, he took a deep breath and fired a shotgun shell into the things face as it went to lunge for him, the Slave collapsing as its face was shredded by the incoming buckshot. There was no doubt the others were coming.

“You guys go! I'll hold them!” Trent ordered, clacking the shotguns pump action and pushing towards the door. Geralt immediately ran, charging off up the stairs without a second thought. Tivy however paused, caught between wanting to help Trent and listening to what he said. After bouncing back and forth of the spot, she eventually and reluctantly followed Geralt, leaving Trent by himself.

He fired another couple of rounds at approaching Slaves within the room, dropping them without issue but the others were picking up their pace and stumbling towards him quickly. Most were 25 meters away at the very least and Trent decided to pick off two of the very closest before moving out himself, two more loud bangs rang out and the fox turned to run but felt something grab his tail strongly... The first Slave he shot was still alive?! Although grounded with most of its face missing, its limbs shot up and grabbed his fluffy tail with remarkable speed.

The fox reacted quickly and shouldered the shotgun again, blasting another round into the Slaves chest, causing it to release its grip on him and fall dead, but the Slaves within the room suddenly sped up, breaking into a full blown sprint and covering the distance between them in just a couple of seconds, the fox attempted to run but was tackled to the ground by three of them who immediately pinned his limbs and weapon down, the Slaves behind them bellowed hungrily and charged up the stairs, prompting a horrified scream from Tivy as they gained on the other two escapees.

Far from the shambling creatures he witnessed a second ago, these Slaves were moving a like grey blur, flowing like water up the stairs and holding Trent down with overwhelming strength, preventing him from retaliating in any measure. As the screaming intensified above him and echoed down the concrete hellcase, Trent couldn't help but feel they'd already failed. 

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The two massive creatures began to slug it out within Leech's lab, Leech swung her scalpel around and attempted to stab Seeth with it but the Amethystine alien was too nimble and dodged the strikes, eventually catching Leech's arm and smacking her hard into the elbow, disarming the furious alien and sending another couple of thudding punches into her side.

The huge irate green beast threw herself at Seeth, attempting to use her larger size to overwhelm her and drag her to the floor but Seeth was once again prepared for this, gripping Leech mid way through the charge and hurling her across the room, Leech impacted the wall next to Venter, smashing into a couple of mounted shelves and completely destroying them, sending broken glass and lab equipment skidding across the floor.

“YOU PIECE OF SHIT, SEETH! AFTER EVERYTHING WE'VE ACCOMPLISED?! ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH?!” Leech bellowed, standing to her feet, grabbing a medical bed out of the corner and hurling the bed across the room, Seeth ducking under it and rising back to her feet swiftly. Leech volleyed a few more random objects as her aggressor surged across the room and the two began to slug it out again, but Seeth was overwhelming this time. Leech swung heavy fists at her but she dodged and blocked them expertly, responding with a series of hammer-like blows to Leech's stomach and torso, purple knuckles crunching into muscular green skin, knocking the wind out of her, with the advantage secured, Seeth went on a true offensive...

Blow after blow sent blood and goo showering over the walls as Seeth battered Leech's head, dodging her counter attacks and splintering Leech's head carapace with her fierce assault, Leech tried to resist but her every movement was countered by Seeth, leaving her almost defenceless, her head repeatedly bounced against the wall, cracking the masonry behind her as Seeth treated her like a punching bag.

“Leave her alone!” A voice called out from behind Seeth and she felt a sharp pain in her side, she spun around to see the slightly terrified form of Venter standing there and various needles in his hands, a glance down revealed he'd stabbed Seeth with a handful of them already and attempted to inject her with something.

She yanked the needles out and kicked Venter straight in the chest, turning him into a grey blur as he skidded across the room, his skull thumping painfully on the desk he reeled into and he ceased motion, but the distraction was enough for Leech to throw her arms around Seeth and attempt to strangle her from behind, holding her neck tightly within the crook of her elbow.

“Don't worry about the injections Seeth, there was nothing in here that would do anything to you!” Leech laughed, continuing to pressure Seeth's neck as hard as she could, spitting out a mouthful of her own blood as it dribbled down her face. “Once I got you under control, we can work on this terrible attitude of yours! As punishment though, I'm having the lizard.” She cackled again, thinking she'd gotten the upper hand.

Seeth grit her teeth and pushed back as hard as she could, slamming Leech into the wall again and loosening the grip around her, she pulled down hard on Leech's head behind her and drove her knee up at the same time and the two met with a devastating crack, causing Leech to scream out in pain and collapse to the floor.

Seeing the opportunity at hand, Seeth went for a scalpel herself and mounted Leech's torso, driving it towards her former friends eye, Leech threw her arms up to stop it and the two were locked in a desperate strength battle, with the scalpel perilously close to Leech's eye as both their arms shook from the test of strength.

Despite the situation, Leech laughed heartily, staring up at Seeth with an victorious look in her battered face.

“Even after all that... you're still pulling your punches. You can hit harder than that! I've seen it!”

“Shut up, Leech! You can still stop this!” Seeth struggled, pushing the blade down further.

“You hate what I do but can't bear to live without me! HAH! You have NO conviction at all, Seeth. WEAK!” Leech cackled again, despite her slowly losing the fight. “You're destined to be someone's bitch your whole life! You had a chance to change that with me, to be at the top for once but obviously it was too much for you. Happier under the boot huh?”

“If thats what you think this is about- you're completely fucked up, Leech!” Seeth focused and put her weight above the blade and inched closer to Leech's face. “Tell me you'll stop this corruption shit and i'll stop!”

“NEVER!”

“DO IT!” Seeth yelled, the blade practically touching Leech's eye.

A sharp metallic crack thundered through the room and Seeth suddenly lost her strength, a searing pain rippled up her back and she fell to the side, her vision rapidly blurring and darkening. Behind her, the tremendously annoyed and disappointed ruby outline of Moltezz stood. In each of her hands she wielded a length of thick, industrial chain, easily thicker than most mens legs and it was glowing red hot from her touch.

“Outrageous. To think you'd turn on us Seeth.” Moltezz shook her head. “Take her to my chambers!” She commanded, sending a bunch of observing Nodes into the lab. Dropping one of the chains into a line of waiting Slaves, despite the chain hissing loudly on contact with their skin, they didn't finch and continued to hold the weapon as commanded. She strode over and helped Leech up with a single hand from the floor. “How badly wounded are you?” she quizzed, noticing the significant wounds on Leech's head and torso.

“I'll patch myself up. Can you deal with this, Moltezz?”

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“Of course, I know just what to do with traitors.” Moltezz's fiery glare stared down at the incapacitated Seeth amongst the ruins of the lab, noticing the state the place was now in, the multiple holes in the front wall included. “Tragic. Has she set your research back?”

“No. Not by any significant amount. UGH, this is NOT what I needed today. I'm going to move on that freighter.” Leech's gaze found its way down to Seeth's twitching body as well.

“I could lead the assault instead? You're looking rather wounded right now.”

“NO! I... I need to be away from her and this place. I can command the horde from outside the ship. What are you going to do with her?” Leech had a mixture of feelings coursing through her adrenaline pumped body and it was difficult to figure out which was the largest.

“She's an asset to us, we just need to get her under control and back on board. I'll do what we've been doing here the whole time.” As she spoke, she retrieved the chain she dropped to the slaves earlier, whipping it through the air as if it weighed nothing, the end cracking loudly at the apex of its whip-like motion. “Break her mind.”

 

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Geralt continued up the staircase, sometimes pausing to fire a shot from his rifle and somehow missing the flowing wave of bodies that surged after him. Another scream rang out as Tivy was caught by her heels, despite moving as fast as her little legs could take her. Two of them held her down and pinned her to the ground, removing her weapon to ensure no further damage could be done.

The panicking cat-morph slipped and fell half way up the next set of stairs and looked behind him to see the Slaves had already caught up, not effected by muscle exhaustion, their pace was nothing short of insane and the gap was already closed before the male had a chance to even fire his gun. He was pounced on and restrained, he kicked out and struggled with all his might, but the multiple sets of arms on each of his limbs that squeezed him tightly had him pinned.

“Moltezz is going to be so happy with me.” A voice called out, a Node ascended the staircase under Trent and stood over him, she clad like the other Nodes, standing 7ft tall in military clothing that was struggling to contain her absurdly sexual body shape. “I have no idea what us going on down there but I can stop you lot from escaping. She rewards loyalty, Trent. You know that.”

The Fox scowled back and winced as the Slaves grip around him tightened.

“So close this time too! How'd you get into the armou-”

She stopped.

They all did.

The Slaves released their grip and all stood, slowly marching back into the room they emerged from, the Node was unable to speak anymore and swiftly returned back down the stairs, going back to the door she came from and closing it behind her. The group were stunned, speechless and all stood slowly, wondering what had just happened.

Two more figures emerged from the staircase below.

Diego lead the way, his hand trailing behind him and holding that of the massive sapphire alien that shyly followed him up the stairs.

Geralt came back down the stairs and swiftly raised his rifle at Plasia.

“Diego! Look out!”

“WOAH THERE!” the lizard frantically waved his arms about as Plasia retreated a little, deeply concerned about the weapon pointed at her. “Easy, Geralt! This ones my friend.”

“Y-your friend?” Trent asked, appearing greatly puzzled.

“Yeah. I'd rather explain when we're out but I have a simple question, do you trust me?” The lizard motioned for Plasia to follow him again.

Trent thought about it for a second, with both Tivy and Geralt waiting for his answer.

“I do.”

“Then trust in my belief in her.” Diego said firmly. “Who do you think called off the horde?”

Plasia gave a shy smile, she didn't think she was very good at controlling others but she was happy with herself.

“T-thank you...” the alien whispered quietly to Diego, making his ear twitch.

“Hey, you're the one who did it. Lets keep moving. We still have a lot of stairs to climb...”

And so they did. With Trent giving the OK, Tivy and Geralt let any personal feelings they had go for the present time and the team ascended together, thighs burning from the rapid ascent as they climbed closer to freedom. Plasia kept the horde off them completely and as a result, the rest of the climb was incident free. Hope began to fill the team as the ceiling of the stairwell inched closer, step after step, despite the aching muscles.

Eventually and uneventfully, the top was reached and the team stopped to catch their breath. Another heavy metal door was in their path, locked once more.

“I-i-i don't have a key... I don't... Diego?! What do we do?!” Plasia began to panic, feeling over the doors surface and turning to her hero. The team aside from Diego just laughed and looked at the lizard as well.

“This guys a door wrecking machine!” Geralt laughed heartily.

“We found the one guy that can bend doors in half!” Tivy agreed, hopping about happily on the spot.

“Its true! He got us into the armoury in a rather amazing fashion, you got this one too, Diego?”

The lizard nodded confidently and stood from the top step, turning to face the door and bellowing out again, his skin flushing red as power coursed through him. This time, he booted the door right in the center with a powerful kick, smashing it right off its hinges and into the open floor of the abandoned factory. He took another deep breath and calmed himself, the aura fading and cooling him back to his ordinary self once more.

Plasia stared at him open mawed as the others clapped and cheered.

“Told ya! Guy hates doors!” The cat did a deep belly laugh as he spoke.

“I-i don't think he hates doors Geralt... I think he just- you know what. Nevermind.” Tivy laughed, kicking off the wall and landing on Trents shoulder.

Together, they stepped out into the abandoned factory, Plasia reaching out for Diego's hand again which he readily accepted.

Wind gently blew through the cracked windows, trees rustled outside the decaying brick walls, the wonderful morning sky was barely visible through the broken sky lights. Fresh autumn air filled their lungs and cooled off their skin.

“Its beautiful...” Trent remarked, a tear forming in his eye as they made their way to the rusting front doors and into the main forest itself. “I-i forgot what the sky looks like...” The fox suddenly turned around and threw his arms around Diego, hugging him close. “Thank you... thank you dude. I never thought i'd see anything other than dungeon walls and her fucking face ever again.”

“Don't mention it.” Diego smiled warmly, hugging him back around the chest.

The team slowly made their way out to a clearing in the trees, where the sky was more visible, feeling the grass under their feet and the refreshing air on their skin.

“I haven't seen this in a year...” Geralt felt tears welling up too, he sat upon a log and stared at the clouds lazily drifting above him. “They took me a year ago. Its been a whole fucking year! Cindy was so wrong about you dude! You turn up and get us out on the same day we met you!”

“N-nobody ever spoke to me before!” Plasia spoke up, standing in the clearing somewhat awkwardly. “H-he listened! He gave me a chance!”

The team began to honour Diego's efforts but the male was distracted by something. His ears kept twitching and he looked to the sky again, ignoring the increasing celebration building behind him. He could feel the humming of engines in the air...

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