The pleasure had long since faded into an overwhelming, almost painful numbness. There was nothing left to give, and without Leech there, the excitement of pleasing her had long since given way to the reality of his situation.
"Someone? Anyone? Help!"
Jaxxx had been rescued by a nervous team of ORG agents shortly after Leech's departure, presumably led back to Sunset Rook to continue on with his 'duties.' The team had debated whether or not to get Venter down too, but aired on the side of "leave Leech's stuff alone," and so left the wolf dangling, assuming someone else would get him…
He'd been left in the chains for hours, alone.
His mouth was painfully dry, his entire body aching from the hours spent clenching. A throbbing, painful headache filled his skull, dense and heavy from hanging upside-down for so long. He could hear his own blood sloshing around his skull.
Leech had left him in all sorts of weird and wonderful situations before, but she'd never actually forgotten about him, not like this.
The lab was silent aside from him. There wasn't a soul to be found within, aside from the storm-filled tank in central.
He wiggled against the chains fruitlessly. He pushed his arms out with all the dehydrated might he had, but the metal bondage held securely. A worried sigh escaped his mouth as he writhed again, looking around for anything that might help.
But there was nothing.
Just him and the endlessly buzzing vibrators. He'd forgotten at this point what it was like to be still.
"Hellooooo? Anyone?! I think I'm in danger!"
Finally, movement caught the corner of his eye, a flicker of deep ebony rising up the staircase. But his wiggling had caused rotation! He was slowly turning away from the staircase, losing sight of whoever had entered! He wiggled more, shimmying his metal cocoon back desperately.
"H-Hey! Can you help me? I think Leech has forgotten about me!"
Heavy footsteps approached him from behind and as he spun around, he found himself face to face with Ink's pelvis… The miniskirt she'd picked out was absolutely not enough to cover up the tree-trunk cock she hauled around.
Oh god… I've not got this in me… Please be merciful! Venter pleaded in his head, his eyes drifting up in horror. He could just about see Ink's hauntingly pretty face between her mammoth melons, but the Controller's expression was not what he was expecting.
She looked…
Sad.
"You too?" She asked quietly, reaching up towards the chain hook above him. Gently, she unhooked him and brought him into her strong arms as her tentacles worked to unbind the chains. "Easy, you've been upside-down too long. Let the blood settle."
She was right. Just returning him to a laying position immediately flooded his brain with an intense dizziness. The world buzzed and spun, becoming an indecipherable blur.
"F-Fuck! Sorry!" He stammered, flopping weakly in her arms. But she held him close, using a tentacle to nudge his head upright.
"It's okay." The tenderness in her voice was like a silken blanket to his fragile state.
He passed out. He wasn't sure how long for, perhaps only a moment, or it could have been several minutes that Ink stood there, cradling his limp body. His senses slowly began to fizzle alive again, and as he came to, a tentacle offered a glass beaker filled with water, placing it into his hands. For the first time in what felt like forever, his body was still. He caught sight of another tentacle flicking away the belt of vibrators into the depths of the lab below.
"T-Thanks." He stammered, taking a sip, then another, then downing the whole thing.
"Are you feeling okay to stand?" Ink asked, her face soft and concerned.
"Yeah. I think so." Venter nodded, quickly glancing away from her gaze.
Ink brought herself to her knees and, with all the care in the world, lowered Venter onto his feet, offering a pair of tentacles either side of him for support.
The wolf wobbled as soon as his feet touched the floor and his hands quickly landed on the protective tentacles, squeezing the soft limbs until eventually, he was able to stand normally.
"Thanks, Ink. I… I really appreciate that."
"Don't mention it." She smiled warmly before her face began to sour once again. "She shouldn't have left you like that. That was dangerous, and unfair to you."
"Yeah. It kinda was." Venter agreed and glanced away, suddenly becoming aware he was still in a cock cage and wearing a jeweled buttplug. His face blushed bright red, but he began to sway again, prompting Ink to rush over once again and steady him.
"You're not doing so good, huh? Let's get you to the medbay, make sure you're doing okay. We can get you cleaned up and have some food once you're in the clear. It is not nice, being forgotten." Her tentacles stretched out and curled back around her, with a single one giving Venter a teasing wave as she held him close and guided him towards the stairs.
"Yeah... That sounds really good, right about now." Venter nodded, as a strange feeling thrummed through his chest.
Several hours later - Deep within The Renewal
Refurbishment of The Renewal was proceeding nicely thanks to the additional ORG resources at the Rewritten's beck and call. The initial meeting sum of twenty million dies had turned out to be a rather paltry sum in comparison to the sheer amount of money required to rebuild and redesign the insides of an entire dreadnought. Thankfully, Salem's enhanced product line was booming. Pleasure seekers from far and wide were keen to indulge in the hottest products on the market, with the select few able to take part in one-on-one sessions with the few members of the Rewritten who had offered themselves up for such a deal. The fact too that customers were required to be immune naturally had only sky-rocketed demand further, creating an in-club so exclusive that it only further fuelled curiosity and desire. The result was a steady stream of attention, and thus income, income that was currently being put into the seemingly endless money drain that was refurbishing a dreadnought.
Naturally, the ship was a building site, with constant work being done through-out the inhabited areas and expanding into the derelict surroundings with increasing pace. But much of the vessel was still dark and unknown, mothballed and waiting. There were so many floors, each one as dense and spacious as the last, making exploration slow and difficult. But there were common design points between each floor, utility control rooms primarily, and were key in bringing a sector back to life, making locating them early a high priority for both the exploration and refurbishment phase.
Although some were eager to explore the drafty, cold, dark depths of the ship, others were less so. But there was too much ship and too few hands, and with the sheer volume of money coming in, Moltezz had set up a strict exploration schedule. It was all hands on deck, and whilst Tani found some delight in it all, Mina certainly did not.
They had been sent to one of the lowest decks unexplored so far, close to the very bottom of the dreadnought and towards its rear. This was unknown land, sensors were unable to penetrate the thick stone and as a result, they were going in completely blind. Their mission was simple, to locate the utility control rooms and attempt to get them running again. Once the network of control rooms was running, they could be used to stitch together a rough area plan, but until then, it was trudging around in the depths with torches.
The pair had opted to bring their girls of times past. A squad of goblin and bunny Slaves followed the pair (although the numbers were uneven now, after their attack on the DA), fanning out through the various darkened rooms and corridors, speeding up the search process tenfold, if not more. But despite all this, Mina was feeling a little perturbed.
"I bloody hate this, Tan. This is crap. We should be in Moltezz's quarters, seeing to ORG clients and bringing in big bucks! Not ghost hunting down here!"
"Awh Mina, you've been moaning this whole time! Can you give it a break already?! It's not that bad! Besides, when was the last time we took all the girls out together? It's like old times!" Tani sighed, shaking her head.
"Yeah… well.. Maybe I prefer new times." Mina huffed, pouting.
"C'mon, don't tell me this ain't fun! I used to love watching those ghost hunting shows!" The bunny flicked her torch around the corridor for dramatic effect, shining the beam here, there and everywhere.
"You know I was more of a bargain hunting gal, Tan. Channel 2274 - Tony's Thrilling Thrifts. That was my jam."
"Ugh. No. Just no. I forgot about how bad your taste in television was."
Mina went to retort, but a distant metallic tak echoed through the corridor and stole the words from her mouth.
"What was that?" The goblin asked instead, with a noticeable quiver in her voice.
"Must have been a ghostie!" Tani giggled, watching Mina's concern grow. "Oh don't be such a wimpy goblin. It's just some pipes creaking or something."
"Shush! Listen! There it is again!"
The distant tak echoed down the corridor once more, then again. Soon enough, it became rhythmic, once a second, every second. But it remained at a fixed volume, neither growing nor fading.
"We've done a few decks now and I've never heard anything like that before."
"It's probs just an air con unit or something. Just fan out the girls and get them to keep an eye out. If anything happens, we'll call for back-up." Tani smiled, nudging her friend reassuringly. But the goblin was anything but reassured.
"But we're not in hierclasty range right now! If anything comes out, I'm legging it. My legs are shorter than yours, I need the head-start."
"Fine." Tani giggled. "It won't make a difference, my long thumpers will beat yours in a straight line no matter how much handicap you put on it."
"GREAT, THANKS TAN! SUCH A GOOD FRIEND!"
"You started it, pumpkin!"
They slipped into an unusually awkward silence as they continued their journey, using their Slaves as scouts. Goblins and rabbits weaved through rusting medical bays, derelict barracks and cold ammunition storages, their breath visible in the torch-light. The ship only grew colder and darker the deeper they strode.
Their gaze landed on an open but pitch black doorway ahead of them, a glimpse of a central console visible via the torch beams. The Nodes exchanged a hopeful look, even as the tak-tak-tak continued in the background. Their Slaves formed a tight perimeter around the control room as the pair got to work.
They entered together. The room held several large control panels, some as low as waist height, others spanning the entire height of the room. The central panel held a large breaker switch for the electrical network, currently powered down. A strange smell filled both of their noses; something pungent, bitter and metallic.
"You smelling that? That's new." Tani murmured, nosing around the other control panels.
Mina padded over to the primary breaker. She flicked her torch around the room anxiously, her ears twitching with each tak that echoed menacingly around the room.
It sounds like metal hitting stone…
She swallowed her nerves with a less-than-playful bounce on the spot and clasped her hands around the industrial lever, pulling it towards her with a loud clack. The pair waited for a moment, hoping for a reaction but the floor remained dead without so much as a spark of life.
"Ugh! Nothing!" Mina flapped, her shoulders deflating. "Let's check the secondary breakers over there, see if there's a break somewhere." She pointed over to the ceiling-high panels, currently locked up behind thin metal cabinet doors.
The bunny sauntered over and gave the handles a quick pull, only to find them locked up tight and the keys nowhere to be seen. "Always another obstacle."
"C'mon Tan, let's get the hell out of here. It's locked, we tried. It smells weird in here, I'm done, I'm bloody done."
"Whaaat? We're here now! I can get through these!" Tani protested, waving her claws at Mina. "Stop being such a scaredy pants! Honestly."
The tips of Tani's claws creaked and morphed, thinning until she could slip them into the crack in the doors, and she slowly but firmly sliced them through the middle. Once cut, she focused on her claws again and shrunk them back to a more reasonable size and thickness.
"See? All sorted!"
She quickly pulled the doors open and revealed their insides, her face quickly falling into a concerned frown as she flicked the torch around inside. Behind them, the persisting tak began to grow louder.
"That… That doesn't look right."
The cabling inside has been slashed and cut-through, deliberately vandalised in a way that they hadn't seen anywhere else on the dreadnaught. Lower down, there was an object tangled in some of the fuses. It looked like a bit like a blade -
"What is that?"
Tak-tak-tak-tak
But with a bulbous, crackled base -
Tak-tak-tak-tak-tak-tak
Mina's eyes widened as the smell of charred flesh stung her nose.
"Tani! I think that's an arm! I can see a bone sticking out the back!"
The distraction had worked.
An ear-piercing screech filled the room, followed by the haunting sound of liquid trickling over the floor, and heavy, serrated chomping.
The Nodes quickly checked their Slave perimeter, and found they were one short.
Eyes fell upon a goblin Slave pinned to the ground, a metallic jaw digging into its face, blades punctured into its ribs… The loathsome silhouette of a Famished was feasting on its victim. Its feet had been wholesale replaced by two metal pins, like railway spikes.
Tak-tak-tak-tak
"Tani! Vora Barons! They got one of my girls - TANI?!"
The bunny was suddenly seized and lifted into the air by her ears. A massive, gloved fist squeezed them tight and, with a strained grunt, the aggressor fizzled into view. Two more figures followed, appearing either side of her and snatched her arms tight, ensuring they were out of the way of her claws.
Still holding her by the ears, an enormous bull looped the crook of his elbow around Tani's neck, squeezing it tightly. She thrashed around desperately, trying to pull free, but there was too much fat and muscle for her to get a grip.
Mina barely had a moment to comprehend it before more hands appeared, around her now and snatched her arms, pinning them behind her back as more Barons decloaked themselves.
"Get the hell off me! Tani! Do something!"
The room suddenly shook, The Nodes' eyes shaking in their skulls as an oncoming stampede of Famished drew close, drawn to the smell of blood like flies to shit.
~We need to do something, now! Or we're both dead!~
~The Slaves! They're our only hope! C'mon gals, give it some welly!~
Tani and Mina both reached desperately into the hierclasty, connecting to their girls, only to find themselves broadsided with a barrage of nightmarish visions, mechanized, rusting jaws and bladed limbs. The Nodes shuddered in phantom pain as flashes of long, metal teeth pierced through their necks, shoulders, and bit and tore through their bodies. Their Slaves were being savaged. Every slice, shear and bite was reverberating through their heads with achingly clear clarity.
The pain though, was nothing compared to the emptiness, the darkness as girl after girl went down.
No!
Tani seized control of her girls. They snapped into her command and went from shambling zombies to blade dancers, leaping into the air. Wickedly sharp claws whipped at the Famished as they kicked off the walls and began a desperate counter offensive.
Their hunger made them fast, but predictable. Their jaws would snap impulsively at anything approaching them. Tani had her girls feign sweeps and kicks, luring the Famished close, before striking with a tearing volley of corrupted claws. Years of pole dancing had given the girls almost unparalleled flexibility, perfect practice for bending out the way of incoming strikes and retaliating with flowing precision.
Losses were inevitable, but the bunnies evened the score in little time, leaving their blank faces splattered in oil and blood.
Blades met claws as the bunnies hacked and slashed their way through, when –
" - NO! MINA!"
Her control stopped, her body shaking from head to toe as an oversized carving fork was plunged into Mina's chest and ripped free in one brutal movement. A chunky, strider-sized sow Baroness fizzled into view as her cloaking faded. This Baroness seemed to have more about her than the average baron, from the way she was dressed. Her outfit was adorned with various bits of technical equipment and tools, including a pair of goggles resting on her forehead. Naturally though, mixed in with the tools were ample amounts of knives, cleavers and hooks…
"I told ya they'd find us eventually! Let's just hope they didn't call for friends." The Baroness snorted. "We gotta play this right, or they'll drown us in bodies."
Blood poured from Mina's chest as the Barons behind her held her tight, the colour quickly draining from her skin. Tani's brief lapse in control was all that was needed for the fight to turn instantly on their girls.
Slaves were dragged to the floor and shredded by Famished. Even in their final moments, the Slaves attempted fruitlessly to mate with their cannibalistic killers as their corruptive instincts took over.
"Keep the rabbit, find out what she knows, then bleed her dry on the ship. Perhaps her blood will lure the rest of our dogs back."
Tani met Mina's fading gaze. Her mind kicked back into gear, grabbing control of both her and what remained of Mina's crew. It was a lot for her to control so precisely, but those who could still fight were quickly rallied into doing so. Claws punctured organ sacks and sliced through bionic cabling as the Slaves were pulled back and towards the control room. Then, Tani tried desperately to wiggle her arms free and swipe at her captors, but the Barons were smart, locking her arms firmly behind her.
I can't use my claws but… maybe I can use my teeth…?
Tani's buck teeth suddenly grew in length, lancing out of her mouth like a pair of daggers. She brought them down as hard as she could on the arm around her neck, slicing through the Baron's flesh like it was tissue paper. The Baron yelled out in pain, loosening his grip, giving Tani just enough room to flick and flay her claws around, catching stray limbs and body parts in the process.
The bull behind her yanked on her ears again, trying to drag her to the floor when a Slave pounced on his back and drove its claws deep into his neck. The Baron pulled a knife free from his belt as more Slaves poured into the room behind them, but a precise volley of kicks, slashes and stabs from the line of Slaves quickly rendered the bull limp and bleeding on the floor, various tendons severed in the blink of an eye.
The Barons holding Mina released their grip and quickly retreated as the Slaves formed a barrier between the Nodes and Barons, threatening their aggressors with a display of enhanced claws and teeth. Tani threw herself onto Mina and snatched her up, pressing her hand against the gushing wound to her chest. A hard cap of corriphite formed over the wound, stifling the blood loss as the goblin's pewter-green skin continued to drain into a pale grey in the bunny's hands.
"You're gonna fucking pay for that." Tani growled, her eyes narrowing to daggers as the squad of Barons laughed and snorted.
The feral sounds of the Famished echoed behind them, a grating groaning and clanking of metal bionics, threatening to surround the girls the second they were finished with their current meal. Tani reached desperately into the hierclasty for help, but Mina had been right - they were too far from the Controllers, leaving them isolated.
"I've got a squad of Ragers on their way here. This lot won't survive if they stay." The sow cackled, her entire frame shaking with each frothing gurgle.
~Run Tan, she's right. Take who's alive and run!~
Tani stared the sow in the eyes as her legs began to slowly back out of the room. Her retreat sent a ripple of panic through the other Barons, and they lurched for their weapons.
"No guns! Deal with them quietly!" The sow barked. "We still need time to get the drive working again! Gun fire might wake the slut hive before we can leave."
"You got another thing coming if you think we're going down quietly!" Tani hissed, turning tail and throwing herself down the corridor, clutching Mina close. The surviving Slaves followed as fast as their legs could carry them, but the sudden pursuit caused an excited stir amongst the Famished, and in seconds a pack of galloping bio-mechanical nightmares were on their tail.
"Hold on, Mina! Don't you give up on me!"
The bunny had been correct in her earlier assessment, her long legs gave her one hell of a pace to keep up with… But the opposite was also true. Too true.
Mina's goblins were nowhere near quick enough to outpace the Famished. Jaws snapped onto ears and arms, dragging them down to the floor. More and more were torn to pieces, a nightmarish clangor of tearing bone and flesh echoing down the corridor.
"No! Mina! Your girls are getting… No!" Tears swelled up in the bunny's eyes as Mina slipped unconscious.
Fuck! C'mon girls! Pick up the slack! We've been together through thick and thin, get the goblins up!
Bunny Slaves turned and swept up the few goblins still alive. But the extra weight immediately slowed them down, and controlling so many Slaves to such a dexterous degree was no easy feat to manage, especially with steel jaws snapping at their heels.
~PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! SOMEONE MUST BE CLOSE! WE NEED HELP!~
A squeak punctuated the madness as a pair of Slaves went down. A sickle hooked around a rabbit's ankle, and both her and her goblin were lost.
Tani suddenly felt a tingle in her mind. A Controller had noticed.
~Keep running. I'm coming to you.~
The Node's legs burned, her feet propelling her forward as fast as her muscles could carry her blood- stained body. Her arms ached - Mina was surprisingly heavy - and her limp body felt like an anvil in her arms.
The Famished were catching up to her Slaves. They were too slow carrying the goblins...
The tears in the rabbit's eyes stung ever more as she glanced over her shoulder. Blades and hooks were just centimetres away from a group of her girls. She could feel their exhaustion - going faster wasn't an option.
I'm so sorry, Mina… Please forgive me… but it's either your girls, or both of our girls…
The rabbit at the back of the group dropped her goblin to the floor. The goblin briefly stumbled forward, then was hooked, clawed and dragged into the pursuing frenzy. With her arms freed, the rabbit at the back flayed her claws back and forth as she ran, trying to keep the bastards back, but the attempt only ended with her getting snagged and killed too as a stray hook caught her arm.
FUCK! THEY GOT TABBY!
The Famished gained on the Slaves again. Tani waited until the very last second, held her breath as she felt the tip of metal fingers scrape against the back of one of her rabbits' neck, then ordered her to drop her goblin. The Famished scattered and fought amongst themselves for their prize.
Forgive me, Mina. I'm sorry - I'm sorry - I'm sorry - I'm sorry.
Ahead of her, Tani spotted a flicker of black and red, and then it was gone, already lost in the murk of the dreadnought.
Her heart leapt into her throat as the Controller made contact once again.
~You've done your part. Keep running and get that Node to medical. I will intercept.~
"Make them pay!" Tani screamed, squeezing Mina's body tightly. "Kill them all!"
A brief flicker of amusement found its way onto the Controller's coal lips, before her face rehardened.
~I will annihilate them.~