trans_9 | The Wrath of Neutro

[For de-brainwashing Anwei]

This was her domain: every dusty corner a fond friend, every pit lined with poisoned spikes a smile, every deadfall just a surprise hug that crushed its victims to pulp.

The Blood Queen drifted through the labyrinth, her robo-jackals snaffling before her. Let the fools follow the sound of her delicate footsteps on the sand, and the steady, maddening gong-gong-gong of her golden brassiere's two halves brushing each other. She would bring the Lady their defeated husks, to dance attendance on her until they died in sheerest agony. And if Nuon dared to interfere with her hunt, his shell would be one more to decorate her realm.

Chase pursues Anwei. He knows her better than anyone else involved on the other side, so he figures if he's going to be able to get through to anyone, its probably her. Not like she's especially hard to track right now either.

Besides, its not like he minds looking at her in that outfit any, even if he's still sure she's wearing some kind of black bodysuit with the word 'Censored' on it under those somehow.

Ha, she could hear the heavy footsteps of the one following her. It must be the large one. The boorish face of a peasant, with the thick build of a beast of burden: well, at least his slaughtered remains would provide plenty of nourishment for Dr. Lady Deathtruction NEUTRO™ gardens.

She raises herself on her toes and nearly dances across a section of the ruin's pavement, feeling the stones shift slightly under her feet. Her light weight was not enough to trigger the trap, but the clod behind her was sure to do so. The stones would tip under his weight, sending him sliding helplessly down into the pit, and the layers upon layers of razor-sharp wires that criss-crossed it in a deadly spider's web.

It was always so much easier to compost bodies when they were pre-sliced.

If he was as clumsy as his size would indicate, she'd be right. If she knew what Anwei knew, or processed it that way, she'd also be aware of a flaw in the plan - thankfully, she doesn't.

He hits the trap, feeling the floor begin to move. Thankfully, the plot hasn't taken away /all/ his magic tricks. Reacting faster than a human should be able to, he makes an anime-ish leap... dramatic leaps to safety being part and parcel of this genre, after all, landing in a shoulder roll that brings him right back to his feet.

"Y'know, Anwei... Blood Queen, whatever your %$#@&*#@ name is... for a femme fatale, you're awfully heavy on the fatale... an' topheavy on the femme, but you're still missing part of your trope." he calls ahead, continuing to navigate the maze after her.

The Blood Queen had lingered a bit too long, eager to hear the plashing of blood and choked-off screams. But the Earthling had actually managed to get past this trap.

No matter. She raises her snake-ringed hands high, and the ceiling reaches down in return. The deadly Sucking Sands are there, billowing like smoke against the stone. Once the Earthling is immobilized, they will pour down his throat and mouth, suffocating him like living dust. And here - here - she caresses the stones with her sandal-shod feet, and the eager questing hands of the mummies appear. Just the hands, scuttling like five-legged spiders, bowing and squirming to her touch like kittens, if kittens were hairless and crusty and stank of death. Hands to hold him. Sands to choke him.

"You'll never defeat me, or the Lady!" she shouts down the dark cracked corridor, leading the gullible fool to his doom.

Ok, time to play to trope here.

He draws Kickass, thumbing a dragonsbreath round in, firing at the hands with an explosion of blue-hot flame, knowing how vulnerable to fire they are.

He continues fighting through, holding his breath, until he's close enough that he's pretty sure she can hear him, even if he's somewhat muted by the sand.

"I didn't come here to defeat you. Percival Phoenix is a moron... the Lady is obviously the winning side. I'm just here for the part where the Lady's unbelievably sexy lieutenant proves her superiority to that idiot pile of scrap and wires by seducing one of the heroes to her side."

Her robo-jackals, those few that remained, have rejoined her. With them as a liquid carpet of fur and steel around her, she runs through the stone corridors, heading for the altar. She would summon more mummies; that would turn the tide of battle. Crocodile-mummies and leopard-mummies, even the dreaded robo-jackal-mummies, if necessary. She would triumph, over these weaklings, over Nuon! She would deliver her victories to Dr. Lady Deathtruction NEUTRO™ in a bleeding, squirming heap, and curry her favor!

But the Earthling's words actually slow her steps for a moment. To bring this man before the Lady, not as a corpse, but as a willing slave - that would be a brilliant blow to that fop Nuon. And to then set him on his former companions, making him break them to the Lady's will - well, either they would break, or he would break, or both. A win-win-win situation.

"Who are you that the Lady should deign to choose you as her servant? What powers do you possess?" she shouts over her shoulder. She speeds up her steps, uneasily aware that her robo-jackals were few, and that her pursuer shows no signs of tiring. And he is damnably quick on the sand-strewn stones.

Well, alright then. Violence is all fine and good, but if he can win a fight on sex appeal - all the better. This is his kind of fight.

Still, this all has to be presented just right - time to meet ego with ego, just like dealing with the Shadow Lords back home.

"Babe, I'm Adam Chase, Pitcher of Pintos, Flinger of Fords, Launcher of Limousines and inventor of Buick Ball. I come to kick @$$ and chew bubblegum... and I'm all outta' %$@#&%$ bubblegum.... so, you know, if you have use for a real man, who can build tanks, throw cars around, fast as #$!!, just happen to speak jackal... oh yeah, plus the big hammer... the weapon on my back ain't too bad either."

He meets her gaze directly, "So, you know, we can fight this out, I can blow up more of your toys, and see where this goes... or we can talk job benefits and I can help you show up the go-bot... all you gotta do is c'mere and give me some sugar, baby."

And yes, even he, shameless, colossal ham that he can be, feels just a little dirty. Just a little.

Their eyes met across a crowded room: a room crowded with death. Mummies lined the walls, of men and apes and great cats and things not meant to be seen much less mummified; the floor was socketed and bloodstained with the marks of a dozen deadly traps hidden therein, and at a low stone altar the Blood Queen stands, her hand full of gleaming chunks of amber resin, hanging just over a flame that glowed red-purple with magic.

Slowly, slowly, she withdraws her hand, and the flame seems to whine with hunger. She drops the resin back into its cut-quartz vase, and paces rather than walks towards the towering man at the room's far entrance. Her hips sway, her breasts bobble, and though her brow is sweaty and her feet dusty, her lips glow gleaming red, the red of freshest heart's-blood.

"Adam – Chase," she says slowly, her mouth lingering on his name as though it was some sweet in her mouth, to be tasted and savoured. "Truly, if a warrior as powerful as you were to join forces with Dr. Lady Deathtruction NEUTRO™, her strength would be greatly enhanced...as would yours. You can become more than you ever dreamed of being, when you were hobbled by those chains of right and good and honor. You will be the equal – no, the successor to Nuon! Together we can destroy him, bring your so-called friends to the Death Fortress. Together – we can rule this planet, and all others!"

She came close enough to touch, rising slightly on her toes, her lips reaching for his. Her poisoned lips, stained with the most deadly essences from below the deepest catacombs of Egypt: one kiss would be enough to send this muscle-bound mountain to his knees – and then to his death!

"With an offer like that, babe, who needs good and honor?" he replies with a smirk, leaning into her. He's careful about those teeth, even as much as he's all for overstacked bimbos, he likes his tongue where it is, regeneration or no.

He's trusting that his immunity to poisons is still there, or if it isn't, that he'll be able to tough it out - because he's pretty much expecting her to either have some venom to go with the sharp teeth, a poison dagger hidden ~~in her panties~~ behind her back, or a snake or spider or something hidden in her undergarments.

So far, so good. He leans into her, returning the kiss... and somehow doesn't fall down. A hand moves to her back to help support her as he dips her low.

Right now, he's just hoping that the age-old 'villainess falls for one of the heroes' holds true, but the ind control might also be something on her person - if he can hold out, hopefully he'll know soon enough.

She lets her weigh arch back, pressing her round chest to his broad one, kissing the great fool, waiting to feel his grip falter, his mouth quiver and sag, and him to slump and slide and finally topple down, down, down to his death!

She waits, kissing him.

She waits a little bit longer, and still he is showing no signs of slumping or quivering or falling over.

Finally, delicately, she disengages her mouth from his. Leaning even farther back, until the wings of her headdress brush her shoulders and the torthlight gleams red off the gems in her brassiere, she whispers huskily, "Do you feel the fires of Egypt in your blood?" Her eyes search his face for flushing, mottling, unexpected hemorrhaging, but there is nothing of the sort. He's just - holding her.

"Ain't all I'm feeling." comes the simple response, still showing no signs of having any intention of collapsing. He continues to hold her as if she weighed nothing, one hand at her lower back, supporting her weight, the other moving upward. He's done the one-handed bra removal trick more than once... occasionally more than once a night, and if there's one thing he's learned from being married to Julie, costume bras tend to be even easier... ~~saying nothing about the girls who tend to wear them.~~ He just needs to make sure the timing is right, play out the scene, and not let on what he's up to, looking into her eyes the entire time.

She stares back, caught in the brace of his arm. No glaze to his eyes, no tremor to his voice, no sudden bleeding from any of the visible orifices.

The pressure of his arm was - something to be ignored. The Lady commanded that she destroy these intruders, and she would. Without question.

"Then feel my truest kiss!" She opens her lips, breathes in deep, and clenches her upper arms against her sides, making her cleavage deepen and throb. A slender golden asp slithers from its nest inside her well-padded bra cup, rears like a gleaming whip and spits into the Earthling's face. Spits not poison but pheromones: pheromones that would enslave him utterly, turning him into a will-less (and admirably well-built) puppet under her total control.

The smell rises in the air, musk and opium touched with an aura of crushed hope and broken dreams, and she smiles in total triumph.

Poison doesn't work well. Female pheromones, even of the normal sort, however, have always been his truest weakness. Any acting going on before fades at the hit, the passion for the Blood Queen intensified.

One thing, and one thing alone saves the situation. Specifically: whether acting on his own, or under control of snake-delivered pheromones, he wants to get her bra off.

His hand twists, unhooking the costume top with a deft motion, pulling the titanic twin cups away from her chest.

No matter what teen boys try and convince their girlfriends of, you cannot usually make the world better with making out and getting to second base. These situations are to be appreciated when they do come up.

The bra comes loose and releases a shower of crumpled papyrus. Through some miracle of personal magnetism, two scraps cling to Anwei's bared breasts in just the right places to preserve her modesty.

Her mind does not fare so well. She feels the world blow away, diminishing into a tiny spark, and she slumps boneless over Chase's arm, unconscious. She may or may not still be breathing.

Thankfully, when the Blood Queen goes out, so does her pheromonal control. He cradles her up in one arm and carries her to the nearest altar - for some reason, this place has a ton of them. Wouldn't you just need one?
He sets her down, checking her pulse first, then her breathing, careful about giving her mouth to mouth.

Her breath is barely there, and then it hitches in her throat, once, and she gasps.

She opens her eyes and looks up at Chase standing over her, broad shoulders and blond hair highlighted by the torchlight, and her face splits in the happiest, most innocent smile imaginable: the smile of a delighted child who has never been hurt.

"Eri!" she nearly sings – and then stops.

Her smile freezes and then opens wide, wider, wide as her mouth can open and she is screaming, screaming at the rune-painted ceiling far above them, screaming to raise dust from the stones and send the night-insects winging away in protest. She thrashes against the altar, twisting like a hurt animal, and she screams.

"WHAT HAVE I DONE?"

He stands over her, and... he's seen that expression. He hasn't been innocent a day in his life. As a puppy, he was kicked, beaten with a stick and starved to make him a mean S.O.B. His first day of full sentience was a bloodbath, and ever since then, sex and violence have been the staples of life.

But he's seen that expression in others. Knows what it means - and its heartbreaking every time he sees it shattered... as, in his world, it inevitably is. His world is not a nice place.

He pulls himself up on the altar, petting her hair as soothingly as he can manage and offering her a shoulder to cry on.

"Anwei... shhh, its ok."

Anwei is locked in utter panic; only her oldest reflexes, ones forced into her as a child, keep her from biting and tearing at Chase, at herself, at the stones under her.

They found me. They found me. They found me. They found me. They found me and they caught me, they put the crown on my head and they're going to- Her face convulses madly: her right eye is rolling wild, desperately looking for a visual display that isn't there, and her throat trembles as she sub vocalizes, over and over again, no and no and stop and rescue and away and no, no, no.

She sits up, too fast, nearly smashing her forehead into Chase's shoulder. She sobs, open-mouthed, once. The shuddering that looks hard enough to shake flesh from bone slows, but does not entirely stop as she croaks, "I – I'm, where am I?" She looks up at him, eyes wide and wet. "How did you get here?"

The violence after everything doesn't surprise him too much. He keeps a hand on her until her head hits his shoulder, then his arm goes around her shoulders.

The whole plot so far has hi tempted to keep up the snark, but he figures 'You're topless on an altar with a bodybuilder who just ripped your top off, but don't worry, this isn't that kind of movie' - wouldn't go over well at all. This is about the extent of his restraint and tact, ever, so appreciate it.

"You were on an away mission, someone on the planet mind controlled a few of you and turned you into villains. We're here to rescue you and figure out what's behind all this. Howard followed a signal down."

"Away mission." She swallows, audibly. "I remember that." They'd been walking through the rags of brush and everything had blurred, and she'd started to think - wrong.

Think wrong, she clings to that. It was mind control, it was something outside of her, it wasn't - she wasn't -

She is still shaking, all over, and the warmth of his arm over her shoulders is the only thing that seems real. Her eyes are out of sync, darting around the temple and reassuring herself that all of it - withered skeletons, hieroglyphic-slashed walls, bloodied floor, torches that realistically must have taken hours to light and put into position - all of it was different. Alien. Not of the Empire. She wasn't caught.

"Howard is here?" That didn't seem much like him, but then there was - "Sakura. Lash. They - they're changed too, aren't they. And oh my God," she raised one hand and clapped it to her face, "I've said the most horrible things about Nu-, about Zouichi! And thought them too!"

Both her eyes lock on Chase's face. "Where are they?!"

He keeps his arm around her long as she's so unsteady. Much as this usually isn't him, very quietly, he can be a good shoulder to cry on.

"Howard is here, I think they went after Z. Jaime is here too... the two of us were who was around when Howard found out something was wrong." He doesn't respond to the bit about bad thoughts... he's fine working with Z, and can appreciate ability... he just doesn't like him personally.

"As for Lash, she's somewhere in this complex. Soon as we collect you, if Beetle hasn't found her first, we're gonna go track her down and give her a spanking next, and rescue Sakura... and if we're really lucky, Percival will get shot and die dramatically somewhere in the process."

"And they're all all right, right? They all escaped me. I - she was so certain you would never escape." The Blood Queen, and what twisted perversity of alien technology had rummaged through her mind and found that? Whatever it was, she wanted it melted to slag. Or gas, even.

"Percival Phoenix. The preening - no. I," she blinks again, "I don't know who he is. But he might be a real person too, trapped in this. I can see," she lets her head loll back, staring up at the ceiling, "I can see why Stacy sent us to destroy this - whatever this is. Can you imagine what would happen if it was used on the ship? If that crew all started finding their evil sides?"

On the other hand, maybe people like Lord Zetta would find their good sides. But the potential trade-off probably isn't worth it.

She is still feeling distinctly trembly about the stomach, but she thinks she can move. She looks at the golden bra lying on the steps of the altar like two bronzed scoops of ice cream, then at her own considerably smaller chest (where the shards of papyrus were still defending her dignity). Then she looks at Chase.

And she laughs. "And - and - thank you for removing the mind control bra," she wheezes, cracking up. Her laugh has more than a hint of hysteria to it, but it is mostly just a laugh.

"I'll be happy to remove your clothing any time." he teases, helping her to her feet as soon as she looks ready for it. "Seriously though - yeah, Percy might be real. Or he might be getting ready to do a big heel turn on us and be the real bad guy. Either way, I trust him less than I trusted you as the Blood Queen... at least I had some idea of what you were up to." he replies.

"As for escaping... to this point, just following the plot, cause I was pretty sure without that, we wouldn't be allowed to get to the bottom of all this $#!&. Now... I'm done with mazes."

He hefts Truck Stop again and moves to the wall, taking a swing, sashing prop stone wall out of the way to make for a much more direct route.

"C'mon, we got some @$$ to kick still so we can get everyone home. You want a gun?"

The Wrath of Neutro

THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)

Re: THE BLOOD QUEEN COMES CLEAN (Anwei, part of the rescue team)