04-12-2017, 10:47 PM
“Alright, let’s take it to ‘em.” Myla said with an impish grin. The succubus cranked the gear shift up to maximum, causing the Carpet Cruncher to belt out a delighted cough of turbo. A spray of white salt fanned out from the rear wheels as the vehicle lurched forwards, the pliant ground of the Salt Flats barely an issue for its all-wheel drive. Myla punched a seam in the roof of the cabin that Tearen hadn’t seen until now, and the top of the car swung open in a shower of rust and sand. The demon pointed upwards, giving Tearen a nod, before whacking him on his hind end. Holding the machine gun aloft in one hand, the Shadow ascended through the gun roof and rested the bipod on the vibrating metal.
A sharp snap to the left of his head alerted him that the glimmering point on the horizon was already firing at them. As tempted as he was to utilize his eldritch powers in this situation, he couldn’t risk blowing his cover. The ex-enigma had already explained to Myla that he wished to keep a low profile, but not the exact reason why. Luckily, it was a common enough request in the Underverse that the succubus hadn’t questioned it. In light of all of this, Tearen simply primed the chamber and unleashed an assertive burst at the enlarging point of light. Once they had closed the difference, the singular beacon split into four sets of headlights.
I’m counting four, Myla
Tearen could hear the woman utter a short laugh at the ex-enigma’s telepathic prompt.
That means there’s eight, T
Where? There’s nowhere for four other vehicles to hide around here.
Right behind the other four, duh!
Tearen squinted at the approaching formation for a moment, and sure enough, once the enemy squad got within small arms range, four more sets of headlights slipped out from behind the original count. A hailstorm of small arms fire peppered the Carpet Cruncher, and one round even struck Tearen’s shoulder. The glancing shot only left a worrying tear in the mottled fabric enshrouding him, however.
We’re gonna go straight through them! That pisser isn’t gonna kill them though, but these WILL!
Tearen reached down to grab whatever it was he presumed Myla was handing to him, and shuddered slightly as something rubbery and phallic was placed into his awaiting hand. The Shadow withdrew his hand from the cabin to find it clutching an electric pink vibrator. Tearen stared at this for a long time, even as bullets continued to ping off the gun roof doors.
Just press the button and let him fly!
Despite her perfectly coherent telepathy, Tearen could hear the woman cackling madly in the cabin. The hail of gunfire intensified as the distance closed, and the ex-enigma couldn’t help but summon a ripple of bent space-time to ward off the bulk of the shots. As they passed between the enemy vehicles, however, the Shadow dutifully pressed the vibrator’s button and tossed it at the car on the left. As he flung the device, small winglets sprung from its root and a blast of fire shot out of it. The ad-hoc rocket whistled gleefully into the cabin of the enemy hulk and a smokey ball of fire bloomed within.
The other seven battle-cars roared on and split into two groups, moving to encircle the Carpet Cruncher. The vehicle stricken with the vibe missile spun to a halt, and several pale demons rolled out of the interior, gagging and waving smoke away from their faces. Tearen was slammed into the side of the gun roof as Myla jerked their car around and skidded to a halt. At first, the Shadow wasn’t sure if the maneuver was some sort of ploy, but when the succubus killed the engine, he knew something was wrong.
“Put your hands up!” Myla said, practically screaming. The other marauding vehicles roared hungrily, driving in a circle around them. Tearen could hear the predatory thoughts drifting over the psychic medium…
Fresh meat…
Nice car…
A gift for the Immortan…
Eight pussies...wait…
With the utterance of this final thought, the largest car in the enemy group shot a blast of three flares into the air; one green and two red. Gradually, the other vehicles came to a stop and their drivers dismounted. Likewise, Tearen and Myla exited the Carpet Cruncher, but kept their hands in the air as a precautionary measure. The driver of the lifted war-truck came hustling over to the travelling pair. He wore no shirt, and for the most part, appeared to be human. His skin was, however, an alabaster white like Myla’s, and his forehead was painted with black engine oil.
“That decal on the fender...Myla, issat you?” the (presumably) demon asked in an out of breath pant. Myla wordlessly flashed her breasts at him.
“It is Myla! ‘Sgotta be! Dat guy with her tossed one of her buzz bombs into our hack!” said one of the demons from the vehicle that Tearen had attacked with the improvised rocket. The lead driver let out a long, exaggerated laugh and hoisted the succubus up by the hips, spinning her around.
“Hahaaa! Old Myla the Dick Slayer! By Joe, we figured you’d been turned into rainbows by now!”
At this point, almost all of the War Boys had exited their vehicles and were milling around the Carpet Cruncher, patting it on the hood affectionately. Tearen was pretty surprised at the reception the succubus was getting. For all her resentment of Immortan Joe, the honest raport that these other demons felt for her was a tad shocking.
“Hello to you too Schemadness. Yeah, a Devourer got me. I tried to signal friendly but you dry-panned fucks didn’t signal back!” Myla said, graciously displaying her bare chest to any of the war band who had missed it. Tearen tilted his head curiously. These past few days she had seemed to enjoy not exhibiting or using her body for the benefit of others. Now that she was back in familiar company, it appeared that she was already regressing to old habits. It was a common enough phenomenon among humans to acquiesce to the unspoken expectations of peers, but somehow, the ex-enigma had expected more from Myla. After all, this was the woman who as of the previous morning had been explaining how exciting it was not to have to worry about shaving for the first time in her life.
“Yeah we saw the single blue shot, but that signals been out of cycle for...what?” the lead rider said, looking back at the rest of the War Boys. He got mixed answers, but the common consensus that it was a really long time.
“...’bout a year I ‘spose.” he concluded with a shrug. Myla let out a small noise of comprehension before covering herself back up and taking a seat on the salted ground. Despite his somewhat thick sense of social countenance, Schemadness realized that he had hit a soft spot on the succubus.
“Aw now Myla, don’t fret. Yer back with the Boys now, eh? By the way…” Schemadness said, nodding sharply at Tearen. The rest of the marauders turned to stare at the silent man shrouded in brown robes.
“A friend. He saved me from the Devourer. He uh…” Myla said softly looking over her shoulder at the Prime.
“...wants to see if he can work for Joe.” she concluded with a forced smile. Schemadness returned the smile, but his grin was entirely honest.
“Sure thing! Sure thing, yeah! We’re due back to the Citadel anyways. We were tasked with bringing back cars or bodies, and imagine our luck finding both!” the leader said, standing up with Myla and putting an arm around her shoulders.
“We’ll camp here for tonight and be back in the garage by noon tomorrow. Aw geez, Joe is gonna bust a washer when he sees you again!”
Tearen could hear the silent revulsion in Myla’s thoughts. Still, he needed to play things close to the chest at the moment, and could only watch as Schemadness walked the succubus back to his command truck.
…
At some point during the night, Tearen was awoken by the soft sound of Myla slinking into the front seat of the Carpet Cruncher. The Prime had been sleeping in the poor excuse for a back row of seats. The cabin was illuminated by the sharp glow of his green eyes, flickering as Tearen blinked twice. Night was disorienting in the Underverse, because even though the sky stayed mostly the same shade of red-purple, the ambient light levels did indeed go down sharply. In the black, blasted landscape of the Central Hellscape, it usually wasn’t terribly evident. Out here in the pure white sands of the Salt Flats, however, the difference was quite striking.
Tearen hadn’t seen much of the succubus after the initial ceasefire. The Shadow had stayed with the car for most of the day, seeing what amount of the light skirmish damage could be attended to. In ideal circumstances, he would have just used Omnilium to repair the vehicle back to a state of perfection that many of these War Boys could hardly conceive of. Indeed, several of them had stopped by to try and chat, but Tearen usually just pantomimed that he was mute when they did. Despite his inherent curiosity, it was just better this way. The Prime was brought back to the present as Myla let out a shaky sigh.
“Are you alright? Do you need some energy?” Tearen asked, sitting upright. Myla shook her head.
“No, no thanks I...already ate.”
Tearen paused for a moment, then reached out to clasp her hand. The succubus flinched at first, then relaxed.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, T. It’s just...what I am.” Myla said softly. She allowed herself just a few seconds of self-pity before taking a deep breath.
“No, I’m here because I got us some information. I asked Schemadness how the hunt for Tyrael was going. He was kind of clammy about it at first, but after…” Myla trailed off, trying to find a euphemism that would feel safe for both of them.
“...dinner.” Tearen offered.
“Yeah, dinner. After dinner he told me.” Myla said flatly. It was easy to sense the confusion and panic inside of Myla’s thoughts. She was truly an emotional creature, and Tearen wondered if this was, perhaps, what made her an anomaly among succubi. Still, she was dragging this out pretty hard, it was just hurting her.
“Come on, Myla.” Tearen said in his hoarse whisper.
“Yeah yeah. Joe has Tyrael. At the Citadel.”
Tearen didn’t say anything for a long time.
“If you just point me in the right direction…” he started, but Myla cut him off.
“Opportunity, Tearen. I said I’d think about it and I thought about it. We’re going to give those slaves an opportunity. And...and...maybe you’re a Prime so you’ll be fine in the end and maybe I won’t, but maybe this is my opportunity to…” Myla stumbled over her words as tears began to form in her eyes. The Shadow could tell that this was the tip of a very large iceberg that would have to be thawed over the course of a long relationship. The horrors she had been subjected to at the hands of Joe may never be healed, but Tearen did help that he could eventually help her learn to move past them.
But that would never happen in the Underverse.
“Shh, it’s okay Myla. I swear on everything I’m worth, I’ll bring you back with me.” Tearen said softly.
“How?” she asked in a tone filled with more annoyance than confusion.
“It’s a bit...complicated.”
“Try me.”
...and so Tearen and Myla talked. For a long time they conversed, and sometimes Myla cried. Sometimes Tearen felt like crying, but his alien physiology forbade it. He explained how, even though he couldn’t bring her body with him, he had a way of bringing her mind. It would, however, require him to absorb her component Omnilium, to make sure no information was lost. He warned her, promised her, of pain for a short time...but he also promised her freedom from this life, and a chance to start completely over. By the time they finished talking, Tearen could feel a rekindled warmth in her chest.
“This...this means everything to me, T. Really. We can do this, I know we can.” Myla said as she slipped out of the Carpet Cruncher. The succubus had promised Schemadness that she would spend the night with him, but that she had to go check to see if Tearen was alright. It was an easy sell, since most of the war band was now under the impression that the mysterious cloaked figure was a tad slow. That was fine, by Tearen’s opinion. Before she left, though, Myla did say one thing that would haunt the Shadow for the rest of the night.
“Before I shack up, do you need anything? We’ve got lots of supplies in the Command Truck. I can have a weirdling bring something out to you.”
Weirdling. The word instantly brought back memories of pain and darkness that Tearen thought he would never have to face again. What were weirdlings doing out here? And how was it that they were common knowledge? Luckily for him, Myla didn’t pick up on the loss of composure within the all-consuming darkness of the Salt Flats night.
“No...no I’ll be alright. Thank you.”
Sleep did not come.
A sharp snap to the left of his head alerted him that the glimmering point on the horizon was already firing at them. As tempted as he was to utilize his eldritch powers in this situation, he couldn’t risk blowing his cover. The ex-enigma had already explained to Myla that he wished to keep a low profile, but not the exact reason why. Luckily, it was a common enough request in the Underverse that the succubus hadn’t questioned it. In light of all of this, Tearen simply primed the chamber and unleashed an assertive burst at the enlarging point of light. Once they had closed the difference, the singular beacon split into four sets of headlights.
I’m counting four, Myla
Tearen could hear the woman utter a short laugh at the ex-enigma’s telepathic prompt.
That means there’s eight, T
Where? There’s nowhere for four other vehicles to hide around here.
Right behind the other four, duh!
Tearen squinted at the approaching formation for a moment, and sure enough, once the enemy squad got within small arms range, four more sets of headlights slipped out from behind the original count. A hailstorm of small arms fire peppered the Carpet Cruncher, and one round even struck Tearen’s shoulder. The glancing shot only left a worrying tear in the mottled fabric enshrouding him, however.
We’re gonna go straight through them! That pisser isn’t gonna kill them though, but these WILL!
Tearen reached down to grab whatever it was he presumed Myla was handing to him, and shuddered slightly as something rubbery and phallic was placed into his awaiting hand. The Shadow withdrew his hand from the cabin to find it clutching an electric pink vibrator. Tearen stared at this for a long time, even as bullets continued to ping off the gun roof doors.
Just press the button and let him fly!
Despite her perfectly coherent telepathy, Tearen could hear the woman cackling madly in the cabin. The hail of gunfire intensified as the distance closed, and the ex-enigma couldn’t help but summon a ripple of bent space-time to ward off the bulk of the shots. As they passed between the enemy vehicles, however, the Shadow dutifully pressed the vibrator’s button and tossed it at the car on the left. As he flung the device, small winglets sprung from its root and a blast of fire shot out of it. The ad-hoc rocket whistled gleefully into the cabin of the enemy hulk and a smokey ball of fire bloomed within.
The other seven battle-cars roared on and split into two groups, moving to encircle the Carpet Cruncher. The vehicle stricken with the vibe missile spun to a halt, and several pale demons rolled out of the interior, gagging and waving smoke away from their faces. Tearen was slammed into the side of the gun roof as Myla jerked their car around and skidded to a halt. At first, the Shadow wasn’t sure if the maneuver was some sort of ploy, but when the succubus killed the engine, he knew something was wrong.
“Put your hands up!” Myla said, practically screaming. The other marauding vehicles roared hungrily, driving in a circle around them. Tearen could hear the predatory thoughts drifting over the psychic medium…
Fresh meat…
Nice car…
A gift for the Immortan…
Eight pussies...wait…
With the utterance of this final thought, the largest car in the enemy group shot a blast of three flares into the air; one green and two red. Gradually, the other vehicles came to a stop and their drivers dismounted. Likewise, Tearen and Myla exited the Carpet Cruncher, but kept their hands in the air as a precautionary measure. The driver of the lifted war-truck came hustling over to the travelling pair. He wore no shirt, and for the most part, appeared to be human. His skin was, however, an alabaster white like Myla’s, and his forehead was painted with black engine oil.
“That decal on the fender...Myla, issat you?” the (presumably) demon asked in an out of breath pant. Myla wordlessly flashed her breasts at him.
“It is Myla! ‘Sgotta be! Dat guy with her tossed one of her buzz bombs into our hack!” said one of the demons from the vehicle that Tearen had attacked with the improvised rocket. The lead driver let out a long, exaggerated laugh and hoisted the succubus up by the hips, spinning her around.
“Hahaaa! Old Myla the Dick Slayer! By Joe, we figured you’d been turned into rainbows by now!”
At this point, almost all of the War Boys had exited their vehicles and were milling around the Carpet Cruncher, patting it on the hood affectionately. Tearen was pretty surprised at the reception the succubus was getting. For all her resentment of Immortan Joe, the honest raport that these other demons felt for her was a tad shocking.
“Hello to you too Schemadness. Yeah, a Devourer got me. I tried to signal friendly but you dry-panned fucks didn’t signal back!” Myla said, graciously displaying her bare chest to any of the war band who had missed it. Tearen tilted his head curiously. These past few days she had seemed to enjoy not exhibiting or using her body for the benefit of others. Now that she was back in familiar company, it appeared that she was already regressing to old habits. It was a common enough phenomenon among humans to acquiesce to the unspoken expectations of peers, but somehow, the ex-enigma had expected more from Myla. After all, this was the woman who as of the previous morning had been explaining how exciting it was not to have to worry about shaving for the first time in her life.
“Yeah we saw the single blue shot, but that signals been out of cycle for...what?” the lead rider said, looking back at the rest of the War Boys. He got mixed answers, but the common consensus that it was a really long time.
“...’bout a year I ‘spose.” he concluded with a shrug. Myla let out a small noise of comprehension before covering herself back up and taking a seat on the salted ground. Despite his somewhat thick sense of social countenance, Schemadness realized that he had hit a soft spot on the succubus.
“Aw now Myla, don’t fret. Yer back with the Boys now, eh? By the way…” Schemadness said, nodding sharply at Tearen. The rest of the marauders turned to stare at the silent man shrouded in brown robes.
“A friend. He saved me from the Devourer. He uh…” Myla said softly looking over her shoulder at the Prime.
“...wants to see if he can work for Joe.” she concluded with a forced smile. Schemadness returned the smile, but his grin was entirely honest.
“Sure thing! Sure thing, yeah! We’re due back to the Citadel anyways. We were tasked with bringing back cars or bodies, and imagine our luck finding both!” the leader said, standing up with Myla and putting an arm around her shoulders.
“We’ll camp here for tonight and be back in the garage by noon tomorrow. Aw geez, Joe is gonna bust a washer when he sees you again!”
Tearen could hear the silent revulsion in Myla’s thoughts. Still, he needed to play things close to the chest at the moment, and could only watch as Schemadness walked the succubus back to his command truck.
…
At some point during the night, Tearen was awoken by the soft sound of Myla slinking into the front seat of the Carpet Cruncher. The Prime had been sleeping in the poor excuse for a back row of seats. The cabin was illuminated by the sharp glow of his green eyes, flickering as Tearen blinked twice. Night was disorienting in the Underverse, because even though the sky stayed mostly the same shade of red-purple, the ambient light levels did indeed go down sharply. In the black, blasted landscape of the Central Hellscape, it usually wasn’t terribly evident. Out here in the pure white sands of the Salt Flats, however, the difference was quite striking.
Tearen hadn’t seen much of the succubus after the initial ceasefire. The Shadow had stayed with the car for most of the day, seeing what amount of the light skirmish damage could be attended to. In ideal circumstances, he would have just used Omnilium to repair the vehicle back to a state of perfection that many of these War Boys could hardly conceive of. Indeed, several of them had stopped by to try and chat, but Tearen usually just pantomimed that he was mute when they did. Despite his inherent curiosity, it was just better this way. The Prime was brought back to the present as Myla let out a shaky sigh.
“Are you alright? Do you need some energy?” Tearen asked, sitting upright. Myla shook her head.
“No, no thanks I...already ate.”
Tearen paused for a moment, then reached out to clasp her hand. The succubus flinched at first, then relaxed.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, T. It’s just...what I am.” Myla said softly. She allowed herself just a few seconds of self-pity before taking a deep breath.
“No, I’m here because I got us some information. I asked Schemadness how the hunt for Tyrael was going. He was kind of clammy about it at first, but after…” Myla trailed off, trying to find a euphemism that would feel safe for both of them.
“...dinner.” Tearen offered.
“Yeah, dinner. After dinner he told me.” Myla said flatly. It was easy to sense the confusion and panic inside of Myla’s thoughts. She was truly an emotional creature, and Tearen wondered if this was, perhaps, what made her an anomaly among succubi. Still, she was dragging this out pretty hard, it was just hurting her.
“Come on, Myla.” Tearen said in his hoarse whisper.
“Yeah yeah. Joe has Tyrael. At the Citadel.”
Tearen didn’t say anything for a long time.
“If you just point me in the right direction…” he started, but Myla cut him off.
“Opportunity, Tearen. I said I’d think about it and I thought about it. We’re going to give those slaves an opportunity. And...and...maybe you’re a Prime so you’ll be fine in the end and maybe I won’t, but maybe this is my opportunity to…” Myla stumbled over her words as tears began to form in her eyes. The Shadow could tell that this was the tip of a very large iceberg that would have to be thawed over the course of a long relationship. The horrors she had been subjected to at the hands of Joe may never be healed, but Tearen did help that he could eventually help her learn to move past them.
But that would never happen in the Underverse.
“Shh, it’s okay Myla. I swear on everything I’m worth, I’ll bring you back with me.” Tearen said softly.
“How?” she asked in a tone filled with more annoyance than confusion.
“It’s a bit...complicated.”
“Try me.”
...and so Tearen and Myla talked. For a long time they conversed, and sometimes Myla cried. Sometimes Tearen felt like crying, but his alien physiology forbade it. He explained how, even though he couldn’t bring her body with him, he had a way of bringing her mind. It would, however, require him to absorb her component Omnilium, to make sure no information was lost. He warned her, promised her, of pain for a short time...but he also promised her freedom from this life, and a chance to start completely over. By the time they finished talking, Tearen could feel a rekindled warmth in her chest.
“This...this means everything to me, T. Really. We can do this, I know we can.” Myla said as she slipped out of the Carpet Cruncher. The succubus had promised Schemadness that she would spend the night with him, but that she had to go check to see if Tearen was alright. It was an easy sell, since most of the war band was now under the impression that the mysterious cloaked figure was a tad slow. That was fine, by Tearen’s opinion. Before she left, though, Myla did say one thing that would haunt the Shadow for the rest of the night.
“Before I shack up, do you need anything? We’ve got lots of supplies in the Command Truck. I can have a weirdling bring something out to you.”
Weirdling. The word instantly brought back memories of pain and darkness that Tearen thought he would never have to face again. What were weirdlings doing out here? And how was it that they were common knowledge? Luckily for him, Myla didn’t pick up on the loss of composure within the all-consuming darkness of the Salt Flats night.
“No...no I’ll be alright. Thank you.”
Sleep did not come.
And, we dream of home I dream of life out of here Their dreams are small My dreams don't know fear I got my heart full of hope I will change everything No matter what I'm told How impossible it seems We did it before And we'll do it again We're indestructible Even when we're tired And we've been here before Just you and I
Don't try to rescue me I don't need to be rescued
Don't try to rescue me I don't need to be rescued