If You Can't Take My Sass, Fuck Outta Existence

17 | Begone

"Ready?" Death X prepped the control panel. He was sceptical about bringing another human girl into their mess, and not just because he was the only male on board. Hope was a healer, not a fighter. Their destination was none other than Vargoba's headquarters itself. He could fend for himself, but protecting three other humans? Not so much.

Lara and Hope nodded in unison. Ainya gave him a thumbs up. Hope's bunny, Primrose yipped excitedly.

"Are you sure you want to bring your bunny?" Lara inquired.

"What could go wrong?" Ainya muttered.

Hope smiled warmly. "She'll be great help. Trust me."

Death X raised an eyebrow. "Okay..."

He piloted the ship towards Vargoba's lair, using Shizuko's tracker as a beacon.

* * *

Atalanta woke up to cold metal pressed against her back. The wound was burned shut, presumably to keep her alive to suffer more. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out that she was in a prison—more specifically, a torture chamber.

"Ata!" Sky's voice boomed from her right. Atalanta was unable to turn her head, but she assumed that her comrade fared the same as her.

Atalanta's throat was dry and her limbs were sore. She was held up against the wall by a metal rim around her neck, arms and ankles. Her daggers were confiscated, which wasn't exactly comforting to realize.

"Sky?" she rasped. "Wh—who's here with us?"

"Only us," Sky croaked. "They—they took Diana. I don't know about her because she's our enemy, but after that villain crash landed, we were captured."

Oh, Atalanta recalled. Sky never really was introduced to Shizuko or the others.

Her memory was fuzzy, and the battle seemed like a distant dream. Only the pain on her lower back and the situation served as reminders of the event. Her neck muscles ached. Her arms felt like they were being stabbed by thousands of needles. She'd experienced pain before, but this was a first.

Why Sky wasn't unconscious, she had a good idea. Sky had hyper-regeneration, after all. It served as a blessing and a curse. In the big picture, Sky was the one that they didn't have to worry about dying to physical means, in contrast to humans like Ainya, who was a mere human equipped with a magical shield.

Sky was scared.

She was terrified.

Before Atalanta woke up, she was the only one facing the darkness. This wasn't a first, but she worried for her friends. Their fates were unknown. Death X, Ainya and Lara were missing. Atalanta was hurt and in a coma. She'd seen them burn her wound shut and Sky was mortified.

She wished this was a bad dream.

She wished she could wake up.

It didn't happen.

The doors to the chamber opened. It was a burly alien, flanked with a scrawny alien that seemed to be a scientist. He was pushing a tray with scalpels and torture devices and chemicals.

Atalanta and Sky swallowed.

They were after their power spheres.

* * *

Diana tried everything to get Shizuko to wake from her beauty sleep.

She tried yelling, shaking her shoulders until she's tired, even tickling—but the villain was out like a light. Who even falls asleep in the middle of a battle, anyway? This was certainly a first.