Revengeance

Brutos walked back into the room calmly, but instead of following the same procedural events, even without any of them saying anything, he said something different.

“Kek. Woops. Looks like killing the girl runs it back.” He said between cackling.

“W-what the hell are you doing! You’re supposed to be-” He shot Shedu against. Everything rolled back. Brutos entered the room again with the girl being even more on edge and shaken.

“H-hey…”

“This is kinda fun, honestly.” Brutos looked gleeful as he turned his weapon on Garland, who was so dejected that he did not even seem to process what was going on. Things reset once again and Shedu turned to Garland and tried desperately to shake him before Mithra’s father came back.

“Dammit! Get it together, idiot!” She looked at Mithra, who was also struggling and noticed that something was going on at this point underneath a clueless Nadine. In a moment of weakness she finally just shouted into his ear.

“She’s fucking ****!”

“What?” Mithra looked up.

“Huh?” Nadine glanced back.

“Wait…” Garland slowly turned to look at Shedu as the door opened again.

“Hey hey! Alright, serious this time!” Before they could act, Brutos slammed Shedu and Garland with the butt of his rifle, knocking the two of them out. Shedu was awoken minutes later by wet feet slapping against her cheek.

“Ow! What the f-” She looked over in horror to see why she was being kicked. Trita was doing her best to wrap a deep wound in Nadine’s stomach as she faded. She had been desperately kicking the girl in an attempt to wake her up and the moment Shedu showed signs Trita tearfully screamed.

“Get help idiot! Call someone, anyone!”

Shedu grumbled. “You got a comm don’t you why-” She paused, noticing she was in a couple inches of water. More seemed to be rushing under the door. She saw the look that Trita was wearing. The girl didn’t have anyone to call. Shedu looked down. Garland was still passed out. She didn’t know what to do. The gnoll had gone rogue. Looking around, Mithra was gone and he had very likely taken her. She curled up and grabbed her head.

“Dammit… Shit! what the fuck!!” She was panicking. As she hovered over the mysterious number in her Comm that represented the voice that had been with her since she was born, she heard a sound outside. Sirens.

Trita squinted, her finned ears twitching. “Those aren’t normal sirens…”

Lajoi had come with a whole battalion of K9’s and medics. Garland and Shedu sat on the fender of one of the troop transports wrapped in blankets. They had both refused the stereotypical warm drink offered by one of the medics. Shedu stared with a furrowed brow as the bulk of them were surrounding Nadine, working on getting her fixed up while a nervous T watched on from the side. As she was brooding and wondering what to do, Shedu looked up and noticed Lajoi approaching. She looked away, expecting her to check on Garland.

The woman was dressed in some practical clothing with a tactical vest over her vitals. It seemed like they were prepared for war. She did rest her hand on Garland’s head between his ears, as expected. The mother rocked her hand back and forth, petting him. But then, to Shedu’s surprise Lajoi reached out and cupped her cheek attentively.

“Hey…”

“Yo. How’d you figure it out?” Shedu asked, holding her emotions.

“Well… It’s jarring sitting, watching the same thing on tv over and over again. As soon as your Father looked at me funny for asking him to stop rewinding I knew something was up.”

Shedu was surprised. “My… Father?”

“W-what?” Garland rasped, looking over with dark bags under his eyes.

“We’re both of your parents. I mean that, Shedu.”

“What’s this about? She’s my-”

Lajoi nodded, but interrupted him to say. “You… both probably have a lot you need to talk about, but now isn’t the time, understand? Little Mithra is gone, taken by her father and by extension the cult, right Shedu?” Shedu nodded. Lajoi smiled warmly and hugged them together.

“I remember Mithra, and I remember her Father from one particular meeting at your school before she left. I knew from the moment I saw him that man was… probably really good in bed.” She mused.

“Mom!” They both scolded her in unison before exchanging an awkward look.

“Just kidding! Sort of. I know as well that he was a bad man.” The woman crossed her arms.

“It takes one to know one. I’m no peach, but at least I care for my children and respect their choices.” She shook her head.

“I’m getting off track. Backup is coming. It’s a whole operation. The gnolls operate like an army and they have Cult backing. This is our fight, now. It’s not just some territorial dispute between street gangs anymore. We’re setting up, then you two can-”

“No.” Garland stood up.

“You all set up, we have to go now.” He stared intently at one of the K9 transports. He was intimately familiar with it and all of its systems and weapons. He started walking and Shedu followed intently.

“You serious about this?”

“Yeah.” He gave her a cold look.

“We do got a lot to talk about.”

“I- I agree, yeah.” Shedu admitted.

Lajoi walked swiftly in front of them. “Wait! What are you going to do if you fail? You should wait for-”

“If we fail, we reset and come back.” Garland asserted.

“What if you don’t reset?” She reiterated.

Garland stopped briefly at the transport and shrugged. “Then we tried, or we succeeded. Mom!”

“Yes!” She was startled by his firm tone and stood at attention.

“I’m guessing that you know how to use one of these field install K9 Techware?”

Lajoi blushed deeply and wiggled her hips a little as she stammered. “W-why o earth would I know that the same transport with a bay used for repair could be overridden and jury rigged to handle quick Techware installations on fresh bodies~”

“Okay.” Garland’s eye twitched.

“So you know.” He opened the door into the transport.

“Freak…” Shedu grumbled as she followed him to watch over the process.

Over the next minute Lajoi rigged the repair bay with the help of a few other K9 Engineers and hit go on the process. Another minute later, after intense screaming and panting Garland emerged a bit taller, a bit fuller and quite a bit more capable. He felt like he had full access to his old skills again and barely had to sacrifice anything for it. He looked in the window of one of the vehicles and admired that his male body still had a distinctly feminine silhouette, just how he liked it. Both he and Shedu had gotten closer in appearance. Same height and similar Tech. Shedu was already combat modded. He had to ask.

“You always knew?” They looked so alike at that point that it was impossible to deny. Shedu had always been modded to some extent, but once they were both on the same level it was so obvious.

“Yeah.” She croaked.

“Like I said…” He tapped his comm. A few seconds later his bike navigated onto the scene and stopped for them.

“We talk after.” But, even as he said that he had to ask just one more thing as he got on his bike.

“You love her?”

“Of course…” Shedu admitted. Garland looked down contemplatively, then looked up while taking in breath and patted the back of the bike. Shedu gave a determined nod and hopped on the back, hugging him from behind. Things were a bit tense. She exhaled through her nose and asked while leaning her head against Garland’s back.

“Should I call you bro, now?”

“F-focus on the matter at hand, idiot!” He blustered. Shedu felt warm. She could tell from behind that Garland was blushing. Joi was behind them and he was in front of her. For the first time, despite what Coda had told her, even without her wish… she did strangely feel like she had a family finally. Out of sight, Shedu stared at a reader on her wrist and frowned. A bar with a cute little ghost icon beside it was in the red.

“Let’s hurry up, okay?” She tapped him.

“You’re telling me that?” Garland grumbled, speeding off.

As they got on the road they heard an unfamiliar voice in their ear. At least, for Garland it was unfamiliar. For Shedu it made her shudder, since it was the smooth, disciplined tone of the woman that put her in a burlap sack like she was a cat being taken to the pound.

“Greetings, you two. I am Teuta, the Chief of Security for the Fennek Corporation and the Clan.”

“Good to know. Are you gonna tell us that it’s handled and we need to stop?”

“No. I’m going to tell you where you’re going, because you don’t know that, do you?”

“Sh-shit.” Garland glanced back.

“She’s right.” Shedu begrudgingly admitted.

“We’re now aware that the Cult owns a luxury Yacht. It was sitting right under our noses in Fennek’s private dock.”

“We’re finding this out just now? How?” Garland questioned.

“Because a gang of Gnolls recently took the whole thing over, terrorised the dock itself and now we’re seeing the signs of Cult activity as we actually look closer. We believe they’re five minutes from disembarking and getting out of range of the shore.”

“Can’t we just fly?”

“In our wisdom, our own yachts are fitted with self-contained anti-air guns and flack cannons that can reach into the upper atmosphere as a deterrent against ICBM’s and other conventional weapons. Those weapons are only able to be activated outside the harbour, but our own personal guard is too far away to catch the launch.”

Garland nodded along. “By the time they disembark it’ll be too late…”

“Well now the pressure’s on. It’s actually all up to us!” Shedu complained.

“I think we get there in time.”

“I think you do, as well. Good luck. The Matriarch has cleared all lights and streets leading up to the dock.”

“Ho…” Garland looked around and increased his speed. The meter was flickering back and forth between the highest possible number and the one before that, signifying that they were ‘flying.’

“That’s why traffic has been so clear. Tell Great Grandma I said thanks.”

“M-me too.” Shedu said bashfully.

“Of course. It’ll raise her spirits that both of you said that.”

Shedu blushed, hugging Garland tightly from behind. As soon as Teuta disconnected Shedu claimed.

“We may not have time after to have that talk…”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just that, you should take good care of Mithra.”

Garland grimaced. “Stop talking like you’re going to die. I know this is deadly but if we die we’ll just reset.”

Shedu nodded. “True… yeah. Just remember what I said.”

“You don’t have to ask me to do that.” He retorted.

“It’s obvious.”

“Good.” The girl smiled. The bar on her comm was nearly out and was blinking in the red with the last sliver that was left.

The wide Orr streets had become a drag strip for Garland and Shedu on his hyperpowered bike as they sped past frustrated cars that were stopped at frozen lights all along the huge strip leading towards the private Harbour. Garland knew where it was and he had of course been there a few times. It came into view as they crested a hill and began picking up speed in a steep descent towards the water.

“K-keep yourself low!” Garland shouted as the bike started to wobble due to the **** top speeds they were at. Air rushed around the frame at a level that it was never rated to handle effectively and panelling and some of the less aerodynamic parts were stripping and peeling as if they were on a rocket taking off into space. He revved and refused to slow down because they were definitely behind schedule.

As they got closer Garland could make out the giant Yacht in the Harbour. It was a Fennek Y-33T Pleasure Cruiser. The company that ran almost everything in Orr and Trysk, Fennek, had a very fond habit of developing weapons and then slapping a different set of paint on them down the line to market to civilians. The affectionately dubbed ‘Yeet Cruiser’ was practically a military grade Battlecruise with a pool and a dance floor. It was the family model and nobody suggested it might be a good idea to take away the missiles or the depth charges or the high-orbit flak cannons because when Lajoi was young enough to sit on Sona’s lap the girl mentioned with her mother and grandmother nearby that it was so fun to shoot all the cool guns.

“Did you know that fucking floating fortress got taken over by a Cult?” Garland shouted over the rushing wind. His voice still almost got lost. Shedu shouted back.

“I only knew that they were close!” She paused and added.

“I-I don’t know if their leader is with them…”

“We’re about to find out. Hold on tight, that thing’s about to set sail!” He bared down on the acceleration as the bike tore through the checkpoint station at the opening to the harbour. At top speeds they could not make out the many, many bodies lying around as if it were a warzone. As they rode right through the barrier actually shattered the windshield, battering Garland with wind. He moved his head and closed one eye so that he could catch the small sliver of cover that was still barely hanging on as they rode down the warf. The ship had left already, and it was past the point where they could just climb on. Garland’s heart thumped and he was about to slow down when Shedu pointed out from behind while squinting her eyes real tight.

“They left the ramp behind!”

He spotted it and did his best to line up to it. The ramp was diagonal and would possibly take the speeding bike right up across the back deck of the ship. The only issue is that the thing was so slim, and in no way was it designed to be driven up by a high-performance street bike. He didn’t have time to think about it as, at the speed they were going, the dock ended in an instant. Their bodies jolted as Garland transitioned from the dock to the sharp angle of the thin ramp. He felt exhilarated as they were actually climbing at a good pace and the angle felt right… right up until the whole ramp fell by just a couple inches.

“Oh fffuck!” Garland exclaimed.

“That’s not what I like to hear!” Shedu screamed.

They were no longer on track to cross the deck. Instead they were pointed quite ironically at the stylised letters and numbers on the side that spelled out Y-33T.

“W-we go again.” He told her, closing his eyes.

Unexpectedly they felt wind from a different direction, and the feeling of the bike hitching and angling up again in the air. Garland opened his eyes and looked down to see Nadine driving a… like stolen hover transport close to the water. She banked it around right under them at the right angle to catch them and angled the wing up, ramping Garland and Shedu the rest of distance up to land well over the deck.

“H-holy shit! Right on time, Nadine!” Garland screamed excitedly into an open comm. Nadine responded with a pilots drawl from the other end.

“Uhhh, ten for good buddy, we’re wheeling around.” They heard T in the background offer in a flight attendant tone.

“Our pilot this evening has no idea how to fly this thing, but we hope you enjoyed flying Air Nadine.”

Garland and Shedu looked down to see the host of gnolls waiting for them on the deck. They both leapt from the back and kicked it down. Garland sadly saluted his bike as it spun down and took out a handful of gnolls as if they were bowling pins. Two were taken out completely while the three that were right in front got sent off the opposite edge by the bike’s momentum. Garland landed cleanly while Shedu was about to flop down inelegantly. He let out a slight sigh, catching her in his arms. The fox smiled awkwardly up at him.

“Thanks, bro~”

“Don’t thank me yet.” They both looked up and saw Brutos walking up to the railing on the second level. Overlooking them was a full assembly of heavily armed gnolls aiming down at them.

“So sweet~ But, no matter how many times you die and reset, this little lady here makes it so that I know when it happens, and the calculations she does on the fly…” He whistles.

“Honestly a masterpiece. Starting to question why I even need these cult bitches. I got a fucking battleship and whole host of weak, meek math nerds at my beck and call!” He cakcled loudly. His coat was open, showing the dejected, drooling form of Leage. She had long since stopped struggling. Brutos’s cock was still pushed way up inside of her, showing a clear distention near her womb.

“So… how many times do you kids wanna do-” He paused, then looked straight ahead as the transport cruised overhead just as weapons activated outside the harbour. Flakk popped up, shooting the entire assembly of gnolls on either side, peppering holes through the ship right up until the moment that the vehicle itself collided with the second deck and sent up a huge explosion that shook the ship. Nadine and Trita landed on either side of Garland and Shedu. Nadine cracked her knuckles and Trita hefted her huge sword onto her shoulder.

The shark grinned wildly. “I expected a fight, but I guess guns and explosions will do the trick! Nothing like a little bit of panic, h-”

“Kek…” There was a loud cough. From the flames they saw Brutos rise from the upper deck. He had one eye closed with a long, jagged shard of metal in it. League had also sustained shrapnel and was struggling and coughing up blood, but the gnoll didn’t care.

“Hold on just a bit longer, darlin’.” He hopped down onto the level they were on, landing with a thud. He threw his coat off fully revealing an extremely muscular body with bandoliers of ammo connected to his huge cannon of a rifle. He laughed, shooting up into the air wildly.

“What’s that thing you nerds call it? A… boss battle?” He flipped something on his comm. As he did the twin flak cannons rose up and turned to aim at them menacingly.

Nadine broke the tense by casually slumping her shoulders and pouting. “If this is a boss battle, where’s the music?”

Trita started tapping her foot. “Track seven?” she reached into a pouch and tossed a tape to Nadin. The Shark took it with a wide, toothy grin and stuffed it into some type of machine player she wore that was strapped to her shoulder. Bassy metal music started tearing through the tense ocean air.

***

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this story and want to read more of it, more Chapters are currently available to read at https://www.patreon.com/TVWintergreen I upload new chapters every week day with extra content also being released constantly to my discord for Extra Tier Members."