It bonds with Natasha

The girls grabbed any object that might be of use to them and went on the defensive, including Natasha who had to keep up appearances.

They weren't sure why, but something told them that what was in front of them was not friendly.

The symbiote let out a loud scream and extended one of its limbs towards the person closest to it, Helen. Fortunately she had her tray and used it as a shield to avoid a direct hit from the red mass. After a small struggle, the brown-haired woman realized that the thing was expanding through the tray. Its target was Helen's body, or so Valentina guessed from observing the situation, and she wasn't going to let anything happen to her girlfriend.

"Ugly thing!" she tried to get her attention "Catch!" she threw all her knife at him with quite remarkable accuracy.

The symbiote, however, only parted by allowing the utensil to pass him by. Serious mistake, as it ended up allowing the object to impact against one of the metal sheets lining the walls of the room causing a noise that momentarily stunned the creature and making it back away leaving Helen alone.

"The sound. Sounds like a weakness." surmised Doc.

Almost all of them looked at each other confidently. The ship was practically made of metals so it wasn't going to be a problem to create loud sounds.

"Laura, Helen. Take Tiana, the rest of you distract the symbiote." ordered Elizabeth since they were the closest to her body.

The rest began to surround the creature hitting every possible surface disturbing it. Even if the attack wasn't that effective the symbiote was still weak, so it affected it strongly.

After almost a minute had passed the duo was able to reach their target.

"We've got Tiana. Let's go!" said Helen settling one of the arms on her shoulders.

They quickly moved away from the creature and, as soon as they reached Doc, Laura decided to change places with her since this one didn't possess any object to make noise.

Another minute passed before the trio had made it out of the room. That gave some confidence to the rest of them, who were getting tired. Now the only thing they had to do was to retreat and lock the creature inside. Piece of cake... or so they wanted to believe.

Natasha knew what was going to happen and she was not willing to leave things like that.

As they were leaving the redhead put her foot down causing Elizabeth to stumble and fall to the ground. If she was going to keep pretending she was good at least she had to leave her symbiote a new food source.

The blonde screamed on impact, calling the attention of Christen and Laura, the latter being the one who came to help her since she was the closest, but the symbiote, already recovered, acted fast. It released two tentacles that impacted fully against the girls' bodies. At that moment they both connected with the creature on a psychic level.

"Get away from them!" roared Christen approaching the girls to hit a loud thud against the floor causing a roar that managed to push the creature away from them.

They both fell to the ground in a great degree of confusion.

"Natasha take Elizabeth." ordered the red-haired girl as she grabbed Laura and slung her over her shoulder.

Her plan had failed, but that didn't demotivate her, it only made her realize how foolish she had been. Why would she go out with them? Her goal had already been achieved. Now all that remained was to unite with the symbiote.

She threw Elizabeth out of the room and blocked the access.

The blonde, now fully conscious and shocked, approached the door putting her face to the small glass that was there.

"Natasha why?"

Elizabeth was the only one close enough to be able to communicate with her.

"I'm just reclaiming what is rightfully mine, Cap. Don't feel so betrayed." she began to take off her clothes under the gaze of her former partner getting completely naked "You knew from the beginning that I didn't want you as leader and I didn't like you. I only followed the damn company's orders for the fame and money, but now that I have the symbiote, I can finally get the power I deserve." she began to step back towards the great mass "Imagine, the Earth immersed in a beautiful utopia with me as supreme ruler. And then? The galaxy." the symbiote began to attach and climb up her body.

Screams of pleasure echoed throughout.

"Finally! Power."

Elizabeth knew she had to leave the place, but the sight was mesmerizing. Seeing how that substance invaded every inch of her body, transforming it into something different. Her legs and arms gained centimeters and grew, revealing a surprising musculature. Sharp claws emerged on her extremities that seemed capable of cutting through anything that was in the way. Her stomach had gained more firmness and her tits were growing out of proportion. She was becoming monstrously sexy.

"A little advice, run. Although it's not going to save you from becoming my slaves." those were Natasha's last words before the symbiote finished covering her face.

"Let's go. Let's go!" she ordered the rest of her companions who got moving.

As they moved forward they could see through some of the windows the new creature groping itself. Apparently Natasha, or what was left of her, had intentions of enjoying her new power before the hunt began.

"That thing has Natasha?" consulted Christen worriedly.

"No, it's the other way around."

The group looked at each other confused, but they couldn't afford to waste time.

"Where are we going?" queried Helen.

"We're going to my station." said Valentina "We have to wake up Tiana."

After a few minutes of brisk walking they arrived at the medical station. Tiana was left on one of the beds with hundreds of monitoring devices on her waiting for a response or change, while Elizabeth and Laura sat on another bed trying to process what had just happened. The rest of the group chatted amongst themselves in order to shed some light on the situation.

"So this isn't the symbiote we captured?" asked Christen annoying Valentina.

"For the millionth time, no." Doc, somewhat tired of the accusations, took a tablet that was in the place and began to press several buttons "Look, here I have the security cameras of my laboratory in direct time." she showed her the screen where both the stone and the part of the resurrected symbiote could be observed.

"So what happened?" the redhead insisted, she had to have the answers.

"Natasha happened." interrupted Elizabeth.

They all watched her. Her gaze on the floor, her fists clenched, she was angry. She couldn't believe something like this had happened right under her nose.

"What are you talking about?" the ship's pilot approached her.

"When you went to investigate alone, that's where you found this new symbiote."

They all still didn't understand the situation, but at the same time they made some sense of what had been said.

"How do you know?" interjected Valentina.

"The... symbiote." interjected Laura "When he touched us he showed us.... things." the blonde looked at her in surprise.

"He showed it to you too?"

"Why did he show us all that?" a couple of tears fell down her eyes.

"Maybe because he knows he's going to win." the captain admitted grimly.

That such statements came from her mouth only brought more concern to the group.

"What are they talking about? What did he show them?" christen's patience was wearing thin.

"How he was born, how because of him the entire planet lost all its life and what his plans are." replied Laura.

"He plans to absorb the black symbiote." added the blonde.

"Why would he do that?" inquired Valentina.

"Because she is the only one capable of giving it the necessary strength to expand its power across the galaxy." the co-pilot answered. "She also showed us the plans she has for us."

"Plans?" the redhead interjected.

"When she touched us, not only did we get to see his mind, she also looked into ours. She knows what the black symbiote wants with us. She wants to avoid it at all costs and turn us into her slaves." answered the blonde.

Doc couldn't take it anymore, she needed to get to the bottom of the whole situation.

"I think it's time to open up and tell us once and for all what each of us dreamed of." she said.

They all looked at the captain since, if she was able to tell what she experienced, the rest were going to follow her without problems. On the other hand, the girls were not ready to tell her whole dream, not without talking to Christen first, so she decided to get straight to the point.

"The symbiote wants me to be the queen." her gaze glued to the floor.

They were all dumbfounded at such a revelation.

"You didn't tell me that part of your dream." Valentina was somewhat offended.

"Sorry, but it was a complex thing to explain about being selected by an alien race as their queen."

"Then my dream makes sense." interrupted Christen drawing a curious look from everyone.

The redhead stared into Elizabeth's eyes with a certainty that almost caused the blonde to lose her stability.

"I am your protector."

"What?" the captain's cheeks flushed red.

Flashes of the dream began to flash through her mind. "We're going to be together forever, everything's going to be okay." Perhaps that was what she was referring to, that she was always going to be by her side to protect her.

"In my dream the symbiote transformed me into the queen's protector. I was by your side forever." she looked at her again.

Elizabeth was about to faint. It seemed as if she was reading her mind and what terrified her most was the thought that they had both shared the same dream.

Valentina noticed the tense atmosphere that was building and decided to continue for everyone's sake.

"Laura?"

"It's hard to explain. Everything in my dream was so weird. I'm a very spiritual being, I believe in love and peace as if it were the air I breathe and for as long as I can remember I always tried to make sure everyone around me could feel it that way... and that's what it showed me. I was standing on what looked like a mountain. Everyone would come to me looking for something, and I would give it to them. I watched them. As one by one they transformed into creatures from the symbiote that emanated from me when our bodies came in contact. It was a kind of orgy, and I was the center of all that madness. At first I didn't understand it, but after Doc told me about her dream I realized the symbiote's intentions. It wants me to be a new version of the fountain."

They were all thoughtful for a moment, but the stability didn't last long when the alarms on the monitors began to sound.

"Girls, I need help!" called Helen, who had stayed behind to look after her partner.

The rest rushed to get to Tiana's side who had already managed to wake up, but they were surprised to see her state. She looked ****, looked everywhere in confusion, twitched trying to get out of there and kept babbling.

"What's happening to her?"

"I don't-"

"Dubhun! Dubhun!" she began to scream.

"Tiana calm down. What are you talking about?" Helen grabbed her shoulders trying to get her settled on the bed.

"I need it! I need to be with Dubhun, she's my god. I need her."

"Are you talking about the red symbiote?" the pilot queried.

"What's wrong with her?" Elizabeth looked at Valentina for answers.

"Having the symbiote inside her must have triggered this. We need to sedate her now."

After several minutes of struggling they managed to tie her to the bed and then provide her with a powerful tranquilizer that left her sleeping.

"What does your data say?"

"Her body reacted just like a recovering addict's would. She must have been exposed to the symbiote for too long to act this way."

"How did Tiana end up with the symbiote if it was Natasha who had it?"

"That's a crazy shot, but... maybe Tiana finally confessed to it and Natasha took advantage of this to use it." the doctor thought aloud.

Three of the girls looked at her in surprise.

"Tiana likes Natasha?" consulted Christen with her jaw almost on the floor.

She found it strange to believe that those who got along like cats and dogs had any affection for each other.

"That's why she joined in all this craziness in the first place." finished Helen's confession.

"That's so romantic...and so sad at the same time." admitted Laura somewhat depressed.

A knock caught everyone's attention. It had been Elizabeth in an attempt to get some frustration off her chest.

"We have to take Natasha down." she said confidently despite what that thing had shown her "We have to find a way to get the symbiote out of her and then contain it or finish it off."

"The safe room might give us an advantage. We would have control over the doors and the alarms. With that we could contain it, even separate it. Then we'd have to figure out how to trap the symbiote, but it's something." proposed Helen.

"If we got to the armory we'd have enough firepower to take that thing out." contributed a new idea Christen.

"There are several problems with that." Doc interjected "One, we want to remove it from Natasha, not take them both out."

"For what she did to Tiana she deserves it." replied the redhead crossing her arms.

"After that, we're in the middle of space, any damage we do to the ship could wipe us all out."

"But not all of our weapons are lethal and, if we do things right, the ship wouldn't take any damage."

With that said they currently had two fairly solid options, but one of the girls wasn't entirely satisfied and had a third option in mind.

"Maybe there is another way." said Valentina.

"No." Elizabeth replied with a firmness and a certainty that left everyone shocked.

"No? But I didn't even say what the idea was." she smiled a little nervously.

It was obvious she knew what she was talking about.

"We're not teaming up with the black symbiote."

The remaining girls who were not participating in this discussion looked at each other worriedly.

"Why not? We are in a **** situation and, as you said, the red symbiote is the enemy of the black one."

"And what does that have to do with it?"

"That the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"And that's why you're going to give up your humanity?"

"That's why I'm going to survive. Look Cap, you're in charge and I'll abide by what you decide, but as soon as I see that my life or Helen's is in danger I won't hesitate for a second to join that symbiote to face Natasha. So, what are you going to decide?"