Seeth watched the two closely, edging forward, wanting to run forward and embrace her former lover but was held back by the threat of Leech's weapon.

“Stay. Here.” Leech demanded. Pointing the gun directly at Seeth. “We'll see how much he loves you...”

Karen writhed around on the floor, sobbing pathetically as Diego rose to his feet, slowly beginning to walk forward.

“Diego! Please!” Karen cried out desperately. “I need you!”

He turned back to see her crumpled form, stretched out painfully across the floor and decided he couldn't bare seeing her like this... “Seeth! Just one second! I need to help my friend.” He called out, huddling over her and gently picking her up, making sure to pull her close and support her properly. As her picked her up however, the sound of screaming and terror filled the air. The battle taking place just meters down the road was seemingly going in the favour of the aggressors as members of the science team were jumped on by slaves, pulling them down to the ground.

Scyler saw members of his team being dragged down by hungry hands, tearing at clothing and pinning limbs down.

“Mook! Go finish the team off, make them join us. Leave Diego to me.” A loud voice called out, as the massive frame of Ink became visible through a narrow doorway she pushed her way through. The winged Node rolled around on the floor briefly by the side of Diego before standing to her feet, dusting herself off and flapping her way into the air, making her way to the top of the building next to the alley where the team was slowly falling. The slaves attention was focusing on the alley itself, giving those who were free of it and in the street a breather from the constant aggression. Scyler, Theo, Jace and Vell watched in horror as the group of 20 or so people were pulled down to the floor, pushed against walls and pinned down by the never ending tide of slaves, restraining them and preparing to corrupt them, with Mook standing above, watching intent-fully.

“We can't help them Jace...” said Scyler, as he placed a hand upon the dragons shoulder, who was in the verge of a breakdown. “We need to get the hell out of here whilst we can.” Scyler turned and decided to carry on running down the alley directly opposite the one they just came from. “We can get to the secondary dock from here... if we're quick, we can make it.”

Theo and Vell nodded, deciding it was best to do so. The science team were completely overwhelmed, half of them already being raped and corrupted, the others desperately trying to fight them off as Mook laughed and swooped down to join the action.

“There must be something we can do!” The desperation in Jace's voice was thick as he clutched a grenade from his belt. “I... I won't let the team suffer like that...” his voice quivered as he held onto the grenade with a shaky hand. “They deserve better!”

Ink strode forward from the doorway and into the middle of the street, spotting Karen and Diego, but as she did so, the remains of the squad spotted her, Theo and Vell seeing her and spotting the crippled Karen too, nodding to each-other, sprinting towards Diego and Karen, Theo choosing to pick up Karen.

“You look like you need a hand! We're on our way to the secondary dock now, fancy popping along?” Theo chuckled, helping to carry Karen. But Diego shook his head.

“Not me, i'll attract too much attention, take the girl, her names Karen, keep her safe for me Rhargnorn.” He patted the muscular male on the shoulder and held Karens hand, leaning in to speak to her. “You need to go with him Karen, I need to take care of business here...”

As they spoke, Vell engaged Ink, shooting her straight in the chest with his pistol, the bullet sinking straight through her flesh and ripping out through her back, but she lashed out and swung a fist back at him, catching him straight in the side and throwing the male off his feet. His response was to fire several more rounds into her from his prone position on the floor. She wrapped herself in her own tentacles, absorbing the impact as their flesh shuddered and shook from the shots that hit, thick black liquid leaking from the wounds as she charged towards him, another bullet ripped through her arm and another into her thigh, but still she continued, kicking Vell from the floor straight into the air and hurling him back into wall behind him, slamming into it with a painful thump and sliding back down.

Karen whelped and cried out, holding onto Diego desperately but he shook his head and pulled his arm free of her grip. “I looked after you! I fed you! I gave you somewhere to live!I want you to look after me!” Theo paused as she carried on shouting at Diego, giving the two a few more seconds to speak. “You can't just shove me off after everything we've been through!”

“You can't buy my love either Karen! You don't think of me as your equal, you think of me as your property! I am not here to make you happy! I need to do this! Now go! Get the fuck out of here!” Diego furiously gestured and Theo nodded, turning and sprinting back towards the remains of the squad as Karen screamed and called out Diego's name, seeing Ink grab Vell by the throat and hold him against the wall he'd just been kicked against, preparing a tentacle to shove down his throat with a grin across her face as thick black liquid poured from her wounds. Before she could complete the act however, Theo sprinted past her, using his heavy metal leg to kick her in the back of the kneecap and knock her down, before then batting her across the side of the head with the side of his SMG, shaking her as she fell down to the side, releasing her grip of Vells head. The dragon quickly picked himself up and tried to run from the massive beast but she gripped his ankle, tripping him once more.

Instead of perhaps dragging him towards her though, he turned back to see that grin across her face, now glazed with pure fury in her eyes. She instead lifted him up in the air by his shin, straight above her head and whammed him directly into the floor, bashing the poor guy senseless as he impacted the concrete. She reached for him again, grabbing both of his ankles this time and repeated the action, whipping him through the air as if he was a childrens toy and pounding him against the cold hard flooring. She tried to do it a third time but felt a strange sensation on her back, dropping her grip from the male...

Diego roared out and jumped straight onto her back, grabbed two of her thick protruding tentacles from her back and wrenching them into position around her neck, pulling them tight around her flesh and strangling her, causing the massive alien to thrash around on the floor angrily, she attempted to wrap the rest of her tentacles around him but the failed to respond properly to her orders as they awkwardly flopped around, the multiple gushing bullet wounds in them preventing them for performing as ordered.

Vell dragging himself forward, his entire body aching with pain as his nose and mouth bled profusely from the impact with the floor. Jace primed his grenade for a second and threw it into the group who were now all being raped mercilessly by the slaves, the small metal object bouncing over to the group and bleeping ominously as it primed itself. Mook's eyes widened and she suddenly ordered the entire group of slaves to shield her, crowding around her, as the plasma explosive detonated, projecting a bright blue explosive shockwave out and annihilating everything in its radius. Mook crawled out of the devastation, half her black skin now bleeding bright red as the plasma singed her skin on the one side, collapsing and howling in pain into the alley.

With the group now put out of their misery, Jace quickly ran over to Vell, helping him up and the remains of the squad dashed together down the alley, as more slaves attempted to follow them, leaving Diego and Ink to wrestle in the middle of the street. Scyler looked back and shook his head. As much as he wanted to go back for many reasons, he'd have to leave Diego this time, else he'd end up dying himself...

Diego pulled the tentacles tighter again and stamped on the back of the beasts head, slamming it right into the floor as she growled and gasped for air. He repeated the action again, driving her head into the floor once more. “That ones for Darin and his sister you fucking bitch.” He roared, as Inks set of massive teeth crunched into the floor, scraping across the ceramic painfully. Yet despite his assault, Ink began to rise again, pushing herself up with her arms and slowly rising to her feet, no matter how much Diego pulled on her throat. She clambered to her feet and with a mighty roar, she hurled herself backwards, attempting to crush the lizard on her back directly, but he was far too quick for the lumbering beast as he leapt off her back, causing her to just fall and crash straight onto the ground once more.

She howled and rose to her feet again, her grin still plastered on her face but her eyes livid with anger and charged at Diego, stumbling and attempting to pull him down as she fell again onto her knees this time, but he side stepped and grabbed a piece of metal piping from the floor, smacking her across the face with it painfully with enough force to bend the pipe as it slammed into her jaw. Pumped with pure adrenaline, he grabbed handfuls of her dreadlock hair and drove his knee straight into her face, cracking her directly between her eyes and quickly shoving off her before she could grab him, but he was a little too close this time and she swung a working tentacle at him, which promptly whapped him straight in the chest and threw him off his feet, into the middle of the street again.

Both of them rose to their feet again, but Diego found himself in a far worse situation as he glanced around to see more alien faces than he'd hoped. Every side of him was suddenly surrounded with Controllers. Forming a ring around him as he turned his vision around with the hope of seeing a route out, yet there was none. They all remained silent as they closed the gaps, all eyes gazing upon him as both new and old faces crowded to see him. Slaves and nodes poured out from everywhere to finally completely enclose the lizard in an extremely intimidating arena of some sort, only that he was the only person in there.

Ink stood directly ahead of him, Moltezz to the side, Plasia was clawing her way through the crowd directly in an attempt to gain access to Diego, but the wounded Ink stopped her with a single gesture. Leech was standing next to Seeth who was behind everyone, not allowed to come any closer. A trio of unknown faces stood on the other side of the circle, arms folded as they watched the lizard with great interest. Their voices were blending into one as sheer terror filled him, he kept frantically looking around for any hope of escape, but the wall of corrupted flesh around him was completely sealed.

“He's spent the last few hours beating the shit out of me! I want to fill his fucking ass as compensation for what I had to endure to get him here! Give him to me!”

“He's my lover! I love him! I tracked him across the stars! I want him I want him I want him I want him! He's doesn't love Seeth he loves me!”

“He's loyal to his filthy queen. He should be mine, should he not?”

“We don't see why any of you should get him. We're the ones who got the cruiser and brought us here. We should have him.”

“I've been shot, beaten, electrocuted and psyonically assaulted to bring the little fucker here! I want him impaled on my dick, now!”

“I was imprisoned for months! I deserve him!”

“We've been working behind the scenes for months now. You've all had him before, we should get a chance!”

“He allowed my previous favourite Mark to escape, he should be my compensation for that alone!”

Leech stood in pure bewilderment as she watched her follow controllers argue and become aggressive over who should get the little lizard. Plasia lurched forward again, diving through the group but was promptly grabbed by Leech, who dragged her back and threw her through the crowd and into the street. Moltezz and Cherry threw themselves at each-other and began attacking one another desperately. Ink began walking forward but was promptly pulled back by Leech again, as she was doing so, Plasia hurled herself in again, cackling madly as she got close but was pulled back by Plum and Bubblegum, all hell seemed to be breaking loose until Leech finally screamed out, drawing her cannon and pointing it straight at Diego.

“ENOUGH! IF WE CAN'T DECIDE WHO GETS TO KEEP HIM, NO ONE GETS HIM!” She bellowed, her cannon charging up and silencing the crowd instantly. “THIS IS PATHETIC! ITS ONE MARK!” She yelled, pushing past Ink in her armour and holding the cannons barrel pointed directly at Diego's head, who was wide eyed with shock. “I WILL NOT ALLOW US TO CONTINUE THIS PATHETIC BICKERING!” The crowd's silence continued as Leech looked around furiously at her fellow Rewritten. “Fucking hell! We are letting one man control our actions! Its only now how pathetic I realise all of this is! Look at us! Besides! It was fucking decided from the very beginning that he is mine and Moltezz's. So the rest of you can just fuck the hell off--”

Her words were cut short by Ink slamming a fist down on the back of her head and causing Leech to collapse instantly into the middle of the arena, towards Diego, landing with a loud thump. There was an awkward silence after as no one was quite sure what do to, but it only took a few more seconds for the fighting to continue again, as controllers brawled and fought each-other to decide who should get to “keep” Diego. But there was a single one who was making her way through everyone one by one... someone who was fighting far harder than the others...

The girl started off by picking a fight with Plasia, who was walking forward trying to get Diego. As Plasia lunged forward again towards the male, a pair of hands grabbed her back, flipped her over, and punched her squarely across the jaw, splattering her gooey saliva over the floor and knocking her clean out. Next, she moved onto Bubblegum and Plum, who were trying to move forward themselves. Uppercutting Bubblegum straight in the jaw and throwing her over. Plum retreated back quickly but was kicked straight in the guts and hurled through the crowd of slaves, rolling onto the floor and sighing.

Moltezz and Cherry were busy mid brawl when the third figure entered the fray. Slamming both their heads together and knocking both of them clean to the floor with a single right hook that clobbered them both across the chops, sending them both to ground satisfyingly.

All this time, despite it being mere seconds, Ink had been walking towards Diego, that insane grin still stuck on her face, preparing to get her revenge on the male who was backing off from her the best he could within the confides of the arena. He'd given Ink everything he had but she was still standing, and he was out of psy options for the time being as he had nothing he could use in a pinch... She strode forward, grinning sadisticly with her hands on her hips, reaching for her massive cock and pumping it so it would produce its thick black slime for lube, but as she got close, a familiar face leapt behind her back and punched her right in the back of the head, causing the two figures to fall to the floor, one on top of the other. Ink rolled but the girl clung onto her back, causing her to be pinned by the massive black beast, but she continued to strain her, holding her arms back and looking up for Diego for help.

The lizard saw his opportunity. He stood and roared out a warcry new to everyone in the area, raising his hands into the air. He seemed to grab at nothing but his hands found something, a faint yellow warhammer waving into existence from nothing and quickly solidifying in his hands. He bellowed out in anger, arching his back and bringing the energy weapon down directly onto Ink's face who's eyes widened as she saw the weapon coming right at her. Impacting perfectly, the deafening smash that rung out shook everyone in the area, throwing slaves off their feet and hitting Ink with so much force that it smashed her head straight through the concrete and pulled her body up from the floor, making her flip on the spot and land painfully on her front instead. The slaves and nodes crowding around the area backed off in fear from the psyonic assault they just witnessed, stumbling away from the area desperately. Leaving a mess of knocked out controllers and slaves all over the floor as the lizard recovered from the attack, panting heavily and stumbling around as he regained his strength, but the figure grabbed him, hauling him onto her shoulder and quickly sprinting off. His vision blurry due to the amount of energy it took him to conjure the attack, he could barely see anything or understand what was happening, all he understood was that he was being carried off, his world shaking as the person sprinting off somewhere unknown for what seemed like hours to him.

When the world finally stopped rocking and shaking, the first thing he could see properly were a familiar pair of big beautiful purple boobs, directly in front of his eyes. Her arms rubbing under his arms and sides. Her expression written with concentration above him but lighting up as he began staring back, upon realising it was who he thought it was, he threw his arms around her and hugged her close. Feeling those massive soft purple boobs pressing against his chest, he nearly cried with joy, knowing it was her. He was sitting on her lap, facing towards her chest and her arms were under his, grabbing something behind him. He became distinctly aware of engine rumbling and realised that Seeth was actually piloting something.

She nuzzled her face against his gently whilst keeping her eyes fixed out the cockpit.

“I managed to find us a drop-ship... so now we're just flying over the city and across it, i'm just taking us to the secondary dock to grab a space capable ship and get the hell out of here...” She smiled, kissing his ear and he hugged her tightly back. The rumbling on the ships engines were sending vibrations through the entire metal chassis as the small dropship made its way over the cityscape the two had just been fighting through. There was a calmness and happiness in Diego which he hadn't had in months, being next to his love again as he nuzzled against her sweetly. But the calmness of the scene wasn't to continue, as a figure watched the vehicle pass overhead.

Pointing her cannon directly at the craft, Leech hesitated for a second as she watched it fly over-heard, knowing exactly who it was. Her grip quivered on the cannons handle but she steadied herself, aiming it more precisely. Inhaling deeply, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Do it. We didn't come all this way for you to pussy out now Leech. DO IT!” Ink's murky voice whispered to her.

Leech was clearly struggling with the thought, but the encouragement from the monster behind her steadied her grip further and she pulled the cannons trigger, firing a huge blue stream of energy into the sky, ripping right through the tail of the craft, both of its engines exploding in bright blue fireballs and sending the ship tumbling from the sky, slamming through a building and impacting the ground not too far from Leechs position. She sighed and rubbed the back of her head, unsure if she made the right call or not. Ink's hand patted her on the back to reassure her.

“You just made sure we didn't waste our resources Leech, you made the right decision. Lets go find that wreckage.”

Diego wasn't quite sure what happened in the next few seconds, one second he was holding onto Seeth's torso, the next, he wasn't sure which way up or down. A tremendous pressure was felt all over him and the next thing he knew, he'd blacked out. But what Seeth saw infinitely scarier. She knew they'd been shot down, she got to see them plummeting through the air, no matter how hard she pulled on the controls, there was no way to steer the craft back to safety, and it all happened to quickly, she didn't get a chance to pod out or attempt to jump. Instead, she saw them hurtling towards a nearby skyscraper and smashing straight through it. She got to see Diego's grip releasing from her chest and his limp body being hurled from her lap and through the cockpits window, smashing through the glass and exiting the ship in a manner that was most likely to induce death, it looked more like some hideous beast had ripped him from her and thrown him across the sky, but that hideous beast was merely physics. He was hurled through the air, spinning through the air, crashing through a section of the building and plummeted down to the ground below, his body fading from her view as the craft spun and tumbled, suffering a similar fate.

Bent metal, burning fuel and hissing electronics was what Seeth awoke to. Her body entangled in damaged framework, but her first thought was straight to Diego, remembering that she saw him smash through the cockpit and land separately. She heaved a damaged console off her lap and started to free herself from the twisted metal prison. Kicking a panel in front of her out to reveal some daylight pouring through, she pried and tore the ruined chassis out of her way and clambered free of the craft. Every inch of her ached, the impact making her legs shaky and her muscles tremble, but what she saw killed her more than any injury ever could. A small black figure was laid out a few meters ahead of the craft, but it was obvious to anyone that his form was not as it should be.

She started to run towards him, but felt something tug against her, followed by an immense pain in her thigh, she looked down to see a length of ripped up cable, stabbed straight into her flesh from the ship itself. She winced and tugged it straight away, purple fluid leaking from the wound as she did so. But attempting to walk forward resulted in something else seemingly pulling her backwards, but this time, it felt like someones arms.

The massive form of Ink was directly behind her, attempting to subdue her and restrain her, holding her arms behind her back and keeping her still. As Leech laughed and walked past, walking towards the male on the floor. Seeth kicked around and screamed at Leech, tears running down her face as Ink pulled her back. She strained and struggled but Ink was just too strong for her and held her securely.

Leech's face turned from one of sadistic glee to one of increasing shock as she approached the male, who was lying still on the floor. Leech hadn't actually paid any attention to him until now, as she came ever closer. The males back was facing everyone, shielding the view of his front. There was a small white object protruding through his shoulder blade, with blood dripping down from it, confusing Leech as she walked around his front, his back was bruised and cut up from the days events, but in comparison to the lizards front...

Both Seeth and Ink stopped fighting for a second as they watched Leech walk around his front, her face expressing everything it needed to as her jaw dropped in horror and she quickly covered her mouth his her hand, dropping her weapon to the floor.

Blood pouring from the males mouth, nose and left eye, his forearm smashed to bits, stapled to his own chest by the bone... the white object sticking out his shoulder blade was his own bone from his forearm. His tail and legs bent hideously out of shape by the impact, curling around each-other, the bones in them crumpled and broken. Jaw half buried into the dirt, open wide and completely still. His other arm, damaged and cut badly under his own body. His hair was tangled, messy and laced with chunks of stone and glass, ears damaged and bent over painfully into the dirt, the other lopsided and unable to support itself. From the back, he might have resembled someone damaged or wounded, from the front, his resemblance was far closer to that of a corpse.

Leech kneeled down and placed her fingers on his neck, feeling for a pulse, only to find absolutely nothing. The stillness only further proved by the lack of chest movements or breathing. He was absolutely still. You could almost see a tear in Leech's eye as she stood, breathing heavily and clutching her own arm.

“He... h-he's dead...”

The silence that followed could have been used as a torture method it was so painful to listen to. Leech began shaking her head and stared up at Seeth, who herself was staring at the lizards body, the tears running thick as she remained silent, open mawed in disbelief, unsure of what to think. The arrival of Moltezz and Plasia behind Ink, who's initial words were quickly silenced by the scene itself, only further intensified the feelings running through everyone. But amongst the depression bleeding into the atmosphere, there was an anger, a rage.

Seeth had felt angry before, she'd been feeling it for a while now, but this feeling? This was something else, a pressure, a build up within her, it didn't feel like it was ever going to stop building, every time she thought she couldn't feel any angrier, it proved her wrong. It just wouldn't stop. She glanced around at everyone, feeling nothing but pure hatred and contempt for everyone here. They'd robbed her and Diego of their dreams, their time together, their happiness. Diego was her everything and now, after all this time she'd spent trying to get back to him, for him to fall like this because of them, drove her insane.

She roared out that same scream she did back in the dungeon, when Diego first escaped, shattering the windows on the surrounding buildings, shaking the moisture of all the puddles around and wrenched herself free of Ink's grip as they all stood in shook of what was before them. Grabbing a lump of burning metal from the side of ship, she slammed the plating against Ink's head and downed the beast in a single hit, standing over her body and began repeatedly pounding the metal plate against Ink's head, over and over again, watching her black carapace crack and splinter, with thick black goo leaking from the wounds over her face. Ink raised her arms to try and stop the assault but Seeth just batted them out the way and continued to smash her face in. Moltezz and Plasia charged over to help but found themselves being assaulted instead and Seeth used the same piece of metal to crack Moltezz straight in the jaw and stabbed the corner of the plating into Plasia's shoulder, making the girl howl and fall to the floor. Moltezz began fighting Seeth directly, the two just directly exchanging punches to the face, but not matter how hard Moltezz hit Seeth, she never seemed to weaken, she only punched back harder and harder, soon Moltezz found herself going limp and weak as Seeth continued to lay into her face, following her down to the floor and repeatedly smacking Moltezz's head with everything she had until she stopped moving, her blood flowing from her carapace as much as it was Seeth's knuckles, lips bleeding and eye cut up. She dismounted from Moltezz's torso, to hear the whimper of Plasia who was limping away, using the side of the wrecked ship for support.

Seeth ran over to her, grabbing the back of her head and slamming it through the ships shell, over and over again, Plasia howled and tried to stop herself, thrashing around awkwardly and desperately but Seeth was far too strong to be stopped, she reared back and seized Plasia's head with both hands , slamming it against the ship once more to down her and grabbing strands of her dreadlocks whilst standing on the back of her head, pulling on them with all her might, making Plasia scream in agony and flail around even more desperately than before as Seeth ripped out entire chunks of the girls flesh hair. She flipped Plasia over again, hands covered in both her own blood, Moltezz's, Inks and Plasia's blue blood which was pouring from the back of her head, she sat on Plasia's torso and fixed her hands around the blue girls throat, squeezing and crushing it as hard as she could. Plasia welped and cried out, tears pouring down both of their faces and Plasia coughed and chocked, looking up at Seeths rage filled eyes for mercy as the girl felt Plasia's throat collapsing and being crushed in her hands.

But just as the world seemed to blur and fade for Plasia, Seeths eyes widened and she stopped. The sound of a desperate moan and yelp filled her ears. She looked over to see the male making the most horrendous sound he'd ever made. A desperate plee for help as he used his one crushed but still functional arm to drag himself along the dirt and out of the hole his own body had made from the impact. Seeths grip released instantly from Plasia's neck and she stood, sprinting over the field of bodies laying on the floor and over the lizard, who was wheezing painfully and gargling his own blood by accident. His one eye was badly damaged and bleeding from a chunk of stone stuck on it, but the other looked around in his limited field of vision for any sign of help coming, his jaw still stuck in the dirt and broken open painfully.

Seeth quickly ran over to his front and kneeled down in front of him, putting her hand softly on his cheek and smiling the best she could at him. His singular eye returned her gaze and quickly glazed over with tears upon seeing her. She leant in closely and peaked him as gently as she could on the nose, trying her best not to show how utterly terrified she was. Her lips covered in his own blood as she came back up.

“My little lizard hero...” She whispered shakily to him. “Y-you're going to be alright... ok hun...?” She was fighting back the tears the best she could but they were coming through no matter how hard she tried. “I-i-i'm just going to run and go get help ok? We'll find medical help a-a-an' you'll be just fine right...? You stay alive for me now ok? Don't m-make m-me beg b-because I will!” She smiled, giving out a pathetic giggle, but the male painfully shook his head to the best of his ability. He was unable to talk, given the state of his mouth, but instead, Seeth began to hear his voice in her head, telepathy was Diego's least used ability but it was one he was taught as a Zion knight.

“Don't leave me.” His voice was slow, despite it being telepathy and he spoke in short, pain filled sentences. “I think this is where I go....”

Seeth shook her head nervously. “N-no... Diego no. This is... no, no. No. Don't... don't fucking say things like that... You told me we'd... we'd travel the stars together... You don't get to just...” She began quivering all over and had to steady herself over the tears that poured down her face. “We haven't... we haven't made love under a dying super-nova... you made me a promise! You don't get to just die here, after all this!”

“I love you... I'm so sorry.... I love you Seeth.”

“Diego! DIEGO NO!” She would have tried to speak more but instead nothing but gibberish and tears came out. She steadied herself again to the best of her ability, unsure of what to say or do. She didn't want to give up at all, but he wasn't the melodramatic type... if he was saying it, he was saying it for a reason. He reached up with his crumpled arm and she grabbed it softly, kissing the back of his damaged paw and sobbing. “I-i... oh god... I love you too Diego... I love you so... so much...” She crouched over him and hugged him the best she could, kissing him on the cheek and staying close, holding his hand tightly, trying her best not to crush it.

“At least... I get to see you... before I leave...”

A small smile broke over her face and she nodded. “Y-yeah... always looking on the bright side aren't you?” But as quickly as it washed over her face it came straight off and she collapsed onto his broken frame, crying into his neck. “Why did I have to fall for you?!”

In the distance however, a large armoured figure approached, being allowed by another. The smaller of the two was clutching into a large bag tightly and she was practically being dragged along by the other. They approached Seeth quickly, revealing themselves to be Leech and the recently corrupted Mooki, now known just as Mook. Leech quickly pulled Seeth off who didn't resist and just fell backwards, crying her eyes out too much to realise what was even going on. Leech had put her armoured helm back on and concealed her face, whilst Mook was still looking quite badly wounded from the grenade detonation.

“FIX HIM!” Leech demanded, pointing at the crumpled male sternly. Mook kneeled down, putting the bag down in front of herself and rummaging through it.

“Holy shit... what the hell happened to him?!” Mook exclaimed, shocked at the state the male was in.

“Doesn't matter. He lives, or you die as well.” Leech retrieved her cannon and pointed it at the back of Mook's head. “I don't care what it takes, you need something, you tell me and i'll get it.” Leech leaned over to Seeth who was looking far worse than any of the 3 other czarites she beat up over by the ship. “Seeth. Listen to me.” Leech leaned in and grabbed her hand, glancing back quickly to see Mook pulling needles out of the bag as well as several different fluid filled vials. “I have no idea why i'm even doing this, I was threatening to kill him earlier and now i'm trying to save the stupid little bastards life... he stole my best friend and is single handedly driving my empire into the floor with our kinds obsession with him...” She sighed, glancing back again after hearing the male give a blood filled gargle of a growl once a needle was stuck in his neck. “He's brought nothing but problems to us... But i'm determined to be the bigger person, for once in my life... Mook! Hows he looking?! I thought he was dead!”

“No, he wasn't dead when you found him... He's a Coralith Komodo, their species fakes death inadvertently when grievously wounded as a way of warding off aggressors.”

Seeth looked up at Leech with glassy eyes. “If you thought he was dead, why did you come back?”

“Because... because... I don't know! I just... I couldn't not try. I had to do something... Is he going to live Mook?!”

“Uhm... Its too early to say! He's not in a good shape incase you didn't see! I'm doing my best to stabilise his condition. If I can do that, he should live. Coralith Komodo's can regenerate from pretty much anything as long as they survive it... Can I tend to my own wounds after...?”

“Only once he's alright. I told you, he dies, you die. I wasn't fucking around.”

“Uhm, ok...” Mook gulped and frantically searched through the bag for more equipment. “Cmon Mook... You can do this... you have the equipment... you know how to do this...” She tended to him the best she could, injecting vials of nano fluid into areas of him, disinfecting his wounds and attempting to stabilise his condition. She pulled his forearm's bone free on his chest with a bit of a strain and quickly sealed the wound. “H-he's only gonna live if he wants to though... I can see him dropping off... He's not fighting! He's just accepting it!” Mook cried out, becoming panicked as Diego's vital signs began dropping off again. “I.. I can't do anything if he doesn't try to live!”

Leech raised her cannon, standing up from Seeth and pointing it straight at the back of Mook's head. “Fix. Him.”

“I can't! He's not trying to survive!”

The cannon whirred to live, powering itself up. “Then I suggest you try something diff-”

Leech's sentence was cut off mid way as Seeth picked herself up and kneeling back down at Diego's side, stroking his cheek and softly grabbing his hand again. “Cmon my little lizard... you made me a promise... and you always keep your promises, don't you?” She smiled softly, leaning into his ear, flicking it over so it hung properly and whispering sweet nothings to him. “He just needs something to live for, like everyone...”

The effect on his vital signs was nearly instantaneous, he began stabilizing properly, his heart rate turning into a more regular and healthy rhythm as the nano bots began fixing his internal injuries to the best degree it could. Seeth's smile kept getting wider as she saw fighting back against death itself for her.

She looked back at Leech who was watching intently. “So... uhm... Leech... what exactly is happening now then...?”

“You're taking Diego and leaving this place. Theres a spare ship for you, a space capable one, its supplies are ok but you'll need to stop somewhere for more food I think after a few weeks. I've decided that you were right. You deserve to be happy. And if thats with this little bastard then so be it. I'll just have to deal with that. I'd rather you be happy somewhere without me than be unhappy by my side Seeth. I'll tell the others you just escaped with him. I assume they'll come to find you again, the new Trio want Diego now, they have the hunger for him, as does Ink. But i'll be my best to delay them... How long until he can be moved Mook? Seeth needs to get out of here.”

“I'm going to inject him with a seizer to lock his bones up, he'll be alright to move in a few minutes but he's extremely delicate. By careful with him and let his body heal itself. Coralith Komodo's are tough and he'll be fine with plenty of rest and love... I think...” She took a deep breath and sat back, watching as the lizards bleeding wounds slowed to a stop, a sign that the nano bots were doing their job properly. Seeth stuck her arms under him and slowly picked him from the floor, dislodging his jaw from the ground finally. She held him close and turned around to see Leech taking her helm off, her eyes sore from tears she'd been crying. The large green girl leaned in and gave the lizard a peck on the nose before looking at Seeth and nodding.

“Go Seeth... Go be happy with him... I'm sorry I put you through any of this...”

“You could come with us Leech... You've shown me a side of you today we could both get along with...”

Leech sighed and shook her head “I... I can't do that Seeth... as nice as that sounds... i've begun something here, something I enjoy... it might not have been good for you, but i'm enjoying this whole empire thing we've got going on... And i've put too much in to go back now... Thank you though... Now go... just fucking go before I change my mind! The ship is in dock 6, there should be no one there... i'll do my best to stop the others coming after you... but be prepared this time if they do!”

Seeth nodded and smiled at Leech who shyly returned the expression. She looked down at the male in her arms, who was completely out of it and still looking like an utter mess. But his chest was rising and falling as he breathed, and that alone was proof he was still alive. Seeth held him close and started to run off towards the docks as Leech suggested. Quickly dashing through the empty streets, through the dock's gates and towards the landing pad, there the ship was stationed. All as was as Leech described, the ship was slightly smaller than the last they'd escaped on last time, and it wasn't as well stocked, but there was more than enough for them to get by on for the time being.

Dashing up the back ramp, she laid Diego down onto a medical bed, turning the auto systems on to make sure he was alright and quickly dashed off to the cockpit, turning the engines in and closing the back ramp. She sighed, happy that her friend had saved her lovers life, but sad that she'd rejected coming with her. It was just one of those things... Leech was a different person to Seeth and she always would be, but Seeth would always be thankful for how that scene turned out... she didn't want to imagine what state she'd be in if Leech hadn't arrived with Mook...

She pulled on the controls, flipping the engine engages on, causing the ship to hover off the landing pad, hands shaking from nerves as she gripped the throttle and pulled the ship out of the dock, flying it into the evening sky further.