The Unmade Flotilla (Scene - Completed)

[Karl Jak]

The naval force that had set out from Command Point 1 lumbered to the southeast. Having just smashed an exploratory force of unmade vessels, they continued their mission toward the epicenter of the Containment Dome. Radar had already indicated that there was another, slightly larger group of enemy ships lying up ahead, and rather than sit on their laurels, they intended to deal the unmade what would hopefully be another grievous wound.

The lead carrier remained on its toes as it pressed forward. Most of the enemy ships were well out of attack range, but there was still something in the air that made the hairs stand up on the necks of every sailor, pilot, and soldier weaving their way through the vessel.

Whatever it was, it was fast and fatal.

Like a bolt of lightning, the metallic mass lanced through the carrier. Great spouts of superheated water erupted upward as the halves of the ship immediately began to take on a fatal amount of water.

As the rest of the squad sprung into defensive actions, there was another flash as a massive aircraft carrier was suddenly in the center of their formation, and its entire complement of weaponry was belching into the afternoon skies without a moment’s hesitation.

***​

Characters Involved: Phantoon + Ken'ichi + Nothing There

Notes: You are joined by the same naval group, but it’s seemingly already suffered a crippling blow, as one of its main ships is sinking and several others are already dead in the water as well. The unmade colossus that serves as the ‘leader’ of this fleet is likely the priority of the Bonds, but your ships are also outgunned, too. It will be a tricky balancing act. Up ahead is an Unmade force that is triple the size of your supporting ships. They'll swarm their own fighters, and the battle will mostly be in the air before the ships move in close to determine supremacy over this portion of the ocean. Much like before, there are unmade monsters in the oceans as well, which will prey upon those who fall from ships (and the ships themselves, naturally).

Enemy NPC Characters: Unmade Broadside – A Size 6 transformer who can alternate between a massive aircraft carrier, a slightly less massive jet, and a robot form. He’ll do so quickly, to promote chaos while the rest of the fleet mops up.

Length of Scene: This Scene will last for 72 hours
Post Count/Size: 2 posts / 2000 words maximum (for each participant)
Other Stuff: Others MAY join this scene if they move along this path.

Good luck.

 

[Ridley]

Ridley felt rather cheated by the current events. He’d went to all the trouble to gain Phantoon’s assistance, gained the ability to stealthily strike while hiding within the void, gaining the advantage of striking where his opponents would never expect it.

He wasn’t expecting the Unmade to do the same, as an aircraft carrier plopped in the midst of the fleet.

Where the hell was my aircraft carrier?

If Phantoon noticed his Mirth, he did not comment, but the eldritch entity’s eye stared out at what laid beneath the water. Just as formidable as the armada above was the armada below, a veritable ocean of great megalodons, giant squids, submarines and other gnawing, hungering unmade.

Phantoon’s hunger, however, dwarfed even Darkseid’s desire to unmake, seeing this feast, and the great eldritch beast rushed forward through the water, it’s focus briefly submerging even Ridley into it’s hungering desire.

The titan made it’s way through the water as a great, scarred Megalodon lunged to consume him, but Phantoon’s body never made contact with the shark’s teeth, the beast phasing through Phantoon’s body - a body that grew more solid as the beast turned, grabbing the great fish in one hand like a child grabbing a mouse, before pulling it closer.

Tendrils latched onto the Shark, and a sickly green glow surrounded the Apex predator as it’s spasming struggles slowed, growing more and more still as that glow fled it’s body and Entered Phantoon’s grasping tentacles, it’s eye bloodshot with excitement as it finished it’s meal in moments, throwing the beast aside - and into another unmade Submarine, as the Undersea armada turned it’s focus to Phantoon’s gluttonous feasting.

The Great squid strode forward, intent on continuing it’s crusade, but it found, with some surprise, that it couldn’t.

“Phantoon!” Ridley growled from within.

“I will not be denied my feast!” The pirate general protested, but Karl Jak’s collar held strong, and Ridley’s will held stronger.

“You follow my orders.” Ridley snarled. “You can siphon the corpses afterwards, scavenger.”

Phantoon gave a wail of displeasure that echoed through the water, and filled even the sky battle above with it’s distorted howl. But it held.

“You became a fool when presented with a meal. As normal.”

“...then, Lord Ridley, how do we proceed?” Phantoon sniped back, but the edge of Phantoon’s hunger had been sated, and the rationality seemed to have at least partly returned to the psychic menace.

Ridley’s response was simple. “Cloak yourself once again. We must strike precisely as I order…”

Phantoon glared with his single eye, as he inspected the ocean around him. The Beast was angry, but Ridley was right. If he’d attempted to continue his feast, he’d have had to face the entirety of the Unmade’s underwater forces, far from support.

So instead, he turned, his astral energies enveloping him like a cape as he vanished from view.

---

As the battle raged above, The underwater beasts approached, Karl Jak’s own fleet complement lacked it’s own undersea-monster-division to come and aid them, and so the beasts were quick to approach as the previous monster disappeared, the submarines each protected by an escort of beasts with too many teeth, eyes, and appendages for a kind god to have ever conceived of.

As the unmade host approached, a hundred mouths ready to tear a hundred holes in the bottom of Karl Jak’s ships.

Of course, despite what Darkseid’s lieutenants may have thought, as the oceanic beasts consolidated, Karl Jak was no fool, and more importantly, he didn’t promote a work environment that let fools survive for very long. a swarm of canisters dropped into the ocean, each glowing with a variety of explosive solutions - *Compressed Xenomorph acid* for coverage, on the edges of the fleet, fragmentary/high-explosive within the inner ring, filled with a hail of Adamantine spikes and a generous amount of plasma, and Ki for sheer penetrative power within the middle of the sphere.

In a world with so many threats beneath the waves, Karl’d have to be a fool *not* to double up on the Depth charges, right?


The unmade monsters were quick to respond, favoring evasion and acting with a chilling organization that belied their monstrous nature - but there were simply too many bombs in the water to avoid, too many threats. A Small example of a kraken went down to literally eating a Ki blast, the golden light Bursting from within the beast and leaving a bloody mess in the water where it once floated, while a dark, submarine was left broken and sputtering from it’s hull being compromised by a hail of adamantine spikes, the blast leaving it hardly operational. Other beasts that were lucky enough to try to escape the main kill-zone were sporting their own assortment of acid burns from the alien blood now infesting the water.

Ridley and phantoon sat in the midst of it, the Tyrant holding Phantoon back from participating as they observed the damage, watching Karl’s solution strike the unmade.

Ridley had to admit it was effective, and the barrage had certainly made him consider some similar options for fighting the unmade in the future - but they were still not enough to stimy the threat, as many beasts and several submarines still remained operational, and the carrier’s guns were still opening fire.

This was not his concern, however, as Ridley urged phantoon forward towards the fallen unmade submarine. “Grab it!” He snapped from within Phantoon. The submarine’s red lights were flickering, as it’s engines slowly started to power down, but it was intact enough for study within Phantoon’s grasp.

Their moment would be later.

 

[Ridley]

The battle raged above just as it did below, unmade fightercraft scrambling in an attempt to gain Dominance. Karl jak’s fighter crews were supported by the titan, nothing there, but the sheer advantage given by the surprise aircraft carrier known as Broadside dropping into the battle above had kept their formation disrupted, and allowed the unmade fleet to close in.

Below, Karl Jak’s anti-monster measure number one had dealt a lot of damage, but the submerged section of the Unmade Flotilla had quickly learned evasive maneuvers, leaving the depth charges of minimal effect.

Phantoon hungered, and his mind now searched Ridley’s patience eluding him in the face of the current threat.

“what are you waiting for, predator?”

Ridley’s response was one that fought through bile building in the back of his throat.

“Opportunity.”

“your allies are losing to prey. We should be attacking, draining their monsters of life-”

“And then losing. I have thrown away armies before, Phantoon. And I have fought the unmade. They do not lose to Morale. Only annihilation. Annihilation I-”

Ridley caught himself, a rare thing even in the presence of Phantoon. “we will provide.

Phantoon was silent for a moment, not out of a lack of interest in debating, but because his eyes picked up a new set of entities entering the water, darting between each and every one.

Ridley recognized these from an eternity ago, a rare munition Nazrabar had sold to the more affluent in Mesa Roja’s black market.. Spider mines, though repurposed for underwater work. A hive-mind learning algorithm of explosive robots that learned from every kill - and in this case, had the thrusters to swim to their targets, instead of waiting for them to come in range.

The first set caught the unmade wholly unprepared for the tiny explosives, and the sea’s color changed to another shade of reddish-brown as many of the beasts were taken down. The submariners in this situation took evasive maneuvers, managing to avoid the mines… for now. Ridley could imagine the remaining mines were already comparing data in their neural networks, deciding how to properly destroy the more stable undersea threat…

There was a feeling of curiosity from Phantoon through their shared neural link, as the unmade navy began to re-group.

“Yes. it is time.” Ridley snapped, though Phantoon’s response was not the immediate enthusiasm he expected, but confusion. An eldritch being’s emotions were not something he needed to sort out in the moment, however - instead, the Space pIrate commander directed Phantoon’s gaze to another submarine, one he had noticed listing far too close to Phantoon’s delicate grasp.

The Ancient malevolent entity followed Ridley’s command precisely, grabbing the submarine with both hands like a two by four, whipping it closer before it had a chance to respond. The unmade systems screamed in response as it’s thrusters were pushed to full in a vain attempt to escape the unmade Titan, just as Ridley had expected and planned for.

Phantoon’s job was not to crush the submarine like so much steel, as satisfying as that would have been - no, thanks to their studies of the earlier design, and Ridley’s engineering knowledge, Phantoon’s niche was more subtle, - re-orient the submarine upwards, and with it’s claws of energy, prick *just* the right spot in the cabin to expose the crew to pressure.

The scarlet that floated from the unmade vessel was easy, but unnecessary confirmation of the total death of the crew, as phantoon pricked one more precise position in the engine, and let loose the unorthodox missile for Broadside’s underside. The submarine flew at top speed, fuel leaking as it quickly accelerated straight into the unmade Autobot’s bottom, and exploded in a brilliant conflagration of flame, the blast rippling through the Water with enough force to kill any nearby sea life - or fallen pilots of either stripe - and leaving damage all across Broadside’s hull.

Ridley’s exultation at such a clean kill slowed, as the Carrier continued to sink - but shifted, as well, the sounds of tearing metal distorted, but still audible from the sheer scale of the transformation taking place in front of him. The Unmade carrier distorted and twisted, legs and arms taking shape, as Broadside’s body morphed from Naval Vessel to Humanoid behemoth. Despite Phantoon’s cloaking apparatus, Broadside - guessing from the submarine strike, or having some radar capacities - found Phantoon’s mark quickly, firing a set of cannon blasts that sent the Titan reeling back as he landed on the sea floor.

Phantoon’s normal rage was nowhere to be seen, to Ridley’s surprise, as his mind raced on how to defeat his newest challenger, But Phantoon’s response was utter enthusiasm.

“It has a spark! One of the great machines!” Phantoon insisted with a savage clarity that made Ridley’s head ache.

“Meaning?” he snapped back.

“He is a feast beyond feasts!” Phantoon snapped back, as the Dragon’s growl reverberated. Phantoon’s single-mindedness was annoying, but it was also motivating, and Ridley encouraged motivation.

“Then feed!”

Phantoon let out an eldritch screech as he charged the Transformer, heedless of the gun pointed straight for him. Plasma fire streaked through the sea towards Phantoon’s body, only for the creature to simply step beneath it, phasing through the rock below as only it’s head was made visible.

With another flash, Phantoon left mortal sight, the Beast becoming invisible once more as Broadside was left looking around, waiting for the next reappearance of the creature.

The unmade Autobot’s lack of experience with invisible opponents cost him only a moment later, however, as twin hands clamped around his body from behind, pulling him off his feet, and into Phantoon’s slimy tentacles.

The sickly, unnatural sound of Phantoon’s organic energy drain disturbed even Ridley, as energon power travelled from within Broadside’s body and fed into Phantoon’s own body in ghastly fashion. The great Wyrm could feel Phantoon’s exultation as the struggling broadside was continuously drained, Fed upon greedily, hungrily, desperately, and for the first time in his life Ridley felt disgusted by another creature’s greed.

It was not to last, however, as Broadside slammed a hard elbow into Phantoon’s side, slamming the titan Into an underwater cliff.

The battle was far from over, but Phantoon refused to be denied his prize.

Sorry for not noting word count earlier, but 942 for the first post and 1044 for the second, according to Google doc's, for a total of 1,986 words.

 

[Lilith]

Lilith swung her new pair of sinew-bound legs off the edge of a ship, engaging in a heated philosophical debate with Ridley's eldritch acquaintance, before a blinding flare carved through the calm like a knife to the heart. In an instant, the aircraft carrier across her gaze was bisected straight down the middle, replaced by a smaller - though considerably deadlier looking - version of itself, absent of crew and bedecked with absurdly excessive artillery on every surface, almost as if compensating for its inferior proportions. This was the sort of phenomenon sailors prophesied in their tales of ghost ships manifesting on stagnant waters. This vessel, however, was very corporeal and revving up to cripple the remaining Syntech fleet.

The aircraft carrier locked the sights of its cannons on the surrounding ships. Rust flaked from its dark gray metal hull, its orange accents stained with blighted purple. “Surrender yourselves to Darkseid and we can end this fast!” the triple-changing transformer Broadside blared from his loudspeaker. His demands were met with gunfire peppering him from all sides. Damn, why doesn't that ever work? He could've been out on comfortable, reliable land, but noooo, the will of the Fallen Arbiter insisted otherwise. And on top of that, he was half his true length! His explanations of ‘I'm not short, I'm compact!’ didn't mitigate any jeers. Unfortunately, his day was about to get so much worse.

“More machines?!” Lilith groaned, voice projecting from Nothing There's insides. “Where's all the big hot monsters? I mean, besides you of course, Rid—” The eidolic energy glutton hosting the Wyvern captain surged into the ocean, heedless of Lilith's ranting. Guess she was handling things up top. Wait, I've done this before. Maybe if she just pretended the fleet was full of Skysnobs, she could force the motivation to tear them apart.

Lilith leapt into the aerial unmade forces buzzing above the cranky aircraft carrier, ramming into a sentient fighter jet like a cat snatching a bird out of the air, gnashing the organic-steel compound plating between Nothing There's chest maw before spewing out the crumpled wreckage. The Unmade's strength in numbers and expendable armada was their prime advantage, and in any other case, they would effortlessly overwhelm any smaller squadron. They couldn't have anticipated this fact turning against them.

As Nothing There sprouted massive whale-sized claws from its arms, Lilith sundered swathes of unmade aircrafts and brittle parademons, blazing engines and shredded guts raining onto the sea. She needn't hack away at every enemy, though. They soon fired erratically upon their own unit, colliding with each other like a field of headless chickens.

While the flock descended into utter anarchy, Lilith turned her attention to the aircraft carrier, which had spontaneously converted into its robot form. Even though Ridley wasn't struck directly, her wrath ignited all the same. She launched herself at Broadside and crashed into his back with a supersonic dropkick, a shockwave of organs erupting from the impact. The bot swiveled around, hewing at the swift human-shaped mass of flesh with his vibro-axe and firing pulse rounds from his blaster rifle. But Lilith was relentless in her berserk assault, maneuvering around the colossal bot and bombarding him with clusters of teeth-laden mouths that gnawed into his frame. Broadside struggled to land a direct shot at the small yet nimble beast, between the squishy muck slathering his weapons, his sapped energon, and these dreadful ocean currents interfering with his targeting systems.

Lilith kept on pressuring the transformer, though she didn't seem to penetrate too deeply into their armor. Although she hadn't intended it, her distraction gave the Syntech fleet a chance to retreat and mobilize what troops they had left. A hope, however slim, that they would endure against the Unmade.

 

[Karl Jak]

Update:

The Unmade Flotilla has been checked, and is in a retreat. Your forces, already shaken by the initial attacks, are too weary to pursue the enemy. Essentially, this part of the map is now 'clear', but Broadside will escape to fight another day.

One of you may elect to write a resolution post, if you have final words for Mr. Side. Otherwise, you can feel free to move again in ~12 hours.

Nothing There suffers a Minor Injury
Ken'ichi suffers a Major Injury and will retreat back to Command Point 1 (@Amalia Eckern)

Phantoon gets +2 Points
Nothing there gets +1 Points

 

[Ridley]

Co-written by Lilith and Ridley

Fractured hulls. Totaled engines. Warped rudders. Thrusters sputtering out their noxious, dying breaths. Glutinous, putrid tar. Loathsome snowflakes produced from the ruinous bloodshed above, languidly drifting down and desecrating the callous ocean depths. Lilith's aquatic clash with the goliath transformer persisted, her onslaught of insatiable teeth incising Broadside's chassis like lithophagic termites. Her immense array of bone blades deflected their axe swings and fourth-rate plasma blasts - this robotic reject could never compare to her master's sultry breath.

High-frequency vibrations rippled through the water as Lilith propelled herself away from the transformer's galvanized weapon. An errant thought crossed her mind; the mech resembled a neglected children's toy, but maybe she could repurpose it for a more adult audience. She pinned the idea for later.

The brawl boiled over to the sea's surface, the meaty mass murderer and the steel death machine breaching the underside of a Syntech cruiser already in shambles. The vessel gave way to the enormity of the corrupted transformer, its vital compartments and lavish amenities laid to waste in an eruption of brine and splintered plating. Lilith plunged her razor claws into Broadside, detaching them in a manner not unlike a porcupine's quills, before twirling back and barreling through the sinking combination of warship and luxury yacht. Ballrooms, chandeliers, arcades, theaters, and extravagant diners were crushed by Nothing There's frenetic force, Lilith sliding and sidestepping a hail of lasers as Broadside fiercely fired upon her. The collateral damage was of little relevance to the mutant monstrosity, though she mangled a not-insignificant amount of sailors in the ensuing carnage.

“All this saltwater is screwing up my aim!” griped Broadside, chopping down the hungry tangle on his limbs. “You just had to fight out here, fleshbag!”

‘Come out, whoever you are!’ cried a generic female voices, obscured within the shambles of the ships.

“Whu—”

The transformer's confusion was met with a faceful of fresh bone spikes as Lilith lunged out from the charred naval wreckage like a miniature leopard with excessively overgrown claws.

Instead of retaliating, a new directive stirred in Broadside's processor, divined from the Ungod himself. Suddenly gears shifted and pistons reconfigured, his rifle and vibro-axe melding into his frame before he morphed into his jet mode, ascended, and prepared for takeoff.

Just as the triple-changer was about to speed away, Lilith clamped onto their cockpit and strapped herself down with a slew of sinews, using them like bungee cords for her raucous cargo. “I'm not done with you!” Lilith bellowed, rabidly thrashing and jostling her hijacked ride.

Broadside and the Unmade Flotilla, however, were content to cease their skirmish. The fighter jet transformer wildly arced and zigzagged overhead the retreating unmade squadron, trying to unseat the clingy pest like a rocket-powered bull. This wouldn't be an issue on stable ground, naturally, but the accursed sea breeze was discombobulating his gyroscope and making the whole ordeal far more inconvenient than it needed to be. He could use his heat-seeking missiles, a surefire way to oust the puny-yet-still-troublesome insect, but that was wading into mutually assured destruction territory, which would leave his unholy leader none too pleased.

“I don't have time for this!” the massive mecha groused, twirling and twisting and using every dogfighting tactic in his databanks to get rid of his undesirable passenger. Darkseid had bigger and better plans for him, after all. Hopefully on a wide, smooth island elevated a fair distance from the shore. Broadside could see it in his optics, mowing down heaps of the pathetic ants from his heightened position, no ocean or sky to disturb him. All the more reason to get a move on pronto.

With an abrupt nosedive, Broadside veered straight for an unmade carrier, a black and orange blaze as he obliterated the rusted decaying metalwork into a plume of fiery scoria. A necessary sacrifice for his mission's integrity. His turbine kicked into overdrive, whirring in a vociferous shrill and accelerating past the sound barrier with a deafening BOOM, clearing the hail of ash and oil-sparked embers with his hasty departure.

VVRREEEEEeeeeeaaaawww…

Lilith's target was nowhere to be found. Her blistered figure stood in the midst of the ship's smoldering remnants, looming with unfulfilled rancor. Did they seriously think they could escape her so easily? It'd be a disgrace to return now, not before eradicating every last enemy. The bullet holes and burns were inconsequential. She had so much more of herself to give, and she would not rest until her master was proud.

The unmade fleet hadn't gone too far. Lilith could catch up if she acted now. She bounded for the jet transformer's trail, then—


It smacked her like a paralyzing tsunami.


She didn't process the noise, at first. It was a husky, guttural tone, a voice who's command she couldn't help but obey. She discerned the singular word, an assertion of her being. A reminder that she was real, for losing her grasp of that truth was all too common.

Her name.

A flood of clarity washed over Lilith. Nothing There turned back, as did the Wyvern enforcer inside its fleshy confines. They slowed their momentum in the air, crashing onto the flaming shipwreck and engulfing themselves in the forlorn smog. Phantoon's ghostly veil evinced his otherworldly shape, phasing atop the subdued tides.

Nothing There's numerous eyes bored into the towering wraith's set of three. These were doubtlessly unusual circumstances. Lilith, a bodysnatching hodgepodge of organs. Ridley, a writhing void-forged cephalopod from beyond the pale. Even so, the sadomasochist's nostalgia was unmistakable. Her and the dragon's adventures on Opealon's waters felt so long ago. Where had the time gone?

Something must've changed. Lilith remained transfixed, tendons torn between two opposing inclinations, struggling against the raging monsoon in her head. She knew her hesitation to embrace her master was wrong - though that hasn't stopped her before. Yet this instance seemed especially shameful. It's this monster, she dismissed, denying the likelihood of her subconscious sentiments creeping through.

---
“Lilith.” Ridley’s growl echoed once more, amplified by and through Phantoon’s own body, as the flesh-beast before him turned its eyes to the eldritch abomination below. Phantoon’s astral claws sunk into a mostly intact aircraft carrier as it pushed itself up, the battered frame shuddering - but luckily for the crew, Phantoon’s size and weight were far from proportional - or consistent.

The eldritch eye that fell upon Lilith was now filled with that same reptilian rage that always stalked the dragon, even if the eye lacked that predatory edge. Phantoon’s writhing tentacles filled the silence combined with the uncomfortable squelching of Nothing There’s numerous organs and muscle fibers shifting, as any onlookers quieted in the face of this, worried of a possible confrontation.

“...We are leaving!” Ridley snapped with all the spiteful energy the dragon could muster - though it was directed at his enforcer, it was borne of his own hatred - for being the one to sound the alarm to retreat, and so early yet. Were these other circumstances, and he had the time, he would have gladly turned Broadside to liquid slag all on his own - but that was not his role here.

An itch unscratched from his time fighting the gemstone in Mesa Roja dug into his scaly skin, but so did memories of a different Ridley, several years ago, retreating in the same fashion. He had allowed the Helldivers to follow him, and secure their own doom in doing so. Though what happened next was a farce, he wished not to follow in the ill-fated footsteps of his former arch-enemies.


And it was immediately clear as he looked across the fleet he had fought alongside - from the fire and debris strewn across the water, to the scars and breaks across many others - that they was in no position to commit to further combat. The weak humanoids given to him needed time to recover their injuries and rest - and he was quite certain Karl Jak had no interest in giving him more if they squandered these resources.

“Those are my orders, Lilith.” Ridley stated flatly, noticing a flicker of indecisiveness - or hesitance. Whether that was from some over-eagerness on Lilith’s part or something else, it didn’t matter.

‘Aaahh man…’ sighed one of Nothing There's mouths, a male voice exhausted from a long day's work. Lilith had no response of her own, gliding away from the scorched metal bulk and landing besides Phantoon, not crushing any fighter jets for once. The two sat atop the carrier as they exchanged glances from within their respective aberrations.

Ridley kept a keen eye for anything - whether from friend or foe - that could give him an advantage or disadvantage. This included the moods of his underlings, and Lilith, for her part, was mostly an open book in the first place. And the normally chatty abomination was here, sullen and silent, the disgusting flesh giant mimicking the subtle intricacies of her mannerisms. Lilith had long since lost the rights to hide anything from him, after all.

This did not mean that Ridley relished the idea of actually engaging with her strange, mercurial emotions. But it did mean that he needed to - he couldn’t leave an issue like this alone, not when Lilith was a creature of feelings and impulse. His lead enforcer was normally crude, hedonistic, airheaded and predictable, and that last part, at least, was an integral part of what made her so effective.

The fact that the pirate lord was about to comfort a melodramatic woman still rankled, however.

The dragon’s growl reverberated through the irritated Phantoon.

“What, Lilith?” the drake addressed her, the annoyed glare coming from Phantoon’s eye showing more vexation than actual hatred in this moment.

“I could’ve done it, y’know,” she muttered under her breath, lacking her typical enthusiasm.

Ridley’s snarl from within was an old, familiar one, but it was not yet to an outright snap. “I will not repeat myself.”


Lilith placed one hand to her chest, her speech quickening. “Am I not strong enough, is that it?”

“Your recklessness is something I can’t afford in this war!”

“What are you so worried for? I'll be fine, just like always.”

“You’ve already taken damage!” Ridley castigated, contradicting his lieutenant sharply, and expecting a non-plussed response in return.

Instead, an uncomfortably long gap passed, as his lead enforcer bared their innumerable teeth against him. Ridley half-anticipated an attack, or perhaps some sort of rage-fuelled outburst, but their tantrum consisted of a solitary slam onto the ruined ship they quarreled upon.

After another pause, fluids started leaking from Lilith’s copious new eyeballs, emitting a repugnant smell as she turned away from the dragon. Ridley involuntarily sampled the disgusting odor, internally recoiling at the taste of salt and other, more caustic elements. Lilith was sobbing, and Ridley's surprise stifled his revulsion for a moment.

“You're disappointed in me, aren't you?!” Lilith wailed. “I'm not worthy…” she continued, the arm protruding from her head wilting like an emaciated flower and clasping her face. The bizarre biology of this inhuman monstrosity mimicking Lilith’s body language - with the exception of her lip movement and lash blinking - actually managed to bother Ridley more than her normal appearance, and this already felt like the beginning of a long campaign.

Ridley hadn't the faintest idea how to console Lilith. To talk sense into the over-emotional woman was nigh impossible with her incessant crying. The disconcerting noise drowned out any possibility of conceiving the right words to placate her misery. The old wyrm didn't need to, however. He settled on the one tool that reliably whipped his subordinate into shape, no matter the situation.
Phantoon’s great mass stood up, as an astral claw raked across Lilith's back with enough calculated restraint to inflict a superficial - yet painful - sting, bringing the enormous woman to her knees.

“If I was disappointed, you wouldn’t still be breathing from that, would you, Lilith?”

“Is this a mortal’s mating ceremony?” Phantoon’s voice echoed through Ridley’s brain, and the space dragon’s response was simply unrefined rage, the notion infuriating him far too much for words.

“Come. We’re rejoining the fleet,” Ridley barked to Lilith, who’s demeanor seemed to turn a complete 180.

The masochist nodded slowly, her manyfold eyes throbbing in bliss. “Of… course, master. I’m always ready to serve~”

Ridley gave a satisfied blink, his enforcer’s hysteria having been mitigated for now. So long as they remembered their role as his chess piece, the rest of this battle would be straightforward. Hopefully their lovesick loyalty would overcome their attention span in this regard.

Next to him, the fleet promptly commenced their repairs, saving who they could, and body-bagging those who hadn’t already vanished beneath the waves. It was time to finish this battle - and grow one step closer to impaling Darkseid himself.