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A Dragon Envenomed

Part 6

For TeryxC/Trial64

By Draconicon

It was a risk entering the heroes HQ as one of those already in it, but V's ooze was sufficiently flexible that they managed to mess with the cameras outside without raising an alarm. At least, no obvious ones; Teryx wasn't entirely convinced that the gate guard completely bought the fact that the cameras had shorted out at such an opportune moment, but they had been let through the front gate. If there was a record of the real Skybound being inside the HQ, then it didn't stop them from getting in.

The two-toned blue dragon felt like a passenger as V piloted them through the front door, his head turning inside of the bigger, winged, muscular 'dragon' shape that they had taken on. A raccoon looked up at them from the front desk to the right of the front door, nodding to himself.

"Skybound, hero. Power, creation of bondage gear. Status, A-tier, active. Correct?"

"That's right," V-Skybound said.

"Welcome back to HQ. Guess that errand of yours didn't take that long after all, heh."

Then Skybound had left. That was good; it gave them the time that they'd need to get to the computer and erase the report that Darksteel had given. With that gone, then they'd have some time to start working on safeguarding themselves. The heroes wouldn't be able to act without something to give them legal standing, not without someone being in active danger like in a robbery or assault. This would be something that they'd have to hand over to the police, and Teryx and V were of the same mind from that threat: it didn't matter.

"Well, welcome back. Get on in; I'm sure that you have plenty of paperwork to be getting on with," the raccoon said, waving him on.

Grunting in agreement, they walked through the small cubicle that separated the entryway from the rest of the HQ. Thick steel doors parted, the hum of hydraulics filling the air for a second before the hustle and bustle of an office replaced it. For the first time, civilians were given the chance to see the inside of the Hero HQ, and it was...

Shiny, he supposed, was the best word for it. All visible surfaces were covered in a chrome so well-polished that it looked like it ran like liquid across the floor, the walls, and the stairs that ran up from the ground floor to the balcony behind it. The desks, the computers, and the monitor frames were all the same liquid-silver sheen, and the screens themselves were among the only things breaking up the silvery color that ran over everything.

It felt like stepping into some sort of imitation of the future, and he felt lost for a second, particularly as he looked down to see the reflection of his body looking back at him. Skybound's blue-white body and costume looked like it hung upside-down in the floor, and eyes that weren't his own stared back.

_This is...

So different._

They were of one mind, or possibly fewer. Shaking their head, they made their way toward the elevator. One of them spotted a directory off to the side, showing the listing of where the different superheroes could be found. It was probably there for the city officials and other supers that needed to report to specific individuals, but it told them where Skybound kept his office in the underground facility: basement three, office 39.

They weren't alone in the elevator as they entered it. Three other heroes - two smaller, one his size - were waiting in the elevator, and they didn't get out before him. One of the smaller, a wolf that barely came up to his pecs, gave him a smile as they rode it down to the third basement level.

"Heh, back already?" the wolf asked.

"Heh...you know me. Efficient as I can be."

"Sometimes too efficient. Take a break from time to time, man. And maybe see if you can break someone in the process, if you know what I mean."

"Give it a rest, Scorcher," one of the others - the tall one - said. "You know that he's not interested."

"Heh, that's what makes it so fun."

V-Skybound rolled his eyes, but there was a definite little twitch down below. A second look at the wolf brought a few more details to the dragon's eyes. He was short, yes, but with a well-formed rump and a twink-ish build. He didn't have the same muscles as some of the more thuggish dragons and heroes that the two of them had seen around the city, but with a name like Scorcher, he probably had some sort of fire powers that were more than suitable for bringing people down.

And with the sultry looks that he kept giving, he was looking more and more like the sort of snack that would be more than a little fun to enjoy. Teryx's fantasies were percolating in the back of his mind, bubbling up and rolling down as his body responded, and V picked up on it.

_This one?

Maybe.

Interested?

Yes._

It was...definitely different to have V being so persistent in his head. No, not persistent, but...interested in what he wanted. There was less of that utter need to be in control - though that was there, to a lesser extent, considering that V was the one that piloted them around - and more of the need to make sure that Teryx was okay with what they were doing. The symbiote had turned from just making every decision and had started making sure that Teryx wanted what they were doing. It was...comforting, and made him feel like he was in good hands for once.

The elevator dinged at basement three, and they stepped forward. Scorcher followed at his side, chuckling to himself.

"So, what are you doing now?" the wolf asked.

"Paperwork."

"Sounds boring. Maybe I can keep you company. Sit on that desk of yours and give you a little inspiration."

"Sounds like you're wanting to do more than that."

"What can I say? I get interested in the big boys, if you know what I'm saying."

"Heh..."

"So, what are you thinking? Stick around, keep you company, maybe a little -"

V-Skybound swiped for the wolf's ass, but barely missed as the canine darted to the side at the last second. The smaller male stared at him for a moment, jaw agape, before blushing and stepping a little further out of the way.

"On second thought, I might have some paperwork of my own to get done. I'll, uh, I'll check in with you later."

And without warning, the wolf darted back for the elevator. V and Teryx considered chasing after him, but down here, there were far more cameras. They could make out four of them from where they were standing, and one pointed right down from the top of the elevator door.

_That might have been a mistake.

A mistake we can't repeat.

Hurry to the office.

Yes. Yes, hurry._

V-Skybound turned on his heels, making his way to office 39. Teryx was doing his best not to think about what would happen if they were caught out. If the heroes found out that a civilian had snuck into their headquarters, that would be bad enough, but if they found out why, if they connected him and V with what had happened to Darksteel, then they would be in so deep that he doubted that they'd ever come out again. The heroes would lock them up and throw away the key, and they'd be completely justified in doing so.

Office 39 was at the far end of the corridor, right next to the bathrooms. They stepped inside and shut the door. No windows here, nor cameras. The offices were clearly meant to be as private as possible.

A computer with the same chrome array as the lobby waited, and they sat down at the machine, tapping at the keys. V-Skybound looked up at the screen, and Teryx waited to see if they'd need a password or not.

They didn't. Skybound must have left in a hurry if he didn't do anything to secure his computer, but that was all the better for them. They nodded to themselves, typing away.

There were reports of all sorts on Skybound's computer. Most of them were the sort of paperwork that implied a case was closed and a job was done, giving the details that the cops would need to charge a captured criminal with a crime and get them moving through the criminal justice systems. Some of them were ongoing, long-term cases that the dragon was keeping an eye on for the cops, ensuring that anything big didn't get out of hand. Those were vague and a little more encrypted.

And then, there were the pending reports. Or rather, report.

Teryx and V stared at the case details that had been assembled on them. There was nothing immediately linking the pair of them to the rape of Darksteel, but there was an audio recording of the dolphin's deposition attached to the case file. The other details - such as their typed-up description, the events of the incident, and the location where it happened - were entered in text, but the actual deposition was done as a verbal one. Probably meant as a means of ensuring that nobody could say that the deposition was faked or misinterpreted.

And it was possibly the only copy of it, if they were lucky.

_If we delete that...

Safety. Security.

Delete._

Their fingers hovered over the keyboard as they imagined what their life would be like with this done. There wouldn't be any more fear of the heroes; Darksteel had been drained of everything that he knew, and the drone that was left at the hospital would bear no resemblance to the dolphin hero. Skybound might have the deposition copied somewhere, but the memories that they'd taken from the dolphin suggested that was very unlikely. The dragon hero carried the minimum possible at all times, and that meant getting file storage back as fast as possible. He would have erased it as soon as it was in the system.

One little click, and the pair of them would have their free lives back. One little click, and all this pain and suffering would be gone.

The door thumped open.

V-Skybound whipped his head up and met the eyes of the real one. The original didn't have the subtle shimmer-effect that they did, and when they were standing side by side, the comparison was impossible to miss. V's fakery made them slide down into the uncanny valley if they had the real one beside them.

"...I don't know how you got in here, but you're going down," Skybound said. "Step away from the machine."

"Now," Scorcher said, stepping out from behind Skybound. "Or I'll take you down myself."

It was just barely possible that they might be able to talk their way out of this. Teryx had always imagined heroes to be reasonable, but now -

Predators seeing prey, V 'thought' at him. Not safe, not ever. Not with them. They see prey, they hunt.

Which meant that they only had one option. V-Skybound pushed the button, and the computer hummed softly.

"Report Deleted."

"You little -"

"Scorcher, no!"

The wolf was already on the move, lunging for them. A fireball surged in his hand, clearly meant to be a finishing blow right from the start. Any normal person would have had their face burned off from that punch, and the wolf shouted at the top of his lungs as he leaped over the desk for them.

But they weren't a normal person.

It was arguable that they weren't even a person anymore.

V-Skybound swept their arm out, and as the blow came around, their fist swelled and flattened. By the time they fully extended their arm, it was less of a fist and more of a goo-wall coming around, and it slammed into the wolf with all the force of a freight train barreling down the tracks. The blow sent the smaller super flying backward, hitting the wall hard enough to conk out almost immediately.

As they pulled their arm back, they met the other dragon's eyes. Skybound was going to be far more of a threat; the other dragon might not be quite as strong as V was - though he would probably come close - but the pair of them already knew that he had greater experience with fighting, and he had a superpower that would likely leave them in serious danger. The best course of action would have been running, but with Skybound standing between them and the way out...

V-Skybound settled themselves, one leg pulled back and the other bent slightly. The real Skybound stood with his hands to the side, fingers balled into fists as he took a deep breath before focusing his attention fully on them.

"Whatever you are, it's clear that you were the one that put Darksteel in the hospital. You've deleted my report...but that doesn't mean I can't get another one out of you right here and now."

"You can try," V-Skybound said, using the other dragon's voice.

"I don't have to try. I will succeed."

Their chances weren't good, but Teryx realized it was worth than they thought as V-Skybound leaped forward and missed with three fast punches. Any of the trio of blows could have knocked someone normal out flat, and even a super would have gone down sucking air for a few seconds if they connected. Skybound, however, was faster than he looked; despite standing taller than Teryx did without V's help, the blue-white dragon moved with blurring speed, darting this way and that to stay ahead of their blows. He ducked under the first punch, rolled around the second, and leaned sideways for the third -

"Nngh!"

And then brought his own hand up. The hit slammed into their right elbow hard enough to knock their arm clean off, the goo turning to liquid as it hit the floor. It barely avoided severing Teryx's arm off at the same time, and only quick action from V kept his limbs all attached to his body.

As it flowed back down, replaced in short order, Skybound took a more defensive stance. His eyes, however, burned with all the anger and hatred of a man that was raging in a berserk frenzy.

_Can we win?

Don't know.

Then no.

Plans?

One._

They were pulling closer and closer together the more that they stayed bonded, to the point where Teryx didn't know which words were his thoughts and which belonged to V. Either way, they were losing hope.

Skybound took the attack, starting with a punch, then a kick, then a sudden sweep. V-Skybound blocked or dodged each, even leaping over the last and bringing their legs down with a stomping kick in return, but it wasn't enough. The other dragon was just...better. Faster. More experienced.

They were fucked.

Teryx could feel their blows coming down with enough force to break anyone that stood in their way, but without the chance to actually land them, it didn't matter. Skybound could have been the tiniest little mouse of a hero, but he was fast enough that they couldn't keep up. He knew how their punches and kicks would flow, and he knew how to get out of the way at the last second and leave them unbalanced.

The only saving grace was that they could take what he dished out. One blow after another landed on their arms, their chest, their stomach. Each one was hard enough to leave a small dent, but their goo-body absorbed the blows rather than transmitting them through to Teryx. They were safe enough from that...

But not invulnerable.

Teryx felt the echoes of pain rippling through the symbiote around him. He could tell that there was something that V wasn't telling him, something that the goo creature felt that wasn't being sent across their bond. He reached out -

No.

But for that split-second, he felt the pain that V was masking from him. They were taking the pain, the impacts, the blows, but only V was feeling it. The symbiote was keeping it from hurting him.

_No, no, that's not fair! You can't -

I heal. You don't.

But -_

They took their attention off the fight for too long. Skybound ducked and slammed his fist up into their chin, and as he did, he let loose with his power for the first time. A surge of light ran over them, forming chains of metal and leather. It forced its way over their head, blinding them in a hood, and then ran down over their arms, pulling them back, back, back until they were locked behind their back.

V-Skybound slumped as their legs were kicked out from under them, hitting the floor with a loud thump. More chains flowed, these ones locking their legs down and pulling them together, keeping them from moving in the slightest. Teryx tried to squirm free, but the chains were stronger than they expected.

"You think that you can just get away with infiltrating our home? Hurting our people?" Skybound growled. "You've got another thing coming..."

#

Thump.

Thump.

THUMP!

The punches kept coming, and V was no longer able to keep all of them from coming through. Teryx could feel the discomfort and bruises welling up against his scales as Skybound beat them for their impertinence.

Not one question had been asked since their capture. Teryx had been in and out of awareness, kept down by V's mental pressure, but he'd been assured no questions had been asked. The interrogation was coming later; for now, they were being punished for daring to do what they did.

What - Nnngh - what do we - ah - do? Teryx thought.

_Wants me off. Wants to talk to you.

Can't take you off.

Other plan.

What plan?

Hide you.

But -_

They screamed as the other dragon grabbed hold of the rubbery ooze that was V's body. They had maintained Skybound's appearance so far, but as the other dragon seized hold of them just behind the head, pulling back, the ooze stretched like a rubber mask. It pulled back, back, back, finally showing the tiniest of gaps between the outer shell and Teryx's face. It felt like his skin was being peeled off, and he - yes, he - screamed out loud.

"So you can feel it..." Skybound shook his head, letting go. "And there's something inside of you."

_Not good, not good, not good.

Take care of you.

You - how?_

I take care of you.

But he'll pull you off. He'll -

"Whatever you are, I doubt that you're working alone. From what Darksteel said, you are not in agreement with what's inside you," Skybound said. "But the fact that you came here, and didn't hesitate to fight me, tells me that the person inside you profited from this, too. You are both guilty. It is time to separate the parties."

He couldn't take being split from V again. It was bad enough when they were in the hospital and he could barely keep in contact with the symbiote. If that happened again, if they were pulled apart completely -

Will take care of you.

As the real Skybound started to get a better grip, Teryx felt V pressing against him. The interior of the 'suit' that the symbiote formed around him caressed him, almost like a full-body embrace. In a way, it felt almost like saying goodbye, as if he was being given up.

And then...

Then he felt the draining begin.

The inside of the suit surrounded him with a dark reflection, as reflective and dark as Darksteel had been left after what they'd done to him. It pressed all around him, and as the pressure grew stronger, the darkness spread onto his scales...and his blues spread to the darkness oozing around him.

It was not painless; he could feel V's agony as Skybound went back to trying to rip the symbiote off, and it was excruciating. More than once, he lost his focus, and V had to pull it back, forcing him to pay attention to the shimmering blackness that was slowly becoming his entire world.

Teryx...

Teryx. Even the name felt...strange, now, almost like it wasn't as right as it should be. There was no intense, intimate connection to the word anymore, more of a general knowing that it was right. It was like the difference between being told that fire was hot, and knowing that it was. His name was Teryx...right?

And yet, he wasn't sure. Not anymore. The darkness shimmered along his arms, his legs, and along his core, and little by little, the blue of his body bled away, surrounding him but no longer part of him. With the departure of the blue went more and more of his thoughts, his remembrances, everything.

He forgot how he had done in school.

He no longer remembered the few sports that he had participated in growing up.

He stopped thinking of his neighbors, the few that he had gotten to know.

Work. Food. Life. Bit by bit, they all faded from him, leaving him with more and more of a void inside of him that was reflected on the black, oozing drone-skin that was left behind.

Teryx...

Teryx was...him?

Pull, push, pull, push. The darkness around him was steadily being replaced by the blue, and the more that the blue replaced it, the more that he forgot about the world around him. He was...isolated, and insulated. The rest of the world existed, and so did he; they were near each other, but not part of each other.

Who was he?

What was he?

What had happened?

None of those questions had answers, and the more that the push and pull of the blue around him continued, the less that he cared that he didn't know. After all, if he didn't have a past, then what did it matter what happened to him?

Something else was changing, shifting, altering him bit by bit. He could feel his face changing, his mouth closing, his eyes fading. It was harder to see, harder to hear, and finally, harder to feel. He was flattened out, left as nothing but a shimmering black thing, vaguely person-shaped but no more than -

RIIIP!

The ooze around his head finally broke. He stared out of a gap in the pressure around him, seeing something that had been robbed of all color. A reptilian face in black and grays loomed over him, teeth bared and the echoes of a roar still bouncing around the walls. A faint hint of something that might have once been fear rippled through him, then faded as he kept staring at the thing wordlessly, silently, barely aware that it meant anything at all.

"What the hell..."

The stranger's words came from a distance, so far off that he could barely hear it. Whatever it meant, whatever it might be, was forgotten almost as soon as he registered the words at all.

He was a drone.

Everything bounced right off him.

The pressure and ooze reassembled itself around him, forming a head around him once more. It shifted, changing, becoming something...almost familiar.

The other reptile pulled away from his bound form, stumbling away as the new shape took form. A two-toned blue dragon sat where the blue-white one had been. It was the only color that he could see from within, and for a split-second, it felt familiar.

Then that feeling was gone, replaced with nothing but the emptiness of the void and the moment. There was nothing more than the void and the moment.

"If you want to talk to someone, you're going to talk to me," the dragon that was wrapped around him said. "If you want to talk to anyone, about anything, it's going to be me. Not him."

"...What the hell are you?"

"That's not one of the questions I'm going to answer."

"I can make you answer them."

"You can try. I've taken worse. I've taken so much worse."

"...What was that thing inside you, then?"

"A drone."

"Did you do that to -"

"Yes."

"...Why?"

"Because it is mine. And I will protect it."

Again, there was a moment of warmth, something that felt good and right and lovely. It felt almost like what one might have imagined love was, connection and gentleness, compassion and kindness, warmth and goodness.

And then it was gone. Gone and displaced by the emptiness of the void in and around the drone. Nothing more than that was needed.

"You're a menace, then," the other reptile said, slowly circling the two-toned blue dragon as it formed a coat of black around itself. "You're taking people, changing them, warping them. How many people have you destroyed by now?"

"Not many."

"That's not an answer!"

"I do not know how to count."

"Names, then."

"I will admit to those that you accuse me of, and no more."

"Darksteel."

"Yes."

The following punch hit hard enough that the dragon around the drone and the chair itself sent flying, soaring backwards by three feet before falling to the floor. They were on their back as their attacker followed them down, kneeling on their chest. It would have cut off their air supply if it wasn't for the fact that the drone's dragon-suit absorbed most of the impact, keeping it from getting through.

"You killed him."

"He's still - ah - he's still alive. He is unharmed, other than the loss of his memories."

"You're going to give them back."

"No."

"What the hell do you mean, no?!"

"When you have his memories, you will remove me. You will place me in a prison, unable to leave. I will be nothing more than your prisoner waiting to die."

"After what you did, it's what you'd deserve."

The drone almost wanted to say something, but it was a drone. Drones could not speak. They could only watch, observe, and obey. There was nothing that it could do but keep looking through the eyes of the oozing dragon-suit around it.

"I have learned to live. I will live."

"Not if I have anything to say about it..."

"You will say a lot. I have no doubt. But I will not make it easy for you."

"Then I won't make it easy for you. There was something else in there, something that wasn't that black thing that you just showed me. So, did the drone inside you look like this fucking shell, or was that someone else that you drained?"

"I looked like you; I did not drain you, did I?"

"...Nnngh, fuck!"

Another punch, this time knocking their head backward and slamming it into the floor. The drone felt it, but only just. There was a split-second of much greater pain from the suit around him, but the drone could only care about that for as long as it remembered that the pain existed. Once the pain faded, there was nothing left.

Why was the reptile so angry?

Why did he keep hitting them?

What had happened?

The questioning continued, but the drone lived in the moment. Without memory, with barely anything that resembled thought, there was nothing but the current moment and what happened in it before it was replaced with something else. Any answer to their pain, their position, or the anger of their attacker faded before the drone could consider it, leaving it in a seesawing existence between peace and suffering. There would be a moment of one, an invasion of the other, and then a swing back to the first.

Over.

And over.

And over.

Eventually, the other reptile left, and they were alone. The dragon suit trembled around him; the outside was firm and solid, but the inside trembled, shaking like a leaf in the wind. The comparison was taken from him before it could settle, and he was left to just sit there, a solid core to the liquid ooze around him.

"Heh...heh..."

The dragon-suit chuckled to itself. He did not know what would happen next, but he knew that -

Then it was another moment, and the knowledge was gone. He existed, and that was enough.

The End

Summary: Teryx and V go to the heroes HQ, and end up having some problems.

Tags: No Sex, Transformation, Droneification, Goo, Symbiote, Heroes, Violence, Dark, Identity Drain, Series, Teryx, Dragon, Wolf, Interrogation, Bondage,