Chapter Text
Chapter 1 ~ Escape
Darkness surrounded her.
Darkness and frigid cold, the cell designed to keep her submissive and quiet.
It wasn't working.
She screamed again, her bright green eyes flashing in the darkness, once more hurling herself at the metal walls of her prison. Hours and hours she had raged, flinging herself at the walls, fighting with everything she had, and she hadn’t even been able to make a dent. She just wasn’t strong enough.
She hit the door with a crash, the impact shuddering through her…and she just…couldn’t do it anymore.
A whimper slipped out of her ravaged throat and she slumped sideways into the wall. Her strength drained away, frigid cold rushing in to fill her veins in its place, and her knees trembled, unable to support her any longer. She slid down to the floor, shivering.
The metal walls seemed to close in around her, just as strong and immovable as they had been hours ago, her exhaustion the only mark of the passage of time, the only sign of all her effort as the cell slowly fell deeper and deeper into darkness, the glow of power in her veins dying away.
The empty darkness pressed down on her, suffocating her, that horrible, aching chill creeping inside her lungs and turning her breath to ice. Panic clawed its way up inside her chest, her heart racing desperately at the thought of being trapped forever inside this small metal box—locked in this lightless prison where no sun would ever touch her again.
But this cell was just the transport, and she knew that what was coming next was worse. Much worse.
She curled in on herself, tucking her knees up to her chest as she fought for breath. The metal restraints locked onto her bit into her wrists, dark bruises aching sharply where the edges of the manacles met her skin.
Her captors had taken no chances. The shiny, reflective gauntlets covered her hands completely, making her skin itch maddeningly and locking any energy she might have summoned within her skin. But she had been trapped in the darkness for so long, she had nothing left to summon anyway.
When they came back to collect her, there would be nothing she could do to stop them, no way to fight them off from within this small, confined space.
Tears started to prickle behind her eyes and she clenched her jaw, refusing to let them fall.
She would not give up. She would not just sit here and wait for them to come take her, she had to keep trying.
Brilliant green eyes opened once more, looking down at the restraints in the near total darkness, their soft green glow the only illumination.
If she was going to escape, she would have to first get out of this cell. And it would have to be now, when they weren’t expecting it.
Her trapped fingers flexed inside the shackles.
She would not go quietly to her demise.
Another wordless scream tore out of her, her throat raw, and she banged the lump of metal enclosing her hands into the floor. The stabbing jolt of pain from the impact snapped her back to her senses, banishing the tears, and she shoved back to her feet, the heavy manacles pulling her weight forward awkwardly.
Fighting against the pain and the terror threatening to overwhelm her, pushing them back, she gritted her teeth and fixed her eyes on the door to the cell.
She backed up slowly, needing all the space she could get, her aching body protesting every step, until her back hit the opposite wall of the small metal room. Bracing her feet against the wall, she readied herself for one last push, one last attack.
“LET. ME. OUT!” she roared, and charged.
She raised her arms above her head and swung them down with a scream, slamming the heavy hunk of metal encasing her hands into the door, throwing every scrap of strength she had left into the blow.
Her body hit with an ear-splitting boom that echoed through the cell, the collision reverberating through her bones, and she tumbled backward, crumpling into a tangle of long legs on the floor.
A small sob shuddered out of her chest, and she curled into a ball, every inch of her body screaming.
The last flicker of emerald light in her eyes faded away as she cast one final look back up at the metal door, Despair slowly swamped her, filling the room inch by inch as the darkness finally won its inevitable battle against her, swallowing her whole.
And then she blinked.
The door…it looked…wrong.
She sat up quickly, tear filled eyes going wide, gaping up at the barely visible depression where she had hit the solid metal.
Hope sparkled to life in her chest.
Never taking her eyes off of that tiny, dark indent, she slowly climbed back to her feet. Her mouth twisted into a fierce, savage smile.
Backing up again, she braced herself once more against the back of the cell.
She pulled in a deep, steadying breath, and the panic in her chest burned away, replaced by something calmer, stronger, filling her veins with molten steel. Yes, she was tired. Yes, her body felt like it might break at any moment. But she was not broken yet.
They would not break her.
So she screamed her challenge, and charged.
The door buckled, the metal crunching resentfully as the panel bowed outward.
Light poured in from the gaps around the edges, singing against her skin, and her eyes flared back into brilliance, glowing bright.
The guards outside of the cell shouted to each other in alarm. They spun to face the door with their weapons raised, scaled reptilian faces furrowed in alarm, their low, gravelly voices filling the empty corridor.
The muffled screaming from within the cell finally fell silent, the dull, hollow booms of the raging prisoner cutting off.
Green light flashed in the darkness within.
In unison, the guards both backed away a step, red eyes widening in sudden fear.
And with a final, crashing boom, the door exploded out towards them.
The door buckled, the metal crunching resentfully as the panel bowed outward.
The thick slab of metal flew across the space in a shower of sparks, blasted completely free of its hinges. It hit the two guards and sent them smashing into the opposite wall of the corridor with a dull bang, the noise dampened by the mass of their bodies. Screams smothered the crunch of breaking bones.
The girl locked inside came flying free behind it, her momentum carrying her through the air to crash heavily on top of the wreckage. The door clanged and bent as she collided into it a second time, the bodies trapped beneath it crunching horribly at the force.
Immediately, an ear-piercing alarm split the air, ringing through the metal corridor.
The prisoner rolled free of the bloody pile, her chest heaving in exertion, vibrant red hair catching the stark light in a braided coronet around her head.
She pushed herself up, nearly falling over in her haste, her weakened legs slipping on the smooth floor. The guards groaned where they lay, struggling to free themselves from beneath the twisted sheet of thick metal.
She looked around quickly, gulping down the stale air, trying to orient herself. A sort of wide hallway stretched out from her in both directions, one wall lined with a row of identical, large metal doors, the one that had stood behind her now a gaping—slightly smoking—hole. Her head snapped from side to side frantically, not knowing which way to go.
Growling shouts echoed from her right. Left it was, then.
She stumbled forward, her weight thrown off by the metal shackles encasing her hands, and lurched into a run.
The doors flashed past as she picked up speed, their overlarge height towering over her, making her feel as if she was no more than a child. Shouts chased her from behind, echoing off the walls, making it sound like they were coming from every direction.
No, they were coming from every direction, more loud, growling voices emanating from the corridor ahead.
Three more guards appeared around a corner ahead, rushing in to block the passage. Heavy, overlapping golden plates of armor covered nearly every inch of their enormous bodies, blue-green scales showing on their exposed faces and through the gaps at their arms and necks.
They raised their weapons towards her.
She screamed in ferocious rage, no hesitation, charging forward at full speed to meet them head on.
The shots cracked through the air, and she threw herself down to the ground, sliding across the floor feet-first towards the towering aliens. Sparks trailed behind her, the armor on her legs scraping against the floor, and the white-hot blasts from the weapons sailed right over her head.
She crashed into the first body at deadly speed. His legs crunched as she hit him, and she pushed hard off the floor, using the momentum of the impact to jump up, regaining her feet as he fell, screaming.
Hunching her shoulder, she hurled herself sideways at the next one before he had even registered his comrade's fall, slamming her full body weight directly into his abdomen.
His armor caved in beneath her attack, and they both flew backward into the guard behind him, all of them falling in a tumble of blue scales and golden armor and high-pitched yowls of pain.
The girl rolled free, red hair even brighter than the sprays of blood left in her wake. She tucked her manacled arms in tight against her body and sprang to her feet, barely even registering the pain as more footsteps thudded down the corridor, two more opponents racing towards her.
She stood to face them, her face twisted in a savage snarl.
They jolted to a stop, red eyes going wide, their mouths dropping open, and her smile spread wider.
She launched herself towards them with a bellow.
They raised their weapons, desperate shouts drowned out by the wail of the alarm, but she closed the distance on them before they could fire, swinging her arms in a wide arc as she leapt as high as she could into the air.
The heavy manacles, meant to keep her contained and harmless, whistled through the air with lethal momentum, crashing into the first scaled creature in a powerful blow.
His helmet dented with a sickening crunch.
The body flew to the side, dead weight smashing into his companion and knocking him down with a grunt. The shots from both weapons went wide, smoking blasts of plasma splattering on the walls.
She let the swing from the blow carry her forward past them, spinning in a full circle before the weight pulled her down. Another shower of sparks burst out as she hit the metal floor manacles first and skidded to a stop, her elbows and knees screaming at the impact.
The crack of weapons discharging came from behind, and her body reacted before her brain had fully processed the noise. The fighting reflexes that had been so ruthlessly trained into her took over, and she flung herself to the side, slamming into the wall, her cheek cracking against the cold metal just as three more bursts of plasma sizzled through the air over her shoulder.
She leapt back to her feet before the shots had even landed, half her face numb, and lurched into motion again. Every breath burned in her lungs, her body pushing itself to its limit, legs pumping as she sprinted forwards with everything she had.
She reached the corner, and the cell-lined corridor suddenly opened into a large crossroads around her, a larger perpendicular passage leading to either side, the bright white lights reflecting disorientingly off the walls.
She swung to the right on instinct, still racing forward at full speed.
But they were waiting for her.
Several rows of huge armored bodies stood in the passage before her, blasting weapons leveled at her as she came careening around the corner, running directly into their firing path. A pair of wide glass doors slid shut behind them, blocking her in, the room beyond filled with lights and flashing screens.
The largest creature in the back let out a roar, and they all opened fire.
Blasts of superheated plasma flew towards her, and she twisted wildly, desperately trying to shift her momentum, but moving too quickly to stop.
She flew sideways across the corridor and slammed into the corner of the intersection with a yelp of pain.
She threw herself into the passage, just managing to shield herself from the barrage as she tumbled into another bright metal hallway. She hit the floor with a crash, manacles cracking against the floor.
“NO!” came an infuriated shout from behind her. “Do not let her escape!” Other voices shouted incoherently, thunderous footsteps following behind her.
Frantic, she scrambled forward, bolting down another cell-lined corridor.
Escape? How could she escape? She was on a ship, there was no way…
Was there a way off the ship?
She had caught only a glimpse of the exterior of the vessel as she had been marched down the corridors of the palace, already bound in the horrible manacles, their strange, alien metal keeping her tied to the ground, locking her light beneath her skin. The ship had sat waiting, hovering in the air high above, its golden metal skin gleaming in the sunslight as it cast its shadow over her world, dozens more squatting on the horizon in every direction.
They had loaded her onto a small transport vessel that rose up through the air, taking her to the ship, guards holding her down as she struggled, still fighting. Even though she knew it was pointless. There was nowhere she could go on her world—nowhere she could hide—that she would not be dragged back.
The smaller ship they had used to transport her from the surface…it had docked inside the main vessel. It was on board, somewhere. If she could get to it, she could get off the ship…
But even if she managed to escape, she would probably never see her planet again.
She had no way to know how long they had kept her, how long she had been trapped in that box. They had needed to drug her, knock her out as her anger and fear turned into full blown madness—as she realized what was coming—and she had woken up locked inside that cell.
They could have traveled entire systems away from her home by now.
Resolve hardened inside her chest, the wail of the alarm and her pounding steps pulsing like an external heartbeat, urging her forward faster and faster.
It didn’t matter if she never saw her home again. Anything would be better than the fate that was waiting for her when this ship reached its destination.
A plasma blast splattered off the floor just behind her, and she screamed, stumbling as glowing droplets of the molten goo sprayed across the back of her calf, burning through the thin, flexible armor covering her legs, her flesh sizzling beneath.
There was nowhere to hide in this straight hallway, nothing to do to protect herself but push her numb body even faster as she hurtled through the ship, trying to stay ahead of their firing range.
The end of the corridor loomed ahead of her, a passage splitting off on either side in a T, and she turned in the opposite direction than she had before, towards the other end of the ship.
She raced forwards, the sound of pursuing footsteps falling behind with every step, empty hallways flashing past on her left at regular intervals. The passage veered to the side, curving inwards, following the line of the exterior of the ship as it narrowed at the back.
And then she rounded the last curve, and the hall suddenly opened into a large, multi-storied space. A tall metal railing cut across in front of her, her path ending in a balcony that overlooked the floor below.
She didn't stop, ignoring the gap in the railing off to her left, the metal stairs leading down, and pelted straight towards the ledge. She jumped up as she reached it, the manacles cracking against the metal with a clang as she used them to brace herself, kicking her legs up and over, and vaulted over the side.
A brief second of weightlessness, her heart swelling inside her chest as the open air held her, and then she dropped like a stone, the restraints dragging her back to to the ground in an uncontrolled fall. She tried to land on her feet, to roll with the impact as she had been taught, but the heavy counterweight on her hands threw off her balance. She hit the ground with a bone-jarring crash and went sprawling against the cold metal.
She struggled up to her feet, the floor shifting and rolling beneath her as her head spun.
Then the room came back into sharp focus, and in front of her, spaced out against the hull of the ship, their doors open and waiting, sat a row of the smaller transport vessels they had used to bring her aboard.
A strangled cry of relief tore out of her, her chest constricting, and she stumbled towards the closest one she could reach.
Heavy steps clattered on the balcony above her.
She threw herself into the tiny ship as shots cracked all around her, her shoulder slamming into the metal edge of the door as she ducked behind it, and lurched unsteadily to a stop. The enormous control panel spread out in front of her in an indecipherable array of lights and buttons and levers and dials, and she stared down at it for a second in shocked horror, large green eyes flicking back and forth.
She knew absolutely nothing about the kind of technology in use here. Her people were not capable of space travel, and her attention had been focused elsewhere on her short, previous ride—and even if she did know what buttons to hit, her hands were completely encased, the manacles too big to accurately manipulate any of the controls.
She cast one last terrified glance back—at the horde of scaled, armored monsters charging down towards her into the launch bay, red eyes glowing, deadly weapons raised.
With a scream of desperate frustration, she slammed the manacles into the console, aiming for a large, important looking red button on the top.
Alarms went off immediately, lights flashing at her from every surface, markings filling the screen rapid-fire, and the thick double set of doors between her pod and the shuttle bay slid shut with a hiss.
The ship shuddered, the whole thing humming to life around her, engines roaring in her ears. A barrage of blasts hit the sealed shuttle bay door, white-hot sprays of plasma splattering against the window, but the door of the little vessel remained untouched, shielded from the attack.
The ship lurched to the side.
She ducked down with a yelp, jamming herself underneath the control panel, tucking her arms and legs in as tight as she could. Her face pressed against the metal restraints, and she squeezed her eyes closed, one last prayer escaping her lips to a goddess she knew could no longer hear her.
And with another terrible lurch that made her stomach drop out from under her, the escape pod blasted away from the ship.
Flinging her out into space.