Chapter 84: Queen Bitch!(2/3)
“Dawn, can you give me any recommendations?” Lash asked, as he looked down at the book. The pages flipped several times as words rearranged themselves. Dawn highlighted several things that Lash already had that could prove useful if evolved. She also highlighted a few new things.
Author Authority: User has absolute control of all aspects of the Dream in which they exist, and can freely alter its nature, content, inhabitants, history, destiny, etc. All rules can be changed on a whim or flat out ignored, as the user is literally the one dictating them. (100,000 DP)
“HOLY FUCK! That's a power you can buy!?” Lash said loudly, and thankful that the walls of the armory were sound proof. He double downed and made a obstruction glamour, and a Silence shield around himself.
“Dawn, as any User been able to buy that?” Lash asked, still shocked that it was even possible to obtain.
“No, User! Many have complained about the total DP required to purchase it. But the Developers are firm in their belief that 100,000 DP is the correct value for such an ability to essentially rewrite the Dream world you exist in.” Dawn replied, her voice sweet with a hint of mischief in her voice. Lash nodded in agreement. That was an over powered ability that should not be easy to obtain.
Nature Domain Spell, Healing Aura: The User extends an aura around them. (10 ft) That restores 1% of their total health, and energy levels every minute. As well as all those within the aura of the casters choosing. This is a passive effect. (30 DP)
“A passive heal!? Only for 30 DP? Dawn, in is this a bug too?” Lash asked, hoping it wasn't.
“No, User it is not! You must remember that obtaining the Nature Domain is a difficult process. You acquired the Domain through your Warden ceremony. But additionally you were able to purchase it because of your partner, Saurian. As you know, Saurian is not part of 'The Red'. He was created through the designs of your Cosmic Patron. Your Patron used 'The Green' in Saurians creation.” Dawn replied.
“Wait? Erik never put that in the Origin, did he?” Lash asked, as he saved his place on the page. He planned on getting the spell but he wanted to hear this answer.
“No User, you did not. Though you spent a great deal of time in the creation process. You could have spent more. Also there have been several dozen new version updates since them. Many of them updated the creation process. This allows an intuitive writing aspect on the VI representative (Dawn), along with the Developers. Who by the way have taken an interest in you. As they are the ones that decided to throw a Nightmare difficulty for your first Invasion. In order to counter balance your progress.” Dawn finished, her voice full of enthusiasm.
“Wait a minute! Are you telling me that Developers increased my difficulty because I've been doing to well!?” Lash asked, shocked!
“Yes User! Congratulations and earning the eye of the Developers of The Dream Engine!” Dawn said, clearly pleased that her User had done so. Lash all but turned into a puddle of despair on the floor.
“Alright use the Credit Card, lets purchase the spell, and spend another 2 DP to take it to minor. That wasn't a bug right?” Lash asked, as he traced the spell. It glowed brilliantly, and he absorbed into his Nature Domain.
“No User, from standard to Minor is still 2 DP, but from Minor to Basic is 20 DP.” Dawn replied, Lash winced at the price jump. The Developers really adjusted the overall price of things. Well they were in Beta. Everything was subject to change.
Congratulations User! Healing Aura has evolved into Minor Healing Aura!
Minor Healing Aura: Aura range has increased to 30 ft. Restores 2% of total health, and energy every minute.
Lash spent another few minutes looking things over. He went to the item store and looked through a few modules that would be included into E grade that he could buy once Vici was finished upgrading. Apparently E grade had a bank module that increased the monetary value of different accounts by 1% every week. So it was like his achievement 'Damn, I've got 99 problems but money isn't one of them!' (Ch. 38) Made Lash wonder what other Justice League Watch Towers, and Halls of Justice had for Users in their Dreams?
Lash picked himself up from the floor and closed the book which burst into starlight and faded from view. He went to the door and when it slid open Hastam was standing there waiting for him. “Yes, Hastam?”
“Grrrrrrr! Are you alright grandfather? We heard shouting.” Hastam asked, his massive bulk swayed back and forth as if he was expecting Lash to jump at him.
“Yes, was reviewing the new modules once the upgrade was finished. A few of them were surprising to say the least. Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you.” Lash finished, as he patted Hastam on the shoulder.
“Grrrrrr! Ah, that is most excellent news! Anything that can surprise grandfather will be a great resource of the tower!” Hastam said, his voice like a big metal drum.
Lash smiled and moved past him back into the second saucer. He set his new spell to recognize 'friendly' individuals as part of his allies, while neutral will be decided on a case by case basis. He could even heal enemies if he wanted to. He went back up to the main saucer and headed to Operations to see if he could another mission. There was plenty to do!
Lash slipped through the door and overheard Vigil talking to a team. They were heading to London to oversee a prisoner transfer of some kind from the Warden's stationed there. After a few minutes they wrapped up and headed out. One of the team mates was a Fae, Lash bowed to them and they returned it. Once that was finished Lash headed up and threw Sooth, Nature's Supplement, and Nature's Kiss onto Vigil who let out a groan as her energy was refilled.
“What, no orgasm?” Vigil asked, as the effects settled.
“I wasn't sure how it would look if people saw you on the floor in a puddle of goop. But I can do it again if you want?” Lash asked, wiggling his claws at her. She grinned at him and shook her head.
“Better not, though I am looking forward to getting my own quarters as soon as the upgrade goes through. Right now we just have people take turns while they come up.” Vigil replied, she ran her hand through her silver hair and brought up a display of a country.
“You'll be heading to the sovereign nation of Qurac to see if you can recruit someone. Be advised that the country shares its eastern borders with Bialya. I'm told you have some history with that countries leaders.” Vigil said, as she looked at Lash.
Lash let out a growl that resonated across the whole room. Bialya, it had been a long time since he heard that name. He still owed Queen Bee for shooting down the plane that carried him, and his people during the tech summit. Peyton, and Mikhail lived but none of the other crew did. But, the mission came first. Of course if he came across any Bialya soldiers who's to say he couldn't say hello?
“Who am I recruiting?” Lash asked, as he pushed the rage back down for now. Vigil waited for him to finish then changed the view. One the screen was a very large green tiger.
“We have confirmed the subject is a meta. However, if its an animal that turned meta. Or if its a person that changes into an animal we don't know. But, you can speak to animals, so either way! The subject seems friendly. It has been spotted fighting against Bialya troops that have taken the situation as a chance to absorb Qurac. Qurac's troops are trying to fight back. But they lack the resources to put up a good fight. They normally relied on UN support, but that is not coming right now.” Vigil brought up several information windows on contacts, cities, towns, military outposts.
“Any supernatural elements down there?” Lash asked as he zoomed on a few interesting energy readings.
“A few shamans. They are using their magic to hide their homes and people away from the conflict. Though a few of them have been helping to shield the green meta as it attacks the Bialya troops.” Vigil pulled up a few names, and pictures.
“Bialya troop information?” Lash highlighted a picture. Several APC's, transports, and tanks. Lash was surprised they got their vehicles to work after the pulse.
“Standard soldiers, and equipment. Until recently!” Vigil said, as he zoom in on a specific road into Qurac. “Bialya has their own meta's, from what we can tell they are new with little to no training. Powers are immature, they seem to be drunk on their new powers. We have no idea if they are being controlled by Queen Bee, or if they are here because they choose to be. Speaking of which, if you are capable of removing the influence please do!” Vigil replied as she collapsed the mission brief.
Could Lash remove the influence? If he remembered correctly it Queen Bee was a natural born Meta with pheromone control. As long as the subject found her attractive she could manipulate the individual like it was mind control. They simply wanted to obey her. It wasn't necessarily a toxin so Sooth wouldn't work. But he could use his Nature Domain Passive to create a counter pheromone. This would require practice and experimentation.
Lash excused himself as another team came in for their mission brief. Before Lash left he went to the engineering module and finished the second Amazon red team reward suit. He sent a message that it was done and it would be awhile before he started the next one. All the same he got a message back quickly from the Amazon team with thanks. Lash took a moment to look for Malleus but the android was sprinting around the station trying to get the upgrades finished. He decided he had procrastinated enough and headed to the portal hub.
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***Qurac, Eastern Border***
A six man team of soldiers wearing jungle environment camo fatigues, with light weight kevlar, and automatic rifles moved silently through a light jungle. They made as little noise as possible, using only hand signals to communicate. Each soldier kept their head on a swivel ensuring constant line of sight, communication, and awareness of their surroundings. But like most humans they always forget one simple rule. Humans forget to look up!
Sitting on thick tree branch above them was a giant green python watching them move past. It stayed perfectly still, flicking its forked tongue into the air to taste their scent. As the soldiers moved past the snakes branch it coiled up and with surprising grace and agility the snake jumped off the branch. In mid air the snake's body suddenly expanded! Its scales turned to fur, its limbless form grew arms and legs. The snake turned into a giant green silver back gorilla.
“SURPRISE MOTHER FUCKERS!” The gorilla shouted loudly, an oddly youthful male voice coming from the gorilla as it brought its massive hands down on top of the first soldier.
“Contact!” The soldier furthest from the giant green gorilla screamed. They all pointed at the gorilla only for the tree branches to reach out and block their view.
The green gorilla bashed the first soldier into the ground breaking bone, but leaving them alive. Back handed another sending them flying into a tree trunk. He jumped again turning into a green lion and raked his claws through a soldier. Shredding the light weight kevlar and fatigues like paper. Then before the soldiers could clear the branches away and open fire the green animal was....gone?
“Where is it!?” A soldier called.
“It!? Well that is not very nice. I am a young man of 18, thank you!” Said a tiny green field mouse on the ground hiding between twigs and leaves.
The mouse changed back into the gorilla shape and beat his chest dramatically! He roared so loud that it shocked the last soldiers for a brief moment. Buying time the giant green gorilla barreled through the rest of them. Despite the chaotic battle, the green beast never killed any of the soldiers. Though they were seriously wounded they would live.
'Hurry young one, more are coming.' The wind rustled past his ears. The green gorilla changed into a green panther and jumped through the forest, soon disappearing.
Only a few minutes later did a large unit come rushing to secure the area. Several medics started to attend to the injured as two specific people walked into the clearing. One was pale man 5'11” who's skull was see through allowing one to look at his brain. He had beady black eyes, and six lines of red, three per cheek. The man wore a long trench coat, black boots, pants, and shirt. Went by the name of Psimon.
The other individual was a heavyset caucasian woman, with blue eyes, and brown cornrows hair. She had thorn tattoos on her arms, with a single spaulder armor on her left side. While the rest of her cloths were black combat boots, pants, and tank top. She was over 6'3” and looked ready to kill something. She walked over to the commander of the squad and picked up by his jacket. He cried out in pain as the medic had been attempting to set his arm.
“Where is it!? What direction did it go!” Devastation asked.
“It went west, deeper into the forest.” The squad leader said, Devastation looked at Psimon who nodded.
“Radio in and get these people back to camp. The rest of you come on!” Devastation said as they continued to track the meta.
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Lash teleported into Qurac at the edge of a large savanna. To his left was a lion pride who looked surprised to see him. He smiled at them and said hello. With in moments the male lion, several lionesses, and cubs were at his side. As a druid the animals of the world had a natural inclination towards him. He fed them all several Nature spells, and made sure they were all healthy. Creating food for them as well as water. He was spoiling them, but the cubs were adorable!
“Seen a lot of humans around with weapons?” Lash asked, using his Beast Speak.
“Yes... They wear skins that helps them hide. They carry the sticks that spit metal.” One of the lionesses replied.
“They do not belong to this land. Not like the other humans. Those humans are native to this land. We have a understanding.” Another said, as she licked one of her cubs clean.
“You should help the green one. He has been fighting the invaders.” The male lion said with a yawn. He gave a low rumble as one of the cubs was climbing on him. Lash plucked the cub up and started to groom the cub. Who settled quickly.
“Do you know where the green one is?” Lash asked, carefully running his claws through the cubs fur.
“Stays with the trees, blends in. The whispering humans help him.” The male lion said, Lash tilted his head in confusion. “The whispering humans, speak with animal, plant, and life itself..” The male lion finished.
“The Shamans! I will do that. Please forgive me everyone I have to go see about fighting off the invaders. Thank you for speaking with me!” Lash said, though he did spend a few minutes with the lion cubs that were curious why his tail was so different from theirs.
Lash walked through the savanna taking a few minutes to talk to every animal he came across, and a few tree's that were withering in the sun. Been a while since it rained. They all more or less said the same thing as the lions did. Invaders from another land had come to cause problems. The whispering humans told them to steer clear. The green one that looked like them, but didn't speak like them was seen from time to time.
As soon as Lash touched the first tree that belong to the forest it relayed a message to him from one of the Shamans. The green animal was trying to escape through the jungle, it was being chased by the invaders. It needed help! Lash dropped to all fours and took off through the forest to find the green meta. He cast Chameleon, and Nature's Passage on himself. He soon blended in perfectly with the forest around him almost invisible.
Despite the terrain Lash made great time. So much so he heard the sounds of rifles firing, and the roar of a woman? Then he heard a different sound, the scream of a tree being uprooted and destroyed. Lash increased his speed and raced towards the fighting. He jumped into a partial clearing and saw over a dozen soldiers attempting to fire at a green gorilla that was fighting a tall, muscular woman. The woman didn't seem to mind being shot, but the gorilla was doing its best not to get shot. The tree's in the area made gradual attempts to restrain the soldiers. But they were pushed back by the telekinetic meta that stood in the middle of the group. The man whipped around and stared directly at Lash. He couldn't see him, but he felt him arrive.
“Devastation, we have company!” Psimon shouted loudly, panic clear in his voice.
“We do!?” Devastation turned around, looking for....BAM! The tree next to her swung one of it's branches out and sent her across the forest. She was unharmed just surprised! “Motherfucker!” She shouted as she went flying.
Lash used Plant Control, and Animancy. The tree's started to move far more aggressivly then when the Shaman's used them. One of the tree's grabbed several of the soldiers with its branches and brought them to its trunk. A gaping maw opened up, and the tree bit down, tore, and swallowed the soldiers. The gruesome blood curdling scene was enough to scare the shit out of everyone else including Psimon. Though he ran straight for the woman instead of following the soldiers.
“Devastation! We have to leave!” Psimon shouted, looking for his companion.
“Over here! What the fuck is going on!?” Devastation shouted as she stood up, brushing off bits of dirt and leaves.
Lash who was still camouflaged looked at the green gorilla, or was a gorilla. It had shifted into a young green man. With short green hair, green eyes, and green skin. Who was naked! But Lash recognized this kid. This was Garfield Logan aka Beast Boy. Beast Boy had several bullet holes in his arms. Lash sent out Sooth, Nature's Supplement, Nature's Kiss, and Restoration to help him. The bullets were pushed out as the wounds healed. Though Lash forgot about the pain. Beast Boy screamed in agony as the wounds healed quickly.
“Come on green boy! Let's finish this!” Devastation jumped over a massive tree root. She punched, and kicked a tree that tried to get to her.
“Devastation please! We have to leave!” Psimon said, he was terrified.
“What is wrong with you? She's is not going to be happy...GAAAAAH!” Devastation began to say then screamed as her left arm from the shoulder down was cut off.
That was when Chameleon faded, standing between them shielding Beast Boy was Lash with his Wraith disguise on. A Psionic Blade extended from his right hand, it was silver in color (Nth metal). Devastation's severed arm soon turned to ash thanks to Decomposition. Devastation screamed in pain, and stared up at Lash in wide eyed horror. They knew who he was! Psimon despite the horror on his face jumped forward to protect Devastation? He concentrated and sent a telekinetic blast at Lash.
Lash crossed his arms and was pushed back. He was pushed back ten feet, his clawed feet leaving clear marks in the ground. But otherwise he was unharmed. Clearly Psimon was hoping for a better reaction. Psimon reached out and tried to grab Lash and throw him away. Lash swung his left hand out, a Psionic energy wave cascaded out colored blue (Shock). Psimon screamed and dropped like a puppet with out strings. Devastation did something out of ordinary she popped a flash bang.
Boom! With Lash's superior senses the flash bang was incredibly painful, and disorienting. He got several prompts from Adaptation, Re:Implant, Sensory Awareness, True Body, Regeneration, Transformation, and Superhuman Durability. After a few brief seconds Lash looked around, Devastation had picked Psimon up and was running as fast as she could towards the Eastern border. She could move pretty quick when she wanted to. Lash turned to look at Beast Boy, only to be surprised to see him gone.
“Crap...” Lash said, he must have scared him.
Lash looked around and understood why. The soldiers were dead, the trees had literally eaten them alive. He used Soul Bite, and Dream Eater on the souls left behind. Filling his energy reserves, his hunger, and obtaining a bit of information. Military Special Operations gained a bit of experience. He also learned the location of their camp. He clapped his hands and released the tree's back to their control. He cast Judgment and as always an ancient powerful being momentarily took command of his body and judged the souls of the dead. A single heartbeat later Lash was in control of himself again. He took some time and used Restoration on all of the injured trees.
“Alright, lets go find the green kid.” Lash said softly, technically he hadn't learned his name yet. Lash wasn't willing to use Cosmic Awareness to obtain the information.
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“What the fuck!? What the fuck!? What the fuck!?”Garfield Logan said over and over again as he raced through the forest as a green cheetah.
Garfield raced through the forest trying to get back to the hidden village where the medicine man lived. The man had taken him in after his parents died thanks to Bialya. When Bialya had attacked Qurac Garfield stepped up in a big way. He wanted to defend his adopted home. Though he and his parents were from America Garfield hadn't seen it in years. He had long believed this was his home, or so he thought? Something kept telling him he didn't belong here. Not in a bad way, the forest, the land, its people were happy to have him. But something told him he was meant for bigger things.
He had been on patrol and ran into some of the Queen Bitches troops. He had met them before but always had an edge, the medicine man could command the forest and helped him escape each time. But the Queen Bitches troops laid a trap for him. The big ass woman had almost broke his neck. But then that giant ghost lizard thing showed up! The trees came to life! They grabbed and ate the soldiers, it was disgusting! Then the lizard man took both of the Queen Bitches meta's on by himself.
But...But what terrified Garfield the most was that he felt that he could trust the lizard man. Something told him he was suppose to go with him. What was wrong with him!? Ever since he got these powers he has been trying his best to understand wha...
“Hello! Wow, you can run pretty quickly!” Said a voice next to him.
“WHAT THE FUCK!” Garfield shouted and sprung into the air like only cat's can do!
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“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Devastation said over and over. She had sprinted full tilt towards base camp and only stopped once they were out of the forest. She dropped to her knees but never let go of Psimon. She clenched her jaw, and did her best to get to her radio.
“This is Devastation I need a medic and transportation asap! My coordinates are...” Devastation fought back the pain and reported in. Within a few minutes a transport vehicle was heading towards them as fast as possible.
“Hold on babe.... I got you!” Devastation said, as she held Psimon close. She slowly fell backwards as her left arm was still bleeding heavily. “Why the fuck was he there? Shit jus...just g...got real...” Devastation said, as she passed out from blood loss. The Bialya troops showed up just in time to see her slump over. Psimon still in her good arm.
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Name: Garfield Logan. Code Name:Beast Boy, and or Changling.
Title: Seedling (Monkey King), King of the Jungle, Chosen of The Red.
Origin: Meta-Gene. Sub-Origin: Magical.
Rank: D+
Skills: Martial Arts, Acting, Survival, High School Education (See Tool Tip)
Powers: Unique Physiology, Terrestrial Metamorph, Animal Mimicry, (See Tool Tip)
Domains: Animal Magic.
Racial Traits: Resistant to poison and disease.
Disposition: Neutral (Terrified!)
Comment: Garfield is fucking terrified of Wraith! He is even more terrified as his adopted God tells him to go with Wraith. He is so confused, and desperately wishes he could just make sense of everything here.
“You have no idea who I am?” Lash asked, astonished at the situation.
“No! Should I? Are you famous or something?” Garfield said, still in his cheetah form as he looked around trying to find a clear exit.
“Don't watch a lot of world news I take it?” Lash asked, he held his hands open attempting to look none hostile. Which he of course failed at. An eight foot tall lizard man in combat armor, a grim reaper outfit, and four reptilian eyes watching their every move. Most people would be scared.
“We don't exactly have cable or satellite TV out here man!” Garfield shouted back, clearly agitated, and a bit of scorn in his voice.
“Tell you what? Why don't we head to the village. The shaman there can explain who I am to you.” Lash offered, and gestured towards the direction that Garfield had been running to.
“You know about the...No! This is trick! You want me to lead you there!” Garfield said, clearly jumping to conclusion.
“Oh no! Please Mr. Logan! Tell you what, I'll take the lead and you can follow. How about that?” Lash offered, he turned on his heel and started to walk towards the village. With his Magical Perception he clearly saw the path to take it was plain as day to him.
“Wai...Ho....Who are you!?” Garfield shouted at him.
Lash moved through the jungle has if he was walking through and old home. Perfectly natural! The tree's moved their branches and roots aside to make it easier for him to walk. He patted each one he came across and fed it natural magic as thank you. Garfield watched him with a careful eye, and took notice that the trees moved just like when the old man went for a walk. What should have taken them nearly an hour to do, took ten minutes. Almost as if the forest was increasing their pace.
A giant thorn bush wall appeared in front of them. Razor sharp thorns six inches long or longer covered it. Long thick branches, so dense it was nearly impossible to pass, with leaves as big as a stretched out hand covered it. The wall was over twenty feet tall, and stretched for what looked like miles. Before Garfield could call out for help, the wall pulled itself apart as Lash stepped close.
There on the other side was a humble village on a hill. A stone path maybe ten feet wide coiled up the walk way towards the first home. Each home was made out of a combination of stone, and wood. With clay tile roof pieces. Each home had several rooms attached to a central area. There was a singular large building that had grown from a tree? Or the tree grew around it. Lash was sure that the tree was first, and the Shamans just encouraged the tree to grow, and make the building.
Lash and Garfield stepped across the boundary, and the wall closed behind them. They stuck to the path, Garfield swapped from Cheetah, to Gorilla. Imposing but despite his large frame he was gentle, and soft footed. Several men and women came to watch them enter. Each of them had detailed ornate tattoo's that covered their bodies. Their skin colors ranged from pink, blue, green, red... These were djin! Lash kept to Warden etiquette and performed the standard greeting. This action surprised them, though they returned the gesture.
Along the main road Lash and Garfield were stopped by a seven foot tall red skinned man. With four arms, long black hair, a muscular frame, with black claws on his hands and feet. The second pair of arms were not pointed in the same direction. It was almost as if someone had taken two people put them back to back. So the second pair was pointed the other way. Until Lash realized that on this creatures back was another person. The duel man had four scimitars sheathed on their belt. They wore a pair of black pants and nothing else.
“Welcome back Garfield...” The man said to him, though his eyes never left Lash.
“Hello Behistof, is he here?” Garfield asked, being careful to keep his eyes on the ground and to not stare directly at Behistof. Instead of answering him Behistof turned to Lash. His eyes flashed with a pulse of energy. Lash's long lost friend, Nullification activated! Saurian snarled across their link. A deep base sound that not heard but felt.
“Excuse me, its illegal to try and beguile a Warden.” Lash said, as he widened his stance staring directly at Behistof.
“So it is.... We haven't had a Warden in our area in years. Why are....” Behistof began but was cut off when someone called from behind him at the 'tree building'.
“Enough, Behistof! You are keeping me waiting!” Said a woman at the top of the hill of the village. Behistof visibly flinched. He took a deep breath and stepped out of the way. Never taking his eyes off of Lash.
Lash and Garfield walked up the path towards the woman who turned and walked into-->>