“Drainage in Process. Drainage in Process. Subject 1 has reached optimal parameters.”
The computerized voice sounded muffled in Elana’s ears. A pair of tired, groggy green eyes opened slowly. The world was tinted in blue. Beyond the glass, blurry figures stood. They were hard to make out as her eyes tried to adjust. After a few months of inactivity, it turned out they required a bit of time to catch up. Her entire body started to make her aware of an ache, like her body was suddenly one single massive sore.
A flushing noise sounded in her ears and Elana was made alert as she looked up and then down. A grate had opened up below and the blue liquid holding her in suspension started to rush down it. Her arms flailed weakly as she hit the glass, moving closer and closer to the floor. The water rushed down away from her head as she knelt upon the floor of her tube. The red head gasped loudly and hoarsely, air, actual real fucking air blessed her lungs. She started coughing soon after as her body adjusted, hacking and sputtering on her hands and knees.
“Drainage complete. Releasing subject. Please stand clear.”
The glass wall separating her from the blurry outside suddenly raised, her skin making a squeaking noise against it as the two surfaces rubbed against each other. Elana fell forward onto the outside floor, flopping down upon it like a beached fish. Her lips even parted in desperate gasps for air between the coughs. She was covered in the blue substance, her red hair slick and matted down. It stuck to her lower back, having grown quite a bit in the long months she’d spent inside there.
“Hey, ya know, she doesn’t look to bad actually. Up close now. Couldn’t make out her face before really.”
That voice. It sparked a reaction. Fear. The nightmares of shark like teeth, blonde hair, those cruel blue eyes that pierced the soul. Krieg. The woman stood above her once more. She was dressed in combat fatigues, her thick boots not far from Elana. The woman squatted down from on high to look down at her, like she was some kind of new bug she was on the fence about squishing out of hand.
“She’s just the cutest thing, Krieg! Can’t believe she gave you a scratch, looks harmless.”
Itsuki. Her bare feet nearby curled idly against the floor, shifting from one to the other. The whir of her distant mechanical eye above sounded out for a moment. She walked past her to some console. Odd. Her steps didn’t thunder upon the ground like they had before. Elana tried to push herself upwards with her hands and marveled that she actually seemed to be bigger. Much, much bigger. Eyelevel with her mech most likely. Of course, she couldn’t exactly stand and indeed flopped right down onto the floor. Droplets of blue spattered upon the blonde’s casual clothes.
Immediately a large hand clamped around the back of her neck and lifted her up slightly. “The fuck? You trying to ruin my pants now? Don’t see me coming over to your place, bleeding or spilling shit all over your shit do you?” She growled.
Elana’s silence only seemed to irritate her further as she raised her voice. “Well fucking do you!? You fucking deaf you chicken shit!? Answer me!” She shouted.
“Now Krieg…” Itsuki’s voice was admonishing.
“Hey, hey, *whistles*. Shut up Suki. We’re trying to have a conversation here.” She cut her off.
Elana tried to speak, forcing her ill-used vocal chords into use. The sound that came out of them was hoarse, scratchy. “I-I shorry.” She managed to get out, coughing for the effort.
She was fearful that Krieg wouldn’t let it go but thankfully the grip upon her neck left her. A snort sounded out from above. “I bet you are. Welcome to the big girl’s world now, Hündin.” The blonde stood to her full height and started pacing around her smaller prone form.
A large black boot set itself upon her back and Elana let out a cry as it started grinding into her weakened spine. A cruel chuckle came from above as Krieg pressed down, the harsh patterns of her bootsole biting into the pilot and new Colossus’s bare back. Her foot was still huge, Krieg being roughly four times her height. Trying to crawl away was a fool’s errand. Her arms, her muscles were too weak. Krieg was also too massive.
“You thinking I fucking forgot about you cutting up my face? No, no, no, can’t let something that rude go.” She grinned out of Elana’s sight, grinding her sole harder against the smaller Colossus.
“Ahhhhhhhh! I shorry, I shorry!” Elana screamed, cursing her mouth and lack of inflection.
“Oh? You aren’t having a good time? What’s the matter? Am I hurting you? Well too fucking bad. You see, here, on this ship. In this Fleet. I’m the one with the dick here. You’re my bitch. That’s all you are. All you’ll ever be for the rest of your miserable fucking life.” She hissed, licking her lips.
“Ahhh, fock you!” The pilot screeched on reflex, her vocal chords screaming from the usage.
Krieg blinked, leaning over. “I’m sorry I, ah, didn’t quite catch that. Say again?” Her heel abruptly pressed hard against the small of Elana’s back drawing an elongated screech of agony.
“…That’s what I thought you said.” The warlord stepped off of Elana’s back and snorted in derision, spitting a gob of saliva on the fallen pilot’s head as she did.
Her eyes turned towards Itsuki, who was managing to make herself very extremely interested in a screen nearby. The blonde whistled and pointed to the agony ridden Colossus at her feet. The usually perky woman had fallen a tad silent in the face of the display of sadism. She dutifully padded over to the groaning form of her charge on the floor, less than half her own height.
“Peel her ass off the floor and fix her up. Want her ready for duty whenever.” Krieg said airily.
“Where are you posting her then?” Itsuki asked.
A snort. “Dunno. Official footstool? Bootlicker? Maybe bullet shield. I’ll figure it out.”
“Tsu wouldn’t…”
“Tsu ain’t fucking here is she? No. Last I checked I commanded the 4th Fleet. So do what I’m telling you.”
The sound of fading clomping steps signaled the merciful exit of the blonde. Elana sobbed miserably on the cold floor, wet, naked, and battered. She was only vaguely aware of a gentle shushing and a pair of firm hands lifting her up into Itsuki’s arms. Her head ended up resting against one of the woman’s breasts, the fabric of her clothes getting soaked with tears and the blue liquid she’d been bathing in for months.
“Shhh… shhh… it’s okay. Krieg can be a bitch but she’s not all that bad. I’m sure she’ll treat you fairly.” Elana doubted Itsuki herself believed the lie. Still, that she bothered trying to lie to make her feel better felt… oddly comforting.
The larger woman set her down upon a long operating table. One of her metallic hands grabbed a scanner and started moving it over the pilot’s body, the good doctor frowning slightly. Elana suddenly became aware of something. Her mouth felt incredibly dry and her throat parched despite being immersed in that liquid for months. She opened and closed her mouth, her throat managing to get out dry and painful sounding scratching noises.
“W-wader, pease.” She managed to gasp.
Itsuki smiled wanly. “Hey now, slow down. No talking, doctor’s orders. Your muscles, pretty much all of aside from your vitals need to be rebuilt. So will be another few days before you can walk around and talk well.” She giggled. “Bonus for me, love freckles on a lady.”
Elana managed to flush darkly before a needle was jammed into a vein on her arm, the liquid within apparently the closest thing she’d be getting to hydration. The red head slumped back against the table as Itsuki produced a number of other needles and set them out next to the operating table. She affectionately moved a strand of wet hair from Elana’s face and chuckled as she looked down at her.
“Can tell you one thing. Long hair, definitely not for you. Anyway. Suppose this is welcome to the Colossus Armada.”
Welcome indeed. To an organization that raided, enslaved, and killed for seemingly just pleasure. With an immediate superior that appeared to be thinking of all sorts of ways to make her life absolute living hell. The only thing she had close to a friend was an incredibly flirtatious doctor. Elana got the feeling that her tenure with this press ganged membership would be short and painful, or long and agonizing. As the second needle was pressed right into the sensitive ball of her foot, she predicted the latter.