Love Struck Delusion

Chapter 243 - Conflicts of interest.

Zeta's POV, Later that night.

We just pulled into the capital after another long drive and at this point I wanted to stretch my legs. Pepper was getting sick of driving and we were both hungry. Raptor on the other hand had us both worried. He didn't say a word during the whole trip back. He was just sitting in the backseat with his head tucked in his lap and his mind adrift. I couldn't tell if he was sleeping or not as we stopped the truck and shut off the engine. Pepper at that moment let out a long sigh to announce.

"Home sweet home."

"Thank god." I mumbled as I looked in the backseat at Raptor who wasn't moving. Pepper was on the same wavelength as me and together we stared at him. Keeping my voice down as Cody and Peek got out of there ride, I whispered.

"Raptor? We're back. You awake?"

The man didn't budge so I decided to reach for one of his knees. My hand slipped right through him and at first I was surprised by it, but quickly looked away from my hand and up back towards his head to growl gently. Pepper took a chance and raised her voice to shout.

"We're here!"

Both of our ears jumped up as his body twitched and his eyes shot open. At first he was unsure of what he heard and questioned in a daze.

"What? What's going on?"

"We're back at the capital." I told him as he was slow to react. In concern I asked him.

"Are you okay? What's wrong? You aren't looking good."

I knew that for a fact. The second his eyes looked up to mine was when I was sure. His eyes were still red, but there was something more about them. There were these thin black veins scattered all through the color and at first glance I thought he was just tired, but Cody and Peek came over to his side of the door to ask as they saw us just sitting here staring at him.

"What's wrong?"

Raptor disconnected his eyes from me and shaking his head he tried to get out of the truck. As the door opened and he stepped out, he told us back.

"Nothing. I'm just…..I'm just tired. Thank you guys for coming along with me."

"No problem." Peek replied as Raptor got out from between them.

We all knew something was wrong. We watched as he tried to walk away and just as he got maybe ten feet away from us and towards the capital, he stopped to flinch. His body shook from it, but shortly after he kept walking. At which point Pepper said out loud.

"He's bullshitting. He's in pain. What the fuck did you shoot him up with flyboy?"

At this point we were getting out of the truck and Peek was getting defensive just a little to my sister's question. His response turned out to be.

"Viper venom. It's a combat drug almost all PMC's use. Wait a sec? Are you two sisters?"

Pepper let out a sigh and pulled up her mask to reply.

"Don't try and change the subject. Yeah we're related. What gave it away? Now answer me." She ordered him as I tagged on by stating.

"We're users too. Ex-Spetnaz."

"No shit." Peek replied as my sister began to growl. Looking back to her, he finally answered the question.

"Cody and I are both users too, but if you're a user you know from time to time you need to reup on the juice to keep sharp. When the shit went down back in the mess hall, Cody and I gave the dude a boost. Worked for the most part it looks like. I mean he's alive and kicking."

"Yeah but that's because…..you know who was there."

The bird began to laugh and quickly followed up by questioning.

"About that whole thing. Just what kind of world do we live in where we can be side by side with someone you guys all claim to be a god? If that shit is real, you have no idea how much money that's worth to the right people."

"It's not about money dumb fuck. It's about keeping this shit under control. You go off telling the world what happened and first of all you'll probably be thrown in a crazy house. But if someone does decide to believe you, you could be fucking this whole operation up. The world isn't ready for this kind of thing. I'm barely able to comprehend it. So don't go fucking this up for a few dollars." Pepper urged him as I switched back the focus of the conversation by stating.

"He's alive because of Marcus. But regardless Peek, you said the dose you gave him was experimental. What the hell does that mean?"

Cody was just alongside his friend and letting the bird rest, he took over for the answer by saying to us.

"It's just a bit stronger from what I know."

"No Cody it's a different strain." Peek explained as we all listened now as he went on.

"It's viper venom, but the eggheads who made it claim it has something else going on with it. I don't know what exactly and it's not something I can just ask about. It's top secret stuff."

"Well lucky for you Zeta and I are two world class engineers and chemists. Give us one of them and we'll have answers before you know it."

Peek widened his eyes, but still began to laugh. At which point he replied.

"Can't do that girl. It's company property and I can't have you selling off the specs."

Pepper wasn't about to have any of this so she said to the man as he had his hand now over the pouch housing them.

"First of all we don't work for anyone. We're only here to protect Raptor. The same man you probably fucked up with that shit. We're just trying to figure out what's wrong and the last thing I got to worry about is money. So stop being a cunt and just hand one over."

Peek was about to say something back but Cody stepped in to urge him.

"Their cool man."

Widening his eyes Peek questioned.

"You fucking with me Cody? You know doing something like this can get us both killed if Jessup finds out."

"He won't. It's just us that knows."

"And them." Peek replied as he pointed at us. Pepper stuck her tongue out at him as Cody chuckled and urged his tall friend one last time.

"It's all good brother. Trust me. Pepper and Zeta are good people. They work only for Raptor and they know how to keep their mouths shut about secret shit. Come on. Have I ever let you down with my choices?"

Shaking his head the bird replied.

"No."

Patting his stomach Cody chuckled and urged him with a happy voice.

"Then trust me on this. We're all good. Jessup won't find out. He cares more about the armor anyway."

Insanity the two of them widened their eyes and together Pepper and I looked at the fox with fire burning in our eyes as to what he meant by that.

"You sure know how to keep a secret of your own. Fuck." Peek groaned as he knew the cat was out of the bag. I took a moment to lean over the hood of the truck to ask the fox who was sweating bullets now to his mistake.

"I was gonna ask what the deal was about all that little guy. Care to let us in now that you so kindly brought it up?"

With a rosey face the fox replied.

"Ahhhh…...can I say no?"

Grabbing him by the base of his neck and wrapping around to his backside, Pepper got to work on looking him over. Peek took a step back to groan.

"Guess I have no choice but to trust you now Cody. You opened your mouth to two bloodhounds."

"We're Eastern wolves first of all Pidgeotto." My instant correction got the bird to choke on his own spit. Cody immediately began to laugh his ass off as Pepper had her focus still on the armor he was wearing. Yet I saw her smiling. She hated my idea of jokes, but Cody loved them apparently. Peek was soon laughing with him and with my sister beginning to feel him up Cody questioned in disbelief that I even knew a single pokemon, yet alone one matching his stellar looking american friend.

"You play pokemon too Zeta? I thought I was the only one who had a sense of it around here."

Peek was still red in the face as I replied to him.

"I used to. Actually we both did. But she hates to admit it. We're nerds. What do you expect?"

Cody was still laughing and once he looked over to Peek he asked him.

"She got you good Peek. Cheer up man. I never heard someone refer to you as a Pidgeotto."

"Ahhhh you guys are nuts." Pepper muttered as Cody finally looked back to ask her.

"What are you doing back there?"

Keeping him still, she replied as she felt around his lower back.

"Trying to see what this is you got back here. Is that a battery pack?"

"Ohh let me see." I begged her as I came around to see for myself. By this point Peek and Cody knew they had no choice but to let us look, so Peek got a seat on the hood of the truck as Cody just kept stationary. As I came around to see what she was talking about, I quickly corrected her as I saw it was giving off a steady stream of heat.

"It's not just a battery pack Pep. It's pushing out power. Look for a second."

"It's a generator." Cody went on to tell us as we both widened our eyes to question.

"For what?"

Our voices were in sync but our ears, tails, and bodies remained perfectly still as we stared into his soul for an answer. Cody went red in the face and began to shake as he sensed our combined interest in his body. With seconds passing that were just filled with our uncomfortable stares, he replied.

"I'm wearing what we call our mark seven prototype combat armor. It's Shader Industries first working model. The generator back there somehow emits a type of electric field that wraps the full body. Now I don't know what I'm saying so don't take my word as god's. I just know that wherever the armor is; I'm protected from incoming rounds."

Both Pepper and I dropped our mouths and out came our tongues soon after. Peek instantly groaned as Cody was scared for his life with how we were reacting to hearing such beautiful words.

"Ohhh I'd run if I were you little buddy."

Cody wasn't going anywhere. We held him there and together we asked him in sync.

"This is shield tech?"

The only thing the fox could do was nod his head really fast at our question. Once he confirmed it we went back to investigating the generator. We ignored everything else and just went off talking to one another stating the facts we found out almost instantly. Pepper went first.

"There are so many flaws in it. How the hell can they expect this kind of generator to run for more than a few hours? It's working too hard. The field could be easily made to run twice as fast while still emitting at minimum sixty percent less power."

"It's too bulky. Why use such a large casing for it? It's added weight for the user and it's just making it work harder. Look Pep! Why the fuck is the power being distrubuted through the plates? Look at the fucking coils they decided to use! If he falls even once they will break!" I told her in such anger as she knelt down to look at Cody's butt. Almost instantly Cody asked.

"What are you guys doing down there?"

"They're gonna bite you." Peek told him as a joke as I lost my shit when I saw the coils that were just between the plates protecting his ass. Grabbing onto the armor, I growled to Pepper.

"He already broke them!"

"What?" Cody questioned in confusion as Pepper shook her head at the sight and told him.

"This is crap. If you got shot in the ass right now you'd be fucked. You broke the coils probably from just sitting in the truck. How much did they invest in this?"

Peek came out from the sidelines to reply.

"Fifty million."

Both Pepper and I tilted our heads and looked right at him as he nodded and urged us.

"Don't look at me. I didn't pay for it."

Both of us stood up after hearing that and turning the fox around I ordered him.

"Take this off and let us have it for the night. I can already guarantee you that in the time it took your people to make this a working model, I can make it a fully fleshed wet dream in a few hours flat."

Now Cody looked to Peek for any input. The bird held his ground and replied.

"You told me to trust you. I'm gonna give them one of my doses to look at and that is already grounds to get us killed if Jessup finds out. Might as well let them look over the armor too. Fuck it right? Are you two really engineers?"

Both Pepper and I looked at the man like he was insane. You saw his whole face go frail as we did it too. But I wanted to give him an answer regardless.

"We're hands down better then whoever designed this piece of shit he's got on now. Give us time and you won't believe what we're capable of together. I've even worked on shield tech. On my own! I almost had a complete model done up until we had to leave our post in Russia to help G.U.N get their science division up where it needed to be. Trust us. We'll get this fixed and back to you at no cost."

Peek shrugged to my offer and from there Pepper took a hold over Cody and ordered him.

"Take it off."

"Yes ma'am." He replied as he started to get it going.

"Probably the first time he's ever heard that from a woman." Peek said as he got the little guy right in the heart. I began to laugh as Pepper was more focused on helping him undress.

"Fuck you Peek." Cody muttered as he got the vest off over his head.

"Here Zeta." Peek then said as he handed me a syringe from one of his pouches.

"Just please be careful. I'm trying to get home someday. I don't need to have my own company chasing me down for this."

"You won't have to worry about that. I'm as good as my word and my word is good."

"I'll hold you to that then." Peek told me as I put the venom away in my vest pocket. With Cody getting the leg plates off, he asked us.

"What are we doing tonight? We staying here?" Looking to the fox I replied.

"I don't know yet. I'm sure Raptor has some things left to do, but I'm gonna go see what he wants from us."

"I'm gonna head back to his place and get to work on this." Pepper told me as she loaded it up into the truck. Giving her a smile I asked in concern.

"You have keys to his house?"

"Yeah. Of course I do."

"Can I tag along?" Peek asked next as Pepper got the door shut and jumped into the driver's seat. As she started the engine she replied.

"If you're coming then hop in. What about you Cody?"

"I'm gonna hang out here with Zeta. Just to be safe."

Pepper seemed to be okay with that and as she got herself ready to go I told her.

"I'm gonna try and talk him into coming home tonight, but if he doesn't want to you better take notes. I want to get my hands on that gear."

"Early bird catches the worm." Peek joked as they hit the road. Watching until they were gone, I looked back to Cody to urge him.

"Let's go find him."

"Right behind ya." Cody replied as we made our way to the capital. Before we reached the door Cody said to me.

"I hope you know what you're doing. Peek is right about the risk we're taking. That armor means the world to Shader Industries and you don't know my boss, but he'd hate to see me go. Well….hmm…...not this way."

Giving him a small chuckle, I reinforced my confidence in the situation by telling him.

"You're going to be fine. That armor isn't going to leave Pepper's sight and surely not mine. We'll probably be working on it for days. In fact Cody I'm willing to bet you right now that by the time we're through with it your boss is gonna wanna hire us. So keep your head up. It's gonna be fine. Just don't say shit."

"Ahhhhhh duh?" Cody mocked next as we began to climb the main stairs. Slapping his arm back in laughter, I kept my eyes ahead on the office door to listen as Cody asked me as we reached the top.

"Which one did you play?"

I knew what he meant and replied.

"Pearl."

"Sweet. Hahah."

Safe to admit that to him. It was the only one I really enjoyed.

Knocking on the door before walking in, we entered to find Raptor sitting at his desk. His hands were covering his eyes and exerting a deep breath he asked.

"What?"

I lost my smile the second he asked that. His voice sounded like he was in pain. It had to be that venom Peek gave him. I just didn't know for sure because he hasn't said shit and I knew that was a problem when it came to understanding his personality. He always hid his pain from others. Never liked to lead on to him being injured. My concern is that this isn't an injury and it just hit me then as to what it could be. I didn't even think about it. Approaching the man as he kept his head down, I got off my mask and put it down between us on the desk. Fixing my hair and leaning in close, I urged him.

"I know you're hiding something. Let me see your eyes." Grabbing in between his fingers to force his hands away, I was only greeted with those red orbs staring back at me. However the second I got his hands down Raptor barked at me.

"Fuck the god damn eyes Zeta! Can't I just be left the fuck alone for two goddamn minutes without one of you breathing down my neck!?"

Cody was caught off guard by the sudden rage he was throwing at us. I was too but I knew it was the venom getting him to snap at me a little. However I was more than ready to fight him with words if that's what he wants. Showing some teeth, I growled back as Cody remained a few inches back from us.

"You can but not when I know you're going through this shit alone! Do what you want after, but I need you to fucking listen to me! Can you do that and stop being an asshole for those two minutes!?"

Raptor growled back but quickly lowered his gaze to shut his eyes. Holding him by his right wrist I asked.

"You were never trained to be a user right? Come on and just breathe for a minute. You need to keep your ass calm. Raptor?"

"No!" He shouted back as I wanted to keep yelling at him but chose against it to tell him.

"Then your body isn't trained to manage it. Right now you need to relax. You need to focus on the pain. I know that isn't something you want to do, but you need to not let it absorb you. On a normal dosage of viper venom, a normal person ether dies from the pain, or they go feral. You were given two dosages and even for experienced users like Cody or I, two doses is never recommended. It can kill trained users and perfect users if our bodies can't contain the power it pushes on the brain. You're not even fucking trained to take one dose, let alone two. So you really need to listen to me."

"That's what I am fucking doing!" He screamed at me as he tried to yank away from my grip. Now I was getting mad so I growled back at him.

"Stop fighting me and just shut your fucking mouth for a second!" Cody was now in a weird place just watching. So he got involved by begging him politely.

"You need to listen to her man. This shit isn't a joke. We should have dealt with this before you got out of the truck."

"I'm fine!" Raptor replied as I took it upon myself to slap him lightly across the face. Instantly the man lost his shit and ordered me.

"Don't fucking touch me!"

I was using all I had to hold him at his desk. His hand was getting closer to leaving me but I didn't have a choice as he used his power to phase me off him. I had to keep pushing him if he was going to be able to handle this right.

"You need to either fight through all the pain or open yourself up and let it drain out, but going through the pain isn't an option unless you want to fucking die!"

Our eyes were now locked without question. He was beginning to lose his mind because of how much he was letting the venom take. He was starting to shake and I knew the way he was shaking very well. He was going to go feral and it was just a matter of another minute or so. Cody wasn't as aware as I was, but something had to change and soon.

mT Shadow.