Reticence Saga

Severed Web

Chapter 6: Return to the Savage Land, Part 1

It was standard NSC procedure that after an agent has been a mutation and reversion that they receive a mandatory medical examination. Somehow, Director Fury learned about that protocol.

"This is unnecessary! I had the autodoc check us! OW!" said Chloe, glaring as a blood sample was taken.

"Better safe than sorry," said Dr. Connors, "There's no telling what may still be in your system."

"You have no idea," said Chloe dryly.

"Now, if we could just get your brother off the ceiling," said Dr. Connors, glancing upwards.

Matt, smirking, had discovered his armor had mag boot attachments and had settled for standing on the ceiling. "No blood for you," he said before sticking his tongue out.

"Start throwing stuff at him until he falls down," said Chloe.

"Don't you dare..." snarled Matt.

"This is my lab," said Dr. Connors.

"Ok, guess we'll just have to play piñata," said Chloe, "Anyone got a long stick?"

Matt glared at that. "Try it and I'll eat the stick," he snarled.

"Ok, what else have we got?" asked Chloe, looking around.

"Don't even think about it," snarled Matt before his eyes crossed.

Silvana walked into the room. "Matthew, please get off the roof and let your blood be tested," she asked.

Matt said dully "Sure...why not?" sadly getting down by turning his mag boots off

"I didn't know your psychic powers were that good," said Chloe.

"I wasn't sure if I could affect his boots or not," said Silvana.

Matt grumbled from floor level, "Ow."

"Well, let's get this over with," said Connors.

Matt made a feeble 'ow' as his blood was taken, the blood a sickly purple.

"That's not healthy-looking," said Chloe.

"Yes, but compare it to yours," said Connors, holding up Chloe's sample. Chloe felt sick when she saw hers was almost black, no doubt a consequence of whatever the empire had done to her over the years in their custody. "There could be other factors," said Connors, "You are, or were, a werewolf."

"It began with something else..." said Chloe grimly, walking out.

Matt sighed, "She spent a few years as a bioweapon for one of my rogues gallery. I didn't even know it was her till a few months before she was cured."

"I know what that's like," said Dr. Connors.

"Not even close," said Matt, "You've just had a glimpse. Chloe... Where we come from, we have a natural mental defense that keeps us from being controlled or having our minds altered. What happened to Chloe broke that. When I met her, she nearly killed me without even an ounce of remorse. She...I saw the reports but I'll never tell her...she's responsible for billions when she was brainwashed."

"I...I can't even imagine..." said Connors.

"Don't tell her that," said Matt.

"Of course," said Connors, "Doctor/patient confidentiality."

An alarm began to ring at that. "The heck?" muttered Matt, a blaster materializing from his wristcomp. "Lock the door," he said, walking out.

"What? What is it?" asked Connors.

"No idea...but better safe than sorry," said Matt.


Heading to the roof, Matt spotted a few Web Warriors already there. "Ok, what have we got?" asked Matt.

"Nothing's breached the doors," said Cho, checking the computer.

Matt checked his wristcomp. "No tachyon emissions so nobody ported in," he said.

"Are we supposed to see something? Because I don't see nothing," said Agent Venom.

Matt paused, sniffing, before his eyes narrowed. "Infected," he hissed, just as 5 robed figures, holding organic-looking rifles came into view, firing green bolts that went through the walls with ease, Matt firing back.

"Where did these guys come from?" asked Kid Arachnid, jumping forward and shooting his webs.

One of them dodged the webbing, firing a hail of darts, the shots seeming to be all aimed at Matt, one hissing "Kill the destroyer."

"Guess they already heard of you," said Kid Arachnid in a joking manner.

"More than you think. Don't let them bite or scratch you," snapped Matt, blasting one in the head.

"Not letting that happen to me again," said Kid Arachnid, grabbing one figure's leg and sending a venom blast into it.

The creature shuddered, the hood falling away to show a lizard who smirked, aiming his rifle. "Takes more than that," he hissed before his head vanished in a mist of plasma.

"Don't hold back! They certainly won't!" snapped Matt.

The remaining creatures continued shooting, the one Matt had shot in the head getting up and continuing to fire

"That guy's got good aim for a headless guy," said Agent Venom. With a sickly cracking sound, a smaller head started emerging from the neck's stump. "Ok, I think I'm gonna be sick," said Agent Venom.

Matt glared, throwing an orb at the infected's foot, a dome of energy engulfing it, before it vanished, leaving holes out of the walls and floor.

The other creatures backed up at that, obviously unnerved by their fellow's destruction. "These guys heal better than the ones I've fought," said Matt, "You have to destroy them completely to get rid of them."

"The destroyer...he vaporized Serak," said one of them, the group reaching to a broach on their robes, vanishing with a blue glow.

Matt checked his wristcomp again. "What? No signatures? They clearly teleported. They had to have left something behind." He hopped across the hole and scanned again. "Oh my God, they could be all over the base," he said, his eyes shrinking with terror.

"Matt. Calm down. There has to be a pattern to this," said Iron Spider.

"You don't know these things. They're capable of depopulating the city in a few hours," snapped Matt.

"If that were true, why show up here of all places? Wouldn't they be in the city right now?" asked Iron Spider.

Matt turned to look at them with a look of fury, "Unless they were here already. What were you experimenting with?"

"Dude, you don't really think we'd experiment with lizards after what happened last time, do you?" asked Kid Arachnid.

Matt took a few breaths before checking his wristcomp. "Warning...Sy-Yong class lifeforms approaching level six labs with unknown reptilian," it said happily.

"Unknown reptilian? What could that- They're going after Connors!" yelled Matt. He ran off at that, snapping into his com, "Chloe...get to Connors's lab NOW!"


Thankfully, Chloe was able to get back to Connors in plenty of time. "Ok, the important thing is to remain calm," said Chloe, "Don't let the stress get to you."

"My transformations aren't caused by stress, thankfully enough," said Connors.

"Good..." said Chloe, her gun shaking. She remembered Sy-Yong well. The door shook at that. "How strong's that door?" she asked.

"Not as strong as I would like it," said Connors.

A hole was punched at that, Chloe firing before a rasping voice said "Ah...I needed that..." before the door exploded. Behind the door were four Lizard-like beings in robes, each holding a blaster. In front of them stood a creature that looked half-man, half-pterodactyl only wearing a pair of shorts. "Dr. Connors, I presume," croaked the creature in a rasping voice.

Chloe glared. "Oh piss off," she said, the lights flickering before every outlet, plasma screen and light sent a bolt of lightning at the creatures, killing the robed creatures before concentrating on the Pteranodon.

However, the Pteranodon only laughed as the lightning only made him glow. "Poor little human," gloated the pterosaur, "You have no idea who you're dealing with."

"Yeah..." said Chloe, unphased, a long-barreled rifle appearing. "Eat my railgun," she snarled, shifting to dragon hybrid and using her electricity to supercharge the shot.

The Pteranodon's eye ridges rose a bit before he was shot backwards by the railgun's round. Chloe glared, firing the trigger till it ran dry only for the Pteranodon to get up, the rounds having been slowed when he absorbed the electricity in them.

The Pteranodon smirked, dropping the slugs, looking down at them. "You think that's not been tried?" he said, looking back up and being knocked into the corridor by a thrown water tank.

The Pteranodon's eyes spun before focusing on Chloe again. He watched as the winged reptilian was laying into his escort with some sort of energy blade, it was happening in slow motion. He'd never seen someone so...ruthless in combat before, the song 'Loving You' seeming to come from somewhere...

The way her legs clenched as she pulled up a heavy lab table, the way her arms flexed she lifted it above her head, the way she sent it soaring through the air towards. The way she threw a canister at him that had a pink heart on it and said 'have a nice day, smeghead!' on i...oh shit. The pterodactyl was blasted through another wall, which restored his senses somewhat.

"Hmm...business..." he muttered.


Chloe clicked her energy blade off. "Ok...who the smeg was that?" she snapped. She couldn't really make out anything through the smoke the grenade caused. But then a pair of beams shot out and hit her.

The pterodactyl walked out of the smoke as Chloe tried to get up, before finding herself fixated. "My name...is Sauron..." he snapped, grabbing her wrist, his eyes glowing yellow, Chloe's vision swimming...


Sauron let go of Chloe, letting her slump before he turned to Connors. "Doctor," he said with an evil smirk.

"What do you want from me?" asked Connors, backing up.

"I want your help, Dr. Connors. There are some...associates who want your aid," sneered Sauron, taking one of the teleport broaches off one of his ex-helpers.

"And I'm betting it's not technical aid," said Connors.

"It's not like you have a choice, doctor," sneered Sauron, before several particle shots hit his back, a few SHIELD troopers and Matt firing at him from the doorway.

"Hey, beakface. Don't you have kids to carry off to your nest?" called Matt.

Sauron glared, before looking at Chloe. "Kill them for your master," he hissed, Chloe stirring, her eyes solid white.

"Chloe, don't do it," said Matt, though it sounded less like pleading to her better nature than warning his kid sister not to do something stupid. Chloe got up with a snarl, before charging the team. "Oh, not again," groaned Matt. He spotted Sauron grabbing Connors and a vial of green liquid, before hitting the teleport broach, Matt hitting him with a dart before they vanished.

The instant they were gone, Chloe blinked, her eyes back to normal. "What just happened?" she asked.

"You were hypnotized by a dragon," said Agent Venom.

"A dragon? Get your eyes checked. That was a dinosaur," said Kid Arachnid.

"Actually, pterosaurs are a different class of reptiles from true dinosaurs," said Iron Spider.

"I'm gonna call him mounted on my wall once I catch him," said Matt, his voice not the usual venom of hate when he made the threat, looking at his wrist comp.

Matt frowned before shaking his wrist comp. "Ok, why am I not seeing anything?" he asked. He paused before zooming it out. "400km...600...800...the southern hemisphere?" he muttered. Matt looked at his wristcomp with disbelief. "Ok, why on Earth would a pterosaur take Dr. Connors to the South Pole? Hey guys, anything interesting in Antarctica?" Matt asked, before seeing their faces. "What?" he said.


"What all do you know about Antarctica?" asked Nick Fury.

"Uh, it's cold, no one lives there besides penguins, and for some reason a pterosaur took Connors there," said Matt.

"You don't have the Savage Land on your world?" said Fury.

Chloe blinked, "The Savage what?"

Fury displayed several images on his computer, showing a vast, verdant jungle. "The Savage Land is a part of Antarctica that is, for lack of a better term, cut off from time. Things have barely changed there for the last 66 million years," said Fury.

"Wow...Jurassic Park's got nothing on this," muttered Matt.

"Sauron is one of the most notable residents there," said Fury, bringing up his profile, "He's not just a winged reptile, he's an energy vampire."

"Undead! UNDEAD!" said Matt, twitching at hearing the V word.

"Not a literal vampire," said Fury in annoyance, "But he can control almost any reptile and he can drain energy from others."

Chloe sighed. "Matt doesn't like hearing about anything...undead-related," she explained, Matt twitching.

"Well, the similarities end there," said Fury, "And I can only think of one reason why Sauron would want Connors."

"The Lizard serum. He got past for this? Sounds a good way for an express delivery of ICBMs," Said Matt, calming down.

"Guess he doesn't know that Doctor Octopus is the real inventor," said Chloe.

"Doc Connors can replicate it. He keeps some for research on a better antidote," said Fury.

"Of course, he does," said Matt dryly, "So...how do you know that's his plan?"


"You restrained...a Sy-Yong Infected...unarmed," said Matt, looking at the dejected mutant in the cell.

"The Venom bomb caught me off-guard. He didn't," said Fury.

"Has he said anything else?" said Matt.

Fury shook his head, "No, hard to interrogate someone who regenerates."

Matt smirked, "Give me 10 minutes alone..."

"Matt..." said Chloe in a warning tone.

"I promise he'll be unarmed...and as proof," Matt said, taking off his weapons and setting his wristcomp to lock him in human.


The lizard man wasn't worried. He knew the mission had succeeded. There was nothing these apes would able to do to make him talk.

"Is the one-eyed ape coming back?" he yelled to the guards, who said nothing, before they listened to their coms, and walked out, turning off the lights. "Is this supposed to scare me? I'm not fresh out the shell," he laughed, before the door opened, a human silhouetted against the light before it shut.

"You think I'm scared of the dark? I can see your heat," said the lizard.

"Oh? You're not scared?" said an icily calm voice, the Infected tensing up. His caste had several recordings of...but that was impossible. That had been millennia ago.

"You know, I've got a history with you guys," said the human.

"No...no...you're just a story," said the Infected, trying to back up.

"Am I? Nice for publicity...and what do the stories say?" said the voice, the figure walking closer.

"That...that your laugh shatters the will of those who hear it. Your screams break their minds completely. That everything you touch explodes if you wish it," said the Infected.

"Hmm...none of those is true. Unless the scream refers to my singing, but still..." said the figure before the light flicked on and the Infected screamed. "SHUT UP!" snapped Matt. The Infected immediately stopped screaming, but was hyperventilating.

"Ok...let's begin. You know I don't need a single weapon to skin you with ease..." said Matt, not serious but letting his hand transform to dragon form briefly for scare tactics. "Now, I could just let you stay in this nice...safe...cell. Would you like that?" he asked.

The Infected just let out a scared squeak.

"Ok, tell me what you have planned for Connors. Now," said Matt, glad he'd turned off the DNA lock once the others were gone.


Not long later, Matt walked out of the cell. "Did he talk?" asked Fury.

"Talk? I couldn't get him to shut up. All he said is that their leader wants to grant us all purity," said Matt, noticing the camera view, the Infected silently sobbing. "They really hate me," said Matt.

"I'm not that surprised," said Chloe.

"We need to get to the Savage Land," said Matt.

"You're going to need people who have experience there," said Fury, "It's not a city zoo down there."

"Dinosaurs, cavemen, all best when cooked well," said Matt, the Infected having angered him.

"Not much on cavemen, but there are a lot of other nasty surprises. You wouldn't last a day without help," said Fury.

Matt's eyes narrowed at that before Chloe said, "Do we get to choose our team?"

"You can take whatever of your team has wilderness training," said Fury.

"We might need to leave Silvana behind," muttered Chloe, "Metal control won't be much use down there."

"Agreed, I recommend Ka-Zar and Ava to begin with," said Fury.

"Who's Ka-Zar?" asked Matt.

"He lives down there," said Fury, "He'll meet up with you when you get there."

"Parker too. He's got a good head on his shoulders and spider-sense there could be useful," said Matt.

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled to go down there again," said Fury with a smile Matt knew too well. It was the smile he wore when he sent annoying members of his team on missions that are not going to be comfortable for them.

"We'll take the E.G.I.S dropship too. It's faster, better armor, shielded and can cloak alot better than your shuttles," said Matt in a 'my way or I do it anyway' voice.

"Fine. I won't be the one who'll have to order a new one," said Fury.

"Easier than having you guys with weapon-grade particle ion cannons," said Matt.


"Well, true believers, we're headed back to the Savage Land. I'm not looking forward to it, mostly as the last time I was there, Kraven turned me into a literal spider man," said Spider-Man, "Not to mention the place in generals is not very habitable for any civilized person. They've got dinosaurs, giant bugs, and I think they have man-eating plants, but I'm not entirely sure."

"They have what?" said Zira at that, pushing her head in.

"How many times do we have to tell you to stop self-narrating?" asked Chloe in annoyance.

"He's talking to them though," said Zira.

Matt muttered, "Oh God, it's contagious."

Just then, Spider-Man felt something push against his knee. He looked down to see Snowbell looking up at him and meowing. It would have been more adorable if she were a normal kitten and not a saber-toothed cat.

A ghostly shape shot into her before she said, "I wanna come."

"732, when did you show up?" asked Zira.

"It's Coldladh now," said Snowbell, "I've been around for a while. You didn't think this cat could talk by herself, did you?"

"I thought she was one of those planned 800 series," said Zira.

Snowbell nodding, smirking as Chloe walked over. "Oh, I'm not leaving you behind, honey," she said happily.

"Chloe, we're going to a prehistoric jungle. This is no place for a tiger cub to go to," said Matt in an annoyed tone.

"It's the perfect place for a tiger cub to go to," said Chloe.

"If she were brown or orange. White tigers don't do well in the wild," said Matt. White Tiger paused at that, Matt saying "Boy, this foot in my mouth's tasty." in an annoyed voice.

"He's not entirely wrong," said Spider-Man, "That white costume is really going to stick out."

"Oh, like red and blues are natural colors," snarked White Tiger.

Chloe nodded, "My yellow and Matt's blue are all natural when we use it...but we'll make do," she said, carrying Snowbell onto the dropship, Snowbell blowing a raspberry over her shoulder.

"Right...any other weird pets you wanna tell us about?" asked Spider-Man.

"No, Weirdwolf's with Megan and we left the electric lizard, chupacabra, and technorganic blob back on the Bladestorm," said Matt.

Chloe nodded, "Ok, Chris, be so kind as to copilot for my brother."

"Why Chris?" asked Matt.

"You two have bonding to do as future brother-in-laws," said Chloe.

"Don't...say...that...word..." said Matt, his eye twitching violently.

"This is gonna be an awkward flight," said Spider-Man.


The dropship flew slowly in orbit over earth. "Orbital drop's easier and far faster than flying," said Matt over the ship's intercom. "If you look to your right, you can see the moon," he said, before looking and "And if you look straight ahea-OH SHIT!" he yelped, hitting reverse.

In front of the ship was a group of ships. Or what was left of them. Something had definitely totaled them and they were floating in multiple pieces.

"Dear God...those are Omega Class C's...top of the line...and somethings cored them," said Chris in horror, the class of ship on his and Matt's console readouts.

"What the hell can take out three NSC battleships?" Matt said in a small voice.

"No other wormhole residual. Locals did it..." said Chris, in shock.

"How long have they been floating there?" asked White Tiger.

Matt checked. "That's the NSS Karisa...reported missing on infonet 3 days ago. Time dilation...they've been here for nearly a year..." he said.

"It could just be a coincidence," said Spider-Man. The others gave him a look. "It could," said Spider-Man, "If this happened almost a year ago, why'd Sauron and those lizard monks show up now?"

"Maybe...poor sods," muttered Matt, a light from the dropship showing a plasma beam scar that had smashed an entire array of escape pods.

"Approaching drop point...secure all seats," said the computer.

Heading down, they mostly saw the vast white plains of snow that covered most of Antarctica. But as they got closer, a green spot became more noticeable.

"Alert...anomalous temperature spike in regard to location," said the computer.

"Considering it's the one hot spot down here, I don't think that's unusual," said Spider-Man.

"Temperature spike identified on par with dark matter power source..." said the computer.

"Ok, that's unusual," said Spider-Man.

"We'll mark it for later," said Chris, marking the location in the navcomp.

"Ok, I'll land us at the coast and we'll hike in. Anyone know where we're meeting this-" began Matt before the ship shook.

"Incoming weapon fire...shields at 86%."

"Ok, what's shooting at us?" asked White Tiger.

"Vessels identified...Chitauri hovercraft...light class..." said the computer.

Matt said, "Hope nobody gets airsick. Chris, get on the rear gun..." before he pulled hard left, several Chitauri hovercraft shooting past, their shots going wide from the sudden turn of their prey.

"What are Chitauri doing here?" asked Spider-Man, "Usually they're working for someone and trying to blow up New York."

Matt glared as one went past, Infected driving it. "Yeah...Chitauri..." he said darkly, firing the front cannons as it flew in front, blowing it to pieces. "I think Sauron knows we're coming," he said sarcastically.

"Give me a sec to process the weirdness of this," said Spider-Man. A second later, he said, "Ok, I'm done. Where are the gun stations?"

"Only one and Chris is at it. Strap in," called Matt, forcing the ship to take a sharp turn as he spotted one of the hovercrafts trying to grapple onto one of the side doors. "Chloe, can you get that?" asked Matt.

Chloe walked over to the door, using grav boots to remain stable, before, as the door opened, she gave them a smile. "Sorry, no salesmen or reptilian monsters," she said, slicing the cables. The hovercraft fell away from the ship, but more were shooting at the currently-open door.

Chloe glared, sending a bold into the first hovercraft, exploding it before the others peeled off, still firing at the ship but ignoring her, Chloe glaring and shifting to dragon hybrid form and taking off.

"You better clear out before you taste the wrath of Voltrix!" called Chloe.

Matt yelled behind her, "CHLOE!"

"It's the little things in life," said Chloe happily, sending another bolt at a hovercraft before a third was chewed up by the ship's rear turret. Just then, she noticed that the hovercrafts were turning tail. "Ha, can't take the thunder, could you?" she taunted.

She turned to see the dropship was small now. "Oh poop..." she muttered before a blast hit her in the back...


"Chris, can you see...urgh...Voltrix?" said Matt with annoyance.

"Uh, she shouldn't be that far away," said Chris, checking the scanners.

"She's out of practice!" snapped Matt, before the collision alarm rang, the two looking up to see a damaged hovercraft flying at them. Matt, to his credit tried to turn, but the hovercraft sheared off the left engine. "Shit! Everyone, we're landing here. Don't get up," Matt said, hitting the eject buttons, each seat sealing into a pod with its owner before dropping through the bottom.

The pods dropped straight down. It was a bit uncertain if they were going to land in the coast or the Antarctic Ocean, but it was going to be close.

Matt, through the wind from the new holes, heard Chris on the com yell, "Punch out! You're going down!"

"Just need to take care of one last thing," called Matt.

He looked forward to try and spot a clearing. All the fuel could cause a forest fire that would cook half the Savage Land. As he managed to fly just over the tip of a hill, he was almost awestruck to see an almost...organic ship at the end of a crash skid, flashes seen in front of it.

He didn't have time for anything else as he had to get out or explode with the ship. "Abandon ship!" snapped Matt, hitting the control for his pod, only for the computer to say "Malfunction...ejector offline." Matt staring.


Zaris, a moderately-built reptilian fired his blaster, turning a Savage Land lizardman to ash. "Keep your heads down!" he yelled. The other reptilians were diving into foxholes as the burning ship was getting closer.

Zaris glared at it before snapping, "Ensign, photon grenade on the treeline. See if that discourages them." The reptilian threw the grenade toward the treeline, before covering his eyes as it let out a bright flash. A second later, a blast hit him, turning him into an ash statue that crumbled.

"Goddammit!" he snapped, before glaring at the ship. "The hell is that pilot doing?" he snapped, before he and his remaining crew ducked as the ship's main guns fired, strafing their attackers before smashing into them, the cockpit sliding to a halt, mostly intact. "Tiza, Lana, get that pilot out of there. I wanna shake his hand," snapped Zaris, the locals running for it.

Two female reptilians headed towards the cockpit, though the fires were a bit of a deterrent. The red-scaled one climbed up, before smashing the front viewport with her blaster, pulling a blue-scaled winged reptilian out, the two dragging him back just before the ship exploded.

"He looks related to Sauron," growled one reptilian.

Zaris walked over and sniffed him. "No, not even close. He's definitely not a pterosaur," he said. There were several howls from the jungle. "Ok, everyone back in. Get this hotshot to the medibay," he said.


Matt groaned, coming too slowly. The last thing he'd remembered was seeing the ship's crew being attacked and strafing their attackers, shifting to hybrid form just before landing...and a crossbar heading for his head.

"Urgh..." he muttered, seeing a red blurry shape.

"Take it easy. You took a bad blow," said a voice. It sounded a bit distorted to Matt's ears, but he thought it sounded female.

"Crossbar...the ship was breaking up..." muttered Matt, his head tingling as his nanites got to work stopping the concussion from being worse than a headache.

"You were lucky to get out of there in one piece," said the voice, which was coming clearer at the same time as Matt's vision. The vision solidified on an Infected with a kind smile, wearing a grey jumpsuit with an open stomach, from rips. Matt tried to push himself back before collapsing back. "Easy...you're lucky to be alive," the Infected said with concern

"I have to get-" started Matt before pausing as he got a better look at the Infected. She was definitely a lot different from the other infected he had seen earlier. For starters, she was identifiable as female because of a figure that did not belong with reptiles. She also had a nearly-flat face combining a short muzzle with human proportions that weren't ugly. Actually, the main things that separated her from being human were the red scales, the small muzzle, the lack of hair, the spines on her scalp and down her back, and the tail.

"Y...yo...you..." gibbered Matt, trying to scrabble back more, before he said in terror, "GET AWAY FROM ME!" shielding his face.

"Sir, I need you to calm down," said the lizard woman, "You're putting too much stress on your heart."

"GET BACK!" yelled Matt, pointing a hand to cause a plasma blast, only for nothing to happen.

"You're fine. No one is going to hurt you," said the lizard woman.

Matt soon felt something pressing against his mind. Immediately, he swung at her and yelled, "STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Lana jumped back at that. "Wait, you aren't Navaki? Oh no...oh no oh no oh no," she said, starting to hyperventilate.

"You bet your patookie I'm not Navaki!" snapped Matt before asking, "What's Navaki?"

"I'm Navaki. We all are...and we thought you were when you saved us from those savages and those traitorous religious caste," said Lana, saying "If I'd known, I'd have used the nanites and not nipped you. I thought your healing factor just needed a boost."

Matt lost some of his anger and fear when he saw she seemed genuinely scared. "Ok, ok, let's try to take stock of this situation," said Matt, more to himself than her. He felt himself over to see if he was still a dragon.

He saw he more or less looked the same, grabbing a mirror to see that his horns had gone and his eyes had the bloodshot look of the average Infected but other than that he seemed the same...except he couldn't change back.

"Ok, I'm not that far removed from what I was and I don't seem to have an unrelenting instinct to spread infection to everyone," said Matt.

"What are you? A throwback? That was removed millennia ago," said Lana with a weak laugh.

"The guys palling around with Sauron seem to be that type," said Matt.

"Religious caste. They're right as long as they don't attack traders. They pestered the council into making us come here for a one-armed god and the great destroyer..." laughed Lana.

"One-armed god and great destroyer?" asked Matt.

Lana sighed and said, "You may as well hear it from someone who won't be trying to twist the truth. Legend goes, back when we couldn't control ourselves, one of us rebelled and tried to protect our victims from us...killed alot of us too.

"It was said that this Navaki was invincible. That he would destroy colony after colony. Some would tell you that he eventually ascended to godhood, though not in a good way," said Lana, "But the legend tells that in a final attempt to destroy all Navaki once and for all, he banished us all to a faraway world, which is our homeworld. So some see 'The Banisher' as a messianic figure who gave us our promised land."

Matt smirked before frowning as Lana laughed. "Oh please, it's just a conspiracy theory by people who got cracked in the shell," she said.

Matt's eye twitched. "Did he do it with a scythe?" he said.

"It varies a lot with the telling, but a scythe's the most common version," said Lana.

"Yeah...it was surprisingly light," said Matt aimlessly, pausing.

"Oh please. If you're going to try and pretend to be a god, do it for someone who actually believes," said Lana.

"But I did. You were living in sewers. You tried to eat me multiple times. YOU'VE HAUNTED MY NIGHTMARES FOR YEARS!" snapped Matt.

Lana was hardly convinced. She would think the nemesis/savior of her people wouldn't be so scrawny. But she could see that he believed it for some demented reason. She gently delved into his memories and recoiled.

"Would you mind not poking inside my head?" asked Matt, "I'm pretty sure it's rude for telepaths."

"You...you're...oh dear God, the nutters were right...you're..." stammered Lana.

Matt sighed. "Captain Lynch, Constellation Private Security," he said, offering a hand.

Lana took his hand at that "Lana of the Military caste. You...you're not gonna kill me?" she said in a shaking voice.

Matt sighed, "If you can forget about me...maybe I can forgive and forget too."

"I have to admit, I'd have thought the Banisher would be a lot taller," said Lana.

"Well, the legend doesn't tell that I'm a dragon either," said Matt.

"Oh...cool," said Lana, before noticing his scales were a network of old scars. "By the Connor," she said, in shock before realizing Matt's left arm was cybernetic. "What happened to you?" she asked, feeling more confident now she realized the boogeyman of her species was a regular guy about her size.

"Well, I've been in a lot of fights," said Matt, "Some of those scars came from fighting Infected."

"What's an Infected?" said Lana.

Matt gulped. "Not important. Look I got friends out there..." said Matt.

Lana sighed, "You can't go out there. The jungle's a deathtrap at night."

"Well, how long until morning?" asked Matt before pausing and saying, "Wait a second, this is Antarctica. The day and night cycles last 6 months each."

"There's some sort of device that simulates the day/night cycle. We think we clipped it on the way down," said Lana.

"So what does that mean?" asked Matt.

"It means the nights and days aren't 6 months long," said Lana, her eyes still on Matt.

"Ok, so how long until morning?" asked Matt, "Those guys will be eaten alive out there."

"You've been out for 12 hours. If they went down in the jungle, all you can hope is one of the less hostile savages find them," said Lana.

"12 hours?!" snapped Matt, trying to make his way out.

"You were really badly hurt..." said Lana, following him, a few others of Lana's kind, wearing the same jumpsuits watching them go past.

"For all I know, my friends are near the end of an Allosaurus's digestive tract by now!" snapped Matt.

"If that's the case, then running out into the night'll just get you killed too. I'm sure Captain Zeris'll organize a search party for the morning," said Lana.

Matt stopped before giving an annoyed sigh. There was no point in getting himself killed trying to rescue them. "Fine. I'll wait until morning," said Matt, "I don't suppose you've contacted one particular local?"

"No, just that insane pterodactyl. We chased him off." said Lana smugly.

"So you haven't met any humans here," said Matt.

"Not that we saw, at least not talking. Humans are just stories anyway," laughed Lana.

Matt glared. "Don't start again... Well, as soon as first light comes, I want to... What are you doing?" asked Matt as Lana felt his right arm.

"Uh, checking to see if there was any damage here," said Lana, slightly squeezing Matt's muscles.

Matt paused, sighing. "It's fine...I have...had a girlfriend," he said.

"Did she land here?" asked Lana.

"She's not anywhere near here," said Matt.

"Aw...she dumped you?" said Lana.

Matt said, "No...she infected me with a mutagen and sent a kill team after me."

"Oh..." said Lana, suddenly feeling a bit awkward.

"Hey, you're not psychic," said Matt in a friendly tone, shuddering a little realizing he could sense her shame. "So, uh, what do you guys have to eat around here?" asked Matt.


The next morning, Matt was led down to the makeshift canteen with Lana, to see, to his personal horror there was barely 10 of these 'Navaki' Infected in there, one wearing a red jumpsuit, Matt muttering, "Well he's dead first."

At that point, Matt heard Lana's voice in his head ask "What do we call you? I'd...rather not get in trouble for converting an outsider."

Matt paused at that before trying to think. "Erm...no, not that...Sokaris," he thought.

"Sokaris?" asked Lana.

"You got a better suggestion?" thought Matt annoyed.

"I would the Banisher would have a kinglier name," thought Lana.

"Well, legends aren't- Wait, I got it. Korono," thought Matt.

Lana paused before thinking, "It suits you. Now how do we explain how you're not an outsider?"

"Leave it to me," thought Matt with a smirk, that caused Lana to shudder before Matt thought, "So who's the boss?"

Lana thinking back, "The 'red shirt'."

"Oh...you guys might want to wear something else here," thought Matt.


Zeris looked up as Lana walked up with the pilot. "Cadet, I see our mystery hero's ok..." he said calmly.

The pilot said, "Korono, trader. I was exploring when I saw your predicament."

Zeris raising an eye ridge. "You seem a long way from our part of the galaxy," said Zeris.

"I like to explore," said Korono.

Zeris noticed Lana's tail lashing a bit when she watched Korono, him thinking to her, "Cadet...are you...eyeballing our guest?"

"Me? No, why would I be looking at the hunky pilot who saved our camp?" Lana thought frantically.

Zeris smirked before he said to Korono, "So, you'll be from the Okari Orbital city. Most of our pilots are from there."

Korono was about to reply when Lana told him "Careful, that's a trick question."

Zeris smirked, not letting up he'd heard that. "You know, I don't need to interrogate someone who saved my men. Are any of your crew out there? Rasuka said your ship smelled like it had multiple crew," he said, Lana letting out a breath.

"They had to eject," said Korono, "I had to stay behind to make sure the ship didn't cause a wildfire where it crashed."

"Good man. I hope they're ok. We'll be sending out a forage team in a few hours. If you wanna go with them…" said Zeris.

"Could it be sooner?" asked Korono.

"Not really. The raptors like to hunt around this time," said Zeris.

"Oh, I guess I can wait a while longer," said Korono.

Lana visibly perked up at that, Zeris muttering to himself, "Young love..."

Matt blinked as he felt a sudden warmth of affection towards Lana. "Take it easy," muttered Matt, "This is no time for Florence Nightingale syndrome." With that, he walked out of the canteen.

Lana walked out after him to find him leaning against the wall. "Matt...are you ok?" she said, Matt wincing.

"I'm fine," said Matt, "Just can't stay in one spot too long. I get restless."

"You sure? I was worried," said Lana, taking his hand.

"I'm fine, really," said Matt.

"Are you sure?" asked Lana, looking at him.

"Yes, I'm sure!" snapped Matt, yanking his hand away.

Lana's face fell at that. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize I upset you..." she said.

"You're not upsetting me. That's...kinda the problem," said Matt.

"Why's that bad?" said Lana, confused.

"How long have you been old enough to be in the navy?"

"Since I came of age," said Lana.

"And how long ago was that?" asked Matt, slightly annoyed.

"This was my first run...soooo...8 months ago," said Lana, Matt banging his head against the wall when she looked away to work it out.


5 minutes after Matt crashed...

Chris, in Wolf-Bat form, shook himself off. "I'm gonna kill Matt. Thank God for lakes," he muttered.

"Any landing you can walk away form, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"Yeah...least the plesiosaur was nice," said Chris aimlessly before making a small burp.

"Er...anyways...we need to find where the girls landed," said Spider-Man.

The two looked up to see the smoke from the ship, a larger plume in the distance. "Hope Lynch got out. That crash looks nasty," he muttered.

"Me too," said Spider-Man.

"On the plus side, he's walked away from worse," said Chris, looking around, "Ok...you were here before. Is there anywhere safe?"

"Uh..." said Spider-Man hesitatingly.

"Oh crap. All we got is the survivor pack," muttered Chris, taking a slightly soggy pack out.

"Let's just head to high ground," said Spider-Man.

"Good idea..." said Chris, readying his blaster rifle, looking up at the skies, "Come on, Chloe. Be waiting for us, for God's sake."


Elsewhere, Chloe was slowly waking up. She soon got the feeling she was in a cave, a well-lit one. She got up and looked around, before seeing a lizard creature. It was definitely not one of the Infected, the mandibles on its lips gave it away.

"Hey, you, get over here." snapped Chloe, the creature hissing in terror and wincing before slowly coming forward.

"What...misssstressss want?" it hissed.

"Mistress?" asked Chloe, not sure whether to like or dislike the sound of that.

"Yesss...Lord say you misstress...to be obeyed like himmmm. He stop those who used star pain on you," hissed the creature.

"Star pain?" asked Chloe.

"Yes...blue bolts of the sun..." said the creature.

Chloe caught on. "Those morons in the hovercraft?" she said. The creature looked at her with confusion. "The...uh, flying sleds?" asked Chloe.

"The star gods? Our lord convinced them to help us," said the creature.

"Right...I think I want to talk to Sauron now," said Chloe.

"He said you must recover," said the creature, blocking the door.

"I'm recovered enough," said Chloe.

"He said you would be hungry," said the creature.

"I'm not... Ok, I am a little peckish," said Chloe. The creature winced, holding out its hands. "Uh, I'd like actual food," said Chloe.

"He said you would need energy..." said the creature.

"I think he means like protean, carbohydrates, something with actual substance," said Chloe. When the creature gave her a blank look, Chloe got annoyed and snapped, "Just bring me something I can put in my mouth!"

"He was very clear..." said the creature, Chloe glaring, grabbing its shoulders and immediately starting to feel stronger, the creature whimpering. Chloe quickly let go, a nasty taste tingling her mouth.

The creature crumpled, whimpering, Chloe realizing with a chill she felt fuller...but she felt even hungrier now. "No way, no way. Matt would flip if I become a vampiress," said Chloe.

She paused, the hunger getting worse, the creature saying weakly, "I was told...to feed you..."

"I prefer real food, something that I actually chew and swallow," said Chloe.

"I...will get you...something..." said the creature, pushing herself up, Chloe stopping herself from helping her up.

As soon as the creature left, Chloe tried to think of how to get out of this situation. "Ok, I don't know where I am, except that I'm probably near Connors. And he's done something to me," she said to herself.

"I need to get me and Connors out of here. Try to find the others. Ok...this door shouldn't be too hard," she said, trying the lock using a claw to pick it, the door opening only for a green clawed hand to grab her wrist.

"Going somewhere?" asked Sauron, in what appeared to be a friendly tone.

Chloe yelped, trying to pull away. "Get off me, you smeghead, before I wear your spine as a necklace!" she snapped angrily.

"Now, now, is that any way to speak to your groom?" asked Sauron.

"Groom?" snapped Chloe, before her eyes blazed and she attempted the infamous 'Megan kick'.

Sauron caught her leg before it made contact. "Please, have a bit more class," said Sauron.

"I'll give you class!" snapped Chloe, before trying to drain him.

Sauron laughed and said, "I can't be drained by my own power."

Chloe glared before pushing him back and looking for a weapon of any kind. "I am not your bride," she snapped.

"Not just yet," said Sauron, "You'll come around. After all, if I am to be king of the world, I'll need a queen."

"I will not...not..." began Chloe, her stomach doing a flip.

"The process will take time," said Sauron, "You'll have more meals before you're ready for our wedding."

Chloe was just staring, as her hand scales turned a light brown, Sauron stepping aside to let the same servant and a few others from before walk in.


Meanwhile, White Tiger was trying to keep to the plan. Which wasn't exactly easy when she was stuck with Zira, Snowbell, and Coldlahd.

Zira, to her credit, was enjoying herself. "So much trees. I love this place," she said, not noticing a pair of eyes from the water.

"Zira, this isn't a playground," said White Tiger, "This place is really dangerous."

"Oh please. We're tougher then we-" began Zira before the crocodile swallowed her.

White Tiger was ready to attack before Snowbell said, "Wait for it." before the crocodile's eyes widened, it twitched before its jaws were forced open by a hulked-out Zira.

"Bad gator," growled Kira.

The crocodile just looked surprised before Kira picked it up by the tail and threw it out of sight, before shrinking down to Zira. "Even Kira's having fun," she said happily.

"So...what kind of relationship do you two have?" asked White Tiger.

"Kira looks after me," said Zira happily.

"Ok and what about you two?" asked White Tiger, looking at Snowbell.

Coldlahd flew out of Snowbell who shook her head and loped over to a tree. "I found the poor kid. I activated from my pod to find my ship hand landed on her folks. So I looked after her," the experiment said.

"Oh. And without you in there, she's just a normal cub, right?" asked White Tiger.

"Mostly..." said Coldlahd, adding, "I was in her head for several months. It...made some modifications to her."

Snowbell called, "Hey, I can smell another of me."

"I thought you said you needed to be in her so she could talk," said White Tiger.

"Yeah...I just said that so Chloe wouldn't dehydrate me. She's got an attachment to the little fuzzball," said Coldlahd before pausing, "Wait...did she say she could smell another saber tooth?"

"Only one other saber tooth that I know of," said White Tiger.


Snowbell happily loped through the underbrush, following the scent before pausing. The scent was on the other side of a bunch of weird flowers. The flowers were quite vibrant, having long yellow petals with blue stripes. The centers of the flowers were unusually in that they were a very bright green. They looked like some kinda crossbreed between a daffodil and an orchid.

"Ooooh…" she said, before hearing a rustle, turning to see several raptors come out the brush.

"Hey look, Skyclaw. Food that comes to us," sneered one of them.

Snowbell tilted her head. "You look weird," she said.

"Looks like a tasty morsel," growled the largest one.

Snowbell grinned, saying, "You'll be sooorryyyyy…" in a sing-song voice.

"She's just a cub. Get her!" snapped the leader. The leader leapt forward at Snowbell, who burped white smoke at him, the flash frozen raptor landing with a 'clink', saying "mmmmph."

The other raptors looked at one another. "I'm suddenly allergic to sabretooth meat," said one of them, the others nodding. The raptors carefully picked up their leader, shivering a bit as his cold skin.

"Byeeee," said Snowbell happily, waving a paw before following the original scent through the flowers, the smell making her tingle. She wanted to stop and roll in the flowers, but she had other things to do.

She pushed her way through the undergrowth to see a larger sabretooth, "Hello," she said. The bigger sabretooth gave her a confused look at that. Snowbell smiled before saying in sabre, "My name's Snowbell. Please don't eat my friends."

"I wouldn't eat them," replied the sabretooth in sabre language.

"That's nice. They're my friends," said Snowbell with the pure innocence of a child.

"Where are they?" asked the sabretooth.

Snowbell pointed a paw at the group he'd been watching. "There," she said.

The Smilodon looked and was mildly surprised to see the human. "What's White Tiger doing here?" he asked.

"You know her?" said Snowbell, happy that it seemed this grown-up wasn't gonna turn her friends into dinner.

"I've trained with her at the human training grounds," said the Smilodon.

"Yay, that mean you don't wanna eat them?" said Snowbell happily.

"The others...don't look appetizing anyways," said the Smilodon, not even sure what the odd creatures were.

"Oh, that's Coldlahd and Zira. They're nice too," said Snowbell.

"Zabu, where are you?" called a human voice.

Snowbell looked over to see a human dressed like one of the strange humans near Markarth. Zabu gave a roar, more to tell where he was than to say anything in particular.

The human and White Tiger and the experiments turned at that, Snowbell running out and saying happily in human, "I found some new friends."

"Strange. Tigers can't speak like people," said the savage human.

"Snowbell is not a normal tiger," said White Tiger.

"What White Tiger doing down here?" asked the savage human.

"We need your help, Ka-Zar," said White Tiger, "Dr. Connors has been kidnapped by Sauron."

"Sauron...he has caused much trouble for the tribes here since flying machine arrived," said Ka-Zar.

"You knew about the aliens? Why didn't you call for help?" asked White Tiger.

"Savage Land is Ka-Zar's home. Ka-Zar protects own home," said Ka-Zar.

Zira snapped, "You should have called for help." only to yelp as Zabu growled at her.

"Savage Land not welcome to outsiders. Most won't survive," said Ka-Zar.

Zira snapped, "Wait...are you saying our friends are probably being eaten as we speak?" Her eyes were glowing faintly.

"Could be," said Ka-Zar.

"We need to find them, NOW!" snapped Zira, twitching a little, Coldlahd floating back from her.

"Was already tracking them," said Ka-Zar, "We must go now."


"So...last time you were here you got turned into a giant spider?" said Chris, the two following smoke.

"Apparently," said Spider-Man, "I don't really remember it."

"Nasty...guess we need to be careful around the flora," said Chris, sniffing the air, "Urgh...too many smells. Can't tell where Chloe is."

"I would guess she's at Sauron's lair, wherever that is," said Spider-Man.

"Urgh...poor Sauron. She'll turn him inside out," said Chris.

"I just hope we don't get turned inside..." started Spider-Man before they entered a clearing and came face-to-face with a T. rex. "Out!" yelped Spider-Man.

The T-rex roared as the duo backed up before it paused, squinting before, after looking at Parker, went wide eyed and actually backed up a step. "Um, boo?" tried Spider-Man. The T Rex turned tail at that, giving a panicked roar.

"The heck?" said Chris after a minute, noticing a bite scar on its tail.

"Huh, maybe dinosaurs can have arachnophobia too. It seemed...familiar," said Spider-Man in confusion.

"Did it try to eat you before?" asked Chris.

"I don't remember...maybe something that happened as the Man-Spider..." said Spider-Man in confusion.

"Well, it stopped us from being tyrannosaur chow so I'm not complaining. So, where would Sauron go to nest?" asked Chris.

"Hmm..." said Spider-Man before noticing a flock of pterosaurs above them, "Say, maybe if we follow them, we'll find Sauron."

"Good a plan as any..." said Chris.

"Then let's hurry. We don't want to lose them," said Spider-Man before webswinging after the flying reptiles.


"As you can see, Lord Sauron, our stealth technology outstrips anything the apes have. They have no idea they are watched," said one of the robed Infected with a hiss, several holographic views showing the groups, the one monitoring Matt aiming through a window in the ship.

"So much more convenient for watching my realm and my enemies," said Sauron.

"Until we retake the ship from the heretics though, we cannot create more," said another Infected.

"This will do for a start," said Sauron, "It's a shame I can't see through the eyes of my subjects."

"Agreed. Legends say only the infected of old could when our hive mind was stronger," said a third infected, causing even Sauron to shudder, especially as that one had been out of earshot of the one he'd spoken to.

"Well, we have some experimenting to do to recreate that power and improve it," said Sauron.

"We do have the other scientist we grabbed..." said one of the Infected

"Ah yes, that lab assistant. What was his name again?" asked Sauron. He held up a nametag that had been removed from that scientist and studied it. "Hmm, Vincent Stegron. How...prophetic..." said Sauron sinisterly.

"We have limited technology, but I think we can do something," sneered a female Infected.

"Well, let's get to work," said Sauron.


Well, this is the start of a week-long arc taking place in the Savage Land. There's going to be a lot adventures featured down here. As you can see, it's already off to a momentous start. There will be updates once a day for every day this week. Look for the next chapter tomorrow and please review.