Queen's note: See, here I was thinking 'Hey I'm going to write a few scenes I was holding onto for a while, and then the next chapter get into things…' and then 13 pages later instead of 8

Garnets

Chapter Twenty Three:

Experiments and News

Lily checked in the odd den like room, spotting the bulk that was John in the lower section. He was at the desk and there were sounds that told Valen was out of sight. Likely working on one or both of their armor.

She padded inside, pausing to thump a book back into its place. It was also a warning that the young woman had arrived before Lily almost bounced down the short stairs. She had her tool belt on, and breathing a little hard, proving that Lily had just finished something.

John was starting to turn but froze as he was pounced on. The man was dressed in sweats and a dark green, sleeveless shirt. Of course, there were still no shoes. Huffing in amusement at the sudden, and not really effective attack the man gave a questioning sound, "Hmm?"

"Experimental time!" Lily announced, getting Valen to glance over, almost climbing on the Demigod's side. "Need to try something."

"Mm?" John blinked, then hooked his arm around the smaller human to pull her into his lap. Rolling backwards to make room between himself and the desk.

"Can you do that thing?" Lily asked, grabbing his free hand, "That makes it easier to breathe?"

Tilting his head, John arched an eyebrow, but carefully pressed his closed knuckles against Lily's chest. Noticing one of the medical devices had been attached to the side of her chest. He very carefully bled over a little of his energy. Watching to make sure it was just enough that the girl was able to breathe better again. John pulled his head back in surprise as Lily cheered and bounced back up to her feet.

"Vega! Set the timer!" Lily yelled before jumping back up the stairs and was actually able to run out of the room.

"Timer set, I'm tracking your progress…" Vega spoke, the voice following Lily out.

The man turned in his chair, the spread out computer parts forgotten for now. John looked more than a little confused, before turning a bit more to look over at Valen.

The former commander shrugged, standing up and cleaning off his hands on a cloth. "I'm not sure what she's up to. I had thought she was working on another water pump today."

John looked back at the desk, where the assorted hard drives from the sea platform were spread out. Some had to sit on cooler pads as they worked, letting Vega pick out and recover all the data. Others were not yet ready to be adapted to the Argenta computers. The man had been happy to sit in semi quiet, listening to Valen fill him in with more detailed things about hell.

Now?

His interest was diverted.

Vega was not giving an explanation unprompted, though the Slayer was sure the AI would explain if he asked. So nothing critical was happening, or anything that would put John's human in danger. What had Lily said as she climbed his side? Something with experiments?

"Hmm?" John tilted his head from one side to the other. He shrugged, getting up as the man gave into temptation to go find out. Honestly it was nice Lily did not seem to hold a grudge about her father's last gift. John had not missed how at the last moment she waved to the crucible hilt on the wall on her way out.

Where is the small flower going? The Demigod sighed at the nearest camera.

"Miss Lily is running along a similar path in the Fortress you did to cool down after fighting." Vega answered, watching all of the living beings as they moved. Or did not in Valen's case as the Argenta man stayed to work on the white armor skin.

The Slayer was just lengthening his stride as he caught a glimpse of Lily crossing the hall. Then started after the smaller human as if triggered by some instinct, only he was not running as she but jogging. Just about the same speed between them though.

Vega wondered to himself if the Slayer, John, had a more pronounced predator instinct. All humans were endurance predators, omnivores as they were. In more than one way Vega could understand the demonic fear, or just from animals in human history.

Even as he was watching as Lily slowed at each turn to smack a lit panel to turn its color from red to blue (a simple reward she had the idea for, and was effective). John was half tracking as he tried to puzzle out what was happening. Lily was keeping a slightly erratic pattern as she became aware of the other.

Her activity was quickly on the verge of turning into a game of keep away Vega noted. Even as he kept a careful eye on the young woman's heart rate and oxygen levels. Between the implants still inside her body after the minor surgery, and the device over her heart, Vega was given a wonderfully detailed look at what happened to an unaltered human with just a little bit of the Slayer's mix of energy that fueled him.

Lily's lungs were still damaged, even if the pain was numbed. They still had to work harder to compensate, as she still needed to breathe faster than normal. But not having to worry about the consent helped Lily keep up her pass. The energy given was being made useful where physically needed, centralized in Lily's upper chest.

The lungs and heart.

Vega noted a risk as the energy finally plateaued after ten minutes. If it suddenly cut off now or just after, she might have a seizure.

Lily paused as she saw one of the panels she had already turned colors on turned back. Then saw the hulking form standing near it. John grinned.

"RUDE!" Lilly yelled at him, and at a fainting lunge she gave a short scream and jumped back, Vega seeing her pulse jump as the young woman took off down the corridor. The Slayer hot on her heels, but not getting too close. Following as Lily looped back to hit the screen again and run for the last one.

John grinned, inadvertently being a motivation for Lily to keep going as she had just started to slow down. He looked almost shocked as she successfully dodged a swipe, ducking down and switching directions. The man growled, a chest vibrating sound that was not aggressive. John's expression was lighter, and he was smiling, not snarling.

He was growling, but more like a rottweiler would when happy and excited. This had definitely turned into some sort of game, reminding John of times past when he chased young apprentices in the Sentinel Keeps. Like then, he could very easily catch and pin the human, but was more that constant, lingering 'threat' that took a swipe or lunge after Lily. All the while growling or giving mock snarls. After a few minutes he finally got a loose hold of Lily, and nearly dropped her as the girl twisted around to kick out. Aiming not for the balls or his gut but right for the inside of the knee as if trained to.

Eerie blue eyes lit up, as he realized that hit might be pretty effective for a normal human. John reached with his other hand, dropping down to the knee that was hit and grinned. All too happy to let things dissolved into a wrestling… mess. No match, it was just a few glorious moments of chaos, growling and yelling. With Lily kicking and trying to squirm free, and the Slayer just shifting to get a different hold.

"Please hold her still," Vega warned more than asked, as he watched the oxygen levels suddenly drop.

John shifted, hooking his left arm behind Lily's back and pulled her closer. His right arm over her legs as he sat back. Head pressed down against hers as his snarl died into a low growl, then a deep breath as he became aware of how much Lily was struggling to breathe.

It took a minute, and John resisted the want to help again. As Lily was getting herself to calm down, but kept jerking now and then from all the activity. There was just a bit of room between them to let Lily reach for her mask.

"How…how long… was it?" Lily asked, still gasping as she finally relaxed. Just recovering.

"Eighteen minutes and forty seven seconds." Vega answered, "I recommend you stay still for the next few minutes, miss Lily. Let your heart rate go back down and oxygen levels go back to your normal."

John sat back, glancing down as he shifted to free his right hand.

"Please do not, Slayer," Vega added, watching what was happening, "We need clear readings."

"Hm?"

"I'm okay," Lily grinned up at the Demigod, reaching to grasp at his now freed hand. Her legs were still twitching a bit but happy to sit with John for a bit. "Wanted to try and see how long it'll last with consent activity."

"The safest range seems to be between ten and fifteen minutes." Vega paused for a moment, "At least with this as an example."

"Roughly, 15 minutes of consent activity, and just shy of two and half hours of being sedentary. Boy, that's a gap." Lily noted, shifting to lean on John. she looked up and smiled, "Also, rude. Before. I almost had everything tagged."

Oh well. John grinned as he signed, then carefully pressed his head to Lily's again. Rumbling a half growl again, still feeling oddly playful.

Lilly squirmed, pushing at the wall of muscle, "Rude! I'm supposed to be, like, recovering."

The demigod snorted, shaking his head as he glanced around. Making a sign after freeing a hand.

"What was that?" Lily frowned, "I don't recognize it."

B-R-A-T. John spelled out after a moment.

"OY!" Lily sat up, pushing again. "That's not even fair, I can't even curse you back in sign."

Why not? John tilted his head. Letting Lily flop on the ground and sit up again.

"I really only know ASL and some silly stuff."

Turn. It was not so much an order but not asking either, John poking Lily until she was facing him. The man waited a moment to be sure she was watching him and slowly started to sign.

Lily cocked her head, her hands twitching before trying to mimic the motion as it was signed once more. Her eyes lighting up as she sense something geven the smirk on John's face.

"Slayer?" The normally professionally polite voice over the Fortress' internal comms seemed almost concerned. "Are you...teaching the young lady to curse in sign language?"

Both the demigod and the much smaller human sitting on the floor paused what they were doing. Rather inhuman blue eyes lifted from where they had been watching the smaller set of hands trying to mimic his own mostions. Staring right into the nearest camera that Vega could see them through. John, the Slayer in question, very deliberately, clearly signed the words to the girl again, going a little slower to let her keep up.

He could see her hands still despite not looking directly at them. How Lily managed to get three fourths of the hand signs down. Her left hand only jerked a bit from the healing damage to the same arm.

Something very suspiciously like a sign came from the advanced AI.

That had the hulking man smirk as he looked back, reaching one massive hand to correct the motion Lily was trying to sort out. She did have to flip what she was seeing after all. That same big hand patted the young woman's head and ruffled the blond hair once she got it, some sort of pleased rumble came out too.

"Miss Lily, please don't encourage him to teach you such things." Vega asked, as one of his new subsystems sent a ping for his attention.

The young woman giggled, shamelessly feeling like a kid again with the size difference. Lily grinning as she was happy to learn something 'forbidden' now. "...But it's fun?"

"And inevitable given who her overall guardian is," Valen noted as he found what hall the two were in. Eyeing everything with his good obsidian eye, and what was said. The Argenta had the expression of an experienced father that had a child who had learned all the things Valen would have liked him not to, and now just gave up. He did hope Lily had more sense then to sign things at people that she could not tell if they could understand.

Valen glanced down at Lily, "Please don't sign that at any Sentinels my lady."

"After what I learned these last few days," Lily tilted her head back, poking her tongue out at Valen, "I can't guarantee that. But I will abide by self preservation as much as possible."

John snorted and then laughed out loud, even if his throat still hurt some from speaking the primordial language the day before. If not mine, tell them to go to hell again.

Valen rolled his eyes, about to say something when he was interrupted.

"Slayer," Vega spoke up again, "A new gore nest is trying to form in northern California, but I've intercepted a poorly coded transmission from the cultists about a Hell Priest arriving on Earth."

Almost like that, the playful air evaporated completely. The Demigod's head snapped up and he frowned, hands flexing and then then took a deep breath. He got up, glancing back at the other two and tilted his head in a 'come on' way before heading to the command area of the bridge.

"Gore nest…that's what the demons are trying to make at the center of those fleshy 'blooms?'" Lily asked, looking up and taking the offered metallic hand. Getting pulled first to her feet, then lifted up off them.

"Yes," Valen nodded, walking after the Slayer once he was sure Lily was balanced sitting on his left arm. "After they become… super? Big-big, the demons start feeding the nests live victims instead of bodies, to start pulling massive chunks into Hell. It's how they take over a world and the real 'eats' those invaded words. Resources spread over hell and supported its capital."

"None of the Gore Nests on earth, even the larger ones, are not at that level yet." Vega assured Lily and as they came into the bridge-like area. The AI was pulling up a hollow map in the command ring, highlighting the area the signal came from, the new gore nest and then where the spot the supposed Hell Priest was going to show up.

"Isn't that LA?" Lily started to lean forward, then thought better of it, waiting to be put down and coming to look up at the map.

"The port areas of Los Angeles, there's a super-gore nest already spawned in the city center area." Vega pulled up the area of the map, the hologram zooming in until there was a slightly curved map. Showing what was left of the buildings and… skyscraper sized monsters forming?

Lily stared, wrapping her mind around what did and did not look like pictures she had seen when off the west coast a few years ago. Reaching out to touch one of the titanic demon monsters as something was forming on its back. "Well, this looks like a blatant trap, or red herring."

"Hm," John made an agreeing sound as he walked around the holographic map. Unable to stay still, he had to pace as Valen crossed his arms.

"It's a temple bearing Titan that's forming, not any of the Order of the Deag themselves." Valen leaned over Lily, pointing to the mass in the holo-map, "See how this does not match the rest of the human buildings? That is where the real bearer is forming. The other Titan is an escort, of sorts. They're mostly blinded at that size, and might have one good eye out of three, or four. I doubt it's a trap for the Slayer."

Where did, signal come from? John asked, and Valen could see the old war king starting to wake up again. The map pulled back, moved up the coast and then moved back down.

"About here, the signal is bouncing between old cell phone towers of Crescent City," Vega explained, highlighting an area about fifty square miles near the coastline and just under what was the old border to Oregon.

"Question," Lily spoke up, looking between the two, "What would happen to some of the survivors if they tried to find this, these? Prest-s in desperation? It would not be something out of the realm of possibility for humans to try a Hail-Mary like that."

John opened his mouth, paused with twitching fingers as that made him think. He winced as it was something any survivor group might do. He would try for it, and in a way he had fallen once to a trap in blind rage and desire to kill some key figures in hell. In turn spent who knows how long in that be-damned sarcophagus.

"They would be used to feed the gore nests, sacrifices to start sending chunks of your world to hell." Valen made a face, not really wanting to see that again.

"I've been picking up mentions of 'A-R-C' since we arrived in earth's orbit. From both the cutest and non cultist remnants of the ACU." Vega started.

"Ark, or Arc." Lily spoke up as she moved to the side of the map with the coastline. Both men looking over at her in surprise she shrugged, "Dad and I heard some things about them. I know they refused to come to the Platforms once they found out there were still some demons able to form and come out there."

"They left you?" Valen frowned, not liking the sound of that.

Lily shrugged, "There was a, well it was an unknown demonic infection happening on our Platform at least. Now I know it was whatever mom turned into but at the time it seemed random. So, I mean, I cursed them with dad but I do understand why they didn't come."

"What do you know of this Ark organization?" Vega asked, even if Lily did not know much it might help him narrow down a search for them. Instead of casting the wide spread nets so to say.

"'Armored Response Coalition,'" Lily started, frowning, "Dad said that I think. He wasn't sure how they were going to get along, they're what's left of…everyone's military? Oh! That one guy was leading or helping lead… ah…"

Lily clicked her fingers, trying to remember the name. "Dammit, what's his name? That arrogant bastard that triggered an extinction event in the European sea a few years ago. Dr. Heymond? The cyborg guy."

John straightened his name, then scowled as Vega spoke. The AI's voice surprised and a little worried.

"Dr. Heyden?" Vega asked.

"Yeah! That guy." Lily made a face, not for the first time disappointed that the first real case of cyborg, or human robot was spoiled a bit. She knew he had a nice voice from old interviews, but it was all tossed out the window once you listened to the guy long enough to start rolling eyes at the oozing arrogance.

John flexed his hand, making his knuckles seem to creek just for a moment. Yeah he should have ripped that robot's legs off.

"Does that help?"

"Yes miss Lily, that helps quite a bit." Vega was assuring, already rearranging how he was searching. "I am acquainted with him and his habits."

"Could he be in Australia?" Lily asked, pointing to a display on the consol beside her, where there was the dark continent.

"It is possible, but he would want to stay somewhere where he could access global resources and information."

"In the meantime," Valen spoke up, redirecting everyone's attention, "Can you get a message out without compromising the Fortress to warn survivors away from the Gore Nests?"

"Not with the current systems in the Fortress." Vega promptly responded, "If I had control of some of the satellites or proxies on earth I can."

"What about… these cell-er towers?" Valen motioned to the map still on display.

"Hm." John considered this, then flashed a grin with a sharp nod. Pointing at a spot on the map before signing. Here. I can install something for Vega to access.

"It's also not heavily infected, ish, so you might get supplies." Lily noted, coming back to look up at Valen.

"If needed, and once he's distracting the local hoard, I can fetch something." Valen agreed. "While the war king suits up, Lily, will you help me find the area to see what is missing for Vega to find what parts are needed to help."

"What about just making something with the fabricator-printer thing?" Lily asked, lifting her mask, meaning how Vega had made the mask.

"That's a wonderful idea," Vega seemed happy, already starting to design something, "But if you could also see what parts are shut down in the Fortress' equivalent of a comms room, we can have a second layer."

"Doesn't hurt to try," Lily nodded, paused and smirked, "Excluding some electrical jolts."

John snorted as he paced back, lingering just a moment to eye Valen. Protect.

"Of course my lord." Valen snorted, and then started to walk out of the room after Lily. Stooping to pick her up, after all the activity before he thought it wisest to lend his stride.


reviews!

XFireStoneX: Yeah, but hopefully I'll get more of those muses soon!

Red Viy: I'm sorry about the feels, have an ice pack? Its not all chilling... I say as I love to write that... keep an eye out for the next survivor!