“Well, well, well,” The blonde Titaness smirked. “If it isn’t the little Princess herself.”

Trell laughed and set the suitcase sized device down on the ground with a thud that shook the nearby buildings, but didn’t seem to affect Pryvani at all.

Pryvani shot Taron a sidelong glance, which was met by a subtle nod. 

“Oh there’s no need to be secretive.” Trell shrugged. “You want to come take a look at it? Be my guest.” 

Taron looked uncertainly from the device, to Trell, to Pryvani before cautiously stepping over to the apparatus and kneeling down to examine it. 

“Okay, while you’re playing with that, I’ll deal with the spoiled brat over here.” 

Pryvani shifted her weight. She glanced around quickly trying to find some way of moving Trell out of the city and into safer territory.

“I’m a little surprised to see you out here, to be honest.” Trell stretched languidly. “What’s the matter, Pryvani? Were you afraid your little doll army and toy soldiers wouldn’t be able to handle me on their own?” 

“Hardly.” Pryvani responded coolly, reflexively falling back into a ready stance. “But I certainly couldn’t let them have the fun of smashing your face in, now could I?” 

Trell sneered. “Big talk, rich girl. Let’s see if you got anything to back it up with.” 

With that being the only warning, Trell let loose with a roundhouse kick aimed at Pryvani’s head, which the latter quickly ducked underneath, before popping back up into a standing position.

“Really Trell?” Pryvani sighed. “As opening moves go, that one is rather… uninspired.” 

Trell growled and responded with a flurry of punches. Most of them were swiftly blocked or deflected off of Pryvani’s forearms, but occasionally one landed on her torso. Pryvani gasped and stepped back away from the onslaught. 

But Trell wouldn’t give her any respite, she kept coming at Pryvani, raining a flurry of attacks against the other woman. Pryvani did her best to defend against them, but she was finding it difficult. 

That is, until Trell overextended one of her punches, leaving Pryvani with an opening. The young heiress caught the punch on the outside of her forearm. Before Trell could recover, Pryvani used her adversary’s mistake to land a hard right cross on Trell’s jaw, and then brought her arm back the other direction for a backhand that left the blonde woman reeling before finishing with a straight punch to the jaw with her left hand. 

Trell stumbled backwards, momentarily dazed. 

Taking advantage of the shift in momentum, Pryvani pressed the attack; jabbing her fists into Trell’s torso mercilessly. Weeks of frustration and heartache were being excised from the young woman with every blow. 

At least until Trell responded by grabbing the back of Pryvani’s head and slamming it into her upcoming knee. 

Pryvani staggered backwards and fell, smashing a thankfully empty house underneath her shoulder. She looked up just in time to see the sole of Trell’s boot coming down towards her face. Instinctively, Pryvani rolled out of the way vaguely hearing the thud of the boot landing in the debris of the house she’d been laying in. 

“Wow… bet you almost felt like a human for a second there, didn’t ya?” Trell sniggered as Pryvani staggered back to her feet. 

Pryvani didn’t respond, instead she ran straight at Trell and bowled her over, smashing more buildings underneath them. Thankfully the residents, having sense, had vacated the area before the giants had begun fighting. 

The two women rolled along the ground grappling and trying to gain the advantage. Pryvani could feel the relatively flimsy buildings snapping underneath them and she prayed fervently that the people had had enough time to evacuate. 

After a bit of a struggle Pryvani found herself on top, one hand against Trell’s face, the other attempting to restrain her wrists. That didn’t last long before Trell grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it in Pryvani’s eyes. With a startled cry, Pryvani instinctively fell away from the attack, allowing Trell to regain her feet. 

“Aww what’s the matter Pryvani…?” She mocked. “Did I ruin your makeup?” 

Before Pryvani could regain her footing, Trell was on top of her. Trell pinned Pryvani’s arms with her knees and wrapped her hands around Pryvani’s neck and began squeezing. 

“Don’t worry …” The maniacal Titaness whispered, grinning as her grip tightened. “I’m not going to kill you… that would be a mercy. Do you want to know what that thing is? It’s a bomb. A bomb armed with a payload of that plague that has been troubling you so. And I’m going to make sure you’ll live to see that bomb explode and spread the plague into the atmosphere. After that? You won’t be able to stop it. You’ll get to sit here, on this blasted rock of yours, and watch as your precious little vermin all die. One. By. One.”

Pryvani’s vision turned red. She gripped Trell’s calves and dug her sharp fingernails into the soft flesh until she felt blood in the palm of her hand. 

Trell gritted her teeth but her grip didn’t waver. Pryvani was able to free one of her arms, however, and reached out to grab the first object she could get her hands on. She swung up and nailed Trell in the side of the head with what turned out to be the remnants of a stone chimney from one of the demolished buildings. 

Trell shouted in pain and rolled off of Pryvani, who swung at her again with the chimney, finally shattering it over the back of Trell’s head. 

Pryvani grabbed the dazed Titaness and slammed her into the ground. 

“Watch it, Pryvani.” Trell half gasped and half laughed. “You’d better be careful what you do to me… I have a hostage.”

Trell coughed and spat pink foam. “I think you’ve met him before. Of course, so had I…” 

Pryvani’s eyes widened and she kicked Trell in the jaw. 

“GIVE HIM BACK YOU SLAGGING KLOSSA!” 

Trell laughed madly. 

*.*.*.*.*

The ground underneath Sulphur shook violently, awakening the old man from the fevered dreams he’d been having. He opened his bleary eyes to see a shaft of daylight piercing into his cell where there hadn’t been one before. 

At first Sulphur thought he’d been hallucinating until he realized that no, there really was a crack in the walls of his cell. One that was wide enough for him to slip out of. One that was widening with every tremor that shook the foundations of the jailhouse. One that was going to collapse the entire building down on top of him unless he decided to get out of there fast. 

Sulphur decided to get out of there fast. 

With a wheezing but still gleeful cackle, Sulphur dragged himself to his feet and stumbled out of the prison. 

He didn’t really believe in any gods, but Sulphur decided that something was smiling down on him that day. 

*.*.*.*.*

A tremor rocked the world around Zhan and he was thrown back into the mush in Trell’s stomach. He wasn’t sure exactly how long he’d been in there, but it was starting to get to him. 

It didn’t help that Trell was doing something extremely active.

Zhan wiped the sludge out of his eyes for what was probably the fourteenth or fifteenth time, idly wondering if there was even a point to the action. It wasn’t like he could see a whole lot in the pit of Trell’s stomach anyway. 

Another rumble and Zhan was thrown bodily into the stomach lining, which at least kept him upright. He tried to grip the slick fleshy folds that made up the stomach lining but the thin layer of mucus made it difficult. 

Another spasm, but Zhan managed to keep his footing. Something rolled out of the muck and hit him in the shin. Gritting his teeth in pain, Zhan reached down to see what it was, hoping and praying it wouldn’t be human remains. 

It wasn’t. Fortunately for Zhan’s sanity. 

It was his own supply bag. 

The cloud of despair that had fallen over Zhan’s heart lifted immediately. This was hope. This was something he could work with. 

At least, with any luck. 

*.*.*.*.*.*

Pryvani pushed against Trell, trying to move her to the outer wall of Atlantis and out of the city. The brawling titanesses had done plenty of damage to the evacuated portion already and the she was desperate to avoid any more. 

With a grunt she moved her adversary back, little by little, towards the wall of the city. 

Meanwhile, Taron studied the odd contraption Trell had brought with her. He’d managed to sneak it out of the area and about a hundred units away from the city. He set it back down on the ground and knelt down again to get a closer look. His eyes narrowed in concentration as he tried to figure out how best to disable it. 

Unfortunately, he was having a hard enough time figuring out how to even access the inner workings of the machine itself. While there was a panel that could be removed, it didn’t seem to be big enough to allow him to work inside the device. 

“Taron!” The young titan started at the sound of a small voice. He glanced down at his side to see Nick quickly jogging through the nearby woods in his direction. 

After a moment the small human stopped by the giant’s bent knee and gasped heavily, trying to catch his breath. 

“Nick!” Without really thinking Taron swept the small human into the palm of his hand and raised him to his face. 

“I’m so glad you’re here.” He lowered nick onto the top of the machine, which roughly building sized to the human. He reached out a finger to gently stroke the top of Nick’s head. “I was afraid Trell was giving you the inside tour again.” 

“No.” Nick sighed and muttered quietly. “Not me…” 

“Well, I need your help. This thing is going to blow in….” Taron glanced at the timer. “Twenty minutes, unless we do something.” 

“You’re the technical one.” Nick replied, voice panicked, “what do you expect me to do about it?” 

After a moment of digging into his pocket, Taron removed a flat bladed too that was as long as Nick was tall and violently tore the small- on a titan scale- access panel open. 

“I need you to be my hands.” He explained. “You’re going to need to crawl inside and follow my instructions.” 

Nick glanced down at the manhole sized opening. 

“Okay…” 

Before he could talk himself out of it, Nick stepped over to the opening and lowered himself inside.

*.*.*.*.*.*

Zhan furiously dug through his pack, pulling out anything even remotely sharp- from a hunting knife, to the scraper from his flint and steel, to the utensils out of his mess kit- and savagely stabbing them into the fleshy walls around him. 

They were hurting Trell, he could tell by her body’s reactions every time he did it… but he knew that at best he was slightly irritating her. Comparatively, the cuts were very minor wounds. 

He needed something bigger. 

He groped around in his pack until his hand came across a half dozen small, round objects. Curiously, he pulled them out into the dim light and peered at them. 

A moment later a wide grin split his face.

Zhan held in his hands six small flash bombs. And not the fragile little flash and bang grenades that his people produced, these had been given to him by Pryvani, and forged by her strange Titan ‘technology.’ 

He had to be smart about this, however. It wouldn’t be enough to wound Trell. 

He was going to have to kill her. 

Zhan looked about the pulsating, oozing cavern for inspiration. He spied the sucking sphincter that led into her upper intestines. 

Zhan’s smile turned decidedly savage. 

*.*.*.*.*.*

Taron frowned in concentration as he watched the video feed on his data pad. He’d fed a small wire camera down the access panel after Nick, and was now looking at the footage trying to figure out how he was going to stop this bomb from delivering its payload and endangering the lives of thousands of humans. 

He reached up to wipe the nervous sweat from his brow. 

“Okay wait, stop!” He cried suddenly. “Go back a bit, that little blue wire there… Where’s it lead?” 

Nick blinked in confusion and peered at the tangle mass of wires in front of him. 

“Uh… down?” 

Outside Taron rolled his eyes in wry amusement. “Okay, sure. See if you can’t follow it. I think it might lead to the payload.” 

For a moment, Nick was tempted to ask how exactly he knew that… but he decided it wasn’t worth it and they didn’t have time anyway. With a shrug he started lowering himself further into the inner workings of the strange weapon. 

“What’s our time?” He asked the camera which was following behind him like an obedient puppy-dog. 

“Um, don’t worry…” Taron muttered evasively. “You have plenty of time left.” 

“Oh great.” 

Suddenly, Nick reached the end of the blue wire. And, surprisingly enough he found it attached to a glass vial as tall as he was, filed with a bubbling clear liquid. 

“Wait a moment…” Nick muttered, peering closer at the clear capsule. 

“What is it?” 

“Oh hell…” Nick gasped, taking a step back in shock. “Oh fuck.”

“What?” 

“Taron… you have to get out of here… You have to get Pryvani and get the hell out of here, fast.” 

“What? Why?!” 

“This… this…” Nick spluttered for a moment. “These markings on the payload here, I’ve seen them before… They indicate that the infection isn’t deadly to humans, they’re merely an asymptomatic carrier.”

“So…?” 

“Taron, you’re not getting it. The target for this disease isn’t humans… it’s Titans.”

*.*.*.*.*.*

Pryvani grinned through a swollen lip. She’d finally managed to push Trell beyond the limits of the city. Unfortunately, they’d left behind a small swath of destruction, but nowhere near as bad as it could have been. 

Pryvani could tell Trell was slowing down faster than Pryvani herself was. The other woman was clutching her stomach and breathing heavily. 

“You ready to give up yet Trell?” Pryvani asked. 

“Shut up.” Trell wheezed. “There’s no way you can fight this good.” 

“Darling…” Pryvani smirked contemptuously. “I’ve been learning how to defend myself since I was five years old.”

With a growl Trell threw herself at Pryvani. The blonde Titaness’s strength caught the young heiress off guard, and she soon found herself knocked to the ground. 

Trell wrapped her hands around Pryvani’s throat. 

*.*.*.*.*.*

Zhan stared into the entrance to Trell’s intestines as he grasped the small explosives in his hand. Taking a deep breath he said a silent prayer- although to whom, he wasn’t certain- and then, one by one, he triggered the explosives and lobbed them through the fleshy opening. 

Then he made a dash for the opposite end of the stomach, not being entirely certain just what would happen next. 

*.*.*.*.*.*

Trell grinned savagely down at Pryvani and squeezed her neck tighter. “Look at the Savior of Humanity now. Let me know when you start seeing stars, Pryvani.”

Pryvani grabbed Trell’s wrist and dug her fingernails in, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. Trell’s grip remained ironclad. 

“I’m… not.” Pryvani gasped. 

Trell blinked. “What?” 

That was all Pryvani needed, she bucked her hips and broke Trell’s grip on her throat, before sending the other Titan sprawling in the dirt. Pryvani slowly pulled herself to her feet, gasping for air. 

“I said: ‘I’m not the savior of humanity,’ Trell.” Pryvani stood straight and fell back into a ready stance. “They don’t need one, but if any Titan should be considered their savior….” The young heiress grinned wryly. “It’s you, Trell.” 

Trell’s eyes narrowed. “Shut up, rich girl.” 

“No, really, human liberation would be decades behind where it is now, if it weren’t for you.” 

“SHUT UP!” Trell snarled charging towards her, which Pryvani easily sidestepped. 

“It’s true.” Pryvani went on mercilessly. “Those humans you attempted to import, and yes I know it was you, I paid the shopkeeper to let me know when each one of them was bought.” 

Trell snarled and swung her fist, forcing Pryvani to dodge before retaliating with a series of jabs at Trell’s torso. The blonde woman gasped and fell back, clutching her stomach. 

“And I kept tabs on as many as I could, Trell. Those men and women have gone on to do some wondrous things. They are creating beautiful works of art, telling amazing stories, and-” She paused to slam Trell to the ground with her shoulder. “Even molding the very minds of our young.”

Trell crawled onto her hands and knees, gasping for air. Pryvani had hit her in the windpipe. 

“All because of you, Trell.” Pryvani finished with a grin. “Dozens of souls that you ripped from their rightful lives and scattered to the stars, and each one became a seed for their own liberation. …Imagine that.”

With a gasp, Trell heaved herself to her feet and trudged forward, murderous rage burning in her eyes. 

“You… gorram… slag…” She ground out through clenched teeth. “I’m gonna-”

Suddenly, she stopped short. For a split second confusion covered Trell’s face, before the vile woman doubled over, clutching her stomach and screaming in pain. 

Pryvani gapped at her for a moment. “Goodness, I didn’t hit you that hard, did I?” 

Trell didn’t respond. She could only fall to the ground with a tortured gasp. A thick, red stain appeared on her torso.

A moment later she started vomiting blood. 

Pryvani was frozen to the spot in shock, left watching in detached, morbid fascination as Trell writhed about on the ground. Trell had been mortally wounded …though the heiress was at a loss as to how. 

Then she noticed something small, barely noticeable, moving in the puddle of bile. 

*.*.*.*.*.*

Zhan hadn’t gotten away fast enough. 

Almost the second he turned to sprint away, there’d been a blinding flash of light accompanied by a deafening roar, and the entrance to Trell’s intestines became vaporized. 

Zhan grunted in pain as a wave of burning heat passed over his body. 

For a moment, there was stillness and the only sound Zhan could hear was his own breathing. 

Then everything went insane. 

The fleshy walls around him convulsed and threw him around in her stomach, a wave of thick goop enveloped him momentarily and Zhan was just barely able to keep it out of his eyes and mouth. 

The world around him upended and he found himself flying upwards, pushed on the tide of red bile. 

A thunderous, choking gasp echoed through his brain. A moment later bright daylight hit him like a hammer to the forehead and he was falling through space. 

He landed on the ground below with a thud, barely cushioned by the sickening sludge that had accompanied him. 

For a moment Zhan writhed about, as he tried to extricate himself from the disgusting mess. For a heart stopping, terrifying moment, Zhan couldn’t seem to find any air to breathe. 

He forced his eyes open, and through the layer of filth that covered him he saw a shadowed form- a giant hand reaching down from him. 

His heart pounded with animalistic panic, and for a moment he struggled as the massive, slender, fingers enveloped him and gently extricated him from the mess. 

“Easy… I have you… you’re safe.” 

The words were soft and soothing, and spoken in a voice that Zhan recognized. 

His breathing relaxed and his heart rate slowed. Zhan was able to finally wipe the goop from his face, and could breathe and see clearly. 

He saw Pryvani’s face gazing down on him with concern. 

“My goddess…” He whispered reverently. 

“Zhan…” Pryvani blinked, her eyes beginning to water. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I thought she’d…” 

“It doesn’t matter. Not anymore.” Zhan laughed with relief that was only slightly hysterical. “My goddess…”

“Zhan… I’ve told you…” Pryvani carefully cleaned him off as best she could with her thumb. “I’m not a goddess.” 

“No.” Zhan shook his head, a giddy feeling rising in his chest. “Not A goddess, MY goddess. You’ve saved me twice now… I think that means you qualify.” 

“I didn’t save you, you saved yourself from Trell.” Pryvani looked up, as if suddenly remembering the dying woman. “Speaking of whom…”

Pryvani cautiously approached Trell’s still form and nudged it with her foot. When she didn’t get a reaction, she knelt down and rolled her over so that she was face up. 

Trell’s eyes had gone glassy and she wasn’t breathing. Trell was dead. 

“Hm.” Pryvani heaved herself back to her feet and jogged over to where Taron was still fussing over the strange box. 

“…Forget it Nick, there’s no sense in me leaving. What, you think we’re going to be able to get off this rock in the next… ten minutes?” 

Inside the bomb Nick fisted his fingers in his hair out of frustration, gritting his teeth for a moment before sighing in resignation. 

“All right fine. We need to figure out how to stop this thing.” 

Taron didn’t respond right away. He was studying the transmitted image from the camera on his data pad. It was frustrating work, trying to make sense of the device through what amounted to a window a few micro-units across. 

“Got any ideas Taron?” Nick asked, eyeing the vial nervously. 

Taron didn’t say anything. 

“Fuck it.” Nick reached over to the blue wire and yanked it free. 

He moved across the vial to another wire that was attached to it, and pulled that one away as well. Systematically, he detached the vial completely from the bomb itself and began to drag it back to the access hatch that he’d entered from. 

It was slow going, seeing as the vial was half as tall as he was and there wasn’t a lot of room inside the bomb itself. 

Eventually he saw a patch of daylight that indicated he was nearing the small hole he’d entered from. After a second the light was blocked by an enormous grey eye peering in at him. 

“Nick?” Taron’s eye narrowed. “What did you do?” 

“I cut the damn knot.” Nick grunted. 

With a heave he lifted the vial through the small hole where Taron carefully plucked it out in his fingers. 

“Nick, I’m not sure that was the smartest thing you could have done, but it worked so I’m not going to complain.” 

He quickly gathered Nick into his hand and walked over to where Pryvani was moving to meet them. He showed her the small vial of deadly liquid.

“Well, we disarmed the bomb… but now we have to figure out what to do with this.”