Poison's Kiss. (On Hiatus)

Chapter 6 - No Poison.

The Process was a lot more exhausting than I though it would be, My talons pierced his arm where the shadow had stung him, the black swirls still shifting underneath his skin like tendrils of vines creeping closer to his heart. But the second I had begun to disperse a continuous sprout of poison, my mind became fuzzy, and not long after the headaches came.

"You hanging in there?" Viper asked aloud, his grip on the Herc was astoundingly tight for his position, his legs curling expertly around the branch.

I grunt my discomfort, which he nods, going back to focusing on making sure the Hercs shudders and random spasms don't send us all off the tree. Why we didn't do this on the ground was enough to make me reconsider.

"Don't, you got this" His voice was calming, a soothe to the rushing stress filling my thoughts.

"Jeez, really needed the pep talk, cheers" I brush off his kindness, continuing.

He rolled his eyes, watching as the Herc murmured in his unconsciousness, something about machines and Munies, I wasn't listening as Viper intercepted my mind again.

"I get you don't trust easy...People are much meaner here than back home"

Home? so you really aren't from the city then? I thought to him, steadily pushing the shadow from his system, each gallon that emptied from me would only burst from him in time, the poison I cooked up was non-lethal, designed to make him throw his guts up from both ends, just to be sure he excreted whatever was left in his system.

"No I..."

What?

"Its nothing, keep focusing"

I might be able to if a certain snake wasn't hissing in my ears.

The grimace was quick and almost unnoticed, but I caught it, the sag in his features, the fire that burned alive at the word. "Snake".

"Does that word upset you?" I asked, slightly amused. With someone who had the power of Invisibility, I'd have thought he'd never have to show himself to anyone if he didn't wish to.

"Maybe, its hard to hate a name I've been called for years...I just didn't think it would spread this far" And then the guilt came rushing in, cool and sobering. I'd experienced the same thing, being mocked for my abilities and appearances...hell, even my own fathers lackeys mocked me behind my back. He nods at that. My brow gets sweaty and right as it was close to hitting my eyes, Viper leans forward and dabs at it with his inner sleeve.

I catch his eye.

"You're strange Viper"

"As are you, Poe" The moment distracts me, taking a small break from flushing Hercs bloodstream out to gaze up at him with an incredulous look in my eyes.

"Poe?"

"Yeah you know, Poe! a nickname for my first ally" I scoff at the thought, supers weren't given Munie names for a reason, we didn't have to hide ourselves when we took over everything, most governments fell in weeks and the ones that were left standing had to join with the enemy because immediately after the Munies last stand, a civil war broke out over the outrage from what the Core had done to get to where they are now. Some felt betrayed, others gratified by their victory. Nightside was left out of it all, unblamed, for the sake of predictability.

Many died, but most gave up in the end and accepted that this was our world now, run by people too powerful to comprehend the smaller things. Like friends, loyalty or doughnuts...god I want a doughnut right now.

Viper sniggered at that, silent when I replayed the memories in my head from the history lessons my father was having me attend while at HQ.

"Pizza is far better than doughnuts...though I've only tried it once as a kid."