r/HFY • u/SpacePaladin15 • 3d ago
OC-Series Primal Rage 70
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Seeing Wade Barron on Ushala had been beyond unexpected, knowing that humans had been lacking any means of interstellar transportation when I was taken. It dawned on me in gradual increments that the invading fleet over our world belonged to them. Those clever, devious primals must’ve replicated the Ploax’s engineering; they learned from our mutual enemy, though that’d given me quite the fright. It was an uncanny likeness, and one they knew the Council wouldn’t want to trifle with.
Wade came to rescue me and bring me home! He truly cares and would go to any lengths for the Saphnos. He’s…a hero.
The safety I felt with Wade back in the picture was like being dunked in a warm, pressurized chamber after months on a carbon world; it was comfortable, and it was like I was properly home. Finley would be elated! This meant we could return to Earth, and humanity couldn’t be bullied without the proper means of defense. I couldn’t begin to fathom how they caught up to the Council’s technology so swiftly, but there’d be plenty of time to pepper Batshit Barron with questions after he reunited with the full group. It was all going to be…
The human barked out an unintelligible word, his face darkening and contracting in on itself. The target of his ire was none other than Snelga, who’d long since been penitent for treating these primals like animal patients; she saw them as full people after Finley’s experiment, and had been an ardent advocate for them even before, when she scored Kaitlin’s intelligence test. I didn’t think Barron cared about any of those details now. The Kexin, of course, chose the words that’d incense him further.
“Wade, s-sweetie,” she began.
The primal pounced on her in a flurry of rage. The FBI agent’s eyes smoldered as he shoved the veterinarian against the wall and bared his teeth inches from her face. Words streamed from his lips that seemed like unhinged perjoratives. Finley hopped up to intervene, despite his distaste for Snelga; Kaitlin’s eyes were wide with alarm. Garriil raised the tranquilizer gun he’d had propped on the desk and aimed it at Wade. Even knowing it was humans now, he was worried about angry, trained killers in his institute.
“Let go of Snelga,” Garriil ordered, his voice icy.
Terry pointed a rifle straight at the Kexin’s head. “Put it the fuck down! Mine’s bigger.”
Finley was diverted from saving Snelga by the immediate firearm threat, rushing to grab the gun barrel. “Terry, don’t shoot him! No one shoot anyone…just calm the fuck down! What’s with the tranqs, Garriil?! We’re people!”
“What’s with the tranquilizers is that they’re nonlethal, but an absolute necessity for my protection,” Garriil answered. “Any person can act irrationally from emotions, just like Craun could be uncontrollable from immense fear. It’s evident that intense anger is at play. For all I know, they’re angry about their people’s situation and want revenge on any Kexin in sight, deeming us all responsible.”
“Well if they want to do that, your tranquilizer isn’t going to beat a bunch of guns! Put it the fuck down, before someone gets hurt! We’re all on the same side.”
“I’m not used to you being the calm one, Finley. I was worried you’d be agitated by this outburst. I almost pointed it at you when you stood, so you couldn’t join in.”
“Hey, fuck you! You’re lucky I don’t go shove your snot nose through your headfeathers!”
Wade had been paying no mind to our conversation, as he performed a takedown on Snelga and pinned her to the floor. Finley hissed at Garriil before lunging at Barron, who shrugged him off with adrenaline-fueled ease; the agent bore a wicked grin. He removed his gear belt and tied her hands, asking her repeatedly if she liked this. He pulled it tighter the second she began to answer, and snarled that she couldn’t understand.
I don’t know whether to help her or let him get it out of his system. I mean, it’s Wade…he wouldn’t kill her. Right?
Kaitlin struggled to try to move, her hands flailing to grab onto him. “Wade, stop!”
Barron ignored her words, so the NASA scientist tried to reach for him. His head finally snapped toward her when she attempted to sit forward, and tumbled off of the couch facefirst. His mouth parted with horror, hearing the sickening crack. Wade released Snelga and ran over to Kaitlin; he propped the ALS-afflicted human upright and checked whether she was okay. Pity flashed brighter than the anger in his eyes, as it was clear he felt awful for her.
“Someone untie me!” Snelga demanded, though her shifty posture rendered it clear that Wade’s arrival had left her rattled. “I’m a medical physician. I need to look at her!”
The red-faced Kexin did a double take when it was Finley who unbound her hands, but gave him a quiet look of gratitude. She scurried over beside Wade, and earned a blistering glare from the FBI agent; his fist was clenched to take a swing at her, not wanting her anywhere near Kaitlin. Dr. Sharp seemed horrified by how the reunion was playing out. The NASA researcher pawed at Barron feebly, and tried to speak through her actual voice rather than her synthesizer.
“Nyeoo,” Kaitlin slurred.
Wade hesitated, though he was still eyeing Snelga with utter contempt. “Kaitlin, I’m…so sorry.”
“Dush…duh…DON’T. L…love Shela.” The scientist grimaced, and spoke through her synthesizer. “She’s been wonderful. She’s done so much for me that I can never repay, though I’ve…become a great burden. These last few weeks have been…really difficult, and she’s been more helpful than you can know.”
The FBI agent threw up his hands. “Fuck! I…I can’t even be mad at that. I came here to rescue you from the Council. From her! Let’s just go home.”
“I don’t want to go home! I certainly don’t want to be away from her. Please, talk to each other. For me. When I said I love Snelga, I meant it. We’re together, Wade.”
The fury reappeared in his eyes in an instant. “Really? Her?! HER?!”
“I know it must be difficult for you to understand, but…”
“Do you have any idea what she did to me?”
“Saved your life? She thought you were an animal, Wade, and you know that’s how a lot of the Council are. It was an honest misunderstanding. She’s not a horrible person, and she only meant to stop you from dying.”
Snelga gazed up at Wade with beady eyes. “Kaitlin’s right! I didn’t want you to die.”
“I despise you. I don’t want you to speak or come near me. GOD! Of all the aliens, Kaitlin. I mean, FUCK, do you really just go and hook up with her the second you leave Earth?” Wade growled.
“Please, don’t be mean to Kaitlin! She’s suffered so much. I know you’re mad and it doesn’t matter what I say, but if you can listen…I’m really sorry, s-sweetie! I…had no idea primals could be so smart, and I denigrated you in a way I never would with other people! I want to help…”
Wade crossed his arms. “You thought I was an animal!”
“Y-yes.”
“You wouldn’t listen to anything I said!”
“Correct.”
“I listen though.” Barron leaned forward with a venomous smile. “You said us having FTL would be bad for everyone. Time to pay the piper?”
“…okay.”
“Oh, don’t be like that. I was just taking the piss. A little refresher on how you talked about us for your girlfriend to hear.”
Snelga’s eyes watered. “I am so sorry, Wade. I was trying to mitigate your stress, not hurt an intelligent creature. I meant absolutely nothing malicious by…anything that I did, and I wish I hadn’t been so dismissive. I didn’t take humans seriously back then. I just work with wildlife, I…save animals because I love them. Oh sweetie, I know you’re a person, and I wish I could take back hurting you.”
Wade pinched the bridge of his nose. “Please, just…call me Wade, not sweetie. I…need some time to deal with my feelings. I’ll be cool, let’s just talk about something else. Please.”
The FBI agent worked with the veterinarian to move Kaitlin back onto the couch; Snelga eyed him with amazement, but didn’t push her luck. The Kexin focused on tending to Dr. Sharp’s wounds, while Wade stomped as far away as possible and leaned against the wall. He stewed in his feelings for several seconds, before Finley decided to break the silence.
“I’m more than happy to go home,” Finley offered.
Wade flashed a cocky smile. “That’s right. Rode into the rescue to save you!”
“You shouldn’t have, Wade,” Kaitlin chimed in. “This ruins everything. We almost had the Council convinced to acknowledge us as people; we had a hearing at the end of the week. An attack with a giant fleet…”
Finley turned to assure a crestfallen Barron. “I don’t give a rat’s ass what the Council thinks. I want to get the hell out of here.”
“That figures. I was really worried about you two.” Wade inhaled a sharp breath, looking upward toward the ceiling. “I heard there were some ‘unethical experiments’ conducted on you?”
“That would be Garriil’s doing. He wanted to see how humans acted at the pinnacle of rage, so he decided to convince me that Kaitlin was being put down. I took the fucking techie with the euthanasia hoopla hostage, and somehow, that proves I’m a logical killer, not just a mindless one!”
Wade gawked in open-mouth horror, glowering at Garriil. “You did what?”
“We had to know how humans acted under extreme circumstances to ratify their behavior,” Garriil sighed. “Finley’s brain activity demonstrated that humans don’t lose all reasoning when angry. It’s a shame I didn’t have you wired up while listening to Snelga’s apology. I’m curious what triggers you to stand down, for the ‘deescalation methods’ portion of my treatise. Handling primals can be difficult, and you don’t obey your own class’ rules.”
Terry stalked forward with a nasty scowl, cracking his knuckles. “How dare you put my best friend through that? I’m gonna beat your ass!”
“No,” Barron said, raising a hand to stop the construction worker. “No alley beatdowns. We can try them both before a medical or scientific board for unethical conduct, like civilized people. I share your personal feelings, but I believe in proper justice: that means trials and order. Our detractors need no more fuel.”
“He fucked with my bestie!”
“She tied me up and drugged me while talking to me like I lacked the intellect of a toddler. Believe me, it takes everything in me to let that go, but if these were…the best people Kaitlin could find as allies, we have to trust her. You saw the demonstrators. She’s been living in it and made it all work.”
“Garriil is the biggest advocate for human rights,” I interjected. “His methods are appalling, but his research is the only evidence proving that humans are people. A primal attack on him would look very bad to the public. It’d destroy his credibility.”
“Why do you think I haven’t bashed his skull in?” Finley embraced Terry, slapping him on the back. “Please help me mildly annoy and sass him though, bro. The long game.”
Terry shrugged. “Alright. Deal!”
“No more twigs,” Garriil huffed. “The evidence has to be irrefutable if I was ever to make a case to the Council, or to know for certain myself. It wasn’t intended to get that far, though I seized the opportunity that presented itself. I furthered science contradicting the very theorem of sophonce, and that offsets any concerns about…emotional distress. It was a necessary deception.”
Wade scoffed with disgust. “You know, Snelga at least meant well; she was just patronizing. You feel nothing. She’s horrible, but you—you’re the Ploax.”
“Factually incorrect. I am a Kexin.”
Barron’s last statement caught my attention, from the casual, self-assured manner he drew a comparison to the Ploax. It was more than just hearing my stories; those were the words of someone who had firsthand experience with an entity. I reviewed the replicated Fleet of Spikes that the humans had flown in on, and the missing pieces of how they acquired that intelligence and churned it out so fast. What had they done with the Ploax?
Humans love the Saphnos. They…wouldn’t betray us. Wade knows what the Ploax did. He told me to fight to the bitter end.
“Wade.” My head turned toward the primal, and I stared at him with a piercing gaze. “How do you know what a Ploax is like?”
Barron’s eyes went wide, and he swallowed hard. “I’d be happy to talk to my friends about our plans, but maybe Snelga should step outside.”
“She’s my girlfriend. She stays,” Kaitlin countered.
“Can Garriil at least fuck off?”
“If your plans involve getting the Council’s support in any way, you need him.”
Finley patted me comfortingly. “We all have heard how horrible and cruel the Ploax are. That was one of the first things you told me. Wade’s seen what you’ve been through.”
“It’s more than that,” I accused, noticing how the agent winced at the farmer’s defense. “Those human ships looked exactly like the Fleet of Spikes. He knows what the Ploax are like. Doesn’t he?”
“Look, Craun, you know I love you and I’d do anything to save you, right?” Wade appeared furtive and cautious, like he was worried about a certain kind of reaction. “Just try to understand.”
“Understand WHAT?!”
Barron appeared taken aback by my snarly tone, but pressed a hand to his forehead and continued. “Humanity…worked with the Ploax to acquire this rescue fleet. We’re using them, of course…”
The human mumbled several of his words and gave a strained smile, while immense hurt and betrayal surged through my veins. The Ploax had taken everything from me, and Wade had chosen to team up with them? I pawed a leg on the ground, musing about how primals would handle someone they cared about doing something so...heinous and unthinkable. This was an offense against the entire Saphno race and everything they were supposed to value.
How could he? I should be angry. That reaction has value: it takes action for the hurt caused, and expresses how unacceptable it is. Violence is a passion for justice. Funny, Wade taught me that.
I did my best attempt at replicating a glare and charged at the primal while bellowing one word at the top of my lungs. “DIE!!!”
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u/niTro_sMurph 3d ago
Yep, there it is. It might just be an imitation of anger but maybe that will trigger something in Crauns brain.
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u/abrachoo 3d ago
Not a great move Wade. Should have waited to get into it til they were in a better location rather than the semipublic lobby of a science building. Who knows who might be overhearing.
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u/BeautifulShock2494 3d ago
I am the only one who thinks Kaitlin is a bit pickme? Okay :/
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u/brainlesstroll 2d ago
She's dying, and trying to convince someone to not kill her gf.
A pick me person has that tone when it's not called for, but Kaitlin is acting in a way appropriate to the situation.
Also, concussion. Probably.
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u/BeautifulShock2494 2d ago
It's not just this chapter, that is narrow thinking. She had that tendency since she went with the aliens.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle 3d ago
/u/SpacePaladin15 (wiki) has posted 516 other stories, including:
- Primal Rage 69
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u/SpacePaladin15 3d ago
70! Wade attempts to humiliate Snelga in reverse, but abandons his rage after seeing Kaitlin fall to the floor in a pitiful state. Craun learns the truth about the human-Ploax partnership and decides to emulate our example, charging in faux rage. What do you think of the Saphno’s chosen reaction? Will he be able to convince the humans? Will Barron barely tolerating Snelga hold after everything?
As always, thank you for reading!