Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Location: Z Dreadnought

Where: Uuuuhhh. In space.

The Grubs scurry across the ship it might as well be hallways fit for a mansion. Darting to and fro to get to their respective tasks in the pathways they know by memory. The evil emperor’s most prestigious agent, Warp Darkmatter, interrupts their workflow. Striding through the corridors with that gusto confidence he always wore. The Grubs would often make a stop before hurrying away to avoid his presence.

He wasn't in a rush, not even with the many voice messages his prestigious boss left him for the past three hours. He’s a man of good timing anyway, he just likes to take it easy. So Zurg can break a gasket with his little stroll, but he’ll still be impatient no matter how you do things. 

Warp didn't have to guess in the next three seconds his boss would bellow his name at the top of his lungs the moment he came through those pod bay doors.

“DARKMATTER!!” as predicted. Still, Warp played it cool.

“What’s that? My hearing aid is malfunctioning,” he plugged at his pointed ears. “I am at hearing distance, y’know.”

Zurg sat on his throne, the mechanism descending at the height where he could glower down on his subjects. 

“I know, I need to let out some steam once in a while,” Zurg’s tone immediately went passive, “Anyways, I got a job for you and it is of utmost importance!”

Oh boy. Wonder what he has up to attack Star Command this time.

"A'ight, I'm all ears."

“I spent the last few months gathering data in the Hyades cluster. Running filter searches in traces of element zero.”

Warp raised a brow. This got the agent’s interest, only slightly.

“Why the sudden interest in eezo?” he raised a brow.

“Because of this.” Zurg pushes a button that raises a podium from the floor. It levitated a large stone slab with ancient

scribings etched in the rock.

“A rock with doodles?” He says flatly.

“They're hieroglyphs.” Zurg corrects him, “This is a relic that my dear mother had given me on my eight-teenth birthday. Bless her evil soul. This artifact still contains residues of element zero along traces of a rare mineral only used to write the text.” Zurg presses another button, a small platform rises next to the slab containing a small vial.

On closer inspection, the sample had bits of sediment and pieces no bigger than a pillbug. It looked like simple red pebbles, but the lighting showed its true iridescent form, glaring colors of green and purple of shimmering splendor. 

”Ooh, sparkly.” 

“I have dubbed it: Zurgrilium.” Warp along the Brains and the Grubs in the room couldn't hide the wince on their faces. But they knew better than to criticize their boss for naming things. Or anything at all, really.

“What’s so special about this…Zurgrilium?” Ugh, just saying it leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

“It's found out that the mineral has special properties. It can interfere with smaller force fields with only four grams. Sending them into a scrambling frenzy until it fizzled out completely. And then a simple space cruiser's shield with a bigger dosage. Then I thought to myself, what place has the strongest force field in the galaxy?” 

“The Star Command space port?” Warp guesses.

”Try a little bigger.”

Okay, what else is super, ultra impenetrable? One that can be so hard to get into not even Zurg or even Star Command tech power combined could get into. Ooooohhh.

”…the Tangean Archival Dreaghnaught.”

And he was right by the other’s crimson eyes glowing brightly and that excitable grin on his face. “Exactly. I tested the sample with a Tangean barrier shield I had in the back closet, for funsies y’know—And it resulted in the barrier reacting rather erratically from exposure. Now, imagine what you can do with more than four grams.”

"A massive EMP."

Zurg nodded. ”Yes, indeed. So if I want to make a doomsday device, I'm going to need more Zurgrilium.” Zurg presses more buttons, and a hologram of two planets appears in front of Warp. One larger than the other, shrouded with endless clouds. The smaller planet was surrounded by plentiful moons constantly orbiting around it.

“After a long extensive search scanning eezo-rich planets, these exoplanets are potential candidates to have the richest reserves of it. Hidden away from the Galactic Alliance zone. I had some of my drones investigate only to lose their signal. This was the only image it was able to capture.” On the giant screen displayed an image of what seems like the structures of a temple. The heavy fog and rough diffusion made it hard to see.

“Looks like dusty old buildings to me.” Warp said, squinting at the shapes.

“These dusty old buildings were parts of the same ancient civilization of the legendary planet X. Your job is to take mining drills into the temples to collect more of the Zurgrilium in less than a week give or take.”

“A dig search? This looks more like those archeo-geeks you can slave them on,” complains Warp.

Zurg rolls his eyes. ”Oh, you’re not going to break a nail, you drama queen. The Hornet Diggers will take care of most of the dirty work.”

“So what, you're putting me on guard duty?”

“Uhh, duh." Zurg. "Reason why is that the drill emit activity spike easily detectable through scanners within miles. And I do not want Star Command to get involved in taking what is rightfully mine! Especially Lightyear.”He mentions the name with much vitriol in his…mouth thing.

“So a simple loot and scoot. I can make do with that.” He smirks, it’ll even be easier getting to blow it up. “I’ll set out once I restock the ship-” He turned to leave when Zurg stopped him.

“Oh, did I mention that this is a two-man job?”

Say what now?

“Say what now?” he turns to Zurg quizzically.

“You think I’m going to let you go off on your own and blow the place up, willy-nilly?”

Shit.

 “Ergg, sorta? You know that I work solo. Who else did you sucker into?”

“Your partner is as qualified as you. Perhaps a little better. Besides, you two have already been acclimated before.”

Oh no. He knows that kind of faithful praise. Anything but him.

Warp silently prayed. “Let it be Torque, let it be Torque.”

“I hope this doesn’t disrupt your busy work schedule, Shiv.” Warp turns to the source at a darkened corner. A figure loomed in the shadows, tiny red optics illuminated in the darkness like scoping quasar lasers. The figure finally  skulks out of the corner to reveal his lapizoulus armor. Of course, the bastard was hiding behind the shadows to dramatize his entrance, show off.

“Not at all, Zurg. Your needs have top priority.” 

Warp crosses his arms, scowling. ”Course, it had to be the boy scout.”

“Better a boy scout than a slacker,” Shiv responded.

“Groveler.”

“Moocher.”

“Suck up.”

“Goldbrick”

“Borg sniffler.”

“Periwinkle.”

Ohh, that sends him flaring. “Okay See? He’s being totally unprofessional!” he complains pointing at the accusing fiend. “This partnership ain’t gonna work.”

“Then make yourselves like each other!!” He slammed the pedestal harshly as he snarled, “I don’t care if you have to shake hands or make out…” Eww. 

“Time is of the essence, I already have a Z satellite jamming the signal from being picked up from Alliance scanners. Once it burns out, the Hyades Cluster is free game and space rangers will have their nasty footprints all over it.  You will go there and you will bring me my Zurgrilium, ASAP.”

Shiv comes forth to assuage the Emperor. “Don’t worry, sir. We will manage this temporary partnership. Won’t we Darkmatter?” Shiv glares over to Warp. His helmet hides any sort of expression aside from those laser-red eyes zoning in him like a judgmental security drone. Warp glowered at the bounty hunter before crossing his arms and turning away from him and Zurg.

“Pheh, this better be worth the paycheck.”

“Good. Now best get going, don’t leave any tomb unturned!” Zurg then shooed them away.

“Of course,evil Lord Emperor Zurg.” Shiv did a court bow before exiting.

Warp rolled his eyes and followed him to the docks. This is going to be a long week.

Chapter Text

Location: Hangar Bay

"You're not thinking of driving that to the mission, are you?"

It didn't take long for Shiv to get into Warp's face. He was heading into his ship after it needed some refueling. The bounty hunter turns to the other blue bounty hunter with a sneer against those judgy, static eyes from his visor.

"I'm not going to walk my way there, am I?" Warp says snidely. 

"It's too big." Shiv inveighs. The modulator increases the bass in his voice. "And those thrusters attracts unwanted attention with all that noise. Not to mention the flashy paint job."

"Hey, my NU-GEYSER 3080 diffuser keeps it clear from any sensors. I even got newly installed dampeners, which've proven to be pretty silent. Have a problem with the paint job? Go talk to the big man. The guy likes his ritzy color scheme."

"Regardless, it's still obtrusive."

"At least it's faster than your dinky bath toy." Warp points to Shiv's ship, currently tended by some of the grubs sterilizing its navy hull. 

"It's compact and quiet." Shiv crosses his arms, "It's enough for the job, not two ships."

"Listen, bridge face, my ship could be gutted to shreds, and you'd be the last person I want to share a ship with. Soooo-catch you on the flip side, jerkwad." Warp walks on backward to the latch of his ship while flipping finger guns at Shiv making his exit. He drops his sauve facade to an aggravated scowl.

"Your thrusters are too big and loud. I don't like it." Warp mocks at his adversary, "I'll do what I want; how about that? Loud thrusters, my ass…" he grumbles. Trudging inside the ship, Warp walks through the cargo bay holding the giant drill bit then up the cockpit. Under the desktop, a grub was rummaging open panels of the communications port. Though this grub is wearing an bright yellow utility pack on their back.

"Hey, grubbo!" Warp scares the living daylight of the grub calling them out.  "You done messing with my controls? I gotta get a move on."

The grub turns to him with its wide, pearly teal eyes. Already anxious about the man's presence.

"Sorry, Mr. Darkmatter, I was just doing a quick maintenance routine on the cockpit before our big trip." the grub jittered back. 

We? Warp raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "Woah there, cowboy. I think this mission is beyond your paygrade."

"Zurg orders. You'll need someone to ensure that drill is up to par unless you want a giant paperweight."

"Well, as long as I don't have to fix it, that's fine by me. Now move over, pipsqueak, and put that panel back once you're done." 

"Yes, Darkmatter!"

Warp plants his rear on his lustrous purple leather seat, listening to the radio chatter from the Grubs directing the ships toward the hangar bay door—simple procedure, boring. So he switches it to the music station.

"W-we need that channel for instructions."

"I don't have to."

As Warp languidly turned the cruiser to the exit port, he could see the sleek navy blue ship in his line of sight. Small and dull, like the person who owns it. The thrusters are small and narrow. It's nothing that special.

Okay, the nylon cannons are cool. He's seen that baby in action the last time they went on a run together against some space pirates that got on Zurg's nerves. One of the escapees was about to hit warp drive when a streak of white hit the emissions, and no more smooth sailing for that guy. Those cannons are very, very illegal to own and have been banned in almost every known quadrant of the galaxy. So how did he get a hand on those, let alone two? Zurg must have given him one of them. Why give it to Shiv? Warp would have loved to use it. Freakin jerkoff. 

[Everything is a go, opening hangar doors.]

The bottom hull began to hiss as the seals unlatched themselves, the gates opening to an ocean of darkness and stars. A couple of buttons here and a pull from the stick made the ship descend away from the Z Dreadnaught to the endless abyss.

Some minutes earlier at the hangar bay…

Shiv glares at Warp watching him walk back to his warship with that crooked smile on his blue mug as he flips birds at him. Immature. The man loves being confrontational, even when he gets annoyed. All Shiv could do was shake his head and return to his ship. He stops when a small, scraggly voice calls from behind.

"Uhm. Excuse me."

Shiv turns to a nervous grub, their little rotund body with a large, yellow utility pack rattling from the owner's shaking boots. He tries to ease the grub, though his modifier cancels his friendly tone.

"Ah, you must be the maintenance grub assigned for the drill." 

"Uh, Gr-Grub Fifty-seven at your service!'" Fifty-seven salutes in haste. Shiv offers a curt nod as acknowledgment.

"Good. I will need your services at the moment. The antigravity has been on the fritz since the last hunt."

"That's w-what I'm here for, Katall sir!" Fifty-seven scurried inside Shiv's ship. 

Luckily, the core wasn't in much disrepair—only minor scratches and dents. It only needed new protection plates, other than that it was spanking brand new! Satisfied with their handiwork, Fifty-seven crawled from the vents to report to Shiv. The bounty hunter had been busy with some weapons checks. He was handling a set of laser chains with a spiky blunt weapon at the end that had the grub gulping their throat.

The sound got the bounty hunter's attention as he directly stared at him. Those eyes are so unnerving, eugh.

"Th-there was barely a dent on the core. It only needed new plating."

Shiv nods. "Saves me a replacement. Appreciate it."

Fifty-seven had to take a double take. It's not often that you get commended for your work here.

"No problem!" they finally respond. Then, as if they grew a nerve, Fifty-seven asks, "Hey, is it…is it true that you're… y'know."

Shiv's grip on the weapon had the grub's anxiety rise higher. It makes his exoskeleton crawl! It doesn't help that they can't tell what expression he's making under the helmet, either. Their antennae twitched as they could hear the gloves tightening into stony fists, the imposing stance when he got up from his chair made the room more unbearable than it should be.

Fifty-seven stepped back, starting to plead with the hunter that hunts the Emperor’s little traitors. Little traitors like them. 

“Lo-look, I was the leak who called you to rescue my friend, Forty-three. I just wanted to know if they-Please don't make me disappear!!”

The silent bounty hunter grabbed his head with force, dragging him further into the darker innards of the ship. He throws the Fifty-seven into the utility closet. The small grub scrambled up to the wall, begging for mercy. The grub had assumed wrong about Shiv.

“P-please don't axe me! I’m not a mole, honest! Aah!” They cover themselves from the coming blow.

The hunter's silhouette grew ever menacing as he stalked over him, his hand coming towards him like a crushing maw. He’s seen how that hand can crush a fruit into mush. They curl further into themselves, old instinctual habit causes them to roll into a protective ball (A particular detail was supposedly removed when their kind started working for Zurg. But hey, even advanced surgical manipulation can’t remove years of evolution). 

After what felt like forever, no pain had come their way. Fifty-seven crept out from their defensive ball, only to see a gloved hand holding a letter for him. 

Cautiously, they take it. Opening it to reveal a postcard of the beach coasts of planet Luxania. Their friend is in the scene, slinking back on a summer chair with a fancy drink in their hand. The text above says, 'Wish you were here.’ Living a life of luxury.  

“Your friend wanted to send you this if I had the chance.” Shiv says, “They're doing just fine.”

Fifty-seven deflated on the floor, relief taking over their fear. “Oh, thank the stars.”

It’s good to see them doing okay. Much of the original one hundred Grubs assigned on Planet Z are gone. Many had perished due to dangerous work conditions, or have vanished completely. So it’s relieving to see one of their old buddies still alive and safe.

“Sorry for the theatrics. I had to take you somewhere more secure.” Shiv explained as he knelt at their level. He scratched the back of his helmet with a loose composure to show his guilt.

“It's okay. We Grubs are made of sterner stuff.”

“…Still, you shouldn't be treated like that.” Shiv helps Fifty-seven up to their feet. “You're okay though.”

“No, no. It’s fine. It’s rarely that someone is considerate of our well-being.”

“Working for Zurg doesn't equate to a good working environment.”

“True, but at least we got dental.”

Shiv asks briskly, “Wait, you guys get dental?”

Fifty-seven leans their head to the side. “Don't you?”

The hunter takes a while to answer. “…Uh, sure. I'll make sure Warp doesn't give you any trouble, you worry about the drill.”

“Ohhh yes, yes! I couldn't ask for a better bodyguard than you!” jittered Fifty-seven.

“No problem, my overworked friend. One more thing: I may be looking after you, but I will still be Shiv Katall. This mission is crucial; who knows what sinister plan Zurg has with that ancient technology. My cover cannot be compromised.” It was a hassle that his rookie squad almost blew his cover. And who knows with this grub or how they knew it was Buzz. 

"Do you understand?"

The Grub shakes his head up and down eagerly. "Loud and clear."

Buzz lets out a sigh of relief.  "Good. I'll make it up to you when this is over. I promise.'

He opens the door for Fifty-seven to leave and adds, "Now go. That drill won't take care of itself."

“Oh yes! I have lots to do!” Fifty-seven quickly grabs all his things into his flashy pack and runs out of the ship.

“Try to act scared on your way out.”

"Being scared is the easy part!" 

Chapter Text

On long travels, Warp abides this time doing maintenance checks on his mechanical arm. Others are checking the ship's hull and thrusters. The consistent upkeep and loads of money poured into it kept this beauty working like a warhorse.  It's an old drill from academy training that reinforced the cadets' knowledge of your ship's ins and outs. Lightyear's insistent pandering and the LGM's constant reprimanding of his lack of vigilance hammered into the blue man's brain until it became a habit. Yet, it became a beneficial asset when sneaking in and out of commercial vessels. And stealing from them, too.~ It's the only thing Warp would commend the training for.

Old habits aside, it's a means to diminish his boredom when he's not making deals, scheming in casinos, or mingling in clubhouses. Warp walks to the cargo hold. A giant purple drill no bigger than a space bus took up most of the space. Finished with a red drill bit that was more significant than the body supporting it. Zurg always has his insane inventions. Gotta give the guy credit though; not a lot of evil fat cats take the initiative to do the effort themselves and let their hired cronies do all the grunt work. He's seen Zurg pull schematics out of his ass when his mind is set on something. Especially when he creates his mass weapons of destruction. But a giant drill? Leave it for the Grubs to do the boring stuff and leave him the fun ones instead. Speaking of, that Grub, Fifty-seven, has been busy checking the drill to have it ready. Warp leans over the machine and produces a flat cig from his right arm. Then used his thumb to light up the blunt.

“You know you’re not supposed to smoke inside. Even with those ventilators we’ve installed,” they mentioned.

“Rather let the smell drag here more than the cockpit.”

"It's still not wise to do that. s-sir." Fifty-seven yelps when a piece of ash gets flicked at their face, opposed to getting kicked at.

“Just make sure the drill works before I sock you in one,” Warp threatens them.

"Yes, sir..." Fifty-seven scooted farther away from Warp and went back to check the internal systems.

That's how you get at them, verbal threats to get them going. It ain’t his style to beat them up when the Emperor berates and pummel them on a near daily basis. Though it’s fun to see them scatter in a hurry. He exhales the smoke from his nose, taking in the effect to warm up his core. The constant beeping made his eyes roll over. 

“Here we go.” So much for a smoke break. A small drone shaped like a triangular monitor appears before him. The display fuzzes until it shows Shiv’s visage on the screen.

“Desperate for company already?” he says wistfully, and the other doesn't respond to the comment. 

"What? I’m not fogging up your ship this time."

"No comment." He says that, but Warp saw that slight twitch of his lit eyes towards his cigarette.

“Y’know if you keep hounding me every time we work like this. I’d rather have Captain Buzzkill reciting every section of his rulebook instead. So what is it?"

"Have you not been picking up the anomalies through the sensors?" Shiv said.

What?

"This far off? We're in the middle of nowhere, how can we miss two giant planets?" Warp concedes and pulls up his highly illegal radar. “What the hell?” Warp surveys the map again. There were hundreds of blips coming in range.

“That can’t be right,” murmured Warp. He runs up to the cockpit, Fifty-seven running suit. Only to meet an empty void of stars, not a planet in sight. “An asteroid field? Scans should be picking these up in a flash, how’d we miss that?”

“We shouldn’t.” replied Shiv. "Something is off here."

"You’re telling me. I don't get it, Zurg's drones got to capture images on one of the planets. How'd it manage to get through?"

"The drones were probably lucky to get within orbit. He did mention an interference. A cloaking device of some kind."

"That's gotta be some massive probe. A kinetic scrambler should do the trick."

The ship launches a large metal ball out of the open. Once it made contact, it exploded in an open field of electricity. Revealing two visible outlines of the planets. Dual bodies encircle inside a force field, working as a safety measure from anything near the orbit.

“We can see them now,” Says Warp. He's seen enough weird stuff in his lifetime to let some invisible planets get him phased.

"Disguising the planets as an asteroid field. Very clever."

“Those ancient aliens were something else, alright,” said Warp.

“Okay, any idea how we’re supposed to land, let alone see what we're looking at?” Shiv looked away from Warp’s screen, thinking. Then he responds with,

“We locate its safeguard, disable it, and get in. Darkmatter, do you still have the Decloaker ray?"

"On it." Warp presses one of the sets of buttons on the arm chair, activated to release a small dish from the bottom of the ship. It searched each crater with a series of scrambled noise to the asteroid field.

“Can you get a stronger hold?” 

“Trying. It’s fighting back the ray. Shorty, enhance the signal.”  Fifty-seven jumps into action.

"Yes, sir!" They use their portable radar and use it to help the decloaker get a better trace. Soon a small but faded ping is detected on the screen. They relay the information to the bounty hunters.

"There is a conduit right on the northern hemisphere."

“With one gamma shot, it'll be enough to dissimulate the entire force field.”

“That’s easy enough,” he motions to move the ship, but the Grub stops him. “Wait! If we move, we'll lose the signal."

“I’ll deal with it,” urges Shiv. Warp sees the blue ship push forward, heading high to one of the vantage points. He saw sparks crackling on the planet's surface, trying to reinforce its shield again. Soon, Shiv can make out the distinct shape of a small obelisk visible through the stream.

"There." Shiv pushes down two green buttons to unlock a hatch. He pulls it to activate the cannons.

"Woah there, Rambo. A blast of that is gonna send Alliance sensors into panic mode." Warp comes in through the intercom.

"I'm only using a third of its power. It's the only thing capable get us through. The Alliance would only have a small blip. Only this shot has a new component in the mix."

"Zurg's new pixie dust, of course. Show off."

From afar, Warp can see the bounty hunter's blue ship hover forward into the field. It released the slim but powerful cannons from the side of the hulls on each side. He watched the cannons begin to amplify as the rod grew brighter and hotter it almost seemed it was going to melt off. Until the charge was fired, homing directly into the conduit itself. A wide red burst caused the planet's defenses to blow over, letting out a large opening that uncovered a country wide view of one of the planets within. If only they could make out the color of the giant rock if it wasn't blanketed by heavy clouds. At least they have a way in.

”Open sesame.” Warp uttered.

Just as it opened, the large gap started to shrink.

"Hey, hey, the shield's regenerating! We gotta move in now." Warp forces the stick forward to speed up. Shive followed after him in haste. The entire vessel trembled and rattled as he passed through the electrical field and towards the passage (all this while dodging flying rocks, mind you). There was nothing but fog on the other side once they entered the atmosphere. He couldn't see where the other ship was going with his visuals covered up in a massive fog.

"It's too thick, I can't see a thing!" Fifty-seven panicked. 

"Thanks for stating the obvious, argh!"

”We-passs—ermos-chnk!”

Shiv’s was breaking up, the turbulence got worse, and neither Warp or Fifty-seven were blind! There was no telling where they could crash. Warp kept trying to get any sort of a visual, even if they were graphic charts on the radar, anything before they reached the troposphere. Suddenly they get a visual of a mountainside, if only just barely. But Warp has a matter of minutes, seconds to land this bird without becoming space debris.

"Brace for impact!"

He manhandles the joystick to forcefully pull it back. Jaw clenching, muscle contorting trying to gain control of the ship. His suit flashed and encased his head in the hard crystal dome. He couldn't focus on the radio chatter or the Grub being through across the cockpit, he just needs to land somewhere! The room turned red, emergency lights indicating he's about to crash into something massive. Before he could see an inkling of a field, the ship sealed its windows shut, greeting the darkness.