Zodi makes no efforts to be appealing, to be seductive. She is all rough words and sharp edges, her cackles cutting the air like a knife, her armor thunking meatily against flesh as she picks her way through carnage. She was born to make men shrink back from fear, she's told Kris proudly, and she's good at it.  
And yet, she draws Krisa's attention. When she trains, Krisa finds herself watching from the shadows, tracking Zodi's movements like she's searching for something. When she calls, Krisa doesn't always obey, but she never fails to listen, and remember.  
The thing is, Zodi should not be beautiful. But there is grace in her fluid moments, a kind of magnificent in her powerful blows. Krisa doesn't like looking at gore for longer than necessary, but she can watch Zodi all day, even though the other mutant always makes kills so messy.  
When light glints of Zodi's plating, Krisa remembers the way those plates had dug into her scales, the rage and heat   in each desperate twist. She hadn't dared to let Zodi go, hadn't dared to snap her neck and finish her off, either. She'd just waited, drawn in by Zodi's blazing fury like a moth to a flame.  
There is so much Krisa does not understand. She does not understand why she let the turtle and the fox go that night, or why Krisa covered for her later. She does not understand why she watches Zodi as she kills with want and revulsion twisting in her gut. She does not understand Zodi's fanatical love for Null, or the endless intricacies of Null's plans.  
She thinks she understands that night after Null's office when Zodi turns to her and says, "You know, if you really want me to keep quiet, you could stop by my room before you go to bed." Zodi has never been shy about getting what she wants, after all, and even she can't be satisfied with bloodshed all the time.  
Zodi teaches her how to give head that night, casually mentioning that this was just one of the lessons she learned from her personal sessions in Null's office. It's not like Krisa hasn't smelled Null on Zodi before, but the revelation still gives her an odd burst of disquiet.  
She could kill Zodi, she thinks, as she lowers her head between Zodi's spread thighs, noticing a dried patch of blood on her knee. Rip her apart and slither out of here before anyone notices, run and run without looking back. Even if she doesn't make it (and there's a good chance she wouldn't, knowing Null) she could at least  try.   
But she doesn't. And she can't decide where fear or something else is the deciding factor here, only that the same force in her bones that tugged her to watch Zodi, that pushed her to let Raphael and Alopex does, whispers for her to submit now.  
She keeps submitting, again and again, whenever they can find the time. She tells herself it's just because Zodi's her superior, or because she's lonely, and while those things aren't  not  true, the complicated reality has something to do with the way her eyes follow Zodi almost without Krisa knowing. 
Zodi knows she watches, and Zodi likes it. She'll pause suddenly and wink at Krisa over her shoulder, a sight that makes Krisa's stomach twist with a need to give in. 
Krisa listens to her gut because she has nothing else. She wakes up in a cage with only faint memories of hot-cold, hot-cold and Null's teachings to tell her who she is and what she can be. Her instinct is her best guardian and the fact that even it doesn't always keep a stable course bothers her.  
Zodi, of course, has plenty of advice. She's always chattering about life and death and morality, or the lack thereof in "real" life, whatever that means considering they've both grown up in a lab. Zodi considers herself an expert on such things, despite the fact that she's really only a few years older than Krisa.  
She exposits and rambles and chatters as she rips out a man's entrails or leads Krisa down a hallway, her words moving as fast as her deadly hands. Krisa isn't sure how much of it is true, but she finds herself listening anyway. Zodi is far too hard to ignore.  
"The important thing," Zodi explains as she smashes a man's head open on his desk. "Is that none of this matters, except for us."  
Krisa tears off the last security guard’s head (killing humans will always be easier) and gives her a curious look. "Us?"  
"You. Me. Null." Zoya lays the words out without any pause between them, as if there are no barriers, no titles or walls separating them from Null or from each other. She says it confidently enough that Krisa almost wants to believe her.  
A siren howls in the distance and Zodi cocks her head, eyes narrowed. There are marks on her neck, teeth marks. Krisa has never bitten her, even though Zodi has claimed that no amount of venom can kill her. When Krisa breathes deep, she can catch a heavy whiff of Null coming from Zodi's direction, heavier than usual.  
Null and Zodi are so like each other, which must be why only Zodi is only ever called to Null's office for private meetings. Not that Krisa  wants  to be called, not really, but she wonders, sometimes, what it would be like to be favored so intently, or to believe in someone the way Zodi claims to believe in Null.  
She thinks Null knows about their relationship, maybe even has video of them together. Krisa has never really experienced privacy, anyway, doesn't know how to hunger for it. Same way she doesn't know how to hunger for a life beyond Null or Zodi, despite all her doubts.  
"We've got time," Zodi says, leaning out the window. "Nobody cares about these idiots, anyway." She turns to glance back at Krisa, goggles flashing like rubies or hellfire. "The fuck're you staring at?"  
"Nothing," Krisa says softly, automatically.  
"Don't lie to me." Zodi turns and props herself up on the sill, watching her carefully. "You got something on your mind, sweetheart?"  
The word is loving and mocking in equal measure, a reminder of all the things Krisa could be to Zodi and all the things she isn't. Zodi smiles, bright and vicious, a half-open doorway to dark things.  
"We've got time," Krisa repeats, slithering forward. Bodies squish and crumple under her tail--she is so big, so powerful, and getting larger. Larger than Zodi, larger than Null, and for all the ways they rule her they cannot change that fact.  
Zodi tilts her head back, a soft smile on her face. "Sounds like you're in the mood for a little public indecency. She lifts herself a little higher, reaching with one blood hand to tug off her shots and nudge them away.  
Krisa bows her head low, lapping at Zodi's face. Zodi growls, half-playful and half-serious, leaning forward to wrap her lips around Krisa's tongue. She sucks hard, with just a hint of teeth, before tugging Krisa forward into her arms.  
Her hands are warm and callused as they rub down Krisa's bloody scales, an odd parody of the sun lamp Krisa has back home. Once, Zodi had her lie under that lamp and touched her for what felt like hours, seeking out her pleasure spots until she could bring Krisa to one soft, shuddering orgasm after another.  
The next day she'd beaten Krisa bloody in training, smiling then the way she's smiling now. Her hands press down with enough force to stir a little bubble of pleasure-pain, tension rippling through Krisa's body as she lets out a strangled little hiss.  
"Like that, huh?" Zodi murmurs, her breath warm on Krisa's face. Her teeth are sharp and close enough to rip out Krisa throat if she wants to, but for now she keeps them fixed in that beautiful, horrible smile  
Krisa retaliates by letting her tail slither up between Zodi's bare legs, reaching for the dark, damp smell she can taste in the air. Zodi's pleasure is an addictive aroma, and Krisa's been hooked for far too long to consider quitting.  
Zodi moans as Krisa's tail slips inside, legs coming up to wrap around Krisa's closest approximation to a waist. Her tail doesn't feel like a sexual organ does, but it still  feels,  and Krisa savors the tight, wet fire pressing in around her as she reaches out to rub Zodi's clit, wanting to see if there are any more noises she can wring free.  
She pushes her tail up inside, quick and rough the way Zodi likes it. Zodi's nails scratch down her back, twisting around Krisa's tail as her breath picks up. The siren draws nearer, noise settling around them like a blanket.  
Zodi keeps babbling while they fuck, of course, her gasps and growls mixed in with an endless stream of insults and profanities, desire and praise. She hisses for Krisa to go harder and mocks her for being a brute a heartbeat later, her legs squeezing tight enough to hurt before she slumps so quickly Krisa has to scramble to keep her from tumbling off the ledge, holding her tight as Zodi laughs.  
Krisa doesn't talk, doesn't have the breath for it while trying to keep up with Zodi's appetite. Doesn't know what she'll say, really, doesn't  want  to know what she'll say. She grabs Zodi's shoulders and holds her tight, tight enough she might leave her own marks to cover Null's.  
Zodi shudders on her tail again, and again, and again, all while refusing to touch Krisa enough for her to come, too. She giggles when Krisa's frustration makes her fuck even harder, lifting Zodi up and down in a way that makes Krisa think, oddly, of human children on the swings.  
Krisa doesn't bother begging. There's no use begging before someone like Zodi, especially when she already knows she owns you. Especially when she knows that a part of you can't help but love that fact.
Zodi arches her back with a groan, tail fluttering out into the night. "So good," she whispers gently, lovingly. "Fucking slut, you're so good at this."
It occurs to Krisa that she could push Zodi out this window if she wanted to, watch her splatter to the pavement and tell Null it was an accident. She knows she won't, though, knows this even before Zodi leans up to pull her into another warm, hungry kiss, hand cradling Krisa's head like something precious (for the barest of heartbeats, at least).
Instead, she just squeezes Zodi a little harder, hard enough to remind her, hard enough to hold her close and never lets go. And Zodi laughs like she knows exactly what Krisa's thinking right now and it makes her happy than anything else in the world.
They push against each other hard enough to hurt, and it does hurt. Not hurt like what they're done to the men cooling around them, but still enough for Krisa to feel scraped and raw, damaged by wants unfilled and oversatisfied all at once.
She grits her fangs, letting Zodi get a good look at their sharp edges, and fucks harder. It's funny how she finds it easier to be defiant now, in the moments of her purest submission.
There's no rhyme or reason for the moment when Zodi finally lets Krisa come, cooing softly in her earslit as Krisa's pleasure shakes both their bodies. Her hands sink into Krisa's scales, maybe hard enough to tear a few of them off.  
They'll grow back, of course. Zodi hasn't done permanent damage to her--yet.  
Afterwards, Krisa carefully slides Zodi off her tail and sets her down. She's gentle because she wants to be, and she's gentle because it makes Zodi squirm just a little, and in the end she's just gentle because gentleness is too rare in their lives to waste.  
"Well, that was fun," Zodi says breezily, turning to pick up her shorts. In the distance, the siren seems to grow louder, red lights from afar flashing over Zodi's face. Not for them, probably, but it's still time to go.  
"You're a good asset, Krisa," Zodi says, not looking at her. She never looks directly at Krisa after these trysts--it can't be same, certainly, and it's a touch too forced to be disinterested. On her more ridiculous days, Krisa almost thinks she looks frightened, although frightened of what it's impossible to say. "I'm glad I kept you around."  
"Me too," Krisa says softly, and right now, she means it.  
Zodi climbs out the window Krisa, like she always does (unless she doesn't) follows. The screaming night swallows them both like darkly roaring water, and Zodi is the riptide dragging Krisa endlessly, inescapably, to the place they both try to call home.