Axxel's eyes were tightly shut as he enjoyed the gentle sway of the Premium Regeneration Pod. The Regeneration Pod, much like everything in Savage World, was technology displaced from its moment in the timestream.
It seemed to come from a fairly advanced timestream at that.
It was not the most advanced healing technology one could find in The Speed Force, but it perfectly fit between the categories of quality, rarity, and likeliness to be found.
Regeneration Pods tended to come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and often not from the same timestream. Axxel felt a profound appreciation for Regenerations Pod since it could be considered that some timestream's disaster had become their life-saving grace inside The Speed Force.
The thick jello-like regeneration liquid fought Axxel millimeter for millimeter as his eyes opened. This specific Regeneration Pod was a cut above the rest – easily 6 by 10 feet, transparent around the edges, oval-shaped with anti-gravity technology.
Axxel could feel his body becoming simultaneously energized and relaxed, but with that realization came an understanding of what materials had to be used to achieve these types of effects.
He hadn't been in the Speed Force for long, but Axxel had a basic understanding of certain expenses.
For a Premium Regeneration Pod to function, it required complex mixtures of Dinosaur Spinal Fluids, rare metallic minerals to strengthen bones, and dozens of nutritional packs that were borderline supersoldier serums.
The nutrition packs were particularly expensive.
Axxel had tried to learn the name of the specific nutritional packs needed for Regeneration Pods at one point, but he quickly lost interest when he realized that it took all the letters of the Alphabet to pronounce even the base ingredients.
Well, all the letters in the English alphabet and whatever language was being used in the Speed Force.
That was another thing Axxel had yet to learn – inside The Speed Force, Jules and the others who had been there long enough spoke a time-insensitive language called Temporale.
It took around five minutes for Axxel to twist his head left and right, witnessing the several other participants from the earlier battle that was in Regeneration Pods next to him.
Of course, their Regeneration Pods were not advanced as his own.
Axxel started his count and noted that compared to the number of people he was sure were injured in the earlier battle, there were not enough Regeneration Pods in comparison.
How many had died?
How many people were still waiting to be healed?
How many still bubbling adventurous souls were dancing outside due to the brush with death?
'Never thought I'd become one of the privileged.'
One had to note that even the best Outpost Explorers had to toil for an eternity to dip their toes in a Premium Regeneration Pod, but Axxel was being given the privilege despite his recent introduction into The Speed Force.
Though, time tended to become confusing, and meaningless in The Speed Force.
Even now, as he floated inside the Regeneration Pod, Axxel wasn't aware of the passing of time. Luckily, the machine seemed to be at least partially aware of the passing time.
BEEEEEP
The Regeneration Pod shuddered, churned, and started to leak excess liquid, and Axxel twirled his body inside, barely managing to land on his two feet when the pod shot open in a flood of agar-like solution.
It felt like being born again – in the most disgusting way possible.
The fluid inside drained into the ground, and Axxel stood on his newly repaired cybernetic foot with his refreshed baby skin, stretching his thoroughly explosive muscular body.
"So comfortable," Axxel flexed his body a bit, groaned in pleasure, and proceeded to snatch some clothing from the opposite wall. "Even if it doesn't fit, I'll be fine."
Fully dressed, and fully recovered, Axxel exited the tent as someone else entered and proceeded to take up residence inside the free Regeneration Pod. Axxel didn't know the name of everyone in the Exploration Group, but every couple of days, new people would pop up and old ones would disappear.
He tried not to think about it too much.
It was like a cycle that never stopped, and Axxel was unsure of how many times he had witnessed such events. Once again, time was a confusing thing in Savage World. Still, he knew the people that mattered – Jules, Thomas, himself, Jerico, Anissa, and Stewart remained constant, almost painfully so.
Everyone had a certain quirk in their behavior.
Jules – the blonde-haired, green-eyed, princess-looking woman that had a mouth so vulgar even God would ask when he invented those words.
Thomas – gruff as a puff of fluff that had an infinite buff... he walked imposingly and was so muscular that his muscles had muscles.
Jerico – a Japanese-looking fella that carried two swords on his back; though, he never used them.
Anissa – every camp had to have a resident airhead, and Anissa was the redheaded airhead that talked to the carnivorous plants that could eat your face off.
Stewart – well… Stewart was very small, and that was all Axxel could remember about Stewart.
The small guy was one of those people that you can stare at for hours and still feel like you have been looking at nothing.
------------
Axxel exited the tent, and using his enhanced senses, he walked toward the area with the least noise. That's where Jules would always be. She preferred to be away from the hustle and bustle of everyone, and Axxel preferred to be next to Jules.
It was not about attraction or love… it was more along the lines of preserving his own life. A couple of minutes later, following several twists and turns through the forest, Axxel's ears picked up the sound of rushing water and giggling females.
He followed the sound and was greeted by Thomas fondling several breasts with his large hands. Axxel glanced at his own, much smaller hands, and could only sigh in defeat.
Thomas was truly a gifted man in all aspects, but thankfully, Axxel knew that he didn't lose to him in penis size. Jules had made that much very clear, and usually when a woman's eyes rolled to the back of her head during sex, it meant you were giving her something she wasn't used to.
"Want some of this kid," Thomas asked, fondling the women's breast like it was just another Tuesday in Savage World.
Axxel could even see a woman bobbing her head up and down beneath the water.
'Obviously, she doesn't need air.'
"I like to take things… doesn't taste the same when it is given." Axxel joked, provoking the large man a little to see his reaction.
Lo and behold, Thomas pushed the women aside and hopped out of the water, walking his large body toward Axxel. Axxel kept his casual stance, irritating Thomas that much more.
"You think you have her just because you're the one fucking her now?" Thomas glowered, his voice turning a bit wild towards the end of his statement.
Axxel sighed, not understanding Thomas' obsession with Jules… she was a wonderful woman, down to the tightness that caressed his dick every night, but she certainly wasn't that awesome.
"I think I have her because I have her," Axxel responded bluntly, just stating the facts.
But what Axxel thought of as facts, Thomas saw as a challenge. Luckily, Axxel was able to use his trump card before Thomas could do some serious damage.
"JJJJUUUULLLLEEEESSSSS!" Axxel yelled at the top of his lungs, and Thomas froze in place, not daring to retaliate after the Leader had been called.
"Come to the other side." A faint whisper rippled from behind the waterfall, and Axxel sighed in relief.
Marines were taught to be fearless and resistant to torture, but they weren't taught to be suicidal, and fighting Thomas was definitely suicidal. Brushing past Thomas before he could recover from the shock, Axxel leaped into the water and swam until he passed the water curtain that divided one side from the other.
As soon as he passed the water curtain, he was greeted by the sight of a naked woman gently washing her legs on a nearby rock. She seemed every bit as noble and refined as one would expect from a goddess.
Even the slight water vapor from the lake hid her slit just enough to prevent Axxel from seeing anything unless he squinted really hard. And, of course, he was currently squinting really hard.
But… one sentence from Jules completely ruined the scene.
"Wash your dick and come over here so we can fuck." Jules commanded, not once glancing in Axxel's direction.
Axxel froze in the water, almost drowning in the process.
Jules' beauty could make any man envious, but the moment she opened her mouth, the illusion would break and any man's dick would shrivel.
Axxel swam to Jules's side and spanked her on her butt "I always tell you to speak more lady-like." he warned, caressing her butt cheeks immediately after when she seemed ready to fight.
"I don't want to talk like those mindless bitches." Jules cursed, tossing herself off the rock, and back into the water, pulling Axxel along with her.
There was a bit of struggle as Axxel tried to get loose, but Jules had been in the Speed Force for several lifetimes, and her strength was not something he could contend with. Very soon, the struggle turned into spinning, and the spinning turned into a beautiful water dance that produced gentle waves.
This perfectly demonstrated the nuance of Axxel's and Jules' relationship – something extremely chaotic that always ended with beauty unrivaled. Axxel pulled Jules towards his body and pressed her forehead against his, but neither of them went for the kiss.
They both hated kissing outside of sex, and doing so casually would lead to an immediate collapse of their delicate relationship.
"You're too afraid of getting hurt," Jules teased, brushing her lips against Axxel's just for the fun of it.
When Jules pulled back, Axxel leaned forward and reciprocated the action "And you have lived too long," he whispered.
Indeed, they were both intimately aware of the fault in each other's stars. Axxel was unable to let down his guard, allowing love to be unconditional. While Jules had been trapped in the Speed Force so long that love became timeless, there was no love that could last an eternity.
When they stopped spinning, Axxel and Jules swam to the shore and found their special spot – the only place in Savage World where the skies had a fault. This allowed them to witness the pulsing lightning of the Speed Force.
"I think it's beautiful," Jules muttered, eyes glistening as she watched the lightning dancing in the skies.
Axxel snorted, feeling irked that he was so close to the Speed Force, but still unable to become a Speedster "To be so close to power and not have it?" he questioned.
"Before I became trapped in the Speed Force, I had everything I could ever want," Jules replied sadly "So I think it is beautiful that the one thing I want most is always out of my reach."
"You're a masochist."
"And you're a man that could never be satisfied with what he knows."
Axxel smirked "I am also a man that can make any woman weak in the knees."
Jules smirked back "Every night for months and my knees have never weakened." she stated provokingly…
The duo smiled at each other semi-menacingly, and then, they both became blurs as rocks were smashed, and water was splashed all over. It wasn't until a couple of minutes later that Axxel managed to pin Jules against a rock.
Jules was also more than happy to raise her butt as Axxel slid his dick inside her folds. Of course, what followed was an even more chaotic fight than it took for the initial insertion, but both Axxel and Jules loved every moment of it.
A couple of hours later, the Exploration Group departed for Outpost – the only human settlement in Savage World.