Aren looked at her watch "He's late...again" she sighed and looked at the vehicles pass her by on the road.
She stood with her hands behind her back and began people watching, just at a glance she could reconize her own kind and who they served. They would give a simple nod of the head towards her and she would nod back in reply, but still unable to openly talk to them. It was against terms of service to speak out of turn to other forgottens. Hell, Aren had a huge amount of freedoms compared to the others, though her master was a rather strict one, her rank otherwise gave her rights that many of the Forgotten were not as fortunate to have.
As she was busy contemplating, she was suddenly shoved out of the way by a Lel'Loni that promptly spit a stream of glowing gunk at her feet.
"Watch were you stand you filthy inbred, to even breath in the same air is disgusting. Lin, move it! NOW!" he pulled on a leash of some sort and a much smaller girl, not even but thirteen years at the most, was pulled from behind him, her face having a scar. Aren remained emotionless but inside she felt a sudden sense of rage, making her step forward and reach for the Lel'Loni.
A hand grabbed her wrist and a slap came to her face "Do not step out of line again, we are to not touch them, ever, know your place Forgotten" a human who had the same military patch as the one on Aren's overcoat released her hand and Aren went back to her waiting stance, not saying a word "Where is you master?"
She looked straight and answered extremely flat toned "He has not arrived yet sir, he should be coming soon" she was met with a hand grabbing her chin and turning her face towards his.
"You are to look at the person when they talk, is that clear?" Aren remained silent and the man laughed "You think you're so special, if you didn't have the master you did, we would ha-" Aren grabbed his wrist and squeezed, making him fall to his knees in pain.
"May I remind you solider, while yes I am a Forgotten, I am still a much higher rank then you. You should do well to remember that fact, or shall I break this to make sure you remember?"
"No" he grabbed at her hand and she only squeezed harder.
"No what?"
"No ma'am, please release me or you'll break it!" she let go and he fell back, grasping his wrist and him looking at her with hateful eyes.
"I think you have some paperwork to do soldier?" he stood up and spit at her before walking off and into the building, and in turn she went back to her waiting stance and looked at the cars passing by waiting for her master to arrive.
...
Misha's metallic heels clicked against the hard ground as he paced down the road, the tall lithe Lei'Loni proceeding with both haste and grace. His lengthy grey camo-coat swung behind him, fluttering as a light breeze floated by.
It was more than just a statement to the Pact Holders in this district, who were barely able to survive, let alone afford excessive clothing like that.
His rank displayed across the cloth around his shoulders.
First Lieutenant.
If he could make a face, it would be one of annoyance. The thought was immediately revoked. Why would he need something so useless? Displaying one's emotions and intentions was a deathwish for one locked in battle with a particularly perceptive alien.
There was no room for errors.
Down the very last second, he's calculated in his head, the amount of time it would take for him to reach the appointed destination. If he ran, walked, and even if there were minor set backs such as traffic.
Still, he was nearing a minute late, the time subconciously ticking down in his internal mainframe. That was bad. Disorderly. Undisciplined. It goes against all the things he's been taught.
Though he has been told that incidents of "unforseen circumstances" happening during a battle is inevitable. Some things were just out of anyone's control.
He supposed that such an explanation was only fitting to what delayed him to such an extent.
No, he was simply following his duties. She of all people would understand.
As a member of the Tol'Shul, he must quell any form of problem that may have a negative affect in the sector, even if he isn't assigned watch here.
When he turned the corner to his destination, he came across a whimpering human male who was clenching his hand pitifully. It would appear he angered the wrong Forgotten and as a result, had the metacarpal bones in his hand snapped.
Upon seeing Misha, the man immediately straightened out and saluted him, ignoring the pain. In his eyes was a definite fear.
A quick scan of the databanks of personel working in the sector, he identified the man.
Misha simply nodded, "Move along, Captain Daniel."
"Yessir!"
With a bow, the man hurried off.
Before he could manage a few steps, Misha turned his head to him, "It would appear you are wounded. Go see a medic after you've finished your load of paperwork. Those who cannot fulfill their duties will be replaced."
Though spoken calmly, Misha's digitized voice hinted a grim warning.
"Y-yessir!" he repeated, bowing his head once more before going into a large building nearby. That adjective could be used to describe practically everything around him, but what set this one apart from the others was that it was where the district offices of those stationed here were located.
His scanners picked up a familiar petite girl up ahead, his optical sensors displaying the the familiar blank expression she almost always had.
He stepped up to her, "My delay was due to an unforeseen circumstance." he explained, "I eliminated a small swarm of Arthos causing trouble on block 22. They will no longer be a problem."
Aren looked up to see her master and instantly bowed towards him "I've only been waiting for a minute or two, I dont mind waiting at all sir" she stood straight but only looked at his chest, refusing to make...face contact? Misha didn't really have eyes to make eye contact with. Ear ears perked up at the mention of fighting and the usual green tone that her armor ears glowed went red for a second, as did her eyes before she looked down and coughed slightly and looked back up "Did you inform HQ? Arthos usually dont get antsy without a reason but if it was a swarm then there must have been something that stirred them..." she started thinking for a moment about Arthos, though she didn't know a ton, she learned from Misha about their Behavior patterns so it was odd to say the least.
Misha didn't seem to pay much attention to the raising energy displacement in the girl.
"Yes, the incident was informed. Immediately. They promptly thanked me for my work and told me to allow them to handle the rest."
His metal joints whirred quietly, as though in contemplation, "From my scan of their bodies, those particular ones were on quite the powerful hallucinogen."
"But enough of that. We are already behind schedule."
He uses a quick motion with his hand to indicate that we was finished with the topic.
Aren nodded and began moving through the crowd towards the door to a standard sky scrapper, opening the door she let Misha walk in and walked in behind him, a number of people stopped and saluted both Aren and him, before they walked over to the elevator. Pressing a button, she pulled a card from the inside of her overcoat, getting inside she waited for Misha to step inside before closing the doors and breaking silence.
She moved towards the panel and pressed a series of buttons, a screen appearing infront of her. She pressed her hand against the screen and a picture of her popped up followed by a green text filling the screen and the screen falling back into the panel.
The Elevator started moving downwards and she sighed "I got a call this morning from an advisor for your leader and the advisor sent me a file. I spent the morning decrypting a large part of it, but it's bad, ive never seen anything like it. Are you aware of whats been going on, across the wall?" she looked back at him.
He looked at her for a moment.
Such information was incredibly classified, and even muttering it would to anyone but his partner would get in him extreme amounts of trouble. Worst case, he would be banished from his half of the planet.
The thought of remaining here with these insignificant races brought a shiver down his energy core, the tall figure turning his head to the side.
However, he learned to trust his partner. Aren had a keen instinct of knowing when to or not keep her mouth shut.
His voice played low, "There is something out there. Dangerous. Reports of a lifeform that had caused us quite a few problems. Many have already perished. I've been told nothing further."
Surely upon hearing such words, she'd understand why this must not reach the ears of the public.
If anyone of those Pact Holders were to hear such words, it would be a difficult incident on its own. The thought of being able to kill a Lei'Loni was poisonous. He could see it in their eyes, their disatisfaction. Once they've "had enough" they would begin to lash out violently in whatever way they could.
He never understood the point of such a weak, fickle mind. Emotions only cloud proper judgement.
Aren sighed and looked at door of the elevator "I dont think you're quite aware of how far it's spread. Last night a whole guards patrol was taken out, they were found perfectly intact with no wounds. However when they were opened up...it was distasteful to say the least. What ever the enemy is, they aren't the usual—"
An explosion rung the elevator shaft and Aren glanced at Misha "...?" the elevator stopped and Aren tapped the screen but got little response.
Rolling up her sleeves, her arm revealed more peices of the armor stuck to her body. Putting her hands in the crack of the door, she ripped the door open and then reached to open the door to the floor but stopped. Her ears perked and she heard beeping.
Misha calmly opened his hand, the plating shifting as he pointed it up to the hatch above and shot it open with a blast of white plasma.
Immediately, they both jumped up through opening on the roof of the elevator.
Grabbing the onto the cord, the two braced themselves as a sudden explosion filled the elevator. The metal box quickly decsended down the corridor, plummeting to the bottom in a burning wreckage.
Misha was stiff like a statue as he held the cord. There was something odd his sensors were picking up in the vents around them.
At first, he assumed this was a result of one of the aforementioned riots transpiring at a rather inconvienent time, but the speed that the attackers moved was unnaturally quick. Not only that. There was a large amount of such movements.
His armor began to emit a faint light, the dark gray tone filling the air around him.
"Move down and investigate the lower area. I'll stay here to check on something. Motion to me once you're done."
She looked up to him warily, "Okay, I'll wave up if it's clear." She slid down the rope and looked into the now dark opening, pulling out one of her guns from it's holster on the back of her hip, she swung into the darkness below.
Once she was gone, he decided to climb up higher to get a closer look at one of the vents, tossing himself up a large distance in a quick swinging motion.
With the influx of energy in the air, he had a suspicion of what had caused the explosion.
Grabbing one of the ledges, he nimbly bound to the next, reaching the point of interest. He began to inspect the vent, quickly detecting a large gapping incursion caused very recently. Approximately about the same time of the explosion.
Suspicious.
Detecting movement below him, he turned to see Aren's small hand waving for him. Letting go, he dropped down to her floor, grabbing the open ledge and expertly swinging into the room.
A quick scan revealed the girl knelt beside the remains of several deceased humans, their bodies ripped open in a similar fashion to the vent he just inspected. There was blood all over the place.
"Danger. Be cautious." he muttered turning to his partner, his mechanical limbs tensing.
There was a large amount of energy coming from multiple directions.
It was too cluttered to distinguish just how far they were, but he was sure that whatever did this was coming to finish off any survivors.
A familiar hum sounded, and Aren reached into her overcoat, pulling a small device out from the folds of cloth, "Hello?...Yes i know...I am well aware the situation...no I'm fine, he's fine as well...no, no one's left on this floor...lock down sections Z1, A2 and the entirety of Section B. They cannot be allowed to obtain the projects under any circumstance do you understand me?...No, we'll make our way to you, just use whatever firepower you have left and you make sure they stay safe." she took the device away from her ear and sighed.
Aren gazed at the man beside her. His face was the only one not mangled beyond recognition. She remained like this for a moment, her eyes completely blank before blinking back to life and closing his eyes with her fingers.
Standing up, she pulled her second gun from it's holsters "We have to get down two floors lower, both our jobs depend on keeping whatever did this out of that level, I had a feeling this was going to happen, but not this quick." she moved to the elevator shaft and looked at Misah "What do you want to do? You're the boss after all" she felt an odd feeling in her gut about this floor, everything was just off, so the quicker they left, the better she would feel.
He agreed with this statement, simply nodding his head. Judging from what he picked up from her transmission, their initial mission involved such "projects."
Seeing as these culprits attacked at such a random time, this must be one of those unforeseen circumstances that seemed to keep springing up today.
Just as he motioned for her to go down the shaft first, a large rumbling noise came from the ceiling.
A large mechanical drone, which he quickly identified as a "Hermit Crab", cut through the metal with a orange beam and dropped upon the two.
He dodged the first slice with a side-step, the deadly blade barely missing his skull, quickly using the maneuver to back away a safe distance. His hands began to glow, the mechanisms shifting slightly.
The large drone illuminated the darkness of the corridor with the vivid orange glow of its optical sensor. It faced the Lei'Loni, humming as it charged a beam at a large opening at the front.
"Go first." he commanded the little Forgotten.
From the electronic frequencies cast in the air, there were more coming for them. Many more.
Aren did a flat toned laugh as best she could and looked down "Yea, I would but in the improbable event that you get killed or even injured, I get backlash for that, so I'll have to disregard that command, punish me later!" she ran towards the machine and used it to vault herself up onto the higher level, shooting at it as she jumped up, the machine did a mix of growls and grinding noises before jumping up after her.
Aren already running heard more coming and ran in the opposite direction, pulling out the device again she shot with one hand and switched the device into an ear peice of sorts, putting it in and pulling the other gun up as she fired and ran down the hall. Misah would get a call "Hey, you see that really shiny thing it dropped when i stepped on it? Plant that 20 steps behind you on the celing and then wait a moment, I'm about to bring a whole lot of fun with me, and this isn't the Forgotten asking, this is a Higher ranking officer telling you to plant it for me, please" she hung up before he could reply out of fear for the amount of scolding she would get from the others.
Turning with her back against the wall she began firing at the now huge number of enemies swarming at her, she only hoped that Misah would listen, hell he could most likely hear the pounding and firing above him if that gave him any warning.
Misha would scoff if he could, instead making a low hissing noise from the speakers located on his head.
Being commanded like this, by a Forgotten of all things. Such insolence could not be tolerated. Handling such a drone wouldn't be difficult for him at all. He was merely concerned not only for her safety, but also of the mission.
Not only did she disregard his warning, now she was risking the whole mission with this reckless plan of hers. If she died, it would mean a massive decrease in those qualified to defend said "projects."
The sounds of bullets firing and heavy scraping from up above drove the Lei'Loni into action. Standing around and arguing with things was pointless, whether he liked it or not, the plan was already in motion.
Scanning the glowing object on the floor, there was a large concentration of compounded energy sealed within a capsule. It was an explosive. Further assessing the object, he discovered it to be the same kind that caused the explosion in the elevator shaft
He darted up and fetched the small object. His pointing finger shifted into the form of many small utensils as he pried into the core and rapidly configured its options.
Once he was done, he tossed it up to where she specified.
Aren ears pricked up at the sound of the the bomb latching itself to the ceiling below. Smiling devilishly, the green lights located all around her bodies and her eyes turned red. She located the one that she kicked the bomb off of. Running towards the now swarm of machines, she ran full speed, sliding under the bug looking machines hurtling towards her. Using the blades located where the magazines of the guns, as they made contact, it was almost as if musical notes played in the air. Cutting multiple legs in half off a number of the machines, she grabbed one of the legs and used it as a vault of sorts, lifting herself in the air and landing on the one that dropped the bomb.
Stabbing her blade quickly into the top, she cut it open and ripped wires from it, suddenly hearing the same beeping, everything stopped and was as if they froze, almost realizing the situation.
Down below, upon hearing the device at his feet spring to life, he merely stepped a few yards off to the side and activated his personal shield. Immediately, his metal body was washed in a shimmering glow of pale gray light that consumed him completely before fading back to normal.
With in seconds of the silence the bomb beeped one last time before exploding and collapsing in on the robots and almost herself. Jumping from the falling debris she rolled away and landed rolling in a mess and sliding to a step, panting for a moment, the red lights slowly turned back to green and her eyes shifted color once again.
She looked up at Misah who had his arms crossed and she leaned over "I'm getting to old for this, honestly I am" she stood up and put her guns back in their holsters and walked over to the closest machine and watched it move slightly before it's eyes went dark and it stopped moving, pulling it's eyes out and pocketing it.
"Stealing?" Misha muttered, moving over to the dark shaft. His body glimmered once more as the shields deactivated.
"I hope you're not planning to sell those off for some credits."
"You've seen where I live Misah, if i needed credits, i could get them. This however is for something I'm going to look into later, if you want you can join me"
He wanted to explain that it was an attempt at a joke, but realized that her kind wasn't the type to understand such things.
Misha turned to her, "Regarding your offer. Seeing what's happened here, turning it down would be a disgrace to my duty as a Tol'Shul."
He peered down the expansive shaft, seeing the exposed basement levels. The rapidly blinking orange lights would indicated that these drones were already on the move in the lower end of the facility.
Distant sounds of gunfire can be heard, followed by mortal screams. The situation for those below was getting dire. There was no time to waste. They needed to get down as quick as possible.
Even if they were incredibly agile, having her scale down would require too much time, a resource they were running low on.
Without warning, his body began to emit a faint glow of light. Misha promptly scoops Aren in one arm, steps up and jumps off the ledge into the shaft.
A fall from that high would immediately kill a member of any lesser race. Even a Lei'Loni would probably be put in a critcal state.
Luckily, he wasn't just any lesser Lei'Loni.
He quickly set his personal shields to expand around him, his body letting off a low hum as a bubble of dull gray energy wrapped around the two.
Falling floor after floor, the orb of energy plummeted like a bullet down the hollow space.
Within a span of ten seconds, the Lei'Loni crashed down in a large cluster of the unsuspecting Hermit Crabs, his shield exploding upon absorbing the impact and frying the drones in a flashing orb of light.
He was crouched with a wide crater, his limbs giving off a discharge as he set the girl off the side. Parts of his body were dimming in light, indicating his abilities "Lockdown." It would require time for the device that generates his shielding to be able to draw energy from his core again.
The hole made in the swarming drones seemed to have recovered as they turned their attention to the pair. A row of gleaming lights indicated that they would being firing upon them soon.
He turned to his partner, pointing to the large security doors behind them, "You're the only one that knows the code. Get those open. I will cover for you."
Without the aid of his shield, he'd have to be a little more cautious about needlessly taking blasts of plasma.
With a nimble turn, he jumped over the volley of glaring orange plasma with a tall leap. While soaring in the air, his sensors made sweeping scan and locked onto all of those before him.
Opening his palms, the mechanical limbs rapidly shifted, generating arcs of bouncing gray energy.
Upon arming himself, Misha unleashed a stream of gray energy bolts. Each shot was incredibly precise, entering the cores of each body he targeted and disabling them with only one shot each.
Still, even wiping out a whole wave of the machines, their numbers didn't appear to be reduced. More and more appeared out from holes all along the building, swiftly replacing those that were lost.
Looking behind her she began working on the door, running quickly and sliding her finger on the cement wall and it lit up, a screen coming into view, looking over at Misah she yelled out over the commotion "As soon as I open this door, you have 10 seconds before the second defense doors open, so make sure you make it or you're stuck fighting these things" she turned her head back over to the panel and began the sequence, putting her card onto the panel.
With her warning, Misha started an internal countdown as he continued the onslaught.
It was like target practice back home for Misha, the drones similar to the combat droids the instructors used during the final trials of becoming a full-fledged Tol'Shul. One by one, the drones fell to the concentrated fire, the corpses piling upon themselves. Soon they were surrounded by a small mound that served both as a defensive obstacle that blocked the orange plasma shots, and as a method to slightly delay their advance.
He was taught to use any advantage possible, even if very minor. Such a difference could mean life or death in the heat of battle.
Honestly, this wasn't anything compared to the adversity faced during those years of being tested. Only the best are able to advance while those who were too weak were banished.
Suddenly ducking, a leg of one of the Hermit Crabs stabbed out from the wall next to where she was. Pulling out her gun, she rolled up, and jammed her it into the wired neck of the emerging robot and shot rapidly, before pulling away and watching it fall down. She holstered her gun and ran back to the screen "Misah move your ass over here!" she pressed the button and the door sprung open, turning she pulled one gun out and started firing as cover for Misah so that he could move towards her. She leaned down, still firing, and ripped a bomb from the Hermit bot, waiting for Misah to ran towards her, she threw it past him. Breathing out, her pupils seemed to grow small and focus in on the bomb, pulling the trigger it flew inches from Misah's face and hit the bomb behind him. She began walking back "Three Seconds!" she started firing at the next wave showing up already.
He heard the tone of the little Forgotten from behind calling out to him. He didn't like to be nagged, especially when he was trying to keep them from getting flanked by an army of killer-robots.
He remained calm as he took aim, shooting the last energy bolts out of his hands as he retreated back behind the doors.
Backing into through the opening, she holstered her gun and tapped the cement wall again the screen being pulled up and she tapped it a number of times, put in a code. The screen pulled up a number of dials. Sliding the first three dials all the way forward, the hall they were in instantly lit up and Aren's face for a moment showed a shocked emotion. Running towards the girl in a black vest, she sat on her knees and checked for a pulse, and was still for a moment "How did we miss them, there was only to two entrances..." she stood up, shaking. Picking the girl up, she carried her and put her the open floor. Doing the same for the three others that were part of the squad, she went into a room and came out with a silver fabric and a liquid.
Getting on her knees, she began putting the sheet over the four and she spoke looking down to make sure Misah couldn't see her tears "Please go on ahead, the code for the door is "ProjAlphonse, please leave me to mourn for a moment to myself..." she waited for him to leave before her tears fell upon the now covered bodies and she began pouring the liquid over top. She breathed out slowly, before pulling matches from her overcoat and lighting one. Throwing it on top of the bodies she bowed before lifting her head and wiping her eyes.
There was no room for the weak, to act without the hesitation brought out by emotion. That was what he was always raised up to believe.
Misha stood at the console, staring at it quietly as he entered the code onto the thin light-screen. She couldnt hide what she was doing from him. Even the inferior races could read the emotions in her words, the way she became vulnerable.
For some reason, he couldn't shake off the weight of seeing his usually loud-mouthed partner act so weak.
It made him feel... uneasy.
He understood that it wasn't the that she couldn't feel emotion. She just can't portray them as well as her more human counterparts.
The increased heat from the previous room was a sign that she would be coming soon. She can wipe her face all she wants, but there was no hiding the fact of what happened.
He quickly removed such obstructing thoughts from his mind. Their mission was the primary motive and he didn't need to be slowed down by random processes. Casualties that aid in the mission's success are honorable sacrifices.
Moving through the door she quickly sealed the room off "At least they saved these..." she quickly walked over to a holographic screen, tapping the table and logging into it. She began searching for files and then she put the eye onto the table, a holographic box formed over the eye and it began scanning it "I don't suppose you knew those four?" she looked at him as she leaned against the desk that held the computer.
"Not personally." Misha muttered, "I did a scan of them as I passed. Their occupation, name. That's all I know --- All I need to know."
She actually let out a dry laugh "Theres more to them then that Misah, those four were trained by me, meaning they were at or past my level. The fact they were even killed means there are more then just those Hermit Crabs, theres something in the building right now that can kill me and you" she looked at another locked door behind them and she sighed. The computer beeped and she went over to it, looking at weird data. She began typing heavily, suddenly stopping "Holy shit...! This isn't a "thing" that's been attacking the Lel'Loni, this is company made, these pieces are Lel'Loni in nature!" she looked up at him and was cautious at this point. It would only make sense that a Lel'Loni was the one that killed her students. To say the least it wouldn't be shocking but why? There was no way that they could have been aware of the project. There were only select few that knew about it, even Misah wasn't aware of what the project really was.
The Lei'Loni became alarmed by the news, beginning a wide scan of the area, trying to pick up even the tiniest frequency that didn't match those he's found recently.
Whatever did this mustn't have gotten far. It must still be searching for these "projects." Hacking these security systems were difficult task, even for those Tol'Shul trained in Electronic Warfare.
After a few moments of finding nothing useful, he turned to the small Forgotten, "The one that's done this has an incredibly low frequency core. I can't find it."
He checked the state of his personal shields. Still down.
"Where are these "projects" we must get to them. If it's what you say..." his voice became harsh, "This is the work of a Yof'Kurr."
Aren unplugged the eye and left it there, grabbing her guns and setting them down, making sure she had enough ammo still left in them. Turning she decided for a moment "This is the room that has those projects in them .If we were to get into the projects level, I know for a fact two things will happen. There are things in there that we will die for because we've seen them. When and if we get out of this alive, we both will be put on trial. You will get off simply because of your race, but I on the other hand will be put onto death row. That or receive "punishment" which you have seen me receive and for something that is this big, it will be more then 20 or even 30 lashes." she referred to the horrible punishments Forgotten receive. Aren had been subjected to three punishments ever in her life, all of which Misah had seen. They would buckle the Forgotten down and use an electrical whired whip and strike at them viciously. Following that, the offender is put into an underground solitary confinement where they are starved for a week.
Misha becamse tense at the thought of the punishment they would receive for failing, turning his head towards the large set of doors in the room.
Aren sighed and holstered her guns, taking off her overcoat she put it on the table and revealed the entirety of her armor. Walking over to the wall she tapped it and a huge screen came up, tapping the black armor on her arm, she grabbed a cable and connected it to the wall, directly entering the system in order to open the wall.
As her suit began to shimmer, indicating that it was bypassing security code, she spoke to Misah who was behind her "We'll need help after this, and this could banish you. As well as earn you a new partner, you content with that, because once I break in and open the door, there's no telling what could happen if we get out"
Misha remained quiet for a while, standing there in contemplation as the girl hacked into the door. The shame of being banished was like none other. While the Lei'Loni look upon those of an inferior race with disgust and condescension, those of them who are banished are gazed at in scorn.
It was as if their eyes read "How dare you humiliate us."
He despised the thought of living such an existence, being cast away and associated with the lower races. The life of a Kof'Yurr was incredibly difficult, with nowhere to run or hide. Neither side wanted them, and because of that, they fit in nowhere.
They are given a brand that can never be removed.
The humiliation made him hesitate to move forward, but he quickly shook his head, No, we will not fail. If I cannot fulfill his duty as a Tol'Shul, death is the the only punishment fitting.
"It is my duty to sacrifice for Lei'Loni, no matter the cost. If this is as important as you claim, it would be against what I believe in to run away." he turned his towards her, "Besides, who's going to help you with your reckless plans when they go wrong if I'm not there?"
"Good to know, partner" she smiled for a second before going back to her flat emotionless face. She watched as the giant screen slowly turned from blue to green and then a little chibi looking form of herself waved at them "Re, access project door Alphonse, Disable Defensive measures" it gave a salute and disappeared. The wall made huge noise and opened up, a white blinding light showing from inside. Their eyes would adjust and Aren walked into the white room, a voice came from inside the room "Unauthorized entry, Warning Warning!" Aren waved her hand and the hologram Chibi came up again.
"Execute Security." the voice stopped and the chibi appeared again "Re, open up Project Alphonse, keep them contained" it bowed and disappeared. The walls of the pure white room began to move in and reveal five little girls appeared in tubes filled with liquid. Aren sat on her knees and lowered her head "These five are...our are mothers basically. All the Forgotten are born from genes of these five girls" she stood up and looked at the five. Waving his arm, it pulled up screens of all their vitals and they all appeared fine.
Misha took another scan of the area, slowing turning around as he scanned the room. The only signals of life was that of the Hermit Crab droids still crawling around outside.
He had a bad premonition about what they had just done. The thing had reached this point at least a few minutes prior to their arrival. The fact that these bodies were still intact must mean it was waiting for them to open the security doors.
His personal shields were still offline. This was probably the worst time to be fighting something dangerous enough to go undetected by his scanners.
"As you humans call it; I have a bad feeling about this..."
Aren looked at him and shook his head "We literally can't move them, theres a reason they're sedated"
"What do you suppose we do? If this project is so important, they will send reinforcements... though, I'm pretty sure it'll be too late by that time."
He turned towards the large sliding doors behind him, "Those security doors are A-Grade, but they won't hold all of them out there..." the heavy scratching sounds got closer and closer, "They've already broken past the first set."
She looked at the five and shook her head "No you don't understand Misah, we cannot let them out of the pods, they will kill us."
He looked at her inquisitively, about to say something until a bang on the security doors interrupted him.
Aren waved her arm, the pods sinking back into the wall again. Re appeared again on Aren's shoulder "Re, activate the room camera's" the A.I disappeared and it's voice came into the room.
"I cannot, It seems whatever is out there has disabled all security features. It is safe to say whatever is out there does not want us to see it. What shall I do?" Aren upholstered her gun and then looked at Misah, before he could react, Aren waved her arm at him "Move Misah to Cell Containment, Z1. Activate Lel'Loni defense protocol, whitewash" she winked at him, before the room seemed to morph around him and absorb him into the wall. A single window was left for him to see out of the black room. "Activate Project Malis, expand room to half a mile, activate city camo. Project password, D-ALLAS" the room instantly shifted changing form. This room itself was a project worked on by the government to contain all that layed with in the room. It quickly changed size to what Aren had asked for. Then the room started forming broken walls. It slowly started changing color and with in seconds, it was if the room disappeared and what Aren was standing on was the ruins of a city. The ceiling even adapted into a sky of sorts and it was cloud ridden. "Re, Activate weather mode, downpour" on command the room started raining and she sighed. Unholstering her other gun, she watched the door and waited.
There was another bang on the door, then suddenly gunfire of sorts were fired from the outside and the sounds of metal falling to the floor rung in the air. Then silence again, she breathed out and her eyes focused in again, her pupils formed slits like that of a cat and she suddenly smiled. Her armor and irises went from green to red, she slowly moved, almost stalking the door, waiting for it to open. There was a click on the door, followed by beeping and Misah would see Aren tense up ready for the enemy to come.
Three beeps passed and then an explosion filled the air, the door blew open and smoke filled the room. Aren went low and looked from behind cover. There was nothing at first, then suddenly bullets began firing at Aren's position, making her roll away from the wall and run, shooting as she passed between walls. Stopping as the bullets stopped, Aren peeked again and then the room filled with laughter "Little little kitty, come out to play. They use to say cats of 9 lives, let's just see how true that saying was" a laughter fit for a demon itself rung in the air and the sounds of mechanical movement filled the air once more. Out of the smoke humanoid robots came in a row of 10. They moved behind cover and then suddenly two began to run towards Aren. She opened fire but the bullets bounced off the two "Ah ah, now little kitty, you're little toys are useless here"
Holstering her guns, she opened her hand and spoke to Re in a whisper "Form project Reginal..." a solid black katana still in it's sheath began to slowly materialize into her hand, unsheathing it, a black and white blade was shown. Jumping over the wall, she moved quickly under the incoming punch from the one closest to her. She fluidly brought the sword up to the robots shoulder, ripping it's arm from it's socket. Sweeping it's leg, it fell to the ground and Aren curbstomped it's head in. Turning the other bot looked at her, turning it's head like a curious dog. It ran at her, put her caught it by the neck, lifting it up and cutting it cleanly in half with her other hand. Dropping it she watched as the next two came up, this time however they seemed to copy the Katana and pull it from their bodies. She held the sheath in one hand, holding the katana out towards them. The first swung at her neck, making her parry with the sheath, the other aimed for her legs, making her jump quickly and land back on top of the blade. She cleanly cut the it's head from it's body making it fall to the ground and spartan kicked the other one where it's knee would be, making it fall to one knee. Taking the sheath, she stabbed into it's body and went through, wires getting pulled out in the process and it to fell.
Another laugh filled the air "So the kitty has claws now, doesn't she my friends?" the remaining robots slowly fell back into the darkness beyond the blow open door opening. The rain made Aren wet and oil began draining into the drainage system of the dead robots. The rain stopped and letting the cities ruins drain off the rain.
Another voice different from the others spoke out "AnGel, take care of our little kitten, but do not kill her. She would be a nice addition to our group, dont you think?" a chorus of laughter filled the room and then silence. The sound of boot heels clicking on the floor filled the air. From the darkness, two different colored lights began to show. One orange and the other turquoise, soon more lights appeared and they formed the outline of metallic wings, like that of a real angel. A woman stepped from the darkness into the ruins, two swords sitting at her waist. She had an earpiece in and she was flat toned.
Aren recognized it, the facial expression "Are you a Forgotten?" she looked at the woman, katana pointed towards her.
A laughed escaped the woman's mouth "Dont compare me to those slaves, you and me both know what we are" her smile quickly turned sinister and Aren stood blank faced, unphased. The girl frowned "You really dont remember me Aren? That hurts, I'll just have to make you remember it" Aren went to say something but not even in the blink of an eye, AnGel had her hand around Aren's mouth for a second. Aren couldn't even move a muscle before she was thrown like a rag doll into one of the walls, being thrown through it into another wall in which she formed a crater. AnGel kicked through the wall with a hall in it and she smiled practically skipping towards Aren.
Aren used the wall to get up and spit blood onto the floor, sheathing the sword and throwing it into the air, it dissipated and she smiled back, the armor going into an intense red."I think I remember you now, AnGel Rilth. You were fifth to graduate after me and went missing. But it seems now you've become quite the merc. Cause cheap bitches will do anything for money now a days, eh?" AnGel's smirk disappeared and Aren laughed, she was incredibly easy to get into her head. AnGel threw a punch that seemed to disappear, and reappear moments from colliding with Aren's face. Suddenly Aren matched her speed, moving to the side and watched as AnGel punched through the wall. Kicking AnGel full force in the side, she was sent flying, Aren suddenly appearing where AnGel was heading and hammer kicked her into the ground. Making her bounce off and her wings made a ringing sound, disappearing. Aren picked her up by her hair and tossed her into a wall near by, making her bounce off the cement once again. Only this time, AnGel's chest was met with a fist from Aren and sent through the wall. "See now AnGel, theres a difference between me and you. I graduated first out of the 15 girls, I topped your combat scores three times over. Not once were you able to beat the third girl to graduate after me. I beat that girl three times, the fourth being a draw. What makes you think you can beat me?" she picked her up by the front of her shirt and punched her back into the ground making a crater where her head was.
AnGel laughed and coughed up blood "Because you didn't even notice" suddenly the girl was gone and reappeared behind Aren, her wings appearing again "didn't you think it a little odd I am as fast as I am?" Aren stood up and turned facing her "I'll just have to show you I guess..." AnGel seemed to teleport again, aiming again for the punch. Aren went to sidestep it like last time, but this time a kick came from nowhere, faster than even Aren could see. Aren got her hand up in time, but was still sent sliding on her feet. But yet again AnGel was behind Aren, sweeping her legs from under her and all in one motion, spartan kicked her in mid air. Seemingly teleporting, she appeared in the path Aren was flying and punched her downwards into the ground, making Aren cough up blood as she hit the cement hard. Aren punched AnGel in the face, flipping her over and going to punch her again, AnGel used her wings to propel Aren off. Aren was sent towards the ceiling, instead she used the ceiling and pushed herself off at full force, tackling AnGel to the floor again. Aren was on top of her, aiming to hammer punch her, but AnGel quickly grabbed her hand and sent a punch into Aren's face, making her roll off. Aren rolled onto all fours like a cat stopping herself,
AnGel kicked herself up and dusted off her jacket of sorts she had on. Aren stood up and opened her hand, Project Reginal back in her hands, AnGel stopped and sighed, pulling out one of her Katana and putting both hands on the handle. Aren stuck to using her sheath and one handed the katana, pointing it towards AnGel "You still haven't shown me" Aren smiled smugly.
AnGel nodded and laughed "You won't get in my head that easily kitten" she once again moved so fast it seemed she teleported in front of Aren. Swinging downward, Aren used her sheath to block, and went for a counterattack, but AnGel suddenly drew her second sword out, blocking it with the sword still partially in the sheath. Stuck at a stalemate, AnGel went to say something but Aren headbutted her in the temple, making her fall back. AnGel tried to swing at her leg with one hand and draw her second sword all in one motion. Aren stabbed her left hand into the ground, the blade going through into the pavement and kicked the second sword she tried drawing back into the sheath, before finally putting the sheath to the girls neck.
AnGel glared at Aren, who started to push in for the kill, until clapping filled the air "Your reputation does not give you justice Aren Dexer, not. one. bit" a Lel'Loni stepped into the ruins and stopped clapping, opening it's hands, he waved it and suddenly the robots from earlier came into the room as well as the Hermit Crab robots from the elevator shaft. Aren looked down at AnGel who had a smirk, which in turn Aren sheathed her Katana and took her left fist, slamming it down into AnGel's face that went further into the ground. Then punched her in the stomach which already further winded the women. Aren kick slide her across the floor and the Lel'Loni stopped AnGel's unconscious body with it's foot "You are a lovely little specimen aren't you Lieutenant Colonel. Such an interest rank for a Forgotten, though we both know that you aren't a Forgotten, else you would still be stuck serving the worst of our kind" he gestured to Misah who was still watching from his cell."I do have to wonder though, why would you not let him fight? Do you have a love for your young master?" Aren laughed at the statement and shook her head no.
"I did not allow him to fight, simply because I value his life higher. I respect his safety and above all us, I do not want him to die" the Lel'Loni held it's hands behind it's back and watched her.
"That is quite noble, Colonel. Enough of the simple minded fun, I most move on with the plan and you are standing in my way. So I give you the option, put down your weapon and we will ignore you, or stand and protect your mothers and die, What will the decision be Lt.Colonel?" Aren pulled a gun from her holster and held it in her left hand. Unsheathing the katana again, she tossed the sheath in the air and it disappeared. Holding a stance, her Armor went from red to purple, the sword in turn also suddenly switch to the color and Aren smiled "It would seem that you have quite the death wish woman" he waved his hand at her and picked up AnGel, walking back into the darkness.
Aren looked back at Misah and moved thanks, before turning and started shooting. She flipped backwards as the hermit crabs started shooting beams at her. She stood on top a wall and the humanoid robots jumped into the air towards her. She slashed the closest one in half, before jumping and stabbing the blade on the bottom of her gun into it's head. She landed on top of a hermit bot and pushed down with force, pushing it into the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a beam heading towards her, she swung her the katana and it collided with the blade. It was absorbed and the blade glowed purple; Aren swung it towards the number of bots to the left of her and it sent out the beam in a huge area of effect attack, cutting at least twenty bots in half. More hermit crabs continued their array of shots towards her that kept getting absorbed until dirt started to kick up and they stopped, the humanoid bots stood behind them at the ready to attack. Aren stood with her eyes closed, holding the blade above her head, the area around her started to float, rocks and debris started to rise as a circle was forming around her. A purple outline started to form around her and the dirt cloud started to settle showing her. The bots started to move in and Aren opened her eyes, them shining gold. She swung it down simply and suddenly was impossibly fast, dropping her gun, she held the sword with two hands and made a slashing x in the air, it formed a plasma X going towards them, jumping in the air, or to anyone else seamlessly teleporting into the air, she did the same move and it sent another X towards them. Not only did it completely obliterate the bots, it destroyed any walls in front of the attack.
She landed and closed her eyes, falling to one knee she opened her eyes and they were back to purple. She was breathing hard and had one eye closed, her vision going in and out of focus, Re spoke to her on her shoulder "Aren, project Reginal has taken a liking to you, however you just used to much energy and Reginal has recognized this. The red and blue Lel'Loni walked back and laughed "Incredible, you really are The Scarlet Tiger" Aren looked up at him.
"How do you know that name, only select few know that"
"I know about you more then anyone in this room, even your partner. But this will have to be a later chat , it seems your reinforcements have broken through my first defense ten floors above us, they will eventually be here. However we will talk in the future" Aren tried to stand but the Lel'Loni moved with lightning speed as well, grabbed her by the throat and slammed her in the ground. Picking her up, he slammed her again. Aren tried to move, but it punched her into the ground, repeatedly. Then took her arm, stepping on it and shattering the bones, making Aren scream out in pain. The Lel'Loni picked her up almost disdainfully and tossed her a wall, making her bounce off and fall to her knees, it appeared in front of her and kicked her in her face, sending her through not only the wall she had just collided with, but four other walls behind this wall. Aren coughed up blood and crawled towards a wall, leaning up against it. The Lel'Loni looked her and laughed, waving it's hand, more hermit crabs bots scuttled into the room and began working on the wall. The Lel'Loni walked over to Aren, squatting down "Activate it" Aren spit in it's face and it looked down, standing up, it wiped its face off "You're tough, Ill give you that, but stupid" it picked her up by her hair and dragged her upwards, making her stand on broken legs. It began forcing her to walk into the middle of the room and picked up her gun. Putting it to her head "You there, her partner, I know you heard the Activation sequence, say it out loud and I wont kill her, on Re'Kelzan's oath" the Lel'Loni made an unbreakable promise to Misah meaning it wouldn't. "Open the cell slightly so that I can hear him"
"Fuck you" Aren breathed out painfully, to which the Lel'Loni kicked her legs, making her fall to knees. Pointing the gun at her arm, it shot "Open it now!" Aren fell to the ground screaming in pain and he pulled her back up by her hair. Putting the gun to her forehead "Open it, or I will make sure that you are healed, so that you can be used for pleasure. You think you have strength? Let me break that strength even further to say, when you are healed, the only thing you will see is that of human men in and around you, toying with your little body. Do not play this game with me girl, I will and already have broken you. You have five seconds to cooperate or I will break into that partner of yours cell and break him until you talk, piece by piece" She spit on him and he shot the other arm making her fall back and he picked her up, blood coming trickling down her arms.
She screamed out in pain and looked at Misah "Re...Activate Cell containment...Z1, allow...for conversation. Deactivate project D-ALLAS...and...send room back to normal" she looked up at the Lel'Loni with hateful eyes.
"See, was that so hard? Thank you for finally cooperating" the room started to shift back into smaller size and it reverted back to it's white color. All the Debris and remaining walls sunk into the floor and began draining all the liquid left from the dead robots. The Lel'Loni stood next to Aren and looked at Misah "Now brethern, if you would be so kind to speak the activation sequence I will leave with what i've come for" it pointed the gun at Aren's head "you will have ten seconds to decide and be very careful of what you say Lieutenant, I'm growing impatient and might just let my finger slip on the trigger" suddenly it aimed at her leg and fired off a round, making her cry and scream. The Lel'Loni pulled her back up by her hair and made her stand, the blood dripping down her leg now. Her broken legs struggled to support her as it held her just enough to make sure she wouldn't fall down "whoops, tick tock Lieutenant, I can't guarantee she'll be awake for much longer with all the wounds."
Aren's vision started going black and she was going in and out of consciousness.
He had been locked in a cell for the span of about 10 minutes watching helplessly as the events played out. Having it happen before him while he couldn't do anything set the young Lei'Loni into a silent panic as he tried configuring his thoughts.
Misha gazed at his dying companion, frozen with a conflict that seemed to tear him in two. His hands gripped tightly. He had alway practiced for something like this to happen one day, but to have it actually happen left him in a difficult mindset.
If this being had been able to defeat his comapion so completely, then he would have absolutely no chance against the adversary.
There was only two options presented in this situation.
One: to abandon his duty and save the only companion that he's learned to respect and depend on, or Two: to have her suffer a fate he knew was worse than death.
He was prepared from the age of birth to make sacrifices for the better of his race, but having the little Forgotten around allowed him to forget the painful choices he's forced to make tasked with such a responisbility. Her harsh tone, her rash and over-confident attitude, and the way she always dealt with things "her way" always annoyed the young Lei'Loni.
But still, those things brought him comfort while living such a grim existence. Her voice was the only thing keeping him from becoming a monster. A cold, mindless machine that brought punishment for those who opposed his people.
He still loved his people, and doing something like this would probably end up with a lot of others dying, but he couldn't just watch as the last of his "morality" is killed off.
If he is given a second chance, he will do everything in his power to make up for the crimes done today.
As Misha watched her eyes close, her blood painting the white floor like a canvas, he knew there was no more time to think. He needed to make a choice. Now.
The Lei'Loni spoke in a low tone, turning his head to the side in shame, "Don't hurt her anymore... I will open the doors."
The Lel'Loni practically clicked it's heels in the air "See! now this is what im talking about, some real cooperation! Now if you would be so kind to speak the words, I will take my leave and be done with the situation at hand. Doesn't that sound nice Colonel?" it laughed and looked at Misah waiting.
He muttered a silent apology as he turned towards the wall. He knew she would scold him for showing this kind of weakness, but that was something he too learned to find comfort in with his companion.
"Re, activate Project Alphonse, keep them contained."
The wall where the hermit crab bots stabbed at the wall, began to cave in and the pods of the five girls showed again "Ah, now was that so damn hard you two? Hard headed ones make the worse trouble" he dropped Aren and walked towards the the pods "take the pods from the wall, give them to Delro, have him take them back to home base" the hermit crabs began to rip the pods from the wall and carry it into the darkness beyond the blown open doors of the project room. Aren was on her knees looking down and fading in and out.
The girl from before walked back into the room, walking past Aren and punching her in the face, making Aren fall to the floor and look at Misah through the small opening of the cell he was in. Walking over to the Lel'Loni, she whispered in his ear and he nodded "Well Lieutenant, we'll be taking our leave now, you have a nice clean up here" AnGel stopped him and nodded over at Aren. The Lel'Loni looked to her and then to Misah, letting out a small laugh "I said I wouldn't lay a hand on her, do what you want. But we will leave you if you do not make it to Delro" he walked swiftly into the darkness and AnGel walked over to Aren, picking up the black Katana. Unsheathing it, she lunged the blade into Aren's stomach and picked her up by her throat "Hope guarding that Lel'Loni of yours was worth it, you're gunna die like the slave you air" she laughed and tossed Aren at the cell door that held Misah. Quickly walking away and back into the darkness, it was suddenly dead quiet and all that was left was Aren's heavy breathing. Moving her arm painfully, she put it on the wall and the cell door fell.
The Lei'Loni dropped to its knees, quickly scanning her vitals. His mind was filled with so much that he had trouble processing the proper medical techniques required to at least alleviate the pain.
Still, even when procedures came to mind, there wasn't anything he can do. Her condition was worsening by the second. There wasn't much time at all.
She looked up at Misah as blood started to drip from her mouth, "Think...Im...fucked?" she looked at the sword in her stomach and went quiet, her eyes slowly starting to fade.
Gathering what's left of his thoughts, Misha's hand reached down and touched her head, "I'm sorry... I know my hands are cold... I just want to give you comfort before your body is unable to function any further."
If there was a way he could cry out, like the other organic creatures he would. Instead all that came from him was a cold silence. He always wondered what it was like to feel "warmth" or to be able to show emotions, but he could never get that chance.
Even with understanding that the things he feels are nothing compared to what is genuine, being with the small Forgotten gave him the "illusion" of such feelings.
"You know..." he muttered blankly, pausing for a moment, "I never saw you as a slave, Aren... you were always my partner. My compaion. You were the one that gave me strength to continue doing what I did, so now I want to be there for your final moments."
"You gave me something I could never have..." his head ducked on the last statement, "I'm sorry I can't return that favor..."
Aren simply patted Misah's arm weakly and moved her finger, having Re appear and speak for her "Aren says...Hey dumbass, why are you getting so damn sentimental. I signed up to die eventually, stop getting so sad you big idiot. You showing emotion is good enough anyways Misah, it shows a different type of warmth that even organic arms or fingers can give. I'm going to need you to go find the guys that stole my mothers. Those people are going to kill much more then this building. Promise me...that is all she had thought" Aren held her hand up weakly, open palmed.
Misha grabbed the small hand with his other, his large fingers wrapping around it as softly as he could. There were still many things he wanted to say to the girl, but she didn't appear to have much time.
"I... promise."
As he spoke those words, Aren's hand suddenly went limp. The young Lei'Loni suddenly became stiff, stared at the body in silence.
