(A Monks x Spleen collab)
"This is odd." Cordelia said for the third time since they had arrived at their destination. The building that ARC commando Lyssa had been sent to investigate was there. A small rectangular structure that looked more like a bunker than anything else. Cordelia wouldn't have believed that it stretched underground except for the fifteen cars parked nearby; the passengers were no where to be found.
Cordelia and Oscar had found Lyssa's dust jumper hoverbike nearby; it had been utterly destroyed and almost thrashed beyond recognition. What had prompted Cordelia's first statement of "odd" was that every single one of the cars had themselves been sabotaged. Stranger still had been the fact that all of the supplies in these very cars had also been sabotaged. This had elicited Cordelia's second statement about the situation being odd.
The third one had come when the pair approached the building. It was there that they found two bandits sitting on either side of the entrance. They had bled to death after their throats had been cleanly cut.
"Think they're killing each other off?" Cordelia asked as she knelt next to one of the bodies.
Oscar shook his head, "No, this isn't the work of a Vagrant." He knelt down and ran his finger across the now dried wound. "Some one skilled pulled this one off, and seeing as the person we're looking for fits that skill set. It's safe to say Lyssa was here." He stood up and pushed the body over with his boot.
"We need to be careful, I'd hate to end up like them." Oscar continued while slowly unbuttoning the guard on his handgun's holster. His gaze turned towards the bunker and then at the rapidly approaching dust storm. It's swirling storm of sound and fury quickly barreled upon them, it's imposing figure was flanked by rapid flashes of silent lightning that illuminated the edges of the turbulent desert typhoon.
"It's time to move." Oscar said, motioning towards the bunker.
"Ok." Cordelia said as she pulled a tiny pistol out from where it had been concealed in her boot. The thing looked small even in her hands. She peered inside of the bunker, her eyes immediately drawn to the flight of stairs that headed down. "So you're saying Lyssa snuck past the two hundred or so men that drove here, slit the throat of these two men, sabotaged all these vehicles out here and the supplies they carried, and then what? Go back into this bunker? Unless I miscounted there are still fifteen cars out here plus her thrashed dust jumper, so its not like she drove away."
Finding the interior too dark to navigate by, Cordelia pulled a flashlight out of her pack and turned it on. The beam of light revealed a rather long flight of stairs. She looked at Oscar, her expression all but asking "who first."
"Well, judging by the fifteen vehicles, there has to be at least seven thousand men inside, and I'm the best arm wrestler here, I'll go first." Oscar said with a sarcastic smirk. He gazed about the interior and then focused on the steps, "Be sure to watch for anything suspicious, place could have traps." he said quietly before taking the first step.
"Suspicious" Cordelia muttered as the pair reached the bottom of the stairs. The somewhat tight stairway opened up into a large room. Perhaps at one time it had been a reception hall, with a large front desk still standing. Most of the doors and hallways that led out of the reception hall had caved in, although there where still several options to choose from.
"Such as this?" She indicated another pair of dead raiders who had apparently been standing guard in this room. "Is it just me or are these guys oddly organized for 'simple' bandits?"
Oscar looked around before holstering his pistol, "I agree." He simply stated before walking towards one of the few remaining hallways. He took a few cautious steps through yet another doorway. The innards were filled with high tech equipment, though mostly in the form of computer displays that had long since faded to black. There were no bodies to be seen in the room. "Cordelia, Take a look in here. You think any of these still work?"
Cordelia let out a whistle when she stepped next to Oscar. She peered around the room for a moment before commenting. "Hard to say. You'd definitely have to bring your own power source. Of course the fact that that computer has had the dust wiped away from its screen implies someone thought they might be able to use it." Cordelia pointed towards one of the computers in the back. "Maybe they were kind enough to leave their power source behind."
The two moved through the room towards the computer, which Oscar being the first to notice what looked like a large worn backpack with a strange orange canister barely visible inside. From it were a few wires. "This must be the power cell who ever used. Strange for someone to leave a powerful device like this just sitting here." He knelt down and plugged the cell into the computers outlet. It took a few seconds but the screen eventually flickered to life.
"Strange indeed" Cordelia muttered as she typed a few commands into the computer. She was half guessing as to what to actually do. Despite this she still managed to pull up some data onto the screen. "I think..." Cordelia said, "that this was the last thing viewed. I just have no idea what I'm looking at. Some sort of technical data for sure."
Oscar pointed at what looked like a engine of sorts. "This doesn't look like your typical jet engine." He said, outlining its much larger size. Next to it was what looked like a dotted line protruding from a very rough looking sphere. "I wonder what that is supposed to mean."
"Do you have anything to copy this data to?" he asked.
"Of course." Cordelia said as she reached into her pack and pulled out a small tub-like object no larger than her pinky finger. "Though I think I'm just going to pull out all of these hard drives and take them with me on the way out." She attached the device to one of the computer's ports as she spoke. "Still... it wouldn't be funny if all of this data was lost cause some raider lobbed a grenade in here before we returned."
After a minute she withdrew the device and returned it to her pack. "So..." She said as she turned to Oscar. "Are you as clueless about all of this stuff as I am?"
Oscar nodded in agreement before noticing the ground gently trembling from the storm that had finally reached the facility. Loud howls of wind echoed from the outside, amplified by the narrow corridors. "We need to find a place to hole up." he said before starting towards the door. He peered out into the hallway only to be pushed back by a powerful gust of sandy wind. The screeching from bending metal kept the two off balance before a loud crash returned stability to the room.
"Guess we are stuck here. I hope my car is ok." he said grimly as the staircase had been destroyed and blocked off by a cave in.
"I hope that wasn't the only exit." Cordelia added grimly. "Want to head in deeper or...?" She sort of just shrugged.
"Only one way to find out." Oscar said, looking down the hallway. "I'm always ok going deeper." he added, winking at Cordelia.
Cordelia simply rolled her eyes, picked one of the halls at random, and started walking. She was pretty sure if she said anything he'd turn it into an innuendo, so she didn't. At least until they reached their first intersection of hallways which came with its own body. Just one this time. The raider, like the previous ones, had a slit throat.
"O!" Cordelia didn't so much speak a word as make a sound as she looked over the body. "I think she booby trapped this one."
"Maybe its best if we skip this'n then." Oscar said. He examined the area around the dead body, noticing it seemed to be a more fresh kill than the others. "Strange." he said, noting the lack of any weapons on the raider.
He piqued his brow as he noticed a grenade tucked neatly in the bandits arm pit. It was barely visible to even the trained eye. "We really need to be careful here."
"Yup." Cordelia agreed as she rose to her feet. She started down the hall again. The faint sound of a boot stepping on something like glass drifted from the direction she was headed, though Cordelia seemed to have not heard it.
Oscar quickly moved to Cordelia and grasped her upper arms. As he pulled her aside, "Shh" he said while gazing over her shoulder towards the hallway. "Don't make a sound. Something is down there." he whispered while expecting the worst.
The scuffing of more than one pair of boots emitted from around a nearby corner. Cordelia's eyes widened slightly as she knelt down and pointed her pistol towards the corner. She had definitely heard it this time.
"Careful." Oscar whispered while readying himself. The first figure walked around the corner, oblivious to the two operatives. There was no way this was a ARC commando or any special force at all. It was the most savage of all crazed men, a damned raider. Oscar furrowed his brow and lunged at the first, pushing him into the man behind him, knocking the second raider to the ground. He quickly pushed his fist deep into the first raiders gut before looking to Cordelia. "Shoot him!" he shouted, pointing at a third Raider quickly moving towards them.
Cordelia pulled the trigger without a moment's hesitation. Her shot went wide and to the right, almost hitting Oscar in the head. Thankfully his head was just an inch lower than the bullet's path. Her second shot was right on the mark, striking the third raider right in the side of the head.
Oscar dodged a wide swing from the first Raider while the second had finally regained his balance, who then grasped his submachine gun and pointed it towards Cordelia. The Raider pulled the trigger but his rifle was slapped away by Oscar. This gave the first raider took advantage of Oscars rush to protect Cordelia and kicked him hard in the gut.
Cordelia flinched as the submachine gun's burst of bullets struck the wall next to her. She took a deep breath and pointed her tiny pistol at the second raider, trying to aim despite the intense way her hands were now shaking. She fired twice, both rounds missing by feet.
Even as her shots did not hit a mark, they did assist by keeping the first raiders head down, giving Oscar the chance to reveal an unnecessarily large handgun. Two blasts were sent into the second raider, both splattering his head. Before the body could even hit the floor, the first raider rushed at Oscar, knocking his hand cannon towards Cordelia.
"Dont... Touch." he strained to Cordelia, trying to keep the raiders hands away from his neck. "my gun." Oscar said before gathering his strength and planting his knee directly into the Raiders groin. The man let out a yelp and rose up, granting Oscar a clear shot into the Raiders neck. It was a simple, yet hard strike that collapsed his throat.
The Raider fell to his side, while gripping his own neck and gasping for air. Oscar walked up to him and smirked before stomping his head twice. "Whew." he said simply, walking towards Cordelia.
Cordelia rose to her feet, her hands shaking so hard she almost dropped her tiny pistol. "We got them." It was as much a question as a statement. She offered Oscar an unsure smile.
"You ok?" Oscar said, leaning over to pick both her and his weapons from the floor. "You did good." he stated in an attempt to calm her down.
"Yea. Yea." The slight waver in her voice implied otherwise. "I'm... just not used to this." She gestured towards the fallen bodies. She took a few calming breaths before adding "Usually I just run and leave behind a few nasty present."
Oscar knelt over to examine the first raiders body. "Well, we can still leave behind a surprise." he said, pulling a bandolier from the raider Hanging from it were two grenades, "If you want to set a trap, this would be a good chance. It's not like anyone nearby wouldn't have heard that gunfire."
"That's a-" Her eyes widened as she heard something from the direction they had come from. She spun in place, bringing her pistol to bare. The raider, who had just stepped into view seemed just as startled as she was and hesitated. She fired first. Her shot hit his shoulder and bounced off of the metal armor plate he had covering it. When she pulled the trigger a second time nothing happened.
The raider put his rifle to his shoulder and fired. The round struck Cordelia in the shoulder. She spun once before dropping to the ground like a rock.
Oscar's eyes opened wide as the event unfolded, and him being helpless to stop it. The initial shock rapidly wore off as he dashed at the raider with a furious cry. The rifle was knocked from his left hand by a swift palm strike and then firmly gripped the Raider's face with his left, pushing the back of his head into the wall repeatedly. The Raider tried fighting back but he was powerless against his foe who had now broken the Raider's head open against the wall. As the red splatter grew larger and larger, the Raider grew limper before finally succumbing to gravity. The now lifeless body lay at Oscars feet.
His angry snarl finally faded as he rushed to Cordelia. Oscar knelt by her, checking the wound to see if it went through or was lodged inside her body, all the while applying pressure to her wound.
"We... need to... move" Cordelia managed to say between gasps of pain. Her face, now pale, grimaced in pain as she forced herself into a sitting position. "Others... must have... heard that." The thudding of boots in the distance punctuated her point. "Help me up."
Oscar didn't waste any time in helping her up. He did her best to keep her propped up as they rushed into a nearby room. It was dimly lit and rather bare compared to the others they had passed before. The center was a large square machine of sorts that did provide the necessary cover to catch their breath.
"We're safe for now." he assured her while peeking occasionally behind them towards the door. "They're going to come looking so just stay down."
Cordelia simply gave him a small nod of her head, keeping a hand pressed against the bleeding hole in her shoulder. Her eyes widened slightly as the soft thuds of a large man walking sounded in the hall outside. She moved behind the large machine and bit her lower lip. The man, clearly a raider, stepped into view, gazed into the room for a moment and simply kept walking.
Letting out a soft sigh in relief Cordelia poked her head out from behind the machine, only to take a sharp gasp as she saw the form of someone rush past their room. "Did you see that?" She whispered, not entirely sure she wasn't seeing hallucinations of blonde women wearing form fitting clothes.
Her words fell upon deaf ears as Oscar had already moved to the door way. He did however see the blur before he pressed himself against the wall. His figure nearly blending in with the shadows of the room. Oscar checked his handgun before weighing the options to strike the Raider or not. His eyes did shift to Cordelia and decided it best not to move, instead, he took aim towards the door, and further disappeared from Cordelia's view.
The only sound from the hall was the large man's foots steps. Then there was a grunt, followed by the muffled cry. The thud of a body hitting the floor soon followed. And then nothing.
Dead silence piqued Oscar's ears but his training urged caution. He looked to Cordelia once more before deciding to edge as close to the door as possible without stepping from it. With just enough room to see the Raiders body without exposing his entire head, he examined the situation.
The hall was occupied by two bodies. One, the raider, lay bleeding on the floor. The other, a blonde woman wearing what could only be called a catsuit, stood over the raider. The woman had her back to Oscar, her attention on the hallway he and Cordelia had been in just a minute ago. The blonde seemed to be listening to something based off of the way her head was cocked slightly to the side. After a moment she knelt next to the raider a wiped the knife she had in her hand on the man's clothes.
She was certainly a sight to take in. Her long blonde hair, tied into a loose braid, did little to hide the two kukri blades sheathed on the small of her back or the rather large revolver resting on her thigh. A belt on her waist carried several objects, two of which were clearly grenades.
"Alright Lady." Oscar said as he emerged slowly from the door. His gun aimed directly at her center figure. "I aint no backwastes raider so don't make a move you're gonna regret."
The woman turned her head ever so slightly so she could look at Oscar at of the corner of her eye. Now that Oscar could see her face a bit she had a haggard look to her, as if she hadn't slept for a week or two. Even with bags under them, her eyes darted about, taking Oscar and all of his surroundings in in a moment before focusing on his eyes.
"You are, forsooth, more disciplined than these louts." She agreed after a moment. Her enunciation was near perfect.
"Forsooth?" Cordelia asked from where she rested by the machine. "Did she just say forsooth?" The blonde woman either didn't hear Cordelia or chose to ignore her.
Oscar wasn't impressed by her figure at all, "Yeah, what the hell is forsooth." he asked, while still perfectly fixated on the woman.
The woman let out a long sigh before saying "You need not worry about it." She tilted her head away from Oscar for a moment, possibly hearing something down the hall, before returning her attention to him.
He rose his pistol to her head, "So who are you?" he said plainly.
"How dreadful." The woman didn't look the least bit fazed by Oscar's pistol. "Why don't you point that puissant firearm elsewhere and introduce yourself first?" She gave Oscar a winning smile.
Oscar gave a smile in kind before slowly lowering his gun, but still obviously keeping it ready. "I asked first, Who are you?"
The woman regarded Oscar for a moment before inclining her head ever so slightly. "Lyssa." She said. "Of Bastion Atheneum. And you are?"
Oscar rested his hand at those words, "I am Oscar." he said simply.
"And may I inquire as to who your companion is?" Lyssa asked.
Oscar stepped closer to the door, as if to block it. "That's my partner, Dead eye."
"I see." Lyssa said as she took a step away from Oscar. The motion shifted her stance so the side of her body was pointed towards Oscar instead of her back. It also conveniently hide her left hand from view. "Well then Mr Oscar and Miss Dead Eye," Lyssa said. "I shall leave the two of you to whatever activity you were previously engaged in."
"Lyssa, hold up. We have been sent to retrieve you." Oscar said, in a tone unlike him.
"Forsooth?" Lyssa asked.
"What does that even mean?" Cordelia asked, having moved from behind the machinery to the entry to the hall.
"In truth. Indeed." Lyssa answered.
"Ok. That's cool." Cordelia said. "Oscar. Why don't we stop playing this game and just say the phrases the Librarium gave us? I'd really hate for the two of you to be gunned downed by some raiders cause you were too busy comparing the size of your dicks."
"Miss Dead Eye is quite... quaint." Lyssa said, a frown on her face.
"Oh, right." Oscar said towards Cordelia. He turned his attention back to Lyssa, "Alright. So your Uncle Chris wants to tell you about the project. then when we get back to town, I'm gonna buy you a drink."
"Drinks!" Cordelia said. "We'll buy you multiple drinks!"
Lyssa gave Oscar a once over before nodding. "Very well. I recognize that you were sent here on behalf of the Librarium." She shifted her stance again, this time so she faced Oscar fully, both of her hands now fully in view. "Shall we leave this place before more of our foes come upon us?"
"Yeah, we need to get outta here quick." He motioned towards Cordelia, "You've been hit pretty bad and the nearest way out is blocked in. Not to mention that raging dust storm up top."
"Excellent. That means I need not fear them fleeing." Lyssa said as she took a few steps in the direction she had originally came from. "I'll show you were I've stashed some of my supplies. I should have something to deal with that gunshot."
"Wait. You intend to fight them all?" Cordelia asked.
"Verily" Lyssa answered. "We wouldn't want to risk one of them returning with reinforcements."
Oscar cracked his knuckles, "Shouldn't be too difficult." he said before looking to Cordelia, "But first things first, lets get her patched up."
"This way." Lyssa took the lead. She led the group through a variety of hallways, her head always on a swivel. A few times she paused mid-step, only to have the whole group backtrack and choose an alternative route. After about ten minutes, though to Cordelia it felt like ten hours, the group reached their destination.
The room, unlike the rest of the facility, had not a speck of dust in it. A bed with clean sheets had been set up, as well as a few other pieces of furniture. There were also no fewer than five booby traps that Lyssa disabled before allowing her two guests in.
"Could I bother you to stand guard in the hallway while I tend to your companion?" Lyssa asked.
"Sure thing." Oscar said before looking to Cordelia once more. He gave no words of comfort but merely a simple wink before stepping outside the room. He found cover behind a large piece of ceiling that had collapsed long ago.
"This will only take a minute." Lyssa spoke loud enough for Oscar to hear from the hallway. "Now would you be so kind as to remove your top?" Cordelia complied, allowing Lyssa to get a good look at the injury. "Hmm... I suppose it would be prudent to stitch your wounds."
By this point Cordelia had decided that Lyssa spoke in a very proper fashion. It was odd, to say the least. Especially when compared to Oscar's more slang prone speech. She was also not sure if Lyssa simply spoke in a weird way or was somehow insane. Given that she had trapped all those raiders with her Cordelia was inclined to think the later.
"Looks like it went straight through. Thankfully nothing vital was hit." By this point Lyssa was finishing up with the stitching, something Cordelia was quite happy about, and covering the shoulder with some bandages. "You should be fit to move." Lyssa added. "Moving on to our next topic: did the Librarium send you two to take charge of the mission or are you reporting to me?"
Did Cordelia really want to follow the orders of a woman she thought insane? The thought made her hesitate.
Oscar wasn't in the room but was able to hear the two clear as day, he replied quickly, "We are here to help you complete it." he said, "But he didn't let us know what the mission was, fear of compromise and such."
"Excellent." Lyssa said, a hint of relief in her voice. "All patched up." Cordelia put her shirt back on before Lyssa said "You may return now Mr Oscar."
After one last scan of the hallway, Oscar fell back into the room. "So, Lyssa, what's so important about this mission."
"More than we had believed initially." Lyssa said without specifying who 'we' entailed. "Forsooth, this will change everything."
"But what
is the mission?" Cordelia asked.
"It has been our long standing goal, nay our dream, to reach the great expanse of space once again." Lyssa said. "For decades we, Librarios, has been laboring to make this dream a reality."
"What do you mean the 'great expanse of space'?" Cordelia asked.
"I mean the void in which our home planet rests in." Lyssa answered. "This facility," She continued, "served as a sort of terminal for craft bound for space. Once we had learned of its existence, the Librarium dispatched me in the hopes that I might find something useful here. Even a badly corrupted data storage device would have been a great boon."
"The Elevator back at bastion was used for that. And lets not forget the space port where the military found its
super fighter planes." Oscar said sarcastically, "So what makes this place any different?"
"This facility was built before the elevator. At least that is what I believe." Lyssa said. "As it was initially used to propel satellites into orbit via rockets."
"A... satellite?" Coredelia prompted.
"Small, man-made devices that could do everything from acting like radio towers to spying on people. Given their size they had very limited propulsion systems."
"Uh... then what kept them from simply falling back down?" Cordelia asked.
"They moved faster than they fell." Lyssa answered.
"That doesn't make sense." Cordelia said. She looked at Oscar, then back at Lyssa. The expression on her face made it clear she was sure Lyssa was trying to pull a prank.
"Cordelia." Oscar said, trying to figure out a way to simply explain it, "You know how a plane works, right? how if it stops thrusting it will fall? It's the same thing." he shrugged, "Never thought I'd see anything like this in person though. I wonder what it'd be like trapped in a rocket with you, Cordelia. Bet it'd be fun." he said with a mischievous smirk.
"Don't rockets explode?" Cordelia asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Not necessarily." Lyssa commented.
"Huh..." Cordelia said. "Ok. So this facility is more than you expected. I don't see why you didn't just grab as much data as possible and fled once those raiders arrived."
"As much as I would have loved to" Lyssa said, "I would have had to leave far too much behind. The information here will advance our timeline by decades." By this point she had begun to fiddle with Cordelia's outfit, brushing off some dust from her shoulder. Her hands moved to rearrange some things on the woman's belt, but stopped when Cordelia gave her an odd look. Lyssa gave a sheepish smile in return before adding "And I'm fairly certain these raiders were expecting me to be here."
Oscar nodded, "Yeah, that's what it looks like. So whats the plan, stay here and wait for raiders to finish us off? or get the hell outta' here, cause I think your intel mission is over."
"Unfortunately it is not that simple." Lyssa said. "We will have to kill them. All of them."
"Uh... what?" Cordelia asked. "Aren't there at least fifty of them roaming these halls?"
"Thankfully that is not the case." Lyssa said. "While I must admit that I never had the chance to do a head count with them all in one place, I strongly suspect that they numbered only thirty upon their arrival."
"Only thirty?" Cordelia asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"I have killed ten of them thus far." Lyssa ignored Cordelia. "The rest are becoming more and more erratic with each passing day, despite the small amount of formal training they have received. It will be a simple matter for the three of us to rid this place of those louts."
"Yeah, Deadeye here was convinced there were at least two thousand. give or take a hundred." Oscar readied his weapon, "Lets get to it."
"I beseech you, give me the opportunity to catch some much needed rest." Lyssa said. "I haven't had the luxury of a good night's sleep for a week now."
Oscar sighed, "Guess I'll keep watch then. You got any weapons stashed here? I'm confident in my gun here but more could never hurt."
"I've stored the raiders' weapons in that chest over there." Lyssa indicated a chest in the far corner of the room with a hand.
"Wait. You said these raiders had some formal training." Cordelia said.
"Yes." Lyssa agreed.
"Are you saying they were trained by someone from the Union or Yandran army?" Cordelia asked.
"Someone from Librarios could have trained them as well." Lyssa said, neither agreeing or disagreeing with Cordelia. "Whoever trained them clearly lacked the time or incentive to do a good job. I suspect they were trained by only a week. Perhaps two. Long enough to instill the degree of discipline they have displayed, but not the level one would expect from a professional army."
"Any way it goes, I doubt they'd notice some well placed grenade traps and certainly aren't prepared for me." Oscar said, now rummaging through the chest. "Ah, and here we go. These guys certainly packed some serious hardware." He said, pulling a belt-fed light machinegun from the chest, "I'm starting to think they were out just for you." he said with a grin.
"We are of like mind then." Lyssa said. "Given their timing, determination, and equipment I believe it is highly likely they are here to end me and this very facility. The jamming device and plastic explosives are items I have found especially alarming."
Oscar turned to the chest again, seeing the explosives further in, "Damn, we got lucky they didn't get a chance to set them." He left for the door, stopping just before the doorway "Lets just hope they don't have any more."
"I assure you, luck had nothing to do with it." Lyss said as she walked over to the bed she had set up in the room. "And I am fairly confident that they do not have the amount of explosives necessary to complete their objective. At least not without those bricks. I would also hope they would be wise enough to realize that detonating explosives would not be healthy for them while they are still trapped inside here."
"Now if you don't mind," Lyssa continued, "I'll rest my eyes for an hour and then we can rid this place of those louts." She didn't wait for a reply, simply closing her eyes as she laid down.
Cordelia stepped next to Oscar and whispered "Am I alone in thinking she's crazy?"
"Heh, My kind of crazy." Oscar nodded before gazing into Cordelia's eyes. "But you'll always be mine." His perky attitude seemed to instantly turn grim, "You think we will make it outta here? I've heard of these ancient buried places having more horrors than just idiot raiders."
"Honestly? I think we're fine so long as our forsoothing ARC commando is on our side." Cordelia said. "I'm just not confident she won't flip out on us. I mean seriously. Forsooth? Who says that?" She frowned before adding. "Let's not mention her sister until after we are out of this mess."
Oscar didn't seem pleased with her initial comments, "So you didn't think we were fine when it was just you and me?" he broke it up with a half hearted chuckle, "I met her sister, wasn't a big fan but If they have anything in common it's that they were both strong willed."
"Didn't this sister never mention Lyssa to her fiancee?" Cordelia asked. "I would think that means she either hated her or was embarassed to be related."
"Few people knew of her sister, Gibson was not one of them." Oscar replied, "And maybe Marissa never mentioned Lyssa due to separate missions or some such. It's why the NIS won't let family members work near each other knowingly. There's always exceptions like in a crisis, but people are more likely to talk to people they know well."
"Maybe..." Cordelia didn't sound convinced, but was ready to let the topic go. "Let's just keep an eye on her and be wary of whatever else is in here." After a moment she added "And I'll grant you the honor of arm wrestling any rust monsters we find into submission."
Oscar moved a little closer, sneaking his arm behind her, "But I think you'd do so well under pressure, like if a creature began crawling up your back." He said playfully, crawling his fingers up her back.
Cordelia jumped in surprise and then winced. "Oh that hurts." She reached towards her wounded shoulder and then thought better of it. "Yea, you are definitely going to have to do the arm wrestling."
