Natasha was unsure just what their plan of infiltration would consist of. If she had been heading this operation then at this point she would have already ran through the enter and exit strategy with her team, established the points of interest and formulated a plan to eliminate target. The APCA had always emphasised planning and strategy, but here it proved difficult. She had not worked with this team before, nor did she have the authority to take a commanding role even if she wanted to. Zakarr seemed to have faith in them, but Natsha knew well enough that faith would not make a suicide mission any more feasable.
Walter proved an interesting case. She knew he could manipulate silicon, and that he was one of the many superhumans whose powers seemed to have no feasable origin; a metahuman. He seemed to have considerable skill with this ability though, and Natasha assumed she had yet to see his true potential. She looked up to Walter, who leaned casually against the wall of the ship with his arms folder, and walked up to him. She smiled to him, and he glanced up to her, acknowledging her presence.
"So you knew Ra before this?" Natasha asked. "What do you know of her powers?"
Walter raised an eyebrow. He was not sure he had spoken to Natasha at all since arriving on Zakarr's ship, although he had caught her name in conversation and had discussed her briefly with Allison. Natasha was exactly the kind of person Walter had done his best to avoid.
But he smiled, as best he could, and stood up a little straighter when she approached him. "Only that she's barely scratched the surface".
He had heard of Allison's recent progress with Zakarr. He was an excellent teacher, judging by how quickly he had prompted her to produce a fully developed ball of fire. Walter had always known she had it in her, and felt proud knowing she had finally succeeded at it.
"She can produce flame," he continued. "And turn her skin into metal. We tried testing its strength once, and didn't even manage to scratch it. From there though, we don't know, but we're excited to find out."
His eyes narrowed as Natasha began to check her arsenal. She was already equipped with more guns and explosives than Walter was sure he had seen in his entire lifetime, with twin blaster pistols of vulcan design on her belt and a more Earthly looking hunting rifle slung over her back. Then there were the pair of shortswords which had been sheathed on her back... It made Walter feel woefully underequipped, carrying only a vulcan blaster pistol on his belt, but also made him feel exceptionally wary of Natasha.
Natasha smirked slightly at Walter, she could tell that he didn't trust her, or the APCA for that matter, it was not hard to understand why. "I know you distrust my Agency and its operations. I can understand that. We do operate in the shadows, and that scares some people," she said, adjusting herself on her seat. "But we are trying to help metahumans who can't control their powers, or may be in danger because of them. I was one of them, and the APCA took me in and taught me to control my abilities. We aren't the bad guys."
Running a hand through his hair, Walter sighed. "After everything Al and I have been through, I don't think I can believe that. Maybe the APCA is all you say, but for every organisation like yours there are a dozen who just want to exploit and destroy".
"That goes to the Patriots and a crazed Order. They operate outside of our jurisdiction, and I can assure you we're not involved with them," the APCA agent replied.
She moved her right arm forward as her left hand traced around her shoulder. She pulled back what Walter had originally assumed to be skin, revealinh a network of wires and cybernetics underneath. "I lost my arms during that outburst. Turns out when people like us lose control, more often than not your power bites you in the ass.
As Natasha spoke she noticed that the scenary outside of the shuttle window was changing. It was turning barren and molten until eventually all she could see was a smoke-filled sky and a scorched earth. It was then she saw a ship of sorts in the distance.
Walter and Natasha were later passed ear-pieces by a vulcan crewman, which they both quickly fitted into an ear. "These will relay information between the different strike teams and our ship," the crewman said. and also translate the alien languages within the vicinity to your native tongue. We will be arriving in in approximately ten minutes," the Vulcan Soldier explained before bowing his head.
Pushing himself away from the wall, Walt stretched out his arms and legs. He was still struggling to believe that soon he was going to jump into a warzone, and liberate an alien planet from a warlord from space. The idea was absurd, especially since only a few hours ago Walter was not even sure there was anyone else out there in the cosmos. He was adapting to it quicker than he had expected, and casually wondered if there was in fact some mind control going on to calm the new human passengers. This was an
alien shuttle after all.
The shuttle stopped as close as it could get to the prison, slowly settling down onto a dusty outcrop. It was still quite some walk to their destination, but the prison would pick up the shuttle from a mile away. They would have to walk the rest of the trip.
Both Natasha and Walter immediately saw the prison off in the distance though. Against the flat, barren wastes it was impossible to miss. Decrepid and run down it looked. Resembling another spaceship, not unlike Zakarr's in design, it was heavily embedded into the ground and the exterior was falling apart. Natasha and the crew of Zakarr's ship could only gather so much information; most of the technology was alien to even the vulcans, and to Natasha it was almost beyond comprehension. She wondered if Hercules could have offered any assistance in examining the ship, but he had spent most of the time getting here discussing plans with Zakarr.
The shuttle crew watched as the shuttle door slowly opened, and many double checked their gear. A vulcan soldier stepped out from the cockpit and spoke. "This is as close as we can get to the prison ship. Remember, retrieve the weapon and free our people. You should have about one hour before our shuttle is picked up, then we're leaving," the soldier explained. Natasha nodded. "Got it, E.T." She replied. Walter and the Vulcan looked at her. "What, I'm allowed to joke." She added.
"Let's go, then!" Walter cheered, heading out of the shuttle. He looked over his shoulder back at Natasha and flashed a smile. All of his distrust seemed to fade in an instant. "You coming?"
Natasha followed suit, jumping off the step of the shuttle's opened door and hearing the crunch of dead grasses and rocks underneath her feet. She turned her head towards Walter although her eyes never left the ship off in the distance. "We can do this discreetly or go in guns blazing. It's up to you, sweetie".
"I always thought you government types liked the element of surprise," Walter replied. Natasha's surprisingly carefree attitude in the face of what would soon be danger brought a smile to the man's face. "I say we start off nice and quiet. No use in drawing attention to ourselves if we can afford it, right?"
The woman nodded. "Right, but if we need to, we still have enough firepower to go aggressive if we need it." She tapped the gun on her belt and, without giving Walter a moment to reply, took off at great speed across the sandy earth towards the derelict ship. Walter followed, hot on her heels, the ground shifting beneath his very feet to help him keep up with Natasha's swift stride.
It was not long before both of them were within a hundred yards of the ship, and they both crouched low behind a large rock that might help disguise their presence. Up close the ship looked even more ruinous than it did in the distance, and both Natasha and Walter doubted it could even fly anymore. Natasha looked it over once more and quickly spotted two guards standing next to the entrance and another two patrolling the vicinity. It all seemed too easy, but Natasha doubted anyone had expected people to get so far behind enemy lines or even discover the location of this place.
"I'll take the guys on the perimeter... You get those at the entrance," Natasha ordered.
Walter nodded, grinned, and slammed his foot hard against the ground. One moment he was there, Natasha could see, and the other he was swallowed up by the ground and taken compeltely out of sight. "Of course," she whispered under her breath, turning to keep an eye on her new oposition.
Natasha moved forward as quietly and as quickly as she could, ducking down beneath the rocks and crags to make sure she couldn't be seen by the guards. The closer she was the better view she had of the guards and their equipment. They were distinctly synthetic, with most of their body covered in armour or replaced with metal and wires. Natasha found herself running her fingers across her own mechanical arms, and was not sure whether the warm synthetic skin worried her or comforted her.
Taking one sword from its sheath, Natasha moved in for the kill when the two patrol guards passed by her. She brought her hand upwards and felt energy course through her veins. The guard to the left was showered in a spray of ice and frost, frozen in an instant,and as the other turned to face the attacker Natasha brought her sword up. The Guard tried to put distance between itself and Natasha with a swift front kick, but the APCA guard was not so easily fooled and brought her sword quickly down. It dug into the guard's mechanical leg, and with another fluid motion Natasha retrieved her second sword and brought it across the same limb.
The guard's leg was cut clean off.
She followed up her offense with a number of stabs to the chest, tearing apart the network of wires and carbon lace that made up the guard's torso, before a final slice across the target's neck resulted in a decapitation. The body slumped to the floor, torn to shreds, and Natasha quickly set her eyes on the surviving, albeit frozen, guard.
Natasha shattered the ice that covered his head, and quicky brought a knife up to his neck. "Tell me everything you know about the prison. How many guards are there? What kind of security to they have?".
The machine responded with a few clicks and beeps,
"Start talking or frostbite will be the least of your worries," Natasha threatened, her right hand surrounded by a flurry of frost and snow. The guard's expressionless face just stared at Natasha, his machinery still whirring but his mouth staying still. "Well, I guess there's no way of threatening an android," she continued, and plunged her swords into the guard's chest.
As Natasha looked up from the two bodies and over to the entrance of the prison, she saw a hulking mass of stone hurl itself into the side of the prison. A guard was crushed between the wall and the stone, exploding in a shower of nuts, bolts, and scraps, before the rock collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud. Walter was not even in sight when it happened, which meant he could not possibly see the guard itself, and yet he knew exactly where the drone was.
"He's definitely no pushover, that's for sure" Natasha muttered to herself. She moved quietly over to Walter, noticing the crushed remains of the security androids guarding the entrance.
Out from the archway of the inner wall of theprison came Walter, dragging the legless body of another guard behind him with both arms. "I'd feel bad if these things weren't robots," Walter muttered under his breath just as Natasha approached him. "But it sure is fun to watch them explode".
He took a moment to catch his breath. "This whole place is deserted. Other than these guys there's nothing stopping us from just strolling in other than a locked door further inside. I don't think anyone expected us to get this far".
Natasha looked around for a moment, peering around the corner of the wall to the pathway that Walter had just returned from. There was indeed a door there, locked shut, and covered in heavy dents and scratches, with rubble resting against the floor. She glanced to Walter and gave him an amused look.
"What?" he asked, smirking slightly. "It was a locked door. What else was I supposed to try?"
The APCA agent chuckled softly. "Did it have a panel or key of any kind? Was there a code or scanner?"
"I think there was a lense and a keypad. It's probably a scanner".
Natasha grabbed one of the heads of the synthetic guards, tearing it from the shoulders of the figure and holding it up to head height. The mechanical eyes of the machine still flickered or twitched, showing some small shred of life, and she hoped it would be enough.
"Usually when a place is this deserted its a trap,so keep your guard up just in case, but we might be able to get through here with this," Natasha replied, holding the mechanical head up for him to see.
She'd usually planned ahead in missions involving prisoners, but right now she had to wing it. The panel to the left of the entranceway was alien to her, words and symbols that she could not decipher, but it did indeed possess a small lense like Walter had described. Instinctively she brought the head up in front of the lense and the panel started to whir into life. A tiny light flickered, shining on the mechanical head of the guard, and scanned it.
The heavy metal doors creaked and opened up, leading into a dark corridor. Natasha shrugged, looking at Walter. "Well that worked better than I thought" she said, slightly amused.
The derelict ship prison was exactly as Natasha thought it would be; dark, run down, ancient, but yet still more advanced than anything humans had ever built. Thick wires ran along the walls and she could hear the soft hissing of a ventilation system overhead. "Damn, this quite impressive, even if it looks old," she muttered, looking around as she moved from corridor to corridor. Her eyes were peeled, looking for signs of cameras or sensors that might alert others of their presence.
The two of them walked on for some time. The ship was a sprawling labrynth of tunnels and empty rooms, with little to point them in the right direction. Walter and Natasha stuck close together and kept their bodies low to the ground, their footsteps almost completely silent as they crept through the ship.
It took them longer than they would have liked, but Natasha and Walter eventually hit exactly what they were looking for; the main prison room. Prison cells lined the walls, sealed with powerful glimmering barriers of energy. Walter, curious, struck one with a small stone sphere. It exploded in a shower of dust.
Within these prison cells were vulcans. While many were huddled over and covered in rags, the large figure and long limbs were immediately recognisable. These were clearly the men and women that they were here to rescue. For such a large number of people, Natasha was surpised just how few soldiers were here to guard them. The pair scrambled around quickly, looking for some way to unlock the cell doors.
"Don't worry. We're here to get you all out," Walter explained to the confused vulcans who had come to investigate the newcomers.
One of the younger vulcan soldiers spoke. "Who are you? Why have you come to rescue us?"
"We're working with Prince Zakarr," Natasha replied. "We're here to help you all escape. Do you know how we can unlock your cell doors?"
"Further down the in the belly of the ship," another voice replied, but it was distinctly not from a vulcan. It sounded female, and lacked the unusual flanging-like sound that all vulcan voices seemed to carry.
Walter was the first to investigate, arriving at a cell that was unlike the others. It was wider, lined with complex looking machinery, and seemed to contain only one prisoner; a human woman. She was held up by her arms, dangling from the ceiling by bizarre energy tethers that hung her up a few feet from the ground. Her body was limp, although she raised her head weakly when she heard footsteps approach her cell.
She smiled, although it was clear that even that simple act exhausted her. "I didn't think Zakarr would resort to asking humans for help. Still, it doesn't surprise me. Your people make more noise out here in the galaxy than you know."
"Aren't you human?" Walter asked. She certainly looked it.
The woman chuckled. "No. My people possess their ability to change their form, and my skills are it are... especially potent. These binds force me to keep one form, and I just so happened to be human when I was thrown in here".
"That explains why your cell is so different," he replied, scanning the cell quickly. "Can we trust you? You're not one of Zakarr's soldiers, are you?"
"No, but I would greatly appreciate being freed, just as everyone else here would. You have my word that, if you free me, I will do my best to help the prisoners here to safety. If more soldiers appear here then these vulcans would be defenseless, but unlike them I don't need a weapon to fight".
Walter paused for thought. "You're the weapon we're here to find, aren't you?"
"Glad to hear Zakarr still thinks so highly of me". She chuckled again, although it quickly changed into a heavy cough. "Head further into the ship through here. There is a control room close to the centre of the complex. You should be able to unlock our cells from there."
"Thanks for the information," Natasha said, striding up to stand beside Walter.
"Just be careful. Tremor guards the lock".
Natasha winked at the prisoner, a response that the alien woman thought was far too casual considering the circumstances. "We can handle him," Natasha replied.
She quickly checked over her equipment once more, making sure her arsenal was combat ready, locked and loaded. She glanced over at Walter. "Let's go" she said as she then quietly moved to the corridor.
Walter stayed for a few moments longer. He smiled softly. "I'm Walt," he said.
"Noree," replied the alien woman.
xxx
The decrepit walkway rumbled underfoot. It was a clear sign that the pair were getting closer to the ship's engine and the underbelly of the ruined vehicle. They passed by various other rooms, most of which seemed to be stores for food, equipment, or weapons. Natasha expected at least one guard to be protecting the armoury, but it was completely empty. They grew more anxious and cautious as they approached what they believed to be the control room, and neither of them understood why this was all so easy.
"I really don't like our situation. This place has to be a trap," Natasha said to Walter. She kept her voice low.
"I know what you mean. This place is giving me the creeps, but what else can we do?".
Natasha shrugged. She hated being left in the dark, and with her pistols drawn she powered forwards, entering the control room as the doors slid open, and Walter followed soon after. The doors were not even locked.
The walls of the control deck were lined with computers and monitors. Many of them showed areas of the prison, from the entrance all the way to the outside of the control room, but some showed dusty wastelands and ships in orbit around the planet.
"Hey, look. That's Red Dragon and Ra... Zakarr too," Natasha said as she pointed towards the far left monitor. The battlefield was intense and the three of them were fighting fiercly. Allison was proving herself to be a worthy combatant, standing side by side with Zakarr and Red Dragon. Walter looked on impressed as a wreathe of fire surrounded her.
"You chose the wrong prison to break into, primitives," said a voice. It was harsh, deep and synthetic in tone, coming from what sounded more like a speaker than a throat. It was followed by gutteral growls and the sound of metal grinding against metal. "I've been waiting for a good fight."
The figure that appeared in the doorway was a hulking mass of wires and metal, clad in, clad in heavy armor that looked to weigh more than any living thing could carry. Every footstep caused the ground to shake, and he barely fit through the door into the control room. His breathing was heavy, and it passed through a filter than turned every breath into a low hiss. This was Tremor, and with a mighty howl he charged forward, lunging at the two metahumans.
"Oh.....shit," yelled Natasha. She grabbed Walt by the arm and threw herself aside, taking the younger man with him, and the two of them slammed into the wall. Tremor went careening past them, coliding with the computer system across from them and reducing it almost to dust.
Walter was already ready to return the strike. Drawing the small fist-sized spheres of stone from his pocket, Walt hurled them with all of his might, and carried them the rest of the distance with his powers. As they flew they were chiselled into razor sharp-points, which impacted the chest of the hulking titan before them. One lodged into the alien's shoulder blade and the other into his lower back, and Walter forced them in deeper.
Tremor barely felt it.
He reached round for the piece of stone lodged into his shoulder, ripping it out without a moan of pain escaping him. He crushed the stone piece within his palms, reducing it to dust, and letting out a deep snarl as he turned to face Walter. He marched up to him, and Walter brought his gun up to fire. Spears of plasma were fired from his pistol, but they too struck his armour harmlessly. Walter swallowed, hard, and leapt to the side out of the way, but a thick hand grabbed his collar and pulled him back.
"It's a bad day to be a primitive," Tremor growled, pulling Walter up close to him so that her could hear the ticking and whirring inside the giant's mechanical head.
Natasha, who had spent a moment collecting herself, moved her arms in a fluid arc. From her hands appeared icy spears each two feet long in length, and in her flurry she hurled them. They were aimed for Tremor, one in his side and one at his head... But even in his blind rage, Tremor saw it coming, and raised an arm to smash the one aimed for his head in mid-flight. The second one struck his side, but he quickly wrenched it from his body, leaving only the crackling hole in his side that seemed to seal itself over almost immediately.
Tremor clenched his fist, the ice spear shattering from his sheer strength, and brought his fist up into Walter's gut. While the earth manipulator's attempts to block it, reforming the dust of the stones he hurled at Tremor into stone plate, it did not stop the blow. It only softened it. He felt his body go limp for a moment, air forced from his lungs and his stomach fiercly bruised.
Walter was sure he saw a grin on Tremor's face as he raised the arm that held the human up, hurling him far across the room and into Natasha with only one hand. It was almost effortless, but it was remarkably accurate, and both Walt and Natasha struck the far wall, their bodies crashing into the computers and monitors with so much force that the fact the systems remained intact was a testiment to the rugged construction of the ship.
It also made the fact that Tremor had broken them so effortlessly even more frightening.
"I must admit," growled Tremor as he made his way towards the human pair, his footsteps shaking the very ground beneath them. "I thought my brother would be the one to rescue his beloved people".
"Your brother?" Walter asked, while helping Natasha to her feet.
"Yes, my brother. The coward, Zakarr, that considers himself a prince." Tremor brought his hand up, but instead of striking Walter or Natasha he struck the wall of the room, tearing through the futuristic alloy like paper. He enjoyed toying with his prey. "He spends his time claiming to be the protector of our people, and yet he fears for his life too much to challenge me. Pathethic."
Natasha turned to Walter, whispering in his ear. "You find out how to unlock the cells. I'll distract him.
Walt merely nodded.
"And who did he send in his place? A pair of cowardly, frail-"
Tremor was struck by a pillar of ice before he could finish his sentence. It erupted from Natasha's arms, engulfing Tremor and holding his arms firmly in place. His legs would be next, as the icy binds wrapped they way around him and rooted him to the floor. Natasha knew that this would only hold him for a few mere moments, but she was buying time. Tremor tore his legs out from the ice, but each step he made was held in place by Natasha's powers. It slowed him considerably, but there was no way that this would ever stop him. All the while, Walter did his best to keep out of Tremor's view, doing as best as he could to determine which computer would release the prisoners. His communicator slowly rearranged the words that appeared on the sceen, turning them into visible English, but it was slow, clumsy, and far from a clear translation. It could have been any one of these computers.
"Your attempts to stop me are flattering, but trust me, I'll make sure to break you in half for your insolence!" Tremor roared, breaking free each time Natasha slowed him down. Natasha looked over to see Walter still looking for the right switch, but having little to no luck. Tremor's hand reached out, grabbing Natasha by the forearm as she thrust it forward for another attack, one which ultimately failed to slow Tremor down, and lifted her up to meet the gaze of his red, mechanical eyes.
"You've had your fun, time to kill y-"
Natasha gathered icicles in her other palm and flung them forwards and into his eyes. The shards were not strong enough to pierce whatever material was used to create Tremor's eyepieces, but the frost blocked his field of vision for a moment. Tremor merely responded by raising Natasha high into the air and bringing her back down, smashing her against the ground.
Air immediately escaped Natasha's lungs, and she felt the joints of mechanical arms crack as she tried to cushion the blow with them. She instinctively brought her arms up to shield herself from a second strike, but Tremor did not make another swift punch. Instead he raised both of his hands up, locked his hands together and brought them down hard.
Tremor's entire body was torn up from the ground, as a torrent of stone and sand struck his chest and threw him back. The impact surprised even Tremor, and saved Natasha from a hit that might have been fatal. She turned to see the source of the strike, and saw a spear of stone that had torn its way straight through the hull of the ship.
"I think I got it!" Walt called, sweat running down his brow. The amount of strength it had taken to tear apart the very hull of the ship had been enormous, and he looked far physically weaker for it, but the drive to protect even this relative stranger was strong enough. He hurried over to Natasha, helping her to her feet, and pulling her back. Natasha herself was not used to this level of assistance, but neither was she used to fighting immortal mechanical aliens, and she felt like there was a first time for everything.
Indeed, as Walter and Natasha backed up, the computer began to flash with red lights, and a siren blared throughout the ship. Walter turned to face the panel, and the symbols slowly began to rearranged themselves and change into English.
"Emergency lockdown," Walter gasped, immediately hitting as many buttons as he could. The ship was locking down every entrance and exit it could.
Natasha pushed him aside. "Sorry, but I think I might be able to undo it."
Walter disliked being unable to help, but he knew Natasha was an expert. If anyone could do this, she could. He turned to face Tremor, who tore through the stone, and did his best to hold him in place. With a source of stone to work with, Walt was all the more dangerous, and bands of stone were torn from the pillar and hurled, striking the titan like spears.
Natasha looked upon the controls, feeling more confident as she had Walter watching her back, and focused on just how to unlock the ermergency lockdown. She would be lying if she knew exactly how to, but her headset translated most of the important information, and Natasha had been taught much by Zakarr's technicians while she was on the ship. "This can't too tough right?" she said to herself as she cracked her knuckles and began to input commands into the console.
The heavy crash as more stone was hurled at Tremor momentarily distracted her, but she knew Walt was doing all he could to hold the brute back. Tremor felt the impact on his chest, and for the first time a noticeable dent appeared in his armour, and a second strike made it crack. It surprised him that such a human of all things could hold that much power. He almost respected the tiny thing.
"I will admit, you seem to have some bite. But you are only delaying your inevitable demise," Tremor growled, his voice starting to crack and hiss. He charged forward with speed, surprising even Walt with how fast he could move. Tremor threw punch into Walter's stomach, turning it into an uppercut as his attack connected. Walt could feel the force propel him upwards, his arms flailing outwards as they tried to find purchase on
something, butTremor followed up with a straight kick. Walt hit the nearby wall with force, knocking the wind out of him. He could feel blood build up in his mouth which he did his best to spit out. Tremor slowly marched up, grabbing him by the neck and pulling him up. "You've put up a valiant fight, insect," Tremor said as he brought Walt back down and slammed him into the ground. "Once I'm done tearing you apart, your companion will be next!"
The sirens suddenly stopped. Tremor looked up from his captor, his eyes turning to face Natasha. She had a wide grin across her face. "It's done!" shouted Natasha as she turned around. Far off in the higher decks of the ship, the doors of the vessel began to unlock, opening the prison cells that held Zakarr's prisoners. They had done it! Now all Natasha had to do as save Walter.
Natasha rushed forward in hopes of getting Walt from Tremor's grip, propelled by a powerful stream of ice and frost that built up behind her. However, as Natasha brought up an ice-covered leg to deliver a deadly kick, Tremor grabbed the limb effortlessly, threw her up into the air and then smashed her back down again. "Those prisoners won't be free for long, whatever plan my brother has, Malus will crush it beneath his heel. They may be free now, but they will soon end up like all of my prisoners. Reduced to dust."
A sound distracted Tremor. The sound of light footprints scurrying through the halls of the ship. Natasha managed to react fast enough to use one of her laser pistols, shooting Tremor's hand around Walt's throat, and the other around her ankle. Tremor let go quickly, giving out a roar as the laser pierced through his armour.
The noise got louder, and swiftly the light, swift footprints became heavy ones, although they moved no less quickly. Tremor turned as something large charged him, propelling the large Vulkan into the nearby mess of consoles. Natasha and Walt ducked low as the two behemoths soared overhead. The large beast was unlike anything Natasha and Walt had scene. It was bigger than Tremor with a lumbering gate, not unlike that of a gorilla. It threw Tremor to the side, then turned to set its gaze upon Walter and Natasha. Then it spoke.
"You freed me, so I'm going to help you take out this bastard," the creature said. The voice was low and loud, and completely alien to both humans.
"Who're you?" Natasha asked, as she helped herself and Walter up to their feet.
"Call me Noree," the beast replied before charging forward, striking Tremor a second time by digging her razor sharp teeth into his armour, which cut through it as if it were paper.
There was not much that Walter or Natasha could do. Noree moved quickly, making it difficult to land an attack without risking hitting her, and she seemed to be handling herself well. Tremor was strong, but Noree was stronger, and much faster. She dug her claws deep into his mechanical body and tore off Tremor's chest armour, throwing it aside almost effortlessly, and exposing the more vulnerable parts of his body.
Tremor threw Noree off of himself, but as he stood up he was struck by a flurry of ice and frost, which bit deep into his mechanical armour and made his joints start to seize up. "You'll have to do more than that if you think you can defeat me," he said.
Walter responded by bringing forth a spear of stone which he grabbed in both hands and hurle towards the hulking titan. When it hit Tremor it exploded, showering the alien with shards of stone which tore away at armour and shredded his wiring. Tremor felt his right arm go limp as a piece of stone lodged in the shoulder joint, rendering it useless. A second stone spear dug straight into the titan's knee, severing it from his body completely. Tremor fell to the ground with only one leg to support himself. He crashed in a heap of iron and wires.
"Hehe...You've proven to be quite the adversaries..." Tremor slowly pushed himself up with his left arm, trembling as the mechanics and wiring in his cybernetic were badly damage. "End it...give me a warrior's end..." He said, his helmet falling off, revealing his rather scarred visage to the three before him. Noree raised her hand high, and with all of her force, gave Tremor a bone crushing right hook. Tremor was propelled back, strike the wall and falling into a lifeless heap of flesh and cybernetics.
Noree's breathing was heavy, slowly reverting to her original form that Walt and Natasha recognised. "How...did you do that?" Natasha asked for herself and her partner. Noree turned to face them. "I'm a Morphian, a race that naturally shapeshift into various animal life. I was taken by Malus when I was bounty hunting, and held me as his prized prisoner. I still don't know how, or who, but someone "did" something to me, and my shapeshifting is far more powerful than any other. " Noree tried to explain as best as she could.
"Well, at least you've shown you are more than capable of holding your own" Natasha retorted. "You can join us in taking down Malus." Noree nodded in agreement. "I'd be happy too."
