XianaEvermor

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

Fang stared a the collector for what felt like a long minute. Its legs twitched and writhed like a dying roach, which sent an unpleasant sensation down her spine. Whatever it was has been twisted into a sick monster. It's in more pain than I could imagine. There's no saving it. Put the animal down. It's mercy.

Sairyn's cold words rang through Fang's mind. Words he had spoken to her when a collector had made its way to the surface and caused a panic in one of the Executive sectors. She had balked at his orders to kill it. It never felt right to take a life.

Monsters were made.

Fang turned her head to check on Raudd and Zolya, and her HUD highlighted them moving towards the town interior. Right. Couldn't dally. She got pulled away from an endangered civilian. The spear came free with a firm tug and dissolved into white light with a flourish as she turned to get her bearings. According to the map her HUD was generating, she'd been pushed nearly to the opposite side of town by the Collector. Going back the way she came meant navigating some narrow alleys, but the wall did curve around back to her destination. She could go faster around the perimeter where there were fewer obstructions.

She took a breath, feeling the world slow to a crawl as she pushed off.

---

The Knight got taken away.

Try not to panic. Jade gulped large, unsteady breaths while she tried to maintain feeling in her feet. The Collector was incredibly heavy, and it's pointy ends dug painfully into her flesh as she tried to squirm out from underneath it. The wind cracked and rushed around her angrily, biting into any crevice it could find and slashing at the soft tissue beneath.

Crowded. She had managed to get her knife free as Rippers poured over the wall. Paul had stopped moving. His thoughts were static. Collectors drugged their victims with a pretty intense cocktail of tranquilizers, so that wasn't surprising. Probably for the best, he'd be as terrified as she was.

Trapped.

Voices approaching. Cackles and sneers, thickly coated with the wet rattle of cybernetic rejection. She froze as Ripper thoughts drifted through the weave. Of the things they would do. How they would cut her up. Force experimental implants on her. Drug her.

For a second she was back in Northbridge with a Jahannam thug forcing her down, ripping her clothes. They were standing over her, and all she could do was brandish her knife at them lamely with a shaking hand. Her gun was pinned in the Collector's mouth, and even then... only nine bullets left in it.

A loud scrape on the concrete at the wall grabbed her attention. A streak of silver and a shower of sparks, leaving a hundred foot gouge in the wall as it bled off speed around the curve. The Rippers all turned in time to get scattered like bowling pins. The Knight reappeared in a shower of dust and gravel. For a fraction of a second the knight was a coiled reptilian beast buffeting enemies with its wings, and lashing with its whip-like tail. Her reactions were lightning... in fact Jade swore she saw an errant bolt of electricity in the blur. She even smelled ozone.

It was a dance of terrifying speed and grace as the Rippers were taken down and restrained in expanding foam that smelled of almost sickening sweetness. The body of the collector creaked and groaned as it was lifted, and Jade gasped raggedly for air as the pressure on her chest was released. She managed to pull her gun out of the Collector's mouth and wriggle free before it crashed back down to the ground a few feet away.

"Wait!" The knight paused. Anxiety. Worry. "It's not empty. Paul!" Informed Jade. Guilt. "Name? What's your name?" She was still shaking. Everything felt wobbly. Ears perked up and turned towards her. Cute. A vox clicked on.

"Silver Fang."

Woman's voice. Her visor peeled away into a braid down the back of her helmet, revealing a pixelated LED display. Red circles for eyes; small triangle nose. It mimicked her expression. Concern. Fang gently rolled the collector until she found Paul, peeling him out of the prison of synthflesh and steel on its back. The restraints were strong enough to totally immobilize its victim, and Fang was pulling the finger-like appendages off the collector as though she were cracking crab legs. Jade couldn't suppress a shudder, but tried to remain vigilant for more Rippers nonetheless.

"Can't stay here. Are you hurt?" Fang had Paul over one of her shoulders. It didn't seem to impede her at all. Jade was in awe of the raw strength, and wondered for a moment if Fang could lift Aegis.

"A little. I can walk."

The dome flickered and glitched above them, causing Fang to stop and look up. Worry etched the animated display on her helmet for a moment. Jade bit the inside of her lips. Aegis wasn't okay.

"Paul first. Shelter nearby: any reinforced building. I-... I can't carry him. I...," Jade fumbled for words for a moment before Fang just nodded.

"Lead the way."

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

---

[FREIGHT]

---

Leaving Shieldtown after Thunderdome Protocol physically hurt. The girls had assured her that that they had everything under control. Vi had radioed that she was en-route to locate Jade, and Wolf had seen the cyber-warrior crash into a wave of Ferals on their way out. Getting pressed against Astrid's back during their ride to Freight made up for the anxiety a little.

[HK] had slaved [Albatross-02] to Wolf's receiver, and the matte drone sailed silently behind them like a wraith on insulated thrusters. It had a couple of AGM-65 Mavericks, and a .50 Cal machinegun along with the Enhanced Observation suite. Not a lot of ordinance, but in a pinch nothing turned the tables like a surprise missile from a platform nobody knew was there. Wolf knelt on the lip of the overlook where they had stopped while [Albatross-02] highlighted all the Halcyon goons wandering around in the open, and a few inside buildings that pinged on thermal. The structures of Freight weren't very well insulated, thankfully.

[OBSERVING 24 HOSTILES]
[NOTATING 13 PRIOR DISTURBANCES]
[RUNNING PATH_TO_VICTORY.SIM]
[PROCESSING] . . .
[SUGGESTING KINGSLAYER.PRTCL TO HOST] -|

No, [HK], I know we want this elevator but we aren't here to conquer it. This is a stealth mission.

Wolf rolled her eyes a little as [HK] highlighted several infrastructure targets for AGM strikes insistently. It was still technically considered "stealth" if nobody was around to talk about what happened, and sowing chaos in the settlement would be so easy. Wolf stamped out the notion firmly.

Stealth means nobody knew we were there, [HK].

[HOST REJECTS SUGGESTED COURSE OF ACTION]. . .
[REGRETTABLE] -|

"Well... Looks like we're dealing with about twenty that aren't working or otherwise distracted. They're spooked, moving in full fireteams. Looks like someone did a number on one of their transports, and a large number of them are still cleaning up from the early Hunt. No Rippers, thankfully,"

[LOCATING TARGET FOR INTRUSION]
[PATHFINDING]. . . -|

[HK] drew a NAV-line into the Elevator facility for the [Vulture] drone on her back to follow.

Yes, [HK] we can get in and out that way without being seen, that doesn't get Astrid inside.

[CONSIDERING SUGGESTIONS FROM... guest] -|

Ugh. Fine. I'll ask. Brat.

"If we cause too big a disturbance they'll probably lock down the Elevator again, but from what I can tell it looks like they're in a hurry to launch it. Got any ideas?"

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

Fang's feet skittered across the rough concrete of ShieldTown's Streets, attempting to find enough friction or stability to stop the pointy semi-tractor of flesh and metal from pushing her clear across town as its sword-like claws skittered lamely against Forgemaster's armor. She was only just holding the gnashing mandibles away from her face and keeping it from grappling her entirely with a straight-arm. That luck wouldn't last... eventually it'd find a gap and cut into her under-suit.

"C'mon...," she grunted with a note of frustration as her heel skipped off a rock and buckled her knee for a moment. Fang braided [Silver] threads down her leg and stomped as the Collector thrust her out of an alleyway and into the thoroughfare next to ShieldTown's wall. The pair stopped abruptly as the concrete shattered beneath her, and the tail end of the creature buckled and jack-knifed like a de-railed train. Her HUD outlined Raudd and Zolya in her peripheral as she pushed with her toes to buy enough leverage for a straight punch directly to the collector's thorax.

The impact echoed through the alleys and streets like a gunshot. The force ripped a plate of armor off its back and hurled it into the side of someone's house as the collector tumbled after it, scrabbling at steel armored walls and concrete to regain its footing. Fang took a breath, pulling time to a crawl to buy a moment to think.

What's the plan here?

Got pulled away from an endangered citizen, need to get back to her.

Can't delegate this though, too dangerous.

What do I have to work with?

Heartbeat.

Reinforced buildings. Some juicy corners. Lots of concrete.

Many hard and durable surfaces. Iffy traction: liable to skate over the surface of these streets if I'm not careful.

And the creature? ... Strong, but can't overpower me. Fast but can't outpace me... confined quarters. many pointy ends.

Some bruises. Armor is holding. Friendlies in the line of fire...

Relentless assault. Pull it out into the open across town where I have the advantage. End it quickly.

Fang stepped after the collector before it could regain its balance, spinning the weapon wheel in her HUD until her hand closed around the shaft of Alex's spear, materializing in a flash of white. Windows shuddered as she whipped past, the spear sang electric bass in low "E." The collector was angling to intercept. Fang bounced herself up and skipped off a wall to change angles, driving the spear down towards a seam in the collector's armor that looked like it was protecting some vital plumbing. It twisted a sword up and sparks flew as the collector's arm was sheared off.

It was just enough of a deflection to throw her strike off target and gouge the armor. Fang let go of the spear as she felt the shaft bend, allowing it to spin in place as it ricocheted off the collector instead of getting flung from her grip. She deflected an overhead slash with her forearm as her momentum carried the two together.

It was leveraging the confined space to keep up with her. Perception enhancing implants… this was starting to feel eerily familiar to the fights she had with Violet Glass a couple years previous. Fang turned her shoulder into the collector and checked it to the ground, grabbing the spear as her feet found the street again. She swung the flat side of the spear awkwardly, and it crashed like a cymbal as it slapped the collector’s torso. Her feet found traction and she hauled on the end of the spear, feeling it flex and trusting that it wouldn’t break as she swept up the collector. Servos and hydraulics complained as Fang crushed it into the reinforced corner of somebody’s house.

The collector’s limbs bent and folded at uncomfortable angles as it braced itself against the building and shoved down on top of her. Fang was off balance as its full mass hit her shoulders. Change of plan… hopefully Raudd wasn’t rushing into that intersection. She let herself fall back, rolling with the momentum and planting her feet on the collector’s thorax. When she felt her shoulders rolling up, Fang braced her hands against the ground and took a breath, shoving with her whole body and launching the collector. It tumbled back through the intersection chased by sparks as it twisted and flailed to try and find purchase on something before hitting ShieldTown’s outer wall.

Fang was in motion as soon as her feet touched the ground, twirling the spear’s point into position and aiming with her free hand. She dug her toes into to the concrete pushing off for one step before planting, twisting through her hips and throwing the spear. It boomed through the intersection like a cannon shot, and cracked like thunder as it impaled the collector against ShieldTown’s wall. The collector’s thorax was crushed by the force, splintering the wall, and sending a shockwave rippling through the defensive perimeter and dome overhead. There was a short but tangible pause before the spear’s pommel sparked and fired its rocket thruster, shuddering lamely as the collector’s spindly legs writhed in its final moments.

Fang’s breath hissed out of her helmet’s vents as she took a moment to regain her bearings. There was only a moment or two to catch her breath before she needed to get back to that trapped civilian.

Dean really wasn’t kidding when he said that thing was rocket powered…

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

---

[ShieldTown]

---

The Silver Fang

The digital, red glare of Fang's visor swept over Raudd and Dean from the abode's entrance. For a moment, the low growl of the suit and soft clicking of its control surfaces micro-adjusting was the only sound. Raudd stood up and joined her. Dean shook his head. Fang threw Raudd's arm around her neck without hesitation as if she were going to lift him bridal style, but scooped him into a much less flattering lumbar carry across her back. The wide plated "tail" of the suit unfurled into an armored skirt, and she leapt with her cargo to the rooftops to get an unobstructed view.

Fang's HUD scanned the layout of the buildings and gave her a rough overhead map to navigate by. Her first thought was to reconnect with Zolya, since Raudd had mentioned she would be arriving soon with another Templar. It would be nice to have the company of another co-worker... well, depending on who it was at least. Help was help, and maybe she wouldn't need to lean on Alex and the locals with the other Templar around. They'd be coming from the West, if she recalled.

She skipped noisily across the rooftops towards the settlement's outer wall, careful not to get close enough to the glowing barrier to get herself or her passenger caught up on the barrier's glass-like shards. They were moving quickly, although she was careful not to exceed a speed where Raudd's eyes might get damaged by dust particulate. Just as the West gate was coming into view, Fang's HUD outlined a cloaked figure zipping away into the crush of buildings. She slid to a halt next to Zolya and her mounts, setting Raudd down while her head tracked the departing figure. That had to be the other Templar.

Air hissed out of the mask's vents, punctuating a note of exasperation apparent in her body language. Just how many times would she narrowly miss running into them? Fang's visor pulled apart, revealing the smooth, reflective black glass of the expression layer as it folded up into a braid running down the back of her neck. Pixelated, glowing red eyes opening up on the surface of the glass broke up the mirror-sheen as she gazed off after the other Templar.

"[:<]"

The frown flickered off the face of Fang's visor as the digital eyes swept the stags and Zolya. Her external Vox clicked on for her to speak, to thank Zolya and Raudd for everything that they had done, but that she had to go. A sound in the distance caught her attention before she could speak, causing the armored feline ears on her helmet to shoot up and twist towards the disturbance. A scream. Two gunshots. And... rushing wind? Her vox clacked off noisily as the combat visor slammed down over the expression layer. In a blast of wind, dust, and loose detritus she was gone, tracing a line off directly towards the disturbance.

The Esper and the Bubble

---

[Den Access]

---

Jade's sandy blonde hair whipped in her face as she zoomed down the line from the Den. Wolf normally hung straight from the zip-line by the grappling claw in her arm. The rest of The Den's unaugmented mortals clipped their tactical vests into a modified rig and rode the lift to ShieldTown's wall. The loose layers of Jade's hair that were too short to end up tied back blew into her mouth from the odd updraft, and she sputtered gracelessly trying to free them. This was always a problem.

A few stray thoughts drifted up from the city like intrusive strands of hair in her mental soup. She was trying to get better about filtering those out but there were so many. Even in The Den, her world was a jumble of noise, emotions, and imagery that she couldn't get away from. Blocking it out all the time made her brain hurt. Couldn't people just... think quieter thoughts? It's not like people get in trouble for overhearing a loud conversation.

Rip. Kill. Consume. Revenge.

The charged collective scream washed up to hit her like a rogue wave. Jade lost her grip, and for a while she hung lamely from the carabiner attaching her to the rig while the ground whizzed past dizzyingly below. She pulled herself lamely back up to the lift rig while trying to re-orient herself and queued the emergency stop on the controls. Well... machines were funny things that did exactly what they were programmed to, regardless if that was a good idea or not.

The lift-rig in particular could be stopped at any point... any point save past the half-way mark. Wolf and the others had determined that past the half way mark it would actually be safer to take the rig all the way into Shieldtown, since the rig's altitude would be within the threat range of certain Threshers. That was... decidedly NOT what Jade wanted right now, especially since the screaming static grating against her mind exploded over ShieldTown, slamming shut on the settlement walls just as she was reaching them. Jade fumbled with the rig to disconnect herself, fearing she would slam into the bubble but there wasn't enough space. She clung to the rig for dear life and braced herself for the impact instead.

She did hit it... though the impact was not what she was expecting. Aegis' powers were uncomfortable to be around in the best of situations. They were full of static, pokey, invasive even. The blue hardlight pulled at her brain uncomfortably when he moved it, and worst of all, it was charged with [FEELING]. The pervasive need to do better, to be better. The weight of the expectations of others. The want to live up to a legend that was perceived to be much greater than themselves. A desperate sense of loss. Today, mostly anger. Mad. Irritated. Full of ire. Acrimonious. Angry. All around her, touching every surface, staring down in a big, static blue dome screaming...

"[Big Angy Face]"

Jade hung lamely from the rig at the end of the zip line a few feet off the ground, a bit of blood smeared across her face from where she had wiped her nose with her forearm. OK Wolf and Leah had a point: maybe she should actually learn how to block all this stuff out. Big feelings hurt.

"Umph," she grunted, trying to hoist herself up to disconnect the rig. "Inside voice, Aegis. Inside voices inside," she muttered, resting her head for a minute on the cool braided steel of the rig while trying to remember her breathing exercises.

"Hey, you okay?!" A voice from behind her called, and she flailed on the the rig to turn and face it.

"No. Yes? I'm not okay right now. I will be in a minute," she clarified, swinging around to face the owner: a short semi-portly man she recognized from the market. He sold bone carvings and other trinkets. Paul.

"You're the new girl at The Den, right?" Jade nodded. "Listen, it's dangerous out right now. Thunderdome protocol, so I'm gonna help you down and get you inside, okay?" Jade found herself nodding in a daze and suddenly he was reaching up towards her. Her eyes went wide and she recoiled, scrambling to get away from him.

"NO! No! Nononono, no touching!" Paul froze, allowing Jade to exhale and explain. "Wind cuts. I can't control it. You'll get hurt if you touch me," she breathed, trying to calm down and unhook herself from the rig with shaking hands.

"Okay, it's okay. What do you need me to do?"

"Right right. Let me get myself down. One of our planes crashed in the market...," Jade wavered. She wanted to be helpful, but she also knew Wolf would scold her if she ran into danger trying to salvage that wreck. "But I'll go with you and check on it after things calm down," she resolved, climbing back up onto the rig so she could get unhooked more easily.

"Alright, good. I know you girls can take care of yourselves, but if Wolf found out I let you run off with the dome up, she'd never visit my stall again," he chuckled. The contagious mirth forced her to smile, even though her feelings didn't match. The rig finally clicked free and she jumped down, dusting herself off and turning around in time to see a mechanical beast rear up behind Paul and snatch him. In a blink, he was gone, leaving Jade standing rigid in the street. A 'Collector' had taken Paul.

A nightmare beast fusion of flesh and machine whose only purpose was to capture and bring people to the Ripper collective so they could have augmentations forced on them. They had been a regular menace in Northbridge, but Collectors in ShieldTown? Unheard of.

Rule Number 1: Never leave without your knife and sidearm.

Jade stood numbly in the street, hyperventilating while hear heart pounded. Collectors were fast as lightning, and she'd lost sight of the one that took Paul. The metallic scrape of steel on stone behind her, and the crashing against the reinforced bulkheads of ShieldTown's buildings goaded her into action. She sprinted for the nearest opening between buildings she could see while drawing her .40 Beretta. It was heavy and cold in her hands. Wolf had promised to get her a smaller gun when the next shipment came in.

Rule Number 2: Can't help anyone if you're dead. Protect yourself first.

The hair on her neck and spine stood straight up, and she threw herself to the ground reflexively. The freight train of flesh, metal, and death roared over her, skittering to a halt and tearing up chips of concrete from the street as it swung around and lunged. Jade tried to roll away but was pinned before she could correct, forcing a short scream out of her lungs. Air rushed around her ears and shrieked against the metallic limb pinning her down. Oil... or some other fluid sprayed wildly from a severed line, and the limb went limp against her.

Jade wrestled free enough to jam the barrel of her pistol into the beast-like metallic jaws of the creature as it bore down on her and pulled the trigger twice. Mistake. It slumped against her while making some unhappy noises. Scraping, rattling, scurrying, screaming.

Rip. Kill. Consume. Revenge.

Glowing red eyes began to collect at the top of the wall and push through the dome from outside. Rippers. Ice splashed down Jade's back, renewing her struggle to get free. Thunderdome wasn't to keep things out. It was to keep Rippers in. It's keeping them in. It's keeping them in. It's keeping them in. The wind thrashed around her, finding gaps in plated armor and metal reinforcement to slice, and she could hear Paul's sharp groans of discomfort and pain.

"Sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Something in the corner of Jade's vision caught her attention. More rippers? No. Knight in gleaming silver. Baleful red gaze sweeping the scene. Somehow it didn't feel intimidating: the feeling behind it was anxiety. Worry that she didn't make it in time. Kicking herself for stopping at the gate. She could have gotten here sooner. Jade tried to flail and make herself noticed. Call out. All she could muster was hoarse breathless screams. The silver clad warrior snapped her head in Jade's direction and leapt down from her rooftop perch.

Motion from the wall. Something dark and heavy thudded into the silver clad warrior before she could reach the ground, bowling her into a gap between buildings and out of sight followed by the cheers and jeers of Rippers pushing their way through the dome. Jade was frozen, and all she could do now was watch.

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

---

[The Den]

[A Sepokku / XianaEvermor Collaboration]

---

“Cute kid, reminds me of my sister.” She could still imagine Luolan’s crying face, like she had left yesterday. The girl was probably old enough to have lost most of the baby-fat around her face by now. Putting both her hands in her pockets, Astrid mused about the Den, found families, and the cost of protecting others as she followed closely behind Wolf.

“She is… a handful,” Wolf murmured, chuckling with a tired note and idly rubbing a hand over the numerous scratches and scars on her cybernetic arm.

Astrid couldn’t help but smile as she thought of the pouting girl Wolf had shooed away, “On the contrary, I walked into a situation unexpected enough to qualify myself as flummoxed…” She looked around the room a bit, the well-kept furniture that held the mark of age. How long had these people been hiding out here? How many wanderers had come here seeking respite, and how many had found it? The thought made her almost hesitant to ask for help. They would be taking on risk for her sake, and she wasn’t even sure she could be honest about why. Not that she knew why in Jahannam, JAHANNAM wanted to know about the bombing.

She gave Wolf another once-over, seeing the stranger in a new light. Good people like her were hard to come by in Titan’s Fall. “I’m Astrid, Grunewald. Formerly of the Children of the Skye. Some people ‘round here have heard of ‘em.” Her words slowly lowered to a mumble as she said the last part. “You know… On second thought, I’m not sure I should be asking you for help. You seem like you have your hands pretty full with…” Her left arm gestured to everything around them lamely. “Wouldn’t want the Horde following you back here.”

“Well. Firstly, if you’re going to stay here for any length of time you may wish to pick another name,” Wolf began. “I’m… familiar with the Children of the Skye, but who you were in the past isn’t important. The Den is where you come to leave all that behind and start with a clean slate,” she explained. For a moment Wolf’s eyes flicked up and to the right: HK had left her in passive recording mode, but there had to be something going on outside since HK was scrambling the Manta Interceptor with the Lockdown Suite, and “Black Betty,” the enormous flying sedan that was basically a gun they'd ripped out of a wrecked A-10 and slapped thrusters on to the catapult. Wolf resisted the urge to run out and check on what was happening. The girls would call her if something got out of hand.

“As far as Halcyon is concerned, we’re unofficially considered part of ShieldTown. We pay for our part of the tithe in the security and services we provide to our neighbor, if that’s what you’re worried about. They also know better than to come snooping around here or trying to settle old grudges,” she quipped. Wolf had sent them a pretty clear message and a bill for the damages last time that had happened. The Dragon, of course, wasn’t pleased. The thought brought an amused smile to her face.

"I'm not, that is to say, I don't-" A new name did sound nice. Something more refined than the ones she'd haphazardly been stuck with. She shook her head to dispel the notion before she could succumb to the temptation, "I just need help getting topside. If you think you can assist me with that, and it won't cause any blow-back on you from the Horde, I'd be very grateful."

She grew quiet for a moment while she carefully thought of what exactly to say. "I'm sure you heard about the explosion in Justice Square. The rest of my family is up on the Plates, some of them not far from there; I need to check on them." None of that had been a lie so far, she nodded slightly before continuing, "And, if it isn't too much trouble, I was hoping we could arrange to have my bike sent up with me? It was a gift from my sister, and she'd kill me if I showed up without it." Telling Wolf more would go a long way to cementing trust between the two, but... Her eyes darted about the room, spartan by necessity, refugees only a few rooms away; thoughts of that little girl's golden eyes, and that feeling of something crawling in the back of her mind while she shared that psychic view of the ocean.

There was no reason to divulge further, these people had their own problems. "I know it's asking a lot, and I don't know when I'd even be back to repay you." Her right hand anxiously reached behind her back, closing around her left upper arm. “I could pay; not much, but I have some Clat on me. I can pay more if you accept credits.”

Wolf’s chair creaked as she leaned back in it, maintaining eye contact with Astrid. She supported her elbow with one arm and pressed a knuckle to her upper lip in thought. The dimming lights and the resonating *thud* of the catapult through the bulkheads above them reminded her that HK was too busy to verify Astrid’s statements. News traveled rapidly in the Undercity, and Astrid’s story tugged on her heartstrings, but was that enough to put herself and her pack at risk for someone she didn’t know? The thought gnawed at her for a solid minute and her cybernetic wolf ears twisted to follow the sound of someone dashing down a hallway in another part of The Den.

“Well…,” she muttered uneasily. “The Lifter won’t breach the surface with your rig.” Wolf didn’t know Jade either when she shot the two men accosting her and brought JAHANNAM down on the pack. “Unless you can carry that thing while climbing the crater wall we’re booking a trip on one of the elevators,” Wolf muttered while staring off into the space between. HK was busy, so she was queuing intel reports from The Den’s servers manually to her HUD. From what she could tell, Freight had been hit pretty hard by some unknown masked Deviant followed by the Hunt. They’d missed a scheduled lift trip. Probably scrambling like hell to get it moving again.

“Someone move the ‘Vulture’ to the catapult when there’s a spare moment, please,” Wolf muttered into her sub-vocal vox. The faint sound of a double-click reply was only just lost to the ambient room noise. “I haven’t pissed off the Dragon in a while… Tell you what: I’ll get you to the surface to check on your family. You bring me back something pretty next time you’re in town and we’ll call it even,” Wolf smirked.

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

---

[The Heap]

---

"Come out, come out, wherever you are~," Chiroptera's voice lilted over the piles of scrap as she stepped with slow, purposeful strides through the yard. "C'mon, Grimm... why don't we make today our last date? Those Eagle 5000 XS UHD optics will make fine additions to the colony... They'll look real~ nice next to the 3000 series eyes I took from you last year. That hydraulic jaw? Just think of how many implants I can tear out of your friends with that."

F-ffuck, Grimm hissed quietly in response to the eerie, humorless monotone. The quiet flutter of wings overhead alerted him to the fact that stepping out from the engine compartment of the wrecked semi-tractor he was hiding in would immediately get him spotted. He held his breath and tried to quiet the pounding of his heart as one of her beastly, taloned, digitigrade cybernetic feet silently fell into view just a few paces outside the grill. He flinched as his audio implants registered the harmonic *ping* of muted ultrasonic waves bouncing off the outside of the compartment.

The microscopic vibrations caused a bolt to dislodge and bounce out of an adjacent scrap pile. Chiroptera's movements were like lightning. Grimm's UHD optics barely registered that she was out of frame. An afterimage seared his vision for a moment while the optics compensated, and he cringed away from the shriek of an integrated mono-molecular vibro-sword rending rusted steel and air alike.

Confrontations with that predatory, cybernetic wraith were always tense. She had some kind of hyper-advanced neural acceleration or wired reflex unit that seemed to defy the laws of physics. Probably some fucked up Tinker implant. It made her ungodly fast- the boys were always drooling over it like it was some kind of cybernetic Holy Grail. "If we could only-," they'd say, while scrawling up plans for an ambush some hotheaded scrapper would undoubtedly fuck up. Even if they did manage to pry it out of the bitch, they'd all kill each other fighting over it. Idiots.

To make matters worse, his call for help had only yielded the shrieks of over-amped cyberpsychos screaming about some cloaked lady and Rat pulling swords out of thin air, and something about Mantablack pulling a tasty haul from Shieldtown. Like, no wonder everyone considered them uncivilized monsters right? Not that he could talk: he'd done his fair share of "forcefully repossessing" implants, and other unsavory things. The only thing that made this situation different was that his one fear in this wretched world was gliding around outside like a goddamn ghost just steps away, and he could feel the amped emotions of the nearby swarm itching at the back of his skull.

Rip. Kill. Consume. Revenge.

Chiroptera paused in her stride, turning her masked face towards something in the distance only she could perceive. Grimm nearly took the attack of opportunity. The reason he didn't? Well... that's how he lost his first pair of eyes.

"What luck," she breathed, knocking on panels with her alloy knuckles in "Shave-and-a-hair-cut..." as she strode past. "Two-bits!" banged against the engine compartment loud enough to make him jump. "Looks like 'all I can eat' over at Shieldtown, and all~ your little friends are coming. Hope I see you there, Grimm..."

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

Yue's eyes flicked from Dean to Raudd and back. She did feel a little bad, but technically she'd done exactly as Raudd asked, and everyone walking on magical eggshells around her was very quickly wearing thin on her patience. She almost preferred not knowing... almost. Yue didn't exactly understand the implications of what Dean had said about Alex but she knew that Haze was generally bad, particularly in concentration. If he was hoovering it up, it probably wasn't a good thing.

Fuck this waiting around shit. Yue pushed past Raudd for the door, though she'd only just managed to swing it open when waves of [Anger] tinted, glass-jagged static blue cascaded down over the town, sending rivers of ice down her spine. The announcement had only just begun as Yue began to strip off her shirt and shoes without regard to modesty. Her hand vanished near to the elbow into a black disk she fished out of her belt, and her clothes ended up in an unceremonious heap as she pulled on the fresh Templar undersuit.

Her armor growled to life as she stepped into it, armor plates unfolding over her skin as she quickly tied her hair up into a tight bun just before the helmet closed around it. Glowing red telemetry scrolled across the front of the glossy black digital expression display covering her face, and the Templar's signature V-shaped visor slammed down just as the four stylized eyelets illuminated menacing red. Her gauntlet glided over the Templar great sword, Brute Stick, and Sword of Justice leaning against the wall, dissolving the weapons into white light that disappeared into her palm as she strode towards the door with a purpose. For just one moment she paused next to the table where the spear was before she stomped the shaft pommel with her foot, flipping the weapon into her hand.

"I'm borrowing this," she stated firmly from her modulated vox, as it vanished into her gauntlet in a flash of white. It spun onto the selection wheel in her HUD as the system registered the new weapon. The cold, stoic mask of Silver Fang quickly took over as she pushed outside. She flexed her fists, taking a deep breath, which hissed through the helmet's exhaust vents as she exhaled. "Coming? Or no?" She asked, barely looking back over her shoulder towards Dean and Raudd. Her posture made it clear that she wasn't waiting very long for an answer.

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

---

[The Astral Sea - Region Unknown]

---

Vision white.
Skin burns.
Eyes burn.
Falling through the endless void.
It hurts.

Heat had never burned her before. When the temperature of your skin could melt steel, being burned by things was a non-issue. This was different: ID's skin [BURNED] beneath the surface with Astral fire. For the longest time, all she could do was thrash against this new pain. ID [screamed] into the Astral Sea. Her voice was [fire] and, though it seared her insides, she continued until she could no longer make sound. Eventually she no longer had the energy to scream or thrash, and her Astralform collapsed into loose coils in the nothing.

Traumatized nerves hummed unpleasantly, and the burning white in her eyes eventually faded to cool black. For a short eternity, she floated in the darkness, trying not to move or speak lest she start burning once again. After a while, she cautiously opened her [Eyes]. The residual haze of [Light-Creation-Shines From Heaven] slashed painfully at her vision, causing her to recoil away from it.

Dumb.
Definitely bit off more than we could handle.
That was dumb.
...Now what?

ID was stuck Astrally Projecting, separated from her physical body, lost, hurt, and mostly blind. Her Astralform rumbled unhappily as it slithered towards cool darkness to buy a moment to recover.

Yeah, I know... but what do we do about it?

Where the hell was her body for starters? For a normal Mage, being separated from their body for extended periods wasn't a huge deal, particularly if they had someone taking care of them. ID was dual natured: whatever happened to her Astralform happened to her. It was an inseparable piece of her, which meant that her physical body was literally dying somewhere. She was on strict time limit, made even more difficult by the walls of [Sun]light raking the astralscape, likely through the plate gaps. The normally welcome sight seared her vision painfully and burned uncharacteristically against her astral flesh. She couldn't even get close.

The Astral Sea was a shadowy mirror of the Material swirling with color, emotion, and ideation. Spirits and other entities glided through ambient Mana currents, and around pale shadows that only vaguely represented the physical world. Matter, form, and solidity ceased to matter, and without Material landmarks, there wasn't much exploration to be had. ID's Astralform slumped into the darkest nook it could find, deflating with a long sigh.

What... So this is it then?

Yeah. This is it.

Cut off from the [Sun].
Hurt. Blind.

Let me rest.

Just gonna let Susanoo bully you into a cave?

...

Amenouzume ain't here to get drunk and cheer you up with a dance... Do I need to get naked for this?

Nope. Not doing it. Ain't happening. Fuck off. Cry about it. Don't care. I will piss on your belongings. Try me bitch, I will make you regret letting air escape your lungs.

No, fuck you! All your bitch-ass has right now is ME!
I. AM. NOT. DYING. HERE. TODAY!

SO GET YOUR ASS UP!

ID wrestled her Astralform roughly into motion despite its protests and glided back towards the light as closely as she dared. It singed her wingtips as she searched in a bloodhound pattern for anything that might give a hint at where they were and... that's when she felt it. Like someone plucking a tightly wound guitar string, something dragged at her attention. A familiar energy. ID dove towards it instinctively, pulling her wings in tight to pick up speed. A surprised sprite leapt out of the way.

PLUCK

ID's wings snapped open and she banked towards a signature she could now sense clearly headed for the wall of [Sun]light at high speed.

Fuck. Copper. I love you but... you're about to kill me, can you slow down for just ONE second? RRGH!

She drove her wings down to gain altitude as Copper's hover sled whipped past just out of reach... Maybe we should have left a note saying that moving our body would be bad.

Yep. 20/20 hindsight there, princess.
Get the lead out!

Though it seared her skin, ID pulled on threads of mana. Her Astralform exploded with [Light-Creation-Shines From Heaven]. An enormous winged serpent made of incandescent [Sun]fire coiling for one last lunge into the wall of light that raked her eyes and scorched her hide. She pulled on threads of [Light], sling-shotting herself upwards towards the ascending sled just as it vanished into the [Sun].

---

ID's body lurched and she drew a ragged breath, only to scream as her skin blackened and smoked against the sun's rays. A lance of flame erupted from her throat as she thrashed against the restraints, coming dangerously close to engulfing the sled's crew. She threw herself against the straps, breaking a buckle and wrenching the steel cot support out of shape and grabbing for... anything, until she found purchase on the corner of her cloak and pulled it roughly to shield herself.

"F-ffuck...," ID croaked through lacerated vocal cords, finally calming down. She was quiet for a long time following her outburst and besides her gentle shivering, she let the occasional quiet sob escape.

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

HK was content to let the women talk. There was other work to be done. [DenGuest-BikeBabe01]'s statement registered as truthful in the vocal analysis, and [HOST] had passive recording enabled for their conversation. HK would listen to it later and flag any inconsistencies in [DenGuest-BikeBabe01]'s vocal patterns. For now, HK had other things to monitor.

[QueryResponse ActiveDrone] . . .
[Albatross01 - ActivePatrolling]
[Albatross02 - ActiveWidePatrol]
[Manta01 - LockdownSuite Standing By] -|
[Albatross01 SweepVisuals]
[Running Path_To_Victory.sim] . . . -|

HK panned the drone's camera over ShieldTown and looked for inconsistencies. [HOST] had agreed with the additional vigilance protocols HK had suggested they implement due to the previous day's disturbance. [BigGuy] was roaming the market with [ShieldTown - SpecialGuest - Aegis02], the one that came in with [RudeRobot] earlier in the morning. [ShieldTown - SpecialGuest - Aegis01] had come back after making a ruckus and nearly disturbing the [FuckingMeanBats] close to the Plate ceiling. At least they weren't wasting more ammunition and fuel on those things after the unscheduled hunt, so that was a thing.

HK's attention wandered for a second, logging two guests from [AllyStoneworks] near the West entrance. Another sleepy day in Shieldtown, thankfully... that was, until something... purple? caught HK's attention. They whipped the gimballed camera towards the source of the disturbance and-

[Albatross01 - Connection Lost] . . .
[Queue Diagnostics]
[Running PingRequest] . . .
[Connection Timed Out] -|
[Albatross02 Report - Crash Detected]
[Cause: Unknown]
[Running Path_To_Victory.sim] . . .
[Alert Host] -|

Wolf flinched as she was leading Astrid across the threshold to the conference room, pausing in the doorway with indecision. Normally she would go investigate a disturbance herself, but she also wasn't about to ditch Astrid before they had a chance to talk about... whatever it was she needed help with. She inhaled, reading HK's suggestions in her HUD silently for a tangible moment before she pressed her hand to the sub-vocal Vox around her neck.

"Hey, I just got a notification that Albatross One might have gone down in the Market. Can I get someone to run out there, diagnose the issue, and clean up that wreck before they yell at us?."

"On it!" Jade chirped optimistically over the comms, and the accompanying *WHOOSH* of wind in the corridor leading towards the Zipline to ShieldTown signaled that the overenthusiastic girl was already on her way before Wolf could protest.

"Be careful!" Wolf hissed with resignation before turning back to Astrid and flopping into one of the conference room chairs with a note of exhaustion. "Sorry about that. You seem to have me at a disadvantage... Officially, I'm Wolf."

Titan's Fall: The Abyssal Paradox

---

[The Den - Outskirts]

[A XianaEvermor / Sepokku collaboration]

---

The Den was an ominous black shape silhouetted against the residual light of ShieldTown’s sun lamp in the distance. The structure’s angular surfaces occasionally shined dull matte, suspended hundreds of feet over the crater floor. Astrid passed the occasional curious rock, wreck, or ruin on her approach. They seemed oddly out of place until it became apparent they had been intentionally placed and marked with numbers in thermo-reactive paint that counted down steadily. 3800… 3700… 3600…

'Distance markers? Smart.'

Astrid's foot pressed gently against the kickstand as she gave an awkward glance to the Den. As the stand snapped into place, she hesitantly stood up and cursed herself for accepting this job. Had she been just a few days earlier, the bombing wouldn't have happened yet and she could be doing some other work that didn't require her to head back topside. Not that complaining ever got her anywhere. With a sigh, she slapped her hands lightly against her face twice, holding them there for a second while she composed herself. It had been over a decade since she truly had to rely on someone else, but short of hijacking the elevator by force, it seemed she had no other option.

'I just need to be amiable, lay on that ol' Grunewald charm.' Her reflection stared back at her from the bike's metallic sheen, disbelief painting its face. She let out an entertained snort, “I know, right?” Deciding that her apprehension wasn't likely to go away anytime soon, she started towards the building.

"I'm looking for a..." Her hand fumbled for the note in her hoodie's pocket. Unfolding the paper, she read the words hastily scribbled onto it, "Wolf? I heard she could help me out..."

“Found her,” a voice answered. A dot illuminated dull red in the perpetual gloom outside of the spear of light from Astrid’s motorcycle and a figure slid part way into view with practiced, near silent steps. The pointed, canine cyber-cochlear implants of her namesake were alert and probing, twisting this way and that to catch anyone else hidden in the dark while the watchful red glow of HK settled on Astrid.

“You look pretty capable,” she noted, adjusting the sub-machine gun slung unabashedly across her chest so that it could be brought to bear in an instant. “Where did you hear I was helping people?”

Biting down a sarcastic retort, the former Scotswoman did her best to remember where she had first started hearing the rumors about the Den. In truth, it had been a variety of people, though if she had to say who the first was, then it would have been , “Ripperdoc, the one who did your ears, I think.”

Wolf squinted at Astrid long enough for the dull red glow behind her right eye to flicker slightly. Her ears twisted in thought for a moment before checking the surroundings in a paranoid flick.. She finally exhaled and let the tension in her shoulders uncoil.

“Pascal has a big mouth,” she muttered grumpily, though her ears perked up with interest and one of her eyebrows stretched for her hairline as she first looked Astrid up and down, and then fixed her gaze on the motorcycle. She let out a low whistle. “Whelp,” she turned and signaled overhead. Lights clacked on and flooded the crater floor.

“Bedroll? Or a body bag?!” Someone called down from overhead.

“Bedroll!” Wolf shouted.

“Ah, shit. Y’all heard her, clean out a new bunk!”

“Stowaway! Stowaway! Stowaway!”

“Send out the lifter, we got a machine for the vehicle bay!” Wolf ordered. The Den was suddenly abuzz with activity overhead, and a pair of zip lines were lowered, each with a lift-rig. “Come inside and try not to think too loud, we got a True Esper that’s not so great at the whole ‘filtering out’ thing,” she invited, hooking a foot into the rig and letting it haul her up into the structure.

The buzz of activity came as a slight shock, the place looked relatively abandoned upon approach, but, ‘I suppose it couldn’t have been, if the rumors were to be believed.’ She took a cursory look around the now illuminated crater. There was quite an operation going here, she could probably fit all of her siblings in the building, at least all of the ones that made it to the states. Stepping into the other lift-rig, Astrid pondered exactly what sort of thoughts constituted “too loud.”

The notion made an intrusive thought appear, a vague memory of being thrown from her father’s arms into those of one of her siblings, and then being hauled away at a breakneck pace; a staccato of gunfire, the smell of smoke mixing with violence. She did her best to put her thoughts back in order and focus on the present, ‘Go to your happy place. That hill overlooking the Atlantic, the sea breeze; home.’ The ground sped away from her as she was hauled into the “Den of the Wolf.”

Astrid landed on the platform gold to emerald way too much eye contact, face to freckle speckled face much too close. Astrid’s rig stopped at the platform in her hand with a tiny jolt.

“It’s much prettier without the blood and guns,” she mumbled after an awkward silence. Wolf’s steel knuckled hand rumpled the girl’s sandy blonde hair affectionately, breaking the staring contest stalemate. She flinched at the contact, and a sharp *CRACK* of rushing air gouged one of the battered plates on Wolf's forearm, showering the chamber with fine metal dust.

“What have I said about private thoughts?” Wolf asked, without malice, ignoring the damage.

“But I’ve never seen the ocean before! Nobody ever thinks nice thoughts about the beach, I might not get to see it again after she goes up,” Jade pouted, with a huff. Wolf raised an eyebrow, flicking a glance towards Astrid momentarily before gently shooing the girl towards the facility interior.

“Go see to her machine, we can’t leave it out there for the Scavs or Rippers,” Wolf ordered, hanging the rigs as the hulking freight drone settled on its repulsors in a plume of dust, scooping up the motorcycle effortlessly. All at once, what was a flurry of activity efficiently buttoned up, portals closed, and lights clacked off, shrouding the crater in gloom once again as though nothing had happened.