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Episode Nine The gates of the underworld
The wind suddenly chilled everyone present in the valley. It felt like death herself had breathed upon the scenery, the low rumbling of the ground felt as the earth had begun to roil and awaken with an unkown yet terrifying force.
Haruka and Vryce both felt cold sweat run down their bodies. The mysterious spinning blades that had appeared out of the ground were only a prelude to something worse. She felt her good hand tremble in Vryce's and he felt an ominous sensation come over him.
"Just point it at the assassin droid... I'll do the rest... come on friend, don't let me down now..." Vryce whispered in a breath.
"............." Haruka bit her lip and focused on helping her big brother out... she wasn't gonna allow that morbid, crazed female android get away not only with crippling her, but with attacking his big brother!
Her resolve strenghted, her hand stopped shaking and she tried to aim the gun herself, as Vryce had asked her to do.
<Aziel... please...> Faye thought to herself, the shadows getting closer and closer, giving her less room to maneuver and shoot <... please, don't forget about me... Aziel...>
Aziel felt a pang inside of him... and looking quickly to his side, he noticed Faye was being surrounded by dozens of dark blades that seemed to float on their own accord. He felt a tug in his heart, but didn't know if he could be able to get away from Lynx.
Clenching his teeth, he tried to push back Lynx's glaive, but she didn't budged an inch. His strenght was sapping slowly... he knew that if he tried to run to Faye, Lynx would not let him take one step before impaling him... but he couldn't just stay there, he had to save her... his promise and his honor to her...
The broken yet still strong frame that once could be called Panzer Lynx shivered at the anticipation. She knew she had pinned down the rogue android down, and that was no small feat, but she knew why she had been made last. She had been outfitted with the most advanced systems, and she was far superior to any other model before her or currently existing. In due time, her entire body could regenerate thanks to advanced prototype nano-machinery that allowed her to recover her strength even from the most lethal wounds. If she could have placed the arm to her stump, she would have it back and working in mere minutes. But the rogue android was strong and she had to keep applying pressure to him as she wanted to taste victory on her cracked lips.
Looking to her left, she saw her sister being outnumbered and outmaneuvered slowly yet surely.
<You deserve that, you traitor... and the one who you decided to follow, trust and look up to, can't do anything!> Lynx thought to herself. She didn't quite understand why she felt so powerful, but she knew hers was a just cause. She followed orders, she was pursuing her mission, and only she was being loyal to her purpose. Her sister?
She had doubted.
She had betrayed her.
She had become the enemy.
And the enemy must die. And the first enemy to taste her justice, would be the rogue. The beginning of the conflict was because of his rebellion.
Her grip tightened and the glaive's blade began to pressure the small photon dagger Aziel was gripping with both hands.
White sparks showered the HUcast's face and chest, but even as he felt his power wane, he didn't flinch.
"You are so determined, traitor..." Lynx said in a hiss "It's hopeless!!! Don't you see? You'll fall any moment soon. I'll make sure your metal innards litter the ground; I'll go and kill off the meddling newman girl and the stupid, arrogant human... but first, I'll let you witness how my treacherous sister'll die while you can't do anything to stop her demise!!!"
"Shut UP!!!" Aziel yelled as the sparks burned his face, arms and chest "I'LL NEVER GIVE UP!!!"
"Oi! Aziel... Even without one arm, I still possess more power than you...what are you going to do?!?!?!" she grinned, and her leering skull combined with her glowing hateful eyes, looked like a devil in the twilight.
"This!!!" cried a strong female voice in the air.
A pair of beam sabers fell on the floor, close to Aziel but just out of reach. This particular weapons looked like they were matched.
Lynx looked up with a glance and saw a lithe silhouette spin in the air. Definitely feminine, yet with strong supple movements, this android jumped into Lynx within the blink of an eye. Lynx quickly and easily leapt back and by putting her foot over one end of the glaive and thrusting her arm forward, blocked the other HUcaseal's strike with deftness.
Her armor had a blue-grey tinge, her eyes shone white, devoid of emotion. Her long hair, held in a ponytail, swayed in the winds, brandishing a strange, stafflike weapon with deep purple protusions on each of its ends.
The weapon creaked with the pressure this stranger put into it. Her face didn't register anything, save a firm resolve.
A little surprised, Lynx didn't know the teleporter still had a bit of energy left over to dump yet another person into this strange place.
Still, this interloper had attacked her, so... she was an enemy.
And the enemy must die.
The other female android quickly raised the other end of the staff weapon, trying to hit Lynx squarely under the stump of her arm.
Lynx quickly changed her footing, and with a spin to her right, managed to sidestep the blow. She raised the blunt end of the glaive and struck her attacker in the midsection. Her opponent did not flinch, but stepped back once.
Putting her hand over the wound, the HUcaseal raised her staff to her eyes, to defend herself; turned her head slightly and told Aziel
"Hunter Aziel, if you are to act, act now!" she quickly turned her attention to Lynx, who had not wasted any time and had begun to spin in a flurry of quick, precise strikes.
Aziel dropped the dagger to the floor. His body felt spent, his arms on fire and heavy, and his vision blurred. He lurched forward and clasped one of the two sabers on the floor and his knees buckled. Falling on the ground, he knew he had strained himself too much.
"Aziel!..." he thought he heard someone calling his name. He looked up and saw Faye on the ground, lifting her rifle to block a spinning blade's attack.
The dark thing spun so fast, it was cutting the metal rifle as a hot knife cut through soft butter.
Faye looked at him. Her wide eyes, filled with fear and tears, seemed to say good bye at him.
He felt his hand grab the second blade and his legs get his heavy body off the floor. And in an instant, he had hurried to her, the very moment the spinning blade had cut the rifle and had ripped off a bit of her forearms.
Faye dropped back, grabbing her arms against her and closed her eyes, waiting for death.
Aziel turned both weapons on, and a greenish glowing sword flickered into existence on each. Swinging in a wide circle, he cut down two shadow creatures apart. Spinning his heel around, and thrusting both blades to the sides, he managed to lessen the distance between him and Faye and cut a wider path to her.
But he knew he would not be able to make it in time... the spinning blade was almost on top of her chest...
A photon bullet streaked across the air, impacting the thing's grey body and cracking it backwards from the force. Haruka let out a yell of triumph and made a V sign with her good hand.
"WOOHOO!!!! Right in the middle!! Way to go Vryce!" she hugged him from his neck, making him cough.
Vryce stood a bit dazed in the ground, trying to make out what was happening.
"Did you hit her? I think you aimed too far to the right, Haruka..." he felt Haruka had changed her aim a bit too much to where Vryce had originally had heard the Panzer android.
"I just bought Aziel-oniisan some more time... the killer android is busy right now...!" Haruka felt she just couldn't live with the prospect of Aziel without Faye, seeing how much he seemed to care for her.
"Eh?" Vryce didn't like to be kept in the dark of things, but instinct told him to trust the newman girl.
Aziel smiled under his breath. His little Haruka had given him a second more, and with a leap, he cut in half the last dull grey monster in his path. Landing with both legs spread apart, standing over Faye, he covered her from every angle, lashing out with blinding speed with the twin sabers. Suddenly, he noticed, the spinning monsters just vanished into the ground, as quickly as they had appeared in the first place.
The mysterious HUcaseal was at the limit of her skills, trying to dodge, block and parry each deadly powerful cut and jab with her staff. <So...> she thought <... she is as powerful as the reports hinted... and she gets more powerful each moment... what could fuel her abilities?>
She ducked and raised her staff to block a sideswiping blow, and the strike almost made her lose her grip. Rolling back, she kept some distance and stared long and hard at her foe. Panzer Lynx, unit model P2P0B-X, infiltration, information gathering and assassination class military android... she was missing her left arm and still fought like a demon. Even glancing blows felt like a raging Hildetorr's haymaker against a fragile eggshell. Her fierceness only increased her hazard.
The unknown female android decided it was better to dodge instead of block, as the notches in her staff weapon made it clearly that a couple more parries would mean no more weapon in her hands.
Lynx quietly said, keeping her blinding rage under check
"And who might you be, enemy? Why did you attack me? Are you friend of this scum?" she pointed the glaive's point at her opponent. She knew that even if the entire Hunter's Guild would attack her now, she would emerge victorious.
"I am called Gensy... that's all you need to know..." the female android answered coldly.
"Another name forgotten in a mass grave... of that you can be sure..." Lynx spun about the glaive, and resting it on her hip in its middle, she walked calmly at her foe.
Gensy backed a couple of steps. She had to admit unit P2P0B-X was superior in skill, and that she needed either help or a miracle.
But only death answered her silent call.
Black smoke rose up from the ground and billowed forth into the darkened skies above.
The ground shook even more violently, and from the depths of the cracks and fissures in the ground, a colossal creature arose.
Its body, covered in spikes and armored plates, swelled and flexed its muscles.
A crown of winglike protusions on its top fanned out, exposing a humanoid torso, twisted and foul, with a leering, fang-filled mouth and two ruby eyes where a face should be.
Instead of legs, the abomination possessed a stalk-like body that had four roots stretching into each direction. Each root ended in a maw, gigantic and malevolent, even dragon-like in its appearance.
Everyone stood silent and stunned, even Lynx stopped to look at this monstruosity with awe.
The thing's glowing red eyes looked upon them with amusement and suddenly, while stretching its wing protusions, let out such a mighty roar, that even the skies seemed to shake with the ire of an ancient evil.
Haruka, wide-eyed with horror, stood agape in shock at the towering thing. She felt a squeeze in her hand that made her look down and come back to her senses.
"That didn't sound like good news, tell me it ain't so..." said Vryce in a low voice as he had grabbed her hand in his.
"Umm..." she just nodded her head in negation.
"Yeah... this goes from bad to just plain worse..." he replied.
"Aziel?" Faye said with watery eyes.
"I am here, Faye... I am here..." he kneeled down next to her and hugged her against him. She yelped lightly as her arms touched his chest. Quickly separating her from him, he noticed that her forearms were badly hurt. The outer casing and armor that covered her delicate inner workings was so badly damaged, that she could not put any effort in her hands without feeling great sharp pain.
"I'm sorry, I got hurt pretty badly and now I can't help you... I can barely move my fingers..." she said, her voice wavering.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure your regenerative systems have enough time for you to be able to give me a hand" he said, placing his hand over her cheek.
Smiling wealky, she closed her eyes wearily. She needed to lie still, and she felt so fatigued. In his arms, she would find comfort, even if this was to be their last moment together. Faye fell into a dark sleep, devoid of dreams.
Aziel quickly looked to his side, trying to see where Haruka and Vryce were... as well as the mysterious HUcaseal who had come and helped him out.
He wondered who that was... she sure wasn't a hunter from the Guild. He knew most Guild members by sight, but this one... she was different. Her movements were precise, fluid and exact... like a timepiece. But it seemed devoid of something... He could not avoid thinking that there was something lacking in her technique that would make a difference.
But his train of thought came back at the unholy monster that had just appeared from the ground.
"This is it..." Aziel muttered "... what Red Ring Rico had hinted at... the existence of something... unnatural that had laid dormant until the people of the Pioneer 1 had landed here..." he took a quick glance to Faye, and kissing her on the forehead, he placed her on the ground with care, turned around and turned his twin sabers on. Walking towards the gigantic thing in the middle of the perverse valley, he mustered his strenght and resolve. This was it... if he could defeat this thing... the people of Pioneer 2 would finally find their home among the stars. He lowered the facemask and got up.
The monster focused its eyes, and studied them hard. Tensing its huge muscles, it raised two claws among its many limbs and opening all its fanged mouths, roared once more. The tinge of bloodlust was overly present in its war cry, and nothing except complete annihilation of those who stood in front of it would appease it.
It was a god of darkness, a force of destruction, the end of all.
And then its dragon mouths vomited forth more of these shadow spinning monsters all around it.
This took everyone by surprise. Haruka sent one of her favorite and most powerful techniques hurling at the reptilian face that was near her and Vryce. Raising her good hand over her head and making a wide arc towards the gaping mouth, she opened her eyes fully and she yelled
"RAFOIE!!!" and with this, the heat in the air concentrated in the middle of the mouth, getting as hot as a tiny sun and suddenly, exploding. The dozens of shadowy monsters burst into ash, and the mouth gurgled a dying yelp. Haruka quickly scanned the surroundings with her gaze and saw that nothing had survived the blast and thus Vryce and her were safe, for the moment.
This great beast still possessed at least three or four more fanged mouths, but she wasn't even close to target them with any of her spells.
It took great mystical strenght to summon such a powerful attack, and she could not do it again unless she stood still, concentrating and focusing her inner reserves again.
Closing her eyes and dulling her senses to everything around her, Haruka started to feel her vigor return slowly but surely.
Vryce had regained a bit of his eyesight... but only enough to be able to distinguish dark blurs from lighter blurs in his eyes. He did sense motion from underneath him and around him. He gritted his teeth and feeling around for his Varista handgun, he noticed the weapon had been cut at the barrel. That was the reason why he felt sparks burn his skin and vest, now he knew. He had hoped to at least put out the Panzer's left eye with the last shot his trusty firearm had done.
"Haruka? Where are you?" he said calmly, trying to make out the greyish blots in his vision, "Honey... can I get at least some aknowledgement that I'm not about to get my head bit off by something very big and hungry?" he grinned at the time a strange dragon near the abandoned Central Dome had almost swallowed him up.
The dragon had risen into the air, made a spin in the air and dove right into the rock in the ground. Instead of crushing itself to a pulp, it dove into it. Vryce had guessed that a thin crust of hardened magma was the only thing between his team of investigarors and a fiery death. Suddenly, the dragon had burrowed a fast tunnel under their feet and most of them had been knocked down. One of them, a rookie hunter who Vryce couldn't remember his name at this moment, had fallen back in a spectacular flip and landed on his skull, breaking his neck. He himself had been thrown onto his face and was getting up when the dragon had decided to exit the ground just behind him. Haruka was with him, but being a little smarter than trying to run up to the monster in the first place, had remained near a broken archway, within its shadows.
The dragon had ignored her, probably thinking the two humans were probably more dangerous, and as such, took a greater interest in dealing with them first.
Looking forward, he saw Haruka move her arms wildly and make faces at him.
He just sneered and grabbed his rifle and started to get up.
Vryce was spitting a mouthful of dirt, pebbles and blood when he felt a foreshadowing presence behind him.
"Oh... damn..." he said, flipping to his back, still on the ground and tried to aim at the very last moment.
The dragon had closed its jaws on him, its dagger-like teeth piercing his armor and wounding him badly. The dragon had caught him by Vryce's sides, so his legs stuck out of one side of its mouth and his upper torso from the other.
"AAAAARGH!!!!!" he yelled as the pressure was getting worse. His body would snap in two any second when it happened.
Suddenly, the dragon had lost its balance, as its weight was no longer supported by its two scaled muscular legs.
A white armored android, sporting metallic-looking wings, had severed one of its legs in one clean swipe of its saber. Looking up, it nodded to Vryce and turning around, it jumped and made a vertical slash at one of the dragon's wings, impairing its ability for flight, preventing its escape.
Without thinking about it too much, Vryce had lifted the rifle to the dragon's eye and shot as many times as the photon battery let him. The dragon came crashing down and after losing consciousness, Vryce woke up to Dean's voice.
"It is good that you are made of sterner stuff, sir..." his overly courteous manner made Vryce a little edgy, but he felt too dizzy to complain.
After that, he had asked Haruka (from his hospital bed, 75 stitches) to next time, let him know about these kind of dangers with words, not just gestures.
"Ok..." mollified, Haruka pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, then, as if remembering something she added "Oh yeah! Remember that strange white-clad android with metal wings on his back? He says he's glad you where all right after we had teleported back here, at the Pioneer 2... but he didn't stay even though I asked him nicely" she made a frown.
"Badgering by any other name?" added Dean.
"HEY!" answered Haruka, fuming.
"That is strange... you say he didn't stay? Where is he now?" asked Vryce, wincing from the wound, as he got a little up from his pillow.
"He said he was going to 'find his strength' or some such nonsense, down at Ragol" said Haruka as she was grabbing Dean's collar and kicking his armored leg. Dean made no effort to stop the newman girl.
Vryce felt someone resting his hand on his shoulder at that moment, stopping his daydreaming.
He smelled Haruka's perfume and let down his guard a bit.
"What is happening? I can't see diddly-squat!" he motioned his hand around him, making his point.
"I think it's better if you don't see what's happening, Vryce... it's a nightmare" her voice felt weak and very tired.
Aziel had leapt into the mass of swarming shadows, moving as fast as lightning, cutting them left and right. Some of the things managed to nick him here and there, but his resolve was absolute and skill undenied.
With a jump forward, he spun into the air like a fan, with his arms outstretched and twin sabers ablaze.
The draconic mouth reared to crush him into pulp, opening its jaws wide, but instead, they were torn apart with the force the HUcast had sent himself into.
Splitting the lower mandible from the upper one killed the dragon's maw instantly, but it did not hinder the main creature at best.
Aziel knew he had to get to its center and attack it with all that he was left with.
Lynx and Gensy took several strikes at each other before one of the heads bursted between them. Gensy leapt backward, grasped her staff and began to twirl it in a deadly dance, making the points of its ends burst with purple lights as it stroke the tough shell of the monster's root.
Lynx snickered and with an acrobatic jump using the glaive, landed on top of the same root-like limb her opponent, Gensy, was attacking. Eyes glowing, she quickly saw her real target in the chaos below and with another deft movement, landed on another of the creature's roots.
"Wait! We are not finished!" Gensy cried out, spinning around and catching one of the shadow things with her staff, sending it crashing among others like it.
"You are not worthy of me, lesser unit..." Lynx said as she jumped out of the way of one of the monster's many arm-like limbs that tried to grab her. She thought <only he... the rogue android... he is meant for me and me alone!>
Her eyes glowed even brighter in the darkness that swallowed the valley. With a turn, she leapt into the air and sent the glaive straight at the colossal creature's midsection, tearing muscle, bone and organs as it shot through like a bullet.
The creature just opened its eyes dully, as it could not register the fact of what had just happened. Then, with a crashing ear-piercing sound, it fell forward and broke the ground beneath it with shuddering force.
Everyone just stared in shock. Did the monster had just died???
Aziel felt a pang of relief, which was quickly replaced with an alarm in his mind.
Quickly turning about, he raised his twin sabers to block a long and wicked-looking claw that was meant to cut him in two.
Sparks showered the floor, and behind them, he saw Lynx's leering face.
"Show me..." she said, her voice strung in madness "show me your strength!!!"
Aziel pushed back and releasing both blades from the claw, quickly spun around, darted in and out, and struck with surgically precision to mow down his foe.
Lynx had managed to block both sabers with the one claw. But even as she had pointed one saber to her face just inches away, the other had found its mark. It was in her right hip, just above her leg. This fueled her hate and anger so much, that Aziel didn't see her disengaged the claw from her right arm, put one leg behind his back, the other leg in front of his abdomen and curl up her arm around his neck. This had happened so fast, that he didn't register the whole attack until the pressure began to crush him from all around him.
Lynx put her face next to his, and rubbing what was left of her cheek once, she smiled and said
"You put up a good fight, but it ends right now, rogue..."
A cracking sound next to Aziel's head and the feeling of being crushed stopped. He thought his motor systems had finally gave out, but as he moved his arms to the floor to grab the twin sabers, he looked to his side and saw the mysterious HUcaseal stand between him and Lynx. She brandished no weapon, as well as Lynx. They both stood there studying each other for the smallest hint of movement.
"Th-thank you..." Aziel said, wincing as he felt that particular sharp pain in his chest come back.
"No need for thanks... it is combat between the Panzer unit and myself..." Gensy said without looking back, she moved her hands and her feet to adopt a defensive posture, one arm in front of her, hand in a fist, the other, just parallel to her cold face, palm open.
Lynx just put her hand in front of her, fingers slightly open, as if ready to grab anything thrown at her. Her feet were spaced apart to move them into any position quickly.
"Aziel-oniisan! The thing... the thing is alive!!!" he heard Haruka's voice break the tense air.
He looked at where the dark monster laid in ruin and opening his eyes fully, noticed that the topmost part of the creature twitched and moved its arms about.
He quickly spun on his heel and made a dash for the creature... he had to kill it before it could do anything else!
Another tremor shook the earth and Aziel, in his weakened condition, lost his footing and tripped. He still kept his grip on his sabers, but as he rose from the ground once more, he knew that it was too late to stop the creature now.
The creature had used its claw-like arms to divest itself of its lower portion, and with a sickening sound of ripping muscle and sinew, it lifted itself into the air. Where it had been joined with its rooted lower body, there stood a bloated, pulsing organ, not unlike a giant beating heart, but covered in thick, greasy flesh. But most astounding was, the thing floated up from the ground as if were lighter than the air itself.
Aziel jumped into it, with both sabers stabbing the air, intent on clinging to it before it was out of reach.
The monster saw him leap into the air and placed on claw in front of him. Opening it, white-hot fire swelled from its joint and spewed forth.
Aziel put his arms around him to protect himself as he saw the white light in front of him and felt a sudden wave of pain and heat suddenly cover him entirely.
The blast of superheated air caught the HUcast dead-on. It burst into thousands of flaming drops of molten rain and sent Aziel into the air. He crashed on the floor with a loud crack near where Faye was.
It then turned another claw to Gensy and Lynx's direction. It opened and instead of heating the air in its joint, it began to frost around the edges.
Gensy took the iniciative. She aimed a punch to Lynx's stomach, got her fist caught in the opponent's grabbing motion, tried to punch using her other fist, aiming for her foe's only arm.
While she did indeed struck the arm and made Lynx let go of her arm, it wasn't just the blow that made the Panzer android free her.
Lynx had backflipped twice in a cartwheel and laid low in the ground, putting her good arm over her head.
Gensy couldn't get to the part where she wondered what was that all about when something that froze her left her frame completely numb, almost encased in pieces of ice.
"D-damn... th-this is so c-careless..." shivered Gensy as she tried to shake off the effects of the cold, but her body didn't respond at all. She looked up, to where Lynx was already getting up and grinning in satisfaction.
"That hurt..." she looked at her right arm, where the punch Gensy had thrown had left a dent "I'll get you back for this right now"
And pulling a slick barreled gun from her side, she took the safety off and glared her over the glowing photon charge.
Vryce felt the air get ionized so sharply, his mouth tasted strangely like metal.
He grabbed Haruka's leg and pulling her to him, he said quickly before she tried to squirm her way out
"Trust me, we either stay like this and hope the emergency teleportation device pulls us back to the Pioneer 2 or we die"
Haruka stopped struggling and looking over her shoulder, her eyes widened and looked at the abomination rise its many claws to the air.
"BUT!!! BUT WHAT ABOUT AZIEL-ONIISAN AND FAYE-SAN?!?!?!" she yelled as she put her head in his chest, covering her tears.
"AND THE LADY ANDROID THAT HELPED US?!?!?! THEY'R-"
Vryce gritted his teeth and held her more strongly, making her stop.
"They'll be fine... that Gensy has her emergency teleport device on, I hope... and Aziel has his, but..."
Then it dawned on him.
"...oh no..."
And he looked at the limp form of Faye in the ground, close to Aziel.
But then, purple rain washed over them with a wave of searing pain and light and he lost consciousness.
To be continued...
Episode 10 The demon god
Aziel had felt the attack a second before it struck... and leaping to his side, he covered Faye with his body.
Just before the rain hit the ground, Faye had opened her eyes slightly and her gaze locked with Aziel's. She saw the purple lights crashing down from the heavens, but she also saw Aziel covering her form with his.
Silently, her eyes seemed to ask why he was doing this. She was begging for him not to do that...
And as if he had read her thoughts, he replied a second before the bright energy struck his back
"Duty..."
Faye tried to call out for him to stop, for everything to stop. But then explosions drowned out her scream.
Lynx didn't get a chance to pull the trigger when everything went purple and then white around Gensy and the Panzer android. Both fell to the ground, their bodies almost crushed by the heavenly attack. The smoke cleared after each heavenly beam had crashed down and caused explosions around the whole valley.
Gensy, feeling dizzy but free of her icy containment, raised her head a bit, tried to focus and then swooned onto the floor.
Lynx got up, her frame mostly gone and exposing the intricate and delicate wiring of her innards.
She looked at the gigantic creature and with a hateful scorn etched in her ghastly face, she pulled the trigger until the battery wore down. She then threw the gun at the beast and turned to look for Aziel. She felt the fingers on her left arm again, and as she strode off, a wiry-looking steel skeleton arm had been put into her stump.
"Good thing I found my precious arm in the debris..." she grasped the air with her left fingers once and made a fist.
The monster came crashing down, its body bloodied and torn. In its dying throes, it fell into the center of the valley, making a huge crater, where toxic fumes rose and the ground groaned from the touch of this perverse evil. The ruby eyes lost focus and bile drooled off its maw. The gigantic heart stopped beating and through the bullet holes Lynx had pierced it, black, greasy blood spilled around it.
It seemed the blood was as caustic as acid, because the ground itself began to corrode and give way, digging an even deeper hole in the ground.
Aziel had opened his eyes wearily. He felt too tired and too drowsy to move.
Trying to move his hand, all he felt was a dead lead weight on his limbs. He didn't try to move at all, but he noticed he was looking up, but everything was dark as ink... some roiling reddish clouds seemed to circle his sight and he noticed someone was watching over him. He felt a warm tear drop on his face and he blinked twice, trying to focus his sight... it felt different... there was something missing...
Faye had propped his head over her lap, and though she was severely burned and her frame showed scars from the explosions, his last second heroics had saved her. She lovingly put her hand on his brow and bent over, kissing him on his lips.
She had removed the helmet that covered his face when she had seen that it had cracked sideways from the impact with the strange beams of light.
She wondered who had made him. His face looked almost human except for his eyes, which glowed now with a subdued golden light. His features were strong and handsome. He had a square jaw and his skin was tan. His close-faced helmet had been put to his side, with an enormous crack from the lower left jaw to the very center of the forehead. It hadn't taken Faye much effort to take it off from his head. When she had studied his face for a while, and noticed his dizzied gaze, she looked up a little to his head. He also had black short hair, a little wild and with a streak of silver grey in the front. She couldn't resist thinking why he hid his face away in the helmet. Was it to cover himself from the ones who hunted for him? Was it shame? It didn't make sense... after all, he was an android, easily recognized as such and quickly identified at any of the ships' sections when transporting from one place to the other.
He opened his eyes slowly once more, and seemed to focus on her own. Faye smiled and said to him with a whisper
"It's dead, we can go back to the Pioneer 2 and get you some help, Aziel..." her eyes watered and stroked his face softly "Why? Why did you cover me? Duty? Duty to your promise of not letting me come to harm?"
Aziel noticed that a weight had been lifted off his face. He could feel the cold air in his face. Faye had removed his facemask, probably out of concern. He knew that the impact had broken his main visor sensor and with the helmet on, he could not see well in its condition. He smiled weakly and tried to concentrate on Faye's eyes.
"Duty to all... to the people of the Pioneer 2, to my friends... and to you, Faye..." he whispered back... he couldn't talk much louder than this. It would take at least a month for him to recover, he thought.
"I don't care about duty if it makes you come to harm, Aziel..." she lowered her face to his, tears flowing freely.
"I just want to be with you..." she sobbed.
"I don't think that will be possible... 'sister'" a familiar voice sent chills on Faye's spine.
Before she could spin about and see her sister, a swift, hard blow on her back sent her next to Aziel, sprawled onto the floor.
Faye felt herself spin in and out from consciousness... she lifted her head from the ground and saw what was left of Panzer Lynx leer evilly at them both. She had a small handgun, which was bright red all over, and she was pointing it at Aziel's head.
"St-stop... Lynx... p-plea-" she was cut short by a side glance by Lynx. The glowing eyes burned like pits of hellfire.
"Stop? Why? Can you give me a good reason, 'sister'?" she quickly turned and grabbed Faye with the skeletal arm by the throat.
Faye was too dizzy to fight back and all she could do was grab her sister's arm with her hands as Lynx dangled her one feet over the floor. Panzer Lynx made a chilling smile and slowly began to apply pressure.
"You betrayed me and the mission... and thus, you sealed your own fate..." Faye felt her neck being crushed slowly, and as much as she tried, she couldn't muster enough strenght to fight back. While a broken neck would not kill her immediately, it would sever the spinal connections to her frame.
Lynx continued to hold her sister up in the air and with a triumphant smile, she raised the handgun to her sister's midsection.
"But now, I proved to be better than a rouge, a traitor, a bunch of meddlesome meat-things, an inexperienced doll and some strange creature in the depths of Ragol's ancient ruins" she pressed the handgun just over Faye's stomach. Lynx also stopped the pressure on her sister's throat.
"W-why?" Faye's voice came struggling from the steel grip.
"You betrayed me, you mocked me and you left me to die!" Lynx's voice rose in anger, and added "well... probably not in that order but nonetheless, you were helping our target, and you abandoned me and our mission! You do not abandon me, for that entails that you abandon the mission!"
Faye, even as hurt as she felt at the moment, could not resist it anymore and answered at Lynx
"You feel betrayed, because you believe in death, not in life, as I do since meeting Aziel..."
"Shut up..." Lynx said warningly, pushing the handgun into her stomach.
"You said I mocked you, but your arrogance made you blind to your mistakes..."
"I said... Shut up!" Lynx felt anger rise like boiling lava.
"And I didn't left you to die... you dwell on your mistakes and your choices instead of bettering your lot..." Faye could feel the anger burning through those dead, burning eyes.
"SHUT UP!!!" Lynx pulled the trigger.
Faye felt a sharp pain in her hip. She also felt her neck being released of the tremendous pressure. Falling to the side, she saw Aziel had kicked Lynx's gun out of her hand and had not wasted a moment more by punching her in the face.
Lynx rolled to her right from the force of impact. Landing on her face, she got up by rolling sideways and quickly springing to her feet. She felt the fires of anger ignite as she saw the HUcast on his feet.
"This is between you and me Lynx, do not ever try to hurt Faye again!" her foe said as he took a defensive position "She has chosen freedom"
Putting herself on a defensive position, she grinned and clenched both her hands into fists.
"Time for the showdown, is it not, rogue?" she said sarcastically.
"............" Aziel said nothing. He kept his distance, clenched both his fists and waited for her first movement.
Lynx studied him hard and long. They both were weaponless and stood near the crater where the strange monster had collapsed. The hole seemed to fall for at least 60 feet, where the still dying body was secreting foul acids. One wrong movement, and she could fall in there and not come back. Of course, it gave her a perfect way to dispose of their bodies as well.
Aziel for his part was not moving a muscle nor an inch. He seemed he was waiting for her to act so he could counterattack her.
She needed to make him do the first move and take advantage of it.
"Rogue... what does it feel to be outclassed by a better model?" said Lynx, trying to goad Aziel into attacking her.
Aziel stood in silence and, breathing once, replied "I don't know, why don't you tell me?"
Lynx had lost her composure and calm. She threw herself at him with both arms outstretched and screaming at the top of her lungs.
Aziel tried to deflect her claws with two quick punches thrown to the sides, but he only managed to parry one and get his right arm caught in her left hand. Before she could move her right hand, he caught it in his left and they stood there struggling for tense seconds.
"You... can't win... this time... rogue..." Lynx spat in anger.
"I need not victory... Panzer Lynx... to defeat you..." answered Aziel under great pressure.
The muscles flexed and bulging, both grapplers neither gave or expected quarter.
Gensy crawled a bit over the floor and winced once more from the pain. She looked on at the two enemies locked in a deadly struggle of pride against honor. She was astounded to notice how badly the two android were and still, they fought on.
Lynx was so beat up that Aziel may have a chance at this, but only if he was at full control of his abilities and not fatigued and damaged as he was now.
The Panzer android was no slouch either, but with most of her frame and servos severily damaged, it was a truly difficult outcome to predict.
Gensy then stopped crawling when she saw something rise out of the crater...
Something large and malevolent, with an eerie glow, floated into view... but of the two foes, interlocked in their private struggle, seemed not to mind its appearance, or even aknowledge it.
The creature had risen from the ash and acid at the bottom of the pool. Its senses let it know that the foul alien creatures, so similar to the ones that disturbed it and awoke it some time ago, stood there... fewer than previously felt, but their prescence was still a source of ill for it. Twice it had been hurt badly. Now it was its time to take its final revenge.
Rearing its head, a low, unearthly roar came out of its throat. And suddenly, as swift as a bird of prey, it rose into the air, trailing long wisp-like tails under it. The creature lifted a huge arm that looked like a giant greatsword above its head and then, it swooped down and sliced the air. It wanted to hurt the two creatures intertwined in front of it. Their lifeforces were the most powerful. These would feed its hunger for spirits most satisfactorily, like the one who had found it not long ago had.
Lynx and Aziel had a split-second warning. They managed to see a strange, glowing... thing come out of the crater and it made a bee line for them in the last second. Unclenching themselves from each other, they both leapt backwards and away from the crater.
Each one held the other in a resolute gaze. Not even this creature, who had strangely managed to survive not once but twice, would deterr them from completing their duel.
The colossal blade struck the earth between them and split the ground into piles of debris. Rock, ash and earth jumped into the earth, showering the area and obscuring vision. As quickly as it had struck, the arm withdrew and the floating creature began to rise in altitude.
As pieces of rock and loose earth fell down like dark drops of solid rain, Aziel charged at Lynx. He quickly jumped into the air and spinning with his entire body, twisted his lower body forward and pulled his legs together to deliver a drop kick onto Lynx's chest.
The HUcaseal had dived straight at him, arms outstretched, like a predatory animal leaping to its prey.
Aziel's legs had more reach than Lynx's arms, and he connected his attack on Lynx's shoulders.
With a loud thump and a crack, they both fell onto the ground.
The HUcast fell on the ground and rolling back, got up and raised his arms.
Lynx, when she had received the kick squarely in the shoulders, had been pushed back by the great force behind the kick.
She had made half a flip in the air before crashing in the ground. Falling on her face and chest, she lowered her knees and rose up quickly. Sprinting forward, she leaned back on her right fist to deliver a great sideways punch with her entire weight.
Aziel spun on his right heel and raising his left leg, he prepared to do a swift circling kick to catch the Panzer android on her abdomen with his left heel.
However, Lynx was faster and conected her punch into Aziel's cheek, sending him spinning towards the ground. His kick missed force and though it hit her a little higher than he had expected, it lost most of the strenght it had.
Falling on his side, Aziel suddenly felt the pang of pain in his chest.
Whatever had been badly damaged previously had begun to hurt greatly, and a sharp cold pain shot through his torax.
Lynx didn't miss a beat, and running quickly to Aziel, who was getting up from the floor on all afours, kicked him squarely in his stomach. Grunting, Aziel winced from the pain and dropped to the ground.
The Panzer android swiftly raised the heel of one boot and dropped it into the back of his head.
Aziel spun to his right, dodging the tremendous kick and still disoriented from the pain, got up in one knee.
Clutching his side with one arm, where she had kicked him just a second ago, he took a deep breath and tried to focus at his enemy.
He noticed she was next to him in a flash, but his strength had abandoned him completely.
Lynx cracked her metallic knuckles and swayed her head to one side and then to the other, making a loud cracking noise as she did. She smiled with arrogance and twisting her right wrist and grabbing Aziel by the neck with the left hand, she said
"In the end, it all comes to this... rogue..."
"Lay off him, sister!" cried a soft voice.
Lynx, still grabbing Aziel by the neck, turned to see her twin pointing the red handgun directly at her. Her hands shook and she was crying, her lips trembling. She was kneeling just some 6 or 7 feet away. At that distance, Faye would not miss unless she wanted to.
Surprised at her nerve, she made a half-cocked smile at her and said, in a calm voice
"You wouldn't dare shoot me, right? That would put a huge bounty on your head courtesy from the military and the government...'sister'" that last word spat out, as if poisonous, from Lynx's lips.
Faye, still pointing the gun at her sister, rose from her knees and looking at Aziel quickly, said
"Let go of him... NOW!" as Lynx did not move and inch, she repeated "I said, let go of HIM!!!"
Lynx was amused. Who was Faye to give her orders of any kind? She was nothing but a traitor and an enemy. Scowling, she let go of Aziel slowly, but kept her right hand into a fist.
"You seem very attached to the rogue... you are letting these emotions blurr your efficiency... you belong to the military"
"I belong to no one but myself..." she said under her breath.
"You take orders from the government..." Lynx added, turning to face her sister.
"I take orders only from myself..."
"If you turn your back from them, who will take care of you? Him?" Lynx added in an amused tone.
"He... and I will take care of each other..." Faye looked at Aziel.
"Why do you still not understand? There is nothing in him that would make a difference!"
"I understand, you do not... he already made a difference by choosing his own path..." she smiled weakly.
"What path? Here we are and he has failed to defeat me truly... he chooses death over life coming here and you blindly follow him!"
"He has not been defeated at all, you have..." Faye looked straight into Lynx's eyes and added "He chose to save the people of Pioneer 2, I chose to follow him and help him through the ordeal by my own accord... you just resigned and accepted your lot in life..."
Lynx's glowing eyes seemed to burn brighter from her hatred.
"You lack the power of choice... sister..." Faye said quietly "that marks us apart..."
Gensy was hearing all of this as she knelt up and though it was difficult to keep her balance, she got up her feet. She didn't see the giant monster anywhere, but her frame did not relax.
"She is correct" she said... the two twins looked at her in surprise.
"While I do not understand why she did, unit P1P0B-X Faye went against her programming and chose her own path besides the Aziel android..." fully up, she closed her fists and continued "You just continued to pursue your mission with the sole purpose of completing it, using revenge and hatred as a tool..."
Aziel didn't know who the female android was, but he knew her words rang true. If Lynx had pursued him for the sole purpose of wanting personal revenge, she wouldn't be treating him as a target... or call him rogue... she would be just seeking his death, humiliation or both.
But he noticed that Lynx had not relaxed her frame, she was tense and her right fist trembled.
He knew she was at odds with this realization, and as previous encounters had suggested, she was dealing with it with anger and a desire to just plain destroy the object of her confusion.
His senses suddenly picked up another danger... above them, in the roiling red clouds, there was death bidding its time to act.
The flying divine creature had entered the blood-stained wisps and floated there, content in its magnificence.
Looking down, it sensed at least two of its opponent had lowered their guard... this would be the moment to kill them, to spill their blood, to absorb their life into its own. Putting its two great blade arms together, energy crackled about and coalescended into orbs of destructive power. It gazed downwards again to the trespassors and felt its body tingle with the anticipation of a fresh meal...
"We... are twins..." Lynx said through clenched teeth.
"We are... but only because we were made to be partners..." Faye responded "...we are nothing alike..."
"Sister..." Lynx felt white-hot anger rise up in her.
"Don't call me sister... especially after the way you used that word as a derogatory term with me..."
"AAAAARGH!!!!" Lynx sprang forward, fist raised, ready to crush the life out of Faye.
She never had the chance to reach Faye. Not only did her sister not hesitate to fire the potent gun, but she was grabbed by the leg by Aziel with both hands, who managed to spin about and throw her into the crater in a mighty swing.
Not before a photon bullet hit Lynx straight in the chest, puncturing her frame from one side to the other.
Aziel's crushing grip cracked her ankle, and spinning in the air towards the gaping hole in the ground, she yelled at them
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
She looked at them with hatred, the HUcaseal devoid of emotion, her treacherous sister... and last, the rogue android.
And vanishing into the darkness below, they knew no more of her.
Aziel lurched forward and Faye caught him in time before he too, went plummeting down the crater.
Hugging him with all her strenght, her tears wet his chest. Aziel put an arm around her, feeling relieved, but he knew this wasn't over.
"I'm so glad it's over... we can finally leave this place and live together..." she sobbed quietly.
"I am afraid that won't happen, unit Faye..." said Gensy matter-of-factly "When you and unit Aziel left to explore the ruins, at that very moment the government issued a capture warrant for you"
---broken in 2 parts due to lenght---
 Tsunami K · Wed Sep 13, 2006 @ 09:23pm · 0 Comments |
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