Empty Nest (MK)

[GEAR]

L5 Cluster
Time: Unknown
The Nest

​

An ancient, creaking room, abnormally large in the distorted sunlight. Dust and debris littered the interior, as a small figure stood in the doorway, infinitely tiny compared to the scale of the place.

Home,

Or... The closest thing they had ever had to one. The silence was deafening as she moved within the interior, stepping over debris to stand in the center of it. Even just being here now was painful - but, where else was she supposed to go? Her throat burned, her eyes stung as she looked around, shuddering within the confines of jacket that was far too large for her.

She was all alone now.

Her fingers reached down, turning over a few pieces of debris gingerly, until they found what they sought. A single, pink feather - one far, far too large to ever have come from a bird. She held it between her fingers, brushing it against her pale face, letting the tears flow - but immediately, her hand came up, slapping against her features, scrunching against her face as if trying to force them back.

"No... No, no..." She whispered, hoarsely.

"Stop it. Stop it. No more crying."

Colors danced before her eyes as she pushed into them, forming into the shapes that her mind feared most, painting her fears onto the inside of her eyelids, and she felt her teeth setting on edge as she shook her head, trying to clear them away.

Mama... Watch me.

I'll become strong. Just you see.

Morta clutched the feather to her chest, protectively. She knew what needed to be done. Mr. Early had said he would help her, and that was all that she needed. Decima had always said she was weak... and, maybe she had been right. Even Papa had turned his back on her - just the defective product of a failure. The light that burned within Duminass, within mother, wasn't even a flicker within her tiny body.

Even so... her arms wrapped about herself in an embrace, as she felt the feathers between her fingers.

"I won't cry..." She whispered into the silence.

"Not ever... again..."

---

​

Present Day
August 20th
L5 Reclamation Project: Yellow Zone

​

Sometimes, Earl was grateful for the silence of space.

"Good, good. You're good. Keep it coming. Little more, little more-"

The contractor pressed a handful of buttons on his spacesuit's wrist, sending it fluttering back alongside the gargantuan chunk of metal he was beside. Not everything could be done from within an MW, after all - and Bioroids, from what he had already managed to learn, oftentimes needed precise direction. He signaled to the two old Huckebeins carrying the metal, causing their own thrusters to flare as they hurriedly sought to decelerate the chunk of Colony wall.

"-Aaaand STOP!"

Sure enough, it ground to a halt - just barely in time for a third machine to intercept it, this one of alien make, catching it in its reptile-like arms, causing Earl to give a sigh of relief.

He was getting too old for this, he thought, but...

His spacesuit craned its gaze upward. In the distance there was the occasional boom as a Lamalice was purged from this plane of existence, the Bioroid soldiers working overtime to cleanse the area and give it back to humanity. He'd been considering retirement but... the need for laborers for this project was so great, he just couldn't possibly turn down the pay. The Meyven had done a lot for the Colonies, he thought privately. Now it was time for them to give back.

Something beeped in his ear as he made his way back to his Axio: A reminder. Grateful for the comfort of the machine's chair, he hurried to seal the cockpit back up, thumbing through his to-do list for the day.

Looked like they were getting a special guest, he noted. Here to investigate something? "Remedy" didn't even seem like an unusual name to him at this point, he thought. Maybe he was getting used to being around these strangers from space after all?

Shrugging, the yellow-painted Axio released its anchor, thrusters flaring as it made its way to the next site.

Recovery had to start somewhere after all.

 

[MKR]

Remedy surveyed the area, it was both odd to think this area had been populated once, as well as having endured a similar attack to L4. Yet both were undoubtedly truths, the Lamalice, the people. A fateful day etched in the conscious of those that lived in the colonies. One which would continue to permeate for generations as a reminder of abandonment. The sight disgusted her, luckily she didn't have to witness it. And if any of her had been there, surely they would have emptied their stomachs from the sickening sights of mass death.

Already she hated this place, what its ruins stood for. But she pressed on, the Getviewm entering the working area calmly as Remedy opened the comms. Her focus away from the parts that revolted her and onto the will to rebuild, to survive against the odds and start anew. A beautiful thing amidst this pain.
And with that beauty in mind she finally addressed her arrival.
"Good day," Day was subjective out in these reaches of space but still, "Remedy Otzer de Bougher, I've arrived for the inspection."
Introduction and premise out of the way she continued, far from the only Remedy capable of proper introductions.

"I was notified there were peculiar finds amidst the L5 ruins."
The various hers and the Meyven had now begun their investigations from those unusual findings in earnest, and while finding the truth was bound to be a difficult task. She would give it her best.

 

[GEAR]

"Nice to meetcha, Inspector. I'm Earl Martindale, foreman for this sector."

The yellow Axio waved down the approaching Getviewm, offering it a hand as it drew nearer. Not too far away, the lights of an in-progress Colony reconstruction could be seen, over half of the nearest cylinder having already been reconstructed. It was something of a marvel that loomed over the entire area, large, netted clumps of parts being hauled busily by Cosmolions, Axios, and all manner of machines back towards it.

"I sure am glad you made it!" Laughed Earl,

"Peculiar finds doesn't even begin to cover it. Here, follow me - I'll show you around."

The Axio jetted along towards the camp, leaving a trail of expelled water vapors behind it as it went. All the while he chattered on animatedly with a distinctly Bostonian accent, the sound of the controls clicking and whirring under his hands coming in loud and clear over the radio.

"I guess a good place to start with would be a summary, right?" He said finally, tapping his keyboard with gloved hands as he began to transmit a map of the area to Remedy.

"We've been working this section of the ruins for the past three months. Progress was pretty good, we've retrieved over 60% of the original mass for recycling... right up until about two weeks ago.



See this area? The debris ought to be thickest, based on the gravity fields being emitted by the colonies, but... It's actually incredibly thin. Means something's been going in... or out. Something big, like a cargo ship, or something... But you'd be nuts to try and manuever a vessel in here with all the debris, not to mention the Lamalice.

Now you always get space pirates and other scum crawling around in a place like this. I just give 'em a whack of the ol' EM Blade and they're running for cover - no big deal - but the boys I sent out to take a look the other day haven't come back. If you hadn't turned up when you did, I'd be going out there myself!"

The Axio landed on the camp's outside - a skeletal frame that had been grafted onto the Colony's flank, comprised of multipurpose modules that linked together to form a rudimentary space station. Such things were common, especially when an extended repair job was expected, and the network of tube-like components spread out in all directions like veins across the side of the metal wall, like a great web.

Striding across the surface, the Axio came to a large covered dome, pausing as it began to scan its credentials into an airlock.

"Look at me, goin' a mile a minute as always." He said reproachfully, "Any questions so far, young lady?"

 

[GEAR]

"Right this way, right this way."

Martindale's Axio plodded across the threshold after a brief delay. A couple of spined drones swiveled in the direction of the two arrivals curiously, but otherwise made no move to impede their progress as the walked into the dome's interior. The rugged terrain beneath indicated it had, unlike the others, seemingly been hastily converted from an asteroid. It was not uncommon for entire chunks of rock to be dragged forth from the belt, to where their resources could be mined closer to home, with the hollowed-out leftovers left to drift around the outskirts of Colonial space, where they inevitably became home for all manner of flotsam and jetsam.

"Well, here she is."

Arrayed before Remedy, tied down via strips of tape to the asteroid floor, and surrounded by a variety of smaller spacecraft conducting their own analysis, was what could be described as a miniature quarry... of sorts. Three blocky, humanoid outlines had been marked across the surface, and filling those were assorted bits and pieces of what appeared to be chunks of statue... albeit ones far, far too large to have been crafted by the hand of man. Shards of fingers still outstretched, as though they had been cut down in mid-reach, were arranged beside blackened, scalded palms.

Onyx forms trimmed with faded citrine, chunks of limbs and torsos, thick cracks running up the sides of the pieces that remained. Some effort had been made to rejoin the larger sections, and a gaggle of spacesuit clad engineers were huddled below around the "chest" of one of the outlines, evidently engrossed in discussion.

"Looks like some kind of new-age art project to me, lassie." Said Earl, for once his friendly laugh sounding a little more anxious than usual.

"If you've got any idea what we're looking at, I'd be happy to hear it."

 

[MKR]

The Getviewm gazed down upon the outlines like a satellite beholding a landmark upon the surface of earth. Within its cockpit the woman frowned, milling over something as she gazed on and Martindale explained the situation. Mentally she tried to reconstruct the statues, putting the pieces together as words lay on the tip of her tongue.
"I feel like I should know them, but..." She let out a 'hmmm' as she paused, taking on another angle and continuing her mental image. "Like- in the way that... what is the local word... in the way that you haven't seen someone since high school and they are all grown up and... dyed their hair..."

The Getviewm suddenly hung still in the air. A realization setting into the woman.
"They're not supposed to be black..." A whisper came over the comms, prior discomfort hidden by contemplation surfaced. Above the machine suddenly leaned in closer as if that would aid its cameras and brought a gaze of scrutiny down upon the statues. She didn't know what they were but one thing was for certain.

"They are not supposed to be this color." A decisive statement, a fact. She didn't know what the correct color was but it was not black no anything but black, everything but black perhaps even. "But what are they supposed to be."
Words at the tip of her tongue, a sense of dread and worry.

"I'm sorry but can you remove everyone from it Earl, perhaps a clear look can help."
In truth it was more that mixed with the feeling something was wrong and she didn't want anyone around them when it did happen. She hated watching people die. In the meanwhile she didn't stop painting a mental picture, brick by brick of these 'statues'. However now her guard was up as she couldn't help but shake the feeling this was bad, very bad.

 

[GEAR]

"Didn't know you were an artist!"

Earl's forehead creased, as he listened to Remedy, nodding along with her statements. At least someone seemed to know what was going on, even a little bit. The sooner he could get this mess cleared up, the sooner he could get back to work. The bills weren't going to pay themselves, after all.

---

Meanwhile...

The two "Urchins" scanned the outskirts, camera eyes whirring and clicking as they took in the sights. It was an endless, thankless job, and as drones they didn't even get paid - but, fortunately for Earl, they didn't complain either. Or sleep, for that matter.

A blip on the horizon caused both to pause in their scanning. Each zoomed in, straining to get a closer look at the disturbance in the distance. Sometimes it was just a space pirate, other times a piece of errant debris. Nothing to be worried about.

This time, however-

Space rippled, twirling gently away in pulsating waves as a single, murky blade emerged, pointed to the heavens as it materialized into existence. The quad-barreled cannons arrayed about the camera flared as the keen shape began to accelerate, tearing towards them like a knife through silk-

---

Earl's Axio raised its rand at the other working machines, giving them a friendly wave as its speakers engaged. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he'd do his best to help Remedy however she could.

"Alright lads, you heard 'er. Get the boys cleared out, and we'll-"

Sound... and fury.

A blinding flash of light as every warning klaxon on the Getviewm screamed at its pilot. A piercing ray of light erupting across her vision, slicing violently across the length of the asteroid - and a riproaring explosion right at her feet, enough to send the Enigma Machine flying. Merciful silence followed, punctuated only by the occasional ping of superheated debris off the Getviewm's armor as chunks of the now ruined screen rained down upon it intermittently.

In the distance, barely visible through the smoke, a bright blue visor flared as something moved through the cloud slowly, flexing back and forth.

Searching.

 

[MKR]

"Didn't know either." She mused, "Either way thank y-"

Detonation, destruction. The violent claim to life and terrain. Green lights erupted from the back of the Getviewm, driving it sideways to take control of its own momentum as Remedy was almost deafened by the warning systems crying out in despair.
"NO!" She cried out along the blaring sirens. Not again, not more, it was sickening to watch death and what was likely death.

She hoped an answer came to her sudden cry as she turned towards the source, seeing the dance of the blue light across the smoke as her eyes blinked rapidly, the pupils getting larger with every blink. Her position was almost perfectly still in turn, no matter the rotation of her body her head was in the exact same position staring down the presumed culprit.

The muscles in her hand tensed, a crystalline shape formed in that of the Getviewm. Silence came next as the item was lobbed at the visor bobbing back and forth, two more followed suit around it. Each detonating into a large crystalline shape. One that rotated as it 'exploded' outwards, pushing the dust hanging in space away with its detonation to clear the area and show the culprit clearly.

In the meanwhile the Getviewm itself began a dash in counterclockwise motion, tracking the faint light should it decide to do something. It didn't seem to have a solid eye on her position as such she needed to stay on the move and track it. Mentally she blocked the extra noise from the debris hitting her armor, instead focusing on what was important.

Catching whoever was responsible.

 

[GEAR]

As the Getviewm moved, the blue light pulsated, as if sensing her movement, turning towards her as she moved. There was a low rumble at her feet, like a great mechanical whining and grinding, or heavy feet were turning.

The blue light faced her, in silence. As the smoke began to clear, the form of the assailant began to become clear. A jutting, piscine head like that of a swordfish, colored a lustrous crimson, under which a dewy blue stone hung. It shivered and shuddered unsteadily as it stood, as if breathing raggedly.

A second light pulsed into being at its side.

Then, a third.

It took a step closer, a hulking, malformed claw dragging itself forward out of the mist. The second, rasping head jutting out of its side, a one eyed panther, stared wildly at Remedy, a jaw filled with cracked teeth gnashing in futility at the air. Bundles of cables woven into the smashed side of its face clustered about a singular, crimson camera-eye that rolled about in the dark depths of the head, seeking a target in the darkness.

The third head, the gnarled beak of a once great avian gave a low, agonized screech that reverberate through the floor. Massive, thruster-laden wings rose up from the thing's grotesque body, equal parts gleaming mechanical components and patchwork chunks of red marble, shark-like fins jutting from its back, shouders, and hips as it bellowed a challenge to its prey.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"

The Charite Custos leapt, claws spread wide, crackling with electricity as it swept at the Getview's chest, attempting to rend it clean in two with a single, mighty blow. Were Remedy to evade it, the panther head would have opened its mouth - and unleashed a blast of electric fury in her direction, aiming to catch her in the chest mid-feint, as its cumbersome form surged forward with seemingly little regard for its own safety.

 

[MKR]

Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.
Cause, symptom, cure, remedy, continue.
Disgust, disgrace, vile, wicked, wrong, she saw the thing and knew it was wrong wrong wronger then wrong. If she could strangle it with her bare hands she would if only to see it undone in such a direct manner. How dare it exist, how dare it be in her presence. How dare it exist in her presence. How. Dare. It. Make. Itself. Known. To. Exist.

Had it had any care it would have known to kill itself at its birth, in fact she could only forgive its existence if it was kind enough to destroy itself completely now. What a rancid being even in the void of space she could smell its stink.
The Getviewm quickly adjusted its momentum, not eager to be torn in half by any disgrace against all that was holy. The chimera would have to look elsewhere for easy prey. Granted, it did as it blasted electricity at her. Finally the woman within made a sound.

A scream of equal pain and fury as the voltage coursed through her and her machine, finally its grotesque smell was gone. The smell of charred flesh was much more pleasant to her nose then its presence. The lumbering beast had done her one kindness, but yet its eternal sin of existing continued. Her eyes remained open the entire time as electricity coursed through her machine, towards her and back out. The metal absorbed the brunt of the attack but that left blacker marks on the already black machine.

What mattered, is that it was still active. And the beast... Being... Sin had crossed into her range to lunge and as such two beam sabers flared on, equal parts disgrace and false idol would be subject to the rapidly swinging blades, aiming to carve limbs and heads apart but beginning with the lion. It after all had just attacked her, and while its claws and movements were lumbering so far anything that could attack quickly was subject to culling. In fact, while she was at it the second blade went for the fish head. Her eyes already on the third light. She would blind this, rob it of all its senses.
Cause, symptom, cure, remedy, continue.
Heavy breaths filled her cockpit, loathing. Disgust. Seething anger.
Cause, symptom, cure, remedy, continue.
A symptom not a cause. Yet it could still be cured. As long as Remedy continued to carve away.

 

[GEAR]

Remedy tore forward, blades licking out at the hybrid Custos as it shambled forward, ever eager to meet her fury. Her beam saber slashed at the panther-like face's features, tearing a suppering, red-hot gash across its face, causing sparks to burst forth in a blind, shotgun like shot vaguely oriented in her direction as it screeched in pain and fury. The second one went in, aiming to claim the head of the shark-

And met resistance. Blistering white energy pulsed from the interior as the spike began to move, spinning to the right faster and faster as pure plasma enveloped it. The Techler Drill was thrust forward with all the might of a rabid beast, aiming to punch through Remedy's shoulder, a whirring, crackling spear of power that shone like a brilliant sun.

To make matters worse, the creature's back rippled, chunks of marble-like flesh sliding aside to reveal a set of imposing looking launchers embedded into its body. With a shudder, the micromissile compliment was disgorged, a volcano-like eruption of explosives hurtling in the Getview's general direction as it hammered the surroundings haphazardly, each head giving its own distorted, animalistic shriek as it swept the drill back and forth, seemingly completely focused on disembowling the target of its ire.

 

[MKR]

Electricity, explosions, each casting a hue over the form of the Getviewm, the former casting its right half in a dim blue a color which would be pleasant were it not for the cause being the monstrosity. Which in turn made the colors it produced equally vile to her, the latter in contrast cast heavy shadows to a red backdrop making the Getviewm seem even more demonic then it already was. And of course the Drill itself casting an almost angelic color over the machine. So far all the other attacks were going wide, but that- that was an imminent threat.

The Enigma Machine's 'scarf' was already moving as the beam sabers were turned off green thrusters flaring up as it drove itself sideways, out of the range of the drill. The pilot using her fine control over the machine to push it towards the belly of the Sin. As it swiftly dropped down and under, in one move sliding out from the thunder, the drill and the missiles.

This, the maneuverability presented, that was one of the Getviewm's greatest strengths, acceleration and fine turning. A deadly pair especially when used against so clumsy a foe. The sight of its belly however, was not at all any more pleasant then the front. Here it was equally disgusting. As she could still see the underside of its monstrous, vile, wrong, disgusting features.

But that was not the important part, no the pièce de résistance came with it. The tails of the Getviewm wormed around the Amalgamation, in turn also bringing the Getviewm closer and closer to the thing. Who in turn deactivated its beam sabers and brought its arms to grab the upper halves of the two claws that had cut at its prior. And when it had done that...
It began to squeeze. Crush, compact, it would force every façade of life out of the beast. Its fins were perhaps free and its wings could flap. But that would not save it from the fate of being crushed to death with this pneumatic press of an attack.

Inside of it Remedy's breath continued, steadily, raggedly, steadily. The pain sedated by the sheer fury felt at this thing. Why did she feel fury? Would she need a reason? Who cared? Did she even care if she needed a reason?
She didn't know, she didn't, nobody, noyesnoyesnoyesno
Her mind was running a mile a minute, each facet of her existence driving her to extinguish that of her foe. She wasn't playing around no. Instead the crushing continued.

 

[GEAR]

The Getviewm's "scarf" lashed out, snapping about the body of the Custos cerberus, seemingly to the creature's surprise. Its grip tightened as the monster stood its ground, both straining against one another, as white-hued breath wafted from the thing's three heads. Was it hesitating, somehow? Was there a kind of pained reluctance behind its actions?

Creak... criiiick-ick-ick...

A snapping noise filled the cockpit, the sound of a treacherous, icy lake's surface starting to snap underfoot, magnified by a hundred thousand. Black cracks snaked up the limb of the Custos as the Enigma Machine tightened its grip, but then-

"Gkkkrrraaaaghh!!!"

With an unholy roar, the monster reared up - and slammed its forelegs home into the rock, those that could even lay mighty Super Robots low, bulging with artificial musculature. As it did so, the two wings above scythed down like a pair of scissors, their bladed edges ripping through the extended tendrils - and in that instant, the Custos leapt back - albeit now leaking a white, gel-like substance from a bleeding crack in its right flank - putting a small amount of distance between the two of them as it growled, threateningly.

Burning beams speared from the cracked gemstones upon the wings, rays of incandescent flame that swept down at Remedy, bathing the entire area in heat capable of turning both her, and the asteroid beneath her into little more than puddles of liquid. This was joined by a burst of white light from the still-oscillating drill, a focused beam aimed directly at her chest. The space around it seemed to distorting as it fired, the light from the sun starting to bend about the Custos in strange and unnatural ways - not yet completely, but it was as if her vision was becoming hazy, the telltale sign of something tapping into the Akashic Records-

But, for what?

 

[MKR]

A grunt of disapproval, if only there were more- other angles of attack. With five Getviewms perhaps she could have kept it in place and crushed it into those pebbles that sit at the bottom of an aquarium. That would have been nice to do, but instead the stone of the asteroid below was scattered and the thick steel of the tails had been cut through. With its almost crab claw esque feet the Getviewm was quick to straighten itself the remains of its death trap floating besides it.

Though adrenaline still coursed through her she was no longer riding high, her breath was raspier then before. While her eyes had not blinked once this entire time still focused on the abomination with unceasing stare there was now a bob to her head with every breath. This had, was, had taken taking taken a toll on her. But still she pushed forward, she couldn't rest let it set in just how bad an experience this had been for her physically as for mentally...
Cause, symptom, cure, remedy, continue.
Mentally she was.
Cause, symptom, cure, remedy, continue.
Persevering.
Cause, symptom, cure, remedy, continue.
And thankfully for her none of the damage had been to her thrusters, so as the rain of flaming projectiles came down those activated pushing her to the side, the drill's beam however impacted the shoulder area on her left side with a glancing blow as she moved out, causing unintentional rotation as well as notable damage to the half destroyed tail. She let out a yelp as a result.

The right side however was still capable of retaliating, even if its shot would be less accurate due to the sudden jolt in direction. Three purple rings shot outwards, homing into the crack on the right flank she had been moving towards. Hopefully correcting themselves enough to compensate for the sudden turn.
It was at that point that her vision became hazy, or was it that the Sin was becoming hazy?

Perhaps both, a cause without reason came to mind... A concept that she couldn't remember learning about.
Both beam sabers flared to life once more as she kept moving. Unable to pause. Unable to relent.

 

[GEAR]

Blood in the water.

As Remedy fired, an eerie light radiated from the inside of the Custos, for only a moment. There was a sudden snap-

And before her very eyes, the Charite, the abomination broke apart, in a flash of dazzling pearl. It was as if were little more than a plastic toy, coming apart with the expert application of her thumb to an internal spring-loaded lock, bolts of flayed, green-hued electricity trailing among its composite parts.

Three separate chunks, three distinct, beast-like shapes, firing off in three different directions - crossing the threshold between this world as they dove beneath the surface of reality, disappearing from view as if they had dove underwater, leaving nothing but ripples across space in their wake.

Uneasy silence filled the battlefield as the seconds ticked by. Shadows, circling beneath the water's surface. Invisible predators, waiting to strike.

Aleph!

To Remedy's immediate left, the half-formed Panther bust into view, giving an unearthly roar as its mechanical eye fixated on the Getviewm. an electricity laced claw ripping clear across, aimed to cleave her in two at the waist with the sheer force it was dragged across the battlefield, leaving a peal of roaring thunder in its wake, a phantom mirage of its full body trailing and flickering behind it as it went before vanishing back into the void.

Beth!

As soon as the first had swung, with a plume of heat, the Eagle appeared overhead. Its plumed wings tucked close to its gnarled frame as it plunged like a meteor in the wake of its fellow, hundreds of years of fighting side by side flickering faintly at the back of its mind. Body wreathed in flames it came scything down in a swoop, one cruel claw aimed to slice into the Getviewm's back and envelop it in searing fury, punctuated by an avian shriek of pain and fury. Once its part was done, it faded out of existence, as thought it had never been anything more than a heat mirage.

Gimel!

Lastly, as soon as the heat faded, it was replaced by searing cold.

Bubbling up from below, the Shark emerged in a burst of shimmering froth, body writhing and pumping as it surged across the spectral waves. It rose, arcing into the air such that the sunlight gleamed off its body, illuminating the ethereal, transparent prosthetics that seemingly replaced its missing limbs - before crashing down on the Getviewm's location in a spray of blue, dorsal fin aimed to slice Remedy's hapless machine in twain from shoulder to hip, all the while sending it for a tumble as the "waves" it created from its entry ripped across the area as it plunged back into nonexistence.

 

[MKR]

Heavy breaths, silence reigned over the battlefield now. Her opponent vanished but was still present. Of this there was no doubt. As they dove into nothing her eyes opened wider, any signs of exhaustion vanished as swift as they had set in. Yet even she could not exactly grasp why, it was a faint moment of acknowledgement.
There was however, no time to contemplate. The Getviewm prepared its blades.

The Lion was kind enough to alert her to the start of this assault, even if their combined presence was still utterly vile to her now their forms were closer to... correct? It was a bit unusual to think of them as such. One of the blades clashed with the claw, the force of the collision dragging the Getviewm alongside the mirage as the trail of thunder ended in front of it. The speed of her own reaction surprised her and would continue to.

Heat above, her senses were ahead of her conscious mind when she pressed herself forward, the worst of the dive was evaded but sections of the Getviewm's back dripped as they were liquified only to immediately be made solid once more by the void of space and its freezing temperatures. And the scalding cold feeling that followed.

Remedy's gaze went to the Shark the last of the trio which disgusted her. The second arm came down to it, the one which had contested with the Lion following afterwards as the clash of weaponry came against the fin. The impact of the blow shook her cockpit, and flung her backwards as a large gash was now diagonally painted across the Getviewm's form.

Breath, they had vanished once more. None of the three were visible retaliation was impossible currently.
The Enigma Machine was with its back against a wall. Remedy's lip was shaking. Words were leaving her lips, but she couldn't hear them.
It was like white noise, were they even words or simply noises meant to convey meaning- if even that.

At this point she realized, her thrusters were damaged, half molten. Functional but impaired. Top speed from now on was only available when going left. The Demonic visage of the Enigma Machine stared onwards all the same however. Ready for whatever came next.

She was is was is was alone.
She was never always never always alone.
They were three one three one three.
She could be as well.
Battered but not beaten the Getviewm stood amidst the rubble. Its pilot mumbling into infinity.

 

[GEAR]

Three blue lights appeared in the distance, like eyes in the void, space bending and whirling about it. They watched her with a strange abundance of caution, growing brighter with every passing second, until the rest of their bodies was illuminated as well, crawling forth from the depths.

All the "components" emerged from subspace with a burst of spectral bubbles, colliding back together with a spray of sparks, reforming the three-headed beast with a guttural growl of pain. The eagle head craned its neck down from where it hovered in the ruins, looking at the distant form of the Getviewm. The prey was broken now, wounded. No, the target. Its mission was almost complete. All that was needed now was to silence her... forever. The secret would never be known.

Each head opened wide - electricity, frothing bubbles, and flame bursting into being in each's throat. This grew in volume until it was blinding, forming a white sphere, fed by power from all three, which was leveled at Remedy. The sphere rippled with barely contained fury, its destructive power worthy of its pedigree as the first - and last - line of a man-made God.

This time, there would be no escape. No heroics.

Spoiler: Nothing but oblivion-

"Ignition."

Spoiler: Nothing but oblivion-

Oh.

Spoiler: Nothing but oblivion-

A flame in the night.

A candle against the darkness.

Sensing danger, the Custos swung its body in the direction of the new threat - a lance of burning, blazing energy that stabbed across the Asteroid field - but it was already too late. The Terminus Blaster slammed into its flank, punching through the God's Shield barrier, sending marbled flesh and metal in all directions as the beast let out a horrendous scream. Smoke vomited forth from its mouth as it staggered back - wounded, but not yet dead - as the energy it had collected dispersed pitifully into the void.

It had not yet been given permission to die. Even as Remedy watched, the scorched flesh was starting to knit back together. It wouldn't be long before the attack resumed.

Something heavy landed next to the Getviewm. A towering, hulking presence - a Special. A colossal hand reached down, and gently touched the Getviewm's shoulder.

"Lasmunamium, limiter release."

A woman - a young girl's voice crackled over the radio. In seconds, the whining claxons and glaring red HUD warnings on the Getviewm would have stopped. No, it was as if new power was flowing through its limbs, broken armor plates hurriedly fusing back together, systems recovering at almost breakneck speed. Even the long, winding scarves that had been so cruelly torn flowed back out to stream into the void, like the unfurling of a banner of war.

A heavy hand was offered to her from an unexpected helper.

"On your feet.", said the pilot of the Garberus, gently, but urgently.



"I can't do this alone."​

​

 

[MKR]

The hand was accepted, the Getviewm brought to both feet as it underwent rapid repairs. An unexpected turn of events, she thought she was going to have to rely on herself and herself. But instead another- a girl. This was no time to worry about the age of one's assistance. Instead it was one to capitalize on the situation at hand. Quickly she verified everything was as it should be, and then she stopped the white noise, or began understanding what she was saying perhaps as she enabled her comms to reply,

"Then we do this together."

With that said her eyes moved to the reeling Abomination, like a wounded animal. Yet a cornered animal was at its most ferocious.
As the tails attached themselves they were pointed forward, the Getviewm entering a wide embrace with the air before it. Energy coalesced in its chest, in front of it it amassed a sphere of it. Lines of energy drawn between it and the two reconstructed tails which pointed it at the weakened foe.

"Don't let it recover, kill it before it can hide itself." She warned her newfound ally.

The Getviewm stared down at the Sin in front of her, how she loathed it. For it warped the familiar, it was a twisted sense of deja vu, like watching a corruption of something or someone you care for walk. Or stumble, like a zombie. This. Was a mercy, a service. A graceful conclusion to a sickening saga with only one chapter.
They were an affront and their final words were being penned right here, right now.

History books in the abyss would read 'and then they were liberated from their twisted form'.

"Arbit Blaster!" Remedy cried out, the ball of energy extending outwards into a beam. The light piercing forward aiming to puncture the Sin through its length, as if to divide them molecule by molecule. It was the only cure to this condition. Space being decorated with what could only be called a sword of light aiming to puncture this foe.

Her breath grew more ragged, adrenaline began to slow. Her body's state catching up with her. Electrocuted flesh still reaching into her senses making her aware of her state even if the Getviewm was returned to perfection. But it was still better then having that thing envelop her senses.

 

[GEAR]

As the Arbit Blaster punched out, the response from the Custos was swift. Once again it attempted to separate, three constituent parts starting to break away, trying to move back into the safety of subspace - but this time, they lacked the element of surprise, and the smoke billowing from their tales indicated a greater problem stirring.

Remedy's beam slammed home into the Shark's core, sending it sprawling into the rock as cracks snapped across its surface. The other two bolted away, but the Garberus was already following their movements, raising its arms in their firection. With a spray of light and Terminus particles, spikes burst into being across its surface, its fists shaking as power was redirected into them.

"Double Fang Knuckle!"



With an explosive roar of Terminus Energy, the two fists rocketed away - and each found its mark, colliding with two of the glowing cores. Guiding them expertly, they swung inward - and smashed the two phantom Custos together before breaking away, leaving all three in a crumpled heap, cores sparking and limbs twitching. The "presence" that she had felt before seemed to be fading fast, as the three cores once more fused back into one, leaving the wounded Custos on its knees, gasping for breath once more.

 

[MKR]

It finally began to set in just how much pain Remedy was in currently as the tails returned to their rightful place, coiling behind the Enigma Machine. A raspy breath came out from her, she had endured worse. At least she was fairly certain that she had. Perhaps she would endure worse, or maybe she would.

The Getviewm during this time, as the abomination was nearly robbed of its right to existence, moved forwards. Eager to seal the deal. She couldn't feel it anymore, feel him. That reason why herself and he had sent her here this thing had tried to ape him! No... Not ape, the exact opposite perhaps? She wasn't sure, she wasn't sure she wanted to be sure.

In spite of the disgusting realisation, she steadied her machine. Energy massed in its shoulders and with a press.

Fired.

Three bolts of energy out of each shoulder, directed, homing in on its target. The wounded beasts laying in a pile, one set of blasts for each and to finish the deal. An energy grenade tossed in their midst, to rend all three asunder.

She coughed. It was vile this thing.
Her eyes wouldn't move off from it until she was certain it had died.

And only then would she turn to her ally and say.
"Thank you."

 

[GEAR]

"Terminus Blaster!"

With a dizzying snapping of parts, the Garberus swung an impressive looking barrel over its head, discharging a potent, burning beam of plasma at the wounded Custos. It splattered against the barrier, the beast still trying to rise to its feet - before the grenade from Remedy looped gently through its field of vision, clattering neatly into the cavity left in its chest. The beast gave a strangled, agonized gasp-

And exploded, triplicate pieces scattering chunks of porcelain-like flesh in all directions. The Garberus, lit by the explosion, returned to its "normal" form with another rapid twisting of metal, watching the display in silence. At last, it seemed as if the two of them could breathe easy.

As Remedy extended her gratitude, the towering Special looked down at her, pensively. It was almost as if it didn't know what to say in response... but eventually, the pilot spoke.

"I haven't seen one of you in a long time." She said, quietly.

"...Are you the last one, like me?"

There was a tender pause, before she continued, fully opening up a link between the two machines. A young girl sat at the controls of the behemoth, a large coat draped over her shoulders. Something had... changed since they had last met. She looked... older, as if her body had started to accumulate the years that it had previously been denied, slender frame wrapped in a coat that looked too big for her.



"My name is Morta... A homonculus of Duminass." Said the dark haired girl, touching a hand to her chest. Her voice was... quiet, somehow, a stark contrast to the commanding tone it had taken before, and her eyes only ever met Remedy's briefly before flicking away timidly.

"I... no longer have anything to do with Pa... I mean, Dark Brain." She added, correcting herself hastily.

"So... there's no need for us to fight."

Her eyes closed.

"Not... anymore."