She was numb.
Her whole self felt it. The weak flesh within her, the volatile fluid that her heart pumped, once red blood now pink plasma, her metal body. The three stab wounds on her torso, the hole in her head, the stub of a left leg she now had, all bleeding in varying amounts.
Those were all minor. She could live with those. She would live.
And that's what hurt.
That's what tugged at what remainder of a soul she had. She lived, still lives, but others do not. She could blame that vile filth, Bog, all she wanted. She still intended to fight, and if necessary, kill. But they didn't deserve what she did to them. It was dark, cruel, evil.
Her eyes, worn out and nigh useless from years of reckless scientific endeavors and torture, made blurs in her vision. She let her hands wander. Was that piece of gray it? No, that was her razor blade. She grasped the only other blob of gray in her vision, feeling the metal, the touch of wires. She held it with both hands in front of her, seeing it clearly.
Her visor. It was shattered, halved, its inner machinery open. The mask the world knew her by, broken. Much like her, she thought.
They never knew her past. What happened that made her who she was. The experiments, the torture. The innocent child she once was. The child she could've been. They broke her down, and built her back up to be a weapon.
A weapon. That's all she was. Her only purpose was to hurt, it seemed.
Yupia sighed. They would never know. And now, her fate was sealed. A shot through her head decreased her efficiency in all actions, the loss of one of her legs would slow her down. Three stab wounds and the stub she still had of a left leg all bled in varying amounts, slowly sapping away her strength. The blood still coursing through her was infected, defiled with traces of a murderer.
They would never help her. Not with him still in her veins. Not with the weight of her sins. Not with their.. his blood on her hands.
"Damn it.."
She had very few known acquaintances, even less that could be considered friends. Only minutes ago, that number had been reduced to zero by him.
No her. Her blade, her body. She had given a crazed smile as she had done it. As she silenced his screams. It was blur to her, Bog's influence had fogged up those memories. But those screams.. those would haunt her forever.
"What's with the mask?"
Yupia turned her head in a snap, glaring at Hue. The color change of her visor stopped the versatile duelist. He raised his arms in surrender, shrugging, a calm accepting expression on his face. A change to the shade of blue and an elevation in heart rate detected by monitors was the only sign of fear.
"Hey, I was just asking."
Yupia turned away, her visor calming back to pink.
"If you must know, I don't see well," she growled.
"What does that mean?" he asked, "You're blind?"
"Shut up."
"You, Yupia, a cyborg warrior among the top ten in confirmed kill counts in the Dojo, is blind?"
She grit her teeth, nearly reaching the limit of her patience. She chose to respond with silence. Hopefully he would just leav-
"You know I'll keep bugging you until you tell me," Hue said.
"Is it really necessary to know?"
"It's necessary if you want your peace and quiet."
"… Normally."
"… what?"
Yupia sighed in annoyance and walked off.
"I am no longer interested in this conversation," she said.
Hue's expression soured.
"Fine then. I just wanted to have a friendly chat."
Yupia turned to face Hue, visor crimson again.
"We are not friends," she stated, "No one is my friend.
"Let them through!"
Hue looked back to their leader, shock in his eyes.
"But your orders-"
To his right, Gyro, the other member in their team, let go of the door.
"Man, I'm out.."
As the other warrior walked away, Hue looked on in shock. The crackle of plasma snapped him out of his trance, as Yupia charged up a plasma shot.
"Scum," she muttered, referring to the Dark Demons or to Gyro, Hue didn't know. Either way, he bailed out, dodging the volatile plasma's wrath.
The door blasted open. From the fog of the explosion, cyan eyes emerged. Dark blue beasts stepped forward. The Dark Demons were here, and they were many in number. Too many.
"This is all they have?" Yupia asked.
Hue nodded, flashing to a yellow shade of confidence. His weapon flashed to life, taking the form of a curved blade.
"Let's make them pay." The Dark Demons had slain many of the Dojo. Hue was ready to die fighting against them. Yupia shook her head.
"You two, go back and defend."
She dashed forward, visor blood red with rage. Arcs of faded pink electricity sparked around her, like a thunderstorm. Yupia had yet to equip her blade, intent on fighting up close and personal.
"I'll cleanse this filth."
A hand grabbed Yupia's scarf in an iron grip, stopping her.
"Calm down."
Yupia glanced at the one who stopped her.
"Blue?"
"They'll need you. I'll handle these guys."
His black eyes hardened as he insisted, "Go back."
Yupia's visor calmed to a pink, then to a blue-purple.
"Flip that cigarette around while you're at it," she said. The rude outburst was born of not off cruel rage, but an upsetting. If anyone else but she and Blue noticed, she did not know. She simply watched as Blue marched to war.
Blue never marched again. Recovered camera footage from the battle showed that he had fought till the end. His shield shattered, his sword broke. The floors had run red with Dark Demon blood, but still, he fought.
Until he couldn't no more. Commander Yun reinforced the area with the reserve Dojo soldiers, gunning down the invading Dark Demons. But as they fought, not a trace was seen of the
Finally, the war was won. Yupia had taken the mantle of leadership for the team, but they had little success without Blue. The team eventually was split, Gyro and Nanix joining the clan NEMESIS, whilst Yupia and Hue became lone wolves.
Very rarely Yupia took off her visor. The mask was among the most technologically advanced in the world, but eventually it required maintenance. During maintenance, Yupia would seclude in her quarters more so than other times, which was saying a lot due to her being among the most anti-social in the Dojo.
Yupia often used the mirror in her room for maintenance, using it to see tiny details her weak eyes could not. But as she went about her work, she took the time to observe herself. Her eyebrows were the same pale pink as her short hair. Her eyes were black pearls, save for neon pink irises. The irises were segmented, as if digitized like the rest of her. Disturbing scars were cut around her eyes, through, between, surrounding. She sighed. It wasn't a pretty sigh-
The door burst open. Yupia turned her head in a snap, facing the intruder. It was Hue, clad in his standard gear, sword in grip, despite having fallen to the ground in his door-charging.
"Hue!" Yupia exclaimed, "What is this?!"
"Yupia, I'm sorry-" He looked up, finding Yupia's face unmasked, "You took of your mask."
As if she had forgotten, Yupia's hand trailed to her face, where her visor would've been. Realizing her the lack of a mask, she recoiled in fear, turning away, her back facing Hue.
"Don't look at me!"
"Yupia!" Hue looked to the floor, sighing. He put a hand on Yupia's shoulder, his voice toning down, "You okay?"
"What is it?" Yupia asked. When met with silence, she clarified with a growl, "What would you disturb my privacy for?"
Hue sighed, "I don't know how to tell you-"
"Spit it out, before I throw you out," Yupia said.
"Blue is alive."
Yupia froze. She was barely aware of her knees giving out. She turned to face Hue.
"How?" her voice was a whisper.
"I don't know, but it's not good. He's attacked.. is attacking Clan NEMESIS."
"What? That's impossible."
"That's what I said. It doesn't matter. Look, Dojo's mobilizing to assist," Hue explained, "Hyun wants us on the ground."
"To be used as weapons against him? The only person who vouched for me?" Yupia got out a dark chuckle, "That bag of filth wanted me dead, and now he wants me to kill the person that stopped him?"
"No, that's not it-"
"No, Hue. I'm done with them," she stood up, and grabbed her razor blade. "The Dojo can burn for all I care. I'm getting to the bottom of this on my own. Now are you coming with me or not?"
Hue sighed, "You know I can't."
Yupia nodded, and walked pass him. Hue simply let her go, unwilling to go along, or try stop her. Rage filled her, taking physical form through sparks of plasma. Her vision blurred into a fiery red.
"Yupia?"
The cyborg turned around, finding Hue offering her something in his hands. Upon laying her sights on it, she froze again.
"Your visor."
Yupia tentatively took the visor in her hands, the fear of her exposed face apparent in her actions. As she had done many times in the past, she held it up, looking at her reflection in the glass before going to put it on.
"Yupia?"
Hue's voice got her attention, and she met his stare with curiosity, eye to eye. Hue seemed to be slightly intimidated by Yupia's stare, but spoke.
"I'm sorry. Really, I am." He frowned, "The next time we see each other, I likely will have to fight you."
"Then I'll have to kill you," Yupia replied.
"I know," He gave a bitter smile, "But I'm glad to have seen your real face before then."
Yupia for the third time, felt her heart miss a beat. She looked down at her mask one last time, admiring her human face, then put on the mask. She stared again at Hue, this time with her soulless visor, and the smallest of smiles.
"Until we meet again," Yupia said, "Farewell, friend."
"Friend?" Hue gave a bitter laugh, "I thought you had none."
"I did," she turned, but still glanced at him through the side, "But now I have none again."
Yupia stared at her reflection on her visor. Her scarred face had a few more imperfections to them. Most notable was the small bullet hole in her head, from which liquid plasma flowed. The next most changed was her eyes. Once neon pink, now a tad bit red, more pale.
She remembered the feeling of that bullet through her head. She heard the shot, turned around, and found an old ally charging towards her. Startled by the individual, she had let her guard down, and found herself in the sky. She felt each stab from Hue pierce her metal skin and sink into her flesh within. He had to fight her.
Sure enough, she had to kill him.
Now she was alone, bleeding, waiting to die. A tear trailed down her face, the first in many years. The last she cried was when she was young, still being experimented on. The pain was like a fire. But the pain she felt now was like ice. It was far worse.
And who would know about her? Who would know the tragedy of her life?
A sadistic giggle echoed through the forest. Yupia weakly turned her head, meeting the glance of the monster. Bog and his floating acid blob minions grinned gleefully, finding the cyborg's pain entertaining.
"Leave me alone, scum," she growled.
Bog put a hand to his heart in drama.
"Oh, your words wound me."
The Bog before melted. A presence formed to Yupia's immediate right, the heat of acidic steam touching her face.
"But who are you to say anything?" Bog asked, "We're both murderers."
"Leave me alone," Yupia growled.
Bog had enough. A mighty fist smashed Yupia to the ground. She felt nothing, turning and looking back up in defiance.
"I have nothing left to lose," Yupia rasped, "Let me die, or join me in hell."
Bog raised a gooey brow. He then giggled.
"A worthless threat from a crippled little girl."
"Oh?"
Yupia spat in Bog's face. Her blood, a volatile liquid, turned to plasma in the air, and burnt Bog's face. The monster recoiled, giving off a scream.
"Rrraahh! You!" Bog summoned his blobs, but found Yupia, stood up, sparking with plasma. Her irises were crimson with rage and intent to kill.
"No one will miss me," Yupia growled, "No one will me you either."
She raised her arms, releasing a flare of plasma.
Bog fragmented himself, hoping that at the very least one puddle of acid would carry on his legacy.
A few hours early, the forest was greeted with a bright star.