"Who...who is that...?" OlivAI asked, her voice shaking a bit; in fact her whole form was quivering in his arms as she looked up at the being standing over them. He was tall, taller than Tres, and had long blonde hair that hung far down his back. She didn't recognize any of the emblems on his garments.
"Identified as Cain Knightlord. Other aliases include Contra Mundi and Krusnik 01. Leader of the terrorist group known as the Rosencreutz Orden. He is an artificially created human injected with super-enpowered DNA that makes him predator to both humans and vampires..." Tres answered her; she couldn't help but notice that his voice held the faintest trace of venom in it as he informed her of this.
Cain just smirked down at him. "Very good. You seem to remember me Father Tres, a shame our last encounter was so brief, however. I didn't have time to make certain that you were effectively offline. I think I'll correct that now...unless, of course, you wish to simply hand the girl over to me. Then there will be no cause for bloodshed," he replied with a falsely innocent gaze, holding out his hand as though asking to borrow a simple object.
"Negative," Tres replied, holding OlivAI away from him. "She is in my protective custody and must be taken back to the Vatican safely. Your objective for her will involve nothing but torture, Knightlord." The mention of torture made OlivAI gasp softly.
Cain simply gave them another eerie expression before his form suddenly vanished from atop the pillar, reappearing almost instantly in front of them. OlivAI couldn't even fathom the speed at which he moved. "How very astute of you, though I have much bigger plans for her than simple torture, android..." he said. He suddenly gripped Tres by his shoulder armor, literally tearing OlivAI out of his arms before he jettisoned Tres into a far pile of debris with ease, despite his heavy stature. OlivAI cringed, hearing Tres impact the stones harshly.
"No, Father Tres!" OlivAI cried out in terror; she couldn't see him any longer in the shadows and felt her heart sink.
"Oh please, that brainless machine won't be able to tell you what you wish to know about yourself..." Cain said to her as he held onto her arm oppressively, his nails cutting into her skin a bit. "I, however, have known about you my dear for the last nine hundred years...I knew it was only a matter of time before you would woke up, and then I'd simply need to be there to wisk you away. But then he interfered..."
Tres managed to push himself up and out of the pile of rubble; he was slightly damaged, but it was thankfully minimal. He really could take a lot of abuse as he'd said he could.
"OlivAI, you have far more purpose in this world than being on display for the Vatican," Cain said, looking down at her. "I can show you that purpose if you desire..."
"OlivAI, do not listen to him. Cain Knightlord is a known manipulator and mass murderer. The organization that he leads has killed thousands of innocent peoples, perhaps more if tallied throughout the centuries. I cannot promise that the Vatican will know of your past, but I will uphold my promise to keep you safe," Tres said to her. His tone was still even, but slightly more urgent now.
OlivAI looked between them, before she tried to pull free from Cain. "Let go of me! I don't want to go with you...!"
Cain just grinned, and suddenly stabbed his hand directly through her shoulder. Blood and torn flesh suddenly seemed to move through the air in front of her in slow motion. It was not a lethal blow, a few inches from her heart...but the pain. The pain immediately traveled throughout her body and overtook her. She let out a sharp scream of anguish as he pulled his hand free from her, still gripping her with his other hand as she crumpled forward.
Tres immediately lunged at him the second that he heard OlivAI scream, and saw all of the blood. He knew from the past that no matter his aim, his guns would not help him against Cain Knightlord. He had no choice but to attempt to attack him directly.
Cain, however, was still far swifter and stronger than he was. He reached out and gripped Tres by his throat, holding him easily in the air. Tres's expression remained monotone, even as Cain's grip started to rupture some of the circuitry in his neck.
"I know that you don't need to breathe android, but eventually I'll sever right through your spinal column...and you'll be dead," Cain said to him; his voice was so creepily innocent, almost like a sadistic child talking.
"No, please, Cain! Please don't hurt him...I beg you. I'll go with you quietly, just please...please do not harm him further..." OlivAI cried out, even as blood was running down her front.
Cain looked down at her silently, then released Tres from his grip. He suddenly smiled. "Submission suits you well, OlivAI..." he purred to her cruelly, stroking his thumb along her chin as she winced and pulled away. "Say your goodbyes quickly."
Tres was slumped back against some of the stones once more; he was damaged at his neck and down his spine from the earlier blow, and OlivAI could tell that anymore of this conflict and he could have so easily died. She got down and crawled up to him, smoothing some of his hair out of his face.
"Tres...just stay here, okay? No more trying to get me back from him...he's too strong. He'll kill you if you do and I couldn't bear that," she said to him gently.
Tres looked down at her. "I must fulfill my promise..."
"No! I want you to promise me instead that you'll heal yourself and get help on the surface..." she said to him. "It's the only way, right now...I'm sorry. I know in your mind there's always an immediate course of action, but this time...this time there isn't. I know you want to keep your promise to me, Tres...but I can't let you die. Not after the way you protected me earlier when we fell down here. I'd have probably died if it hadn't been with you."
"OlivAI..." he began to speak once more, but she held a finger to his lips to quiet him, which seemed to emote a slight glimmer of surprise on his part.
"No, Tres...no more arguing with me. Just get yourself better and get help, okay? Promise me..." she said to him gently.
Tres was quiet for a moment. "Positive. I promise to do as you wish, OlivAI."
OlivAI smiled a bit. "Good...I'll see you again soon, I promise. Thank you for protecting me, Tres," she said to him softly. She then leaned in and gently pressed a kiss to his cheek.
Tres looked to her with an ever so faint look of shock, but he calmed, and closed his eyes, seeming to enjoy the sensation. He'd never been kissed, before. In fact he couldn't remember the last time he'd been shown physical affection. Her lips felt so warm on his cheek. It made no sense logically for her to show him this intimate a gesture for simply following his program, and yet...he did not protest it.
She heard him make a very faint, deep sound to show his contentment, and smiled at him as she parted from him.
Cain, however, grew weary of their display and suddenly drew OlivAI back to him with an impatient growl. He wrapped an arm around her in a similar fashion to how Tres had held her to keep her warm in the catacombs.
"Do not worry, Father...I will take excellent care of her..." he chided, before he suddenly vanished with her in his grip.
Tres glared at the fading afterglow of Cain and OlivAI's image before him, but it was only another moment before he was forced to power down and heal himself once more.
"Father Tres! Father Tres, please respond if you can hear me..."
Abel's voice sounded at first like it were a hundred miles away, but it became clearer as he continued to speak with him. He could feel him shaking his shoulders a bit, trying to wake him. Tres's optical function returned.
"Father Abel, we must make haste. OlivAI is in grave danger," Tres reported to him swiftly.
"OlivAI...?" Abel echoed him. "Is she the one that we were here looking for?"
"Positive. I located her in the industrial district, but the building was collapsed beneath us and we became cut off from the surface. As I searched for a way out, we were ambushed."
"Ambushed...all the way down here? By whom?" Abel asked incredulously.
"By your brother, Cain Knightlord."
Abel's eyes widened substantially, then narrowed with a potent hate festering within them. "Where did he take her? Do you know why he sought her himself?" From what he'd seen, Cain tended to allow others to do his dirty work, both willingly and unintentionally. The fact that he'd come all the way here just to take the girl personally made him worry all the more about his motives.
"Negative. I was not able to ascertain the girl's origins, only that she is an artificially created being of some form," Tres responded. "Cain Knightlord alluded to knowing of her. He attempted to have her come with him compliantly with that information. When she refused, he kidnapped her using traumatic force."
Abel looked around; traces of his brother's scent were still in the air, but he was obviously long gone now. He winced when he saw the girl's blood on the ground, dried to a near black hue against the stone.
"We need to get back to the Vatican and find out why he took her. Now that we at least know the location of where she was created, maybe we can find some of the answers in the church's archives."
"Positive. We must make haste. I gave her my promise that I would bring her help," Tres said, looking at Abel intently.
Abel nodded. "There's a passage to the surface not far from here, follow me," he said, taking off into a sprint with Tres shadowing just behind him.
