Chapter 37: Aftermath.
Natalie felt some strange softness.
Something was covering her.
Moving her head slightly, her bed covers came into view.
But… this pattern…
It was her old polka dot cover that she got when the Boss had taken her in.
She'd grown out of it ages ago, but why did she have it now?
Suddenly, dull fabricated silver light flooded her old room as the door opened.
Something stood resolute in the doorway, a man of broad shoulder and balding black hair.
It was the Boss, before he had gone cyborg.
This old sight was something she had forgotten, but it was a good sight.
The Boss was a surprisingly gentle man, and the warmest of his smiles could beat back the freezing Zaunic winter nights.
After a few moments, the Boss slowly moved towards the bed before kneeling down beside it.
"Nataly, khochu datvam koyechto." The Boss sighed, bringing his hand up before her.
A golden chain dangled slowly out from his hand.
It was a necklace, and a very beautiful one at that.
"My late mother gave me this, and I vant you to hold onto it. It contains everything else I have, my soul included."
'Your soul?' Natalie thought as her hand instinctively reached out in response.
Her voice was gone, or she felt like she couldn't get any words out.
Her hand opened out beneath Viktor's.
The flawless chain spiraled into her hand, ending in a crafted arrowhead.
Before Natalie could pull away, Viktor grasped her hand between his and spoke.
"I vhear I may not come back the way I once was, but I vant you to be there, by my side, to hold my hand as I valk this new path."
'New path?' Nat thought before the blazing heat of a furnace hit her.
It blazed out iridescently, her eyes barely able to open before shutting themselves away to stop the heat from burning them out.
As the light darkened, Natalie saw what lay beyond.
The Boss was gone, his flesh charred and sloughing off.
But behind that blackened flesh, something shone through.
The blue tint of steel and aluminium.
As the fire died, something had replaced the Boss in his entirety.
It was his new form, clothed in wire and steel.
The death mask gazed daggers into her eyes, but something told her that that gaze held the same concern as those the Boss had only moments ago.
This… this couldn't be the Boss.
It could never be the same thing as her Boss and almost father.
"Nataly, don't vorry. I am still here."
That single line sent fear flooding through her.
She wanted to scream out.
She needed to!
But no words were coming out.
Her heart was racing and eyes wild, but she couldn't move.
Move.
Move!
MOVE!
"Natalie! You alright?" Ahri's voice reached her.
Natalie's eyes opened.
Ahri's head and pure black hair were obscuring the obsidian sky above.
It was the middle of the night.
How many days she had been out, she had no idea.
She looked up to Ahri, her face completely blank.
"You were crying out in your sleep. A nightmare, right?"
"Hm." Natalie nodded slowly, her eyes stinging as tears spawned from them.
"Shshsh, don't worry, we're here for you." Ahri said, cradling Nat's head into her chest.
"I know about what happened back in the hospital with the sexual assault, and… I know that pain too well. Trust me on this one, you've been doing good. Don't need to worry about it at all."
"Yo-You know about that?"
"Mhm, Yam told me before he got sent to the medics."
"Medics- is he hurt!"
"Yeh, but it's not critical. Shrapnel from that blast struck his side just as I was setting up a barrier. Medics say that he's in a pretty bad way, but he'll be healed up ready to go in a few days. He lost quite a bit of blood though, so they said he won't be very fast for the next couple 'a weeks."
Natalie was stunned.
She'd been conscious just before the explosion, but her body had crumpled before that.
She had just been pushing onward until the rest of the Wolfhounds had scurried away, then she had lost all of her strength.
"I-I kind of get how hard it can be for you at the moment, what with all this sh*t going on, but we're here for you. Assaults are always scary. I've been in far more than I've liked to be." Ahri continued to console her.
"Then how do you deal with them?" Natalie started to panic. "I mean look at you! You're always so jolly and easy-going! How has all of that not had an impact on you!"
Ahri chuckled slightly.
"It's just an act that I picked up." Ahri said, her face shifting constantly between bravery and sadness. "I… Hahouya taught me how to wear this smile. This… smile… gets me through the day by making everyone else around me happy. And that makes me kind of happy. But, no matter how happy anyone seems, there's always some sort of emotion behind that. Could be hatred or horror or whatever, but it's always going to be there. Myself included." Ahri brought her smile up once more.
"But… how do you deal with it? You haven't told me anything about how to deal with it!"
"Th-" Ahri paused for a moment, questioning whether or not what she was going to say was necessary.
"That's kind of the thing… You don't. You hold it deep down and just try to never let it surface. It's horrible I know, but that's kinda why you need to get friends. And not just any friends. Good friends. Friends that you can talk, hell even hint at, the things you hold deep inside. If they are good friends, then you can get through pretty much anything. I kinda get how alone you must feel after your squad was killed back at Jonokyuden, but you still have Vik don't ya? Your 'Dad', right?"
"He isn't my father."
"Well of course he ain't your father. Guy would never even stoop so low as to have intercourse because of that 'Revolution' sh*t he talks about sometimes."
"It's bullsh*t anyway. He's kind of given up on that as more and more things have gotten in his way. Tipulko finished it though."
"Tipulko?"
"His lab was in the Tipulko province. After that was gone, he lost part of himself with it."
"Huh. Who knew?"
Natalie shifted herself slightly in discomfort.
Ahri knew what she was getting at.
"I-I know how hard it is, but we can get through this. I mean, I'm not sure about Viktor myself but you can probably ask Xerath over there. Sparky never really gets to sleep easily anyway."
"Please do not call me 'Sparky'. Such a simple name." The phasing grogginess of Xerath's autonomous voice replied from the other side of the cart.
She had not actually realized it, but they had actually been in motion all this time.
She must have been completely out of it before.
"Nonetheless, Viktor is a good man. I've never exactly seen him very attached to many things, but he is similar to me when he does. And I tend to be very protective of my assets."
"Ah, there you go again with your 'asset' sh*t. His word choice aside though, if he thinks Viktor will be fine with you, then you're good."
Xerath tried to move up to protest at Ahri, but Syndra's sleeping body blocked him.
As he had found out at Hahouya's, Syndra lacked any sort of grace when she slept.
She had already sprawled herself out over him and a small droplet of drool hung precariously from her mouth mere inches away from his recovered cloak.
"Champions, if I may," the driver started, a middle aged Ionian soldier in traditional combat armor, "We'll be reaching the FoB shortly, just a few more minutes of travel."
They had technically been travelling through a battle zone, Ionian forces still scouting through it on horses and the occasional drake.
Wrecks of Wolfhounds and several ZA-8 Shepherd Skirmisher Tanks had been lying on the side, their deep wounds gouged out by Ionia's arcane-based arsenal.
A little further on, a great field expanded out from the broken trees and crater-ridden terrain.
Covering it were white sheets and body bags.
This battle had quite literally been much larger than just the insurgency in Yamanoryu.
These terrorists, for any other word could not fit, had been more than prepared for anything.
The cart lumbered onwards until it finally stopped at a row of tents, brightly lit by the dull blue glimmer of computer screens.
The air was humming with the churning engines of Hellion gunships of the Vanguard, the paramilitary subset of the Institute of War with the objective to provide immediate assistance against terrorist assaults and rampaging entities.
In a separate cart, Xerath spotted Shen.
He had not seen the ninja since the Centurion had appeared, but Xerath knew that Shen was a tough nut to crack, his own ki capable of reinforcing his body and respectively crushing both concrete and steel.
He was effectively a Raidboss on the Rift if top lane fed hard enough.
Suddenly something surged over to his cart.
It was that annoying furball Kennen.
"Shen! Haha, I knew you would make it! Our tough big bro would definitely make it!" He chattered out loud.
Behind Kennen was the other ninja of the League, Akali.
She was kind of slow and had problems with cameras, but she could be incredibly brutal to anyone that crossed her or her orders.
"S-Shen…" She started, clearly concerned and thankful that Shen had come back.
"Shen-kun, does this double-apron look good on m-AAAGGH!" Wukong cried as the two rammed their fists into his torso for interrupting their little moment.
"Wu, stop that. This isn't the time or place for your games."
"Well my master wan-"
"Ehem, Wu, I think that's good enough." Yi interjected him.
"Master, you explicitl-"
"You must be mistaking me, I never ordered that."
"You totally di-"
"No I did not. Forgive me, my Kinkou friends, I have to teach my student something." Yi said, trying to pull Wukong away before his plan failed.
"Oh Ahri, look, it's Yi!" Xerath called out in his autonomous voice, a hint of devilish intent hanging in that monotone.
Yi froze solid mid-step, already despairing at his memory of the events a few days prior.
Ahri rose up to check if that b*stard Yi was there.
Something sparked inside her.
She wanted to punch him.
Hard.
As if sensing this killer instinct, Yi legged it.
"The hell was that?" Kennen questioned.
"Ah Xerath, it's good to see that you made it out."
"Likewise, I wasn't exactly surprised you made it out though. I mean, you are the toughest ninja around."
"I would say that he's harder than tougher." Akali responded, "Toughness is all about taking hits, but Shen doesn't really take the hits in the first place."
"Perhaps, but you can't exactly say the same thing about Ahri. She was incredibly close to the blast zone from the second shot. The shrapnel almost shred one of my newer apprentices if it hadn't been for her."
"Yeah, praise me more sparky."
"Don't pressure me, fox."
"No pressure, totally no pressure. We like totally took out a Wolfhound on our own."
"We took down a colossus-class siege assault walker that had an active arcane disruptor shield. Praise me more, fox."
It was at that point where everyone in earshot distance had their jaw drop, especially the ones that knew what an arcane disruptor shield was.
"WHAT!" Ahri cried, mirroring the exact thoughts that everyone had, "What was the peak of it like?"
"Couldn't get an exact value, but ninety percent inefficiency was the peak at around twenty meters."
Ninety percent inefficiency was absurd. In fact anything above fifty percent was enforced as being illegal for military purposes by the Institute for the same reasons why strategic missile defense had been regulated to prevent the hoarding of 'get out safe' cards.
"Gods… how did you stop it?"
"Had to find the disruption patterns and establish countermeasures. Took over twenty-five minutes, but we managed to kill it."
"Nonetheless, that was a machine outlawed by the Institute over a decade ago. We have no idea why terrorists would even be able to summon such a weapon, especially when they had this other dragon-killing weapon at this disposal." Shen righted the conversation.
"True, that is a real question that we will have to leave to the High Summoners and detectives to find out. In the meantime, what is the situation in Yamanoryu?"
"Akali, if you will." Shen started, knowing she had been on standby in the headquarters much longer than everyone else and Kennen was Kennen.
Akali drew breath, her mouth just starting to move when a thick Piltoverian accent pierced the air.
"Oh, I can help 'ye with that!" A man in a Vanguard bullet vest and heavy cargo trousers called, "Name's Gertrude Youl, commander of the Vanguard taskforce in Ionian territory. Forgive me, missy, but I have the situation ready for debriefing for all'a 'ye in as little as five minutes. Give me that much and I'll have ev'thing ready for 'ye. It is a pleasure to be meetin' all of 'ye, albeit under fairly poor conditions."
Akali shied back slightly from Gertrude's interruption of her time to shine, but after a quick sigh of submission she decided that it was for the better.
"At 1000 hours, we first found signs of resistance. We're still processing the information, but it appeared that several hundred terrorist forces engaged Yama defense forces emerging from shipping crates brought in from the Kawaryu river port. Terrorist forces proceeded to fragment, leaving some to march on Yamanoryu while other fragments proceeded to set up defensive formations along the main roads. At 1030 hours, Ionian forces first caught word of the attack from a Yama police transmission mere moments before it went dead and proceeded to establish a response force. The Ionian Vanguard section was immediately mobilized and established a Forward Operations Base here at 1045 hours and proceeded to maintain defensive formations and recon the enemy position until the main Ionian army arrived. Ionian forces arrived at 1300 hours and were debriefed on the situation. At 1330 hours we began our joint assault on the defensive lines, suffering moderate casualties on both sides before falling back to regroup. Our second assault began at 1450 hours, with reinforcements from the Ionian military and several Champions, most notable being Master Yi, and managed to pierce through the defensive line. At 1455 hours the dragon killer first fired, after which the defense line terrorists withdrew in a fighting retreat to the banks of the Kawaryu River. Recon forces discovered an Object 352 Matriarch class Transport Submarine. Terrorist forces then boarded the submarine and withdrew from the operational area. Briefing is now finished. If anyone wishes for more information, please say so immediately." Corporal Inju concluded.
"Do we know where the Submarine is now?" Shen spoke up.
"The Ionian Navy is searching for the signal now, but as soon as it headed out into open waters it has dived too deep for the Navy sensors to pick it up. Ionian seers are trying to see if Foresight will be able to pick the Submarine up, but we have heard no word of success." The Corporal sighed.
"Understood."
"If I may, Colonel Inju," Xerath rose from his seat. "My party was on another mission in the area from the Institute, so we would like to return as soon as possible."
"My party my *ss." Ahri mumbled underneath her breath.
"Understood, Mr. Xerath? Forgive me, I never know how to properly converse the sense of seniority without sounding too informal with just a Champion's name."
"I have never felt that I should have a prefix added to my name. What do the rest of you think?" Xerath brought the question out to his fellows.
"Eh… I'm fine with just Ahri." Ahri replied.
"The three of us may have ties to the League, but our duty is to the Kinkou order first and foremost." Shen spoke up for the three ninjas, Akali nodding in agreement while Kennen seemed rather annoyed at the denial of being addressed so formally.
"But if someone were to address you as Champion, then you would otherwise have no qualms?" Xerath continued.
"DAMN RIGH- Ugh…" Kennen cried before being elbowed back by both Shen and Akali.
"We would have no qualms." Shen replied in Kennen's stead.
"Geh… would be kind of awkward, but it'd probably be easier to say 'Ahri is fine' than reject it I guess."
"Then there you have it, just use Champion."
"My thanks, Champion Xerath."
Fates, that is cringe-worthy.
"Xerath." Shen called out to him.
Vanguard had just organized a direct flight to their central headquarters located in Institute territory. It was actually surprising how drastic the differences in technology between the nations. The Institute recently had managed to vastly improve their personal armed forces through contracts with Zaunic and Piltoverian weapon companies, swiftly followed by the necessary logistics networks associated with the technology for these new toys.
"What is it Shen?"
"Syndra. What are your plans for her?"
"I intend to show her magic in its simplest and most basic form. I'll be building her power up from there."
"What of the criminals flocking to her 'castle'?"
Xerath didn't know what to say.
He wasn't a good politician and didn't know how to handle something like a new country springing up out of nowhere.
"I do not know. It's as simple as that. I don't know how to handle that sort of thing."
Shen sighed.
"Talk with Karma. She will always be able to figure something out."
But I was the one who asked Karma to leave it to me.
To rely on her on this matter would be awkward.
"I know what you're thinking Xerath, so I will start it for you. On the second day you return to the Institute I will ask Karma about this and her thoughts."
Great…
The roar of the cargo plane engines whirred away, signaling the end of an exceptionally long day.
It was rather uncomfortable, but Vanguard had managed to spare several military blankets so that they would not be excessively cold.
Xerath didn't feel the cold, but by the expressions on the others sleeping faces', it was very easy to see that it wasn't a pleasant flight.
It was an express flight, but the constant buffeting from air currents was incredibly annoying.
As a result, he couldn't sleep.
He never really could get a lot of sleep anyway, but the few times he had were very nice indeed.
"Hardly a luxury trip, wasn't it?" Ahri chuckled quietly in the corner.
"Definitely. I want to take some leave after this."
"Sounds like you won't exactly have a good time when you get back either, with the bar compensation, Syndra, and the upcoming inquiry thing they'll have for this."
"Second one I've had in months. It will definitely be a fun time obviously." Xerath joked.
"Yeah, but still. It was kinda fun."
"For you maybe, not so much for me."
"Oh come on, don't be like that. You know you liked it. 'Flower in the wind', remember?"
"Oh joy."
"That was so damn cringe-worthy it hurt me, even if I was like half conscious. Nevertheless, it was kind of cute."
"Now here you go calling me cute again."
"Weeell… you're incredibly noble, smart and know how to crack a good joke. Not to mention a virgin."
"Please."
"You know, I'm not joking."
Xerath glared at Ahri sharply, trying to determine whether or not she was on that statement.
"Well, kinda. It's not like people meet someone like you everyday."
Xerath glanced down at his body, then met Ahri's gaze unimpressed once more.
"In terms of behavior." Ahri laughed.
Xerath continued to pierce her with his gaze.
"Alright fine, 'no fun allowed' apparently. I was actually going to be kinda serious for a minute and you just managed to f**k it all up."
"Sorry."
"That's what I find cute about you."
"What of it?"
"As I was saying, you're noble and smart. You have a way with people that makes you kind of a gentleman, but you have this kinda harshness to you that makes you slightly refreshing in a way."
"I would call that being critical of things."
"And some people like that." Ahri snapped gently.
It was quiet while the tension in the air calmed.
Everyone else was asleep apart from the pilot in the cockpit, the sound blocked by heavy headphones to prevent the weather from causing long term damage.
Effectively, no one had heard Ahri snap.
The nearest person was over a thousand meters away and they were even flying over the Ionian Sea.
"Sorry." Ahri broke the silence.
"I didn't know what you were going to get at."
"You had it coming, but it's fine really. I mean, you deserved that. What I was getting at was kinda serious."
"As you were then."
"It's kind of embarrassing, but I want to say it."
"Go ahead then."
"You know about Syndra, right?"
"Yeah."
"Just take good care of her for me. We could almost be sisters after I found out what happened with Hahouya, and now with Riven potentially being there, I don't know what will happen next. I'll take care of Riven because I know a bit more about her, but don't let me do the magic teaching sh*t."
I still don't know what she's getting at. Why is she telling this?
"I understand."
"You better. Doesn't matter if you are like a god or immortal or anything like that, I will hit you so hard you'll remember it, go'dit?"
"Loud and clear, ma'am."
"Just please," Ahri's tone dropped suddenly to the point where Xerath could barely even hear her, "Take care of her." She said, finishing off with a half smile.
"Well, that's it. I'm going to go to sleep now, or at least try. Good night Sparky, you earned it."
"You have my thanks."
"So do you." Ahri whispered under her breath.
A/N: Thanks everyone for reading so far and Happy New Year! I'll have some changes in the coming months which will hopefully mean chapters won't be taking months at a time to finish. Anyway, thank you so much for everything and there will be a lot more coming (including a supposedly epic finale that will definitely be realm shattering).