== Well… that was bizarre.
What was?
== You know… the Handmaid and Rufioh? Really?
*shrug*
== You're a computer or something, you can't just shrug to avoid questions!
…
Not a valid command.
== :(
Not a valid command.
== Oh fine! Be Vriska Serket!
You are now Vriska Serket, and you are rolling your eyes at the pair before you.
The moment Feferi and Nepeta locked eyes over the expanse of the refugee boats, the face paint clad Nepeta had shrieked and skilfully dashed across the hulls and decks covered in washing and gutted fish to knock on their ship's door. The high pitched squealing the pair made could have deafened the ship's sonar, Vriska was certain of it, but ultimately decided that their behaviour was not uncommon for the survivors of the flooding when they found family or friends were alive. Even though the pair had only been apart for a few days. Hence the eye roll.
"You know, I think every dog in a twenty kilometre radius just lost it's hearing," Vriska said loudly to no one in particular, and was elbowed in the side by Tavros. She promptly elbowed him back. "Oi!"
"Don't be mean," he said sternly, but the small smile he wore let her know he was not angry.
"I can't help it, it's who I am."
Ten minutes later, they were all huddled in Feferi's ship's main room, some having to sit on the floor in order to sit.
"You figured out what to do about the horns, right? Like you said you would?" Feferi asked Nepeta nervously. "I mean, we brought the cutters just in case, but…"
"Not a problem!" beamed Nepeta, puffing her chest out with pride. "There have been a few cases where, lets just say, a guard has gone missing, and their uniform has come up for sale. Now, people used to try and use these to sneak into the base for shelter, but since they weren't mutants they couldn't use them, so they just got stored away on someone's boat. But after some careful asking around we managed to grab a load of them. Did you bring what I asked?"
"Well, yes, but…" baffled, Feferi rummaged about in a cupboard and pulled out a bag containing mouldable plastic, paint and brushes. "I don't know why you wanted to do some modelling before we infiltrate the base."
With a sly smile, Nepeta motioned for Feferi to sit before her, and with deft fingers began to work the plastic ontop of the tyrian blood's horns. A few minutes passed, before Nepeta announced that the initial phase was done, and Feferi was quick to look in a mirror.
"We're going to pose as mutant guards! The Condesce is never down there, and they change all the time by the sound of it, so it'll be fine. We just need to change the shape of your horns enough to get past the automatic recognition software."
"Oh! Nepeta, that's a great idea!" Feferi grinned, fingers brushing against the new tines to her horns.
"Good, I was worried we were gonna have to cut our horns off after all…" Vriska muttered to Tavros, who responded with an equally concerned nod.
"And we're going to be a new group of refugees that you're taking in," Jade added. "We're hoping that if we cover up Dave enough then no one will notice the lack of legs, but if not then he's going to have to be disguised as luggage…"
"And I keep saying, they're not gonna let you take in luggage," Karkat said.
"Well whatever we do with Davesprite, the rest is sorted… right?" Tavros asked. "And, uhh, what about Aradia?"
"Why don't we use the facepaint on them as well? They can pose as humans," Vriska suggested.
"Wwell, they can both fly, so wwhy don't they just meet us up there?" piped in Eridan.
Nepeta pouted as she added the finishing touches to Eridan's new horns. "Do you think that would work?"
"I don't see why not," said Aradiabot. "What do you think, Dave?"
"I can't actually fly. If you carry me then maybe…"
"Okay so they're sorted. Do me next, Nepeta," Vriska said loudly, pushing Eridan out of the way. Nepeta frowned, but began working quickly.
Before long, the four trolls posing as guards had their horns modelled and painted. Luckily for all of them, Nepeta had always had a strong interest in the arts, though their luck had run somewhat dry for the uniforms, with only Tavros and Feferi fitting theirs as they were in best shape.
"If yours is too big you should try on mine," Vriska offered to a very irritated looking Eridan. "Maybe you'd fit the ladies size."
"I'm not gonna wwear a wwoman's guard uniform, I'm a man!"
"Could have fooled me," the Brit said casually, as she tried on a smaller size to accommodate the weight she lost.
"Get me a small, man's, guard uniform…" he asked Nepeta with a dour look. Upon seeing her frown at his tone, he added with a mumble, "Please."
He was in luck, as without knowing what size to grab for their teammates, Nepeta had taken all the uniforms they had. Finding the right helmet for the four proved to be another nightmare, due to how unique each mutant's horns were, though after sifting through an entire bag's worth, they found the right fit while those posing as humans got their part of the disguises ready.
"Are we all ready now?" an exasperated Nepeta asked after an hour had passed from their initial meeting. A chorus of 'yes' and 'I think so' filled the small room, and she had them line up as Feferi and herself inspected them. "We're ready."
Each guard grabbed one or two of those posing as humans, before they said their goodbyes to Aradiabot and Davesprite. Jade's idea of a goodbye was to grab the sprite in a passionate kiss, promising that she would see him soon, before Vriska snapped at them and told her to get a move on, clearly enjoying the chance to play at the mean guard. Though there was a lot Equius wanted to apologise for to Aradia before he went, she merely squeezed his hand and offered him a small smile, before hugging Nepeta tightly. The robot assured them that she would know when they were needed, and said nothing more.
Upon seeing the brutal guards, most of the refugees darted back into their boats, though the few that attempted to fight back were met with a swift beating from Eridan or Vriska. Tavros and Feferi would send each other worried glances at how easily the other two guards slipped back into violence, but said nothing, perhaps relieved at not having to enact the beatings themselves. It did not take long to reach the room where the choosing of new additions to the Condesce's regime took place, and it was just as miserable as they all imagined it would be.
As they crossed the border, an angry voice crackled through the overhead speakers.
"Any additional members of the Condesce's guard, return immediately to the central point."
Vriska allowed herself a small smile. They had not been questioned.
More shoving people to the side was needed to make their way to the middle, but the sheer volume of people packed into the tiny room made the task far more difficult than it had been outside. Crowds formed about them immediately, holding up screens, passes and money to them desperately as they attempted to garner favour to enter the Condesce's protection, and Vriska could do little but sneer at it all, knowing full well that if they had seen her outside the area that they would have recoiled in horror at her horns and her pale, grey skin. Not to mention the horrific wings pinned tightly to her back. The expression she wore soon began to work, and a chunk of the people surrounding them instead focused their attention on the more favourable looking Tavros and Feferi.
"Feeling like an idol again?" she said to Eridan as they stepped over the body of someone who had collapsed from the cold.
"I guess, if you think bein' an idol is just screamin' crowwds and bribes," he shrugged. "Wwhich it kinda wwas."
"No one's gonna feel sorry for you, if that's what you're trying on," Karkat snorted, before Vriska shoved him with a firm hand to his shoulder.
"Hey! No talking or I chuck you in with the rest of the sorry lot out there!"
"Fuck off. You're enjoying this way too much, you cunt," he swore.
"Yeah, calm down a bit, Wris."
"Anymore of that, and I'll report you to her Maj!" she gasped, wearing a perfectly shocked expression, before smirking nastily. This was too much fun.
The closer they got to the middle, the more the sound of screaming filled the air, something that chilled them deeply, before the crowd before them began to push back against them as if they were trying to escape from something.
"Wwhat's goin' on?" Eridan tried his best to peer over the crowds, but the sheer amount of panicking about them meant that he had to choose between seeing the commotion, and holding onto Karkat. While she was also doing her best to hold onto Jade and John, Vriska noted that the purple blood quickly chose to prioritise the smaller troll, and wrapped an arm tightly around his chest to pull him closer.
Vriska leant over "If you hold him that tenderly they're going to notice something's up."
"Wwhat do you wwant me to do? Wwave him in the air as bait?" he hissed back, a flush of embarrassment on his face clear even through the visor.
"Hey, just saying!"
"Thhut up you two,I think that'th… Gamzee?" As the tallest, Sollux was able to look over the crowds with relative ease.
Tavros stood on his tiptoes, and confirmed the other troll's words. "He's, he's attacking people. And the Handmaid is there, she's got a collar around her neck… I…um… do you think she, got that for helping us?"
Seeing his expression quickly fall, Vriska found Tavros' hand and held it.
"It's not our fault. We can save her, okay?"
"Thhe knew what thhe was doing, TV," Sollux agreed.
Tavros nodded. Unable to do anything more to comfort him, Vriska rubbed her thumb along the back of his hand, before dropping it and moving back into line next to Eridan.
Pushing to the front of the crowd while those around them were trying to escape from the monsters at the centre of the room proved more difficult than they had initially expected, but they managed it, with Vriska merrily using Jade and John as improvised riot shields, much to their irritation.
Up close, they saw just how much the mutant once known as Gamzee had changed. Quite aside from the personality shift, he was enormous, with hands twice the size of his head and a wild mane of hair surrounding a face smeared with white face paint.
"So, uh, anyone got a plan for this shit?" Vriska hissed at her comrades. "He's got a visor on to protect him from my control, like everyone else in this stupid place."
"The last time I met him ended up with a visit to the medical bay, and we were friends so… he's been off sopor for so long that none of us'll have a fucking chance," Karkat mused. "I mean… maybe if we had one of those tranquillisers or cattle prods that his handlers have, then we'd have a chance."
"He's on a chain, so maybe if wwe manage to dislodge it he'll attack his guards?"
Karkat shook his head. "He knows better than to bite the hand that feeds him. Knocking him out is our only chance."
"Shore-ly he'll recognise us!"
"He hathn't tho far. Who wath on hith team anyway?"
"There's no fucking way I'm going near him if that's what you're getting at, Captor! Like I said, I got sent to the medical bay last time."
"Was he fur-iends with you, Karkit- Karkat?!"
"Really? Cat and fish puns at this fucking time?"
"Wait wait wait, are you trying to tell us that you know that guy?"
"Oh, sorry, Jade. Yeah he was in Karkat and Terezi's group."
"Equius! Do you fin-k you could take him on?"
"I would be more than happy to do as you ask, but I do not think I'm strong enough to take him on…"
"Probably shouldn't be using our names, they'll hear us…"
"Karkat, you should go talk to him. He won't hurt you, right?" Feferi said after some thinking.
"Absolutely not! Wwe're not riskin' Kar's life on account a this stupid mission!"
Vriska frowned. "We need to get past Gamzee so we can reach those guards. All we need is a distraction, and you'll buy us time, Karkat."
"He fucked me up, and he almost killed Terezi and she was his kismesis!"
"Exactly, wwe're not riskin' anyone's liwes to stuff wwe can awoid."
While the group argued amongst themselves, utterly distracted with their bickering, one member split off to stand before the monster. By the time any had noticed it was too late.
"Hey! What are you doing?" John shouted, suddenly noticing that Tavros had split off from the group to face the towering Gamzee. "Get back!"
"Gamzee! It's me, look. You, uh, you need to c-calm down."
The determined Taurus stood his ground, barely flinching as Gamzee turned to face him, his wicked, blood splattered features twisting into something that might have been recognition. Encouraged by this, Tavros lifted the visor.
"Hey! Stop get away from him!" Vriska shouted, evidently much less invested in the idea of using a volunteer to distract Gamzee when it was her partner. "Let go, you piece of shit!"
"Look, it's me. We've come to help." said Tavros.
For what felt like minutes, the group of mutants waited, with the exception of a wriggling Vriska, who had Sollux's arm locked around her midriff in order to prevent her from running after Tavros. Her transformation from regular mutant into the winged kind had resulted in her being more than easy to hold back.
"Thtop, this might work," he whispered to her. "If he'th on our thide he'll be a powerful athet."
"That's Gamzee! Even when he was sane he was a nutcase, and had a thing for Tavros. Who knows what he'll do like this!" Vriska spat. "Get away from him!"
The monster lowered himself down to face the smaller mutant, face looming closer until Tavros could feel Gamzee's putrid breath fanning across his cheeks.
"See? We're here to help."
Gamzee smiled, and Tavros returned it, feeling relief coursing through his body before one of Gamzee's enormous hands fixed itself around his head, vice-like, and lifted him clean off the ground.
"Fuck! Let him go, you piece of shit!" Vriska cried, and broke free from Sollux's grip only to stumble and fall.
While she could see nothing but the concrete beneath her, Tavros screamed, a horrible, throaty sound, before the sound of bones snapping filled the air. By the time she had got to her feet, she could only watch in horror at the sight of Gamzee picking up the disembodied head of what had once been her lover, his head ripped from his body.
"No, no no no no."
Vaguely aware of someone trying to grab her, Vriska pushed away from her comrades and ran to his body, hoping that her eyes had deceived her. They had not.
"Wris! Get back, it's not safe!"
"You bastard!" she cried at Gamzee.
Without even thinking of any repercussions towards her own safety, Vriska used her lighter body to her advantage and scampered towards the enormous form holding Tavros' head. To the revulsion of all those nearby, he was preoccupied with kissing the head he held, making an already nauseous Jade retch a bit.
Gamzee's size was both an advantage and a disadvantage, and she soon found that by the time he noticed her, she was able to dodge most of his blows and attempts to shoo her away, before latching onto an arm in an attempt to climb onto his back.
"Fuck! He isn't supposed to do that, is he?" asked one of the actual mutant guards nearby. "The Condesce will have our heads if she finds out he's killed a guard."
"Are you supposed to be in charge of him?" asked Feferi, using her sternest tone and trying her best not to let the sudden death of her friend impact the rest of the mission. Deaths along the way were to be expected, as horrible as they may be. As a high blood, those around her were more inclined to listen and respect her, and the olive blood before her was hopefully no different.
To her relief, the man responsible for Gamzee paled, and began to stammer. "I, he's never done this before! He's supposed to be trained!"
"Well he's clearly not! This was supposed to be a quick reconnaissance mission for us, and we come back to this crap! That was my best field soldier, and now he's in two pieces with your 'trained' subordinate macking on his disembodied head!" she gladly let the anger at the situation leak into her tone, making the guard even more terrified.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise he would… he could… I, fuck."
"Is that all you have to say? Name and badge please," she ordered. "This will not go unpunished."
"No, I swear this won't happen again, please!" he pleaded. "I, I can't, she'll kill me!"
"Your inaction has already lead to the death of one of my subordinates," she replied in a chilled tone, and held out her hand again. Dejected, he handed over a badge. "Mr Rueben, I will be willing to overlook this if you knock that brute out. The boss will have both our heads otherwise, but this stays between us, got it? Now deal with that thing."
With a sombre look, he grabbed the cattle prod from his belt, and turned the dial up high.
"Hey! Serk- uh, soldier! Stand down, we're dealing with this!" Feferi called at Vriska, who was clawing at the larger troll's face furiously in an attempt to get him to release Tavros' head. "Unless you want to get knocked out from the discharge too!"
"Fuck off, this is my fight!" Vriska snarled, before biting back down and ripping a good chunk of Gamzee's ear off. At her distraction, Gamzee managed to grab her and slammed her to the ground, before raising his arm in preparation to squash the dazed Vriska.
"Now!" Feferi ordered. The guard lunged forward and struck Gamzee with the end of the prod, sending electricity coursing through his body. He screamed, his body contorting in pain before he fell to his knees and collapsed. "Well. Glad you did something right. Now get this oaf off my subordinates. Or what you've had left of them."
With the frightening form of Gamzee down, the humans surrounding them began to crowd closer again, hoping to test their luck on the thinner number of guards. Sensing this, the guards holding the bound form of the Handmaid struck her, making her lunge out into the crowds and sending them back.
It took the combined strength of both Equius and Feferi to lift Gamzee off Vriska and Tavros' remains. Though heavily bruised and battered, Vriska quickly scrambled over to grab Tavros' head, and did her best to put it back where it belonged.
"There, that's good, right? That'll be okay right?" she asked them, pleading in her voice. "If I could come back from what Aradiabot did to me, then he can come back from this?"
"I… I don't know, I'm sorry," Feferi said, heart heavy.
"No, fuck off, it's going to be fine!" Vriska scrubbed away the tears running down her cheeks with the end of her sleeve. "Tavros, you're going to be okay! It's, it's going to be fine!"
"Vrith, we need to go," said a solemn Sollux, reaching down for her shoulder. The regular guards were beginning to get suspicious. "You have to leave him."
"No!" She swatted his hand away, before leaning down to hold his body close again, ensuring one hand was keeping his head in place. "I can't just leave him! He wouldn't leave me, I can't… I…"
Two of the guards approached.
"Hey, they're going to move him upstairs okay? But you've got to let him go," Feferi whispered. "That's all we can do. I'm sorry."
Reluctantly, Vriska moved aside, cradling his head in her arms as the guards lifted his body onto a stretcher, before placing the head back onto his neck.
== He's… he's going to be fine right?
You can no longer be Vriska. Vriska doesn't want to be Vriska. She is not in the right frame of mind.
== Oh… okay… be someone else.
You are now Karkat Vantas, and you have no idea what to do.
The journey in the lift was a sombre one, with Feferi chatting to the guards surrounding them in order to gain their trust. Luckily for the group, the Tyrian blood oozed charisma, and before long had completely won them over, including Gamzee's keeper - a rainbow drinker. Though the Handmaid was beside them, if she recognised them she gave no indication of it, and Karkat decided that it was probably for the best. On the far side of the lift was the passed out Gamzee, who had a trio of guards positioned about him in order to prevent a certain troll from killing him, but shock had fallen on her so heavily that she could barely move.
There was not anything they could do to console the grieving Vriska, nothing to be said or done that would ease the pain of having the man she loved killed before her in such a brutal manner, and so they stood in silence as she bit her lip to hold back the tears, clinging to the hand of her dead partner. Sollux stood close beside her, the only one that she would let close by, and even her moirail could do little to help other than wrap his arm over her shoulder.
Nothing was said, but Karkat was aware of Eridan moving to stand closer to him. Clearly Tavros' sudden death had made them all realise what they could stand to lose on this mission.
Tavros' body was placed in one of the rooms on the first floor, his body covered up to the top of his neck with a sheet. It was almost as if nothing had happened if one ignored the orange bruises blooming on his cheeks. While Karkat did not know him very well, Tavros had always seemed friendly, and like most of the group he wondered why the gentle boy spent so much time with Vriska. If his influence on her had mellowed her out then he dreaded seeing how much she was about to fly off the handle in their impending confrontation.
"Kar, can wwe talk outside for a sec?"
The pair left the dark room to stand in the narrow corridor. A few of the guards from downstairs were milling about, waiting for Feferi, but we're out of earshot, having an animated conversation about something.
"What's up?" he replied once Eridan was done leading them somewhere quieter. Instead of words though, he was just pulled into a crushing hug. "Eridan?"
"That wwas almost you. Fuck. I just…" Eridan held the smaller troll closer. "Poor Taw. That was horrible."
The memory of the death replayed itself all too eagerly in Karkat's mind. He had completely forgotten that he was the one 'volunteered' to distract Gamzee, and the thought of being the one to meet that fate made him shudder. Without realising it Karkat's arms wrapped around Eridan's waist as he reciprocated the hug. "It should have been me…"
"Don't say that! I wwouldn't a let them send you off after that… thing!"
"But Tavros is dead because… because I was a fucking chicken and didn't do anything,"
"Stop, Kar you can't think that,"
"It's true! It's my fault he's dead!"
Eridan let go of him, instead resting his hands on Karkat's shoulders to look him firmly in the eye. Until he noticed the red tinged tears snaking their way down his face, and was quick to dab them away with the corner of his sleeve.
"Kar, there wwas no chance you wwould hawe gone out there. I wwouldn't hawe let you, and I wwouldn't hawe let them bully you into it either. Vris and Fef's idea wwas stupid an' an unnecessary risk an' wwhat happened to poor Taw prowed it," he said softly, then pressed a kiss to his hair. "An' plus, if Wris could come back from the dead, then maybe Taw wwill too."
"Yeah, maybe."
They held each other for as long as they could, taking comfort in the warmth of their embrace as they tried to move past the shocking imagery they just saw, and the death…
"Thanks for standing up for me back then. You didn't have to," Karkat eventually said as he pulled away from Eridan's hold and began straightening out his uniform. "And don't fucking start with the gushing, I know what you're like. Just…"
"Just wwhat?" Eridan prompted.
"Ugh… if we both make it through this, let me buy you a drink. Deal?"
"This isn't really the time an' place to be askin' me out, Kar," he replied, a half hearted smile on his face. Karkat snorted in amusement at his reply, but neither were in the mood for antics.
"Just know that if you end up dying along the way, then I'll kick your fucking ass. Got it?"
"Same goes for you,"
"Glad that's settled. Let's get back to the others."
They returned the way they had come, before the sound of angry voices filled the air, and a furious looking Vriska barreled towards Karkat.
"This is your fault!" she snarled. "If you'd stuck to the-"
"Fuck off, Wris," Eridan was quick to place himself between the two of them. "Wwhat happened isn't anyone's fault. If you wwanna get mad at someone, then get mad at Gamzee,"
"Stay out of this, fish face. Karkat, it should have been you up there!"
"I said fuck off,"
"You just gonna let your boytoy do all the talking for you, huh Karkat?" she sneered, peering at him from over Eridan's shoulder. Though the other members of the group were but a few metres away, they did not intervene.
"Take out your anger on Gamzee. It's his fault, not Kar's,"
"Come on, Kar, face me like a man,"
"Is this wwhat Taw wwould hawe wwanted?" Eridan asked, before Vriska found offense in his statement and slapped him.
"He's dead because of him, so no, I've no idea what he would have wanted!" she shouted. Her words then sunk in, and she looked at the ground, clenching her fists tightly. "Forget it."
Without another word, she pulled on her helmet and stormed off to stand silently beside the rest of the group.
"Are we ready?" Nepeta asked the downtrodden ensemble before her. Upon receiving muted confirmations, they began the next stretch of the journey. After a few minutes of walking, she fell into pace with the mutant blood, and whispered, "No one else blames you."
That was a comfort at least.
As they turned a corner into the next lift, Karkat was surprised to see the Handmaid waiting for them, this time without the collar, but still with a flock of guards surrounding her. Feferi was quick in her attempt to pry get into their care, but due to the number of 'human refugees' they had in their care, they were instead informed to head to the relocation department to get them properly set up for their new life. The back and forth went on for a few minutes, before the radio in the guard's headset crackled, and she reluctantly handed the Alternian over.
"Be sure to drop them off quickly, then return her back to the top floor. She knows where to go, and she knows that the Condesce needs her back in work in half an hour."
"Got it, thanks! You know how those humans are, they'll take any opportunity to grab a gun otherwise."
"Oh, don't I know that," she laughed. "Good luck."
Once they were alone with the Handmaid, she fixed her piercing gaze upon them.
"Are you new? Cause you're goin' completely the wrong direction," she eventually muttered, voice cracking slightly due to her recent treatment at the hands of the retainment organisation. "The exit is on the ground floor for those humans. They're too scrawny."
"We know what we're doing," replied Feferi with her usual air of confidence.
"No you don't. Get out before it's too late," the Handmaid insisted, looking angrier by the second. "You really think I'm the only one who sees through this disguise?"
"We've got this under control!"
"You're all unbelievably stupid. Each an' every one of you. She knows you're here, your silly make up and clay isn't going to fool Her."
"Look, no one's stopped us yet, so it's fine!"
"Because she doesn't want to kick you out. She wants to kill you. And she's already done it to poor…" the Handmaid stopped whispering, quick to wipe away the tears beading up in her eyes.
"I'm going after her," Vriska said without a trace of her usual mocking tone. "You're not going to stop me."
"If you want to die then so be it, but do you think he'd want you to throw away your life as stupidly as him?"
"I don't know why everyone keeps asking me this! He's dead! I have no idea what he wants thanks to her!"
The Handmaid cracked a smile.
"The rest of you all want to die as well?"
"Stop bein' so fuckin' dramatic and take us to Her," Eridan groaned.
With a nod, the Alternain began to lead them towards a lift where one of the errand boys from the last base waited.
"Welcome back, Ms Peixes," he said, making Feferi tense up in surprise. The Handmaid decided not to bother with 'I told you so' and asked him to take them to the top floor.
The heat hit them first when the lift doors opened out onto Her floor. The next was the strong scent of flowers, lulling them into a strange sense of calm alongside the sound of birdsong.
"She's waiting for you on the roof," said a mutant stood before the doors. To the younger team he looked oddly familiar, before they realised that he looked suspiciously similar to the late Tavros. Undoubtedly an intentional move on the Condesce's part.
"Good. I'm gonna fuck her up," Vriska snarled.
At this he snorted.
"You must be Vriska. The Handmaid's told me about you."
"Well she didn't tell me about you. Who are you supposed to be? Off brand Tavros?" she snapped, then her words sunk in and her frown deepened.
"I'm Rufioh. And, almost. If anything his granddad is an off brand me. Is Tavros with you? I want to meet him,"
The Handmaid was stood behind the group of trolls, frantically motioning for him to stop speaking, but it was too late.
"Um, so anyway," he cleared his throat. "Follow me."
Though he had been chosen to lead them to the Condesce, he himself barely seemed to know the direction they were meant to be heading in. Eventually, perhaps by chance, the exit to the rooftop was before them. The sound of strong winds echoed through the door and down the narrow corridor.
Naturally, Vriska led the group, barging before Feferi and Nepeta in an attempt to get through the door first. Karkat was not one to wish death on anyone, but if there were any traps outside the door, he was glad that Vriska would be the one to trigger them.
The door swung open easily, and revealed the Condesce's slight form, stood in the centre of the wide expanse.
She said nothing, face hidden from view behind the same helmets they wore as guards. In fact, the only clue at all that it was the Condesce were the arching horns and mane of hair.
"What, no speech?" asked Vriska. "That's not like you."
At this, the Condesce began to slowly walk towards them, trident gripped tightly in her hands.
"Something seems wrong," Karkat hissed, gripping Vriska's shoulder to prevent her from dashing towards Her. "This is too easy!"
"Look who finally decided to show up!" Her voice echoed through speakers somewhere above them, though the wind was distorting it. "After all I did for you, you left me you ungrateful shits. And all it got you was poor Tevros' death."
"It's Tavros, you bitch!" Vriska snarled.
"Oh? All those rust blood names sound the same to me."
Apparently this was the final straw for Vriska who tore Karkat's hand off of her shoulder and ran forwards, flicking off the safety from her gun.
A spray of bullets left her gun, the barrel kicking back hard into her shoulder. Most missed the mark, for Vriska had not trained with a gun for months, but a dozen hit Her.
The Condesce crossed her arms tightly over her torso, the trident clattering noisily to the ground, then collapsed.
All those years of suffering under Her, and they could have just shot her? Karkat was right, it was too easy, but Vriska was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Before getting too close, she kicked away the trident and once she was confident that the Condesce could not pull any tricks, she nudged her with the tip of her boot.
"Get up,"
The Condesce did not, could not stand.
Vriska did not care.
"I said get up," Grabbing a fist full of hair, Vriska hauled the Tyrian blood up to her knees. "How does it feel?"
The hair began to slide out from under the helmet, and Vriska began to laugh, not at all surprised that the sea witch's characteristic tresses had been a wig all along.
"I wonder what she really looks like…" Nepeta said as she hesitantly drew closer, and before long they had formed a cluster around what was about to be the Condesce's final unveiling. "Wait, oh my god, this is just like that show we used to watch, Equius!"
At this Equius chuckled, "It did not usually end with the villain being shot, however."
"Close enough. Time to see who was really under the mask!" Nepeta winked, hooking the pads of her fingers under the lip of the helmet and sliding the visor up.
Beneath it was the pale, strained face of Terezi, blood and saliva streaking down her chin from where she had coughed it up.
"And I would have gotten away with it too," she managed weakly, before Vriska dropped her in shock.
"You have, like, five seconds to explain be-shore I… I…" Feferi snapped, face furious, before her brain pieced together what had likely happened and the colour drained from her cheeks. "You were a trap, weren't you?"
Terezi nodded.
"I'm sorry, I didn't have a choice,"
"It wasn't your fault," Karkat said, fingernails digging into his palms as he attempted to keep calm. "We've had worse than a few stupid, fucking bullets, don't worry."
"Karkles, you don't need be a… genius to figure out bullet in lungs… means death," she grinned. "It's not like the Condesce is going to… patch me up."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know," mumbled Vriska, the reality of her actions finally hitting her.
"You're going to be okay! We'll get you help when this is o-fur, okay?" Nepeta promised, clutching her friend's hand tightly as far tears rolled down her cheek. "I've missed you so, so much, there's no way I'm letting you off this easy!"
== Not another one!
Well what can I say!
== Be someone else now, this is getting depressing.
You are now Mr Pareeh, a cattle farmer in rural Switzerland. In fact, today just so happens to be your birthday! You are 37 today, and while taking over the family business was not what you had in mind when you were younger, you would not want it any other way now.
The sun on your face, the beautiful sights of the lush, green mountains, the sounds of cowbells gently carrying over on the breeze. The world outside could be gone for all you care; you have everything you need.
Though admittedly, while you have no interest in the news, the lime blood you sell your dairy products to has been acting pretty antsy as of late. You wonder if you should ask her about-
== Now is NOT the time for this bs!
I mean… you did ask to be someone else…
== I meant someone who didn't just have one of their close friends die :I
Well okay. You are now Feferi Peixes. Happy?
While Vriska, Karkat and Nepeta fussed about their dying friend, Feferi kept her eyes fixed upon the door to the roof, where the Handmaid and Rufioh stood, watching over them with a defeated sort of detatchment. It was unbelievably cruel of Her; not only had She taunted them with Rufioh so soon after Tavros' brutal death, but to trick them into killing Terezi? Well, at the very least it was hardly surprising, and Feferi was kicking herself for not having thought to stop Vriska before she unloaded her clip into the figure on the roof.
"She's watching, isn't she?" mused Jade as she and John came to stand beside Feferi.
"She wouldn't set up a stunt like that and not watch, would she?" John replied.
"Do you think those two knew?" Feferi said, voice low as she nodded in the direction of the rustbloods by the door.
"I don't think so," decided John. "They're probably just too scared to fight back."
Without warning, a reflective liquid began to bubble up from the ground, flowing around them until it formed a loose circle then shot up several metres into the air and solidifying, enclosing the roof in a strange looking fence.
"This doesn't look good," muttered Feferi. Across from her the Handmaid and Rufioh looked about with barely contained fear, clearly not expecting to be included in whatever was about to happen. "Hey, you two! You're stuck in here as well, so fight with us!"
"I… I don't…" Rufioh stammered. "I didn't t-think that, we w-would be getting involv-ved?"
"All that time and money I sank into you and you mistook that teal blood in a wig for me. I'm almost offended," the Condesce's voice began to echo once again.
The wind had dropped completely, and Feferi could hear her blood pounding in her ears.
"How about you stop hiding behind kids then?"
"You think you're going to get me to come out by using the cliché hero speech about how a real warrior would fight me one on one? Nice try, kid."
"You're welcome, granny," Feferi replied, with a cocky smile.
"Granny? I don't look a day over twenty, you brat,"
"Now who's responding to cliché hero speeches?" As she spoke, the princess could hear the sound of gas being piped in. Tyrian fog, no doubt. "Anyway I thought that's what fushia bloods do. Out with the old and in with the new. Between you and me only. It's Alternian tradition."
"I keep telling you, I'm- oh and what are you two supposed to be? Some kind of robot and her chicken boy sidekick? Gamzee, get over h-" With a click, whatever the Condesce's voice was coming from switched off.
The sound of a struggle sounded through the speakers, before Davesprite and Aradiabot burst into the air from a window below, Aradiabot holding onto a furious and writhing Condesce, while Gamzee clung tightly to the robot's ankle. Though it was doing nothing, Davesprite was pummelling the brutish troll with punches in an attempt to get him to let go.
Aradia quickly realised that the sea was useless as an attempt to kill the woman, and settled for speeding up high into the sky. Realising her plan, Dave let go, softly sinking to the ground. Upon landing, Jade and John sprinted to his side.
"The subtle approach. I like it," laughed John.
"You know it, Egbert. That big guy packed a hell of a fucking punch though. Gonna need some frozen peas on this sucker," he smirked, pointing at a nasty bruise on his head. "If Aradia's doing what I think she's doing, you'll want to move away from this bit here."
They quickly moved away from where Davesprite had landed, Karkat and Nepeta in charge of moving the now unconscious Terezi.
A few more seconds passed, before three bodies crashed to the ground.
Gamzee was the first to stand, and immediately the Tyrian fog began to cloud his mind even further. Vriska threw Davesprite the discarded trident that Terezi had brought, before she and Sollux drew out their own melee weapons and joined the sprite in finishing off what had once been a friend.
Nepeta was the next to lose herself to the Condesce's control, and ran to Feferi in an attempt to kill her, but Equius was quick to intervene, blocking her attacks and waiting for the chance to grab her and hold her safely away from the combat until she was herself again.
Soon after, Eridan found his hand reaching for his gun without his command. He barely had time to warn those in its path before he shot. Feferi was able to move out of the way, and before he lost himself completely, he threw it aside. Unluckily for Karkat, the violet blood still had his fists, and began to attack him mercilessly as the mutant blood did all he could to block the others attacks.
As John dragged a horrified looking Jade towards where the Handmaid and Rufioh hid, he began to notice Jade's nails digging into the palms of his hands from nerves.
"Yeah, this situation is pretty bullshit," he agreed.
"You know what would be useful right now?" Jade whispered. "The windy thing."
"I never figured that out though!"
"Yeah, but I mean, this purple stuff in the air is clearly what's doing it!"
"Yeah well why don't you teleport us all away then if you're just an expert?" he replied sarcastically.
"Huh, touché. Wait, the Handmaid, she might be able to help!"
"I doubt it. I jus' put kids in dangerous situations and hoped for the best in all honesty," the woman admitted. "Like, I'm really not cut out for this teachin' bullshit."
"Well if bad situations can trigger the powers then you've got a pretty good opportunity here, John!"
"I'm trying!"
From the mess of broken robotics, the Condesce dragged herself to her feet, one horn snapped off near the skull, and her limps full of shrapnel. Despite her broken bones, she walked a few places, her body looking healthier by the second. She spat a few teeth to the ground, then laughed, kicking the mangled remains of Aradiabot.
"Hope that was worth it!" she said cheerily, then fixed her eyes on Feferi. "Well you got what you wanted. Just the two of us. Shall we begin?"
A/N:
Next chapter is the last one AAAA thanks for sticking with it this long! :D
Although I MIGHT do a 'what happened after' chapter but I'm not sure, I tend to find those super cheesy...
Thanks for reading!