Chapter 11: Countermoves
"No! Coal!" Nadre said, beginning to rush after him. Surely she could make him see reason. Maybe she could—
Avulgar leapt at Nadre, tackling her against the floor.
"You traitor, you ruined the whole missi—" she began, but was thrown off of Nadre as if a shockwave had thrown her.
"SHUT UP!" Nadre screamed. The voice that came from her throat was a horrible alien screeching sort. She roared, her abdomen opening and her tongue stabbing wildly at Avulgar. "JUST SHUT UP!"
Avulgar began running, jumping, dodging and twisting to avoid Nadre's deadly tongue. Behind her, the doors to Office opened up, and in ran Lime and Red. Red immediately went for his device, but Lime held his hand down. Red looked over at him.
"Wait." Lime said, with an authority that Nadre had not heard him use before. She didn't care though. All her efforts were focused on Avulgar.
"SHOW THEM, AVULGAR! SHOW THEM THE MONSTERS WE REALLY ARE!" Nadre screamed, tears streaming down her face.
Avulgar leapt again, but Nadre's tongue got a lucky shot, striking all the way through Avulgar's left kneecap. Avulgar tumbled to the ground, as the wound attempted to heal itself. Nadre gave it no time, piercing Avulgar's body with rapid pace. There was no time for a wound to close up before two more took its place.
The two Admirals would wait no longer, and fired their tasers. Red fired at Nadre while Lime hit Avulgar. Both Imposters suddenly fell to the ground, disabled but not unconscious. Nadre's form melted back into the white Crewmate she had been, while Avulgar's wounds quickly closed. The two Admirals toted the Imposters, per Lime's instruction, to the emergency button. Red slammed his hand down against the cheery red button.
"Emergency Meeting!" The computer droned. "Meet in Office. Make your way in a calm and orderly fashion…"
Everyone was there in nearly moments.
"What—" Cobalt began, but it didn't take any genius to figure out what had happened to the two "Crewmates" lying on the table. Lime stood.
"There's something that I must tell you all." He said. His demeanor suggested that he was for a rare moment unsure of how to continue. "And with the time has to be now. On the table, we have two Imposters. The last two among us."
Admiral Green furrowed his brow in confusion and anger… and hurt. Nadre could see it shining clearly in his eyes. He had trusted her with so much. "So… what is there to discuss? Let's just throw them off!"
Violet placed a hand on his arm. "It's not as simple as that, Green."
Green turned to her. "Wait, you knew about this too!?"
Lime interrupted. "Let me get to that. The last two Imposters. But one of them is not like any other Imposter that we've come across. She's very likely the only reason why there still are some of us alive, at this moment. Since she's been aboard, she's tried her best to protect us from her friends' wrath, and in doing so has incurred that very wrath upon herself. She's taken the weight of the Imposters on her shoulders, so that we can all survive this day. Her real name is Nadre, and she's found her place among the members of Crewmanity."
Red scoffed. "How do we know she wasn't just playing you?" he asked.
"Because she has, the entire time, been with both a Crewmate child, and another Crewmate. Not to mention that her information regarding the other Imposters has been good. Too good. Why would she rat out her own teammates?"
Avulgar's gaze flicked to her, though her limbs remained as unresponsive as Nadre's. The look was utter hatred. Nadre eagerly returned the gaze.
"And where is this other Crewmate, hm? Or the child?" Red asked.
"I'm here, Admiral." Coal said, standing in the far corner of the room. Among the shadows, he could easily be mistaken for a potted plant or something. He was not holding Alyra. Nadre wondered with alarm where she must be. Alone. Coal was staring hard at Nadre, and at Avulgar.
Lime continued. "She can't find it in herself to kill us off as a species. She, though she is Imposter by origin, is every bit as Crewmate as you or I. There's only one issue, now."
Green looked between the two Imposters. "Which one is it?" he said, voicing Lime's next thoughts.
Silence fell throughout the room.
"Well, how can we tell?" Cobalt asked, though he and Cherry still looked uneasy about the idea of the Imposters before them.
Silence continued to reign, until Coal spoke once more.
"I know how we can tell." He said. All eyes turned towards him, as he carefully walked over to the water cooler. From behind it, he picked up a small yellow child, and walked over to the table. Nadre's eyes followed Alyra wherever she could, and she watched as Coal placed Alyra on the table. The feeling was just barely beginning to come back into Nadre's limbs. She wondered if it would be enough to grab for Alyra, but common sense told her that that would be the stupidest move she could make right now. She held very still.
The small yellow child first crawled up to Avulgar, and placed a hand out, touching her forehead. Then, slowly, it turned and crawled over to Nadre and did the same thing.
She sat down… and giggled, clapping her hands.
Nadre smiled, and slowly moved her arms up. Her limbs were slow to respond, but she pushed them to her limit, reaching for the child. Alyra sat just out of Nadre's reach, but before she could crawl towards Nadre, a pair of black hands picked her up. Nadre looked up at Coal, her eyes shining with the message her mouth could not make out. Please.
Coal looked down at her.
"I remember… a tongue." He began.
Nadre's hopes fell a little. Was he giving her a eulogy as an Imposter? Starting off, mentioning her tongue… didn't sound good. His look was a little too serious for her tastes.
"This tongue…" Coal continued, "Met me in the darkness of the vents, while I was tied up and gagged. A word was not spoken, nor was a fang brandished. It just… sat there, for a few moments. There was a distant rumble, and the tongue began moving. I thought I was a goner. But then, it sliced off the rope binding me, and I was free to move. I rushed through the vents, this tongue all the while moving me along at a fast pace, when the rumbling began getting closer. Before I knew it, I was lifted out of the vent, but not by any Crewmate. That tongue… saved me from the Imposter. And… there's no way that that was an Imposter behind the tongue. Her heart is white as Snow."
Coal placed Alyra in Nadre's grasp. Alyra gurgled happily, as Nadre drew her close. All eyes turned, with righteous fury, towards the second Imposter.
Seeing that the jig was up, Avulgar shed her disguise. But she didn't assume the guise of the orange Crewmate, Carrot. No, what she turned into was an abomination.
Jet-black, laced with the purple of nightmares, protruded a set of fangs, each at least six inches long. Tentacles of black filaments slithered out of the main bulbous mass of fluid flesh and muscle. Avulgar's mouth opened, and saliva dripped down from the roof of her cavernous mouth. Her tongue shot out, making its way for Coal. Time seemed to slow down, as nobody could react in time.
Nobody, that is, except for an Imposter.
Nadre's tongue caught Avulgar's mid-flight. Avulgar's snarl took on a different quality, as Nadre shot to her tired feet and handed Alyra to Admiral Violet.
"Everybody get out of here!" Nadre shouted, as she began to engage Avulgar, in her true Imposter form. Cobalt and Cherry were escorted out by Admiral Violet, while Admirals Green, Lime, and Red stayed behind with Coal. Admiral Green fired his taser, but Avulgar parted her flesh, as the electric charge passed harmlessly through the large hole in her body.
Nadre's hand transformed, becoming as hard and sharp as a knife ever could. She began tearing through the mounds of Avulgar's flesh with her claws, driving the nightmare known as Avulgar back with each swipe. Avulgar hissed with pain as she brought several tentacles to wrap around Nadre's neck. Every time a tentacle latched on, however, Nadre morphed, and the tentacle would fall off. The battle between the Imposters was fierce, and neither opponent was willing to give up.
Avulgar eventually realized that she was losing ground quickly. The lava pit bubbled, hissing as the light snow made contact with the boiling magma. Nadre leapt at Avulgar, and Avulgar began to morph again, making a hole that Nadre would jump straight through, into the lava below.
But Nadre had been expecting it.
With a vice-like grip, Nadre wrapped her tongue around Avulgar completely, dragging the two Imposters all the way to the very edge of the precipice, overlooking the pool of lava. Avulgar snarled, her breath hot on Nadre's cheeks.
"You wouldn't dare." Avulgar hissed. "You would only succeed in taking yourself out with me. You'd be wasting your life on this one attack."
Nadre turned to Admiral Lime, standing behind her. "Take good care of her, will you?" she asked.
Lime nodded, though he didn't look willing to let Nadre go. Nadre turned back to Avulgar, her expression fiercely vengeful, and growled.
"It's an attack worth dying for."
Nadre leapt off the platform, carrying a startled Avulgar with her, far over the lava. Gravity began to take over, and the two Imposters began free-falling towards the lava. Nadre closed her eyes, and braced for the searing heat to engulf her.
Time slowed down again, and she could feel her heartbeat in her chest. Thump… thump… thump…
A rope, long, thin, and strong, passed over her head. The string pulled tight, securing the lasso. Nadre's momentum came to a screeching halt as the lava bubbled, mere feet away from her face. Avulgar's eyes widened, as she saw the Crewmates above, the rope, and Nadre, safely suspended above the lava. Nadre grinned and shot Avulgar one last look.
Deal with it.
The Crewmates all heaved their might on the rope, and she shot upwards, just as Avulgar landed with a splash and a hiss in the molten rock. Her tongue flicked once, twice, then accepted its fate and fell into the lava.
The Crewmates all pulled Nadre up over the edge of the pit. Admiral Lime bent down and he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I can think of no-one better than you to take care of her." He said, smiling.
Nadre stood shakily to her feet, and saw Admiral Red, standing with his hands behind his back, staring at her.
"Well, Admiral, what do you think?" Nadre asked, chuckling. "Now that you've really seen what I am. Can an Imposter ever be friendly? I'll leave the decision up to you."
Red didn't say anything, but only studied Nadre further. Admiral Lime blinked once or twice.
"Red, did you hear her? She's an Imposter." Lime said, who had not been expecting this face of calm from his old friend.
"I know." Red nodded, after a few more moments. He turned and began walking away. "And I want to hear some explanations later, if you don't mind."
Before he walked into the door to Office, he stopped, and looked over his shoulder.
"And yes. I believe that you have a sincere heart." He said, before walking into Office. Violet walked up to Nadre, carrying Alyra. Nadre nearly swiped her from Violet's arms and held her close.
"Nice to see you safely on the ground… Nadre." Violet said. Nadre smiled and thanked her. She turned again.
Coal stood nearby, holding a long stretch of rope. His expression seemed… blank.
"Actually, would you hold her for me, for a little bit longer?" Nadre asked, handing Alyra back to Violet. She stepped forward, five feet away from Coal.
Coal's expression remained mildly placid.
"Coal?" Nadre asked, hesitantly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I could only hope to understand what betrayal and hurt you must be feeling because of m—"
Nadre did not get to finish her sentence, as Coal was suddenly standing right in front of her. He stopped her sentence as he kissed her, deeply. Nadre was surprised, but wrapped her arms around his neck. When he finally pulled away, the look in his eyes was not pain. Nadre heard clapping behind her from the other Admirals, but her focus wasn't on them right now. Coal was saying something.
"Nadre, Snow, whoever you want to be called…" he began, "I couldn't care less whether you were an Imposter or not. If you were like the other Imposters, that would be a damper on the relationship, but I know you. I was hurt that you thought I wouldn't trust you with this secret. That I wouldn't keep your trust."
Nadre felt Alyra handed back to her. Violet winked, and she, accompanied by Green, went into Office to begin explaining things.
Nadre turned back to Coal, a light blush beginning to show. Whether it was from the cold of the snow on her cheeks, or the heat she felt in her chest, she couldn't say. "Tell you what, mister."
Coal's eyebrow rose in question. Nadre continued.
"No more secrets." Nadre said, throwing her free arm around Coal's neck.
Coal returned the hug. "No more secrets." He confirmed.
Alyra giggled happily between Nadre and Coal, as black lips met white ones in the dark snow of Polus.