Summary: It starts.
Contains: Minor character death...ish?
Big thanks to madameaZure for all her help with plotting out this ending. ;w;
Imposter
By Dark Ice Dragon
Part 43
Frankenstein's heart wouldn't settle.
Of course the Union would have a way to root out hidden imposters, especially ones that didn't want to be found.
They let out a weak chuckle. "Well, I'm either going to be a really good distraction, or I'm going to be found rather quickly." And Em as well, damn. He would need to told. Though he would be able to sense them as well - it was hard to miss.
The new imposter's presence did solidify something, in the very least. "Then you'll be safe?"
Tao's focus slid to him, and then back at the monitors. "...Yeah, noblesse-series are focused on only other imposters. They'll probably just ignore the rest of us. The others though..."
Yes, it wasn't just doctor Aris and the imposter coming into the base. They shook their head, trying to clear it. "I can only sense the imposter - I can't sense where they are, like the ones before." It was as if the imposter was everywhere in the base, even though Frankenstein could see them on the monitor. And they should get moving now.
"I guess it's confuse the imposters they're, uh, tracking," Tao said.
Right. Of course. They tried to take steady breaths.
"I'll let the others know," Tao said, focusing on the monitors again, "so you just focus on running."
Frankenstein nodded. "Thank you," they said as they left.
[-]
M-21 ran. It wasn't enough. Wherever he went, he could sense the other imposter, and that meant they could sense him. Fuck. He was fucked. What could he do now? He couldn't hide from another fucking imposter!
[Yer doin' okay, Em,] Tao's voice came through the comms, his voice calm and measured.
[No, I'm not!] M-21 snapped as he entered the medbay. How the fuck was any of this okay?
[They're comin' from the south, so you're as far as you can be from them right now, without bein' in the dropship.]
[I wasn't going to fucking trap myself in there!] M-21 hissed. He would either be trapped with the imposter, or as soon as he stepped outside again, he would be surrounded by the agents and killed.
[And that's good! If you hang out near the vent, you've got multiple escape routes.]
M-21 eyed the vent he was just passing, and then nodded, crouching near it.
[See? Told ya teachin' me about the vents could come in useful.]
M-21 snorted at that, but... It was good having Tao in his ear, watching out for him.
[-]
[Em's in the medbay.]
Frankenstein nodded at the news. Not too surprising, since they could feel him in front of them. [That only leaves staying in Storage, or heading towards them.] Neither option Frankenstein was too fond of. [But I suppose that has to happen.]
They heard Tao hum. [Dunno about that, Boss. You can hang around the dropship for now.]
They frowned. [Isn't the point of me being bait that I keep them away from it?]
[Later on, yeah. But if you aggro them too early, there won't be as many chances to take them out, you know? And can you keep running for hours at a time?]
[...No,] they admitted. Granted, they hadn't tried, but the fact that they'd never been tested on their endurance should say exactly how well they would do. [Very well, I'll stay near the dropship.]
[Keep ya updated, Boss.]
[-]
Takeo looked over at the sound of his door opening, smiling at the unfamiliar 'suits. "Can I help you?" Damn. He wouldn't be able to do anything with multiple people.
The Union agents peered into his small room, and then left.
He exhaled.
[I spy with my little eye...] Tao said.
Takeo smiled as he put on his helmet. [They had guns.] It was something he would be able to use if he could get his hands on one.
[-]
Boss and Em were safe, the new imposter wasn't hurrying towards them, and the rest of the guards weren't trigger-happy. Good good good. Tao used the quiet period to start hacking into the ship's system. Even at a glance, it was more upgraded than anything on the base.
That only meant it would take him a bit longer than he expected to.
While he got to work, he kept an eye on the monitors.
There was something weird about how the agents were moving that Tao couldn't quite place. It wasn't the same way as how Em moved, like a predator stalking their prey at the edge of their prey's awareness, but it was just...off, a little bit.
[Heads up, Muzaka, they're heading for you.]
Tao frowned, staring at the boiler room. Hopefully Muzaka had heard him, since he didn't have his helmet on...
[-]
Muzaka heard the boiler room door open after Tao's warning. "Hey," he said, watching the 'suit enter.
He hid his frown as they continued on, with no hesitation. That was strange... No-one did that. Everyone balked at the heat when they first entered. The door closed behind them, and good. They were alone.
"Are you wantin' a tour?" Muzaka said, walking over, spinning the wrench in his hand, trying to keep his hold on it loose.
No response.
Muzaka trailed after the agent. "So this is the boiler room - this is where most of the heat for the rest of the base is generated, as well as the energy as well."
Nothing.
Step by step, Muzaka followed them deeper into the boiler room, until they weren't in view of the door anymore.
"And this is where there's the trickiest part of managing the boiler room is," Muzaka said, watching the agent.
Ignored completely.
Well then. If the agents weren't paying any sort of attention to him...
Muzaka tightened his hold on his wrench, stepping up behind the agent, and swung.
[-]
One good thing about Muzaka keeping his 'suit around his waist was that any blood splatter...
Tao stared at the screen.
There was meant to be blood splatter, and what liquids Tao could see were darker than the usual red blood that humans had inside them.
Tao saw Muzaka stuff the agent into the corner where Em liked to sleep before heading for his helmet.
[They're not fully human,] Muzaka said.
['Cause they have less blood?]
[Because they have wires inside them.]
Androids? Yeah, that would explain the weird way they were moving. [Are you sure it's dead?] They could be more resistant to damage than humans were.
[They stopped moving,] Muzaka said, shrugging.
Tao tracked the other agent heading for O2 and spotted the familiar blue 'suit entering the west building. [All right. Grab the gun and toss it to Takeo - he'll be coming past your door in a couple minutes.]
[Got it.]
That done, Tao switched his attention to where he'd last seen the other imposter, Black. Which was a bit of affront for him, because what if someone mistook him for the imposter? No-one was gonna look for the little insignia first! Frankenstein and Em shouldn't mistake him, but what if they were standing outside, side by side?
Tao's gaze slid to the set of cat ears he kept next to the monitors. That could help.
Anyway. Thoughts for later. He was safe in here for now. He had to concentrate on other things.
Like how Black was moving up the main central area. That meant they could either go for Em or Boss, and with how imposters sensed each other...
Tao wasn't surprised when Black aimed for the eastern building, rather than the dropship.
[Imposter on yer tail,] Tao said, watching Black wait in depressurisation. [Head south through the building.] It would be better than having both Frankenstein and Em in the central area.
[I don't have a tail,] Em grumbled, moving.
It looked like it to Tao, but maybe he'd been wrong. He hadn't meant it like that anyway.
Tao saw Black track Em's movement and hmmm. Still. They were stuck in depressurisation for now.
[You're safe at the moment, Boss,] he said, switching comms.
[I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing...]
Tao grinned. [You're safe, the imposter is distracted, and we're workin' on the agents - it's a good thing!] Movement caught his eye, and that was right outside his door, whoops. [Gotta go!]
Anything weird in sight? Please say no, please say no. Tao scanned through the views as he heard the door open behind him. No blood on his screens, and no limp limbs either. Good.
"Heeey!" Tao chirped, grinning at doctor Aris. He'd been a little too focused on watching what everyone else was doing to keep track of her, or his own door. Another blind spot, but he should be fine after he squeaked past the inspection.
"Hello there!" doctor Aris said. Her helmet was off and she smiled at him, before she glanced at the small machine in her hand. It wasn't a gun at least, but what scientist would carry one? "You must be Tao, right?" she asked, as she glanced at the small machine again.
Tao's stomach sank as he fixed the grin on his face. "Yep, that's me!" Why...did she want to know?
"Goodie!" she said, putting the machine away. "Just the person I wanted to talk to."
Tao pointed to himself. "Me?" Not good. Getting a scientist's attention was never good, especially when he hadn't been anywhere near her before. That meant he'd done something to get her attention.
"Yep! Now you can tell me why your tracker sent us an alert that it was deliberately being hacked into." Her smile turned sharp. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
Ah, shit. Was it because of him she was here? No, he couldn't be the only reason, or else Black wouldn't be here as well.
"I'm sure the others will love to pick your brain how you were able to do that," she purred.
Either way, he'd fucked up. And he was trapped here, with only one way out: through her.
Buuut...
Tao slowly stood up, pressing himself back against the desk. "I mean, you can ask and I can tell ya where yer security weaknesses are." Sliding his fingers underneath.
"Oh, but we wouldn't be absolutely sure you were telling the truth if we just asked." Her smile didn't move. "And we'd need to make sure this little mishap never happened again, don't we?"
He was so screwed.
Tao pressed the button under his desk, activating the door trap. Doctor Aris screamed, electricity dancing over her as the lights flickered.
Was she dead? Didn't matter. Couldn't check. Not now. Tao whirled around, snatching up a screwdriver and yanked open the security tower. He grabbed a hold of the innards and pulled, the wires tearing easily, the monitors turning black a second later.
Wouldn't be enough. Tao gritted his teeth, steeled his heart, and drove the screwdriver through the hardware. If anyone else tried to use the security room, they couldn't see where everyone was.
Were the agents on the lookout for him, or Boss and Em? Had to be Boss and Em, or else they would have headed straight here. Or was it both?
He grabbed his pad, and jammed his helmet on, snatching up his cat ears as well.
Okay. She was there. Slumped against the wall by the door. Everything else had been cleared, and if he'd killed her, then that was one less threat arou-
Tao yelped, ducking as Aris lunged at him with a roar.
Something screeched behind him, and it was the distinctive sound of metal twisting and tearing.
Nope. Nopenope, he was not dealing with that. He dashed out of Security before she could pull herself free and maybe throw something at him. Or punched through him.
[Good news, Boss!] Tao said as he ran along the corridors.
[Yes?]
[You're not the one Aris is after!]
[Then who - are you running?]
Not like Tao could have hid his heaving breaths. [More good news! We've got a third bait running around, haha...] Maybe his trap had fried Aris' tracker scanner. Hopefully. Kinda doubtful though.
[Why?]
[Turns out I wasn't as sneaky with the track-]
A roar echoed behind Tao, making him put on an extra burst of speed, to try and put as much space between him and Aris. [Anyway, your way is clear so head south!] Tao said as quickly as he could.
"I am going to find you, Tao-" Aris' snarled from behind him, "and I am going to break your legs to make sure you can't run away again!"
Mmmnope, did not like the sound of that!
Yeah, Tao had really not missed being around Union scientists.