Chapter 3: Fire and Water
Location: Underwater Grineer Lab, Uranus
The two Archwings dived deep under the surface, heading for an access hatch to the laboratory of the Titania region. They surfaced inside the Grineer complex.
"All right." Excal said. "Ordis, you're up. Pinpoint him."
"Sure thing, Operator." Ordis piped up in her earpiece. "I should warn you, he's not alone. I'm picking up quite a few other signals… At least a dozen!"
"Manics, probably." Excal sighed.
"I'll take care of them." Atlas said. "You go for Regor."
Tyl Regor sat in his lab chair, surrounded by the pumping machinery. His mace and shield lay beside him as he studied his experiments' genetics. On the floor below him, Manics checked the equipment and surveilled the area.
A blast suddenly echoed in the distance. The Manics stopped their work and looked around, as alarms were heard.
"Keep working." Regor growled.
The Manics hesitated a second, then continued to assure the stability of the cloning machinery. Regor smiled, listening to the sounds of battle closing in, then stood up and grasped his equipement.
"Stand back."
Atlas said as he punched cleanly through the access hatch, sending it flying and revealing Regor's room. The Manics put down their equipment and started growling. Regor himself was nowhere to be seen.
Atlas dashed towards a first Manic, and pulverized his skull with a single punch. The others all ran towards him, allowing Excal to propel herself to the upper level. Regor's chair stood there, but empty. She grasped her Nikana Prime tightly, holding it in front of her as she searched her surroundings with her stare.
The attack came from the side. Had Excal not seen a blur approaching her, Regor's mace would have broke her ribs and sent her flying. Instead, she blocked his attacks, but was forced to jump back. "Found you."
Regor had no mouth to speak of, but she sensed him smiling behind his suit. "Yes, you found me. And you're not going to be happy about it, worm."
He rained attacks down on her, forcing her back with powerful blows that she had no choice but to block. "He's trying to pin me against the wall", she thought.
As the blows came again and again, Excal saw an opening. "There!" She twisted her body, charging her Nikana with Void Energy as she slashed Regor's mace across the hilt, before thrusting a powerful body at her shield. Pushed back, Regor jumped back, crawling away and discarding his broken weapon, keeping hold of his shield. He threw it like a frisbee at Excal. "Die, lizard. Leech. Bloody worm!"
Excal blocked the shield, grating against her sword. The kick that followed, however, hit her in her side, sending her falling down to the lower level. She fell down hard, protecting her back and head but slamming her right shoulder against the cold, hard steel plates of the facility. She lay there, dizzy and hurting. Regor jumped down after her, grasping his shield.
"I'm going to split your skull open, worm… Like you did to my tubemen!"
Regor raised his shield up with both hands, and thrust downwards.
Excal closed her eyes.
"Ember… I'm sorry…"
The punch smashed through the shield. Regor snapped his head to the side, the blow still smashing half of his mask, sending him crashing against the wall. Excal lay there, with her eyes still closed.
"Hey. You all right?"
Excal opened her eyes, and groaned. "No… I got careless again… And my shoulder might be displaced."
Taking advantage of the conversation, three Manics jumped towards the pair, snarling. Atlas turned in a flash, punching clean through the three of them. He turned back to Excal, and put her on her back. "Let's get out of here."
He glanced back at the wall, where Regor had been sent flying. He was no longer there.
Atlas ran back to the ships, careful not to shake Excal too much. She felt… like crap, honestly. They docked in their Orbiter, and flew away from the facility.
"Operator? Are you okay?" Ordis said with quite a lot of worry in his voice.
"Do I look like I'm okay?" Excal tried to smile, but ended up wincing. "Open the nursery. I think I need Helminth to relocate my shoulder."
"That filthy- I mean, of course, Operator!"
Excal sighed. "And no need to complain about it." She tried to hold the pain back as the Infested room opened. "Message Cetus while I get patched up. Regor got away, but we trashed quite a lot of his equipment. Ask Nyx if there are any more troubles in nearby planets."
Excal sat in the molded chair, and closed her eyes as she let the tamed Infestation do its work. If he had a body, Ordis would have cringed. Instead, he did what Excal had asked.
In his own Orbiter, Atlas took off his blood-stained armor gloves, calmly. He was going to have to do some washing. He felt bored… As he always did.
As one cleaned up his suit and the other her wounds, the two Orbiters headed away from Uranus. But another ship was heading towards them… Calling out.
"I found them."