*R.I POV*
"Is that everyone?"
"We are still waiting for Sir SilverAsh and Sir Thorns, Miss Kal'tsit. They should be arriving in 10 minutes."
"Good. Once they arrive, send them to me since we need to cripple them during our first assault and those two have the firepower necessary for that."
"By your command."
Steps slowly echo away from Kal'tsit as she gazes at the numerous operators in the hanger bay from the platform with her hand resting on the railing.
Kal'tsit sighs before muttering to herself, "Send in the bombardment first then our destructive operators to decimate them before sending in the rest to clean up the stragglers… Too simple."
"Sometimes, simplicity is the right answer, doctor Kal'tsit."
"Closure." Kal'tsit sends a curt nod at the Sarkaz woman, with neck-length black hair orange-colored eyes with pointy ears, who is slowly walking towards Kal'tsit with a grin.
"Heya. I noticed you weren't in the control room, so I set off to find ya."
"Hmm, I would have expected for you to send a drone to do your dirty work as usual while you stay in your workroom."
Closure's grin slowly turns into a wistful smile, "I would have… But, I would rather walk around instead of staying cooped up in there."
"So, you came out because you don't have faith in us returning?"
"What? No! Where did that come from? I have complete and utter trust that you-"
Kal'tsit raises a hand to her yet still doesn't so much as glance at her, "We have known each other for a long time. You can't fool me when I know you would rather be in your workroom than out here if you had faith or trust." She glances at Closure while dropping her hand, "Isn't that right, Chief Engineer?"
"…Fine, fine, shouldn't have even tried to lie. Though, can you blame me? Who knows if our countermeasures would even work against them when those things would just evolve to counter it, or at least reduce the effectiveness." Closure scratches her hair while sighing as she stands right next to Kal'tsit who is looking downwards.
"…That is why the plan was to douse the forest with it. Unfortunately, we ran out of time, though I expected it to be completely useless, so we just need to wear protective clothing to stop them from getting in."
"And if that also doesn't work?"
"Then we fall back and let the rest of the airstrike level the forest down."
"…So, just like before?"
"…Yes. Destroy the threat, no matter the cost."
"Even if that means losing the doctor and some of our powerful operators?"
"Yes."
"Actually, why not just create a distraction while our elite operators sneak to the enemy backline to rescue them?"
Kal'tsit glances at Closure, "And lose them too? I know that is how I usually plan missions, but you know that thing would be able to change your body, so there is a chance of it personally controlling the doctor's body. Not taking that risk."
"Sheesh, no need to take your frustration out on me."
"Forgive me, but why bother when you know the reason?"
Closure shrugs, "Don't know, maybe to annoy you?"
"Very funny." Kal'tsit spies a tall figure with white hair wearing black clothing then an average height person with black hair wearing silverish clothing entering through the door. "Now, if you would excuse me, I need to be down there."
"Sure, just remember to come back alive. I already lost my best customer; I don't want to add another to that list."
Kal'tsit lets out a small chuckle before walking to the door at the end of the platform while passing Closure, who merely watches her.
Closure stays rooted in her spot before turning her gaze towards down there as operators talk to one another before sighing and starts to walk to the door.
"So they also recalled you and Thorns." Operator Blaze, a woman with long bluish hair, feline ears, green eyes and carrying a large chainsaw like it weighs nothing, remarks as she sees them coming through the door.
SilverAsh notices Blaze's voice and heads to her while Thorns moves to the back area of the crowd, away from her.
"Miss Blaze, do you know anything else apart from my sworn ally being held hostage?" SilverAsh asks when he's close enough to Blaze while his pet hawk flies into the hanger bay through a window and lands on top of his shoulder. He idly scratches the hawk's feather.
"Nope. We were all just told to gather here this morning and here we are now," Blaze shrugs before glancing around. "Got any ideas on why there are so many of us here? The situation couldn't be that bad enough to warrant this, right?"
"I will keep my ideas to myself, Miss Blaze." SilverAsh politely declines.
"Man, you're no fun. It's not like the first, second, hell even the tenth time the doctor got himself captured. We'll just get him back like always."
"Miss Blaze, that attitude… Isn't good for you, or anyone, to have. Better to presume the worst."
"Yeah, but this is the doctor we are talking about. He will always make it out alive since he has done it so many times. Of course, If he can't do it by himself, then we will get him out."
"…That line of thinking is dangerous, Miss Blaze. Deluding yourself into thinking that he is invincible."
For a brief moment, Blaze's eyes shift into a glare but quickly changes back, "Deluding myself? I just have faith that the doctor will get out of any situation he finds himself in."
SilverAsh shakes his head before walking past Blaze, though he mutters when he passes by, "I hope you won't regret your decision, Miss Blaze."
As SilverAsh's steps grow faint, Blaze's hand clenches harder while staying rooted to her spot. SilverAsh glances back before shaking his head and continues to walk to the other side of the bay.
"Hey, Muddy. Didn't it look like Silver and Blazey were fighting each other?"
"…Probably."
Operator Grani, a short Kuranta woman with light purple eyes and platinum hair questions operator Mudrock, a massive figure wearing a white color variant of the hazmat suit with the only identification of race being the horns seen at the top of the suit, indicating Sarkaz, responds with a robotic voice.
"Hmmmm… Hey Muddy, can you hoist me up so that I can see everyone? I'm trying to find Skadi."
"…Ok."
Grani holds her arms out to Mudrock, who puts their hand under her armpit and lifts her up, high above everyone else. Grani lets out a sound while being hoisted before scanning the hangar bay in order to find Skadi. After a few minutes of scanning, she sighs before tapping on Mudrock's hand to signal to them to let her down.
Grani sighs while leaning against her lance, "Nope, can't find her anywhere in here. Wonder where she is right now?" She glances at Mudrock, who is looking at her. "Ah yeah, thanks for the help, Muddy."
"…You're welcome."
"Hey Eyja! Long time no see, huh?"
Operator Mayer, an Anaty woman with light grey hair and grey eyes, energetically greets Eyja, who was briskly responding to Operator Blue Poison, an Anura woman with light pink hair and pale sky eyes though her pupil is white color, questions related to the doctor. Eyja glances over to Mayer but swiftly returns to look at BP (Blue Poison) with a slight frown.
"…Erm, are you still mad about the sheep? None of us saw your sheep near the ritu- I mean, construction area, so you can't stay angry at us for accidentally using your sheep as a part for the ultimate summon."
Eyja slowly turns to look at Mayer with a small smile etched to her face before softly saying, "Do you want me to melt your workshop?"
Mayer flinches before sputtering out, "Um, ple- Please no."
"Good." Eyja turns her face to BP, "Now, for the last time, doctor, does, not, like, strawberries."
BP's face sours while saying in an indignant tone, "But everyone loves strawberries. Just you wait, I'll get that big lump of coal to admit it."
Eyja lets out a small snort, "Good luck with that."
BP opens her mouth but closes it due to siren sound blaring out from the speaker located at the ceiling. All of the operators stop talking and turn to look around them, only to see Kal'tsit standing in front of the door that Thorns and SilverAsh came out from.
Kal'tsit struts her way past the operators then stops right in front of them. She sighs before steeling herself to deliver the rest of the news she decided not to include in the message.
"As stated in the message, the doctor and 8 operators were sent to investigate an anomalous energy signal that originated from a forest near Chernobog's position. This was 4 weeks ago. They had encountered a new type of creature that was never seen before which could parasitize anyone they touch and control them by taking over their whole body while keeping them alive and conscious during the ordeal, all the while mutating at a rapid pace, so expect this information to be severely outdated."
Various reactions pour out from the operators, yet Kal'tsit pays no heed to them as she continues, "The doctor and 4 operators had been infected by Krill, the designation of the creature, and had to be left behind due to lack of manpower to retrieve them."
This results in a greater reaction from the operators as they shout out in disbelief but one glare from Kal'tsit quickly puts an end to them. She sighs before continuing, "We had deployed our scouts around the forest and three days ago, our scouts had reported that they heard a scream so loud that it almost shattered their ear drums, followed by an energy beam shooting upwards." She sighs.
"That is the main reason why I am deploying all of you to go raze the forest down while making sure none of them get away and to recover doctor and the operators, if possible. Amiya had already approved of this decision." Kal'tsit points to a door located at the right-side corner of the entrance door. "Inside there are hazmat suit to cover up all possible skin openings with the gas mask right next to them, in case the parasites have evolved into airborne, change into it after completing your preparations. Operators who have their own suit can change into it or no need to change if you are wearing it but you need to spray the inside suit with a reagent that we came up with to counter the infection. Afterwards, regroup back here. Dismissed."
After Kal'tsit ends the meeting, almost every operator, excluding the ones that went with the doctor and those who are not that close to the doctor, follows after Kal'tsit to ask questions. Broca, a man belonging to the Feline race with short black hair and white cat ears on his head, snorts before leaving, Thorns shakes his head then heads towards the front door to do maintenance on his weapon, trailing behind the other operators that opt to leave the hanger bay.
Eyja quietly lets out a sigh, though BP, who is standing nearby her, hears the sigh and glances over to Eyja with a raised eyebrow.
"Why the quiet sigh? Actually, how come you don't look surprised?"
Eyja blinks before turning her head towards BP, "It's nothing…"
"Sure it is." BP deadpans.
"Really, it's nothing."
BP doesn't say anything, but she does continue to stare at Eyja who grows more awkward as time goes on. BP is the first one to gives in by shrugging her shoulder and saying with a bit of sass, "Fine, whatever you say. I'm going back to my room to get more ammo."
Eyja releases a sigh of relief when she sees BP walks away, but she freezes when the latter stops and glances back with worry in her eyes, "You can talk to me if there's something bothering you."
"I know… And thank you."
BP nods and resumes her walk while Eyja tightens her grip on her staff as she waits for everybody to come back. She scans the room, trying to alleviate the boredom slowly filling her and she spots Blaze standing very still with an expression of horror plastered to her face. She quickly looks away, not having the will to face the guilt creeping up on her now as she feels herself being partly responsible for failing on that mission.
Eyja decides to leave the room, trailing behind Kal'tsit, who had ordered everyone to leave her alone and to focus on their own preparation for the mission.
Kal'tsit glances back but doesn't say a word at Eyja as they continue to walk in the hallway. It stays that way until she stops in front of a door while Eyja carefully walks until she is behind her.
"So, what do you want, Eyja?" Kal'tsit glances back.
"…What will you do if we can't save them?" Eyja mutters as she meets her gaze.
Kal'tsit doesn't respond for a few minutes, so both of them stand in their spot. Finally, she opens her mouth to say, "Worst case; we just put them to rest." She opens the door and quickly enters without giving Eyja any chance to say anything.
Eyja closes her eyes while taking deep breaths then exhales. She clenches her hand until blood drops down to the floor, then she opens her eyes with fire burning in them before walking away.
*LineBreak*
"Remember to retreat if your suit is compromised! We don't need anyone else joining them!" Kal'tsit, wearing a black hazmat suit with the Rhodes Island emblem at the back of it, yells into the intercom from inside a VTOL. She had deemed it necessary to bring all of the VTOLs, 4 of them, in order to bring along everyone and have enough room for extra people.
"Approaching the forest!" The pilot's voice sounds out from the VTOL intercom.
"You heard him! W, get into position!"
W, wearing a simple red and black hazmat suit, gets up and wobbles over to the side door. She puts her hand on the handle and waits for the signal.
"We're he- shit!" The VTOL suddenly goes up, almost making W lose her footing if she hadn't tighten her grip on the handle, "Something is shooting at us with big red things!"
"W, open the door and shoot them!" Kal'tsit orders before turning on her intercom, "We got enemies firing projectiles at us, start the bombing!"
"Fuuuuuccck! I hate this!" Blaze shouts as she grips her seat in order to not be thrown like a rag doll.
Various sounds fill the air while W had already opened the door and is now aiming at the forest. She scans it to see where the enemies are, then savagely grins as she spots them throwing big red rocks at them.
"Found ya!" She rapidly fires at them, reloads, fires again, rinses and repeats. She sees other explosions happening in other spots of the forest and her grin stretches even further.
"That's right you bastards! DIE!" W maniacally laughs as she sees craters of various sizes appear all around the forest.
After 5 minutes of raining fire, the operators stop firing and wait to see if any projectiles are thrown at them. Seeing that no projectiles are thrown after a minute waiting, Kal'tsit orders, "Pilots, begin taking us down."
"Roger." The VTOLs descend at the edge of the forest, until the level where the operators can simply jump down, which they do.
"W, remember the plan," Kal'tsit simply says before jumping off as the last one. W doesn't react to her words, but she does tighten her grip.
"We got Krills coming!" Fang yells as she spots movement in the forest.
"Mon3tr, kill them." Kal'tsit snaps her finger and black and green rocks materialize behind her, forming into a shape that looks like a sea serpent.
Mon3tr roars before rushing over to the leftover Reunion and Ursus swarm with a new . Kal'tsit snaps her finger again and Mon3tr gains a red aura encompassing it.
The moment Mon3tr was about to reach them, various long range attacks rain upon the Krills, courtesy of the operators beside Kal'tsit.
Mayer unleashes her robotic minions to join Mon3tr as reinforcement while the melee operators stay behind to wait for the swarm to thin out a bit before joining the fray.
"Eyja, Shining, Dobermann, how are your progress on your side?" Kal'tsit holds her intercom closer to her mouth.
"West side is fine." "East side no problem." "North side is alright."
"Good, continue with the plan." Kal'tsit lets go of her intercom which returns to her shoulder before yelling, "Continue bombarding them while advancing!"
The operators obey her as they continue bombarding the Krills and now the forest. They march on while ignoring the burning carcasses on the ground with Krill wriggling on the ground before staying still.
"Doctor Kal'tsit, rest!" Mayer calls out just as the last of her robots explode, same with Mon3tr, taking out a good chunk of the enemies and stunning the survivors.
"Melee operators, move in!" Kal'tsit orders, letting loose the metaphorical chains holding them.
"Die!" Blaze yells as she swings down her chainsaw that is now longer into the ground, creating cracks as she attacks them from below.
Mudrock simply uses its hammer to pummel them all, in one case blowing a Grunt's head clean off. It turns the hammer around then sticks it to the ground, before kneeling down as black aura surrounds it. Any enemy that tries to move near Mudrock gets slowed down which gives it enough time to suddenly get up, grabs the hammer by the handle and swings it at a rapid pace, sending them flying even farther.
One of the dog-like creatures tries to pounce on Mudrock but goes flying away due to an arrow lodged into its head, courtesy of Platinum. She spots something flying in the sky, and when she squints her eyes, she sees a swarm of flying worms are flapping its wings.
Platinum blankly stares at the flying swarm before shaking her head, "We got enemy flyers heading our way from the right side!"
"W, do you see anything flying right now?" Kal'tsit asks into her radio.
"Yep, and you got tons of them. I'll take care of them." Explosions could be heard from the not too far off distance.
"Everyone, we got enemy flyers. Check the skies," Kal'tsit says before hearing 4 voices responding.
"Doctor Kal'tsit, a building in front of us!" Blaze yells as she hacks down 5 Grunts in one swing.
"Clear it out, they might be in there," Kal'tsit decisively orders as she summons Mon3tr again while Mayer summons her dogs, "Double time it."
It doesn't take long before they reach the 2-storey stone building while killing off the remaining Krills. They form up at the door while Kal'tsit points to Platinum, Blaze, and Mudrock.
"You three stand guard while we clear the place. Do not get separated." All 3 of them nod and the rest cautiously enter the building.
*Warning! Warning! Mature Content From This Point Onwards! You Have Been Warned!*
Inside, they find multiple smaller rooms with the hallway leading to an open space area. Mayer sends her remaining dogs to check the rooms while the rest heads to the other end.
"What…" Someone exclaims as they take in the sight.
In the right side of the open space area, countless female bodies, caked in all sorts of liquid, are thrown over each other while various sizes of worms litter all over the place. The bodies have some parts of them missing while the insides are spilled out nearby, which are promptly eaten by the worms.
"Ooooo…" "Aeurghg…" Moreeeee…~" On the other side, the females are alive while moaning out loud, but they are naked with white substances clinging to their bodies, letting the world to see their stomach bulging with a few the size of a balloon.
Kal'tsit grits her teeth as her face shifts into livid, "Burn the worms and bodies over there. Fang, come with me," She says through gritted teeth while walking to the left side.
It takes a couple of seconds before the operators begin to move but various squelching and pops ring out into the air. Kal'tsit slowly reaches to one of the females moaning and she squats down beside her before opening her eyes to see that it is hazy while she is deliriously smiling.
"What kind of sick bastard does this?!" Fang says, her expression livid while she tightens her hold on her spear.
"A dead one." Kal'tsit motions for Mon3tr to come then orders, "Mercy kill them all."
The serpent bows, though it glances over to Kal'tsit and looks at her for a few seconds longer. It then proceeds to kill all of the naked females by stabbing at the back of their head, even rolling a few of them in order to do it.
"Doctor Kal'tsit… Why?"
"We need to put them to rest… It is fine if you do not want to do it."
"N-no, I'll help… If only for their sake." Fang heads over to another female, this one with yellow hair and a black halo with a delirious smile and empty eyes. She closes her eyes before plunging her spear into her head.
"Doctor Kal'tsit… You need to see this." Mayer appears from the hallway while tightly holding on to her mechanical dog. Kal'tsit squints her eyebrows while grimacing as she trails behind Mayer. She glances to the right side to see that the operators had just begun to burn the bodies after taking care of the worms.
Mayer stops in front of a room, and she sucks in a breath before exhaling as she opens it. The inside reveals an empty room except for a medical chair in the middle… And Red laid on top of it.
Kal'tsit rushes over to Red before gasping with her eyes starting to water as she sees the condition of Red.
Red's body is full of holes of varying sizes with Krills coming out from them while her stomach is the size of a last term pregnant woman. Her eyes are crystal clear now, though not necessarily a good thing as there is nothing in there. Just whiteness. She also has a delirious smile that twitches every now and then.
"Red!" Kal'tsit cries out as she grabs hold of Red's body. She shakes it but that only serves to make the Krills come out even faster while Red merely spasms as clear liquids dribble down the chair.
"I found Ayerscape in the same condition as Red in the other room… There are other unknown people in the other rooms, same condition," Mayer softly says while lifting her hand to Kal'tsit before she decides to put it down.
Kal'tsit doesn't react to Mayer's word, merely repeating the word Red while shaking the body. She notices the stomach rumbling which sends Red into a spasm that arch her back as she screams/moans.
"Doctor Kal'tsit!" Mayer yells before dragging Kal'tsit away; the latter's eye fixed on watching as Red's stomach slowly shrinks. Her face sinks into despair even more as she sees a huge worm pop out and land on the floor.
The worm stays idle before it shows its legs to them then slowly gets up. It shakes itself like a dog before looking right at them with its eyes. It crouches then tries to pounce on Kal'tsit, before Mayer's dog headbutts it which sends it flying away.
"Doctor Kal'tsit, please get a hold of yourself! We are still in the battlefield!" Mayer yells while glancing to Kal'tsit before widening her eyes as she sees her robot dog get thrown to the wall then blowing itself up alongside the wall.
"Fuck!" Mayer curses while using her robotic arms attached to the machine at her back to fire a laser at the worm dog.
It dodges each of her shots by jumping all around the place before it lunges at Mayer.
Mayer keeps firing at it before crossing her arms as she sees that her shot is ineffective. Through the gaps, she sees a green arm appear in front of her and punch the worm to the opposite side wall with enough force to crack the wall. It stays still.
"Mon3tr."
The serpent barges in when he hears Kal'tsit icily calls it, "We will go hunt down the bastard that started all of this."
"Wait, wait, Doctor Kal'tsit! You can't go on your own!"
"I will. All of you will only slow me down." She begins to walk through the hole that the explosion made.
Mayer grabs hold of her arm, "I know that you are beyond pissed but if you leave then everybody will suffer for it!" She cries out while using all of her strength to hold her back.
"All of you can handle yourselves. I want to make this bastard suffer for what he did to my baby."
Footsteps sound out from outside of the hole and moments later, Blaze, Mudrock and Platinum appear. They scan the room before blaze spots Red.
"Red!" Blaze zooms over to Red, "Come on, Red, wake up please!" She sobs as she gently takes hold of her body.
"Please wake up… I bought all kinds of meat for you back at home… Please wake up…" Blaze's voice slowly becomes broken as she gently rocks Red's body while patting her hair.
"Doctor Kal'tsit… Is that…?" Platinum asks with desperation tinged in her tone.
"Yes! Ayerscape is over in the opposite side of here too!" Mayer answers through gritted teeth, "Please help me stop Doctor Kal'tsit from running off!"
Mudrock and Platinum quickly head over to stop Kal'tsit, and the latter finally stops. She glances over to Mon3tr who is looking at Red.
"Mon3tr, get these shits off of me!" Kal'tsit roars, though Mon3tr stays hovering in place, "What are you doing?! Help me!"
"Monster, please help Doctor Kal'tsit see reason!" Mayer desperately calls out as she feels Kal'tsit struggling even more.
Mon3tr's head droops before it slowly hovers over to them as it brings its left hand to Kal'tsit's head. The moment they touched, Kal'tsit's struggle slows down until it stops.
Kal'tsit takes a deep breath then exhales as she clenches her hand, "Thank you, Mon3tr. Fire it off through that hole." She points to the hole and Mon3tr hovers over to in front of it.
A dark red mixed with black aura forms around Mon3tr's hand then slowly condenses until it is a ball hovering over its hand. It lifts its hand with the ball following the tip, aims it at the forest that is slowly turning orange, then he punches the ball. A large red and black laser beam pierces the forest, though it only lasts for a few seconds and when it dissipates, everything in its path has disintegrated.
"Doctor Kal'tsit! That beam could have hit our friends!" Mayer yells before glaring at Kal'tsit who scoffs.
"I don't care. A few more deaths won't make a difference," Kal'tsit bitterly says.
"Wh-"
A strong kick hits Kal'tsit at the knee, making her kneel down. She glances to the back to see Blaze glaring down at her.
"What the fuck did you just say?" Blaze icily says.
"What? That I ran out of fucks to give? That Red… My baby, had horrible things done to her, killed off the last remaining care in me. Doctor Azer did that, so many times I lost count and Red was there along with Amiya to keep my sanity to work for this damned company!" Kal'tsit brokenly yells as her face plate is slowly filling up with liquid.
"THE HOPE OF SAVING THEM WAS THE THING STOPPING ME FROM JUMPING INTO THE INCINERATOR! NOW… NOW… Just… What should I do now?!"
"Kill all of those worm bastards. That is what you should do," Blaze says as the door to the room opens, revealing the rest of the operators that come in.
"Doctor Kal'tsit, we have finished burning all of the bodies," An R.I personnel stoically says, though a hint of rage slips through.
"Come on, will you really die without making sure that every single Krill on this planet has gone extinct?" Blaze rhetorically asks while extending a hand to Kal'tsit.
"…Right." Kal'tsit grasps her hand then pulls herself off the ground. She then radios in the North side, "Dobermann, come in. Status report."
"Finally! I've been trying to contact you for ages! A laser beam just came out of nowhere in front of us, almost hit us but luckily Gravel managed to notice the beam in time to get us out of the way."
"That was us firing the beam. Won't happen again. Continue the mission."
"Wh-"
Kal'tsit cuts off her intercom, not bothering to hear anymore. She then gestures for everyone to follow her as she walks outside. Blaze catches up to her and mutters, "What about Red?"
"…Lay her and Ayerscape and the rest to their eternal rest."
"…Ok." Blaze heads back while asking Fang if she could swap her spear for her chainsaw for a while.
"You there." Kal'tsit points to the same personnel, "You made sure the fire strong enough to burn the whole burning down?"
"It should be… Though, we might need a few more firepower to demolish it."
"W, do you see a building over in our side?" Kal'tsit radios in W.
"Hold on… Yeah, I think so. The clear line really helps too."
"Good. I want you to fire your grenades at the building. Leave nothing behind. After we move away."
"…Got it. Was… He there?"
"No." She cuts off her intercom just as Blaze returns.
"Here… And thanks." Blaze hands over the spear to Fang while taking back her chainsaw.
"Everyone, move out." Kal'tsit walks off, not glancing to the back to see if they were following.
The operators follow her lead, and they see more Krills appear in front of them. Without any prompt, everyone dives into the slaughter fest with more enthusiasm than before.
After nearly 30 minutes of killing, burning and changing the oxygen tanks, all 4 sides regroup with each other as they look at the warehouse.
"Head count?" Kal'tsit asks.
"…We lost six people on our side," Eyja somberly says, "Lava, Kroos, Creed, Fret, Plox, Qurt."
"Three," Shining curtly says, "Cardigan, Betu, Mir."
"…I'm sorry. Nine people on our side," Dobermann shamefully says, "Popukar, Spot, 12F, Noir Corne, Catapult, Ansel, Midnight, Plume… Beagle."
"And seven on our side… We started with eighty people but lost twenty-five…" Kal'tsit shakes her head, "Leave the grieving until we finish." She doesn't wait for any confirmation as she walks away to stand in front of the warehouse.
"Operators! Begin sieging!" The operators swarm into the building with some of them going through the windows or scaling to the roof. Loud sounds ring out from in there, along with explosions blowing the walls up.
A VTOL lands at the new clearing next to the warehouse and W immediately jumps off.
"Did you find him?!" W desperately asks while grabbing onto Kal'tsit's shoulder.
"He should be in there." Kal'tsit gestures to the warehouse with her head, "I sent in most of the operators to get him. Shouldn't take too –"
She gets interrupted as a body flies through the wall and lands in front of them. A roar emits from inside of the warehouse then a 20-meter body, made of white flesh, emerges from the warehouse.
"Wha-"
"Kill it!" Kal'tsit yells and the operators who stayed outside fires their weapon at it while she sees most of the operators coming out of the warehouse.
"Madam Kal'tsit, that's the doctor!" Yato yells as she runs up to her, "He just changed, or something, I don't know, when we came into a room then he just punched Jax through the wall."
Kal'tsit bites her lips as she glances over to the thing that was once doctor Azer with a complicated expression. She sighs before ordering, "Kill him."
"Madam?"
"You heard me. Kill him," Kal'tsit says before yelling, "Everyone, bring that thing down!" She doesn't glance over to Yato before running off.
"Mon3tr and Surtr, aim for the legs! Try to get it to go down! Everyone else focuses fire on the head!" She sees liquids drooping from the body which splashes against the ground while some type of dust fills the air. Seconds later, miniature versions of it crawl out from the puddle while she hears screams of operators that have their suits compromised, which they then attack the nearest living thing.
"Shit. Meteorite, Skyfire, we need your arts now!" Kal'tsit screams into her radio.
Moments later, a huge explosion happens at the top of its head, followed by a giant meteorite striking at the same spot. The thing shakes its head, seemingly unaffected before roaring which stuns the operators.
This goes on for 20 minutes until the thing finally drops down to the ground withs body beginning to shrink. All of the operators drop to the ground or use their weapons to prop them up as they greedily take deep breaths to replenish themselves.
"I want to rest…" Someone says with various others voicing their agreement while gazing at the shrinking white flesh. It takes a minute before it spits out Mountain, then Skadi, then other people who all stay still on the ground.
Finally, the last of the white flesh melts away and doctor Azer is laying on the ground. Surtr and W rush off to him before slowing down as they near him.
"Doctor? Azer?" W cautiously calls out as comes closer. Seeing no reaction, she hesitantly extends a hand to touch him, but instead jumps back as his eyes open all of a sudden.
"Wiya…? Surtr…? Is… That… Yo-" He weakly says before getting interrupted.
"Yes! It's us!" Both of them have a happy expression as they close in on him, though W suddenly stops Surtr.
"Hold on. Azer, are you in control?" W asks before pointing her grenade launcher at him.
"For… Now… Jack… Is… Unconscious… Due to… That… Last attack!" He cries out as he violently coughs, "W… Surtr… Please… You… Have to… Kill me!"
"Wha- no! I won't! We can get you cured, healed, patched, whatever, back at R.I, our home!" Surtr cries out as she tries to hug him, though W unconsciously stops her.
"Too… Late… We are… Too connec…Ted together… Kill me!" He violently coughs out Krills which makes them actually see that doctor Azer's body can't last very long due to various holes littered his body. Shining comes up to him before gasping at the sight.
"Shining…?" He turns to look at her through the Krills inside of his eyeball. He shakes his head a bit to try to get a clearer view but quickly gives up.
"Doctor! Hold on, let me heal you!" Shining channels her arts and points her staff at him. Her arts mend the holes, but new ones sprout out as the Krill violently digs out. This causes the doctor to violently spasm while coughing out blood that flies into the air and drops on top of his face.
"Please… Just… Kill… Me…" He croaks out while looking into the sky. He barely hears the multiple footsteps approaching him, though he doesn't bother to confirm.
"Doctor…"
"Kal… Good… Remember… The… Promise…"
"…Ok." Kal'tsit motions for Mon3tr to come. This causes W, Surtr and Shining to glare at her.
"Green hag, what do you think you are doing…?" W quietly says while extending her arm over to him.
"Please… Move out of the way, you three."
"Not until you tell us what the promise is!" Shining holds her staff while slowly unsheathing it.
"If one of us were to ever be compromised… Then the other should do anything necessary to stop them," Kal'tsit mutters before reaching her hand out to him, "I never expected to last longer than you…"
"Me… Neither…" He chuckles a bit, though it results in him coughing even more.
"Is there really no other way…?" Surtr despondently asks.
"Even if we were to bring him using the quarantine section… He would just bleed out or worse get everyone killed. I'm sure that you don't want that right?" Kal'tsit glances down to doctor.
"Yep…"
"But...! But…" Surtr desperately says as she glances over to Shining and W, "Both of you say something!"
Both W and Shining sport complicated expressions before looking away, not having the will to look at Surtr, who is spiraling down in despair. She drops her sword then her legs give out as she crumples down to her knees.
"…You aren't going to say anything, W? Shining?" Kal'tsit glances at them.
"…I want to… But, this is what Azer wants," Shining mutters as she places a hand on his head, stroking what little hairs he has with her insulated hand.
"I want him alive… But… If it means for him to suffer to stay alive… Then, I don't want that," W mutters while looking down at him with a hesitant expression. She bends down to lightly caress his face while avoiding all of the holes and Krill.
"NO! I DON'T WANT THAT! I WANT HIM TO BE WITH US!" Surtr's voice starts to crack as she looks at Shining and W with tears streaming down her face, "PLEASE, WE JUST GOT HIM BACK!"
"Surtr…" Azer weakly calls out as he slowly lifts his hand. Surtr notices it and instantly latches on, not caring if she gets infected as she tightens her hold, "Please… I… Don't want… To live… Like this…"
"But! But… You promised…"
"I know… I'm… Sorry."
"Take back your sorry! I want you to keep your promise!"
"Shining… Thank you… Tell the rest. Surtr… W… I will always… Love you." Azer weakly smiles at them before his hand slips out of Surtr's hold.
"Doctor…? Doctor Azer…? Azer?" Surtr rocks his body left and right while she calls his name over and over.
"Little sister… That's enough…" W puts her hand on Surtr's shoulder, but the latter doesn't even notice it as she keeps rocking his body. W, seeing this, feels something flowing down from her eyes as she crumbles down to her knees next to Surtr.
Shining is already crying her heart out, tinged with the sound of broken, as she uses her staff to support herself from falling.
Kal'tsit sighs as she feels another wave of tears coming before muttering to Mon3tr, "Do it."
Mon3tr nods before hesitantly hovering over to Azer's body then plunges its sharp hand into his brain, effectively killing him once and for all.
*Authors Note*
So, Final Dawn is finished. I'll be honest that I started this fic due to my English lect giving us an assignment where we needed to write about a minimum of 50 words to maximum of 60 words in 15 weeks for a blog. I chose to do a Parasite x Arknights plot since I remember reading about a Parasite manga that I used for this fic's Parasite... That and my lect told us she was afraid of horror stuff so I wanted to troll her by making her read this... One of my classmates also did it so *shrug*. Anyway, this last part was genuinely a handful for me to make since I had forgotten about most of what I wanted to put here so I had to improvise... Which sucks since it downgraded the quality of the chapter. Thank you for reading this fic and all of the favorites, follows, and comments acting as fuel for me to write. P.S - I originally wanted to make a separate fic showing Jack and the Parasites since I made him have the gamer power but only works on biology and nothing else, which should explain on how the fuck he did everything.
*Bzzzt* "You got message."
A mechanical voice says inside a room, coming from the device on top of the desk, as W reaches out to tap the audio button of the message.
"Operator Surtr, please head towards Doctor Kal'tsit's office immediately."
Kal'tsit's voice replaces the mechanical voice as she asks, more like demands, Surtr while the person in question is holed up in her room with W sitting on a chair near the bed while sipping a cup of lemon tea.
"That old hag doesn't know when to quit." W bitterly mutters before taking another sip, "I thought we already made it clear for her to not bother us yet she's still trying to get my little sister. Don't you worry, little sister, you take all the time you need to gather yourself."
Surtr says nothing, only blankly staring at the ceiling while laying down on her bed without blinking or moving a muscle. W sighs before placing her cup that is almost finished on top of the coffee table then walks closer to Surtr. She places a hand on top of Surtr's hair before softly caressing it while humming some tunes she heard the doctor humming before.
W stops her caressing when she hears a knock on the front door. She sighs before walking over to open the room door then the front door, though she only slightly widens the gap for the front door.
"What do you want?" W glares at Shining, who merely stoically stares back.
"Someone is asking for Surtr to come to the rooftop at the command center."
"Yeah? Tell them to fuck off." W tries to slam the door but Shining manages to slip her staff in between, stopping W from closing the door.
"They said that the doctor sent them."
W freezes before forcefully pulling the door wide open while her glare intensifies and she softly asks, "What did you say?"
"You heard me. Doctor sent them and they are asking for Surtr to come to the rooftop."
"No bullshit?"
"They got his unofficial signature."
"Anyth-"
"I'll go."
W and Shining stop talking as the former turns around to look at Surtr emerging from her room with her eyes regaining some of its usual light.
"Are you sure? They will most likely force you to continue your usual work. I don't want you to lose yourself… Drowning in work as an escape mechanism doesn't end well for people." W softly asks Surtr as the latter slowly walks closer to her.
"I'm sure… I don't want… To hide away. That isn't what Azer would want me to do when he's gone." Surtr softly reassures W before clasping both of her hands with the latter's right hand and holding them up to eye level.
"But… Oh alright, but I will follow them. Do you have any problem with that?" W glances over to Shining, who shrugs back as if answering her. W rolls her eyes before deciding that Shining meant it doesn't matter with her shrug.
"Ah, but please wash yourself before leaving. You stink a little, Surtr." Shining says while pinching her nose to further drive the point.
"Yeah, yeah, we know. Now, is there anything else you want to stay?" W lazily waves her hands back and forth at Shining.
"No… Oh yeah, do be quick, those guys won't stay for long since they have other business."
"Noted. Now be gone."
Shining snorts before walking away and W closes the door. The latter sighs after the door is closed and she lifts her head to look at Surtr, who stayed at her spot without moving.
"Come on, go get washed and we can go see what they want." W softly pushes Surtr towards the bathroom while the latter doesn't resist.
*LineBreak*
"So? What do you want?" W asks, a bit aggressively, at the man with black bunny ears wearing a tuxedo, who impassively watches them. There are only the three of them standing on top of the roof with the sun beginning to rise.
"Here." The man hands over an envelope to W," I was told to give a "Miss Surtr" this letter."
W sniffs the envelope first to see if it got poisoned, then she rips it apart to find only a letter in it. She slowly and carefully takes out the letter and once nothing happens after pulling it out, she unfolds the letter to give it to Surtr, who was beside her.
Surtr takes the letter and begins to read it out loud, though it's only loud enough for W to hear too.
"Hey, Surtr. I'm not really good with words, so I am just going to write it out to you, though if you would rather just hear it, then just burn it or I don't know. Anyway, I just want to tell you how thankful I am to have met you, same with W, even though all three of us started off on the wrong foot, with W throwing a knife near my head and you almost decapitating my head after I accidentally spilled tea on both of you. Fun times. I know that it's wrong to feel grateful, or any good feeling really, but if Surtr didn't get captured by Mephisto in that forest, or if me and W decided to not rise to his bait, how would things have gone? I believe that it would have been a vast difference at the minimum. After that, all three of us went on more operations, Mansfield State Prison, Originium Dust, Chernobog, as examples that could have easily killed all of us, but we survived and bonded much closer, though W kept on being a little tsundere with your affection. I know I already told you that I would help you recover your memories, but I want to say it again, for you to know that I will never forget about you, or Wiya trying to find her acquaintances somewhere. Well, I think that's all I wanted to say in terms of using words.
Happy Birthday, Surtr. Enjoy the show."
An explosion causes Surtr and W's heads to look up, only to see beautiful and mesmerizing colors appearing in the sky that captivates their attention. Surtr's eyes start to water as the fireworks explode out into shapes, ranging from ice cream to a crudely drawn face of Surtr smiling.
The man simply moves to the door and opens it up, letting in more people that were carrying a large box, a table, chairs, a bottle labeled with the word wine and other miscellaneous stuff that is common in a romantic setting. They quickly set everything up while Surtr and W are too enthralled by the fireworks that the doctor set up to notice them and once the fireworks ended, they look down to see a table of a royal class setting waiting for them with two chairs of royalty.
"Now, please sit on the chair, although our employer didn't mention about you." The man points at W as he remarks while leading Surtr to the table.
Surtr's mind is undergoing a restart, so she offers no protest while the man simply guides her to the chair as W blinks before charging at the man to push him away. The man simply grunts while the rest of the people move in on W with their hands clenched.
"Stop." The man softly commands, yet his word reaches everyone, and they all stop moving but they keep their hands clenched as they glare at the duo.
"Explain everything right now, or so help me I will blow up everyone on this fucking rooftop to smithereens." W threatens while showing them her detonator with her finger hovering over the signal. This causes everyone but Surtr and the man to flinch at the action.
"We are the Lux's Ice Cream Corporation's staff that were hired by your "doctor" to prepare for a birthday party. He had come to us to order a custom-made cake, made with ice cream of exotic ingredients, and to prepare the party with fireworks as an additional cost. He explicitly told us to not tell anyone else of this, but due to the fact our employer is dead, and we only came to know when we arrived, that has become void. We had decided to deliver the cake and give the supplies to you since there was no point in keeping them, but a green haired lady paid us to go through with it, saying "It would serve as a closure for them." so we accepted." He sighs before raising his hand to rub his forehead, "This day has been a cluster fuck for me and my boys, so if you would excuse us, we will be on our way now."
"Wait." W softly says as the man is about to enter the door after making sure his boys went out first. He stops and glances back to W with a raised eyebrow.
"Tell me, when did he do all of this?"
"About 5 weeks ago." He stops before adding more information, "He came in with a bunch of instructions for us to follow, troublesome ones, while we are here, but seeing that he isn't around, we don't have any need to follow it."
He turns his back to the door, before adding with a soft voice, "You might want to check the wine cups on the table first." He starts to walk, disappearing into the stairwell.
W feels a shiver travel up her spine as she slowly heads to the table, still holding on to Surtr's hand while the owner is lifelessly trudging along while her eyes have no light in them.
As they grow closer to the table, the shiver grows stronger in W. She sees a glint flash at her from inside of the cups and the feeling in her intensifies.
"Maybe we should just leave this place; come on little sister, let's go downstairs." W turns around to bring Surtr but stops when she feels the latter's hand tightening.
"Is… Is… Is…" Surtr can't bring herself to finish her words as she gazes at the unmistakable thing making that glint inside of the cups. She simply collapses to the ground while still gazing at the cups as W chews her lip before going down to hug her.
W can feel a wet sensation hitting her arm, but she only tightens her hold as she feels more liquids start to hit her clothes from two different places.
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Starting as a whisper, slowly grows into a scream as Surtr's mind snaps and the feeling inside of her threatens to consume her.
On that rooftop, a yellow wisp could be seen hiding behind the door wall, but it slowly flies off to the sun then vanishes.