CONTENT WARNING: SUICIDE
Ann's heart was racing. She knew that everything was being tracked through the GROM system, through the sensors in her combat suit, and through the device that kept her in check latched around her neck. It was only a matter of time before someone noticed. Soon the Consortium would send operatives to contain her, and from there they would declare that enough was enough.
To the Consortium she was 06, a powerful tool they could call on to solve their problems. Anomalies, variants, entities- whatever they wanted to call them, the Consortium contained hundreds upon thousands of them. Yet, whether through negligence, incompetence, or a grand plan or conspiracy, something was bound to go wrong. It was up to Ann, the newest member of the Purge Department, to retrieve these assets by any means necessary. But nothing was that simple. Sometimes she had to go after people whose only crimes were that they knew too much, or that someone in the Consortium thought they were trouble.
Worse, Ann had no choice in any matter. It was bad enough to be a tool, let alone a creation of their sick, twisted schemes, but the Consortium had her on a short leash through blackmail. They knew everything about her family and friends, especially when it came to her brother Ryan and best friend Ayane Misuno. The Consortium had used Ryan to retrieve Ann, their precious '06', all without him knowing until the very end. And when all was said and done, the Consortium wiped the memories of all who were close to Ann, leaving her alone with no one to confide in.
The Consortium couldn't outright remove the Flores family or Ayane Misuno without turning heads, yet in Ann's eyes, they already had. She struggled to suppress her emotions whenever Ryan called to check up on her, but worst of all was seeing Ayane again. Ann had wanted to sweep the girl into her arms and show her the ocean once all this pain and suffering was over, and yet whenever she looked into those violet eyes of hers she couldn't see any recollection of their time together. N540, searching for Ryan, the assault on Factió Pugní, the final moments before the Inner Consortium- it was all gone. Save for those who now held her leash, all the trials and triumphs of this chaotic adventure were now known only to her.
In it all, Ann was alone.
The soul-crushing loneliness would kill her, or more likely, the Consortium would alter her. If they could remove memories and change narratives, then they could completely erase everything in Ann's mind she held near and dear. She would be turned into a tool without a soul. G and the others would not be above such a crime. Everything in their eyes, no matter how disgusting, despicable, or desperate it was, was for the greater good.
But Ann had come to the end of her resolve. It sickened her to her core to entertain the idea, and yet it persisted in her mind like a growing sickness. And now she wept in relative solitude, her head in her hands where she sat in a toilet stall. She had broken down in a restroom in the Inner Consortium and, pistol in hand, she knew she had the opportunity to decide exactly how her life would end. Here she could go out on her own terms as herself, and with what few precious memories she had of her family and best friend.
"06, open the door," yelled one of the Consortium's security.
Good luck. Ann had slashed the mechanism for the restroom's sliding door with her hard light blade, rendering it immobile.
"Bring up the ram… and a torch!"
Already Ann's neck was beginning to spark. The collar. The excruciating pain was not something she wanted to bear ever again. She raised her pistol and brought it under her chin only to be overcome by a different pain, one she was familiar with. Entanglitis, as the Consortium called it. Soon her head started to throb; it was as if something in her skull was trying to break free.
Of course, why wouldn't it happen now? Distraught and shaking in a pitiful stupor with tears cascading down her cheeks, the stress was bound to make this episode her very last. With the world shaking around her and the sounds of security breaking down the door, Ann put her finger on the trigger and pulled.
The air was warm and clammy, the sky red and dreary, and stretching for miles in every direction were massive black pillars. Cables poured out from the pillars and crawled over heaps of sand. There were no sounds save for the creaking of metal or the odd spark. Nothing moved in Hinterland, the dimension between innumerable dimensions. Nothing but Ann, who rose from a dark slab with a gasp.
She wondered if it was all a dream, yet she had felt the weight of the gun in her hand. Ann knew that she shouldn't be here. Rising from the slab, Ann noticed that she was wearing the same tattered hospital gown as before instead of her combat suit. She couldn't begin to question all of this before her blue eyes fell on the monolith towering over her.
"Do you want the power to rewrite your destiny?"
Ann heard her voice and shuddered. Yes, it was her voice, but dark and twisted, and not from her throat. Instead, it came from a cyan-haired woman strung up against the monolith. Her body was mangled, her stomach and everything below absent while her mechanical spine hung low and melted into some kind of tail, or perhaps cables. Many of these cables jutted from her back and kept her restrained to the monolith. Despite all the damage, she glared down at Ann with glowing yellow eyes full of rage like that of a caged panther.
Had Amok asked this question before? Ann could not remember. As far as she knew, Amok was from another dimension, a denizen of Hinterland. The power she had was nigh-inconceivable, and her rage and bloodlust knew no bounds. At least, that was what the Masked Woman had insinuated. Ann had been warned to not let 'it' fool her, to not let Amok take control, and to simply draw upon her power.
"Is… is that possible?"
Ann was surprised by her own voice coming from her lips. She had been warned, yet she couldn't help but be drawn toward the cybernetic woman.
"No, what am I saying… I'm dead. I'm gone. I shouldn't even exist," Ann murmured with a shake of her head.
"And yet you stand before me, in the flesh," Amok replied. Despite the distance between them, Ann could see the flash of a sneering smile on Amok's face. "You ought to be grateful. Had I not brought you here, we would both cease to exist, and perhaps the world as you know it would fall into ruin."
"Liar," Ann scoffed. "I saw the Masked Woman's vision. I died and you were freed. If anything is going to plunge the world into darkness, it's you!"
"And you would believe everything she says? You would trust an apparition blathering on about fate, even now?" When Ann declined to answer, Amok surged against her cables and laughed. "If that woman were here now, would you thank her? Would you appreciate following her advice, knowing that, in the end, you'll waste away as a tool for those people?"
Ann took a step forward and opened her mouth to retort, yet the words escaped her. She felt disgusted to think that there was some pride or honor in taking her own life. Amok continued without missing a beat.
"Perhaps there was still hope, even as a tool. But you used that last sliver of hope to raise a gun to your head. Even had you died, do you honestly believe that they would let your body be? No, they invested far too much in you to let such a thing go to waste. Even in death, you'll still be a tool. You would still be 06."
"How do you know all this?"
Amok's sneer softened, and for a brief moment, Ann swore she saw something else in the monstrosity's eyes.
"I am you, and you are me. You know this."
There were too many variables to consider regarding alternate dimensions. However, Ann did believe that she and Amok were the same. Though the adversities Amok must have faced were undoubtedly different from the troubles Ann experienced, there had to have been some similarities, some common themes. Perhaps Amok had suffered more than one could bear, and the same fate could befall Ann in time. Or at least, it would have.
"Come closer," Amok urged.
Ann steeled herself and took a few steps towards the monolith. The slabs beneath her feet rumbled and rose, lifting her with every step closer. As she strode forward Ann could feel the hot wind of the desolate sands blowing against her weak body. She had never been this close to Amok before, and still, she was moving closer. Despite this, Ann felt no panic and no fear. It was almost like relief… as if she was finally admitting to her faults and accepting them as a part of her.
Further and further Ann walked until the slabs had brought her to Amok. Only a few feet separated them. Again, though Amok was a mangled monster, Ann could see herself in her, as if gazing into a twisted mirror.
"We both want the same things, do we not? The freedom to choose, those who control us eliminated, and those we love safe."
"You…?"
The cables holding Amok creaked and groaned as she slumped her shoulders and exhaled.
"That is a tale for another time." The fire in her yellow eyes burned bright once more. "So, what say you? Do you want the power to rewrite your destiny?" she asked once more.
A brief silence settled between the two. Then, fists clenched, Ann spoke.
"Yes. I do." For Ann, it felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The sensation did not last long, for soon she furrowed her brow in concern. "What would I have to do? How can- How can I continue from-"
"It's simple," Amok chuckled. "We just have to go back to a previous point in time." Catching the incredulous look from Ann, Amok continued. "That woman isn't the only one capable of turning back the clock. The laws of time and space are different here in Hinterland."
"We?"
"That's right. If you want this power, then you'll have to take it." Straining against the cables, Amok leaned forward. "All you have to do is release me."
"But… the spear," Ann replied, gesturing upwards. "Dypheus' Breath…"
The two glanced up. Indeed, the spear impaled in the monolith above them was not something to ignore. As massive as it was impressive, an artifact like that could do terrible damage to the world. Any world.
"It keeps me sealed away here," Amok explained. "Were it to be removed, I would be able to enter your world freely, without your consent. 'The Watcher' was correct in that regard. As things are now, I do not expect you to be able to remove it, nor do I advise it. However…" A sly smile appeared on Amok's lips. "If I were willingly freed… and by you…"
It was too late for regrets or doubts. Invigorated by the idea of finally being at the wheel of her own destiny, Ann reached out towards Amok and pulled at the cables. Hissing and creaking, the cables did not yield easily, but Ann persisted. She expected Dypheus' Breath to stop her, yet sparks leaped at her when a cable was removed while wires and debris were cleared away with firm tugs. Amok looked on in silence until the final cable was removed, at which she fell forward with a relieved sigh.
The cyan-haired aberration broke her fall with her freed hands while the cybernetic spine that once hung loose retracted. For a brief moment, Amok seemed like a pitiful creature without its lower half. But to Ann's amazement, she watched as a pelvis materialized from digital pixels, complete with bioskin and clothing. More and more of Amok came to form; long, slender legs appeared while her hair grew out longer than Ann's own. It took only a few seconds until Amok was standing by her own power.
Ann took a step back and reached for a weapon that wasn't there. Amok's burning yellow eyes were upon her; if she was a caged panther set free, then Ann felt as if she were a tiny, insignificant mouse. At any moment Amok could leap for Dypheus' Breath hanging above them, yank the damned thing out and impale Ann on the path to rend the world. And yet the monstrosity stood firm and motionless, even as parts of her cybernetic body glowed with destructive power. Finally, she extended an arm.
"Are you ready, Ann?"
Looking down at the outstretched hand, Ann could not be faulted for hesitating. She took a deep breath, then, with her own blue eyes burning with determination, she reached out and took Amok's hand in hers.
"...I'm ready."
