Two years Later
He was back here again; back at Tower-00. Back with the other Psychics, the Pandorans and them.
To this day he still wasn't sure what "they" actually were.
All he knew was that it seemed that they were controlling the Pandorans. Telling them where to go, telling them what to do.
They obeyed. Pandora's abominations to human and alien eyes, obeyed.
That scared him. That scared him more than the fighting and screaming that followed.
He wasn't really sure what was happening. All he knew was there desperate bolts of psionic energy being fired and people were being dragged away.
Amidst the conflict, he saw her, again.
That girl in red.
Wading through halls she brought silence. Faces melted, bones were broken and reality seemed to twist with her very presence. Everywhere she went screaming turned to silence, and she looked almost like she didn't care, almost like she didn't notice.
What the hell was she?
She turns to him seemingly silent before leaning forward and asks a simple question.
"Do you see me?"
…
…
…
"H_e!"
"Ha_e!"
"Ha_ke!"
"Hawke!" Hawke seemingly snapped his head up as he stared ahead. Expression mostly voided, as he seemed to come out of a daze and looked at the man sitting across the table from him. "You were drifting away for a moment there Mr. Crestlight." They told him as he continued shaking his head as to try getting himself together. "I believe you were telling me about the nightmares you've been having - about your experiences at Tower-00."
"Tower… 00?" Hawke muttered as he tried to focus.
"Tower-00 was the designated name given to the Para-psychic training facility you were transferred to after the OIS brought you in." His doctor informed him. "Do you remember? You were brought in by a Wrangler, and five months later there was an incident."
"Incident?"
"Yes, the Tower sent out an SOS signal, and XCOM was sent in to investigate." They told him as Hawke seemed to struggle on remembering. "What exactly happened there?"
"The girl in red…" Hawke muttered as he reached for his head - or rather tried to as his hands were bound in a straightjacket.
"Where?"
He froze as he stared off into the distance. "She's here."
"Who's here?" His therapist asked.
"Where are you?"
"The girl in red." Sitting at the edge of the room, was this little girl in a red dress, her hair matted and eyes glowing like a burning ember as she looked around before seemingly focusing on him.
"Can you see me?"
"Who is the girl in red?" His doctor asked as Hawke met the girl's gaze as he blinked. The girl was gone, replaced with this bone-thin apparition of a woman with sunken eyes. "Who is the girl in red, Hawke?" An instant later the bone-thin woman was gone, replaced with this pale skinned beauty who started walking up to him and the table.
He got this noticeable chill when she stared down at him.
"Can you see me, Hawke?"
A Few Days later
"HaWkE…"
Voices…
hAwKe…"
Whose voice was that?
"CoMe On BuDdY. YoU tHeRe."
"I know that voice…" Hawke muttered as he found himself being pulled from his sleep and cracked an eye open. Only to close it again as light started to burn his vision. He made a noise as he turned away, and realized that someone was holding him in place.
"Hawke?" A person holding a flashlight asked as Hawke let his eyes flicker for a moment. "Hawke can you hear me?"
"Yes." He whispered as the figure before him released a smile, though they did seem to jump for a moment as some kind of noise came from behind him.
"There we go, eyes up kid." The figure stated as Hawke shook his head.
"Who's voice is that?" Hawke muttered as he squinted and tried looking past the light source.
"Wiseman, I found Hawke Crestlight." The voice stated. "Repeat, I have him. He's in one piece but he's a bit out of it."
"Great work Leos, get him out of there."
"Leos…" Hawke was helped up as he stared at the figure before him. "Do I know that name?"
" No you don't." Leos stated as he they looked back for a moment. Alright kid, let's get you out of this damn jacket, before they show up."
"They?" Hawke asked. "Who's they, what's going on?"
"Listen kid I know you got questions but right now we need to move," He stated. "It's not safe here."He freed Hawk's hands as he suddenly fell silent, a hole tearing through his chest as red splashed on Hawke's face.
If he wasn't awake a moment ago, he certainly was now.
Something appeared behind the man, Leos, something that was neither human nor Pandoran as it held him in place before drilling a hole in his head. Soon as it was done it bolted, disappearing into the vents above this as Leos started to fall limp.
His back arched out of nowhere, red splattering everywhere as bone and muscle jutted out as some kind of spike.
Another ripped itself out of another part of his back.
Then his neck… dear god his neck.
Whatever Leos was turning into was a mutilated abomination of torn muscle and broken bone shards. Hawke tried breaking free from the creatures grip failed and the moment it showed its maw to him his world suddenly shifted.
Everything took a red hue as the abomination was lifted into the air, shards of bone and muscle being torn out of its body before being used to mutilate it beyond recognition.
It refused to die.
He watched muscle spasm tear. He watched bones char, and blood boil. He heard it scream. He watched it melt into a puddle of unrecognizable slag.
The fact that he didn't shit himself surprised him.
The fact that She was here damn near made him anyway.
The girl in red was here, staring at him, hatred in her eyes giving way to apathy as she raised an arm and pointed a direction outside his padded cell.
She disappeared a second later, and the world returned to normal.
"Leos?"
A misplaced compiece echoed into the room and Hawke promptly ignored it. Instead he chose to run.
"Leos what happened? Oh God, Hawke? Hawke Crestlight?! If you can hear me, run! RUN!"
He was doing just that, running into a hallway and away from the other abominations that were pulling themselves from other rooms.
"Evacuation in progress."
"Evacuation in progress."
"Evacuation in progress."
What the hell was going on? Hawke just kept running trying to ignore the emergency message that was on loop. Everywhere he looked, Hawke found nothing but blood and pieces of limbs just thrown around. Blood, limbs and monsters he couldn't quite identify.
He pushed himself into a lobby and kept running.
"Evacuation in progress."
He made his way to another hall and just kept running.
"Evacuation in prog-"
A corpse from a wheelchair sprang to life and pinned him to the floor. Hissing, and screaming at him as he tried getting it off of him. A spine of bone ripped into his shoulder, and he wasn't sure who screamed louder it or him. All he knew was that when the adrenaline kicked in, he managed to throw the monster off of him, kicking it into the automatic doors as it was lodged between them. Its struggle was short lived as the doors slammed shut, leaving only a head and a bone spike on his side of it. Lying on the floor Hawke clutched his wound as he rolled over slightly before getting to his feet and staggered on.
"What on earth is going on?" He muttered as he got another door to open for him and was immediately spotted by two figures in armored suits. "Help." He muttered. "Please, help…"
"That's the Crestlight boy!" One shouted.
"Take him down!"
"Wait!" Hawke's words fell on deaf ears as he saw a spike tear though the ceiling and suddenly lift a poor man up. His partner realized what had happened and turned his attention upward, his gun aimed at the ceiling as he heard bone breaking and muscle tearing before something grabbed him and lifted him upward.
Hawke didn't stay long after that, but he did hear the struggling and screaming turn into tearing and silence.
"This is Director Edderman to all facility personnel. I want the key Subjects terminated and the facility scrubbed. This is not a drill. Edderman, out."
"Terminated!?" Hawke just kept running. "Scrubbed!?" What the hell is going on? Where am I?" He asked as he checked his shoulder, noticing that it was already feeling better. "This isn't the hospital. He muttered as he continued running." A scream tore through the next room he was entering, and he was rewarded with the sight of a woman tackling an armed personnel as they tried shooting her. They switched to their knife as she got close, stabbing her in the back a few times before she knocked them to the floor, promptly ripped the knife out and stabbed it down, not once, not twice… he lost count of how many times he sw her stab him before she finally fell silent. "Holy shit." he muttered as he slowly approached the bleeding woman, noticing that she was in an undone straightjacket like he was. He made to quietly move past her, only for her to suddenly turn, eyes wild and fierce as she pointed the knife at him. Her red hair was matted, her face was covered in acne and it looked like she hadn't slept in days.
She picked herself up.
She picked herself up.
She had enough bullet holes and stab wounds in her body to probably bring down a Muton, and she picked herself up.
"You…" She muttered as she kept her arm steady as wisps of magic started to radiate from her body, it taking the appearance of a very pissed lilac flame. "You… I know you." She muttered. "Subject nine." She muttered as Hawke slowly raised his arms.
"Easy miss."
"They did stuff to you too. They picked at your brain, tried finding out about that little girl." She muttered as she narrowed her eyes and they turned from green to a bright ember. "They want us all terminated." She muttered. "I am not going to die here because they want me to." She stated as she lowered the knife and grabbed a handgun. She looked it over, tossing it to Hawke as he caught on impulse. "You know how to work one of those?"
"I never wielded a gun before…" Hawke confessed as the woman picked up an assault rifle and checked to see if it was loaded. Seeing it barely had anything she tossed it aside and grabbed a new mag as she loaded it. That done she stripped the body of its vest and spare magazines as she fastened them to herself.
"It's simple, point and pull the trigger." She stated as she stepped away from the body she had made as the wisps around her body faded away.
"Right." Hawke stated as he took a brief moment to check the magazine and saw it was full. A moment later though, his shoulder started to hurt as the adrenaline started to fade.
"Your shoulder." The woman noted." You should heal it." She muttered as she stepped forward and held out her free arm. "Don't shoot me."
"What are you?" Wisps of energy started to gather arounds her hand and they reached out for Hawke's wounded shoulder almost as if they were threads.
They started stitching his shoulder up.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"Subject 5." She told him as she glanced him over. They looked about the same age. "You can call me Shepard."
"I'm Hawke." Shepard finished the stitching as she lowered her arm and Hawke adjusted his own. "Thank you."
"You can thank me by helping me get out of here." She told him as she started walking and Hawke chose to follow her.
"What's going on? He asked. "Where are we?"
"I don't know." Shepard muttered. "All I know is that they moved me from my hospital one day and suddenly I'm here." She admitted. "They keep having me go in and out of consciousness, trying to find out about that little girl."
"The girl in red." It wasn't a question.
"Yeah." Shepard muttered as they pressed on.
"What do they want with her?"
"I don't know." Shepard muttered as she glanced at one of the walls, her attention turned to what seemed to be a series of sigils etched in sanguine. She couldn't read them, neither could Hawke.
Hell just looking at them seemed to make their heads hurt.
"I know that you don't just draw these kinds of stuff on the walls if you saw her as some ordinary girl."
"So they see her like some kind of god?" Hawke muttered as he pressed on. "What about the monsters?" Hawke asked. "They're not Pandorans, what are they?"
"I don't know." Shepard muttered. "But they came… they probably came from the otherside."
"Otherside?" A wall was blown open as a monster pulled itself free before looking around and charging them. Shepard immediately started opening Hawke followed barely a few seconds after. It went after Shepard first, grabbed her and got a headbutt and a knee where its groan would have been, before she promptly shoved her rifle down its throat and fired. When it dropped she raised a foot, psionic energy gathering around it as she brought it down and crushed its head like it were a grape.
"Wow."
"Time to go." Shepard told him as she started running, leaving Hawke to play catch up with her.
He was almost done. That was the thought that ran through the mind the two entities shared as he continued working.
It two fucking years, but he was finally almost done.
He just had to patch up a few more holes, sew up a few more tears in the psyche.
Repairing a damaged mind… but he was almost done.
A ghost thought as he went about 'sewing' a few more tears and mending a few more mintal scars as he grit his teeth.
"Almost done." He muttered. "Just need a little more time." He whispered before taking a breath, and shouted into the void.
It felt like they were running in circles.
Where the hell was the goddamn exit?
Shepard didn't have an answer. So they just kept running, trying to figure out exactly where they were supposed to go in this place. It was like a maze or something, half the time they kept running into rooms, most of them being empty as the others had people they made a failed attempt to save.
"HaWkE…"
"That voice again."
"hAwKe…"
"Why do I know that voice?"
"What?" Shepard stopped firing on another monster as it went down.
"Sorry, I'm… I'm hearing someone… in my head…"
"You're not losing your mind are you." Shepard asked as they kept moving.
"I don't think theres much left in here to lose." Hawke muttered before stopping. "Wait… losing my… Raven." Hawke muttered.
"Raven?"
"That's who I'm hearing, I'm hearing Raven!"
"Who on Earth is Raven?"
"The other me." Hawke stated as Shepard just looked at him, made to say something before her attention turned forward and she fired. This abomination didn't go down, its bone spires acting as armor as the spikes on its back snapped forward.
Both teens moved, dodging as best they could as they opened fire on it. It just turned grabbing Hawke before opening its mouth, the muscle splitting as it showed the bottom half of a jaw with extra bones acting as teeth." Shepard opened fire on the things back as Hawke slammed his foot on the bottom jaw to keep himself from being eaten.
"HaWkE!"
"Raven? Not the best time." He shouted.
"hAwKe!"
Shepard lowered her gun and just thrust a hand out, enveloping the creature's head in psionic energy before making a jerking motion as it snapped back, impaling itself on a spine of bone. She extended her next hand and made a sweeping motion as the monster slammed into a wall and went through it.
"Thanks." Shepard just helped him up without a word as they heard the monster start picking itself back up.
"Time to go." Shepard ran and Hawke followed as the monster pulled itself from the hole and started chasing after them.
Whatever that thing was it just kept coming, bulldozing through everything that seemed to get in its way. Debris, creatures. It didn't matter what it was, that monster just ran through them without discrimination. Shepard saw a door and pulled Hawke towards it. Before Hawke knew what was happening the world blurred around him and they were on the other side of the hall and heading through the door. Shepard let him go as she slammed her hand on the door controls, trying to get them to close only to fail.
"Come on, come on…" She repeatedly slammed her hand on the door controls as the creature drew closer. "Screw this." She reached out with her psionic powers and grabbed the two door automatic doors before forcing them closed monster howled as it disappeared behind the doors and rammed into them. "That won't hold it for long." She muttered as she started running again. "We gotta get out of here and fast."
"Right."
"Damn it I still can't reach him." Hawke Raven muttered as he stared into the void and bit his lips. "No…" He muttered. "He can hear, and I can hear him, but…" He got back to work. "Something's messing with our connection." He muttered as he looked around. "Come on, where's the wound that's keeping me from helping him out?" He muttered as he heard a roar echo into their mind as it was followed by the sound of hells. "Damn it Hawke, stay alive buddy, neither of us want to croak here." He turned his attention to the damage still done to their mind and growled before starting to get to work. "Damn it this would be so much easier if there was another us in here!" Raven shouted before his realm started to twist, taking a red hue as he bit his lips. "I know that light…"
"Can you see me?"