Shion and Jr. ran as they blind fired behind them, the horrors following them down the backstreets and up into alleyways as they climbed over a fence, Shion yelping as she skinned her knee against the side of the fence as she climbed before continuing running, not daring stop to rest.
"where did Allen say to meet? The coms jammed the instant the ship lifted off" Jr. said as they ran and slid around a corner.
"I don't know, but they had just gotten out of a small bunker near an abandoned base nearby, I think it's a mile down that road. Should we head there?" Shion asked.
"why not, it's better than fighting these things. They just keep coming!" Jr. said as he fired another round before reloading a clip.
"they don't act like what we've seen before though, it's strange, it's like something is changing their actions, maybe… I don't know, oh… if KOS-MOS was here she'd know… I hope Allen got her out of there…" Shion said.
"don't worry, I'm sure she's fine now, but we won't be unless we get somewhere safe soon. The bunker right?" Jr. said as he skidded and ran down the next street, only 3 horrors wandering the area.
"yes. Let's go" Shion yelled as she charged forward, bashing away one of the horrors before running past, not even finishing it off. She didn't have the strength to continue the fight, not anymore.
Shion and Jr. stopped in front of the bunker stairway, wary of what was down below. Suddenly, Shion felt nauseous, and vomited on the ground, Jr. helping her up.
"hey, your exhausted, we'll rest here" Jr. said as he turned her around, pulling his lucky hankerchief from his pocket and letting her wipe her mouth.
"it's… it's alright… I'm fine… just… ouch…" she winced as her knee ached from the skin and blood crusting.
"here, I have a few of these from when Gaignun and I would spar a bit. They aren't much but, well, hehe, they might work. They're old fashioned though" Jr. smiled and pulled out a bandaid from his pocket, and peeled the tape and placed it on her knee.
"why not just carry the nanite pads? There isn't any scarring with those" Shion asked.
"those are a bit.. Well… unwise to use when you've been sitting on them on a hot seat in a car after summer time on Miltia… trust me… bad idea…" he winced and chuckled at an old memory.
"ah… so heat has an effect… I see… well, it does help… thanks Jr." Shion smiled and got up slowly.
"hehe, don't worry about a thing, we'll make it through this!" Jr. took a stance with his hands on his hips and then thumbed his nose. Both giggled slightly before Shion gasped, and glowed ever so slightly.
"Shion what's wrong?" Jr. asked, putting his hand out if she needed it.
"I'm… fine… just… who… who is… she's calling me…" Shion said in a barely audible whisper.
"who?" Jr. asked.
"I… I don't know… but… her voice… it's so… soothing…" Shion said, drawn down the steps and towards the tilted door. She tipped it a bit left almost in a trance, and slid it slowly, the grinding metal creaked and screeched.
"wait, shouldn't we regroup with everyone before exploring? There could be more gnosis down there!" Jr. said as Shion paid no heed to him, heading into the place as he looked back, not seeing anything follow them.
"Shion!" he yelled one more time before following her in, wary of the inside, turning his flashlight on as he followed her.
Shion walked smoothly down another flight of steps before going down a long hallway, eventually entering a huge dome with 5 doors at 3 o clock 5 o clock 7 o clock 9 o clock and 11 o clock points around the diameter, with the door they just came out of almost 3 feet to the left of the first one.
"Where, where are we?" Jr. asked. Something stirred slightly nearby. Jr whipped around and aimed his guns before he heard something turn on far below him, but he didn't know what. Shion stood there oblivious, still in a trance. Small blue lights winked on around the edge of the dome before a large overhead light at the top popped on, flooding the area and casting darkness away.
"I think we just tripped an activation point for a generator… I'm surprised it's still working right now…" Jr. whispered before he saw a large scanning laser move across the ground towards them.
"uh, shion, we might wanna move… I have a bad feeling about this…" Jr. said pushing Shion but she didn't budge.
The scanning laser pasted over them before a loud female voice was heard saying "weapons detected. Please discard all weapons before proceeding" all around him.
"uh, Shion, I think it's time to go" Jr. pushed harder, grunting as he tried to move her, as she resisted the force he was putting into making her move. Twin orbs slowly came up from two doors on both sides in the ground, the plating sliding away to allow them out.
"please discard all weapons or you will be considered hostile" he heard again as the orbs glowed and charged.
"they REALLY don't like guns…" Jr. said as he saw them crackled with energy. He flipped his pistols in a no threatening manner and placed them slowly on the ground as two more orbs lifted out of the ground in front of them and behind them.
"thank you, please proceed" the voice was heard again as the 5th door opened in the dome.
Shion moved towards it, Jr. following but whimpering slightly as he left his pistols on the ground.
"I'm coming back for you babies, don't worry!" he yelled as they went through the door.
On the other side, was a huge maze of hallways and rooms, pods of odd shapes and sizes, and energy moving about. The entire place was well lit, but also fully metal, and small glyphs floated that seemed unrecognizable to Jr.
Shion walked through the maze of rooms, seeing odd football shaped machines float through the air and scan things before looking at him with a single red or blue eye, before moving on to another piece of odd equipment and scanning that. They moved in groups of three, always altering their patrol group pattern with the one taking up the rear placed in front, and seemed quite intelligent.
Shion walked to the last room and suddenly came out of her trance.
"What, where, where are we? How did we get here?" Shion asked blinking and looking around. Both heard humming as an odd basketball shaped machine floated down from somewhere high above and sat right in front of both of them.
"ah, good evening to you good lady. I am 942 Altered Glory. I am the monitor of this installation, The Ark Pre Entrance Control Center. How are you this evening hmm?" the orb said, glowing and tilting slightly, good natured.
"who, how did I get here?" Shion asked.
"why, from a subconscious relay point emplaced in your brain. It was relayed through someone else however, so it just goes to show that you are not what was expected. A pity, it seemed they truly died out over the centuries, or their blood has ceased to create a catalytic effect to allow control over the machinery in the area. Too bad, their sacrifice was most honorable" the monitor explained.
"who put the relay point in me?" Shion asked.
"why, the woman laying in the statis chamber we let her borrow. It was in a good interest, however I do believe that her good will was flawed due to all connections to reclaimers was severed more than 4000 years ago, and she could obviously not have lived that long from said date. Also, her DNA does not exhibit the effects of a reclaimer. However, she is most remarkable in her capabilities. Would you like to see her?" the monitor asked.
"yes… yes I would… and I want to ask some questions from you after. Please?" Shion said.
"but of course! I would be most happy to answer any questions you would have of me. Let me open this door for you, and then later there can be an exchange of information between us. I would be most interested in the loss of signal control and sensor links outside of this base command so long ago" the monitor said as it sent a relay signal to the door, unlocking it and letting it slid open.
"please, she is waiting for you" Glory said as he moved out of the way, as Shion walked into a small room barely lit. sitting in the middle of the room was but a single angled pod, with gas flowing around inside of it, and a neon blue tinge inside. Shion walked slowly up to it, and Jr. tried to stop her.
"don't you think this is a little odd Shion? What if it's a trap? Something could jump out and attack us at any second!" he said to her.
"no… we're… we're fine… I can feel it…" She said as she walked a few more feet, stopping in front of the pod. Inside was a woman, barely visible, in what seemed to be a robe. Her hair was black and long, but Shion could barely see her face. As she peered closer, the pod door unlatched and opened slowly, making Shion jump back slightly. The gas flowed out somewhat, and a hand rose slowly and grabbed onto the side. A foot slowly stepped out, and there, before Shion, stood a woman she had seen so long ago, and she gasped.
"Ma… Ma… Mary?" Shion asked. Standing before her, was the same body, the same hair, the same blue eyes.
"I cannot go by that name anymore Shion, just as you cannot go by your old name. it simply does not fit. I believe… Mirie. Yes, Mirie should work. I think I like the sound to it" she smiled softly, staring at Shion.
"but… but how?" Shion asked.
"I was… placed here, inside, protected, both one side of me and the other now complete after we had finished. But, I lost control over the Gnosis over time, lost my path… and ended up inside this to save me, until you came" Mirie said.
"you mean… your… no longer inside… KOS-MOS?" Shion asked.
"KOS-MOS is herself, we are neither the same to each other now, though… we are of similar life and birth. I gave her a piece of me before I left, a gift. It was small, it could have destroyed me, but I did it. She is who she is now, as I am who I am" Mirie smiled at the thought.
"She is in a sense my sister…" Mirie put her hand to her chest and closed her eyes.
"KOS-MOS… your sister?" Shion asked.
"yes… can you not feel it? She is… alive. And yet not. But soon… soon I will have another gift for her… for all the effort she has put to help everyone… she deserves this as well…" Mirie said, her hand lightly glowing.
"I… see" Shion said.
"you do?" Jr. asked.
"Yes. I think… I do" Shion said as she walked a bit forward, standing in front of Mirie.
"you've grown older, Shion" Mirie said, smiling, putting up her hand and softly caressing Shion's hair.
"only a few years… I've had a child, and Allen and I are married now" Shion giggled slightly, and showed her finger with the ring. Mirie smiled even more, then looked up again.
"it is good to see you again, Shion. As we had both said, her, and I, we would see you soon" Mirie said and hugged Shion close, Shion's eyes watering as she hugged back.
"I missed you. I missed KOS-MOS" Shion whispered.
"I missed you too. She missed you as well. I could tell" Mirie whispered back. Both slowly broke away, Mirie wiping a few tears from Shion's eyes softly.
"well… now I believe we should finish what we are here for. You are here. I am here. We can stop what is to come. And yet, we are so few. We cannot do what we need without help" Mirie said.
"the ship is flying around outside, they should get back to us soon assuming we can get past those horror gnosis" Jr. said.
"We will need everyone, to overcome their fear and help. Only then, will we be safe, and continue humanity towards the endless future" Mirie said, putting her hand out palm down. Shion put her hand on top of hers and smiled.
"we will succeed" Shion said.
"of course we will. I know it" Mirie breathed out.
An eruption was heard outside, faint, but definitely nearby.
"what was that?" Jr. said as he looked about.
"oh dear, the main control system fail safe has been destroyed. It appears these gnosis phenomenon have disabled the replication systems needed to recreate the sentinel defense force. Unfortunately, the sentinel reserves will be insufficient in repelling these attackers" the monitor said nearby.
"oh no, we're trapped!" Shion said as she turned around.
"trapped? Oh heavens no! I will simply transport all of you to the secondary quarters and underground recycling plant. From there you will be able to leave on your own. I must attend to the repair controls and at least slow these gnosis beings down. Farewell, and safe travels to all of you. I will check in after I have accessed the current situation" the monitor said before a golden glow erupted around everyone and they teleported to another place deep in the complex.
"wait! Wha…" Jr tried to say as they finished materializing down below.
"aw, I can't even get a word out before things happen these days…" Jr. said and kicked a pebble on the ground.
"we should get going. Lets get out of here" Shion said as Mirie nodded, everyone running down a crooked hallway. They ran down a ramp and went right, only to find a collapsed hallway, and to the left was an armory. Further ahead was another hallway and beyond that a large room.
"let's go there. That might lead around the collapse" Jr. said.
"right" Shion acknowledged and everyone ran forward, nearly barreling into gnosis materializing in the room.
"damn!" Jr. yelled as he looked around for a gun. Shion fired towards them as Mirie stood back, closing her eyes and concentrating.
"we can't hurt them! No Hilbert!" Jr. yelled as Shion tried to stop the gnosis horrors.
"I have an answer to that…" Mirie said behind them as her entire body glowed, and suddenly a chain lightning attack rushed from her feet down the ground and struck at the immaterialized gnosis, making them howl in pain before disintegrating.
"whoa… how…" Jr. asked.
"as long as they are not of salt will I be able to do that, however the Hilbert effect will negate that. If that ever happens, I will have to resort to simply healing with my will. It, however, takes a great deal of concentration for me, and… well…" Mirie said before her left leg slid slightly and she nearly fell.
"Mirie!" Shion ran towards her and held her.
"it is alright, it simply took a lot out of me… I fine… really…" she smiled weakly.
"your not used to this yet are you? All this time… waiting…" Shion said holding her up.
"I will be fine once I am allowed to rest. We must continue moving. Hurry" Mirie said as Shion held her up. The three of them moved into the next room, covered in machinery and small stairs going over them, with huge vats of water and other liquids all around.
"a breeding chamber or something? What the hell?" Jr. asked before more gnosis appeared.
"I…can't do what I did again… but… maybe…" Mirie said as she closed her eyes again, this time the gnosis materialized.
"hurry… strike…" Mirie said wincing as Shion nodded and put her down carefully before pulling a small pistol from her MWS and handing it to Jr.
"What the… you kept a spare hidden? How? It didn't detect it?" Jr. asked.
"the MWS was inside my compactor you silly, don't you remember? I didn't have it out" she said as she started to fire. Jr. nodded and opened fire, shooting down a few gnosis before emptying his clip and asking for another. As Shion was reaching for another, one of the horrors came up from her side.
"Shion!" Mirie yelled and jumped up with all her strength, pushing Shion down as the gnosis struck. A claw pierced clean through Mirie's chest, puncturing her right lung, before she fell forward.
"DAMN IT!" Jr. yelled as he fired and hit the thing square in the eyes, as it fell backwards before it could attack again. Shion pulled back and rolled Mirie over. She coughed slightly, still alive, but hurt badly.
"oh god… please no…" Shion said.
"it is alright… Shion… are you ok?" Mirie asked as she coughed again, it difficult to breath for her.
"I'm fine… oh god the blood… please no…" She said almost crying.
"Shion! They're getting larger! We gotta go! We can't stay here!" Jr. yelled as he fired some more rounds, mostly chest shots with two hits knocking two down from the feet.
"it doesn't hurt. Really… I wish… I could see this through… but, I know you'll do it, Shion…" Mirie said, coughing again with blood coming out of her mouth.
"please… don't… I need you…we'll get you out of here. I'll carry you!" Shion said, tears falling.
"KOS-MOS… will be there… for you… good luck… you turned out so good… I am… proud… of you" Mirie said, her hand caressed Shion's cheek.
"I am so tired… I think… I'll take a small nap… you can… wake me up… later… see you… soon…" Mirie said as she struggled to keep her eyes open before a gnosis was about to strike Shion in the back.
Suddenly, a loud CRACK! Thundered through the air as a fin stabilized discarding Sabot round pierced through the air from a sniper rifle. A small hole was seen in the wall with smoke flowing from it before the panels smashed away. Jr. was startled as a huge form burst from the wall and crashed into 3 gnosis, bashing them away before it's form was more visible. It stood seven feet tall, with black armor and eerie blue glowing goggles, and definitely seemed incredibly hostile to the gnosis, firing 3 more rounds before swapping to a more standard rifle and taking large steps towards him.
Jr. looked up as the human shaped soldier walked right by him and fired, a 60 round burst as it cleaved 4 more gnosis to pieces with shredder rounds that got behind him and were going to finish off Mirie and Shion. Shion looked up at the black form standing over her as the room fell silent for a few more seconds, the gnosis attempting to materialize through the ground. "who… who are you?" Shion asked, choking back tears.
The form didn't say anything, but Mirie looked up with bleary eyes.
"you… it said… something… about you… a…" Mirie breathed out, trying to stay awake as long as she could. Sweat made her hair cake to her skin, and the huge soldier turned around and saw more gnosis appear.
"Damn, no more Hilbert effect!" Jr. yelled as he fired, to no effect. Suddenly, a Hilbert effect erupted from the soldier, piercing the air and blasting out, to what range Jr. had no clue. He flipped his rifle up to his shoulder and unloaded, emptying another clip before rolling the rifle in a circle over his thumb and loading a new clip with one arm in one smooth quick move before slamming a round home and bringing it back to his shoulder, emptying another clip in a half circle of the room within 6 seconds. A horror came up next to him before he uppercutted it, sending it flying backwards, the head lopsided and angled wrong after the hit, before it landed and didn't move again. He reloaded again and opened up, holding them at bay before sentinels filtered in from other rooms and helped before he stopped firing.
"how's your friend doing?" Garrett asked.
"she's… she's going to die… we have to get her out of here… but… we don't have the medical facilities to help her… the Elsa… we don't have anything to save her! No!" Shion finally screamed and cried, holding Mirie cradled in her arms and Mirie slowly drifted away, her blood flowing freely.
"ah, a reclaimer! Finally! Here! I knew there was one out there, I knew they were not extinct!" a humming voice was heard nearby as the monitor slipped from a vent.
"a… reclaimer?" Jr. asked.
"shit…" Garrett said out loud as the monitor floated about, almost joyous in it's movements.
"finally! After all this time! I knew they had survived to reproduce! I must ask you what has been happening all of this time… oh, but, this one is hurt. Her body has been punctured" the monitor said, finally noticing Mirie laying on the floor.
"of course she's hurt! Damn it help her!" Shion yelled at the monitor.
"yelling will accomplish nothing young lady, and unfortunately there are no medical facilities still in operation in the surrounding area. I apologize, but she will die unless those facilities are brought online, which will never be able to happen. I am sorry" the monitor said cockily.
"I have the medical facilities available" Garrett said.
"you… do? Where?" Shion asked. Garrett flipped through a listing and materialized through an on site field surgery kit and saw it slam into the ground with a loud CLANG! As it unfolded into a fully functional surgery station.
"but… I don't know how to… I mean…" Shion asked.
"leave this to me. I've been trained as a combat medic and field surgeon" Garrett said as he sat down and placed Mirie on the table. Garrett looked around a bit before staring right into Mirie's eyes.
"this is going to hurt. I'll try to make it quick" Garrett said before pulling out a small anesthetic hypo and inserting it into her arm. It felt like fire, and her breathing quickened. Mirie's eyes closed tightly as a tear came down before opening them again. The anesthetic started to take effect as it numbed her nerves, but also kept her awake during the procedure.
"keep her from looking down" Garrett said to Shion as he told her to hold her head away. Shion nodded and held her head, covering her eyes with her arm as Garrett opened her robe and exposed her chest. Halfway over her right breast was a ragged opening leaking blood and a clear fluid, most likely condensed water from the hot air still coming out. Garrett checked with his goggles her med stats. Her right lung had collapsed and 3 ribs were shattered, two in the back, one in front. Two muscles were severed near her back as well, but he could repair those easily.
Garrett worked quickly to open her chest with a surgical laser and let the cloning vat nearby do its work to recreate her lung. He placed clamps down on skin and bone as he kept her open, she looking up at Shion as she closed her eyes to keep from looking. Garrett's armored gloves started to get bloody as he pushed his hands through the auto cleaner as it sprayed a warm saline mist onto them, then blow dried them and continued working. The lung was fully recreated and he pulled it out, sliding it in and knitting it to the open hole he had cut from the old lung, before slicing parts from the old lung and knitting pieces of the muscle tissue together. The rest could be done by the surgical microbes packets he placed at key points to bring her back to full health, but she wasn't going to be walking on her own or doing sports anytime soon. For the most part, he had done his job, and knitted her skin back together and slipped a med hypo into her with another packet of microbes to sew the skin back up. He pushed her robe back into position, doing his best to cover her breasts even though he wasn't used to dressing a woman, and patted Shion on the shoulder.
Shion opened her eyes to find Garrett standing up and wiping his gloves clean, Mirie looking around to find her chest completely numb, but she could breath. Garrett suddenly remembered what he was always told to say during a combat surgery.
"you may feel an odd sense to your skin, and try not to put too much effort in breathing, no sudden breaths or deep breaths, keep calm and controlled for a day or so, it'll take 24 hours for your body to heal the wound fully, and few more days to get used to the new lung and regain what you previously had" he professionally stated. She nodded slightly, holding her chest with her hand as Shion helped her up.
"oh, and your not walking on your own for a while" Garrett added in as a sentinel shattered against the wall as more gnosis started to break through the wall of lasers.
"they're moving again!" Jr. yelled as Garrett dematerialized the combat kit and prepped his rifle against his shoulder before motioning towards a doorway.
"That way" he said as he moved through it carefully and steadily as Shion walked Mirie through it, holding her up as Garrett and Jr. covered them. A gnosis leapt from a nearby vent and tried to grapple with the huge soldier, but Garrett rifle butted it as it flipped end over end before he brought his fist down and smashed into it's back, slamming it hard into the ground and cracking the floor. Shion's eyes went wide as she saw the manuever. The only other person she had ever seen with strength similar was KOS-MOS. Could he be an android as well? Something about him seemed not normal.
Garrett turned around at that moment, the eerie blue goggles shined towards her before he motioned with his head to moved forward. Whatever he was, she now knew he wasn't mechanical.
They turned a corner before a huge gnosis stood there, seeming to be a cross between a gorilla and a rhinoceros, and very angry. It raised it's horn into the air to charge it with energy as Jr. rushed to help Shion get Mirie out of the way before the energy discharged, a huge laser cutting across the ground as all three dove to the ground, Mirie gasping. It wasn't a good idea for her to be in stress after the surgery.
Garrett ran forward, firing wildly at it to get it's attention as it roared and tried to flatten him. Garrett rolled out of the way deftly, leapt into the air and kicked before firing into it's back and landing, only to find the horn swung straight at him. Then he did something unexpected. Shion expected him to be impaled on the huge spike, like she would expect anyone, KOS-MOS included, to be. This man grabbed it at the last second, his reflexes incredible, and held it as he skidded slightly backwards before stopping, his weight clearly not normal in his armor.
Garrett started to push forward, phalanx style, placing his feet together forward to brace himself as he stepped forward again, never turning. The gnosis tried to break away, but every time it tried to pull, Garrett's feet would suddenly make a clunk sound, before the gnosis would push, and Garrett would push as well. As he moved forward, where the sound of something slamming into the metal was heard, small holes were seen where he once stood, obviously showing he had locked his armor down and rooted to keep from moving.
At the last pull back from the gnosis in which it was viciously angry, Garrett let go as it reared up. Garrett lunged forward and pulled out one of his plasma blades and impaled up to the hilt straight into it's chest, the gnosis gurgled slightly as Garrett twisted, hoping against hope he would hit other vital parts besides simply hurting it. The gnosis toppled over as Garrett pulled his sword out and deactivated it, before walking back up to the three on the ground who stared at him.
The Seven foot tall soldier helped them up as Jr. looked at him.
"what are you by chance?" Jr. asked.
"A Spartan" he responded before turning around and picking up his rifle.
"you gotta a name?" Jr. asked.
"Spartan" Garrett again responded.
"no no, a real name" Jr. asked.
"Spartan is the only name you need to know right now" Garrett said, sticking with Cole Protocol Article 9.
"hey, wait, that doesn't…" Jr. said before he trailed off, Shion helping Mirie forward.
"Which way do we go?" Shion asked.
"that way" Garrett pointed and picked Mirie up, carrying her as he walked forward, Shion following as Jr. sighed and jogged behind.