I... don't want to be alone... I have to get home... I have to find my people again... where am I though? Where am I really?
With collected thoughts, Echo awoke from what was an uncomfortable slumber, as the Auraxian sun dimly peeked its way into her sanctuary. She stared blankly at what was in front of her, before determining that she was in fact looking at the mossy covering of several boulders, which sat a few centimetres above where she laid.
Ugh... not exactly the best place I've slept in...
She attempts to move within her confined surroundings, but stops when she feels a strain in her back muscles and something else which held her by the waist. Echo froze, reaching with one hand to feel that it was another hand, which belonged to none other than a certain New Conglomerate Infiltrator she had encountered last night.
You...
Carefully rolling around, Echo-7 could see that Ranger-3 was still here. He potentially could've woken up first and left, yet here he still laid, still asleep.
That's right... I wasn't alone...
She took in the face of her sleeping enemy, a rare sight which Echo wasn't accustomed to seeing all that often, within a more discernible light than from last night. She gripped his hand firmly, half expecting that he would wake up from the grip; he didn't. Instead, all of a sudden, Ranger's hand tightened, his head twitched to one side while his eyes remained closed. Something was off, as Echo swore she saw his lips move, as though he was muttering something.
"... Hey..." spoke Echo.
She squeezed his hand harder, before shaking it about.
"Ranger, wake up," Spoke Echo again, this time more firmer, "Ranger!"
Instantly, Ranger's eyes sprung open as Echo finally got through to him. His head tilts upwards in an effort to sit up, but is immediately halted by a boulder to the forehead.
"Arrrrrgh! Mother... fucker... ahhhhh..."
He clutches a free hand over his head, his breathing fast from the unpleasant morning surprise, before he gradually calms himself upon registering that Echo was nearby, staring at him with wide eyes.
"... Morning..." Ranger puffed out.
He moves Echo's hand to rest it on his chest, before giving one deep sigh.
"... Thanks... for pulling me out of there..."
"What happened?"
Ranger readjusts himself on his back, before he briefly closes his eyes again.
"I wasn't trying to jump you, in case you're wondering."
"... Nightmares?"
"... Was really hoping for them to just... piss off for a night..."
Echo's eyes relaxed, before she settled back down.
"How'd you fair?"
She opens her mouth to answer, with regard to nightmares she now remembers experiencing, but stops when she is unable find the appropriate words to describe them, at least to someone outside of her own kin. The technologically enhanced ability to directly sense human emotions, while tactically and socially beneficial for all Sovereignty members, it came with a minor detriment to those who innately had a heightened mental awareness. Echo-7, being born into such a demographic with a keener mental acuity, was subject to the occasional cold sensation that could be felt from the Rebirthing Infrastructure itself. It was a side effect she was intimately familiar with, which no doubt was what catalysed the nightmares in her sleep, hours earlier.
In spite of this, her increased sensory awareness was also what made her a stronger Infiltrator. When awake, she was a natural for when it came to utilising CereNet, not only to spatially sense where her allies were with ease, but to also emotionally influence her allies to perform more effectively during combat. A double edged sword Echo indeed possessed in her genes, but it was a burden, a valued responsibility she was willing to bare for her people.
"The same... I guess..." said Echo, turning back to Ranger's question.
"Hm."
Echo lifts an open hand.
"My helmet for your goggles?"
"Hm, deal."
Exchanging back each other's equipment back, they allow themselves the time to catch up on the current state of the Auraxis war. As Echo had guessed, her forces were pushed back towards Heyoka Armoury, where they had managed to hold their ground over the night. Though from the few radio calls she was able to catch, it wasn't looking any better, as fighting continued to persist with the newly entrenched TR of the region. Sliding off her helmet again to rest it on her belly, it was clear she had to make contact and return, one way or another. Sunlight continued to brighten the sky as time went on, as Echo pondered on how she would make her approach from behind enemy lines.
Pulling off his goggles once he was satisfied with the information he could gather, Ranger peered over at Echo. He rests a hand over by her to get her attention, to which she gently squeezes.
"Business as usual?" Ranger queried.
"... Something like that... guess you have a lot of ground to cover, huh?"
"Something like that..."
Rolling onto their sides, they take a moment to look over each other in the growing morning light, for what could possibly be the last time. Decades had passed before their encounter had occurred last night. How many more years would it be before they could run into each other again, if ever? To that end, with whatever feeling of debt she owed him, Echo averts her eyes and forces herself to confront what inevitably had to happen.
"Ranger... you should know... whatever this was... what I tried to do to you... it's nothing personal..."
"... I know... just another pretty face doing a job."
"... When I leave... I will think on the people I left behind... on my chances, my training... on what I'll say to my commanders... but I won't think on you."
"Is that right?"
"I can't."
Slowly, Echo reaches forward to grasp Ranger's throat, while imagining a future where she'd be compelled to crush his air passage. The NC Infiltrator is not at all fazed by her motion.
"One day, I'll need my strength... to face your Conglomerate again... to face you..."
"…"
"... Cross me again... cross my people... then by Vanu, I will stop you..." Echo shuddered out.
It had always been easy to threaten an enemy from a distance, but to threaten someone who was literally centimetres away without a mask, it was something else entirely. Gingerly, she withdrew her hand from Ranger, who had registered every bit of tension in Echo's voice.
"Guess it is inevitable... just not today, huh?" Ranger whispered.
"... Not here... not with the Republic here..."
"I see."
A moment of silence passes by, with Echo partly unburdened by her darkest thoughts that she was able to express to another killer. Ranger shuffles closer to her.
"Well... if you don't plan on being dutiful just yet, I guess I should make the most of this while I can."
In a smooth motion, he moves to get on top of Echo, tucking his legs and arms on either side of her, with his back pressed against a boulder. Echo braces hands against his shoulders, to hold him from leaning in.
"... Were you not listening?" Echo plainly asks.
"I heard. You said none of this was personal. That none of this actually matters when we leave. So..."
With care, Ranger slowly moves aside the arms that were restraining him, with little effort.
"You trying to delay me?"
"Yeah... and get the intel I want from you, along with your defection and your fighting skills..." Ranger dryly stated.
He runs a hand through Echo's hair while giving a small smile.
"... But I'm guessing you're not the snitching kind of girl, huh?"
"... Anarchist."
"Is that a yes?"
"…"
He leans in, bringing his mouth to Echo's right ear.
"I'll take that as a yes," Ranger whispered.
Brushing lips along her right cheek, they find their way to hers. She closes her eyes, placing her arms around the kind killer, as the euphoria took hold once more. Their kisses were palatable as ever, something that no nanite ecosystem could ever truly provide, beyond nutrition and waste removal. Ranger is careful with cradling Echo while on top of her, before he goes to roll Echo around to leave her on top.
It felt so easy going, as her hands slid smoothly over Ranger's chest plating. For someone as old as Echo, she was no stranger to intimacy. It was only within her moment with Ranger that she could remember exactly why this was so, from so long ago.
A man's touch... a husband's?
She remembered what it meant to be loved by him, even in his last days. He was so worried for her safety as things got worse, saying that she should leave, saying that he would catch up once he got the rest of their family out. Sadly on that day, he was not one of the lucky ones to make it into a Rebirthing Infrastructure, as he was left behind in one of the last major cities that were finally levelled. Reavers and Liberators bombed everything, while bearing the mark of the New Conglomerate, as the Terran Republic fled the area. Like her closest friends with the refugees of that day, she wished she could forget it all.
Of all the things to remember...
In the years following, the Sovereignty had a saying about a person's memory, about how cruel it could be.
The death of one's memories, is a fate worse than death itself.
The phrase came about after what transpired at Hydoran, when surviving corporations and high ranking military leaders from all three factions, were finally outed as the secret traitors of Auraxis. Hidden on a desolate island for decades, they had profited from the spoils of war while its soldiers were fed false memories that urged them to keep fighting. Nanites that laced the eyes of numerous people, created the motivational nightmares of would-be enemy atrocities, that were perceived subconsciously through many sleep cycles to keep the conflict alive.
Even now, after the memory scheme was finally ended for its many victims, Echo swore she could still feel the damage it coursed, in her ability to distinguish what historically was fact over fiction. Though knowing that her memory was indeed tampered with, it did offer one twisted glimmer of hope, regardless of the actual truth behind her long lost lover. Perhaps it was all Echo needed, after all she had lost.
Maybe my husband's death, was never real... maybe he is out there...
She opens her eyes again, heaving for air while leaning over Ranger's left shoulder.
"... Do you think... we had a chance... at Hydoran?"
"... Were you a conspirator on that island?"
"No... but if it gave us the chance to end it all... maybe I should've been there..."
Touching foreheads, the two human beings look into each other's eyes.
"You think we missed our chance?"
"... I don't know..."
Ranger strokes a thumb over Echo's right cheek.
"... If we did... us being here must mean there's another chance somewhere, right?"
"... You said that this didn't mean anything, that this didn't matter..."
"Ohh... I lied I guess, Mister Anarchist and all."
As much as Echo didn't want to, a smile caught her face from the nonchalant remark. Ranger lightly brushes a finger by her lips.
"There... I think I saw chance smiling at me..."
"... Shut up," Spoke Echo under her breath.
Holding each other close, a hand of Ranger's slides over Echo's Second Spine, a device that was wired directly into her central nervous system that enabled her extra sensory abilities. It acted as a receiver and a transmitter within the CereNet, something that Echo was presently unable to use without any nearby allies. At some point, she was going to need to utilise her spine again, as time was starting to run short, in spite of how comfortable she was feeling.
"... I should get going. I need to get back to my side," stated Echo with an air of urgency.
"... It's still bad out there, isn't it?"
Echo nods, with a look of worry visible on her face.
"... Damn."
"We're behind the Republic's lines, and their backs... if I can scout out whatever I can from here... make myself useful..."
"Right."
Ranger turns his head to look outside their cluster of boulders.
"Sun will be coming over soon. You'll want some shade before then, huh?"
"Yeah."
Withdrawing his arms to allow Echo to slide off, the Infiltrators pick up their gear and crawl to the exit to their refuge; the gloomy surroundings of their forest look clear.
"One night as promised, I suppose," Ranger mumbles.
"... Yeah."
Pulling themselves out and onto their feet, they do quick stretches to relieve themselves of any knots in their bodies. Soon, they turn to each other and their respective masks.
"Thank you, Echo-7... for saving my ass back there..."
"... It wasn't my first choice..."
She steps closer to Ranger.
"... I guess I'm lucky it was a good choice."
He smiles.
"Me too."
Echo holds out a hand, offering a hand shake which Ranger gladly accepts, before taking a step back to offer Ranger her Darkstar Scout helmet. He takes it with one hand, staring blankly at the blackened visor.
"... Time to be monsters again," said Echo with a sigh, before bowing her head.
Ranger nods, with a look of acceptance on his face for their time together that was passing. Carefully, the NC Infiltrator lowers Echo's helmet, to slide her face behind an all too familiar mask of the Vanu Sovereignty. Once secured with her HUD back online, the VS Infiltrator follows through with the same gesture for Ranger, placing his Windhelm helmet over his face. He makes some final adjustments to the fit, but he then stops to scoff from beneath his disguise.
"... It's funny."
"What?"
"Here we are, after the Republic almost killed us, after you saved me... and I don't even know your actual name..."
Echo-7; the seventh member of the Echo detachment that was responsible for safeguarding the air defences around Heyoka Tech Plant. It was a callsign she was known for, by her comrades and her adversaries alike, something that she felt she needed to keep... for her own sake, and ultimately for those she was tasked to protect.
She tilts her helmet up, to stare directly into the goggles of her enemy.
"... As it should be..."
Taking more steps back, Ranger and Echo are parted by a few more metres.
"Maybe if we somehow get stuck on another roof again... would you tell me then?"
"... Maybe, anarchist."
Echo-7 turns to look in the direction of where she would need to go, before she turns back to look at Ranger who was starting to turn away.
"Probably won't mean much to you, Ranger, but I'll say it anyway."
Ranger stops, looking over a shoulder at Echo.
"May Vanu someday... smile upon you..."
He remains still for a moment with his head bowed, as he takes in Echo's words.
"... God be with you, Echo-7... Godspeed..."
Facing back for the journey he was to embark on, he starts walking away into the trees. Echo watches for a time, before closing her eyes.
He'll do what he needs to do...
A last thought, before she opened her eyes. Ranger-3... the enemy who saved her... the person who had spared her life... now, was gone.
... Now, it's my turn.
She starts walking, completely alone, with only her instincts and her duties to guide her path. Suit systems reconnected, she briefly activates her Stalker Cloak to initiate repairs for her still sliced waist. The discolouration in her cloaking follows, before everything is correctly realigned, ready for any manner of stealth manoeuvre she would need to perform. Briefly unsheathing her Lumine Knife, she tests its heated coils to see if they are still functional; they are.
Just a knife... good enough...
A newfound sense of determination rises from her sense of preparedness. Before long, her walk soon evolves into a jog, and then a sprint through the forest, in a bid to make up as much time as she could while things were still dim. It was as though something had possessed her, that something was making her see things with a greater clarity than before, that was allowing her to move with an utmost swiftness and strength she felt previously robbed off. Humility, was what was driving her, what had gotten her this far, and what was going to drive her through the new dawn.
Staying low, Echo-7 activates her cloaking, upon approaching a clearing in the forest. She flicks through her radio contacts.
"...This is Echo-7... Heyoka Tech Plant detachment... where do you need me...?"