"Nngh.. what..." Mercy slowly opened her eyes, looking around to find herself in her own medical wing, though it had been some time since she had actually been here. The beds were rather immaculate, apart from the one she was laying in, their sheets a bit faded as the woman sighed softly. There were reasons as to why she tried to stay away from this place as much as possible, her services usually being rendered in her living quarters. There had thankfully been nothing serious going on and the worst she had mended was a deeper cut or two from when Lena and Hana decided that they wanted to be brave and reckless.
Looking over at the open window, she saw that the sun was just barely over the horizon. Had she really slept for an entire day? The memories of what had happened before she passed out slowly started to trickle back into her head, though they weren't as intense as the first time around. The main two focus points were the look on Fareeha's face and the fact that some how, some way, Anubis had found his way into her head. She sighed deeply and put her head into her hands, the darkness seeming to comfort her for a few seconds.
"Oh Angela... how do you get past this one?" She muttered to herself, hearing soft steps coming towards her location. She quickly looked up to find two young girls peeping inside the hall, their faces easily recognizable. One belonged to the perky British Pilot, Lena Oxton while the other was owned by the gamer turned mech pilot Hana Song. When they both noticed that she was looking their way, they smiled brightly and popped around the corner.
"Oi! You're finally awake huh? We were all pretty worried about you Ange!" Lena was the first one to Mercy's side, using her abilities to win what Mercy supposed was a race between the two younger girls. A smile slowly crept to Mercy's face as she was given a lovely bouquet of flowers, a chuckle coming from her as Hana made it to her side, huffing a bit as she glared at Lena for cheating.
"You didn't need to bring me flowers Lena, I was only out for a little bit. Not like I was dying or anything!" Mercy took the flowers and put them on the small nightstand beside the bed, looking at both of the girls with a motherly reassurance on her face.
"But Miss Ana said you were twitching pretty hard! Like she said you were close to.." Hana was soon shushed by Lena covering her mouth, a wide smile trying to cover for the younger girl's inability to realize when one shouldn't tell the truth.
"Close to falling off the bed!" Lena finished Hana's thought for her, shooting her a scolding look before continuing. "But we didn't let ya fall off, since you know, we wouldn't want you havin' a big bump on your head!" Lena giggled and smiled, hoping that she had somehow covered their bases. Mercy looked over them with a rather unimpressed look, knowing that Hana had something more to say and assuming that it was related to her having been out for near an entire day.
"Right..." Mercy decided to not prod any further as she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to know all the details anyhow. That and she was more than ready to leave the medical wing, the emptiness around the three of them only causing memories of the old days to creep at the back of Mercy's mind.
"So! Let's not stay in this musty place much longer, I'm already growing a bit tired of laying around!" Mercy smiled as she pulled off her blanket, only for her eyes to widen in embarrassment as she saw her pale white legs staring back at her. She eeped a bit before pulling the blanket back over her naked lower body, her face a bit red as she looked around the room for any signs of real clothing.
"Oh! Uhm... sorry about that, we thought you woulda known about that whole thing because you know... uh.. any who..." Lena quickly zipped over to grab some sweat pants that were waiting for when Angela woke up, both her and Hana a bit red in the face from not having expected such a close look at the woman's body. As Lena handed the pants over, Mercy twirled her hand a bit for the girls to turn around, which they did quickly.
Mercy watched the two girls turn around, keeping a close eye on them them before slipping off the side of the bed and into the sweat pants, the things a bit large for her but snug in a way. She smiled softly as she tied the string to make sure they wouldn't fall down before stretching a bit and walking past the two other women, waving them on to follow her.
"Come on now, I'm hungry and I'm sure the two of you could go for something to eat, right?" Mercy turned back to leave the room, pressing the button to the door in order to leave. As the door opened slowly, she found herself staring at a worn down hallway with bullet holes riddling the metal and glass. She could feel a slight pressure on the back of her neck, her breath getting caught in her chest as he eyes flicked quickly along the hall.
"No.. not now..." She closed her eyes and shook her head, doing her best to shake the images from her head. Reopening her eyes she would find the plain wall staring back at her, relief washing over her once more.
"Well come on then love, quit blocking the only door!" Lena chirped behind Mercy, poking at her back a bit as she grew impatient.
"Oh, uhm, sorry dear. Must have stood up too quickly is all.." Mercy blinked a few times before looking back outside, the hallway still plain and boring. She sighed softly before walking out and heading for the mess hall, feeling the eyes of both the girls on the back of her head in case anything happened to her.
"Finally you're awake!" Mercy's eyes shot around to see who was speaking, before she realized that it was in her head. She didn't know which was worse, thinking she was crazy or actually finding out that Anubis was now living inside her mind.
"Don't worry my dear, I mean you no harm. In fact, I'm here to help you!" Mercy scowled at the thought of this as she continued to walk, doing her best to keep herself together as to not concern Lena or Hana. She began to think her responses, knowing that speaking aloud would cue the girls into something strange happening.
"What could you possibly offer me, you abomination?" Her inner tone was much darker and rough than her outward expression.
"Ouch, that actually hurt Angela. But you know, I'll give you that one. I've done some pretty awful things and I admit it. But you see, there's a reason that I'm here in your head." The AI's tone was soft at this point and if Mercy didn't know any better, she would have given him more time to explain.
"You're here in my head because I am psychologically damaged at the time being. I had a very rough mission and you just so happen to be a part of my psyche. You will go away with plenty of rest and relaxation. I will hear nothing more about it." She humphed in her head, finishing their conversation even as the voice continued to try and speak. Each attempt was swiftly ended with another humph, as she finally made her way into the mess hall.
"Finally! You were goin' soooooo slow love!" Lena darted off to the kitchen to get a head start on grabbing anything she could find, as Hana hugged Mercy from the side, burying her face into Mercy's shoulder.
"It'll be alright Miss Angela. No matter what happens, you'll always have us!" She smiled brightly before following in Lena's steps, though Mercy noticed that she was going... slow?
"Angela... you seem to be mistaken about your current situation." The voice was back in her head, the world around her going much slower than before, almost making it seem as though Hana was crawling towards the kitchen.
"You see, I have more control over your body than you like to admit. I'm not just in your head any longer, I'm everywhere. The only reason you are even breathing right now is because of me." The voice was stern now, as if teaching her a lesson and scolding her over it.
"I made them watch as you were on the verge of death. I made them all watch you writhe in pain, screaming your lungs out as something they couldn't stop killed you from the inside. I took out all my rage on you Angela because simply put... you are the reason for me being here. If it weren't for you and this damned organization, I would still be happily locked away in my home. But you destroyed it... you and those damn brats. So between that and me keeping you alive, I say you owe me something big..."
Mercy flicked her eyes from Hana to Lena, who she could see through one of the large windows in the kitchen. She was doing her best to keep her composure in the moment, wanting to scream at the voice that she didn't believe in it. Yet the more it talked, the more she knew that it couldn't just be something her mind was making up from stress.
"So listen to me and listen well. There is a place you need to be and a person you need to meet. I will be arranging the meeting soon enough and you WILL be taking me there." The AI's voice seemed rather confident that Mercy would do as he said, even as her thoughts began to instantaneously rebel against his wishes.
"If you don't? Well, perhaps we'll see what your little group sees you as when these two aspiring heroes wind up like the others you've tried to help in the past..." As Mercy blinked, Lena and Hana became visions of nightmare. Faces sunken in as if they had been dead for a while, eyes missing and various cuts and bruises covering the parts of skin she could currently see. This only lasted a few blinks before the girls returned to their normal state.
"Do we have a deal?" The line rang in Mercy's head as she took a deep breath, wanting with all of her heart to fight, to tell the voice to fuck off. But she couldn't risk it, not when others could be harmed for her actions.
"...Deal."