Three days had passed.
Three days of pure apprehension, of the dread weighing down on both herself and the lieutenant. Briefly, Quintia Presidos wondered if this was how a game animal would feel when they were being hunted down.
For what was most certainly not the first time ever, Quintia laughed inwardly, bitterly. This situation was just getting more and more ironic the more she had taken it into consideration.
How many times had she led the Royal Guards through the hallways of Cadiz, through the streets of Valencia at night hunting down the Resistance agents still left within the fair capital of the Empire? She was the one so feared then, the one delivering fear instead of the one feeling the fear, she was the hunter instead of the hunted like she was now.
Is this what the humans called "karma"? If so, then it truly has worked well against me.
Perhaps this was revenge against her for hunting down so many Templar soldiers in her short period of function. Since the destruction of Skull Island, Quintia had struck down more Templar soldiers than one could ever hope to calculate, so many that even she herself did not wish to recall the number that had fallen into her hands.
Quintia craned her neck slightly to glance at the shadowy figure of Sentus Optimus, seated against the side of the cave they were currently hiding in, his armored form just barely visible within the darkness, the single cybernetic eye that had long replaced one of his human eyes shimmering with the same eerie light as his armor.
Once more, those questions that had haunted her for the past few days begun to creep back within her mind.
How much longer would it take for the Supreme Commander's forces to find us?
It was impossible for the elite court of Valencia to not have taken notice of how long she and Sentus Optimus were taking with this simple mission that should have taken at a week to accomplish at maximum. Then, there was also the question of if they would be able to survive until a retrieval team had been sent to bring them back to Valencia.
"Lieutenant."
The one short word was enough for Sentus to turn his masked face toward hers.
However, before the Royal Guard captain could actually speak, both of the Armada officers found themselves freezing up entirely at the sound of footsteps in the distance, perhaps no more than half a mile from where they had hidden themselves within the Skull Cave. Both of them stood perfectly still as they listened.
"Search the area thoroughly, they could be anywhere."
Ruthless enemies did not frighten Quintia, no, as this was to be expected of a soldier in war, yes, but from the speech pattern of this particular Templar was cold and organized, nowhere near the bellowing of those brutes that could be sso easily outwitted by even the simplest soldier of the Armada.
She turned her gaze to the darkness, over the relative location of Sentus Optimus once more.
Sentus simply held up one finger to where his mouth would have been, had he not worn a mask over the majority of his face.
It felt like an eternity before the sound of footsteps faded too far away to be heard.
Then and only then did Quintia allow herself to relax.
That was far too close.
This was not the only time in the past three days that Templar activity had picked up near this very area, but this certainly was the first time since their escape that they had came so close to where they were hiding now, and if her processor had not yet truly fallen apart, Quintia was certain that those Templars were closing in around them, like predators would around prey.
"Lieutenant, if the Templars ever attempt to capture us again... run, I will keep them distracted."
Sentus Optimus' only human eye flew wide, and he crept closer to her position before he spoke.
"Captain, why do you speak so...? The Supreme Commander could not bear to lose any more, you and I should know better than anyone else."
But those wounds that I have suffered, I cannot fight as well as you do, therefore I would be nothing more than a nuisance. And you are his lieutenant, you have fought alongside him longer than I ever have, and there isno doubt you would also mean more to him as a comrade and officer.
"Your words are true, lieutenant, but my wounds will not permit me to fight with my potential, and therefore I would be nothing but nuisance and an obstacle."
Indeed, while the wounds on her back had healed over the last few days, they threatened to reopen at any slightest movement, as compared to the lieutenant of the Supreme Commander who had been barely scathed in the process save for a few cuts and bruises.
"Captain, you are his daughter, his dear, beloved child. Already he has lost the former Supreme Commander, his wife, his blood child, do you think he can bear to lose any more?"
Such was unfortunately true.
Quintia could remember, in all the vivid details, how she had stormed into the throne room after the assault on Cadiz, with a team of fifteen Royal Guards trailing her -
Only to find her own creator kneeling in the very center of the chamber, cradling the terminated frame of the then Supreme Commander Kane himself within his arms the way a lover would, completely and utterly broken by this. It had almost seemed that someone had ripped all the wounds upon him and within him wide open that very evening.
While it may have appeared to some that he had managed to piece himself back together, to show he was still strong enough to carry out what he proclaimed was the final wish of the Supreme Commander, Quintia knew it was anything but that. She knew he had become different ever since that very day, oh she knew far too well.
For she had stood there by her creator's side as he had drawn out the plans for what would come to be known among the soldiers of the Armada as the Great Cleansing. It was a ruthless, brutal plan even by the standards of the Armada, and her creator had carried it out without even batting an eye, as how the humans would have said, returning the next day, near the high afternoon, to Cadiz drenched in blood.
"But better the sacrifice of me, lieutenant, than both of us perishing."
Quintia was surprised that her voice was so steady, even at the thought of possible termination at the hands of their enemy.
"Captain, it is not wise to think in such a pessimistic manner."
Sentus' right hand laid itself on her shoulder.
"There is still a chance that he would come for us, Captain, it is impossible for them to not have noticed that we are still gone. We simply need to wait a few more days, perhaps even until tomorrow."
There was no denying that maybe they would have a chance out, yes, this small strand of what the humans called hope welling up deep inside of her. There was no way the Supreme Commander, her father, would not have acted up by now, perhaps he was simply gathering his forces and preparing to launch a retrieval assault on this island soon -
Have you fallen so far as to depend on an uncertain, human concept such as this?
Hope was a human concept, a foreign one that Quintia had yet to depend on in her short period of function, this wishful thinking, if such were even appropriate terms for it, that tomorrow would be better than today, that today's situation would definitely improve later. And she was a clockwork, she was supposed to be beyond all of this.
Quintia allowed herself to rest on her side, but even then, it sent a jolt up her entire frame. Every move made the wounds on her back and sides sting: it only served to further ascertain the fact she would not be able to fight properly, if the Templars were to ever close in on the both of them.
"I won't let those fools take you, not when he had lost so much already... Is it not my responsibility to ensure that those who he holds dear is preserved? I am his lieutenant, and he has entrusted me with your safety."
She didn't need to look toward the lieutenant to see the determined way his single human eye shone. Silently, Quintia willed herself to believe in his words, that they both would make their way out of this. It was all only a matter of time.
"Sentus, tell me, how much more has the Commander lost...?"
I have only barely in function for little more than a year, there are bound to be matters regarding my creator, the Supreme Commander of the entire Valencian Armada that I do not know about, after all, he is not the sort of man who would reveal his past to all.
Sentus Optimus fell silent, turning his head away even when Quintia's gaze found his.
"It is not the most pleasant of all histories there is, just know that he has lost more than just the former Supreme Commander in the past."
Quintia's POV again, poor girl, she really goes through a lot, doesn't she? And poor Cpt. Optimus, having to hold up most of the situation in this. But what shall their fates be? ;D check back and you shall know!
Until next time, my dear readers!
-Hades