Minka's plan is simple, the moment Trazyn is merging the timeline, she will also somehow create a deviation event. Since she already has the idea, maybe it is time that she will find out how to execute it. Honestly, it is not because she does not like the after-adventure version of Monika, it is just maybe having a peaceful life will be a better fit for her ideal world. This is why she has been fighting for peace for all mankind.
She woke up, cleaned up her gun and was waiting for Monika downstairs. After ten more minutes, Monika finally came down, looking refreshing as ever: "Hey, Minka." She greets her, and then they are off for breakfast. They didn't buy the breakfast in the hotel, instead they paid for all the refugees to eat at the place, both of them just grabbed some bread and fruits to fill their stomach.
Honestly, Minka feels like she's helping more people like this than actually merging the worldline. After finishing her sandwich, Monika stood up and did a really nice stretch: "Aight, so we are assigned to a small village in the northwest of the outskirts of the city. Are we ready?" Monika asks.
Minka nods, if her record is correct, that is the cave where Monika will gain her crimson daemon power. While Monika went to prepare the car, Minka teleported inside the cave to do some recon. Just like she read, Kira was here. The orks are also here as well. Every time Minka reads the part, she never understands why there was ork on this planet in the first place. She wants to investigate. She activates her invisibility cloak then walks among the orks. She wanted to find some evidence first, and surprisingly she found it rather fast. The orks cave has traces of dimension folding energy signature. Which means that those orks were released from another dimension.
Trazyn could've done this, but Minka isn't sure if this is the case. Because he did not know of the existence of this place at all. Minka touched the ground and found some other traces of energy signature. Teleportation, dimension folding and then she found some evidence about time manipulation. It seems that some minerals on the ground's time were accelerated compared to the surroundings.
Even after gathering all of that evidence, Minka still cannot pick out a name from them. Instead, she just teleported back to Monika and off with their plan for the day. Monika was waiting for Minka in her car. She was wondering what Minka was up to but seeing Minka looks as usual, she let go of the thought. At this point she trusts Minka completely.
Their plan is to meet up with a local squad outside of the area. They have information about strange beasts appearing in this place. Soon after they are rendez-vous with the local squad, Anton clicks the heel of his boots and salutes Monika and Minka: "31st squadron ready to serve!"
"At ease. Thank you for responding to my request. Commissar." Monika replied.
"It is an honor to meet another one of the Terra family members. My brother works under Major Nova." Anton is keeping this rather professional: "Your family does great work for the imperium."
"You're too kind. By the way, meet Minka." Monika introduces.
Minka is frozen, she did not expect to meet her crush in this place. Her usual demeanor is slightly obstructed, and her face is becoming a bit redder than usual. After a good ten seconds, she finally managed to realize the situation and shook Anton's hand.
Monika noticed this, so she decided to help Minka a little. After all, she is always thinking about ways to get back to Minka. Monika kind of feels bad that she has to let Minka do most of the work in this place: "So, why don't we separate into two teams? You two take the further path for scouting and I will lead the squadron here?"
"Yes, Mam." Anton takes some supplies and starts heading on to the mountain, from their intel, there's a connected cave up ahead.
Minka looks back at Monika with a look of gratitude and Monika replies with a nod.
A lot is going on in Minka's head, hell, she even opened an ice breaker conversation book in her HUD. But Anton's voice suddenly disrupted all of her preparation: "So... Ms…Minka. How did you know Captain Terra?"
"We worked with each other a while ago. Then after I transferred here, she took me in." Minka replied rather fluently.
"Oh, what do you do?"
"I work for the Imperial Navy's exterminatus assessment department, really it's just a lousy desk job." Minka didn't lie, this was her first job.
"Must be nice." They then arrive at their first checkpoint; their plan is to inform Monika when they arrived at the checkpoint so they could send in the troops. But Minka suddenly patted down the radio.
"Hold on, I heard something." Minka grabs Anton's hand and hides in the bush. Soon a wave of orks start heading into the cave.
"Impossible… how can there be orks on this planet?" Anton is very surprised.
Minka remained silent, this entire situation just got more troublesome, she wanted to develop her relationship with Anton but she somehow needed to let Monika go in alone so she could gain her power. Suddenly Minka realizes that she has been holding Anton's hand the entire time. She could feel blood rushing into her cheeks and making her head not being able to think clearly.
"Eh… Minka?" Anton noticed the blushing cheeks Minka had: "Are you having a fever?"
"I..I am fine." Minka let go of his hand, but her heart couldn't stop pounding: "Let's tell Monika to march in the troops."
"I do not think it is a good idea. Because the orks in there are way more than we can handle. I think the correct approach is to go in as partners then scout the area." Anton suggests.
As partners? Minka thought, and her mind started twirling again. She took a deep breath and managed to calm her heart down: "I suppose it is a better approach." She opened the radio: "Monika, stand your ground. We will scout the area then decide the approach."
"Understood." Monika replied on the other side sounding rather calm.
"Let's go in." Minka then heads towards the cave with Maverick.
In the city, Monika and Trazyn are sitting in a cafe. They have already settled up everything they need to fight Immotekt, in fact Monika was going through the list again: "So… Containment field, interdimensional disrupter, phasing disruptor, signal muter and pentagon dome for emergency." She checks her tablets; they all seem to be operational.
"Honey, maybe we should enjoy ourselves while we can." Trazyn pushes the rose cake infront of Monika: "You look tired."
"I am not." Monika replied: "I am very stressed out."
"Yea, i can see. I haven't seen you smile in days. Come on, let's have a nice date today." Trazyn lays back on the chair.
"How can we enjoy ourselves if everyone is on the line?" Monika is a bit annoyed by Trazyn's attitude.
"Well, i am not trying to brag but i do know a thing or two about living an eternal life, and one thing about it is that sometimes you just have to drop things for a bit to concentrate better." Trazyn is saying this in a calm way.
Monika puts away the tablet and sips the coffee: "Alright, so what do you want to do today?"
"Remember that bar where we first met? I am pretty sure it's still open at this point." Trazyn looks at Monika in a tempting way: "Do you want to have a stroll?"
"Yea sure. But I have a question." Monika stopped walking.
"What is it?"
"Why were you excited to fight the younger version of me? Am I currently different than before?" Monika looks at Trazyn straight to the eyes.
"Honey, of course you're different. You are a beautiful woman with traits that's irreplaceable for me." Trazyn puts his hand on Monika's cheek and lightly rubs them: "I wanted to fight the younger you because i just wanted to test my strength. That's it."
"You can try it with me." Monika has a smirk on her face.
"I don't think I am able to fight you in good conscience. Besides, I don't think I can win either." Trazyn is glad that Monika finally has her smile again.
Monika does a lazy stretch and suddenly feels like a stone in her heart was lifted, maybe it is a good idea that she can do something else besides thinking about the mission. They then paid for the food and went to the bar.
In the cave Minka is purposely staying very close to Anton, even though she can collapse the entire cave if she wants to but being in a dark place really isn't something she likes. Suddenly, a drip of water fell on her head, out of reflex she held Anton's arm tightly.
Anton didn't react too much; he let out a sigh and wiped the water on top of Minka's head: "Come on, let's move on further." He chuckles a bit afterwards as in his memory the Terra family members are all soldiers without emotions. Maybe he is only thinking about Nova.
Minka's cheek is burning, she never really showed this vulnerable part of herself to anyone. Especially in front of Trazyn and Monika, Minka has always tried her hardest to be the toughest person on the planet. For her it is a different need from different people, she craves parental love and affection which she did not get when she was a kid. When she grew up after realizing her power, she became the spearhead of the imperium. But before she could gain the recognition of her parents both of them were out of her sight. But with Anton however, she's a girl that never has experienced a real relationship. This is why she has no idea what to do in these situations.
Anton didn't notice the sudden change in Minka's behavior, maybe because the surroundings were too dark, and they only had two glow sticks. Anton suddenly stepped on something slippery and for some strange reason, his entire body was in the air for a brief second. Just when he's about to fall on the cold hard ground. Minka caught him in the blink of an eye. Their eyes gazed into each other, and the entire situation just got really awkward.
"..." Minka puts him down and turns her head away, she can't even think straight at this point. She feels like her heart is about to burst out of her chest. All of her repressed emotions have nowhere to go but in her heart.
"Hey." Anton scratches the back of his head: "Thanks for the save." He noticed the behavior of Minka and kind of already had a conclusion or two. Seeing this, he let out a sigh and holds Minka's hand: "I know it is hard to focus on the job right now. But we have a mission for the moment…. If you want to do something after the mission… Well, I am available." He honestly kind of likes this girl in front of her. After all, not a lot of girls can catch a gown tall man princess style.
Soon, they see some fainting light at the other side of the cave, when they finally step in. Minka's face twitched a bit. The disgusting and bloody scene is making her feel revolting in the stomach. One of the races in her world they eliminated at the very beginning was the green skins. Those animals' existence is the defiance of the god emperor himself. Minka wants to activate her power to turn every single green skin into a pile of flesh. Yet she reminded herself that Monika should be the one going in and gain her power.
Minka signaled Monika to come in: "Monika, we require your assistance here. But due to the situation, we do not suggest bringing a squad with you. We will meet up when you arrive at our signal."
Monika went in alone and soon she arrived at the open arena. Just like how Minka remembered, Monika fought the orks with skill and precision but soon more came and Monika was caught.
Just when Minka thought Monika was going to awaken her power, something strange happened. They started to toss Monika around and smash her on the ground or walls. Soon, blood came out from her mouth. Minka is shocked, this was not supposed to happen: "We need to help her!' Anton unclicked the safety in his gun and jumped down next to Monika.
"Damn it." Minka is frustrated, this is not how it is supposed to happen. Minka jumps down as well, and her eyes are starting to glow in golden light. Suddenly, an invisible pulse as if blasted in the cave and all the orks that were torturing Monika was sent off to the wall. Minka reaches out her hand forward then squeezes it into a fist. After a loud splashing noise, the heads of the orks or goblins are starting to explode one by one, the entire cave is full of noise of head exploding and the terrified scream from the orks. Not after long, the cave is silent.
The entire time, Anton couldn't move due to the shock he is experiencing after seeing such gore scenarios. After every single green skin perished, he finally is able to move his body and puts Monika's arm on his shoulder: "Let's go, we need to send her to an emergency room."
Minka glanced at them, it seems on Monika's body there's multiple broken bones and fracture, there's no way she is able to gain her power at this rate. She let out a sigh and said: "Go, I will deal with the rest."
"Be Careful, Minka." Anton nods then starts running out of the cave while having Monika on his back.
Minka is pissed off, she is sure that someone is messing with her. In any timeline, Monika getting her power in this cave is written in stone. Hell, she even saw a prophecy of this event happening. But this time, Monika was almost killed and yet no power emerged.
Out of anger, she blows open a wooden shack and there are the survivors that were brought into the cave. In the center, there is Kira but around her it seems to be her family. Again, something is wrong, if Kira's family is alive then it will mean that Kira will not join the army and thus causing a disruption in timeline. Minka feels like this entire timeline is somehow messed up.
Minka thought about correcting the timeline, but this is just not what kind of person she is. Instead, she helped them to get out of the cave. Hoping for the best. Minka still stayed within, she took out a strange looking device and dropped it on the ground. It will re-animate every single event that has happened in the cave up until a week ago. She sat on the stone and reviewed the content, but nothing strange happened at all. With many questions, Minka got out of the cave. Outside there's nobody left, as most of them either went into the city or helped Monika into the hospital.
Minka teleported out to where Trazyn is, she needs to find someone to talk about the situation. But she then appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the bar. Everyone is looking at three of them.
Teleportation technology is still a very advanced technology for the imperium, and it is usually deployed on being like elite space marines. Minka's eyes flashed for a second and everyone in the bar froze for one second then continued with whatever they were on.
"What did you do?" Trazyn asks, this is the first time he sees Minka using this ability.
"Mind manipulation, I basically cut off 10 seconds of memory for everyone in this place." Minka replied with a rather strong tone. She's not happy about what happened in the cave and this is why she is dealing with problems with rather direct methods.
"Did something happen? You look really upset." Monika sensed something had gone wrong on Minka's part. She puts her hand on Minka's while looking at her worriedly.
Minka avoided Monika's gaze, because at some point Minka felt like the entire incident was her fault. Then she concluded what had happened for the past few days.
After hearing everything Minka had just said, Trazyn looks rather cool with what she had just said. He has that annoying sassy grin on his face again: "Well, well, well. Wasn't that an interesting story."
Minka and Monika frown: "Isn't this might create a world changing event? How are you still so chill about all of this?" Monika asks. She doesn't believe Trazyn would react like this if he doesn't have a plan or solution for this.
"Because of this." He takes out a small device that has two dots on it: "The moment we traveled we already created a world changing event."
"Then what are we waiting for? We should start the ritual now!" Minka said while sounding a little angry.
Monika saw through what Trazyn was thinking, this time instead of scolding Trazyn for being unethical. She decided to help him out a bit: "Minka, I think Trazyn did not start the ritual because this is not the timeline that we are thinking of. After all, we only have one shot of this. Maybe we should wait and see what will happen, no?"
Minka stood up while looking very distressed, she looked at both of them in a really disturbed way. But then she sat down again, sometimes Minka is more of an idealist than she gave herself credit to: "Dad, I hope you can create a world that would satisfy your own craving."
"Minky, I will never sacrifice the world just for my own benefit."
"I can't tell if you are being sarcastic, or I am just used to you being a jerk in general." Minka rolled up her eyes in distress. But after a drink or two, she managed to think through: "Well, I will go back to my own thing now. If you need me… you know what to do." Minka then stepped out of the bar and teleported away.
"Thanks for backing me up, honey." Trazyn sounded relieved.
Monika let out a sigh: "We are already here… there's no way back but keep going forward." She sounded so melancholy at times: "Traz… I hope that we made the right decision until this point."
Trazyn holds Monika's hands: "Honey, I promise that I will bring us a world where we can all be happy. I swear it. I might have a bit of an image problem regarding my seriousness and wording. But I am very serious about every word I have said to you."
Monika grins in a slightly sorrowful way then she gives Trazyn a kiss on the lips: "I know… and… if anything happens, I will stand beside you, as always."
The younger Monika woke up from her coma after a day. Her enhanced body managed to heal most of the wound quickly but things like broken bones still need to take some moment to deal with. When she wakes up, she sees Minka reading a book on the other side of the room. She didn't seem to notice Monika was awake.
Monika tries to get up but the intense pain from her ribs tells her that she almost died in that cave. She let out a cold gasp and just kept laying down silently.
Minka noticed the gap, she closed her book and took a chair then sat beside Monika's bed: "How are you feeling?" She asks.
"Painful but… did we save the people that were in the cave?" Monika asks.
"We did, no one was injured." Minka then puts her hand on Monika's hand. Then her eyes start glowing in fainting golden light. After a few more seconds, Monika suddenly felt a relief in her pain.
"What did you do?" Monika asks. She actually never felt so good.
"I inhibited the nerve connection to the pain receptors in your body. It is like painkillers but without the side effects. But you still need to rest." Minka could tell that Monika just wanna jump out of the bed and return to the field.
Monika pouts but Minka is right, she is in no condition to fight. She looked outside of the window and suddenly an idea crossed her mind: "Minka… if I find Trazyn… will I be able to…"
Minka cannot say that she didn't see this question coming, after all when people are vulnerable hard that is the time when they seek a partner or help from another party. Minka didn't answer her directly because after all, she is not a love expert: "My father always told me that what will come will eventually arrive. I cannot say that you and your Trazyn will be able to form a relationship. But why don't you talk to him?"
"I can't, I already feel like I have been depending on him too much! I need to become stronger!" Monika slightly raised her voice: "Besides… I have no idea how to face the feeling i have towards him…." At Least she's honest about that.
"Why don't i let mom talk to you? She surely understands your feelings." Minka suggests.
"No…I mean… just between you and me, I always feel like the Monika that came with you is different from me… I feel like something is wrong, but I cannot explain what kind of strange feeling i have towards her. She just doesn't make me feel comfortable to even see her."
"That sounds like you don't like yourself." Minka has a smirk on her face: "Is it because… she and dad are…"
"It's not! I cannot care less about that! I mean i don't care about their relationships at all!" Monika's face is blushing: "Look… I don't really give a negative impression on people, but that Monika has some problems within. I can tell. I don't know what exactly is wrong with her, but I suggest you be careful."
Come to think of it, Monika indeed hasn't removed the abyss queen from her yet. Trazyn doesn't seem to be in a hurry to do so. What is he planning? Minka thought. She is sure that Monika doesn't have anything wrong but Trazyn? She does not think a person in the universe knows what exactly he is planning to do when the worldline merges.
Minka then stands up and takes out a bag of rose cake from her bag: "Here, this might help with your anxiety." She then is about to leave, there's someone she wants to talk about given the situation here. Just when she was about to leave, Nova came in looking really stressed out.
"Monika, what the hell happened?! I heard that you were dying." Nova sounds like she ran all the way from her office to the hospital.
"Sis… I am fine, it was just a few broken bones." Monika replied while looking really guiltily: "I am sorry that i worried you…:"
"Worried? I was horrified when I heard that you encountered orks. You do know that even if you are enhanced, they can still tear you apart with their hands?!" Even she is scolding Monika, but Nova's voice is full of concern: "Look… I know that you might think that I am annoying or sorts. But please, tell me next time when you are about to do something like this…" Nova holds Monika's hand: "Because… I can't lose you…"
"Nova…" Monika has tears coming out from her eyes, if it isn't going to make her scream in pain, she would get up and give Nova a really tight hug.
Seeing this, Minka left silently. Because Trazyn is right, the events in this timeline are already deviated from the one she's familiar with. Instead of gaining power, Monika has fully reconciled with Nova. Minka chuckles silently thinking about the ridiculousness of the world. In order to gain something, other things are discarded. Minka actually is really interested in how things will plan out at this phase. If possible, Minka would like to stay in this timeline instead of letting Trazyn merge with the other reality.
In an underground facility, Monika and Trazyn are finishing setting up a few more traps. The person that they are going to welcome is extremely dangerous: "Just as planned, when Minka decided to have some interaction with the people of this timeline. Opportunities do open up for us." He has a grin on his face.
"So, it was Nova who was supposed to be here…?" Monika asks: "What was she doing here again?"
"Ah…" Trazyn has an awkward expression on his face: "Honey, you look beautiful today."
"..." At this point, Monika isn't even surprised anymore, she just let out a sigh and continued with her work.
"Are you mad at me?" Trazyn sits beside Monika.
"No, not really. It isn't really up to me to judge your decision from the past." Monika replied directly, she isn't the type of person who would hold her real opinion: "Besides, you have done plenty of good things to compensate for your past mistakes."
"I think you are the only one who would say this."
Monika chuckles: "I only believe what I see, and I make my own judgment when it comes to people."
"And for that, I will stay with you until the end of time."
Suddenly a green light flashed in a corner of the facility. Their guest is here, Immotekt the stormlord has come to retrieve the artifact Trazyn had told him about. Trazyn transformed to his necron form and Monika changed into her dark steel armor while hiding in the shadow.
"Hey hey!" Trazyn teleports in front of Immotekt: "Stormlord! My old friend, I have come to help you with the artifact!"
"Trazyn, you sound chipper than usual. What are you doing here?" Immotekt's voice sounds rather menacing.
"Well…" Trazyn paused for a few seconds: "Now it's settled." A dome surrounds the entire underground facility: "I am sorry, but this has to be done."
"Now you have shown your true color." Immotekt phased out his staff: "I will break you into a million pieces."
"I am afraid it is not that easy." He snaps his finger, suddenly a flash of red lightning strikes on Immotekt.
At first, he is holding well with his body but soon, Immotekh realizes the nature of this red lightning is not natural, he wants to dodge but he is also dimensionally locked. The only way out is to release a burst of energy that will destroy the surrounding areas. He channels out the blast and soon, Monika and Trazyn are revealed in front of him.
"Trazyn, you are now working with humans to fight your own kind? You have reached a new low." He stabs his staff on the ground and points his gauntlet at Monika, a spear that almost reached the speed of light shots at Monika, but Monika already utilizes the 'iron curtain' sword to block the shot. After a flash of light, the spear dropped on the ground seemingly wasn't even accelerated at first place.
Trayzn has a smirk on his face: "Well,well,well. It seems like your little gadgets aren't going to work." Trazyn then turns to Monika: "Honey, would you do the honor?"
Monika nods then she points the sword at Immotekt, mountain leveling energy was released from the tip of the sword, and Immotekt took the full blast. After the smoke is gone, Immotekh is kneeling on the floor seemingly recovering from the damage.
"Ah, the legendary lord Immotekh the stormlord has fallen before the mighty Trazyn the infinite!" Trazyn walks in front of him: "I can spare you if you would like to become my collection."
"How… are you so powerful after a few days…?" Immotekh asks.
"As you can see, I have experienced things you cannot imagine." Trazyn then points his staff on Immotekh's forehead: "Bye,bye now." A laser beam shoots through Immotekh's head, and his body falls on the floor and doesn't seem to have any life in it.
"Well, this is settled. So, when are we going to merge the timeline?" Monika asks, as she takes off the helmet.
"Honey, one of the reasons I decided to merge the timeline is because of you. That being inside of you. We need more time to think about how to remove it before starting to merge." Trazyn replies.
"Do you have an idea how?" Monika is happy to see that Trazyn cares about her so much.
"I was hoping you would tell me." Trazyn walks in front of her and becomes his human form: "Tell me about everything you know about the archivist. I will need to think from his perspective about how to remove the nasty being inside of you."
On the other side of the city, Nova closed her phone; she just received a call from Monika about the defeat of Immotekh the stormlord. She couldn't help but realize how strong they had become over the years. The last time Nova met Immotekh he could kill her with one hand. But now, Monika defeated him with a mere two strikes.
'Emilia." She calls: "Can I ask you about something?"
Emilia puts down her orange juice: "Of course, what is it?"
"In your timeline, what happened in the end? Minka told me that she came because your timeline was facing the evitable doom." Nova asks.
"Our father, the archivist. He broke the boundary between life and death. Causing the being of the underworld to invade our reality. It cost our universe because the moment they came in contact with us. It would cause a thermal nuclear reaction within the vicinity." Emilia explains: "Just like the remnants, but the difference is that remnants could be contained, and the underworld beings could not be contained by normal means."
"Was this the end of your timeline?"
"It wasn't, after that father found a method to extract and contain the underworld being. But it was too late, the universe was already silent. All sentient life was almost eradicated during the cataclysm. It was at that time, Minka found out about the time traveling machine. Then I came." After telling Nova the story, Emilia gulps the entire glass of orange juice: "It was our father who caused the entire incident. And our family will carry the death of trillions on our back. Now…who knows if it is the end or not. Father decided to stay, he said it is to atone for his sin."
"Do you have a method to extract the underworld being? Because there is one inside of Monika now." Nova wants to know more about the story.
"I do not, however, it was a necron technology that was developed to contain the c'tans. So, I think dad knows about it." Emilia let out a sigh: "Sorry that I didn't tell you guys this information earlier. I was hoping my sister would. Well, I guess at the end of the day, she is still that sentimental girl after all."
"Why would you say that? Minka has always been really open with her feelings."
"You have not met her before time travel, after all, at some point she was the most powerful person in the universe. But soon, she realizes all of those fighting means nothing if she cannot get what she wants in the end. She didn't find love or friendship. Our family was a mess as well. In the end, it was really the hopelessness that made her leave." After telling Nova all of that, Emilia stands up and looks up to the sky: "Honestly, there is no turning back for us. This is why we are giving out everything we get."
Nova nods, she could see that from the way they address Monika and Trazyn. Nova suddenly has another question on top of her mind: "Did I have any kids?"
"Yea, Leanna is your daughter. She's the head of the justice department. But…" Emilia paused as if she's remembering something embarrassing: "She's really outwards when it comes to dress codes."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Nova is a bit confused.
"Well, let's just say that when we used to hangout. She's usually not wearing clothes in the house. We asked her why, she said why would you wear any clothes. They would only restrict our movements." Emilia chuckles: "I mean, it's a hangout event, what kind of activities was she thinking of?"
"That sounds like something my daughter would say. What a lioness." Nova, however, sounded very proud about everything Emilia just told her.
"Like mother like daughter…" Emilia let out a sigh of hopelessness.