Chapter 3: The Golden Compass
Caelus is in his bed having a nightmare remembering the scene where the real Tingyun snaps her neck and lies lifeless on the floor. He was helpless and powerless to stop it. He wakes up to be in his bed looking terrible with Tingyun coming into his room being worried.
"Hey, Caelus, what's wrong?" she asked.
"I had a nightmare, you snapped your neck. You were lifeless there and I was powerless to help you," Caelus said looking distressed. Tingyun sits down on the bed and grabs his head to place it on her chest.
"My poor baby, I am here for you. I will sweep the nightmares away," she said in a soothing voice putting his mind at ease. "Sweep those bad dreams aside and embrace me. I am here and I will leave your side so easily," Tingyun said as she slyly moved his face between her large breasts to let him enjoy the softness of her chest.
"Gee, so warm," he said enjoying getting his face rubbed in by her tits. Tingyun giggles at this.
"Is that the only thing you like about them?" Tingyun teases them to egg him about his real feelings about her breasts.
"They're nice and big, I love them like that," Caelus said bluntly as she rubbed his silver hair to hold his head tighter against her chest.
"Being honest is good right beside your eyes shows your true intent when I said my bra size you were watching my girls intensely," Tingyun said.
"Can you blame me, they are perfect," Caelus said.
"Good, are these your favorite pillows?" she asked.
"They are going to be," Caelus said as Tingyum pulled his head away he didn't choke on breast meat. "Nothing better Foxian melons," he joked as Tingyun laughed at this.
"Oh, you are hopeless which makes you so adorable," Tingyun said as Caelus just noticed her wearing a nice red nightgown and hugging her body.
"Cute nightgown," he said.
"Thanks, it was among the clothing I brought from the clothing shop we went to. It's pretty cute right?" she asked.
"Indeed, honestly you look good anywhere," he said as Tingyun happily nodded her head.
"Thanks. About your nightmare. Is it related to what happened on the Luofu with my fake self?" she asked. Caelus felt disturbed by the events of that Luofu and gladly tore Phanytila a new one. "Dan Heng told me about what happened, he had caught me up with your adventures. I am sorry you were put through such pain," she said.
"No, your presence alone keeps me at ease. They will go away since the real Tingyun is here safe and sound," Caelus said as Tingyun has a hatred for the Lord Ravager Phanytila putting them through such pain.
"It's awful that bitch made you suffer using my face to hurt you. Once I find her, I am going to erase her from this universe with my foxfire," Tingyun said as she gathered lightning in her palm to put an orb of electricity energy to glow up the room.
"She is out there; she needs to pay for what she has done. Thanks, for feeling that strongly about it," Caelus said.
"Of course, you are the most special person to me. Seeing your feelings twisted by that monster is sickening to me. I will avenge you and me for her dark deeds," Tingyun said as she patted her thighs. "Enough dark stuff, let's get some breakfast," she said as they headed into the main area to see Himeko and Welt talking about something.
"Good morning you two," Himeko said.
"Are you feeling well," Welt asked the two of them.
"Yes I was comfortable in my new room," Tingyun said.
"I am getting better with the nightmare. Someone is helping me with that," Caelus said to look at Tingyun as she nodded happily.
"Good to hear, once you are set up. We need you to go to Thanzo 2 to get some clues about the break-in with that estate. There was one artifact that was destroyed, we need to know what that is," Himeko said.
"First you need to go to the security offices to aid with the planetary security teams as volunteers. We sign you up to give them extra manpower to protect the detective who is in charge," Welt said.
"Cool, that would make things more smooth with looking over the crime scene," Caelus said.
"What about camera footage of the object?" Tingyun asked.
"The files for all the video feeds were deleted and unrecoverable. A powerful virus has infected the security systems within the estate leaving no evidence behind," Welt said.
"Well, we are going to do this the hard way," Caelus said as they got into their travel outfits to begin heading for the planet to figure out the intent of the Pathfinders.
Elsewhere Ren is getting off-world to get intel that the crew of the Astral Express near the planet of Thanzo 2. "Seems like they found the trail?" Ren wondered.
"Did you leave some assets behind?" Alice asked.
"Oh yes, I left some Cogna units to wipe out anyone who is seeking out the Omni Compass. It will be one hell of a welcoming party," Ren said.
"There are only a few left until we have the last one. We will have the advantage," Alice said.
"Yes, the Astral Express will be a few steps behind us and then it will be too late," Ren said as his shuttle got off the world and warped away.
Back with the gang, Caelus, March, Dan Heng, and Tingyun arrive at the city of Fel on Planet Thanzo 2 to see the uproar coming from the recent death of the corrupt businessman. "Very buzzing here," March said.
"Yes seems like the death caused some stir here," Dan Heng said as Tingyun could hear all the gossip around them.
"Lots of talking about this, let's go find the detective. She is at the hotel nearby," Tingyun said as the four walk through the crowds to find Detective Gwen who has pink braided hair.
"Gee I am hungry," March said.
"Did you have breakfast?" Tingyun asked.
"I had toast and jam," March said.
"You should have gotten up earlier, Tingyun cooked up a good breakfast. Very filling stuff," Caelus said as he was enjoying her cooking.
"I like to bring some home cooking to you guys, especially you. My sweet knight," Tingyun said.
"Oh, I will get a muffin or something when I am here," March said as
"Can we focus on the task, I think that is her over there," Dan Heng said as they saw the pink-haired detective staying at the café near the hotel.
"Oh, there you guys are here. I was just eating some muffins and coffee," Gwen said.
"Goodness, that smells so good," March said as Gwen handed her one of her muffins.
"I have a spare one, you can eat that," Gwen said.
"Oh, it's blueberries. So good," March said as she was enjoying it allowing her to feel full.
"Come with me, we will head for the crime scene and check it out. There could be something they missed," Gwen said as she led them to the crime scene with a drone looking at them from a distance.
"Feeding data to combat units. Prepare for a fight, kill all loose ends here," the robotic voice said.
The group went up a hill to see a bunch of security there who secured the area. They approach the door to see a guard holding them up. "Who are these people?" the guard asked.
"They are my bodyguards to protect me seeking answers here. Let us pass," Gwen said as the guard let them inside this huge mansion.
"Gee, this guy is loaded," March said.
"No kidding," Caelus said as Tingyun walked around not impressed with the overblown design.
"Someone was overbuying for their insecurities," Tingyun said as they went into the mansion to see all the damage and dried blood everywhere.
"Looks like a battlefield here," Dan Heng said.
"Yes, a total disaster here. Let's head into the art room," Gwen said as they went inside to see a wealth of interesting items on display.
"Looks like an art museum here," March said.
"More like a warehouse of sorts," Dan Heng said as they saw a few people inside who were not police. "Who are them?" he asked.
"They were former business partners of Nass. Seems like they are here to collect things he neglected to give them before his death," Gwen said as they went up to the display that held the unknown item which was destroyed.
"This display is called Compass of the Stars," Dan Heng said.
"A compass," Tingyun said.
"None but dust here. We should talk with the people here who know Nass and tell us about this compass artifact," Gwen said as they spread out to talk with Nass's former business partners.
Tingyun approaches one of the men to tap his arm. "Sir, I am with the security services. I need to ask you questions about the Compass he has?" Tingyun asked.
"Oh, young lady, I know what you are talking about," the old man said as Tingyun's eyes lit up and her fox ears and tail twitched with excitement.
"Oh, you do, please tell me more," Tingyun said getting excited she found a clue with the old man finding her amusing.
"Of course, young lady. Ness told me it was an ancient artifact of unknown origin. He has checked with his sources about it and didn't find anything about it," the old man said as Tingyun looked confused by this.
"Unknown origin?" she asked.
"Yes, it is made from an alien material that is not on record. Very interesting stuff. The data that shows its age marks it at 14 billion years," the old man said as Tingyun was even more confused.
"That must be an error, sir. The universe was born from the Big Bang 14 billion years ago," Tingyun said.
"There are many mysteries in the universe we still don't understand. That compass is one of them. I have seen another one in my friend's private collection on another world. Sophia is where he is and I will set up a meeting if you need more information on the compass," the old man said.
"Oh, thank you, sir, that would be so helpful," Tingyun said as she couldn't help her ears and tail moving with excitement.
"I will give you his contact information and I will him in advance if you want to see it," the old man said as Dan Heng, Caelus, and March came back with her. She is showing a big foxy grin on her face. "I got it, I got the information. This kindly gentleman gave me info about another compass at one of his friend's private collections on the planet Sophia," she said.
"Good work," Dan Heng said.
"That is awesome," March said.
"You are indeed a lucky charm foxy," Caelus said.
"Thanks, guys, I am going to send this to Himeko and Welt," Tingyu said sending the data to them on their phones.
"You got a clue," Gwen said as Tingyun nodded her head.
"Another compass is on Sophia. We are going to set up with the owner and get the information we need," Tingyun said.
"Well, that is a job well done. Let's go outside I want to check out an area where the mysterious man went to and check if he left behind anything," Gwen said as the five got out of the mansion to go into the woods nearby.
Gwen leads them towards the woods with a drone watching their every movement. "Time to spring the ambush," the drone said as several Cogna Units surrounded them hiding among the trees.
Tingyun can sense something as her ears are picking up movement. She summons her blade fans to unleash a gust of lightning to strike a group of robots knocking them into trees. "We got company," Tingyun said as these machines were shaped like humanoids with weird organic-looking skin on their bodies.
"What are those things?" March questioned to summon her bow to fire ice arrows with the humanoid robots dodging her shots to slash at her. She rolls away to fire back trying to freeze them but they are dodging her attacks.
"We are the Cogna. Don't resist," the drone said.
"Well, we got the red carpet treatment," Caelus summons a baton to slam a humanoid Cogna unit called a Trooper into a tree. It gets back up to use its arm cannon to fire beams of energy with Caelus dodging and slapping it away.
"Gee, this of all times," Dan Heng said as he summoned his spear to clash with Troopers with arm blades. He engages two Troopers blocking and dodge but gets cut in the arms. Then gets kicked across the field by the Trooper with the other lunging at them aiming for his head.
Dan Heng rolls out of the way as the trooper impales the tree with him slashing the body with white goo oozing out of the wounds. "Blood out of this machine," Dan Heng is confused as he resumes the fighting as he blocks a strike from a Trooper to knock it away.
"Please protect me, I don't know how to fight," Gwen said as she took cover with March striking a Trooper with icy arrows to stop its pursuit of the detective.
"Eat this," March fires several shots to freeze a few robotic troopers with Caelus coming in to smash them to pieces to see its organic-looking parts and white blood on the ground. "Nice shot," she said as Caelus looked confused by the nature of these machines.
Tingyun lets out bolts of lightning to shock the enemies and zap them to pieces. She superheated her fans to slice and cut them apart. She ducks under twin blades from the Trooper and slices off its limbs. Then she stomps the head of the machine to make it stop moving.
Dan Heng performs a powerful thirst with his spear to slice the robot in half. He cuts and slices the Trooper in half. March fires icy arrows into the air to strike all the Troopers to freeze them as Caelus powers up his baton to leap into the air and slam his weapon onto the grass unleashing an energy wave to scatter all the enemies.
"I think that is all of them, that was tough," March said as they missed one who was healing its wounds with a metal covering to replace what it lost. "What the hell, is it healing itself?" March questioned as the Trooper swiftly rushed towards Gwen to stab its arm blades into her body. "Gwen!" March said. Gwen has two metal blades through her abdomen feeling weirdly warm as blood is pouring onto the grass.
"What is happening to me?" she questioned as March froze the machine with Tingyun frying it to pieces.
"Damn it, Gwen, she needs a healer," Caelus said as suddenly Gwen is beginning to violently shake. "What is going on here?" he wondered as Gwen jerkily got back up to let out a big roar. Her wounds are healed and her skin is beginning to have organic metallic material growing similar to the Troopers.
"What is happening?" Tingyun asked.
"It hurts, it hurts," Gwen is moaning from pain as he loses her mind. "Become part of the Cogna, don't resist," Gwen said as the Cogna nanites the trooper injected into Gwen's body transformed her into a Pawn to rush at them to go for the kill.
"Goodness," March aims her bow to fire an icy arrow while Tingyun uses her blade fan to scatter Gwen into pieces turning her into an icy bloody mess.
"That was unexpected," Dan Heng said, curious what just happened.
"I thought Gwen was dead and then she turned into one of organic looking robots," March said.
"We are going to need to tell the others about this," Caelus said as they teleported back to the Express to get the information they needed.
"Combat data collected. This will be used to further improve further units," The drone teleports away as the mystery of the compass continues with the crew of the Express finding the location of another