Vega blearily opened his eyes to pressure on his lips.
Someone was holding some kind of cup to his face. It brimmed with cool water, which Vega suddenly recognized he was desperately thirsty for. He greedily gulped it down, only pausing to gasp for breath, but the cup moved away.
~Child.~ The blue Organoid's odd voice. ~Do not drink so fast. You will make yourself sick.~
Vega realized the blue Organoid stood behind him, both propping him up with its cabling and holding the cup. His regard became confusion as he looked around and didn't see One, but felt it - distantly.
Why-
A splitting headache and brief seizure abridged his consciousness.
Specula patiently held still, moving the cup back to Vega only when he started reaching for it again. The Organoid let him drink the remainder, before encouraging him to sit up under his own power. Vega did, twitching with the fuzzy creep of nerves waking up.
He felt awful. Exhausted. Every muscle jolted with pain when he moved, while an all-too-familiar malaise sank his posture. Making matters worse, he was covered in dried Organoid blood, and couldn't smell or taste much beyond the sticky silver.
Vega held his arms out in a daze and studied them.
~See? He's alive.~ Shadow grumbled. ~Now take him back to the mainland or cast him out to sea. I tire of his presence.~
Vega uncomfortably glanced. The other black Organoid's voice wasn't as deep as One's, but it was incredibly harsh.
He also wasn't fond of the idea of being thrown out to sea.
~He is unwell.~ Specula replied.
~So unwell that he joined in with the One hunting us for sport. Delightful.~
~He is a child.~
~In ruin. Put him out of his misery.~
~Touch his mind.~ Specula said tersely. ~He is of Albion.~
Shadow snorted and did no such thing. It instead bared its wings and took flight with a heavy, grunted downstroke. ~I am tired, hungry, and in pain. I want no further part in this mess.~
With a flash Shadow disappeared into the nearby Geno Breaker. The massive Zoid stalked off, giving its partner a few soothing growls as it vanished into the pastels of pre-dawn beach mist.
That the satellite's CPGs weren't aimed at them was of little comfort.
Ambient sensed the split-second changes in the air and registered the need to act just in time. Despite what it'd just said, it haphazardly seized Brad and blazed out of sight.
Teleportation required a destination. It was a skill that Organoids learned when young and refined as they became acquainted with their world. The skill had firm roots in a survival instinct: the first place any juvenile learned to teleport to was its colony. Non-wild Organoids also quickly learned to return to their - and their partner's - home.
Ambient, repeatedly and consistently deprived of such havens, hadn't yet settled into accepting a modern building as a refuge. Brad's ties to appropriate places weren't fundamentally strong enough either - so in utter, blind panic Ambient slammed itself into a dark, unpleasant burrow - the Organoid's frequent "home" of many years.
After several trembling minutes of silence, Brad twitched from inside the crouched beast.
Ambient. This is really uncomfortable.
~Oh. Sorry.~
There wasn't enough room for either to stand in the burrow, but Ambient managed to expel Brad, who rearranged himself into a crouch. When Brad put a hand down for balance, his palm met an unpleasantly crunchy surface.
Brad's eyes adjusted to the dark after a few seconds. He glanced down, where shards of glass and bone threatened to dig into his hand. Brad blinked and withdrew in surprise, then looked back at Ambient.
With rapid, hot exhales jetting from its nostrils and severely dimmed optics, Ambient certainly wasn't a picture of composure. Its deep unease quickly saturated Brad, as what happened slowly dawned on him.
"Did- did they nuke that whole place? With the Satellite?"
Ambient nodded once.
"What the fuck?!" Brad almost shrieked. "Why?!"
Ambient just stared back, uncertain.
Brad had seen the beast stress over both One and Zero, but this was different.
It felt different. It felt truly afraid. Brad really didn't know what to do besides reach and gently stroke the side of its snout.
"Hey. Hey, we're okay."
Ambient calmed down after a moment, focus returning to its optics as it watched Brad's hand and arm.
It couldn't stop the notion of how strange it was that he allowed Brad, a largely-human mongrel, to touch, nevermind stroke, its snout. Not when that same snout and its attached jaws had spelled the end of many, many people.
Ambient couldn't mask or hide the thought from Brad, whose efforts faltered only briefly.
It wasn't that Brad liked the thought; he didn't. But the nature of a bond made condemnation - or even disagreement - impossible. Clearly, anyone Ambient killed deserved to die.
Just like the Fuma Team had.
Together the pair were the arbiters of what was acceptable. Simple as that.
Calmer still, Ambient slowly relaxed into Brad's attention. It pushed closer, a silent demand for more touch. The insidious physiology of a bond afforded them little separation: Brad had no idea what he was dealing with, and Ambient couldn't get enough. The feeling of complete security could be understood only by those with Organoids. Brad dozed in the comfortable silence while Ambient gently groomed his hair.
But after some time, Brad glanced. "What exactly's going on with you and Zero?"
Ambient stopped, and lay the side of its heavy snout across Brad's chest. It deliberated for a long while before speaking.
~I took somethin' a'his a long time ago. Because… t'be fair, I thought he was long dead.~
"Then give it back."
Ambient twitched its visible optic to stare.
Somehow, in a split second Brad both saw and grasped: in the simplest of terms, there was nothing to give back.
The complex version was more difficult to wrap his mind around: the apocalyptic landscape he and Vega had seen the memory of towards the end of the Fury's attack had indeed been real. Some of those very Zoids, Ambient much later stole the remnants of and utterly desecrated them.
The depth of Ambient's experiences alone were difficult to grasp. Even the simplest memories made little sense when presented without context and all-at-once.
Brad stared into nowhere for several moments.
"Then just tell Zero that. That you didn't know."
Ambient perceptibly tensed. ~Love, it ainnae that simple.~
"Why? Zero's-"
~Look: Zero's theh' damn same as One, just the flipside. They're meant t'fight each other, aye? But if we're bein' real, Zero already won that fight. A long time ago.~ Ambient rolled and sat up to regard Brad. ~As ah'm sure yeh recall, I bareh'ly even put'a scratch on the One. The hell d'you think I can do to Zero?~
Brad stared back at Ambient in the musty silence. The idea that Zero might be a sustained threat clearly hadn't crossed his mind. His expression fell.
"He's... not gonna keep coming after us, right?"
~Good question. Wish ah knew!~ One's continued existence concerned Ambient enough as it was. Adding an infuriated Zero to the mix didn't bode well.
Brad processed this for a moment. He really didn't want to be at odds with Bit. But the ferocity of Zero's pursuit certainly didn't hint towards a peaceable outcome.
"Why can't you just talk to him?"
~Because ah donnae see it endin' well. Somethin's not right.~
"What could possibly be worse than us having to keep worrying about him?"
~Walkin' right up t'him and savin' him the trouble? You can go if you want to… but ah wouldnae recommend it. Th'younger lad is likely your only ally there now anyway.~
This only served to remind Brad of the unfortunate fact Sara and the rest of the Backdraft cockroaches were still fixtures in the Blitz base. He hadn't solved anything. Just made people angry, and things worse.
This wasn't what he wanted to go back home with. Certainly not with Zero potentially still after them.
The issues compounded in his head: Zero might come after him and Ambient… but it wouldn't harm Naomi or Leon. Right?
Probably not intentionally.
Hopefully not.
He didn't know.
"Fuck," Brad breathed, frustrated. He put his head in his hands. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."
The thought to send Ambient - the focus of Zero's ire - away, never occurred to him, and Ambient didn't correct this. Instead, it moved and gently started to groom Brad's hair again.
A twinge. They both felt it.
Brad lifted his eyes but didn't say anything.
Ambient stayed silent, debating the slow, pleasant burn that started to etch throughout its body.
After several minutes of deliberation, the Organoid arched a brow.
~Ay, love. It's nae perfect… but I think ah've got an idea.~
The sun rose as it always did.
Ryss sat in silence, absently eating from a small spread on a small table.
Half-lidded eyes impassively watched the sky lighten. Ryss glanced as she heard Specula approaching, and arched a brow as she realized the Organoid wasn't alone.
Vega at least appreciated that Specula carried him inside of its warm body. He almost could've said he was comfortable - until a fresh round of scrutiny clawed him into the metaphorical open.
Vega didn't like it, but hadn't the strength to complain. Nor did he have the strength to resist having his short life's story ripped out through what felt like his face.
So much fire, but so little substance… his entire existence a mere handful of years.
A scrap barely worth anyone's time.
~Ryss. Be gentle.~
They presented that beast to a child? Utter madness.
~But notice… it was the One who chose to engage.~
That was both true, and odd. Vega's first meeting with One stood out almost offensively in his memory: a mutual recognition that crescendoed with an intersection of minds. For most, it would've spelled ruin. For Vega Obscura…
Ryss quietly took a drink.
Let me see him.
Specula obliged, everting its cabling, setting Vega on the ground.
Vega stayed on his knees as he was placed, clearly unwell. He lifted his eyes, but not head, to look at Ryss.
"Who are you?"
No one that matters.
Vega's brow knit.
The two silently studied one another.
"You talk like the Organoids." Vega said, tense.
A natural psychic. Ryss's lip curled.
So… Specula was right. Organoids somehow simply knew.
But Ryss hadn't thought about Albion for a long, long time. Nor did she really want to.
~This means Albion had children?~ Specula said, interest and severely-restrained excitement in its voice. ~And his children had children?~
As Ryss continued to study Vega, her frown deepened. The more she looked, the more she noticed. This child's hair. The same color, length, texture as-
The thought hurt. That it hurt, hurt. Long done with such pain, Ryss wanted nothing to do with it. She went cold.
How unfortunate.
~Ryss.~
Look at him. Ryss shoved Vega aside in his own mind, acting as if he weren't there as she picked through his head. A product of misery.
Despite his confusion, Vega began to take offense at being ignored. "What are you talking about?! I'm-"
To dig through Vega's memories was to drag them to light. No, he never wanted for anything material… but every time he felt the absence of peers, the unyielding crush of expectation, the loneliness…
Every stinging time he'd longed for Sara's affection. Until the untended notion died off.
Vega shuddered and lashed out. "Stop it!"
The attempt didn't connect. Ryss just raised a brow, and with a flick of her wrist, a wave of kinetic energy threw Vega sprawling backwards.
Don't raise a hand at me, child.
Vega quickly gathered himself and stood, indignant and sneering. "You don't-"
Another flick, another wave. More forceful, and Vega ended up on his back once more.
Ryss impassively stared, watching Vega get up again. More slowly this time: she could see him struggling not to snap back. Hear the outrage, bewilderment and fear warring in his mind.
Vega stood, his shoulders heaving, lips thinned, eyes narrowed. "Why are you doing this!?"
Why are you? You and your Organoid showed up here, presumably to harm my companions, and by extension me. All of whom have done you no ill.
It hadn't really occurred to Vega how his and One's intrusion seemed.
Seemed? He wasn't sure why he so easily lied to himself.
He knew why One followed the other Organoids: to kill them. It was simply the natural thing to do. Unwanted competition? Infringed territory? One's frustration with having to flee from Zero only drove its need for dominance to greater heights.
Despite his exhaustion, Vega felt a confusing physical rush. He couldn't maintain a separate perspective: it was his and One's right to do whatever they pleased. He was the King. They both were.
Ryss gave a dead-eyed smirk. You really are nothing without your Organoid.
Vega sniffed and squared his stance. "When he gets back here we're gonna kick your ass."
He's dead, dear.
Moving from place to place via teleportation remained strange.
A sudden change in environment was always jarring - but it was especially jarring when the new environment was a snowstorm.
Ambient appeared, immediately both steeling itself and shielding Brad from the blowing snow. With a sigh it mentally prodded the vicinity, receiving what it was looking for: the quiet response of two nearby Zoids.
Layon had a Rev Raptor he seemed completely indifferent to, but at least kept tucked in the corner of the garage-hangar. Layon certainly didn't bother with Naomi's Gun Sniper, which sat huddled miserably outside. The Gun Sniper had moved itself to an area where the base's shape created more of a windbreak… but the current storm didn't leave much untouched.
Covered with snow, the Gun Sniper silently acknowledged the pair but offered no greeting. It didn't even move. As simple as the Zoid was, Ambient could tell it was upset. Nobody liked being left out in the cold.
Brad trudged the short distance to the Sniper, wind whipping his hair as he clicked his tongue at the Zoid. A simple request for it to crouch to his level.
It did no such thing. Its communication wasn't such that Brad could hear it, but Ambient blinked idly at the machine's unexpectedly-voiced mental fury.
~Huhm. I told yeh theh' lass was cold.~
"Can you just ask it to bend down a little?"
Ambient rumbled; the Zoid rumbled back. After a moment the Sniper flexed its tail in their direction, burying the two in dislodged snow.
Brad didn't have words for at least thirty seconds.
~She wants t'know how yeh like the snow.~
"Are you fucking kidding me."
Ultimately, the Gun Sniper allowed Brad in. The man uncomfortably settled into the seat while trying to get the ice and snow out of his hair. He activated the Zoid's comm systems, which managed a connection after several tries.
The videscreen stayed dark as it rang for an answer. After a delay it brightened with Naomi's confused-then-surprised expression - though the weather's interference splintered the image every few seconds. "Brad?"
"Hi babe. I-"
"Brad?" Leon's demanding voice; he appeared beside Naomi a moment later. "Where the hell are you?"
"Gun Sniper. Mountains." Brad said simply, prompting Naomi to whisper something to Leon - obvious elaboration, because Leon gave a stern nod. He didn't look happy as he spoke.
"What happened at the base? What did you do?"
Brad blinked. "I didn't-"
"And don't you dare lie to me."
Surprised by Leon's ferocity, Brad pressed back into the seat, showing his palms in quick surrender.
"Look, man. I tried to solve your dad's problem. It didn't work. Ambient and I were attacked, and shit went really sideways." Brad threw an unhappy shrug. " I didn't mean to be gone this long. This was the best way I c-"
"Then come back." Naomi demanded.
Brad hesitated. The silence hung for too long as he stared at the flickering display.
Leon's ire cooled; Naomi frowned. "What's wrong?"
"I called to tell you that I can't come back right now. We have to fix some things first."
Naomi's eyes flashed both fear and fury. "Absolutely not, not wh-"
"I didn't say it's up for debate," Brad snapped, cutting her off. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Promise." The man's eyes flicked to Leon's. "Both of you, be careful, all right?"
"Careful of what?" Leon said. "Brad-"
But Brad cut the comm.
He both didn't want to explain and was certain they wouldn't understand. His chest hurt and his nerves burned with Ambient's rile - a feeling both perfect and deeply unpleasant. Brad dropped his head back, glanced outside at the waiting Organoid, then looked at the garage-hangar.
Vega knew One felt off in the back of his mind… but dead?
No.
"You're lying."
He's done so much damage to you it's not as if you could tell. Ryss turned away, but glanced back sidelong. It'd really be a kindness to end your life.
Slight fear dethroned the sneer on Vega's face. He grasped for a response but didn't have one.
~Ryss. Do not hold him responsible for what is outside his control.~ Specula said as it stepped forward. ~The One has badly damaged him, but… now that it is gone, perhaps we can help.~
No. Ryss again cleaved into Vega's mind, leafing through his memories with a growing disgust. It'd be cruel.
But she stopped dead as she encountered a particular memory. A red Organoid, with its emerald-green optics ablaze.
Ryss stepped back with sharp surprise, long ponytail snapping behind her.
Vega was young, and his memories fresh. He'd unmistakably seen Ambient. Not only recently, but repeatedly.
Just as surprised by the information, Specula tensed.
It was many, many years ago.
There he stood, a broken husk of an Organoid.
What little remained of his red carapace was webbed by fractures, and his undersides were scorched, warped, melted. He seemed whole enough to function but only just; a shambling, skeletal wreck that didn't even seem able to lift its head.
~Ryss.~ He grated out.
One word. Raw. Painful. Loaded with profound hatred and despair.
She'd just barely stepped out of the small dwelling, staring. Specula's head and neck joined her.
Ryss honestly didn't know what to feel.
Rage? Pity? Disgust? Certainly not fear.
"You're alive." Is all she said.
The lenses of both optics were shattered, likely from heat. If he could see at all, it wasn't well. She could feel the searing intensity of Ambient's struggle to merely stand there. How did he get here? How was he alive?
~Magnite. I beg of you.~
"It's been three years."
~Magnite, peasant.~
Her lip curled. It'd been three years since anyone had called her a peasant, too. "We don't serve you anymore."
The Organoid's head shook slightly. ~I must kill Flyheight.~
"Ambient. It's over. We don't have to fight."
Sudden, enraged, crazed. A screech erupted from the shredded jaws. ~I must kill Flyheight!~
That was all the strength it had. Ambient half-folded, half-collapsed to the ground, growling and trembling furiously.
Though she didn't especially want to, Ryss could feel its deep pain and despair. She moved closer, and knelt - then reached and slid a hesitant hand along the Organoid's fractured jawline. Even the light touch caused ruined armor to flake off.
It was honestly horrifying, even on a creature she didn't consider friendly. "By Eve. Look what he's done to you."
Ambient shook its head.
~No. No. We tried t'make it right.~
"Right?!" Ryss paused to control her fury. "You tried to kill everyone on the planet. These humans have lived here for eons now and managed to scrape a living out of the wasteland we left behind. Who were you two to take that away from them?!"
A long pause.
~The world doesnae belong to a scourge of vermin.~
"Ambient, we destroyed everything. We're the scourge, you idiot. We deserve to suffer! You more than most. Who knows how many lives were needlessly lost because of you and Hiltz!?"
~Bitch. Y'knew what he wanted. You helped.~
Ryss looked away, saying nothing.
"Ryss. Stop." Raven had been watching, and finally spoke. He lifted his head, an indication. "Shadow."
Shadow whipped forth out of nowhere and tore into Ambient; Ambient didn't fight back. The black Organoid bit and shook the other sharply, fiercely - clear attempts to maim and kill.
"Raven, no." Ryss motioned for Shadow to stop, and the Organoid did.
Raven arched a brow. "You can't possibly want him to live."
"We're not supposed to kill Organoids."
"Well, you don't have to. Shadow."
Ryss stared at Ambient, the only real remnant of Hiltz's existence. She could easily see him again as the proud, arrogant and deadly red Organoid he'd been, stalking in Hiltz's lanky shadow.
Specula bumped her and crooned softly.
Ryss motioned for Shadow to stop again. Confused, Shadow obliged, but looked at Raven - who gave an irritated grunt. "Ryss."
"Please, Raven. Just… get him away from here."
"Happy to. In pieces."
The Zoidian woman inhaled steeply. "'To destroy an Organoid is to feel its pain forever.' I have no idea if that holds true for humans, but I don't want you to be the one to find out." She snapped a glare at Ambient. "Let me be clear, Ambient. This is not a mercy. If anyone deserves to suffer and perish alone, it's you."
Ambient said nothing, and shifted its attention to Specula … who hissed in response, disgusted.
Raven glanced in the direction he knew the Geno Breaker was. "I'd take my chances to get to watch him vaporize."
"Raven. Please."
Ryss's severity softened Raven's ire. He sighed.
"Fine, fine."
It wasn't as if he could lie to her and get away with it.