In one of Rhodes Islands offices Skadi stood, handing in a report over a completed mission to an operator. Just as the paper passed from her hands into the operators the operator spoke with a bright smile on their face "Alright! Once this Reports handed in, Your field mission will be formally closed out." Skadi let out a short humm at the words, her face remaining blank. As the operator looked over the report they frowned "this reports blank, the only word on it is 'complete'" Skadi let out another humm this one questioning before speaking "the mission is definitely complete"

The operator looked a little unnerved under the unwavering gaze of the bounty hunter "I-I mean, that's not wrong….." they eventually managed to stutter out the words. "...but it wouldn't hurt if you wrote a little more?" Skadi said nothing, only letting out a small "hm?" the operator, who was not paid enough for this, decided to make one finally attempt. The rumor mill had mentioned that Skadi only liked two people, Specter… and the engineer. "If the Engineer has any questions regarding the particulars of your mission, we'll seek confirmation from you again then." if she thought she was convincing him she might be more inclined to give a complete report. It seemed to work as Skadi started paying more attention at the mention of the engineer.

"...the engineer" her tone was a bit confused, as though she was surprised her actions might cause him problems or more work. "Yes, Dr. Kal'tsit presumed you wouldn't want to hand a report in to her... and she also mentioned Amiya's too soft on you, and it can't go on like this... and so on." the operator took a steadying breath, distinctly noticing Skadi's slight frown at the mention of Kal'tsit, but better her than them. "So then we filed this mission away on the Doctor's end." Skadi looked impassive still, and the operator was unsure if their words had swayed her at all. "That woman. Hmph."

Now the operator just needed to layer the implication on a little more "Do you want to report directly, then? Looks like the Engineer's out right now, so you can relax for a few days until the Engineer's back.'' He was currently running a few separate operations in lungman and negotiating a few business deals. There was an emergency line but well… this wasn't one. "This report of yours, right now, could seriously use some more fleshing out!" they finished speaking a little heatedly, but their nerves had been building this whole stressful conversation. Skadi was a one woman army, and here they were trying to tell her she needed to file paperwork again.

Skadi stood there for a few seconds, saying nothing before letting out an annoyed "such a pain" The operator threw in the towel then, "Fine, then. Mission code F1071, confirming submission. Follow-up specifics—" Skadi spoke interrupting the operator "Wait." the operator stopped speaking "huh?" at that light prompting Skadi continued "Give the files back to me. I've decided, it's okay if I add a few more details." The Operator let out a relieved sigh at that and handed the papers back. "Oh! Of course it's okay! I'll leave it to you, then." it saved them time and reports if Skadi filed her own correctly, and the operator was hopeful that this would start going smoothly. "That's all from me then. Do head back and get some proper... um?" the operators trailed off as Skadi's face turned serious, her body tensing. "Your expression just completely changed. Has something happened?" Skadi was one of their best combat operators, if she was reacting like this the operator had a right to be worried. "In likelihood." with that a faint sense of dread crept into the operator "Huh? In here? Aboard the ship? An intruder?! I've heard about your acute senses. Could it be…" no if there was an attack the alarms would have gone off, and the base would have gone on lockdown. "No, that's not right. The alarms should have sounded if there was danger aboard, right?" Skadi started looking around the room, her gaze falling on the door "...Singing." What? With that the tension immediately left the operator. Just singing? That had Skadi in a fuss?

Skadi had an intense look on her face as if struggling to hear something just out of range "How? Why is there singing here?" The operator wasn't hearing anything like music, and nothing that'd elicit such a response "I suppose there is a sort of droning sound, but that's not a song, is it? There's all kinds of machinery operating aboard Rhodes Island. Is it their vibrations, just maybe? Are you still not fully used to it?" they had just started to calm and Skadi's next words just confused them more. "No. The scent." did they need to call for medical? Was she having a stroke? "The scent of the seawater." definitely needed to call medical, they were nowhere near an ocean. Still they had heard what happened when Specter went on a rampage, and if Skadi had one in their office…. "...Skadi? You're scaring me a little. What are you tal…" before they could even finish talking Skadi sprinted from the room, the unfinished reports fluttering to the ground. "Huh? Hey! Skadi!"

--

Skadi ran through the halls, faintly noting how all the doors in her way opened before she could arrive, the elevator doors almost slamming open when she ran past them towards the stairs, causing her to turn and jump inside. The elevator rose so fast she nearly stumbled even with her strength, the gears screaming at it catapulted her at hundreds of miles an hour.

A hunter is walking on seacoast way.

The song was faint and Skadi knew it fell outside the hearing range of nearly everyone on Rhodes island. This language, this melody, has roused her memories. She is not one for nostalgia, but she knows it all too well. But... this shouldn't be. This is a song that should not arise here. The only one who would know the song was Specter. Had she regained her mind? But then why the urgency for her to arrive? Just as Skadi was wishing she could move the elevator even faster it slammed to a halt. She was out the door the moment they allowed it.

With homeland left a mile behind, they must lament and pray

The singing shivers all throughout the ship's pipelines. The scent of seawater, breaking unbreakingly, seeps out from the cabin walls. Skadi remembers this scent just the same. With the damp closed in on her, her skin continuously contracts, becomes taut. Nervous, yet she is stirred too. She hastens her step.

Her rapid pace has brought Skadi to Specter's room within moments, but the doors to the room are torn. The metal ripped as so much tissue paper. Specter wouldn't have been able to do that, even with her abyssal strength the doors would have held long enough for her to be rendered unconscious. It had already done so numerous times.

Skadi already knew the room would be empty, the faint haze of steam exiting it not blocking her sense of hearing and smell. The distant sounds of fighting dash her hopes that Specter had just wanted to go for a walk after becoming lucid, and that she'd somehow managed to break the door before it could be triggered.

Just as she was about to dash towards the distant sound of fighting, a glint of metal on the floor catches Skadis eye. Its Specters gold chain necklace, lying carelessly on the ground. Did she despise this item? Then she surely isn't pleased with her current identity. The affairs of the Church—at least the Church of the sea—are all nefarious ones. But... something's not right. Outsider. Without knowing why, Skadi has abruptly recalled that word. She realizes that the scent is not Specter's at all.

The realization spurs her ever faster, and she grabs the chain. If the scent isn't Specter yet Specter is gone from her room….

Just as she rounds the connor Skadi hears a familiar voice shout something "drop my nun you shitty fish!" her eyes take in the scene, the engineer is standing just feet away from a familiar figure, who's holding Specter in their arms. Is that…. "Gladiia?" Gladiia turned away from the Engineer, facing Skadi. "It took you long enough, if you were any slower we would have been long gone" The Engineer glared at that "yeah no, you won't be '' Gladiia continued to ignore the Engineer, and looked unconcerned at his threats. "It has been some time, Skadi. You are still able to recollect the Ægir's song, which deeply gratifies me." The engineer paused at that slightly, "So that's why she was humming…., and I want it noted, if you weren't holding a hostage I'd have already incapacitated you, so drop my nun" he was ignored, Skadi over her shock at finding another one of her kind, and Gladiia by sheer dismissal of him as a threat.

Skadi didn't see any change on Gladiia's face, certainly not any sign of gratitude. But still…. Gladiia is alive, another abyssal hunter lives. Skadi found another survivor…, No it is Gladiia who found them. "I thought you were dead. You staked your lives to let us pass. I thought you were all dead." Gladiia's face didn't change "Life is a precious thing. I am very happy to see that you, too, are alive." by this point the Engineer was waving one of his insubstantial arms through Skadi's torso, failing to break her distracted gaze "Given Specter was still alive, I'd always been wondering whether or not any more of the Second could have made it…" Skadi finally turned her attention to the matter at hand, at least partially so. "How did you find this place? Specter... she's still better off staying in the ward."

Gladiia said nothing, the silence and lacking answers filling Skadi's heart with doubt. The Engineer however had something to say "great question, I however am more curious over who told her about all my traps. And how she's somehow even faster than you, it's practically cheating" in the middle of his sentence a hatch on the wall opened up, firing dozens of darts at Gladiia's still figure. With a flex of her muscles and the sound of shattering air Gladiia sidestepped all the tranqs. "See! She can overload the shield projectors and dodge darts. I can't break out anything actually useful either, any actually fight while she's holding a somehow still asleep Specter and I risk hurting Specter"

That was true, Specter wasn't nearly as durable as she once was. But the comment seemed to finally cause Gladiia to turn towards the engineer. "Your pitiful toys could never hope to harm an Abyssal hunter, your weapons wouldn't harm Laurentina" The engineer scoffed at that. "I haven't hit you with any of my toys, and I sincerely doubt you can dodge light. You stand on Rhodes Island, and that might as well mean you stand upon my body, I could strike you down whenever I please. It'd just cause too much collateral." Skadi didn't doubt that in the least, the few times Rhodes Island had been attacked none of the operators had even needed to do anything, the invaders hadn't made it past the first locked door. But if Gladiia thought she was cornered and had nothing left to lose…. It wouldn't be pretty.

"She's changed a lot. She may not necessarily recognize you now. Her body is still feeble. She's sick and they're treating her here. She's even been recovering her sanity." Gladiia turned her gaze back to Skadi "Feeble? A hunter could not be feeble." The engineer rolled his eyes at that before muttering "anyone can be feeble" Skadi explained "Disease of the land, of a special kind, has hollowed her body out. The people aboard this ship can stabilize her condition." The engineer nodded at that, a graph appearing behind him, "yeah her condition has been steadily improving with new medicines, if she's gone for too long she'll just relapse"

Gladiia does not speak, and the breeze blows through, her hair drifting in its wakes, covering her eye. And Skadi finally realizes whats bothering her, GLadiia hadn't bothered to ask Specter if she wanted to come at all, if she had they could have left no problem. "Gladiia. Yes, you're Gladiia. There is no mistake. But what do you intend to do?...Where are you planning to take her?" but Gladiia wasn't someone to act without a plan, she had to have a reason to take Specter. Gladiia spoke while glaring at the engineer, her tone level "I believed that upon dry land, the hunters were free. Have I misunderstood something?" they were free, if Specter wanted to leave she could. "No, Gladiia... she's still asleep. You never asked her... whether or not she wants to go. You want to take her away from here."

Just as Skadi finished talking the engineers voice came from her left ear, somehow failing to reach the right, even with her enhanced hearing. "The halls have been evacuated, I can take this 'gladiia' down whenever…" his tone had been cold but calm, diffrent from the vaguely worried tone he spoke with before. But it warmed for the last part "...but do I need to? You know her, and you think she has a plan, clench your right hand and I take her out, your call" Skadi felt warm at the level of trust that showed, even with how standoffish she was the engineer still trusted her, even when someone came here saying they knew her and destroyed buildings and kidnaped specter, they trusted her enough to leave it in her hands.

Gladiia hadn't reacted to the engineer's words, and she knew Gladiia had hear nothing. She seemed frustrated with Skadi as she spoke. "You seem to show a great deal of interest in these new colleagues of yours. Do they not treat you too in kind? It would be but a passing motion for you to pinch their spines to dust, yet how is it you do not instill dread in them?" That was obvious, they trusted her not too. Everyone at Rhodes Island was more than kind, they were good people. "For these people of dry land to treat us with enmity is normal, but not for the ones aboard this ship. The ones I have met would not." The engineer chimed in just after she finished "and honestly, most people can die from falling down a set of stairs" Gladiia ignored the engineers comment, as did Skadi, her tone took on the faintest edge of confusion "I still cannot fathom why you drop your guard."

The engineer trusted her to make a decision, but she needed more information. She used to trust Gladiia, but with how she was acting now Skadi couldn't be certain, doubt and guilt clawed at her. "No... I don't want to get them mixed up in this matter. The problem doesn't lie with me, nor them." She wasn't flawed for finding a new home on the surface, nor for feeling safe within it. Gladiia was the one causing problems, dragging her new home into her old life. "What is your intent in doing this? You had best explain."

Her increased aggression seemed to shock a response out of Gladiia, and Skadi had to admit it felt wrong to talk like that to someone who was once her superior officer, though she was very careful not to make a fist. "Hunter Skadi." it was spoken like the start to a reprimand but Gladiia's tone calmed "—On dry land, I will not constrain you with my rank of Consul." as if she could, the abyssal hunters were long gone by Skadi's guess. So she didn't respond beyond a humm. "Yet neither do I have any obligation to explain myself to you. I simply believe that I should have you know. It was I who took her, a member of my own company. This suffices."

So the only reason Gladiia had sung had been to let Skadi specifically know that she was taking Specter? "Why?" by this point the hologram of the Engineer had vanished, simply fading away into the walls, but Skadi knew the Engineer was still listening. Gladiia's tone was back to her standard "You need not know the reason yet this evening." Skadi made one last plea to reason, knowing it wouldn't be long before Gladiia ran for it "But Specter-!" she didn't even finish before Gladiia interrupted her, saying "'Sal Viento." and vanishing.

Just as Gladiia disappeared the engineer's hologram reappeared, speaking somewhat quickly. "Cool, thats a city in Iberia I think. Don't have much attention to spare, got ambushed again and a decent portion of me is coordinating those battles. Iberia has a closed borders policy, but I assume you'll want to go?" Skadi nodded at that, only slightly worried at the news the engineer was currently in a fight. He was more than capable and his bodyguards would keep him safe. His hologram nodded at that, unsurprised she'd be following Gladiia. "Then we have to sneak you across the boarder, go to my armory once you pick up your weapons. My tracker on Specter shows her rapidly moving towards Iberia, and I do mean rapidly. So it's unlikely Gladiia was lying."

Skadi nodded again at that, letting out a faint agreeing humm. It wasn't surprising the engineer already had a tracker in Specter, it wouldn't be the first time she had left Rhodes Island and needed to be recovered. "I will still be sending a medi-drone with you and a squad of destroyer drones, the medi-drone should be able to treat Specter for a short while" Skadi had a faint smile at that, the engineer had no doubt she'd get Specter back safe. At her rapid pace and with all the doors being open before she reached them Skadi reached the engineers armory in record time, finding seven drones and a suit of armor waiting for her.

The armor slid open and the engineer gestured for her to get inside "it's capable of flight and has excellent stealth systems, It'll get you to Iberia and serve as a relay for me to control the drones. As a bonus it's my underwater combat model, because you know aquatic civilization kidnapping my patients" Skadi barely heard the hologram mutter "call this primitive when it turns a cubic mile of the ocean to sludge"

She got inside, the suit changing its internal layout to comfortably house her, it almost felt like she was floating in warm water. "The suit will also be your emergency evac, or it will buy time for you to flee. Basically it's your backup, just call it in if you need fire support, otherwise I'll only be passively monitoring the situation." Skadi didn't imagine she'd need the help, but she appreciated it anyway, a drone flew in, holding both her and Specter's weapons, placing them in a large metal case that attached itself to the back of the suit.

With that Skadi started walking, the suit responding to her movements like it wasn't even there and she nearly clipped the doors edge walking through it. Once she got to an open window the suit took off, followed by the seven drones, all of which soon vanished from view. Skadi was left with a visor showing the rapidly moving landscape with faint song in her ear, one she had mentioned liking to the Engineer once. The engineer said a few words before she was left in relative silence "you'll arrive in two hours, good luck and good hunting"

--

The engineer paid true to his words, the tendril of focus he'd kept on Skadi returned itself to the bulk of his mind, Skadi was more than capable of handling herself without micromanaging.

If anything happened she'd signal the suit and him in turn, if not it'd drop her off outside the city and keep overwatch. Simple enough.

So it took nearly an entire day for his attention to be drawn back to his suit, thankfully when he was merely in his room doing logistics and paper work, rather than while he was trying to coordinate another battle entirely. That left the bulk of his attention free to control the suit, and to scope out the situation.

It wasn't Skadi that alerted the suit, it was the suit itself noting an anomaly. The ocean was moving strangely, and Skadi was right next to Gladiia's and Spectre's trackers. So I sent the medi-drone down, stealthed, just in case. Weaving it through the worn down church halls while the suit itself took up position over it, the six other drones lowering their altitude to patrol around the church.

My drone finally reaches the basement, which is somewhat impressively level with the sea floor, and in the cavern down there I see…. Things, Gladiia is on the ground, with a massive wound in her chest, but she's breathing so I don't particularly care. More important is the monster that stabbed her, and the tank holding an unconscious Specter, the scanners on the drone reveal she's fine, though so I instead listen as the monster goes on what can only be a monologue.

And what it says is enlightening, though it's only one half of the story. My thoughts race as I process the information and everything it implies.

Theres a mutagenic race with a collective hivemind at the bottom of the ocean? Is that the great ocean threat? Really? Just some unending horde that adapts quick?

And The Aegir used these 'seaborn' to make supersoliders via injecting the abyssal hunters with the blood? Are they just idiots?

Most likely, but this information does explain alot of why my treatments are struggling so much. And why Specter hasn't died from the infection yet.

The seaborn don't even seem 'that' hostile, just territorial. Maybe I don't need to exterminate? More information is needed here.

So is Skadi just a container for a hostile deity, because if it tries to body snatch her I will annihilate it. Also need to stay on guard for their blood converting them into seaborn, nanite infusion should deal with that, one good way to deal with mutagenic threats is to make your own.

Why does this feel so familiar?

But my thoughts are largely irrelevant, Skadi isn't handling any of the revelations with grace, and her being off her guard around threats like this is a bad idea. My combat drones and suit drop into the church, silently flying through the halls. My medi-drone drops its cloaking and I turn on its hologram projector, a frame of solid air with my features projected on it appears in the room. "Sorry for interrupting your little get together, just figured I'd check in. you don't want to kill anyone here? You just want to talk to Skadi because she killed your god and is now part of it?" My appearance serves its dual purpose, jogging Skadi from her trance by having my hologram physically touch her shoulder, and putting both the bishop and creature off balance, drawing their attention to me so my other drones can enter the room. The seaborn however didn't show any surprise "I do not want to kill anyone. I wanted to meet my kin, and make him remember"

That tracked with what they had said, they were just acting on basic instinct, an animal that had learned to talk without any true understanding. They fought not because they wanted to, but because they needed to do so to survive. Honestly educating them on the finer points of sapience would probably serve to remove them as a threat. Give them the tech they need to survive and feed themselves and they won't need to expand for more territory.

Or I'd only be making the threat worse "as I understand it your kind only fight to survive? You propagate endless and consume all your available food so you must expand more? Forcing others to fight you for land that you now need to sustain yourselves?" the bishop still hadn't recovered from my appearance, and Skadi was still in a trance. But Gladiia was healing already, and that'd likely prove helpful. So I sent a few directed sound waves to her and only her "stay down until you're healed enough to be useful" not my kindest statement, but it got my point across.

The seaborn looked at me, "that would be the way of life, consume or be consumed. Contribute to the whole" my hologram shrugged at that "there are other ways, especially for mutagenic life like yourself. You don't have any problems that your adaptation won't solve, meaning you never develop tool use. But you can learn, especially since you're capable of reason and speech." I paused to simulate a breath before speaking at five times my previous speed. "You're right about speech though, it's a cumbersome method of communication, is this the fastest you can talk or can we speed this up and communicate properly?" mainly because I wanted to ask more questions before Gladiia attacked, but also because vocal communication was far less detailed than conceptual.

"How can this be done? You are not kin, you are not here" The seaborn spoke at my new pace, which I imagined would be nearly illegible to someone with a more normal perception of time. "Simple, I hook the medi-drone up to your nervous system, we will talk mind to mind" well I'd have the drone as a buffer, but a decent portion of my mind was in the drone so that didn't come into play.

The seaborn had no features I could read, but it eventually agreed "that would be acceptable" so I had the hologram disappear while the medi-drone unfolded its nervous system sensors, usually used to control or numb limbs on patients. The tendril's dove into the flesh guided by their diamond tips, soon finding what passed for the nervous system.

And then the uplink was engaged.

I imagine most people can't actually understand what it means to be a location, I was Rhodes Island, it is as much a part of me as anything I had a hand in building, I knew its condition, I knew where it was, like a slightly numb limb. The seaborn were the deep oceans, and they were spreading to the shallows. They were the ocean personified, and I had just willingly connected myself to their whole, my pitiful whole was insignificant, and they crashed over me like a tide.

And the tide broke upon my mind, I was immutable, a metal bulwark against the ocean. Eventually dead metal would be overwhelmed by the tides, beaten into scraps over the ages, but for now? I stood strong, and It wasn't like I was dead metal, if parts of me rusted I'd just replace them. There's more metal on this planet than water, and I can make far more robots than they can make monsters.

Our minds held, and they crashed into me, and we understood each other. The seaborn do not communicate in words, and neither did I. They pushed their understanding of the world onto me, a primitive and barbaric one. They were quite literally nothing but intelligent animals, no culture or sciences, they lived in the deep and if nothing forced them to adapt they'd have been little more than fish.

Now though? They had the capacity to be more than that, they just had no desire to be more than that, and they had no ability to gain it. But if I could teach them how… or at the very least teach them more of how proper intelligent races thought? They could be more than a ravenous horde doing nothing but assimilating and corrupting all life.

To do that they'd need a figure head, a powerful seaborn to blaze the trail. I couldn't be that, but I could lay the groundwork here. My metallic bulwark impressed those things the seaborn couldn't understand into them, giving them a taste of what emotion was, and more importantly why it was. If they didn't think it was useful they wouldn't adapt towards it. There were two ways to force life to adapt, punishment or reward, and if the reward failed here I would be forced to fight the seaborn in a way that'd make them develop into a people rather than a hive.

The seaborn already understood that death was a waste, they didn't kill 'just because', even life that wasn't seaborn wasn't something they'd go out of their way to kill, teaching them diplomacy under the bias that'd it'd lessen fighting and decrease the subsequent deaths would be doable, if difficult.

First I needed to get something out of the way, the seaborns expansion was reaching land and areas inhabited by humans, so I simply claimed that as my territory. An accurate map of the world's land was forced into the seaborns mind, and they filled in the oceans themselves. Then I impressed upon them that the current coastline and a mile out to sea was mine, or at the very least territory for creatures of the land.

The relatively animalistic hivemind wouldn't willingly enter another hivemind's territory, and for all intents and purposes I was one. The Aegir weren't a threat in the same way I was, they were at the end of the day food or something that could be assimilated, I wasn't. I was a counter to the seaborn, at least partially. If pressed I could fight them on equal footing, both of us fighting a never ending war of adaption.

I was another predator into the world's ecosystem, and they'd avoid fighting me whenever they could.

But with their current understanding of the world any ship or person who left my territory and entered theirs was fair game, and they'd defend their territory against anything, including me. Eventually they might decide to fight me regardless of the fact it was a net loss for them.

So I turned to higher level concepts than just base animal territory, and trade routes and oceanic travel, what to do if someone was intruding on your territory, how to talk on equal footing with other nations, what to do if that talk failed. Why they should do those things rather than fighting and assimilating every threat, how other races could help them grow in way's they couldn't on their own. At least not yet.

It didn't quite work, the seaborn simply lacked the means to be people. But I had shown them the potential, and I had done what I set out to do, I'd given them the concept that people inside their territory weren't threats unless they were competing for the same resources, and that ships and swimmers, at least those that weren't fishing, were just moving through. Not something that needed to be fought or dealt with.

This didn't magically make all the seaborn believe me, I wasn't kin, and while they didn't know about lying, they did know about someone being wrong. They'd test and if it went well then they had a more efficient way to do things.

Then I broached the actually important issue, they were trying to steal my 'kin', or at least turn my operators into seaborn like them, because in the seaborns mind the hunters already were kin. Saying I'd take their kin from them wouldn't work, but if I gave a different concept to them… yes that'd work.

The hunters were kin, mine and theirs, and the hunters would stay with me and learn. New experiences and new ways to live, the seaborn didn't care that the hunters acted like aegir, it wasn't wrong to them because nothing was wrong to them, they didn't have the concepts of deviancy or sin or wrongdoings. The hunters killed seaborn because they thought they were aegir, and the aegir fought the seaborn.

It was then that I noticed something, the reason why Skadi was being so unresponsive. She'd opened her connection to the rest of the seaborn, and she was drowning in it. So I pulled her behind my Bulwark, the seaborn didn't like this at all, and they tried to claw her back. In their eyes it was an unprovoked attack, and so they attacked in kind, but the Bulwark of my mind was not weak.

I still needed to explain my actions, and I needed to do it in their language. They knew they were changing her, but they didn't think that was a mistake, they were turning her into the 'god' she was meant to be. I in turn needed to convince them it was a mistake, that they were changing her in a negative way, turning her into something lesser.

It didn't actually take much effort, the seaborn had powerful beings, they didn't need more. What they didn't have however was creativity, innovation, drive, or emotions. Things Skadi had, and things they could have, If they didn't take them from her.

The tide receded, not even slightly remorseful for having tried to kill me, they couldn't be in the first place.

By then I had gotten what I came for, they'd leave land, learn how to peacefully interact with other races, and they'd leave my operators alone. Hopefully, eventually they could learn to have emotions, which would open the doors to far more.

We had reached an understanding of each other, and our minds pulled apart. In the real world only seconds had passed, but it felt like weeks to me, my cognition had strained to its limit. The seaborn looked at me, well it turned its false face towards me, and nodded. "We have learned much, we will learn more. Live ishar-mla, Gladiia. It is good to be alive" and then they turned and left, nearly too fast to see. Taking my drone with them, just in case we needed to talk again.

I reengaged my hologram, this time from one of my combat drones. It was less detailed, not needing the precision to make realistic diagrams and examples on something that wouldn't need to teach someone medical procedures in an emergency. But it worked well enough. The Bishop looked at where the massive seaborn had been, shocked and not quite comprehending "wher-where did they go? Why did they leave!?" he turned his furious gaze on me, looking like he was going to try and attack me in his rage "what did you do to them!" I put an insubstantial arm in front of Skadi, preempting her attack on the man. She'd been about to cut him in half, Gladiia chose that point to get up from the pool of her own blood. "I'd like to know the same" The micro expressions on her face showed caution and a trace of disgust. Likely at agreeing with the insane man, who thought the seaborn gave a singular fuck about him. They didn't, not really, sure he was part 'kin' but that had none of the connotations he imagined it did.

I made my hologram shrug, my suit and started coming forward to fill Gladia's wound in with a liquid bandage. Her enhanced healing meant she'd be fine without it but she was kinda dripping everywhere. I thought for a moment She'd slap it away, but a look from Skadi had her letting the suit treat the wound. "I engaged in the age-old art of diplomacy, postured, made some threats, and told them the land and a bit of the oceans surrounding it were my territory." Gladiia and the priest both looked shocked at that, though tellingly Skadi didn't, whether that was due to her faith in me, or if she'd seen my 'conversation' I didn't know. Though it was the priest who spoke "What did you say that caused them to leave! What lies and trickery did you weave!"

"None, partly because when speaking like we did you can't, but mostly because I didn't need to. Fighting me isn't worth it, so they aren't. We spoke as equals and came to an understanding" Gladiia looked at me, her face showing well concealed shock and she whispered in Aegir "I can't feel them….." I looked at her, "I assume you mean the seaborn? I told them to stop converting people, well my people. Apparently they think you work for Rhodes Island '' wait, wait, the cat, that's how she got through all my defenses, the goddamn cat. "...You're working for Kalt'sit aren't you. That woman will literally never tell me anything will she"

Gladiia spoke then, a threatening look in her eye "..What are you? Seaborn don't fear fighting, they don't listen to pleas. What are you?" a vague question, she couldn't understand what I was anymore than she could understand the seaborn. If anything I had more in common with them than with her. Skadi spoke for me, stepping in front me as if to protect my hologram. "He is the Engineer" Gladiia sighed at that, the look in her eyes fading into the background. Skadi's view was honestly adorable, I was me, it was that simple.

My suit started towards the glass vessel holding Specter, her vital signs were even better than usual, in fact it was showing she was awake…. Was she just pretending to be asleep the entire time? That had a disturbingly high chance of being true. My hologram however stayed where it was "its simple really, I'm not prey but I am a threat. And not a minor one either, if I actually went to war there are decent odds this planet would lose its oceans, I wouldn't win that war, but neither would the seaborn. If conflict wont work they'll adapt a different method of dealing with me. I presented a workable method, diplomacy. Eventually they will grow to understand it, or we will come into conflict. But avoiding conflict is simply more efficient, the seaborn understand this." conceptually at least, whether they'd learn it practically… I could only hope, and prepare.

Halfway through my speech the priest started muttering and twitching, muttering under his breath in a manic tone "no no no no" his bones shifting under his skin. Honestly near the end of my speech both Gladiia and Skadi were paying more attention to him than me. Even Specter's body had slightly changed position like she was listening to him. If I hadn't known she was awake I'd have thought it a coincidence.

My suits reached the glass by now, and a rectangular sheet fell out, the water remaining in place. It reaches and it pulls Specter from the container, cradling her to its armored chest. The metal wasn't cold, in fact the suit was radiating heat. My voice comes from the suit "Specter I know you're awake, but can you walk? I'm fairly certain the priest over there is going to explode into a giant monster." Specter opened her eyes, wrapping her arms around the suit's neck. "If I said no would you carry me?" She spoke in a teasing and decidedly unfamiliar tone, the only familiar thing the unsettling grin on her face. She pulled herself up from the suits grasp, standing on its shoulders and flipping through the air to stand beside Skadi and Gladiia, Gladiia turned to look at the manic Specter "It's great to see you're the same as ever, Shark."

Skadi drops the box from her back, kicking it open and revealing both her and Specter's weapons. Specter's saw lets out a screech as she pulls its trigger. Wielding the massive weapon like a feather, Specter lets out a laugh and charges the priest's twitching form. "Ugh, I've almost forgotten she always used to be like this." Neither of the hunters seem concerned at Specter's behavior, so I assume the change is a reversion to baseline. Skadi saying she used to be like this is just a bit of a hint. Specter starts speaking as she swings at the frantically dodging priest "Here I was thinking I could keep being the courteous lady I am for just a little longer." Another swipe takes the front of the priest's robes off, a portion of his skin coming with it.

There isn't normal flesh beneath it. "I've spent such a long time as an adorable, well-behaved nun, I wasn't sure how I'd approach you two." Was she calling her amnesia riddled and indoctrinated self 'adorable'? Has Specter ever been sane?

The priest keep dodging, and at this point I think Specter's missing on purpose. Probably enjoying playing with her food. The fact that the other two hunters are just having a conversation with her while this is happening only makes it more surreal and I spend an instant to check if I'm sleeping. Skadi speaks next "It's been a very long time. I'm not sure if I'm more used to how you are now or back when you were all deranged and high-strung." This is not deranged? The seaborn made more sense to me than this current series of events.

Specter seems to tire of the game, and her blows start landing on the priest. She shouts with a smile as her saw barely digs an inch into his flesh "Wow, so tough!" and I had to agree, she could hit hard and that saw was not dull. Gladiia must see something I don't though and she shouts out in a tone with far more emotion than I had ever heard from her "Shark, come back! He's a Seaborn now!" not actually true, he was a hybrid like the hunters, and those technically fell outside the 'treaty' I made as the seaborn didn't actually control them. And the terms of my agreement had to disseminate to all the seaborn 'hives', before they'd all start abiding by it.

But that was semantics, as the dude was quite literally turning into a massive sea monster and destroying the supports of the cavern we were in. killing the priest in the ocean probably wouldn't fly, but doing it on land was fine. Him and the rest of the 'hybrids' he'd created by feeding the towns folk dead seaborn, wait how did I know that? Skadi turned my attention back to the giant monster, shouting "Captain, Specter... Let's get out of here!" which fair enough, I wasn't actually there.

Specter however wasn't running, instead just staring at the grotesque transformation. "How did he grow this big all of a sudden? What did he do to stuff all this meat in his body? Ha, look. His head split into two. Remember, the right side is mine." my suit flew down in front of her. "Not really the time Specter '' by this point the monstrosity is screaming incoherently. And I decided I've had enough of it, Gladiia summarizing my point nicely "Act quick, or your prey will get away. Either that, or it will die at the hands of another hunter." in this case I'd be playing the role of other hunter, letting this thing bring down the cavern and chapel for no reason would annoy me. A single missile shot from my armor, filled with an acid specialized for eating through organic tissue, it burst open upon the things 'skin' and started eating through it, spreading rapidly.

The screams changed from rage to pain, and the monster tried to claw the acid off itself, failing in doing anything other than spreading the acid to its limbs. By this point my favorite property of the acid was readily shown, it was converting the flesh it melted into more acid. As long as it had flesh to consume it would continue to grow and burn, perfect for dealing with a regenerating sea monster.

I shot two more missiles for good measure. Specter looked at me with a pout, taking her eyes off the writhing monster "awww, I wanted to kill that" my hollow suit looked back at her, its expressionless face showing exasperation. "Then you should have been stabbing it." my tone was deadpan, and Gladiia actually showed a bit of amusement on her facial features. Specter was still paying attention though, as when the seaborn lashed out with an eye beam she easily dodged. Maybe Gladiia could dodge lasers? Did seaborn use them? Still I turned to face it "that's a resilient bastard ain't it?" Gladiia nods at that "they all are"

I shrugged at that, the acid was working to keep it's size down and it had only been meant to stop regeneration, hoping it'd leave nothing but bones had wrong of me "well Specter I guess you can still kill it, if you get acid on you I have a few vials of counteragent." it'd take awhile to burn through Aegir flesh, and anything it burnt through would be healed once the acid was neutralized. Specter leaps into the fray once I give her permission, Skadi and Gladiia following in her wake. The beast tries to flee but it's already backed into a corner and I watch as they carve it up within moments.

That did leave the smaller hybrids, but my drones got those before they even entered the room, they were significantly less durable.

None of them had touched the acid, and only Specter had blood on her, which I had to assume was done intentionally. The three stand side by side each leaning on the other for support, and I know it's not physical support they seek, walking away from the rapidly dissolving corpse "He is gone, at long last. This has finally come to an end... I ended it by my own hands... yet this is nowhere nearly as satisfying as I imagined. Compared to all they have done to me, this is far from enough, but that's one down, two to go for us." Specter looks almost tired as she talks, "Ugh, I'm getting a little dizzy. How did I come to this place? It feels almost like a dream." and much like every treatment I had given her, her lucidity was fading.

But with my new understanding? I could fix her, I even had most of the tools. Skadi looked distraught as she realized the same thing I did "Shark?" Specter starts to trail off, speaking quietly "I can't... stay awake for long after all…" Gladiia tightened her grip on Specter "We finally have their tentacles caught. If we grab it now and pluck its roots out there, we will definitely find a way to heal you." this was getting too depressing for me, I had enough of that normally. "Actually, I think I already have a way to do that. Actually understanding what I'm dealing with does wonders, imagine that" Specter smiled at that "That isn't a big problem. As it stands, they cannot control me, and I feel exceptionally well. The feeling of freedom... Who could have known I would get to experience it now? This has me so elated, it feels as though I'm flying high with excitement." it seemed she didn't like the depressing attitude either.

"Though, Captain, I am afraid I heard everything you said." nevermind, I wasn't allowed to have a nice cheerful after battle mood. We had to be sad and talk about sad things. "Was the bishop saying we will become Seaborns too? Captain, will you become one of those more formidable kinds? They are quite strong." a good question actually, would a stronger person make a stronger seaborn? But no, they wouldn't be. Even if the seaborn tried I'd stop them. "None of you will be becoming tentacle monsters, unless you want robotic tentacles as that can be arranged." they were my kin after all, and damn I needed to look into that, maybe directly interfacing with an eldritch horror was a poor decision.

Skadi shook her head as if the very thought of them becoming seaborn was antithetical to her. "That won't happen. You are way too different from them." Gladiia's face was carefully stoic at their comments, but I could see the tension leaving her frame "I hope my actions didn't put you two in harm's way." well I was watching, so it hadn't. But it definitely could have. But saying as such would have been tactless, and I was more interested in monitoring the buildings rapidly decaying structural integrity. Skadi shook her head, denying the fact that she had obviously been hurt at some point on this trip while I wasn't looking and she spoke to Gladiia. An intense look on her face "Answer a few questions for me."

Gladiia nodded, obviously expecting something like this "ask away" I had the oddest hunch I wasn't included in that offer. "Is there seaborn blood in our veins" was she asking Gladiia questions I could answer? Should I be offended, I was going to be offended. My attention was taken from their conversation by my drones picking up someone else in the tunnels, ..someone cat shaped. My feelings of vague irritation rose, sure it had worked out okay but I was decidedly annoyed at all the subterfuge. I interrupted Skadi's 'chat' as bricks started falling from the ceiling "that's our cue to leave" and directing the sound waves towards Kalt'sit specifically I added "that includes you"

--

There were people waiting for us on the surface, Kalt'sit and one other random Iberian. Honestly I just had no context for what was going on here. I had shown up at the end to fight giant monster, not talk to a man in robes and a mask.

As such the political intrigue was largely ingnored as I started giving my operators, and Gladiia, an after battle check up. They were all slightly wounded, Gladiia the worst off by far, but it was nothing truly worrying so I just bandaged the bleeding areas and ignored the bruising. The bandage holding Gladiia's insides, inside, was redone properly and by then the conversation had actually rolled around to something I could care about. The high inquisitor saying something that immediately drew my attention to him, "One of them will have to stay." no the fuck they won't, the fish are mine you bastard. I had just been about to tell him off when Specter spoke "I will" then Skadi said something sensible "no" which yes, that is the appropriate reaction. Insane Specter would have stabbed him, I liked that response more than this one.

Gladiia shook her head as well "You two need to go back." which yeah, If I had to give up one it'd be her. But luckily a better option revealed itself "High Inquisitor, perhaps I can take their place?" the cat was volunteering! And she usually had a plan, so I once again tuned out the conversation, turning back to my paperwork and starting to write an incident report. Amiya would probably want to know why Kalt'sit was gone. Wait… then I'd have to run an operation to extract her from prison.

Best to head this one off. I turned my armor to the inquisitor, the 8 foot tall hunk of metal looming, though it was likely the least dangerous thing there. "If she isn't back within a week I will turn half your cities into worse heaps of rubble than this, if it's two weeks you'll be out of cities" and there, honestly I could probably do the same thing by just telling the seaborn they could have the land here, without even needing to use invisible drones and explosives.

My comment got a loud laugh out of Specter and she slapped my suit. She probably knew I wasn't joking. The inquisitor didn't say anything, though I hoped he was starting to realize how out of his depth he was. But Kalt'sit did "you will do no such thing, I can handle myself" if I actually cared about her opinion that might have moved me, but alas, I did not. She then turned to the hunters, dismissing me in that same annoying way she always did, like she was trying to pretend I didn't exist.

"Now go, hunters. Surely a heart-to-heart with Specter must be on the agenda. Now that she's awake, she can give you the answers you've always wanted. Her own answers." which was something I could agree with, they likely needed a while to themselves. But Specter seemed to think the cat warranted attention "And you have nothing to say to me? This is a rare opportunity for everyone, yourself included." I didn't actually, needing to rush for answers would imply I wasn't confident in my ability to cure her. But the question hadn't been towards me anyway. Kalt'sit spoke "I'm afraid I don't have any suitable advice for a hunter like you."

They finished their back and forth, Skadi added something about being surprised Kalt'sit actually showed up to help, which fair. But if I had to give the cat credit she was reliable in her own way, if she said she was going to do something she would do it. And I did find it funny that Kalt'sit still thought the seaborn were converting the hunters, and were 'attacking' the land. It was nice to be the one knowing stuff the other didn't, but unlike her I'd be writing up a report explaining what had happened.

Though I did have some words for her myself. I was just a might bit upset that she had known about the seaborn and hadn't told me. "Why didn't you ask me for help?" I mean really, we didn't get along but against a world ending thing like this? I had a right to know! She had even been talking about 'uniting the world" and having Iberia ask for help. Yet she hadn't taken her own advice "If you had just thought to ask! I'm made to fight things like that! But no, you run around lying and keeping secrets in your effort to save the world alone." some of the words I nearly spat out, and I had to admit it was a little harsh of me, but I continued on "As if you have the right to keep me from fighting for my own survival" Kalt'sit's face remained blank in the front of my rant, "I'll keep that in mind, I'm still not used to having you back" I felt like there was some hidden meaning there, and it took the wind out of my sails.

By then everyone was tired, and now that my rant was done it largely became silent. None of the hunters rebuked anything I had said, though Skadi herself looked a bit guilty, and I remembered that she'd known too.

Skadi stopped by the city, said goodbye to some locals and then came back, by then Kalt'sit and the inquisitor were long gone, and the hunters all looked exhausted. So I offered to carry them on the suit. It could lift more than enough wait and the air shields would keep wind off of them.

Gladiia got inside the suit at some prompting from Skadi, Skadi hopped on the back where handholds had grown, and Specter had jumped into its arms. The heat radiating off it filled the bubble of hardened air and the suit took off, heading back to Rhodes Island.

All in all? I'd say that turned out okay.

--

Gladiia stood in front of her bathroom mirror. Caressing the patch of scaly skin on her neck. It wasn't spreading, but it wasn't going away either. Skadi and Specter were safely in Specter's room, and Gladiia didn't have an inclination of letting them know how far gone she was. Indebted to something that could be worse than the seaborn, just to stave off their corruption awhile longer.

The worst of it was that Skadi and Specter were as good as gone, whatever the engineer was had firmly ensnared them. They looked at him with complete faith. Yet when Gladiia remembered the way he'd looked at the seaborn, like they were no more than an inconvenience? Her heart had been filled with a faint dread.

He'd said the seaborn saw him as equals, a true threat. Nothing the Aegir had done had threatened the Seaborn, and he was just some tactician for a small land company. Yet the seaborn feared him as much as they could fear. When they looked at him they saw something, and Gladiia didn't yet know what it was.

But she had time, if she could just get back to Aegir, get home, they could fight off the seaborn and prepare for this new threat. Hopefully before it consumed them all.

She still needed to discover if her fears were true, to investigate if this 'engineer' was really a threat equal to the seaborn. She would study him, and learn if he was to be her prey.

It was her duty to defend Aegir.

--

Nauvis gazed upon her engineer, the barrier between worlds being of little use in blocking her connection to one of her creations. Wherever they reached, she could too.

Her Engineer had found yet another novelty, sure he had foolhardly connected himself to the minds of an entire oceans worth of creatures, but he'd held out long enough to adapt. And what she had learned! Sure the Seaborn were superficially similar to the biters she was so fond of, but the way's they had diverged!

It had only taken seconds for her to learn everything there was to know about them, and she knew they saw her too, lurking within her engineer's mind. It hadn't been until they'd tried to corrupt him that she'd reached out though, it was their nature to make life like them, but Nauvis desired competition and diversity.

Changing her engineer into something so dull? Not acceptable, so she twisted the engineer herself, his cells already had an immune system and regeneration enough to put most creatures to shame, tuning those towards purging the seaborn's influence on his mind? Simplicity itself, her life was made to adapt.

But that raised another point, her human had been on terra for years now, The creations he'd left behind still grew in his absence, yes, but they were lesser without him, and he was lesser without them. She had learned much from this new world, but his growth had slowed, he was discovering and learning less, evolving and adapting less.

It wouldn't be long now before she opened the door and invited him back home, back to Nauvis.

AN-

you made it through, I'm impressed.

A longer chapter, but arknights is one of my fav settings, along with SCP. so the muse had plenty to work with.

this might be my longest chapter yet actually, I had been planning on posting the commissar Cain Warhammer one, but I think I'll be severely reworking it instead.

is a thing, likes and reviews are great, discussion fills me with joy.