Post by ingen on Mar 8, 2022 15:34:46 GMT
Ingen - Mariko, Merger, Sunpike
High Imperium - Verma, House Jaros
Mercenaries - Contagion, Blight, Malady, Androids
'GARDEN OF LIGHTS' BATHHOUSE, TAKABARA CITY, SANRIN
The Garden Of Lights was a beautiful complex. Elegant tea houses, beautiful pools and springs, saunas hidden within cherry trees, exotic blue-vined bushes, luminescent giant mushrooms, and lanterns and lights of many different kinds. It was evening, and the gentle glow of a hundred lights glinted off the mirror-smooth surface of the outdoor spring that Mariko, Blight and Verma were lounging beside.
Mariko was trailing her toes in the water, revelling in the cool feeling. It was strange; although she had gotten used to her own appearance, seeing her countryfolk with their new glimmering skin and curving horns was still a shock to her, but otherwise everything felt just like it had at home in the Laptev System. Barely visible in the shadows, the hulking form of a Dragon Banner warrior stood silent guard over the relaxing women. This one was called Kunnu, and he didn't speak much. Mariko wondered if she would see Vox again, the Dragon who had tried to save her from her would-be kidnappers all that time ago.
Mariko took a sip from a cup of exquisite sake, chewing absently on a dried slice of mango. They were waiting for Tagie; the local IdaiTech office had had surprisingly good news for them, as Tony Idai himself had been in the area on other business, something about Artificians. He had personally worked with Blight on Tagie's new form. They had agreed to bring Tagie to the hot springs and waken her there; the theory was that it was a more relaxing environment and that immersion in water would help her flex her new muscles and tendons. In the meantime, Blight and Verma had both been given substantial bounties by the local governor for their assistance to the Princess, and in the city they were something like celebrities, people flocking to see the exotic strangers who had journeyed alongside the nation's sweetheart.
-
Blight had taken to life in the Empire, as ultimately brief as it was likely going to be, like a fly to a bug zapper. An android spat out of a manufacturing line, handed a sword and armour and flung off into the galaxy to make her parent company money, Blight was hardly used to luxury. As much as they tended to make, a chunk of it went to the company, and Malady or Contagion usually had more practical uses for the rest.
The idea of going to a place like this, let alone on somebody else's paycheck, had been but a pipe dream to the android. So, out of the three, she had all but melted into the lounge chair, sunglasses shielding her eyes and lazily dressed in a kimono, simply enjoying the relaxing energy of the place. She hadn't taken quite as much to the tea houses though not to say she didnt enjoy them--Mariko had seen Blight chug a drink in one go that'd threaten to instantly give any human cardiac arrest--but was all over the baths and springs.
For similar reasons to why she had never expected to experience luxury, Blight also took to their degree of popularity, responding to people trying to get a look at the android with the same casual, occasionally flirty attitude she responded to many things with.
Still, when a door opened and a hovering gurney carrying the dormant form of Contagion, as soon as she saw what it was the android became a blurred mass of flailing limbs, righting herself in an instant as she straightened out the kimono, haphazardly dropping the sunglasses on a nearby table before bounding over with barely contained enthusiasm, muttering 'Tagietagietagietagietagietagie' the whole way in an excited voice.
Contagion was dressed similarly, her hair having been done up in a bun with crossed sticks, possibly to keep it out the way during transport, her eyes shut and mouth very slightly open, as though asleep. Blight positively buzzed with excitement, reaching for the system boot up button as soon as it was pointed out to her.
One after another, Contagion's joints jolted very slightly, a muffled flash of blue light appearing through her closed eyes, before her mouth closed.
Then, the android opened her eyes, the blue irises drifting to settle on her big sister.
"Blight..." she murmured, Blight looking as though she were about to fire into orbit.
"Tagie! I was so worried about you! Never do anything like that ever ever ever again, alright?" she blurted out, helping the smaller android to her feet.
"Okay..." Tagie nodded softly, her eyes rising and settling on the others as she unsteadily found her balance.
"I'm...happy to see everyone is okay."
-
Quality drinks, great weather, friends....Verma was having a blast. Well, that and racked with anxiety, constantly expecting some official to interrupt their vacation and give the gang a "minor" task that would snowball into a catastrophe. Mind, she wasn't complaining about the R&R in the meantime, but since her life had apparently turned into a second-rate action vid series, she might as well keep herself mentally aware.
Lately, she found her thoughts continually turning towards what the Shadow had revealed on the ship. Her home was under attack, and no doubt the Houses had called every able servant to serve. All the while, she ignored that call and sipped tea and went to a spa. Yet, she couldn't find it in herself to regret that. The Houses had prompted the war that led to the exile. They were the source of the rot that was eating her people alive, and having been so close to that disease, she could see the stain of it here in the Empire. It was subtle, she had to give the Jade that much, but it was still there in the vast disparity of wealth from the samurai to the plebeians. Thankfully, not her concern, though she might drop a word in Mariko's ear about it later.
Stretching, she got to her feet and came over to Contagion. "Hey there. Nice to see you up and about. Next time you decide to take a dip in hyperspace though, let me know first. I'm sure I can figure out more...entertaining methods of distraction than melting your chassis." Popping her neck, she turned towards Mariko. "Hey, did you get an update on the ship, by the way?"
-
Mariko followed Blight, offering a broad beaming smile as Tagie's eyes flickered open. As the android found her balance, Mariko threw her arms around her, hugging her tight.
"Thanks to you! You saved us all, Tagie!"
She stepped back, tucking a strand of freshly red-tinted hair behind her ear and glancing at Blight, her face effused with happiness. She heard a shoji door sliding shut and turned to see Tony Idai's silhouette walking away. In the excitement she hadn't even realised it was him who had delivered her friend, but his presence certainly explained how quickly they had built her new body and suggested it would be a damned good one at that.
"How are you feeling? New you?" she said, laughing at her own joke before turning to Verma.
"The fleet has some guys working on fixing it now, but...well Kunnu said they're probably gonna take a while because they'll want to assess it all first. 'Captured' tech and all that."
-
Contagion seemed...surprised, at Mariko's hug, followed by Blight in short order, all but burying the small android in woman.
Still, after a second she settled into the embrace, seeming almost disappointed at its end.
"My...systems are still waking up, but I feel...refreshed." she explained. "Still, it's...odd, to use a place like this to wake up an android."
"Ah, they mentioned something about it being refreshing and good to wash off and stretch your brand new legs. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Blight teased, tugging on one of the android's cheeks.
-
Mariko grinned and pinched the other cheek, the two ragdolling the poor android a little.
"Look at you! Already asking questions and poking holes,"
She stepped back and gestured at the pool. "Yeah they said you might be wobbly at first, water's meant to help with that. And hey, it's not the worst place to be anyway right?"
-
Contagion made a noise of displeasure as her face contorted before being released. As she rubbed her cheek, she looked at the bath.
"Yeah! Let's all go for a dip, eh?" Blight grinned, all but springing back to the bath edge.
"Erm...alright, I see the logic in it." Contagion nodded softly, following.
-
Mariko followed both of them, diving in to the clear, warm water with an inelegant splash and a whoop of joy as she surfaced, her skin and onibi glowing through the inky black water and merging with the glinting light on the rippling water.
It was such a simple pleasure but Mariko revelled in it, letting her mind empty as she just enjoyed the moment.
-
Verma simply laughed and slipped into the pool with the others, leaning back and sipping at her tea. There'd be time for missions and fighting and blood later. For now, it was good to relax with friends.
In the nearby foliage, the soldier checked his rifle one last time, then glanced at his companions and gestured for them to take positions. The traitorous bitch would suffer for her crimes against House Jaros, and her companions would make for a good bonus. The princess could always be sold to other interests, and the Project had specifically requested both of the androids for certain initiatives they were working on.
-
Mariko knew Verma had tea, not alcohol, in her cup but that was fine - in the couple of weeks they had been on Sanrin, they had truly had the chance to be themselves. No threats, no fear, no worry about where they were going or where they had been. It had been a bonding experience for the three women just as much as the battles and contracts they had seen through.
She glanced down into the water, at her toes, and frowned. She thought she saw a dark shape down there, which surprised her, but for a second she wrote it off as one of the rocks that made up the bottom of the springs.
Then it moved.
She yelped and scrambled backwards, unceremoniously clambering out of the water and onto the smooth wooden deck. From the shadows, Kunnu stepped forwards, instantly alert, as the waters began to churn. Kunnu stared down into the waters, his HUD piercing the inky depths, then reached for his weapons.
"Run." he said simply, taking a step forwards, but suddenly from a rock garden behind him there was a rumbling sound and a figure sprang forth, looking for all the world like a hulking samurai but formed of jagged, shifting black crystal. It swung a huge blade at Kunnu that he barely caught with a heavily armoured vambrace, thrown backwards, righting himself with his thrusters and landing heavily, cracking the wooden deck beneath him even as dark forms began to surge up from the bottom of the pool.
Outside, shadowy figures in heavy robes and cloaks rushed past the soldiers of House Jaros, not seeing them. Giving one another boosts, they clambered over an exterior wall and slipped quietly into the grounds of the Garden Of Lights. From what brief glimpses the soldiers caught of them, they looked to be Yokari, but with black and red facepaint over their natural colours, their glowing onibi orbs unnaturally dimmed and a sickly purple-blue hue
-
"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckshitdamnfuckstardammit!" Verma's liberal string of profanities echoed into the night as she jumped out of the pool, before grabbing Blight and Contagion and dragging them out of the pool as well. "Alright, let's get the fuck out of here!"
From the woods, there was a flare of light, before something akin to a lightning bolt hammered into the walls, shattering them to their foundations and flinging the sickly looking Yokari aside as the Jaros troopers charged into the newly made breach, screaming warcries. Behind them, the 10 man squad of Legionnaires packed away the lance cannon they'd used to bring down the wall, then drew their guns and advanced wordlessly.
-
"Yeah, fuck fuck, I'm getting out!" Blight snarled as Verma pulled her out, scrambling to cover herself as Contagion was deposited on the pool edge with an unceremonious splat, managing to right herself. The smaller android found herself pushed forward by Blight as they ran to keep pace, the taller android yelling in alarm--and promptly following it up with an honestly biting insult yelled over her shoulder--as the wall of the wall to the bathhouse exploded.
Damn it all! She should've seen this coming, Malady was gonna have her rubberised ass on a silver platter if she heard she'd let her guard down like this. Tagie had an excuse.
Still, she didn't want to run without doing something. Catching the weird crystal samurai fighting their--or, more specifically, Mariko's--bodyguard out of the corner of her eye, she decided sending him the impacting equivalent of an android's harshly worded letter. Scooping a decently, roughly head-sized stone into her hands Blight turned her sprint into a spin.
"Hey asshole, try this on for size!" she yelled, flinging the stone at the being's head before stumbling back into a run.
-
The giant crystal form raised its massive dai-katana just as Blight punted the rock towards it. There was a shattering sound like window breaking, and a chunk of the figure came apart, shards of obsidian material crumbling from its shoulder. Kunnu wasted no time, lashing forwards with a hardlight blade that extended from nowhere to bisect the figure. As it toppled, he caught its sword one-handed and boosted himself across the pool, firing a handgun with his off-hand to punch holes in the first hideous crab-like sea monster that erupted from the once-placid waters.
Wordlessly he passed the monstrous blade to Blight, reasoning that it would not affect her greatly as an android and, even if it did, the safety of the Princess was paramount. He flicked the safety on his pistol, a 12.7mm semi-automatic railgun that was designed for use by a power-armoured body, and tossed it to Verma. "Go. I will hold these monsters." he said, turning to face the rising tide of pincers, foetid maws, tentacles and unholy flesh that boiled over the lip of the sauna.
Mariko took a distraught final look at the figure, silhouetted by the scarlet light of his blade, surrounded by horrors, as she led her friends through a narrow polished wood corridor and into the cloistered walkway at the edge of another courtyard, and pulled up short. It was chaos. A hole had been blown in the wall, and yokari were fighting a desperate, losing battle against alien figures in spiked, curved armour of silver and purple. She only registered after a moment that the yokari were a sickly hue, their onibi almost invisible, but perhaps that was something these aliens had done to them? The aliens must be Merger Cultists of some kind, it made no sense otherwise.
But then five of the sickly yokari spotted the women and, yelling excitedly, rushed at them, two firing at them from a distance whilst three rushed forwards with sharp vitredur honokatana...
Outside, some of the yokari turned, ducking into cover in a small garden and along a covered storefront walkway to return fire, trying to pin down the legionnaires as they decamped and fiddled with their lance cannon. One ducked behind cover and began muttering in a strange language, neither Ingenious nor Common, nothing visible of her but a green glow.
On the far side of the bathhouse, Gerard Canillac glanced at his colleague, a towering figure in black and white armour chased with gold and a helmet shaped like a medieval tower. One of the engimatic Chessmen, the secret order of knights fighting for the Conclave, he was an imposing man who spoke little.
"What in the name of the sacred yew is going on?" he hissed, as gunfire and screams filled the night air.
The Rook remained impassive, staring towards the bathhouse. Canillac grunted and looked behind him at the dozen other yokari with him. Like him, they all hailed from Neusattar, and were fighting for the planet's independence. They had hoped to kidnap the Princess to use as leverage, but nothing was ever easy. Canillac was frustrated because not only was it possible someone was trying to kill their bargaining chip, but also their own window to take her was closing. They had chosen tonight because a sympathiser in the 31st Regiment, stationed in the city, was deliberately obfuscating the QRF, buying them crucial minutes that were now being wasted as someone else engaged in a gunfight in the bathhouse.
But without the Rook's cooperation, all Canillac could do was wait...
-
Blight caught the oversized blade, grinning as she felt its weight.
"Oh, I think I'm gonna like this one..." she chuckled to herself as they ran indoors. The life of the Dragon Banner Warrior was of ultimately little concern to the android, but the longer he could fight those things, the longer they didn't have to worry about them.
The five men attacking them, however, were her concern. Moving to the front as she twirled the sword once, Blight turned just enough to bring one of her red eyes into view.
"Keep them off my back, Verma." she stated simply, before dashing ahead, gripping the blade in both hands. The first to reach her's sword went wide as Blight dropped into a slide, kicking the cultist back and off his feet, finding himself half the man he used to be before he reached the ground again as the blade cut him clean in twain. The second met her sword with a clash of blades, Blight forcing the blades both low as she twisted it in her hands.
A sudden twirl deprived him of both one arm and his sword, the matter rendered moot as she came back around and split his head from his neck.
The third barely got to take a swing before a sharp kick from the android launched the sword from his hand, Blight bringing the blade around to sever both his arms, booting him in the other's direction.
"He's yours!"
-
Verma leveled the pistol smoothly before blowing the man's brains out with a thunderous crack. There was a flicker at the edge of her vision and she ducked back from the sweeping edge of another one's sword before kicking out and breaking his kneecap. Smashing the barrel of the pistol into the yokari's skull, she drew a bead on the last one and fired a shot clean through his chest, grinning slightly as he toppled backwards.
Looking into the courtyard, she blanched when she noticed the Jaros troopers fighting the other yokari. From the looks of it, along with the screams, the troopers were getting the worst of it as the others closed in to melee and went to work. Grimacing at the sight, she turned away. "Alright, let's uh...maybe not go that way. Mariko, do we have another exit point?" Just then the percussive thuds of Legion-issue weapons sounded in the distance, and she swore again. "And things just got worse. Great."
Further back, the Legionnaires opened fire at the yokari, blasts of plasma shearing into their cover, while two of the soldiers grabbed the cannon and hauled it around, the building whine of the capacitors filling the air as it charged.
-
The Rook's impassive helm turned towards the sound of the Jaros crewed gun opening fire again. After a moment, he raised a gauntleted finger, pointing in the direction of the sound.
"Take out that gun. I will retrieve the Princess." came the booming voice, synthesized through the helmet, unnecessarily loud to Gerard's mind. He scowled, but again there was little point in protesting the decisions of the enigmatic figure so he simply turned and began ordering his rebels to move out.
Out in the open, the Legionnaires were making short work of the cultists, their superior firepower and training battering them into cover and dropping them like flies as they ducked for cover. One of them finally thought to kick in the door of the diner behind them, and the survivors scurried inside, firing from the darkness within and spreading out into the other buildings, few as they were, leaving a trail of corpses behind them as the Legionnaires cut them down.
Suddenly the Legionnaires came under attack from another direction, however, as from the south a half-dozen healthier-looking yokari in a variety of dark and urban camos, with carry rigs, combat caps and heavy coats opened up a sudden fire, heralded by a pair of high-explosive grenades hurled towards the gun emplacement. These attackers seemed much more organised and competent, and all wore an armband of dark yellow to identify themselves. They called out brusquely to one another in a strange language, neither Ingenious nor Common, as they launched their attack, firing what looked like conventional munitions that hit hard and fast.
Mariko had little better idea of where to go than her friends, having never been to the Sanrin System before herself, but at the far end of the cloister a scared-looking attendant slid a door open and waved frantically at them. Mariko tugged at Verma's sleeve and began to run, stumbling as a shot punched a hole in a pillar a few inches from her head.
They piled through the door and the attendant led them through a laundry room and out into another garden, towards another building. Mariko could see the main gates ahead and to the left, and reasoned the man was trying to lead them safely through the building towards the exit rather than out in the open where they would eventually cross the line of sight of the aliens and yokari fighting in the courtyard of the last building.
Just as they reached the veranda of the new building, however, its double doors slid open to reveal a towering figure, nearly 7 feet tall. He was dressed in glimmering white plate armour chased in gold, with a blank helmet crenellated like a medieval tower. At his side was a huge rotary cannon, already spinning as the doors opened, and a burst of 20mm SAPHEI rounds sprayed towards them. The attendant leading them simply disintegrated in a grim mist of gore and flame, only his legs left to topple to the ground, before the hail of bullets tracked over Mariko's head and at the three women behind her.
Behind them, the cultist yokari threw themselves into the attack against the Jaros troops that had made it inside the compound, seemingly heedless of death or injury even as plasma blasts cooked them alive, slashing viciously with their blades and firing at point-blank range.
-
Yelping, Verma ducked down behind a bush, risking a peek to look at the bastard showering them with bullets. He was huge, that was for sure, and the armor looked thick enough to bounce anything that wasn't an anti-armor or...she blinked and looked down at the gun in her hand, then eyed their attacker again. The breastplate was likely extra armored, as was the head, especially with that ridiculous decoration. But the neck -
Leaning out slightly, she leveled the pistol square at the knight's neck, at the junction between the helmet and the top of the breastplate, before emptying the clip in a series of concussive booms.
As the new yokari attacked, the lance cannon was brought about in a searing arc of fire, and the soldiers not manning the gun laid down suppressive fire, even as two of them toppled backwards with fatal wounds from the enemy barrage. Elsewhere in the gardens, the troopers bled and died, even as the cultists were butchered in droves. This continued until at last, their resolve broken by the insane assault, the Jaros troopers broke and fled, the stragglers being swiftly cut down and mangled.
-
As the hulking mass of armour and gun appeared and the barrels of his weapon lined up, Mariko would feel a sudden and abrupt weight slamming into her, tackling her out of view.
It was Contagion, the heavier-than-she-looked android now clamped firmly around the princess' waist, seemingly waiting to see if their attacker decided to stop spitting bullets.
Blight, for her part, swore, stumbling out of the way of the gun and out of sight.
"Motherfucker! Who the hell did we piss off for this many bastards to come knocking at once?!" she yelled. Just a few minutes ago they were all enjoying a nice bath, why couldn't that have stayed? Why couldn't all these bastards wait until tomorrow to ruin their collective days?
Blight growled and bared her teeth, grabbing an ornamental vase.
"Hey, asshole! You think you're hot shit?! Then come fight me with your damn fists!" she yelled, leaning into view long enough to fling the object at the hulking form's head.
Outside, yet another party arrived. Slinking quietly between buildings, footfall-softening pads and active camouflage cloaks quieting their movements and shielding them from the unwary eye, concealing rifles and visors. As they neared the wall of the bathhouse, they stopped, many dropping into crouches and watching their perimeter.
"Operation lead. Intel correct; other hostile elements in region. Collective arrival unexpected. Active contact confirmed, number of active elements unknown." one spoke into their collective net, no words being spoken verbally.
"Understood." the silver-haired lead nodded once. "Our plan remains unchanged. Team A will secure our exit. Team B, with me. We hop the wall and secure our targets. Watch your fire, we want them unharmed."
"Understood."
"Move out."
Just as silently as they had arrived they resumed motion, the unit splitting in half. Several of them slunk quietly towards the bathhouse entrance while the others reached the wall, the first few to clamber over it bringing cables the rest used to follow over the wall.
For now, the apparent Team A was content to watch, to allow their enemies to butcher each other at no expenditure of their own.
Team B, led by the silver haired figure, noted the commotion near the entrance.
"Contacts spotted. Disruption in exfiltration, likely."
"Understood. Bump them off, quick and quiet. Subsonic. Keep moving." the silver-haired figure nodded. The force continued moving at a steady but in no way hastened pace, and then, with the quietened rattle of railrifle fire, loosed bursts of fire, aimed for the heads of the Merger cultists in the bathhouse perimeter.
-
In the courtyard, the giant figure stumbled backwards as the high-powered rounds crashed into the armour. One punched through its neck in a shower of sparks and blood, and in response the giant head turned its blank face towards Verma, the trail of gunfire following its unseen gaze and stitching a path of tiny eruptions on the ground that raced towards her. Blight's vase crashed against an armoured shoulder and shattered, unnoticed, much like the newcomers slipping over the wall to the north of them.
The Merger cultists inside the bathouse, those that survived, were taken aback by the arrival of the mercenaries, caught in a crossfire as they tried to move away from the bloodbath and towards Mariko, their prey. The last handful that had survived the battle against the Jaros attackers were cut down, added to the gruesome piles that littered the courtyard, but as Team B rounded the corner to find the giant battling with the sisters, the corpses began to twitch.
Disgusting forms began to take shape out of the carnage, long unnatural tentacles formed from gore and detritus lashing out at the mercenaries from pools of ichor whilst other ruined bodies formed themselves into foul imitations of life, scrambling on damaged or reshaped limbs towards the mercenaries even as here and there the wreckage of a face could be seen on the abominations, howling with rage, moaning in pain or screaming in sheer terror as they were shambolically propelled to the attack.
Outside, taking advantage of the momentary distraction, the cultist completed his chant and, with an abrupt scream, exploded. From within him sprang another crystalline demon, eight feet tall, which broke through the railings of the patio deck and stepped onto the street, bellowing incoherently before rushing the Jaros gun emplacement with its dark sword raised high.
Canillac and his remaining men, hammered by the Jaros gun, fell back. "This is a clusterfuck! Abort! Rook do you hear me?" he yelled as they retreated
-
The copious amounts of swearing did nothing to hide Verma as she sprinted from cover, trying to avoid the fire. Dropping behind a chunk of shattered masonry, she looked over to Mariko and the others. They were effectively pinned, with no options for getting out. A flicker caught her eye, and she glanced behind the group to see the new intruders arrive. "And me out of ammo." she muttered.
The lance cannon thundered again and again as the demon came on, before its blade cleaved through the barrel. The resulting blast flung aside the soldiers who had been manning the weapon, hurling them against the nearby wall like broken toys. The remaining Legionnaires ceased fire against the Conclave troops and instead started to barrage the beast with plasma fire before one of them dropped his shotgun, the lights along the barrel pulsing an ominous red and drawing a sword from his hip and roaring as he charged to meet it.
"THE DAWN COMES!"
-
The assortment of camouflaged androids sneered as the cultists rose as monsters even as they gunned them down, a few being cut off their feet by lashing tendrils or caught in grapples by the twisted undead.
"Targets performing unclear reanimation. Abilities unclear, likely varied."
"Volt grenades authorised. Rifles to full power."
"Understood."
With audible clacks and whirrs of energy the mercenaries' railrifles went from near-silent to rattling with loud, echoing bursts as they now fired at full velocity, aiming to cut down the monsters as they themselves backed up. A couple drew grenades and tossed them into the midst of the former cultists, each dispersing a particle cloud through which anything that moved was subjected to a fierce electrical strike.
As for the figure leading them, she had moved away, stepping into the building through a side door. Chaos and bloodshed, like everywhere else in this hellhole of a bathhouse.
And a towering armed figure between her and the people she was after.
Blight swore, fingers fidgeting on the grip of her sword. She could get close, maybe, but that was a damn big gun. Even with its attention turned to Verma, there was no guarantee she could get to it before it got its gun on her, and even built as she was, Blight was in no hurry to find out how resistant she was to 20mm fire.
Her guess was 'not much'.
However, she caught something moving behind the armoured giant, a much more slender figure, glowing green eyes piercing the dark of the late evening. They raised two arms, lining them up, before they spoke.
"You're in my way."
Hand cannons, one in each hand, flashed bright, aimed for the back of the Rook's head.
-
The demon staggered as the gun exploded, cracks appearing in its crystalline body, and it seemed taken aback as the Jaros soldier rushed it. The giant nodachi it carried cut the air with a humming noise as it swang overhead, missing the agile warrior as he charged the Corruption entity, but it recovered quickly, barging forwards with its shoulder, hoping to knock the man down...
Behind it, the few surviving Cultists cheered, finding fresh energy as they swarmed back to the windows and opened fire on the Jaros troops. From the corner of the small plaza, Canillac watched, even as one over-zealous Cultist poked her head over a railing and was snagged in the neck for her troubles by a Jaros sharpshooter.
"By thunder!" muttered one of his comrades, "They've summoned an actual demon! We have to do something!"
Canillac turned to squint in disbelief. "What, for the sake of some foreigners?"
The man met his gaze, faltering momentarily before setting his jaw angrily. "Yes. Corruption doesn't recognise borders. We have to help them."
Canillac was silent for a second before rolling his eyes and cursing. "You're right, sod it all you're right. Okay, through here!"
The five surviving Pikemen kicked in the door to the corner store they were sheltering behind and moved to the windows. They didn't have a great line of sight to the action, but they had enough of one to lay suppressing fire on the remaining Merger Cultists, giving the Jaros men time to deal with the demon in front of them. Puffs of smoke and debris danced around the Cultists who began yelling in surprise, turning their plasma weapons south towards the Conclave fighters....
The electrical strikes seemed to do little, if anything creating a greater frenzy of twitching and burnt flesh, but the railrifles were a different matter. They punched at the tide of limbs and bone, eliciting hideous squeals and snarls, pathetic yelps and furious roars.
Even as the droids watched, some of the monstrosities slithered away, slipping under decks, over walls or into shadows, leaving behind piles of gore that had been beaten and battered beyond the uses of even the most compelling otherworldly energies.
The newcomer's mistake was to announce herself. As she spoke, the figure in front of her straightened its back and bellowed, a blast of psionic energy rippling outwards like a shockwave, throwing off her aim and sending the bullets wide.
Like lightning he turned, hurling the huge minigun one-handed as his other hand reached for a warhammer at his hip, a squat and ugly looking weapon, and closed on the newcomer...
-
While Verma remained huddled in cover, desperately looking for anything that could get them out of this mess, outside the garden the Jaros soldiers rallied and continued to volley near point-blank blasts at the monster. Two of them started to also hurl grenades at it, hoping to cripple it. Closer in, the Legionnaire with the sword slipped inside the demon's guards and activated the plasma field on the blade.
Dodging a lumbering swipe of the monster's claws, he lunged forward, the blade outstretched to pierce its heart, if indeed it had one at all. You never could tell with these sorts of abominations.
-
The newcomer dropped low to evade the thrown weapon, tossing her own hand cannons aside. Unlike the Rook's, however, cables lashed out from a device on her back, magnetising to the butts of the pistols' grips and reeling them back to their holsters.
With a calculated precision, the figure rose back to her full height with a slide of a boot, glowing green eyes fixed on the powered form as she raised her hands in a fighting stance, one shoulder forward.
As for the other androids, Contagion finally saw fit to let go of Mariko, crawling to stay on all fours to peek at the fight.
Blight, on the other hand, leapt at the opportunity, springing down the hall with all the haste she could muster, the crystalline flat of her blade glinting red and blue in the light of the moon and its master, hanging low as she swung wide, aiming for his waist.
As for the androids outside they moved, forming a ring around their side of the building, watching and waiting.
-
The crystalline figure batted away the grenades with deft, swirling strokes of its dark sword, the explosives shuddering the street as they detonated in mid-air overhead, but the distraction allowed the footsoldier to prove the age-old maxim that point beats edge, lunging his sword into the demon's chest.
The entity let out a bellow of fury, staggering backwards and wrenching itself off the blade. As the Jaros soldier watched, faint green-purple cracks began to spread outwards from the wound. The figure sagged for a moment, before whipping its sword in a practiced, deliberate movement to regain its form, even if it seemed unsteady. As it bought the sword around, a shower of tiny crystalline shards burst from the leading edge, whipping in an arc at the two-grenade throwers.
Taking a moment, it advanced on the swordsman again, raising its massive dai-katana for a killing blow from above, but this time it seemed slower. The Jaros swordsman had spent enough time on the practice mats to recognise the cocked left elbow which suggested the overhead was a feint and that the blade would drop at the last second for an upward cut, which the Jade called 'kiriage'
Behind them, the last few Cultists scattered, driven away by the surprise Conclave attack. There was no movement from the south end of the plaza, however, the exhausted and depleted secessionists simply watching as the remaining Jaros troops struggled against the demon...
Inside the walls, Verma could see the 'droids approaching from the north-west, the closest one only 6 feet away on the other side of a thick ornamental hedge and low stone wall she was using for cover. The enemy and the newcomer had disappeared inside the building, where clashes and crashes betrayed their ongoing fight.
Mariko took advantage of the respite to pull out her Holo - she placed a call, whispering urgently in Ingenious next to Contagion.
Inside the building, the Rook levelled his hammer at the newcomer and unleashed another psionic blast, a wave of sheer force designed to throw her down or unbalance her before he surged forward with surprising speed, his hammer ploughing through a wall as he swung at her with a feint before the spike on the hammer's head drove upwards at her chin.
Blight's aim seemed perfect until the last moment - the Rook seemed almost incidentally to move just out of reach of her swing, the crystalline blade humming as it cut through the wall behind him without pausing in the slightest. Blight felt a curious sensation in the blade as it shuddered in her hands the closer it got to the enemy, though why she could not tell...
-
The shards launched from the edge of the demon's blade sheared into the soldiers who had hung back, slicing through the thick plate like paper and sending body parts flying as the two men came apart in something that was halfway between an explosion of gore and a sickening collapse.
Undaunted, and seeing that the shotgun fire was having minimal effect the others rallied and charged to join their comrade. Dropping to the side and rolling away from the demon, the Legionnaire swept his sword down in a chopping motion at the grotesque legs the thing stood on, hoping to cripple it.
-
The newcomer stumbled as the Rook likely intended from the blast, springing on her heel backward as he swung for her head, backflipping a little less graciously than she would have liked back onto her feet, narrowly avoiding the weapon as the spike clipped her fringe.
That hammer was going to be a pain. She was confident in her abilities to kill power armour--contending with psionic shock hammers was a field she had less experience in.
Baring her teeth the android sprinted forth once again, bounding into a high kick aiming to remove the weapon from the Rook's hand.
As for Blight, she bared her own teeth as the blade missed its mark, entirely failing to notice the rent it had effortlessly cut in the wall.
Someone blocking or simply having the armour to tank a hit from her was one thing. Someone clad in that much metal simply evading by happenstance was taken by Blight as a personal insult.
Snarling lowly, the android carried the momentum, spinning with a whip of her hair and robe as she brought the crystalline nodachi around, rearing it with both hands before bodily lunging forth, spearing the blade out first, aiming to run the man clean through the waist.
As for Contagion, all too aware she had no part in this fight, she stayed by Mariko's side, trying to listen.
-
There was a shattering noise as the blade punched through the knees of the crystalline monstrosity. The plasma of the blade flared in a bright burst and then died, overloaded, the sword smoking faintly, but it had done its job. The demon collapsed on broken legs, its body shattering as it hit the ground, broken chunks of dark matter sliding across the flagstone plaza like marbles.
Inside, the Rook moved seemingly effortlessly again. The newcomer's kick flew past the crenellated helmet, her boot cracking against the hammer which he released without even the hint of a struggle, the mighty weapon clattering to the floor with a resounding clang. The two attackers suddenly found themselves face-to-face, nodachi lunging towards the newcomer as she was extended from her smooth high-kick.
-
The blade glanced off the newcomer's breastplate, but the two still tumbled down to the ground together. Blight was quicker on her feet and swung at the towering figure, but he simply uttered a single word in response.
"Forsvinde" he demanded, and in her hands the shuddering blade simply came apart, disappearing in a crumble of smoke and tiny fragments. Before she could react, a huge boot crashed into her chest, throwing her through a delicate shoji wall and into the night beyond. Inside, the Rook scooped up his hammer and advanced on the prostrate newcomer.
Outside, the hideous flesh-monsters re-emerged, lashing out in a co-ordinated attack at the robots picket line, tearing down some and rending them apart whilst hurling stones and black, corrosive bile at others.
Beyond all of that, the roar of engines sounded as finally the Jade QRF, overcoming the confusion caused by the duplicity of the Conclave agent, approached the bathhouse...
-
Blight tumbled to a halt on the paving, lying face up with her arms sprawled. An impact alert flashed in her mind, eliciting a groan in the android as she righted herself enough to see the hole she had inadvertently made, and the powdered remains of her sword.
God fuckin dammit I just got that thing she growled as she righted herself.
As for Malady she reacted quickly, rolling back and springing to her feet. A lack of guns what were loaded was problematic, especially if what looked like a bullet mark near his throatguard was any indication. She briefly regarded her connection to the support teams; her team was being torn apart by a renewed monstrous attack, but the exfil team was fine.
'Team A, move into firing positions and support Team B. Marksman, attack the target in the building.'
'Affirmative' was all she got in reply.
Sure enough, the gunfire outside redoubled as the other team of android soldiers opened fire on the monsters from behind, skipping to full rail power.
And, ringing out among them was a single, louder CLAP of railfire, as a sniper round flew for the side of the Rook's head.
Directly opposite, a righted Blight sprinted directly at him, a furious roar escaping the android's lips as she lunged straight into a tackle.
-
The beast defeated, the Legionnaires paused to take stock of their losses and injuries. They hadn't been equipped for a fight like this, and now they were deprived of almost half their number, along with all of their support troops. After some debate and a call back to their dispatch, the decision was made to pull back. The soldiers packed their gear and made to exfil as quickly as they could manage.
Back in the courtyard, Verma watched as the conflict spiraled further out of control before she spotted a robot go down, sparks spitting from where its head had been. Ducking out, she snagged the rifle and spun to face the rook before adding her own thunderclap to the cacophony, spitting bullets at the towering knight.
-
Canillac watched the Jaros soldiers and decided it was time for the Conclave to leave too. He had no idea what the aliens had wanted with the Jade Princess, but he bore them no ill-will and so his surviving fighters slipped back into the night too, leaving the Rook to his fate. Canillac had always been faintly uneasy around the towering figure, but he rationalised his decision as deferring to his orders - the Rook had wanted to go in alone, so alone he would stay.
Inside, the hail of bullets would have killed the Rook were it not for Blight tackling him, throwing him against the opposite wall. The pair of them crashed partially through the bathhouse wall, the Rook catching his hammer's head around a support pillar to steady them. With his free hand he reached for Blight's throat, a huge powered gauntlet grasping at her metallic but elegantly thin neck...
Outside, there was a maelstrom as disgusting flesh abomination and sleek android tore at each other, the second team pouring gunfire into the morass from afar. The roar of engines grew louder as the QRF arrived from the north-west. A Sverkhu-class dropship, squat and menacing, emerged from the night sky to strafe the second team of androids, twin-linked 12.7m railguns raking their position with q-cyl ammunition that exploded in bursts of clementine red-orange. Two Respite LAV's also rolled into the square west of the entrance, dumping out a platoon of marines in urban Berlin camo with snarling bear masks. They scattered into cover and began advancing towards the ruins of the bathhouse, whilst behind them a flare of pink light heralded the arrival of a floating Balm light tank which followed them cautiously, its 30mm gun most likely overkill in the urban environment.
-
The marksman, with their heightened environmental senses to give them a word of warning while they stared down a digital gunsight and their positioning further back, heard the roar of thrusters, switching off the visor feed of their scope and turning to look.
"Shit." they muttered, a split second before the howling roar of heavy machine gun fire joined the cacophony. The marksman dove away, blasts of plasma fluid spattering their cloak and causing it to go haywire a moment, a fabric shape of blitzing black and white all the obvious in the dark before it started recalibrating, returning to its normal of sooty grey-purple, the marksman's flechette rifle clattering a short distance away as they landed in the dirt.
The regular androids of the exit team were torn to shreds, some simply disappearing into torn robot parts while others were dismembered and sent asunder. The railfire ceased as quickly as it had started.
As for Blight, she grunted as the powered glove clamped around her throat, letting out a stifled wheeze as her own arms grabbed the metal plating.
"You into breathplay then, huh?" she grinned, her apparent sense of humour never failing for a second. The android diverted all the motor power she could into her leg under the same arm holding her, already feeling the synthetic muscle warming up from the excess power load.
"Well I personally like it ROUGH!" the android yelled, swinging her leg up into a powerful kick, aiming for the armpit.
The newcomer, seeing the opportunity, whipped out one of their pistols, reloading it as quickly as they could.
-
There was a crack as her kick connected, and she was dropped to the ground. The Rook staggered backwards, clearly wounded, as the newcomer and Verma poured a fresh volley at him, and then tumbled out of sight. As Blight moved to follow him, she was surprised to find what looked like a sheet of glassy water pouring from the ceiling and disappearing in a spray of dark foam just above the floor. Another figure, dressed like the Rook, watched her with a blank expression even as the Rook's feet slipped through the water, as if he was being dragged by his arms by someone beyond.
For a moment the figure and Blight looked at one another, and then the figure also stepped through the waterfall which abruptly ended, leaving nothing but a faintly mossy smell behind....
Outside, two surviving fleshmonsters rushed at Verma, Mariko and Contagion, fleeing the carnage behind them and lunging in a desperate bid to reach the Princess, whilst behind them echoed shouts as the first of the Jade soldiers crossed the threshold into the ruined bathhouse, taking in the carnage of dead Cultists, destroyed androids, butchered Jaros troopers and ruined abominations.
-
Laughing as the Rook was taken away, Verma racked the magazine on the rifle, and glanced over her shoulder in alarm as the shouts sounded across the ruins of the courtyard. A piercing shriek split the air as the monsters came on, tendrils and limbs curling and thrashing.
Gritting her teeth even as her stomach roiled at the smell and sight of the abominations, she sprinted over to Mariko, and planted herself between the princess and the beasts before she opened fire with a yell. "Go back to the hell you crawled out of!"
-
Blight frowned as her eyes locked onto the figure, moving to stop them before the waterfall disappeared, and the android grunted, slowing to a halt as quickly as she'd started.
"Hrm..Good enough." she grunted after a moment, turning and running back.
Contagion, seeing the monsters, finally broke off from Mariko, scrambling to grab the rotary cannon the Rook had dropped, managing to heave it to point at their attackers.
The cacophonous roar of the cannon once more shook the building. For all of about two seconds; while the gun had most certainly loosed a few shots at them, the small android had in no capacity been prepared for the recoil, the barrels flying upwards and knocking the android on her rear, the barrels whirring down again as it continued toppling, landing atop the android with a thud and a noise of distress.
As for the newcomer, she dropped to one knee, bracing her gun arm against the other, firing her hand cannon with vastly more precision than Contagion had.
-
Although Tagie's burst did not hit either of the beasts, it forced one to juke sideways, bringing it closer to its companion. Verma's tight, disciplined bursts made short work of the pair, beating them back with physical impacts that tore them apart piece by piece, the last twitching mass toppling to the ground just as an ominious click indicated Verma's mag was empty.
Dark figures slipped through the ruined wall and gateway to the west, visible in the low light, and suddenly beams of light flared, pointing at the three women.
"Identify yourself! Put the weapon down! Down!" bellowed a voice, echoed by several more, but Mariko stepped forwards, the light from her onibi intensifying and casting an argent glow over her face. "It's me! I am Jade Princess Mariko Kuribayashi!"
The figures inched closer, silent, a very faint muffled muttering betraying the fact they were communicating via their helmets, then one lowered its rifle and approached the group.
"It's her, confirmed Willow secure, repeat Willow secure."
The marines rushed to usher Mariko, Verma and Contagion away from the bathhouse, others forming a perimeter whilst yet more fanned out, searching for other survivors or hidden attackers. There was a roaring noise overhead and a bright light heralded Kunnu's return, crashing to the ground ahead of them, his armour battered and dented and slicked with aquatic gore. His visor was cracked, but it was too dark to see through the shattered gap.
-
Blight stepped back into the room, locking eyes with the newcomer.
A moment of quiet, before a look of dawning realisation crossed Blight's features, followed by a wide grin.
"Malady!" she declared loudly, rushing to the other android and pulling her into a tight hug, Malady grunting with displeasure.
"I was wondering where you'd been, big sis!" the notably larger android grinned. Malady sighed.
"It's good to see you too, Blight. Where's Contagion gone?"
Tagie, meanwhile, stuck with the others.
"Are we all okay?" she asked, trying to inspect Mariko for injury with her admittedly lacking understanding of organic biology or medicinal practice. As they came into view of Kunnu, Tagie's eyes opened a little wider, stepping forth.
"Hey, that's your bodyguard." she muttered. "Leftenant Kunnu, are you okay?"
-
Dropping the gun and sagging as the strain and adrenaline of it all hit her like a truck, Verma eyed Kunnu and laughed. "Star above, man! You look like you just went five rounds with a leviathan and sent it crying back to mommy." Stopping for a moment, she leaned down and picked up the discarded pistol, before offering it to the Dragon. "Nice gun, I gotta say. Little bummed about the mag size, though."
-
Kunnu turned his helmeted head towards them and, after a moment sizing the situation up, nodded, falling in alongside the rest of the formation.
"Let's just say I have a newfound respect for cockle-pickers," he growled, taking the pistol and ejecting the empty mag, slotting in a new one and holstering it. "Looks like you were busy too."
Inside, a trio of marines appeared at the far end of the corridor Blight and Malady were in, their flashlights sending beams flickering down the corridor as a small drone preceded them.
"This is the Marines! Identify yourselves!" they called out, stopping momentarily to check a pair of terrified staff and direct them towards the staging area at the entrance to the bathhouse.
-
"Yes, a large man in power armour attacked us with a hammer and a rotary gun." Contagion started. "Blight and someone I didn't recognise fended him off."
Blight turned to look at the Marines, not letting go of Malady as she regarded them with a beaming smile.
"Woah, hey! I'm Blight, I'm with the Princess! One of her friends! And, uh, bodyguards. You're probably more interested in that part." she explained.
A beat.
"Oh! This is Malady! My big sis!"
-
Outside, the marksman slowly came back to her senses.
No allied contacts on sensors, unless Malady counted.
She could not count on Malady. The android ran a quick diagnostic. All motor functions were fine, her armour was lightly impacted and there was some slight impact damage from explosive forces, but she was otherwise unharmed. Her camo cloak was back online, too.
Rising to her knees, the android reached out, a hand pulling her rifle closer before picking it up proper as she hauled herself back to her feet.
The android slowly started off, stumbling, for the darkness.
-
The marines quickly hustled Blight and Malady out of the ruined building, moving everyone they could find out of the bathhouses and towards the staging area. Behind them, fires crackled gently in the wreckage of the various structures of what was once a beautiful bathhouse complex, the flames glinting off the tranquil surface of the springs and pools, illuminating in some cases the debris and viscera floating on their once pristine waters....
-
Some time later
Although the damage to the Garden of Lights had almost entirely been scoured away, the sounds of construction still rang out over the city to remind people of just how present the Merger danger was. The only reassurance they could find was the presence of the Jade Empress herself, heralded by a panoply of green-white banners all over the town, her jade-gold dragon marines visible at every corner.
Blight, Contagion, Malady and Verma found themselves in an antechamber of Castle Zhang-Yu. The room was empty save for them, filled with luxurious patterned armchairs, thick rugs, mahogany panelled walls covered in paintings, tapestries and scrolls, whilst ornate tables, bookshelves and desks crammed the room. Light glinted off well-polished fittings, lamps and knick-knacks, whilst a green-glass carafe of water with elegant glasses sat on a tray near the awkward women.
They had been summoned for an interview with the Jade Empress herself, and in the few days since the fight at the bathhouse Mariko had been trying to coach and prepare them for the meeting. The door opened and she slipped inside, wearing a black kimono with an iridescent blue water pattern on it.
"They're gonna call for us in like 2 minutes, are you guys ready?" she asked brightly
-
Verma grunted and shifted, the polished armor she was wearing humming and purring as she moved. "I'm fine, although you could tell the protocol people here that they could stand to tone down the superiority complex they've got going on. I feel like someone's gonna jump out at any moment and yell at me for being an 'uncouth barbarian'. Not that they'd be entirely wrong, I guess."
-
Blight was, similarly to Verma, adorned in armour though not as much, showing off the kimono she wore underneath. Contagion and Malady had foregone such, evidently thinking it would be improper if everyone was clad up in metal.
"Ah, you'll live." Blight sighed at Verma's complaining, putting her hands on her hips. "You excited to introduce us to your mom, princess?" she chuckled.
"I assume you are, Mariko. Are you alright? I expect you'd be tense." Contagion asked. After the attack on the bathhouse, she had been somewhat more concerned than usual with everyone's welfare.
Meeting a gaze with two eyes was still strange for some.
"Not entirely sure why I'm here. You two are her friends." Malady grunted, nudging Blight.
"Oh, we've told em all about you big sis!"
"Not my point."
-
Mariko smiled at the back and forth.
"Yeah, it'll be great. Just uhm....remember she's nice but she's not like me. She's the Jade Empress, they take this stuff seriously," she cautioned them, turning to lead them through the hallway outside, their boots muffled on the thick carpets.
The impassive dragon masks and blank visors of the 1st regiment watched them as they approached the twin doors of the audience hall. An overweight courtier in a purple robe with silver trim met them at the carved redwood doors, a thin pencil goatee nestled on his face, his receding hairline swept back into a queue. He gave a wintry smile at the group before bowing to Mariko.
"Your Highness, my ladies, welcome. I must remind you of some formal rules of etiquette before you are admitted to the Jade presence. Firstly, remember to avoid direct eye contact with the Jade Empress until spoken to. Secondly, approach the throne and then hold a bow for five seconds, thus," he said, demonstrating.
"Finally, refer to the Jade Empress as 'Your Majesty' at all times."
He clapped his hands together and offered another dazzling, brittle smile. "Excellent." he said, turning and waving at the doors which swung open smoothly to reveal the throne room within. Built for the Daimyo of Sanrin, it was a little more practical and modern than the chambers of the Jade Palace on Laptev, with smooth floors of polished pietra grey marble along which a walkway to the throne was lined by embedded floor lights of a faint yellow-gold hue. Squared pillars with panels of dark grey wood, belted by bands of gold, marked off cloisters on either side of the room and supported the mezzanine above, whilst golden statues of warriors, philosophers and mythical beasts lined alcoves between hardlight kakejiku scrolls of muted yellows and oranges.
The hall was crowded with people, citizens of different stations jostling with military officers and courtiers to get a view of the princess and her strange companions.
A dozen marines stood like statues either side of the path up to the dais, hardlight sashimono at their backs and spears in hand. Framed by all this, her back to the twin staircase that led up to the crowded mezzanine, sat the Jade Empress herself.
Clad in a brilliant white kimono with bottle green patterns of cherry blossoms and swooping dragons embroided across it, finished off by golden piping, hems and trim, she wore a platinum diadem with the imperial kamon picked out in glittering jade. The diadem had been made specially for her, the original crown of the Jade Emperors lost centuries before during the Warring Shogunates era.
The Jade Empress herself looked to be in her mid thirties, with a striking and statuesque face, strong chin, prominent nose and eyes that seemed wide thanks to the jet black pupils characteristic of the yokari. Her hair, a green so dark as to be nearly black itself, was neatly piled atop her head and held in place by elegant pins, whilst her hands and feet were obscured inside the folds of her great kimono. Stood to one side was a colonel of the first regiment, his helmet removed. He had a slightly rounded face, his hair pulled back into a tight military queue and a thick mustache draping down to a well-kept chinstrap beard. He, more so than the Empress, resembled Mariko, suggesting to the guests that this was Buntaro, Mariko's father and the consort of the Empress. His face betrayed no emotion as he watched his daughter and her friends approach in silence, looking like a woodcut rather than a man.
Mariko reached the dais first, stopping at the point the floor lighting indicated, and bowed to her mother before straightening up.
-
Contagion and Malady kept their eyes forward, the former's eyes as always framed by the low-hanging fringe of her hime cut. While after the bathhouse she had chosen to lower her hair to its normal, she had tied it back up for this event, crossed sticks keeping it in a big bun and all. Blight's eyes, meanwhile, veered about, observing the ornamentation of their surroundings and the marines as they passed.
She overall held a more casual demeanour, though not so much as to disregard the air of formality; whereas Malady simply made a small nod and Contagion a slight bow to the man giving them a last-minute reminder, Blight made an off-handed finger-gun salute.
That said, her hands were back together by the time they entered the throne room, their android peripheral giving them a good grasp of the room even without looking directly at anyone. They knew the Empress was Mariko's mother, that much was obvious. It was a second before any of them clicked that Buntaro was the other parent, and it was Blight that did so first, followed by Contagion.
It could be guessed they had arranged for this to see their daughter again, but they didn't seem especially fazed by it. Maybe they didn't talk much, maybe their home life was...rough.
Regardless, something dug at Blight's sense of calmness. The father especially, still like a statue.
Your daughter could've been killed and you don't even look happy she's fine. You could at least give her a damn smile, or am I going to have to do that for you?
Even if they had spoken before, there was still a tension in the air after the attack. Not to mention how the princess had disappeared for a time beforehand.
The red-eyed android showed a remarkable amount of self-restraint, however, her thoughts only manifesting as the ever so slightest twitch of the eye.
The three androids followed Mariko, bowing in unison.
-
As the party approached the makeshift throne, Verma stayed almost directly behind Mariko, keeping a watchful eye out. The atmosphere here felt...odd.
Even in the high halls of power in the Imperium, she'd never felt such a cold stiffness. The Houses were powerful, yes, but they were still human. This was...well, actually, it explained a lot about Mariko, especially if that toy soldier next to the Empress was her father. Mariko and the others bowed, and Verma bowed smoothly with them.
She'd need to sit down and have a talk with Mariko later.
-
There was silence in the room for a few moments, faint relief showing on some of the crowds' faces as the guests observed the proper niceties. The Jade Empress let her gaze travel over Mariko's companions before finally settling on her daughter, offering her a warm smile.
"Welcome," she said, her voice resonant like the rest of her kind, "and be at ease. I understand the Jade Empire owes you a great debt of gratitude for the protection you have afforded my daughter through these turbulent times."
-
There was a brief moment of quiet, as the androids evidently weighed what to say.
It wasn't every day one got to speak to an empress, let alone an ultimately disposable mercenary getting the chance. Still, it was Contagion who finally spoke.
"Gratitude is appreciated, Your Majesty," she begun, her voice soft and gentle. "But a debt is not expected, nor is it asked for. I know that my sister, Blight, most enjoys the company of the Princess."
-
Verma struggled to keep her expression even at the Empress's words. Gratitude? Where was this insipid bitch's gratitude when they were fighting the nightmare horror of the Merger? Taking a breath, she responded as well.
"The Princess has shown great valor and skill, and it has been my honor to defend her and fight with her."
-
Takara offered a beatific smile to the four women.
"I am proud to hear you speak so highly of my daughter. To face the terrors she, and others, have described, you must be brave warriors yourself," she said, her language almost fanciful, in the habits of the Jade court.
-
Once more, after another brief pause, it was this time Malady who spoke, her voice sterner and more pronounced than Contagion's comparably soft tones.
"I let others speak for our actions, rather than do so myself. I would hope neither of my sisters would be so arrogant as to boast in a court such as this." she stated plainly.
"Still, your words are appreciated. It is not often our ilk are treated so positively."
-
Verma chuckled dryly at Malady's words. "Nobody who's seen Blight swing that slab of steel she calls a sword around is ever going to mistake her for "ilk" of any sort. Ruffian, perhaps."
Glancing at the Emperess, her mouth flattened into a hard line. "It is nothing she does not deserve, your majesty. She is god-kin, for all her youth. And perhaps, I hope that I might call her friend." The last was said with a fond smile towards Mariko.
-
Takara nodded at their words, and surprisingly Buntaro's face offered a momentary flicker of approval at their humility.
"You have display true quality in your time with the Jade Princess, and that is why I have decided to appoint you as Hatamoto in my court."
At her words, the double doors opened again and a hovercart laden with four upright trunks, made of sleek white metal lacquered in gold and with sigils on the front picked out in different colours; one blue, one red, one green and one purple. The attendants with the cart stopped it and opened them, revealing suits of traditional Jade yoroi armour, all in white with trim and lacquer in the colour of the recipient, each tailored to the recipient's measurements. On the breastplate of each was a small gold disc on which the Imperial cipher was engraved.
"As Hatamoto," continued the Jade Empress "you are afforded safe passage and shelter in Jade territory, and the right to request an audience with royalty."
-
Verma bowed to the Emperess in gratitude for the gift, even as a part of her bristled at requesting an audience being a "privilege". Then again, whispered the voice that had been growing louder ever since Tanakol, one can't exactly gain audience with the Houses. What right do you have to judge a broken system when yours is just as broken, even if in different ways?
Setting her shoulders, she reached out to touch the armor, and the as her hand grazed the cool metal, the lights flickered. The armor was gone, and the plate she had been wearing, standard Imperial gear, was now...different.
The design was patterned and trimmed in white much like the yoroi armor, with purple and black shading. The cipher disc was on her right cauldron, and embossed into the breastplate was something Verma had never seen before. The gold laurels of the Imperium were there, but instead of the Star, they enclosed a stylized black vortex. From a far off distance, she thought she heard laughter.
Swallowing against the lump in her throat, she glanced back towards the dais. "Thank you for the gift, your Majesty. I will endeavor to wear it with honor."
-
The androids moved to inspect their armour, each giving it their own appraisal.
Malady, for her part, seemed to observe it simply as it was; an armour suit. Blight and Contagion already knew she would likely never wear all of it save occasions where she had no choice, but some of it could be expected.
For style if nothing else.
Contagion's analytical attitude kicked into play, the small android inspecting the similarly petite armour, inspecting thickness of the plating and its arrangement, systems and equipment, things like that. She'd likely be able to write an accurate technical manual on it by the end of the day, if her apparent love of crawling all over anything and everything technological was any indication.
Blight, for her part, simply grabbed the helmet, staring through the visor with a beaming grin, the android all but vibrating as she took in the thought of it. She'd heard about things like this, from the internet. She'd never dreamed anyone like her, a manufactured mercenary who's original handlers placed little value on her well-being, would be given a title like this, let alone her specifically.
Blight wondered if it meant she wouldn't have to worry about the company coming for them anymore.
Malady regarded the strange shift in Verma's armour, seemingly...absorbing the suit, with trepidation, while Blight was too distracted by her newfound gift.
Contagion had turned around, bowing to the Empress as she did so.
"You have our most sincerest gratitude, Your Majesty. We are most honou--" she started, cutting herself off and turning to stare at Verma as the lights flickered.
-
The court smiled appreciatively at Blight and Contagion's enthusiasm. A gift given and gratefully received was a good thing, and the mood visibly warmed...until Verma touched her gift. The lights flickered, causing a gasp and the clatter of metal as the solders' hands went to their weapons. When the lights stabilised and everyone got a good look at Verma, the clattering resumed, with the clicks and snaps of weapons being cocked and safeties being disengaged. Throughout the room, the dragon-helmed marines of the 1st had levelled their rosy crystalline weapons at Verma. Buntaro had stepped forwards, his own vitredur katana drawn and held ready.
Buntaro spoke, his voice surprisingly deep and filled with a taut anger.
"It is forbidden to practice magic in the presence of the Jade Empress. Explain the meaning of this at once!" he barked, glowering at Verma. To either side of them, on the mezzanine, quiet chanting broke the silence as yellow-robed Huoming monks began to sing in ancient East Wusian.
-
The Imperial huffed in offense. "Magic? What magic? I do not wield the Art, nor have I been called to the temples. Such things are beyond me." She glanced over at Mariko, a sly grin sliding across her face. "There was power at work here, I won't deny that, but there was no spell, no intonation. Just a god that thinks it's funny, and appears to feeling territorial. Or if you doubt me, why don't you ask your daughter about her new hairdo? I'm sure red and black is all the rage in the salons now."
-
The androids, meanwhile, seemed far from amused. Contagion watched silently, while Blight seemed the most angered, baring her metallic teeth.
"Hey! How often is this shadow thing of yours gonna cause us trouble, huh?" she demanded, stance as though rearing for a fistfight.
"First on the frigate, now here too? Is this gonna become a daily occurrence or something?!"
Malady, opposite, locked eyes with Blight, raising her hand slightly to tell her to stop, before her cold green gaze drifted to Verma.
"I'll believe you that you didn't do that voluntarily. But this Shadow, from what ive seen and been told, has so far proven to be more of a liability than anything."
-
Buntaro's sword flicked upwards, the blade already filling with light and hissing through the air when a sharp word from the Jade Empress stilled him. There was a moment's pause, during which Mariko stared daggers at Verma's smirking face, before the Jade Empress spoke in a quiet, calm voice, in Ingenious.
At first she did not take her eyes from Verma, but then she glanced at her mother and replied, also in Ingenious. There were murmurs of surprise from the surrounding court and a snort of contempt from Buntaro, but the Empress betrayed no reaction, simply responding in her measured, semi-monosyllabic tone.
Mariko nodded, and replied in common. "That's probably for the best," she said, deflated, then glanced at Verma.
"You're to leave the room," she said, a hint of remorse creeping into her tone against her will, but then she remembered what Verma had done and flushed angrily, turning her gaze away. Around them, the guards lowered their weapon from their shoulders, but still held them ready at the waist, the speartips menacing Verma silently.
-
Verma's eyes flashed violently and she took an angry step towards Blight, but came up short as the guards advanced. Biting off a snarl, she paused at Mariko's words, and pained look crossed her face. Swallowing she turned to the Empress and bowed deeply.
"My gratitude, your Majesty, for this audience, and for the hospitality of your halls. A blessing on your hearth and kin."
Then, with one last look at Mariko, she strode from the audience chamber.
-
Blight had, similarly, moved to engage in the most inappropriately timed bout of fisticuffs in the past century, but halted similarly as the guards moved. The android watched Verma leave, her crimson eyes remaining fixed on her until the doors closed behind her, finally relaxing and turning back to the others.
"My apologies, Your Highness. Nerves have been...tense, lately." she stated as she bowed, her voice remarkably formal.
"As my little sister said, we most graciously accept these gifts."
Malady let out a deep sigh, eyes shut as she returned to her formal stance, while Contagion turned and spared Mariko a concerned glance.
-
There was a faint sense of relief and suddenly the audience was all smiles again, even Buntaro neatly sheathing his sword as Verma bowed. The disruption was over and everyone was respecting propriety again, Verma being politely shown back to the antechamber by ingratiating courtiers as Takara turned her gaze to Blight and the others.
She spoke in common, inclining her head ever so slightly.
"They are less than you deserve for keeping my daughter safe. I thank you and your sisters, and look forwards to speaking with you further in future." she replied, subtly indicating that the android's interview was also over, although with much warmer feeling than Verma's abrupt exit. Mariko offered a bashful smile at the androids and mouthed thank you silently as they turned to leave, before Buntaro motioned for her to follow him, and he, Takara and a gaggle of monks and guards ascended into the Daimyo's quarters, which had been temporarily hijacked for the royal family.
-
The androids bowed in unison, Mariko's mouthed words replied with a wink and a smirk from Blight before the trio quietly made their exit, not speaking until the doors closed behind them.
"Don't be so belligerent, Blight."
"It's what I do, Mal."
"Dont call me that. And it's going to bite you in the ass some day."
"Yeah, well, at least I don't pretend otherwise."
With a grumble, Malady pushed first into the antechanber, the two following after.
-
The doors to the chamber shut behind Verma, and she paced back and forth, her hands tightening into fists the more she thought about what had just happened. Mariko's disdain she could understand, she'd thrown the poor girl under the speeder in front of the entire royal court. She'd have to apologize properly before they left here. Maybe snuff some candles, ask for some proper guidance, instead of just divine dickery...
But Blight! Fucking Blight. Where did she get off, with those insults? And so she stewed and paced, and by then the doors opened again. The moment Verma met those glowing red eyes, she reacted in the only way she could.
The definitive crunch of her fist colliding with Blight's nose filled the air, and as the android reeled back, Verma smiled for real, feeling the sharp burn of adrenaline and the thrill of a fight singing in her heart.
"Hey, Blight. Let's have a girl talk."
-
The other androids froze, Malady's foot sliding back as though rearing for a fight herself, while Contagion, who had been at the back, seemed more alarmed, stepping back in case Blight fell over.
Blight did not, however, fall over.
The android leant back, her head thrown back so her face was to the sky and her hair hung in the open.
Even so, they could see that Blight grinned.
"Oh, aye, alright. I think it's about time we aired our grievances!" she barked, the android lunging back into motion, an arm grabbing Verma's bicep as the android flung herself forward, their skulls colliding with an audible thud.
-
Verma staggered back, snarling and clutching at her forehead. "Grievances? How about we start with the part where you killed my fucking friend and haven't said a word about it since!"
Stepping back, she swept a leg out, aiming to knock the android down where she could beat on her some more. " Let's talk about how I haven't heard anything from you but ridicule and sarcasm!"
She lunged forward, swinging a broad right hook.
-
Blight took a step back, allowing Verma's leg to strike her forward one, impacting tensed synthetic muscle over a steel skeleton.
"Killed her?! The self destruct button and her own damn hand did that!" Blight snarled, stumbling and almost pirouetting as the right hook impacted her head.
"Let's not pretend you've done nothing to antagonise me, either!" she shot back, lunging back towards her with an uppercut aimed for the gut.
-
The Imperial's eyes widened and she faltered as Blight shot back with that reply. Then she let out a oof as Blight's blow connected and drove her back. Gasping for air, she looked up and saw Contagion, standing behind her sister, watching the two of them fight with glowing blue eyes. Then she lowered her head and charged forward, trying to knock Blight down again.
-
Blight met the charge, though she did slide back, grunting and baring her teeth. Still, she felt that balance wasn't on her side.
"You cut off my little sister's arm! You dug out her eye! To get at me!" she roared, allowing herself to topple back but swinging her leg forward in the process, attempting to knee Verma in the gut.
Malady's eyes widened and her face took on a serious expression, her head turning to look at Contagion. The smaller android did not return the look, however, instead pulling out a device and beginning to text someone on it.
-
Verma swayed back from the swing, but aimed a punishing elbow down at Blight's knee, then lunged with a right hook.
The android's words though, had much more of an impact, and Verma didn't strike as hard or as fast as she could've. "I...I..." Shaking her head, she continued the attack.
-
Blight let out a sharp cry, springing to her feet and lunging for Verma's face.
"You want me to apologise for your friend?" Blight hissed. "Then apologise to Tagie!"
Contagion lifted her device, snapping a photo of the brawl.
"You wanna explain?" Malady spoke softly.
"Later." Contagion muttered.
-
"Uff!"
Sprawling backwards, Verma lay on her back, panting as Blight loomed over her. After a tense moment of staring with her, Verma sighed and nodded, then rolled and pushed herself to her feet and limped over to Contagion.
"I..." She bit her lip and looked away. "I should never have done what I did. I lost myself in the anger, and you paid for it. I'm sorry, truly."
-
Contagion's eyes met Verma's, the small android staring up at her past the sharp black fringe as the taller woman spoke.
Her eyes turned downwards once she finished, seemingly thinking for a moment.
Then, she looked back up.
"Mm." she nodded. "We...were enemies then, if briefly."
And at that moment Blight's hand fell on Verma's shoulder, the android's strength turning her around.
"Then...I am sorry for getting your friend killed. I never intended to kill her, nor for her to self destruct her mech. I try not to think about the things I've done, intentionally or not. I'd barely be able to sleep if I did."
-
Verma laughed softly, a miserable and tired thing. "Hired guns, soldiers, doesn't matter. We've all got blood on our hands and cracks in our souls."
A look up at Blight, and a sad grin. "So. Think we can move on, then? Something less than friends, something more than just allies?"
-
Blight smirked, though it didn't hold the energy it often did.
"Something of the sort, at least. We can stop snapping at each other at every turn at any rate, huh?" she chuckled.
-
The door crashed open and Mariko barged in, wide-eyed. She was wearing a plain white kimono without adornment, and the black and red streaks were gone from her hair.
"What the fuck is going on!?" she demanded incredulously
-
"They were having a fight, as I told you." Contagion stated calmly, looking up at Mariko.
"Verma has been upset about your friend...Katrina, and Blight has been upset about me." she explained, Blight giving a nod of confirmation.
-
Verma, from where she was sitting on a bench as she leaned back against a wall, simply gave chuckled slightly. "Yeah, you could call it that. We had ourselves a bit of a dust-up and settled some issues."
She looked over Mariko and sighed. "While I'm admitting my faults, I should include you. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have just thrown you under the bus like that. Couldn't have been easy, especially in front of all those high and mighty muckety-mucks. I imagine I've more than outstayed my welcome here."
-
Mariko scowled for a moment, then shrugged. "That was pretty lame of you, yeah. But they would have figured it out either way."
She slumped down onto a chair. "I just got my own personal sermon. The citrus fruits and my parents work pretty hard to get rid of that blessing...or curse, whatever you want to call it, the Shadow laid on me. I guess it's just a day for wrapping up unfinished business."
-
"On the note of unfinished business...do we have any left?" Blight asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know what business you had to begin with." Malady shrugged.
"I'd say we could have a beach day but I fear it would end much the same way as our visit to the bathhouse." Tagie grumbled.
"Didn't even get an hour in the baths..."
"Aye, maybe, but I suspect the locals might be a little more...on guard for that to go off as easily." Blight added.
-
Verma yawned and stretched. "Honestly, I'd rather get going. Hey, Mariko, did your mom give us anything to do, or do we need to go search the merc boards for a job? Hell, on that matter, is your mom even gonna let you go with us?"
-
Mariko sighed. "Yeah, about that...I think I have to stay here for a while. Maybe I can rejoin you later but I have a lot of catching up to do, and I don't think my parents want to let me out of their sight right now..."
Twitching her nose to mask her upset, she flicked on her holo and began offering a file for transfer.
"The JIAN does have a job for you though, if you're interested. Apparently an old Poleisi relic has been unearthed on some planet near the Golden Expanse, Kortende I think it's called. It's a mystical horn or something, but they think the Merger are going after it and they're offering a bounty to anyone who can retrieve it. Might be a good lead for you guys..."
-
The first response was a 'hmph' from Blight.
"Get made your bodyguards and you're kickin' us out so soon, huh?" she remarked, though it was accompanied by a smirk as she leant on a wall.
"Are you sure you would like us going on such a task? If your intelligence agency is looking for help, I doubt it is any run of the mill mercenary posting." Contagion added, her voice its usual formal flat.
"Well. It's more in the line of what we usually do." Malady sighed.
"What we usually do is shoot up goons, to be fair, not go on treasure hunts." Blight retorted.
"It might be an interesting deviation." Contagion added, though she took a step towards Mariko.
"If you would like one of us to stay, though, that would also be fine." she added, gesturing to...the group in general.
-
Verma snorted at Contagion's last suggestion. "Welp, that certainly won't be me. Pretty sure if I stay, they'll ship me home in a box. Gotta say though, I'm a bit bummed out by you not going with us. We'll keep in touch, though. Can't leave our favorite princess without moral support when she gets mobbed by all those muckety-mucks."
At the name Poleisi, Verma wrinkled her nose. "Damn, I hate those guys. I ever tell you I was at Vas Neelan? Phalanx my ass, they should've called them sniper squads. Except your average sniper doesn't have ten buddies and an energy shield that laughs at you. I just hope their relics aren't as much of a pain in the ass as their soldiers."
-
Some days later
Mariko was already restless. Her friends had left to go on this new treasure hunt, headed to some backwater planet to prevent an ancient Poleisi artefact from falling into the wrong hands, though which hands those were had been left somewhat ambiguous and Mariko suspected the 'wrong hands' may have been Poleisi.
Regardless, after more than a year of journeying, she was finally 'home', among her own people and the familiar sights and lights of the Jade Empire, even if it was a colony world countless lightyears from the glittering jewel that was Laptev. Divested of her armour and weapons, she was wearing normal clothing once more, and she realised it felt a little strange to her. Odd, since at the start of her journey she had barely known what to do with the handgun Takamo had lent her. She had come a long way, but she sensed she had a long, long way to go yet.
Perhaps she would go visit her big brother - apparently he had become embroiled in some struggle over a nearby native planet, Mershand or something similar....
High Imperium - Verma, House Jaros
Mercenaries - Contagion, Blight, Malady, Androids
'GARDEN OF LIGHTS' BATHHOUSE, TAKABARA CITY, SANRIN
The Garden Of Lights was a beautiful complex. Elegant tea houses, beautiful pools and springs, saunas hidden within cherry trees, exotic blue-vined bushes, luminescent giant mushrooms, and lanterns and lights of many different kinds. It was evening, and the gentle glow of a hundred lights glinted off the mirror-smooth surface of the outdoor spring that Mariko, Blight and Verma were lounging beside.
Mariko was trailing her toes in the water, revelling in the cool feeling. It was strange; although she had gotten used to her own appearance, seeing her countryfolk with their new glimmering skin and curving horns was still a shock to her, but otherwise everything felt just like it had at home in the Laptev System. Barely visible in the shadows, the hulking form of a Dragon Banner warrior stood silent guard over the relaxing women. This one was called Kunnu, and he didn't speak much. Mariko wondered if she would see Vox again, the Dragon who had tried to save her from her would-be kidnappers all that time ago.
Mariko took a sip from a cup of exquisite sake, chewing absently on a dried slice of mango. They were waiting for Tagie; the local IdaiTech office had had surprisingly good news for them, as Tony Idai himself had been in the area on other business, something about Artificians. He had personally worked with Blight on Tagie's new form. They had agreed to bring Tagie to the hot springs and waken her there; the theory was that it was a more relaxing environment and that immersion in water would help her flex her new muscles and tendons. In the meantime, Blight and Verma had both been given substantial bounties by the local governor for their assistance to the Princess, and in the city they were something like celebrities, people flocking to see the exotic strangers who had journeyed alongside the nation's sweetheart.
-
Blight had taken to life in the Empire, as ultimately brief as it was likely going to be, like a fly to a bug zapper. An android spat out of a manufacturing line, handed a sword and armour and flung off into the galaxy to make her parent company money, Blight was hardly used to luxury. As much as they tended to make, a chunk of it went to the company, and Malady or Contagion usually had more practical uses for the rest.
The idea of going to a place like this, let alone on somebody else's paycheck, had been but a pipe dream to the android. So, out of the three, she had all but melted into the lounge chair, sunglasses shielding her eyes and lazily dressed in a kimono, simply enjoying the relaxing energy of the place. She hadn't taken quite as much to the tea houses though not to say she didnt enjoy them--Mariko had seen Blight chug a drink in one go that'd threaten to instantly give any human cardiac arrest--but was all over the baths and springs.
For similar reasons to why she had never expected to experience luxury, Blight also took to their degree of popularity, responding to people trying to get a look at the android with the same casual, occasionally flirty attitude she responded to many things with.
Still, when a door opened and a hovering gurney carrying the dormant form of Contagion, as soon as she saw what it was the android became a blurred mass of flailing limbs, righting herself in an instant as she straightened out the kimono, haphazardly dropping the sunglasses on a nearby table before bounding over with barely contained enthusiasm, muttering 'Tagietagietagietagietagietagie' the whole way in an excited voice.
Contagion was dressed similarly, her hair having been done up in a bun with crossed sticks, possibly to keep it out the way during transport, her eyes shut and mouth very slightly open, as though asleep. Blight positively buzzed with excitement, reaching for the system boot up button as soon as it was pointed out to her.
One after another, Contagion's joints jolted very slightly, a muffled flash of blue light appearing through her closed eyes, before her mouth closed.
Then, the android opened her eyes, the blue irises drifting to settle on her big sister.
"Blight..." she murmured, Blight looking as though she were about to fire into orbit.
"Tagie! I was so worried about you! Never do anything like that ever ever ever again, alright?" she blurted out, helping the smaller android to her feet.
"Okay..." Tagie nodded softly, her eyes rising and settling on the others as she unsteadily found her balance.
"I'm...happy to see everyone is okay."
-
Quality drinks, great weather, friends....Verma was having a blast. Well, that and racked with anxiety, constantly expecting some official to interrupt their vacation and give the gang a "minor" task that would snowball into a catastrophe. Mind, she wasn't complaining about the R&R in the meantime, but since her life had apparently turned into a second-rate action vid series, she might as well keep herself mentally aware.
Lately, she found her thoughts continually turning towards what the Shadow had revealed on the ship. Her home was under attack, and no doubt the Houses had called every able servant to serve. All the while, she ignored that call and sipped tea and went to a spa. Yet, she couldn't find it in herself to regret that. The Houses had prompted the war that led to the exile. They were the source of the rot that was eating her people alive, and having been so close to that disease, she could see the stain of it here in the Empire. It was subtle, she had to give the Jade that much, but it was still there in the vast disparity of wealth from the samurai to the plebeians. Thankfully, not her concern, though she might drop a word in Mariko's ear about it later.
Stretching, she got to her feet and came over to Contagion. "Hey there. Nice to see you up and about. Next time you decide to take a dip in hyperspace though, let me know first. I'm sure I can figure out more...entertaining methods of distraction than melting your chassis." Popping her neck, she turned towards Mariko. "Hey, did you get an update on the ship, by the way?"
-
Mariko followed Blight, offering a broad beaming smile as Tagie's eyes flickered open. As the android found her balance, Mariko threw her arms around her, hugging her tight.
"Thanks to you! You saved us all, Tagie!"
She stepped back, tucking a strand of freshly red-tinted hair behind her ear and glancing at Blight, her face effused with happiness. She heard a shoji door sliding shut and turned to see Tony Idai's silhouette walking away. In the excitement she hadn't even realised it was him who had delivered her friend, but his presence certainly explained how quickly they had built her new body and suggested it would be a damned good one at that.
"How are you feeling? New you?" she said, laughing at her own joke before turning to Verma.
"The fleet has some guys working on fixing it now, but...well Kunnu said they're probably gonna take a while because they'll want to assess it all first. 'Captured' tech and all that."
-
Contagion seemed...surprised, at Mariko's hug, followed by Blight in short order, all but burying the small android in woman.
Still, after a second she settled into the embrace, seeming almost disappointed at its end.
"My...systems are still waking up, but I feel...refreshed." she explained. "Still, it's...odd, to use a place like this to wake up an android."
"Ah, they mentioned something about it being refreshing and good to wash off and stretch your brand new legs. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Blight teased, tugging on one of the android's cheeks.
-
Mariko grinned and pinched the other cheek, the two ragdolling the poor android a little.
"Look at you! Already asking questions and poking holes,"
She stepped back and gestured at the pool. "Yeah they said you might be wobbly at first, water's meant to help with that. And hey, it's not the worst place to be anyway right?"
-
Contagion made a noise of displeasure as her face contorted before being released. As she rubbed her cheek, she looked at the bath.
"Yeah! Let's all go for a dip, eh?" Blight grinned, all but springing back to the bath edge.
"Erm...alright, I see the logic in it." Contagion nodded softly, following.
-
Mariko followed both of them, diving in to the clear, warm water with an inelegant splash and a whoop of joy as she surfaced, her skin and onibi glowing through the inky black water and merging with the glinting light on the rippling water.
It was such a simple pleasure but Mariko revelled in it, letting her mind empty as she just enjoyed the moment.
-
Verma simply laughed and slipped into the pool with the others, leaning back and sipping at her tea. There'd be time for missions and fighting and blood later. For now, it was good to relax with friends.
In the nearby foliage, the soldier checked his rifle one last time, then glanced at his companions and gestured for them to take positions. The traitorous bitch would suffer for her crimes against House Jaros, and her companions would make for a good bonus. The princess could always be sold to other interests, and the Project had specifically requested both of the androids for certain initiatives they were working on.
-
Mariko knew Verma had tea, not alcohol, in her cup but that was fine - in the couple of weeks they had been on Sanrin, they had truly had the chance to be themselves. No threats, no fear, no worry about where they were going or where they had been. It had been a bonding experience for the three women just as much as the battles and contracts they had seen through.
She glanced down into the water, at her toes, and frowned. She thought she saw a dark shape down there, which surprised her, but for a second she wrote it off as one of the rocks that made up the bottom of the springs.
Then it moved.
She yelped and scrambled backwards, unceremoniously clambering out of the water and onto the smooth wooden deck. From the shadows, Kunnu stepped forwards, instantly alert, as the waters began to churn. Kunnu stared down into the waters, his HUD piercing the inky depths, then reached for his weapons.
"Run." he said simply, taking a step forwards, but suddenly from a rock garden behind him there was a rumbling sound and a figure sprang forth, looking for all the world like a hulking samurai but formed of jagged, shifting black crystal. It swung a huge blade at Kunnu that he barely caught with a heavily armoured vambrace, thrown backwards, righting himself with his thrusters and landing heavily, cracking the wooden deck beneath him even as dark forms began to surge up from the bottom of the pool.
Outside, shadowy figures in heavy robes and cloaks rushed past the soldiers of House Jaros, not seeing them. Giving one another boosts, they clambered over an exterior wall and slipped quietly into the grounds of the Garden Of Lights. From what brief glimpses the soldiers caught of them, they looked to be Yokari, but with black and red facepaint over their natural colours, their glowing onibi orbs unnaturally dimmed and a sickly purple-blue hue
-
"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckshitdamnfuckstardammit!" Verma's liberal string of profanities echoed into the night as she jumped out of the pool, before grabbing Blight and Contagion and dragging them out of the pool as well. "Alright, let's get the fuck out of here!"
From the woods, there was a flare of light, before something akin to a lightning bolt hammered into the walls, shattering them to their foundations and flinging the sickly looking Yokari aside as the Jaros troopers charged into the newly made breach, screaming warcries. Behind them, the 10 man squad of Legionnaires packed away the lance cannon they'd used to bring down the wall, then drew their guns and advanced wordlessly.
-
"Yeah, fuck fuck, I'm getting out!" Blight snarled as Verma pulled her out, scrambling to cover herself as Contagion was deposited on the pool edge with an unceremonious splat, managing to right herself. The smaller android found herself pushed forward by Blight as they ran to keep pace, the taller android yelling in alarm--and promptly following it up with an honestly biting insult yelled over her shoulder--as the wall of the wall to the bathhouse exploded.
Damn it all! She should've seen this coming, Malady was gonna have her rubberised ass on a silver platter if she heard she'd let her guard down like this. Tagie had an excuse.
Still, she didn't want to run without doing something. Catching the weird crystal samurai fighting their--or, more specifically, Mariko's--bodyguard out of the corner of her eye, she decided sending him the impacting equivalent of an android's harshly worded letter. Scooping a decently, roughly head-sized stone into her hands Blight turned her sprint into a spin.
"Hey asshole, try this on for size!" she yelled, flinging the stone at the being's head before stumbling back into a run.
-
The giant crystal form raised its massive dai-katana just as Blight punted the rock towards it. There was a shattering sound like window breaking, and a chunk of the figure came apart, shards of obsidian material crumbling from its shoulder. Kunnu wasted no time, lashing forwards with a hardlight blade that extended from nowhere to bisect the figure. As it toppled, he caught its sword one-handed and boosted himself across the pool, firing a handgun with his off-hand to punch holes in the first hideous crab-like sea monster that erupted from the once-placid waters.
Wordlessly he passed the monstrous blade to Blight, reasoning that it would not affect her greatly as an android and, even if it did, the safety of the Princess was paramount. He flicked the safety on his pistol, a 12.7mm semi-automatic railgun that was designed for use by a power-armoured body, and tossed it to Verma. "Go. I will hold these monsters." he said, turning to face the rising tide of pincers, foetid maws, tentacles and unholy flesh that boiled over the lip of the sauna.
Mariko took a distraught final look at the figure, silhouetted by the scarlet light of his blade, surrounded by horrors, as she led her friends through a narrow polished wood corridor and into the cloistered walkway at the edge of another courtyard, and pulled up short. It was chaos. A hole had been blown in the wall, and yokari were fighting a desperate, losing battle against alien figures in spiked, curved armour of silver and purple. She only registered after a moment that the yokari were a sickly hue, their onibi almost invisible, but perhaps that was something these aliens had done to them? The aliens must be Merger Cultists of some kind, it made no sense otherwise.
But then five of the sickly yokari spotted the women and, yelling excitedly, rushed at them, two firing at them from a distance whilst three rushed forwards with sharp vitredur honokatana...
Outside, some of the yokari turned, ducking into cover in a small garden and along a covered storefront walkway to return fire, trying to pin down the legionnaires as they decamped and fiddled with their lance cannon. One ducked behind cover and began muttering in a strange language, neither Ingenious nor Common, nothing visible of her but a green glow.
On the far side of the bathhouse, Gerard Canillac glanced at his colleague, a towering figure in black and white armour chased with gold and a helmet shaped like a medieval tower. One of the engimatic Chessmen, the secret order of knights fighting for the Conclave, he was an imposing man who spoke little.
"What in the name of the sacred yew is going on?" he hissed, as gunfire and screams filled the night air.
The Rook remained impassive, staring towards the bathhouse. Canillac grunted and looked behind him at the dozen other yokari with him. Like him, they all hailed from Neusattar, and were fighting for the planet's independence. They had hoped to kidnap the Princess to use as leverage, but nothing was ever easy. Canillac was frustrated because not only was it possible someone was trying to kill their bargaining chip, but also their own window to take her was closing. They had chosen tonight because a sympathiser in the 31st Regiment, stationed in the city, was deliberately obfuscating the QRF, buying them crucial minutes that were now being wasted as someone else engaged in a gunfight in the bathhouse.
But without the Rook's cooperation, all Canillac could do was wait...
-
Blight caught the oversized blade, grinning as she felt its weight.
"Oh, I think I'm gonna like this one..." she chuckled to herself as they ran indoors. The life of the Dragon Banner Warrior was of ultimately little concern to the android, but the longer he could fight those things, the longer they didn't have to worry about them.
The five men attacking them, however, were her concern. Moving to the front as she twirled the sword once, Blight turned just enough to bring one of her red eyes into view.
"Keep them off my back, Verma." she stated simply, before dashing ahead, gripping the blade in both hands. The first to reach her's sword went wide as Blight dropped into a slide, kicking the cultist back and off his feet, finding himself half the man he used to be before he reached the ground again as the blade cut him clean in twain. The second met her sword with a clash of blades, Blight forcing the blades both low as she twisted it in her hands.
A sudden twirl deprived him of both one arm and his sword, the matter rendered moot as she came back around and split his head from his neck.
The third barely got to take a swing before a sharp kick from the android launched the sword from his hand, Blight bringing the blade around to sever both his arms, booting him in the other's direction.
"He's yours!"
-
Verma leveled the pistol smoothly before blowing the man's brains out with a thunderous crack. There was a flicker at the edge of her vision and she ducked back from the sweeping edge of another one's sword before kicking out and breaking his kneecap. Smashing the barrel of the pistol into the yokari's skull, she drew a bead on the last one and fired a shot clean through his chest, grinning slightly as he toppled backwards.
Looking into the courtyard, she blanched when she noticed the Jaros troopers fighting the other yokari. From the looks of it, along with the screams, the troopers were getting the worst of it as the others closed in to melee and went to work. Grimacing at the sight, she turned away. "Alright, let's uh...maybe not go that way. Mariko, do we have another exit point?" Just then the percussive thuds of Legion-issue weapons sounded in the distance, and she swore again. "And things just got worse. Great."
Further back, the Legionnaires opened fire at the yokari, blasts of plasma shearing into their cover, while two of the soldiers grabbed the cannon and hauled it around, the building whine of the capacitors filling the air as it charged.
-
The Rook's impassive helm turned towards the sound of the Jaros crewed gun opening fire again. After a moment, he raised a gauntleted finger, pointing in the direction of the sound.
"Take out that gun. I will retrieve the Princess." came the booming voice, synthesized through the helmet, unnecessarily loud to Gerard's mind. He scowled, but again there was little point in protesting the decisions of the enigmatic figure so he simply turned and began ordering his rebels to move out.
Out in the open, the Legionnaires were making short work of the cultists, their superior firepower and training battering them into cover and dropping them like flies as they ducked for cover. One of them finally thought to kick in the door of the diner behind them, and the survivors scurried inside, firing from the darkness within and spreading out into the other buildings, few as they were, leaving a trail of corpses behind them as the Legionnaires cut them down.
Suddenly the Legionnaires came under attack from another direction, however, as from the south a half-dozen healthier-looking yokari in a variety of dark and urban camos, with carry rigs, combat caps and heavy coats opened up a sudden fire, heralded by a pair of high-explosive grenades hurled towards the gun emplacement. These attackers seemed much more organised and competent, and all wore an armband of dark yellow to identify themselves. They called out brusquely to one another in a strange language, neither Ingenious nor Common, as they launched their attack, firing what looked like conventional munitions that hit hard and fast.
Mariko had little better idea of where to go than her friends, having never been to the Sanrin System before herself, but at the far end of the cloister a scared-looking attendant slid a door open and waved frantically at them. Mariko tugged at Verma's sleeve and began to run, stumbling as a shot punched a hole in a pillar a few inches from her head.
They piled through the door and the attendant led them through a laundry room and out into another garden, towards another building. Mariko could see the main gates ahead and to the left, and reasoned the man was trying to lead them safely through the building towards the exit rather than out in the open where they would eventually cross the line of sight of the aliens and yokari fighting in the courtyard of the last building.
Just as they reached the veranda of the new building, however, its double doors slid open to reveal a towering figure, nearly 7 feet tall. He was dressed in glimmering white plate armour chased in gold, with a blank helmet crenellated like a medieval tower. At his side was a huge rotary cannon, already spinning as the doors opened, and a burst of 20mm SAPHEI rounds sprayed towards them. The attendant leading them simply disintegrated in a grim mist of gore and flame, only his legs left to topple to the ground, before the hail of bullets tracked over Mariko's head and at the three women behind her.
Behind them, the cultist yokari threw themselves into the attack against the Jaros troops that had made it inside the compound, seemingly heedless of death or injury even as plasma blasts cooked them alive, slashing viciously with their blades and firing at point-blank range.
-
Yelping, Verma ducked down behind a bush, risking a peek to look at the bastard showering them with bullets. He was huge, that was for sure, and the armor looked thick enough to bounce anything that wasn't an anti-armor or...she blinked and looked down at the gun in her hand, then eyed their attacker again. The breastplate was likely extra armored, as was the head, especially with that ridiculous decoration. But the neck -
Leaning out slightly, she leveled the pistol square at the knight's neck, at the junction between the helmet and the top of the breastplate, before emptying the clip in a series of concussive booms.
As the new yokari attacked, the lance cannon was brought about in a searing arc of fire, and the soldiers not manning the gun laid down suppressive fire, even as two of them toppled backwards with fatal wounds from the enemy barrage. Elsewhere in the gardens, the troopers bled and died, even as the cultists were butchered in droves. This continued until at last, their resolve broken by the insane assault, the Jaros troopers broke and fled, the stragglers being swiftly cut down and mangled.
-
As the hulking mass of armour and gun appeared and the barrels of his weapon lined up, Mariko would feel a sudden and abrupt weight slamming into her, tackling her out of view.
It was Contagion, the heavier-than-she-looked android now clamped firmly around the princess' waist, seemingly waiting to see if their attacker decided to stop spitting bullets.
Blight, for her part, swore, stumbling out of the way of the gun and out of sight.
"Motherfucker! Who the hell did we piss off for this many bastards to come knocking at once?!" she yelled. Just a few minutes ago they were all enjoying a nice bath, why couldn't that have stayed? Why couldn't all these bastards wait until tomorrow to ruin their collective days?
Blight growled and bared her teeth, grabbing an ornamental vase.
"Hey, asshole! You think you're hot shit?! Then come fight me with your damn fists!" she yelled, leaning into view long enough to fling the object at the hulking form's head.
Outside, yet another party arrived. Slinking quietly between buildings, footfall-softening pads and active camouflage cloaks quieting their movements and shielding them from the unwary eye, concealing rifles and visors. As they neared the wall of the bathhouse, they stopped, many dropping into crouches and watching their perimeter.
"Operation lead. Intel correct; other hostile elements in region. Collective arrival unexpected. Active contact confirmed, number of active elements unknown." one spoke into their collective net, no words being spoken verbally.
"Understood." the silver-haired lead nodded once. "Our plan remains unchanged. Team A will secure our exit. Team B, with me. We hop the wall and secure our targets. Watch your fire, we want them unharmed."
"Understood."
"Move out."
Just as silently as they had arrived they resumed motion, the unit splitting in half. Several of them slunk quietly towards the bathhouse entrance while the others reached the wall, the first few to clamber over it bringing cables the rest used to follow over the wall.
For now, the apparent Team A was content to watch, to allow their enemies to butcher each other at no expenditure of their own.
Team B, led by the silver haired figure, noted the commotion near the entrance.
"Contacts spotted. Disruption in exfiltration, likely."
"Understood. Bump them off, quick and quiet. Subsonic. Keep moving." the silver-haired figure nodded. The force continued moving at a steady but in no way hastened pace, and then, with the quietened rattle of railrifle fire, loosed bursts of fire, aimed for the heads of the Merger cultists in the bathhouse perimeter.
-
In the courtyard, the giant figure stumbled backwards as the high-powered rounds crashed into the armour. One punched through its neck in a shower of sparks and blood, and in response the giant head turned its blank face towards Verma, the trail of gunfire following its unseen gaze and stitching a path of tiny eruptions on the ground that raced towards her. Blight's vase crashed against an armoured shoulder and shattered, unnoticed, much like the newcomers slipping over the wall to the north of them.
The Merger cultists inside the bathouse, those that survived, were taken aback by the arrival of the mercenaries, caught in a crossfire as they tried to move away from the bloodbath and towards Mariko, their prey. The last handful that had survived the battle against the Jaros attackers were cut down, added to the gruesome piles that littered the courtyard, but as Team B rounded the corner to find the giant battling with the sisters, the corpses began to twitch.
Disgusting forms began to take shape out of the carnage, long unnatural tentacles formed from gore and detritus lashing out at the mercenaries from pools of ichor whilst other ruined bodies formed themselves into foul imitations of life, scrambling on damaged or reshaped limbs towards the mercenaries even as here and there the wreckage of a face could be seen on the abominations, howling with rage, moaning in pain or screaming in sheer terror as they were shambolically propelled to the attack.
Outside, taking advantage of the momentary distraction, the cultist completed his chant and, with an abrupt scream, exploded. From within him sprang another crystalline demon, eight feet tall, which broke through the railings of the patio deck and stepped onto the street, bellowing incoherently before rushing the Jaros gun emplacement with its dark sword raised high.
Canillac and his remaining men, hammered by the Jaros gun, fell back. "This is a clusterfuck! Abort! Rook do you hear me?" he yelled as they retreated
-
The copious amounts of swearing did nothing to hide Verma as she sprinted from cover, trying to avoid the fire. Dropping behind a chunk of shattered masonry, she looked over to Mariko and the others. They were effectively pinned, with no options for getting out. A flicker caught her eye, and she glanced behind the group to see the new intruders arrive. "And me out of ammo." she muttered.
The lance cannon thundered again and again as the demon came on, before its blade cleaved through the barrel. The resulting blast flung aside the soldiers who had been manning the weapon, hurling them against the nearby wall like broken toys. The remaining Legionnaires ceased fire against the Conclave troops and instead started to barrage the beast with plasma fire before one of them dropped his shotgun, the lights along the barrel pulsing an ominous red and drawing a sword from his hip and roaring as he charged to meet it.
"THE DAWN COMES!"
-
The assortment of camouflaged androids sneered as the cultists rose as monsters even as they gunned them down, a few being cut off their feet by lashing tendrils or caught in grapples by the twisted undead.
"Targets performing unclear reanimation. Abilities unclear, likely varied."
"Volt grenades authorised. Rifles to full power."
"Understood."
With audible clacks and whirrs of energy the mercenaries' railrifles went from near-silent to rattling with loud, echoing bursts as they now fired at full velocity, aiming to cut down the monsters as they themselves backed up. A couple drew grenades and tossed them into the midst of the former cultists, each dispersing a particle cloud through which anything that moved was subjected to a fierce electrical strike.
As for the figure leading them, she had moved away, stepping into the building through a side door. Chaos and bloodshed, like everywhere else in this hellhole of a bathhouse.
And a towering armed figure between her and the people she was after.
Blight swore, fingers fidgeting on the grip of her sword. She could get close, maybe, but that was a damn big gun. Even with its attention turned to Verma, there was no guarantee she could get to it before it got its gun on her, and even built as she was, Blight was in no hurry to find out how resistant she was to 20mm fire.
Her guess was 'not much'.
However, she caught something moving behind the armoured giant, a much more slender figure, glowing green eyes piercing the dark of the late evening. They raised two arms, lining them up, before they spoke.
"You're in my way."
Hand cannons, one in each hand, flashed bright, aimed for the back of the Rook's head.
-
The demon staggered as the gun exploded, cracks appearing in its crystalline body, and it seemed taken aback as the Jaros soldier rushed it. The giant nodachi it carried cut the air with a humming noise as it swang overhead, missing the agile warrior as he charged the Corruption entity, but it recovered quickly, barging forwards with its shoulder, hoping to knock the man down...
Behind it, the few surviving Cultists cheered, finding fresh energy as they swarmed back to the windows and opened fire on the Jaros troops. From the corner of the small plaza, Canillac watched, even as one over-zealous Cultist poked her head over a railing and was snagged in the neck for her troubles by a Jaros sharpshooter.
"By thunder!" muttered one of his comrades, "They've summoned an actual demon! We have to do something!"
Canillac turned to squint in disbelief. "What, for the sake of some foreigners?"
The man met his gaze, faltering momentarily before setting his jaw angrily. "Yes. Corruption doesn't recognise borders. We have to help them."
Canillac was silent for a second before rolling his eyes and cursing. "You're right, sod it all you're right. Okay, through here!"
The five surviving Pikemen kicked in the door to the corner store they were sheltering behind and moved to the windows. They didn't have a great line of sight to the action, but they had enough of one to lay suppressing fire on the remaining Merger Cultists, giving the Jaros men time to deal with the demon in front of them. Puffs of smoke and debris danced around the Cultists who began yelling in surprise, turning their plasma weapons south towards the Conclave fighters....
The electrical strikes seemed to do little, if anything creating a greater frenzy of twitching and burnt flesh, but the railrifles were a different matter. They punched at the tide of limbs and bone, eliciting hideous squeals and snarls, pathetic yelps and furious roars.
Even as the droids watched, some of the monstrosities slithered away, slipping under decks, over walls or into shadows, leaving behind piles of gore that had been beaten and battered beyond the uses of even the most compelling otherworldly energies.
The newcomer's mistake was to announce herself. As she spoke, the figure in front of her straightened its back and bellowed, a blast of psionic energy rippling outwards like a shockwave, throwing off her aim and sending the bullets wide.
Like lightning he turned, hurling the huge minigun one-handed as his other hand reached for a warhammer at his hip, a squat and ugly looking weapon, and closed on the newcomer...
-
While Verma remained huddled in cover, desperately looking for anything that could get them out of this mess, outside the garden the Jaros soldiers rallied and continued to volley near point-blank blasts at the monster. Two of them started to also hurl grenades at it, hoping to cripple it. Closer in, the Legionnaire with the sword slipped inside the demon's guards and activated the plasma field on the blade.
Dodging a lumbering swipe of the monster's claws, he lunged forward, the blade outstretched to pierce its heart, if indeed it had one at all. You never could tell with these sorts of abominations.
-
The newcomer dropped low to evade the thrown weapon, tossing her own hand cannons aside. Unlike the Rook's, however, cables lashed out from a device on her back, magnetising to the butts of the pistols' grips and reeling them back to their holsters.
With a calculated precision, the figure rose back to her full height with a slide of a boot, glowing green eyes fixed on the powered form as she raised her hands in a fighting stance, one shoulder forward.
As for the other androids, Contagion finally saw fit to let go of Mariko, crawling to stay on all fours to peek at the fight.
Blight, on the other hand, leapt at the opportunity, springing down the hall with all the haste she could muster, the crystalline flat of her blade glinting red and blue in the light of the moon and its master, hanging low as she swung wide, aiming for his waist.
As for the androids outside they moved, forming a ring around their side of the building, watching and waiting.
-
The crystalline figure batted away the grenades with deft, swirling strokes of its dark sword, the explosives shuddering the street as they detonated in mid-air overhead, but the distraction allowed the footsoldier to prove the age-old maxim that point beats edge, lunging his sword into the demon's chest.
The entity let out a bellow of fury, staggering backwards and wrenching itself off the blade. As the Jaros soldier watched, faint green-purple cracks began to spread outwards from the wound. The figure sagged for a moment, before whipping its sword in a practiced, deliberate movement to regain its form, even if it seemed unsteady. As it bought the sword around, a shower of tiny crystalline shards burst from the leading edge, whipping in an arc at the two-grenade throwers.
Taking a moment, it advanced on the swordsman again, raising its massive dai-katana for a killing blow from above, but this time it seemed slower. The Jaros swordsman had spent enough time on the practice mats to recognise the cocked left elbow which suggested the overhead was a feint and that the blade would drop at the last second for an upward cut, which the Jade called 'kiriage'
Behind them, the last few Cultists scattered, driven away by the surprise Conclave attack. There was no movement from the south end of the plaza, however, the exhausted and depleted secessionists simply watching as the remaining Jaros troops struggled against the demon...
Inside the walls, Verma could see the 'droids approaching from the north-west, the closest one only 6 feet away on the other side of a thick ornamental hedge and low stone wall she was using for cover. The enemy and the newcomer had disappeared inside the building, where clashes and crashes betrayed their ongoing fight.
Mariko took advantage of the respite to pull out her Holo - she placed a call, whispering urgently in Ingenious next to Contagion.
Inside the building, the Rook levelled his hammer at the newcomer and unleashed another psionic blast, a wave of sheer force designed to throw her down or unbalance her before he surged forward with surprising speed, his hammer ploughing through a wall as he swung at her with a feint before the spike on the hammer's head drove upwards at her chin.
Blight's aim seemed perfect until the last moment - the Rook seemed almost incidentally to move just out of reach of her swing, the crystalline blade humming as it cut through the wall behind him without pausing in the slightest. Blight felt a curious sensation in the blade as it shuddered in her hands the closer it got to the enemy, though why she could not tell...
-
The shards launched from the edge of the demon's blade sheared into the soldiers who had hung back, slicing through the thick plate like paper and sending body parts flying as the two men came apart in something that was halfway between an explosion of gore and a sickening collapse.
Undaunted, and seeing that the shotgun fire was having minimal effect the others rallied and charged to join their comrade. Dropping to the side and rolling away from the demon, the Legionnaire swept his sword down in a chopping motion at the grotesque legs the thing stood on, hoping to cripple it.
-
The newcomer stumbled as the Rook likely intended from the blast, springing on her heel backward as he swung for her head, backflipping a little less graciously than she would have liked back onto her feet, narrowly avoiding the weapon as the spike clipped her fringe.
That hammer was going to be a pain. She was confident in her abilities to kill power armour--contending with psionic shock hammers was a field she had less experience in.
Baring her teeth the android sprinted forth once again, bounding into a high kick aiming to remove the weapon from the Rook's hand.
As for Blight, she bared her own teeth as the blade missed its mark, entirely failing to notice the rent it had effortlessly cut in the wall.
Someone blocking or simply having the armour to tank a hit from her was one thing. Someone clad in that much metal simply evading by happenstance was taken by Blight as a personal insult.
Snarling lowly, the android carried the momentum, spinning with a whip of her hair and robe as she brought the crystalline nodachi around, rearing it with both hands before bodily lunging forth, spearing the blade out first, aiming to run the man clean through the waist.
As for Contagion, all too aware she had no part in this fight, she stayed by Mariko's side, trying to listen.
-
There was a shattering noise as the blade punched through the knees of the crystalline monstrosity. The plasma of the blade flared in a bright burst and then died, overloaded, the sword smoking faintly, but it had done its job. The demon collapsed on broken legs, its body shattering as it hit the ground, broken chunks of dark matter sliding across the flagstone plaza like marbles.
Inside, the Rook moved seemingly effortlessly again. The newcomer's kick flew past the crenellated helmet, her boot cracking against the hammer which he released without even the hint of a struggle, the mighty weapon clattering to the floor with a resounding clang. The two attackers suddenly found themselves face-to-face, nodachi lunging towards the newcomer as she was extended from her smooth high-kick.
-
The blade glanced off the newcomer's breastplate, but the two still tumbled down to the ground together. Blight was quicker on her feet and swung at the towering figure, but he simply uttered a single word in response.
"Forsvinde" he demanded, and in her hands the shuddering blade simply came apart, disappearing in a crumble of smoke and tiny fragments. Before she could react, a huge boot crashed into her chest, throwing her through a delicate shoji wall and into the night beyond. Inside, the Rook scooped up his hammer and advanced on the prostrate newcomer.
Outside, the hideous flesh-monsters re-emerged, lashing out in a co-ordinated attack at the robots picket line, tearing down some and rending them apart whilst hurling stones and black, corrosive bile at others.
Beyond all of that, the roar of engines sounded as finally the Jade QRF, overcoming the confusion caused by the duplicity of the Conclave agent, approached the bathhouse...
-
Blight tumbled to a halt on the paving, lying face up with her arms sprawled. An impact alert flashed in her mind, eliciting a groan in the android as she righted herself enough to see the hole she had inadvertently made, and the powdered remains of her sword.
God fuckin dammit I just got that thing she growled as she righted herself.
As for Malady she reacted quickly, rolling back and springing to her feet. A lack of guns what were loaded was problematic, especially if what looked like a bullet mark near his throatguard was any indication. She briefly regarded her connection to the support teams; her team was being torn apart by a renewed monstrous attack, but the exfil team was fine.
'Team A, move into firing positions and support Team B. Marksman, attack the target in the building.'
'Affirmative' was all she got in reply.
Sure enough, the gunfire outside redoubled as the other team of android soldiers opened fire on the monsters from behind, skipping to full rail power.
And, ringing out among them was a single, louder CLAP of railfire, as a sniper round flew for the side of the Rook's head.
Directly opposite, a righted Blight sprinted directly at him, a furious roar escaping the android's lips as she lunged straight into a tackle.
-
The beast defeated, the Legionnaires paused to take stock of their losses and injuries. They hadn't been equipped for a fight like this, and now they were deprived of almost half their number, along with all of their support troops. After some debate and a call back to their dispatch, the decision was made to pull back. The soldiers packed their gear and made to exfil as quickly as they could manage.
Back in the courtyard, Verma watched as the conflict spiraled further out of control before she spotted a robot go down, sparks spitting from where its head had been. Ducking out, she snagged the rifle and spun to face the rook before adding her own thunderclap to the cacophony, spitting bullets at the towering knight.
-
Canillac watched the Jaros soldiers and decided it was time for the Conclave to leave too. He had no idea what the aliens had wanted with the Jade Princess, but he bore them no ill-will and so his surviving fighters slipped back into the night too, leaving the Rook to his fate. Canillac had always been faintly uneasy around the towering figure, but he rationalised his decision as deferring to his orders - the Rook had wanted to go in alone, so alone he would stay.
Inside, the hail of bullets would have killed the Rook were it not for Blight tackling him, throwing him against the opposite wall. The pair of them crashed partially through the bathhouse wall, the Rook catching his hammer's head around a support pillar to steady them. With his free hand he reached for Blight's throat, a huge powered gauntlet grasping at her metallic but elegantly thin neck...
Outside, there was a maelstrom as disgusting flesh abomination and sleek android tore at each other, the second team pouring gunfire into the morass from afar. The roar of engines grew louder as the QRF arrived from the north-west. A Sverkhu-class dropship, squat and menacing, emerged from the night sky to strafe the second team of androids, twin-linked 12.7m railguns raking their position with q-cyl ammunition that exploded in bursts of clementine red-orange. Two Respite LAV's also rolled into the square west of the entrance, dumping out a platoon of marines in urban Berlin camo with snarling bear masks. They scattered into cover and began advancing towards the ruins of the bathhouse, whilst behind them a flare of pink light heralded the arrival of a floating Balm light tank which followed them cautiously, its 30mm gun most likely overkill in the urban environment.
-
The marksman, with their heightened environmental senses to give them a word of warning while they stared down a digital gunsight and their positioning further back, heard the roar of thrusters, switching off the visor feed of their scope and turning to look.
"Shit." they muttered, a split second before the howling roar of heavy machine gun fire joined the cacophony. The marksman dove away, blasts of plasma fluid spattering their cloak and causing it to go haywire a moment, a fabric shape of blitzing black and white all the obvious in the dark before it started recalibrating, returning to its normal of sooty grey-purple, the marksman's flechette rifle clattering a short distance away as they landed in the dirt.
The regular androids of the exit team were torn to shreds, some simply disappearing into torn robot parts while others were dismembered and sent asunder. The railfire ceased as quickly as it had started.
As for Blight, she grunted as the powered glove clamped around her throat, letting out a stifled wheeze as her own arms grabbed the metal plating.
"You into breathplay then, huh?" she grinned, her apparent sense of humour never failing for a second. The android diverted all the motor power she could into her leg under the same arm holding her, already feeling the synthetic muscle warming up from the excess power load.
"Well I personally like it ROUGH!" the android yelled, swinging her leg up into a powerful kick, aiming for the armpit.
The newcomer, seeing the opportunity, whipped out one of their pistols, reloading it as quickly as they could.
-
There was a crack as her kick connected, and she was dropped to the ground. The Rook staggered backwards, clearly wounded, as the newcomer and Verma poured a fresh volley at him, and then tumbled out of sight. As Blight moved to follow him, she was surprised to find what looked like a sheet of glassy water pouring from the ceiling and disappearing in a spray of dark foam just above the floor. Another figure, dressed like the Rook, watched her with a blank expression even as the Rook's feet slipped through the water, as if he was being dragged by his arms by someone beyond.
For a moment the figure and Blight looked at one another, and then the figure also stepped through the waterfall which abruptly ended, leaving nothing but a faintly mossy smell behind....
Outside, two surviving fleshmonsters rushed at Verma, Mariko and Contagion, fleeing the carnage behind them and lunging in a desperate bid to reach the Princess, whilst behind them echoed shouts as the first of the Jade soldiers crossed the threshold into the ruined bathhouse, taking in the carnage of dead Cultists, destroyed androids, butchered Jaros troopers and ruined abominations.
-
Laughing as the Rook was taken away, Verma racked the magazine on the rifle, and glanced over her shoulder in alarm as the shouts sounded across the ruins of the courtyard. A piercing shriek split the air as the monsters came on, tendrils and limbs curling and thrashing.
Gritting her teeth even as her stomach roiled at the smell and sight of the abominations, she sprinted over to Mariko, and planted herself between the princess and the beasts before she opened fire with a yell. "Go back to the hell you crawled out of!"
-
Blight frowned as her eyes locked onto the figure, moving to stop them before the waterfall disappeared, and the android grunted, slowing to a halt as quickly as she'd started.
"Hrm..Good enough." she grunted after a moment, turning and running back.
Contagion, seeing the monsters, finally broke off from Mariko, scrambling to grab the rotary cannon the Rook had dropped, managing to heave it to point at their attackers.
The cacophonous roar of the cannon once more shook the building. For all of about two seconds; while the gun had most certainly loosed a few shots at them, the small android had in no capacity been prepared for the recoil, the barrels flying upwards and knocking the android on her rear, the barrels whirring down again as it continued toppling, landing atop the android with a thud and a noise of distress.
As for the newcomer, she dropped to one knee, bracing her gun arm against the other, firing her hand cannon with vastly more precision than Contagion had.
-
Although Tagie's burst did not hit either of the beasts, it forced one to juke sideways, bringing it closer to its companion. Verma's tight, disciplined bursts made short work of the pair, beating them back with physical impacts that tore them apart piece by piece, the last twitching mass toppling to the ground just as an ominious click indicated Verma's mag was empty.
Dark figures slipped through the ruined wall and gateway to the west, visible in the low light, and suddenly beams of light flared, pointing at the three women.
"Identify yourself! Put the weapon down! Down!" bellowed a voice, echoed by several more, but Mariko stepped forwards, the light from her onibi intensifying and casting an argent glow over her face. "It's me! I am Jade Princess Mariko Kuribayashi!"
The figures inched closer, silent, a very faint muffled muttering betraying the fact they were communicating via their helmets, then one lowered its rifle and approached the group.
"It's her, confirmed Willow secure, repeat Willow secure."
The marines rushed to usher Mariko, Verma and Contagion away from the bathhouse, others forming a perimeter whilst yet more fanned out, searching for other survivors or hidden attackers. There was a roaring noise overhead and a bright light heralded Kunnu's return, crashing to the ground ahead of them, his armour battered and dented and slicked with aquatic gore. His visor was cracked, but it was too dark to see through the shattered gap.
-
Blight stepped back into the room, locking eyes with the newcomer.
A moment of quiet, before a look of dawning realisation crossed Blight's features, followed by a wide grin.
"Malady!" she declared loudly, rushing to the other android and pulling her into a tight hug, Malady grunting with displeasure.
"I was wondering where you'd been, big sis!" the notably larger android grinned. Malady sighed.
"It's good to see you too, Blight. Where's Contagion gone?"
Tagie, meanwhile, stuck with the others.
"Are we all okay?" she asked, trying to inspect Mariko for injury with her admittedly lacking understanding of organic biology or medicinal practice. As they came into view of Kunnu, Tagie's eyes opened a little wider, stepping forth.
"Hey, that's your bodyguard." she muttered. "Leftenant Kunnu, are you okay?"
-
Dropping the gun and sagging as the strain and adrenaline of it all hit her like a truck, Verma eyed Kunnu and laughed. "Star above, man! You look like you just went five rounds with a leviathan and sent it crying back to mommy." Stopping for a moment, she leaned down and picked up the discarded pistol, before offering it to the Dragon. "Nice gun, I gotta say. Little bummed about the mag size, though."
-
Kunnu turned his helmeted head towards them and, after a moment sizing the situation up, nodded, falling in alongside the rest of the formation.
"Let's just say I have a newfound respect for cockle-pickers," he growled, taking the pistol and ejecting the empty mag, slotting in a new one and holstering it. "Looks like you were busy too."
Inside, a trio of marines appeared at the far end of the corridor Blight and Malady were in, their flashlights sending beams flickering down the corridor as a small drone preceded them.
"This is the Marines! Identify yourselves!" they called out, stopping momentarily to check a pair of terrified staff and direct them towards the staging area at the entrance to the bathhouse.
-
"Yes, a large man in power armour attacked us with a hammer and a rotary gun." Contagion started. "Blight and someone I didn't recognise fended him off."
Blight turned to look at the Marines, not letting go of Malady as she regarded them with a beaming smile.
"Woah, hey! I'm Blight, I'm with the Princess! One of her friends! And, uh, bodyguards. You're probably more interested in that part." she explained.
A beat.
"Oh! This is Malady! My big sis!"
-
Outside, the marksman slowly came back to her senses.
No allied contacts on sensors, unless Malady counted.
She could not count on Malady. The android ran a quick diagnostic. All motor functions were fine, her armour was lightly impacted and there was some slight impact damage from explosive forces, but she was otherwise unharmed. Her camo cloak was back online, too.
Rising to her knees, the android reached out, a hand pulling her rifle closer before picking it up proper as she hauled herself back to her feet.
The android slowly started off, stumbling, for the darkness.
-
The marines quickly hustled Blight and Malady out of the ruined building, moving everyone they could find out of the bathhouses and towards the staging area. Behind them, fires crackled gently in the wreckage of the various structures of what was once a beautiful bathhouse complex, the flames glinting off the tranquil surface of the springs and pools, illuminating in some cases the debris and viscera floating on their once pristine waters....
-
Some time later
Although the damage to the Garden of Lights had almost entirely been scoured away, the sounds of construction still rang out over the city to remind people of just how present the Merger danger was. The only reassurance they could find was the presence of the Jade Empress herself, heralded by a panoply of green-white banners all over the town, her jade-gold dragon marines visible at every corner.
Blight, Contagion, Malady and Verma found themselves in an antechamber of Castle Zhang-Yu. The room was empty save for them, filled with luxurious patterned armchairs, thick rugs, mahogany panelled walls covered in paintings, tapestries and scrolls, whilst ornate tables, bookshelves and desks crammed the room. Light glinted off well-polished fittings, lamps and knick-knacks, whilst a green-glass carafe of water with elegant glasses sat on a tray near the awkward women.
They had been summoned for an interview with the Jade Empress herself, and in the few days since the fight at the bathhouse Mariko had been trying to coach and prepare them for the meeting. The door opened and she slipped inside, wearing a black kimono with an iridescent blue water pattern on it.
"They're gonna call for us in like 2 minutes, are you guys ready?" she asked brightly
-
Verma grunted and shifted, the polished armor she was wearing humming and purring as she moved. "I'm fine, although you could tell the protocol people here that they could stand to tone down the superiority complex they've got going on. I feel like someone's gonna jump out at any moment and yell at me for being an 'uncouth barbarian'. Not that they'd be entirely wrong, I guess."
-
Blight was, similarly to Verma, adorned in armour though not as much, showing off the kimono she wore underneath. Contagion and Malady had foregone such, evidently thinking it would be improper if everyone was clad up in metal.
"Ah, you'll live." Blight sighed at Verma's complaining, putting her hands on her hips. "You excited to introduce us to your mom, princess?" she chuckled.
"I assume you are, Mariko. Are you alright? I expect you'd be tense." Contagion asked. After the attack on the bathhouse, she had been somewhat more concerned than usual with everyone's welfare.
Meeting a gaze with two eyes was still strange for some.
"Not entirely sure why I'm here. You two are her friends." Malady grunted, nudging Blight.
"Oh, we've told em all about you big sis!"
"Not my point."
-
Mariko smiled at the back and forth.
"Yeah, it'll be great. Just uhm....remember she's nice but she's not like me. She's the Jade Empress, they take this stuff seriously," she cautioned them, turning to lead them through the hallway outside, their boots muffled on the thick carpets.
The impassive dragon masks and blank visors of the 1st regiment watched them as they approached the twin doors of the audience hall. An overweight courtier in a purple robe with silver trim met them at the carved redwood doors, a thin pencil goatee nestled on his face, his receding hairline swept back into a queue. He gave a wintry smile at the group before bowing to Mariko.
"Your Highness, my ladies, welcome. I must remind you of some formal rules of etiquette before you are admitted to the Jade presence. Firstly, remember to avoid direct eye contact with the Jade Empress until spoken to. Secondly, approach the throne and then hold a bow for five seconds, thus," he said, demonstrating.
"Finally, refer to the Jade Empress as 'Your Majesty' at all times."
He clapped his hands together and offered another dazzling, brittle smile. "Excellent." he said, turning and waving at the doors which swung open smoothly to reveal the throne room within. Built for the Daimyo of Sanrin, it was a little more practical and modern than the chambers of the Jade Palace on Laptev, with smooth floors of polished pietra grey marble along which a walkway to the throne was lined by embedded floor lights of a faint yellow-gold hue. Squared pillars with panels of dark grey wood, belted by bands of gold, marked off cloisters on either side of the room and supported the mezzanine above, whilst golden statues of warriors, philosophers and mythical beasts lined alcoves between hardlight kakejiku scrolls of muted yellows and oranges.
The hall was crowded with people, citizens of different stations jostling with military officers and courtiers to get a view of the princess and her strange companions.
A dozen marines stood like statues either side of the path up to the dais, hardlight sashimono at their backs and spears in hand. Framed by all this, her back to the twin staircase that led up to the crowded mezzanine, sat the Jade Empress herself.
Clad in a brilliant white kimono with bottle green patterns of cherry blossoms and swooping dragons embroided across it, finished off by golden piping, hems and trim, she wore a platinum diadem with the imperial kamon picked out in glittering jade. The diadem had been made specially for her, the original crown of the Jade Emperors lost centuries before during the Warring Shogunates era.
The Jade Empress herself looked to be in her mid thirties, with a striking and statuesque face, strong chin, prominent nose and eyes that seemed wide thanks to the jet black pupils characteristic of the yokari. Her hair, a green so dark as to be nearly black itself, was neatly piled atop her head and held in place by elegant pins, whilst her hands and feet were obscured inside the folds of her great kimono. Stood to one side was a colonel of the first regiment, his helmet removed. He had a slightly rounded face, his hair pulled back into a tight military queue and a thick mustache draping down to a well-kept chinstrap beard. He, more so than the Empress, resembled Mariko, suggesting to the guests that this was Buntaro, Mariko's father and the consort of the Empress. His face betrayed no emotion as he watched his daughter and her friends approach in silence, looking like a woodcut rather than a man.
Mariko reached the dais first, stopping at the point the floor lighting indicated, and bowed to her mother before straightening up.
-
Contagion and Malady kept their eyes forward, the former's eyes as always framed by the low-hanging fringe of her hime cut. While after the bathhouse she had chosen to lower her hair to its normal, she had tied it back up for this event, crossed sticks keeping it in a big bun and all. Blight's eyes, meanwhile, veered about, observing the ornamentation of their surroundings and the marines as they passed.
She overall held a more casual demeanour, though not so much as to disregard the air of formality; whereas Malady simply made a small nod and Contagion a slight bow to the man giving them a last-minute reminder, Blight made an off-handed finger-gun salute.
That said, her hands were back together by the time they entered the throne room, their android peripheral giving them a good grasp of the room even without looking directly at anyone. They knew the Empress was Mariko's mother, that much was obvious. It was a second before any of them clicked that Buntaro was the other parent, and it was Blight that did so first, followed by Contagion.
It could be guessed they had arranged for this to see their daughter again, but they didn't seem especially fazed by it. Maybe they didn't talk much, maybe their home life was...rough.
Regardless, something dug at Blight's sense of calmness. The father especially, still like a statue.
Your daughter could've been killed and you don't even look happy she's fine. You could at least give her a damn smile, or am I going to have to do that for you?
Even if they had spoken before, there was still a tension in the air after the attack. Not to mention how the princess had disappeared for a time beforehand.
The red-eyed android showed a remarkable amount of self-restraint, however, her thoughts only manifesting as the ever so slightest twitch of the eye.
The three androids followed Mariko, bowing in unison.
-
As the party approached the makeshift throne, Verma stayed almost directly behind Mariko, keeping a watchful eye out. The atmosphere here felt...odd.
Even in the high halls of power in the Imperium, she'd never felt such a cold stiffness. The Houses were powerful, yes, but they were still human. This was...well, actually, it explained a lot about Mariko, especially if that toy soldier next to the Empress was her father. Mariko and the others bowed, and Verma bowed smoothly with them.
She'd need to sit down and have a talk with Mariko later.
-
There was silence in the room for a few moments, faint relief showing on some of the crowds' faces as the guests observed the proper niceties. The Jade Empress let her gaze travel over Mariko's companions before finally settling on her daughter, offering her a warm smile.
"Welcome," she said, her voice resonant like the rest of her kind, "and be at ease. I understand the Jade Empire owes you a great debt of gratitude for the protection you have afforded my daughter through these turbulent times."
-
There was a brief moment of quiet, as the androids evidently weighed what to say.
It wasn't every day one got to speak to an empress, let alone an ultimately disposable mercenary getting the chance. Still, it was Contagion who finally spoke.
"Gratitude is appreciated, Your Majesty," she begun, her voice soft and gentle. "But a debt is not expected, nor is it asked for. I know that my sister, Blight, most enjoys the company of the Princess."
-
Verma struggled to keep her expression even at the Empress's words. Gratitude? Where was this insipid bitch's gratitude when they were fighting the nightmare horror of the Merger? Taking a breath, she responded as well.
"The Princess has shown great valor and skill, and it has been my honor to defend her and fight with her."
-
Takara offered a beatific smile to the four women.
"I am proud to hear you speak so highly of my daughter. To face the terrors she, and others, have described, you must be brave warriors yourself," she said, her language almost fanciful, in the habits of the Jade court.
-
Once more, after another brief pause, it was this time Malady who spoke, her voice sterner and more pronounced than Contagion's comparably soft tones.
"I let others speak for our actions, rather than do so myself. I would hope neither of my sisters would be so arrogant as to boast in a court such as this." she stated plainly.
"Still, your words are appreciated. It is not often our ilk are treated so positively."
-
Verma chuckled dryly at Malady's words. "Nobody who's seen Blight swing that slab of steel she calls a sword around is ever going to mistake her for "ilk" of any sort. Ruffian, perhaps."
Glancing at the Emperess, her mouth flattened into a hard line. "It is nothing she does not deserve, your majesty. She is god-kin, for all her youth. And perhaps, I hope that I might call her friend." The last was said with a fond smile towards Mariko.
-
Takara nodded at their words, and surprisingly Buntaro's face offered a momentary flicker of approval at their humility.
"You have display true quality in your time with the Jade Princess, and that is why I have decided to appoint you as Hatamoto in my court."
At her words, the double doors opened again and a hovercart laden with four upright trunks, made of sleek white metal lacquered in gold and with sigils on the front picked out in different colours; one blue, one red, one green and one purple. The attendants with the cart stopped it and opened them, revealing suits of traditional Jade yoroi armour, all in white with trim and lacquer in the colour of the recipient, each tailored to the recipient's measurements. On the breastplate of each was a small gold disc on which the Imperial cipher was engraved.
"As Hatamoto," continued the Jade Empress "you are afforded safe passage and shelter in Jade territory, and the right to request an audience with royalty."
-
Verma bowed to the Emperess in gratitude for the gift, even as a part of her bristled at requesting an audience being a "privilege". Then again, whispered the voice that had been growing louder ever since Tanakol, one can't exactly gain audience with the Houses. What right do you have to judge a broken system when yours is just as broken, even if in different ways?
Setting her shoulders, she reached out to touch the armor, and the as her hand grazed the cool metal, the lights flickered. The armor was gone, and the plate she had been wearing, standard Imperial gear, was now...different.
The design was patterned and trimmed in white much like the yoroi armor, with purple and black shading. The cipher disc was on her right cauldron, and embossed into the breastplate was something Verma had never seen before. The gold laurels of the Imperium were there, but instead of the Star, they enclosed a stylized black vortex. From a far off distance, she thought she heard laughter.
Swallowing against the lump in her throat, she glanced back towards the dais. "Thank you for the gift, your Majesty. I will endeavor to wear it with honor."
-
The androids moved to inspect their armour, each giving it their own appraisal.
Malady, for her part, seemed to observe it simply as it was; an armour suit. Blight and Contagion already knew she would likely never wear all of it save occasions where she had no choice, but some of it could be expected.
For style if nothing else.
Contagion's analytical attitude kicked into play, the small android inspecting the similarly petite armour, inspecting thickness of the plating and its arrangement, systems and equipment, things like that. She'd likely be able to write an accurate technical manual on it by the end of the day, if her apparent love of crawling all over anything and everything technological was any indication.
Blight, for her part, simply grabbed the helmet, staring through the visor with a beaming grin, the android all but vibrating as she took in the thought of it. She'd heard about things like this, from the internet. She'd never dreamed anyone like her, a manufactured mercenary who's original handlers placed little value on her well-being, would be given a title like this, let alone her specifically.
Blight wondered if it meant she wouldn't have to worry about the company coming for them anymore.
Malady regarded the strange shift in Verma's armour, seemingly...absorbing the suit, with trepidation, while Blight was too distracted by her newfound gift.
Contagion had turned around, bowing to the Empress as she did so.
"You have our most sincerest gratitude, Your Majesty. We are most honou--" she started, cutting herself off and turning to stare at Verma as the lights flickered.
-
The court smiled appreciatively at Blight and Contagion's enthusiasm. A gift given and gratefully received was a good thing, and the mood visibly warmed...until Verma touched her gift. The lights flickered, causing a gasp and the clatter of metal as the solders' hands went to their weapons. When the lights stabilised and everyone got a good look at Verma, the clattering resumed, with the clicks and snaps of weapons being cocked and safeties being disengaged. Throughout the room, the dragon-helmed marines of the 1st had levelled their rosy crystalline weapons at Verma. Buntaro had stepped forwards, his own vitredur katana drawn and held ready.
Buntaro spoke, his voice surprisingly deep and filled with a taut anger.
"It is forbidden to practice magic in the presence of the Jade Empress. Explain the meaning of this at once!" he barked, glowering at Verma. To either side of them, on the mezzanine, quiet chanting broke the silence as yellow-robed Huoming monks began to sing in ancient East Wusian.
-
The Imperial huffed in offense. "Magic? What magic? I do not wield the Art, nor have I been called to the temples. Such things are beyond me." She glanced over at Mariko, a sly grin sliding across her face. "There was power at work here, I won't deny that, but there was no spell, no intonation. Just a god that thinks it's funny, and appears to feeling territorial. Or if you doubt me, why don't you ask your daughter about her new hairdo? I'm sure red and black is all the rage in the salons now."
-
The androids, meanwhile, seemed far from amused. Contagion watched silently, while Blight seemed the most angered, baring her metallic teeth.
"Hey! How often is this shadow thing of yours gonna cause us trouble, huh?" she demanded, stance as though rearing for a fistfight.
"First on the frigate, now here too? Is this gonna become a daily occurrence or something?!"
Malady, opposite, locked eyes with Blight, raising her hand slightly to tell her to stop, before her cold green gaze drifted to Verma.
"I'll believe you that you didn't do that voluntarily. But this Shadow, from what ive seen and been told, has so far proven to be more of a liability than anything."
-
Buntaro's sword flicked upwards, the blade already filling with light and hissing through the air when a sharp word from the Jade Empress stilled him. There was a moment's pause, during which Mariko stared daggers at Verma's smirking face, before the Jade Empress spoke in a quiet, calm voice, in Ingenious.
At first she did not take her eyes from Verma, but then she glanced at her mother and replied, also in Ingenious. There were murmurs of surprise from the surrounding court and a snort of contempt from Buntaro, but the Empress betrayed no reaction, simply responding in her measured, semi-monosyllabic tone.
Mariko nodded, and replied in common. "That's probably for the best," she said, deflated, then glanced at Verma.
"You're to leave the room," she said, a hint of remorse creeping into her tone against her will, but then she remembered what Verma had done and flushed angrily, turning her gaze away. Around them, the guards lowered their weapon from their shoulders, but still held them ready at the waist, the speartips menacing Verma silently.
-
Verma's eyes flashed violently and she took an angry step towards Blight, but came up short as the guards advanced. Biting off a snarl, she paused at Mariko's words, and pained look crossed her face. Swallowing she turned to the Empress and bowed deeply.
"My gratitude, your Majesty, for this audience, and for the hospitality of your halls. A blessing on your hearth and kin."
Then, with one last look at Mariko, she strode from the audience chamber.
-
Blight had, similarly, moved to engage in the most inappropriately timed bout of fisticuffs in the past century, but halted similarly as the guards moved. The android watched Verma leave, her crimson eyes remaining fixed on her until the doors closed behind her, finally relaxing and turning back to the others.
"My apologies, Your Highness. Nerves have been...tense, lately." she stated as she bowed, her voice remarkably formal.
"As my little sister said, we most graciously accept these gifts."
Malady let out a deep sigh, eyes shut as she returned to her formal stance, while Contagion turned and spared Mariko a concerned glance.
-
There was a faint sense of relief and suddenly the audience was all smiles again, even Buntaro neatly sheathing his sword as Verma bowed. The disruption was over and everyone was respecting propriety again, Verma being politely shown back to the antechamber by ingratiating courtiers as Takara turned her gaze to Blight and the others.
She spoke in common, inclining her head ever so slightly.
"They are less than you deserve for keeping my daughter safe. I thank you and your sisters, and look forwards to speaking with you further in future." she replied, subtly indicating that the android's interview was also over, although with much warmer feeling than Verma's abrupt exit. Mariko offered a bashful smile at the androids and mouthed thank you silently as they turned to leave, before Buntaro motioned for her to follow him, and he, Takara and a gaggle of monks and guards ascended into the Daimyo's quarters, which had been temporarily hijacked for the royal family.
-
The androids bowed in unison, Mariko's mouthed words replied with a wink and a smirk from Blight before the trio quietly made their exit, not speaking until the doors closed behind them.
"Don't be so belligerent, Blight."
"It's what I do, Mal."
"Dont call me that. And it's going to bite you in the ass some day."
"Yeah, well, at least I don't pretend otherwise."
With a grumble, Malady pushed first into the antechanber, the two following after.
-
The doors to the chamber shut behind Verma, and she paced back and forth, her hands tightening into fists the more she thought about what had just happened. Mariko's disdain she could understand, she'd thrown the poor girl under the speeder in front of the entire royal court. She'd have to apologize properly before they left here. Maybe snuff some candles, ask for some proper guidance, instead of just divine dickery...
But Blight! Fucking Blight. Where did she get off, with those insults? And so she stewed and paced, and by then the doors opened again. The moment Verma met those glowing red eyes, she reacted in the only way she could.
The definitive crunch of her fist colliding with Blight's nose filled the air, and as the android reeled back, Verma smiled for real, feeling the sharp burn of adrenaline and the thrill of a fight singing in her heart.
"Hey, Blight. Let's have a girl talk."
-
The other androids froze, Malady's foot sliding back as though rearing for a fight herself, while Contagion, who had been at the back, seemed more alarmed, stepping back in case Blight fell over.
Blight did not, however, fall over.
The android leant back, her head thrown back so her face was to the sky and her hair hung in the open.
Even so, they could see that Blight grinned.
"Oh, aye, alright. I think it's about time we aired our grievances!" she barked, the android lunging back into motion, an arm grabbing Verma's bicep as the android flung herself forward, their skulls colliding with an audible thud.
-
Verma staggered back, snarling and clutching at her forehead. "Grievances? How about we start with the part where you killed my fucking friend and haven't said a word about it since!"
Stepping back, she swept a leg out, aiming to knock the android down where she could beat on her some more. " Let's talk about how I haven't heard anything from you but ridicule and sarcasm!"
She lunged forward, swinging a broad right hook.
-
Blight took a step back, allowing Verma's leg to strike her forward one, impacting tensed synthetic muscle over a steel skeleton.
"Killed her?! The self destruct button and her own damn hand did that!" Blight snarled, stumbling and almost pirouetting as the right hook impacted her head.
"Let's not pretend you've done nothing to antagonise me, either!" she shot back, lunging back towards her with an uppercut aimed for the gut.
-
The Imperial's eyes widened and she faltered as Blight shot back with that reply. Then she let out a oof as Blight's blow connected and drove her back. Gasping for air, she looked up and saw Contagion, standing behind her sister, watching the two of them fight with glowing blue eyes. Then she lowered her head and charged forward, trying to knock Blight down again.
-
Blight met the charge, though she did slide back, grunting and baring her teeth. Still, she felt that balance wasn't on her side.
"You cut off my little sister's arm! You dug out her eye! To get at me!" she roared, allowing herself to topple back but swinging her leg forward in the process, attempting to knee Verma in the gut.
Malady's eyes widened and her face took on a serious expression, her head turning to look at Contagion. The smaller android did not return the look, however, instead pulling out a device and beginning to text someone on it.
-
Verma swayed back from the swing, but aimed a punishing elbow down at Blight's knee, then lunged with a right hook.
The android's words though, had much more of an impact, and Verma didn't strike as hard or as fast as she could've. "I...I..." Shaking her head, she continued the attack.
-
Blight let out a sharp cry, springing to her feet and lunging for Verma's face.
"You want me to apologise for your friend?" Blight hissed. "Then apologise to Tagie!"
Contagion lifted her device, snapping a photo of the brawl.
"You wanna explain?" Malady spoke softly.
"Later." Contagion muttered.
-
"Uff!"
Sprawling backwards, Verma lay on her back, panting as Blight loomed over her. After a tense moment of staring with her, Verma sighed and nodded, then rolled and pushed herself to her feet and limped over to Contagion.
"I..." She bit her lip and looked away. "I should never have done what I did. I lost myself in the anger, and you paid for it. I'm sorry, truly."
-
Contagion's eyes met Verma's, the small android staring up at her past the sharp black fringe as the taller woman spoke.
Her eyes turned downwards once she finished, seemingly thinking for a moment.
Then, she looked back up.
"Mm." she nodded. "We...were enemies then, if briefly."
And at that moment Blight's hand fell on Verma's shoulder, the android's strength turning her around.
"Then...I am sorry for getting your friend killed. I never intended to kill her, nor for her to self destruct her mech. I try not to think about the things I've done, intentionally or not. I'd barely be able to sleep if I did."
-
Verma laughed softly, a miserable and tired thing. "Hired guns, soldiers, doesn't matter. We've all got blood on our hands and cracks in our souls."
A look up at Blight, and a sad grin. "So. Think we can move on, then? Something less than friends, something more than just allies?"
-
Blight smirked, though it didn't hold the energy it often did.
"Something of the sort, at least. We can stop snapping at each other at every turn at any rate, huh?" she chuckled.
-
The door crashed open and Mariko barged in, wide-eyed. She was wearing a plain white kimono without adornment, and the black and red streaks were gone from her hair.
"What the fuck is going on!?" she demanded incredulously
-
"They were having a fight, as I told you." Contagion stated calmly, looking up at Mariko.
"Verma has been upset about your friend...Katrina, and Blight has been upset about me." she explained, Blight giving a nod of confirmation.
-
Verma, from where she was sitting on a bench as she leaned back against a wall, simply gave chuckled slightly. "Yeah, you could call it that. We had ourselves a bit of a dust-up and settled some issues."
She looked over Mariko and sighed. "While I'm admitting my faults, I should include you. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have just thrown you under the bus like that. Couldn't have been easy, especially in front of all those high and mighty muckety-mucks. I imagine I've more than outstayed my welcome here."
-
Mariko scowled for a moment, then shrugged. "That was pretty lame of you, yeah. But they would have figured it out either way."
She slumped down onto a chair. "I just got my own personal sermon. The citrus fruits and my parents work pretty hard to get rid of that blessing...or curse, whatever you want to call it, the Shadow laid on me. I guess it's just a day for wrapping up unfinished business."
-
"On the note of unfinished business...do we have any left?" Blight asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know what business you had to begin with." Malady shrugged.
"I'd say we could have a beach day but I fear it would end much the same way as our visit to the bathhouse." Tagie grumbled.
"Didn't even get an hour in the baths..."
"Aye, maybe, but I suspect the locals might be a little more...on guard for that to go off as easily." Blight added.
-
Verma yawned and stretched. "Honestly, I'd rather get going. Hey, Mariko, did your mom give us anything to do, or do we need to go search the merc boards for a job? Hell, on that matter, is your mom even gonna let you go with us?"
-
Mariko sighed. "Yeah, about that...I think I have to stay here for a while. Maybe I can rejoin you later but I have a lot of catching up to do, and I don't think my parents want to let me out of their sight right now..."
Twitching her nose to mask her upset, she flicked on her holo and began offering a file for transfer.
"The JIAN does have a job for you though, if you're interested. Apparently an old Poleisi relic has been unearthed on some planet near the Golden Expanse, Kortende I think it's called. It's a mystical horn or something, but they think the Merger are going after it and they're offering a bounty to anyone who can retrieve it. Might be a good lead for you guys..."
-
The first response was a 'hmph' from Blight.
"Get made your bodyguards and you're kickin' us out so soon, huh?" she remarked, though it was accompanied by a smirk as she leant on a wall.
"Are you sure you would like us going on such a task? If your intelligence agency is looking for help, I doubt it is any run of the mill mercenary posting." Contagion added, her voice its usual formal flat.
"Well. It's more in the line of what we usually do." Malady sighed.
"What we usually do is shoot up goons, to be fair, not go on treasure hunts." Blight retorted.
"It might be an interesting deviation." Contagion added, though she took a step towards Mariko.
"If you would like one of us to stay, though, that would also be fine." she added, gesturing to...the group in general.
-
Verma snorted at Contagion's last suggestion. "Welp, that certainly won't be me. Pretty sure if I stay, they'll ship me home in a box. Gotta say though, I'm a bit bummed out by you not going with us. We'll keep in touch, though. Can't leave our favorite princess without moral support when she gets mobbed by all those muckety-mucks."
At the name Poleisi, Verma wrinkled her nose. "Damn, I hate those guys. I ever tell you I was at Vas Neelan? Phalanx my ass, they should've called them sniper squads. Except your average sniper doesn't have ten buddies and an energy shield that laughs at you. I just hope their relics aren't as much of a pain in the ass as their soldiers."
-
Some days later
Mariko was already restless. Her friends had left to go on this new treasure hunt, headed to some backwater planet to prevent an ancient Poleisi artefact from falling into the wrong hands, though which hands those were had been left somewhat ambiguous and Mariko suspected the 'wrong hands' may have been Poleisi.
Regardless, after more than a year of journeying, she was finally 'home', among her own people and the familiar sights and lights of the Jade Empire, even if it was a colony world countless lightyears from the glittering jewel that was Laptev. Divested of her armour and weapons, she was wearing normal clothing once more, and she realised it felt a little strange to her. Odd, since at the start of her journey she had barely known what to do with the handgun Takamo had lent her. She had come a long way, but she sensed she had a long, long way to go yet.
Perhaps she would go visit her big brother - apparently he had become embroiled in some struggle over a nearby native planet, Mershand or something similar....