Mirror of Refractions

by The_Masked

Summary:

The Doctor awakens from the coffin only to find he has a special ability. The ability to swap people with their identity from mirror worlds, drawing on powers that they do not have, or using the differences in their minds as an advantage. With a different past, and him pretending to not have amnesia, he must use this power well to survive in this world.

Chapter 1: Open the Gate, Open the Coffin

“Why won’t it open?”

“Based on the screen that you are currently pressed against Amiya, I would say that it is because only one person is allowed near when it opens.”

“Oh, sorry miss Dobermann!”

“Let me be the one to open it. I would rather you not be risked in case this has some sort of security system. I can handle it.”

“But-”

“No. I will open this Amiya. You might be my superior, but you can't be risked here. Leave the room.”

“I’ll be with the others then. Please be safe, Dobermann.”

Where was he? No, who was he? Why was he unable to move? He heard footsteps leaving the room. Who were they? He didn’t recognize any of the names being said.

“No wonder they called this thing a coffin. At least it’s got a latch. Alright, come on Doctor, time to get up. We have to move.”

Was he a doctor? He watched as the object on top of him was slowly removed, being pushed off him before falling to the side, before he looked up at the woman with dog ears that had opened it up and had begun to haul him out of the coffin.

“Hmph, how long have you been in there? No excuse to sleep forever, and Reunion is attacking the area.”

He didn’t know the answer to her question, but he did feel something begin to unlock in his head. Why did it feel like a gate was opening? He got his answer in mere moments, with what looked like everything freezing in time. He couldn’t move, even as he tried to, but that was before he saw what looked like ten chains burst from the woman's back. Eight of them appeared gray, before turning into mirrors that showed the woman exactly as she was. But two of them were different. One of them turned red, before shattering to reveal the woman dressed in what looked to be a military uniform, colored black. Bolivar Spec Ops Dobermann, said the mirror shards floating below it, before he turned his head to the golden chain and its mirror. It shook for a few, long seconds in the stopped time, before shattering as well. Dobermann, Mad Butcher. She appeared to be wearing a tattered uniform, smiling wildly while her entire form was bloodstained, carrying a combat knife. Time unfroze as the chains disappeared from view.

“I can see your eyes focused on me, get up! We don’t have time!”

He knew that Dobermann, whose name he had learned from the chains, wanted him to get up, but he could only barely move as he used her arms to slowly exit the coffin. His legs felt weak, his body barely able to keep himself standing, but he slowly began to walk as she led him. But luck was not on his side, a masked man with a sword bursting in from a back door, opposite to the one Dobermann was leading him too.

“Tch, behind me Doctor!”

He went behind her, before he saw more of the masked men come around the corner, some bearing different weapons. This was bad, but he felt a slight tug from the gate once more, it wanting to be opened. It offered him the two chains of dobermann that were a different color, and he seized upon the golden one. He watched as glass shattered around Dobermann’s form, before the Dobermann he saw, the one wearing a uniform declaring her allegiance to something he didn’t know, before she was replaced by Dobermann, Mad Butcher. A mad smile carved itself onto her face as he watched her tense up.

“Inexperienced fools to carve? I’ve been given a gift! Thanks Doctor!”

She bursted forward, nearly falling onto all fours as she cleared the distance to her targets in but a moment, before she fell upon them. Her knife flashed between the masked men, them desperately trying to get her away from them, even as he watched as she violently jammed her knife through one man’s neck, before she simply yanked it sideways, causing his head to slide from his shoulders. It was butchery, plain and simple, but it caused him no panic, even as he watched her pin down the last masked man, before beginning to violently open his chest with her knife.

“Dobermann.”

His voice was quiet, a testament to how weak he was, even as he forced the word out. But her head snapped to face him, her ceasing her violence even as she hopped off of the corpse she was ripping apart.

“You said we had to move right?”

She nodded at his words, before she grabbed the head of the man she had decapitated, carrying it in her left hand as she swapped her knife to her right. It was a macabre sight, but he allowed it, even if he didn’t know why.

“C’mon doctor, follow me! I might not get any ingredients today, but at least I can show you the first steps during combat!”

Dobermann began to walk to the door that she took him towards initially, before he closed the gate in his mind. Her form once more shattered like glass, the mad butcher replaced by her normal state. Her knife returned to being her whip once more as she dropped the head, her face twisting in slight disgust.

“Ugh, disgusting. Are they really this underprepared that my whip decapitates them? Likely, considering the quality of their gear.”

It seemed that Dobermann had simply forgotten her use of the knife, her mind mentally replacing the situation in her mind, as it seemed she didn’t even know what she had done to the men whose corpses still spilled blood on the floor. He followed her outside, the door opening to a world covered in a pallid orange color, from what he didn’t know, but he saw a few others when he went outside.

“Doctor! Are you okay!”

It was the same voice as before, the one Dobermann called Amiya. He didn’t know her, but her bunny ears stuck up with excitement while he watched some unfamiliar faces milling around the area, none of the masked men being nearby, and all having the same symbol as Dobermann's right shoulder had, a Black Rook in a white triangle.

“I'm alright Amiya.”

The smaller girl hugged him even harder when he spoke her name. It began to hurt, but she released him right after he tapped her own shoulder for release as he breathed heavily, his voice strained. Was he always this week? Or was it caused by what Dobermann called the coffin that he was stuck in?

“Doctor, here!”

Amiya passed him a tablet, before he heard a voice come from it.

“Hello Doctor. Please speak to confirm your identity.”

“Why am I being given a tablet?”

“Identity confirmed, access granted. Hello Doctor.”

The tablet suddenly turned its screen white for a few seconds, before he looked back at it. The screen read PRTS, before it swapped to an overhead view of the area, and a squad overview of who he had. Dobermann, Amiya, Guard, Medic. These were codenames, which at least explained why two of them had descriptors rather than actual names.

“Alright, you good there Doc?”

Guards' voice broke him from his stupor, the beanie wearing man with a completely covered face looking upon him with some amount of trepidation.

“I should be fine. What’s the situation?”

Amiya spoke up to his question, still hovering near him. He idly looked at his hair out of the corner of his eyes, it being a pallid white in comparison to her brown hair, it also being non silvery likely meaning he wasn’t related to her. That was a relief, how the hell do you tell your kid you don’t remember them?

“We went on this mission to recover you doctor! But Reunion had also decided to attack Chernobog, the city we are in, at the same time, meaning we need to get you out of here.”

Doctor looked back at his tablet, before he flicked the screen to the side with a swipe of his finger when prompted, revealing the extraction he was supposed to head too. He hoped that he wasn’t being tricked, but given how Dobermann seemed to hold true loyalty towards him, even when being the mad butcher, he would have faith for now.

“Alright, then I have a plan.”

Chapter 2: Pinned and Bloody

Doctor and his squad got moving quickly, him struggling to keep up with them due to his weakness. It was a miserable feeling to be so weak, especially given the glances he saw them throw towards his form.

“We’ve got Reunion troops ahead. There’s another route we can take.”

“But they’re attacking civilians! We can’t just abandon them!”

Amiya and Dobermann began to argue about what they should do, while Doctor turned his head to his tablet for a few seconds. The other route would take too long, even if he didn’t want to save the civilian. He listened to the reunion soldiers yelling, them shouting about how they were getting revenge against the uninfected, their words only making the civilian mother and child cry more, before he gave his orders.

“We go through them, no choice. We’ll spend too long here if we don’t take this path, and we don’t abandon innocents.”

Dobermann nodded as his order as Amiya celebrated, before he gestured for them all to flank around the small group. Though he did prepare to open the gate in his mind. Dobermann was likely strong yes, but he would rather the consistency of knowing her capabilities as the mad butcher. Though as they were flanked, they only got closer to the two civilians, the mother desperately trying to hug her child close. He grabbed the golden chain in his mind, pulling open the gate as he watched Dobermann change to being the mad butcher with a shattering of glass. The rest of the squad looked surprised at her sudden shift in her, but rapidly pulled themselves together.

“Stop them from hurting the civilians!”

The squad moves to eliminate the reunion troops while they are still surprised from being hit in the back. Medic does little, her specialty being in field treatment and hospital work, but Guard, Amiya, and Dobermann make short work of the surprised group. Guard simply bashes one with the pommel of his sword, before cutting the masked reunion member down. Amiya fires off her own arts, a quick blast of black that impacts the crossbowman of the group, slamming them into a wall, though not killing them. But once more, it is the mad butcher who is in the thick of the violence. An unfortunate caster has their heart impaled from a lunging thrust, her armor doing little to save her from the knife that went through it, before her corpse is kicked into another soldier, who meets a similar fate from a quick slash across the throat. Another member, a spearman, tries to fight back, thrusting his spear forwards, only for her to prove stronger, wrestling it out of his hands before ramming it through his head.

“Hah! It’s like I never left!”

The rest of the soldiers continue to meet violent ends from Dobermann, only a few members escaping her, only to run into the rest of the squad, who have begun to balk at her sudden change. She finishes off the last reunion member with a quick flash of her knife to his face, him falling forward before she idly kicks his ribcage, the sound of bones breaking before her causing her to smile.

“So this is what she’s like in combat. Given how she normally acts, she must be suppressing this when she’s training us. Geeze, never letting her catch me slacking again. Even with it being to help us I ain’t taking the risk of her turning that knife on me.”

Guards' idle muttering caused Dobermann to slowly turn her head towards him, before she stood up, coated in blood once more, before she idly licked some off her hand. Of course, such violence had caused the child to begin to weep in her mother’s arms as Amiya moved to comfort them both.

“You're safe now. They won't be able to hurt you anymore. We can keep you safe, but you’ll have to follow us. We can’t protect you here.”

Amiya’s attempt at comforting the child barely helped, though the mother nodded at the rabbit-eared girl as she slowly got up. It was heartwarming to see her try, but the moment was ruined by the sounds of Dobermann continuing to kick at the corpses. As Amiya got up as well, Medic spoke up.

“Let me check them for injury, I have plenty of supplies.”

As Medic moved over to help the Mother and Child, none of the squad that had fought injured, he received a notification from PRTS.

“Apparently Ace is on course to meet with us.”

He didn’t know who that was, but based on the sudden smiles on all of his squad's faces, he must have been either quite skilled or important, so he didn’t comment on it.

Though he did release the golden chain back to the gate as they began to move to where Ace was, Dobermann returning to normal, even as the rest of the squad kept one or two steps between them and her. Guard spoke up again, asking a question.

“Hey Dobermann, you good?”

“Yes, why are you asking?”

“You almost completely changed when you rushed in against those reunion members. Why?”

“Hmph, so it was nothing then. They were easy to dispatch. Save any more questions for later, when we're back on Rhodes.”

They continued to move, before eventually they all met up with Ace, the large man carrying a shield and hammer, while wearing stylish shades. At least, they were stylish to him.

“Is that you doc? Didn’t ever think I’d see a man like you this thin. Come here!”

Ace’s boisterous laugh as he hugged him was filled with mirth. Of course, he had to hug Ace back, it would be very rude, though he had no idea what they’re previous relationship was.

“It’s good to see you again Ace, though I can’t say the situation is the best.”

“Heh, understatement and a half. Come on, we can have our meet up later, we have to go.”

They all went off again, hurrying as fast as they could, as to not get caught, but they had no such luck. A sudden mist rolled in as more reunion members approached from in front, a woman with red hyena ears approaching from the front, leading the group with twin knives. He immediately began to take hold of the golden chain connecting to Dobermann in his mind, but didn’t pull it completely yet. Her mad butcher self would likely rush in, and he didn’t want her to get killed because of his decisions. He spoke up, his voice hoarse and parched.

“Who are you, and why are you here?”

“You think I’ll just tell you outright, with how you’ve butchered the infected? No, Talulah has ordered your death.”

Ace spoke up, raising his shield as he shifted to protect him. Actually, what was his own name? He didn’t want to stay nameless. That wasn’t important, Doctor will suffice for now.

“Her codenames Crownslayer, it’s preachy, but apparently she’s been going around stabbing whatever high ranking Ursus officials she could get to.”

Doctor nodded at his response, before seeing her speak up.

“Enough! You all pay today, for what you’ve done to the infected.”

Doctor didn’t give her the chance to sprint forward even as he saw her begin to move, he opened the gate with the golden chain, seeing Dobarmann become the mad butcher as she intercepted Crownslayer, tackling her out of her sprint as they began a furious knife fight, Dobermann clearly holding the upper hand.

“Don’t just stand there, help!”

“Nobody can save you now little Rebbah! You're mine to flay!”

Doctor filed away the idea of Crownslayer being a Rebbah, before he began to order his operators. Dobermann could handle Crownslayer, he just needed to keep the soldiers off her. He moved Guard up the left side as he directed Amiya to fire her arts at any crossbow wielders or enemy caster, Ace staying nearby him, blocking a few stray shots that managed to get close to him. Medic ran forward as well, throwing what looked like green vials towards any injured member of his squad, her throwing arm always on point as any the green vials struck were healed rapidly. Was this just some kind of arts, or was this possible normally? In any case, the brawl only lasted for only a minute before Crownslayer faltered, Dobermann carving out a part of her side in a bloody mess, before a large crossbow bolt nearly took Dobermann’s head off, her nearly jumping off Crownslayer, even as the Rebbah slowly began to crawl away, holding where part of her side was while Dobermann held the carved off flesh.

“You really aren’t doing well, are you Crownslayer?”

A childish voice echoed from nearby, a white haired boy walking forward, dressed in a strange buttoned shirt, and wearing a reunion armband. Flanking him were more reunion members. Even with all of his squad, he might not be able to fight off these numbers with this squad.

“In any case, I’ll be taking over from here. But what do we have here? A singular squad from Rhodes Island, all alone, with a strange man that not a single Reunion soldier could see get into the city, yet a few of them caught them trying to extract. Tell you what, you hand him over, and you all get to go free! I’ll just let you all go! You just need to hand over that prize of yours. I want to know why you were so adamant to get him.”

Amiya spoke up, even as all of his squad closed ranks around him. They were cornered, but this could still get worse if he made a mistake.

“We can’t just hand him over, Doctor is too important!”

“Well that just makes me want you to hand him over more! If he’s so important, surely Talulah would want him!”

“Do we have to fight? Surely you see it too, the catastrophe forming above us? If we fight here, we’ll both die!”

“Heh, that catastrophe is a moment of celebration for us! A monument to our victory! Why would we not fight in it?”

Ace didn’t bother to let the chat go on any longer, him firing a blue signal flare into the air, before he simply stared the child dead in the eye.

“You! Faust, shoot him!”

Ace barely managed to block a bolt from his right, his shield catching it, the bolt itself being much the same as the one that Dobermann barely dodged earlier.

“You really are an idiot aren’t you! Pawn to C4!”

The forces behind him advanced rapidly, as if possessed by some violent ghost, before another round of viscous melee began. The child’s forces were many, and his were few, but he had much better people with him, and the Child had a collection of controlled animals with a few more elite soldiers amongst them. Blood immediately began to spill as Dobeermann rushed forward, the first death of the combat marked by an unfortunate fool who ended up with his chest cut open by her blade, before she continued to slash away at as many as would even dare to go near her, them rapidly beginning to avoid her, before she was forced to dodge another crossbow shot.

“Stop firing that damn ballista at me and show yourself! I’ll mount your skin to my wall!”

Dobermann’s howls of rage were cut off by her being forced to dodge lighter crossbow shots, the rain causing her to have to sprint just to not get punctured, even as she used a few unlucky sods as meat shields. Ace was doing better, his hammer cratering through the toughest amongst reunion with slight ease, while his shield was used as an anvil to crush any of the weaker soldiers that got near him. Guard and Amiya were on pest control in comparison to the two much more lethal champions, firing upon controlled slugs, dogs, and spiders, all of them bearing black crystals. Given that he only saw those black crystals on people reunion called infected, they must be infected too. Why did his brain tell him that it was called originium though? No matter, he continued to command as best he can, before a woman’s voice pierced through the clamor, as another person bearing the symbol of Rhodes Island smashed through the wall of flesh that was Reunion’s encirclement.

“You are all cutting it close! I managed to get the civilians out though!”

The woman finally burst through their encirclement, her mace sending reunion members flying as their bones broke from her blows.

“Using that signal flare was judicious. I sprinted here as fast as I could. You must be the Doctor, right?”

He nodded quickly, his relief expressed on his unhooded face, even as he slowly felt the gate shudder open with her presence.

“Radiant knight Nearl, at your service. Your chariot has arrived.”

The world went gray as time stopped. Ten chains emanating from the gate once more before her. Two red, one gold, seven gray. It seemed he would have more to pull from the gate.

Chapter 3: Burst to the End (Chapter 1 End)

Seven chains turned into gray mirrors. All of them displayed the woman in front of him, with the name Margaret Nearl under them all. Since they gave her full name, didn’t that mean that Dobermann was the actual name of Dobermann? He didn’t bother to ponder before the first red chain burst into a mirror, revealing Margaret dressed in a more comfortable outfit, ditching her armor for a comfy shirt and holding a tablet, along with a shock baton on her waist. The pun of her being Margaret Nearl, Game Knight was not lost on him. The second red chain shattered into another mirror, revealing Margaret in an armored robe, with an icon he didn’t recognize, wielding her mace and shield. Margaret Nearl, Blacksteel Defender revealed the red chain, her face was much more hollow looking than both her real one, and the face of her game knight self, but it had to do.

The final chain, the golden one, broke slowly over the course of seconds. When it shattered, the noise of its crack piercing the still air, he saw Margaret once more. She had no heraldry or symbols to speak of on her outfit, it being what looked like an old fashioned garb in all brown and yellow, a hat proudly perched upon her head as she smiled, idly scratching her nose. Margaret Nearl, Detective Extraordinaire showed the text underneath. She didn’t look as happy as her Game Knight self, but she did look more successful, her weapon more ornate, it being a clockwork spear.

None of these were useful to him. The Game Knight only had a baton, Blacksteel Defender looked about as strong as she was, and Detective Extraordinaire had no shield, meaning that sniper could hit her. He closed the gate, not pulling on any of the chains she had gained, though idly filing the information about them away. Time slowly resumed, color returning as he nodded towards her.

“Good to have you, now let’s get going!”

He rapidly gestured for her to move to defend Amiya, before they heard the shrill voice of the child once more.

“Knight takes bishop!”

The reunion forces continued to close in, but he had just enough people now. He could get through using all of them to force their way through a gap.

“Keep going! Medic, help Guard, we’re almost through!”

“You're not leaving, Faust! Take the Shot!”

Another bolt from the sniper came, aimed for Nearl’s heart even as she managed to block it with her shield, almost being knocked off her feet by the blow.

“I’m not going to be able to take another shot from that ballista!”

“We’re through Nearl! Get moving!”

With the assistance of Nearl, they had finally breached a hole through the Reunion lines, Nearl immediately beginning to sprint with them as they escaped. Ace was forced to block another shot from the sniper, taking the blow that Nearl could barely with much more ease than she could. A difference in strength caused by who knows what from his end. The ranting of the child in the distance began to fade, even as a few stragglers from Reunion gave chase. But he was weak, and he wasn’t very strong, his legs falling from under him during the sprint.

“You ain’t falling behind Doctor, who else would I cook with? They don’t appreciate my work!”

Dobermann snatched him up, hoisting him on her shoulder as she continued to sprint, her endurance exceeding his by far. He raised his tablet, confirming they were on path to extraction.

“Another squad is encroaching nearby. Seems to be made of newer operators, I don’t recognize any of them, Ace, your thoughts?”

“Given that it took us a grand total of two minutes to get surrounded, they won’t be able to handle it if that happens. You have us, but Me, Dobermann, Amiya, and Nearl won't be able to just protect an entire squad and you, we would have to choose.”

“I’ll call them off, they aren’t going to land in this place! We’re almost to extraction. Keep sprinting!”

He idly noted a white haired woman with what looked like red antenna trying to keep up with them, before a grenade was batted back at her by Ace’s shield. She rapidly retreated after that, barely dodging her own explosive.

“Helicopter ahead! Get going! Double time!”

His shouts spurred one last sprint from the operators, even as a gout of fire began to come from behind them, a woman dressed in black with a pair of spiky horns flanking them, fire surrounding her.

“We’re on! Take off!”

Ace slapped his hand against the helicopter, even as it took off as fast as it could, the doors closing behind them, him watching the woman turn back around and walking into the fire as they fled.

“I’m gonna be honest with you all? I shat myself.”

“I didn’t need to know that you asshole!”

Guard and Medic began to bicker lightly, even as he saw both of their faces turn to relief at their survival, them both leaning back into their own chairs. He himself decided to do the same, his head thumping against the metal of the helicopter, his body finally deciding to rest after the chaos of the event that had occurred.

“Good to see you still know what you're doing Doc. That could have gotten much uglier.”

“I certainly don’t feel like I knew what I was doing, but I’ll take the compliment Ace.”

Ace simply snorted at his response, right before his head fell forwards, and he began to snore. He just fell asleep on this noisy helicopter that easily! He kinda wants to be able to do that too. Nearl didn’t bother to speak up, and neither did Amiya, though Amiya did lightly hug him. Seems this was a victory, such as it was. He finally released Dobermann's golden chain, it retreating to the gate, and returning her to her base state with a shatter of glass. She turned out her right pocket, the lump of flesh that she had carved off Crownslayer hitting the ground of the Helicopter before she kicked it under an empty chair, not looking at it.

“Am I supposed to say something? Mission over? I don’t know, I don’t recognize these symbols, they’re new.”

“Ace would be able to explain more Doctor, he worked with you back then.”

He really hopes he doesn’t have to buy Ace anything, he didn’t even know if he had any money. Speaking of money, what even was the currency here? He had his work cut out for him with how little he knew of this place. This act was going to be a pain in his ass to continue. But at least the faint smile of Amiya brought him joy. Couldn’t be all bad!

Notes:

Given that they had an incredibly competent Dobermann, who specialized in mass slaughter and was similar to the butchers of district 23, they had managed to get enough time to avoid the catastrophe and their other encounters. They haven't met W, they haven't met Talulah, and they never actually learned Mephisto's name, though they heard Faust's. A lot has changed.

Chapter 4: Calm down, wind up. (Chapter 2 BEGIN)

The helicopter eventually began to descend after a short time in flight, him looking out a window to see what looked like an entire city on two massive treads. Why do it this way? Was there something that prevented them from being stationary? A tendency for earthquakes? In any case, the helicopter moved over a helipad there, floating overhead before slowly being waved down by a person whose face he couldn’t make out. They touched down, Ace waking up from being jostled from the final landing. The doors slid open as they all began to exit the helicopter, him looking around for a few seconds to take in how large this mobile city was. He could just see where the railings were to get off the ledge, though thankfully they were large, and only had small gaps.

“Welcome to Rhodes Island Doc! After Babel, uh, you know what? I’ll leave it for after you get resettled in. This will be a long story.”

Ace went off to where all of his other squad members had gone, all except for Amiya, who walked up to him.

“Doctor! We’ve made it! I’ll show you to your room. Then you can see your office, and PRTS should be able to handle the rest of the tour.”

“Sounds good to me. I’m tired.”

Amiya led him around Rhodes Island, even as he continually glanced at his tablet and PRTS, who was displaying both a map, and a collection of all available operators, which was what his squad members were referred to as. He will remember that, though it doesn’t matter now. She showed him his room, a barren, mostly empty place with only a bed, an empty bookshelf, and a closet for him to put his clothes in. His office was much more filled, filing cabinets, a large central desk that completely hid his legs, a comfortable chair, and several tins of other supplies. He once more looked at PRTS, before he asked it a quick question.

“What is my exact role here?”

“Your role is managerial, you are one of Rhodes Island’s many Doctors, additionally registered as a consultant. You have been moved off treating patients and conducting experiments for this purpose.”

How the hell was he going to learn his name now? He couldn’t just ask, they would find him out immediately! Though at least he wasn’t treating anyone. He had not a singular clue how to do that.

“One second Doctor.”

Amiya receives a few documents from another person, him not recognizing them at all, only that they were wearing mostly blue and white, and carried what looked like an umbrella.

“Ah, we have an operation tomorrow. It’s late anyways, so you should go to sleep, Doctor. You’ll get to see Lungmen!”

Amiya left as he went back to his room, retiring to his own bed while he placed his tablet on his bed stand, turning it off and plugging it into a cord from the wall. Didn’t look like any power cable type he knew of, so he wasn’t going to lose this one. He fell asleep rapidly, his mind and body taken by his own exhaustion.

He dreamed of a gate, made of red metal, and standing taller than Rhodes in its entirety. He dreamed of the chains that were held behind it, flickers of the lives of the ones he had seen so far passing him by. A moment of gaining a cherished console, the quick carving of meat to cook, replacing the tools once had with mere copies, dreams all forgotten. He dreamed of a black haired woman, sharing the same ring on his finger that he wore, as she hugged him. He twitched in the dream, his hands going up to hug her, before she vanished with the dreams end. The gate once more stirring with chains. Enough for thirty to burst forth if he tried. He didn’t know how he knew the number, but that meant he would be able to use it on three people. He pulled himself out of bed, getting dressed, before turning on his tablet. A meeting with an organization called the L.G.D in thirty minutes. He left his room, hungry from not having eaten as he quickly went to the mess hall. He grabbed a sandwich from the mess hall as he went to the indicated zone by PRTS.

“Doctor! We are currently docked with Lungmen. We have to meet with the L.G.D in 8 minutes. We are going to the district five inspection and quarantine zone to meet up with their head of police, where we will be taken to Wei Wenwu.”

He followed Amiya to the gray checkpoint, a line of people waiting as a broadcast from various speakers repeated the same lines about reporting infected, air traffic being closed from a catastrophe, and closing in two hours. A blue haired woman dressed in a suit and tie with black boots and horns very similar to the one that the white haired woman in the dress had approached them as they arrived.

“You're on time. Who might this be?”

“Doctor is Rhodes Island’s consultant. Dr Kal’tsit should have informed you already.”

“Hmph, the rest of Rhodes Island can help with border security. You two, follow me. PC94172, give the rest of Rhodes work. I have to go bring these two to Chief Wei.”

They followed the blue haired woman to the tallest building in the mobile city, Amiya marveling while he put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from saying anything, steadying her. She nodded towards him while they continued forwards, entering the tall building that bore all the hallmarks of being a governmental building.
Upon their entrance, they went further into the building, going up many floors, before stopping before what looked to be an incredibly lavish office.

“Dr Kal’tsit! I brought Doctor!”

“Rhodes island's representative has already met with Chief Wei, please wait here. You will be notified shortly.”

The blue haired woman walked off into the office, while they both waited out in front.

“Doctor, Kal’tsit will be handling the negotiations from here. Please have confidence in her.”

The gate rattled as her name kept being spoken. Chains bunching up, ready to be used, ready to find other versions of her to grab onto. This would certainly be an interesting meeting. The blue haired woman stepped out once more.

“Chief Wei will see you now.”

Notes:

We are almost entirely off the normal schedule of how Arknights went, so I'll summarize the differences once more. Doctor doesn't know more about the reserve squads or his other operators, didn't see the infected get handled by the LGD, doesn't know Ch'ens name since Amiya never apologized to her, and since they were slightly early, Kal'tsit didn't say her line about Lungmen becoming Chernobog yet. Everything's just the little bit off to change the world.

Chapter 5: Long Meeting, Short Reunion

Him and Amiya entered the office, stepping in as the blue haired woman followed. He saw two people in the office, staring each other down as they conversed, one a light green haired woman with lynx ears wearing a white and green lab coat, this one likely being Kal’tsit, and a man draped with a black coat with slightly similar horns to the blue haired woman, this being Wei Wenwu by elimination.

“Dr Kal’tsit!”

“Amiya… Alexander. So you have arrived.”

Even as the door was closed behind them, he rejoiced inside. So his name was Alexander! Easy enough to use. Alright, he could keep this up now. The blue haired woman spoke up.

“Chief Wei, the other two representatives of Rhodes Island have arrived.”

“Ah, excellent. Please take a seat, miss Kal’tsit is explaining the situation to me.”

“Allow me to continue then. I trust you already understand the current situation?”

“Given how our conversation has been going, I suspect you already know my answer to that.”

“Then believe me when I say that without help from Rhodes Island, Lungmen will be the next Chernobog. The Lungmen information network may have a lot of information about the reunion movement, and it is good that you recognize the importance of this, but it will not be enough, Lungmen still lacks key information essential to its continued survival.”

He watched as Kal’tsit continued to talk, him idly reaching to open the gate, only for the chains to not respond for her. Now that she was closer… it felt like she was behind the gate itself, rather than the chains wanting her. Like she stood holding a mirror, awaiting for it to be shattered to come through. When he idly poked at the gate in his brain, he eventually managed to see an inscription form forth, with the body of Kal’tsit hanging below it. AMA 10 = Kal’tsit. He couldn’t do anything to it even as he tried to think about it like the chains, so he let it return to the gate. Kal’tsit continued to speak.

“I believe that the L.G.D knows very well that this quarantine will not hold back reunion. They will not go through inspections, they will not wait for you to take the initiative. That is why Rhodes Island is offering its assistance. Without it, Lungmen will suffer heavy casualties should you decide to use the same strategies against reunion as you did against the infected.”

The blue haired woman stepped forward, interrupting Kal’tsit.

“Pardon the interruption, but the L.G.D understands Lungmen’s defenses better than Rhodes Island does. We have already made preparations to deal with potential infiltration from reunion. We are not obligated to provide you with confidential information on this matter.”

“Ch’en.”

Wei’s singular naming of the blue haired woman caused her to back down, her name now known to him. He looked back to Kal’tsit.

“Miss Kal’tsit, please do continue.”

“While it is true that Lungmen has successfully dealt with unarmed and unorganized infected so far, you have not dealt with this large of a scale, or this organized of a force from them yet. This may result in unnecessary losses that could have been prevented. From our experience, only the infected are capable of countering the infected.”

“From my understanding, Rhodes Island has some experience in countering Reunion, correct?”

“Yes, we have had experience, however I would hesitate to call it expertise.”

“I’ve been told that you were involved with the Chernobog incident, and that you had managed to gain quite a bit of intel before escaping before the catastrophe struck.”

“... It doesn’t matter how you got that information. Nor is said information currently up for exchange, it is a part of our resume, part of the reason that we are qualified to even speak to you, Mister Wei.”

“It is Lungmen that will decide whether or not we will exchange information. If Rhodes Island cannot even provide us with even this level of information… then we have nothing to trust in your capabilities.”

“Mister Wei, I apologize if my words were not clear enough. What I must emphasize is the only reason Rhodes has this information was because we were strong enough to obtain it, and strong enough to not take any losses in doing so.”

Ch’en speaks up once more, interrupting another exchange between Kal’tsit and Wei as she speaks.

“Whatever the case may be, Lungmen cannot simply trust another group of infected.”

Wei straightens his back at her words, a few cracks echoing from his back as he turns to her. His face looks somewhat disappointed.

“Madam Ch’en. Calm down, they are our guests. My guests.”

Ch’en goes to speak again, but a raise of his hand silences her. He speaks again.

“I have received an assessment of Rhodes Islands ability from the same source that told me of your involvement in Chernobog. I do believe that the L.G.D could handle any crime or prevent infiltration… but they are unsuited to all out war, which Rhodes Island brings to the table. However, there is one item in the agreement that is unsuitable to be given with what is currently offered. The temporary defense agreement is too much to ask for, it is not of equal value, your asking price is too high. Miss Kal’tsit, Miss Amiya, I hope you two both understand.”

“Mister Wei, a temporary defense will not be enough. There are a lot of things about reunion that you do not know about. Based on the data gained while fighting them, if no proactive measures are taken, reunion will seize control of Lungmen within three weeks.”

“...Hmph. You do make a point based on what we discovered. Due to the seriousness of this issue, and our own limited manpower, I’m not opposed to considering this temporary agreement based on the details discussed earlier. But my previous statement still stands as well.”

“...Rhodes Islands asking price is still too high?”

“Correct. In order for Lungmen to be properly compensated, I have three very simple conditions. First, Rhodes Island will help the L.G.D suppress the reunion threat, including identifying threats within Lungmen, threats from Chernobog, and assessing the degree that the infected have infiltrated Lungmen. I expect that you will share any helpful information as well. Second, if reunion causes damage that exceeds your estimates, you will help the L.G.D handle the situation, including post disaster management. The third is that you will share all of your information on the Chernobog incident. These are non negotiable. Rhodes Island does not have a choice, given the conditions and requests that have been made.”

Kal’tsit pauses for a few seconds, closing her eyes and thinking, before Amiya speaks up.

“Dr Kal’tsit… Mr Wei, I would like to add one more clause to the agreement. Any interpretation of the clauses must be agreed upon by both parties. Is this acceptable?”

“Of course. I can see the respect you have for Lungmen, Miss Amiya. Miss Kal’tsit, do you have any objections?”

“...No. I accept these terms.”

“Then it is done. In any case, you have earned Lungmens trust. I shall send the contract to Rhodes Island tomorrow. Madam Ch’en will be responsible for your arrangements. Do be aware that the infected are not allowed to freely move around the city however.”

He pauses once more, taking an idle drag from his pipe. The gate began to swing open, chains beginning to move.

“I hope that you will defer to the L.G.D’s orders while carrying out your duties. Especially Madam Ch’ens orders. Lungmen will be in line with Rhodes Island, as long as your actions are in line with us.”

The gate opened, the world graying, time stopping, as ten chains bursting forth towards Wei Wenwu as the world grayed. One red, One gold, the rest gray. The red chain burst into a mirror with him in a less businesslike uniform, much more royal looking, Wei Wenwu, Emperor's Aid. The gold chain shattered with a thunderous snap, another Wei appearing with it. He was wearing a mighty suit of armor, wielding a warhammer with an empty sheath on his hip. Wei Wenwu, Martial Lord of War. Time resumed after that, the two new chains retreating behind the gate. Him, Amiya, and Kal’tsit left the room after that, heading down to the main lobby before Amiya spoke up.

“Ugh… that man was so difficult. It felt like he wasn’t swayed by anything he said. Even what I offered last probably favored him more than us…”

“Amiya, you’ll eventually have to learn to deal with people like that yourself. But in the end, you did a good job. That clause at least gives us some power.”

“Ehehe!”

Amiya’s small laugh was stifled by her hand after a short second, before Kal’tsit looked at him, her eyes staring dead at his own. He began to speak.

“Ama-”

Kal’tsit interrupted him, her voice cutting him off as it turned into a hiss. It was actually quite funny how cat-like it was.

“Kal’tsit!”

She sighed, idly brushing her hair back as she stretched, before turning her eyes to him again. Her eyes looked… softer, as she looked at him again.

“Welcome back, Alexander.”

Why did his heart hurt when she said his name?

Notes:

Hey so you remember how the squad wasn't caught by Talulah, didn't get caught in the catastrophe, and didn't lose anyone? Yeah, there was no extra leverage, no extra things to offer, and a worse intel base, meaning that more was lost in the deal with Wei. He is the Yanese emperors older brother, if anybody could negotiate, he should be able too. Since everyone arrived on time, no fight from Ch'en, and he wasn't annoyed. Also this chapter had to be this long to establish everything. Also this story now has spoilers. If you know what the spoiler means, you know, but yes, my foreshadowing told the truth!

Chapter 6: Choir's Call

He really wished he had Dobermann or Ace right now. Seeing the difference in effectiveness with them and without them was like comparing night and day. With them he could have already been at the mission objective, but right now? He was waiting for Amiya to read a map, holding his face in his hands.

“According to Exusiai’s data, our mission target should have been staying somewhere around here…”

Hell, he would gladly take Nearl as well. One of her identities was a detective after all, surely she would be able to do this as fast as possible. And maybe be actually competent at map reading.

“Argh, the terrain around here is really complicated. If we're doing this alone, this assignment might have been troublesome. Luckily I got in touch with Penguin Logistics beforehand.”

Penguin Logistics? Well at least the company that was contacted made sense. A logistics company would absolutely have to know the area they were in for deliveries, lest they get lost or be late to them. His eyes scanned the area as they kept walking, before they entered an area where a riot seemed to be ongoing, some of the rioters harassing a group of children, to the point where he could see several of them bruised.

“Amiya! Get them off the kids!”

Amiya walked up in between the rioters and the children, before she spoke up after her arts began to slowly flare to existence.

“...You should leave right now if you know what’s good for you.”

The rioters continued to swarm various areas, slowly spreading out as they yelled, before one actually spoke to Amiya, and approached with a few others.

“You don’t look like you're from around here! Your not-”

Amiya fired her arts right between the man’s legs, her shot cracking the floor beneath him.

“If you don’t leave…”

The rioters responded to even the slightest force, the mangy group beginning to scatter with a chorus of shouts and panic when anyone could actually resist them.

“She’s using arts!”

“...Don’t bully the defenseless ever again.”

“She’s a monster!”

The rioters flee in short order, before Amiya looks down at their comment. He places his hand on her shoulder, before he speaks up.

“If the opinions of people who would take the slightest excuse to hurt people, only to flee the moment they find resistance mattered, the world would be a much worse place. Chin up, there's still more to do.”

Amiya pulled her head back up, before nodding at him, and speaking up, her voice loud as she called out for the kids.

“You can come out now! It’s dangerous here, so you should all find somewhere safe. Everything will be okay.”

The group of children slowly shuffled out from their tight huddle, before one of them rushed up to Amiya and grabbed her in a hug. She looked surprised at the action, before the child spoke.

“Thank you ma’am!”

“You're welcome, now off you go.”

Amiya gently got the child off her, before she sent them off. A smile was on her face, even as he patted her shoulder. He saw another child, one with bear ears and white hair watching them, older than the other children, before she too ran off.

“Well done. Now let’s get moving ourselves.”

They had barely begun to get moving towards the slums before two other people caught up with them. He looked down at his tablet, PRTS said that they were two other operators under him, a vulpo named Franka, and a vouivre named Liskarm, a guard and defender operator respectively, from blacksteel. The brown haired one with fox ears, the one labeled Franka, spoke first.

“Amiya, what’s going on?”

“We’re heading deeper into the slums. Franka, gather all nearby operators, the deeper we go into the slums, the more volatile everything will get… Civilians, criminals, and refugees all mixed together, all in one small area. We’ll need to be thoroughly prepared.”

The white haired woman with blue horns, the one labeled Liskarm, spoke up when she finished.

“Amiya, we have incoming comms. Please wait a second.”

She pauses for a few seconds, listening to the comms.

“That's right. Amiya, it’s the L.G.D”

“Was that madam Ch’en?”

“Indeed.”

Liskarm listens in to the call again, speaking in response to the voice at the other end.

“That's right, we have already found a number of unregistered infected. Yes. What? We’re after an ursus girl, short white hair, height of about one forty five centimeters, called Misha?”

That description matched the little girl he saw looking at them, before she left. But he held his tongue. Liskarm continued her conversation.

“Understood. Amiya, madam Ch’en wants us to search for the infected just described. Once we find her, we are to turn her over to the L.G.D immediately.”

The L.G.D wanting a child with what he had seen of them? Based on that… he continued to hold his tongue. He’d rather not think of what they would do to her, based just on what he had seen so far. Amiya spoke up.

“Can I speak to her please?”

Liskarm passed Amiya her radio.

“Hello? Madam Ch’en, can you hear me? Can I confirm the validity of that order? I see.”

Amiya’s face fell, before the radio released a small burst of static that caused her and Franka to wince. Amiya spoke after she passed the radio back to Liskarm.

“She suddenly hung up.”

He almost began to speak up, before Liskarm interrupted his train of thought with what she said.

“Amiya, I just received another message from several defenders. They have met some individuals who were openly hostile to Rhode’s Island operators. All of the hostile individuals were infected.”

He spoke up before Amiya could, her face exposing how fast her thoughts must have been racing.

“Then get all the defenders here. Do we have scouts?”

Amiya nodded at his question. He looked down at PRTS, before finding the scout team on it. He clicked to transmit to them, before speaking again.

“Scouts. Your target is an ursus girl with white hair, height of one forty five centimeters. Find her.”

He turned PRTS to general transmit.

“Other operators without new orders, follow your squad leaders, and stick together. If hostilities are happening, I don’t want you picked off one by one.”

He turned off transmit from PRTS before looking at his current squad, Amiya, Franka, and Liskarm.

“We can’t rush into an area like that. If we want to get them, we have to lure them out.”

He hoped that the girl wouldn’t take the bait. But it wasn’t like he had a choice in the matter. Franka spoke up.

“You're not bad, not bad at all. Liskarm, this kids pretty smart.”

“Franka, the Doctor is our tactical commander. Please take this seriously.”

Amiya spoke up at last, her eyes shining with both determination and a slight sorrow.

“Let's begin… I don’t like having to fight against the infected, especially not again. No other operators are available right now, so we’ll have to do this ourselves.”

Well that was great, that was really great. He led them deeper into the slum, flanked by his squad, before he saw the white haired girl pop her head out of a nearby building to his right, checking on them. But his squad hadn’t noticed yet, he could still do something at least.

“Check the building on the left. It looks empty, she might be hiding there.”

He gave a small nod towards the child, who nodded back, before she ducked back into the building on the right. This place was so dilapidated that it looked more like a ruin than a city, but he could at least help some of them. Wasn’t that what a doctor was supposed to do? Even if he didn’t know what his studies were even about or what his PHD was? He went into the left building, following after his squad who had gone in first. Franka spoke up.

“Doesn’t look like anyone has even lived here for years. Place has way more mold than I’d ever be comfortable near. Sometimes I wish I still had my biochemical disposal suit.”

“I think I’d like that. I really could use that given how much dust is in the air.”

Franka and Liskarm chatted away as they searched, Amiya searching rooms they didn’t while he went to what must have been the living room once, but now was more a pile of dust and mold. It smelled awful, but he had to get used to things like this, at least soon. He had no more time to think before the awful eroded foundations of the building collapsed under him, dragging him below the streets of the city as he fell. He swore he heard a few shouts from above, before his right hand felt like something had slammed through it, a strange black rock impaling him, causing him pain, yet holding the wound closed with its own bulk, even as it prevented him from closing his hand. He managed to stand up after he had hit the bottom, his back in pain, yet at least he was alive, cushioned by dust and rubble. He looked up to see that he must have fallen a few floors in the city. Standing up, he began to walk. No point in staying still and accepting death without rescue. He picked up PRTS with his left hand as he did, the tablet’s screen damaged beyond use, and likely beyond even having the ability to turn on, yet he walked still.

Notes:

Doctor is bullshitting so hard that he has his memories, trying to act like what he believes was him, a good doctor. This causes him to make Amiya miss Misha, meaning that we are currently on new rails. His only sights of the L.G.D and Lungmen are Wei Wenwu, who is a politician, and Ch'en, who ranges from prickly with friends to kinda a bitch. Anyways, time for the rails to be properly off, so I can ignore reading 2-2 and 2-3 like I've been doing since we were still somewhat on the rails.

Chapter 7: Bones to Break, Homes to return to. (Chapter two END)

He walked and walked through the belly of the mobile city, trailing through unmapped dimly lit hallways while ensuring that he didn’t touch the exposed wiring or strange puddles that had gathered in these abandoned halls. The black rock through his hand was painless all the while, his nerve ending must have been cut too sharply by it, which did cause him to stare at it while he walked, his brain trying to figure out how this was possible. He continued to walk, before he heard a young voice, him turning to see the child once more. If the description was correct, Misha was her name, but why was she down here?

“Um.. Mister, are you okay?”

“Yeah… doesn’t even hurt that bad to be honest. Can I have your name?”

“Misha, and yours?”

“Alexander.”

He decided to ask her name, no need to put her in panic from her thinking he was searching for her specifically, even if he didn’t want to. He saw her eyes widen when she saw the massive black rock currently impaling his right hand.

“You're also an infected?”

“Yeah, sounds about right. Why did you come down here?”

“To help you. You helped the rest of the children, and then led the uninfected with you away from me.”

“Speaking of the kids, why were a bunch of rioters attacking them? Doesn’t seem like they had a reason.”

“...Did it seem like any of them were infected?”

“Couldn’t tell you. It seemed more like they were just a bunch of people from the area though, so I would hazard a guess that at least some of them were.”

He looked back at his hand. It seemed like the rock in him was a sign of infection, a sign of the infected. How bad was it that she gave more of a shit when she saw the damn thing? Though as he looked closer, it seemed like the flesh was slowly closing over the wound with the rock still impaling him, like it was surrounding it yet still showing it. At least he wasn’t bleeding.

“Did you tell them to go anywhere?”

“Yeah, Amiya, the rabbit-eared one, told them to get to safety. Would there be any reason why they weren’t looking for them, yet they looked for you?”

“I… I don’t know. Lungmen hates all the infected more than criminals… I couldn’t tell you why they were going for just me in that case.”

“Then I guess we don’t know. Got a way out?”

“Yeah, follow me. We can’t use the places where the children have managed to dig through, you're too big, but we can get to another place. The L.G.D doesn’t check there.”

“Lead the way then.”

Misha led him through the underground of Lungmen for a while, before the lights fully went out. He winced as he accidentally knocked Misha over as she stopped, using his left hand to haul her back up.

“You good?”

“Yes. Why is the power out? They haven’t cut it to this area, even with how many wires are going out, too many interconnected wires.”

“Maybe something hit a generator? I did hear that reunion was planning something, though I couldn’t tell you the exact plan.”

“Reunion?”

“Nasty bunch, say they fight for the infected, but mostly they’re just butchers with a flimsy like the rioters. They’ll kill even other infected if they feel they are traitors for not joining up. Can’t say much else, but at least they’re trying something if that matters to you, though I wouldn’t admire them myself.”

“...They can’t be worse than Ursus at least. I’ve seen too many people get killed by their anti infected patrols.”

“Yeah, though I don’t think them fighting against places like Rhodes does them any favors. Their one of the only places that’s treating the infected in this area apparently.”

He was probably wrong about them being one of the only places, but it was at least a statement to help how Rhodes looked to her. He really felt like he was talking out of his ass with how many things he was making up, but the statements all felt right in his head, so he said them.

“Hopefully we should be fine, and if Rhodes is actually treating people, maybe a few of the children can leave the slum.”

“Hopefully. How long till the exit?”

“I… I don’t know. I normally lead myself by the lights. I’m hoping that we’re on the right path, but we might now be.”

“How long have you been here Misha?”

“Only a week, since Chernobog. I became a refugee and went here when the catastrophe struck, even if I couldn’t get here legally. I don’t know why we weren’t warned, or why the city stopped moving, but here I am.”

Oh. He felt bad for Misha now. Hopefully everyone she knew made it… even if it felt like he was deluding himself when he said that.

“I don’t know what else to say but this, the reason the city stopped moving was because reunion attacked it. I don’t know exactly what happened, but they apparently led a full scale assault on the military and city.”

“Ah. So they’re why I had to flee. Did you at least hear about them saving anyone?”

“None. I fled as well if you can see this damn rock in my hand. Used to be a doctor, but a doctor can’t operate without a steady hand, which I don’t exactly have anymore.”

“...Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, how long do you think we have?”

“It should only be another minute of walking.”

They kept moving, eventually coming across a part where the lights were still on.

“Yes! This was the right path.”

“Thanks for this.”

They arrived at a maintenance door, slightly rusted, but still able to be opened. Misha began to reach for the handle, before a quick knock on the door from the other side caused her to scramble back.

“Behind me, I can probably do something here at least.”

Misha hid behind him, her head peeking out, before the door was opened. A cloaked man wearing a gas mask came from behind the door, the trim of his hood orange before he faced the two of them.

“Who are you?”

The man glanced at him, tense, before untensing when he saw the rock in his hand. Was this guy one of the infected too? The man spoke up, while he noticed that the gas masked man was actually rather short, only a little taller than Misha. Were they getting surprised by a kid in his first outfit?

“I’ve… finally found you.”

The masked man looked at Misha, who hid her head behind him. Her response came out scared. Does she not know another way out? Was this the way she came in?

“Who are you?”

“...For now? Skullshatterer. Come with me.”

He spoke up, still holding Misha behind him.

“How did you find us, and why are you here?”

He would probably lose given how weak he was… but he did have the spike in his hand. A chance, even if small.

“Hmph. Misha, you know him?”

The girl still sounded scared, but she responded to the man’s question.

“He made sure I wasn’t caught, and saved a few of the other children from rioters!”

“Then I suppose you deserve an answer. Once I told the kids of you, and how I was searching for you, they told me of this route. I’m here to bring you to reunion.”

“But weren’t you the reason why Chernobog was de-ack!”

Misha began to cough into his back, her hacking cough bringing him worry, even as the man approached. He spoke up, trying to comfort Misha

“You good Misha?”

“Sorry… but my condition has been getting worse since I fled here.”

“Rhodes Island is currently docked. We might be able to get you treatment there.”

The masked man spoke up.

“No! They betray the infected at every turn! They work with the L.G.D and Ursus! Misha, look at me!”

Skullshatterer spoke up, shouting as he did, before removing his mask, Misha’s eyes going wide as she saw his face.

“Alex! But.. you were dead! How are you?”

“I threw away that name a long time ago. Just call me Skullshatterer. I serve reunion now.”

“But why?”

“...An eye for an eye. They took the lives of so many infected in Ursus, treating us like dirt…do you remember what happened to mother?”

“...Please no…”

“They beat her until I heard her bones break, until she could no longer use her own legs, but she still held onto me as they dragged her away. I-”

“Enough! You, Alex, shut up! She’s already crying. Hug your damn sister!”

He stomps towards Alex, before pushing him and Misha together, him speaking again as Misha began to cry into her brother’s shoulder, him awkwardly standing there before hugging her.

“Alright, now, I don’t exactly have a plan. You got one kid?”

With Alex’s mask off, he looked even younger than Misha, even if perhaps not by much. And Misha already was probably only fourteen… fuck, how much did they suffer for this shit? Didn’t matter, it was action time now. He could probably get both of them out somehow… though how to convince them that Rhodes was a good place to hide?

“...Sorry Misha. I'm here now.”

Ah, so he was being ignored by the hugging siblings. He fully opened the door, revealing the stars above. It was only morning when he fell down the pit. Dammit, they must have actually gotten lost in those tunnels at some point.

“Right, okay, here’s the plan. I can probably haul you two if either of your bodies begin to fail, but neither of you want to get near my right hand, so let’s get moving. Alex, any area we can go.”

“...That name is reserved for Misha, but yes. I can get us to a safe place. C’mon Misha, let’s move.”

Alex began to lead them through the streets, holding onto Misha while putting his mask back on, before they were approached by reunion soldiers. One of them spoke up.

“Skullshatterer! You got her?”

“Yes. Call off the assault, we’ve got what we came for.”

“Yes sir!”

The soldiers began to run off, him seeing a few yellow colored signal flares enter the sky, before Skullshatterer took them to an elevator on the side of Lungmen, it having been commandeered by reunion, them amongst hundreds of reunion soldiers. This… was probably a bad situation. As the elevator hit the ground, and reunion began to move out. Misha finally managed to stop weeping, before speaking up.

“Can… Can we go home together Alex?”

“...After I’m done here, when I’m done helping my men, I’ll hang up this mask and cloak, and we’ll go home together.”

He would make sure these two made it out alive, even if he had to find a way to kidnap both of them and take them to Rhodes himself. He owed it to what he must have been once, for this to be the chance he was offered.

Notes:

Ok, that's enough updates for today. No, doctor will not be joining Reunion, but I will state that I don't like how cheap Alex's death felt, like a bolt from the blue even if the emotions were real. It just... didn't work as a good character death, even if it did emotionally. That will be changed.

Chapter 8: Road Trip to Hell (Chap 3 BEGIN)

He and the rest of the reunion group he was with were packed into a collection of various vehicles, him riding with Misha and Skullshatterer in the car in the front of the column. The two siblings seemed to almost be waiting for the other to break the silence, glancing away whenever the other one looked. This was awkward enough that he was going to go to sleep if they didn’t do anything soon. He broke the silence.

“Okay, are you two going to speak to each other, or are you just going to dance around this. The two of you clearly have way too much to say, and you aren’t saying any of it.”

The two of them looked at him as he spoke, him leaning back in the rear as they had the front two seats, Skullshatterer driving the car, and Misha riding shotgun. They spent another short while in silence, before he facepalmed and began to speak again.

“Hell, I’m going to have to carry this entire conversation aren’t I? Alright then.”

He reared up fully, his tall frame making his head scrape against the low ceiling of the car.

“So, why did you name yourself Skullshatterer? Did it just sound cool, or did you think it would do something like strike fear into people despite the fact that you're too short to see over a bar counter.”

“Because it would be a name that they would remember. Would you remember a name like Big Bob?”

“Yes. Names and titles do have weight, but there is such a thing as them both underselling and overselling a person. If I had to guess, the fact that you bothered to add something in front of it means that he’s a squad leader or something?”

“I’m not sure. He joined up with his brothers, but I couldn’t tell you whether he had been moved up to an official squad leader. I think he has, given that last I saw of him a group was listening to him, but I could be wrong.”

“Huh. In any case, it’s not the name, it’s the weight you manage to give it. A completely irrelevant name can become important the moment someone does anything while it, while big names can fall to the wayside. Imagine if one of your men called themselves godslayer or something that big, would that name have any meaning if they had never done it before?”

“...No. No it wouldn’t. Especially when Patriot might have actually done such a thing.”

“And that name is a good example right there as well. Doesn’t mean much until somebody comes along and carries it to the heights. I mean, my name's Alexander. Not exactly powerful sounding is it?”

“Meh. I like the name I chose though. Skullshatterer is what sounded best to me, and so far? I’ve not let the name down.”

They both heard a small giggle from Misha, her covering her mouth with her hand in an attempt to stifle both it and her smile. When she saw them looking at her, she wiped off a stray tear with her sleeve, before speaking.

“You haven’t changed at all have you? You still chose the coolest sounding thing you could, like when you kept trying to wear a cloak when we were younger.”

“Hey! You said you wouldn’t bring that up again!”

“How could I not when you do things like this, it’s like putting a button near one of the children, it doesn’t matter if it does nothing, they’ll still press it.”

“Bah.”

Alex’s grumpy dismissal led to Misha laughing quietly for a while, him smiling in the back watching the two siblings interact. It wasn’t long before Misha stopped laughing, and the silence became a comfortable one, rather than the awkward one it was before. After a while, during which the car had rolled into a savanna, Alex asked him a question.

“Hey, so why did you bother to help out Misha? Most wouldn’t, especially given you didn’t know her.”

He paused, considering what he should say. Truth would probably work, as long as he threw in the right lies. Since he can't close his hand, and he doesn’t have fine motor control over it with the damn rock in it, he may as well use that, combined with the fact that he was apparently a doctor, he had a good story there.

“I was a doctor once, worked for Rhodes Island before this thing came about. Once it came in, I couldn’t grab any of my tools, and since my main use was surgery… Well, no more reason to keep me on, a surgeon without a steady hand is a useless one. At least I got a severance package, and even that was more than any other place would have done, but I couldn’t just up and forsake the oath I took. When they wanted me to lead Rhodes into the slums to find people, I refused to allow myself to harm people that had nothing to do with reunion. Course, Misha saw what happened after that.”

“What did reunion do that made you willing to work against us?”

“Fucked over where I was working after that, and almost killed me. I was on Chernobog when you lot attacked. You might say you're fighting for the infected, but most of you are just a sorry band of killers.”

“Even so, you have to realize we're one of the only groups actually trying to do anything for the infected. Talulah took charge and is leading the fight to save as many infected as she can.”

“I don’t know what dreamland you're living in, but you should know how this song and dance works. We do something for people that say they care, it gets bad enough or they get greedy enough, and then we’re screwed. The infected rally around any beacon they can, while those beacons are moved like pawns. You’d best hope that Talulah ain’t one.”

It was bullshit, what he was saying, but it was bullshit that he knew had grains of truth. If it didn’t, then the infected's situation would have been good enough for an armed revolt like this to never take place.

“...You're right. But she isn’t one. We’re actually trying to do something, even if it might not matter.”

“And hey, if you're correct? Better world to live in. But if I’m right? Well, it’s not like there would be a difference between her and Rhodes right now.”

The ride continued in silence, even if he broke out in a sweat. He was pretty sure he was talking out of his ass… but if he could pull at least the children out of this, then he had done a good job. He just had to hope we was up to the task.

Notes:

Alexander (doctor) is talking out his ass, but he is actually on point. If you look so far... it seems very similar to what Rhode's was doing, isn't it? One just works with the nations, and reunion is trying to do something without them, both being jerked on other's strings. Rhodes has to serve political interests, and Reunion is a puppet. Also, I guessed Talulah's gimmick literally just based on how different she dressed. Seriously, design's speak a lot for the character's impression. Call it guesswork from Alexander on the plot if you want, but even in the beginning, pieces fall together too easily for there to not be something, and the other parts that we didn't hear tell the full story.

Chapter 9: The Garden, The Gallery (Chapter 3 END)

The car eventually came to a stop, ending far into the plains as they all dismounted, a camp being set up in the brush and grass as other vehicles fanned out, an entire force settling down for the day. Skullshatterer spoke up as he stepped out.

“Alexander, do you see the truck with the sword emblazoned on the side?”

“Yeah, the one that looks like an armory?”

“That one. Go over there and grab a mask and sword. Even if you won’t join reunion, you should be armed while you're here, and I would rather not risk anyone here’s odds of a normal life after this.”

“Thanks, but are you sure they’ll just give me one?”

“Considering that they saw you exit the vehicle with me and Misha in it? They will. In any case, I’m going to speak with Misha, privately, so after that you can go find something to do, there should be at least a few people who could use another hand to help them.”

“Alright then. Don’t spend half your time with her just being a convincing excuse for a statue then, actually talk to your sister. No point in spending half an hour just waiting for one of you to speak up only for somebody to need to intercede again.”

“I don’t need your help. I can talk to her.”

“The car ride says otherwise, and so does how awkward the conversation was.”

“Fuck you.”

Skullshatterer’s crude dismissal brought a quick snort from Misha, who stepped out of the car, Skullshatterer leading her elsewhere into the brush, deeper into the camp. He walked over to the large truck, none really paying attention to him as he did. He spoke to the man who was in the back of the truck, holding a clipboard while trying to read it masked.

“Hey. You got a mask and sword? I was told to get them.”

“One second. Here. Don’t break them.”

The man doesn’t question his status, tossing him a similar gray mask and a shortsword, before waving him off.

“Thanks.”

He walks off, wandering camp for some time, occasionally asking about who needs any help moving or setting up. He’s not very effective at any of the more specialized set ups, and being down a hand certainly doesn’t help, but it occupies his time. It must have been roughly an hour or two, before he begins to see some of the members begin to rush to the front. They're kicking up a commotion, but he doesn’t seem to need to follow along, so he keeps helping.move things. But the commotion keeps ramping up, more members moving, until he sees Skullshatterer rush over to him with Misha, a white haired woman with strange red horns pointing down looking at him.

“Take Misha, get her out of here, keep her safe.”

Skullshatterer almost pushes Misha into his chest, before he hears a whisper from Skullshatterer.

“I don’t trust W, even if she’s part of reunion, she’s too mercenary and I can’t say that anyone here likes her. Keep Misha out of her grasp.”

Skullshatterer drops his voice even lower, clearly trying to speak to only him, even if Misha was there, and could likely hear.

“W says you're the doctor of Rhodes, but even if you are, you clearly aren’t with them for this. She told me to take you out to handle their tactics, but they’ve done perfectly fine. So why did she tell me this?”

He pauses in thought for a second, before responding in a low whisper.

“I am the doctor of Rhodes. But I can’t just let the people I've sworn to treat die for useless reasons. If that means I’m allowing an infected girl to escape what will be a very unfortunate end, given that I know Lungmen has some reason to hate reunion. They wanted to kill her, more than likely since you're related to her. So I got her out, and more importantly, I want to get the infected out. Rhodes has some reason to be against reunion, I was never told of it, but it must either therefore be to gain political weight, or because of something personal.”

Skullshatterer pauses for a few seconds, the white haired woman, who must have been W, watching from afar.

“I’m guessing that this was ordered?”

“Yes. I don’t know why we were ordered to, only that Kal’tsit made a contract, which I’m not privy to, and included in said contract, was defending Lungmen, for mutual defense. I chose to help the infected instead.”

“You're a good man, even if you clearly lied about who you were to save yourself. Thanks. Keep Misha safe.”

Skullshatterer pushes off, heading to where all the other reunion members were heading, W following behind him. It’s a minute of him trying to just comfort Misha, who looks panicked, before she speaks up.

“We have to go to help him. If what he told me was true, and what I heard was true, then he’s going to die!”

“Misha! He told me to keep you safe, and going there will likely only result in you getting injured, and your condition worsening.”

“But with how much he said that Lungmen was doing, and how strong Rhodes is, he’ll die!”

He pauses for a few seconds, the tears in Misha’s eyes welling up as she weakly begins to try and escape his one limbed grasp. Even with how weak he is, and how mature she acts, she is still a child.

“...Alright. But stick near me. I’m not letting you get injured, even if we’re about to probably risk our lives doing the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. Follow me, don’t leave my side.”

“Thank you!”

He began to move in the same direction the reunion members went, drawing his sword in his left hand as he ran, moving with Misha, before she began to cough again, her condition deteriorating from the excitement.

“C’mon kid, stay together. Actually, I’ll handle this.”

He sheathed his sword, before picking up the coughing Misha, who was struggling to keep running, putting her on his left shoulder as she did, her body limply holding on to him. He ran for a few minutes, before he reached the site of the conflict. He put Misha down as he scanned the battlefield for Skullshatterer, seeing several people he didn’t recognize. A woman with red hair, a halo, and what looked to be shards of glowing glass behind her, firing into reunion members with an assault rifle. A wolf eared woman with blackish hair, a yellow sword slicing through reunion members with ease. And a green haired woman with a horn splitting the front of her hair, bashing people aside with ease. It took nearly a minute for him to find Skullshatterer, him moving towards Amiya, taking potshots with his grenade launchers, just waiting for a moment to strike.

“There he is. Now how do we make sure he doesn’t die?”

He spotted W a way across the battlefield, brawling with some other members of the L.G.D by the marking on their uniforms. Franka, Liskarm, and Ch’en were over there as well. But Skullshatterer had begun to move towards Amiya, before he vanished underground beneath the dust of the battlefield.

“How did he? Never mind, we need to get closer. Can you run Misha?”

Her coughs are weak, yet she looks up at him regardless of it, her face a grim painting.

“I can do it!”

“Then let’s get going, no point wasting time.”

He began to lead Misha forwards, a few reunion members spotting them, but none paying much actual attention to them, seeing his mask and sword, though a few tried to stop Misha, only to be turned aside by her grim glare as they continued towards where Amiya and Skullshatterer was. As they were only a short distance away, Skullshatterer burst from the ground, his blades swinging towards her, before being blocked by the green haired woman, blocked by her shield. His voice is nearly unrecognizable through the mask, unlike when he was with the two of them.

“How… How did you block that?”

“My Hannya is not something you can penetrate.”

“We’ll… see about that.”

Skullshatterer fires a quick shot from his grenade launchers, knocking the green haired woman away and Amiya to the floor, disorienting them both, before he begins to rush towards the green haired woman, his knife out.

“It’s over for you!”

Amiya brings her arm up, her voice a panicked mess of both will and fear.

“No! You can’t! I won’t let you hurt anyone else!”

Amiya’s eyes reflect the mask of Skullshatterer, before she unleashes her arts. A black spike shoots from her arm, and impales Skullshatterer through his chest, forming into a black and red blade rammed through his chest. Misha’s cry is loud, and hurts his ears, even as he feels the gate begin to shake.

“No! Alex!”

Misha rushes from behind him, heading to Skullshatterer as his eyes widen, seeing them both. He tries to speak, his own attempts slightly gargled from the blood in his mouth.

“Misha… You… Shouldn’t be here… not with… these wretches…run!”

“I can’t! Don’t die!”

The gate rattles even as the green haired woman stands up, beginning to move towards them. He has to act! Even if the gate isn’t fully open, he slams the hand into his mind to rip it open, feeling time stop around him as he grasps at the ten chains. But this time, it is different. Him ripping it open caused the chains to go towards two. Five head to Misha, crying over her brother, and five head to Alex, choking on his own blood. Of the chains, seven are gray, with two different red chains heading to the siblings, while one gold one latches onto Misha. The red one on Alex bursts open, reading Alex, Rhodes researcher, with him dressed in a Rhodes Island uniform, carrying what looks like a chainsaw on his back, while holding a clipboard. The other red one on Misha breaks just after, reading Misha, Bonebreaker, with her wearing a familiar looking gas mask and wielding a warhammer and a crossbow. But the gold one leading to Misha is different, very different. Rather than shattering into her, he sees something. A garden, filled with blooming roses of different colors. In the stopped time, he can only watch as what looks like a signpost rises up from the middle of the garden in an empty clearing, with some kind of white creature on it, with green spots and red eyes. There’s at least four eyes, but the next thing to rise is more important. It’s Misha, dressed in some kind of bridal dress, or perhaps a funeral one, carrying a bouquet of colored roses with eyes, a crown of roses on her head. WAW E.G.O, Garden of Thorns, it reads. He feels another thing appear, a gallery in his head right next to the gate, a place for it to rest in, it appearing as a painting within the gallery. As time resumes, the world regains color, and he calls upon it, feeling something almost… drain, from him, an emotion pulled forth, before the sound of shattering glass fills the air.

“This garden… shall bloom with the sins of the world.”

Misha’s voice echoes as her outfit is replaced by the one in the painting, everyone stumbling back as the ground beneath their feet, and the world around them, is dragged into the image he saw, all standing in the garden of thorns. Amiya speaks up, even as Skullshatterer looks on in what could only be awe.

“What is… this?”

Amiya’s speech is cut off as Misha throws the rose filled bouquet into the air, as roots begin to burst beneath many of the non reunion members, some deftly dodging, the green haired woman, the Rhodes Island operators, and some of the other unknowns, but some don’t dodge. The thorns rip into them, but he sees no wounds, only a single, blooming rose of a single color per person. He watches as the red haired woman with a halo has her rose rapidly cut off by the wolf eared woman, but others aren't so fortunate, the rose finishing its bloom, thorns bursting from their flesh as they kneel in the garden, roots extending to the floor below. Skullshatterer speaks at the end, spitting out blood as the sword within him is slid out by him, the wound closing unnaturally in the garden.

“Misha? You could do this?”

The other people near them had been forced away by the roses, even as Misha smiled at her brother, before he grabs Skullshatterer’s hand, hauling him up and giving him his tools before trying to drag him away.

“We have to go! You too Misha!”

Misha smiles, hiding it a little behind a new bouquet, before a few paths open near reunion members, including W. They go through the garden, which many begin to run through, vanishing after they do. Misha begins to walk as well, before Alex speaks, hurrying towards a path.

“Misha! How?”

“The garden called for me. So I added the sins it wanted to it. Is it so wrong to want to see people bloom fully?”

“What does that even mean?”

He speaks up, interrupting the two, his hand forcing Misha to run towards an exit via its position on her back.

“Get moving! Questions can be asked later! Move!”

The three of them run to an exit, the roses and various parts of the garden preventing the Rhodes Island operators and the L.G.D from pursuing, though they do try their hardest, Amiya rallying at last with the green haired woman’s help, firing another shot of her arts, missing widely.

“Through you two! With me!”

The three of them slam through the path, exiting in the same tunnel system that they originally found Alex in. The sound of glass shattering returns Misha to normal, who has seemed to have her condition stabilized, smiling at her brother. He doesn’t let them speak before he pipes up.

“Alright you two, everyone saw that. How are we getting out of this? There’s no way they won't search for us.”

“I have no idea. We could try the same route, but if we’re in this tunnel system… how far did those paths go?”

Misha shrugs, even as she speaks up.

“I don’t know. I just opened them, and allowed everyone to go on the routes they wanted. It seems it took everyone where they wanted to be though.”

“Speaking of that, I will ask again. How did you do that?”

“I just… I felt some kind of voice, before I felt that voice become mine as well. It was like I was both myself, and the garden of thorns, does that make any sense?”

“No. It really doesn’t.”

“That’s the best I can do to explain it, I’m sorry.”

He speaks up once more. It’s time to clarify, even if things might get very strange, but by this point, he doesn’t have a choice, even as he takes off his mask.

“No. It was me. I caused her to have access to that. It’s called the garden of thorns, as she said.”

Skullshatterer looks at him, his eyes nearly locked onto his own, even from behind his mask, while Misha looks at him curiously.

“You did that?”

“That I did. I don’t know how, but I have some kind of gate in my head it feels like. Occasionally, whenever emotions get high enough, or when people are simply acting out, it shoots ten chains towards the person or people while stopping time to do so, though I cannot act during said time. From said chains, there are three colors, each doing different things. Gray is just them, no changes. Red has a change for whatever reason, for instance, when I used it on you and Misha, the red chain on you was Alex, Rhodes researcher. But the gold chains have so far done different things. Every time excluding now, it’s just another identity, just another version of the person, with a different history and skillset, but still them. But the garden of thorns was different, it called itself a WAW E.G.O. I don’t know what that means, but instead of being a specific chain behind the gate, it manifested in my head as a painting with Misha in it, making a gallery for itself. When I pulled at the painting, Misha started using it, and I had no control, unlike with identities, which I can release at any time.”

“Okay, hold on. Start from the top. How do these identities work?”

“So far, based on what I’ve seen, the identities work by choosing a literal alternate version of themself, where they made different choices. For instance, the red chain for Misha called itself Misha, Bonebreaker. It appears that said identities consider me in some way to be allied to them, but otherwise are just the different version of the person. In order to manifest an identity, I grab onto the specific chain in the gate in my mind, which shatters into a mirror. When I hold onto that, the identity takes over, acting for the person, and the person acting as if they were still in control, just being the alternate version of them as well. When I release the mirror, it returns to being the chain, and they return to normal. It looks like their memories stay the same, them remembering what they did, yet since it was them who accepted that action, they just act like they had done it.”

“So then use the identity you got for me. I want to test this for myself.”

He grabbed on the chain in his mind, grabbed onto Alex, Rhodes researcher, before he heard the shattering of glass, Skullshatterer being replaced by his identity, sniffing at himself. He spoke after roughly half a minute.

“I do certainly have different memories along with my old ones, but I understand what you were saying. I certainly feel the same, and it doesn’t look like anything is out of place…”

Alex continues to look himself over, before Misha chuckles at his actions, him whirling around before hugging her gently. He looks surprised by his actions, before he speaks again.

“So it really is like being both yourself and another person, I get what she was saying now. I both remember being separated, and remember our parents surviving, before they recommended I join Rhodes. Release the chain.”

He releases the chain in his mind, it falling behind the gate, as Alex returns to being Skullshatterer. Skullshatterer speaks when he is returned fully.

“That was… okay. I still felt fully in control of myself, just… different. Back on track. What do we do?”

Misha puts her hand on her chin, before speaking up again.

“Well if Alexander was from there, and the garden of thorns can allow us to go to where we shouldn’t be able to, like from the plains to the city in only a few steps, can’t we just go to Rhodes Island?”

“I don’t like that you're considering that, they did stab me after all.”

“But you're fine. I healed you using the garden! And besides, do we even have a choice in the matter if we want to go home? Reunion would try to keep us working, and especially W since you said she wasn’t trustworthy, and we can’t go anywhere else, they hate the infected.”

“Reunion has done well by me so far, even if I was willing to let you go to Rhodes, would that end well? Alexander said they were working with the L.G.D.”

Both continue to go back and forth on their reasons, neither reaching a conclusion, before he speaks again.

“I still have ten chains ready to go. If I try it again, we might be able to pull one for Misha I can use to get her aboard without causing problems. We already have a version of Alex from Rhodes, so there is a chance that we can use that to pull off a sneaky trick.”

“...Might just work. I was an operator in that identity. How are you sure that this will end well?”

“I’m the doctor of Rhodes! That has to be worth at least something, especially since I have access to PRTS, even if it’s broken right now, I can probably just enter you two in, and then we should be able to hide it, since we use codenames. How does that sound?”

Alex pauses for a few seconds more, thinking. Alex sighs, pulling off his mask and looking at the front.

“I told Misha we would be going home once I returned to her. But there’s no home to go to if we do this. I had planned to go to Chernobog, head to the old home there, but if we’re going to leave reunion with this, I can’t do that.”

“Yet despite that, and despite some working along the L.G.D, Rhodes stands for the infected, for their freedom. Your identity was a researcher, and while you’ll have to work, you’ll at least have a job you are good at, and security from any who would pursue you.”

Misha pipes in, stepping in between the two of them.

“Do it. I don’t want Alex to take anymore risks like that, I already almost lost him if it weren’t for you. Open the gate.”

He reaches towards the rattling gate in his mind, feeling it’s slow open, as time stops with the world draining of all color. Ten chains burst forth once more, five to both once more. Eight gray, one gold to Misha, one gold to Alex. The red chain bursts into a mirror, Misha, Rhodes S.W.E.E.P operator, emblazoned with a Rhodes island uniform and carrying a bevy of what look to be explosives attached to knives. But once more, the one to Alex shifted. HE E.G.O Capote. It joined the gallery, a display of a large, burning area with magma and a red hot cauldron with a bulls face emblazoned, before a large, brass bull crawled from it, the beast dropped down as the form of Alex stepped into the painting, a bull fighter’s cloak on his right shoulder, and his fist wreathed in flames. Time resumed, the chain returning to the gate, and the gallery bearing a new painting.

“Alright, got a new one for Misha, it works for Rhodes. This should work, are you two good with this? Last chance to back out.”

Alex looks hesitant, before he nods at last, his eyes turning hard. Misha nods as well, her smile reappearing, before she hugs Alex again, before standing apart and speaking.

“Alright, swap us to the identities and do the thing with the garden of thorns. I’ll lead us there!”

He grabs the two chains in his mind, Alex swapping to being the researcher, and Misha becoming the S.W.E.E.P operator, before both looked at each other. Alex spoke first.

“Even if it wasn’t the home I meant, we still have somewhere to go to. Lead the way.”

“Let’s go brother. Though this time, you’ll have to listen to me! I’m higher ranking now!”

Misha’s smug grin brought a smile to Alex’s face as he used the garden of thorns, Misha swapping from her S.W.E.E.P outfit to the dress in the garden of thorns as the tunnels changed, the three of them walking to a specific opening that Misha gestured to as they walked.

“Off we go then. I’ll do the best I can to pull you two out of this mess once we get to Rhodes.”

They continued to walk in silence, though after a minute of walking, he felt his hand become lighter as he heard a thunk of something hitting the ground. His hand was healed, and the large rock had hit the ground from it. At least he won’t have to worry about that anymore. Alex commented after, seeming interested, if barely.

“Huh, guess you’ll be operating again, won’t you? Though I don’t think it’s any kind of cure, good to see everyone's getting something out of this.”

He nods at Alex’s words, continuing on. If he was exposed to an infectious substance in his bloodstream, no way that was a cure, the rock probably only being removed because it was causing genuine damage of some sort. They reached the threshold of the garden as they walked, before taking a final step through. Stumbling out of the garden, and dismissing the garden of thorns, he tripped over the leg of his chair in his office, his face hitting the floor, even as he heard the two siblings celebrate behind him.

“Alright you two. Let’s get you two set up fully. I can probably get my tablet repaired at engineering, so you two can just wait here or something.”

He had checked his office before he had left, no cameras or anything else, they should be fine there, even as he left and began to walk towards engineering.

“One step more… and a lot of apologies to Amiya.”

Notes:

I. WANT. E.G.O! Also, yes, Misha ID was in S.W.E.E.P, so now you get to wonder about that! But yes. We keep moving, were back on Rhodes, and now we can keep moving with the plot! Good stuff. Onto chapter four, then I begin hitting the earliest events.

Chapter 10: A Gift for them, A hope for her.

“Doctor? Why are you here? Weren’t you with Amiya and the other’s deployed to Lungmen?”

“I got separated in a fall, and couldn’t find them for hours. I came back here after that, as my tablet’s broken.”

“How did you get through the Lungmen Border?”

“I got help from S.W.E.E.P. One of them got me through.”

The woman puts her face in her hands as he put’s the tablet with PRTS on the desk in front of her. A plaque emblazoned on her desk reads her name, or perhaps her codename, Closure. She slowly looks over the incredibly damaged tablet, before she puts it to the side of her desk, and looks back at him.

“Alright. I’ll fix it. But next time you show up, please visit without more work okay? In any case, who amongst them helped you?”

Closure turns to a nearby tool cabinet, filled with parts. She withdraws a list from within, and begins to look over it.

“The one who helped me had white hair, and a lot of knives?”

“So Projekt Red helped you then. Alright, Kal’tsit probably knows you're here in that case. But you are in luck. The batteries are going to need to be replaced since they’re broken, and some of the wiring is unsalvageable, but those are the only expensive parts, and the other parts are either fine or are cheap to replace.”

“How long will it take? I don’t just want to leave Amiya and the rest alone.”

“Should only take an hour, and you can probably just get in after that if Amiya and the others are on Lungmen.”

“Sounds good to me. Mind if I wait here?”

“Go ahead.”

He sat at a nearby chair as he saw Closure get to work on disassembling his tablet. After a few minutes, he leaned back in his chair, and decided to try and get some sleep. If he had an hour, he may as well use it.

He awoke to the feeling of something balanced on his head, Closure looking smug as she lifted what looked like a box and tried to put it on his head as well, not noticing he was awake.

“How much did you put on me? Feels like you put an anvil on my head.”

Closure looked at him surprised as she put the box on his head, but her sudden jump caused her to destabilize the objects on his head. Feeling them tilting to the right, he tried to catch as many as he could, managing to grab his tablet, the box, and a few other small tools as Closure managed to catch the rest.

“Woah! Don’t surprise me like that! But I did break my record on how many things I got on top of someone while they slept. Thirteen different objects on your head!”

Her look turned smug as she slightly puffed out her chest. He glanced at his tablet. Fixed and ready. That was a good sign, meant he could finish up with what he needed to do.

“Heh. Next time you want to do that, just ask. I’ll find a better place to sleep, and we can see about breaking that record again. In any case, thank you.”

“Never thought that I’d hear those words out of your mouth, not after the first time I tried this. I’ll take you up on that offer, no backing out now!”

He had no idea she had done this before, possibly from before when his memories started? It didn’t matter, just another thing to keep track of, even as Closure smiled an impish grin.

“Alright, settle down. It’s good to see you again, in any case. But I’ll be taking my leave now. Can’t let Amiya spend any more time worrying about me.”

“Yeah. It’s good to have you back. See you!”

He walks out of engineering, and turns his tablet back on, the familiar logo of PRTS appearing on screen. An automated voice comes from it.

“PRTS online. Notice, two unknown operator signatures are read within the doctor's room. Confirm identities.”

He makes it to his room, seeing the two siblings having helped themselves to some of the snacks within.

“Right you two, do you have an operator I.D or similar?”

Misha provides hers immediately, her hand sliding into her cloak and under her knives, withdrawing an I.D with her face on it. Alex reaches into his pocket, pulling out his wallet and grabbing his I.D from it, his face on his as well. Both of them have their code names on it as well. Misha had Dagger on hers, and Alex had Sulphur on his. He held up PRTS to both, the camera aligned with them, before PRTS produced another beep, and spoke again.

“Notice, operator IDs are correct, however they are not registered. Confirm status as operators.”

A place for his fingerprint popped up on the screen of the tablet, and another request for his voice. He took off his glove as he put his finger to the designated place, and spoke up.

“Confirm. They work for Rhodes.”

“Updating Records… Storing Memory… Notice, likely temporal anomaly involved. Files on this will be logged as Doctor’s eyes only. Operator Files… complete. Welcome aboard.”

The two siblings looked at him as PRTS mentioned the temporal anomaly, before he shrugged.

“You know why PRTS said that. In any case… you can relax now. How does it feel?”

Alex spoke first as he slumped in relief.

“It feels better than I thought it would… ugh. At least this is all done now.”

Misha spoke afterwards.

“Yeah. All that running and being separated… though, I will ask something of you Doctor. Could you protect as many of the other children as possible?”

“That I will. I would be a terrible doctor if I didn’t try to.”

He grabs some paper, and writes some things down for them from PRTS showing it to him. He hands it over to the two of them when he finishes writing.

“Right, here's your dorms, there's your schedule. You shouldn’t have anything difficult to do yet, but you do have to do something if you want to stay. At least you get paid for it!”

Misha speaks as he begins to move to leave.

“How long are we going to use these identities?”

“I don’t think we can drop them until you all get copies of your weapons and gear. You can’t just walk around without them, nor your IDs. But at least that shouldn’t take long. I’ll request it for you when I come back.”

“I can live with that. Alex?”

“I don’t like it, but I’ll at least put that off.”

“Then let’s go to our dorms. There's more to catch up on… and you need to tell me about any friends you made.”

“Alright. Lead the way.”

Watching as they leave, he leaves after them, heading out to where Rhodes and Lungmen were docked.

“Back to work then. I hope Amiya isn’t too worried.”

His walk was short, but as he made it to the docking point, a brown haired missile slammed into his chest, her arms wrapping around him as she knocked the wind from him.

“Doctor! I was so worried!”

Amiya looked up from where she had slammed into him, a few other operators following behind her. The glare he was getting from Kal’tsit was boring into his skull, even as he saw Franka and Liskarm relieved.

“Sorry Amiya. I couldn’t find my way back in the city, so I just went to Rhodes to get PRTS fixed so I could get back into contact with everyone.”

“You could have waited for us! We tried to make our way down to you!”

“Couldn’t have waited easily. That place looked like any other part could collapse at any time. Didn’t want to risk death.”

Amiya buries her head further into his chest, him returning the hug at last as he feels the first of her tears cause his shirt to grow wet.

“Ah, shit don’t cry Amiya. I didn’t mean to get lost down there. Don’t just cry on me kid, I’m alive.”

Amiya continues to cry into his chest as he comforts her, the stares of his operators boring into him as he looks up.

“Right. I think I’ll be stuck like this for a while… has anything happened while I was gone?”

Notes:

Alright! Operators Dagger and Sulphur got! And now, we head onto chapter 4 of arknights. Time for Yelena...

Chapter 11: Tales of the Tower

Notes:

This chapter has massive spoilers for Arknights. If you don't want to see them, they won't come up for a while, so skip this chapter if you don't want to know, and come back when I mention this chapter again.

The operators cleared out after a short while, Franka and Liskarm having a conversation with Kal’tsit he couldn’t hear before heading away from her. After her conversation, Kal’tsit walked up to the two of them.

“Amiya, let me check your hands.”

Amiya merely continued to hug him, a last few ugly tears pouring as he managed to rotate them both enough that Kal’tsit could see her hands and look at them.

“It looks fine. The rings haven’t cracked or discolored. Go rest for now. You’ve been clinging to him long enough.”

Amiya slowly extricated herself from his grasp, her tears finally spent with her smile of relief, before she walks off. He turns to Kal’tsit afterwards, her face being a stoic picture of her displeasure.

“I had hoped you had enough of a brain to not do something so stupid, but here we stand. You should have allowed the operators to fully check the premises.”

“Yeah, that was my fuckup.”

“Very much so. You are responsible for that and the emotional turmoil it caused her. However, you are not responsible for the risk she put herself in afterwards. She should know when it is unwise to split her forces.”

“Don’t blame a kid for not knowing everything yet. She’s younger than anyone who should be in the position she’s in. If she isn’t ready, or her actions aren’t wise, It’s because she hasn’t had the time to gain any actual experience. Was this her first proper instance of solo command in a real situation without someone else competent to help just in case?”

“You would be correct. But she has consistently been attached to situations like this, learning from those more experienced. That she crumbled so fast under the pressure from emotion alone is not good. She has only gotten so emotional because of you. Those same tears that fell from her face just a moment ago fell from her face when you returned with her.”

“I can’t do much about that except be there for her. I’m not the strongest of people, nor am I even that good at tactics. But what I can do is help. What I can do is make sure she has someone behind her.”

Kal’tsit’s eyes narrow for a few seconds, boring into his own eyes, before they soften.

“Not even that could truly change you from who you were then. So why were you so different in Babel?”

He had no idea what she was talking about, his confusion writ on his face. But he knew well that whatever he said next, he would have to stick to it. Anyone caught him out, and his entirely missing memories would be exposed. He didn’t want to think of what would happen if they found out. If he was a doctor, he could use that, and if he was brilliant to them, he could make something up.

“To be fair, I was testing enough on myself that I’m pretty sure if it was anyone else I would be dead. I didn’t really notice when I was always wanting to get to the next test.”

Kal’tsit narrows her eyes once more, before her expression returns to normal.

“That does line up with what you were doing, though it only makes you more foolish. But it still leaves one question. Why did you kill Theresa?”

He didn’t even know who that was. So if he didn’t know, then he has no motive, and based on what she’s saying, she doesn’t know either. And more than that, she looks both questioning and sad based on her face. Time to hope what he’s saying is right.

“I didn’t. Not one of my actions was involved in the act of killing them, only preventing it.”

Kal’tsit takes a step forward, staring directly into his eyes.

“You were found right next to her as she died with Amiya in her arms. Several sarkaz assassins surrounding you. Your unconscious body nearby as well. Explain.”

“Take a good look at me and tell me there's a singular muscle on me. Tell me I’m capable of overpowering anyone reliably.”

“How did the assassins even get in then?”

“How am I supposed to know? I thought I would be fine, security was up when they got in! I was expecting nothing.”

Kal’tsit paused for a short while. At least, she paused before she backed up, and then an echoing facepalm destroyed the silence. The normally stoic Kal’tsit, facepalming. After she released her face from her hand, she looked back up at him, with a major frown on her face and a clear look of disappointment.

“Your argument does check out. How and why did you even try to protect her then if you knew you were so weak? Why would you even send all the operators on that mission if it left you undefended?”

“Because what else could I have done without a plan? Just lay down and not try? I didn’t like her the most, but I couldn’t just let her die, not with Amiya nearby. Of course, not everything goes well. And I kinda didn’t account for the fact that somebody would be stupid enough to try an assassination there. Not like I couldn’t have done anything, they tried for me to. For once, I thought it would be fine to not have my guard up, that it was a blow I could relax from afterwards, I thought I could take a break.”

Kal’tsit’s arms fell by her side as she stared dead into his eyes, her gaze boring through his head as she glared at him.

“The one time you don’t have a plan, the one time that you're actually helping me in my endeavors, the one time where it mattered… and you didn’t have a plan. When I was trying my hardest to ensure that this would be the first step into a new tomorrow, the first true foray of mine into helping the sarkaz rather than fighting them. And you don’t have a plan. You allow it to fall to chance.”

The glare was born of a slight sorrow, a genuine question of why burning in them. It looked so similar to the glare of the black haired women he saw with the gate.

“I thought that it would have worked. I was just a helper for you, it was your action. I thought… it would be fine, if I was the one who wasn’t thinking for once. If it was your plan, if it was your one major chance to do it yourself, then I could be in the background. But history isn’t so simple, is it?”

Kal’sit stepped forward again, even as he stood his ground. This was getting a bit scary for him, and a bit too deeply personal.

“I… understand. Just… Please, this time around, help fully in this project. I will make it work, I can make it work. So help. This isn’t something I am capable of doing alone. No matter how much it must go against the old plans you had. I would ask you to help me in curing oripathy.”

“I’m in. No need for another question. I’ll get it right this time. But it’s still your goal, remember? I’ll handle any points that might lead to a failure, but I leave the rest to you. So this time, just have faith in me, okay?”

Kal’tsit didn’t speak again, merely moving forward and enveloping him in a hug. It was short, and she broke it off right after, giving him a terse nod before speaking again.

“You’ll have another operation tomorrow. Get some rest. Thank you.”

Kal’tsit walked off after that, her steps echoing in the room with nobody else within. He himself went off to eat, grabbing some food from the cafeteria and finishing it before heading off to his room for the night. Sleep came easy.

Notes:

So, I noticed something when reading the BABEL event. Why did Kal'tsit think that Doctor was the one who killed Theresa... when he didn't do shit. He let them in, yes, but why did her mind make the logical leap that it was his hand who killed her? Everything was off, the assassins were the only ones to attack her, and then he tried to commit suicide via Theresa. She's right, but she has no logical reason to make that jump, and more importantly, she was doing the exact same thing before this as a slaughterer of sarkaz. She doesn't really have room for that hate without hypocrisy. And it was absolutely Doctors fault, but the evidence more points to Theresis being a bitch, and not to doctor. In any case, think of this chapter as yet another one between 3 and 4 because my muse demands father daughter bonding and reconciliation because I don't like seeing families being apart. Doctor has bullshit some more, saying only what seems to be a reasonable to him, and is still amnesiac. We begin properly next time!

Chapter 12: Into the Cold (Chapter 4 Start)

He woke up to a new sound, an alarm he had set. The damnable thing grated on his ears as he quickly turned it off, getting dressed and readying himself for the day. After he was ready, grabbing a quick snack from the cafeteria, he went to the control room of Rhodes Island, finding Kal’tsit within, looking over a computer screen.

“Hello Kal’tsit.”

“Doctor.”

“I’m ready for the operation you were talking about.”

“Very well. You’ll be linking up with Amiya and the L.G.D in roughly three hours. Some of our recon squads have been quick, and have already been extracted slightly ahead of schedule. All of them have had various stages of frostbite, and have reported a special reunion squad wandering the city without any pattern. They have a special way of fighting. Be careful. I will be entering the city as well along with Projekt Red.”

Kal’tsit turns more properly to face him. Wasn’t Projekt Red the one Closure had mentioned?

“Closure mentioned she helped you get across from Lungmen to Rhodes Island. When I asked Projekt Red, she had no idea about the events. I decided to check the cameras, only for none of them to have caught you coming in, only leaving your room. It wasn’t Ascalon, as even she would have reported it to me given who you are. So I checked the records. Did you add a new operator, and then add them to S.W.E.E.P?”

He paused for a few moments, deciding to be honest.

“Yes. But I will also add that they have been working for me for some time, if that helps you trust them. Operator Dagger, I presume is who you are talking about?”

Kal’tsit nodded at his words.

“I would rather you ask me before you add any other operators. And I will have Ascalon be testing them.”

“That’s fine. Just know that I would at least put my faith in her. She was the one responsible for the garden of thorns Amiya and the rest found themselves in.”

Kal’tsit raised an eyebrow at his words.

“The girl, Misha?”

What he was about to say was technically true! Technically. If you stretched it. The operator was Misha, but it could be referring to the rose sign if you squinted! He didn’t know if he could ever explain the entire gate in his head to her, he would sound crazy.

“The flowers. The garden. That’s who. Though Misha is better considered a host. She’s still competent enough to equal her brother.”

Kal’tsit paused, looking off into the distance through him. He didn’t know why she looked so far away like that, like a memory she had trapped herself in for a few small moments.

“Theresa’s garden? That explains quite a lot at least. But what did you mean by her brother?”

“Dagger helped me kidnap him, his name is Alex. He’s out of reunion now, they once called him Skullshatterer. He just wanted to get his sister back and then go home. He doesn’t have a high role here, but I gave him a job. He’ll cause no more trouble.”

“Very well. In any case, it is a good enough time to go. Amiya already left, heading to the slums and meeting with Ch’en. I have already notified her of the current situation with Reunion. She has managed to rope them into a temporary joint operation with Rhodes Island. Operator Nearl has been assigned with you as your bodyguard and defender for the duration of the mission. You will meet up with Amiya to assist her in this operation.”

Nearl was good! He would absolutely take an operator who was willing to defend him and take blows like that. He got worried whenever the fight got too close to him.

“Alright. Then I’ll head off now. I’m guessing Nearl is already at the helicopter then?”

“She is. I will be heading in as well with Projekt Red. I do not expect us to meet up after initial deployment, I will be handling my own business there.”

“Got it.”

He walked off at a brisk pace, heading to the helipads of Rhodes Island. He didn’t know why they only had three when they were so useful, but he found Nearl at the second helipad after walking for a few minutes.

“You ready Nearl?”

Nearl looked over to him, her shield held under her arm with her mace as she read from one of the pamphlets near the helipad, putting it back as she moved her shield and mace to her left and right hand respectively.

“Salutations Doctor. I will defend your life with my shield. I am ready.”

He nodded at her words, boarding the helicopter with her as the pilot slowly started it up. He noted that another was taking off from the third, probably being Kal’tsit and Projekt Red.

“Good to see you again.”

“You as well Doctor. Though I must wish that our next meeting be under better circumstances.”

“That’s fair. Can’t say I know anybody who enjoys the risk of death.”

He knew nobody who did, except for Dobermann in one of her mad butcher identity but that didn’t count. They spent most of the rest of the helicopter ride in silence, the sound of whirling rotors being the only noise in their ears before the pilot spoke up when they neared the dropoff point. The pilot’s voice came from the front.

“We’re descending you two. Get ready to hop out.”

He moved closer to the doors, still holding onto one of the chairs just in case. Nearl did similar. Their landing caused a slight bump, but it was otherwise fine.

“Alright, get out of my helicopter!”

“You got it!”

He hopped out of the helicopter at the pilot’s prompting, Nearl not even bothering with the hop he did and simply stepping out. Another helicopter descended nearby, Kal’tsit, Medic, and a smaller woman in a red hood stepped out. The last of them had to have been Projekt Red, if only by elimination and being the only one amongst the three that wore even a smidgeon of red. Kal’tsit nodded to him, before the three of them moved to a street, all of them heading off quickly.

“Well then. Based on her plan and status, we’re going this way.”

He himself pointed at an adjacent street that turned away from the other group. Amiya should be somewhere along that path.

“I will follow your lead Doctor.”

“Then let’s go.”

Time to find Amiya. Hopefully he found her before anything worse did.

Notes:

Babel has not changed my opinions, that is all on that. Nearl is hard to write to be blunt, much like some other characters, she has a specific way of speaking that requires I look through what I'm making her say several times to get it right. Though you will actually get to see one of Nearl's identities next chapter mostly because of me wanting to at least show one of the id's pulled for each person. Not very efficient if I don't. Also, for both limbus players and arknights players, imagine Faust (limbus) in Shining's silent night outfit, and imagine Ascalon in Cesara's outfit. You have now seen one of the peaks of mount tai.

Chapter 13: Prelude to Hail

At first he was sure they were on the right path, but by this point, they should have met up with Amiya and the others. It had been minutes of walking with the only noise being their footsteps and the faint echoes of the dead city. He turned his mind to the gate in his head as Nearl spoke up. He needed a new plan.

“Doctor. It is unlikely that we are on the correct path to meet them anymore. They have likely moved deeper into the city, or somewhere else where we cannot hear them.” Nearl kept her head on a swivel as she spoke, her grip on her weapon firm as she ensured that they wouldn’t get ambushed.

He nodded at her words. “You're probably right. Though I don’t think we have a way to find them, and PRTS isn’t giving me where they are due to me not being in command. It’s a bad feature.” He really wished that this tablet of his had more permissions, or at least more to do, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, and it was good enough. Hopefully.

They reached their initially planned meeting point shortly after that, only to find it empty. He looked around for a short while, trying to find any evidence that Amiya’s squad had even passed through here, but he didn’t know any of the signs. But… He might have somebody who did. He looked to Nearl, who had been mostly listening for any trouble and also looking around, and focused on the gate in his mind. He grasped at her golden chain, at the detective extraordinaire that he had obtained all the way back in Chernobog, and the shattering of glass signaled the swap in her identity.

The detective extraordinaire was dressed in an old looking brown police outfit, her strange brass clockwork spear held over her shoulder as she let out a small smile. She looked less serious, even as her eyes suddenly snapped to an entirely different area than where he was looking for where they went, skipping over as she pulled out a looking glass. “Doctor, I found their footprints! And if it’s facing that way, and I know Amiya, then she went down that road!”

“Is there a side road that follows the same path? We are only two people in comparison to her whole squad, risks should be mitigated.” No point in even risking death before the meetup, he needed all the firepower he could scrounge.

“And this is why you're the planner Doctor. And you not finding this despite it being right here is why I’m the detective.” Her smile turned smug as he looked over to the footprints she was referring to. He couldn’t see anything of what she was referring to, except for maybe the hint of dust being disturbed. No point in contesting her though, bigger problems than a smug Nearl. “In any case, that road should suffice, even if we might have to traverse more rubble than they have to due to them being a squad.”

“Fine enough with me. Just keep your head up, and preferably stick near me. If we can’t, then we can’t, but I’m not getting shot out in this dump.” He began to walk down the road she had indicated, her following behind as she kept herself close. In fact, she was closer than she was when she was in her normal identity, keeping herself close enough that he could hear her breath, her grin never quite leaving. Though at least each and every time she seemed to hear even the faintest hint of any dangers, her grin faded as she pulled him against her, the clockwork spear unfolding to impale any threats. But when the risk passed, she was right back to her position, right behind him as her grin returned.

After she had led him further and further, with a seeming path in her head that she hadn’t shared, eventually reaching an area with more recent activity. The cut apart bodies of Reunion members forming a trail of slashing, leaving limbless or decapitated corpses in their wake. “Those wounds are too sharp, too clean. They were likely killed by some form of arts or some other method.” Nearl’s voice once more turned to a quick mutter as she moved in closer to him, her clockwork spear unfolding. They walked like that through the field of dead Reunion members until they saw a few people at the end. Amiya’s squad, and Ch’en.

“Amiya! Good to see you!” He released the chain in his mind, Nearl returning to the knight and not the detective with the sound of shattering glass as he did so. Though the gate seemed to almost be shaking as he did. He didn’t know why, though it was amongst the least of his problems.

Amiya’s ears twitched atop her head, before she turned to him. “Doctor! You're here!” The rest of her squad turned as well when she spoke, even if her squad was mostly just three people. The green haired woman with a horn from Lungmen, a white haired man with a halo slightly behind and skewed on his head, another green haired woman with a crocodile tail, and a black haired man with pinkish stripes and a coat on. Ch’en was standing behind them all, her red blade being the now obvious weapon used to cut through the Reunion forces.

“Yeah, took me a bit to find you all with Nearl, but we’re here now. Now then, who do you have for your squad? Names please.” He had no idea who any of these people were except for Amiya and Ch’en. He wished that PRTS would actually show him the operators not under his command, it made naming them easy when he could just glance down at it to get said names.

The man with a halo responded first. He sounded maybe into his twenties, or maybe even late teens. “Adnachiel, sniper, marksman. I use a crossbow since I haven’t gotten a gun yet.”

The other man responded after. “Midnight, guard, lord. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Midnight tapped at his cane, which appeared to actually be a sheath for his sword, or maybe the sword itself. It was strangely designed.

The larger green haired woman with a horn spoke after, waving her hand that wasn’t carrying her large shield. “Hoshiguma, I work for the L.G.D. Nice to meet you.”

The final member of the squad hoisted her staff on her shoulder, the end more a club made of iron than anything resembling any of the other staffs he had seen so far. “Gavial, medic. I’ll be making sure nobody dies here, and you lot better not complain about it!”

“Ah, no, no we won’t be complaining. I think all of us have learned that lesson.” Midnight dipped his head a little, causing Gavial to smirk as she did, but her smirk did turn into a respectful nod that caused Midnight to perk up. Seemed she took her responsibilities seriously.

He himself spoke up after all of them introduced themself. “Alright. What now then? Amiya’s in operational command here, so what's the plan?”

“Right now we're heading to pick up Meteors squad, consisting of her, Jessica, and Frostleaf. They’re the only squad that hasn’t reported in. Though with you here Doctor, I will leave the planning to you. You are better at that than I am.” Amiya nodded at him a little shyly after admitting her own lack of planning skill, before she straightened her back and stood fully.

“Let’s just get moving. We’ve wasted enough time here already.” Ch’en spun on her heel as she turned away, heading away deeper into the city.

“Doctor. We are heading to the coordinates that Frostleaf gave us, we should be meeting her there.” Amiya and her squad moved away as well into the city, Amiya taking the lead from Ch’en. He and Nearl followed behind after them, him staying near the back as they walked.

After around ten minutes of walking in the group, he decided to once more grasp at the chain in his head for Nearl, changing her back to the detective extraordinaire. He could deal with the fallout or the questions later, he would rather have her focusing on protecting him than all of the rest who could handle themselves. Thankfully, even when the other’s looked at her, it seemed that only Amiya truly realized something was off, the rest also looking at her a little strange, but the imprint of her breastplate under her armor was enough to make them turn their heads away. Though Midnight seemed to almost consider her outfit for a while, before nodding to himself. He must have liked the older style.

They neared the coordinates at last, Amiya saying something he wasn’t really paying attention to as they were surprised by an explosion. A few shouts from people he didn’t recognize echoed out before they were silenced, and he actually paid attention to what Amiya was saying.

“From that building! Wait, is that you Frostleaf?” Amiya pointed towards a figure with an axe moving out of the building. She had white hair, some headphones on, and fox ears as she strolled out.

“It is. I’ve taken care of the enemy.” Well, hopefully she was as good of a combatant as that implied. Hopefully.

Notes:

Alright, we're on. Time to actually kick things into gear as we keep going. Also, to NathanielDrei, I decided to at least allow Project Moon Identities to exist, though it will still be amongst new identities. So don't expect everyone to get one from the city. Though yeah, now that it's in the city, combat is a go go. Midnight is cool, and the very existence of horse girls is good for all that lives. Also, I appreciate comments if you have them. Provoking my thoughts is good for my writing.

Chapter 14: Clockwork Honor, Flawless Mind

Frostleaf stumbled after her words, letting out a grunt of pain. “Ugh…”

“Are you injured? Why is your body frostbitten? Gavial, hurry!” Amiya’s words were fast, spoken in worry, even as Gavial rushed over to Frostleaf, beginning to heal the frostbitten woman.

“It’s minor.” Frostleaf tried to get out more words, only for Gavial to lightly thwack her with her staff across the face. Of course, lightly for Gavial meant Frostleaf stumbled a little on her feet. Alexander decided to never say anything like that to Gavial. Simple self preservation, even if he didn’t know how much that hurt.

“Yep. All of you say that. Now say what you have to while I heal you.” Gavial had no time for bravado as she got back to healing the chastised Frostleaf.

“Got it. Meteorite and Jessica are still in the main square, they should be safe for the time being, but it’s hard to say how long that will last for. I’ve managed to lure the enemy out, so Reunion hasn’t found them yet.” Frostleaf looked Amiya dead in the eyes as she spoke.

“The enemy?” Amiya’s question caused the squad to prepare for combat. If they were close enough, then it would be a fight. And none of them wanted to be caught off guard.

“Our cover hasn’t been blown yet, so there's no need for concern yet. But-” Frostleaf was cut off by a familiar, childish voice.

“Where are you hiding little fox? Hurry and come out! Our game of hide and seek is about to come to an end. For every minute you stay hidden, I’ll break another one of your friends fingers! Do you still plan to keep running?” The white haired boy in the buttoned shirt was nearby, given that it was his voice. But he wasn’t in sight. The squad kept where they were, ready for combat as Frostleaf shushed Amiya.

Nearl on the other hand, had a different plan. She gently tapped him on the nose as she readjusted her hat, whispering to him. “Doctor. I have an idea. I suspect you’ll like it.” That same smug grin was still on her face, though with her clockwork spear ready, she looked ready to defend him. The rest of the squad looked at her as she spoke.

“Just stay down. There’s no need to do anything, he’ll pass us by.” Frostleaf tried to shush Nearl as well, looking over to where she was.

“Don’t worry, It’s a great plan. I know what I’m doing.”

“We don’t even know what the plan is.” Adanachiel’s voice was quiet as he stood back to back with Midnight. He had his crossbow pointed at where he heard the voice coming from, even as Midnight himself scanned the area with his eyes.

“It’s simple in essence.. I don’t hear anyone else with him. We outnumber him, and that is our advantage. An ambush with superior numbers.” Nearl’s words caused Amiya’s ears to twitch, her straining to hear anyone else. “He stands there, alone. It gives us the best chance we have.” Nearl pointed in the direction of the voice, to where it was originating from.

“I don’t hear anyone else either. But that can change fast.” Amiya tried to caution, but by the grin of both Hoshiguma and Nearl, she let out a small sigh.

“No point in waiting for them to gather then. He’s one of the leaders after all. But still, something about this feels off. Why would he be alone?” Frostleaf readied her axe, readying herself to sprint towards the location of the brats voice.

“He isn’t.” Nearl’s words caused them to all look at her. “Right, I’ll explain. That person he called upon to shoot at us back in Chernobog, Faust, is guaranteed to be with him. They are the only person aside from Crownslayer he referred to by name or codename, and that his instinct when threatened was to call for them indicated either friendship or some form of relation. In any case, if we threaten him via capture, then Faust shows themselves, and I can handle a sniper. That’s why he isn’t with anyone else, he must trust in this Faust.” The others let out a few nods at that, seeing Nearl’s logic.

“Doctor. Stay back please. We can handle this.” Amiya moved up with the entire squad aside from him. He himself pressed himself into a corner, trying to make himself hidden from view. He had no illusions of being able to fight. Even if he could put up some fight, and absolutely win against a child, that crossbow wielder using a crossbow strong enough to be mistaken for a ballista would be his undoing. “Everyone ready?”

“Ready.” Ch’en stood right beside Hoshiguma as the squad prepared to move.

“Go!” Amiya’s shout caused all of them to burst from their cover, bursting towards the voice that threatened Frostleaf. The boy was through a wall, but Hoshiguma shoulder checked directly through it. The look of shock on his face was only reflected by how Hoshiguma was already swinging to hit him. There were a few other Reunion members, but they clearly hadn’t expected the wall to be torn down, even if they had an odd amount of originium crystals on them.

“Fau-” He was cut off by Hoshiguma punching him directly in the face, sending him sprawling to the floor unconscious. Even still, a crossbow bolt came from one of the buildings roofs above.

Said crossbow bolt was hit out of the air. The clockwork spear of Nearl’s current identity meeting it in a sideways blow, sending it scattering into another building. The shocked eyes on the Reunion members were met with the shock of the other members of the squad, but Nearl kept moving. Her spear slashed across one of the other Reunion members chest, a red rent torn through the armor as she casually kept smiling. That spurred on the other members of the squad, turning what was a small squad of Reunion into a pile of corpses and a single, knocked unconscious, child.

Another bolt came from the rooftop, this one aimed for Nearl’s head rather than at Hoshiguma. But this one was deflected as well, though Nearl actually had to use both hands to hit it out of the sky, sending it into the corpse of a dead Reunion member, rendering their body an impaled mush.

“You know I can see you now. Your fight is pointless, stand down.” Nearl once more one handed her spear as she grabbed the knocked out child, lifting him up as she raised him to face where the shot came from. “This is your friend, correct?”

There was no response for some time, aside from a click as the sound of a crossbow reloading. The other squad members began to move together, sticking to Hoshiguma or Nearl in the hopes that the shot would be blocked by one of the two women while he stayed hidden.

“If I stand down, will you let him live?” The voice came from where the shots did, a young voice. Yet another that sounded too young to be on the battlefield in his opinion. Two kids. How many more would be in Reunion? Had they even gone to school? He knew that perhaps he didn’t have a leg to stand on, Misha and Alex were kids as well, but he didn’t want them fighting either. Even so, he suspected he didn’t have a choice. Nor would the world give him one.

“We will. If you stand down and surrender, he will live.” He spoke up with that, though he didn’t mention that he still would have voted to let the child live anyways. The idea of killing kids gave him a sour, rotting taste in his mouth. Nearl looked at him as he said that, but her gaze was drawn away as the sound of hurried steps down stairs came from the building where the voice came from.

Stepping out, a cloaked boy, looking like he hadn’t even reached his teens, stepped out. He had a large crossbow strapped to his back, unloaded, as he walked out with nothing in his hands.

“Hoshiguma, Ch’en, do either of you have anything to restrain him?” He spoke quickly, stepping out himself as Hoshiguma nodded at his words, pulling out cuffs that looked more like a brick of steel with two holes as she walked towards the boy. “What’s your name? And what’s his?”

“I am Faust. He is Mephisto.” Nearl frowned at his words, but didn’t comment. Hoshiguma put the brick like cuffs on Faust’s hands before grabbing them by the scruff of their outfit. Ch’en put on similar cuffs on Mephisto.

“Right then! You two are coming with us.” Hoshiguma’s words were met with his nod. Couldn’t exactly call off the mission. And it seemed Amiya knew that as well.

“Everyone, we’re going to the main square to get Jessica and Meteorite. We might have won here, but if we're not fast, who knows what will happen. Let’s go!” Amiya began to hurry along as the rest of the squad did, along with him and the two kids now captured and put in cuffs. There was little time, but at least two problems were handled now. Not that there weren’t still plenty of problems. And by the looks of the rest of the squad, plenty of questions for Nearl.

Notes:

Nearl can absolutely deflect a crossbow bolt. There's no reason she shouldn't be able to. She uses her shield to block them, but she's strong. Plus, when you actually have operators, and especially operators like that, why not just jump enemies? Also, a child should not have more health than crownslayer. I know Crownslayer is the bullied boss, but holy shit, a child. Again though, Nearl is hard to write, which is part of why I put her in the detective Identity, because it makes her talk in a way slightly easier to write for me. My head cannot comprehend how cool you are Nearl, please turn down the radiance! Yeah. Next chapters Frostnova. I don't promise to update more consistently. As for todays great image, put Binah in Skadi the Corrupting Hearts red countess outfit, and put Nian in Dulcinea's outfit. Don't know about the second to be honest, but I thought it looked hilarious and cool in my head.

Chapter 15: The Snow Queen

The main square was only minutes away at the rate they were all running, Faust hoisted onto Gavial’s shoulder, and Mephisto being carried by Hoshiguma, swinging a bit as she ran. He looked like a kicked puppy, but that didn’t make a difference given that his crossbow was currently broken at Midnight’s suggestion. Adnachiel spoke up as he ran up to Nearl’s side, slightly winded from the run.

“Can I ask a quick question?” Nearl looked at Adnachiel as he spoke, taking her eyes off of Alexander as she did.

“Go ahead.” She shifted her spear slightly, still making sure to keep herself as close to him as she could.

“You actually deflected those crossbow bolts, right? My eyes weren’t tricking me?”

“I did. You need to be able to react quicker than the shot, and to be faster than it as well. A shield used to block it is easier, and more effective in most cases, but knowing how to do it is important. After all, guns aren’t very effective against competent opponents.” Adnachiel stared at Nearl as she spoke, seemingly aghast about her last words. “Midnight will likely be able to do it one day. He’s skilled enough with a sword to be able to strike a bullet, all that remains is his strength and speed.” Adnachiel looked from Nearl to Midnight, who actually seemed to be somewhat considering the proposition.

“It would look magnificent, and I wouldn’t say no to not having to worry about getting shot as much in combat. But if guns aren’t effective against competent opponents, then why are they so prevalent with Sankta?”

“The world lacks competent opponents. Even during the major, I didn’t run into many I would consider such. Though, there was the black knight back when I was younger. She was competent.” Nearl spoke with such a casual tone that at first, even he didn’t think what she said was absurd. But Midnight voiced his thoughts for him.

“I shudder at the idea of fighting what you consider competent. And I do believe your views on this matter are skewed.” Midnight spoke with a slight note of fear in his voice. Understandably, given how he seemed to know full well he wasn’t even close to Nearl’s level in combat. Though Adnachiel just looked slightly insulted. He didn't like guns, what he had been working so hard to get, being insulted so casually.

“Then we might have a problem.” Frostleaf’s voice drew the attention of the group as they moved, and the two prisoners with them. “Mephisto was a nobody in comparison to what else is roaming this city.” The comment about Mephisto drew Faust to give her a slight glare, but she continued. “The Yeti squadron. They were the ones that injured my squad and are why the temperature keeps dropping. They’ve set up base in this city.”

Amiya glanced upward as Frostleaf spoke. “We should be able to avoid them, it’s almost night. We need to rescue Jessica and Meteorite, they’re the priority here right now.” Frostleaf responded with a quick nod as she took the lead of the group, leading the way deeper into the city.

Minutes passed as they walked. And it seemed with each second, the shadows grew longer and longer. But with the shadows growth came the continued drop of the temperature. And eventually, the discovery of frozen statues. Or at least, what looked like them.

“Are those… people?” Amiya’s voice was quivering, but Frostleaf cut her off from saying any more.

“Don’t look at those things. We have to keep moving.” Amiya nodded at Frostleaf’s words, though it seemed that her telling the group to not look only made the situation seem more bleak.

After yet more time walking, it was truly night. The hanging waxing crescent of the moon only provided the faintest illumination, and Alexander could barely see in front of him. Though it seemed everyone else could see at least decently, especially Midnight, who’s eyes nearly glowed in the dark as he looked ahead.

“I see them, though they probably can’t see me.” Midnight’s words caused Frostleaf to look at him as he pointed at something the rest could barely see, a shape in the dark, inside of a building. “Jessica’s leaning against that wall, and I think I saw Meteorite dash in there as well.”

Frostleaf nodded as she moved forward, striding with confidence even as Midnight kept his eyes locked on the shape in the dark. For a few seconds, Alexander thought something might go wrong, but her words proved him wrong. “I know it’s you two in there, hold your fire. Look who I brought.” She wasn’t quiet, but her words didn’t echo at least in the dark paths of the ruined city.

He didn’t hear the next words as the rest of the squad moved forward. At least, all of the squad but Nearl, Hoshiguma, and Ch’en, who remained with him, meaning the two kids held by Hoshiguma were with them as well.

“...Something doesn’t feel right.” Alexander’s words caused no stir at all, at least amongst the three women.

“Yeah. Weren’t these two leaders of Reunion or something? Even if they’re just kids, you’d think that we would have gotten a response, not just been allowed to walk freely here, even if we’ve been creeping around.” Hoshiguma lifted the two more with her singular hand not on her shield. It was a bit comical considering Faust was hanging by his hoodie and Mephisto was held by his handcuffs, but nobody would be laughing in this situation.

“We’re either in a trap, or we have somehow gotten away with defeating two Reunion leaders. Which means it’s the former. I have never gotten that lucky in my entire life to have it be the latter.” Ch’en’s voice was slightly morose, even as she stretched her arms. It was clear she was expecting the worst.

“Not quite.” Nearl shifted her hat as she spoke. “This isn’t a trap. Rather, it would be more accurate to say the moment we knocked those two out we gained a pursuer. It’s still getting colder, yet we’re not moving, and it’s getting cold too fast for nighttime. The Yeti Squadron Frostleaf mentioned is probably approaching us right now. And I would say we don’t currently have a choice in the matter.”

“Then it’s simple. We fight.” Alexander’s voice was firm, commanding. No time for hesitance. “We likely can’t flee, based on what Midnight said Jessica was injured, or maybe worse even if she’s not dead. But we also can’t stay here and let more approach. We meet the Yeti Squadron head on, or at least where they are weakest. The only option is through once more.”

The three sharp nods he received were all the confirmation he needed. Through was the choice. But he had barely begun to move towards the rest of the group with Frostleaf before his choice was stolen from him by the temperature suddenly plummeting even further.

“Rhodes Island.” The words echoed through the dark as ice slowly crept up a large building near them. They were some distance from it, but the cold was already spreading to them. “All you can do is this: lay down, and accept your deaths. But at the very least, you have no need to fear. I will make it painless.”

A figure approached from the freezing building. Two rabbit ears and white hair, shining in the moonlight as she walked towards them, a haze of mist forming in her wake from the sheer cold surrounding her. “Faust, Mephisto. How did you let yourselves get caught so easily?” Her words were as cold as the frost near her.

Mephisto’s response was small, but they could all hear it. “I… I wasn’t able to stop it. I could do nothing or they would take his life. I did what I could.”

“Hmph.” The sigh of the Cautus woman echoed in the dark. “And that just makes it harder. Yeti Squadron. Spread out and surround them. Avoid hurting Mephisto or Faust.”

Alexander knew he had to respond in kind. “Everyone, form up! Hoshiguma, Ch’en, Nearl, to the front, Midnight and Frostleaf behind them, Amiya, Steward, Gavial, Jessica, Meteorite with me in the back! We’re surrounded, but this place is too cramped for surrounding us to be useful!” Hoshiguma didn’t even bother looking as she physically chucked Mephisto and Faust in his direction, Nearl nodding to him as she moved forward.

“Reunion. Attack.” With her last words said, the Cautus woman burst forward in a blitz as Reunion descended upon the members of Rhodes Island. The gate in his mind shook with every footstep. Chains roared behind it as he readied himself. Things were about to get very, very risky.

Notes:

Honestly? Don't like this chapter this much. Doesn't feel right for some reason to me. If you have any comments on why, please tell me, something just feels off. In any case, we've gotten the line, and finally here comes frostnova. In terms of changes, Ch'en and Hoshiguma would absolutely notice there just weren't any amount of Reunion members even in the main story, so I had them and the detective notice, without Mephisto being... himself Frostnova doesn't want to kill him (as much), and we get to see how Faust is after he realizes that he's genuinely failed even if he's been spared. Frostnova herself has a speech pattern that THANKFULLY is not as hard as somebody like Nearl (Patriot's speech pattern will cause me great difficulty when we get to him (There will be worse)). Also, I changed Frostnova's fighting style. Her touching Patriot gave him partial necrosis. How scary would that be if she was a brawler? Very lethal. In any case, todays great image is Outis in Gladiia's I am the tides outfit. Comments appreciated, and don't worry if you've spotted somebody like Kal'tsit acting a bit off. I do my best to let people think on their own. Alexander could be described as a bit out of character from the Doctor of Babel, no? Oh, and races in this world matter a bit more. Which is why Midnight can see really well even at night.

Chapter 16: The Blood of the Battlefield

Nearl dashed forward to meet the Cautus woman as her clockwork spear unfolded, the gears whirling as she did. And the Cautus woman responded, raising her hands, holding a knife in her left hand as she faced her palm towards Nearl, flinging an icicle made by her arts at the Kuranta woman. Nearl wordlessly deflected it with a quick slash from her spear as she planted her feet into the ground, swinging her spear towards the Cautus, who attempted to evade it. Of course, Nearl was faster, and the Cautus woman gritted her teeth as the spear slashed across her chest, through her shirt… and scraped against the ice underneath.

“Clever.” Nearl’s voice was surprisingly sharp as she frowned, backing off as the Cautus used her arts to create an ice spike from the ground, forcing distance between them. Of course, she advanced quickly back in, before the Cautus froze the ground, and Nearl had to slow down on the slippery terrain. But even that didn’t stop as she once more began to clash with the Cautus, clearly at an advantage in terms of skill. But whenever she managed to strike a blow, ice would form before the blow impacted, causing her thrusts or her slashes to scrape off or fail to pierce.

Hoshiguma and Ch’en weren’t having it easy either, moving in tandem to hold off the Yeti squadron. They outmatched their foes in skill, and indeed that was giving them a major advantage, but there were always more Reunion members. Hoshiguma slammed her shield into the side of a Sarkaz’s head, sending him sprawling as she promptly was forced to defend against several crossbow shots, barely able to block them due to the odd shape of her shield. Ch’en was dueling against two infected women, both wielding long katana’s as she took whatever opportunity she could to attack with her red blade.

“Amiya, Meteorite, the crossbowmen!” Alexander quickly pointed them to target the handful of Yeti squadron members that were harassing Hoshiguma as he turned. “Frostleaf, help Ch’en!” The three women quickly nodded, all moving rapidly as they began to assist their charges. Black bolts of Amiya’s arts streaked across the field as Meteorite began to fire her barrage, slamming into the crossbowmen with speed. And yet, they too had to dodge as various other Yeti Squadron members with hoods concealing their faces began to fire their own arts back, ice and snow launched at them as the two women returned fire. Frostleaf was having an easier time, flinging her own ice shards from her axe or darting in to assist Ch’en against the two katana wielders and the handful of other enemies that continued to approach her.

“That’s not going to be enough. Give up.” The Cautus woman backed off from Nearl, darting towards Hoshiguma as Nearl struggled to keep up, having to fight for balance as ice burst up beneath her. Hoshiguma had time to react, raising her shield to block the blade in the Cautus woman’s hand, but that was never what she was using. An ungloved hand reached for Hoshiguma’s right arm, and touched her. And Hoshiguma let out a loud roar of pain as she bashed the Cautus woman with her shield, forcing her away, but the damage was obvious. The part of her arm that was touched, her forearm, looked like it was rotting, blackened and with a noticeable layer of frost near it amongst the rot.

“Gavial!” Alexander immediately shouted the moment he saw Hoshiguma’s injury.

“Got it!” Gavial quickly sprinted forward, her staff glowing slightly green as the injury closed slightly, beginning to regenerate. Hoshiguma was looking better, but was in no way fully healed, and was more so dragging her arm than using it.

Ch’en’s eyes narrowed as she stabbed her sword into the gut of one of the infected women, before promptly slashing through, and kicking her off of the blade. Her face had gone from a careful calm to a suppressed anger, and her eyes kept flicking over to the Cautus woman as her blade began to shake with an ominous red light while she continued to duel.

Nearl was once more glaring at the Cautus woman, ready with her spear, before she spoke. “Slashing isn’t working, and neither is stabbing. But it looks like you actually felt that hit.” She quickly looked at Alexander as she spoke.

He understood what she meant immediately. “Hoshiguma, Gavial, you’re fighting their leader! Use your shield to smash her Hoshiguma, don’t use the edge! Nearl, fight the others!” Nearl nodding as she dashed off, while Gavial once more healed Hoshiguma before the two women stood against the Cautus. “Midnight, take over for Ch’en!”

Midnight dashed forward quickly as he clashed against the remaining infected women, blade to blade. “Madam Ch’en, move!” Ch’en needed no further prompting, sprinting towards the Cautus woman, who quickly let black ice crystals raise in the air, ready to blast down upon her.

But neither would get to take the other’s life yet as a large surge in the temperature caused both to back off.

“Rhodes Island. You ran once.” A voice that burnt with annoyance as the temperature rose behind them all, and the building behind them melted. “You won’t run again.” A woman with white hair and two spiky horns atop her head, wearing a black dress came from the melting building, fire roaring high as she did.

“Talulah.” The Cautus woman spoke with a dry note in her voice. “Done showing off?”

Talulah frowned. “Frostnova. Now is not the time.” The horned woman turned back to face them all. The gate’s rattling in Alexander’s head had begun to stall, had begun to shift. The ticking of a clock was ringing in his ears. “Now. Burn.”

The Gate in his head opened with the strike of a clock as Talulah began to raise her hand, a gout of flame racing towards him, Mephisto, and Faust. Shock was on Faust’s face as he interposed himself between the flame and Mephisto.

“No!” A blade blurred red as it was unsheathed. Ch’en blurring as her sword nearly leaped from her hands, red lines screaming through the air as the fire itself was cut and Talulah’s eyes turned towards her. A flicker of recognition burnt in her eyes, but it was weak compared to the flame of her rage burning in them as well.

A wave of ice from Frostnova sent both Hoshiguma and Gavial flying, the larger women protecting the smaller with her shield, falling onto her back as Nearl was forced to pull back or be surrounded.

One chain raced from the gate. But this time it was different. The chain was green, and it didn’t so much as slam into Midnight, but through him. And still, a single, green mirror appeared in front of Alexander. He didn’t bother reading the name on it though, grasping it with force like a lifeline. He didn’t know if this was good or not. But they were stuck in between ice and fire, so he would take the gamble.

Time resumed as the sound of glass shattering echoed in the area, before he heard Midnight’s voice, shouting at the top of his lungs in both panic and rage. “You won’t kill me here, do you hear me! I’m never going back!”

Midnight was wearing a single, golden masquerade mask. But there was no time to see what else he was wearing as the blood staining the floor of the battlefield rushed towards him, covering his clothes in a black and red shell, a spear of sharp blood manifesting in his hand as he kept yelling, moving to the center of the formation as he did so, the sleeping blood of the battlefield drenching the surface. “I am… the prince of the parade! And I’m never going back!”

Two versus two. Ch’en and Midnight versus Talulah and Frostnova. With the rest of Rhodes Island holding off the Yeti Squadron. An even fight.

Notes:

Hey Hey people, The_Masked here. Did you know that Cassetti would be a fucking scary opponent in Arknights? In any case, with Mephisto and Faust captured, would Reunion really not notify the leaders that two of their own hadn't been captured? So anyways, here's Talulah and Frostnova, this fight would be hell in arknights as well. But it is roughly equal. Also, Frostnova should logically have Slash/Pierce resistance. And did any arknights players enjoy the new event boss fight? Because to be honest, I didn't really. It's just... not that fun? It's just a check of do you have these operators to put there, yes or no. I had more fun watching people put ceobe in the hole than playing the level. It's boring. I like the rest of the event, and I like the story a lot, but I might just skip the boss this time. It ain't worth the boredom. And for limbus players, I have been making ID sheets for some arknights characters, and for some of the other ID's that have happened in the story if you want to see those. Oh, and I made walpurgishnact work by connected to Limbus Company and not Lobotomy corp or Library of ruina, though that is subject to change. But yeah, comments are appreciated, and don't feel bad about giving me negative ones, if I fucked up, tell me, eh?

Chapter 17: The Parade of Corpses (Chapter 4 END)

Midnight did not give either of the women a chance to take the first move, slamming his spears hilt into the ground as more blood raced across the battlefield towards the corpse of one of the katana wielding women as the corpse reknit together with blood filling in where she was stabbed and flowing through her body, standing up in a heap as the infected women’s eyes burnt red. “Mongrels! Ingrates! I won’t let you kill me!” Midnight’s voice was still panicked, still afraid. But it was clear he intended to fight, not flee.

Frostnova and Talulah moved forward, Frostnova in a dead sprint and Talulah in a calmer walk, both towards Midnight. His spear circled him quickly as he turned and smashed away Frostnova’s blade with the flat of its blade. Talulah tried to use her arts, sending a wave of flames towards him, before Ch’en intervened, her now unsheathed red blade streaking towards Talulah and forcing her to back away or be disarmed.

Ch’en met Talulah’s eyes for a split second as Talulah brought up her own blade, but it was obvious how the fight would go from the start. Talulah’s blade couldn’t take Ch’en’s own, already being scarred from just a single block, but that meant it came down to one thing. If Ch’en could release that red light fully again. Because that would mean Talulah’s only advantage in the fight, her flame, would be useless.

“Tch.” But Frostnova was clearly having a worse time. She was quite a bit slower than Midnight’s own panicked speed as he rampaged rather than the skillful blows he once used with his sword. And as she barely managed to dodge being impaled by his bloody spear, scraping against the ice she just barely had time to form on her chest as she turned, she knew for a fact that he was much stronger as well, the ice sheet breaking beneath his blow. An ice shard launched forth from her arts at his face, but he didn’t even blink as he backhanded it right back towards her.

The shard of ice dissolved mid flight, but neither side relented. Midnight’s spear continued to lash at Frostnova while she went in to grab his hand. But he didn’t dodge, he didn’t even try as he let her grab his hand. And her grasp only resulted in her receiving a brutal punch directly to her nose, knocking her back as she nearly stumbled while Midnight laughed with a mix of glee and panic. “How does it feel now? How does it feel to be the weaker one?”

Frostnova stared at his hand for a second, noting how the blood of the battlefield rose up and flowed into the rot her touch had caused, the necrosis she brought vanishing in moments and receding with every drop of blood, until it looked as if she had never touched him in the first place. Midnight’s laughter only grew in intensity as he began to shake, scratching at his own shoulders with his hands, leaving marks through his blood stained clothes.

“Talulah! Burn the blood!” Her shout returned the rampaging vampire’s attention to her, causing a scowl to form on his face before his expression warped with yet more fear, seeing the blood begin to freeze as she turned her attention to denying him his method of restoration.

“No, no!” But such a thing would not stand in his eyes, his spear lancing forward once more as he once more aimed for Frostnova’s head. She was able to block this time, but the frozen blood in her nose was indicative of just how outclassed she was in strength.

Ch’en was not so lucky. Talulah outclassed her in all but a few ways, and it was obvious she was on the back foot, though not as much as Frostnova was against Midnight. She was stronger, but it wasn’t enough to make a difference in a duel of skill, and Talulah simply had her beat there. And the fire of Talulah’s arts only made it worse, forcing Ch’en to dodge every single flare lest it become a quick blaze, and even still Ch’en’s arms were beginning to become a patchwork of light burns and singed clothes.

Neither fighter had spoken a singular word. Talulah hadn’t even acknowledged Frostnova’s words, too focused on Ch’en. And Ch’en had gone just as quiet, her face blank yet her eyes completely fixed to Talulah’s own. Alexander didn’t know why. But there was something more to the two of them than he knew.

Ch’en and Talulah continued their own duel as Frostnova and Midnight brawled, but still, Alexander knew what was happening. Ch’en was going to lose, maybe not by much, and she might achieve a mutual kill. But it was defeat nonetheless. And that meant Midnight would be surrounded and given that a way to handle his healing had just been found out? It was a matter of time. So he had to get them to run. And he knew how.

“Midnight, raise more of those corpses! It’s time to go! Ch’en, hold out against her for a minute or two longer! The rest of you, just hold out, see if you can’t stop the blood from freezing if you can! We aren’t winning here, time to go!”

The two duels didn’t cease. But even so, whatever blood was left on the battlefield, or was being newly shed, began to flow back into bodies or into whatever limbs were left over, stitching them together like a vile art project. And they rose. Parts missing and barely animate, but they rose nonetheless. And no matter how fast their allies could put them down, no matter how much they could freeze the blood, every shot used to put one down was a shot not used to defend themselves from the other members of Rhodes Island. And the parade of the dead swelled with each one that fell.

“Midnight, use the corpses, distract as much as you can with them! It’s time to go, all of you! Nearl, Hoshiguma, punch through, we’re going back the way we came! Amiya, the two kids!” The three women nodded at Alexander’s words, while the dead began to surge towards Talulah and Frostnova. And they fell once more. But it took time, precious time. For every one of the former Yeti Squadron members that Frostnova took down, they bought ten seconds. Ten seconds was enough for yet another to be killed and to rise again. For the many that Talulah would burn, one would walk through the flame coated in the ice they once used as a weapon. And she would be forced to face the same frost that attempted to deny Midnight. And while they too fell, it bought yet another handful of seconds. And the added weight of Faust and Mephisto seemed to barely matter to Amiya with how focused she looked, her eyes not even twitching as she stared dead ahead, seemingly lost in the flow of her own actions. For a moment, he swore he saw one of her rings crack, but he didn’t have time to pay attention to that.

And while it took them time to break through the lines of the Yeti Squadron, it was comparatively easy. Ch’en and Midnight alone probably could have done it had Talulah and Frostnova not been there, and yet the rest of the Rhodes Island squad was there as well. But before their might, and before the sight of their comrades rising from the dead as blood filled slaves, the Yeti Squadron began to break. And as they rushed through the gap, as all of them moved as fast as they could back towards the extraction point, they never looked back.

Their dead sprint was harried by large chunks of ice the size of boulders being flung at them, but each and every time one was thrown, Nearl would divert everyone from where it would land without fail. But even still they couldn’t stop running. And thankfully, they weren’t intercepted by any further forces of Reunion.

During their sprint, he heard the heavy breathing of Midnight slowly calm, before he took a few shaky breaths. “Hah… Hahah! I did it! You can’t beat me mongrels! You can’t beat any of us!” He seemed much more relieved now that there was no more threat. In fact, he seemed to be exhilarated more than anything else.

Meanwhile, the rest of the squad seemed to be in similar states. Gavial was running with Hoshiguma, checking over the patch of skin where Frostnova had touched. Frostleaf and Meteorite were keeping Jessica in between the two of them, the Feline woman still looking very, very nervous with the current situation. Adnachiel was with Amiya, having taken Mephisto off her hands to lighten her burden as she ran. And Nearl along with Midnight were in front of and behind him respectively.

The sprint remained wordless until they reached their extract point. Nobody was there yet, but they all knew that could change if any of Reunion caught up to them or approached this edge of the city. But thankfully, the area was mostly flat, and clear, meaning they would at least see anyone coming as Hoshiguma sat down. “Well then. That could have gone much worse!”

The squad followed Hoshiguma’s lead when Alexander nodded at Ch’en’s questioning look, sitting around the area as they moved a few pieces of rubble to block the street access and make cover. Ch’en quickly moved to Hoshiguma, sitting right next to her as she frowned, but her frown quickly turned into a slight smile, before she saw that both he and Hoshiguma noticed. She suppressed it right after, but didn’t resist when Hoshiguma pulled her in for a hug as she took a few deep breaths. No words were said by her, but based on how Hoshiguma raised a finger to her lips to keep him quiet, he figured she knew what she was doing.

He covered his face with his hands as he rubbed at his own forehead. That had been too close. If it weren’t for that green chain, they simply would have been dead. And that would have been it for all of them. Or maybe they would have survived. But he had no way of being able to tell if they would live it. Maybe if he didn’t allow the two kids currently held by Nearl after Amiya and Adnachiel passed them to her to be grabbed, they could have avoided this? Too many what if’s, and he didn’t have enough facts.

His train of thought was interrupted by Midnight sitting right next to him, the bloody spear leaned against a wall as the vampire stretched. His face was caked by sweat and dust, and he looked like he was only half aware of the situation, his eyes unfocused and not quite there. Small patches of frost still lingered on him, some slightly sunken into his skin. “Thank you for the plan. But can I trouble you for some blood?” Gavial was giving the two of them a look, but didn’t look too shocked, more annoyed than anything. “Just a glass, I may have spent too much there.”

Alexander thought for a few seconds, before nodding. “Sure. But not directly from me. I don’t think I want your teeth in me right now with how out of it you look.”

Gavial sighed. “You’re going to end up with another restraining order on a vampire, aren’t you? Fine, I am allowed to help vampires with this. But you are immediately coming for a checkup when this is done, alright? And that means both of you.”

“You think you can-” Midnight suddenly glared at her, his face turning to a rictus of anger before Gavial simply smiled, raising her staff slightly. He promptly held up his hands to about chest level, his anger defusing to a noticeable fear. “I will.”

“Good.” Gavial walked over, the cowed Midnight keeping his eyes fixed on her staff as she pulled out a knife from her pocket, and after checking around for a few seconds more, pulled out a decently large vial. “Wish I had thought to bring a medical bag with me. Could’ve used that to make sure there was no risk here.” She removed his glove, before checking Alexander’s hand for a few seconds, examining it for a few seconds, before holding the vial under it, and making a small cut. He didn’t feel much, the blade was pretty sharp, and Gavial’s strength meant it went right through his skin. And slowly but surely, enough blood to fill the vial came out over nearly two minutes as she stared, before she turned his hand back up, and quickly healed it with her staff. He didn’t say it out loud, but he was mystified by how the cut simply closed before his eyes. “There.” Gavial walked off, passing him the vial as she did.

He gave the vial to Midnight, watching as he drank deeply of it. But for a few seconds, he simply stopped moving. Like he had been stunned. But then he brought down the vial from his lips, blood still within as he stared at him. And before anything else, Alexander released the chain in his head, letting it retreat back to the gate as he heard the telltale shattering of glass around Midnight and Nearl. But unlike normal, unlike how Dobermann or Misha had looked, he looked deeply confused while Nearl simply shook her head once, her mind filling in the blanks like normal. And under Midnight’s breath, Alexander heard a whisper. “Was… was that me? I… no. It’s me. But what was that city? I… who… no. No wonder I couldn’t use arts if… If that was me. If that was my power.” Midnight shook his head hard, like he was trying to knock the thoughts out of his head with the force. And Alexander had no idea what he was talking about. He didn’t know of the city he was referring to, of why Midnight couldn’t use arts, why he seemed to know what he was doing unlike the rest of the people that were in an identity, or even what was truly going through Midnight’s head. But he could still be right there, moving a bit closer, letting Midnight take a shuddering breath as he fully cleared his head, at least for now. “Thank you for the blood Doctor.” Midnight kept drinking at the vial of blood, slowly. It was definitely calming his nerves.

Eventually, two helicopters for them all arrived, and they climbed aboard. Alexander saw Kal’tsit, Medic, and Projekt Red in the other one, with Projekt Red’s red coat having several large gashes through it, and Kal’tsit having a noticeable cut on her arm, but he didn’t bother choosing to climb within. He was tired, sweaty, and right now? He just wanted to sleep as the helicopter’s took off. But at least it was over. At least they had succeeded. They had brought back Jessica, Meteorite, and Frostleaf. And they had brought back the apparent leaders that were Mephisto and Faust. And at least it was a costless victory. Hopefully.

Notes:

I tried to mix Casseti's slightly cowardly but boastful and Midnight's own personality together, and I think I did decently. And hey, we've discovered that WalpurgisNacht ID's have a few more oddities than normal ones! Aside from that, yeah, I do think that Frostnova and Talulah vs Casseti and Ch'en is a losing fight for the latter two. It's just two overwhelming, and while Talulah and Ch'en will focus on each other, I do think that it will just come down to who loses their partner first to lose, and I think most of the time, Ch'en goes down before Frostnova does. In any case, the group has gotten away, Reunion has lost a good chunk of the Yeti Squadron to the power of a bloodfiend, Ch'en and Talulah have met on the field of battle, and it seems that Kal'tsit, Medic, and Projekt Red have had a notably worse time than normal. Anyways, I want Hoshiguma in Ricardo's outfit (might become spoilers one day, who knows, would be very funny), and I want Kromer in Manticore's Invisible Dirge outfit. As always, comments are appreciated, and I do try to respond if they're recent after the chapter ends. Also, I'll try to update my Blue Archive/Jojo fic soon, It's just a difficult thing to do since you basically have to do the intro. Though I might skip that with your standard bizarre shenanigans. It would be more interesting to have it be something like a stand fight immediately by Wakamo then repeat the same story beats again.

Chapter 18: The Light of The Soul

Alexander didn’t bother looking up as the helicopters touched down back on Rhodes Island, shambling out before slumping down in a nearby chair. He hadn’t managed to get any sleep, given the sheer noise that a helicopter made. Even as Amiya began to debrief Kal’tsit on the events that had transpired, he only paid them enough attention to where he could respond if they asked him any questions. Jessica and Meteorite had been quickly brought to the medical bays, while Frostleaf followed them, and Ch’en got Hoshiguma to join in order to check up on her friend's arm.

He looked up as Amiya began to talk about what had happened with Frostnova and Talulah. Kal’tsit’s eyes began to flick between Amiya and Midnight when Amiya mentioned the sheer storm of blood he had managed to create, as well as the things he had begun to shout. Midnight wrung his hands all the while, avoiding the eyes of the operators around while he looked down at the floor.

“Midnight. Go to the training room on the third layer. I will send Pith down. She will be checking if you can do that normally, or if something was missed during your training.” Kal’tsit’s tone brooked no argument as she stared at the vampire, though it wasn’t a harsh tone, merely one of command. “You have shown no significant ability in arts similar in any way to what has been described. She will find if this is a replicable incident. Go.”

Midnight promptly left without a word, not even bothering to look at anyone as he did while Kal’tsit looked at him. “Doctor. Explain. Midnight has shown no signs of any arts similar to this, even seeming to lack the standard arts of the vampires, in addition to not showing a single one of the traits that Amiya mentioned.”

“I had no idea he could do that. I was betting on Nearl.” Alexander opted for honesty. He had no idea what the identity would do, only that he had grabbed it even before he had fully realized what was on it.

“You… didn’t know.”

“I wish I did. I really could have used that earlier than that, I probably could have got all of them captured rather than just those two.” He gestured to Mephisto and Faust, still cuffed and sitting in the helicopter. Mephisto had long since woken up during the flight, though he had been oddly quiet, even if he guessed it was because of either fear or shock.

Kal’tsit paused. But when she spoke, her voice had a distinctive note of both annoyance and surprise. “Midnight will be fully checked. Pith will ensure whether or not he could actually do what he did with his arts, and if he cannot normally, then he must go through a psychological evaluation. The fact that you, somehow, got an operator who has never shown a singular trait that was apparently displayed today to manage to fight against Reunion Leaders who likely have both years more experience, and one of them is the adopted daughter of Patriot!” Her voice raised suddenly, before she quieted back down, shaking her head. Alexander had no idea who Patriot was, but Kal’tsit clearly thought he was very important by the way she had reacted.

“I’m pretty sure he was having a panic attack more than anything. That’s why he suddenly started acting differently.” Kal’tsit’s eyes narrowed at his words, before she pinched the bridge of her nose as she sighed.

“And somehow, a panic attack revealed that he’s the strongest vampire we have. And more importantly, that he knew how to do something similar to what the Sanguinarch could do with making his gifts.” Kal’tsit kept speaking with her eyes closed, before she turned to Projekt Red. “Red. Take those two to the cells, then go to the nearest medical bay.” Projekt Red began to drag the two young leaders of Reunion away without any further comment as Kal’tsit sighed again. “I have no desire to keep going over this. Either the report will prove what I have been told or I will have to look into it myself. Dismissed.” She walked off without another word, however with her back to him, he noticed something. She had a slash across her back, ripping right through her clothes and leaving a currently covered wound. Red seeped into the cloth of her clothes that remained nearby, even if most of it was torn.

He didn’t get time to question it as she left, Amiya noticing the slash and following close behind her while he remained seated on the chair. The rest of the operators filed out after as well, leaving him alone. He took his time to head back to his room and his bed, shuffling there, making sure to close the door behind him once he had opened it and walked in, and then promptly collapsing on his bed. He didn’t bother to change before he fell asleep.

But while Alexander slept, Midnight worried. Midnight feared. He knew that something was wrong. But he didn’t know what. Memories both his and yet not memories he had lived were in his mind, a life so different to his own, yet the throughline was the same. Blood. Something he knew well in both lives. Blood was merely a part of his culture and biology, blood meant life and survival. No blood meant he would go on as normal, without care, and yet he had watched as the lack of true blood had crippled the entire festival of La Manchaland.

He remembered fleeing. Just like he had done from Higashi when he had discovered he was infected, fleeing to where he was safe. He left the damned parade behind, taking naught but his clothes and what small pride he had, smuggling himself aboard a warp train to escape. But none of the horrors he had done or seen in either this life or this next had truly scared him as much as one revelation.

The City was cruel. But it never cared. It did not even pretend to. The very existence of the warp train he had boarded proved that. The very things that had been done in La Manchaland had proved that. There was no beauty in a city that had never seen light.

But he knew it now. That light that had shined for those white nights had given him the smallest glimpse. Yet the Midnight that was of this life had known that light perfectly. He reveled in it, after all. He had made it his life's work to make people smile, genuinely and without fear. If only the parade of La Manchaland had a single true smile, then perhaps it would not be so endless, then perhaps it would not be so sad.

“Midnight, focus.” He was dragged out of his thoughts by Pith as she gestured at him with her staff. “Try again. Focus on yourself, focus on trying to draw out that part of you. You’ll know it when you see it, that is your arts.”

He didn’t move at first. He didn’t even focus on himself. Rather, he focused on the sight of the smiles that he had brought others. He focused on the taste of the blood of Alexander. He focused on the wonder.

“Midnight! Are you even paying attention?” He ignored Pith. And he didn’t reach into himself. That way lied the hunger he feared, the blood spilled for no purpose but the hollow happiness he had felt in the memories of the City. He reached out with his heart. And he felt it when it took over. A brilliant sword of both blood and amethyst formed in his hands as his clothes changed to a mix of both the performer he had been for so long and the prince that brought smiles to his kingdom.

“Behold! The performance that brings light to the city!” The words came unbidden as he slashed without a second thought, the sword in his hands, no, his will in his arms cleaving through the air. And in its wake, clear blood flew forth, leaving a precise, clean slash in the normally incredibly durable wall. He took his bow as the outfit and blade vanished, noting for a second the petals of amethyst blood flitting around Pith’s head, before he looked up once more, standing straight.

He didn’t get to speak before Pith spoke up. “Good. Now do it without the performance.”

For a few seconds, he reached out once more with his heart. But there just wasn’t enough this time. He kept trying to imagine the smiles, but even with them firmly in his mind, he couldn’t fully manifest it again. The performance was, for now, outside of his reach again. “I’m trying. But it’s like deflecting a bullet as lady Nearl said. You don’t just need the ability, you need the speed to deflect it. And I think I got lucky that time.”

But he still felt it. The performance would begin anew. And if it could only bring a smile to a singular face, then it was a successful performance in his eyes. Perhaps he would doubt, and perhaps he wouldn’t be able to always deliver success…

But he knew what to do now. The performance meant to bring smiles to both Terra and the City. To let that light shine for others. That was his purpose. The blood that roared in hearts and that amethyst that drew the eye was what he would show to the world. Until the princess finally smiled at the parade and until there was nothing left to prevent his infected self from returning to the city.

That was who he was.

Notes:

The Performance of Light | Lust | Zayin | 18 + 7 | One Coin | ATK Weight one.
Costs 10 sanity, 2 Lust, 2 Pride.
1: On hit, inflict +4 bleed count.
[After Attack]: One ally with the lowest sanity gains +10 sanity.
Passive: To Seek the Cities Star.
The leftmost skill on the dashboard of this unit inflicts +1 bleed count on hit per coin.
Resistances: Endure Lust, Fatal Sloth, Fatal Gloom.
Midnight manifested E.G.O. Not a full one, merely one on the level of the sinners. But he has. Midnight is the kind of person with a surprisingly strong determination. Sure, he may seem to be a bit of a pushover given his lower rarity, but he's pretty reliable, isn't he? His file says so, others have said so, even his combat skill is just that, reliable. And more importantly, remember that we're still at UPTIE 1 equivalent identities. He hasn't truly seen just how bad the city is yet, merely an impression. And yet... he doesn't have the "disease of the mind" that the people in the city had. He's an actual good person. Meanwhile, I wouldn't trust my back with basically anyone not a named character in the city. And even then only a few. So yes. I think he would be able to manifest a minor E.G.O. Though don't expect people not connected to the doctor to manifest one, and carmen isn't showing up (unless I make her an identity). So no need to worry about scope creep there. In any case, we also saw a bit more of Kal'tsit's injuries, and yes, she is definitely hurt. Not much, but logically Reunion is focusing a lot harder now with what's happened. Skullshatterer, Misha, and now Mephisto and Faust, plus Crownslayer being rather brutalized, means that Rhodes Island is seen as a much, much bigger threat before they really do anything truly terrible. Also, we're skipping chapter 5. It can't happen with Mephisto and Faust captured. Meaning we're going RIGHT to chapter six, though again, it will be different due to the two of them being captured, meaning an assault was missed... yeah. The butterfly has definitely flapped it's wings by this point and we are MAJORLY off the rails. Welcome to the Mirror of Refractions. It's time we started ramping things up, yeah? No outfit recommendations today, though I will note the only two Arknights Skins I got from the shop were Penance's occasionally flushed and Amiya's new L2D skin. I don't like buying skins. In any case, comments are appreciated, and I do read them.

Chapter 19: Fires Burn Brighter

Alexander figured that the reason reports were so boring was so that nobody read them too deeply. Paragraphs of utterly useless text that never seemed to end and were seemingly written for the purpose of being written. But it was in the small text, the things that were stated only to be moved on from that had value. And so, he was going over the reports with focus, making sure to remember as much as he could. The current report he was reading was on the recent operation he had gone on, both his part, the reports of the squad they were rescuing, Amiya’s squad, and Kal’tsit’s own objective.

He already knew the details from his point of view, he had made the report after all, so he didn’t bother looking into the report too deeply aside from a cursory check. The rescued squad didn’t have much detail he didn’t already know either, nor did Amiya’s squad. But it was Kal’tsit’s objective that he looked into. Apparently it related to a Lyudmila, or as he knew her, Crownslayer. She was trying to hunt down the Rebba with Projekt Red, starting a small fight, before they were interrupted by the intervention of another.

It took him some time to find a file that described the person that had intervened, mainly due to him being unsure if that was a name or a title. But it didn’t take long at all for him to understand why the two had come back so injured. For such a simple title, the sheer gravity and record of the accomplishments that it held was astonishing.

The Patriot.

What little that he was able to read about the man told of a figure that seemed to have simply escaped a storybook or myth itself. The last pureblooded wendigo, a warrior that no longer knew an equal. While his file was far sparser than it should be given his apparent pedigree, it didn’t have to say much more than what it already did. He simply had no way to defeat the Patriot, or if it was his name, Patriot. Even with all the identities he had, and even with the power of the E.G.O that Misha and Alex had, victory was not in the cards.

He took his leave when he had read enough to satisfy his own needs. There was, after all, little he could do about it now. If he ran into Patriot, his only option was retreat and hoping to not be cornered without a way out. The very fact that whenever Reunion was attempting something he might have to retreat for no other reason than Patriot’s mere presence was a factor that he would have to account for.

Meanwhile, Kal’tsit was stuck in a hospital bed, fully conscious, but forced to stay put lest she aggravated her stitched wound. Such things were ultimately minor to her however, and it would not prevent her from working as she talked with Rosmontis and Scout.

Scout spoke up first. “Reunion is already acting erratically. Closure’s drones only took a few pictures, but it seems that they’ve ditched the old plan of subterfuge fully. The Yeti Squadron and the Ursus Guerillas are massed together. And Chernobog’s beginning to move.”

Rosmontis looked up at Scout. “Move?”

“They haven’t managed to get its treads to move far, or even consistently, but they were pictured moving. Doesn’t seem like they were moving towards anything, yet even that means we’re on a timer.”

“Did Closure give an estimate on the time it would take them to repair the damage they did?” Kal’tsit kept her head as high as it could go as she looked at the two near her bed, even as Scout shook his own head. “We will have to wait for Amiya to recover before we can attempt to stop them. There is no practical way for us to handle the Patriot without her and…” She trailed off, before sighing. “It seems I’ll have to put control of the elite ops in the Doctor’s hands. Dismissed.”

Scout quickly took Rosmontis from the room without another word, leaving Kal’tsit alone with her own thoughts. And so, neither of them noticed Mon3tr exit from underneath her hospital bed, its form hovering beside Kal’tsit as it did so.

“The coffins have no method of causing significant personality alteration.” Kal’tsit’s voice was thin and light. Conspiratorial even as she let her head lower to alleviate herself of some of the strain on her currently bedridden self while she spoke to Mon3tr. “In addition, the Doctor has never previously even attempted to add individuals to Babel without priorly informing either me or Theresa, nor did he attempt to capture any foes on the field.”

A shuddering sigh escaped her, even as Mon3tr vaguely nodded with its crystalline serpent-like body. “And yet, despite this, he has been more effective than he was previously. Not one fatal casualty amongst operations he has led despite them being the norm before. A completely different style of command in terms of how he uses the assets under his control.”

Her hands balled up into fists, grabbing at the white bedsheets she was partially covered by as they quivered lightly. “He was never an actor. Even back then, even back with… her, he was incapable of acting as anything he was not.” She forced her hands to release her bedsheets as she laid down more properly, lowering herself from her upright position. “The only conclusions that can be drawn from this are simple. Amnesia, he had lied to me from the start, or… I did not retrieve him from the coffin at all. I retrieved a trap laid in preparation for me to retrieve it, knowing that I would only seek him out if I needed assistance with something I could not do myself.”

It was all she could do to not raise her voice, even as Mon3tr attempted to comfort her with its familiar noises. And on some level, it was comforting. It was as much a part of her as it was a friend, a companion, and it knew what she was feeling. But that could not stop all the anger she was feeling at the moment. Not one of the reasonable things she could opt to say or do brought anything but cold spite and deeply poisoned anger.

“Amnesia is… unlikely. He has shown at least some remembrance of his actions. Similarly, if he had indeed lied to me from the start, he would not change personalities so readily knowing what I am capable of. At least, assuming he was not both amnesiac and a liar of a level both that habitual and still able to make such genuine relations with those of Babel.” She stared at the white ceiling of the hospital room, a blank expression on her face. “So we are left with the worst conclusion. That, once more, she opted to torment me once more for even attempting to fix the problems that she deemed so irrelevant as to ignore them even when I tried to call attention to it. That she opted to treat the man she claimed to love and want beyond the stars themselves as a bomb in order to prevent me from making any actual progress, and kill Theresa.”

Hundreds, no, thousands of years of practiced calm could not stop the rictus of rage that flickered onto her face for less than a single second, but it was enough. Enough for a single, growled sentence to escape her throat as Mon3tr returned to its position under the bed and she balled her fists. “Priestess… I hope that you choke on your own music-strangled tongue.”

It did not take her much longer to force herself to sleep. She knew just as well as ever that her anger would be pointless. But at least she knew, once more, where to point it. And, perhaps, she felt a small twinge of annoyance at herself for not figuring out Theresa’s words before now. To take a life to save one… well. There were far worse times to figure out you didn’t know a person at all. Even if you wished for a brighter fate, there was far worse than a new fire being lit to shine new light on it. No matter who you wished was still with you to see it.

Notes:

I'm BACK! You all have no idea how much this chapter kicked my ass! In any case, It's been a bit, so I hope this is still up to quality even if it's not the most amazing or exciting chapter, and if it's not, well I'm getting back into the swing of things, so we'll get to the new version of chapter 7 soon! But still, quick recap. Doctor (alexander) learns about what happened to Kal'tsit and THE PATRIOT (who uh... Yeah no, I genuinely don't think anything that doesn't rely on conceptual bullshit beats him in EITHER setting if it isn't outright godlike. He's got odds of fighting Ishar-Mla, and that is with him being as crippled as he is currently. Current Patriot is practically unbeatable to any color, and any abyssal hunter, and generally is INSANELY strong. He only really loses to Arbiters (Not claws, not even close, and even Arbiters need concepts over force), Certain bullshit Abnos, and just... Outright Gods? Yeah, so uh... He's going to get several chapters. Again, we needed a prophecy in Arknights and him LETTING US KILL HIM along with his daughter (in all but blood, and I seriously doubt he didn't adopt Frostnova in some manner) being DEAD for his sorrow to be enough to let himself die and he ALMOST DIDN'T with us needing eight flavors of bullshit in Rosmontis, Mon3tr, and Amiya along with what I would reasonably say was the rest of the elite ops (because Kal'tsit would never even try for him without dropping everything on his head in knowledge of how BULLSHIT this man is), and the man was MORE ORIPATHY THAN MAN by that point, HOLY SHIT.

In any case, we also get Kal'tsits thoughts at last and... Suffice to say, she's smarter than basically anyone would be in this situation. And I think I showed well how differently he's behaving, after all, everything before Doctor waking up is the same as Canon after all. So she would notice how much different he is. And while yes I'll still maintain that her and Theresa not taking more precautions for Theresa's safety is dumb, she's only dumb under pressure and emotionally. She's very, very much not dumb at all mentally. Plus, a look at her relationship with him beforehand, and a revelation of how much she seems to simply HATE Priestess, even in canon. It's not a small hate, her first instinct was to MURDER this woman when she saw her, and even with me trying to add context I can't show how much she seems to hate Priestess without breaking the flow of the writing too much. So for now, she's on the path to figuring out what's happening, trying to rationalize everything with how different her... basically father is acting now, and a whole lot more. Though her way of talking is hard and I have to also think about how to be a mix of rational and with hidden emotional scars.

Two main "Theory" things happening here, one, I've dragged in the fan theory of "Priestess Manipulated the Mind of the Doctor" for Kal'tsits reasoning, and two "Priestess hates Kal'tsit just as much", which is also likely with how Kal'tsit was treated. Oh, and Chernobog is moving earlier than it should be. I wonder what's happening there? And we've got the Elite Ops too, so Ace and Scout will be back!

In any case, comments are very appreciated, and I genuinely hope you all enjoy. You'll be getting more soon (hopefully, with a dollop of salt on the already salted schedule I fail to stick to), so tell me what you want to see and what you think needs work! And maybe I'll write in my snippets thread, so make requests if you want me to write what you suggest!