Cut me free, bleed with me, oh no!
One by one, we will fall, down down!
Fight for life, honor dies!
This ain't my fight!
- 10th Man Down
Inyme's thoughts were chaotic behind the stony silence that her full face helmet
presented to the outside world, though Alice might've gotten a sniff of them if she'd been less concentrated on the task at hand. Part of that was
purely outside stress from where they were. Inyme's growing suspicions about her telepathy regaining its former power in ways that were very un-Rikti like
was beginning to gain evidence as she closed her eyes again, focusing on reinforcing the shields that kept the background thunder of the Shadow Shard at bay.
No Rikti Mentalist had ever reported something akin to being trapped inside the mind of something….else. A small part of her considered it was likely Rularuu,
given the history of this region.
Beyond that, there'd been the confrontation with the false Manticore. Humanlike as
it'd appeared, its corrupted speech had certainly given it away as a fake from the start. Part of Inyme wanted to believe it was a rush job, a poorly
constructed copy to further the deception of what this entire incident's unraveling clues had begun to hint at. Something which couldn't possibly be
true. The part of her listening to her companions was also noticing that they were becoming more and more certain of what they were going to find…and if they
became too sure, her denials were going to seem more suspicious.
Which she couldn't afford to attract, especially not now.
****
Alice didn't know why
Inyme was so tense in the back of her mind, but she really couldn't fault her girlfriend. The implications of what'd been seen so far could unnerve
anyone. As is, she was more concerned with the ongoing attacks by the Nemesis soldiers following them. Gesturing to Amber, she leaned back as the redhead
approached. "Have we shaken them?"
Amber shook her head. "They have a good idea of where we're going, and this is
their base. They don't know where we are precisely, but they're still following."
Alice nodded. "That
should buy us enough time to find the safe Sherman mentioned."
The group stayed close together as they made their way through the base, disabling a
few patrols and eventually stepping past unconscious Nemesis soldiers in what appeared to be the base's main engine room. Off to the side, however, was the
commander's office and between herself and Amber, Alice had it open in short order. The book inside, however, she opened gingerly….only to find drawn out
specifications for the Manticore they'd fought earlier…and Synapse…and Sister Psyche….and Statesman… Alice's eyes widened as she looked up at the
others. Amber was calm, even if Alice could feel a hint of the shock that actual confirmation had caused her. Rhea didn't bother to hide hers, while Lisa
looked at it grimly, a hint of confirmed acceptance in her mind. Inyme, however, was at the door when the blast doors they'd sealed earlier blew off their
hinges in a single roar of green fire. As Alice glanced over from the safe, her eyes widened as an armored figure stepped into the door.
"Positron?!"
[/url]
As soon as she said as much, however, a spike of panic and raw, seething anger seared
through the telepathic bond between herself and Inyme. Before she could even look at Inyme, the young woman had already sprang forward, smashing a Jaeger into
a nearby wall telekinetically as the rest of the group scrambled to back her up. Rhea's face was grimly determined as she focused on keeping Inyme's
armor and body healed from the radiation emitting from the duplicate Positron, while the others took on the Nemesis troops. Gaining an appreciation of the
tactical situation, Positron waved the troops forward as he squared off against the enraged blaster heading at him head on. Alice slammed the door to the
office shut behind them as they all fell into support positions.
The first full on burst of EMP from her opponent startled Inyme out of her red tinted
vision as her armor's systems shut down for a moment before rebooting. Boiling rage became cold, calculating intent as she rolled aside, avoiding a trench
of radioactive slag carved out by one of Positron's energy beams. Reaching out, she anchored him to the ground telekinetically, stopping his movement if
not his attacks for the moment and giving herself some maneuvering room. Mentally, she began tracing the room, identifying where her teammates were and their
areas of attention, using their eyes to a small degree as her own.
Surprise rippled across the bond from Amber, but Inyme ignored it, projecting a sense
of necessity mixed with apology for the intrusion. Mollified, Amber added her own abilities to the link, and Inyme carefully wove Alice's fledgling
telepathy in as well in a supporting role. Carefully, she avoided the damaged tangle of Rhea's lower thoughts, tying in instead to Rhea's conscious
mind and her military training buried beneath it. Had any experienced Vanguard telepath been on hand, he would've immediately recognized the underpinnings
of a Rikti commando squad's tactical bond, but as it was, both Amber and Alice were too busy helping to keep the link stable to recognize what it
was.
Teleporting ahead, Inyme dodged a burst of deadly radiation that melted another stretch
of machinery, and cursed as she realized she was running out of cover. The Nemesis troops were slowly being defeated, but Rhea couldn't help in combat with
her concentration so on keeping all of them from being seriously injured. Amber had caught the telekinetic trap on Positron when Inyme's grasp had waned,
and she was keeping him immobilized, at least, but his mind was too resistant to particularly turn against the Nemesis troops. Alice was pinioning another
group of robots and riflemen, while Gamma was exchanging bursts of radiation with Positron from behind a lead shielded wall that proved resistant to his energy
blasts. Amber's thoughts were turning to her own telekinetic abilities, but until they knew what was wrong with Positron, she wouldn't risk seriously
harming such a hero. Gamma was feeling the heat and wondering how much juice Posi had in that suit, and Alice was feeling a slight hint of relief at the fact
that she'd just KO'd the last of the Nemesis troops. Inyme, shielding her thoughts from the bond for a moment, considered the thoughts from Amber,
realizing that this was a perfect opportunity.
Quickly, she shot the basics of the plan around the link to the other members, editing
it slightly to make it more feasible to the group who didn't know what she intended to do. Teleporting by Rhea, Inyme briefly felt her weariness lift as
Rhea's abilities washed over her, replacing the beginnings of exhaustion with more power than she knew she could generate on her own. Teleporting again,
she drew Positron's fire as Gamma jumped up, unloading a full EMP on the armored figure from behind. Energy crackled over the armor as he attempted to
compensate, only for Alice and Amber's telekinetic abilities holding him in place. Inyme warped in front of him as he looked up, energy leaking from his
forearms in a vain attempt to scorch her to the bone.
"This is for my mother, you bastard..." she hissed, unaware
at the moment that the link meant almost everyone got a decent image of her seething rage, Alice's direct empathic link to her lover meaning it was even
stronger for her, the catgirl crying out in pain before slumping to the side, unnoticed by Inyme in her laser thin concentration as she reached forward. Amber
had a brief flash of what she was about to do before Inyme started, starting to move to stop her…and then three things happened at once.
Inyme's hands almost interlaced their fingers as if forcing themselves between a
small gap, before she forced them apart in a savage single motion.
There was a terrible, terrible silence as Inyme's unsubtle, but powerful,
telekinesis reached out towards Positron…before there was a squealing as metal began to bend. Positron looked at it, before looking up at her. "What…are
you doing to me?"
And then the metallic figure's body split down the middle, as if his right and left
side limbs had been tied to opposing trucks which had suddenly hit the tension point on invisible chains. There was a scream of anguished metal as the armored
figure tore apart….in a spray of oil, steam, and tiny metal components, Positron's head coming off entirely due to lacking any real connection to the main
body as the center of it practically disintegrated, bouncing onto the floor and rolling to a slow stop.
****
For a moment, the room was silent except for the tinkling of tiny shards of metal
falling to the ground from where the telekinetic attack had scattered them, the three remaining conscious heroines staring at the shredded remains of what had
seemed to be Positron, before starting as Inyme dropped to her knees, looking at the pieces. Rhea glanced at her, before darting over to see to Alice, while
Lisa stepped away from her impromptu shield, followed by Amber to walk up beside the girl.
Inyme shook her head as they approached, before something like a shuddering sob made
its way out of her throat. "Damn it….damn it all…he was telling the truth…"
"Inyme? Are you alright?" Amber asked, but the girl went on as if she
hadn't heard her.
"All of it. All the death, the suffering….all for nothing. Millions
dead for nothing!" she snarled, an armored hand sending the Positron robot's head skidding across the chamber to impact against a support strut
with a metallic gong.
"It doesn't have to be for nothing," Lisa said, bending down beside her.
"We can bring him to justice. Nemesis will pay for his crimes. We can stop more from dying…we can end the war…" she trailed off at a bitter chuckle
from Inyme.
"You haven't realized, have you? You don't get it at all. The blood on our
hands. The initial attacks….we didn't think. We just reacted. All the death….it was pointless. Everything was…"
"…we? Who's we?" Lisa said, even as Amber stiffened and a tingle of suspicion and fear ran down the former emergency room worker's
spine.
"That's right. You don't know. No one does. I was so careful. I had to be.
If anyone suspected, the entire mission would've come apart," she said. "But it doesn't matter now if you figure out who I am. Not
anymore."
"What are you talking about, Inyme?" Amber said from behind her. "We
know who you are…"
"No, you don't!" she growled. "If you did, if any of you did…I never would've gotten so close…this damnable situation would've never
happened." Looking up, she saw a mixture of incomprehension and anxiety at her growing emotional reactions. "Don't you get it?! I'm one of
them! I'm a Rikti and I have been ever since I started this damned infiltration! And that pile of scrap metal means that we killed
millions of your people for nothing! For a lie! This entire war is based around a lie! And…and it means…." Inyme started to look at Alice, then looked
away. "Nothing matters any more."
Lisa and Amber shared a brief look before Lisa helped Inyme to her feet, Amber going
back to get the book Alice'd thrown into the office when the battle started. "It still matters, Inyme. We'll sort this out once we get out of
here," she said, hearing shouts coming from down the hall. Stepping away, she grabbed Positron's head, while Rhea activated an Ouroboros portal, the
quintet vanishing out of time and space as the Nemesis troopers came into the room, weapons raised.
****
Alice awoke groggily, her
head pounding with remembered sympathetic pain as she looked up at the fluorescent lights in Vanguard HQ's main medical area. Standing up, she groaned,
Rhea looking over at her with a slightly relieved expression. "Wha'happened?" she managed as Rhea helped her steady herself.
"Well, Inyme attacked the Positron robot, and…some kind of backlash hit you, as
far as we can tell."
"Backlash? Yeah….that…man….what upset her so much?" Alice asked. "Felt
like a brick going 200 miles per hour got launched at my skull."
Rhea blinked, before looking aside for a second, and Alice tasted the worry present in
her thoughts. "What's wrong, Rhea?"
"I…we should go find the others, now that you're awake," Rhea said, getting a surprised expression from the catgirl as she followed Rhea to where
Lisa was turning over the book and what appeared to be Positron's severed head to a Vanguard officer, who took them carefully. Inyme looked at her as she
came close, and unlike the churning tempest her thoughts had been before, now they were almost cold in their serenity. Alice frowned, as the others looked over
at her.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8PiAevS4sQ]
"Okay, will someone tell me what's going on?"
Amber looked at Inyme, then back at her. "It's…something happened after you
were knocked unconscious."
"Yeah, I'd figured that out by the way you're all pussy-footing around telling me," Alice noted, annoyed. She looked over at Inyme as the
woman removed her helmet, letting her short dark hair out. "So what's the big deal?"
"It's me, Alice," Inyme said, and her tone was flat enough to cause Alice's eyes to narrow slightly. "Given the evidence we found…I
can't stay here anymore."
"What, you have to go back home?" Alice asked, blinking. She'd known
Inyme to reference her "mission" from time to time, and that it had something to do with the Rikti. However, Inyme merely shook her head.
"No…I can't go back home. However, I imagine security will be coming now to
arrest me," she noted, as Alice felt the direct, concentrated thoughts of the squad headed this way as Inyme mentioned them.
"What? Why?!"
"Because I'm a Rikti spy, Alice," Inyme said softly, and Alice stared at
her. Through their link, she could feel the inherent truth of what Inyme was saying, but that didn't make sense. Inyme was a Rikti? She couldn't be!
She looked…felt human….everything Alice knew told her…so…
Inyme's eyes confirmed for her the suspicion that came to mind, and Alice realized
that all this time, Inyme had lied. Inyme had taught her how to use her telepathic powers. Inyme had taught her how to detect deception. How to guard her
thoughts. Inyme was the one probably capable of hiding anything from her if she wanted. Her eyes widened as the only question she could think of came to her
lips. "Why?"
Inyme looked at her, teleporting her combat armor away and leaving her usual casual
jumpsuit as the sound of approaching footsteps made itself heard. "Because I didn't have any other choice….and now it doesn't matter at all what
choices I made."
Alice looked at her as the
Vanguard soldiers came into the room, shocking the rest out of their contemplations. Lisa looked at one as Inyme put out her hands to be cuffed. "What are
you doing?"
"Arresting a Rikti spy, ma'am," the soldier said simply.
"On what grounds?" she asked, despite the obvious answer already coming to
mind for why Inyme'd been so quiet in her armor the last half hour.
"Because I called them and turned myself in," Inyme said, confirming her
fears. "I can't exactly be left walking around like this now, can I?"
"Inyme, please…don't…" Alice tried to find words, but Inyme shook her
head, a hint of actual sadness penetrating the emotional cool that hovered about her mind as she turned to let herself be led away.
"This is for the best….for everyone…" she said, and then she was gone, the
soldiers leading her away, leaving Alice and the others flatfooted in their wake.
***
Brightsky wasn't expecting anything unusual as she entered the Vanguard headquarters, but seeing Rhea and Lisa help an obviously distraught looking Alice
out the portal to Atlas. Blinking, she caught a similarly unhappy looking Amber in the hallway.
"I just saw Alice head out of here…what happened?"
Amber's frown deepened, looking up at her with worried eyes. "We just found out Inyme was a Rikti spy. She turned herself in just a few minutes
ago."
A part of Brightsky's mind froze at the simple statement, before becoming almost
instantly calm. Breathe in…breathe out. Think of the center. Calm.
Amber looked at her slightly oddly as Brightsky let herself visibly struggle to regain
her composure from the shock. "…I can't believe it…a Rikti spy?"
"Yes…there's more to it, but…right now, it's just all a big blur of sorts."
"I see," Brightsky said, looking at her watch. "I'll catch the
details later. Right now, I'm late for a raid on a Rikti supply depot. You should probably get home and have some rest. This was probably a bit of a
shock," she said.
Still giving her an odd look, Amber nodded, before sighing and stepping off through the
portal. Once she was safely away and out of telepathic range, Brightsky felt her face harden into a scowl. Picking up her cell phone, she dialed a given
number. "Hey….yeah, it's me. Say, do you know anyone that'd be able to take a look into some records…surreptitiously? …at your work….yeah, I know.
It's important….I can't talk about it on this line. I'll tell you in person after I'm done here….yeah, thanks. Talk to you later,
Syn."
Stepping towards the teleporter, Brightsky's thoughts raced. If Inyme had been a
Rikti spy all this time…and turned herself in? It had to be a trap. And given how deep she'd gotten….Syn would be able to find the questioning records
Security would likely have in a few days. And if it confirmed her hypothesis…it wasn't exactly according to procedure, but Bright unfortunately didn't
think they'd recognize the threat inherent in a Rikti penetrating this deeply without being detected. And if they didn't….well, she'd have to find
some way of dealing with that.
" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNKnzNSgWmk">
" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNKnzNSgWmk">
" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNKnzNSgWmk">
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
One by one, we will fall, down down!
Fight for life, honor dies!
This ain't my fight!
- 10th Man Down
Inyme's thoughts were chaotic behind the stony silence that her full face helmet
presented to the outside world, though Alice might've gotten a sniff of them if she'd been less concentrated on the task at hand. Part of that was
purely outside stress from where they were. Inyme's growing suspicions about her telepathy regaining its former power in ways that were very un-Rikti like
was beginning to gain evidence as she closed her eyes again, focusing on reinforcing the shields that kept the background thunder of the Shadow Shard at bay.
No Rikti Mentalist had ever reported something akin to being trapped inside the mind of something….else. A small part of her considered it was likely Rularuu,
given the history of this region.
Beyond that, there'd been the confrontation with the false Manticore. Humanlike as
it'd appeared, its corrupted speech had certainly given it away as a fake from the start. Part of Inyme wanted to believe it was a rush job, a poorly
constructed copy to further the deception of what this entire incident's unraveling clues had begun to hint at. Something which couldn't possibly be
true. The part of her listening to her companions was also noticing that they were becoming more and more certain of what they were going to find…and if they
became too sure, her denials were going to seem more suspicious.
Which she couldn't afford to attract, especially not now.
****
Alice didn't know why
Inyme was so tense in the back of her mind, but she really couldn't fault her girlfriend. The implications of what'd been seen so far could unnerve
anyone. As is, she was more concerned with the ongoing attacks by the Nemesis soldiers following them. Gesturing to Amber, she leaned back as the redhead
approached. "Have we shaken them?"
Amber shook her head. "They have a good idea of where we're going, and this is
their base. They don't know where we are precisely, but they're still following."
Alice nodded. "That
should buy us enough time to find the safe Sherman mentioned."
The group stayed close together as they made their way through the base, disabling a
few patrols and eventually stepping past unconscious Nemesis soldiers in what appeared to be the base's main engine room. Off to the side, however, was the
commander's office and between herself and Amber, Alice had it open in short order. The book inside, however, she opened gingerly….only to find drawn out
specifications for the Manticore they'd fought earlier…and Synapse…and Sister Psyche….and Statesman… Alice's eyes widened as she looked up at the
others. Amber was calm, even if Alice could feel a hint of the shock that actual confirmation had caused her. Rhea didn't bother to hide hers, while Lisa
looked at it grimly, a hint of confirmed acceptance in her mind. Inyme, however, was at the door when the blast doors they'd sealed earlier blew off their
hinges in a single roar of green fire. As Alice glanced over from the safe, her eyes widened as an armored figure stepped into the door.
"Positron?!"
[/url]
As soon as she said as much, however, a spike of panic and raw, seething anger seared
through the telepathic bond between herself and Inyme. Before she could even look at Inyme, the young woman had already sprang forward, smashing a Jaeger into
a nearby wall telekinetically as the rest of the group scrambled to back her up. Rhea's face was grimly determined as she focused on keeping Inyme's
armor and body healed from the radiation emitting from the duplicate Positron, while the others took on the Nemesis troops. Gaining an appreciation of the
tactical situation, Positron waved the troops forward as he squared off against the enraged blaster heading at him head on. Alice slammed the door to the
office shut behind them as they all fell into support positions.
The first full on burst of EMP from her opponent startled Inyme out of her red tinted
vision as her armor's systems shut down for a moment before rebooting. Boiling rage became cold, calculating intent as she rolled aside, avoiding a trench
of radioactive slag carved out by one of Positron's energy beams. Reaching out, she anchored him to the ground telekinetically, stopping his movement if
not his attacks for the moment and giving herself some maneuvering room. Mentally, she began tracing the room, identifying where her teammates were and their
areas of attention, using their eyes to a small degree as her own.
Surprise rippled across the bond from Amber, but Inyme ignored it, projecting a sense
of necessity mixed with apology for the intrusion. Mollified, Amber added her own abilities to the link, and Inyme carefully wove Alice's fledgling
telepathy in as well in a supporting role. Carefully, she avoided the damaged tangle of Rhea's lower thoughts, tying in instead to Rhea's conscious
mind and her military training buried beneath it. Had any experienced Vanguard telepath been on hand, he would've immediately recognized the underpinnings
of a Rikti commando squad's tactical bond, but as it was, both Amber and Alice were too busy helping to keep the link stable to recognize what it
was.
Teleporting ahead, Inyme dodged a burst of deadly radiation that melted another stretch
of machinery, and cursed as she realized she was running out of cover. The Nemesis troops were slowly being defeated, but Rhea couldn't help in combat with
her concentration so on keeping all of them from being seriously injured. Amber had caught the telekinetic trap on Positron when Inyme's grasp had waned,
and she was keeping him immobilized, at least, but his mind was too resistant to particularly turn against the Nemesis troops. Alice was pinioning another
group of robots and riflemen, while Gamma was exchanging bursts of radiation with Positron from behind a lead shielded wall that proved resistant to his energy
blasts. Amber's thoughts were turning to her own telekinetic abilities, but until they knew what was wrong with Positron, she wouldn't risk seriously
harming such a hero. Gamma was feeling the heat and wondering how much juice Posi had in that suit, and Alice was feeling a slight hint of relief at the fact
that she'd just KO'd the last of the Nemesis troops. Inyme, shielding her thoughts from the bond for a moment, considered the thoughts from Amber,
realizing that this was a perfect opportunity.
Quickly, she shot the basics of the plan around the link to the other members, editing
it slightly to make it more feasible to the group who didn't know what she intended to do. Teleporting by Rhea, Inyme briefly felt her weariness lift as
Rhea's abilities washed over her, replacing the beginnings of exhaustion with more power than she knew she could generate on her own. Teleporting again,
she drew Positron's fire as Gamma jumped up, unloading a full EMP on the armored figure from behind. Energy crackled over the armor as he attempted to
compensate, only for Alice and Amber's telekinetic abilities holding him in place. Inyme warped in front of him as he looked up, energy leaking from his
forearms in a vain attempt to scorch her to the bone.
"This is for my mother, you bastard..." she hissed, unaware
at the moment that the link meant almost everyone got a decent image of her seething rage, Alice's direct empathic link to her lover meaning it was even
stronger for her, the catgirl crying out in pain before slumping to the side, unnoticed by Inyme in her laser thin concentration as she reached forward. Amber
had a brief flash of what she was about to do before Inyme started, starting to move to stop her…and then three things happened at once.
Inyme's hands almost interlaced their fingers as if forcing themselves between a
small gap, before she forced them apart in a savage single motion.
There was a terrible, terrible silence as Inyme's unsubtle, but powerful,
telekinesis reached out towards Positron…before there was a squealing as metal began to bend. Positron looked at it, before looking up at her. "What…are
you doing to me?"
And then the metallic figure's body split down the middle, as if his right and left
side limbs had been tied to opposing trucks which had suddenly hit the tension point on invisible chains. There was a scream of anguished metal as the armored
figure tore apart….in a spray of oil, steam, and tiny metal components, Positron's head coming off entirely due to lacking any real connection to the main
body as the center of it practically disintegrated, bouncing onto the floor and rolling to a slow stop.
****
For a moment, the room was silent except for the tinkling of tiny shards of metal
falling to the ground from where the telekinetic attack had scattered them, the three remaining conscious heroines staring at the shredded remains of what had
seemed to be Positron, before starting as Inyme dropped to her knees, looking at the pieces. Rhea glanced at her, before darting over to see to Alice, while
Lisa stepped away from her impromptu shield, followed by Amber to walk up beside the girl.
Inyme shook her head as they approached, before something like a shuddering sob made
its way out of her throat. "Damn it….damn it all…he was telling the truth…"
"Inyme? Are you alright?" Amber asked, but the girl went on as if she
hadn't heard her.
"All of it. All the death, the suffering….all for nothing. Millions
dead for nothing!" she snarled, an armored hand sending the Positron robot's head skidding across the chamber to impact against a support strut
with a metallic gong.
"It doesn't have to be for nothing," Lisa said, bending down beside her.
"We can bring him to justice. Nemesis will pay for his crimes. We can stop more from dying…we can end the war…" she trailed off at a bitter chuckle
from Inyme.
"You haven't realized, have you? You don't get it at all. The blood on our
hands. The initial attacks….we didn't think. We just reacted. All the death….it was pointless. Everything was…"
"…we? Who's we?" Lisa said, even as Amber stiffened and a tingle of suspicion and fear ran down the former emergency room worker's
spine.
"That's right. You don't know. No one does. I was so careful. I had to be.
If anyone suspected, the entire mission would've come apart," she said. "But it doesn't matter now if you figure out who I am. Not
anymore."
"What are you talking about, Inyme?" Amber said from behind her. "We
know who you are…"
"No, you don't!" she growled. "If you did, if any of you did…I never would've gotten so close…this damnable situation would've never
happened." Looking up, she saw a mixture of incomprehension and anxiety at her growing emotional reactions. "Don't you get it?! I'm one of
them! I'm a Rikti and I have been ever since I started this damned infiltration! And that pile of scrap metal means that we killed
millions of your people for nothing! For a lie! This entire war is based around a lie! And…and it means…." Inyme started to look at Alice, then looked
away. "Nothing matters any more."
Lisa and Amber shared a brief look before Lisa helped Inyme to her feet, Amber going
back to get the book Alice'd thrown into the office when the battle started. "It still matters, Inyme. We'll sort this out once we get out of
here," she said, hearing shouts coming from down the hall. Stepping away, she grabbed Positron's head, while Rhea activated an Ouroboros portal, the
quintet vanishing out of time and space as the Nemesis troopers came into the room, weapons raised.
****
Alice awoke groggily, her
head pounding with remembered sympathetic pain as she looked up at the fluorescent lights in Vanguard HQ's main medical area. Standing up, she groaned,
Rhea looking over at her with a slightly relieved expression. "Wha'happened?" she managed as Rhea helped her steady herself.
"Well, Inyme attacked the Positron robot, and…some kind of backlash hit you, as
far as we can tell."
"Backlash? Yeah….that…man….what upset her so much?" Alice asked. "Felt
like a brick going 200 miles per hour got launched at my skull."
Rhea blinked, before looking aside for a second, and Alice tasted the worry present in
her thoughts. "What's wrong, Rhea?"
"I…we should go find the others, now that you're awake," Rhea said, getting a surprised expression from the catgirl as she followed Rhea to where
Lisa was turning over the book and what appeared to be Positron's severed head to a Vanguard officer, who took them carefully. Inyme looked at her as she
came close, and unlike the churning tempest her thoughts had been before, now they were almost cold in their serenity. Alice frowned, as the others looked over
at her.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8PiAevS4sQ]
"Okay, will someone tell me what's going on?"
Amber looked at Inyme, then back at her. "It's…something happened after you
were knocked unconscious."
"Yeah, I'd figured that out by the way you're all pussy-footing around telling me," Alice noted, annoyed. She looked over at Inyme as the
woman removed her helmet, letting her short dark hair out. "So what's the big deal?"
"It's me, Alice," Inyme said, and her tone was flat enough to cause Alice's eyes to narrow slightly. "Given the evidence we found…I
can't stay here anymore."
"What, you have to go back home?" Alice asked, blinking. She'd known
Inyme to reference her "mission" from time to time, and that it had something to do with the Rikti. However, Inyme merely shook her head.
"No…I can't go back home. However, I imagine security will be coming now to
arrest me," she noted, as Alice felt the direct, concentrated thoughts of the squad headed this way as Inyme mentioned them.
"What? Why?!"
"Because I'm a Rikti spy, Alice," Inyme said softly, and Alice stared at
her. Through their link, she could feel the inherent truth of what Inyme was saying, but that didn't make sense. Inyme was a Rikti? She couldn't be!
She looked…felt human….everything Alice knew told her…so…
Inyme's eyes confirmed for her the suspicion that came to mind, and Alice realized
that all this time, Inyme had lied. Inyme had taught her how to use her telepathic powers. Inyme had taught her how to detect deception. How to guard her
thoughts. Inyme was the one probably capable of hiding anything from her if she wanted. Her eyes widened as the only question she could think of came to her
lips. "Why?"
Inyme looked at her, teleporting her combat armor away and leaving her usual casual
jumpsuit as the sound of approaching footsteps made itself heard. "Because I didn't have any other choice….and now it doesn't matter at all what
choices I made."
Alice looked at her as the
Vanguard soldiers came into the room, shocking the rest out of their contemplations. Lisa looked at one as Inyme put out her hands to be cuffed. "What are
you doing?"
"Arresting a Rikti spy, ma'am," the soldier said simply.
"On what grounds?" she asked, despite the obvious answer already coming to
mind for why Inyme'd been so quiet in her armor the last half hour.
"Because I called them and turned myself in," Inyme said, confirming her
fears. "I can't exactly be left walking around like this now, can I?"
"Inyme, please…don't…" Alice tried to find words, but Inyme shook her
head, a hint of actual sadness penetrating the emotional cool that hovered about her mind as she turned to let herself be led away.
"This is for the best….for everyone…" she said, and then she was gone, the
soldiers leading her away, leaving Alice and the others flatfooted in their wake.
***
Brightsky wasn't expecting anything unusual as she entered the Vanguard headquarters, but seeing Rhea and Lisa help an obviously distraught looking Alice
out the portal to Atlas. Blinking, she caught a similarly unhappy looking Amber in the hallway.
"I just saw Alice head out of here…what happened?"
Amber's frown deepened, looking up at her with worried eyes. "We just found out Inyme was a Rikti spy. She turned herself in just a few minutes
ago."
A part of Brightsky's mind froze at the simple statement, before becoming almost
instantly calm. Breathe in…breathe out. Think of the center. Calm.
Amber looked at her slightly oddly as Brightsky let herself visibly struggle to regain
her composure from the shock. "…I can't believe it…a Rikti spy?"
"Yes…there's more to it, but…right now, it's just all a big blur of sorts."
"I see," Brightsky said, looking at her watch. "I'll catch the
details later. Right now, I'm late for a raid on a Rikti supply depot. You should probably get home and have some rest. This was probably a bit of a
shock," she said.
Still giving her an odd look, Amber nodded, before sighing and stepping off through the
portal. Once she was safely away and out of telepathic range, Brightsky felt her face harden into a scowl. Picking up her cell phone, she dialed a given
number. "Hey….yeah, it's me. Say, do you know anyone that'd be able to take a look into some records…surreptitiously? …at your work….yeah, I know.
It's important….I can't talk about it on this line. I'll tell you in person after I'm done here….yeah, thanks. Talk to you later,
Syn."
Stepping towards the teleporter, Brightsky's thoughts raced. If Inyme had been a
Rikti spy all this time…and turned herself in? It had to be a trap. And given how deep she'd gotten….Syn would be able to find the questioning records
Security would likely have in a few days. And if it confirmed her hypothesis…it wasn't exactly according to procedure, but Bright unfortunately didn't
think they'd recognize the threat inherent in a Rikti penetrating this deeply without being detected. And if they didn't….well, she'd have to find
some way of dealing with that.
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---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."