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DLV |
| CONTENT WARNING |
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| The following content contains depictions of torture and sexual assault and discussion of sexual abuse. Please proceed at your own discretion. |
| WARNING: PROFANITY FOLLOWS |
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| The following content contains profanity that may not be suitable for readers of all ages. Please proceed with caution. |
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| Season 1, Episode 10 | |
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| Air date | 3/16/21 |
| Written by | CaT |
| Episode Guide | |
| Previous Star X Lovers |
Next Time X Walker |
Hero X Proxy is the tenth episode of Tech Cross.
Episode[]
“Well, Eldridge, you’re incredibly lucky.” The doctor spoke as he flipped through the results. “The Pacemedius that attended you was certainly no medical professional, but the scarring around your soft tissues is surprisingly minimal. That said, I would still recommend avoiding any overly strenuous physical activity until we can verify the absence of any long-term complications.”
Christine nodded as he handed her a copy of the document for her to review. She was in the GP’s medical wing, being checked over after her encounter with Crow a few days ago ended with her head and upper torso being sliced in half.
“Kind of difficult in my position, but I’ll see what I can do.” Christine sighed. “Anything else?”
“Not on my end, but I’d imagine the higher-ups will have some words for you.” The doctor shook his head. “Honestly, I can’t understand what you were thinking. Pursuing a Class-A criminal alone? You realize that if that blade’s aim was off by just a few centimeters, or if you hadn’t been tended to almost immediately, you wouldn’t be alive to have this conversation right now?”
“Yeah, I get that.” Christine puffed. “But I don’t regret going after him. The only thing I regret is not being strong enough to stop him.”
“Christine, try to be a bit more considerate about your health.” The doctor sighed. “I’d rather not lose a patient.”
“And I’d rather not die, but protecting other people is more important than trying to save myself.” Christine grunted as she stood up and walked toward the exit of the office.
“I saw the results of your psych evaluation, Ms. Eldridge.” The doctor stated in a flat tone. “Are you sure this is strictly about ‘other people’?”
Christine paused in the door frame for a moment before taking a deep breath and moving on without giving an answer.
“I understand your situation, Christine, I really do.” The doctor pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “But keeping on as you are is not going to resolve it.”
After one hell of a dressing down by her superiors, Christine was released from duty for the day and told to wait for further instructions. Not quite sure what to do with herself at this point, she decided to visit Emilia after stopping by her own house first to change into some civilian clothes. Once she got to Emilia’s house, the two ended up cuddling on the couch as Christine explained the situation.
“...So yeah, I’m in a bit of hot water right now.” She sighed. “Just waiting for another call from them.”
“You’re my hot water, baby.” Emilia snuggled up closer to her.
“Emilia, that doesn’t even make sense!” Christine chuckled.
“But it makes me more endearing, and that’s what counts.” Emilia stuck out her tongue a little with a sly wink. “So when are you expecting a call back?”
“Well, they didn’t say, but-”
Christine’s phone suddenly went off, prompting her to check the caller ID.
“Right about now, apparently.” She gave Emilia a quick shrug before answering the phone. “Alright, Burns, what’s the verdict? Am I coming in tomorrow or what?”
“That’s a negative.” The commissioner replied.
“...What?”
“Christine, you aren’t fit for duty right now.” Burns said. “That’s what the higher-ups think, anyway.”
“And what do you think?” Christine scowled.
“...I’ve been the dispatch officer for your team since the GP was organized.” Burns sighed. “Engaging with a Class-A target without informing HQ and waiting for backup isn’t just against protocol, it’s stupid. Reckless and stupid. In my experience, Christine, you are stubborn, but you are not stupid.”
“What are you getting at here?” Christine asked impatiently.
“I’m telling you I agree with the higher-ups on this.” Burns stated. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it is not like you at all to do what you did last week. Take the week off, go through the psych eval again, you’ll be back in action in no time. For now, just...try to process whatever it is that’s on your mind. I’ll see you in a week.”
“Burns, wait-”
The call ended, leaving Christine sitting awkwardly with her phone pressed to the side of her head.
“Didn’t go too well?” Emilia asked.
“Nope.” Christine sighed, putting her phone away. “They’re putting me on a week-long probation.”
“A whole week?” Emilia whistled. “Man, when was the last time you had that long off of work?”
“You ask that like it’s a good thing.” Christine grunted.
“Well, maybe it is.” Emilia leaned up and kissed Christine on the cheek. “Maybe I like being able to spend more time with you, you ever consider that?”
“Alright, fair enough.” Christine cracked a small grin. “I guess I’m just weirded out by the idea of having so much time on my hands. What am I supposed to do all week?”
“Me.” Emilia wiggled her eyebrows.
“Well, that much was a given.” Christine joked. “Seriously, though, I don’t really have any hobbies.”
“I mean, you could just...” Emilia shrugged. “Do nothing.”
“...What?”
“Just like, sit back and relax, you know?” Emilia explained. “Honestly, all things considered, I think that might be the healthiest thing for you to do right now.”
“Eh, trying to relax doesn’t sit well with me.” Christine folded her arms. “Not actively working on something always makes me nervous.”
“Alright, then how about...” Emilia tapped on her chin as she thought. “...Taking a walk?”
“Taking a walk?” Christine questioned.
“Yep.” Emilia nodded. “It’s something to keep you busy, and it’s relaxing when you’re not running all over the world punching guys.”
“I guess I can use it to do some endurance training...” Christine nodded.
“No! Bad Christine!” Emilia tapped her on the nose. “Relaxing! No training!”
“Alright, alright, no training.” Christine relented after a deep breath. “Just relaxing.”
“Good!” Emilia smiled warmly. “Do you need me to come along and supervise you to make sure?”
“What, is that a challenge?” Christine grinned. “Alright then, I accept. I’ll prove I can relax on my own, you’ll see.”
“That’s the spirit!” Emilia said. “And when you get back, I could help you...let off some steam.”
“I mean, if you want to.” Christine laughed. “I’ll probably be all sweaty, though.”
“Fine by me~”
The two shared a quick kiss before Christine got up walked towards the door.
“I’ll try to be back in about an hour or so.” Christine said. “I’m gonna be the most relaxed person on the entire goddamn planet!”
“I don’t know if that’s really the attitude you should be going for, but you’ve definitely got the spirit!” Emilia chuckled, following her to the door.
She waved as Christine started down the street and waited until she was out of sight to close the door. Her face fell a bit. Despite trying to act generally carefree and positive about it, she really was concerned about Christine’s health.
Sometimes, when Christine stayed for the night, Emilia would wake up in the early hours of the morning and find her sitting up in bed, staring blankly into empty space. When asked about it, Christine would usually try to deflect the question and change the subject.
She knew something was bothering her, and it hurt a bit that Christine didn’t feel confident in sharing it with her. They were usually completely open with each other, so she knew...whatever Christine was going through was a big problem, and she was trying to shield her from the truth to avoid worrying her.
“Damn it, Christine...” Emilia sniffled as she wiped away a few tears that had started rolling down her face. “I’m supposed to worry about you.”
After taking a few moments to calm down, she walked into the kitchen and started up an electric kettle.
“...I’ll talk to her about it when she gets back.” She resolved, planting a fist on the counter as she waited for the water to boil. “Sitting around doing nothing won’t get us anywhere...or something like that, I guess.” She shook out her head as she tried to focus on not rambling to herself about how to phrase that sentence. “Either way, I-I get the idea.”
The kettle’s switch turned off, indicating it was ready. As she poured the boiling water into a mug with a tea bag she had gotten out earlier, she heard a knocking at the door. After taking a moment to put the kettle back on its stand, she walked over to the front door and opened it, revealing-
“Hi, um...it’s me again.” Anne greeted her sheepishly. “I could, uh...use some more advice.”
“Well, you don’t need to be so shy about it.” Emilia gave her a reassuring grin. “Come on in.”
Anne walked into the living room as Emilia closed the door again and stopped by the kitchen to retrieve her mug.
“You can have a seat if you want.” Emilia said before raising her mug in the air. “I just boiled some water. You want any tea?”
“Um...no thanks.” Anne declined the offer as she sat down on the couch. “Tea is kind of underwhelming for me.”
“Underwhelming?” Emilia looked confused as she took a seat across from Anne. “How so?”
“Well, I was raised LDS, and tea was always made out to be this super evil substance all members should avoid.” Anne explained. “I tried it for the first time not too long ago, and...it’s just leaf juice. It’s literally just leaf juice. Which really shouldn’t have surprised me considering how it’s made, but it still felt like kind of a letdown after all the hype.”
“Well, you probably tried green tea, which is supposed to be pretty good for you, but yeah, it just tastes like leaves.” Emilia chuckled. “But tea can be made with all kinds of things. Basically, if it’s a plant, you can boil it into tea. Though I wouldn’t recommend doing it with poisonous plants; those’ll ruin your day.”
“I’ll...keep that in mind...I guess?” Anne blinked.
“Oh, sorry, I got caught up in a different subject again, didn’t I?” Emilia rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Anyway, what is it you wanted advice on?”
“Well, the thing is...”
Anne wrung her hands together nervously.
“...I’m in love with Teresa.”
“Yeah.” Emilia nodded.
“What do you mean ‘yeah’?!” Anne exclaimed. “You act like you knew that already!”
“Remember what I said the first time we met?” Emilia tapped on the side of her head.
“Oh, who’s this?” Emilia asked. “Are you two friends?”
“It’s complicated.” Anne replied.
“Okay, I see...” Emilia nodded. “Relationships can be difficult.”
“I think you’re extrapolating more from that than you should.” Anne rolled her eyes.
“Seriously?” Anne looked bewildered. “How did you figure it out from that?!”
“It was just a gut feeling.” Emilia stirred her tea. “You being jealous of Nova’s romantic relationship with her reinforced it.”
“Unreal.” Anne sunk down in her seat. “But...what do I do now?”
“Seems pretty obvious, if you ask me.” Emilia shrugged. “Tell her how you feel.”
“You can’t be serious.” Anne protested. “After everything I did to her, I’m lucky she’s fine even talking to me, let alone being my friend. Even if she was okay with it, she deserves someone better than me, and I...I don’t deserve someone like her.”
“I think it would be more constructive if you asked her how she feels about it instead of making assumptions.” Emilia said.
“I know, but she’s just...so vulnerable right now.” Anne scratched her head in frustration. “I don’t know if she’d be able to turn me down, and if I ended up forcing her into something she doesn’t really want to begin with, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I just...I’m scared.”
Emilia paused to think for a moment.
“That’s...definitely a tough situation.” She rubbed her chin in thought. “I’ve never been in that position before, so it’s hard for me to say what you should do, but...I think if you hold off on telling her until she’s healed a bit, it’ll be fine.”
“I hope you’re right.” Anne sighed. “
(‘I hope I’m right too...’), Emilia thought, but she refrained from saying anything.
All of a sudden, there was a rumbling noise at the door.
Just as Emilia stood up to investigate, the front door was blown off its hinges, flying across the hallway before hitting the ground. Two masked men wearing black armor emblazoned with a silver three-pointed star on their breastplates marched into the house carrying bladed tonfas.
“Alright, I’m gonna make this simple: nobody moves and nobody gets hurt.” The taller of the pair gestured at Anne and Emilia with his tonfas. “Uh, except you.” He gestured at Anne specifically. “We gotta knock you out. That might hurt a bit.”
“Who are you people?!” Emilia demanded.
“We’re, uh...” The first guy to speak up turned to look at his partner. “Shit, are we allowed to say where we’re from or not? The guy up top keeps changing his mind.”
“No shit, the man’s batshit insane.” The other man sighed. “Just...just do what you want, you’ve got a 50/50 chance of being right either way.”
“Alright, uh...” The first man paused for a second. “We’re from the Triumvirate. We got contracted out to yoink a couple of kids for this one robot guy-”
“The proper term here would be ‘android’.” The other man interjected.
“I thought he used Apple?”
“You’re a fucking idiot, Dave.”
The first man scowled at his partner for a moment before turning back towards Anne and Emilia.
“Anyways, you’re one of those two kids, so uh...” He gestured at Anne again. “We gotta bag ya.”
“Wait, who was the other kid?” Emilia felt a chill run down her spine.
“I don’t know, some ‘Tech’ girl with an Omnitrix.” Dave waved his tonfas around to accentuate his speech. “She was easy. Just straight-up didn’t wanna fight us. Knocked her out and slapped a metal box on her wrist to contain the Omnitrix. Felt kinda bad about it, honestly.”
Anne suddenly snapped and lunged at the two Triumvirate agents, pulling out the Silver Break BootLock. Dave intercepted her, using his tonfas to wrench her arm to the side and forcing her to drop the lock.
“Alright, feel a little less bad about this one.”
Dave smashed her in the head with the blunt side of his tonfa, knocking her out cold.
“I’m not going to let you-” Emilia started to say before abruptly being assaulted by the second Triumvirate agent, who used his tonfas to slam her head into the wall. She dropped like a ragdoll, bleeding from a crack in her skull.
“Okay man, jeez, that was a bit harsh.” Dave chided as he flung Anne’s unconscious body over his shoulder.
“Stop whining.” The other masked man said. “Messias wants this kid quick, and if you want to show up at that psycho’s door one kid short, you’re free to do so, but I won’t be covering your funeral expenses.”
“Alright, alright I get the point.” Dave grumbled. “What about the scientist?”
“What about the scientist?” The other man replied. “Messias didn’t say anything about her, so she’s not our problem.”
The two kidnappers walked out through the now-empty doorway, taking Anne along with them. Despite her best efforts to stay awake, Emilia fell unconscious on the floor, her blood slowly seeping out onto the carpet.
A few minutes before all this, Claire found herself walking up the road towards Dr. Krauze’s house.
“Alright, Anne’s parents said she was going here, so we’re good on that front.” Claire tried to calm herself with a deep breath. “All I gotta do is find her, say what I want to say, and leave, simple as that.”
She didn’t feel particularly convinced of that.
All of a sudden, she caught sight of two masked men in armor breaking into a house down the road. Frightened but curious, she made her way near the house and hid behind some nearby bushes as she processed the situation.
“Okay, so, that house-” She muttered quietly to herself before abruptly pausing. “Wait, isn’t that the house Anne is supposed to be at?!”
She peeked out from behind the bushes as the masked men exited the house. Her stomach dropped as she noticed one of them carrying an unconscious Anne over his shoulder. The two approached a black van parked nearby and threw Anne into the back before apparently getting into an argument about who was going to drive.
“Crap, crap, crap!” Claire quietly hissed to herself as she pulled out her phone. “Anne’s gonna get really pissed at me for using this without her permission, but...”
She pulled up her phone’s app list and opened one as the two men seemed to resolve their argument and get in the van. As the vehicle started up and pulled away, a GPS map loaded on the app Claire had opened, showing her the exact location of Anne’s phone.
She stood up and watched as the van turned a corner down the road and vanished from sight, then checked the app to make sure it was still tracking.
“I better not regret this...” Claire grit her teeth before taking off down the street after the van.
Teresa woke up strapped to a chair.
Directly across from her a few feet away was Anne, who was slowly waking up herself.
The two were tied up in the middle of a modern-looking warehouse that was devoid of people but filled with crates upon crates, some of which looked suspiciously human-sized.
“Well, it certainly took you two long enough.” Someone huffed nearby. “I was beginning to think those idiots from the Triumvirate accidentally put you out for good.”
Teresa groggily turned her head to find Joshua Messias standing over them.
Fear immediately snapped her awake, with Anne having much the same reaction.
“You...” Anne growled. “What did you do to us while we were asleep?!”
“Nothing, actually.” Messias smugly scratched his chin, holding one arm behind his back. “I said I had plans for you two, remember? When I plan something, I stick to it down to the detail.”
“So what’s your plan, then?” Anne spat. “Violating a couple of high-schoolers?”
“No, actually, far from it.” Messias grinned. “One of you is going to offer themselves up to me of their own volition. That is going to be far more entertaining.”
“You know we wouldn’t do that of our own free will, so what’s your angle here?” Anne narrowed her eyes. “Blackmail?”
“No, something much more...satisfying.” Messias’s grin turned into a malicious sneer.
He lowered his hand from his chin and pulled his other arm out from behind his back.
“Now, I’m going to make this very simple.” Messias said, gesturing at both of them. “If one of you submits yourselves to me, the other person gets to leave unharmed; however, the decision on who stays and who goes must be unanimous. And just to make things more interesting...”
Messias pulled a keycard out of his pocket and inserted it into his arm, creating a burnt-red metallic module with some sort of nozzle at the end.
“Now, Challice, if I recall correctly, you’ve had some rather interesting experiences with fire, haven’t you?” Messias’s module whirred to life, creating the sound of various mechanisms starting up as a small but intense flame manifested at the tip of the nozzle. “Shameless as it may be, I’m more than willing to exploit that weak point of yours.”
“Y-you can do anything you want to me, just let Anne go, please!” Teresa felt a lump rising in her throat as she stared at the flame.
“I think you misunderstand me.” Messias tsked. “I know you’ll fold. You’re too spineless to look out for yourself. Annabelle, on the other hand...”
He turned around and walked over to Anne, placing a hand down her shirt. Anne winced as he groped at her chest, trying to maintain a stoic composure.
“What a beautiful body.” Messias let out a deep sigh. “I almost regret what’s about to happen to it.”
He pulled his hand away from her, instead placing the flame of the torch module just inches away from her face.
“Now, I’ll be fair and give you a chance here.” Messias said. “All you have to do is agree to give up Challice, and you’ll be able to leave unharmed.”
“Do you really think I’d do that?” Anne hissed.
“Well, considering your general personality, no.” Messias mused. “But, with some persuasion...”
The torch module’s flame suddenly grew brighter, followed by Messias planting the nozzle onto Anne’s left wrist. She screamed and bucked against her restraints as her flesh began to melt and burn. Teresa, frozen in horror, could do nothing but watch.
“...I think we might be able to make some progress on that.” Messias hmmed.
Emilia woke up with a throbbing headache. Under ordinary circumstances, she’d probably make her way to a hospital and get treated for a concussion.
But these were not ordinary circumstances.
She groggily pushed herself to her feet and made her way towards the stairs, descending slowly into the basement to avoid tripping and potentially causing even more head trauma. Once at the bottom of the staircase, she carefully walked into her lab, leaning on the wall for support. She started digging through wayward papers until finally, in a pile near her desk, she found what she was looking for buried underneath the mound.
“The DataLock...” She groaned, picking up a blue and silver lock with a teal ‘X’ on the front. “This was a really bad time to go missing on me...”
She stumbled over to her desk and threw a few papers off the side to reveal an unusual DNA Key with one end resembling a drill.
“This should fix me up, but first...” She turned her head to look at a phone sitting on her desk. “I think it’s time for me to cash in on something.”
As Messias’s torching of Anne’s arm continued, Teresa was struggling to keep herself in the present moment, desperately trying to focus as flashbacks to Crow doing the same thing to her kept forcing their way into her mind.
“You know what, I’m in a really good mood right now, so I’ll give you one chance to bypass requiring unanimous consent.” Messias flashed a self-satisfied look over at Teresa. “Just say the word, Challice.”
Hearing her name come out of Messias’s mouth snapped Teresa back to reality as she took a moment to process what she had just heard.
“I-I- Yes!” Teresa choked out. “Yes, just stop hurting her! I’ll let you-”
“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!” Anne shouted at her through the pain. “DON’T YOU DARE GIVE HIM WHAT HE WANTS! I WON’T ALLOW IT!”
“Is that so?” Messias raised an eyebrow.
The flame from the module grew more intense, making Anne’s screams even worse. Eventually, Messias had burnt a hole right to the bone, making the flame painless as all of the nerves in the area had burned away. If he had been paying attention to his surroundings, he might have heard a stifled gasp and some shuffling nearby, but as it stood, he was far too engrossed in this.
“I’ll let you two debate for a moment while I choose which spot to do next.” Messias smirked, turning off the torch.
“Please, Anne, just let me do this!” Teresa pleaded. “I-I can’t watch him do this to you!”
“Then you’re gonna have to close your eyes.” Anne panted. “I’m used to Messias torturing me, one way or another. I’m not gonna let him do it to you.”
“That stubbornness of your never ceases to make things more difficult for you, does it?” Messias tsked. “Just how much of your body am I going to have to burn before you relent?”
“The entire goddamn thing.” Anne spat.
“Well, then...” Messias held the torch up to one of her eyes and restarted it, making her scream in agony once more as her eye was slowly burned away. “That can be arranged.”
Teresa’s desperate pleas for him to stop were ignored and as he slowly torched away various spots of Anne’s body. Once in a while, he would stop short of burning away her nerves, keeping her in more pain from previous burns as he jumped from spot to spot.
At some point, Anne began to dissociate. It was an all-too-familiar sensation for her, her mind detaching from reality as she suffered through an experience too traumatic for it to handle. Messias, mistaking her detachment for resistance, became more and more annoyed as she gave his demands no response.
“Alright, brat, you want to test me?” Messias hissed. “I’ll gladly show you what I’m capable of.”
Messias reached out with his free hand and began pulling on Anne’s shirt, intending to tear it off.
“Just remember:” He growled as the shirt’s collar began to rip. “You could have avoided this.”
Just then, Messias’s phone began to ring.
“Oh, for the love of-”
Messias let go of her shirt and pressed a button on the side of his head, linking him directly to the call. He stood up straight and kicked Teresa and Anne in their guts to wind them, leaving them unable to talk.
“I told you not to call me for the next few hours! What do you think you’re-” Messias paused as the voice on the other end of the line explained the situation. “You set up a meeting without consulting me first?!” Another pause from him. “What? The biochemist? Why on Earth-” Another pause. “Fine! Fine! Give me twenty minutes or so to get to my office. Half an hour if traffic is bad. I’ll be there ASAP.”
He pressed the button on the side of his head again to end the call and rolled his neck with a frustrated sigh.
“Well, lucky you, it looks like I’m needed elsewhere at the moment.” Messias grunted. “I would just use another body to go handle it, but considering how you two keep destroying them, I’ve been trying to cut down on the deployments recently. Try and use this time to reflect on your decisions, hm?”
With that, Messias left, leaving Anne and Teresa to recover their breath alone.
“That upstart immigrant quack!” Messias snarled under his breath as he stormed into his office building. “Just who does she think she is?!”
A rhetorical question born more out of anger than curiosity. Dr. Krauze was renowned in her field for her revolutionary work on genetics, and this situation was really his fault in the first place; in his avid campaigning against her transformation locks, he had invited her to challenge him to a debate over it at any time. It was meant as an intimidation tactic, but it had clearly not worked out as intended.
As he boarded the elevator up to his office, he did his best to calm himself down; entering the situation angry would make him look defensive and thus unprepared to have been called on his bluff. He reminded himself that this would be an opportunity to verbally dismember someone he significantly hated straight to her face, and the thought actually did make him smile a bit.
The elevator came to a stop, allowing him to exit onto the highest level of the building. The entire floor was solely dedicated to his use, featuring luxurious (some might say to the point of gaudiness) restrooms, snack bars, and decorations, complete with an incredible view of the city down below.
Making his way to his office, he noticed Emilia already inside, silently tapping her fingers along her arm as she waited. She had an unusually grim expression, something unusual enough for Messias to instantly decide that some caution here may be necessary.
“Well, Dr. Krauze, this is an...unexpected visit.” Messias cleared his throat as he entered the room, closing the door behind him.
“Shouldn’t be.” Emilia said. “Word on the street is that you bought a custom BootLock.”
Messias paused. So that’s what this was about. She had used the debate as an excuse to show up at his office and question him. Thing was, how could she possibly have that information in the first place? It couldn’t be-
“That rumor would be...inaccurate.” He replied. “Where did you hear tell of this notion, exactly?”
“BootLock distributors get real talky when they’re making a plea deal in court.” Emilia tsked. “I’m not angry, but as one scientist to another, I have to ask why you ended up using my technology after publicly denouncing its use.”
“Again, there is no truth to the assertion.” Messias turned away from her in order to stop her from reading his expression. “As you said, I have publicly denounced transformation locks. What sense would it make for me to use one?”
“Don’t wanna admit it, huh?” Emilia sighed, pulling something out of her pocket. “Fair enough, I guess; I’m lying to you too. There was no plea deal.”
Before Messias could question her as to what that meant, a flash of blue light suddenly went off behind him. He turned around as fast as he could, only to have a large drill planted into his chest.
“I already know exactly what you did.”
DataMiner’s drill began to turn, transforming Messias’s robotic body into a stream of data that was absorbed into her arm. Binary numbers flashed on her chest screen as she began sorting through the data Messias’s body had provided.
“So that’s where he has them.” She muttered to herself. “I just hope they’re alri-”
Her voice fell off mid-sentence as she processed the relevant portion of data. If DataMiner had a stomach, it would be forcibly ejecting its contents.
“...Oh, God.”
Anne was in bad shape. On top of having lost an eye, most of her exposed skin was charred and pockmarked with holes burned into her flesh. As Teresa fully took in what had happened to her, her emotions flickered between abject horror and a primitive unbridled rage, both of which combined to result in a flood of tears.
“Why?” Teresa sobbed. “Why keep letting him hurt you?!”
“...I think...if I gave you the answer to that right now...it would just make this harder for both of us.” Anne had to strain herself to speak. “Besides...if you were in my position...you know damn well you’d be doing the same thing.”
“But I don’t-”
“If you’re about to say that you don’t matter...don’t even bother finishing the sentence.” Anne interrupted her. “Maybe...maybe you don’t matter to yourself, but...you matter a hell of a lot to me.”
Before Teresa could respond, she heard something shuffling across the floor behind her. She strained her hearing to listen to it, but that turned out to be unnecessary as something brushed against her shoulder, causing her to yelp.
“Shut up, you idiot!” A familiar voice quietly hissed at her from behind. “I’m trying not to get caught!”
A pair of hand reached around her neck and undid the straps keeping it secured against the chair, allowing Teresa to move her head around. Stepping out from behind the chair and entering her field of vision was Claire, who was shaking out her hands with an annoyed expression.
“Geez, those things are hard to undo.” She grumbled.
“Claire?!” Teresa questioned in surprise as Claire stepped forward and began undoing the rest of her restraints. “You’re...helping me?”
“Against my better judgment, yes.” Claire huffed. “Of course, my ‘better judgment’ told me Messias wasn’t actually evil for ten years, so heck if I know what I’m doing anymore.”
“How did you...even get here?” Anne asked.
“I wanted to talk to you about something, and your parents said you were over at some biochemist’s house for some reason,” Claire grunted as she finished undoing the straps restraining Teresa. “But when I got there, I saw you getting abducted by some creeps, so I used that phone tracker app to follow them. Took a while to get inside without being seen, but I managed.”
“Wait, why do you have an app for tracking Anne’s phone?” Teresa asked as she stood up and started rubbing the soreness out of her wrists.
“It was something we decided to do after Messias left the ward.” Claire explained as she undid Anne’s restraints. “Have something to keep an eye on each other in case...you know.”
Teresa nodded.
“Alright, now transform into that dragon thing you have so you can heal Anne.” Claire said as she finished undoing the straps on her. “Try to make it quiet when you sing.”
“I could have the CROSS heal her without Daitenryu’s singing, but they put this thing over the CrossTrix to stop me from using it.” Teresa tapped on the locked box on her wrist. “We need to break it open somehow.”
“It’s always something, isn’t it?” Claire grumbled, helping Anne out of her chair. “I saw some crowbars near those crates on my way in, grab one of those.”
“Which crates?” Teresa gestured around them to point out the fact that they were practically surrounded by crates.
“The- the ones nearest the door.” Claire huffed. “Side note, how the heck is now of all times when you decide to drop your stupid nervous stammer?”
“I only lose it when I’m secure or when I’m genuinely angry.” Teresa replied bluntly. “Guess which one it is right now.”
“...Right.” Claire blinked, caught mildly off-guard by this response.
“If you think you’re angry, you can only imagine how I’m feeling right now.” A voice sounded from one of the crates near the entrance.
The crate exploded to reveal a new one of Messias’s bodies stepping out with his right eye twitching. Claire gasped and started backing away with Anne, while Teresa simply turned to look at him, eyes narrowed.
“Oh, don’t give me that look.” Messias spat at her, loading a new card into his hand to create another torch module. “Your corpse is going to need a much more pleasant expression to look at.”
Teresa slowly started backing away with Anne and Claire, keeping herself directly between them and Messias.
“Claire, Claire, Claire, I had such high hopes for you.” Messias tsked as he stepped forward, shaking his head. “Now look where you’ve ended up.”
“Y-you...how could you do this to Anne?!” Claire yelled. “You’re a monster!”
“And yet here I stand, unsoiled in the eyes of God.” Messias retorted. “You, on the other hand, aiding sinners...”
“Are you insane?!” Claire snapped at him. “How do you expect God to forgive you for this?!”
“Do you not remember our own doctrine? God will forgive anyone of anything save for denying the spirit.” Messias said. “Not that he’d hold it against me in the first place; I’ve already received the second anointing.”
“The what?”
“...Actually, forget you heard that last part, would you?” Messias cleared his throat. “It’s not meant to be discussed.”
“The second anointing is a temple ordinance.” Anne wheezed out. “It seals you to the highest degree of heaven...no matter what you do after receiving it. The only exception is shedding...‘innocent blood’...and I get the feeling...he doesn’t see any of us...as innocent.”
“How do you know about that?!” Messias demanded furiously. “It is not supposed to be public knowledge!”
“The internet era’s pretty...pretty wild, ain’t it?” Anne gave him the best smirk she could manage under the circumstances.
“Don’t you dare make light of this!” Messias yelled furiously, the machinery in his torch module audibly whirring as he prepared a massive incendiary blast. “God will not be mocked!”
All of a sudden, Messias was grabbed from behind as someone wrapped their arm around his neck and threw him to the ground. The new arrival quickly jammed a crowbar into the mechanics of the torch module, causing them to grind to a halt.
“Officer Eldridge?!” Teresa exclaimed.
“Actually, I’m off-duty right now, so just go ahead and call me ‘Christine’.” Christine replied, keeping her eyes firmly on Messias. “Krauze called me from across town and filled me in on what’s going on. The police are on their way.”
“To do what, arrest you for trespassing?” Messias snorted, using his free hand to grab her ankle and toss her out of the way. “They aren’t going to help you.”
“The hell are you talking about?” Christine growled, landing on her feet a few meters away. “This whole thing seems pretty open-and-shut.”
“He’s right!” Teresa interjected. “When he attacked me in the street after the temporal anomaly appeared, nobody saw what was going on!”
“What?!” Christine glanced between Teresa and Messias. “What kind of ability is that?!”
“A very useful one.” Messias chuckled as he pulled himself off the ground. “While I am innocent in the eyes of God, the eyes of man are not quite so discerning, so I’ve made sure to take some...precautions.”
“You three, get out of here!” Christine ordered, finally turning her head to look at Teresa, Anne, and Claire. “I’ll hold him o-”
She froze as she caught sight of Anne’s body, covered in patches of charred skin and exposed bone.
“I don’t need the suit to fight. I’m an officer of the law.”
“Oh, an ‘officer of the law’?” Crow snapped. “You only found me because my employer, the one behind all this in the first place, handed you my location on a silver platter, which it only did after having me torture that kid. Maybe if you weren’t such a shitty ‘officer of the law’, you could’ve found her earlier and stopped all this from happening in the first place!”
“What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?” Messias laughed.
“Christine?” Teresa asked nervously.
Enlock’s fists tightened.
“Are you listening to me, you piece of shit cop?!” Crow demanded. “Don’t go trying to throw your job title around like it means anything when you’re such a failure that everyone involved in this is completely fucked!”
“I think seeing Annabelle’s condition caught her a bit off-guard.” Messias smirked. “And she came in with such bravado, too.”
“I’d never be able to get those screams out of my head if I tried.” Crow pressed, tapping on his skull for emphasis. “I almost felt bad, like I was butchering a wounded animal. Until I ripped out her vocal cords, anyway.”
“A tragedy, really.” Messias shifted his free arm into an energy cannon and aimed it the back of Christine’s head. “I suppose if she had seen it all go down, she may have been less shocked by it, but as it stands...”
“Of course, I healed them back up now and again to compare how much screaming I got out of one method versus another.” Crow started to go all-in on this angle. “For the record, the one that got the most bang for its buck was using Blitzkrieg’s regenerative powers to burn her alive for an hour and make sure she felt every single second of it; only problem was that it made me tired, so I eventually put it out with some acid and took a break as the liquid melted down her flesh. I figured I’d just go ahead and fill you in since, as we’ve established,-”
“She wasn’t there.”
Messias fired. All of a sudden, Christine sprang back into motion, dodging the shot with a roll and pulling out the SpecOps Lock, allowing her to transform as she got to her feet.
“Well, this is unexpected.” Messias hmmed. “But not really an issue.”
He pulled another keycard out of his pocket and scanned it, causing the torch module to vanish and allowing him to replace the card currently inside his hand. He raised his left arm into the air, allowing the tank module to generate around it.
“Christine, if he hits you with a shot from that, he’ll deactivate your transformation!” Teresa yelled. “Be careful!”
Wordlessly, Enlock formed an energy lock in her hand. Expecting her to throw it at him, Messias raised the tank module in a defensive position, but was caught off-guard when she instead raised her arms and slammed it into her own chest.
“Odd strategy.” Messias retracted the tank module’s claws as he aimed its beam emitter at her. “A bit useless, isn’t it?”
Messias fired. The beam hit Enlock dead-on.
Nothing happened.
“What on Earth?” Messias looked at the tank module, confused. “I’m sure the beam made contact.”
He fired at her several more times, each beam hitting her and each one being ineffective.
“Is this module broken?” Messias struck it several times in puzzled frustration.
“Transformation locks have moving parts.” Enlock finally spoke, her voice laced with a venomous edge. “Seal them in place...and even the reversion mechanism stops working.”
“Clever.” Messias growled. “But even with your transformation, your chances of overcoming my technology are extremely limited.”
Messias ran up to and delivered a heavy blow to her stomach with the tank module. A horrific grinding sound of metal against metal resonated through the warehouse as the attack landed, severely bruising the organic tissue underneath. Nevertheless, Enlock remained still, not even dignifying the hit with a response.
“I felt flesh giving way underneath your armor with that strike.” Messias took a step back and carefully observed her. “What’s your plan here, exactly?”
No answer.
“As much as I’d like to assume I’ve simply talked you into giving up, I doubt that’s the case.” Messias noted. “If you’re trying to intimidate me, I’m afraid it’s not going to work.” He used the tank module to gesture at the three girls, re-extending the claws. “Did you forget that I have more bargaining power here? One small pinch with these claws, and their skulls would-”
Enlock abruptly sprang to life, grabbing Messias’s head and crushing it like a tin can.
“Do that?” Enlock muttered.
Messias’s freshly-beheaded body slumped to the ground.
Enlock walked up to Teresa and took hold of the metallic box trapping the CrossTrix, opening its lock in a matter of seconds. The box fell to the ground with a high-pitched bang, hurting her ears a bit but more importantly freeing CROSS.
“Teresa, are you okay?!” CROSS demanded worriedly. “That box blocked out most of the sound, but I could hear screaming.”
“I’m okay, but...I wasn’t the one screaming.”
Teresa pointed the CrossTrix over to Anne, who had fallen unconscious at this point.
“She...she did it to save me.” Teresa choked up. “Please, help her.”
“Understood.”
The CrossTrix detached from Teresa’s arm and hovered over to Anne’s wrist, strapping itself on top of the burned flesh. Teresa leaned over and activated the CrossTrix, transforming Anne into Daitenryu and back to heal her injuries.
“Hang on a second, did what?” Enlock asked, reverting back into Christine. “I thought the burn marks were from the android.”
“His name is Joshua Messias.” Teresa said as CROSS hovered back to her wrist. “That body was an android, but it- it’s not the only one. His real body is still out there somewhere.”
“I’d like to know the full story, but only if you think you can handle recounting it.” Christine replied concernedly.
“...I...” Anne grunted as she slowly woke up, trying to blink the fatigue out of her eyes. “I can tell you.”
“Anne, are you sure?” Teresa looked down at her worriedly. “You’re still-”
“I’m fine.” Anne pulled herself up to a sitting position. “...I mean, not really- not in the slightest, if I’m being honest- but I can still explain the situation.”
“Are you sure?” Christine asked.
“I can usually handle things better once I get them off my chest.” Anne took a deep breath and nodded. “That said, I still want to make it brief, if that’s alright.”
Christine nodded and waited for her to continue.
“Claire and I were both born into the LDS church.” Anne began. “That man, Joshua Messias? He was our bishop up until a few years ago. Starting as soon as I turned eight, he would get me alone after church every Sunday and...”
She involuntarily winced.
“...He raped me.” Anne forced out, deciding that the current situation was too severe for her to beat around the bush about it. “Every week. Until he moved out. Nine years.”
Christine’s stomach dropped, but she did her best to keep a steady face.
“Earlier this summer, he started using his robotic bodies to hunt me down, and when Teresa stepped in to defend me, hunt her down too. Today, he...he caught us, and he dragged us here. He tried to torture me into telling him to rape Teresa. He used fire because he knew what happened to Teresa, and he...he made her watch.”
Anne stopped talking, trying her best to swallow the bile rising in her throat.
“Th-that’s what happened here?!” Claire exclaimed. “I saw him torturing you, but I...I didn’t know...”
As Claire trailed off into a horrified silence and Teresa pulled Anne into a tight embrace, choking back tears, Christine felt her body go numb for a moment as a high-pitched ringing noise shot through her ears. This went beyond her silent fury with Crow. This was...this was something new. Anger and disgust boiling over and mixing together to create an emotion so vicious that she would be scared of it herself if she had any room left to process fear.
It was at that moment that Messias stood up.
Teresa, Anne, and Claire all stared at Messias’s headless body with their eyes wide and bodies frozen. Christine hadn’t moved at all either, but her current expression was unreadable.
“No, no, by all means, keep prattling on about how much of a ‘victim’ you are.” Messias’s voice crackled sarcastically through a speaker in the android’s chest. “Don’t stop talking on my account.”
“H-how are you-” Claire started.
“When you’re making a robotic body, there’s no point in placing all of your most vital components in the head.” Messias tapped the stump on his neck. “To the contrary, anything placed in such an obvious weak-spot should be made entirely expendable if necessary.”
Christine slowly stood up.
“You’re very lucky you’re a machine right now.” She muttered under her breath.
“Excuse me?”
“Because if you were here in person...”
Christine suddenly whirled around and grabbed Messias’s headless neck, instinctively trying to crush a windpipe that wasn’t there.
“I WOULD RIP OUT YOUR FUCKING THROAT, YOU SON OF A BITCH!”
“Excuse me if I don’t feel particularly threatened.” Messias knocked her back with a quick shove. “I just can’t take a woman of all people trying to threaten an ordained priesthood holder seriously. We’re just on two different levels.”
“Someday, that line of thinking is going to get you killed.” Christine snarled. “And by God, I hope I’m there when it happens.”
“Unlikely; you’re certainly a difficult lot, but at the end of the day, your powers are still far too limited.” Messias waved her off. “A human doesn’t stand any chance against my machines, and Krauze’s transformation lock system is nothing more than a cheap, gimmick-riddled knock-off of an alien technology far too complex for her to comprehend, put to better use by criminals than legitimate parties.”
“You would know all about criminals, wouldn’t you?” Anne hissed.
“Ah, what a devastating retort, I am truly stung.” Messias placed a hand over his heart sarcastically. “My point more than stands. You can use your toys to play hero all you want, but in the end, that’s all they are; toys.
Messias gestured at all four of them.
“And you are not heroes.”
“Who gives a shit about what you think a ‘hero’ is?” Christine snapped back at him. “You’re disgusting!”
“I am a man of God!” Messias yelled. “How hard is it for people to simply do what I ask of them?!”
“People aren’t just objects for you to use any way you want!” Christine growled angrily. “What part of that don’t you understand?!”
“Oh, I understand the concept.” Messias shifted his right arm into an energy cannon. “I just don’t agree with it.”
Christine clenched her fists and grabbed the SpecOps lock, ready to transform, but she paused just before inserting the key.
“You know what? No.” She muttered to herself. “Fuck this.”
Without warning, Christine threw the lock back into her pocket and lunged at Messias, catching him off-guard and tackling his robotic body to the ground. He tried to grab her using the tank module, but she rolled out of the way, resulting in him accidentally striking and damaging his right shoulder.
Seeing an opportunity, Christine grabbed and pulled at his right arm as hard as she could, tearing it off right as the tank module went in for another attack. She held up the energy cannon barrel-first as it approached and speared it into the module’s beam generator, destroying it for good. Unfortunately, this tactic left her open, and the claws of the module managed to grab her left arm for a second as she pulled away, snapping the bones of her forearm in two.
She jumped back a few feet, wincing as she cradled her injury. Messias climbed to his feet, shaking his right arm out of the tank module and moving the claws of it in and out to check that they were still functional.
“What is the point of this?” Messias demanded. “You’re just making things more painful for yourself!”
“This pain is nothing compared to what these girls had to go through today.” Christine spat through gritted teeth. “Nothing.”
“Then let’s try correcting that, shall we?”
Messias swung at her with the tank module again. She tried to dodge but ended up getting clipped on the torso by one of its claws, breaking several ribs and sending her body skidding across the cement floor. As she was lying on the ground groaning in pain, she noticed Teresa running towards her to help, CrossTrix at the ready.
“Stay out of this!” Christine yelled, gritting her teeth as she painstakingly pushed herself to her feet. “Get Anne and Claire out of here!”
“But he’s going to kill you!” Teresa protested.
“Like hell he will!” Christine snapped. “Now go!”
“Ah, self-sacrifice, such a noble gesture.” Messias sighed. “But not one you’re pulling off while I’m here.”
Messias remotely activated a series of security doors that came down in front of the entrance, blocking their way out.
“I’m sure one of your alien transformations could get through those doors without much issue, but as it stands...” He clamped the tank module’s claws together a couple of times for emphasis. “That isn’t happening.”
Christine narrowed her eyes and ran at Messias again, this time transitioning into a slide that ducked underneath the claw arm and allowed her to grab a shard of metal that had fallen off of his dismembered arm.
Messias tried to raise the tank module for another strike, but Christine struck first, jumping to her feet and vaulting off of the tank module as it swung by. At the peak of her arc, she threw the metal shard as hard as she could into the hole where the robotic body’s head had been.
She aimed for the shard as she fell, landing on it with a kick that drove it further into Messias’s systems. The force of the strike drove part of the shard up through her shoe and piercing out the other side of her foot, drawing out a pained wince, but more importantly, the rest of the shard shredded apart the internal workings of the android, making it shut down once and for all.
The lifeless machine fell to the floor, taking Christine with it and forcing her to quickly clamp her hands around the back of her head to avoid a concussion as she hit the ground. She pulled her foot off of the metal shard, leaving a trail of blood behind, and transformed into Enlock and back to fix her wounds.
“Are you alright?!” Teresa ran over to her with a worried expression.
“Well, thanks to this lock.” Christine glanced at the SpecOps lock for a moment before pocketing it. “I guess I owe Emilia an apology for being so skeptical about it.”
“Then let’s get out of here so you can give her that apology.” The CrossTrix beeped as Anne and Claire walked over to them. “The sooner we leave, the better it’ll be for everyone. Bombadier should be able to blast through those security doors no problem.”
“Well, then, it sounds like my assumptions there were correct.” A voice sounded from one of the crates surrounding them. “But it’s still not going to happen.”
The human-sized shipping crates all burst open at once in perfect unison. Out of them stepped dozens of Messias’s androids, each grinning maniacally from ear to ear.
“There’s a reason I brought you to this warehouse specifically, you know.” One of the Messiases stepped forward to speak. “You’ve been able to destroy several of my bodies in the past, so I decided to take some...extra precautions this go around.”
“No kill like overkill, but this is just ridiculous.” The CrossTrix displayed a flashing crossed-out circle animation as Messias’s bodies surrounded them. “Even with all these units, this isn’t going to end how you think it will.”
“Oh please, all I have to do is kill these interlopers and we can get right back to the fun!” Messias laughed him off. “Tell me, Annabelle, how much of your body do you think I can burn at once with all these torch modules?”
Anne tried to keep up a brave face, but she was visibly shaking.
This did not go unnoticed by Teresa.
“Don’t worry, once you relent, I won’t be taking Challice away from you any time soon.” Messias gave her an eerie grin. “I’ll make sure you’re there to watch.”
Anne froze. He wouldn’t- no, no, he would. He absolutely would. That’s the kind of person he was.
She fell to her knees, her face whiter than a sheet, and tried not to hyperventilate as she fought down the bile rising in her throat. She didn’t see any way out of this situation, and the thought of what was to come terrified her to her core; not just the fear of pain, but the lingering dread that she might actually break and give Messias what he wanted, and if that happened...if that happened...
Her thoughts were interrupted by a hand on her shoulder.
She turned her head to see Teresa offering her her free hand.
Hesitantly, Anne took it.
“Teresa, I’m sorry.” She managed to choke out. “I-I shouldn’t be letting him get to me, but I- I-”
“Anne, it’s okay.” Teresa pulled her into a comforting embrace. “It’s going to be okay. He’s not going to lay a finger on you.”
“How- how do you know that for sure?” Anne asked worriedly.
“Simple.” Teresa let go of her and gave her the best smile she could muster before turning away to face the machines surrounding them. “I’m going to kill him.”
“What?
Teresa ignored the question and silently flipped the numbers on the CrossTrix’s gauntlet to read ‘001’. A small compartment slid open on the CrossTrix’s chassis, revealing the Psioknight CrossKey Dr. Krauze had given her on her birthday.
“Teresa, you haven’t tried out hybridization while in the field yet.” The CrossTrix beeped concernedly. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“As long as it’s lethal.”
CROSS went quiet. This grim, laser-focused fury was something he rarely saw drawn out of her, and truth be told, it was unnerving to watch.
Teresa selected Dupligato with the CrossTrix dial and slammed the CrossKey into the keyhole at its center. As she turned the key, a unique transformation field went up around her, with two double-helices merging to fill a gap in the middle of the rotating field.
She pushed the CrossKey down, the dial receding along with it, and in a flash of blue light, she transformed into a unique fusion of Dupligato and a Psioknight.
The horns on her head began glowing with an ominous, blindingly white energy. An explosion of psychic power sent the cybernetic bodies of Messias flying, but left her companions untouched.
“That’s the same level of power as a regular Psioknight!” Christine shielded her eyes from the glow. “I thought hybrids couldn’t do that!”
“That’s the true power of the CrossTrix.” CROSS explained. “It crosses together DNA samples in such a way that both species have their abilities preserved at full strength.”
“And here I though it was just named after you.”
“It’s kind of both, really.”
“Wait, you mean you could have been using the power of two aliens at once this whole time?!” Claire shrieked. “Why hasn’t that been your immediate go-to?!”
“Because I don’t like having that much power in one form.” DupliKnight spoke quietly, but with a sharp edge to her voice. “Someday, if I ever do break, and Oberon OS does manage to take over my body...it’ll make it harder to kill me.”
“And that’s the kind of thinking that makes you so pathetic.” Several of the Messias bodies accused her in unison. “With this kind of power, you could have easily fought off your kidnappers and saved Annabelle without having to go through any of this. As a matter of fact, there was a similar situation the first time we met, wasn’t there?”
A chorus of mocking laughter erupted from the entire group of androids.
“That’s twice now you’ve allowed me to torture Annabelle because you were too cowardly to step up to the plate.” Another few bodies sneered. “Unless you were doing it intentionally, of course, in which case I have to admit I’m impressed.”
“No!” DupliKnight’s right eye began to twitch. “That’s not what I-”
“No, no, of course it’s not, you’re too soft to commit to such a thing.” Several Messiases sighed. “Honestly, what a waste of a human being.”
“Don’t listen to him!” Anne interjected. “He’s just trying to get into your head!”
“But he’s right, isn’t he?” DupliKnight muttered. “I keep letting everyone down.”
Lucius pushed Skyjack out of the way and picked up the EvoKey before turning around and walking back to his limousine.
"A word of advice," Lucius said to Skyjack before getting in. "You seem a bit naive for this whole business. If someone like you keeps heading down this path, you won't be getting to the other side without any scars."
"Defensive?" Teresa questioned.
"Excessively." Electrolite nodded. "Hell, when I broke up that fight you were in, it looked like you were about to get decked and all you did was prepare to get hit. You've got an Omnitrix for God's sake, there's no way you couldn't have whooped that other person's ass."
"I just told you I don't want to hurt anyone!" Teresa protested. "What else was I supposed to do?!"
"Man, you're really not getting this." Electrolite grumbled. "If someone is trying to hurt you, or anyone else for that matter, then you can hurt them. As soon as someone starts attacking, they lose their right to not be attacked. If you can't work up the resolve to fight someone when you need to, then why the fuck are you wearing that Omnitrix in the first place?"
“Don’t you ever say anything like that again!” Anne yelled with an infuriated snarl. “You have no idea! No idea what kind of harm Messias’s actions do to people! You have no right to even imply something like that! None!”
Claire was stunned into silence. She had never seen Anne get this angry before, especially not at her. Teresa walked up to Anne, a bit shaken herself, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“A-Anne, it’s okay.” She tried to calm her down. “It’s-”
“Damn it, Teresa, it’s not ‘okay’!” Anne shoved her hand off and turned around to look at her with a weary expression. “None of this is ‘okay’! It’s not just taking a dig at you, it’s downplaying what happened to me! Even if it was just taking a dig at you, it still wouldn’t be okay! I know you don’t like fighting, and I know you don’t like to get mad, but you can’t always just sit there and take the abuse! Sometimes being angry is the right response!”
“I haven’t really learned anything, have I?” DupliKnight mumbled. “I thought keeping my distance from everything would keep you safe, but all it ended up doing was making things worse.”
“Teresa-” Anne started to say something.
“And there’s the moral of the story, everyone!” Several Messiases laughed. “It turns out sitting back and watching everything go to hell...lets everything go to hell! Who knew?!”
“You have no goddamn right to talk.” Christine hissed.
“Oh, but don’t I?” A few Messiases scoffed at her. “I’m the one that’s actively been seeking these two out in order to correct their attitudes. I saw a problem, and I decided to fix it. Something Challice here is clearly incapable of.”
“It’s not that I’m incapable.” DupliKnight muttered. “It’s that I’m scared. I’m scared of what I might do, and I’m scared of how other people might see me once the dust has settled. I really am a coward, and you’re right about one other thing:”
DupliKnight tilted her face towards the ceiling and closed her eyes.
“...It really is a pathetic way to live.”
Her horns glowed once more as the majority of the androids surrounding them exploded into a shower of various mechanical bits and pieces. Her psychic abilities prevented the shards from hitting her group, keeping them safe as dismembered chunks of metal rained down around them.
One Messias remained, and before anyone else there could process what she was doing, DupliKnight was suddenly across the room, holding the android’s disembodied head as its now-mangled body fell to the floor. Claire gaped at her as Christine and Anne exchanged a concerned glance.
“Well, this is...inconvenient.” Messias’s head grumbled. “But nothing more than that.”
“What do you mean?” DupliKnight narrowed her eyes, reverting back to Teresa.
“You can destroy my drones as many times as you’d like; you’ll never be rid of me.” Messias taunted. “You can’t hurt me. You can’t kill me. You can’t even touch me. You have to fight me off every single time I come after you, but me? I only need to break you once.”
Teresa’s glare intensified.
“That’s not going to happen.” She snarled. “Not for someone like you.”
“Brave talk for someone that offered herself up the second I implied something bad might happen to Annabelle.” Messias cackled. “You can’t even muster up enough courage to save yourself.”
“You wouldn’t understand it, would you?” Teresa muttered. “A bastard like you that only lives for himself wouldn’t understand it at all.”
“Don’t you dare patronize me, child!” Messias’s mood suddenly changed as he scowled up at her. “I understand perfectly well everything I need to know about you. Or did you forget why I developed the torch module already?”
“You used fire to torture Anne because you had a vague idea of what Crow did to me.” Teresa replied in an uncharacteristically threatening tone. “But I know exactly what he did. No matter how hard I try, I can’t forget. Every time I close my eyes, even for a second, it feels like I’m reliving it all over again. Every tool, every torture, every detail of what happened to me that day is burned into the back of my eyelids, so when I find you- and I will find you- you had better pray that I. Don’t. Blink.”
“You-”
Messias was interrupted as Teresa threw the head into the air and transformed into Bombadier, spraying it down with explosive liquid. The head violently detonated in midair, with Bombadier’s exoskeleton absorbing most of the shock wave.
“Go to hell.”
Having gone to his office after Emilia left, the real Messias slammed his fist down on his desk, seething with rage. The truth was, in spite of his gloating about his drones, the ones Teresa had destroyed were his last backups. The time and money it would take to restock them would keep him out of the field for at least a month, if not longer.
All in all, it felt like an overwhelming defeat.
“Those brats!” He hissed to himself, his left eye twitching. “I had them! I had them! Where did Challice suddenly get that resolve from?!”
It was a meaningless question. He knew perfectly well that his taunting of Anne had driven Teresa over the edge, and that it was entirely his fault for pushing things so far, but he didn’t want to admit it. The only thing he was interested in focusing on right now was coming up with increasingly vile and agonizing ways to take his revenge, but he knew in the back of his mind that there was no coming back from what he had unleashed. His androids would never be capable of taking down someone willing to use that kind of power.
Unless...
“Oberon OS.” He looked up from his desk. “What the hell is taking that thing so long to develop?! I went through a lot of trouble to wake it up, so it better come through on what those logs said it could-”
He paused.
“Hold on a moment, Challice said something about Oberon OS back there.” He muttered to himself. “Something about it taking over her...”
He trailed off and mulled it over for a moment before smirking and leaning back in his chair.
“What am I worrying about?” Messias chuckled. “If that AI is interested in her, it won’t be long until she’s out of my way for good.”
He got up and looked out of the window of his high-rise office building, staring down at the streets below.
“It’s a shame I wasted all those resources on her for nothing, but I suppose it can’t be helped.” He grinned. “Oberon OS, you bastard machine...I can’t wait to see what you’ve got tucked up your sleeve.”
As the Cross Bullet chugged through the air, carrying the four of them away from Messias’s warehouse, the passenger cabin was deathly silent. Anne looked worriedly at Teresa, who was bent over in her seat with her head in her hands.
“Teresa...” Anne broke the silence. “You did what you had to do.”
“But I didn’t.” Teresa muttered back, not looking up. “That’s why we ended up there in the first place.”
Anne tried to think of something to say, but her mind came up short.
“You’re the one that got tortured.” Teresa said. “You shouldn’t be worried about me right now. You need to take care of yourself.”
“Where was that advice for you after what happened with Crow?” Anne asked pointedly.
Teresa didn’t have an answer for that.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Teresa.” Claire spoke up. “You went through a lot worse than she did today.”
“It’s not a goddamn competition.” Anne scowled.
“This type of thing shouldn’t have happened to you kids in the first place.” Christine clenched her fists in silent frustration. “I should have been there.”
“Well, you weren’t, so I don’t see the point in worrying about it now.” Anne responded.
The comment stung. She knew Anne hadn’t meant it as a jab, but her own guilt over the situation felt as if it were stabbing her in the chest.
The train fell silent again.
For about three seconds.
“Gott verdammt scheiße hurensohn fickfehler!” A volley of nonsensical German curses sounded from the driver’s cabin, accompanied by several loud crashing noises and shortly followed by a man with white hair slamming the door to the cabin open and stumbling out. After taking a moment to recover his balance, he looked over at Teresa. “What’s today’s date?!”
“A-August 7th.” Teresa stammered out, caught completely off-guard by this.
“Finally!” The German man huffed and started dusting off his suit jacket. “Christ!”
Christine jumped out of her seat and pulled out the SpecOps Lock, glaring suspiciously at the new arrival.
“What the hell is going on here?” She demanded. “Who are you?!”
“Well, since I’m actually in the right spot on the timeline this go around, I guess there’s no harm in introducing myself.” The man sighed.
“The name’s Attai Zehn.” Attai stated. “I’m here to do my job.”
Major Events[]
- Joshua Messias runs out of robotic bodies.
- Attai Zehn makes his Tech Cross debut.
Characters[]
Protagonists[]
Antagonists[]
Aliens Used[]
By Dr. Krauze[]
By Christine[]
By Teresa[]
Modules Used[]
- Tank
- Torch
Trivia[]
- This is the first time Teresa has ever outright threatened anyone, and the first time she's ever stated an intent to kill while being completely lucid.
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