Ch 17: Countdown to Confusion

Alastor's airship makes it's escape, and whether Grey and Amy are aboard is unknown. The countdown of the Vinculus' self-destruct ticks down as tempers rise.

            Standing in the Merge Generator room, Barinus was deep in telepathic conversation with one of the Hand of Fate’s operatives. Having rushed to pursue Alastor under the assumption he would come to retrieve Vas Initio, he had arrived in the Merge Generator room to find not only was Vas Initio gone, but the entire generator system itself had inexplicably been removed. Responding angrily to the person he was in contact with, Barinus exclaimed, “Listen you peon… Stop giving me the run around and do as I say! If they escape to Noctivagus, there will be nothing we can do! By my authority as a member of the Council of Fate, I order you to send our air fleet after them!” The operative he was speaking to nervously replied, “Lord Barinus, I don’t question your authority, but the order of one council member is not enough. Sending mautauian airships into the physical realm without a vote from the two houses for an unspecified reason is enough to cause a scandal that would expose our entire organization…”

            Though he knew this already, in his desperation Barinus had almost been willing to take the risk. Yet since it was apparent he alone could not make the decision, he merely uttered a curse as he struggled to think of something. Deciding to check on his allies, he tried contacting them. Unsuccessful in reaching Rhast, as Barinus contacted Noel, she replied, “What now?!” Attempting to remain civil despite her attitude, Barinus said, “Vas Initio along with the entire generator itself are gone, meaning both our targets are likely escaping in Alastor’s airship by now. Did we take many losses while restraining those members of Angelorum Lux?” Noel curtly responded, “Ask Rhast, I got tired of having to do your dirty work. Taking orders from you doesn’t suit me.” Losing his patience, Barinus exclaimed aloud, “If I could ask Rhast, I wouldn’t have had to deal with a brat like you in the first place! Hurry up and find out what happened to him d****t!” A nearby computer screen humming to life nearby, Zero’s image appeared on the screen as Dr. Nova’s voice called out, “If you’re talking about the strange mautauian with blue hair, I’m afraid he’s quite dead.”

            Turning to the screen, somewhat startled by the intrusion into his discussion, Barinus quickly said, “What? Who are you?” His face still bearing the wound from a short time ago when Alastor slashed through his visor, Zero was sitting in a chair dabbing at the X shaped cut in the middle of it with a cotton swab as he replied, “I happened to stumble upon you while in the security room checking the footage from the camera system. It seems Alastor has all sorts of enemies out there…” Not in the mood to chat, Barinus said, “I suppose so, but I’d prefer you answer my question… And what do you mean Rhast is dead?” Pointing to something offscreen, Zero said, “I just watched it on the security cameras. You’d think mautauians of all people would know better than to take on the bulk of Angelorum Lux by themselves, not that I’m one to talk. What I want to know though, is who YOU all are. You’re clearly not with the Church of Light, or at least you’re not here on official business for them. Some sort of undercover operation perhaps?”

            As Barinus thought to himself that a spy wouldn’t answer such a question to begin with, Zero laughed strangely and said, “I wasn’t really looking for an answer, it was just a guess that I rattled off while reading through your mind…” At these words, Barinus struggled to cloud his thoughts as he exclaimed, “A mind reader?! Of course, Dr. Nova!” Grinning triumphantly, Zero said, “Too late, Barinus Arcus Matuia! I was having trouble reading your thoughts, so I thought I’d distract you from your little telepathic chatroom with a bit of conversation. Really though, who would’ve thought Serius’ younger brother was a villain of such caliber?” Forming Auram Cavea, Barinus destroyed the computer screen with one of his Sorrow Spikes. Watching the broken device spark and fizzle for a moment, Barinus’ eye twitched angrily as he muttered to himself, “Really now… Every one of you worms are just making a fool of me today, aren’t you…?”

            Sitting there watching Barinus a moment longer from one of the many monitors on the walls of the security room, Dr. Nova in Zero’s body thought to himself, “The things people do to each other over such petty family squabbles… Well, reading his mind may have made this whole event more than worthwhile. The All Heart, Fortuna’s prophecy… Slowly the puzzle pieces I’d been searching for have started to come together.” Turning to another monitor now, he watched a recording of events taking place in the Merge Generator room earlier, Grave and Zack Mourne talking to each other. As Zack nodded to Grave, both of them started to unhook the Merge Generator, and in amusement Dr. Nova thought, “Alastor, your shrewdness never ceases to amaze me. From what I’ve pieced together, you had almost everything planned from the beginning thanks to Gisette’s predictions. You knew Malum was pulling Dreck’s strings, so when he offered you an escort, you used them to your advantage while placing your other, more loyal underlings in key positions. Splitting up the escort to weaken them, you left one of them in the Merge Generator room to help Grave disassemble its main components, knowing that the Merge would remain stable enough for you to rebuild the generator and activate it again from the safety of Noctivagus.”

            As another screen showed Jay destroying the EDE interference array, he thought, “You then had another one of your escort restore your ability to travel via dark vortex. The EDE interference array I had secretly built was made to be incredibly sturdy in order to withstand enemy fire, as it was mainly intended to hinder you even when the shields were down, which happens when under constant attack as well as during times of rest. Yet you had that one use his great strength to destroy it easily, while using the two children to control the Vinculus’ power grid and reach my lab.” Watching yet another screen, he watched Zero be defeated by Alastor in the lab, Alastor letting him live and turning his attention to a computer terminal, and seeing this Dr. Nova thought, “At this point you could have just used a dark vortex to come after me though, so obviously you didn’t come to the lab to settle the score. No, you came to retrieve data from my personal computer. There were important files related to anomaly research, EDE weaponry, the Legion Project, and the Merge Generator hidden on that mainframe that weren’t in the Vinculus’ wireless databank, which I had neglected to delete in my haste to escape. Knowing you, I’m sure it won’t take you much time to decrypt them.”

            Leaning back in his chair with a sigh, Dr. Nova thought, “Meanwhile Grave’s substitution rescued Giselle, testing her loyalty as well. Gisette was supposed to aid Alexander against Malum, but it looks like she decided to act on her own agenda. Still, Fury was somehow able to prevent Malum from accomplishing anything, and Scathe pulled your forces back around the time he would be preoccupied, leaving him with little strength to retaliate.” Stretching and getting out of the chair, he pushed a button on the control panel and then entered a code. Alarms and lights going off all across the Vinculus, Dr. Nova made his exit as he said, “Still, you’re getting surprisingly soft, letting Zero live like that. You should have known I’d abandon Scott Matthew’s body and activate the Vinculus’ self-destruct just to spite you, and even if you counted on it, you’re a fool if you think that’s all I have in store for you…”

            Staggering slowly through the halls of the Vinculus carrying an unconscious Sting on her back, as the sirens alerting occupants of the air fortress to the self-destruct countdown began wailing, Ghost grimaced and muttered to herself, “The self-destruct huh? Guess it’s too late for me to escape now…” Glancing over her shoulder at Sting, she added, “Should’ve left this dead weight behind…” Suddenly noticing something skittering down the hall towards her, as Ghost laid eyes on one of Magus’ Hadrox spiders, her eyes went wide and she tried to form a mass of EDE in one of her hands. Yet the spider’s eyes quickly glowing red, it began emitting Magus’ hypnotic waves, and Ghost started to feel as though the entire hall were swaying around her. Closing her eyes and trying to break free of the hypnotic illusion, as the swaying seemed to calm down after a moment, she slowly opened one of her eyes only to see Magus standing before her. Sneering at her defiantly, Ghost fearlessly said, “You’d think I’d know better, huh? Letting my guard down like that just because I thought I’d killed you. Well, go ahead and finish me… Isn’t like I wouldn’t do the same…”

            Magus remained silent as one of her scarf tails rose up and balled into a fist, and as it shot out at her, Ghost winced and braced herself for her punishment. Yet after a moment, she felt as though she’d been flicked on the forehead, and opening her eyes to see Magus standing right in front of her with a hand held up to her face, Ghost could only stare in surprise as Magus lowered her hand and said, “Did you forget the meaning behind our existence as Ala Morte, Ghost? We serve our master unwaveringly, all for the sake of protecting the one place where we can live without fear. We are comrades, sisters in arms who depend on each other to survive. We may not hesitate to die for our cause, but we must always remember the bonds between us and do our best to keep each other alive.” Turning her gaze downward and staring at her feet in silence for a moment, Ghost angrily muttered, “What, are you suddenly saying we’re family too?! Shouldn’t you kill a traitor like me?! Just like we all tried to do to Bella and Fury?!” Using her scarf tails to gently take hold of and carry the unconscious sprite, Magus took Sting from Ghost as she replied, “Bella would not have survived our encounters at Gatria if I had not tried my hardest to spare her. Considering you didn’t leave Sting behind, I feel certain you’ll understand someday. Now let us go, there is a hidden emergency vessel nearby. Your punishment can be decided later…”

            In the infirmary of the Audentia, Elizabeth and Marcyl were busy tending to the injured that Fenrip had brought in earlier. Alexander, Mythra, and Patch had managed to remain conscious and had already recovered enough to walk after treatment, but Saria, Bella, and Giselle were all still down for the count. Scott had remained unconscious as well and was being detained in his own quarters, under Fenrip’s watch. Standing by Giselle’s bedside, using her healing powers to repair the unfinished work Mythra had left for her, Marcyl stared at Giselle curiously as she worked. Elizabeth was meanwhile using the new stock of medicines that had been provided by Violet Roselle to combat the powerful chemicals Rhast had exposed everyone to, which apparently had also been moderately poisonous and impossible to remove with healing powers alone. Looking over at Elizabeth once she’d done her best with Giselle, Marcyl said, “Hey hey, Elizabeth? Do you know who this lady is?” Done administering a dose of medicine to Bella, Elizabeth turned her attention to Marcyl and said, “No idea, but Alexander said to be careful around her. I can only assume she’s not to be trusted.”

            Noticing Marcyl make an uncharacteristically worried expression, Elizabeth put on a reassuring smile as she quickly said, “Oh don’t worry yourself Marcyl, I’m sure that if there had been any immediate danger he would have taken some precautions.” Quickly Marcyl shook her head and hesitantly started to say, “No, it’s not…” At that moment however, the ship’s intercom broadcast Schmitt’s voice into the room, interrupting her as he called out to them, “Hey you all down in the infirmary, I know yer prolly busy but we need one of ya to bring up some of that medicine to the bridge. We got some stubborn injured up here who won’t take their asses down to you…” Sighing in irritation as the intercom went silent, Elizabeth moved over to the small table they’d set up near the beds and started to gather the medicine together as she said, “Honestly, and I thought we’d just about finished. I’m sure you’re tired Marcyl, but someone has to stay and keep an eye on things here, so could you take this up to them for me?” Walking over to her and waiting for her to stuff the last of the medicine into a large first aid container, Marcyl smiled at Elizabeth and pumped her fists excitedly as she enthusiastically said, “I’m fine, so just leave it to me!” Nodding at her and returning her smile, Elizabeth chuckled to herself as Marcyl took the medical supplies and left the room at top speed.

            Rushing up to the bridge of the Audentia with the medicine in hand, as Marcyl arrived at the door she paused a moment, staring off into space as she thought, “That lady… I’ve met a lot of people with half blood like me, but something about her makes me feel strange. Everyone says things are different in the world outside the Academy, but I still don’t really understand why. What… does it mean to be a half-breed? Why are we any different?” Continuing to stare at nothing while lost in thought, after a while Marcyl shook her head as though to shake the thoughts from her mind and opened the door to the bridge. As she stepped in, Marcyl was surprised to hear Fox shouting, “What about hotshot and Amy?! We can’t just ditch them here!” Facing him down with a serious expression, Patch said, “I understand your concern, but I’m telling you the self-destruct has been activated! If we do not distance ourselves from the Vinculus immediately, we are all going to be blown away!” Moving between the two, Richter tried to calm things down, saying, “Stop it Fox, we can’t afford to panic right now! There’s still time before the explosion, self-destruct commands are usually only intended to be used to prevent the enemy from acquiring the ship.”

            Turning to Patch, Richter asked, “How long do we have? Surely with a ship this large, the amount of time needed to evacuate the entire crew would be at least thirty minutes!” Shaking her head, Patch replied, “Not even that. With the various escape pods built into the Vinculus, there was no need for the countdown to be more than twenty minutes. I would estimate we only have fifteen minutes remaining as it is.” Richter grit his teeth in frustration, and from where he was sitting in one of the passenger seats, Serius said, “Even if we had the full thirty minutes Richter, we’re in no condition to search for them. You, Fox, and I are barely shrugging off Rhast’s poison as it is. I cannot reach either Amy or Grey with long range telepathy. We have no idea if they’re even still onboard.” Standing behind Fox over by the port side bridge windows, Alexander added, “We’ve already received word from Rufus that Alastor’s airship has escaped. There’s a chance that Alastor took them onboard. Whether as passengers or prisoners I do not know, but…” Turning to face him, Fox exclaimed, “It’d obviously be as prisoners! Besides, how do we know it wasn’t Alastor who started the self-destruct?! He could have left them to die!” Furrowing his brow, Alexander replied, “We have no way of knowing for certain Fox. The only thing we do know for certain is that we will all die unless we get ourselves out of here.” Grabbing him by his coat’s collar, Fox shouted, “How can you say it so calmly?! He’s your only son, and isn’t Amy like a daughter to you?!” With a stern tone, Alexander said, “I don’t need to be reminded by anyone Fox… I feel just as frustrated as you, but I will not ignore the facts and sacrifice everyone here out of stubbornness! That’s something I know they wouldn’t ask of us…” The two stared each other down for a moment, and finally Fox released his grip on Alexander and turned away from him.

            As Fox made his way to one of the passenger seats and quietly took a seat, Alexander looked over at Schmitt and said, “We’re leaving Schmitt. Let’s rendezvous with the Tentrion and decide our next course of action.” Nodding grimly, Schmitt started working the controls as he said, “Roger that.” On the other side of the bridge from Alexander, staring out the starboard side bridge windows as the airship started to pull away from the Vinculus, Mythra suddenly slammed a fist against the reinforced glass and exclaimed, “Damn that Amy! All she does lately is make me worry!” Smiling in spite of the dreary mood, Alexander said, “Not that I don’t feel the same way Mythra, but I’m a bit surprised to see you making such a fuss over anyone but Grey in this situation.” Whirling around, Mythra glared at Alexander as she said, “Shut up! I’m really mad right now, this isn’t a good time to mess with me!” Suddenly noticing Marcyl standing in the open doorway of the bridge, listening to everything while having completely forgotten why she’d come in the first place, Mythra snapped at her, saying, “What are you looking at?!”

            Shaken from her stupor, Marcyl stammered, “S-sorry! I… I brought the medicine…” Speaking up for Marcyl, Alexander quickly said, “It wasn’t my intention to offend you Mythra, but however thoughtless my comment or however great your animosity towards me, there’s no reason to take it out on others.” Shaken, Mythra looked ashamed for a moment, turning her gaze downward as she murmured, “That’s not… I just…” Then emotion flared up inside her and she suddenly looked up and shouted, “You really are still an idiot! One thousand years later, and you still don’t understand anything!” Everyone looking on in confusion and concern as the sudden argument seemed to only be escalating, Alexander was growing more and more irritated as he exclaimed, “What’s wrong with you?! Normally your comebacks at least make sense! What don’t I understand?!” Moving away from the windows and making her way around the passenger seats, Mythra headed towards the door as she exclaimed, “Forget it! I really hate your guts!” As Mythra came to stand before the exit though, she paused there for a moment, and as Marcyl hesitantly looked over at her she could see Mythra was trembling. Then Mythra turned and faced Alexander with tears in her eyes and anger in her expression as she said, “I hate you so much!”

            Leaving Alexander confused to the point of speechlessness, Mythra stormed out of the bridge. As the door closed behind her, Alexander stared at it for a moment in silence, and Schmitt let out a whistle as he continued to fly the Audentia. Finally Alexander turned to look at everyone and said, “I… I haven’t seen her like that in a long time… I don’t know whether it’s right of me to be asking, but does anyone understand exactly what she was so upset about?” Shaking his head, Richter replied, “I haven’t the faintest idea. I’m just as confused as you are.” Then to everyone’s surprise, Serius suddenly got up to leave the room. As he was making his way to the door, Alexander called to him, “Serius? Have I said something to upset you as well?” Stopping as he was about to press the door control button, Serius turned his head to look back at Alexander, even though he was still blinded by Rhast’s chemicals and could not see at all. He simply made an apologetic expression as he replied, “No, you’ve done nothing wrong Alexander. Not intentionally… It would be insensitive of me to tell you what I know, but I hope with all my heart that Mythra can find the courage to tell you in person someday.” Opening the door, as Serius took his leave, he added, “I think we should just let her be for now. I’m going to the infirmary, my eyes still hurt…” Alexander merely watched him go as he puzzled over what could be behind these events, but Marcyl, feeling somehow responsible for everything, quickly left the medicine behind and followed after Serius. Catching up to him in hallway, Marcyl called out, “Wait, um, Mister Serius! Can I talk to you for a sec?” Pausing in his stride and looking back at her, Serius said, “Very well, let’s talk on the way to the infirmary. Also, please just call me Serius.” Giggling and beaming at him, Marcyl said, “Sure, sure!”

            As the two proceeded through the Audentia’s main hallway together, Marcyl said, “So, I know you said you won’t tell about why Mythra was angry, but…” As she trailed off, Serius questioned, “But?” Gathering her determination, Marcyl looked over at him and exclaimed, “Well, the whole argument started because I spaced out and annoyed her, so can you maybe tell me if there’s something I can do?! Anything you can think of to make her feel better?! I’ll do my best, I swear!” Coming to a halt, Serius raised his hand to his mouth as he actually struggled to stifle his laughter. Moving into his path and looking at him directly with an annoyed expression, Marcyl said, “Hey, don’t laugh! I’m totally serious Serius!” Taking a moment to regain his composure, Serius moved past Marcyl, leading the way down the hall again as he said, “I’m sure you are. However, you’re wrong to think it’s your fault. This started well before you were even born.”

            Hurriedly catching up with him, Marcyl shook her head and persistently said, “But because I was the one Mythra snapped at, Alexander was sticking up for me! It might not have happened if I hadn’t been there then, right?!” Letting out a sigh as they continued on, Serius replied, “Taking responsibility for something simply because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time seems somewhat senseless, doesn’t it? Even if you hadn’t been there, I’m sure she would have let her frustrations out eventually.” Seeing the pleading look in her eyes, Serius realized she would not be persuaded. Reluctantly, Serius said, “If you must, you can always investigate the situation on your own. Follow after Mythra and see what you can find out. If she’s gone to her quarters, you might be able to listen at the door. I often catch her talking to herself when she’s alone. No doubt a result of being a hermit for so long.” Nodding eagerly, as Marcyl rushed ahead of Serius down the hallway to begin her mission, she said, “Leave it to me Serius!” Before she could get very far though, Serius called after her, saying, “Marcyl, wait…” As she stopped short and looked back at him expectantly, he added, “You just passed the door to the crew’s quarters…”