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VELVET CORONET REMAINS, BERING, TANNER BELT
Remorse. Guilt. Defeat. These were the only emotions were felt when the Hawfinch, the Velvet Coronet, was struck down by their former friend, one they grew too fanatic to protect. Impatience and desperation had overwhelmed Revenant within the recent weeks, knowing and feeling the evergrowing dread of the affliction spreading within her mind. Such desperation, manifested into direct aggression - the desire to assume control out of fear, out of protective interests, to save the friend she held dear. A pattern had emerged, for every person she tried to help, the more chaotic the situation became.
The price of such abrasive actions came at a grave cost, failure entailed sealing her fate in with her own possessions. The possibility of ever becoming his friend buried away with her own dwindling resolve within a rapidly decaying husk. Fear and panic undermined the foundations of hope, destroying a major stake she once held.
Confined to the metallic coffin surrounding the mangled jammed pod, the husk of the ship was adrift amongst limitless titanic asteroids within the Tanner Belt. The gored remains of the Velvet Coronet was barely strung together - horrific alien-esque lightning consisting of green-purple adapted hues, hungrily enraged on around the wreckage as the cracked powercore began to destabilize over the days. The burning husk ensnared within the gravitational orbit of the star, bit by bit, it crushed further and further from the traumatic impacts from loose asteroids clashing into its uncontrollable free fall.
Revenant emerged, shoving the collapsed debris out of the doorway of the pod, trying to clean it up, struggling against the overwhelming domination of inertia as the Coronet's corpse became a rogue satellite, turning and churning with gravity. Breathing heavily, she did what she could for those hard days, trying to dig herself out of her own metallic tomb, now freeing herself from the casket after endless days of fighting to survive.
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Such strenuous efforts also took a toll upon the life support supply. The masks internal system blipped out, warning in a blurry mirage as the words dragged out from the loss of focus:
The world started to spin, losing its visual coherence. Or perhaps the ship was spinning too. It was hard to tell, the main supply from the pod was beginning to fade out, the flow slowing down. A tight screech emerged from the darkness of the metallic cocoon that encased her, a grinding churn as the alloy panels crashed inwards, striking down akin to a blurry phantasn. A hissing geyser of gas shot out from the pores of the wreckage, polluting the air. Shock consumed, elevating the heart, yearning for more and more precious saps of air, but little to draw from. The burning desire to fight the forces of nature, to survive, remained firmly settled in what little remained of her mind, shackled to the inevitable forces of hypoxia that slowly drowned her cognitive mind.
Her eyes under the mask drifted around, swirling in a maze of confusion, trying to reach out.
Through the haze of the smoke and gas, like a mirage on the horizon stood a figure cloaked in black adorned with purple outlines. It was tough to make out who, or what it was. Distortedly, it spoke out in a familiar voice. One that called back to forgotten memories of years past.
"I've got you, Bird." Was all it said, as a distorted metal hand lay outstretched towards her own. Confused, she half-drunkenly hummed in bewilderment, the voice was so familiar, yet so not...
"...Hunt?" she feebly murmured out.
The blurry apparition kneeled in view. There was no mistaking who it was.
"We don't have much time. The Order are going to be hot on our trail if we linger out here any longer."
The voice echoed, steadily fading as it approached the end of the sentence. Hunt's hand reached out with extended fingers, only to fade into swirls of smoke as the imagery drifted away. Her palm tried to intertwine with his, shakily quaking in the stress, riddled with weakness. Broken within tone, guilt began to swallow her. It reminded her that she was working with his top enemy, becoming an indirect puppet for the very thing he swore to kill. Harbinger.
Barely able to voice her contrition, "...I'm sorry."
Hunt's voice echoed through the ship. A soft chuckle, muffled and distorted. "That might be so, dear." The voice answered as another memory came into focus.
"Learning all you can about the Nomads though - that might take us both down a path we can't turn back from."
The voice carried through from another section of the ship. A younger iteration of the man had manifested itself and sat opposite her, lost in time and memory. The figure shrugged, his facial features obscured by the nature of the hallucination.
"But I'll follow you anywhere, you know that." It said, fading once more into dust.
Her palm let the dust sift through her gloved fingers, quivering without stability as the struggles to let go, now came back fully fledged to plague her crowded mind once more, as the blanket of fatigue suffocated reality away. Her mind drifting away into an unending dream as they lost control, reaching out once more. The gritting sensation of guilt warped the subconscious, allowing distant echoes to re-emerge from the cracked depths of her mind, reminiscing on the buried trauma. Memories of meat being thrown into the grinder, over and over. No matter the injury. No matter the thought. Again and again. Chained to the cause. Forced into a conveyer belt of agony with the inevitable approach of a tsunami of cleansing light, always lingering upon the edge.
THE DREAM BEYOND BERING...
Emerging 'awake' - she pushed herself up with a struggle, now realising the environment was eerie familiar. It was a capital ship bridge, yet, it was dark. Empty. Shrouded in fog. A blue hued screen glowed dimly in the distance. Slowly approaching it, her now white-blue gloved palm swiped on the surface, bringing up information, trying to assess where she was. Yet, there was a faint feeling she was being watched.
"...what...?"
The more she glared at it, the more she realised more oddities appeared. She looked up to relax her vision, barely seeing out of the windows, a distant anomaly burnt on, gazing at her. Confused, she looked down, continuing to assess what was going on... Her augment wasn't working, there were no displays, no guides to assessing the digital layout. Everything seemed... normal. Yet not at the same time. Trickling ooze of deja vu dribbled onto her conscience. Swiping again, they prompted up the status of the vessel.
Core|WV-Eidolon.Wraith
A sudden release of gasp, shocked, this was another memory. As she stepped back, her palms raised, now realising she was donning Core armor. And it did not looked fuzzed or jagged from the constant scan of her augment, no constant feed of information to satisfy her addiction to needing analysis. Raising up her palm to feel her right eye, feeling the warm flesh, rubbing her eye lid... Her eyes were restored, fine as they were years ago when she was younger within the Core, it was surreal. She wasn't quite conscious of what was going on, feeling immersed within the senses provided. Being able to touch her own flesh without flaws. Yet it did not feel quite like a dream. There was taste, feeling, a sense of being. As if the mind was trying to reach out, to make a message to the consciousness.
A cruel gaze of burning red light could be felt, slowly circling her, just out of reach, just out of sight, bathing her in red light, yet no matter where she turned her head, it would not enter her vision, stalking her. She turned around, the brilliant cyan-blue hue behind her engulfed her silhouette, gazing back at him in pure shock.
He spoke up bitterly, "It seems you may be a puppet after all. Snatching bodies, making weapons for them." The shadowy silhouette stomped closer to her, constricting up collar of her uniform, "Abandoning any shred of humanity for a hope of survival. Is that all I am to you? A test subject?"
Whimpering out pathetically, she realised who this manifestation was, her heart shattered further as weakness and loyalty destroyed her resolve - the complete refusal to harm those who she respects, collapsing back against the console, "I-I... I just want to save myself, you -- us... I don't want to-"
The deep crimson eye glared down at her, blinding her with the unending hue, "What's the difference between you and them now?"
Just as she was going to retort his claim, a sudden impacting thud was had, the crimson light began to fade out as his overwhelming grasp released her collar. She reached out, trying to grab his arms as he fell back into the darkness, his visage soon turning to fine dust that combed through her palms, hopelessly clenching her hand in defeat.
A sharp spine had flicked back into the darkness, shrouded by the mist. "Hey!" she bellowed out, demanding its attention, pushing herself forward to try and catch the noise that scuttled away further into the Bullhead to seek retribution. She gave chase to the scampering hexapod, following the exceptionally quick critter into a dead end, a storage closet shooting off from the corridor, cornering it entirely. A smirk emerged upon her face, remembering this specific memory. She was the one that was usually chased and hunted down in this nightmare, relishing in the fact that the tables had turned in her favour. Despite the mist that veiled its true self, there was no mistaking it, the very same creature that attacked her before upon the Eidolon.
"It appears that you are the cornered one now."
She stared into it with some realisation as it didn't even try to kill her - unlike in previous memories, a sensation of fear was struck into it, she could feel that. It wasn't afraid of her. It was afraid of what was to come, snarling past her shoulders.
"Hold on. You didn't even try this time...?"
In some way, it mocked her words as it hissed out at her before it slithered away - thoroughly entertained as it believed itself to having already succeeded without needing to act, how she did the work for itself.
A sudden red bolt came through, scorching the wall in front of her. Slowly, she glared down in discernment, a burn hole carved its way through her body, penetrating the Core Guildmaster armor she had worn. Maniacal laughter emerged from behind, a silhouette of a squared figure overshadowed herself, blurting out some words unstable of hysteria under his mask as she collapsed to her knees:
"Trying to save the world, huh? Being a pawn, huh? You're in bed with Him! You're no pawn!"
Collapsing back onto the ground with a thud as the world began to fade out, she tried to call out for the protege one last time, pleading to the shadow as they bled out,
"...Vin-...cent..."
A distant echo emerged before she drifted into the darkness, the recess of her subconscious has been trying to forecast a forewarning about her own undoings through her own hastily driven actions. She was destroying herself and her own foundations for success without realising it. Yet the mind felt it. Stringing together memories to form a warning.
For nearly a week, she floated lifelessly whilst clinging to the dwindling supply of both the primary and auxiliary life support, the words continued to persist on the edge of her mind.
The Innocent Slaughter and its crew had arrived two days prior, to serve as reinforcement of station to growing threats in Hudson and coordinate efforts in the search that had been called by its pack leader, the Scylla loomed over Dawson. The hefty nose of the vessel serving to block out the blazing star that served as Dawson's backdrop as the Poltergeist and its escort approached the station.
Having previously discovered the Velvet Coronet's diminishing husk, the Poltergeist had managed to scoop up the ravaging components, expelling the remains into Dawson's bay. The Poltergeists crew had came up with a solution to countering the rabid energy storming on around the Coronet's remains, crafting a make-shift lightning rod aptly named the "Anti-Zap Stick" to channel the ravenous energy away in whatever direction they desired. A stationary Wolfhound had been chosen as the surrogate for the bleeding energy of the Velvet Coronet, as the lightning rod was pivoted in such a way it could re-direct to the exposed powercore of the lumbering beast. Many a rogue in the bay would stumble backward quickly from the resulting arcs of alien-esk electricity that began rumbling up the hull of the vessel, sparking outward from the belly as the unstable energy served to nearly overload its ramshackle capacitors, before finally dying down.
Having already dealt with the biggest obstacle, the fires were far easier to contain, several Rogues hosing it down in haste, the flame dying out. The Innocent Slaughter's crew had joined the scene by the time the flames had died out, moving up with makeshift gadgets to begin prying away at the hull after they'd located the pilot inside via a smaller scanner, making their attempt to wrestle the pilot free from the would-be coffin, having a hovering medical unit affectionately dubbed the "mini-mule" already prepped for transit back towards their vessel where a "proper" medical facility had been waiting specifically for this incident.
"You've seen better days, haven't you? Now how did you manage that?"
Katherine muttered to herself quietly, regarding the smoldering wreck drifting outside the RV, watching the flares of multicolored energy that would periodically surge through the barely cohesive remains.
There was a sense of irony that she, with her dedicated exploration vessel crammed with the most advanced sensory equipment money could buy, and having set out for exactly this task, was beaten to it by a local pirate who seemingly came upon the wreck at random.
Worse still, they somehow managed to attract the other ne'er-do-wells of the area, and now the Unioner and Rogues were apparently finding it an opportune time to sort out some previous diplomatic differences they had.
Well, the Rogues had the numbers here, so it'd be them she had to work with.
There were far too many humans involved in this for her liking, and her control of the situation had slipped away, she thought bitterly as what remained of the ship was tractored into the bay of the cruiser they had brought. The Rogues didn't seem to mind her accompanying them as they made their way to Dawson, but they also made it clear that it was in their hands now.
Katherine's mind was racing as she tried to piece together what they might know. Unlike the Unioner, they had come for Revenant deliberately. Orders from the top, they had said. Now, the obvious connection was....Hemlocke, but what had he told them, and when?
According to Kimiko, he had been with her when she was hit. But by the time they had found his Wolfhound on their first search attempt, he was unresponsive. Had he gotten a message to his people beforehand?
It didn't seem likely that they could know about his fate after....the incident, and probably best if it stayed that way.
Katherine clenched her eyes shut hard. It had pained her to leave him behind at the Shrine, but truthfully there would have been little she could have done anyway. And given the likely outcome of their care, she doubted he would appreciate seeing her face when and if he woke up.
That, however, was a worry for another day. It was time to focus on her current task: mooring the RV at Dawson.
She laughed quietly to herself as a memory came back to her: The last time she had been here, it was to take refuge from Revenant herself and a band of Xenos. Life really did have a way of turning things around.
This would be fine. A border worlds pirate holdout was far from her least favourite environment, she would simply have to tread carefully, and be sure to spend generously at their facilities to make it clear that she appreciated their hospitality. And somehow gain access to Revenant.
The Poltergeist. Millions of rivets and welds flying in close formation. It was the third time in recent history that this particular ship had to do a task that could be only classified as a ’rescue’. The reason for it was quite simple this time. While the RA-9 Scylla is usually designed for the simple task of bringing as many guns to bear as possible, the Hel was a slightly different case. Trading guns and armour for mobility, and the most underused feature of any Rogue vessel; It had a hangar bay. You could fit an entire fighter craft in it, maybe two if you stacked them.
The crew got a simple set of instructions:
Fly to a given waypoint.
Secure/rescue a shipwreck.
Head back to Dawson.
It was for the better. The Poltergeist scooped up the remains with relative ease, turning the hangar bay into lightshow with all the lethal special effects you could ever want. Herding together the crewmen to create an improvised lightning rod/”Anti-Zap Stick” was probably the hardest part of the stunt. From then on it was just a matter of getting to Dawson, simple enough for a ship fitting the region so well. Causing one diplomatic incident at the time, the ship got back with most of the wreck intact and only slightly burning. That was something for the folks on the station to handle the moment the cruiser ditched the wreck.
This whole ordeal wasn’t to the liking of Doppel. It was a last-minute sortie, for a ship that was supposed to go back for another refit to extend its service life. The specifics were vague, the particular space the ship had to fly into was also less than preferred. Then there was the target. Last time she saw this individual, Hemlocke was bleeding like a struck pig from unspecified injuries appearing out of thin air. This just so happened when this woman was displeased by certain actions done by Hemlocke.
Cracking open the scrap cocoon revealed that Revenant's self was collapsed backwards into the pod, weighed down by a rogue panel of debris. Free to move, the band of Rogues pushed aside the panel, easily retrieving her unconscious self. The pod bleeped on in a depressed red hue, warning about low supply.
Despite picking her up, a tug of resistance was had, there was a life support hose connected to the back of the mask. Realizing this, they yanked out the hose, releasing an exhausted puff of depleted air from the connection, freeing her from the pod.
An armed and armored individual was watching over the operation, giving directions in a less than friendly tone even to his own people, the crew stood around with their weapons at the ready, standing guard as the package was taken into their care. The Overseer spotted an approaching skeleton, lifting their hand to point with index and middle toward the woman, two guards moving to block access, clearly on the defensive.
"Hold it. Who the hell are you?"
Carrying the limp body over to the hovering mini-mule, the overseer took their eyes off the approaching woman, commanding the nearest rogue to hold the unconscious woman up in a sitting position while they wrestled to remove the mask and tank from their back so they could be lay back onto the unit for transit. The rogue would begin fumbling with a side tank hanging from the hovering unit, preparing to hook up the occupant to an oxygen supply when movement was seen from the occupant's head, the overseer barked at the rogue to quit stalling, who then began affixing the oxygen mask to the woman's face, who had momentarily glared and stifled her head in slumber.
Katherine held up her hands in a placating gesture, palms forward.
"I'm Katherine Pennybrooke. The pilot in that wreck, they're a...friend. I'd like to see her."
The second guard looked Katherine up and down with an indiscernible look in their eye, while the first that had spoken to her turned away to jog over to the Overseer, who had to look up from securing the pilot, the two having a brief chat out of earshot, the Overseer looked back toward Katherine. The guard then moved back over and up to Katherine.
"You know what happened?"
"Not really, no. Just that they got hit and we needed to find her. I picked up the signal and located the ship, but I wasn't the first, that Unioner was already on-site. And I suppose you know the events from there on."
The guard made a cutting motion with his right hand against his neck back toward the overseer, who made a bit of a head shake before giving a thumbs up. The guard looked back to Katherine as he moved up to her side, intending to escort her toward the pilot while the second guard stayed behind, watching over the hangar. The first muttered something under his breath about a lack of information.
"Just don't touch anything."
Trying to betray no hints of nervousness, Katherine gave the guard a curt nod, straightening her posture as they walked towards the pod. Upon the medical mini mule, Raven stifled in their slumber, briefly gazing over to Katherine and the pod. Although it didn't particularly appear that they were conscious enough to talk, as they drifted back to rest, the oxygen mask was sustaining them with valuable air. The pod had simply rested there, scrunched up within itself from the lack of support after the extraction.
Hastily making her way to the carrier's side, Katherine reviewed her options. They were obviously under tight watch, and with her target drifting in and out of consciousness, there wasn't a lot she could do. She was about to at least place a hand on the platform Revenant was on, but quickly remembered the warning about touching anything.
The moment Katherine picked up pace toward the mini-mule's side, the Overseer barked out, and the woman had multiple blasters trained on her. They very clearly didn't like how close she was to the pilot they'd recovered, an indication to back away.
Irritated, Katherine complied, lingering in the vicinity as closely as it seemed they would tolerate.
"Rev. Raven. It's me, Katherine. Hang in there, we'll get you back."
Despite her clear efforts, Revenant was still out of it, drifting back into a long rest as those rogues were transferring her onwards towards the destroyer.
Meanwhile, the overseer turned his attention back to the rogue that seemed to be their go-to for handling the medical bits, speaking again.
"Low dose of painkiller until we get her on board."
The scrawnier man moved over to the side of the mini-mule once again, retrieving what was hopefully a sterile needle, before searching for a place to inject whatever they were using. While he was doing that, the guard's patterns began tightening due to a swirling hand motion from the leader.
Finding the gaze of the Overseer, Katherine met it with an intent glare of her own.
"Where are they going, exactly? I intend to remain in their company until we are all on our own course again. I am not trying to cause a disturbance, but I am concerned for my...friend."
The Overseer looked back at the woman who was now asking questions of what they were going to do with the unconscious woman, glaring at her with suspicion. The scrawnier rogue finally found an injection point, stowing the needle before beginning to rotate the mini-mule in the direction they were heading, the guards collected, not in a trained matter, more like a mass around the package, preparing to move.
"You're don't have privilege to that information. If you are concerned for her safety then you will be pleased to know we're under orders to keep her alive."
The Overseer gave a motion to a singular guard, then motioned to the wreck of the ship, the guard moving off in the direction of the dockmaster while the Overseer did a final check on his datapad, likely sending a message to someone.
"I'm sure you do. I'd still like to be with them and assure myself of it. I do have some basic medical skills."
The man scowled at Katherine, her persistence despite the lack of invitation was getting on the old dog's nerves, especially considering she looked like she could be snapped in half by a light breeze, the lack of respect for the woman was clear. Though whatever was on the overseer's mind remained unsaid, focusing back on the task at hand as the group began moving off from the hangar toward a different part of the station, likely heading towards a mooring point elsewhere
While they moved, the scrawnier figure was focusing on hooking up a saline drip to provide water during transit, having no idea how long Revenant had been out there without. The scrawnier pirate likely paving his way through medical skill alone judging by his less than fight-worthy nature, though whether he was certified or not was up in the air. Pulling up a smaller scanner again to check her vitals during transit.
Katherine watched the process with trepidation as they walked, tempted at several points to interject, though to his credit the medic seemed to be doing solid work. She hated having no control over the situation, but there was little she could do for the time being, just following along and hoping the pirates would loosen up once Revenant's condition was less critical. Although they had spent a considerable time spaced, it appears that they suffered only minor traumatic damage and bruising. Majority of the damage came from the lack of oxygen. As far as things go, they were going to be fine with a supply of air.
The group would continue on through the base, the journey to the boarding ramp was dreadfully silent, with multiple pairs of eyes on Katherine, it was certainly a less than comfortable introduction to the Innocent Slaughter's crew, and it would seem that's where they were currently headed.
The Overseer stopped at the start of the boarding ramp, pulling out his PDA to seemingly send another message before the sealed doorway to the boarding ramp began to screech open before them, hissing violently as the seal released, pressurizing the ramp for the group, before the same screeching followed on the other end, leading up into the moored Scylla.
If there was a last moment to back out, this would be it. But Katherine remained committed, there was no reason to turn around now.
With a sigh, she straightened herself again and ascended the ramp with the others.
Eyeing her new surroundings curiously, Katherine addressed the Overseer.
"I hope it won't be too much of a bother that my RV is taking up mooring space while we do this? I'll handle all the relevant fees, of course."
"I'm sure the dockmaster will throw a fit if it's a problem."
The Overseer commented with disinterest, which implied these rogues didn't call Dawson home to any measure, continuing up the ramp with the package and into the interior hangar of the Scylla, moving to file singular down a side hallway into the deeper reaches of the destroyer, likely towards a room or maybe a medical wing if it had one.
Eventually the group would arrive in a small medical facility, on the first floor and seemingly not far from the hangar, the scrawnier man seeming at home here, carefully transferring the oxygen silo and saline drip off the side of the hovering mini-mule, hooking them onto the side of the bed, before having a guard help him move the woman onto the stationary medical bed, which looked anchored to the floor for stability. Collecting her mask shortly after, placing it on the table next to the bed, before the man shuffled off across the room toward a back door that looked like a storage room.
The overseer stood over the woman, tapping into his PDA idly while three other guards remained in the room, keeping their eyes on Katherine.
The silence would be deafening, multiple armed rogues simply staring at Katherine as if she was a prisoner, or likely, their next kill. They would all sit for quite some time, when the Overseer finally moved toward the back door the scrawnier man had vanished behind, returning a minute or so later to look to Katherine
"Your friend probably isn't going to be waking up for awhile."
Katherine bit her lip, looking pensive.
"I suppose that's not too surprising, I don't know how long they were drifting out there by the time we arrived....
Now when you say a while, are we talking about hours or days, or more?"
"They suffered from a lack of proper oxygen for quite some time, it could be hours, days, weeks."
The Overseer replied, his face did not portray a welcoming expression as he watched the woman.
Frowning at the unspecific answer, Katherine took a few moments to think. It would be problematic to be separated from the RV for so long, not to mention potentially dangerous to be in the hands of the Rogues, but it was too early to literally abandon ship.
"I see. Well, if your hospitality permits, I would like to remain for now - and hope it'll be towards the lower end of your estimate."
The older dog glared down at Katherine for a moment, glancing to one of the guards, who shifted their weapon behind her, before the man looked back to her.
"How long?"
"Let's tentatively set a deadline for seventy-two hours, and if there's no change in their condition, I'll be on my way and leave them in your capable hands."
She browsed the room briefly before continuing.
"You know, I have some rather advanced medical diagnostic equipment on the RV. Perhaps your medic and I could take a look, if there's anything we can use."
The overseer's glare sharpened at the time frame, though his right eyebrow lifted in curiosity that she assumed that would be acceptable. He spoke with an almost snide tone
"Twelve, that's generous."
Indignation rising in her, Katherine subtly flexed her fingers in annoyance.
"That's shorter than an average passing trader's layover time! I'll- I'll pay all the crew's bar tabs for the duration of my stay. Now that's generous."
"My task wasn't to babysit the woman's alleged friend for the next three days."
The Overseer replied with little care to the woman's offer, giving off the feeling she was talking at a brick wall, rather than with a person.
Katherine's tone was calm and measured, though she couldn't entirely keep an edge of frustration out of it.
"I require no such...devotion. I can entertain myself, I can find my way around your facilities as needed, I can pay any relevant expenses, and I won't be starting any manner of trouble. I mean, look at me."
She gestures up and down her thoroughly nonthreatening frame.
"All I'm asking is to be in the general vicinity when my friend wakes up, and to offer the equipment I have. Surely that would be in your own interest, I can't imagine you're interested in babysitting a comatose person longer than necessary either."
The rather off-putting man put his PDA away for the first time since Katherine had seen him, placing it into a utilitarian style belt, right in front of his left leg. This would free his hand to scratch the scruffy shadow on the left side of his face, looking over her form for an unpleasant amount of time, seemingly in thought, she brought a chuckle and a slight smirk to his face, seemingly amused by her frustration
"You're asking alright."
A pause, his left hand dropping to his side as the steely greyness of his eyes widened with the shrinking of his focusing pupils.
"While I find this amusing you don't have anything we need."
"Perhaps you should let your medic be the judge of that. The skinny one from before?"
"Just a big dumb pirate routine, huh?"
The man scoffed, his ire sparked by the undertone.
"Unfortunately for you, blade of grass. That's how I know we don't need you."
With no further explanation seemingly forthcoming, Katherine shook her head slightly and gave a light sigh.
"I suppose we'll find out."
"Twelve."
The man repeated his words earlier, clearly not budging at all. Revenant and Katherine would remain surrounded in the medical room, the scrawnier man moving back and forth to occasionally check her vitals in that time, the group simply waiting out the clock.
After about eight hours later, Revenant began to emerge, lightly groaning. She tried to slowly push herself up, unaware of where she was, as her vision was still coming back. As if they just emerged from a deep sleep.
Her palm raised to touch her own face, rubbing it, but stopped as soon as she felt the obscurity of the breathing mask. Several figures stood around the room, two getting up from chairs, a man stood next to her, turning to look down at the woman roused from slumber, the feeling of being watched immediately apparent. A gruff voice emerged, hard to identify from the man to her left.
"Yeah, she's waking up."
Revenant swung her legs off of the side of the bed, removing the breather. A forceful hand come against her shoulder from the nearest man, it was unclear whether it was meant to stabilize her or keep her in place, motioning for the scrawnier individual to get the drip out of her, one of the guards moving closer, the rogues were crowding her the exact moment she got up, not a sign of gracious hosts.
"Easy there."
She squinted towards the source of the voice, trying to identify the silhouette,
Parting her lips, a groggily fatigued tone was revealed,
"...Hemlocke...?"
She asked, curiously confused, squinting at the silhouette of the male. The sudden invocation of their leader's name would bring a silence to the rogues in the room, two of the guards looking between each other in confusion while the third looked to the Overseer. Revenant would feel another set of hands, suddenly plucking the IV from her lower arm, before the scrawnier presence moved away.
Roused by the commotion from the bored half-sleep she had been slouching in a nearby chair in, Katherine got up and joined the others surrounding the awakened pilot, sending her what she hoped was a meaningful glance as she witnessed Revenant searching around aimlessly for her mask.
"You just woke up, take a minute."
The hand pushed her back down into a sitting position, a forceful move. The guard that had moved up sent a glare to Katherine from her approach, the other two watching for now. Revenant pouted, chuffing in disagreement.
"... I see. Where is... Wolf?"
Trying to catch Revenant's eye, Katherine raised her brow and gave them the subtlest of head-shakes.
"Don't know."
The man looked a bit confused, the sound of metal on metal contact approaching outside the medical bay doorway could be heard by the occupants, sounded oddly like clicking heels. Revenant glanced over to the familiar female figure, recognising her as her vision corrected, her expression remained neutral, if not mildly relieved. The clattering of the high heels came to stop.
"Oh... Katherine."
"So you are friends."
The overseer took a step back, releasing Revenant from his grip, the door to the medical bay opened to reveal the ghoulish woman Revenant had met previously, what seemed much like a fleeting memory, if she remembered at all. Her sophisticated tone emerged as she strode into the room.
"Are you feeling well, dear?"
Revenant slowly gazed up to the posh woman, trying to assess whether she was going to be a threat or not. Providing only a hollow stare, she glared at her quietly. Some memory came to surface, recognising the woman in question is infact Hemlocke's right hand lady, Ashwood. Ash looked to Katherine very briefly, before back to Revenant, offering a curious blink as Revenant regarded her in such a way, her cybernetic would lift to shoo the guards out of the room, glaring to the overseer as he failed to follow the guards leaving behind her. Once the other rogues were out of the room she gazed expectantly at Revenant
"... I barely remember what happened... Where is he?"
Her silence broke as soon as the other rogues left.
"Who?"
"Hemlocke."
Revenant pushed herself off of the bed, feeling more revived and focused. She noted her mask, reaching for it.
"Strangely, we cannot reach him. Which is somewhat concerning considering how many of us he called to find you."
Her posture shifted slightly.
"I thought perhaps, you may know."
"Why would he do that, he was right beside me -... Oh."
The confusion emerged out as she was trying to piece together her scrambled memories. Katherine glanced back and forth between the two of them, tension clear in her face.
"No sign of him when we found you, I'm afraid. It didn't seem like the Unioner knew anything either."
Realisation hit Revenant as the memory came back to one coherent piece, he was there when she was shot down. Pushing herself to stand upright, she clipped her mask to her belt, realising that her implant was notifying that her auxiliary life support had ran out. She looked over to Katherine, then Ash,
"I... I need to go find him."
She almost stated in confusion. Katherine's tone softened.
"Hey, hey. Take it easy. You just woke up."
Closing the distance between them, Katherine took her in a stiff embrace.
"And I'm so relieved."
Burying her face in Revenant's shoulder in awkward faux affection, Katherine's voice turned to a tiny frantic whisper millimetres from their skull in what she hoped would look like an amicable exchange. Revenant accepted the facade, glaring tiredly past Katherine's shoulders as she took in the secret message, gazing at Ash.
"I know what happened to Hemlocke. I know where he is. Might be the only bargaining chip we have if this goes bad. Need to hold onto it."
"There will be multiple issues with that."
Ash spoke in argument against Revenant's claim, watching Katherine approach Revenant, suspicious of the not so subtle move, yet her face portrayed no such emotions. Revenant broke free from the embrace, sighing out shakily,
"... What do you mean?"
Ash' cybernetic lifted three of its metal fingers upward, curling them back one by one as she listed them off
"You haven't fully recovered. Your ship is in no condition to fly. He gave me very specific instructions I intend to follow."
"I'm going to repair my ship and I'm going to leave. I do not care what he has told you to do."
Ash grew a smile, not one of mocking, though one of amusement and intrigue at Revenant's response
"Unless you plan to fight your way off this vessel in your current condition, that won't be happening."
"If I must. If he isn't here himself to talk to me, then how can I be expected to work with him if I am held here against my will?"
Katherine interjected in,
"Er....yes. I'm afraid there isn't much of a 'ship' to speak of."
Revenant immediately perked up, raising a brow of curiosity. Katherine looked down, shuffling her feet.
"Calling the Coronet 'scrap' would be generous at this point."
She glanced over to Ash.
"Perhaps they'll let you see the remains?"
Ash went to speak, before taking a look at Katherine, deciding not to voice that bit of information, focusing back on Revenant she spoke
"He said it would be likely you were going to rush off for a.. litany of reasons, regardless of your state. Using the words "much like me" to describe how much of a hassle it may be to keep you in one place."
Revenant's dry mellow expression watered down even further into a negative tone, feeling loss akin to losing her own family after hearing what she had to say about the Coronet. Glaring back over to Ash,
"And then what? What if he doesn't show up?"
"Then... I would assume he is dead."
Ash lifted her cybernetic hand in a conversational motion, explaining.
"The condition for your release was his arrival."
Revenant's gaze sharpened,
"... You are going to release me in that condition, right...?"
Ash narrowed her milky white eyes at the question, her head turning ever so slightly to the left while her eyes remained focused on Revenant.
"There would be many matters of which to attend should that truly occur. Rest easy, he has proven rather difficult to kill."
Shifting around uncomfortably, Katherine spoke. Revenant began to gaze between the two.
"I hate to say it, but... presumably you have a plan for that eventuality... occurring, yes?"
"I'll humour you... If I don't hear from him within the next few days. I will be leaving."
Ash's eyes shifted to Katherine as she displayed visual ques and her delayed speech pattern, as well as the question she asked, though she payed it no mind for this moment. Turning her attention back to Revenant
"I would agree that is likely sufficient time to conclude his death, omitting possible capture of course. However, we will cross that bridge when it comes."
Ash was failing to give a direct answer to the question, likely serving to cause great suspicion as to motive or plan, uncertainty was the only thing that was certain.
"Wolf is a personal - well, I know and value him too, and I would be most relieved to hear of his safety. At the moment though, I don't know what more we can do besides wait."
"One week isn't enough to determine his death... "
She groaned, rubbing her temples as her palms began to subtly quake.
"I think I know what he's doing again, off on his business adventure. He's probably just out of range right now... "
Ash gave a glare to Katherine at her sudden words, looking between the two women, curious what the relation was, rather tired of all these less than charming people her boss allegedly kept around
"A business adventure?"
Ash questioned Revenant curiously, as if she didn't know what she was talking about.
"He will go off in pursuit of his own entertainment. Like you said when he relayed his words to you, he's like me - he will be hard to keep in one place. "
"Do you believe I do not know the man I work with?"
Ash eyed Revenant as she attempted to provide a logical explanation to the man's absence
"I don't. "
She smirked tiredly. Ash didn't respond to that comment, neatly folded her hands in front of her
"For now, you have free reign of the vessel. A room is ready for you, and should you need something, merely ask. However, you will be under escort."
"...and I presume you'll shoot me if I try to step off of the ship, hm?"
Ash giggled lightly at the notion.
"The idea is to keep you alive, dear. However things will not go as smoothly, should you try."
Revenant attempted to bargain her way for some past time entertainment in her unwilling confinement.
"May I at least attend your bridge to overhear comms from your unsuspecting victims? I will be dreadfully bored here. "
"I believe that can be arranged, though I hope such incidents will not occur."
"You said so yourself, I am too weak to attempt an escape... not that I can. "
A frown emerged, thinking about the Coronet.
"...You did... recover the components of my ship... correct?"
Ash glanced to the side briefly, slowly dragging her eyes back to Revenant with her words...
"If you could even call what's left of it components."
"I can work with dust if I must. "
"The remains are in our hangar bay."
Revenant was relieved that they at least had the courtesy to bring the remains, her expression relaxed, although not entirely. Afterall, she was still being held against her own will. Beginning to slowly glare over to Katherine, awkwardly reciprocating some appreciation - despite holding some disdain for her beliefs.
"...Thank you for being here. "
Katherine gave her a weak smile and nod, mirroring the unease at being at the mercy of people she didn't know on an unfamiliar ship. Revenant was exhausted from the previous conversation, sitting back down carefully onto the bed side.
"Wish it were under better circumstances."
"I think this will be as good as it gets."
Their dour tone inspiring something in her, Katherine clapped her hands together, trying to summon some degree of enthusiasm.
"You're alive, you're awake, Hemlocke's a survivor, we'll find a way to move forward!"
Revenant rolled her eye a bit, prepping to blabber on some philosophical nonsense, believing to make the best of the current situation.
"The universe is constantly flowing, Katherine. Best that we keep with the currents, least we wish to drown from trying to force its will too much... "
Her eye drifted over to the door, then back to Katherine. Ash almost visibly shrunk in disgust from the suddenly overly cheery demeanor Katherine adopted, lifting her left hand to snap her human fingers together to get the overseer's attention
"How long has it been?"
The overseer checked his PDA
"Almost nine hours?"
Ash gave a waving motion and the man would leave again, she looked between the two of them expectantly. Revenant rubbed her forehead, lightly massaging it as she idly looked at Ash before parting her lips tiredly.
"Do you mind if I have a moment with Katherine?"
Katherine shot Ash a bashful smile.
"I'd appreciate it."
Ash stared in silence for a time, turning to leave the room, though Revenant would see her stop just outside the doorway to say something to the Overseer, the door promptly shut behind her
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INNOCENT SLAUGHTER, HUDSON
Revenant forced herself up, her implant discreetly scanned the area for any bugged devices or hidden cameras, gazing through the virtual optics, detecting nothing that would emitt a suspicious signal. Speaking up normally, she put on a facade, acting normal within earrange of the bystanders.
"Katherine... I know we've had our differences in the past, but I truly do appreciate you coming here. "
Approaching her, she now stood very close to Katherine, shivering for a moment as her spine coiled subtly. Her back almost had a ticklish jitter - clenching her muscles as something rustled discreetly under her coat, before her palm went to shakily grab her palm. Something slipped from her sleeve to Katherine's hand, a considerable metallic object. Upon brief inspection as her palm parted, it was a little drone that had snuck onto Katherine, almost immediately going to hide within her clothing, scuttling in almost too intrusively as it went under her attire.
"I may never make it out of here. But I was glad to have some fights with you. The contrasting personalities challenge you to change for better. "
Her voice lowered, "...keep him safe, he will recover my heritage. Let him scour the sector to grow. "
Stunned to hear someone she had always known as cool and detached become so personal, while at the same time trying not to react to the tickling sensation of the drone, Katherine cautiously placed a hand on her shoulder. She was under no illusions that they weren't being watched, but if they hadn't reacted to the whispered message before, it seemed unlikely that there was audio surveillance sensitive enough to pick up hushed conversations at less than a body's width. Why would there be in a Rogue destroyer's medbay, anyway? Unless of course they had, and were letting it play out to get more from them?
Exhaling audibly, she dismissed the swirling thoughts and just responded simply and quietly.
"I....I'm glad too. For better or worse, you know me better than all but a few."
Her tone perking up slightly, she continued.
"So don't you adopt such a fatalist tone! I fully intend for both of us to leave this place in one piece."
"Yes... both of us has to leave in one piece. "
Revenant perked up a smirk, insinuating a tease.
"Do me a favour and keep an eye on our... mutual Elder friend, and the trouble relating to him. "
She tried to wink, but realised her only eye could be perceived as a blink. Though such attempt became clearly futile, secretly desiring the power of telepathy to convey hidden messages regarding a certain Harbinger. Katherine smiled, a sincere expression.
"I'll try. I...well, as best as one can watch a gust of wind, a cloud."
Revenant's smirk became devious in mannerism,
"I am sure you can are capable of keeping your ears open - as they say... Just keep an eye out for activity hotspots. "
The heeled foot steps would be heard leaving the door, the woman seemingly not sticking around to wait for the end of their conversation. Revenant eyed over to the door, observing Ash leave briefly, then turned her attention back to Katherine with a smirk.
"Those Rogues are suspicious of you. Maybe it is for the best that you go home now... "
She lowered her voice into a barely attitude whisper, "...they'll likely search you for suspicious items. you must keep him hidden at any cost. " Stepping back, she returned to the bed, lying down as she rested her palm upon her forehead, seemingly feeling disorientated.
Sighing, Katherine watched her with measured concern.
"You're right, I don't need to overstay an already-frosty welcome. I suppose I'll let your people know what happened."
She gave Revenant's shoulder a brief squeeze, the affection genuine this time.
"I'll see if I can arrange - I don't know. Something."
"Do not. And do not't tell them. "
Her tone, despite the fatigue, turned stone cold and serious. Revenant certainly hid something, but to her, she knew she couldn't return home without ample research to back up her reasons for being missing in action for months. And Revenant especially knew the Technocracy has a harsh policy on returning their kind back home, a very strong 'leave no man behind' policy - she didn't want the brutality to come to Hemlocke's home. Becoming puzzled, Katherine glanced over her.
"Valentine sent me to find you. Are you saying I... shouldn't report your whereabouts?"
Her eye perked up, "Indeed. Well, you won't know my whereabouts in the coming hours anyway. "
Katherine leaned in closer, lowering her voice in discretion.
"What about the Lostshare? They might be the only ones who can help." Leaning closer still, her voice further quietening, she continued. "Particularly with the Hemlocke situation."
Revenant still fixed her eye over to her from the bed as she laid back, acting casual, she tried to assess the situation - highly unsure of what to do,
"...I cannot do anything. " - she quietly retorted. "Whatever you do - never - ever tell the Mainshare. They will kill him... Try, erm... I don't know - what is the situati-- no... Don't tell me. I will find out eventually... Not safe to speak here. "
Katherine nodded solemnly.
"It might be for the best if you don't know. No way for them to... find something that isn't there."
She straightened up again, continuing at a normal volume.
"I, er... I'll have to trust you to handle yourself, I suppose. Take care."
Revenant continued to relaxed back, maintaining the disguise of non-chalant attitude, still resting back to appear careless. All things considered, she was at the least content that she wasn't put in chains, not yet.
"All will be well, Katherine. "
She said with a smirk re-emerging. Katherine gave her a look that suggested she didn't quite share the optimism, but she managed a smile and a nod, before turning from the bed and making her way to the doors. Revenant gave a little wave as she walked off to the doors, proceeding to promptly let her body go loose, beginning to rest for the brief moment before they inevitably get disturbed, scrunching her face up in thought.
Katherine examined the door briefly, trying to figure out the mechanism of the door. Shrugging it off, she gave a few taps on it. The door would open from the other side, the overseer turning to look at her in confusion, though nothing was said, a guard with him on the other side of the door, the overseer looked Katherine up and down to see if anything had changed. At a brief glance, nothing much had appeared different. The Drone was trying to stay out of view, discreetly smuggled underneath her clothing, it squeezed itself against her, trying to be as flat as possible.
"I'll be out of your hair, then, as I'm sure you'll be thrilled to hear."
Katherine sighed, losing her snide tone.
"I'm glad they're awake, and being taken care of. Shame about her ship, but..."
She shifted slightly, the drone pressing uncomfortably, but it wouldn't be very noticeable considering how uncomfortable she had looked from the start.
"But?"
The overseer followed the trailing word, the guard still eyeing Katherine closely, as if waiting for an order
"But, these things happen. I suppose my next task would be to look for Hemlocke. I have some contacts that know him, maybe I can find a lead."
"Come again?"
The man's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Slightly taken aback by the reaction, Katherine repeated.
"I know some people that know him, maybe they've heard something? Not quite sure where else I would start."
"Anything you want to tell us about?"
The overseer invited Katherine to say something early, though it could've been for multiple things, it was very likely she knew what was coming next.
"I mean... I will tell you as soon as I know something. I do in fact care about the man and want him to return to his people."
The overseer gave a motion to the guard, who approached Katherine and looked like he was about to get physical with her. The verbal confrontation allured Revenant's attention, invoking her curiosity to go investigate. She snuck up to the door, tiredly investigating the noise going on, overhearing some of their conversation. Leaning against the wall, she stayed out of view. Katherine showed no reaction to the heightened aggression. She obviously wasn't about to fight anyone, so she just gave the approaching guard a curious look. The guard began pressing inward on Katherine's flight suit, beginning to pat her down, starting with her sides, the guard spoke up
"Arms out."
Overhearing that they were searching them, Revenant poked herself around the corner, leaning around it in effort to be a distraction to them.
"Problem, Rogues?"
"What could I possibly have - you know what, fine."
Sighing, Katherine complied with the direction.
"You know, Hemlocke isn't going to be happy about any of this. He'll turn you into chow." - she broadly spoke with a menacing smirk.
"Also, shouldn't you pat people down as they enter? Not when they're leaving?"
The guard looked up at the appearance of the other woman, before the Overseer barked at him, glaring to Revenant
"Get it over with."
The guard returned to what he as doing, but looked up to the Overseer at the mention at Hemlocke being upset, the Overseer focused on Revenant
"Why's that?"
"Oh, imagine the look on his face when I tell him about how you were lacking in security... Forgetting to check people that come onboard his precious Destroyer? Tsssk... "
"We have our reasons."
The overseer stated defensively to the break in security, the guard started patting down Katherine's legs.
"Oh? You have your reasons? Would it involve you being woefully incompetent? Or that you forget to realise that the wreckage of my ship in the hanger is a ticking time bomb from the unstable energy you inevitably failed to contain... "
She slapped her palm onto her lips, dramatically grinning, "Whoops! Spoilers!"
Katherine sighed tiredly, resigned to the process.
"I feel like you would have noticed if I were stealing something from your medbay. But if it makes you happy."
"A disabled scrap heap is a ticking bomb..."
The oversee scowled at the extended mockery, looking to the guard
"Find anything?"
The guard shook their head, having skipped the invasive areas, moving to stand back up
"Mmm... I'll do you boys a favour and disable that unstable isometric ion-reactor before this place blows up. I won't tell anyone about your incompetence. It'll be our little secret. "
Katherine had a moment of relief with them having passed the drone's hiding spot, though she was mixed with worry at Revenant's dire warning.
"Right, well. That's certainly my cue to get out of here. I'll let you figure that one out on your own."
Revenant came around the corner, folding her arms tiredly in the doorway as she leaned against the doorframe, smirking.
"I'm quite the capable technician, worry not. "
The overseer seemed skeptical until Katherine, the alleged partner in crime seemed worried about the warning too, and it did seem like the sort of thing the Dawson techs would miss, looking to Revenant in sheer disdain before barking at the guard.
"Make sure she leaves."
"You, hangar, now."
The overseer motioned for Revenant to move out into the open. Highly entertained, Revenant felt her belt to double check for her belongings, acknowledging her mask was there. Although, despite the underlying humor, there was some sense of honesty in her words. The rabid energy from the Coronet would be persisting from the cracked powercore and the stored up energy cells now discharging.
"You don't need to order me around when I offered help. "
As the guard directed her away, Katherine threw back one more look at Revenant, not trying to communicate anything, just an acknowledgment. Revenant glared at her for a brief moment with a smirk, "Don't get zapped now. " shortly after, Revenant fixed her snarky attitude to the overseer, still smirking in humor. The Overseer glared at the woman who seemed intent on messing with him
"We can just space the debris instead."
"Do that, and see what entails after. "
She sparked up defensively, looking at him with an aggressively stoic stone cold gaze. The arrogant and rather offputting old dog gave her a stern glare in return, pointing toward the hangar in response to her threat. She acted coy, completely disliking his utter disrespect.
That is indeed a hallway. Quite an astute observation. "
The overseer's glare flared, she was clearly getting under his skin, his hands clenching in anger. "What of it?", she continued to play, seeing him writhe in anger amused her.
"You're lucky the boss wanted you unharmed."
The overseer sent a message to someone with a PDA since the woman wasn't moving. Revenant continued her bratty agenda, tormenting the older man into striking first.
"Why's that?"
"I'd wring your neck otherwise."
"Whatever for?"
The man didn't respond, simply looking through his PDA with disinterest
"You'd kill me because of your own insecurities?"
"Didn't say anything about killing. There are worse things I could do."
"Well, whatever for? I don't want to hurt you. "
The man moved forward, glaring down into the woman's eyes, towering over her. She blinked, blankly staring at him in a stoic mannerism.
"I mean... Do you want me to hurt you?"
The heavy metal on metal contact and sound of heavy machinery could be heard approaching from the side as the man looked mere moments away from throttling Revenant. Her head looked away for half a moment - still maintaining direct eye contact on the Rogue, trying to see what the noise was within her peripheral. She continued on, now becoming confused at his demeanour.
"I'm not sure if this is some kind of Rogue initiation thing, like how the Corsairs do it. Do you know much about their warrior life style? They're quite disgusting... Rough, dirty, disrespectful... I think you may like them. "
The large metal abomination that was Fuze approaching the two. The overseer wound up his arm in fury to hit the woman, Revenant noted his actions, almost preparing to have a fight with him. Suddenly, his arm was grabbed with a nasty crunch by the massive metal gauntlet that was Fuze' hand, closing around the entire length of the forearm, crunching the elbow, lifting him easily from the ground like some sort of play thing as the man let out a yell, dangling from his arm like that just off the ground, wobbling about. Revenant flinched back in mild shock,
"My arm! Put me down!" he cried out.
The tinted reinforced glass served only to barely hide the lidless bloodshot eyes of Fuze, that focused directly on the man, it was likely Revenant would recall the brutal display of the suit's strength on Alcatraz all those months ago. Two guards would rush in, though stopped when they saw it was Fuze, watching silently.
"Oh... " - she slowly gazed over to see the abomination of a man. "Put him down - He has learned his lesson. "
Fuze' rather crazed looking eyes, darted to Revenant, before twitching as they looked back to the overseer, dropping him like a bag of meat to the floor, the poor man's struggle to talk even remotely normally revealed in disturbed speech pattern.
"F-Fuze... FUZE... not want see... again..."
The Overseer meanwhile was rolling lightly on the floor, cradling his obviously broken arm that was already showing signs of internal bleeding. Revenant kneeled down, offering to help the man as she checked her own personal pouches, checking briefly if the Rogues ransacked her own goods. Interestingly, she felt her pistol and her medical belongings...
"Let me help you. "
The mechanical giant stood silently, the muffled heavy breathing behind the heavy metal mask could be heard as the disturbing eyes stared at Revenant, wondering why she was helping a man that was just about to hit her. Meanwhile, the overseer didn't respond, but glared up angrily at Revenant as she offered her assistance.
Noticing his wrath, she smiled warmly yet a manner of jest partially remained - still humored by annoying him even further, "You're going to bleed out if you don't let me help. Unless... That's what you want, right? I did ask you if you wanted to be hit... "
Standing back up, she redacted her offer as she rested her palms onto her hips tiredly, pondering, "Maybe it is a Rogue thing. "
The overseer began dragging himself up into a stand, still cradling the mangled arm, posture shrunk as he walked past the behemoth, not saying a word as he moved into the medical bay
Fuze' bloodshot eyes watched the overseer go before darting back to Revenant
"...Fuze... s-sorry."
She stood upright, shrugging to herself. Turning around as the man spoke, providing a warm smile. She was thoroughly entertained in the end, but felt some remorse with being unable to help him to further mock him.
"Thank you for helping me. Don't apologise. You did what you thought was best. "
Fuze stood silently, his face wasn't visible, and there were no expressions to speak of, though the gaze didn't seem cruel in any way, curiosity was clear though. He didn't appear as on edge or as hostile as any of the other Rogues.
"I need to go check up on my ships remains. Don't worry, I'm not going to try to leave. "
She reaffirmed kindly, snorting with a chuckle in mockery, "I don't think anyone wishes to explode. "
The two guards waited to see if Fuze was going to take up following the woman around, seemingly, Fuze turned to began stomping off toward the hangar as she mentioned ship remains, likely expecting her to follow. As she had no other option, she was forced to move along into the hangars to deal with the unresolved problem of the unstable cells in the wreckage. Fuze stomped around until they were in the main entry hall, turning to approach the currently open large hangar doors, unlike the others, he didn't stop to keep his eye on her constantly, perhaps her kindness disarming, or maybe he wasn't an overly suspicious or paranoid man. It was also simply possible he wasn't concerned with the metal tomb encapsulating what remained of him after the explosive accident.
Approaching the great hanger doors, Revenant curiously peered through to see the decomposing husk of the Coronet. Her face broke down, the stoic posture shattered upon seeing the state of her own creation being hurt. The rabid energy from the broken core being leeched out by the impromptu anti-zap stick.
"...oh. "
Her face scrunched up, frowning sorrowfully. Fuze looked upon the large mess, before turning his large metal body to look at the woman
"F-fuze... can... fix?"
Seemingly an offer. Dismissing it the brutes offer for help, she spoke up with a broken voice,
"N-no... It's... "
She forced a smile, trying to remain stoic.
"It's fine. "
Approaching it cautiously, she reached down to pull her mask off of her belt - placing it on and gazing at the remains in analysis, groaning lightly as she acknowledged trying to sieve through the dangerous parts will take a considerable amount of time out of her day.
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