Desolation

[Vendetta]

---

Part VI - Communications Breakdown

---

30/9/825

Aria coughed and gasped for air, keeping a hand on her soon-to-be bruised throat. She looked up with tears in her eyes at her attacker, who seemed dazed. Leviathan was staring at his hands. He shuddered at the thought of what was happening. For a moment, all the noise and chaos had been dispelled. The link was silent. Things were... Normal. Leviathan looked down at Aria, realizing what he had done. The onlookers were terrified as the Keeper loomed over their protector. Aria couldn't process the situation, as she was struggling to collect herself. One of the crewmen quietly crawled in the shadows, ducked behind one of the terminals. He reached a pair of other crew mates, who were hidden together, observing the situation and whispering to each other. He scurried over to them on his hands and knees, terrified for making a noise. Nobody here had any kind of equipment to deal with this situation. Despite this, the idea of sitting helplessly didn't work too well with them.

Leviathan shook his head. The lights on his face were flickering from the self-inflicted damage. He was coming to his senses it seemed. Aria recognized the hesitation, feeling the situation might've finally de-escalated. Leviathan reached down to her with an open hand. "A-Aria, I'm so-" He began to speak. He was interrupted by a blow to the back of the head from a chair, and the roar of three men. The communications crew jumped on the Keeper, dropping him to the ground with their body weight and the element of surprise. Aria staggered back on her palms. "No, wait!" She cried out. The three continued to wrestle the Keeper, trying to pin him down. "Don't worry, we got him!" The lead one replied.

Leviathan had hit the floor with an impact that would've knocked the wind out of him. Surprised and shocked by the attack, the haze took over again. "You see?" The voices and hallucinations called out. "They're going to kill you." They whispered, poisoning his delusions against him once more. They picked up in number and noise, filling his head with white noise. The link was once again bombarded with an absurd amount of unintelligible ramblings, rage and betrayed thoughts. In a panic, Leviathan thrashed back his elbow, smacking one of the crewman in the nose with a crack. The man buckled back, grabbing his now bleeding nose and yelling in pain. Leviathan forced himself up to his feet, taking the other two up with him in a struggle. They battered at his joints to try and knock him down again. Leviathan grabbed one of them off his back and tossed the crewman through a holo-display, shattering the glass and sending the man barreling over the table and to the floor. With an open hand, Leviathan grabbed the last man's face and pushed him off. He quickly followed up with an upwards swing, scratching at the man's face. The metal and swiftness of his hand tore clean through the man's cheek, and partially into the bone, coating the Keeper's robe in red spatter. The man simply dropped, screaming in agony and grasping at his face.

Aria leaped to her feet, waving at the others in the room to make for the door. Those hiding in the communications room began to evacuate out the door Leviathan had entered. The enraged Keeper faced down with the Sentinel and the last crewman, who helped himself up to his feet. The other with his broken nose, kept his hand over the dripping orifice and stood up. He attempted to stagger around the Keeper in a daze and make for the door. Leviathan snapped his gaze to the crewman and rushed him. The man panicked and tried to run, however Leviathan had closed the gap with a quick lunge and grabbed him by his collar and belt. He lifted the inured man over his head, and barrel tossed him towards Aria with a quick rotation of his torso. The man flailed as he soared across the room and over the terminals. Aria braced her legs and tried to catch him, but was hit with enough weight to be knocked down. The man that was thrown had hit his head on the corner of a terminal on the way down. He was unconscious and seriously injured.

The second crewman charged Leviathan, grabbing a metal rod from the damaged holo-display he had been thrown through. He bellowed and swung for the Keeper, who subsequently ducked the initial swing. However, the crewman performed a rather advanced maneuver with the pole, treating it like a bladed weapon. He withdrew briefly and used the momentum of Leviathan's dodge against him, to club Leviathan across the head again. He continued the barrage of assaults, the blunt force of which was largely mediocre and more stunning than damaging. Leviathan had enough, and grabbed the man's wrist of his free hand during a stab. He forced the man to step right, then grabbed his shirt and lifted him up. He walked with the man out of the room and into the hall, where the remainder of the crew had scattered for other rooms. Leviathan pushed the pole-wielding man into the hall, releasing his grip. The man charged at him again, going for an offensive approach. He stabbed and swung at Leviathan like a trained fighter, clearly having some martial arts experience.

Leviathan however, wasn't going to underestimate his opponent again. As the man moved in on the offensive, Leviathan sidestepped the stab, then leaned back to avoid a follow-up swing. Using the momentum of the lean, he swung his head forward and hit the man clean in the face with a hard impact. The man stumbled back and nearly toppled over, dazed from the unprotected blow. Leviathan ran towards him and leaped up, kicking the man in the chest with the full force of both legs. The man wet flying backwards, coughing out blood on impact. He slid briefly and came to a stop, briefly moving around and gasping for air. He didn't bother trying to get up. Aria and the man with the broken nose charged out of the room at the Keeper, hoping to draw his attention away from their fatally wounded comrades. Taking the bait, Leviathan swung his arm at Aria, who swiftly slid underneath his arm and danced around him in a flurry of spinning motion. The broken nosed man had stepped around Leviathan. He tossed his datapad at Leviathan's head. Leviathan easily dodged the object. He growled angrily and charged after the man. Not having the reaction time, the man scream was interrupted by Leviathan grabbing his head and throwing him into Aria once again. The force of which sent the two to the floor, causing Aria to hit her head on the floor hard enough to render her unconscious.

Leviathan turned his attention to his final opponent. The wounded man staggered upright to his feet. Terrified and alone, he turned and took off in a full sprint down the corridor. Leviathan looked around like a wild beast. He looked to Aria's body. A small laceration was present on her forehead from her impact. It was large enough that she'll require medical attention. The voices whispered in Leviathan's mind. "End it." They said, one after the other as he looked over the unconscious woman. She was vulnerable. "Do it now. If you don't, you know she'll come back and finish what they've started." The voices continued. Leviathan held his ground, staring at Aria. The voices continued to pressure him to break her neck. They became deafening, drowning out all sounds. He raised a hand slowly and took a step towards her. "Good." They exclaimed. Leviathan took another step towards her and began to kneel down, with the intent on going through with it despite his restraint.

His actions were interrupted when the man with the broken nose returned, roaring bravely as he charged the Keeper. He tried to throw his body weight into a tackle, in an effort to throw the Keeper off balance. As Leviathan was distracted, he succeeded in drawing his attention. Leviathan stumbled as the man attempted with all his strength to push him over, pushing him at the waist. Leviathan looked down at the man's pathetic attempt. He grabbed the man by the neck and started dragging him down the hallway, choking him as they went away from the bridge and towards a nearby security room. Along the way, the man continued to struggle, suffocating from the hold, his own broken nose and the blood that was pooling in his throat. Eventually, he lost consciousness. By the time they had reached the security room, Leviathan had left the man in a trail of blood, barely alive in a corridor several junctions away from where the fight had broken out. Leviathan continued on past the security room for the Captain's quarters to collect his equipment. As he moved through the halls, the occasional door would be slotted open just enough for someone hiding to be peeking out, yet no one said a word or made a noise.

At the Captain's cabin, Leviathan cared little for obstacles. He walked through the small table, toppling it over. He ransacked the place for his equipment, collecting a folding blade and his sidearm. He loaded up his holster and placed the blade in his hand. Leviathan examined the officer's sword and swung the weapon around briefly. It wasn't his. It was too short, but it'll do the job. He wasted no time in leaving the room, blade in hand. He marched his way back down the hall, retracing his steps towards the bridge. As he went, he came across the man he had left. He had regained consciousness and was struggling to get to his feet. Leviathan approached the man, who heard him coming. He slowly lifted his hand in defeat, not wanting to fight. The man couldn't. Before he could say anything, the blade of the officer's sword took his hand off and went into his torso, killing the man almost immediately. He dragged the man a couple of feet on the blade before it cut loose. Leviathan kept walking, intent on returning to a place where he could funnel any hostiles to him. Hunting was surely going to get him killed.

At this point however, what drove him didn't care what happened anymore.

---

---

Youtube

------