Rise in Revolution (Chapter Eighteen)
Apr. 29th, 2016 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanadin posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
saladloveChapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
World map: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Kaldri
Chapter Eighteen
Lost Though Bonded
Street 9, Sector IAL. January 18, 2272. Time instance 842N.
“Okay, so, we’ve gone around getting collars off of people.” Nine began as he walked alongside Seven down the street. It was late evening by now, and the streets were mostly abandoned. “Then we went and rounded up the elementals and sent them to Tanadin. What now?”
“Well, now we have people with magical abilities that weren’t strong enough to have collars put on them, and the people with strange unique magical abilities that aren’t really of much use in combat. For example, there’s- oh, hey!” Seven moved forward and to the side, grabbing Cap’s arm as she walked past. “Hey, Cap. I noticed that you were on the list of people with unique magical abi-”
The rest of his sentence was muffled as Cap put a hand over his mouth, eyes wide. “Can you not announce that kind of thing in a public place?” She hissed. “Let’s go somewhere more private.” She grabbed his arm and hauled him into the nearest empty building, Nine tagging along behind.
“How do you know about that?” Cap demanded once Nine had closed the door.
“I’d downloaded all the files of people with extra-human abilities and noticed you were on the list.” Seven explained. “Why don’t you want anyone to know? Why haven’t you told anyone?”
“Because when you tell people that you can...can...can see ghosts, they think you’re nuts!” Cap crossed her arms, feeling self-conscious with both Seven and their newest teammate there. “Just...can you keep this a secret? Please? I don’t want people to treat me any differently.”
Seven hesitated. “Okay, fine. But not if it’s imperative to our survival.”
“Deal. Nine?”
“No, don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.” He smiled at her. “You can talk to ghosts? That’s kinda cool, although I guess it’s not as cool for you.”
Cap shook her head. “It’s useful, but overall annoying. Yes, I mean you!” She glared at the space to her left.
Seven nodded swiftly. “I have other people to check on as well.” Without another word, he turned and left.
Nine smiled apologetically. “I guess I picked up the ‘social interaction’ thing better than he did.” He followed him out.
Cap sighed and leaned against a wall. He’s going through files, is he? Her exhaustion from the day was suddenly replaced with frustration. Fine. She stood up and left the building, walking up the street and towards the control center.
Two can play at that game.
~~~
“Is this really a good idea?” Atar asked nervously as Cap struggled to figure out how to work the console.
“If he’s going through everyone else’s files, I can go through his.” Cap told him, typing a command into the console and smiling when it pulled up what she wanted. “It’s open to anyone who just walks in here, now.”
The female ghost following her seemed...not agitated, but bothered, and had her arms crossed as she watched Cap locate Seven’s file and read through it.
“Asphodel Allvaer.” Cap mumbled. “Interesting name.”
“Allvaer is a Dranonic word.” Mentor noted quietly. “It means ‘storm,’ I think. Kyir’s mother taught him and I picked some up.”
Cap nodded while she continued to read, raising an eyebrow at the mention of a sister and curiously followed the link to Elysia Allvaer’s page. The image provided made her stop in surprise and glance between the screen and the ghost following her.
The two were almost identical.
The ghost looked at her, arms still crossed. Cap motioned between her and the screen. “Are you…”
The ghost nodded.
Cap’s eyes widened slightly before she went back to reading the file, freezing as she neared the bottom.
“Also known as Unit 7006-α.” A shiver ran down her spine and she turned to look at the ghost again.
We fought you. Clash killed you. Don’t you resent us for that? Don’t you hate us?
Cap didn’t ask any of those questions as her mind turned to Seven. Oh gods. He won’t be happy if he learns this.
“Elysia-”
“Sheva.”
Cap blinked in surprise as the ghost spoke. “What?”
“He left his name. I’ll leave mine.”
“Okay. Sheva, I’m guessing we don’t want to tell Seven about this?”
She shook her head violently.
“...Would he murder us all horribly if he learned?”
She nodded.
“That’s great. That’s fantastic.” Cap closed out of the file and left the building, trying not to break into a run. “Great. That’s great.”
We’re so dead.
~~~
Kyir jumped as Cap almost slammed the door open.
“Where’s Tanadin?” she demanded.
Kyir looked at her like she was nuts. “Does it look like I know? I’m a bit busy at the moment.” He pointed at what he was making- some kind of odd contraption in the vague shape of a human hand.
Cap grumbled and left the room, shutting the door behind her.
Kyir blinked a few times and glanced over at Tac, who sat in a chair a few feet away. “What’s bugging her?” He mumbled, more to himself than anything as he got back to work on Tac’s new hands. “She’s not normally that frantic about...anything, really.”
Tac frowned. “I don’t know. That’s not like her at all. It must be something urgent.”
“Shawn, go check that out.”
“What? Why me?”
“Because I’m busy and Tac can’t open the door.”
Shawn ran that over in his mind a few times before standing up and sighing. “Okay, fine.” He glanced at Tac, reluctant to leave, but finally shuffled out of the room and down into the Black Market, which, for the first time, had its door left open and unsupervised. He felt odd walking down the hallway without having to say the passphrase, but times had changed, he supposed.
To think, this morning we were startled by Tanadin running in here screaming about the three thousand units. He stopped mid-step. This morning. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
He was yanked from his thoughts as Cap walked towards him, trying to get past him to leave. He grabbed her arm. “What’s going on?”
“I need to find Tanadin.” Cap repeated.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
Cap hesitated, looking around, then lowered her voice. “Unit 7006 was Seven’s sister. I need to warn Tanadin and the others because if Seven learns that we killed his sister, we’re all dead.”
Shawn’s eyes widened. “Oh, shit.”
“Exactly.”
“I think she went back to her apartment to get some sleep. Do you remember where it is?”
“No.”
“I’ll lead you there, then. Come on!” Shawn turned and took off back up the tunnel, Cap right behind him.
~~~
“His sister was what?” Tanadin demanded.
“Unit 7006.” Shawn crossed his arms. “We’re a bit fucked if Seven finds out.”
“Yeah, no shit! We need to warn people about this as soon as we can. You guys let everyone- except Seven, obviously- know. I’ll do the same.” Tanadin paced. “Oh, this is bad. This entire place has gone to hell.”
“I’m surprised we’re not dead.” Shawn admitted. “Why haven’t they bombed us yet or come through the train tunnel?”
“Kyir set up the turrets at the train tunnel to shoot anything that tries to come through. Apparently those things could shred a nine thousand unit. And according to Seven, the Mainframe doesn’t have a lot of fliers and flying in three thousand units to take us down just isn’t practical. They know we can’t wait here forever. They’re content to keep us bottled up in here- and hide behind their own turrets- until we die or surrender.”
“Great. I love stalemates.” Shawn muttered sarcastically. “What’s the plan?”
Tanadin laughed. “I have no clue. I’m a little braindead from the fight earlier, and my head’s a bit spinny.”
“What? Why?”
“I lost a lot of blood today, Shawn. I think we all did.” Tanadin sighed. “And in addition to this revelation about Seven’s dead sister, there’s the whole Geek thing, and-”
“Geek thing?” Cap interrupted.
Tanadin sighed again, crossing her arms and sitting down. “I thought I had misheard her when she said the name Vel’kex earlier, but no, that’s it. She has Vel’kex in that book.” When all she received were blank stares, she elaborated. “The Archdemon of Destruction.”
“She had an Archdemon?! How...what…” Shawn sputtered.
“I don’t know.” Tanadin shook her head. “And I don’t want to think about what kind of state hell is in without one of the six Archdemons.”
Cap blinked a few times. “Archdemons?” She asked, frowning. “I don’t believe I’ve heard the term.”
“The demons of hell are ruled by six Archdemons- very powerful demons with unique abilities. Vel’kex is one of them, the Archdemon of Destruction. The fact that he’s been gone for twenty years is...bad, at best. Ironically, though, it might be our saving grace. From what I can tell, he’s weakened- probably because of the book- but he’s just as powerful as Geek, if not more so.” She grinned. “Between them and Sadie, we’re a demonic powerhouse.”
“Fan won’t like that.” Cap warned.
“Fan can kiss my flaming ass.” Tanadin told her cheerfully. “Now, is that all? I’m exhausted and need sleep, as do you.”
Cap nodded in agreement. “I’m going to get some rest.”
Shawn got to his feet. “I’m going to check on Tac.”
Tanadin frowned. “Shawn…”
“I’m just...worried, okay? She lost a lot today. I just want to make sure she’s okay.” Without another word, he turned and left the apartment, stepping out onto the street before taking a deep breath.
I’m just worried about my friend. Just worried about my friend, that’s all.
So why does my heart hurt so much everytime I see her struggling not to cry?
~~~
Mars leaned back against the wall, taking a gulp from the bottle in her hand. She shivered at the burn of alcohol on her throat, but she relished it at the same time.
She needed something to distract her from what she had seen that day, and she knew exactly where to find it.
The blood, the mutilations, the death of the day...it struck Mars to her core. She had never seen anything like it, and while she was certain that others were bothered as well, she wasn’t about to approach them with her own problems. They had enough of their own, after all, and she happened to have a stash of alcohol.
Surprisingly, no one had come to get some from her, although she suspected that they would tomorrow. Today they were too shocked, too busy, too exhausted. Mars swished the alcohol in the bottle around, watching its dark shape against the light, and was about to take another gulp when she heard a loud clang.
She sat up and looked around wildly, but her attention was drawn to M’s stall as he shrieked, seemingly in fury.
That, she could remember the sound of.
“THIS INFERNAL DEVICE VEXES AND HAUNTS ME!” M roared, seizing a metal box off of the counter of his stall and stepping out into the main hallway of the Black Market. He growled to it and stormed by, leaving through the door. As he walked past, Mars glimpsed what he was holding.
A toaster.
She blinked a few times before glancing at the bottle of alcohol in her hand, shrugging, and drinking the rest.
Her ears were ringing from the sounds of his shouting, but she couldn’t remember the sound.
no subject
Date: 2016-04-29 10:48 pm (UTC)Awwwwww shit, they killed Seven's sister.
“Shawn, go check that out.”
“What? Why me?”
“Because I’m busy and Tac can’t open the door.”
I lol'd so hard :D
Tanadin sighed again, crossing her arms and sitting down. “I thought I had misheard her when she said the name Vel’kex earlier, but no, that’s it. She has Vel’kex in that book.” When all she received were blank stares, she elaborated. “The Archdemon of Destruction.”
Vel'kex Archdemon of Destruction, sounds about right. Where are Vel'kex and Geek in this chapter? Off somewhere catching up?
no subject
Date: 2016-04-29 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-29 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-29 10:58 pm (UTC)Tan: "MAMA MIA THAT ISA SPICY SITUATION!"
Cap: "HOW ARE WE GONNA HIDE THIS FROM SEVEN!?"
Tan: "EASY, TELL EVERYBODY 'WE KILLED SEVEN'S SISTER' SO THEY'LL KNOW NOT TO TELL HIM, THEY MUST BE WARNED!!11111!1!!!!
no subject
Date: 2016-04-30 02:31 am (UTC)How?
By telling everyone but him that we killed his sister!
Huh? Wouldn't they be less likely to tell them if they didn't know?
“THIS INFERNAL DEVICE VEXES AND HAUNTS ME!” M roared, seizing a metal box off of the counter of his stall and stepping out into the main hallway of the Black Market. He growled to it and stormed by, leaving through the door. As he walked past, Mars glimpsed what he was holding.
A toaster.
IT RETURNS. DO NOT LAUGH. IT IS AN EVIL DEVICE FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL WHICH FEASTS UPON IT'S ENEMY'S SCREAMS OF PAIN.
This is Cap
Date: 2016-04-30 02:46 am (UTC)Re: This is Cap
Date: 2016-04-30 04:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-30 06:25 am (UTC)EEP! Like they needed a reason to make Seven mad at them. Seriously. And with this much foreshadowing, I would bet good money that he's going to find out at some point. Oh boyyyyyyy.
-the lurkiest lurker
no subject
Date: 2016-04-30 06:26 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
no subject
Date: 2016-04-30 01:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-30 02:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-30 02:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-30 10:43 pm (UTC)Either way, it a most deadly for that's appetite for blood shall only be sated by the screams of pain of its enemies as they play crappy video games for its amusement.
no subject
Date: 2016-04-30 10:43 pm (UTC)Re: This is Cap
Date: 2016-04-30 10:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 02:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 06:38 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 06:39 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
no subject
Date: 2016-05-02 11:30 am (UTC)