Aetheral Space

"It's kinda depressing for a hospital," commented Marie, leaning against the open section of the transport even as it flew through the air, making its way through the incomplete security perimeter. Even as the wind assaulted her hair, she seemed entirely unconcerned about the fact that one wrong step would send her falling into the abyss below.

Simeon looked up from his position at the back of the transport - he'd taken up two seats and made them into a makeshift sofa to lounge in. "All the lights are off," he snapped, checking for dirt under his nail. "Of course it's depressing."

The transport turned as it flew up towards the roof - Reyansh maneuvering the ship as if it were an extension of his own body.

"True darkness is the night of the soul," he intoned, in a voice presumably meant to sound wise. "An honest warrior does not let his eyes deceive him."

Marie reached out and patted him on the back of the head. "Hell yeah," she said. "I love it."

Noel, sitting in the co-pilot's seat, crossed her arms as she kept her eyes fixed on the monolith that was the Anna Sait Memorial Hospital. This woman - Marie - was making herself entirely too familiar with Noel's crew. She was tolerating Marie's presence only because of her obvious strength - she could be useful to Noel's plans, after all - but her personality left a lot to be desired.

She snuck a glance back at the woman - only to snap her head back to look straight ahead when she saw Marie's blood-red eyes looking back at her.

"Are the defenses clear?" Marie asked, voice sickly sweet.

"Mm-hmm," Noel grumbled. Her Aether, her Digital Complex, was running through her body like an electric current - and radiating out, seizing control of any compatible device that came into range. The hacking skills Noel had taken years to learn had now become all but automated, a brute force attack that she could unleash with a thought.

Her grip tightened on the arm of her chair. She couldn't fail this time. She couldn't.

"We are coming down now," said Reyansh, as the transport began to descend. "Prepare yourselves."

Noel squinted, feeling the drones she'd already dispatched. Even with such distance between them, she could sense them individually, like fingers stretched out to impossible distances.

Some of them had already engaged someone - the automatic orders she'd given them directed them to attack any combat-ready person outside of a hospital room. They weren't doing well; two had already been destroyed.

"There's already someone inside," she said as a third drone met its end. "Someone strong - they have Aether. Reyansh, you'll take care of them."

Reyansh nodded as the transport landed on the roof with a soft thump.

"Simeon," Noel turned around in her seat to look at the pink-haired boy. "You secure Lucius Sait's office - make sure nobody can get in there before we arrive. If that isn't possible, snatch him and head to the rendezvous point."

Simeon twirled a lock of hair between two fingers. "Sounds like a plan," he drawled, already sounding bored.

"And you," Noel's eyes flicked to Marie. "You're with me. We're heading to the main security room - I'll seize full control of the building from there."

Can't let you out of my sight, after all.

Marie winked, gave her a disgustingly cheery thumbs-up. "Roger dodger!"

Noel rolled her eyes as she hopped out of the transport, landing on the cold roof. The entrance to the stairwell was off in the corner, behind a sealed metal door. No problem.

She pointed a finger towards the door - and, even from that distance, a tendril of cyan Aether shot out and crawled into the door's control panel. A few seconds later, the door opened.

"Most impressive," said Reyansh, hopping off to join her.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Noel said harshly. Still, it was nice to be appreciated - she only barely suppressed a smug smirk at the compliment.

As Reyansh rushed down the stairs to meet the unknown attacker, and Simeon sauntered off to fulfill his task, Marie strolled up to the side of Noel.

"It's a cold night," she said, putting a hand to her hair as the wind sent it flying. "We should get inside - unless you wanna get blown off the side?"

Noel shot her a glare. Even now, in this kind of situation, she was acting unsettlingly casual.

"I don't trust you, you know," Noel said, voice low.

Marie giggled. "Well, of course you don't. You're not stupid. That's what I like about you, sweetie."

"Don't call me that."

"Never again," Marie lied. "Anyway, you don't need to trust that I'm telling the truth, because I hardly ever am. You just need to trust my abilities. I don't think I've given you reason to doubt that, have I?"

Noel scoffed as she began walking down the stairwell, Marie following after her. "Your abilities? What, is this the whole Supremacy thing? Might makes right?"

Marie tilted her head back and laughed - a genuine kind of laughter, as if Noel had just told a really funny joke. "The Supremacy way?" she said, almost mockingly. "What, the thing where the biggest idiot climbs to the top of the pile because he can punch the hardest? It's funny, don't get me wrong - but it's doomed, I think."

This wasn't the kind of rhetoric Noel had expected from a Special Officer. She gave the woman a strange look as they walked. "Your buddy - Muzizi or whatever - he seemed a little more earnest than you."

The smile that crossed Marie's face wasn't reassuring in the least - wide and toothy, like a cat looking at a mouse. "Oh, believe you me, sweetie - everyone's more earnest than me."

-

Let me fight! Serena shouted from inside Bruno's mind, annoyance quickly turning into anger. That's not fair!

"No," Bruno growled, ducking underneath another plasma shot as he closed the distance between himself and the fourth drone. He deployed two forcefields with thrusts of his palms - one directly above the drone, so it couldn't fly upwards, and the other right behind it to close off the other escape route.

As he reached the drone, he jumped over a second shot and transitioned into a kick - his feet pressing the machine against the two forcefields with the strength of a vice. It split like a mechanical orange, electronic innards squeezed out from any seam in the metalwork.

Why not? pouted Serena as Bruno landed again.

"You remember what happened at the casino," he muttered, planting another forcefield behind himself to defend from any unseen enemies. "We can't risk you going crazy like that - not when we don't know what's going on."

We do know what's going on. We're in danger. Let me fight!

He sighed, rubbing a hand over the side of his head as a splitting migraine began to take hold. Serena really wasn't going to let this go.

"Serena," he said quietly, through clenched teeth. "Listen, I-"

Bruno, move!

Serena's warning - she'd processed the threat a second before Bruno - gave Bruno time enough to roll to the side, narrowly avoiding the combat knife aimed between his ribs.

The wielder of the knife was one of the guys from the niain battle - the tall one with the mask, the bomberman. He was standing where Bruno had been a moment ago, knife still plunged into empty air. Bruno scrambled to his feet, dispelling the forcefields he'd left strewn about the place: he couldn't afford to scatter his Aether against an opponent like this.

"Hm," mused the grey-haired man in a deep, smooth voice. "That was a splendid dodge - but the recovery was rather amateur. You must endeavour to improve that aspect of yourself, should you find the opportunity."

He sure loved to talk.

Bruno adopted a combat stance, remembering the CQC he'd been taught at the Sed. An ambiguous position, ready to snap into attack or defense at a moment's notice depending on what was needed.

"I don't know who you are," he said, maintaining distance between the two of them. "But I don't want any trouble."

"You don't…?" the bomberman seemed genuinely hurt. "I'm certain you were there when I introduced myself - take more care to honour your opponents in the future. I am Reyansh Patel. Do not forget it again."

"I don't suppose you're just going to let me go."

Reyansh shook his head. "Nay," he said seriously. "I've been ordered to eliminate you - and I have no intention of going against that. Ready yourself, warrior."

With all this talk about honour and warriors, this Patel guy would probably fit in pretty well with the Supremacy. Maybe he couldn't afford the trip?

"Well," growled Bruno, subtly creating a forcefield directly in front of himself. "After you, then."

Reyansh lunged forward - and, just before he ran into the forcefield, he instead jumped over it, his knife spinning between his fingers before he thrust it down towards Bruno.

Bruno moved his head to the side, feeling the knife brush against his hair as he did so, and grabbed onto Reyansh's arm as he fell. With a roar of exertion, he flipped his opponent and slammed him onto the ground, the knife clattering to the floor - Bruno kicked it away.

Keeping Reyansh in a lock, Bruno did his best to make sure his opponent couldn't move in the slightest. Along with pinning him with all his strength, Bruno created another forcefield directly above his quarry - if Reyansh tried to get up, he'd smash his face right into it.

Reyansh grunted, face flat against the cold ground as Bruno drove his knee further into the man's spine.

"Sorry," Bruno panted, purple Aether running along his hands to allow grippage. "I don't die so easily."

The cough that escaped Reyansh's lips quickly transitioned into a chuckle. "Indeed…" he muttered. "You seemed a mere defender when I saw you last, but I see now that was not your full potential. Impressive. Most impressive - argh!"

Reyansh's monologue was interrupted as Bruno wrenched his arm, dislocating the limb. He wouldn’t allow this bastard to try any mind games or anything like that. He wasn't that stupid.

"How many more of you are there?" Bruno said, voice cold. "Their powers and their locations - or I break the arm this time."

Reyansh glared up at him, struggling to break free of his grip and the forcefield both. "I won't say a word," he hissed.

"You sure?" Bruno began to twist Reyansh's other arm in his grip. "You probably have a few seconds to change your-"

Reyansh opened his clenched fist, and Bruno's eyes widened in horror. Right there, in the middle of the hand not so far away from Bruno's face, was a tiny rattling pebble.

A pebble shining with chaotic red Aether.

Bruno let go of Reyansh, leapt back - and not a second later, the bomb went off. Raging red Aether and smoke, like a thunderstorm in miniature, raged through the hallway, tearing the walls and floor apart and flooding the air with disturbed dust.

Putting a hand to his arm, Bruno winced - he hadn't been quite fast enough to avoid damage. His forcefields had smothered the explosion a little, but the side of him closer to the blast had taken the brunt of the shockwave. It wasn't so bad that he couldn't move, but he'd be in trouble if any more enemies showed up.

Still … Bruno looked at the cloud of smoke. He hadn't been expecting a suicide attack - usually, people like Reyansh Patel tried to fight to the bitter end. Maybe he wasn't as Supremacy as Bruno had assumed.

He had no time to ponder the question; getting out of here was clearly the best option. He'd find a way out of the hospital, contact Skipper and the crew somehow, and find out just what the hell was going on.

Bruno winced in lingering pain, turned to head down the hallway, and began limping away.

"Please don't assume we're finished here," said Reyansh Patel from behind him.

Bruno's breath caught in his throat. Impossible.

That had been point-blank. Hell, worse than point-blank - the forcefields surrounding Patel would have redirected most of the force of the explosion to hit him instead. Even if he was alive, he shouldn't be conscious, let alone talking like nothing had happened.

Forcing his body into painful motion, Bruno whirled around to face the clouds of encroaching dust.

The grey smoke parted as if to allow Reyansh passage - the grey-haired man strolling out of ground zero of the explosion without so much as a scratch on him. Not even his clothes were damaged. The knife he'd dropped earlier was dancing between his fingers, and his golden eyes were glittering with excitement.

"Splendid," he murmured, pointing the weapon towards Bruno. "Truly splendid! You dodged my attack expertly, sir! And the ability you used to smother my explosion … I didn't expect it to be so durable. I've taken an interest in you."

Bruno bit his lip, lowered his body back into a ready position. Looked like the fight wasn't over.

Reyansh's eyes narrowed with an unseen smile as he saw Bruno prepare for further combat. "Splendid," he breathed again. "I shall attack again now. Please be prepared."

He lunged forward.

Bruno closed his eyes. Serena.

-

Unlike Bruno, Serena didn't dodge. She didn't even know the meaning of the word 'dodge'. Well, actually, she did - it was a pretty common word, after all, and she'd heard it used a bunch of different times, in loads of different contexts. Ruth did a lot of dodging. It would be nearly impossible not to know what 'dodge' meant, unless you were actively trying - but to do that, you'd need to know what 'dodge' meant so that you couldn't learn it. Which defeated the point.

Anyway, Serena didn't dodge the attack. Instead, she rushed to meet it.

Twin swords of dust - shining with violet Aether - gathered together in her hands, and with two swift strikes she deflected Reyansh's stabs. Only one of the swords survived the attacks - even infused with her Aether, they were still only made of dust - but a replacement collected in her hand a moment later.

Reyansh took a step back down the hallway, his attacking stance shifting into a more cautious one. He looked her up and down.

"You are truly full of surprises," he murmured. "Abilities that facilitate defense and attack both. You truly are a formidable adversary. Perhaps, if your heart is true, you could join in our righteous crusade-"

He was interrupted by a flurry of attacks from Serena, her arms twin blurs as she brought the swords down from every possible angle. Each time his knife struck out at one of her swords, the weapon was destroyed, but the explosion Reyansh had set off meant there was no shortage of dust to take advantage of.

Bruno had been forced to defend against this jerk, but Serena was steadily forcing him down the hallway, her face fixed in concentration. Once his back met the wall at the end of the hallway, she'd be able to deliver the killing blow.

As he was forced to retreat, Reyansh gritted his teeth in frustration - and a second later, he was holding another rattling pebble in his hand. Another bomb.

Switch! Bruno's voice rang out in her mind. For a moment, she thought about ignoring him - she'd waited so long to stretch her legs, after all - but the urgency he sent out convinced her otherwise.

Like diving into a deep pool, she descended into the backseat of the body - and at the same time, Bruno climbed out.

-

Bruno thrust his palm out, creating a forcefield around the pebble - and when it detonated a moment later, the force was reduced a great deal.

Still, Bruno was sent flying down the hallway - and Reyansh was pursuing on the attack again, dagger striking out many times a second as he ran.

Forcefields went up as fast as possible - each one shattering with a shower of sparks as Reyansh's knife stabbed into it. Still, it at least meant that the knife wasn't stabbing into Bruno.

Even with the whole 'honorable warrior' thing this guy had going on, Bruno knew there was no way he wasn't frustrated at his inability to land a hit. Indeed, a growl escaped Reyansh's throat with each lunge of the knife, irritation building every time it bounced off a forcefield or just outright missed.

Reyansh moved his other hand slightly - the one not holding the knife - and Bruno saw another tiny pebble in the palm, already rattling. He really wasn't going to make this easy for him. Sucking in a deep breath, Bruno went to dodge backwards - but this time, Reyansh didn't move as he'd expected.

Rather than unleashing another point-blank detonation, Reyansh flicked the pebble in front of him - shooting it past Bruno, right in the direction he was dodging.

He didn't have time to change his position. He'd just have to reduce the damage as much as possible.

Forcefields appeared behind him, as many as possible, layered over each other to such a degree that they were fully visible, like discs of glowing purple Aether. When the explosion went off, the outer layer shattered like glass, but the ones behind them stayed firm.

But there was still the force of the shockwave.

Bruno gasped as he was sent flying forwards by the explosion - right towards Reyansh, who was waiting with knife in hand. A chuckle crept out from behind the man's mask.

"You fought well, my friend," he intoned - and stabbed forward with the knife.