Cyberknight: One Path

⁕ Sea of Broken Shards (part 3)

Said KD-554 while leaning closer toward Beth.

There was a sign of visible fear inside Beth's eyes as she tried her best not to look at KD-554. However, her hesitation and nervousness betrayed her true intentions.

[KD-554] - "How about I ask you again, Beth, my wounded little bitch. Will you be back to work soon after your recovery? You can speak and think, and that's plenty enough function for you to resume your work, in my opinion. "

Said KD-554 in a cold voice.

Beth was afraid. To think is to be. Having now just rediscovered her humanity, she was again affected by the desire for self-preservation and free will.

[Beth] - "I just need a few more days to heal from my injuries. "

Said Beth, barely containing her dread.

Back in the Empire, there was something to be gained when she did what she did. There was power to be obtained and a comfortable life to look forward to. However, here, nothing could be gained from indulging in KD-554's game. You are but a show for her twisted amusement while you lose yourself until there is nothing left.

As she stared at Beth, KD-554 could already smell the lack of savage ambition from Beth. Just like the scent of a specific animal, KD-554 was beyond familiar with the expression of a true savage and the false mask of someone who pretends.

[KD-554] - "Hmm... I understand. I wish you a safe recovery, then. "

Said KD-554 calmly as she moved away from Beth.

With a swipe of her arms, KD-554 closed the curtains on the room's only window. Then, silently, she walked out of the room without a word. Now alone again, Beth breathed a sigh of relief. As soon as she fully recovers, she will attempt to escape from KD-554 and flee this hellhole with her little brother.

Suddenly, the phone on her nightstand began to ring with Dan's ID on the screen. As she picked up and answered, the siblings exchanged a few words of greeting. Though Beth could no longer see herself in the window due to the curtains, she was still thinking back on her time in the Empire with her brother.

[Dan] - "Sis, you gotta stop whoring yourself like this. Put some respect on your name. "

Said Dan as he walked beside Beth, both in their cyberknight armour.

[Beth] - "I'm not whoring myself. I'm simply asserting my influence amongst the elites. "

Said Beth dismissively.

[Dan] - "It's still wrong to me. This should not be the way you achieve power. "

Said Dane with clear frustration in his voice.

[Beth] - "Not everyone is born with the right power to climb to the top through strength. Sometimes, weaker people like us need an alternative to achieve our rise. Maybe I sold my dignity, maybe I was not always a good person, but it's truly the end goal that makes it worth it. "

As Beth recalled this conversation, she remembered the goal she was talking about. It was a few years after her service in the Empire. As the children shivered in the shelter, Beth came back, this time, clad in her brand-new cyberknight armour and rank.

[Athena] - "So this was the orphan shelter you were talking about. "

Said Athena as she stepped beside Beth.

A few of Athena's Spartan marines burst through the doors before arresting the people running the place. Then, field medics and humanitarian service workers quickly began to help the freezing orphans inside the shelter and load them up into their gunships.

[Athena] - "Ya know, it's rare people of your rank reach out to me for humanitarian aid. Sometimes, I feel like I'm the only one who cares about civilians in this war. "

[Beth] - "Would you have listened to me if I were of a lower rank? "

Said Beth bitterly.

Athena stood speechless, not knowing how to respond to Beth. As the last of the orphans walked out of the shelter, Beth quickly recognized the older one of the kids as her brother. With malnourished Dan was, Beth was by that point much taller than he was. With a hand, she reached out to him, who looked up at her with hope in his eyes.

[Beth] - "I'm back, just as I had promised. "

In the present, as Beth spoke with her brother over the phone, a tear left her eye, almost as if her sixth sense knew something was wrong. Suddenly, a flurry of gunfire erupted from the window as KD-554 fired a GAU-8/A Avenger gatling gun at Beth's room from her hover gunship. The red tracer rounds annihilated any objects that stood in their way like butter, while the volume of fire made them look like a straight laser. In her fury, KD-554 kept going until the bullets began to burst through the other side of the hospital, and her ammo ran empty.

[KD-554] - "*Huff* You dare put on a facade in my face, you ARROGANT, filthy, pig-faced cunt! You think... You think I'm stupid enough not to see through your little act? You are just the same meat for the slaughter, like my sister! Be glad you died quickly! "

Yelled KD-554 at the massive hole she tore through the building.

On Dan's side, the phone was abruptly cut off as the noise of the gunfire burst his eardrum. As the dust settled, nothing about Beth's existence remained, with everything vaporized to powder and ashes. However, Beth's broken cyberknight pendant remained recognizable despite being buried below the debris.

To be continued...