Against the Tide - A New Elysium Story [Complete]

Innocence

You're right... sorry, she mumbled. Time to get to work.

Null approached Yaremova cautiously. The woman was still breathing, but she seemed knocked out cold. She was even heavier than she looked, but Null managed to turn her on her back and proceeded to inspect the metallic armor that covered her body. Streaks of Yaremova's own blood, and fragments of her skin and connective tissue clung to it. The electrical charge had heated the material up, and at the edges of the plates they could see that the skin underneath was singed and raw.

Lars couldn't even begin to imagine the pain she must have suffered when those spikes had broken through. He could now understand why Null felt sorry for the woman. It was a harrowing sight.

The armor covered most of her skin, even her palms and forearms.

Those plates must be made form the same thallium-titanium alloy as the one in our skull, Lars pointed out, as a quick scan was now unable to reveal anything that lay underneath.

The only piece of metal the scanner could penetrate was the plate that had been used to reinforce Yaremova's skull. It seemed to protect the hardware that sat nestled amidst her grey matter from physical damage, but not EM radiation.

So that's what Blake meant. He probably used a different alloy so he could monitor how her brain adapted to the hardware, and made use of the properties of the alloy for her armor... But she either has nothing that we could interface with, or it's hidden underneath that armor, Lars pointed out. That's a problem.

Null didn't reply. She just held on to Yaremova's hand for a moment and furrowed her brow as she looked down at the hunter's face. She looked surprisingly peaceful, as if she was sleeping, despite her short blond hair clinging to her forehead and cheeks from sweat and blood. But the wounds on her face had closed up completely by now thanks to the nanobots. He suspected that she wouldn't stay unconscious for very long either.

I have an idea, she finally thought, before he could suggest to leave her and run. But I think you won't like it.

Even less than your idea of almost frying ourselves by groping some high voltage power lines?

Well.... I just remembered what Blake said when he explained to us how his little machine works, she began.

The optical nerve... Lars realized immediately and shuddered. Oh my.

She turned Yaremova's head to face up and pried one of her eyes open. The iris was still tinged red, and from up close they could see the fine machinery of an augment that had been embedded within. Null looked back and forth between their palm and the woman's eyeball, hesitating for a moment.

Are you sure you want to do this? You know that she'd just kill us if she woke up right now...

I want to try, she said firmly, And if we really can't get through to her, then... well, let's just try it, okay?

He sighed, knowing that it was useless to argue with her. He couldn't help but see a certain irony in the situation. Null, who believed she had lost her soul because of what had happened to her, went out of her way to save the soul of the woman who had probably been through something very similar. Null, who felt guilty for pretty much just existing, thought that this woman, a fanatic, homicidal maniac, deserved to be saved. Null, who couldn't see one shred of good in herself, was convinced that Yaremova wasn't evil. He could only hope that she was right about it.

Do you remember what I said back when we were at the Butcher's place? Lars asked Null as she moved their hand to place it over Yaremova's face.