Alex was half listening to theresa while she briefed him. It was early and he had pretty much just woken up. As theresa was speaking she saw that Alex wasn't paying attention and she said "ALEX, are you even listening?" Alex shook his head "I can barely concentrate right now, give me let's say 5 minutes for me to fully awake then let's talk." Theresa sighed "It's really not that complicated of a job but the crew wants you there for something else too, I'm just gonna get something to drink, you should come too." Alex nodded and followed theresa to the kitchen
After a while Theresa saw that Alex was fully awake and she said "alright are you now ready to hear the briefing?" Alex nodded "I got it." Theresa then said "good, Zhuge kongming wants you to search her captain's office and room with her to see if they can find any reason to why he became that way." Alex then said "you think there is another thing besides the augmentations?" Theresa shrugged "Yeah, but for now there is another matter, what do you think is going on with Zach?" Alex then said "I think memory crossovers, as in he's inherited memories from other Zach's, my current explanation anyway, what about you?" Theresa then said "I've got nothing, his background is quite weird too, most of it is almost gibberish except for his mother, even then it seems that even she may not exist because her background is gibberish too. I want to investigate this further at some point in time." Alex nodded "agreed."
After a while of waiting Sarah walked in with Zach and gave a smile saying "Hey, are you ready?" Alex nodded "I am, are you?" Sarah nodded and looked to Zach "I'll see you later." She then kissed him and Theresa said "can you carry the supplies?" Sarah nodded "I have been practicing using the project end energy in my free time. Watch" Sarah then picked up the crate with ease and Alex said "impressive, must've taken time?" Sarah nodded "yeah, I had Zach help me out. Before I could never lift him, now I can."
Before leaving Sarah changed up her hair and said to theresa "How does it look?" Theresa looked over and said "looks nice, in fact it looks a bit like major Himeko when she was younger. It suits you, but for now go wait by the portal I'll call them to see if they are ready."
Alex holsted his M4 on his back and got ready to go through, he looked to Sarah and said "you know the assignment?" Sarah nodded "deliver the goods to the other crew and search for the reasoning of the captain's behavior, I've got it." Alex smiled "awesome. We shouldn't be to long."
The portal opened and Alex said "Let's get going." soon after he walked into portal alongside sarah who carried the crate as they traveled Sarah said "do you think we'll find anything of note?" only for Alex to shrug "it's a possibility that we might not, but if we can find something, that'll be huge." Sarah then looked at the crate and said " I wonder what's in here?" ALex then said "I think they're materials that this crew uses, EXP chips, asterites and something else from what I've heard. Do you use them?" Sarah shook her head "no, but Theresa does keep some for some reason, maybe they're old, and theresa keeps them for nostalgia purposes? Maybe she was able to procure some and give it to the others as payment or even as a gift. I'll never know." Alex then said "All we know is that we just have to get it there."
After exiting the other side of the portal Alex was greeted face to face with Zhuge kongming and Delta the former of which said "welcome, how was your travel?" Alex then said "good, what do you need me to do now?" Zhuge kongming then said "Your friend can help delta with the sorting, if she can, but you I need your eyes." Alex looked confused and said "my eyes?" Zhuge kongming then said "I've had both bronya and bronnie attempt to hack into the captain's computer, but they haven't gotten anywhere, he seems like he prepared for this." Alex then looked at Sarah who was talking with Delta, looked back to Zhuge kongming and said "I see, well lead the way."
Alex got to a room and Zhuge kongming said "sorry about the mess, he's quite messy." Alex then saw bronya by a computer who looked up and said "Subject Alex, you're here finally." She then tossed Alex a drive and said "found this, have a look once you get a chance." Alex nodded and said "any luck on this captain?" Bronnie then said "none whatsoever, most of his stuff is locked away and we could only access his computer, not his files all of them are encrypted." Alex then said "did you check the drive?" Bronya shook her head "it was labeled for you so we didn't want to snoop." Alex then said "we should have a look now then maybe it has a key to decrypting the files." Bronya took the drive back and said "The bronya thinks this is a stupid Idea but I'll give it a- and it worked." Alex then looked at the computer screen and a bunch of files popped up, some of which were related to project end and others with videos each addressed to a different person originally on the ship and one for Alex. Bronya then said "Do you want to listen to the one addressed to subject Alex?" Alex nodded "yeah, play it."
"if you're listening to this, then I've gone completely insane, a while before our reunion I had problems with my health, I was dying, so I met with a man who would help me live as long as I was able to get augmentations, to kill you Alex." The captain then sighed "during my conquest to find you and kill you I became, insane my mind began to talk to me and I could no longer sleep, however I did find a flaw, I could shut down the augmentations for about 2 minutes at a time, which is how I am able to speak to you, and if the others are watching too, just note the other messages are for your eyes only. But back to the topic at hand, by now you've likely met my crew and I may have tried to kill you, and I knew you would make allies with them. So I ask of you this, help them out give them hope and do what you can to stop me from returning, captain out."
Zhuge kongming stared at the captain's paused face and said "how could this be, I know he went through a shift in personality but I didn't think it was the augmentations?" Alex then said "It's not the augmentations that changed him, it's the fact that he could absorb project end energy, and through the augmentations it was able to affect his mind, like project end." Alex then accidentally bumped a panel and it opened up revealing some augmentations "Th-these are the, no way." Zhuge kongming said for Alex to reply "yeah, augmentations he was definitely planning on upgrading himself, it looks like he may be trying to up the negative energy in his body, well prior to the invasion at least. Do you mind if I take it back with me, to inspect?" Zhuge kongming nodded "Yes, please get it away from here, I-I don't want to see anymore things like this, and if you still are able to bring him back can you?" She now started to tear up and Alex nodded "I can, and I will."
After leaving Zhuge kongming said "Do you want to stay for lunch?" Alex looked at her and said "Sure, I'll go check on sarah first." As Alex went off to find her Zhuge kongming said "Captain, you are one strange man. I want to see us together again, I want us to fight for a better future still." She looked back at Alex "that 'you' who said to kill Alex will pay for everything, mark my words."
Alex had entered the cargo area to see sarah tidy the place up quite a bit and he said to Delta "woah, has it always been this tidy?" Delta then said "not in the slightest, sarah seems to do a great job of it too." They then saw sarah walk up to Alex and say "hey Alex, I was just cleaning this place up." Alex nodded "I noticed, what drove you to do this?" Sarah then said "I think it's part of my mother's side, my inner perfectionist, it's not as strong as my mother's so I only like to keep things tidy to a respectable level." Alex saw the area and how tidy it was saying "you really must've given this place a good clean." Sarah nodded "yeah and I sorted everything, I hope they will like it." Delta then said "well I like it, at least I know where they'll put my weapon and not just shove it somewhere."
After a while Alex sarah and delta walked to the dining area and saw everyone he knew was related to his travels and two more he had never met who had just left. He looked to Delta and asked "who are they?" Delta looked at doorway they went through and said "Oh those two, yeah they're from someplace else. I don't know where and I don't know what they did before hand, and they refuse to elaborate." Alex then said "I see, well I wouldn't push them."
Zach looked out to the deck and said "I wonder how that other captain is doing, I wonder where Alex sent him and I wonder if he can be saved." After a short while Zach turned around to See Mei held up by the neck by the captain and he jumped back. "Hello Zach, where is Alex?" He said with a calm voice. Zach then said "none of your business." Zach then saw the grip of Mei get tighter and the captain grinned "Tell me where he is or your friend here dies." Mei began to struggle and hit the captain a few times in the arm, Zach then said "enough if you want to know where Alex is I-I'll say." The captain dropped Mei and walked to Zach and said "Give me his location, now." Zach then said "with your crew, doing an errand." The captain then punched Zach in the gut and said "you'll take me to them." Zach had clenched his stomach and looked down "even if you were able, Alex will stop you, Sarah too." The captain laughed leaning into Zach "really, I have tricks up my sleeve that'll ensure my victory but if they wish to stop me then I can change my plan, how about I take you to the place where he placed me a world made for people like us, dimensional anomalies."
Theresa saw Zach being dragged along the floor and yelled out "Hey, what is goi- oh shit." She saw Zach being carried by the captain. Theresa Then said "let go of my captain." The captain looked over to Theresa and said "Ah, you must be Theresa, I'm just taking this young man from you, oh and if you see Alex, tell him to find me, he knows where to go." Theresa stared daggers to the captain and said "not going to happen, Zach's staying with us." Theresa then hit a button requesting that all Valkyries go to her location. The captain then said "Really, you think that'll stop me?" Theresa shook her head "no, but it'll give enough time for Alex to get back and rip you to shreds." The captain looked around and saw Kiana, Seele, Mei, Fu Hua and his Rita. He looked at rita and said "so you've been living here now, afraid to go back?" Rita shook her head "No Captain, I am here to stop you from making a big mistake." The captain then said "the only mistake I made was bringing them back to help me, they slowed me down, they can't do anything right."
Alex and sarah were enjoying lunch when the alert came up and Delta said "problem?" Sarah looked at her phone and said "seems that there's a problem back on our ship." She then sighed and went to look at a picture of Zach "I hope he's ok at least." Alex then got up and picked up his bag saying "well we should check it out, I don't want to delay their alert, sarah you ready?" Sarah nodded finishing her food with a smile "now I am."
The captain looked towards Fu Hua "the weakest link, aren't you, project end." He said getting closer to her. Fu Hua backed up a bit looking a bit upset, Kiana knew what he was trying to do so she took the first action and stuck him in the back. The captain looked back at Kiana and saw her in a ready pose. "So you choose to die like this then, so be it." He looked at the others and smiled "Would it really be fair if I fought you with them watching, so let's do something about it." He then let out a burst of energy similar to one that Alex uses and Kiana said "alright, ready when you are."
Alex and sarah got to the portal and delta went to the console saying "good luck, I know you won't need it but, just good luck anyway." Alex nodded and walked towards the frame saying "thank you." Then Sarah walked towards it and said "stay safe." Before the portal opened looking dark with the green colouration and purple accents as usual, but something felt off as Alex entered he felt like something went wrong.
Kiana took blow after blow not getting much of a chance to attack, by the time she felt like she was about to pass out she heard a voice "hmmph, such a foolish human." Kiana looked up, everything began to look blurry to her and as the voice said one more thing "let me take over show this fool what a herrscher can do."
The captain was about to punch Kiana one more time he felt her grab it. He looked shocked he then saw Kiana open her eyes only to be golden she then spoke in a different tone "Time to meet the one who'll put you in the ground, insect." The captain gritted his teeth and became vulgar "You little shit, I'll crush you here and now."
Theresa was the first to awake from being knocked out, she looked at Kiana and saw her outfit change before her very eyes. He look turned from confusion to absolute fear when she saw her eyes "O-oh, oh no." Theresa knew what was happening, the herrscher of the void was unleashed and for the first time it was fighting on her side.
Zach looked at the golden eyes of Kiana and said "c-could it be? My nightmares are real? Is this the real Kiana?" He sat up looking at the two having a stare down Zach tried to stand up but felt something hold him in place, he looked around and saw lances pin his clothes to the wall. "Is she, protecting me, is she still in there after all, I have so many questions?" He thought.
'kiana' was using the subspace lances, the same one's pinning Zach to the wall, against the other captain, and she was doing a decent job but that all changed soon after. The herrscher began to droop and her attacks felt sluggish. "Was she being drained?" Zach wondered. The captain smirked and said to Kiana "you are quite unaware are you, herrscher." He then summoned lances like Kiana's and said "project end, quite the powerhouse, but what if I mixed both the powers of a herrscher and project end together. Well I'll try it out on Alex soon enough." 'kiana' kneeled down her golden eyes fading and as the captain walked past dragging Zach along he said "don't try this again." Kiana's key then dropped to the floor and the captain saw it out of the corner of his eye and said "this how you bring back Alex huh?" Kiana was now shaking with one of her eyes now orange. "well I can feel him nearby, so why don't I just bring him back for you, how does that sound." Kiana didn't respond all she did was look into her hands and shake.
Alex saw the portal open and as he went through he saw the captain and looked shocked "You." He growled getting ready to fight. The captain then held his hand up "You know where to find me, that's when we will have our true final battle." Alex then said "and why are you taking him?" The captain flung Zach around looking smug "well, I do need an insurance policy, so you do come and fight me once and for all." Alex nodded "I see, but I can't let you take one of our own." The captain shook his head walking backwards "but you see Alex, it was already decided." The captain left and Sarah returned saying "I'm bac- wait who opened us up?" while looking around. Alex then said "it was that captain, and he took Zach."