Outside the throne room, Izara stood in front of the massive double doors and took a fortifying breath. It was early in the morning and light from the open point on the pyramid spilled into the open main hall shining across the beautiful fountain in the middle. Like the rest of the stark décor of the metal palace, the fountain was made of the same black metal. Four towering statues of huntresses stood with their spears at each corner of the shimmering reflecting surface.
It was beautiful yet brash in its own way. Very yautja. Too bad she couldn't truly enjoy it. Nothing about the alien planet and its mysterious yautja inhabitants sparked any of her usual joy. Inside she just felt dead. The truth about what she was and what Bor had been assigned to do when he came to Black Mountain was too much to bear.
The truth had decimated her. Izara would give anything to go back to the lie, back to the moment she could look at Bor and not want to scream.
What a fool he probably thought she was. Probably what they all thought, she frowned thinking of the other cyborg women.
Cyborg. That was what she was, wasn't it? Not simply enhanced as she had always been led to believe but truly different. Hell, even different from the cyborgs here on Ojibwe.
Izara's nails dug into her palm as she thought of the people back on Black Mountain. Everyone had always treated her like a pariah. Turns out they had been right to treat her that way. Izara recalled the pitying look Justice had given her and her gut churned with anger. She was some sort of lab-born freak.
"Are you ready?" Ravki's voice broke through her spiraling thoughts.
Taking another deep breath, she nodded and followed the hunter as he pushed through the giant doors.
Once inside all eyes turned to her. There was a small crowd dotted around the massive room, some humans, mostly hunters. Without thinking her eyes found the familiar pair of red eyes coming towards her. Izara ignored Bor. Doing as Ravki had instructed she walked down the center of the room directly to the dais at the end.
At the center of the dais stood a metal throne with another yautja sitting on top of it. Ravki told her their leader was named Rakkah and he decided all on Ojibwe. Standing next to him was a yautja holding a spear. Maybe his guard or advisor? She wasn't sure, Ravki did not mention him. Stopping a few feet away she waited for the yautja leader to turn his glimmering gaze towards her and nod his head.
Izara swallowed, she could feel the eyes of the room on her. "I am told that I must speak with you in regards to leaving."
The room had already been silent but now all noise ceased as if there had been a silent collective gasp. Beside her, Bor shifted in agitation but did not interrupt her.
Rakkah stared at her, considering her words for a moment before lifting one clawed hand and gesturing to the wide room. "Beyond Ojibwe, you will be hunted. Here you may live freely."
Ravki told her to expect a denial but she refused to believe it. Why would he deny her? She was not yautja there should be no reason why she should be here. "I rather take my chances."
Rakkah said nothing.
Frustration welled up inside of her but she did her best not to show it and kept her voice calm as she pressed on with her argument. "Ravki has told me your scientists have no interest in me. I should be free to leave!"
"And what of your mate?" Rakkah indicated to Bor at her side.
Refusing to look at him, she continued to stare at Rakkah. But it did not mean she couldn't feel him. His eyes bore holes into her flesh and she could sense the desperate need for her to turn to look at him. She refused.
Mate. She scoffed at the term. Bor had never called her that during his charade back on that planet. Not once. He would not get the title now. Looking up to Rakkah with fury in her eyes she gave him a firm look. "I have no mate."
Bor let out a warning growl beside her and stepped so close he was an inch away from touching her. She ignored him and continued to stare at the Ojibwe leader taking in every detail of the fierce looking yautja, looking for any sign of consent.
Rakkah simply stared back at her with a steady gaze and Izara knew then and there he would not give his consent.
Anger unfurled inside her and she clenched her fists at her sides. Suddenly she could feel every living soul in the great room. She could sense exactly how far away the walls were and guess their density. Ravki's detailed explanation of what she was resurfaced in her mind and it only added to the wildfire raging inside of her. They all may have known what she was long before her, she thought as she finally turned and faced the yautja at her side with a look of burning betrayal, but they clearly did not know who she was.
Inside her, the flames of her anger licked at her control, warning her yet provoking her at the same time. One voice of reason told her to just hold out while the other demanded that she give into the chaotic urge deep inside. The Berserker urge. But she knew the cost of that urge, Ravki explained the uncontrollable state and how she could easily be lost to it. For the past few days, Izara had thought often of that price. A price she seemingly paid once before with her memories--her very identity. Who was she before that last wipe in memories? Had she been the same person? She would never know the full details but she did know one thing, she thought as she turned from Bor's silent pleading eyes, she knew on a cellular level that regardless of her memories being lost she was no pushover--and she wasn't one now.
Turning her back to the throne, Izara marched down the aisle towards the door.
Behind her, there was a noise and then she heard the deep resonating sound of Rakkah's commanding voice. "You will not leave."
Angrily she whirled around and glared back at the yautja past the small sea of faces no doubt judging her. "Please," she began in a whisper but knew he could hear her. "I just...want to go home."
His eyes burned in the low light of the room even as his deep growling voice calmly replied. "You have no home out there." The pain his words caused cut so deep into her that it must have shown on her face because just for a moment there was a glimmer of remorse in his bright eyes. "This is your home now."
Izara shook her head. "I will not go from one prison to another." She looked to Bor who was still by her side. "I will not be lied to again."
"Izara-" Bor began but she turned from him and continued to the colossal double doors.
She was going to leave this planet with or without Rakkah's permission.
Halfway down the long aisle, two tall figures stepped in front of her blocking her way. It was Justice and her hulking lieutenant, Bex.
"We cannot let you leave, Izara." Justice's voice held a note of understanding but Izara could hear the resolute command within it.
Bex gave her a mean grin. "Yeah, little sis, can't have you out in the galaxies going crazy on everyone now can we?"
Justice threw a reproachful glare at her lieutenant but Bex continued to stare at Izara with a clear challenge written on her face. The massive soldier wanted a fight.
Beside her, Bor let off a threatening sound at Bex, and Justice said something to her. Izara couldn't pay attention. Her senses were all over the place. Vaguely she could hear Ravki's deep tone as he said something to Izara or maybe it was to Justice. Izara couldn't be sure. Tears of frustration ran down her face as she looked beyond the small crowd surrounding her to the huge double doors ten yards away. If she could just--
"Hey don't cry," Bex groaned. "It fucking ruins the badass image of you in my-"
A rumble of shock echoed through the room as Izara appeared before Bex in the blink of an eye. With tears still streaming down her face and a huge smile pulling at her lips, Izara leaned in and whispered loudly to Bex.
"Ravki told me about you and your sisters. He said you needed suits to be truly effective and that the suits were your power."
The shock on Bex's face began to mutate into anger but Izara's grin only broadened even as the tears poured from her eyes. "You know what the difference between you and me is?" She could see the flippant remark about to leave the lieutenant's lips and Izara stepped back and looked at both humanoid women as the decision settled deep inside her and the chaos poured in. "I am the suit."
Everything in her body hardened as she pushed kicked the other cyborg in the stomach. Millions of nanites in her blood and bones calculated the size of the massive woman and lent their strength a hundredfold. The cyborg's body flew across the room and hit the doors with a booming force. Around her roars of battle filled the air.
Justice pulled out a long blade from her boot and Izara gave her a sharp smile. She could feel the points of her teeth as she ran her tongue across them. "Aww I thought you were supposed to help guide me, sister?" she threw the word at the woman like acid.
"I will help you after you spend a week healing," Justice hissed as she dodged Bor's attack with his gauntlet blade, no doubt only trying to subdue the angry cyborg. But Justice came towards Izara with quick steps.
At the same time, Izara could feel the thumping steps of something big coming up from behind her. Instinctively she knew what it was and grabbed the woman's lunging arm holding the blade and spun them both around until Justice's back was in line with the massive hunter barreling their way.
"Your mate is here," she announced to both the cyborg and the yautja. "I suggest you take her to the med bay." She announced to the approaching hunter just as her hand transformed into a blade puncturing the woman deep in the shoulder.
The hunter caught his mate with an angered roar but Izara turned her back on the pair and focused on the door. In front of her Bor fought off two different hunters trying to make their way to her, one covered in white markings and with white eyes.
Ignoring them, Izara took two steps toward the direction of the door before a long spear came down in front of her. Instinctively, Izara pulled back just in time the blade singing past her to the metal floor. It was the hunter who stood beside Rakkah on the throne dais. No sooner than it sparked off the floor it was back up and Izara was backing up, bobbing and weaving away from the hunter's staff.
Lifting her bladed arm she met the staff with a screech of metal. Again, she glanced at the door and back to the determined eyes of the hunter. More chaos could solve the problem. Sinking further into the dark abyss of the unknown within her could give her the strength to rip the yautja's spear arm clean off his body and he would no longer be a problem.
At that thought, Ravki appeared in front of her grabbing the hunter's spear with both clawed hands. Locked in a battle of strength, Ravki said something to the hunter. The opposing hunter's eyes flashed to her and then glared back at Ravki.
Using her chance, she ran to the doors. She was four yards away when her senses began to scream again. Izara ducked as claws scraped against her shoulder and tore at her jumpsuit, leaving a hole in the fabric. Turning around, she looked at Rakkah whose eyes burned with anger.
Even through the smattering of chaos thumping in her veins and the churning reservoir deep inside ready to be unleashed, Izara could feel the very power of his command get through to her muddled mind. For a second, she considered capitulation. To go the path of least resistance just as she always did, but she thought of those years on Black Mountain telling herself to settle for less. And she thought of those months of happiness on that island planet with Bor and realized what she had been missing out on staying a willing hostage for Black Mountain.
Without meaning to, her eyes wandered to Bor in the mayhem of the room and spotted him fighting off now three hunters. He was holding his own against them.
Turning back to Rakkah, she narrowed her eyes at the yautja leader. "I will not be kept prisoner."
"And I will not allow you to leave," he countered fiercely.
The chaos inside her made her smile even as her heart felt heavy with pain. Seeing her sign of defiance, Rakkah rushed her but his gauntlet blade met another and they were both suddenly staring at Mokembi.
Mokembi's red eyes blazed at their leader. "I will not allow you to harm my brother's mate, Rakkah."
Rakkah snarled at the huntress and Izara wavered on what to do, temporarily banking the fire of chaos inside of her. She wanted to help the huntress, but she also needed to get to the doors.
As if sensing her dilemma, Mokembi pushed Rakkah back and snarled at her. "Go. Find my ship."
Pain welled up behind Izara's eyes as she whirled for the doors. Grabbing a hold of the handles she pulled the doors open even as she allowed more of the chaos to take over. There would no doubt be more yautja hunters on the other side of this door waiting to subdue her. Preparing herself, she flung open the doors and froze at the three spear tips pointed at her stomach.
Behind her, she could hear Rakkah's furious roar and felt him and more approaching her at double speed. The plan to subdue her was gone. They were coming to kill her as she faced the diminutive warriors.
But Izara did not move. The chaos inside of her froze as she frowned at the sight before her. Three little girls all dressed in similar clothing and holding smaller yet still deadly spears glared up at her with anger framed in uncertainty and fear. While their stances were firm, Izara could see the slight waver in their spears. She noted their human features and their odd eyes. Yautja halflings?
Across the open pyramid hall, Izara could see a huntress take notice and her eyes flashed with fury as she began to run over towards them. But Izara paid the huntress no heed. She couldn't take her eyes off the three little girls. They were children. Actual children. Sadness so deep and profound washed away the fight in her as felt a dream inside of her die. She always wanted to meet a child and had imagined many a time alone in her quarters what that first encounter would be like--it was nothing like this. Never did she imagine fear and anger reflected back at her.
Something bumped her slightly from behind and Izara could feel Bor's presence behind her as he faced the enemies at her back.
"She will not harm them. She has never seen children before."
Izara felt the blade on her arm disintegrate leaving her with fingers once more. Defeated and ashamed she turned around and buried her face in Bor's back as the tears started anew. This was not how things were supposed to turn out. They were supposed to be happy. Coming to Ojibwe together was supposed to be magical.
Turning, Bor wrapped her protectively in his arms and guided her away, making low sounds of warning at the other hunters who dared approach them.
Around her, she could hear the growls of discontent, even the three girl's protest as someone plucked them up and carried them away. This was all because of her. They all hated her. Even if she did stay here it would be just like on Black Mountain, she was would ostracized from society.
Leaning back she looked up at Bor and felt her heart twist in pain at everything they lost. Reaching for his hand, she smiled sadly to herself as he easily gave it to her. Holding it with both hands she lifted it to her chest, and let her fingers run down his gauntlet and over his rough knuckles. She stared at his knuckles as the hopelessness settled in her chest.
"Izara, you will let me explain," he began, his gruff voice deep with emotion. "I wanted to protect you. I meant only to-"
Holding his knuckles directly over his heart, she let her nanites activate his gauntlet.
Bor didn't make a sound as the dual serrated blades tore through her heart. Around them, the world fell into silence as she sank down to the ground in his arms. They probably all thought good riddance, no doubt, she thought with a dry laugh.
Bor's eyes were wide and filled with unimaginable pain and for a second Izara worried if it was his heart she punctured but the pain in her chest chased by a cold numbness assured her it wasn't.
Bor's mandibles twitched as he stared disbelieving at his fist stuck to her bloody chest. She knew without him even saying it that he wanted to know why.
"You don't know how lonely life is when everyone, everywhere rejects you for just being you."
Bor could not understand her words. He did not reject her. He wanted everything about her, to be with him always. "This day would have been forgotten," he tried to explain even as he stared at the light in her eyes fading. "Even if not. I love you and nothing else will matter."
But she did not see his reasoning. She did not reply. Because the light was already gone from her eyes and his life.