She moved through the maze with an uncanny grace and speed.
Nova could not see her, but the connection allowed him to witness what Amy did somewhere in the back of his mind, and it felt like watching from afar. She had climbed on top of a tall hydroponic rack, and cowered flat among the dark green leaves. Perched like a silver-black bird of prey, she waited for the female hunter to pass by down below.
As Amy jumped down behind her, the suit turned black like coal. She knocked out the hunter with a single, re-enforced punch to her kidneys, while muffling her cry by pressing her hand against the woman's lips. The hunter collapsed and sank to the ground – Amy had vanished again before she even hit the floor. Just then, the next one came around the corner. The man walked up to the unconscious hunter and bent over her.
"Feng?"
He must have sensed some movement in his periphery, and looked up.
"What the-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Amy had delivered a forceful punch to his temple, and he collapsed on top of his colleague.
They're idiots, Amy commented.
Ripples ran across the suit, rapidly shifting between the re-enforced black armor pattern and the white spikes as she scanned the area for her next target. Nova could feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins as if it was his own body. It helped him to snap out of his awe to make his own move.
The first three targets were easy. The gun firing the tranq darts was silent, so they probably had no idea what was going on right until the moment that the poison spread through their systems and they collapsed. None of them got a chance to warn their colleagues, but as Nova and Amy continued to move through the maze, picking off their targets one by one, it slowly began to dawn on the Saiph that something was wrong.
"This is Commanding Officer O'Hara," one of the male hunters activated his com to call his colleagues. "Gamma squad, what is your status?"
There was no response. A few hundred meters away, the two members of gamma squad dropped unconscious on the floor, tranq darts sticking in their necks.
"Feng, Walker, where are you?"
Again, no response.
Eight more to go, Nova remarked.
Seven, Amy corrected him from her position somewhere at the other end of the maze.
Six, then, Nova said, as he took out O'Hara.
He silently made his way through the corridors of hydroponic racks, approaching his next target.
"I think my com is dead," a male voice remarked somewhere close by.
"Have you tried turning it off and on again?" a female voice asked back.
"You've spent too much time with those guys from IT, Franklin."
I will need your help here, Nova remarked, stepping back into the shadows as he reloaded more tranq darts.
On it, she replied.
He could sense her close by before seeing her, and through their connection it was as if he could perceive the scene before him from two points of view at the same time now. Besides the uncomfortable tingling of a growing headache behind his forehead, it gave him an odd sense of detachment from his own body, and reminded him a lot of the fight on Six. But the difference was that he was still fully in control of his own actions, and so was she. They didn't have an Augur to steer them. Still, they worked together more efficiently than two non-augmented people could probably even comprehend.
The moment he stepped out of the shadows to take a shot at the male hunter, Amy charged at the female one. The man whirled around and raised his gun at her, but went down before he could fire. The woman was about to scream, but Amy delivered an upper cut that knocked her out flatly. She stared down at the two lifeless bodies on the floor between them, and in the back of her mind, Nova could hear faint fragments of a conversation with the other voice.
Four to go. The females might not be out for long, Nova remarked. We better finish this and get going.
She nodded absent-mindedly, and then receded back into the shadows of the dark green thicket. He could sense that something was bothering her, but he didn't dare to ask right now. He scanned the area again and picked out his last two targets. The scandroids were still patrolling the perimeter, but as Amy had promised, they seemed to ignore them. Even when he had felt the prickling sensation of one of their scanner sweeps for a brief moment, it hadn't reacted to his presence. So she had been right about that Major Park after all.
Nova approached his targets from behind, tracking the group of three from his cover with his scanners. Luckily, un-augmented people could not feel the invisible probing, so the hunters didn't know that they were on their tracks now. But they had realized by now that something was wrong. Nova could feel Amy somewhere close by, she had just taken out the remaining other one. Two men and a woman were left.
"Call for back up," one of the two men urged the second. "Something's wrong. Why isn't anybody answering?"
"There's no reception down here, we can't connect to the guys upstairs," the other man replied, fumbling with his communicator. "We're way too deep underground."
"Oh my god, guys, look at this!" the woman called out. Around the corner, she had discovered the lifeless bodies of two other hunters.
"Shit. So they're really here somewhere. Get the scandroids!"
Their position was less than favorable now. Nova couldn't shoot from his current hiding place, and would have to step out in the open. It was three against two, they would have to be fast.
Now, Amy's voice resounded through his head.
He moved from his cover, and raised his gun. The second he shot that tranq dart at one of the men, a black-and-grey flash rushed at the woman from the shadows. The first hunter sank to the ground as the poison began to act, and the woman cried out in surprise the very moment Amy's fist made contact with her temple. But the third hunter reacted quickly. He jumped back, his gun pointed at Amy, finger on the trigger.
Everything happened too fast for Nova to truly process, but at the same time it seemed to occur excruciatingly slowly. He could hear Amy's heart beat pounding in his own head as she stared down the barrel of the gun for a split second. Then, there was the sound of two voices, unintelligible but growing louder and louder until it seemed to wash over him like a violent and consuming tide. She dodged the bullet in a fluid motion, and in the same motion went for the hunter's throat. The man dropped his gun in surprise as her fingers closed around his neck, but he reflexively brought his fist up to hit her head. She blocked the blow with her free arm as if it was nothing, and smashed the man against the hydroponic rack behind his back so forcefully that it drove the air from his lungs.
Meanwhile Nova had moved without thinking, and almost as fast as Amy. He crossed the distance to her in another heartbeat, swapping the tranq gun for the real one. As he pointed it against the man's temple the hunter froze in his attempts to claw at her choke hold.
"Alright, asshole," Nova said. "If you play nice and tell us what this place is about, I might consider putting you to sleep instead of blowing your brains out."
"N-never," the man croaked. "You'll hear nothing from me!"
He doesn't know, a voice resounded in Nova's head.
It was the other one, he realized with surprise. He cast Amy a glance from the corner of his eyes. Her posture had shifted again. Her shoulders were straight and every muscle in her body was tensed up. Her stare was fixed on the hunter's face, which began to turn blueish, and the rings in her black eye augment were shifting rapidly.
How can you tell? Nova asked.
The look on his face, the voice explained. So don't bother.
He raised an eye brow in surprise. So should I shoot him?
She shook her head almost imperceptibly, and suddenly her shoulders seemed to slump ever so slightly. She still moved with almost superhuman speed, even for an augment, as she pulled the hunter toward her and then smashed him back against the rack so forcefully that the light in his eyes went out and he sank to the floor.
Remind me to never try to bullshit you, Nova remarked, staring down at the unconscious man at his feet.
You're a master of bullshitting, Nova, it's not as easy to tell in your case, she replied, and he grinned as he realized that it was the more familiar voice back in control again.
Anyways, you should finish what you wanted to do and we should get the hell out of here before backup arrives, he noted as he crouched down and picked up one of the EMP guns to inspect it for a moment.
"Nova? Look at me," she suddenly said.
"Huh? What's up?"
He raised his head and got back up. At the same time, a feeling of intense vertigo took hold of him and seemed to force his gaze away from Amy's worried face and back toward the inside of his skull. He stumbled and she grabbed his sleeve, keeping him from falling with a surprisingly forceful grip. A heavy, throbbing pain began to permeate through his head and he had to blink a few times to focus his blurred gaze at her again. The connection was much weaker now, but he wasn't quite sure if she was shutting herself off on purpose or if he was simply too busy with his own hazy state of mind to sense hers any longer.
"You cut the com link..." he noticed, his voice coming out slurred, "That headache is my own, isn't it?"
"Yes," she said, her brow creased with worry as she looked up at him.
He felt something tickle his face, and when he wiped his nose with the back of his hand it came back covered in blood.
"Now that's just great," he remarked, staring at the blood, "Red so doesn't go with my hair color..."
She didn't sigh in annoyance at his stupid joke. All she did was look up at him with that worried look on her face. It made him feel severely uncomfortable. He wished she would scoff at his vanity like usual.
"This is bad..." she whispered.
He wanted to disagree, but when he shook his head, his brain felt like it had turned to liquid lead, sluggishly swooshing from side to side within his skull. Nonetheless, he forced himself to smile at her as he tried to steady himself by leaning against a nearby rack.
"I've had worse," he said and shrugged. "But... let's just finish up and get out of here, okay?"
"Sure..." she said in a low voice, and tentatively let go of his arm, "How about you wait here for a moment while I check back if I can find any more research data, okay?"
He nodded and leaned back against the rack behind him, where he sank to the floor and took a deep breath. Blurry lights and shadows were dancing before his eyes now, and he began to feel very sick.
"You should open the com link again so we can stay in touch," he suggested.
"No way. Look at what this is doing to you," she said and gestured at his face.
He sighed, knowing that she was right. She looked rather pale herself, but he suspected that the hardware in her head was helping her to cope with whatever this weird residual Augur connection was doing to them.
"Then... just be careful, will you..." he mumbled with a heavy tongue.
"Don't worry, I can look after myself," she said with a faint smile and patted his cheek softly.
Her hand felt nice and cool where her gloves didn't cover her skin, and Nove wished she would stay and put it on his forehead to take away some of the pain. But she drew away again. She picked up his gun that he had dropped before and placed it back in his hands.
"If they just so much as twitch, shoot them," she ordered as she took one of the hunters' discarded weapon for herself, "I won't take long, promise."
He nodded once, before another wave of throbbing pain permeated through his skull. He couldn't find any words to answer her. She cast him another long and worried look before she got up, turned around and hurried away.
~ ~ ~
Back at the research station, Null sifted through drawers and cabinets, looking for anything useful to take with them. To her frustration, there was not a single piece of technical equipment for them to hack, everything was on paper. From the scribbled notes and hand-drawn technical schematics, all Null and Lars could gather was that somebody was working on optimizing the growth of these plants by varying growth conditions.
"This is useless..." she mumbled.
She paused for a moment and pressed a palm against her forehead, where a tingling headache was pestering them. It was distracting, but probably nothing compared to what Nova was going through right now.
I should have noticed sooner what the connection was doing to him... she noted at the thought of him.
It's not your fault, Lars disagreed. You couldn't have known beforehand, and you cut it the moment you realized it, so don't blame yourself.
Still. He's in terrible pain because of us. I can tell as much, even without the com link.
One more reason to get back to him quickly, Lars urged her on.
Pondering how they would get Nova back to the shuttle in his current state, she flicked through the pages of the research notes one more time while Lars skimmed over the text.
Project Purity... Project Astraea... growing Starseed at such a scale... I don't see how it could be connected, Lars remarked. The Starseed might just have ideological value to them.
But then why grow it at this exaggerated proportion?
Maybe it just got out of hand, Lars suggested. You said it's invasive.
And yet they're working on optimizing it's growth further, using these primitive methods instead of genetic engineering. That's just... insane, she remarked.
You've seen the Purity propaganda. These people are insane.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps behind her caused her to freeze. She had been too distracted with her thoughts and the search for intel, so she hadn't scanned the room in a while. Now she regretted her negligence of her surroundings deeply. In a split second, her combat augments flared to life, and her body was flooded with adrenaline.
As she whirled around and raised the gun, she found herself face to face with another hunter, armed with a large EMP gun. From the look on the woman's face she could tell that she was even less delighted to see them than Null and Lars were to see her.
"Get away from there, vermin," she snarled.
Shit... that's the Major General, Null noted.
Yaremova, Lars recalled her name. She looks angry.
Angry was an understatement. The woman's ice blue eyes seemed feverish as she stared at them, and the expression on her face was distorted with fury.
"I said get away from my work!"
Wait a second, her work? Null asked.
Distracted by those words for a split second, Null was slowed down in her reaction. Without another warning, the woman fired. Null jumped to the side, evading the invisible blast of the EMP by what was probably mere inches. She slid over the top of a work bench and crouched down behind it, sweeping the area behind her with their scanners, but the EMP had apparently brushed them closely enough to mess with some of their sensors. She found her fear confirmed when she realized that the suit was swiftly and erratically changing its patterns, creating a flurry of black and white ripples.
Shit... we're sitting ducks here, she remarked while moving away from Yaremova behind their cover. She gripped the gun in their hands tightly, pondering her options. They could jump forward and shoot, but the thought of being hit by another EMP made her hesitate.
Stay hidden, Lars suggested. Circle around to the other side of the room.
"Where did you go, vermin?" called out behind them. "I won't tolerate you putting your grabby little hands all over my precious work."
They could hear Yaremova approach their former position, her steps resounding heavily on the metal floor.
Our scanners are still not working, Null realized as she snuck through the room blindly.
If she continues to blabber, we can at least tell where she is, Lars realized. Let's distract her.
"If you were looking for some recreation after all that killing of innocents, may I suggest a bonsai? Takes up less space and resources," Null called out from behind her cover.
She quickly moved away from their position. Half a second later, she could hear the discharge of the EMP gun, probably aimed at the spot where she had just been hiding.
I don't like our odds here, Null remarked. We can dodge a bullet, and survive being shot, but that EMP blast scatters, and being hit would mean game over. I think she knows that – that's why she brought that weapon and not a regular gun.
"You wouldn't understand it, vermin," Yaremova snarled. "You are an abomination, you have no sense for the beauty of life."
Keep her occupied, Lars said. There's something off about her. She seems... agitated. Preoccupied with something. It may work in our favor.
"Try me, Yaremova. What's all of this about?" Null called out.
She could hear Yaremova whirl around, and quickly moved to the side. The sound of the gun's electromagnetic discharge resounded again, and the workbench and shelf that had been hit seemed to tremble for a second.
"This is my magnum opus, vermin. The apex of Project Purity. I call it Astraea, after the ancient goddess of innocence and purity. I will usher in her return and she will bring justice to the universe, as her judgement will descend on the wicked likes of you."
So that's what Astraea means? Null thought. But why does that name seem so familiar to me?
Stay focused, Lars remarked, We can think about that later.
He used their working sensors to lay out a path for her to take between the work benches and shelves of the research station. Null followed along the glowing traces that her eye augment cast over her field of vision.
"Astraea, huh?" Null said. "And how is that goddess of yours gonna do all that with a bunch of weeds?"
Yaremova laughed out loud, but it was a hollow, passionless sound. It caused a shiver to run down their spine.
"You have no idea, stupid rat. This is Glandora stellata, also known as Starseed. One of the most fascinating and awe-inspiring life forms in the entire universe!"
"There we finally agree on something, Major General," Null remarked and continued on her way.
Another burst echoed through the room somewhere behind her, followed by the tall woman's foot steps.
"Shut up, you filthy rat! You don't understand a thing! You can never even hope to understand! This glorious life form has managed to colonize another planet without the use of any technology! It is everything we should strive to be. A biological life form, capable of such feats independent of technology, that is the antithesis to your existence, you pathetic little worm. You couldn't do anything if it wasn't for the tech that taints your body. You're a disgrace."
"Oh, come on, tell me something new, Major General," Null scoffed.
Yaremova answered by firing her EMP gun again, and Null had to pick another path between the work benches. For a moment, she considered opening up the com link again to check on Nova, but she knew that she would probably do more harm than good. She could only hope that Yaremova hadn't found him on her way here and he was still safe.
Five seconds recharge time, Lars noticed. Enough to get a clear shot from the right position.
What if I'm too slow? What if I miss? Null remarked, feeling their heart pounding heavily in their chest now.
Then let me do it, Lars offered.
No, she refused. It's too risky as long as she has that gun!
"You see, this plant is capable of magnificent feats," Yaremova rambled on. "The seed pods are under extreme pressure, and on its home planet Ephra, they explode violently when they are exposed to the heat of hot underground springs in the right season. Imagine the implications – each little seed pod is like a star ship, firing a propulsion burst. An organic star ship. Organic combustion – can you even begin to imagine the implications, vermin? We could build all kinds of weapons with them. Organic weapons. Things you cannot hack, even in your wildest dreams. Absolute organic perfection."
At her words, Null couldn't help but laugh out loud. It gave away her position and she could hear Yaremova approach.
"Big talk for the one waving an EMP gun around right now!" Null scoffed, "Fuck, I really thought you're a fanatic, but it turns out you're just plain stupid."
She ducked low and snuck around the corner of another work bench, stifling her laughter. Another EMP burst caused the shelf behind her to rattle.
"My dream is to rain down destruction on the likes of you," Yaremova went on, "To wipe you from the face of this universe, every last one of you, with nothing but organic power. Your existence is an insult to nature, and nature will put you back in your place!"
Null's laughter got stuck in her throat at those words. She had spent enough of her existence feeling like an insult to nature, she didn't need that lunatic to remind her of that right now. She could feel her body tense up, and Lars seemed to expand his influence over the body to calm her down.
Wait a second, he said, sensing a thought she had held behind the veil until now. Does that mean-?
Yes, she confirmed his unspoken thought, and a smile crept up on their face. Time to get her to shut up.
Ducking low, they moved on along their path.
"You fucking idiot have no idea what you're dealing with here, do you?" Null snapped at Yaremova.
"I know it very well, vermin. You're a disgrace to our species, your entire existence fills me with revulsion!"
"That's not what I'm talking about..." Null muttered.
Another burst missed them, and Lars began to count down.
Five...
"You people are even stupider than I thought," Null said, and she could hear Yaremova begin to move.
Four...
She moved forward quickly now until she reached the end of the path, where a cylindrical container sat on the floor.
Three...
She put her hand inside, grabbing a handful of the seeds. They felt slick and smooth to the touch. They were far from ripe yet, but from up close, it would be enough for what she had in mind.
Two...
"I can tell you why your little pet project is not coming along, Yaremova," she scoffed.
One...
"You've got the wrong plant, you moron!"
She jumped up from behind their cover and slid across the surface of the work bench in a fluid motion. Time seemed to slow down as their combat augments went into overdrive. They were close enough to see how Yaremova's pupils narrowed as she brought up the gun to shoot at them. Null threw the handful of seeds into her direction and ducked down again on the other side of the bench.
Zero.
The blast of the EMP resounded, followed by the sound of an explosion as the seeds burst like dozens of tiny frag grenades. It was different from the loud boom of a purely chemical reaction, more like a loud crunching noise reminiscent of cracking nut shells mixed with the crackling of fireworks. Yaremova screamed in surprise, and her gun fell to the ground with a clang. Null jumped up from behind their cover again and pointed their own gun at the woman now. The air between them was filled with a white haze where the seed pods had burst and released their spores, but they could see that she was crouched over and held a hand to her face.
"That's stellate meridae, you imbecile!" Null snapped at the woman.
"What...?" Yaremova sounded confused for a moment.
"They don't burst from heat, because there are no hot springs on Ephra's moon Merida," Null elaborated, "They adapted their life cycle to solar flares, and react to strong bursts of EM radiation. The fact that this place hasn't blown up yet is a miracle in itself!"
"You..." Yaremova growled in a low voice, "You dare to speak to me like that... vermin..."
"Oh cut the crap already," Null rolled her eyes, "Woman up and take your defeat. I'm heading outta here now, and once I'm gone, I suggest you pack up and leave too, because I'm gonna blow this place up."
As Null began to move past Yaremova, the woman lifted her head to look at them. Her face was distorted with rage, and there was a fragment of a shattered seed pod lodged in one of her eyes. Yet she seemed unfazed by it as she stared at them.
"And why do you think I'm going to let you walk out of here, vermin?" she asked, and got back up on her feet. Null froze, gripping the gun tightly.
"Because I'm the one pointing a gun at you?" Null asked back.
She didn't want to shoot the woman in front of her, but Yaremova couldn't know that.
"I don't need a gun to beat the likes of you, vermin."
Yaremova took a step closer to them, and Null backed away a bit. The tall woman was still standing between her and the stairway down from the platform, and she didn't seem disquieted one bit by having a gun pointed at her. Instead, a wicked grin appeared on her lips.
"I will not let you walk out of here," Yaremova said, her voice suddenly sounding strangely sweet and soft, "You cannot just do as you please, oh no. Neris said, you cannot go down there Xenia, you need to focus on your task, and he sent me to look after Blake, but that bastard was already dead. So I thought to myself, Xenia, you have to look after your work, you have to protect it, even if it means you won't be a good girl any longer. And it's good that I came here, so I could catch the little rat. I know I'm a bad girl now, but what else should I have done? Neris doesn't understand, he doesn't see the same way I do... but when I bring him your head, he will."
"What the-"
In the split second that it took them to process the woman's strange rambling, she had already made her move. Yaremova charged at them faster than should have been humanly possible. Null could feel Lars surge forward to take control of the body, but he was too slow this time. She tried to dodge by jumping to the side, but it was as if Yaremova had anticipated her movement. The woman went for their throat, closing her hand around it in a forceful grip and yanking her off her feet and prying the gun from their hand before they could shoot.
Yaremova held them with her long arm outstretched, causing their feet to dangle above the ground. Gasping for air under an iron grip, Null began to wince and kick at the woman, but even as she landed a kick to her stomach, Yaremova's grip only tightened and her grin widened.
"I knew you were worthless... you cannot beat me, even with all of your little toys," Yaremova sneered. "I am a good girl, after all."
This is impossible... how can she be so strong?! Null thought as she continued to frantically kick at the woman and claw at the hand around her throat.
This is not right... Lars remarked. Something about her is not right! Look at her eyes! Oh no, she-
"Amy!" a voice called out from behind Yaremova, and the woman turned around slightly.
Null's eyes widened in surprise.
"Nova... no!" she croaked with a failing voice as she spotted him standing in the doorway.
He was in a miserable state. His face was pale and he had dark shadows under his eyes. His shirt had been dyed a deep red from all the blood. He was panting heavily, but his grip on his gun was steady as he raised it and pointed it at Yaremova. The woman didn't even bother to look at him again, her stare was fixed on Null and Lars' face. Blood was dripping from her injured eye like a streak of red tears.
"Let her go," Nova commanded.
In response, the woman laughed and tightened her grip around their throat, stifling the cry that was about to escape it.
"I'm not gonna ask again!" he shouted at her, and the white rings in his eyes began to glow.
No, Nova, RUN! Null screamed at him in her mind.
And then, time seemed to slow down again and a second dragged out into eternity.
Nova's eyes widened as he herd her voice in his mind, and she could feel unspeakable pain flash through his head at the same time. She could see through his eyes as his combat augments steadied his aim and he took the shot nonetheless. At the same time, a wave from a scanner sweep surged outward from his body and receded back, telling her what she had already suspected and feared.
The bullet hit the mark at Yaremova's temple. But it didn't penetrate her skull. It ricocheted off, leaving behind a graze. She didn't even cry out in pain, but the impact from the shot was enough to cause her to falter for a moment and her grip loosened. Time was still slow, so Null seized her chance. She twisted their body and swung around, bringing their leg up high enough to deliver a kick against Yaremova's face. The woman let go, and they dropped to the ground. While Null scrambled to her feet, Yaremova staggered back a few steps.
Null could see it two-fold now. Through Lars' and her own eyes, she saw the metallic shimmer underneath the graze wound on Yaremova's temple. And in Nova's mind, dulled by his pain but still glaringly obvious, she saw the scanner data. There was no doubt about it, and yet she couldn't believe what they all saw.
"She... she's an augment," she whispered hoarsely.