Rhine set down a transcript onto the meeting room table, clearing her throat before addressing the room. “No casualties reported from evac yet. Regent reported a sighting of the Moonrise, which took down the Para-Angel and Spider’s Nest, but says that the pilots weren’t too badly harmed.”
Pyralis breathed a sigh of relief hearing the news. Another weight off of her back. She was happy the pilots were safe, but another topic pressed on her mind.
“Did he report any changes to the Moonrise?” Her voice shook as she asked the question. Some part of her didn’t want to hear it, but it was necessary.
The mission manager nodded, expecting the question from Commander Pyralis. “More black paint. He confirmed who the pilot of the machine is. I-” She paused, debating whether or not letting Pyralis know was really the best decision right now.
Her silence spoke volumes though, and Pyr’s face fell. “Elara. Did he say how he found out?”
Even the few seconds it took for Rhine to answer were too much for her. She needed to know as much as possible about her. She was alive, right? Safe?
“He spoke to her. Said she sounded… happy,” Rhine lied. “She’s being forced to do this. She’s still our Elara.”
Rhine bit her lip. Her Elara wouldn’t have killed Eradas. She wouldn’t have killed Wrought. Whatever was in there wasn’t her Elara.
This was the first time she had lied about a mission report, and it showed. Rhine tugged at her uniform’s collar, suddenly feeling as if she was being choked.
She could feel Pyralis staring into her, rightfully not believing her words, but being forced to accept them as truth. Her skin grew cold, the pressure building until it was too much for her.
Rhine opened her mouth to correct herself, but she was saved from having to admit her lie by Preon barging into the room. The doctor turned to scan the room, unsure of what they had just interrupted.
The doctor spotted Pyralis sitting in the back of the room, and stepped back, surprised to see her. “Apologies, Commander. I was summoned by Miss Glaze.” She straightened her lab coat, covered in a new set of stains. “I was told it was urgent.”
Rhine turned her attention towards Preon, grateful for the distraction. “Yes, I- Regent had a message for you in specific. He said it should be portrayed alone.” She turned back towards the meeting room, addressing Pyralis, Faust, and Anna. “That concludes my report, you’re all dismissed.”
Pyralis grumbled, not having gotten the opportunity to press Rhine about her obvious lie, but relented. She got up, and left behind Anna, clearing out the meeting room.
Preon and Rhine stood there for a moment after the three pilots left, as if expecting the other to start first. Preon stared blankly at the Mission Manager, given that she had summoned the doctor in the first place.
Rhine broke the silence, feeling a tad grateful towards Preon for interrupting the meeting. “Regent had a message for you. I’ll-” Rhine grabbed one of the pages on her desk, shoving it into Preon’s hands. “He said not to read it, but… um. Standard procedure and all.”
“You read it. I presume you have questions?” Preon said blankly, still a little confused about what she was here for.
Nodding, Rhine gestured at the paper. “Just uh, after you read that. Who’s Cameron?”
Begin Entry : Old Friend
Imperial Year 3072, Day 212
[R] Preon.
[R] I know we haven’t spoken too much about- well, our lives before the rebels.
[R] Do you know why I took you under my wing? Why I worked so hard to teach you everything I knew?
[X] He wanted me to.
[R] I recognized you.
[R] Synapse Reiner. You were an Imperial soldier.
[R] I knew your wife.
[R] They told you she was dead. She wasn’t. She isn’t.
[X] He isn’t dead either. He can’t be dead. This can’t be it.
[R] I’m sorry, Preon.
[R] I used to be an Imperial scientist. I worked on implants, and worked on creating prosthetics that followed Imperial guidelines. My job was to turn metal into flesh.
[X] He would have hated me. I lied to him, but he would have hated me. I had to lie to him.
[R] The closer I got to my goal, the higher the rate of implant rejection. I studied hundreds of rebel corpses, tried to see why.
[X] His mind is gone. It won’t work. I won’t make him like me. He deserves better than this.
[R] I worked on developing a medication that would allow a person to take in the experimental biomechanical implants. As you likely know, I succeeded. It’s the compound I taught you to synthesize, Pamako.
[X] I called it Panacea. I thought it could fix everything. Why can’t it fix him? He’s right here. I’m looking at him. Where is he?
[R] That was the twenty seventh iteration of the medication. MD-27. My life’s work.
[X] It’s not enough. He’s going to die. I don’t know what I’m going to do. He can’t die.
[R] MD-5 and MD-12. Something about them interested Imperial higher-ups, and my research was confiscated. They were developed into something beyond the scope of my original project.
[R] Handler Lambda. I knew her by no other name. She showed me what they had used my work for. Cameron Reiner, broken down into… something else.
[R] Would he go through the same thing? I have to try. Don’t hate me. It has to be him. Do you think he would hate me?
[R] She’s still alive, and now I know what they did to her. What she became.
[X] I love him. I never got to tell him that. Will it be him when he wakes up?
[R] Handler Theta.
“I can’t help you, Pyr.” Preon’s voice shook as she spoke. She couldn’t do this, not when she was involved.
Pyralis swung her fist at the doctor, outraged. Preon stumbled back and hit the back wall of her lab. She felt her jaw go slack, the appendage having been dislocated.
“You promised,” Pyr growled. After all that Preon had done to her, she refused to help her. She stepped forward, rearing back for another swing, but paused when she saw the real fear in Preon’s eyes.
She put her arm down at her side, still staring daggers at the doctor. Preon was leaning against the wall, still not having recovered from the initial strike. The doctor raised her hand to her chin, snapping her jaw back into place with a pop.
“What changed?” Pyralis seethed through her teeth. “You deserve this. You know you do. So why are you looking at me like that?”
Preon hung her head, and slid down the wall until she was sitting on the laboratory floor. “She’s alive, Pyr. Isn’t that enough for you?”
A splash of blue hit the ground as Pyralis kicked the doctor’s head with her boot. “What the fuck is wrong with you. Do you think she’s happy there? Can you call that living? She’s killing people. That isn’t her in there.” She knelt down, staring at the bloodied doctor.
Continuing to avert her gaze, Preon raised her palm to push Pyralis away. Pyr wasn’t having any of it though, and slammed her head against Preon’s, not caring if it would hurt herself more than the doctor.
Preon’s brain rattled in its shell, colliding against the side of its case as her head was knocked against the stone wall behind her. Her world turned as Pyralis knocked her on her side, and she felt the cold creep in from the edges of her body.
Maybe it would be better if she died here. She wouldn’t have to see Cameron again.
…
But death never came.
She opened her eyes, looking up at Pyralis standing over her again.
Pyralis was looking down at Preon with tears in her eyes, not sure whether what she was feeling was hate or confusion. “Say something! Just- anything!”
“I shouldn’t have left. I could be with her if I didn’t leave.” Preon mumbled the words, not acknowledging Pyr. “I should have known.”
The medical cart nearby rattled as Pyralis fished through it. She grabbed a spare scalpel, and walked over to the despondent Preon. The blade gleamed in the artificial light, glinting as she held it to her arm. “Fuck- Fine.”
Blood dripped down to the ground in front of Preon, a veritable shower of crimson ichor. She took a moment to look up at its source, not quite believing the sight in front of her.
Pyralis held her forearm vertically, a large cut down the front. Blood flowed from the open wound, falling to the floor in a clean stream. Pyralis herself looked unfazed by the massive amounts of blood she was losing, still staring at Preon.
The smell hit her immediately, that faint hint of copper stinging as it hit her olfactory centers. Preon shuddered, a wave of euphoria washing over her. This was wrong.
“St… stop. What are you doing?” Preon said slowly, as if waking up from a nap. “You’re gonna-” her mouth was blocked by Pyralis’s forearm being shoved into it, covering her chin in a coating of blood.
Preon did her best to push the arm away, but the taste alone took the strength out of her. She couldn’t resist. Preon gripped Pyr’s arm, and began greedily licking away at the fresh cut, savoring every last drop of blood.
Pyralis winced as the doctor’s tongue invaded her body, but continued pressing forward. “Shut up. I know you’ve been aching for this moment, but I’m not doing this for you.”
As much as she hated to admit it, she was starting to enjoy the experience.
But this wasn’t the time.
She ripped her arm away, and Preon’s arms reached out as if begging for more. Pyralis slapped her, and grabbed Preon’s blood stained chin, forcing the doctor to look at her. Preon looked like a child that had just had its favorite toy taken away.
“Tell me why,” Pyr spat.
Preon was still mildly drunk on the scent of Pyr’s lifeblood, and was pretty sure she had a concussion from the impact against the wall. She blinked slowly a few times, staring into Pyr’s eyes. It was hard to think. All she wanted was more of the fluid dripping down Pyralis’ arm.
All she had to do was be honest.
The words flowed from her mouth naturally, as if they were just waiting to be released.
“Cameron’s alive. My wife. I learned earlier today. I’m fairly certain it’s related to Elara in some way. Regent’s gone off the grid. The evacuation group took heavy losses. Aleria and Frill are dead. Elara killed them.”
She felt as if she were floating, the burden on her shoulders lifted. Pyralis on the other hand, looked more and more horrified with each word that left Preon’s mouth.
Preon knew she should be feeling sympathy for the pilot, but the scent of iron in the air was driving her crazy. She kicked off the ground and pounced on the now catatonic Pyralis, attacking her arm like a feral animal. This felt so right.
Pyralis didn’t respond, going limp in Preon’s grip. Had Rhine lied to her? Why? Frill was dead? Aleria? Her arm hurt. It didn’t matter.
Dried blood flaked off of the underside of Preon’s chin as she continued to lap at the open wound. The flow of blood had largely stopped, but she wasn’t about to let even the smallest drop go to waste. How was it possible for her to taste this sweet?
The doctor straddled the still body of Pyralis, humping the girl’s chest as she continued to suck as much blood as possible out of her open wound. Maybe there was something more intimate than surgery.
She used her nails to tear away at Pyr’s uniform, piercing into her skin with abandon. The fresh crimson was so beautiful. Preon moved her head lower, tonguing at the little scratches she was making, desperate for another drop.
Pyralis continued to stare at the ceiling, unable to respond as her clothes were slowly torn off her body. What was she doing? Elara needed saving. She needed Pyralis.
Aleria was dead. That was another pilot that wouldn’t be able to help in the fight. Elara had killed her, just like Wrought.
She needed to focus.
Frill had set up part of a plan, but now he was dead. Maybe if he hadn’t spent so much time preparing for Pyralis’ fight, he would be alive. Was his death on her hands?
The evacuation couldn’t have a bigger escort squad. Four of the mechs were undergoing heavy reconstruction.
Frill had pressed the importance of Elara’s knowledge of the machines, “She knows everything about your frames. We can use that to our advantage. Change the internals, make her think she has the advantage.”
All the long-range and scouting equipment was taken and used on the Sunset’s new sensor arrays. She would be able to track Elara with pinpoint accuracy, but it came at the cost of Frill’s drones. Maybe he would have seen her coming.
Extra armor plating around the cockpits, just in case. That was her own addition. Frill was running around in a stripped down machine and it was her fault. He could have fought back, stopped her right there.
Preon had stripped Pyralis of all of her clothes now, cuts and scratches littering the Commander’s skin. The doctor herself was covered in dark smudges, Pyr’s blood smeared across her flesh.
Pyr’s shaft lay just as limp as the rest of her body, but that didn’t stop Preon. She pressed her crotch to Pyralis, grinding against her stomach. Blood spread across her thighs, mixing with her vaginal fluids as she rode the listless body.
She wasn’t sure how long it had been anymore, time melting away as her brain was filled with thoughts of seeing that little engraving on Pyr’s arm. Preon looked around the floor, and grabbed the knife that Pyralis had dropped in her wearied state.
Doctor Preon slashed into Pyralis’ right arm, finding the little chip she had implanted all those months ago. The one that led to all of those lies, the long-range heart monitor.
She left the device in, finally reaching the area she had replaced with synthetic muscle. Looking past it, she could see the silver fused into Pyr’s bone.
Property of Elara