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Fandom Coral, Abide with Rubicon!

Lilith beamed at Aurelia's words, her enthusiasm undimmed despite the chilly air. "It was awesome meeting you too, Raven! And hey, anytime you need help picking out clothes or just wanna hang out or have a custom part in mind, you know where to find me."

She gave a playful wink, her energy infectious. "Next time, we gotta find some other new food for you to try. Maybe something spicy!" If there was a next time.

As they reached the platform, Lilith's expression softened, a genuine warmth in her eyes. "Give 'em hell, okay? And don’t be a stranger."

She watched as Aurelia boarded the helicopter, a sense of satisfaction settling over her. It wasn't often she got to connect with someone new, and she hoped this would be the start of a good friendship.

Turning back to her own tasks aboard her and Carla's Helicopter, Lilith couldn't help but feel a little lighter. Meeting Raven and helping her out had been a welcome change of pace, and she was already looking forward to their next encounter, if they were to have one. One could hope.

The red headed scientist looked over to Carla, a big smile on her lips.

"Boss? I got the information I needed. Thanks for letting us have a few hours out." and now, she just needed to wait for Elliot to text her, or her mom, and she could get Rusty's number from there. Everything was starting to fall into place wonderfully.

~***~
Walter glanced up as Aurelia entered the helicopter, noting the small smile on her face. It was a rare sight, and it brought a flicker of warmth to his otherwise stoic demeanor. He let out a quiet grunt of acknowledgment, his eyes briefly scanning the bags she carried. Well, at least one of them had fun. "You don't know the half of it."

"Carla's got a way of prying into places she shouldn't," he said, his tone gruff but not unkind. "But she means well. Usually."

He began the pre-flight checks, the familiar routine grounding him in the present. The hum of the helicopter's systems coming online filled the cabin, a comforting sound amidst the swirling thoughts in his head and the blast of the heating element

"People like Carla, Lilith...they're not easy to come by. Trustworthy. Competent." He paused, glancing at Aurelia. "And they see things in us that we sometimes forget or don't realize."

There was a long moment of silence as he focused on the controls, then he sighed, almost hesitant to ask his next statement, "Your eyes. They're red. How long have they been like that, Aurelia?" He was scared for the answer, truly.

Would she even tell him the truth?

Would she lie to him about it?

Was she having symptoms?

There were many what-if questions flitting through his head, not a solid answer to any of them, and it brought back that sick feeling to his stomach. At least now he was in the heated copter, so he didn't have to worry about his aching joints.

~***~
The red head listened to her buddy speak, nodding curtly as he suggested they go find out. He didn't seem too worried, and so neither was she. At least about the mission. Huntress could feel the tension tightening in her chest as she followed him into Snail's office, keeping her posture straight with her arms behind her back at attention.

The fear of being sent back to re-education loomed over her like a dark cloud. She could still remember the cold, clinical environment, the relentless drills, and the constant reminders of her failures. The thought of going back there made her stomach churn. She needed to keep her emotions in check, no slip-ups, to prove she was stable and reliable. That the re-education had took hold.

As Snail spoke, Huntress kept her eyes forward and emotion from her face, focusing on the mission details. The mention of BAWS arsenal 2 and the potential involvement of the PCA or another unknown player piqued her interest. Her mind raced with possibilities, analyzing the situation even as she maintained her composed exterior.

She needed to be sharp, focused, and ready to gather any information they could find. This was a chance to prove herself, to show that she was more than just her augments and re-education. She was capable, intelligent, and dependable.

The fear gnawed at the edges of her thoughts, but she pushed it down, burying it deep within. This wasn't the time for introspection or self-doubt. She had a job to do, and she needed to do it well. At least having Rusty with her helped her to draw some comfort from his presence and ground her in her task. He had been her rock recently, and she trusted him greatly because of it. They made a good team too for information missions, so everything should go well.

As Snail's eyes lifted to look at them, Huntress felt a surge of determination flare behind her mask, still hidden, but felt by her. She straightened her posture further, locking away any trace of vulnerability.The model pilot, or so she hoped. She needed to show him that she was in control of her emotions now, that she could handle whatever he threw at her, that his re-education worked.

"Yes, sir," she responded in a steady, emotionless tone, nodding firmly. She would complete this mission, gather the information they needed, and prove her worth. There was no room for failure.
 
Carla was pleased to hear Lilith’s report, “Chatty, get us up,” she called into the copter, and watched it come to life around them.

“Where to, Carla?” the disembodied voice inquired.

“Back to RaD, I have no other business.”

The helicopter started getting up into the air, and Carla took a seat, “So, what’d you learn? I don’t know much about it myself,” she had said as much, and meant it. She was curious what there was to breaking re-education, and how much it could be useful. For all she knew, she might need to know one day.

Not that she really saw herself dealing with anyone Snail would target for re-education, and Michigan didn’t do that. So far as she knew, the RLF didn’t, either, but the PCA was questionable. Though, the PCA was more likely to just eliminate people, “I hope you didn’t have to spend too much of my coam to find out the secrets of breaking re-education. She’s paying us a lot but we still need our profits.”

She assumed her workers liked to be paid, anyways.

And she assumed Aurelia had a vindictive streak.

~***~

Aurelia didn’t have the faith Walter had in Carla, or Lilith. She wouldn’t take his word for it. She’d test them herself, bit by bit. So far, Carla wasn’t a pinnacle of humanity; clearly, she’d told Walter about her eyes. He hadn’t noticed himself. ‘Perceptive.’

So why did Carla let Walter purchase her?

“STRIDER.”

Aurelia remembered it too well.

“I don’t know if that’s when my eyes went red, but that’s when I started to see red, when I was nearly taken out by the explosion of the STRIDER,” so she couldn’t tell after that if her eyes went red. She didn’t look at Walter, but kept her gaze steady on her new frame. Lilith would tell Carla. Carla would tell Walter. Why hide? It was pointless.

“Auditory hallucinations began then, as well. But only there,” amidst the living coral. A part of her still considered it was the coral. Hallucinations wouldn’t call her Raven. They’d call her Aite. They’d haunt her from Pluto.

But she knew the symptoms. “Some visual as well. Neither have returned, but the red hasn’t faded. I know what it means. It’s why I offered my share of coam. I’m not making it off Rubicon-3, and if I do, there’s not much life for me out there. I’m not going to be augmented again.” She didn’t care if it could fix her. “The hallucinations will return, and a fever will burn me up from the inside, melting my brain into worse hallucinations and delusions until it finally fries me alive.”

Augmenting was supposed to ‘fix’ how slow humans were anyways so they could pilot ACs better, and do other things, better. She never wanted it. She wouldn’t be ‘fixed’ again. “I assume you have a stockpile of medicine to fight fever until it reaches those fatal heights.” She cocked a bit of a smirk this way, “I’m not going out to coral and you’re not going to let me, either.”

~***~

Huntress’s answer was short and to the point. That was good, that was all that was needed, and Rusty silently cheered it as Snail shifted his attention to Rusty. Rusty nodded, “All good here, sir. When do you want us to dispatch to the arsenal?”

“Night. The helicopters will be ready to take you at 20:00. Take no longer than two hours at the arsenal. Helicopters will be prepared to meet you at the drop point but they will not wait nor remain close.”

Snail was bothered.

It was unusual.

Well, this way of being bothered. Snail really had no idea what happened, and he didn’t think it was the PCA from the way he spoke. Snail never liked being unaware, but bothered to anxiety? No, that was rare, even if it was only a small display.

So Rusty probed it: “Do you know of anything we should be looking for?”

Irritation was more common, and it flashed in Snail’s gaze, “I trust you will be able to determine what is and is not important, V.IV.”

Questions were over. “Understood, sir. We’ll go prepare.”

Snail nodded, allowing them to leave without further comment if they had no further questions. Rusty definitely didn’t.
 
Lilith was quick to take a seat as well, buckling in and thanking Chatty. It felt wrong to not tell the AI thank you after all. He was kind of like a person in a way.

"Well, I learned enough. Raven didn't guarantee anything, but She said to focus on reintroducing them to the past, and things they really cared about. Like for Elliot, Its Tigers and The jungle book, and our family, though , i don't know if the last one will work since they could turn her against us... She has a friend in the Vespers, Rusty i think his name is, so I'm going to hack her phone next time she texts me and see if she has his number on there. See if I can't get him to help me since I'm not there with her like he is."

The red head trusted Carla with this information. After all, why would she have to hold back? Carla had been nothing but kind to her, a mentor even in her pursuit of technological experiments and advancements.

What took her weeks or months before her guidance now took days or hours to complete. Unless it was something like the LEMURES model, which took a bit of research before hand.

"Nah. She just got food and some comfy clothes. There's not too much a dying woman wants, apparently. You noticed the red in her eyes too, right Boss?" Her voice was bordering melancholy, but she tried to keep her spirits up.

Raven told her herself that she should be encouraged and celebrated, and that's just what the tech wiz was going to do. Honor her friend by celebrating her victories and her memories.

~***~
Walter's heart sank as Aurelia confirmed his worst fears. Coral burn-in. The very word sent a chill down his spine, colder than the biting air outside. He tried to keep his composure, but the tension in his jaw and the tightening grip on the controls betrayed him. The pre-flight checks suddenly felt mechanical, automatic, as if he was going through the motions without really being present.

He turned his head slightly, just enough to catch a glimpse of Aurelia's profile as she stared at her new frame. The steady determination in her voice, the acceptance of her fate—it was unexpected. She wasn't pleading for help or trying to deny the inevitable. She was facing it head-on, with a resolve that mirrored his own.

For a moment, he was at a loss for words. How do you respond to someone who has already made peace with their impending death? Someone who was willing to give everything for the mission, even her life? He felt a strange mix of admiration and sorrow, a deep respect for her courage tempered by the bitter knowledge that he was betraying her trust and lying to her.

"Yeah," he finally managed, his voice rougher than usual. "Got enough to keep it at bay for a while." He didn't elaborate. There was no point in sugarcoating it. She knew the score.

As the helicopter began to lift off, he glanced at her again, a rare softness in his eyes. "You're stronger than most, Aurelia." It was all he could offer, a simple acknowledgment of the strength and bravery she displayed. "Let's make it count."

The helicopter ascended into the sky, leaving the desolate landscape of Rubicon-3 behind them as they headed towards the ship. Walter's mind raced with contingency plans, strategies, ways to maximize the time they had left.

But beneath it all, there was a gnawing sense of dread, a helplessness that he couldn't shake. He had been so focused on the mission, on the objective, that he had nearly forgotten the human cost. Now, it was staring him in the face, and it was a harsh reminder of the sacrifices that he was going to have to make. He still needed to tell her about the mission at Watchpoint Delta and warn her of the dangers.

As the helicopter sped towards their next destination, Walter remained silent, lost in his thoughts. He couldn't afford to lose focus, not now. There was too much at stake. But in the back of his mind, the image of Aurelia's resolute expression lingered, almost haunting him with the reminder of the cost of completing this mission.


~***~

Huntress remained silent for the rest of the meeting, keeping her gaze level, and any emotion off her face. She would have to keep this up as well during the mission to not tip him off, so this was good practice for it.

She wasn't quite as observant as Rusty was, especially with her reigning in her feelings, so she didn't really pick up much of the anxiety that Snail was exuding. She did notice his irritation though as he almost snapped at Rusty, tamping down a rush of nausea and worry that threatened to show on her face.

No, she had this, she could do this! She made it this far, she just had to make it a little further!

Thankfully, he was almost happy to let them go, not leaving much room for questioning even if she didn't have any questions. All she needed to do now, was leave the room, get far enough away from the room and drop the mask a little.

A task that was proving difficult as she had to fight her body to not sprint out of there, and keep a neutral face. She did it though, keeping her gaze level, nodding respectfully to Snail and turning towards the door, not waiting for Rusty like she did before re-education.

The red head kept walking until she was sure she was far enough away and no one was around except maybe Rusty, before letting the mask slip and clutching her pendant in fear as she took a moment to recollect herself, letting out a breath of relief.

She was so sure she would have slipped up in there, given him a reason to send her right back to re-education, but he hadn't, and just let them go on their way to prepare for the mission. For that she was grateful and she waited for Rusty in a little hallway alcove, semi-hidden off to the side as she kept watch for anyone she might need to put the mask on around.
 
“A Vesper isn’t a good ally to have,” Carla noted, frowning a bit as Lilith seemed to want to trust this unknown. Carla didn’t know anything about Rusty, other than a brief encounter she had with him. She wasn’t inclined to put her bets on him based on that information. If anything, she’d think to have Elliot take time off, but that probably wasn’t happening.

Snail knew better than to let someone who was recently brainwashed go running off.

“Don’t count on him. The Vespers are notorious backstabbers,” which was probably how Elliot got into this mess. Unlike the Redguns, the Vespers played politics and competition in their ranks. The Redguns were just brutes. The Vespers were snakes. “But use him if you can. Just make sure he’s helping.”

Lilith would know based on conversations with Elliot, no doubt.

As for Aurelia….

Carla sighed, “Yeah, I noticed. Walter hadn’t,” she rolled her eyes, “he is so single-minded sometimes, that man,” she shook her head, but there was still a fond smile on her lips, “It’s a shame. The tourist has guts.”

~***~

Walter tensed up, but he answered that he had plenty for this contingency. That was what Aurelia expected. He was a realist, just as she was. It was one thing she’d started to figure about him. He was pragmatic. Cold. He would be able to navigate this. He’d likely dealt with it before. She would experience it once, and that was it.

She scoffed at his comment, though. Flattery would get him nowhere. “It’s not strength, Walter. I simply have nothing to lose.” She’d had no time to make her own dreams, or her own life. She didn’t plan to start now. It made it easier to devote herself wholly to this stupid mission of helping an old man retire.

The rest of the trip was fairly silent, and when they arrived back at the ship, Aurelia went to work on LEMURES, switching out parts, getting the new frame prepped for the mission that night to grab information for Michigan. LEMURES wasn’t exactly a stealth model, but she didn’t need it to be. Michigan knew when the guard switched, and Aurelia had a five minute window to get in, grab information, and get out.

‘And try not to get seen by Arquebus.’ That was the main directive, although she supposed it didn’t matter if she was seen, so long as she returned with the information Michigan wanted on Rusty and Huntress, and how they cut their path up to the Wall.

It had only happened yesterday. Odds were good clean-up took most of the information Michigan would want away, but there was a chance there was still something worthwhile. ‘He’s just desperate.’ And upset that Arquebus got to the Wall first.

‘Shoulda hired me.’ At least Michigan wouldn’t set her up for death.

Probably.

She was dropped off some distance away, and waited in position until she got the go-ahead.

She dropped into the snowy fields and made her run, boosting through the snow, melting it, as she sought out wreckage, or anything else it looked like Rusty and Huntress may have interacted with. It was a blur of pausing at wreckage, and facilities with cameras, to grab information. She didn’t bother to analyze it – that wasn’t her job – she just grabbed it and forward it back to Walter so he could get it to Michigan, only taking the time required to download information and moving on.

It was at the wreckage of one AC unit of the RLF that she was nearly caught by surprise by a hailing signal. She pressed to accept, only to have LEMURES stricken by an explosive blow.

‘Downloaded.’ This was the tenth log she’d grabbed. Michigan had wanted at least five.

She jolted back and rounded on the unit that found her, seeing another AC – YUE YU.

Ziyi.

“RAVEN!” Ziyi’s voice screamed into the radio, “YOU KILLED THEM ALL!” A barrage of explosives came at LEMURES, and Aurelia cursed under her breath and flew up. “You shameless corporate dog!”

She didn’t want to fight, but Ziyi was taking the Wall loss personally, it seemed. It didn’t matter that she’d helped on the STRIDER. “Handler, I have enough logs. Disengaging.” Aurelia said, figuring she could find a way to lose Ziyi, or cripple her further from the Wall.

Apparently, Ziyi had also come out on clean-up duty.

No surprise, the wreckage of the RLF likely held secrets they wanted to keep.

Her monitors beeped with another oncoming threat, and she assumed more of Ziyi’s friends as she turned LEMURES to flee the area.

~***~

Rusty followed Huntress out, noticing the anxiety she was exuding, too. Good thing Snail was pre-occupied, though he might not have noticed anyways. He followed behind her, wanting to ask if she had noticed how Snail was feeling, but he held that back as Huntress dropped her own act and gripped at her pendant as she regrouped in the hallway.

His fingers brushed her shoulder, “Hey, Buddy, it’s all right. Snail’s having his own issues right now,” Rusty encouraged to let her know it was all right, “There’s no need to worry, though. You clearly don’t need to go back,” actually, she probably did.

But Rusty had a fine line to toe. “Just got to work on remembering Snail is your ally, he’s looking out for us. He doesn’t want anything bad for you,” Rusty reminded, even if it was a pack of lies.

He let his fingers run down her upper arm as he drew his hand away, “Did you notice how anxious he was?” He said then, adding, “He doesn’t think this is the PCA,” which meant unknowns for both of them, “We’re going to have to be prepared for anything.”
 
The bite back, even if minor, shouldn't have surprised Walter as much as it did. He should have expected it. Aurelia was spunky, and spirited, of course she would have a retort for his words. Instead of react, he merely 'hmmm'd to himself, focusing on the task at hand as he got them back to the ship.

The pepper-haired man's mind was a whirlwind of emotions as he walked to his office after landing the helicopter. The news about Aurelia gnawed at him. Her nonchalance about her impending fate was both harrowing but reassuring, in a way.

She'd fight to her last all for him to 'retire', it was her request to go out fighting and not let the coral get her. He couldn't shake the image of her red eyes and the steady acceptance in her voice. It haunted him.

In his office, he tried to focus on the task at hand, sifting through intelligence reports, coordinating with others to look for more jobs for her, and ensuring that the mission parameters were clear. But his thoughts kept drifting back to Aurelia.

He was betraying her, lying by omission, hiding the full extent of the dangers and the ultimate goals of his mission. He had rationalized it as necessary for the greater good, but that didn't make it any easier now that he was getting to know her as a person outside of her past.

As he worked, the silence was punctuated by the distant sounds of preparations. He knew Aurelia was in the hangar, getting LEMURES ready. She was thorough, meticulous—traits he respected. Her efficiency allowed him to concentrate on other matters, like his own preparations for sorties.

When the time came for the mission, he was back at his desk, comms active and screens set up in front of him, ready to guide her through the operation. It was just an information mission. As long as she got the information and got out before the next guard came, she shouldn't see a lick of combat.

The familiar tension settled in, the sense of focus that came with a job and he monitored her progress, each log she forwarded bringing a small measure of relief. She was performing flawlessly, as expected.

Then came the alert. A hailing signal, followed by the sudden explosion. Walter's heart skipped a beat as he saw the name: YUE YU. Ziyi. This complicated things.

He listened to Aurelia's calm report, his grip tightening on the arms of his chair. She was making the right call, trying to avoid unnecessary conflict. But he knew Ziyi wouldn't let it go easily. His pilot had absolutely killed the RLF soldiers here. Maybe not on the trail of Rusty or Huntress, but here at the wall. She had betrayed her allies because of his need to continue the mission.

"Copy that," he replied, keeping his voice steady despite the turmoil inside. He watched her movements, tracking her escape attempts. And then, another alert. A new threat entering the area.

Walter's stomach tightened as he identified the incoming AC: V.VIII Pater. A known Arquebus operative. This was bad. "A numbered Vesper. V.VIII Pater. Watch yourself."

~***~

This week couldn't get any better, or so V. VIII Pater thought. Huntress had been sent to re-education for losing her mind at Hawkins and Rusty, he was gaining good points with Snail, and he had been trusted with guard duty for the Wall for the next week, mostly to keep the RLF and other tresspassers at bay. Things couldn't get any better, unless he got that promotion after this week! V.VII Pater had a nice ring to it!

The brief with Snail was just that; brief, and off he and the 8th squad were shipped to oversee the guard duty and clean up of the Wall. The first day was uneventful, which the members of his squad spent cleaning up the wreckage from Huntress, Rusty, Raven and the other independants that fought at the wall, but didn't make it.

It was boring just being there, but at least Vince was quiet in his head for once. He wasn't being egged on, or kicked from the front, he was just... chilling. Waiting...

It wasn't until the second day that anything remotely exciting happened. He had just finished taking his break before heading back to guard duty when he caught sight of two ACs fighting. It was far enough away that he couldn't tell who it was at first, but the thought of a fight got Vince stirring once more. It took all of Pater's willpower to push back on him as he scanned the mechs at the fight.

Vince was pushing to the front the moment it loaded up on his HUD. 'Let me out. Let me at them!'

Little Ziyi.

Raven.

Raven seemed to be taking evasive measures, trying to get away from Ziyi if he was judging the fight accurately. Raven was the WallClimber, she was a very skilled pilot. If they let her leave, they could just take on Ziyi, and they would still get bonus points from Snail for taking out an RLF leader! But Vince had other ideas.

'Take them on. Both of them. Get in there! Take them out, both of them. Get that promotion.'

No! That was a great way to die! Raven wasn't to be fucked with!

'But if you win! You'd do what Hawkins couldn't! You'd earn his respect!'

But Hawkins doesn't like killing his contacts!

'Are you sure? He killed so many of them for this Wall and didn't bat an eye!'

That's true...

That was all Vince needed to kick Pater out of the front and take over the body. It was showtime.
Pater's voice crackled over the open comms, dripping with the arrogance only his dual nature, his alter, Vince, held.

"Well, well, look what we have here! The infamous Raven trespassing on Arquebus property? and Little Ziyi too? It must be my lucky day! I'll take you both out and get that promotion I've been working for. Two birds with one stone. Time to pluck some feathers."

With that, the over-confident pilot shot off towards them, activating his HI-16: GU-Q1 pulse gun and his VP-61PB Buckler as he charged towards the fighting pair.

~***~

The hand on her shoulder made her startle at first, jolting in surprise and turning her head towards the sensation in her shoulder, but the voice and face accompanying that touch relaxed her almost instantly.

Oh.

It was just Rusty.

The red head nodded along with his words. She trusted him. He had helped her thus far, showing her what was alright, at least around him. But his words... She didn't know if she believed all of them. Now was not the time to start doubting things though, and thinking hard about difficult subjects.

Arquebus was helping the planet and the people that lived here by providing them jobs. They were helping with infe- infrus- helping build buildings and roads and bridges. Her conditioning practically beat that into her.

It had to be right.

His words had to be right.

And yet... There was a nagging feeling in the back of her head that it was wrong. All of it. She'd keep that to herself though

Snail was their ally. That was a truth. He was V. II, a Vesper like them. Did he really look out for them though and actively keep them from harm? Especially if there was threat of re-education if they didn't conform to how he thought they should behave? Something that wasn't consistant, obviously, because the others were allowed to show their emotions... The gut reaction was 'no. He doesn't care, he wants to hurt us.'

Huntress knew what love was because of her family, what a good friendship was thanks to Rusty and Hawkins, but this? This was new territory. Not everyone got along, that was probably normal, but for a leader to be so... cruel? and hateful...? She didn't know what to think. Her head hurt just trying to sort through all the conflicting thoughts and did her best to shelf them for now, though her face scrunched up slightly as she thought hard in that tell-tale way of hers.

The feeling of his fingers trailing down her arm was enough to bring herself back to the present and tint her cheeks a dusty pink. She had a love-hate relationship with how easily he flustered her and made her melt despite how far down she had buried her feelings for him. He was saying something again.

Snail?

Anxious?

Now that was a funny thought.

What wasn't funny though was what was causing him to be anxious. If this wasn't PCA, or RLF, or Balam... that meant that they didn't know what they were going to be fighting or finding there...

"I did not. I'll be on alert for anything." Elliot slowly let go of her speech aid pendant and took another deep breath, looking up at him. Damn was he tall. Almost whole foot taller than her to be exact, though it seemed like more when he was this close to her.

"Thanks, buddy," The pink dusting her cheeks darkened further and the tiny pilot averted her gaze, heading off with an almost stutter, "I, uh, have to go prepare for the sortie. See you in the hangar later,"

And so Elliot spent the next several hours re-checking her AC to clear her head, getting lunch, and generally avoiding the others as she worked on locking down her emotions for the mission ahead.

She couldn't fail.

She couldn't go back to the re-education center.

She couldn't face Snail after another failure.

19:50 came around much faster than she was expecting, but she was at least in the hangar.

Huntress was dressed in her flightsuit with her V.IX emblem and the Arquebus logo sewn into it, half hanging out of ARTEMIS as she did one last check of the cockpit.

She wasn't usually so... obsessive... over her AC, but after the Wall, and the re-education, there was no such thing as too sure. Just like the first time, everything looked in order, not a bolt out of place, so she began her pre-sortie thanks and prayers for their safety while she was in there.
 
A vesper.

‘Guess I’m not running, then.’ Aurelia turned LEMURES around, “Disregard previous directive. I’m not going to let the Vesper report back and send MTs after.” It seemed the Vesper also fully intended to engage both her and Ziyi, who paused her assault as the Vesper’s hailing came through.

Aurelia pushed her voice to Ziyi alone, “I understand you hate me for the Wall. Let’s set that aside and deal with the Vesper together, then we can go our separate ways. Otherwise, I will leave you to die here.”

There was a moment’s hesitation. Just a moment, before Ziyi said, “Okay. Okay fine!” it was clear she didn’t want to work with Raven, but perhaps she understood her odds weren’t looking good if she had to deal with an assault from two sides, Raven and the Vesper.

Or perhaps she still remembered the STRIDER mission.

To Pater, she sent another message, “Pluck all the feathers you want,” she cooed, “I’ll happily let you tear them off so I can rend your flesh from bone,” Pater was a light build, and all energy weaponry. It fell like water upon LEMURES, and Aurelia was willing to take it, willing to let YUE YU avoid strikes while she tanked them and kept diving in close to Pater, chasing him with her missiles, and letting Ziyi keep him moving into her with her bazookas.

LEMURES could tank that explosive damage, too, but Pater?

Oh no, his craft was showing the obvious wear and tear as the two ACs joined forces against him, and he found himself in way over his head against the tankier units, and one who didn’t care how much the explosives chipped away at her frame. LEMURES wasn’t even a quarter of the way down when DUAL NATURE was reaching for a repair kit.

And that’s when she struck hard, using her own bazooka to blow his access to the repair kits to hell and back, and taking a chunk out of her own frame in the process, considering how close they were at that time.

The repair kits were damaged, and locked up inside his frame from the hit.

The next went right to the Core of DUAL NATURE, blasting Pater back, though LEMURES held its ground as the AC went skidding.

Two shots from YUE YU’s bazooka’s scattered the pieces of the Vesper’s AC around the field.

LEMURES put its weapons away and Aurelia looked to Ziyi.

“…Over and out, Raven.” Ziyi commed through, and turned to fly away.

Aurelia turned LEMURES away, to return to the helicopter, assuming Pater dead in the wreckage, but not caring if he had survived, either. It would take a while to repair that damage, which put him out of commission for a bit, no doubt. The Vespers would be down one.

That was something. ‘He may have been re-educated, too. You should feel more.’

And Aurelia did feel some guilt as she loaded up into the helicopter to return to the ship.

But not enough to overcome the newfound hatred she had for the organization as a whole. She wanted to set them back at every opportunity, and she would.

~***~

Rusty was glad he spoke, but not surprised Huntress didn’t notice. Snail didn’t really let people get to know him enough to know when he was anxious, compared to just irritated. It was a thin line with him. ‘Good.’ Now she would be alert and prepare accordingly.

She kept blushing, though, and Rusty bit back a comment as she looked up at him, and he easily held her gaze, and gave her a nod, “Good plan, buddy,” he’d go check on STEEL HAZE later, but he knew his AC was ready for combat.

Unlike poor DUAL NATURE who had received an ass kicking from an RLF unit and Raven. Well, they all knew Raven wasn’t one of them – Raven would challenge them when opposed, just as she’d challenge the Redguns. ‘Still….’ He had wished Pater won that one. He didn’t know what information Raven grabbed, but she’d been digging into him and Huntress.

Huntress had nothing to hide, but the RLF had warned him something may have been picked up.

So far, he’d heard nothing further on it.

Rusty spent his day as he would normally, arriving in the hangar close to time to leave, where he saw DUAL NATURE still receiving repairs – and still splattered in pink. Huntress was also there, hanging out the side of ARTEMIS. “Hey buddy, you ready?” he called up to her as he approached his own STEEL HAZE, dressed in his usual flight suit. He used the catwalks to get up to the core.

He would situate himself inside, and get STEEL HAZE started up. He stayed where he was until he saw ARTEMIS start up, and then he sent a hailing signal to connect them up, “Don’t worry, we’ll get in and out. We just have two hours, after all,” he hoped it would be that easy, but knowing how anxious Snail was, he was expecting different. “I asked Snail for a sherpa to follow along, just in case, and he agreed – so if we start running low we can grab some extra equipment out of the sherpa.”

Well, assuming it wasn’t destroyed. Rusty had made sure it would follow STEEL HAZE at a distance of about 600 feet, though, so ideally it wouldn’t be in range of most attacks on him, or ARTEMIS. “Still kinda surprised he agreed.”

He said that as he got STEEL HAZE strapped into the helicopter.
 
Walter's eyes remained glued to the screens, watching every move Aurelia made with a calculated intensity. The decision to turn and face Pater instead of fleeing was a bold one, a choice born out of necessity and strategy. He respected it, even if it increased the risks exponentially. Chills ran down his spine at her callous, violent verbage, picking apart his words like the carrion bird her stolen ID was named after.

His heart pounded in his chest, but his exterior remained calm, a mask of stoicism he had perfected over years of sorties just like this. As the data flowed in and the battle unfolded, he noted every detail—the strengths and weaknesses of each AC, the tactical maneuvers, the interplay between 621and Ziyi.

Seeing Aurelia tank Pater’s energy weaponry, using her own frame as a shield while maneuvering with precision, filled him with a mix of pride and anxiety. LEMURES could handle this kind of beating, especially against an energy weapon. He could only watch and provide what little guidance he could through the comms.

Seeing the two former adversaries turn their focus on Pater afforded him a moment of hope. It was the right option given the odds, one that would prove to pay off. His fingers drummed lightly on the desk as he watched LEMURES and YUE YU’s coordinated assault begin to wear down Pater’s DUAL NATURE.

The moment came when Pater reached for his repair kit, and Walter’s eyes narrowed. Aurelia must have seen the move too and decided to seize the opportunity, striking hard and disabling Pater’s ability to recover. It was a brilliant move, albeit a dangerous one, taking some damage herself in the process, but that was the way she fought. Her build could tank hits like that. It could take several friendly fire or up close explosions before needing a repair kit.

And then, the decisive blow. Pater's AC, skidding and falling apart under the combined assault. Walter exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. When had AC fights become such an adrenaline rush for him? Perhaps it was because of the risks involved with this particular pilot.

Ziyi's voice signaled the end of the engagement, and Walter allowed himself a moment of relief. The fight was over, and Ziyi was headed back to her RLF duties, or whatever she was doing. The best possible outcome.

He watched as Aurelia turned LEMURES back toward the helicopter, mission complete, Pater neutralized. Snail was going to be pissed that he had failed in his mission to guard the Wall, but that also wasn't his problem.

As she loaded up and prepared to return to the ship, Walter felt a complex mix of emotions—relief, pride, and a persistent undercurrent of worry. Aurelia had proven herself once again, but the cost of these victories was mounting, and the specter of her coral burn-in loomed large in his mind. He still needed to tell her about the mission tomorrow night.

He leaned back in his chair, his eyes closing briefly as he gathered his thoughts. No words were needed now, only the knowledge that they had bought themselves a little more time, a little more progress. And for now, that was enough.

“Good job, 621,” he finally murmured into comms. It was her chosen callsign after all. Once used as a tool to distance himself but taken as a punishment for him to never forget. Walter was already working on the details for her mission the following day and forwarding the logs to Michigan. Hopefully he found what he was looking for in them, and wouldn't need to contact him about it except for payment. "How are you feeling? Any further symptoms?"

~***~

To say that Pater got an ass-kicking was an understatement. He was assuming that it was going to be 1v1v1 where it was every man and woman for themselves. but Nooo. The two just had to team up on him instead.

It was fine. He had this! He was a skilled pilot! He wouldn't be a Vesper if he wasn't!

And yet, even that wasn't enough to save him from the absolute carnage that Ziyi and Raven wrought him, sending DUAL NATURE sky high in a flurry of explosions and pink exploding ECM rockets.

'You stupid son of a bitch, I tried to tell you!' came the voice of Pater from somewhere in headspace, but all that Vince was focused on was keeping the body alive, and getting through this fight. It certainly wasn't going to be in once piece.

And then Raven disabled his repair kits by damaging their holding location. That's when even Vince knew that he fucked up. Now they just had to figure out how to get out of this mess. "This is V.VIII Pater calling for backup against Raven and Little Ziyi. Squad 8, respond!"

That was about as far as he got, however, as Raven blasted his core and forced him to eject as he watched DUAL NATURE get blown to smithereens by Ziyi.

'Well, Vince? Are you happy now? still think we're going to get that promotion?'

'Fuck off, Pater.'

~***~

Hearing Rusty's voice had Huntress popping up and cranking her head on the inside of her cockpit with a yelp of pain and cussed under her breath as she held the spot for a moment. Fuck that hurt! "Just doing last minute checks! I'm ready!" she called out to him as she crawled the rest of the way inside her cockpit and buckled in.

Upon start up, everything seemed to be in order and she got Rusty's hailing signal shortly after, accepting it. "I'm not worried. We are Vespers. We were chosen for this and make a good team." It was flat, controlled, and so much easier to hide than having to also hide her facial expressions.

Here in the relative safety of her cockpit, she could make all the faces she wanted without worry of being perceived as long as her voice was even. It was awful strange that Snail agreed to a Sherpa though for what was supposed to be an information mission... "Good work. Hopefully we won't need it. An in and out mission."

Well, Rusty did say they didn't know what was going to be here and to be ready, so she would be ready for combat, and a lot of it.

Elliot loaded ARTEMIS up onto the transport helicopter and locked into the loader. This was going to be either a breeze, or hell, and she was erring on the side of 'hell'.

The red head was uncharacteristically silent for the trip there, lost in her thoughts from earlier now that she had a moment to sit and do nothing for a few hours. Was Snail a bad guy...? Was he... out to get them? or did he just not like her specifically?

Maybe he really did have their best interests at heart, and she was the problem?

But Rusty didn't have a problem with her, and Hawkins was only mad because she yelled at him, right? That's what Rusty said and she trusted him a whole hell of a lot more than she trusted Snail.

A thought she'd keep to herself, and never let out.

A few hours later, they reached their destination, and Elliot was able to contain her thoughts to a small corner of her mind for now, putting that mask back up to conceal her emotions.

Huntress was the first off the transport copter, boosting out onto the snow outside of the BAWS Arsenal.

Damn!

Snail wasn't kidding when he said that they'd be dropped off a ways away from their destination! The BAWS Arsenal loomed ahead of them, much more massive than their Armored Cores, but missing the normal hustle and bustle that was the daily life of a place like that.

Her scanner didn't pick up anything nearby, aside from Rusty and the Sherpa. something that was chilling and set her on edge, adrenaline keying her up for a fight. It was now or never.

"It looks like a ghost town..." She murmured flatly, but steeled her resolve. "Ready to find our culprits, V.IV?"
 
Aurelia relaxed into the seat of LEMURES once it was loaded up, breathing in deep. The core wasn’t burning, but in the moment, she thought she was a bit hotter than normal. Instinctively, she began to unwire herself so any reports wouldn’t go to Walter. It probably wouldn’t be strange. ACs heated up.

Fighters heated up from adrenaline.

But she didn’t feel any rush of adrenaline. That fight had been, well, easy alongside Ziyi. She had a feeling it would have been, regardless. Now that she had a frame that suited her, she wasn’t anticipating many challenges.

Well, outside of the need to sleep. That was a challenge, but also understandable: she’d not slept well in a while. It was bound to catch up with her.

Walter’s voice came in through the comms, and she smiled just a little to herself at hearing ‘621’ instead of ‘Raven’. ‘Do you really like a number over a bird?’ Hard to say, really. But she would have told Pater from the start, she didn’t have any feathers.

Perhaps she was more a dog than a bird.

“Fine,” she breathed in response, “just tired,” she admitted, “no symptoms. Working on my AC so many nights is just catching up with me. I think I’m going to sleep well for once.” Probably not, now that she said it out loud, but at least she’d try. “So long as I don’t have anything I need to work on my AC for, that is.”

Catching a break didn’t really happen.

~***~

STEEL HAZE followed right after ARTEMIS, boosting to keep up, sherpa following along like a good supply kit. His own scanners were running, and he shifted frequencies multiple times, trying to get a read on heat signals, life signals, electric signals – hell, anything. Given, he did pick up electric signals and static chatter, but nothing that signified intelligence life anywhere around.

Or intelligent AI life, as the PCA might employ.

He frowned as they got to the wall of the BAWS arsenal, and up onto it.

The area was illuminated with motion sensing lights, but nothing else.

“Yeah…I don’t like it,” Rusty wouldn’t hide his own wariness as the arsenal was clearly quite dead. “Let’s stick together. No splitting up,” even if it would allow them to cover more ground. “I’ll keep left, just out of your scanner range. You keep right, just out of mind. We’ll move and scan,” there didn’t even seem to be any destruction yet, though Rusty thought there might inside. “We’ll head to the door for machinery, that should be big enough to let our ACs through.”

He'd wait for confirmation on the plan, before moving a bit more left, and preparing to move onto the first bridge over the BAWS arsenal, activating his scanners to try and locate anything, but nothing came on any of the three he ran.

The silence remained chilling as he would wait, and then move on to the second bridge, getting lower to the ground level, and then to the third bridge.

The static on the electric communication signals exploded in his ears as white noise, and he couldn’t help but let out a startled sound he knew translated over to Huntress’s system.

The scanner, however, caught something – and he saw the strange orb-like machine for a moment, before it shimmered out of sight again, the scan having disrupted its cloak. “We have a machine here! It has a cloaking device, the scan disrupts—” Rusty didn’t get to finish what he was saying as a white-blue laser came from the orb.

It briefly reappeared to fire it at him, before vanishing again. Rusty was able to dodge, and he rushed the direction it had been in, hitting his scanner again and revealing it just on the edge of his field.

This was going to be a fun game of hide and seek.

“I’ve never seen this before….”

That was a lie.

He had. They were Institute relics. The RLF had considered using them, but couldn’t figure out how to turn their programming to their use, so they’d abandoned the idea. Rusty hadn’t known they had a cloaking mechanism, though.
 
Walter listened to Aurelia's response, noting the fatigue in her voice. It was understandable; she'd been pushing herself hard, staying up to work on her AC despite him telling her to rest, and the toll was evident. He took a deep breath, maintaining his composed exterior.

He didn't want to believe her statement at first, seeing as they both kept things from each other.

But what would she have to hide here? If she wanted to fight to the very end, she would come to him for that medicine if she was having symptoms, so he let those worries rest for now.

"Understood," he replied, keeping his tone measured and calm. "Get some rest while you can. You've earned it."

He paused, considering how to broach the next topic. The mission at Watchpoint Delta was critical, and he needed her at her best. Well, as best as she could be considering the circumstances.

"I have another job lined up," he continued. "A friend reached out. It's at Watchpoint Delta. Heavy PCA forces will be present, so expect resistance."

He leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping lightly on the desk. "You'll need LEMURES ready. We can go over the details in the morning. It's a night mission, so try to get some sleep."

He left it at that, not wanting to burden her with more information just yet. She needed rest, and he'd ensure she got it.

She had a long day between setting up LEMURES and going to a BAWS town for the first time here on Rubicon, meeting Carla and Lilith. It was more social interaction than she got on a normal day and he could only imagine how exhausted she was.

He almost felt bad that he had another job so soon, but duty called. If she was dying, the timeline for their mission just moved up and they had to act fast.

~***~

"Understood. Going right." she replied, keeping her tone steady despite the adrenaline surging through her veins.

Sticking together was fine with her.

She liked his company, and it also meant that if anything went pear shaped, they could help defend one another easier. Cover each other's backs, and make sure the mission was a success.

With STEEL HAZE going left, she steered ARTEMIS right, her scanners running nearly in sync with Rusty's to catch any anomalies and searching for any sign of life, artificial or otherwise. The cold, silent surroundings only heightened her alertness. She hated the eerie stillness, the absence of any signs of life. It made her skin crawl.

It was easy to keep her voice level, but the unease of the situation was plastered all over her face and in her body language. Her vitals would show some stress, but who wouldn't be stressed in a situation like this?

Just as she was starting to think they were well and truly alone, Rusty's startled yelp came through her comms, causing her to whip her mech around towards him. Huntress's grip tightened on the controls of ARTEMIS as her eyes flicked to her scanner, watching for any signs of what could have startled him.

She barely caught a glimpse of it before it shot a lazer at Rusty and disappeared again.

Fun.

So much fun.

"Copy that. I'll keep my scanner active and try to flank it," she said, focusing on the task at hand. ARTEMIS's sensors swept the area, disrupting the cloaking whenever possible. She moved cautiously, every sense heightened to detect the next attack.

As she rounded the area in her attempt to flank, she caught a glimpse of the shimmering outline of the orb-like machine just before it vanished again. "Visual contact," she reported. Her fingers danced over the controls, readying her weapons. She had to time this perfectly.

Another burst of static, and the machine fired again, this time at her. She dodged swiftly, firing back at the spot where it had been. Her shots disrupted the cloak again, revealing the machine momentarily. "Engaging," she announced, her voice calm and measured.

She fired a volley of missiles from her backkit, aiming to disable the machine. Even if she didn't fully understand its capabilities, she knew they had to neutralize it before it could regroup and potentially call for reinforcements. "Let's box it in. I'll push it towards you."

The thrill of the hunt surged through her, a main part of the reason she chose the callsign Huntress. This was what she lived for; The hunt, the challenge, the fight, and the best part was that there were no real lives inside these things so she didn't have to worry about hurting someone else's family. But beneath it all was a constant reminder to stay in control, to not let her emotions slip through the cracks.

She was a Vesper, and she had to show them she was reliable. She couldn't go back to the center. She had a family outside of this that she had to care for. A family to make proud.

"Stay sharp. There might be more," she cautioned, scanning the surroundings for any additional threats. These machines were unpredictable, and they couldn't afford to be caught off guard.
 
Aurelia groaned in the core, not sending that audible complaint along the comm lines to Walter. Well, that meant no rest, because she had to get LEMURES back in order, but she wouldn’t say that. She could wait until morning, but she liked to get at it when it was fresh. ‘Do you have friends besides Carla?’ Well, Michigan, but he would have said Michigan. This was Carla.

“Understood. LEMURES will be ready.”

So upon arrival back at the ship, she got herself moving and began to work on the minimal damage that LEMURES had taken in its new frame. It took longer than she intended, as she continued to get distracted, or lose focus, too tired to draw it back quickly.

Nonetheless, she finished prepping LEMURES and did head to sleep.

It wasn’t a very restful sleep, or long.

She was overheated. She sweated through her sheets.

‘Fever.’

No. There was no way this was happening now, not after admitting it, that’s not how things worked! A sudden hacking cough woke her further, but also convinced her it couldn’t be coral burn-in. That wouldn’t include a cough, even if it was a terribly dry cough that felt horrible. “Uugh,” she sat up in bed and glanced only briefly at her tablet for the time.

Either way, if she wanted to be functional for the mission, she was going to need to grab medicine.

She stumbled out of bed and dressed in something not sticky with sweat, barely acknowledging which of the things from the BAWS town she put on, and so of course, putting on the ‘but did you die’ tank, since it was light. She splashed water on her face a few times to help wake up, before ransacking her bathroom for any sign of medicine.

She didn’t find it there, so she went to the kitchen to find Walter.

Except, he wasn’t there.

She didn’t realize exactly how much earlier she was up, despite checking the tablet, and rather than wait in the kitchen, she opted to go wandering to find Walter, or medicine, whichever came first.

With any luck, medicine, although the coughs definitely had it out for any stealth attempt.

~***~

Flanking it felt like a difficult task; Rusty only wanted it visible long enough to close in and cut it to shreds with his weapon. Once he was in close, it’d be harder for the machine to evade. Still, it wasn’t a bad idea, “Got it,” he agreed, and he’d attempt to understand its movements as he dodged fire, and tried to reveal it again, and again, and again, chasing it down through the arsenal.

Huntress was able to get some missiles on it, but it faded away. Rusty continued to scan, and reveal it where he could, as the pair worked in tandem to close in on it.

They managed to succeed in boxing it in, in a way – Rusty was able to get in close at last and shred it with his melee weapon, pieces flying off the orb – only for another laser to hit him from the side.

His alarms did not notice where these shots were coming from in time to warn him.

Three more lasers illuminated the area as Rusty turned STEEL HAZE, and he dodged out of the area, though some were aimed at Huntress, as well. “Looks like this one wasn’t alone,” not good, they didn’t have any idea how many of these there could be.

“Looks like we’re going to have to split the work,” he didn’t like this, but he was fast, he was sure he could keep up with one until he had it down – just as he was sure Huntress could keep up with her pair until she had it down.

He didn’t think they’d do well trying to isolate one from the other three would work out well for them. “This just became a clearing mission,” Snail was going to be very curious about what these things were.

Rusty was just curious who got them under control, as he dove in the direction of a couple laser shots, dodging around them to get towards the shooters, even though they flickered into invisibility again.
 
Well, she seemed to take the information as well as she could have, she didn't fight him over comms about it, simply acknowledging what he said and announcing she'd have her AC repaired.

Then again, had she ever truly called him out about a mission aside from the Wall and missions against the RLF? No, she seemed to take every mission he gave, even if it was with sass sometimes.

At least the damages weren't too severe judging my the estimates on his screen. She could likely repair it in the morning and still have time to relax or prepare before the sortie.
When she arrived back, she did her thing, and he did his, like how it always was after sorties.

Walter had spent the night going through intelligence reports and preparing the details for the mission at Watchpoint Delta. He knew that the PCA forces would be a significant threat, and he needed to ensure everything was in place for the fight with Sulla.

They had to catch him before he could get to the coral before them. The hours ticked by in silence, broken only by the hum of the ship's machinery and the occasional sound of Aurelia working on LEMURES from the hangar.

Morning came quicker than he realized. He rubbed his tired eyes and stretched, feeling the fatigue in his muscles. He needed a shower before facing the day and briefing Aurelia on the mission. He knew she'd do well on this mission.

He couldn't let the thoughts of Sulla taking yet another hound from him consume him. He had to believe in her abilities as a pilot to get her through this instead of letting his worries cloud his judgements.

He stepped into the shower, the hot water cascading over his body, washing away the grime and tension of the previous day. It was a rare moment of solitude, a brief respite from the outside world. He allowed himself a few minutes to enjoy it before turning off the water and stepping out. He'd have taken his time to dry off, but coughing in the hallway caught his attention.

Aurelia?

Perhaps it was nothing, but he couldn't be too sure.

Grabbing a towel, he patted his body dry, and pulled on a pair of pants. The grizzled man fluffed his hair with the towel as he walked out of the bathroom, still covered in tiny water droplets from his hair, worried about his pilot. If she was dealing with burn-in symptoms, he needed to get her the medication.

Damn it... Was she already having fevers? Did they have even less time than they thought?

The coughing though... That wasn't part of Coral Burn-in. It was relieving but also concerning. She likely just had some Rubiconian cold from visiting the BAWS town, but would her body be able to handle that while also dealing with the other symptoms?

As he exited, he noticed Aurelia wandering through the corridor, looking disheveled and clearly exhausted. Her appearance surprised him; she was rarely up at this time, especially after a night like the last one, and she didn't look well.

That's when he noticed how she was dressed. She had picked out clothes while she was at the BAWS town instead of her usual flightsuit, and he wasn't afraid to admit to himself that it suited her.

Her pink tank top, emblazoned with "but did you die," in a fancy script font, fit her sense of humor, at least what he had seen of her.

"Aurelia," he called out, his voice calm but concerned. "You're up early. Headed for the shower?" He paused, noting the slight feverish sheen on her skin and the pure exhaustion in her red-tinted eyes. "You don't look well. Do you need medication?" The man took this time to wrap his towel around his shoulders to get his hands free and took a step closer towards her.

~***~
Huntress watched as Rusty closing in on the orb-like machine, shredding it to pieces. Her sense of victory was short-lived as alarms blared and multiple lasers lit up the area. She quickly dodged, feeling the heat from a near miss as she watched him take a laser to his AC. Well shit! Despite the hit, he seemed ok, which was a relief.

“On it,” she replied to Rusty. Internally, her mind raced. If there were more of these cloaked machines, they had to be strategic and efficient or they'd be overwhelmed. Externally, however, the red head was on top of it, pushing the fear aside, and focusing back. She had two to work with, but she had faced worse odds before.

ARTEMIS’s sensors were now working overtime, scanning for any signs of the cloaked machines as she kept a manual eye out for the lasers. Huntress boosted forward, her eyes darting across the HUD for any shimmer, any anomaly.

"Keep moving," she reminded herself quietly in her physical voice. Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. What were these things? Who made them? They didn't seem to be PCA, but the PCA did use AI drones for things from what she had experienced.

Another laser shot barely grazed the arm of her mech, and she retaliated instantly, firing a barrage of kinetic hell in the direction of the attack. The cloak disrupted momentarily, revealing the outline of another machine as she overloaded it's ACS.

“Engaging.” she reported, sticking with her physical voice for now. It allowed her to focus better on the fight and what she was doing, using her normal monotonous voice to hide how excited she was getting about this little dangerous game of 'Find the robot'.

She maneuvered ARTEMIS deftly, using her speed and agility to her advantage as she assault boosted towards the overheated robot, landing a disabling kick that left it in pieces. "One down."

As she found the second one on her side, it pulled out a big 'fuck you' pulse whip, swinging it at her.

"What the-" Huntress quickly shot backwards, narrowly avoiding being hit by it this time, before pursuing it again. It flickered in and out of visibility, but she was relentless, aiming to corner the machine against the arsenal’s structure.

“Get back here,” she murmured to herself, not allowing her voice through comms as she sunk further into the zone. This was the best kind of hunt and she was more than ready to pounce on her 'prey'.

As she closed in, her scanners picked up the other machine. Her adrenaline spiked, but she forced herself to remain calm, diving after it and lighting it up with her LUDLOWs and missile launchers until it too crumpled into a pile of metal parts under her assault. "Second dispatched."

With the second one dealt with, she turned back towards Rusty to see if he needed any help, or if he had found more of them to kick around and destroy in this area. At least here, it was a wide open space with room to move around in. The same couldn't be said about the inside of the building, which was likely much more narrow and cramped. "Holding up okay, Rusty?"
 
Aurelia had never been grateful for a fever before in her life, but she was when she saw the shadow in the hallway and turned her attention towards it. Otherwise, she was sure her face would have embarrassed her with a rush of heat, because she was not expecting to see a half-dressed Walter in the hallway, still dripping water from the shower. She hadn’t really thought much about him in that way, and though his clothes showed him as broad, she definitely hadn’t assumed broad and fit, given his limp.

But he was speaking.

She could probably use the fever for any odd reactions at this point, but she wasn’t going to milk it as she blinked and looked up from his chest to his face. “Yeah,” he asked a question before the medication one, didn’t he? “Not—not the shower. I went looking for medicine,” no, she didn’t sound with it at all.

“Sorry,” she shook her head slowly, “if you can tell me where it is I’ll go get it,” she didn’t need to disturb his routine, “I’m sure it’ll kick in before—” she stifled the cough as best she could, turning her head away, swallowing down the sensation and taking a deep breath as she steadied herself, “before the mission.” It tried to surface again. She tried not to breathe to disturb it.

A losing battle, of course.

She fell victim to more coughing.

~***~

Rusty definitely didn’t feel the same sense of enjoyment as Huntress, as he pursued his two foes, focusing in on one, and trying to notice the lasers before they struck him. The closer he got to one, the more often his AC recognized the threat, and he was able to move – but the one that was further away and raining hell down upon him as he pursued its friend, didn’t have their shots register until it was too late.

That meant he had to be paying attention manually.

Even so, his speed continued to pay off in the pursuit, and he didn’t bother using his shots to reveal, only the scanner. He was able to close in on the first one after pinning it in against a building, and tear it to shreds, before he rounded on the second.

It was smarter.

It didn’t reveal itself with wasted shots, and it stayed out of range of his scanners quite well.

He was caught by surprise when it came up behind him. He turned swiftly as his scanner took note of it, and a grenade went off. His sensors went on the fritz as if his AC overheated, but hardly any damage was done to the frame – just the electronics it seemed.

“Hell,” he complained, as the orb jumped back and unleashed a barrage of laser fire on him. He heard Huntress’s comments all throughout, and wouldn’t disturb her as he worked to get his AC out of the hard lock the orb put him in.

Thankfully, the jamming didn’t last.

He was able to assault boost as it was firing off a shot, and catch it before it could flee, shredding it, and letting out a relieved sigh.

He went over his sensors for a quick moment, before thinking about joining Huntress, only to hear her call out that she was fine. “Good to hear! I got my two down,” he noted, “I’m going to see if I can pull any logs from the wreckage while we have a moment, before we go inside. Snail is going to want to know about these things.”

So did he, for that matter.

He turned to the wreckage of the one that jammed him up and with his finger, connected into its hardware to try and take what he could from it.

‘Oh fuck.’

As soon as he connected, the orb exploded. Rusty lost that connection to grab information at that fingertip, and did deal with some frame damage from that, “Actually – looks like they’re rigged to explode with any probing. Might want to see if we can find any outside cameras instead, and see about bringing one of these robots back to base instead.”
 
She was definitely sick, and he doubted the medicine would work the way she wanted it to. Not for the sort of fight she was scheduled for today. If she went in like this, it would surely be a suicide mission. No, she could barely get her words out right and focus, how the hell was she going to pilot a several ton AC against PCA guards and Sulla?

He couldn't let him take another one of his pilots, let alone this pilot.

This pilot who had wormed her way into his cold heart and made him start caring about her.

This pilot who had reminded him at every chance that she was just as human as he was; just as alive, with thoughts and dreams of her own.

This pilot who was stubborn and sassy and looked better in that tank than he would like to admit.

If she was going to use whatever was left of her life to 'help an old man retire', the least he could do was take care of her when she was sick.

A sigh left Walter's lips and he shook his head. He knew she was stubborn, and he was too, but stubbornness would only get her hurt here, so he took charge.

"Come with me. You're in no shape to sortie right now. Let's get you that medicine. After that, I want you to rest. That's an order." And he wasn't taking no for an answer, turning on his heel and walking towards the medbay, his cane clicking off the linoleum. He could put a shirt on after he got her taken care of. After all, she was drenched in sweat from her fever and needed this medication.

Carla be damned. He wasn't sending her in just to get her killed. That wouldn't help anyone and could jeopardize their mission. Letting her recover would be their best bet. Colds didn't last forever, and he was sure that with time and medicine, she would be back to normal, or her version of normal, in no time.

~***~

Huntress's relief at downing her two foes was short-lived as the sound of the explosion sparked immediate concern. "Rusty? How's your AP?" she asked, her tone a mix of worry and professionalism.

She maneuvered ARTEMIS closer to Rusty's position, her scanners still sweeping the area for any additional threats. The last thing they needed was to be caught off guard by another cloaked machine.

Seeing the damage to Rusty's AC, she felt a pang of worry but quickly pushed it aside. It looked to be minimal, no where near the need for a repair kit, and he had his own to use if he needed them. Still, it was good to check in on him. That was what teammates did, right?

Her mind calmed some as she scanned the area, looking for any external cameras or terminals they could tap into. The place was huge, so this might take a while, but with both of them at it, it hopefully wouldn't take too long.

Huntress guided ARTEMIS around the arsenal, her eyes sharp and focused. The adrenaline from the fight still coursed through her veins, but she channeled it into her search, determined to find a lead.

As she moved, her HUD highlighted several potential spots where they might find a connection. "Found a few over here. I'll start with the nearest one and see if I can pull any data from the external system."

ARTEMIS approached a likely looking terminal, and Huntress quickly connected to it with her finger port. "Let's hope this gives us something useful without setting off any more explosions," she muttered, half to herself and half to Rusty. They were both lightweights, so any damage could spell trouble for them.

Her thoughts flickered to the wider implications of what they'd found. If these things are here, it means someone—or something—wanted this place defended. but why? She didn't know too much about the different factions yet.

She knew Balam were their enemies, and so were the PCA, and apparently the RLF as well, but she wasn't sure what they were all here for. Balam was here for the coral too, right?

Balam didn't mess with drones like this, so it wasn't them. PCA was here to keep people from getting the coral and often used AI robots and such to defend things, but she hadn't run into any that had this kind of ability...

And the RLF? well, she assumed they wanted everyone off Rubicon, but why? weren't the corps helping the residents here? like the BAWS towns? Her head was starting to hurt again thinking about it all and she shelved the thoughts before she gave herself another migraine.

As she worked, she kept an ear on the comms, ready to react if Rusty needed her or if any more threats emerged. This mission had become far more complicated than anticipated, but she had already figured something would go pear shaped considering all the unknowns at the brief.

Not that anyone really anticipated invisible robots, but it was a good test of their skills in the event that they couldn't use their HUD or scanners.
 
Walter seemed to have other plans. He didn’t direct her, but told her to follow him, and ordered her to rest, as he turned away. Aurelia pursed her lips, an argument forming and momentarily dying as her gaze went down again, before she palmed her face. ‘Well, it has been…a while.’ And she had a fever.

If she still had this strange lust when she was back in her right mind she’d reassess it. For now, however, she was just going to be annoyed with the entire situation as she followed Walter and complained, “I can handle the mission,” maybe, though the coughing said otherwise, and she moved her hand from her face, to cover her mouth, before letting it fall back to her side.

Gods, she burned.

She ached.

“Anything they can throw at me won’t stand to my new frame,” maybe she was giving it too much credit, but she knew how good she was in frames like this before.

She knew she could handle whatever was thrown her way.

And it had to be time sensitive if Walter had it scheduled so soon after her next mission, “Isn’t it time sensitive?” she tried to sneak that in, “to schedule it so soon?” And it was for a friend. That meant it was personal, too. At least, to some degree, even if it all served the same purpose of earning coam for his retirement.

Still…she supposed she wouldn’t do as well.

Her head felt heavy, and with everything burning and aching, rest didn’t sound bad.

But this wasn’t how she wanted to die. And Walter knew that.

~***~

‘AP?’ Rusty had to wonder for a moment, before recalling ALLMIND utilized that terminology for how well a frame was doing, considering it had to take things into consideration like a video game. It basically was just one big video game, since it was all virtual. He chuckled a bit to himself, though he did run a quick diagnostic. His legs were a bit chewed out from the blast, but they were still moving. Other than that, his frame seemed all right, though he still touched a repair kit.

They had a sherpa, so if he ran out, he could go into that, after all. “Doing all right, but I touched STEEL HAZE up, just in case,” he said, “Thanks,” he added. Most of the other Vespers wouldn’t have given him any concern – though, to be fair, they trusted each other to know when to patch up their own ACs.

Rusty also went on the lookout for information once Huntress went to a terminal. He went to less-likely sources – cameras within the vehicles that were stationed around, to see if alternative angles of what happened could be gleaned.

Given there were dead bodies in the vehicles, he assumed some had been active when the attack happened. It would be for Snail to sort it out, and he’d grab what he could later to forward to the RLF so they knew there was another player in the game – if this wasn’t just the PCA. The PCA did snatch up and use some of the old Institute technology, after all.

He had no trouble in grabbing those logs, so he went to grasp what he could get from the downed MTs in the area, speaking over to Huntress, “Took some logs from the vehicles. Grabbing from MTs now. Should be good to head into the building then. Where are you at, Huntress?” both a question of location, as well as how far along she was in her own information grab.
 
Despite how miserable she looked, she pushed back against his orders to rest, wanting to complete the mission. As admirable her dedication was, he couldn't let her pilot LEMURES in this condition.

She brought up good points, but it was hard to take her word seriously when every other sentence was punctuated by that cough of hers.

"Don't worry about it. Focus on getting better. That friend can wait. If you go now, you'll just get yourself killed."

The walk to the medbay was a short one, and Walter was quick to open the door and usher her in before going to the stash of medication and fever suppressants. It took a little bit for him to find the cold medication through all the bandaging and other medical supplies, but after a few moments, he came back from the shelf, a pack of fever suppressants and cold medication in hand.

"Here. Take these. They'll help with the cough and the fever."

After giving her the medication packs, the pepper-haired man grabbed her a paper cup of water to take them with and also handed it over, waiting for her to take it. If she wasn't going to take care of herself, then he was going to make sure that she did.

He remembered something that Carla had made for him when he was sick as a boy and a wistful look touched his face. They didn't have those ingredients here anymore, not since the fires, but the closest equivalent was chicken broth and noodles. That was something he definitely had on hand and while it wouldn't fix her illness, a bowl of warm soup was good for morale.

Yes, that's what he'd do. After she took her medication and got back to her room to rest, he would fix her up some warm soup.

Oh Carla was going to make fun of him so hard for being so soft.


~***~

"Of course. Good to hear that you're ok. That explosion was definitely something." Definitely something?? Elliot, what the fuck kind of sentence was that? The red head flushed inside her AC as she continued to grab information from terminals and cameras around the perimeter. It was times like these that she was glad for the privacy of the cockpit.

She didn't have time to dwell on her feelings though. The things she was supposed to be suppressing while on this mission. She had information to gather and send to Snail, and that's what she did.

Huntress had just finished gathering her portion of logs when Rusty's voice came through comms. Seems that he was almost done too. "Over on the far side. Just finished up, headed your way. Happy to help if you need it."

The large, stripped death machine zipped across the arsenal, looking for Rusty as she did so to meet back up with him and help him gather the rest of the logs. With the upgrade to her data collection from Lils, gathering logs took much less time than it used to.

Rusty was easy to spot amongst the wreckage with his blue-painted AC and so she joined up with him. The work went by much faster with Elliot plugging herself into the many scattered MTs and helping Rusty gather the remaining information. Team work made the dream work, and in no time, the two had the MTs all scanned in no time.

It was time to go inside now, and Huntress was almost excited to see what they'd find. Would it be another game of hide n seek, or would it be something even more fun? She was hoping for another fight, though if it were more of those invisible enemies, she'd have to switch off her voice aid again.

"Ready to continue, V.IV?" Not calling him buddy was kinda weird and unnatural after learning that it was ok again, but she didn't want to tip off Snail. It was weird to be this... uptight and professional sounding...
 
Aurelia made a mental note of how to find the medbay in the future. It was a minor miracle she wasn’t already familiar with it, but then again, it was her AC usually getting beat up, not her. She let Walter gather the medicine, mentally hoping it would work well enough that by the afternoon he’d reconsider calling her off.

She wasn’t used to anything Walter was doing, from the medicine offered to the cup. She was going to dry swallow the pills when she saw him filling it up, so she waited, and downed the pills with the assistance of water.

She frowned a bit as they went down, before finishing off the water and balling the paper cup up, and tossing it into the nearest trash, “There,” she said, “you’ll see, this will kick in and I’ll be able to head out.”

At least, she hoped that would be the case.

Even if it wasn’t kicking in yet, and she still felt miserable. Which meant, she should probably take the order, “I’ll…rest until then,” she consented, glancing a moment towards the exit of the medbay. Her mind swirled with thoughts of action, and thoughts of direction, but for several seconds, she was still.

Lost.

Before she cleared her head with a shake, and began to move towards the door without an actual ‘goodbye’.

~***~

Huntress soon joined in helping gather information from the MTs that had fallen. Hopefully, something would be of use. They gathered it all quickly between the two of them, and then Rusty had to consider heading in. He wasn’t a fan of the thought, even though he was sure close quarters would play more to his advantage than to their enemies.

He was good in close quarters.

“V.IV?” Rusty laughed as he heard that, “Buddy, it’s Rusty, that’s my callsign,” he didn’t think he’d been referred to by his number by her before, “we have them for a reason, so you can use it. People don’t know who Rusty is.”

She didn’t know who Rusty is.

Hells, he didn’t really know who she was, even if he now was in touch with her sister. All things he shouldn’t know. “But yeah, let’s head in, see what we can find in BAWS that might explain this attack,” if there was anything to explain it.

STEEL HAZE zipped to the doors, and he plugged into unlock it, the doors slowly opening to allow them entrance.
 
Walter watched Aurelia closely, noting the reluctance in her movements and the determination that still burned in her eyes despite her obvious fatigue. He recognized the fierce independence in her, a trait he both admired and worried about.

As she took the medication and agreed to rest, he felt a mix of relief and concern. She needed this downtime, whether she admitted it or not. The mission at Watchpoint Delta could wait a little longer; her health was more important for the mission to go well.

"Good," he said, his voice steady and calm. "Rest up. We need you at your best, not pushing through when you're like this."

He watched her hesitate for a moment, lost in her thoughts. It was a rare sight, seeing her vulnerability so openly displayed. As she left the med bay, he took the time to clean up the space to give her time to get back to her room and get settled in.

He couldn't hound her the entire time, it might piss her off, so he'd work in the background. Walter turned his attention to the task at hand. He wanted to follow through with his plan to make some soup. It was a small gesture, but he hoped it would provide some comfort like it did for him as a child.

He headed out of the medbay and into the kitchen, mentally going over the ingredients he had on hand. Carla might tease him for being soft, but he knew it was the right thing to do.

He started preparing the broth, focusing on the simple task as a way to calm his own nerves. He was sure that this was just a cold, but how would her body react to the it now that she was suffering from the complications of her augements?

When did he become such a worry wart...

The man sighed and shook his head, running a large hand down his face as he added the noodles. They weren't anything special, just simple bowtie noodles, but they would hopefully do the job. He had a choice between spaghetti noodles and Bowties and using spaghetti noodles for soup almost felt... cursed...

When the soup was done, he turned off the burner and filled a bowl for her, putting it on a tray with a spoon and a few napkins before heading off towards the bunks with it. It was difficult to wield with two hands given his cane and his limp, but his other hand had a strong enough grip strength to hold it steady, so that's what he did.

Click. Click. Click.

The steady thrumming click of his cane off the linoleum of the floor announced his approach much sooner than the knock on the door to the bunks. Why was he nervous about this all of a sudden? What if she didn't even like soup? Pushing through that onset flash of anxiety, he spoke.

"Aurelia, open up. I've brought you some food. You should eat something after that medication."

~***~
Huntress couldn’t help but grimace at Rusty’s laugh and his casual correction. She felt a bit silly for trying to be overly formal, but it was good to know she could relax a bit. She trusted him to not steer her wrong. They had call signs for a reason. “Got it, Rusty. I’ll stick with callsigns,” she responded, feeling more at ease, but keeping her voice level.

As she followed STEEL HAZE towards the doors, she couldn’t shake off the sense of anticipation building inside her. The exterior fight had been exhilarating, but the unknown of what lay inside BAWS Arsenal was both thrilling and unnerving.

She watched as Rusty plugged into the door’s system, the massive gates slowly grinding open. The darkness beyond seemed to swallow the light, revealing only a hint of the vast complex within. The adrenaline surged through her veins again, readying her for whatever came next.

ARTEMIS moved forward, sensors on high alert as the two entered the first door. The echoing silence of the interior was unsettling, each step of her AC amplified in the vast emptiness as they approached the second door. She opened this one.

“Let’s stick together. We can better watch each other's backs that way with these..."

Her words died in her speech aid as they walked out into a large, cavernous room with a high ceiling and a deep basin-like floor. What was this place??? They seemed to be on a overlook platform. 'What the fuck...?' She thought to herself, looking around and keeping her guard up.

Truthfully, it could have been anything, but maybe it was a well? It was kind of red, so maybe Coral? Was this an old coral storage place or something? The questions stayed in her mind as she slowly boosted over the edge, scanning for danger as she descended and took the initiative.

They were here to clear the place out now right? And they were timed too, so any hesitation could end up with them being left behind by the transport helicopters.
 
Aurelia found her way back to her room, and she did climb back into bed, and laid down, rolling to her side, and almost immediately falling into sleep. It wasn’t a restful sleep, though. At least not in her mind.

Aidon occupied every one of them, in the haze of in-between, reminding her that it didn’t matter if she was sick. She had to get out there. She had to protect Pluto, and keep the Hades Syndicate in control. That was the only way to keep everything together. The only way for herself to stay together.

The coral would stay at bay if she just listened.

The knock at the door disturbed her from the dream, but her mind was still half-there. Half re-educated. The medicine had kicked in – the coughing had stopped. The fever running rampant was now from the coral in her veins acting out against both illness and medicine. ‘If I just manage the mission….’ If she didn’t fight it, everything would go back to normal.

It was just because she was fighting, that the coral was acting up. Of course, that was it. Of course, that was rational.

She rolled to her other side to slip out of the bunk, bare feet touching the cold floor. Startling enough that she gave it pause and realized she wasn’t sure where she was. This didn’t look like the Hades Syndicate facility. This didn’t look like her room.

Someone was speaking.

Aidon’s voice spoke over, “You really fucked it all up, didn’t you? So far away. That’s why you’re dying. There’s no hope now.”

Reality filtered back. Rubicon-3. Walter. ‘Fuck.’ Aurelia covered her face. Perhaps Aidon had a point, though. The Coral never acted up while….

Well, it didn’t matter. She’d rather die than go back to that. She lowered her palm and stepped to the door, opening it for Walter and glancing down at what he had. Somehow, hot food didn’t sound terrible, so long as it was mostly liquid – which that looked to be. She moved to take it from him first, given the balancing act she could see going on. It thankfully didn’t burn her hands, though she wasn’t sure much could right then.

“Thank you,” what else was there to say? “I’ll make sure to eat it,” she stepped back with the bowl, both allowing space in if that was his plan, and indicating she’d head back to rest if that wasn’t.

~***~

Rusty didn’t plan to split up unless it was absolutely necessary. As they entered the area, they were greeted with quite the hole, and red glowing up from below. ‘Fire or coral.’ And given he didn’t sense any strange heat, he had an idea it was a coral reservoir. Snail would want to know about that, but he’d have to go down to confirm it.

Then Snail would have to trace it.

‘We might finally have a lead.’ The Rubiconians had suffered as well, finding the coral stores to be so low after the fires burnt the planet. If there was coral below the surface, though, and wells were bringing it up, that was useful.

Huntress went down first, and Rusty followed.

He scanned again as they got closer, but he used the biological scan he had, “Coral,” he murmured through the comms, “Not much, and it’s diluted in the water, but there must have been a vein here. Almost dry now,” most likely. Snail would obviously find out.

Rusty wondered how long BAWS had been hiding this find.

He wondered how far down the vein went – or how far off it ran. Perhaps there was a section of it that still contained plenty?

He ran his other scans quickly before STEEL HAZE touched the ground, and it pinged off another robot – four of them. “Of course we’re not alone,” he grumbled as three cloaked, and one with a laser whip came charging right at them. Rusty took evasive action, “I’ll try and get one of the others,” he said, boosting in the direction he’d seen a couple of them vanish in. “Be careful with your weapons – coral’s still highly flammable!”

Even with the water, Rusty didn’t want to risk it.
 
Walter watched as Aurelia opened the door, her eyes glassy and distant. She seemed disoriented, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something more than just a cold was going on. As she reached out to take the tray, he made sure to steady it for her, noting the slight tremble in her hands.

“Let me help,” he said, stepping inside the bunk room. He moved with practiced care, balancing the tray with one hand while using his cane for support with the other. He set the tray down on the small table next to her bed, making sure everything was within easy reach.

Once she was settled, he took a seat on the edge of the bunk across from her, his eyes never leaving her. He wanted to make sure she actually ate, and he wasn’t going to leave until he was certain she had some sustenance.

“Eat slowly,” he instructed, his tone firm but gentle. “It’ll help you feel better.”

He waited for a few moments before he spoke again. “Tell me about your symptoms,” he said, leaning forward slightly. “Besides the fever and the cough. Anything else I should know?”

He needed to understand the full scope of her condition, especially with her experiencing burn-in on top of this. She might downplay her symptoms, but he needed the truth to ensure the medicine was working and that she wasn't getting worse because of it.

~***~
Huntress scanned the cavernous room, looking for anything and everything that could explain what happened here or alert her to more of those invisible drones. She watched as Rusty followed her down, confirming her suspicions through his scans.

Coral.

Of course it had to be Coral. That explained some of the unsettling feeling of the place. She and coral didn't exactly have the best relationship after her burn-in injuries.

As soon as his warning came through, her senses heightened further. Four of those drones and one of them was already charging them. Her hands moved instinctively on the triggers of her LUDLOWs, maneuvering ARTEMIS to evade the incoming attack.

“Understood. I’ll keep the heavy stuff on standby,” she responded, thinking quickly about how to handle the situation without triggering any explosions from the coral. She would have to keep her shots to a minimum and not even touch her missiles.

She swiftly dodged the laser whip, using her agility to stay a step ahead. “Switching to melee and precision shots,” she added with her physical voice, adjusting her strategy on the fly and disconnecting from her speech aid. The last thing they needed was an accidental coral detonation.

ARTEMIS’s sensors worked overtime, focused on the one with the laser whip, knowing she needed to take it down before it caused more trouble. She closed the distance, engaging in close combat with precise, calculated elbow strikes and assault boost kicks. Her goal was to disable it without causing a larger incident that could explode the whole well.

“Let’s dance,” she muttered, her concentration laser-focused. She landed a solid kick on the whip-wielding machine, disrupting its attack and giving her a clear shot. A few quick, bursts of kinetic bullets into its frame from point blank, an assault kick and a bash to the face with her metal elbow, and it was dealt with.

“One down,” she reported, scanning for the other three. She saw Rusty engaging with one of the others, and boosted towards another machine that had flickered back into visibility, dodging out of the way of another laser.

She used her agility to outmaneuver the cloaked machine, aiming for weak points and using precision like before to disable it.

With the second machine down, she turned her attention to the remaining threats. The cavernous space echoed with the sounds of battle, but Huntress remained calm, cool, and collected.

“Rusty, need help?” she called out, ready to assist if he needed it. They were a team, and she was going to make sure they both made it out of this in one piece. The clock was ticking on their departure.

They just needed to defeat these remaining bots, gather more information from inside, and get back to the transport helicopters. So far, they had been making great time and might even get back before sunrise.
 
Aurelia wanted to protest Walter’s help. She wanted to protest his sitting in while she ate. She knew how to eat on her own, and she glowered at the comment to ‘eat slowly’. Spite made her not want to eat at all, even through the heat of the fever, she had enough of that to last, well, longer than her lifetime would be.

Walter did seem genuinely interested in her symptoms. Hells, he hadn’t even dressed yet, which meant he went and made this soup right after she’d left. ‘He probably hasn’t even told his friend yet.’

A mission she had to do to clear this up. Aidon—

‘Aidon’s dead. You killed him.’

Other symptoms. Fever dreams probably didn’t count, but what else was he expecting? She lifted the bowl to her lips rather than fiddle with the spoon, decidedly not going slow as her act of spite as she drunk down a bit of the broth. She’d use the spoon next time; noodles didn’t go down as easily. She could see them far more clearly now with so much of the broth gone.

‘Does the fact you’re bothered by him sans shirt count as a symptom?’ Aurelia did consider blaming it on the fever.

Well, she could have some fun with this if Walter wanted to linger, and then blame it entirely on being sick. “The fever’s still going,” she said at last, using the spoon to push around a few of the noodles. “Not sure if the medicine just takes a bit to kick in, or if it’s that strong. So there’s already fever dreams that want to throw me back into the re-education mindset.”

Not hallucinations.

Aidon wasn’t speaking to her. Aidon wasn’t here. “Insisting if I get back to Pluto and listen it’ll all be fine, because I never had symptoms when I just did that. It’s likely a mix of time and cryostasis, though.” Nothing to do with Aidon.

“So the coral is burning in, in protest to the medicine or fever, who knows?” Not her, “but you sans shirt does not improve the degree of heat, either.”

Fun for now, probably mortifying later, but she was already too tired to care about that part, as she scooped a few of the noodles up and ate.

~***~

Rusty would stick with melee, even if he knew plasma and energy weapons were better than many alternatives around plasma. He had a healthy respect for the dangers to not want to risk it at all, and so he fought as far from the open wells as the room allowed, and tried to keep his foes from even falling into the wells by the positioning.

The whirlwind of his weapon did pretty good, and the machines themselves seemed to understand the threat, preferring to hang onto the walls. Rusty was able to shatter the first one against the wall of the well, before boosting towards the second.

It tried to use its cover to hide, but that was quickly obliterated by Rusty’s scan.

The whip came out, but Rusty dodged right, and came in swiftly after that, similarly obliterating the second with his melee weapon, just as Huntress’s voice came through. “All good!” he chimed, “seems we can handle four easily enough, eh Buddy?” enough practice from outside. “Let’s get these bots out of the well, though. I’d hate for their explosion to cause more of a problem.” He knew what coral could do.

He'd use STEEL HAZE to carefully pull one up and out, having to take a few rests on catwalks around the well; his AC wasn’t used to carrying that kind of weight along, so he wasn’t able to just boost straight up and out, but this was worth it.

“We can let Snail know about these four and where we placed them, so he can retrieve them if he wants. Grab any data from inside,” if Snail could figure it out. “We’ll want to check for any terminals after….”

There had to be something.

“I think we’re still good on time.”

The sherpa hadn’t even been necessary. Still, Snail would probably be glad he sent it when he learned of the invisible robots that had attacked them. Things could have gone a lot worse if the two hadn’t been paranoid from the get-go about the silence.

Snail’s anxiety helped with Rusty’s paranoia, too.
 
Walter watched Aurelia closely, taking note of her stubborn defiance and the flash of spite in her eyes. He expected the resistance, knowing her well enough by now to anticipate her pushing back on things she didn't want to do.

As she drank the broth directly from the bowl and then addressed him with a mix of seriousness and teasing, he became increasingly aware that he had neglected to put a shirt back on after his shower. He wasn't sure if it was due to her symptoms or her comment about his shirtlessness, but he was determined to remain as composed as he could.

"I'll add 'delusional' to the list of symptoms," he said, trying to keep his tone light and slightly amused. He could feel the faint pink flush creeping up his cheeks, but he hoped she wouldn't notice in her current state. He adjusted his posture, trying to maintain his usual calm demeanor.

This was just a symptom of the fever, her hitting on him, teasing him like that, it had to be. He was her handler and someone she didn't have the greatest rapport with after the Wall mission and everything he put her through. Walter resisted the urge to run a hand down his face or through his hair, his nervous tells. He didn't need her to know just how much that affected him in the event she did it again just to spite him.

He'd had pilots hit on him in the past, specifically 354 and 531, but that was just because they were odd fellows with their own fair share of brain damage from coral or in 354's case, it was just part of his personality to flirt with everything that scared him. Or moved... Maybe 354 was just trying to get laid all the time, now that he thought about it considering he also hit on 355 and 353.

He watched her for a moment longer, noting the way she ate despite her obvious discomfort. It was concerning to him that her fever was so strong that it was giving her dreams that tried to throw her back into her re-education and that the coral was reacting so strongly to her fever that it was possibly causing worse damage. Maybe a cool shower would help?

“If your fever doesn't improve in an hour, we might need to try something stronger. But for now, just focus on resting and eating. We’ll handle the mission when you’re back on your feet.”
Walter's eyes softened slightly, a rare moment of vulnerability in his otherwise stoic facade. “And next time, don’t hesitate to tell me if something’s wrong.”

He allowed himself a small smile, the corners of his mouth lifting just a bit as he got back to his feet, preparing to take the tray and her empty bowl. “Even if it means you have to put up with my cooking. There is more soup if you want it.”

~***~
Huntress felt a surge of relief as Rusty's voice came through the comms, confirming he was handling his end. “Got it,” she responded, keeping her voice aid off still in the event that they ran into more trouble. It was honestly easier to keep it switched off instead of disconnecting and reconnecting all the time.

She moved quickly, guiding ARTEMIS to the closest disabled drone. Her lightweight AC wasn't built for heavy lifting, but with precision and careful maneuvering, she managed to lift the bot. It was slow going, and she had to take breaks on the catwalks, much like Rusty. The weight strained her AC's servos, but she pressed on, determined to clear the area of the potential danger.

As she hauled the drone up, she kept an eye on the surroundings, ever alert for any additional threats. The cavernous room seemed to echo with each landing, the metal 'tang' and 'clang' audible even in her cockpit and keeping her on her toes.

“Almost there,” she murmured, more to herself than anyone else, as she reached the top and set the bot down in a safer location. She took a brief moment to check ARTEMIS's systems, ensuring everything was still functioning optimally before heading back for the next one.

After repeating the process and ensuring all the drones were safely removed, she radioed Rusty again. “All clear now. Bots out of well.”

Huntress then turned her attention to the interior of the top floor of the BAWS Arsenal's coral well, her mind racing with thoughts about what they might find. She knew they had to gather any data they could find and get back to the transport helicopters. Thankfully they still had over an hour left to look and get out of there from all their teamwork.

“Looking for terminals. See what we find,” she said, moving around the wall of the structure. ARTEMIS’s sensors were on high alert, scanning for any hidden threats or useful data points.

Ah, that's why she should have kept her speech aid on. The 'peanut butter in mouth' feeling and the numbness of her tongue. She pushed herself to ignore it, push past it, as she moved her tongue around her mouth to get it in a more comfortable position.

She boosted towards a likely-looking terminal, plugging in to start downloading any available data. The screens flickered to life, revealing logs and information about the coral reservoir. “Got something,” she reported. “Logs about coral. Not drones.”

With the data transfer rapidly progressing, she kept her guard up, ready for any surprises. The mission was going well, but she knew better than to let her guard down. “Almost done. 95%. How’s yours?” she asked, hoping Rusty was having similar luck as she fought through her speech issues as best as she could, hoping her cast of peanut butter tongue wasn't audible through comms.

Just a little longer and she could reconnect to her speechaid. She doubted they'd be attacked again on their way to the transport helicopters, but she couldn't be too safe. The sooner they could finish up, the better.
 
Aurelia smirked a little at his comment of delusional. Well, she couldn’t deny that, so she wouldn’t bother, as she continued to scoop up noodles and eat them. “If I’m awake in an hour, isn’t that a problem?” Though Aurelia supposed if the fever was bad enough, it was possible. Sleeping and sweating didn’t go well together.

Didn’t mean she wouldn’t try.

With the noodles finished, she drained the broth again, and resisted the urge to roll her eyes as Walter stood and prepared to take the tray and bowl. She should be the one handling that, but she allowed him. There was no fighting it, and she wanted to take the rest he ‘ordered’ her to take, anyways. “What a wretched fate,” Aurelia managed to joke, “I’ll have to recover so I can return to eating protein bars,” this wasn’t so bad.

A bit bland, but what could be expected with broth and noodles? It was still…different.

She would have loved it on Pluto and those endlessly cold days. Burning with a fever and on a cold ship, it wasn’t quite the same, but it was still good. Nutritious and easy to eat, the things that she needed. “Go do whatever it is you do all day when you’re not preparing jobs. You probably need to tell your friend anyways,” unless she had a miraculous recovery, but…it wasn’t happening.

And Walter wasn’t going to send her out.

It was a problem for another day, when it was actually coral burn.

~***~

Rusty was glad when the drone removal part was done, and he dove back into the well, seeking out any terminals or other sorts of information. He located one on the ground floor, and plugged in, hearing Huntress comment on her find. “More coral,” he noted with a bit of a sigh. Were there no cameras in here to watch the room? Well…possibly, he supposed, though that seemed like a stupid idea.

However, he didn’t find another terminal.

He didn’t find any cameras in the room.

“Don’t think we’re going to find much about the drones inside. Snail is just going to have to take what we gathered from outside, but we got what we needed. We’re here for coral, after all,” and if any of those logs talked about where more coral was to be found, Snail was going to be…well maybe happy was the wrong word, but pleased.

Rusty maneuvered STEEL HAZE back up, “We’ve got time to kill, let’s see if there’s any other entrances or other things to find before we go wait in place for a helicopter.”

He wasn’t sure how much more there was to be found, but he’d rather look around than wait aimlessly on the snowy fields of Rubicon-3 for a helicopter to pick them up. Especially with these current findings on the coral vein.

They were getting close to something, he knew it.
 
Technically, yes, if she was still awake in an hour, that'd be bad. He'd have to pull out the big guns, figuratively at least, and get her a stronger fever-killing medication. But he wasn't going to allow himself to get even more worked up over this when it was just a waiting game.

The fact that she was joking back with him was a good sign and that small smirking smile on his face grew just a little bigger. She also had the strength to order him around like normal too, that gave him hope.

"I'll leave you to it. I'll check back in an hour" The pepper-haired man nodded to her and headed out of the room, tray in one hand and cane in the other.

After depositing the dishes in the sink to do later, her comment about his lack of shirt came flitting back into his brain, causing him to flush once more and mad dash towards the shower to grab the shirt he picked out. Well, as much of a mad dash that a cane-wielding person could make.

He donned said shirt and deposited the towel around his shoulders in the hamper before letting out a sigh that turned into an embarrassed chuckle. He wouldn't be making that mistake again any time soon, that was for sure. Carla would be laughing her ass off at today's plight and how he was handling things.

Oh...

Right...

Carla...

With a sigh, the man made his way to his office, the rhythmic clicking announcing his presence as normal. Settling into his chair, he debated whether or not to text her or call her. He really didn't want to get into it with her on the phone, so he decided on a text. If she wanted further details, she could call him.

Calling off the mission for today. Aurelia is in no shape to pilot right now. It'd be a suicide mission. It's not Coral Burn-in. She got sick from the BAWS town.​

And sent. Hopefully that would be enough to keep her from calling, but if he knew her like he thought he did, she'd still call him. maybe even to chew him out for going against the plans, but what the hell else was he supposed to do? Just let her die? No. He wasn't losing another pilot to Sulla, especially when he was sure she would be the one to take him down.

~***~
Huntress felt a wave of frustration at the lack of drone-related information, but she pushed it aside. They had done a lot already for this mission and if Snail wanted to play with the explode-y invisi-drones, more power to him. “Understood,” she replied simply, keeping her words concise.

She finished downloading the logs from her terminal, then moved to regroup with Rusty. “Logs clear. No more terminals here,” she reported, her voice still monotone due to her speech aid being off. “Ready to search.”

For the next hour, Huntress and Rusty combed through the BAWS Arsenal, checking every nook and cranny for any additional data or hidden entrances. They found a few more logs related to coral, but nothing groundbreaking. The lack of information about the drones was disappointing, but the coral data was valuable enough if that's what Arquebus was after.

As time ticked down, Huntress remained vigilant, keeping an eye out for more of those invisi-drones and their giant lasers. She couldn’t afford another failure or being sent back to the re-education center so the red head focused on her task, using the repetitive, methodical actions to keep herself grounded.

Finally, with the last of their time spent, they made their way to the designated extraction point. The transport helicopter was already waiting, its rotors kicking up a whirlwind of snow and debris. Huntress guided ARTEMIS to her loader, carefully maneuvering her AC into position and locking in.

As they settled in for the ride back, Huntress allowed herself a brief moment of reflection. They had accomplished their primary objective, and despite the challenges, they had managed to gather valuable data.

The small pilot relaxed in her pilot seat for a moment, taking a deep breath and reconnecting to her speech aid as she powered down Artemis. Huntress was sweating like crazy from the heat kicked up from the fighting that they had to do and zipping around for the last almost 2 hours, the longer parts of her hair stick to her head. She'd definitely need a shower after they debriefed. The red head emerged from the cockpit and made her way down to one of the seats, pulling out her phone and texting Lilith.

I hope you and mom and the twins are doing well. Love you all.

We love you too. The twins are home this week if you're free to come visit?
​
The text back took a little bit, but her face brightened for a moment before she got herself back under control, letting it touch her eyes instead, tears gathering at the corners. Her brothers were ok. Better than ok, they were alive! The red head discretely wiped the gathered tears and cleared her throat in an attempt to hide how emotional it made her.
​
~***~

Lilith had just finished up testing on the new 'fuck off' knife of V.IV Rusty's and was about to text him when Elliot's text came in across her personal phone. Her face lit up. Was he already getting to work?

He must know her enough to have gotten started already, but then again, maybe not. The text wasn't super emotional, but she did express her love for their family which was better than nothing! She needed to ship this weapon out.

"Handsome? Baby, can you pack this knife up for me please?" The tall figure of Handsome Lukas looked up from the controls for the cranes that handled shipping and nodded, getting things all squared away for her. "You got it, Lily"

That freed her up to get the shipping labels printed and text Rusty.

One 'Fuck you in particular' pulse blade finished and shipping within the next hour. My sister likes tigers, absolutely obsessed with them, though I'm sure you could tell. Her AC's probably tiger striped if I know her like I think I do. She's not subtle about it. She's also a big fan of The Jungle Book, and try to remind her about her purpose of being there. Why she became a pilot in the first place. I don't know how well that last one will work, but its worth a try. Oh! Also try memes. I have a handful about you, Hawkins and her that she sent me in the past as well as many others if you would like them to share with her again. I have quite the collection. If you need more information, you know how to reach me. Tiny, out.
​
The tall woman slapped the shipping labels onto the large crate. and Handsome moved it into the express shipping lane, causing her to sigh and slump into a chair, exhausted. She had pulled an all-nighter for this. She pulled her phone back out and texted Elliot back.
 
Aurelia had no choice but to get better, to rest. It didn’t stop the fever dreams, but isolated in her room more often than not, it led to nothing but the occasional bout of confusion as she adjusted her mindset to remember she was not on Pluto anymore, and worked her way back down from the thoughts of heading out on a mission.

The cold plagued her for nearly a week. The burning fever abated some with stronger medicines, but the exhaustion was the truly difficult part as her body tried to fight it all, even with the help of medicine.

Even when the coughing ended, and some of her energy returned, a low-level fever remained. Aurelia couldn’t deny what that was; Walter likely couldn’t either, but that had to be worked through. Medicine helped, and Aurelia was slowly accepting that fate as she finished her round of checks on LEMURES for the mission she was finally able to take up.

‘Seems okay.’

Which just meant meeting Walter for their usual debrief. She hadn’t gotten much information on the mission while she was dying in bed. Dressed back in a flight suit, Aurelia jumped down LEMURES, landing on her feet, and started her walk to the kitchen, shooting a quick message ahead.

LEMURES is good. I’ll meet you for the debrief.​

With the message sent, she tucked the tablet back into a pocket and made her way into the kitchen area to seek out Walter.

~***~

Rusty loaded STEEL HAZE into place as the mission finished. He let out a sigh once STEEL HAZE was locked in. The time spent on the mission left him a bit hot, too. Few ACs were made for long missions of constant activity. Guard duty, sure, but boosting about and gathering logs? Not so much.

Even so, he started to relax, until he noticed Huntress climbing out of her AC. He arched a brow at that, but supposed it was probably more comfortable outside the AC.

He just didn't prefer it. Not only because he wanted to lounge back and rest, but the attachment concerns were becoming more real. It was always a threat, and though Rusty liked Hawkins, even O’Keeffe, but not to a point he was concerned about betraying them.

He was concerned about Huntress.

It was obvious her family didn't want get involved, but Rusty couldn't free her. He couldn't risk his position that way. It made things complicated.

Still, it wasn't like him to be a recluse, so he worked his way out of the cockpit and on down to see Huntress. On the way, his own tablet made a noise and he checked to see a message from Lilith.

He skimmed it, noted the details and couldn't help but smirk over how she really didn't add anything he didn't already know. Huntress really was an open book.

He sent back a ‘thunbs up’ before sliding the tablet into his pocket and taking a seat by Huntress, noticing her tears with a bemused expression. “I take it you got some good news, buddy?” She did seem to be happy. “Anything to share with the class?” He joked.
 
The next week was hell playing this waiting game of hoping his pilot's cold was just a cold and nothing more. He had to end up giving her the stronger medication after all to bring that fever down, but the damage from the coral and the cold was permanent it seemed.

Fate was cruel, allowing him to finally open his eyes and start caring about his pilots only to strong arm him into sending her to her death so soon to try and race against the clock that was Coral Burn-in. It was something that kept him up later than it should have for the last week.

It didn't help that a low-level fever persisted. It was undeniable now that the timeline just jumped up significantly. Next up was taking on Sulla and destroying the internals of Watchpoint Delta. From there, Carla would figure it out where they needed to head next.

Walter recieved the text from Aurelia as he was making them coffee and did a quick pat of his torso, the shirtless incident still fresh in his mind. He knew he was wearing a shirt. He had put it on after his shower, but in that moment, he had to feel for it.

With a relieved sigh, the pepper-haired man took his seat, placing their coffees down and waited for her to show up to talk about the mission. He had his tablet on the table with the brief map of the watchpoint thanks to Carla with points where the PCA guards could be stationed and ran over the details in his mind as she walked through the door.

"Good afternoon, Aurelia. You look like you're feeling better." He waited for her to take her seat before getting into it.

"My friend asked us to take a look at Watchpoint Delta. Your goal is to eliminate the Subject Guard Squad stationed at the Watchpoint, and make your way inside to destroy the control center. Expect heavy resistence as this is the PCA. Any questions?"

~***~

I'll have to see if I have free time this week to come and visit. Are they okay? Did they pass their piloting exams?

Els, they are better than okay. They passed with flying colors! They are operating as independents right now, Castor and Pollux. How's your buddy, huh~? ​

Rusty's voice next to her caused her to jolt in surprise with a short burst of static from the speech aid and a hand reached up to grasp the pendant in a brief moment of terror, having been lost in the world of catching up with her sister and learning about her brothers' schooling.

Almost as quick as the startle reflex started, it ended and she took a deep breath, giving him a tiny, shaky smile, nodding. It was more than good news. It was great news.

The red head turned her phone towards him, showing him the screen with texts with Lilith, wiping at her face discretely again to clear the fresh tears of pride, relief, and love. "My baby brothers. They are alive and passed their pilot tests. I'm going to try and visit home this week to see them."

Elliot had forgotten that Lilith had used her nickname for her in the latest text, but at least it wasn't her full name. Besides, even if it was, she trusted Rusty not to use it for evil.

If only she knew what he really was.

"I haven't heard from them since they joined pilot training over 6 months ago... I was starting to lose hope that they were even still alive and kicking..." The red head took a deep breath, steeling herself.

"But, they are and they are doing well, and-" There was a good moment of static as she choked up, swallowing down the lump that formed in her throat.

"-and I'm so, so proud of them."
 
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