The covering haze parted to reveal the familiar view of Elysium. The sterile cold soothed the sharp cold of Enarc. Pristine buildings towered, protecting the central area. Accompanied by the endless occasional spurts of the fountain that had become a therapeutic relief. A brief solace of familiarity.
[1140]
[COM: General Lucaen>General Caius]
[ETA 1200]
[System: Message Delivered]
Lucaen glanced at the vast space around him. He had travelled from Enarc to the Central Linking Port. If it were a choice, Lucaen would have chosen to navigate directly to the HQ's second floor. However, the security remained as strict as ever, even for a general. Bothersome, really.
Who was he to complain? The walk to the HQ alone seemed like a gift for him to slow down, and he agreed, knowing he would be able to piece the mystery together with General Caius. Something he can get closure from.
[Message Seen]
The central remained quiet, void of any civilians in the public space. The breeze, the tranquility were welcomed. Everything about this was right.
Caius, his ever colleague, stepped from the translucent door, opening it from the inside. His figure was one of the obvious. Slender mechanical limbs, despite being one of the known families of the Panthera, hailed for their strength, but not Caius. A subfamily of his own, the Pardus specialized in one-shot kills. His tail, the ever nosy, hissed as a greeting to him.
"Ssst. she's sshere." The tail flicked its forked tongue towards Caius' thigh. Its triangular head slithered, forever leashed.
Caius swatted the tail aside. "I'm not blind."
The towering Hub remained a decor. There was something comforting about seeing the HQ again. The occasional mumbles of the engineers as they worked together all filled Lucaen with solemnity. Some noticed their presence while others were content in their own bubble.
Aurelius and I.. What are we going to do with his rhythm?
"Lucaen, you can report the recent case later for your findings."
"Preferably, let's solve this case alongside me instead." He suggested. "And..you seemed well." A fist was raised. A sign of strength in their clan. He was acknowledging Lucaen in his own way.
Lucaen nodded, agreeing to the suggestion. A report can be put on hold. Not that anyone would do it, since it will cause the Optic to have a delay in mission assigning and updating the archive. A loophole everyone never took advantage of.
Aurelius once went on so long without reporting, that he was blacklisted and had to issue a public apology. Even General Nefertari took the opportunity to make him as an example for the officers.
Caius followed Lucaen straight to the second floor, passing his own office. Their steps synchronized. As they reached the highest floor, Caius' IOD turned, recognizing its master's rhythm. It went to greet him at the door, humming softly.
[Good Afternoon, General Caius]
The tail was piqued by the disturbance, hissing slightly in front of the IOD before it was dragged by Caius' tailbone. "ssSike~"
Caius wasted no energy on meaningless gestures as he looked past it. More movement, more core consumption. Else, the IOD offers itself to be consumed, Caius would gladly crush its interface in his jaw.
"The case, you noticed it." Lucaen spoke, hoping he would get more intel on what Caius had known.
Caius acknowledged the question, tugging on Lucaen's shoulder a little just near the door.
"The Transition. I have something to show you. Same matters."
Lucaen tilted his head, "The Transition?"
"Why the Optic's?"
"You'll know when you see it. It's complicated to explain it in words." Caius pointed slightly with a nudge of his head. A gesture to follow him. All the while, his tail was gleaming mischievously. Its pointy snout swayed in the rhythm of Caius' steps. It was as if, it was having the time of its life being dragged around.
"Odd." Lucaen stated.
Maybe Caius had received a revelation by linking the rise of cases with the Optic's known archive.
[1208]
The Transition, a corner laboratory loomed over them. A thick built iron door slid to the right as Caius walked straight to it. Mist of the sudden change of humidity escaped the lab, engulfing their feet. It felt dry yet moisturized.
The lights were the first thing that assaulted his vision. It made him bring his left claw up, covering his eyes as he adjusted to the black inner walls that had swallowed the pure white light across the room.
As he tried to wave the mist off with his other hand that had crept to his level, Lucaen's eyes settled onto the sprawled mechanical parts that had lain on the center of the table. The smell of alkaline, lubricants surrounded the laboratory.
An exo capable of a beast form. The legs were separated from its hip, tail dangled from the edge of the table. Fluids were seen oozing out of its jaw, dried. Perhaps, the oil for its core.
A mechanical arm machine hovered above the exo, made scraps with a distant hum. Dragging the fang of the exo into the midsection of the table as the body slowly slides off. Once in position, it made a slight puncture to its ribs, testing the input system.
The exo hissed. Its instinct flares to defend itself despite its current state.
'FEEDBACK RESPONSIVE'
The machine declared with a ruthless efficiency. Moving along from its upper extension. While the lower extensions were left flailing on the table, onto the floor. What in the world-
"The Optic won't force a shutdown, yet." Caius' words interrupted his distracted self.
"What do you mean--"
"Optic still needs Aurelius. The cases."
"Let's talk about it."
"What?"
For a moment, Lucaen was at a loss. A hollow shell on the frame of the Transition. Immobilized by the scene and the ambiguity Caius had given him. What was he trying to imply?
That Aurelius might, be the one behind this? This is wrong. Lucaen knows it. Whatever conclusion Caius had come to. It was wrong.
"Aurelius is not tied to the cases." He argued.
Dismantled. Attached. Dragged. Tested. His attention kept darting to the exo behind Caius.
That's..General Nefertari?
Lucaen pulled Caius by the chest plate, his own claws stabbing through the metal to anchor his grip. "Is this a threat?"
Caius let out a low grunt as he stabilized himself by the sudden pull. "The Optic's close."
"The sudden rise of cases, perhaps linked to the unknown rhythm made clashed between the anomaly and Elysium's rhythm-"
"Nonsense." The deflection was low. Almost a rumble. No way, he was framing Aurelius.
"The rise was long before Aurelius'--" Lucaen tightened his grip. Who does he think he is? He knows nothing yet, in such haste to claim. To find a reason. To get in Aurelius' way.
An overreaching idiot.
Caius stood quietly.
"Sshow do syou ssSknow?" The tail hissed. Its slithering body hugged Lucaen's upper leg in a mocking threat.
"What-?"
"No, you do not understand."
"The rise of cases had been a week."
Caius' eyes glinted the moment Lucaen said what he had long intended. "Aurelius had an anomaly for his rhythm for who knows how long?" He declared.
"No, listen-"
Caius knocked his claws away. Gripping Lucaen's muzzle to his. The gesture caused a spark due to the friction between the two EXA metals. "You seem to know awfully a lot about the timeline, don't you?"
That's when he knew.
It was an intentional coup.
And his words became Caius' weapons.
"You are mistaken."
"I'm here for the threat of the cases, and here you are obsessed with Aurelius instead."
Lucaen stepped back, giving them some meek respect of personal space.
"You don't want to be an alibi for Aurelius' treason." He pressed on further.
"Do you?"
Lucaen recoiled slightly, his eyes darting away as if to pretend that he received a notification from his lieutenants regarding Tevar rulings.
He cocked his head away from Caius. "As much as I would like to entertain you, I have more important matters to attend to."
"There's a core that rules were not met."
Caius let out a cruel hiss, caging Lucaen further by the door. Backing him.
"Funny, I don't see any notice."
He waved the mist beside them; the last 24 hours of his input system lay bare for all to see in a ridiculous attempt of his to dismiss.
[Report: Core Stabilized]
[Report: Exo Restored]
[Report: Mana Restored]
[Report: Lucaen Theron Fully Recovered]
[Report: Core Upgraded]
[Report: Exo Restored]
[Report: Mana Capacity Increased]
[Report: Skills Unlocked]
[Report: Body Extension Repaired]
[Report: General Aurelius Everhart Fully Recovered]
[Inbox: General Caius Had Sent A Message]
[General Caius>General Lucaen]
[Meet me in your office. The cases. We need to talk.]
[Alone.]
[1140]
[COM: General Lucaen>General Caius]
[ETA 1200]
[System: Message Delivered]
[Message Seen]
"Be smart about this. For an exo, you would betray your lineage?"
"Remember what it took to become the Theron."
"You, the heir, had to condemn your own parents guilty."
He pointed at Lucaen's chest. "You did it."
Out of all things-
"You too devoured them."
"You want it to crumble to waste simply because of an exo, who knows where he came from?"
"Ssssmart!" The tail quipped, revealing its fangs parallel to the revelation. Too close for Lucaen's liking.
His parents.
Willfully gave him the Court of Maat to formalize him as the heir.
The vivid crunch of every bite the beast had taken. Mercilessly. The moment their scale favored the heart. The way they had obeyed the will of Maat. The fact that they knelt and offered themselves as he stood as a judge.
He didn't ask for all of this.
The graphic details of their death. The absence of vocalized pain that he had resented. All was engraved in his mind.
It all ends with Ammit's crunch echoing the realm.
"His fusion."
"You can paralyze him there."
Caius brought his head back, running his own hand through Lucaen's muzzle. "This seals it."
That damn cocky curve of his muzzle was mocking him. Openly. "A fusion, is not something Aurelius would tell you unless you mean something to him."
The words echoed with haunted cheers. "That's a risk."
"Tevar would be able to run without you for a while." He glanced downwards at his tail.
"Salus."
Lucaen's eyes shot to the serpentine tail. "What? I did as you wished!" Likewise, the tail had sunk its fangs into Lucaen's hind. Injecting a paralyzing venom.
[Warning: Botulinum Detected]
[System: Neutralized]
A surge of sharp fluid crashed into his lower limbs. It was prickly, uncomfortable as he felt every molecule it invaded. Instantaneous as it was, his system produced an antidote that might be able to purge it.
[System: Lower Extension Offline]
No, I won't bow to him.
Lucaen's legs buckled. Knocking him to the floor, kneeling to his perpetrator. His vision fell to the same level as Caius's hips. "Caius- You are messing with the wrong person." He grunted, seemingly glaring. Claws clenched tight.
[Warning: Botulinum Detected]
[System: Antivenoms]
[Warning: Botulinum Detected]
[System: Antivenoms Failed]
[Warning: Upper Extension Offline]
[Warning: High Dosage Of Antivenoms]
[System: System Fail_re]
The toxin travelled throughout his system. Hijacking it, changing the administrative to this..unknown thing. His body felt heavy, empty. He can't feel anything, can't command anything.
He found himself on the floor. His body had grown flaccid.
If it were not..for the Optic, I would've killed you.
[Sisten: Man4 IdLe]
"Enough." He grunted beneath his breath.
The tail gave a quick squeeze before releasing Lucaen. Its fangs remained visible by his snout. Dripping a colorless liquid to the floor, polishing the marble beneath.
"sshis core." It was asking for permission.
"You can't."
The tail's head swiveled towards the dismantled exo on the table. "Nefertari's...sss?"
"Absolutely not."
"Yours?"
Caius glanced down, a grin etched on his muzzle. "No."
[COM: Genral AureLius>General Luc4en]
Lucaen's system flickered slightly. Bad timing.
Idiot-
[whEre are you? Did you leave? HQ?]
[I'm -n mY way.]
"Oh, would you look at that?" Caius sneered softly, crouching to meet Lucaen's fading consciousness. "How..pitiful."