It was twilight when Maeve finally came into sight of the Aegis. The lockdown was still in effect, and that meant Xanarken had to be carried onto the SkyFortress like a real boy, and he manifested aboard the little skiff as it came onto that final approach. The steaming cauldron of once-molten rock had long-cooled by then, and the fog had faded. Within the caldera of that ruin, the river had manufactured a small lake, and it bled out into the river delta, completely submerging the base of the building, flowing out beneath the ruined landing-terrace to rejoin the river’s original path, and continued on from there like nothing had happened.

Gabriel grumbled in frustration as his hails were denied, “…Rylen still has the ship pinned. I can’t get through unless he releases the directive.”

“Fly up in front of the bridge. They may not want to hear us, but they can’t ignore looking right at us.”

A ways back, the Dreadnought and the Fulcrum could already be seen cresting over the horizon. That little red skiff hovered upwards and found its way over to the nose of the ship – and as they went, they got an eyeful of the mortifying sight of that warped and twisted metal of the cannon and its surrounding structures.

“…What the Hell happened…?” Gabriel wondered aloud for them both.

It only took a few minutes for an acknowledgement to come from the Aegis’ bridge, and an invitation was sent to Maeve’s communications system to join the call. Once the link was established, the bridge-crew had only one statement, “State your purpose.”

“This is Gabriel Lugios and Xanarken Tellan of the Fourth. We’re requesting permission to board.”

“One moment.”

It was an anxious several few more minutes as they waited; Gabriel wasn’t sure if it would’ve been better or worse if there had been hold-music playing. When Xanarken snapped his head up to attention though, Gabriel knew that meant only one thing, and a few seconds later, the First himself manifested aboard his little ship.

“You two don’t have any business with the Aegis.” He said angrily, “Why are you here?”

“You don’t call, you don’t text…” Xanarken answered, turning around so he could lean his side against the back of the second chair, and gestured forward, “You’ve been incommunicato since this morning. The last time one of your SkyFortresses went on total lockdown, it was only by the good sense of the Inquisitors that we didn’t have an international incident.”

“This is a completely internal incident. You have nothing at stake here.” Rylen dismissed, “I’ll release the lockdown in a couple days.”

“Let me see Ren.” Gabriel interjected, pausing the First in the midst of his dissolving, “Please…”

Rylen just leered for a moment, but grumbled and turned to his brother, “I need you to assess one of my people for representation. Figure out who you want to assign for a Fafnir court-martial, and I’ll consider it payment towards letting you two on board early.”

“A Fafnir court-martial?” The two echoed.

Xanarken nodded, “Okay.”

Rylen vanished then, and a minute later, they got the clearance from the bridge to dock at the back of the ship. That intimidating figure was on the landing-pad waiting for them when Maeve finally touched-down; deck-crews continued about their business without interruption.

Xanarken came out first, “I guess you’ll show me where your problem-child is?”

“Might as well.” The First shrugged, and watched Gabriel hop off the skiff to catch up, “While you two are here, you’ll be like air-bubbles passing through a fish-tank. You can still access the World Cloud’s information systems like normal, but you won’t have access to any of the Aegis’ nanotech supply, and as before, you won’t be able to contact anyone who’s aboard the ship. The only reason you’re allowed to connect to the Cloud while here is because I can’t scrub the access-permissions of other Eidolon; I can only limit them while you’re in my space. To that end, I hope I don’t have to explain that what you see here stays here.” Those orange eyes went to Gabriel, just to be certain the man was paying attention.

“How’m I gonna find Ren if I can’t call her now that I’m here?” He asked, and gestured around the hangar, “This place is massive.”

“She’s in the MedBay.” The First answered simply, and as the anxious blonde attempted to rush by, Rylen stuck a hand out and pressed it to the man’s chest to stop him in his tracks and nudge him back a few paces again, “Just wait, will you? I’m not done.”

“Is she hurt?”

“She fought-off a beast of darkness and won. She deserves to feel like shit for a minute.” Rylen answered, and looked away as Gabriel glowered at him for the comment, “Before I can cut you loose to rampage around my ship, let me tell you what happened. Then, you can do whatever you want, and go where you please.”

.

The Aegis was a proverbial ghost-town compared to how Gabriel knew it to be from his last stay there; most people had sequestered to their rooms and bunk-halls, leaving only a skeleton-crew to keep things going. There was a definite sense of tension in the air, and those few people Gabriel did see on his way towards the MedBay seemed not to notice him.

Par for the course, for him.

The medical wing was a familiar-enough place that he had no trouble figuring out where to go to find out exactly where Ren was had gone. It was something of a relief that he spotted Seth in the lobby through the clear-glass walls, and he quickly made his way through, “Seth!”

“Mr. Gabriel?” The teen quickly stood up and threw himself at the man; the receptionist behind the desk nearby practically jumped out of her chair to salute the unannounced Eidolon.

For a change, Gabriel was actually receptive to the idea of a hug, and he was relieved to see the teen unharmed, “Rylen told me everything… I’m so sorry…”

“I’ve already cried all the tears I think I have right now…” Seth answered, arms holding tight around that halo-bearing cloak. His throat was raw and rough, and his eyes darkened and red, but he still looked up at his friend, “Miss Ren collapsed after the fight… She was feeling really sick after getting back to my brother’s room, and-”

Gabriel’s eyes twitched slightly.

“-I went to go keep her company so she wouldn’t be alone. But she leaned into me and then went completely limp, and I couldn’t wake her up…” The teen started tearing-up again anyway as his heart raced in his chest to recall it all, “I-I-I…I was freaking out and all I could think to do was call the ship’s medics up to help her…and they brought her down here. She woke up on the way but they wanted to keep her for observation.”

With a nod, Gabriel pet a hand to the side of the teen’s head, “You did the right thing.” He then turned to the woman at the check-in desk, “Where is Dame Ren now?”

“Oh! Uhm…y-yessir…I’ll take you.” She answered hastily, and locked her clinic-screen down before rising to stand. The two followed her out of the little lobby and around to one of the side-rooms around the corner. Gabriel recognized the door to his own former room, but they passed it right by, and she eventually led them to a room a few doors further down. She stood by and turned back around to face the Eidolon, “…I’m not a member of the med-staff, so I can’t just open the door to someone as important as one of the Fafnir. But…you could. Probably. Sir…”

“Thank you.” He said simply, and she quickly saluted again before heading back to her workstation. Gabriel watched her go until she was roughly halfway back up the hall, then turned to the door, and drew in a nervous breath. He set his hand on the knob, watched the light on the side-panel go green for access, and tapped the back of a knuckle against the panel. He waited a moment for a response, but hearing none, he gently opened the door, and knocked one more time as it cracked a few inches, “Ren?”

The room was dark, but not completely so; there was a single lamp in the corner behind the door that gave the space a subtle illumination. As in Gabriel’s previous room, there was a singleton bed pressed to the far wall, and upon it, he spotted Ren on her side with her back turned towards him. Still in her blues, she held tight to a pillow, face buried against it, a warm-pack across her eyes, and the distinct image of a nanotech hologram around her visible ear; it was like a headphone, blocking out all other sound while playing something else instead.

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Seth slithered into the room as Gabriel took in the sight of it, and tapped gently against the side of the mattress. Ren hadn’t bothered getting under the covers. She seemed to jump slightly for the surprise, and when she turned over, she pulled the warm-pack away and looked under it with the one eye, seeing Seth there coming into focus beside her, “Miss Ren…”

“Seth what are you-” Her words caught in her throat as she spotted that rather-obvious purple sigil in the background. She was up with a start, and the headphone-hologram faded – the pillow fell off the other side of the bed and the beanbag she’d kept on her eyes felt into the blankets, “G-Gabe!”

He finished coming into that small room and pushed the door closed, “Ah…hey. Hi. I made it.”

Ren quickly threw her legs off the near-side of the mattress and gestured for him to come closer at the same time. She got her feet on the floor and stood up just as he got near, and she immediately set her arms – though the left lagged behind a little - over his shoulders, hugging around his head near as tight as she had the pillow before him. When she felt him actually return the hug – arms firm around her back and waist – she just buried her face against his shoulder and hiccupped a few gasped breaths against it.

“I had hoped that the lockdown was for something stupid again like with what happened to Iresha…” Gabriel said quietly, just holding there for a little while; as long as Ren didn’t make overtures of letting go, he wouldn’t either, “I…can’t even imagine how you’re feeling right now.”

The ringing in her ears made it a bit hard to even hear what he’d said, and by the time it eased-off, the hug was as much to keep upright as it was to seek comfort. Her arms still went a bit lax though, and she was sure Gabriel could feel that she was putting more of her weight on him than before, and made an effort to hold her up. She was already set back against the edge of the bed when she blinked and came-to, and seemed to look around in a daze. She could hear the voices of worry around her, but they sounded distant and shrouded somehow, as if she’d sunk to the bottom of a pond and was trying to hear people above the surface. Everything came back in a hurry, and she shook her head, “Wha…”

“…Are you good?” Gabriel wondered dubiously, “You rag-dolled on me.”

“Sorry, I…” She started, feeling the swimming-sensation behind her eyes and brow again. She pulled her right hand up to rub her face, “Maybe I stood up too fast…”

“Should I call a doctor over?”

“No, it’s…fine. I’ll be fine.” She shook her head, “…I’ve had too much time stuck alone in my own head, I think. Furion’s predisposed with Captain-stuff, and Seth…wasn’t involved in the fight, so…”

Seth just lowered his head, brow wrankled.

Gabriel turned and sat beside her, “Yeah, Rylen’s got Xanarken down there in the brig right now… I’ve gotten the CliffsNotes about what went down, but…it’s a heavy load to carry. I wish there was something I could do to make it better.”

“What did Lord Rylen tell you?” She asked pointedly, “About Scyrexian and…specifically…” Her words drifted a little, but that disorienting feeling was starting to get on her nerves, and she grumbled quietly to herself, “Gods, enough…get your shit together, Ren…”

Seth and Gabriel glanced at one another, but wordlessly turned back to her and waited.

“What’d he tell you about what it wanted.” Ren finally blurted, and reached forward to firmly grab at her knees for the stability.

“Oh, uh… He didn’t say. That it wanted anything, I mean. …Did it have something it was hoping to achieve?”

So, that’s how it’ll be… She thought, and mentally nodded, only to shake her head in reality, “Maybe not.”

“…Right.”

“What’s going to happen to Mr. Ianori and the others…?” Seth dared to wonder, breaking the awkwardness a little, “Lord Rylen wouldn’t let anyone go down there to pick anyone up, but now the whole facility is under water, and half of our people are down there…”

Gabriel could at least answer that much, “The Fulcrum and Dreadnought should be here within the next half-hour as back-up security in case something goes sideways again. The…fuckin Bulwark is also coming, to start recovery effort. It’ll be them that goes diving. They’re bringing Fifth Wing support for the survivors, and Xanarken is going to arrange for some psych-specialty mediators and counsellors to be available when the Aegis comes off lockdown.”

“Oh…” Seth snuffled, and rubbed his nose against his lab-coat’s sleeve.

“What happened here isn’t known to the rest of the world yet.” Gabriel continued, “Besides the lockdown, Rylen is getting ahead of the shit-storm that’s going to start over the massacre. He said he was actually gonna bring Lord Arbelos into things. Since the Third maintains and manages the World Cloud – and the information highway that we can all access with it – he wants to make absolutely sure that no mention of that Scyrexian critter gets out into the public sphere. Ambient-listening protocols for those with Cloud-access will also be monitoring for discussion of it. He’s…not messing around with wanting to keep this under wraps.”

“What about the Aegis? And us? …What about Miss Bianca?”

Ren glanced up, but they were questions she wanted answered as well, so she didn’t stop him.

“Once the lockdown is lifted, the Aegis will be allowed to limp back to one of the shipyards near Agartha. Rylen hasn’t decided yet if he’s going to completely disassemble the thing and salvage what he can, or if he’ll just cut the cannon off and replace it…but the ship will be out of commission for the foreseeable future.” Gabriel continued, “He said he already told the crew-in-total that they’ll be dispersed to other SkyFortresses…and the Fafnir will be handled the same.”

Seth and Ren both felt that weight like a gut-punch.

Gabriel could feel the temperature in the room drop because of it, and he reached an arm around Ren’s back for the reassurance, “Not right away, though… There’s plenty of other stuff that needs to happen before he throws you all into the wind. Much as he and I are at odds about things, I know he wants to do right by all of you, so even though none of you were direct family, he recognizes what you all meant to each other as a team and will give you all the full two weeks. Sometime in there, he’ll have a formal ceremony at the Fafnir Memorial in the city. Ianori will finally get his due, too.”

“Tsh… Weeks overdue…” Ren muttered.

“Yeah, I agree…” Gabriel nodded, and rubbed his palm across the back of her shoulders, “I have no excuse or explanation for why he was holding back on that one. I don’t want to assume, either… It was one thing to avoid it before the death notice, but after…?”

“I knew he was still alive.” Ren added, staring daggers into the floor by Seth’s feet, “I knew it. And sure enough…”

“What do you mean?”

“Mr. Ianori…was alive…? That thing that came was him!?” Seth was mortified.

“Yeah… I don’t think I’m supposed to know, but Furion told me anyway…” She explained grimly, “Before Scyrexian murdered Donivan…he yelled out that Ianori was there, and Ianori actually moved briefly, too… Didn’t last long, though. And Scyrexian just keeps hopping bodies like it’s putting on different pants. Lord Rylen didn’t want us touching any of the fallen while we had the chance because he was worried it had just attached itself to one of the corpses, ready to rise again later.”

“…So that’s the trick to it? It can take-over the dead?”

“Other than Ianori himself – who, I guess, was a special case, given he was yanked through the rift – yeah.” Ren nodded, and leaned into the man’s side a little. She reached up to rub her eyes a bit, feeling the sting in them all over again, “It had no where else to go after it took over the dead Myrmidon at the end. But…the speed at which it was assimilating that guy… It took hours for it to start putting horns on Ianori back when. That Myrmidon sprouted a pair in minutes. And the way it reshaped those Magi like they were made of warm clay… I guess that’s the difference between an afflicted victim versus not…”

Gabriel’s brow furrowed a little, “Yeah…”

Ren turned her eyes towards her former mentor, a wary look on her face, Would taking Gabe give it even more power…? What the Hell does it want him for…?

A quiet knock came to the door, and everyone glanced aside. Ren didn’t budge, so Gabriel didn’t either. Seth, however, took it upon himself to answer, and not unsurprisingly, he spotted his forlorn and exhausted brother outside, “Hey.” The teen answered, and pulled the panel into the room to let the man in.

For a split second, Gabriel was certain his soul had left his body, and his left arm immediately lifted up and away from Ren’s small frame. He stiffly pet her shoulder a couple times as he rose up to his feet, “Well, I…uh…I’m glad you’re all okay. I’ll…probably be around until tomorrow. Xanarken wants me to take Dame Bianca back to the city, and it’s a long way, so…not tonight.” He had started to side-step towards the door. Just about to make his escape though, he felt himself unceremoniously grabbed backward again as Ren snatched his hand. His heart stopped in his chest, but he managed to look back, and saw a strange, glassy look in Ren’s eyes.

She stared at his fingers for a moment, but then seemed to get her wits about herself again and shook her head, letting her grasp loosen again and freed the man, “…Uh…sorry, I…don’t know why I did that. Thanks for coming by, Gabe. I feel better now…”

“Yeah, sure…I’ll see you around.” He answered, fingers tingling a little. He wormed his way out through the door, trying to take up as little space as absolutely had to, “...Uhm…bye then…Seth. Captain.”

“Lord Gabriel.” Furion answered awkwardly.

Those boots tip-tapped off down the hall with a certain kind of urgency, and the Vice Eidolon vanished around the far corner.

Ren just slouched where she sat, “I still feel really weird…”

“Do you want to spend the night here?” Furion wondered, and finally made his way through the open door.

“No, I-”

Furion had only just begun his attempt at bending towards her to kiss the top of her head, when he suddenly buckled and had to catch himself with a hand on the now-open spot on the mattress. He grimaced in pain and held at his ribs again with his free hand, and Seth quickly came up on his other side in worry.

“Furion, you-” Ren started, hands up and ready catch him if he collapsed any further.

“I’m okay.” He answered gruffly, “Just need to catch my breath.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“Please don’t be.” He grunted, and finally carried-through with his intended peck. He stood upright again and gathered his senses, “I was ready to die down there. If four cracked ribs are my punishment, I accept.”

“I’d have found a way to haunt you in the afterlife and give you shit for leaving me behind.” Ren countered, and lifted off the edge of the bed as well. She gently put a hand against his midsection and craned her head up to see him, “But I…probably would’ve done the same thing, if I was in that situation. If it could’ve saved any one of the others…”

“Well, I came up here thinking I could carry you to bed, but maybe I got ahead of myself.” The Captain said, and drew in a long, pained breath, “I’ll settle for hobbling alongside you though.”

“I think we can do that. C’mon, Seth…”