As they walked, Leithan stated, “I heard that you manifested. That’s a huge step. Even seems like you unlocked a new form. That’s big. What spurred the change?” Anisa froze mid-step, chilled at the thought that she was so transparent. Seeing this, he explained, “Powers like yours have stages. Moments of crystalized growth. Fitting given how you channel them.” He laughed at his own joke, “While powers like the ones I’m using are a little more adaptable. That said, internal crisis overcome leads to growth and new resolve at each turning point, new abilities make themselves known. They can happen in any order but they usually include manifesting new weaponry, summoning some kind of vehicle, unlocking new forms or aspects of your powers, or some kind of super move.” He seemed almost wistful. Like reliving childhood memories, his joy could be felt through his armor. “That said, according to the interviews it seems you evolved a weapon and a super move. Based on your new look I would say Null Resonant Erasure is the end result. A literal manifestation of despair that can erase matter entirely. How in the hell did you manage that?”
Anisa sighed, “How in the hell do you know so much about this stuff? Do they have college courses on this?” He laughed at her serious question and his silence made clear he had no intention on explaining himself. “Between this and your speech back at the tournament, you seem to know more about these abilities than most. Even more than Sai.” He scoffed at the mention and she sneered, “You claim to want to work together, but you hate my crew.”
He snapped, “Not your crew. That cheap photocopy isn’t worth a damn.” He laughed sardonically, “I remember the previous timeline. That’s a bad copy of a worse man.”
“I would resent that if you weren’t right about that selfish bastard.” Leithan jolted as Sai walked up behind them. “Just a totally clueless idiot. So focused on his mission that he didn’t bother to live his own life. By the time he realized it, it was far too late. When he comes back I’m going to kick his ass on his own behalf.” Anisa turned to look at her crewmate only to see he was in a far more advanced robotic form than he was before. He motioned to it and chuckled, “Despite this man’s complaints, his pet arms dealer contacted a Bioelectric Living Automaton for a new body. Far more articulation, military grade armor plating. Even optimized circuits to let the energy from my crystal flow more cleanly.”
His new look was far more human, the segmented plates even looking more like an armored man than a robot. His new head looked more like a helmet with a face plate, individual eye lenses covering over what must have been the photo receptors, making it impossible to tell where he was looking. His head looked like it had a built in cowboy hat with something like hair flowing out the back of it. As if to seal the look, he wore a emerald green jacket that flowed just below the knee. “You look stupid, Calamity Jane.” Leithan glowered at the artificial man, “And I need you optimal for where we are going next. If you aren’t at your prime then if things go sideways I won’t have the backup I need. Not that Zora here isn’t enough firepower. You are a body. Nothing more. Now keep up. We have a lot of prep to do.”
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As they walked, Sai whispered to Anisa, “Good to see you, cap. Haven’t had time to debrief on the mission with anyone yet. Snazzy new armor. I dig it. That said, are you okay?” Anisa refused to respond. He sighed, “You do you, I guess. Just don’t expect everyone else to let it slide either. That said, Permiso is about as dead as a Supernova can kill a person.” Anisa, for the second time, paused mid-step. Her mind forcing to the front of her mind again what she had done. She looked at her hand, the image of pumping Permiso’s heart haunting her. Shaking her head and continuing her walk, he sighed again and matched her pace.
As they walked the halls of the Cosmic Patrol Headquarters, the expressions were mixed. Some completely disgusted to see two perceived criminals walking these halls free. Others seemed to be thankful or happy to see either Leithan or Anisa. Still others seemed so engrossed in their paperwork that they dared no look up at all. As Leithan lead them to a hanger, Anisa was surprised to see Gavin still cuffed and under armed guard. He was standing near an odd craft talking to some man with scarlet hair. Upon seeing her, Gavin raised a brow and stated, “Well, I’ll be damned. I guess I’m taking the deal.”
The scarlet haired man laughed, “I told ya! He makes a damned good case! Now release this upstanding criminal!” The officers nodded and unlocked his cuffs. After checking his wrists, Gavin sighed at the motions of the scarlet haired man. He pulled a piece of paper out of seemingly nowhere and handed it to the man who then tucked it away. The man shouted from atop the craft, “Welcome aboard, Zora! Name’s Ra’cil! Fuck the Falos, am I right?”
Leithan laughed a little as Gavin approached them, “That’s Ra’cil. He gets me what I need and I make sure he gets the connections and business that he deserves. As you can tell, I prefer to avoid lapdogs.” He walked further into the hanger and stated, “Gavin was the last hold out. This will be our staging area. Meet up with your crew, share notes, sit down to a good meal. We leave in the morning.”
Gavin closed the distance at a surprising rate and grabbed Anisa by the edge of her armor. Dragging her to the side seemingly effortlessly, he glared right through her helmet and stated firmly, “Take that off right now.” She was confused, unsure of what he meant. “Don’t play stupid.” It took her a moment to realize what he meant. It took her a second longer to do as he asked. As she reverted to her normal state, Gavin sighed, “I made a promise to you. So, you and I are going to take a second to get a drink and talk.”
Sai laughed awkwardly, “Yeah, pretty sure that Cosmic Patrol is a Dry Establishment.” Gavin glared at him and Sai continued to laugh in the same manner before clearing his throat and wandering deeper into the hanger.
“Ra’cil, I need a secure location to talk and a bottle of your strongest liquor.” The red haired man smirked and made a motion for compensation. Gavin just nodded, clearly more concerned about Anisa than the cost. He looked at her again, “From one monster to another, we need to talk.” She felt the weight in her chest again. No voice dividing her, but rather her blackened heart weighing her down.