His Monitor, more used to bright light than anyone else except Hendrew himself, so was the first to adjust.
“Holy shit Hendrew, you lit the entire place up.”
“I… I… I did this?”
Hendrew was looking around with glassy, tired eyes. The room was entirely illuminated. To their left was the Nano-lake, with its rippling surface. Around them were a few smoking corpses of the creatures. The space stretched wide, very far, very wide. They were actually somewhat close to a wall, and easily within eyesight was a Door.
Far off, across the lake was a massive structure made of storage containers.
“Holy shit, Hendrew did it, he lit up the whole section!”
“Haha good man Hendrew!
The calls and cheers came through to Hendrew irrespective of their losses. The time to mourn was not in the middle of a mission, that time was put aside until they reached home.
The Clan Head put a hand on Hendrew’s shoulder, “Well done Monitor Hendrew. I believe you saved the day.”
He turned his glassy eyes to the Clan Head, “No. It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it!”
The Clan Head looked at him with a sly grin as another Clan Member called out to the surrounding Clan, “Look at Hendrew, the picture of modesty!”
They laughed. The darkness had been different, unwelcome. They never had full darkness in the Labs, much less the cloying and deadly darkness they had just been through.
“…Clan Head, really though, it wasn’t me.”
“We know that Hendrew, it's more… fun? To give you credit.”
Hendrew nodded after a delay and raised his hands up, the Clan cheered and a wide grin lit up his face, “I knew I could do it!”
He collapsed into his Guardian’s arms.
The Clan Head looked at Hendrew, then to the Guardian, “Alive?”
The Guardian took their fingers off of Hendrew’s neck, “Steady pulse but I’ve never seen him use his light so much. I think the lights beating him to the punch actually saved him.”
“We’ll get him to a Terminal. Yuma!”
“Door over there,” she pointed to a depressingly close Door, “and there is…” she squinted, “something over there. I can’t quite make it out.” The Clan Head looked at the storage containers stacked one on top of each other. He looked up to the ceiling, there were crisscrossed metallic rails that covered the entire ceiling as far as the eye could see.
“Yosef! Who’s capable of magnification? I want a closer visual over there,” he raised his voice, “We’re moving toward the Door. 5 minutes to refresh and repair then we’re on the move!”
The Clan Head was really missing Leanne, she enjoyed giving commands and organizing soldiers at the center of a formation. The Clan Head needed a #2, and while Yuma was helpful, she didn’t seem eager to lean into the Clan’s structure. No matter. He looked at Yuma, saw her staring blankly toward the ground below them and off to the side, he traced her gaze. There was nothing there.
Yuma wasn’t there with the Clan, she was… something was pulling at her. Flashes came through, images too, emotions most strongly of all. Crabs dying, mangled and torn, ripped apart in a whirling sense of… elation? Anger? She didn’t know the word but if she did she would have recognized it as ‘elated cathartic release’. Despite not knowing the name of the emotion, the next clue, pain, settled it. She knew what, and who, it was.
“Jack.”
The Clan Head looked at the floor where her eyes were trained and squinted.
“I don’t see him.”
Yuma continued to stare off until her finger ejected a bar of electrically explosive light near her foot and it startled her back to her surroundings.
“Huh?” It clicked, it was the tether, or chord, that she shared with Jack. She felt his hot electricity coming over the line, packed full of anger and hate. She had thought about it enough on the walk here, now, Jack was broadcasting enough electricity to strum the chord. The amount coming over it was too much for her to stay connected to it without intermittently firing off bars of electricity.
She turned to the Clan Head, “Jack, he’s fighting… crabs?”
The Clan Head stroked his whiskers, “Not in Cryo I hope?”
She shook her head, “No, definitely not. It looks like there’s trash everywhere.”
“Yosef!” At the Clan Head’s words he scrambled over.
“Yuma, if you would describe it again. Please keep an eye out for Leanne- The Sentinel.”
She resisted rolling her eyes at the title. It’s not like she had a lot of room to judge, ‘Scout Leader’. Scout what? They had no idea what this doomed ship had in it. She hadn't scouted a fraction of it while in the Labs.
“Jack and I have this sort of… connection. Sometimes I can pick up an image here or there. Sometimes it’s just a feeling or an emotion. Right now I can see a lot, feel a lot. He’s fighting crabs right now.”
“Are they in trouble?” The Clan Head was certain that Leanne was still alive.
“I… I don’t think so, if anything he’s happy, more angry than anything else.” She felt weird telling others about Jack’s emotions, it felt… personal.
“I see someone shooting fire? Leanne and Jonah? Maybe, hard to tell.”
"What about Tule?" That was Korl. Yuma shook her head, "Nothing."
Korl's face dropped so she continued, "It's not clear though, I'm not seeing everything. Not even close."
Korl nodded to that news, seemingly recommitted.
The Clan Head nodded with a slight smile, “Do you know where they are?”
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She pointed toward the floor. Yosef turned and started tapping on his portable.
“Miss Yumata I don’t detect anyone right there.”
“Below, deep below.”
The Clan Head resumed stroking his whiskers, “Below us, deep in the ship, filled with trash and crabs. Hmmmmm.”
Likely Waste Disposal. Although, technically it could be anywhere for all we don't know.
Yosef hopped in, “Clan Head, the 5 minutes have passed.”
“Very well,” he stared off into the distance at the piled containers and then to the much closer Door, “We head to the Door.”
“Clan Head, are we not going to investigate the containers for useful items?” Yosef looked excited.
“We don’t know when or if the lights will cease, unless you wish to risk the journey in a small squad of your choosing?”
Yosef’s eyes widened as he buried himself back into his portable. The Clan Head rightly assumed he was trying to figure out the light situation.
“Miss Yumata, please keep an eye on those containers for me.”
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Leanne turned a corner and watched as Jack fought against a man-crab nearly the exact same size and build as him. Jonah walked up to her and withdrew the energies back into his fingers, “What’s going on? Oh?” The smaller crabs had seemed to have withdrawn, for now. She debated joining the fight but held off. She had the thought that Jack didn’t seem like a person who would appreciate that.
Jack swung his clawblade down in a blur but the crab caught it on his own then swung its other arm in a distancing strike. Jack’s buckler blocked that then transferred the block into his huge middle finger driving straight toward the crabs’ face. It twisted back and Jack stomped a foot to crush its foot. Jack's stomp was only a glancing blow as the crab twisted to the side and sprawled on all fours for a moment. Jack was above it now giant finger looking to dig into its chitin. The crab used its innate 'crab leap' to dodge to the side.
Jack grunted and yelp-yelled as his finger jammed into the metal floor. The crab took the moment to kick into Jack's side and send him impacting into a machine.
Jack pushed apart the metal that had collapsed around him and leapt again. The crab was ready as it ducked and jammed its blade into Jack’s gut. He took the blade and fist deep into his stomach and wrapped both hands around the crab's head. A gush of smoking blood blew out from Jack’s gut over the crab’s hand and arm. It let out a chittering scream as its chitin started to smoke and melt.
“What are you doing br-”
*crack* Jack’s forehead hammered into the crab’s disbelieving face.
*craCK* Another one immediately after the first, it sounded deeper than the first.
*CRACK* That one broke something deep in the crab’s head as a slimy goo started to leak from between the shattered chunks of chitin around its head. Jack squeezed his hands together as his smile grew wider and more manic.
Leanne continued to observe the fight as it chittered and screeched something that hurt when it hit her ears. It tried slashing with its other arm at Jack’s crushing grip but stopped when the pressure continued to spike into its skull. It drove its blades into the sides of his torso. Jack grunted. Then two tiny little crabs clipped the back of Jack’s achilles tendon. Jack fell to his knees trying to keep the crab’s skull in his grip. The CSF or whatever the crab equivalent was was loosening his grip. The crab shot both of its clawblades into Jack's torso and and then detached his arms from the shoulder giving up on both of them. Jack yelled and his grip finally, completely slipped and the crab darted away.
The two little crabs who had helped the bigger one were almost completely melted. Their little pincers were the only things still recognizable after being splashed in Jack’s blood.
“I just, I thought-”
Electricity sparked over the back of Jack’s feet. He stood up.
“Dead things don’t think crab.”
Jack coughed up a splash of blood then pulled long clawblades out of his stomach and chest.
“Fuck. That kind of hurt.”
He leapt toward the crab man but stopped short and hawked and spit a wad of mucous and blood at the crabman, it reflexly tried to bring up arms it didn't have to block it. The wad of spit landed on the side of its face.
It chittered and screamed again bringing another wide smile to Jack’s face. Ship-damn that grin was insane.
Leanne met eyes with rat. Why aren’t you shooting Man-female.
Leanne started as her head rocked back, somehow she understood that one.
She fired at the crab and a panicked look flashed on its other eye as water looked to completely strip it of sight. It scampered away, surprisingly agile on two Human-like feet.
Jack turned toward Leanne and growled louder than she thought a Human could before taking off after it.
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Dammit Lea I’ll take flesh for that. So close. So close to satisfaction.
I started to feel, tired, hot, something was off. That didn’t matter though, not when I was so close to crushing that crab. Jack! It called itself Jack! A murderable offense even if I was feeling charitable. An unforgivable slight for a crab.
Jack’s steps were faltering now, he caught himself several times on a fortunately placed machine or wall. A few of the machines still had some electricity flowing through them that he was able to quickly taste to keep him moving. There. Into that tunnel. He smiled. He felt silly for worrying that he had lost the abomination.
Tule tried to step between Jack and satisfaction, a pleading look in his eyes. Filthy crab-sympathizer. Jack trotted up slowly with a nod and a smile then heavily backhanded Tule with his Gauntlet out of his way. He kind of hoped that it would have led to a fight but Tule seemed… slower than usual.
Jack took a left around the corner and entered the tunnel and caught the crab turning a corner at the end. When he crossed through the doorway an impact seared through the side of his gut and chest. Slicing, tearing, pain. Too much to heal right now. Not when I… he… he was too tired. It got kind of dark.
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Tule had picked up his Toothpick and followed in slow, tired steps. He had tried to stop Jack from following his… the crab.
Tule entered and Devin was about to clip Jack’s unconscious arm at the elbow.
“Leave him.”
CrabDevin started in surprise and looked at Tule with narrowed crustaceous eyes, “What are you doing here? This is my Gauntlet.”
“Leave him. I will go with you.”
“I want it back. It’s mine.” A threatening *chchch* sounded from somewhere in his upper chest.
Tule tossed his Toothpick toward Devin, “If you want a weapon so badly then take this.”
Devin let out another chch then jumped away from the blade that was spinning toward him. He picked it up off the ground and turned toward Jack. Tule was standing in front of him now. He was shaking his head.
“I won’t allow it. You fight him on your own if you want it back. It won’t happen like this.”
“Oh? Is that what you think Tule?”
A third voice came through, “You did interrupt our fight Devin.”
“You were losing, and running! and you didn’t even want to fight him!”
“I know but he did. Let’s go. You can fight him after we take Tule to the Master.”
Even Tule in his half fugue state thought that the crabman looked at Jack with a strange longing in his eyes.
Tule’s humanity clenched his stomach, but it was brief. That side had been losing for a while now. Still, it held out where it could.
Leanne and Jonah couldn’t find Jack or Tule.
“Why’s that shipdamned boy so fast? And where’s Tule?”
Leanne had a bad feeling in her gut. She didn’t want to say anything out loud in case it would make it true. It was an aspect she disliked about herself but nearly everyone in the Labs was superstititious to a certain degree, it annoyed her.
“I don’t know… hey. There’s that rat again.”
Jonah looked at the squeaking rat and flashed out a finger of antilife, it dodged the swipe before Leanne slapped the side of Jonah’s head.
“It’s a friend Jonah.”
“Oh…? Right. I don’t know… why I did that.”
The little rat squeaked and they followed it past machines that stretched to the ceiling into a corner of the room.
Leanne brought her pistols up from her side and nodded to Jonah, he nodded back. She cleared into the room but no one was there.
She looked down, well, there is SOMEONE. Jack was laying facedown on the ground.
“Found him.”
Jonah pushed his way into the room, “No Tule but there are multiple fading heat signatures. Did Tule chase off the crabs?”
“We can’t follow them right now, if Tule was able to chase off the crabs then he’s strong enough to find us again.” Leanne had a bad feeling about anything coming from that direction.
“It was Tule here!"
"Are you going to track him?"
Jonah looked at her with a frumpy eyebrow, "Do I look like I can keep up with Tule? Besides..." He took a deep breath and raised his pinky, it sparked electricity, "I have to feed Jack."
"Give me your goggles, I will track them."
"…Dammit! Fine, here they are... Don’t lose them! Don't touch any of the buttons, it should be highlighted in them.”
Leanne grabbed the goggles and slipped them over her eyes. It lit up the thermal traces around them. Nice tech. “Alright, stay in the area if you can.” She wasn’t planning on getting too involved in any fight, this was a scouting mission. At best.
“If I’m not back in a full cycle…”