Vicki stopped at the sound of mayhem and spotted the Tophat guy coming out of a building down the road. She shouldered her rifle and fired an auto burst, taking his head off as she casually went on her way. She followed the crowd of hunters, who were now dodging the pieces of their predecessors as the rooftop opened to a scene of slaughter. Vicki fired a few grenades and moved positions, now moving like one of the hunters. Everyone was on the same side against this monumental threat. The white raven swooped low, raking it’s wing across the rooftop, turning everything to ice around the gash it left. Frozen hunters, both dead and dying, were also left behind. Some were struggling to break out of the ice. Many were missing limbs.
“Hey bitch… we let you out…you owe us what you have.” Vicki boldly claimed. It tilted its head in intrigue, shrugging off some of Gizzy’s thermite rounds.
...
Gizzy slung the gun to her back, powering up shielding. She tackled the creature, grabbing the wings and throwing it out of the air. It was sent crashing into the rooftop.
“Back off Vicki. This is above your tier.”
“Stop assuming my tier.” She said, cutting her forearm with a shard of glass and letting her eyes go red. She went feral, rushing in and taking about 5 steps before a wing batted her into the debris like a rag doll. She sat up, half dazed and her bloodlust mostly gone as she felt a rush of fear and alarm. She tried to get up, before her missing right arm, cut off at the elbow. She gasped and choked down her instinct to scream. Blood was pouring out as she clutched the stump and scooted behind cover. She huffed and panted, trying to maintain any from of sanity. She let go of her stump, a spray of red hitting the wall as she frantically got out the vial of the living pitch and bit the cap off, drinking it and re-clutching her missing arm. She winced in pain, trying to stay conscious as she prayed to something that her regeneration would kick in. Gizzy exchanged punches with the creature, the armor lighting up red with every hit, and her jetpack engaging to keep her from flying back each time she was hit. The metal was taking heavy dents, being dented as if it was made of foil.
Jack switched to the Imposter blood rounds. He took a headshot and watched it splatter off without even getting the raven’s attention. He chucked the magazine, switching to the Living Pitch and titanium hollowpoints. He fired one round center throat, putting a hole in it. The raven looked shocked and halted its attack. Clutching its throat, it flapped and hovered. Its neck turned black, the blackness spreading rapidly across its body. A blackened angel now stood, mended and otherwise unharmed.
“Fuck. We just made it stronger. Gizzy, evacuate. All I got now is the antimatter rounds.” He said in the coms. She grabbed one of the energy chainsaws off a dead hunter and powered it up for a duel. The black angel casually reached out one of its hands into a scythe and swatted behind its back. Gizzy dropped and the chainsaw fell into pieces. She sat on her knees for a moment, flopping backwards as something pulled her behind cover and more gunfire rained from air vehicles.
Vicki stood over Gizzy, one eye dim and her lower half still where she dropped, Gizzy made no form of response, her skull now glowing red below the skin, the reactor lighting her eyes up white and with a silent stare, she burst into flames and the metal in her head melted, sputtering and liquefying a hole in the concrete roof.
“Gizzy’s dead.” Vicki said, picking up her gun with an arm now made of black bones extending from an elbow of flesh. The black and red muscle knitted into a fully formed arm, of a darker variety than before. Her eyes went red and began to glow. She stepped into the rain and stared down the winged demon. She let out a primal scream, like that of a banshee, and rushed the enemy. Ducking the scythe and stepping off the handle into leap, her black claws sunk into the creature’s shoulders. She unhinged her jaw, a row of shiny black teeth gleaming in the overcast daylight as she bit down into the Raven’s neck.
It retracted the scythe into its hand, turning it into a single pointed limb and stabbing Vicki in the back. The wound began spraying blood much darker then it should be as she fed and barely flinched. The wingtips and feet of the creature began to turn white, the darkness pulling back to the center mass. The Raven was bleached white as Vicki deprived it of its vital essence. It withered and dropped to its knees, wings curling and twitching like an injured bird in its last moments.
She pulled back, letting it see its killer as it fell to the ground. Vicki extended a scythe from her own hand and took a swing, severing the wings and the head. Another downward stroke was sent, slicing it in half vertically. She retracted the scythe and stepped back, stumbling and wobbling as the black tar melted into her skin and she looked like Vicki again, arm and all. She smirked, proud of herself and still grinning with red eyes and fangs out, flopping backwards onto the ground and staring up at the sky as the rain came down harder. The light dimmed as the shuttle craft passed over and landed. They grabbed Vicki and carried her into the ship.
…
“Nicole!” Gizzy yelled over the combs, coughing fluid from the cryo tube in the ship. “Don’t take off without that body.” She barked aggressively.
“It’s…gone.” She said as the remains of the carcass simply dissolved like ash. All that was left behind was a pair of white wings, now curled up and just a marble bone at the shoulder.
“Get the wings. That is an order.” Gizzy snarled, stepping from the cloning area, naked and eyes glowing with rage.
“Those wings are the mission.”
...
Jack sat in the cargo bay, staring at Vicki, who seemed to be sleeping on the table. Nothing more, nothing less. Vinn doctored his wounds as a fresh Gizzy strolled in. Nicole tended to Vinn and Dee, looking as if she felt lost and useless.
“Soldier, snap out of it. What happened?”
“I don’t know.” Jack said looking confused himself. “She bit the thing and killed it.”
“Scan her brain, extract the memories and put the body in a launch tube.” She said, as he turned with disgust.
“She’s not dead. Her vitals are stable, she’s just unconscious.”
“She fed on that Pitch and then killed that monster with her bare hands. That’s not Vicki anymore. Scan her brain for a fresh clone so she has her memories intact, dispose of the body.”
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“I’m not killing my wife.”
“That wasn’t a request. She was out of control before she bonded with that shit. It doesn’t let the host go, Jack. Nicole got lucky, she doesn’t freeze. If you put her in liquid nitrogen you’ll kill Vicki. If you don’t, it’s not her anymore. Nicole was COVERED in it, and she doesn’t seem thrilled. It’s not ON Vicki, it’s inside her, part of her. I’ve seen that form before, and it’s not pretty. Vicki’s already dead. If you wanna put her in the coolant tank and finish the job to be sure, be my guest, but either way, dispose of the body, and clone her back fresh. Without the contamination.” Gizzy said firmly as Nicole shivered and looked afraid.
“Jack…she’s right.”
“They hell do you mean?” Vinn asked. “It’s Vicki.”
“You weren’t inside that Pitch. If you hadn’t gotten me out before it bonded, I’d ask you to kill me too and clone me back, and I know damn well I wouldn’t come back right. But I’d rather be partially me again than whatever is in her. Kill it. It’s a nightmare, and you can’t make it let go.
“Jack, I’ve seen it bonded with a vampire before. It’s not something we can control.”
“When did you see it bound with one of her kind, she’s a one in a million fluke hybrid.”
“Jack it made your mother-” Gizzy said, stopping herself after her slip.
“You knew my mother?” Jack asked, in confusion. “You said you never saw the pitch before. My mother died when I was 2. That doesn’t make sense.” He scoffed. Vicki opened her eyes, sitting up and looking dazed.
“Because she lied to you, Jack.” Vicki said, eyes still red, now glowing slightly. “Mother Dearest died last week. Gizzy’s self destruct took care of that. Mommy killed your father, left you to die, and then Gizzy killed her and didn’t even tell you.” She said coldly.
“Says the dead woman who shot her before I finished her off. Jack… I didn’t know any of it until she hunted me down on that planet we crashed the shuttle into. She didn’t want to be found. She was bound to the pitch and I self destructed so you’d never have to know that your mom killed your dad. You’d be better off not knowing, it changes nothing, she’s dead anyway, she would have killed you given the chance and you are getting soft around the edges, Jack.”
“No, I’m just… human. You should have told me.” He said, looking betrayed. “You lied to me, you kept things from me. I bet you didn’t tell anyone else that you killed me for the sacrifice to get the egg? That Egg cost the lives of 47 people, firstly me. You do what you think needs done, but you never trust anyone with the details. You won't even tell us the mission, but you want me to kill my wife.” He said darkly.
“You shot Jack?” Nicole asked.
“Yes I did. It was his plan, which he didn’t tell me until we landed and I had no choice. I killed Jack to save you, Nicole. He clones back fine, you don’t. I couldn’t leave you as a slave and clone a mostly Nicole number 3 in your place and just fly away. Jack knew that and he brought the gun for it. I made a sacrifice that kills me every time I think about it, and I kept secrets from you all to protect you from them and the burdens they bring. We all die, Jack, and we get printed off like new. If Vicki was dismembered and asking you for a mercy death, you’d shoot her and fire up the cloning tank. The reason she's not begging you now is because she’s trapped in there, and the Pitch is telling you not to do it. That’s not your wife. That wasn’t your mother anymore when I killed her. She did deserve to die before she became that though. I stand by that belief. Any mother who kills her lover in cold blood so she can abandon her own baby was never a mother to begin with.”
“Jack, listen to her.” Nicole said. “It’s not Vicki anymore. Vicki would want to die rather then be trapped in there. It’s not her insisting we let her live.” She said, backing up Gizzy.
“Oh no, By all means kill me.” Vicki smiled. “I’m more myself than I have been since that bug bite, and I’ve never felt better. No craving, no thirst for blood, I’m in control again.” She said stepping up to Gizzy, looking several inches up to her on her tiptoes. “And if you wanna kill me and clone me back, go for it. Go ahead and try. I’d love to see the attempt. It might be entertaining.” She snarled, still baring fangs. The two stared each other down like two hungry wolves over a carcass.
“Vicki, stop. Nobody’s killing you.” Jack said firmly. “Nobody.”
“You’re damn right they’re not, Jack…” She said grinning at Gizzy, without blinking. “Because you’d protect me against fake mommy dearest and her insane missions for the greater good. You know, Gizzy, I don’t think you’re evil.”
“I’m a little evil.” She whispered.
“You mean well and you really believe your saving the universe, I can see that now. You truly believe what you fight for, but that doesn’t make it real.”
“It’s real.” Nicole defended. “None of you understand, and I almost wish I didn’t, but it’s real.”
“Says Nicole… Gizzy’s favorite pet who she… brainwashed and tampered with her memory as an experimental project if I recall. The Fear project. Nicole, you of all people should know her methods are madness and her sacrifices are high. Why defend her, or do you just have Stockholm syndrome, naturally or artificially implanted?” Vicki asked.
“Jack, listen to her talk.” Nicole pleaded. “That’s not Vicki. Gizzy’s always been a secretive maniacal bitch, but she’s also always right, no offense.”
“No, I’ll admit that one.”
“She saved your life, all of our lives, multiple times, she wouldn’t just suddenly decide to kill Vicki for no reason after getting herself killed to save us multiple times. Jack, be reasonable. We’re all acting like ourselves, except her.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Vicki said, “Jack loves me more than a confused little girl and a psychotic overlord who recruits us to die for some myth she believes. Jack loved me when I was dying of cancer, he loved me when I became a monster, now what, because I’m a stronger monster with more control, he’s going to draw the line and put a bullet in me?” She asked. “Would a bullet even slow me down? You want to kill me and start fresh, keep me dependant on Vinn’s blood, be my guest. Inform me what you know for sure would kill me now.” She scoffed, confidently leaving and heading to the mess hall. Jack turned to follow, hesitating and then following her.
“Fuck…she has one good point.” Gizzy sighed. “She’s the apex predator on the ship now.”
“We can’t just pretend she didn’t just do that and move on, sleep at night like we didn’t let a monster loose.”
“What if she is in control?” Vinn asked.
“Honey, when you were being sold as a game trophy and we were rescuing your furry ass, she went feeding mode and killed 6 people. People who weren’t trying to kill her or anyone. A woman with a daughter, a bartender just doing his job, and more. She’s already killing people at random, and now she’s basically a god with that tar in her veins. You haven’t been covered in that, Vinn. You don’t understand how long it felt waiting for help, thinking it wasn’t arriving and wishing someone would kill me. That thing is behind the wheel. Vicki isn’t even in the back seat, she’s hogtied in the trunk without air.
“I know what to do, but it’s not clean or nice.” Gizzy said darkly.
“Neither is letting her suffer in her own body while that shit brainwashes Jack. Vinn, are you with us?” Nicole asked.
“I’m never against you, is staying the hell out even an option here?” he asked.
“Not anymore.” She replied.
“Well, it was worth asking. I guess in that case, I’m with you both."
“Good.” Gizzy said “Because we’re cloning the real Vicki back and when Jack realizes which one he’d rather have, that other thing is get really pissy and frankly I don’t know how the hell to stop her. So we may just make her mad and she’ll just kill all of us and take the ship.”
“I know what might stop her… and you’re gonna hate this more than I do.” Nicole said. Gizzy turned and looked confused.
“You’re not even suggesting that.” Gizzy said as Vinn looked lost.
“What are we suggesting?”
“The monster that turns on the crew was supposed to be me in another timeline. She's suggesting we create that monster to take on this one.”
“I don’t like that at all.” Vinn huffed.
“Oh, I assure you that I like it even less, which is why we’re gonna think of a plan B before even discussing that insane suggestion again.” Gizzy said darkly. "Nicole, I respect the creativity, but absolutely fuck all of that bullshit right in the ass. Let's hear some plan B theories.”