I cast an unamused glance at Richard, “The entire point of registering with us was to share in the burden. If they want to do something stupid, that’s on them. Otherwise why did we bother?”

His eyes fixed me in a glare, “It’s still not right to just leave them to die.”

“It’s their choice,” I turned my attention to the team of people running head long into what would almost certainly be their own deaths.

“Alice wouldn’t sit here and do nothing,” I heard his accusation, and felt a sting as he did so, “We’re all humans here, in the same boat. Isn’t that what you’ve said in the past?”

‘Oh, motherfucker, we’re doing that, now?’ A fury built in my chest, the rictus of rage passing unseen beneath the cover of my helmet. I opened my mouth to rebuke him, but found myself hesitating.

What would be the point, afterall, of forming the Legion and then ignoring someone in front of us that clearly needed help?

They weren’t our responsibility in the slightest, that much I was quite comfortable with saying. But, it was true that simply ignoring the plight of someone in dire need, even if it was by their own devices. It rankled with me, though, because I doubted that they would do the same for me.

Turning fully to Richard, I couldn’t help but let out a long sigh. The man was resolute, and I doubted fully that it was something he would have come to on his own. From what I remembered, he was something of a schemer, more than capable of making the hard choices.

“Fine.” I spat, “But you’re not coming. Get with Strauss and pull them back, we’re not launching the assault before we get this sorted.”

He looked surprised for a second, “Wait, I can help.”

“You can do what I just said,” I ground, “I’ve died once already, what’s a second time?”

A chagrined look appeared on his face, knowing that pulling them out would likely be very dangerous.

I felt my ire loosen at that, “I’ll see you back at base.”

“Come back in one piece, this time.” He flashed a smirk that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

I turned and darted off, sending my Determinator contingent with Richard.

‘Alright, let's test some limits.’ I hyped myself up, pushing my body forward faster, harder. As I ran, my power armor pulverized what coral wasn’t dust beneath my feet, cracking through thick foundations. Each time I dug in deep with my feet, propelling myself forward.

Ahead, I could see the noose closing on the wayward team, and many of them seemed to realize the mistake even before it fully happened. I watched as the man in the lead slowed for a moment before shouting out, “Through the middle! Past the wounded one!”

Some of the others, less aware than their companions, seemed to be confused at those words. One of them even seemed to argue that their quarry was right in front of them, the fool. My expression soured at that, noting that they were almost certainly there to try to steal an easy kill off of the acid drenched biotic. Regrettably, they’d never get the chance to really try at this rate.

With a surprising speed, one of the Carriers from further down the line lashed out with a tentacle. The mace-head like tip of the single tentacle - the other had been severed in the artillery fire - swung upwards in a high arcing strike. Unaware, the man near the back in power armor took the blow square on the head.

The armor crumpled inwards from the fulcrum of the swing, the pulverizing force smashed through. It was gruesome to see, the blend between a wet smack of gore and the rending of steel reaching my ears.

I pushed harder, closing the gap in less than a second as the tentacle began to rise. I drew a single blade, the edge flaring to life as I brought it down in a two-handed, hard swing. Pressing with all of my momentum and force, I carved into the limb.

And felt satisfaction as it cut true, slowing only slightly as it severed clear through. I felt a mighty surge from my armor as adrenaline, or an analog of such, slammed through my veins like a dozen percussive drum beats.

My awareness slowed as I pushed forward, faster be the second, as I darted around the group. The only remaining threat, should they not tarry, would be fifth Carrier in line. It was just beside the now tentacle-less Carrier, and unfortunately bore both of it’s ranged attacks.

There was, also, the currently melting Carrier that stood in the direct path of the group as they advanced. Past that, the Raijin Field.

‘Ah, I guess I should register these guys before they hit the field,’ I thought with some bemusement. That would have been humorous if it wouldn’t have been so mortifying.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I could see the new Carrier moving into attack range, but it looked like we might just barely have enough time to get past without losing anyone else.

“It’s spawning more of these things!” Someone half-yelled and half-screamed.

The Carrier in front of us pulsed, organs that looked more like three-sided jaws opening and discarding Spindlies. Five were already deployed, and I could see the hesitation in the group as they slowed.

That allowed me to overtake them as I dashed forward, pulling out my second sword. I’d have to get through the spikes and kill them in one shot. A glancing blow, and I’d be testing the durability of my body in ways that I’d never intended to do again.

“Wai-” I heard Alex call out, a desperate call tinged with concern.

‘At least he has the fucking decency to be worried,’ I thought sourly.

Wolvy responded, ‘Is he an other?’ Clearly confused at the connotations my thoughts carried with the man.

‘Yes. No, wait, no. He’s a human, but he’s also… not quite allied?’ I responded, feeling the murky comprehension from Wolvy.

‘Not? Then why save?’ It asked, confusion rolling through my awareness of it.

‘Why, indeed.’ I shook my head, closing on the Spindlies. I didn’t bother with any fancy maneuvers, my first slash a wide hook to divest my target of a layer of their lance-like spikes. I was fast, that much I fully realized then, as cutting through the black mass took only a moment. The blade barely hissed, only a fraction of silver blood resting upon its surface. The orb fell apart even as my blade tore through the center of another next to it.

Three felled before the first fell away into halves. All five before the second, my tempo only increasing as my power armor kept apace with my every move. I felt my cybernetic brain connect fully, like a switch flipped to turn on the power armor fully. The bulk of synthetic musculature worked in perfect concert with my own bio-steel augmented tissue. It pressed, moving faster than would be strictly safe for human joints. I felt my bones tighten somehow, muscles latched onto tendons and forcing out every ounce of power.

It was a heady bloodrush, too, as I found my logical mind working towards the best way to kill this thing.

The organ above me opened again, and I found myself leaping up without consideration. My blade sang through the Spindlie on the way in, the lances retracted into the mass as it was birthed.

I latched in with my blades, pulling myself up before I began to cycle with them, dragging hard back and forth as tissues were flayed. The protective seal closed, seeking to restrict my movements against the flesh.

Kicking hard, I felt something on the inside of the seal snap, and one of the jaws were suddenly loose enough that I could move again. In that moment I was a human shaped blender, twisting and turning, churning meat out of the gap as I moved upwards.

The biotic around me shuddered, and I could hear from the mechanical part of my mind that someone was speaking to me.

“Matthew! Can you hear me?” I heard Richard shout.

Devoid of emotion, I answered, “Yes. I’m busy.”

There was a moment of hesitation before he said, “Are you inside of the biotic right now?”

“Yes.” There was something about the way he asked that was unusual to me for some reason. I was just killing it from the inside, since it’s outsides were too armored. This was efficient.

“Is… I mean- Are you, err, do you need support?” He seemed flabbergasted.

“No. Extraction unnecessary.” I methodically cut my way upwards, the shuddering turning into what felt like violent heaving and thrashing. Muscular mass around me squeezed, unable to get enough of a grip on me to do any damage. I’d cleared out the area immediately around me each time I advanced, carefully cutting through until I hit-

‘Hard.’ I frowned, blade finally meeting something distinctly harder consistency then the fleshy organs before. Those had all been far hardier than any regular flesh, though, but this was like hitting a steel beam.

A fraction of a second later I swiped with both blades upwards again, harder. They hit the surface, carving into it by a few centimeters. I swiped again, this time magnitudes harder.

The biotic bucked, nearly throwing me from the pocket of tissue, sending me slipping out below. The bone I was striking was nearly halfway sheared through.

‘Strangeness in mind, the Us is… concerned.’ Wolvy chimed in my thoughts.

I didn’t understand why, and couldn’t formulate a response. Instead, I struck again, using a slightly larger amount of force. The thrashing halved instantly as the relaxing sensation of my blades cutting through the bone translated through my hands.

I stepped up the power more, plenty of room to put in more. I sliced through another portion, giving me more space as the bone fell away - what I recognized was probably a spine. I maintained the strength of the swings upwards, tearing into softer shell above, the acid having done wonders for accessibility. The hissing of chemicals sizzled the flesh around me as I carved rivulets into the flesh.

Like a geyser of gore, I blasted out of the top of the biotic, noting the ground was quite nearby. The biotic was moving feebly behind me, toppled on its side as I rolled away, streaking silver gore that sizzled on contact with the acid.

Not wishing to wait, I ran forward towards the base, shaking off the gore as I went.

I could hear cheering distantly, and wondered at what that was abou-

Suddenly the adrenaline stopped and I felt my body ache. Emotions that I didn’t realize had gone surged back, a satisfaction in the bloodlust that I’d demonstrated, and shock at being pulled down a rabbit-hole.

“Fuck yeah!” I heard Patrick shout, “You god-damned animal! Good job!”

I felt equal parts embarrassment and pride work itself up at that. “Did those people get through?”

Richard spoke up, “Yeah. And apparently he wants to talk to you,” he stated, and almost gave me the impression that he was rolling his eyes at the same time.

I shook my head with a sigh, “Alright, I’ll be right there.”

‘Hopefully they just want to thank me.’ I mused, though I highly doubted that. I just hoped I wouldn’t regret having saved them.