companionwolf

It’s a straightforward room, a large frosted glass panel marking the exit across from them. On either side are a few of square purple ‘garden plots’, the furthest ones away bigger than the ones closer to the group. Within them alien foliage— most are a variety of tendril like plants, deep purple dark stalks with glowing bulbous growths on them. Some are slightly thinner and more tentacle like, a gradient of light blue emerging their tips. 

“I wonder what this is for,” Davey muses aloud, the end of his sentence drowned out by the sound of reality tearing once again. Three Heavy Floaters erupt from it, scattering in different directions, and are followed by a Cyberdisc in disc form, which hums as it comes straight at them. 

“Move to cover!” the Spartan barks, and the humans quickly crouch down and press against the nearest structures— Davey in an alcove in the wall, Tulip and Alex next to each other by a garden plot, Espeon jumping up onto the housing platforms and ducking behind a plant. 

PC darts to half cover on the opposite side of the room to Tulip and Alex against another of the plant plots, trying to keep attention on where every enemy is, only to start slightly as plasma shots whizz precariously close overhead of him. 

The Spartan takes aim at the Floater trying to pin PC, taking a couple of shots itself to the back as the two other Floaters try and distract it with engagement. 

The Spartan manages to fire, the plasma burning away through one of the Floater’s arms, and knocking it slightly down, giving PC a moment in which to draw his sword and bring it hard against the Floater multiple times. 

It takes one - two - three hits until he works his way through its thick shell, the biorobot’s internal organics giving off a burnt smell as the sword meets them. 

As he moves to a standing position, Tulip and Alex take shots at the Cyberdisc as it switches forms. While they provide suppressing fire, the Spartan releases one hand from its gun, and reaches for one of the Floaters bothering it. It grabs the one by the arm and swings it into the other, the biorobots haphazardly spraying plasma fire, barely hitting Espeon and racketeering into their own Cyberdisc teammate. 

Davey darts across the room, ducking flush against the glass matte of the far doorway, before he too fires a plasma round, back at the Floaters which are still pestering the Spartan but momentarily attempting to orientate themselves.  

PC moves up around the plot Espeon continues to take cover inside, and comes behind the Cyberdisc— he gets his sword inside of it, and thrashes around, until the blade catches onto something. 

“Go help the Spartan! Now!” he says to the humans, and they move, just in time and just far away enough to avoid the oncoming blast. He dives at Espeon while he yells at her to flatten herself, covering her with his body as the Cyberdisc explodes, feeling shrapnel piercing through his clothes and cut against his external self, and he hisses. 

“Are you ok?” calls Alex, voice muffled under the sound of the Spartan battering the Floaters against each other again. 

“He’s fine,” says Espeon as she wriggles from under him, firing a Psybeam that cuts through both Floaters and drops them dead onto the metal floor. 

They convene with Davey, who gingerly helps the Spartan remove the medical kit about its waist and after a little explanation of how it works (the Spartan’s medical supplies are different the ones the humans have), applies the contents to the other’s wounds. PC notices Alex’s nose is dripping blood again. 

Espeon sniffs at PC’s injuries. “You are fine, aren’t you?” she asks. 

“I’m ok,” he says, although to be honest the wounds sting and are spilling the sensation of phantom blood. 

Espeon nods, pleased, and then clambers up him to sit on his shoulder. 

“Thanks for warning us about the exploding one,” Tulip says before he can ask Alex if they’re alright, voice dry. 

“I did warn you,” he says, “and you got out of the way just fine.” 

“You didn’t warn us, you just said ‘go help the Spartan’ and got all authoritative about it,” she answers. 

“He is bonded, he is the authority,” murmurs the Spartan, nodding thankfully at Davey, who just grunts something in response. 

“Oh, no, I am not,” PC begins, but is cut off by—

“Your leader is not even the one to be affected, and his aid is little more than a child itself. You believe just because they mistakenly aiding your cause that they should be followed.”

“I don’t think having the Elders agree with you is a good look,” says Alex quietly.

“My disagreement is based on performance anxiety, and also general anxiety, not any actual logic,” he answers, and the humans laugh. 

The Elders hums. Espeon and Tulip hum aggressively back. There is no response.

The Spartan looks through the doorway. “What now?” it asks.

“There’s something really Psionic in the next room,” Alex says, wiping the blood from their face with their wrist. That explains it then. 

“It must be the relay portion then, if I remember what all can spawn right,” PC says. “We’re close.”

“And you will get no closer,” says one of the Elders.

“Given how good we’ve been going so far, you’re in no position to say shit like that,” says Espeon back, lashing her tail. “Or maybe we’re just so good you’re getting scared.”

“You are very lucky,” concedes one of the Elders, only to be hushed as another corrects it. “You get this far only because we allow it, only because our underlings are weak and you, humans, prove again to be the near perfect species we have hoped you to be.”

“Aww, flattery will get you nowhere,” Tulip says.

“You could be less rebellious,” notes one of them. “If you would give up this pointless attempt to ‘stop’ us, you would find your world and lives transformed for the better.”

“Dudes, dudettes, whatever, we all know you just wanna turn humanity into Avatar slurry, no need to pretend with the utopia stuff,” says Espeon. 

There is no response except, perhaps, a sigh.

“Let’s keep moving,” PC says. “They’re bound to keep trying to get into our heads. Or at least demoralize us. Whatever they can do, I don’t doubt they’ll try.”

“Let’s go kick their ass,” says Espeon, springing from his shoulder to the floor as they enter the Psionic relay room. 

“Or get our asses kicked,” mumbled Davey.

Faith, hums Eylion outloud. We will win here like many have before. 

That was just games, PC says internally. You’re meant to win.

We’re meant to win here too, it replies to just him. If we do not—

“I know, I know,” he says, only realizing it is outloud after he has said it.