Valles slipped into the apartment, dropping her backpack into the closet and absently reorienting various joints that'd been strained by the weight of
the pack. Even with an alien symbiote enhancing her physical strength and giving her a variety of superhuman powers, the average 25+ pound student's
backpack of textbooks was still an uncomfortable thing to lug about. As she tossed off her shoes as well, she looked up as she heard someone talking in the
kitchen.
"Not necessarily. If she doesn't suspect anything, she won't ask."
Valles blinked, stopping in the doorway and stepping back as she recognized Lynna's voice.
"I don't want her getting involved in this, M'kel. That's the last thing I want.....yes, maybe she could help, maybe she
couldn't. I don't want to gamble on it....because, M'kel...." She frowned in V's field of vision. "You know why. More than
anyone else does. You're in my head, after all.....I swear, if this is another of your problems with Peacebringers....yeah, I'm sorry. That was unfair
of me.....yes, yes, I know...but I don't...I don't want to risk that. I love her, M'kel. I'd rather keep it a secret....it's
easier that way. For her. ...thanks M'kel."
Valles frowned, stepping back into the bathroom as Lynna walked out of the kitchen and back into the bedroom. Waiting what she thought to be a reasonable
time, she stepped out again, walking up to the door and looking in the bedroom. Catching sight of Lynna sprawled out over the bed, fast asleep, V smiled
slightly, before it faded slightly as she slid in beside her. What was worrying her so much...and why didn't Lyn want to tell her about it?
***
The first warning the Kheldian duo had that this was far from the simple retrieval mission they'd been tasked with was when a blast of dark energy
knocked Lynna away from Valles as she worked at the lock of the chest containing the item several Council operations had been centered around activating, known
only by the ominous operation title "Path Of The Dark". Lynna grunted in pain as she rolled, before her eyes widened behind her goggles as a familiar
smouldering form stepped out of the darkness, burning coals locking onto her.
"Well, if it isn't young Lynna Mason and my old friend M'kel. What a wonderful coincidence that you would appear to attempt to foil
this," the archvillian Requiem said as he stepped into the cavern. V-chan made a slight noise of what might've been fear for a second before
running over to Lynna's side. The Nictus watched her with obvious amusement as he slowly advanced towards them, in no real hurry. "And in the
company of a Peacebringer, no less. Snuffing out one of your sanctimonious kind in the process will make this even better."
Valles tried to ignore the villian bearing down on them as she checked Lynna over as the Warshade lay stunned on the cave floor, before she groaned and
tried to sit up. "Run...you've got to run..." she whispered.
"I can't just..."
"You're not strong enough. Both of us together isn't strong enough to stop him," she groaned.
Valles frowned, looking at her. "I'm not just leaving you here..."
"C'n teleport...can get away like you can't," she replied, drawing a snort.
"You're barely able to stand. You think you can teleport in that condition?"
"If I may make a suggestion?" Requiem noted as Valles looked to see he was barely a foot away. "Perhaps you could
simply both die?" he noted, energy crackling about his hands. Valles tried to dodge, but Requiem had anticipated the motion, and dark energy
snapped out of the ground, tendrils of alien energy anchoring her in place before the follow up blast hit her square in the chest. Requiem observed the
resultant crash clinically, before turning back to Lynna. "You know, it's hard to tell which of you caused me more trouble. The brat that set
my analysis of the Galaxy program back months when she escaped with the test subject, or the traitor that helped Shadowstar split my potential forces by
appealing to the weak-willed that could be swayed away. Nonetheless, you've both certainly caused me enough trouble, and that ends
today."
Lynna tried to gather herself as he came closer, but the sputtering energy attacks she fired at him barely singed his attire, and nothing she used could
hold him still. Growling in fear and anger, Lynna let her body go as she shifted into the enormous armored form of a Black Dwarf, before charging him. Requiem,
however, didn't even flinch, parrying one blow with strength entirely disproportionate to his size, and then absorbing a blow that connected with barely a
flinch. Lynna tried all she could to beat and drain away at his power, but she could feel his own dark power around her, leeching away the energy of everything
it could feed on in range....including her.
Lynna gasped, falling back as she shielded V-chan's dazed body with her own, trying to get over the mind-numbing terror. She couldn't do this. She
couldn't deal with it...they were going to....
Lynna. Steady. Hold steady. Tactics. We can't do this, but we know people that can.
Lynna grabbed V and warped a few meters away, getting an indulgent chuckle from Requiem as he followed her, a rift in space opening for him to step through
as easily as it did for her.
Lynna started breathing again as she saw V groan and move again, then warped into a corner out of sight, shifting back to her human form and activating her
radio. "Mayday, mayday! This is Twilit Blade in the caves under Perez. I need backup ASAP. Archvillian has us cornered. Repeat, need heavy backup ASAP! Is
anybody on this frequency? We need help!"
"Easy, easy, kid," a familiar rumble said as Lynna recognized Mag's voice. "What's the situation?"
"It's Requiem. We were tracking some Council troops and then he just showed up. We didn't expect him at all," Lynna said, aware she was
babbling somewhat due to stress, but mainly grateful she was keeping herself from panicking entirely.
"We?"
"V's here too. She's a bit out of it after he hit her with some kind of stun thing."
"Right. I'll be there shortly with some backup. Just keep out of his way," Mag advised. There wasn't any censure in his tone at the fact
they hadn't been able to handle the archvillian themselves. Just reassuring firmness.
"You don't have to tell me twice," Lynna said, teleporting again and thanking Paragon's bizarre geology for the first time in her life.
"Right. Just hold on."
***
"Hey," V said, handing Lynna a cup of something warm and steaming, which the warshade didn't look too closely at before taking a drink of.
"Hey...heh...rescuing people sounds a lot more heroic than running away, doesn't it?" she said, as Valles frowned slightly, putting a hand on
her shoulder.
"We were both out of our depth and he had the element of surprise. And you did what you could," she said. "You called for help and we stopped
him from getting the shadow seed...whatever that was. And you saved my life," V pointed out.
Lynna took a deep breath at the last, before nodding, taking another drink to steady herself. "M'kel says the same thing....but all I can think of
is the fact that the minute I saw him, I froze. I was absolutely terrified. And you nearly got killed trying to protect me from that screwup."
"Everyone has things that scare them, Lyn," she said, sitting down beside her.
"It never stopped...this is different."
"Different how?" V-chan asked.
Lynna looked at her, and Valles tried her best to look reassuring. After a long moment, Lyn shivered slightly as she let out a breath.
"Okay....just...not here, okay?"
Valles considered the constant tight lipped silence her girlfriend had held about her past, and what she remembered of Requiem's gloating through the
haze left by the hit she'd taken. It suggested this was far more than a simple heroic scuffle with a villian. Between that and the uncharacteristic lack of
brashness bordering on cockiness from Lyn, and it all pointed to something that was most definitely not what you discussed in the streets outside a cave system
with a dozen possible eavesdroppers, well meaning or not. "Okay."
***
1 year ago...
Lynna blinked as a troop of armed men whirled around the corner, opening fire with automatic weapons. The range was so close that they couldn't miss,
and the rattling of machine guns was echoed by the clinking of shells falling to the ground. Instead of rending flesh and shattering bone, however, the bullets
bounced off of crackling purple energy as Lynna recoiled out of the path of fire, staggering down an alleyway as the Council troops began to follow.
Wait, a voice said, cutting them off. Several glanced over their shoulders, only to snap to attention as the distinctive
sillouhette of a Void Hunter stepped around the corner. Requiem wants the symbiote alive. If you kill her, the other will die before we can bring
the body back for extraction.
"Yes, sir," the lead adjutant said, sweating despite himself. The Galaxy troops were distinctly within the command chain of the Council's
ranks, alien symbiosis or not, but the Void Hunters stood apart, and while this one had been more eloquent than most, he had yet to give a name or do anything,
really, beyond relaying orders from the higher ups and generally advising them in pursuing the escaped Warshade.
She has nowhere to go, the Hunter continued. No home, no haven to go to ground at. However, she is young, and the
symbiote will not seek to compel her actions. He bent down, picking up a scrap of clothing from the ground and running it between gloved fingers.
If we pressure her too hard, she may give into despair and self-terminate to spite us out of our quarry. If we leave her a glimmer of hope, though,
she will grasp at it even as her mind tells her she cannot escape. She will continue to run until she falls into our snare.
He turned back, eyes glowing slightly with energies that seemed otherworldly even to the soldiers with long experience with the Galaxies. And
then...we will have Requiem's prize.
***
Lynna panted as she ran between some trash cans, exhaustion, adrenaline, and the strange, alien energies she knew were the only reason she was alive warring
for supremacy over her current state of mind.
Do not panic, Lynna. We are still alive, and they expect you to act like a panicked child. If you listen to me, we will get out of this alive.
Lynna nodded slightly, jumping into a dumpster even as she cringed at the feeling of various pieces of gunk she didn't want to identify. The Council
soldiers ran by, but Lynna's hair stood on end as she heard a few run back in and begin searching. That...and something else.
Search every possible hiding place. She cannot have outrun the exterior elements.
For the first time, Lynna felt a surge of apprehension from her passenger. Who is that?
Vod'rzgahn. The Hunters From The Black. Arakhn has brought her hounds with her to your world.
How do we get away? We're trapped!
Concentrate, Lynna. They can track us, but we are not trapped. Not yet. Just concentrate....
***
The Hunter watched the search expand, before a surge of energy caught his attention, the masked figure drawing out his rifle, crackling with destructive
energies. Making a bee line for the nearby dumpster, he waited a moment, then hurled the lid off one handed, bringing his weapon to bear at the interior....and
a few rats that chittered in fear and scurried out of sight. The Hunter frowned, before turning around to the groups still searching. She's
teleported away! Find her!
***
Lynna wheezed, even as her passenger quietly worked at keeping her from noticing how long they had been fleeing, boosting her still tiring body as best he
could. They needed to get deeper into the city, perhaps Atlas or Galaxy where Council pursuers would raise more suspicions. Lynna, by contrast, was still
trying to catch her breath. However, as they finally broke into sight of the tram station, Lynna allowed herself a brief flare of hope that they might finally
get away.
Then the world exploded.
Lynna's body tried to scream, even though such an act was impossible given her body was being torn apart at the atomic level. Every piece of her
that'd bonded to the alien inside the tube simultaneously tried to reject it, a matter made all the more complicated by the fact that she no longer truly
existed apart from her alien bond partner. Every piece of her felt like it was trying to explode and tear in two simultaneously, and through the crippling
pain, she was aware that she wasn't alone in it as...M'kel....writhed in agony alongside her. A small part of her mind was somehow grateful for the
company before they collapsed into unconsciousness, a dark suited figure stepping up behind them. The Hunter conisdered his catch with professional air before
handing her over to the other Council troops, manacles and specialized dampening fields being put into action as she was loaded into an unmarked van. He
considered her one last time before the doors closed.
Such a waste that the extraction will kill you before the end, little girl.
***
"Monsignor Ri-"
"Please, Adjutant Mason, the time for such theatrics is past now, I think."
Lynna came out of her pain filled unconsciousness as the eerily similar voice made her think of the black clad hunter that'd nearly cornered her in the
alley....at which point she shot awake as her previous day came back to her in a rush...and came face to face with a living nightmare. The black, smouldering
face, the glowing coals of eyes, the slick black and red uniform in a pseudo military cut....the face was infamous from a dozen news stories shown to anyone
that lived in Paragon. Requiem was the former head of the 5th Column and one of the elite leaders of the new Council that had replaced it...and the other
senses that Lynna hadn't known she had could see the gaping, vacuum-like hole in space that he created around himself. There was something inherently
wrong with the way he fed off everything around him, and she shivered despite herself.
"Ah...and so the prodigal daughter is awake..." he said, his face in a rictus expression that might be intended to be a smile as
he turned towards her. "You quite surprised me, you know. I'd thought my men would bring you back on their own. Contracting one of
Arahkn's Void Hunters wasn't in the plan, but you required their skills to bring in. Of course, now your running is at an end...as is
M'kel's."
"...Requiem, sir, you aren't going to..."
Lynna looked up at the sound, only to gawk at her parents, both wearing pseudo-military uniforms of their own, adorned with Council insignia.
"Extract him from her? Of course, Adjutant Mason. That was the whole reason I had her captured to begin with. And, frankly, you can consider
this a warning about the poor security that allowed the breach to take place in the first place," Requiem noted casually. "And you
will accept it as that, unless you would prefer to share your daughter's fate."
Lynna looked back at them frantically, expecting them to make some sort of objection or argument. Some kind of bargaining for her fate. Instead, her mother
looked away as her father looked back at Requiem. "...we understand, sir," he said stiffly.
"Very good, Adjutant Mason. Corporal, take her to the extraction facility. I'll join you later."
***
"I was taken to the warehouse after that....someone must've slipped up on operational security or the troops following me were just a tip off, but
a Legendary team led by Lora'lai broke in, rescued me..." Lynna said, reciting it mechanically. "I never saw Requiem after that,
but....he...."
"All those times you tried to find any excuse to avoid the Council," Valles said, her eyes slightly wider in understanding.
"I didn't know...if he'd sent them after me...if one of those....things...would be with them...hunting me. After I met you, I didn't want
to risk running into a Void Hunter again. Every time we saw one, I was afraid it was after me personally and that you'd get caught in the crossfire...or
worse, that he would send someone else."
"Someone else?" V asked, confused.
"...like my parents," Lynna said softly.
"...oh."
"The only reason I can think I didn't know is because they were hiding it from me. And I don't think they were field troops...but Requiem...he...I
can see him sending them after me to punish them. He's....evil. And I...I...."
V moved forward, embracing Lyn as the younger woman broke down on her shoulder. "....they were my parents," she managed through the tears.
"I...why didn't they even try to...to stop him? They just stood there...they were going to let him kill me...why?"
Valles simply shook her head, holding Lynna as she did, letting the girl finally give voice to doubts and pain that she'd kept pent up for months now.
Eventually, the words ceased, replaced by inarticulate sobs, leaving V with little recourse but to remain by her side, providing a reassuring presence. Her
mind, however, echoed Lynna's questions.
Why? Why didn't they try to save me? Why?
Valles found no answers to give...for herself or the young woman finally letting her emotional wounds come to light as she cried against her shoulder.
***
Author's Note: The intro to this piece is based off a (much less dramatic at the time) actual series of events where Lynna and V-chan got their asses
handed to them by Requiem's surprise appearance at the end of the arc and Mag had to save their attractive hind ends from him. It's just been that long
since I've gotten around to writing this.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
the pack. Even with an alien symbiote enhancing her physical strength and giving her a variety of superhuman powers, the average 25+ pound student's
backpack of textbooks was still an uncomfortable thing to lug about. As she tossed off her shoes as well, she looked up as she heard someone talking in the
kitchen.
"Not necessarily. If she doesn't suspect anything, she won't ask."
Valles blinked, stopping in the doorway and stepping back as she recognized Lynna's voice.
"I don't want her getting involved in this, M'kel. That's the last thing I want.....yes, maybe she could help, maybe she
couldn't. I don't want to gamble on it....because, M'kel...." She frowned in V's field of vision. "You know why. More than
anyone else does. You're in my head, after all.....I swear, if this is another of your problems with Peacebringers....yeah, I'm sorry. That was unfair
of me.....yes, yes, I know...but I don't...I don't want to risk that. I love her, M'kel. I'd rather keep it a secret....it's
easier that way. For her. ...thanks M'kel."
Valles frowned, stepping back into the bathroom as Lynna walked out of the kitchen and back into the bedroom. Waiting what she thought to be a reasonable
time, she stepped out again, walking up to the door and looking in the bedroom. Catching sight of Lynna sprawled out over the bed, fast asleep, V smiled
slightly, before it faded slightly as she slid in beside her. What was worrying her so much...and why didn't Lyn want to tell her about it?
***
The first warning the Kheldian duo had that this was far from the simple retrieval mission they'd been tasked with was when a blast of dark energy
knocked Lynna away from Valles as she worked at the lock of the chest containing the item several Council operations had been centered around activating, known
only by the ominous operation title "Path Of The Dark". Lynna grunted in pain as she rolled, before her eyes widened behind her goggles as a familiar
smouldering form stepped out of the darkness, burning coals locking onto her.
"Well, if it isn't young Lynna Mason and my old friend M'kel. What a wonderful coincidence that you would appear to attempt to foil
this," the archvillian Requiem said as he stepped into the cavern. V-chan made a slight noise of what might've been fear for a second before
running over to Lynna's side. The Nictus watched her with obvious amusement as he slowly advanced towards them, in no real hurry. "And in the
company of a Peacebringer, no less. Snuffing out one of your sanctimonious kind in the process will make this even better."
Valles tried to ignore the villian bearing down on them as she checked Lynna over as the Warshade lay stunned on the cave floor, before she groaned and
tried to sit up. "Run...you've got to run..." she whispered.
"I can't just..."
"You're not strong enough. Both of us together isn't strong enough to stop him," she groaned.
Valles frowned, looking at her. "I'm not just leaving you here..."
"C'n teleport...can get away like you can't," she replied, drawing a snort.
"You're barely able to stand. You think you can teleport in that condition?"
"If I may make a suggestion?" Requiem noted as Valles looked to see he was barely a foot away. "Perhaps you could
simply both die?" he noted, energy crackling about his hands. Valles tried to dodge, but Requiem had anticipated the motion, and dark energy
snapped out of the ground, tendrils of alien energy anchoring her in place before the follow up blast hit her square in the chest. Requiem observed the
resultant crash clinically, before turning back to Lynna. "You know, it's hard to tell which of you caused me more trouble. The brat that set
my analysis of the Galaxy program back months when she escaped with the test subject, or the traitor that helped Shadowstar split my potential forces by
appealing to the weak-willed that could be swayed away. Nonetheless, you've both certainly caused me enough trouble, and that ends
today."
Lynna tried to gather herself as he came closer, but the sputtering energy attacks she fired at him barely singed his attire, and nothing she used could
hold him still. Growling in fear and anger, Lynna let her body go as she shifted into the enormous armored form of a Black Dwarf, before charging him. Requiem,
however, didn't even flinch, parrying one blow with strength entirely disproportionate to his size, and then absorbing a blow that connected with barely a
flinch. Lynna tried all she could to beat and drain away at his power, but she could feel his own dark power around her, leeching away the energy of everything
it could feed on in range....including her.
Lynna gasped, falling back as she shielded V-chan's dazed body with her own, trying to get over the mind-numbing terror. She couldn't do this. She
couldn't deal with it...they were going to....
Lynna. Steady. Hold steady. Tactics. We can't do this, but we know people that can.
Lynna grabbed V and warped a few meters away, getting an indulgent chuckle from Requiem as he followed her, a rift in space opening for him to step through
as easily as it did for her.
Lynna started breathing again as she saw V groan and move again, then warped into a corner out of sight, shifting back to her human form and activating her
radio. "Mayday, mayday! This is Twilit Blade in the caves under Perez. I need backup ASAP. Archvillian has us cornered. Repeat, need heavy backup ASAP! Is
anybody on this frequency? We need help!"
"Easy, easy, kid," a familiar rumble said as Lynna recognized Mag's voice. "What's the situation?"
"It's Requiem. We were tracking some Council troops and then he just showed up. We didn't expect him at all," Lynna said, aware she was
babbling somewhat due to stress, but mainly grateful she was keeping herself from panicking entirely.
"We?"
"V's here too. She's a bit out of it after he hit her with some kind of stun thing."
"Right. I'll be there shortly with some backup. Just keep out of his way," Mag advised. There wasn't any censure in his tone at the fact
they hadn't been able to handle the archvillian themselves. Just reassuring firmness.
"You don't have to tell me twice," Lynna said, teleporting again and thanking Paragon's bizarre geology for the first time in her life.
"Right. Just hold on."
***
"Hey," V said, handing Lynna a cup of something warm and steaming, which the warshade didn't look too closely at before taking a drink of.
"Hey...heh...rescuing people sounds a lot more heroic than running away, doesn't it?" she said, as Valles frowned slightly, putting a hand on
her shoulder.
"We were both out of our depth and he had the element of surprise. And you did what you could," she said. "You called for help and we stopped
him from getting the shadow seed...whatever that was. And you saved my life," V pointed out.
Lynna took a deep breath at the last, before nodding, taking another drink to steady herself. "M'kel says the same thing....but all I can think of
is the fact that the minute I saw him, I froze. I was absolutely terrified. And you nearly got killed trying to protect me from that screwup."
"Everyone has things that scare them, Lyn," she said, sitting down beside her.
"It never stopped...this is different."
"Different how?" V-chan asked.
Lynna looked at her, and Valles tried her best to look reassuring. After a long moment, Lyn shivered slightly as she let out a breath.
"Okay....just...not here, okay?"
Valles considered the constant tight lipped silence her girlfriend had held about her past, and what she remembered of Requiem's gloating through the
haze left by the hit she'd taken. It suggested this was far more than a simple heroic scuffle with a villian. Between that and the uncharacteristic lack of
brashness bordering on cockiness from Lyn, and it all pointed to something that was most definitely not what you discussed in the streets outside a cave system
with a dozen possible eavesdroppers, well meaning or not. "Okay."
***
1 year ago...
Lynna blinked as a troop of armed men whirled around the corner, opening fire with automatic weapons. The range was so close that they couldn't miss,
and the rattling of machine guns was echoed by the clinking of shells falling to the ground. Instead of rending flesh and shattering bone, however, the bullets
bounced off of crackling purple energy as Lynna recoiled out of the path of fire, staggering down an alleyway as the Council troops began to follow.
Wait, a voice said, cutting them off. Several glanced over their shoulders, only to snap to attention as the distinctive
sillouhette of a Void Hunter stepped around the corner. Requiem wants the symbiote alive. If you kill her, the other will die before we can bring
the body back for extraction.
"Yes, sir," the lead adjutant said, sweating despite himself. The Galaxy troops were distinctly within the command chain of the Council's
ranks, alien symbiosis or not, but the Void Hunters stood apart, and while this one had been more eloquent than most, he had yet to give a name or do anything,
really, beyond relaying orders from the higher ups and generally advising them in pursuing the escaped Warshade.
She has nowhere to go, the Hunter continued. No home, no haven to go to ground at. However, she is young, and the
symbiote will not seek to compel her actions. He bent down, picking up a scrap of clothing from the ground and running it between gloved fingers.
If we pressure her too hard, she may give into despair and self-terminate to spite us out of our quarry. If we leave her a glimmer of hope, though,
she will grasp at it even as her mind tells her she cannot escape. She will continue to run until she falls into our snare.
He turned back, eyes glowing slightly with energies that seemed otherworldly even to the soldiers with long experience with the Galaxies. And
then...we will have Requiem's prize.
***
Lynna panted as she ran between some trash cans, exhaustion, adrenaline, and the strange, alien energies she knew were the only reason she was alive warring
for supremacy over her current state of mind.
Do not panic, Lynna. We are still alive, and they expect you to act like a panicked child. If you listen to me, we will get out of this alive.
Lynna nodded slightly, jumping into a dumpster even as she cringed at the feeling of various pieces of gunk she didn't want to identify. The Council
soldiers ran by, but Lynna's hair stood on end as she heard a few run back in and begin searching. That...and something else.
Search every possible hiding place. She cannot have outrun the exterior elements.
For the first time, Lynna felt a surge of apprehension from her passenger. Who is that?
Vod'rzgahn. The Hunters From The Black. Arakhn has brought her hounds with her to your world.
How do we get away? We're trapped!
Concentrate, Lynna. They can track us, but we are not trapped. Not yet. Just concentrate....
***
The Hunter watched the search expand, before a surge of energy caught his attention, the masked figure drawing out his rifle, crackling with destructive
energies. Making a bee line for the nearby dumpster, he waited a moment, then hurled the lid off one handed, bringing his weapon to bear at the interior....and
a few rats that chittered in fear and scurried out of sight. The Hunter frowned, before turning around to the groups still searching. She's
teleported away! Find her!
***
Lynna wheezed, even as her passenger quietly worked at keeping her from noticing how long they had been fleeing, boosting her still tiring body as best he
could. They needed to get deeper into the city, perhaps Atlas or Galaxy where Council pursuers would raise more suspicions. Lynna, by contrast, was still
trying to catch her breath. However, as they finally broke into sight of the tram station, Lynna allowed herself a brief flare of hope that they might finally
get away.
Then the world exploded.
Lynna's body tried to scream, even though such an act was impossible given her body was being torn apart at the atomic level. Every piece of her
that'd bonded to the alien inside the tube simultaneously tried to reject it, a matter made all the more complicated by the fact that she no longer truly
existed apart from her alien bond partner. Every piece of her felt like it was trying to explode and tear in two simultaneously, and through the crippling
pain, she was aware that she wasn't alone in it as...M'kel....writhed in agony alongside her. A small part of her mind was somehow grateful for the
company before they collapsed into unconsciousness, a dark suited figure stepping up behind them. The Hunter conisdered his catch with professional air before
handing her over to the other Council troops, manacles and specialized dampening fields being put into action as she was loaded into an unmarked van. He
considered her one last time before the doors closed.
Such a waste that the extraction will kill you before the end, little girl.
***
"Monsignor Ri-"
"Please, Adjutant Mason, the time for such theatrics is past now, I think."
Lynna came out of her pain filled unconsciousness as the eerily similar voice made her think of the black clad hunter that'd nearly cornered her in the
alley....at which point she shot awake as her previous day came back to her in a rush...and came face to face with a living nightmare. The black, smouldering
face, the glowing coals of eyes, the slick black and red uniform in a pseudo military cut....the face was infamous from a dozen news stories shown to anyone
that lived in Paragon. Requiem was the former head of the 5th Column and one of the elite leaders of the new Council that had replaced it...and the other
senses that Lynna hadn't known she had could see the gaping, vacuum-like hole in space that he created around himself. There was something inherently
wrong with the way he fed off everything around him, and she shivered despite herself.
"Ah...and so the prodigal daughter is awake..." he said, his face in a rictus expression that might be intended to be a smile as
he turned towards her. "You quite surprised me, you know. I'd thought my men would bring you back on their own. Contracting one of
Arahkn's Void Hunters wasn't in the plan, but you required their skills to bring in. Of course, now your running is at an end...as is
M'kel's."
"...Requiem, sir, you aren't going to..."
Lynna looked up at the sound, only to gawk at her parents, both wearing pseudo-military uniforms of their own, adorned with Council insignia.
"Extract him from her? Of course, Adjutant Mason. That was the whole reason I had her captured to begin with. And, frankly, you can consider
this a warning about the poor security that allowed the breach to take place in the first place," Requiem noted casually. "And you
will accept it as that, unless you would prefer to share your daughter's fate."
Lynna looked back at them frantically, expecting them to make some sort of objection or argument. Some kind of bargaining for her fate. Instead, her mother
looked away as her father looked back at Requiem. "...we understand, sir," he said stiffly.
"Very good, Adjutant Mason. Corporal, take her to the extraction facility. I'll join you later."
***
"I was taken to the warehouse after that....someone must've slipped up on operational security or the troops following me were just a tip off, but
a Legendary team led by Lora'lai broke in, rescued me..." Lynna said, reciting it mechanically. "I never saw Requiem after that,
but....he...."
"All those times you tried to find any excuse to avoid the Council," Valles said, her eyes slightly wider in understanding.
"I didn't know...if he'd sent them after me...if one of those....things...would be with them...hunting me. After I met you, I didn't want
to risk running into a Void Hunter again. Every time we saw one, I was afraid it was after me personally and that you'd get caught in the crossfire...or
worse, that he would send someone else."
"Someone else?" V asked, confused.
"...like my parents," Lynna said softly.
"...oh."
"The only reason I can think I didn't know is because they were hiding it from me. And I don't think they were field troops...but Requiem...he...I
can see him sending them after me to punish them. He's....evil. And I...I...."
V moved forward, embracing Lyn as the younger woman broke down on her shoulder. "....they were my parents," she managed through the tears.
"I...why didn't they even try to...to stop him? They just stood there...they were going to let him kill me...why?"
Valles simply shook her head, holding Lynna as she did, letting the girl finally give voice to doubts and pain that she'd kept pent up for months now.
Eventually, the words ceased, replaced by inarticulate sobs, leaving V with little recourse but to remain by her side, providing a reassuring presence. Her
mind, however, echoed Lynna's questions.
Why? Why didn't they try to save me? Why?
Valles found no answers to give...for herself or the young woman finally letting her emotional wounds come to light as she cried against her shoulder.
***
Author's Note: The intro to this piece is based off a (much less dramatic at the time) actual series of events where Lynna and V-chan got their asses
handed to them by Requiem's surprise appearance at the end of the arc and Mag had to save their attractive hind ends from him. It's just been that long
since I've gotten around to writing this.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."