Work Text:
Almost Human
Caitlyn trekked through the crunch of Bloxburg's woods, teammates by her side. The forest was dark, endlessly coated with the sounds of crickets and hiding well-kept secrets.
Well-kept to anyone else, maybe. By her side, she picked up on the noise of Vasher's fiddling with his spectral readout as always. It had been two long months and the man was only decent at it. Her shoulder flashlights were on, as were her low-light eyescanners, lighting up every nook between the trees. Even the Cothera River's rushing current she could hear. But there was a more urgent reason her team trekked out here in the middle of night.
"Keep yer eyes open for anything, all right?" she said.
"Don't need to tell us twice," said Dina from the back. She was a tired young woman who was getting through it, somehow. Caitlyn could assume she was forcing a smile even without turning around. Her voice had grown solemn over the past months, but it still breathed across the chill in a way Caitlyn envied.
We've got bigger things to worry about, anyways. Caitlyn's processors whirred. The synthesis of a secret substance that could supposedly even revive the dead had caused her remaining teammates many sleepless nights, and stressed-out surveying trips. There had been reports of their tracked species's suspiciously dropping in number, their targets revived and stitched together to make Chimera. Like the one they were tracking now.
If this went well, they would all be snoozing back at base until the afternoon. (Caitlyn would, too, only metaphorically). She tried not to think about if it didn't. But the ground was soft and steady beneath her metal treads and boots, and her parts were built to last. The bond between her teammates, too, was almost bursting into air behind her. They had given Caitlyn a robot body after her original one came back to them drenched and broken, and stuck with her no matter what. So she pushed down her doubts and thoughts of better days aside. Against changing times, she would make sure no harm came to them. Because she was Caitlyn, the defender.
"I've got a lock, boss," Vasher's voice called, and the trio stepped out into the gloom.
The river's crash crowded out Caitlyn's thoughts. They walked forward even so, following Vasher's tracking. She hadn't been to this sector of the forest in too long a while. Not since two months ago, back when Alex was still by her side. The wind whistled through their formation, sending chills through the other members' backs. In another life, where the Necroenzyme was concocted just a bit sooner, maybe she wouldn't have the titanium treads and tinny voice-synthesizer. Not that Caitlyn wasn't grateful.
But how would things have turned out?-she couldn't help but wonder.
A feral jolt flicked in Caitlin's brain and she snapped upright with electric abruptness, breathing like she had never before. The chilly air rushed into her lungs—like it hadn't in months.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
She felt alive, and touched the fur on her arms—
the fur? Checking at herself she noted all the changes. Fur bristled on her arms, soft and firm to the touch. Her ears had been replaced with cat's ears, and she could hear each cricket's chirp and frog's call of the Greenbelt.
She drew in breath between her sharp teeth and righted herself with legs corded with muscle. What had happened to her? The last thing she remembered was water, so much water… Yet all of the memories that she had before all seemed so dull, so far away in contrast to her rebirth. Her new eyes were sharp, and there was power in her arms almost as deadly as claws—And Caitlin knew these were all gifts from that doctor mysterious. The vials of empty Necroenzyme proved it.
But that wasn't all she'd been left with. She had to hunt. To track. And to tear down the imposters trespassing on her preserve. Her body nearly split at its seams as she stalked onwards. She was Caitlin, born of the wild.
Caitlyn trekked onwards through the night and murk, her team close behind. They were almost on top of the scent, tracking the Necroenzyme leaked from the constructed beasts. The screen on her left arm gave Caitlyn foreknowledge—it was a humanoid beast, set loose to further someone's machinations.
"Hold up jus' a mite," Caitlyn said. Dina swiveled around on her feet, while Vasher kept his stance ever-focused. The trampled grasses and clearing revealed traces of Necroenzyme speckled 'cross the ground. They'd found their mark after all. The trio, kitted out to all hell, crept up on the beast's location. Caitlyn's motors and hydraulics ran softly and well-oiled as they could (though she wasn't built for stealth) yet the Chimera twitched up in a jolt, buggers of eyes staring directly at Caitlyn.
The beast had cat's ears, pale brown fur and a tail—and was wearing Caitlyn's face.
"-Oi!" Caitlyn said in surprise. That was her, wasn't it? Maybe the fur was a bit odd, and the way she growled with twitchy energy. Against all odds, Caitlyn felt her processors spinning stop, for just a split second. Not even that. Not even a microsecond passed until her mind flicked past the gap.
But their mark was so-so real, just like the creases of their manic expression that Caitlyn could only hope to imitate. And the harsh noises of rushing waters only brought back deeper and deeper memories, of the night her old body had been just too weak, too unprepared. Now it was back with a vengeance. To finish what had been started.
The rest of the team pulled out nets and blasters, eyeing the two warriors hesitantly. Caitlyn would be their shield, nature's paladin. The air between them crackled with tension.
With a sudden hiss, the beast that wore Caitlyn's face jerked forwards at inhuman speed, a hand-axe wielded scrapingly lethal as claws shining in the moonlight.
"Shit!" Caitlyn breathed out as the second swing almost tore through her titanium plating. The beast swung after her with violent ferocity, at a pace she could barely process. The blows came quicker now. She stumbled on the roots beneath her and lost ground. Not that she could afford to. The second the beast got through her, it would be the end for her team. Helluva chance that'll hap'n nae, she thought, planting her feet beside the riverbank.
She sidestepped the next attack, and crushed her opponent in a two-ton grip, motors churning. The chimera that had once been Caitlin scratched and thrashed in her grip. Its stitches wouldn't last long in the soak and they both knew it.
Caitlyn faced her fate and took a step—and a horrified, panicked yowl cut through the gloom, ending in a splash.
Caitlyn had always hated water.
The chimera tearing against her grip felt the same. The river rushed around the both of them as Caitlyn tried to keep the beast under. I cannae let the water reach me shoulders, she thought. Already her fans spun hungrily against the spit on her shoulder vents and her pivots cracked with friction. Just a bit longer. But the beast twisted in her grasp and yanked them both further, further into the deep rush below.
It was so… cold. River silt kicked at her legs and her fans spun, bailing out water. Thoughts of her foe were lost, lost in utter panic. She saw the glow of her arm communicator, sending out distress signals. Caitlyn cranked desperately to surface, but her metal found no purchase.
… Diverting 55% energy processing to exhaust…
It was so hard to think. Her circuits fizzled out. Exhaust fans spun and spun, choking water out.
Ultimately there was just too much of her being weighed down. In her last moments she thought of everyone else beyond the shoreline. Would they be alright?
Would they continue without her?
Wou
Would Alex—?
"We gotcha, Cait!" shouts and grunts came from outside her vision. With a splash, Caitlyn realized she was being towed to the shore. Her head, covered by bracken and muck, hit the bank first, leaving the rest of her to catch up.
"Wha—". That was all she managed. Her brain scrubbed against itself for a moment as her body clambered ashore.
"You'll be alright, Caitlyn," Dina softly said from her right. They were wrapping blankets around her, for all the good that it did. It was that sort of kindness that mattered, in the end.
Caitlyn let go of the rope she still had been holding on to, the three of them taking a silent reprieve in the Greenbelt's mighty wilderness. She sat as her mind whirred, emotion and recollection coming back to her. The beast had escaped tail between its legs, and she'd be doing repairs into the next month.
But Caitlyn had faced her own reflection and ended up on top in the end. Sitting there with her teammates, all she could feel was a sort of quiet thankfulness.
They lay there on the mossy floor until the river's crash had smoothed into background noise. Caitlyn stood slowly, taking Vasher's outstretched hand, and began the long and beaten path home.