Chapter Text

The White Wolf; Made Special

An Axiom Narrative

Chapter Index

Preamble

1. [The Beginning]

2. [The Parent]

3. [Enrichment]

4. [A New Environment]

5. [A Friend]

6. [The Rhino]

7. [The Antelope, The Corvid, and The Bat]

8. [The Pin Cushion Cat]

9. [The Shaken Fox]

10. [The Second Superior Feline]

11. [Before The Wall]

12. [The Stranger Pt. I]

13. [The Stranger Pt. II]

14. [A Quick Brief]

15. [Training Days]

16. [The Sighting]

17. [The Sister]

18. [The Superiors]

19. [Lockdown]

20. [The Optional Objective]

21. [The Pep Talk]

22. [The Descent Pt. I]

23. [The Descent Pt. II]

24. [The Descent Pt. III]

25. [The Descent Pt. IV]

26. [Nuisance]

27. [Landing]

28. [Liar]

29. [Only Then]

30. [The First Stop]

31. [Imagination]

32. [Heavy is The Hand]

33. [That Holds The Sword]

34. [No Time For Guilt]

35. [Surveillance]

36. [Do As You Are Told]

37. [Unsanctioned Actions]

38. [Interesting]

39. [The Factory Pt I]

40. [The Factory Pt II]

41. [The Factory Pt III]

42. [Truth]

43. [(Not) Left Behind]

44. [Surveyed]

45. [Rain Check]

46. [The Wall Pt II]

47. [The Wall Pt III]

48. [The Wall Pt IV]

49. [The Wall Pt V]

50. [The Wall Pt I]

51. [The Wall Pt VI]

52. [The Wall Pt VII]

53. [The Wall Pt VIII]

54. [The Wall Pt IX]

55. [The Wall Pt X]

56. [Missed You]

57. [Someone to Be There]

58. [Stargazer]

59. [Remembrance, Future.]

60. // Epilogue //

Chapter Text

Preamble

Hello! I'm SunlessKnight and I just wanted to start you off before getting into the story on a couple things:

1.) This is a "short" story that takes place in a larger world. Just a glimpse into the life of one character!

2.) If you like Armored Core (The biggest inspiration :D ) , LANCER RPG (where the nerds at?), and just general Action Adventure and Sci-Fi, you might like this!

3.) This is planned to be a series of stories in an anthology of sorts, all about characters and their lives before I begin writing my major storyline based around my tabletop game. All characters are original! (As far as I know, looking at you players.)

4.) Story and character elements will be changed as the story develops both in real life and in game, but also to fit what works better in a story and what works better on a table!

5.) Tense may or may not be fully correct all of the time. This was my first larger novella, sorry!

6.) If you like what I wrote here support me however you can! Comments, likes, sharing my story with others, validating my fragile ego, it all helps!

6.5) AI was not used to write this piece of literature, and will never be used in the creation process of my writing. Yay! :3

Content Warning for the following: child endangerment, strong language, violence, blood, gore, and uncomfortable imagery.

Disclaimer : There will never be graphic sexual depictions of children in my works under any circumstances. Sorry not sorry if you're into that!

Chapter Text

The Beginning

Ten tall walls equally angled towards the center of the room almost creating an almost circular room, though 4 walls reflected a dull reflection back to the room it holds. Cold white illuminating down from the corrugated reinforced metal ceilings ensured that every surface and person inside the containment room was visible. Several rows of bunk beds, isolated toilet stalls with short curtains offset to the side, and a few washing basins were the only furniture to be placed inside the room. 

Scattered around the room were toys for children, things like: building blocks, music makers, and hollow plastic tools. Some of these toys were tiredly played by some of the dozens of children within these ten walls. Those same children inside had ears atop their heads of differing kinds; some furry, some soft, some had antlers of varying shapes, some made of cartilage, and some had tiny bald spots with holes where the others had theirs. 

They wore gray and black jumpsuits, with a single white armband on their left arms that read their batch numbers, their assigned gender, and their identifying name if they were deemed special enough to be given one. These jumpsuits were dropped in from small hatches alongside the walls of the room, and the old dirty jumpsuits were to be delivered by the same means by the children every night. If anyone was caught using someone else’s clothes, they were given a single warning from a grainy voice overhead. If it happened again, tall people in gray and black uniforms that covered their hands and faces, called Parents; would come and take them away; and the child would never be seen again. 

Most of the children sat on their beds, or sat in a few groups to talk amongst themselves. Though there was little to talk about, it was more stimulating than doing nothing. The groups that had formed were mostly children with similar batch numbers or those with similar features on their heads and faces, forming cliques, alliances, and gangs. 

Today, like every day, there was a lone girl sitting in a distant corner hidden halfway behind a bed, curled with her knees to her chest and a blanket curled around her, giving what little comfort the thin and see-through sheet could give her. She was the only person with her features; nobody else had her unstreaked bright blonde hair, nor her tall and proud canine ears that matched her blonde color, not even her bright blue eyes were a shared quality. On her jumpsuit armband, there was no batch number, just an “F” and her designated name: “White Wolf”. She was an outcast in all forms to her peers. She did not share a batch number, nor features, and she was the only person in the room with a special designated name. She watches silently past the railings of the bed, watching and listening to the others nearby talk. 

Listening to a nearby girl with short brown clipped ears, “G1381-2343 F” on her armband label, she spoke in a hushed whisper to others like her, “I heard from one of the Parents while I was doing my test last night that they might have to switch out a few of us to a new room”, as she said it, a nervous glance was exchanged across all 4 of the children.

She was the oldest of the group according to their labels, and this made her almost automatically the leader of their little clique. 

The girl to the left of the one who had just spoken, “G1389-2343 F” on her label, grabs two of the other girls arms while looking at them with a worried glance, “I hope they don’t take any of us away”, blurting out in a small panicked way and ending her sentence with a pouting expression.

She began to tear up, and her pouting expression began to break down into a silent cry.The other 3 girls gave her a sad look, but reached their hands over and patted their friend to try and ease her worry. 

The first girl spoke after the silent cries began to ease up, “Hey hey hey, it will be okay, because I think I know who is going to leave.”, the girl who was crying, looked over to her with a hopeful look.

The leader continued, “It’s that freak who never talks to anyone, I think the Parents want her to go somewhere else. At least that’s what my Parent said to someone else. I kinda overheard him when I was supposed to be doing my test…”

She trailed off slightly and got quieter as she admitted out loud to her wrongdoing. Though as she ended her reasoning, her group of friends’ faces began to flush with relief. 

White Wolf had already known she was due to leave this room soon. Her “Parent”, RCS-1489, had already stated a couple weeks ago that she would be placed in a new testing environment. Overhearing the conversation just a few feet away gave her nothing more than another slight wringing pain in her heart to listen to just how much they hated her. She thought back to the first few times when she had approached some of the groups in the room, and how each time they would look at her, read her armband, and blow her off; calling her a freak, or a weirdo, or tell her she’s too different. 

The thoughts and memories stirred in her head, and she clung to her thin sheet just a little harder in response. Soon she would have to leave for classroom time, as would everyone else. They did not share classroom time, she was forced into a solo session, which she knew was not normal from listening and eavesdropping on other’s experiences. Sometimes she wished she was normal like the others, and did not stand out. She wanted to talk to someone that was not her Parent, someone who was her own age, someone maybe who looked like her. A silent sigh escaped her mouth.

Chapter Text

The Parent

A single loud but short buzzer alarm breaks the overall chatter of the room. At the same time a blinking light over the one door shimmers to life and blinks a few times. The kids inside quickly end their talking and playing, making a fast action to stand and face the door with their arms to their side. Their faces turn from whatever they once were, to a complete neutral state. The door hisses as air escapes, and the metallic plates begin to slide and roll away to the sides as the double wide doors disappear entirely. Behind the doors stand a dozen tall people, all of them carrying large rifles at a low ready, vaguely pointed frontwards towards the group of children. 

In front of the gunmen were a few Parents, in their black and gray jumpsuits, large plastic gloves and a face shield that mirrored that same dull reflection those four walls did. Through a little speaker on their chest, they began to bark orders to the children while moving throughout the room. The children would follow their commands as soon as they were thrown at them. One of the younger children in the middle of the play area, a little boy that had a single antler spike beginning to form on top of his head, tripped. 

As soon as his knees hit the metal ground, and his hands reached out to catch himself, scraping both of them in the process; a Parent quickly stepped over to grab him by the shoulder and pull him up entirely with their grip strength alone. The boy grimaced and cried in pain as the Parent squeezed his shoulder, he grabbed at the large hand that held him trying to force him to ease his group but to no avail. The Parent let him struggle for a few seconds before he threw him towards the door, barking one last order to “get a move on”.

White Wolf didn’t move a muscle as the alarms blared, nor did she stand when the Parents came in. She stayed put underneath her thin blanket, holding it tight and looking away from the abuse in front of her. She heard quick footsteps approach her. Her eyes quickly lurched upwards to see a Parent over her, their hands gripped into a fist. She read the name tag quickly, “RCS-97977I”, it was not her Parent, and whoever this is should not be near her. This didn’t seem to bother the person standing overhead of her, continuing to stand over her aggressively. She could feel the malice behind the face shield they wore. 

A modulated voice coming through the small speaker on the Parents chest, “Thought you could hide?”. 

She could almost hear through the modulation the contempt in their voice.

The Parent continued, “You wanna get up, or do you wanna hide in the bad girl room?”

The question made her stomach churn, and a lump would form in her throat. She tried to open her mouth to respond but it had been so long since she had used it, all that came out was a dry crackled beginning of a word that she couldn’t finish. The modulator spurned out a sigh, and she looked up to see the Parent had bent down to pick her up. A single hand was placed around her neck to pick her up, squeezing hard enough that she could not breathe and her feet then left the ground. The Parent ripped the blanket that was wrapped around her away from her, leaving her cold, choking, and suspended in the air. 

She grabbed at the hand around her neck, trying to pry it off but the hand was too strong. She looked past the arm of the Parent to see her reflection in the visor . As it stared at her, she was beginning to turn pale.

She heard the Parent that held her in the air grumble out from their speaker, “Shit.”

She could breathe again, the pressure from her neck had released, and her feet caught her as they landed on the ground. Quick pants to regain her air, and her right hand placed around the now bruising neck to ease her pain, she looked up at the Parent who did this to her. 

He stood there, his arms at his side straight down, hands made into a ball. He stood straight as he looked onwards towards the open doorway. He was paying full attention to something, she could tell. She turned her neck to gaze behind her, before she could make a full turn, a deafening sound nearly made her go deaf. A sudden and instant boom, near her head made her ears shake and hiss in pain. She held them closed, but she could still hear the ringing. Her eyes instinctively closed into squint. Her knees bent, and she was instantly in a crouched position, making herself as small as possible. 

After a moment of silence, she released her hands from her ears and looked at her surroundings. In front of her, laid flat on the ground with arms spread unevenly in both directions was the Parent that had choked her. Underneath it was a forming red pool, and where the reflective mask was, now instead is a cracked and shattered variation of it. Her eyes widened at the sight, and she swallowed hard past the growing pain. This time, as she turned her head she finished her movement and behind her was her Parent, RCS-1489.

His jumpsuit had more gray stripes than the others, and his ID label had a silver outline. His jumpsuit now slightly splattered in reds from his action, he lowered the single pistol from the aimed position down to his side. He holstered the weapon to his side harness, and looked down towards White Wolf. He took a few steps in her direction, as he did, she began to stand to meet him. There was disorientation in her stance, and she could see the blood splatters and pallid color of her skin in his visors reflection. 

Chapter Text

Enrichment

“Are you well, White Wolf?”, 1489 simply asked through his modulator, as if nothing more than trivial had just occurred. 

She nodded slightly in response, her eyes staring at her own in his reflection. 

“Good. Today you will be moved to a new environment befitting someone of your status.” he stated monotonously. “But first, you deserve a small bit of enrichment thanks to my colleagues actions”, he continued in the same tone while producing a hand with his palm up, “Would you like that?”. 

This confused White Wolf, she was unsure of what “a small bit of enrichment” was, but she could not say no. She put her hand into his, and he gently grabbed it, pulling her along slightly through the now empty room and past the double wide doors. She walked down the metal hallway, the bar lights overhead illuminating all corners. As they walked they came into an intersection and on normal days they would go right to go to class, but this time they went left. As they passed through the hallway she could see doors that were sealed, and windows that showed a view into other kid's rooms. In some rooms there were only a few kids, and some had maybe more than a hundred, though they walked at a pace fast enough she could not count that high, that fast. After passing maybe more than 50 doors on each side, they reached an  unlabeled door where 1489 finally took a final stride and turned towards White Wolf. 

Still holding her hand, he looked down towards her and asked her, “Do you still wish for enrichment?”. 

Still unsure of what he means, though too scared to disobey, she gave a small nod of hesitant agreement. He nodded once, then faced his visor towards the door and produced a small key badge to the door. With a beep, the door opened and inside was a small area that resembled something close to a kitchen; fridges, freezers, vending machines, kitchen tables, toasters. She could tell what the objects were from her readings, however this was the first time she had seen them in person. Though she still hurt, and she was still scared, there was a tinge of excitement in seeing something new. As she glanced around the room to spot things she had seen in books, 1489 pointed a single finger towards a table in the corner with two seats. 

“Sit there, and do not move”, he gently commanded. 

As his hand came down, his other hand let go of hers. She did as she was told, and made her way over to the table, grabbing a seat. 1489 watched her as she did this, it was only when she had fully seated did he turn around to the machines behind him. She saw him clicking a couple buttons, and a small thud was produced before he bent down and grabbed something from a receptacle. He walked over, and in one hand was a single cup of white vanilla pudding, the top was bright red with markings on it other than a simple text that read “VANILLA”. He sat down, and placed the cup in front of her. 

She looked down in slight confusion at the cup, and up towards 1489, and back to the cup. “You may eat it. This is your enrichment” 1489 stated through his speaker. “You will find a spoon on the inside of the container” he stated and tapped on the lid. 

She looked at the container once again, and slowly scooped it towards her, whispering a quiet “Thank you”. Her voice contained no timbre to it, it was hardly a whisper. She began to peel back the lid and inspect.

As she started 1489 stated in response to her thank you, “We must perform more vocal exercises in the near future. You are too quiet.”

A sinking feeling welled up in her chest as she heard this. She did not like to talk, and no one but the man before her wanted to hear her speak. She nodded in agreement anyways. She found the small wooden spoon in the container, and began to scoop some of the pudding into her mouth. Though the taste was bland, it was sweeter than anything she could remember eating. She took a few moments to enjoy her gift, her “enrichment”. The slightest smile formed on her face as her taste buds tingled in response to the sweetness. 

Almost every day their meals were ration bars that contained everything they needed. They tasted like dirt and crunched like wood. To have anything else to eat is unheard of. These thoughts lingered but disappeared as the taste of the vanilla would enter her mouth again. In what felt like mere moments, she had eaten all of the container's contents. She had enjoyed it so much she hadn’t realized how fast she was eating it, and as the empty container sat in her hands she looked up to 1489. He had watched her eat for the entire time. 

“White Wolf, do you know that you are special?” he asked plainly again to her.

She had heard him say this before, but never understood what was special about her. Perhaps being unwanted was special. She nodded, though she did not understand. 

“Did you enjoy this?” he asked plainly.

She nodded again. He nodded once, then sat up and motioned his hand out once again for her to take it. She placed the cup and spoon down on the table, and took his hand while standing up once more. 

“Let us get you cleaned up before you are to meet your new environment,” he said to her as he looked onwards to the closed door.

They made their way down the same metal hallways. She again used this chance to look through windows, trying to glimpse what is happening outside her own world. They made their way to a new door, and inside was a washing station. She had used these before many times. They both stepped in the room. He let go of her hand, and she proceeded to her usual procedure. 

He had sidestepped to the side of the room, and stood to stare at her at every step she had taken. She walked over to a small hatch on the far wall, and began to undress. She put her clothes into the hatch on the wall, and turned to face towards the showering stall. She could feel 1489’s gaze on her as usual, but this was normal for her; she still did not like it. The feeling was worse after she began recent stride into puberty, her ire for the man in the corner flaring up more as the months persisted. She turned the stall on, barely above lukewarm water was the only available temperature water for the children. She stepped in, and began to wash off the blood that stained her skin.

Before she finished in the curtain-less stall, she saw the hatch had turned green indicating her new clothes would be ready. A quick glance over to 1489, and he has kept his eyes on her as per usual. A silent sigh, and she put her face underneath the water stream one last time before turning it off and stepping out to dry off with a nearby towel. Once she was dry, she put on her new jumpsuit and turned towards 1489. She nodded once, and he nodded back; producing his hand again. 

Chapter Text

A New Environment

She took it, and they both stepped out. They began to make their way to her new environment as he had called it, down a new hallway. This one felt different, and the people that wandered here were more intently studying the windows of their respective rooms. More clipboards, more notes, more attention to detail, and this made her nervous. These scientists also wore the same kind of silver outlined ID tags that her Parent had, and she saw that even had a gold outline. Only 4 doors were in this short hallway, and she was taken to the furthest one down on the left. It was a single door, rather a double wide door like the one previously, but this one looked heavier and more secure than the other one. She glanced at the corners of the doors, and spotted what she could tell were small guns that tracked her movements as she walked past the doorframe. 

Past the doorframe and into the greater opening she saw her new home. Like the last one she had, this too had 10 walls, but only 1 was a mirror. There were 10 twin sized beds with full coverings in a line on the opposite end, and near another corner were real bathrooms with doors. She spotted a few people using the amenities in the room, they were laying down or sitting on real furniture like couches, chairs, and a single bean bag chair. It surrounded a projection emitter, and on the screen was a high action gun fight with explosions and loud gunshots. She had only ever seen emitters used for testing. The floor had mostly carpeted areas, with a few hard tiled areas for cleaning supplies and some sort of exercise equipment she was unfamiliar with. She counted 9 people around the room. She would be the last person here. As she glanced around the room, a brown haired girl, with the face of a hunter had stared her down from the moment she had stepped into the room. White Wolf noticed her before she had, but in the excitement of seeing new things her gaze trailed off. 

1489 turned to White Wolf and stated, “This is where you will be living for now. Ensure that you try to make friends. I will be back later today to check your progress.”

As he said this, he placed his hand from her hand onto her shoulder and gently patted her towards the room. He then left the room, and the door behind him hissed closed. She looked around uneasily, all of the people inside had stopped what they were doing and began to watch her intently. Almost everyone here was unique from each other. None of them shared full features with each other, but still here in this moment she was an outsider, an outcast. She placed her arms across herself, holding her elbows in comfort as she began to make her way to the empty bed. As she did, the same brown haired girl from before stepped in front of her. White Wolf stopped in her tracks. Now that she was closer, White Wolf could get a better look at her. She had brown hair, and green eyes that almost glowed in the shadow of her bangs. She was taller than White Wolf, and she could tell she was a year or even two older than her. The girl wore a disdainful expression towards her, almost a sneer. Her jumpsuit label read: “C-232/2335 F Supreme”. The taller girl leaned down towards White Wolf, her arms still crossed; eyes meeting at her level to view them fully. White Wolf winced back slightly in response, which only made Supreme get closer. 

“Understand one thing; as long as you stay here, I own you,” Supreme said with a tone of authority she had not heard from even a Parent.

In her heart she felt it begin to bend to her will. White Wolf swallowed, and nodded quietly but quickly while looking away. 

“Good, now go meet your family. Runt,” she spoke in such malice and power it was almost crushing.

She stood tall over White Wolf, keeping her nose held neutral but her eyes looking down in disgust at her. White Wolf took her chance to side step around her and make her way to her bed. She looked around, and the others that were staring at her were beginning to go back to their activities they were doing. One last glance back towards Supreme, and the same look of disgust and contempt lay on her face. 

White Wolf made it to her bed, and sat quietly on it. She picked up the blanket, this time it was a real and full thickness blanket. She wrapped it around herself for comfort, and sunk behind the rails of her bed to try and disappear. She sat there, wondering why she had moved, why she had needed to, why did this girl hate her so quickly, why couldn’t she fit in anywhere. As she sat there wrapped in her blanket, she placed her face into the thickness of the blanket in front of her; her arms wrapping around her head, covering it up entirely. She cried in silence. It was here she disappeared for a while. 

Nobody came to talk to her. Nobody would.

Chapter Text

A Friend

Or so she had thought. 

As her tears welled up and fell from her face onto her lap, she heard footsteps begin to approach her from the other side of the bed. The footsteps were heavy and made no attempt to be subtle, stopping just to the side of her. She could feel the presence next to her, and she tried to quickly choke down the remaining tears in her throat and wiped her face with her hands before uncovering her face to look upwards. As she gazed up her eyes met with another high above her, the shining light above the standing person silhouetting their form. 

“Hey,” plainly stated was the voice of a younger girl just seeming to go through puberty like her, confident.

Her voice was a bit deeper than any other girl she had met, but there was still the tone of a young girl within it. The standing girl knelt down beside White Wolf, no longer allowing the light above her to shadow her features. 

The girl had a kind face, shining bright blue eyes, and a genuine smile that she gave to the blonde girl in front of her. Her smile contained sharp triangles and jigsaw teeth that interlocked in rows. The smile made White Wolf nervous; she quickly looked away to other features as she scanned the girl. The girl's skin was mostly rosy, but had a slight tint of gray to it. The girl was tall; she would be as tall as White Wolf standing, but she had knelt down to sit on her feet. Not only was she tall, but she was also not shaped like a normal girl her age, she looked almost like a fully grown woman; well almost. She was more like a large preteen. Her muscles were large on both her arms and legs, and her chest was much more developed than her own. Not that she even noticed them or anything. White Wolf read her armband at last; “A-Car-33 F Kelpie".

The girl watched White Wolf scan her from head to toe, and allowed her the time to do so; just watching her as she did. She had even positioned her armband towards her to allow a better reading angle. As White Wolf finished her scan, she gave a quick look to the girl's face one last time before giving a small, almost hidden wave with her hand from the parted area of the blanket and her neck.

“As you read, my name is Kelpie. You wanna share yours?” she asked with a gentle prod in her tone.

No response was given, but Kelpie’s smile continued. Patience persevering on her face.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” asked Kelpie, a look of concern on her face growing.

White Wolf responded with a slight shake of her head, keeping her head straightforward but her eyes to the side watching her approacher. 

“That’s okay, there are a couple people here like you then”, she said softly, trying to reassure the newcomer.

“If you’d like, I could show you around and let you meet some people?” she asked the introvert before her nicely.

She was met with silence. 

As the question circulated the air, White Wolf could not help but remember the request of her Parent. “Ensure that you try to make friends” he had said. The thoughts of all the times before she had tried to make friends. Lastly remembering the girl that first approached her; Supreme.  Her stomach churned. She didn’t want to face someone so hateful of her already. Her eyes stared blankly towards her blanket giving her comfort, giving no response to Kelpie. 

“Hey I know this place is scary, and Supreme is kind of a bitch, but you can’t sit here forever. Eventually the Parents will come in and start something. It would be better if you at least knew people's names. Can I at least do that for you?” she stated just loud enough for White Wolf to hear, leaning in towards her.

White Wolf knew she was right, and though she did not want to; she turned to Kelpie and looked at her kind face once more. She nodded slightly, her slightly sad expression still overlaid on her face. 

Kelpie's face changed from concerned back to the kind smile she had started with, “Good! You’re gonna do great”, she said warmly. 

Chapter Text

The Rhino

She got up and held her hand to help her. White Wolf accepted the hand, taking the blanket off of her as she got up. Kelpie’s hand was nothing like her Parent’s hand. Kelpie’s hand was soft, warm, and like she could let go at any time. As she got up, she took a better look around the room. She noticed this room had its own cardinal direction indicators, and she used that to place where each stationed area was located. 

North was where she was at, the beds and personal area. Northeast was the exercise area, just a few feet from the beds separated by a walkway of tile. The east was the projector emitter area with the couches and lounging kids. On the opposite side, the northwest was another small lounging area with a small assortment of books and laying furniture like a bean bag chair. Beyond that to the west were the bathrooms and cleaning area. The entire southern part of the room was dedicated to metal flooring with yellow stripes marking 10 boxes and the door that led to the hallway she had come from.

They walked to the exercise area. There was only one other child. White Wolf scanned him up and down, realizing how alike he and Kelpie were. He was tall and muscular like a man but his face was that of a kid about her own age. His skin was gray and wrinkled, it looked rough and it overlapped on itself. His pupils were a dull gray, and his eyes were irritated with veins of red. A single broken horn protruded from the top of his head, looking as though it was recently shaved down to a nub. His hands were large, and he only had 3 large fingers and a thumb. She looked at his name tag as he cleaned up his weights, and turned towards them as Kelpie called out a little “yo”. It read “A-Dic-2 M Slate”. He turned towards them, and his face gave a little smile towards Kelpie and White Wolf. Kelpie began to let go of White Wolf’s hand, but she grabbed tighter, not wanting to let go. Kelpie held back on. 

“Hey Slate, this is White Wolf. White Wolf, Slate” pointing open palmed with her free hand to the both of them as she spoke.

“Hello White Wolf” said the young giant in front of her, his voice was gruff, strained, and obviously painful to speak with. 

He croaked syllables as though he was dying, and he may well be for all she knew. She looked towards him, and gave a slight smile and nodding bow no more than an inch. 

“Not much of a talker. I’m trying to fix that” Kelpie said to Slate, talking literally over White Wolf's head. 

“Me either” said Slate as he bent down slightly and looked at White Wolf, smiling with his broken and chipped teeth. The dimples of a kid showing through the gray folded skin. 

“Come on, let's go meet some others” Kelpie motioned with her grasped hand to the rest of the room.

“I’ll come back to finish up, Slate. Don’t worry” she called back to Slate as she turned away with White Wolf.

He just waved her along and went back to picking up a large and heavy weight from the floor. 

Chapter Text

The Antelope, The Corvid, and The Bat

They walked past the exercise area using the small walkway over to the emitter area. White Wolf’s hand kept a firm grasp on Kelpie’s hand the whole time. Coming up the emitter projector area, White Wolf scanned the three boys on the couch all intently watching the movie on the screen. Each of them were completely unlike the next.

On the left was a boy with dark brown skin and short curly hair on his head. Amidst the hair was a pair of light brown antlers that curved backwards into an easy curve. His eyes were dark brown, and his pupils were almost like a slotted hourglass laid horizontally. He wasn’t too tall, or too short, and he seemed about the same age as White Wolf if not just a tiny bit older than her. His armband read “A-Bov-188 M Halo”. He cheered with excitement as an explosion rang out on the screen. 

In the middle was a peachy  skinned boy, with thick pitch black pulled back hair. His face was thin, and his pupils were tiny and black and there was hardly any coloring to his face whatsoever. As he cheered for the same protagonist on the screen, White Wolf could see how his nails were thick and pointed into a sharp point. He was the tallest of the group, but not by much. He seemed to be around the same age as Halo. His armband read “B-Cor-19 M Wren”.

Lastly at the other end of the couch was the last boy. He was very pale skinned, almost a translucent white. There was no hair on his head, and his eyes were completely white with no pupils. He was the skinniest of the three, with hardly any muscle to him. He did not cheer like the others, but he did smile and stare forward towards the screen. White Wolf could hear him hum slightly in an awkward tune. It was hard to tell his age, but she assumed he was as old as the others. His armband read "A-Chr-74 M Dusk".

As they approached, they stood next to the TV for a moment. Kelpie leaned over and looked at the screen. 

“You know he dies at the end, right?” she asked with a devious smile as she threw back a thumb towards the TV and looked towards the group on the couch. 

In unison there is a cry of anguish and groans as Halo and Wren throw up their arms and gruff loudly. Dusk smiles and looks towards Kelpie, he grabs the remote near him and pauses the movie.

“She’s lying,” he says quietly with a smile and unblinking stare at her; both other boys stop their cries, and look over to Dusk with their hands still up in the air. 

“Wait…… really?” they ask Dusk then turn towards Kelpie.

Kelpie rolls her eyes and nods. Their arms of anguish turn to arms of praise as they now both yell in excitement and begin to bounce up and down in excitement and babble in excited  ‘yes’s and ‘awesomes’s. 

“Hey! Weirdos! If you can’t tell there’s someone new to meet” and gestures with her head down towards White Wolf.

The boys stop their excitement and calm themselves as they look over to White Wolf. 

Halo stood up and delivered with an air mocking tone, led with a playful smile, “Ugh, another girl GREAT”.

White Wolf just stared at him from across the lounge area with her natural slightly sad expression, unsure of what to do. Halo’s face turned from a playful smile to one that was also unsure of what to do, and a tiny bit of panic as he looked around for an answer. 

“Be nice, it’s her first hour, let alone day. She’s not much of a talker and you already saw Supreme do her… thing`,` She ended her sentence with a tinge of disgust and eye roll as she looked at the rest of the group.

Halo gave a meek ‘sorry’ to White Wolf and sat back down while rubbing the back of his neck. 

Wren stood up, and gave a small forehead salute like wave, “Hi, I’m Wren and that’s Halo. I promise he’s not mean, he just thinks he’s funny when he’s not sometimes” he smiled to himself at his roast as he sat down.

Halo hit him on the arm, hard. Wren gives out an ‘ahh’ as he is hit and holds his new forming bruise, but still smiles; he knew it was coming. Halo shakes his head at White Wolf, denying the claim. 

“I’m Dusk, it’s a pleasure to meet you White Wolf,” said the last child gently, not getting up.

He stared directly at White Wolf unblinking, with a soft smile. White Wolf's eye blinked in response to her name being used, she hadn’t said it nor had Kelpie. She wondered how he knew. She had purposefully held her left arm close to Kelpie’s arm to hide it even though she knew she would be introduced. 

“You wonder how I know your name, even though your name is pressed to her arm” he stated gently.

White Wolf nodded slightly, wanting to know.

“I can use vibrations to see, when you move I can see the outline of your armband” he continued on.

She was impressed, but her face wouldn’t show it. 

“He’s a little bit of a freak but we love him” said Halo as he leaned forward with a smile and pointed over to Dusk.

Dusk smiled, and shrugged in response. Wren took the opportunity to get his payback by slugging Halo on his arm as he was bent forward, forcing him to reel back the same; him now holding his forming bruise as well. White Wolf watched them fight, bicker, and have fun and Kelpie began to walk towards the next area. She wondered if this was normal behavior. She wondered if she liked it, or hated it. She wasn’t sure. If they loved each other, why did they sit so close to another?

“They’re good friends, basically like brothers. Don’t let the punching throw you off, they would probably die for each other. They’re good guys, honestly” she whispered down to White Wolf as they walked.

The sound of the movie began to play as they walked towards their next destination.

Chapter Text

The Pin Cushion Cat

Making their way from the east wall to the west, they walk the line that separates the metal and furnished area of the two halves of the room. Towards the door of the hallway White Wolf spotted Supreme by herself, she stood almost motionless directly in front of the door. Her hands were placed directly behind her back, waiting in some sort of military-like position. Only a couple seconds had passed of White Wolf looking at her, trying to figure out what she was doing before Supreme’s ears flickered towards her. Her head whipped around to meet her gaze, her eyes locked onto hers like hunter meeting prey. White Wolf’s heart skipped a beat, and she quickly turned her head away. 

“She’s usually waiting for her Parent, or orders for us from them. For some reason they only give it to her. Such a suck-up. Ugh” Kelpie said with distaste as she looked over briefly to the girl at the doorway before looking towards their next destination.

It gave some relief to White Wolf that she held her in such distaste. 

In front of them were the bathrooms. Two stall doors inlaid into the wall, and a third door that was cracked open with the lights on. Above the door was a sign that read “CLEANING SUPPLIES”.

“Need to use the restroom? This is it. Just make sure you don’t make a mess, we can probably tell who made it” she said with a hint in her tone that perhaps something happened previously and she can recall it all too well.

Her face slanting in something between disgust and apprehension in remembering something. As she began to turn around, a girl came out of the cleaning closet. A large mop in hand, and a yellow bucket rolling over the boundary of the door. 

The girl was small, with brown hair and cat ears that were the same coloring as Supreme's. Her eyes were the same shade of green as hers. She looked to be the same age as her, or maybe she was just smaller than her sister? White Wolf was guessing they were related somehow only due to their appearances so similar. The girls armband read “C-234/2335 F Snowfall”. The girl began to roll the bucket and mop past the two of them, not making any attempt to look at them nor talk. She wore an expression of anger and resentment to the world. Her brows furrowed and wrinkles already formed in that shape. 

“That’s Snowfall, the youngest sibling to Supreme. She’s uh… well. You’ll probably see” Kelpie whispered to White Wolf as she halfway pointed to the girl as she strolled past them.

Kelpie and White Wolf watched her as she went by. As she made her way to the metal floor and began to mop, Supreme turned around to see her sister begin. She walked over and with a swift kick, knocked the mop out of her hand. She slightly bent over, and said something quietly to her while pointing down towards the bucket. Snowfall looked down in dejection, and nodded. She got down on her knees and dipped her hands into the bucket. She then began to crawl around on the metal floor, doing her best to mop in this way. Supreme, watched her for a moment with her look of authority. Then she returned to her post at the front, and stood right where she was just prior. 

Kelpie just sighed, and shook her head. And guided White Wolf with her down the pathway past the bathrooms. White Wolf looked back at Snowfall, wondering if Supreme would make her do that. Maybe she would make her do something worse. She felt sorry for Snowfall, but her attention was diverted elsewhere as she was gently dragged along.

Chapter Text

The Shaken Fox

Between the bathrooms and the beds White Wolf spotted a girl halfway hidden underneath a blanket. The blanket shivered and shook like an earthquake that only affected this single girl. Hidden in the folds of the blanket White Wolf could spot details of the girl as she crept her gaze out as well. She had light brown eyes, and light red hair with brown streaks in it. She had freckles on her face, and a resting sad expression. White Wolf slowed in her stroll to look at her, and Kelpie noticed. 

Kelpie stopped walking to talk to White Wolf and discuss her find, “Oh, yeah that’s Juniper, batch number "B-Vul-177”. She’s kinda like you, not much of a talker. But you were brave enough to at least meet people. She uh, well, she’s never done that”.

She continued on, “She got here not long before you did. She had a nice smile, but Supreme got to her first. She said something awful I’m sure, and she’s been like this ever since,” her voice became more downtrodden as she spoke.

She sighed, and looked down to White Wolf who looked back up to her.

“I don’t want that for you. You seem alright, let’s make sure you stay that way, okay?” She asked with a kind smile.

White Wolf looked at Juniper again, her face; a reflection of her own. She didn’t want to be forced into isolation, but she also didn’t know any other way of living. Seeing someone just like her made her sad, but the thought of changing seems impossible. She hadn’t even spoken since she had gotten here, is change possible? Her head hurt, and she could feel her eyes begin to tear up as she looked at Juniper. She looked up towards Kelpie, and nodded to her. Kelpie returned a nod and a smile, and gently pulled her along to the last stop. 

Chapter Text

The Second Superior Feline

The last stop in the room, and the last person to meet was in front of them. In front of them was the lounge area, with two tables, chairs, and shelves of assorted books of varying thickness, colors, and designs. In the corner of the lounge was a cross legged boy with shoulder length brown hair reading a book in his lap, “Frame Combat 402: Advanced War Tactics”. He shared the same dark colored ears as Supreme and Snowfall, as well as their green eyes. He was slender built, and she could tell he was tall by how long his legs were. He sat carefree on the only beanbag chair. His face was thin and angular, almost effeminate. Next to him was a stack of 12 books, all of the same series of book he had in his hands now in successive order. His armband read “C-233/2335 M Serenity”.

Kelpie had ensured they stayed far away enough from him to not disturb him.

She motioned towards the lounging area, “This is the reading area. If you like to read, this is it. If you have requests you can ask the parents when they do their nightly check-ins. Otherwise, there is a lot to read here already. I like fantasy romance myself,” she said with a little bit of embarrassed admittal at her choice of reading.

White Wolf looked up towards her, unsure if she was joking or not. She looked around the tables and shelves, she spotted a few books she had read already, but they were all completely information texts on Frames, mathematics, and sciences. She did not recognize any other books, but she did see a couple books with hearts on their front covers, perhaps those were the ones Kelpie had read? Why did she read stories about love? Did she hate herself? What does love have to do about romance? What is romance? She looked at the nearest book again, maybe in her free time she could see what it was about. Doubtful.

Kelpie pointed with her head and eyes towards the boy in the corner, “That’s Serenity. He’s Supreme's twin brother. He’s nicer than her, but that doesn't mean he’s your friend” she whispered down to her trying to keep quiet. White Wolf looked over to him, and she saw his ears flicker as she talked. His eyes left the book he was reading, and looked over to them; his head unmoving. He turned his head towards them, specifically to White Wolf. His eyes narrowed, eyeing her up and down. He got up from the chair, keeping the book clasped between his arm and side. He made his way over in a stride that befit someone of a high class culture and not one of someone who should only be a couple years older than her. Kelpie began to halfway hide White Wolf behind her as he approached, her hand still clasping hers. 

Serenity’s eyes looked up towards Kelpie's, an eyebrow raised. A slightly stern expression on his face.

“Will you coddle the newcomer until the day you leave her, Kelpie?” he asked stately, but curiously.

“I’m just showing her around. She’s a strong girl I can tell. She just needs a couple days to figure it out,” Kelpie responded with a furrowed brow and a stern look back at Serenity. 

“Hmm, we shall see who expires first. The dog or the hand who leads her,” he states to the both of them before he turns back around to return to his chair.

Kelpie just sighs out an exhausted ‘ugh’ and begins to walk away from the lounge. White Wolf walks with her, but looks back once more at the boy in the chair. He looks at her with intrigue, and a slight smile; something between a hunter having caught their prey into a trap, and seeing an old tired joke you had forgotten but enjoyed seeing. The smile sent a shiver down her spine. She couldn’t tell if he hated her, wanted her dead, wanted to eat her, or genuinely couldn’t care less for her. 

“Told you he was a dick,” Kelpie said to her, loud enough to be caught by him. White Wolf looked up at her, and a slight smile formed, she could tell that it was supposed to be a joke. 

Chapter Text

Before The Brief

They made their way back to the bed area, back to White Wolf’s bed. It was quiet here, and nobody was around for a few dozen feet. Her blanket was where she had left it. Finally she let go of her hand, and sat on the bed; picking up her blanket in the process. 

“So what do you think? Not too bad right?” Kelpie asked her with a head tilt, and a wide hand gesture to the rest of the room.

“I mean you have some good people here. It ain’t too bad here” she put much emphasis on the ‘some’ portion of her wording.

She waited for a response from White Wolf, but she looked around the room, watching all the other kids as they did their tasks and activities. Finally her blue eyed gaze landed on Kelpie's. She tried to muster a smile of agreement, failing to do so; ending with a half dimples formed on her cheeks and a crease on both ends of her lips. 

“Cute,” she said as she pinched the dimpled cheek, “I’ll get a real smile sometime from my new friend” she gave her a smirk.

White Wolf accepted her fate and her pinch as she gazed up at her new friend.

 Kelpie sat on her bed and sighed as she looked around. As she sat, there was the sound of the movie coming to finish. The musical score wrapped up in explosions and voices on radios cheering for an unsung hero. It was cut off by the sound of a loud single toned buzzer, and the whole room filled with a shade of red. The children looked over to the doorway, and Supreme stood up from her position of relaxed military standing into a full upright standing position. The door hissed open.

Chapter Text

The Stranger Pt. I

The door panel disappeared behind the wall as it slid over. The fine mist of faint gray humidity poured out from the room into the hallway and onto the feet of 4 adults on the outside. Quickly scanning the new people, she saw two of the adults were Parents, one of which was hers. One she recognized as a guard in his plated gray and black security suit. 

The last person she did not recognize at all, and he stood out the most from the group. He wore a long light gray canvas coat, the sleeves slightly rolled up, with a strange symbol on his left shoulder that she could not quite make out. He wore a nice black dress shirt underneath, an orange tie that was tucked into a dark gray vest ,and matching gray slacks with dress shoes that shined in the perfected polish sheen. He wore a lanyard around his neck, on the end was an ID card that was tucked into the shirt pocket on his chest. On his head he wore a visor like the parents, but it only hid his face; revealing his gray hair and stubbly beard behind the oval mirror. 

All but the guard approached Supreme, and began to conversate with her. She stood at the utmost position, her fists clenched to her side as she spoke firmly and directly, her feline ears standing tall. It was mainly the Parent she hadn’t recognized and Supreme that talked. 1489 had kept his eyes on Supreme the entire time, never leaving his gaze from her for even a second as the door opened. The stranger looked around the room while keeping his hands in his jacket pockets. 

Eventually the stranger’s head turned to the direction of White Wolf, and he paused briefly. White Wolf met his gaze as she sat on her bed, looking from behind the shoulder of Kelpie. White Wolf could see Kelpie quickly looked between the both of them with a questioning look but did not say anything. The stranger averted his gaze to his wrist as he pulled his hand out of his pocket, checking the time. He turned to 1489 and said something to him in a hushed tone before returning his hand to his pocket and looking towards Supreme and the talking Parent. 

Supreme’s ears flicked down to a flat position as she bowed slightly toward the Parent in front of her, and turned around. She pointed at White Wolf and loudly announced her name, then motioned her over with a finger flick towards her. White Wolf was taken aback, and looked up to Kelpie who gave her a reassuring look back and a small worried smile. White Wolf got up hesitantly, but quickly made her way over with her head down to meet the group. 

“About damn time” Supreme sneered in a whisper to the approaching girl as she turned back around to meet the visitors. 

The Parent that had been talking to Supreme, White Wolf could clearly read their ID-tag now, a silver laden “RCS-1430”. He began to speak through his modulator in a tone of monotonous authority, “Supreme, ensure that you brief the rest of the children while we are gone. Then, brief the newest member when she is returned.”

Supreme nodded firmly in response, and turned around to face the rest of the children. Before she walked away, White Wolf felt the heat of her dagger-like stare. Briefly she glanced over, only to be met with Supreme’s gaze of hate. She disappeared from her peripheral, and began to commandingly announce to the rest of the room to huddle around the lounge table. 

“You will be taken briefly, child. You are wanted” said RCS-1430, while making a brief look back towards the other two adults near him.

She looked to the others as he did, the both of them silently looking towards her. 1430 standing with his arms to his side, one balled into a loose fist and the other resting upon his utility belt. The stranger still relaxed with his hands in his jacket pockets, in a slightly leaned back posture. She could finally get a good luck at the stranger’s jacket symbol. It was a patch that bore three wolf heads lined up and down, bisected by a long sword. Behind it was an orange sun, rising over the horizon; perhaps it was setting. She was unsure. 

“Are you ready White Wolf?” asked 1489, in the same way he always did. She nodded once in response to her reflection. 

“Still doesn’t speak much, does she?” asked the stranger to her Parent, slightly turning his head towards him.

His voice wasn’t hidden behind a modulator like every adult she had met. His voice was deep, and gruff, but smooth. Age was apparent in his voice, but there was no cracking, nor weakness, nor shakiness in it. 

“I am afraid not, sir. We have had little luck in coaxing her out of her shell. Though her gifts have improved vastly since the last time you have visited” confidently stated from 1489, nearly sounding as if he wanted to prove himself to the stranger.

The stranger glanced from 1489 down towards White Wolf, and tilted his head slightly before turning around towards the hallway. The two other parents followed suit. 1489 motioned her to come with him with an open hand before fully leaving her vicinity. She instinctively grabbed it without thought. Before she left, she took one last glance through the closing doorway; making eye contact with her only friend so far as the door slammed shut.

Chapter Text

The Stranger Pt. II

They walked down the metal corridor, the stranger and the foreign parent leading the way. White Wolf led along by her muted guardian. They crossed through a couple intersections, all the while she still tried to watch and learn what was happening in the other rooms as they passed by the examination windows. She couldn’t gather more than she had already, but there were definitely more children than she saw the first time. Maybe they were at class time before? Or maybe they had just gone down different hallways. She no longer kept track, her dreams of escaping were long gone.

Eventually they came to a doorway with an overhead sign that read “INTERIM ROOM #2”. Inside the door she spotted a few sparse chairs surrounding a small square table shown under a buzzing overhead lamp that shoved cold light into the room through a flat cone downwards. Everything else inside was dark, so dark she could not even see the walls of the room. The guard positioned himself at the right of the doorway, his goggles trained on the young girl. 1430 and 1489 began to speak to each other, but their monotone exchange was lost as White Wolf’s sight was met by the strangers. She hadn’t meant to, but she had looked right at him; by the time he reached the room just seconds before her, he was already watching her movements. 

The reflecting mask on the stranger. showing herself in the view; she had seen this millions of times before with her Parent and all the others. This time felt different though. She couldn’t place it, maybe his visor was brighter than the rest, or she could feel the human touch behind the mask with his gray hair and stubble underneath, or maybe she wanted to believe there was a smile underneath that mask, like the one her friend had given her. She knew that wasn’t the case. 

As they stared at one another, the stale talks between the two Parents finally came to an end and the stranger turned his attention to the two dull jumpsuits. White Wolf looked over her shoulder, trying to distance herself from the situation and looking for another child. She didn’t find one, just more walking gray jumpsuits with mirrors for faces. 

“White Wolf,”, 1489 bent down and commanded her attention gently, “you will go with RSC-19. He wishes to see your talents again. Do not disappoint me”, she could feel the tension in his voice.

Again?, she thought. He let her hand go and motioned for the doorway. The stranger, RSC-19, had walked in and sat on the far end of the table. 

His arms rested on the table, jacket sides flowing over the sides of the chair, his visor now had been removed but his face remained silhouetted from the light that cast a dark shadow over his face. She took a few steps inside, passing by both the Parents and the guard. The door slammed shut behind her. 

The stranger motioned a hand over to the only chair available on the other side of the table, “Come on in, you’re safe here. I just wanna see how you’re doing” his voice, now  unmuffled, carried the weight of an old father who just came to see his only child. 

White Wolf apprehensively approached the chair, pulled it back and sat down with her hands in her lap. She kept her eyes down and away from the shadowed face in front of her. The stranger tilted his head slightly, looking at her. She heard him sigh slightly, and he shook his head slightly to himself. 

“I can see you don’t remember me, it’s been a long time. That’s alright though, maybe that’s how it should be. Regardless, I need to know some things about your time here, and see you do some things. Nothing crazy. Can you do that?” he asked her with a surreal gentleness.

She wasn’t used to this sort of questioning and tone from adults. She swallowed the growing lump in her throat and nodded yes. 

“Good, let’s start easy”, he sat back in his chair, the light now shining onto a part of his face.

It revealed his stubbled chin, and somewhat chiseled jawline bound by thin cheeks wrinkled in age. His eyes still occluded by shadow.

He continued on with his questioning, “do you have any friends?”

White Wolf thought for a moment. She wasn’t definitely sure, but the girl with shark teeth was the nicest person she had ever met. She leveraged internally her words from earlier, being called her new friend. White Wolf nodded her head yes hesitantly.

“Really? Interesting. Good,” His words were surprising, and she could see his brows raise in response.

“I’m glad to hear that, kid. Onto the next question; Do you have anyone you love?”

His question surprised her, more so it confused her. Her brows furrowed in thought, she didn’t know what that feeling was. She was told all her life that children were never to be loved, and the feeling is shameful. She didn’t want to be shamed more than she already was, she wasn’t sure if she could be shamed more than she already had been. She shook her head no. 

“Okay, that’s fine. I’m gonna ask a hard question now, are you ready?” he asked her, and waited with an open air hand gestured hovering slightly above the table.

She nodded her head yes.

“Do you know that you are special? Not how RCS-1489 says it, but truly. Genuinely.” he asked her with a real urgency to get her to grasp his question.

She had heard her Parent say it many times before, but she figured any child with a unique name is “special”. Still, to answer his question, no she was not sure what he meant. She was nothing special. She shook her head no. 

“That’s okay, you’ll figure it out in time. Okay, just a couple more things to do, and you’re free to go back” he responded.

As he spoke he reached for the two covered plates, and placed both in front of them equally distant to the left and right. He uncovered both, revealing underneath a single clear shot glass of clear liquid.

“These are 1 oz of water each. One of them is poisoned with a nearly untraceable neuro-degeneration toxin. Which is it?”

The scene before her was nothing new. She had seen these tests before with her Parent. She looked at both of the glasses, and closed her eyes. She hated using her scent tracking, it was powerful; in fact it was always overpowering. She always got more than she wanted when she smelt anything; She could smell any scent for a mile radius if she didn't focus, she could even smell when someone lied or when they felt a certain emotion near her. Each emotion smelt different, happy was like fruit, sweet and sometimes floral. Sad smelt bitter, like rotting lemons. Anger was a deeper or heavier sadness, something like pungent acid. That emotion always made her tear up from the stench. 

Every person's emotions were different of course, some people's happiness always had a little sourness to it; or some people's sadness always had an aftertaste. But she just kind of, knew what it was? She wasn't sure if she was just that good at reading emotions, or if the studying of biology and basic psychology helped her that much, or maybe she was just made to be this way. Regardless, she just knew what it was. At least most of the time.

She took a deep breath through her nose, sniffing out the toxin. Her nose trailed to the one on the left first, then she picked up the only other scent that wasn’t her in the room. The stranger smelled sweet, almost like honeyed milk. She could tell he was happy at this moment, but there was more to it; something she was not familiar with. Was he proud? It’s what her brain told her, but she wasn’t sure why he would be. She stopped using her scent tracking by quickly blowing the air out of her nose and breathing slowly. She opened her eyes, and pointed to the left one by tapping her finger on the edge in the direction of the spiked glass. 

“Good, well done” he clapped his hands together once before continuing, “that’s all I wanted out of you. Is there anything you want to talk  about, or do before I leave? We won’t be meeting again for a long, long time.” 

She briefly considered asking a question about the outside, but she didn’t know what she could even ask. Aside from that, the outside world wasn’t for her and she knew that. She looked at the stranger's face, his eyes and lower face still cloaked in shadow. She had nothing to ask, and she shook her head no. 

“Usually don’t, maybe next time” he said in vagueness, really saying aloud to himself and not to her.

He got up out the chair, and began to head towards the door but stopped and turned back around halfway. He made his way back over to the table, his form shadowed just outside the light. White Wolf looked up and over to him as he produced something from his jacket pocket, handing it over to her. It was a small device, and she had recognized it from reading about it. In his hand was a small, pink music player and a pair of headphones wrapped around it. It looked brand new, only just opened out of the package. He gently shook it, motioning for her to take it. She delicately grabbed it, examining it in her hands to see if it were real.

“It’s a gift. Don’t let anyone take it from you” he said to her, now fully leaving for the door.

She looked up towards him as he left. He had put on his visor once more and began a conversation with the Parents at the door, pointing once towards her. Both of them looked past him in confusion, but nodded in agreement to something. He walked off to the right, and disappeared from view.

“It seems you have been given a gift from the kind man. I hope you thanked him by demonstrating your gifts” 1489 said to her as he entered.

He produced his palm towards her, and she took it with her one free hand. She examined the music player the entire walk back, forgetting entirely about the windows of kids to her left and right. The two of them eventually made their way back to her new home. The doors hissed open once more, and she stepped inside without her Parent as he let her go. She looked back once, watching 1489 disappear behind the sliding door.

Chapter Text

A Quick Brief

White Wolf quickly pocketed the device in secret as she turned around. It appeared that whatever meeting happened previously was well over and the children were back to their own activities for the evening. Wren, Dusk and Halo were playing in and around the hanging bars nearby Slate, who was still stationed at the same weightlifting seat. Juniper had made her way to a bed, now hidden underneath it with her eyes peeking out from the covers. Snowfall sat in silence next to Serenity as he read another book in the lounging area. Kelpie and Supreme were closest to her, they seemed to be in a heated discussion that had stopped once the doors opened and picked right back up once they closed. 

They argued in a quiet hushed tone about White Wolf, she was unsure of what but she heard her name mentioned at least twice between the both of them. The argument ended with a final verdict from Supreme, and a defining glare from her glancing upwards. Kelpie turned her head in angry dismay before approaching White Wolf, trying to calm herself down before reaching her. Supreme turned herself towards the both of them, arms crossed.

“Hey, how was your trip outside?” Kelpie asked, worried smile across her face.

White Wolf looked up at her, and then past her to Supreme, then back to her.

“Yeah, we uh, had a bit of a difference in thought. Nothing unusual” she scratched the back of her head and looked off the side but continued on, “but hey Supreme has to give you a brief for an upcoming test they want us to do, okay? She has to tell you the right things, otherwise it looks bad on her part too so don’t worry about getting fed bad information”

She patted White Wolf’s shoulder. 

“You’ve been in a Frame before… right?” she asked White Wolf, sincere questioning in her voice.

White Wolf nodded her head simply. It was one of the few things she could do well. It was one of the only things she did in classroom time other than read and study.

“Oh thank goodness,” drastic relief in Kelpie’s voice.

“I mean I figured with you being put in here, but we just didn’t get to talk about it yet” she let out a long sigh full of relief and worry and exhaustion as she glanced back at Supreme. 

Supreme still stood there, waiting expectantly.

“Okay, you better go before she explodes my head with her mind or something” Kelpie murmured to White Wolf.

White Wolf looked up at her in a quiet horror.

“That was a joke,” Kelpie reassured her.

White Wolf’s color returned to her as she nodded thankfully, beginning her approach to Supreme. The two of them began to make their way over. As they both approached Supreme, Kelpie split off towards the weightlifting area, keeping her eye on them the whole time. White Wolf kept her hands behind her with her eyes slightly down as she approached. 

“Stop that act, runt. They already told me about your abilities” Supreme demanded of her.

White Wolf looked at her with confusion briefly before returning her look downwards. Did she think she was acting? She rolled her eyes, and began to walk towards the lounge area table. White Wolf followed her. Supreme pointed once to the nearby chair at the end of the table as she rolled out the screen map and turned on the projector. White Wolf sat as commanded. She saw beyond Supreme that Snowfall and Serenity had taken notice of them and began to look onwards at them. 

Supreme began to point out landmarks and major areas on the projected map before her. Before White Wolf was an overhead view of some sort of frozen-over land. There were frozen lakes, tundras, and long drawals of billowing white clouds. Within the map area there were a few small towns, maybe more like villages in the long stretches of white that poked through the white landscape. There were three distinct circled areas with labels, “Deployment Zone”, “The Wall”, “Extraction Zone”. Next to the circled areas had some areas highlighted in red, designating that those areas most likely had enemy combatants. White Wolf watched and listened intently to Supreme, just like how she would with her Parent when he briefed her. 

As she finished pointing out the major landmarks and the travel route she crossed her arms and looked down at White Wolf, “Our primary goal is to destroy or dismantle the entity known as “The Wall”. He has been set up as a test for us by our Parents to force cohesion and extended durability trials in an acclimation we are not familiar with” she stated bluntly.

As she talked, Serenity approached from behind her standing to her side. 

“The Wall has been reported to decimate trial participants in a single blow with his devastator cannon. Several rounds of children have died in the attempt to pass this trial and only few have returned,” Serenity said in a low voice almost in a chuckle, his face remaining neutral as it always had.

White Wolf looked towards him, but her eyes went back down to the map. Supreme looked to her left at her brother who looked back to her, sharing a subtle look White Wolf didn’t catch in full. They looked back at her.

White Wolf looked at the map, gauging the travel distance, weighing the odds of enemy conflicts at each step, weighing how dangerous each approach of the mission would be. This mission seemed dangerous, more than the ones she had been on before. There were at least three points of enemy contact along the route just to even get to “The Wall”. Maybe they could avoid one or two if they went low and slow, but she also wasn’t sure of the other children's abilities. She just had to trust that the Parents and Supreme had the route figured out the best possible way. She looked up towards the both of them. 

“Let me guess, you don’t have any questions,” said Supreme sarcastically.

White Wolf shook her head no.

“Then get away from me,” Supreme commanded. 

White Wolf got up and walked towards her bed. Her attention was caught by Kelpie, who gave a quick whistle to her. She went over to her. She stood at the edge of the gym area, the other kids halfway hidden behind her. 

“So what do you think? You got what it takes?” Kelpie asked her, eyebrows up in question. White Wolf gave a slight shrug, but nodded yes. 

“Well, hah, that’s not too comforting but we have like, a month, two? I’ve seen these other guys do their thing already, so I know they’re gonna be okay. I wanna make sure you’re gonna be good to go too, okay?” she asked her, pinching her shoulder lightly to get her attention.

White Wolf nodded, a quarter smile of approval. 

“Alright, it’s pretty late. It’ll be lights out soon so try to get some rest. The next few days will be more normal hopefully,” Kelpie said as she glanced over to the large red digit clock.

2133. White Wolf nodded, and turned around to head over to her bed. 

When she got to her bed, she wrapped herself up in her blanket and laid down on the bed. The bed was a lot nicer than the one in her last room. Now was a good time to investigate her gift she thought to herself. She slid her hand to pocket and retrieved her media player. She unwrapped the headphones and put them in her ears. She scrolled through the library of music, listening to a few songs from each of the genres of music. 

She hated country music. She did not like the people singing in a twangy style about their home grown lives. She also did not like metal. The loud screeches of the vocalists and guitars were piercing to her. She found that jazz was soothing to listen to, and she liked the women who sang and rapped in the pop genre. She stayed up far past when the lights around her turned off, just listening to music. She could almost escape if she closed her eyes and listened.  That night, she fell asleep with a smile and a tear streak on her face.

Chapter Text

Training Days

The next few weeks were mostly a blur for White Wolf. Her training schedule was re-instituted back to normal, this time she attended with new classmates. They sat in a classroom, in two lines of five watching projectors of non-stop information. They took notes, they read, they listened to the Parents as they spoke about mechanical functions of the Frames they piloted. Usually two arms, two legs, carrying guns and close quarters weapons for up close encounters. Though, in the real world she read about how licensed professionals could pilot whatever they wanted; some could have 5 legs and fly, or they could have no legs and instead hover with a propulsion jet. It could be cool to have one that had more than just two arms and two legs, but at the same time she was used to the normalcy of the Frame that operated like her own body she thought. 

The other children were mostly used to the teachings. Supreme, Serenity and Snowfall were always attentive. Slate tried but failed to answer most questions, and Juniper never answered when called on. Wren and Halo both competed to blurt out the answer the fastest when either one was called, and Dusk always calmly answered correctly if called on. Kelpie struggled sometimes with the harder questions, but was never outright wrong or stumped. White Wolf sat in the back row next to Kelpie, and was never called on. She figured her Parent had somehow intervened and told the instructors that she would not respond. She wasn’t sure if she wasn’t happy or dismayed at the thought, she at least wanted the opportunity to be called on rather than be left out entirely. She spotted one day to her side a haphazard sketch of the Frame that Kelpie pilots in her notebook. 

Alongside classroom time during the day, they were allowed lunch at 1130 everyday. Every day was the same meal choices: sliced deli meat sandwich or a pre-made jelly & nut-butter breadwich with one portion of fruit, one portion of dairy cheese, one portion of fiber bread, and one unsweetened drink. They would choose an item at a line in the hallway leading back to their room, and then sit at the lounge table. They were given thirty minutes to eat. After that, they would be escorted back to the classroom or whatever room they were needed at. White Wolf would only choose to eat the deli sandwich. She had tried once to eat only the meat and was scolded by a nearby Parent. She has since gotten used to the taste of the unflavored tough bread. 

Towards the end of the training day, but before they were allowed to go back to their rooms, they were always tasked with a training activity in their Frames. Some days it was mobility exercises, and others it was shooting regiments, sometimes it was precautionary hands-on inspections. Each day they were led to a room that held 10 Frames almost exactly the same. They were almost twenty feet tall standing, and they had two arms and two legs, but had no head. Their cockpits were located within their chest, and their sensors jutted out from the same area. They had wide shoulders to hold weapons onto the back of them, and their legs were double jointed with their knees pointing backwards to allow a better jumping verticality. These were pretty standard Frames.

White Wolf was usually one of the first few people to get done with her tasks for the day, Supreme was always the first. She usually took her few minutes of free time before being escorted back to her room to watch the others. Halo was great at mobility exercises, but not so much at shooting and pre-checks. Wren was the opposite, he was great at shooting and checking off his lists, but his mobility was lacking. Dusk was overall okay at most things, which surprised White Wolf. She thought at the very least his shooting would suffer but he did alright overall. Slate was good within his Frame, which had special modifications inside his cockpit to better outfit his wide stature, but overall he was given a slightly above par grading in most things.

Juniper however, had subpar scores on most things, and more than a few times White Wolf had listened in on a conversation between her and her Parent on how she is lagging behind the others, her technical skills with her systems were far behind the curve. Her aerial maneuvers were lacking as well, she only stuck less than half of the landings successfully. They talked about how if she is not caught up before the mission starts she will surely not come back alive. Juniper never responded to these concerns vocally, she only looked onwards in dismay. 

Supreme of course, excelled at everything. The same for Serenity who was just behind her. They were the first ones to finish every time, first Supreme, then Serenity. Snowfall was good at most things, but she was not great; and every time she had come in after White Wolf she was scolded and given a punishment by Supreme. This happened almost every day. If she came in after White Wolf in a shooting qualification with her Frame weapons, she would be forced to hold her arms up for hours at a time to reinforce steadiness. If she came in after White Wolf on a technical qualification, she would be forced to hand write over eight thousand lines of incursion codes. For the aerial drop qualification, she would be forced to climb up the bookcase and jump off of it and land perfectly one hundred time in a row; and if she messed up once she would do it over again. If she missed multiple tests? They stacked. White Wolf would sometimes see Snowfall doing her punishments until nearly 4 am some mornings.

Finally, Kelpie was great at most things, the only thing she lacked slightly in was her checks, but she overall was great at everything. She loved heavy weapons, but she wasn't allowed to carry many. The Frames they gave weren't designed to withstand the weight all that well. Kelpie wasn’t quite as good as the White Wolf and the other top three children; Supreme, Serenity, and Snowfall. But each time White Wolf had beaten her in time for her exercises, she would cheer her on and give a big toothy jigsaw smile. White Wolf grew more and more red in embarrassment during these moments as the days continued, as Kelpie continuously cheered her on. White Wolf after a few days could return a half smile, her little dimples forming from her almost smile.

Before lights out the children could do what they wanted as long as they didn't leave the environment. Most nights the boys watched movies or played a dice game at the lounge area. The movies they watched were usually action movies featuring a man with many catchphrases, or maybe sometimes just a single one that was repeated over and over again. These catchphrases always made it into their vocabulary when they played their dice games, and never would they admit where they heard it from. Sometimes they would watch comedies where most of the humor was the main cast of characters farting or beating each other up in incredibly dubious ways. One night they could not come to a decision on the movie to watch and Kelpie demanded they watched a romance movie; none of the boys wanted to watch it but they begrudgingly did after they were threatened with "playful" violence. At the end of the movie, all three of the boys held each other as they cried aloud about the main love interest dying in the sweet main character's arms. White Wolf liked to watch the movies from the background; she didn't want to disturb their area. She enjoyed watching them, it was like being a part of a family. Maybe?

Slate was always at the weightlifting area. Juniper was never seen in the light, only ever hidden underneath a blanket or bed. Sometimes White Wolf would look at her from her bed, and Juniper would return the look; but neither did anything other than stare. Sometimes it felt like they had whole conversations without words, but if they did, White Wolf had no idea what Juniper would have said to her.

Serenity spent most of his time reading. Piles of books grew larger and larger as the days and weeks went on, slowly coffining Serenity into his corner in the lounge. White Wolf on occasion would be forced to pass by the lounge as he was there, and each time an evil glare was given to her. She wondered why he hated her so much, but she never wandered too close to ask; not that she could anyways.

Snowfall spent her "free" time doing whatever punishment was given to her from Supreme. White Wolf sometimes watched Kelpie try to help her with her tasks, but she was quickly caught and nearly thrown out of the vicinity of Snowfall by Supreme. Kelpie would be scolded by Supreme, telling her that "Snowfall will never improve if she never learns from her mistakes" and "Mistakes cost lives". Kelpie would roll her eyes and tell her to beat it, usually dramatically blowing her off with a hand wave. Supreme would then scold Snowfall in the same ways usually.

Supreme spent most of her time either at the doorway waiting for orders, or at the lounge emitter table planning for the upcoming mission. Kelpie bounced between a lot of the areas, she didn’t seem to be able to sit still in one area for too long. White Wolf usually sat in silence on her bed unless she was prompted by someone else.

One night when there was a slump in activities, she remembered Kelpie's interest in romance novels. She had picked one up to read in secret. What Even is Love About? A story about a teenage boy and girl who ran away from their families to see the world and experience new things. They kissed, and held hands, and ran away together to die of old age in a cabin watching the sunset. They were infatuated with each other, sure. But, love? They said it over and over again but it felt wrong to her. Whatever, she didn't need to understand it. Love was not something she was supposed to have anyways. Even still, when she finished the book after only a single night her thoughts revolved around Kelpie.

One night later in the month, as Kelpie had finished a story about her and Halo having a brawl during a mission to see who could take a cool and awesome polished stone back to the room, only for Wren to step in and help his brother when she began to win; White Wolf produced her music player to show her. In a quiet motion, she offered one earbud to her. Kelpie accepted it. They took turns choosing music. Kelpie had chosen a country song, only to see White Wolf look in quiet horror as she chose it. Kelpie laughed, explaining her sister hated that music too. She chose something else they both agreed on, and from that night onwards they had established a nightly ritual. This continued on for nearly three weeks. Each night White Wolf let herself get closer to Kelpie, before eventually letting her leg rest on her friends. That night she had a hard time sleeping because her heart beat so fast.

Kelpie's Sketch

Chapter Text

The Sighting

It was a dark room, the only lights that filled any occupied space came from screens in dozens of rows and on the walls surrounding the room that emitted live camera footage of the base’s walls, hallways, defenses, and surrounding lands. Radar bump maps highlighted friendly green dots, and yellow unidentified dots in the five hundred mile area. The low hum of the computers, the soft padded footsteps of people walking in jumpsuits, the quiet but many conversations of people, and the soft typing of keyboards filled the room's air with noise. Dozens of nameless and faceless men and women sat at desks, watching screens, waiting for something to happen. Something does. 

A single red dot pings to life to the far south on the radar map. The man in the back row who was watching this section of the map nearly jumps back in surprise. He quickly inspects the dot, making sure it’s not a false read. It’s not. It’s labeled “Stargazer”. Under his mask his eyes widen, and sweat begins to form on his forehead and lip. He stands up, grabs his nearby tablet, and rushes to the back of the room to find his superior. He needs to tell someone. Now.

Chapter Text

The Sister

White Wolf as per usual sat on her bed alone with her thoughts, knees to her chest, looking around the room at the others. The Supreme family had made their nesting at the lounge for the night, and the other kids were settling into bed for the night. Kelpie stood alone at the door that led to the hallway. It was nearing lights out time, she should be getting ready for bed time she thought. 

White Wolf watched her pace a few steps left and right for a minute before focusing in on her, and closing her eyes, taking a deep breath. She smelt the sadness on her, and something else? It was salty and made her eyes water. Made her feel like she wanted something. Longing? Regret? She didn’t know the feeling, or maybe she did and just forgot what it was like? She opened her eyes and quietly huffed out the air before she caught anyone else’s scent. She got up to make her way over to her pacing friend at the doorway. 

As she approached her giant friend, she had unintentionally approached in silence. As Kelpie turned to pace she noticed White Wolf and nearly jumped a whole foot back in surprise.

“My god White Wolf! I didn’t even hear you come up!” she scolded at her, wide eyed, her hand over her chest as she caught her breath.

White Wolf puckered her mouth to the side, she really didn’t mean to sneak up on her. She had just learned to be silent in most things when she was always unwanted. It was always easier to be unseen and unheard and be forgotten than to be scolded for existing. 

“No, it’s okay. I was thinking about something. It’s not your fault, sorry for yelling at you” she said apologetically.

White Wolf looked up at her and gave a half look to the door, and a little shrug. She wondered if maybe she was waiting for someone, or something to happen?

“Ummm, ohh! You’re wondering if I’m waiting for someone, right?” she asked.

White Wolf nodded.

“Yes, and no I guess… uh… I guess I just miss someone right now. I was kinda just hoping my Parent would come by tonight,” Kelpie said with a pained smile on her face, looking anywhere else but at White Wolf.

White Wolf raised an eyebrow, and leaned her head over allowing her ears to flop to one side. She’s never seen Kelpie this flustered? Sad? Whoever this person is, she must really miss. 

Kelpie scratched the back of her neck, and looked down at her friend. She scanned the room, and so did White Wolf, nobody else was watching them.

“It’s my sister. You remember I mentioned her a few days ago? How you both hate the same kinda music?” she said with a smile of remembrance that quickly faded.

She continued with a sad seriousness within her, “My Parent told me that she’s not doing so well. She keeps getting into fights, and her attitude is getting worse every week. I’m worried they’re gonna get rid of her if she does something really stupid.”

White Wolf knew what that meant, to “get rid of someone”. They would kill them. They would never be seen again. It was a scary thought. Her Parent told her many times what it "meant to get rid of someone". What he would do to her.

“So I keep asking my Parent if it would be okay if I could go back to her room” she paused as she looked at White Wolf, Kelpie's eyes catching the changing look on White Wolf's face as she said this.

White Wolf’s eyes began to well up, her usual neutral mouth now a slight quaking frown. She felt a tear begin to form on her eye duct which she quickly wiped away. She didn’t mean to cry. She didn’t want to cry. She quickly turned and walked away to try and not burden her. 

“W- wait!” Kelpie said in a quiet shout, reaching out for her.

White Wolf stood in place, turning her head slightly towards her. Kelpie walked over in front of her, knelt down and placed her hand on White Wolf’s shoulder.

“Maybe… I can ask if she can come over here. You two might get along pretty well, even. She used to struggle pretty hard with speaking too, ya know?” she said with a small smile.

White Wolf gave a small nod in response. Kelpie leaned over for a hug, wrapping her large arms around her shoulders. She patted White Wolf on the back. White Wolf had never been hugged before, and she was frozen stiff. She didn’t know what to do. Her arms were trapped underneath the tree trunk arms of Kelpie, but she didn’t feel scared; in fact she felt comfort. Being this close, she couldn’t help it, her nose picked up Kelpie’s scent again. It was sweeter than before, she could tell she was telling the truth. White Wolf rested her head hesitantly in the crevice of Kelpie’s shoulder and neck, and wrapped what little of her arms weren’t trapped around her torso. She couldn’t hold back her tears anymore, but this time they felt lighter. Happier. 

That night, for the first time in ages, she had a dream. She dreamed she was old, watching the sunset in a rocking chair, wrapped up in a large, comfortable blanket. Next to her was Kelpie wrapped up in the same kind of blanket, and she was old too.

Chapter Text

The Superiors

As the gray and black jumpsuit man ran down the hallway towards his superior’s office, he looked down at the tablet once again. The red blip on the radar was still present. Underneath his suit a thick layer of sweat was present, some of it from the cardio, but a lot of it was the omnipresence of the looming death he held in his hands. He ran down the corridors, passing by doors to break rooms and other surveillance areas. Mono-colored jumpsuits without faces turning to him as he sprinted past. 

As he reached the doorway to his superior's office, he realized the door was closed. He placed his gloved hand on the door knob and prepared himself for the berating he was going to get for opening the door. The placard on the doorway read “RCC-01 OVERSEER”. A quick sigh of courage, and he braved the door open. As he swung the door open he saw four people inside the executive office. 

His superior, Overseer, a tall man with dark skin and always dressed in the finest black and gray dress suits. A single golden ring on his left temple that would light up on occasion, some sort of high grade cybernetics that a lot of the higher ups got. To his left was a tall beautiful blonde woman, well at least she was woman shaped. She was actually just a machine in the eyes of The Research Court, though she was given standard non-human person rights as a standard. She was Overseer’s left hand, his eyes, and his ears. Her name was Precursor.

The other two people inside wore the same outfit that he did, and he did not recognize them. He did not care to look twice. As soon as the door burst open, Precursor had moved from across the room in the blink of an eye. She stood taller than him by over a foot, and picked him up with ease in a single chokehold. She looked at him with dark green eyes and a furrowed brow as she turned towards Overseer to look at him and show him her catch. 

Overseer boredly looked at the man, who was desperately trying to catch his breath. The choking man in one hand tried to loosen the grip, but with the other turned the tablet around to Overseer to show the radar. The man glanced at the map, his eyes turning from boredom to a slight surprise. He looked at it for a few seconds, allowing the man to nearly pass out from the lack of air; genuinely uncaring of the outcome of the man in front of him at that moment. 

Overseer’s golden temple flickered with a white light, and Precursor dropped the man. No words were exchanged. As the man fell, he caught his breath for a moment. Overseer giving a look to tell the man to hurry up.  He quickly approached the table desk, and showed him a better view. Precursor ushered the other two jumpsuits out of the room with a gentle but firm gesture. The door closed behind them.

Chapter Text

Lockdown

The darkness erupted into a burst of bright red, and a wail of a panicked buzzer. White flashes underneath rotating red lights illuminated the room and the rising children from their beds. They rose up, covering their eyes or ears, shielding from the harsh environment. White Wolf covered her eyes, peering through the slits in her fingers at everyone. Supreme had already gotten up, Serenity right behind her. Snowfall beginning her ascent from the bed. Dusk, Wren and Halo all groggily rolling out of their beds with worry on their faces. Juniper was underneath her bed, hidden under a blanket. White Wolf was unsure if she was there previously or not before the sirens. Kelpie had gotten up to wake Slate, who was still fast asleep. Eventually he rose after a few seconds of vigorous shaking. 

As everyone began to look at one another in confusion, and murmurs amongst the children began to surface, the doorway to the hallway had opened. White Wolf peered over, scanning now both the newcomers but also the time. 0319. Two Parents, and four guards behind them she spotted. The Parents quickly commanded the children to follow them, waving them over; the guards keeping their guns at the ready and taking steps back as the children approached. 

The Parents quickly stepped down the hallway, and waved the children into a separate room with a staircase that led downwards into an open dark metal area. The children were asking each other where they were going, and what was going on. Supreme and Serenity led the front, they remained silent. White Wolf was the last in line, next to Kelpie in front of her. The others intermingled spots as they walked and talked and looked around at the red lit hallways and the now reinforced metal windows, completely blocked. Kelpie looked back to White Wolf on occasion, glancing in worry just to ensure she was still behind her. White Wolf made sure to meet her gaze. 

As they entered the lower area through the stairway, the door behind the shut closed and she could hear the sound of several interlocking mechanisms turn and latch into place. White Wolf noticed the reinforcement of the walls as they came to a resting place. They seemed thicker; the bolts and panels were twice as large. She scratched at the wall with her fingertip, she felt the chalky residue of the explosive resistant material in the walls, the same kind they use in the Frames. They had to be in some sort of bomb shelter, or safety zone? As she looked around, she only saw her group there. It was the ten of them, and the six adults that escorted them. The room was large enough to fit at least three times as many people, but there wasn’t anyone else. 

The group of children were told by the Parent closest to them to stay put in this area for the time being, then turned around to begin to talk to the other Parent in secret. Supreme demanded to know what was going on, commanding the Parent in front of her to answer. They turned around, beckoned her a few feet away from the group and began to calmly converse with her. Supreme kept her arms tightly crossed in front of her as she listened, her ears flicked in response as she listened, but maintaining a low and flat angle. Eventually their secret conversation came to a close, and Supreme approached the group at large. Their murmurs and whispers came to a stop as she did. 

“Currently, we’re in lockdown, Code 1. We cannot leave the safety shelter until we have the all clear” she looked around to the group, scanning the tired faces of her underlings.

White Wolf looked at her, and focused in on her, breathing in. She smelt the tang of worry, of anxiety and something else. Something told her she was not telling her the truth. She was too tired to focus on smelling though, her forehead began to sting and she reeled her head to the side in pain. She had used it too much too fast and it was overpowering, her migraine was forming. She wanted to cry in pain. 

“Sit down, and shut up. Start resting or start preparing, we still sortie in three hours” Supreme reminded them.

Today was the day they left for “The Wall”. Of course something had to happen right before their test she thought. Something bad always has to happen to her. Her migraine was powerful, but at least it wasn't getting worse. She leaned against the wall, furthest away from everyone else and began to slide down to her bottom. She leaned her knees to her chest, holding them tight in her arms; her eyes already closed the moment she hit the wall.

She could hear the others whisper and murmur.

'Bullshit' she could hear from Wren and Halo.

'Hmm tired' from Slate.

Sighs from Dusk and Juniper.

A secret conversation she couldn’t care to listen to between Serenity and Supreme.

A sad sigh from Snowfall. 

A couple heavy footsteps, and an even heavier thud right next to White Wolf. A familiar heat, and big arm rested near White Wolf. She leaned into the presence, letting her head rest on the dense pillow. She fell asleep soon after that, the red light of the room beginning to fall away back into the warm orange of the sunset. She rocked in her chair, but she was cold even in the light of the sun. She looked over to the empty chair next to her, still rocking in the wind. The blanket laid haphazardly over the arm. A blood stain sprayed over it.

Chapter Text

The Optional Objective

Eventually, White Wolf was shaken awake with a gentle hand. She opened her eyes to see Kelpie in front of her. She beckoned her awake, and helped her up. Groggily she followed behind her, and the rest of the group as they were led back up the stairs and into the main hallways. The lockdown still seemed to be in effect. The windows were still shut tight with metal panels, and the red lights emitted their way through the dark. She looked at the clock through her hazy eyes. 0532. Just barely enough time to get to the hangar and get inside the Frames for their mission. They made their way down the usual pathways, and to the hangar with their Frames they practiced so much in. 

White Wolf’s haze subsided as she walked, but it wasn’t until she was within eyesight of her Frame could she begin to fully focus. As soon as her eyes set on it, it was like something within her brain snapped into place. She wasn’t tired anymore, and the fading migraine she had was gone. Everyone went to their stations, beginning their pre-board checks. She quickly ran through her list, just a few items. Within a couple minutes she was already done, and began to crawl into the hatch in the back and into the seat inside the Frame, doing a final diagnostic inside.

Diagnostics Status: Cerberus Co. Frame Type Alpha - Version 3.2.22

The Research Court Approved Firmware Check:[Pass]

Initiating Comprehensive Systems Check...

[Weapon Systems]

Left Arm: Armor Piercing Medium Rifle - Online | Ammo Loaded: 120/120 // Reserve: 480

Right Arm: Close Quarters Submachine Gun - Online | Ammo Loaded: 240/240 // Reserve: 960

Left Shoulder: Auxiliary Hacking Radar - Calibrated & Active | Signal Strength: Optimal

Right Shoulder: Propelled Explosive Launcher - Online | Explosives Loaded: 12/12 // Reserve: 48

[Core Systems]

Mainframe Integrity: Stable

Power Core Output: 100% - Stable

Life Support Systems: Optimal

Targeting Systems: Calibrated

Communications Array: Secure Connection Established

Cybersecurity Protocols: Active - Threats Neutralized

[Mobility & Navigation]

Thruster Systems: Nominal | Mobility Mode: Combat Ready

Hydraulic Actuators: Responsive

Navigation Grid: Online | GPS Signal: Stable

Terrain Analyzer: Operational | Environment Scans: Clear

[Armor & Defensive Systems]

Reactive Armor Plating: Integrity 100%

Kinetic Shielding: Fully Charged - Online

Emergency Repair Protocols: Ready - Autonomous Mode Active

Final Diagnostics: All Systems Green.

Combat Frame Alpha Cleared for Launch.

Awaiting Pilot Confirmation...

[Pilot Information]

[Pilot Name: [ALIAS NOT PERMITTED] ]

[Codename: [White Wolf] ]

[Pilot Grade: [2] ]

Everything seemed to be okay with her Frame. She moved the sticks next to her seat left and right, watching on the monitors as the arms of the armored giant mirrored her movement. She looked at everyone else in their hangar spots, they were doing the same. She felt at peace in this seat. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was good at this, or because she truly enjoyed it. She looked around at the small spherical enclosure that held everything she needed. She turned on the radio box, and tuned into the predetermined squad channel. 

As soon as the radio box came to life, she could hear Wren and Halo talk over one another on the frequency; goading the other into which one will finish first before the other will. Supreme commanded a loud quiet over the radio, not a yell but not a request either. Both boys shut up immediately. Silence followed for a minute before Kelpie braved enough to signal over the radio she was ready for sortie. One by one, down the line everyone signaled they were ready over the radio. 

White Wolf, the best that she could, gave a very quiet, almost inaudible, “ready". She was greeted with excitement as Kelpie, Wren, Halo, Slate, and Dusk gave a few cheers, some wows, and hollers over the radio. White Wolf’s face flushed red with embarrassment. She wished she would die at that moment. 

Supreme was the first to step off the Frame’s dock and into the ship at the end of the hangar. The rest of the kids followed suit. Kelpie and the others who cheered over the radio followed after White Wolf and patted the back of her Frame, some a little harder than others which nearly made her lose her balance. They all boarded the large dropship, each positioned and locked into place with cables and mechanical latches that fastened their feet to the floor of the ship. 

Across the top of her heads up display ran her objective list:

[OBJECTIVES]

• Descend into Deployment Zone

• Eliminate The Wall

• Extract at Extraction Zone

• Optional Objective: Destroy Enemy Frame Manufacturing Facility

She wasn’t told about an optional objective. Did anyone else know about it? She looked at it for a minute, waiting for someone to mention it. Nobody did. She double checked the objective location and seemed to be within the normal routing on their map. Maybe Supreme had picked it up before the mission started? Surely she would’ve said something though. She put the thought aside for now, one last look over before the doors opened. She looked over to her diagnostics panel, great. She was already scraped up from her actions earlier. 

[Reactive Hull Armor Plating: Integrity 98%]

Chapter Text

The Pep Talk

The dropship wasn’t roomy. It held just enough room for the 10 Frames to stand shoulder to shoulder, nearly scraping each other. She looked down the line at her comrades from the front to back: Supreme, Serenity, Snowfall, Slate, Halo, Wren, Dusk, Juniper, Kelpie, and lastly her. White Wolf was closest to the front of the ship, the furthest from the door, which meant she would be the last to jump. It was the most dangerous spot, but it was her order from Supreme to be there.

“White Wolf, do you read me?” A monotone, questioning voice came through her radio box as it switched itself to a new channel. It was RCS-1489.

She looked up at it and began to open her mouth but was interrupted before she could.

“Do not respond.” White Wolf immediately closed her mouth.

He continued on, “Good. The internal cameras are working as well. I will be watching your performance during this mission. Ensure that you complete your optional objective. All participants have an optional objective to complete of their own accord. Complete your objective, and you will be rewarded. Do not disappoint me—I will be watching.” 

The radio switched back to the squad channel when he finished speaking.

She had no idea there were cameras inside the cockpit. She looked around quickly, top to bottom, corner to corner, trying to find them. She couldn’t. She wondered if he was bluffing, but then how could he have known if she moved. She felt violated. This was a safe space she thought. Not anymore. She was being watched. She felt a welling pain in her chest, tightening. There were voices on the radio, far away and murmuring but she couldn’t focus on them as she stared at the monitor in front of her. The darkness broke in bright white as the door opened, snapping her out of her trance.

Chapter Text

The Descent Pt. I

White Wolf tuned into the voices on the radio midway through their speech. It was Supreme giving the final few countdown numbers before the jump. White Wolf readied herself with a deep breath, firmly grabbing onto the piloting controls and leaning her shoulders just slightly forward off her chair.

“Three… two… one… Move!” Supreme directed over the radio.

As she directed the last number and the command, the latches on their feet came undone. Supreme took one purposeful step off the dropship floor and disappeared into the bright white air. Serenity followed in a purposeful stride—two steps, and he was gone the same, Snowfall rushing behind him. Slate lumbered towards the front and fell forward off rather than jumping. Halo and Wren nearly trampled one another trying to dive off first, only to entangle themselves in an accidental hug as they billowed out of the doorway.

Juniper stalled for a moment at the doorway, looking downwards at the ground. Kelpie, behind her, patted her on the shoulder as lightly as she could in her Frame. Juniper looked back to see Kelpie nod at her, and with that encouragement, Juniper jumped hesitantly with both feet down. Kelpie looked back to White Wolf, giving a thumbs-up before falling backwards out of the door with her hands positioned into a swan dive.

White Wolf approached the edge quickly, not wanting to miss her chance at a safe drop. She quickly scanned the area. Underneath them she saw almost the same exact layout as the map she studied—the same billowing clouds, the little towns, and a new large icy river she hadn’t seen before. Maybe she had forgotten about it, or maybe it was just a new hazard they hadn’t known about yet.

As she looked down in the split second, her target array circled where she needed to land and locked it in. It was near one of the towns. She should expect some sort of resistance on the way down. She saw everyone underneath her swaying back and forth in the winds, but no shots up at them. She jumped and angled her chest forward to best utilize her thrusters for maneuverability, just in case they started as she was airborne.

The dropship above her roared its thrusters, and she could see the blip on her radar move fast away from them. They were on their own until extraction.

Because her Frame wasn’t equipped with an Airtight Sealant Module—or an ATSM, as she learned in class—she could feel the faintest little breeze come through the tiny non-airtight gaps in her cockpit. It would have felt nice in her heated cockpit, if only her monitor did not begin to light up with warning signs, danger signal outlines, and red exclamations.

Her eyes went wide as she scanned the screen, and her hands tightened around the controls. Her ears perked upright in attention.

Her screen filled with dozens of incoming heat signatures of missiles, strafing bullets, and three incoming Frames boosting from the air. The largest danger signal came from a large sub-orbital defense laser on the ground. She could see the energy begin to build, and she knew the beam from it could destroy any of their Frames in a single shot.

She tagged it for the rest to see, and several acknowledgement flags quickly followed. The children underneath her began to turn shoulders to spread out, their guns readied and aimed downwards to begin counter fire.

Chapter Text

The Descent Pt. II

White Wolf leaned her shoulder downward and throttled her boosters to strafe aside, dodging the hail of bullets fired at her team.. The three incoming Frames were closing in, and fast. The first was approaching Supreme and Serenity who had stayed together in their descent path. As the Frame approached, it came into clear view of her sensors and she was able to scan it to get more information. 

It was a bare armored gray Frame, the sheen of the dull unpainted metal was illuminated by the bullet trails and the white snow far below them. The Frame was a couple of generations behind theirs—slower and weaker—but in the hands of an experienced pilot, still dangerous. The Frame had only a mid-distance rifle and a simple, and a fusion blade generator for melee engagements, with several empty weapon slots. The other Frames looked to be the exact same as the first. 

There was a licensed pilot linked to the Frame, but her scan abruptly shut down when she tried to access their info. She was confused, scans always worked unless they had some sort of exotic defenses onboard. But their Frames were older, and they were mid-firefight. How could they focus on that, as well as hold off her system incursion? She shook the thought off as she continued her descent, readying another incursion to scramble their systems and help her allies. 

The first Frame approached Serenity and Supreme, firing off the rifle as it came close. It dodged expertly side to side as the duo rained down a hail of bullets, hardly making a scratch on the old Frame. The old Frame fired a quick burst at Serenity as it boosted sideways. Caught off guard, Serenity couldn’t react in time; it was a direct impact, square into his cockpit hull. Armor plating shredded and ripped away, free floating into the air as they plummeted downwards; his thrusters fading out. 

Supreme  shouted over the radio in anger, calling out for Serenity, “Serenity! Come in! Answer! Dammit!”

Supreme used her chance to go around for a flank as the opponent was distracted, charging up an energy lance shot from her main cannon. The Frame turned around, boosting downwards towards the ground, just as the cannon fired its shot. It then boosted back to Supreme, fusion blade extended out. It swiped at her but she folded backwards, just narrowly avoiding the blade. 

She twisted in a full spin and grabbed onto the metal enemy, pinning the weapon arms outwards. Looking past her, she waited for her remaining sibling to close in. The Frame desperately tried to move the outstretched arm back in, and fired randomly into the air around them with its rifle trying to hit the supreme figure that had it pinned. 

Snowfall had made her way over, dodging the spread of bullets aimed at her. She landed on the Frame’s back, bracing her legs on its shoulders. She produced in her left hand a simple combat knife, and plunged it directly into the cockpits center. The mechanical body immediately lost all will to fight back. Supreme threw the dead weight off of her, and the Frame lazily began to slowly twirl into a heavy fall as it free fell. Supreme immediately turned and boosted toward Serenity. Snowfall followed. One last scan for Serenity.

TEAMMATE SERENITY Vital Signs:

[UNDETERMINED]

Chapter Text

The Descent Pt. III

As the clash in the front erupted between the first group and the first Frame, the second and third Frames rushed past them and split to engage the others. The second aggressor came in hot with a stream of bullets, dodging fire just as deftly as the first Frame. Slate was the closest to the incoming threat. He dodged side to side, mirroring the enemy’s movements. From his back, he produced a Power Hammer — a weapon made of dense metal and a heavy swinging head — wielding the brutal weapon with two hands as he approached the Frame.

Slate reeled back his hands, swinging down on the gray hostile. The Frame dodged to the side but couldn’t escape the full arc of the swing; its right arm was crushed and broken off. The enemy spun once but latched onto the back of Slate’s Frame, perching in place as Slate tried to reach around, struggling to grab the assailant.

The Frame held on as it quickly scanned the other oncoming children. Halo and Dusk were rapidly approaching in tandem, both wielding combat knives and close-quarters compact machine guns. Wren was high above, feet pointing toward the sky, positioning a long-range rifle on the enemy’s shoulder, readying his shot.

“Just distract him for like, ten seconds so I can knock his boosters out and disable him,” Wren calmly announced over the comms. Two affirmative tags blinked on his scanner in response.

The Frame, noticing the incoming duo, fired off chaff markers, disrupting their targeting signals and cloaking both itself and Slate in a sudden cloud of white and gray. Wren and Dusk continued rapidly toward the cloud, weapons ready but not firing — careful not to hit their friend.

“Dude, we can’t target the bad guy through that C-smoke! Slate, can you hear me?” Halo asked urgently through the team channel.

No response.

They closed in, nearly within arm’s reach of the cloud, weapons pointed just off to the side but ready.

“Halo, watch out!” Dusk cried.

From the smoke, a flash of green surged forward. A blade pierced straight through Halo’s cockpit, leaving a glowing wound. A brief moment passed — Dusk looked over in shock — and Halo’s Frame exploded. The enemy had cut straight through the cockpit and hit the fusion generator, reducing the mechanical body to a flash of heat and metal scrap.

Dusk didn’t move. His whole body froze, his Frame unmoving in response to his state of shock. The killer turned without hesitation, without remorse, toward him. Dusk raised his knife instinctively — too late. The enemy cleaved his Frame in two. He was only reliving the last moments of his life before his brain could register the pain of death.

Wren watched through his scope. He could only sit and stare as his gun charged up the accelerator shot.

The Frame Approached Slate. Smoke.

[Weapon [50]% Charged.] [TEAMMATE SLATE Vital Signs: [NULL] ]

Smoke. A flash of Green. An orange burst. Fire.

[Weapon [80]% Charged.] [TEAMMATE HALO Vital Signs: [NULL] ]

An arc of green. Another orange burst. My friends…

[Weapon [90]% Charged.] [TEAMMATE DUSK Vital Signs: [NULL] ]

He watched the bastard in front of him turn and begin to approach. Just stay still. Stay still so I can kill you. His finger rested on the trigger, trembling. His lungs stopped moving. The whole world narrowed to the enemy Frame before him.

Just—let me—kill you

He could’ve aimed for their weapons, or their boosters. But he wasn’t going to. Whoever that was — they lost their chance for that. A two-beep alert told him the weapon was fully charged.

The Frame began to roll and dive in a well-practiced maneuver, trying to preempt the incoming shot. Its fusion blade began charging again, its outline glowing with a plasmic green.

VZ-KATHOOM

A blast of blue-green energy burst from Wren’s rifle. A glowing orb formed at the muzzle before erupting into a perfect cylinder of raw destruction. A split second after the light disappeared, all that remained of the incoming Frame were burning, molten scraps of armor, bent and broken limbs, and the fusion blade — now dimming — floating away.

Wren scanned again for his three friends. Please, please be there. My brothers. Their life signs still read null. His anger turned to grief as he flew past their limp, floating metal carcasses. If anyone else had found a moment of peace in their descent, they might’ve heard him cry over the radio.

Chapter Text

The Descent Pt. IV

The Third Frame that diverted from the other two used the barrage of bullets from underneath it to its advantage. Following in the trail of the bullet paths, using the smoke of the missiles fired from their allies. White Wolf could tell this pilot was smart, they had to be, they were outgunned and outmatched. The Frame was against three of them: Juniper, Kelpie, and herself. She could see the fighting behind the approaching threat, but she couldn’t focus on them, she had her own problems.

As the adversary hid behind smoke, bullets, and fire, it fired bursts of lead right at Juniper. She quickly moved out of the way, balling up before exploding in a forward movement to try and flank the enemy and pin them between her and her two comrades. But she was too slow getting into place. The Frame fell back fast, diving quickly. The enemy sent a scan signal. White Wolf could read on her monitor logs the incursion attempt on her, and she assumed the others were hit as well. She was unaffected; her hacking radar gave her systems an extra edge when it came to her electronic defenses.

Kelpie exclaimed over the radio, asking her nearby comrades, “This guy just tried to disable my controls, but he kinda sucks at it! Anyone get hit?”

A quiet but firm, “No,” from White Wolf.

Juniper didn’t answer. White Wolf looked over to see her boosters had turned off and her joints were locked into place as she began to spiral and fall.

“Shit,” Kelpie muttered, just barely heard on comms.

As Kelpie boosted over to Juniper, the enemy Frame began a full-throttle acceleration towards her. White Wolf saw them and wanted to return the favor, but noticed a flash of deep red from the ground just beyond the three of them. It was the sub-orbital cannon, and her scanners indicated it was about to fire.

“The cannon!” White Wolf cried out in a loud whisper.

Kelpie did not stop. The jets of her boosters fired harder as she accelerated. White Wolf strafed a hard right, avoiding the predicted path of the laser. As she did, she locked onto the pursuing enemy, who was only moments away from reaching her friend. Her radar spun to life as she selected a new system incursion to slow down the approaching hostile.

SYSTEM INCURSION OPTIONS:

[CALCIFY]

[IMMOLATE]

[FRAGMENT]

[SEVER]

[OBFUSCATE]

[EXPROPRIATE]

[LAMENT]

Without thought, she selects [CALCIFY]. This would immobilize her target if she could get through their system defenses, and it wasn’t a big hit to her power reserve. The side monitors scroll endlessly in thousands of lines of code and garbled lines of symbols and numbers as it tries to break through the defenses of the enemy. She watches the enemy approach from behind as Kelpie grabs onto Juniper’s Frame arm and leg. Please, work. Please. Please.

[System Access Granted // Payload Injected]

It worked. The green line of text lets her know her Frame did its job. She watches the gray metal Frame freeze like a statue as it began to reach out with one arm, trying to grab onto Kelpie. Kelpie quickly moves out of the way of the predicted path for the laser, and not a moment too soon. The red light at the bottom of their fall flashed brightly, and a split second of heat, static, and wind buffet them; their sensors only showing red light as they are knocked back.

White Wolf is blasted into a spin from the blast effect, but quickly regains control. She looks over to Kelpie, Juniper now in hand but still unmoving. The frame that was chasing them was completely incinerated, immolated into pieces of metal and scrap. She looks back down towards the ground. They’re almost to the ground, and it looks like the others are already beginning to land. The laser won’t have time to recharge. The both of them dive headfirst down, trying to gain as much speed as possible while avoiding the last of the gunfire. What little small gunfire did hit her was nullified thanks to her kinetic shielding.

A sigh of relief from White Wolf. The worst of the descent down was over with. Her grip on her controls loosened a little bit, some color beginning to return to her fingers. Her mind briefly thought about a future where her system had not worked, and Kelpie had been grabbed. The thought of it made her heart squeeze hard, the blood in her chest and neck bulging in her veins. She looked over on her monitor; Kelpie, in her free hand, held a thumbs up. Kelpie was safe thanks to her. That’s what matters.

Underneath them was a safe zone, if she remembered right — at least for a few minutes — but as long as they moved out fast, they should be able to avoid more enemies. She began to descend through the low clouds and the stirring snowstorm winds. She couldn’t see the team below. Once she got on the ground, she could use her local sensors to see through the storm, though. She positioned her feet underneath her, jets firing up to soften her landing. A soft but loud thud, and a hard pull of gravity inside her chair as she hit the ground welcomed her.

[OBJECTIVES]

• Descend into Deployment Zone [COMPLETED]

• Eliminate The Wall

• Extract at Extraction Zone

• Optional Objective: Destroy Enemy Frame Manufacturing Facility

Chapter Text

Nuisance

“S—so what do you think, sir?” asked the gray jumpsuit in front of Overseer’s desk. 

Overseer had the radar tablet in his hands. He had studied the map for over two minutes in silence before a word was spoken. Precursor stood behind him, staring at the unimportant officer in front of her without blinking. Not a flinch nor a muscle moved in response to the question from either of the two figures. Only more silence in the proceeding moments. Only after an eternity lasting ten seconds did Overseer speak. 

In a deep and commanding voice, the kind that when he spoke the room would quiet in response,  “Lockdown Procedure 033. The upcoming field test will not be compromised due to the nuisance that is him.” 

The man in the gray jumpsuit gave a hidden worried look, confusion struck over his face. 

Overseer continued, “There are important figures in Firdan waiting for my report on the experiments, and I will not disappoint them. Do you understand me?” 

The man in the jumpsuit nodded quickly. 

“Uh but sir, what if he approaches the facility? Lockdown Procedure only gives local radar suppression, if he already knows where we are then—” the officer asked but was cut off by Overseer.

“Then use the experiments as a diversion. He will crumble under the pressure” he said calmly, but the authority behind his commandment hit the officers ears like drums. 

“Yes sir. Right away sir,” he said and nodded before quickly turning around to the door. 

The officer disappeared as the door opened and closed quickly. Precursor stepped to the side of the table, and looked down at Overseer as he rested his head on his crossed hands. Their eyes locked together. The ring around Overseer’s temple flashed in unison with Precursor’s eyes. Their conversation privy only to them. After a few seconds of the exchange, Precursor nodded then turned to the door, and disappeared into the hallway.

Chapter Text

Landing

The snowy tundra welcomed White Wolf with billowing winds and sub zero temperatures, which she was thankful that her Frame protected her from these elements. She got her bearings from the landing, her system returning to normalcy after the impact and gunfight. She turned to scan her surroundings, trying to read her team's signals through the harsh winds and blinding white snow. 

One, two, three, four, five… six others? Supreme, Serenity, Snowfall, Wren, Kelpie and Juniper. Their signals came in fine. Vitals were fine, stressed maybe but present. She approached Kelpie who was closest to her. Kelpie’s frame was hunched over, trying to restart Juniper’s fusion engine. White Wolf peeked over the metal shoulder of Kelpie, ensuring she was doing it correctly.

“Uh hey, you mind helping out here? This thing won’t start and we don’t have long before more of those freaks show up” Kelpie asked to White Wolf. 

White Wolf silently reached out her Frame’s hands to the back of Juniper’s hull, shining a light into the compartment that held the energy device. It emitted a dull glow that turned from orange to pale blue in a slow and rhythmic pace, it was still alive in there. She rooted around for broken connections, maybe something cracked, or came undone? This wasn’t a strong suit for her, and this made her nervous, but she would try because she was asked to by her friend.

“What’s wrong with her Frame?” Supreme demanded to know on comms.

 She glided into view near the three of them, Snowfall and Serenity behind her. 

“She got hit with a system incursion, she’s all locked up. Got a little beat up on the landing. White Wolf is—” Kelpie tried to explain as calmly as she could back to their leader.

“You have thirty seconds to finish repairs,” Supreme interrupted her, a flat toned ultimatum. 

“You can’t be serious, she’s—” Kelpie began to walk up to Supreme, arms outstretched in irritation as she began to try and explain.

“It’s done,” White Wolf quietly said aloud.

Juniper’s back hatch began to glow a bright orange and blue before being shut by White Wolf. The Frame began to get up from the snowfield ground, wobbling as she stood up but standing stable after a moment of hesitation. Juniper turned towards White Wolf and their sensors pointed at one another for a brief moment, but no words were said. 

Supreme approached White Wolf; She faced her in response, “Stop being dead weight or I will kill you myself” There was no hesitation in her voice. 

She was serious. 

“Hey, knock it off! We’re a team! We…” Kelpie began to yell at Supreme before trailing off, her voice quieting at the end. 

“Where is our team? I don’t see vital….” her voice trailed off again, a growing sadness puncturing her words. 

“Our back line striker landed just ahead of us. Keep moving” Supreme declared, beginning her movement forward into the blinding snow and disappearing into the obscuring whiteness. 

Snowfall followed close behind with no words or hesitation.

“We shall see who expires first, hmm?” a devious voice from Serenity on comms as he disappears from view. 

White Wolf clenched her teeth, she realized why she didn’t read the missing signals. They had died in the descent. She felt a pain within her chest, her eyes wet. She looked over to Kelpie. Her fists were clenched hard, staring ahead into the blind wind where the three others had disappeared. 

White Wolf liked them all; Slate, Dusk, Halo. She couldn’t imagine how hard it must be for Kelpie. White Wolf’s arms began to lift to touch her shoulder, but the hand missed her mark as Kelpie began to move forward into the wind and disappeared out of sight. 

Juniper began to move into the wind but turned around to look and wait for White Wolf before fully leaving her view. White Wolf moved forward to meet her.

Chapter Text

Liar

“Wren, do you read me?” Supreme asked plainly on comms.

White Wolf and Juniper side by side approached the rest of their team. Wren knelt down next to the wreckages of Halo, Dusk, and Slate; his open hand resting over the cockpit hull of Halo. He didn’t respond for more than a few seconds. Supreme was in front, Serenity and Snowfall behind her. Kelpie was behind them, with White Wolf and Juniper in the far back, just at the edge of visibility of Wren and the metal grave site.

“Your comms are online, respond. Now.” Supreme demanded, pressure in her voice but not raising it as she began to approach Wren. 

“You didn’t care about them” Wren said in a quiet but angry voice, White Wolf could feel the anger in his voice; it traveled through the speaker and into her chest. 

“What?” Supreme asked, almost confused.

“You never cared about any of us, aside from your brother. Did you?” Wren asked, the same seething hurt dripping in every word. 

“Watch your tone, Wren.” Serenity warned him as he stood next to Supreme. 

Supreme just stood above Wren, about a Frame’s distance away. She didn’t respond, she stopped moving after his question. White Wolf could tell something was wrong, her vitals were elevated. This was one of the few times she wished she could use her gift on Supreme to see what she may be thinking. Wren continued to face downward to his brothers, hand still placed in memoriam. 

“I tried to convince myself you had a brave face. That you were a hard ass because you wanted to be strong for us. But now I know the truth. You never cared about anything other than your own flesh and blood, did you?” He asked, his voice growing stronger in tone and anger as he continued his monologue. 

“I cared.” Supreme said quietly, the assertiveness in her voice lost now almost replaced with empathy.

“Liar.” Wren responded quickly. 

There was a moment of silence as the three children stared at each other.

“Hostiles! Southwest, 500 meters!” Kelpie announced as she began to fire off her rifle in that direction. 

White Wolf turned to see her scanning locks light up with several targets, more than three but there could be more. Bullets began to rip through the white winds, a few scraped against her armor plating but none were a direct hit. She marked the targets she could pick up before beginning to throttle in the opposite direction and fire her rifle for covering fire. Kelpie fired and fled just as she did, Juniper with her. Serenity and Snowfall provided a shield to Supreme as she stood there over Wren, both of them looking at each other. 

Supreme turned toward their mission path and began to make her escape, Snowfall and Serenity in tow; the both of them boosting backwards to provide covering fire to their team leader. 

“Hey! Get up! We need you Wren!” Kelpie called out to Wren, stopping in her tracks but continuing to fire back at the approaching hazards.

“I’ll catch up. Promise.” Wren said softly, the sadness returning to his voice.

White Wolf heard Kelpie grunt in anger and the sound of metal thudding against something heavy over comms. Kelpie kept firing as she continued back on her path. White Wolf and Juniper slowed their traversal to wait for Kelpie, keeping their guns up and skirmishing the whole time.

Chapter Text

Only Then

As they fled their landing zone, speeding off as fast as they could to avoid more conflict; their retreat was successful. They traveled only a short few miles before they were fully clear of any remaining hostile targets, and the only sounds were that of the wind, their jet boosters, the mechanical clanks and whirs of their joints, and the low ever-present hum of their Frame’s reactors.

Supreme led the front, and when the coast was clear she began to spin around to face the group and waited for them to gather around. 

She began to speak orderly on comms to them, “The Wall is approximately 530 kilometers east of here. We have a couple detours to make along the way. Our best rout—”

“We’re not going to talk about what happened back there? With Wren? With Halo? Dusk? Slate?!” Kelpie demanded to know, raising her voice in anger.

“No, we do not have time. Understand this Kelpie, we have a mission,” Supreme approached Kelpie, voice in a serious and firm authority. 

She continued on, determination in her voice, “And we will finish it. Only then are you allowed to grieve. Now follow along.” 

She turned around, and began to set off towards the east towards a marker she designated on the shared map. 

White Wolf, who stood next to Kelpie could see her fist begin to shake. She didn’t have to use her gift, she could already imagine the stench of anger that came from her. Her frown only grew downward in sadness, and the pit in heart felt deeper as she watched. She didn’t hesitate this time, she reached out to touch her arm. Kelpie snapped to the side to face her, forcing White Wolf to reel back and knock her down. 

Immediately, Kelpie’s fists unclenched to catch her. Kelpie held onto her arms, catching her before she fell. White Wolf was stunned, she felt a mixture of emotions all at once. She felt a sadness well in her chest that she was pushed, but a happy warmth in the same spot because she was saved. Grief for her friends still hung on her heart. Dread still loomed over her. The two of them just looked at each other through their sensors for a momentary lifetime. 

Which chair would she sit next to?

Kelpie pulled her upright from her backward lean, “Uh, sorry. I get angry and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.” Her voice was hesitant and low-spirited.

“It’s okay” White Wolf quietly responded, just happy that she wasn’t angry with her.

Kelpie looked at White Wolf, then at Juniper who was offset behind herself. “I’m gonna make sure that both of you stay alive, okay?”

White Wolf wanted to say, I want to make sure you stay alive too. Or maybe, I want you to be safe, too. Even a simple, we can look out for each other, would've sufficed. 

All she could muster was a quiet “Okay.”

Kelpie’s frame nodded and turned towards the fresh tracks made by her long gone teammates and made her way along them. White Wolf breathed a heavy sigh out, she wanted to cry for so many reasons, but she had to be strong. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in deep, trying to let go of her worries. When she opened them again, Juniper was waiting for her at the edge of the wind's visibility again. They both followed the tracks together.

Chapter Text

The First Stop

White Wolf followed at the back of the formation, side by side with Juniper. The journey was mostly silent. There was no chatter on the radio, and only the sound of their Frames could be heard as they jetted along. Approximately 400 Kilometers left until The Wall. She was not excited to meet this enemy. If the first few people they met were just normal test combatants, how in the world could they manage something as deadly as The Wall? She could feel her bones shiver at the thought.

A new objective marker was placed on the map, about 10 kilometers north of them. It seemed to be some sort of resupply pod left by their Parents? About 20 kilometers north of that appeared to be a small encampment of some kind according to the map. The details of the structures were vague at best, unreadable at worst. She watched the front three veer off towards the north towards the new objective marker. The rest of them followed. 

As they came close to it, White Wolf could see what they were approaching. It was a drop pod, shaped like an oblong octagonal egg with 4 sliding doors on each cardinal wall face. It was about the size of their Frames, gray and black in color with a low-light red beacon showing its location through the blinding snow. All of them stopped in front of the closest doorway.

“Your objective. Move.” Supreme pointed to the drop pod as she faced Snowfall.  

“Yes ma’am” Snowfall responded with a tired urgency. 

She approached the doorway, and stood on the small ramp that led up to it. A blue light quickly scanned her from top to bottom, and after a brief moment the door began to shutter open from the bottom all the way to the top, disappearing completely from view. Snowfall stepped inside the dark room, disappearing from sight for almost a minute. 

White Wolf, Juniper, and Kelpie looked at each other in confusion but just waited for her return. Supreme and Serenity waited patiently, their attention focused on the doorway. Snowfall came back out, appearing to be without change.

“Where is the device, Snowfall?” Supreme asked her, irritation pouring into her name. 

“I—I can’t do it. I can’t wear it. It’s too scary.” Snowfall weakly cried back, her voice cracking. 

Supreme was silent. She stared at her for a moment before turning to Serenity. Serenity nodded once in return. Without acknowledgement or notice, Supreme took a single hand, planted her feet firmly into the snow and shoved hard upwards against Snowfall’s center mass, causing her to be thrust into the darkness behind her. Serenity quickly side stepped to the side of the drop pod, and hit a series of buttons that White Wolf had not noticed before. The door slammed shut, and the jets underneath the drop pod began to erupt in flame smoke. 

White Wolf couldn’t process what had happened as it did, she didn’t expect them to throw their sister back in. She blinked in confusion, her breath held. 

“Wait! I’m sorry! I’ll be good, I promise! Please open the door!” Snowfall cried out on comms, her voice desperately pleading to her family. 

The two jumped back to avoid the heat radius as the drop pod began to fly high into the sky. 

“What the hell was that!?” Kelpie yelled over the radio.

“She is being sent back for further rehabilitation.” Serenity calmly responded.

Rehabilitation? Does that mean punishment? Would she be sent back if she didn’t do her objective?

“Calm yourself, Kelpie. I am not losing anyone else. She would’ve died out here had she continued on” Serenity calmly said. 

“You!..... What?” Kelpie was angry at first but it followed in confusion after a brief pause. 

“Your objective is next, Kelpie. Focus your attention on that” Serenity calmly ordered as she turned and headed east, Serenity following. 

“My objective?” Kelpie asked nobody in particular, confusion still in her voice. 

She looked over to White Wolf, “Do we have different objectives?”

White Wolf looked to Juniper, who looked at her too, then back to Kelpie. 

“I think so,” White Wolf said meekly. 

“What’s yours?”

“To… destroy a Frame manufacturing facility”

“W—what?”

Kelpie was shocked. She wasn’t expecting that answer. White Wolf heard her stutter on comms before sighing to regain her composure. 

“Mine is not anything like that. It’s to pick up a weapon en route to The Wall,” she said with confused exasperation in her voice. 

“Why the hell would they make you do that?” Kelpie asked, frustration rising again. “How could you even do that?”

“I don’t know,” White Wolf sadly whispered. 

She looked downwards, away from her friend. She really didn’t know. She would just do what she was asked to do because she didn’t know any other way to live. If she died in the process, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. But if she did, then she wouldn’t…

Her thoughts didn’t matter. She needed to focus back on the mission. She looked back at Kelpie. 

“Should we catch up with them?” White Wolf asked, barely audibly. 

“Yeah, let’s go.” Kelpie responded, worry and anger in her voice.

Kelpie turned and began to move. White Wolf and Juniper followed close behind. A message displayed on her monitor from an unknown source.

[There was a bomb in the drop pod]

Chapter Text

Imagination

Another long journey of silence. Even less noise as they’re down another Frame, another teammate. Still no talking on the radio. White Wolf thought about the constant bickering and competition between Halo and Wren, and the calm chime-in from Dusk as they trained. It was annoying at the time when she wanted to focus. She didn’t realize how much she would miss it when it didn’t happen. 

She imagined Halo would complain about the snow and the cold, and Wren would tell him that it doesn’t bother him at all. Halo would retort with how he could say that because his tiny bird brain couldn’t process it. Dusk would tell them they’re both obviously cold and the only way to warm up is to give each other a hug and make up. The other two boys would both most definitely make gagging noises and act like they were going to throw up while Dusk would chuckle politely. She smiled at her imagined scenario, but she remembered that it didn’t happen. It never would.

Her smile faded.

Chapter Text

Heavy is The Hand

The sun was high above them at this point but only the vague yellowish-white bubble of soft light could be seen through the wind and clouds. They approached the next target spot on their map, Kelpie’s optional objective. It was another drop pod of the same size and style as before. The door was unlatched and opened already, and the light that should be flashing was dead. Someone, or something had been here. 

Supreme, who led the front, stopped fast in her tracks as she saw this, her arm outstretched behind her to signal a slow down. 

“White Wolf, scan the area. You have the best equipment.” Supreme calmly ordered as she lifted her rifle to sweep the area in front of her. 

She did as she asked, she switched to her systems radar and began a full sweep of the area. She searched the entire area in a 500 meter radius but couldn’t find anyone or anything other than them. She showed the scan radar to her team, as they readied their own weapons. Supreme and Serenity held their medium rifles up, their cluster missile racks readied on their backs. 

Kelpie produced her sweeping shotgun to her hip, her other hand on her rifle as she began to head towards the drop pod. Juniper held tightly onto her rifle, her other hand on the holster of her combat knife as she stayed close to White Wolf. White Wolf stayed centered of everyone, keeping a scan going as Kelpie approached the drop. She wanted to be ready to send a system incursion the moment she saw someone. 

Kelpie approached into the darkness slowly, like the girl previously she disappeared completely. The entire team stayed on high alert. Two quick flashes of light followed by gunshots erupted from the inside of the drop pod. A moment later the right half of the drop explodes outward in a green discharge of light. The wall of the drop pod turned into scrap metal and debris, shooting out into the snow with rapid force planting chunks of metal and molten bits into the snow around it. 

Flying out of the center of the explosion was a new Frame, laid flat on its back. It was similar to the ones they had faced, but this one had a new device White Wolf didn’t recognize, attached to its back. The group began to rush over but was stopped as Kelpie’s Frame strolled out of the wreckage wall sporting a glowing fusion hammer, nearly half the size of her own Frame. It emitted a mixture of bright green outlines with a deep red glow in the center of the hammer’s large cylindrical head. 

Kelpie pointed it outward to the group to order them back with a gesture, then pointed the hammer toward the enemy Frame. The gray and white Frame on the ground began to try and crawl away, trying to use the remaining functioning arms to leverage some distance away but the entire bottom half of the metal body was crumpled and broken, burnt from the fusion hammer’s heat blast. 

Kelpie laid the top of the head on the center hull. The energy within the hammer began to glow brighter, the red core within the hammer resembling less a hammer and more an evil eye. It met White Wolf’s onward stare. Underneath the hammer the Frame tried to push the hammer head off, but failed. It reached out desperately towards Kelpie. It put its hands together, a final prayer asking her to forgive it. 

“Wait are you a–” Kelpie began to ask.

The hammer erupted in green and red flames. The ground underneath her cracked and crumbled, burning away the snow to reveal the stone and dirt underneath; now singed from the heat of the hammer. The frame crumpled underneath her, completely caved in. Through the jagged jaws of metal, she could see flesh and blood pool inside. 

“–real person.”

Chapter Text

That Holds The Sword

There was only silence from the children. Kelpie looked down at the destruction she caused. The burnt earth and defiled metal body was an open casket to a young girl. She saw the brown hair, seeping with red. Her face was gone, burnt and caved in from the pressure. Her skin was torn, bruised, broken. She wore clothes she had seen in movies, a big jacket. It looked warm. It could’ve been, at least once. 

Her eyes became blurry, she could feel tears come down her face. 

She killed someone.

Her head became airy, her stomach churned.

She killed someone.

Her hands shook, her heart raced.

She killed someone.

Her throat closed up, acid stung the back of her throat. 

She killed someone.

Chapter Text

No Time For Guilt

White Wolf watched as Kelpie opened the back hatch of her Frame, and threw up. Supreme and Serenity stepped away as she did. White Wolf stayed near, and tried not to watch. Juniper hid herself from the scene by hiding behind White Wolf. She wretched a few times, before stopping. Nobody said anything while this happened, they just waited. 

The sound of Kelpie’s hatch door slamming shut woke White Wolf out of her distant trance. She looked over to see the Frame beginning to make movements again, removing the hammer from the crater. 

“We…” Kelpie tried to start a sentence but trailed off, just lost in thought. 

“Snap out of it. Out here it’s life or death, you or them. We need to move before more show up.” Supreme composedly told her. 

“Yeah…. Yeah…” Kelpie returned, a million miles away. 

Supreme began moving towards the east, Serenity following close behind. Juniper began to follow them, but noticed neither of the others moved yet so she stopped. Kelpie stayed unmoving, continuing to look down at the Frame below her. 

“Kelpie?” White Wolf asked in a wavering tone.

“Huh? Hey. No, I’m okay. Really. We should go.” Kelpie answered before turning to catch up.

“Kelpie?” White Wolf asked again, quieter this time. 

Kelpie didn’t respond as she made her way into the wind. Maybe she hadn’t heard her. How can she let her know she cares about her, that she’s there for her? Why can’t she just say that? Why can’t she say anything at all?

She’s such a failure.

Chapter Text

Surveillance

“I have visuals on the test group 103-F. They’re currently en route to the marked facility” Precursor methodically announced inside her head to Overseer.

“Good, keep your eyes on them; Especially the leader, Supreme. She has been an optimal candidate for Empress Corporation.” The same rich, deep voice replying back to her. 

“Yes sir, I will update you with information as I receive it.”

“Stargazer will be making an appearance, make sure you are prepared to deal with that situation when the time comes.”

Precursor’s bright blue eyes stopped emitting light as the call between the two ended, changing back to her normal deep blue. She had been knelt down in the snow, perched on a slight incline watching into the far distance. With her eyes she saw the outlines of their Frames in bright oranges and red of their heat signatures. She watched the children leave the second drop pod, headed towards their next objective. 

As they sped off, she stood up and hunched over into a runner’s stance. With a single bound she began to sprint, easily keeping pace with the Frames in front of her.

Chapter Text

Do As You Are Told

The team approached the next objective site, about 15 kilometers from the base that was marked on White Wolf’s map. She was expecting another drop pod, or something to grab her attention but nothing did. She scanned for anything in the area and found nothing. Supreme slowed down from her top speed down to a halt as they came to the marker, turning to face her team. 

“This is it. White Wolf, your objective is here,” She calmly stated. 

She didn’t understand, there was nothing around her. The base was still at least a couple minutes away if they went as fast as they could towards it. She looked around to her teammates. Supreme intently watched her, Serenity doing the same. Kelpie only turned to her briefly after a few seconds of silence. Juniper idly stood by, watching the distance.

“White Wolf, I am sending a data package to your systems as we speak,” Her comms flicked to a new channel, the radio wave forming a new design. 

It was RCS-1489.

He continued on, not waiting for a response, “Use this to breach into the facility’s local neural network, from there I trust you will make the right decision. Do not disappoint me.”

The comms changed back over to her team’s channel as he finished speaking. She could see the data feed begin to download into her systems logs. It gave her a new option in her incursion list. Something she wasn’t sure meant fully. 

[DESANCTIFY]

It didn’t register any valid targets just yet, which meant she needed to be closer for her radar to work. 

“I think I need to get closer to the facility,” she said timidly to her peers. 

“Then for now you lead the way. Mark a location on your map.” Supreme responded calmly.

White Wolf looked at her map, looking for a good area. She didn’t know what would work, she never used this incursion before. She had no idea. She looked at her monitors, at her team. Kelpie laid her hammer on the ground, resting on it. She was completely unfocused on anything around her. Juniper had stayed completely still. The two superiors still watched intently, unmoving. 

“I think I need to go alone. That’s what it says on my objectives” she stumbled out. 

Her first lie. Her heart sank, she felt like she was a bad person. Her tongue felt heavy, her throat closed up in anxiety. Her heart raced. 

“That’s not—” Supreme began to speak before being interrupted, her head beginning to shake. 

“Let’s see what the whelp-dog can do. Let her go. We’ll meet you on the other side.” Serenity spoke over Supreme, hand outstretching over his sister. 

“If you make it, that is.” he finished saying, devil in his breath, turning to the northeast and disappearing into the wall of wind. 

“Just do as you're told, and come back alive. Radio when you’re done.” Supreme commanded her, then leaving to follow her brother after a brief hesitation.

White Wolf looked over to Kelpie, who was now looking at her after her lie.

“Why?” Kelpie asked, sadness in the single syllable. 

“I—I…” White Wolf stuttered out, again losing her words. 

“Just—” Kelpie raised her hand up to her palm facing her.

“I can’t handle anyone else… especially…” Kelpie lowered her hand in defeat. 

“Just don’t die.” She finished her thought, turning towards the marker that Supreme had placed and disappeared into the wind wall. 

White Wolf watched her leave. “Especially”? Especially, what? Her? 

Did she care about her?

Did she care about her?

Something else? Something more?

Her eyes were opened wide as she stared at the spot that once contained her friend. She was lost in thought again, a million miles away. Sitting on a wooden chair, wrapped in a blanket. Sun pouring warmth on her. 

Juniper’s Frame came into view of the monitor, leaning in from the side. Peeking in, checking in on her friend. White Wolf came back to her reality, and shook off her daydream. She stepped backwards and looked at Juniper. A message came across her screen.

[I Am already Dead wight. let me help.]

Chapter Text

Unsanctioned Actions

The comms flipped channels and anxiously irritated voice of RCS-1489 poured through, "What do you think you are doing?"

White Wolf swallowed the lump in her throat. She wasn't sure herself. She looked up and side-to-side looking for the camera that was inside her cockpit.

"Stop looking for me and speak," her Parent demanded.

"I—I just…. wanted to…." White Wolf stuttered out quietly.

"You—want—something?" he asked inquisitively.

She clenched her teeth and exhaled sharply. Was she lying?

"What is it that you want, White Wolf?" he pressed further.

What did she want? She just kept thinking about Kelpie. How sad she must be. She pictured the crumpled metal remnants of Halo and Dusk and Slate from her landing. She looked at Juniper through her monitor. She wanted this to be over with. She wanted to be held again. She was cold. She wanted to cry. Her heart ached and agonized.

"I can see on your face that you are deep in thought. I have watched your actions on this mission, and on all of your training days. I know what is happening," he said solemnly to her, breaking her attention from her spiral.

"White Wolf, do you remember what I told you about love?"

She nodded. It was shameful. Something not meant for children like her. Why would he ask her that?

"Good. Then I want you to nod to the camera if you agree with me that you are going to complete your optional objective without your friends, solely because you want to do it that way. Correct?" he asked her with a guiding tone

She nodded and looked down into her lap in defeat.

"Good, then proceed with your objective."

The comms channel frequency sign changed once again, and she was back to her team channel. She sighed out her exhaustion, and grabbed her piloting controls. She turned and looked to Juniper who had begun to already move towards the optional marker.

[Told you. dead weight.]

Chapter Text

Interesting

The blonde synthetic woman, Precursor, was positioned behind a small snowbank. Her signal was masked with a thin layer of EMP shielded skin. She was close enough that without it, she could be scanned from their Frames. Thankfully, the corporation that built her thought of pretty much everything.

Interesting. They've split the team. Only one other group has successfully had any returning Codex experiments after a willing split. This team will more than likely serve as a failure as a result. Nonetheless it is interesting.

[RESEARCH LOG UPDATED]

Best to follow the other three. They are more likely to survive. No need to keep tabs on the dead weight. Stargazer should be appearing soon. It will be quite the spectacle.

Oh? Another?

The woman turned to face the approaching Frame, still hidden from their view. She watched them follow the second party. She followed as well.

Chapter Text

The Factory Pt. I

White Wolf began to catch up with Juniper as they began to approach the factory site. She kept an eye out both on her scanning radar, but also waiting for her new incursion option to give her the green flag. She wanted to get this done with and return to her friend. Why did he ask about love? Does he want her to die out here? Fill her mind with doubts and shame before she went into certain doom? What is love even about?

[I am just like you. I have gifts like you do.]

What?

[They made me born to read minds.]

Really?

[I can't speak like you, either.]

Oh. Is that why you talk to me through our Frames?

[Yes.]

She didn't know what else to say. She wasn't expecting this. Now she was unsure if she even wanted to continue thinking at all.

[White Wolf?]

Yes?

[You love Kelpie. Don't you?]

What? No! Why would I want that? I don't want her to suffer!

[You know you are wrong.]

I don't know what you mean!

[You know love does not mean that.]

What does it mean then!

[You know you are wrong.]

I don't want to keep talking to you if you keep this up.

[You don't have a choice.]

Please, stop.

[We will talk more when you are finished.]

She was upset, her eyes were watering and back of her throat pulsed in pain. She wanted to curl up in a ball and wail. The single blinking green text button on her screen grabbed her attention. How far did they travel? She quickly checked the map. She was already at the factory perimeter, luckily she had stayed outside of the field of view of it. She didn't even realized they traveled that far, she didn't mean to get that close. Fine, let's just get this over with and go back. She looked over to Juniper, who looked back at her.

Chapter Text

The Factory Pt. II

White Wolf hunkered low in her Frame, she began a detailed low-visibility scan of the base in front of her. The scan bar began to fill up and populate a slowly detailed map of the surrounding area as she waited. It outlined painfully slowly tracings of the outer walls, buildings, roads, and other things but she would have to wait for a better image. She wanted to get a good idea of what was in front of her but she didn't want to get caught either. She was honestly surprised she wasn't caught already. Wasn't this place supposed to be a Frame manufacturing facility? Where are they? Why didn't someone come and kill her already? Was Kelpie okay?

[It's not a manufacturing facility.]

How do you know?

[Look at your map. Stop daydreaming.]

She looked at her map as instructed, the scan had finished and it showed only a few buildings. None of them held fusion generator signals, which meant there weren't any Frames in there or none of them had power. Maybe they ran on something else? But that would be impossible. Right? She continued to look at the map, studying the base's features and design. There were a few small vehicles, cars and trucks and skids that could traverse the snowy fields. Housing units lined the eastern walls, she could read the signs and see the internal layouts. There were two large buildings, one was a warehouse that held vehicles, materials, and supplies of some kind it looked like. The other had a medical cross right on top that she stared at. It was a hospital. That was the target objective. A hospital.

The blinking green command kept begging for her attention. It wanted her to press it desperately. Why would they want her to destroy, or disable a hospital?

[You know why.]

No, I don't! This is supposed to be a test mission! For us to be a team!

[You know the truth.]

A test mission…

[Just admit it to yourself.]

For us to be a team…

…

[What will you do?]

I— I don't know.

[Why not? Why not just do as you are told?]

Because… because it feels… wrong…

[What feels right?]

I don't know.

[You have to make a decision.]

I know.

The blinking button cried for her attention. She stared at it. It blinked at her purposefully. It told her things she didn't understand, but knew implicitly.

-.. --- / .- ... / -.-- --- ..- / .- .-. . / - --- .-.. -..

She hated it. She hated her Parent. She hated being special. She hated her life and her thoughts.

The blinking button turned grey, taking the option away.

She hated herself most of all.

Chapter Text

The Factory Pt. III

"White Wolf? Is that you?" her comms channel spoke to life, a voice she thought she never would hear again.

Wren.

She turned around to face him as he approached from the snowy visual barrier, fully forming into view about arms distance away from her. Her mouth fell open slightly in disbelief. She didn't believe him when he said he would catch up. She thought he lied, maybe to save face or maybe to not hurt Kelpie's feelings. But still, she was shocked to see him. Happiness? Relief? Something stirred in her chest she couldn't decipher.

A few seconds go by of the two of them looking at one another, "Still don't talk much, huh?" he asked her; relief, exhaustion, and sadness in his voice to form a sigh of a sentence.

"I'm sorry... I'm just…" White Wolf whimpered back through trembling lips.

[Say how you feel. You have to start somewhere. This is easy.]

"I'm… h—happy you're back" she stuttered out, barely audible.

[Good job.]

"Yeah… me too," there was hesitation in his voice, he agreed with her but there was more to it than that; she imagined he must be thinking about Halo and Slate.

"Why did you come out this way? The outpost here is a Helon medical facility according to some data I took off of one of the frames way back," he explained as he pointed backwards with his Frame's thumb.

"I… My mission is to destroy it… but…" she replied back, not sure how she wanted to end her sentence; not knowing her thoughts fully.

"You don't want to," Wren answered for her.

That sounded right to her, but at the same time she didn't know what disobeying her Parent really would mean. Would she disappear like other bad children? Would she just be beaten? Would she have to do all of this over again? Would she never see Kelpie again? She didn't want to kill people. It felt wrong. It felt, awful. But she already did that, didn't she? She already killed someone. Didn't she? In the fall. She made that person unable to move, and they died because of her. Was she a bad person?

[You didn't know. You don't want to hurt people. You know that.]

"No," she replied back softly to Wren.

"I didn't want to either," he replied in comfort.

He continued on, "White Wolf, we should go back to the others. Before they meet The Wall."

"Okay," she murmured back.

Wren began to pass White Wolf around to the side, and she turned to follow him. She looked back to Juniper who had begun to follow him as well. They both followed his tracks as they routed towards their team, making sure to avoid the medical outpost by a large margin.

[OBJECTIVES]

• Descend into Deployment Zone [COMPLETED]

• Eliminate The Wall

• Extract at Extraction Zone

• Optional Objective: Destroy Enemy Frame Manufacturing Facility [FAILED]

  • OBJECTIVE NOTE: DISAPPOINTMENT WILL BE TREATED WHEN YOU RETURN.

Chapter Text

Truth

As they traveled White Wolf couldn't understand why Wren followed them, and not his friends. Or at least his one good remaining friend. Did he consider her a friend? They had only spent a month together. She had spoken once to him, today. Did he feel bad for her? Was she that pitiful? Probably, yes.

[Ask him. Stop torturing yourself. You are capable.]

"Wren?" she asked, quiet as usual.

"Yeah? What is it?" he asked back.

"Why did you follow us? Why didn't you go to your friends?" she asked softly and uneasily.

[White Wolf.]

"Us?" he said in confusion as he turned around to face her, scanning the immediate vicinity.

[Promise me...]

"Yeah, me and…" her voice trailed off as she looked over to Juniper.

[You won't be dead weight like me.]

Juniper was never there. As she looked at the spot where she stood just moments before.

There was never a trail nor a turned pile of snow when she walked or tread ground.

Her shots never hit enemies, and nobody ever talked to her.

It was her who was hit with a system incursion that shut her generator down.

It was her Supreme called dead weight.

Kelpie fixed her engine, not her fixing Juniper's.

[You saw yourself in me. You didn't want me to die.]

[But I died in the landing.]

[You have to accept that.]

I don't want to.

[You have to.]

It's not fair.

[Nothing in life is fair.]

I don't want to keep doing this.

[Not even for Kelpie?]

…

[For your friend? For someone you love?]

…

[You have to keep living.]

…

[She's waiting for you.]

I'll miss you.

…

Goodbye, Juniper.

Chapter Text

(Not) Left Behind

She wasn't sure what happened, all she knew now was she could hear Wren on comms yelling her name and her whole body began to shake violently. Her face was covered in tears and snot as it ran down her face as she blinked back to reality. She felt the pull of gravity on her, and she realized she was lying flat on her back. She was still inside her cockpit, unstrapped from her seat. Wren was kneeling over her to the side, his hair falling down over his face as he shook her awake. His black pinpoint eyes focused intently on her, eyebrows pointed in confusion and worry and desperation. She felt the cold air wash over her as she squinted at the side door hatch which filled the cockpit with natural white light.

She wiped away the wetness from her face and responded to him with a cracking voice of sadness, "S—sorry. I'm sorry."

"What the hell happened? You were mumbling like you were having a conversation with someone else and then you just fell over," he said in a hurried confusion as he leaned back away from her to give her space.

She didn't know what to say, she felt insane. She probably was. No. She was grieving, and that's okay. She could tell him. He might understand.

"I… I thought I heard Juniper… I know it's crazy but—" she replied in soft earnestness as she sat up, leaning against the opposite side wall.

"No!" He cut her off and raised his hand in front of him to cut the tension but she could tell he felt bad as he sighed and lowered his hand back down and his shoulders sagged.

"No I understand. Sometimes I talk to my brothers in my head too," he paused and she could hear the hard swallow before he continued on, "I like to think they can hear me still."

Looking at him, he looked dejected but comforted in the idea that they could hear him. There was a moment of silence as she breathed slowly through her nose, focusing in on him. The sour and bitter smell of sadness. Real and genuine agony. It gave her a headache. He did understand. It made her pause. She didn't expect him to, but she only expected the worst for herself. He was a good guy, he would've died for his brothers; Kelpie said as much. She remembered that. Why didn't she trust that? Maybe she just wanted to know she was right? Well, she was. Something else still ruminated in the back of her mind though.

"Wren?" she asked him in a whisper.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you come for me and not your friends?"

"We are friends. Even if you don't talk a lot," a weak smile returned to her as he finished his response.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Besides, I wasn't gonna leave you behind while you went off alone. Now let's go finish up meeting with the others," he said to her mostly nonchalantly as he stood up and began to crawl out of the hatch door.

He crawled out but before he disappeared from view, he leaned his head back into the square shaped hole and said, "I know why you went alone, you didn't want anyone else to get hurt. I did the same thing."

He disappeared from view and the hatch closed on it's own. She looked up at the hatch for a few more seconds, thinking about what he said. He was right. She didn't want anyone else to get hurt. Kelpie flashed into her mind briefly. Most of all she didn't want her to get hurt. Her heart pumped hard and ached at the thought of it. She could prevent it though. She needed to focus. She needed to regroup with them. She will not be dead weight.

Chapter Text

Surveyed

Precursor watched the Codex Corvid boy crawl back over to his Frame from behind the covering of a small cratered rock. He opened the hatch, and scanned once around him before getting in. He scanned left to right, and his gaze fell directly on her. She stayed completely still, she was almost entirely covered in snow. A thick layer of white puffy snow covered her, only her eyes could be seen from the almost 2 miles of distance between the two of them.

Codex Corvid types are born with excellent eyesight. It's what makes them ideal for long range engagements. This one is no exception.

She watched him squint his eyes at her, but his attention was taken as the other Frame next to him began to stand. She took this opportunity to disappear completely into the snowy embankment. She tuned her audio receptors higher as she waited for them to begin moving. Eventually she could hear their jet boosters and the rolling steel wheels trudge through the snow as they headed off. She peeked back over, watching their heat signatures through the blizzard.

Her eyes dimmed as she accessed her internal database. She pulled up the real time Nav-Map. They were headed towards the rest of their team. Something else caught her attention as well.

Oh? This will be interesting to watch. Time to move.

[RESEARCH LOG UPDATED]

Chapter Text

Rain Check

Wren and White Wolf approached the meeting marker on their map. White Wolf couldn't see them through the snow, but Wren pointed them out a while back and her Frame's scanners could pick them up about a kilometer out. White Wolf could feel the anticipation in her fingertips as they grew colder and heart beat faster as she finally saw Kelpie back in sensor range.

Her comms channel lit up and she heard Supreme's voice, "About damn time, White Wolf. Any longer and we would've left."

"Now now sister, you won't even acknowledge her failure upon her return? You have grown soft." Serenity responded with a coy tone.

"Can you both shut the hell up?" Kelpie said in an aggravated tone before continuing on, "Am I reading this right? White Wolf, AND Wren?"

They both approached through the snowstorm, finally coming into view of all of them. They all three stood in a line, Kelpie taking a step forward and reaching her hand out in a small act of disbelief as the newcomers appeared finally. The other two watching from the back.

"Told you I would catch back up." Wren said to her almost jokingly but still bruised in sadness.

Kelpie chuckled in disbelief, stammering over her words before she finally spoke evenly, "I— I guess I shouldn't have doubted you. I'm… glad to see you're okay. I would hug you but…" She motioned her her free hand to the Frame she currently occupied.

"Rain check on that," Wren replied, comfort returning to his voice.

"I'm glad you're safe too, White Wolf," Kelpie said as she turned towards White Wolf.

Say how you feel. You have to start somewhere. This is easy.

"I'm happy to see you too." White Wolf meekly said back, her face red.

Thankfully nobody could see her. Nobody she cared about at least.

"It's…" Supreme started with an uncertain tone and paused, "good to have you back, Wren."

She continued this time with a much more firm voice as she stepped up side-by-side with Kelpie, not allowing a response from anyone, "Now stop the emotional reunion, and refocus on the objective."

Serenity took a single stride to be one pace behind his sister, listening to her as she talked. Kelpie and Wren both acknowledged her with a "right" or "okay". White Wolf stayed silent but gave her the attention she demanded.

"We're about 10 minutes out from our objective's last known location. Ready your munitions, and do any last minute repairs. No more losses. No more failures. Understood?" Supreme asked the group surveying their reactions as she did.

"Got it," from Kelpie.

"No more losses," said Wren.

"Understood," softly replied White Wolf.

Supreme turned around to Serenity, they locked sensors for a brief moment. A silent conversation of some kind, a muted exchange. No words were said over the radio, but Supreme still turned back around after a moment facing towards their target.

"Good. Then let's go," she said as her Frame began to burn brightly with jet boosters sizzling to life.

They all turned to follow her, their jets emitting their own oranges and reds as they followed close behind. Serenity of course was directly behind Supreme, as he normally was. Kelpie and Wren were side by side as they followed, leaving White Wolf slightly behind them. Noticing that, Kelpie turned her shoulder and motioned for her to catch up to them and both of them slowed down just a little bit for her to do so. White Wolf glided up to her right side, with Wren on her left side. The three of them followed their leader's trail.

White Wolf smiled as she trudged forward through the snowy field and blinding snow. She said how she felt, and Kelpie was happy to see her. Would this have made Juniper proud? Did this make her proud? She wasn't sure. She was maybe just glad that she was remembered at all.

Chapter Text

The Wall Pt II

The snow was getting harder to see through as they headed toward their target. The snow clouds were getting thicker, and the sun became less and less visible as they traveled. The glowing ball of yellow overhead has completely disappeared, leaving a dark grey night in its place. She gripped the armor piercing rifle in her left hand, and the close quarters auto-pistol in her right harder, her anxiety rising as the darkness took over. Her sensors had to work overtime to even get a decent scan, the radar on her back spun extra hard trying to overclock its workload. She looked left, she could just barely see the two Frames directly next to her with her eyes. Serenity was a fading outline on her sensors on her monitor screen and he was only a short distance away. She couldn't even see Supreme for longer than a second at a time as her scanner picked her up for a brief moment before losing her shape in the winter storm.

"Status report. Visuals on me," Supreme ordered on comms, a slight crackle behind her words.

"Report Green. Visuals are good," Serenity calmly replied, he too had that crackle.

"Report Green, and I can't see shit!" Kelpie said, her voice was clear.

"Report Green. I can see you but not much farther," Wren said calmly and clearly, he was focused and his voice was clear.

"Report Green. No visuals on you," White Wolf said back softly but firmly.

Supreme returned to her team, voice crackling in static, "Just keep moving for now. Use your Nav-Map for now to—"

A fiery explosion of reds and oranges erupted in front of White Wolf in the distance, blowing a tundra of wind and snow towards the three. The explosion was large, and she could feel the heat of the explosion even through the snowstorm. She held up her arms toward the explosion center while desperately trying to get a lock on whatever caused that. Kelpie held her pulsating green and red hammer in a ready position both hands, leveraged for a heavy swing. The grenade launching tube extended out, and several grenades fell into a chamber ready to be fired at her command. Wren drew his rifle and immediately started to charge it, holding it towards where the explosion came from. On his back his Chaff Launcher slid into place, ready to send interference signals to block incoming lock-ons.

Another explosion erupted in front of them and another wave of snow and wind, this time it came with flying debris of rock and mud as it flew towards them. Among the debris the could see Serenity fly through the air, slowly twirling from the explosion before crashing into the ground in front of them.

White Wolf quickly approached him to assist him up before he swiped at her, "Don't touch me, kennel-born cur. Get in there and do your job," he snarled at her in rage.

She reeled her hand back in shock. He was right though, she needed to help Supreme before something bad happened to her as well. Kelpie and Wren approached the sides of White Wolf, and looked at her briefly before they all moved forward.

"Told you he was a dick," Kelpie reminded her as they left Serenity behind.

[Reactive Hull Armor Plating: Integrity 96%]

Chapter Text

The Wall Pt III

The storm buffeted them as they approached the explosions center, it only continued to get worse as the seconds went on. Her scanners picked up damn near nothing. She still held her guns out, and her shoulder propelled launcher was ready for the moment she saw anything move that she didn't recognize. None of her incursion options were green, she didn't have a valid target yet. Her radar was barely working, she'd have to basically be touching someone for it to work. She would make it work. She had to. She will not let them down.

Out of the darkness she saw metal hands began to grab at her, she evaded backwards away from the grab. She heard to the left and right her friends boost in their own directions. They too had their own enemy threats now approaching them. She heard the loud thud of a large impact and the crack of some sort of energy gun, but she couldn't see what they were. They disappeared into the darkness, and her scanner lost the outline of their Frames. She was alone with whatever, and whoever was now in front of her.

She focused back on the Frame who tried to grab her earlier, it was similar to the one they had seen before in the air. Same size, same shape, but it was painted white and bore a symbol of the sun on its chest colored in a silver tone. This one had the same green fusion blade in the left arm that pulsed a dim green light in the dark white and grey winds. On it's left hand was winding grappling cable with a 4 fingered hook that looked like it could cut cars in half. On top of its shoulders it carried two arms, one on each shoulder that were both bent forward ready to grab whatever came into its reach.

Her comms crackled and sputtered, a voice she did not recognize began to speak, "Just give up Research Court freak, and we'll make sure you're put down nice and easy." His voice was genuine; he had the tone of someone who believed in what he said and was tired of dealing with this.

How did he speak to her? She's supposed to be on a secure line. Was he a part of the testing?

The man in front began to walk slowly towards her, both of his arms up and to the side as he spoke, "You don't want to meet the boss man. He won't be nice to you if he gets here before you die."

She looked over to her incursion options, none were lit up yet; he would have to come closer. Could she stall? Could she just take him out without her incursions? Her heart rate was extremely fast, she could feel it pump hard in her chest as she gripped tightly onto her controls.

The frame in front of her walked a pace more before stopping and leaned his head to the side; his hands dropping downwards in a questioning stance, "Are you stupid? You mute? Can't those dumbass scientists make one non-fuckup?"

Her scanning radar began to spin back up slowly after it had stopped. It was beginning to pick up his signal. She just needed a few more seconds. She could ask a question, or tell him something to aggravate him. Bait him into an attack?

In a sudden movement he surged forward; drawing the fusion blade into a green slash in front of her, grazing her shoulder and cutting the rocket launcher mounted there in half as she ducked underneath. She fell over as she ducked but planted her arms underneath and used her feet to kick the Frame upwards off and away from her. The Frame's metal plating dented and tore as it took the hit, but he spun once in the air and landed on his feet with a loud thud. Standing tall as if nothing happened. She quickly got up as well, pointing her guns at him. The radar spun back down, it lost his signal. He needs to be closer if she wants to use it.

"You moved so fluidly earlier, where'd that go?" He asked as he took another step towards her.

"You know earlier, we got a report from our training base that another TRC dropship dropped off more Frames for practice hunting," walking towards her and continuing to talk with a tone of bravado in his voice.

"But," he paused, "SOMEHOW," he yelled at her then continued in his normal showy voice, "you little fucks managed to kill three of our best training pilots."

Hah. Training pilots. Like them. Like her.

He again rushed forward with his blade, holding it high for a high cleave but it was a fake out. He quickly uppercut with his left hand instead, hitting her cockpit and leaving a deep dent where he had punched her. It was a quick punch, but it devastated her hull integrity. He either was skilled or lucky, he hit her right in an unmarked weak zone and bypassed her kinetic shielding.

[Reactive Hull Armor Plating: Integrity 71%]

The punch was so hard it knocked even the air out of her lungs. Her head whipped forward past her buckles as she felt the gravity begin to lift. She knew she was airborne. She saw on the monitor the Frame launched the hook at her, it grabbed onto her right arm, crushing it. The violent yank of the grapple hook thrashed her in her seat again, her head thrown forward and backwards again as she smashed her head into her seat.

[Reactive Hull Armor Plating: Integrity 55%]

"I don't know how any of you managed to get this far," he stood over her; lifted his leg and slammed it into her cockpit.

[Reactive Hull Armor Plating: Integrity 48%]

Just a little farther.

"You're worthless," again he lifted his leg and smashed it down.

[Reactive Hull Armor Plating: Integrity 41%]

Almost.

"You wanna die like this? Can't you say anything?" He asked her as he began to charge the power of his fusion blade, holding it over her; the blade pointing right towards the cockpit.

"I'm sorry," she quietly said to him.

[IMMOLATE]

The button flashed green on her monitor. She stalled for long enough.

"What?!" he asked angrily.

She pushed the button.

[System Access Granted // Payload Injected]

She watched as the Frame reeled back the bladed arm and begin to frantically move it's arms. She stood up slowly, catching her breath as she did. She could hear the pilot in the Frame scream in agony on the radio as she watched fire begin to erupt from every joint and crevice of the Frame. The man tried to desperately put out the fires as they appeared and eventually tried to climb out of the Frame, but he had made his decision too late. The generator inside the Frame exploded into a blast of greens and blues. An instant firework that lit up the snowy grounds around her. All that was left of the man were burnt pieces of metal, molten and melting into the snow that quickly hardened in the cold.

"I'm sorry."

Time to find her friends.

Chapter Text

The Wall Pt IV

A pair of hands grabbed out from the darkness towards White Wolf, but for Wren he caught the incoming trail of a laser trail just like his. The blue-green grackle of cylindrical energy beamed past him, he had seen it coming from a mile away. Figuratively speaking. He side stepped it with ease with a quick boosting movement to the side, his gun readied in that direction; finger on the trigger. He had no idea how far away the shooter was, or if they moved from where they shot at but he could only assume they did. He scanned the horizon with viewport, no sense in using the scanners, they were damn near useless in this blizzard.

He held the power output at a steady 90%, he couldn't go higher without risking an overheat since he wasn't firing it immediately. That meant he needed to have his target in his sights for almost a full second, the difference between life and death. The difference between having two brothers and having none.

His comms radio spoke to him in an unfamiliar voice, "Not too bad for a genetic freak. What kinda freak are you, freak?"

Some woman on the other side spoke to him like he was a child. He was, that part maybe true, but he would kill her nonetheless. The mockery in her voice pissed him off more.

"Corvid. What about you? You a freak too?" He asked her, still scanning for her in the darkness.

"Nah, I'm a genuine human, baby. You sound like a baby, how old are you?" She asked him, mocking at first but leading into a more questioning tone as she asked her question.

"I think 14. Maybe 15. I don't know, my Parent keeps track for me." he responded, an unsure truth given; he didn't know why he was even responding to her.

"Yentain above help us all. They can't even send us a proper adult before trying to kill us. What a shame I have to kill you so young," she replied, exhaustion and sadness beginning to seep through her voice.

Another lance of energy beamed from the dark, this time it came at him from the side. He nearly didn't see it this time since he was distracted by their conversation. He jumped forward to avoid it, pointing his rifle in that direction. He did not wait for another reply, he dashed forward to try and find her but she had already moved. He was still alone in the darkness just waiting for the next shot at him.

"Oh wowww! I was kind of trying that time! You know what, you're not too bad kid!" the lady on the other side of the radio said to him, half condescendingly and half praisingly.

"You should see my aim, just stop hiding in the dark," he responded to her, appeasing to her mockery.

"You haven't figured it out yet?" she asked him in the same condescending tone.

"Figured what out?" He retorted back.

"I'm not in the dark. You are," she said in full clarity to him with no mockery.

The whole world was quiet for a moment as Wren figured out finally what was happening. From the opposite side of where he jumped towards, he saw the same blue-green lance of energy burst right above the ground from an invisible origin point. She was see-through the whole damn time. He sprung upwards in the air, flying high above her. He kept his eyes trained on the darkness below him as he readied his next shot and hovered.

[Weapon [90]% Charged.]

"Not funny, kid. Come back here so I can kill you before the leader gets done with your friend." she called out to him.

Not a chance. I see you now. You think your cloaking device and the snowstorm will protect you.

[Weapon [95]% Charged.]

"Trust me kid, you don't wanna meet The Wall. Just show yourself and let me kill you. It's a mercy. Trust me," she continued on, completely unaware of the death overhead.

[Weapon [99]% Charged.]

See ya.

VZ-KATHOOM

The blast of blue-green energy burst from Wren’s rifle. The glowing orb formed at the muzzle before erupting into a perfect cylinder of raw destruction just like it had before. A moment before there was a nearly invisible frame, and now all that's left is the outline of what it would've looked like now burnt into the snow, mud and stone underneath it. He lowered his Frame onto the ground gently, looking down at the remnants of metal and molten scrap. White painted limbs, and a half scrap of a silver sun laid half buried in the snow.

He didn't feel anything for her.

Time to find his friends.

Chapter Text

The Wall Pt V

Kelpie on pure instinct moved her hammer to block whatever item was coming at her, using the broad side of the hammer's head to absorb the blow of the impact as she surged backward away from the threat and from her friends; plummeting into darkness. She wasn't going to wait to see whatever the hell just hit her, she immediately fired off into the dark with her rifle in her right hand as she held the hammer close with her left arm, slinging it over her shoulder. She didn't hear anything get hit, nor did she see any metal sparks or tracer rounds hit metal in front of her so she must not have hit anything. She couldn't anything. That didn't mean she wasn't gonna sit and wait to die. She began to charge up her hammer, hoping the light of it would attract whoever attacked her.

An older sounding man began to speak to her through her comms channel, "Concept design, right? Based on the Cerberus Co "Nova Driver", yeah?"

His voice was gruff like that of a smoker, and age was apparent in the echo of his voice. A Frame walked into the light of the hammer, just barely into her sensors. Same kind of Frames as the ones they fought when they descended from the dropship, except his was white and had some sort of silver sun symbol on the middle of the cockpit. His left hand carried a hammer like hers, except slightly smaller, more rounded, and his didn't emit any light of any kind. In his right hand he held a fusion shield, the physical device was almost like a wrist watch for his Frame but it emitted a bluish-green oval arc of crackling energy that covered nearly half of his body. On his shoulders he carried two large grenade launchers, almost looking more like howitzer cannons than ordinary munitions.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kelpie responded back in confusion as she looked at his Frame.

"Ah, I see. They're just using you for data collecting. You don't actually care about the things you carry, do you? Does that extend beyond your frame and into your soul, abomination?" He asked her calmly, as if he had asked that question a million times before.

"What the hell did you just say to me?" Kelpie asked back, anger rising in her.

"I see. The beast-born is indeed capable of feeling emotions. Better than the last few we've seen." He again placidly continued on.

"Wait, before?" Kelpie asked, confused but still angry.

He began to walk towards her as he spoke, "You think you are the first miscreations given orders to kill us? You are not that special, young one. Though I will admit that you have indeed gotten further than I would have liked. More often than not you degenerate splicers are stopped before they even set foot on the ground." He calmly explained this to her, not an ounce of anger or misdirection.

He hated her so much, and they've never met. She could feel it in the way he talked to her, the names he called her. He was like a villain from a book she had read all the way back at the home lounge. She didn't even hate Supreme or Serenity as much as he hated her. How could he feel this way? She kept her hammer charging as he approached her, readying it for a blast to kill him. Just like that girl from before.

Just like

that

girl….

Out here, it's life or death…

right?

Right. She can't lose any one else, and she can't let some old man who's killed countless of people like her to continue to kill more of them. She will stop him. She will.

"Shut up and let's get this over with," Kelpie said to him as she pulled the trigger on the hammer.

The hammer's head buzzed and crackled with energy, the red core inside the green halo of light pulsed brightly before exploding forward in a cone of energy. A blast of fiery red and green wreathed the entire field in front of her, almost blinding her from the white reflection of light directed back to her. In the flash of light she didn't see the broad side of the enemy's hammer until it was too late. It struck against her side causing her to crash and slide into the ground, scraping away snow and rubble face first. She quickly punched the ground hard enough to bounce her back up, allowing her to sweep her feet and regain her footing.

"You know why it was a concept design, mutant?" The man asked, recovering his hammer from the striking position back to his side as he began to approach her.

She wasn't going to answer, she's had enough of his games. She fired off her grenade launcher directly at him while lifting her left arm up to blast off several rounds of her shotgun slugs aimed right for his cockpit. The man lifted his shield, to absorb the explosion as it hit the crackling dome. The fiery explosion cleanly deflected away from his Frame. A couple slugs hit a some non vital areas of the Frame like his somewhat exposed offhand and shoulder, but several shots were blocked by the device as he moved it to catch the stray rounds.

"The design was flawed. The device could generator enough power to topple megastructures like in your accursed home country of Firdan," he continued on explaining placidly.

As he spoke the cannons on his back lowered, aiming directly for Kelpie. In a coordinated flash, one right after the other, the ends of the of the barrels exploded in blaze. Two explosions rocketed Kelpie from underneath and behind sending her closer to the assailant. He positioned the hammer to his side, reeling back his arm before swiftly crashing it into the side of her hull; sending her careening into the blackness. Yet again she fell and crashed into the ground, sliding and skidding across the ground; her shoulder taking the majority of the damage. Her launcher was completely destroyed from the impact. Both her arms submerged underneath the vast snowdrifts.

Inside the cockpit she grunted, her head pounded from the beating. Thankfully the metal suit around her kept her from being smushed into pieces.

"The wielder needed to be within arms reach of the target they wanted to destroy. That much is obvious, true. It is a hammer after all," he continued to prattle on to her, talking as if he wasn't beating her to a pulp.

He appeared again from the blackness of the storm, his shield giving away his location first before the rest of him appeared. He lazily held the hammer out to his side, the shield the same way.

"The concentration, dexterity, and incredible strength required to wield such a device was rare to come by. Rarer still would a person even with these traits be willing to risk their life and limb with such a reckless weapon that is prone to backfiring," still he continued talking as he approached her.

"Only someone of equal cleverness and heroics, or stupidity and bravery would wield a weapon like that with confidence. Judging by your skill, malform, I would say you are the latter," he finished his speech, holding the hammer above his head; anticipating his deadly strike.

"You talk too much," Kelpie retorted as she uncovered the buried hammer head underneath the snow.

She had charged the hammer underneath the snow embankment, hiding her actions to get him closer. She wasn't stupid, she already knew what the hammer was capable of. Her parent talked to her on the dropship ride over.

Dumbass.

The red eye of the hammer looked into the very soul of the Frame's pilot. Inside the red eye swirled an infinite blackness of hate that imploded into a burst of destruction. Red and Green flame erupted from the hammer's top as she placed it directly onto the symbol of the sun. A deafening BOOM exploded before her and a blinding flash of light blinded her briefly as she held the hammer aloft. When her sight and sensors came back, all that was left of the Frame before her was the hammer he held planted firmly into the ground and scraps of metal littering the half melted snow.

A heavy sigh of relief came from her as she lowered the hammer down, and leaned back into the snowbank. A moment of rest after getting her head knocked around. But not for too long, she needed to get back to her friends. She unburied her legs and stood up, looking around for the way she came back.

Time to find her friends.

Chapter Text

The Wall Pt I

"Just keep moving for now. Use your Nav-Map for now to—" Supreme felt a tingle on the back of her neck, her ears flicked in response; her eyes opened wide.

Danger.

Left.

Closing in, 100 meters.

Six of them.

Too many to take head on.

Hit and Run Diversion Tactic 319?

No.

The Wall is here. Leading from the back. Coward.

The two closest are the most dangerous for now.

I have to take them head on.

It will give my team enough time to close in.

Two incoming explosives. High yield.

Targeting me.

Parryable.

No time to warn brother.

Remove him from the danger zone.

A fraction of a split second of thought, just over eighty milliseconds. She kept track. Without a word she spun around, placing her hands on the ground, and full force kicked Serenity with both legs. This sent him flying backwards towards the rest of the team, as she spun with her legs outstretched like a dancer into a spin to return herself to a standing position. The two explosive shells that soared through the air towards her emerged from the dark; they were nearly half the size she was. Her left hand extended, producing a white blade with a dark black-purple core. The blade was larger at the base; forming into a narrower point at the top, not long enough to be a sword but too long to be a dagger.

Her own special fusion blade. It wasn't made from fusion energy like her peers, but something her Parent called "A.R.M". Axiomatic Reality Model-Material. It didn't matter what is was, what mattered is that it would work. She knew that with a single thought she could change the properties of the blade, from being able to turn the blade into pure fusion-adjacent energy to slice through metal like a gliding fin through calm waters, or turning the blade into an ultra-dense like metal. For this task that's what she decided. The blade felt heavier on her arm as she wrought the idea to life.

She waited with her arm extended behind her, the other arm held out for balance. Once the first shell was within reach she used the broad side of the blade to deflect the shell, redirecting it away from her team and back towards where it came from. The shell turned around in a spin, and as the second massive explosive came near she did the same movement for that one. Two massive explosions of oranges and reds erupted a few hundred yards in front of her. Globs of fiery orange muck sprayed out in every direction, some hurtling directly for her which she quickly and easily sidestepped. Landing on the ground near her. She recognized the contents of the explosives now. Inferno payload. It would've clung onto and burnt her brother alive until there was nothing left had she not deflected it and removed him. Same for the others on her team.

The orange glow from the Inferno payload lit the battlefield of snow. The black sky still looming overhead, the sun completely gone. In the distance two Frames roll forward from the darkness, still half opaque from the raging winter winds. She could see them just fine regardless. Her eyes trained on them both. They both had the same white painted Frames, and the same symbol of the sun on their center hulls. These suns were a golden tone, and reflected the orange glow of the fires near them. They scanned her as they approached, she allowed them to. It didn't matter. They already knew who she was, she knew who they were.

The Frame on the left bore two power knuckles on his arms, occasionally illuminating the indents between the spikes on his knuckles as static discharges between them.

CT-KNX/5000V – Knuckle Extensions, Variant 50000V.

Powerful shock delivery system with integrated armor piercing. Range Limited. Skill limited.

On his shoulders he wore two of the same cluster missile launchers.

CT-MSL/12C – Missile Cluster Series C-12.

Good tracking. Not smart.

The other Frame next to the first had a burst DMR styled rifle in the right hand.

CB-LNC/72R – Lance Precision Rifle, Revision-72.

Scope aiming leaves target vulnerable due to loss of movement.

On the other hand it had several winged drones attached in a circular fashion to a gauntlet, readying to fire one at a moment's notice.

CX-ARG/09R – Argus Drone Package, Revision-09.

Autonomous multiple dispersal drone package designed to eat armor. Slow targeting, and slow travel speeds.

On the back mounts the Frame carried two large, heavy belt fed machine guns with bullets larger than a person.

CB-MAUL/APV35 – Maul Platform, Armor-Piercing Loadout Variant 35.

Heavily limited by munition count. Only a few seconds worth of ammunition on a Frame that small.

Inferno payload not accounted for. Unknown threat still in the dark. Let's make this quick.

"Back again huh, Supreme? Couldn't learn your lesson the first time? Just wanted to see us kill more of your dumbass freak brothers and sisters?" A slightly older man on the comms channel asked her, bravado in his voice; it was the left Frame.

Pilot Name: Milo West

Codename: Temper

Pilot Grade: 8

Extremely Dangerous.

Still susceptible to antagonizing?

"You haven't promoted since we last met, you must have gotten apathetic," Supreme replied calmly.

"You little mother—" he began to retort back in anger before being cut off by his friend.

Check.

"Ohhh, still so feisty. God I love her. I wish we could keep this one. Eh just a little bit. Too bad we still gotta kill her," the other Frame spoke playfully; it was a woman about the same age as the other pilot.

Pilot Name: Via Ray

Codename: Ricochet

Pilot Grade: 7

Extremely Dangerous. Not as much as the first.

Still susceptible to flattery?

"Ricochet, you on the other hand have gotten a new weapon and a new rank, I can't wait to see how much you've improved since we've last met," Supreme placidly responded to her.

The woman responded, "Awww, you really know how to make a girl blush, you know that?"

Check.

"The fucking freak remembered your name. Great. Can we get started killing her now?" The man asked the Frame to his left, turning slightly over to and throwing his hands slightly up in frustration.

"Aw, I guess so. Sorry honey, I wish I could keep you around but orders are orders!" The woman cheerfully chirped over the radio.

Her face remained neutral the entire time she spoke to them, her eyes only focused on the two in front of her but keeping her senses open for anything that may come near her. She gripped her controls firmly, but not overly tight to restrict blood flow. She will not let anything stand in her way that would threaten her odds of survival, or her teams. She had learned her lesson the first time. Her blade was readied at her side; she thought of running her finger through a still lake and how it cut and rippled the lake. The blade shimmered slightly, and became lighter in her hand. She will kill them.

Temper shot forward towards Supreme, arching the Frame's arm backward to deliver a massive punch to Supreme; at the same time he shot off several missiles from the top of his missiles. A dozen missiles rocketed up and past him, all headed right for Supreme as they bundled up and twirled together in the air leaving a trail of black smoke behind them. As Temper darted forward Ricochet slid to the side and began to hold up her DMR, aiming down the scope towards Supreme. Rather than move backwards, Supreme dashed forward and ducked low underneath the incoming swarm of missiles; they began to turn around in response, trying to follow her.

Supreme came within arms reach of Temper who she could tell prepared for a longer jump, expecting her to jump backwards. She bounced upwards from her low stance, grabbing onto the back of Temper and kicking him into the swarm of missiles that were headed for her. A dozen explosions turned to almost a hundred in a split second as the missiles came into contact with him. He disappeared briefly behind the orb of yellow and white atmosphere before landing on the ground underneath, metal panels glowing hot from the heat. Many of his armor panels were destroyed, but he wasn't done just quite yet. Supreme continued her descent downwards, facing Ricochet.

As she turned to face Ricochet, she could see the end of the rifle begin to light up as the first of the five round burst began to fire. She twisted her Frame gracefully midair like a dancer, avoiding the shots by a large area. As she finished her twist and landed on the ground, Ricochet began to aim for another shot.

Mistake.

Supreme pounced on her, leaping high above her and landing directly on top of her. Her feet smashed into the cockpit of Ricochet, and she immediately was crushed into the ground forming a crater in the snow and stone. With no time to waste, Supreme quickly brandished the blade to plunge into Ricochet.

Inferno payload incoming.

She back-flipped off of the toppled Frame, jumping over the large shell. Upside down she looked downwards toward the lying Frame, which now began to aim the shoulder mounted heavy machine guns. She used her free hand to gently push the shell downwards, aiming it for Ricochet as she laid there. The shell began the slow descent towards the doomed woman as Supreme vaulted away, over the remaining fires already present. She turned towards Temper as the explosion behind her roared. She waited for a second, and without looking she blasted the stun launcher on her shoulder which created a dome of static discharge which blew away the incoming Inferno chemicals that would've landed on her. Her eyes fixed on Temper, as he scrambled to get back up onto his feet.

"You're gonna pay for that bitch!" He screamed over the channel as he erupted forward with the full strength of his boosters, orange light blasting behind him from the fire that roared and melted the whipping snow.

Her blade was readied, she stood still. He was blinded by anger, but she was calm. A single calm and collected breath as her shoulders tensed and released, watching the moribund Frame storm towards her. Temper held out both arms, his knuckles crackling nonstop in huge blue arcs of electricity that whipped out and snapped at anything the knuckles came near; including himself. The metal now misshapen and burnt from the explosives began to pop and crack further as the knuckles surged with power. Both hands reeled back to give a double punch to Supreme, arching back as far as he could. Had it landed, Supreme would've exploded from the impact. Turned into a red mist of metal and blood.

But it didn't land.

As Temper arched back his fists, he hadn't even realized Supreme had moved. It was so subtle that his anger had blinded him, he only saw the big picture of her Frame. He hadn't noticed the blade she held behind her back moved to the front, piercing the cockpit. It wasn't until the white light broke through the walls of his safe house did he realize anything was wrong. By then it was far too late, his inertia was too heavy. He couldn't burst back, he couldn't move to the side. He just watched the rippling blade slowly creep towards him, edging closer and closer until there was nothing but whiteness. Then nothing at all.

Supreme had more than enough time to position her blade, she extended her arm like a fencer to pierce through the cockpit's walls before he could reach her; ensuring her own safety. This would kill the pilot inside, and it would keep the generator housed just below the seat from exploding as well. The Frame in front of her quickly fell limply as it slid downwards off the blade, the white and black-purple blade melting through the armor and metal with absolute ease. The Frame laid splayed open on the snowy ground; inside the cockpit she could see the bottom half of the man still sat in the chair, hands still gripped on the controls. She turned away from the fool, facing the way towards the rest of her team's locations.

Time to find her team and finish this.

Chapter Text

The Wall Pt VI

Precursor watched the team fight the various Frames that faced them, taking careful not of each as they finished their tasks. She was delighted with Supreme, but that was expected. She was marked as a successful subject. Serenity was a disappointment, the only saving grace was his sister. He shared the same qualities that she did but he did not utilize them. He was internally logged for rehabilitation, and as a retest optional. She was pleased with both Kelpie and Wren, though they could have performed better according to their tests and training. Granted, she was aware that during operational field tests; scores should be expected to be lower. Both of them were marked as successful subjects.

White Wolf was an unexpected and uncertain case. According to her meta-data she should be more than capable than even Supreme, and she showed great aptitude in training and testing. Her gifts proved useful during non-Frame missions and her DNA-written predispositions made her excel at Frame combat in simulations and training. But here, she has shown both outstanding, and lower than sub-par performance in such a small amount of time. Not only that, but a disobedience in following her optional objective. She would wait to mark White Wolf as a passed or failed subject, there was still something to come for her to prove herself.

She watched from outside the misty black dome, her eyes glowing blue as she stared unblinking into the miles wide dark arena.

A.R.M Singularity Cage.

Stargazer, always the egoist. Wanting to make a dramatic scene.

[RESEARCH LOG UPDATED]

Chapter Text

The Wall Pt VII

"D—ou—me? Co—in—aed me?—"

"He— llo?—mmit—looo?—uck!—"

"Co— Any— ere?— alk to— me in—"

"preme— re you— ation— now—"

White Wolf heard the half sentences of her teammates on the radio, none of the distinct or clear. The radio went quiet soon after the last squabble of quarter words from her teammates, she wasn't sure if the signal was lost or they had died. She hoped for the former. Her scanner still only barely worked in the darkness and raging tundra winds. The sky overhead was completely black, the sun was gone entirely but it was barely into the afternoon. She didn't have time to think about it for now, she had to find her team and make sure they were okay first before she wondered why the sun disappeared. She rolled through the snowstorm, trying to find any remnants of battles or or enemy Frames or even a hill or rock she recognized. Anything to point her in the right direction. Her scanner began to spin, and she saw the outline of something in front of her begin to take shape. The scan beginning on it's own.

In front of her was a massive Frame, twice her size and just as wide. It spun around quicker than she anticipated, it was huge but it was fast too. The Frame had huge shoulders the bulged out to hold thrusters, and two large conical cannons in front that spun around a glowing core of pulsating crimson red light. The arms that were attached to the shoulders were nearly as large as she was, the left hand held onto a huge mortar rocket with a big bucket on top colored in red and white with a yellow warning sign and a fire symbol haphazardly painted on the side of the large flat surface. The right hand held nothing, but it was held up, pointing at her. The legs were shaped like hers but stubbier, they too were double jointed with the planted part of the legs stretching backwards.

"You," was all she heard from the other side of the radio as it groaned to life.

Talking to her from the other side was a man, older but not old enough for his voice to crack or crumble in age. It was deep, almost impossibly so. His voice made the comms box rattle in response to his word. Her scan finished and she could see the pilot's information.

[PILOT INFORMATION]

[Pilot Name: [ALIAS NOT GIVEN] ]

[Codename: [THE WALL] ]

[Pilot Grade: [MAX GRADE//15] ]

She was stunned. This was The Wall. He was so much more experienced than she was. He was so much bigger than she was. She was alone for this too. She was going to die. No. She will hold out until her friends arrive. She has to.

The Wall after grabbing her attention, lowered his hand and talked in the same impossibly deep voice, "die."

He leapt backwards as he aimed his arm at her, firing off two of the Inferno shells at her and disappearing from sight into the blackness. White Wolf could've used her shoulder launcher to hit the projectiles in the air but it was destroyed in the previous fight, she would have to avoid the explosion and the ensuing fiery aftermath. She jetted into the wind diagonally towards The Wall, covering some distance but not heading directly for him. She held up her rifle and her sub-machine gun to begin firing at him, laying as much suppressing fire into the spot where he vanished. She lunged forward a controlled mid-distance keeping her feet on the ground the entire time in case she needed to dodge another attack.

From the darkness the deep red lights above her quickly grew from dim to a bright searing red as she saw the two conical cannons spin incredibly fast. She didn't know if dodging backwards would be enough, but he was too far ahead to dodge behind. Up was all she could do. She ducked low then tore upwards into the sky above him, narrowly avoiding the double wide cone of red lightning underneath that wreathed destruction in front of him. The snow blasting away and obliterating even the air itself, leaving nothing but an empty blackness for a split moment before wind and snow reoccupied the space in time.

A single attack from that and her Frame would be destroyed; even if she were at full hull integrity.

[Reactive Hull Armor Plating: Integrity 41%]

As she leapt up she could see flashes of white light off to the side in the distance. They were infrequent, fast, and scattered but never at the same time. Distracted, she didn't notice until turning back slightly that The Wall had positioned himself right underneath her. His devastator cannons ripping up for another shot, pointing upwards at her. She was already falling, the fastest route was down. She swiveled in the air quickly, and speared into the ground; ducking underneath the bursting cone of deathly red energy just barely above her. Her arm and knee planted into the ground, cratering the snow and stone.

[Reactive Hull Armor Plating: Integrity 37%]

Hit the ground a little too hard, better than dying. Move, now.

Without looking she dove between the legs of the stubby giant, the loud crashing crack of stone smashing behind as she leapt forward. Turning back she saw he had bent down to smash her with his free hand, but now his back was turned to her. Leaning forward from her hands and butt she crouched and jumped towards the back of the giant monster in front of her. Her radar was already spinning, she just needed to bide a little more time to send in an incursion and end this. He was smart, as she leapt off the ground and just moments before she grabbed onto the back of his Frame his shoulder boosters backfired full blast sending her backwards into the darkness. Her burning Frame sent spinning and careening well away from the monster and she crashed into the ground, metal screeching against stone and a final loud metallic snap as she slammed into a snow covered boulder.

[Reactive Hull Armor Plating: Integrity 12%]

A throbbing headache as she laid on her chair inside the cockpit.

Why can't I move? Or open my eyes?

She could hardly open her eyes from the pain in her head, it felt like they might fall out or explode if she used them.

Is this what dying is like?

Her ears rang and pounded, she could hear the blood inside her head fill up the walls of her head.

It hurts…

Her bones ached, and her lungs felt like they'd been beaten with a hammer.

I'm scared…

Cold air filled her lungs.

I just wish that…

Air from outside began to pour in as she could begin to see snowflakes start to drift inside from holes and dents from the metal panels that were barely keeping her Frame together.

Kelpie was here.

Chapter Text

The Wall Pt VIII

He didn't even need to turn around. He knew exactly what would happen.

The damned children never learn from the previous attempts. They always think if you have your back to them, that you're defenseless. But you can't ever be defenseless. Ever.

His boosters full throttle blasted backwards, his feet planted firmly on the ground to ensure the full impact on the Frame approaching from behind.

You don't live this long in Axiom if you're defenseless. Somehow they never get that story. Maybe those Research Court scientists just like to see their experiments fail. Maybe they enjoy watching their creations grow up just to suffer. They're always coming up with new to make our lives "better". New ways to torture us and make us pay for it with money or blood. "Better" lives for humanity.

What a load a horseshit.

He turned around to face the Frame as it spun into the darkness, listening to the crash and scrape, and the final clatter of metal on stone.

It's just an excuse to create mayhem and destruction at the expense of others. It's always a game to them, and they're never the ones to pay the price. Normal people forced to go to extremes just to live their lives, just to find something in life that doesn't undermine or kill them, just to find one damn thing in our miserable existences that isn't touched by their grubby fucking fingers. I'd love to get my hands on those fuck-headed bastards who keep sending us these poor runts. They are just kids after all. They don't deserve this shit. But they just keep sending them. I hate doing this. But it's us or them.

He approached the Frame. Beginning to scan it. He wanted to know who was in it. He remembered everyone he met.

White Wolf. It's just a girl. Barely older than twelve or thirteen from the looks of it. I'm sorry girl. You didn't deserve this.

He lowered his shoulders to allow his cannons to face her, the core glowing brighter and the front rotator fan spinning up.

I pray Yentain, Mother above take your soul to heaven. May she forgive me and my team as well.

Chapter Text

The Wall Pt IX

A flash of white light, and the sound of something close to a whisper was all that could be heard for a single instant. The Wall stumbled backwards, his Frame losing all balance as it fell on it's back. His cockpit was sliced open from top to bottom, eviscerated like a hunted animal. The lights on his shoulders faded slowly as the ramping engines sputtered to a stop. Both arms were outstretched, to his side laying flat now flattened against the snow. The lights that lit up the Frame died quietly, fading out and no longer illuminating the snow as it fell down on top of it; the metal panels quickly growing cold in the tundra storm.

In front of where the giant once stood was another Frame about half its size. It was colored a deep purple, and had blue flecks of paint scattered across it. It was a slender built Frame, with two arms and two legs; each limb colored black underneath. The legs were shaped more humanoid than the others around it, bipedal and not double jointed. The arms were slightly longer than normal and both held shimmering white blade with black-purple cores; gripped in seven fingered hands. On the shoulder resided a large rectangular cannon that was pointed upwards and retracted into the spine of the Frame. On the other shoulder was a high grade radar, with an orb on top made up of a hundred flat faces rather than a standard rotating dish.

The Frame turned around towards the Frame on the ground that rested against the broken boulder, and knelt down. The fingers let go of the knives and they disappeared with a flash of white. It rested a hand on the cockpit briefly before prying the hatch open, and peering inside.

Still alive. Three girls, Two boys.

The Frame closed the hatch with its left hand. In a flash of white, a small, twin-winged drone with circular fans at its center appeared in its right. It blinked twice with a small light on top, and hummed to life as it began to hover and scan the target in front of it. Once it finished after a second, underneath the drone it deployed a small welding torch and began to seal up holes and place small patches of metal. The purple and blue frame stood up briefly, as it scanned the area around it.

Nobody left. TRC synth-human gone. She got her data.

It looked back down at her, waiting for the drone to finish.

The Wall couldn't understand one simple rule:

Know your enemy, until they're not.

Chapter Text

The Wall Pt X

[OBJECTIVES]

• Descend into Deployment Zone [COMPLETED]

• Eliminate The Wall [COMPLETED]

• Extract at Extraction Zone [COMPLETED]

• Optional Objective: Destroy Enemy Frame Manufacturing Facility [F/A/I/L/E/D]

• [ERRATA]

• Optional Objective: [COMPLETED]

  • OBJECTIVE NOTE: [ERRATA]

  • [ERRATA]

Chapter Text

Missed You

Muffled murmurs and indistinguishable noises, echoes that traveled for miles and quick percussive slams that rang her eardrums.

Did I die?

Blurry, groggy whites and grays forming blobs and voids moved into and out of range to see; occluded by a blinding white light centered in the middle of her vision.

What happened to Kelpie?

She felt, nothing. Her arms and legs were gone. Her body was gone. She was only a head floating through space. She could only barely feel her tongue move within her mouth, trying to form a word she had no plan for. The floating oblong bubbles of greys eventually took shape of ugly rectangles, bent out of shape. She didn't like them.

Can I go back?

Whenever they came around she was in a bad mood. Eventually those rectangles took form and she could see the outlines of people, their arms, their legs. None of them were people she wanted to see. Their faces were blank, or sometimes had her own horrid face.

I miss her…

Sleep came and went, some longer than others. This one felt longer. When she awoke the grogginess and blurry vision that had plagued her had gone away with a few blinks. She could finally see for the first time in who knows how long. Her body was still sort of numb, but as she looked around she could see her body was still attached to her head. A small sigh of relief fled her lungs. The taste of the stale clean air of home made her pause in her movement as she began to wrestle to get up. She was back in her room. She looked around the room, and the first thing she noticed was the giant girl next to her, sitting on her bed looking at her. Kelpie looked down at her, her eyes beginning to sparkle in realization as White Wolf began to stir. Kelpie quickly put down the book she had in her hands; triangular jigsaw teeth showed through her lips as they parted in a wide open smile as she bent down to grab onto her.

She squealed in excitement as she held on and picked up White Wolf from her bed, "You— you're awake!"

White Wolf was still numb but a pain surged through her arm and she quickly inhaled a pained gasp through clenched teeth, Kelpie quickly released her and apologized; setting her down in a mostly upright position. White Wolf just looked up at her with groggy eyes, and fell into her; closing her eyes. Her head laid on her chest, and she slowly wrapped her arms around Kelpie without strength; letting them fall after she moved them.

"…missed you," White Wolf mumbled out weakly.

"I missed you too," she responded back as she wrapped her arms around White Wolf.

White Wolf fell back asleep in the warmth.

Chapter Text

Someone to Be There

White Wolf woke back up on her bed again, her head still hazy and tiredness in her body but she felt better than before; like she could actually use her body. It was dark in the room, and as she looked around she saw Kelpie was still sitting at the end of her bed. Her head was propped up by her hand, the book still open in the other. She looked to the left and right. Wren was asleep in his bed, covered completely except for his forehead and hair. Serenity's bed was empty of his sheets and pillow. Supreme was asleep with her arms to her side uncovered, as though she were in a coffin. White Wolf looked back to Kelpie, and crawled over to her to sit next to her. She tapped her on the shoulder to wake her, and Kelpie's head began to raise up and shake awake. Mumbling a quiet "huh" and "hmm".

"Oh, hey you're awake!" Kelpie whispered loudly, gradually getting quieter as she realized how loud she was.

White Wolf smiled back at her and nodded, replying back in a quiet whisper, "Sorry I fell asleep earlier."

"Nah, what's a couple more hours after a few days," she replied as if what she said wasn't important.

A few days? What did that mean? How long was a few days? Two? Six? Fifteen? Was…. she there the whole time?

"h—how long was I sleeping?" White Wolf whispered questioningly.

"Three days, and some of today would be like, four?"

"Were you… with me the whole time?" White Wolf asked, looking away as she did so; her face flushed with embarrassment.

"Of course I was. I mean Wren was here too, and Supreme…. kinda in her own way," she tossed the idea for Supreme halfway out there as she said it, not sure if she agreed with it or not as she said it.

"O—oh okay…" White Wolf wasn't sure of the message behind the response, but she was glad Kelpie was there regardless.

It's just the two of you. Tell her how you feel. You can do this.

"Um… Kelpie?" White Wolf asked hesitantly.

"What's up?" she whispered back in response, giving her full attention.

Even in the dim light White Wolf could see her bright blue eyes reflect in the glow of the clock's light and the light of the side rooms. Her heart raced, beating hard; her fingertips growing cold again. Numbness coming back from her mini coma. Maybe dying wouldn't be so bad as an alternative.

"I...I—I like you." she finally stumbled out in a mumble that was barely comprehendible.

Kelpie smiled and pinched her cheek, "Cute. I was wondering when you would tell me."

What.

"Oh come on don't give me that look. I've seen the puppy dog eyes you've been giving me that last couple months; and no it's not because of your Codex," she explained with a smile on her face, continuing on, "I just figured you'd either get over it, or you'd tell me."

"I—I… I…" White Wolf stuttered out, not able to get out any words.

"Oh man, my sister will love you. Speaking of, while you were out I was talking to my Parent, and yours and since we both passed our tests and both did our optional objectives we could switch out to a new room if we wanted. I was thinking of going back to my sister's, and I wanted you to come with me," Kelpie casually explained to her.

What.

"Uh... I… I mean…" White Wolf stumbled in a whisper as she nearly choked on her own breath.

"It's alright you can take some time to think—"

"I wanna go with you," White Wolf said in a loud whisper, in probably the clearest words she has ever spoken.

Kelpie paused mid sentence, her mouth slightly open in shock for a brief moment. She closed it, and made a non-toothy smile at her. "Well alright then, we can go tomorrow after training."

She began to get up, but White Wolf gently grabbed her wrist while looking up at her. Kelpie looked over at her, and White Wolf slid back to the top of the bed. Kelpie shrugged and crawled up next to her, allowing White Wolf to put the blanket over her as she snuggled next to her forming a ball.

"You read one of the romance novels, didn't you?" Kelpie asked her quietly as she closed her eyes and smiled.

"Secret," White Wolf replied in a whisper as she smiled and closed her eyes, falling asleep in the ball she made.

Before she fell asleep, she inhaled one last time through her nose. The girl next to her smelt like a hundred rows of fruit covered in honey; so shamelessly sweet. She was incredibly happy, and that made her happy too. Her smile only grew wider as her eyelids fell heavier.

Chapter Text

Stargazer

Red lights broke the darkness, and the same wail of the buzzers panic so long ago forced White Wolf awake. This alarm felt worse, the buzzer was louder and screamed with more ire and horror. Her eyes shot open, darting across the room; scanning for the threat that awoke her. The haze of red revealed in bursts of light Wren who had whipped the blanket off of him and began to grab his shoes, and Supreme who was already approaching the door as it slid open. Kelpie and White Wolf both quickly threw themselves off the bed, grabbing their shoes as well before hurriedly following behind Wren to the door. The Parents at the door were ordering them to follow them just as they had before, but White Wolf recognized one as her own: RCS-1489. There were three guards behind them, still holding rifles indirectly towards them.

The other Parent motioned the other children towards the hallway, but hers opened his hand for her; his palm faced up expectantly. She knew she had to take it, and she did so begrudgingly. He passively drug her along as they followed behind the group, the guards following behind them. In the far distance she could hear an explosion, and screaming of adults and children alike. Even from this distance the sound chilled her to the bone. Groups of children and Parents with guards walked both ways down the hallway, some faster than others, and some larger or smaller. The windows as they passed by were not shut down like they had been previously, and she could see inside them. So many of the rooms were just like hers, just different amounts of beds and children.

RCS-1489 leaned down and spoke to her in secret, "We must flee this base, this is not a lockdown. This is an evacuation procedure. You are my priority, but I am to take the others as well. Be thankful for this."

Her heart dropped as he said this.

Evacuate? Does that mean she gets to leave this place for good? Does she have to go somewhere else just like this?

Her heart skipped a beat. That thought scared her.

"RCS-3430B, turn left at this intersection for our designated room," her Parent called out to the one in front.

He glanced back and nodded once, producing a thumbs up as he did. He looked forward and began to pass through the intersection. White Wolf saw Kelpie's attention grabbed by something in the far distance, far down the right path of the intersection. She stopped walking to peer over the other children, squinting hard at something.

"Hey! That's my sister!" Kelpie announced as she pointed over.

White Wolf couldn't see over the other children, there were too many others in the way and too many heads moving in front of her to see who she was pointing to. The flashing red lights made it only harder to see past the commotion.

"Do not worry about that one child, she is being moved to another facility. Now move," The Parent in front demanded to her as he turned around to face her, pointing in the opposite direction.

The guards behind her stirred, their rifles uneasily began to rise up.

"I'm not leaving her behind!" Kelpie yelled at the Parent, her face barely inches away his.

Supreme yelled at Kelpie sternly, "Kelpie! You'll have the chance later to see her, do not get yourself killed now!"

The guards raised their guns at Kelpie, White Wolf could see their fingers hovering just over the trigger. Kelpie looked over to White Wolf, then to the guards and back to White Wolf. Her face was hard to read. White Wolf focused, and inhaled through her nose. Bitterness. Saltiness. Sadness. Regret. Same as before. A hundred times worse.

I understand.

White Wolf clenched hard to her Parent's hand, using it as a grapple point as she yanked him down to propel herself up. She kicked upwards into the first guard's head denting the helmet he had, knocking it into the second creating another crater of impact; both of them getting knocked down from the impact. She let go of the hand and grabbed onto the third guard's head, her legs cradling his neck as she squeezed it hard until she heard a popping sound. All three guards were dead within seconds.

Just as her feet landed on the ground another explosion erupted from down the hallway from where they had come from. She heard cries of children and adults as the flames crackled and she felt the heat roll on her back. The adults in front of her were knocked down from the explosion, Supreme, Wren, and Kelpie stayed upright. White Wolf looked at Kelpie who met her gaze. Kelpie reached out to take her hand but RCS-1489 stood up quickly, and slammed a small dart into the back of White Wolf. He pressed it into her back, and White Wolf could feel inside her body her bones twist and her muscle ache in catastrophe. Her head immediately felt light, and her eyes were tired. Her body felt limp, and numb. Her head slammed into the ground.

"Go," White Wolf wordlessly said, still looking at Kelpie.

She could see Kelpie look back once toward her sister, then back at her. She glanced up at the Parent that was still getting his bearings and beginning to stand in front of her.

Please just go.

She could see Kelpie hesitantly back up, looking at White Wolf through the gaps in his limbs as he walked forward.

Please…

Kelpie shook her head, reeling back her arm to punch RCS-1489.

No…

Faster than she was, he pulled his pistol from his belt and shot at her. He wasn't quicker than Wren was. The corvid kid jumped forward to deliver a double kick into the arm of his pistol holding hand. The pistol flew away from him as Wren pulled Kelpie along, yelling and begging her to just go.

Thank you… Wren.

White Wolf watched with heavy eyelids as she disappeared into the crowd of people. She only focused on Kelpie. Kelpie looked back a couple more times before she was gone for good. She couldn't move her body; somebody moved it for her. Her head rolled onto its back, and she looked upwards to the ceiling. The panels were falling apart, and fire was spreading down the hallway from where they ran originally. She couldn't feel the heat. She couldn't feel anything at all. But she was happy Kelpie was okay.

Perching over her, was Supreme. She bent down to pick her up, throwing her shoulder over her. White Wolf's head hung low, all she could see was the floor and the legs that carried her as hers dragged behind. Her Parent's grey jumpsuit following her closely.

She could hear Supreme whisper in her ear, "Hope your crush was worth being sent to rehabilitation. You're lucky I'm vouching for you otherwise you would be dead right now."

Her eyes fell heavier, and the world drowned away.

I'll miss you.

Chapter Text

Remembrance, Future.

Now a lot older, White Wolf sat on a metal beam high above the interior walls of a massive dropship floating above a world she was allegedly prophesied to save: Axiom. She looked down at a group of people she would call her family. A bunch of outcasts and misfits in a bad situation just like her; sharing the same "prophecy" she did. If that even mattered anymore.

She cared for them, even if she was bad at showing it.

She had time to herself, and while she preferred it that way; sometimes she thought of things she would rather not. She was full of self-doubt, harshly critical of herself, and worst of all talking was still so damn difficult. Finding friends shouldn't have happened. Finding love? She wouldn't count on it. She's not even interested anymore. That's what she tells herself at least.

Ever since the day Stargazer destroyed her home, she never felt the same. She lost the one person she wanted to grow old with. That person she wanted to sit next to on some old wooden chairs as the sun wrapped them in warmth, until they both passed on peacefully onto whatever came next for them. She was young, yes—perhaps too young to truly understand what love meant. Most likely, she still didn’t know even now. But it had been her first encounter, nonetheless. She wouldn't forget it.

It still haunted her.

She never got to see Kelpie again, and she never got to meet her sister. She probably would've liked her.

END

Chapter Text

// Epilogue //

I hope you enjoyed this story, it was my first!! I worked very hard into making this, and any support is appreciated! This is one of several "short" stories about characters that will play major roles in a longer format book I have planned in the future!

Who or what is Stargazer?

Who is The Stranger?

What is the prophecy?

So many questions to be answered!

Many of them answered in my long book!

Many more great things to come, and not all of them will end so bittersweet, I promise!

More White Wolf in the future!

More Axiom Narratives!

With love, SunlessKnight <3

Chapter Text

Remembered

Faint moonlight poured into the small dormitory-like room, casting pale light onto the metal floor partially covered by a ruffled pink rug. Sat on the rug was White Wolf, her legs crossed and her back laid against the lower portion of her bed, her blanket loosely wrapped around the top half of her; the other portion still laid on the bed. Her hands cradled the small grey box, her thumb slowly grazing the etched words on top. She was tired, the bags under her eyes plainly told her company so. Though, she had something to do tonight.

One more time.

She closed her eyes, the welling tear falling down her cheek as she did. Behind her eyelids, she tried to remember her friend. She could see the outline of her figure; the tall girl that looked over her, that cared for her. The details were blurry, the outline grainy. One thing remained through it all.

Well, two things remained.

The girl's smile. Toothy and triangular. The first one she was ever given.

And the feeling of warmth in her heart from long ago, knowing someone was truly there for her.

I wish I could remember you better.

How you sounded.

What you laughed at.

What you looked like.

…

Maybe it's okay I don't remember.

I have friends now.

I remember that's what you wanted for me.

I'll be a good friend like you were to me.

I have to be.

She fell asleep with the box in her hands, still cradled in tenderness. In time it would find a new home on her shelf.

One day in the far future, the dream she had when she was younger would come true. The two of them would sit on a rocking chair, and watch the sunset; wrapped in a warm blanket.