bindsthedead

PSL

There was a time when Sabriel might have been eager to see the inside of Cyberlife Tower. Her class had been to Detroit when she was thirteen, and they'd toured an android factory- or the part of it they showed to tourists, at least- and visited museums and art galleries and all the sorts of things Young Ladies ought to see, but weren't available in the small town of Wyverley, or in Bain.

But Sabriel wasn't here for a school trip. Recent events in Ancelstierre meant that with the sudden loss of all android soldiers meant that soldiers from the entirely human garrison at the Wall had been transferred elsewhere- which meant fewer soldiers watching the border, on top of the losses from Kerrigor's attack, and a necromancer had slipped across, making his way to the largest city that was close enough to the Wall that magic still worked- one that seemed rather different than how she remembered it.

But what was occupying most of her attention was the Cyberlife representative in front of her. Sabriel listened politely as the woman spoke about malfunctioning machines and simulated emotions and how things that weren't alive couldn't die, so why would a necromancer- and from the woman's voice it was clear she didn't believe such things were real- want with deactivated androids?

Sabriel stood up and shook the woman's hand, telling her she'd been very helpful without meaning a word of it, and headed out the office before pausing.

She sensed something ominously familiar- Death, and a recent one at that. She turned another corner, following the sensation as a hound tracked a scent, half-expecting someone to spot her, to see her in her armor and bells (security had made her check her sword at the front desk) and tell her she wasn't allowed to be here.

But no one came, and no one living was in the laboratory she went into- just a dead- (deactivated?) android on a table-or its head and torso at least, with panels on its chest removed to reveal tubes and biocomponents, and Sabriel felt she'd stepped into a morgue and found an autopsied body.

Sabriel was seized by a sudden impulse. If androids weren't alive, then she'd simply waste some time, but if they were... well, she'd have a source of information she could interrogate as she would any Dead spirit. And unlike the representative she'd just spoken to, she could force it to answer honestly and completely.

Decision made, Sabriel undid the straps and drew Saraneth from the bandolier. This far from the Wall, stepping into Death took a deliberate effort, but soon Sabriel was in the First precinct and she cast around with her senses, trying to feel out the spirit of the android- if it had one, it couldn't have gone beyond the First Gate, and probably shouldn't be that far into the the First Precinct.

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"I see." Sabriel's voice is hollow.

She can understand the reasoning. They have more important things to do than save people who are their enemies, even if they aren't a threat. But it's a struggle not to react every time she feels the phantom sensation of gunshots, of blood seeping from wounds. Quick deaths, but still.

"So what is worth our time?" Sabriel's tense, and she can't quite stop herself from wincing a little every time she feels another death. "I've locked the door with the most powerful spell I know. Unless there's another way in, we won't have any more visitors. What else do we need to do?"

She's locked the door. Connor's pace stops, and he turns to face her properly.

That's good--it's what he'd suspected, but hadn't known for sure.

What now? ... If there is another access tunnel, the humans will already know about it, and they'll try to use it. Even if there isn't, the humans won't be content with just waiting them out.

"We need to make sure there's no other way in," he says out loud. That's what he'd been about to do. He looks back down the hall the way he'd come. Then he looks back to her, sidelong. "Do we need to perform last rites for our safety?"

Humans aren't dangerous because they don't have a soul--they're dangerous because they hate his people, and there's too many of them. If the bodies in the solid waste yards are dangerous are a revival hazard, then...

Sabriel hesitates for a moment, then reaches out with her death sense. The only spirits near the border between Life and Death are the recently deceased, and her sense of them is fading- none of them are fighting the current.

"I don't feel anything trying to get into Life, so it's not urgent unless they're bringing the necromancer with them- and the final rites are a cremation spell. I'm not sure how well this lab is ventilated." The last thing she needs is to suffocate herself.

"So make sure there's no other way in," She repeats. "And what about Connor? Did he agree to- a truce at least?"

Cremation could be more dangerous than leaving the bodies alone, depending on the process. (Particularly for Abhorsen, and--that's not negligible. Not now. Not--)

Connor sets that aside before the thought can finish, nodding.

"He agreed," Connor says evenly. Despite his tone, his eyes flash flintily, even as it fades as fast as it came. "He's willing to fight the humans, but we didn't discuss how."

"You should- probably be the ones deciding that. I'm not a soldier, and Abhorsen's purpose is to fight the Dead, not the living." But she doesn't have a choice now. Knowingly or unknowingly, these people are working with a necromancer.

But if Connor- the other Connor- she can't keep calling both of them Connor, can she- has agreed to the truce, then she doesn't need to worry about hiding from him or being forced to fight him in self-defense.

So with a nod, she moves past him, further into the lab, trying to ignore the unpleasant sensation of recent death.

Connor makes a sound of assent, dipping his chin in a single nod back. There's a lot he could say--mostly about how the humans above won't care what her 'purpose' is if they see her down here--but he refrains. They aren't words that need to be said, not when they're already hanging in the air on their own.

She steps away, moving past him. He watches her for a second or two more, before turning away also, starting to walk again.

The main room of the laboratory sinks down a few steps from the entryway: an open floor with space sectioned off for parts storage, machinery, and a wide array of consoles and lab tables. At present, it also contains eight insensate human forms.

By the time Abhorsen steps into the room, six have been haloed in their own red blood.

The security guards were the natural first priority. From there, Connor began a circuit through the room: taking out the programmers slumped over at their desks, and the technicians who'd collapsed mid-transit. Their Cyberlife apparel doesn't bother him nearly as much as he'd expected. It's almost calming, on the contrary: the neat, steady precision of removing one potential hazard at a time.

(The vivid jerking of the bodies. The bright stains they leave behind.) Connor thinks he prefers the weight of his handguns, but sticks with the rifle for now; better not to waste ammunition he might need on corpses.

He's just made his way to Technician #5 when the door at the far side opens. There's only two people it could be, and Connor isn't entirely surprised to see this one enter the room alone. His LED blinks steady blue as he looks up at her, eyes narrowed.

"Abhorsen," he greets—before depressing the trigger on the sleeping human at his feet.

Sabriel tries to suppress her flinch at the gunshot, but at least this death passes quickly. She tries very hard not to look at the last surviving technician, even as her steps bring her between him and Connor.

"Connor." There's a lot of things she wants to say- but right now isn't the time for it. They need to make sure there's no other way into the lab, and no threats lurking further in.

"I sealed off the way we came in. Do you know if there are any other entrances I need to close off?"

There's so much she wants to ask. But she doesn't have the right to ask, or the time to. She needs to keep things practical, even if what she wants is to apologize, or ask him to stop killing people.

Oh, Connor notices the flinch. He notices her footsteps too: the hurried, unsubtle rush to place herself between him and the human. Connor's eyebrows lift slightly. So does the barrel of his rifle, trajectory hovering at the midway point between them as he paces, circling to the side.

"There weren't any saved in the security blueprints. Though I suppose it's possible they kept those off the plans deliberately."

Unlikely, but possible.

"So what's in the rest of the labratory, according to the blueprints?" Sabriel matches his movements, keeping herself between him and the technician. Her next words are less businesslike, and more pleading.

"Connor- please, don't. I'll make sure he doesn't wake up until I want him to." She shouldn't bother. He's her enemy, if only because he's part of Cyberlife. But Sabriel is so thoroughly sick of feeling people die.

Edited 2020-01-21 02:21 (UTC)

Any answer Connor might have given to the question is forestalled by Abhorsen's next words—and steps. The line of his mouth flattens, expression coldly disdainful.

"So you'll waste your magic on that? Your attention? And if the army does break in here, you'll personally make sure they can't recover this one?"

Is Abhorsen willing to kill the human once they—once it becomes a threat?

"I don't think so." The rifle nudges up slightly, then jerks to the side. "Get out of the way."

"You're right." She hates it, but he's right- it's too much of a risk, and she may not have the energy to spare if things go poorly.

Sabriel doesn't move for a moment. Then, reluctantly, she steps aside and braces herself for the sensation she knows will happen.

He tracks her withdrawal. Once she's clear, he doesn't hesitate. The assault rifle comes up, a quick burst of fire and the sting of recoil—and the body on the floor twitches in staccato rhythm. Connor watches as it goes still, finger feathering over the trigger lightly before he lowers his gun.

Finally, he turns back to Abhorsen. "Now—what did you want?"

Sabriel wants to say 'for you to stop killing people.' She wants to ask him if he's all right. Instead, she takes a deep breath and steps away from the growing pool of blood at her feet. When she speaks, her voice is carefully, deliberately calm.

"We need to check the rest of the lab and make sure there are no more Cyberlife employees or guards further in, and no hidden exits." She knows what Connor will do them if there are more humans in the lab. What she might need to do if any of them are armed. Even if it's necessary, she hates it.

"We do," he agrees. If the stillness of the camera feeds was any sign, most of the employees had fled before the door was sealed, but there could be techs still hiding in the labs. Or guards, traversing the known blind spots. Why Abhorsen is prioritizing this despite her squeamishness is another question, and he studies her careful calm.

"...You're suggesting we explore together."

There's a faint stress on the we.

"It's safer that way, in case we run into any surprises. Either of us could stop a guard, but with two of us- we're less likely to get injured." Thus saving her the energy of having to heal herself or Connor.

"Besides, you'll understand anything we find better than I will."

And some small, selfish part of Sabriel knows that this way, she won't have to kill anyone herself. Not yet at least. Not until she faces the necromancer.

It is safer that way. Assuming he could trust her, which he can't. Still, if she plans to attack him with her magic, she could do it just as easily from around a corner as from by his side.

Connor wonders: would she count his double's presence as a deterrence or support?

"...Fine." He turns, thumb tapping an irritated rhythm on the grip of his gun. There are two long halls leading out from the main room that they have yet to go through; Connor appraises both and then starts for the passage on the left. "This way."

Sabriel follows close behind him- and then stops at a half-open door. She can see an android hanging in an assembly rig in the room beyond, skinless and limbless- utterly motionless, but not dead.

Sabriel freezes and looks at the frozen android- and then swings the door open further. There are no humans in the room- but three more androids in assembly rigs, all with their skin and limbs removed, motionless but alive.

She wants to do something to help them- she remembers the instructions Connor gave her to get him out of the assembly rig, but- Connor's still making his way down the hall. They need to make sure there are no more staff in the lab before they try to help anyone here.

Connor's eyes flick briefly to the side as they pass the door, but he doesn't slow. The room is little more than a storage chamber, with no space for any humans to hide. They'll have much better odds of finding opposition further in.

Not that the human already at his back isn't stressful enough. Connor tightens his grip on the rifle, resisting the urge to turn. He can hear Abhorsen's footsteps. He can't see her face, or watch the motions of her hands. He glances up as they pass a camera, pinging silently for access, but there's a blanket of static jamming all the wireless signals in range. Deadening his senses—humming, empty and silent in the back of his head.

The next room is larger. An array of workbenches line the walls, with two glass-walled cubicles in the center of the room. Connor scans the structure, noting the embedded wires of a faraday cage—and the corpses littering the floor inside. These androids were left with most of their limbs, but their skin is frozen in a sluggish, transparent glitch, bodies crumpled at odd angles. Some chassis are still twitching spasmodically, and a single LED blinks: red, red, red beside a pair of vacant eyes.

Connor circles the structure, attention sliding from point to point as he categorizes the data. Some kind of weapons testing, clearly, but no source of the damage is visible inside the cells. More worrying is the partly open door—a likely sign of someone retrieving their device in a hurry.

No one had exited this area, had they? Not on the cameras, not that he'd seen. Connor turns to Abhorsen.

"Someone was here recently." He switches his scans, checking for trace signs of thirium. There's enough smeared and spattered through the lab to make the effort useless. "We may need to—"

A faint crash echoes from a door at the far end. Connor lifts his rifle, attention fixed on the disturbance.

Sabriel snaps to alert, trying desperately to ignore the slow, lingering spasms of the last android's death, and the sensation of recent death in the room, even as she's drawn to the dying android like iron drawn to a magnet.

She can't save him, she realizes as she kneels over the android. All she can offer him is a quick death. She doesn't even need Ranna.

Sabriel whistles, low and sweet, but something about the sound isn't something that should come from human lips. It lingers in the air after she's done, and the android stills, the red LED going out as Sabriel closes his eyes.

"Travel without regret. Do not look back."

Then Sabriel gets to her feet, stepping between Connor and the door.

"I should go in front of you. If they were testing anti-android weapons, whatever it is might not work on humans." It didn't seem to damage the androids physically- some sort of magnetic weapon, perhaps? Sabriel really doesn't know enough to say for sure.

Abhorsen steps in his way, and Connor stills, eyes narrowing. Her assumptions about the risk aren't wrong—an electromagnetic attack would be consistent with the damage done in the glass cells, and pass over a human with no effect. Of course, if whoever took the device is lying in wait behind that door...

...they might very well be listening.

Connor sighs. "Don't be ridiculous." The sneer drags at his voice, harsh and mocking. It's a contrast to his neutral expression—and the nod he offers, one hand lifting from his weapon to wave Abhorsen towards the door. He continues aloud: "You don't even have a weapon. I'll go first."

Quietly, he steps to the side, raising his rifle to aim past her. He won't have a line of fire on much, this far from the doorway. But if Cyberlife wastes their attack, he should be able to follow.

Sabriel catches the contrast between Connor's words and actions, and nods wordlessly, fingers sketching out the first marks of a spell- a bolt of magical power that should break any technology near where it lands, and seriously damage anything it hits.

"Well maybe if you let me have a gun," She adds just a little sulkily as she moves in front of him, one hand holding her spell ready, the other grabbing the handle and swinging the door open- only to see something flying towards her- and Sabriel reacts on instinct, flinging the spell at whatever it is and screaming the activating mark.

Whatever it is, it bursts into bits of wire, burnt plastic, and bits of metal, as Sabriel finds herself suddenly charged by a screaming figure with a stun gun in hand, and Sabriel tackles her, grappling with the other woman and trying to force the stun gun out of her hands.

There's a prickle of nausea. A moment of sickening, vivid dread. And then the device shatters, pieces scattering across the floor, and the inductive surge vanishes. Connor shakes his head, flushing the blur of static from his visual feed—and raises his rifle, aiming carefully and firing into the tangled forms.

Three bullets punch through the woman's lab coat, cutting through her shoulders and side. She collapses to the ground with a cry of pain: not a clean kill, but certainly she won't be getting back up. Connor moves forward, stopping only long enough to kick the stun gun in her hand out of reach before he steps through the gap to check the room beyond.

Sabriel scrambles back, away from the dying woman, watching and feeling her last moments with horror- the gasps for air a blood fills her lungs and pools on the floor. Even though Sabriel knows that this woman had a role in the deaths of those androids, might have been willing to kill her, and certainly was willing to kill Connor- all she feels is something cold and hollow, a recognition that however unpleasant this was, it was necessary- even if she suspected she'd always hate that it was.

When Sabriel looks up, and takes in the screens full of notes and blueprints, and the half- assembled things on workbenches, even she can see that this is where whatever had killed the androids in the other room had been designed and made. Then her gaze falls to Connor.

"Connor, whatever that was- it didn't hurt you?" He doesn't look hurt, but none of those dead androids had any obvious injuries.

No other humans. Not obviously, and Connor takes care scanning the workspace: first from a distance, and then pacing the room's length. It's only once he's checked thoroughly for other threats that he turns his focus to the contents of the tables—and Abhorsen's words.

"No." He shakes his head. He isn't damaged. Thanks, he grudgingly (and privately) admits, to her. Depending on the range of the device, he might have been able to survive its use. But his odds of coming through unscathed were... low.

He doesn't say as much aloud. The biggest danger from Abhorsen has never been that she might let him die, and she hardly needs more reason to think she gets to lay some kind of claim. Still, after a moment of silent examination, Connor does speak.

"It was an EMP." His eyes flick over, checking for comprehension. Not finding any, he continues. "They destroy all electronics—software especially—within range."

Edited 2020-01-27 21:36 (UTC)

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