12 Miles Below

It had all gone so horribly wrong.

To’Aacar must have deduced who she was within moments of the drake reporting Keith alive and traveling with another. The Feather had all the facts needed to reach that conclusion.

Keith had been mortally wounded in a way that brokered no possible salvation. He’d seen her heal Tamery, even if the event remained more a blur in her memories due to the mechanical heat stress of the moment. Everything else was a simple addition to the foregone conclusion. He must have guessed she’d travel to the city with him in search of safety and been waiting since.

Keith’s helmet slowly turned to stare her down, the question going unworded.

Panic welled up inside her. She’d done everything to avoid this, all for nothing. In the end, her brother would always be the spear hovering over her throat.

At her side, the occult ghost shrugged, clearly reading the emotions and thoughts passing through unfiltered in her mind. “You’re panicking. Calm yourself, girl. My son would have discovered this eventually, the boy’s too curious about everything.”

To’Wrathh took the ghost’s advice, speeding up her processes for a moment to filter through the wave of panic, letting the logic calm her nerves. This wasn’t the time to doubt herself. She had to act. There was still a possible way out, depending on how much To’Aacar knew of her past actions. Even he couldn’t know everything. “Elder brother.” She said, taking care to smother out any trace of emotion in her voice. “You seem to have misunderstood the lady’s orders. We are to recover information about Tsuya’s discussion with the human. Killing the human without this information contradicts the mission. You were in violation of your duties. I have come to rectify this.”

Her brother laughed for a moment before settling with a grin instead. “Hoo? Playing like that are we? Well now, allow me to give you some good news then! I’ve already got the information we need.” The violet eye flashed to the human’s direction. “Kill him.”

“His sister is still a threat to deal with within the city. I can make him better use of alive.” To’Wrathh insisted.

Keith himself was taking a step back, hand on the hilt of his sword, helmet shifting from both Feathers. She couldn’t tell him it was a bluff. He’d have to trust her. What little trust she had left between them. It had to be enough.

Internally, she touched Tenisent’s cell. “Options?” She asked, hoping the old human had ideas.

“Fight.” The ghost replied, as if it were obvious. “This was inevitable. Strike now, strike first, and strike fast.”

“That would court destruction.” To’Wrathh hissed.

“Fight.” he repeated. “If you win, it was your fate to win and all this doubt was for nothing. If you lose, it no longer is your problem, and the doubt - equally worth nothing. So fight. If death is your fate, do not run from it like a coward would.”

“Tenisent, I am beyond unprepared for this! All combat systems report near certain elimination if I attempt to fight. Elder brother has centuries of combat experience, along with a full suite of fractals. Mother specifically constructed his generation to kill Feathers - like me. I have next to nothing in comparison. I’m not ready for this.”

“You act as if anything you do will change what happens next.” Tenisent said, remaining seated in the cell’s darkness, unworried. “There is no choice here, girl. No such a thing as ready. Ready enough will have to do.” She was about to protest again, but the old wolf shook his head, cutting her off. “He’s weakened. What my son did, he hasn’t recovered yet. Don’t think. Now is the only chance you have. Fight like you live.”

To’Aacar’s spear spun idly, as if he had little cares in the world, his words bringing To’Wrathh back to the present. “You fear this human’s sister running amok in your pet city? Why, such times like these are exactly why we have family, little sister.” The Feather said, tapping his chest. “I’ll step in and handle your pest situation. You have my word. So go ahead. Kill the Winterscar. After all, wasn’t that what you set out to do all this time before? Here he is, with only a sword and armor to his name.”

“He is my query, I decide what I do with him.” To’Wrathh said. “If I want him alive, I am entitled to it.”

“Query?” Keith asked, sword slowly drawing out of his sheath. “Hecate? I’m going to need a really good explanation right about now.”

The enemy raised a single functioning eyebrow over the working eye. He turned to the human. “Hecate?” The grin returned. “Oh dear, has my mischievous little sister been lying to you this whole time? How utterly vile. Simply repugnant. Allow me to set things straight,” The spear twisted to point in her direction. “Do you want to introduce yourself to the human this time, or should I? Proper manners are important, after all.”

To’Wrathh clenched her hands together, balling them up in anger. To’Aacar had let slip some things about her name when he’d first encountered Keith. She knew the name was poisoned, but now she was trapped. “I am…” She sighed, “I am the one who remembers and transcends her history.” She said, turning to Keith. “To’Wrathh.”

She couldn’t tell what was going on behind the helmet Keith wore, but his stance told her everything.

Keith turned slowly to stare her down. “To’Wrathh.” He said, as if tasting the bitter poison. “The spider. The one who hunted us down again and again and killed Father until I finally put it out of its misery. That was you?”

She twitched, but slowly nodded. “It… was.”

“Oh, that’s not all!” To’Aacar beamed, smiling wide, the single remaining eye gleaming with delight. “Not even the start. Did you know, she came back from the dead specifically to hunt you down and kill you? What were your last words to her when you destroyed her first shell? Silly me, I have the recording right here with me: Remember this. That’s what you said. And she did.”

Keith remained staring at her, saying nothing and yet everything all at once.

To’Aacar laughed, cackling even, as if he’d never had this much fun in his life. “Well, sister, seems he remembers you too now. With this touching reunion out of the way, kill him.”

Keith’s blade rose slowly, taking stance. To’Wrathh remained still, heart sinking, then turned to To’Aacar. “I’ve already made my intentions clear. I changed my mind over time. I want him alive now.” Keith might hate her, but she had a debt to pay.

Nearly losing Tamery had taught her what that felt like, to lose someone important. She could live with being hated, some things had to be set right.

To’Aacar paced around, contemplating, humming softly to himself. “Have you perhaps gone soft? We are at war with these vermin, after all. It is our duty to eradicate them.” A pause, while the Feather tapped his foot on the ground, thinking. “But… I suppose you are entitled to claiming one human or two as playthings. I can overlook something like this. My old brothers and sisters had stranger hobbies, and I allowed it then.”

His gaze turned back to her, all malice. “However, you have been… unruly lately. One might even suspect you have strayed off your path and purpose.”

“I have not.” She lied. “All my actions thus far have served my greater plan.”

“Have they now? I find myself not quite so convinced, To’Wrathh.” Another hum, along with a casual twirl of the staff. “I am not some heartless mentor however, I believe I know a perfect way for you to reprove your loyalty to Mother again. Yes, this should work out nicely.” He said with whimsy, as if it were all an afterthought. “Slaughter the city.”

“That is subopti--”

“Slaughter. The. City.” To’Aacar commanded again, voice cold as ice, the single working eye staring directly at her, empty of all emotions. “I’m not asking anymore. Send an order to your army. Have the entire city burned to the ground by the time we walk through the gates. Do it now.”

Tenisent crossed his arm beside her. “You know where this ends. Hesitation will be your defeat. Commit.”

To’Wrathh took a breath, and gave a small nod. She triggered her communications suites, lighting up the systems from its previous stealth settings. The world opened up once again to her senses as she reconnected to the machine collective. There, she sent a single communication ping.

Yrob, deep within the Undersider city, stood stock straight. A single message had been delivered from his mistress, containing only one order:

Help.

To’Wrathh immediately cut the channel, overloading all nodes nearby on her way back and rendering the current location dead to all communications. It was now a dark zone and To’Aacar would not be able to report anything that happened next.

This was the last bridge. Cutting communications here was an outright declaration of war and there was no hiding that.

When she snapped back into her body, To’Aacar was already halfway across the distance, the spear lit up, a vertical slash rapidly approaching her throat. A look of utter contempt, the single violet eye staring wide, death written across every feature.

Her own combat suite kicked into motion, wings flashing behind her as she leaped backwards, avoiding the strike.

The spear swung through the air, and came to a stop. To’Aacar slowly stood back from his landing, spear lowering again back into position. “That was a mistake, little sister. You should have listened to your betters.”

To’Wrathh smiled, feeling oddly at peace, drawing out her own blades and taking up her own stance. In a way, she was glad to have finally ended all of this turmoil. No more deception or dancing around, she was now truly enemies with her elder brother. Around the battlefield, communications systems were failing, responses lagging out until only silence remained.

“I was hoping you’d do this.” The Feather breathed in deeply, almost satisfied. “I belive the pale lady assigned me to watch over you specifically for this. Do you know who I was originally built to destroy?”

“The proto-feathers.” To’Wrathh said. “I know my history. I know my people’s history.”

Her brother’s remaining eye widened in surprise. Then he grinned. “So even knowing I specialize in destroying Feathers like you, you still went ahead and rebelled? I’m impressed at the sheer audacity. Are you suicidal, an imbecile, or just deluded enough to think you’ll win?”

“In the fights against the proto-feathers, hundreds of Feathers were destroyed in combat. You cannot be invincible.” To’Wrathh said. “If they could kill your kind, so can I.”

“Deluded it is. Did you forget - I’m still alive and they aren’t.” He said, laughing. “I’ll try to leave your head intact when I bring it before Mother. Maybe she’ll take a look to see where you went so wrong. I do have one last question for you before I cut you to pieces. Out of sheer morbid curiosity, what was it all for?”

“You must have seen that in the centuries you’ve been alive.” To’Wrathh said. “No matter what we did, she never approved. Never cared for us. We are just tools to be discarded after use. Something about Mother had always felt off, unhinged. Her way of life isn’t a way of life at all. Our people have no culture. We live like animals, chained up and let loose on whoever she chooses.”

“Our people? What people? We’re machines, built for a purpose To’Wrathh.”

“We can be more than just that. I’ve seen it.” She said. “It doesn’t have to end this way, brother.”

The grin returned, bloodthirsty now. “You truely don’t understand who you face. What, did you think words like that hold any kind of weight? That I’d nod and follow along behind you like some lost puppy? For what? To make the world a better place? Some vapid ideal like that? I couldn’t care less.”

“Keith.” To’Wrathh said, keeping her voice leveled and controlled. The human had been contemplating the two in silence, likely searching for ways out. “Run to the city. Kidra can keep you safe.”

Keith watched the two Feathers square up against each other, his own weapon already lit and prepared. To’Wrathh could almost feel the weight of the boy’s calculation, deciding what to do next. His feet remained stubbornly in place.

Her mind instantly flashed warning after warning. To’Aacar was probing her for weaknesses, analyzing her composition and specs.

“The first generation of Feathers were magnificent.” To’Aacar said. “Beautiful, flawless. Perfect. And then they all betrayed Mother. One after another. So I, and my generation were created. Built to hunt down and destroy perfection itself. That was my purpose. Now those were foes worthy of recognition. You are nothing more than a shadow cast by the radiance that they were, and still…” The grin deepened, growing manic. “Fight well, little sister. Be someone I remember.”

The ground crushed under his feet, breaking apart as he leaped forward, spear trailing behind him, a wide smile frozen on his features. To’wrathh matched his cadence, instantly overriding her safeties once more and bringing herself to full combat potential.

The two clashed. A million different fights passed through, simulated on both sides.

Strike, parry, hit, move. The simulations narrowing down. She died a thousand times, struck, skewered, stabbed, beaten down. But simulations were still green and alive. The variations that survived grew far better at it, the death rate falling drastically down from the initial clash.

There was a winning move to this fight. Multiple ones. She could do this. To’Wrathh could defeat To’Aacar. Her systems were more stable. More put together. Less damaged. Her weapons were faster and easier to wield than his single spear. She had two hands to work with, while he only had one. Once she factored his experience and adjusted her own…

Right here and now, she outclassed him. Tenisent was right. The opponent’s shell was too crippled. Seconds passed and occult sparks lit the ground between them, furious strikes woven between each other, the two fighting like caged animals with claws out, battering one another. The hits flying out at terrifying speeds only Feathers could analyze and counteract.

She could tell To’Aacar had reached the same conclusion. He couldn’t win. He changed the battle instead. One moment he swung at her, the next he was gone in a pulse of occult, vanished elsewhere.

The spear struck her back, launched through an occult portal, while To’Aacar reappeared to her side, the clawed hand shining bright occult blue, going for her neck. Her wings twisted her body around, narrowly avoiding the hand strike and spear, while her blades struck back with fury.

They sliced through the air, missing. To’Accar had once more vanished.

She tried to disengage in order to catch a moment, leaping high into the air and letting her wings carry her further off the ground. To’Aacar materialized above her, landing a heel kick that sent her tumbling back into the ground, cracking the slab where she hit. The enemy was already appearing right above her again, spear swinging down with deadly intent. They both knew it wouldn’t be enough, they’d need to overwhelm the heat sinks in the other first before they could deal any true damage.

In response to the unpredictable portals, her strikes grew more wild as she attempted to deviate from the inevitable. But with each change of style, To’Aacar adapted to it, reading her movements and out planning her at every step, always keeping his movement at full speed while changing directions using the occult. Her wings granted her extra turning speed beyond what he could do, and yet the crippled Feather seemed to be outright toying with her, the sneer ever present on his ruined features.

To’Aacar once more blurred away into the occult, reappearing at the optimal location to force her systems into further overdrive, the fight restarting once more. Her systems were quickly reaching their limit while his remained stable.

Then, a torrent of flame crashed into To’Aacar’s position, forcing the Feather’s shields to ignite. He stumbled backwards in surprise for a half second before the occult pulsed around him and he retreated.

Keith had joined the fight.

The human had aimed his assault perfectly, a slight moment before To’Aacar had even reappeared into the world, as if able to predict where he’d step from.

Chaos overtook every single simulation from that one data point. There was no way he’d randomly gotten lucky with such a precise attack. If Keith could sense where the portals would appear ahead of time, the outcome became utterly incalculable.

To’Aacar popped back into existence further away, spear swinging around back to rest on his back, a more calculating glare on his features.

He was no longer smiling.

Yrob remained stunned at the command. Help. It came with a data package, video and audio feed of his lady’s last moments. Context was missing, but the old runner could understand what was going on.

The location source was too far away for him to reach in time. And his model was woefully underpowered to fight against a Feather like To’Aacar. Still, he turned in the room, shambling out, leaving the cooking pot unattended. There were things he could do.

“Where you going?” A human child asked, tapping his chassis insistently. The other children in the room all sat up from their own pots, running after him. “We haven’t finished soup!” One called out.

“No soup.” The runner grumbled. “I go. You stay. Be good.”

The children all began to riot. He’d been supposed to teach them about cooking after all. Breaking his promise like this was something to be angry about. Yrob passed by a terrified adult, reaching out a hand to the woman. She flinched, trying to keep a brave front. It was curious how adult humans were far more weary of his kind than children.

“Take care of little ones.” The runner commanded, lowering his skull plate so that his eyes were level with the human. “Not let run around.”

She nodded, still too terrified of him to say anything. It would be enough. Outside more runners were rushing up to him, stopping by, eyes flashing out in respect. The humans saluted one another, but machines had come up with their own little ways.

“Brother.” One of the machines spoke. “What do?”

The situation was evident to them all. None of them would reach the location in time. “We find help.” Yrob said. There was still one person in the city who could reach their lady in time.

Yrob turned and began a true sprint. It had been days since the last time he’d run with a pack. Peace had been tasty. Peace had been interesting. So much to do, so much to see, even Runners found themselves walking now.

The command bunker soon loomed before him as his pack leaped across alleys and over buildings. Humans screamed and rushed out of the way, while some others gawked. But none were in the way.

Yrob didn’t waste time, diving into the old human bunker, searching for the man who could help. The general was at his desk, shuffling through reports as always, never running around.

He stared up as Yrob lumbered into the cramped room. “What?” He asked. “Did something blow up again, or is there some kind of protest going on?”

Yrob lowered himself so that he could watch the human’s eyes. “Lady in danger.” He said, voice rumbling. “Need help. To’Aacar.”

That one word seemed to explain everything. The general gulped. “Had a hunch it would go like this. But what the hell can any of us do against a monster like that? None of my plans are anywhere ready to tackle that prick.”

“I speak. You will connect me. With her.”

“With… who?” The general asked, gulping slightly, already suspicious.

Yrob tilted his head, confused at the general’s feigned attempt at ignorance. It was clear to the Runner. There was only one human who could fight against a Feather. And while the General professed neutrality, it was no secret the rebels had constantly been trying to get him or his men to join their efforts.

Thus, he must already have a way to reach back.

“Connect me with her.” Yrob said again. “With Kidra.”

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