It's Turbin' Time (Library of Ruina Modded/Arknights)

3.7 - Wear Shell

The night is… beautiful, tonight.

The city's lights are shining. The populace lives their lives, from one day to the next, simply trying to continue moving.

In this aspect, the Infected and the non-Infected are the same. Both are simply trying to move forward. The difference is the amount of challenges that one has to face in that road.

But, well. Returning to the previous topic. It's a nice night outside.

The knights are resting, training, and cleaning their weapons. The businessmen- and businesswomen- are discussing the future and the present, making all sorts of deals. People are waiting for the Major to proceed, and continue to live their lives.

And the dead await silently in their stone cells. Waiting for the earth to retake them. Waiting for the relief of decomposition.

And a certain vampire- you- the delightfully clever Arabella, is currently very busy interrupting this wait- unearthing corpses.

It wasn't very difficult. All you had to do was knock out the gravekeeper and carefully unearth the most recent corpses. In this case, a young teenager who was killed by an accident, falling down some stairs- or so do the records say. It was very polite of the keeper to leave all this stuff laying around, unsecured. But you suppose he wasn't expecting that people would even want to take it.

Someone who didn't get to live life as they should have… will now be fuel for a new life's emergence.

You stare at the cold body, laying atop a grave, unmoving. You unsheathe your sword.

You caress the girl's forehead, feeling the flesh with your fingers. Rigor mortis has long since settled in… but it'll all be okay now.

Your blade moves through the air, a trail of red blazing behind. Every swing parts a limb, tears a layer of muscle, divides an organ. Slowly and carefully, you slice the corpse to ribbons.

When all that is left is a half-rotted pile of mincemeat, you smile and place it back in the coffin, before opening the jar of blood.

Your child- how strange it is, to call someone that once again- seems to be asleep, their single eye closed.

You tap the jar lightly, and watch as it stirs.

The connection between the two of you is maintained by a single piece of nervous tissue. You send a brief signal through the link, and the child wakes up.

The eye opens, and the various strands of nerve, arranged almost like a minuscule tree… twitch. The little bonsai of flesh and brain twitches and trembles until it is fully awakened.

"Mother?" it asks. "Where are we?"

You smile.

"At a graveyard, my child." you silently communicate through the connection.

"What's a graveyard?"

"The place where we place the dead."

"I remember, now. The hunter knew of graves. He wished to not go to this place. Am I to die today, mother?" they say, fear creeping into their voice.

Ah, yes, that bounty hunter that your child possessed. You place your hand inside the jar, and scratch a piece of flesh growing above the central nervous mass.

"No. Today is the day you live."

You place the jar above the coffin, where you stored your carefully curated pile of dead flesh.

You watch as the nameless child slides out of the jar, seemingly understanding what will soon come.

Their single eye looks at you, and you cough. It's time to tell them.

"To truly become human… you will need to reflect on the journey so far, and all that was learned from your previous host." you say. "Then, what comes next is not complex. You will need to construct a new body from these old bones, and perfect its form."

Silence. The child- not yet Bloodfiend, but not Seaborn anymore- contemplates these words.

You open the coffin, and gesture for them to enter.

When they slide in, you pour the blood in the jar into the body. It's your blood, given recently- it'll be enough sustenance. The mass of tissue wriggles and twitches as you bath it in blood.

"Make it a statement- form that body into an identity." you continue.

The pile of flesh you chopped up isn't just a body. It's many, you see.

You have no way to give your child all the facets of the human experience. One of the corpses gave them some Y chromosomes to work with, and also someone whose life was a bit different. They had a ring in their finger- so, they were married. Did they experience love? Was the marriage a facade, maintained for social status? You know not, but their life will enrich your child's own all the same. Lies, truth, hatred, love. All these are things that humans live and die for.

"Gender, race, social status, life, disease, body… all of these are things you can learn, if you so wish. If I could, my precious child, I would give you this entire graveyard. I would make all this death into your new life. But this will have to be enough, unfortunately. Four bodies, for you."

The nameless child nods, and the blood you provided them seems to harden. It forms into some sort of membrane, and the mass of nervous tissue sinks into the pile of flesh, vanishing as their cocoon swallows all the human flesh that was provided. You smile, as the strand of nerve separates from your hand and vanishes into the mass.

You then slide the coffin door back in, carefully placing everything back on its place, and start to hide the coffin in its rightful location.

"In twenty-four hours, my precious child, I will return to see how you have fared. Do not speed through the process. Take all the time you want. Construct a human face that you can truly judge as "you." Form who you are, and do not be nervous. It is not permanent. Nothing is. Everything that you make here, can change later."

Then, as the grave is closed once again… you are left alone.

..you feel like someone could have interrupted you, right now.

You look at the unconscious gravekeeper, and at the distant entrance of the graveyard.

It would be very dramatic if someone just came in rushing through the door.

…Yeah, that's not happening. You feel like it could, but it's not happening.

Oh well. You could go for dinner, now. It's not like the gravekeeper will miss it, no? You'll just take a little blood…

Wait. The Infection. Is this guy infected? You poke at his shirt and notice the shards of black stone tearing their way out of his flesh. You can't fucking drink this stuff.

Goddamn it. Bloodbags are great, but getting the stuff straight from the tap is a truly irreplaceable experience. As long as you're not an idiot about it, you can get away with one little nib every week or so. If you just take a bit of blood, no one notices. People have been entering Larry's shitass hotel for decades and not a single person has noticed that she takes like an entire cup from every guest.

Or that there's bloodvessels growing inside the walls. Most humans are inattentive like that.

Regardless… you can't go and drink this! Might as well go and slurp up some industrial residue. You don't want pieces of rock growing inside your intestines, thank you very much.

Guess you'll have to pester your bossman, after all. His blood is delicious.

---

As Hibiscus returns to her job- apparently a patient, somewhere in the building, is suffering from a relapse and the medicine isn't having much effect- Nicole walks through the door of the shelter, with her gun strapped to her back. She's got a cigarette in her mouth, but it's not lit.

"Got a light?" she asks.

You chuckle, and manifest a lighter. The interlocking parts are a bit complex, but you, with a bit of effort, can project it for a little while. Shame it's your limit this far.

She takes a long drag out of her little cancer stick, and releases a jet of smoke into your face.

"Thanks. It's been a long time, boss."

You nod.

"I'm sorry for not finding you earlier. How long has it been, for you?"

"Two years."

Two years.

…You wonder if the rest of the gang went through more. You're pretty sure Linette has an entire decade. Guess your failure is even bigger than you imagined before. You're that weak? You're that slow?

How shameful of your part.

"How's it been, Nicole? How's Rhodes Island treating you?"

She stops for a while, before taking another drag from her cigarette.

"Not bad. Wing agents are supposed to be kept fed, I guess."

…A Wing, right.

Yes, you're working for a Wing.

"Any news on their Singularity or things like that? What does Rhodes Island even sell?" you say, your voice a whisper. Better to be discreet on this one.

Nicole catches up quickly.

"... don't know. They're treating people almost for free. It's strange."

"Experimental subjects?"

That's… probably the only reason you can think as to why Rhodes Island would hand out free medicine to people as desperate as the Infected seem to be.

"Don't know. Sleepy thinks they're just idealists. But I think it's… a PMC business. Like R-Corp. They get treatment, the Wing gets soldiers."

Uh.

Well, most of the patients you've seen in your brief period as an Operator really are not in any condition to fight, so you're not sure on this one.

"We did fight some people recently."

"Fought against whom?"

"That city of Lungmen paid us off to kill some Infected rights organization. Reunion, I guess."

"Ah. That explains it, I guess."

"These guys in Lungmen say they're terrorists, but eh. I don't care either way."

"You just arrived here on Terra and got to Rhodes Island, then."

"No, I was an assassin for some Outskirts warlord for a while."

"Outskirts?"

"Sargon. Mostly some deserts plus some jungles. It's all the same thing, mostly. Just killing dissidents."

"...you okay?"

"Got better after Sleepy showed up. Got better when you guys showed up, too."

You tilt your hat in an angle where Nicole can see the lower half of your face, and smile.

She smiles back.

"Good to have you back, boss."

Well. All you have to do now is wait for X to come up. You hope he doesn't cause too much trouble. Did Abel tell him where to go?

"I pointed him in the direction of this building, yes. I believe he is coming."

Any immediate dangers?

"He's far faster then the knights in his persuit, so no. I believe he'll be here soon."

Well.

All you gotta do is wait, then.

---

Two knights walk across a corridor.

"So." says the first of them- Linette. "How are you doing, girl?"

"...I am doing well, thank you." answers the Radiant Knight. "I am sorry, but… I don't exactly recognize you. You seem familiar, but you said earlier that you knew my uncle."

"Ah. Yes, well, I was a friend of your uncle, you see. Really friendly with him for a few months or so, then we cut off relations."

"Truly? Ah, if you-"

"No, not truly, I'm just joking. I'm not his friend. In fact, I hate the guy."

"I see. I would like to ask why, exactly, you wanted to talk to me, then."

"... what's it like, coming back to Kazimierz, Radiant Knight?"

"It has not changed all that much."

"I can say the same thing, really. I left this place after the Black Knight's last Major."

"Why, might I ask?"

"Well, I lost to her in the finals. I was in a terrible shape, and then I realized that "Mirrored Knight" wasn't ever going to win the Majors. You know why?"

"No."

"Because my heart wasn't in it anymore. Degenbrecher wasn't coming back- so what could I do? My whole reason for coming back, after getting beat up in the previous finals, was to get a rematch. But she wasn't going to come back, and so I left immediately."

The knight chuckles.

"Turns out she actually wanted a rematch. She'd have given it to me anyway, if I just asked instead of fucking off from this hellhole. But no use crying over spilt milk- she's in Kjerag now, doing something I don't care about. We'll never see each other again, and I won't get my bones crushed to powder."

"Ah- I remember you now, Mirrored Knight." says Nearl. "If your reason to return for your second Major was a rematch with the Black Knight… then why are you here? You still haven't told me."

"Tch. You've made quite a ruckus, you know? Coming back here to bail your sister out of trouble." notes the shapeshifter. "I ain't complaining, though. Whatever fucks up the corporate bigwigs is a plus in my books. You got those really fancy types running around, desperate, searching for a… solution to the problem."

Margaret Nearl narrowed her eyes.

"A solution for me, I believe?"

"Eyup."

"...you."

"Me. I'm "the Solution," here. I'm being paid quite a lot for beating you. A spokesman's entire life savings, plus whatever property he could manage to sell off, and the rivers of money that his promises can buy."

The Radiant Knight blinks at the upfront admission of the other knight. It was not something she was expecting- certainly not for this Mirrored Knight to admit immediately to being paid off by the K.G.C.C, right after professing her hatred for the corporations.

Margaret Nearl was never inclined to hate, but she immediately dislikes the knight in front of her. It's… the aura. An intermittent aura of dishonesty and deception.

Margaret Nearl feels that she learned absolutely nothing about Linette, even with all she said. Every word that comes out of her mouth is shrouded, deceptive. It's not possible to judge whether or not she's lying or speaking the truth. She might have spoken with her heart in her hands, but it's simply not something she can know.

In that second, Margaret Nearl realized, to her confusion, that there was nothing she wanted to do more than punch the woman in front of her.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I'm not going to beat you."

These words shock Nearl yet again.

"You plan… on throwing the match?"

"Eyup. Going to backstab the guy. What can they even do to me? If they sent me to jail they'd have to admit to their own illegal dealings, and I have ample evidence of everything that went through. Send the Armorless Union? Those guys are a massive joke. I just wanted to warn you beforehand, so you don't get all pumped up about our fight."

"Are you not worried that we will be heard?"

"Nah, Beats is messing around with the cameras. We might as well have never passed here, and I can assure you no one's around- I have good ears."

The Radiant Knight grits her teeth.

"Well, I told ya why I came back, didn't I? So tell me why you came back."

"I don't believe you told me anything, Mirrored Knight."

Linette laughs heartily. It's not her laugh, and Margaret realizes this. It doesn't fit her. It's… it's a laugh she recognizes- her aunt Zofia's laugh. She is perfectly replicating it, down to the tone of voice.

"You're awfully needy. Didn't I just say I came here to beat you?"

"You just admitted to lying about that. You can't have come here to simply throw a match."

"What if I did?" she answers. "Heh. Well, if you tell me why you came here, I'm going to be honest for once. They say you were banished because you didn't accept the modern system. What made you come back?"

"Have you ever been to the most destitute corners of Kazimierz? Have you visited the distant villages, the Infected quarters? Conflict, death, starvation, infection... and while the innocent continue to suffer enormously, the knights hide in their cities, making great shows of peace and prosperity. The spirit of knighthood is almost completely lost. It has been reduced to a mere toy for the corporations to play with."

"Oh, I know that very well. So you want to change that."

"I do."

"I'm financing Reunion."

Nearl blinks at the non-sequitur.

"I told ya I'd be honest. Yeah, everything here? Front for Reunion financing. The charity I'm supposedly backing? Funneling money for Reunion. The stuff the media says I've been buying? Actually financing Reunion. The organization's making a comeback, you know."

"You are a baffling kind of person, Mirrored Knight. But are you Infected, then?"

"Nah. I'm a contractor. There's a friend of mine- who barely has any flesh left in his bones to be Infected- and he wants to prop the organization back up. So he asked me for this favor. And if I can't overcome something as simple as my hate of this place for a friend's sake, what can I even do?"

Before Margaret Nearl could answer, Linette waved her off and left.

"I really am a complicated person, I guess. Now, see ya in the ring. Try to take it easy. Give me one good hit, two good hits, and I'll go down like a wimp. Won't be difficult."

And then, she was alone.

---

…well, you think it won't be very difficult to bail X out of whatever trouble he's in.

You put Nicole to watch over the direction where Abel said he'd come from, riding in that disgusting thing that he still carries around for reasons you will never understand.

You hope he just comes out of that street having lost his pursuers. It can't be that difficult to lose two knights while on the back of one of the most threatening monsters in Lobotomy Corporation's arsenal, can it? Especially when you're supposedly the most competent manager Lobotomy Corporation ever had.

Well, you're sure Nicole can handle it-

"Boss."

"You find him?"

She nods, pointing at a distant street. You breathe deeply and concentrate, hearing a noise. A wet squelch, a disgusting sound that you immediately recognize. [CENSORED] is finally here.

X hasn't lost the two of them, it seems, though they seem exhausted. A girl with red hair, and a girl with grey hair, wielding some sort of cannon and a shield. X is on the back of his disgusting creature.

He waves at you.

What now?

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