Rena dusted herself off, frowning at the last bit of rubble in her path. Excavation was evidently tiring work. But the deafening rumble overhead kept the girls at a tepid pace.
"Thanks." Lila shuffled along with the heiress still cradled in her arms. "We owe you one. Both of you."
Alia ignored the Earthling, her mind fixated on the path ahead.
"This should lead back to our bunks, if I remember," she whispered, pointing toward what looked like a circular tunnel stretching past the ruins of the colosseum. "Did a little scouting before...yeah."
That wasn't her proudest moment. But for what it was worth, Alia had long since strived to improve. She was perhaps the first to notice how wobbly Lila's arms had become.
"You need help lifting her?" Alia squinted.
Lila was far too high on adrenaline to notice her own weariness. "I got it."
"Then let's go!" Rena splashed through a puddle in a frantic voice. "We won't be hidden down here forever."
Lila reckoned they weren't hidden at all. Another dire conflict was inevitable. Her frazzled mind, however, was long since prepared for the worst.
"You hear that?" She paused.
Ivy was surprised Lila caught it first. They'd hardly spent half a minute splashing through the tunnels before a faint pattering sound emerged from behind. Honing her senses, the heiress began to investigate more closely.
"Shi-," she coughed. "Lila-."
The Earthling slung her right arm under the heiress's knees as she reached for her light. The attachment on her SMG, she reckoned, would suffice as a torch. And sure enough, its bright flash revealed what only the heiress had previously seen.
"Oh," Lila gulped. "Run."
Rena and Alia didn't question her judgement. They could hear the rapid advance of scuttling legs grow louder by the second. Something was approaching.
The Earthling panted as she entered a full sprint. It would seem their scent had attracted an entire cluster of Xenquar. Not wanting to risk Ivy, there was no chance of a proper fight.
"They'll just flush us out; we need to surface." Alia pushed Lila ahead before tossing a ball of void energy down the tunnel. "Go!"
The resulting explosion did little to halt their advance. Like spiders, the Xenquar pushed through their own dead in a mad dash to claim their prey. Alia could only grimace in disgust as the horde scuttled through every available surface.
"Not again," she muttered.
Amid their frantic escape, Lila desperately searched for an escape route. But none of their present options seemed all that viable.
"Uhm." Lila's eyes darted around the tunnel.
"S-storm drain," Ivy coughed, burying her face in Lila's chest. "Just ahead. I can-."
"I got it." The Earthling nudged her partner. "Save your strength."
There was always a level of uncertainty when it came to slipping through a solid object. One mistake, and Lila would be hurling herself into a solid stone. But with escape clear in sight, and the heiress looking worse by the minute, there was no time for doubt.
"Keep going!" Rena shot her a message. "We're right behind you!"
Lila prepared for the worst. Though when all was said and done, the only trace of her effort was a trail of magenta. She cleared the drainage more easily than she had found it.
"Right," she exhaled. "Almost there."
The cool air she breathed in revealed their exact location within the Aerie's courtyard. From there, it was only a short trip to the Riven through Yrix's office. All Lila needed to do was push on.
"We'll have to capture a bigger ship if we're gonna fit everyone," Lila ranted through her optimistic plans. "But I can manage."
Ivy squeezed her right arm. "You're a real pilot now, Lila," she cheered with a weak grin.
The Earthling raced up the grassy hill in a single dash, using her Psionic powers to slip past the windows of the bedchamber. It felt almost surreal in there, given all that had happened. Yet the familiar scent of carpet and food didn't exactly tempt the girl to stay. She had long since dreamed of escape.
"Now then." Lila pivoted. "We can-."
Ivy flinched. "Lila!"
The heiress's climactic feud with Sonera had sharpened her reactions just enough to spot the hulking mass in time as it caved in the roof. Measuring her options, she expended what little strength she had in reserve to encase Lila in a prism. Though try as she might, Ivy's construct did no more than negate some of the resulting blast.
"Aah!" Lila flew backwards, her back colliding with one of the bunks.
She held onto Ivy with a firm grip, refusing to let her go. But the heiress was still spent. She could do little to aid Lila in the fight to come.
"What the fuck," the Earthling complained, bickering to herself. "Not now, please."
She waded through the dust, hoping to explain the sudden upheaval. Perhaps the crater that once resembled her new home was merely the result of another bombardment.
"You!" A deafening voice bellowed through the smoke as a towering figure emerged. "Psions of Yrix!"
"Oh fuck me," Lila groaned. "Just let us go!"
Executor Premus stepped forward, causing an earthquake with each stride. "I have sworn to protect this empire. Live or die, my fight is with you!"
Lila never met Premus, yet her Consortium-savvy mind had already ascertained the alien's rank. His red armor, scarred by countless Infestare claws, resembled the hull of a ship. She had never even seen a Daregen that size. Nor did she understand the strange weapon clutched in his maw-like hands.
"Now prepare yourself!" Premus boomed through his mask as the eyeslits began to glimmer with light. "And face the full might of our Consortium!"
The beast raised his free hand, firing a red flare into the clouds above.
"Bruh." Lila blinked.
On a better day, she'd have loved to taunt the Daregen with a longer, sillier speech. But the brave Earthling didn't have time for another fight. And certainly not against a foe of that size.
As if things could get any worse.
What little hope she had left for a swift encounter was soon dashed as a swarm of drop pods came crashing down, delivering all manner of aliens to her doorstep. Lila was surrounded.
"If you charge in, you'll be downhill," Ivy whispered. "Lila…I love you."
The Earthling nearly barked in response. "I love you too, girlypop, but I still plan to say that shit on the morrow."
Lila was done feeling sorry for herself. If her fate was as Yrix claimed, then she would face it like a Psion. Indeed, some things never changed.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Let her go," Sonera hissed.
Yrix would have smiled if she could. "How many times have we been here? It's the only memory I really have of us."
The Arch-Flayer dangled Lunae in front of Sonera like a trophy, threatening her life with every passing second.
Sonera pointed with her blade, its edge still curved by Neirophen's lingering influence. "Your fight is with me. She has nothing to do with this!"
Lunae squirmed, struggling to voice her concerns. "S-sonera, please-."
She held hope for a resolution of sorts, fully aware of how delusional that might be. The princess couldn't choose violence. She wouldn't even know what to do with herself if she did.
"Oh, please," Yrix waved them off. "She has everything to do with this. Your obsessive need to fight for something, instead of the fight itself, is exactly what holds you together. I must press this urge to its fullest extent. Only then will you stand a chance."
Sonera glared with a fire burning behind her eyes. "Then let's go. Right here, right now."
"Do you still not understand the gulf between us?" Yrix rolled her eye. "Show me you can even stand on your own two feet."
The Arch-Flayer extended Lunae forward with a Psionic grasp, squeezing her dry with a lethal grip. It was a challenge. And with everything Sonera could muster, she accepted.
"No!" Her mechanical legs scraped against the floor as she latched her grasp onto Lunae, wrestling with Yrix's hold over her. "Lunae!"
The princess was most certainly in excruciating pain. She was being torn apart at the seams. Yet in that dire moment, all she could do was faintly smile.
"Sonera," she whispered into the assassin's mind. "I want you to know-."
Her partner was much like Lila in that way - defiant to the end. Only she had no clever comment to offer as a rebuttal. All Sonera could do was snarl like an animal as she tried to overpower Yrix.
"Hmm," Yrix cocked her head. "Better than before, I'll give you that."
Sonera would never forget the last time she wrestled with her teacher. It was back during the crisis with Imura, and her game in the Garth. She lost miserably. Yet her thirst for revenge was never quenched.
"I…won't," Sonera coughed up a bit of blood. "Give…up."
She was pushed to her absolute limits as a Psion. Her mind was practically about to explode. Though for the first time, her effort was not in vain.
Yrix's hand twitched. Her relaxed posture wasn't enough. She had to try.
Try.
Put in effort.
Actually care.
It was a monumental revelation, and one she savored to the last.