//------------------------------//
// Ishimura: Aegis VII 
// Story: Dead Space: Deep Space Terror 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Since the Ishimura was close to Aegis VII it didn't take Isaac long to get them down to where the colony was located, thanks to the fact that Nicole had reprogrammed the shuttle to take them to the area that the Marker had been pulled out of, though no one said anything while they traveled down to their destination. He and Chrysalis knew that this was going to be the last thing they did, in terms of the Ishimura, before they left the system and called for assistance, where he knew that his companion would begin her search for a way home. The moment Chrysalis had told him, Hammond, and Kendra that she needed to find a gateway home, back when they asked why she couldn't just teleport out of the Ishimura, he knew that the gateway would become her focus once this adventure was over, though he wasn't ready to say goodbye to her yet. He had come to realize that he thought of her as his friend, something that she seemed to agree with based on what she had told him earlier... though he silently hoped that, when she was given the option to stay or leave that she picked him and those he trusted over her painful old home.

Chrysalis, on the other hand, merely sat in the chair she had picked out when she entered the shuttle, thinking about the fact that she and Isaac were going to be taking the Marker back to where it had been found, while also absently scratching Wildfire behind her ear. She knew that she and Issac would succeed in their mission, in returning the Marker to where it had come from, but at the same time she wondered if putting it back would stop whatever signal it was sending to the two of them. If that was the case then she would likely lose Wildfire all over again, though as painful as such a scenario would be she was still grateful for the chance to spend some quality time with the one pony that had shown her the wonders that Twilight Sparkle and her friends represented. She still found it odd that she had long scorned the magic that was friendship, all because of her mother and what happened to her precious Wildfire, but now she was relearning what she had known in the past... and maybe forge some new friendships at the same time.

After a few moments of silence Chrysalis felt the shuttle come to a stop, indicating that they must have landed in the part of the colony where the Marker had been found, to which she sighed as she stopped scratching Wildfire behind the ears, something that was immediately noticed.

"We're here already," Wildfire commented, her voice sounding sad for a moment, once more making Chrysalis wonder just how much of her was actually real and how much of her was an illusion created by the Marker, before she looked over in Chrysalis' direction for a moment, "I was hoping that we'd have a few more minutes to ourselves... just to enjoy each other's company before you and Isaac got to work on delivering the Marker."

"So was I." Chrysalis said, though at the same time she moved her arms and grabbed Wildfire into a hug, something that she hadn't done to anyone since the fateful day she found her in the desert, before gently putting her on the floor in front of her, "Wildfire... if today is the last time we see each other, for the rest of my life, I just want you to know that I loved you with all my heart... and that I still do, even after a thousand years of mourning your death."

"Chryssi, I still love you with all my heart as well," Wildfire replied, to which she reached up and put another kiss on Chrysalis' cheek, in the same spot as the last one, before she returned to the floor as the main door opened, "Come on, let's get moving before Nicole starts telling us that 'now's not the time for fun', like she did back when you and Isaac were searching for that beacon."

Chrysalis nodded as she entered the command into her RIG once more and let her helmet seal around her head, before she and Wildfire walked out of the shuttle and took a look at the area that was around them, which was a large compound of sorts that had a rail resting in front of where the shuttle was sitting. From what she could tell she and Isaac would have to use the Kinesis Module to move the Marker through the compound until they reached wherever it had come from, while no doubt fighting off the Necromorphs that called this place home. There was some dust blowing in the air around them, though since Wildfire was dead and Chrysalis had her helmet on neither of them were affected by it, even though Chrysalis figured that it was all from the planet crack, which only made her a little nervous when she remembered that the fragment of Aegis VII was literally looming above their heads. The planetary fragment would be the perfect weapon to use against the Hive Mind, though something told her that doing so was a bad idea, so she pushed it away as she and Wildfire walked down the ramp that was in front of them.

When they reached the platform that the ramp brought them to, and Wildfire spread her wings so she could search the area for herself, Chrysalis turned around and watched as Nicole walked down the ramp as well... though a minute later Isaac did the same thing, making her wonder why it had taken him some extra time to get out here, but she said nothing as her companion stopped beside her with his helmet up as well.

"Isaac, Chrysalis, you'll need to use one of the loaders to get the Marker off the shuttle." Nicole told them, though at the same time she turned her head away from where the duo was standing and walked over to were a large metal door was resting, where she stopped beside some tracks that matched what Chrysalis had stared at earlier.

As Isaac started looking for a loader, however, Chrysalis walked over to where the edge of the compound was so she could get a better look at the massive hole in the planet, where she quickly discovered that there were more than one compound resting around the edge of the hole. According to what Kyne told them, and showed them, the Hive Mind was somewhere in the darkness of the hole, waiting for something to happen, to which Chrysalis gulped as she backed away and followed after Isaac. Fortunately it appeared that a loader was already resting on the tracks, waiting for them to use it, to which Chrysalis raised her Pulse Rifle and nodded to Isaac, who latched onto the loader with his Kinesis Module and started pulling it over to where the shuttle was waiting. Oddly enough no Necromorphs jumped out at them while they were moving the loader, which only put Chrysalis on edge considering that there had to be a few left behind, though she said nothing as they came to a stop in front of the shuttle.

A few moments later Isaac input the command into the console that was next to the loader, where the duo watched as the Marker, without it's container surrounding it, emerged from the area in front of where the loader was resting, before it was pulled onto the loader... causing Isaac and Chrysalis to walk back to where Nicole was standing.

When they reached the area that Nicole was still standing in, with her eyes locked on the Marker, Chrysalis noticed that the power terminal that would allow them to move forward had no power box inside it, and that the only place where she and Isaac could get a replacement was inside the building to their left. Since they had no choice in the matter, as they couldn't go forward without the power being restored, Isaac eventually let go of the loader and followed Chrysalis over to the smaller building's door. When they entered the building they found bodies scattered everywhere, something that they were used to at this point in time, though when they turned to the right they found an infector resting on the glass wall of the room that appeared to have the power box they just happened to be looking for. A few moments later, when they opened the door, they discovered that there were two infectors inside the room, though neither of them lasted very long in the grand scheme of things as Isaac and Chrysalis gunned them down and dismembered them.

As they collected the power box, and pulled it out of the room it was in, their audio links became active once more, though the duo paused since it was either Nicole telling them something before she disappeared again or it was Kendra trying to persuade them into handing over the Marker.

"Isaac, Chrysalis, the Marker needs to be returned to the Pedestal Chamber." Nicole informed them, though at the same time the duo collected anything they could salvage from the building they were in and made sure that they sold what they didn't need at the store, "Use the loader to bring it there and place it on the pedestal. Replace what was stolen, and make us whole again."

Once the connection was terminated Chrysalis opened the door for Isaac before the two of them walked outside, where they discovered that Nicole was no longer standing where she had been a few moments ago, though they also had to open fire on a divider and his limbs once he separated into smaller segments. With the divider taken care of Isaac picked up the power box once more and inserted it into the terminal, allowing power to be restored to the doors and the large metal door that was opening before their very eyes. As that happened Isaac grabbed the loader with his Kinesis and pulled it into the waiting area that was behind the metal door, which happened to be between two metal doors, though as Isaac moved through the door he opened Chrysalis turned her head to the skies and didn't see Wildfire anywhere... to which she sighed as she followed Isaac into the depths of the compound.

A few moments later, after closing the first door they had moved the Marker through, or a shutter as the colonists called them, and opening the second one in front of them, where they discovered that the colonists had definitely been attacked by Necromorphs on account of the blood and bodies, as well as some organic growth that was blocking a path they could have taken to get the Marker to it's destination in a shorter amount of time. Another thing Chrysalis noticed was that there were a decent number of bridges that needed to be raised so they could even move the Marker through this area, to which she headed over to the console that was attached to the first one they came to and tapped the button in front of her. That was followed by the bridge rising in two halves, though Isaac quickly loosed a Stasis blast at the bridge, to be on the safe side, and moved the Marker further down the path they needed to take... though as they passed the first bridge the quarantine activated, informing them that the Necromorphs were coming at last.

The first wave of enemies that came after them contained a few slashers and a few lurkers, just enough so there were equal amounts of them on both sides of the room, meaning that both Isaac and Chrysalis fought the same number of enemies at the same time. Despite the fact that these Necromorphs were empowered, meaning their bodies were darker colored than the normal color they possessed, Chrysalis found that both of them were able to clear out their groups without breaking a sweat. She wondered if that meant that these foes were actually weaker than the ones on the Ishimura, which would be weird since they were so close to the Hive Mind, but she paid it no mind. The next group consisted of the same enemies they fought in the first wave, only now a few exploders were joining the fun, which made things easier for the duo since their foes got close together and made a single shot at the goo sacks take them all out.

The instant their enemies appeared to be taken care of, despite the quarantine lights still going on, Isaac and Chrysalis returned to raising the bridges in their way and moved the Marker along them, so that way when the quarantine lifted they would be able to continued onward without having to waste too much time. As it turned out the Necromorphs were waiting for them to move the Marker into the next area where two shutters were waiting before they attacked again, this time sending two lurkers and four exploders. Chrysalis would have been surprised by that arrangement, but since the exploders were easy to take out she quickly made short work of them, allowing Isaac to deal with the lurkers that were trying to pin them down. Not even a minute passed before all the enemies were dead, to which the lights returned to normal and the quarantine was over, where the duo breathed a sigh of relief as they headed over to where the Marker was waiting for them and moved it into the next chamber that they would likely have to fight their way through... though they had to wait through closing one shutter and opening the next one before they could get to fighting something.

"Isaac, Chrysalis, you're almost there," Nicole told them, though as they walked into the area Chrysalis noticed a tube of some kind with two guardians blocking the way, indicating that it was important, "You'll have to restore power to the bridges to move the Marker through this area. Look for a control station at the end of the maintenance tube."

Seeing how the maintenance tube was being guarded Isaac and Chrysalis opened fire on the guardians and the pods that were loosed into the area between them, where their weapons dismembered the two Necromorphs with ease, once more making Chrysalis worry that they were walking into a trap of some kind. Once the guardians were taken care of the duo opened the door they had been guarding and walked into the Zero-G environment that was waiting for them, while at the same time they took out a few leapers that were hiding inside the maintenance tube. As they waited Chrysalis stared at the blades that would have been spinning and knew that, once they turned the power back on, that they would have to move through here as well, meaning that Isaac's Stasis Module was necessary. Eventually they came to a point where they had to jump through a square hole and then jump onto the ground where the switch was located, though once Isaac pulled the switch back to where it belonged they carefully made their way back through the tube... where he slowed the blades down so they didn't get carved up, while Chrysalis simply grabbed their enemies and hurled them into the blades to quickly get rid of them.

When they finally got out of the maintenance tube, however, they found an empowered brute waiting for them, as it immediately started to charge at them the instant the door opened and they walked out, though both Isaac and Chrysalis moved to the side and let the beast pass them. Once the brute was behind them Isaac loosed a Stasis blast at it's back, allowing him and Chrysalis to open fire on the beast's weaknesses without it trying to fight them back, where the beast roared in pain as one of it's arms was removed. When it was allowed to move fast again the duo continued to fire at it's back as they avoided it's attacks, before it's other arm was blown completely off it's body, where it collapsed and died, to which Isaac collected the Power Node that it happened to be carrying... something that he wasn't sure he and Chrysalis were going to need at this point in time.

Once the brute was taken care of, and they were absolutely sure that it was dead, they restocked their ammunition at the nearby store, or at least sold some of the useless pieces of ammunition they had, before they started moving the Marker towards the third set of shutters they had to walk through... and entered another part of the compound were they would have to fight their way forward.

Oddly enough there weren't any enemies for them to fight in the area they walked into, to which they carefully moved the Marker as they waited for something to happen, but in the end they were able to open the doors to the Excavation Site without having to fight any Necromorphs. When they opened the second set of doors, however, they discovered that the Hive Mind was active, as there were a lot of large tentacle like appendages moving around where the massive hole was, but at the same time the duo stood beside each other as Isaac carefully moved the loader carrying the Marker towards the pedestal they had been moving towards. As they started moving the Marker across the rails, however, they were attacked by Necromorphs, though while Isaac dealt with the lurkers and some slashers Chrysalis cleared the way by dismembering three tentacles that were trying to block the way, before she turned around and helped Isaac with the mess of enemies that were coming from behind.

The moment they were finished with all the Necromorphs that wanted to attack them, and were sure they were done, the duo continued to move the loader to the red pedestal they were heading towards, though once they reached it Isaac pressed the prompt on the screen and the Marker was returned to the pedestal... which was followed it energy surging around it as something happened, while Nicole stepped out from behind where the Marker had been placed.

"Thank you Isaac. I always believed in you." Nicole said, though since her sudden arrival made no sense Chrysalis knew now that Nicole had to have been killed at some point in time during the outbreak, but she said nothing since it appeared that Isaac might not have put the pieces together himself, "I knew you would return to me. We are whole again, Isaac. We are whole..."

That was followed by Nicole disappearing as something bright glowed behind her, obscuring her from their vision, though when the light faded the Marker released a pulse of energy into the sky that shook the area for a moment... but what came next caused Isaac and Chrysalis to freeze for a moment.

Emergency: geo-orbital gravity tethers offline. a computerized voice, one that was slightly different from the one they heard on the Ishimura, said, though at the same time Chrysalis' eyes widened as she looked into the sky, Tectonic load released. Impact imminent. Evacuate this area immediately.

"Holy shit." Chrysalis said, looking up at the fragment of Aegis VII for a moment, which was now starting to make it's way down towards the area it had been pulled from, though this time she knew that death was a guarantee if they didn't get off the planet soon, "Isaac, we've got to move... and I mean right NOW!!!"

Chrysalis, taking command in this situation, hauled Isaac away from where 'Nicole' had been standing and headed into what appeared to be a decontamination chamber, as she knew that there was one more door in the area they found the power box in earlier and hoped that this area would take them there... only for the door to lock up and the walls to rise around them, forcing them to wait for a few seconds before they lowered back into place.

"Isaac, Chrysalis," a familiar voice said, one that filled Chrysalis with rage as she and Isaac turned around, where they found Kendra standing on the walkway they had been on moments ago, only this time it appeared that she was holding a gun in her right hand, "you two didn't really think I would just walk away from this, did you? I can't do that, because the Marker is coming with me. It really is a shame... I was really starting to like how resourceful the two of you were... even if the two of you are insane."

"Kendra, I have no idea what you are talking about, and I wouldn't believe you even if you were right," Isaac replied, though at the same time he pointed his Plasma Cutter at the glass, because if he could just break it he could give Chrysalis the opening she needed to end Kendra's cursed existence.

"What, you don't believe me? Just look at yourself." Kendra stated, though that was when a smirk appeared on her face, one that Chrysalis hated the instant she noticed it, before she pointed at Isaac's RIG, "Better yet, take a look at that video from Nicole... and this time, watch it right to the end..."

Chrysalis patiently stood there as Isaac opened his video log and replayed the video from Nicole once more, seeing the same parts of the video she had seen several times since she arrived on the Kellion, though before it she, and Isaac for that matter, noticed something different. The camera zoomed back for a moment and revealed that Nicole was holding a needle, one that was connected to some sort of compound, where Nicole told Isaac that she loved him and that she could have seen him one last time... before driving the needle into her arm. At first nothing seemed to happen, but as they watched they discovered that Nicole effectively put herself down before the Necromorphs got to her, which confirmed all of Chrysalis' suspicions, though at the same time she still felt sorry for Isaac and knew the pain he was going through at that exact moment.

"See? You're insane!" Kendra declared, though at the same time Chrysalis growled at the lady, as she was imagining what she was going to do with her now that she was within her grasp, while at the same time Kendra ignored her, "Just like Kyne, just like the Captain... and just like Chrysalis! Hell, Chrysalis is even more insane than you are, because she's constantly interacting with whatever construct the Marker has been showing her..."

"Her name... is Wildfire Comet," Chrysalis growled, though as she spoke she glared daggers at Kendra, as she hated this one person with every fiber of her being, for everything she had done to the duo during their journey through the Ishimura, "Once this door opens I'm going to kill you... and if I don't then the Hive Mind will do so before you can even hope to leave with the Marker."

"Nicole and Wildfire have been dead the entire time, Isaac," Kendra stated, completely ignoring Chrysalis, as she wanted to torment Isaac a little more before she left the duo to their deaths, either at the tentacles of the Hive Mind or the collision of the tectonic load colliding with Aegis VII, "Whatever the two of you have been seeing the entire time... was made by that! The two of you were it's pawns. But don't worry, because from this point forward it will be in good hands... far away from this damned place. Goodbye Isaac... goodbye Chrysalis."

Before Chrysalis could even do anything Kendra ran away from where they were standing, heading into the building she and Isaac had fought their way through, to which Chrysalis turned towards the door that was behind them and found that it was finally unlocked. With the way opened the duo opened the door and headed down the corridor that was in front of them, though at the same time they had to move slowly because of the organic mess that was lining the majority of the corridor. As they walked the duo heard the sounds of the Hive Mind, which was either pissed or happy about what Kendra had done, though they focused on their objective as they reached the end of the corridor and entered another room, one that had plenty of supplies waiting for them. They quickly restocked what they had before they moved through another door and entered the area the power box had been resting in, before they opened the door and headed outside so they could get to the shuttle before Kendra could.

As they headed outside the building the duo discovered that some of the larger cargo boxes had been toppled, but Chrysalis ignored that as she spotted Kendra heading up the ramp to the shuttle's seating area, indicating that she was planning on leaving before they could stop them... though she wasn't going to have any of that as her magic flared and she extended her hand, letting her magic sparkle around Kendra before she pulled back and yanked her down to where she and Isaac were standing.

"So, Kendra, where did you think you were going?" Chrysalis asked, though at the same time she glared at Kendra as she purposely disengaged her helmet, allowing the lady to see the anger and hate in her eyes before she ended her life like she had promised.

"I'm leaving with the Marker," Kendra replied, though as she spoke Chrysalis didn't move her eyes, while noticing that Kendra was inching her hand towards her gun while they were talking, revealing her intentions, "and that means the two of you need to..."

"Stop that." Chrysalis commanded, to which her magic grabbed hold of Kendra's mind, or a decent portion of it, while she used a type of magic she hadn't used since she had been dethroned by Thorax, to which Kendra's body shook for a few seconds before her hand stopped reaching for her gun, which caused Chrysalis to smile as she placed a finger under Kendra's chin, "Now then, let's finish our quarrel; throw yourself off the nearby edge of this area."

Isaac watched as Kendra, with a look of fear in her eyes, moved away from where Chrysalis was standing and headed towards the area that the Hive Mind was no doubt resting in, where she charged forward and jumped off the edge of the platform, as if she had been forced to listen to Chrysalis' command. It also appeared that there was a limit to that power, as the moment that Kendra was over the edge she started screaming as she fell into the abyss that was in front of them, before her voice disappeared as her RIG flatlined, indicating that she was now dead.

"Was... was that necessary?" Isaac asked, as he had never seen something like that from Chrysalis, though at the same time he knew that it was because the enemies they had fought were dead instead of alive, but that ability was slightly terrifying if he was admitting anything.

"I could have taken the easy way out and simply blown her to pieces," Chrysalis admitted, though she felt only a tiny bit better over all this, before she turned towards the shuttle and stopped staring at the area she had told Kendra to throw herself off of, "but that wouldn't have lessened my anger... come on, let's get out of where before..."

That was immediately followed by a long white tentacle erupting from the area that the Hive Mind was located in and wrapped around the area that the duo was standing in, preventing them from heading to the shuttle or retreating into the building that they had come from... to which they both turned towards the area that Kendra had jumped off of and watched as the Hive Mind pulled itself up to their level, all while loosing it's unique roar at the same time.

As the Hive Mind roared at them, however, the duo noticed that there were five yellow areas, it's weakness, that they could target, to which Chrysalis reengaged her helmet before the two of them started firing at the areas that would allow them to defeat the massive creature. After a few seconds of them firing the Hive Mind pulled itself back and attempted to crushed the two of them with it's massive white tentacles, though the massive Necromorph roared in pain when one of them obliterated one of the weaknesses. As Isaac caused the first weakness to explode they both stopped firing as they dodged the tentacles, though as it calmed down Chrysalis resumed firing at the one she had targeting, causing it more pain as she destroyed her target. When the third weakness was destroyed, however, the Hive Mind lashed out with it's tentacles and grabbed onto both Chrysalis' right leg and Isaac's right leg before hauling them into the air, where it dangled them in the air as it started to bring them towards it's mouth.

Isaac and Chrysalis determined that combining their attacks was best at this point in time, to which they targeted the same weaknesses for a few moments, having to pause every now and then as the Hive Mind brought them closer to it's mouth... though as they attacked it's weaknesses a flash appeared in the air above them and Chrysalis noticed Wildfire stabbing the tentacle that was holding her, before the weakness exploded and the duo was thrown at the ground. A few moments later, after the Hive Mind calmed down, the duo got back up and blew the fifth and final weakness apart, causing the creature to howl in pain once more. That was followed by the Hive Mind's chest cavity opening, revealing five more weaknesses that looked like organs, to which the duo opened fire immediately, as they knew that they would be forced to do some things before they had another chance at this.

A few moments later the Hive Mind loosed a pair of pods into the air that landed in front of the duo, which turned into a pair of pregnant Necromorphs, though Isaac and Chrysalis dismembered them before they had a chance to cut themselves open... allowing them to access the Hive Mind's chest cavity and causing it more damage as the first organ was blown to pieces. From there they had to avoid the tentacles and wait for the creature to open it's chest, while at the same time praying that they had enough time since the fragment of Aegis VII was getting even closer to where they were standing. The duo also did as much damage as they could to the Hive Mind's organs when they were revealed, each targeting a different one to the best of their ability, while also saying nothing as one of their attacks caused massive pain to their foe as an organ was blown to pieces. It took them some time, but eventually the last weakness was blown apart and the Hive Mind moved around in pain, before it collapsed on the platform in front of where Isaac and Chrysalis were standing, where it remained for a few seconds before moving backwards and fell into the abyss behind it.

With the Hive Mind taken care of the duo immediately ran over to the ramp, which was now accessible thanks to the tentacle being pulled away as well, though as they entered the shuttle Chrysalis turned around and looked at the sky, where she was tackled to the floor by Wildfire, to which she sealed the door and braced herself... while at the same time Isaac accessed the cockpit of the shuttle and got them moving into the air, before they breached the atmosphere and finally left Aegis VII behind.

"It's finally over," Chrysalis commented, though at the same time she disengaged her helmet as she picked herself up off the floor, where Wildfire moved into the chair she had been sitting in earlier, before she walked into the cockpit and found Isaac making sure that the shuttle was heading away from the damned planet, "Hey Isaac, how are you holding up?"

"...I'm fine..." Isaac said, though his tone suggested that he was saddened by the fact that Nicole was dead, having taken her own life during the Necromorph outbreak, before he glanced back at Chrysalis as he disengaged his own helmet as well,"How about you? How are you holding up?"

"Truth be told, I'm exhausted." Chrysalis replied, as her body ached from the constant running and fighting that they had been through, without any real rest to speak of, but she pushed that to the side for the moment, "Isaac, I'm sorry that you lost Nicole."

"It's fine," Isaac stated, where Chrysalis determined that he was only trying to lie to himself, though if he wanted to do that she guessed that she could abide by his desires, "Who knows, maybe I'll be lucky and have her materialize for me like Wildfire does for you."

"Yeah, that would be nice," Chrysalis said, though she didn't say anything else in that regard, because she knew that now wasn't the time for her to be prying into his life, especially after everything they had been through so far, "Well, if you want to talk about anything I'm going to be in the other room... sleeping I might add. Hopefully you get us somewhere safe, where you can get some rest as well before we head out into the vastness of space."

Isaac didn't say anything as he nodded his head, to which Chrysalis let out a yawn and returned to where Wildfire was resting, where she found that the seats could have their arms pulled up to make the entire thing a single length that was long enough for a person to sleep on. Chrysalis smiled as she sat on the chair for a moment, though that was before she rested her head near the open edge of the seats and let herself drift off into what she felt was a well deserved slumber, as she hadn't had one since the Kellion crashed into the Ishimura. As she drifted off to sleep, and headed into the land of dreams, she could have sworn that Wildfire kissed her cheek once more, though that was the last thing she recalled before she started snoring... not realizing that her adventures with Isaac were far from over.