The temporary synchronization forced upon our minds by the Elements of Harmony was already wearing down before I got to the conversion pod. Now that we- I was in a damaged section partially exposed to the void, the harmony was being torn from my brain. Sounds and images assaulted my mind, and I was hard pressed to separate the ones in my head from the ones just outside the damaged door.
The screams and gibbering faded away and I started to breathe normally. I looked at the little chamber I'd thrown myself into just before launch. Machina had extended my mechanical arm to repair the hole Lyra had bucked and was now pulling it back into a humanoid shape. Slowly, hissing at my cuts and bruises, I uncurled from the fetal position and sat up. There wasn't room to stand or lie down, but then the area had been built for quick transit and space concerns.
WHAT IN FAUST'S NAME WAS THAT?! I have seen nightmares from Discord more sane than that! Sun and stars, I had no idea! How can you fucking volunteer to be fired through THAT? No amount of money is worth it.
"Shit, and here I was looking forward to watching those things eat you."
I spun round to see James face on a small screen, grinning like the bastard he was. "I did that with a dog once just to get an idea what it's like, but I never saw it on a human before. I'd blow the explosive bolts and drop your worthless ass into the void, but that would be too quick an end. Think I'll keep you as a pet instead."
"James," I gasped for breath, "you are an absolute fucking asshole." The battle had left me too drained for a better insult at the moment. "I just finished kicking your ass and killing your companions, what makes you think you can threaten me at all?"
Sarah, plug your arm into the data port there. I can disable the explosive bolts at least.
If it wouldn't drop us into the void, I'd suggest clawing through the pod just to rip out his throat.
NOT THE VOID! ANYTHING BUT THE VOID!
"Bitch, I can do whatever the hell I want. In a little while all of your companions will be locked away by their seals and protocols and you will be your mundane, worthless, crippled self. I'm going to enjoy breaking you."
"Try anything and I'll break both of your legs." I threatened, plugging Machina in subtly. "for starters."
"What, in your sleep? New procedure is to pump those little rooms full of knockout gas before landing. I'd do it right now but somebody murdered my AI."
"Fuck you."
"Listen here, cripple cunt, do you even realize who you're fucking with?" He chuckled in an ugly fashion. "I'm the best damn raider ARCO has. I'm a pro in fucking people the hell up! "
"Big talk for someone who got their ass handed to them by cartoon ponies," I retorted.
"You really are a stupid ass bitch. I've tortured and murdered countless creatures in ways that would scar your for life! Fifteen of them were jumpers. Yeah, that's right," he responded to my shocked expression, "jumpers just like you. We got those pussy pencil pushers back home to see how 'dangerous' other worlds are. They got off their fat asses in a hurry to take the restrictions off of ARCO. Fifteen jumpers, and once we land I'm really gonna enjoy fucking you up and making you my sixteenth!"
"What, after the knockout gas renders me helpless?" I asked with disdain. "What a fucking coward. Just my luck too. I made it this far just for a lowlife asshole like you kill me in my sleep."
"Oh you poor dumbfuck, you really think you'll get off that easily? No, I'm going to enjoy making you suffer for as long as possible, Sarah." His face had an ugly, almost insane grin on it. "I'll make sure you're awake for every second while I fucking break you. I'll start off by ripping out your fake arm and running electricity and fire through your nerve connections. If that doesn't get you screaming, I'm sure you will when I remove all of your nails and then break every bone in your limbs right before amputating them at each joint slowly. Then I'll pull out all of your teeth one by one and stick double ended barbed needles in the gaps left behind so you can't fucking move your mouth without feeling a shit ton of pain. I'm going to scar you, pierce you, rape every hole in your body, and make some more holes to fuck. And when I'm done using you, I'm going to mount you for public use in the company break room.
"But before I do all of that, I'm going to take three other jumpers and two brand new companions and I am going to break that little piece of shit world. I'm going to rape and burn and kill everything in that town until there is nothing but ash. I'm going to burn that fucking forest to the ground and wipe all your little friends out of existence, the entire time yelling out that it's all for you. That way your friends will die cursing your name and damning you to the deepest pits of hell.
"And we are going to record it all. Every bloody murderous fucking second of it. I've never raped a horse before but I'll gladly skull fuck a few just for you. I'm going to mount three, seventy inch, plasma screen televisions in front of you in that room, and play the entire massacre non-stop just for you. I'll even cut your eyelids off so you can't look away. The only reprieve you'll have is when someone is fucking your worthless face.
"Then, and only then, after you've been utterly broken, I might give you the option of begging me for death."
The man is one hundred percent, certifiably insane! How does a psychopath like him pass the psych tests?
Maybe those corrupt companions tainted his mind.
Speaking as a creature of nightmares, the taint was there already. Murder for the sake of murder is never the concept of a sane mind, but he sounds like he'd stick his head in the void for the hell of it.
If, as he has said, ARCO has sanctioned this kind of behavior, maybe the psych tests were not looking for sane people.
Their commentary jarred me from my horrified surprise and I whispered, "Machina, are we deadlocked on? Did I get you enough time?"
Yes, Sarah. James can no longer eject this section of the pod. I estimate we will be landing in just over fifteen minutes.
"You are all free right? You're not actually bound to me are you? I worried when the Elements hit us-"
Third times a charm it would seem. I am finally free of the seal upon your back, though I'm not sure if the seal itself remains.
I don't have much power left after that fight, but I could get out and about if I needed to. Why? Is there an air shaft I can crawl through and eat him?
It is doubtful any of us could navigate this pod's systems and get to him before we landed. We are all free, Sarah. What is your plan?
"I want you to make a mini-pod out of my arm, take D and Nightmare, and go."
What?
Sarah, you can't give up. We've come this far and I know we can beat him.
"Are you talking to the voices in your head?" James snarked. "Begging them for a quick death? Pathetic cripple psycho cunt."
I ran my finger along my metal shoulder and pulled out a small golden disk, one that had been given to me so long ago.
Twist's bit.
That bit has to have a ton of energy, surely we could beat him.
The power won't be fully accessible till we are almost home, and he will have gassed us by then.
So that's it? We just run? We have beaten everything that's ever been thrown at us and you just want to quit now?
"I'm going to fight, but I can't sacrifice you as well." I grasped the bit in both hands and started to put pressure on it. Slowly, ever so slowly, the bit started to flex and deform. "I want you to go."
Sarah-
You can't break that! Do you know what will happen if you break that?! We are way too close to home for you to even be touching that!
The bit started to glow a soft orange and my fingers felt warm.
"Go," I whispered harshly, feeling tears sting my eyes. "Just go. This is all I can do, it's the only thing I can do to stop him. But I'm not running anymore."
The fleshy fingers on my right hand stopped feeling so warm, and I saw bony growths over my fingers.
Fuck that noise. You think I'm going to let you just up and die on me?
My right arm shifted, pistons and motors growing to add more torque on the coin, which was now glowing cherry red.
I shall not abandon you again. I never forgot the sacrifice you made for me, giving me your arm when you had no reason to. We shall stand together, till the end.
Dark runes etched themselves into the air with black fire, and I felt a blade of magic hiss at the coin.
If he thinks we are going to let him lay a finger on you or any of our friends he has another thing coming.
I nodded. "For what he has done, for what he plans to do, for every creature he has hurt, he deserves to burn."
"Sarah? What are you doing in there? The thermal sensors are going a little haywire. What are you- Your anchor? You are seriously trying to break your anchor? Shit, you're a crazy bitch! If you are so desperate to die, I'll eviscerate you and shove that heat energy into your whore ass. Cook you from the inside out, really slowly. Maybe we can even cut a piece free and give you a taste. But before I can have my fun -"
I heard a soft hiss, the sound of gas starting to pour into the chamber.
"Breathe deep bitch," he taunted. "It'll all be over soon."
"Machina, can you shut him up?"
"Sarah, your companions are fucking useless and were locked down long ago. Standard protocol now that we are this close to home. You don't honestly think-"
He was cut off as a song began to play over the speakers. I could see his shock even as tears filled my eyes.
Something Octavia and Clockwork gave me before the battle. I felt it appropriate.
I nodded, having to shut my eyes against the light and heat of the glowing bit.
"Stop this!" James yelled, barely above a lull in the music. "Stop!! You can't!!"
"WHY NOT!" I screamed against the music. "I HAVE BEEN RUNNING ALL MY LIFE! Well there is no place to run anymore, no where to hide. But if you think, for one moment, that I will not do everything in my power to save my friends, then you have sorely underestimated me!" The coin was folded almost in half now, so bright and thin that it needed only a little extra push. "I am not going to give up! I am not going to lay down and die! Not this day! This is the day I STOP RUNNING!!!"
"STOP THIS!!!!" James begged desperately, pounding at the monitor that was glowing so brightly. "I was just joking! We'll all have a big party and dance around and sing songs and YOU CAN'T DO THIS STOP IT STOP STOP STOP STOP ST-"
In the dark place of madness that is the void between worlds, for the briefest of moments, there was a single brilliant light.