//------------------------------// // She's back in Crimson...literally! // Story: Haylo: Crimson // by Zarius9998 //------------------------------// The party Celebrating The New Year went on. Vinyl Scratch got the night pumping with a few old tracks and sets, but the party didn't truly start until a surprise Co-Mixer appeared. No one could really see her that well, but it was clear that she was a pony, and that her voice, upon introducing herself, clearly gave away one belonging to a pony of mischief and trickery. Her name, or so they thought, was Anarchy. The two pony's mixed and DJ'd until the sun rose the next morning, with barely a break in between. All through the night, small events of hilarity or pleasing randomness ensued throughout the crowd, causing many to believe that some one had spiked the punch. No one ever assumed that the new unicorn which had appeared out of nowhere, then disappeared just as quickly the next morning, was actually a very happy, very eager to help, Spirit of Discord. Of course, no one ever suspected that their favorite little psycho was actually just enjoying a little cat-nap, either, but that would be revealed soon enough... ------------- ...18 months later... "She's gone! Just keep going! We can recover the body later!" I refused to believe she was actually dead...over the last year and a half, I had actually learned probably a bit more about Diana than she ever wanted anypony to ever know, so I just KNEW she was still alive after that crash. "More contacts! Damnit Pip! We don't have time to search now!" Our Spacial attack on a Covenant Corvett turned sour when the Saber Diana and I had been piloting took a direct hit from a kamikaze Seraph. She managed to aim us into a docking bay in it's side, and I was luckily ejected through the front glass shield (though it hurt, severely bad), but there was no sign of her...of Diana. "Pip! C'mon, please! We need your help!" She had said please...but something else was pulling my attention. I looked over my shoulder at Widow, her form crouched behind a piece of my broken Saber, and she looked back. No words were passed, but she shook her head and continued to fire at the attacking Covey forces. She was allowing me time to search. So I did. And I felt as though I knew exactly where she would be. Quickly lifting a somewhat flaming hunk of metal out of the way, I found her, amidst the entirety of the twisted metal and in a small alcove of safety, was Diana...or so I thought. I dashed to her side and removed her helmet, her badly burned face showing no signs of life. It had turned out that she received severe burns at some point across almost her entire body, which was the supposed reason why she constantly remained covered. It was amazing that she delt with all the bleeding that would ensue after every encounter with enemies, due to the tearing of her burned-sensitive flesh. I quickly checked her pulse and found that it WAS there, but it was faint, so I started to shake her and shout her name... ------------- "...eeemis!" "Aaarrtmeissss!..." "Artemis! Damnit, wake up you lazy plot-hole!" My eyes opened. My brain slowly clicked back into the right place. My muscles began to work again...but no bones popped. My body, though, hurt like all hell to move for some reason. "Took you damn long enough!" Slowly, I started to sit up. Everything seemed to be just white everywhere...but I could feel heat all around me...I had no clue where I was, and I was starting to think I was dead. I mean, the last thing I remembered was the explosion... Then I spoke, "Am I...dead?" Then it hit me. And by it, I mean her hoof. I tumbled backwards across the floor a couple feet before planting my hooves down and sliding to a halt. After looking up I saw that somepony almost entirely covered in black cloth stood before me, her eyes an oddly colored orange. I didn't really know who she was at first, but I felt as though she was familiar...and that she was about to try and pound my flank into the floor. "I have been trying to wake you up for the past YEAR, you little bitch!" she shouted at me, obvious annoyance drenching her voice, "I only planned on staying around until I finished clearing your name, but you just HAD to be a heavy sleeper!" I gave her a clearly confused stare, shaking my head slightly in dumbfoundment, "What the buck are you going on about?" The cloth around her muzzle shifted...I think she scowled, "You know what, I'm going to wake you up now, alright, but it's going to be a kick to your ass that gets you there!" Without warning, the clothed mare suddenly took a large stride towards me and aimed a kick to my chest. I obviously sidestepped, but she caught my mane as though she knew I would do it, then flung me back in front of her, spinning me to have my back to her. "Wake up, you lucky bitch! Time to kill all of 'dem sons of bitches!" Then I suddenly shot up from the hard, metallic floor with a severe pain in my flank... ------------- She sprang up with a deep gasp, almost slamming into my helmet. Her chest heaved heavily and her eyes looked somewhat glazed over, as though she had just woken up from a long sleep. "Diana, can you move?" I asked, holding a hoof on her shoulder. She seemed to ignore me, slowly and somewhat shakily standing, picking up the pistol which had been beside her hoof when I found her. I only watched, trying to see if any other injuries were present besides the multiple bleeding spots from torn skin...that's when I noticed something odd, yet familiar...but I couldn't yet place a hoof on what exactly it was... "Diana?" I asked, watching as she looked the pistol over in her hoof. She again ignored me, peering out at the firefight nearby, her back to me. I waited a couple of moments and all she did was raise her free hoof to her face. When she brought it down, she dropped two, tiny and thin pieces of material before suddenly ripping off the rest of the burnt cloth from the exposed neck section of her armor. As she did so, I caught sight if her Cutie Mark from between the displaced armor for the first time...a golden bow and arrow with a crescent moon in the background. Something seemed...strange. She fixed it all up and grabbed her helmet quickly after. ------------- "Your on a Covey Corvette, go do what you do best and blow the fuck out of it." I glared down at the two eye-color contacts which Diana had used to change her eye color from red to orange. They were yellow, but mixed with my vibrant crimson to make a very oddly colored orange. It was very annoying, but she did help me, after all, so I let it slide. Still... "You got a pistol and an SMG...you should be fine with that, right?" Even after waking up, she continued to talk to me, standing beside me while Squirt tried to understand what was happening. He'd figure it out soon enough... "It'll be more than enough..." I replied before turning my head slightly over my shoulder so I could look at my old partner, "Oi, Pipsqueak, watch my back, will ya?" ------------- "It'll be more than enough..." I shook my head in confusion, wondering what Diana was talking about, then I noticed something else...her grin...HER GRIN. "Oi, Pipsqueak, watch my back, will ya?" She looked at me with those eyes...those eyes again. They were completely and totally deranged...they were a vibrant crimson...they weren't Diana's... She took off, dashing out of the wreckage before I could finish understanding what I saw, even though there was no other explanation besides that she was back... ------------- I was back. I was well rested. And I was fully prepared to, again, make every last son of a bitch in that entire ship BURN LIKE EQUIS. My armor may have been downgraded to ODST standards, my swords may have not been there, and my skills might not be up to par with what they used to be, but my drive was as strong as ever, and I was roaring and ready to kick some flank. "Jesus fuck! Where is Pip!?" Ahhh, Widow's voice...still sounded as pissy as ever over my helmet's comms... "I'm sure he's making his way to us now!" Ghost, too! Sounds as unafraid and jovial as when I last left him! In fact, I could see both of them ahead, trapped and pinned down behind a pile of Covey storage crates with a hail of plasma and spikes barraging their cover like a hurricane. I tapped my communications on and, with as much joy as I could muster, shouted, "Hey jerks, mind if I kill 'em all for ya?" My two old friends turned their head my direction, momentarily forgetting their current predicament. I swear I could see their faces through the helmets...dumbstruck! "D...Diana!?" Widow shouted. Ghost jabbed his sister's shoulder, laughing, "Not quite!" I looked past them, at the force of Brutes, Grunts, and Jackals which tried to prevent us from completing...uh, whatever mission we were doing. Hey, I just woke up, bleeding practically everywhere and feeling sore all over. I didn't really know what we were doing, so I just decided that... Every, single, last one of them... Would... BURN. And THAT was MY mission. "No...no way..." I slid into cover beside Widow, fixing my helmet back on as I checked over my pistol again, then did the same for my SMG. "On my mark, unload everything so I can get by, hmm?" I asked absentmindedly, "I'll handle the rest." "You...what?" Widow still couldn't grasp it...it was so entertaining! "Three...tw-GO!" I skipped two and one because...well, fuck them! Then vaulted over the cover, snatching Widow's shotgun off her back and latching it to mine. My two comrades shot out of either side of the cover, firmly planting their feet and barraging the blockade of Coveys with both Assault rifle and Battle Rifle, momentarily forcing all unlucky enough to not react in time to become Swiss cheese, and the rest to hide until my friends' clip-counters hit zero. And again...everything slowed down...to a crawl, to a speed a turtle would laugh at...my heart beat loud and my eyes darted like flies. I saw everything; nothing was allowed to escape my eyes, and soon, my wrath. I was back... My hooves planted the floor, pistol primed in my right hoof and SMG in my left, then dashed straight down the center of the blockade... The crimson bitch was back... After clearing the entire force and entering an exit hallway I dropped the two grenade pins from my maw and grinned like a maniac. Of course, I burst out in open laughter as a resounding explosion cleared out the entire blockade. "ARTEMIS IS BACK!" ------------- I came to a halt beside Widow and Ghost, asking them where she had gone. They simply answered. "To kill everything." I shook my head, chuckling slightly. It was really her, alright...and she was probably going to need a bit of aid to get her out of whatever mess she was causing. "Ge' another ship." I demanded, "I'll ge'...Ar'emis back." My comrades nodded and exited through a separate corridor to commandeer a Covey ship to escape on while I followed the path of devastation left behind by my good ol' little psycho. Our team was whole again. ------------- Oh I love this. I've said it before and I'll say it again...I LOVE THIS! "You're just ganna walk in there casually, aren't you?" Diana stood beside me again, smirking as I reloaded both of my weapons. "Of course." She shook her head, "You know, that bubbly attitude of yours can only be attributed to Him." I paused, giving Diana a curious stare, "Wait, you and Zarius talked?" "Hey, just because we live in your head doesn't me we tell you everything." she explained, "Lara is getting a bit antsy as well, so you'd better prepare for a heat wave soon, if you know what I mean." I laughed, clipping both my pistol and SMG to their respective thighs, then checked to make sure the shotgun was still there, "Five personalities, one body...Celestia am I one bucked-up chick." "I mean, you have been holding a conversation with yourself for the past ten minutes. Of course you are." I turned my head to find Diana gone. Shrugging, I tapped through the personalized menu within the HUD. "Yes! She transferred all my music!" I quickly scrolled through it all, the song I desired already in mind, "Time for a little nod to my favorite Freelancer..." The doors slid open to reveal the control deck of the Corvette as the hard rock music began to kick in with drums. 'I am going to bring all of them to their knees.' I thought with a grin, sauntering into the midst of a couple hundred suddenly alert Covey. Each one hastily whipped out their respective rifles, pistols, blades, shields, or, in the case of the Ship Master, hammer and turned their gazes towards me, eyes narrowed and filled with a burning passion to crush me. "You guys shoulda' stayed home today." I shouted, shrugging. "What do you think you are?" the Ship Master, a formidably large Brute clad in pale white Chieftain Armor, "A demon?" he bellowed a laugh, mocking my bravado. I laughed with him. "Actually...heh, I think I'm worse." I replied. Without skipping a beat I quickly zipped to the side, avoiding the rain of fire by hiding beside a curved pillar. First I waited until the very instant every bullet ceased, then I dove out to the right, taking advantage of the Jackal (and his energy shield) which was nearby by grabbing the little thing and slamming it's head into the wall. With the Jackal dead, and the wall dented, I slipped it's wrist shield off and reactivated it, repelling the next storm of fire. Of course, this would only last for a moment before the shield died, so I utilized my free time to stick my hoof out, pistol at the ready, and fired a few shots at a group of Grunts. Four bullets, four skulls. "Pop!-YAY!" With the others either reloading or stunned from their comrade's sudden deaths, I reared back my other hoof and pitched the shield at a Brute near the center of the crowd, then sprinted after it. Some avoided it, others were knocked out of the way by it, and I decapitated a Grunt before the shield finally reached my intended target, a clear beeline straight to him. The Brute Minor was knocked somewhat off his feet while I dashed through the parted crowd, scooping up a Sticky on my way. Unfortunately for him, the moment his feet were planted back on the ground, my rear hooves were planted right on his face! Transferring forwards momentum into upwards, I jumped high into the air above the Brute—who, I might add, had a bleeding nose—,aiming down and firing a few, shoddy shots around below me. They didn't hit anything, but their purpose was to disorient, not damage. "Graaah! Where did it go!?" Poor fool. I dropped to the ground behind him, knife replacing the Pistol (which was already in my mouth, of corse). Quickly, I slammed the blade deep into the Brute's back, then I swiped his feet out and lifted him over my shoulders, ripping the blade down and out before grasping his nearest foot and swinging him in a wide arc. "Catch!" Letting go, I stumbled backwards a bit as the corpse soared through the air, cracking the the window through which showed me some nearby planet which I couldn't recognize at the time. I huffed, grinning at my handy work while I slipped the knife back into it's sheath so I could pick my Pistol back up...THEN a blue explosion from underneath the dead Brute vaporized it's corpse. "Whoops, shoulda kept my mouth shut." I confessed sheepishly, taking the moment to catch my breath while the rest of the Covey looked at me in shock. Once I was well and satisfied by their fearful faces, I shrugged then flipped out both my Pistol and SMG, "Now let's tango." ------------- I followed the trail of blood which she left behind. Unfortunately, knowing about her current "skin condition," it was clear that she'd pass-out from blood-loss somewhat soon. I had to find her and reel her in before she dropped in the middle of a firefight! I suddenly looked up at the sound of a deep, gravelly and foreign voice, obviously a Brute's. He turned a corner, stumbling somewhat, and turned his back to mine, probably wondering what caused all the damage. I didn't want waste time, nor give any indication I was heading this way, so I had to quickly put this ape down before he noticed me. As I neared him he heard my hoof falls and abruptly turned, but it was too late by then. I hopped, hooking my right forehoof and clotheslining the Brute, then forced him to his back by slamming the back of his head to the floor. Immediately after, I flipped backwards onto it's chest and plunged my knife into it's neck. He burgled for a few moments, blood pouring from his mouth and neck, before I pulled my knife back out. I didn't waste time in mourning his death. Not like he'd do the same for me anyway. Artemis was ahead, and we were running out of time...she either forgot what this mission actually was, or she just didn't care. Either way, we'd be space rubble in about ten more minutes if we didn't get off the ship. This thought in mind, I soon came upon a set of doors, dented and slightly ajar. They had become stuck and wouldn't open because of those dents, it seemed, and I would have to break them down to get in. I was about to do just that when I looked down and noticed a small, but substantial pool of blood, then hoof prints stemming from it into the room ahead...Artemis was in there all right, and was continuing to ignore her bleeding... She is such an idiot sometimes... Shaking my head, I started to pull back a punch aimed at the right, stuttering door, but it was suddenly ripped out directly in front of me, followed quickly by the the left... Then I was sucked through after that. ------------- Earlier... "Psssh, not even sweating!" I walked away from the pile of fresh corpses, grinning and satisfied by my hoofiwork. Then I noticed the blood leaking from almost every joint in my armor. "Err...unless I sweat blood...which I cannot remember ever doing before..." I waved my hooves around and shook the top portion of my body, splattering a bit around me, "Gross...but cool...and very bad..." "Enough!" I snapped my head back up and found the apparent Shipmaster snarling at me, he eyes clearly filled with seething anger, "Your time has come, Demon! Prepare to die!" I waved him off, laughing and gesturing to his dead crew mates, "Did you SEE what I did to all of them? I wasn't even trying!" He sneered, "I am no mere Grunt, weakling! Nor am I any normal Shipmaster!" With growing interest, I watched as the armor around the already large Brute began to spark and glow. "A project finished a while back by our now decommissioned Factory of the Prophet chose ME as the sole bearer of the first Armor which triumphs above even those of you and your Demons!" he proudly proclaimed. His entire body suddenly jolted and puffed-up almost like a ballon, except when he deflated, his muscles were at least six times larger and his body in general was just bigger. It was like some cartoon show I saw...except he didn't scream like he was constipated. "Well...I bet you're a lot powerful now..." I pointed out with a nod. Without speaking, the Monster reached behind him and pulled out another Gravity hammer in response, "You gatta be slower, though." Those words were quickly shoved down my throat as, in the blink of an eye, he zipped across half the room and was already inches away from flattening me with both hammers before I reacted. "Fuck!" I hopped and pulled my rear hooves up, the collision between the hammers and their resulting energy burst—jarring my teeth—flipped me pretty high into the air, "How does that even make SENSE!?" I put a hoof to my chin, trying to recount everything I knew of mass, energy, and inertia. Hell, the way I fought all relied on momentum and Physics, so I figured I should be confident in my guesses about my enemy's agility. This guy pretty much blew everything I knew away like a first-class slut...I mean vacuum. Excuse me, hehe... "Cower in fear, fool!" The Brute slammed the hammers against the ground, roaring in rage, then pitched the left hammer up at me at an unimaginable speed. Needless to say, I took the thing to my gut and was propelled high enough to slam against the ceiling. I grunted, spitting out a bit of blood onto my HUD, then began to fall back to the floor, tumbling through the air slightly. "That...really hurt..." I huffed out, "...I missed this...so much..." The pistol I dropped floated before me while I fell—I had dropped it on the way up, you see—, so I snatched it out of the air and pulled the SMG back out. The Super Brute was preparing to slam me out of the air with his other hammer, but he forgot about the one he already discarded. "If I'm the fool..." I shouted, landing on the hammer which had hit me earlier, "Then what does that make you?" I kicked the shaft of the hammer down and sent it into a spin centered at it's head, then spun myself so as to catch the shaft in my maw. I continued to spin, nearing the ground quickly, with the intention to intercept the oncoming attack from the other hammer. Crossed my "fingers" on this one, as you humans would say. I let go, the inertia of the throw momentarily stopping my body in mid air while the hammer rocketed towards the Brute. I actually hadn't hit his hammer as indented, and his hammer hadn't hit me; instead, my hammer hit HIM and his hit nothing! He grunted loudly and was knocked off his feet from the resulting gravity burst, and while he started to stand back up, I landed on my hooves feeling accomplished, and lucky, with two fully loaded sidearms ready to riddle him like Swiss cheese. "Knocked you off your feet, I did." I laughed a mocking, snickering laugh, "Probably my good looks." Without wasting any more time, I dashed at my still stumbling opponent, firing shot after shot from my Pistol, and burst after burst from my SMG. While he appeared to take little notice of the bullets, he still bled from various spots, so I knew I was still doing damage. "Lucky shot, nothing else!" He roared again, then went for a low swipe from the hammer. Since I knew of his speed, I hopped and flipped over it, sliding to a stop behind the behemoth. "Sluggish!" I mocked, reloading both weapons casually, before bending forewords and dodging another swipe, "Getting very messy from your rage!" He rose the hammer high only to swiftly bring it down upon my location. I anticipated this, though, and dove backwards between his legs, my weapons fully loaded, to come sliding to a stop again behind him, his back fully exposed to me. "You have to learn to retain your capabilities..." I schooled the idiot on fighting, sprinting up and kicking above him off his back, firing bullet after bullet from both guns into his spine, "and instead of working AGAINST your rage..." He tried to roar again, but only emitted a weak groan, as he twisted around to face me, only to find I was not there. "You must work WITH..." I abandoned both sidearms and unclipped the shotgun from the gravity lock on my back, ready to finish this fight. Landing on his bloody back, he screamed in rage and agony, then fear as the sound of my shotgun pumping hit his ears, "your rage!" I blasted a single burst into his back, sending him to the floor, face first. I snorted, stepping off him and rehilting my shotgun, "I'm not even the toughest Spartan out there. I'm just the scariest." "You...f-fool..." I stopped in my tracks, then turned sharply to find the Brute slowly standing back up, though his blood loss was very apparent and severe. Of course...so was mine... It was then that I started to feel a sense of weakness, my head feeling light and the edges of my vision blurring. I needed to get help soon, or I would just drop there! "Always be sure you have finished what you started..." I eyed the gravity hammer by my feet, then the cracked window leading to space. I really didn't have much of an option, seeing as this big guy wouldn't go down as easily as I thought. "You're tough, I'll give you that, but you lack something." I explained, hefting the hammer into my hooves. He was finally fully erect, glaring me down, "Oh, and what would that be?" I reared back then beamed the hammer at him like a spear, which he easily dodged, "Oh, just something simple..." I added. "You missed!" The hammer collided with the cracked window, spreading the spider-web design to an area of very dangerous proportions...yet it continued to grow, quickly zipping it's way across the entire window. I saluted to the naïve fool then dashed for the exit as fast as I could. Not wanting to be around when the window broke. Turning to look over my shoulder, I saw the Brute do the same for the window, then I refocused my attention on getting the buck out of there! "Oh no...oh NOOOO!" First was his screaming, then, realizing that I wouldn't make it in time, I lunged and attempted to grab onto a control panel ahead of me, but the window shattered in mid jump and I was immediately sucked back. The sound of air being forced out of the room so quickly was very...odd, to say the least. In fact, the rush was so quick that I felt some of the air in my own lungs become knocked out before the suit entered it's vacuum protection mode and provided me with air from a ready oxygen supply. I tumbled quite a distance backwards before landing on my face, where I scrambled to grab anything I could to prevent me from being thrown into space along with the roid-rage Brute. Finding nothing, I desperately slammed a hoof into the metal floor as hard as I could, managing to somewhat dig into the ground and crop-up some sparks. Unfortunately, the suction was too powerful and, along with the aid of my friction-reducing, blood-soaked everything, I was quickly pulled towards the window yet again, emergency lights flaring everywhere around the room in bright, annoying red. "Well fuck! That wasn't the best idea, now was it?" I flipped over and saw the window quickly approaching as everything not connected to the floor, walls, or ceiling flew out into space violently. My eyes darted around everywhere for anything that could help my situation, but nothing seemed near enough for me to grab onto. "Hope I have a lot of oxygen..." I muttered, grinning awkwardly to myself, thinking I was out of luck. Then it happened; then he arrived! Something about the same size as me, if not slightly bigger, zipped by, then suddenly produced jets of flame from behind it, slowing to a stop before me. "...why don't I have one of those!?" I shouted, laughing. My savior slammed his hooves into the floor like I tried earlier, except he actually managed to stick in. When I passed by I grasped onto his right forehoof, then pulled myself up and held on tightly around his neck. "Ya id'ot." was all he said before lunging forwards, kicking his jetpack into overdrive and beginning our push back towards the exit. I only held on tight, allowing my comrade to bring us out if the hellstorm around us. It seemed we were doing very well, about to make it, when the both of us received a long distance transmission from good ol' Widow. "Guys! You have about ten seconds before the whole ship goes to shit!" I responded quickly, clear confusion present, "What? It already is! We're being sucked into Space as we speak! What else could be so bad?" "The bomb." I looked up at Pip and saw his eyes darkly grim through his visor. We stopped running, turning to find that the emergency doors had closed-up and stopped the suction of space, but still, I had the feeling that things were about to get A LOT worse than what they just were. "We...better run, huh?" I asked coyly. As if in ironic answer, a sudden booming and thudding noise hit our ears as a tremor surged through the entire ship, knocking us to our flanks. Without wasting any time, we both scrambled back up as Widow yelled over our comms again. "Follow this beacon! We'll try to catch you here!" Small sparks of electricity and neon flame burst from practically everywhere through the ship as it started to all collapse or separate from itself. Pip and I started a mad-dash for the indicated beacon, a daunting amount of meters away. "Just like old times, huh?" I asked, managing a laugh as I passed Pip. "Jus' run!" he yelled back, taking the lead ahead of me. I did as I was told and ran, stumbling through any burst of flame or metal that would occasionally blast in front of us. It was clear that chunks were being ripped off the ship, the noises told us that, but we weren't sure if the deconstruction would impede us...until we saw for ourselves the action is motion. "Oh buck, this will be interesting!" the fissure before us was immense, but not unbridgeable. Debris and chunks of the ship allowed clear paths to the other side, plus, Pip still had his Jetpack available. "Let's go!" He grabbed my hoof and quickly launched us into the Space between the two parts, the flares behind us hot and powerful. Of course—just my luck—an explosion from above sent a chunk of metal screaming towards us. We had no time to move and ended up being knocked away from eachother, colliding with different platforms of falling wreckage. "Buck! Keep going! I'll catch up!" Pip seemed like he was about to ignore my demand, preparing to lunge towards me, but a passing barrage of twisted metal kept him in place. "Go, damnit!" He nodded and jumped, boosting himself to another platform with his Jetpack. I grinned, shaking my body out as I planned my escape. "Who needs Jetpacks?" I readied myself quickly then sprinted to the edge of my crumbling piece of metal, jumping and planting all hooves on a spinning piece ahead. The spinning then propelled me forwards, onto another hunk of wreckage, where I slid across as it slowly rotated sideways. "This is the shit I LIVE for!" Once I reached the edge of that piece, I hopped off and soared through the empty space some ways before landing on an outstretched platform connected to the other end; connected to our destination. Tumbling to my hooves, I made a dead sprint for the more stable ship interior while the beam I ran on quickly started to collapse behind me. "Ar'emis! O'er 'ere!" Pip screamed over my comms, catching my attention to the right. There, rocketing through a maelstrom of debris and fire with some very intricate maneuvering, was my partner. I couldn't help but grin like a maniac, admiring the skill and honor my little protégé gained in my absence. "C'mon guys! Our end is getting a little hot! Can't stay much longer!" I stumbled over a sudden drop from my floor, returning my own demand to Widow, "Shut up! How do you think it's like for us out here!?" Righting myself back up, I quickly jumped and began to hop off the debris around me, slowly pushing my way back up. It wasn't fast enough, though, and it was clear that I needed a bit of help of I was to make it out. Still, I continued to try. I wasn't dead yet—somehow—so an exploding Corvette sure as hell wasn't going to be MY downfall! Desperation in mind, I took my last grenade and slammed it into the metal beside me, then counted down until the moment came...then I jumped. Fire, metal, and pain was all I felt and remembered, the sense of falling towards the sky—you could say—was very...different. Not like the Orbital Drop at the beginning of the Rainbow Factory mission, but more...actually, peaceful. As if I was floating, instead. Or... Maybe I was just so out of it from the blood loss and exhaustion that I felt high...yeah, that's probably it. When I came to and the ringing started to fade, Pip snatched me out of the midst of another hail of twisted metal and we propelled into the exploding hallway which led towards our awaiting escape. "We gatta go, guys! We can't wait any longer! Try to thread yourselves in!" "Widow!" I shouted, blue flame licking across my vision momentarily, "That, is DEFINATELY..." A walkway from above landed in out path, so Pip, having no choice, burst straight through it, sending bits of metal and debris scattering around us while we continued to spear forwards, "what SHE..." Pip had been knocked out by the impact, letting go of me and deactivating the Jetpack, so I hastily grasped onto him tightly, pulling him close to my body as the two of us managed to slam into the wall inside our escape ship: A Space-augmented Phantom which Widow commandeered. As every quickly started to fade out, my back now aching from hitting that wall, I huffed out the last word I needed to say to Widow. "said..." ------------- Several days later... "So...anything you need to know? Or can I enjoy this rejuvenating bath in peace now?" Artemis, soaking her ruined skin and coat in a special, magically enhanced bath, peered at an agent of Halsey's which had arrived to interview her about the attack on the Corvette and her...reawakening. "I believe this should be fine...but I have one question." the human stated, standing and preparing to leave, "These...split personalities you have—Diana—whom we've met—, Lara, Zarius, and another which you haven't named—what do they mean? How long have they been there?" Artemis shrugged, sinking low until her muzzle was barely above the water, "How long? I can't remember...what do they mean?...well, basically, they each make-up different extremes in my own personality. They take what defines me and exaggerate it." she paused, blowing a few bubbles in the bath, "Diana is my...volatility, and Zarius is my endearment of activity and comradery. Lara is my...well, love of the sensual, and the last, Raven, is my love of weapons..." The agent nodded, starting to walk out, "We will look into this later, you know. But for now, get well soon." "I'm sure they'll each poke their respective noses at Halsey, anyway." Artemis called back, "Diana already has, and she hates the woman about as much as I do." The agent paused, but continued on quickly without a single word. The tired, battle weary mare then slowly sank under the water entirely, bubbles slowly popping on the surface... "WHOOOOA..." Artemis shot up out of the water, breathing heavily as she sprayed the bath all around her, "Forgot I had to breath..." Truly, she was back.