Re: Specterveil

Kaito hunched over the sink, his heart racing. His left hand—a bare cybernetic—clutched the side of the basin, the index finger clinking as it twitched.

Of all the Psyonic Crews in Grandyne, Specterveil would be the first to kill an adult Psywyrm. The first to immortalize themselves in history. The real world’s history, and the Ethergeist’s.

He’d heard that being forgotten was a second death. That dead memories were as potent as dead men. But this was a way to live forever.

Kaito straightened, scanning his physique in the mirror. His body was soft compared to five years ago. Stress did that to a man, unfortunately. He’d killed that Fear about a dozen times in the Ethergeist but the damn thing just kept coming back.

Each Fear needed to be killed a certain way. He just never figured out how to kill that one.

The door behind swung open, and he met Malena’s gaze in the mirror. Her blue eyes narrowed, fire red hair draped over one shoulder.

“You ready?” She asked.

He clenched his cybernetic finger as it twitched again. “Ready.”

She nodded, walking away as he pulled on a black shirt. He stared at himself in the mirror, his dark eyes narrowing.

“Ninety-nine percent wrong, until you’re one hundred percent right,” he whispered in Japanese, pointing at himself.

He followed after Malena, breathing out slowly as he turned the corner. Eight Cypher Ascendants lay in a circle around the central pillar.

Eight. That’s how many were in Specterveil at the start of the mission. Now only four machines were needed.

Each Cypher resembled a small black bed with four metallic arms wide open, like a spider mid-pounce.

The head rests were crowned by five finger-like appendages, each topped with an electrode pad. Beneath, the necklock awaited with four tiny needles glinting like fangs inside.

He glanced at Shun as the giant of a man lumbered to his Cypher. He stretched his arms, glowing tattoos of vines and tigers among them glittering down his forearms. He lay down on the Cypher, interlocking his hands over his chest as if he were laying in a coffin. He turned his head, meeting Kaito’s gaze.

“One more time, Kaito,” he said, raising a finger. “One more time.”

Kaito gave a stiff nod. He glanced at his Cypher, stomach twisting up as he walked towards it. Malena placed a hand on his shoulder as she walked behind him.

“Captain?” she asked.

He paused midstride. “We’re going to do this,” he said. “This time, we win.”

Her hand slipped from his shoulder as he walked forward. He couldn’t look her in the eye again. Not now. The thought of anyone else dying had been eating away at the edges of his mind for days. Today would be no different, it just couldn’t be the day he gave in.

He walked over to his Cypher, his breaths shallowing as the machine grew closer.

The arms that had once embraced him were now a prison. The needles that once injected peace into his veins were now filled with poison. He closed his eyes, turning his back and laying down. The polymer seating squeaked against his clothing as he wriggled higher onto it, keeping his eyes closed so he didn’t have to see the arms lowering to his body.

He turned his head to the side, sighing as his gaze locked with Malena’s crystal-blue eyes.

She lay on the Cypher beside him, her lips tightening as the arms of her Cypher lowered to her body with a robotic whirr.

One more time, he thought, hands clenching into fists. One. More. Time.

He stared at the blinding white light above him. A lump of saliva struggled down his throat, a drop of sweat rolling down his temple into his sideburn. Or was it a tear? He couldn’t tell at that moment.

He moved to interlock his hands, but his open right hand met with his still-clenched cybernetic fist. He breathed out slowly, the robotic fingers loosening and eventually splaying. He interlocked them on his chest, and leaned his head back.

A door on his left creaked open. Another man, younger and taller than him, walked out with hands behind his head, pale skin glistening with sweat.

“Dario,” Kaito said.

The boy glanced at him, his eyes bloodshot. “I know,” he whispered, his jaw tensing.

The room held its breath as Dario trudged to his Cypher and lay down, interlocking his fingers over his chest. Then, nothing. Just the buzz of lights to keep the room on the brink of silence.

“Specters,” Kaito said, “you know our mission. You know what we’ve sacrificed to get here. The friends we’ve lost, the dreams we’ve slayed, the love we sacrificed. We won’t let them go to waste now, right when we’re on the cusp of greatness.”

Silence.

Kaito cleared his throat. “We won’t turn away now. We fight one last time. We stick together. We get in, we kill it, we get out. Are you with me, Specterveil?”

“Hai, señor!” They barked in unison.

Kaito’s heart spiked in his chest, the ache running up the side of his neck. He almost wanted to laugh. Even at that moment, a part of him wished one of them pulled out. One of them panicked. One of them gave them all a way out.

But he was right. They’d given up too much to give up now.

“On my count, we lock and enter,” Kaito barked, his voice turning hoarse. “One!”

The arms of the Cypher-Zero closed around him with a hiss, pressing against his body with a low electric hum that stiffened his muscles.

“Two,” he barked.

The electrodes latched onto his head, producing the same electric buzz.

He paused, heart beating so fast he thought it might burst.

One. More. Time.

“Three!”

The necklocks latched on, the cold metal pressing into the sides of his throat. And the lights went dark.