Making some Noise

 The team’s already tense relationship with the rest of the prisoners deteriorated almost immediately following Venus’ inclusion. While a few faithful souls were invigorated by the presence of an Asura, many more became embittered and hostile. Hunter wasn’t a man of any particular faith, but he soon found himself wondering if maybe he should utter a prayer for safety seeing so many eyes filled with venom towards him and his team.

There was one benefit from gaining a new addition however that Hunter appreciated, though he was unsure if it was intended or not, was that the presence of another elf did wonders for Powers’ personality.

To Hunter’s surprise, Venus had some skill with healing magyk, finding out for himself one morning to see Powers laying on a mat as the Asura inspected his desiccated flesh.

“Where did you grow up?” Powers asked nonchalantly. “I grew up around Tarful. It’s just a couple klicks west of the Appalane, under the Layo Delta. It was one of the first places hit by the robots in the war.”

“Oh, uh, I grew up near the Veran mountains,” Venus acted like she didn’t want to talk about it; unfortunately she hadn’t learned not to engage with a conversational narcissist. “My parents grew up as Verani.”

Powers whistled. “ooh, exotic.”

“I would say suffocating,” came Venus’ brusque reply as an attempt to shut down conversation. “A lot of the problems I have with the Empire came because of those annoying gypsies.”

“Oh yeah, always hated—”

“Quiet, I need to focus while inspecting the damage.” She said in a curt tone. “Or if you want, I can just leave you limp and lame.”

“Shutting up now.”

A round of applause came from Mareel and Sloane. Even Hunter felt impressed that Venus was able to get Powers to shut up.

“You really are a miracle worker,” Mareel said approvingly. Powers was about to make a smart remark when Venus squeezed his ruined leg in warning. The elf grumbled instead.

“Well, I need to leave a good impression while I still can,” She said simply. “It won’t be long before we’re all out of here and you see just how much of a mess I am in the real world and you lose all respect for me.”

It was impressive, that in spite of their warnings, Venus was convinced escape was still an option. It made sense though; she hadn’t gone through the torment Hunter and the rest of the team had experienced with Unit 561. It might even be likely that she believed that this prison was just like any other that sprang up during war.

Such optimism was rare, and deserved to be protected. Too many optimists had lost their lives in the conflict already.

“That’s a pretty light,” Sloane observed as Venus started working her magyk. “This will make Powers’ leg all nice and healthy?”

Lawrence started groaning under his breath as the magyk started to affect him. Sweat dappled his face while the necrotic tissue surrounding his leg began to recede making way for new skin to appear underneath. Powers began to gasp and shout, forcing everyone else to pounce on his remaining leg and arms just to stop him from jumping up and ending the process prematurely.

“Shit, are you healing him or hurting him?” Mareel grunted.

“Shut your karcking fish lipped asshole,” Came her reply as sweat began to bead her brow. “This ain’t no walk in the park for me either, so I’d appreciate some quiet to focus. Is that too much to ask for, you salt scaled pond bitch?”

The venom she displayed shocked them all, even causing Powers to temporarily falter in his struggle. Hunter and Mareel glanced at each other and wordlessly came to the same agreement. Wow, she’s got a mouth on her. Beneath them, Hunter could have sworn he heard Powers murmur “I think I’m in love, pinch me!”

After a few moments, Venus pulled away from Lawrence Powers, nearly falling back from an exhaustion that wasn’t there previously. Hunter felt his jaw drop in awe; The elf’s leg was like new. The damaged flesh had been completely replaced with healthy glowing tissue, where despite the distinct difference in skin tone, it looked as if Powers’ original leg had returned.

“This is amazing,” Sloane breathed. “You’re a miracle worker!”

Venus blushed, betraying herself. “I’m not even that skilled,” She dissembled. “Barely any proficiency with healing. Really, I just wanted to see if I could do it.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Mareel argued playfully. “That leg was deader than mud!”

The revitalization of Powers was a boon to the entire team, enough so they couldn’t help but become drunk on the euphoria. Their personal celebrations lasted long into the night. At one point, Powers planted a kiss on his savior’s cheek, only to receive an affectionate back slap in return.

Their merriment was short lived however, as that night, the team had been roused from their sleep by unexpected visitors.

The pair of intruders had soaked themselves in mud or some other kind of material to conceal their appearance. In spite of that, they were magnificent specimens at the prime of health and fitness. One had the tell tale white pupils belonging to the Unimus, meanwhile the other had short pointed ears; an elf of the Silvan variety, if Hunter’s memory was correct.

“Venus,” The Unimus hissed. “We’ve come to get you out of here.”

The rest of them were still struggling to throw off the exhaustion from the festivities, and in spite of that, Venus was able to pull herself together astonishingly quickly compared to everyone else. Hunter himself was only aware because he had slept with sitting with his back to the wall instead of laying on the floor, giving him full view of the experience.

“I’m sorry,” The male elf replied, holding up a hand as Hunter shakily got to his feet. His face was the picture of contrition. “We only have the resources to save the Asura.”

Hunter grunted. He figured it was too good to be true to ask, but appreciated the man’s candor, as damning as it was for the rest of them. “We can help cause a diversion,” Mareel offered, forcing himself up. The two glanced at each other, as if unsure what to do next.

“You two are winging it, aren’t you?” Venus demanded, noticing the action. She sighed when they shrugged, confirming her suspicion. She spoke with alarming familiarity and frustration towards her rescuers. “I can’t believe you’ve survived this long while being this stupid.”

“I call it a blessing from the Divinity,” The Unimus quipped, grinning. His elf companion groaned.

It dawned on him that the Unimus and Elf wore the same ornate symbol Venus had tattooed on her neck. An elaborate X emblazoned on their uniforms. Members of the House of Axis, perhaps even Asura, come to save one of their own.

Hunter groaned as he forced himself upright. “Even if you could help all of us,” He grumbled. “The sad reality is, it makes more sense the Republic would devote its resources to saving an Asura instead of us soldiers.” He ignored the venomous looks that comment earned him. “The least we can do is make sure you get out of here so the war can end sooner rather than later.”

Venus looked like she was about to protest. “We’re Asura,” she reminded the two. “Surely we can tear down this entire facility down to the foundations before we leave.”

“That’s a good joke,” The Unimus oozed snark. Powers would be envious. “But we don’t have the luxury of time.” He tapped a device on his wrist that projected a holographic recreation of the surrounding countryside. A series of green and red dots appeared throughout the display. The red lights outnumbered the green three to one. “Every minute we waste here at Phon, Alister is losing soldiers meant for the offensive at Technis.”

“… Also, the Republic Command doesn’t know we’re here,” the elf added sheepishly. Hunter had the distinct impression he was not used to operating in such a way. “We just convinced Alister to take a detour on the way to the factory-city.”

“And if we can’t take Technis, the Electorate will be able to manufacture the parts needed to repair that cannon of theirs,” The Unimus was compelled to add.

An uneasy silence fell among them all in the cell. No one needed any reminder of how the TechnoKing had made his declaration of the war by glassing the continent’s western coastline. That kind of power shouldn’t be in the hands of anyone, Hunter thought.

The revelation that they had broke protocol did not sit well with Venus. In the end, it took the urging of Mareel and Hunter to convince her to go.

“We’ll be waiting for you,” Mareel encouraged her, pushing her towards her comrades. “Go win the war.”

“Don’t you dare die,” Venus replied. “I’ll come back for all of you.”

“Only a day with us and you already love us,” Hunter waved the elf off. “Go on, we don’t need you. The world does.”

Making a distraction was easy. The Overseer had made a grave mistake granting them a portion of their magyk back with the inclusion of Venus in their group. As the Asura made their escape, Hunter, Powers and Mareel were able to instigate a riot, drawing hordes of personnel to their location as they made a grand show of releasing prisoners from their cells and harassing the guards.

Gotta give them time to escape, Hunter thought as he slung puddles at his oppressors. While ordinarily he would have been able to produce a torrent of water to incapacitate his foes, the collars they had been equipped with still blocked them off partially from their innate magical skills. Keep the focus here.

The guard Hunter faced was large. Larger than all the others, by a wide margin. Some kind of upgraded hardware or boost to his alloy body, Hunter surmised. The Sith’s attempts at magyk only seemed to irritate the guard, and with alarming dexterity, made a backhanded swipe that sent Hunter flying into the wall. Moments later, Powers and Mareel joined him, flying atop him from their own battles.

Almost as quickly as it started, the fight had ended.

Soldiers pulled the three of them apart, holding them down. A chime rang from their collars, and Hunter felt his body grow weaker as the magyk left him. The sounds of the other prisoners became outraged, both encouraging and damning to Hunter’s ears, telling him to keep fighting, telling him to go to hell. Telling him to take as many with him in this mad attempt at death by overseer.

It wasn’t long before the Overseer arrived. His fury was palpable, heat projecting off his body in discernible waves that increased the temperature of the room solely from his presence. A hush fell over the crowd, cowed into a still resentment by Ascee’s arrival. As the Overseer looked down upon Hunter and his companions, the Avis Sith thought he detected a hint of disappointment in his gaze.

I gave you luxuries, he seemed to say with his stance and face. And you still cause trouble?

When he said as much, Hunter felt himself explode in irritation. “Dress it up as pretty as you want,” he sneered. “but a prison is still a prison no matter the finery.”

Powers and Mareel voiced their agreement, causing the Overseer’s face to sour.

“There’s nothing you have that can break us,” Hunter continued, glancing over at his partners. Keep him talking, he thought. Keep him occupied so that he doesn’t realize what’s really happening. “We’ll keep fighting until one of us is dead, you incompetent rat bastard.”

“Yeah, and your food stinks!” Powers added, eliciting a groan from Hunter.

Overseer Ascee glowered. “I have have a mind to put you all in solitary,” He finally replied. His face had become stony and stricken. His gamma gun manifested, a chime announcing it was primed to fire. Fists clenched, the Overseer raised the gun to Hunter’s face, and he smelled plasma still clinging to the barrel. “Disrupting the night cycle we so graciously allowed you to keep is bad for morale.”

Seeing another opening, Powers sniped back. “Your face is bad for morale!”

Throughout their entire time here, the Overseer had maintained an air of superiority, even divinely appointed, facade of indifference and malice towards the soldiers of the Republic. And yet, a childish jab caused Ascee to explode into action. His gun swung towards the elf, bashing him across the face before he could even react. The technosoldiers holding him fell back, as the Overseer began a barrage of physical attacks on the helpless soldier.

The Overseer screamed, eyes bulging with rage at the audacity of Lawrence Powers. Just as Hunter was convinced Ascee had reigned himself in, the Unimus tore the gun from his wrist to bludgeon the already bleeding and battered elf further. Skin split and blood began to fly from his feral onslaught.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

By the time he finished, Powers was no longer recognizable.

Gasping from the effort, the Overseer attempted to reclip his bent and broken gun to his wrist, and upon finding it unable to, tossed it aside for scrap. Crossing over to a nearby guard and wrenching his own gun from him, the Overseer set the gun in its place, frowning heavily. Apparently satisfied, Ascee moved towards Hunter and Mareel, and kneeled in front of them.

“Was that bad for morale?” He asked with faux-sincerity. Hunter fought to suppress a shiver at how cold and disconnected Ascee’s eyes were from the question. A terrifying light went into his eyes as he glanced over at the smear that used to be Powers. “Oh, wait, another death in the squad. I guess that means another visit to the doctor!”

The hands holding Hunter and Mareel down began to pull them away as the Overseer began to laugh.