It had been a few days now since they set off from Blackgaze, Jason was getting terribly thirsty, but he held off on drinking the flasks in the Rhino. Lance and Belaine needed them more than he did, so he refused them whenever it was offered. He also hadn't slept this entire time, something Lance had complained about every night during this journey. He needed a source of water soon, and they hadn't come across any bodies of it so far. He could drink from just about any source of water safely, but there needed to be a water source available. He knew that there was a shore by Akan-Var, the Shot running just beneath the Great Bridge right beside it.
Lance and Belaine had been getting along swimmingly it seemed, constantly talking as they sped toward their destination. Their chatter certainly wasn't unwelcomed, it helped distract his mind from going to dark places. That lasted all the way up until finally the massive walls of Akan-Var were in sight again. The Romai were practically right under their feet, right now or wheels rather. If Jason had a large enough explosive payload, he'd gladly blast open the ground here and expose those vampiric bastards to the sun. Then again, the fungal cavern was what lay above New Romai, meaning that Michael and Cat were still down there, wandering those caves alone.
A part of him wanted to stop, to find an entrance into the caves so he could tell them that there were other Ternan survivors. The problem was that he had no clue where to go, other than the Gear Door that led into New Romai. Jason wouldn't be going through there ever again, not until he was strong enough to beat the Long Lords. Each one was apparently just as strong, if not stronger than even Kazon and… and as much as Jason hated to admit it, it would have been impossible for him to defeat Kazon on his own. He needed to get stronger, especially if he was going to be facing off with Pillar-Born and the Romai.
He needed to learn more spells, to better master the ones he already knew, among other things. He'd learned some new small utility spells from Belaine during this road trip, but she told him that anything more would require them to stop so he could focus. Jason needed these more powerful spells for the future. He'd be facing off against Pillar-Born again, he was sure of it, and it was guaranteed that he'd come into conflict with the Romai. The dwarves were clearly bent on world domination, and with the Fiends gone, nothing would stop them from marching on the Faewood. He couldn't just shoot the Long Lords in the face, he would need to soften them up first with spells, then he could shoot them in the face. His lips quirked up into a small smile, that's exactly something that Michael would say. Hopefully the marine could get out of those caves intact, along with Cat.
"Akan-Var." Belaine sighed, "Oh it has been so long since I've seen it. I've never seen more Fiends in my life. Stay on your guard-" She paused, "Ah, that's right… I nearly forgot."
"There's no more Fiends." Jason nodded, "Should be a smooth trip, but let's still stay on guard. There were Final Kind forces among the hordes of Fiends, the curse is off them as well, and they wouldn't have turned to ash."
"I see." Belaine noted, "I doubt they will be much of a threat, even if they are alive. They likely accumulated many wounds during their time in the city, and it's been days since the Spiral curse was lifted. If they didn't die from their injuries, then they likely died of dehydration."
Jason's head hung.
"You don't seem pleased?" Belaine asked, curious, "They are your enemy."
Lance put a hand on his arm, something she'd been doing a lot of lately, "There were Outworlders who landed in the city as well." She explained to Belaine.
"I see, I am sorry." Belaine frowned, averting her eyes.
"There's nothing to be sorry about." Jason told her, "You're right."
There was that marine that Twindil had healed though, just inside the first gates of the city. If he managed to come out of that catatonic state he'd been left in, he could have survived, assuming he found any of the escape pods- Jason's eyes widened. That's right, there were escape pods in the city! They wouldn't need to fly up to the Sparrow for re-supply after all. There would be food and ammunition aplenty, they would just need to spend some time searching for them. When they first entered Akan-Var, over a week ago now, neither he nor Michael had picked up on any emergency beacons. They'd found Cat but that wasn't the same thing as a distress signal. There should have been at least a few active beacons, yet there had been none… had that been because Akan-Var was just that massive of a city? Had those pods landed on the opposite end of Akan-Var?
It didn't seem possible, those beacons could be picked up from miles away, assuming there was no interference. Kazon did have dozens of them in his possession at Blackgaze, perhaps he'd stolen them all before Jason could find them? That's what made sense to him, yet as they drew closer, he could hear the light beeping in his helmet, multiple signals in fact, from beyond the gigantic stone walls. There were four signals, but that number jumped up by ten, then to twenty as they approached.
"Belaine, how large is Akan-Var?" Jason asked as they drew closer to the massive stone gate.
"It dominates half the continent." She answered, "It's as wide as an ocean in fact."
"So you mean to say that it's bigger than even Akan-Dar?" Lance asked, shocked, "Akan-Dar only covers a fourth of the Faelands, along the coast."
"Because Akan-Dar has their Blocks, they built tall, Akan-Var had no such luxuries, so they had to build wide. Also, Faelands? Is that what everyone calls Faenor now?" Belaine asked.
Lance nodded, "It's become more common than in your time, many people found it strange that our ancestors named it after a place of myth."
"Myth." Belaine shook her head, "I believe Faenor to be a real place." Belaine crossed her arms, "In fact, I believe that a passage to Faenor may open soon."
"Where did you hear of that?" Lance asked, clearly interested.
"The Fire-Eyes keep a collection of preserved histories with them at all times. We have one in our library that talks of Faenor as if it were a real place, not somewhere that 'may' exist. It claims that once every two-thousand years, an entrance to Faenor will open. Sadly the book is damaged, so we could not read anything beyond that point."
"It is two-thousand three." Lance shook her head, "If a portal to Faenor opened, I'm sure we would have noticed it by now."
Belaine shrugged, "Perhaps, but forgive me, I should clarify: The book claimed these portals opened somewhere around every two-thousand years, it is not exact. It could open any day now, for all we know."
He didn't have time to ponder portals to other worlds now, even though the subject interested him, he'd have to save learning about it for later.
"I'm picking up on some beacons inside the city, Ternan distress signals." Jason said as they drew closer to Akan-Var, "There are more pods, they just crashed on this side of the city. We'll scavenge some supplies, see if there are any survivors, then we'll cross the Greatbridge. We won't have to make a trip up to the Sparrow after all."
Lance then turned an icy glare upon him, leaving Jason somewhat shocked. What had he said that had offended her? Belaine widened her eyes, scooting away on her seat as Lance continued to glare at him.
"We are still making that trip." She told him firmly, crossing her arms.
"It isn't necessary any longer-" Jason tried to explain.
"We're going." Lance insisted, her glare just as piercing, "And that is final, Jason."
Something in him warned that this was dangerous territory he was in. He did still want to spend more time with Lance alone, but such a time intensive operation was no longer needed. It was two weeks off world- wait, Jason knew why she still wanted to go. Lance wanted to see space, even if it was only Jason she'd have for company. He supposed that made sense, and in truth, he would need to get this done one day anyhow. Leaving perfectly good munitions in space would be a waste.
It would take multiple trips to retrieve everything, but just one should set them up for a while. If he wanted, he could also make a trip to the Dragon-class and see what he could scavenge from there. Though such a task could take months, considering the size of the ship. It was around a thousand miles long- even after being split in half by the anti-matter bomb. No, he wouldn't take the time for that, not yet.
"Jason?" Lance asked, lightly slapping the top of his helmet, "What is going on in there?"
"Affirmative, we'll still go." He confirmed.
She slapped him on the top of the helmet again.
"Stop that." He ordered.
"Or what?" She asked with a snicker, bapping the top of his helmet again.
Jason paused, he didn't actually know what to do about this. This strange behavior was baffling. She wasn't swinging her hand fast enough for her blows to be deflected by his energy shield, and it wasn't like it hurt, but something about it mildly annoyed him. If he didn't know any better, he would say that Lance was enjoying that fact. Jason frowned when he realized that, yes, Lance was taking pleasure in annoying him.
"This is fun!" She laughed as they reached the gate, finally retracting her hand, "But I'll hold off for now."
"You have him reigned in nicely, it seems." Belaine noted, quirking a brow.
Lance shrugged, "It took some time, but it seems that I have finally tamed this shrew."
Jason's frown deepened. What was a shrew, and why did he feel so offended by the term? He let out a small exhalation through his nose. He was not a shrew. Belaine giggled along with Lance, clearly they knew what it meant. Jason silently swore to one day attain petty revenge as they finally passed into Akan-Var, the cyclopean gate opened just enough to allow them entry. Lance and Belaine fell silent, their eyes wide as they scanned the surrounding city. Nothing popped up on his motion tracker, and the city itself seemed abandoned.
The stone ground was covered in a thick layer of ash now, as everything else in the Fiendwood was. This layer of dust must have been the hordes of Fiends that had once wandered the city, disintegrated to ash. Where once the streets echoed with pained, desperate screams, it was now eerily silent. The only noise audible, aside from the alerts from his helmet, was that of the Rhino's wheels, leaving a trail in the gray powder as it drove through the barren streets.
"It seems that Akan-Var is totally empty." Belaine noted, not dropping her guard.
"This doesn't feel right." Lance said, "I feel like I'm somewhere I shouldn't be."
Jason understood. The tall stone buildings loomed over them, casting dark shadows through the thick fog blanketing the streets. That, coupled with the eerie silence made Akan-Var seem like a dream… or a nightmare. He almost would have preferred there to be Fiends here, something to fight, something he could see. As it was, it felt like something was coming, something he wasn't prepared for.
"Jason, let us get those pods quickly." She said, "Something is wrong here."
"Affirmative." Jason agreed.
He felt it too, he wasn't sure if it was all in his head, or if there really was danger here, but he knew that either way, they shouldn't stay long. For all he knew, the Romai could be getting ready to come topside right now, that could be the unseen danger he was expecting. Speaking of which, if the Romai did emerge into Akan-Var, they would have a host of Outworlder tech to pilfer. Hopefully the FMC would stop by here quickly so they could scavenge some of this gear. Jason wouldn't be able to take it all with him, after all. He wasn't sure where it flew off to, but if they had any sense they would come to the city soon.Hmm… should Jason take the time to destroy the equipment just in case? It was possible that the FMC wouldn't come this way, and he didn't want the dwarves to get their hands on this tech.
No, no that would take far too long; Akan-Var was nearly continent spanning. Not only that, he didn't want to risk depriving his allies of equipment that they would desperately need. Jason just needed to hope that the Romai wouldn't find them first. He would worry about it less if they didn't have radio equipment, but the dwarves would be able to hear those same beacons. He could shut them off, meaning that both the Ternans nor the Romai would be able to follow the signals.
Then again, dwarven radios were primitive. They probably won't be able to tell where the signals were coming from. The beacons, when broadcasted, put a tag on his heads up display that he could follow. It was the same for other Ternans as well, so it should be fine to leave the beacons active. He would tow one pod for shelter out of the city, but leave the others for the Ternans to find.
He drove down the empty streets, keeping an eye on his motion tracker as they passed empty buildings, his anticipation building. He slowed the Rhino down as they began passing by the corpses of Ternans and Final Kind alike. They had likely succumbed to their injuries after the curse had been lifted…
He brought the Rhino to a stop, gripping the steering wheel tightly as the first marine corpse he saw seemed to stare at him. The man's face looked confused, as if to say 'why weren't you here, we needed you!' Scanning the other faces present showed the same thing, shock and betrayal. He took a deep breath to calm himself, before stepping out of the vehicle, approaching the corpses with a slow, ponderous gait. Lance quickly followed after him, but Belaine seemed content to stay inside the Rhino, eyes darting this way and that. He couldn't bury them, there just wasn't any time, and he just couldn't bring himself to leave their weapons behind, or at least not their ammo. It sickened him to do it, but he began looting their corpses, completely silent as he did so. Some weapons were still on the bodies, rifles slung over shoulders, pistols holstered at belts, there were even some exo-troops amongst the dead, rare as they were, with ammo belts clipped into their own chain-guns.
Lance watched him for a moment, before she too began to gather their ammunition. Unloading guns, pilfering ammo belts, before bringing them back to the Rhino wordlessly. She seemed to understand that, for this… for this, he would rather not speak. Once they were finished with this portion of the street, they moved on to the next, approaching one of the nearest signals.
He stopped the Rhino again, quickly hopping out before gathering the ammunition from his fellow Ternans. This time, Lance did decide to break the silence, to ask a very important question.
She pointed to a dead Yugoro, three of its arms missing and a slice through its battleplate, "Why don't you take the Final Kind's weapons?" She asked.
"I would." Jason admitted, "But the weapons of the Final Kind are designed to destroy themselves upon user death."
Lance frowned, her finger moving to the long silvery rifle clutched in the yugoro's hand, "It looks intact to me."
"It doesn't explode or anything like that." Jason explained, "The plasma coil within melts itself, rendering the weapon completely useless. There have been rare instances where we've managed to keep the alien tied to the weapon alive, but plasma rifles are also tamper proof. Attempting to reverse-engineer them will also ruin the plasma coil. It doesn't matter all that much, ballistic weaponry has always served humans well enough. Bullets may not be able to melt through armor, but because we specialized in perfecting ballistics, they can often punch clean through battle-plate instead." He continued, taking a magazine from a Visus rifle before stuffing it into a pouch, "Bullets are faster than plasma bolts as well, even a baseline human can dodge plasma, not only that, but distance weakens the bolt itself, depending on the model of rifle, anyhow. The further away you are from a plasma weapon, the less damage you take upon impact. If you're a hundred feet away and wearing standard issue Tungsteel battle-plate, all it will do is melt the surface of the armor. If you're too close though, they can melt you into a puddle."
"Ghastly." Lance noted, swiping up a pistol before removing the magazine, "Why is it weaker at a distance?"
"After the bolt is fired, it begins to 'fall apart' in a sense, losing heat and momentum the further it travels. If we ever face off with Final Kind forces, make sure to keep your distance and use your Visus rifle to outrange them."
"It almost sounds like bullets are better than plasma?" Lance asked, "They have better range, after all, and they don't fall apart after they leave the barrel."
"Bullets do lose momentum, but it's hardly noticeable compared to plasma." Jason explained, "In my honest opinion, I do believe that ballistics are superior to plasma weaponry in just about every way. There are 'experts' in the Second Arm that believe otherwise, but just because something is 'more advanced'," He said with air quotes, "Does not mean it is better. There is a reason that Terna won the majority of ground engagements with the Final Kind, and that's because ballistics, while more simplistic, are simply better than plasma bolts."
He relished the distraction from the eerie streets, from the horror of what he was doing to his former allies. Giving his opinion on bullets vs. plasma was surprisingly stimulating as well, and he wanted to continue.
"Bullets are easier to manufacture as well, and they have far more variety than plasma based on how they are built." Jason explained, "For example, before I ran out of them, the Fortis and my Visus were utilizing larger than standard caseless rounds, propelled by miniature plastic explosives. These rounds could blast head-sized holes into just about anything, the Second Arm can say what they want, but plasma could never hope to be nearly that destructive."
"What is the Second Arm?" She asked as they continued to pilfer, "I know that your Eighth Arm was Terna's military. Also, if you've run out of these 'larger than standard' bullets, then how is it that you're still able to fire from your guns? I was under the impression that each gun needed an appropriately sized bullet."
"That is true," Jason nodded, "For most weapons. Mine are specialized, with some parts forged from Adium- or Dragon Bone, rather. They can auto-adjust to fit the size of whatever caliber of ammunition I load them with, even the magazines do this, but again only for my weapons. I can fire essentially any type of round from my guns, save for the shotgun." He smiled, "It can still auto adjust, but only to fit different types of shotgun slugs."
"You seem to have a fondness for them." Lance noted with a soft smile.
Jason shrugged, "I suppose I do. I've had these ones for decades now, they've been my most reliable arms I've had across my whole career."
"Decades? So these are pretty new, then." Lance said, "A decade isn't that long a time."
"To people like us, it seems that way." Jason told her, "I was issued these sixty years ago, and given the Phalanx suit fifty years ago, just before Jyn disappeared. The Phalanx is the only one of its kind, unfortunately." He told her with a sigh, "When Jyn vanished, so too did the means of forging Adium."
"He must have been the one forging them!" Lance gasped, "Dragon Bone is an Artifact, after all, and the Outworld had none of their own. It only makes sense that he was the one to do it."
Jason nodded, "I came to that conclusion as well. I'm not sure I like knowing that I'm wearing the bones of my father," He admitted, "But its utility is undeniable."
"You think he carved off his own bones to make armor?" Lance asked, hand reaching toward a grenade on a dead marine's belt.
"I don't know where else he would have gotten the material from." Jason replied, "Given his regeneration, it makes sense. Why not hack off his own arm to forge tools of war for his best soldiers?"
"I suppose that makes sense, as grisly as that sounds." Lance noted, holding the grenade at arms length, "Can you take this?"
Jason did so, taking the grenade from her before putting it away. She let out a sigh, slapping the ash from her hands as she looked around at the dozens of corpses surrounding them. Not one of them stirred, their tungsteel armor seeming to drink in whatever light could penetrate the surrounding fog. Jason took note of one particular body, that of a woman. Not a diver, but a marine.
"Lance," Jason said, pointing to the body, "That woman there, she's about your height, isn't she?"
She looked to where he was pointing, and pursed her lips, "I suppose. Are you suggesting that I- well, that is to say, you want me to wear that?"
"It's far more protective than what you're wearing now." Jason told her, "Tungsteel battle-plate is far stronger than normal steel, albeit a tad denser."
"That is too heavy for me, I'm afraid." Lance told him, "I can't fight effectively if I'm weighed down in such a way."
"At least try wearing just the breastplate." Jason insisted, "I'd tell you to take some diver jets instead, but you'd be too heavy for them."
"Too heavy?" Lance asked, quirking a brow.
"You're too tall, most divers need to be at five foot four or below, you are six feet tall, meaning that you'd be too heavy for standard diving gear. We had this discussion already, back before we stormed Blackgaze, remember?" Jason asked.
"Ah yes…" Lance hesitated, "Forgive me, it's been a long few days."
"It's alright." Jason nodded, approaching , "But this height also means that you would be able to wear this tungsteel battle-plate." He told her, "In fact, you could likely utilize any of the breastplates here, though they won't be perfectly fitted for your build."
Lance hesitated a long while, before finally she said, "Very well, I'll try wearing it, after it has been cleaned."
"Fair enough." Jason said, before removing the marines gear.
He tried not to look at her face as he removed the armor, but as soon as it came time to remove the helmet, he had no choice. She had been young, no older than Michael perhaps, with red hair and glassy dead eyes. Her legs had been shattered, likely the cause of her becoming cursed.
He'd been too slow to save this one as well. No, all of these people. Had he evacuated at the same time as everyone else, he could have protected them from the hordes of Fiends- his eyes widened as he remembered the horrid scene they'd found outside of castle Blackgaze. Of the Ternan that had shot his comrades in the back, before turning the gun upon himself. All because of Kazon's aura of hatred, for all Jason knew, he could have ended up slaughtering his own comrades, as well as the Fiends.
That, and if he had landed here instead of the Faewood, he never would have met Lance. As he brought the armor and other munitions to the Rhino, he thought of just what might have happened, should he have started in the Fiendwood. Jason wouldn't have had Twindil's protection from the hate aura, meaning that him and his allies may have been prone to attacking one another. Not only that, there was no edible food here, aside from what was brought in the pods anyhow.
Jason could have starved to death before he left the continent, or even worse, tried to pursue Kazon on his own. Not only that, he never would have found Michael in the wreckage of the Fiendwall, the marine would have surely died, hopeless and alone, in the dark. It was better that he landed in the Faewood by far, especially since it had been Lance he'd first made contact with.
He observed her on his rear camera as she loaded the gear into the Rhino, her green eyes glancing up toward him, while his back was turned. Whenever Lance shot him that look, Jason couldn't help but feel that she wanted to tell him something. She had been looking at him like that a lot lately, he wished she would just get it over with and ask her question already, she should know by now that he would tell her anything she wanted to know… save for CHIMERA, of course.
As he rounded the Rhino, he found himself acknowledging that he had been looking at Lance quite often as well. He wasn't sure as to why, but he found himself constantly glancing her way, looking her up and down. It was a strange compulsion that he didn't quite grasp the reason for, but it disturbed him deeply. Not the looking, but the urge that came along with it. It was something he'd never felt before, but he had a desire to… to grab Lance. Not to harm her, he knew that, but for some other reason. He didn't know why, or what he would even do after that point, and that was what scared him.
As they drove to the nearest signal, he swore to himself not to cave into this unwanted impulse. He would try to discuss it with her another time, maybe she could tell him why he felt this way. He would just do that right now, but for some reason he found that he couldn't muster up the courage to ask Lance about this urge in front of Belaine. His gut warned him that it would be incredibly embarrassing.
So he heeded its warning, and kept his mouth shut.