12 Miles Below

He really didn’t want to have to bring his prized doorway into any of this mess.

But he also wouldn’t survive a direct hit from her cannons with only his standard defenses. Damn.

The charged plate emitted a high pitched whine, rising in power. Only a half second in real time, a small eternity in the overclock as he contemplated any other way to survive or dodge in time.

No possible ways out. Very unfortunate.

He twisted around, presenting his back to the laser and recalled the other two plates under his belly like a protective hen.

To’Sefit’s cannon opened fire - and slammed directly into his golden mite blast door. The energy raged around him, trying to eat and destroy the mite fragment and finding no purchase anywhere. Instead it was split apart against it, splashing on the metal and ground around him. Melting everything including rock. The light was so bright even his eyes couldn’t auto-adjust to still see through it correctly, despite the laser ending a moment earlier.

Superheated air burned around him while he crouched down like a turtle. His overclock ended, unable to keep his frame cooled with this kind of intensity around him. His halo had been half melted, still spinning wildly around above his head, until it finally broke down and clattered against the melted rock, bouncing away.

A moment passed and the world went back to normal. He stood back up, properly equipping his shield and looked over it, observing.

For once, the hyper-weasel wasn’t moving, or talking. Simply staring down. “Three gods above, what happened to your face? Are you making some kind of statement with all… well, that?”

Ah.

The superheated air had burned what was left of his already half-ruined shawl through all the punishment it had been dealing with up to now. Only the shoulder parts remained still somewhat intact. The rest had burned out, until the thicker strands remained, and those had been blown as far off as they could against the violent air.

Under the burned clothing was a ruined face. Violet eyes still worked, but the rest of his features had been melted under the imprint of one massive hand, from the very top of his head all the way past to the base of his chin, where the imprint of a thumb had squeezed tight with the rest of the clenched hand.

It couldn’t be fixed. Couldn’t be healed. It was now a part of his blueprint, changed by mother herself so that all would know the fate of those who annoyed her, the day she’d burned out his resolve and left him as he was now.

He didn’t know why he felt so compelled to hide where she had branded him. Life was better, he could relax and sleep without worry. Things that mattered so much to him didn’t anymore. There was peace in this life now. If anything, she’d given him a blessing.

But something deep inside him just couldn’t bear the idea of anyone seeing such a mark.

“Maybe.” He shrugged to the human above. “Not sure.”

“What do you mean you’re not sure about your face? You’re a Feather right? All of that is intentional. Wrat-” He stopped talking all at once. “.. uh, she seems very deliberate about how she looks.”

Angry pings came from To’Wrathh about that, but he left the channel on mute for now.

He raised his shield high, letting it cover his face again, then forced the nano swarms to fly back from the other two panels they’d been repairing. He made them all focus on his shawl, to repair his cover. The plates had been well protected under his shield, so he left them there. He could fix them later.

Pings on his channel started sounding off everywhere, not just his wayward little sister. Without the overclock, it seemed almost like one singular angry tone instead of the several hundred separate ones. The other two were getting real angry at the muted channel. He reluctantly unmuted.

“He’s climbing away!” To’Avalis shouted first thing. “Go after him, now!”

To’Orda peaked over his shield again. Bullet fire came down instantly for his eyes, occult bullets at that. His personal shield flared up, taking the hits without issue.

On the human’s part, it was as reported. The hyper-weasel had been steadily climbing up the side of the ruin as he opened fire behind. To’Orda eyes followed the scrambling pest.

“Nnn… could you not?”

“What? Climb away from the giant hulking bastard trying to kill me?”

He grunted in agreement. “Yes. Climbing after you would be a pain.”

“How about you go lick ice instead?” The human called back.

Why couldn’t anything ever be easy? What did ice even have to do with anything?

The image generator inside him patted his head softly in condolences. It knew the struggles To’Orda faced here. The other two Feathers watching over this whole debacle were far less friendly about it.

And To’Wrathh explained to him that licking ice was an indirect way of asking him to kill himself, given the surface culture this human came from. If a human was exposed enough to be able to lick ice, death was imminent. Lovely.

“Fine. I’m going.” He muttered, returning his shield to the strap behind his back, as To’Avalis once more demanded him to start leaping from floating rock to rock. His overclocks resumed as the cool air from leap to leap helped vent the heat out of him.

He caught up shortly, taking one last leap forward directly at the wallface where the human scrambled upwards, one handhold at a time. In the same leap, he spooled up the gravity fractal inside his hammer, then gently tapped the weapon into the side of the wall, letting the powered adhesive ferrofluid stamp a temporary fractal into the metal. It began to glow bright blue, sucking in air and both himself along with the wayward human against the wall.

Keith slid downwards, being sucked forward by the vortex like an ant washed down a wall while To’Orda let the power keep him stuck firmly to the wallside, his free hand reaching out to snatch the human stumbling down at him. Preparing to hold the weasel down firmly and knock a few hammer blows directly in.

Wraiths surrounded his target a moment later, once more hands opening up to spew fire and fury, while occult armguards swung around to catch him. He dodged what he could and slapped away what he couldn't.

The ankle finally came into range. His massive hand snapped out to grab it. Once he had a hand on the human, it would be over. He could hammer away or rip the hyper-weasel up directly. Slam him a few times into the rocks and walls here to stun the slippery human, and then he could actually finish his job in peace.

Of course, the human managed to slip away.

His gravity fractal was dispelled in a pulse of occult, and he found himself falling downwards, fingers just barely brushing against the human’s ankles.

“Nnnnn... bugger.” He muttered, contemplating what to do next as he fell down. To'Avalis's file hadn't mentioned the human could nullify occult fractals nearby.

It was like the warlock To’Avalis and him had fought, they had some means of turning off fractals without a hand or leg touching. Exhausting.

His bare feet slammed into the wall, ripping a small hole into it. It forced him to flip upside-down, where his free hand slammed another handhold into the wall and let him swing back into a straightened out hold. His hammer equally punctured a rift into the wall, acting as the final fulcrum. He still slid down a few inches as the metal holds crumpled under him and failed to support his weight, but that came to a stop soon enough as more metal added up under his feet. The very next instant he leaped upwards, ripping more of the tortured wallface in the process. But it let him launch off directly at the scrambling human above him.

If he couldn’t catch the human by the toe, he’ll just keep smashing until one hammer hit gets lucky.

There was a small scream of surprise from the human as To’Orda’s bulk barreled right at him with deceptive speed.

Then occult flashed around him, and a lash extended from the human’s hand upwards, yanking his target a half second before doom slammed into the wall where he’d once been.

The starship's wall broke down, exposing the interior. Yips came out from it. To'Orda paused, looking for the odd sound.

Somehow the human seemed to know his attention had gone to the interior. Wraiths became more frantic, striking out with wild abandon. Some going through the walls, and lashing out at him from deceptive angles.

“Nnnnn…” To’Orda grumbled, battering off the small army the weasel had left behind to attack him from behind the metal walls. The flames had stopped for some reason at least, which was a relief for his poor shawl.

He took a step into the ship, deciding this was a good time to fix the rest of his shawl. Out of sight from the human, he wouldn't be shot at. Wrap the poor fabric with something more fire repellant than the current fabric originally contained, given how bad the current fight was.

The wraiths suddenly stopped. The world went quiet. To'Orda growled in the darkness of the interior. Something was very off.

"I think we should have a short ceasefire." Keith called from the outside. "The fight's between just you and me, right? How about you let the pup go."

The... pup? What was the human talking about? To'Orda took the free time to rapidly repair his shawl, focusing his direct attention on it. It was only in the quiet that he recognized a heartbeat in the gloom.

Hiding behind a strapped box inside the doomed ship. A canine of some kind, very small. He recalled there were a few in odd colors and gear running out of the ship earlier. Had one of them been left behind? And how had the human simply known without eyesight?

The human armors had multiple sensors, but they couldn't possibly be that accurate. Even he hadn't known about this until he'd stepped into the gloom for respite.

"My, To'Orda." To'Sefit purred. "Are you stalling the fight? Go on, the human's not going to kill himself."

"Busy." To'Orda answered back. Then turned his sight into the ship. He took a step forward to the hiding animal.

"You mind keeping the fight between us two?" Keith called out. Closer now. The human had come back.

To'Orda considered it. Then shrugged. "Sure." He said, lumbering over to the box. One hand reached over, and yanked the whole thing off. Under it was a small pup. Terrified.

His hand reached down and gently grabbed the small furry thing by the scruff, lifting it up between two massive fingers. He observed the canine. It was... it was interesting. Some part of him appreciated the little thing.

"Just kill it and get on with the rest." To'Sefit scoffed. "We're wasting time."

"Hold on, sister." To’Avalis said, contemplating. "This may be a potential weakness to exploit. The human seems aware of this creature and equally shows concern for it. Hold onto it as a hostage. At the very least having it tied to yourself would force him to abandon his acasual flames."

Well, that had technically been an order. He lifted the animal up, and looked at it eye to eye.

"Nnnnnn...." He grumbled, turning to the ship end, and lumbering forward. He held the small animal over one of the pallets, and deposited it down. Then with a gentle hand, nudged the small furry thing to scramble away.

The call to action worked, and the small animal began to rush downwards, jumping from pallet to pallet. It hadn't been the first time he'd failed to follow an order, but To'Avalis wasn't mother. He didn't have the same authority she did.

That Feather scoffed. "I suppose I shouldn't have had any expectations of you from the start. My mistake. Explain yourself regardless."

"Too much effort." To'Orda said, then flicked a few settings to introduce static into the channel. "nnn.. can't hear you. Interference."

Keeping a hostage meant keeping it alive during a fight. That sounded exhausting. But he could admit to himself that he'd felt... something about the small creature. He didn't know what yet, but it had felt nice.

He turned back to the open hole he'd climbed in through.

"You're not such a bad bloke after all." Keith called from wherever he watched. "You sure you can't just call it a day and tell your boss you lost track of me or something?"

"No. He's watching right now." To'Orda said.

"Pity that. Probably a little cross with you right now, if I had to guess."

"He is. I have him muted."

Keith stayed quiet for a moment, then started laughing. "I got the same problem with a friend of mine in my helmet. The mute key's been used a few times more often than I want to admit to."

To'Orda climbed out of the hole, turning his glare up to the side. The human remained further up, one gauntleted hand holding onto a small rip in the metal. He'd clearly scrambled upwards more than he had before, but nowhere near as far as he could have been. Small mercy.

"We starting again?" He asked.

"Nnnn."

Bullets and fire flew down the instant he started to yank himself up, and occult ghosts once more harassing him from any angle.

This plan to chase after the human wasn’t working. But his shawl had been mostly fixed enough to hide his face once more in that earlier pause and the new fabric would make it resistant to fire, so he commanded his swarm to repair the plates hiding behind his golden shield. Eventually, he’d fix the plates and either hammer the human or shoot him down.

Keith was sailing upwards, lashed to one of the rocks, landing awkwardly chest first with a heavy grunt, then scrambled up the rest of the way. The Feather followed, leaping off the side of the wall onto a nearby rock himself, using the airflow to reset his heating.

To’Orda turned to calculate where to leap next. But had to put that on hold as he saw what the human had in his hand.

He hadn’t been the only one planning to make use of To’Sefit’s weapons.

His next jump forced him to bring out his golden doorway once more. As expected, halfway through his own leap upwards to another rock, To’Sefit’s cannon opened fire on him, where his shield took the blow. It knocked him off course, and forced him to slam his hammer into a rock further away, using the weapon like an oversized pick to pull himself up with a wide flip.

“You’re a lot faster than you look, buddy.” Keith called out from his rock, the plate in front of him still ready to open fire again. “That looks way too bulky for how fast you bring it out.”

“I wouldn’t need to be, if you could be slower.” To’Orda muttered back, winding his hammer backwards like a spear. He launched it directly at the rock holding the human afloat, letting it crush through and break the entire thing apart into a few thousand shards.

An occult lash soared from the hyper-weasel’s hand, latching onto another rock and yanking him away to safety. But there’d been only so many rocks the human could run off too, and To’Orda had been keeping track, leaping a moment after he’d confirmed the human’s trajectory. Halfway through the air he kicked out at the same time, nicking the human on the leg right as Keith flew past him. He’d have grabbed the human by the ankle, but the slimy bastard had thrown a small army of occult images to harass him. A kick was the best he could do.

It wasn’t enough to break the lash that propelled his target forward, but it did send the weasel into a sideways spin. The lash was dissolved and another flew right up to the next floating rock.

The human didn’t take the events kindly, sending another flock of occult wraiths to harass while To’Orda remained without a weapon. Bare feet kicked out, along with his hands and the occasional headbutt in order to slap and kick the different images, until they were forced to start using the armguard weapon as a threat rather than an actual attack. Flames licked every part of him with more vengeance than before, now being prioritized. Perhaps the human thought if he overwhelemed the cooling systems, To'Orda wouldn't be able to react with the same precision as before.

In truth, his systems weren't optimized to a razor's edge like To'Avalis or To'Wrathh. He didn't need to use the full suite to make swinging a giant hammer look stylish. All he needed was to swing a giant hammer and get some results. Far easier to calculate. The flames didn't bother him much in terms of combat.

And a hammer wasn't his only weapon. He bodychecked the wraiths with his own golden mite shield, occasionally letting the handguard go so he could grip the edge and swing the entire thing like an oversized insect-swatting newspaper. The human’s armguard was tiny in comparison, and no matter how deadly occult edges were to anything in reality, the mite doorway was one step beyond. And so overly large so that even new ghosts generated at the last second from the doomed parent would get smashed together.

But it only covered one side, and the human was getting his images to swarm all over To’Orda. Bugger.

He’d been forced another time to duck under his golden shield a beam from To’Sefit’s stolen plate lanced out, right through a rock the human had tried hiding his hand with.

This time he was ready. Knowing the enemy had a cooldown, he was safe to retaliate.

To’Orda let loose both plates he’d been repairing, having them fire a return lance. He’d been on target but the human had enough time to escape using those lashes. And within the air where they traded blows, the splash damage of the beams was easily dissipated.

He needed his hammer back.

The Feather’s hand stretched out to his wayward hammer, still half-embedded inside the rapidly falling away pulverized rock. Occult pulsed across his frame as he called the weapon back into his hand. It shattered its entombment, soaring with a vengeance back to its rightful master.

He grabbed it, letting the inertia of its arrival carry him further upwards, past the flock of occult images the human had sent after him, directly after the bugger himself. Right before contact, he converted the speed into a spin by exploding the hammer’s shockwave fractal in midair, immediately curling into a ball to conserve angular momentum.

Now he was a wrecking ball a half second away from impact. He uncurled at the last instant, letting the fractal of inertia turn the hammer weightless, leaving his spin powerful despite the extended hammer swinging directly down on the surprised human.

Finally. He had him now.