RP: Die Screaming [Die Screaming] Operation Glass Jaw

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

Shelter

With all the confusion and hysteria it was largely unnoticed at first. It was Molotra and her attempt at nanomachine-killing implementation that first jogged the her memory. It wasnt a solution but more awareness once her body was less protected...

Protected from...

The tingle on surface hairs and the almost barely registerable tint of copper mixed with the ozone of the increasing downpour gave the freespacer a mental jolt. Quilly's elysian DNA was naturally resilient to it, the mutants were pretty much made by it, and the Nepleslians as a species were exposed to it enough in their daily lives that with enough of it and other factors it had changed their DNA on a fundamental level from the nearly-extinct humans of old into a new and hardier species.

It was only a freespacer; One constantly exposed to and who lived with and fought against it that could recognize what was poisoning Carina as Molotras almost innate sixth-sense picked up from the occasional puddle at rhindols feet from Carina's helmet that had tipped over when she alone was exposed to...

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Shelter

Molotra's augmented brain accelerated to unprecedented levels as they descended into panic, the world seeming to snap into slow motion as they rapidly thought of any possible solution to prevent this inevitable doom corroding Carina's insides... Even though she stole Lupin, the tank liked that brash, always upbeat little cyborg ruffian.

It already logically felt like they were all going to die, but not having her with them until the end really... Well, it would not be how she'd like things to play out.

After a moment of scorching contemplation, the tank's mind reached into the medical kit's datapad and hacked through the command line immediately. The AI wanted to say some longwinded authorisation jargon, so she killed the task to save time, grasped all of the emergency responses from the look-up tables, cut-and-pasting them into her own database.

The search result with the most red flags felt like a slap in the face.

Radiation poisoning!?... That couldn't be!?- Her skin was tingling a bit, but she'd been through spacer decontamination showers more contaminated than this rain!

Was normal human DNA that fragile!? Really?

"Radiation... It's radiation, everybody... Please leave this room and avoid sources of that water." Eyes wide, mouth gritting it's teeth.

Motion. Her arms began to move, and her tracks clicked. The action slowed down their brain process and thus sped up the world around them, causing a distressing game of cat-and-mouse where she felt like she was speeding up Carina's demise, from her perspective.

She dragged the woman's body away from the direct area, first and foremost, finding an interior corridor that broke line-of-sight with the corpse strewn room. Next she took the injector and jabbed one of Carina's fingers, the fastest way of getting blood onto the anti-radiation medicine containers' receiver pad. It programmed nanomachines within, which were then loaded into the back of the injector, and then into the upper arm of Carina's flesh.

Only free-flowing time would tell, if this had the desired result...

 

[Alex Hart]

Shelter

Tobias frowned as Molotra ushered the others out of the room. Something still felt off about the situation to him. Ukk's atmosphere wasn't so thin as to allow radiation from the nearby star to cook their DNA on their multi-day march through the desert, meaning something must have made this area notably more radioactive than usual. Perhaps past bombardment of this city had led to the situation they now found themselves in.

Regardless, the operator was loath to leave the two other teammates he trusted most alone, lest some unexpected threat leave him alone with the other convicts and those from the Small Death who were not in the know. Taking one knee in front of Carina, he felt for a pulse or other vital signs as a mask for his true intentions. He reached out over the secure commnet that the three shared, sending a handshake signal to Carina.

He was going to have to count on his implants shielding him from the worst of any residual radiation on her body while he tried this gambit.

<"If you're still in there, Carina, we're going to need your help with this. Neither Molotra nor I are exactly medics, and we don't have time to sit through an instructional video from the medkit. We can't keep moving without you to patch the others up, and we'll need someone who knows how to make the water safe. If you can't move to patch yourself up, my hands are yours.">

 

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

Shelter

While radiation was discovered to be the indicator Carina couldn't yet alert them it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Granted she had a hemmoratic stroke that near-paralyzed her and essentially scrambled the motor functions she was still very much alive and was a clear outlier for a worst-case scenario that could have happened from soaking her body in radioactive fallout rain.

She would pull through, eventually, and could already get some feeling back in her fingers and more; Though there would likely be a few days of projectile vomiting in her future...

Tobias thought was right on the mark and wasn't the only one to come to the conclusion even it was unspoken. There had been any number of methods to read the ambient radiation of the area and none of the signs of any acute or exposure until now. It had come as suddenly as the rain it had paired with as a delivery method and was clearly soaked up into the soil and other surrounds to easily dissipate otherwise even all being inside they would have been feeling the effects already.

There were other, more important goings-on to divert one's attention to, however. While they clucked over Carina two heavy barks of a 45. Sounded out behind them and then a third after a short pause and a shout as the main room exploded into shouts.

When they turned, one marine was dead with a hole in his chest and half his throat blown out while the once terrified marine was smothered under several hundred pounds of mutant after Rhindol dove-tackled the man with enough force to knock his breath out and from the growing stain on his oversized tarp of a shirt was any indicator had taken a slug to the paunch for his trouble.

"He jus' started shooting, an-" The mutant defended himself and then winced after putting a hand over his stomach where it came up red as he stared bewildered at the crimson near speechless. He didn't seem overly hurt and his thick hide and layers of fat had clearly caught the round somewhere before it got anywhere vital.

"Ohs..." He sat down, clearly unsure what to make of the wound.

The mutant looked up at tobias, at molotra, at quilly and lupin and at carinas prone form and opened his mouth to say more.

When his entire lower jaw was blown out by automatic weapons fire as one of the marined simply unloaded into the mutant...

It wasn't an isolated incident either. Two other marines drew their rifles directly at the huddled marines and spacer and pulled their triggers without hesitation or without a word.

 

[SirSkully]

Shelter
"Shit..." Lupin murmured after seeing Molotra take control of the situation, letting out a breath the sniper didn't know he'd been holding in, white-knuckled fist still clenched around a half-used roll of gauze.

"Well done Molo, you think she'll need blood transfusions or~?" he'd started asking the stout little saviour before three loud cracks cut him off, Lupin whipping his head around just in time to see Rhindol turn a marine to slurry under his weight... then the rhino's mouth suddenly blew apart in a shower of gore, splatters of red cutting through the dull, grimy colours the room was previously covered in.

While Lupin's mind was wondering just how much further they'd have to go down this hill before hitting rock bottom his hand reacted on pure muscle memory, dropping down to rip out his handgun and crank off a few rounds as lumps of drywall and various composite materials were knocked loose. As the last round fired off Lupin threw himself sideways out of the doorframe, adrenaline filled muscles not fully registering the sensation of hitting something until he should have hit the ground and likely grazed the shit out of his arms. Instead of sharp stones and debris Lupin had landed on a very soft Quail, and upon realizing this he started scrambling to his feet.

He was kind of sorry, but there were bigger and more pressing issues.

"Rhindol's fucking gone~" Lupin spoke, more to himself than anything, a round ripping through the wall next to his head as Lupin dropped out his empty magazine - replacing it with the last few pistol rounds he had left.

...his rifle was in the other room with their assailants...

"Quilly, please tell me you've got something explosive left...?" he huffed, quickly press-checking the sidearm to make sure all the grit that'd accumulated wouldn't stop these last few rounds of his from firing.

 

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

Shelter

With just short of a half douzen weapons going off at once the tight confines of the shelter quickly filled up with the smell of burning cordite and a smoke haze even now drifting off the barrels of the three assailants. With the considerable smoke and the dark brought on by the downpour and the lack of natural lighting the shelter had gone dark enough to obscure both sides in a natural veil of umbra.
None of the three marines uttered a word but scraped about the clink and clatter of ninety new brass casings on the floor. There was a pause, and then a single noise of something snapping as a glowstick was tossed directly into the room and casings were kicked aside and a form strode into the room behind the low muzzle of an M2 rifle and then followed by two more as Lupins sidearm was kicked from his grasp with force enough to break one of his fingers.

The three marines wordlessly surveyed the scene. Everyone was on the ground, even an overturned Molotra bearing the underside of her treads at them if thankfully unhurt her undercarriage had taken more than a few dents. Tobias, sprawled motionless didnt need to be checked to know the intense pain travellling through his left leg in the might of his thigh that something was less than optimal other than the dull ache in his gut where his vest had caught at least a single round.

Carina and Quilly were the least hurt with the former already being prone and surrounded by her comrades while the latter had been unintentionaly shielded by Lupins bulk still ontop of her.

The human meatsheild that was Lupin faired the worst of all beyond his freshly broken finger with every breath feeling like a knife was pierced through his chest where at least a couple ribs were broken and that at least one round had penetrated his vest and passed through his abdomen.

Still standing over Lupin and not yet noting quilly he was the first as the marine who kicked him took a knee and pulled something off his belt with a pull of velcro; The thought of some kind of first aid immediately coming to mind before his danger sense kicked on and the tip of a knife plunged over an inch deep into the meat of his thyroid just bellow the jugular before he could catch it. Intense pain both flared and then dulled as the adrenaline kicked in and the hanyan prince was able to get one hand on the marines wrist and the other less helpfully around the blade itself as his assailant leaned in and put more pressure into finishing him off.

A similar scene took place with the unconscious marine Rhindol had knocked unconscious as his body began to twitch and thrash and flail the moment a knife tore a J shape through his throat. The assailant stood up and moved to lean over Molotra's prone form, Knife at the ready as he had to actually lean against and over her treads to look over her to see her status and maybe reach something vital.

The final marine stepped gingerly over Tobias in his fetal position and went onto both knees to kneel over Carina. She could feel the mans fingers as he pretty much yasnked her head up by the hair until she was just off the ground almost sitting up. With the returning feeling in her muscles and improving vision she could see right into the mans face. Illuminating him in the red glow of the glowstick didn't do his looks many favors. There was a strange look in his eyes even in the dim glow of the light she couldnt quite make beyond the cold and emotionless deadpan that made the man's face and the almost lifeless look in his eyes as they stared more past than actually at her.

There was little time to examine more when his other hand holding a knife inverted and pointed directly at her sank down and into her chest...

And glanced off the top of her reinforced clavicle deep into the meat of her shoulder causing her body to twitch and both her arms to throw up before flopping back down. The pain was intense but could have been worse had it glanced down and into her heart as her weakened body reacted and acted through muscle memory instead of conscious action as her feat kicked out in an attempt to push her away and her torso and arms flailed against her assailant in some form of attack.

Her body could move even if everything felt like pins and needles, but the feeling was remarkably weak and uncoordinated.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Head spinning, Molotra groaned pathetically, as her face came to recognise the heavy wall of gravel now digging into her cheek and brow. She'd landed on her left side- That meant her heavier right arm was on top, theoretically protecting them from physical blows, but also weighing them down so completely that it made her organic left bicep feel like it was on a bed of nails.

Two minutes. She'd been wearing that armour for months, and only just taken it off for two minutes.

All at once, she spun her tracks, throwing up a meteoric hail of gravel that cascaded in all directions- It pushed her just a little sideways, but made the pain in her fleshy arm ten times worse- Robotic arm was already a worn down screeching scaffold at this point, elbow servo audibly grinding straight downwards- She fired her twin rifle attachment blindly, unable to even see the attacker- About three rounds in, one of the shell casings got stuck sideways in the breach and snapped the little tension ring that was supposed to be pulling the trigger.

"I'll kill you! I'll fuc- I'll rip your fucking organs out and light them on fire! You piece of shit!-" She was basically crying, but the arm was grasping, clawing, searching the entire time. "Come here! Come here! I'll kill you!"

There was basically just one option left. But she had to know where the enemy was, and she couldn't do that in the dark with dust in her eyes. Molotra had to feel him out, using that tectonically slow metal arm.

Overpressure. She'd overload the hydraulics, break her own shoulder joint, and put her arm right down his throat.

 

[SirSkully]

Lupin could do little more than wheeze and whimper as pain sliced through his system like an aether lance through durandium, vaguely aware of the sensation of something warm running down his skin and soaking into his clothes as Lupin's muscles strained to keep the blade from going any deeper into his neck. The only sound Lupin could make out as his constricted vision stared up into the slightly cloudy eyes of his attacker was his heart pounding away like thunder, deafening in its intensity.

"You... FAH!" the Hanyan prince grunted desperately as the more intelligent parts of his mind began disassociating from what was going on, primal instincts reaching back far beyond his own lifetime drifting through Lupin's greymatter as all kinds of chemicals flooded his system. The sniper managed to get a knee up between him and the aggressor as his fangs bared in a snarl of determination, blood vessels in the young man's glowing eyes steadily bursting one by one as more effort was exerted, veins as thick as fingers pushing through the surface of his skin to fuel his straining muscles.

Ripping his bloodied hand from that knife Lupin reached up to his attacker's face with a grunt of effort, hooking his broken trigger-finger into the fucker's eyesocket as his thumb tried to puncture up under their jaw. While he still looked like Lupin on a basic level any semblance of the quiet, awkward marksman was purged from behind those oh so pretty eyes. While every other muscle in his body was trying to push his attacker back Lupin's arm thrashed their head back and forth at an awkward angle with a manic rage, a desperate attempt to snap it, a horrid squelch coming from their ruined eyeball as Lupin's thumb broke through the skin of their attacker's neck.

 

[Soresu]

The prickling feeling of her extremities aside, Carina's injury was... intense. She had gurgled a grunt, an eyebrow managing a twitch even as her legs kicked in response. The body's attempt to get away from the pain. Her amygdala, seat of fear telling it to get the fuck out of the way. Her brain sent the message to adrenal glands as fight or flight response began to beat it into her. The medic was recovering. Albeit at a respectable pace. But was it quick enough?

Her limbs flailed, her arms swinging drunkenly too and fro. Trying to seek a target. To grasp. Even as she began to become cognizant of her surroundings again. The steady havoc. The immediate concern. Not for allies. Friends. Nor comrades. But for herself. The pain was like fire as the blade bit deep into her collarbone's meat. Whatever was driving this attacker was of no immediate concern.

It was getting rid of them. Getting rid of the hurt. The blade. And so with whatever focus she could muster. The shakey hands and twitching fingers. Neither went to grasp. Instead setting about for a backhand across her attacker's jaw. Their cheek. The side of the face to which her arm had moved across. Carina had no telling how much strength was in her limbs or if she struck true. Hard or soft. Even the in-between. Just the growing and consuming need to get them off her.

 

[Alex Hart]

Tobias hissed in pain as his mind raced while he lay on the ground feigning incapacitation. Either through arrogance or stupidity, the assailants had neglected to try and kick Tobias' fallen weapon far away from him, perhaps assuming that the unassuming young man would fold under an injury. While his plates had caught the rounds aimed at his torso and his implants seemed to have kept the bullet in his leg from breaking his bone outright, he suspected a major fracture. The operator fought down a wave of nausea from the blunt force as he ventured a glance at the situation.

The glowstick's illumination made everything snap into place. Between his occular implants and the glowstick he could see the glazed-over expression of their assailant. Mishhu parasite zombies, perhaps they were hidden within the city, or perhaps these marines had been infected earlier and the parasites had taken measures to hide their infection. Either way, there was only one way to be sure to keep the zombies down, sever their spinal cords or destroy their brains. While the Operator's fallen shotgun would be too risky with the enemy so close to his allies, his eyes were quick to pick out Lupin's fallen sidearm.

Flipping himself over from his facedown position behind the marines assailing Carina, Molotra, and Lupin, Tobias whipped his right arm in an arc, his mindware informing him of when to eject his wrist blade to send it on a trajectory towards the neck of Carina's attacker with enough force to bury it hilt-deep. He then launched himself on shaky legs towards Lupin's pistol. The weapon only had a few rounds left by his count, but they'd need to do.

Skidding a short distance, Tobias managed to grab a hold of the weapon, gritting his teeth as the move aggravated whatever injury he'd recieved to the torso. It didn't feel like any broken ribs, but only just barely better. Bringing the pistol up, he aimed it at the head of Lupin's assailant, held helpfully still by the Hanyan's grip, and fired once before turning the weapon on the marine by Molotra.

 

[Arbitrated]

Quilly was disoriented by the sudden impact of Lupin's heavy body tackling hers - but the accompanying gunfire explained more than enough why the bird found herself tackled. First the radiation, now backstabbers what the fuck's going on here? she thought to herself.

Lupin spent an uncomfortably long time crushing the Quail, the weight making it hard for her to breathe before he started to trash and push up, fighting the man trying to stab him. This freed Quilly and gave her the opportunity she needed to provide him an upper hand - and, based on the struggling in the room, Quilly might be able to protect Carina while she was at it.

Lupin was already on top of his assailant so Quilly only needed to give a little bit of assistance, kicking herself back out from underneath the squabble by stomping, sideways, on the hostile's shin. The rough artificial ground scraped her skin up and stung like a bitch as she slid across it, the little bird picking herself up and trying something risky. Her feathers were still in disarray, and some were half-grown, but the man coming for Carina wasn't going to wait - Quilly kicked off the cracked wall behind her and soared across the room, spreading her brown, speckled wings out just enough to keep herself oriented like a missile and slamming into Carina's attempted murderer - a flying tackle in the most literal way, leading into the small soldier grabbing the knife-wrist of her target and slamming it against the ground with all her might.

 

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

Shelter

There was a skip and a jerk in Molotras' singular tread off the ground. While she could not see it the assaulting marine had grabbed the bottom of the tread for leverage to lean over the spacer but when she began to move the force and momentum dragged his hand into the rear spoke of her tread; Crushing all four of his fingers sans the base of the digits sans the thumb.

Her attacker staggered back, looking more curiously at his now warped hand pretty much just held together by the fabric of his glove. Then Molotra opened fire as she began to skid-turn and gutshot him twice causing him to twist with the force of the bullet and fall onto his side struggling but hardly dead.

As for Lupin his struggles were less fruitful but gave him some relief as the oddly warm sensation of fluid ran down his wrist from the near-explosion of his attackers eye running down his hand. The knee-jerk response caused the half inch of sharpened and partially serrated durandium to be pulled from the side of his neck and was slammed into his wrist handle first causing pain to blossom in his wrist but not enough to stop his defense.

It was quilly who saved lupin incidentally if by accident when she flared out her wings and the hollow but still propelling bone of one of her wings slapped the marine in the face with the sound of two planks of wood slapping together oddly mixed with the sound from the crack of a gunshot. The marine was flung off of Lupin and into the dark...

As for Carina her flailing was mostly in vain if only to buy her a few seconds before her own attacker forced her face down, cheek first, against the floor with enough force to explode her vision into stars as he struggled to wrench the knife out of the meat of her chest; Violently wiggling it around in every direction eliciting a choked scream from the youngest marine as muscle was torn and lacerated. He managed to rip the blade out of her with enough force that she could hear as much as felt the serrated back grind against her collarbone. Had she not already been exhaling from the first scream another might have already shattered the mostly silent assassination attempt.

The knife, aimed for his throat, plunged directly through his cheek instead with as he jerked back at the last moment ontop of Carina. The tip of the blade pushed against the inside of his other cheek; Pitching it like a tent.

Moments later Quilly crashed into the marine with all the force of at best a 70-pound bird attempting to capsize a nearly 250-pound Nepleslian male with only seven feet of room to have propelled herself.

It worked, if only to stagger him back and rock him back onto his feet. The force of her almost fifteen-foot wingspan and the leverage it gave her was all that kept her on her feet as, foot incidentally pinning Carina to the floor, the infested-marine turned his ire to the new attacker. A hand large enough to encompass her face wrapped around Quillys' throat with enough force to lift her off the ground and immediately cut off her airflow as his grip tightened hard enough to cut off oxygen to her brain.

All of the races of the Elysians and their castes were hardier than they looked; Years of genetic alterations and improvements to their genes after the dynasties once warred to not only conquer, but also hold the known reaches of the Kikyo sector against such indomitable forces as not only the Nepleslian star empire but also the precursor to the Yamatain star empire as well at equal footing. Her bones, hollow as they were, was actually stronger than even her assailants, and her body acted on years of ingrained instincts against the likes of the earlier (and considerably much more deadly than current generations) neko variants and the biological weakspots of any humanoid lifeform.

Which is to say she kicked him in the groin, repeatedly.

This did little to lessen her predicament but did cause him to lower slightly as he hunched in a biological response. Her feat on the ground and her wings still flailing violently was enough however to pull him forwards and towards her almost off balance!

Where things went from there and what she would do next Quilly would never know. There was a spike of pain into her side as something burst out of the marines fatigues at his waistline and, wriggling like an eel, stabbed her. The flute-like tip of the tentacle was roughly as thick as one of her fingers and did little actual damage.

There was a moment of warmth as chemicals and biotoxins strong enough to even affect Neko flooded her insides and rode a straight lane to her heart and brain. It was an indescribable feeling and was downright nauseating as the paltry light from the glowstick became a bright luminescence enough to hurt her eyes, and everything began to slow to a crawl as the world practically froze.

The only thing Quilly processed before her brain shut off was the tip of a blade plummetting directly towards her and how massive the marines shadow was...

Tobias took no chances as he blew out back of the head belonging to the downed marine on the ground Molotra sent flying. He hesitated only to exhale before panning the sidearm around towards the next audible scuffle. Quilly was wrestling (and losing) to Carinas' former attacker but her body and wings were blocking any actual attempt for him to help her; Any other adversary the operator would have naturally shot through Quillys' less-than-lethal areas to hit him and patch her up latter.

He saw the Mishu-tentacle shoot out from its bud somewhere and stab her and go almost instantly limp as whatever drug was pumped into her system pacified her into a state of euphoria as her hands fell to her sides and her wings drooped even as the Marine once again lifted her up by the throat and brought his knife directly towards her face.

Tobias caught a moment where he could shoot, but instinct took over as a physically larger threat appeared. His training kicked in as his mind screamed Mishhuvurthyar, and he moved to engage.

The massive form wasnt a full-grown mishu. As the marine's hand was large enough to fully encompass Quillys' throat, so too was the even larger hand of Rhindol Cruz able to wrap all four of his digits around the marine at the back of his neck and lift him, still lifting Quilly, into the air. The Mutant was a grizzly sight even in the dark as the light of glowstick illuminated the macabre features of his mutilated face and missing lower jaw but fully showing the intense hatred burning in his gaze as he ripped the marine back with enough force that his grasp on quilly was wrenched free and she dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

With all the momentum a half-ton of mutant could muster he slammed the marine against a wall enough to push his back completely through it. Likely already dead from the massive mutant shattering his spine, Rhindol didn't even hesitate as with a gargled and bone-chilling scream he put all his weight and momentum forwards and slammed the worn nubs of his horn directly into the Marines head with a cataclysmic headbutt enough that it flattened his head and pushed not only his head but also Rhindols through the wall. The scene was startling enough to make even Tobias hesitate.

This hesitation was the only reason Tobias was able to see one of the only parts of the marine still visible; One of his arms, and the grenade he had ripped from Quillys' bandolier...

Shelter.

The fireteam moved at a dead sprint through the rain, Neko-liberated oiled ponchos protecting them from the worst of the downpour as they followed Rungo towards their shelter; The mutant revealing himself to their position at the climax of their firefight with the cats with distressing news of murders, suspected parasites, and the extreme threat it carried to his team.

The six marines and their Mutant guide made good time to the overpass shelter; Gunshots and even a muffled low-ordinance explosion made the location obvious enough that the team leader burst ahead, her cybernetic enhancements making her easily twice if not faster as her legs propelled her over debris and obstacles. She crashed though the wall of the shelter and into the macabre aftermath. Her eyes scanned over the marines, their injuries severe but not overly life-threatening despite three obvious corpses and another three and an unconscious marine in the other room.

Her team caught up to her in time and, only hesitating for a moment, began triage. The Elysian and Spacer were banged up but in the best condition with the former suffering from the effects of Mishhuvurthyar drugs, and the later from mostly internal bleeding. There was a massive body she had first written off as a corpse but actually wheeze with some life, and two Nepleslian men concussed from the pressure-blast of a grenade but would likely survive.

Carina regained consciousness briefly, her mind a jumble and feeling like there was a vice crushing it. Reluctantly she opened her eyes, stuck together as they were with blood as the ringing in her ears and the pain encompassing every single facet of her body screamed from just trying to look up.

She felt the vibration tremor as she couldnt hear it on the other side away from her head where she couldn't see. A second, massive metal instrument of some kind came into view as it scraped in front of her face as the sixth-sense that someone was standing over her took over. A hand outside of her periphery rested under her cheek and tilted her to look straight up where new light practically blinded her and a silhouette of a person eclipsed in the light.

Her semi-conscious instincts registered the face before her conscious mind did as adrenaline flared in her veins and the sound of a roaring river crashed through her head as blood began to flow and her vision began to darken.

The gray-skinned and horrifyingly face of Locust faded into view to look directly down at Carina as she squated over her; The talons of her old cybernetic rear-jointed legs just inches from her as she squatted to lean down at the younger woman.

The last thing Carina saw before she lost the fight to stay conscious was the macabre and haunting look of Locusts' deaths-head grin splitting her face and the mania in the eyes of the psychopath as they reunited...