The Weapon

Avea Maxwell unleashed a triumphant howl into the roaring winds, embracing the sensation of flight and unbridled freedom. The makeshift sand skiff rattled against the powerful gusts of wind, a testament to the scrap pieces she had ingeniously fashioned together. Flimsy goggles flapped wildly on her face, and her lean arms stirred up and around the dried cracked planes. The distant wail of sirens and the piercing spotlights from guard watch towers erupted around her, shining outwards from behind the wall, but she was too far gone. While Guardwatch could remotely destabilize hovercycles from a distance, the unique design of her stand skiff left them powerless. An ancient relic relying on nothing, but the steady winds and silent prayers. The echoes of the chase faded away, leaving Avea and Bebop alone in the vast outlands, gliding past the skeletal plants that stood as a memorial to her mother.

“I’m coming Mum,” Avea concentrated on steering the sand skiff with the wind's current, until she found the tunnel entrance melding into the surrounding darkness. Leaning forward, driving faster towards the entrance, swallowing a mouthful of gritty sand. She came to a sudden stop before the cavernous mouth, which appeared much larger than she'd suspected from a distance. The cave's mouth against the night, was a dark mouth yawning open in invitation. She dismounted the stand skiff and practically threw it over a nearby cluster of rocks. She stared into the cavern's gaping mouth and instantly felt something heavy and cold settle in her stomach. Perhaps the reality of what she was about to do finally sinking in. 

“What are you waiting for, an invitation?” Bebop quipped. “I don’t see you offering to lead the way” Avea replied, “that's because I’m back up” Bebop said. She scoffed at Bebop’s lame excuse. Despite her fatigue from the punishing sand skiff ride, Avea took a hesitant step into the cavernous mouth, half expecting something terrifying to jump out at her. Yet, nothing happened. Her shoulders and arms screamed in protest from the punishing ride, and as she ventured further into the underground tunnels, she instinctively wrapped her arms around herself feeling a chill hit her. 

It was difficult to fathom that she had stood in this very spot just last night. As her eyes adapted to the darkness, all she could discern were the familiar rocks and crevices surrounding her. Glancing down the long, shadowy passageway before her, vivid memories of the previous night flashed in her mind. "Ooff," Avea cried, stumbling over a rock and colliding with the rough surface. "Are you alright?" Bebop's light illuminating the rock that had tripped her. "Yeah, I'm fine," Avea replied, dusting off her hands and knees with a tinge of irritation, already sensing the ache of new scrapes and bruises forming on her body. "Get it together," she scolded herself.

The tunnels remained the same, dark and forbidding. Yet, a new emptiness lingered, Dolunay's presence, which had relentlessly pursued her, had been torn away, leaving a chilling void. As Avea navigated the narrow path, she noticed side passages branching off in every direction, each one mirroring the main tunnel's endless stretch of shadow. "Do you have any idea where you're going?" Bebop queried. "Well, I mean, if we go this...way...maybe," Avea began, staring down the many tunnel routes in front of her. "Never mind, I have my answer," Bebop cut her off.

The eerie silence clung to the air, as she blindly travelled through the underground labyrinth with only the cold embrace of stone all around. Frustration welled up inside her, as the two stumbled upon another dead end, Avea couldn't take it any longer. "Enough," she shouted, slamming her fist against the stone barrier. "You found your way way before, how did you do it?" Bebop asked. "I just I don't know ... felt it?" Avea replied, drawing a deep breath. She couldn't explain her instinct, the way that it had guided her through the tunnels the previous night. Her mind had been clear then, but now fear clouded her judgement at every turn, dulling those instincts.

Before she could do anything, a shadow lurched out from one side passage. Its hand gripping her throat and shoving her against the rock. "Finally, I thought you'd never make it," the face emerged from the shadows, revealing Dumon Scyther. The Rat's beady eyes so dark and glassy that Avea could see her shocked expression in them. "Wha...you...how? she sputtered, unable to regain control over her racing thoughts."You dare steal from me" Scyther spat. Avea, struggling for breath, managed to choke out, "You followed me...?" The Rat's grin twisted into a snarl, his filthy nails dug into his pockets, snatching a glass orb from his pocket, Avea could tell it wasn't the moonstone."Plenty have tried to con me," Scyther snarled, breath hot against her face. "Want to guess what’s left of them?" he shoved her forcefully against the solid wall, his grip around her throat dragging her along the rough surface. Avea gritted her teeth and inhaling sharply, as the impact of sharp ridges grated against her spine. "You are going to take me to whatever you are hiding,"the Rat snarled inches from her, baring every yellowed, crooked tooth at her.

Hissing through her teeth, tears pricked in her eyes, "leave V alone!" An orange blur came flying out slamming into Scyther’s face. Collapsing to the ground Scyther howled in pain holding up his hands to protect his face, staining them crimson. Crouching against the tunnel wall, Avea stared wide-eyed as her tiny robot rammed repeatedly into Scyther’s face, while he spouted threats and curses. Bebop didn’t waste a second landing in a final blow, straight into Scyther’s nose a crunch sound followed loud and clear, oh that’s broken. Scyther was practically shaking with rage, “you rusted piece of junk!” he screamed, flashing his blood-stained teeth, the anger flaring like hot coals in his black eyes. Avea cringed at the sight of the already swollen bloody nose, with a dent in the middle and the rest drastically slanted to the side. Scyther unsheathed a small pistol gun, rapidly firing shots blindly in the dark. "No wait stop!" Avea watched in horror, as Bebop hit the surface, the bot’s circuits going haywire. Bebop let out a loud static noise that sounded like a cry, "A…V…EAAAA." "BEBOP!" Avea gasped, fighting against the Rat's hold, but his grip only tightened. 

As the bot tumbled across the ground, its hatchet burst open, revealing the moonstone shining brightly, giving itself away. The Rat’s neck snapped, and threw Avea to the ground, her body hitting the surface with a heavy thud. The Rat lunged for the moonstone, his beady eyes lit up with greed, ripping the moonstone from Bebop’s bodice with his bloody hands, while the bot remained motionless on the ground. Scrambling to her feet, desperation fueled Avea’s limbs, as she ran to Bebop pulling the bot in close, her voice trembling, “Bebop, can you hear me?” But no reply came. The bullet had torn through the antenna, now bent at an awkward angle, and one of Bebop's lenses lay cracked and useless."Bebop?" Avea whispered again, her voice cracking. "You’re gonna be okay just hang on." Suddenly, the sharp click of a gun echoed sharply. Her head snapped up, to see the Rat towering over her, a small pistol pointed to her forehead. He held up the moonstone, and in Avea’s presence it glowed brightly. “Just a stone eh?” Scyther sneered. In his hand, the moonstone cast a light on his face revealing his revolting smile, "nowhere to run filthy outborn," he sneered. "Filthy…please we both know that smell isn’t coming from me." Scyther’s grin curled into a snarl. "You little runt" he spat, landing a kick to her ribs. Avea groaned rolling onto her side.

"Show me what's in the stone" Scyther said, spittle flying from his mouth. Avea gritted her teeth, there was no reasoning with him. "What do want with it?" she snapped, barely able to keep her rage at bay, still holding Bebop tightly. The Rat drew closer, "the stone..." he demanded, his face spasming with an emotion she couldn't decipher, holding the moonstone out to her.

"I don't know how" Avea lied, trying to keep her words calm. The Rat waved one long nailed finger in front of her as if scolding her, crouching down pressing the head of the pistol against her forehead. "I know what you and our mother are..." he whispered. "And what are we?" Avea replied, fed up with the petty attempts to bait her. "You're spies for the Core Council". Oh right on the mark, Avea thought, yet she kept her mouth shut. Better he believe she was a spy then learn the truth. So she pursed her lips, "that stone is some sort of intelligence with all of the councils secrets" Scyther's words reverberated through the tunnels. As Avea stared down the pistol that was aimed at her head, it finally clicked. “You…tipped…Elrod off!” It made sense Scyther was the one who’d told her about Elrod’s plan in the first place, but why had he tipped her off about Elrod? “Yes, I did,” Scyther said, the corners of his mouth tilted upward. “Elrod’s clans becoming a problem for me, best to get them out of the way…or better yet have you take him out for me.”

"Why?" Avea asked. "I want the Valent" the Rat snarled. There was something feral in Scyther's eyes, a quiet fury ready to be unleashed."Do you know why they call me the Rat Outborn? Because Rats will survive by seizing what others overlook" Scyther said, rage clawing its way through his clenched jaw and sunken eyes. "They call you the Rat, because you're a snitch!" Avea snapped, her restraint unravelling despite knowing that provoking Scyther with a gun to her head could be fatal. Instead the Rat's beady eyes shone with delight, seemingly taking pleasure in her defiance, the way that a predator might be amused by the last, useless fight of its prey.

"I was watching you the night of the tunnel races and saw your little dispute with Elrod…very unsportsmanlike of him,” Scyther said, shaking his head in mock disappointment. “You should have been as good as dead, then suddenly you appear in the shop with this …” Scyther said gesturing to the glowing stone. "See that's the thing about snitches Outborn, we watch and we listen." He extended the stone toward her, Avea pressed her back against the solid rock trying to get as far away from the stone as possible, but she was trapped with no way out. The stone glowed, and Scyther's face lit up with feral delight. "Because even outskirt trash like you has secrets" he whispered.

"I won't help you," Avea said firmly, still on the ground staring up at the Rat's pistol. No anger. Just a slight tilt of the Rat’s head, as if she were one of those specimens in a glass jar. "That's the problem with loyalty Outborn, it's a weakness." He then held up a small, circular disc. "No!" Avea screamed as Bebop suddenly slipped from her grasp and became shackled to the disc. "You want your bot back," Scyther said, "then you’ll show me where this stone leads." Anger burned in Avea’s eyes, so fiercely it was like hell itself had taken root behind her stare. She slowly rose to her feet, "is that a promise?" she spat. "No, even better, it’s a deal," the Rat smirked, tossing her the moonstone. The stone's cool, smooth surface touched her skin, as the reassuring weight settled perfectly in the palm of her hand. "Lead the way," the Rat warned, "but try anything, and your bot becomes nothing more than scrap." He grinned smugly, a look that made Avea want to punch his crooked teeth out."V, don’t do it," Bebop wheezed weakly. The damaged bodice of her bot creaked and groaned, its crooked antenna flickering faintly. "Bebop, hold on, okay?" Avea said gently as she stood, with Scyther still pressing his pistol to the back of her head.

The three of them began to move down into the tunnel passageways. There was no deceiving Scyther, every time Avea tried to mislead them, the moonstone’s light dimmed. "Stay on course, outborn," he sneered, and with each warning, Bebop took another dent. Scyther never stood still. Even when his body appeared relaxed, his eyes remained sharp and alert. "Loyalty isn’t a weakness," Avea insisted, following the faint glow of her mother’s moonstone."I had loyalty once," Scyther replied bitterly. "Got me nothing but broken bones and a target on my back." It was easy to forget that Duman Scyther himself came from the outskirts, no better than a filthy outborn like Avea. She couldn’t fault him for how he had fought to survive, but he'd become dangerous. He lived off the rot others hid inside themselves, feeding on it, turning it into power. Shame was his leverage, and he never ran out. That kind of quiet, creeping control was far deadlier than any bullet. Avea needed to think of something fast, she couldn't let the Rat find her mother's portal.

Force to follow the glow of the moonstone, finally, they emerged out of the tight narrow passageway, and into wide opening of the underground, a sort of adjoining sector where the tunnels passages led into. Avea’s eyes drifted above to the towering stalactites, clustered together like a row of menacing teeth hanging from the ceiling. The moonstone began to glow brightly, as Avea looked ahead her stomach dropped. There was a large split cleaving the ground, running through the cavern, as if the earth itself has been forcefully torn apart.

It was harrowing to see, and as they took closer steps the moonstone began to glow brighter. The portal was down there? Of course it was. Scyther's face drained of colour seeing the bottomless split, and Avea tried not to look too pleased. The two of them halted at the cracked edges. "Here we are" Avea said, "now give me my bot." She took a step forward, "not so fast outborn" Scyther said, holding up his pistol. His beady eyes darted to the split and then back to her, "don't be scared" Avea cooed sweetly. "Careful Outborn" he sneered. "How are we supposed to get down there?" Avea shrugged, "I'd be happy to shove you over the edge." Scyther peaked over the edge, and saw only black nothingness. "Don't test me outborn, if this is some kind of trick ..." Scyther said, starting to make a threat. "Guess you'll have to trust me" Avea replied. The Rat's expression tightened, rage simmering just beneath. He glanced down at the harrowing depths of the split that was a mere feet away.

The stalactites hung precariously above, and the moonstone glowed between them. "You can show me what's down there" Scyther hissed, stalking closer to her. He made a fist, and as he did Bebop squealed as its bodice started to crush. "What?" Avea exclaimed. "I know that you can harness the technology, make it show you things," she didn't miss Scyther's hand shaking slightly as he held the pistol. He still doesn't realise that this isn't from the Core, Avea realised. "I don't know how," she lied again, her heels now over the edge of the split."I'm getting tired of these games Outborn" Scyther said, but she couldn't hear anything over Bebop's squeals. "SHOW ME!" the Rat screamed, and Avea thought that he might let his tenuous grip on sanity slip and crush her bot."I doesn't work like that" Avea said, glancing over her shoulder at the dark abyss behind her. She couldn't stand seeing the dents in Bebop's bodice. "Don't tell him anything" the bot whimpered.

"I don't know what secrets the Core are hiding down there, but whatever they are, I will find them. The Valent will be mine, and no Outborn scum will get in my way!" The Rat's insatiable thirst for power had corroded every shred of humanity within him, leaving behind only a hollow craving. "When the Valent is mine, I will tear you apart, piece by piece... you and your bot," his words a dark vow of destruction. With a brutal force, he crushed Bebop beneath his grasp. Bebop let out a desperate squeal, circuits sparking erratically as the cold metal body was slowly crushed, heat flaring from the strain.

"Get your hands off my bot!"Avea screamed, closing her eyes, a searing white hot rage consumed her, blinding her utterly. She plunged deep into the hidden recesses of her being. In a surge of instinct, the moonstone began to glow, almost acknowledging Avea's focused attention. As she opened her eyes, and saw Scyther's beady little eyes wide with fear. As he staggered backwards with his lips moving, but no sound came out. As if he were engaging in an internal argument in his mind. Avea's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Holding up her hands she saw that they were shimmering, she felt the breath get knocked out of her. The light was inside of her.

No one dared speak, all three of them stood in the wide open cavern in a stunned silence.The Rat's beady eyes kept frantically blinking like he was trying to unsee the glowing girl in front of him. However, then the Rat's eyes gleamed with a sinister delight upon seeing Avea standing there glowing. "It's you" he whispered to himself. He held up her mother's moonstone, as it glowed the mesmerising colours that danced inside it were perfectly symmetrical to the colours of sheen on Avea's skin. The Rat looked at her with an obsessive fervor in their eyes, as though if he tore his sight from her she might vanish.

She'd been caught.

"I knew the council had a remnant of the genesis mission, but I never thought i'd be you outborn", the Rat said, his voice had a chilling undertone. Avea had heard enough, she tried to call the moonstone towards her, the Rat flicked out a swift contraption that ensnaring her wrists and ankles together, forcing her wrists together and anchoring her feet onto the ground. “Bebop I can’t move!” Avea cried, desperately fighting against the weight of the anchor. Her skin still glowing, as the Rat stood deathly still, staring at her.

"What are you?'" he whispered with voice of utter disbelief. What was she?...hell if she knew. Avea was so close her feet planted on the edge of the split, so close to her mother. The restraints around her ankles and wrists were biting into her flesh, as she tried to loosen the metal grip. The Rat approached her slowly, every step wary. Licking the sides of his mouth until a white paste formed around his mouth, a feral rodent ready to tear her apart. Avea was trying desperately to pry off the restraints. What did he want with her? Sell her? Dissect her? Imprison her? All of her mother's warnings, all the harsh words about not going beyond the border were now ringing in her head. Her mother had known all this time, and despite Avea being so close she was completely immobilised by the restraints. She kept twisting her wrists against the restraints, the cold metal digging into her skin. She looked over to Bebop who was bucking its shackles. She felt the sudden stab of fear in her heart. "Stay back!" Avea shouted throwing her hands in the air trying to summon anything, the Rat flinched shielding himself with his hands. Nothing happened, Avea was overcome with a sudden panic, as she stood with her arms in the air. The Rat erupted into a deranged laughter, the sound shrill and nasally through his broken nose.

He stalked towards her stretching out his dirty hand clasping it around her face, Avea tried to wrench her face out of his grip, but he only tightened it pulling her face to look at him."The Valent will be mine," Scyther lips twisted in a smile that revealed every bit of his unhinged mind."Bebop I don't think you hit him hard enough" Avea replied, trying to not to let the Rat smell any hint of fear on her. Before the Rat could respond, Avea looked up at the stalactites above and saw the green lightning slithering between them. "Thought you could get rid of me didn’t you Rat," that cold voice said, rang out through the cavern. All the small hairs on the back of Avea’s neck prickled at the sound of the chilling voice.

The Rat's head's jerked swiftly behind him, his demeanor instantly shifting into a small and snivelly rodent. "Oh, Skulldagger lord, what a relief," he exclaimed, voice trembling. "I was just starting to think something had happened to you." He was standing in front of Avea, clearly trying to block her from the clan lords sight. Avea let out a sharp scoff, clearly unimpressed by the Rat’s attempt at sincerity. How had Elrod followed them to the tunnels? He looks half dead. Her eyes then flicked toward Cyrus Elrod, whose skin gleamed with sweat, evidence of the brutal fight they had just endured. His face was gaunt, every line etched with exhaustion and pain, the color drained from his cheeks. Slowly, his weary eyes shifted toward the Rat, who, sensing the thick tension began to twitch nervously in response.

Elrod ignored the rat, and instead looked behind him at Avea, past the glowing exterior as though he were staring into her very soul. At last," he whispered, like a prayer to something unholy. He dragged himself over to Avea, "half my clan is in custody because of you, luckily I'm an affluent individual and they let me go", meaning he'd bribed whoever was arresting him. The Rat and Elrod had worked together to frame her, so that she could lead them to whatever she was hiding, but the Rat had betrayed the Clan lord.

"She's a weapon for the core council, I managed to apprehend the stone a vessel with their intelligence" The Rat said, scrambling to find the words. As he threw her mother's precious stone to Elrod who caught it swiftly, "what this is?" the clan lord sneered holding up the moonstone to her face. "Why don't you ask your friend, he ambushed me in the tunnels trying to get me to unlock it." Avea couldn't suppress a hint of satisfaction as Scyther shot her a glare. His beady black eyes darted frantically between the two of them, unmistakably caught in the web of his own lies. “The outborn’s lying I followed her here just like you asked” Scyther eventually said. "You always did have a weakness for keeping secrets, didn't you, Duman?" Elrod spoke with an unsettling calmness, a calm that felt too calculated. "Your usage has expired." Surprise flashed across Scyther's ugly pinched face at the clear dismissal.

"I think it's time that we renegotiated the terms of our agreement", The Rat's thin lips lifted into a knowing smirk, and Avea suddenly felt a sense of dread for the rat. But Elrod relented turning to face the rat, the energy emanating off of him made her shudder. As though the vision of a glowing Avea had reinvigorated him. “You betrayed me,” Elrod said his voice bored, as if tired by these antics. “She is the remnant of the GENESIS mission...this changes things,” Scyther said, that sneering voice held an unwarranted amount of confidence. "This changes nothing" Elrod said, his voice retained that dullness, but the edge was sharper in his tone. Scyther dared to take another step forward, "think of what we could accomplish together" he was raving like a mad man guestering to Avea. That was when Avea felt the atmosphere in the cavern shift as an unmistakable sense of danger hung in the air. Cyrus Elrod was facing her his eyes still retained a glint of awe as he beheld her glowing form.

"To leverage her against the core council we would be unstoppable", the Rat said, "to get revenge on those that betrayed us." Elrod stilled briefly, the slightest of hesitations, but the Rat caught it. "I know everything about what they did to you." Avea knew at that moment that the Rat was truly a mad man, because if he had any sort of self preservation he would have known in that moment to shut his mouth.

Elrod's silence was making Avea nervous he hadn't offered the Rat any sort of response. The Rat finally seemed to notice Cyrus's quiet disposition and suddenly turned any serious.“The clans, the valent, the core, this will dismantle everything...and when there is nothing left we will rule” Scyther said with a feral delight. Too clever, too close and too callous to see the greater threat standing before him. "There will be no we" Elrod finally spoke, and it was barley louder than a whisper, but it seemed to echo in the cavern. "A spineless rat could never rule the Valent."

The Rat's the pinched shrivelled face turned upwards, as though he were a civil man accepting rejection. "If I whispered in the right ears, how long do you think it would take before the clans unite and turn on you?"there it was, the snitch finally reared its ugly head."I wonder how long it will take for them to find your body" Elrod said. "SCYTHER WATCH OUT '' Avea cried, as a bolt of electricity shot Scyther in the chest. Avea watched in horror as Scyther started convulsing on the ground. The Skulldagger leader stood over the Rat's jerking body, “this is one secret that will die with you… rat.” In one swift movement, Elrod kicked Scyther’s body over the trench’s edge, his body swallowed by darkness. 

 “You killed him,” Avea gasped.

“Well, you know what they say about snitches,” Elrod replied.

.........................................................................................................................

The rat was dead. She shouldn't have been shocked, Cyrus Elrod would never have let the Rat leave knowing this secret. "Now that we've dealt with our pest, lets try this again," he said stalking towards her and holding up the moonstone. The stone emitted a soft ethereal light of enchanting blues and silvers. "The Rat was many things, but stupid was not one of them" Elrod said, his voice low and menacing.

He leaned in close to her, and Avea thought she detected a slight wariness as he did. "I am no stranger to the Core council's medieval tactics of espionage" Elrod said, Avea looked at the gruesome steel rods protruding out of his skull, "do you know what these do?" he asked, pointing to those cyborg implants, a truly horrifying sight seemed to pulse with cold, mechanical life. His eyes gleamed with a cold fury, daring her to answer. Avea met his stare, her lips pressed into a thin line. "Predict weather forecasts?" she replied.

Elrod let out humorless laugh, that sent a chill up Avea’s spine,"the truth is it doesn’t matter what you are. You’re mine to wield."He was going to destroy everything, with Avea as his weapon."I am not yours to weild" she said. She watched anger flash across the clan lord's face, those cold eyes held nothing but hatred."We'll see about that" Elrod lifted the moonstone high into the air, and threw his arm violently down. Avea turned away shutting her eyes unable to watch her mothers precious moonstone shatter.

But the shattering sound never came. Avea peaked one eye open and saw Cyrus Elrod's arm suspended mid-air with a mechanical claw latched onto it. Avea opened both eyes, following the mechanical arm to see Briggs standing across the wide open cavern, staring at Elrod with a murderous scowl on his face. "You doin’ alright there, kid?" his gruff voice echoed out to her, Avea too shocked to actually reply just nodded. "Grim reaper funny seeing you here" Elros said, recovering from his initial shock, and replacing it with that mask of composure.

Across the cavern, Brigg’s stood firm, his cybernetic eyes glowing a fierce red, an unspoken warning. "Don’t you lay a finger on the kid," Brigg’s growled. But it wasn’t his voice, it was something darker, the Grim Reaper himself. That voice had sent many fleeing in terror. The two men circled, tension crackling in the air of the cavern. "I see" Elrod replied coldy, suddenly, the silence shattered, as Elrod’s weapon fired at Brigg’s claw.

With a swift, deadly slash, the "corpse maker" weapon in Brigg's hand morphed into a long, terrifying whip that hissed, as the metallic gears shifted. The very cavern trembled, as Elrod reacted instantly, guns drawn with a quick finesse he fired off rounds in rapid succession. Driven by instinct his feral agility, a testament to a life lived on the fringes of the Valent. Avea lunged away from the chaos, scrambling back toward Bebop, the battered little bot abandoned at the trench's edge. Elrod’s scream tore, a sound of pure rage as he unleashed a barrage of shots at Brigg's. But the relentless "corpse maker," deflected each shot, sending rounds ricocheting off rock walls. Their weapons firing and thrashing into each other without mercy.

"Bebop?" Avea whispered, desperation tinting her voice. "V," the tiny bot wheezed. Despite her shackles, Avea adjusted Bebop’s antennae, tears streaming down her face. "I’m sorry... this is all my fault," she choked out. Opening her eyes, she gasped at the sight, Bebop’s body riddled with bullet holes, dents, and a missing arm sparking erratically. "You’re getting old, Grim Reaper," Elrod taunted. Avea glanced over at the battle behind her. Blood and sweat mingled, staining the two Valent criminals faces and weapons alike. The corpse maker was relentless barreling into Elrod without hesitation. She could hear the faint clicking of Brigg's mechanical arm changing gears, as it morphed itself into a spiked bludgeon. Battering at Elrod, who dodged out of the way, his cyborg parts colliding with Brigg's.

"Leave me you have to get to the portal" Bebop replied, sputtering sparks into the air. "I'm not leaving you here, besides I'm shackled" Avea hissed. "The portal is closing, that's what your light is trying to tell you" Bebop wheezed. Once again, Avea felt that familiar glimmer inside her. That was what the light was trying to tell me? The last surge before it closes forever. "You have to trust yourself, V." There was no pity or comfort in her bot's voice, stating it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Alright" Avea listened to her bot, closing her eyes she envisioned the moonstone. She felt that familiar thread inside of her. She tentatively tugged on the elusive thread, and saw the stone glow from Elrod. The stone lifted into the air levitating towards her. Elrod didn't realise, still viciously tearing into Brigg's who retaliated with brute force. The moonstone floated towards Avea, who bowed her head with her eyes closed. Trying to keep her concentration on that tether, as she tried to pull it gently towards her from across the cavern. Her fingers reached out touching its smooth surface, it glowed and suddenly Avea was whisked away into a blur of colour, though her body remained above, her mind drifted below. Suddenly clarity pierced her mind, the path to the portal now vivid in her mind's eye. "I see the portal," Avea declared, her skin glowing as if she had swallowed the moon itself. She was able to see everything below the surface. Through her mind's eye she could see the light dome, except its blinding lustre was gone, dimmed to a faint glow. The darkness creeping in, "no I'm too late" Avea whispered. There was no portal, only a sliver of a tear quickly sealing itself. The edges faint, as the cosmic light seemed to pulse weakly from beyond.

Its power was dwindling, closing forever.

Suddenly she was whisked back, her mind's eye closed, holding her battered bot. The cavern was trembling, the stalactites above shaking, threatening to fall. The Clan Lord was too quick for the Grim Reaper, "The new valent will have no place for your weakness" Elrod cried, as Brigg's movements were slowing, as he struggled to stand on his feet. While Elrod relentlessly fired an onslaught of bullets at the stalactites which began to fall from above.

"The portals gone" Avea whispered, while the chaos erupted around her. "You have to open it" Bebop said. "I don't know how?!" Avea breathed shakily."Trust yourself, you are the key," Bebop urged. Avea closed her eyes again, holding the moonstone, that familiar glimmer inside her stirred again. She focused, trying to summon it like she had before. She drifted into the darkness, blindly reaching out for the faintest trace of light. Her mind called out, veins of silver light pulsed through the underground, calling to her from every shadowed crevice. Detached from her body, she saw the thrumming slivers of light surge toward her, weaving through the labyrinth like living fire. The cavern's surface quaked beneath them. The Valent criminals crashed down in a tangled heap, gazing up at the transformed cavern, as a sea of silver fire swarmed over them, down into the split. Avea locked in her mind, stood glowing with celestial light, that left Brigg’s eyes wide with awe. "What the hell, kid?" he whispered, unable to look away. Elrod’s wild, manic laughter filled the cavern. "It’s real... you’re real," he breathed, arms spread wide in stunned reverence.

Avea however, was unable to see any of them. Trapped in her mind’s eye, she travelled down the split in the center of the cavern. All the way down to the light dome, following the silver veins of light, until she was in the dome that softly illuminated, sensing her presence there. "I am taking over T’alli... and I’m taking her with me," Elrod declared, his voice thick with fury. "No!" Brigg’s roared, trying to reach her, "this will be the end of your kind, Grim Reaper," Elrod snarled, firing at one of the stalactites directly above Briggs. The stalactite fell on top of the Grim Reaper. His scream tore through the cavaren.

Avea's consciousness fractured between vision and reality, the portal’s seal weakening with every breath. She was staring into that sliver of the portal, she needed to keep it open so her physical form could pass through. She harnessed the silver light and willed it to move through the light dome, like wildfire it blazed through. The eight symbols glowed as her will commanded.

"Get her outta here!" Brigg’s cried out, his body half crushed by the stalactite. Bebop worked frantically to dismantle her shackles. The shackles fell to the ground, but Avea levitated helplessly. Her mind strained, struggling to tear open the portal. She fought to hold open the tear, sending all the residual energy that had been trapped in the underground into the portal. She watched through her mind's eye as the tear became wider, like seams of stitching coming undone. The markings around the circular dome, glowed brightly with an cerulean light, all seven except the eighth marking.

Unawares that Elrod was advancing towards her, releasing a storm of greenish lightning. Bebop stood firm in front of her, its fragile antenna cast out a wavering shield."Bot, get out of the way," Elrod hissed, but Bebop refused to move, defiance carved into every dent and crack of the bot's battered frame."Bebop shields Avea" was all Bebop said. Elrod stared at the little bot, and a rasping wheeze clawed its way from his throat, cold and unnatural. Something resembling laughter. Bebop refused to move, its wonky antenna upholding the shield preventing the clan lord from approaching a glowing Avea. Who levitated above the ground, her body suspended in a strange stillness. So utterly lost in the depths of her trance, she was oblivious to the world, unable to respond even if she wished to.

Elrod's faint mask of humor slipped from his face like a torn veil, revealing the cold fury beneath. "I'll give you one last chance, bot," he spat, voice low and threatening. Bebop remained unflinching. "Bebop, shields Avea," the bot said again."I warned you," Elrod snarled. A crackling green bolt surged from his outstretched hand, a lethal shard of electricity aimed straight at Bebop. But in a flash, Bebop raised its antennae and the electrical shield, deflected the attack. Elrod's lips curled into a savage snarl as he hurled another bolt, faster and more furious. Yet Bebop met each strike, parrying blow for blow, the electric shield humming with energy.

The bot was her guardian, buying her precious moments. In her mind's eye, the final symbol ignited, and suddenly the portal burst open in the light dome, the blinding lustre returning in a brilliant heartbeat of light. "I will destroy all of you!" Elrod's scream ripped from his throat, his control deteriorating as he fired his lightning at Bebop. The bot battered and beaten, stood firm against the relentless electrical onslaught, its electrical shield fired out of its antennae, absorbing relentless wave of green lightning."Bebop, shields Avea," the bot cried out again, the electrical shield weakening, still the bot refused to stand down."Give her to me!" Elrod roared, his voice tearing through the charged air. Those steel rods firing with wild and desperate flares of green charge. From his outstretched hand, a jagged bolt of green lightning erupted, crackling and writhing as it surged toward the small figure of Bebop.With a final surge of energy, Bebop redirected the wild lightning with its shield back toward Elrod. The green bolts slammed into the cyborg’s steel rods. Elrod crashed to his knees, roaring in pain, his steel rods bending and breaking with a wrenching groan, the metal began twisting and warping under the strain. Avea broke free, her trance shattered, collapsing to the ground. She opened her eyes, gasping for breath. Glancing around the cavern, she saw a defeated Elrod laying on the surface, his ragged breathes breaking the eerie silence."Bebop? I didn’t know you could do that," Avea whispered, no longer trapped in her mind's eye. She was still glowing faintly with residual energy. "Neither did I," came the weary reply from her bot. "You saved me" Avea said."You are Bebop's clan," the bot replied, its voice rang with a steely strength she didn't knew her little bot had. Avea paused, a swell of emotion rising within her at Bebop's words.

Just then, a low groan echoed through the carven.

"Briggs," Avea gasped. Both of them turned toward the Grim Reaper, who remained trapped beneath the heavy stalactite. They ran over, dragging Briggs' large, body out from under the crushing rock. The corpse maker had cleverly drilled a small crevice just in time, preventing Briggs from being completely crushed. "Are you alright?" Avea asked. Briggs was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling with effort. Unfortunately, his leg had suffered more damage; it looked mangled and severely injured. "About as alright as anyone can be with a broken leg," he replied grimly. The corpse maker helped support his weight as he struggled to stand. Briggs retrieved the small metal disc that had shackled Bebop, flipping it casually like a coin between his fingers. "Well, that went as well as could be expected," he muttered, his gaze fixed on Elrod’s broken, motionless form. Activating the device, Briggs watched as an electric field cocoon Elrod’s body, the faint, shallow breaths as the Cyborg lords sunken eyes stared up at the Grim Reaper. "I’ll deal with you later," Brigg’s growled, the promise of reckoning.

Avea’s skin had stopped glowing, now covered in a layer of sweat and dirt. "I don’t even know what I am," she said bitterly, "and already people are trying to kill me." "Consider it a form of flattery," Briggs replied. Avea turned to face him fully and noticed the many wounds marking his body. "How did you know where to find me?" she asked softly. "One of your mother’s favorite hiding spots," Briggs said quietly. "You came for me," Avea said, a new warmth in her voice. They stood facing each other, but it was different now. He was no longer the terrifying Grim Reaper she had first met, he was now a trusted confidant of her mothers.

There was a long stretch of silence.

"I'm not going back with you," she said firmly. "I know," Briggs replied, his voice steady but laced with a quiet understanding. "I gave your mama my word that when the time came, I’d help you." He paused, as if the memory of her mother had suddenly come alive before him. "Reckoned it meant gettin’ you far from this place… but now I think she meant bringin’ you here."In that moment, Briggs no longer resembled the terrifying Grim Reaper she had confronted earlier instead, he seemed like a tired, weary old man bearing the weight of many years. Avea looked closely at Briggs’s face and saw the deep sorrow etched into every line, "I know what it feels like to run from a fight, it’s a weight that’ll follow you ‘til your dyin’ day."

Avea's hands tightened around the cool, smooth stone she held, and a sudden realization struck her like a sharp breath to the chest. He was truly letting her go. No more running. "What is it?" Briggs asked, noticing the hesitation in her eyes. "I'm scared," Avea admitted, her eyes fixed on the vast rift before her, the portal to the unknown waiting silently below. Now, standing on the edge of this threshold, she questioned whether she had the strength to take the leap. "You got your mama’s strength," Brigg's said, "but more’n that, you got her heart. Whatever’s waitin’ on the other side of that portal? It oughta be scared of you."Avea smiled, warmed by the reassurance from her mother’s trusted friend."’Fore you go," Briggs added, digging in his trenches pockets, holding out a delicate silver chain with an ornamental capsule hanging from it. The capsule was beautifully adorned with silver flecks, its smooth, circular shape cradling the moonstone perfectly. "figured you might need somethin’ to keep that stone safe, so it don’t get lost." Then he smiled softly, a rare tender curve of his lips, a look never seen from the feared Grim Reaper of the Valent.

"Go get ’em, kid."

Avea nodded silently, feeling no need to say anything more. "Come on, Bebop," she said softly, fastening the delicate necklace around her slender neck. "Bebop can't go," her bot replied firmly. Avea stopped abruptly, her heart pounding. "What do you mean? Of course you can!" she exclaimed, panic creeping into her voice. Bebop flew smoothly over to her, moving with a calm steadiness as though to not alarm her. "Wherever you’re going, Bebop don’t belong there... Bebop belong here," Bebop explained. "But... it’s you and me. It can’t just be me... please, Bebop, I can’t do this without you," Avea pleaded, tears welling in her eyes. A crushing weight seemed to settle on her chest, as if it were slowly squeezing her heart. "Bebop will always be part of V’s clan," the bot said, its voice static but rising just slightly in pitch, the only hint of its true feelings. "Bebop was only meant to get you this far... the rest is up to you." Avea shook her head fiercely, refusing to accept what she was hearing. Bebop hovered right in front of her face, so close Avea could see every dent and bullet hole marring its battered metal body. "Bebop belongs here," she realised that as always, her bot was right. "Where will you go?" she asked quietly. "Could use me a right hand, y’know... What d’ya say, bot?" came Brigg’s voice from behind. "Trade one crazy partner for another? What could go wrong?" Avea smiled faintly.

Bebop’s antennae flickered as it looked between them.

"You know, it never bothered me that I was never claimed by a clan, because I always had you. You are my clan, too," Avea said, every word deepened the ache inside her. "You are Bebop’s clan," the bot replied, gently pressing its scarred and battered torso against Avea’s forehead. Closing her eyes, her heart heavy with sorrow, she finally let go of Bebop. Standing at the edge of the trench, Avea turned back one last time. A single tear slipped down her cheek before she leapt into the split, the abyss below, where light vanished into the impenetrable darkness.As she leapt off the edge, she heard Brigg’s voice echo behind her.

"We brave the darkness for brighter days, don’t you forget that, kid."