Diana (Lilian Rose)

The water was calm, soothing, but lacking in… its ability to drench my worries away like he-

My face heated up. What the fuck did Ripley do?

———

Ripley

I set the shower to the highest temperature, even scalding and painful, it wasn't how Diana had felt. The strange heat from her was… invigorating.

———

Ripley and Diana (Lilian Rose)

Ripley got out first, a fresh set of donated clothes covering him as he rested on a nearby bench in the hallway of the showers, waiting for Diana. Was there any specific reason that he waited? He didn't know. He just felt like waiting to talk to her about... anything. Things had certainly changed since they last met, and even then, it had hardly been a satisfactory meeting.

They'd had some time to embrace their identities as Dreadwire and Silvereye.

Their identities had truly blossomed into the public sphere. Dreadwire was a common topic in the Abyssnet, not just because of his Gold but also because of the Arachnodyne he wielded. A supposed enemy of the corporations based on his affiliation with the R0N1N, and unlike most mercenaries, he reveled in being seen out in public.

What could the police do as he swung past them? Whether he intended it or not, his defiance and frequent appearances had begun to become a symbol to many. A symbol of... something they looked for, he'd guessed, someone to fight back for them, whether it was against crime or corporate. He'd committed violence against both.

But Silvereye was always meant to come off as a symbol: a beacon of justice and a warden of truth. The blurred reflections of Diana Jones and Diana Ulrich never mattered to the media. She just needed to be Brian Ulrich's daughter. She just needed to garner results and, most importantly, appear attractive.

Hidden behind the self-loathing in her eyes stirred faint currents of longing to make that identity truly mean something, actually to be what Silvereye was beginning to stand for. But she never could be. Deep down, she would always be a lie.

Ripley glanced at the mess hall of the homeless shelter. It was similar to the situation he had stayed in back at another Metal Heavens base. He'd killed the Priest there, taken his Implant and Shardware before being chased out on his bike… that was another Contemporary Branch, just like this one.

The Priest had felt his Personality Matrix, had even said he'd help Ripley remove it. When a damn Metal Heavens leader tells you a piece of tech is bad… maybe it's a warning.

Opening up the controls for his Personality Matrix, he grimaced at the setting.

Current Output: 100%

His hand shaking, he slowly adjusted it down.

Current Output: 90%

Bit by bit. One step at a time. His mind was already reeling with thoughts he'd discarded, guilt.

Lots of guilt, for what he'd done to Maiden's men.Shame, for taking the assassination in the first place.Fear that he didn't have what it took to save his mother.

Cupping his trembling hands, he didn't notice when Diana — or Lilian Rose — emerged from the stall opposite where he'd showered. She gazed upon the man lost in thought, those eyes shut tight and his hands cupped as though almost in a prayer.

How did she feel about him? She had no idea. She knew he was smart, capable, and frankly terrifying, but a tad bit… weird. Too carefree for the situation they were in, maybe even insane.

Yet, those eyes shut tight in pain. She knew better than anyone what it was like to pray to anyone who would listen. Instead of downstairs, she found her seat next to him.

They sat in silence, before she found something to ask him about. "How's your mom doing?"

Ripley looked down at the ground, and she felt a premonition for the answer to come. "Not that well, symptoms have worsened. Maybe… five months left."

"I'm… sorry." She wrestled her thoughts into submission before deciding to let them go. Her fingertips rested on his shoulder, a clarity washing in her and a kindle igniting in him. "I know what it's like to see someone… slipping away. It isn't easy."

"Yeah, it isn't easy." Ripley stretched up, that Fire rumbling into his words. "Which is why I'm going to cure her. A Silver Implant, I find one compatible with her, she'll be good. If I can't… I'll make one."

"Make one?" She questioned, her hand slipping away.

Even with contact of skin lost between them, the Fire had already begun burning in Ripley. "It's a crazy idea, I know. But I can… I have to do it. Even if it means putting myself into harm's way or figuring out how to break the laws of Warp Energy, I'll save her."

Save…

Ripley had someone worth saving. Diana rested her head back as she questioned her reasons for fighting. "I… I also feel like I have people I want to save… nameless people, just faces that I know are lost. Would be lost. But also someone I know, Anthony, that freak… Soul Killer poisoned him with something I couldn't cure properly."

"Soul Killer really is a menace." Ripley bit down on his words.

"I used to think it was just them," Diana's gaze searched the air between them, "now I feel like those monsters are everywhere. How do we change that?"

"We already are," his eyes cast upon the homeless shelter, "even if it's not by much."

"But I'm not doing a damn thing."

"You can, though."

"How?"

"By being Silvereye." He said calmly. "You got some clout. Promote resources to places like this, I guess."

Diana thought to herself, she took that name as a means to combat Soul Killer, before her father spun it around as a marketing gimmick. Maybe it was time she marketed something worth the city's money.

"Silvereye… you know, that's a type of bird." She chuckled dryly. "Learned about them in the Cradle."

"Ah, so you're going to add some wings to your design then?" He chuckled.

"I dunno, lots of lightning bolts probably." She added with her own humor. "Can't even fly, would feel like even more of a fraud than I already am."

"I'll make a nice jetpack for you, just don't tell your police pals where you got it from." He smirked, nudging her with his elbow.

"We'll see, maybe I'll figure out a way to levitate before long," Diana said back. "Can't do it looking like this though, Lilian Rose is meant to be all… claws and freezing people's blood and stuff, so maybe I'll add the jetpack onto her."

"You can freeze people?" He scoffed. "You can shapeshift, use electricity, and now freeze stuff?"

"I convert thermal energy into electricity, or vice-versa." She commented, before she decided to tease him a little with more of her capabilities. "Kinetic too."

"How does…" He began questioning its physics, his gaze growing more intense on her. Yet, she could feel in his soul that he wasn't checking her out… but perhaps thinking even more intrusively. "Could I take a blood sample one day?"

"God, not you too." She scoffed. "I've had enough geneticists digging into my flesh. Didn't know you were going to be a genefreak."

"Furthest thing from one." Ha placidly raised his hands. "Just got a healthy amount of curiosity… and who knows, maybe I could find some way to make you all the more badass, Lilian Rose."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Skin." She gave in just the tiniest bit with a slight, drowsy smile. "Only skin, you weirdo. Scrape it off."

"Yeah…" He agreed, actually. "Don't want to know how your blood feels considering the weird…."

Diana turned her eyes open. "Oh, so… you did feel something."

"It must be our Warp Energy Tendencies reacting. Sharing a MALignant's Implants probably means we have some sort of feedback loop in close proximity. You've got Fire, that was easy to tell."

"And you have Water." She guessed, also easily.

"How did it feel?"

"Like… a soothing presence, my wounds stopped hurting. You?"

"Power. A rise to action." His aimless glare thinned, the orange of his eyes seeming more radiant.

She chuckled. That was accurate enough. "Your friend Diamante said he had the same, guessing you two squabble up. Fire and Water don't blend well

together."

"Oh yeah, real hard-head that one. How'd meeting him go?"

"Bastard shot me full of holes!" She complained to him, "said it was to compare us. By the way, did he shoot you in the head?"

"Yup." Ripley nodded before tapping his forehead. "Right between the eyebrows with his pistol, which fun-fact… actually isn't the best way to kill a Shard Adapter. It's through the eyes. Bullet passes through the optic fissure and hits the brain."

"Oh, will keep that in mind," Diana said with a tight face, her arm drifting closer to his… but why? She pulled away, but she wanted to pull away from all the death surrounding her.

"Maiden beat my ass too," Ripley said, not noticing her growing distance, "was flipping whips at me when suddenly she started flying. Guess Tier III combatants are still a ways off for us."

She gave an amused smile for a quick moment before confusion caught her throat and led her to be uncharacteristically… wanting something.

"Ripley…" Diana clutched her chest. "How have you stayed okay? After everything we've had to become these last four months."

"I'm not okay." He looked ahead, eyelids shutting tight before making an admission of weakness. To him, his admittance was proof of his wanting to remove that weakness. "I have a… a Personality Editor in my head."

"What?" Diana froze.

"From the time of my father's death, must have been fifteen. Makes it… seven-eight years now." He tapped his finger on his knee in a constant rhythm. "I'm actually quite mentally unstable, going to therapy for it now. A weird kind."

"Well… I'm glad you're making progress. I guess everything that's happened since the club only intensified things… but it makes sense, that raid made you lose…" She cut her words down.

"My source of income and a bunch of questionable friends, yeah." He chuckled. "Don't worry. Got a new job now. Legal, actually… I think? Don't ask too many questions."

"Oh…" She stayed quiet before whispering. "I guess you weren't as… close to her as I thought."

"To who?"

"To…" she scrambled in her memories for the name, "…Selene."

"Sorry?"

"S-Selene? You did her Neuroframe that day?"

Ripley's eyes briefly went out of focus, then a steady dribble of blood poured down his nose.

———

Ripley

"To S/////" Diana said, my ears not quite catching the name.

"Sorry?" I leaned closer.

"S-Se////? You did her Neuroframe that day?"

That day? I reviewed my memories. They should be sharper than ever. I saw it play out in reverse, the grenade erasing the MAL, me opening that box, Diana at the door. I could envision her perfectly down to the smallest details, Hoaqin was there too… and someone else. She was the first person to visit me… a Neuroframe operation? That meant a worker, but who was new there?

Actually, most of them had Neuroframes already. I would remember someone without one, there weren't many in this city. Closing my eyes, I did recall working on a Frame that day… for someone…

Pink.

Pink hair, blonde at the roots. Like Starlight's.

But Starlight's was Gold by natural. Her hair was blonde because she'd bleached it to prevent the other girls from knowing she was... gene-edited. She trusted me with that information because we'd… known each other for a long time—since I was a kid.

She joined that club out of a debt her parents were left with when they died. A car crash, she'd come to me. Desperate, and I didn't know what to do. I told her to sign on as a waitress but… Shaun kept pushing her to take a more proactive role. I told her to leave, but she was scared. Hoaqin said he'd protect her for me…

But that didn't last long. Her head rolled on the floor. She had been searching for me.

Se- Sele-

Error: Preservation Matrix is suggesting setting Personality Editor output to 100%

Denied. That name, I couldn't recall it. Why?

Psyche is updating to V.3.10-

Deny it. I didn't know if it was even possible to deny an update, but now more than ever, I was willing to test my Compatibility.

Error: Detecting Implant instability, forcing update to-

Denied.

E

R

R

O

R

Implant is highly unstable... Compatibility reduced to 98%...

Error: Grade has degraded to Gold IV.

Compatibility has increased to 99.99%

I felt warmth flow down my nose, my vision blurring before everything became stable in my head. Flowing away from the pain, from the memories. They were so close, yet I was already losing them. Like I'd already lost…

I slid my hand onto Diana's arm, seeking that warmth. That Fire. It was just like when I held her arm back at the club and noticed her Braceshocker. I'd had a surge of action that day. I needed one now.

"Diana…" I said calmly. "You've had a rough day, right. Why don't you get some sleep? Maiden will wake us up when we need it."

"Your nose." She pointed out, concern growing in her eyes.

I rubbed the blood onto my sleeve. "It happens from time to time… just… need to relax."

I saw her shuffle and adjust, then her other hand moved to my arm and held it. "Sorry, but… could I just use this weird resonance for a bit to fall asleep? You can take my hand away if it's too… distracting."

I nodded, I needed it just as much as she did. Her Fire burned, it attacked.

I didn't need Water right now. The last thing I wanted was to flow according to the vessel of my mind when it was stunting me. That Fire let me cling to the desire, the pain…

Diana was in pain, and it threw itself into me. Good. Let it feed me.

How long did I wait for her to fall asleep? I wasn't keeping count, but I did know it came soon. She had had a tiring day, and I felt its weight become mine.

Then, with my left hand, I reached for my pocket, where I had the remnants of my Dreadwire mask. Almost in a blur, I soldered it together. It was cracked and nonfunctional… but it was a trigger. I wouldn't forget this time.

Dreadwire wouldn't let me.

I slapped it onto my face, these memories might have been Ripley Donovick's bane… but-

Dreadwire

They weren't mine. With calculating ease, I opened up the controls to the Personality Matrix and rolled its number down.

Preservation Matrix- Error: Highly recommend not to lower the output below-

All the way down.

Personality Editor Output: 0%

———

Diana (Lilian Rose)

My eyes startled open from sleep when Ripley gripped my arm tightly enough that my skin broke, and I could tell something was wrong when his claws dug deep enough that blood trickled down my arm. I felt something change in him through Soul Resonance, the unconscious draw of my Warp Energy flowing into his arm.

It was like life-force leaving me, and to think that was what I was doing to others. I raised my voice. "Ripley, are you okay?"

He stayed silent, his eyes in a trance I couldn't reach. "Ripley?"

The trickles of his Water Tendency reached into me. What I felt had been a soothing river now felt like… numbness. It spilled into me, my head growing weary and tired. I'd already been so fatigued from today. "Rip…ley?"

I shut my eyes for just one second, and they stayed shut.

When they opened, Ripley's arm was off mine, and his Dreadwire mask was on him. He breathed laboriously, and blood spilled down the cracks of his mask. A muffled voice broke through, cold and indifferent. "Diana… you're awake, good."

"I… I am. What's happening?" I reached for the mask, but he pulled away.

"Ripley's mind is fragile." He spoke in the third person. "Knotted up, by both his touch and those around him. Unravelling it would shatter him; he'd die. Mentally. Ego-death. He would be another person entirely…"

A piece of the mask fell off, revealing a bloodshot eye with dilated pupils. "Selene. That was the name of his first love. One he chose to forget, to erase the grief attached to the shadow of that love. Do not mention that name in front of him, but remember it. He will not remember me speaking to you, I doubt I will. We are one and the same, unlike Elsa's Personas, but I am the piece of him that serves to act where his will falters."

A second piece fell to the floor, but… Dreadwire spoke to me. "I see… Preservation Matrix is using Meta-Manipulation against me. The irony… Psyche will update as soon as I fade; it will forever entrench these memories deeper into that knot as a result of my probing. Should Ripley lose himself to the Matrix, there is only one thing I ask that you do."

He took a deep breath, more fragments falling to the floor. "That you take Starlight. She is the key, the anti-Matrix. But as long as she is attached to Ripley, she is under the binding of his Implant and subconscious; you must steal her away. Otherwise, kill him. Kill us without mercy. Ripley is more dangerous than-"

The mask splattered to the ground, half as dust and the remaining as black metallic fragments. Ripley took deep breaths, then rested his head back against the wall.

"Ripley?" I stammered, confused as all hell. "What the fuck was that?"

"What the fuck was what?" He rubbed his nose, tiredly closing his eyes.

"You… do you not remember anything?" I think I was starting to get it.

"Was I sleep-talking?" He yawned, there was an incessant shiverring all across his body. "Sorry, I'm just… really cold. Can I… rest my head on you?"

Unsure, I nudged a little closer as his pale head tilted sideways. There was barely a draw of Energy from him now, but the soothing Water remained just as numb. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, as good as I can be." He closed his eyes, his forehead plastered to my skin. He was snoring in seconds.

What the fuck just happened? Besides being freaked out, I was now more sure that Ripley was on the insane side of the weird spectrum. From what I could tell, wearing the mask made him think he was a different person. His memory was actively faulty and… Psyche. He had that Feature.

So had Tonguelasher… It made him think it was okay to crave human flesh. What the fuck was it doing to Ripley? Combined with a Personality Editor… nothing good. It explained his memory faults and why Selene's name caused him to react weirdly, but Starlight? That was the name of his new AI construct…

How the hell was I going to steal an Artificial Intelligence?

Even as he snored away, I let him keep his head on my shoulder because… I was scared of letting him bear that numbness alone; it had felt so choking. Slowly, it turned on me as well, and I couldn't help but let my mind slip back into the soothing cold of it. It was a welcome reprieve to my inner flame.

———

Ripley

"Hey, you sleazy bastard, wake up." I was stormed awake by a familiar voice I'd longed to hear every night as I fell asleep. Except tonight.

Elsa nudged my chin up away from Diana's shoulder. The black and white hair of my girlfriend framed Midnight's scarlet eyes. Oh… oh fuck.

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