Ripley

Starlight's mind came back like a light growing in intensity, my vision sharpening and sound coming crisper. She had changed, slightly, but absorbing the Warpcode off Juliet's BUG couldn't be taken lightly. Her voice, a song-like chirp came out with a yawn.

"You guys do not make anything easy for me, you know that?"

I'm glad you're fine. I put my hand up, she appeared more real as lights wove into her pink avatar, her form was eerily similar to how the woman known as Selene looked. We put you through a lot. I'm sorry.

"It's okay… I can handle it." She smiled proudly. "The spaghetti monster was weakened anyway… I could feel it. Missy, her nanites, she used Oblivion to protect Juliet from truly losing herself by creating a separation between her mind and Implant… but…"

Starlight's smile dropped, her eyes wandering to my hand as she sat on it. "…it only made her death more painful."

Missy could weaken the connection between a person and their Implant, maybe even kill it. That power… it was the same one my grandfather was hunting for. Missy might have been the only barrier that truly kept Juliet from becoming a puppet of a MALtitan, but she also didn't stop her from taking the Implant.

As though trying to lighten the mood, Starlight stood up on my palm and smiled. "Do you want to see how I've changed?"

Sure.

Starlight Overview:

Tier I

Development: 48%

Focuses: Ripley Synchronizing [6%]; Seraphim's Lessons [9%]; Diana Synchronizing [4%]; Juliet's Implant [27%]; Miscellaneous Warpcode [2%]

Subfeatures: Synchronize

You grew a lot from Juliet's Implant. More than everything else combined.

"I feel more powerful too. Didn't get Foresight, though."

Probably for the better, who knows what would happen if you stopped living in the present. I sighed, happy that Starlight was okay. Diana needs us for something else, can you help her?

"Sure, but you owe me a break after this."

I'll turn your profanity filter off for a day.

"Deal." We shook on it.

Approaching Diana, I gave her a nod. I had no idea what it was like to remove Mutagen from someone else, but even an instinctual learning would compound with what I had taken from Juliet. Knowledge to create a vaccine, I'd shared it with Moira, but it was… cryptic.

Juliet's mind had grown fragmented, her notes less coherent as she could write down a single word and have it speak paragraphs to her. Meta-data hid encryptions, everything involved from the speed at which she logged individual letters to the font to the file location was a clue. And Starlight, along with my Defragmentation, was Diana's best hint.

"Geez, between you, Abuela, Diana, and Seraphim… I'm being split across way too many people. I should be getting paid for this, you know?" She poked my cheek. "Should I make a contract?"

I'll see what I can do. You deserve something, you're strong for us.

She got a childish and bright smile, almost embarrassed as she hid away into my mind. Diana turned to Moira, who clicked buttons in her view as mist spilled into the room where 'Lucy' was located.

Entering the room with a gas mask next to Diana, I lifted up a vial of my nanites. At their current count of 10 Billion… I carried an equivalent of a single gram in my body. Nanomachines were fickle, so small you needed a molecular visualizing microscope to even analyze the structure of one.

Nanomachine Overview

Mass: 1.02 grams [10,248,398,100]

Integrity: Bronze IX

Energy: Bronze V

Grade: Silver I

Capacity: Bronze I

Within the vial was 1 milligram of nanites, even that much could be lethal to those who didn't have protection against them. Effectively, I had the perfect poison capable of rewriting genetic information, it could turn your body and mind against you — eat you if it wanted to. Goliath was a Yuzhou Military weapon for a reason; miniature tears in your brain, promoting aneurysms, even sheer overstimulation could end a regular human.

I could kill so easily now with a billion. At least Tier Is and Tier IIs, Irons and Bronzes… Silver was where they could fight back. Nanomachines were difficult for an individual to manufacture with strict fabricators needing to use specialized metal, but I broke that rule — I could make as many as I needed. I was only limited by biological and cybernetic adherence to them, rough estimations put me at only being able to contain a kilogram or two before my physical health would take a toll. And the higher they numbered, the more their capacitance burdened me.

Lucy — the Silver Nexus — was unconscious, and her sleeve lifted up for the needle to bypass into her vein. From then, I mentally guided the nanites as they spread throughout her body. With millions of them, I only needed one to reach her brain. Indeed, as soon as it managed to latch onto some gray matter and dug into the cell towards the nucleus… genetic information spilled into my view.

Gene Overview

Tier II Titanium Deviant Mutation Identified: Soul Nexus [68%]

It was the only Mutation inside of her, no other purpose deigned to her other than to spread an infection. More on that, I could surmise from Juliet's memories that when the Nexus Mutation reached 100%, it would create flowers with more Titanium Soul-Forfeit Mutagen. The life cycle of Soul Killer was slowly being unravelled.

Diana's mind melted with mine as Starlight bridged us, her thoughts reaching into me like the sun breaking through the clouds. She guided my hand up to Lucy's forehead, where large veins that were tough and contained growing stalks of flowers.

As one, our Energies flowed into Lucy.

Diana

Three methods of attack worked at once, Ripley's nanomachinery was a beacon that our energies stuck to, Starlight's astute understanding of genetics and Juliet's research gave purpose to it, and my Soul Resonance Mutation was the material upon which our scalpel had formed.

The Lightning Tendency formed within me, crisp and powerful, destructive but held at bay as it conducted through Ripley's water. Combining Tendencies seemed to be limited to only two at a time, you couldn't merge three together. But it did seem like a Merged Tendency and a Singular Tendency could act alongside one another.

As we reached the source of the corruption, the stubborn black stone from which crimson spread across Lucy's body and mind… we submerged it into our grasp. I could feel the chaos within that inert stone, even disconnected it was ravaging for a greater mind to wield it. Blood soaked down Lucy's eyes as the crimson drained down in tears, Ripley's touch calming me to the pain of subjecting this to her.

Pain. I had been in pain for so long. I was just one of many touched by Soul Killer's influence.

And yet, whether through luck, determination, or fate. I was gifted the power to cure that pain by taking it within me… by casting light upon that shadow. And Ripley, he was…

He smiled at me, nodding as we felt the stone chip and break away. I averted my gaze from him, feeling my heart beat strongly as the boundaries between our thoughts showed just how much he… believed in me. Like all the rest.

For too long, I'd let myself drown when others extended their arms up to help me. For too long, I'd pulled them down with me.

I let this pain trigger something in my heart, to ignite the engine of my powers. To witness the suffering of others, and to… make things easier.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

One step at a time.

Mutagen Absorbed…

Soul Trigger is now at 15% Development. A Meta-Mutation has occurred: Increased sensitivity to psionic signatures for the trigger to occur.

As Silver soaked in red flowed up to my arm until nothing else was left in Lucy, I pulled back, heaving as Ripley's anchoring smile resonated with me. "Good job, Silvereye."

I pulled him in for a hug, letting myself feel the confusing passage of emotions as it drained into my voice. "I… couldn't have done it without you."

"That's true." He smirked, pulling off me slowly. "I am the genius among the two us."

"Then what am I?" I pushed my hair back, trying not to let tears of joy flood down my face.

"You're the heart." He patted my shoulder, as Moira came in with disbelief and helped Lucy up, taking her vitals in… she let tears flow down her face.

"She's… stable… nothing went wrong." Breath hammered from her chest. "Both of you… you've done the impossible."

"And we're just getting started." Ripley helped me to my feet, the ground didn't quite feel real. "Diana… I'm helping you with Soul Killer, with the research, but I need something from you in exchange."

"What?"

"Pressure off Dreadwire, if anything… use the press we got today to make me a viable option for police contracts. Along that, I'll be free for Shard Operating as The Ripper, I know it means dipping your toes into shady cop territory, but if I can get some of that taxpayer money in my hands… it'll speed up my progress into keeping my mom alive. The Ripper, Dreadwire, they're both open to work for the police — for the right price." His gaze was serious, honest.

"I'll do it." Silvereye was now publicly affiliated with Dreadwire, I'd be questioned by hundreds. As it stood, I was his best chance of being pulled out from the shadiness of the criminal world… and into the shadiness of the corporate.

Sniffing the air and my snot up, Ripley reached his hand and I shook it with a tight grip. "Also… I'll attach a fee for Starlight's consultancy."

I pouted at that. "Aw, I thought it was out of the goodness of your heart that you let her come to me."

"It is, she's called you her friend. You're just giving me money out of the goodness of yours." He winked. "After all, I bet you're going to be in a lot of ads from now on with that new suit of yours. Oh, and… by the way…"

"Rip it apart." I said unflinchingly. "Find out every little secret in it, I'd rather my dad have his money trickled down into your hands."

He looked like he had stars in his eyes. "Oh, that's exactly what I wanted to hear!"

Picking up his stuff, he turned to Moira. "I'll keep in contact with you guys, send you whatever I figure out."

Moira nodded. "Likewise, I wish you luck with your mother's recovery, Dreadwire."

"I'm the unluckiest fucker in the world." He stretched. "Fortune hasn't been a source of any of my favors, it's all been…"

"You." I smirked. "And you'll continue fixing things."

Hiding his smile from growing, he turned to the still passed out Dryder. "And you two… get him the help he needs. Seriously."

As Ripley left, a thundering march from my heart settled in as Moira and I looked over Lucy. Moira's eye turned to me, a knowing in her smile. "It's him, isn't it?"

"Who?"

"Your little crush, the kids haven't stopped hounding me about it. Never thought I'd see you smitten." She patted my arm. "He's a good kid, good eye on you. Guess that silver improves visual acuity."

"Well, he's got a girlfriend." I sighed, almost surprised I didn't reject it outright. "And… you know, I'm a cop. He's a mercenary… he… commits crimes but it's because he's been in a rough place with no opportunity. I saw it. I… just… it's complicated. I'll work with him as an ally for as long as…"

"Well, his little ask for you to connect him to some dirty cops sounded like a way to get him out of the mess he's in." Moira had a twinkle in her eye. "Besides, Swarm comes and they'd be looking to him as a soldier anyway. Station him alongside yourself, you know… to keep an eye on him, and before you know it… He'll be tearing off more than just that suit from you."

I shoved Moira, heat coming to my ears. "Swarm's still a few years off."

"You're impatient, aren't you?" She rubbed her shoulder. "As for his girlfriend… what's your honest assessment of them?"

"Complicated." I admitted. "I… I don't know, I think it started from him needing someone to love after… a heartbreak."

"A rebound?" She said, concerned.

Biting my thumb, I shrugged. "I guess."

———

Ripley

Data profiles slashed apart in my view, I had no records of contact in my frame with a woman named Selene. Nothing. She didn't exist in my memory… but Diana had seen me with her, and I could feel an echo of something lost. A person sized hole in my memories that I was busy looking to fill… or perhaps had already been filled.

Knocking on Elsa's door, my heart was unsteady. I had a suspicion.

Opening the door, she smiled and hugged as soon as I entered, pulling me in to make up for the lost time October's hecticness spilled on my schedule. "How'd it go?"

"Good. The BUG was weird… reacted to us." I heaved my bag over to her couch, I sent Starlight to Maiden's on the way here… I wasn't sure what was going to happen next. I just knew… I didn't want her to see it.

"Reacted?" She said with a hint of worry, putting the kettle on.

"Ended up causing some sort of fragmented memory storm, I saw into Diana's, Juliet's and Dryder's… it was complicated." I felt so heavy, so unsure.

"Oh?" Her eyebrow pinched. "Did they see yours?"

"Just Diana… also… I don't think I'll go for therapy anymore." I don't know why I said the second part, all I knew was that knowing who the Crimson Heart was… it made me uncomfortable. Maybe it was a way to detach myself from what I really wanted to say.

"Oh," Elsa had a light flicker in her violet gaze, "thank the Founders, I know we literally can't talk about her but…"

"She's dangerous."

"Dangerous is half of it."

"Yeah, she's… connected to Soul Killer."

…

"What?"

"She's a Kaisel Clone that's gained independence." I said, but this wasn't at all what I needed to say. "Doesn't explain why she needs to look through memories, though."

"Never should have in the first place."

"Yeah… but now I'm even more confused as to how I should deal with my… Personality Matrix." There, now I was getting onto topic. "I feel like I'm… making progress, but not enough."

"Ripley…" Elsa nestled next to me, two cups of tea steaming in her hands. She passed one to me, but I didn't feel like drinking it even as my throat was parched. "The Matrix, it's not an enemy. It's a tool."

I felt anger at that, hot and red. "I know."

"It let's you… stabilize. Founders know how you would have been without it."

"Grieving." I gritted my teeth.

"Exactly." Elsa nodded. "The Club, the life you used to have… it sped up the process of adjusting you into this life. The one you have with me, with everyone else. Sure, it can have it's issues… side-effects, but they're not so detrimental that it's impacting everything about you. Besides, you know I'm good with minds and complicated code, if you ever need it looked at…"

"No." I cut in, putting the tea cup down. "Because you've already… done it."

"Ripley?" She put her hand on my forearm, I pulled away. "What's wrong?"

Her eyes were pleading, panic flooding into her breath and it made me feel so bad. "I…"

I couldn't get the words out.

"I'm not…"

It wasn't you who I loved.

Reaching to my Frame, I tapped it to let someone else take over.

———

Dreadwire

My breath calmed, emotions stilled under my mask as I saw the panic and realization flood Elsa. She was guilty. She knew I had figured it out.

"Ripley, take the mask off. Let's talk about this, what exactly did I do?" She reached for me again, but I kept distant. I kept Ripley distant.

"Selene." My voice was cold, as her gaze opened up. "Ripley believed his issues with the Personality Matrix all came from his Psyche Feature. Now, it's seen that was one part of it. There are few who are as astute in weaving Warpcode as you are… at pulling emotions and memories into realized figments of action."

"You're not…" Elsa stammered, desperately trying to reach for me. "You're not making sense. Selene, who is she?"

"You know who I'm talking about." I pulled up our shared visuals, plucking out research Ripley had done on the way here. "Selene Tyrell. Joined the Toxin Club in May of this year, priorly worked as a waitress paying off a debt to her parents. Theodore and Amira. Both of them worked at SynTec in the same office as Ripley's father… both of them were friends of his from university. When Ripley's father was fired, they both hired private investigators to pull merit to the claim of SynTec's coverup. It ended when they had a car crash, both of them died roughly nine years ago."

The inner Ripley in me took a deep breath. "Pulling from old memorabilia in Ripley's apartment… I had my drones scan the belongings. Inside was a letter from Selene, one where she promised we'd find eachother again. Thus, confirming, Ripley knew her. Ripley had… been enamored with her since he was a child."

"Stop talking in third person… this is… weird." Her fingers nudged to my neck.

"I am simply doing what he cannot. Revealing the truth." I held her fingers at bay. "Selene Tyrell, based on this evidence, is someone whom he had a deep connection to. Someone whom he brought to the Snake Fangs, either wanting her to be close to him or in the hope that it would provide her with a means to escape her financial issues. When she died… Ripley was devastated, but post-Implantation… when we can first assume Twilight had entered his Frame. His memories were faded, but the Personality Matrix could not have reacted that quickly given his Implant Development. After you helped him acquire the Preservation Matrix, even hearing her name was not permitted to his senses… what did you do?"

Elsa's hands fell slowly, reaching for her face as her eyes fizzled in and out as terror invaded. "Ripley… I didn't… mean to then. I was just trying to help, I didn't know… things would get complicated like this."

"What do you mean?"

Tears streamed down, anguish breathing out. "That I'd fall in love with you, I- I just… tried stabilizing you. You were so… it would have distracted… I was just trying to help. I- I- didn't know that… I'm sorry. I didn't think you would ask me out and I didn't know that I would... love being with you."

My gaze looked down, was this how it felt to be betrayed. "Are his feelings real?"

"They are."

"But not for you."

Silence divided us… and then, she looked at me, a flicker in her eyes reached for me through the network of the apartment. And my mask slid off.

———

Ripley

"Wha-" Everything crashed down all at once, I felt Psyche overloading with the sheer stress running through me as Elsa held my hands. "You did do something?"

"I did." She admitted with despair written all over her. "I just… back then, I didn't know how you'd make me feel. I had no idea that one day I would... love you. Y-you were a stranger, then. So I… I just took that love you had for that woman… and stitched it to me as... a way to have you stay... loyal... but I never wanted to take advantage of you in a relationship, I just-"

Psyche has up-

She latched her hand on my frame, and her Warpcode ceased the Feature from updating. "I won't let it break you, Ripley… just listen to what I have to say."

Wordless, all I could do was nod.

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