Interim 9: The Case of The Psychic - Operation Starfall

(Content warning: gore, violence, body horror)

Art by thea-tee: https://x.com/TheaTeeArt/status/1909343005078667445

The Wolf stood still and silent as he looked over the scene. The room had once been pure white, clean to the point of sterility. That's what his report assured him, yet not a single speck of white remained. There were even warnings that entering the lab may make him feel a little light headed due to the use of various chemicals, some for cleaning, others to control the beasts spawned from such a place. The only scent assaulting his nostrils as the wolf took a step into the room was a familiar one, and it didn't leave him feeling light headed at all.

His pulse quickened, eyes narrowing as he followed a single drop of red through the air. Muscles in the back of his neck twitched slightly, as he reached up and allowed the crimson bead to come to a rest in his palm. A deep inhale filled his lungs with air and mind with the thrill of the hunt, as he then blew out, a single huff and puff the only sound in the room. The drop of blood danced for a second, clinging to his metal hand, but ultimately let go, its waltz going on through the air. It joined many partners, intertwining with their orbits, twirling around the room like a ballet. The dance had been going on for a while, but still they performed for the wolf.

Cascading in a huge spiral, the single performer became lost in the fervor of the whole. In the center, all of the dancing came to an end, individuals coalescing into a sea of scarlet which ebbed and rippled, spinning and reaching out to all the dancers when it was time to take their bow. Even the layer which clung to every surface of the room was dripping, not following the laws of gravity, but instead beading up into more perfect spherical drops which would join the dance.

"How long has it been like this?" The wolf asked, watching the mass of blood undulate to a song he could almost hear.

"We got an emergency call 15 minutes before you got here, legatus. They said something had gone wrong with project starfall and they needed backup. The auxillia who were sent in first, well... they..."

"They're part of the display now," the wolf concluded.

"D-display?" The voice on the other end of the call was clearly unnerved. Despite the modulation that kept them anonymous, they were watching through Fulgur's IIs, and unlike the wolf they hadn't ever seen what a mass of human remains could become when ripped apart so hard that only the liquid remained.

In all honesty, even Fulgur himself was impressed. His own slaughter in the slums felt so amateurish in comparison. No matter how hard he had kicked or punched at the chunks, there were always solids left in the pool. Lumps of bone, strips of flesh, blobs of matter that he couldn't identify as a child.

This. This was a clean removal of everything biological that made up a man, ripped out of what once was their form at such speed that the room had become a centrifuge. In one corner of the room was a pile of bone, metal, circuitry, plastic, and all the clothing and belongings that once belonged to the men. In the center of the room, coating the walls, floor, ceiling, and of course floating all around it, there was everything else. A red shifting mass, all blended together and left for his IIs to see.

"It's a display, or perhaps a message."

The Wolf stepped forward, gore scattering at his footsteps and joining the dance as more of it gently pressed against his face and body, floating away once more as he came to a stop in front of the mass.

The voice inside Fulgur's mind gagged, disconnecting for a second before reconnecting with only audio.

"Do you require... any further assistance, legatus?"

Fulgur grinned, ending the call without another word. The legionnaire hadn't even had the stomach to ask what the message was. Not that it mattered, the message wasn't for him, nor for the other wolves and eagles who stood outside the room, scared to enter and do their jobs.

This message was for him, and only those like him. Predators who didn't need to be paid to take up such a fascinating hunt.

Fulgur Ovid took one more long breath, letting the scent of death fill his lungs.

Project Starfall, you've finally found me some prey I can savour. Every hair on his body stood on edge as the wolf prowled forward, mass of human life scattering out to begin the dance anew.

He held his breath, whole upper body submerged in the mass of liquid human which somehow ignored the laws of gravity. Law breakers were his specialty. A being that managed to defy the laws of nature, that was a new kind of thrill.

As he entered the center of the room, a small beeping sound rang out, and the ground below him sunk down. A small elevator carried him away from the invitation left from his prey. The blobs of red scattered as he lowered down into the abyss, flowing free from his body and increasing the tempo of the dance.

I read you, Auritus, and I was literally built for this.

**************

"This isn't something you've ever dealt with before, Ovid. In fact it's something that no-one in The Republic has."

Praetor Chroma had hyped up the mission the whole way to the laboratory while Fulgur had driven on in silence. In truth, his heart had still been back in the café with Ovidia. No amount of warnings or creative adjectives could pull him away from the thought that he'd abandoned his half sister once more. That changed as soon as he found the message left for him.

Gone were any thoughts of his life beyond a legatus. Returning to his true form of wolf, he had asked Chroma how the abomination had created a gravitational anomaly. The response he'd received only intrigued him more.

"We don't know, Ovid. That's why this legatio is so troublesome. Project Starfall was just supposed to create soldiers that could read the minds of enemy combatants. The experiments used The Kingdom's Serfs as a basis, but refined their crude techniques using-"

"I only need the basics, Chroma. Do these things bleed?"

Chroma had let out a little chuckle, the pride creeping into her voice along with the laugh as she responded, "the one who did this, Auritus, he's the last one left. The whole herd tried to escape captivity, so we had to put them down. Auritus and a handful of others made it out of the lab, then for some reason when the Auxilia moved in to engage, Auritus tore the others to shreds and everyone else in the room too."

"Any visuals?"

"Only a very brief one."

Images took over Fulgur's view as his car automatically entered self-driving mode. What displayed was a 3 second loop of an auxilia member bursting through a steel door, followed by a flash of purple before it looped again.

"Can you stop looping it and pause on the final few frames?" The wolf had asked, wincing each time the purple flash blinded him."

"We can't, Ovid. This isn't technically a recording. It's an active live stream of the auxilia member's neural network." The video feed shrunk down as 8 others joined it in a 3 by 3 grid. "Every member of the auxilia who entered the room and were killed are doing the same exact thing. We can't communicate with them, we can't interfere with the signal, we know that they're dead since we've seen their remains, yet their neural network is endlessly replaying the same final seconds before their death.

Fulgur's hands tightened on his steering wheel as his IIs did their best to adjust to the bright purple light. He expanded one video that had the best angle to see the center of the room, where a dark shadow had begun to burn into his retinas.

"They look... human?" Fulgur's IIs had adjusted enough to make out the form of 4 humanoid figures in the center of the purple burst. They were all wearing oversized tops with straps hanging off of them that made them appear even smaller than their skinny forms suggested. "The purple light, it's coming from that one in the middle's eyes."

"We assume that is Auritus."

"Assume?"

"They don't have many characteristics that can differentiate them. Until 2 months ago they only looked like slime samples." Images of what looked like vibrant, colourful mold in petri dishes flashed into Fulgur's mind from Chroma's neural network. The final shot was of a mold sample in deep violet, which had the word 'Auritus' written on simple masking tape and slapped onto the bottom of the dish.

"They went from that to humanoid in 2 months?"

"We don't know how or why, but that's when the one called Auritus started reaching out to the Apologists and feeding them information. They all became humanoid overnight, so they were fitted with the straight jackets, and various other restraints were put in place to contain them until the metamorphosis could be studied."

"Lot of good that did."

"Tell me something I don't know, Ovid. They took offense to being put on ice and drove some of the researchers insane before breaking free. The first few went down easily with gunfire, but they have been adapting to each new threat we throw at them since then, until Auritus liquified the rest of them and fled underground. That's about all I can tell you that would help dealing with Project Starfall. It was one of our more ambitious projects, and not one we expected to see the light of day within our lifetimes."

Silence had hung in the air for a while after that. Fulgur had absorbed all of the information, but his mind kept coming back to one part that haunted him above the others.

"The auxilia members who died..." he asked, in a hushed voice. "You said that you can't communicate with them. That suggests that you tried to.

"Why would you try to contact the dead, Praetor?" The tension in the air became as thick as the human soup the auxilia members had been reduced to before Fulgur dragged out a response with a frustrated "Chroma?"

"The auxilia members are dead, Ovid... but they're also conscious. We don't understand it yet, but their neural network is still active almost like an I'mprint. They're reliving those three seconds on a loop, but the data is being stored somehow. They're- they're aware that they're dead. They remember it each time, and they're feeling their death every time it happens."

A real ghost. One trapped in eternal damnation. Professor, you've been bested.

"There's one other thing I need to warn you of, Ovid, about the underground facility that Auritus fled to..."

**************

The Wolf was swallowed up by the earth, the small elevator platform he stood on barely big enough for a second passenger. For almost a full minute, he descended, all light being snuffed out by the cylinder of metal that encased him.

Arms crossed over his chest, Fulgur Ovid prepared for whatever horrors awaited him below. Finally, light erupted from below, blinding him momentarily as he blinked, and took in the underground lab which Chroma had so profusely warned him about.

The elevator was still high up in the air, allowing a view of the huge open space. Down below, the original colour scheme of the labs above was still prominent, all the floors and furniture made out of sterile white material.

The pale light shone down on all the rooms from huge, stage-style lighting attached to the ceiling, with walkways allowing people to travel along the upper levels and view the area as a whole.

Large sections were divided up by glass panels, which, judging by the large equipment lodged into some, were able to take a lot of damage. That structure hadn't prevented Auritus from making a direct path through every one that got in their way, towards a small aircraft in one side of the room, far from the elevator the wolf and his prey both entered from.

Fulgur confirmed his route as the elevator continued to descend, then began taking in the rest of the room.

It all looked barren at first other than the aircraft and glass dividers. Blinking twice, his IIs showed him a plain view outside the duoverse, and suddenly every room filled with Republic secrets that wouldn't be used for years, if not decades. Top secret information like this was censored to all those who didn't have clearance. He had been warned to watch out for caution warnings as he made his way through the Republic's experimental lab, but seeing the obstacles in his way thanks to the professor's II modifications was a much better option.

In one room, a swirling green vortex and large gun were on display. In another there were large turrets that looked like they fired bullets the size of men. A whole corner of the lab had none of the lights pointed its way, and so remained shrouded in darkness even outside of the duoverse. Many more sections had simple medical equipment or smaller displays that Fulgur couldn't recognize from far away.

Piles of android bodies that resembled his cynet parts were scattered around the rooms, torn in random places and shredded like paper. It was clear that these guards had attempted to halt The Psychic, and been unable to get close. It didn't bode well for him doing any better if he was seen... or sensed.

The elevator finally reached the ground and the wolf took off running. Retracing the psychic's steps, he made his way through the lab, leaping over the haphazard obstacles in his way. There was no use wondering exactly what the Psychic's abilities were. If he could sense Fulgur's mind, then he would have already been torn to pieces along with his artificial allies. That or reduced to a liquid mass of what once made up his biological parts.

Fulgur's best shot at taking the Psychic down was taking them by-

Surprise?

The wolf came to a halt, slamming hard against one of the white cabinets that had been lodged into the ground in the chaos.

He fell to one knee, back against the cabinet even though the hulking slab of metal had already been tossed with incredible force once before. Whether the obstacle would help him or not, Fulgur was-

It won't.

Fulgur's eyes opened wide in shock, as the voice once more filled his mind, responding to questions he had barely formed.

I'm glad you're finally remembering me, Fuufuuchan. It took you almost 3 years. I'm sorry that I'm about to hurt you so bad you repress it that much, but it means more to me than you know that you care that much for me.

The voice was calm and soft. A feather floating on still water, kissing the surface but refusing to be consumed by what lay below. Although the words confused Fulgur and adrenaline was coursing through his veins, there was still some part of him that felt there was no threat from the voice. He pushed that thought down, refusing to be captured by the siren's call.

You like my voice? I don't think I've ever heard you use such poetic lines aloud. You should speak like this more often.

The voice was playful now. A hint of a smile audible in its tone.

Come on, keep writing. You know how it goes.

"What the fuck are you talking about!?" The wolf howled back at the voice that echoed through his head. At first he'd thought that the Psychic was reading his mind and responding to his thoughts. Now he wondered if 'Fuufuuchan' had been something else rather than a jab at the name Gelu always called him.

It wasn't a jab, Legatus, or should I call you 'the wolf' for now?

Don't stop writing, Fuufuuchan.

Yes, I'm talking to both of you. Calling your younger self 'the wolf' is so you. It sounds like something you came up with to sound cool, but deep down you're separating what you've become from your predatory past.

Fulgur slipped out from the side of the cabinet, and began sprinting once more, this time without trying to be quiet or keep low. He wasn't sure exactly what was going on with the strange voice in his head, but it hadn't managed to damage him yet, so it must not be able to.

Writing in third person must help. You've come so far. I wish I could have seen it with my own eyes. Please don't stop writing. I know, it's uncomfortable. I'm sorry that I've always been that way for you, but I see you, all of you, and you've still never managed to push me away, have you? You won't ever push me away Fuufuuchan. No matter where you go, I'll always be with you. I love you. All of you. I know that you feel the same way, as much as you can.

"Shut up!" The wolf called, cutting off the Psychic's rambling.

You didn't say that.

Keep writing.

Honestly.

In third person if you have to.

It's already happened, and I don't blame you. Writing it out like this is the only way you're going to be able to remember.

The wolf hadn't told the Psychic to shut up. Thinking that the Psychic had lost his mind, Fulgur simply approached the aircraft in silence, cautious of whenever he might be attacked. The voice inside his mind was becoming more nonsensical with every sentence.

I won't hurt you, Legatus, the voice promised. You're going to hurt yourself, and I'm sorry that it has to happen, but I promise I will never hurt you.

"Why don't you just kill yourself and save me the trouble then?" The wolf asked aloud. He'd spoken the words, despite knowing that he only had to think them as though he was having a neural network conversation.

They'd come out in a quiet growl that he could hardly even replicate anymore.

Focus, Fuufuuchan. You don't have to defend your past actions. I know you wouldn't speak that way anymore.

"Psycopath..." He'd used that word towards all of the targets they'd erased from his memories. All the ghosts that would come back to haunt him in time. "Why don't you come out of that aircraft and see which one of us hurts the other?"

A sound exploded through the lab like a crack of thunder as the aircraft's engine roared to life.

Fulgur dashed forward, the lightning following the thunder for once as he leapt up, wrapping his whole body around one of the slim wings.

He had barely found purchase when the small plane tore forward, passing through a tunnel that opened in the wall of the lab just before they collided with it. In seconds they had exited the tunnel and already taken off the ground outside of The Repblic. The speed at which the craft accelerated brought the earlier coffee and pie out of Fulgur's mouth and would have made him pass out if his brain had been fully organic.

Don't bother threatening me, Legatus. You were about to, although the words hadn't come to you yet. You're going to destroy the experimental spacecraft - that's what it was by the way, Fuufuuchan. Anyway, you're going to punch a hole in the fusion reactor just behind the wing. The bit that has grated exhaust holes.

The wolf noticed the exhaust holes and made a quick guess of how deep the actual reactor would be, but then paused, eyeing it suspiciously.

You can punch anywhere else you want too, but that's where you'll ultimately disable the spacecraft and cause us to crash in the desert. I'd tell you to use your left hand, since... yep, you never listen.

Fulgur had smashed his right fist through the spacecraft and ripped out what remained of his hand in pain. Jagged shards of red metal and loose tatters of black carbon fiber were all that remained beyond his wrist. The arbiters would have Chroma chew him out for damaging whatever it was he'd just taken out of the air, but then he probably wouldn't be alive for it.

The arbiters aren't your problem. They can't even control your netjack, Fuufuuchan.

The words barely registered in his mind at that point. There was only one thought that flooded the wolves senses.

This is the end.

The wolf couldn't tell in the moment whether the words were from Auritus or his own thoughts. In truth, it had been both.

The spacecraft had only climbed a few hundred feet into the air once it exited the tunnel, yet slowly it reached its zenith and hovered on the air for a few seconds. Fulgur turned his head to look back at The Republic in the afternoon haze.

He realized this was likely going to be the final moment of his life as the spacecraft began to lower through the air. Gentle as the descent was, they were travelling so fast forward, that no matter how he tried to cover himself the ground would tear even his cynets to scrap on impact.

The mission would be completed at least. Operation Starfall would be Fulgur Ovid's final successful mission.

I always thought that I'd smile when I died, the wolf thought to himself.

Looking back at The Republic, he didn't feel any sense of satisfaction that he'd completed one last mission. There was no mocking grin towards the heavens for having cursed the world with his existence. No gentle smile at finally being able to let go and knowing the world would be better off without him. He'd never even gotten to smirk at an enemy as he passed away by their hand to cement himself in their memories.

What filled Fulgur Ovid's mind as he hurtled toward the ground was one horrible emotion: fear. There wasn't even enough time to come up with a reason to live or curse his own cowardice this time.

Only the sinking feeling of existential dread he'd so often fought away with alcohol and legatio.

The spacecraft flipped as its front caught on a rock, and then exploded as the cockpit smashed into the ground. A hail of smoking metal rained over the desert, skipping along the earth like stones across water. In the wreckage it was impossible to tell what smoking lumps had once been flesh and which were soulless metal.

You're concussed, but you'll be fine. The soothing voice snapped Fulgur out of his absentminded horror. Turning his head, he met the eyes of the Psychic who had saved his life for the first time.

Clever wordplay. Are you flirting with me?

The wolf had become a princess, carried as such by the prey he'd come to hunt.

Fulgur's elbow slammed into The Psychic's face. The result of which was Fulgur plummeting 60 feet to the ground and barely managing to brace his fleshy bits enough to prevent any serious injury. Despite his best efforts, the impact still knocked the air out of his lungs and left him gasping and whimpering on the ground while The Psychic simply floated down gracefully like a leaf on the wind.

Bitch, if you're going to describe my voice and movements like that, you might as well do my face too.

They looked like Uki Violeta, but all they were wearing was an off-white straight jacket that had the belts ripped open and dangling at their side. Since they weren't wearing anything else and the straight jacket only fell to their hips, it was an awkward sight from below.

Legatus rolled over on the ground in pain, watching The Psychic descend upon him while meaningless words spoke in his mind.

There are broken restraints on my ankles too. Take this seriously. It's my only part in the story. I don't look exactly like your Uki.

The Psychic reached the ground with an elegant flourish. As their bare feet touched the earth, they span, and opened their arms, twirling for the first time in a world with natural light and fresh air. The straight jacket they wore opened as much as it allowed, with the restraints all shattered and free to frolic along with The Psychic. The image Fulgur saw called back to a creature he'd been taught of while in school.

Moon jellyfish, that's where they got your name from, Fulgur thought.

Auritus came to a stop with a playful smile on their face.

It was the type of smile that made one's heart race. Soothing in a way that made you forget the pain you were in. Hypnotic in a way that made you feel like you might lose yourself. Gloating in a way that made you feel like you'd already lost something. It always managed to piss Fulgur off, because it awoke feelings that threatened to consume him.

Two glowing purple eyes looked down on Legatus, and almost right through him. They were the colour of violets in bloom but shined with the light of many distant stars. So lost was he in that swirling nebulous abyss, that Fulgur stayed down on the ground in silence long after his breathing had returned to a normal rate.

A gentle sigh escaped The Psychic's lips as their smile went from playful to content. The slight change was enough to snap Fulgur out of his stupor. He rolled to the side and propped himself up on one hand and knee, ready to launch in any direction needed.

"Why save me," he demanded. The hand he had planted in the ground, dug into the earth, crushing it in his fist. "What's your plan!?"

"I wish I could say I had a plan, Fuufuuchan. I'm not able to guide fate, I'm only able to hear echoes of the waves before they crash upon the shore."

Fulgur swung his hand forward, throwing a cloud of dirt into The Psychic's face. In the same instant, he pushed himself up and launched his broken hand forward, attempting to end The Psychic with a single punch.

Auritus coughed, spitting dirt out of his mouth and wiping filth from his face as Fulgur fell, useless, onto the ground.

Halfway through the punch his body had frozen perfectly still, and the momentum of his punch simply brought him face down into the filth before he regained control of his body.

"If you'd landed that punch, you'd have asked 'why didn't you see the echoes of that,' and I would have been too dead to hear you. What kind of loser gloats to a corpse? And how would I SEE an echo? The pun only half works, bitch."

Auritus had begun speaking aloud, which gave their voice a different quality. Gone was the echo that added to its ethereal quality, but it still had a strength that contrasted their skinny frame.

Having regained control of his body, Fulgur stood back up from the ground, dusting off some of the filth that had stuck to his sweaty face.

"So, why did you save me? You can read my mind, so you know this only ends with one of us dead."

The Psychic began fiddling with one of the broken restraints on their jacket. Catching it between both hands, they brought it up to just in front of their lips and twisted the length of it to create swirling patterns. At the same time, the wolf paced around them, slowly circling without attempting to approach.

"This does end with one of us dead, but it's not going to be easy on either of us. Don't stop! I know it's hard, but you have to do this."

The Psychic hadn't bothered to turn to face him as he cautiously circled his prey. Fulgur launched forward, planting a foot into the lower back of Auritus. This time the blow landed, and Auritus flew forward, crashing into the ground and holding up one hand in his attacker's direction.

Fulgur dodged to the side, expecting some form of Psychic assault, but nothing happened other than some blood dripping down Auritus' hand.

"I promised you that I'd never hurt you, Fuufuuchan. Me, or the version of me that you'll come to love."

The wolf let out a growl at the nonsense once more spewing from The Psychic. He'd entertained enough criminals who had lost their minds in the past, but something about this one unnerved him more than any before. He prevented them from saying anything further by spinning on his right foot and bringing the back of his left heel into Auritus' face.

The Psychic let out a scream, whole body knocked down into the dirt. They whimpered a little before pushing themselves up onto their hands, lower body still down on the ground from the hip.

The wolf's eyes narrowed as he assessed his prey. A full powered kick from him should have killed any human. Blood was staining the side of Auritus' face, dripping down from somewhere beneath the violet locks. Their expression was a mixture of pain and sorrow as they once again locked eyes with the wolf.

"Surprised I'm still alive? I won't hurt you Fuufuuchan, but there are some things you need to hear even if the arbiters will take them away for a while. You can hit me all you want, but you're going to listen, so I'm going to make you weak enough to buy more time. It'll hurt you more than-"

Another punch to the face as Fulgur howled and put his full strength into it.

The Psychic once more went down into the ground, hitting the earth so hard it made a small imprint of his head. Only the faint sound of wind carrying the filth of the last civilization with it could be heard for a moment as the wolf took a deep inhale of air and sighed it out.

Fulgur was sure that his mission was complete, but once again Auritus pushed himself back up, blood now streaming down their face and onto the ground in large drops. The Psychic’s jaw hung loose and broken. Their voice echoed in Fulgur's mind once more now that they couldn't speak clearly.

This memory is going to haunt you along with so many others, but you need to remember it at the end. The reason it hurts you so much is because you regret it. You regret it because you're not this person anymore. If you need to be reminded of that, just call out to me and I'll always be there for you.

Art by JW: https://x.com/JWneedsomehelp/status/1908947161238343912

"What the fuck do you think you know about me!?" Fulgur lifted Auritus up, grabbing at their collar and pulling their battered face so close that they felt the heat coming from the wolf's maw.

"You think that I'm going to regret putting an abomination like you out of its misery!? This is just another day for me! I'll forget what you even looked like before I go to sleep tonight!"

A sorrowful gasp fell out of The Psychic. Fulgur's grip tightened before he lifted Auritus higher and brought his own forehead down to smash into their nose. Blood fed the earth as Auritus gasped and sputtered out more between each gasp of air.

Sorry, I wasn't laughing at you, Fuufuuchan. Just that you won't remember anything after the crash for a while anyway.

I know that you're thinking about yourself when you talk about putting abominations out of their misery, you know. You push people away because you're scared that you'll hurt them.

The closer they get, the more you think it will hurt when you let them down. That and it will hurt all the more if you grow attached and they're disgusted by the real you. Even more than that, you don't think that you deserve happiness, so every time you start to feel it you do your best to ruin it.

Why would an abomination like you deserve a happy ending?

"Fucking freak!" Fulgur drew back his right arm, ready to deliver a final blow, but paused when he noticed the tears streaming down Auritus' face. "Regretting not fighting back? You could make this a little more interesting for me. I was hoping for a challenging mission."

I'm not crying for myself, Legatus. I'm crying for the man I will come to love. In truth, I won't even get to meet him. I'm just here to give another that chance. This is the only chapter I get to be a part of.

Auritus grabbed Fulgur's left arm with both of their frail hands. The metal arm which held their collar, supported Auritus' weight as they ran their palms along the length of the forearm, fingers gently moving further up the metal and approaching the flesh.

I'm saying these words to you, so that you'll hear them when you most need to. We're connected. Not just me and you, but all of us. In this life and every other. We'll be there when you need us. Just let us.

You're not an abomination.

Art by Ney: https://x.com/fallenmaples_/status/1911985731343376648

Fulgur's broken fist swung down into The Psychic's face. The exposed machinery felt to him like real torn flesh as it sunk into his prey. He felt the equivalent of his raw flesh and bone as it tore through Auritus' head, chunks ripped loose and spilling onto the ground.

When Fulgur pulled back his fist, only a single eye remained glowing in the lump of what had once been Auritus' head. He dropped The Psychic without any kind of flourish or parting words. The abomination had proven to be just another chapter in the endless tale of bloodshed he carved into his soul.

The glowing purple eye slowly dimmed. The swirling nebula, reminiscent of the night sky he had never seen in the real world faded until only a single point of amethyst remained.

I wish I could have been the one to spend a full lifetime with you.

The voice was faint, almost crying.

Fulgur watched as the tiny amethyst gem lifted out of The Psychic's cloudy eye. It floated for a moment in the air, approaching Fulgur tenderly. It lingered there until the wolf pulled back, worried for what other trick his prey intended to use.

Then the amethyst shot into the air, splitting the heavens so forcefully that even that polluted world couldn't cloud its radiance.

The fleeting light faded from vision, just another of the billion distant lights that no longer reached the world below. It had returned once more to the stars from which it was borrowed.

When Fulgur looked back down to find The Psychic's body, he only found the same purple mold-like substance Project Starfall had begun as.

He could already hear the propellers of the auxilia hovercraft heading his way for pickup.

Just another boring mission, the wolf concluded. The paper work is going to be one hell of a write up though.

Fulgur's body was heavy. Not that he felt any kind of remorse or carried any form of guilt from the mission. He had come back from the Apologists hideout only a week before, barely eaten before meeting Ovidia, hardly slept in months, and was losing more and more time as the days went by.

He let the exhaustion take him, falling forward into the purple slime Auritus had been reduced to. When he later awoke in a hospital bed, he'd be summoned for his final mission as Legatus of division 505.

*************

"Ukiki!"

Fulgur shot up, out of the bench he'd managed to catch a moment's rest on. His dull, grey IIs searched from corner to corner of the park around him, head similarly on a swivel to take in all 360 degrees before finally coming to rest on his feet.

His trousers were torn at the knee on the left side, exposing his red cynet calf to the world. Once it had looked as though he was wearing chunky metal shoes, but with the damage he took escaping Vulpes' attack, it was clear for all to see how the calf met the shoe without any separation.

"Kid, are you okay?"

Canis' voice appeared in Fulgur's mind even though he couldn't project a full body for him without the equipment he'd lost at Noctyx house.

"Just a nightmare," Fulgur responded, realizing he really had been writing the chapter down in his neural network as he fell asleep. He'd completed the chapter while unconscious. He wasn't aware of how long it had taken or how many minutes of rest he'd managed to get between then and now.

"I'll be fine, Canis," he lied. The tremors in his hands were getting worse and his whole body felt like it was on fire. His batteries had been running low for months and all of his cynets required maintenance. The amber fluid which supplied energy to keep them moving had turned to a corrosive sludge that was poisoning even his biological remains. Even more pressing was the roughly 36 hours he had left before Vulpes' patience ran out.

"You'll get through this," Canis whispered. The phrase was uttered with warmth. If it had come with any hint of coldness, Fulgur might have winced. There was no irony in the phrase's meaning, or demand for him to hold up his part of the bargain. It was a simple statement that said everything it needed to.

Canis took no pleasure in watching Fulgur pass away. He had read all of Fulgur's story. Knew the deepest parts of himself he tried to hide. There was no doubt that he was able to feel exactly what Fulgur was going through, or that he was aware of the chapter he'd just remembered from his past.

"Just like I always do," Fulgur agreed. He forced himself to stand, barely showing the immense pain that took over his entire being.

He had one final mission that he needed to complete. A legatio, not designated by any other. A path he set himself on as a man, rather than wolf or machine.