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3rd April 2017, 06:22 AM
#11
Faster Than Angels | Part 37.6
The referenced album title of Part 37.5 was 004 Identity by Monstercat.
[s2_29.6: Part 37.6] End of a Pilot's Reign
<22121108>
Sunday, November 8th, 2212
Omega Harbour, Perth, Australia.
The girl standing before them opened up her helmet, the lights surrounding it flickering off, and tore it off her head in one fell swoop, hurling it to the ground so hard that it bounced. Her face was just as emotional as one would expect. Anger, sadness, frustration and many more were mixed into one ugly shade of despair.
"My name... is Tarah Andrews. Got that? TARAH HAYLEY ANDREWS!"
"T-Tarah?!"
"Finally! You finally speak my real name!"
"Tarah, what the hell? I know you, you wouldn't take the violence that far!"
"Oh, would I? Well, I quite obviously did! Look at you, trying to follow in my footsteps. How... pitiful."
"T-Tarah... what... what the hell? Are you feeling alright?"
"I feel fine! So... completely...... f-fine......"
Gareth shook his head. "Dammit, Tarah, SNAP OUT OF IT! This is not like you!"
His yelling caused her to blink, seemingly snapping out of whatever trance she was in.
"...I-I... I..."
She looked down, and sighed, looking back up.
"I know it's not, but... I don't know, I think I'm broken. Heh... no. I'm definitely broken. I just have these... these extremely violent tendencies... I just... All I can think about is violence, destruction, hurt, kill! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH.... WHY?! H... HELP ME!"
Filled with rage and hatred for herself, wanting it to all end, she stepped backwards, before breaking out into a sprint... right into Brandon, who wrapped his arms around her, in a soft, warm embrace. It helped though, instead of yelling and raging, she started to break down and cry, her knees giving out and buckling.
"Help me... please. Just make it stop." She pleaded softly.
"It's fine, I anticipated this. Remember the AG pod? I had it built in case of an emergency. Anyway, even though the damage is done already, we need to get back now, to prevent further damage. Come, let's go."
"M'kay." She mumbled, tears in her eyes, as Brandon headed to the car park, still holding Tarah in his arms.
When they got in the car, Brandon set off, priming the Razer.X's Fury mode while they were moving. Once he had it warming up, he planted his foot down, the car accelerating at a decent rate. When he was out of the car park itself and on the piece of road leading out of the course, he finally activated Fury mode, adding 263hp to the car's power output. An addition to the mode was that the azure body light strips would light up no matter what.
As Brandon raced between the traffic, Tarah curled herself up in a ball, muttering "I'm sorry" and "Save me" over and over again. Then, in an even softer, sadder voice...
"K-Kill me."
Brandon had noticed, and placed a hand on her head, speaking softly. "Hey. It'll be alright. Why do you think I'm going so fast? I'm helping you."
A soft whimper came from the direction of Tarah as a response.
The climb up the many levels of the multi-story car park of Angelus' HQ seemed to take forever, but eventually, Brandon reached the highest level. He slid to a halt at one of the spaces and got out, rushing to the other end and helping her out of the car. They ran all the way to the R&D area of the building, after a quick stop over to the kitchen. One section of the R&D area was blocked off by a security door. Brandon entered the passcode as quickly as possible, his fingers a blur as he quickly punched out the keys. When they entered, there was only one object in the smaller room. At the far end was a large device with a thick glass door at the front. Brandon entered another passcode at the glass door, which opened the instant he pushed the enter button.
"The AG Stasis Pod. Like the name suggests, this keeps you suspended in an AG stasis field, while it pumps purified air into the chamber."
"Purified air?"
"Ah, that's right... you don't know of it. Here, take this."
Tarah took the object in Brandon's hand, a cold drink can "Wait, this is..."
"Your favourite. Please, drink up, it'll take a while to explain." Brandon started, explaining The Condition to her, while she cracked open the can and drank from it.
"I... have that?!"
"Yeah, that's where the purified air comes in. With it, you won't be inhaling the toxin."
"So how long do I have to be in there until I'm cured?"
"The Condition is airborne, if you exit the pod, you'll just get the symptoms all over again. We are working on an actual cure, but it requires reverse engineering the chemical. We could have used purifiers, but the cost to effectiveness would have not been financially viable."
"Okay, I understand now..." She replied as she gave the now empty can to Brandon and stepped inside the machine. She looked at him, and said softly, "I'm sorry, I don't think I deserve to see your face until I'm cured. Really, I'm so sorry." Tears began to well up in her eyes.
"It's fine..." Brandon reassured her, "I'm... sorry too."
He closed the door and started the machine. The last thing Tarah saw before the stasis field took effect was Brandon's face, which seemed sad, and was quite teary as well. He turned around and silently walked away, locking the main door behind him.
"Are you okay?" A guard asked him.
"Huh? Oh." Brandon was confused for a moment, but then realised why he was asked that and wiped his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Oh, right. I need to use the conference room for a bit, then I'm done here for the night."
"Sure thing."
In the conference room, he called the rest of the team, still at Omega Harbour.
"Hey team. Those who are with clean-up, you know what to do, pack up and send everything back to HQ. For the rest of you, you're free to leave for the night. Go home, you all deserve a good rest."
"What about Tarah? How is she?"
"Tarah..." His voice caught in his throat, "No, I'll explain tomorrow, I just want this day to be over."
"Wait, wh-"
Brandon cut the connection before anyone could ask any more questions. Not that that stopped anyone. As he was walking to his car in the carpark, he got a call. He looked at the ID and saw it was...
"Damnit, Gareth, I said I'd explain tomorrow!"
"I know, just... Kyo-Tarah left some stuff here."
"What stuff?"
"Like, her bag and some other belongings. What should I do with them?"
Brandon thought for a moment, before answering, "I'm on my way home now, meet me there. Bring her stuff."
"Alright."
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