2 Days Later

— Skydia, Ranth 15, 8054 —

Quiet silence reigned, undercut only by the low electrical hum of lights in the ceiling above. Warm, stagnant air smothered the hallway, providing a suffocating aura to Compound Tresnon’s hospital, and the tiny isolation wing in the back. A mere two rooms made up the entire wing, with long windows peering in from the hallway to reveal the still-unconscious form of Liask laying on one of the beds inside. And standing outside, watching her warily, was Pierce.

He heaved a quiet sigh, his brow furrowed as his gaze lingered on the bandages wrapped around Liask’s midriff — and the silvery streaks that had begun to grow across them. On eying the metallic rashes again, he gingerly touched his own side, which sported similar bandages… but no rashes.

“There you are.”

Wordlessly, Pierce glanced to the side, taking note of the group that approached: Phoenix, Conrad, and Kestrel, accompanied by Obra and Minilas. “…Hey,” he grunted in response, turning his attention back to Liask.

“…Still unconscious, huh?” Conrad questioned as he stopped next to Pierce.

“Yeah…” Pierce muttered.

Minilas glanced at Pierce, and then looked through the window at Liask. “…So this is the metallic infection, huh,” she questioned.

“It is…” Phoenix responded. “It’s… not good.”

“You know… I think Liask’s brother faced the infection, once.”

“What?” Pierce snapped his gaze to Minilas in surprise. “You mean Trenon? Really?”

Minilas shrugged. “I mean, I remember Liask talkin’ about it, once. It was a few years ago. Right, Obra?”

“Yeah…” Obra muttered. “Somethin’ about dealin’ with the infection in some no-name colony…”

“Liask did mention something about ‘Trenon’s advice’ before she fell unconscious…” Phoenix mused. “I had no idea that he had dealt with the metallic infection, though…”

“Well, from what I’ve heard, the guy was in the NSD, right?” Conrad pointed out. “It kinda makes sense that NSD soldiers would be the ones dealing with infection outbreaks in Nimalian space, right?”

“…I guess…” Pierce muttered, his gaze slowly shifting back to Liask. “So she knew the risks, after all? And she still came after me…”

“Speaking of you…” Phoenix said, warily eying Pierce’s side. His bandages weren’t visible through his shirt, but she still knew they were there. “Pierce, are you sure you should be here? You were injured, too, after all.”

“I’m fine,” Pierce insisted, and then made a show of putting his body through a series of stretches, to demonstrate that his movement wasn’t impaired. “The cuts were superficial; I don’t need to be laying around in a bed. I don’t have it nearly as bad as Liask, after all…”

“No shit,” Obra retorted, his arms crossed as he glared at Pierce. “How the hell did you get away infection-free, while Liask is in there, fightin’ for her life?”

“Keys,” Kestrel replied.

“Is what we’ve been told,” Conrad quickly added, an uneasy smile on his face. “Not to say that we’re special, or anything. …I mean, we kinda are, I guess, but… I mean…”

Obra shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you fuckin’ outsiders…”

“Are you really fine?” Minilas questioned while side-eying Pierce.

He glanced down at her. Her messy hair obscured half of her face, as always, and her expression was deadpan — though Pierce felt that he could detect genuine concern in her eyes. With a deep breath, he looked back to Liask, and replied, “according to Kaoné and Rebehka, I’m fine. No infection here. It’s just Liask who’s in trouble…”

“Speaking of Rebehka, she sure showed up quickly,” Phoenix remarked. “I’m surprised she was able to just drop everything and come here to help…”

“The Compound was attacked,” Conrad pointed out. “She’s friends with Davídrius and Kaoné, right? Makes sense that she’d want to help out.”

“Bullshit,” Obra spat. “More outsiders is the last thing Tresnon needs. ‘Specially since y’all are the reason that Liask is—!”

“Obra,” Minilas cut in, reaching up to grab the side of his shirt. He looked down at her in surprise, at which point she continued, “do you really think that?”

“…!” Obra bristled in response to Minilas’s question, but as he snapped his gaze up to look at each of Conrad, Phoenix, and Kestrel, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything more for several seconds. “…Alright, fine,” he eventually muttered, “I’ll admit… not all outsiders are bad. Some of ‘em helped out Tresnon… but we also coulda handled that raid ourselves! And!” He turned to glare at Pierce again. “Nothin’ changes the fact that, if not for you, Liask wouldn’t be fuckin’ infected!”

Pierce glanced at Obra out the side of his eye, his expression unreadable. He then turned to look at Liask again, saying, “yeah. Do you really think I don’t know that?”

“Pierce…” Conrad muttered.

“Your cavalier attitude during the attack, aside,” Phoenix said, “there’s no way any of us could’ve expected that the attackers would have corrupted animals with them.”

“Liask is her own person, too,” Minilas pointed out. “She decided to put her life on the line to save Pierce, all on her own. You really gonna ignore that, Obra?”

“Hell, she was more willing than any of us…” Conrad added with a sheepish chuckle.

“And now, she’s infected…” Pierce muttered.

Silence reigned, as no one knew how to follow Pierce’s words. Obra continued glaring at him, but Pierce paid the Tresédian no mind, his gaze still focused on Liask and her pained breathing. Eventually, Kestrel gently placed her hand on Pierce’s shoulder; he glanced down at her hand, and then up at her face, flashing her a forced smile before looking down again.

“…You know…” Conrad eventually said, “…it’s almost lunch, right? Pierce, how about we go get something to eat?”

Pierce glanced over at Conrad, uncertainty writ across his face before looking back to Liask.

“We’ll stay here,” Minilas said, and nodded toward Obra. “We’ll watch her while you’re gone.”

“But we ain’t doin’ this for you,” Obra spat. “Far as I’m concerned, you can stay gone.”

“Obra…”

“Tch…” Obra looked down at his friend, only to turn away in a huff.

Phoenix shook her head incredulously before turning away to begin walking down the hallway. “Conrad has a good point though, Pierce,” she remarked. “When was the last time you ate, anyways?”

“…Yesterday…” Pierce admitted, and then heaved a lofty sigh. “…I guess lunch sounds good.”

“Great to hear!” Conrad replied, slapping Pierce on the back and then guiding him away from the observation window. “There’s nothing like food to cheer— well… to help you feel better.”

“Mmhmm.” Kestrel nodded in agreement.

“Yeah…” Pierce muttered, his gaze lingering on Liask once more. Aside from her slow, labored breathing, she had yet to move at all in the time that he had been watching her — but he could swear that the metallic rashes seemed to have grown. A dull throb shot through his side, and Pierce reflexively moved his hand to clutch his scar, currently covered by bandages. First Trenon, and now…

A second later, he tore his attention away and shook his head, attempting to clear his thoughts as he followed his friends out of the isolation wing, and to the streets of Tresnon outside.

---

*

“Steady… steady… a’ight, there we go.”

“Oof…” Austin grunted with exertion as he and Spike hefted a large boulder onto a pile by the side of the road. Once the boulder was down, Austin wiped his hands and then his brow, clearing his face of the sweat that threatened to drip into his eyes. He then looked to his left, at one of the demolished buildings along the devastated Market Street of Compound Tresnon.

The cold sensation of water suddenly washed over him, causing him to reflexively wince before glancing back at Twy, who had just doused him and Spike. “You looked hot,” she remarked.

“Yeah…” Spike responded, turning his gaze up to the overbearing sun above. “This heat is really somethin’, huh.”

“Well, it is just about summer, around here,” Austin remarked, stepping closer to Twy so he could simulate her Hydrotechnism to continue dousing himself with water. “I’d really like to just stay inside, away from the heat, but, well…”

Twy heaved a sigh as the trio looked out over Market Street again. The street was almost unrecognizable after being ravaged during the Bleeder attack two days prior; the pier had suffered significant damage, as well, leaving the whole area in ruins. Nevertheless, the ruins were currently covered by people working to clean out the rubble and re-erect the buildings — from WCU students to ordinary Tresnon citizens, from members of the Defense Force to members of the Black Suns contingent that had arrived to chase off the Bleeders — the damage to Tresnon was being repaired, bit by tiny bit.

“Hey, guys.”

The three turned around just as Sky alighted on the ground next to them. Spike reached out to pat her head and rustle her hair as he said, “hey, Sky. Everythin’ goin’ okay, with you?”

“Yeah,” Sky replied. “They just wanted some help with burning away some trash and rubble. There was some other stuff, too, but…” She looked away uneasily. “…A Black Suns Pyrotechnic volunteered to take care of that, for me.”

“I see…” Twy muttered.

“Well… that’s a full-on raid, for you,” Spike said. “Can’t expect everythin’ to be pretty…”

“That said, the recovery is going better than I expected,” Austin pointed out. “I even saw a couple of Geotechnics rebuildin’ buildings just a couple streets over like it was nothing. Market Street might be as good as new by the end of the week. …Physically speaking, at least…”

“Makes you wonder what would’ve happened if Kaoné and the Black Suns hadn’t showed up…” Sky muttered.

Contemplative silence fell over the group for a few seconds. Eventually, Spike began rolling his shoulder and turned to begin moving more rubble, gesturing for Austin to follow his lead — but before either even stooped over, Twy interrupted them.

“Hey…” she remarked as she pointed skyward. “Is that a ship…?”

“Huh?” Austin turned to follow her finger, spotting a Frigate descending through the skies. Within seconds, it flew directly overhead, on a clear path toward Tresnon’s tiny airport. “That looks like a SERRCom Frigate…”

“Does that mean that CSF-1 and the Eximius Vir are back, already?” Sky questioned.

“They’ve been gone for less than a week,” Spike mused. “Why’re they back so soon? And by Frigate, too. Did they hear about the Bleeder attack?”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Austin remarked, already clapping his hands together and using his Imperator powers to lift into the air. “C’mon. Let’s go see what Uncle Luke and the others are up to.”

---

*

Seven flashes of light appeared in the air over the dusty Tresnon airport, giving way a second later to the forms of CSF-1 and the Eximius Vir. Once beamed down, Mote turned to wave at the Frigate they had arrived upon, signaling Danielle to return to her human form. As she did, Saito and Hackett stepped forward, their gazes sweeping across the low, but scarred skyline of Compound Tresnon.

“W-what… happened…?” MacTavish questioned, tightly gripping the straps of her backpack as she looked over the town.

“The feared Bleeder attack…” Saito muttered. “It must have happened.”

“Bleeders?” Kate echoed as she and Mote stepped up to the three members of CSF-1. “…Weren’t they the fuckers who tried attacking a few months ago? Are you saying they attacked again?”

“And by the looks of it, they made it into the city proper,” Hackett observed. “But we weren’t attacked on the way in, so I can only assume that Tresnon managed to repel them, somehow.”

“But if threats are still around, we’ll deal with them,” Mote asserted.

“I’ve no doubt about that,” Saito said, and then glanced back at Mark. “…But this situation might make things a little difficult, for us—“

“You’re back!”

The group turned forward, watching as Sky — followed soon by Austin, Spike, and Twy — alighted on the airport grounds a mere few meters away.

“You all look fine,” Danielle remarked. “That’s good!”

“Maybe,” Spike replied, “but the Compound was attacked by Bleeders a couple days ago.”

“I thought as much,” Saito said.

“Is that why you all returned?” Twy questioned. “Because you heard about the attack…?”

“And where’s Luke?” Austin added, looking over the seven others present — before finally laying eyes on Mark, who had just hefted a body into his arms. A second later, Austin’s eyes went wide with recognition, and he rushed over to Mark’s side. “Luke! What— is he—?!”

“He’s alive,” Mark quickly replied, “but he’s…”

“…Infected…” Twy muttered, her gaze falling to the silver rashes extending up and down the Captain’s right arm.

“How the hell…” Spike’s brow furrowed. He then turned to Saito and Hackett, questioning, “how the hell did that happen? Weren’t y’all just attackin’ EA’s base?”

“We were,” Saito replied.

“Wait…” Austin looked to the Colonel in confusion. “Are you saying that EA did this?!”

Saito sighed and shook his head. “Not intentionally. But the full story can wait; the Captain needs help. Is Dean Densalin here?”

“Oh, right. Of course,” Twy responded. “She’s probably at the hospital. Follow me.” She then quickly turned around to lead the group out of the airport, everyone falling into pensive silence as they escorted Mark and Luke’s body through the streets of Tresnon.