Thunderjaw Heart - Horizon Zero Dawn Fanfiction

Oh come on now

They have been walking for more than three hours. The cradle wasn't extremely far from the cultist camp, which was in some mountains, protected with a huge amount of traps, and Aloy wondered how nobody noticed it before.
Kïma was struggling a bit to walk, as someone apparently kicked her leg that had been shot days ago. Bast was doing fine, but seemed completely lost and was spending his time looking around him with a confused expression, while Aloy was staring right in front of her, flat face, cold eyes, to find a way to get out of here.
The woman with pink hair (another cultist referred to her as Omega) was carrying yet another massive weapon, surrounded by four other guards, who looked like children next to her.

"So, tiny girl, you know some ancient stuff, right ?", She asked suddenly.

"I do."

"What's that, then ?", She asked, pulling a ancient sculpture out of her purse.

"Nowadays, people call it an ancient sculpture, but it's not. It was a device that helped their hearts to beat.", Kïma answered, grimacing.

"And what's that ?"

She was holding a weird object, looking like a thick syringe, but completely black. There had been something written on it but years erased it.

"Where the hell did you find that ? It's... Well I'm not sure, because I saw it only once in my life, but this thing might be full of healing stuff.", Exclaimed the collector, her eyes instantly shining. "They used it to heal their bodies when nothing else worked. It's called nanotechnology... But this one looks broken. I doubt the healing stuff still heals."

"Nanotechnology... How does it work ?"

Bast finally seemed interested and was staring at the weird object, just like Aloy.

"I don't know. It must be some tiny robots, maybe ?"

Omega sighed, opened the syringe for a second, looked at it, and closed it. She placed it back in her purse and took the map out.

"We are close now. Five minutes, I would say."

"Where did you find it ?", Questioned the black haired woman, leaning towards Omega.

"None of your business, tiny girl."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Something on your mind ?"

"I... It's just that... I know this place. I came her before. But we won't be able to get in. We might as well turn back right now.", Kïma replied, looking at the door, at the end of the cave. "Last time I came, the door asked for a... DNA. And I don't know what that is. But if we don't get it, we won't be able to get through. Maybe a kind of key, or some code..."

There was a silence, cut short by Omega's loud laugh :

"By the sun, are you stupid ? We all have DNA ! The datapoints we found talk about it all the time !"

"Then share your science, Behemoth girl.", Aloy said simply, crossing her arms.

After a deadly glance at her, Omega hissed between her teeth :

"It's something we have in our bodies that makes every damn person different. But this door requires a specific DNA, to be sure that only chosen persons are able to open it."

"It doesn't change anything, we don't know which DNA it wants.", Kïma grinned bitterly, crossing her arms as well.

The dry blood on her face was starting to fall, leaving small reddish pieces on her skin. She didn't even bother to wipe it off.
Without answering, Omega walked towards her fastly and grabbed her arm.

As a natural defensive reflex, Kïma instantly started to hit her wrist, but the woman had a tougher grip.
Aloy and Bast were dying to help her, but the other cultists had placed themselves between them, preventing the Noras to do anything.
She almost dragged Kïma to the door and throw her against the metal.
As her leg was weaker than usual, Kïma fell on the ground and stayed like that, holding her injured leg.
Her face had a neutral expression but Aloy knew her to well to say she wasn't suffering.

Omega used her focus to scan the door, which replied :

"Welcome to Cradle n°3. Please step forward for the DNA control."

"Come on, tiny girl, this is your moment."

"I already fucking told you, I don't know how to open that goddamn door !", Kïma shouted, as she was burying her fingers in her thigh.

"You're a poor little child, eh ? Always needing help from others to do something...", Mocked the woman with pink hair, furrowing her eyebrows.

She grabbed Kïma's wrist one more time and twisted it so one of her fingertip was pressed against a darker zone in the wall.

Aloy noticed she was holding her breath. Suddenly Kïma's scream made her jump and look at her :

"What the fuck ? The wall just scratched my hand ?"

Omega then released her, letting her falling in the grass again.
Nothing happened.

"I told you, we can't get in ! The Ancient must have programmed it for..."

"Welcome, Kïma, APHRODITE n°48. You may now step in.", Declared the door, with that neutral voice.

Aloy and Bast gasped, staring at the door. Did it just... recognized Kïma ? Because of that DNA ?
The collector reaction was a bit different. She just looked at the door, whispering with a hesitant pace :

"What did you say... APHRODITE n°48? "

But the door didn't answer. With a long and loud noise, it started to open itself, letting a cold and a cave-like smelling air caressing their faces.

Omega had to pull Kïma one more time to get her to stand properly. As she was still not moving, looking curiously at the door, she pushed her tiny back with a hand.

"Women first.", She said ironically.

"Is no one going to be surprised by the fact that an Ancient door knew her name ?", Bast asked, searching for a comprehensive glance around him.

No one replied.

The other cultists brought Aloy and  him next to her, and they started to walk in the ruins, in the heavy and dark silence.

"How did you... How did you know that it needed my... DNA ?", Kïma questioned with a small voice, her face empty of any expression but doubt.

"Datapoints, tiny girl. They are useful, you know."

"Do they talked about me ? Or Elizabeth Sobeck?"

"Oooh, come on now, shut up !"