Sigma/Star

Chapter 100: Shadows

Porter dragged his body up out of the snow as best he could, trying to find a foothold where he didn't sink too low into the snow. He clutched onto the side of The Warlord's foot, pulling himself close to the doorway on the exterior. The password among all of the academy's Goliaths was supposed to be the same, and Porter struggled to enter it, slipping and sinking in the snow. The number pad on the side of the battlesuit was tiny, the buttons nearly frozen. It took a few efforts just to get the right combination in, as Porter's fingers constantly slipped and missed.

The door finally hissed, falling inwards before sliding to the side. It was a tiny dot on the side of the massive machine, Porter's body normally miniscule from the top of a Goliath looking down. He didn't notice the scale of Riya's battlesuit as he stepped inside, the door slamming shut automatically behind him. He was suddenly wrapped in the warmth of the interior of the machine, different mechanical components emitting heat as they worked. Porter's clothing shifted once more, adjusting to the new temperature to keep him cool.

A moan echoed down through the metallic hallways, reverberating inside of Porter's head. It sounded like Riya, seemed like her voice, but he had never heard her in distress before. The feelings that rose within him as he heard her were instantly buried deep inside, joining a swirling pit of anger and concern, of fear and sadness. There were far too many emotions going through Porter for him to be able to control them and his mind defaulted to shoving everything down as much as possible, trying to help him temporarily forget and go numb so he could focus.

The Warlord creaked as Porter moved through it, strangely silent save for the hum of its components at work, white noise, and now the creaking was a sudden shock to Porter. He had never been inside Riya's warmachine before and it felt strange, almost like an intrusion. He had never been inside anyone's battlesuit other than his own and a practice machine but those were used by all the students at some point or another. This felt different, almost like an intrusion.

Porter began to scale the ladder up to Riya, a long haul through multiple levels from the bottom of the Goliath. It was like climbing a building, and Porter felt himself wishing for an elevator. A gust of air breezed past Porter, swirling around his body before flying up the rest of the shaft he was scaling. Porter looked down at his body, noticing a faint taint of black mist encircled him, chilling every part of him it touched.

Must be her chi, Porter thought, pressing forwards. He didn't understand the black chi or anything that went on with it, but he did know it was dangerous, both in its volatile nature and in the fact that Marian was intent on getting rid of it and Riya with it. Beyond all of Porter's thoughts though lay only one truth he knew: he had to get to Riya.

* * * * *

Marian leaped back from the black chi, dodging a barrage from its tendrils trying to rip him apart once more. He could already feel his chi fading, his life slowly waning. Even if he never let the shadow creature break his shield, he would eventually die simply by emptying himself of his chi, leaving him dead either way.

"Sir, object incoming, estimating ten seconds." The soldier disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, giving his report before cutting out once more. Marian sighed, almost breaking focus as he folded his wings in front of him to ward off more attacks from the black chi. The last thing he needed was Sigma coming down to the battlefield, and he couldn't imagine why the android would be coming here. The only reason he could think of was Ishiyama punishing him but he always thought he had been keeping up with his daily prayer routine of late.

Sigma crashed into the ground, sending a ripple through the snow and a blast of powder in all directions. For someone so small, Marian thought, squinting to see the tiny cyborg, he sure makes a lot of noise. A pulse of purple energy exploded outwards from Sigma, and Marian had to steel his resolve and his shield in order to stay standing. The black chi, however, dissipated, blowing away under the force of the blast like dust in the wind.