The Deep End

The Deep End: Part 1

The Deep End

Written by Vittoria St Martin

[Disclaimer: Destiny and any canon characters mentioned within are Copyright © Bungie, Inc. All Right Reserved. This fan publication is Copyright © 2020 by Vittoria St Martin. No portion of this fanfiction work, including the original characters and their monikers within, may be used or reproduced in any form whatsoever without written permission from Vittoria St Martin. For requests please contact Vittoria St Martin.]

No.
Stop.

"Vitals are stable, but the subject has not achieved REM yet, sir." a timid voice, female, spoke up.

She tried to respond to the voice, to tell them she was awake, but no sound came out, not even a whisper of breath.

Is my jaw broken?

"Get me a stable connection!" she heard a man's voice retort, cold as the room around them and just as biting. "This one is worth too much to lose."

What does he mean? Where am-? Who...?

A terribly painful fog clouded her mind making it too hard to think.
Her limbs were bound tightly against an unforgivingly hard surface, and although she tried with all her might to pull against them her body would not move. Even fingers and toes refused to twitch and her eyelids felt so heavy. Eye. Lids...

My eyes!

Panic surged through her as the realization came like a wave, breaking through the fog: there were no straps holding her limbs down, they had shut off her motor functions!

The female voice rose again with urgency, "Vitals are spiking, brain synapses are starting to surge!"
"Begin the reboot and upload, now." the man's voice returned.
"But, sir-"
"Do as I say!" the command a snarl. "Unless you wish to end up like the others..."

No! Not again! Ple-

A terrible sensation surged through her mind with the forcefulness of a tidal wave, the feeling akin to fingers clawing their way deeply into her brain. A silent scream echoed through her core as the tearing fingers tore at her mind, the agony spreading through her spine and out into her limbs. With each rake and tear, she felt as if everything she knew was being ripped away from her psyche, like grains of snow being swept away on howling winds. Something touched her cheek, the feeling coming through the torment; real fingers pressing against her skin, yet they brought no comfort.
"This pain will wash away your failures, and remake you in our image, Mira..."

Mira-3 woke up screaming.

Orange eyes blazed to life as the Exo jolted out of an uncharacteristic sleep and sat bolt upright in the rack on her ship. Unfortunately, the twin horns atop the crest of her head collided solidly with the metal sheet above the small space where she rested, making a terrible bang, her horns piercing the metal. Mira cried out and threw her arms up to sharply throw herself away from the roof of the bed-space and landed with a thump back onto the cot. Her metallic hands covered her face as she groaned loudly from the agony of slamming into the metal above and the embarrassment of doing so. A shimmer of light appeared just beside the rack as the female Exo rolled over, and a Ghost clad in a white Arch Shell appeared in the air not far away. The glowing purple of his iris roved over Mira-3's teal colored body, noted the covers that had been knocked onto the floor, the fresh set of puncture marks in the overhead above the bed, and his poor Guardian rubbing her face.

A series of sorrowful clicks and whirs sounded from his shell as he hovered there for a moment.

"I am starting to speculate that 'sleeping' isn't healthy for you, Guardian." The concern was heavy in the Ghost's voice as he floated closer, his iris glancing again at the dents and punctures in the metal.