The Doctor did not jump. They didn't even look up from the stack of tactical reports at first, their hooded visor reflecting the flickering, rhythmic glow of the Rhodes Island monitors. Slowly, they set down a pen and tilted their head.
"Agnes," the Doctor's voice was calm a stark, chilling contrast to the frayed wires of my nerves. "You usually only break my door down when you've run out of research funds. What happened?"
"I don't have time for your games!" I lunged across the desk, slamming my palms onto the mahogany surface with a crack that echoed through the command deck. "I need a long-range scout team and a high-speed transport. Now. North-Northwest, Sector Four. The Barrenlands."
The Doctor leaned back, fingers interlacing. "The Barrenlands are crawling with Sarkaz mercenaries and Catastrophe Messengers. I can't just dispatch elite resources out of the blue. Give me a name. Who is out there?"
"My daughter!"
The words ripped out of me, raw and jagged.
The room went silent. The Doctor froze. From the doorway, I heard a sharp, synchronized intake of breath. I spun around to see Amiya and Z23 standing there. Amiya's eyes were wide, her hands clutched over her heart as if trying to steady her own pulse.
"A... daughter?" Amiya whispered. "Agnes, you never mentioned..."
"Because I wanted to protect her!" I turned back to the Doctor, my voice trembling with a manic edge. "She's alone. She's scared. If the scavengers find her... or if a Catastrophe hits..."
In the corner of my vision, a blue system window pulsed a deep, warning red.
[ STATUS: TARGET 'DAIWA SCARLET' IS EXPERIENCING ELEVATED STRESS LEVELS. ]
"Doctor, please," I said, my voice dropping to a jagged plea. "I'll give you any blueprints. I'll stabilize the power source for the entire ship. I'll even stop playing Goldship at 3:00 AM. Just help me get to her."
The Doctor stood up, the atmospheric pressure in the room seeming to shift with their resolve. "Amiya, prep a transport. Alert Kal'tsit tell her we have a high-priority recovery mission. Z23, get Agnes to the hangar. If this 'daughter' is anything like her, she's going to be a handful."
Miles away, in the skeleton of a collapsed hab-block, Daiwa Scarlet huddled in a corner. Her magnificent tiara was crooked, tangled in hair that looked like spun flame. Her lungs burned; every breath felt like inhaling powdered glass.
"I just wanted to find a map... why are people after me?" she whimpered, hugging her knees.
Outside, the crunch of heavy boots on gravel sent a jolt of adrenaline through her. Her long, tufted ears twitched, catching the low rumble of gruff voices.
"Check the upper floors," a gravelly voice barked. "I saw her duck in here. If it's a stray Lupo or a Kuranta, she'll fetch a king's ransom at the black market in Rim Billiton."
"Didn't look like any sub-race I've seen," another voice replied, the metallic slide of a crossbow being cocked chilling the air. "Hair like fire and moving faster than a speed-boosted Caster. Keep your bolts loaded."
Daiwa's heart hammered against her ribs. Market? Kidnapping? This wasn't a misunderstanding. This was a hunt. She stood up, her racing instincts the pride of a champion kicking in. She was a top-tier Umamusume. She wouldn't be caught like some common animal.
She burst through the rotted door just as three Sarkaz mercenaries turned the corner.
"There she is! Fire!"
Thwip!
An Originium-tipped bolt whistled past her ear. Daiwa didn't scream. She leaned forward, her center of gravity shifting as her legs dug into the concrete. In a blur of blue and red, she vanished from their line of sight.
"What the—?! She's too fast!"
"Don't let her get to the open flats! Surround her!"
She tore past them, a streak of crimson lightning fleeing into the wastes.
The Hangar
The transport engines were already whining to life, a high-pitched scream that mirrored my own heart. I was shoving crates of medical supplies and a heavy, tarpaulin-covered prototype into the cargo hold when Z23 grabbed my arm.
"Agnes, look at me," she commanded. My eyes were bloodshot, tracking data streams only I could see. "We're going to find her. But you're shaking so hard you're going to phase through the floor. Use that 'mad scientist' brain. If she's your daughter, where would she go?"
I took a shuddering breath, projecting a map of Sector 4 onto my retinas. "The high ground. She's a runner; she'd look for a vantage point to see the horizon. There's an old light house three kilometers from the ruins."
I hopped into the pilot's seat, shoving the regular pilot aside with a frantic strength.
"Agnes! You aren't certified for—" Amiya started, scrambling in behind me.
"I built the engine for this thing last month, Amiya! I know its soul!" I slammed the throttle forward. The transport lurched, screaming as it defied gravity. "Hang on. We're going to break some records."
"Hahaha! Praise the Machine Spirit!" I screamed as we broke the sound barrier.
Below, Daiwa Scarlet found herself trapped. The mercenaries were gone, but the Barrenlands had a worse fate in store. Multiple Originium Slugs, glowing with a sickly orange light, surged toward her.
"Just my luck," she panted, sprinting toward the watchtower. "At least they're slow."
She reached the base of the tower, but more were waiting. They lunged with wet, squelching sounds, their bodies pulsing with corrosive heat. She dodged, her sweat-slicked forehead throbbing. "I can't keep this up forever..."
Inside the transport, I watched the thermal signatures swarm the tower. "This is taking too long." I slammed a button on my terminal, activating the prototype in the hold.
[ PROTOCOL 1: PROTECT MOTHER ] [ PROTOCOL 2: PROTECT SISTER ][ PROTOCOL 3: ELIMINATE HOSTILES ]
[ STATUS: PROTOCOL 2 ACTIVE ]
In the cargo hold, a single, circular eye snapped open a piercing, dark blue light. The machine's frame was slick, metallic, and built for nothing but violence.
"I am the mightiest in the universe!" the machine boomed. With a casual flick of its wrist, it ripped the cargo door off its hinges and plummeted toward the earth, activating high-output rocket boosters mid-fall.
"Agnes, what was that?!" Z23 shouted over the wind.
"Oh, you know," I muttered, eyes locked on the tower. "Just the regular stuff."
At the top of the ruins, Daiwa Scarlet backed into a corner. Her beautiful blue dress was torn and stained with soot. In front of her, a bloated, volatile slug hissed, preparing to detonate.
"Stay back!" she cried, swinging a rusted piece of rebar. "I... I have to get back to Japan! I can't get hurt here!"
The slug lunged. Daiwa closed her eyes, bracing for a pain she had never known in the sun-drenched halls of Tracen Academy.
CRACK-BOOM!
The wall of the ruins didn't just break; it disintegrated. A silver-and-blue shadow blurred through the dust.
"I'LL CRUSH YOU!"
The machine spun into a jagged, metallic ball, launching itself like a cannonball. The slug didn't just die; it evaporated. The machine landed, its hand shifting and whirring until it transformed into a multi-barreled minigun.
Brrrrrrrrrrrt!
A hail of lead reduced the remaining swarm to glowing dust.
"Target found. Sending signal to the Doctor," the machine stated in a cold, robotic drone.
"Who... what are you?" Daiwa asked, trembling.
"I am Mecha Sonic Mk. II," the robot replied. Just then, the transport roared overhead. I didn't wait for the landing gear. I jumped, and Mecha Sonic caught me mid-air with umazing precision.
"Thanks, Mecha," I whispered.
I stood up and turned slowly. Daiwa looked up, her ears pinned back in terror, her eyes wide and brimming with tears.
"Mother...?"
[ ASSIMILATION: 100% ]
At that moment I didn't care about the mission or the blueprints anymore. I am happy to see daiwa again.
"Daiwa... I'm here. Daddy's here."
I pulled her into a crushing hug. Behind me, Amiya and Z23 froze in the wreckage of the wall, their jaws dropping as they stared at the girl with the horse ears and the shimmering, tattered dress.
"Agnes," Z23 whispered, her voice full of disbelief. "How did you even..."
"Best not to disturb them," Amiya said softly, watching us cling to each other in the middle of the wasteland.
A/n: i am back! Back a again.