Last several days weren't kind to Kim. None were kind since she was ordered to relocate for the campaign, but lately it became exponentially worse. She was used to hardship of Antarctica already, to blood, almost absence of rest, and madness. Especially latter, considering who was their Captain.
The man tried to play it on the reverse, show them a person in right mind, pretending to be insane. Kim, and others too, quickly realized that that was other way around. He was probably the maddest person she ever met, but it was okay. Because Captain Sunless was stable and always deathly calm, excluding the moments he fought abominations. Reliable, extremely so.
But the thing, or rather person, who took his place… That Ascended was unstable from the moment she found out what was going on. He was mumbling under the nose nonstop, as if no one existed around him one moment, another - he was flinching constantly like a stim addict, too nervous, too concerned on questions, or too happy and grateful for the food he certainly didn't like.
And now, instead of overly confident face and central source of power of her cohort, Kim was looking at this, and it was unsettling to the bone. But now he wasn't just unstable, he was…
"Going volatile? Hell do you mean 'going volatile'?"
Awakened Tei ordered his soldiers to lead Miss Bethany outside the detention cell and was now somberly watching as the recently captured Master was shaking like a leaf, whispering to himself.
"I'm not sure myself, but cohort leader warned us about such possibility. Simply put, he needs to calm down."
That was an answer from fake Captain's cellmate, who tried to shake his shoulder. And Kim didn't like it one bit.
"It doesn't look simple at all."
"See it as a panic attack or something. Rare occurrence, I suppose the station name triggered it. Just tell me these handcuffs will hold."
"They will. What's wrong with the name?"
"Not with the name itself. Before entering the seed, we sorted through a lot of information, and one big name was of a Terror of LO49. Don't know the whole story, but considering reaction, he knows. I will get him out of this."
"Do it then. I will come back in an hour."
"May I ask what our course of actions is?"
"Ours? You're prisoners right now."
Tei retorted, but Kim decided to give him something to minimize the risks.
"Our people must come back shortly with the orders from the command. General plan is to get out of here. You will come with us, obviously. Higher ups will decide what to do with you two, or how many of you are here."
"Obviously… Thanks for that, at least."
With a nod, Kim turned and left the cell. Remembering where their APC was parked, she took quick steps forward. Getting in, she plopped on the couch and buried her hands in the hair. Now she was shaking, perfect. Irregular tried to stay composed, but as she got the first calm minute in four days, her nerves started to sway.
'This is just too much. I was ready for anything? No, I wasn't. Where are they, I need at least some information.'
First interference on the road, thanks to which she figured the impostor, was temporal, unlike of what they told him, so cohort managed to notify big boss of what happened. Response was vague, but approved sequence of actions was simple: get to the station, make a contact, receive orders.
Only there was a problem, because for the last nine hours or so, there was no even smallest sign of working connection. And when they arrived, the station was affected too, so she was waiting until Dorn, Luster and Samara will return with the plan.
***
Getting out of pods, Luster and Dorn greeted her, stretched, and moved to replace others on their guarding post. Shortly after Belle and Quentin joined two women at the command table of the Rhino. Three pair of eyes stared on the redhead cohort member in anticipation, and Samara didn't make them wait long.
"Apparently, snowstorm we escaped was caused by some abomination. Other regions were also affected, thus dead comms everywhere, but not as heavily as the zone between this facility and Siege Capital we needed to deliver professor in. Previous evacuation plan was scrapped, they decided that we will take a cruise, with local garrison and scientists. So, we need to remain here for a while."
Belle's face slightly lit up, as he asked.
"How long will be our vacation?"
"Two to three weeks. A naval convoy we arrived with, is now coursing between Central and East Antarctica, and on the next run they will send a ship, Ariadne, to fetch us. Though there are no concrete orders, on what we should do with impostors situation. There was one more incident, Soul Reaper was dealing with it personally, and it was similar: seemingly non-hostile impostor. According to Boss's 'recommendations' we must minimize their contact with others for a time being, conceal the info, observe, and try to get answers, as many as possible. That's all basically. Kim, your turn."
Kim was contemplating the info Sam brought and didn't answer immediately. But in a minute gathered Irregulars were aware of interrogation results. Quentin was staring intently into the table, hands crossed.
"Did second infiltrator confirm what fake Captain was saying?"
"Yes, I was listening for a part myself and Tei's subordinates recorded, and typed down for good measure, their whole conversation."
Belle jumped in the discussion with darkened face.
"The problem, guys, here is that there's not only two of them. If there were only them, I would be able to make out some picture. But with addition of a third, and so far from here... I don't know what to think honestly. The Nightmare. Are they see us like inhabitants or something? I don't see any differences. How does it work for us exactly if they are right? If they die, or complete their objective, we like go poof? Or…"
"Or nothing, Belle. I don't want to think about some crazy dude's rambling. All we have is only that some shit happened with several Masters. For now, zero of his words was confirmed."
"Even if we will confirm something, we can use it for our benefit."
"That's not exactly the point, guys."
"Focus on your orders. That's the best advice I have. I'm going to get some sleep and transfer all we got from impostors to the Reaper. Let her decide."
Belle followed Quentin to the pods and Samara turned back to face Kim.
"Maybe you'd have some rest too? You look on edge."
"Well, I am a bit, but its ok. And I need to figure out what that bastard was mumbling about. If he really knows the future in detail… Come with me, two heads are always better."
When they entered the cell, there was silence, nobody was freaking out, nobody created problems. Both inmates were there, but while one was looking at the ceiling like nothing happened, second was sprawling on the floor, face down. Staring at the scene, Samara raised her brow.
"I see you're not in very friendly relationships."
Lith didn't even spare them a glance.
"I have no clue what you are talking about. He's calm now."
***
When Brail opened his eyes, he saw three pair of boots and heard people arguing but couldn't discern the point of dispute due to loud noise in the head. Why was he on the floor? Ah, yes.
'Fucking brute. It hurts damn it.'
He caught bad timing receiving terrible news during the flaw transition, when it hit hardest, so he got too scared and started freaking out. And Lith used his favorite method of problem solving. What else did he expect from the airhead bastard?
What most frustrating, it worked, and Brail was now in a calm phase. Looking at his runes, he sighed.
Flaw: [Volatile Winds].
Flaw Description: [Eternal hurricane is wandering between your mind and heart. You cannot choose the direction it blows.]
Brail never considered it severe, and if he was honest, it was one of the most easily controlled flaws, he knew about. If 'hurricane' targeted mind, his head usually flooded with different not related and unnecessary thoughts, and it was harder to concentrate on a single topic. And when winds blew in the direction of the heart, Brail's emotions amplified to an extent. It was strange in the beginning, but he got used to it quickly.
The problem usually occurred if something happened when flaw changed phases. Transition happened quickly, but always led him into the state of simultaneously highly unstable emotions and almost empty head. Which was very dangerous sometimes.
Or, sometimes, led to stupid situations, which basically, after several ocassions, got him kicked out of previous cohort. So in a sense, he agreed to travel to the Seed at the edge of the world, because of his windy heart and mind.
Raising himself from the floor, and shaking off the noise, explorer get everybody's attention. Redhead Awakened glanced at him and asked in calm voice.
"Came to your senses already? Good. Now let's continue, where we left off."
"We need to get out of here as soon as possible."
"We get it, you were saying this repeatedly. And we got our orders regarding evacuation, so calm down. But we'd like to hear about that Terror, your friend told us about."
Brail took a dozen of seconds to collect his thoughts before explaining.
"During the evacuation, Central Antarctica had several important events. One of the first was, or for you, will be, the devastation of remote research facility, this one to be precise. Description of a culprit was also present, a Fallen Terror with capabilities of strong mental hex."
Massaging the jaw, Brail exhaled slowly and continued.
"Terror appeared under the water, presumably sank the ship, designated to evacuate the station, and start enthralling local personnel. It was noted that only a small team, decided to separate and travel by land, survived. Everybody else disappeared the same way as couple small stations along the western coast and later were led to attack Falcon Scott. Exact timing of the initial event is unknown but guessed between the appearance of the blizzard and destruction of… one of big cities. This information is not from random stories of survivors, but from official reports, so I believe it to be precise. I hope you understand now why we need to go."
Upon hearing about the ship, both Irregulars tensed and looked at each other. It seemed like the new plan was exactly retreat by ocean. For them to believe, and to not mess up the cards for others, he needed to choose what to disclose carefully. He wanted to convince them to gather up and leave the facility at quickest possible pace.
The only moment he was concerned about, was if another member of cohort was on this ship or no. He was one of the Nightwalkers, raised on the wandering citadel, and with this day House of Night in action, Brail was certain, he would be on one of the ships.
After a solid minute of silence, redhead Awakened started speaking.
"We will take your information into account and transfer this to our command. You should understand that we need proofs before taking any action. I'm not sure how you knew about the ship, but even if what you said is truth, it's not enough to persuade higher ups and change plans. To be honest, I myself not convinced. What else? Any signs we can check?"
"And what about destroyed city?"
"All cities here will be destroyed eventually. Trust me, by helping you I help myself and my cohort, but I can't give you more information now, I already explained why. About signs. What I know is before it happened was complete halt of communications and several Gates appeared."
Lith decided to cut into the conversation.
"I never saw Nightmare Gates, but if they are like I think they are, you will need our help. We are strongest awakened here. I understand your concerns, but I could kill a lot of people here already, sabotage the station, and do a lot of other bad shit. I didn't, I won't, and he won't, I need you to know that. Our task, I assume, is survive all the shit here and evacuate people, and main goal of the Nightmare is either get out of the continent or kill the strongest thing which come to crush cities. I hope it's former, but I know how Nightmares are usually. Anyway, our tasks are aligned."
He extended his hand. "Ascended Lith. Would be glad to work together if possible."
Both Irregulars glanced at him with deadpan expressions, but eventually, to Brail's surprise, redheaded one chuckled and shook his hand.
"If what you say is true, I see no problems in working together. I don't know if we will though, I'm not the one in charge. I am Awakened Samara."
"Nice to meet you, Awakened Samara."
He looked at the little devil. She didn't take a hand, but introduced herself, nonetheless.
After, interrogation quickly concluded, and they were left alone. Irregulars told them to behave and wait if something changed. They were well fed, checked daily and questioned several times more, but otherwise, nothing was happening. Until on sixth day the whole cohort of Irregulars and current comander of the station visited them with grim faces. Brail and Lith already knew what that was about. The Nightmare Gates.