The second planetary nexus

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Seeing Kylara launch into battle, York closed his eyes for a moment before abruptly opening them and charging towards his assailants, as soon as he made contact with them, it was clear he was outmached simply by the sheer number of opponents hitting him at once, but he managed to block most of he swiped and stabs aimed towards him though... Since he hadn't the time to draw his rifle, he closed his eyes, his body glowing a light blue as he channeled a little of his energy into it, time seemed to slow down a little to him as a sudden burst of andrenaline and strength surged through him as he started to strike back. Now that he was using his energy, he quickly started swinging his sword, taking out as many of his assailants as he could, though now that he'd stopped blocking, he was more vulnerable to his. The speed of his movements however had increased, occasionally making his movements blur a little as he did this, but he was beginning to feel the constant use of his energy, even as little as it was start to take it's toll on him slowly but surely, it would be a goof while before he tired out, but he wasn't sure if he should keep going on like this. Suddenly, the sounds of a rather heated struggle between Kylara and some other assailant made him remember he wasn't alone, so, backing towards her to minimize the risk of being blindsided, he suddenly felt a new sense of determination coming over him, another reason to keep fighting. If he were to die here, what would become of his home? The galaxy he knew? What would Kylara think? This suddenly brought a new surge of energy to him, not anger like it usually was this time, but rather... Determination. His body glowed a little brighter as he began to fight, his body glowing a darker shade of blue as he channeled a little more energy into it, starting to fight with considerably more vigor... His movements were blurring more often, but since they were surrounded, he was still sustaining a few injuries here and there; he'd been used to avoiding ranged weaponry rather than close quarters combat like this, that was a problem he'd have to fix soon enough. He doubted he could with the small energy pool he had, so he needed to increase that capacity, but that would take years upon years to do at this rate...

His thoughts were cut short when he finished off the last man, and now that the fight was over, he felt a pang of guilt about killing them... It just wasn't in his nature to kill, but he had long accepted that sometimes it was neccesary when you had to defend yourself. If he'd been able to stun them, he would, but he hadn't carried any stunning rounds with him, and there was no way he could have knocked out every single one of them without risking his own life. Looking towards Kylara though, he realized she looked worse off than him, a particularly nasty wound had been dealt to her arm, though what she said made him frown a little, as if thinking about something. "Yeah.. I guess we'd better get him back to the cave." he said, nodding a little absent mindedly... There was something else on his mind now, something that worried him a little, but he figured he'd talk about that later, for now, they'd better get this mess sorted out. It seemed this particular man they were carrying back to the cave had more skill in him than the rest, not something you'd see often from a tier 7 being which confused him a little.
 
She looked at the man, he was too big for her to carry. "Looks like you're going to have to carry him, I can't. Not with this gash in my arm." she said, her voice going neutral. She didn't want to give anything away, not yet. This was the work of the Facility. She knew it. She just knew. Mark was back at the Facility. That was the only explanation. Standing, Kylara pressed a hand to the cut on her arm and put pressure on it to try and slow the bleeding. Lucky it hadn't been an artery or she'd be dead by now. She was out of bandages....no more materials. She would have to make do.
As they walked back towards camp, Ky began to ponder how to tell York. He had to have noticed the skill in this guy...the others were mediocre but as Markup, as she'd decided to call him, was definitely skilled. More than that, he knew her style. He was prepared. The Facility was trying to get her back. She was their most successful subject, after all. But they would have to kill her before she went back willingly. She wasn't one for divulging her past...especially to strangers. Oh Malik, how I miss you. she thought. She missed the feel of his hand in the small of her back, between her wings. She missed his quiet confidence that they will kick whatever this thing was up the backside. She shook her head softly. "Not much farther." She said, not realizing how far they had indeed gotten from the camp. She hurried on ahead, and grabbed a length of rope. Gesturing York to set Markup against the tree, she tied him to it. After that, she took the last of her second pair of genes, and sliced into them. She had York tie it over the gash in her arm, tight.
That being done, she went and got some water, and dumped it on the guy. Sputtering, he woke. Looking around, he immediately started straining at his bonds. Smiling, Ky knelt in front of him. "Welcome back, sleeping beauty." she said, her hand slightly touching his burnt throat. "You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'll finish what I started. Capiche?" Her tone left no room for argument. Markup spat in her face.
Wiping the spittle off her face, she reared back and slapped him hard across the face. "Where is Mark? He's obviously the one who sent you. How else would you have been able to do what you did?" she said so low only he would hear. Markup started laughing. It was a cold, rumbling laugh that sent chills down her spine. "I don't know who you're talkin' about, chick." he said, but a glint in his eyes told her otherwise. Anger bubbled up in Ky, heat radiated off her like it would off a fire. Instead of energy, heat burned into the mans arm as she grabbed it. Markups scream turned into laughter. "You're mutating, kiddo. Not a good sign." she took her hand off his arm, and noticed what would be a third degree burn there. Only Mark could call her kiddo...this was his work. She stood up and kicked him hard. "What do they want?" she asked, anger slowly working its way into her voice. "What they've always wanted. YOU." At that, Ky punched him in the head, knocking him unconscious. Turning back to York, she winced. She would have to explain, but would do so later.
"You okay?" she asked, hoping he wouldn't pry just yet.
 
York didn't seem to have too much trouble carrying the man, he'd carried fellow soldiers to safety multiple times, though looking towards Kylara as she was treating her wound, he realized they'd run out of supplies "Nanites... There's some stored in my pod..." he said, remembering the basic medical supplies in there. Nanites were the most common ones you'd find, they were also the most efficient way to treat wounds in dire situations as they had little to no trouble with it unless they were struck by an EMP blast. Carefully placing the man he was carrying down and helping Kylara tie a piece of fabric she'd cut from another pair of jeans to stop the bleeding for now, he looked as if he was thinking about something as he listened to her conversation with the man. It seemed from what she could gather, Kylara had been some sort of test subject as well, but she hadn't been so willing to be one as he had, that definitely explained her strange powers she'd gained, they also seemed to have developed differently than his own had. Perhaps since the conditions were different, the results were also different, but he didn't ask too much about that as his thoughts were elsewhere. When she asked if he was ok, he nodded "There's something I need to tell you..." he said, his voice had a more urgent tone to it as he spoke, however he quickly looked towards the distance, roughly in the direction his escape pod had landed. "But, let's get those nanites first though." He said, quickly, deciding to hold off on telling her what he had on his mind just yet, he had to make sure his suspicions were correct first, and getting to that pod was the only way he'd know for sure.
 
Ky nodded as he suggested they go get his gear. She made sure the prisoner wasn't going anywhere and followed him. She started to smirk when he said there was something he needed to tell her, but the tone in his voice stopped her. Something was wrong, and her eyes bore into his, a question in them. Are you okay? Somehow, she had come to actually like him. He was cool, and the fact that he earned her respect in so short a time? It was nearly unheard of. But fighting side by side could do that. They were a team. She resolved to try and be kinder, and not so cold. But it would take work, she wasn't one to go all in on a friendship based on just one battle together. "Yeah, likewise." she said as she started walking with him toward the shuttle. It was a few miles away, so it would be quite a walk.
 
York seemed to be deep in thought, it was obvious something was troubling him, though soon enough, he turned towards Kylara, they would be walking for a while. She reminded him of Jane somewhat, someone who would ever back down from a fight, someone who helped him despite not talking much most of the time... Someone he'd trust his back to in any battle, he shook his head a little, curious as to why his thoughts suddenly drifted there, it was strange really, how they ended up on the same planet somehow. Who knew a random slip-space jump could lead to something like that? Though he wasn't exactly unhappy about this, sure his world needed him, but he could do with a place like this, one less riddled with war and defeat looming over them like an invisible stormcloud... Soon enough, without noticing too much, they were approaching his escape pod again, it seemed to have begun to rust a little.
 
As they walked up to the shuttle, Ky hopped down. Being the smaller of the two, she would be able to squeeze through the hole she had created earlier. "What am I looking for, York?" she said, wriggling into the small craft. This craft was like no other she'd seen before. It was obviously not from Earth, so York was not fully human as she had figured out when he had started to glow earlier. But then again, she wasn't fully human either.
 
York looked towards Kylara taking a moment to think before he spoke "A seethrough container with blue stuff in it and metal ends... Some should be in a compartment above us." he said, looking above them where what looked like a simple compartment was. Pressing it on the strange symbol it had should open it, the pod didn't have much power left, but there was a more primitive system incase power failed, he turned his attention to the pod's console, remembering what he came here for. Interacting with the interface for a moment, he navigated through a bunch of foreign symbols and various maps before he found what he was looking for reading what was written on the screen, it roughly translated to. "Pod decoupled... Main ship secirty systems overridden, craft distress beacon, activated, pod retrieval, impossible." He frowned, so the flood has his pod's coordinates now that it had hacked into his system, but thankfully, he had damaged their slipspace drive, it should take them a while to get it up and running again, but it sent chills down his spine to know they were coming sooner or later... They had to prepare, he turned to Kylara. "Something terrible is heading our way... But I'm not sure how long we have before it arrives." He said simply, there was a serious look on his face, one filled with worry, worry for what may become of them and this planet if they were overrun.
 
Ky laughed at the statement that something terrible was on the way. "Welcome to my life, York. Those men back there, they were after me. That tells me that someone is after me, someone I had mistaken as a friend. I will not go back, they'd have to kill me first. Seems like we have two dangers to deal with....What's yours?" she asked, figuring now was as good as any time to spill the beans on each others background.
 
York thought for a moment, the threat they were facing was difficult to explain, but since they had the time right now, he figured he'd give her the full story, but since he didn't want to be here all day, he'd condense it quite considerably. "An alien parasite... I don't know where to start explaining, it's had a long history with my race..." He said frowning a little, the memories this brought back weren't exactly pleasant ones, but he realized he'd have to explain in more detail inevitably if they were to be able to prepare for it.
 
Kylara nodded, it was like that for her too. She would have to start from the very beginning. Now that they were walking on open ground, she decided to stretch her wings. Shrugging off her overshirt, she extended them and started to stretch each muscle. Being sure she was a few steps behind York, so as to not whack him in the face, she extended her wings to their full length of almost 19 feet. "Alien parasite...I've dealt with worse. So what's it called? What's it do?" she pushed gently as she started twitching each wing muscle, wincing from overuse of her wings lately.
 
This made York shudder a little, he didn't seem so comfortable talking about it "It feeds off of intelligent life... Each victim it takes provides it with more knowledge to use against it's adversaries... Countless years ago, it devastated the human empire..." There was more, but he seemed to have gone silent for the time being, it was clear he was a little put off by even talking about it too much"It's constantly changing... Evolving, growing smarter, stronger, even with us Hybrids... The war is looking bleak, the Forerunners speak of using the Halo array." he said, shuddering a little, though he was obviously unaware half of these things were unfamiliar to Kylara.
 
Ky listened to York speak. A parasite that fed off intelligence...nope. Never heard of it. She tried to picture it, but couldn't. She walked with him in the silence, knowing there was more, but giving him time to collect his thoughts. She knew it made him uncomfortable, but she needed to know what was coming.
"It's constantly changing... Evolving, growing smarter, stronger, even with us Hybrids... The war is looking bleak, the Forerunners speak of using the Halo array."

"York, you're not making sense. Hybrids? Forerunners? What's the Halo array? I know I'm not completely human, but you aren't, either, are you?"

She didn't know how to react to this situation, so she just bombarded him with questions. The more she knew, the better she could help him fight.

~~~~*~~~~~
Meanwhile
Mark threw the beaker he was holding against the wall. Shattered glass fell on the scientist who delivered the news that Kylara had gotten away. "I told you failure wasn't an option. Don't you dare fail me again, or you will pay." he growled. The scientist blubbered a weak Yes, sir. Before quickly running out of the room.

According to his tests on some of Kylara's DNA, something was happening. When he had broken her out of the facility all those years ago, he was on orders. He was to study how she functioned without all the scientists around, see how well she would survive. Now he was under orders to bring her back in. The whitecoats had seen enough, and wanted to bring her back in. She was becoming a risk.

The hardest part in all of this was that Mark had to act as if he had actually cared for the girl. The girl he had experimented on. In a way, he did. He had created her, inserted the avian DNA in her embryo, helped her to grow, but beyond that there was nothing. He had no sense of guilt for what he had done. Personally, he was ecstatic. He loved studying the girl, seeing how she worked. So he eagerly prepared the lab for her arrival.
(@york I edited this, because I do have a plan...if they were to focus on this one.))
 
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York stopped, looking a bit embarrassed as he realized he had forgotten about the fact that she hadn't come from where he did, so it was no surprise she was unaware of what he was referring to. "Oh... Well, let's start with me I guess... I'm human but... Only half, human. Forerunners and humans used to get along peacefully, it was rare, but, sometimes, Hybrids like me are born when interspecies relationships are formed... Forerunners, they're like us, but, different. They seek to keep balance, but, sometimes their leaders choose undesirable ways." He explained, stopping for a moment to let everything sink in before he continued "As for the Halo Array, it's a super-weapon... !0 rings with a control center, the Forerunners plan to scatter them across the galaxy and activate them, iradicating all thinking beings from the Galaxy... It's a last resort, to starve the Flood of the very thing they feed on." he said before falling silent again, wondering if Kylara had understood all of that. In the meantime, he started to wonder why he hadn't though all of this needed any explanation to begin with, he'd already known she wasn't from where he had come from, so, what exactly made him forget?
 
Ky looked at him. A hybrid...half human half forerunner. She smiled slightly. She was more human than him, and she had always took pride in the fact that she wasn't fully human. It was something that made her...them special. Although, she was still having trouble wrapping her head around the fact that there was in fact life on other planets. "That's not bad, I look at it as something to be proud of. It makes us special." she said with a smile in her voice. That smile and amusement disappeared at his next words.

"As for the Halo Array, it's a super-weapon... !0 rings with a control center, the Forerunners plan to scatter them across the galaxy and activate them, eradicating all thinking beings from the Galaxy... It's a last resort, to starve the Flood of the very thing they feed on."

Kylara froze, open mouthed. So they would be willing to commit mass genocide? Yes, she understood the fact that the Flood was devastating, but to kill all intelligent life forms in the universe? No. "So let me see if I understand this correctly. They are going to commit mass genocide, killing all intelligent life forms in the Milky Way? York, we can't let this happen. We have to stop them." Her problems were tiny compared to this. She wouldn't bring her problems up, they needed to focus on this. Her life wasn't worth more than the lives of billions of billions of lives. "How do we stop it?"
 
"It's a last resort... A fallback plan." York explained, he frowned a little when Kylara mentioned stopping it "We can't stop it... But..." York suddenly stopped, studying Kylara closely upon fully registering what she'd said earlier "You... Are from the Milky way as well?" he asked scratching his head "But... How it... Wait." he said, trying to piece everything together, he closed his eyes for a moment, taking a breath to calm down before he opened his eyes again. "What year is it? Or... What year do you remember it being?" he asked her suddenly. It seemed he was onto some sort of train of thought, but, he just needed an answer to confirm this, they both had problems that needed to be solved, but, this would determine whose might be of the most concern. His mind was really starting to ponder on this alot, the mechanical components in there whirring away as they helped process this information faster, it was something he used to do alot on the field, but, he'd almost forgotten how hard he had to work sometimes to figure even what might usually be the simplest things together.
 
Kylara looked at him. It finally registered in her brain too. Two different time streams? Had they time traveled? "2014." was all she said. Had they indeed been jumped in time to meet each other at just the right times?
 
York looked up, blinking for a moment before everything clicked "Then that means the Halo Array was used... The librarian foresaw the day the flood would break the last lines of defense we had, the machines she'd ordered to be built were tasked with restoring life to the galaxy, living embryo's catalogued and stored on safe havens, protected from the destructive force of the Halo array." he said. Though he quickly realised he wasn't making sense again "I come from what's known as... 97,498 BCE, a time and place where things were much different than they are now." he explained, frowning a little, if that was the case though... He could only hope that the flood couldn't follow him through time, he shuddered a little, he didn't want to think about what would happen if history were to repeat itself another time...
 
Kylara stopped in her tracks. The Halo array had been used? What? "That makes no sense, how would we have survived? Embryo's are living things too, if what you say is true, then life would have been eradicated." "Come on, Ky. You're better than that. Think!" Kylara gasped. The voice had not spoken to her in years. It died with Malik...or so she thought. Get out. You're not welcome. She thought back. "Anyway, my turn. As you may have guessed, I am not completely human either, only 98%. The other 2% is avian. I am a test tube baby, I was grown in a lab, by a donor mother and a donor father. They inserted avian DNA into my embryo, and it's only by sheer luck that I didn't grow feathers. You can see one of the obvious results, but my vision is far exceeding the normal humans. Furthermore, I need to eat about five times the amount as a normal person, because I burn so many calories, my bones are almost hollow....Anyway back to the Facility. I was experimented on, I was tortured for years. They made me do these tests....not going into that now. Anyway, when I was 15, a man by the name of Mark got me out of there. He broke me out, and took me to his house that was away from civilization. He taught me how to fight, how to make a fire out of nothing but wood, he taught me almost every survival technique known to man. He then deserted me, left me on my own. I, mistakenly, thought he was my friend, that he cared about me. But you remember that big bloke back there? He looked just like him. He wants me back...which means this whole thing, this whole...charade, was just another sick experiment. Give me freedom and see what I do. It's sick. I won't go back, York. I will kill anyone who tries to make me." She deliberately left Malik out of the story. She wasn't ready to talk about him yet. When she finished, she went silent again. Wanting some space, she took a couple steps ahead and jumped into the air. Flying always helped her think....or clear her head. She cherished the feeling of the wind beneath her wings...
Up above the trees she saw what was coming. A small army armed with bows, spears, and primitive guns, were headed their way. She used her heightened vision to see any sign of where they were from. In the back she saw the familiar whitecoat of the scientists from the facility. She shuddered. They were still several miles out. This was not something they could take on by themselves...they would have to run. She turned back and landed gracefully next to York. "We need to book it, a small army is coming towards us from that way." she said, pointing to where she had seen them. It had to be Mark. "Finally onto me, now, aren't ya sweetie?" Scowling, Ky kicked herself for not realizing that the voice was indeed Mark. "It's them. York, we can't fight, there are too many." her panic was overwhelming, heat radiated off her like nothing else, blistering hot heat in the face of the cool evening that was enveloping them. THis was not anything normal. But she took no notice...."Can you run?" she asked, ready to take off at a moments notice.
 
@Bitterblue
York had an answer to her question, though he decided to hear her out before he spoke, the information she gave actually made sense to him and helped him better understand how she had gained her own abilities "I guess humans aren't past THAT stage yet..." he said, mostly to himself. Upon realizing the threat Kylara had alerted him of, he nodded, in most cases, he would have defended himself, but, he was clearly lacking the supplies and firepower to do so at the moment. "I'll explain everything later... About the librarian, the reason for the halo array, and what was supposed to happen afterwards.. It seems you've got more pressing matters at hand." he said with a nod, he was thinking a little... If this was all some sort of experiment, the he must have barged right into it with his slipspace jump, but, even slipspace shouldn't be able to traverse time the way he just did... Right? Perhaps he had run into a worm hole or something along the way, but, he wasn't too sure about it, but, for now, he figured concentrating on their current issues would be the best course of action. "Yeah... I think I'll be fine." He said, he suddenly remembered what they came here for "Er... Just give me a second." he said, reaching into a compartment above him and grabbing a blueish container with a cap on it. Removing the cap, he pressed the end of it against his skin near the wound, it started to inject the fluid into his body, soon enough emptying itself, he led the now empty container drop to the floor. "I'll try to keep up with you." He said with a nod, he looked like he was more than ready to run, but, his wound would most likely cause him a little pain since even nanites didn't work instantly, the damanged tissue would be repairing itself after the foreign bacteria was eradicated from his system.
 
((Here's an idea: How about we have them get captured, taken to the Facility, still on the same planet, and have them escape later on? It would add a twist to things. They would be able to find out where they are, how they got here, and they could do some more. How's that? I'll set it up, but if you don't like the idea, just make it turn in the other direction and let me know! :))

Ky nodded and took off in a full out run in the direction away from the small army of about 100 men. If they could just reach the trees...they would have a decent chance of getting away, or if it came to fighting, of getting the upper hand. "I'm going to take to the air, see if anyone's ahead of us." she called over her shoulder. With that, she unfurled her wings and jumped up into the air. Feeling the air rush beneath her wings, she rose up into the air. Her hopes rose a little, the sight was clear, but as she looked behind them, those hopes changed into dread, for the army was closing. Looks like they would have to fight after all.

Landing and taking off at a sprint next to York, "Bad news. Those guys back there have got to be enhanced somehow, because they're closing in on us, we need to make it into the cover of the trees before they catch up." she said, knowing they were completely outnumbered. If they were indeed mutants, they would be stronger, they wouldn't stand a chance. She was still worn out from the last battle...she didn't know how long she would hold up this time.
 
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