Atlas of Worlds (Pt. 1)

Then, the two of them stopped before they could reach the room. Stryker let out a sigh and turned to Dev.

"Unless you're willing to tell us what was so horrible that my blind recruited deserved to die by seeing it."

"Blink twice for spilling the beans and I'll let you go and we can find some way to eviscerate that mage in a thousand. Don't do anything or continue whatever you're doing right now and we'll take that as a no."

A pause.

"I was once human. But I was hunted like an animal. Killed anyone who approached me in my well-furnished cave. By some miracle, I managed to sign myself to the book of champions that our Liela found.

She took me after I asked her to adopt me, gave me what I needed. Allowed me to catch up on everything I missed out on. I could finally start doing girl stuff - like going shopping with a friend, helping her find what looked best.

But if you think I'm willing to drop the chance of getting both you and the other Liela home...

You'll be hunted like an animal, like me, once people find out what you are." She said that with tears in her eyes, showing her some pretty important calls she had made.

"I've told your robot girlfriend. She doesn't want to ever see your ugly mug ever again. Or even remember you. I think she's 'wiping her memory in some specific places', whatever that means. Apparently, in all her years of waking up as an unfinished prototype on a junkyard and slowly putting herself back together, she could, but never had to."

Devionus was silent but it was obvious she crying. "...."

Blinked several times. It was hard if she blinked twice or maybe just couldn't keep her eyes open after the tears came.

Maggie depetrified her and gave her a heartfelt hug. She wouldn't let go of her until Dev would feel like it.

"My personal collection of vintage weapons should be arriving any minute now. I'd never go out of my way to hurt anyone I didn't have to, that's why I formed a group of vigilantes," Stryker would tell them. "Once it arrives, pick the biggest one you can carry and I'll give you a short lecture on how to use it properly. We'll hit him from so many sides at once he'll think there's an entire army around the corner when it's really just us."

He then offered her a spare earpiece, the same one he himself was wearing.

But devionus didn't react to them. She just kept crying as she slowly floated down.

"You can keep running or you can take a stand and fight," Stryker would say, still as serious as ever. "And fight with people willing to fight by your side. You were desperate - And I can see you still have a heart in there. Somewhere."

"I can forgive you, so can she," Maggie said. "She said she has backup memory ready to become primary memory again if you're willing to set the record straight."

A pause for everything to sink in.

"And she's willing to go with you or convince you to stay here. With us. You don't have to go back."

Devionus looked at Maggie. "Really...?"

Maggie would nod. "And never feel the need to look back."

"I'm...not even sure I can stay in the same dimension if there's two of me. The offer is nice....but it sounds too good to be true"

"Worked for some fox that could fly by wagging his two tails hard enough; no reason it shouldn't work for you," Stryker would tell her, taking a revolver from his holster and offering it to her. "You've got nothing to lose. How about joining a family?"

. "a Kitsune? A demon like than shouldn't be here..." Devionus looked at the gun. She took it."a family...?"

"We watch each other's backs. Always," he'd tell her, then looked to his little assortment of vintage revolvers, most of them retrofitted to accept most calibers. "You want to keep that one or choose something else?"

Maggie would give her a friendly tap on the back and slither away to the others.

"I...haven't really used guns before..I never found a use for them..."

"Long end at bad guy, gently squeeze the trigger, wait for the cylinder to cycle and fan the hammer," he'd tell her, adjusting her stance accordingly. "Pop out, put more rounds in, pop in." The one he gave her was empty, but the suitcase came with all sorts od nifty gadgets - fullmetal jacket, armor-piercing, flechette, as well as some more exotic pieces such as dragonfire, wyrmshot and the same ones he used against her, nicknamed Type 7 munitions.

Devionus didn't really like the gun. "I think I'll stay with my scythe...." She said trying to hand the gun back. She looked at the ammo used to fight her. "How was that able to touch me the untouchable?"

"Yeah," he'd say, handing her one of the rounds. "I don't know how the gentlemen at G.U.N. even came up with them or if they are contraband, but they work like a charm. Or more like a bundle of charms."

The casing was a muted, matte gray and so was the rest of the cartridge. It barely had any weight to it, but if Dev were to hold it, she'd feel uneasy.

Devionus held the round that he gave her. She didn't like the feeling she was getting from it. She immediately gave it back to him. "Take it back! I don't know what creatures the G.U.N. hunted but there were surely trying to hunt things they were never supposed to mess with..." 

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