Sentient Worm

Horror Movie Vibes

Horror movie vibes

Walking through an apparently abandoned ship belonging to the Steel Meridian – a faction of Grineer that had broken their programming and were now working on their own – with the lights off, left Taylor feeling like she was in a cheap Aleph horror movie. At least she was a heavily armed protagonist this time. And she's in her wisp so no matter the condition of the VIP, she should be able to get them on their feet and moving. On second thoughts, maybe getting her memories back wasn't such a good thing. Dead bodies, check.

"These were killed by knives."

Taylor almost yelps when The Lotus decides to make herself known, "Don't do that, it's bad enough that I'm living the plot of a cheap slasher flick."

"I don't know what that is. Regardless, you should look around, see if there's anything else."

"When I finish here, remind me to tell you what genre aware means. As if I end up fighting some sort of zombies I'm going to call shenanigans."

"What are zombies?"

"Reanimated corpses of the dead, sometimes you didn't need to die, there was just a virus that killed your upper brain functions. The different genres of films were more popular on Aleph. For us on Bet, they were a little too close to possible given Nilbog, Heartbreaker, and half a dozen other famous masters. Oh look, another dead body. Knives again?"

"You are correct."

"Lucky me! Emma's father, Alan, was an officiando and had a secret stash of DVD's. Before she turned on me, I used to spend practically every other weekend there, and at some point we'd sneak one of the films and watch it. Some of them were so cheesy, like Superman. I mean, with people like Alexandria actually flying around. Hang on, red feather? That's the Red veil isn't it."

"It is, if they are involved then you need to be careful."

"Oh, believe me I am already being careful. At least it won't be the Slaughterhouse 9."

"Who are they?"

"They're a persistent group of villains from Bet, Bonesaw, a precocious girl that gained her powers during one of their attacks. She is a biotinker, able to make virus', bacteria, and modify you into obscene displays that are somehow still alive and aware. Shatterbird, a shaker that can control silicon. All silicon in a 5 mile radius. She is arguably the most famous, as her scream is the first most people know about the 9's arrival. Writing on the wall painted in blood, check."

"You are awfully calm about this Taylor."

"No I'm not! I'm just talking to you about the worst humanity has to offer on my homeworld, just to keep my mind off of the fact that I'm probably going to be jumped by a mindless red veil operative. Where was I, Shatterbird, yes, her calling card breaks all of the glass and silicon chips in the area."

"What are silicon chips? Do you eat them?"

"What? No, bet isn't as advanced as we are, so they still use silicon to make semiconductors, with linear binary logic circuits engraved on them. You can thank Mrs Knott for that titbit. The next most famous one is Crawler, he's a monstrous brute that can regenerate from anything that doesn't kill him. What makes him famous is that he then becomes immune to that form of injury from that point forward. People think he either has a deathwish, or is addicted to the feeling of being hurt. Either way, he makes his way through a city looking for challenges and slaughtering anyone that isn't a challenge. Next is the Siberian, she is a naked white woman with tiger stripes and claws."

"What's a tiger?"

"It's an animal native to earth bet? I've found the VIP."

"You need to protect her. Tenno, I am getting anomalous readings on your scanner."

"Palladino wasn't it? Hi, I'm Taylor Hebert, and I am to be your bodyguard for the rest of our time on the ship."

As she rounds the corner, Taylor's somewhat surprised to see that it's the high priestess of the Red Veil, along with a black cat.

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"Hey Rell, I'm Taylor. Do you want to play a game?"

"Er, busy."

"That's ok, do you want me to tell you stories about my home while you're drawing?"

"Yes."

"Ok, how about Snow White."

"Yes."

"Ok, Snow White was the daughter of a very popular king and his beautiful queen. However, when she was very young, her mother died in childbirth."

"Why?"

"At this time they didn't have medicine like they do now, so when something went wrong, they weren't able to fix it. Anyway, after he finished mourning, the king was introduced to a beautiful woman. Over time they married and the woman became the new Queen. Unknown to everyone, the new queen was also a witch."

"What's a witch?"

"A witch is a woman that can do magic, summoning spirits, speaking with the dead, brewing potions, placing hexes and curses, and even being able to heal people. They usually have a familiar, often a black cat. These serve as guardians and spiritual protectors, warning the witch of approaching dangers."

Rell looks up from his drawing, "What happened to them?"

"A long time ago, there was a religious uproar about the supposed evils that witches had caused. So the church, you remember what that is?"

"Yes."

"The church led a hunt for all suspected witches. What actually happened is that lots of people took the opportunity to accuse people they were jealous off, leading to a lot of innocent women being killed. They also caught all of the women that were a bit different through no fault of their own. People are often afraid of differences, and that makes them lash out at them. At the time I left Earth Bet, witches weren't really a thing there, though that was because superheroes and villains took over the public consciousness. On Earth Aleph they apparently had a revival of witchcraft, and started holding seances and doing ritual magic again."

"What's a séance?"

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Taylor blurts, "Are you a witch?"

"I am, how do you know that term?"

"It really is Rell then."

Out of the shadows, red veil operatives start to approach with their knives drawn. Palladino calls out to them, "Sisters, you must resist. Come back to yourselves."

When the first one takes a swipe at Taylor, centuries of ingrained instincts kick in, and she takes off their head with her whip. She then moves to set up her fields by Palladino. What followed was a frantic firefight, as the mindless followers tried to overwhelm them. As soon as their numbers break, the two of them make a run for the extraction point, along with the kavat. Once she was safely aboard a shuttle home, Palladino calls Taylor.

"Tenno, thank you for the rescue. Please could you meet me at our compound on earth, Iron Wake. I've sent the location to your ship."