Metempsychotic

Through Closed Doors

Vent was in hot pursuit of the Slither Inc airship before Prairie tried to create a communication link.

"Vent, it's not safe out there." Prairie snapped at him, however hard she tried to be comforting. "You need to come back to HQ for repairs. There's a logical way of going about this, and just charging after Serpent isn't going to be that way."

Vent kept pursuing the airship, even though he was starting to lose sight of it. "Prairie, let me fight!" Vent demanded. "I have to protect Crea! I have to avenge Boss! I have to... I have to protect everyone! Every... every single one!"

"I have information that you need to see." Prairie told him. "And if you dare bring another person to the transerver that looks like you instead, so help me Vent, I'll find a way to turn you into a Cyber Elf!"

This made the boy pause for a moment.

'Is that even possible?' Model X wondered, finding her statement both horrifying and mystifying.

'Given his circumstances, it should be a fairly simple extraction.' Model Z decided.

Vent thought over this some more. The airship was completely gone now, and he had no way of tracking it either. Feeling as if he were admitting defeat, Vent went to the nearest transerver and reported to HQ.

The boy didn't even bother to demerge from Model X and Model Z before walking into the command room. Prairie saw him, and she held a stern look for a moment or so before it melted away into one of sympathetic origins.

"Vent..." she started to say, unsure of where to begin.

"I'm fine." the boy told her, albeit stubbornly. "And that girl with her dog, they're fine too. I can't just sit around while Serpent plans on hurting everyone. He said he would sacrifice the entire country to wake Model W. I have to keep fighting. We need to find a way to stop Serpent. That's why Boss gave me Model Z, because he knew that I could help."

Prairie was silent for a few moments before relenting. "Alright..." she agreed, before recomposing herself into her authoritative Prairie persona. "We analyzed the data and discovered some things of value. The biggest being that Model W has the power to corrupt machine and human alike. This is what caused the current Maverick outbreaks. But Serpent only has a fragment of Model W now. The Model W Core is still lying dormant somewhere, waiting to be awoken. I'm not sure what this Project Haven is that Serpent mentioned, but it could be a part of him trying to wake Model W."

"Where's the Model W Core now?" Vent asked curiously.

"I'm not sure..." Prairie admitted with a shake of her head. "Some of the data was corrupt and we couldn't complete the analysis. What I do know is that the six passwords encoded into the Biometals are the keys. Combined, they will unlock the seal that contains the core. I managed to get Model X and Model Z first..."

"But Serpent already has the other four." Vent finished, his mind wondering into a deep set of thought. "We don't have much of a choice. We have to fight and take them back ourselves!"

Prairie gave Vent a funny look before turning to sit down into the commander chair, and began to type something into the computer console.

"I'm going to simulate the data and narrow down the Biometal locations using the Maverick signatures." Prairie then informed him from over her shoulder. "Once I get a mission plan together, I'll call you back for further details."

"Hey Prairie..." Vent then started to say. The Guardian's commander looked up from the computer and swung her chair back around to look at Vent.

"Yes?" she asked, looking back at him with a rather relaxed expression.