Dawn of the RACU

Chapter 6: Alpha

A week since the attack, the colony has been slowly rebuilding what the Black RACU demolished. The process has been significantly hampered by the absence of all but a few Defenders. Jessica walks past the houses that were destroyed and can't help but let anger and tears out simultaneously, clenching her fists. When she was 7 years old, her older brother went out into the forest to hunt down a RACU for his armor, but a pack of RACU had torn him to a shred of bones and flesh. That pack of RACU has been spotted by other Defenders every now and then, but none dared to take on the pack. Everyone knew the deadly power of a pack of RACU; the only reason the pack hasn't been hunted down is because such a hunt would leave the colony undefended by the few Defenders that would be left behind. That incident is the reason Jessica is a Defender: to hunt and kill the pack that killed her brother.

A noise behind Jessica takes her out of her thoughts, and she quickly wipes the tear from her face, trying to calm down. "Hey, Andrew," she says flatly. Andrew walks to her side, his hands in his pockets, and asks, "Were you heading to Nie's?" He looks at the demolished houses, and a cold silence descends upon the two friends.

"Yeah..." Jessica replies, then walks towards Nychus' house. Andrew follows, knowing better than to break the silence. He knows about Jessica's reasons for becoming a Defender – everyone knows, really, but none say anything because they can all understand – and about her feelings for Nychus. Between the three of them, Andrew is most akin to a stabilizing force even though he likes to crack jokes and sneak up on Nychus. Because of his role in the group, he knows everyone's limits, and right now Jessica is close to hers. He will gladly take the brunt of her anger if it means it doesn't get the three of them in trouble, but he also does not want her to blow up on him if there is no reason to.

When they get to Nychus' house, Fauna is resting against the wall, reading a book. She absentmindedly taps her prosthetic leg against the ground; a sign that she is engrossed in what she is doing. "How's he doing, Eng?" Andrew asks when they get within earshot of her. Fauna looks up from her book, her tapping stopping. She sighs as she says, "Hello, children. I wish I had better news but..." She turns to the door of the house and knocks five time in succession. A large bang is the only response. Jessica tears up from the noise, while Andrew winces.

"He's still working on his armor," Fauna says to clarify the situation. "Last I saw before he locked himself in there, he was carefully taking off his mother's armor. I'd assume he wants to refashion it so he can wear it." She opens her book back up and begins reading it again. "He's still following his mother's rules, the poor boy. See if you two can talk him outside, but don't take it personal if he snaps."

Andrew nods, "Thanks for the heads-up." Meanwhile, Jessica walks up to the door, and gently places her hand on it. "Nie?" she calls, and even Fauna can't resist leaning toward the door to hear an answer. A dull "what" is the response, and Andrew releases a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Can Andrew and I come in?" Jessica asks. Fauna looks up from her book at Jessica and the door, watching to see if Nychus will let them in.

The door opens, and Jessica backs up a step. Nychus stands at the entrance, dark circles under his eyes and not much light in his eyes, wearing a sleeveless undershirt and the same bloodstained shorts he was wearing the night of the attack. He smiles dully when he sees Jessica, but says, "Sorry, I haven't been able to clean up the house, so you guys can't come in just yet." Andrew walks to Jessica's side while Jessica holds back tears from seeing how Nychus looks. Andrew has a quip come to mind, but refrains from saying it in favor of, "We kinda need you, bud. The buildings will need strong RACU armor to properly rebuild, and we don't have many Defenders to—"

"You think I don't know that?!" Nychus snaps Andrew, cutting him off. Anger lights his eyes as he continues, "I saw the whole thing, Andrew! You think I don't know the state of the colony right now?!"

Andrew is taken aback at how angry Nychus is, and he stammers to reply, "No man, I'm just saying—"

"You're always 'just saying,' Andrew." Nychus says, and the air around the house becomes heavy. "Stop 'saying,' and start doing. You can sneak up on me easy enough, just hunt some RACU yourself." He closes the door, but Jessica hits it with her hand, stopping the motion.

Nychus looks back, and says in a warning tone, "Jess—"

"It's not easy for him, Nie!" Jessica yells at him, tears running down her face. "That's why he's asking you! We need someone who can not only hunt RACU, but also someone who knows what RACU to hunt! The Engineer can only advise the last Defenders the best she can; no one knows the forest or the RACU like you do!" She straightens herself and takes her hand off the door and says through tears while looking Nychus in the eyes, "Find us when you're done with your Defender Armor, because we won't be coming back while you're like this!" She then wipes her face and storms off, still crying. Fauna and Andrew watch after her as Nychus just looks in the direction Jessica stormed off in, Fauna's eyebrow raised while Nychus and Andrew both have their mouths open in shock. Nychus recovers first and looks visibly hurt as he looks at Andrew. Andrew recovers as well, then looks at Nychus, and tilts his head a bit, saying in an apologizing tone, "Hope you feel better soon, man." then follows Jessica to catch up to her and calm her down.

"She's a keeper, you know," Fauna says with a chuckle. She gets off the wall she was leaning on and puts a bookmark into her book, a green rectangular piece of paper, with what looks like a face on it. Nychus glares at her in habit from his time inside for so long as she walks past the open entryway. "You brought them, Fauna?"

Fauna laughs, the light music contrary to her aged appearance, and says with a caring smile at Nychus, "No, child, they came themselves. I've just been here trying to get you out the day since the attack! Love is a wonderous thing, isn't it?" She looks at Nychus' unamused face, and her smile falters a little from her comment not even making the child bashful. She sighs and starts walking off to the wreckage, to tell the remaining Defenders taking their break that it was over, and to continue the rebuilding efforts. She waves behind her and calls to Nychus, "Take a walk outside, just for a little bit. It won't hurt you!"

Nychus watches Fauna go, then tightens his jaw and slams the door shut. He runs into his room and punches the wall several times, screams eventually turning into sobs as he sinks to his knees and curls up into a ball. His thoughts always return to that night, whenever he closes his eyes or does nothing to occupy himself. He has been trying to fix his mother's armor but has not been able to mend the gashes the Black Man's shocksword left in it. After crying on the floor for a while, Nychus gets up, slowly, and lays on his bed, staring out the window. As the day goes by, the sun's light catches the metal of the strange stick – the RACU Drive, she had called it, on the windowsill, back where he had placed it before the attack. "Why not..." he says to himself and gets up from his bed to grab the drive. He looks back as his mother's broken armor and picks up his mother's helmet. After staring at it for a while, he puts it on, then dawns his armor from his closet and goes into the forest.

After wandering around the forest for a while, Nychus settles under a tree to rest. He was so tired from barely sleeping for a week that he easily drifted off to sleep, no memories of the attack coming to him. He woke to pistons sounding. Before Nychus can do anything, he is again surrounded by the wolf RACU pack. But they seem different somehow. They are sulking, like they are also sad about his mother dying. The alpha approaches Nychus, and bows its head, again revealing the hole at the base of its neck. Nychus pulls out the stick, the RACU Drive his mom called it, from his pocket. He gets up from where he was resting and steps toward the alpha. Another wolf RACU growls at him but it is silenced by the alpha's bark. Nychus goes closer to the alpha and plugs the RACU Drive into alpha's neck. After a moment, the whole pack collapses, a faint beeping sound from their bodies filling the air. Nychus wonders if he killed the RACU, but then they slowly stand back up, like they just woke up. Nychus notices something: their eyes are different. The alpha's eyes, as well as the whole pack's eyes, now glow green instead of red.