Origins of an Icer

Chapter 23

Engine room of the Iron Maiden

Wren stumbled back from the tank, gulping as he watched the Night Mother tilt her head, mouthing aimlessly at him. His head spun too fast for him, his senses overwhelmed with the simple command he had received, but he simply... he couldn't.

(Mother please, I cannot! You are practically a goddess, a maker of our universe! There are no others to my knowledge... I can't kill you, Night Mother!) He whimpered, falling to the floor as he watched the corpse let out a shrill cry, her skin crackling and cooking under the amount of electricity pulsing through her.

(You must... or your friends will die. That was another wave of heavy artillery, your friends will die unless you kill the power source to the gun, and this cursed gilded cage itself. Kill me, little Iscerian, you must, for the sake of all we held dear, release me from this Hell once and for all. I have a gift for you when I die...) Wren sighed heavily, closing his eyes as he ran his claws through his pale hair, letting out a roar that shook the room. His ears rang with blood pumping loudly, standing up fully as he pressed both hands to the tank, concentrating hard as he spread ice along the glass. Quickly forming a thick coat on the tank, it started to drop the temperature inside where the Night Mother lay in, her voice in his head sighing in relief.

(They always kept it too warm in here... this will be a pleasant death for me, little one. More power...) Wren sniffed loudly, closing his eyes to let the tears fall down his cheeks as he poured his power into the tank. Hearing the wires stop humming, her skin turning blue quickly as her breath came in labored puffs of steam, he looked up into the empty sockets of her skull, attempting a small smile as she relaxed fully, her heart slowly beginning to stop pulsing against the wiring. Moving one last time, she seemed to lean back, exposing more of her innards as he gasped, finding a tiny sac resting inside what remained of her womb. Shattering the glass hard with his tail, he winced at the knife wound in his belly but reached inside the cavity, pulling out the tiny egg.

(My god... she's not the last...)

(Plant him far away from here, to a strong star in a nebula. He needs to grow more...keep him safe.) Her voice faded from his mind as he gently held her heart in his hand, kissing the organ as he raced out of the room, noticing the lights shutting off. Alarms kicked up, sirens and klaxons screaming in the halls as droids and crew ran to gather what happened. Wren opened his wings, kicking into the air with the sac carefully secured in his jumpsuit as he flew back along to the Archives. His heart stopped at seeing the ice being broken apart, blood staining the clear surface but with no Akifa in sight.

(Oh gods... I just might not make it.) He shook his head, flapping hard as he flew from the room, racing towards the hangar when a whip snapped out of a corner, wrapping around his throat before dragging him down to the floor hard.

"There you are... and here I hoped you were going to abandon me entirely on this damned ship. Good job by the way, everything is falling apart so quickly, the Captain is essentially trying to use this as a self-destruct device towards the fleet. Now... what to do about you, my love?" Akifa's voice purred from the shadows, reeling the whip in. His eyes were now completely blue with the flow of commands overriding his brain as he pressed a boot to Wren's chest.

"Akifa..." Wren struggled to breathe, let alone speak with the tight lash around his esophagus as he growled, his skin temperature already freezing along the leather of the whip. Akifa pressed more weight onto his chest, thankfully missing the egg as Wren tried to stay still to avoid getting crushed between the weight on his chest growing and the tightness around his throat.

"Mmm... you've been so sweet to this pilot, you never noticed how he really was a human. He's got a record, so much black stain from his history that spreads throughout his planet of misfits and thieves. You couldn't possibly believe that he ever truly loved you, he isn't capable of it. Especially now that he is an Avatar of his home-world, he can't afford to feel anything. He has the power of a planet's core pumping through his body, and I'm sure it'll break him in no time, but not before I have him destroy you. All I have to do is awaken him when he's standing over your broken body, and let him self-destruct. Have a fun date." Wren snarled at the Captain's voice echoing from around the room through the PA system as he twisted from Akifa's boot, lashing out with his tail to flip the pilot onto his back. Removing the whip, he rubbed his neck gently before scrambling to pin Akifa, seeing the crimson glow overtake the healthy gold before Akifa sent him flying with a kick to his chest. Power of a planet's core... this'll be fun to try and not kill. Wren shook his head, groaning as his lungs screamed at the sudden loss of air as he dove towards Akifa, spreading his wings to wrap around the pilot.

Not the best idea... Akifa's eyes had gone black, letting out a roar as he grabbed Wren by the tail and threw him into the wall, taking out his dual pistols this time. Wren groaned, slowly lifting his head with a wince, his vision quickly focusing on the two points of gold aimed at him before he heard the sharp click of the pistols. His legs bolted to the sides, weaving around the shots to distract the pilot as Wren exhaled softly onto the cold tile, seeing it blossom in ice to spread around the floor. Filling the room dropped the temperature quickly, Akifa puffing clouds of steam as he shook from the cold and nearly falling as he realized the ice had crept up the boots and jumpsuit to his thighs.

"You... you cheating sneak! You can't even fight a battle honorably!"

(Since when did you care about honor?! You never wanted to battle if you could help it, you always found a way to avoid it, or finish it quickly to let you go. You know you're outmatched, please, holster your guns. You have to fight the orders...) Wren's voice pleaded in Akifa's head, trying to push past the control of the Captain. His mind filled with memories of Akifa's imprisonment, the experiments he fell in and out of consciousness with, but his heart dropped at the amount of dread Akifa had felt when he saw Wren come back to him. He had known the Captain would want the pilot to try to kill Wren, no matter where or when, but the command was there and it wasn't stopping anytime soon. Wren pinned Akifa, letting out a shriek that echoed and shattered the ice, glass from surrounding areas cracking hard and spidering across as the pilot lay in shock.

"Y...you're crying," he whispered, stilling his movements as Wren closed his eyes, feeling the tears freeze against his cheeks, wiping them off with his claws.

(Yes... because you weren't truly happy to see me again. You knew this would happen, but you still chose to go with me. A part of you is still there, fighting every step of the way... but everything you went through, every injury and horrible experiment they did to you... I'll kill every single one of them.) Wren's voice echoed through like painful cold needles in Akifa's mind, shuddering as he saw the light burning inside the mismatched blue eyes. Gently reaching out a hand, he cupped Wren's cheek and sat up, pressing their foreheads together as Wren sniffed loudly, gently grabbing Akifa's throat.

(I'm so sorry...)

"Please, just hurry... she's fighting me back, and soon I can't- I won't be able to stop her. There's no way to stop her unless you...kill..." Akifa choked as Wren's grip tightened hard, stopping the air flow in the pilot before passing out. Wren kissed him gently sending a wave of cold into the body to freeze it in suspension as he got up, running out of the hall towards the elevator shaft. His thoughts closed off to all calls, chucking his earpiece to the ground before climbing the rope towards the top floor.

All that mattered to him was destroying this ship, and the Captain of the Iron Maiden lying dead at his feet to harm no one anymore. He was enraged, his hands sparking with his claws shearing everything they touched with his tail lashing and cracking as he made his way to the floor, grabbing the doors with his hands before ripping them apart. The droids went to attack him, but a wave of his hand and they froze before even firing their guns, breaking down and shattering with his tail striking at them.

"Well... you made it to the bridge. Congratulations."