Story Reader / Affection / Lucia: Crimson Weave / Story
In the woods, Alpha finds herself surrounded by the rioters, her eyes staring coldly at the man leading the group.
A Construct?! But I thought everyone had left that slimehole of a conservation area already!
Having no intention to answer the preposterous question, Alpha places her hand on her katana's grip.
Give me the thing and get lost.
...And what do we get in return?
This thing didn't just follow us out of that conservation area, you know...
I'll let you walk away in one piece.
...
The man sizes up Alpha with menacing eyes, apparently trying to determine whether they stand a chance of toughing the situation out.
You probably want to hurry up.
Pushed ever so lightly out of the sheath, Alpha's katana seems aglow with a chill. Alpha squints, her patience quickly running out.
Bam!
Much to everyone's surprise, the man pulls out his gun and fires a decisive shot at Alpha.
...Tsk.
Alpha blocks the bullet with a slash of her katana, stirring up a gust of wind that disperses the smoke from the smoke grenade that's thrown her way immediately after the shot.
I hope that wasn't your best move already.
Scatter out and run!
Make sure the thing is safe and y'all will get a cut!
Shouts the man as he waves his arm excitedly. Then, rolling over, he dodges a slash from Alpha and rolls away downhill.
With the man's order, the rioters scatter every which way.
Ready to give chase, Alpha mounts her motorcycle—but stops in her tracks.
Alpha!
Apparently having taken the shortcut, a human comes darting out of the woods with mud and leaves all over.
It's [player name].
Well done. Well done indeed.
But you'll have to fight for what you came seeking.
...
Trying to stall me here, huh?
Another day, maybe.
Gunning her motorcycle's engine, Alpha speeds down the road in pursuit of the rioters.
Is that a... threat?
Hearing you utter the word "Babylonia", Alpha turns around with a dangerous look.
You mark a new path on your terminal and sync the path with Crowe.
Bemused by the Construct that seemed to have come out of nowhere, Crowe takes your order all the same and starts pursuing Alpha with the given coordinates.
...I wonder what Babylonia would say about you being alone with an Ascendant.
Alpha looks at you, her face devoid of emotions.
You know you have the upper hand here to initiate a talk.
About what?
Even with the help of the two squads that are on their way here, the rioters still stand a pretty good chance of making their way out of here with the hard drive, given their sheer number.
In your plan, the only way for both you and Alpha to win is if the two of you work together.
But if the rioters make it out of here, the thing you both came looking for might be gone for good.
...Spell out the details, then.
Her motorcycle's engine coming to a halt, Alpha looks dubiously at you.
Glad that Alpha is willing to lend you a listening ear, you pull out your terminal and circle a few locations.
...
This really reminds me of how good Babylonia is at catching their prey—except I'm no longer a crybaby.
Alpha looks at you with a faint smile, her mind unreadable through her eyes.
...
A moment of silence later, Alpha kicks her motorcycle into gear.
Sure you're ready to join hands with an Ascendant?
Done deal.
Wasting no time, Alpha twists the throttle as soon as you mount her motorcycle.
...Well, let's hope you've got enough serum to burn through, then.
Blasting out an ear-splitting vroom, Alpha's motorcycle zips through the snowfield at full throttle like a blood-red thunder, her arms all the while aglow in red.
As Alpha's motorcycle zips past everything in sight, the reading of the Punishing Virus density on your terminal seems to be skyrocketing, too.
50%... 60%... 70%...
You hold your breath, feeling your heart pounding faster by the second. Right when the virus has become so dense that it's only a split second from penetrating your protective suit, you hear a sneer.
Scared?
The virus density stops right before it breaks the critical point.
Right then, your terminal receives a connection request.
Crowe's voice comes right out as soon as the request has been accepted.
Commandant, we're suddenly picking up a high concentration of Punishing Virus here! And it's moving toward the checkpoints at top speed!
And I can see that you're with the Punishing Virus reaction... What in the world is happening?!
The support squads are on their way, so please just hang in th...
But...
With a sharp electrical noise that comes through the channel, Crowe's voice blurs beyond understanding.
As Alpha's motorcycle comes to a sudden stop, you feel yourself hurled against her back.
You're going to involve a third party for help?
The [BUZZ—] Punishing... interference... [BUZZ—]...
For this deal we have here, there is only me, you, and no one else, period.
Communication Terminated
And you really don't think I'm going to take you hostage, huh?
You're either helplessly naive or incredibly brave, and I can't decide which one you are.
...Hmph.
With a cold huff, Alpha speeds down the road again, leaving waves of snowy dust behind her.
Alpha seems to be saying something to you, except you can barely make out her words in the deafening winds.
...Tight.
Hold on tight, I said.
No sooner does Alpha finish speaking do you feel the motorcycle gunned into top gear, threatening to fling you off into the waves of snow behind.
When you've recovered yourself, you find your hands around Alpha's waist.
Through your protective suit, Alpha feels soft and warm—and awkwardly stiff—to the touch.
...
Surprisingly, however, Alpha says nothing as she tightens her grip around the throttle.
The chilly winds bite at your skin as snowflakes speed past you, transforming the world as you see it into a great grayish mass.
The snowfield appears to have deprived you of your sense of space and time, leaving you and Alpha the only souls traveling through the bombardment of snow...
After God only knows how long, the motorcycle does a tactful semicircular turn—before it screeches to a stop right before a figure.
Scared soulless seeing the two of you, the person turns out to be the man leading the group of rioters.
The man tries to run for dear life—only to find his attempt futile when he sees Alpha already standing in his way.
There you are.
You have the thing, don't you?
Like hell I'm going to give it to you!
Uh-huh.
Pulled out of the sheath, Alpha's katana swooshes through the wind. With her weapon, Alpha begins a chase.
The dart hits the man, knocking him out cold right away. With a swing, Alpha puts her katana back into her sheath.
Playing the saint now, huh?
...Hmph.
Alpha says no more, her katana still resting in the sheath.
Right before Alpha starts walking up to the man to look for the hard drive you both have been trying to hunt the rioters down for, the man thrusts forward—and drops the hard drive from his hand down the cliff.
Try to get that now!
With the man still shouting, Alpha wastes no time jumping off the cliff herself.
It's only halfway up the mountain where you all are—but the seemingly bottomless gorge off the cliff abounds with rocks of all sizes, and Alpha is nowhere to be seen anymore.
Commandant! Are you alright?!
Seeing you right beside the cliff, Crowe scuttles over from the dilapidated road.
What... is going on?
Is it the virus reaction I picked up earlier?!
You bring Crowe up to speed.
So the Ascendant is after the same thing we are? But, I mean... we aren't going to jump off this cliff here ourselves now, are we?
Boy, this is a real shame... We were this close.
When you tap on the screen of your terminal, a map pops up that shows a flashing red dot.
You put the tracker on Alpha during the ride, which now shows that Alpha is on the move.
But the deal is still on.
With the exception of three rioters who have been neutralized for staging resistance, the rest of the rioters have been captured.
Commandant, what exactly are we going to...
Your heart still pounding, you take another look down the cliff—and, for one split second, seem to still see Alpha's figure down below.
The red dot on the map continues to flash invitingly.
The darkness of night slowly envelops the world.
From where she is standing up on the cliff, Alpha can see the conservation area down below.
With the sun setting, specks of light start appearing across the conservation area. This particular conservation area seems relatively unaffected by the Punishing Virus—and despite what little resource it has, its citizens have welcomed refugees with open arms.
[player name] is in there, too.
The specks of light faintly aglow in her eyes, Alpha tightens her hand around the grip of her katana as she lowers her head.
Going forward, she is to trust no one but herself—for hope is flimsy at best when given by others.
Dark and full of uncertainty is the path she's chosen, and time and time again she's bound to stumble and fall...
Still, Alpha is ready to face all odds head-on.
Quickly patching up her wounds from the fall off the cliff, Alpha turns around and starts heading for the peak.
