So it took a while, but something finally happened.
The three of us spent the last few days keeping an eye out for anything unusual, rotating sleeping so that two of us were always awake at any one time. The house was rather boring, and whoever was awake wound up playing cards half of the time. Specifically, me and one of the scouts were at the tail end of a game of poker when we heard knocking at the door. I sent the scout up to open the door, and I reached for my cane. The other scout was asleep on the couch between us and the door and the lazy bastard didn't move an inch.
So I stood there and watched as the scout went to the door, half expecting something like the Rake to pop up and lunge for me. Instead the door opened and there was this guy in a white coat. I lowered my guard for a second and the man poked the scout with his right hand and the scout collapsed immediately. No wobbling, no slurred speech, just straight down.
Once he hit the ground, several things happened. The man at the door looked up and scanned the room methodically from left to right. The scout on the couch began to wake up. And I realized that the coat the man was wearing was a torn, ragged version of the Oathbreakers' uniform. The man's eyes stopped on me and I saw them widen in surprise.
I hardened my grip on my cane and in the time it took my hand to get a firm grasp of the head, the man had moved from the doorway to the couch where the other scout was still trying to get his bearings. The man in the white coat poked the scout's neck, his arm moving almost too fast for me to see, and the scout fell back down over the tattered arm of the couch that was his bed. I attempted to raise the cane up, but sadly I never made it. However, in the time between the second scout's fall and my own incapacitation I managed to catch a few bright gleams from holes in the man's arm. I would have plenty of time to think about the ramifications of this discovery while the man held me in the air by my neck with that very same arm.
In retrospect I should have been thinking about what to do right then and there, but instead I panicked, worrying that I was going to fall like the other two. Thankfully I didn't fall. The thing decided to hold me there for a bit instead of poking me, every muscle in its face twitching and spasming like nothing I've ever seen before. Soon it calmed down somewhat and began to speak in a very monotone, stuttering voice.
"I... I... I remember... I......."
At this point it let out a few noises I'm certain no man could ever make.
"This one remembers you. This one remembers the... the... the... the atrocities you committed."
I stared down at him, dumbstruck partly by the fact that this thing remembers me, and partly by the fact that I couldn't remember what atrocity it was talking about. Thankfully, it continued before I could dwell too long on this fact.
"I know you. I remember what you did... at... I... I... This one knows what you did at the location designated 'Northe Facility.'"
That one caught me off guard. I managed to get out a few words from under his grip.
"What are you?"
Again, in hindsight, this was not the best of things to ask, as I'm sure it would have continued its monologue unaided. All I managed to do was make it angry. It's steel grip on my neck tightened and it let out a wavering roar as it pushed me against the nearest wall.
"I USED TO BE A MAN. I HAD A NAME. I... I was... I..."
More violent facial twitches at this point, and it seemed to be a lot more unstable.
"This unit is designated 3.1.14.14.15.18. It was assimi... it... I was TAKEN from my facility. You let... You... You abused the Tower for your own gain. This unit was assimilated from the Recovery designated 11.4.... 4... 4... 4... 4... IT TOOK ME UP AND SPAT ME OUT ON THESE SANDS. DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE? TO HAVE THESE COMMANDS ALL THE TIME?"
I might have answered, but I was slowly being choked by an arm that I was certain was metal at this point. I took this time to notice that this guy had one metal eye and one non-metal eye. I am not sure why I didn't notice it earlier, but I am now convinced that I need some more combat training to reduce these panic freezes. Needless to say, they almost got me killed today.
"DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE? HUH? YOU DAMNED TRAITOR! I'M GOING TO DRAG YOU OUT INTO THE DESERT AND BURY YOU IN THE SAND AND WATCH YOU DIE."
Mercifully, I was now in full control of my faculties and I was quickly trying to figure out how to kill this angry Towerborn before it choked me or made good on its promise to bury me in the desert. I still had my combat cane and after a bit of one handed fidgeting, I put it on what I hoped was the acid setting, and I jabbed it as hard as I could into the arm that wasn't holding me up.
This worked surprisingly well. He lost his grip on my neck and began screaming like any other organic being would. I guess the Newborn hadn't assimilated too much of him, since the pain receptors in his brain were clearly still active. During its thrashing, a pair of glasses fell off of his face and onto the floor. This seemed to pull the Towerborn out of its agony, but instead of rushing me again, it scooped up the glasses and fled out into the middle of fuck-nowhere from whence it came.
Had I the right equipment, I might have followed it out into the desert. However, I wasn't exactly expecting the thing I was looking for to be a piece of the Newborn, so I was missing a few necessities.
I did, however, manage to catch the general direction in which it fled. I also discovered that both scouts were completely and utterly dead.
So I've contacted the bosses, requested a cleanup crew, and I'm heading out quickly to resupply and plan out my next move. I'm also nursing a bruised neck and being very thankful that I am still alive.
- Have a Nice Day
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