/~Contrario~/
I sat on the cold floor of my room, my fingers were numb as they clawed through the half-ripped tactical bag I'd been lugging around since the raid before the memory dungeon. The thing was battered, mud-stained, metal-buckled and was stitched together by grime and sheer will. It had been tossed aside during the chaos of me going to the infirmary, forgotten in the infirmary hallway, waiting like some old relic for me to finally remember it mattered.
I tipped it over, spilling all its contents like guts on the floor. Everything I had in the bag was things I thought would be necessary for me, from empty capsule shells, to broken stim patches, an old visor lens cracked across the centre, and...
There it was.
The glow it gave off made the air feel heavier.
A red glow. Pulsing gently like a heartbeat.
I reached for it slowly, as if any sudden movement might make it vanish. My fingers curled around the Core. It was small, dense, and warm like freshly spilt blood. It was a rare grade one. Not epic. Not legendary. But enough to make anyone pause and stare.
"Stray," I murmured.
His voice came immediately, like static smoothing into a whisper. "Yes, Contrario."
I held the core up to the faint lighting of the room. "What's the status of your current core?"
There was a pause. A diagnostic hum ticked in my HUD.
"My current core is operating at 83% integrity. Stabilization algorithms are still recovering from our last overload. Current strain thresholds suggest any further enhancement would risk rejection."
"I haven't even said anything about further enhancement"
"But I know you, Contrario"
I sighed. Of course, he'd say that.
"Be straight with me. If you had to, could you handle a second core?"
"It would be...dangerous." Stray hesitated. "Two cores inside one avatar framework require synchronisation at a very delicate molecular level. My chassis isn't designed for that. And I don't feel you're strong enough to bring out the full output even if the core integration was successful."
"But could you try?" I pressed. My voice cracked more than I wanted it to. "Could we try?"
"Why?" Stray's voice sharpened. "Why would you risk that? You know what happened last time. You remember the overloads, the feedback burns. That was just from a misfire alone, and now you deliberately want to...."
"I'm tired, Stray," I said, gripping the core tighter. "Tired of being four steps behind. Tired of watching people get better while I'm stuck....stuck...with one avatar and a lifetime of ghosts."
I swallowed. My throat felt dry, like I'd been screaming in a dream.
"I don't want to be limited anymore," I continued, slower this time. "You think I don't know the risk? You think I don't feel it? But I need to try. We need to evolve or get left behind. And I'm not losing to Kyra and Axel or anyone else in this damn war. Stray, I am tired of seeing people die when I could've done something."
"Contrario..."
"It's not an epic core," I said, shaking the red orb slightly. "It's rare. Just a rare one. It's safer. I've done my research. I've watched other methods at the Forge. I've trained my mind to align, to sync, to flow. I won't let you die, Stray. I swear to you. I won't."
There was another pause. A longer one this time.
Then, "...If we do this, we do it carefully. One error in synchronisation and I could be corrupted. You could collapse. This isn't like equipping a new weapon, this is heart surgery with fire."
I smiled faintly.
"I'll bring the bandages."
Stray didn't laugh. He never did. But I felt the small shift in his tone.
"Fine. I will prepare integration protocols. But if I say abort....we abort immediately."
"Deal."
I pulled an empty stasis box from the pile and placed the Core inside, sealing it in a compression field. Then, grabbing a reinforced carry pack, I gathered the stims, bonding agents, and fusion wiring I'd need.
Noix Forge. That's where we'd do it. Away from the noise. Away from the eyes.
As I stood, I felt that weight return. The weight of choice. Of risk. But beneath it was something else…
I felt Hope.
—----------------------------------
/~Axel~/
The air in Irish Valley always tasted different, it was less synthetic and more real. I didn't like it. Growing up in Nova City, I loved it up there; everything felt raw here. Raw emotions, raw power, raw truths. Bloodhound was already sniffing along the cracked path ahead, it has its crimson sensors glowing low like embers. Every few seconds, its tail twitched, a sure sign that it was picking up scent trails.
I kept a short leash on it, not that it would disobey me. Bloodhound was engineered from my own neural patterns to be obedient, efficient, and deadly. But even still, the avatar had its own instincts. And right now, those instincts were pulling us through the maze of steel and moss-stained ruins that made up the outer zones of Irish Valley's war corridor.
"Oiii, you got something for me?" I murmured under my breath. Bloodhound let out a low electronic growl. Yeah, we were close.
I sighed and leaned back against the wall of a broken-down supply station with my arms crossed. Waiting gave my mind too much time to wander. Kyra's words replayed in my head like a looping glitch.
> "I need to work with someone from Irish Valley." <
Just like that. She gave no further explanation. Her request had no logic. No name and no plan whatsoever. That was her style, a lady who wraps chaos in silk and lets it dance. But this time? Something was off. Why now? Why Irish Valley?
She didn't even look me in the eye when she said it.
I kicked a loose bolt off the edge of the supply platform.
Bloodhound's growl deepened. It was sharp, short and excited.
"Target locked?" I asked.
It responded by lowering its head, tail stiff as a blade. My HUD lit up: Signature match found.
Name: CONTRARIO WILLIAMS.
Of course.
I should have known from the start. When she said she wanted to work with someone from Irish Valley, it could be no other than her weak crush. How could I have missed the signs, from the first time we met, Kyra left him alive for some reason. The other night, she sneaked out to the Booty hole and I bet my life it was for this kid.
I jumped down from the ledge just as Bloodhound rounded the last wall, and sure enough, there he was, leaning against a broken steel gate, eyes narrowed like he'd sensed me a mile away.
His armor was scratched, his breathing still slightly uneven. But he was alive. And carrying the same fire in his eyes that I remembered from the tournament trials.
"Contrario," I called out.
He didn't flinch. "Axel."
"Didn't think I'd find you this easily."
He folded his arms. "I'm guessing you didn't come here to catch up."
"You're smart," I said, stepping closer. Bloodhound circled him lazily, scanning. "I've got a proposition."
"Whatever it is, I'm not interested," he shot back instantly.
I smirked. "You haven't even heard it yet."
"If it involves the twins of doom, no sane person would want to hear it, and with how you approached me, I'm even less interested."
I chuckled. "Well…..."
He tilted his head, jaw tightening. "Let me ask you this, why me, Axel? You've got a dozen killers in Nova who would love to prove themselves."
I paused for a beat, choosing my words carefully. "Because none of them know pain the way you do. You fight like a man who's lost everything and still refuses to die."
His eyes darkened, and I knew I hit a nerve. Good.
"You're stalling," he said. "What's the job?"
I took a slow breath. "Assassination. High-profile. Classified target. Has to be one shot, no collateral, and it ends clean."
"Who?" he asked, voice like steel.
"Classified," I said coolly.
"And I'm supposed to risk everything on a ghost file?"
"50,000 Starlos says you've done it before, come on, you've grown a long way from taking petty dungeon jobs."
He stepped toward me, voice cold now. "Don't act like you know me, Axel. You don't know what I've done. You don't know what I've lost."
I held his stare. "Maybe not. But I know one thing for certain. Deep down, you want to be valuable. And this could be your shot."
Contrario looked down at Bloodhound, then at the horizon behind me. "Tell me the real reason you came to me."
I hesitated.
He caught it.
His eyes narrowed. "Who sent you?"
I grinned, refusing to answer.
He scoffed. "Thought so. Whoever it is, tell them I'm not for sale."
He turned to leave.
I called after him. "You'll come, Contrario. Everyone does eventually."
He didn't even look back.
But I saw his fists clench.
Bloodhound walked beside me as I stepped back into the shade. I activated my communicator and keyed in one word for Kyra:
"Refused. For now."
I smiled to myself.
"We'll see."