When Roads Converge (Almost Perfect Part III) (Zenke)

Kaytlyn arrived in the portal room of her home, Serena beside her. Both of them had clearly been through a war, as they both displayed the considerable damage they had both took in New York. She noticed an alarm sounding in the main lab. She headed there, talking to the computer as she walked. "Computer, status report." The computer responded with its usual flat emotionless voice. "Unidentified lifesign in facility. Emergency Lockdown engaged." Kaytlyn realized that herself when the door to the main lab was sealed with an emergency door. "Computer, override Emergency Lockdown, authorization code four-seven-alpha-tango." The alarms immediately ceased and the door opened. "Authorization code confirmed. Emergency Lockdown disengaged."

Kaytlyn entered the lab and saw what had triggered the lockdown. A young red-haired girl was lying in the containment chamber that she had designed for Gaige's mission. This girl must have been the one Gaige and her friends had gone to rescue. The girl was missing an arm and was bleeding out. Kaytlyn spoke to Serena while keeping her gaze on the girl. "Gaige and her friends were on a mission to find her sister. it appears she succeeded." She rushed over to a console and began inputting commands to activate a stasis unit. "Computer, initiate site-to-site transport on my command." She entered the targets for the transport. "Energize." The girl dissolved and reappeared in the stasis pod as the computer replied flatly. "Transport complete." Kaytlyn input a few more commands, and the pod hissed as the stasis sequence activated. The girl would be kept in stasis until they could repair the damage. Kaytlyn slumped back in her chair.

Serena was pretty badly damaged. She would actually need to replace some parts of her armor. Nanites were good but they couldn't grow back an entire chest piece out of nothing. The damage was significant enough that her nanite skin wasn't sealing properly either, which was painful to say the least.

When they arrived in, alarms were blaring. Kaytlyn quickly shut it down, and they found the reason behind it. Gaige's sister was here, meaning they'd been successful. But where was she? Serena looked at Kaytlyn. "I can track the portal signiture that brought this one here. It wasn't to long ago. Maybe I should go check on things?" She asked.

When Kaytlyn agreed she did as she said and opened a portal into the human world. Several minutes passed before Serena returned with Gaige who was in a bad condition, and a freind of the other girls. As soon as Serena set her down she scanned Gaige's suit and found out how to deactivate it. Gaige would probably give out later, but Serena hacked into the suit's systems and turned it off, causing it to come off piece by peice and vanish into a dimensional storage system.

The state the girl was in was grisly. "Kay prep another stasis pod." Serena said. "She's going to need work but your in no condition right now." Gaige stirred. "Forget that i'm fine. Its just a flesh wound." Gaige said faintly. "Your missing a foot, most of your lower legs are charred and i your missing a kneecap. This could take hours to heal, you need to go in the stasis pod." Serena explained. Gaige snorted, or coughed.

"Fuck it, cut them off." She said. Serena looked at Kaytlyn with an expression that said, "help." She looked at Gaige. "Your not thinking clearly. they can be healed." Serena said. "No I am. Healing will take weeks. Cut them off. Kaytlyn. Prep them for robotic limbs. Just above the knees.. I'll do the rest." Then she passed out again.

Kaytlyn nodded at Serena's recommendation. "Indeed. It is strange that Gaige has not arrived here herself yet. Very well. Be careful." Serena nodded and disappeared through her portal. Kaytlyn walked over the pod containing Vyn and read the diagnostic readout on the console on the front of the pod. Most of the injuries had been mitigated by the young woman's extremely durable internal structure. Her bones especially appeared to be able to withstand extreme stresses while remaining intact. Her arm, though, would require some creative thinking. It was severed just below the shoulder and the surrounding flesh was badly burned. A synthetic implement would seem to be the most logical option.

After several minutes, a portal appeared in the lab and Serena emerged carrying Gaige, and being accompanied by a man Kaytlyn did not recognize. Serena set Gaige down on a diagnostic bed and began to remove Gaige's armor. The man looked around and spotted Vyn's pod. He ran over to it and studied her through the sheet of transparent polymer. "Is she alright?" Kaytlyn looked up and saw the man's face etched in worry. "She is in stasis. Her vital functions have been suspended to keep her alive until we can treat her properly." She turned when Serena called to her, telling her to prepare another pod.

Kaytlyn returned to Gaige and Serena and began entering commands into the console to prepare another pod, but Gaige had regained semi-consciousness. Gaige stated that she wanted Kaytlyn to sever her legs and replace them, rather than wait for them to heal. Serena looked to Kaytlyn for assistance as Gaige lost consciousness again, but Kaytlyn shook her head. "We will do as she asks, but we will put her into stasis first. We need to be fully functional to perform this procedure." Kaytlyn repeated the process that they had used on Vyn, transporting Gaige into a stasis pod. There they lay, the two sisters side-by-side. Kaytlyn turned to Zachary, who had been watching the whole thing silently. "Clearly this one bears some significance to you. I will allow you to stay her with her. We will treat her once Serena and I are fully functional. The process will take several hours." With that, she readied two regeneration units gestured to Serena to occupy one. She stepped into the other, and the process began.

(OOC: A time skip will be necessary here I think XD)

Some time later.

Gaige sat on the examination table across from the stasispod Vyn was sleeping peacefully in. She was peaceful looking, a bit thin and gaunt looking. The horrors she had endured still weighed heavily on her. Gaige waited patiently for Serena to finish a simple pair of prostetic legs for her. She would make her own, but for now she need to move around freely. She intended  to pop home and construct a replacement for Vyn's arm. For what ever reason, her bones didn't respond to any healing. They wouldn't grow back. Serena had gone to look for the arm, but it had been completely destroyed by the railgun.

Serena walked over with the prostetics and Gaige slotted them on. Kaytlyn had done a good job with the  mounting plates for her new legs. "How do they feel?" Serena asked. Gaige stood up and took a few wobbly steps, before grabbing the counter to steady herself. Ok so walking might be harder for a while. Serena showed concern in her face."Take it easy. Are you ok?" Serena asked. "I'm fine. It'll take a bit to get used to them." Gaige replied.  "I  hope  you don't regret your decision..." Serena said. Gaige shrugged. "Hardly. I'm halfway to being a machine now." Gaige said. Serena huffed.

"But they were part of you. Do you not feel like you've lost something.." Serena asked. Gaige shook her head. "I'm not some sort of soft little girl Serene." Gaige said. She walked away, over  to the stasis pod and  looked  at Zackary nearby. "I'm going to build her a replacement limb. When its attached we'll wake her up. You should meet her alone first. She listens to you." Gaige said. She listened to what he had to say, then left for her workshop.

Several hours later.

Gaige reappeared carrying a limb similar to her own and they set to attaching it. When it was done, and calibrated to respond to Vyn's impulses, they moved her from the pod into a comfortable, heavily fortified room. Zackary stayed with her, While Gaige went off to work on designing her new legs. An hour passed Then another, before Vyn finally opened her eyes and looked at Zackary. "Hello..."

Kaytlyn monitored the patient with all of the skill and precision she was known for. She had grafted mounting ports on Gaige's legs to facilitate the prosthetic limbs that Serena was working on, and was now calibrating them to match Gaige's exact physiological specifications. They were not perfect by any means, but they would allow her to walk for now until she made her own prostheses. Serena finished the temporary limbs and walked over to Gaige with them. The Serion slotted them on deftly and stood back to let Gaige stand. She wobbled some, but that was to be expected. Gaige gripped the table firmly to keep her balance. Serena showed concern at Gaige's difficulties, and they engaged in a debate about the situation. When Gaige got the final word in, Kaytlyn ended the discussion with a simple response. "In any case, it is too late now. Regret at situations we cannot change is illogical."

Gaige addressed Zachary then, who hadn't moved from beside Vyn's stasis pod. He nodded and smiled. "Just don't make it pink. She might hate you forever." Then, Gaige was gone.


Later, Gaige arrived back with the new limb. The procedure took some time, after which Vyn was transferred back into the room she had first arrived in. Gaige left again to design a new pair of legs, while Serena left to report back to the Coalition. Vyn eventually regained consciousness, greeting Zachary groggily. Zachary's eyes lit up. "Hi there. Was worried about you for a while, but your sister has skilled friends." He gestured to her new arm. "I always said you were 'armless."

Vyn looked around the room groggily. The air felt different, lighter. She felt lighter, like a heavy weight had been lifted. She starred at Zackary, wondering what had chanced, when he finally replied to her weak hello. "Zackary you might be my best friend but I'm not above slapping you across the room..." She said. "Anyway very funny. who made this fancy gauntlet." She said as she tried to flex the fingers and they reacted slowly. Her hand felt different, and she looked at Zackary in disbelief when he explained what had happened.

"I don't understand. Why didn't it grow back? I've recovered from worse... I don't understand." She said. At that moment, Gaige walked in. Vyn sat up and shifted away from her on the bed, back to the wall. "Your bones are super tough, but the dont grow back." Gaige said casually. Vyn looked at her sister, who was almost more machine than human. "You.. This is your fault. You shot me with that rediculous cannon." Gaige cut in "Its a railgun. Zackary tell her its a railgun."

"I don't care!" Vyn snapped. "Why did you not just leave me alone like I wanted?" She asked. Gaige Shrugged. "Maybe because you were trying to unleash an army of psychopaths? Or becuase I was trying to fix the mess that bitch of a mother we were cursed with made? Maybe I felt responsible for you because I failed to kill her before she got to you!" Gaige said, her voice steadily rising. "I didn't want your help!" Vyn shouted back. "No? So you were happy being driven slowly insane by power you should never have been forced to contain?" Gaige asked. Vyn starred with realisation. The feeling of lightness, the feeling of a lifted weight, it was down to an absence of power.

But she was still mad. "But you still killed one of my freinds, and shot my arm off!" Vyn said. Gaige gestured to her legs. "She blew my legs off! And actually, Zackary killed her. Tell her Zackary." Vyn glowered at both of them. Then she sighed. "Just... Get out. Leave me alone." She said, deflated. Gaige looked at Zackary, and then her sister, and left the room.

Zachary smiled at the retort. "That's the spirit. As for the arm, well, that's a complicated one. Complicated as in your sister shot it off. See, you kinda went mad and tried to murder everyone again. Gaige and her friends took exception to you trying to murder them and kinda... stopped you." Vyn began to flex her new appendage. She questioned why the bones didn't grow back. Zachary shrugged as the door opened and he gestured to Gaige as she walked in. "She's probably a better bet to give you an answer." Zachary move back to the wall of the room and leaned against it casually as the two sisters commenced their debate.

The debate raged and Gaige asked Zachary to confirm the weapon she used on Vyn. He shrugged diplomatically. "It is. I witnessed it." He tried then to withdraw from the firing line. The war raged on a bit more and then the subject of the recently deceased Altaria. Gaige pointed out that Zachary did it, and looked pleadingly at him. "That's also true. It was a terrible deliberate accident. Very tragic. My condolences. But at least she'll be useful now! You can use her to prop open a door or sell her body for science or something."

Then Vyn ended the conversation abruptly, demanding Gaige leave. The older Ashe left reluctantly. Zachary looked sheepishly at Vyn. "Does that mean me too?"

Vyn watched her sister leave. She shook her head when Zackary asked if she wanted him to go. She shook her head. "No. Shut the door." She said. Vyn moved down the bed slightly, and patted next to her, indicating he should sit. She didn't speak for a while, flexing the fingers and hand of her new arm. As much as she wasn't a fan of it, the arm was well constructed. Her sister was amazing. As soon as Zackary sat down, Vyn threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. "I taught you died today... When that facility exploded I was sure everything I cared about was gone, and I just let my power consume me. I would have kept going till I dropped, destroying everything in my path..." Vyn said.

She held back tears. "I forbid you from dying. So don't you dare scare me like that again." She let him go and sat back against the wall "Well. My life is finally semi normal. I could go home to my family now.. But I can't face going back to them either. So maybe we could travel together, put our skills to use helping people.. What do you think?"

Zachary nodded and closed the door. He knew Vyn didn't actually want to be alone right now, and that was the best thing. He sat down next to her as she gave the the new limb a stretch. She wrapped him in tight hug and explained what had happened outside the facility before she ended up here. He put his arm around her as well and a wry smile crept onto his face and he shook his head. "I didn't know my death would affect you so. It's a good thing I've been making a living on being extremely difficult to kill. Although I might not have been so lucky had it not been for your sister. I think what happened outside was a cathartic experience for you. it might have been a good thing to release some steam."

Vyn looked Zachary in the eyes and forbid him from getting killed. He nodded in agreement. "I wasn't too keen on that anyway." Vyn released him from the embrace and sat back against the wall, looking pensive. She asked him to join her in her journey to help people. He nodded and stood up. "Wherever you will go, I will be there to protect you. And in any case, what better use of time is there than shooting bad guys? I'm thinking I need a cool code name or nickname or something. What about... Star Lord?"

Before Vyn could answer, Kaytlyn walked in and nodded politely. She addressed Vyn first. "It is good to see you have recovered. We must return to your homeworld now. I must report back to the Coalition, and I try to make a habit of not leaving random people in my home. Are you ready?" Zachary nodded and answered for Vyn. "We're ready." He turned to Vyn and held out a hand. "How about it? Coming to help Star Lord save the day?"