[RETCONNED]
The rubbery treelike things bent as Tak swung past them to gain momentum, rain splattering on the helmet-bubble to her power suit and evaporating with each drop, leaving a light trace of steam in her wake as she ran. It was dark, the formless, twisting vegetation turning into a writhing mass in the wind and the speed.
Tak had wandered the Nexus for weeks, possibly months, since she left Stormhold and everything and everyone she'd worked for and depended on. She'd been there so long, that she'd almost forgotten how to work for herself.
She could sense the quarry's life-signs on her suit uplink, straight ahead, and growing closer. The tips of her spiderlegs dug into the plants as she lept, scrambled, ran and ricocheted through the woods. His bounty wasn't much, but it was something, and it was convenient that she'd happened to wander in just as the sentients of the moment were cleaning up a ravaged female of their number that had his name on it. It wasn't glamorous or even well-timed, but she'll take what she can get.
She never imagined, just a week before she left, that Samus would say what she did. That Tak was ready. That there wasn't anything else she could learn from the Hunter at that point. Or... that she had to leave now, and that she shouldn't even speak to her for at least a year. Bounty hunters don't fare well together as a rule, and with her apprenticeship over she was free to hunt her own prey. Tak thought she was joking at first. She wasn't. She clawed at her, bargained with her, pleaded with her...
Lightning flashed. The life-signs blipped to sudden strength, and Tak ducked just before the porcine brute swung out from an overhead branch in an attempted kick that didn't connect. Spiderlegs flashed, the pig grabbed one, hauled her up and slammed her against one of the rubbery, water-slick plants.
...Samus had convinced her in the end. Tak had begged. She said that Tak wasn't the type to beg, that she'd grown too complacent there, that she wasn't the Tak that she'd seen when she offered to train her, that she wasn't acting like the irken she'd fallen in love with anymore.
The irken snarled, impaling the brute's shoulder with another leg tip from behind her back and half-lifting herself on it to plant a kick backwards into his chest. The brute stumbled, falling and taking the irken with him, smacking her helmet-bubble into the ground with a domed arc of power flashing around it. He'd almost had the chance to get up when she regained her wits and tripped him, handspringing to her feet and reeling back with a suit-powered punch, only to have his meaty fist clamp around her neck instead.
Packing up her lab apparatuses was an awful chore. Easy because of the expanding and contracting nature of irken technology, but it physically pained her to see her space cleared. The hunter's blue eyes looked every bit as pained as Tak felt, but it seemed as though she were going to use those nerves of steel to throw her mate through the portal and into the unknown without a second glance anyway. Until the end when everything was ready and she embraced her, letting the facade finally shatter. The last night together neither one let go of the other, tears were shed, small promises were spoken, and they tried to draw a lifetime's worth through the feel of skin or the sound of breath or the warmth of a kiss. It was one night, at least, that Tak would never forget even if she lived to be the age of the Hermes god-thing.
Without leverage, Tak thrashed for a moment, spiderlegs and biological legs trying to find purchase. Then she stilled. The porcine fugitive hadn't noticed her leg tips stretching horizontally above her head, aimed downward at neck level. He'd only noticed the glow of their charge in the misty air, but by then there was little he could do. Irken, body and piglike head fell to the ground in a compound tangle of green blood and biomechanics.
The morning she'd left was cold and ruddy, the same kind of dawn that it had been when the two hunters had discovered their affection for each other. Tak hadn't questioned Samus. She hadn't asked if she changed her mind. She knew she was right. Samus had helped her though her forced adolescence, taught her the Arrels, explained the chozo's gaia theory and the spirits they'd revered, taught her to embrace living things for the sake of their living instead of take from them what she wanted like she'd been taught. Samus had been her mentor, her lover, her friend, and she'd grown up inside her nest tucked away in the fae realm. It was time for her to fly. A last embrace that seemed longer than the whole night before, one last brush of a small green hand against her golden hair--she'd learned to love human hair because of her--and then she slowly stepped back, bowed her final bow as a fledgling would do to their chozo elder, and then stepped backwards through the portal and away from the Chozo woman forever.
The body twitched. The piglike being's secondary brain was keeping it alive but incapacitated, as motor control was handled mostly by the head on top. She had a few hours before it'd get up and try to run again. Tak opened a portal and kicked it through roughly, along with a punt to the head which rolled like a slime-riddled medicine ball along with it. By the time his head grew back, he'll be in a place where he wished that it hadn't. Before Tak dove through after it however, she paused. Looked out at the downpour hitting the swaying plants. Her suit was riddled with green blood and rain water, scuffed and missing more energy than she'd like to admit. She was exhausted. But she felt more alive then she had in years. Even in training, it wasn't the same. Every nerve tingled now, the long-forgotten tang of life-or-death coming back to her. Only this time, it was on HER terms. She wasn't a janitor or a would-be Invader anymore. She was a Hunter. And she'd just caught her first prey.
"...Thank you, Samus..."
The portal closed shut, leaving the rain behind.
Tak had wandered the Nexus for weeks, possibly months, since she left Stormhold and everything and everyone she'd worked for and depended on. She'd been there so long, that she'd almost forgotten how to work for herself.
She could sense the quarry's life-signs on her suit uplink, straight ahead, and growing closer. The tips of her spiderlegs dug into the plants as she lept, scrambled, ran and ricocheted through the woods. His bounty wasn't much, but it was something, and it was convenient that she'd happened to wander in just as the sentients of the moment were cleaning up a ravaged female of their number that had his name on it. It wasn't glamorous or even well-timed, but she'll take what she can get.
She never imagined, just a week before she left, that Samus would say what she did. That Tak was ready. That there wasn't anything else she could learn from the Hunter at that point. Or... that she had to leave now, and that she shouldn't even speak to her for at least a year. Bounty hunters don't fare well together as a rule, and with her apprenticeship over she was free to hunt her own prey. Tak thought she was joking at first. She wasn't. She clawed at her, bargained with her, pleaded with her...
Lightning flashed. The life-signs blipped to sudden strength, and Tak ducked just before the porcine brute swung out from an overhead branch in an attempted kick that didn't connect. Spiderlegs flashed, the pig grabbed one, hauled her up and slammed her against one of the rubbery, water-slick plants.
...Samus had convinced her in the end. Tak had begged. She said that Tak wasn't the type to beg, that she'd grown too complacent there, that she wasn't the Tak that she'd seen when she offered to train her, that she wasn't acting like the irken she'd fallen in love with anymore.
The irken snarled, impaling the brute's shoulder with another leg tip from behind her back and half-lifting herself on it to plant a kick backwards into his chest. The brute stumbled, falling and taking the irken with him, smacking her helmet-bubble into the ground with a domed arc of power flashing around it. He'd almost had the chance to get up when she regained her wits and tripped him, handspringing to her feet and reeling back with a suit-powered punch, only to have his meaty fist clamp around her neck instead.
Packing up her lab apparatuses was an awful chore. Easy because of the expanding and contracting nature of irken technology, but it physically pained her to see her space cleared. The hunter's blue eyes looked every bit as pained as Tak felt, but it seemed as though she were going to use those nerves of steel to throw her mate through the portal and into the unknown without a second glance anyway. Until the end when everything was ready and she embraced her, letting the facade finally shatter. The last night together neither one let go of the other, tears were shed, small promises were spoken, and they tried to draw a lifetime's worth through the feel of skin or the sound of breath or the warmth of a kiss. It was one night, at least, that Tak would never forget even if she lived to be the age of the Hermes god-thing.
Without leverage, Tak thrashed for a moment, spiderlegs and biological legs trying to find purchase. Then she stilled. The porcine fugitive hadn't noticed her leg tips stretching horizontally above her head, aimed downward at neck level. He'd only noticed the glow of their charge in the misty air, but by then there was little he could do. Irken, body and piglike head fell to the ground in a compound tangle of green blood and biomechanics.
The morning she'd left was cold and ruddy, the same kind of dawn that it had been when the two hunters had discovered their affection for each other. Tak hadn't questioned Samus. She hadn't asked if she changed her mind. She knew she was right. Samus had helped her though her forced adolescence, taught her the Arrels, explained the chozo's gaia theory and the spirits they'd revered, taught her to embrace living things for the sake of their living instead of take from them what she wanted like she'd been taught. Samus had been her mentor, her lover, her friend, and she'd grown up inside her nest tucked away in the fae realm. It was time for her to fly. A last embrace that seemed longer than the whole night before, one last brush of a small green hand against her golden hair--she'd learned to love human hair because of her--and then she slowly stepped back, bowed her final bow as a fledgling would do to their chozo elder, and then stepped backwards through the portal and away from the Chozo woman forever.
The body twitched. The piglike being's secondary brain was keeping it alive but incapacitated, as motor control was handled mostly by the head on top. She had a few hours before it'd get up and try to run again. Tak opened a portal and kicked it through roughly, along with a punt to the head which rolled like a slime-riddled medicine ball along with it. By the time his head grew back, he'll be in a place where he wished that it hadn't. Before Tak dove through after it however, she paused. Looked out at the downpour hitting the swaying plants. Her suit was riddled with green blood and rain water, scuffed and missing more energy than she'd like to admit. She was exhausted. But she felt more alive then she had in years. Even in training, it wasn't the same. Every nerve tingled now, the long-forgotten tang of life-or-death coming back to her. Only this time, it was on HER terms. She wasn't a janitor or a would-be Invader anymore. She was a Hunter. And she'd just caught her first prey.
"...Thank you, Samus..."
The portal closed shut, leaving the rain behind.