u/mechakid

Special thanks to u/SavingsSyllabub7788 both for agreeing to this crossover and for contributing major sections of the story and dialogue. You have been and continue to be most epic.

As always, this story is not canon, but perhaps it could be?

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Trigger warning: extreme violence

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Memory transcription subject: Angela Haverbrook, “the White Rose”

Date [standardized human time]: February 10, 2139

The abandoned PD facility sprawled before us, the forest slowly encroaching on old stone. Tarik and Lanu had actually been here before, four days ago, but neither one of them had penetrated too deeply into its halls. I paused at the steps leading up to the main entrance, noting the traps that had been laid four days ago for the supposed shadestalkers. “Right under your noses the whole time…” I said softly.

“Miss Haverbrook…” Lanu began. She had been silent ever since I revealed my relationship with Estala. “I want to know why you felt such hatred that you wanted to kill exterminators.”

“That’s a loaded question if there ever was one.” I responded while thinking about my entry into the building, cross-referencing it with the floorplans on my pad. There were three possible places where I would set up an ambush. The front lobby was not one of them, since the open space made it grenade bait, and honestly this HF cell was running out of mooks. Of course, they could be stupid, and posted up right inside… No, the ambush would be much further in, which is why only Estala was captured the first time the exterminators were here.

“Please… I want to understand it.”

I took a deep breath. “My mercy died when they did…”  It had been a long time since I had to relive this part of my past, but since they wanted to learn the depths of human darkness, it was important that they saw it how I did back then. “When humans first encountered the federation, the reaction was… poor… We were viewed as a threat, just like the arxur, and no matter what evidence we showed, or how much we sought to prove our innocence, there were those among the federation that refused to see humans as people.”

“Sovlin… and Kalsem” Tarik flicked his tail slowly.

“Two of the more notable examples, but there were plenty of others.” I nodded. “The thing is, when you refuse to see people as people, violence becomes very easy. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

“So, are you saying it's our fault?” Lanu looked angry, so I held up my hands to slow her down.

“Some of yours, some of ours. You may have noticed that humans are very social beings in general. We tend to form strong bonds with our family and close friends. We usually have fewer bonds than your herds, but they are much deeper as a result, so when something happens to one it’s very traumatic for us. In one day, millions of those bonds were shattered like glass.”

“The extermination fleet?”

I swallowed hard looking over my shoulder at them as we walked right up to the door. “My brother died in the bombings. He was the type who would never hurt anyone, not even with words. He died… and I swore vengeance on his killers.” My hand dropped to my pistols. “In my grief, I made the same mistake. I stopped seeing the exterminators as people.”

“So, what happened?” Lanu was shaken, and Tarik had a thoughtful head tilt.

“Someone woke me up.” I pulled the pistols from their holsters and squared up. “The people who have Estala are still asleep, so from here on stay behind me. If someone takes a shot at us, your flame suits won’t be worth paper.”

I raised my foot and kicked the door hard.

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Memory transcription subject: Lanu

The human barely gave us any time to process what she had said. Her eyes darkened, and her face contorted into a snarl as her foot impacted the door. There was a sound of shearing metal, and the door swung open, the lock mechanism falling to the ground with a dull thud.

Inside there was no one. No surprise waited for us, and that was a shock in and of itself. Sitting propped up on the reception desk though was a human playing card, the “queen of hearts.”

“I was afraid of that.”

“Of what?” I asked expectantly. If this human was expressing fear, I wanted to know three paws ago.

“Our next opponent is exactly as smart as I think she is. See that?” Angela pointed at the card. “She’s telling us she could have met us here but chose not to. She is deciding the terms of our next fight, which means she will give herself as many advantages as she can.”

There was the sound of human laughter over the PA system, and Angela frowned. “You’re not wrong, Songbird the White Rose.”

“SPEH! How is she listening to us?”

“That's easy, she’s listening to us through the intercoms. Of course, that limits where in the building she can be.” Angela smiled, holding up her pad with a map of the building. A particular security office was highlighted in red. “So, Margaret, if you know that name, then you know my reputation as well. Fear my heart of darkness and stand aside.” Angela began walking down the hall, glancing into some rooms, ignoring others. 

“I don’t fear you though. On the contrary, I plan on taking you down a peg.”

At the end of the hall, Angela motioned for us to stop, having us move to the side of the doorway behind her. We were two rooms away from the one marked on the map, and the next room was big, with only a faint glow of light inside. With a hand wave, she had us crouch down as low as we could. She looked at the door and took a deep breath. Angela raised her arms over her face, and she crashed through the door.

<BA-BA-BAP!>

<BLAM!  BLA-BLAM!>

<BA-BA-BA-BAP! BA-BA-BAP!>

<BLAM!>

<BABABABABABABABABAclick-click-click!>

There were bright flashes from inside the room. The sound was incredibly loud, with a pattern of softer metallic plinks almost at the same time. It hurt my ears and I put my paws over them to protect them. 

Then there was silence for a moment that seemed to stretch forever before I heard voices.

“God DAMNIT!”

“Fuck, you’re in armor too…”

Tarik and I peeked through the door. Light from the hall spilled in, combining with dozens of candles to make very spooky shadows. Angela was standing close, one arm still shielding her face while the other held one of her pistols aimed and ready. The raider’s armor had a half dozen new scars in it. At the other end of the room was the woman with red hair, wearing her own black body armor and holding a large weapon that was smoking slightly.

Margaret set her weapon down on one of the side boards, and in its place, she picked up a pair of what looked like flanged iron clubs. “Eh, it’s more fun to make you kneel to me this way anyways…”

The two humans rushed towards each other, Angela’s blades sparking as they met Margaret’s clubs. All of us exterminators had taken EAT training at Estala’s insistence, but this was a whole other level. Even armored and with metal weapons, they moved in a blur.

“Royal Marines?” Angela asked, grunting as she fended away a blow aimed at her head.

“First Beefeaters.” came Margaret’s reply, red hair billowing out as she tried to slip around behind Angela. Our human was tired, having fought all the way here. Margaret on the other paw was fresh and feeling confident. More and more of her blows were getting through, driving Angela back.

I saw Tarik pull out his flare gun, looking for an opening, but the two humans were moving so quickly it was impossible for my partner to line up a shot. Suddenly, Margaret kicked, catching Angela in the mid-section, sending our human flying back at us. Angela crashed into Tarik and they both sprawled onto the ground. Margaret flashed a toothy smile, wiping blood from her face. She looked straight at me, and started walking towards me…

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Memory transcription subject: Angela Haverbrook

[Warning: Memory file shows extreme psychological variance]

[Continue? [Y]/N]

“You can’t beat her, you know… Black Heart whispered. I knew.

“Not tired and worn out as you are…” She said. She was right. Everything hurt, and my arms felt like they were made of lead. I seemed to barely be able to move.

“And she’ll kill you… and these two fuzzballs… and then the bird…

“Could you be more helpful?” I yelled back at her. I could see Margaret walking towards Lanu with murderous intent.

“Of course I can… I’m not “limited” like you are.” Black Heart laughed “Unchain me, and I’ll take care of everything.”

“No, I’m not going back to that.”

“You have to, if you want them to live.” I saw Margaret raise one of her maces, readying the blow.

“…Try really hard not to kill anyone this time…” I said quietly

My fists clenched.

The pain seemed to drain away.

“No promises…”

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Memory transcription subject: Estala, captive spectator

A shadow crossed Angela’s face. Her eyes darkened, and I saw an expression I had only seen her wear once… on that day two human years ago when we first met.

“No!” I squawked. “DON’T DO IT!”

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Memory transcription subject: Lanu

The red-haired human towered over me, still smiling. She raised her weapon, and I covered my head. “Say your prayers, little firebug.”

I closed my eyes, but the blow never came. Instead, there was a dull clang as the metal club hit something hard.

“They pray to gods they never see…” I heard, Angela’s voice coming through in a terrifying whisper. I peeked. She was standing between me and the monster. Bloody, armor dented and even punctured in a half dozen places.  “But you? You should be praying to me…”

Angela’s right hand slammed palm first into Margaret’s stomach, causing an “oof” sound to come out of the red-haired woman. It wasn’t a strike though, and I saw Angela’s hand close, grabbing a fist full of fabric. She twisted, and shoved, pushing Margaret towards one of the tables on the side of the room.

Margret recovered from her initial surprise quickly, and tried to swing her clubs again, only to have Angela grab her wrist. Our human spun and dropped to her knee, pulling Margaret over her shoulder. There was a thud as Margaret hit the ground, and Angela’s legs wrapped around her, causing her to drop the metal clubs. Our EAT instructors had trained us that the next move would be what humans called an arm bar, but it seemed that Margaret expected this too and began rolling to her side. Angela immediately released her, both humans springing up, but this time both were unarmed.

Angela immediately moved to tackle again, wrapping Margaret’s legs up and lifting her from the ground. Margaret’s fists came down on Angela’s head, delivering three sharp blows before Angela brought her crashing down onto the table. Margaret was stunned, trying to breathe, but Angela’s hand went around her neck, pinning her down.

“You think you're the queen? You’re NOTHING!” Angela leered at the other woman, lifting her up. “I’m the powerful one here. I’m the graceful one.” I could see Angela’s grip tighten around Margaret's neck

“G…glk… ge…t… OFF!” Margaret managed to work her knee up, and pushed her leg against Angela’s mid-section, giving her just enough leverage to break the grip. Our raider wasn’t to be deterred though, grabbing Margaret’s boot as she stumbled back. Angela twisted violently to her right, and there was a sickening pop followed by a scream as they collapsed back to the floor together again.

I could see Margaret’s face, contorted in pain. Her eyes were watering, and she slapped at Angela, who seemed to enjoy it. The terrorist kicked hard with her other good leg, and I saw Angela’s head snap back, causing her to let go and roll off.

Next to me, I could feel Tarik wanting to intervene. To cut the fight off. Margaret was beaten, but my partner and I were locked in place, neither of us willing to risk being sucked into the whirlwind for fear that they might not recognize us. We kept watching as Margaret flopped over, reaching out towards one of her clubs on the floor, only to have Angela drop back onto her, twisting Margaret’s arm behind her. The red headed woman screamed again as Angela pulled her up, keeping the arm twisted.

“What was that, copper-top? You want to go to your throne? Here!” Angela grabbed Margaret’s wrist again and yanked, throwing her at a chair across the room. Margaret stumbled, her twisted leg unable to support her, causing her to crash head-first into the furniture.

Angela stood up, slowly following. Her limp was more pronounced, a rolling hobble. The raider’s hand slid along one of the tables and she gripped the runner, wrapping it around her gloved fist. Two more steps brought her to a set of candles, and I saw the fabric catch fire. Angela stalked over to Margaret, holding up the burning wrap around her hand, leering. The terrorist’s eyes were wide, and she was shaking her head, begging.

“But my queen” Angela hissed. “Don’t you want to be as beautiful as me?”

What happened next was something I never want to hear or see again. Angela grabbed Margaret’s collar with her free hand and pushed the burning cloth against Margaret’s face. The red-haired woman panicked and screamed. As exterminators, the smell of burning flesh was something we had all experienced before, but it’s a little different when you understood it was a person being burned alive. Angela held the burning cloth against Margaret’s face as she kicked and squirmed.

The screams finally stopped, and Margaret went limp. Angela pulled her hand back and tossed the burning cloth to the cold, hard floor. Margaret’s face was blistered and smoking, and Angela stood over her.

There was no response. Tarik and I moved forward slowly. “Is she…?”

“This piece of filth? She’ll live.” Angela lifted Margaret by her collar, and dragged the unconscious terrorist behind her, walking deeper into the heart of the facility.

We followed her in stunned silence.