Old Acquaintances and lost friends

[Bazza]

Evangeline meets Sev's desperate gaze with silent, apparent disregard. For only a moment their eyes are locked, Sev falling out of sanity as she approaches a fate unknown to Evangeline - yet clearly hinted at by her expressions and actions.

My question is answered.



Fumika.

Evangeline crouches down and begins examining the protective suit and the locking mechanisms on it. An instant later Fumika was beside her, the two girls working furiously to undo the air-tight harnesses of the sectioned suit.

Each and every metallic clasp required several intricate motions to operate it - first depressing a small, hidden button and then winding the adjustment band out of the jaws thereof. A number of them had been damaged by gunshot injury; even before Sev's writhing mass was considered in the scenario.

Evangeline and Fumika rampantly worked the first pair off Sev's legs before Evangeline's passing eye caught a glimpse of something lying on the floor. She, without hesitation, lent across Sev and picked it up - a pair of tin snips.

With absolutely no regard for anything beyond the immediate task at hand Evangeline begun severing the bands one by one, releasing parts of the suit from Sev's skin, her gallant Kusarian partner continuing to remove them by hand. Parts of Sev's fur and indeed skin may have become victims of the hardened blades, however this was of no concern to Evangeline - she knew what she had to do.

The two around her ankles were first, followed by a unit surrounding each knee. Sev appeared to freeze into a state of shock as control of her body left her. Evangeline and Fumika lorded over her like vultures, picking pieces of her "skin" away from her person as she lay unmoving on the cold, steel grate.

The pair encasing her thighs were next, a sharp jolt from Sev's body indicating Evangeline caught flesh amongst her crazed cutting.

A larger, single band at stomach level was disposed of, cut clean in half by the unforgiving steel blades. One final obstacle around the woman's neck was taken care of with an audible clicking noise as it gave way.

Seventeen was, at this point, unresponsive, seemingly lost in shock. Fumika, the stronger of the two women, jumped to her feet and hauled the unconscious being up by her arms as Evangeline rapidly retreated the zipper on Sev's back.

Not a single word was exchanged between the two, the developed and seasoned relationship they shared ensuring each knew what the other was doing.

Fumika shifted her grasp as Evangeline tore the suit off of Sev, first her arms and then pulling the entire assembly down her back and legs. Fumika, despite being bigger than her employer, still struggled greatly with supporting Sev's body, something which was clearly visible to Evangeline.

Her hands fumbling in an adrenalin-powered craze, Evangeline finally managed to wrench the last remnant of the suit off of Sev's body. She grabbed ahold of her torso and, with Fumika's help, hauled her deeper into the frigate; slamming another button on the wall roughly and with clear intent.

The interior blast door closes with a heavy, metallic thud as the seals press against each other. The remains of Sev's armour sit heaped in the corner of the airlock chamber, surrounded on all sides by heavy armour plating.

Nonetheless Evangeline, lost in a crazed sense of impending doom, hauls the unconscious woman as fast as her weakened frame would permit.

Inside the now sealed room, the discarded suit approaches its own self-resolved demise. Intended to claim the life of its' wearer and to protect it from being adapted by enemy forces, it set itself alight. A blinding, ungodly light fuelled by an intense fire escapes the small porthole window of the interior door, placing a beam of light against the wall opposite.

As if it were made of Thermite, the entire suit burns for a significant period of time, however, unlike as expected by Evangeline - it does not produce an explosion.

Evangeline trips up on something, falling backwards and causing Fumika to collapse with her, dropping all three women in a heap on the floor a short distance from the airlock. The light of the burning suit emanates throughout the normally drab hallway, illuminating it in its entirety.

Evangeline pauses for a moment, breathing heavily as she takes in the gravity of the immediately preceding events.

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