Painful Reboot

Jin'Lor chuckled as he heard Mar bang on the door before making his way out of the facility through other hidden doorways and paths. "I'll have to be more careful next time..." He muttered as he got out into the snow and ice, seeming unbothered by it. Looking to the sky for a brief moment, he felt the grin returning and thought back to the fight.

"I'll have to tell that kid he protects the truth about her beloved master one day..." With a laugh, he happily walked into the storm nearby where a loud roar could be heard.

--

Mira frowned and saw Ripper on the floor again. "Oh no, Ripper. What happened?"

"Ryze..." Mar said almost under his breath. "His name is Ryze..."

As the life seemed to be coming back into his eyes, Ripper/Ryze heard the conversation and kept telling his system to reboot. It was less a worry about what they might do if he didn't start moving and more about his wish to get this over and done. Every time Jin'Lor shut off his main system it forced a reboot and that always caused more pain than was necessarily worth.

Ryze/Ripper hated the pain.

A loud scream of pain erupted from him as his ribs jerked out of his chest and tore the shirt he wore. Blood spilled from the wounds, the cortosis coated metal shifting as parts of it glowed a slight blue - a sign the system was online again. Hands rising, he barely touched each rib with his fingers to let them know the job was done.

Rolling to the side and vomiting out blood, Ryze began to gasp for air and slid a hand along the floor to grab his double bladed sword. "Hate...reboot..." He groaned, voice hoarse. Stabbing the weapon into the floor, he used it to stand and looked to the others with obvious embarrassment.

Slowly, the ribs were pushing back into his chest and the fresh wounds healed, forming the old scars that lingered with fresh blood there. "Uhm...can we pretend no one saw that?" He asked and turned his gaze away from everyone in shame. Reaching toward Ring with his free hand and touching the flat of its curved blades, he smiled slightly. "I'm fine, old friend...I'm fine."

Ring let out little chirps and spun back and forth as if it were a puppy wagging its tail.

--

VT-L2 was still clinging to Quint's leg when Jin'Lor left. Hopping off, he trotted over to the discarded little arm he had left behind. "I think he liked you, Quint. He was scary, but he wasn't actually trying to harm you." The little droid pointed out as he looked to the almost naked woman. "Can you fix my arm?"

Returning to her, he hopped up and down with the arm like a child begging for a new toy.

--

Glancing around the room, Ghost bit at her bottom lip. "Where did everyone go, Serenity?" She asked in a broken voice. The look in her eyes, though, was of pure pain and sadness. How was she going to face the truth that had been thrown out in front of her like that? She had expected to see her Creator die, but to learn the truth about Ripper...

Was it true? Was what Creator told Ripper true? She could not be sure until she spoke to him, which she was truly afraid to do, even now.

Instead of focusing on the horrors, she got to her feet and grabbed Serenity's hand. "Come on...like you said, we should leave."