#i cant tag anyone everyone beat me to the deadline AWAAAH

[eorzeashan]

Wip Wednesday

Awawa, it's upon us again! Wow, it's been awhile. I'm sure I've missed too many of these I've lost count, but if I've ever been tagged I love and appreciate you and am sorry my writer's gauge ran empty at that time. Now, onto the wip.

It's Nathema Conspiracy hours in my brain, specifically thinking about that botched Watcher 2 reunion and then the whole deal with Eight's version of the Traitor arc where he goes with Theron and...lots to think about. lots to unpack.

“You!” Vinn Atrius bristled at the sight of Theron, who quickly drew his blaster and answered in kind. The Zakuulan knight shrieked as the bolt impacted against the exposed portion of his armor, sparking and smoking. He spun and tumbled to the ground, motionless. 

“Been wanting to do that for ages,” Theron grit out, his expression flinty and hard. Betrayal was a two-headed snake, but he was more than happy to bite the hand that fed him. What was it Vinn said to him? ‘Know your place?’ 

He knew his place. Exactly where it was. 

Theron glanced back at Eight and Lana just a breadth’s width behind him. 

Eight’s stare was steady, razor focused as ever. Yet behind those dark, murky eyes was a man who devoted himself to causes beyond the pale, to people he loved, and Theron’s gaze softened.

Even when the world was against him, Eight had chosen to follow because he hadn’t wanted Theron to be alone. Words didn’t even begin to explain what Theron felt for the other operative, who had broken through the walls he'd built around himself as a spy just to make sure Theron wouldn’t regret his choices.

Theron set his jaw. A soul like that deserved more than what the Alliance had burdened him with. 

Lana locked eyes with him next, pulling him away from Eight. 

For a moment Theron could sense the uneasy mistrust behind those intense eyes of gold. He’d left her hurting and confused ever since Umbara, and if Lana was anything, it was frighteningly driven when her anger was given form. He couldn’t say he deserved her friendship at this time, nor the trust of the Alliance. For all he knew, she’d come here specifically to choke the life out of him. Letting her was a stretch, but…

As if sensing the guilt gnawing at him from inside out like a worm that had buried itself in his guts, Lana’s tight-lipped demeanor gave way to a flicker of emotion– and she nodded.

To the end, whispered the memory of those heartracing moments when they promised to die fighting together seizing the throne. He tightened his pistol grip.

Right. To the end. 

Emboldened, he quickly turned his attention to the remaining offender, only for his advance to be stopped short by the hexagonal net of the rayshield activated by GEMINI 16. 

Theron banged on it with the butt of his pistol, frustration mounting in his blows- it didn’t give. 

“Theron,” Eight called to him, anxiety painting his usually collected voice in an odd note that Theron had never heard  before.

“Organics fight so hard for their survival. But you’re too late–the thrones have been filled. Zildrog is summoned.” GEMINI 16’s monotonous voice grated against his ears. Theron banged harder against the forcefield, futile as it was.

“Theron!” Eight sounded desperate– frantic, even. Theron whipped around. 

Eight’s gaze was trained on one of the pods. It contained a woman in an Imperial uniform, her eyes closed as she sat unnaturally still in the seat of her cage. 

Theron recognized her from the holo as the one who had set the guardian droid on them. Shara, Eight had called her, with a wistful air that bordered on nostalgic. 

His voice contained none of that gentleness now, all previous softness cut away like the dull trim of a knife on a sharpening block as his attention turned to their enemy. “What have you done to these people?” Eight leveled at Gemini 16, the midnight of his eyes compressed into fine points of lethal focus.

The promise of death, the ring of metal removed from its sheath- a silent fury so intense it raised goosebumps on Theron’s forearms roiled beneath that smooth veneer like ink released into water, and the SIS spy felt nothing but pity for those who had ever earned Cipher Eight’s ire– an honor not even Emperor Arcann had been subjected to. 

Unphased by his intimidation display, GEMINI 16 continued. “They served a purpose they hadn’t anticipated– fuel for Zildrog’s awakening.

First, he will destroy the shackles that kept me enslaved to your kind. Then he will obliterate your pathetic Alliance as a reward to Atrius for playing his part.”