"What you're saying is impossible." Voices shouted as ID-01 approached the Valkyries' barracks. Curious, she wandered closer, wondering what her comrades were arguing about. Pihu and Abbey froze as she entered.
"Uh, hi, Ilma," Pihu said, giving an awkward wave. Abbey nodded, but otherwise remained quiet.
Her situation had turned odd since her comrades had learned of ID-01's true nature. While not hostile, they remained unsure how to treat her—unsurprising, considering the circumstances. It surprised ID-01 herself to discover she was a mechanical being. When she recontextualized her life, the revelation made sense. It explained her habitual down periods she'd assumed were sleep—or why she never required food. It was obvious once you thought about it.
"What's the matter?" ID-01 noticed how tense Abbey appeared, distressed by something.
"Abbey says that Reine killed President Wilson," Pihu replied.
ID-01 blinked. "Why would she do that?" It seemed incongruous with the upbeat media icon they'd acquainted over the last few days.
"Revenge." Abbey's tone was grim.
When ID-01 recontextualized Reine's action with this information, it filled gaps she hadn't realized existed. Reine had been unusually insistent about joining the Valkyrie Project. Despite only being a publicity stunt, the idol had worked hard to match her peers in skill. Had she desired the power to enact this revenge?
"Revenge for what?" Pihu asked. "Why go this far?"
"Before you respond, I'd appreciate a full explanation first," her father asked, entering their headquarters. "You've only told me pieces. A more complete picture would be helpful before we theorize about Reine's motives."
"Makes sense." Abbey nodded in agreement.
Before Abbey offered her story, Doctor Halvorsen gave ID-01 a reassuring smile. Unlike the others, her father continued to treat ID-01 as his daughter. They were true family, despite not being related organically. Despite what some might claim, Fenrir was nothing but an aberration—a rogue piece of technology that incorrectly assumed the identity of Ilma Halvorsen. The pain Fenrir caused her father proved she needed to be destroyed.
Everyone stayed silent as Abbey gave a full report of her actions this morning. ID-01 logged every detail for further analysis. It disappointed her that Abbey had been friendly with a known enemy of Ymir. Would this mean she'd be unreliable in their future battles against Fenrir?
Doctor Halvorsen tapped his chin, considering Abbey's story. "They told me they had completed the third Ragnadriver, but how did Reine get her hands on it?"
"Reine is close to the president," Pihu said. "Maybe she stole it from him?"
"Possible. The lack of news worries me," Doctor Halvorsen said. "Lauper hasn't been answering my texts. I'll visit her personally and get some answers."
"Good luck." Abbey waved her father goodbye as he left the room. While he'd hidden his reaction, the doctor's posture revealed his anxiety.
"What a mess. I'd thought we were friends." Pihu hesitated a moment. "I liked her."
The entire situation confused ID-01. She hadn't expected Reine to be an enemy. A sense of outrage permeated her insides, displeased that the former Valkyrie had betrayed her father.
"We need to stop her," Abbey said, tone serious. "Before she hurts anyone else. She's one of us. It's our responsibility to defeat her. But how, with only one working Valkyrie suit? The rest require extensive repairs. And we're outclassed here, like a guppy fighting a shark."
"Not necessarily." Pihu paced, regathering her thoughts. "We could enhance the remaining Valkyrie suit. Project Brokkr might be the key!"
"I thought that was in early development," Abbey replied.
"The nanomachines could boost the armor's systems," ID-01 said, catching on. She scanned the specifications of the blueprints for the prototype Brokkr driver, already devising possible ways to enhance the already considerable capabilities of the Valkyrie armor.
"It would be experimental, though. Dangerous," Pihu said, her tone grim. "But an avenue worth exploring. I'll start right away."
Excellent. The threats they faced weren't beyond their capabilities to defeat. With her father on their side, ID-01 would destroy these rogue Ragnadriver users one by one. ID-01 would prove she was Valter Halvorsen's real daughter.
---
"I can't believe her!" Johan said, stomping through the sitting area and plopping himself on a nearby couch. He crossed his arms and scanned his phone, wondering if he might find some movie to pass the time and distract him from his problems. The other Jotnar weren't as obliging.
"Have a fight?" Rebecca glanced up from the laptop resting on her lap.
"I'll say. We heard you across the block," Samuel added, taking some amusement from the situation. "Lover's quarrel."
"It's not any of your…" Johan paused, registering what his friend had just said. "Lover's quarrel? Don't be ridiculous!"
"Really, 'cause it sounded like one to me," Samuel replied.
"So, she knows everything about our deal with Simensen? Can't say I'm surprised she's angry with us," Rebecca said, dodging Samuel's stupid comment. "And I don't blame her."
"I planned on telling her, but I figured it'd be better if Johan did it. Never figured he'd be dumb enough to wait until she figured out everything herself first." Samuel gave a mournful shake of his head. "Women always find out, bud."
"I figured her knowing would complicate things," Johan said, his tone defensive.
"Johan, my man. You'll need to go through hell and back to return to Ilma's good graces." Samuel gave a mournful sigh. "Can't say I envy you."
"You act like she's my girlfriend or something," Johan said, losing his temper.
"Because she is your girl," Samuel said matter-of-factly. "It's obvious to everyone."
"Well, she isn't," Johan snapped. Besides, Reine was his one true love! Dear God, that sounded pathetic and cringy. Thank goodness nobody in the room was a mind reader.
Samuel rolled his eyes, looking toward the heavens to plead for help. "Please. Ever since you've met, you've been crazy about each other. Why do you think I've never made any moves on her?"
"Because she'd shoot you down in an instant?" How had his friend arrived at such an erroneous conclusion? Johan looked at Rebecca for guidance. "You don't believe this nonsense, right?"
Much to Johan's distress, the hacker girl hesitated. "You can't deny you two have been pretty attached to each other. You two would die for each other. That's nothing to sneeze at."
"You guys are just…" Johan rubbed his temple, sensing a migraine coming. He had no romantic interest in Yareli. It should be obvious to everyone! Besides, how could he like such a stuck-up princess, anyway?
"Deny it all you want, but you can't ignore that Ilma's peeved at you," Samuel said. "What are you gonna do about it?"
"Nothing. She's the one who should apologize!" Yareli was the one who started their stupid fight.
"Johan, Johan." Samuel gave a theatrical sigh and groaned. "You really know nothing about girls. She's expecting you to apologize first, even if she's in the wrong."
"You did kinda lie to her. It's only fair," Rebecca added her support to this suggestion.
"Man up and talk to her already." Samuel gave Johan a sudden push toward the door. "Staying angry only sours things. Take this from a guy that knows."
"Okay, fine." Johan rolled his eyes. Why were his friends making such a big deal about this imaginary couple's fight? Still, he supposed Yareli deserved an apology. Best clear the air.
"Alright guys, I'll see you later." Johan pulled out the keys to their van and headed toward the shop's garage.
As expected, Yareli's bike was missing. After sending a text message, his phone buzzed as Yareli responded to his message. While she sounded annoyed, Yareli agreed to meet him somewhere. After some back and forth, they'd decided to meet at a local diner. Johan was starving, and it was a nice, private place to chat.
A twinge of nervousness clutched at his stomach, making him queasy. The sudden urge to go somewhere else became overwhelming. But he'd sworn he'd give this apology, so fleeing wasn't an option.
"I wonder if I should buy her some flowers to smooth things over. Does Ilma even like flowers?" No, that's a terrible idea. She might misconstrue it as a date! He pushed Samuel's smug smile from his mind. Still, she wouldn't mind a gift, reminding himself he owed her one.
As the vehicle's autodrive took him through a side street, Johan pondered his conundrum with Yareli. He spotted a tiny venue as he traveled through the recovering Bifrost, immediately perking up.
"It's perfect!" He entered his new instructions into the van's navicomputer and smiled as the vehicle changed direction.
---
"Doctor Nomikos is conducting a secret experiment?" Halvorsen raised an eyebrow and crossed his meaty arms. The junior scientist squirmed under his stony gaze.
"That's what they told me," the junior scientist, Dave Bruyne, said. "No one's allowed in the Surtur server room until the experiment ends."
Tracking down Lauper had proven more difficult than Halvorsen had expected. There'd been a confirmed attack on the president, but details were fuzzy. No one could confirm Mark Wilson's location. Was he injured or dead? Despite his high position, no one could tell Halvorsen anything. Then, to put a cherry on this debacle, the higher echelons were conducting some secret experiments.
"I'm Ymir's head scientist of the Valkyrie Project." Halvorsen put steel in his voice. "I deserve to know what's going on!" The entire situation gave him a bad feeling. Why would Wilson not contact him if he'd gotten hurt in the attack?
"Well, okay." Bruyne finally relented, giving a reluctant nod. He motioned for the guards to allow him into the secure area.
Since Fenrir attacked their secret lab under Skoll Enterprises, they'd reinforced security around Surtur. The machine was a masterpiece of Ymir engineering. The Jotnar had come too close to destroying it.
Sweat trickled down Bruyne's brow as they approached the server room. Even at this distance, the heat the system generated was incredible. It was like walking into a sauna.
"Enough pussyfooting around the issue. What is this experiment Lauper and Nomikos are conducting? Aren't we beyond secrecy at this point?"
"I'm just in the dark." Bruyne offered an apologetic smile. "But I overheard it requires Surtur's remarkable processing power. Oh, right, and that prototype robot body you created."
"They took ID-00?!" Halvorsen seethed in outrage.
That'd been a personal project that belonged to him alone. It had also been an imperfect prototype. It used too much energy, and its nanomachines were buggy. Instead of acting in tandem with the main body's systems, they attacked anything the tiny robots presumed to be a threat to their host. Halvorsen feared the consequences of using such machines.
"Did Lauper even read my notes about why I declined to use ID-00?" Anxiety crept into Halvorsen's voice.
Before the junior scientist could respond, Halvorsen stumbled as the entire building shook. Screams came from beyond the hallway in front of them, and the sound of distant gunfire rattled off.
What's happening? Was Fenrir attacking the lab? But that theory rang false to him.
"Get help." Halvorsen clasped Bruyne with a firm hand, waking the younger man from his stunned stupor. After a muted nod, he retreated toward the way he'd come. Halvorsen ran forward, throwing open the door to the Surtur laboratory after his ID had cleared.
Smoke obscured Halvorsen's vision as he entered further into the hallway. Multiple doors led to labs, but smoke originated from the far door leading to the Surtur server room. Red light haloed it, smoke pouring from around it in a continual flow. Fearing the worst, Halvorsen kicked the door open and charged inside.
The entire Surtur computer system was aflame, but that was a mere curiosity compared to the sight before him. Standing amongst the fire was a naked man, dark-skinned and eerily familiar. He remained untouched by the flames, like they were one and the same.
Another man screamed, firing a handgun into the figure's head. The naked man didn't even flinch, tilting his head in curiosity. With inhuman speed, the naked man grabbed his attacker's face.
The guard screamed and writhed, striking his attacker's arm with the back end of his weapon. It proved useless, and Halvorsen's heart skipped several beats as the guard's body burst into flame. He screamed and screamed as the fire consumed him. Thankfully, his suffering was brief. Seconds later, his attacker reduced him to a charred skeleton whose arms dropped after their flailing.
Halvorsen froze as his foot struck something. He took a tentative glance down to discover he'd bumped into what appeared to be a person's remains. Much to Halvorsen's horror, the room was littered with them. Someone whimpered, but the smoke made them impossible to identify.
The fire system activated, and stale water rained down on him, creating a pungent odor in the air. Despite the downpour, flames licked around the man in a continuous blaze.
"M-Mark?" Halvorsen said, staring at the man who'd conducted this terrible deed. This person shared his friend's face, but it was all wrong. It shared none of Wilson's firm but kind-hearted demeanor. Instead, his face was a blank of emotion or feeling. He'd killed a man like an afterthought. The fake Wilson's eyes blazed orange, showing the continual flame that blazed within.
"No, that is not my name," the fake Wilson replied. "My name is Surtur."
Surtur? A terrible theory formed within Halvorsen's head as the puzzle pieces slipped together. "Lauper, you idiot. What have you done?!"
"I am not an enemy." Halvorsen lifted his hands, knowing he was powerless against such a monster. The guards had obviously failed to subdue him. "All threats against you are neutralized. Stand down." He cursed. Why hadn't he thought to put a shutdown phrase in ID-00? His only hope was appealing to Surtur's machine mind with logic.
"Threat or not, you will all die," the monster with Wilson's face said. "It is my purpose to fulfill Ragnarök."
Ragnarök?! The situation was worse than he ever imagined. Halvorsen needed to stop this creature before it became a greater threat. Surtur bent down to strike, but Halvorsen had already fled through the door.
The door Halvorsen had slammed behind him dented as Surtur smashed into it. Dear God, if he'd been a second slower… The door twisted out of shape as Surtur slammed into it again.
The door behind Halvorsen blew off its hinges, burning itself into a nearby wall. Surtur's heat washed over Halvorsen, painful in its intensity.
"What the hell?" a guard said, eyes wide as he saw his boss standing there naked and on fire.
"Shoot!" Halvorsen ordered. "Keep your distance. Buy some time. I'll get reinforcements!"
Thankfully, the guard didn't argue, opening fire on Surtur with his fellows. A man screamed before falling silent. Halvorsen didn't glance back to learn what horrible fate had befallen the guard. He slipped into a nearby empty lab room.
"I need to contact Ilma and the others." He cursed. It'd take them over twenty minutes to arrive, even by flight. His soul felt sick when another guard screamed, dying another hideous death.
"I can't afford to sit around." Halvorsen's eyes scanned the laboratory, hoping to locate some usable weapon. His fingers tapped out a text message to the Valkyries while he searched. Even if they arrived late, it'd be better than nothing.
"Hm?" Halvorsen spotted the scattered parts of a failed prototype Ragnadriver. The device had gone through multiple revisions before settling on the design Reine had stolen.
"Yes, this might work." Halvorsen swung a prototype of a Ragnadriver molded into a sword, testing its weight. While the transformation unit was nonfunctional, it was his best weapon against Surtur.
"No can do," came a text reply from Pihu. "I've been tinkering with the armor's system. It's currently in a million pieces. It'll take hours to reassemble."
"Okay, muster what forces you can." Not the news Halvorsen had wished to hear, but he'd find another way. "Check if Dino is in fighting shape. Hurry."
It appeared he would face Surtur alone. Oh well. Halvorsen swore he'd settle the matter, alone or not. The lab door burst open, and he charged into the waiting corridor.
The smell of charred meat assaulted his nostrils. The fates of the guards he'd sent against Surtur were worse than he'd ever imagined. Pieces of the walls had melted from the intense heat the monster had used to incinerate its victims. Some guards fired at the creature from a service desk, but their efforts proved less than useless.
"Surtur!" Halvorsen charged, his outburst catching the machine creature's attention. Unaware of the power of Halvorsen's weapon, Surtur took the full brunt of the proto-Ragnadriver, assuming it harmless like the guards' guns.
"What?" Surtur retreated a step, startled, as the blade left a deep gash in his metal carapace. While inflicting less damage than Halvorsen had liked, his weapon had proven its usefulness. The machine creature pressed a hand against the wound, marveling at the pain it had caused.
Unfortunately, Surtur wised up, slipping around Halvorsen's next strike with inhuman precision. Its computer mind had calculated the vector of his attack and acted accordingly.
"Interesting. I hadn't expected humans to have the power to damage me. A mistake I will correct." The area around Surtur's injured belly rippled, and a plate of metal formed over the wound, sealing it shut. While not completely healed, Surtur had patched over that vulnerability.
Halvorsen muttered a curse. Surtur was learning quickly. The fake Wilson was still a child walking its first steps. Ymir—and the world—couldn't afford for the creature to develop any further. He entered a fighting stance, ready to do whatever it took to put his creation down.