Lance followed Jason closely, clutching her Visus rifle tightly. She may have been cloaked, but she didn't feel any safer within the Spiral Palace because of it. She, Jason and Kid'ka were all heading toward the western end of the palace, where Halm had broken through. The rest of the party should be there, perhaps even fighting right now. They ran down a long corridor, lit by orange glowing chandeliers overhead. Jason had Malthung magnetized to his back, wielding Zaiga in his left hand while clutching the Fortis in his right, holding the shield before him as he moved forth, leading the charge.
She was surprised that the two Artifacts had wanted to bind themselves with Jason, even having one normal magic item bond with someone was a rarity, but two Artifacts? On the same day no less, it was baffling. She had to admit that Malthung and Zaiga looked at home with Jason, especially Malthung, which seemed to fit his back perfectly. Wispy trails of red light fell away from the sword's runes, flowing gently through the air. Ah well, Lance would not grow jealous, her chains were all she needed.
Seemingly in response to that thought, the chains tightened on her forearms. It wasn't painful, strangely it seemed more like… a hug? She didn't have more time to think on this, for a retinue of halberd-wielding Fiends rounded the far corner, charging at them with weapons raised. Jason immediately opened fire, but didn't stop his charge, in fact, he only seemed to pick up the pace. The bullets punched through dozens of Fiends each, blowing apart limbs, torsos and skulls before finally cracking against the walls. Then Jason finally reached them, barreling right through the crowd with Zaiga.
The Fiends were sent flying, or were trampled beneath Jason's boots as he sped toward the end of the hall, crushing them with ease. The crumpled remains that were left over from Jason's stampede twitched and groaned in agony, with only a few Fiends having survived the onslaught by pressing up against the walls. Lance fired, her rounds punching through helmeted heads with ease as Kid'ka ran forward, disassembling the survivors by hand. The son of Zodd tore arms free of sockets, crunched knees with kicks, and removed heads with his bare hands, tearing through the Fiends quickly as he went.
Jason slid to a stop, turning to show that Zaiga was completely covered in dark blood, the liquid dripping off the bottom before disappearing against the obsidian floor. Lance popped the final Fiend in the head, the brain turning to dark mist behind it before it collapsed into an armored heap on the floor. She let out a breath as she stared back at Jason with a smile, despite knowing that he could only see her on his motion tracker. Kid'ka grimaced as he shook his hands clear of the blood they were coated in.
"No wonder Tuji only used his fists." He complained, "A n-normal weapon is nothing compared to my hands now."
"Let's keep moving." Jason said, "Hang to the left here and we should arrive where the rest of the squad has made ingress.
Suddenly, Lance felt a hand on the back of her neck, freezing her in place. Her eyes widened, but she couldn't bring herself to move. Jason immediately ran toward her, aiming the Fortis at someone she couldn't see. Kid'ka too charged, eyes filled with pure hatred and anger.
"Kazon!" He shouted, hands open and fingers furled like claws.
Jason fired, the round whizzing right over her head but hitting nothing, for the cold hand that had her in its grasp did not relent.
"Dragonling, you can find this sack of flesh in my dungeons." A cold, evil voice said, "Though there won't be much left of her after my servants are done."
More rounds fired, Kid'ka drawing ever nearer. Cold fear filled her as she was taken away from there, spirited away into a dark, dank cell in an instant. She felt herself be flung to the floor, right before a boot struck her in the gut, knocking her into the far wall. Lance lashed out with her chains at the cloaked figure who'd attacked her. He batted away the chains easily, the weapons falling slack against the floor after he touched them.
She coughed, rising to her feet only to see that her hands had turned a dark shade of purple, spirals etching themselves into her skin. Despair filled her when she realized the agony of being kicked hadn't faded in the slightest, it was like she'd still just been struck. She fell to her knees, before a dozen Fiendish guards approached her.
"Break the joints, the femurs, fingers and toes, that should be all that's necessary to send her into madness." Kazon ordered them, "When you're done, leave her here for the Dragonling to find."
With that, Kazon vanished, immediately after that, a fist crashed into her chin, knocking her to the stone. Her screams echoed through the halls of Kazon's dungeon as she was broken to pieces, before being left there by the Fiends who'd done it to her. Lance twitched and mumbled madly to herself, green eyes rolling around in her skull as she strained against the agony she was wracked with. It wasn't long before all coherent thought faded away, and Lance was no more, lost in an endless tide of pain, reduced to a beast that only sought to inflict this same agony upon others.
"No!" Jason screamed, running straight past Kid'ka.
"Wait!" Kid'ka yelled, "We need to find the others first-"
His voice faded as Jason left Kid'ka behind, charging wildly through the palace. He paid no heed to the guards that attacked him, their halberds unable to cut through his armor. He more often than not neutralized them by accident as he desperately searched through the palace, smashing them underfoot. He needed to find her, he could not lose her, she was vital. The dungeons shouldn't be on this floor, if there was a lower level, it would be down there. This thought proved to be correct, as he couldn't find any dungeon up here, but he could also find no path down.
Was it possible that it was on the upper floor? He saw Twindil and the others, along with Kid'ka, trying to reason with him and that they should stick together, but he ignored them. He didn't care what they did, all that mattered was Lance. He needed to find her ASAP, or he would bring down this whole palace, no, this whole continent looking for her.
Right as Jason was going to give up and head to the top floor, he caught something moving on his motion tracker. It was just beyond the wall by a grand staircase that led to the upper level. A single blip, barely moving beyond it. Jason didn't bother looking for a secret lever, magnetizing Zaiga to his back before he began bashing his way straight through the rock. The blip on his motion tracker backed away, revealing itself to be a guard, a few others standing a few paces behind him.
Jason trampled the Fiends without a second thought as he charged down the newly revealed corridor, not bothering to stop until he reached a series of cells. They lined dozens of halls with a few closed rooms holding who knew what. He sped down the hall, using his cameras to see what lay within each. Much to his shock, he saw Final Kind aliens, along with Ternan soldiers that called after him, but he didn't stop, not even for them. He only came to a stop when he finally found Lance's cell…
Despair filled him as he saw what lay beyond those bars. Lance lay there, flailing twitching, shattered limbs wildly, her eyes seeming to buck straight out of her skull as she thrashed, unknowingly worsening her condition. Jason tore the cell door off without a second thought, quickly rushing inside.
"Lance, stop moving!" Jason tried to reason, "You're making your condition worse, I'll bring you to Twindil-"
Lance just screamed between sobs, unable or unwilling to hear him. A deep sense of dread like he'd never felt before filled him as he remembered what had happened to the Fiend Twindil had healed before. He had been a marine, but the constant pain he'd been in had mentally shattered him, leaving him as an unresponsive husk, even after he had been healed. He'd been in that state far longer than Lance though, it had only been a few minutes since she'd been kidnapped. If he took her to Twindil now, then she could be healed… that wouldn't remove the curse, but it would at least ease her pain.
Jason leaned down, lifting her from the ground only for her screams to intensify. He set her back down gently, wincing as he considered what to do. He needed to stay calm, emotion would only get in his way. Yet that hopelessness grew as he watched Lance suffer. He could bring Twindil here instead of bringing Lance to her, that way she wouldn't be hurt more from him running. But what if more Fiends arrive to hurt her? What if Twindil is fighting and cannot come? He could radio her and ask-
His eyes widened as a realization struck him then. He didn't need to go find or wait for Twindil… there was another way to ease Lance's pain. Jason removed his helmet, magnetizing it to his thigh as he knelt down beside her. He took a deep breath, leaning down toward Lance's hand before placing it against his cheek. He positioned her broken thumb right over his eye, grunting as Lance immediately drove the bent digit into his eyeball.
He bore the pain without complaint, feeling Lance's thumb knit itself back together inside his eye socket. She scratched the skin away from his face, lacerating it violently and drawing small beads of orangish blood. Her fingertips were blistering from the heat of the fluid, but she seemed to be healing more than his blood was harming her. Soon she stood over him, eyes still wide and maddened as she began to punch him, his face barely moving from the force of the blows. Each strike restored more of the damage, but in her desperation to end the agony, she brought her blades to her hands, right before plunging both of them straight through his neck.
Orange blood seeped from his mouth and the wound, but he did not react, just continuing to stare at Lance who huffed and puffed. He felt the blades in his neck shudder, which was strange, as Lance's hands were still, not shaking in the slightest. Suddenly, consciousness returned to her eyes, and Lance withdrew the blades, letting them fall to the ground as she backed away from Jason.
"By the Pillars… What have I done?" She whispered to herself, looking down at her open palms.
Jason stood, wiping away the blood from his neck as the wounds sealed and his eye regrew.
"What needed to be done." He told her.
"I hurt you." She wept, turning away from him, "I tried to kill you."
"I wanted this." Jason said, walking toward her, "It was the quickest way to heal you."
"But I-" Lance gasped between sobs.
"My brother taught me a verse from his religious texts, his favorite apparently." Jason began, "I don't particularly subscribe to his beliefs, but I feel that I agree with this one: There is no greater love than this- that a man lay down his life for his friends." He told her, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I don't care if I'm cursed, as long as you aren't suffering, that's all that matters to me."
"Jason-" Lance cried, right before rushing into him with a hug, "I love you."
He nodded to himself, he thought he'd heard her say that last night. It was natural for friends to love each other, but he didn't think that people would say it so openly.
"I love you too." He smiled, returning the hug.
Lance looked up at him, shocked, "You do know what I mean right?"
"That we're good friends." He smiled.
In that instant her expression became sour, "There's still some things you need to learn about, Jason." She finished with a small shake of her head, before her smile returned, "But we have to finish our quest first."
Things he needed to learn about? Why did Lance have to be so confusing all the time? He was sure that he understood love well enough by now. They broke the hug, Lance staring up at his face for a moment.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"The curse, it hasn't taken hold of you." Lance pointed out.
"My body is likely immune to it, then." Jason said, "But enough about that, we have something else we need to do. Out in the halls here are dozens of Ternans, I want to release and re-arm them if possible. If they're here, I can only assume that the gear they carried is being stored nearby."
"That's wonderful!" She exclaimed, "Michael will be…" She trailed off, frowning.
"I'm sure he's alright. But we've wasted enough time, let's go, stay close to me." He told her, "I'm not losing you again."
You're mine.
Jason's jaw clenched, cold terror filling him for having that thought once again. He needed to get these draconic impulses under control, Lance was not something to be owned!
"What was that?" Lance asked, brows knitting together.
His eyes widened, had he said that out loud?
"Nothing." He said quickly, "Let's go."
He needed to make Kazon pay for what he had done to Lance.