Kill the Numbers [Dark Data]

[Miranda Frost]

At the end of that little skirmish, she stood tall, suffering only a minor bite wound to her neck and  few bruises over her abdomen  while her opponent stood ahead of her, barely able to hold its broken blade and dented shield. Beaten and bloodied, the dragon-born stood in a condition  none should fight in. The fighting paused, the darkloid's posture indicating their lack of will to fight.

 This particular battle was over.

 The spell-caster took the time to ramble on about the usual thing people do when they become desperate. However, these speeches are punctuated by a Hail Mary of sorts.

 Aye, there's the rub.

 Within a blink of an eye, the spell-caster moved in between the group. Miranda and the others turned and then...

 BOOM!

 Miranda's eye may have shut, but her awareness was never impeded. Her surroundings seemed to move seamlessly from the  site of the battle to a different room. Her eye would creak open viewing just ahead out of her normal radius of passive perception. Before her lay a white marble pedestal, engraved with the single word, "Choose".  

 Still on about this, was he? Why was he so desperate to keep us using the chips? Miranda's was already reduced to smoldering plastic. What more use could there be to it?

 Miranda would step towards the pillar, the light seemingly concentrated upon it. The blue light of her eye illuminated the room. How could any of this be real? Miranda knew first hand how reality could be bent in the Omniverse. Miranda's claws reached down for the chip, but a voice from the shadows halted her.

 "You're making a wise decision. I can't keep saving your skin like I used to", the voice would say as the figure stepped from the shadows into full view. The man was tall with black, silky hair, deep azure eyes, and fair skin, with a goofy ass smile she could have recognized anywhere. This man was her brother, November Frost. Miranda's claw would withdraw from the chip, the corners of her mouth tensing.

 Her memory wasn't the best here in the Omniverse. If anything, she was forgetting more and more by the moment. She remembered not much from her home-world, but she did remember a bit about her brother.

 Especially the one part where he gave his life so his dear sister would live. 

 Miranda's eye narrowed at the man before her, the blue color of her lenses shifting to a burning red. How could this man be November?  Throbbing pain wracked her mind. She held her head in the palm of her hands. How could this be true? How can this be real?

 She'd feel his gentle hand upon her head. "It's been a long time... You've grown so much. I'm proud of what you've become,", he'd say, giving pause to her. She remembered him like this. He was always soft and carefree, but always a competitive asshole when it came to fighting. This was a side that was reserved for people like her.

 "You.. shouldn't be here... How are you here?", she'd ask, her eye falling upon the blade on his back. If she remembered correctly, it was a family heirloom of some sort. The sword was a ceremonial one, its length being around six feet in total. Where the tip was supposed to be in such a blade was a six inch wide gap leading two feet into the blade wear another edge would be found. The sword was an executioner's weapon.

"The same way you are. I was called by the Glowing White guy, Omni", The man would say with a chuckle, his gloved hand sifting through her tangled, pale hair. Her eye remained on the weapon, nearly frozen in her tracks. He never used this weapon back home, she realized. The weapon was just too unwieldy and heavy. It was meant for beheading, not combat.  Her brother wielded a smaller, plain appearing long-sword. So what if he was supposedly a prime here? It made more sense to reach out for something familiar, like that one blade he always used.

 "That's good, I suppose, but that is not what I meant. How did you survive?", she'd ask, her eye changing color once more back to blue. She remembered the cracking of a gunshot, the blur as his body took its position in front of hers. The precision of the shooter was just as amazing as November's ability to move. The bullet carved a hole through to his heart and shredded it to pieces. 
 
 Miranda knew, because she saw the results of that shot first hand.

 "The shot was off a few millimeters to were my heart was, it passed through me harmlessly.", he'd say, giving her head another gentle pat.  Her claws would tighten into a fist.

 "No, It wasn't harmless. Harmless doesn't look like...", she'd say as she sent her fist into her chest, the hydraulics in her arm pumping to its max. Its chest would be the first to give way to her fist, the next would be its heart.  Miranda would pull away from this thing's body, her arm painted now with a new coat of crimson. Glaring down at the body, she'd sigh and kneel down. Her claw grasping a hold of the giant blade's hilt.

 "Fear is necessary for evolution, the fear that one could be destroyed at any moment. Thank you, November, because of you I endured the unendurable.", She'd say, lifting the giant cleaver into her hands, hoisting its weight without much effort upon her shoulders. "Thanks to you I've become much more than a mere knight."

 Miranda would turn, her eyes glancing at the marble pedestal, its chip nearly shining in the light. She'd take a step towards it. However, she'd find her other foot dragging with the weight of that man latching onto her ankle. 

"Take the chip! Without it you are nothing but a mere shadow of what you could be! With this you could be godlike. Just take it!", it would cry out in desperation. Miranda would have none of it and kick his hand away.

 "I'm not the smartest cookie in the jar but... I'm just a what was it? A murderous mercenary? You also toy with my memories, using what little I remember of my brother to attempt to manipulate me right?" , She'd say with a scoff, Holding the blade straight up, aiming its blade directly at that chip. "Maybe you should have worked on your sell's pitch before hand.", she'd taunt, bringing that blade down upon that chip. Such a weak creation couldn't stop this blade as it cleaved through its structure and through the marble pedestal it sat upon.

 The blade would crack and shatter, its shards scattering about the room's floor. Miranda would frown in disappointment, tossing the useless weapon away. "It would seem your illusion isn't the most believable. This was a stupid weapon, but it wouldn't break to something like this."

Miranda would turn and make her way to the door, spitting on the bleeding corpse-to-be. "I can only imagine how terrible everyone else's experience is."