“GAMMA! Gamma I’m-…G-Gamma…?”
-HaLynn
A beast of pink slime is standing in the middle of a group of smaller slimes that are circling around it, all of them filled with bones. Dread only mounts as one of the slimes wanders off, meaning there are certainly more spread out across the facility. How many have they managed to kill already?...
For a few seconds the great slime doesn't respond, allowing you to think that perhaps you were mistaken-
No. It perks up and turns around to face you in what can only be interpreted as a reaction to the name.
There's no doubt about the creature's identity or perhaps former identity would be better wording, now
“Holy shit…” Brook surveys all of them, while HaLynn simply stares in horror. “It…it is you…”
D-03-109-G16 reaches out towards HaLynn, the smaller slimes shuffling around below it repeating the gesture.
"H..Ly..n s..fe t..g..th...."
They start to approach, but they don't seem aggressive per se, quite the opposite in fact, but you suspect in their current form, intention won't make a difference.
Besides, considering the damage they've already done, then for the good of the facility...
HaLynn desperately tries to hold back his tears, as he steps closer. “We’re…gonna have to break our promise…aren’t we?”
D-03-109-G16 tilts their head. They don't seem to understand what you mean by that, and come to the conclusion that you problably didn't understand them, making effort to speak properly by doing it really slowly as their 'mouth' is hard to use.
"Sa…fe… togeth…er."
They motion to the slime that now makes up their body.
"Di…d f…for… y…y…yoo…"
”Gamma…” He can’t stop them as the tears start flowing. “You were like…the sibling I wish I had growing up.”
He slowly takes out Harmony. “I’m…so sorry.”
“‘Lynn…”
“Acacia, Brook…” HaLynn turns to them. “I need you both to cover me. Please.”
“On it, love.” Brook whips out Da Capo.
Acacia pulls out Solemn Lament and nods. “We’ll cover you. But…please…don’t get hurt, alright?”
“I’ll try not to.”
Gamma looks on uncomprehending for a while, or rather they recognize a suppression formation, but at first think there's no way that he'd...
However when the trio's intentions become undeniable, rather than react with shock or anger, D-03-109-G16 almost seems to... deflate, sinking in on itself.
"Y...y...ou... w...hy...?"
They motion to the slimes that have currently taken up defensive formation around them.
"Ev..ery...on...e... s...af...e... to...ge...the...r..."
You get the feeling no matter how meek their behavior, the moment you attack they will fight back full force.
HaLynn prepares himself mentally… “…I’m sorry, Gamma.”
….Before raising Harmony and shooting.
D-03-109-G16 doesn't even try to dodge, taking the hit straight on, barely flinching from a hit that would have devastated the clerk they used to be, before surging forward, launching a globule of slime from its mouth on the approach and trying to slam both their arms down on HaLynn once they reach, while the smaller slimes move to try and surround him.
He barely dodges the attacks, before bullets start hitting the smaller minions, curtesy of Solemn Lament.
The pawn slimes shudder with each hit, slowly being whittled down by the barrage but getting sufficiently distracted by it to end up not surrounding HaLynn and instead going after Acacia and Brook, easy enough to simply fall back and shoot unlike G-03-109-G16 itself, though shockingly after simply sliding forward for a while, they start trying to employ strategy in their approach to make keeping them at a distance harder, approaching from different directions and making moves to intercept. It's almost like they know the instruction manual of how they are to be dealt with...
Meanwhile, G-03-109-G16 continues swiping at HaLynn, their attacks quite clumsy as they are not yet used to their body.
"Pl...eas...e... to...ge...the...r..."
He’s crying, as he clumsily dodges hits and continuously fires Harmony. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry we have to break our promise…”
Meanwhile Acacia keeps shooting Solemn Lament at the minions, as Brook flies into the air with them in her arms, providing an aerial advantage.
"f...or... y...yo...u..." G-03-109-G16 starts to shudder with each hit, getting worn down by the assault... however when actual injury starts being visible, one of the pawn slimes approaches and merges with them, and G-03-109-G16 smooths out, uninjured again. They redouble their assault, slowly getting used to how their body moves...
Meanwhile, as Acacia and Brook take flight, the pawn slimes realize they can no longer reach and start approaching HaLynn again. Seems the duo will need to manage using flight to not get cut off while staying grounded enough to remain a distraction...
As HaLynn realizes he is at a severe disadvantage, the hesitation is all G-03-109-G16 needs to finally land a hit, promptly knocking HaLynn straight into a wall. “GHH-“
“HALYNN!” Brook and Acacia get lower to get rid of as many minions as they can, as HaLynn groans in pain.
The slime pawns resume trying to get at Brook and Acacia once they're low enough to the ground, but its a careful game of staying out of harms way without making the slimes give up entirely.
Meanwhile, G-03-109-G16 approaches the prone HaLynn, stopping in front of him and raising their arm as if to smash him to pieces... but instead, they stop themselves and lower it gently, extending it out to HaLynn. "t...to...g...eth...er..."
You get the feeling that accepting would lead to being turned to slime, but the gesture has left an opening to recover and get a surprise attack in, at the cost of being an utter betrayal of G-03-109-G16s trust, if you can still call it betrayal at this point...
HaLynn looks at the arm, genuinely contemplating it as he thinks…
Hasn’t he been through enough already?
Daphne’s death. The death of someone he saw as a mother.
Panicking. Nearly throwing someone into the machine that has irreversibly changed him.
Becoming captain. Hoping to be as good of a captain as her.
The first meltdown. Having to see and fight her again.
But it’s because of that he’s here now. He’s grown. He’s done so much…He’s somehow survived everything thrown at him…why should he stop now?
As he hears the ringing of Acacia and Brook’s weapons, he knows his answer.
“…I’m sorry, sibling.” He grips Harmony…
…and shoots G-03-109-G16 point blank.
Causing immense damage as the sound tears through them, necessitating every remaining pawn slime in the room to merge with them to recover their injuries. However the act also enrages G-03-109-G16 to near mindlessness, and you get the feeling their attacks will be even more ferocious now.
But they are also utterly alone, and you are not.
HaLynn is swiftly swooped up into the air by Brook, as he groans in pain. Acacia is holding onto her back.
“You idiot! We could’ve…we could’ve lost you…”
“D-Don’t worry…I’ll be okay. But…we need to stop…them…” He weakly points at G-03-109-G16.
G-03-109-G16 worldlessly turns their head upwards, readying several globules of slime in their mouth and launching them in quick succession, each of them breaking in midair and turning into wide, sticky splatter aimed at tying and corroding Brook's wings.
”Oh shit-“ Thank goodness for Justice being Brook’s highest stat, because she begins barely dodging the splattering slime, though a bit does get on her wings as she hisses in pain. She props up Acacia on her back to be able to shoot at G-03-109-G16.
Solemn Lament hits through, and the shots carry with them a sense of finality as both sides know the injuries inflicted can no longer be healed. Meanwhile the barrage of slime continues, getting harder and harder to avoid reliably as G-03-109-G16 starts predicting movements and improving their aim, still going for the wings to try and ground the trio and even the fight.
Brook does a straight dive towards the ground to keep avoiding the incoming barrage, her movement slowed due to the residual slime on her wings, as Acacia keeps shooting. HaLynn shakily raises up Harmony for a shot as they plummet down.
Harmony connects and blasts away a chunk of slime, finally leaving them visibly injured again, with G-03-109-G16 still not dodging and instead entirely focusing on continuing the attack, launching globule after globule towards Brook, aiming them with the purpose of forcing her closer and closer... before suddenly extending one of their arms much further and faster than it looks like it should be capable of, acting as a spear of sludge looking like it's going for HaLynn to force a dodge, only to change direction and go for the wings again.
Brook eyes widen, as the sudden movement forces her body to jerk to avoid it, sending the three of them crashing into the floor.
Acacia tumbles off of Brook’s back, as Brook yells out in pain.
HaLynn groans in pain, breathing heavily as he weakly clutches Harmony, laying on the floor.
G-03-109 is determined to not give them the time to get back up in the air, immediately lurching towards HaLynn, slowed down a bit by the chunks of slime missing from them, continuing launching globules of slime in the space between HaLynn and his partners on the approach, trying to keep him isolated.
Brook sees this, and in a adrenaline-filled rush of speed, blocks G-03-109-G16’s path, raising Da Capo for a full-force slash. “I won’t…let you…hurt him!”
D-03-108-G16 glares at Brook for a moment, before turning their face upwards and launching a globule of slime with an almost lazy amount of force, causing it to arc heavily and fly far above Brook's head while still ending up aimed at HaLynn on the way down, intending to force Brook to take flight to deflect it with the hope she's too desperate to realize this would move her out of the way.
Brook watches to where the projectile will land…and she hurriedly flies over to HaLynn, straining her body to pick him up and shield him using her wings…
Meanwhile Acacia manages to upright themselves, getting as best of a shot as they on the incoming glob of slime and start shooting at it.
…at which point D-03-109-G16 suddenly changes target, rotating and placing their arms against the floor and extending them rapidly to suddenly launch themselves at Acacia while they are distracted by the glob, the speed of the launch leading to the slime effectively acting as a solid on impact, luckily just body slamming Acacia painfully rather than the more horrifying option of them getting engulfed.
“GGH-“ Acacia is launched forcefully across the floor, body tumbling before stopping in a messy heap. They groan in pain, Solemn Lament skidding right beside them.
Brook stumbles toward Acacia, breathing heavily as HaLynn gets an idea. He whispers it to Brook, before she suddenly flies towards the highest part of the department.
“…Are you sure?”
“I am.”
“…drop me.”
D-03-109-G16 turns towards Brook and HaLynn again, gathering up more globules in their mouth and starting to launch them as they move to position themselves under the pair, focusing less on accuracy this time and more on volume of fire.
Brook then drops HaLynn, as he sighs, managing to evade the globs as he readies Harmony from the air.
“…I’m sorry, Gamma. I really am.”
And he starts firing straight at them.
D-03-109-G16 still does not try to dodge, instead simply continuing to attack as HaLynn falls towards them…
Then the attacks hit, the E.G.O boosted sound waves having ended up tighter packed on the way down and hitting them like a truck, scattering the majority of the slime across the room where it goes inert, leaving only a small amount left, which forms itself into something akin to a maw that reaches up, pointing straight at… where HaLynn's chest will be when they keep falling…
…but then it wavers, seeming to tip in a way where the body part hit will be a leg…
And as HaLynn falls, Acacia uses their remaining strength to catch HaLynn, too caught up in desperation to take note of the maw.
There’s the distinct sound of tearing flesh as HaLynn’s leg is ripped off as he’s caught.
The leg is dissolved in seconds, giving D-03-109-Gamma16 just enough slime back that they start to retake humanoid form…
But in the end, it's only enough to form the torso up, and even without the fact the right arm is missing again just like when you last saw them, the shape is unmistakeable that of Gamma16s human form, just made of slime.
They seem unable to move in any significant way, only weakly lifting their left arm before it falls back to the ground, what little slime they have left slowly going inert.
”…” Ignoring the immense pain, HaLynn manages to say two words.
“…I’m sorry.”
"N…o"
Gamma focuses their entirety on being able to speak properly again, which ends up speeding up the speed at which their slime goes inert
"I'm… sorry… sorry for… every…thing…"
They seem lucid now, fully aware of what they were just doing as the corrosion slowly wears off, but it seems like the slime going inert will finish them off before they fully become themselves again.
"I've been… nothing but trouble…"
“If…you were…nothing but trouble…you wouldn’t have cared for me…”
“You aren’t…trouble…”
He lets out a few deep breaths from trying to keep consciousness. “I’m…sorry….I broke…our promise…”
“…not your… fault… these… are the consequences… of my own mistakes…”
Gamma closes their eyes, you’re unsure how meaningful that is as they have no pupils or the like in the first place.
“and yet... I made the whole... facility suffer with me... if that's not... terrible... then what is?..."
”…Before…I just want…to say…” He heaves as Brook holds him tightly, Acacia on her back and using her wing as best as she can to stop the blood loss.
“You were…the sibling I wished…I always had…” HaLynn soon falls unconscious.
Gamma tries to open their eyelids to look at HaLynn. It doesn't work. "You two... I... know I'm not exactly in the best position to say this... considering what I did... but... keep him alive or I'll... haunt you or something..."
“Heh…y-you think we’ll just…let him die?” Brook is the only one conscious, but she offers a weak smile. “D-Don’t…worry. I will. You can…count my word on it.”
"Then hurry... considering how badly my slime spread across the facility... wellfare is going to fill up soon..."
At this point, all the slime beneath Gamma's neck has gone inert, loosing shape and forming a pool on the ground.
"Tell HaLynn that when we next meet... in a hopefully long while... they're still going to tell me about the outside, ok?..."
“…I will. I promise.”
"...good. Now go... can't keep those two alive if you... stick around here..."
Brook nods, and after looking at Gamma one final time and nodding, she proceeds to run as fast as she can to Welfare.
Once Brook is well out of earshot, Gamma lets out a shaky sigh. "I don't... think I would have been able to keep... my cool much longer..."
"I never imagined... I'd be able to feel myself going inert... nor do I understand... why it h-hurts..."
Gamma would have made a grimace if they could.
"...damn it, after all... I've done... to deserve it..."
"I still don't want to die..."
They stop moving, minimizing any activity that might speed up the rate at which they go inert, slowly feeling as more and more of what constitutes their being dies painfully until eventually, only a single cell remains.
...and finally, that too dies, taking the last of their consciousness with it.