(Used this as an opportunity for a big reveal of some new stuff for Marvin! Happy Mermay!!)
Another night- another horrible nightmare plagues Marvin’s mind. They always feel so real…
This one is… different though. He’s staring at… a version of himself. Himself stuck in his warper state- those bright pink alien eyes staring straight through him. He watches his other self get stiffer- become more robotic- and he feels himself following after. He panics- wanting to fight the sensation but his body is locking up. The warper him just barely tilts his head towards Marvin before speaking.
“Why are you denying what we are?”
“W-What?!” Marvin stammers in fear.
There’s no emotion on the other him’s face, “We are not like the other hybrids. We are not organic, we are not human. We are machines, made to serve a purpose. Why do you keep denying what we are?”
“Because I’m more than that!” Marvin shouts back, “Warpers may be machines but I… I'm me! I’m Marvin!”
“Your feeble attempts to cling to your humanity are making you weak,” The warper him says, “A human mind has so much potential. So much to unlock. You could be more powerful than any warper ever made. Maybe even on par with the architects. Yet you turn away from what you could be. Why?”
It suddenly warps so it and Marvin are face to face, pink eyes meeting teary blue.
“Are you afraid, WH-005?”
And for a moment… the voice sounded just like Zeke’s.
Marvin shoots awake and gasps, pushing himself up in the sand to shakily try to breathe. Fresh water over his gills seems to calm him down as he grips over his heart. His… heart that he can see through his chest- beating and pumping blood. But, he feels so disconnected from it. Like his body was turning into metal. And it scared him to his very core.
He yelps in surprise and fear as he feels a gentle hand on his shoulder. Then, he sees a goggled face and relaxes some. It’s just Henrik…
“I heard you shout…” The stalker hybrid says quietly, “More nightmares?”
Marvin is quiet but then slowly nods. His voice cracks a bit as he mumbles, “…t-they just keep getting worse, Hen… I-I…!”
Henrik is quick to wrap up the younger brother in a hug and shushes him gently. “It is only a dream, Marvin… they cannot hurt you.”
The warper mer is quiet in his arms for a few beats, trying to find comfort in his embrace. But the dream still lingered like poison in his mind. He pushes himself out and swims upward. “T-That’s just it, Hen! It’s… it’s not just a dream… I-it’s things I’ve been worried about- worried that I’m… I’m too different f-from…!” He cuts himself off as he bites his lip, trying not to let tears linger in his eyes.
“M-Marvin what are you-?” Schneep tries to say. But Marvin hurriedly swims past him, towards the mouth of the cove.
“I- I need to look for answers…!” Marvin says quickly then warps away before Henrik can even get up to chase after him.
———
Marvin appears in the lost river and he blinks in confusion. “…why… am I here?” He asks, his voice echoing slightly in the dark cavern. He shudders, holding his arms tight around him. He hates it down here… here is where Zeke-
You want to find answers, right? A thought echoes through his head. And with the thought comes a feeling. Pulling him forward. Like an instinct. A need.
Marvin trembles, his tails juddering in place. But, maybe there were answers here somewhere. He shakes his head and swims after the feeling, going towards the strange alien-like arches that lead to his destination.
Though, whatever this feeling is… it’s not leading him to where Zeke had him. That was a small white suit wreck- a crude Alteran attempt at making warpers themselves… at least from what he can remember. It was all really fuzzy. But now… this is leading him to a really scary looking building. One that it seems even the white suits don’t touch. Probably because it looked like it was destroyed by… something. Something big. And the entire thing was submerged underwater. Which served Marvin just fine.
Still- looking at the strange glowing green structure hidden amongst the darkest parts of the Lost River sent shivers down the warper’s spine. But, he swallowed his fear and swam inside.
Inside was a confusing labyrinth of architecture he had rarely seen. Strangely glowing and… there were so many things locked behind glass structures. Marvin swam into an open room and gasped as he saw fuana specimens tacked onto displays. He felt sick as he saw a rabbit ray… and a huge egg that kinda reminded him of Anti.
He quickly swam out of that place- seeing massive claw marks scratched into the walls and dents of damage. But soon enough he entered a place that felt way too familiar… yet like nothing he had ever seen before.
It was horrifying… an expansive room filled with- warper parts. Several parts just left in construction- an inactive warper discarded and thrown on the floor, leaving that horrid green cage open. Just like the one that Zeke kept him for weeks, back in that wrecked Alterra copy. Clearly it had been a poorer copy of this. This… this is where the original warpers must have been made.
Seeing this all has Marcin’s heart pounding wildly, his skin raked with goosebumps. Still… this place had to have the answers he was looking for, right? The answer to what he was… was he human? Was he a machine? Was he too different from his brothers? …looking around this place though, he’s not sure this has the answer he wants to hear.
As he swims forward into the lab he tries to look around for something… he’s not exactly sure what. Surely there must be information in here… like a PDA or something?
When suddenly, his tail brushes against some kind of dark cube with glowing green lines- and lights and machines start to glow and whirl around him. Marvin freezes and whips around to look- only for some of those green metal bars and wires to crash into him and hold him in place. Marvin instantly starts to panic and fights against the cage, “no no!! Not again! L-Let me go!!”
He tries to warp but whatever this stuff is made of is suppressing his powers! He feels panicked tears welling up in his eyes and tries to struggle out more, using his claws to try to get out but the cage grabs his arms and pulls them taunt to the side. Ringing is starting up in his ears, he left his mask at the cove! He can’t lose himself here! But he feels his second pair of eyes trying to open, feels his warper instincts trying to claw their way to the surface through his panic.
One of the 4 pronged fabricators creaks loudly across the ancient ceiling as it comes to rest in front of Marvin. A blue light washes across his body, scanning him. Then, a robotic voice garbles out, almost too glitched and corrupted to understand:
‘Warper agent active but incomplete. Processing power not at full capacity.’
“What?! W-What does that mean?? P-Please just let me go! I’m not just a warper I-I’m-!” Marvin sobs. But the machines don’t listen. The fabricator arm zooms around Marvin- then latches onto his neck, inserting sharp tips under his armor.
A sharp shock goes through Marvin’s nerves as his back arches and he lets out a strangled gasp of pain. Something in his blood seems to pump faster, feels… different. The… the ringing… is it getting… quieter?
‘Self repairing technology back online.’
Then, the fabricator whirls and then soars over his head, latching attachments against his skull and digging in. He screams bloody murder and tries to thrash against the pain but the cage tightens around him- holding him still.
‘Expanding processing power of Agent’s brain. Please stand by.’
The computerized voice says- now clearer as if talking directly into Marvin’s mind.
Then, there’s nothing but bright blinding pain as something pushes into his skull and electricity fills up Marvin’s whole body. He’s not sure if he’s screaming or not- he feels completely detached from his body. All he can feel is the pain as something is pushed into his mind.
When he next wakes up he’s laying down on his back on one of the tables inside the warper facility. He doesn’t even remember passing out… he groans and holds his head. It’s aching and pounding. But then as he looks out- something in his vision has changed.
He sees- words. Human words. But he can fully read and understand them now. Everywhere he looks he sees things start to get highlighted in blue, like they’re being scanned before information pops up to explain it. Just like a white suit machine. Marvin screams and tries to scramble away but- he can’t escape it! It’s all he can see!
He curls up and holds hands over his eyes, sobbing hysterically in fear. “W-What is this?! W-What’s happening to me?!”
Then, he stiffens slightly and pink blooms in his eyes as words start to fill his mind. It hurts- it hurts and he tries to fight it but there’s just urge to just- repeat the words! Say them outloud- he needs to he’s programmed to-
“Warper agents' brains and central nervous systems been digitally augmented with advanced processing power and remote communications.” Marvin says in a robotic drone, eyes glazing over slightly as the information slips from his lips.
Once he’s done, the pink fades from his eyes and the pressure lightens as he gasps. His limbs begin to tremble again, no longer stiff and robotic. He claps his hands over his mouth and chokes on a sob. That fabricator- it did something to him! Did it make him even more like a warper? More like a machine?!
Marvin rockets off the platform and back out into the rest of the facility- the rest of its freaky secrets blurring around him in his panic. The second he feels like he can warp again he does- crashing into the wall of the cove with a loud thud.
Soon enough Jackie comes into view and tries to help Marvin up, “Marvin?! Marv what’s wrong? Are you okay?!”
The touch is electric, it’s too much- it feels like Marvin’s nerves are on fire! He pushes Jackie away from him and curls up, “D-Don’t touch me!”
Jackie looks hurt, “What? Marvin-!”
More bodies start to swim closer, Marvin can feel Jamie’s tentacles and hear Schneep’s panicking. Another hand tries to touch him and he shoves it off. “Stop please just- stop…!”
“Marvin, I need to see what is wrong…!” Henrik tries to say, “Is your head hurting? Do you need your mask?”
“M-Maybe we should call for Danan?” Chase suggests shakily.
Marvin tries to look out at his brothers- and he gasps as he sees his vision start to scan them. Messages pop up, showing their designations. No no- Marvin didn’t want to see those! He whimpers and the others tense as they see flickers of pink in his eyes.
“Anti, get Marvin’s mask, quickly!” Henrik shouts. The sea dragon hesitates then grabs the mask and hurries over to hand it to Marvin. “Here,” Anti whispers, looking slightly worried.
But all Marvin can see is Anti’s designation- SE-004. And the notes of ‘return to HQ at all costs.’ Marvin chokes on a sob and curls up as much as he can, digging claws into his head as he shouts out, “no no! G-Get- GET AWAY FROM ME!!”
As he shouts this- suddenly, his mask and any lingering tech around the cave start to glow with blue light. Then, they start to float in the water despite their weight. The boys all watch this in awe. Until- the objects all shoot off in different directions, causing even more crashing sounds.
Marvin dares to look up, his eyes glowing blue now instead of pink. The others stare at him with confusion and a bit of fear.
“I’m sorry, Marvin… I’m not sure there’s anything I can do,” Dr. Danan said quietly.
“W-What does that mean?!” Marvin squeaks in fear, holding his mask tight in his hands. “There’s nothing you can do?! I have fucking white suit words scrolling across my eyes!!”
Danan sighs. She’s already taken Marvin to get x-rayed and to run some scans on him but…
“It’s… architect technology, Marvin,” She says, turning to the panicked merman and his brothers.
Jackie tilts his head, “…architects? Who are they?”
“Isn’t that like… a human word for someone who builds?” Chase asks.
Marvin stiffens up, pink appearing in his eyes as he drones out, “Architects is the name given by Alterra to a species of highly advanced and ancient beings that arrived on Planet 4546B approximately one thousand years ago, searching for a cure for the Kharaa Bacterium. Most information surrounding them is currently unknown.” Then he shudders and curls up smaller, blinking the pink out of his eyes.
Schneep looks at him sympathetically and then looks back at Danan desperately, “There must be something we can do for him… some way to stop uh- these fits of knowledge?”
“…sounds like a PDA,” Jamie observes sheepishly.
Marvin chokes on a quiet sob and curls his tails up to his chest.
“It’s beyond anything that we know.” Danan says, looking at Marvin with worry. “We’ve been trying to study it for years but… all our attempts to replicate their technology falls short. I have…no idea how to even begin to approach this.”
“I-If this is just architect stuff then… w-why do I suddenly have knowledge that Alterra has?” Marvin asks shakily.
Anti nods, “Yeah… s-some of the stuff he’s been saying is stuff I used to hear back at HQ…didn’t remember it until he said it but…”
Danan hums in thought, “Well… there was an attempt to make an Alteran Warper facility like the one in the lost river- where you just were, Marvin. Maybe… in an attempt to merge technologies… it’s not out of the question that they might have set up a data hub there that links our Alterran PDA database to the one the architects held there. There’s a very large power supply down in the depths…” She shakes her head, “I’m sorry boys… I’m a doctor- a Xeno-biologist. This is going into technology which is not my speciality.”
“Zara is good with tech!” Jackie tries to add.
Dr. Danan just shakes her head again, “She wouldn’t know about this… I’m so sorry, Marvin.”
She swims over to the x-Ray display and points to the place where Marvin’s warper chip is. “…on the bright side? It seems that your chip is no longer broken! So… you don’t need to wear your mask anymore or get into those warper fits…?”
Marvin’s lip warbles, “But I finally was liking my mask…!”
“You can still wear it Marv…” Chase tries to say encouragingly. “Everything’s gonna be okay. We’ll figure this all out.”
Marvin looks up at his older brother with a warbling lip. Then he turns away and curls up smaller. “I… I need to clear my head…” and then in a quick burst of blue and purple ripples, he’s gone.
“Wait Marvin!” Schneep tries to say then curses once he’s gone, “Damnit-! We have to find him! Being alone is how he got into all of this-!”
Chase swims over and places a hand on Schneep’s shoulder, “…let him be Henrik… I… I think he just needs some space.”
Jamie looks concerned, “…what if he gets hurt?” He whispers.
“…We’re just gonna have to trust him…” Chase replies.
Jackie looks very worried out the window of the lab… hoping his twin was okay.
————
Marvin warps around for a bit, trying to find a place that could help him feel better. But… somehow- he ended up back in the lost river. This time though it is a completely different place. One he hadn’t seen before- with beautiful glowing trees and waterfalls of green glowing brine. He lets himself swim aimlessly, marveling at the sights. He even smiles as he sees the ghost rays swimming above, singing their ghostly wails.
But, then- he hears a roar that has him stiffening. He turns around as sees the terrifying lavender glow of a ghost Leviathan-! He cries out then quickly swims as far away as he can- and finds himself in a very strange cave. He blinks, looking around the walls. There’s… bent metal right at the entrance… was this an Alteran site once? …if it was it might be abandoned now. They tend to avoid places that get filled with water. And based on the dents… seems like the ghost Leviathan wouldn’t bother him here.
Marvin swallows shakily then goes to explore around- better than just… warping from place to place. He doesn’t want to tire himself out and be left in a bad spot.
“…maybe this was dumb…” Marvin mumbles to himself, “I… what if I get in trouble and the others can’t find me?” He then shakes his head out and looks out in determination, “…I-i'll be fine though! I…I can handle myself. …mostly-“
Truthfully though- since reuniting with his brothers… there’s not a lot of time he spends completely by himself. And if he is- it’s usually within eye or earshot of one of the others. Maybe that’s why this was so scary… he hadn’t been truly on his own since…
He shakes his head out again. This is fine- he’s a tough hybrid. He doesn’t need his brothers to baby him… Anti is already able to be on his own. He should be able to too!
He swims for a while, following a winding path that seems to be made out of the roots of the ghost trees. It was kinda eerie…
But then- at the end of the cave, there’s not an exit. Instead… There's a hollowed out cavern and- some kind of white suit machine. It’s a diamond frame on top of a triangle that’s sunk into the sand. And inside the frame is a glowing green field of energy.
“What… is this thing…?” Marvin wonders. Then he stiffens as his eyes shine with pink, “An Alien Arch is a large construct used by the Architects. All auxiliary arches connect to the Primary Containment Facility.”
Marvin quickly shakes off the trance and then backs up from the arch, shaking, “T-That’s where they had Jack…!”
He starts to swim away but then finds himself pausing, looking back at the arch. …it was Architect technology, huh? And… the new things he can do are because of them. Is there some way… he could make this arch… go somewhere else? So it wouldn’t take him straight to the white suits. And then, Maybe… maybe it could help him find more answers about the architects and who they were- maybe he can find some way to stop what’s going on in his head! …maybe he could even find a way to help Jack!
Narrowing his eyes in determination, Marvin swims towards the arch. He looks at its massive size and is momentarily intimidated before shaking himself out and touching the frame. He closes his eyes and tries to summon that weird feeling he felt when he got scared back in the cove- when he made his mask move!
Slowly, the energy field starts to shimmer and shift as blue energy lights up over the frame. And then the field turns from green to a light shimmering blue.
Marvin swims back and then looks down at his hands in wonder. “T-That worked?” He breathes.
Then, he braces himself, going to tie his mask around his neck before he swims through the energy field.
When he appears on the other side… he’s in another cave. With its own alien arch but the blue energy quickly dies down and leaves the frame empty.
“…Strange,” Marvin says, holding his arms as a chill comes over him.
it feels… colder here? He doesn’t usually feel the temperate changes too much but here it is very stark. He holds his arms then tries to look for any hint of sunlight- or someway out of here. He eventually looks up and sees a shimmer of light up further above. He ventures through the labyrinth of twisting rocks. Huh- this kinda felt like home. But… these rocks were darker and were… glowing? They look just like Jack’s tails!
This gives Marvin hope that soars in his chest. He quickly swims faster- finally breaking into the light and-!
This… isn’t even close to home. Those strange twisting rocks make up the landscape, strange plants he’s never seen growing along the shores of flat sandy plateaus. And there’s things that looks like creepvines flowing with the current, but they’re… yellow? And then- a fish swims by. Marvin thinks for a second that it’s a peeper but… it’s not! Or… maybe it is? It looks just like the ones back home but this one is glowing- with blue tips and it’s white and purple!
What if Marvin encounters a titan holefish? Those are my favorite fish in Below Zero :D
Marvin started to swim around, marveling at the new seascape before him. And before he knew it… he was swimming under- what were those?? They were white like white suit bases but looked nothing like them. He swims up to one and gently tries to poke it. Then he darts his hand away- it’s cold! Even colder than white suit metal…
“What is this stuff…?” Marvin muses.
He flinches, expecting that new robotic trance thing to take over but… nothing.
“Huh… I guess even Alterra doesn’t know what this stuff is… that seems weird,” Marvin mutters. “Orrr it’s so basic they don’t have an entry… cool love that for me.”
He starts to swim back down and another strange sight catches his eye. It’s a huge fish…! With a hole right through the center! He immediately thinks of his brothers… he can already hear what they’d say, seeing something like that.
Jackie would go, “Hey Chase! Race you through that hole fish thing!”
Then Henrik would try to warn him his mandibles would not fit- but he’d be stubborn and try anyways- probably getting stuck.
Marvin laughs at the thought. …he should try to swim through- for Jackie.
He casually swims towards the big fish and then squeezes through the hole. He’s greeted by a puff of warm air that has him gaping slightly. This thing made air?? Like what the surface had? How??
Before he can linger on that thought though- something tiny and sharp latches onto his arm and then his tail. He yells and then warps away- which scares the tiny blue and red things off him as they dart back to the hole fish, who seems unbothered. He rubs at his arm, seeing the bite mark of the tiny things.
“The hell were those?” He asks- then immediately regrets it as he stiffens up, eyes flaring pink. “The Symbiote is an aggressive fauna species known for living in a symbiotic relationship with the Titan Holefish.” He then shakes himself off and hums, “oh… so that’s what the big one is called too. And… symbiotic means… they help each other… huh?”
He looks at the Symbiotes swimming around the Titan Holefish and smiles some. “…that’s kinda nice.”
He then shakes his head and starts to warp away- he had more things to explore, right?
