Chapter Text
BANG!
Piercer's shot and subsequent ricochets off gleaming coins rings loudly in the foggy abyss of Treachery, but it's not enough to stop Gabriel's lightning quick advance. Justice cleaves through air, slicing across V1's bicep and cutting at exposed fuel lines. Steaming fuel sprays forth. V1 can't help but let out an excited whir as it redoubles its efforts.
This is their last dance, and neither one is holding back.
According to Gabriel's little monologue before their inevitable clash, they have about 30 minutes before the angel is set to expire.
And V1 knows what it'll do. That it'll take that last shot and consume as much blood as it can from his corpse before exploring whatever nooks and crannies Hell has left for it.
Knuckleblaster swings wide, connecting with the soft tissue just under Gabriel's chest plate. The explosion rips the two apart, both sliding a few meters on the ice. It's then, in that small beat before they launch their next attacks, that V1 hears a faint krrrckkk somewhere in the distance. It hesitates, processors trying and failing to place the sound when a kick sends it sprawling to the ground.
"Now is no time to get distracted, Machine!" Gabriel booms, panting hard with breath curling out from the holes in his helm and golden-blue wings flaring out. "If its blood you need then come get it!"
Whiplash shoots out, chainsaw revs and before Gabriel can even think about saying anything else he's dealing with the sharp bite of chain into flesh. "Grrkk-!" Blood wells thick and warm and V1's plating laps it up. Gabriel manages to pry the machine off of him, practically throwing it at the ground.
It lands hard, ice cracking beneath it. Gabriel's already up in the air, blood still dripping off him. And V1 hears it again, that faint krrrrrcckkkkk. It quickly shunts the spatial processing off to some random background system. No time for that. It dashes away from Justice and Splendor being flung at it, quickly switching back to Marksman.
Coins fly, swords return to waiting hands, V1 aims and-
The ground rumbles, low and guttural. Something's wrong. V1 misses the shot, just barely having enough time to prime Feedbacker as Gabriel descends on it. Feedbacker flies out to meet Justice just as Splendor stabs it in the abdomen. Error messages flood its HUD as some internal connection breaks. It needs space. Knuckleblaster comes out again but Gabriel is ready this time, already wrenching Splendor free to get out of the blast zone.
Frost scatters as he flies into the air with a powerful pump of his wings. He's breathing heavily and V1 knows it just needs one good shot to gain the upper hand.
Railcannon chimes helpfully, electricity buzzing on V1's fingers as it swaps to it. "What are you waiting for?" Gabriel sounds breathless, a desperate plea on the edge of his voice. "Strike me down Machine! Kill me, bathe in my blood and let it fuel you long after my death!"
V1 doesn't need be told twice. But its audials alert it to something shifting, an all encompassing background noise that grows louder with each passing second-
kkkkrrRRRAAACK-!
The sky splits open with an ugly tear. Inky black void spills forth into Treachery's cloudy sky. Both machine and angel freeze, spinning to stare in horror at the crack in space. V1 feels the rumble under its feet, that low, painful moan sounds again as meters thick ice begins to break.
Gabriel looks down at it and V1 meets his gaze as they realize what is happening at the same time: Hell is dying.
In a burst of speed, V1 dashes across the ice. It drops into a slide, jumps and carries its momentum ever faster as it races in what it hopes to be the direction of the elevator. A rocket launches ahead of it, pulled back with a well timed whiplash so as to propel it across the endless icy expanse.
Whatever Gabriel shouts to it is drowned out by the deafening sound of Hell coming undone. The ground beneath V1's rocket gives way, frozen sea crumbling away into absolute nothingness.
The rocket sputters, unable to stay upright with V1's weight. Hell's dying body turns into a maw with ice shard teeth, hungry and ready to swallow it whole.
There, though the fog, it sees the telltale red of mankind's elevator system.
It isn't going to make it.
Gabriel barrels into it, knocking it clean of the faltering rocket and right into his arms. Pressed against his chest, V1 scrambles in his strong grip elbowing him in the jaw and raking Knuckleblaster across his side.
"Stop that!" He hisses, only tightening his hold on the machine as wind rushes past them. "Hold on!!"
It's the only warning it gets before the world stutters around them and there's a flash of blinding white light. All it can do is hold on, hold on, hold on as everything comes back to it in a rush of sensation. Visual processors reboot and flick back online with a start to red metal walls careening past them.
Gabriel's wings push them upwards through the dark elevator shaft, the groaning of Hell's death throws echoing down below. Finally, they breach the surface, tumbling out into bright blue skies.
The world spins for a dizzying few seconds before Gabriel is able to even out. He's panting hard and it can feel every one of his labored breaths.
V1 twists in his death grip. "Gh- hey, Machine- careful!" It clambers into a better position, heel probably digging painfully into Gabriel's thigh. Still held close by the angel, it swivels its head around to get a bearing of their location.
Pinned between the sun and moon, they're located inside the impossible cylinder of Fraud. Apartments, office buildings and parks cover any and all space available on the large curving walls encasing them. It's the same arena that it fought Geryon in. Endless free fall only halted by Gabriel keeping a steady beat of his wings.
He's moving them cautiously through the air, but there's a sense of urgency when he says, "We need to end this quick."
Oh, right. Hell dying kind of forced them to put a pause on all of that. But… hold on… it needs to run some calculations.
Gabriel touches down on a balcony, gravity already orienting them the right way. He lets go of V1 and it gladly steps away from him, processors spitting out data that only throws a wrench into both of their plans.
"Machine," Gabriel starts, unaware of the information currently blaring on V1's HUD. "I don't have long. Please, I- I beg of you, I'd rather die to your infernal weapons than whatever awaits me at the end of these 24 hours."
V1 shakes its head, tapping its wrist like it had seen its human engineers do whenever they were wearing a watch. But Gabriel isn't paying attention to that.
"Wh- What do you mean no?" He steps forwards, V1 steps back. It thrusts its wrist into his view, making a circle with one finger before tapping again. "A watch? Time? Yes, I know, we're running out of time!"
Urg! No! That's not- V1 vents hot air out of its fans in frustration.
"Here, I'll make it easier for you." In a smooth, practiced motion, he pulls Justice out of her sheath. He turns the weapon around, hilt facing V1 with his own palm and fingers digging into the blade. Blood drips onto floor. "Take it."
V1 shakes its head again. It keeps stepping back, crossing Feedbacker and its primary arm in an X against its chest.
"Why is this suddenly so hard for you!? You're supposed to be a killing machine!"
Sure, that's what it was made for and its systems are screaming at it to grab the sword, get rid of the threat, refuel on his blood but it just can't. Yes, it wanted to kill him before Treachery cannibalized itself but now it doesn't and how the fuck is it going to explain the reasoning to him when he just won't let up!
V1's back hits the wall, somehow they've walked all the way into the small apartment. Justice's hilt thunks against its chassis, the blade angled up and pressing against Gabriel's throat.
"Please, V1. I need you to kill me."
A flash of memory. Engineers scrambling away, begging with trembling voices, "Please V1, don't kill us!"
It ignores their pleas, fuel gauge ticking up from 16 to 46%.
It grabs his wrist, steadying the blade so he doesn't accidentally cut any further than he already has. He pauses, waiting with bated breath. Unfortunately for him, V1 is selfish. It uses the moment to whiplash a broken clock from the wall and pushes it between them.
It points emphatically at where the hour hand sits frozen in time, then to a time just before that, miming with a thumb across its neck while pointing at Gabriel with another. You were supposed to have died already.
Gabriel stills, hopefully processing the meaning of V1's frantic movements. It repeats the gestures , slower this time, tapping the clock's frozen time again to indicate the present time.
Realization hits Gabriel all at once as Justice clatters to the floor. He staggers back, wings twitching out then in, fists balling at his sides, blood still dripping down his knuckles. "What… no that's not… it's impossible." But V1 can tell he's making the calculations in his head, coming to the same conclusion it had.
Gabriel lets out a trembling, disbelieving laugh that evolves into something louder, harsher. The sound claws its way out of his throat. He collapses onto his knees, clutching his head in his hands while his wings puff out behind him flashing through blues and yellows before finally settling around him with an exhausted dull grey.
The laughter trails off into a pained sigh. "I'm alive…" he breathes out, just loud enough for V1's audials to pick up. There's no relief in his voice, in fact, he sounds worse now then when he had been pleading for death at the machine's hands.
V1 doesn't know what to do with this. It can deal with anger and passion fine enough, but this? A despondent Gabriel who's curled in on himself on the ground in an apartment in Fraud? It has nothing.
Something rumbles off in the distance. V1's head snaps up at the sound, quickly stepping past Gabriel to peer out of the apartment. It doesn't need to look far to find what it's afraid of; a black crack spreading like rot from where it assumes the elevator to Treachery is located.
If they want to stay alive they're going to need to outrun Hell's decay.
Returning to the room, V1 takes stock of the situation. There's no exit signs above the doors, something it had grown used to in its first romp through Fraud. But that was likely Hell leading it on and with Hell actively dying, it likely didn't have the resources for that anymore. Okay. That's fine, maybe it can just try a random door and see if that leads further into Fraud.
By a stroke of luck, the first door V1 tries out leads not to some closet or bathroom, but opens up to a grand, carpeted hallway with dark wood ceilings and walls. Spinning around, door still held open, it clacks its wings together to try and get Gabriel's attention.
The angel doesn't react, he's still curled in on himself, shivering as if caught in a blizzard. What the fuck? Oh… oh no, he's having some kind of crisis about being alive, isn't he?
brrrrrrmmm…
Something low reverberates through the earth, shaking the very core of the apartment building they're in. V1 needs to get Gabriel up and moving now. It rushes over, quickly grabbing Justice and stowing her in its wing before giving him a light kick in the thigh. Nothing. Not even a grumble or a sigh or any indication that he had felt that. Okay, plan B it is.
It grabs his arm, yanking it with enough force to get Gabriel to at least stand up somewhat. He's still vacant, wings limp and trailing on the floor but this is better, it allows V1 to wrap his arm around its shoulders and partially carry him.
"What are you doing Machine?" he slurs as they near the open door. The ground rumbles louder, a building collapses in the distance. "Right, Hell is dying… hah, how could I forget." His voice sounds hollow, lacking any of the conviction it normally has. It's worrying, but less of a priority for V1 than getting them both to safety.
At least Gabriel is picking up his own feet more, matching V1's hurried pace as they cross the threshold into the warmly lit hallway. It slams the door shut behind them but does not stop in advancing forward, dragging Gabriel along with it. The hallway stretches out before them and the only reason V1 knows they're making any progress is that the sconces on either side dim the further in they go.
Eventually, the only light remaining is the dim glow of Gabriel's divinity.
They reach another door. Without hesitating, V1 shoves it open, throwing both of them head first into whatever room awaits them on the other side.
Well, to call it a room would be misleading.
Both of them tumble head first into open air and blinding morning light. Soft grass meets them both as they land roughly in the dirt of a courtyard. V1 is first to rise, already on high alert with Marksman out.
They're surrounded by New Peace apartment buildings, but unlike the the ones in the cylinder, the ceiling above was an open sky, pink clouds frozen in time with the sun rise. As far as it was aware, there wasn't any immediate threat.
Didn't mean it was about to put its gun away.
But that did mean it could focus its attention on the angel currently slumped against the edge of a man made pond. He looked… bad? Yeah, that sure was a word for how much he looked like a kicked puppy. And to add insult to injury, V1's fuel gauge pings it with a reminder it's just gone below 50%.
Incessant programming nags at it as it steps towards Gabriel. He's still coated in dried blood, though it seems his wounds from their battle have already healed. Shame, it couldn't make the excuse of trying to help him upright to get a little drink. It'll have to ask. It's not sure if Gabriel will give it blood without a fight, which would be fine. The courtyard was large enough for a good fight.
It crouches down, whirring softly to get his attention. He turns to look at it, actions still sluggish. "Machine?" He says it like he's staring through a thick fog, unsure of the person right in front of his face.
With Feedbacker, it points to an exposed fuel line on its abdomen. "Ah, you… you're asking for fuel." V1 nods, slow and deliberate. "Hah… to think I'd see the day where a warmachine would ask me for blood." He turns his gaze away and V1 feels an itch beneath its servos to strike out, get blood, refuel refuel refuel. But Gabriel's posture shifts, he sits up a little straighter as if some clarity is hitting him. V1 waits, curious anticipation sparking through its circuits.
It doesn't have to wait long for his answer.
"Fine, I'll feed you." He lifts his hand, the one Justice had bit into just moments prior. "Take it, the wound should be easy enough to open back up again."
Its takes his hand and uses Knuckleblaster to carefully cut open the healing flesh on his palm. Gabriel lets out a long, slow breath as it presses the palm to its chest, plates hungrily lapping up the flowing blood.
"It would serve me right," his voice is soft and rough with emotion, "that my punishment would be to be used as fuel for an object."
V1 stills, it doesn't know how to reply to that. Does he view this all as a punishment? Only giving his blood because he thinks it'll help him atone for some past sin? The implications upset it for a reason it cannot place. It shunts the process aside, it can worry about that later, it just needs to focus on refueling right now and finding a way out.
So it keeps his hand pressed against its chest, the two sitting there in the grass surrounded by sandstone yellow buildings in a facsimile of the New Peace era while it's fuel gauge counties to tick up.
And something watches in the distance. Massive in scope, many unseen eyes focusing in on the scene unfolding within her. The warmachine has spared the angel, and now he freely gives it blood? Interesting. Curious. Entertaining, even.
Hmm… yes this will do.
She pours her resources together, dying body struggling under the weight of her demands, but it acquiesces easily enough.
After all, Hell knows exactly what she wants.