Isn't Always A Death Sentence

Everyone had soon reached the edge of the city, with Ven and Zamtika opening a portal down to the train station down below. Everyone quickly hopped through, though Ven still had a nagging feeling in his chest as he and Tika turned back to face the city. "I'm kinda sad we didn't getta see the old bar. I think I still had a spare weapon stashed there." He laughed as Zamtika nudged him in the arm.

"Eh, you'll buy me a drink one day... I could use it after the constant shaking." 

"You did kill me. It was easy revenge." 

"Shut up." She smirked, flicking his ear, causing it to twitch a bit. "You reckon in another life we had a good ending?" She asked with a thoughtful smile. "I mean... Probably. We kinda got the short end of the stick if you really think about it. Who knows, maybe in another world we are both humans working boring dead end jobs?" He laughed.

Tika let out another laugh before going through the portal, saying with a smug tone. "Don't take to long reminiscing. We don't have a clue how long that snake will hold off Parfait."

Ven began to think back on his years in the city, even though it was the complete wrong time to do it. He suddenly felt the urge to find one of his old weapons. Iyu, who had yet to go through, gave him a look of confusion. "Shouldn't we leave? Splice won't hold her off forever, you know."

"Hey, can you teleport me to Dio's Ale? It was this old pub I used to go to. Is it still around?" 

"Yes. It is around, but why? We can't stay." She said flatly, clearly not wanting to go, but Ven gave her a grin before yelling to everyone; "Tika, wait at the station. I wanna grab us a drink!"

Before Tika could respond, Ven shut the portal's glowing red entrance and turned to Iyu. "So, will ya take me?" 

"Not that I have a choice now, is it?" Iyu mumbled before unzipping her chest and yanking Ven inside. 

Ven fell out of an inky black spot in the wall and landed right in front of an old, run down bar that looked abandoned. As Iyu quickly materialised from the puddle, he excitedly used a portal to overcome a chained fence and rushing inside. She begrudgingly followed behind, trying to hold a smile.

The two stepped inside to see a broken, run down looking bar with missing ceiling panels and ruined floorboards. "Why are we here?" Iyu asked as she followed Ven into a backroom. "Well, I kept a few trinkets from my past here when my dad owned the place."

Iyu looked a bit confused before snapping her fingers in realisation. "Are you Coffee's son?" She asked with a curious look, to which Ven nodded. "Yeah. You know about my dad?"

"He was the most famous mercenary of the time. We had to learn about him in school about the city's past." She explained, confusing Ven. "Wait, they taught people about him in schools? Was... Was I ever brought up in classes?" 

"It was said he had a daughter who disappeared and a no good failure of a son who was trying to run away after he started the end of the world." She smiled. 

"I am going to kill Vitis." He growled as he continued his search. He soon used Vex's gunblade to crack open a floor board, revealing a floor safe. He put his rabbit ear to the safe door and muttered the tune to help him remember the passcode. "Do you remember the 21st night of September." He sung before putting in 2-1-0-9.

The safe cracked open to reveal a large some of pre apocalypse money, a photo of Ven and his family, an old bottle of Whisky and an antique gun-blade. "Why did we come all the way here for these?" Iyu sighed.

Ven gave a playful smirk as he grabbed the blade and whisky. "I owe Zamtika a drink and I wanna give my kid a good gift for when I die again. Simple. Now lets bail." He laughed, stowing the blade as he held the bottle. 

Iyu gave light sigh once more before dragging Ven into her by a tentacle and unzipping herself with him. But as they left, a figure wearing a black mourning veil appeared, looking into the opened vault and taking the photo. They looked at the inky black puddle Iyu had left and began looking it over, seeming to get a sense for where they were.

"I'll finally get to see you..."

Iyu and Ven appeared on the outskirts of the city, the same spot they had just left from. Ven handed Iyu the whisky with a smirk. "Hold onto that for me, will ya?" She reluctantly took it as he began opening up another portal down to the train station. 

As he concentrated and opened one up with a sassy snap of his fingers, he turned back to see the large serpent fade away into a bright light. "Oh... Oh that ain't good." He mumbled, seeing Iyu stare at the sky where the serpent stood. "You... You okay?" He asked with a smile, patting her shoulder as she hid the bottle under her sleeve, almost like she was trying to hide it.

"I... I'm good." She said with a smile as she followed Ven through his portal down to the others, who were all waiting patiently for him. "Where the hell did you go?!" Tika yelled as Ven closed his portal. "I wanted to get us a drink." He said with a laugh as he grabbed the bottle off of Iyu and showed it off. 

Tika would have been more angry if she hadn't noticed the label. "Is... Is that Coffee's original batch of whiskey?! I thought it was all destroyed because it was pretty much poison to humans?" 

"He kept a bottle safe for the day I got married. So... Why don't we drink it as our celebration drink?" He said with a smirk as they all began gathering onto the train, with Ven informing everyone that the serpent was gone, so they needed to leave. Fast. 

Avis and Vinea where messing around with some features added to Avis's speaker wings, blaring music in another cart as Fox and Senshi were doing a crossword on an old newspaper and teaching Vex new words. 

Iyu was sat next to Ven and Tika, who were about to start up the train. "Alright, Ven. Where's the key?"

"The key?" 

"Uhm... Yeah. The key."

"I... I don't have it. Do you?" 

"No? I thought Mementis gave it to you!?" Tika looked at Ven with a groan, realising they were stuck there. "Couldn't Vitis do something?"

"We left her in Splice's lab..." Ven mumbled before realising he had the best hacking tool known to him. His Heart. He pulled out one of the tendrils inside his body and randomly stuck it in the train's controls.

They heard a small thud hit the roof of the train, thinking that meant something was working. Tid-Bit took control of Ven and gave a playful smile as she started up the train... Only to go backwards and break the buffer of the cart. "Ooops." She nervously laughed before starting it up again in the right direction. 

The train began to creak and rattle as it slowly went down the tracks and into the underground. Tika let out a sigh as Tid-bit mentioned she couldn't disconnect from the train otherwise it would stop. And so, with the hours of free time, Ven and Tid-Bit, using Iyu's storage space like body and the spare parts of Heartbreaker, began working on a new version of Ven's weapon with the antique gun-blade as its base.

As the train continued it's way, Tika felt something strange. Like a looming sense of calm. Tika had always felt dread, but had learned to overcome it with her own will, but to feel this level of acceptance without any sort of threat was starting to freak her out a bit. "I think something bad is about to happen." She mumbled, looking at Iyu who gave a knowing smile. 

"Well. Since Splice's original plan failed... We'll have to get ready for plan DNA."

"Uh... What?" Tika asked with a confused look, grabbing her gunlance before the lights of the train grew brighter then ever, almost blinding her. Iyu pulled out a pair of sunglasses from her body and put them on Zamtika. "What the hell is happening?" She yelled as she began running to the back of the train with everyone else. 

At the end end of the tunnel, a blinding light seemed to be growing closer and closer. Iyu said with her usual receptionist charm. "Parfait has come for you all. I suggest you try and hold her off." 

Avis let out a squawk of shock, yelling at Iyu; "How the hell do we beat her!? This is Peni all over again..." She mumbled, getting more nervous as her and Vinea ran back inside. Tika snapped her fingers.

"It is Peni all over again! Find me the Hearts!" She ordered to Avis and Vinea, who scrambled over to Ven before rushing back with all three in hand. Senshi looked confused, saying with a nervous insect like chattering; "W-W-What d-do we d-do? W-We don't have a-a g-good understanding o-off their p-power!" 

Avis looked nervous, raising her hand. "I-I guess could try and fight again?" But Zamtika quickly dismissed the idea. "You're still recovering. I don't want you dying after this long ass trip just to save you."

Iyu did a fake cough as the light began speeding up. "You could always... Try a non living thing." She said as she motioned to Zamtika's gunlance. Senshi quickly took the hint and began using the hearts tendrils to attach it to her gunlance.

As the light got closer and closer, Parfait finally emerged from it. Her halo had split into multiple rings of eyes circling her face, she had 8 wings with beady little eyes quickly flapping towards the train, with her dress now resembling wings wrapped around her body, though most striking was that her arms were wrapped in bright, golden chains that were causing the blinding light effect. 

As Senshi finished the final touches on the weapon, golden chains pierced into the roof of the train cart, ripping it off without much effort. Avis and Vinea started to panic as they shot into the next cart over with Vex and Fox following behind, though Fox had one thing to say before he left. 

"Take a deep breath and don't miss."

As they left, two more chains hooked onto the cart, slowly bring the train to a halt. Senshi began activating the hearts, changing the once rustic lance into a colossal, highly advanced looking black and gold cannon. Tika quickly grabbed the cannon with all her might and trained the reticule onto Parfait.

Tika took a slow deep breath as she was almost close enough to finally strike. "Don't miss..." She muttered before taking the shot. A dazzling purple and red beam of energy fired out towards Parfait, only to barely miss her and explode the tracks behind her. 

The angel looked angered by the shot, speeding up and raised a chain up to smite Zamtika before bringing it down, slicing her cleanly in to multiple pieces. Senshi watched in horror at the sight, scrambling to try and help, only to get stepped on by Parfait as she dragged her self onto the cart, glaring at Iyu.

Iyu let out a sigh and turned to face someone else behind them. "Activate the heart." 

_______________

Tika took a slow deep breath as she was almost close enough to finally strike. "Don't miss..." She muttered before taking the shot. A dazzling purple and red beam of energy fired out towards Parfait, piercing her chest and sending her flying backwards. The chains faded to light, but she was already trying to catch up again. 

Senshi let out an excited insect like chattering as she saw the weapon actually hurt Parfait. Iyu smiled and gave a slight bow. "Please fire again."

Tika nodded and trained the cannon at Parfait again, hitting her a second time, then a third, then a forth. It seemed that the angel was finally starting to slow down, actually being wounded by the attacks. "Now then... Time to finish this as Splice intended." 

Iyu smiled, unzipping her chest and attaching a few of her tentacles to the cannon. "Just hit her once more and we'll be rid of her."

Tika gave a nod and took one a deep breath as she yelled; "Remember Death!" 

Instead of a dazzling purple and red beam, a black, viscous inky substance shot out instead. In an instant, Parfait was suddenly being pulled into Iyu. She quickly tried to flee, only for Zamtika to make sure she got her. Iyu unzipped herself fully and dragged her in by the tentacles before sealing herself up.

Tika looked a bit stunned that they had actually won against Parfait, letting out a victory cheer with Senshi. "We actually won!" She laughed as Senshi took out the sub-minds from Zamtika's lance, reverting it to normal.

Iyu let out a burp before stepping back inside. "Now. Let's go and relax. All of us." She said as she motioned for a hooded figure in a black mourners veil to come down from the next cart over's roof. "Who's that?" Tika asked. 

"One of Splice's many experiments. Meet Nvr2B. Splice's personal fixer." Iyu said with a shrug as everyone stepped inside to relax. As Tika sat with everyone, celebrating their victory over Parfait, Zamtika couldn't shake the feeling of Deja Vu, but still couldn't help but laugh as everyone began to dance with Avis and Vinea as Avis cranked music through her speakers.

"I guess Everyday does feel the same."