Shackled Aids and the Hive Escort
Who the hell was Hermann, really? Guarding a Hive transport fleet? One thing was clear—he wasn't just some money-grubbing middleman. The guy wore it on his sleeve like a badge.
The reason he wanted to hire a mercenary wasn't for run-of-the-mill bodyguard duty, either.
He flipped out outta nowhere last time. Definitely some backstory there.
I recalled Hermann's outburst when the topic of transferring his brain into a Nexus came up.
Was Hermann one of those background characters with hidden depth in the game story?
But I don't wanna get more tangled up with him.
Sure, his hidden past piqued my curiosity, but I had zero interest in digging deeper or getting closer. Once you get roped into someone's drama, it's a bitch to pull out.
Still, ignoring him outright feels off.
The guy had a story, guts, the works. No doubt he'd impact the game plot somehow. Sure, he never showed up in Metal Frame, but that game was notoriously stingy with its story anyway. No biggie if off-screen stuff stayed hidden.
Metal Frame's narrative hinged entirely on the player's viewpoint. Anything outside that field of vision only surfaced as results—never the gritty details. At best, you'd piece it together from collectibles.
Reinforcement human, though...
I wasn't clueless. I could guess what tied into Hermann's past. I remembered his words deep in the Olivia Bio research complex underground.
Something about machines haunted by the grudge of reinforcement humans.
But I tilted my head. Metal Frame never gave "reinforcement human" any real weight.
The main story—assuming you followed it faithfully—revolved around the player clashing over a corporate superweapon. Three major endings based on choices, splintering into finer branches, but the core stayed the same.
Destroy the superweapon, leave it be... or pick some third option.
No room for reinforcement humans in any of it. I'd scraped every in-game collectible, setting document, and side novel. I knew.
Sure, they popped up in character backstories, but just as flavor—nothing plot-critical.
So how Hermann's baggage linked to the game story? No clue. But I talked myself into it not being weird.
The game barely explained the superweapon's origins anyway.
Why did the corporation build it? What was its endgame? All we knew: it was a monstrous thing no human should wield. Hence, the destroy option felt natural.
Masses of hidden lore lurked behind the main plot, no doubt.
Maybe pry into it indirectly while doing his jobs.
After that, I'd dig solo. No room for Hermann to worm deeper into my head.
Three weeks later, the auxiliary devices for Rabe were finally complete. Tuned precisely to her medical scans.
Hermann and the attending physician arrived at the mobile hangar, cases in hand.
"There she is, as expected."
Rabe lay sprawled by the IV stand in her pilot suit, dead asleep on the gangway right before the Nexus. This had been her routine for the past three weeks—they were used to it now.
How does she sleep on cold steel plating? Hermann shook her awake.
"Rabe, your auxiliary devices are ready."
"......"
She blinked groggily, then staggered up. At first, they'd reflexively steady her each time, but since she hated it, now they just watched.
Hermann set the case before Rabe, who clung to the IV stand to rise.
"The gear I mentioned. Try it on."
Click.
The case popped open, revealing restraint-like devices. Hard to guess they were for a patient, not monster subjugation. Thick as handcuffs, minus the chain.
As Rabe stared, the physician stepped in to fit them.
"It's gonna hurt—a lot."
"Yeah, pain's no good... Urk."
The physician locked a cuff on her wrist and activated it. In a flash, half a dozen thick tubes pierced soft flesh, burrowing deep. The surrounding mechanism clamped, securing them.
Rabe yanked instinctively, but the physician gripped harder.
"It's fine. Other arm now."
"......"
Hermann had never seen Rabe's blank face twist like that.
The physician fitted the second cuff.
Whoosh!
Braced this time, she just shuddered.
"...One more."
"Yes, come closer."
Last was a massive cuff, dwarfing the wrist ones. Rabe approached hesitantly—but didn't flee.
Clank.
The physician split it, wrapped her neck, gave a moment to brace, then triggered.
Rabe's eyes bulged. Fearing blackout, but she held. Just hacked dry coughs.
Whirrr—
Gears hummed inside her throat, then locked.
"All done. Can you stand?"
Rabe eyed the shackle-like rings on her neck and wrists. A deep red line glowed, circling the thick black bands. Activation indicator?
Hermann explained.
"They monitor and stabilize your vitals continuously. If you stray from normal, they'll force a recovery."
"Recovery?"
"Say blood pressure spikes or drops. Give me your arm."
Hermann tapped the wrist cuff.
"Auto mode now, but manual override in emergencies."
Whine—
He dragged the red line like a slider. Rabe's face drained, then flushed crimson; she doubled over, convulsing.
"Guh... hrrk..."
"Simulating high-G blood rush. The device auto-maintains homeostasis."
Soon, her death grip on her pilot suit chest eased, color returning. Panting, she glared at the cuff.
In wrong hands, this could burst her body apart. Was it safe to wear something so lethal?
Her face soured involuntarily, but no ripping it off. It'd help her frail body, regardless.
The physician left with the case. Just Rabe and Hermann remained.
"Ready to move? Need adjustment time?"
"...No. Feels... a bit more comfortable than before."
True. The spinning haze in her head sharpened slightly. Not Nexus-link levels, but progress.
Hermann pressed on.
"Then deploy immediately. Board the Nexus and stand by."
"Got it."
Rabe moved without protest, like it'd been inevitable. Probably the moment she'd craved these three weeks.
The sensation of the auxiliary devices was pure hell. Pain gone, but tubes snagged like foreign objects with every move. I'd adapt eventually.
Fiddling the neck ring amid the alien feel, Hermann's briefing kicked off.
"Unidentified weapons...?"
A blurry photo popped on the monitor—likely snapped just before a transport got wrecked. A long, slender bipedal weapon spewing blue light, soaring skyward.
"Understood."
After losing transports to those things, he'd kept sending bare fleets? I asked. Hermann replied matter-of-factly.
"......"
So, throwing me into the grinder where three mercs got mulched. Sounded good.
"Heading out."
And so my second mission began.