"Intruder, body on the balcony." Astrophel tilted his head. He was still reeling from the news about Lunar being dead, what else could possibly be going wrong now?
He and Monty left his room to find Eclipse on the balcony, leaning over the guard rail and grinning a wide, sharp-toothed grin at them.
Monty's breath hitched and Astrophel heard Monty let out a soft snarl as he spoke.
"What the hell are you doin' back here, you got what ya' wanted."
"Only part of what I wanted. Well mostly what I wanted, anyway. Hi Astro, long time no see yeah?"
"You look hideous as ever. What do you want?"
"I came to gloat. I have the star, I won. And I have a present for you."
"You killed Lunar, you have the Star, what else could you-"
Astrophel cut himself off when he noticed the overhead lights glinting off of something at Eclipse's feet- something golden yellow.
Astrophel hesitated before looking back at Eclipse. "What did you do."
Eclipse grinned and started laughing. "Someone else tried to get in my way. I simply made sure he couldn't again. Here, take your brother back, I don't need him anymore." Eclipse reached down and picked up the thing at his feet, tossing it over the guard rail to land at Astrophel and Monty's feet.
Astrophel's breath caught and his system froze briefly.
Nova was laid at his feet, rays broken, eye lights out, the back wires of his head ripped away and a hole in his torso leaking oil.
Astrophel felt his hands beginning to shake, and all he heard as he stared at his brother's corpse was a ringing in his ears and Eclipse cackling like a madman.
Suddenly Astrophel was moving, and he barely heard Monty behind him as he began to climb up the side of the platform, eyes bright red with fury and anger, claws out and leaving scratches as he climbed to him.
"I'll kill you. I'll kill you...! I'll kill you I'll kill you I'll fucking KILL YOU!"
"Astro, stop! Are ya crazy, he'll kill ya first!" Monty grabbed Astrophel and dragged him back down, his arms around him tight to restrain him.
Astrophel struggled and thrashed and kicked trying to get away from Monty.
"Let me go, Montgomery! I'm gonna fucking kill him! He killed my brothers! He fucking killed them! He...-"
Eclipse finally came down from his laughing fit, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. "Oh my god if I knew you'd react like this I'd have killed Nova so much sooner. Don't worry, Astro. I'll be back eventually to wipe this place off the map for good. And then everything will be perfect. Goodbye for now, Astrophel." And with that he was gone in the blink of an eye.
Astrophel was still struggling against Monty, even trying to bite him to make him let go, but Monty was stronger. Eventually he began to slow down, devolving from growling and biting to huffing and swearing to finally losing his fight and just collapsing into Monty for a moment.
Monty eased his hold a bit, slowly, in case Astrophel tried to run after Eclipse, but he didn't. Instead he went with Astrophel to the ground.
Astrophel was panting, tears streaming down his face. He didn't move for a bit until he got up and climbed up to the balcony, staring where Eclipse had been standing. Next to the spot was a small pool of oil. Astrophel moved again, falling to his knees, taking a deep breath.
He screamed until his voice box felt close to breaking, until his throat felt raw.
He stayed there, head to the ground and tears falling to the floor, until he felt a presence and a hand on his back moving to his shoulder.
"Astro...c'mon man. Let's move Nova down t' Parts and Service. If we can't fix 'im we can at least store 'im there until we find a way to..." Monty pulled him up and they went back into the room. Astrophel paused before they went move Nova, though.
"Yes, Astrophel?" Came the deep, raspy growing reply.
"I need a favor. I need you to help me kill one more person."
It was quiet for a moment, as if he was contemplating his answer. Then it came.
