A quick apology for how long this has taken to get written. I go into more depth at the end for the reasons for the delay but I figured I should start with one too. Characters may well be somewhat out of character in this because of the update gaps, and if they are, I am sorry :( anyway, on with the fic!

The heat was almost unbearable in the direct sunlight, but under the small amount of shade offered by trees, one could cope.

Deciding who to send out to explore was tricky. The obvious choice was Sollux and Vriska, due to Vriska's manipulation skills, and then Sollux for his quick thinking and no nonsense attitude when it came to the blue-blood. Yet both the Handmaid and Tavros worried of how much would actually be achieved through such a duo. It was apparent that Sollux still held a deep rooted hatred for Vriska, as she had slain Aradia (and used Sollux's own body to do so).

There was no use sending out Tavros with her, as they all knew that Vriska would quite likely bully him, and it was not a fate that the other two wished upon him.

After processing such information, then logically it would have made sense to send the Handmaid out with Vriska. Yet since they still could not locate the tracking device within her, it was impossible.

Eventually, it ended up having to be sorted out with a game of rock, paper, scissors.

Sollux lost with scissors, Tavros won with rock, and Vriska was in a mood for the rest of the day at how neither wanted to go exploring with her.

The Handmaid made them both swear that they would not fight, then let them leave.

Equipped with a pack of food, a blanket and some water each (though seeing as they were only supposed to be taking a quick look around the area, the supplies were for emergency only), Vriska and Sollux left the hidden room and began their journey to see what the local area was like.

Admittedly, wandering around in broad daylight was probably not the best idea in the world, and after five minutes of it, the pair returned, suggesting instead that they waited until dusk before exploring. For it was too hot, and also made them more likely to be spotted.

Tavros, however, was still adamant that it would be safer to explore in the day. Apparently big cats and other dangerous animals came out at night in the deserts of the southern states of the US. Vriska boasted that her vision was just as good as theirs at night now, so they need not worry. Sollux reminded her that while she may have good vision, it did not mean that she was going to be able to pick up a stalking wild cat. The Handmaid told them to stop arguing and start coming up with a solution, and that was the end of that.

Ignoring Tavros' anxieties, at about dusk, the pair set off again, armed only with Sollux's optic blasts and Vriska's fluorite octet.

With Vriska leading, Sollux was left to keeping a lookout, but thankfully it seemed that no people were out that day.

Beyond the heavy lifting machinery was a small lightly forested area, populated mostly half dead trees, and a number of hardy cacti. The twigs and dead leaves beneath their feet were incredibly dry, as one would expect, and crunched and snapped loudly wherever they went.

They never saw a big cat, much to Vriska's disappointment. They did however, see a common house cat that had turned feral.

"Do you think you can eat cactuses?" Vriska asked Sollux after twenty minutes of wandering. She had gotten thirsty, despite how the temperature had dropped considerably as they went, yet did not want to drink from the water bottle just yet. The cacti they passed looked juicy and full of water, and the idea of eating something fresh after weeks of only tinned or dried food seemed like heaven on earth… even if it was a cactus…

He gave her a fed up look, which soon changed to a frown as he said, "Yeah, actually."

They went to go inspect one of the many succulent looking cacti.

"Thethe oneth are edible. It's a prickly pear," he decided, then realised they had no way to harvest them without getting a multitude of spikes in their fingers… or so he suspected. Sollux was fairly certain that these fruit, and the edible stalks, were covered in fine prickles. But he was not certain. Luckily for him, he had a test subject. "Vrithka, get thethe oneth. I'm gonna look for thomething to carry them in."

"Why not our bags?" she replied with a confused frown.

Sollux gave her a withering stare, "I'd rather not get cactuth all over my stuff, but don't let me hold you back."

"Fuck you." Vriska spat, and turned quickly to hide her angry flush, and marched back towards the cacti. Walking about all day in such a state of dehydration was messing with her concentration.

She reached out to grab one of the bulbous red fruit, and found to her horror that what she had taken to be mere lumps on the prickly pears surface was actually a cluster of fine spikes.

"Sollux!" she shrieked furiously. "Did you know about the fucking prickles?"

"I do now," he shrugged, and continued looking around for scraps of fabric.

Their trek continued for a while further until they stumbled across a railway track. Neither had seen a real one before, as they were no longer commonplace in cities, though Vriska recognised it after a few seconds.

"If we follow this far enough we'll find people. Maybe," she said. "Though I have no idea which side to follow."

"We can't go looking like thith anyway,"

Vriska frowned with confusion, then looked down at her grey hands and long yellow nails. All of the time she had spent at T.R.O.L.L had made her forget that most people would run at the sight of her mutation. She clenched her hands into fists.

She turned to Sollux with her trademark smirk. "Well then, we'll just have to figure out how to look like normal people."

Sollux snorted. "Good luck with that. You haven't got a fucking chance."

"Not with that attitude," she replied mockingly, then placed her hands on the wooden fence that separated them from the tracks. Yet as she was about to jump over, Sollux places his hand on her shoulder.

"We can't go now. We need to get back to Tavroth and HM," he reminded. At this, she turned back to face Sollux, glaring at him with a pronounced pout of annoyance.

"So what? A cripple and a woman who cant leave those tunnels without having the fish bitch know where we are? Why should someone as gorgeous and smart as I am have to put up with a bunch of losers like you?"

Sollux was confused at the 'fishbitch' but ignored it for now. "Well why don't you go then? It'th not like you fucking need uth. You'd probably jutht end up killing another one of uth anyway."

Her eyes narrowed. "You don't understand what was going on for a fucking second, Sollux."

"What ithn't there to underthtand? You uthed me to murder one of my clothetht friends."

"You know, I'm not obliged to tell every fuckwit why I do things. But you really wanna know why I did it?" she snarled. "Fine."

"Vrithka. There ith nothing you could thay that would make me forgive what you did."

"No, you shit-for-brains. You are going to listen. You think that Doc Scratch runs this whole gig right? You couldn't be more wrong. It's run by this insane tyrian-blood, and when she asks you to do something you can do absolutely fucking nothing but obey. She told me that if I killed Aradia, then I could get Tavros' legs and my arm and eye back. And even without those perks, it's hardly as if I had a choice."

"You killed Aradia jutht so you could get thothe trivial thingth back?"

"Bluh! Being able to walk is hardly trivial you piece of shit. But seeing as all of you despise me despite how I did everything I could to help you, I should just fucking leave."

There was silence as Sollux thought about the information he had just been given. Vriska was right, he had no idea about this strange tyrian-blood she had spoken of… and yet it made sense. And while he would never truly forgive Vriska for making him murder Aradia… applying Vriska's warped logic to the situation did result in proof that she genuinely cared for their well being. Despite it being shown in a truly despicable manner.

"Wait."

For a while it seemed as if the blue-blood was going to ignore his words and head on down the track anyway. She had no real attachments to any of her three companions, she told herself, and thus she had no reason to stuck around them.

But that was untrue.

Vriska truly valued the snarky friendship that had sparked between the Handmaid and herself. Much of the same could be said about her relationship with Sollux before the Aradia incident. And then there was Tavros, which in reality was a whole other kettle of fish that Vriska had no intention of addressing.

And so she let go of the fence and turned her back on the tracks.

"Finally realised how much you need me-"

"Don't you fucking dare," he said. And so, realising how tense the boy was, she stopped talking.

The walk back to the tunnels was long and silent. Though there was a sense of understanding between the two mutants that had not been there before.

Thanks to Sollux's good memory, they found the manhole back to the Handmaid and Tavros, and as Sollux was about to enter, he felt Vriska's hand on his arm.

A strange unintelligible mutter left her lips.

"What?"

"You fucking well heard it, and there's no way I'm repeating that," she snarled.

He genuinely had not. But judging by Vriska's embarrassment, she could only have said one thing. Sorry.

Sorry could never replace Aradia, or take back the nights he lay curled up loathing and wanting to destroy his very body for killing her, or heal the mental damage that had been inflicted. But it was genuine.

The first rays of morning sun hit the skin on Sollux's face, and promptly vanished as he descended back down into the underworld of North America. Unlike Vriska who was basking in the light for 'just one more minute', he was used to spending days locked up in his room, and in theory could last just fine without the sun for another few weeks. But he nevertheless spent a few more seconds looking up at the sunrise; enjoying the bird song and the gorgeous colours; before heading down the ladder.

Vriska followed shortly behind him, and the manhole was closed once more.

== well that was weird…

Name not recognised.

== Urghh, fine, I'll give you a name. What happened with Jade?

You are now Jade Harley, and you are currently locked in a room all alone

It had been three days since the fighting, and Jade could not get the images out of her head. The mutants, the rainbow drinkers, those weird bug like creatures, the death, the flooding, the teleportation, the MUTANTS and all that had happened with Dave…

The Condesce had not let her visit this strange other Dave, John or Rose even once.

And she had promised as well!

Though in all honesty, Jade had not really believed that the Condesce would deliver. While she had seemed all sickly sweet and pleased when they spoke, it was clear that she was still a complete and utter bitch.

Her nails began to leave dents in her palms as she stared up at the ceiling.

Jade wanted to go home. But she could not because there was no home to go to. The Condesce had made sure of that.

Were the others even alive still? They could be dead for all she knew, and maybe they were. And all she was doing was sitting in this stupid fucking room doing diddly fucking squat.

== Look around the room

You've looked around the room hundreds of times already.

== Inspect the lock

Like that's going to do anything…

== Get your attitude together young lady!

You decide to get up and inspect the lock, but unsurprisingly the door on your side lacks even a handle. See?

Footsteps began making their way down the corridor outside… and predictably passed right on by… like always.

Another day passed before anything of interest happened, and that was when an errand boy appeared, informing her that he had arrived to take her to the Condesce. It was going to be a long walk, if Jade recalled correctly.

"What's your name?" Jade asked hesitantly.

The errand boy did not reply.

She waited a few more seconds, then added, "Did you hear me?"

Ignored once more, Jade decided to heartily say 'fuck that' to any further attempts at conversation with the staff at the freak show that was the retainment organisation.

What kind of name was that anyway? Evidently one created by someone struggling to come up with an acronym for the word troll. So, it was probably made by the Condesce then.

After a good quarter of an hour of wandering they arrived before the Condesce's door, and Jade was shoved in.

Unlike with the errand boy, Jade knew better than to speak without permission around her Imperial Condesce. The fishbitch in question was looking hideously pleased with herself; something that Jade found repulsive, due to knowing the reason behind her smugness. Jade wondered how many had died… and how many at her own hands.

Best not dwell on such matters.

"Jane, was it?" the Condesce slurred. It sounded as if the mutant had been drinking a bit… or perhaps she was just tired.

"Jade," the islander corrected.

"Whatever. You displayed your power on the battlefield, did you not?"

"I'm… I don't know," Jade muttered, for truly, she did not know, and so much shit had happened recently, and honestly she did not have a clue about almost everything going on around her.

The Condesce laughed loudly.

"You don't know? Are all you humans such idiots?" she mocked, then leant forward. "Did you teleport, or did you not teleport? It's not hard!"

"I said I don't know," Jade replied again, her voice becoming terse.

"I said I don't know!" the Condesce repeated in an offensive babyish tone, then returned to her normal voice. "Well you knowing or not is really all that's going to keep you alive, so you are going to have to think long and hard about it."

"What?"

"Kid, you are only alive right now because your powers could be useful to me. If it was not you who did the teleport thing, but that dead alternate version of the rust-blood you were with, then I'll give you to the rainbow drinkers as a toy."

"No! Fuck you!" Jade slammed her fingers down on the desk and stood up from her chair. So quickly, in fact, that it tottered about on two legs for a few seconds, and then crashed to the ground, filling the silent room entirely with noise.

For a few seconds, the only sound in the room was a slow tick tock tick from an antique clock on the Condesce's desk.

It was in these few seconds that Jade would have regretted her actions, had the past events not transpired. So instead she stood glaring at the tyrian-blood before her, breathing heavily and trembling all over.

"Excuse me?" the Condesce asked, her mocking grin now a threatening and entirely menacing smile that almost, but not quite, hid her fury. "Would you like to repeat that for me?"

"No I wont fucking repeat it, you fuckass! How fucking dare you! You expect me to be placid and obey you as I watched as you ruin my home and kill people and kidnap my friends? And then you have the fucking audacity to tell me that unless I complete an impossible task, that you're going to kill me?"

The Condesce had gone somewhat pink in the face. An angry flush, Jade assumed.

And then, she felt a sharp stinging sensation on her cheek. And then another. And another.

But Jade was not going to stand for this, and grabbed the Condesce's arm, adrenaline and fury pumping through her system.

"You-"

Suddenly, they were somewhere completely different.

Storm clouds cloaked the sky and horizon as far as the eye could see, and lashings of rain slapped the pair in the face. They had arrived on the plateau of land that Jade had last teleported to.

At this, the Condesce's previously furious face turned to a sly smile. She did not say a word, but honestly Jade was glad for that.

The tyrian-blood made several glances at the ocean while they waited to be picked up. It seemed that she was longing to swim, though Jade could not be certain… although there had been strange rumours circulating about mutants found with gills. Perhaps she was one of them. After all that the girl had seen in the past few weeks, it would not surprise her

As before, a helicopter soon appeared to whisk them back to the base.

After a few minutes of silence, the Condesce's phone rang. From what Jade overheard, something strange had happened in the room they had been in previously. Something had emerged from whatever rupture in space she had created to move such a distance in such a short amount of time.

Oh.

The journey was spent in silence, following

An errand boy greeted them at the entrance to the facility. "I have been instructed to warn you of a possibly harmful creature roaming the facility."

Jade pitied the poor thing immensely at the look the Condesce gave him.

"You mean to tell me that this situation has not been dealt with?"

'Don't shoot the messenger' was clearly not a phrase the Condesce knew, as she backhanded the boy. Yet he got back onto his feet in a matter of seconds, the eerie smile never once leaving his face.

"This way, your highness."

While they walked back to Jades cell, the girl wondered what manner of creature she had… created? Released?

Hell if she knew, though she was certainly intrigued to see the creature, once it had been properly confined of course. Though it would probably turn out to be something mundane from her island; a gull or insect perhaps.

Jade was returned to her cell without a hitch, however, and the errand boy and the Condesce continued down the corridor on their hunt for the missing creature.

On the table was a plate of dauphinoise potatoes, with a thick savoury stew full of vegetables and a meat Jade could not for the life of her identify. Teleporting had taken a lot of energy from her, and so she instantly sat at the table, scoffing down the meal.

In her hunger (and admittedly bad manners from having grown on an island with only her and her semi batty grandfather), she cared little about watching where the sauce from the stew was going, and before she knew it, ended up with a large splodge of gravy running down the front of her overalls.

Pouting, she stood up and walked over to the bathroom section of the cell.

It was a simple, and rather embarrassing affair; especially when she shared the room with John and Dave. At the far corner of the room was a toilet, next to a sink, with a shitty plastic mirror hung above it. It was the sort that could not shatter, and thus could not be used as a weapon.

Chilled, fresh water flowed from the tap. Water from deep underground, though given the new covering of saltwater, the Condesce would probably have to consider a new source.

Jade filled the sink with water, then got to work splashing and attempting to rinse off the sauce. She was absorbed in the work at hand, and after a few minutes of intense scrubbing, the stain left the fabric.

Satisfied, she straightened her back up, and took a quick peek at the mirror… and then froze on the spot.

Behind her…

Behind her was a strange pulsing thing.

Just over her left shoulder, it shimmered and writhed in a somewhat spherical shape like nothing she had seen before, in harsh shades of white and blue, and yet at the very same time it seemed so soft. Its nature was hypocrisy; everything it stood for it also denied. There was an aura to it that screamed of how it should not be there.

Yet there it was.

Her fingers itched for her rifle she knew she did not have, while her lungs soon starved for oxygen. Jade dared not breathe.

And then, she slowly turned.

The thing stayed put. It did not lunge or attack her, yet that unsettled her more in a way. It had to be what had escaped from the rift in space, there was no doubt about it.

== Talk to it

You are not doing ANY such thing, even if you COULD move, which you cannot due to sheer terror

As if sensing the girls fear, the thing pulsed a soft, green light.

== Say something!

"What…" Jade squeaked, then cleared her throat. "What are you?"

It did not reply, though Jade expected as such. As if a trans-dimensional being would be able to speak English!

Pulsing a somewhat jittery series of edges, the thing dropped a few inches, as if ill. It would make sense for it not to be able to survive long in this dimension.

At that moment, the door slammed open, and several armed members of the retainment organisation sped in, yanking Jade out of the way and surrounding the being.

For a few moments, the air was silent and dead, save for the hushed whispering of the guards breath. Then, with the crackling static of an order, gunfire filled the room, followed by a terrified, screaming chitter.

Thud.

Jade leapt to her feet, peering through the gaps in the guards circle to see what was left of the being.

Thin, chiffon like skin lay draped over what appeared to the skeleton of the thing, which was a bright blue, spherical representation of… a spirograph? Whichever angle she looked at it from, it appeared to keep the shape of a flat spirograph, and yet she knew it was a 3D shape; she could see that from how the skin hung about the core. Another interesting feature she noticed was the lack of internal organs or damage. There was nothing but the skin and the skeleton.

Interesting.

The remains were carefully placed into an odd looking box, and the guards shuffled out as quickly as they appeared, leaving Jade alone, confused and frightened of what else could appear.

This was not fair! But then she was used to being alone, she guessed. Though she had Bec on her island at the very least. Here, she had nothing and no one.

Plus, she had demonstrated the ability to teleport, and that meant that the Condesce saw her as an important asset.

Fuck.

There would be no escape.

God, but she missed her dog.

== Be someone else

Name not recognised

== Be someone we havn't visited in a while

You are now Nepeta Leijon, and you have just been saved from the floods-

== No, before then, when she found Equius and Aradiabot

You are now Nepeta Leijon, and are about to walk in on your meowrail being passionately kissed by a robot resembling your dead friend.

After a days work clearing rubble and fixing homes, Nepeta liked to relax when she got in. For example, cooking and eating the meat she had caught, or napping on Equius' lap while he worked, or drawing images of her friends and the landscapes around them.

Work was sometimes rather stressful, and she occasionally dealt with people who took her and her teams work for granted, and insulted them, asking them to speed up, or do a better job. That day, was one such day.

When such a day had occurred, she was always thankful for the lack of drama that went on in the workshop she and Equius shared; and that the engineers who assisted finished and left before she returned.

As such, when she walked in, called out to Equius that she was back, and heard no response other than muffled voices, she was confused.

Nepeta could hear the voices coming from the Equius' personal work room in the basement, which made her doubly confused, as the only people allowed in there were herself and Equius, naturally. Furthermore, Equius was not one to talk to himself… or not so loudly anyway.

Tiptoeing towards the stairs as softly as she could, the girl held an ear in the direction of the noise, and noticed the dancing movement of shadows cast through the small gap at the base of the door.

What?

Her blades slid out from under her sleeves.

One voice was definitely Equius… and the other… a girl?

Barely containing a grin, Nepeta turned away from the door.

Equius had a girl round! She could barely believe it. After Aradia had died, Equius had become incredibly drawn into himself. Nepeta suspected for a while that the blue-blood might have had feelings for Aradia, and his reaction proved it.

Aradia's death had been taxing on all the trolls, and the members of Team Seven were no exception. Both of them missed her dearly, but it had been worrying to see how unable Equius had been to move on. No matter what Nepeta did, she could not get a permanent smile back on his face, even if it was just a little one.

But bringing home a girl!

It was a step in the right direction, and Nepeta was so very proud of Equius. It was purrfect.

Thinking of refreshments to offer her, the girl was just about to bounce into the kitchen when she heard the girl raise her voice.

'Oh god oh god oh god!' Nepeta screamed internally as she padded back to the top of the stairs, listening once more. 'If she's being a bitch to him because of his sweating problem I swear I will throw her out of the window personally.'

"Get it out get it out get it out…" the girl with Equius shouted, and Nepeta recoiled a little, wondering what the implications of such a sentence meant, then berated herself, for she knew Equius, and knew that he would never do anything to harm someone.

But still… what on earth was going on in there?

Crashing then suddenly filled the air, and the sound of skin being hit, and her eyes widened, a disgusted expression fixing itself on her face, and the decided that was it.

== Go in!

You do not need to be told twice.

Nepeta rushed down the stairs, swung the door open, and there, in the middle of the room was Equius being held in the arms of a robot…

And they were kissing?

"Um…" she stammered.

And then noticed the robot was some strange version of Aradia.

"Ummm…" She cleared her throat loudly, getting the attention of both robot and mutant. "Is there… is there something you want to tell me about, Equius?"

The boy looked at her with horror, and she then took in the large amount of fresh, blue blood staining the floor and walls, and how flushed her meowrail was.

"Should… should I come back later? Would, um, would that be fur the best?"

Scratch that, Nepeta decided, and left, not waiting for a response.

What the actual fuck.

Nepeta had tugged the hat on over her horns, and was already half way down the street before she realised that judging by the amount of blood on the floor, Equius could actually be in real trouble, and probably not just in the midst of some really kinky fetish… thing.

Thankfully, when she returned to Equius' study, heart pounding in her chest, she was merely greeted with the sight of her brother wiping up the copious amount of blood with a towel.

Aradiabot was no where to be seen.

Though he had heard her come in, he did not turn.

"Equius?" Nepeta said softly. "What was all that about?"

His shoulders dropped, and he hung his head forwards, creating a curtain of hair to hide his face.

At this, she hopped forwards, taking his hand and pulling him upright. He refused to look her in the eye, and she noticed how his trademark sunglasses were missing.

"What happened?" she asked again.

"I don't know…" he replied.

There was blood soaking his skin and clothes. Nepeta tutted, and sent him off to have a shower, assuring him that she would take care of the mess in exchange for the story. Clearly, something had gone very wrong with one of his plans.

Once she was certain the weird Aradiabot thing was no where to be seen, Nepeta scrubbed and cleaned the workshop until it was free of blood, nose wrinkling at the scent of detergent the whole time. Pounce de Leon joined her in this task to 'help', yet she was more of a hindrance than a help, and did nothing but lick the blood off the walls.

BLEH.

The olive-blood imagined that this must be how Equius felt whenever she 'helped' with his projects, by draping herself over his lap and fiddling with bits and bobs until he played with her. Though seeing as they were now the same height (her very welcome growth spurt was to thank for this) she probably should stop, but whatever.

Having cleaned all the blood up, Nepeta wandered to the bathroom, and knocked on the door.

"I'm coming in, so get decent!"

She counted loudly to five, then went in, and found Equius asleep on the floor with the shower still running.

"Equius!" she shouted, and nudged him with her foot until he woke up. "You're wasting all the water, you dummy!"

"Ex-excuse me…" he mumbled, embarrassed at being caught asleep in the shower. "Could you pass me some towels, please?"

"Vomits! Whoops, I need to stop mock narrating my actions," she giggled as she leant over and switched off the water. "As soon as you're dressed, we're going to have a talk about that robot, okay?"

"Okay…"

"Actually, where did it go?"

"She is probably not coming back. Do not worry," he said miserably.

Nepeta pouted, then handed him a pair of towels. Once Equius was dressed, he joined Nepeta on the sofa. Instantly, she took his face in her hands, and held her forehead against his.

And then, Equius told her what happened. About Aradia's ghost, and how she was living inside him for years, and the strange blueprints she had given him, and his horrible feelings for her… and the robot… Before long, Equius had his head on Nepeta's lap as they had a long due feelings jam.

They awoke the next morning to the sound of pounding on the door. Nepeta yawned, pushing herself back from where she had previously been pressed close to her moirails back and stood up to check her face in the mirror.

The thick foundation on her face had not smudged too much overnight, and so she decided that she would be perfectly able to answer the door, after getting her hat of course. She shooed Equius away into his room due to his grey skin being on show, and then went to the door.

Before opening the door, she checked through the peep hole, and flinched.

It was Aradiabot.

"What do you want?!" Nepeta shouted.

"Let me in," a monotonous voice replied.

"Purrlease go away, you've caused enough damage!"

"Let me in,"

"You've got a body now! Purrlease go," Nepeta begged, but Aradiabot was having none of it.

"Nepeta, please. You do not understand," the robot said, and it was a testament to Equius' skill at robotics that her face managed to portray such urgency.

The girl sighed, and opened the door, prompting the robot to quickly enter before Nepeta changed her mind.

"We do not have much time. Grab everything of value to you and put it in a rucksack. I will find Equius and relay the message," she ordered.

"What do you mean?"

"I am truly sorry, but we do not have time to explain. You will not return after we leave though."

The sincerity in her artificial voice swayed the olive-blood, and after grunting angrily, she rushed into her bedroom to grab her things.

What was she to pack? After a short period of deliberation, she grabbed a few trinkets she had received as gifts from Equius and the people she had helped, and shoved them in a bag full of basic survival gear. After the time spent in the retainment organisation, she had secretly planned for such an event. One could never be too careful.

Nepeta fixed her retractable 'wolverine-lass' claws onto her wrists, and then threw on her favourite coat and the rucksack… and then swore as she realised she forgot to pack foundation. Luckily there was a small amount of space in the pockets, and so she crammed in as much as physically possible.

"Equius?" she called. "Equius!"

"In the basement!"

There, she found Aradiabot spread out on the worksurface, with Equius hurriedly fixing a metal plate over her chest. He had opted to ditch the human disguise due to time, and had a heavy looking rucksack on the floor beside him.

Interestingly, Aradiabot was drumming her fingers impatiently as she waited for Equius to be done with his work. Nepeta still did not trust her though, regardless of how human she appeared. She was still a robot. Unlike Equius who had the proof of Aradia living in his mind for years, Nepeta only had his story to go on, and was well aware of his crush on the girl… for all she knew, Aradiabot could just be some perverse way of fulfilling those fantasies. She sincerely hoped not, but she would first have to be convinced of there being some part of the real Aradia in that robotic husk.

"Done," Equius announced, at which Aradia leapt up from the table and tore out of the room in a hurry, heading for one of the windows.

"Merde!" she swore at whatever she was looking at, and rushed back to them. "Have you got everything?"

"Yes," Nepeta affirmed, with Equius nodding. They followed the robot to the roof, and both winced as she violently ripped the door to the balcony open.

Oh.

In the distance, they could see the ocean. And that was bullshit because they were miles inland…

"What is that?" Equius asked.

"The Condesce has decided to flood this planet. Lets go," the robot replied, then grabbed the two trolls, holding one under each arm. It was then when Nepeta realised that Pounce was still out in the garden, and screamed.

"Let me go! I need to get Pounce, let me go!"

"There is no time Nepeta. I am sorry," Aradiabot then made an impossible leap onto the highest part of their building, and then that of their neighbors house, and the grocery opposite, and then pshooooo off into the sky, clasping Nepeta tightly as she wriggled and clawed and swore and screeched for her pet.

But it was too late, and Nepeta could only scream as she watched the waters close in on their house and Pounce de Leon.

Aradiabot's face remained neutral. Nepeta would hate her, but her life had been saved, as had Equius'.

"We could have gone back, you could have carried her!" Nepeta sobbed. "We could have! You're carrying Equius' entire tool shed!"

"I could not carry your pet as well. I am sorry," She was lying but Nepeta did not need to know that. There was simply no way that she would be able to safely support both two humans and a massive cat creature that would likely turn frightened and aggressive in the air.

"I hate you!"

The robot's face froze, something that neither of the pair she was carrying noticed. She then smoothly replied, "I know."

A/N: I am back! Sorry again for such a long break. Uni is crazy intense. I'm not sure if I mentioned this last time either, but I was having truly horrible times at my accommodation thanks to a mentally abusive (not sure if right term or not, but best I can think of) housemate which rendered me miserable, and basically in a really dark place for the past few months. Thankfully the university moved me to another room in another hall, everything is safe and I'm starting to emotionally recover.

Either way, I'm feeling secure enough to be able to be creative again, so yay! Got a 1st for my first year at uni too, so the delay was definately worth it for me, though I still wish i had time to write.

(and I'm really sorry if all the characterisation is messed up! I've started reading it again, but it's still not very fresh at all in my mind. Also I have a lot of projects going on this summer, so I will try my best to get chapters out, but I cannot promise super regular ones, sorry. Also I'm going to try and cut down on the length of this fic, this was originally half done, but I'm going to try and have this being 2/3rds done, and get rid of pointless waffley sections of plot haha)

Thanks for reading! 38)