The trilling alarm and the humming vibrations set off all around him, but the device strapped to his wrist stayed silent. There were curses thrown around as people stumbled out of their rooms tugging on boots, or flapping about trying to get their arms into jacket sleeves. He knew he was far from battle ready; Ronald wasn't even close to 'life ready' yet but the sting was there all the same.

"Sorry Ron," Charlotte smiled apologetically, bending to ruffle Daisy's fur and kiss him on the cheek, "duty calls. We'll be back as soon as we can, alright?"

He nodded numbly, drawing his knees to his chest and hugging Daisy closer. His place was out on the field, brushing shoulders with his fellow Reapers as they rushed into battle. Now he was left at home like a child whose parents went away to work.

Sleep was fleeting, caught only in short bursts and snippets, though it filled the long stretches of time well. Finding strength every waking moment to claw his way out of the darkness was exhausting, but it was the inability to do his job, his duty as a Reaper that plunged him even deeper. He could ignore the darkness if he kept busy; inactivity let the darkness fester and turn foul.

Daisy nosed him worriedly, licking his cheek as she put her paws on his chest before whining softly.

"Hey girl, don't you worry. I'll be just fine." A lie, but lies would have to do for now.

A sharp knock on the door sent Daisy galloping down the hallway with Ronald stumbling after her.

"Agent Knox."

"Hey Boss." He straightened his posture and offered what he hoped was his cheeriest smile. "What can I do for you?"

"Something only you can do." William looked uneasy as Ronald stepped aside to invite him in. "Or so I am told."

"Danny," Ronald blinked back his surprise at the android standing behind the Director, "what are you doing here- the both of you?"

The android paused to crouch on one knee and pet the ecstatic pup bounding around their legs. He wore a faint smile on his lips that vanished when he stood up and faced Ronald.

"The Faustus Operating System is down." Daniel informed him with a grave expression. "The army cannot dispatch their Arachnoids, meaning Ms. Sutcliff is the only combat droid out on the field. I am able to patch her through Weyland's communications infrastructure but do not possess the ability to do the same for the London Division."

"What does this have to do with me?" Ronald asked slowly, alternating between looking at Daniel and William quizzically. "I have no idea how any of that runs, ok, I'm just the guy you send out to hack and slash."

"You carry the same hardware used to operate Chambers machinery." Daniel shook his head. "Right here, Agent Knox." He touched the side of Ronald's head, and the gravity of the situation squeezed the air from his lungs.

"You need to…get into my head?"

"I believe I can patch Ms. Sutcliff into the VIOLA mainframe, allowing her access to the Division's communications infrastructure, via the device implanted in your brain."

Ronald turned to William, taking a deep breath to steady himself.

"You ok with this, Boss?"

"No." William replied earnestly. "I am most certainly not. You have yet to pass your psychological evaluations let alone your combat competencies."

"But?"

"But," he sighed begrudgingly, "I am told this is our only chance."

"For now." Daniel corrected with a faint smile. "I am searching all available outlets of information for alternative, remote access to the mainframe."

"Wait, so I'm like a net router or something?" Ronald made a face. "You patch through to her through my brain? That doesn't sound so bad, right?"

Daisy whimpered, biting a mouthful of his trouser leg and tugging it.

"There is a risk of a neural surge which could short-circuit the device." The android admitted, smiling apologetically at Dasiy as the pup growled. "Short-term amnesia could be a symptom. There is also the possibility of unlocking repressed, archived or partially deleted memories. "

"Or a fried brain and a dead Knox, right?" Ronald tried to laugh, his heart thudding violently in his chest. He swallowed nervously, closing his eyes to glue his resolve together. "Alright then. Let's do this."


The helmet was cold and snug, and the visor completely concealed his face. He was used to the armoured suits used for patrols in the Wastelands, but it had been some time since he'd worn them. It was claustrophobic and panic inducing, but he willed the dizziness away in order to focus on the task at hand.

"This helmet will connect you to Agent Sutcliff's uploaded consciousness." Daniel explained as he began attaching cables to the helmet. "Your neural link is still viable since we have yet to perform surgery to remove the device implanted on your brain."

"Yeah thanks," Ronald swallowed thickly, hands shaking from nervousness, "don't remind me."

"Duly noted, Agent Knox." Daniel inclined his head apologetically. "Director Spears will gear up beside you to manually input commands which will flow through your connection and to Agent Sutcliff."

"Got it." Ronald clenched his jaw tightly and balled his hands into fists. At his back he could feel William standing the other way and could hear the tangle of cables being connected to his helmet.

"And neural link in five, four, three, two, one-"


「The vent seemed endless, and the skittering of Daisy's paws reverberated against the metal and right through his eardrums. His world spun and his stomach felt full with liquid burning hot and rancid. The migraine crushing his skull had reached a blindingly feverish pitch of pain, so much so that he could no longer urge his limbs to move. Even breathing seemed far too hard for him to manage.

I'm sorry Daisy, I can't. He whispered as the pup pawed and nosed him in distress. I can't. M'sorry.

Bloodied fingers clumsily petted her head apologetically, before Ronald drew her into his arms and closed his eyes.

When he opened them his night vision turned everything bright green and all he could hear was the storm crashing above and the wind shouting through the bones of the dilapidated house down into the cellar where he took shelter.

There was a muddy puppy in his arms and she looked up at him with nothing but love and adoration and he swore to himself she'd never be abandoned ever again.

He's tired and she's tired, and he closed his eyes to sleep and when he rubbed the fatigue from his eyes he stood in Leicester Square and Miss DaisyDahlia stood beside him.

'Oh, she's gorgeous. Just look at her, bright and bold and red.'

Who? Oh, Captain. Yeah we've got a Reap in an hour. She's very red, yes indeed. Couldn't lose her in a crowd.

'But you can lose her.'

And the red spread from her hair and her clothes and into his eyes as the serrated knife cut across his face, dragging flesh in its wake.

'It's handy how your lot heal so fast.'

Quickly, how your lot heal so quickly. He slurred, and managed a shaky grin. When the red faded from his eyes he's cold and still and there are bodies in the morgue without Records and there's a wound so large in his heart, larger than anything that's ever wounded him.

There's a Not-Reaper and Daisy brings him a scalpel and he stabbed him over and over and over and over and the body beneath him was Stanley Marcus Lolatgis, slated to die of exsanguination.

KILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIMKILL-

The beer was way out of his usual price range but it was Alan's first day as Senior Intelligence Officer and fuck his bank balance they're going to celebrate until he's too drunk to keep his eyes open and once the hangover haze faded he was blinking artificial sunlight out of his eyes and shaking hands with a smiley mortal lad named Aaron Priestland who plays fetch with Daisy and takes him to his dad.

The examination chair had grown familiar to him and he laid back and waited for the next vaccination trial to begin and he knows all too well, had been told countless times, that lethargy was a symptom and he shrugged it off and comfortably napped.

Captain was fond of running her fingers through his hair and he groggily woke to find his head pillowed on her lap from where he'd fallen asleep after stumbling home from overtime. He decided consciousness was far too fussy to deal with, and slumbered on and on until he's back in that chair.

'Director Chambers is back from London and he has an amazing idea for today's experiment.' The crook of his left arm was swabbed before a needle was none-too-gently inserted into a vein.

'Cyanide.'

Then his insides burn with hellfire and the darkness swallows him whole. The scientist looking over him, haloed in light, introduced himself as Dr Isaac Priestland, even if he knew he wouldn't remember him, and it's the first kindness he can remember and the last because Dr Priestland types into the computer and his memory wipes over again.

I guess I better give you a name. How's 'Daisy'? A good friend of mine is called Daisy.

She's red, oh so red, with a grin so sharp it cuts unease deep into his bones and she's a Miss, not a Mister, do you understand?

Daisies? Why am I thinking of daisies?

The Dispatch Manager is stiff and dull but Miss Sutcliff sees so much in him, feels nothing but passion and love and Ronald thinks she's mad and yes, I most certainly am.

I got a puppy for Christmas! It's from Tyrell Corporation's old pet line and the staff were using the blueprints for Captain's programming. Dr. Priestland gave them permission to give me one. Her name's Daisy!

Eric is what a big brother might be like if Reaper's had big brothers, or brothers, or sisters for that matter, and Grell's a bit like a mad older sister and Boss is like his sister's boring boyfriend he's slightly scared of but likes to cause mischief for, and Alan's got a spitfire temperament and can cut a Reaper down with less than ten words and Ronald's pretty happy with the lot in London.

Daisy. Don't forget, Ronald. Daisies, remember the daisies.

There's a mortal incarnation of Death every century and she's watched him grow and he thinks he might love her if he could love at all and when he begs her to End him, she lovingly, pityingly, torturously says no.

I'll name you after a good friend of mine. I'll call you Dais-

"Ronald!"


William yanked the helmet off Ronald's head and tossed it just in time for him to catch the young Reaper as he crumpled to the ground.

"Ronald!" He called, shaking him firmly. "Ronald can you hear me?"

Blood steadily leaked from the blonde's nose and he remained unresponsive, whites visible through the slits of his eyelids.

"Shut it down!" William demanded, and Daniel nodded obediently.

"Don't-" a weak cough as he sputtered blood from his mouth, "don't. I'm fine. Let's keep going."

"Shut it down." The Director ordered through gritted teeth as Daniel hesitated. "We need to find someone else."

"There is no one else." Ronald shoved him weakly before shakily getting back on his feet. "We do this or we leave her out there blind."

"I will not risk you."

"But you'll risk her? She saved me, she keeps saving me, and now she needs saving." He forced himself to cough the last of the coppery taste from his mouth, and he wiped the speckled red from his lips with the back of his hand. "We do this or I'll do it alone."

"If anyone is capable of handling things on their own, it's Grell." William gripped his wrist, preventing the younger Reaper from reconnecting the helmet's cables. "Skirmishes and full blown wars mean bloodshed and violence, and those are the few areas where she excels."

"Listen to yourself!" Ronald yanked his wrist from his grasp. "She's our best shot out there and she's counting on someone, on anyone, on us to help her!"

"Grell does whatever she damn pleases!" He shouted, snatching the main cable before Ronald could reach for it. "Every blot on her record, on mine, on yours is because she doesn't think anything through; She is a killer, Ronald, and reasoning is beyond her. Lacking that makes her the perfect soldier for situations like these."

Ronald looked at him with disgust, his lips curled in snarl.

"How can you know her so little, when she knows you so well?"

"I know her plenty, and I know she can handle this just fine. She will rush into combat and eliminate whomever she pleases. It will mean unbalanced records, but she will clear the majority of targets." William pivoted, unable to look at him. "It will happen as it has already happened numerous times; messy, but sufficient."

"Sufficient?" His voice rose as he echoed the word in disbelief. "She doesn't get spare lives like we do, remember? If her Spider gets destroyed and she doesn't have a link back to her body here in the Division she fucking dies out there! That's it; gone! No record, no soul, no Starry Sea. Nothing!"

Unable to contain his anger, he grabbed his senior by the shoulders and slammed him against the wall.

"Don't pretend she's just your soldier! She's more than that and you know it!" Ronald squeezed his shoulders, eyes burning. "But we spent eight, almost nine decades bringing her home and she's the key to everything: The Ark, the Outlanders, Dr Klemis, Chambers and his plastic Reapers- all of it. I'm not even supposed to be here. By all accounts I should be dead. You can risk me, William."

"I cannot guarantee your safety if we proceed." His reply was barely audible as he pressed the main cable into the palm of Ronald's hand. "And I know her well enough to know what you mean to her."

"Then she knows I'd risk everything, after all we've been through, through all the centuries on this shitty piece of dirt. She knows."

He took a deep breath and slid the helmet over his head.


Mister Sutcliff? Are you Mister Grell Sutcliff?

He's red, intimidatingly red from top to toe and very very unimpressed.

'It's Miss Sutcliff, you dolt. Miss, you understand?'

Sure, if you prefer that Miss Sutcliff. I'm Ronald Knox.

'Stick with me, brat. I'll have you slicing and dicing in no time. Say, any thoughts on your Deathscythe yet?'

Something motorized, I'm thinking. Something with bite.

She smiled and her smile was sharp and her eyes were full of mischief.

'You'll do just fine.'


Through the deluge of memory shards that scored his sanity, he saw her standing at the end of a white hallway; a bright bloodstain on unsullied paper.

He ran to her, pushing against the memories that threatened to consume him with resentment or contentment and drag him back down into their depths.

He ran, and someone ran right beside him, right there, almost shoulder to shoulder and as the red smudge grew larger as they drew nearer, as the colour sharpened into a shape, into a form, into a figure, he just knew-

"Heya Cap'n. Ready to cause some trouble?"

'Ronnie? Is that you?' She spun around, her hair like ruby ribbons and her smile sharp as a shark.

"I do implore you both to be on your best behaviour." He's there, right beside him, and Grell's eyes soften the way they soften only for him. She reaches for their hands and they hold her with no intent on letting go.

'Darling? Oh how delightful- my boys are here to save the day!'


Neural Link: established