Hook frowned at Fefnir, as he dried himself from the shower. Normally, she would have vastly enjoyed the view, but today was different.

Fefnir was in a very bad mood. Despite his attitude when she had spoken to him about the problem before, it was obviously preying on his mind more than he had let on. She had sparred with him today, and he had attacked her with what she could only think of as inspired nastiness. Hook didn't mind, exactly… she liked a good, vicious sparring session… but she knew almost no one else would have appreciated it.

"Fefnir," she walked up behind him, and reached up to rub his back, feeling the tension in his body. "Ease up. Getting all tense and beating people up won't make it better."

"It makes me feel better," Fefnir growled, then sighed. "I know, I know. I shouldn't take it out on them." Hook nodded, nuzzling the back of his neck in an affectionate gesture. "But… you were right, he's onto us. I don't know if he'll ever figure it all out, but Sage is getting enough that we'll probably have to level with him."

"Mmm, that will be fun. How should we do it? A group, to support each other, and remind him of how well placed we are?" Hook was quite sure Harpuia would at least try to get rid of them. Fefnir was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"I guess that's the best way," he sounded distinctly unenthusiastic, though. Hook rubbed his shoulders soothingly. "But what if he tells everyone? The Council will be pissed."

"To tell the truth, Fefnir, I think it might do some good if everyone knows. I'm not sure the Council was wise in hiding it, in some ways." Hook rested her chin on his shoulder. "And it's not like you can stop Lord Harpuia's mouth, love. He's the boss."

"Mmm… yeah. But how will it change things between us, Hook?" Fefnir shook his head. "I don't want things to change." Hook winced. She knew Fefnir definitely had a point there, and not just with Harpuia. The shockwave their secret would unleash could be devastating, on a personal level, for all of them.

"I don't know, Fefnir. But I do know one thing." She paused, and Fefnir turned his head to look at her quizzically with his fire red eyes. She returned his look with a hard stare for a moment… then grinned. "Your woman wants you." Fefnir blinked, startled, then chuckled.

"I want you too, Hook." He embraced her warmly, with more than physical lust. She was a rock in his life, immoveable and unchanging. And now, more than ever, he could count upon her support.

That was a great comfort to him.

The next day, Harpuia noticed that Fefnir was suddenly far more relaxed. He wondered if perhaps Fefnir had never suspected anything… was his tension because of something personal? Whatever it had been, the new recruits were grateful for the change, although Fefnir still took a fiendish delight in testing them.

Harpuia sighed to himself, almost wishing the Rebellion would stage an attack. Or Weil would. Something… this lull in activity was giving them time to rebuild their forces, but it was nerve wracking, especially when it came to Weil. Who knew what that lunatic was up to? Which was probably why the Rebellion was being so quiet, come to think of it…

So when the alarm came, it was a surprise… but not precisely unwelcome.

Lord Harpuia, Town garrison 37, in New La Verda is under attack by unknown forces.

"Numbers? Weaponry?" Harpuia questioned as he began organizing a force to go out to help. Fefnir jogged over, and Harpuia turned to look at him. "Fefnir, get a team together. Leviathan, stay here and guard the base." Whatever was wrong, he doubted it would need the attention of all three Guardians, and it wouldn't be the first time someone had tried to sucker out their forces with a feint.

Unknown numbers, unknown weaponry, but it doesn't look good. The last transmission said that the situation was critical and they were attempting to evacuate the town population over the river. Harpuia frowned at that. The usual procedure was to hold off the enemies until reinforcements could come. All towns were built with some easily defensible structures that the humans could be herded into for safety. If they were going over the river, something had gone badly, badly wrong for the defenders. Transmission from the soldiers attempting to evacuate. A pause. They have been ambushed. Harpuia stiffened. That was precisely the reason why the soldiers were supposed to attempt to hold the town, not evacuate.

"We're moving out now." He would get there as soon as he could. Hopefully, it would be soon enough.

But hope had no power. And they were much, much too late.

"What happened here? What the hell happened?" The raw rage in Fefnir's voice spoke for all of them.

The scene by the river was a massacre. The humans, escorted by only a small number of soldiers and police officers, apparently hadn't stood a chance against the force that had ambushed them. Harpuia stared for a moment at the carnage, sickened. He wasn't certain what weapons had been used, but it looked like it must have been something similar to his own blades. Or… perhaps not. The wounds were very ragged, almost as if they had been torn apart by something much blunter. Perhaps even by hand. Harpuia stared at a young child whose arms had been torn away… he could see the white, glistening joint through the blood.

The soldiers and police officers had fared no better. Except for the fact that they were Reploids, the wounds were almost identical. Harpuia raised his head, seeing several thin lines of smoke beyond the trees. He gestured to his unit, and they took to the air, flying towards the town in a practiced motion.

It was a complete disaster. The town was a gutted ruin, and the reason for the evacuation quickly became apparent… all the defensible buildings had been reduced to rubble, possibly by high explosive charges placed before the attack. But how? Security was supposed to be tight on such places.

"Scan for survivors." Harpuia ordered. Hopefully, there would be someone who could tell them what had happened here. He couldn't bring himself to think it was the Rebellion. Even at their worst, when Elpizo had been in charge, they had never attacked towns simply to massacre the inhabitants. And this little town had nothing, no strategic resources or manufacturing. The only reason it had any soldiers at all was the fact that it was near the Rebellion's territory, and runaway Reploids tended to pass through. Harpuia landed in the main town street to begin his own search, entirely unaware of the fact that someone was watching him and considering something.

I shouldn't do it. Marianne would say I'm being a juvenile brat. But… it's my last chance, he probably won't kill me, and I've always WANTED to. The man standing on a nearby roof bit his lip, considering his dilemma and hefting a brick in one hand. Oh, what the hell. It's not like it'll hurt him anyway, and I have to get his attention somehow.

Harpuia was more than a little startled when a brick hit him on the head, bouncing off his helmet but stinging painfully. He jerked around to look up to the place the missile had come from, the top of a nearby building… and blinked when he saw a Reploid standing there, waving at him. His eyes narrowed as he picked up the energy signature, which the other Reploid wasn't bothering to hide. He keyed his communicator as he flew up towards the survivor.

"Fefnir, I have a Rebellion soldier on the roof of the municipal building."

What? The Rebellion did this? Fefnir's voice came over the communicator, and Harpuia shook his head.

"I doubt it, since his weapon of choice appears to be bricks. But get here as soon as you can." Harpuia landed, starting forward… then stopped with a frown as the soldier stepped back, gesturing for him to stay.

"Don't get too close!" The Rebellion soldier said sharply, and Harpuia's eyes narrowed as he looked the soldier over. He was in the typical, green uniform of the Rebellion, mostly covered with a dark brown cloak. He had a classically handsome face, with a square jaw, straight nose and high cheekbones. His hair was a dark auburn, mostly brown but with interesting flashes of red. It was fairly short, and right now, spiked messily with what looked like congealed blood and other fluids. His eyes were hidden with the visor many Rebellion soldiers seemed to favor.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Harpuia demanded, hoping to establish the basics. The Rebellion soldier gave him a sardonic smile.

"I'm Stray. And, to be honest, I was here to steal supplies and look for runaways who wanted to join the Resistance." Harpuia arched an eyebrow at that candid admission. "And I was trapped here when everything went straight to hell. Along with my friends." A brief look of pain crossed his face. "I was part of a group of three." Harpuia tactfully didn't ask what had happened to the other two. It didn't take much imagination to guess.

"Yeah? So what happened here?" Fefnir's voice came from the side of the building, as he finished pulling himself up onto the roof… much closer to the soldier than Harpuia. The soldier started, then shied away from him.

"Stay back!" His voice was very sharp, and Fefnir frowned, moving his shoulders ominously.

"Yeah? Why? If it wasn't the Rebellion that did this, we'll let you live… and if it was, we'll kill you slow." To Fefnir, the Rebellion soldier's reluctance to let them come near seemed guilty.

"We prefer to be called the Resistance," Stray said stiffly, and Fefnir snorted.

"Resistance, Rebellion, tom-ay-to, tom-ah-to. Did you do this?"

"Don't be ridiculous." The Rebellion… Resistance… soldier drew a deep breath, obviously calming himself. "I don't want you near me for your sake, not mine. Because of this." Harpuia's eyes went wide, and Fefnir gasped in surprise as Stray threw back his cloak, revealing his body.

Instead of the clean, polished metal that should have been visible, there were patches of… gel oozing along it. To Harpuia's disquiet, it seemed to be moving. Even more disturbing, it seemed to be eating away at the metal in places, sinking into the soldier's body. And perhaps worst of all was a slash the Resistance soldier had taken to his arm. Now that Harpuia could see it clearly, he could see what he had taken for a spray of green paint was actually a small forest of organic-looking growth. It rippled slowly, and Stray unconsciously rubbed his arm, crushing some of the stalks under his fingers and smearing his hand with more of the gel.

"By the seventh hell, what is that?" Fefnir said when he found his voice, stunned and horrified. Stray shrugged.

"I don't know. I just know that the… things that attacked this place looked like walking bushes. It seems to be infectious." Harpuia raised his eyes from the ruin of his enemies' body, to see a sardonic half-smile on his face. For a moment, a silent message passed between them, and Harpuia understood Stray very well indeed. Yes, I know I'm dying. Don't bother me with consolations.

"What happened?" Harpuia asked softly, and Stray rubbed his chin, gathering his thoughts. Harpuia winced as he saw that that small movement had left another trail of gel on his skin.

"Well, the first thing we knew of it was when the explosions started. At first, everyone was confused, then some of your soldiers showed up and started trying to get everyone out. We weren't sure what to do… they would have noticed what we were for certain, if we'd gone with them… but then the things showed up and started killing people. Well, we might be against Neo Arcadia, but we could hardly let humans get torn apart right in front of us, so we started fighting. One of your soldiers noticed us, and ordered us to help out with holding them off while they got people out to the river." Stray's face took on a look of pride. "We did, too. We held them off long enough for the rest to get a bunch of humans out. Did you find them? Are they alright?" There was a pause, as Stray glanced between Harpuia and Fefnir. His expression changed from pride to the stiff expression of a man expecting a blow, as he took in the looks on their faces.

"I'm sorry," Harpuia said as gently as he could. "They were ambushed before they could reach the river. There were no survivors." The Resistance soldier tensed, lowering his head.

"Fuck." The word was muffled, but full of agonized feeling. Stray took a deep, shuddering breath, then raised his head to look at them again. "Well, we… we tried." He raised a hand to rub his temple, then continued with the story. "We were getting pressed back, couldn't hold out, and I had an idea. Sweetpea and I were close to the bank, and I figured if we could just get in the vault, they might not be able to get to us before you guys showed up. Sweetpea didn't make it, but I did and… I was right. They tried, but gave up after a while, and I eventually came out, when I figured it was safe. But while I was in the vault, this… stuff started growing on me." He smiled sardonically again, this time with an edge of pain. "So I figured I'd give myself up to you as a guinea pig."

"A guinea pig? What do you mean?" Fefnir asked, surprised, and Stray shrugged.

"I can't get back to Ciel in less than a week. Considering how much this stuff has grown in a few hours, I'd never make it. But if you can examine me, watch the progress, maybe you can figure out what this is and come up with a cure." His eyes met Harpuia's again, and he read another silent message in the Resistance soldier's expression. Not in time for me, but maybe in time for everyone else. Harpuia was shaken, touched and almost awed by the strength of character this enemy was showing. Faced by such a gruesome death, he could only hope he would act the same. "But I would ask that you share any information you get with Ciel."

"You can count upon that," Harpuia said sincerely. "You are an honorable enemy." That was the highest compliment he could give, and the Rebellion soldier nodded, understanding. A sardonic smile crossed his face.

"Thank you. But I'm just wondering how you'll get me to your HQ without risking me contaminating everyone?" Harpuia considered that, frowning. It was a problem. He quickly activated his com, and began discussing the situation with Leviathan and the technical specialists. He was certain they could find a solution to the problem.

As it turned out, he was correct. Some cautious experiments with house pets showed that organic beings were immune to the effects of the stuff, and some brave human technicians and pilots were called in to disable Stray's blaster and key his teleporter so he could be brought into HQ. While Stray had a teleporter, he did not normally have access to Neo Arcadia's satellite network. The Resistance usually got around that by hacking into the network, either stealing some time or piggybacking their signals onto legitimate ones. But Stray's mission hadn't been important enough to warrant giving him that capability, so it was necessary for them to give him access themselves.

With access, Stray teleported directly to a contained area set aside for him. More human technicians set up remote monitoring equipment, some hooked directly to his systems while others scanned from a distance. And something else that surprised Harpuia, when he reached the observation area.

"Leviathan, why is he chained to the wall?" They were watching Stray through a monitor in the containment area, and Harpuia didn't like the neck cuff that was restraining the Resistance soldier. It had a long enough chain to reach halfway to the door, but no farther. Leviathan looked up from some of the readings.

"It's so we can safely go into the room, Sage. I'm sure he's a nice enough guy right now, for a Rebellion soldier, but who knows how long he'll stay that way?" Leviathan looked down at the readings, and shook her head. "It's already affecting his neural net."

"How so?" Harpuia glanced over her shoulder at the readings, but he couldn't understand them well at all. Leviathan chewed her lip.

"It's hard to say, exactly, but… his readings are getting stranger. I think it's infected his data banks, and it may be jumbling information." Harpuia considered that, looking into the monitor… and winced. Stray was sitting down, now, his face in his hands. His posture spoke eloquently of despair.

"Do you have any sealed suits, Leviathan? I want to go down and speak to him." He didn't want to leave an honorable enemy to suffer alone. Leviathan looked up at him anxiously.

"Sage, the suits we got are used in human research labs. They'll certainly keep you safe, as long as he doesn't touch you, but they'll rip pretty easily." If Harpuia got too close, and Stray turned violent, he would certainly be able to infect him. But Harpuia gave her a frown.

"Then you can keep an eye on his neural net, and warn me when the activity becomes dangerous." Leviathan lapsed into silence as Harpuia moved purposefully over to the racks of suits. She wasn't sure she would be able to pinpoint the spot where Stray would become dangerous, but she could see there was no point in trying to stop Harpuia. He would do this no matter what she said.

"Be careful, Sage."

"Of course, Fairy." Harpuia replied absently as he left the room. Soon, he was letting himself into the containment room. Stray looked up at the sound of the door opening, and managed a sardonic smile.

"Lord… Harpuia. Come to say goodbye?" His voice was as sardonic as his smile, and Harpuia shook his head slightly, as much as the suit would allow.

"I'm here to stay with you as long as I safely can." The sardonic smile disappeared as their gazes locked for a moment. Then Stray sighed, looking down.

"Thank you. I'm… having a few problems."

"Are you in pain?" Harpuia asked gently. "We have painkillers." There were some that worked well on Reploids. But Stray shook his head.

"Not pain, just a tingling sensation, and itching." Stray dug his fingers into the gash on his arm, crushing more of the strange plant life, and Harpuia frowned. He was willing to bet the itching was party meant to spread the growth of the stuff, by encouraging the host to smear themselves with it. Stray looked up at him, his expression haunted. "I wish it was pain. I was ready for that, for the worst, most agonizing pain imaginable… but not this. I… I'm having such trouble remembering." Harpuia hesitated, then stepped closer and knelt, taking one of the Resistance soldier's hands in his. "I'm losing myself… when you walked through that door, for a moment, I couldn't remember who you were. I… can hardly picture Ciel anymore, or Zero." Stray shook his head, and a bit of gel oozed down his neck. "I wonder if this is what it feels like for senile humans, when they have just enough of their mind left to know the rest is going, and there's nothing that can stop it…" Harpuia squeezed Stray's hand, ignoring the… squishiness of it. The impenetrable plastic of the suit would protect him from contamination.

"Stray, tell me about yourself," the Resistance soldier gave him a startled look. "It might help you remember." And even if it didn't, it would at least provide a distraction. Stray hesitated, then nodded.

"I was made six months ago by Ciel…" It was all Harpuia could do not to wince at that first sentence. Six months? He felt a stab of pity for the young soldier. That was a pathetically short life. "She thought I could help in the lab, but I wanted to do some covert work so Zandi gave me training…" Harpuia listened patiently as Stray rambled about what life was like, in the Resistance. Several times he faltered, but managed to continue with a bit of gentle encouragement. But it couldn't last, and as time went by, his sentences became more disjointed and hesitant. His expression gradually became blank, fixed, and his balance deteriorated. Harpuia gently eased him down onto his side, where he lay in a limp heap, still trying to speak. But the words were unintelligible… and finally, even that stopped.

Sage, you better get away from him. Normal neural activity has ceased. Harpuia nodded, gently putting down Stray's hand and moving back, beyond the range he could reach.

It took some time before there was any activity, but the body finally stirred. Harpuia was not particularly surprised to see it sit up smoothly, but it was still frightening. Particularly when it began to mindlessly tug on the chain, trying to reach him. There was no hint of expression on Stray's face… he was looking at an automaton, something under foreign control.

"Do you have enough data, Fairy?" He asked, reaching for one of his blades. He had brought it with him, outside the suit. The gel didn't cling to any surface but Reploids very long, before it shriveled, and the blade could be decontaminated when he left in any case.

No, Harpuia, don't kill him. I know it would be nicer, but… we might need him for more samples. Harpuia grimaced. He wanted to end this mockery, but… if Leviathan did need more samples, that would make a mockery of Stray's sacrifice.

"Very well." He turned away and left the room, leaving what was left of Stray behind…