A/N: Big thanks to Aevari, Akina, and taee for editing this chapter! Please check their pages out!
I finally finished this chapter! I actually would've finished it a two weeks ago but something about it didn't satisfy me so I went ahead and deleted half of it to rework. and when I say "deleted half" I mean really delete like 6k worth of content. Yes, this chapter is pretty long. But I hope you, the readers, can forgive me for that. The re-worked second half is much better and a lot more engaging than the first expo dump I had. So here it is! Let me know what you think!
The flight back to town was a quiet one. Little words were exchanged after Elsword and Raven were brought back to the airship. By then, Elesis's injuries had healed enough for her to help out. Upon seeing Elsword's unconscious body, she insisted that she carry him rather than have the other girls drag him through the streets.
Raven awoke with a start halfway through the flight and half expected to find his arm still broken. Thanks to Eve's handiwork, however, he was more than pleasantly surprised to find a seemingly brand new arm in place of his old one. Even the sheen on the metal looked polished.
The mercenary filled the older sister in on what happened at the town square, going into great detail about Elsword's reckless abandon. Elesis didn't take the news well, defending her brother's reasons in a fashion that quickly boiled the discussion down to a heated argument between the two.
"The point is that he ordered us to kill innocent people! They were mind-controlled civilians, and he didn't even hesitate to cut them down!"
"He was defending himself, Raven! What'd you want him to do? Let them stab him like they did me? If he and I had swapped places, and I saw one of those things hurt my little brother, I'd make sure they wouldn't have the chance to do that again!"
"Are you listening to yourself? Aren't you and your brother all about saving innocent lives? That's why I've joined this group in the first place! That's why I lay my life on the line every day for all of you!"
"Yeah, well, how would you like it if Rena was hurt? Oh, she isn't here, is she? Must be easy sitting on your moral high horse when you got so little at risk!"
"Do not bring Rena into this!"
They were fighting again. Eve didn't want to listen to any of it. Instead, she distracted herself by analyzing the combat footage recorded by Moby earlier that day. As capable as the little assistant was, she found it hard to believe Moby was able to fend those beasts in town by himself. Moby landed on his mistress's lap, whirring his engines in glee before projecting the requested recording for her.
The recording played through the drone's perspective, his focus shifting from Remy to Eve and back to Remy as the voice of Zero played in the background. He was calling for help, and Eve was volunteering to go at this point in time. The queen turned to the camera, addressing Moby and instructing him to remain at Cleri's side. As his mistress and Remy left, the drone's lenses zoomed in on the backside of the white drone, a wolf-like whistle could be heard from Moby.
"Oh! Oh! Don't mind that! Skip these parts…" The recording sped up and featured Moby sitting on Cleri's lap, looking up at her as she ran her hands over his cold steel hull. She went on a silent monologue for some time, and the video slowed towards the end of it.
"... burden for everyone. At least that's what I hope to gain from this little trip… Is that too much to ask?"
The camera drone shook his head, when suddenly a loud roar could be heard off screen, causing Cleri to rise off her seat.
"What was that…? You don't think…?"
"Whatever it is, I'm sure mistress can handle it!" the recorded Moby reassured her in a series of chirps that Cleri couldn't understand. He flew in front of the young woman, an anxious look of concern was splayed across her face.
"Do you think they're… okay?"
"Yes! Absolutely! Staying here is the best option."
There is a brief moment of hesitation as the emissary rationalized her other options. "I… we should go check on them!"
"No! There is an unknown threat within that storm, and mistress would be so mad at me if she found out that I let you in there!" the black drone chirped, continuing to block her direct path to the others.
"You're right," Cleri responded, taking his long-winded clicks and whistles as a reasonable explanation for what she wanted to hear, "It'll only be a peek after all. If worse comes to worse… I have a few spells that I can try…"
"Yes- wait. No! You're not supposed to- Ah! Cleri you can't!"
"Will you protect me?"
"Of course!" the recording of the drone chirped in an acknowledging tone that Cleri misread as a signal to go ahead.
Before he could stop her, Cleri was already on her way out of the airship.
Moby's lenses quickly darted from Cleri to the airship.
"I tried to stop her," Moby explained as the recording continued to play in the background, "But I didn't know how to."
"A stop sign would have been effective," Eve stated.
"Oh. I didn't think of that!"
The camera chased after the emissary down the large dune towards the wall of sand. Despite the danger of the situation and Cleri's obvious hesitancy to go through with all of this, she steeled herself and pushed through the veil.
"What are you doing?"
The three Nasods looked up to see the actual Cleri, curiously standing over them as the recording played in front of Eve.
"Reviewing combat footage."
"Oh," Cleri tilted her head, looking at Eve as a small smile crossed the emissary's lips.
"Do you have any further questions?"
"Oh! Sorry! I just-You have a lovely voice. It's just the first time I've had the chance to hear it undamaged."
"Thank you." With that, Eve simply went back to watching the recording. Cleri didn't move, however, and the Nasod looked up at the emissary once more. "Yes…?" she sighed.
"What's footage?"
It didn't occur to Eve straight away that humans don't readily have access to video feeds as Nasods did, and she struggled to find a way to explain it to someone who hadn't even met a Nasod before her.
"A recording."
"Can I see?" Cleri asked just as the argument between Elesis and Raven escalated to a shouting match, "I… don't want to listen to those two fight."
The Nasod Queen's eyes fell on the two who looked as if they were just about to draw swords if not for Raven finally turning away. Elesis didn't take the gesture too well and looked as if she was going to grab him by the shoulder and spin him around once more. Instead, she mimicked his gesture. The Blazing Heart and the Blade Master had their backs turned towards each other, a silence louder than their argument befalling the two.
Eve relented, scooting off to the side to give the emissary a spot to sit before returning her attention to the recording. By then, the recording featured Cleri hovering over Elesis and inspecting her wounds. A second loud roar could be heard, enough to force the recorded Cleri to cover her ears from the sheer volume.
The emissary sitting next to Eve leaned in closer, prompting Eve to lean away.
"Is that me?"
"Th...that's where the others are, right?" the Cleri in the recording asked Elesis.
"Oh gods that is! I look so dopey!" Cleri replied, covering her face in embarrassment, "I sound so dopey, too!"
"I don't think so," Eve replied, not taking her eyes off the recording.
The Cleri in the recording suddenly took off towards the center of town. All the while, Moby's recording whistled at her to stop.
"I couldn't have done all that without your little drone backing me up," Cleri chuckled.
Eve didn't say anything as both her and Remy turned their gaze to Moby. The black drone gave a defeated whirr of its engines in response.
It didn't take long for the video to reach their first encounter with a trock. The hulking beast leapt from a rooftop, nearly crushing Cleri. Moby was quick to react, and the camera slammed into the monster's head, catching it by surprise, before the black drone looped back around. Moby struck the beast hard on the back of its knee, then climbed upwards and rammed himself against the beast's jaw. It swooned, and a final blow to the temple knocked the trock out.
"Thank you!" Cleri's recording shouted over the storm, "I… I wasn't ready for that. I'll be more ready next time!"
"We need to go back now!" Moby's recording whistled.
Cleri yelped, stepping back as Moby quickly picked up movement surrounding the emissary. His targeting display identified five humanoids in her immediate vicinity and three more trocks closing in from above.
The black drone moved to assist, neutralizing the nearest human before darting past Cleri to take out another.
"Run, Cleri! Run!" Moby shrieked.
The area around them darkened as the hulking monsters pounced on the two from above.
Suddenly, a large ice lance flew in from off camera, impaling one of the beasts mid-air. Two more quickly followed, each driving into their target square in the chest. The trocks hit the street with a dull, ground-shaking thud, the ice lances breaking at the tips and coating the area in a fine frosty mist.
Moby's lenses focused on Cleri standing in the middle of the circle of bodies, looking just as frightened as ever. Her book was cradled in her arms, its pages flipping wildly as magical energies flowed around her.
"Moby! Over here!" Cleri called, extending a hand to the camera. The mist began to crackle. More shadows were closing in. There was no way Moby could hold all of them off.
The drone flew to Cleri's side, and she embraced the black drone. Her fingers that held her book stopped at a particular page as she began to chant another spell.
All the while, multiple targets appeared in Moby's targeting display. They were going to be overrun! Moby tried to wiggle free to defend her, but she held onto him, keeping him pressed against her chest.
She finished her chant as magical energies coursed through her once more.
The icy mist around them flashed a blinding white, the ear splitting crack of thunder surrounded them. In that brief moment, Moby's recording flickered as a surge of electrical energy filled the air around them.
Eve stopped the recording and immediately turned to the emissary, who was still covering her face in embarrassment.
"I said the chant wrong at one part," Cleri muttered, "I could've hurt us both if I hadn't corrected it…"
"You're a mage?" Eve asked, getting right to the point.
"Oh... Y-yeah. In-training, actually."
Eve stood at the ruined balcony, staring off at the distant Sander Palace. The moon slowly crested the large resplendent towers. The amber lights from the streets below outshined the stars above as the nightlife of the city was in full swing. Laughter and merrymaking could be heard at a distant bar. Along the narrow residential streets, a mother could be heard calling her children to dinner. Adolescents could be seen dancing to a song on top of one of the hundreds of rooftops.
As the rabble of city life continued, Eve was set on the less interesting task of focusing on an object, turning away, and looking back at it. To the outside observer, Eve was intently observing the community go about their daily lives. Though it wasn't far from the truth, the actual intent of her actions was less apparent.
She hadn't noticed until they had disembarked from the airship. Upon unloading on the platform, the Nasod was immediately bombarded with unknown threat warnings and action queries for every person that stepped into her peripherals. Her drones weren't even aware of the problem until she brought it up with them. They were unaffected. It was only her that seemed to be suffering from this strange glitch.
"Visual recognition software remains partially corrupted. Repair attempts: ineffective," Remy reported. She hovered in front of her mistress, and Eve stared at her as if she were looking at a stranger. It took a moment to let her systems recognize Remy as a part of her network, and Eve was growing increasingly frustrated with her inability to immediately recognize anything that strays into her peripherals.
"The majority of our neural connections with you have been compromised as well. Communication over larger distances will be drastically hindered."
"I expected as much… seeing as the corrupted code was using it to contact me. We'll have to make do with visual and vocal forms of relaying info for now," Eve sighed.
"A highly inefficient form of communication," Remy commented.
"Humans have fared well despite the handicap," Eve argued.
"But we're not humans, mistress."
She blinked, and the software still refused to properly identify Remy. It took a long time, but eventually, the system deemed Remy not as a threat but as a part of her registered friendly entities.
"Are you well, mistress?" her companion asked, noticing her peculiar behavior.
"I could be better," Eve muttered, trying to grasp the problem with her visual displays. She shifted her attention to the group of young adults dancing on the rooftops. From this distance, anyone with average vision could tell the male and female dancers apart. Through Eve's eyes, even though she could clearly discern their non-intrusive nature, her software was unable to identify the two as being neutral or a possible threat. Eve tried to ignore the warning signals that went off in her head and looked at the two dancers without the aid of the software. It was becoming a problem when any moving object that entered her field of view would immediately be subject to possible threat identification by her systems.
"Anything the Exotic code seizes is irretrievable unless Full Generate Mode is activated again."
"Activation of combat enhancement mode: ill advised," Remy whistled, "Rate of corruption is exponentially higher. Time to full corruption is limited as is."
"All the more reason to find this Nasod expert… Remy, cancel attempts at repairing my recognition software."
"Yes, mistress."
"Compile a list of unaffected programs. I need to know what I still have available."
"At once, mistress."
Her black drone flew up from beyond the balcony railing, causing Eve's recognition software to go haywire, and marking the drone as an unknown incoming threat.
"I found that Thironin person we talked to yesterday! He's on his way up to his office. And the best part is: he's only an hour and a half late! Much earlier than Rose's estimations," Moby chirped, quickly flying over to Remy's side. The black drone was blissfully unaware of the alarms and numerous combat engagement queries going off in Eve's head.
Sighing, the queen created her hologram keyboard and typed in the shutdown sequence for her visual recognition software. She stared off at a non-descript point in the distance, keeping both the dancers and her drones in her line of sight. She watched the warning lights and highlighting effects disappear one by one until there was nothing left but the raw, unfiltered visuals of the city before her. What happened next was unexpected.
To the average viewer, the balcony view overlooking the city was a sight to behold. The bright blue moon hanging over the amber city streets, the festive lights of a celebration on a rooftop, and the faint sounds of music accenting the crisp night air all came together in just the right way to create a peaceful, neighborly atmosphere far unlike the congested rabble of Sander's daytime commute.
To Eve, she saw the same exact thing. With her visual assistance offline, everything, from the minute color of the festival lanterns to the details of the dancers' dress, were taken in. She was able to see the Sander nightlife in its purest, unfiltered form. At first, she was confused. Never had she seen the world with so much attention to details she would have otherwise deemed unimportant. Yet the way it all came together felt… strange. Beautiful? She wasn't sure. There was a sense of harmony in the sight before her that she had never known to exist before.
Her golden eyes focused on her two drones. With the threat highlights disabled, she noticed the distinct sheen of polished Nasod Alloy on Remy's freshly generated plates and how they differed from the bumps and scratches on Moby's. Now that she was observing her two companions closely, Eve felt as if she were forgetting something. Up until now, her coding and the events of earlier today had her full attention, but now that she had time to think...
The black orb playfully knocked against Remy's side. "Remy! I'm back! Did you fix the thing?" he asked, rubbing against the other drone affectionately.
Where Remy would have normally whirred her engines out of annoyance and let Moby invade her personal space, the white drone instead simply turned and floated away. The black drone was taken aback.
Still facing away from Moby, Remy chirped her report, "Mistress's visual sensors are intact, but most of her targeting systems are still malfunctioning. Attempts at repairs have proven unsuccessful."
"Remy…?" Moby floated closer. Remy responded by moving further away.
"Please maintain minimal operational distance."
"Did I do something wrong?"
Eve remembered now. It was Remy. Or rather, Remy_004. Moby still hadn't realized.
"Moby," Eve called, her voice pulling his attention away from their third companion for a moment.
"Yes, mistress?"
"About Remy…"
The door to the third floor office opened with a sharp snap as the damaged hinges came off the wooden frame.
"Ah, shit…" Rose muttered.
The three Nasods turned to the blonde woman who was trying to fit the door back into place.
"Don't bother trying to fix it," the recognizably dismissive voice of a nobleman could be heard inside the office, "You'll only make things worse than it already is. I'll have a carpenter fix your mess by tomorrow."
Rose set the door aside and turned to Eve. The Nasod could see the blonde biting her tongue.
"Thironin's here, Eve. He said he wanted to get you out of the way first."
Eve's lips pursed at that and Rose shrugged, "His words. Not mine."
The Nasod pushed off the railing, motioning her drones to follow her as she entered the office building. The room was a wreck.
The door to the stairs were blown out of its hinges, a window was broken, and the once beautiful mahogany desk was splintered with papers and files strewn about. Potted plants had been knocked over, and the bookcase at the corner of the room had deep craters pressed through the thick encyclopedias and political texts.
Had anyone walked in here, they'd imagine some kind of storm had blown through. Eve could still recall the close quarters engagement she had with the thief in this very room, ending with the crook being knocked out of the window.
"And my friends?" Cleri inquired.
"Yes… they're being looked after. Why else do you think I've come so late? I take care of my investments. Your friends are no different," the nobleman said.
"Really? But one of them is critically injured and-"
"Vapor has it all under control. She is the creator of the elixir of youth, after all. What's a few broken bones to someone like her?"
Thironin was seated at the only surviving lounge chair sat around a scratched coffee table. He was a small man, easily in his forties, if not older. His greying dark hair was tucked under a tightly woven white turban that seemed to pull at his scalp. Under his loose fitting robes was a frail, lanky build that stood in stark contrast to his bodyguard.
The bodyguard, a hulking male with almost as many scars as he had muscles, stood behind his master's chair. He was dressed in the typical Sanders guard uniform, but he looked far different from the guards that stood watch at the palace. He had no apparent weapons on his person, but upon deeper inspection, Eve noticed the hardened calluses on the man's knuckles.
"Ah, there it is," Thironin said in a tone that more so acknowledged Eve's arrival rather than welcome her. "On to business then: based on the report from my pilot, you've all done your job. Albeit with a few unexpected bumps along the way."
"A few of our friends have been injured, yes."
"The entire village was under some form of demon mind control," Eve reported, "We had no choice but to dispatch them."
"Minor details, yes, but more importantly, Garpai is no longer a problem."
Rose and Cleri looked at each other before Rose stepped forward, "We mean the whole village had to be taken care of. As in we had to kill them all."
"Yes, I know what you meant. A shame that so many lives were lost," Thironin replied, a clear lack of sincerity in his voice as he rubbed his freshly shaved chin, "But you've done Sander a great service and prevented any further casualties for our troops when they secure the village."
"Why'd you have us kill an entire village?" Rose asked, her hands shaking as she seemed like she was just a breath away from drawing her weapon on the nobleman.
Thironin raised his hands defensively, "Me? Ask you to kill an entire village? I asked you to talk to them."
"Or kill them if they weren't cooperating!" Rose added.
"In self defense, of course. I was aware of the potential threat they posed and sending an entire battalion to subdue Garpai would have led to casualties anyways."
"You still ordered us to kill them if things went wrong!"
"In its most basic form, yes, I ordered you to kill them. But I wouldn't have sent you and your mercenary friends if I didn't find you capable of coming out alive. What I saw from the brief glimpse of your abilities is your resourcefulness and the combat effectiveness of the Nasod. Would it be kinder of me to send less able-bodied representatives to do your job? Granted, the whole… mind control debacle was an unforeseen obstacle, but the big picture is still the same: I wanted you to convince them to lay down their arms, or make sure they don't harm others again in the future. Or would you rather we do nothing and have unknowing travelers stumble upon that town and never be heard from again?"
Thironin challenged Rose to say otherwise, but the marksman held her tongue. A smug, knowing grin crept onto the nobleman's face.
"If there's no further issue, I believe I have my end of the bargain to uphold," He turned to Eve, "Right. Nasod. Normally, I'd leave your concerns… or directives… or whatever you call them, to some technician to handle. But, because your owners here insist I help you first…"
He bared his teeth, grin subtly giving way to a sneer as he spoke in a warm, welcoming tone that didn't match his face. "How may I help you?"
Directive? Technician? Owners? This was the second time a human had mistaken her as another person's property. And to make things worse, the way he looked and his tone almost felt as if he were talking to some mutt in the street. To say she was angry would be a large understatement, and she had enough reason to skewer this dried up lizard of a human being. But she needed information. She needed him alive and talking if she would have any hope of fixing her problem.
"Have you lost the ability to talk? Speak!" Thironin ordered.
Her face remained unchanged. To everyone else in the room, she was neither upset or angry. The only sign of any change in attitude towards the nobleman was the way she simply crossed her arms at him.
"I'm looking for someone. A Nasod Expert."
"You'll find hundreds of them in the scrap district," Thironin answered quickly and waved Eve away afterwards. He then turned to Rose and Cleri, "Now, on to more important issues-"
"I wasn't finished," Eve said, her voice carrying a sharper edge.
"And I was. You have what you need. Go… change your battery or whatever it is your kind is meant to do-"
"Uh… Mister… Thironin, sir," Cleri squeaked, bringing his attention back to Eve just as her white drone slowly traced a portal in the air. The tip of a long spear slid into their dimension.
"Tell your servant to stand down. If you're going to allow her to threaten me, then I believe this little agreement of ours is over."
"Ugh… she's not our-" Rose began before setting herself between Eve and the nobleman, "Eve, I understand what's going through your head right now, but we need you to let this slide."
"Tell him I demand information on the Nasod Expert. The Nasod Expert. Not some lowly human engineer. I came here because they're the only option I have left. Their reputation has reached as far as Altera, so I'm certain a man of your position has at least heard of them. You will tell me where they are and how I can find them. I'm not asking again."
Thironin grunted, motioning for Rose to step aside. "If you kill me, I doubt you'd get far with your search with the entirety of Sander hunting you down. I am a man of power, after all. But I'm not unkind."
Rose rolled her eyes at the statement.
"So by expert, I'm assuming you're looking for the best of the best, correct? You definitely appear to be a more advanced type of machine, but who am I to care about product specifications? Anyways, if its a professional on anything and everything Nasod, I think I know just who you're looking for. If you're looking for that Nasod Expert then you'll find him, like I said, in the scrap district. Last I heard he was the type who expresses his dominance in what those grease monkeys call the 'Proving Grounds'. "
"I'm not looking for a mechanic," Eve said, "I'm looking for someone who understands Nasod coding."
"I've given you all I know. The Proving Grounds. Find it, and you'll find the only 'expert' I am aware of. If anything, you can find more leads through him. Now. Is there anything else?"
"Where's The Proving Grounds?"
Thironin turned to the blonde, "Rose, correct? You seemed to know your way around Sander. Why don't you show your… friend here where it is?"
The blonde's brow furrowed as she looked back and forth between the two. Whatever tension had built between Eve and Thironin had faded, at least on the surface.
"I, uh, know where the scrap district is, yeah. But…"
"Then it's settled. Cleri? We have important matters to discuss, mainly your reasons for being here."
Thironin leaned forward as he addressed the emissary, his eyes seemed to be focused on the box sitting on the young woman's lap. Cleri instinctively pulled the box closer to herself as she smiled, nodding at the nobleman. "Of course. We want an audience with his Greatness so if you please-"
"I don't know if I should be leaving you alone with those two," Rose whispered, motioning at Thironin and his bodyguard.
"Relax," Cleri whispered back, giving Eve and Rose a confident, if not a little bit nervous, smile, "I can manage. Help Eve out first."
The blonde shook her head, "I'm not leaving you alone here." She turned her attention to Eve, "Are you okay with waiting? After we're done here, I can take you to the scrap district."
"I can manage on my own."
"I'd really prefer going with you. You have no idea what you're in for over there."
"Just tell me where to go," Eve said, a subtle tone of impatience in her voice.
"Okay… Don't say I didn't warn you. Zero's gonna send you coordinates. Once we're done with this meeting, I'll catch up with you. The scrap district isn't exactly open to lone Nasods."
"I'm beginning to think that's the case in all of Sander," Eve stated, getting a nervous chuckle from Rose.
"Ain't that the truth…"
Zero hovered over to Remy, his projected face was pulled to one side as he looked on at the white drone with uncertainty.
"Erm… hey, there… Remy."
The white drone stared at the yellow floating orb. "Greetings. Ready to receive coordinates."
"Wow. This is weird," Zero muttered as he transferred the information to the Nasod.
Moby tilted his head, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, well, considering what happened and all. It's like I'm talking to a complete stranger."
"I know! Remy's been acting weird all day! I think she's mad at me."
"Hold on… Moby, you don't know?"
"Know…? Know what?"
Zero glanced up at Eve who quietly patted the black drone on his head.
"Thank you for the coordinates, Zero," Eve replied and she turned to leave.
"See ya in a little bit, Eve!" Rose called after her as she exited the room.
The Nasod waved her off, opening the door and motioning for her drones to follow. Remy lead the way with Moby close behind, stopping only when Eve took the black drone in her arms.
The door slowly creaked to a close behind her.
"Moby. About Remy…"
Walking the streets of Sander without her targeting systems online was definitely a new experience. Eve had never realized the sheer amount of information to take in from a simple glance. With her targeting system, she could easily filter out irrelevant or redundant information at a glance, allowing her to focus on primary objectives with ease. Without it though, the lights, colors, and everything else felt more vibrant-lively, even.
Eve wasn't sure if she liked it or not, seeing as how easily it was to lose Remy among the crowds of civilians coming and going from major district checkpoints. Her white drone dutifully led the way, a few meters ahead of the other two, a hologram of the city floating in front of Remy as she navigated the streets towards the scrap district. The city, even at night, was crowded, and the lack of a visual filter made it feel even more so. It was jarring to Eve when Remy would dip in and out of her line of sight and the visual aid wasn't there to track her movements with a highlighted display through obstacles.
The live visual feedback from Eve's drones were another casualty of her offline systems. Moby, who she had tasked with taking point and providing overwatch for the two, was unable to give Eve much information other than an audible cue that something was amiss. And to make things worse, the black drone had fallen largely silent during the trek to their objective.
The news about Remy went just as Eve had expected. Remy_003, at first, reacted similarly for the first few times Moby had sacrificed himself for his companions. But they eventually learn of the inevitability that came with protecting their queen. It was why Eve tried her best to minimize the amount of danger she put her companions through during her journey with the El Search Party. But because of their line of work, sacrifices always had to be made. And if Moby and Remy were ever presented the choice between Eve or themselves, they always defaulted to their primary objective: protect their queen.
Despite this, it never gets easier. Remy_003 had seen the death of her partner multiple times. Though she had never spoken out against it, Remy had learned, because of the black drone's selfless algorithm, to never get too attached to every other iteration of her partner. Unfortunately for Moby_094, it was a reality he was going to have to try and get used to.
It wasn't that saving their past life experiences were beyond Nasod capability. In fact, transferring Moby and Remy's backed up memories to a new vessel was what she did at one point. She stopped however after transferring Remy_002 to its updated vessel. She remembered that day after fighting the bone dragon in Bethma.
"I feel… sad," the distraught Moby_041 whistled as Remy_003 booted herself up.
"Why do you say that, Moby?" Eve asked as she uploaded the saved personality file, "With the exception of two weeks since we last backed up your memories, Remy should largely be the same."
"I watched her die. Remy_002. My Remy_002. This one… she's not 002. I don't… want to pretend like it didn't happen."
It was the only time her companions had ever asked anything from her. Even with 041's passing, she felt obligated to keep his promise. It wasn't like she believed in anything ridiculous like the spirit of Moby's long past making sure she upheld her promise. It just brought her a sense of ease knowing that this was something Moby would have wanted. It was the least she could do for companions who would easily give their lives to protect her.
However, this was the first time Moby_094 had experienced the loss of a partner. Unsure of how to react to any of this, the black drone had withdrawn from the other two for the entirety of the trip across the metropolis. Thus far, he had said nothing further on the issue and simply went on to watch Remy from a distance. With Remy_003 gone, Eve is the only one aware of the promise she made to 041 long ago.
She could… just bring 003 back.
Eve stared up at the black drone flying just a few meters above them. It almost seemed his focus had never left Remy as she carried on guiding the two to their destination. The option floated around in her head, and she thought about asking Moby when they had the chance. She wondered if he'd let her do it. She wondered if it'd make her companion happy.
The coordinates Zero had provided included schedules of sky ferries that carried crowds of pedestrians for cheap. The scrap district was easy to pick out among the city sprawl. Its large smoke stacks standing nearly as tall as the sky platforms that dotted the city. Nestled within the center of the district was an enormous metal colosseum. The ferry docked itself not too far from the district's edge, and it wasn't much more of a walk from the station to their destination. Foot traffic had diminished greatly at this time of night and, judging by the choice of dress from pedestrians, Eve was in the more impoverished section of Sander.
There was also a significant lack of light compared to the rest of the city, and it wasn't readily obvious why until Eve had arrived at one of the district's main archways that greeted incoming traffic. A thick haze hung in the air. Smog. Even at night, when the smoke stacks weren't running, the air was heavy with a level of industrial ash that exceeded Eve's own foundries back in Altera. The entire district sat at the eastern edge of the metropolis and was sectioned off by high metal walls with enormous air pumps lining the walls. The design of each device was clearly Nasod in origin, but the way it was crudely retrofitted to serve as air filtration devices was undoubtedly the work of man.
"We've arrived at our destination," Remy reported, closing the hologram and taking a look around. "Aerial impurities exceeding acceptable levels. Prolonged exposure: ill-advised."
"We'll only be here as long as we need to," Eve said, inspecting her surroundings, as well. The streets weren't as congested as the other districts, but it made up for it in the amount of clutter that jutted out of structures such as pipes and a tangle of electrical wiring that hung overhead. The pedestrians that walked the streets wore some form of filtration mask and were covered in varying amounts of soot and grime.
Nasods also populated the streets. At the district gates, a mechanical quadra-ped was vacuuming up trash that littered the main street. Overhead were cleaning drones that washed and dusted the archway to the best of their retrofitted abilities. Not too far from the machines was a human garbed in a filthy street-cleaner uniform, donning a dusty gas mask. Strapped to the person was a large panel of controls that he used to guide the machines as they went about their duties.
Further down the street, Eve spotted a bipedal Nasod with a familiar ancient design, struggling to carry a large metal container filled to the brim with scrap metal. Despite its rather rigid metal frame, the machine was barely able to maintain its balance as it shuffled slowly along the street. It was a gardening unit. Type-F. Well, most of it was, at least. Much of its design originated from blueprints the Nasod king had created during the first revival. The rest of the gardening unit had been retrofitted, including reinforced joints, redesigned legs, and a repurposed water tank in its chest cavity that was turned into a tool storage compartment.
The most Type-Fs were designed to carry were several bags of fertilizer while tending the local fauna in Altera. They weren't as durable as an industrial grade drilling unit as their design was meant to carefully prune and trim the shrubbery. Out in the middle of Sander's desert, however, this seemed to have been transformed into someone's personal pack mule. The heavy pile of scrap, stacked a couple meters high, was mounted on the gardening unit's shoulders, and it struggled to keep pace with its human master who was standing at the corner of a busy intersection, tapping their foot as they waited.
Suddenly, a figure burst out from the side streets towards the gardening unit. With practiced precision, the figure rushed in from behind the Nasod and gave it a hard kick at the back of the knee joint. Type-F stumbled, causing it to slowly topple over under the sudden shift in weight. With a loud crash, the figure, standing over the fallen machine, signaled a flock of drones that flew in on their mark. The flock of drones quickly hoarded all the useful pieces of scrap before taking off after their leader who had ducked into another side street by the time the gardening unit's owner realized what was happening.
With a shout for help, red and blue lights flashed high above the main street as a swarm of security drones quickly gave chase.
"Alternative options: recommended. Your safety is at risk," Remy suggested.
"My systems are failing as it is, Remy. The longer we wait to find other solutions, the more difficult it will be. We need to find someone that can help me as soon as possible."
The white drone floated in front of her mistress, her lenses focusing deeply into Eve's golden eyes. Eve was suddenly struck by a pang of guilt as she stared at the emotionless pair of eyes looking back at her. It was as if she were back in Garpai village staring into 003's lifeless, accusatory eyes. 003 had warned her that all of it had been a bad idea, and Eve willingly ignored it.
Yet at the same time, a larger looming threat hung heavy in Eve's head. It was a simple number. 71%. Her brief use of Full Generate Mode had pushed her corruption up ten percent. She couldn't wait for another opportunity. She had to act.
"We're going," she ordered.
Without another word of protest, the white drone simply turned to lead the way. "Understood."
"Moby," Eve turned her attention to the drone providing overwatch, "Status update."
"You're being followed," the black drone reported. So half-hearted was his answer that it took Eve a moment to process what he was saying.
"Really? Are you absolutely certain?"
"Yes."
"By who? Since when?"
Moby tilted slightly as he drifted around in the air, "Some guy in a cloak. Shortly after you left Thironin's office."
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"
The black drone didn't answer and continued to twirl lazily in the air.
"Moby!" Eve scolded, finally snapping some sense into the drone.
"You were telling me about Remy. And I wasn't a hundred percent sure he was following you… and I was mad."
"You… were mad?" Eve couldn't believe her drone. To omit critical information like this was directly putting his mistress's safety at risk.
"I still am!" Moby chirped.
"Moby!" Eve called, anger growing in her voice, "Get down here this instant!"
"No!"
Remy set herself infront if their mistress, "Do you wish for me to subdue the rogue Nasod?"
Moby buzzed angrily at the white drone. "You stay out of this you… you… fake Remy!"
"Remy, no. Don't. I'm going to need you to run a full sweep. Locate this person that's been following me. I'll talk to Moby."
"At once, mistress."
With that, Eve turned her attention back to the black drone. "Moby, this is serious. I need you to cooperate with me."
"No!"
"Moby, we need to know who's following us. If we don't know who it is or where they are then that only puts us in more danger. You don't want that to happen to us, do you?"
There's a brief pause from the black drone and, for a moment, it seemed as if Eve had finally gotten through to him… That is, until he turned and left them.
"Moby?" Eve called after the drone. By then his form had disappeared into the black night sky.
"Mistress! Moby has transferred the coordinates of our pursuer. He's… not too far from us. Just down the street from the air ferry." An image of the stalker winked into existence in front of Eve. The cloak the stalker wore was ragged and old. The filter of a gasmask could be seen peeking out from under the hood. It wasn't much to go by, but looking at the height and estimated build hidden under the cloak, Eve felt as if she should know who this person was.
"Any clear motive for following us to the other side of the city?"
"From here, it appears our stalker has not attempted to approach us and is, instead, opting to keep his distance. Awaiting orders, mistress," Remy chirped, "Shall I prime all available weapons…? Where's Moby?"
"He left us."
Remy turned to Eve, "Pardon?"
"He shouldn't have gone too far. But that's not important now. We need to lose this stalker."
"I recommend your mega electron cannon."
"No. Too many other civilians nearby. He's not doing anything, correct?"
"Other than observing you for now, no. He hasn't done anything."
"As it stands, we have no reason to defend ourselves. Attacking this individual now would only cause others to view us as an assailant. We'll move into the scrap district and attempt to lose him there."
"Understood."
With that, Eve doubled her pace, taking off into the scrap district with Remy close behind. She passed the street cleaner and stepped over the mess of the gardening unit towards the congested intersection.
By then, Eve was faintly aware of the thick haze that filled the air. At a glance, she noted civilians wandering the district to be wearing gas masks to protect from the smog that hung over the streets. She coughed, the itch of smoke and dust quickly filled her lungs as humans and machines crowded around her.
"He's following you," Remy reported a short distance above her.
How could he still see her in this crowd?
Realization struck her quickly as she quietly signaled Remy to fly down to her.
"No, he's following you," Eve said, clutching on to the white drone and keeping her concealed as she pushed through the crowd, "I think he knows wherever you go, I'll be nearby. We're going to have to travel blind for now."
"Understood."
Eve coughed once more and placed a hand over her mouth and nose.
"The air quality is significantly worse here," Remy reported.
"I'm aware. Thank you Remy." The crowd, however, was much more suffocating than the smog. It was like pushing through a living, undulating tunnel of bodies. Everything was touching her, pressing and bumping into her.
This continued for several minutes as she pushed deeper into the district until she couldn't take it anymore. She felt trapped. "We need to get out of this street," Eve muttered, a sick feeling welling in her stomach.
"Approaching sidestreet. We should have lost our pursuer by now."
Eve squeezed her way to the empty alleyway, stumbling into open space before leaning dizzily against the wall. She felt nauseous. It was one thing having a stranger touch her. It was another to have a crowd literally push and pull her.
"How can humans stand these living conditions?" the queen muttered, catching her breath.
"Mistress," Remy whispered, catching Eve's attention, "Look."
Eve followed her white drone's gaze towards a sign hanging in the middle of the alleyway.
Ralek's Chop Shop
"What's a 'chop shop'?" Eve inquired.
"Searching definition… No known definitions exist. Possibly a butcher of some kind."
"We don't have time to worry about food."
"But, mistress, it doesn't seem like a butcher. It has a garage and from the looks of it, it has a workshop specifically for Nasod programming and machinery. Perhaps this individual knows something about Nasod coding?"
Eve approached the opened garage, glancing in and noting the faint fluorescent light cast over a workbench strewn with gears and wiring. She glanced over her shoulder towards the crowd, again. It wouldn't hurt to check and use this as an opportunity to hide from her pursuer.
"Remy, I'm putting you on watch," Eve said, "If we're still being followed, notify me immediately."
"Understood, mistress."
Eve stepped into the garage and was immediately greeted with the smell of oil and welded metal. The garage, although small in appearance, apparently was part of the entire building that bordered the alleyway. It was like a huge warehouse. A huge, crowded warehouse, stacked to the ceiling with piles of scrap metal and parts of old and unused machinery.
At least a dozen of flat, disk-like drones floated from one pile to another, sorting and arranging the parts. Several carried gears and cogs taken from other scraps and piled it on a large, central workbench where a tall, muscular man wearing a welding helmet was completely engrossed in his task at hand. He was welding what appeared to be a massive claw. Laser sights were set along the arm along with what appeared to be a gas nozzle in between the two pinchers.
Behind the man was another workbench where mechanical arms carefully soldered wiring onto a circuit board, causing a hologram of a projector to flicker to life. Above the mechanical arms was an awards shelf holding three first place trophies.
"Proving Grounds Championship" each one read followed by the sequential date of three years up until last year. Thironin mentioned this Proving Grounds when he sent her here. And this individual was a champion, to boot. Perhaps luck was on her side, this time and her search had come to an end.
Eve cleared her throat to catch the man's attention but ended up hacking a loud cough as dust was caught in her windpipe.
"Yep, one moment," the masked man said, finishing up his welding job before pulling off his welding helmet. He was a man in his thirties. A thin beard and leathered skin. He gave Eve a once over before raising a brow at her.
"You lost, woman?"
"No. I have a few questions."
"If it's about a broken hairdryer go find someone else to bother. I got a deadline to meet," the man said, flipping on his mask again before returning to his welding job.
"It's about Nasod coding."
"Coding, huh?" the man replied uninterested, "I know my way around a line of code, easy. But listen, lady, I got a very busy day tomorrow. Unless it's urgent, I can't help you."
Eve stepped towards the workbench, opening several of her display windows and bringing up the large red number. With a push of her hands, the hologram floated into the man's sight, and he instinctively tried to brush it away like a fly before realizing what it was and stopping his current task.
"The hell…?" he pulled off his helmet and looked at the floating hologram.
Exotic Code Corruption: 71%
He stared at the display curiously before turning his gaze towards Eve, noting the ear cones on the Nasod's head to be projecting the display.
"That's some fancy tech you got there," he said, suddenly interested, "Where'd you get it from?"
"I was built with it."
"You were… what?" the man's eyes narrowed as he took a step towards Eve, inspecting her from top to bottom with more attention to detail. He noted the blue gem on her head, the markings on her cheeks, the cones for ears. "Are you a…"
Eve nodded and with a flick of her wrist, dozens of windows were put on display, showing off just a portion of her capabilities as a Nasod.
"Whoa…" the man whispered, turning to each window in wonder. He looked back at Eve, a more excited gleam in his eyes. "You have a weapons cache?!"
Eve nodded again.
"Access to pocket dimensions… A neural communications port… An advanced behavioral learning algorithm… Incredible…"
"Can you fix me?"
"What?"
Eve closed all the windows except one, putting the red corruption number front and center before the man. "Can you fix me?"
"Exotic Code corruption…?"
"Everything, all my capabilities as a functioning Nasod, is slowly being taken away by this Exotic Code built within me. I cannot remove it. I need you to do that for me. Can you do that?"
He rubbed his beard in thought, eyes narrowing once more as he stared into Eve's golden pools. "Where's your owner?"
Eve's lips pulled down on a slight, visible frown. "No one owns me," she announced proudly.
"Yeah… yeah. Okay, I think we'd have a mutually beneficial business transaction," Ralek mumbled, his eyes staring not at Eve but at the distant horizon far past her, "Provided you do something for me first."
"And that is?"
"Name's Ralek, by the way," the man said, extending a hand towards Eve.
Eve stared at his hand before simply flicking her hair over her shoulder, "Eve."
"Right, well, Eve, before I begin, come this way," he said, ushering her to a thick iron chair oddly situated by the workbench. "Have a seat."
"I'd rather stand, thank you."
"It's going to take a while if you want my help."
Eve sighed and strode over to the chair and taking a seat on its cold, hard, surface. "You said I had to do something for you in return?"
"First off, a few questions," Ralek said. He sat across from her, at the corner of the workbench as he looked to a green, holo-projected, control panel strapped to his arm. "Your weapons cache? I noticed you had one. Where is it?"
"It's stored within my generated pocket dimension. Using El, I can open rifts in this realm and summon anything my Nasod foundries have created for me."
"You have foundries?"
"Yes. Essentially an unlimited supply of weapons are at my disposal provided I have the El to open the rifts."
"Fascinating. An unlimited supply of weapons…"
"But because of the corruption, I'm unable to access the majority of these weapons. Which is why I need your help."
"And all of your codes are stored… here?" Ralek pointed at the blue gem on Eve's head. She nodded but smacked his hand away when it drew too close to her forehead.
"Yes. So can you help me or not? Just as a warning, I don't have much money to pay you as of yet but I can pay off the debt in due time."
"Oh don't worry, Eve. You'll be making me money in no time." Ralek pressed a button on his control panel.
One of his drones hovering behind him launched a bolas at its intended target, catching Eve off guard. The cord swiftly wrapped around the Nasod and the chair, effectively pinning her to her seat before she even had a chance to react.
"What… what are you doing?!" Eve struggled against the binding.
"As I said, you and I can benefit from our mutual agreement. You make me rich with whatever tech you got in that head of yours, and I make sure your little glitch doesn't bother you anymore. First things first, though," he hopped off the table and leaned in close to Eve, running a thick oily finger across her delicate neck, "I'm going to need my buzz saw."
"Ralek, you wouldn't…"
"To a person, absolutely not. Murder is a crime punishable by death," Ralek said, disappearing behind her, "But you're just a machine. And as far as the law is concerned, the worst I'd get canned for is destruction of someone else's property… but you're no one's property." She could feel him grinning at her behind her back. Eve struggled against the bindings once more and she heard the man's fading chuckles as he strode across the warehouse.
"You hang tight now. I'll only be a moment. Gotta dig up old reliable."
His heavy footfalls vanished around the stacks of scrap, and she was left to the sounds of her own struggling under the bindings. The entire time, the drone hovering in front of her maintained watch; another bolas round was loaded and ready to fire.
She couldn't create a spear on her own to cut her way out. Not unless she used Full Generate Mode. She stared at the percentage hanging on display in front of her. If she used the program, her corruption would skyrocket again. Eve could only do so much with what little she had available as it was.
Chirping caught her attention as the little white drone appeared flying into the garage.
"Mistress! Mistress your pursuer he-" the white drone stopped dead in its tracks upon seeing Eve tied to a chair. All available enemy drones within the vicinity turned to the new intruder.
"Remy… help!" Eve gasped.
Without another word, the white drone flew to the rescue, dodging the bolas round fired at her before slamming into the enemy drone's rotor system. It flew back at the impact, crashing into the scrap heap, prompting the rest of the chop shop drones to attack. Remy revved her motors as she collided headlong with one of the drones, the impact sending her in a dizzying spin but taking out another in the process.
She quickly recovered, rolling backwards to narrowly dodge another drone before looping up and catching the fourth enemy drone at its exposed underside, shattering it into pieces.
"Requesting permission to use spears!" Remy tweeted, swinging around to intercept another drone rising up behind Eve.
"Permission: granted."
"Mistress, pull your head back, please!" Remy requested. Eve did just that, leaning her head back and turning away just as a spear was shot downward at her. The sharpened edge whistled by Eve's cheek, running down her torso and gently grazing over the fabric of her clothes. It tore through the bindings wrapped tightly around her chest, freeing Remy's mistress with the spear coming to a stop just between Eve's thighs.
The queen pulled off the bindings just as the spear dissipated before her, and she quickly jumped out of the chair and made a run for the exit.
"Remy! To me!" Eve ordered, getting an acknowledging whistle from her white drone.
"Hey!" Ralek could be heard emerging from the back of the warehouse, "Stop that android!"
Eve left the chop shop just as the buzz of a dozen more drones could be heard revving up behind her.
"Remy, prime all available weapons," Eve said in between breaths as she let out a hacking cough from the smog-filled air. She continued to run down the alleyway, reaching a split in the road before deciding to hang a left.
"Weapon availability is limited to your mega electron cannon, your spears, and your explosive whip."
"Prime all of them!" Eve wheezed. Another fork. She hung another left and descended down stairs deeper into the ironworks of the scrap district. The entire time the buzzing sound of approaching drones could be heard drawing ever closer.
"Electron cannon, ready."
Eve pooled her energy reserves to her hand, causing a faint blue glow to appear at her palm. She leapt into the air and flicked a disk of electrical energy at the pursuers. During this motion, she expected an immediate lock with her systems. However, she was quickly reminded that her targeting systems were offline. Target acquisition and aiming had to be done manually. The disk flew wide and away from its intended target, impacting the high brick walls and causing the area to rain dust and debris behind her.
She gritted her teeth and flung another two disks at the pursuing drones behind her. Again and again, they missed, blowing up nearby pipes and causing more destruction to her surroundings than her actual targets. She was now fully aware of how different it was to actually have to aim now without her targeting system.
"Mistress!" Remy whistled, catching Eve's attention. The queen stumbled to a stop upon reaching a dead end with high walls canopied by a maze of thick steam pipes. She was trapped.
Spinning around, Eve was met with a sudden volley of bolas rounds that she could do nothing but shield herself against.
Remy flew in to intercept one, its tight wires and weight immediately throwing the drone on a spin while Eve tried to dodge every other subsequent shot. Her leg was caught, then her arms. Eventually she could do nothing but fall over, her limbs completely bound together. Eve wheezed a weak gasp of air, her lungs choking on the dust as she wrestled against her bindings.
The metal grates further down the alleyway creaked under heavy boots. Ralek's muscular frame could be seen coming down the stairway. A gasmask was strapped to his head. He paused to catch his breath as his smile could be felt even through the mask.
"Thought you could get away, didn't ya?" he wheezed. Pulling up his controls. With a few gestures, the drones moved aside. Ralek looked about at the destruction Eve caused. "I must say, you pack quite a punch for something so small. Oh, the money you'd make me once I break you down to individual parts. I do apologize, though. I know I said you weren't going to be worth my time, but after seeing all this? Eve, you have proved me wrong."
Eve said nothing and continued to struggle with her bindings.
"No need to worry now, though. I've found old reliable," he reached behind him and extracted a large buzz saw. Pulling the trigger caused the blade to spin in a loud shriek, "I'll be sure to make this quick." He stepped closer, rolling Eve to her back with his boot as the saw drew closer.
Eve stared wide-eyed at the whirling blade, pulling her head away and involuntarily exposing her neck. Through the smokey lenses of the man's goggles, she could see the look of pure sadistic excitement glaring back at her.
Suddenly, a shot rang out through the alleyway. Its echo was emphasized when one of the drones suddenly burst into shrapnel directly behind Ralek.
Another shot, and the explosive round tore through a second drone, this one managing to catch the man in its collateral.
He hissed under his mask, shielding himself from the explosion as he turned towards the stairway. A shadowy figure stood at the top of the stairs.
"Who-" Ralek began but was interrupted by another series of gunshots, each taking out another one of his drones.
"Stay out of this!" Ralek snarled. With a push of a few buttons, more drones appeared from high above, catching the intruder by surprise and opening fire with live rounds.
The shadow withdrew, the drones giving chase. Ralek turned to Eve, then to the stairs as the sound of more of his machines being destroyed could be heard.
"Shit… Wait here. I'll be back for you."
Ralek took off after them, leaving Eve to lay helplessly as the sounds of battle grew fainter and fainter.
"Mistress… Mistress!" Remy chirped. Eve turned to the sound of her white drone and found the poor thing stuck against a brick wall. The bolas wrapped around her had embedded itself into the hard surface.
"Mistress! Are you unharmed?"
"Yes, Remy. But I'm still tied down. I can't move."
"I'm unable to move as well. I'm attempting to contact Moby as we speak. He's… he's on his way!"
"How close is he?"
A voice shouted at stairs of the alleyway.
"Found you!" a familiar female voice shouted. Quick, light, footsteps bounded down the stairs towards Eve. It was Rose. She holstered her revolver and knelt down at the Nasod's side. She had a disposable dust mask fitted over her mouth and nose.
Eve stared up at the blonde as the young woman undid the bindings.
"I can't leave any of you people alone for a second, can I?" she laughed, reaching into her pack and extracting a second dust mask for Eve, "First I get caught up with all the foot traffic around, then your black drone comes by screaming something or another to come help you. Lucky Zero was there to translate, or I would've never found you here."
"M-Moby…?" Eve muttered, drawing in a deep, haggard breath as she pulled on the filtration mask. She saw the black drone peeking over Rose's shoulder. She rose to a sitting position, rubbing her arms loose.
"Can you walk? We need to get you somewhere safe so I can properly introduce you to this district. Maybe next time you'll listen to me when I say I'd rather be with you when you go out on your own."
"Sorry…"
"Don't worry about it. It's the least I can do. Let's go before that big guy comes back." Rose offered to dust the Nasod off but wisely hesitated. Eve stood and dusted herself off before making her way up the stairs. As she cleaned herself up, Moby and Rose moved to the white drone still tied to the brick wall. The blonde reached into her boot, pulling out a small blade which she used to sever the wires.
"You didn't… deal with him?" Eve asked, half expecting Ralek to return at any moment.
"Didn't know what was going on. So no, I didn't open fire on him."
"But… you shot down his drones."
Rose threw Eve a confused look.
"I didn't shoot anything. I just followed the sound of explosions, to this little side street. Next thing I know I see a whole swarm of flying Nasods rush by and some big muscular dude chasing after them."
"Then… who," Eve trailed off as they reached the top of the stairs. Drops of blood trailed from the stairs back down the path Eve ran through earlier. They carefully followed the trail of blood and destroyed drones further down until they arrived at one of the two junctions. Resting on the ground, along the bloody trail, laid a rather peculiar looking weapon.
It was a silver revolver.
Eve picked up the weapon and inspected its strange weight and design. It was heavier than it appeared and much larger than the typical revolver; almost the length of her entire forearm and easily twice as heavy with two linked barrels, to boot. Two revolving chambers were built one on top of another and neither appeared to be able to house any rounds.
"It's an El-powered revolver," Rose whispered, "I've only seen a few of these in existence. Though I've never seen one with two chambers… much less two linked barrels."
Eve nodded, looking to Remy and Moby who seemed to be keeping a great distance away from each other. She held up the revolver. "Can either one of you help create something for this?"
"What are you doing?" Rose asked, watching as Remy volunteered and flew to scan the weapon's specifics. It flew in behind her mistress and opened a portal, causing data to flow out into a temporary holster resting at Eve's lower back.
The Nasod holstered the weapon before turning to Rose, "I may need it."
"...Why? Don't you have all those fancy weapons that you can create?"
Eve shook her head and was about to explain when Ralek's voice caught their attention. He was heard shouting at the far end of one of the branching paths. "And good riddance! Damn thief nearly took out all of my drones… shit!"
"C'mon. We'll talk about this later," Rose said, motioning Eve to follow her down another path, "Let's not stick around and wait for him to find you missing."
"So that explains why you were tied up," Rose muttered, totally engrossed in Eve's recollection of earlier that evening. They sat at a corner booth of a rather empty bar still within the scrap district. Only a few patrons were present at this time and a Nasod barmaid-a maid unit stripped down to their bare metallic frame-was doing her rounds among the other tables. In front of the blonde was a half-empty glass of whiskey.
"And you can't use any of your weapons at all?" Rose pressed further.
Eve shook her head, "I can use only a fraction of my arsenal at my state. My ranged capabilities are limited even further due to the corrupted targeting system. This revolver may be the only option I have when engaging threats at medium and long range."
"That's rough," Rose sighed, leaning back and sipping on her glass, "I wish I knew enough about coding to help you but… I'm more of a mechanical engineer than a programmer."
"Which is why I needed to find this Nasod Expert in the first place," Eve sighed as well, "Though I'm not so sure it's even worth my time anymore."
"What makes you say that?"
"In Ralek's shop, I noticed several awards hung on a shelf naming him the champion of the Proving Ground all up until last year. He was the one I was looking for… but, seeing as how he treated me..."
"That doesn't seem like a good option." Rose agreed, "So what's your next move, then?"
Eve leaned forward, giving a half-hearted shrug, "With my only hope of fixing my problem no longer an option, I suppose all I can do is wait until the corruption has rendered me completely unable to function."
Rose frowned at this, "Hey, hold on. Don't give up just yet. There still may be another way."
"Rose, I'm a Nasod. We are superior to humanoids in many aspects. Where your kind is unpredictable and unable to grasp the full extent of your abilities, a Nasod knows the expanse of their strength. But, at the same time, it is one of our greatest flaws: the law of absolutes. There is no 'maybe'. There is no 'might'. We know our limitations, and if something is beyond what we can do, then there is no way we can overcome it. No amount of will or reckless abandon can change the fact that there's nothing I can do to stop my corruption."
"And that's why you hang around us humans, is it not?" Rose grinned.
Eve looked up at the blonde, tilting her head in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"You know your limitations. But like you said, we are unpredictable. We don't know how far we can go and that pushes us to explore those limits. Maybe… there's something unexpected I can do to help you fix your code," Rose reached into her pack and began digging for something.
"You already told me you didn't know much about programming. How could you possib-"
Rose extracted a poster from her pack, setting it on the table for Eve to see. It featured a purple background and a mock up of some kind of Nasod war machine built in the likeness of a scorpion.
"Only the greatest in Nasod Ingenuity! Money reward for best built machines! Register at participating pubs!"
"Look! I was going to show you this flyer that I found before Moby came searching for me! The expo is tomorrow so we don't have a lot of time… But if we enter you into the expo, we can meet-"
Eve shook her head, "I already told you: Ralek was the person I was looking for."
"Was he, though?" Rose grinned, "You said he was the champion all until last year. If they hold this tournament yearly… then that means someone must have beaten him at the last expo."
Eve stared at the poster, recalling the dates and pieced Rose's reasoning together bit by bit in her head. It was only a couple months ago when the ponggoes informed her of this "Nasod Expert". If that was the case, then that meant…
Eve's eyes widened.
"So am I entering you in this expo, or what?" Rose smiled.
"Y...yes. That would be an exceptional idea."
The blonde brushed her fringe away from her eyes, "Glad I could help."
"Though… I've been curious about something."
"What's that, Eve?"
"Why are you helping me?"
"Is it wrong for me to help you?"
"It is for you," Eve replied, "You and I exchanged very little dialogue up until now. Even during our voyage to Sander, I noticed you took extra effort to avoid interacting with me."
"Ah," Rose shrugged, "I don't like owing people."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I don't like being indebted to others. I try to pay back my favors when I can."
"What did I do for you?"
"What? You forgot already?" Rose looked at Eve, a slightly hurt expression crossing the blonde's face, "You saved my life back in Garpai. I don't know. I guess it might just be another normal day for you, but there are only a handful of people I can name that'd go out of their way to take care of me. And I learned that taking them for granted is the biggest mistake I can make…
"Just think of this as a thank you. I know, it's odd, since I've avoided speaking to you up until recently, but I'd rather help you out than watch you suffer through this alone. It's not how I was raised… and I know I'd be disappointing a certain someone if I ignored a person in need."
The Nasod tilted her head, leaning forward on the table, "Why were you avoiding contact with me?"
The young markswoman's lips pursed as she tried to find the proper explanation.
"I wasn't exactly a fan of you back in my timeline."
"Oh?"
Rose scratched the back of her head, grimacing as she recalled the unpleasant memories of her past, "I'll tell you some other time. Maybe over a drink after all of this is over. You do drink, don't you?"
"Water, when necessary, yes. My digestive systems are more efficient when compared to other humanoids."
"No, I mean, like, alcohol."
"I don't see a reason to. Water is significantly more hydrating-"
"I feel like it's my duty to share a drink with you then," Rose said, sliding the nearly empty glass of whiskey towards Eve.
The Nasod eyed the chestnut-colored liquid, swirls of melted ice floated at its surface. "Why?"
"Because we're celebrating our victory! We're entering you in a tech expo. You are literally the embodiment of the latest in Nasod tech. This will be a shoe-in. And when you win, you can meet any of the runner-ups and get the help you need!"
"I… suppose you're right," Eve muttered, picking up the glass.
Rose nodded at her to drink and Eve did so. Immediately, Eve felt like the cold burn of alcohol hitting the back of her throat. She gagged, setting the glass down as Rose looked on at her smiling.
"Takes a bit to get used to. At least that's what Roger taught me."
"Who?" Eve coughed.
"No one," Rose sighed, shaking her head.
"This tastes terrible… How do you humans…" Eve held a hand over her mouth, her eyes were starting to water as the liquid burned its way down to her stomach.
Eve brought up a panel but was immediately bombarded with a multitude of warnings saying her taste regulators were corrupted. Eve huffed, shutting the program down as well before sitting to let the taste fade on its own.
"What was that program for?"
"My taste sensors. It's a program that regulates how much flavor I experience."
"So, what… does it make things taste better to you?"
"It can. But I use it to remove irrelevant flavors. It's corrupted, now, though… So unfortunately I must deal with this taste in my mouth until it goes away."
"I feel like you're missing out on a lot by using that program to begin with."
"The focus is intake. Taste has little to do with nutritional value."
"Right… right," Rose nodded, half-heartedly, "So we going to sign you up now, or what?"
"Yes. Where do we register?"
"Right at this bar! It's why I chose it. But… I feel like for this to work, I'm going to need you to do a little acting for me."
"Acting? What do you mean?"
"Let me be your owner," Rose suggested, getting a less-enthused-than-usual stare from Eve. "Relax. We're pretending, remember?"
Eve didn't like the suggestion, and it was obvious in her hesitancy. "Is this all really necessary?"
"Need I remind you of Ralek? If you want to get through this as quickly, and with as little incident as possible, you need an owner. I'll pretend to be your owner, and you pretend to work under my command. It makes things a lot more streamlined, and less people are inclined to turn you into scrap metal."
Eve pinched the bridge of her nose, annoyed with the human's logic, "Fine."
"I'll be the best owner you've ever had," Rose grinned.
Eve squinted at the blonde, noting the way Rose fidgeted as the Nasod looked into her electric blue eyes. "Don't push your luck."
"I'm joking! Just trying to get you into your role."
Eve flapped her arms outward as she waited for something to happen. "So what do I do, then?"
"Well, the way you talk is going to be a problem."
"What significance does my speech pattern play?"
"You look, walk, and talk like any other humanoid. Even the most advanced machines in this district can't hold a candle to you. My presence as your 'owner' can only do so much."
Eve nodded, remembering the way she saw the gardening unit being robbed when she first arrived at the scrap district.
Rose continued, "The moment people realize you're a Nasod and not a human, it only takes one idiot to make the first move. Hearing you speak and seeing you move so fluidly is only goading those people to do just that. Can you, maybe, tone it down a bit? Act more… robotic?"
"Like?"
"Walk like a robot?" Rose said, mimicking the stilted movements of a machine.
"No," Eve replied flatly.
"That's a stupid idea," Zero agreed.
"Talk like one then?" Rose suggested, face flustered after being called out.
"What do you mean talk like one?"
"I don't know… like, beeping or booping whenever you speak?"
"No," she stated flatly once more, "I'll speak how I want."
"Fine," Rose muttered, "Don't say I didn't warn you, though. You're only making things more difficult for yourself in the long run." Rose huffed. "But at least try to act more… robotic." She stood and motioned for Eve to follow her.
"I'll try."
"Who do I see about entering this expo?" the blonde asked, approaching the bar. She slammed the advertisement down on the counter.
"Me," the bartender replied, looking Eve up and down. He was a rather rotund male with greasy matted hair and a thinly trimmed beard that enclosed around his neck like a helmet strap. He threw the Nasod a rather peculiar smirk as they approached that made Eve want to look away. Remembering her job, she fought the urge and simply stared straight ahead, standing as rigidly as possible.
"Any specific requirements for participating?"
"Sure," the bartender said, not taking his eyes off Eve, "As long as there's a bit of Nasod tech built into your machine, you're fine to go. Other than that, it's free game."
"Ah, good. So she can apply, then?" Rose motioned at Eve.
"That's Nasod tech on her, right?" he pointed out the most obvious: the blue jewel on her head and the cones on her ears.
"Sure is. She's a full fledged Nasod."
"Really? I coulda sworn she was a real person," the bartender whistled, "Where'd you find the parts to build this beauty?" He reached over the counter to get a feel of the Nasod's hair. Eve was nearly about to pull away, but Rose covered for her, slapping the man's hand and wagged a finger at him.
"Don't touch the merch. She's newly built and no, I won't disclose my sources. Now, are you going to enter me in or what?"
"To… wait the Proving Grounds? You're entering the Proving Grounds with that thing?"
"Yeah."
The bartender raised a brow, clear uncertainty written all over his face as he dug under the counter and pulled out the paperwork. "I don't think that'd be a good idea considering how fragile it looks."
"She's a lot tougher than she seems."
"Oh, I wouldn't doubt it," the bartender said, giving Eve another once over, "You could pass 'her' off at the Tailfeather as an 'exotic' good. Sure to make decent money there."
Rose's brow furrowed at the suggestion but then widened as she realized what he was suggesting. "I don't want to put her there. I want her on the Proving Grounds."
"What's the Tailfeather?" Eve asked Rose. She caught the bartender staring perplexedly at her. Rose raised a hand to Eve, giving her a brief intense glance before motioning at the bartender with her eyes. Eve blinked before realizing she might have stepped out of line and immediately moved to rectify the situation.
Eve sighed, "Beep."
"Ah, yeah. She's definitely a machine," the bartender laughed.
Satisfied, Rose attempted to keep the conversation on track, "Are you gonna sign me up or what?"
"In all honesty, ma'am, your little Nasod here doesn't look like she'd last in the Proving Grounds, considering the opposition she'll be up against."
"W...what? It's a tech expo! What do you mean 'considering the opposition'?"
"Well, we have a few returning competitors from last year. Among the line-up, you have the most recent champ… we also got Ralek attempting to reclaim his title-"
"Ralek!" Eve gasped. Rose and the bartender turned to the Nasod after her sudden outburst. "Boop."
Rose shushed her and covered Eve's mouth, before giving the man a nervous smile.
To think Eve would ever see such a horrible human being again. Yet, as she thought about it more, it made sense: the awards lining Ralek's shelf, how he said he was working on something important, the mechanical claw he was welding together. This was for the expo. But the project he was working on appeared more focused on weaponry than on breaking new technological limits.
"Yes… Ralek," the bartender cleared his throat, "Three time champion of the Proving Grounds. After his mecha scorpion had been destroyed, he's out for blood. Specifically the current champ's blood."
"Wait," Rose turned to the bartender, "What do you mean destroyed?"
"Broken? Blown up? Vaporized? Reduced to an irreparable state? I don't know how else to describe something that don't work no more."
"What the hell is the Proving Grounds, anyways? It's just a tech expo, right?"
The bartender laughed, "Clearly you and your machine aren't up for the challenge. The Proving Grounds is a Nasod battle royale. Last one standing; where only the best built machines survive. Ralek was the undisputed champ in the last three we had. But he was completely destroyed by the current champ a year ago. After last year's slaughter he knows he has one hell of a mountain to climb. I don't expect him to pull any punches this year. Looking at your pretty little robot there, I doubt it'd last a full minute."
"Who's the champion?" Eve asked, "Beep."
"I'd tell you, but… he's like the wind, really. One moment he's here, just a regular guy entering the contest, then the next, his machine just obliterates anything that stands in its way. Before we even realized it, he's off with the prize money and the title, never to be heard from again. That is… until now."
"Sounds like an urban legend," Rose chuckled.
"Hey, ma'am, if you want to enter your machine into the firing line, that's not my problem. I'm just trying to warn you beforehand: you can't win."
Rose looked to Eve, noticing a peculiar gleam in the Nasod's golden eyes. It looked like… Eve was eager to prove this man wrong.
"You want to meet this champ, don't you? Think you're up for the challenge?" Rose asked.
In the back of the Nasod's mind, she knew her drones would be highly against her doing it. After the run in with Waldo and Ralek, she had already subjected her drones to more danger than she should have. She can only imagine how angry Moby would be if he learned what she would be doing once more. She couldn't involve them. This was something she was going to try and handle herself. She just needed to find out who the champion was, anyways. She didn't even have to win. All she had to do was lay low.
"Boop."
"Sign us up," Rose said to the bartender.
"Alright. Alias?"
"Rose."
"And your machine?"
"Uh…" Rose tapped her chin, "I didn't… think I'd need one for her. How about Eve?"
"Mmm…" the bartender scrunched his face in disapproval, "I mean, if you're going for cute then why not? But I was thinking something on the intimidating side."
"Intimidating, huh…" Rose muttered.
"Nemesis," Eve said. "Beep."