here's a longer chapter as a treat to my current active readers :) dont forget to review if you can, it really helps with motivation! i hope the story is interesting so far.

i also fixed the issue with the last posted chapters, i didn't realize that the text was all messed up this whole time :( ill definitely look out for that from now on.

"Ika, slow down, the crowd is getting thicker", 6Q was pushing her way through a severely overcrowded street. Ika had decided to not talk to her for the rest of the way to their destination, although he had gotten used to her monotone, business-like way of speaking, her actual personality was another story. Although it had only been 3 days since they met, he felt she could have at least opened to him a little more, his wishes however, were short lived.

"ah…right, sorry", Ika stopped mid-step allowing 6Q to catch up to him. "don't go running off, I had to send Pod out to find you, I don't want to attract more attention than we must."

of course, you wouldn't, I'm just a parcel to be delivered right? Ika's thoughts had become too much for him to contain at this point. "why don't you just drop the act ok? I'm tired of you treating me kindly and then seemingly hating me the next", 6Q's eyes widened, for a second she thought she saw a "Unknown damage received to vital core" warning flash before her, followed by a sudden shock within her. I've heard that before…

h-huh? What was that? "P-Pod commence a System check immediately", the little box beeped in agreement and connected itself to her wirelessly. The familiar monotone male voice found its way into her head

[system check commencing…

Proceeding with vital scans…check

Core system conditions: green

Mobility module conditions: green

Weapons systems conditions: green

ACCESS TO SYSTEM MODULE 4 DENIED

….

All systems green. Disconnecting.]

Denied access? system module 4? This was the first time she had seen that message pop up during maintenance or a checkup. The HUD inside of her blindfold slowly powered back on, showing a rather distraught Ika waving his hand in front of her, nudging at her with his hands to get a response. During checkups it was standard procedure to shut down sensory modules.

"h-hey, stop messing around." Ika had started to laugh nervously as 6Q suddenly stopped moving suddenly, after she had recoiled against his comment, she had commanded something to Pod and suddenly went stiff. Lifeless.

1 minute

10 minutes

20 minutes

Time kept ticking on, it had been a while now since 6Q stopped moving, long enough to attract the attention of civilians walking by. Some would stop and stare for a couple seconds before moving on, some would cover their mouths as they faced their way and gave each other secret messages.

"that's Eraser tech for ya' always breaking down in the most inconvenient places. Pieces of trash I tell ya'" an elderly man barked as he walked by.

"another one of those…robots, right? They're so scary, why are they even allowed in the city? What if it goes berserk or something…" whispered a silk dress clad woman to another nearby.

Ika had begun to become panicked, he hated being the center of attention, and now hundreds of people were staring right at him. He hurried and started waving in front of her face.

"6Q, please wake up! Please!".

"p….ple…..please!...6….Q…w…..up!"

[SYSTEM RESTORED….CHECK]

With a sudden gasp, 6Q dropped to the floor, her hands hitting the floor to protect her from falling on her face. "ah…Pod how long was I out for?". [23 minutes, 17 seconds] the floating box responded matter of factly. "I see…" she lifted herself up and removed her blindfold immediately after, revealing her beautiful set of lavender colored eyes.

"w-why did you take your blindfold off 6Q? what about the peop- "to his surprise, 6Q's eyes were full of tears. They streamed down her face like a waterfall. 6Q seemed completely oblivious to it however.

"what do you mean? It's raining isn't it? Why else.", her responses painted a completely different person compared to the one who was standing in front him. 6Q's face was in pain, her cheeks had reddened as if she was sick, her eyes started to twitch, trying to make sense of the water emanating from them.

Ika simply looked down and offered her his hand.

" You're right. Its pouring." And with that, they continued walking to their destination. Ika stopped himself from looking at her as much as he could. He hated seeing people in pain. Specially those who don't even know they're breaking down without knowing it.

The walk down to HQ was a quiet one, the only sound between the two consisted of the wind and leaves rustling around them. Their travels so far had been nearly too crazy to be true. Who would have expected a boy, much less a boy missing an arm, to be recruited by a goddess-looking android? Life sure was mysterious sometimes. Ika was a quiet boy after all, he didn't like attention, and now he was being forced to walk beside a drop-dead gorgeous girl in the middle of the street. A street which was filled with many rich looking individuals and high-class maidens.

Although their time together had been short, he felt somewhat attached to the monotone white-haired woman escorting him, he knew that she didn't really have a choice in the matter, and at times it hurt his heart to know that 6Q would have been perfectly fine if she had never met him in the forest. She would have continued her service, maybe participated in a couple of skirmishes. And if she was unlucky enough, killed people in war. She was sweet in her own right, and he knew that, she had a tendency to stare at children whenever they passed by rural villages on their way to the train station before heading to Yhorna. She always looked like she was staring at stars above, the hidden fascination only made itself known when a child would fall or cry out in pain, which made 6Q immediately rush out to its aid, she was fast enough that sometimes she would catch them before they hit the ground, only to be rewarded by a smile.

A smile…he'd never seen her genuinely smile, apart from the time when they first met, but during that time she felt different, like he had met someone else entirely and that person had been replaced somewhere along their travels. Regardless, he could tell she was still a sweet girl at her core, and he liked that about her.

[estimated time until arrival to HQ: 7 minutes. Please prepare appropriate paperwork if any.]

The silence between them was finally broken when 6Q's soft silk-like voice broke Ika out of his thoughtful trance. "we're almost there, it's best if you stop holding my hand now, I don't want you to get in trouble with the gate guards.". Ika stopped as if time had frozen around him and looked down immediately at their hands which laid entwined together. Red wouldn't be a dark enough color to describe his face at the sudden realization, how could he have forgotten? After 6Q's breakdown he had taken her hand into his to try to make her feel better. And apparently, his thoughts had been enough to make him forget all about this gesture.

Ika let her hand go without a second thought, "r-right sorry I completely…forgot about that", although the situation had grown a little awkward, deep inside he was happy that he had gotten to hold her hand in such a caring manner, she deserved It after all.

She had told him many stories during their travel to the train station, stories of her past actions, past contracts, near death experiences and so on. But he remembered a very specific one the most. She called it the "Black Rose incident". Although she was willing to tell the story, it was obvious that she had redacted a lot of parts from it.

"the black rose contract was one of my last assignments, it happened around 6 years ago, in a small mountain village called Mira, its population was around 2000 people, it was rather small but the people were good and kind" 6Q's face had been covered by her hood, from where he was sitting he could only see her nose and her lips, but her eyes remained hidden beneath the fabric. He hands were laid on her lap in a very lady like manner. She really was an image to behold, although he knew her face very well by now, it still amazed him how beautiful she was whenever she took off her robe, and specially when she took off her blindfold, she had admitted to him that her lavender eyes made her feel different, weird even, but to him they were the most majestic things he'd ever seen. He could never bring himself to admit it however.

"they really were…good people." Although her voice was always monotone, at that moment he could swear he heard a crack of sadness in between the gray of her voice. "what happened to them? Did you have to protect the village from a monster?". Monster, that's right, at the time she did have to protect them from a monster, except she had no way to, because the monster had been her the whole time.

"yes. But I failed, and the monster slaughtered everyone in the village and neighboring camps. After that I was told that my duties were done for the time being, and thus I was changed from a combat unit to a recon unit."

The rest of that night had been quiet, she never spoke another word until they got to Fyrion, the trading post where she had bought him clothes.

"we're here, please be in your best behavior and follow me closely, refrain from touching anything you don't have to.", 6Q had taken the lead once again when they came close to the HQ building, he had grown so used to walking behind her that he almost missed the sight of her back.

2 heavily armored guards soon walked over to them once they came close to the gates, Ika wasn't sure if they were human or not, the armor they were wearing looked far too heavy for any man or woman to handle, it also looked far too robotic to be considered standard issue. So, this had to be something else. The armor itself was separated into 3 different parts from what he could tell. The torso, legs, and arms. Each piece seemed tailored to the body of its wearer because it didn't sag at all, it was perfectly firm on their bodies, as if it had been glued there for future use.

"welcome back unit 6Q, we'll need to do your credential scans really quick if you don't mind.". 6Q simply nodded and gestured Pod to come forward. "thank you, Pod 115 connect to my network", the soldier's voice seemed tired yet assertive at the same time, he probably did this thousands of times already. Once Pod beeped indicating their link was successful it only took a few seconds for everything to be in order. "thank you, disconnect from the network Pod 115, as for you", he nodded towards 6Q and me. "you're free to go, welcome to the Hyperion station, main HQ of the erasers".