Aunt Hayate tells me the Cradle has engaged the Bureau in a space battle. I don't ask her how she knows but I don't question her. I have better things to do. I am sick of being useless. Fate-mama is out there, fighting. I cannot let the Cradle kill my other mama. So I have to help mama destroy the Cradle.

Aunt Hayate shows me the way to the lower decks. We hide our approach, but it seems she is too preoccupied with the battle to track our movement. The lower decks are mostly empty, only sparsely patrolled by quadruped robots with sickles for arms. They back away at the sight of me.

We make our way to a large chamber where the cooling control systems for the main AMF generator are situated. I try to make sense of the controls but to no avail. They don't respond to Hayate's touch at all. So I simply destroy them.

Punching the steel control box feels good, like punching the Cradle itself in the gut. I long for this sensation. Even with my hands bare, the metal tears and crumbles. It dawns on me how strong this body really is. I begin to rip out cables from the walls and the floor. I am dimly aware that the voltage in them would kill a regular person but my body shrugs it off.

Finally, I hear a deep rumble somewhere in the depths of the ship and the room shakes. I stop and look around myself. The chamber looks as if something exploded here. Aunt Hayate floats over the debris with an amused look on her face. I grin back at her.

Just then, another presence joins us.

"Just what do you think you are doing, silly girl?!" The familiar revolting voice inquires. Aunt Hayate quickly hides behind me again.

"Is that the proper way to address your king?" I glower at the figure in gold and purple.

"No," she replies after a pause. "I am sorry, Your Majesty. May I inquire what you hope to achieve by your current actions?"

"Why, I merely destroyed your AMF generators."

"You make my task of defending you ever more difficult, Your Majesty," the Cradle says sadly.

I don't buy that but before I can reply, a wave of searing heat washes over the entire room sending me flying into the metal wall.