Robots & Androids: So basically normal NLA. Wolf and Bozé have a chat.

All the good things belong to Monolithsoft.

A rookie Harrier popped his head into the tent. "Your brother's here." Bozé didn't move out of sukhasana, only raising his eyes to correct the intruder. The young face had already disappeared. The entrance darkened and Wolf stepped into the space, neatly lowering the flap and tying it shut. "Guess he thought we were related because of our hair." Wolf rubbed his naked scalp and smiled ruefully.

"Do you want a refresher course on mission preparations?" Bozé asked, not returning the smile. He knew that they had several hours until the departure time.

Wolf dropped the false familiarity. "I need to ask a question."

Bozé was glad to get to the heart of the matter without extra conversation. He had hoped to spend at least a full hour in meditation, perfecting the simplest pose, mastering his breathing, examining his mental strengths and concerns. Wolf was the source of most of the latter. Bozé knew if their team was to succeed, Bozé had to accept the weaknesses of the rest of the party, predict them, craft a way to guide the others towards learning and improvement. He wasn't sure what to do with a veteran soldier who hadn't so much strayed from the path as willfully turned away in order to march backwards from the goal.

"Can I rely on you?" Wolf asked.

"Of course," Bozé said smoothly.

"I need you to think about it, Bozé. You don't like my new position, working with our allies. You don't like my family. You don't like who they are. You don't much like that I have any family at all, but being xenos makes it unbearable."

"I never said that."

"You called me weak, you all but accused me of betraying BLADE," Wolf pressed.

"Playing nurse to dilettante fighters? Playing literal nurse to ... children?" Wolf realized how close he had been to calling Wolf's spawn something worse. "Yes, if want my opinion, you're wasting your skills. An unused weapon is worthless."

Wolf grinned, this time without friendship. "They make me stronger. I know what Duna would do for her children and for me. I've seen it. I know what I've done for them, and I'd do even more. Whatever makes me fight for NLA, they make me fight harder. The organics need to be protected in a way the rest of this artificial city doesn't."

"We don't need vulnerabilities like that in NLA. We are at war."

"Agreed. We're tools to serve, but who do we serve? I know my answer now, and it's a lot more real than some perfect future." Wolf ran his hand along the top of his smooth skull again. "Do me a favor. Don't support me if it gets rough. Focus on Frye's brother. Hell, focus on Frye. I'll do my best for all three of you, but if I can't count on you, I'll feel better writing you off from the start. Agreed?"

"That isn't necessary."

"I'll take that as a yes. I'll do my best to bring you back to your students." Wolf turned to leave, then looked back at Bozé. "My bad, your student. You only have the one left, don't you?"

Bozé needed every free minute before the mission start to regain harmony.

a/n: Bad Wolf, no cookie for you. No cookie for Bozé either.

Next up: Cleaning Crew.