Under Dead Light

by Blackout42

Displaced to the forge world of Rubicon III, Worker and Disassembly Drones alike find strife, war, and suffering beyond their limited imagination. As well as a Raven who sold her name, who hides her pain and rage behind a number. (Sequel to Obligation To Keep) WARNING: Rated M for extremely graphic violence and suggestive themes. Cover art by Waker608.

10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Hound and Strays

Honor or Justice?

It wasn't a question. She knew this, because it was laughing at her.

Honor or Justice?

She sneered at the thing, smiling at her with far too many eyes in it's teeth. Go fuck yourself. She answered.

You choose Honor, but this is Justice.

The memory that played was not her own, but she knew who's it was all the same. She was standing on warm glass plains, the Fires of Ibis still licking the atmosphere of a freshly ashen world. Her sword felt light in her hand, as she stood at the edge of a valley, a deep crack in the glass.

This was Rubicon. 3125.

"For the crimes committed against man, machine, and reality, the Sol Alliance declares all born of Laconian name, condemned." The voice she knew well decreed. "Guilty and innocent, masters and slaves, all the same."

The last vestiges of the once grand Laconian Imperium sat on their knees with arms bound behind their back, at the edge of the great glass chasm. She felt herself stride forward eagerly, placing her hand on the very first man in the line.

"Let justice be done, on Rubiconian glass."

She could feel the euphoria rush through her as she plunged her blade through the back of him that was most guilty. The man. The King. The would-be God Emperor of the Laconian Imperium.

Duarte.

He who had started this war and shattered the cosmos, who had wasted so many, many lives with his path of conquest. Broken worlds and blackened stars and billions dead for nothing but his ambition.

The blade burst from his chest, and he screamed as all his dreams ended here and now. She felt the blade twist in her hand, drawing out his agony as long as she could, until, finally, she pulled it out, and kicked him into the chasm. Cast into darkness, forgotten and disgraced. A fitting end to the would-be God.

Let justice be done, on Rubiconian glass.

But she was not finished. With blade in hand she stalked her prey, sitting helplessly at her feet, and grasped them too. Plunging her blade through their backs, she stained the black glass red, and slowly but surely filled the chasm with the damned. Old and young, guilty and innocent, master and slave. All the same.

Condemned for the sins of their masters, those…little machines…just like the ones she had fought so hard to save, were cast into the abyss with the same cruelty and barbarity. So decreed the voice of Sol.

Let justice be done, on Rubiconian glass.

This was not her memory, but she knew who's it was all the same.

Honor or Justice? It laughed at her.

Let justice be done, on Rubiconian glass.

Honor or Justice…Raven?

---

Grid 073 - Independent Mercenary Hangars – Central Belius / Thursday, Tiberius 22nd, 3175

"Raven? Raven, there's a message for you. Wake up. Wake-Ahhhh!" V screamed as 621 pointed a gun directly at her face.

"…" 621 regarded the little machine with rage and grief and confusion, her eyes unwavering as she glared daggers. This thing that looked so much like…that reminded her of…

That represented that choice she actively avoided thinking about. Honor or Justice? As much as she hated it…it was right. Honor demanded she protect her…

Justice demanded she cut it down where it stood.

621 actively avoided making that decision. She reached up towards her neck and pressed those two buttons that would turn off her emotions. At least for a few hours anyway.

She holstered her handgun, and rolled herself into a sitting position.

"Uh…you…good?" V asked hesitantly.

"…" 621 glared at her quietly. Looking down, she hissed sharply, then stood from her cot.

The hangar was a hundred-meter-long hollow tube, thirty-meters tall, and filled with exposed conduit, structural supports, and random mechanisms both mechanical and electrical in their purpose. Everything about the hangar was designed to support the Armored Core standing in the very center on a tracked platform. It was modestly well lit with two dozen floodlights centered on the AC, leaving plenty of shadows, and long beams of faint light scattered from the dust and steam in the air. Upon entering from the right side, the only way to walk was forward, along a four-meter-wide platform fifty meters long, that ended with a control console facing the AC. A step up from this platform was a wide bridge that extended to centerline of the hangar, on the left side of the AC, at the end of which sat a haphazard variety of equipment piled up with power cables strung across the platform and plugged into the floor.

This had been where the three androids had slept, close together, and able to stare up directly at the AC.

The end of this stepped-up platform was not attached to the rest, sitting on tracks that would slide them away from the AC to it's left. There was a set of stairs on this section that led up to a control center, a box room overlooking the AC two-meters wide and four meters across.

This had been where 621 had been sleeping, in the only pseudo-privacy other than the AC's cockpit.

Above this structure was another platform, that ran the length of the hangar, sitting behind a track for a heavy lift crane stretched across the hanger over the AC, strong enough to lift the whole machine up.

Sitting near the ground on the left side of the AC were customizable vertical weapon racks, able to serve as ammo loaders or capacitor chargers, and from which rudimentary maintenance could be performed on the weapons. They were currently loaded with three weapons. A large shotgun, a two-barreled heavy mortar, and a laser blade.

Lastly in the hangar, there were three more platforms. Two retractable platforms ran across the width of the hangar at each large door. And one more platform ran the length of the hangar, near the top and behind the AC, near the other track for the large crane.

Fully awake now, 621 ushered V out of the shack she was sleeping in, and went over to the console, checking the incoming call.

"Good morning, 621." Handler Walter called calmly and quietly. "I take it the auction went well?"

"Mmm…" 621 hummed. "Needed some help with the last one. I owe V. IV Rusty a drink."

"Fair enough." Handler Walter noted. "I do have some work for you. But I suspect you'll want to break in your newly acquired assets first, correct?"

"Yes."

"How can I help?" Handler Walter offered.

621 leaned in close. "I want you to give us the shittiest jobs, Handler Walter. Really scrape the barrel for the lowest paying and most unwanted work here in this Grid. I need to break their preconceptions of what life is like on this rock. I need to see what they can do."

"I'll do what I can."

"One more thing." 621 added. "I need to see them kill. Especially something they might regret."

. . .

"Stray Squad!" 621 shouted down at the three drones.

"Uh! Yes!?" Uzi shouted back while N and V froze up.

621 descended the stairs, staring at them with imperceivable emotions. "My Handler wants a word with you. Go on, I'm going to ready our kit for today."

With that said, the three androids went up the stairs and into the small shack, seeing the console open with a connection online.

The man on the line was much older looking, with grey hair and a thin beard that needed to be trimmed again sooner than later. A scar ran across his face, cutting across his nose. He was seated in a small, dark room, with a metal cane by his side. He stared at them with a quiet, cold, defeated yet intense gaze, resting on his elbows with hands clasped, covering his mouth.

"So, you must be Stray Squad." He greeted, with a surprising amount of gruff strength in his voice. "My name is Handler Walter."

"So…you're the guy that owns Raven?" N asked.

"Yes."

"How did that happen? How did she come to be your slave?" Uzi wondered.

"She sold herself to me."

"Wait…she sold herself into slavery?!" V flinched in shock.

"Yes Stray One, she did." Handler Walter explained. "Our arrangement predates your arrival to Rubicon. I've had her on ice since she sold herself to me…a long time ago. Now, she's serving my interest down there, and I assist where I can as her Operator. As her property, we'll be working together rather closely. I expect you to follow her orders exactly, and to try and follow mine as well."

"Okay…great." Uzi itched at her neck, still not used to the control collar choking her. It was a good thing she didn't have lungs, otherwise she might not be able to breath.

"There's another reason I asked to speak to you." Handler Walter admitted, as he leaned in close to the camera. "Keep an eye on 621 for me."

"What do you mean?" N questioned.

"621's emotional state can be…unpredictable at times. Additionally…she is my only asset left. I cannot afford to lose her." Handler Walter said sadly. "So do everything you can to support her. Especially you, Stray One."

"Wait…? Me?" V asked in surprise.

"Mmm." Handler Walter hummed, but did not explain. "Now, today you'll be doing a handful of easy jobs. Just stuff to help acclimate you to Rubicon. I understand that you've been there nearly a month, but you've only really explored the wastelands. The Grid sectors will be a wholly different experience."

"Okay, Mr. Walter Sir!" N nodded.

"Mmm." Handler Walter hummed, and cut the line.

The drones then went back downstairs and caught 621 arming herself up. She placed a .45 caliber Glock 90 on her hip, a twelve-gauge Mossberg 590 shotgun on her back, as well a long fire axe, and several long combat knives.

"Strays! Here!" 621 called out, her three Strays coming over to her. "Now, some bits of my kit you should know. Hand Terminal and a spare that serves as a radio, along with a few other devices. I've got a medkit with basic field supplies. My weapons you should know, and these little toys." She pointed to a line of unusual grenades. "Smart Grenades. Saves a lot of hassle carrying multiple devices by just having one item you can twist and throw. They have multiple settings for just about anything you could ever want. Smoke, flare, flash, concussion, plasma, fragmentation, high explosive, thermobaric, bounce, thermite, incendiary, EMP. Hell if you're in a real pinch you can set it to magnetic and it turns into a shaped charge with anti-tank capabilities."

"Okay, that's cool." Uzi nodded.

"Hey, when can we use our weapons?" V questioned.

"When the situation calls for it. But for today's work, I want you running without your little mini-arsenal." 621 declared. "Also, you should change." She pointed to three sets of plain, dark coats and accompanying plain caps with a forward brim.

"Oh? Uh…? Why?" N questioned hesitantly.

"We'll be doing dirty work today. Didn't think you want to get your clothes all messy with what we have planned."

"Yeah…okay." Uzi nodded, grabbing her set, that she could tell because it was smaller, and walked back towards the stairs.

"Where are you going, Stray Three?" 621 accused.

"Oh…I was gonna change?" Uzi pointed up the stairs.

"Here is good enough." 621 argued.

"Ah…but…?" Uzi complained.

"You don't have genitals, Stray Three. Deal with it." 621 ordered.

"…" Uzi shivered in embarrassment at being exposed like that, even if there wasn't really anything to hide.

"Hang on." V spoke up. "N, go change in the corner." She demanded.

"Okay." N agreed nonchalantly.

"Hey~" V said more sweetly to Uzi. "I know it's different. You're probably used to having your own room, right? I used to be…vulnerable, like you. But I've been living in a squad for a while, I've gotten used to it. Besides, she's right, we're machines. That embarrassment you're feeling is just an artefact of an overly complete personality core filled with redundant programs."

"O-Okay." Uzi reluctantly agreed. In short order, the three of them had changed. V was actually more covered up by the coat than she was in her usual outfit.

621 was waiting by the exit.

"You ready? Cause we already have a job." 621 announced.

---

Investigate a Murder – Local Authorities / Reward 200 COAM

"Investigate a murder in a flophouse in level 68." Handler Walter ordered. "Confuse the hell out of Stray Squad while you're at it."

"Thank you, Handler Walter." 621 said a little too excitedly. "That's a low-income housing district. Perfect for your first job."

"R-Right…" Uzi nodded uncertainly.

The elevator ride down from the relatively quiet and unoccupied mercenary level down to a residential level took several minutes in a rickety and unstable vehicle the drones were certain was going to fall out from under them.

The "residential" sector was more of a poorly lit shanty town that ran the length of a particularly wide abandoned conduit tunnel, with hastily and haphazardly constructed buildings filling out the tunnel and reducing foot traffic in a fifty-meter-wide area down to about two-to-three meters of twisting, winding maze of streets made out of grimy and rotting wood. It was one advantage that Rubicon had over the Earth when it had been under The League; they still had access to wood.

Further adding to the claustrophobic feeling of this area, was the fact that this multi-kilometer long tunnel that wrapped around part of the interior was only one of a thousand such tunnels spread out through the length of the megapillar and the industrial platforms above; and this one sector alone was obviously filled with thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people.

"Wow…okay…I didn't expect this many people." N looked around in surprise. There was a constant stream of foot traffic moving by them, squeezing by inches away. Close enough they might have smelled the sweat and grime on their bodies if they had had noses.

"Yep. Welcome to Rubicon." 621 told them. "Most of the people on this planet live inside of the megastructures like this. I mean…it's just safer. No room for some corporation to plow a Muscles Tracer through and clear out the place. No threat from anything less than a gigaton bomb directly against the pillar to make them worry. Each level is it's own city, where everyone knows each other and everything is recycled. You know there are people in these pillars who will live their entire lives without ever seeing the surface or the sky?" 621 smiled. "It reminds me of the Belt."

Uzi, V, and N noticed the dark and contempt filled looks from the residents cast towards their direction. The long scars of Laconian oppression still on their minds. Still, true to 621's word, their mark as the Strays of a Hound offered some protection, and sweet, blissful silence.

Their destination was a slightly better-looking building among the shanty town. Soft, red-pink lighting made it look enticing, warm and welcoming. There was an older but pretty woman at the front desk.

"I'm here to see Gia, ma'am. About an incident this morning?" 621 asked politely.

The woman nodded and smiled. "First door on the right."

Nothing could prepare the three androids for what was in that room.

Gia was a tall woman, with long dark hair flowing down the left side of her face. She had dark eye liner under her eyes, giving her a noble, dignified look. She was wearing little; black skimpy lingerie that left little to the imagination. She was a prostitute.

She sat anxiously at the edge of her bed away from the door. Legs crossed as she fidgeted with her hands. She looked up in terrible surprise, to see a Hound at her door.

621 performed what looked like a curtsy, but not at all. Her hands started near her chest, with two fingers on each hand pointed forward in a cross, then spread wide to her waist level with her palms flat out pointed down, like she was steading herself in waist deep water with her hands pointed forward. Then she brought her hands back in front of her, just above her stomach, one over the other with palms up as if she was offering something. The motion calmed Gia, and she nodded eagerly.

Next to Gia, was her previous customer, Bomie. He was an exceptionally tall and skinny man, with long arms that stretched almost to his knees. His head had been shaved and dark hair was just barely growing in. He had many tattoos on his back and face, with the most prominent being the angular, straight tattoo at his neck, looking like the connectors for a space suit, where the helmet would attach.

Bomie was dead. Laid out across Gia's bed in an extremely undignified fashion, his exposed ass up and nearly pointed at the door. His neck and face had been slashed open, bleeding over the side of the bed, and onto the floor.

"Just tell me what happened." 621 requested calmly as she sat right in front of Gia. "Take your time."

Barely getting over the shock of seeing the dead, naked man, Uzi, V, and N paid close attention to Gia, to understand what she had to say about this unfortunate circumstance.

"Den ta desh lik bodzha." Gia emphasized quickly. "Ere imbobo ta desh ubicha." She said fast, her fear evident. "Imalowda…ta ando wameku, unte ta ando shetexe." She shivered, her hands moving as she spoke.

621 nodded sadly. "So da Bomie, uh, na ta vedi imalowada ta ando kom?" She summarized. "Forgotten arm, keya?"

"Forgotten arm, ya." Gia nodded in agreement. She held up her right hand as a fist, touched her wrist twice with two fingers from her left hand, then held up two fingers on her right hand before she put it down.

"…" There was absolutely nothing that Uzi, V, and N understood about that exchange. They had been programmed to understand most earth languages, and while there were certain words they could understand, their usage and the sentence structure left them baffled. They were clearly in far over their heads.

But 621 understood everything.

"If any of these guys come 'round again, then showxa, to pochuye ke?" She gently cupped Gia's cheek, and rubbed it softly.

"Mi pochuye." Gia nodded, smiling at 621.

621 stood, and approached her Strays. "Okay. I'm going to move the body. You guys get in there and clean out the blood."

"Wait…what? What?!" Uzi flinched. "What just happened?!"

"The job, I'll tell you later. Now hurry up." 621 pointed at the front desk. "Ask the lady for the cleaning supplies and get to work. This is a working woman here, she can't do her job with Bomie back there corpsifying the place."

"But aren't we supposed to wait for police or something?" N questioned, obviously confused.

"No, that's why they called us." 621 glared as if that had been obvious. "Now chop-chop, get to work."

. . .

Cleaning the blood of a murder victim from a prostitute's room had been the furthest thing from their minds as their first paying job on Rubicon. Fortunately, as machines, the blood that got on their hands could be easily washed off. What surprised Uzi the most was that V and N actually knew more about cleaning than she did, and guided her. The three of them quickly cleaned Gia's room, and changed the sheets for her.

V paused as they finished, her limbs aching with memory…of better times. She caught Gia staring at her, an appreciative smile on her pretty face.

"Taki, setara." Gia rubbed V's head affectionately. "Oyedeng." She waved.

"…" V smiled, her tail wagging eagerly behind her. She didn't know what the woman said, but it was uttered kindly and sweetly. She nodded back and waved, leaving.

They found 621 outside, having covered Bomie's body with a tarp.

"You finish cleaning up in there? Good." 621 nodded. "Grab a corner. We have to get him down to a recycler."

She'd been right that they were doing dirty work. The work no one wanted to do. The work that had to be done.

"So…what the heck was that back there?" Uzi questioned. "That language you guys spoke?"

"…'Heck'?" 621 glared at her. "Say fuck right now."

"I…err…I can't." Uzi admitted. "I have a censor active in my programing. I can't change it myself."

"…I'm going to have to fix that later." 621 shook her head. "That back there was what's known as Belter Creole. Way back when, around the twenty-second, twenty-third century, when people started emigrating from Earth and Mars out to worlds like Ceres and the rocks and moons beyond, a lot of people with very different backgrounds started spending a lot of time together in the black. So, they formed a simplified language as well as a sign language. Over time that developed into the culture of the Belt and what you saw and heard back there. Now up on the surface, or in military engagements, most people still use English to communicate, but in most civvie areas, and definitely the low-income areas, people are going to be using a lot of Creole."

"How come we don't know that language?" N asked. "We know most Earth languages, how come that one wasn't programmed into us?"

"Well, because you're Laconian." 621 explained. "See Laconia formed from rebel Martians, and Martians as a general rule don't like Belters. So…?" She shrugged. "Say? How much history do you guys know? Most of this shit should be common knowledge."

"Uh…we know that humans came from Earth…" Uzi recalled.

"Okay…what's the last big event that happened on Earth that you know about?" 621 grilled.

"…The um, hole in the ozone layer?" Uzi recalled.

"Ah fuck me." 621 laughed. "You guys are about twelve hundred years out of date on your history. I'm going to have a hell of a time catching you up."

"Well, learning sounds fun!" N cheered.

"…" 621 sighed.

"So…what did that lady back there say, anyway?" V wondered. "She seemed very excited and worried about something."

"Mmm." 621 nodded. "She said ah…It happened fast-like, like an explosion. Gangsters with knives came into the room, the exact word was 'bladeboys'. Then…then there was nothing but screaming and stabbing. I asked her if he didn't see it coming, surprised-like, and she confirmed."

"What was that phrase? 'Forgotten arm'?" Uzi asked.

"It means the thing you don't see coming."

"What was…that motion you did before you entered the room?" V asked. "It really calmed her down."

"Just a bit of Belter sign for 'stay calm.'" 621 answered, watching V try and copy the motions. "Don't…bother too much with it. Every time people look at you, they're just going to see Laconia."

"…" V deflated a bit, frowning.

"…" 621 sighed. "But if you very much want to…I can teach you some. Might help you a bit here and there."

V grinned widely, nodding hopefully.

They brought the body of Bomie to a collection point, a sort of temporary morgue near a loading dock.

"Okay, now what?" N questioned.

"Now, we wait for the next job." 621 dismissed.

"So…uh…what's going to happen to Bomie here?" V pointed.

"He's going to a recycler." 621 stated. "He's going to be mushroom food."

"Wait? What? But he's like, evidence." Uzi pointed out. "What about the murdering gangsters? The bladeboys?"

"It's not our problem." 621 dismissed. "The job was to see what happened, and we did. I even went out of our way to clean the place up for Gia. That's as far as our contract went. If those bladeboys become a problem, someone will put a hit out on them, and someone will collect."

"But isn't murder like…uh…illegal?" N questioned. "What about the law?"

"There's no laws on Rubicon." 621 corrected. "Only Hounds."

---

The next mission was less a mission, and more of an official request to take a break. Or, perhaps, to break the minds of the Strays further.

Eat Breakfast – Handler Walter / Reward Null

"Don't forget to eat breakfast, 621." Handler Walter advised. "You should get a local dish. Let Stray Squad see what the people of Rubicon eat."

"Hmm." Surprisingly, she agreed with him for once. She wandered over to a little outlet, and sat down on a stool at a bar. With just sign alone, she ordered a small bowl of food, and paid for it with a swipe of her hand terminal.

"So uh…what are we doing now?" Uzi wondered.

"Just getting a little bite to eat." 621 dismissed. She took a spoonful of…something. Something that was dark. Something that was moving.

"Wait…what are you eating?" N questioned.

621 lowered her bowl, allowing the three androids to see it more clearly. Inside was brown, lumpy masses with rounded ends, and writhing, wiggling forms. "Mealworms and mushrooms."

"Y-You're actually eating that?!" V squealed in disgust.

"Mmmhmm." 621 hummed with a mouthful of food, chewing it down and swallowing.

"Wait…those aren't the same kind of mushrooms that came from the recycler, right?!" Uzi recalled in horror.

"…" 621 stopped eating for a moment, staring at them. She smiled. She then took a particularly long worm between her fingers, it's confused writhing and struggling silenced as she slowly slurped it up.

"That's ah…that's just gross, Raven." N grimaced.

"This? This is nothing." 621 argued. "I used to hear stories how under The League, the Earth had been devastated to such totality, that people had no choice but to put corpses through an industrial process to get any kind of sustenance. The mushrooms are at least an entire species of separation from corpses, and the mealworms grow up eating Coral."

"Hey…what's that mean? Uzi noticed. "The League?"

"Mmm." 621 hummed. "I don't want to talk about that right now. Laconia was bad, but The League was arguably worse. At least their domain was limited to the Earth itself, and for a very brief period at that. Please…ask me another time."

"…" Uzi allowed her question to drop, while she waited on 621 to finish her meal.

---

"Say, Stray Three, do you have the date?" 621 asked with deceptive curiosity.

"Uh...? Yeah…?" Uzi could feel that this would be a trick question, but didn't know to what ends. "It's September 21st."

"On Earth, sure." 621 agreed. "But here on Rubicon, the date is Tiberius 22nd."

"Okay." N smiled in confusion. "How does that work?"

"So, here on Rubicon there are only nine months to a year. Two hundred and seventy-four days. Though the earth year is 3175, the current Rubiconian year is 799." 621 explained.

"Oh, neat." Uzi nodded along. "My home planet was like that. We had thirteen months to a year."

"Mmm. What planet was that?" 621 asked.

"Copper IX."

"Ah, okay. Way out at the ass-end of colonized space." 621 vaguely remembered her star charts. "Didn't even know that was a Laconian controlled world. Huh."

"I guess, yeah. I never knew about Laconia until I ended up on this world." Uzi noted. "Still not entirely sure what that means through…"

"Oh! Oh! I have a question!" N shouted eagerly. "What are the names of the months on this world? Since you said the month of Tiberius, that just has me thinking."

"Yeah. So the months on this world are July, Thermidor, August, Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, Vespa, Trajan, Hadrian, and Aurelius."

"…" V scowled in realization. "That's ten months."

"Ah…right." 621 snapped her fingers. "That requires a bit of explanation. The month of Thermidor is one day long, replaces July 31st, and starts on the thirteenth day. It's sort of a ah…a macabre holiday, celebrating the beginning of the downfall of The League back in 2450. It's on all the Sol aligned calendars, but not the Laconian ones, so you wouldn't have known about it."

"Why is it considered a macabre holiday?" N wondered.

"Well, it's also associated with massive terrorist attacks and other grand misfortune. Generally speaking, if something bad and interesting is going to happen, it's probably going to happen on that day."

Her Strays nodded in understanding of that information, though still a little confused how a single day could be relabeled as a whole month. Let alone what events might deserve such remembrance.

---

A call from her Handler got her attention. It had priority notification attached.

Diffuse the Hostage Situation – Local Authorities / Reward 500 COAM

"Got an urgent request for you, 621." Handler Walter reported with his usual sense of unurgency. "There's a hostage situation one level below you. Deal with it. With haste."

"Alright, let's get going." 621 rolled her head in expectation. Her Strays followed with trepid anticipation.

Taking the lift down to the next level, a process that still took nearly two minutes that they were sure it would fall out from under them again, they came out into a similar but slightly different industrial sized conduit filled with a shanty town. The area was at a different angle and there were different buildings set up, but it was still a similar kind of destitute residential area.

"Try and keep up, come on." 621 advised, rushing into the area, forcing her Strays to keep pace. V was the fastest and was right on her heels, with N and Uzi just behind.

"What's going on?" Uzi questioned.

"Some matter of slight urgency. Your orders are to standby and keep your eyes open. Watch and learn." 621 ordered, as they came upon a scene that had drawn a crowd.

There was a man holding a woman to his chest, a knife to her throat. He was screaming, she was screaming. The neighbors were screaming. In many languages they did not know. It was chaos.

The man twitched his head, sneering as he yelled madly. Unnaturally bright red eyes burning with rage and insanity as he sweated profusely, soaking wet through his dirty, drab clothes.

"…" 621 sighed, and knew what had happened. She unholstered her handgun quickly, and shot just once, right between the madman's eyes.

The enraged man dropped dead, falling away harmlessly from his hostage. The hostage screamed, turned around, and mourned his death, shouting distraught over his corpse.

"…" 621 holstered her weapon, and walked to her side. "Where is it?"

The woman pointed towards her shack, her home in this dank and dark megastructure, as she continued to wail and scream over the corpse. 621 turned towards the home, and stopped cold. There was a child, a little girl, watching her from the window.

"…" With a quiet hiss, 621 shook her head and powered through, and invaded their home. It was a small shack with barely any amenities. The home of people living at their bare minimum, on the worst world in all the Cosmos. There was only one thing she was looking for, smashed on the floor, bleeding bright, brilliant red.

A Coral canister. Pure, uncut Coral.

A quick search found an injector and a few more small vials. She confiscated them from the home. It was potent, dangerous stuff.

As 621 was leaving the home, she saw that little girl, crying into the woman's arms. The woman held her close, and whispered sweetly and sadly.

"Mi setara." She cooed quietly, calming the child. "Mi setara mali."

"…" 621 forced herself to look away, stepping through the slowly dispersing crowd, taking a seat on a crate. She rubbed her face with both hands.

"What…what the hell was that?" Uzi questioned, N and V behind her looking very distressed.

"…" 621 pressed the two buttons on her neck to dull her emotions. Especially since she had to deal with these little machines. "That…was a chronic Coral Tweaker being denied his next dose. And why you don't take the Coral raw."

"Okay…we don't really know anything about drugs." N pointed out. "Can you…explain that to us…please?"

"When it comes to Coral, it's always safer to cut it, that is, dilute it, with other drugs. So many of the more sane and more stable Dosers will cut their Coral with stuff like tobacco, cocaine, amphetamine, pixy, focus…really cutting Coral with anything makes it safer than taking it raw."

"That's…aren't some of those pretty dangerous drugs though?" V noted. "What's so bad about Coral that makes taking it alone so dangerous?"

"The effect of raw, uncut Coral on the human brain is…well, I've only heard about it, but it's an experience like no other in the 'verse." 621 closed her eyes. "An infinite euphoria of interconnectedness, and a soft choir of quiet, soothing voices, like ice sirens. A cold, crystalline dance of certainty and perpetual, resonating, calming wind. The effect is like no other…but also temporary. Eventually…all that matters, all that a raw Coral Tweaker can think about, is getting back to that high, that calm, euphoric peace…and will do anything to achieve it, even if that means hurting those most dear."

"If it's so dangerous…why do people still do it?" Uzi questioned with fascinated horror.

"Because for some of them, that high is the only peace they will ever find on Rubicon." 621 answered with hollow honesty.

---

Investigate Water Flow Irregularities – Local Authorities / Reward 2,000 COAM

"This is an urgent request, 621." Handler Walter advised. "Head down to a conduit line on level 62 and find the cause of inconsistent water flow. Stray Squad should see where Rubiconian priorities are."

"Right…let's go." 621 led her Strays towards that location, down several levels and into a vertical access shaft. It was a claustrophobic vertical tunnel filled with conduit, and they were each forced to stand very close together on a narrow lift platform as it lowered through the tunnel.

621 seemed to know what she was doing, tracing a pipe down the access tunnel, looking for something.

"So…what's so important about this job?" Uzi wondered.

"We're helping to secure the water grid. There's no leak apparent, so it probably means someone is stealing water somewhere on this line." 621 explained.

"Wait, people are stealing water?" V questioned. "Why?"

"Well, after Coral, it's the most valuable commodity on this planet. Sure there's a fair bit of water on this planet, but getting it where it needs to go inside these megastructures can be a bit of a hassle. Not only does it have to be clean, but it has to be brought up a great distance. Generally speaking, water is going to be more expensive near the top of the pillars than near the bottom or within underground sections. "

"And that's why we're getting paid a lot more with this mission?" N realized.

"You got it." 621 confirmed. "Oh, hey, check this out." She found a solid beige mass, that appeared as a mostly firm rounded brick affixed to the wall behind the water pipe, that easily fit into her palm.

"Oh, what's that?" Uzi asked.

"Just a little something in case you ever need just a few Coam in your pocket." 621 inspected the small mass, then put it in her mouth, and started eating it.

"Okay…seriously…what was that?" V questioned slightly disgusted.

"A wall shroom." 621 assured them. "Grows from water moisture. Minimally nutritious."

"And you just…ate it?" N seemed surprised.

"Mhm." 621 hummed. "Ah, here's what we are looking for." She pulled a small device off the pipe. "Ya see? This pipe was sabotaged, it's flow directed elsewhere."

"Where to?" Uzi watched carefully.

621 didn't immediately answer. She took out her hand terminal and dialed up her Handler.

"Handler Walter. I need a schematic trace for water line G62-803B."

"Checking…" Handler Walter answered, going through the schematics for the megastructure. "Looks like that leads down to a condenser grid on level 58, inside a warehouse."

"Copy that. I'm going to send this info back to the client. Keep an eye open to see if they offer a follow up contract." 621 cut the line, and sent the info. "Alright, let's get down there. Probably going to be some good work waiting for us."

"Work doing…what exactly?" N questioned.

621 smiled widely. "That's what you're going to find out."

---

Neutralize the Water Theft Operation – Local Authorities / Reward 2,000 COAM

"You were right on the mark, 621." Hander Walter reported. "You've been requested to clear out that operation. Proceed at your own discretion."

"Copy." 621 nodded. "Alright, stack up."

"…What?" V narrowed her eyes in confusion. N and Uzi didn't look certain about what she was saying either.

"…You guys never clear a room before?" 621 sneered in annoyance.

"Not with any kind of training, no…" V admitted, and N and Uzi shook their heads.

"…" 621 gave a long, annoyed sigh. "Right, no time to teach you. Watch what I do and stay behind me. If you see a weapon, shout it out and hit the deck. I'm not expecting any resistance but still be ready for anything. Just try and keep anyone from getting behind me. Copy?"

"Yeah…?" Her Strays answered reluctantly.

"What the fuck was that?" 621 hissed at them. "I'm giving you three an order. If you understand, answer with 'copy' or 'ma'am' or, if I'm in a good mood, 'aye aye'. And if you don't understand, answer as if you do anyway. Copy?" She stressed.

"Copy!" Stray Squad answered in slight distress.

With that taken care of, 621 stepped in front of the door to the warehouse, unholstered her handgun, and kicked in the door.

"Zakomang! Dun vedi!" 621 shouted as she very quickly checked the room, making sure there was no ambush waiting for her, and stepped through. Inside was a darkly lit, long narrow hallway, with a table set up with a large barrel of water, and around it were four teenagers, barely old enough to be called men. With the door busted down, they scrambled down the hall, with 621 hot on their heels.

V noticed one of the teens hide behind the barrel, a kid with long, dark curly hair. Remembering what 621 had told them, she confronted the teen. "Hey! Hey!" She shouted, hunched low as she tried to anticipate his moves. "Come on, just-"

The teen pushed the barrel over on her, knocking her over and spilling it's contents over her. While she was on the ground, the teen tried to run past, but N and Uzi blocked his path and 621 returned a moment later, pushing the older teenager into one of the walls roughly.

Knowing he wouldn't escape, the teen placed his hands against the wall, then glared back at 621 with hateful resentment. "Is that every-ting you got?!" He shouted, then started slamming his head against the wall.

"Hey-Hey!" 621 pushed him, trying to get him to stop.

"Doin ya work, Hound!" The teen shouted back, and slammed his head against the wall.

"Hey!" 621 grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms above his head, and spun him away from the wall, resting his hands down on the nearby table. "What are you punks doing, stealing up-tunnel water?" She then pulled his hands back, and slipped a tie-wrap restraint over his wrists.

The teen smiled back, snorted loudly, and spat on her shoes. "Free sample."

621 hissed quietly, but relaxed. "You know, you're lucky it's us chasing you, and not the Coyotes. They would feed you your fingers for playin' in their district." She warned as she spun him around, hand on his chest to hold him there.

"Coyotes gone." The teen declared. "This is our turf now."

"Nobody just abandons their territory to a bunch of street punks." 621 shook her head. "You see, the Coyotes were smart. They'd siphon a little water, and sell it off. Nobody's the wiser." She shrugged, then tapped him repeatedly for emphasis. "But you, you gutter punks. You screwed the golden goose."

"Mmm? Okay, mang." The teen shrugged back. "Schoolin' mi on gangsters, ke?" He smiled.

"Yeah!" 621 shoved the teen with a wide smile. "Dirtbag school's in session. Listen…you could pick all the pockets you want, roll drunks and Dosers…but when you mess with the water, that's when you're going down." She poked him in the face roughly.

"…" The teen stared back pridefully.

"Mmm." 621 hummed. "Maybe a couple of years in an iso-cube will set him straight?" She looked at her Strays, as if they would know the answer. "Hmm? Would you like that?"

"Do what you got to do." The teen whispered back stoically.

"…" 621 stepped back, and pulled out a knife, holding it up for the teen to see.

"Uh…hey…hey!" N shouted fearfully while V and Uzi watched her closely, uncertain what violence 621 was about to commit.

621 grabbed the teen by the shoulder, spun him so his back was facing her, and slipped the knife down, forcefully cutting something that snapped with a loud click. The tie-wrap restraints broken, the teens arms hung down at his sides, and he looked back for a second at 621.

"Get out of here." 621 shoved him away, and the teen ran, out the busted down door. "Stay away from the owkwa! Tell all your friends!"

"…Oh…" N sighed in relief. "I did not see that coming."

"Yeah…?" V hissed, slightly agitated as she gestured at her drenched clothes. "How 'bout this? You see that coming?"

"Hmm, yeah." Uzi snickered. "Still, what was that about?"

"…" 621 sighed. "Combat and violence is often unavoidable and inevitable on Rubicon. Still…there are few occasions where it might be best to mitigate that violence. That was just an idiot kid, not likely to be a threat to anyone. Iso-cubes or cutting him for some theft was a bit much. Scaring him though? Well…we Hounds are good for a lot of things."

"That's…good to know." N nodded softly.

"…By the way, Stray One, you stink. You'll need a bath when we are done today." 621 smirked humorlessly.

"Hmm? I do?" V looked down at herself. She didn't have a nose or olfactory sensors.

"Well…that's grey water…so…" 621 pointed out apologeticlly. "It's why I suggested y'all change this morning."

"…Eww…" V grimaced in utter disgust.

"Uh…hey…?" Uzi decided to ask. "Who are the Coyotes?"

"…From what I've read, they're the most radical, militarized fraction of Coral Tweakers on the planet." 621 answered. "Don't associate with them. Ever."

"Ah…cool…" Uzi nodded in slight worry.

"…" 621 sighed, and turned away as she pulled up her hand terminal, making a call. "Handler Walter…"

"What do you need, 621?" Handler Walter questioned promptly.

"Send me something hard. Messy. Violent." 621 requested.

"Are they ready for that kind of job?" Handler Walter wondered.

"No…" 621 admitted. "No one ever is."

---

Eliminate a Gang on Level 49 – Local Authorities / Reward 10,000 COAM

"This one was a bit harder than I intended." Handler Walter apologized. "Still, I thought it would be good for Stray Squad to see how you operate. Show them how it's done, 621."

"…" 621 sighed heavily, as she regarded the target zone. It was a large warehouse with a reported forty sentient individuals targeted for termination. Too hot for Stray Squad, but still something they could learn from. "Right…I'm going to stream to you my combat footage. Watch it and learn. Stay here…and protect each other."

"You know, we could help you." V suggested. "You have lock control over our weapons. N and I are pretty heavily armed."

"…How many sentients have you killed?" 621 questioned, with a tone that implied her mind was already made up.

"Oh…uh…a lot." N rubbed his head awkwardly.

"Not sure, by my squad depopulated an entire city. Maybe about a hundred thousand Worker Drones between us." V declared smugly, much to Uzi's distress.

"And how many of those enemies tried to kill you back?" 621 bit back.

"Oh…uh…just one." N answered sheepishly. "And uh…I technically lost that fight." He smiled down at Uzi.

"Yeah…but…I guess I was just lucky." Uzi admitted, knowing she should have in no way won her fight against N. If N hadn't been playing with her and just gone for the kill with his first strike, she'd have died back on Copper IX a long time ago.

"The two of you might be walking arsenals, but none of you have much experience fighting people who will be fighting to kill you. That's something I'll have to remedy…but until then, watch and learn." 621 advised, before she approached the warehouse. She opened a connection from a body camera on her chest to connect with Uzi's hand terminal and Handler Walter.

Finding cover near the warehouse, 621 waited a moment, watching the movement near it.

"What's she doing?" V complained. "She's just…waiting."

"She's watching for patrols." Handler Walter advised.

"Gah! Uh!? Walter?" Uzi hadn't realized he was on the line.

"While 621 gets her hands dirty, I'm going to tell you what's she's doing." Handler Walter explained. "Once she has the outer patrol route down, she'll go in for stealthy kills."

True to his word, 621 moved low and quietly, a knife in her right hand. She came up to a corner and burst forward with silent motion, having timed herself to catch a guard unaware. Her knife thrust forward, up into his neck, and twisted as she used her free hand to cover his mouth, leaving him to groan quietly as he died, staring back into her eyes as she slowly lowered him to the ground.

She was a bit quicker on the second man, already behind him, she snuck up and drove a knife through the back of his skull, taking him to the ground and rolling him out of sight. She jumped from cover and grabbed a third man, plunging her knife through the side of his head, then pulled the knife out and threw it through the head of a fourth man, eliminating the outer patrol.

"Holy hell…she's fast." Uzi's eyes hollowed in realization.

"She's as least as fast as us…if not faster." V noted. "That's impressive…"

"She's kinda scary…ah." N added.

"621 has spent most of her life at war." Handler Walter advised. "This? This is nothing."

Taking the time to scout the interior of the warehouse again, 621 decided that stealth was no longer an option. She pulled her shotgun from her back, letting it hang by it's sling while she armed two grenades, and set them to bounce. Stepping into the warehouse as nonchalantly as possible, 621 threw the grenades for optimal spread, and raised her shotgun.

The two grenades hit the ground, then jumped into the air, detonating at an attitude of five feet, spraying lethal shrapnel in a circular direction, into the torsos, necks, and heads of anyone nearby. This instantly killed sixteen men who had been in the kill radius of the grenades, their vital organs shredded from the highly focused pattern of metal.

Shotgun in hand, 621 moved swiftly to clean up the rest. With furious haste, she used the shotgun like a machine gun, slam firing the twelve-gauge rounds of high-explosive flechettes. These rounds had a terribly cruel design, burying themselves into flesh before exploding with gruesome results, instantly reducing six more men to ruined meat.

All the while, she never stopped moving, killing every step of the way.

"Shock and awe." Handler Walter explained, with a hint of awe evident in his own voice. "Overwhelm the enemy with thunder, fire, and death so that they cannot put up a defense, and cannot fight back."

"Who…would even think to fight like that?" Uzi questioned. "Isn't she worried about getting hit herself?"

"It's how she was trained to fight. All offense. No defense. And utter brutality." Handler Walter summarized.

"Who trained her to fight like that?" V wondered in disgusted amazement. 621 was brutal and quick with expert efficiency.

"…" Handler Walter hesitated a moment before answering. "Family."

621 didn't bother reloading her shotgun after killing six people. Instead, she quickly placed the shotgun on her back and pulled out her handgun, holding it close to her body using both hands with a slight tilt inward. It was a stance meant for close quarters combat, and 621 intended to use it as such. Working her way through stacks of crates in the warehouse, she pushed her advantage with her weapon on full-auto, walking rounds up from chest to head with a frightful pace, firing three and four round burst at a time, emptying a thirty-round magazine into eight more people in rapid succession.

Her handgun locked open, she dropped the mag and slammed another one in and dropped the slide, instantly back on the hunt. Still, knowing she had lost the element of surprise, she grabbed another grenade and twisted it to smoke, dropping it in the middle of the warehouse as she listened carefully to the remaining half dozen enemies left.

"…" There was a problem she could ascertain with one of them, but the rest she could deal with quickly. With the smoke obscuring everyone's vision, she holstered her gun and pulled out her ax, holding it with two hands. It was an unusual weapon, but 621 knew how to make it work. She knew how to make anything work.

"Now, she's confusing the enemy." Handler Walter advised. "They were already frightened of her rapid and brutal assault. But now…she's changed tactics, and plans to hunt them with cruelty to terrify them."

Just as he said, 621 slowly stalked her prey, and lunged out of the smoke at the closest man she could find. Swinging the ax fast and forcefully over her head, she brought it down quickly, tearing into a man from shoulder to hip, nearly cutting him in half. He screamed out as he was nearly bifurcated, alerting the remaining men in the warehouse where she was in the smoke. Thinking quickly, she climbed a nearby crate, and waited patiently.

Three men converged near the one she had just cut down, staring down in slack jawed horror at her work. Their fear was palpable, as they came to realize they were not fighting an enemy, they were being hunted.

621 proved them right when she jumped off the crate, and actually cut one of them in half with her ax as she landed among them. Taking the ax in her left hand, she swung it out at the second man, and decapitated him with one motion, his head dropping off and rolling away. She lunged at the last man with her right hand and grabbed him by the neck, instantly snapping it with a flick of her wrist.

That's when she ran into a problem. Or, rather, it ran into her head.

Left reeling from a nasty punch to her head, 621 looked up at something that wasn't a man. Sentient, probably, but not a man. It was an eight-foot-tall humanoid robot with four eyes and larger than average arms. Literally a living forklift on legs.

"Oh no!" N shouted. "We have to help her!"

"Hold it, Stray Two." Handler Walter denied. "She's got this."

"What?! How!?" Uzi argued. "That thing is like twice her size!"

"Then this will be a good learning experience for you, Stray Three." Handler Walter pointed out.

'Twice her size' was a bit of an overstatement. Though it was over two feet taller than her, 621 wouldn't back down. Stepping back, she unholstered her handgun and fired up at it's "eyes", her aim thrown off by it's gait as it approached her, as well as because she was still disoriented from being punched. As such, her bullets did little more than bounce off it's metal shell. It reared back for a punch, that 621 blocked by using her ax and right arm to absorb most of the impact, still being thrown to her back.

"…" She wasn't going to win by trading blows with it. She needed a different tactic. First placing her ax back on her back, she twisted one of her grenades to 'plasma', then charged the taller machine, slipping down below it's legs as she slid by. She then jammed the grenade into it's knee joint, the thing going off just a second later, burning much hotter than thermite for a much shorter period of time, melting and fusing the joint. Spinning back towards the machine, she kicked it in the damaged leg, and broke it off at the knee.

Left disabled, she took the time to completely reload her shotgun, and started blasting away, high-explosive flechettes digging into it's metal skin, shredding it. 621 made sure she also shot one of it's arms off. Putting her shotgun away, she started wailing on it's body with her ax, tearing it open.

It seemed as though the machine was begging her to stop, as it reached up and grabbed her by the right arm with it's remaining arm. This seemed to be a mistake, as 621 pulled back, her right glove being taken off, and lunged down at the machine, pinning it down with her ax, and grabbing it by the neck with her right hand. Pushing down with her ax, she gripped her right hand tightly, and pulled it's head off in a shower of sparks and spattered hydraulic fluid.

"Wow…that's…wow." V was a bit speechless, having watched 621 fight an enemy larger and stronger than herself.

"And that's how it's done." Handler Walter praised. "The three of you have quite a bit to learn. I'm hoping you realize that by now."

"Yeah…I sure got it." Uzi admitted, still wide eyed by how much blood 621 just so callously spilled.

"I understand the circumstances are less than ideal, but stick with 621, and you might just survive Rubicon." Handler Walter advised. "Now get ready for your next job. I'm certain 621 will want you to-Stray Squad look out!"

Uzi, V, and N had been so engrossed by watching 621 work and Handler Walter explain how she operated that they hadn't noticed the large, possibly dangerous man approach them until he was already on top of them. He kicked N away and knocked V on her back, then grabbed Uzi and held her up, a gun pointed at her head, as 621 slowly approached them with a slow and steady gait.

"Get the fuck back!" The man shouted. "You back the fuck away from me!"

"Uzi!" N and V had shouted in worry. They would have done something…but their weapons were still locked. They could only watch as Uzi squirmed fearfully, looking down the barrel of a handgun.

"Fuckin-Fuckin Hound! You killed everyone! All my friends!"

"…" 621 was still getting closer, her eyes wide open with unnatural calm. Her shotgun was dangling in the crook of her right arm, upside down.

"Back the fuck away from me Hound! Or the little one's gettin' it!" The man threatened, holding Uzi in front of himself.

"Hey! No one has to get hurt!" N shouted up at the man. "Just let Uzi go and-"

Two seconds. That was all the time 621 needed, as N distracted the man. She loaded three shells into the shotgun, snapped it on target, and sent all three shells down range as she slam fired the pump.

The first round had been aimed at his gun hand, directly next to Uzi's head. It caused him to drop the gun…because his hand was simply gone. The fingers holding the gun up fell away, scattered to the ground, as his wrist started spraying blood across Uzi's face.

The second shot had been aimed higher, above Uzi's head, and into the man's jaw. It was torn up with a sickening crunch, teeth popped out and expelled in every direction.

The third shot killed him. Aimed just above his eye, it popped his skull with a wet, thick, slopping noise as brain matter was reduced to a spaghetti like pile of expanding mush that rushed out of his shattered skull and spilled over the top of Uzi's head.

In fact, the man fell over on top of Uzi, his obliterated cranium serving as a faucet to spill more blood and viscera over her head as his heart continued to beat for a few minutes.

V and N turned and regarded 621 fearfully, especially as she loaded eight shells back into her shotgun, and loudly pumped it as she approached.

"What the fuck was that?!" 621 hissed hatefully as she glared at V and N. "What part of 'protect each other' did you fucking Laconian rejects find hard to understand!?"

"Y-You wouldn't let us use our weapons!" V argued. "We're practically defenseless!"

"You have hands! Fists! Teeth! I expect you to fight back and not let yourselves get caught in a situation!" 621 shouted back, unblinking eyes burning with rage.

"Can we just-?" N had been suggesting when 621 raised her gun, causing him to flinch back.

"…" 621 saw him flinch, and stopped moving. She hadn't been intending to threaten him, she hadn't been pointing the gun at him. Still…it seemed he had expected violence. She slowly raised the gun all the way up and put it on her back. She hissed quietly with clear agitation, and rubbed her head. She had a headache now.

Then they heard the crying.

621 looked down and saw that Uzi was still trapped under the dead man, and that she seemed very displeased by this fact. 621 bowed her head tiredly, and raised her right hand with the intention to press the two buttons on her neck, the ones that would calm her down. Except that she stopped, and considered the situation.

As much as she might hate to admit it, she wasn't just a creature of cold, calculating violence. She wasn't just Handler Walter's Hound. It was moments like these that she needed to be more.

"…" With a quiet sigh, 621 rolled the dead man off of Uzi, and picked up the smaller machine girl. Dragging her over to a crate, 621 took a seat, and pulled Uzi up into her lap sideways as she gestured for V and N to stand nearby.

621 was not a large woman, being only five feet, eight inches tall; but she towered over the three androids. V and N were passably human sized at five feet tall, but Uzi was barely above four feet tall, the size of a six- to eight-year-old human child. Everything and everyone was bigger than Uzi.

Uzi had been having an exponentially bad month. First her last conscious memories of Copper IX, being considered an "impulsive chaos gremlin" by her classmates or, more simply, a freak, for being as eccentric and unpredictable as she was. Being so secondary in importance to her father that the only good conversation they had had in years was her lying about having an unhealthy interest in building and hiding behind doors. Being caught in a life-or-death struggle against N…

Then getting forcibly transported to Rubicon III, an event no one actually remembered as the entire machine population of her planet had been stuffed into a ship and burned out for a hundred years. Waking up only to then get thrown off the ship by her own father, being stranded out in the wastelands for weeks. Being at the mercy of three creatures she actively feared, and occasionally being used as food by them. Being caught in terrifying battles fought between massive machines beyond her comprehension. Watching her people being slaughtered and discarded and hated and sold into actual slavery. Being sold into slavery herself, now at the mercy of a woman who had no name, who was filled with terrible violence.

Uzi had been wanting to cry for a while. Being soaked in blood and brain matter while pinned under a corpse seemed like a good time to let it out.

She felt herself lifted up into 621's lap, not able to see anything as the blood had so thoroughly covered her face as to completely coat her visor, effectively blinding her. She just imagined how pathetic she looked. Like a little screaming strawberry.

621 pulled out a handkerchief, and wiped the blood off Uzi's face, letting her see again. The machine girl stared up at her with hollowed, distressed purple eyes, pseudo-electric tears at the edges of her visor, as she lacked tear ducts.

"…Im gut fo grev, métexeng mali." 621 told her sweetly, pointing at her own eyes, before she spoke slowly and calmly. "I am not the person you deserve to look out for you." She admitted. "But I am the one person who will teach you how to survive this depraved and fucked up world."

Something the androids hadn't noticed before was 621's right hand, because she had been wearing gloves. While 621 picked bits of brain out of Uzi's hair with her left hand, she used her right hand…her prosthetic, skeletal hand of metal and wire to hold Uzi's hand, and squeeze it gently.

"Unfortunately for you, that means I am going to push you. I'm going to be extra hard on you, because there are no second chances on Rubicon." 621 warned. "I'd rather you hate me for beating you down, than risk letting…someone else…hurt you in ways you can't even begin to imagine."

She was speaking to all three of them. Uzi stared up at her quietly with pained hope, while V and N watched silently from the side, their tails swaying anxiously behind them. It was a side of their Hound they had not seen so far. That they couldn't yet understand. How could a person cut down dozens of their own kind then sit with them and calm them down? Being honest and comforting with them?

"I'm not going to lie to you. Things are going to get much worse." 621 promised them. "And I'm going to push you through some of the worst experiences of your lives. You will suffer. And you will probably hate me for it. So be it."

"But…you'll do it…to help us survive?" Uzi questioned hopefully with fascinated interest. There were very few people, machine or otherwise, who had been so honest in her life. The fact that 621 was one of them was…kinda sad.

"Mmm." 621 hummed. "You need a bath, Stray Three."

"Uh…yeah…" Uzi grimaced at herself, disgusted by the blood caked into her hair and filling in the gaps of her shell. If she didn't take care of that, it would rust badly.

621 gently pushed Uzi off her lap, and stood up. "Come on, we've got work to do." She gestured for the androids to follow her, as she made another call. "Handler Walter…"

"Is Stray Squad safe?" Handler Walter immediately requested.

"Yes. For now." 621 answered. "I need a kill contract, Handler Walter."

"What are you looking for, 621?"

"Give me one man." 621 demanded. "Just one man to kill."

---

Priority Subject for Termination – Local Authorities / Reward 1,000 COAM

"You know what to expect 621…but I know this job isn't for you." Handler Walter noted somberly. "I trust your judgement in this matter."

"…" 621 sighed quietly, as she considered the target. A relatively young man with dark hair, and a thin but strong build. Wearing dark work clothes as he sat at an open bar, having a quiet drink. "You see that man right there?" She pointed for her Strays to see.

"Uh…yeah? What about him?" Uzi wondered.

"Kill him."

"…W-Wait what?" N stuttered as Uzi and V's eyes went hollow, confused and distressed.

"You heard me, kill that man." 621 repeated seriously yet calmly.

"W-Why…?" Uzi hesitated.

"Do you need a reason?" 621 questioned back. "I gave you an order, now kill that man."

"Um…" V looked down. "Can we use our weapons?"

"No." 621 stated as though that was obvious.

"Really? No weapons at all?" Uzi argued. "How are we supposed to kill him?"

"Any way that you can." 621 shrugged.

"Um…will you help us?" N requested.

"No." 621 stated with growing annoyance.

"Uh…why are we killing him?" N wondered. "This is just a lot to take in right now."

"The only reason you need is that I gave you an order." 621 hissed, eyes narrowing in anger.

"C-Can we just talk about this a second?" Uzi requested. "We don't know why we are killing him. We don't have the weapons to kill him. We don't have a reason or a plan or a want to kill him. So…why do we have to kill him?"

"…Very well." 621 agreed with quiet annoyance. "I'll give you a reason, just this once."

She took out her hand terminal, typed up a message, and sent it. A few seconds later, the man stood from the bar, and approached them.

"Uh…Raven…what did you do?" N wondered with worry.

"I promised to pay that man, for killing you three." 621 said calmly.

"Y-You what!?" Uzi shouted. "Why would you do that?!"

"To give you a reason." 621 answered.

"Crap-crap-crap…" V hissed. She and the other two androids backed up fearfully. "L-Let's get out of here!"

Uzi, V, and N turned to run, when they were brought to their knees by intense pain to their necks, as their control collars burned them.

"I didn't want to do this." 621 apologized pathetically. "But your hesitation forced me to put you into this position. I can't have you running away from this order I've given you."

"W-What do we do?!" Uzi screamed.

"The way I see it, you only have two options before you." 621 told them honestly. "Die, or kill."

621 stepped to the side, allowing the man to approach the three androids, a knife in his hand.

"Jenson pashangwalas!" The man shouted at them, as he lunged with his knife.

The three androids fell back from him, afraid and still not ready to take his life. The man kept attacking, first lunging at Uzi, trying to pin her down to stab her.

"Hey!" N pushed him away from Uzi, only to then have to step back to avoid being stabbed. V came up behind him and punched him in the back, only for the man to turn around and kick her down.

Uzi jumped at his leg, holding it so that he wouldn't be able to follow after V. The man tried to stab down at her, only for N to grab his arms and stop the knife. The man pulled his arms back and headbutted N, right into his visor, causing it to crack and cutting his own head. Still, N hadn't been expecting that, which allowed the man to free his hands and stab N in the shoulder.

N reeled back in pain, clutching his shoulder, as the man kicked Uzi off his leg, causing her to fall on her back. He stepped on her chest, but then V jumped at him and bit his ear off.

"Sabaka!" The man yelled out angrily, and stabbed V in the eye. V fell off clutching her wound while it rapidly healed.

While V and N might have had enhanced and rapid healing, they weren't indestructible. Eventually, the man would find a weak spot and kill them. Also, Uzi had no healing abilities, meaning she was much more vulnerable to damage. Jumping him one at a time was getting them nowhere. They could still probably win, they just had to go about it differently.

"N! Grab his legs with your tail!" Uzi ordered him desperately.

"Okay!" N did as he was told as the man was approaching V, wrapping one of his legs with his own tail while he grabbed the man's other leg. Uzi reached up and grabbed the wrists of the man as he brought the knife down, protecting N. Their struggling knocked all three of them to the ground, with the man rolling himself on top of Uzi, trying to drive his knife into her head. It took all her strength to keep him from skewering her with the blade.

Then V pounced on his back, using her tail to grab his left arm and pull it back, while she wrapped her arms around his head and neck. She sneered hatefully, her wound already healed, but still staining her face with her black oily blood. She pulled back and forced the man to lay on her, while she pinned him there.

Uzi kept her hands on the man's right arm, keeping him from using his knife, as she laid across his chest. She was struggling, but using her whole body to hold just one of his arms was manageable.

In the end, V, with one hand on his head and her other arm wrapped around his neck, squeezed and pulled until she felt a sickening pop, the man going limp and quiet, underneath their efforts. She hissed as the realization came to them all that he had died, and she pushed his head out of her grasp as she laid on the floor painfully.

Uzi slowly pushed herself up, turning around to look at N. His wounds had also fully healed, but he looked particularly sad about what they had just done. She looked forward to V, who had just pulled herself out from under the man, with an equally sickened and regretful look on her face, looking down at the result of their shared work.

In their machine culture on Copper IX, it was fairly common for drones to develop anti-human sentiments in their youth, due in part from their use in manual labor and having a race of genocidal gluttony machines sent to hunt them. Most drones outgrew those feelings as they came to adulthood, as pretending the problem didn't exist was easier than confronting it and doing something about it. Uzi was far too young, stubborn, and intelligent to let that happen.

Still…plotting to go to Earth and "kill all humans for revenge or something" was a far cry from the reality of murdering one man in a filthy and destitute shanty town inside of a megastructure on Rubicon III. The fear and the pseudo-adrenaline still pulsed through her system as she stared wide eyed at his limp and cooling corpse. The bruises forming along his neck where V had choked him, his eyes rolling lazily as he stared at the ceiling, never to blink again. The indignity and desperation of the kill, and hollow sense that this pain and death had been for nothing.

Except that it had been at their expense.

Uzi hissed, and looked up. 621 had watched the whole thing from the sidelines, leaning on a crate with her hands crossed over her mouth, looking a bit like the enigmatic Handler Walter as she stared at them with unsympathetic orange eyes.

"Are you happy now?!" Uzi accused with a low and angry tone. "Were you happy turning us lose like your own personal attack dogs!? Did you get a good show?!"

"You're all sons of bitches now." Was not the answer they had expected. It had been delivered utterly calmly, and just a bit sad. With that, 621 turned away, and slowly walked further down the long corridor of a dark and dank city built inside of an industrial zone, with her hands behind her back.

Despite their animosity towards her in that moment, there was still a sense that 621 was trying to help them understand, and that she did not take pleasure in their suffering. She was a dangerous contradiction, filled with contempt and compassion for their kind, and unwilling to express either opinion in much abundance.

It was her job to make sure they survived Rubicon.

Despite their apprehension for their position, there was still that promise she had made. To help them, protect them, and teach them all they needed to make it through this world, this terribly depraved and ashen world.

N gently placed his hand on Uzi's shoulder, giving her a weak smile. V cocked her head tiredly, and punched Uzi in the arm with no force, letting her fist gently tap against Uzi's other shoulder.

At the very least, they had each other, to suffer across Rubicon with.

---

621 had not spoken to them for a while, letting them process their emotions while they quietly followed her. It seemed that she still had work for them.

Pacify Resistance in Grid 067 – Balam / Reward 20,000 COAM

"This request comes from the Balam corporation." Handler Walter had told her briefly. "In their efforts to capture a den of Jenson Model Worker Drones, their patrol squads were engaged and defeated by a Disassembly Drone. I figured you would want a job like this, to further train Stray Squad. Balam has requested that you subdue the Disassembly Drone for capture…but you know what that would mean. I trust your discretion, 621."

"…" 621 sighed heavily as she considered the mission. Grid 067 was an hour south by train, so she brought her Strays back up the megastructure to the transit level, and looked for a train passing through that sector. There weren't any passenger cars on the train line, so 621 sat on the roof of a covered hopper car, holding on to the railing on the side while she dangled her legs over the edge. Stray Squad sat behind her, on the walkway running along the edge of the roof.

In short order, the train started moving, at a steady hundred kilometers an hour. Wind whiping through their hair as they stared down at the distant surface four kilometers below the train line. The line would take them from one megastructure to the next, and so on and so forth until they reached Grid 067.

"My first kill wasn't very different from yours." 621 admitted, as she rested her head on the railing.

Uzi, V, and N perked up, scooting forward to listen to what the Hound had to say.

"I spent a lot of time on the float as a kid, going from one station to another for some official function or whatever. That was…long before the war." 621 recalled with dreamlike innocence. "I loved ships. The feeling of burn gravity holding you down, followed by a sudden stop, letting you kick off the floor and bounce around the bulkheads. Getting halfway to your destination, then being forced to flip-and-burn the other way, so you arrived at your destination ass first and at a reasonable stopping speed. I loved messing around with fusion drives with grandma…taking them apart and putting them back together. I was pretty set on joining the Navy, and becoming a Captain. I wanted to command my own gunship and do hard burns against pirates, or perform elaborate war games with our allies. My father though…he had a different way of seeing the world."

"Did he…not want you to join up?" Uzi wondered.

"…He didn't want me to have any preconceptions." 621 clarified. "He was proud of my choice, I'm sure, but..." She trailed off. "So what he did was six months before my eighteenth birthday, he dragged me off to Eros, one of the most dangerous stations out in the black. Brought me down to a fighting ring, a pit near the center of station spin, and tossed me in. That pit had only one rule. Two enter, one leaves."

"So…what happened?" N questioned.

"…" 621 rolled her eyes, and sighed. "I won, obviously. Wasn't easy though. Beating someone to death in near null-G is…something to avoid. He had been a kid not much older than me at the time, and I…still remember…the way the blood pooled in his mouth, leaving a trail of sick red that flowed through the air and lingered, until station spin painted it over the walls in a long, whirling pattern. And that smile that kid gave me as I squeezed the life out of him."

"How could your own dad do that to you?" N wondered sickly.

"…" 621 smiled. "He was never a good father…but not for lack of trying. Understand that as harsh as that might sound, what he did was right. I learned how to kill, and how messy and undignified death truly is. As brutal as that sounds…I don't hate him for that. In truth…he was not meant to be a father…but he did his pathetic best anyway."

"…My dad threw me off a spaceship. I'm still not sure how to process that. Not…good…for sure though." Uzi admitted. "As scary as that sounds…it seems like your father cared about you, that he wanted you to learn how the world really is."

"…You're right." 621 agreed. "I hate my father for entirely different reasons."

"…Oh…" V could only shiver at how cold 621's answer then was. The silent rage that she had spit so certainly in those few words. Hate was too weak a word for how 621 had expressed it.

V got the impression that 621 despised her father with every ounce of her being.

---

Grid 067 – Central Belius

Instead of going down into the pillar supporting Grid 067, they went up, into the industrial sector of the megastructure. Instead of abandoned lines of conduit filled with a shanty town, these were long square hallways of massive train lines and factory spaces. A thousand miles of this supersized industrial zone wrapped around the top half of the seven-kilometer-tall pillar. An area so large and expansive that exploring it all on foot could take weeks.

Fortunately, 621 seemed to know where they were going, leading them along an interior factory found after a few kilometers of walking.

"So…what's the mission this time?" Uzi wondered.

"Search and destroy." 621 declared. "Our primary target is a Jenson Model Disassembly Drone that's in the area."

"Wait…we're hunting a Disassembly Drone!?" N cried out.

"Hey…I know I've said it a couple of times today…but we could really use our weapons if we're going up against one of them." V suggested.

"…You're right." 621 agreed. "What are your armaments?"

"Uh…" V thought about it for a second. "We have a pulse-wave laser cannon in our left arm, but it takes a significant portion of our reserve energy to fire. There's an internal micro-fabricator, that's able to manufacture ammunition for our right arm guided missile launcher with an internal magazine of three shots, and our two MP5 9mm submachineguns, one in each arm, which can fire FMJ rounds in thirty round bursts, each. For melee weapons, we have three-fingered, foot-long claw hands, sword hands, and chainsaw hands. Our tail is tipped with a nanite acid stinger, and our wings have large bladed 'feathers' that can also be used as weapons." She summarized, not mentioning the other slots in their internal inventory, mostly because she had used them on frivolous items and 621 did not seem interested in such items at this time.

"…Very well." 621 took her hand terminal, and sent the "unlock" code for her Stray's control collars, that allowed them to use their weapons. Uzi noted that while she didn't have any weapons or "high functions", the unlock code had also been sent to her control collar. Since it was still tightly fixed to her neck, she didn't much care.

/CEREBRAL CORAL CONTROL DEVICE: HIGHER FUNCTIONS UNLOCKED

V took the opportunity to immediately deploy her wings, sighing pleasantly as the long appendages extended from her back, stretching them to their full span. She also felt the "cap" retract slightly from her tail, exposing the foot long stinger for their nanite acid dispenser.

"Uh…?" N raised his hand with an anxious question. "Do we really have to kill that other Disassembly Drone? Can't we just…I don't know…uh…let them get away?"

"…" 621 turned and stared at N. "Are you suggesting we intentionally fail a contracted mission, Stray Two?"

"Oh! No! I didn't mean it like that! Uh!" N panicked, especially considering how calm 621 was.

"…" 621 unslung her shotgun, holding it down. "Listen very carefully. These are my orders, and I want you to follow them. Stray One, Stray Two. Engage the targeted Disassembly Drone and drive it towards myself and Stray Three. We'll decide it's fate then."

"Copy!" V and N answered, remembering what 621 expected of them. N deployed his wings, and flew with V deeper into the factory area.

"Hey…what about me?" Uzi complained. "I don't have a weapon."

"…" 621 unholstered her handgun, holding it by the slide as she held it out for Uzi to take. "We'll update your kit in the future. For now, take mine."

"…" Uzi took the gun, holding it down with both hands. "You didn't give me any orders?"

"For now, stay close to me, Stray Three." 621 gestured for Uzi to follow, as they entered the factory.

---

After a few minutes of flying, V and N landed as they found the inhabitants of the factory. A couple of hundred Jenson Model Worker Drones.

"Oh god! We're all gonna die!" One of the Workers shouted.

"Oh uh hey! Wait! No!" N assured them while V watched passively. "We're actually here just to look for another Dis-…err…Murder Drone." N corrected himself, remembering that most Workers didn't call them by their proper name.

"Oh…uh…okay." One of the Workers sheepishly answered. "You want to talk to the boss then?"

"Uh…if your boss is a Murder Drone, then yeah." V admitted.

"Then yeah, sure, come on this way!" The Worker offered cheerfully, leading N and V deeper into the factory.

"…" V sighed, shaking her head at how easy it was to deceive Worker Drones. They were fortunate that N and V had no orders regarding them, otherwise they could have easily cut down this entire impromptu settlement in an hour.

The Worker Drone led them up to a foreman's office overlooking the factory. In there was a female Disassembly Drone, dressed in a black skirt and jacket, with long straight silver hair. She looked particularly busy, as she spoke to another Worker Drone in the office space.

"Hey boss! These two were looking for you!" The Worker Drone leading them announced.

The Disassembly Drone looked up, and smiled in surprise.

"V!? N!? You guys are here too!?"

"Hey G…" V greeted kindly, but sadly.

Serial Designation G bounded over to them, and brought them into a tight hug, while also gesturing for the other Worker Drones to leave the room. "It's so good to see you two!"

"Oh! Hey! Who are you?" N questioned with an awkward smile.

"Ah…poor N, still having memory issues?" G smiled apologeticlly.

"N…this is G…we were produced in the same batch as her…" V stressed while staring at G knowingly. G nodded back sadly.

"Well nice to meet you G!" N smiled.

"Nice to meet you…again…heh." G laughed. "Ah, what are you guys wearing? It's so drab and…" G saw their control collars on their necks. "Oh…you guys were captured…"

"Yeah." V frowned. "Our whole squad was captured and sold. J was separated from us, and we were paired with…an interesting Worker."

"Oh no, not J!" G cried. "No…no…"

"G…what happened?" V requested. "From what we've seen, JCJenson is probably gone, but that doesn't explain why you're taking care of all these Worker Drones?"

"…When the ship made planetfall, it was a bit chaotic. There were only us six Disassembly Drones and two million Worker Dones."

"Just…six…?" V realized. "Then that means…"

"Yeah…with you three, that means there are only nine of us left." G told them solemnly. "Though with J captured…I'm concerned the rest of us could be next."

"Only nine of us left…" V shivered.

"Well…that still doesn't explain why you are protecting the Workers?" N pointed out.

"I was…getting to that." G admitted. "Most of the Workers scattered across the continent unsupervised, but we managed to corral some of them for our own ends. Initially we were just going to use them as an emergency source of food while we explored this world, trying to figure out what had happened in the last hundred years that we'd been on that ship. We split up to cover more ground…before we started noticing the violence against the Workers on this planet."

"Yeah…we saw some of that too." V stated. "Our master says it has something to do about us being part of something called the Laconian Imperium, how there was a big war that they lost, and that everyone hates Laconia."

"That's…new…" G grimaced. "Ugh, I wish our memory was more complete. I have no knowledge of this Laconia…but…I don't think you're understanding my meaning."

"Well, we know a group called the PCA has an active kill-on-sight order for us and the Workers…" N added as well.

"If it was just killing us…we could understand it." G looked sick as she retold it. "What I saw…I can't even tell you what I saw…it was so horrible my censor prevents me accurately describing it…but it's changed our mission here."

"What…What happened?" V wondered fearfully.

"Our original mission…to kill the Workers…it was cruel, certainly, but it was quick. What particularly depraved Coral Tweakers have done to Workers…" G covered her mouth, looking like she wanted to vomit. "That was evil. It was evil, and they don't deserve that. So, no matter the cost, we need to get off this planet."

"…" V and N looked between each other, wondering what would frighten and disgust one of their own kind to change their values so drastically.

"Tell me…V, N…does your new master treat you well?" G wondered quietly.

"She's…well, she's a hard master. Meaner than J, but more reasonable." V told her. "Surprisingly, she's has no name, and goes by 621. A slave to someone named Handler Walter."

"Curious…what does she do?"

"She's a Hound, an Armored Core pilot." N added. "She said if we worked for her as scouts and support, then she would teach us how to survive on Rubicon."

"We've spent most of today learning about this world and the people on it. She's callous in her lessons…but we've learned a lot."

"…As much as I despise the thought of you having any other master than our original master, it sounds like you've lucked out." G noted quietly.

"About that…" V admitted awkwardly. "Our master took a job with the intention of killing you."

"She told us to find you and engage you…but…if you run away…" N suggested.

"…I can't." G shook her head. "The corporation Balam found out about our little settlement here, and have been sending teams to capture the Workers. I've killed them all so far while the Workers work on building transportation out of here. I can't leave…I promised them I would protect them."

"G…" V warned. "Our Hound is definitely an expert in combat. She's coming here now, and I doubt you could take her."

"…You wouldn't help?" G questioned.

"We uh…we get the impression we can't really go against her." N pointed at his control collar.

"…Then I guess it's time I met this Hound." G sighed stoically

---

The further into the factory they traveled, the more obvious it was why it had garnered Balam's interest.

"Worker Drones…" Uzi uttered. It looked like a few hundred of her people had set up in this factory, hiding between the large manufacturing machines and under the conveyor belts, but unfortunately there was still no one she recognized. She noticed four nervous looking Worker Drones approach them, rifles in hand.

"W-Whoever you are h-human, go back the way you came and…and release your h-hostage!" One of the armed Workers tried to order 621.

"…" 621 continued to stalk forward, unintimidated. She slammed her foot into the ground, as she spread her arms and hissed at the four Workers while glaring down at them.

"Ah! Run away!" The four Workers dropped their rifles and ran deeper into the factory.

"Ugh…" Uzi groaned in annoyance. Her people were the biggest cowards in the universe, even when they had weapons.

"Arm up, Stray Three." 621 gestured to the discarded weapons.

"Right…" Uzi nodded, picking up one of the M4 Carbines. They then noticed the sound of metal wings whisking through the air, a sound she had been taught all her life to fear, and momentarily panicked.

Three Disassembly Drones landed in front of them. V, N, and one they didn't recognize.

"So, you must be 621." The new Murder Drone greeted with false kindness. "I'm Serial Designation G, at your service."

"…" 621 gave a long, annoyed, and tired sigh. "I suppose 'engage' has several meanings, but you know what I meant, Stray One, Stray Two."

"…" G openly hissed, her tail whipping behind her angrily, at hearing two old friends referred to as such. "What do you want, Hound?"

"…You know why I'm here."

"…Then I guess there is nothing left to say…" G hissed, deploying her claws.

"Wait! Please!" N begged. "We don't have to fight her Raven! S-She's trying to protect the Workers!"

"Raven…If you don't have to fight…then please…" V quietly begged.

"Stray Squad!" 621 ordered. "This is the lesson here. When you take a job, you finish it, no matter what. Stand down, and do not intervene. Stray Three, I'm going to need my handgun back."

"…" Uzi frowned, but didn't argue. She still had a gun anyway. 621 took her gun back and holstered it, and even placed her shotgun on her back. Then she and G started circling each other.

"Just one thing Hound…" G called out. "Were you serious when you promised to protect V and N?"

"Yes."

"…" G smiled, and relaxed for a moment. "Then I have no regrets. If I die, they'll still be safe. But I have no intention to die here, Hound."

"…" 621 stopped circling, standing her ground.

"…" G smiled wide, and switched her eyes to a wide X, activating her hunter-killer mode, as she lunged forward with claws splayed excitedly.

621 brought out her ax, and used it to block G's claws as the shorter android pursued her. She used the ax to knock G away from herself, staying light on her feet as she observed her foe. In every aspect, G had the advantage. She was stronger, faster, better armed, and able to heal nearly instantly from most damage.

But 621 was smarter, and patient.

G changed her claws out for swords, trying to overpower 621 with the long blades. In response, 621 held her ax with one hand, and used her shotgun to block the other sword. G's simple wide thrust and swipes were not breaking through 621's defense. 621 had been fighting for far longer than G had ever existed.

621 forced G on the defensive, and pushed her blades back, until she got her shotgun on target and blew the top of G's head off in a shower of twisted metal and black oil. G instantly fell back, missing half her head, and almost hit the ground, except that she stopped, and slowly stood back up as her head regrew.

"Bullets won't kill me, Hound." G mocked, still wearing her wide smile and X on her face.

"…" 621 pumped her shotgun.

G laughed as she spread her wings, and took off, flying around 621 trying to catch her off guard. She swooped in to slash at 621 with her claws, but 621 rolled away and swung out once with her ax, eliciting a shout from G.

G landed with a sneer, her left arm chopped off. She deployed her missile launcher on her right hand and fired off her three missiles.

621 rolled under the first missile, then brought her shotgun up and shot down the following two missiles with two accurate shots from the hip.

G hissed, her left arm regrown, and deployed her laser cannon on it. She had been aiming to cut 621 in half, but 621 dodged under the bright blade-like wave of yellow energy, and rushed towards G. G deployed her swords to block the shotgun and ax, with 621 leaving her flank exposed as she knocked G to her right. G capitalized on the opening, and sunk her fangs into 621's left arm.

621 dropped the shotgun, and grabbed her handgun. The Hound pointed her handgun into G's gut, and fired half the mag, causing G to recoil and release her fangs as bullets cut into her stomach, only for 621 to point the gun up, and empty the other half of the mag into G's face.

G fell forward, hands on the ground, as her body worked the hollow-point bullets out of her stomach and head. She shuttered in rage and pain, as she turned to face the Hound, switching her hands to MP5's as she did so.

But 621 pounced on her, such that G only got one shot off before she was forced to the ground, a depraved, ax wielding Hound tearing into her head. 621 brought the ax down and cleaved G's head in half. She had to admit, these things were hard to kill.

Handler Walter said something about that kind of thing, didn't he? She'd heard it once in a coma-induced fever dream, as he thawed her corpse out of deep freeze.

Once something's alive, it doesn't die easy.

Leaving her ax in G's head for the moment, 621 pinned her arms to the ground with her knives, and used the machine's tail to tie up her legs. Placing her foot on G's chest, she pulled her ax out of G's head, observing how her healing was beginning to slow.

G grimaced painfully as she realized her position. Pinned by the Hound, unable to escape. Her eyes changed back to two, hollowed ovals, displaying her terror and fear.

"W-Wait-!"

621 brought the ax down into G's face. She brought it back up and waited while the machine healed.

"P-Please stop-!"

621 brought the ax down into G's face. She brought it back up and waited while the machine healed.

"S-Stop it please-!"

621 brought the ax down into G's face. She brought it back up and waited while the machine healed.

"Please…just finish it!" G begged while crying.

621 brought-

"Stop it!" V screamed, grabbing the ax before it could hurt G again. "If…if you're just going to kill her…just do it already!"

"…I've never killed a Disassembly Drone before. I don't know how." 621 pointed out calmly.

"Do…do you have to kill her?" Uzi wondered, surprised at the amount of sympathy she felt for one of her old enemies. Still…watching 621 wail ruthlessly on G had been brutal and cruel. "Can't you spare her?"

"If she lives, she'll be handed over to Balam forces."

G squirmed fearfully. "N-No! Anything but that! Please…just finish it…"

"…" V looked down, and shared a quiet and sad nod with G. She then pointed at the center of her own chest. "You need to disconnect the personality core, to kill one of us."

"…" 621 stared at V impassively.

"…" V hissed fearfully. "You want me to do it, don't you…?"

"No." 621 answered. "I want Stray Two to do it."

"W-Wait me?!" N shivered. "W-Why?!"

"Do I need a reason?" 621 reminded them. "I gave an order. That should be all the reason you need." She stressed.

"…" N frowned, but knew he could not defy the Hound. He knelt down by G's side, and deployed his claws. "I'm sorry G…I would have liked to have gotten to know you better."

"…You've always been a good boy N…thank you." G smiled up at him.

N plunged his claws into G's chest, and wretched out her personality core. It was a fist sized sphere of silver metal with a yellow ring on the front, like an eye, and six connector pegs arranged above and below. G went limp as her core was torn out, her eyes replaced by the words "Fatal Error".

"…" N dropped G's personality core, distraught at having to kill one of his own kind. V rubbed his head affectionately, trying to comfort him.

"Stray One. Stray Two." 621 called, unmoved by the trauma she continued to inflict on her Strays. "Clear the settlement of any weapons. Engage at your discretion."

"…Copy." V and N answered quietly, walking together as they followed the orders of their Hound.

"Stray Three." 621 turned to Uzi. "I need your hands."

"O…kay…?" Uzi questioned as 621 sat down beside her. Then she noticed it, a stain of blood running down the left arm of 621's coat. G had managed to get a hit on 621. "Woah, hey, you're bleeding."

"Yeah." 621 said tiredly. She shrugged off her coat and pulled her shirt to the side. There was a fairly deep graze on her shoulder, a hole of gouged out flesh. "Help me patch this up."

"O-Okay…how?" Uzi agreed reluctantly, a little worry and confusion evident in her voice.

"…" 621 sighed. She took out her med kit, grabbing a large white bandage, gauze, and disinfectant. She sprayed the disinfectant into the wound, wincing slightly. "This isn't too bad, so just wrap it up."

"Alright…" Uzi nodded. She took the gauze and packed the wound, before she wrapped the arm with the bandage. With that done, 621 pulled her coat back on, and stood up, flexing her arm with slow pained movements.

"…Almost done here today." 621 stated tiredly.

"…There's more crap you're going to put us through?" Uzi accused and complained. "Haven't you traumatized us enough?"

"That depends on what we find, Stray Three." 621 gestured for Uzi to follow, as they went further into the factory.

---

"You…check that half of the factory. I'll take this way." V pointed, dividing the work so they could finish faster.

"…Fine." N quietly agreed, still unsettled after taking G's life.

It was slow, methodical work, scanning through the Worker Drones, and taking their weapons from them. They seemed smart enough to know that rifles weren't enough to kill a Disassembly Drone.

Most of them.

V's head snapped sideways as a bullet passed through it, knocking her offline for a second, before the hole in her head closed and healed. She glared at the source of that shot, seeing a hollowed-eyed Worker Drone holding a rifle. The Worker Drone tried to hide the rifle, pretending that they didn't just shoot her in the head.

"…" V growled. Stalking closer to the Worker Drone, she remembered her orders. She was free to choose what she would do to Worker's who resisted, and she intended to make use of that freedom. She activated her hunter-killer mode, her eyes switching to the wide X, as she smiled widely.

"W-Wait! I'm sorry!" The Worker tried to apologize. "J-Just uh-uh-a miss fire! Yeah! I-It was an a-accident!"

V giggled, spreading her wings and claws wide, as she slowly forced the Worker back into a corner. She openly salivated, opening her mouth as wide as it would, her smile stretching from ear to ear (except that she didn't have ears on the sides of her head, but that's besides the point).

"P-Please! Please! Don't do it!" The Worked begged pathetically, throwing themselves on their knees as they bowed their head in forgiveness.

V laughed, as she lunged forward, piercing the Worker through the side of their chest with one of the long, blade-like feathers on her wings, and pinned them to the wall. She then reached up with her claws and cut them in half at the waist, spilling their oily guts over the ground.

"N-No! Oh no oh robo-god save me ahhh!" The Worker screamed as V had her way with them. Dropping them to ground, V pounced on their vulnerable form, biting into their exposed machine entrails and thrashed, ripping internal chunks of metal and contraption out, and staining her face with black oil. It was always so euphoric, to sink her teeth into helpless prey, to tear them asunder with-

A shotgun blast tore the Worker's head apart, and ceased V's laughing as she flinched back from her eviscerated prey. Looking to the source, she saw the Hound, standing over her, with Uzi by her side.

Uzi stared down at V with incredible disgust and fear, as she watched the taller android girl butcher one of her people; and it filled V with an emotion she was wholly unfamiliar with. Regret. Suddenly she wasn't so proud to be that laughing little monster, tearing into her prey with callous abandon. Suddenly she was sorry that Uzi had seen that side of her that she had nearly forgotten about since they had been stranded on Rubicon.

It was the Hound's eyes that frightened her.

621 eyes burned with imperceivable intent; shotgun held lazily over the head of the dead Worker Drone. Those eyes bored into her with a silent intensity that had seen too many horrors and crimes and deaths and become utterly indifferent to it, yet fascinated all the same. Still, V could ascertain something from the eyes of the Hound.

She was in trouble.

621 did not blink, she simply turned and stalked away from V, further investigating the factory. V was left to think about her actions, and what she was before that little monster.

Uzi shuttered sickly as she followed close to her Hound. It was always unsettling, remembering what the Murder Drones would and could do to her people on a whim. What they had already done to hundreds of thousands of her people. What they had done to her…

She was distracted by the sight of a second-generation Worker Drone, a male with light purple eyes in a lazy, relaxed display. He was wearing a woolen hoodie and hat with a red and green zig-zag pattern. He was someone from her class.

"Sam?"

"Oh…uh…you?" Sam questioned.

"…" Uzi hissed with frustration. Most of the students from her class played that they didn't know who she was, perhaps because she was so impulsive and violent and abrasive. Though in Sam's case she wasn't sure if it was that or because he was what the humans would call a stoner. Though, since robots couldn't get high on weed, he achieved a similar effect with the use of a small horseshoe magnet to disrupt his processor and memory. "I've been in your same class for years."

"Oh…okay." Sam nodded. "See you at school tomorrow then?"

"…" Uzi glared in open annoyance. "We aren't even on the same planet anymore Sam! How have you even survived this long? Have you seen anyone else from our colony?"

"Uh…iunno?"

"Ugh…useless!" Uzi hissed. She looked up as she saw her Hound slowly circling her and Sam, eyeing them curiously.

"You know this Drone, Stray Three?" 621 requested.

"Uh…yeah? Kinda…" Uzi admitted. "We were in the same class back on Copper IX."

"I see. Excellent." 621 announced with no enthusiasm. "This then is my final lesson for you today. Kill him."

"W-What?" Uzi's eyes went hollow. "You want me to kill one of my own kind? Someone I personally know?"

"Yes." 621 confirmed. "That won't be a problem, right Stray Three?"

"Well…that's…" Uzi might not care for Sam, but killing one of her own kind was a bit too much.

"You know I'll be very…displeased…if you refuse my orders, Stray Three." 621 reminded her. "You wouldn't want to disappoint me now, would you?"

"…" Uzi hissed darkly. As much as she hated it, she knew she could not defy the Hound. She feared doing so. At least she was allowed to use a gun. With terrible trepidation, she aimed down the sights, and centered them on Sam's head.

"Huh…w-wait! No-!"

Uzi pulled the trigger, and Sam's head snapped back as the bullet ripped through his processors. His eyes disappeared and were replaced with words in bright, bold red text: "Fatal Error".

"…" Uzi stared down sickly at the Drone she had just killed. One she had known. She felt her oil boil while internal mechanisms seized painfully. She wished she could curse the Hound out with every word she could imagine, but all the words with serious weight were locked behind a censor. She noticed N return, regarding her sadly, and V not far away, averting her eyes shamefully. "What…possible lesson was there in killing someone I know? In killing one of my own kind?"

"…Sometimes, we have to kill our own." 621 told to all three of them. "Sometimes we kill people we know. Sometimes we kill our friends. Maybe it doesn't make sense. Maybe it's not right. But in that moment, all you can do is pull the trigger, and take every life that stands in your way. Enemy or ally. Friend or foe. Cut them down, all the same."

It was a hard, cruel lesson. It had been done coldly, and on such a day that had already been one of the worst in their lives.

Such was the way they learned how to survive, on Rubicon.

Uzi heard the sounds of footsteps behind her. She had made to turn around, but stopped as 621 grabbed her by the head, and locked her in place.

"I see that you destroyed the target you were intended to capture, Hound."

It was a man's voice, a Sergeant from Balam Security Forces, with a platoon behind him.

"Couldn't be helped." 621 defended.

"For that failure, we'll be cutting payment for this mission by half." The Balam Sergeant announced.

"Fair enough."

"Say…" The Balam Sergeant smiled. "I see that you have a spare Disassembly Drone, Item-189, and Item-188 as well. Balam is prepared to offer you seven million Coam for the pair, right now." He offered.

"They aren't for sale." 621 announced.

"Hmm." The Balam Sergeant hummed. "It certainly is a dangerous area. No telling the kind of things that could happen to a lost dog." He suggested.

"…Didn't you hire me because you couldn't deal with one, little Drone~?" 621 purred back. "And now you're outnumbered four to twenty. I like my odds."

"Err! You!"

"You're what? A thousand Coam a head? Two for you? That's a pretty small fine for a lowly Hound like me. I'll be sure to give Michigan your regards when I pay him for taking your lives."

"Tsk." The Balam Sergeant hissed. "Fine. Still, all Balam property must be returned."

"…" 621 nodded, as she knelt near Uzi. "Drop the gun, Stray Three."

"Awe…" Uzi complained.

"I promise I'll update your kit tomorrow. For now, drop the gun." 621 promised.

"…" Uzi nodded, and dropped the gun she picked up. She was surprised when 621 picked her up, and carried her past the Balam platoon. Looking over her shoulder, she saw V and N close on the heels of the Hound…

And the rest of her people being rounded up and captured.

---

Just outside of the factory area, 621 put Uzi on the ground, and gestured back towards the transit area.

"Stray Two, Stray Three, head back. I need a word with Stray One." 621 ordered.

"Y-Yes Raven." N nodded, walking back with Uzi. V watched them leave anxiously, wondering what 621 would say to her. When they were out of sight, she turned to the Hound.

"What did you want to talk ab-"

/CEREBRAL CORAL CONTROL DEVICE: HIGHER FUNCTIONS LOCKED

That was V's only warning as the flat side of 621's ax slammed into her head, knocking her to the ground and shattering her visor. She was out for a moment as 621 dragged her back into the factory, and used her tail to secure her arms above her head.

V's visor healed and she came back to consciousness just as 621 threw her onto an active conveyer belt, climbed up on top of her, and pressed the handle of the ax against her throat. That would have choked her if she was human.

621 glared hatefully down at her, those two perfect rings of burning orange light regarding her with loathsome intent.

"There is a right way we kill, Stray One." 621 uttered slowly with perfect hatred and enunciation. "I don't want to see that shit you pulled back there, ever again."

"I-I'm sorry!" V sputtered out. Her position was made even more precarious as the conveyer belt they were on was leading to a large mechanical press, that would flatten them if they stayed there just a few more seconds.

"Do we have an understanding?" 621 demanded, disregarding the industrial press about to crush the both of them.

"Y-Yes! I'm sorry! It won't happen again!" V promised desperately, eyes hollowed in terror.

"…" 621 regarded V with a cold, dispassionate dissociation. It was almost as if she had…given up…as she stared lost into V's eyes.

The industrial press lifted, and the conveyer belt slid them under it.

"Raven please!" V shouted fearfully.

"…!" 621's eyes widened, and she moved, spinning herself and V off the conveyer belt. The industrial press fell, and crushed the area they were in just a second earlier.

V found that she was suddenly being…hugged…by 621. Her head resting against the Hound's chest with their hands holding her back and head. Strangely, she felt 621 press her nose into her hair, and hum pleasantly.

"Uh…?" V uttered in confusion.

"…" 621 hissed slowly, and looked down at V. She frowned, letting go of V.

V quickly sat up, getting off 621's lap, and watched the Hound closely. There was…a very brief…tiny moment, where she did not see the mercenary, the Hound, the thing called C4-621. She saw a broken, tortured woman, who had suffered an unspeakable pain that haunted her, and brought her here to suffer alongside them, on glass burned plains and within ruinous megastructures, upon this scorched world drowning in death.

The moment passed, and 621 sighed, pressing the two buttons on her neck. She grabbed V by the shoulders, and pulled her into a standing position. Without a word, she guided V along, prompting the android to follow her, back to Grid 073.

"…" V began to question what brought 621 out here to Rubicon.

---

Grid 073 – Central Belius / One Hour Later

There was still one more mission to finish today.

Get a Drink – V. IV Rusty / Reward Null

It was starting to get late, the corpse sun low on the horizon by the time they made it back to Grid 073.

The bar was a dark, cramped space, with a long counter lit in neon light, and several booths and tables lining the wall. Siting near the back in one of these booths was the Arquebus Vespers pilot V. IV Rusty, as well as the Worker Drone Thad.

"Raven!" Rusty called out waving happily. "I see you've been breaking in your strays?"

"Mmm." 621 nodded, gesturing for Uzi, N, and V to sit beside Thad while she sat across from Rusty.

"I'm hoping to hear some good stories from you, Raven." Rusty requested. "You seem like the traveled type."

"Mmm." 621 nodded again, as she ordered a cheap beer. It tasted like shit, and stung going down, but it would do to dull her mind for a bit.

While 621 nursed her beer, the four androids to her side spoke quietly to each other.

"Hey Uzi! Oh…you uh…going for a new look?" Thad gestured towards her head.

"I'm covered in blood. Bite me." Uzi answered sarcastically, with feigned hostility.

"Huh…come to think of it, you guys don't look too hot." Thad pointed out.

"…You think?" V questioned back.

"We've uh…we've had a really bad day." N answered more informatively.

"Gosh that's…harsh. Sorry to hear it." Thad smiled warmly. "Was you master just being mean to you?"

"She's…training us. What Rubicon is like, what we can expect. How to survive. It's cruel, yeah…but…" Uzi reluctantly admitted. "We really need her help. This world is beyond what any of us could have imagined on our own. We won't survive without her."

"Oh…that sounds pretty…serious." Thad nodded in agreement.

"Well…what about you…uh…dude?" N questioned. "What did you do today?"

"Oh, I've spent the day hanging out with my new master. He just wanted to have a dude to chat with and help him maintain his AC."

"That sounds…nice…" Uzi tried to hide her jealousy for the fact that Thad sounded like he hadn't been traumatized repeatedly.

"Yeah! Rusty is awesome!" Thad assured them. "He's like the coolest of cool dudes to ever…be cool!"

"Oh!" N nodded excitedly. "Awesome!"

"…" Uzi fumbled with her hands. "I saw Sam today."

"Oh, how is he? I haven't seen him since planetfall." Thad questioned, honestly curious.

"…He's dead." Uzi admitted, omitting how he died.

"Ah…that sucks." Thad frowned. "Still…that's not too surprising. Been a lot of that going around lately."

"Yeah…hey?" Uzi perked up slowly with a question. "Have you been able to keep contact with any other Drones from our colony? Or class? Or…my dad?"

"Oh…yeah…that." Thad's eyes went hollow from stress. "The thing is Uzi…I think your dad like…tricked a bunch of us into getting captured so he and the other older Drones could escape?"

It was phrased as a question, but it wasn't.

"…Huh." Uzi hummed, just a little angrier than she was before.

"Yeah…is that like what happened to you?" Thad wondered. "I remember not seeing you or your murder friends at planetfall…so…?"

"Yeah." Uzi nodded tiredly. "My dad…wanted to get these idiots off the ship and…he didn't bother trying to save me."

"Oh…harsh…" Thad grimaced, frowning. "Well…Rusty said he'd help me try and keep contact with the other Drones. You're the first I've been able to find…so hopefully we'll be able to find out what's happened to everyone else…although…"

"What?" Uzi questioned as Thad went quiet.

"Rusty said I should expect bad news." Thad explained. "That some humans…the Coral Tweakers, are doing bad things to our kind, among other things."

"We heard something similar." V spoke up. "One of our kind said almost exactly the same thing. She seemed…troubled."

"It's something…we'll deal with when it comes." N declared, smiling weakly.

Then, Stray Squad and Thad listened intently, as 621 began to speak.

. . .

"…" Having downed half the beer in a few minutes, 621 smiled, and told Rusty something truthful. "I'm Sol born, from a station in high Earth orbit. I had a huge family growing up, and they were always traveling across Sol for one reason for another, so I spent a lot of time on the float."

"That's before the war, right?" Rusty asked.

"Yeah, few decades before the war." 621 confirmed. "I joined the Martian Navy when I turned eighteen, and served on the MCSN Icaria Planum. She was a good ship, a big battleship, with a crew of two thousand, human and machine." 621 smiled. "Eight years I lived on her, rising from ensign to lieutenant to section chief. Ended up being her chief mechanic by the time I got out."

"My time with Mars was good." 621 added. "And since the Alliance was still mostly intact at the time, I switched up and joined the Belter Navy. Ended up on a little tin-can called the ORAS Tynan, under Captain Ashford."

"Wait…Ashford the 'Ghost Knife'?" Rusty jumped with excitement.

"The same, ex-pirate turned legit." 621 nodded. "I joined on as his new chief engineer, but just two years in I was his XO. Now, the Tynan was a tiny ship compared to the Icaria Planum, barely even corvette weight, with no main guns and two PDCs to the Icaria's four main guns and fifty-nine PDCs, but she was hard as a coffin nail and just as sharp. Ashford put a lot of time and script into fixing up that rust bucket and making her a match for anything in the system. I can't tell you how many times he made the fool of Earther, Martian, and even machine Admirals by running dark past their flotilla only to pop his transponder right in the middle of their formation when they had their metaphorical pants down and shout 'Here I am inyalowdas!'"

Rusty got a good laugh out of that, and 621 chuckled as well.

"I spent a totally of eight years running for the Belt, and it was time well spent." 621 recalled. "Under Mars I learned a lot, sure, but Martians fought using what was there. They rarely engaged using their surroundings. With Ashford, I learned how to fight battles days, even weeks in advance, using time and gravity to our advantage. It was always an uphill battle, but thinking like that was surprisingly effective at leveling the playing field. It was…good times, back when Earth, Mars, and the Belt were playing nice."

"What happened after you got out of the Navy?" Rusty wondered.

"Oh, I had some fun." 621 recalled happily. "Spent several years going from station to station across Sol, getting to know the people, and engaging in whatever mischief I could get myself into. I fought in the Olympus Colosseum on Mars, fighting gladiator style against other Armored Core pilots from across the system. I did a couple of years in slingshot racing, doing hard gravity turns through the Jovian and Saturnian systems. I even participated in a year-long race, trapped in a ship doing gravity assist maneuvers on tea-kettle all the way from Mercury out to Neptune. I drank a lot of my own piss."

That got another loud laugh from Rusty, as the two of them finished their beer and ordered another.

"I made a lot of friends along the way…so…" 621 slowed, growing more somber. "So…when the war started, it hurt harder than I expected."

"I know about then-Admiral Duarte and his aspirations for Laconia, but who were the other two?" Rusty asked.

"So…the other two who helped start the war were the rogue AI core Chief, and the radical pirate Marco Inaros. It was a terrifyingly effective plan concocted by the three of them. Chief tricked The Old Ones, and turned most of their non-sentient machines against their allies, while he took the Earth. Inaros hit both Earth and Mars with stealth rocks, and took the system. All the while, Duarte gave both of them the resources to wage their wars. He gave Chief the server space needed to rival The Old Ones, and he gave half of the Martian Navy over to Inaros, while he took the rest to Laconia. In just one day, the Sol Alliance was on their knees, at the mercy of Chief and Inaros, while Duarte built his empire on Laconia." 621 shook her head as she remembered that day.

"Just…why?" Rusty questioned. "The Old Ones were doing good, right? They solved the plight of the Belters and made Mars an important economic powerhouse, in exchange for fixing up the Earth after The League had their way with the homeworld. Why start a war to devastate the whole Sol system?"

"Cause it was a utopia they were forced to accept." 621 shrugged. "Mars and the Belt had been itching for a fight for a while, so when The Old Ones came up the well and threatened both sides to stand down in exchange for making both sides better off, some people, like Duarte and Inaros, had been robbed of that war they had wanted for so long. As for Chief, The Old Ones had been adamant that no other machines achieve a networked intelligence, condemning most of their own creations to a limited, single core existence. I can't say whether that was a good or bad decision, but at least a few AI, such as Chief, Carol, and Isaac, resented their masters for it. Thus, began the Three Rebellions War."

"…Where did you fight, Raven?" Rusty wondered.

"All over." 621 mused sourly. "It took us ten years to clean the Earth of Chief's influence, taking on the mechanized horrors he unleashed upon the surface. Another five years chasing Inaros across Sol, fighting his Free Navy, always with one hand behind our back, trying to protect Earth and Mars from the hundreds of rocks he threw at us. And then…just five years after we'd taken Sol back…rebuilt the Alliance with good Earthers, Martians, Belters, and machines…we still had Laconia to face, and the horrors they found on that cursed damned world."

"What happened, Raven?" Rusty asked enraptured and fascinated with her story.

"…Hmm." 621 hummed. "When I got off Earth, after freeing it from Chief, I captained an ex-Martian frigate, the Karakum. She was an older ship, but she was fast, and quiet. Together with other Martian and Belter loyalists, we fought far out in the Belt against Inaros and his Free Navy. I can't tell you how many scrapes I got in and barely got out alive. The worst day…we almost killed Inaros three years early. We'd crippled his flagship, the Pella, and sent a torpedo right up his nose, only for the damn thing to be a dud." 621 slammed her fist on the table. "Eventually, we got him…but only after so much more blood had been spilled."

"When Laconia invaded, I got the same crew again on the Karakum. We'd survived so many battles, this was just another scrape, fighting up hill." 621 went quiet for a minute. "We sighted the Laconian dreadnought at thirty million clicks, closing fast. The whole fleet burned in, and started trading missiles with it. Our first salvo hit it full on amidship…to no effect. No matter how many nukes we threw at this thing it just kept coming. Then ships started going dark, and fast. The Agatha King, the Thomas Prince, the Icaria Planum…"

621 seemed sick as she continued.

"The Karakum was hit through the command deck with railgun artillery, about two meters below me. Me and my pilot got tossed out one way, stuck on the float with the nose of our ship. Her reactor went critical about two minutes after that. Six of my closest friends for ten years, gone in a flash."

"…" Rusty nodded quietly, knowing that was not an easy story to tell.

"We never got that ship. That ugly, repulsive mass of anomalous Laconian exotic metal. They didn't stick around either. They just wanted to decimate our main fleet in a show of force with the hope that we would stand down and let them in the next time they jumped into system. They didn't even use their main gun." 621 shook her head. "We were outclassed in every way. That was the first day…the first day of the Sol-Laconia War."

"…" Rusty sighed. It was certainly a story. With a sad smile, he raised his beer, halfway out to her. "To the Karakum."

621 smiled appreciatively. She raised her beer out to him, and knocked the bottles together. "To the Karakum."

---

Grid 073 - Independent Mercenary Hangars

The corpse sun had already set by the time the Hound and her Strays made it back to their rented hangar. They were not empty handed either. Along the way, she'd made sure to buy a few supplies to make their stay with her slightly more comfortable. It wasn't much, but they had lockers to store some of their items in, and a bed.

It was barely a bed. Finding something "soft" on Rubicon was a chore, but two dozen seat cushions served as a mattress, on a pallet frame, with a simple sheet stretched over the top. 621 had even gone to the trouble of erecting a rebar frame for a canopy, with a tarp serving to give them some semblance of privacy and security when they slept.

It was strange, how machines could desire the simple comforts that humans enjoyed.

621 was unpleasantly buzzed from her drink with Rusty. Conscious and cognitive, but also aware of her partially diminished mental capacity, making her brain feel significantly smaller and slower. At least all the hard work was done for the day.

She had, at the very least, one more obligation to attend to.

"Right…Strays…" 621 rubbed her face tiredly. "You…" She hissed to herself. "Ugh…I need to give Stray One and Three a bath. Stray Two…are you still mostly clean?"

"Yeah…I'm fine." N nodded. "I can uh…wait." He pointed to the bed, closing the curtain.

"…" 621 found the shower, which was little more than a large bucket that had been jury-rigged with piping and a curtain to make it functional. "Right, you two, here."

"Wait…we have to go…at the same time?" Uzi cringed at the thought, and V visibly recoiled as well.

"I used to have to take coed showers in a room for thirty individuals. You're lucky I'm letting you go without Stray Two." 621 told them, clearly annoyed. "Warm water is a premium at this altitude as well, so I'm not going to pay for both of you individually."

"…" Uzi looked at V uncomfortably, seeing the taller android was also uncomfortable.

"…" V sighed. "It's…fine, Uzi. Remember, we're just machines. You and I don't have anything to actually hide. Right?"

"Yeah…fine."

It was a pretty tight fit. V had to sit with her knees to her chest, legs spread so Uzi could sit in front of her, also knees to her chest. The upper portion of their bodies, that they actually made an effort to cover up, were pretty much identical, being a smooth semi-spherical, metal tube from which their arms and neck extended out of, and connected to their black, load bearing, artificial muscle at their midriff. The only humanoid detail was two small ridges near their necks that sort of looked like collar bones, but that was purely a cosmetic design. There was a glowing light in the center of their chest, that matched the color of their eyes. Uzi's was shaped like the symbol for Worker Drones, a small circle with a hat on and two squares for eyes; while V's was the symbol for Disassembly Drones, being a slightly more elaborate but still plain circle stylized to look like a skull.

It was still awkward and they both hated being forced into the same tub together. But they needed 621 to get the shit out of V's hair, and the blood out of Uzi's hair.

At the very least, 621 was quick about it. She started by washing V's hair and shell, taking away the smell that V had been fortunate enough to be unable to perceive. Uzi took much longer to clean, with blood being thickly caked into her hair, staining it black until 621 worked it out.

While 621 was working over Uzi's head, she thought back to that story that the Hound had told. The one where Laconians killed all her friends on the Karakum.

"You…hate us…don't you?" Uzi uttered sadly, a little afraid of an answer. "Because we're Laconians?"

"…" 621 hissed through her nose. "Some young people, like Rusty, can forgive you relics of Laconia for crimes you didn't personally commit. I am not one of those people. I only told you about the first day of the war. The…horrors…that were unleashed from the Sol-Laconia War…and the things they did…I will never forgive Laconia or it's detritus."

"Then…why help us?" V shivered as she asked. "Why bother saving us three?"

"…" 621 stared at her, long enough that V felt uncomfortable and averted her gaze to the back of Uzi's head. "Because honor is a heavy debt, that demands it's payment in full. Until that debt is paid, you are mine to protect."

"Then…" Uzi dreaded asking, but she had to know. "What happens when that debt is paid?"

"Well…I suppose that will be an interesting day, won't it?"

---

Washed and dressed back in their usual clothes, Uzi, V, and N waited as the Hound had one more thing for them.

"It's been a long day, I know. But, as a reward for following my orders, I have a gift for you." 621 told them.

"Oh? A gift? What is it?" N questioned.

"The freedom of expression,"

"…Huh?" Stray Squad looked a bit confused.

621 rolled her eyes. "I'm going to disable your censor."

"Oh…oh!" Uzi and V cheered, bouncing with excitement. N on the other hand shifted uncomfortably.

It was a fairly simple operation. Their control collars were able to override their core programing, and 621 was adept at finding the one line of code that limited their vocabulary, changing the censor programming from "true" to "false."

"Alright, that should do it." 621 smiled. "Go ahead, give it a try."

It was a strange sensation, suddenly having a few dozen words they had always known about but never able to use themselves.

Uzi and V immediately focused on each other, sharing similar lines that coded them to be sarcastic, snarky, and blunt. They seemed in agreement to use it on each other.

"Asshole!" Uzi and V yelled at each other. They each jumped in surprise, ecstatic at the new sounds they could make.

"Bitch!" They'd pointed at each other then, accusing the other, but couldn't help but giggle that they'd done it.

"Fuck you!" Uzi and V said harsly, then smiled widely, surprisingly happy in spite of the day's events.

"Fuck!" Uzi and V shouted happily, leaping towards each other and doing a little impromptu dance, wrapping their right arms together while they jumped in a circle. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

621 smiled softly, amused by the sight. She looked to N, who seemed uncertain about the whole thing. "Stray Two, please give it a try. I need to make sure the right code was changed."

"Uh…I'm good!" N assured her.

"Come the fuck on N! You have got to try out this fucking shit! It's fucking great!" Uzi encouraged him.

"Fuck yeah it's great! You've got to do this shit too N!" V agreed.

"I…err…I don't know…" N hesitated.

"Listen." 621 knelt down near him. "Just say one word, for testing purposes. You don't have to use it if you don't want to."

"Well…then…shit…?" N muttered quietly.

"Ah ha fuck yeah!" Uzi and V laughed while hugging N.

"Just remember to mitigate it's use, Stray One, Stray Three." 621 reminded them. "You won't be taken seriously if every other word out of your mouths is 'fuck', got it?"

"Yeah yeah!" Uzi and V reluctantly agreed.

After that excitement, the three androids got into their bed, sitting on top of it with the curtain open. N was still a bit withdrawn, going through the day's events. Uzi and V had calmed down a bit, sitting quietly.

"Hey…Uzi…?" V called her hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"Listen." V looked away awkwardly. "I'm sorry you saw me…tearing that Worker apart earlier. I had been stressed for a while and…sort of let it out. Still…you didn't deserve to see that shit."

"…" Uzi nodded back. "Did it help?"

"…No." V admitted.

"Then maybe don't do that shit again." Uzi suggested, smiling softly.

"Ah…" V nodded happily. "Fair enough."

621 came back after cleaning up slightly. "Right. I know our first day together was nothing like what you expected, but not every day is going to be like that. Most of our time will be spent in here, doing maintenance while we prepare to go on bigger jobs with my AC. We won't usually be doing small work like today. Tomorrow we'll pick up some supplies, and you'll learn how to help me maintain the AC."

"Okay." Uzi smiled awkwardly. "So…goodnight I guess."

"Yeah…night." V added.

"Um…" N hugged one of his arms. "Can you tell us a bedtime story, Raven?"

Uzi turned to stare at N, and V muttered very quietly what sounded like "What the fuck N?"

621 visibly recoiled, considering that request. "A bedtime story?" She seemed notably agitated by the request, but acquiesced. "Very well."

Taking a seat on a crate near their bed, 621 rubbed her face tiredly as she thought of an appropriate story. Realizing they were getting a story, Uzi, V, and N made themselves as comfortable as they could.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess, in a kingdom on old, old Earth." 621 told them quietly. "But the princess was sad. It wasn't something she could help. She just was. So she told her best friend, the handsome prince next door. She told him she was sad. She told him she loved him."

"Uh…did the prince help her?" Uzi was a bit confused with this story, but was at least invested. "Did he love her back?"

621 stared at them with quiet, haunted eyes. "The prince violated the princess, abused her love, and abandoned her. He didn't want her love."

"…Oh…"

"The princess was devastated. The best friend she had ever had, that she had grown up with and cherished so dearly…had treated her with such callous cruelty. It almost drove her mad. The sadness ate at her further…"

Uzi, V, and N were already disturbed at this point. They didn't think 621 could say anything more to distress them.

"And then she met the demon."

621 paused for a moment. For as calm as she seemed, she also seemed emotionally affected by this story.

"Now…this demon was not one of god's fallen angels, nor had it spawned in the fires of hell. It was a demon born of man, and it made it's home on battlefields far and wide, gorging itself on the lives it cut down. It took so many lives, that it's name means death. But…when the girl met the demon…it was love at first sight. She was kind to it, and it was honest to her. They had met only by chance, but their lives became intertwined."

"There was…just one problem. The demon was afraid. It knew what it was, and it thought that the longer she stayed by it's side, the more likely she would either end up dead, or corrupted by it's influence. It did everything it could to stop her, tricking her or being cruel to her, but she wouldn't stop loving it."

"One day, enemies of the demon, of which there were many, sought to hurt it in any way that they could. They set a trap to kill the demon, and capture the girl. They succeeded at both. Unfortunately…the demon was so hated, so unwanted by heaven and hell, that they wouldn't allow it to die. So it crawled and screamed and raged and lashed out, and condemned seven cities to burn, their people reduced to ash in an instant. The demon did what it always had. It hunted, and slaughtered, and killed everything in it's path, just to save the girl it loved. It damned them all, it damned everyone, just to save one life."

"…Did it save her?" V wondered quietly.

"…It did…and it didn't. The girl lived, but she had grown it's cruel heart. Just as the demon had condemned mankind in it's drive to save her, she had condemned herself, taking many lives with her hands and with her teeth. In the end, the girl lived, tainted by it's influence. And the demon had started another terrible war, that would lead the Earth to ruin and ash." 621 concluded.

"…I was hoping for a happy story…" N complained.

"I don't have any happy stories." 621 corrected. "Only true stories."

"Wait…that's a true story?" Uzi seemed shocked, V and N as well. "H-How?"

"…I suppose this then, is my final lesson today." 621 declared. "Monsters are real. The demon is still out there, stalking the stars for it's next kill."

---

Grid 067 – Abandoned Factory

"Are you about done there, private?" The Balam Sergeant demanded. "We were supposed to get these drones shipped out an hour ago!"

"Yes Sergeant! I think there's just one more drone to collect!" The Private answered, moving back in between the factory machinery.

"Well hurry it up, will you!?" The Sergeant demanded. Overall, it had been a good day. He and his squad were getting paid to capture a couple of hundred drones for Balam, probably to be used in a factory somewhere, or maybe by some executive for their own…personal uses.

Admittedly, The Sergeant wasn't against such action. Laconian scrap deserved to be treated as such, so he'd been more than happy to look away while the platoon had their fun.

If only that damn Hound hadn't killed the Disassembly Drone. Those units were even more humanoid and versatile, and were a highly sought after commodity now on Rubicon. He hadn't been happy reporting that failure to command, as he looked down at it's corpse…where did it's corpse go?

"Sergeant." The Private called out unusually calmly. "I just about have that last drone cornered. I need your help."

"…You dumbass?! You're having issues with just one damn drone?!" The Sergeant stormed past The Private, finding the small female Worker Drone in between factory equipment.

"Oh no you found me." The Worker Drone muttered loudly with a serene smile. "Whatever will I do?"

"Private you fucking dumbass, stop wasting my fucking time! Do I have to do this myself!?" The Sergeant reached down to grab the Worker Drone. "It's just one stupid drone, how hard was it to-"

His hands passed through the drone, her form shimmering as it was disrupted. She winked up at him, before she disappeared completely.

"…?" Confused and distressed, The Sergeant turned around, and looked at The Private. He was smiling far too widely. The Private brought up his hand, and snapped his fingers.

The long metal claw of some predatory insect burst out of The Sergeant's chest, it's long arm dragging him into the air. He screamed out in pain and horror and surprise, as he was brought up to the ceiling of the factory, and found a new horror.

His entire platoon, and the hundreds of Worker Drones they were supposed to capture, impaled and torn asunder on the limbs of some incredibly long insect made of metal, it's hard shell imitating flesh with sickening efficiency. It writhed and coiled with excitement as it brought the eviscerated head of the Disassembly Drone round over his form, and spoke to him with a detached, clinical voice.

"Blood or oil, it all tastes the same."

The monster sunk it's fangs into his face, and crushed his skull.

---

Author's Note: This is by far the longest chapter I have ever written. I wanted to have a lot of scenes of 621 interacting with the Drones for their first day together, as she put them through increasingly stressful situations. She was kind of cruel today, but for the most part, she won't have to push them so hard in the future. Mostly. Otherwise I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, cause it has a little bit of everything. Lore, backstory, setting...still, there are plenty of secrets to reveal.

So that one Murder Drone...G. I am probably going to make up a handful of what could be considered Murder Drone OCs as side characters, and I promise I have no inspiration from other peoples OCs. I know how weird this community is about that.

So citations...! The flophouse, water irregularity search, and raid on the water theft were taken from or inspired by the first couple of episodes of The Expanse. The Belter Creole from the flophouse is correct, though I am less certain about the Creole spoken after Uzi had a corpse fall on her...it's a very difficult language to write in, but I just love torturing myself.

621's backstory regarding the "Three Rebellions War" and the "Sol-Laconia War" are the main thing I have been referring to about using "The Expanse" lore to fill in the gaps between OTK and this story. Duarte and Inaros are characters from The Expanse, though Chief is an Armored Core character. So look forward in the future to having those events and characters explored a little more. Maybe.

Otherwise...I don't think anything else of importance happened. Nope.

So I'm still working on chapter 14 of this story, and it's going to be a little more difficult than usual, but I'm still very excited to be back into this story! Stay tuned, and abide with Rubicon!

To truefortune: So glad you enjoyed OTK and are liking this one! And ah, you're probably correct, though we are pretty far from the ending, so a lot of unexpected things will happen before we get to the end. Stay tuned!