A.N.: And here is chapter 6! I hope you all enjoy!

To Sci-fi Guy 22: They don't, however the Horin Fourth Army has encountered necrons before, hence their knowledge of such things!

Uzi let out a sigh as she collapsed into a nearby chair, looking down at the gutted open body of her friend as it rapidly regenerated. The upgrade had been… awful to do. She'd had to cut him open, mess with his insides and tweak little details using the strange powers she had. All whilst the creepy little maid gave her instructions on what to do and how. The same creepy maid that had most likely killed a lot of people according to N's memories, and the one who had apparently turned them into the very murder drones that had been genociding her people all this time.

Needless to say, Uzi was feeling less than fond of the maid. In fact, a very large part of her wanted nothing more than to grab her railgun and fire it straight into her, wait for the cooldown, and shoot again until the maid was gone. She didn't for a few reasons.

The main one was that Uzi didn't think it would work. Cyn was dangerous, that much was certain. V was terrified of her in a way that Uzi had never seen her before, and Uzi didn't know what she was capable of exactly. That and the humans wanting to wipe them out made it easier to swallow the fact she couldn't just try and kill her.

The second was that it would definitely make N upset. Stupid, goofy N.

And the third… was that she held too many answers to the questions Uzi had.

"Confident. The upgrade was successful. Big brother N will no longer be affected by overheating or the light of the stars." The maid said, holding her head upright with one hand.

"Why do you call him that?" Uzi asked, not even bothering to sound friendly. "You're not actually his sister."

"Shrug. This is none of your concern." Cyn walked up to N. "Curiously. You know, I wonder how you convinced those two to defect. J gave me a version of the story, but I am confident it wasn't a particularly accurate one."

Uzi smugly grinned at her. "Hehehe. Wouldn't you like to know."

"Annoyed. Yes, I would." The maid turned to her, her expression never once changing. It was honestly really creepy.

"Well, I wanted to know why you called him big brother, so I guess it sucks for both of us."

"Annoyed." Cyn repeated. The silence stretched uncomfortably between the two of them. "...N was the first one to show any form of affection to me. He is… strange. Pure in a way others are not in his feelings." She paused. "He is not perfect by any means. Not even close. He is a pushover, and finds it hard to stand up for himself, and at times for others. But he has a sincerity to his actions and words others do not. It is… endearing."

Uzi contemplated that, leaning against the chair as she looked to the ceiling.

"...So why did you turn him into a monster?"

Cyn turned her visor to N. "...It is your turn to answer my question."

Uzi considered calling her out for the evasion. "You're evading the question." So she did. "Whatever. I got lucky. Shot N in the head whilst sneaking out, and his sensors were messed up when he regenerated. Didn't realise I was a worker drone. We talked. He was… nice. And he listened." She chuckled. "It was a bit touch and go, and he… killed quite a few people, but eventually he changed his mind and helped me. V is… more of a work in progress." She sighed. "Honestly she's here because N is." Even if Uzi actually kinda respected V for her no fucks given attitude. The disassembly drone was still a bitch though. But she wouldn't be happy to see her leave.

Whatever.

"I see." Cyn slowly said. "Amused. Of course N befriended one of the creatures he was meant to kill."

"Bite me, It's cuz I'm awesome that he listened."

"Doubtful tone. If you say so."

Uzi glared. "Do you do this on purpose?" She wiggled her fingers. "This whole… enunciating what you are doing."

Cyn's head began falling before she readjusted it with her hand. "Giggle. I do not understand what you mean."

Uzi's eyes narrowed. "Oh you little…"

"Wha…" The mutter brought their conversation to silence, both of their attentions now dragged to where the disassembly drone slowly rose from the operation table. "...Uzi?" He asked slowly.

Uzi tried not to show how smug she felt that N had called to her and not Cyn, walking up to the table. "Heya bud. How are you feeling?"

"...Weirdly good." N said, his eyes no longer hollowed as he took the area around him in. "I… I'm no longer overheating." A smile spread on his face, his expression growing excited. "Uzi! I'm not… I'm not getting any heat warnings! It worked!"

Uzi grinned wide. "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! High five!" He immediately slapped his hand in hers, the both of them smiling wildly at each other. There was a giddiness in the air, a sense of relief that made Uzi feel warm and fuzzy. The sight of N so clearly happy, so…

"Clearing throat. I am still here." Cyn said in a deadpan, walking up to the table. "Hello big brother. The upgrade was… successful." The maid commented. "I am happy for you."

"T… thanks Cyn." N chuckled nervously. "Um, so… did I miss anything?"

"V was keeping an eye here on lil miss monster here." Uzi said, pointing to Cyn who did not comment. "When she informed us that the humans were approaching the planet once more. She went off with J to intercept."

N's eyes widened, a surprising amount of fear on his face. "What?! Oh biscuit, I need to get out there now!" He made to stand up, only for Uzi to push him back down.

"Wow! Dude, you just finished your upgrade! We should… I dunno, like check your systems or something?"

N's expression softened, before gaining an intensity that caught her off guard. "Uzi, I appreciate it, really I do, but I need to get out there." He shook his head. "It's not safe. The humans… they're dangerous."

Uzi rolled her eyes. "Well duh. I could have told you that."

"Big brother." Cyn said, tilting her head. "You seem to be misunderstanding, though it is definitely the fault of the purple thing for poorly explaining."

"Hey!"

Cyn ignored the outraged exclamation from the girl. "They did not go to fight. They went merely to observe."

N was hardly reassured. "Even observing is… gods Cyn, you said as much yourself! The humans here… they aren't like back where we come from." He shivered even as Uzi placed a hand on his shoulder, a concerned expression on her face. "I… I have to go. Make sure they're alright."

Cyn tilted her head. "Very well big brother."

"Oh hell no! You aren't going anywhere without me!" Uzi snarled, her wings opening behind her and cutting his way out. "Either you take me with you, or you are staying right here!"

N's expression twisted, his eyes hollowing. He hated the idea of putting Uzi in danger… but he couldn't just leave V out there. Even J. He… didn't really like J. But even she didn't deserve what sort of fate awaited the people of this galaxy.

"Uzi… please, this isn't…"

"Oh don't give me that shit!" Uzi snarled. "You're a disassembly drone, big and scary and all that, but you two got your shit rocked last time! And I've got my cool ass, kinda freaky powers! You're my friend N, and even V is… tolerable sometimes! If you think I'm letting you go out there to deal with this stuff alone, you can bite me!"

Silence greeted her proclamation as she glared defiantly in N's eyes, who eventually relaxed, a soft smile on his face. "...Sorry Uzi. I guess I just freaked out a bit there. Just… promise me to be careful, alright?"

She untensed, her wings folding back behind her. "Sure, whatever. Let's move." She glared at Cyn. "...You don't do anything weird while we're gone."

"Giggle. I have no idea what you mean."

N directed a pleading look to the maid. "Cyn…"

"Annoyed huff. Very well. I will endeavour not to cause any issues to the residents of the bunker."

N did not wait any longer, rushing out the door of the room with Uzi following closely behind him. Cyn waited some time, counting to one hundred before she moved, leaving the room and wandering the halls of the bunker.

There was no real reason to do so. She could easily teleport to her destination. And yet, walk she did. Avoiding the attention of any of the workers, carefully appearing right in the corner of their eyes. Observing. Listening.

Until she reached her destination.

Edium had seen better days.

He was hungry. Thirsty. Tired. His body ached from the uncomfortable chair he'd been tied to for well over a day now.

"Three minutes without air." The voice made him startle; It had a monotonous, cadence like rhythm to it. His eyes caught sight of another of the weird metallic creatures, standing only a couple metres before him. He must be more out of it than he realised if he didn't even notice the door opening… "Three days without water. Three weeks without food." It paused, its expression neutral as it spoke. "In my experience, some humans can last longer without these things. But eventually, inevitably. They die." Its head tilted, and it held it back up with its hand. It was dressed in an odd outfit, one he'd never seen before. Between its speech and its general demeanour, the thing was… unnerving.

"...Your point?" Edium asked, his voice a rasp.

"They have not fed you have they? Nor given you any water." It spoke. "Amused. The worker drones have hardly ever interacted with a human before, and my little toys have been quite busy with the recent events. Your existence must barely register in their minds. Pondering. Will they even realize what you need before you waste away?"

"I was… planning on telling them… next time one of them comes by." Edium said, trying to inject some cheer in his voice he was most definitely not feeling.

"Condescending chuckle. Of course you were." Was it his imagination, or was it closer? He… he hadn't seen it move. He felt a cold sweat run down his back. "You know, this galaxy has really made me rethink much. Lots of consideration, introspection."

"Glad to hear it." Edium said with a small nervous grin. "So, uh, are you with the…"

"Indeed, much of my previous neural patterns have needed adjustments." The thing continued, heedless of what he said. "Sinister smile. However, there is one conclusion that I have found only reinforced since arriving here."

The ropes binding him to the chair felt more restrictive than ever as the creature gazed at him with its yellow eyes and fixed smile. "... and that is?"

The room grew darker until it was pitch black, the thing's yellow eyes the only source of light. "That humanity is disgusting."

Edium's eyes widened as many, many more lights appeared around him, illuminating a grotesque, massive form that loomed all around him.

He opened his mouth to scream, only for a strangely human hand to muffle him.

"Giggle. Shush now. I am working."

V was silent as she walked through the snow covered streets of the ruined city, J only a few feet to her left. They'd stopped flying some time ago, concerned about being spotted from a distance by the newly arrived humans. It had been… awkward, to say the least, on both parts. Neither V nor J were particularly eager to start a conversation.

And yet, the silence was proving an even more painful alternative.

It was V that broke first.

"Cyn? Really?" V said in a disgusted tone.

"Oh come off it. Like either of us have a choice in the matter." J snorted. "You were shaking like a leaf when near her. Disobeying her is as futile as a union attempt."

V wanted to scream at J, wanted to rebuke and insult her. And yet… she found herself unable to. She'd been doing exactly what Cyn had been wanting after all… all this time, just to keep N and herself safe. To make sure IT would leave them alone.

And now it was here. With them. Playing nice.

It reminded her far too much of the manor for her liking.

"...Whatever." V muttered.

"If anything, I am the one more surprised. You sided with N? Really?" J shook her head. "Unlike him, you weren't actually useless. I thought I would come back and have to free you, or find you already having solved the situation… but instead I find you following along like a good little pet?"

V didn't rise to the bait. "You seriously thought I would fight N?" Her tone turned mocking. "Over you?"

J glanced at her, and for a second V could have sworn she looked hurt. It was gone as fast as she could see, but for a drone, their memory was a perfect thing. She could easily rewatch the relevant frame. "I didn't think you would kill him. But at least kill that stupid worker drone he seems to have taken a fondness for, or tried getting through that thick headframe of his!"

V shook her head. "Things have changed. N's really protective of her." To a point it made her slightly upset, though it had gotten easier to tolerate with time. "Besides. You tried to kill him." She glared at J.

"We both know Cyn would have just brought back his backup. He'd have forgotten all about this little adventure of his, and gotten back to being our useless, obedient teammate, desperately pining after you." She glanced at V, a mocking humour in her expression. "You certainly never had an issue with how we treated him before."

V felt a sharp pang in her chest. "That was different. I was trying to keep him in the dark over the whole mess with Cyn. You know he'd never have accepted it."

"Oh sure. Keep telling yourself that. I'm the mean one here, and you two are so bloody innocent." J chuckled. "We built that spire together, remember."

V swallowed down the spike of remorse and guilt the words elicited in her. "Maybe. But there is a difference between us."

J rolled her eyes. "Oh please. And what is that?"

"I'm actually trying to do things differently." V said, her eyes narrowed. "I'm trying to change. You're content being the same bitch as before."

J glared back at her, clearly about to say something when they both stiffened.

"...We're close." J commented. She glanced at V. "Personal feelings to the side during work time?"

"Agreed." V nodded. "How do we approach this?"

"Coming from the air is a bad idea. You guys struggled against five thousand, and there's a lot more than that here from what the long range sensors can tell." J commented. "We had the advantage of surprise last time, but they're going to be on the lookout for us now."

V tilted her head. "Sneaky it is. We're not here for a fight anyways."

"Good. Then let's move in. Keep your processors running low. Our heat signatures are our biggest giveaways to them." J glanced at V. "When was the last time you had oil?"

V hesitated. "...not recently."

"Of course." J sighed. "...Perhaps let's go find something for you to eat first then."

"Fine." V agreed. Hopefully they could find an old carcasse she could drain the oil of. If not…

She'd find a solution.

Castellan Tom Evain had seen his fair share of battlefields through his career in His Imperial Army. From deserts to jungles, to plains and urban warzones.

Which made his next words all the more condemning. "This is the worst shithole we've ever been deployed to." He bluntly commented from the top of the small hill he'd set himself up with his honor guard.

"Eh I dunno sir. Tyrasin Tertius was pretty bad."

Pretty bad was putting it extremely bloody lightly. The only engagement the Hosin Fourth Army had with the dreaded necrons, and the reason they knew about the abominations in the first place. It had been a nightmare from start to finish, and had resulted in two third losses army-wide, even with space marine intervention.

"In terms of foes, sure. But at least the planet wasn't going to kill us if we had a rip in our clothes." He grunted, glaring down at the gloves of the armoured environmental suit the tech-priests had cooked up. Having the nearby hive-world shift a good portion of their production to supplying the guard with environmental armour was quite a relief, as it meant being able to deploy many more troops than they would have otherwise, but the suits were cumbersome. Difficult to manoeuvre in. And worse of all, provided even less protection than the regular guard's armour. Just being on the planet made his troops half as effective as they should be. And that was a significant risk given the sort of enemy they were asked to face.

Flight. Supersonic speeds. Capable of shifting from anti-infantry to anti-vehicle level weaponry at a whim. Regeneration they had yet to see a limit to. Oh certainly the heavier pieces of equipment could significantly damage them, but what did it matter if they were just going to get back up again?

Those were no necrons, but they were proving to be their own pain in his ass.

At least this time they'd come in force.

A few miles away from their old camp they had deployed their base; A hundred thousand strong so far, with more coming down every hour. It was a welcome sight, the ranks upon ranks of well ordered, disciplined guards before him, marching in symbolic parade to rally morale. The sound of boots was muffled by the snow that perpetually fell on this cursed world, but the sheer number of troops still made it sound clear to his ears.

Better still was the sight of the first vehicles they'd been able to prepare for the bitter cold. Chimera armoured transports to prevent the troops from being hit quite as badly in case of hit and runs and give them some modicum of protection. Sentinels for some light, fast moving, hard hitting scouts. Even three dozen leman russ battle tanks, the armoured fist of His Army. They'd even manage to scrounge up four hydras, placed around their base of operation, ready to pick off anything flying that entered their range unauthorised. The four barrels of the anti-air battery were a welcome sight to sore eyes, and had been a comfort to both himself and his troops.

The decapitation strike of the command of the previous battle group was fresh in memory. These were not mindless abominations, and should not be treated as such. No, they were thinking abominations. Far more dangerous.

The hydras were perhaps the best asset they had at hand to address the foe, but far from the only one. For along with those, they had brought twelve basiliks artillery guns. Each capable of razing a city block in a matter of minutes with sustained fire. Now this was firepower that made him comfortable with their chances.

The valkyries were still unable to remain in the air for long unfortunately, and the loss of five of them had made the pilots more reluctant to make entries. Their air support was reduced, and not for the first time he lamented their lack of orbital support. He understood why, of course.

He'd never forget the sight of an imperial cruiser firing onto its own for his life. The idea of your own turning against you against their very will… Horrifying.

Yet another reason for them to put down whatever foulness was afoot here.

A smirk came to his face at the sight of a squad of ogryns clumsy passing at the parade. Their foes seemed to enjoy a good melee brawl.

He'd love to see them try that with an ogryn.

"Castellan." One of his aides said, exiting the command post. "The marshall has given confirmation. You are now at liberty to begin operations."

"Excellent." Tom's eyes narrowed at the city. "Order the troops to prepare defensive lines around the base. Then, send out our scout patrols, and have the basiliks track their progress. Mission objective: locate any structure or base of operation our foes may be employing. Disengage from any actual engagement, and let the artillery try and drown them in fire. If that fails, back off to the defensive lines, and we will put them down."

"Understood!"

J and V both froze, standing above the old carcasse of a worker drone, as their sensors suddenly warned them of approaching movement.

"...Fifty of them. Four vehicles." J said quietly. "Ideas?"

"Hit them hard and fast before they know we're here. Leave the area once that's done." V said, a sadistic grin appearing on her face. "Given the numbers we were seeing earlier, that's got to be scouts looking for us."

"And you want us to rush in?" J shook her head. "You haven't changed a bit. That's exactly what they want. We'd be like interns volunteering for printer duty."

"You got a better idea?"

"Of course. Let them pass by. Go back to spying on that little base of theirs. And then decide on a plan of action." J said, crossing her arms with a superior expression.

"And risk them stumbling onto the bunker?" V argued back. "This isn't like back on Earth. There's only three of us, two right now, and Cyn is unavailable. AND these guys are much better equipped."

J glared at her. "Earth had nuclear weapons."

"Which Cyn got rid of easily. I'm not seeing her do that with these guys. Again, because she's 'busy'" V said with air quotes. "Or more likely, she can't be asked to do it herself and we're once again stuck on grunt duty."

J snorted. "Can't argue with that." She shrugged. "Well then, how about a compromise? What we are missing most right now is information." She tilted her head. "We don't know what they want besides killing us. We don't know the scale of what we're dealing with. We know there's three spaceships left, but we don't know if that is all of them, or how many there are per ship. We don't know what weapons, what vehicles they have, or what they can do. We don't know their chain of command. We don't know anything beyond what we can speculate and the similarities with the humans of our world, which besides biology and cognitive functions, is nothing."

V rolled her eyes. "Get to the point already J."

"I was doing that, you subpar third quarter." J snarled at her. "We observe the patrol. Try and figure out who is in charge. Then, we hit them, hard and fast; Kill everyone but them and a couple others, and leave. We interrogate them, get what we want, and then bam. Get rid of them."

V shrugged. "Fine by me. N already took a prisoner, and so far they've been eager to cooperate."

"Moron bot did? Color me surprise, there's actually something resembling a processor behind his visor." J chuckled meanly.

V stared at her. "...If you want our truce to hold, you'll stop with that kind of comment. Or need I remind you you got your ass kicked by a worker?"

J hand crushed the metal bar she was leaning on. "...Oh V, I can work perfectly fine even with traitorous scum such as yourself."

V didn't rise to the bait. "Let's move then."

It happened in a flash.

One moment, sergeant Lian had been leading his small scouting patrol through the surprisingly well organized streets of the ruined city they'd made base nearby; A group of about fifty guardsmen total along with four sentinels, all keeping an alert eye to their surroundings, and especially on their heat detectors. He'd blinked, and suddenly one of the sentinels was falling to the ground, cut cleanly in half by a beam of light.

"AHEAD!" He cried out, throwing himself into cover as a barrage of lasbolts were fired in the direction the laser had come from, responded to quickly by multiple rockets blasting through the poorly armored troops. He let out a curse as the three sentries rushed forward, their laser cannons carving large holes in the scattered debris the foe seemed to have hidden in. His eyes dipped to the thermal scanner, widening at the lack of response it showed. It had peaked when the laser had been fired but failed to show their foe now; What the hell was going on?"

"You're coming with me." A voice came right next to his ear, making him roll to the side and fire his laspistol right at where the voice had come from, only for his eyes to widen in pain as a metallic wing stabbed him in the shoulder, a glowing yellow X burning in his vision before a grip harder than steel crushed his wrists. "Naughty naughty…" The thing said with a cruel giggle, Lian feeling his stomach turn as he was suddenly pulled into the air by the thing.

In a last ditch effort he reached for one of the grenades at his belt, only to scream as his hand was severed.

"AAAAAAAH!" He screamed, the pain near blinding as below he saw the rest of his patrol get slaughtered by a second abomination falling upon them, the sentinels rendered to smoking piles of scrap.

"What is with you people and trying to blow yourselves up?!" The thing complained. It was shaped similar to a human woman, strangely enough. though Lian was much more focused on his heavily bleeding arm as fuzziness started to overcome him.

The last thing he saw before passing out was the familiar sight of a basilisk round exploding where his squad had once been, burning whatever survivor and hopefully the abomination that had been killing them along with anything within a few dozen meters.

J let out a snarl as she collapsed against a wall, her systems slowly fixing themselves. Another explosion rocked the ground near her, but this time she had made sure to avoid the calculated landing trajectory of the projectile once spotted. She'd gotten lost in the slaughter, her instincts having damn near taken over as she fell on the humans. She could have dodged the artillery round, could have avoided it… instead it had blasted her damn near point blank and sent her burned husk flying. It was a miracle she hadn't been killed and undergone a reconstruction process.

Those humans were dangerous, that much was clear. And her own performance was unacceptable. She was fast enough to dodge bullets; Fast enough to see where a human aimed their gun and dodge the laser before they could finish pressing the trigger. Her reflexes were far beyond what a human could ever hope to match, beyond what any machine humanity had developed in her time was capable of.

It was nothing less than pathetic that she had let herself get hit by something like that.

She hoped V had at least managed to get what they had come here for…

Her sensors picked up another shell, and another, and another. It seemed they were planning on obliterating the entire area in their hopes to take her down.

She smirked. She could respect the ruthlessness of such a tactic; But she had better things to do.

Fully repaired she blasted off into the sky, making sure to descend down to street level and fly low as she headed in V's direction.

N and Uzi had been flying towards the other two disassembly drones when the bombardment began. Explosions large enough to engulf entire buildings suddenly bloomed in the ruins of the old city, consuming old apartment blocks, car wrecks, and entire streets in their blasts. Dozens upon dozens, until an entire section of the city was simply gone; Vaporized under the heavy, constant artillery barrage.

"Holy shit…" Uzi whistled. "The humans aren't playing around huh N?" She blinked, surprised at the lack of response from her buddy. "N?" She asked, turning towards him.

She found him with his eyes hollowed out, staring out in the direction of the explosions with his whole body frozen stiff, only held in the air by the near automatic beat of his wings.

"Shit…" She muttered, wanting to slap herself. "N?"

"...just like he said…" She barely heard him mutter, not seeming to notice her.

"N!" She grabbed him, shaking him. What had that human told her buddy? She'd kill them for freaking N out! "Calm down! They're both fine! You're able to track them right? Part of your squad protocols? What does it tell you?"

That seemed to snap him out of it. "R…Right. They're… they're both still active, and fine." He said, a relieved sigh escaping him. "Oh biscuits. Sorry Uzi, I didn't mean to freeze like that."

"Hey, it's fine. This is definitely something." She said as the explosions finally stopped. "You're all good."

"Still…" He shook his head. "Thanks Uzi. You're always there for me." He said, his eyes returning to normal, a gentle smile on his face as he looked at her.

She blushed, looking away and crossing her arms. "Ew. Don't be gross. It's like, whatever." She glanced a look at him, still blushing. "...You're welcome though."

He chuckled. "C'mon. We should go find them." With that he opened his wings wider and took off once more, Uzi trailing close behind as she glanced towards the scene of destruction.

This was… worrying. She knew of course that the humans had a lot of destructive power available. How could they not when the ones from her world had made the Disassembly Drones, and the ones here seemed immeasurably worse? But it was one thing to know and another entirely to see.

It was worrying. She needed to get a better handle of her powers. For robogod's sake, Doll was able to teleport!

Maybe she could ask Doll next time she saw her.

The very thought made her want to groan and roll her eyes in annoyance.

Claire's life was a miserable one.

Everyday she went to the manufactorium. Everyday she worked herself to the bone there. Sometimes literally. And everyday she would go home, to her shitty little apartment in her assigned hab-block, and try and sleep long enough to survive the next shift.

Every single day of her life, for the past thirty years. It was a miracle she'd lived this long, to be honest. It had only gotten worse recently with her manufactorium being repurposed to the creation of those new suits for the Imperial Guard. They were extremely rough on her hands, and the threads damn near peeled her skin when she worked on them.

Still, better that than the PDF. Oh sure, she'd heard all the arguments to join it. Decent pay (compared to her at least), decent conditions (but what wouldn't count as that compared to working oneself to death?) and some modicum of respect.

Yeah well, Edium had been one of those who joined the PDF, and look where he was now. Sent off to space by the governor and probably dead. She'd have heard from the poor bastard if he'd made it.

She sighed, closing the door to her hab-block behind her.

"...Heya Claire." She shrieked, whirling around and pulling out a machete, pointing it at the intruder in her home who quickly raised his hands in surrender. "Wow wow! Hey! Calm down! It's just me!"

Claire was still shaking. "E…Edium?" She asked, her voice trembling. "What the hell… when did you get back?! What the hell are you doing here?!" She didn't ask how he got in. She knew the security of the hab-block was shit. Anyone could sneak in. It's why she never went anywhere without a weapon.

He sighed. "It's a long story. Trust me. I got… taken prisoner. And escaping was a nightmare." He leaned against the wall. "Sorry for sneaking in. I… you know how they treat those who got caught. Executed at best."

She knew. Everyone knew. "And you came to my place?!" She hissed, taking a step towards him, machete still held to the man. He was still wearing his environmental suit, making it impossible to see his face. It did not help her calm down. "We're friends Edium, but I won't get myself killed for you. Get the fuck out."

"I was careful. No one saw me coming here." He insisted. "I won't bother you long. I just need something to get back to my superior to ensure I won't get punished." His head lowered. "...Please Claire. I just… need a place for the night. That's it. Just the night, and I won't bother you anymore. I'll leave."

She hesitated. This was dangerous. If Edium was in trouble, just harboring him could get her killed. But… when she had been struggling, all this time ago… It was thanks to him being in the PDF she had been able to take a sick day. He'd covered for her with her boss. She'd have lost her job otherwise, and with it any semblance of rations she was given.

Damn it. Damn it all.

"Fine. One night." She said, sighing.

"Thank you Claire." He said, visibly sagging in relief. "Still, I'm surprised you still live here. I thought, what with your sister working at the palace and all…"

Claire felt a familiar flare of grief and rage, closing her eyes. "You'd think." She said bitterly. "But no. That bitch is too happy living it high in the upper spire."

"Damn. Does she never pay a visit?" He said, surprised. "That's cold."

Claire hesitated. "She…" She sighed. "She does check in every so often. Usually on my birthday. She actually dropped by last year." She chuckled darkly. "I think she just wanted to rub in the difference between us."

"What a bitch." Then, as if remembering something. "Hey, speaking of your birthday, Isn't that tomorrow?" Edium asked, crossing his arms. "What time does she usually drop by? Wouldn't want to get in the way and make things awkward."

She shook her hand. "It's fine. You'll be long gone by the time she's here."

"Not quite." Claire's eyes widened at a sudden blooming pain in her chest, a cry of pain coming out gurgled as her throat filled with blood, her eyes wide. "Get sneaked on. Idiot." The voice that came from Edium was different. Feminine, somewhat, yet… synthetic. She looked down, some sort of metallic claw emerging from her back, connected to a much longer metal limb. The lights flickered, the entire room suddenly seeming even more cramped. A dozen yellow lights were glaring down at her, metallic parts clicking and grinding all around her. "Now." Her body was pressed down, thin, sharp claws starting to scratch at her. Tapping gently. "Let me in." The tapping got more intense, even as she choked on her own blood. "Let me in." The claws began scratching harder, cutting at her skin. "Let me in." Blood began to trickle as her insides were torn open, the pain impossibly intense. "Let me in." Claire tried to scream, her eyes bulging in sheer shock. The lights flickered, a humanoid creature a little above half her height's fingers ripping through her stomach and tearing out her organs. It was dressed similarly to her sister back in the palace. "Let me in."

Eventually. Slowly. Claire died.

Then, after some time, she got back up. Cleaned the flat, as if nothing happened. Stuffed Edium's body in the closet.

And sat, waiting, as she stared at the door, her eyes flickering yellow before she finished putting on Edium's suit on.

"Giggle. Sneaky time."