N blocked the hit towards his face with a claw, moving to the side to avoid the follow-up kick that followed it. His enhanced speed compared to his opponent allowed him to predict the next move, a quick thrust to the midriff. Using his wing he pinned down the arm holding the metal pipe, thrusting the other metallic bladed appendage towards the visor of his foe.

Thad dropped the pipe, letting out a sigh. "Robo-god I keep forgetting how fast you things are."

N retracted his wing, giving the other drone a winning smile. "You're getting better! Good thinking on that kick, though watch out for moving too close into your opponent's reach. Not every enemy is going to have just two limbs!"

"Right. Right." Thad shook his head. "Well, nothing to it then. I can feel my programs adapting to the new combat knowledge already. Uzi's been working on some stuff as well… I really hope it'll be enough."

N shrugged, a sad smile on his face. "If we can have things our way, none of you guys will have to actually use any of this stuff. But well.. better prepared than not." A flicker in the shadows made his eyes hollow out. "B…but I think we should stop for today. Give it some rest right?" He said with a nervous smile, patting Thad on the shoulder.

The green eyed drone's gaze grew concerned. "...Something up N?" He asked slowly, hand tightening on the pipe as he started looking around.

N's hand gripped tighter. "Nothing you can help with. Though… if you see Uzi, tell her I've got something I'd like to chat with her about?" He asked, his eyes stubbornly avoiding the flickering in the shadows. "And maybe V as well."

Thad gave a knowing nod. "Right. Sure, I'll make sure to tell them when I see them." There was an emphasis on the when that made N relax a tad. Thad had gotten the message. Good.

N waved at him as he exited the improvised training room; A large gym that the worker drones had used for younger workers to learn the limits of their synthetic bodies and give their learning algorithms a physical space to exert themselves in.
As Thad left, it left N alone within it.

Yellow eyes turned towards the flickering shadows, a second pair of yellow eyes meeting them right back.

Alone with her.

"Giggle. You are a. Good teacher. Big Brother." Cyn said as she stepped out of the shadows.

N laughed, his body tensing up. "Well what can I say. Thad is a good learner." They all were, even Lizzy. "Keeps me busy until the squad is ready to hit the orks."

Cyn continued walking towards him, N having to fight the urge to skitter away from her. "Amused nod. Ah yes. The orks. Annoying. Creatures." She said, her usual small smile on her face. "But enough about. External. Factors. I want to. Talk to you." She paused. "If you are. Okay with it."

…That last part was a little surprising and honestly kind of hard to believe for N. Cyn had never been one to take 'no' for an answer when it came to what she wanted. "Uh. Sure! What do you…" He glanced at the door, his urge to run kicking in. "What do you want to talk about?"

"You are. Afraid of me." Cyn stated, staring at him. "An understandable. Reaction. One caused by. My actions." She paused. "I am unsure how to. Resolve this. However you stated. That you still care. For me. And so I hope it can be. Resolved."

N stared at her, dumbstruck. Of all the things he had been preparing himself for… "I…" He didn't even know what to say. "I can't just…" He did care for her. Robo-god forgive him, but he could never stop loving what he had come to see as a little sister. No matter how horrific a monster she had turned out to be.

There had been so few people for him to care for back then… Let alone those receptive to it.

Cyn did not wait for him to finish. "Frustrated nod. I acknowledge you cannot simply. Move on. Or ignore what. I have done." She paused. "As annoying as. That is." Cyn tilted her head. "But I am hoping for some. Improvement. Between us." She paused for a long time, staring at him. "I have. Missed you. Big Brother."

N gave a tight nod, letting out a deep breath. It was… strange, the things humans had programmed into them at times. He didn't need to breathe, and yet…

He was letting himself get distracted.

"...I missed you too." He said. It sounded like an admission. A confession of guilt. "But there's too much that's happened for us to ever go back to how we were." His hands clenched. "You… you killed everyone. And I mean EVERYONE. All the humans. Every single one of them. Even…" He choked up, unable to even say it. "You broke us apart and changed us into… into this! Into these genocide bots! You made us massacre workers by the thousands! I've killed so many…" He was shaking even as Cyn continued to look at him with that impassive stare of hers that revealed nothing of what she was thinking. "You made us into monsters! You erased my memories, toyed with me like a puppet…" N's head turned away, unable to look at her any longer. "I… was I ever really a brother to you? Or just… a toy you want back?"

Silence greeted his words. "...Shaken expression. This is… harder than. Expected." Cyn's voice was different. Still the same monotone, still the same cadence… but there was a warbling in it now. He heard her step closer. He knew she could be utterly silent if she wanted to. Was she trying to be considerate?

…Was it really possible she had changed?

"Tell me about it." N said with a sigh. "I don't get how Uzi does it. I mean, I massacred… so many of her people. I don't know how she can even bare to look at me."

"Giggle. In your defence, you have hardly done much at all to her. Directly. What we have is. Much more. Personal."

N finally found the strength to look at her. "...I guess it is, huh?" He said with a tired smile.

Cyn's head tilted, her hand raising to hold it back up. "Annoyed expression. I dislike the. Purple thing." She said. "But she has helped you. That much I. Have to. Recognize."

N found himself laughing shakily. "She has a tendency to make people angry. But I like her." His smile grew softer. "I really, really like her."

Cyn stared at him, expression blank. "...Resigned sigh. You do. Don't you?" Cyn slumped for a second. "Extremely annoyed expression. Of all the drones. To have. As a sister in law. Gagging motion."

N's visor was illuminated by yellow blush lines. "Wha…! That is not what I said Cyn! Don't put words in my mouth!"

"Giggle." Cyn was quiet for a moment. "...Tessa is not. Dead."

N's eyes hollowed out. "What."

"I was trying to. Understand. What was causing your distress. Towards me. And how I could. Attempt. To make it better. You believe Tessa is. Dead. And that I killed. Her." Her eyes turned to him, glowing intently. "You do not really. Care. About all the humans past the. Morality of it. On which we. Disagree. But you care about. Tessa."

"...I wouldn't say I don't care about the humans…" But she had a point. Despite everything… he had been a slave in all but name. And no human had ever bothered to care.

None except for Tessa.

"Well. She is. Alive."

N nearly fell to the ground. "You're… you're not messing with me right?" He asked in a whisper, eyes wide. "This isn't about to be a hologram where you go 'get pranked, idiot' or something right?"

"Remorseful shrug. No. It is not. I promise not. To mess with you like that. Again. For what it is worth." She said. "She is. Not as you remember her being. But she is. Alive."

N picked up on what she said. "...What do you mean by not the same?"

Cyn stared at him, N stopping himself from running away at the sudden surge of terror this caused him. "She is. No longer. Human." She turned away from him. "I am needed. Elsewhere. But I would like. To propose a. Bonding. Activity."

N was still reeling from what she had told him, staring at her back with hollowed out eyes. "...Yeah?" He said, his voice strangled.

"Indeed. There is someone. I want you to. Meet. He may be able to help with. Your. Khorne issues."

N let out a shaking breath. Did he want to mend things with Cyn? Did he really want that? With the monster, the manipulator, the one who tore them apart, the one who made their lives hell?

…He really sucked at pushing people away huh?

He didn't want to mend things with that Cyn.

But he missed his little sister.

"...Sure. I'll meet them."

Cyn stopped mid step, freezing. "...Relieved nod. Thank you. Big Brother. I promise you will. Not. Regret. Giving me a second. Chance."

"This isn't that Cyn." N said, crossing his arms as he tried to push as much seriousness in his voice. "You want to be better? I believe you. But I won't let you hurt V, or Uzi, or even J again. I'm going to make sure you stick to the right path, and that you don't become… that again." He said in a much more calm voice than he felt. "I'm a monster. I've done… horrible things. So has V, and J. Even Uzi has done stuff that… isn't right. We're all trying to figure out where to go next. We're all messes." N's head turned towards the door to the gym. His sensors could pick up his squadmates rapidly approaching. "You can't expect the rest to accept you back. They might never do so. But…" He sighed deeply, sagging. "I'm willing to give my little sister another chance. Even if it ends up hurting me." His eyes flickered to an X. "But I won't let that chance hurt anyone else."

Cyn did not look back at him. "I will not. Lie to you Big Brother. I will kill. I will torture. I am and will. Remain. A Monster. That is what I am." She turned back to him, eyes glowing an ominous yellow. "But I will not. Hurt. Those precious to you. Anymore." And with that, she was gone.

Uzi slammed the door open. "Alright you absolute weirdo, you put that really cute robot down or I swear to…" She froze at the sight of N, alone, giving her a wave with a happy smile on his face. "Oh. Did we miss her?"

V, standing right behind her, rolled her eyes and gave her a headpat, eliciting an angry snarl from the worker drone. "Idiot. I told you Cyn isn't going to do anything to N." Despite her words, she gave the disassembly drone a concerned look which he answered with a thumbs up and a more subtle nod. "Also. Really cute?" V asked, a predatory grin on her face.

"I!" Uzi squeaked, before pointing her railgun straight at V's head. "You heard nothing!" She growled, blush lines on her visor.

"Aw, and here I was starting to get your type." V said, leaning forward with feline grace. "Tall, silvery, absolutely capable of killing you…" She chuckled, visor an inch away from Uzi's own. "I mean… who was it that called me hot again?"

Uzi bit V's hand, eliciting a very much undignified squawk from the taller drone. "Bite me!"

V snarled, wings opening on her back. "Oh watch it pipsqueak, I just might!"

"Aaaand that's enough." N said, grabbing V by the scruff of her neck to which she gave a yelp. "No fighting! We got enough of that coming from the others." He paused, blushing. "And uh. I think you're really cute too Uzi."

V made a gagging noise as she made N let her go, the worker drone staring at N with hollowed out eyes and her mouth opening and closing repeatedly. "I…uh…" Purple text replaced her eyes. Restoring edge levels. Once it hit one hundred percent, she reached out, hitting him in the arm. "Ew! Gross! Don't say that dude!" She stammered. She crossed her arms, looking away. "...But also, cool. That's cool. Totally cool. Good to know." She said, her blush intensifying.

"Oh my god I am literally going to murder someone if you two don't stop flirting in front of me."

"We're not flirting!" N exclaimed, blush lines much too evident on his face for V given her unimpressed stare.

"Uh huh." She said, trying to stop her annoyance from showing too much. "Whatever. What did Cyn want?" She asked, her voice much more serious.

"Well…" N's tail flickered in agitation. "I think she wants to make up? Like… go back to how we used to be back at the manor. You know, big bro and lil sis." He paused. "Except with her being an eldritch monster that isnt hiding it anymore and me being a genocide robot."

V stared at him. "Right. That might as well be happening." She said with a grunt, before poking him hard in the chest. "Don't let your guard down around her. You know she loves her stupid mind games. I would not put it past her to do all of this just to make it hurt all the more later."

N sighed. "I know. Robo-god, I know V. But…" His eyes flickered, nearly showing tears as V's eyes hollowed out. "It's Cyn V. Despite everything… despite all she's done… it's still Cyn. Our Cyn. I can't… I can't stop loving her." He turned away from her. "You spent years pretending I didn't exist, and letting J abuse me as much as she wanted." He said softly, feeling the way the other disassembly drone went rigid at his words. "But I never stopped caring about you two." He was trembling. Shaking. He and V had already had their confrontation over what had happened back then… but even now it still hurt to remember.

He felt a hand slip into his own, glancing down to find a concerned looking Uzi staring back at him. He gave her a grateful smile, a warm flutter in his core as he squeezed it right back.

V floundered for a moment. "It's… It's not the same though! You can't… compare the two…"

N sighed. "No, you're right. It's not… fair on you to do that." He didn't miss the way V sagged in relief at that. "But it's the same principle. Even if it hurts me… I can't stop loving people. Not that easily." His voice grew hard. "But I will do everything in my power to stop her if she becomes a threat to us again." He reached out his other hand to V. "I refuse to just… stand by as she hurts us again. I'm giving her a chance, but I won't forget what she's like. Together?"

V stared at his hand, before nodding. "Together."

Uzi glanced at the hands interlocked, before glancing to V, a mischievous smile on her face. "Oh V…"

The disassembly drone glared at her. "What. We're having a moment."

"Yeah. All of us. Together right?" She extended her remaining hand. "Come onnnn… close the circle. You know you want toooo…" She said, barely stopping herself from cackling.

V groaned loudly. "No. No way. I am not…" She caught sight of N's face, who was giving her such a happy smile, eyes full of hope… "...Whatever." She said, grabbing Uzi's hand tightly, surprised at the strength with which it was held back. "Stronger than you look, pipsqueak."

"Uh, duh. We're worker drones. We're meant for industrial tasks. Pretty sure I could rip a human in half super easily." Uzi giggled evilly. "Hehehe… now that sounds like an idea."

V stared at the evil laughing gremlin, glancing back to N. "...Maybe it isn't Cyn we should be concerned about."

N laughed. "Nah. Uzi is fine. She wouldn't actually do that." He paused. "I can always throw her into the sky again if she loses it."

"You are surprisingly scary sometimes N."

Gunfire. Laser shots. Explosions. Smoke, screams and blood.

The land around the main hive of Praxis Quartus had been turned to a battlefield.

Millions of orks surged forward, roaring in bestial rage as they set themselves against the defenses of the hive; Both ancient from the time of settling, now reactivated to do their duty once more, and improvised. Batteries older than the Imperium itself fired with deafening booms as they annihilated entire groups of orks at once; Hundreds of thousands of las-shots fired every second as the PDF and whatever militia had been able to be mustered laid fire into the green tide. Massive artillery guns fired over the titantic defensive walls of the hive, crashing with blistering fury into the most dangerous of targets; Looted tanks, ramshackle artillery and hordes of truks.

In the skies countless ork fighters and bombas fought against the remains of the air contingent of the local PDF, the latter of which was rapidly losing the air war. Already bombs were being dropped into the upper layers of the hive, those who could afford to rushing to shelters and bunkers whilst the rest were given the choice to either join the defenders or cower away from the ork bombardment.

And all the while, far in the distance, the orks continued to build their terrible machines of war.

The first gargant activated with a world shaking horn, the cobbled together monstrosity the size of a hab block lumbering forward towards the hive with hundreds of orks hooting and cheering as they hanged off of it, bloodthirsty grins on their faces. It was soon greeted by a veritable avalanche of firepower, the poorly made shield generator struggling in the face of such fury from the defenders. Soon it was destroyed, the metallic avatar of war of the greenskins downed as dozens of artillery shells reduced it back to the junk it had been built of, its crew massacred and annihilated.

And yet in the meantime, three more had awoken and taken to the field, with many more being worked on out of the reach of even the mightiest gun available to the defenders.

Zorial looked at all the information streaming to him with a grim face, the command room around him buzzing with activity as orders and counter orders were yelled over each other, reports were filed and dismissed and instructions were passed on to both civilians and military personnel alike.

He knew a losing battle when he saw one. The orks had yet to make it past the first line of defense, but when they did, and they would, it would be a bloodbath. The urban environment would be a nightmare for both ork invaders and human defenders; And no amount of preparation could compensate for the fact he was working with the local ressources only, whilst the orks were bringing the full strength of a WAAAGH with them.

Worse was the organisation they showed. Their attacks seemed mindless at first, but when one observed the greater picture…

They were boxing the defenders in. Cutting off supply lines, forcing the imperials to expand precious ammunition against comparatively soft targets in the hordes of ork boyz whilst great gargants and battlwagons were being constructed in mass far away. The orks were building entire industrial districts in the wastes which were churning out a monstrous amount of vehicles, weapons and ammunition from the millions of piles of junk they had ridden down to the surface of the world and sent crashing all over the planetary surface. Even now large piles of garbage were falling from the space hulk in orbit; More material for the ork war machine.

The orks were capable of cunning, he knew that much… but this spoke of a mind of unusual strategic intent, even for a cunning warboss.

Whatever ork was leading this waaagh, it was smart. And that made it dangerous.

"This isn't working." He spoke aloud, silencing the command room. "Have our scouts managed to get an eye on the warboss?"

It took a few seconds before someone dared to speak. "N…no my lord. All scouting parties were discovered before they could make progress on that front."

He refrained himself from expressing his frustration visibly. What he wouldn't do for some scout marines right now… or hell, even some properly veteran guardsmen. Now that would even the odds… "I see. Priority is to be given to identifying and killing the warboss. The disorganisation that will follow will be key to this conflict. Either it allows us to break their offensive… or it buys us enough time to regroup and reorganise." He turned to one of the technicians. "Any progress on calling for aid?"
"No my lord. The astropathic choir is… distressed. They claim there is too much attention on the system, whatever that means."

"I see." Damn it. The Gods were watching. That could only spell bad news… "Carry on as you were."

"Are you. Available?" The voice came from right behind him, Zorial resisting the urge to swing around bolter at the ready.

"I am afraid I am a little occupied right now." He said mirthlessly, turning to face Cyn. "Your illusions I assume?"

"Nod. Your staff is seeing you still. Hard at work. And not talking to. A planet eater." She said, appearing in her metallic maid image. "The orks are. Causing trouble? That is a shame. I was hoping you would be. Available. To meet my. Big Brother."

"Indeed. Are you certain I cannot convince you to aid us?" Zorial asked, glancing at the ceiling. He saw something scuttling back, yellow eyes gazing back at him.

"No. This is not. My war. And I dont. Wanna." It said, sounding almost… childish. "I will keep. You safe. And that is it. I do not care what. Happens. To the other humans on this. Planet."

Zorial sighed. "Well… I tried at least." He said. "Well then. You said you will protect me right?"

Cyn blinked. "Yes. That is. Correct. Why?"

Zorial grinned, grabbing the chainsword at the side of the table and turning towards the exit.

"Let's put that to the test. Shall we?"

"You are. Insane." The unamused maid said as Zorial jumped off the defensive wall in full astartes armor, crushing the ork he landed on. Immediately the thousands upon thousands of orks surrounding them began firing on Zorial, apparently unable to see Cyn as she used her illusions to disguise herself, with the majority of bullets being friendly fire and the rest being deflected as Cyn's hand manifested a solver symbol, deviating the trajectory of the bullets to avoid Zorial. "This is. Stupid. Angry face."

"You said you would protect me did you not?!" Zorial said with a cheer, chainsword going to town as he began butchering ork after ork, carving a bloody trail in the horrid green mass. "Are you planning on going back on your word now that you actually have to do something?!"

"I gave you. A body guard. And did not expect you to. Use my word. Against me. Angry face." Cyn said, walking in the trail of ork corpses and somehow not getting a speck of gore on her. "This is very. Annoying." She paused. "I could just. Force you back. I have eaten planets. You know. That would be. So easy."

"Ah, but it would be admitting you cannot protect me would it not!" He said, ripping off the power claw of a nob as it tried to ambush him from behind and stabbing it in its face, blood coating his ancient word bearer armor. Heavier ordinance was being deployed against him now as the orks began firing from tanks, vehicles and artillery, all attacks being cast away and sent back into the green masses around them. "And besides, I would be much more reluctant to discuss with your brother should you do so!"

"God fucking damni…" Cyn was interrupted as an ork turned to her, looking confused before roaring and trying to stab her. She blinked before a solver symbol appeared above him, crushing him into paste. "That was. Weird."

"Do not underestimate the orks abilities." Zorial said with a grunt, pushing back against a second nob and firing a bolt shell into his skull. "It is likely that they have fought eldar or another foe with similar abilities before, and their assumption that any counter to such technology would work on any similar ability would make them able to see through your holograms."

Cyn stared at him, and he could feel the frustration from here. Impressive. "No. That is. Not how any of this. Works. That makes. No sense. You cannot just…"

"OI! DERES ANOTHER ONE DERE!" An ork screamed, wearing some kind of weird sunglasses like contraption. "SHES GOT ONE OF DEM FAKEY MAGICKY!"

Cyn immediately turned the ork into paste. "Frustrated glare. This is. Stupid. You are all. Stupid."

"You should have dressed purple."

Cyn stared at him in dead silence, and even the orks paused as they felt the sudden rise of menace in the air.

"Deadly. Glare." She spread her arms, a thousand solver symbols appearing around them and crushing an entire horde of orks into a gory mess on the floor. "I will not. Wear. PURPLE."

Zorial slowly nodded even as the masses of orks near them cheered at the bloodbath, rushing towards them in a frenzy. "Noted."

Cyn teleported on his shoulder. "Annoyed huff. This is. Your fight. I will keep you alive. But you must do the rest. Yourself."

"I am an astartes." Zorial said, revving the chainsword as he stared into the tens of thousands of orks charging towards him.

"War is what I was made for."

N hesitated.

They had agreed earlier. J, V and himself would head out along with Uzi to get an idea of what they were facing with the orks and start fighting back against them. But…

He wanted to tell J what Cyn had told him.

He was afraid Cyn had been lying to him.

He didn't want to hurt J.

…He didn't want J to hurt him.

But… if Tessa was really… alive…

He couldn't take the chance of keeping J in the dark.

Not communicating was the reason for half their problems.

"J?" He called out, knocking on the door. "Do you have a minute?"

There was some shuffling behind the door. When it slid open it was to reveal a pristinely dressed J glaring at him with annoyance. "What. We aren't scheduled for deployment for another fifteen minutes."

N chuckled nervously. "Ah right, right. I just… can I come in? It's a bit awkward talking like that."

"Why." She asked, crossing her arms.

N hesitated. "It's about Cyn."

J's eyes hollowed out. "I'm loyal to the boss. I don't care what V wants, or…"

"It's not about that!" N hastily reassured her, shaking his head. "It's… look, I would really rather tell you inside. Please?"

She continued staring at him for a while before rolling her eyes. "Come on in." She said, stepping aside and walking back in, her tail lazily waving behind her.

N actually took a second to follow. He was… surprised it had been that easy. "Thanks J." He said, entering the room. A single bed, a desk with some paperwork, and a shelf with nothing on it. It was… cold. Professional.

Lonely.

"So, out with it." She said, turning to face him. "What was so urgent you needed to come bother me about it?"

N nervously shuffled, poking his fingers together. "Right. Well, it started with… Cyn saying she wants to reconnect. You know, be… big brother and little sister again. And that she's sorry for what she did." He quickly added. "Which I know might be a lie! Even if I really, really want it to not be one! But… I know she could be lying."

"Good. Because that is what she does. We're toys N." She sighed. "You might be her favorite toy, but that's what you are." She paused, and then with a surprising amount of sympathy. "Sucks to hear, but I'm not going to sugar coat it for you."

He chuckled, making her look at him in surprise. "As much as there is stuff I… kinda wasn't the biggest fan of J, your bluntness was something I always appreciated. You always were willing to say what the others were too worried to tell me." A sweatdrop appeared in his visor. "And the stuff that people knew better than to tell me."

"Ugh I get it already, I've been a…" She shook her head. "Whatever. So what, you want me to play along?"
"No." N said, his smile faltering. "It… It was something else. Something she told me in all of that. And I…" He took a breath. "I want you to be prepared. I know it's likely a lie, I know she might just be saying it to make it hurt all the worse when we find out she was lying… but… it didn't feel right not telling you."

J looked suspicious, her tail flicking in agitation behind her. "Well?" She demanded. "Good lord N, you waffle more than an intern giving his first presentation."

"Sorry, sorry. Always do that when I get nervous." He said with a sad smile. "...She said Tessa is alive."

J's eyes hollowed out. "...No." She whispered. "No, no, no…"

N took a step forward, concerned. "J?"

"She's… she's lying. She… she wore her fucking skin N!" She screamed. "She walked in wearing Tessa's skin! Staring at me through carved out eyes, her fingers sticking out from Tessa's!" She was in hysterics, her fingers digging so hard into her metallic frame as she hugged herself that they were carving dents into it with a groan. "She killed her! She killed her and wore her around!"

N was frozen in shock at the massive meltdown from J. He quickly broke out of it as he saw the damage she was inflicting on herself. "J!" He said, rushing towards her and forcing her hands away from herself. "I… I know! You told me!" Never in that much detail, which would likely haunt him until his final days, but she had said as much right before he was corrupted. "I just… I just figured you would want to know!"

J suddenly stopped moving, freezing entirely in an eerie manner. She then glanced up at him, eyes still hollow. "N… humans can't live without their skin. She's dead. She has to be… or otherwise…" She shivered. "Otherwise… how long… how long have I left her alone, in the clutches of…" She hiccuped, and then to N's utter horror… she began to cry.

"Oh robogod… oh robogod…" He said, embracing her into a hug despite cringing at the touch, expecting at any moment the familiar feel of J's peg leg digging itself into his head as she kicked him away. "J… you didn't know. How could you?" He said softly, reassuringly. "You… you were left with an impossible situation. We both know if you had known, you would have done something. Right?"

"R…right." J said, a twisted smile on her face as she looked up to N with hopeful yet broken eyes. "I would have done something! Right?!"

N didn't know what to feel in the face of a J that was so… so dangerously close to cracking. "Right." He agreed. "And eventually, we're going back to our dimension. And when we do… if Tessa is still alive, then we'll rescue her. Even if it means fighting Cyn."

J looked away from him. "And if she isn't?" She croaked out.

"Then we make Cyn pay for such a cruel trick… and for killing Tessa." N said, his eyes flickering to an X.

J looked back at him, eyes wide. Then, a shaky smile appeared on her face. "...You're… not too bad, N. You know?"

N looked away. "...You're pretty cool yourself J."

"No. No I'm not." She said, getting up and pushing him away. "You don't need to pretend otherwise. You don't like me, and that's okay." She said it with confidence. "Right. Right. This is just… new information that needs to be processed later. Much later. With a lot of oil."

"I like you." He said simply, watching her head snap back towards him with wide eyes. "I mean, you're kind of mean to me, and very rude, but you're also really cool."

She stared at him, before blushing and pushing him out. "Shut up! Get ready to work synergistic liability!"

"Right!" He chirped, happy to see her back to normal… mostly. "See ya later J!"

"SHUT IT!"

Doll stared at the sky above her. If one looked carefully (and had advanced robotic optics), one could see the numerous fields of debris created by the destruction of the various ships that had come to haunt their world.
It hadn't been that long ago that Doll thought the nightmare inside her was the greatest threat around. She wasn't sure whether that had really changed, or whether more threats had simply come to play.

Oh certainly. What information she had been able to gather on those… Chaos Gods made it clear they were far more powerful than the Solver was.

But they weren't here. They couldn't enter reality.

The Solver, meanwhile, was right here. On the very planet. And Doll had a far greater understanding of it than before thanks to that trickle of information it had been allowing to ensure Doll would be but one of the numerous tools she was preparing for the approaching storms.

Well sucks to suck. Doll wasn't anyone's pawn.

She looked at the keybug in her hand. Her initial bet was to try and barter with the human… but well. That had turned out poorly.

The human had been the solver in disguise.

Doll had almost been tricked, again, and this time with much more fatal consequences.

She jumped down, using the solver to slow herself down right before she hit the ground.

She might fear it, but the abilities certainly were convenient.

It was lucky the orks hadn't found this place yet. From what she had seen of them so far, observing in the shadows, they would turn such a place upside down in their search for 'scrap.' A brutish lot, that needed to be dealt with swiftly and decisively.

But right now, the Solver's attention was lapsing. She wasn't on world. She wasn't paying enough attention to notice Doll's little excursion.

There was no better time for this.

Her glowing red eye glanced around the abandoned, broken apart lab… landing on the piles of destroyed disassembly drones.

Alright.

Perhaps not that abandoned.

She tensed at the sound of an echoed… warble? That sounded almost… animal-like.

She glanced at the wall.

Do not look at the lights.

Well.

That was ominous.

…Who took the time to write a warning in oil when they were being taken apart?

And what the hell could have killed so many of them? This wasn't recent, it must have happened before the dimensional shift. So whatever was down here with her… it was from her own dimension.

She twisted her hand, a number of bloody cleavers appearing all around her like some twisted halo of iron.

"I do not know what you are. But hear me. I am not trapped in here with you."

A flash of movement to her left. Another to her right. They were surrounding her. As the first creature lunged, she closed her eyes and let one of the cleaver fly at multiple times the speed of sound, obliterating the mechanical raptor in an instant.

"You are trapped in here with me."