Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

His memory was fuzzy.

As his body was being dragged, the only things he could remember was that he had lost something, and that he had been cold for a long, long time.

He rolled his head back, and the wave of vertigo sent him back into unconsciousness.

-

He felt the presence in his mind this time. He treated it warmly at first, until he realized it wasn’t Sigma. As soon as he noticed he slammed the bars around his mind shut, shoving against that other presence that wasn’t the A.I. that he was familiar with. He expected force in retaliation, but instead heard a croon and felt a cool hand against his forehead, the pressure in his mind withdrawing. He struggled to feel his body, struggled to break through that cold, icy grip, and, with a whimper of pain, he opened his eyes.

His vision was blurry at first, but as he swept across the room he saw a large being swiftly back away, out of his sight. He growled and tried to reach a hand out, to tell it to stay, but his eyes sank shut again as his hand fell back onto the dirt he was laying on.

His world was black again.

-

This time he held still when he awoke. He heard something to his left, walking around him, and listened to the distracted muttering as gentle hands dabbed something against his body. Certain he was in no immediate danger, he let his awareness spread to the rest of his body, letting the pain of his injuries soak in. He couldn’t hide his hiss of pain, and heard an answering hiss in response, delicate fingers petting the top of his head, brushing tenderly over short-cropped hair. He decided the being was female, and turned his attention away from her to take stock of his condition.

His armor had been removed, that much was clear. He wasn’t happy about that. But considering the pain in his chest, and the raggedness of his breath, he decided it must have been necessary. He felt like he had a few broken ribs, maybe even some internal bruising. That certainly wasn’t a familiar pain under his lungs. Bullet wounds in his shoulder and arms. That he was familiar with. Definitely a broken leg, he decided as he stretched it. Another familiar pain. And an array of surface bruises and deep tissue bruises he couldn’t even begin to count.

That left the damage to his mind.

He stretched his consciousness out tentatively, ignoring the soothing fingers running over his hair. After an initial search, he opened himself up further, searching, looking for that familiar presence…

But there was nothing there. Sigma was gone, along with the other A.I.s.

His eyes snapped open, alarmed, and he looked straight into the face of his mother.

There was a moment of stillness filled with confusion, sadness, and terror, then he drew his fist back and tried to punch his mother in the face.

He never made contact. The creature taking on the shape of his mother neatly flipped back with cat-like grace, landing on all fours. Then he had to blink. Her skin melted across her body, and something in his mind drew forward the images of every woman he had ever seen, flicking through them faster than he could recognize them, while the thing in front of him melted and shifted. Somewhere in his mind an image was created, a mixture of every female in his lifetime, and the creature made a definitive alteration in its form, taking on the shape it pictured. He stared in shock while a combination of every woman he had ever known looked at him, eyes an indescribable color, looking at him in concern and slight fear. In his mind he felt her still, shifting through his memories, searching his vocabulary for the right word…

-sorrySORRY sorry Sorry sorry SORRY sorry-

He froze, and they both sat very still, staring at each other warily, both terrified and very alarmed. There was a brief moment where he noticed her eyes were tilted in the same way his mothers’ were, and he watched as they shifted and changed in front of him, becoming rounder, more pleasing to his taste. He could feel her watching his reactions, altering her form to look more pleasing to him, and thus less threatening. He could feel her intent in his mind, and she made no attempt to hide it. He made his mind silent, locking her presence still in his consciousness, and they watched each other.

She stood crouched in front of the entrance to an ice cavern, where she had no doubt brought his body after finding it. Despite the fact that she wore no clothing, she didn’t seem cold in the slightest, baring the arctic blasts against the slight frame she had adopted with no hesitation. She shuffled slightly, and he could feel her nervousness rubbing against his caution abrasively, making his mind itch with the tension. He felt her reaction, heard a whispered sorry yet again as she withdrew as far as she could without leaving, and he growled under his breath as he wished that he could speak.

-He could speak COULD SPEAK he could he could speak he CAN speak he can SPEAK I can speak I CAN I can speak I CAN LISTEN I can listen HE can speak I can listen-

He watched her a moment longer, then brought up the question of what she was in his mind, trying to make the thought as clear as he could. He felt her embrace the question, sift through it, picking it apart for its meaning before she dove into his memories again, searching for a way to answer his question so he could understand it. She brought up images from movies, werewolves and vampires and alien creatures. With the images came a barrage of thoughts, communicating in the broken way he was already starting to get familiar with.

-Animal monster MONSTER alien different strange WHAT AM I? monster different hide run away MONSTER creature new different Monster lost-

He felt her pause over that word, watched her human face melt into an expression of sorrow as her mind caressed it.

-Lost. I am lost-

With her mind so close to his, he could feel the pain melt into his body for a brief moment before she regained control of herself and yanked her mind away from his, disconnecting completely. Her physical body stood abruptly and began pacing, lean legs moving in a stilted way that looked unnatural. He waited, silent and watching, before slowly looking around, searching for his armor and weapons. In the corner was the pile of his armor, scattered messily in a way that irritated him. Attached to the leg holster was his pistol, where he knew a full clip lay within.

He turned his gaze back to the creature, watching her continue to pace and make noises to herself. If he moved quietly enough…

He moved his hand backwards, and her head turned towards him for a brief moment before continuing her pacing. He waited, then slowly moved his hand back. There was no way he would be able to make it without her knowing, not in his injured state. Besides, he had not felt any malicious intent from her, of any kind. Maybe… maybe she genuinely wanted to help.

That was a strange feeling. He had spent his entire life in the Freelancer program being manipulated and controlled, only to end up being manipulated and controlled by Sigma and the Meta after that. Something actually wanting to help, with nothing to gain… that was new.

He tried to call out and get her attention, but his ruined throat only produced a croaking sound. It was enough to draw her mind back to his, her indeterminate gaze locking onto his face. She was gentler this time. Instead of slamming into his mind, she let hers slide alongside his, bringing up the image of furred pelts rubbing against each other, running smoothly with the grain. The image changed to skin sliding against skin, hot breaths panting, bodies pressed into each other, thrusting and straining-

The haze was lifted as she drew back again, the whispered sorry’s echoing loudly in his brain. He shook his head to clear the image, shifting uncomfortably as his body reacted to the unexpected mental stimulus. His skin felt tight on his body now, a light sweat breaking across it. He could feel her hovering on the edge, observing his reactions curiously while waiting for him to break the silence. His discomfort slid across, and she winced, surprisingly human.

-Sorry sorry too far sorry Too Far didn’t know don’t know sorry SORRY too far-

He sent across a simple Why? and waited for her response, watching her human face as she processed the question and word. It took her a few moments to translate the meaning of the word from him, borrowing his vocabulary, and then she had to search his mind for more words to explain herself. She spoke easier with images and feeling, sending across fleeting glances of what had happened while he was unconscious. She had heard the explosions, felt the ice crack and shift. She followed the disturbance, curious, and watched the others in armor leave the ice. She waited until they were all gone before venturing out, and he had to ask her to step back a moment to find out how long that was. She turned back the memory, tracking the sun, and he told her it was seven hours.

-Seven hours time? Time passes? Hours time seven hours twenty-four hours is a day seven hours is long time-

He sent her an agreement, along with a push to continue. She stepped back from the revelation of passing time and brought up the memory of her looking over the ice shelf, sniffing with a nose that could smell so many things, and could smell the stink of something new. He told her oil, and felt her chew over that word briefly before tucking it away again, continuing. The memory shifted slightly, and he could feel the sensation of his skin melting and changing form as she dove in the water, and he had to take a moment to stare at his hands and make sure they were still hands and not flippers.

She pulled back again, and instead of absorbing him into her memories projected them for him. The increased sense of smell vanished, and he had to take a moment before remembering his human nose. She waited for him to settle, then continued on, with her diving into the frozen sea to investigate the oil. Her search brought her to the submerged Warthog, with him trapped in the tire well, body twisted into the frame. He felt the memory of her sorrow as she stared at his body, leaning forward to investigate. Then his body had lashed out, reaching out towards her, lights flickering briefly in his helmet as the memory jumped back in surprise.

He was astonished he had survived that long submerged. The armor was supposed to help him survive in any conditions, but submerged for seven hours with countless bullet holes made his survival a miracle.

He brushed off her curiosity about his armor, pushing her back towards the memory. Her physical body hissed in irritation, making him jump, and he took a moment to gather himself before reaching out again, with a gentle apology. He felt her mind reach out and examine the thought, while her shifting eyes studied his face. Then she tucked it away, and her face fell blank again as she continued.

She was shocked, in the memory. Then she was panicked and desperate. Her body changed again, he watched the flippers turn into huge, rending claws, and she tore apart the Warthog with little effort and dragged his body from the twisted metal. One piece of the chassis had imbedded itself into his chest plate, and he watched as the memory carefully pulled it away, feeling relieved when it saw that the armor had prevented the metal from entering his actual body. He rubbed his chest. That explained the deep bruises in his ribcage.

From there she had dragged him to the surface, dragging him up the cliff face with another altered form, though he couldn’t even begin to tell what that one would have been. She took a moment to try to explain that she took on whatever form was necessary, she didn’t focus on shape. If she needed to swim, she made herself good at swimming, if she needed strength, she made herself strong. He mulled over the thought before nodding, realizing that was as good an explanation as any. Once she realized his body temperature was dropping, and he needed shelter, she dragged him across the ice field until she found this cave, while he drifted in and out of consciousness. Once in the cave she took on another form to warm him, something large and covered in long, soft hair. He frowned as he remembered seeing something like that, and she confirmed the memory by showing him how she had hid from him when he had gained consciousness that time.

He asked about taking on the form of his mother, and felt shame from her as she tried to explain. After he had almost seen her that first time, she had searched his memories for ways to treat his wounds and to keep him from panicking when he woke up. He had dreamed of his mother for a while, so she borrowed that form to try to keep him relaxed. She felt his temper rise slightly, and her physical body ducked away while her mind tried to explain.

-didn’t know didn’t know SORRY sorrysorrysorry didn’t understand sorry sorry-

He nodded, acknowledging her apology, and she sighed. He presented her with an inquiry about his treatment, and she brought up his memories of all his hospital visits, and her then-panic of not knowing what to do. Then she had found the memory of him putting ice on a sprained ankle, and sheepishly presented him with the memory of her putting ice on all of his injuries, trying to make him better, and as a result almost giving him hypothermia.

He stared at her incredulously for a moment, then, for the first time in many, many years, he laughed. He felt her confusion for a moment, then her mind reacted with his manic delight, embracing it and dancing upwards alongside it. As his throat produced the strangled, choking sounds it was capable of, her human body giggled along, clear, high tones piercing the otherwise silent planet. It was not an entirely joyful laughter. They both felt the undertones of mania and terror. But the laughter dissipated the tenseness between them, along with the awkwardness of a human mind and an alien telepath communicating together on an abandoned planet in the middle of nowhere, where the human should be dead and the alien should not exist.

Then Maine shifted his leg, and the sharp pain brought him back, choking out a half-strangled scream.

She flitted to his side, briefly becoming an amorphous shape before reforming beside him again, looking worried. He felt her concern, the way she dove deep into his mind to translate the pain, and he bared his teeth and snarled as he shoved her out.

-GET OUT!-

She physically recoiled, again melting backwards, reforming about ten feet away from him. Her mind yanked away from his quick enough to hurt, the recoil of his consciousness snapping back to him. He gave a growling whimper and closed his eyes briefly while she crouched in front of him.

After a few seconds, he opened his eyes again, glaring at her before grunting and jerking his head slightly. Tentatively, he felt that slight pressure against his temples again, and waited for her to settle.

-Stay out.-

-sorrySorrysorry will not do it again sorry not again will not again sorry will stay out only to speak sorry will stay out stay out stay out-

He growled, then glared sullenly at the floor of the cavern while she waited outside his thoughts, body waving back and forth uncertainly. Then, he sighed.

-Need help.-

-Help help help find help? Look for help HELP look where help?-

He sent a question about other human settlements on the planet, and she took a moment to mull over what he defined as a settlement. Then she brought forward a few images from her memories, of places she had seen, flicking through them one at a time until he told her to stop on one. He studied her memory for a few seconds, rifling through it until he decided it was not a base controlled by the military. Most likely an exploration base.

-There.-

-How?-

Her honest curiosity soothed his irritation somewhat, and he tried to organize his thoughts in a way to tell her she would have to carry him. In the end it took him crudely imagining him sitting on a horse’s back, followed by a thought of her turning into the horse before she understood.

-Carry CARRY I will carry you I will carry not drag CARRY carry you-

He interrupted her train of thoughts, brushing off the remnants of the echo.

-Armor first-

She turned to look at the armor, flitting her gaze back and forth between it and him, looking uncertain.

-Is hard HARD armor is…-

She struggled to find the word, respecting his wishes by staying out of his vocabulary and trying to piece together her thought without borrowing from him. She brought up an image of the complex inner workings of the Warthog, with the feeling of confusion and inability to understand.

-Complicated.-

-Armor armor is complicated-, she agreed, and he shook his head.

-I know it. Armor first.-

She hesitated only a moment longer before standing and bringing the pile of armor to him, a task that took several trips. He had to admire her strength. The chest piece alone weighed over two hundred pounds. Then again, it probably didn’t take much for her to give herself stronger muscles, considering what she was.

Whatever she was.

It ended up being a more complex task than he thought. The way his body was injured prevented him from being able to move around himself, so he had to resort to muscle memory to direct her in operating the various clasps and seals on the armor pieces. She had never taken off his under piece, at least, so he didn’t have to worry about putting the skin-tight fabric back on. The hard pieces of armor were bad enough.

Normally, if he was putting the armor on himself, he would start with the extremities and then work on the complex head, neck, and chest locking. However, he wanted to save his broken leg for last, since maneuvering that leg into the armor was most likely going to cause him to black out again. So he had to guide her into placing his thigh pieces without being able to see them clearly, and try to remember how they connected with the cod piece without seeing it. It became easier after a few minutes to just let her back into his mind again, to allow her to pick through the memories of the procedure herself in an effort to speed up the process. It seemed to help, a little. And, if he didn’t focus on how desperately curious she was to know more about him, he didn’t find her presence in his mind quite so annoying.

-Just want to know KNOW learn know…-, she whispered, staying politely out of his memories. He grunted and ignored her. She stayed silent.

And then, without him quite realizing it, they were at his broken leg. She hesitated while he mentally steadied himself, and he could feel her want to ask a question.

-What?-, he snapped irritably, and was a little upset that his anger didn’t seem to affect her.

-Will hurt hurt pain hurt-

He growled, pushing her to continue.

-Can stop STOP armor SHEILD shield pain hurt stop hurt-

He watched her. She sat very still while waiting for him to decide, looking down at the ice demurely, trying to look the least threatening she could. The wind blew outside, no doubt dropping the temperature along with the setting sun, but his armor regulated his body temperature for him. He only felt the chill on his uncovered leg, and that he found to be relieving.

He nodded, then mentally braced himself.

She went slowly, no doubt trying to keep him from resisting, and he had to wince. It felt like a cold, sticky blanket was moving over the abraded surface of his mind, squeezing in between the cracks and separating different parts of him. Despite himself, he felt a thrill of terror, and for a moment tried to push her out and pull himself clear of the sensation. But she merely locked herself around his mind, and he could feel himself lose his senses, becoming muted to the outside world. He saw only vague, hazy shapes while her body moved around him, was aware of only the howl of the wind, muted and strangely low pitched. Her hands on his leg felt like an insect crawling across a log, and he found himself amused by the thought of his legs turning into wood. It took great effort to roll his head to the side to watch her, watching her vague outline lift the leg and place it gently into the armor frame, was mildly curious at how the shin bent at a forty-five degree angle where it definitely should not have bent. He could feel her straighten his leg again in the leg plating, and knew it should have hurt him greatly and marveled that it didn’t. Her slim, clever hands folded the front of the shin plate down, locking down the clasps and sealing the inner atmosphere, pressing down against the swelling. Then it was done, though she didn’t release his mind until she had that last foot on, connecting the wiring and seals to the rest of the leg.

He watched her turn to look at him, concerned, then she pulled back from his mind.

He felt his awareness come back first.

Then the pain hit, and his world went dark.

Chapter Text

There weren’t even dreams this time. His moments of clarity were filled with snow and blowing ice, and feeling her underneath him, stumbling through the drifts. A few times he tried to connect with her, but every time he faded out before he could feel her response. The scenery never changed, so he had no way to gauge how far they had traveled, and the blowing ice kept the light from changing so he was unable to judge time. He did notice that every now and then the form under him changed. That at least he could focus on. When he was conscious to focus.

-

-Wake up wake UP wake wake up-

His mind was sludge. It took him a moment to process the voice, thoughts slow, dragging. The insistent whispers finally brought him to the surface.

He opened his eyes, struggling. She was underneath him, turned into some giant wolfish monster. She had her head turned back, fur ruffling in the never-ending blizzard, whining low in her throat.

-Here HERE we’re here-

He furrowed his brow, and his HUD brought up an image of a small base at the edge of a peninsula. He tried to lift his head, partially succeeded, and peered through the snow. Barely visible was a small, sprawling complex, with the wind shields flickering against the blizzard.

The storm doors were bolted shut. He tried to tell her that with the blizzard the motion detectors wouldn’t sense them, but he couldn’t make the thoughts coherent. She seemed to understand him, though, and he could feel her thinking in that disjointed way she did. He tried to remain focused, but his mind started slipping again, sliding into that blackness.

-STAY stay stay Stay-

His throat made a small whimpering sound, and he growled as he wrenched himself back into awareness.

-I am here.-

Her concern flooded him, and he exhaustedly shoved her away.

-Fence. There should be a fence.-

She looked around for him, and told him she didn’t see anything.

-Blizzard. It’s buried. Walk forward. You’ll set off the sensors.-

She took a step forward, leg sinking through the crust and burying her up to her chest. He felt her exasperation as she lifted her other leg, sinking through the crust yet again. He was going to ask her a question, forming the intent, when alarms went off.

She jumped underneath him, startled, and the sudden pain in his leg brought back the black fog. He struggled to move, to lift his arm to steady her, but before he could summon motion from his arm the wave washed over him, and his world went dark again.

-

Beeping was the first thing he heard.

The second was his own ragged breath, rattling in his throat.

He groaned and opened his eyes, pushing past his weakness. It took him a few seconds to focus, and the first thing he noticed was that he was in a medical ward.

The second thing he noticed was a wave of pure joy slamming into him, while a blurry figure launched herself into the room.

-AWAKE AWAKE AWAKE YOU’RE AWAKE YOU AWAKE YOU ARE AWAKE AWAKE AWAKE AWAKE-

At first he thought his inability to focus on her was because of his own eyesight. After watching her a few seconds, it became clear that it was her constantly changing forms that prevented him from being able to see her. She kept flickering between shapes, bouncing around him. The effort of trying to keep track of her made his head hurt, and he growled softly and closed his eyes, trying to throw his arm over his face. The tug of needles in his skin stopped the motion very quickly, and he groaned as he opened his eyes again. She had stabilized her form at least, staring down at him and grinning like a moron.

-AWAKE awake Awake-

He grunted, and rolled his head to the side to figure out what exactly was being put into him. He froze when he saw his arm. The limb was thin, flesh hanging off the bone. His mind went blank as he struggled to lift it, not able to understand, then he weakly threw off the blanket, staring down in shock at his emaciated torso. Beside him, she went very quiet and very still, seeming to shrink down in size. She brushed against his mind lightly, and he rolled his eyes to stare at her.

-Asleep sleep long very LONG sleep very long TIME asleep very long-

He sent her a blunt question, and she winced. She didn’t know the terms, so she brought him through her memories again, flickering through them. Walking through the snow with his solid weight on her back. At first the snow was shallow, but the blizzard had it piled up to her chest very quickly. She brought special attention to the light and dark cycles, and he felt dismay when he counted two weeks before they even reached the facility.

Two weeks.

Then the memory of the alarm going off, her panic and fear of the humans coming out to investigate. She set him down in the snow before they could see her, and she shifted form again, to something more fluid as she slipped into his armor and hid. Hearing the panicked voices, not able to understand the vocal speech since she had learned communication from him. Feeling his body lifted and carried into the compound. Jumping out of his armor and hiding near the ceiling while they stripped off his armor and rushed to insert needles into his body, to give him some sort of nutrition and hydration. Overhearing the quiet argument about his leg, which had gone black and spongey, and watching as they amputated it above the knee.

He sat up slightly and reached down underneath the lip of the blanket, feeling the cool metal. It responded to his nervous impulses, flexing with his other leg, but that didn’t comfort him. He felt her mourn with him, and for a moment allowed himself the luxury of hiding in that comforting embrace. Then he pulled away gently, and prodded her into continuing.

She took a moment to organize her thoughts, to slow down herself as she remembered the countless days she hid and watched him, coming down from the ceiling to lay against him when the room was empty and hiding underneath his cot when it wasn’t. She shared her despair when she couldn’t connect with his mind, and he tasted her stark fear as the days dragged on and became weeks and even longer. To her, the days all melted into one another, and after the first few she didn’t keep track of them. And then he had moved, and it took her a moment to realize it, and she had been so overjoyed to see him awake, even though he was always irritated with her. For a moment he felt guilty.

Only a moment, however, because after that someone walked into the room and she vanished, leaving Maine alone, sitting up and looking at the person in dazed confusion. The man blinked at him, stunned, then dropped his clipboard and ran out of the room.

“Holy shit, he’s awake! Phil, come in here!”

Suddenly the room was full of people all trying to speak at once, to ask him questions and crowding him. He growled, struggling to sit up fully and punch them, but a voice rang out and shut everyone up.

“What the hell are you people doing? Get out, give him a moment to think for himself.”

Everyone suddenly looked sheepish as a man about five feet tall walked into the room, glaring at them past halfmoon glasses, and slowly filed out, muttering excuses as they walked past.

“C’mon man, we just wanted to see for ourselves. S’not every day some stranger shows up at our doorstep in a coma.”

“Out.”

The man was merciless, and waited for everyone to be well away before he turned to look at Maine.

“I’m sorry about that. We get a little stir crazy during blizzard season. Not much to do around here as it is, and being stuck in the base for eleven out twelve months gets to us all. I’m Phil, I’m the doctor here. Or as close to one as we have. We mostly depend on MARI. She’s a bit old, but she does a good job.”

“Thank you, Phil.”

Maine growled as he heard the traditional female A.I. voice.

“I have a few questions I’d like to ask you, as you can imagine. But MARI says that you have a severe throat injury, and are unable to speak, so I’d like to just speak to you for a few minutes before I leave you to yourself for a bit. I’ll come back later with paper so we can actually talk. Does that sound fair to you? You’ve been asleep for a long time, I can imagine you need an hour or two to settle yourself.”

Maine paused, then nodded.

“Okay then. First, I’d like to tell you how we found you. You somehow walked to our base in the middle of Bumfuck Nowhere, or were dropped off, or whatever. I suppose it doesn’t matter now. What does matter is that we found you unconscious in an extremely emaciated state. I suspect it was your armor that kept you alive that long. I’d like to talk to you about that armor later as well. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It kept your body hydrated through some intravenous connections, and kept you alive just long enough for us to find you.”

He paused, and Maine stayed silent.

“Now, when we found you, it was clear you had some old injuries that were left untreated for a very long time. Your ribs healed mostly straight, thanks to your armor again, and there were a few knife and bullet wounds that were also kept clean by your armor until they healed. They’re not pretty, I’ll add. Without stitches, they healed very nasty. I don’t think you’ll ever be able to fully rotate your arm again without tearing the skin, and there are very unsightly ridges where the flesh had parted.”

Phil paused again, and shook his head and sighed before continuing.

“Your leg was an entirely different story. There’s no doubt that your armor kept it straight, but the bone itself had shattered into splinters rather than just neatly breaking. When we got to it, the flesh on your leg was past saving, and the rot was starting to spread to the rest of your body. Jeff wanted to see if we could keep your knee, but I didn’t think we caught the septicemia in time, so we had to remove the joint. MARI programmed your prosthetic, though we had to work around your neural interface.”

He sighed again.

“Speaking of which, that was another injury. Something hit the back of your head very hard, and while your helmet saved your life, all that wiring inside your brain was shifted and in some cases broken. I’ve never seen such an intricate system before, and while I’m very curious about it, something tells me I’d better not ask. And since it’s clearly the same craftsmanship as your armor, I suppose I’ll hold off my questions about that as well. But we had to perform brain surgery, and with MARI’s assistance, we were mostly successful, but…”

He hesitated, and Maine clenched his fists.

“I don’t know what happened, or if it’s even our fault, but something inside your brain was damaged. Unfortunately, none of us are actual trained surgeons, but even MARI can’t tell what’s wrong. The first week out of surgery you had almost constant seizures, one right after another. For the last few months they’ve decreased, but while you were in your coma they were still fairly common. Now that you’re awake, I’m not certain what will happen to you.”

Maine growled, cutting him off, and Phil flinched as he met his glare.

“I am truly, very sorry about that. I have only one more thing to tell you, then I’ll leave you alone. When we found you, it was the end of May, a few weeks after the blizzard season had started. I am sorry to inform you that it is now January. Your coma lasted seven and a half months. I’m sorry.”

Phil ducked his head and quietly left the room, shutting the door behind him and leaving Maine in silence. He stared at the door, feeling numb. He had spent his entire life becoming the best soldier, pushing his body past physical limits, interfacing with Sigma, stealing the rest of the A.I. fragments to achieve perfection. He had pursued Agent Texas across the galaxy, cornering her on Sidewinder just to reclaim that last piece of the A.I. he had lost.

Now what was he supposed to do?

She crawled slowly out from underneath the bed, tentatively wrapping her mind around his. He ignored her.

-SORRY sorry Sad sad help want to HELP help sorry-

She whimpered, crawling slowly onto the bed beside him, body melting from an adult human woman to a child. He growled, and she flinched and shifted back as she separated her mind from his.

He wanted to enjoy the silence, revel in the quiet in his mind, the first time she had left him alone since they had met. Instead he found himself snarling sharply, flinging out his fist and knocking the table at his bedside over. She hesitated, then slowly reached out a tendril of thought to connect with him.

-What am I supposed to do?-

She pushed her mind flush with his, and he could feel the currents of loyalty and support, of genuine concern and care pooling around him.

-Don’t know KNOW know don’t DON’T know-

He felt his own wave of loss threatening to rise over him and drag him down, and she shoved herself into his mind, forcing up memories of him in the training room, working his ass off just because he wanted to, of the way the repetitive motions brought a sense of peace to his body.

-Try try AGAIN-

She curled her body up against his, forcing him to lay down and stare at the ceiling.

-heal Now HEAL heal-

-

“Sir?”

Maine stirred awake, without realizing when he fell asleep. He growled as he forced himself upright again, guarded, watching Phil poke his head around the door.

“Are you okay to talk now?”

Maine watched him for a moment before nodding. Phil walked in waving a pad of paper and a pen, placing it on the edge of the bed within easy reach. Maine glared at the paper, then gruffly grabbed it, setting it into his lap. From somewhere in the room he could feel her curiosity, and grunted before allowing her further into his mind, to share his eyes and hands with him. Phil took his grunt as a sign to start, and he cleared his throat before starting.

“Now, I hate to start like this, but as you can imagine we don’t really know much about you, and are a little worried about the amount of help we’ve given you already. So how about we start with your name, where you’re from, and how you got here?”

Maine stared at the paper for a moment, before accepting his degradation and struggling to lift his hand.

I am Maine. Where I am from is classified. And how I got here. His handwriting was blockier and a lot messier than he would like to admit. Phil frowned as Maine wrote, reading the letters upside down.

“You understand if that makes me a little concerned?”

Classified is classified.

“I guess I’ll have to accept that. Hate to say it to you, but you’re not much of a threat to us right now. How about we let you ask some questions now.”

Maine thought for a moment.

Where am I?

“You’re in The Gardens. We’re a research facility dedicated to researching terraforming, based on Sidewinder. We maintain a crew of forty scientists and specialists, as well as their families. Other than that, we’re pretty much a small base with limited contact with the outside world in the middle of absolutely nowhere. And, since it’s blizzard season, we have no ships going in or out, and our radios are out half the time. Good enough of an answer for you?”

Maine nodded, then stared at the paper. Phil waited for a moment, then seemed to figure out Maine’s silence.

“Seven months is a long time, huh?”

Eight. Took two weeks to get here.

Phil was clearly curious, but didn’t press it.

“It’ll take some time to get used to your new body, I know. The way the armor was hanging off of you, I can guess you used to be a pretty fit guy. It’ll happen again. Just let yourself recover a bit more first, before you push yourself too hard.” Phil stood, walking towards the door and pausing before leaving. “I think we’ll wait a few more days, see if we can get solid food in you, then we’ll try to get you walking around. Someone will be back in a few minutes with a computer, so you can get caught up on universal events. There’s been some pretty big news lately. Something about some Project Freelancer being corrupt or something.”

Phil left the room before he could see Maine’s face. She pulled herself from his mind slightly, and was about to come from hiding when the door clicked open again.

“Sorry to intrude. I’m Maggie. I won’t stay long, just dropping off this tablet and checking your IV levels.”

Maine watched her sullenly as the woman bustled around the room, fussing with the bags and righting the table next to the bed before putting a small tablet down on it.

“Dinner will be in two hours, we’ll start with something small first. Maybe some mashed potatoes and soup, if you can keep it down. Any food allergies?” She waited for Maine to shake his head, then nodded sharply. “Good. Rations are kept tight during blizzard season, allergies are a pain to work around. See you in two hours.”

She left the room and securely shut the door, and Maine felt a rough appreciation for her staidness. He waited for a few moments, looking around the room, then sighed and rolled his eyes.

-She’s gone.-

He felt a soft pressure against the side of his head, then she came out from under the bed. He blinked. Her form resembled something of an oil slick, twisting its way through the air and investigating the doorway. She was angled towards the door, and when she felt his confusion, she turned back to look at him. Her face had the exact same form as her body, the only features three metallic orange disks that slowly rotated counterclockwise on her face. He felt her hesitation, and started to shift into a human form.

He raised a hand, and she slowly reverted back.

-This is you?-

He felt her self-conscious worry, searching his mind for approval. He sent her a mental nudge, and the disks on her face sped up slightly in their rotation.

-Is me me IS me-

He reached out and touched her, expecting to feel something similar to a cool gel. Instead his hand met a warm, firm surface, and as he dragged his fingers down her body, he noted that her skin was extremely soft. After a second he caught himself and snatched his hand back, ignoring the fact that she was extremely quiet.

-Not afraid afraid don’t CARE you don’t care?-

-No.-

Her mood went apprehensive to overjoyed in an instant, and she made a shrill brr’ing noise as her body darted forward, twining herself around his body in an enthusiastic twirl. He chuckled in the raspy way he could, feeling the silky, slightly slug-like body rub against his skin. She wrapped herself around his neck and shoulder, bringing her face a few inches in front of his, orange disks whirling. He raised his hand and tapped one of the disks, feeling the metallic clink against his finger. She made another high-pitched noise, slithering herself between his fingers, and he chuckled once more as he laid back down gently.

-Silly SILLY I am silly?-

-Yes-, he agreed, hissing as his body sank into the mattress. She twisted herself down his arm as he reached for the tablet, and steadied his hand for him as he struggled to lift it to his face.

He propped the tablet up on his chest, opening up the web browser, while she pooled in between his arm and body and started vibrating contentedly, mind reading the information on the tablet through his. He found he didn’t mind it at all.

Chapter Text

“Look, I will not say it again. Skies are closed, there is no way you can land here. Your ship won’t touch the ground before the blizzards tear it apart. Turn around, and go land on another planet and refuel.”

“We won’t…… another planet. This….. emergency. Requesting permiss-… land.”

Maine tilted his head as he watched Phil sigh and shake his head, and shifted his weight onto his cane to make himself more comfortable. Phil growled under his breath, yanking his hair.

“Permission is granted, Skyhawk, but I’m telling you you’ll never touch the ground. This is blizzard season. The skies will tear your ship apart.”

“Watch us. Coming….. clear runway.”

Phil laughed in exasperation. “There’s no runway to clear. Land wherever.”

He reached forward and turned off the radio, taking off his headset as he leaned back in his chair. Spinning around, he lifted an eyebrow as he saw Maine standing in the doorway, then sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I swear to god there’s always someone who doesn’t understand no-fly zones. I hope they realize their bodies aren’t going to be found until spring, if they’re even found at all.” Maine tilted his head. “Some morons apparently didn’t give themselves enough fuel to get wherever they were going. Jeff, keep an eye on the radar, let me know when they start their approach.”

“Yes, sir.”

Phil stood and left the room, and Maine limped after him, mechanical leg flexing underneath him. Under his armor, she shifted down to the prosthetic, adding a little more support so he didn’t have to rely as much on his cane.

“Done your training already? You’re normally in the gym for another three hours. What is it, rest day?”

Maine grunted, and Phil shrugged.

“Yeah, yeah, none of my business. Just saying you practically live in there.”

They walked in silence, both politely ignoring the clunk of Maine’s armored prosthetic hitting the floor. Maggie and Rebecca approached on the other side of the hallway, discussing what sounded like the greenhouse lighting. They nodded as they walked past, Maggie stepping to the side to avoid tripping Maine.

“Morning Maine.”

He growled back, and she touched his shoulder lightly as she walked by. Phil raised an eyebrow at him, and Maine shook his head.

“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t think Maggie’s really interested in anyone myself.”

“Phil? The ship’s on approach. She’s breaking the atmosphere now.”

Phil sighed, then turned around.

“And back into the room I go. Never seem to leave that place.”

He turned around and walked back, and Maine continued on to the mess hall. This time of day it was mostly empty, but there were a few coming off the night shift that were eating their dinner before bed. They all nodded to Maine as he walked to the fruit bin, eyeing the apples within. They were supposed to be genetically modified to grow in atmosphere-poor environments. He considered for a moment, but when she nudged him to the sandwich station he didn’t argue. She never ate, but she enjoyed tasting things through his senses. She encouraged turkey, but didn’t resist too much when he chose beef instead.

As he sat down to eat, there was a sudden loud boom from outside, audible even past the screaming wind. Everyone in the mess hall looked towards the outside door, where the alarm for the first set of doors went off.

“No need for alarm. The ship has beaten all odds and landed successfully, though they’re not lifting off anytime in the next few months. They should be through decompression in a few seconds.”

Maine gave a mental shrug as her curiosity bubbled up, and she rose through his armor to peak out of his chest piece and look towards the door.

-You’ll be seen-, he scolded, and she ducked back in again, chattering nonsensically into his mind. He ignored her and raised his hands to pull off his helmet when the door opened, but something made him pause and look towards the door.

He froze for a second, staring in disbelief. The people standing in the door did the same, one in maroon armor dropping the rifle he held to the floor.

“Holy shit.”

“YOU!”

A woman in aqua armor suddenly stepped forward, raising her pistol to aim at his head. He snarled and ducked to the side, throwing the table up to block the shots, running around the side as everyone in the room screamed and gunshots echoed through the small room. Inside his mind she raged, becoming a maelstrom of fury and need to defend him.

-No, stay hidden-, he ordered, peeking around the edge of the table as Washington- Washington?- attempted to wrestle the pistol from Carolina. He unclipped his own pistol from his thigh, grimacing as the prosthetic clumsily gathered under him. She slithered down and wrapped herself around it, bringing it underneath him and forcing it still.

-Ready READY ready-

-Now.-

She anchored his leg as he rolled out from under cover, bringing his pistol up to meet Carolina’s fist. The weapon was knocked from his hand, and he brought up his arm to block her next punch as he tried to step backwards. Carolina spun to kick him, and his leg shorted out, making him grunt in pain as it buckled underneath him and sent him stumbling forward directly into her kick. The force flung him backwards, and as his back touched the wall he felt a brief thrill of panic.

-No!-

Then his skull slammed into the concrete, and he lost all control of his body as it collapsed to the floor and started seizing. She wrapped around his consciousness, sheltering it from the agony his body was going through, and his world went dark.

-will I will protect SHEILD I will protect-

-

Maine opened his eyes, vision hazy and head pounding. He reached out for her, found her, and sighed in relief as she quieted the headache and cleared his vision. Then he heard a small cough next to him, and froze for a second, before turning to look.

Washington sat in the chair across the room, drumming his fingers on his leg awkwardly. Once he saw Maine looking at him, he hesitantly raised his hand and waved his fingers.

“’Sup?”

Maine snarled sharply and threw the blankets back, twisting his body out of bed to run across the room and beat the shit out of him.

His prosthetic crumbled as soon as he put weight on it, and he fell heavily to his knees, hissing. Wash stood up, though Maine didn’t know whether it was to help or attack as well. She slithered out from under the bed, disks whirling in concern as she spun around his body slowly, rubbing against his shoulders and face gently.

Maine froze and looked up at Washington, who met his gaze and slowly raised his hands.

“It’s okay, dude. She, uh, introduced herself when Carolina tried to kill you while you were having the seizure. She was….. very persuasive about why we shouldn’t kill you. As in every time we had an angry thought about you, she knocked us unconscious. Surprisingly, Carolina was not the one who was knocked out the most. That honor went to Sarge, with an astounding twenty knock-out lead.”

Maine growled, pushing himself back up onto the bed and glaring at his leg. She brushed up against his mind, and he felt her wince when she felt his irritation.

-You were supposed to stay hidden.-

-only them THEY only know they only they KNOW-

“The room was pretty much empty. It was just us.”

Maine looked sharply over at Washington, who raised his hands up again.

“She’s keeping tabs on our thoughts. Something along the lines of she’s waiting for your decision. We can hear what she’s thinking too. Kinda. I don’t know if I’d really call it thinking, more rambling about whatever’s going on at the time.”

Maine furrowed his brow as Washington talked, feeling something that wasn’t her. The string of nervousness dangled at the edge of his mind, and after a moment, he realized it was Wash.

He could read Washington’s mind.

Once he came across that realization, he snatched at that nervous string, following it back to its source until suddenly, he was in Washington’s head.

There was confusion and panic at first, swirling around him, then primal anger, shoving against him and trying to get him out. Maine could only hold on for a second before he was pushed back, feeling her buzz angrily against him, directed towards Washington. Wash’s eyes were open wide and he was hyperventilating, staring at Maine in terrified confusion.

“What-“

“Wash?”

Washington broke off his question and looked towards the door, though he kept an eye on Maine. Carolina stepped in, hand resting on the grip of her pistol, still in full armor. Maine growled, momentarily wishing that he was still in his, though it wouldn’t have made too much of a difference. Not with the busted prosthetic. Carolina walked around the bed slowly, facing Maine at all times, and he could feel her gaze on his thin body and amputated leg, evaluating him.

He snarled, and she met his gaze.

“You’ve seen better days.”

-not NICE nice not nice-

Carolina snorted, and she left Maine’s side for a second to hover in front of her, flaring her body slightly, disks whirling.

“You think I care about being nice? You’ve been inside his head. You know what he’s done.”

-know I KNOW what you know what YOU’VE done done TOO-

Carolina paused, looking at her. In her natural body she looked delicate, her thickest point on her body about the width of Maine’s wrist, and only slightly longer than his arm. But still she hissed fearlessly in front of Carolina, flaring her body wider in Maine’s defense.

-Careful.-

-Not afraid AFRAID not afraid-

“You should be”, Wash commented. “Carolina topped Maine on the leaderboard at every evaluation.”

-not him NOT him human not HUMAN him-

Maine looked sharply at her, narrowing his eyes at the feeling of raw, seething anger coming from her. She was rarely even irritated, let alone angry. She felt his caution, and immediately settled down, deflating and slithering back around his neck, though her disks still spun angrily in Carolina’s direction. Maine reached up and touched her ink-black skin lightly, soothing her. Carolina watched the motion, silently judging, and the room remained awkwardly silent for a while. Washington began tapping his fingers again, refusing to look at anyone, and Carolina and Maine locked eyes through her visor. She began humming again, flitting around his body nervously, lightly touching his face and neck as she waited for his response. Carolina was the first one to break the silence.

“I want to hate you. Especially after what you did to me. But she showed us your memories, and I know it was Sigma that made you do what you did. She made us feel your helplessness. But that doesn’t excuse you.”

“And it sure as hell doesn’t excuse you for Texas”, Wash broke in, flinching lightly when Maine flicked his eyes over to him. “But we know why you did it.”

-What did you do?-

-I made MADE I made them made LISTEN made them understand listen UNDERSTAND-

He growled and turned his gaze to her, and she ducked to hide under his arm, the bottom of one disk barely peeking out.

-sorry SORRY sorry-

“If it wasn’t for her doing that, you would not be alive right now”, Wash commented, and Maine growled.

-Speak for me.-

She made a small whrr’ing noise, waiting for him to organize his thoughts correctly. Wash opened his mouth at the noise she made, and shut it immediately again when she projected Maine’s thoughts into their minds.

=I am not alive anyways.=

The room was silent. His words were not the only things projected.

“Hey man, it’s only a prosthetic, we can fix it up and you’ll be as good as new.”

Maine glared at Washington, growling, and he shut up. Carolina studied Maine for a moment, then turned and walked towards the door.

“Wash, let’s go.”

“Wait, Carolina, we can’t just leave him-“

Carolina cut him off, fixing Maine in a cold stare before nodding to Phil at the door, who was looking impatient with her.

“I was wrong doctor. I don’t know this man. We’ll stay out of your hair now.”

Maine could only stare at his leg as they left, clenching the sheets tightly in his fist.

-

Maine grunted as he pushed the weight off his chest, holding it up for a moment before lowering it again slowly, only to repeat the process. She was curled underneath the bench, head poking out from the side as she watched him lift the barbell up and down again.

-Don’t get understand it-

He merely grunted in response, sending her a brief memory of strength in his arms that he didn’t have now, and the work he put into having that strength. She merely huffed, watching him push up again, and he grinned slightly at her response.

-Still don’t get it-

-Wash has been working with you more?-

She whrr’d, lifting up slightly, and he caught the wave of enthusiasm about the new topic.

-Doesn’t like when I speak things wrong-

-Tell him to deal with it.-

-I like him-, was her response, and he paused a moment to eye her before shaking his head.

-You like correct speaking?-

-Doesn’t matter to me. I understood you. Do you like it?-

He felt her consideration of his response, and grinned again at her mental nod.

-I like being understood. This way more understand me, and I can learn more-

-Why are you so concerned with learning?-

-So much to learn-, she answered, disks spinning faster, and he turned once again to study her as he caught the wave of emotions. Buried underneath the enthusiasm was a tinge of desperation and fear, and he looked sharply at her. She caught his notice and mild alarm, and slithered forward to curl lightly on his chest, watching as he continued his exercise from her new spot.

-Like to learn. Want to learn-

The door opened and Maine looked sharply up, and she sent him a reassuring mental purr.

-Just Wash-

He frowned at the familiarity in her tone, ignoring the other freelancer as he walked to the holographic treadmill.

“Geez, Maine, you could have asked me to spot you.”

Maine grunted, continuing to ignore him. He felt her ask Wash a question, though she was getting better at keeping their minds separate and he couldn’t tell what the question was.

“Spotting is when you keep an eye on someone when they’re weightlifting like that, to make sure they don’t hurt themselves. At least in relation to exercise. Depending on the situation it means other things.”

Maine felt her pull back into his mind, chewing over a load of information she had clearly obtained from Wash.

-Must you do that when you’re so close to me?-

She pulled back slightly, until Maine couldn’t hear Wash’s mental voice in his head anymore, and he sent her a little touch of approval. She purred out loud, and Wash looked up from programming the treadmill.

“She only does that when you talk to her. I have to admit, I get jealous sometimes.”

Maine grunted again, pushing the bar up one last time and setting it into the racks. He sat up, dumping her off his chest, and she made a quiet squealing noise in delight as she tumbled off and immediately rose again to settle around his shoulders. Wash shook his head at her antics, ignoring Maine’s limp as he walked to the leg press.

“God only knows why you’re her favorite.”

-He understands understands-

Wash only rolled his eyes, climbing into the little holographic booth and starting his jog. Maine settled into the leg press, setting the weights to what he had left off yesterday, and then they both exercised in silence, letting the rhythm of Wash’s steps fill the air.

Maine waited. After a few minutes Wash’s manners ran out, and soon there was 2000’s rock blaring from the speakers. Maine shook his head and grunted as he pushed up with his leg, keeping an eye on his prosthetic for shorts. He had managed to repair it with what little parts were available, but as with the repairs on his armor, they were flimsy at best. He was surprised it had lasted as long as it did.

He kept at it for only twenty minutes, as long as he dared with his leg, then reset the machine and rose, sighing at his cane on the other side of the room. She chirped and galloped across the room in the form of a dog, wagging her tail as she brought it back, barking once and prancing around. Wash poked his head out of the holographic room at the bark, eyeing her.

“Why a dog?”

-They’re happy-, she giggled, melting into a human form, and Wash shuddered lightly, causing Maine to look at him funny. Wash caught the glance, and shrugged.

“I find it a little creepy, okay? C’mon, shapeshifting? You don’t find that even a little weird?”

Maine grunted, and Wash stepped off the treadmill for a moment, looking at him.

“Seriously? You don’t find it weird? She doesn’t even give herself clothes, man. What, saying you like watching her turn into a naked woman?”

Maine glared, and Wash held up his hands peaceably.

“Sorry. I just find it disturbing when a golden retriever turns into a naked woman and you don’t even blink.”

Maine snorted, grabbing his cane from her and rising to his feet, gathering the leg under him and limping to the showers, with her close behind him, back into her usual slug-like form.

“And she watches you do everything! You still don’t find that creepy?” Wash called out after him, to which Maine didn’t even dignify with a response. After a second he could hear Wash running on the treadmill again, and sighed as he leaned against the door of the shower, glancing down at his leg. She sent him a small comforting thought, rubbing against his good leg.

-Will help-

-Don’t want you too-, he growled, and she ignored the sullen tone as she turned into a human once more, allowing him to lean across her shoulders as he removed his clothing and finally his prosthetic, standing awkwardly with her underneath him.

-Could change to something different?-

-Wouldn’t matter-, he sighed, and hopped heavily into the shower stall. She remained politely out of his mind as he used her body for support to clean himself off, only losing his balance once this time.

Small victory, he thought bitterly, and allowed her to curl up under his thoughts and purr comfortingly.

His shower took longer than he had thought, and as he was coming out of the stall Wash was entering the room. He caught Wash’s quick glance at his stump, and felt bitter embarrassment as he watched his eyes flick immediately away and to the wall, followed by a small cough. He brushed past him, hating the way he had to lean against her and hop to do so. Wash was in the stall by the time Maine reached the bench, and he sat down heavily on the bench, glaring at his leg.

As he sighed and reached for the towel, she sent him a quick warning before Tucker poked his head into the room, and he growled as the soldier didn’t even attempt to hide his stare.

“Oh, uh, shit. Um, sorry man. Uh, have you, uh, seen Wash, you know, around?”

Maine glared and snarled sharply, feeling a sour satisfaction as Tucker flinched and almost left. From the shower Wash poked his head out, soap running down the side of his face.

“Tucker? You actually willingly entered the gym?”

“Fuck you, Wash”, Tucker sighed, clearly relieved for the distraction and chance to stop looking at Maine. “Carolina wanted me to tell you she wants a group meeting at supper tonight, so you’d better actually show up, or, and I quote, she’ll tie a rope around your dick so you’ll stop avoiding dinner with us. To which I immediately responded ‘kinky’, and ‘Bow-chika-bow-wow’, but she didn’t think I was funny.”

“You say that like you expected her too.”

“I’m convinced that one day we’ll find a sense of humor buried under that stone-cold exterior.”

Maine and Washington snorted at the same time, and she giggled from behind Maine, making Tucker look confused and peek around Maine.

“Is she in here? Seriously? Jesus Christ, she really does follow you everywhere.”

Maine growled, low and threatening, and Tucker squeaked and ran out of the room while Wash laughed, bending over before yelping and falling in the shower. She rose up immediately, back in her normal form, disks whirling in alarm as she looked over Maine’s shoulder to make sure Wash was okay. Once she saw him swear and stand, she relaxed again, turning to look at Maine.

-Why don’t you follow him around?- he snapped, but she felt the real emotion behind it and ignored the words, merely hugging his mind once and curling up on the bench to watch him. He grumbled and bent over to dry off, ignoring her. She ignored him back, amused with herself, and he could only sigh as he felt her amusement bubbling under his skin.

-

Maine sat in his usual corner during dinner, by now used to the inhabitants of the base crowding around him. Before the Reds and Blues arrived, they used to sit scattered around the room, but after having their cafeteria shot up and one of their members shot at, the base avoided them like they had the plague. Unfortunately, with a population of near seventy, there wasn’t much room to really avoid them, and they definitely preferred Maine’s silence to sitting next to the homicidal maniacs.

Maine was not the only one confused by the unanimous decision. The first day that had happened, he had overheard Grif saying, “They know what he is, right?”

He glanced up as Phil sat next to him, Maggie not close behind and taking the seat across. She had her usual stack of papers under her arm, attempting to juggle them with her tray of food on top and a tall mug of coffee on top of that. Maine wordlessly held out a hand, and she sighed in relief as she dropped her papers into it.

“Thanks Maine. At least someone here has manners.”

“Hey!” Phil shouted, looking offended. “Last time I offered to help, you dumped hot coffee all over my head. Forgive me for not asking twice.”

“Next time don’t ask if the ‘little lady’ needs help.”

“God forbid my mother taught me manners.”

“If those are the manners she taught you, I don’t think we’ll get along.”

Phil opened his mouth to argue back, and Jeff rolled his eyes as he approached the seat next to Maggie, slamming his tray down and flopping down gracelessly into his seat. “Jesus Christ, will you two just fuck and get it over with already? All this sexual tension is making me gag.”

Maine smirked as the two launched into their usual tirade, ignoring them and looking down at the papers Maggie had given him. He recognized two of the projects, but the title of the third made him curious. He reached out and touched Maggie’s wrist, immediately making her break off and look at him. He tapped the title of the paper, and she glanced down before grinning.

“Oh, that? We finally got the green light for this big project we’ve been planning for the past ten years. We’ve been studying cryogenics in plant matter alongside terraforming here, and the guys up top are pretty impressed by our success and greenlighted animal trials. We’ve got a lot of work to do before we’re ready for that, of course, but Jeff’s worked out some pretty solid looking functions. Tomorrow we start the computer testing. It’s why the cooks have made such a big meal tonight. We’re celebrating a little bit.”

He nodded and sat back in his seat, taking a bite out of his food before noticing that he had about twice as much as anyone else. He blinked, confused, then looked up at Maggie again and grunted. She looked back at him, and he flicked his eyes from his plate to hers. She suddenly looked sheepish, and the rest of the table went quiet as well, looking everywhere but at him.

“Look, Maine, we didn’t want you to get embarrassed. You’ve made a lot of progress in recovery over the past ten months, and if you’re going to get back to normal you can’t stop that process now. This wouldn’t be an issue, normally, but since those guys got here we’ve had to take serious account of our rations. We’ve been down to half-rations since yesterday. We figure we can stretch out our food supply another two months this way, three if the gardens are ready to harvest as early as we hope. We should have our first supply drop by then, but just in case this blizzard season lasts longer than usual, we want to be prepared. Don’t feel bad. We could use a bit of weight loss around her anyways.”

“Hey!” Jeff yelled, and Phil broke the awkwardness by laughing, jabbing his fork in Jeff’s direction.

“You can’t even argue, man.”

“Fuck you I can’t!”

Maine let them fade into the background, staring down at his food. He felt her stir up against him, trying to process his emotions.

-You don’t like me to help either-, she reminded him gently, and he sighed as he took another bite, not tasting it. Under the table, his leg itched where it connected with the prosthetic, and he growled quietly as she ran herself under his armor to itch it.

He had a hell of a life now.

Chapter Text

-What’s he doing?-

Maine caught the ball again, turning his head to look at her curiously as he tossed it back up. Her disked face, which had been tracking the motion of the ball up and down, was now still, disks rotating slowly in curiosity. He glanced back at the ball to catch it again before tossing it into the air, mildly curious himself now.

-What’s who doing?-

She sent him an image of the whiny ass-kissing one, and when she caught that thought she sternly reminded him that his name was Simmons, not kiss-ass. He grinned and caught the ball once more, turning back to face the ceiling again.

-Why don’t you go see, then?-

He chuckled at her indecision, torn between wanting to stay with him and desperately wanting to know whatever it was the moron was doing. She rose hesitantly, and he gently prodded her into actually going, watching her as she twined her way out the door. Through some weird twist of fate, the empty wing Maine had chosen for his own quarters eleven months ago turned out to be the only wing with enough rooms to house them all in one spot, so there was now an entire wing full of people that knew about her, and she didn’t have to constantly remain hidden. Maine had of course considered moving his quarters away from them, but in a fit of stubbornness decided he wasn’t going to lose his space as well as his leg. Some days he regretted that decision, but he found a sadistic humor in the way the Reds and Blues tiptoed past his room every time they walked by, terrified of upsetting him. It filled the otherwise boring days.

He caught the ball again, and paused for a moment to rub his shoulder into the bed to relieve an itch. In his mind he felt her watching whatever the other soldier was doing curiously, and felt her slight awe. He frowned, forgetting about the ball temporarily as he focused on her. She responded to his touch absently, focused on the other thing more. He pulled back and returned his own attention to tossing the ball once more, though he kept wondering just what it was she was doing. Finally, when fifteen minutes had passed and she still hadn’t returned, he growled and sat up, reaching for the prosthetic beside him and fastening it onto his stump so he could go investigate for himself.

His leg and cane thumped loudly as he walked down the hall, and he scowled at the noise. As he passed Wash’s room he heard the groan and muttered, “Go the fuck to sleep, Maine”, and flipped off the dark room as he walked by. The door he sought was at three doors from the end of the wing, and as he approached he found himself walking slower, unconsciously trying to sneak up. Peaking in he found the whiny one sitting at the desk, back to the door with a single lamp turned on over whatever it was he was doing. She was in the air above his shoulder, constantly shifting around as she sought a better view, and when Maine leaned against the doorframe she glanced back at him and sent a quick greeting before returning her attention to the desk.

Maine watched her watch Simmons for a few moments, then leaned forward slightly to see what the soldier was doing himself. Once he saw he snorted, leaning against the door again and sending her a thought.

-This is what you’re so interested in?-

She brr’d as Simmons jumped at the snort and turned around, screaming shrilly when he saw Maine standing in his doorway. Maine raised an eyebrow as the man twisted and fell out of his chair, trying to scramble away from him and only succeeding in slamming his head off the desk and yelping again.

“Goddammit Simmons! If I have to tell you one more time there’s no such thing as monsters, I’m gonna introduce you to the monster that is my shotgun!”

Maine tilted his head at the sound of Sarge yelling through the wall, then flicked his eyes back to Simmons and slowly raised a finger to his lips. Simmons gulped, staying silent, and she chortled in amusement, cartwheeling through the air.

-He just wanted to see too-

“What?” Simmons squeaked, flinching when he heard Sarge growl through the wall again. She twisted her way over to the desk again, hovering over the paper and looking down, and Maine limped over to get a closer look himself, enjoying as Simmons flinched on the floor below him. On the paper was a crude sketch of the greenhouse underneath the complex, though Simmons had some of the plot locations wrong and there was no way the corn had grown that high already. He told her that it wasn’t very good, and she immediately disagreed and said that she thought it was.

-Is how he feels about it-

Maine eyed the paper again, comparing the image on the paper to the actual greenhouse. The sketch was lusher, and looked more grown and disorganized than the room actually was. However, it also looked more inviting to enter than the sterile environment the room maintained.

Maine snorted and stepped away from the desk, ignoring Simmons as he slowly crawled to his feet, watching Maine warily. He stopped and looked back as she hesitated to follow, looking back at the paper.

-Want watch more-

Maine raised an eyebrow, then sighed and jerked his head at Simmons. The man gulped and stood up, hesitantly sitting down at his desk once more, though he continued to stare at Maine. She moved back to the paper, rolling the pencil across the desk, and Simmons took the hint and picked the pencil back up, though it was clear his fear of Maine was distracting him.

-He only watches me-

Simmons looked at her, then at Maine, and it took all of Maine’s restraint to not growl. Instead he returned the look with a stony gaze, then looked to the wall, bored. Simmons continued the drawing with her watching, and after a few minutes seemed to forget Maine was in the room, with him standing so still and silent. Maine glanced around the small quarters as Simmons quietly described what he was doing to her, grudgingly approving of the neatness the man maintained.

“If your leg’s hurting you, you can sit down. Only if you want, of course.”

Maine glanced over as Simmons spoke, glaring lightly, and Simmons gulped and turned back to his paper, hunching his shoulders as he hurriedly scribbled. Maine ignored the offer, though he puzzled over the strange tone Simmons had adopted. It wasn’t the pity he was used to.

-Respect-, she answered softly, only to him, and he glanced sharply at her. She had turned away from the paper, staring at him, disks spinning slowly. They shared that look for a moment, and Maine snorted softly, breaking away first. She turned back to the paper, and Maine leaned against the doorframe again, ignoring the invitation to sit.

The clock ticked to 3:04 AM, and the three shared a tense companionship for the next hour.

-

Maine immediately regretted it the next morning, when Simmons passed by his bunk and cheerily shouted, “Good morning, sir! Is there anything I can help you with?”, to which Maine responded with a snarl and pointing a pistol at his face. Simmons had yelped and ran away, but it unfortunately did not stop there. His late breakfast had Simmons sitting next to him there, chattering away while the Reds and Blues stared at them incredulously, and no amount of threatening could get him to leave this time. He followed him to the gym, offering “words of support!” to Maine as he exercised, and this time throwing a twenty pound dumbbell at him did get him to leave temporarily. She scolded him, but the wave of solid irritation she caught made her sink down and apologize. He almost felt bad, until Simmons followed him to the shower and offered to help again, this time startling Maine into falling and almost resulting in another seizure.

Maine did shoot him that time. She argued him into making a nonlethal shot, but he made certain that Simmons would not sit comfortably for the next month.

By the time he made it into the mess hall for lunch his nerves were fried, and he growled constantly to himself and snarled at whoever approached him. She purred against his back, sending the soft vibrations through his armor, but that did nothing to soothe him. His eye actually twitched when Simmons sat next to him again, only this time he was joined by Grif, Wash, and, joy of all joys, fucking Caboose. Simmons constantly blathered to his left, uncomfortably squirming in his seat, Grif made remarks on how Simmons was such a kiss-ass, Caboose just kept shouting about how he was so absolutely certain Maine was going to absolutely positively adore some fucking rifle named Freckles, and he was pretty damn certain Wash was only there to enjoy Maine’s misery. He caught the other Freelancer’s eyes once, and Wash choked on his water and immediately looked away, struggling to hide laughter. Across the room Phil and Maggie were watching him with expressions of deep sympathy, though he noticed they did absolutely nothing to help. Finally, listening to Caboose and Simmons fighting over his attention, he snapped, standing up abruptly and shoving himself away from the table.

The room went silent as he stalked out, all eyes on him as he limped heavily through the doorway, stumbling briefly as he misstepped on his cane, and felt the swell of anger. She let him be angry, merely listening as his mind raged. By the time he reached his quarters his anger had burnt out, and his leg throbbed underneath him.

He sat heavily on the bed, angrily ripping the prosthetic off and throwing it across the room, reaching down to rub the joint roughly. She slithered out of his armor, quietly helping him remove it and setting the pieces on the floor, tenderly running her body across his shoulders as she leaned against him mentally, bracing him up. He paused a moment to reach up and touch her, and for a moment they were still, minds pressing against each other.

The moment was ruined when Wash coughed at the door, and Maine opened his eyes to glare at him.

“Sorry, man. I should have stopped them. Here, I brought your food so you can eat in peace.”

Maine was silent as Wash stepped into the room, quietly accepting the tray of food and the peace offering. Wash walked around the small quarters as Maine ate slowly, frowning at the blank walls.

“Geez, man, even Carolina decorated her room a bit.”

Maine grunted, and Wash shrugged.

“I guess.”

She slithered out from under Maine’s elbow, disks still on her face. Wash winced as he felt her accusation.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

She made a sharp sound, then went back into hiding wherever she was in the blanket. Wash laughed, shaking his head.

“You know, I’ve never wanted to please anyone as much as I want to please her. And I don’t even know why.”

Maine grunted in agreement, and they both watched her burrow underneath the covers. Wash frowned lightly, considering something, and Maine looked at him.

“It’s kinda weird how we just refer to her as her, and we all know who we’re talking about. Carolina hates it, even though she never gets confused either. Says that she should have a proper name and quit hogging the noun to herself.”

Maine snorted. That sounded like Carolina.

“So…?”

Maine grunted, waiting for Washington to make his point instead of beating around the bush. She shared the sentiment with Wash, and he laughed.

“Fuck, Maine, you really haven’t changed much. I’m just saying, she should have a name.”

-Name?-

She actually crawled out of the blankets, disks whirling with interest. Wash looked at her, shaking his head.

“Yeah, a name. If you want one.”

She brr’d loudly, rolling through the air, and Maine rolled his eyes and ignored her giddiness, eating his meal.

-NAME NAME NAME NAME NAME NAME-

“Woah, calm down there. Is she always like this?”

Maine snorted once, and Wash caught the eye roll.

“How the hell do you put up with her? Hey, calm down, it’s just a name.”

-Choose? I choose?- she asked, disks whirling, and Maine sighed, preparing himself as Wash nodded. He could feel her suddenly digging through his memories, searching for a specific word or emotion to associate with herself, and winced as the flashing memories made him a little dizzy. She sent a small thread of apology, slowing down slightly, and then she froze on one. It was a memory of Maine as a child, standing outside of whatever military base his parents had been stationed at at the time. There was a warm, gentle rain falling, and Maine had stood in the middle of the street as everyone moved around him, enjoying the feeling of rain drops running down his face. Everything had been colored with a golden hue, and there was such a feeling of inner happiness associated with the emotion that Maine felt his features soften.

Wash was silent as she shared the memory with him, and Maine saw an expression of almost reverence on his face when he finally spoke, voice a little thick.

“I don’t know if we can pronounce that. How about we settle with Rain?”

She considered it, poking through Maine’s memories of how different rains felt, how it looked handwritten on paper versus typed, and the general feeling associated with it. Finally, she gave a little approving trill, settling heavily on Maine’s shoulders and rubbing her face against his, careful to avoid touching the back of his head. Wash sighed, though the smile on his face betrayed his amusement.

“You’re such a ridiculous creature. Wonder where you came from.”

Maine shrugged, and then his mood crashed as he heard Simmons’ voice again.

“Sir? Maine? Are you in here? I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

He was unable to keep the desperation off his face, and Wash sighed as he stood up.

“I’ll distract him. Enjoy your meal. See you later, Rain.”

She purred as he walked out the door, and Maine could hear him catch Simmons around the shoulders and lead him from the wing, spouting some bullshit about how he was certain Maine had gone back to the gym again. Maine waited until he head the section doors close, then sent her- Rain, to go close the door to his personal quarters. She was back before the doors had even started moving, going back to slithering through the blankets again, tunneling through the folds. He watched her as he finished the last of his meal, entertaining himself with her playful thoughts.

-Going to nap?-

-Don’t sleep-, she hummed, pulling her head out from under the blankets and looking down at the nest of tunnels she had created, disks whirling. He reached out and tickled his fingers along the back of her, feeling that soft skin pinch slightly under his fingertips. She made a happy squealing noise, squirming under his fingers, and he found himself smiling.

Ridiculous creature indeed.

-

“Maine, can I talk to you?”

Maine paused in midstep, tilting his head before turning to look at Carolina. She had her face turned slightly to the side, clearly disliking that she had to talk to him. Under his armor, Rain wriggled around until she could poke her head out of his neck joint, whirling her disks in Carolina’s direction. He waited a moment, then grunted.

“I don’t know what their obsession is with you lately, but I’m giving you one warning. If they get hurt, I’m going to kill you.”

Maine merely raised an eyebrow, smirking at her, and watched as Carolina sighed quietly.

“They grow on you”, she muttered, breaking eye contact, then she turned abruptly and stalked away. Maine snorted, turning back the way he was going, and Rain spoke to him gently.

-She cares for them-

-Then tell them to leave me alone, because I don’t.-

-Yes you do-, she argued, ignoring him when he growled and protested. She sent him a wave of his own emotions, making him pause in the middle of the empty hallway as his mind struggled to keep up with it. Through the wave of emotions and memories he caught a general sense of irritated interest, and he growled as soon as he realized it, stepping off abruptly. She squealed and dived back into his armor, sending him an apologetic thought as she did.

-Sorry sorry-

-Stay out of my head-, he growled, and she ducked down mentally, separating herself and staying quiet. He took another step, then realized he was too irritated now to try to sleep, and sighed as he turned and headed for the gym again. Phil had said he’d made an astounding improvement, and Maine himself felt close to his old self. At his physical height he had maintained an average weight of two hundred and thirty-five pounds. He had broken one hundred and eighty last week, without the ten pound weight of the prosthetic. Phil estimated that if he had both legs he would be almost back to his perfect condition.

For some reason, Maine hadn’t quite felt as bitter when he was reminded of his missing leg that time.

He hid his wince when he passed Simmons, grudgingly accepting his fate as the other man turned around and began to follow. He was surprised, however, when he just called out to him.

“Have a good night, sir. Wash and Tucker are in the gym now, just to warn you.”

Maine eyed him and nodded, tilting his head as Simmons continued on, leaving him alone for once. He kept an ear on the soldier as he continued, fully expecting him to turn around and follow, but Simmons just passed through the section door and into the next compartment. Maine grunted curiously, then headed into the gym, ignoring Wash and the Blue arguing as he headed for the weight bench. He paused, then sighed, turning to the treadmill instead. He tried to avoid the treadmill as much as he could, since his leg made each venture an embarrassment. But he knew that he had to figure it out eventually. Before a deadly firefight would be preferable.

He grimaced as he set the treadmill to a walk, then sighed as he set the cane against it and roughly stepped up. He limped unsteadily until he caught his usual limp-step-hop rhythm, and let himself adjust to movement without his cane before increasing the speed.

The pain made him grit his teeth, and he tried to ignore it. She crawled back into his consciousness again and blocked off part of it, though he wouldn’t allow her to bury all of it. She understood he needed the pain to learn how to run again. Once he had settled into a fairly comfortable jog, he increased the speed once more, into a slow run. She left his armor at this point, settling on the bars of the treadmill as she watched him. He knew she would keep him from falling too far if his leg failed again, as much as he hated needing her help.

Yelling from the other side of the room caught his attention, making him stumble slightly, but he regained his rhythm and listened.

“Wash, c’mon man, it’s midnight. Just let me go to bed.”

“Tucker, when was the last time you did any training? Just because this base is secluded doesn’t mean we’re safe. Remember what happened on Chorus?”

“I’m in shape, man! Believe it or not, I actually have been exercising regularly. Kinda. At least once a week. Which you still have to admit is an improvement!”

“And you can do better. Caboose is in here every afternoon with Freckles.”

“Have you seen what he calls exercising? He does some weird dance routine and plays fetch with Freckles. Not exercising.”

“The dancing is called Zumba, and believe it or not, has been a recognized exercise technique since the twenty-first century. And I don’t mind him playing fetch with Freckles. It’ll hopefully teach him how to actually throw something further than five feet.”

“Okay, one, I refuse to accept that ‘Zumba’ or whatever you called it is a legitimate thing. Two, I can see your point on that. Three, just because Caboose is in here doesn’t mean I have to be. You’re not the leader of Blue Team anymore, asshole. Church is back.”

Maine felt Washington’s wince from across the room, and raised an eyebrow.

“We’ll talk about that later.”

“No, we won’t. I don’t see Red Team in here ever, unless they’re here to bug that fucking asshole over there. Why don’t you bug them into exercising? That fatass Grif needs it more than I do.”

“I’m not going to argue with you about this, Tucker.”

“Then don’t, man! Just let me go to bed.”

Wash held his tongue as Tucker brushed past him, leaving the room, and Maine kept running as he heard Wash sigh. Finally, after a few minutes of silence and Wash staring bitterly at the wall, he turned around to face Maine.

“Leading a team fucking sucks, Maine. Don’t do it. Just don’t.”

Maine grunted, and Wash shook his head before leaving the room as well. She watched him leave as well, following him as he walked across the room, disks whirling.

-What happened?-

-It’s complicated.-

She processed that, facing down slightly as the disks spun faster.

-Complicated is hard to understand-

-That’s why it’s complicated.-

He felt her process that, thinking that over thoroughly. He felt her acceptance of the answer, and then she forgot about it, turning her attention back to him. He snorted and ran on, feeling a little adventurous as he turned the speed up once more.

-

“Hey, Maine!”

Maine looked up at Phil, who had ducked into the mess hall. Phil stepped in and started walking towards him, still a distance away when he started speaking again.

“Maggie wanted me to ask if you would help her decorate the rec room again. She wants to throw some ‘we survived the blizzard season with strangers’ party, and needs help with everything.”

Maine thought he did a good job of keeping his face expressionless as the Reds and Blues were first dead silent, then roaring with laughter. Phil looked confused, then caught Maine’s expression.

“…sorry doesn’t begin to cover how I feel.”

Maine just looked down and pinched the bridge of his nose, hearing the orange one speak up.

“You sure you got the right guy, dude? Or is he one of those guys that secretly paints his toenails and plans birthday parties for everyone?”

Maine looked over and glared, but it did nothing. Wash was still half out of his chair with laughter, and Carolina was bent over the table, shoulders shaking.

“It’s not like that, asshole. He just lends a hand out around here. Which is more than I can say for some visitors.”

The smart ones in the group immediately shut up. The less intelligent ones took a few extra seconds before they got the hint. Caboose was too confused to laugh in the first place. Wash and Carolina had the decency to at least look sheepish.

“Point taken. We’ll help out with whatever you guys need.”

“Bit late for that, don’t you think?” Phil snorted, turning back to Maine, though still addressing them. “Maggie likes to work with him. He does a good job. She says it’s like he can read her mind, and it just makes everything much easier.”

He looked confused when they broke into laughter over the mind reading remark, and Maine just shook his head. Under his armor, she stirred, sending up a little confused question, and he sent her a quick ‘later’. Phil continued to look confused, and Maine growled and nodded, waving his hand in a ‘just leave’ motion. The man shrugged, then leaned down to say something to Maine at a volume the others couldn’t hear.

“One more week. We’ve got a supply dropship waiting in orbit above us, the storms are dying down, and we have parts to repair their ship on there. One more week.”

Maine glanced at him briefly in acknowledgement, and Phil left the room, one of the other civilians following him out, asking a question about the new cryogenics program. They were gone before Maine could catch anything important. He supposed it didn’t really matter.

He felt her stir under his armor, her curiosity burning, and he sighed.

-I’ll ask about it later.-

She sent him a happy buzz against the back of his mind, creating a strange tickling sensation, and he glanced up as Wash approached, looking sheepish.

“Sorry man, didn’t mean to laugh. It was a little funny, though. Want to point us to whatever we can do to help?”

Maine looked at him with a flat glare, then reached over to put his helmet back on. He picked up his empty tray and limped towards the disposal, leaving Wash behind, clearly frustrated.

-Was mean-

He sent her a wave of his indifference, and she quieted, though he could still feel her disapproval.

Chapter Text

“Light of the Heavens, you are cleared to send dropships. Welcome to The Gardens.”

“Don’t welcome us yet, Gardens. Still have to clear the winds. Sending two for this run, Forerunner and Gallagher. We’ll wait for better weather before sending the rest, but we’ll send essentials now.”

“Much appreciated, Heavens. Over and out.”

Phil took off the headset and leaned back in his chair, grinning as the room erupted in cheers. Maine leaned in the doorway, standing just on the edge of the crowd of people crammed into the control room. Maggie turned and noticed him, tried to wave him in, but he just smiled and shook his head as he turned and limped away. He could feel her reveling in the joy in his mind, happily absorbing all the happy emotions of the people around them. The past few weeks had been rough. The greenhouse crop had pulled them through without having to cut rations again, but it was still close. And they had lost about three years of work on producing genetically superior flora, but they had all agreed it wasn’t important. Not as important as eating.

The ones not able to make it to the landing confirmation were passing through the hallways now, chatting excitedly about how much they were going to stuff their faces, and how great it would be to not have to ration toilet paper again. He idly listened to the chatter as he made his way to the observation deck, going to an area that would be fairly empty once everyone gathered to watch the ships descend. The sky was clear but still bitterly cold, and winds were hovering at about two hundred mile an hour gusts. It would knock smaller ships around, but Light of the Heavens would be sending the heavier Pelican dropships first, rather than the usual light weight supply ships.

As he settled into his seat she slipped out of his armor, turning in excited circles around him while the deck was empty. He watched her idly, lost in thought. Last year at the end of the clear season he had still been in too fragile a condition to be safely moved, and had stayed at The Gardens to finish recovering. He was healthy now, or at least as healthy as he was ever going to be again.

He could leave, if he wanted to.

He leaned back in his seat, staring at the high atmosphere clouds, the ones that looked like they were moving slowly only because they were so far away. If it wouldn’t have been daytime, he might have even been able to see Light of the Heavens, if she had decided to set a low orbit.

Did he want to leave?

He didn’t have a job waiting for him. He wasn’t suited for civilian life, wasn’t smart enough for exploration bases, and with a missing leg no one would hire him as a mercenary. Not that he would be suited for that kind of task either. Taking orders from idiots didn’t suit him.

He brought his mind back to the present when she dived towards his armor, wiggling down the front of his chest plate as the deck doors opened. He raised an eyebrow at her, ignoring the squirming against his chest as she rearranged herself, then looked towards the door, faintly surprised to see Phil. He raised an eyebrow at him, expressing his curiosity, and Phil laughed.

“Yeah, I know, I’m bad. I should be in the control room. I wanted a break, though.”

Maine nodded, going back to watching the sky. The clouds were getting a little wispy, meaning the winds in the upper atmosphere were starting to pick up. Phil sat in the chair next to him, and they sat in silence for a while, enjoying the forgotten feeling of sunshine on their skin, filtered through a UV shield as it was.

“Can I ask you something?”

Maine turned to look at him, and she sent him a serious ribbon of emotion, letting him know that Phil was going to ask something important. As if he couldn’t figure it out on his own.

“Look, I know this is the last place you want to be, and I’m sorry you’ve been stuck here for the past year and a half. I just want to say it’s been a pleasure having you here.”

Maine furrowed his brow and sat up a little, and Phil raised his hand slightly, indicating he wasn’t done.

“I know you’ve considered yourself a burden on us. Honestly, in the first month of your recovery, you were. You were angry, asocial, rude, extremely sick, and needed almost constant attention that you fought against every step of the way. But you’ve become a valuable member of our team. You’re constantly helping out, even with things you don’t understand, and you have a surprising insight for how things work around here. Maggie loves when you work in the greenhouse, even though all you do is tend the plants. Because when you decide you’re going to do something, you put your whole self behind it, and you don’t half-ass anything. We appreciate that. Hell, you’ve been more useful than most people that are employed here on the base.”

Maine waited while Phil took a breath.

“Since Light of the Heavens settled into orbit, I’ve had no less than twelve people come forward wanting me to ask you to stay, and when I put it to a group vote, I didn’t have a single person disagree. You know these people, that almost never happens. And honestly, I don’t see a reason why not myself. You’re a hard worker, and a valuable addition to the team. So I’d like to ask you to stay on with us. Of course, it’s your choice, but we want you to know the option is open for you.”

Maine was silent, for once not of his own accord. Phil watched the clouds himself for a moment, then rose.

“I know it’s a tough decision to make. Clear season doesn’t end for another month and a half or so, so you’ve got plenty of time to think it over. See you later, Maine.”

He stood abruptly and walked out through the compartment doors again, leaving Maine to his thoughts. As soon as the door shut she slithered out of his armor again, twining around his neck and face as she listened to his thinking, keeping out of it. He reached up and let her smooth skin slide past his fingers, idly moving them for her to twist around. When the doors opened again, he was surprised to see Carolina. She glanced at him, armor making her expression unreadable, though the way her shoulders were set indicated she was upset about something. She faced him for only a second before turning and walking to the opposite side of the observation deck, settling down angrily and holding her head in her hands. Rain faced her, disks spinning slowly in curiosity, then she glanced at Maine to ask for permission.

-Go.-

She brushed her body against his face as she spun through the air to Carolina, pausing about five feet away and waiting for Carolina’s permission before approaching. Maine watched for a second longer, then turned his attention back to the clouds. Right about now Heavens would be loading the essential supplies onto a Pelican, and choosing a crew to assist in unloading it. He imagined the chaos as supplies were sorted and angry pilots screamed at their crews as they did everything wrong. He caught himself smiling slightly, and immediately scowled. He sat up slightly to remove the glare coming off part of the prosthetic, and glanced over to see what she was doing. Carolina was sitting on the bench with her back to him, facing the ice and snow outside. Her shoulders and back were hunched, head lowered, and Rain was draped across the expanse of her shoulders, leaning against her face. He could hear faint humming coming from that side of the dome, even past the low scream of the wind. He watched as Carolina hesitantly reached up to touch Rain’s skin, heard the purr of approval. He wondered briefly if that was what he looked like to everyone else when he had those moments.

She felt his concern, even though he didn’t, and sent him a little tendril of thought.

-She is fine-

He hesitated.

-What’s wrong?-

-Argument with others-

-Humans complicate things-, he sent, knowing she didn’t understand the concept of arguments very well. –Not everyone can read thoughts.-

-Would make things much easier-, she grumbled, and Maine was slightly surprised when Carolina coughed out a laugh.

-I let her hear-

Maine sighed, leaning back on his seat again, closing his eyes against the glare shining off his leg. Another fifteen minutes and the sun would have a lower angle that wouldn’t bother him. The doors opened once more, and when Maine saw Maggie coming in he shot a quick glance over to Rain. Carolina was blocking Maggie’s view with her body, though he could see the glint of metallic disks peaking over an aqua shoulder. He frowned and sent a stern thought, and she ducked down again.

“Figured you’d be up here first, Maine. Mind if I grab a seat with you while it’s quiet?”

He gestured acquiescence, and Maggie sat on the other side of the bench, arms spread across the back of it while her face tilted upwards, smiling in the sunlight.

“Phil said Heavens will make the announcement any second now, so I wanted to grab a seat before it got crowded.”

Maine grunted, keeping Carolina in the corner of his vision. With Maggie here, Rain wouldn’t be able to hide in his armor when the deck started getting crowded. He didn’t even like the Reds and Blues knowing about her, let alone the rest of the base.

-Will hide with her-

-Stay hidden-, he ordered sternly, wishing he could tell Carolina that she needed to be constantly reminded to stay out of sight. She sent him a little offended thought as a few more people filed through the door, grabbing seats. The PA system crackled, and a second later Phil’s coughing came through.

“Sorry guys, water went down the wrong hole. Heavens just sent out confirmation of departure. We should be seeing them in about ten minutes, if you guys want to catch them out on the deck.”

It took two minutes for the deck to fill, Maggie watching and chuckling as everyone tried to find somewhere to sit. Maine noticed they all avoided sitting anywhere near Carolina.

“Every year for twelve years this happens, you’d think they’d figure it out by now.”

Maine shrugged, looking up towards the sky. A few people were pointing up into the clouds, and after a second of looking Maine could see a pair of faint glimmering spots.

“They’re coming in pretty fast”, Maggie muttered, and Maine nodded, agreeing. The dots grew rapidly, becoming dark squares, jerking sharply from side to side as the winds threw them around. Everyone on the deck gasped when one strong gust almost threw one into the other. The pilots were skilled, though, and the one almost hit just cut their engines and let themselves plummet a few hundred feet to avoid the collision. After that the two ships kept a wider berth, squares rapidly turning into Pelicans. It took another minute for them to finally near the ground, and they descended in a clockwise spiral, one a few hundred feet above the other. On one pass Maine could see the look of intense concentration as the pilots struggled to fight the gusts. Everyone pressed to the edge as first one ship set down, then the other, and the room erupted into cheers. Beside him, Maggie blew a sigh of relief.

“Those are some damn good pilots. Did I ever tell you about the year we had three supply ships crash? One right after the other, all from the same breeze. Their captain was furious. They ended up having to stay here while they made repairs.”

Maine turned to look at her as everyone tried to run out the door. He raised an eyebrow, and she grinned.

“I’m serious! Ask Phil about it later. Anyways, want to walk me down to the loading bay? I’m sure there’s plenty for us to do there.”

Maine snorted, then rose to his feet, left hand gripping his cane as he held his right out to Maggie. She laughed and took it, playfully ducking her head and batting her eyelashes.

“Why, I do thank you, kind sir. Now how’s about we mosey on down to the loading bay and see what pies we can stick our fingers into?”

He chuckled politely, but turned his head before leaving to look for her. Carolina sat on a bench, staring at him intently, and he could feel the heavy scrutiny of her gaze. He paused just a moment, disguising it as adjusting his grip on his cane, and Carolina gave a single short nod. He glanced in her direction once more, then walked through the door, holding his arm out for Maggie to hold on to his elbow. He felt her worry behind him, and he sent her an assurance.

He would be fine without her for the moment.

-

It was one o’clock in the morning before Maine was able to escape from everyone. After spending three hours unloading the Pelicans (Maine, you shouldn’t do that. Oh, don’t glare at me.), Maggie had insisted on throwing the pilots a small thank you party (somehow he got roped into setting up the tables. He’s still not sure how.), and she somehow found him every time he tried to sneak away and dragged him back to “go socialize”. Finally, he just made his way closer to the doorway, keeping out of Maggie’s sight until he was finally able to duck around and leave the room. He stepped heavily down the hall towards the hangar, leg aching. The Reds and Blues were there, repairing their ship with the parts the delivery crew had brought. He had heard Washington thanking Phil as they took the parts.

As soon as he stepped through the door he was blasted by a wave of happy emotions, and he saw Carolina wince under the ship.

“Hey, hold on-“

She pushed herself out and a slick of black motion ejected from the lining of her suit, flying towards Maine and slamming herself into his shoulder. He almost lost his balance, had to stumble quickly to catch it again, and Carolina sat up, helmet off for once with a strange expression on her face.

“That felt weird.”

Maine grunted in agreement, trying to keep her from rubbing against his face. She managed to anyways, disks spinning almost too fast to see, making a sharp whirring noise.

“How the hell do you do that every day?”

-used USED He’s used to it-, she hummed, rubbing against his face. He scowled and grabbed at her, gathering a handful of loose skin in his hand and pulling her off. She went willingly, purring, and this time hovered around him, turning lightly around his head.

“Hey, we’ve worked on that repeating stuff. Say it once, don’t waste air.”

-Don’t use air to speak?-

Washington laughed at the response, and Carolina grinned. Maine grunted at her, catching the Freelancer’s attention.

“She behaved. Asked questions nonstop, but she behaved. Stayed hidden when I told her to, stopped squirming when I said to. Better than these idiots.”

“Hey!”, everyone protested, except Caboose who said, “I am just as good at hiding as she is! It’s even more impressive because I’m bigger!”

“Caboose, you tried to hide in Carolina’s armor too. As funny as that was to watch, especially the part where she kicked your ass, you’re not that good at hiding.”

“Am too!”

“Now, if you were to try hiding in his armor, you might have better luck.”

Maine glared at Tucker, who went from grinning to hiding behind Washington faster than he could blink.

“You still haven’t learned to think before you speak, have you?”

“Do I look that smart to you? Because you will be sorely disappointed.”

Maine decided to ignore it, turning back to Carolina and the repairs. The engines looked like they had been shattered, and, peering in, he could see where chunks of ice had ripped holes in the fuel lines and engine casing. He shook his head and stepped back.

“I know it’s bad. I figure if Wash actually helps me we can be done by tomorrow. If I can get the Spanish robot to help, we might be done in the next few hours. The trick is getting him away from those idiots.”

He glanced over to where Grif and Sarge were commanding the robot to clean their armor. He raised an eyebrow at Carolina.

“None of us speak Spanish. He seems proficient enough, but the Reds are convinced the only thing he’s good at is telling jokes. I’m pretty sure he’s just insulting them, though.”

“I would be too, if they didn’t understand me”, Wash commented lightly, watching as well. After a second, he sighed. “I guess I’ll go get him. I don’t understand how I became their handler.”

“You’re the only one with the patience”, Carolina stated bluntly, patting Wash on the back as he left. Maine limped over to the pile of parts, awkwardly kneeling and picking through until he found a matching set of fuel lines. He grunted as he stood, leaning heavily on his cane and Rain’s side as she shifted into a human form. He ignored Carolina’s look as he picked up a wrench and began removing the broken lines.

She watched for a minute, and the only sound was Washington arguing with the Reds. Finally, she sat back onto the roller, pushing herself back to her job under the Pelican. He could hear her wrench turning as Wash began making a deal with Sarge.

By four in the morning, Wash was drunk, Rain had absorbed every piece of knowledge they had about Pelican ships (and was very handy at repairing the parts in tight places), Carolina fell asleep on the rolling mat (though when Wash woke her up she denied it), and Lopez was putting the last piece of replacement plating on, with Rain’s help to connect the shield generator. Maine sat back on the work bench, eyeing the ship to see if anything had been missed, and absently rubbed at the place his prosthetic met his leg. Carolina yawned and walked over, grabbing a can of juice that someone had brought them. Strange how none of them noticed it. Maine had his bets on Maggie.

“I think she’s finished. And I think I’m ready for bed.”

Maine nodded in agreement, reaching for a cloth to clean off his hands. Wash stalked over, coming down from his buzz and looking miserable.

“We’re done, but at what cost? Know what I had to give to borrow Lopez for this? Could you even understand it?”

Maine threw the dirty towel at his face as Carolina said, “Shut the fuck up, Wash. Go to bed. For fuck’s sake, you only had four drinks.”

“We weren’t allowed to drink on the Mother of Invention!”

“I’m starting to understand why”, Carolina muttered dryly, and Maine chuckled before standing and walking to the door. He paused briefly at the doorway when Carolina spoke up.

“Good night, Maine.”

He stood there for a second, hand gripping his cane tightly, then stepped off through the quiet halls, navigating by the emergency lights while Rain drooped lazily around his neck. By the time he reached his room and dropped into the bed, genuinely exhausted for the first time in a while, it was still only four-thirty.

He fell asleep as soon as he removed his armor.

-

-WAKE UP-

Maine was awake instantly, heart racing as his eyes flashed open. The room was still dark, the clock showing 5:43 a.m., and Rain hovered above his face, very still and flared slightly.

-Something is wrong-

He sat up at the tone in her mental voice, a metallic taste filling the back of his mouth as he hurriedly slapped on his armor.

-What is it?-

-Silence-

He paused, not noticing the way his skin tightened at her mental tone, the way the hair rose on the back of his neck and arms.

-What silence?-

-They’re all silent. All of them-

There was a deep melancholy to her words, and Maine felt a surge of desperation.

-Wake them up. Make them understand.-

She turned to face him, disks vibrating on her face, then she turned and vanished from the room, darting into the neighboring compartments. Maine heard sleepy protests as he slammed his helmet down and reached for his weapons, felt her explanations to them. By the time he had stood and made his way to the door, they were all awake and scrambling to put on their armor as silently as they could. Carolina was already coming down the hall, gripping her rifle tensely as she looked at Maine.

“What is it?”

Maine shook his head and edged slowly towards the section door, listening carefully before leaning his head out. She was beside him again, disks spinning slowly, and he listened for her confirmation as well as his visual.

As he waved the rest forward, the power in the station went out, sending the entire complex into sudden darkness. He heard the Reds’ and Blues’ startled sounds as his HUD automatically switched to thermal.

His heart thumped heavily when the backup generator didn’t kick on. He knew the complex, knew its sounds and rhythms, let them become part of his background noise. The hum of the storm shields, the hiss of heated air rushing through vents, that weird thumping noise that was felt under his feet when the generator was running. He knew that the backup was absolutely fail-proof, and that it kicked on exactly .73 seconds after the main power went out.

It was silent. The complex, so noisy in her existence, was dead. The only sounds were the winds screaming outside, so much louder than they should have been, and the shuddering of the building as blasts of ice shattered against the walls. He could feel the heat leaking out, and his HUD stated that there was already a two degree temperature difference from when he had woken up.

He growled, stalking forward as silently as he could, depending on Carolina and Wash behind him to check his corners. The others followed behind them, and he wanted to scream at their noise.

Then they came across the first body.

Maine paused when his display pointed out a heat signature, swiftly fading, and he waited a heartbeat before turning into the room. The body lay in the bed, bullet between the eyes, burns on the forehead from a silencer. He didn’t need to read the nameplate on the outside of the room to know who it was. The book still open on the bed told him it was Angela, specialist in flora analysis. The next room held her four year old daughter, still hugging her teddy bear. It was an innocent scene, if you could ignore the shattered remains of her temple and the way her pillow was stained red under her head.

Behind him, he heard swears and sounds of retching. Maine just tightened his grip on his gun.

The heat signatures were getting warmer.

Every room they passed held the same story, the people within murdered in their sleep. Some had clearly woken up the instant before they died, eyes open and terror on their faces. Those weren’t as bad as the families. Mary Jo, who still had to share the bed with her father so her nightmares didn’t make her wet the bed. Richard, who had fallen asleep in a rocking chair reading a story to his sons. They were still tucked in.

“Bastards”, Carolina muttered. Maine ignored her. He couldn’t ignore the emotions coming from Rain, though.

Which is why, when they came across the first soldier, it took him a second to react. It almost cost him his life.

Time slowed. He felt his eyes widen, felt the stretching of his eyelid across the surface of his eyeball. Rain left his shoulder as the soldier raised his pistol, silencer dragging through the air. His own weapon was raised, a fraction of a second too late as the finger on the other trigger squeezed.

And Rain was in between him and the bullet, body flared into a shield as she took the hit.

He snarled sharply, screaming at her in his mind, and fired off two shots into the soldier’s face even as he looked towards her. The soldier’s body hit the floor as she rose again, disks whirling in puzzlement. He felt a rush of relief even as he stalked over to her.

-Don’t ever do that!-

-Didn’t feel it-, she pondered, disks spinning slowly, facing just slightly downwards. He stared, and inspected her body himself, probing at her with his fingers.

-Nothing?-

-Nothing-, she confirmed, purring reassuringly, and Carolina approached from behind.

“You guys okay?”

Maine nodded.

“Good. Then let’s see who this soldier’s working for.”

There were no identifying marks on the armor, no dog tags, nothing to indicate who was paying him. Maine snarled sharply and kicked the body across the floor, and Carolina swore. Wash just slammed his fist into the wall, though he made sure to be quiet about it.

“Okay, we need a plan. Wash, any ideas?”

Wash glared at the soldier for a moment, then looked up at Carolina.

“We stick together, obviously. We have no idea who these guys are working for, what training they have, or how many they are. It’s obvious these guys know what they’re doing, and by this point I honestly doubt there are any survivors. I bet the only reason we weren’t targeted is because we aren’t official members of the base, and therefore weren’t on roll. According to the records, the wing we slept in was empty. That probably saved our lives.”

Carolina nodded in agreement.

“I don’t doubt it did. I think our only plan of action is to make our way to the ship and see if we can get out without being noticed. Tall order, but it’s what we have.”

“Um, why don’t we just hide?”, Simmons squeaked out, and Maine growled at him.

“Because”, Wash started, gritting his teeth, “this station has no power. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but it’s pretty fucking cold outside. How much longer do you think this base is going to stay warm? Plus with those winds still going on, I give this base maybe three days before it’s completely buried, if not torn apart by the ice. Besides, what if these guys don’t ever leave? What are we supposed to do, hide under our beds and hope they don’t decide to search our wing?”

“It was just a suggestion”, Simmons whispered softly, and Maine snorted as he shook his head and rose, wincing as a jolt of pain lanced up his leg. She hummed and slithered into his armor, wrapping her body around the base of the stump, her warmth soothing the pain for a moment. He jerked his head at Carolina, and she nodded and rose.

“He’s right, we need to get moving. Stick close, stay quiet, and keep an eye on your damn motion trackers. No surprises. I want to go as long as I can without any alarm going off, so if you guys see anyone, kill him before he even has a chance to breathe. Understood?”

“Understood.”

“Then sync.”

“Sync”, they all replied in unison, Maine growling gruffly as someone whispered, “Bathtub”. Carolina turned to him and nodded.

“You take point. You know this base better than us.”

He silently crouched and stalked forward, the rest falling in behind him.

Chapter Text

A dark shape slithered low to the ground, flitting from side to side in the hallway as it moved forward. It paused, elevating its face slightly, three bronze disks vibrating, and out from behind her an extremely tall man in white armor stepped out of the shadows, light gleaming across the surface of his helmet. She turned back, seeking assurance, and at his nod moved forward again. Behind the man trailed a group of soldiers, weapons raised to their shoulders as they stalked forward through the silent base. Through their visors faint lights could be seen, displaying a variety of information.

The shadow in front froze, made a soft chiming noise, and the man in white stilled and raised his weapon. Another man stepped from around the corner, dressed in a lighter armor than the soldiers, looking the opposite way down the T intersection. Maine made four quick steps and snapped his neck before he could turn their way. Then, nodding, he signaled the rest of the group to move forward.

“Maine, I don’t like this. If there was anything worth stealing, it would be in this area. What are these people here for?”

Maine frowned and tilted his head, an acknowledgment that he heard. The control room was up ahead on his left, and there wasn’t anyone guarding it. Even taking out the generators wouldn’t affect the communications systems.

He narrowed his eyes. Unless there was no one to hear a distress signal.

As they passed the doorway Rain froze, disks spinning slowly as she faced the door. Maine felt confusion coming from her, and he reached out to lightly touch her.

-Phil and Maggie are in there. They are alive-

He paused, then turned and opened the door, risking the light on his rifle to show two people sleeping on a mattress pad on the floor of the control room. Phil snored softly, Maggie’s arm wrapped around his chest. Maine stepped forward and shook Phil awake as Rain dove into his armor, holding a finger up to his helmet as the sleeping man slowly awoke.

“Wha- Maine? What are you doing here?”

Maine immediately muffled Phil’s hiss, jerking his head to the armored soldiers behind him. Phil caught on to the mood of the group in an instant, suddenly looking terrified.

“What’s going on?”

“There are soldiers going through the compound right now. Everyone’s dead. I’m sorry”, Wash added on as an afterthought. Phil’s eyes went wide, then he reached over and shook Maggie awake, holding a hand over her mouth when she tried to complain.

“Maggie, get up. We’re in serious shit.”

She froze and glanced around the room, suddenly hyperventilating and clutching at the blankets.

“Get up. We’re getting to the hangar bay.”

The pair scrambled to find their shoes and jackets, Phil asking questions as he moved.

“Everyone’s dead? You’re sure?”

“Does it look like I’m not sure?”

“Dude, we’ve seen more dead bodies in the last twenty minutes than I’ve seen in my lifetime. We’re sure.”

Maine glared at Grif, who shrugged.

“No point in dumbing it down for them.”

Footsteps sounded down the hallway, and everyone instantly went silent when Carolina held her hand up. Maine listened, and after a moment looked towards Carolina and held up three fingers. She shook her head and showed four, and after a second, he could hear that other set of footsteps. Wash, closest to the door, cut off all his lights and slowly leaned out. They all watched him tensely, and he held up his hand in an all-clear sign as the footsteps faded away.

“It’s getting busier here. Tracker’s showing another group coming up that hallway, bigger than this one.”

“Then we’d better get going”, Carolina stated, and she took point this time. This section of the base she knew well. Maine waited for Wash to go past him, then held up a hand to stop the others before gesturing to Phil and Maggie. The Red leader moved forward as if to protest, but at one glance from Maine cut his argument. The two civilians understood the motion, and took a protected location behind the Freelancers in the formation.

Maine noticed she remained hidden. She sent him a little tiny push of uncertainty, and he let her remain nestled in between his shoulder blades.

-You can hear them too?-

-Not as well-, she hummed. –Will try to warn-

He sent her a tiny mental touch, and stepped in behind Wash, leveling the rifle again. He could feel his leg throbbing underneath him, and grit his teeth as he hoped the prosthetic wouldn’t fail. Maybe Carolina wouldn’t leave him behind. Maybe.

-She wouldn’t-

-That’s reassuring.-

-That’s sarcasm-

He grinned despite himself, then turned the corner at her warning and fired four shots, taking down three soldiers. The sound echoed loudly through the otherwise silent compartment, and Carolina swore.

“Of course it’d be you. Lock and load, everyone. It’s gonna get hot in here.”

As soon she said it Maine could hear the running footsteps and angry shouts, and he resisted the urge to run forward and take point. Two years ago he wouldn’t have bothered with formation, and just taken care of everything himself. His leg clicking underneath him reminded him of why he couldn’t do that anymore. Instead he relied on Carolina and Wash to watch his sides as he turned down corridors and aimed, letting Rain’s mind mesh with his. He could feel her awareness of their bodies, and could read through her the way they were coming to attack, and where they were going to aim.

He decided, while turning to the side to avoid an anticipated pistol shot, firing one of his own in retaliation, that she was quite a bit more useful than an A.I. unit.

-I can’t work with the armor-

-Doesn’t matter. You can do this.-

She purred happily, then he felt her mental chill as she realized she had gotten distracted and forgotten about behind them. He turned, saw the pair of soldiers step out of a laboratory and take aim at Phil and Maggie. The Reds and Blues were a few paces off, busy with protecting behind them, and the only one to notice their situation was Tucker, who swore and tried to turn himself around. He had that strange sword in hand though, not a ranged weapon, and the seven steps it would take to reach the soldiers was too far away.

She dove out of his armor, melting into some strange creature –Raptor- and screeched loudly as she took one soldier to the floor. The other soldier panicked (Maine couldn’t blame him), tried to turn his gun to fire into the dinosaur tearing through his partner’s armor, and Maine fired a single shot through his forehead.

Rain lifted her head, melting into a human form and turning back to Maine for approval.

-You should do that more often.-

-Didn’t think I would like it-

He felt a little wave of uneasiness when she didn’t continue the thought, and instead felt her contemplating the act of killing. He was distracted by Carolina, who had turned back to see what the commotion was.

“She isn’t hurt by the bullets, right?”

-No-

“Then why don’t you take point?”

Rain considered it, asked for Maine’s permission, then charged forward through the group, shifting into the same wolf creature that had carried him to the compound. Maine turned to follow, then caught Phil and Maggie’s expressions.

He gave a shrug, and a gesture that he hoped conveyed he would talk about it later. Maggie seemed to get it, because she gulped and nodded. He turned and limped after the group ahead of him, listening to Rain’s snarls as she ran through whatever poor souls were in front of her. After the first few, there weren’t many, most running away and retreating. He could hear the screams of the enemy soldiers, and Grif behind him as well, being dragged by Sarge and Simmons after being shot in the thigh. He turned for a few steps to place some cover fire, lightening their load for a moment, then turned back to face the front.

As he turned, he caught a glimpse of a sniper barrel glinting dimly down a dark hall.

Rain felt his alarm, liquefying herself as she threw herself backwards, desperate to interfere, and Maine growled as his leg didn’t anchor properly and slid underneath him slightly, forcing him to catch his balance before aiming. The barrel flashed once, and he felt the solid thud in his stomach as the sound reached his ears, tearing through the armor and punching clean through to the other side. In the moment, he could appreciate the fact that the range was close enough it could do that.

Rain made a strange screaming noise as he stumbled to his knees, and he looked up to see her snarling and running down the hallway, so furious she couldn’t take a solid form, instead disintegrating and reforming as she lunged towards her target. He could feel her panic, as well as the soldier’s as he grabbed his automatic weapon from nearby and fired blindly into the face of the monster approaching him. The group behind him screamed and turned to run backwards, leaving him, and then one lucky bullet hit one of the wildly rotating disks.

She froze, locking down her mind and everyone’s in the complex. Maine could feel the iron grip across his consciousness, feel her trying to comprehend the feeling she had been exposed to. Then the pain overran her, and she sent out a mental scream, sending everyone to the ground as they tried to cover their ears.

Maine forced his eyes open, looking for her, and saw her body hovering in the middle of the hallway, turning in on itself and tearing itself apart just to reform again.

-HURTS HURTS HURTS HURTS STOP IT STOP MAKE IT STOP HURTS HURTS PAIN HURTS STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT-

He struggled to reach out a hand, and he knew the moment her pain turned to rage, watched her formless body lunge forward and completely envelope the soldier that had shot both of them. He struggled to his feet as he heard the muffled screams, saw the slight motion through her body as the man inside fought to break free. He gained his feet as everyone else turned to watch as well, minds screaming with hers.

And then Maine watched her body squeeze.

He could see the contractions running down her form, heard the sudden shrill scream from within before it was abruptly cut off by a wet, loud crunching noise. He froze as she held still for a moment, then suddenly released, hovering formless above the mess she had created.

The wave of foamy pink liquid rushed down the hall, washing up against Maine’s boots. He looked down as he felt a tooth lightly tap against him, bobbing gently before settling on the floor. He suddenly felt nauseous. She turned slowly to face him, mind blank, searching for just his and latching on when she found it. In the closeness of their two minds she let herself pour out, flooding his thoughts with feelings of pain and agony.

-hurtsHURTShurts so much-

-It will.-

She expressed great sorrow as he thought of the shot in his stomach, suddenly realizing he was bleeding out very quickly. She brr’d as she darted over, brushing against his face as he started to fall and shifting to a human form to catch him. As she approached, he saw the disk that had been shot, saw the Y-shaped crack that had shattered it. All the pieces were there, but that didn’t make her pain any less.

He watched Carolina approach, moving oddly slow and cautious.

-meME she’s scared of me-

The strained thought sounded through his head, almost a whisper, and he braced her mentally as she braced him physically. Carolina took another step towards them, weapon held in her hand, ready to swing up in an instant.

“Rain?”

-Will be fine. Hurts-

Carolina just watched, then slowly nodded, though Maine knew her well enough to know that she would be keeping an eye on her.

“Good. Then let’s keep moving.”

Rain hugged close to Maine for a second longer, pressing up against his neck, then hesitantly went forward again, shifting into something more heavily armored. He blinked at her choice, and heard Grif yell, “What the fuck is a rhino doing here?” before Simmons told him it was her. Maine heard the next group of soldiers turn the corner ahead of him, and felt her hesitation and worry over the pain as the soldiers screamed, “Oh shit!” and immediately ran backwards, scrambling over themselves.

-Flatten them. Make them too scared to shoot.-

Her thick, leathery neck raised upwards, turning small eyes back to look at him and flicking an ear in his direction. Then, picking through his memories of old Earth documentaries, she lowered her head and charged. He watched her run through the hall, staying close to them and not going too far ahead, then grimaced as he clutched his hand around his stomach and limped forward. His whole body throbbed, and every beat of his heart sent a new rush of blood flooding past his fingers. He took another step before he felt a body against his side, taller than he was used to and covered in armor.

He stared dimly at Caboose, who rubbed the back of his head.

“Ah, yeah, Tucker says I’m not allowed to help, something about someone shooting everyone though I’m sure he doesn’t mean me, so I’m supposed to help you. Without any kind of weapon. Tucker was very specific about that. You don’t have to worry, though! I’m very strong, I can carry you with no problem.”

Maine just stood, unable to comprehend the situation past everything else he was focusing on, then merely took another step, leaning heavily on the other man as they moved forward. Ahead of them, Rain made a low bawling noise as she slammed her head into the wall, crushing a screaming soldier in between the metal plating and the hard surface of her skull. A few bullets dug into her skin, and he felt her flinch, felt the way she pulled back slightly before realizing that these didn’t hurt.

From there, she was unstoppable, swinging her head from side to side, throwing soldiers ahead of her with her horn and trampling them underfoot as she went past. Maine swung his rifle down and casually shot one of the survivors as he limped by, silencing the groaning. It wasn’t until they were almost at the hangar bay that he realized Maggie and Phil weren’t with them.

He stopped abruptly and turned back, scanning the others, feeling a lightheaded rush of panic as he couldn’t find them. Caboose protested as he pulled away, limping back the way they came, and ignored Tucker’s shout when he shoved past him, stumbling slightly and leaning against the wall for a moment. When he pulled away he left a bloody smear on the wall, turning down the corner and looking behind them.

At the opposite end of the hall he saw them, pinned in the corner by a single soldier. He snarled sharply, lifted his pistol, and took a moment longer to aim than usual, just to be certain. The first shot dropped the soldier where he stood, and Maggie yelped while Phil jumped backwards. They both turned to see him standing in the hallway, blood pouring down his side and left leg, holding the pistol still aimed towards them. He waited a moment, catching his breath, then growled sharply and jerked his head back, gesturing them forward. They didn’t need to be told twice, and sprinted down the hall. He turned, fought the wave of dizziness, then shook his head and began his limp back to the group. They caught up to him before he took four steps, and as he rounded the corner he saw Caboose coming after them.

“Hey asshole, next time when I tell you don’t leave the group, don’t leave the fucking group!”

Maine brushed past Tucker, snarling back and leaning over him slightly, not entirely surprised when he didn’t back down.

“Fuck you too”, Tucker spat back, then turned back to the scientists, who were staring in disbelief at the group ahead of them. “And where did you two go, huh? What the fuck was so important you had to sneak away without telling anyone where you were going?”

“We-“

“Later, Tucker! We need to get out of here, now!”

Tucker stood still for a moment, then stood to the side, letting the two pass. He glanced up in Maine’s direction as Caboose helped him forward, but wisely kept his mouth shut.

Maine wasn’t above friendly fire.

He wasn’t sure when he spaced out, but he was suddenly being pushed forward and grabbed at, dragging him up the ramp of the Pelican. He blinked when he realized it was much bigger inside than it should have been, realized it was one of the more modern ships with the new interdimensional technology, then he was being shoved into a seat and strapped in.

“Maine? Stay with me, Maine, we’re almost out of here. Wash, get this bird off the ground!”

“Working on it!”, he heard from the cockpit, and blinked when he realized it was Carolina standing in front of him, Rain hovering over her shoulder and staring at him in concern.

-Told you she wouldn’t leave you-

He couldn’t work up the energy to protest, feeling his stomach lurch when the engines made a strange ticking noise before igniting, suddenly lifting off the ground and hovering inside the hangar.

“Hold on tight, kids, we gotta drive through the gate!”

Maine lifted his head and saw Carolina stumble towards the cockpit as the ship suddenly turned, and through the open door he could see the hangar doors through the front screen of the ship. He felt the hum as the weapons system engaged, then the slight rattle as Wash fired at the doors, blowing them out into the blowing snow. Then they were moving forward, into the late blizzard and open air.

“We’re not clear yet, everyone. They sent some dropships after us.”

Maine growled, clumsily grabbing at his restraint and fumbling with it until it unlocked. He ignored Rain’s scolding as he stumbled into the cockpit, leaning against the doorway before settling heavily into the weapons chair. Carolina turned to stare at him, Wash too busy avoiding enemy fire.

“You up for this?”

He grunted, pulling the visor over his head and trying to hide his wince when the lights started flashing in front of his eyes. He pushed himself past the dizziness, felt Rain brace him up and give him a flash of clarity. Then, taking both controls, he turned the undership turret and began returning fire. The bullets did almost nothing against the shields of the enemy ships, but it kept them distracted and lessened their own fire. He was only at it for a minute before he felt Rain’s sudden curiosity.

-What’s that?-

He was about to question her when something suddenly appeared out of the blizzard, screaming loudly and flaring its three pairs of wings before slamming claws into one of the enemy dropships, burying a reptilian head into the interior before vanishing out of sight in the storm. All three in the cockpit froze, and Rain moved closer to the screen, disks whirling as she stared after the creature.

“What the fuck was that?!”

Carolina ignored Wash’s panicked question, instead turning back to the others and facing Maggie.

“Are there any large predators on this planet?”

“There are a few, though none large enough to be considered a threat. Why?”

Carolina leaned back into the cockpit, staring back at the screen before ducking back again.

“Large animal, six wings, two legs with really long claws, dragon-like head, ice blue skin.”

He could feel Maggie’s shock.

“A Naga? Those were hunted to extinction! You really saw one?”

“Definitely not extinct. Give me a short summary.”

Maine heard the pause, listened as he fired on the two remaining ships.

“They were a big nuisance on this planet a hundred years ago, since they kept attacking dropships and eating them. After a few attacks, the UNSC declared them a threat and ordered them to be hunted down. A few hundred were killed, and they haven’t been seen in the past seventy years. I never thought I’d see one!”

“You may get a closer look than you’d like”, Carolina said bitterly, staring back out the front screen of the ship. Maine turned to look as well, going still when he saw the shadow swiftly approaching through the blowing ice.

“Shit.”

Maine ignored Wash’s statement, instead focusing sharply at the sight of Rain hovering near the screen outside the ship, waiting for the shadow. Maine went cold.

-Rain!-

She interrupted him, sending him such a large wave of calm confidence he couldn’t help but watch her. The shadow grew larger, suddenly becoming discernible as it flared its wings, and Rain flared in response just as quickly, holding her position a few feet away from the ship. Everyone else noticed her then as well, going silent as they watched. If it wasn’t for the calm feeling radiating from her, Maine might have panicked. Instead, he found himself idly curious as the creature stopped just in sight, flapping all six wings to hover in front of them and consider the small creature before it. Maine felt the rapid exchange of information between the two, felt how Rain placed herself in its mind and asked a simple question. He also felt its sentience as it remembered what had happened to its people, and Rain hummed along with his loss, a mental image of two lights spiraling together upwards into the sky, twining closer and closer together. Then an agreement between them, the creature flying off as Rain turned back to the ship.

-Will be back-

He was brought suddenly back to his own body as she exploded outwards into the form of the creature, hovering a moment before diving and following the other. He snapped his gaze back to his visor, watching them through the turret cameras, seeing the two large creatures violently remove the attacking ships from the sky.

“Holy fuck”, Wash broke in, breaking the tension, and Carolina growled as she fastened herself back into the copilot’s seat.

“Let’s get moving while they cover us.”

None argued, and they flew straight upwards, desperate to break through the atmosphere and escape the storm that threatened their ship as much as the Naga had. The minute it took them to complete the task was silent, until they were suddenly above the clouds, in open atmosphere above the planet. Through his visor Maine could see the curve of the surface, the planet much smaller than Earth and the horizon so much more bent.

Looking ahead of them, he could also see the remains of Light of the Heavens, and the ship that had destroyed her.

He read the name ‘River Styx’ as the ship’s cannons charged, and a beep erupted from the dash warning them that they were locked on. Even without Rain he could feel the sudden loss of hope from the group, silently accepting their deaths.

The ship bucked softly, and from each side of the ship two ice wraiths flew past, flying through open space and heading towards the gunship.

They collided with the ship, the two of them almost large enough to cover a quarter of it, and they all watched as the two began tearing the ship apart. Behind him, Maine heard Maggie gasp, standing in the open doorway to watch.

“Some reports suggested that the Nagas hunted in open space as well, but it was never confirmed…”

Wash broke into hysterical laughter.

“Fucking confirmed enough?”

They watched for a moment longer, as River Styx fired on itself in an attempt to dislodge its attackers, failing and merely opening the hull for one of them to force themselves inside. He saw the bodies being sucked into space, the way the other tore out an entire side of cannons and swallowed it before turning its head back down for another bite. Carolina finally turned the ship away, activating the navigation system.

“Maine, can you call her back?”

He tried reaching out to her, searching for that familiar presence that always hummed against him. She was hard to hear at this distance, but he felt her response to his call, and watched the one that had crawled inside the ship peel off and fly towards them. The other one looked up, watching her leave, and they heard his call through space, the musical bugle that bid her farewell. She turned back and answered, dual tones erupting from her massive throat before she cut the sound and melted back down to her normal self. She vanished around the side of the ship, and he felt her somehow pass through the bay door seals and enter the ship.

-I am back-

He stood and left the cockpit abruptly, turning the corner to meet her as she slammed into him.

-Did good I did good?-

He pressed his face into her soft side, grabbing at her loose skin firmly as Carolina set their coordinates and sent them off through space.

-Yes, you did good.-

Chapter Text

“All right, talk.”

Phil and Maggie hesitated, and everyone made a growling noise, glaring at the two scientists. Rain hovered above them, before twirling down and shoving herself into their faces, disks whirling.

-They have a secret. Being very careful not to think about it. Oh, they’re surprised. Yes, I hear thoughts. No, there isn’t a point.-

Maggie stared at Rain in open wonder, reaching forward to touch the black creature but stopping when Rain pulled away.

“That’s unbelievable. You really do read minds?” She then glanced at Maine. “And you kept her hidden from us all this time?”

“Maybe now isn’t the time, Mags”, Phil said softly, then turned to face Carolina. “Yes, we do have a secret. And we really can’t talk about it.”

“Your entire staff was just killed in an act of terrorism, and we just barely escaped with our own lives. If you don’t talk, we’re going to shove you out the air hatch and say good day to you. Now, what was that again?”

-Would she really?- Rain sent in a private thought, and Maine grimaced as he gripped the bandages around his abdomen, trying to ignore the stitches holding together his intestines.

-She might.-

“Phil, after that, there is no way I’m taking this secret to my grave. When I signed on, I knew there was a risk, but no one mentioned mercenaries”, Maggie spat, turning to Carolina as well. “Yes, we had a secret. You really thought the military was funding a base to researching terraforming? Most of the staff was there for that, but a few of us had another research project. Maine knew a little about it.”

He blinked, ignoring everyone’s quick glance at him.

“Maggie, we really shouldn’t.”

“Everyone’s dead, Phil. No one’s going to know, either. They don’t check in on us very often.”

“What was this research project?” Carolina interrupted, cutting off the argument. Phil shared Maggie’s gaze for a second longer, then sighed.

“A few decades ago a piece of technology was discovered that enabled time travel. They never told us where it came from, we were just supposed to expand the technology and develop it for a more practical use. The way it was set up only allowed for a few minutes of travel at a time.”

“Wyoming”, Carolina whispered, and Wash touched her arm briefly as Phil glanced at them.

“Wyoming?”

“It’s not important”, Wash stated bluntly. Phil looked at the three Freelancers, then continued.

“It took seven years to establish a system that could send something to a determined point in time and space. There were a few mistakes, which is why we experimented with sending probes, but then we got the okay for live trials. They worked fairly well at one week intervals, only a five percent death rate until we worked out the final kinks. So we went ahead with human trials. Adam volunteered to be sent forward at a longer interval, so we set him for two years. And it worked.”

Phil sighed, pausing. Maggie picked up.

“There was another issue, though, that we didn’t predict. Not only did Adam age the two years he was sent forward, though he said he felt like he was only in the wormhole for a few minutes, we calculated he also aged approximately seven months for every wormhole minute spent traveling. And after that, he also aged at an increased rate even though he was stabilized in our own time. Which is why we started working with genetic cryogenics. The project you saw, Maine. We theorized if we could find a way to freeze our own genetic code during time travel, even shutting off the age genomes if necessary, we could stop that aging process from even occurring. Do you remember when Matthew announced he was transferring to another base?”

Maine nodded.

“He didn’t. He decided we were ready for another human trial, and volunteered to go forward another two years. He was supposed to appear in the lab next month. But now…” she trailed off, looking blankly at the floor. Phil reached an arm across her shoulders and hugged her gently.

“He’ll be fine, Maggie. He was sent in with warm clothes, and there are working jets there still. The weather should be completely clear by the time he arrives. He’ll be okay.”

“I hope so.”

“What on earth did the UNSC want with time travel?”

“This wasn’t a UNSC project. Oh, they were interested, and they made sure we had everything we needed, but we were funded through another corporation that intended to sell the technology to the military. Which is why I think we were attacked. Phil, did you see the name on the side of that ship?”

“Yes”, he whispered quietly.

“Doesn’t it follow the naming conventions of business class gunships?”

“Maggie, we don’t know for certain. Anyone could have discovered what we were doing. This technology, even at the unproven state it’s in now, could make a fortune for someone. It could have been anyone.”

“So what were you two doing when you slipped away from us?”

“Clearing out all of our data files. It was the number one priority in our training, in case something like this did happen. The research is gone, now. Maggie and I are the only ones that could possibly activate it, and Jeff was the only one that could read the equations. I suppose he’s dead too, though.”

Rain hummed at the tone in Phil’s voice, reaching forward to touch his arm, then Maggie’s. Maggie automatically reached forward, gently grabbing Rain to pull her close and examine her. Maine felt Rain’s discomfort, but she didn’t pull away.

-Is a distraction for her-

He grunted, and allowed Maggie to look. Phil looked down at her softly.

“How’s she doing that? She sending little happy bubbles into my head. It’s hard to explain.”

“She just does it. She’s normally glued to Maine’s side, though.”

Maine shot a look over to Washington, who shrugged.

“Tell me she isn’t. Someone could be dying, and if you called her back she’d be there in a heartbeat.”

“She’s such an interesting creature. I wonder who made her”, Maggie hummed curiously, stroking the disks. Maine looked at her sharply, and Carolina spoke.

“What makes you think she was made?”

Maggie looked up at the iron tone in her voice, furrowing her brow in confusion.

“You guys didn’t know? Look, on the side of this disk there’s a serial number. See?”

Rain hummed loudly in surprise, and Maine slowly reached forward, pulling her close to examine the disk for himself. Rain held still for him, though he could feel her urge to spin the disks, and on the inner side of the cracked disk there was indeed an eleven digit serial code, faintly visible only when light reflected across that edge. He was very still as he let her go, absently watching her trying and failing to see the serial number herself.

“There’s no company code, though, which is curious. You’d think a creature this amazing would be kept under lock and key, not left out here with you guys. Where’d you get her?”

“Maine said he found her”, Wash said, eyeing Rain suspiciously.

-Did you know?-

-No. Woke up alone in ice and snow. Was a long time before I found you. I think a month?-

Maine knew it was truth, and everyone that heard her knew it too. It was impossible for her to lie, when they could hear every nuance of thought in her head. Still, though, she had her moments where she didn’t seem to know what she was doing.

-Will NEVER hurt you- she thought firmly, slamming the impact of the words firmly into his mind, planting out all doubt.

-NEVER-

It took Maine a moment to realize she sent that thought only to him, and he growled at everyone’s suspicious look. Carolina glanced at him, then softly spoke.

“Maine, have you ever heard of Martin’s Principle?”

He growled, and Maggie suddenly looked interested.

“You really think that applies to her?”

“Maggie, she was the gentlest creature I had ever seen before today. This morning I watched her kill countless people, including crushing one to a liquid state. Doing it in our defense or not, something like that had never occurred to her until she saw us killing. She has this… obsession with learning things. She gets fanatical at times.”

“Really?” Maggie hummed, then glanced at Maine when he snarled again, irritated at being ignored. “Sorry, Maine. Martin’s Principle states that the more intelligent a species is, the more violent and irrational it becomes. It’s been seen time and time again across the universe, every sentient race has been known to prove it. Even back on Earth in the twenty-first century, the more intelligent species such as dolphins and primates were prone to extreme acts of violence. There were cases of extreme empathy as well, but the violence was always there. What was Rain like when you first found her?”

Maine growled at the implications they gave, clenching his fist. Rain was very still, disks spinning slowly, oddly quiet as she listened to them.

-I am not violent, am I?-

-No-, he snarled, and everyone was confused until they noticed him looking at her.

“Maine?”

-Can you project for me?-

She was tucked away into her own mind, and he felt a quiet sort of sadness emanating from her as she began melding her mind with his. He sent her a strong reassurance, and felt her worry in response.

-You are not bad.-

-You are not bad either-, she said quietly, and he found himself going very still as well. Then his mind melted into hers, and through her, he could feel the presence of every consciousness on the ship. She was blocking the majority of the thoughts, but he could sense general emotions emitting from everyone, mostly confusion, suspicion, and fear. He felt his mind rumble, echoing in Rain’s thoughts, and watched everyone flinch as the feeling came through.

“Oh, that’s weird. I can feel him in my head. I don’t think I want that, man.”

“Shut up, Grif.”

Maine heard Tucker’s words, but felt the true emotion underneath, a slight tinge of fear.

-Rain, how will they hear?-

-Just think. I will send what you wish-

He nodded to himself, then closed his eyes to try to collect his words together and sort out what he wanted to say, remembering the sequence of events that led to Rain discovering him. She sent him a gentle reminder he could just show his memories, and he grimaced before nodding again and looking at everyone.

=Rain is not violent. She was protecting us.=

“Oh that fucking sounds weird. It’s making my teeth buzz. Please stop, it’s like chewing on aluminum foil.”

“I thought I was the only one who did that!”

“Shut up, Caboose.”

=She did not know how to kill before. She knows now. That is all.=

“Maine, she was pretty violent.”

=You felt her pain. She knows more now. She talks more clearly. She is still the same.=

“Maine-“

His surge of anger blasted against all of them, making them all flinch and a few hiss as he abraded against their minds. Rain gently pulled him away, until his fury didn’t touch them anymore, then sent a soothing wash over the others, with a brief feeling of apology.

-Don’t apologize.-

-It hurt them-

-Let them hurt. Maybe they’ll think.-

“Fucking Christ, was that really necessary?”

Maine’s stony glare answered Wash’s question. Wash sighed.

“You’re about as talkative in your thoughts as you were when you could speak.”

“I clearly heard more than three words. He’s obviously more talkative. How many did we get to, twenty? Twenty-five? That’s more than he spoke in his first year, before we understood his grunts.”

Wash burst into laughter, and Carolina looked at Maine innocently. He growled, recognizing the attempt at distraction, but let it go when Rain gave him a gentle nudge. He took a moment to settle while the two Freelancers laughed quietly, then rose unsteadily, heading towards the sleeping bunks in the lower bay of the ship. As he left, he heard Wash behind him, asking Carolina where she set the coordinates.

“I set our target to Icarus. It’s the only settlement close enough where we can fill our supplies. We only have emergency meals right now, and they might last us a week if we can keep hiding them from Grif.”

“As much as I would like to argue, I know better, and I would just like to inform you now that I WILL find them, and I WILL eat them.”

“Do it, and I’ll leave you locked on your bunk for a week with no food and no bathroom breaks.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Watch me.”

The door closed behind Maine before he could hear the last of the argument, and he glared bitterly at the rows of bunks set one right up against the other. Then, shaking his head, he limped to the one farthest from the door, set in the corner that he hoped everyone would stay away from. And if anyone even tried to take the bunk above his, he would stab them.

Rain sensed his irritation, and shifted into a small monkey, hopping around the room and dangling from her tail. He knew she was trying to lighten the mood, but ignored her as he settled on the bunk and started removing the prosthetic. She tried to cheer him up for a moment longer, then visibly deflated, melting back down to her normal form and slowly gliding over to him, curling up on his chest as he lay down and stared at the bottom of the bed above him.

-Love you-

He went very still, listening to her idle thoughts, seeing the strange light shows she liked to visualize to keep herself entertained.

-Where did you learn that?- he asked softly, the thought so quiet she almost didn’t hear it. He felt her attention turn back to him, disks buzzing slightly.

-Carolina taught me-

With the thought came the feeling of complete adoration and devotion, her focus entirely on him and his thoughts. He felt his entire body soften and his thoughts go quiet, all irritation vanishing as her platonic love washed over him.

-Thank you.-

She hummed loudly, then rubbed her face against his before settling down into a happy puddle on his chest, purring at him. He reached up and stroked her back for a few minutes, then let the images of her light shows take him into sleep.

She guided his nightmares into dreams of galaxies.

-

“No! This is fucking bullshit, and I will not stand for this!”

“You’re not even standing now, fatass!”

“Not my fault the room’s too fucking small for me to stand properly!”

“Will both of you shut up!?”

Maine snapped his eyes open at Wash’s shrill scream, glaring at the bunk above him. They weren’t even in the same room. How could they possibly be this loud when they weren’t even in the same room?

-Grif is mad he only gets one meal. I don’t understand? Everyone else only gets one meal-

She hovered above his face, disks spinning, oriented slightly towards the door. Maine stared at the metal bars for a minute longer, then sat up, reaching for his prosthetic and fastening it to his leg.

-Don’t be too mean?-

He grunted, and she made a small sound of approval. Then, disks pausing, she caught his intentions.

-No, that’s mean. Don’t do that-

-Stop me.-

He stood and limped towards the doorway, ignoring the agony he felt in his leg from the previous day’s exercise. He punched open the lock on the door, opening it on four of his problems. Wash, Simmons, Grif, and Tucker all glanced back when he opened the door, and they all took a step back when they saw the look on his face.

“Uh, hi, Maine. Did we wake you up?”

Maine shifted his glare to Wash, who clearly gulped and moved backwards slightly.

“I’m sorry. We’re all sorry, aren’t we?”

“Yup. We are so fucking sorry. Will not happen again. Ever”, Grif said immediately, accompanied by Simmons’ fierce nodding and Tucker’s quick, “No it will not.”

Maine lifted his lip in a snarl, and let loose that breathy, hissing growl that he knew Sigma had made him do when he was the Meta. He hated it. He hated being reminded of when he was a puppet to a computer program that was supposed to help him, the computer program that had guaranteed he would never interface with an A.I. again. Still, though, it had the desired effect. Grif and Simmons fought to get out of the room first, Tucker almost immediately behind. Washington was very still, hand inching towards the pistol on his leg as he stared warily at Maine.

“You okay, buddy? Haven’t heard that from you in a while.”

Maine shot him a flat glare as Rain slithered out of the room, stretched out into a long rope almost as tall as Maine.

-He is angry. I am a little too. He doesn’t sleep well, and you woke him up-

Wash flinched as her frustration carried through, and Maine glared at Rain. She turned to him, and sent a private thought.

-You don’t. It was good for you to sleep-

“Um, sorry”, Wash coughed, catching Maine’s attention again. “So, uh, how’s your stomach?”

Rain did not send what Maine was really thinking.

-He hurts. A deep hurt? Makes no sense. Needs tending-

“Yup, I’ll get Donut on that. Believe it or not, he’s actually good with this stuff. Guess he picked something up from that awful medic. He recommended orange juice for everything.”

Wash’s muttering trailed off as he left the small compartment, and Maine lifted an eyebrow at Rain.

-That is not what I said.-

-Thought telling him he ‘is a fucking moron, how did he think it felt?’ was rude-

Maine grinned as she sent his own thought back to him, copying the inflections of his mental voice perfectly. Almost immediately, he lost it when he heard the extremely obnoxious one behind him.

“Oh my GOOOOOOOOOOOD, you DO smile! I knew you had to, everyone smiles sometimes. You have a great one, too! Now, let Double-Oh Donut see that stomach of yours so we can get those stitches checked out.”

Maine felt his mind harden.

-Don’t do that. He’s nice-

-Wrong kind of nice-, Maine sighed, turning and grudgingly removing his shirt. He regretted it instantly when he felt cold armored hands on his chest, hearing that annoying voice again.

“Oh sweet baby Jesus, look how fit you are. I bet you could wrestle a bull to the ground! Oh, right, the stitches. Not doing any kind of wrestling till those are gone! Hmm, well, they don’t look too bad, at least. No serious infections, just a little bit of redness. Any tenderness? No? Well, isn’t that just peachy! We’ll just get you another Stimpak, and we should be able to take those out by tomorrow. I bet that sounds great, right? Okay, we’re all done now. Go ahead and put your shirt back on.”

Maine would not admit to anyone how quickly his shirt was back on his body, and he barely resisted the urge to cross his arms over his chest.

-That’s silly, you’re wearing clothes-

-Shut up-, he snapped, ignoring Rain’s sudden confusion. Donut, in his ridiculously pink armor, was fishing around in the medical bag, searching for the Stimpaks that should have been right there. When he finally found one, Maine watched as he struggled to open it, fighting with the plastic wrapper.

“Oh boy, this is embarrassing. Normally I can open these things in less than a second. Guess this one’s a little slippery- Oops!”

Maine snatched the Stimpack up before it hit the floor, giving Donut a look before he flipped the cap off one-handed and stabbed it into his side, pressing down the plunger.

“Good reflexes, and good grip on that hand! It normally takes two hands for me with something that big.”

-No, I’m done.-

Rain sent him a disgruntled thought as Maine shoved Donut to the side, heading into the bay. He felt Rain send a quick apology to the man before spinning after him, looping around his neck once before settling on his shoulders.

-Donut called you a prude?-

Maine almost went back. Then he remembered the cold hands on him, and decided he could let it slide this time. Carolina glanced up when he entered the cockpit, sitting by herself at the controls, slipping a little notebook out of sight.

-Simmons showed her how to draw-

“Thanks Rain. Not like I didn’t want him to know or anything. That might explain why I hid it.”

Maine ignored Rain’s curiosity at Carolina’s dryness

-Some things should not be shared.-

-Did bad?-

“Not bad, Rain, but something like that could have been. Come here.”

Rain touched Maine’s face as he settled down before twining over to Carolina, shortening her body again as she curled up lightly on her lap. Carolina looked down at her, rolling her eyes as she fished her notebook back out from under her chair.

“I liked you better when you only talked to Maine.”

-You’re lying. You like me better like this-

“Cheater.”

-Cheating?-

“He can explain that to you. I imagine it’s going to be along the lines of you understanding arguments.”

-Is human thing?-

Carolina looked surprised, glancing at Maine.

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

-He says there are somethings only humans understand. I am okay with that. I try to learn them on my own-

There was an open affection when Rain referred back to him, enough that he caught Carolina giving him an almost friendly look before she realized. She coughed when she saw him, breaking eye contact.

“Sometimes she just runs you over with those emotions of hers.”

Maine grunted and nodded, looking out into black space and glancing down at the navigation.

“Three more days and we should come within communications radius of Icarus. We can try to pick up a bigger ship there. Should get a good deal trading this bird in.”

Maine nodded again. Leaning back in the seat, he lifted his arms and folded them behind his head, letting his eyes sink shut. He felt Carolina watch him for a moment more, then he heard the soft scratching of pencil on paper, filling the otherwise silent and blissfully soundproof cockpit. He felt Rain suddenly land on his shoulder before sliding forward to lay on his neck, a slight pressure on his scarred throat. He cracked an eye to look down at her, than softly snorted and settled back into the chair again, letting his mind go still and sink into sleep.

When he woke up, he was alone in the cockpit, and Carolina’s notebook was open on the chair she had been sitting in. He sat up, rubbing his eyes as Rain purred around him, and he fully intended to respect Carolina’s privacy and ignore the notebook. His eyes, however, caught the crude sketches of him and Rain sleeping in the pilot’s chair.

He felt himself smile.

Chapter Text

“Icarus, this is Skyhawk requesting permission to land. Icarus, do you read? Over.”

Maine watched as Carolina waited a few seconds, before speaking into the microphone again.

“Icarus, this is Skyhawk, waiting for response, over.”

The Freelancers listened to the empty return static, tense. Carolina had started hailing the small moon an hour previous. They still had not received any sort of response. Rain stared down intently at the moon, concentrating heavily, and Maine frowned at her. She glanced back at him briefly before turning her attention back to the surface below.

-What is it?-

-Sister-, she hummed, tone echoing oddly, and before Maine could ask what she meant Wash spoke up.

“Maybe it’s the wrong channel?” Wash offered, voice tight.

“Wash, even if they had turned off the official broadcast frequency, I’ve been trying to hail them on several channels. Something’s wrong.”

“Do you want to try landing?”

Carolina looked at the surface of the small moon, considering, and Maine followed her gaze. The moon was once a busy trade post in a densely-populated side of the galaxy. Now, though, it was considered to be a place at galactic poverty level, since the planet it orbited had been impacted by an asteroid and jarred several miles closer to its sun, drawing the moon after it and creating almost unbearable heat conditions. Maine remembered from his history lessons that the moon had once been called Paradise Island, when it was first discovered two centuries previous. The name had changed once its climate did, ninety years ago.

“Icarus, is anyone down there?”

Carolina held the button down for a second longer, then exhaled loudly and shoved herself away from the controls. When silence continued, she growled and punched one of the pilot seats.

“H-..-lo? Hello? Does anyone read me? Was it Skyhawk?”

Carolina was back at the controls in an instant, fumbling for the button and pushing it down quickly.

“Yes, this is Skyhawk! Who’s talking?”

“Hello, Skyhawk, this is Centura IV, trade ship between Icarus and Centauri VII. Sorry we couldn’t answer you earlier, we were on the warm side of the moon and our signals kept bouncing back to us from the heat.”

“That’s okay. What’s going on down there? Why isn’t anyone answering?”

“Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“No, Centura, we had an incident and need to stock up on some supplies. What happened?”

There was silence for a second before the other ship responded, and looking out the front screen Maine could see the small ship starting to orbit onto their side of the moon. It certainly looked like a trade ship.

“We don’t know, Skyhawk. We only got here a few days ago. After those last radio transmissions, we were scared to go down, and we’re on our last bit of fuel right now. We’re kind of stuck.”

“What were the radio transmissions?” Carolina asked, and once again there was silence before the other ship answered. “Centura, did you read that last part?”

“We read you, Skyhawk. It’s just been weird lately.” In the background they heard someone mutter, “Weird’s one word for it”, before they were shushed. “The last transmission we received from Icarus was a repeated broadcast warning all ships to stay away. It cut out a few hours before you started broadcasting, actually. Our sensors don’t pick up any life on the surface. We talked to them just a few weeks ago when we left Centauri VII, man. What the hell happened down there?”

Maine frowned at the whine in the speaker’s voice. Rain continued to stare below.

“No one tried to contact you? No one at all?”

“No one, man. There wasn’t even a distress signal sent out. We called the UNSC when we got here, that’s what we thought you were. Are you sure you’re not with them?”

“We’re not, Centura.”

“Just call me Mike, man. I can’t deal with this formal shit right now.”

Carolina ignored that statement, turning to look at Maine and Wash, the only two in the cockpit.

“What do you guys think?”

“I think we’d be fucking insane to go down there. How badly do we need supplies?”

“We’ll be out of food in two days. It’s at least a week before we get to another planet. Our fuel’s running low, too, so if anything came up we might not have enough to reach anywhere. I think this is our only option.”

Wash sighed.

“I thought you’d say that. Maine, what do you think?”

Maine twitched the corner of his mouth in a grimace, shaking his head lightly, and Carolina nodded.

“I don’t like it either, but I don’t think we have a choice. Agreed on landing, getting supplies, and getting the fuck out?”

Wash groaned.

“Agreed. I don’t like it, but I don’t see another option.”

Carolina looked at Maine, who nodded.

“Good. Let’s get everyone ready for landing.” She pressed the broadcast button down again, hailing the trade ship. “Centura, you read?”

“It’s Mike, man. Yeah, we read you.”

“We’re going to land, Mike, and see what happened. Are you certain your scanners aren’t picking up anything?”

“Jesus Christ you guys are crazy. Yeah, we’re as sure as we can get. If there’s anything down there, it’s not any bigger than a dog. What? Yeah, I guess a medium-sized dog. Damn it, Barb, just shut up. Yeah, Skyhawk, we’re sure. Are you?”

“We don’t have a choice. If it’s safe we’ll let you know so you can get fuel too.”

“Thanks man, we really appreciate it. But, uh, if you die, we just want to say thanks for trying, at least.”

“No problem. Over and out.”

Carolina turned off the radio, and Maine raised an eyebrow at her. Rain finally tore herself away from the viewing screen, scrambling back to Maine’s shoulders.

-He thinks this is stupid. That’s mean-

“He lives to be mean, only this time I think he’s right. Still, we’ve done worse for less.”

“You’d think we’d have learned our lesson by now”, Wash stated dryly, before leaving the cockpit to tell the others to ready up. Carolina shook her head before settling into the pilot’s seat, leaving the co-pilot for Maine. He paused before taking the spot, strapping himself in and preparing for descent.

“Still remember how to do this?”

He snorted, activating the heat shields with a smooth motion.

“Guess you do. Let’s go down.”

Carolina angled the nose of the ship towards the moon’s surface, and they began their descent. Neither of them noticed when Rain once again returned to the viewing screen.

-

Maine released the landing gear as Carolina swung the ship in a smooth circle, tapping the ground gently before lightly settling on it. She reached forward to cut the engines, and Maine reached to the side to release the hold’s gravity as she did, both systems shutting down at the same time. He stood slowly, testing his new weight, and his lip twitched slightly. Icarus had a mildly heavier gravity than Earth, which would normally be fine if it didn’t drag down on his prosthetic. Still, he limped out of the cockpit, concentrating to keep his artificial foot from dragging on the metal and growling at the occasional scuffing sounds. Rain twined behind him, seemingly unaffected by the increase in gravity, and he looked over to her.

-Nothing?-

-Don’t feel it-, she hummed, lightly twisting in the dry air, not even affected by the searing heat pushing down on them. Maine sent her an envious thought.

-Wish I could-

-Wish you could what?-

She turned back to him, trilling softly.

-Give you my body-

-You’re in a strange mood-, Maine thought, frowning as he studied her. She sent a mental shrug in return, something she had no doubt picked up from Wash, and looked outwards, scanning the empty city with slowly-spinning disks.

-Sister’s here-

Maine stopped in the middle of the street, staring at her and tilting his head. She didn’t seem to even notice him, instead diving down to investigate a blowing newspaper, dated a week previous. Everyone else turned to look at them, waiting for a moment before Carolina spoke up.

“What’s up?”

Maine waited for Rain to speak for him. When she didn’t, even at his nudge, he growled as he opened up his text communicator.

She keeps talking about a sister.

Carolina turned to look at Rain, who was slithering along the dust, leaving faint trails as she traveled in every widening circles.

“Sister?”

She won’t tell me.

He felt Carolina’s worry, before something caught Wash’s attention further up the street.

“Carolina! You need to see this!”

They both turned to look at him as Tucker approached from behind, peering around the corner Wash was looking down.

“What do you- Fuck!”

Tucker took a few steps backwards, throwing up his arm, and Maine and Carolina glanced at each other before running down the street, Maine quite a bit slower than her. As a result she reached it before he did, and stopped dead in her tracks. She stared for a moment as he approached, then, in a tight voice, gave an order to the group.

“Everyone, weapons out. We’re on high alert now.”

“What are you- Oh god.”

Maine shoved Grif aside, finally reaching the end of the street, and turned to look down the alley himself. What he saw made him pause. Hidden in the shade of the buildings was a row of corpses, strewn about like forgotten toys, half-rotted and dried out from the extreme heat. Behind him, Rain felt his alarm, and immediately snapped her mind to his, at his side in an instant. She stared down the alley, emotions unreadable, though he felt confusion and slight fear.

-Rain?-

She turned to him, and when he turned away she slunk right after, trailing him like a shadow.

“Guess we know why no one answered the radio”, Wash muttered, shifting his grip on his rifle.

“I guess we do. Everyone, let’s move out. I don’t want to get involved with whatever happened here, so we’re going to stay really quiet and get our shit. Maine and Sarge, I want you two looking for fuel. Everyone else, you’re on medical and food supplies. Wash and I are going to try to figure out what happened here.”

“I thought you were going to say that”, Wash groaned, before turning to follow her. Once they were out of earshot the rest of them turned to stare at Maine. It took him a moment to notice, but once he did he suddenly realized how uncomfortable the heat was.

There was silence, and then Tucker finally spoke.

“So, uh, I guess we can look for fuel and food together, right?”

Maine growled and suddenly turned, stepping away from them and not entirely surprised when they all filed in behind him. Rain felt his irritation, and moved forward to curl on top of his armor.

-They are scared-

-They’re soldiers.-

-They’re human-

-You seem to be afraid too.-

-Not afraid-, she hummed, and he turned to look at her as her thoughts buzzed across his mind, leaving an uncomfortable sensation.

-Not afraid?-

-No. I’m…. nervous-, she whispered, and he looked sharply at her.

-Nervous from what?-

She sent him a little whisper of uncertainty, ducking down and suddenly slithering into his chest plate and curling against his skin. He frowned, returning his attention to what was in front of him. She had distracted him once before in a hostile situation. She was restraining herself this time, no need for him to slip himself.

“Hey, angry fella, you got a minute?”

It was a credit to Maine’s patience that he turned to face Sarge instead of ignoring him. The Red leader had his shotgun gripped tightly, finger resting on the trigger guard as he looked around the area. All the buildings had long been bleached white, though there were a few homes where the owners were stubborn and determined to paint. There were a few abandoned shuttles in the middle of the street, and from behind one Maine could see an arm laying on the ground. He ignored it.

“Does this not seem right to you?”

Maine tilted his head incredulously at Sarge, and the man seemed to catch his rebuttal without him even having to say it.

“Not like that. I mean that trading ship waiting in orbit above us. What trade ship isn’t loaded up to the gut with fuel every time they leave port? How the hell are they out of fuel?”

Maine tilted his head in the other direction, considering, and grudgingly admitted that it was a clever observation. He’s not entirely surprised he missed it, but Carolina should have at least picked up on it.

“And what group of terrified people would set up a repeated broadcast warning ships to stay away without first calling for help?”

“That would be the first fucking thing I would do”, Grif drawled, leaning against a car while Tucker nodded.

“You know, I never figured you Reds for thinkers.”

“I never figured you Blues for little bitches either, but I think we’re all unsurprised”, Sarge retorted automatically, and Maine could feel Tucker’s eye roll.

“We left Caboose back on the ship for our protection, man. You really want him with a loaded gun around us?”

“No”, Simmons and Grif answered at once, Sarge grunting. Maine turned forward once more and began walking towards what looked like a supermarket. Sarge and Simmons immediately followed, followed by Grif’s sigh and muttering as he pushed himself off the car and began trailing behind Tucker.

“Fucking bullshit, man. Why don’t we just turn on one of these cars?”

-Carolina said quiet-

“Who the fuck are we going to wake up, the dead?” Grif retorted loudly, gesturing with his arm, and Maine turned and pointed his rifle at him, growling low in warning. He saw Grif gulp through the mesh of his undersuit, and watched him take a step backwards.

“Just saying”, he muttered, and Maine snorted as he turned back around. A soft scuffing noise reached his audio receivers, coming from ahead of them, and Maine immediately swung his weapon up, scanning the road ahead of them. He heard the clacking of everyone behind him doing the same, though Rain informed him it was from his cue rather than them hearing it.

-Inferior armor-, he answered distractedly, stepping forward and keeping the corner of his eye on his motion tracker. It showed a small dot sporadically, appearing and disappearing.

“Okay, I swear to god if it’s zombies, I am so out of here.”

“It’s totally your fault.”

“How is this my fault?!”

“You’re the one who mentioned waking up the dead!”

“I was being sarcastic!”

“The dead don’t know that!”

Maine ignored Grif and Simmons’ bickering behind him, focusing on turning slowly around the car in front of him. The blip on his motion tracker had last appeared there, and he could still see it, blinking slowly in place. He moved silently, carefully lifting his prosthetic as he stepped around the tail end of the vehicle, then paused for a moment. The blip hadn’t moved, and he could hear the sounds of something breathing on the other side of the corner, listening to the loud steps of the others moving around the other side. He tilted his head out slightly, waited for a reaction, then whipped around the corner, leveling his weapon at approximate head height.

He blinked in confusion as the young girl in front of him screamed, scrambling backwards directly into Sarge’s chest plate. She glanced back, blinked, then started screaming again, scrambling away from them. Maine reached out and wrapped his hand around her upper arm, yanking her back to them and slamming his hand across her mouth, immediately silencing her. She stared up into the smooth bowl of his helmet, then burst into tears and collapsed in front of him, holding her face in her hands. Maine frowned, estimating she was between the ages of ten and twelve. And somehow a survivor of whatever had killed the rest of the city.

“Uh, you okay little girl?” Simmons asked hesitantly, tentatively reaching out to place his hand on her shoulder as Maine stepped away. She sobbed loudly as she stood and wrapped her arms as far as she could around Simmons’ waist, hugging him in what was no doubt a painful embrace with the hard corners of his armor pressing into her. She didn’t seem to care, tears leaving trails in the dirt on her face as she shook her head.

“I want my mom and dad!”

“Uh….. there there?” Simmons answered, awkwardly patting her on the top of the head, and she only cried louder.

“Good job, Simmons.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do!?”

“Something more than a pat on the head and ‘there there’”, Grif growled, stepping forward and pulling the girl off his fellow soldier, picking her up and settling her upper body across his shoulder, reaching up with the arm that wasn’t supporting her and rubbing her back. “Hey, hey, it’ll be okay. Ssh…”

“Dude, what the hell are you doing?”

“I had a little sister, dumbass”, Grif snapped at Tucker, turning around and walking in circles as he lightly bounced the girl in his arms. Maine just stared as Grif’s back rubbing and pacing slowly settled the girl into silence, only broken by hiccups as she stared at all of them. Grif walked a few more circles before he stopped, leaning his head back to look at her.

“You okay now?”

The girl nodded once, still hiccupping, and she leaned back slightly so she could see better. They all just stared at Grif silently, who shrugged and hitched the girl further up in his arms.

“Kai was scared of thunder when she was younger. Sometimes I had to walk with her for hours.”

“Grif! Why didn’t you inform me that you were capable of taking care of children?”

“Because you would have put me in charge of Donut. Or even worse, Caboose.”

“Fair point”, Sarge grumbled, and Maine tilted his head at Grif in question.

“Asshole, I don’t speak in degrees of neck turns. Seriously, how do you not have neck problems?”

-Rain?-

He felt her slide against his skin, and he frowned at her refusal to come out. He snarled in frustration, then activated one of his radio beacons, signaling urgency for Carolina and Wash to come to their location.

“Maine? Everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, Wash. We found a survivor, though. Little girl, about ten years old.”

“What?”

Maine grimaced as Wash’s voice cracked over the radio, unconsciously tilting his head away from his earpiece.

“Survivor. Little girl. Come here”, Tucker repeated slowly, and they could hear Wash’s growl and Carolina’s laugh over the speakers.

“I got it the first time, smartass.”

“We’ll be right there. Find somewhere sheltered to hide until we reach your position. Over and out.”

“Yeah, whatever”, Tucker answered, turning off his long-range radio. “So, how about that store up ahead?”

Maine snorted and started walking.

-

“What’s your name, sweetie?”

“Lily”, the girl sniffled, answering Wash’s question, and Maine snorted as he leaned back into the doorway to keep watch. Carolina leaned on the opposite side of the frame, scanning the exterior absently as she listened to Wash question the girl. It had taken half an hour just to get her to let go of Grif, let alone talk to the Freelancer. Carolina’s patience had ran out almost as fast as Maine’s.

“Lily, huh? That’s a pretty name.”

“Mommy said I was named after an Earth flower.”

Maine rolled his eyes.

“I think you were. I’ve seen a lily before, and you’re just as pretty. Now, Lily, I’ve got to ask you some hard questions. Are you going to be okay with that?”

“Can Grif stay?” she asked, tightening her grip on Grif’s fingers. Maine smirked as the soldier winced, free fingers twitching.

“Of course he can. Now, Lily, can you tell Grif and I what happened?”

Wash broke off as the girl began sobbing hysterically again, wailing as she flung herself against Grif’s leg and gripping it tightly.

“Good job, asshole!”

“What did I do?” Wash asked, lost, and Grif growled as he picked her up again, once more beginning his circular pacing.

“She’s a little girl, moron. She’s not going to want to talk about it.”

“We need to know what happened!”

“At the cost of my arm? She’s pretty fucking heavy, you know!”

“We should have brought Donut”, Carolina remarked, watching the scene in front of them, and Maine grunted in agreement. She paused. “Maybe Caboose?”

Maine immediately shook his head, and Carolina hummed back, agreeing. The little girl still wailed in Grif’s arms, crying about some monster, and Maine could only take it for a few seconds before he growled down to Rain.

-I don’t know what your issue is, but make her shut up.-

-She’s scared-

-So make her feel better!-

Rain sent him a little disgusted thought as she slowly slithered out of his armor, rubbing smoothly against his skin as she did.

-It’s not easy-

He struggled to keep his irritation in check, and she sent him a little apology as she felt it.

-Sorry. I feel…. strangeSTRANGE-

Her tenseness washed over him, and he inhaled deeply to calm down. She hovered in front of him, disks still, and then she slowly leaned forward to press those metallic disks against the curve of his visor, holding still for a moment. Maine closed his eyes and let her reach out to him, feeling her mind wrap around his and steady itself before she pulled away. He reached out a hand, slowly trailed it down her body, and then she hummed before slowly twisting over to the little girl, who was facing backwards in Grif’s arms.

“What’s her issue?”

Maine gave a frustrated grunt in return, and Carolina glanced in his direction briefly before returning her gaze to the telepath. Rain hesitated in front of Grif, and Maine could hear the sigh of relief as he noticed her.

“Hey Lily, want to meet someone really cool? She’s really nice, not like Carolina and fish bowl head.”

Maine growled as the girl sniffled, hesitantly nodding, and Grif visibly relaxed as he set the girl down. Rain lowered herself as the girl rubbed at her eyes, loosening her body as much as she could while the girl turned around. Rain sent out a little purring thought as the girl stared.

And then she screamed.

Maine immediately went on full alert, pushing off the wall at the tone in the girl’s voice. This wasn’t remembered fear. She was feeling a new, raw terror as she bolted away from Rain, tripping over her feet and clawing at Grif’s helmet when he tried to hold her back. Rain shrank back immediately, scrambling behind Maine as he and Carolina sprinted forward, and the girl finally remembered words and began babbling incoherently.

“Monster! No no NO NO NO! Go away monster!”

“Monster?” Wash asked, looking back at Maine, and then they all went stock still as the girl suddenly seized up, eyes rolling to the back of her head as all the muscles in her body tightened at once. The sudden silence was just as unnerving as her screams as the small body fell unfeeling to the ground, rigid as a board, Grif trying to catch her. Wash knelt by the girl, panicking and scanning her vitals as a low moan started emitting from her throat, gurgling as her mouth filled with froth.

Maine felt a chill wash over him, the sensation of being hunted filling his body. He turned slowly to the door, where the horizon was very quickly getting dark. Dusk flooded towards them swiftly, covering the buildings opposite their shelter in darkness, and Maine felt a cold sweat break over him when he approached the door and realized it was still full day. That black wave still moved towards them, taking over entire skyscrapers in its path, and when one building crumbled underneath the weight Maine finally realized he was staring at a living thing.

Half a mile out it paused, rearing backwards slightly, and all the soldiers stilled as they saw the fragments of metallic blue. The three disks were shattered almost beyond recognition, but it was easy to see the similarities between it and Rain, who had somehow ended up twenty feet outside, facing the entity before her.

Maine took half a step forward as Rain’s thought washed over all of them.

-Sister-

Chapter Text

“Maine? You awake?”

“His heart rate’s increasing, he’s waking up.”

“Oh thank god.”

He slowly blinked his eyes open, hissing as the harsh sun hit his face directly, lacking the protection of his visor. He heard a quick apology, then he felt the smooth texture of his helmet being pushed into his hands, and someone helping him in guiding onto his head. It didn’t quite fit right, and when he ran his head across the back he winced when he felt how crushed it was.

“There you go, buddy. Man, that helmet has saved your life so many times.”

“Wash? This may not be the time for that?”

Maine opened his eyes fully at Carolina’s voice, vision blurry, eyes not quite able to focus. He lifted himself forward and immediately regretted it, world spinning.

“Slow down. Here, drink some water. Take these pills, too. We found them in the pharmacy, Phil said they were good for seizures.”

He grimaced and retracted the visor, growling weakly when it didn’t quite pull back all the way, then reached forward and swallowed the pills someone pressed into his hand before gulping water. He finished three bottles before Carolina took them away from him, and he grumbled as he allowed her, gripping his forehead before lowering his visor again. He blinked as his eyes finally focused in front of him, aching at the flashes across his HUD. He stared past the glitching display, blinking when he realized he was lying in the middle of the street.

“You okay?”

Wash ducked down, staring intently at Maine’s face, and he growled as he weakly shoved the other Freelancer away. Wash let out a sigh, sitting back, then turned to Carolina.

“All right, I think he’s good.”

“You think?” Carolina snorted, standing above the two of them. “He only had a building fall down on top of his head, a few minutes of rest should be fine.”

“It’s been two hours, Carolina, and Rain is seriously freaking me out. Sor- Hey, wait!”

Maine bolted upright when Wash mentioned Rain, stumbling to his feet and hissing when the prosthetic creaked under him, horribly bent but somehow still functioning. He took a step before he fell to his knees, blood pounding in his head while Wash knelt beside him again.

“Slow down, Maine! Rain’s not moving, and I don’t think she’s in trouble. None of us can hear her, so we’re not sure, but she seems fine on the outside.”

Maine tilted his head at him, vision going blurry for a moment as he struggled to remember what had happened. Wash misinterpreted it, and helped him to his feet again as he activated his radio.

“Tucker, you there?”

“You’ve reached the voicemail of Captain Tucker, leave a message at the Bow-Chika-Bow-Wow.”

“Asshole. What’s new with Rain?”

“Oh my god, I am so sick of answering that question. You wanna know what she’s doing? She’s sitting here staring at the other thing. That’s what she was doing two hours ago, that’s what she was doing when you asked me five minutes ago. So when you ask me five minutes from now what she’s doing, the answer’s going to be ‘She’s still just there, staring at the other thing’!”

“Maine woke up.”

There was a pause.

“Oh. Yeah, she’s fine. They both hum every now and then, but nothing’s happening.”

“Was that so hard? By the way, you are so going to regret that.”

“Yeah, what’s new. Get his ass down here so we can stop the weird fest. They’re seriously creeping me out.”

Wash snorted as he turned the radio off, handing Maine a road sign pole to use as a cane.

“Seriously, I’m going to kick his ass one of these days. Come on, she’s this way. The other one, uh, threw you pretty far.” Maine stopped him, tapping the back of his arm lightly to get his attention. Wash paused, then suddenly brightened. “Oh, you want to know what happened!”

“No shit”, Carolina growled, walking past them.

“It’s been a while. Anyways, when that other one showed up you ran out to Rain, and the other kinda just reached forward and… I don’t know if ‘bitch-slapped’ is the right term, but that’s as close as I can get. But you went pretty damn far. “

Maine snorted, wincing as he stepped forward. He could listen and walk.

“Rain jumped forward and got in the other one’s face, and she hasn’t moved since. When we left to go look for you she was sitting there staring at the other one. Those disks she has were spinning so fast we almost couldn’t see them.”

Maine grunted, more for politeness than anything else. Wash took the hint and stayed silent, and both he and Carolina pretended to ignore Maine’s pained hisses as he walked.  Maine tried reaching out to see if he could feel Rain in his head anywhere, and was a little concerned when he couldn’t. Rain was always in his head.  Even when they were upset with each other, she was always there.

“Maine, you okay?”

He blinked when he saw Carolina and Wash ahead of him, looking at him strangely. He looked down, and realized he had stopped walking without realizing it, gripping his makeshift cane tightly. He furrowed his brow and shook his head, stepping forward again, and ignored the concerned glance between Carolina and Washington.

“Maine, if you need to sit down, we can stop. We had to pull a few steel beams off of you, no one’s going to fault you for wanting to sit a moment.”

He grunted, a no. He heard Wash sigh, now behind him.

“Figured.”

Maine paused when he saw them.

The other one had shrunk down to only slightly larger than Rain, and they both sat across from each other, postures mirror images of the opposite, disks whirling so fast it was just a solid blur. The metallic cobalt fragments looked like a whirling galaxy, and Maine found himself pausing as he watched them for a moment.

Tucker noticed them when Rain and the other suddenly started humming together, harmonizing oddly and both flaring slightly before settling down again. He kept an eye on them, helmet off, then waved the three over.

“About time you fuckers got here. Holy shit, what happened to your leg? Well, I know what happened to it, but what happened to the peg?”

Maine turned to him and snarled, shakily raising his pistol, and Tucker snorted.

“Please, you can only threaten me so many times before it doesn’t work anymore. You Freelancers are all bluff- HOLY SHIT!”

He jumped back as a bullet flew past his ear, clipping it slightly, and Maine frowned as he adjusted his aim. There was a bit of discrepancy on his HUD.

“ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!”

“I think that was the point”, Wash stated bluntly, pushing Maine’s pistol down. Maine growled and let him. “Your first mistake was thinking Maine was like me and Carolina. Trust me, he isn’t.”

“What the fuck’s wrong with you?!”

“I did warn you.”

“Fucking batshit crazy Freelancers! See if I fucking help you again!”

Tucker stormed off, holding his hand to his ear in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Wash waited a second, then turned to face Maine.

“You were aiming for his ear, right?”

Maine let his angry silence speak for him.

“….please don’t kill him. He’s the most competent one.”

“You say that like any of them are competent”, Carolina answered dryly, before walking off to circle the two creatures, who had begun humming once more. Maine turned to face Rain, frowning as he realized she hadn’t even flinched at the gunshot and he still couldn’t feel her. Whatever she was doing with the other one, she was locked away in it. He reached out as well as he could with his mind, glancing to the side to be sure no one was watching before screaming as loud as he could mentally. Rain did nothing, she and the other again flaring and humming before going silent.

Maine watched a moment longer, then made that coughing growl that always caught her attention. She still didn’t move. By then he was surrounded by everyone, watching him in interest, and he felt a wave of self-consciousness as he tried to force his mutilated throat into speaking. The result was a whining wheeze, and he flinched when Grif burst out laughing.

“Dude, what the fuck was that?”

Wash turned to glare at the soldier, retaliating, “Considering he was shot seven times in the throat, I’d say that was fairly impressive.”

Maine snarled at Wash as Grif stopped laughing immediately, looking at Maine in shock.

“Wait, he really can’t speak?”

Everyone went silent and stared at Grif. He fidgeted under their scrutiny before Simmons spoke up.

“The fuck.”

“I thought he was just being an asshole!”

“You’re telling me”, Wash began, incredulous, “that you thought he was perfectly capable of speaking, and just conveniently chose not to? I guess you thought those scars were fake, too.”

“Well, now I feel like an jerk.”

“You should!” Simmons squeaked, and Maine snarled and walked towards Rain while they were distracted. He could only stand so many blows to his ego in one day. While they argued, he stopped a foot away from Rain, watching her warily as she hovered about two feet off the ground. As he watched, she did the humming thing again, body expanding slightly, and he tilted his head as he noticed it was like there was a ripple going down her body. Her disks also spun at varying speeds, not quite matching the one opposite her, and he suddenly realized that he was watching a conversation between the two.

He waited a second longer, then slowly reached out his hand, holding his fingertips an inch from her skin as he hesitated. He felt everyone’s eyes snap to him, and he paused just a moment longer before he breached the rest of the distance and laid his hand flat on her skin.

His stomach lurched, his eyes rolled back into his head, and his mind went blank as his body collapsed.

-

He woke up in blackness, two lights flickering in the distance, one orange and one blue. As his attention focused on them, they both snapped towards him, rushing him with nauseating speed until he realized that it was he that was approaching them. Directly in front of him, the two infernos blazed, sparks flying around them and melting into each other. They towered above him, too large to even notice his existence, until he felt his own consciousness flicker with fear.

That was when the orange flame turned its attention towards him, snapping the sparks away from the blue one instantly as it turned and lowered itself to his level. He felt the quick overwhelming presence of Rain, the orange flames wrapping him in a soothing warmth that shielded him from the expanse of their consciousness. The blue flame paused, flickered uncertainly, and he felt it touch his mind, ice to Rain’s heat. He felt confusion, followed by nervous curiosity, and then sudden, violent jealousy. There was a mental scream as the blue flame expanded, the sound echoing on itself until there was nothing but white static surrounding them, and blue embers tearing at his mind and unraveling him.

Orange heat shoved against blue cold, answering scream responding to the challenge, Rain’s fury and protectiveness shredding through the blue flame’s anger. There was clash of lightning through his mind as the two giant flames collided again, then he felt Rain shove him back, world turning into a blur of orange and blue and gray until he felt sick.

-

He opened his eyes to vomit in his helmet and his body being dragged as people shouted and horrendous, ear-piercing screams rent the air. It took a moment for his eyes to focus, he almost vomited again, and then he was knocking away the hands under his arms, stumbling to his feet and rolling forward.

Hands grabbed at him again, pulling him away from the sight before him. The two fought with unnatural ferocity, ink-black bodies twining together and tearing into each other violently as their screams sent his HUD into overload, unable to operate at the decibels they were producing. The blue had enlarged itself again, Rain following suit as their bodies grew mouths and claws wherever it was convenient to damage the other. He could feel Rain’s sheer terror in his head, heard her wailing for help and understanding as she fought off her sister. He felt her fear as she struggled to run away, only wanting to hide in Maine’s armor. He caught the orange disks turning to face him, heard her shrill hum as she cried out, and he punched whoever was pulling at him until they let go.

She cried out once more, hum turning into a scream as her sister tore into her, burrowing into Rain’s body and almost tearing her in two before Rain could reform a small distance away, demolishing a building in the process.

-Rain!-

She turned to face him, suddenly overrunning his mind with her own, and he felt the raw, animalistic desperation and unwillingness to harm her sibling, unable to understand why she was attacking her.

-Fight back!-

White ran through his mind as Rain avoided another rending bite, fear blinding him for a moment and sending his body to his knees, only vaguely noticed. Rain’s cry for help sounded through him, and he clenched his teeth hard enough one cracked, forcing his way into her mind, fighting against the current pushing against him until he was suddenly gone.

They were ageless, formless, immortal. Their vision was a wave of flashes seen through others’ eyes, sound wrapping around them in a web, forming into a solid picture as the thoughts swept through them. They turned to their sister, letting slip a hissing screech, vibrating their disks to produce the warning. The other paused, sensing they had changed, then screamed her own threat, flaring her body. They felt her pawing through their mind, and they clamped down on that little thread, dragging it towards them violently, screeching in pleasure when they heard sister’s scream of agony. They knew when sister realized they were in control now, let loose a rattling purr as they slowly twined their way towards her writhing form. She felt their intent, and it was her turn for fear, trying to run, wailing when she realized she couldn’t. They circled slowly, allowing their form to encircle her completely, a lazy noose around her neck.

They eyed their sister, curious for a moment. Why were they fighting again?

Maine screamed soundlessly, suddenly torn between his mind and Rain’s, something shoving in between them and driving them apart. The pain overwhelmed them both, until they both relented and fell towards each other again.

They snapped forward, screeching as they saw their sister had slipped away during that… distraction. In a smooth, effortless motion, they formed in front of her, cutting off her escape and sending her twining backwards. They let her exist for one moment, tenderly wrapping around her body, their mind embracing hers in a soft moment.

They felt sister still, felt the fear that kept her from moving.

And they suddenly snarled and lunged forwards, enveloping her form in theirs, so much stronger, more willing to kill. They felt sister’s last whisper of thought, that she had only wanted to be left alone, felt that blur of being shot at every moment of her existence. Then they squeezed, crushing her, and there was a last choking grip on their mind before she was gone.

They froze, mind vibrating against itself, two different entities forming and pushing away from each other. Their body crumbled inwards, unnoticed, as war raged between the entities and they pulled away from each other with clawing, gasping breaths.

Maine choked suddenly, lungs filled with fluid, and he clawed at his neck until someone pulled off his helmet and rolled him onto his side, allowing him to regurgitate the contents of his stomach and lungs. He wheezed, unable to catch his breath, choking and gasping as his heart tremored and his hands pawed uselessly at the armor covering his throat. His vision went gray as he felt his armor being removed, someone pushing on his chest and warm lips covering his cold mouth. He heard the muffled sounds of motion around him, but through the fog he could only wonder where Rain was, and why she wasn’t with him.

Then warmth and life flooded through him from a stab in his leg, and he gasped and bolted upright, choking and sputtering as he rolled onto his hands and knees. He felt his stomach heave uselessly, and he retched into the debris beneath him, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand after. He looked around with watery eyes, struggling to focus on the people around him, touching his face and forcing him to look at them.

“Maine? I swear to God, if I have to revive you one more time today I am leaving your corpse for the vultures. Maine? Maine! Eyes up here, buddy.”

Maine pulled his eyes to Wash’s face, tired and exhausted and having so much trouble focusing that he almost closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall into that black ocean beneath him. He felt Rain brush his mind with the lightest of touches, and he growled weakly as he struggled to pull himself to his feet, allowing Wash to help him up.

“This is why they needed to finish those vomit disposal systems. Tucker, has anyone found Rain yet?”

Maine was unable to hear the answer, but the look on Washington’s face told him enough.

“Keep looking, she has to be around here somewhere. Maine, are you okay?”

Maine shook his head weakly before limping heavily down one destroyed street, depending on Wash to help him move. Thankfully, Wash seemed to know his intention, because he actually pushed Maine a little as he assisted him down the street. Maine panted loudly as he tugged down a corner, and Wash helped him limp down the dark street until they entered the brightly lit plaza beyond.

Rain was there, small, hovering listlessly in a long-abandoned fountain. Maine made a small yearning noise, and Wash let himself be pushed away as Maine stumbled forwards. Rain lifted her face slightly at the sound of his heavy, uneven steps, turning her still disks slightly in his direction, cracked one glinting lightly in the swiftly setting sun. His prosthetic finally finished shattering two steps away from her, and he snarled as he hopped unevenly those last steps, falling in an undignified heap behind Rain.

Rain turned slowly, body looking slightly gray, and Maine reached out and grabbed her, yanking her close to him and curling his body around her small form, tears streaming unashamed down his face. He felt her equally exhausted mind lean against him, hesitant to breach the barrier between them, and he only hugged her tighter until she finally pushed through.

-youYOU mademade you MADE made me killKILL herHERsister her-

His thoughts were moving too sluggishly for him to even attempt to explain himself, so instead he just poured out his fear for her, and for himself as well. She idly listened to him, and he acknowledged her grief, let her know that yes, that was what she was feeling, it was grief and it was okay and he was so sorry. She stayed distant for a moment longer, analyzing his thoughts, then she spilled into him, letting their minds melt together as Wash silently watched.

Later, Maine would feel a sort of gratitude as Wash ignored all the calls from the others, allowing the two to have their moment. Now, though, with Rain wrapped around his body and his arms around her, he only felt relief.

-

“I can’t thank you enough for checking out what was down here. Especially for actually telling us it was safe to come down instead of leaving us. You said you found nothing?”

“Planet was abandoned. There was nothing here but bodies, and this poor girl. She hasn’t woken up since we found her.”

Maine listened from the shelter of the ship, unwilling to admit he was hiding but unable to deny the fact when asked. Rain was pooled on his lap, still, as close to sleeping as she could get. He looked down at her and gently trailed his fingers down her skin, feeling her stir and smiling gently before shifting slightly. His stump stuck out awkwardly in front of him, waiting for the new prosthetic that Sarge and the Spanish robot were supposedly building for him. That had been an argument to listen to, Phil and Maggie defending their work while Sarge derisively tore it apart, Lopez babbling something that none of them could understand. He had even found himself grudgingly appreciative of the Red leader when he had come to measure his leg for the dimensions.

Not that he would admit it.

“Such a shame. You sure you can’t take her?”

“We don’t have the space or the equipment to take care of her. We were hoping to buy a new ship here, but, well, I guess that’s going to have to wait.”

“I suppose it’s going to be a bit crowded with her and those two civilians. Where’d you pick those two up, anyways?”

“It’s classified.”

“Of course. The best stories always are.”

Maine listened to the practiced laugh roll easily from Wash’s throat, snorting softly. Carolina had left him to take care of the lies. He had gotten good at it since the Epsilon incident. Maine remembered those days vividly.

Rain stirred at the sudden darkening of his thoughts, and he immediately focused on her, softly scratching her skin. She wasn’t quite sleeping. Carolina had likened it to hibernating. All Maine cared about was that she rested.

-Epsilon epsilon EPSILON?-

-An A.I. fragment. I had Sigma.-

She shivered lightly at the memories the name alone brought up, sending a soothing wash over those hurts.

-GONEgone-

-I know.-

-Epsilon EPSILON is here here-

He sat very still, and she hummed curiously at his mood, feeling the melancholy.

-I know he is.-

-Wash and CAROCarolina are scared worried scared-

-I know they are.-

She sent him a little touch.

-Can’t hear listen A.I.-

The way she emphasized each syllable of A.I. made him smile and look down at her. She seemed disgruntled by the fact that she couldn’t hear the Epsilon unit.

-You can’t hear Lopez because he is a robot. Epsilon is the same.-

She puzzled over that for a moment, then a wave of exhaustion rose up again, causing her mind to instantly slow and her body to lower back down again.

-Will not NOT go after Epsilon?-

-There’s no point. My neural interface is ruined. I can’t synchronize with an artificial intelligence ever again. It’s a wonder my suit still works with me.-

She hummed before sinking back down into her hibernation.

-Good-

-

Centura IV orbited the small moon miles above them, mostly empty save for the captain and a pair of scientists the crew avoided like the plague. Those two scientists were currently in the bridge, allowing the captain to catch a few hours of rest while they broadcasted on a secure channel, to a planet on the other side of the galaxy.

“You’re certain there was another one?”

“Positive. We only planted one on Icarus, there was definitely another one.”

“And you said that it KILLED the generation eight?”

“We can’t find any trace of it, and the Gamma wave frequencies were literally off the charts for a few moments before they stopped completely. We’re sending you the data once we get it compiled.”

“Where did the other one come from? I thought all of them were accounted for.”

The two scientists shared a look, both of them hesitating. An impatient cough had the shorter one speaking quickly.

“There was an… incident, on Sidewinder. We haven’t been able to verify the generation eleven is still on the planet.”

“How are you not able to verify it? Was the anchor there or not?”

“That’s the problem, sir. We don’t know if she ever did anchor. She was released, and we lost track of her immediately after that. We didn’t think she anchored at all.”

“So you’re telling me one of my creatures is running loose with an unknown anchor, and you have no way of tracking it? And that this generation eleven- Eleven, out of all the generations, it was the one that failed the most!- this generation eleven is running loose and KILLING other generations? Generations that had proved to be superior in all the lab tests?”

“We don’t know for certain, sir, we’re still analyzing the data. Even if it was the eleven, chances are it was nothing more than a lucky fluke.”

“You’d better find my creature, doctor. Need I remind you what generation eleven was designed to do? It’s bad enough the generation eight got out of control, I’ll have enough issues with the UNSC breathing down my neck without the eleven making it that much worse.”

“Understood, sir. We have scouts searching every inch of Sidewinder right now, and we’re going to keep an eye on this Pelican ship that showed up here. There’s been no sign of another one, not even our scanners could pick up a sign of it, but we’ll be tracking it just to be certain.”

“Good. And the civilians that survived?”

“Just the eight’s anchor and two civilians that came off the Pelican. The anchor’s comatose; we don’t think she’s going to wake up. The anchors normally don’t.”

“And the other two?”

The tone was expectant.

“They’ll be taken care of.”

“Good. I don’t want them to have ever existed.”

“Understood, sir. We’ve already started removing any record of them.”

“Good.”

The transmission cut off suddenly, and the two scientists let out a sigh of relief before glancing at each other and turning to leave the room. The shuttle would be back any moment now, and the crew that had gone to the surface knew what to do.

The civilians will step on the shuttle under their own power. They’ll board the ship in bags.

Chapter Text

“Drumroll, Simmons. Drumroll. I said drumroll, not patting your legs! Give it some enthusiasm, goddammit!”

“Sorry sir, I’ll be enthused right away!”

“Ah, forget it. Moment’s lost.”

“What a shame.”

Maine cracked his eyes open at Grif’s dry sarcasm, too tired to properly glare at the four in front of him. Lopez, thankfully, was at least staying quiet.

He grunted, catching their attention. The Reds stopped their bickering to look at him, Simmons holding a lump of distorted metal in his hands. Maine sincerely wished that wasn’t his new prosthetic.

“Good, you’re awake! Thought we’d have to wait for you to wake up.”

“I can feel the hate coming off him, sir.”

“That’s just the spoiled bacon you ate oozing through your pores, dumbass.”

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s hate. I get it from Sarge on a regular basis, I know what hate feels like. Oh, look, it’s changed to murder. Time to leave.”

“Estoy de acuerdo con él.”

“No idea what you said right there, Lopez, but I’m certain it was important. Why don’t you continue and elaborate on that?”

“Cambié de opinión. Yo puta te odio.”

Maine growled once.

“Sorry, don’t mean to waste your time. Guess you’ve got places to go, huh?”

Maine blinked, uncertain whether that was an insult on the fact that the planet was dead, or that he was missing a leg and was therefore unable to actually go anywhere. He narrowed his eyes at Grif, accepting the cleverness of the joke, but unwilling to take it from someone like him. Sarge took that moment to shove his way through, clearing his throat loudly and drawing Maine’s attention off the man in orange armor that was quite obviously trying to sneak away.

“We finished your new leg! Simmons, where did you put it?”

“Lopez has it.”

Maine gave a mental sigh of relief as Lopez pulled the prosthetic from behind his back. Rain stirred lightly, noticing the others for the first time. She sent a questioning thought.

-They finished the new prosthesis. Are you feeling better?-

-Not as tired? Much better-

He scratched her back lightly in approval, turning his attention back to Sarge as he started speaking again.

“Introducing the Iron Ass Kicker, with no less than seventy-two points of articulation, four hidden laser weapons with guided firing systems, nine homing missiles, a can opener-slash-bottle opener, a fold-out ironing board, and a 10-megaton nuclear bomb in the heel for those ‘just-in-case’ scenarios! Detachable, of course.”

“How in the hell did you get seventy-two points of articulation on a prosthetic designed after the human leg?” Wash asked, poking his head in, and Maine found it interesting that THAT was the design point Wash had an issue with.

“You don’t want to know”, Simmons sighed. Maine found himself seriously doubting whether he should put it on.

“C’mon, angry fella, try it on and take it for a spin.”

Maine hesitated. Rain finally reared upwards, rising in front of Sarge and hovering in front of him, disks whirling.

“What? Of course it’s safe! I made Lopez test it first!”

“Eso sí, no talón de su pie.”

“I’m offended that you had to ask!”

“Really, Sarge? You’re the one that made an Ehmp-firing Warthog and didn’t think that it would shut off the engine.”

“That was not a design flaw! It was supposed to do that!”

“But it made no sense!”

“It didn’t have to! It was effective!”

“But it wasn’t!”

“Can we stop?” Wash sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, and Maine found himself regretting letting the Reds and Blues start getting comfortable with him. Not that he was certain when it exactly started happening. Rain brought up the memory of Carolina confronting him in the halls and confessing that they grew on you after a while. Maine snarled.

Everyone jumped at the noise, and while it wasn’t initially directed towards them, he found himself pleased that he still had that effect.

“Here you go, big guy. Try it on, we can make adjustments after you’ve taken a few steps.”

Maine hesitantly took the prosthesis from Lopez, eyeing it before accepting his fate and slowly fastening to his stump. When he couldn’t find the neural connector, he looked up at them and grunted. It took Rain sending a brief explanation before Simmons knelt down.

“Oh, right! Here, hold on. Where’s your neural port? Oh, wait, I see it. It’ll be a little bit of a kick to get used to it, with all those articulation points it has to go through some calibrations. Are you ready? Okay, here goes.”

Simmons connected the little bundle of wires to Maine’s neural interface, and his muscles immediately locked up when the prosthesis connected, arching his spine as far back as it could go and making his arms and legs go rigid. Rain screamed shrilly, alarmed, until Maine reached out to her and let her know it was okay.

-It’s calibrating to my nervous system.-

-Don’t like it don’t like it don’t like it don’t like it-

-It’s fine, I promise.-

As he sent the thought the nerves loosened, and he grunted as he moved his sore body back into a sitting position, watching the prosthetic analyze and calibrate every filament and locking system.

He found himself admiring the intricacy of the limb, and didn’t bother to hide it, leaning forward as the weapons systems connected and the four laser weapons ejected, following his gaze as he moved it around the room. Everyone took a few steps back, and he made an effort to relax the mechanical leg, watching the weapons retract and go back into hiding. They were impossible to see when they weren’t out. He watched all the gears and segments in the ankle start whirling and rotating, flexing the foot of the prosthetic, and he bent the knee closer to him to watch it, enjoying how easily the limb moved and responded to his nervous impulses. The prosthetic he had before had been well made. This one made it look like a child’s science project.

-He likes it. Wants to know how you made it so well?-

“Sarge is really good with machines. He made my entire organ system out of spare parts after we gave them to Grif.”

Maine stopped. Thought about it. Decided he didn’t want to know.

-We are both alarmedworried?confused-

“It’s a long story”, Simmons sighed, and Grif snorted.

“And complicated as hell.”

“You don’t want to know”, Wash shook his head, and Maine grunted an agreement. He had thought something was odd about Simmons’ grafted skin and enhanced eye. He just didn’t care before.

“So you like it?” Sarge asked excitedly, and Maine gave him an odd look as he sent a request for his makeshift cane to Rain. She spun quickly off his lap, twining through the air through the hatch door of the ship, and was back in moments, stumbling through the door as a human and eagerly handing him the cane. The Reds all coughed and looked away, keeping their eyes off her until she turned back.

Maine snorted and used the distraction to rise unsteadily to his feet, and the neural connectors from the prosthetic made him feel like there was an actual flesh and bone limb under him, rather than an intricate piece of machinery. Everyone went silent and watched as he took a few steps, limping lightly, then set his cane to the side and stepped on his own. It still hurt. He hadn’t expected it not to. But the ease of response the prosthetic had made the task much easier, until walking felt almost natural again.

He walked down the hatch ramp, stepped over the uneven ground, and then walked back up, giving Sarge a nod and growl of approval. He then had to give a snarl of irritation as the other man laughed loudly and slammed his fist solidly in the middle of his back, shoving him forward slightly. It was another testament to the prosthetic that he didn’t lose his balance, able to catch himself immediately.

“Knew it would work! See, I told you I could make a good robot leg! I should just make my own robot arm.”

“You go right ahead and do that, Sarge. When it fails, we’ll be there to watch.”

“Ah, shut it, Grif.”

“Will do, sir. I’ve got an appointment to make with some pastries before we go.”

“Did someone say pastries?”

Maine noticed he wasn’t the only one who flinched when Donut poked his head out of the storage area.

“No, Donut. Go away.”

“Aw, no need to be like that. I just want you guys to know I’ll always be here for you if you ever need me. For ANYTHING.”

“Donut, go away!” they all shouted, and the man just winked and waggled a feather duster before ducking back into the storage area.

“Where the hell did he find a duster?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“No, not really.”

Maine turned to look outside the ship again, where Carolina was directing Caboose and Tucker on loading the ship, trying to convince Caboose that the coloring books weren’t essential, no, we didn’t need them, okay, he could bring one only if he was good for the rest of the day. Maine’s lip quirked when Carolina pinched the bridge of her nose, and he limped down the ramp to meet her outside, Rain hovering close to him. She sent him a brief thought of irritation that she couldn’t hide in his armor, then slithered under the hem of his shirt, coiling around his torso. He made a brief face at the feeling. The texture of her body against his skin was slightly tacky, and while it was warm, it wasn’t quite as warm as he was.

Carolina looked up at their approach, waving off Caboose.

“Prosthetic working for you?”

-He says he’s worried about some of the design choices, but it works well-

“That’s good.”

“Hey, fuck face!”

Maine turned to face Tucker, lifting an eyebrow as the other man stalked up to him angrily. He couldn’t see his facial expression through the visor, but the way he carried the power armor told him everything. He saw his anger in the way his shoulders were set, and the way he leaned forward just slightly. He also noticed the hesitation when Tucker finally stood next to him and realized that even without his power armor, Maine still towered above him.

“The fuck do you think you are? You don’t just shoot someone’s ear!”

“Tucker, not the time for this.”

Maine shot Carolina a glance, turning his body to face Tucker head on. Tucker’s response was immediate, taking a half-step backwards. Maine followed him that small step, leaning forward slightly, and he held the position for a moment, leaning just slightly over the other soldier.

“Maine, stand down.”

Years of habit had him immediately leaning back, setting his legs apart and folding his arms behind his back. Rain was sending him thoughts of disapproval, and he ignored her while giving Carolina a look. She met his gaze with steady iron, just as stubborn as she was years ago. He snorted softly and turned away, taking a few steps back towards the ship.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?!”

“Tucker, if you don’t cut the shit, I’m going to give you a crash course as to why both he and Washington listen to me.”

“Dude, we’re aqua bros! You’re supposed to be on my side!”

Maine paused and turned back to stare at him incredulously, noticing the same look on Carolina’s face.

“Tucker, in no way are we ‘bros’. Our armor being the same color means nothing.”

“You Freelancers have no idea what teammates are, do you guys?”

Maine watched Carolina bristle, but before she could snap at him one of the ship’s crew walked up, eyeing them carefully.

“Am I interrupting something?”

“Only an ass kicking, but I can give that out later”, Carolina growled, and Maine turned to eye the man. Rain sent out a testing thought, and she immediately locked down. Maine tensed, watching the stranger carefully.

-What is it?-

-Thoughts are empty-

-Empty?-

-Being very careful not to think-

Maine frowned.

-Warn her.-

He felt Rain send the thought to Carolina, the only sign that she heard a slight tilt to the head.

“What can I help you with?”

“Oh, we were wondering if we could get you guys to help load our ship? None of us have power armor, and it’d get us off this planet earlier.”

-Lies-

“Don’t you have loading gear?”

“It doesn’t work without the planetside key sequence.”

-That is truth-

Carolina studied the man carefully, tilting her head.

“How many do you need?”

“We figured we’d wait until you were done, then if you could all go over and help, we’d be off in an hour. I mean, we are taking your civilians to civilization, you guys could help out.”

-He is desperate-

“So you want us to leave our ship alone, is that it?”

The casual way she said that meant that the man didn’t understand the words for a moment. When he did, his smile cracked slightly, and Maine caught the slight narrowing of his eyes.

-He is very nervous-

“What’s that supposed to mean? You think we’re trying to mess with you guys?”

“No, I just think that you’re lying to us about why you’re here.”

-ANGER HE IS VERY ANGRY-

Rain thought’s hit both Maine and Carolina as the man’s face set into an expression of venom.

“You have one them with you, don’t you?”

Maine, Carolina, and Tucker froze, the man opposite matching their reaction. They stared across each other, tense, hands ready to grab weapons in an instant. Maine noticed the automatic rifle at the man’s side.

-A little heavily armed for a trader.-

-Not trader knows what I am he is hiding thoughts how does he know to do that? all of them suspect this is bad bad bad-

-Rain, focus. I need your attention-, Maine sent tensely, turning his head slightly as another crew member approached, stepping very carefully.

-Four in area three have weapons-

-Carolina?-

There was a quiet moment, he felt her touch briefly with Carolina. In her haste she didn’t bother to separate their minds, and he felt the surprisingly soft caress of Carolina’s thoughts against his before Rain yanked them apart again.

-Doesn’t want to fight stand down scare them off-

Behind him, he heard Tucker release his energy sword, and stood up straighter, definitely feeling the lack of armor. The men in front of them gripped their pistols tighter, moving them slightly out of the holsters. Maine snarled, and they froze.

“Turn around and go back, and nothing has to happen”, Carolina’s low voice rang clear and threatening across the empty space, emphasized by a light breeze that shuffled a few papers around. Maine watched them share glances, Rain struggling to listen.

-Hard to hear interference?noise can’t hear them-

The men seemed to come to a decision, and all four straightened.

“Sorry, but we’re more scared of our boss than we are of you.”

There was a heartbeat of stillness, then everyone moved.

Maine ducked down behind a crate as bullets pinged off the ground next to him, stinging his leg with a spray of dust and gravel. He bared his teeth and spun around the opposite side of the crate, taking aim and firing three quick shots before ducking back around again. He felt a surge of satisfaction as he heard a shrill scream, waiting a beat and a half before leaning out again. One man was on the ground, leg bleeding from the thigh though clearly he was disciplined well, since he barely missed Maine’s head with return fire. Maine didn’t blink as the shot sent small pieces of metal shrapnel into his scalp, ignoring the warm flow of blood down his face as his next two shots silenced the trader for good. He ducked back under cover as the other man next to him noticed his fallen comrade, and took a moment to breathe and focus again, checking on the others.

Tucker was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with one of the traders who had to have been enhanced because there was no way a normal human could resist a blow with the force of power armor behind it.  Maine tilted his head, considered helping him, but then noticed Carolina taking fire from some sort of laser weapon he was unfamiliar with. He frowned, noticing the way the shots disintegrated whatever they touched, then slowly leaned his face around the corner, scanning the area. The one with the laser weapon was being covered by the other trader, their alternating fire preventing Carolina from leaving cover to fire herself. Maine took one more moment to study how the two alternated their fire, then stood and leveled his pistol. Nine shots left.

Two bounced off a weak energy shield, rendering them useless and drawing their attention to him. He ducked down once more as bullets once again pinged around him, exhaling slowly to steady himself. Cheap energy shields like that had a tendency to leak. He had seven shots left. He could find the weak spot.

He stood once more, fired at the feet. A bounce, and he was down to six shots. Ducking down once more, he leaned around the other corner, aiming for the shoulder. Another dud. Five shots. Another second to think before firing two more shots in quick succession, aiming for the gut and groin. Both failures. Three shots left. He kneeled in the dust behind the crate, absently noting the bullet graze on his arm, and suddenly felt Rain’s mind push onto his again.

This time the transition was smoother. He lifted his head, inhaled quickly, then in one smooth motion stood straight up and leveled the pistol at the man’s elbow. Rain’s thought processes made everything so much slower, and he could feel the other man’s panic as he realized what Maine was doing, that he was being tested for weaknesses. He could feel the alarm and concern towards the space on his upper arm, where the shield flickered no matter how much he tried to repair it. Maine adjusted to match the man’s worry, then fired two quick shots one more before bringing his pistol up and to the left as the man screamed and dropped his gun, falling slightly. Maine squeezed the trigger, watching in studious satisfaction as the contents of the man’s head sprayed out behind him, and then ducked back down to kneel once more behind the crate, exhaling his breath slowly.

Next to him, he could hear Carolina’s irritation and grim happiness in his head as she finally shot down the man with the laser weapon, sending the battlefield into silence. In the dust in front of him, Tucker finally stabbed the trader with his energy sword, panting loudly as he stumbled to his feet and turned to look at the two Freelancers.

“What, couldn’t help me?”

“We kind of had our own problems, Tucker.”

There was the sudden sound of yelling from the direction of the trader’s ship. Carolina and Maine shared a quick glance before they both lunged for the Pelican, and Maine absently noticed Tucker grabbing Caboose’s arm and dragging him behind them.

-Ask how long we have.-

“Maybe minutes, if we’re lucky. The Reds were still on the ship? Good. We have most of the supplies loaded, we should just be able to pull up our wheels and- SHIT!”

Maine followed Carolina’s lead of diving into cover behind a vehicle, automatically reaching out and yanking Tucker and Caboose behind the barrier as well. He growled at Caboose as the man clumsily tripped over his own feet and slammed his helmet off the vehicle’s tire, causing a loud bang to echo across the plaza the Pelican was in. At the sound, the crowd of traders all turned, raising their weapons to their shoulders and facing towards them. In the center of the plaza, at the base of the Pelican’s ramp, the Reds were all on their knees, hands tied behind them. Wash was seemingly unconscious on the ground in front of them, similarly bound and very still.

-Rain?-

-Simmons says Wash is just knocked out. Sarge is upset they got the drop? on them. Grif is scared-

-How many?-

-Fourteen-

-All armed?-

-Yes-

Maine growled softly, peaking through the window of the vehicle as Caboose rose to his hands and knees and a squad of six traders moved across the plaza.

-What’s Carolina’s decision?-

Rain paused, and he felt her slide across his skin as she waited for Carolina’s decision. He reached down and slid his fingers under the edge of his shirt, brushing them against her smooth skin as she moved. After a few moments she stilled and vibrated against him, and he could feel her nervousness slipping through.

-Told her you had no ammo-

-We will be fine.-

She hummed uncertainly, and he felt the sudden flushness of her mental hug. He braced her up mentally, closing his eyes for a second as they embraced each other. Then Tucker coughed, and Maine opened his eyes to glare at him before Rain caught his attention.

-Carolina says to surrender-

Rain sent the thought to the four of them, and Maine frowned as Tucker swore softly.

“What are the chances they won’t shoot us when we stand up?”

Maine snorted, turning back to look through the window again. The group of six were halfway across the plaza, cautiously approaching them. Maine noted the fingers resting on the triggers rather than the trigger guards.

-Sloppy gun discipline-

Rain absorbed the information, fidgeting nervously again as Maine prepared to stand.

-Don’t stand-, Rain sent suddenly, and Maine frowned.

-Carolina said surrender.-

-ScaredSCAREDscared-

-We don’t have another choice. They have our ship and Wash.-

Rain again fidgeted nervously, spreading herself as far across him as she could. Maine frowned at her behavior, but looked across the street at Carolina. She nodded, and he inhaled deeply before slowly standing, hands raised.

For a moment, it seemed like it worked. The traders all snapped their heads in their direction, but at the sight of the raised hands, lowered their weapons slightly. Then the one in front grinned, and the barrel of the rifle swung upwards sharply.

Maine immediately turned to dive back down, bracing himself for the shot that never came. He scrambled across the concrete, yanking the Blues down after him, but still there was nothing but silence. He sent a quick glance to Carolina, noting the confused tilt of her helmet.

-Rain?-

-thinking-

He furrowed his brow, feeling the strain on her mind, then slowly raised his head, glancing at the traders. They all stood still, frozen, the Reds looking around them in confusion. Maine could see the twitching muscles in the arms, but the men did not move, even though their eyes were flitting around in panic.

“What’s going on?”

Maine grunted in response to Carolina’s question, standing fully and slowly stepping out from behind the car. He eyed the fingers twitching lightly on the triggers, but they were stiff and unrelenting. Then, sending a tentative thought to Rain, he signaled the others forward.

“Okay, that’s creepy as hell. Can we leave? Like, now?”

“Get the others untied. Caboose, get Wash on board and strapped in. Maine, in the cockpit with me. I want wheels up in sixty.”

“Got it, man.”

Maine limped past the bound Reds while Tucker bent over and cut their bindings, ignoring their curses. He paused a moment to make sure Caboose carried Wash correctly, then followed Carolina into the ship, ducking into the bay.

“Maine, what is she doing?”

He responded with a frustrated sound, lightly touching Rain’s taut and constricting form. She didn’t react, and he could feel how focused she was.

“Doesn’t matter right now. Get those engines started. Tucker, hurry up! I’m locking the doors in ten seconds!”

“We’re all in!”

Carolina immediately reached forward and slammed down the door mechanism, activating the sealing process.

“We good, Maine?”

He grunted an affirmative, feeling the engines slowly increase the pitch of their whine as he buckled the restraining straps around him. As soon as they reached operating temperature, Carolina powered the thrusters, launching them violently into the sky. Behind him, Maine heard a few of the Reds and Blues scream in alarm. He just gripped his straps tightly as he reached out to Rain.

-We’re safe. You can stop.-

There was an immediate blast of relief, like an exhale after a long-held breath, and Rain pooled out from under his shirt, raising herself to face him.

-What were you doing?-

-Stoppedfroze their bodies-

-How did you know how to do that?-

-Sister knew how-

He frowned, but the sudden shaking of the ship breaking the atmosphere distracted him. When they were through, he saw the trader’s ship, blinking innocently on the horizon. He frowned at it as Carolina set their coordinates, then reached forward and turned on the ship’s artificial gravity.

Chapter Text

“One week.”

Everyone turned to look at Tucker. Maine raised an eyebrow as Rain trilled curiously in his head.

“What are you talking about?”

“No, I totally get it. I’ll take that bet, and I’ll put in ten days.”

“I vote ten years.”

“It’s not a higher number contest, Caboose.”

“You’re just jealous that I am winning.”

“Seriously, though, what are you talking about?”

“We’re placing bets on how long it’s going to take us to get chased off this planet, too.”

Carolina opened her mouth to protest, but before she could say anything Wash fished around in his chest piece, pulling out his wallet.

“Fifty bucks on two and a half weeks.”

“You’re on.”

“Washington!”

“What? They’ve got a point.”

Maine snorted, turning to head down the ramp as Carolina chewed the others out.  Around them, the crowds stared and muttered, clearly unused to seeing fully armored soldiers on their soft civilian planet. The ground crew hurried to anchor the ship for storage, screaming and arguing, while vehicles hummed and sirens blared across the city-planet.

Maine felt a headache forming, and sent a touch of approval when Rain dulled it.

-loud-

-Very-, he grimaced, turning back at the edge of the landing pad to wait for the others. Wash was rubbing the back of his helmet where Carolina had hit him, and Tucker was on the ground holding his side while Grif leaned against Simmons and howled.

-Family?-

-No-, he growled, and even though he tried to stop it, he knew she caught the glimpse of the Mother of Invention. She caught the feeling along with the thought and stayed silent.

“Move. Now. Straight line, no talking.”

“Yes, mom.”

Grif lost it again at Tucker’s remark, and Maine noticed Wash hiding his giggle while Carolina turned to glare at the orange helmet.

“One more remark, and I’m stripping you both and giving you to Donut.”

“Do your worst, I’ve already won”, Tucker wheezed, leaning on Grif for support while Donut huffed in protest and muttered something about not using him for punishment, he wasn’t into that stuff. Carolina gave a surprisingly convincing snarl as she whirled around and stalked down the steps into the crowd. Maine smirked and followed her, Rain sliding under his armor as she absorbed all the thoughts and emotions around her.

-Enjoying it?-

-Busy LOUD very loud-

“Stop repeating, Rain, we’ve worked on this.”

-yes Wash-

“She acts like I kick her every time I correct her on this stuff.”

Maine tilted his head at Wash. Wash sighed.

“And here you are, talkative as ever. Hey, Carolina, where are we going?”

“I’m trying to find somewhere to stay so we can all get some actual sleep.”

“Thank fucking god, because no offense guys, but you all really need to shower.”

“You’re one to talk, fatass.”

“Shut the fuck up, Simmons.”

“Can it, both of you.”

“Yes, Sarge.”

Carolina lightly placed her fingertips on her visor. Maine started chuckling silently, and he could feel her glare.

“Don’t you start too, asshole. Hey, you. Yeah, green jacket, come here. Where can I find a place to get ten rooms in one building?”

“Do I look like a tour guide?”

“Do I look like I care?”

The man gulped, glanced at Maine when he shifted his weight, then pointed a finger down the street.

“Chemical Alley has a few cheap hotels, they might have enough rooms in the same area. If you’re looking for something nicer, you’re going to want to head north, into the amusement district.”

“Thanks for your help, we’ll be on our way now.”

“I like the sound of the amusement district. Wonder what kinda amusement they mean, get what I’m saying? Bow-chika-bow-wow.”

“Shut it, Tucker.”

“Geez, you are such a killjoy.”

“It’s a tough job, someone has to do it.”

Maine could see Wash’s lopsided grin by the way he tilted his helmet. He shook his head and followed Carolina through the crowd, ignoring the obvious pickpockets and praising Rain for noticing the hidden ones.

-Why steal?-

-Inequality.-

She hummed, puzzling over the chunk of information the word gave her. He snorted softly and stooped slightly to duck into the doorway Carolina walked into, looking around the dark room idly. The room looked grimy, the walls stained with tobacco and other kinds of smoke, and in the corner of the lounge a man snored across the table. Rain probed his thoughts quickly, pulling back with a feeling of distaste as soon as she touched him.

-Mind is mud-

-Most likely a tar addict.-

She then had to dive deep into his mind to learn all she could about drug addictions, and he made a face as he turned away from the man in the corner. Tucker had pulled off his helmet, and was staring at Maine with a strange expression.

“Why?”

-Learning-

“But why me?”

-Know more than the rest-

Tucker looked insulted, but remained quiet when Carolina shook her head and gestured everyone out the door again. It took three more hotels before they finally found a building with rooms all in the same area, and then there was a long argument about prices that ended when Maine encouraged Rain to nudge the man into agreeing with them and giving them a discount. Rain complained she felt dirty afterwards, and Maine merely sent her an appreciative thought while carrying the small bag of his belongings up the stairs to their floor. Outside the door to his room, Simmons tried to talk to him, but he shut the door in the man’s face and dropped the bag on the small bed that looked like it wouldn’t fit him.

-Mean-

Maine hummed, reaching up to disengage the clasps on his helmet while Rain slithered out of his armor, slithering curiously through the room. Through the thin walls he heard the others arguing over who got what room, and sighed as he released the chest piece and set it down heavily on the floor.

-Help?-

-I have it.-

Rain hummed brightly, looping upwards to sit on the slowly-spinning ceiling fan. The machine barely dipped at her weight, the blade she sat on not bending at all.

-Do you change your weight?-

She sent him a whirling questioning feeling in response, not understanding what he meant, and he shook his head as he pulled off the leg plating.

-Never mind.-

He stood, and began the pain-staking process of removing the skin-tight undersuit, peeling it off him and fighting with the suit at the ends of his limbs.

-Why wear it?-

-So I don’t die in space-, he hummed back, amused by her lighthearted tone. This was the most relaxed he had seen her since Sidewinder.

He frowned, a dark shadow covering his light mood. Maggie and Phil had been on the Trader’s ship when they left. In that rush to get off the planet, they had been forgotten until they were safely away from the planet. By then it was too late.

Rain slithered down from the ceiling, humming low to match his mood. He reached out his fingers and she wrapped herself around them, disks spinning slowly. They sat like that for a moment, Maine staring blankly into the air while Rain watched him, then he blinked and stood, heading towards the small bathroom that came with his room. He grimaced when he realized he could barely fit in it, and the showerhead only came up to his chest.

-Can help?-

His irritation carried through, and she ducked down, though she knew it wasn’t directed towards her.

-Can help scrub?-

He paused, blinked, and then began laughing, a hoarse, breathy sound. She twirled around his shaking shoulders once, brr’ing, then squealed loudly and ducked down to wrap tightly around his neck and chest.

-HAPPYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPY-

“Will you keep it down in there?!”

Maine raised an eyebrow at Tucker’s yell and pounding on the wall, locked eyes with Rain’s disks, then started wheezing harder as Rain tumbled through the air, making happy noises. Through the wall he could hear the groan, along with a muttered, “For a mute you laugh pretty fucking loud”. Then, after a few more moments, he pushed himself off the small sink, leaning forward to turn the knobs on the shower.

While the bathroom was small enough he didn’t need her help to balance, he did end up needing her help actually bathing all of himself, since there wasn’t enough room to crouch down under the water. It didn’t bother him that much, though, because he was finally clean for the first time in weeks. Not a steam shower, an actual shower with hot running water that was lasting a surprising amount of time considering the others were most likely bathing as well.

As soon as he thought that he felt the first touch of cold water, and immediately shut the water off. Rain shook herself, splattering the entire room, then trilled as Maine opened the door and hopped the five steps to the bed, not caring that he was soaking wet as he sat down on the sagging mattress. Rain twirled back to the bathroom to grab him a towel, purring, and he began drying his face and neck as Rain issued a brief warning before he heard the door open.

“Hey, Carolina wants to know if- OH MY GOD, WHY ARE YOU NAKED?!”

Maine growled as Grif bolted from the room, leaving the door open behind him, and he heard the curious voices of everyone else as he stood and hobbled to the door. Simmons ducked his head out his room across the hall just in time to see a very angry Maine slam the door shut, and before it closed Maine caught a glimpse of a very pale and concerned face.

Rain, for some reason, found this all entertaining, and she whirled around the room in a blur, circling the small space multiple times before dropping to the floor and rolling around on the cheap carpet. Maine huffed at her, and she rose up, coiling around his shoulders and rubbing her metal disks against his face.

-love you-

He grunted and reached up the scratch her, snorting at the squeak she produced when his fingers hit a particularly good spot.

-What did Carolina want?-

-What you want for dinner Grif told her you’re busy she’s laughingFUNNY will ask later-

-Tell her not to bother. I’ll get my own food.-

-Told-

He reached for his bag of clothing he had grabbed from Icarus, the tags still on them from the abandoned store. Rain insisted he wear the really soft gray shirt, bodily pushing his hand towards it as soon as she felt him touch the fabric, and he allowed her to settle herself into his nervous system so she could feel the shirt through his human skin. He felt her mental purr as her physical body curled on top of his chest before he even finished laying down on the lumpy mattress, and he raised an eyebrow as he grabbed the remote on the nightstand.

He only lightly paid attention to the news, using the television as a screen for the background noise of the planet. Instead, he dozed as the reporters talked about some up and coming politician, perfect for bringing him into a dreamless sleep. He was dimly aware of Rain rising to turn off the lights, then she lightly settled across his eyes to block out the light from the screen.

The last thing he remembered that day was how some Barry Rampart has swept the polls in the last election, and his prospects for obtaining the presidency for the planet.

-

“I don’t understand, sir, why is the color of the disks so important?”

“Because, you imbecile, the color of the disks will tell me what creature this is! Now, how is it that with over twenty people and security cameras across the planet, NO ONE caught a look at the disks on the creature’s face?!”

“We were a little occupied with the fact that it COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN OUR BODIES, sir.”

“You are trained for this, soldier!”

“How in hell are we supposed to be trained for something like that?! We were told they might be in our heads, and that there was the slightest possibility that they might try to mess with us that way. No one fucking told us they could control our fucking bodies!”

“You watch your tone, soldier, before I remind you who you work for.”

The mercenary snapped his mouth shut, glaring at the scientist in front of him. The men behind him muttered angrily, and he glanced back, flicking his eyes to silence them. The scrawny man seemed pleased, and while the mercenary seethed internally, he let the other man have this round. He’s seen what the creatures are worth. He could wait just a little longer.

“Good, we’ve got that settled. Now, what about the tracking beacon on the ship?”

“We tracked it to Ataria. It hasn’t moved in a while, so we’re assuming it’s parked there. They’ve got a few days' head start on us, but I don’t think they’re going anywhere for a while.”

“Oh? And what makes you so certain of that?”

“They’re beaten and tired, and no doubt running low on supplies. They weren’t able to finish stocking up before they left. Plus, a ship that small with that many people on and soldiers that poorly disciplined? They’re not going anywhere, not for a long while. We have time to plan our next move.”

“You’d better be right, because you’re one wrong move away from being replaced, Gren. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Because we can NOT let the creature get away this time. Even one of the regular creatures is bad enough. The generation eleven being on the loose, especially being more powerful than we thought, is unthinkable.”

“I’ll set the course right away”, Gren sneered, turning to signal to his pilot. The man nodded and stepped through the door onto the bridge, and after a few moments Gren could feel the ship come to life beneath his feet. “Are we dismissed?”

“Yes, get out of here”, the scientist, snorted, waving his hand dismissingly, and Gren’s lip twitched before he signaled his men to leave the room. He paused outside the door, one question burning in his mind, and against his better judgement, he turned back to ask it.

“What is it about this generation eleven that makes it so dangerous? Why this one, out of all the others you released into the galaxy?”

“These creatures are designed to be able to read minds, human or alien, to read their thoughts and emotions and deepest secrets and report back to their anchor. They don’t hold anything back, they can’t be manipulated, they can’t be bought or pleaded with. One can take down an entire planet, once it learns all of its secrets, all its corruption and deceit. Or it can break down a Sangheili captive, learn the battle plans and their strengths and weaknesses. Every single one was designed to share everything with its handler. Except the generation eleven.”

The scientist looked up, staring at the window, looking down at Icarus below as it faded into nothingness.

“It was an experiment, nothing more, to see if it could be done. We were successful, of course. But it was weak, cowardly. We didn’t think it could take down something with as much strength as a generation eight.”

“What was it designed to do, sir?”

“The generation eleven was designed to lie. And it did its job well.”

-

“Barry! What is it that you hope to do if you win the elections this year?”

A man with sandy, slightly shaggy hair turned to look at the reporter, even as his escorts encouraged him to leave. He smiled and waved them off, then turned to face the reporter directly, even stepping down a few steps so that they would be at equal height.

“What do I hope to do? No, it’s what I will do. What’s your name, if I may ask?”

“Uh, Robert, sir.”

“Nice to meet you Robert! Now, to answer your question now that I know you at least slightly better, what I plan to do is eliminate this disgusting gap between the wealthy and poor on this planet. It’s so discouraging to look around the table at all my meetings and see men and women who have their wealth merely because they inherited it, while people like you and me break our backs just to break even.”

“But what about the rumors that you’ve been receiving private funding?”

“Not a rumor, I’m afraid, it’s true. I hated to see so many people volunteering their extremely rare free time to help me achieve my dream, and I just wanted to reimburse them for their time and effort put into supporting me. Without them, I wouldn’t be here. So yes, I did accept some private donations from businesses. However, don’t think under any circumstances that these businesses will influence any of my political decisions. I entered these agreements telling these businesses that just because they gave me money, that did not mean that they would be able to control me. Some businesses pulled out: I’m sure you’ll understand if I don’t name which ones did and didn’t. But other companies have seemed to come around now that I’m officially in the running. It’s strange what a little bit of television time will do to one’s reputation, hmm?”

“Wouldn’t you call those tactics manipulative?”

“Manipulative? Is it manipulative when the leaders of these corporations sit in one of their many personal ships, drinking champagne that costs more than the common man’s yearly salary while families must employ their oldest children just to pay the bills? Is it manipulative when a mother is denied maternity leave, because someone up top might miss an imported lobster dinner while on their four billion dollar vacation? No, Robert, I don’t think what I’m doing is being manipulative. I think what I’m doing is honest, and if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get home so I can enjoy dinner myself. Good night, sir.”

The man left the reporter flabbergasted, gently pushing his way through the crowd to the car he had rented for the night. Appearances were everything, after all, as much as he hated spending the money on it. He had sold one of his twenty-seventh century paintings to afford it.

The door shut behind him, and he smiled to the driver before saying, “Home”, and rolling up the privacy window. Then, glancing around the cabin just to make sure he was alone and there were no cameras, he sighed and yanked off his tie, throwing it across the cabin.

“Was I a little rude, there?”

-The people understand. I heard them.-

He snorted as a long, jet black length slithered from under his suit jacket, rising slowly and turning to face him, white disks still on its face. It seemed to tilt its head at the man, studying the emotions it read, then it hummed low, tone masculine, sliding forward to lay heavily across his shoulders.

-It is a heavy burden you bear.-

“You don’t make it any easier, you lump”, Barry retorted, though he didn’t bother hiding his smile. His friend would hear the amusement anyways.

-My weight does not bother you. What bothers you is your political race. Why do you struggle so much for these people?-

“You know why.”

-Yes. I still don’t understand.-

“I don’t think you’re capable of it”, Barry hummed, reaching up to lightly tap one of those white disks. It leaned back, avoiding the touch, and instead tilted its head so that Barry was scratching its soft skin, purring quietly. He smiled lightly, watching the creature vibrate, then shook his head lightly.

“I don’t understand why you help me. Without you I would be nothing. Why would you choose a nobody like me, when there’s a planet full of people who don’t have to struggle for anything?”

-On a planet full of people I heard only one’s thoughts. There was no choice. There was only you.-

Barry choked suddenly, then he abruptly reached up and pulled the black creature down to his lap, hugging it tightly. The creature made a small noise at its disruption, then purred loudly, pressing its solid form into the man’s chest.

“I am so glad I’ve had you with me these past few years.”

The creature spun its disks once, slowly, then leaned forward to softly press them against the man’s face.

-It will be much longer yet.-

They remained like that for a second, before the driver made a turn and the creature suddenly tore away from Barry, body flaring as its disks snapped to the other side of the car. Barry frowned, looking out the window, furrowing his brow when he saw nothing but sleezy hotels.

“What is it, what’s wrong?”

The creature remained silent, intently staring out the tinted windows until Barry reached forward and lightly touched it, drawing its attention back to him. It glanced once more at the buildings, then pulled away, returning to the man.

-Nothing.-

“Are you sure?”

-I thought I heard something. It was nothing.-

-

In the dark hotel room, with a giant, one-legged man beneath her, Rain rose, lifting her disks to face the window. They spun slowly, fractured one reflecting the light haphazardly across the room, and she produced a low tone, almost a growl. Then she cut it off with a confused noise, disks whirling, and made to move and investigate when the man beneath her suddenly snored loudly, breaking her attention. She turned back to face him, inspecting him for any issues, and when she deemed him safe, she couldn’t seem to recall just what it was that had caught her attention.

Unsettled, she spread herself across the man’s body, shielding him against nothing. Disks directed towards the door, she listened to the man beneath her rest, listening in on his dreams and protecting him from his nightmares.

Chapter Text

Maine woke to Rain’s intense curiosity, and he furrowed his brow as he glanced blearily over at her, staring intently at the wall. It took her a moment to realize he was awake, and when she did she flitted back to his side quickly before returning to stare at the wall.

-What are you doing?-

-What is wrong with him?-

He frowned, and caught a glimpse of Tucker through her mind, along with a sense of an increased heart rate and urgency. He sat up quickly, reaching for his assault rifle, and sat on the edge of the bed, facing the wall. If he listened past the noise outside, he could hear faint whimpers through the thin walls, and the occasional clunking sound.

-Rain.-

With his permission, she pushed forward into Tucker’s mind, quickly breaking into it, and then Maine could hear him directly, flush alongside his own mind.

There was a moment of confusion, Maine catching a glimpse of naked women and the feel of uncovered skin. He realized what was happening the same instant Tucker realized he was there, and their mutual disgust and horror shoved against each other, pushing the other back into their own minds. Rain whimpered at the strong mental reprimand she received from both of them, and Maine made a low whining noise and pressed hard against his eyes, wishing he could remove that mental image from his brain. From the other side of the wall, he could hear Tucker whimpering and complaining before rising from the creaking bed, taking heavy steps to the door and throwing it open.

Maine heard the stomping lead to his door, then Tucker slammed it open, wearing nothing but baggy sweatpants and holding a magazine.

“Really, dude? The first chance I get to rub one out in weeks, and you fucking ruin it for me? Fuck, what do I have to do to get a moment’s privacy around here!”

Maine growled, looking up to glare at him, and Rain slithered low to the floor, slowly approaching Maine.

-didn’t know sorrySORRY didn’t know sorry sorry-

Maine changed his glare from Tucker to her, and she flinched as Tucker made a frustrated sound and stomped back to his own room, slamming the door shut. Maine rubbed his temples as Simmons opened the door across the hall, looking confused, and Wash poked his head around the corner of the door frame, raising an eyebrow at Maine.

“What was that?”

Maine sent him a baleful look as Rain tentatively explained, and Wash went from amused to horrified within moments.

“You’ve never given her the talk?”

Rain trilled in confusion as Maine leveled his rifle to Wash’s face. He yelped and ducked back behind the door as Rain turned to face him, disks whirling.

-What’s the talk?-

-He can fucking explain it.-

She ducked down again, body shrinking, then she slowly slithered out the door, turning left and no doubt heading for Wash’s room. Maine groaned and flopped backwards on the mattress, covering his face with his hands as one foot settled on the floor and the other leg hung awkwardly off the edge of the bed. He heard Simmons slowly creep out of his room and come across the hall, and Maine pulled his hands away from his face to glare at him.

“I’ll just, uh, shut this door for you.”

Maine made an appreciative grunting noise, flinging his arm back over his face as he heard the door softly close. There was silence for a few seconds, then he heard Carolina burst into laughter at the opposite end of the hall, accompanied by Rain’s sharp confused whine.

Maine would not admit to whimpering and pinching the bridge of his nose.

-

-No.-

-Want see-

-No.-

Rain made a disappointed whine, visibly deflating in front of him and slowly sinking to the floor. On the other side of the room Wash laughed, shaking his head.

“It’s like having a kid.”

-Am not-

“Are you morons almost ready?”, Carolina asked, clearly bored as she leaned against the doorframe. Rain hummed low, defeated, and Maine sighed as he rose to his feet. His first step he limped, but the ones after that were steadier. He waited for Rain to slowly slither up his pant leg, making a face at the feeling, and Wash laughed again.

“I never thought I’d see a face like that on someone as terrifying as you.”

-Not scary-

“I don’t know who you’re talking about, but it’s clearly not him.”

-Not scary. Nice-

“And now you’re just trying to earn brownie points”, Carolina mused, then she pushed herself off the wall. “You’re missing a leg, Maine. You can just say you have a service dog.”

Maine made another face as Rain caught her meaning and shot out of his pant leg, flipping around the room excitedly, and Wash cackled when she brought Maine’s pants down an inch in the process. Maine grunted at him, frowning when he was ignored, and he sighed at Rain suddenly shifting into a vaguely dog-like creature, only half formed and frankly horrifying to look at. Carolina briefly pulled a face, then shuddered lightly before turning around and stepping out of the room.

“Fix that before you leave, I’ll try to see if I can find a dog leash anywhere.”

-Can walk myself SEE? look around HAPPYHAPPYHAPPY-

-Pick a form and stick with it. If you do this, you can’t slip up.-

Rain immediately settled on a vaguely shepherd-like breed, barking and chasing her tail around the small room. Maine resisted the urge to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose, something he found himself doing much more lately. He was sure it wasn’t just Rain that caused it, because he didn’t start doing it until the Reds and Blues came. But he certainly seemed to do it often at Rain’s antics.

Rain immediately stopped when she felt that thought, body drooping and whimpering long and loud.

-Bad am I bad?-

-No, you’re not bad. Just tiring.-

She sat and half howled, causing Maine to flinch and Wash to immediately lunge forward and clamp her mouth shut, silencing her.

“What the fuck are you telling her? Rain, you have to be quiet, we’re not supposed to have dogs here.”

-Thought I was service dog?-

“You are for this, but we didn’t bring a dog in with us. You gotta be sneaky, like Caboose when he tries to get cookies after bedtime. Got it?”

Maine gave Wash a long look as Rain nodded in a disturbingly human way, and Wash caught the look.

“Okay, I spent a lot of time with those idiots. You change after that.”

-And he called you a child.-

Rain dropped her mouth open in amusement, panting happily, and Wash gave him a suspicious look.

“What’d you tell her?”

Maine looked at him innocently, and Carolina came back with a dog collar and leash. They both looked at her curiously, and she shook her head.

“Don’t ask, they’re Donut’s.”

Wash opened his mouth and shut it again, and Maine shut down any inquiries he had.

-Problems with Donut?-

He refused to answer her, but she felt the undercurrent of emotions and sent him a mental hum.

“That’s explains why they’re pink”, Wash hummed, bemused, then he donned his signature shit-eating grin. “Man, you are going to get some looks, Maine. Want Donut to paint your nails and do your makeup, too?”

“You are asking for an ass-kicking, Wash.”

“Eh, it’s been a while since I’ve had a good match. I could use one.”

Maine just glared, reaching forward to take the collar from Carolina before kneeling to fasten it around Rain’s neck. She danced around for a second, teasing, then grumbled and laid down, wagging her tail and lolling her tongue at him. The collar was a tight fit, and Maine frowned, sending her a thread of concern.

-Is fine don’t breathe anyways don’t feel painuncomfortable-

“Make yourself a bit smaller anyways, the last thing we need is some concerned moron complaining about animal abuse.”

Rain grumbled and changed slightly, and Maine felt the collar loosen under his fingers.

-Better?-

Maine grunted, patting her on the head and roughing up her ears, and Wash laughed when her tail wagged.

“She makes a better dog than person. You should stay like this.”

-Too hard to choose-

“Hey, are we going out or what?”

Maine glanced over at Tucker in the doorway, the rest of the Reds and Blues behind him, and Carolina sent him a quick glance.

“We’re ready to leave. Everyone remember what they’re supposed to do?”

“How old do you think we are, five?”

Carolina leveled a look at him, and Tucker grimaced.

“Okay, I get it. Yeah, we got it. Sarge, Lopez, and I are looking for weapons.”

“Me, Grif, and Donut are looking for food supplies.”

“And yes, I know not to get Twinkies”, Grif grumbled, and Simmons elbowed him.

“Fatass.”

“Nerd.”

“We’re not taking Caboose”, Tucker blurted out, followed by Grif and Simmons shouting, “We’re not taking him either!”

Wash grumbled, shaking his head.

“We’ll take him, assholes.”

“Where are you taking me? My mother told me to never go anywhere with strangers.”

“We’re not strangers, Caboose.”

“You’re people who do strange things.”

Wash blinked, opened his mouth and closed it again.

“Actually, I can’t argue with that. Caboose, come with us. If you’re good we’ll let you pick out a toy.”

Maine shot Wash a look of disgust as Caboose immediately perked up.

“Can I get ice cream too?”

Maine pretended not to notice the flash of lights on the back of Carolina’s watch, and her sidelong glance at him. Washington merely smiled, amused.

“We’ll see.”

“I want chocolate chip.”

“After dinner.”

“Why not for dinner?”

“Because ice cream isn’t dinner.”

“It is if you want it to be.”

Maine growled and shoved his way past all of them, Rain at his heels. Wash was trying to hold back laughter as he followed him, and Carolina shut the door, shaking her head.

“Why do I always get the weird soldiers?”

Maine looked at her, and Rain yipped happily. Wash snorted.

“We were never as bad as them.”

“York and North. Playboy night.”

Maine and Wash both stopped and grimaced.

“Okay, that was weird, but it was a different kind of weird. And I still swear I never participated. Florida scared me.”

“Uh-huh, sure.”

“I didn’t!”

“We believe you, Wash”, Carolina assured sarcastically, and Maine grinned. Rain sent a little trill through all their heads, and Maine bent down and scratched her ears.

Two hours later found them elbowing through the crowds, though they all gave Maine a wide berth. He wasn’t sure if it was because they believed Rain was a service dog or because he ‘looked intimidating as fuck’, according to Grif. None of the store owners had given him any issues either, except one, who absolutely refused to believe that Rain was a service dog. Maine had merely raised an eyebrow, then nodded at Rain.

She had a blast, immediately running into the store and grabbing spare vehicle parts, ‘obeying’ Maine’s hand signals while Wash sarcastically informed the owner that Maine was a veteran, and how dare he assume that his dog was not a service dog, for god’s sake you can see the prosthetic on his leg, yes of course he gets around fine but he’s now a mute and suffers from PTSD and Maine had to raise an eyebrow after a certain point to keep Wash from ruining it. The owner had turned red and given them a twenty percent discount, which Carolina skillfully raised to forty, all while Maine had to not glare at them and growl because they were going incredibly overboard with it. Come to think of it, they probably had just as much fun as Rain did pretending to be a service dog.

-did they did-

Maine raised an eyebrow at Rain, who was chewing on a treat a street vendor had given her while they rested (or, more accurately, while Maine rested and the others pretended to rest). She looked up at him and yipped softly, wagging her tail. He reached down and scratched her gently, and she returned to her treat.

-What does it taste like?-

Immediately the taste of dry, peppery meat filled his mouth, and he grimaced, resisting the urge to make an even bigger face. Carolina raised an eyebrow, and Maine shook his head. At the other side of the plaza, Wash was paying another vendor for ice cream, while Caboose constantly changed his mind and had to sample all the flavors. Maine made a noise of impatience, and Carolina glanced at him again.

“He’s carrying everything for us, he can have his moment.”

Maine conceded the point. The amount of sheer strength Caboose had made even him a little nervous, carrying hundreds of pounds of extra Pelican parts with seemingly no effort. With a whole body and his power armor, he might have been able to carry the load Caboose lugged around after them. It would have been very close, though.

Maine grunted, pulling the small notepad out of his pocket, and Carolina turned in her seat to wait for him to write. In quick, scrawling letters he worded his question, and turned the paper for Carolina to read it. She tilted her head slightly, furrowing her brow as she studied the page.

“Jesus, Maine, your handwriting just gets worse and worse. What the hell is this? Stew? Stem? Oh, wait, that’s an ‘O’. Caboose’s story? Why are you so interested?”

Maine gave her a look. She sighed.

“You’d be better off asking Tucker. All I know is he was infected with the Omega A.I. at one point, I haven’t asked about anything else. Figured I’d be better off not knowing.”

Maine tilted his head at her, accepting her statement. Still, he couldn’t help the irritated twitch when Caboose sat next to him with a dish overflowing with flavors. Wash handed him a small cone, and Maine took it with a confused face.

“Knew you wouldn’t ask, didn’t give you the opportunity to refuse. Here, ‘Lina, I got you that coffee almond you like. Honestly surprised that little street cart had as many flavors as it did.”

“Thanks Wash.”

Caboose elbowed him and leaned in, and Maine swallowed a growl as he glared at him.

“Do you want to know what flavor yours is? Washingtub let me pick it out.”

Maine’s lip twitched, and Rain softly berated his irritated thought.

-He’s trying-

-Trying to do what? Irritate me?-

-Just wants friends-

-We’re soldiers, we don’t need friends.-

He glanced up, noticed the slight cracks in Caboose’s jovial face. The other man’s gray eyes flicked around Maine’s face uncertainly, and Maine gave in, exhaling loudly and nodding. Almost immediately Caboose perked up.

“Washingtub said you didn’t like sweet things, which is weird because who gets ice cream if they don’t like sweet things? So I got you the most non-sweet flavor I could think of! Which is…” Caboose frowned, looking lost. “Wash, what flavor was it?”

“Your favorite candy.”

“Yes! That was it! It’s sour skittles!”

Maine grit his teeth, trying to ignore Caboose thumping his back. Carolina and Wash watched him cautiously, ready to move if he did. It took Rain humming in his head and leaning heavily against his leg before he could close his eyes and inhale deeply, calming himself.

-Service dog?-

Maine cracked open an eye as Wash snorted.

“Yeah, service dog.”

Another hour later found them all regrouped in their section of the hotel, arguing about where all the supplies were going to go until they could load up their ship again (according to the dock rotation charts, not until tomorrow at the earliest). In the end, Maine growled and waved into his room, since he wasn’t using the space anyways, and suddenly everyone was gone except for Maine, Caboose, and Carolina. He blinked, looked around, and when he turned back Carolina was walking down the hall as well, turning her head back to speak over her shoulder.

“I have to meet with the people at the docks, to see if I can find a better ship. Chances are slim, but it might happen. Caboose will help you carry all that!”

Maine openly gaped as she left as well, and the hallway was suddenly very empty, and Maine was probably as confused as Caboose.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. They do this all the time. I think they just want me to be strong. Which I don’t understand, because if they helped, they’d be strong too! But it’s whatever, I guess.”

Rain whimpered, laying her head down and staring at Caboose, and Maine flinched at the sorrow she felt.

-Don’t do that.-

-He is a sad person-

He snorted, turning back to start with the first box.

-Sad? He’s too fucking stupid to be sad.-

-Not stupid!-, she snapped suddenly, canine form snarling, and Maine whirled around to eye her, cautious as her form grew more ragged and intimidating. She caught the edge of his nervousness, and visibly restrained herself, sending a small apologetic thought along with her explanation.

-Not stupid. Broken. Very broken.-

She sensed his dismissive thought, and she sent a small mental sigh before she rose and hovered, back in her natural form. She faced him, disks whirling, and Maine noticed a strange look cross Caboose’s face before his mind went blank and he was surrounded by a rushing sensation.

He’s in a black space. That’s the first thing he notices. The second thing he notices are the mirrors floating around him. As he looks around, he notes that some are smooth, some cracked, others shattered beyond use. And when he approaches them, he realizes that they are not mirrors, but windows, each showing a different glimpse.

He hears a laugh inside one, and an impulse makes him reach out and touch it, and suddenly he is watching a group of people inside a small factory, all talking. They look strange, though, half-formed, except for the one in the middle. Caboose is the only whole one, and as his attention shifts from form to form they strengthen, weakening again when his eyes leave them again and they’re suddenly not as important anymore. He spots the weak forms of himself and Washington, and can hear the faint words they speak.

A knocking sound draws his attention away from that window, and he turns, surprised to see another behind him. In it, Caboose stares out at him, though in this one his nose is bleeding and his eyes are grey and blind.

“Are you O’Malley?”

Maine blinks, edges back slightly.

“Are you O’Malley?”

He turns away as the figure sobs and slams his head of the cracked surface of his window, sending another spider web of cracks traveling through the glass. In the floating fragments of another window he can see the shadow of a man screaming in fury, smashing his window into smaller and smaller pieces, and Maine stays away from that one. He looked around again, and suddenly saw Caboose. The real Caboose, not a copy living in its own world.

He watched from the edges as Caboose looked around, looking confused and lost. Behind him a mirror spoke softly, though when he tried to speak back it faded away, leaving the thought trailing. Caboose frowned, tried to turn to another mirror, but that one shrank and moved away sharply, avoiding whatever Caboose tried to say to it. He watched the man grow more and more frustrated, trying to talk to the mirrors, but they all ignored him, leaving him alone among the fragments, until Caboose was screaming and sobbing on his hands and knees and the mirrors crashed into each other, mashing together worlds that didn’t make sense.

Another moment, and Caboose calmed down again, the mirrors stilling, and he sat cross-legged in the middle of it all, staring forlornly at the ground, squishing his index finger into the surface.

“O’Malley did it.”

Maine turned, saw Caboose again. He thought it was the actual Caboose, until he looked up and saw the edges of the frame high above him, dwarfing the rest.

“O’Malley came and hung up pictures, only they weren’t our own pictures and we didn’t want him too. And when he left, he left the pictures hanging empty on the walls, and we had to fill them. Couldn’t stand the empty frames looking at us. Besides, it’s so pretty now, don’t you think?”

The Caboose in front of him grinned, manic, and a single, hair-thin crack split his face in half. Maine edged away, nervous, and he could suddenly feel the warmth of Rain surrounding him, making him aware of how cold his surroundings were.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again he was back in the hotel hallway, with Caboose staring at him in open confusion.

“Why are you crying?”

Maine reached up and felt the wetness on his cheeks, and Rain hummed low behind him, pressing gently into his back. He saw Caboose hesitate, then the man took a small step forward, reaching out to pat Maine awkwardly on the head.

“There, there, it’ll be okay. I think.”

Maine fell to his knees, and he heard Caboose make an alarmed sound while Rain wrapped around him and hugged him tightly.

-Who is O’Malley?-

She sent him a thought of Sigma, and he suddenly remembered the Omega A.I., how aggressive and cruel it was. Delta had contained it, and Theta had softened its blows.

-He didn’t have a Delta or Theta-

He was slightly aware of Caboose sitting next to him on the floor, sitting cross-legged and humming, doing nothing more than keeping him company. Maine hesitated, then slowly leaned slightly, lightly touching shoulders with him. Caboose immediately returned the gesture, half in his lap, and they sat in silence for a while, with nothing but the sounds of the city around them.

A few minutes later Maine rose, and Caboose helped him carry the boxes, for once silent.

-

Barry smiled and waved, nodding to the man to his left that wanted to thank him for his ideas for political office.

“I’d love to stay and speak with you for a while, sir, but unfortunately I have to get these groceries back home.”

“It’s more than all right! I’m just glad to see an honest politician running, for once. Makes me believe in democracy again.”

“The fact that you stopped believing shows the failures of the system that need to be fixed. Thanks for your support, sir.”

Barry nodded to the man once more before turning and leaving the locally-owned store, holding the paper bag on his hip as he fumbled with his keys to unlock the door. From the front of the store, one of the owners waved, and he waved back, swearing as he dropped his keys and setting the groceries down to kneel and pick them up. As he reached under his car, a chill washed over him, and he found himself very aware of the people around him.

-Don’t look up.-

Barry slowed his movements, strangely calm, as he finally looped his finger into the center keyring, and he rose slowly, brushing off his knees. He felt the tight awareness as he unlocked his car door, setting his groceries inside, and slowly settled into the driver’s seat. Once in, he darkened the tint for privacy, starting the engine and setting the autopilot to home.

“What is it?”

-Someone is here that does not belong.-

Barry scanned the crowds as the vehicle moved slowly, confused.

“What do you mean, doesn’t belong here?”

-Don’t feel right. Feel…. Different.-

“Different how?”

The black shape untangled itself from his suit jacket finally, disks still as it quivered in the air. Finally, after a few moments of silence, it turned back to face him, producing a low ringing sound.

-Feels like we do.-

Barry furrowed his brow, but before he could speak the shape lashed its face to the side, flaring as it stared at a man on the street, the mental connection singling the individual out in his mind.

-That one, there!-

“Why are you-“, Barry started, unnerved by his friend’s unnatural excitement, but he was cut off before he could finish his sentence, ignored.

-Talk to him. Bring him somewhere we can talk privately.-

“I can’t just drag someone off the street because you say so.”

The shape quivered, ringing sharper, then it shrank down and became silent, staring pensively out the darkened windows.

-You are right. Sorry for alarming you.-

“It’s all right, friend, but what had you worked up so much? Is he dangerous?”

-Dangerous, yes. But not to us.-

“So why is he so important?”

White disks turned to face him, spinning with an intensity Barry had never seen before.

-He has been in contact with my sibling.-

Chapter Text

Grif was aware of a car pulling up next to him, which he ignored at first. The city-planet was crowded, and they happened to be in a shopping district anyways. What was another car pulling to the side of the road to park?

He did think it was unusual, though, that the windows were tinted as dark as they were.

“Hey, Simmons, are you getting a creepy vibe off that car too?”

“What car?” Simmons asked, looking around, and for a moment Grif wondered why he voluntarily went out into the city with this man. Then he stood, shoving away from the table roughly, leaving Simmons to stare after him in confusion.

“Grif, where are you going? The food’s not done yet.”

“I have to get in the car.”

Even as he said the words, Grif felt hollow and light-headed, mind swimming and vision going black around the edges. For a moment he was confused. Why was he going to the car? A soothing blanket covered that thought, whispering comfort to him, and he found he didn’t care anymore. That car was just so interesting, and there was a man inside that he HAD to talk to.

“Grif? You’re freaking me out.”

“I will be fine. Tell the others there is nothing to be worried about. I will not be harmed.”

Absently, Grif saw the look of alarm on Simmons’ face as the door to the car popped open, and Grif took another step forward. He heard Simmons yell something, a tone of panic in his voice, then all he was aware of were three white disks spinning slowly in the blackness of the car’s interior.

He blacked out as soon as he was settled into the seat.

-

“Waaaash?! CAROLINA! We have a problem!”

Rain sent out a quick, tentative thought, then she was a seething, roiling mass, screeching loudly in fury as she rolled and twisted through the air. Maine frowned, unable to get a cohesive thought from her, only a general sense that something important was missing and it was hers and she was very, very angry.

-Rain?-

She only screeched louder, vaguely forming spikes on her body, then she bolted out the door to his room, following Simmons as he ran past the doorway. Maine felt a wave of uneasiness as he rose to follow, reaching over for his prosthetic. By the time he finally attached it and walked out the door, Wash was finally leaving his room, clearly just waking up from a nap.

“Simmons? What’s wrong?”

“Someone took Grif! Well, I think they did. All I know is he started saying some weird stuff, then he climbed into some strange car and they drove off!”

“You sure he didn’t just choose to go somewhere?”

“He didn’t use contractions!”

By that point the hallway was crowded, and they all had a look of confusion from that statement. Simmons saw, and he rushed to elaborate, fumbling with his hands as Rain spun in circles over his head.

“Grif didn’t contract his words! You know how lazy he is, he never puts the extra effort into saying all those little extra words. He always contracts!  And he said something like, ‘Tell the others I’ll be fine, I won’t be harmed’. That didn’t seem like normal talk to me!”

By this point Wash looked alarmed, and as he turned to Carolina, Maine noticed a set look to her face. Sarge, surprisingly, was the first to speak, interrupting as Carolina opened her mouth.

“What?! Someone took my soldier?”

“Wait for it”, Tucker muttered next to him, and Maine tilted his head as Sarge cut Carolina off again.

“That will not be stood for! No one kidnaps and potentially kills my soldiers except for me! At my discretion! Which means whenever I want to! Grif is mine to kill, goddammit!”

“Words of support as always, Sarge. Simmons, did you get the license plate number off the car?”

“Uh…”, Simmons stumbled, looking flustered, and Maine rolled his eyes. Of course.

-Can see wait wait looking-

“Ah! Get out of my head!”

Maine had to give Simmons a sympathetic look as the other man winced and shut his eyes, looking extremely discomforted as Rain no doubt dug through his memories.

-HERE-

An image of a white car flashed into their heads, parked on the side of a busy street. Through the memory, Maine could smell food and hear the crowds, though they were muted to focus on the car. The windows were tinted dark, way too dark for the dusk time it had happened in. The memory of Grif sat on the opposite side of the table, and then Grif started behaving very oddly, getting a blank look on his face as he stumbled to the vehicle. The door opened, revealing nothing but blackness within, and there was a moment where Grif has paused. Then he climbed into the vehicle, and right before the door closed, Maine noticed an arm suddenly becoming very loose, signifying that Grif had most likely become knocked unconscious. Then the memory focused on the license plate, highlighting the symbols, and Maine felt a chill when he recognized the government insignia.

“That’s not good”, Wash muttered as they came out of the memory, the others looking concerned.

“How bad is it that it’s a government car?”

“Very bad”, Carolina said. “It could mean a lot of things, considering the amount of people we’ve pissed off over the past few years. I don’t think there’s a single good thing it could mean.”

“I’ll start running that plate number. Simmons, I want you doing the same thing. Everyone else, gear up. Take what you need and nothing more, I’d like to not be kicked off this planet too. Don’t take anything that’ll draw too much attention. Sarge.”

“Yeah?”

“I mean it. Stealth ops.”

“Does that mean I can’t take the chain gun?”

“It means you can’t take the chain gun.”

“Damn it.”

“Maine, you’re in charge of arming them. Keep an eye on Sarge.”

Maine snorted as Wash turned back to his room, leaving the door open as he went to his small, military grade computer. Simmons turned to the civilian one provided in his room, and Maine measured everyone for a moment before shaking his head and gesturing to them.

-wants know what weapons have-

“For fuck’s sake, Rain, proper English!”

-sorry Wash-

“Nothing more than pistols for me”, Tucker stated, everyone around him nodding in agreement, except for Caboose. He merely held out Freckles for Maine to take, looking sullen, and Maine shook his head and placed his hand on the gun, pushing it back to him. It was better to let him keep the self-aware weapon.

-Keep pistols, will give grenades and sticky bombs. For emergency use only, he is very insistent-

“That’s it? No rifles, shotguns, nothing else?”

Maine growled, taking a step forward while looking Sarge directly in the eyes, and to his credit the other man didn’t step back. He did, however, look down and mutter, “Okay, that’s it, I get it.”

“Found it, Wash! And you’re not gonna believe who it belongs to!”

Wash ducked out of his room, shoving past the others to get into Simmons’. Carolina was already in there, and Maine ducked in to fill the rest of the small space, growling at the image on the screen. Rain hissed loudly, flaring and vibrating furiously as she read the name through Maine’s mind.

“Who the fuck is Barry Rampart?”

“Says he’s some up-and-coming politician. No one knew who he was until he started running for office. He’s making big circles, too.”

“Sounds like there’s an outside backer involved. Anything linking him to anything dirty?”

“Not that I can see”, Wash muttered, checking the name on his database. “He’s clean, except for a speeding ticket twenty-six years ago. Other than that, he’s held small-time jobs until the last few years. He didn’t start running for office until a few months after a business trip to Sidewinder, apparently.”

“So something changed suddenly on Sidewinder. Any links to The Gardens?”

“None. He visited a military base as a personal assistant to his boss. He wasn’t even allowed in the meetings.”

Carolina hummed, staring intently at the man’s face on the screen, the pixel image grinning brightly and waving at a crowd. Maine growled low, rumbling, and Rain matched him, hissing low again.

“Address?”

“Roughly forty blocks away. We can be there in the next two hours.”

“Then let’s get moving. Everyone, suit up! Armor on, make sure all your equipment is running. When you’re ready, wait in the hall and say ‘mark’.”

“Medicine cabinet.”

“Good job, Caboose, you almost got it that time.”

Maine spun out of the room, taking three steps across the hall into his own and reaching for his armor. Rain shifted into her usual human form, speeding up the process as she helped him place the plates on his body. As she sealed the couplings between the chest and back pieces, he checked the calibrations of the weapons on his prosthetic, grunting in approval when they were hair-sensitive as usual.

-Well made.-

-Sarge says of course it is-

He grunted again, then rose as the last seal tightened with a small whisper of escaping air, before locking him in his own microenvironment. Checking his pistol, he made sure the safety was on before attaching it to the magnetic strip on his thigh. No need for it to be ready until they actually go there.

-Is everyone ready?-

-Most are-

Maine hummed, then stepped into the hallway.

-

“This is the building?”

“Yup. The address says he lives on the fourteenth floor.”

“What is it with these people and being so high up?”

Maine grunted in agreement, trying not to stare at the top of the building towering high above him. He gave Carolina a steady look as Rain settled his stomach, and Carolina caught the glance as she stepped forward.

“Baby. I promise I won’t kick you off the building this time.”

Maine growled as Wash chuckled, and Tucker made a questioning noise before he was interrupted by Carolina ducking into the building, weapon raised. Turning off his safety, Maine followed, though he left the chamber empty. It would take him a millisecond to pull the slide back if he needed it.

One woman gasped in alarm as the soldiers entered the building, but a finger held to a helmet silenced her, as she stared with wide eyes and gasped in fear. Wash jerked his head for her to leave the building, and she nodded and ran out, heels clicking on the pavement. Rain slithered in his armor, shifting along his chest, and he sent a probing thought to her.

-Can’t hear Grif past everyone else-

-Anyone else nearby?-

-This area is empty-

Maine nodded a ‘clear’ to Wash, who nodded back and took point, advancing to the elevator. Once there, he pressed the call button and signaled for the support team to start up the stairs. Tucker muttered, “This is bullshit”, but he started climbing, followed by the rest of the Reds and Caboose. Their job held a lot less risk. The elevator was a perfect ambush spot, if there was one waiting for them.

“It’s a good thing Grif was the one kidnapped, we’d never get him up those stairs.”

Maine gave an acknowledging nod while Carolina shook her head, and Maine could feel the Look even through Carolina’s helmet. The elevator dinged, and they stepped in when the doors opened.

-Something is in here-

-What is it?-

Rain made a small frustrated noise, moving under his armor once again. Wash gave Maine a weird look as the sound emitted from his hip.

-Can’t tell keeps avoiding me-

The Freelancers shared a look, and Maine pulled the slide back on his pistol, setting a round in the chamber. Wash and Carolina followed his example a heartbeat behind. They stood, waiting, as the elevator slowly climbed up fourteen floors, the numbers slowly ticking up. At thirteen they tensed, hands gripping the weapons tightly, and Rain slithered out of Maine’s armor, flaring in the doorway, ready to block bullets if necessary. Maine tried briefly to get her to move, but a stern feeling told him it would be hopeless. She sent him a memory of him getting shot, the wound still a fresh scar.

-will NOT never happen again-

He hummed low, soothing, and her form shivered lightly before the elevator stopped. It made a dinging noise, there was a heartbeat, and then the door opened.

Rain flew out of the doorway, hissing, and the three flipped around the corners of the elevator, checking their blind spots. The small hallway was empty, on the left side a benign-looking door sat silently. Maine, Wash, and Carolina met eyes again, then Carolina took point, heading towards the door. Rain retreated back into Maine’s armor, slithering through the seals (he had to ask her how she did that), and once they were in position, Carolina reached forward and carefully tried the doorknob.

It swung open silently, and Wash leveled his pistol as well as he could into the doorway, covering Carolina as she ducked in before entering himself. Maine scanned behind them before turning in himself, softly closing the door behind him. Rain sent a warning hum through their minds.

-something here something here something-

“Hello.”

Maine snarled while Wash swore, swinging their pistols to meet the head of a man who stood on a raised level of the apartment, hands in the air to show he wasn’t holding anything.

“I swear, I never expected this response. Your friend is unharmed, and currently clearing out my refrigerator. Come in, there’s no need for the guns. He can tell you.”

Maine bristled at the man’s words, but, following Carolina’s cue, slowly lowered his weapon, keeping it ready. Around the corner, they heard sounds of eating, followed by a muffled, “Yeah, I’m fine guys. This guy can cook, tell you what.”

“Grif?”, Wash asked incredulously, and the man poked his head out, waving a fork.

“Duh. Seriously, this guy’s cool. You can put the guns away. Oh, guess what? He’s got one of those things too.”

Grif made a vague gesture, and Maine tilted his head in confusion, until he saw the thick black shape slowly slither around the corner as well. His eyes widened, he took a step back, and he felt Rain’s brief confusion, terror, and alarm. It leveled off, raising its white disks, and before it could even send a thought in their directions Rain was exploding from Maine’s armor, lunging for the other form.

It made an awkward squawking noise, pulling sharply backwards, and Maine could catch a vague feeling of shock and uneasiness in the air, nearly overshadowed by Rain’s venomous hatred and fury. Her body flared defensively in front of them, and her screech was loud enough to make the windows shudder in their panes. It made to lower itself, and Rain snapped forward, forcing it back until it was pinned against the wall, disks spinning in alarm while Rain’s spun in fury.

“What are you doing? Leave it alone!”

The man pushed forward, shoving himself Rain and the other one, and she screamed and lashed forward, reaching out to slash at the man. Finally, the other creature responded, answering Rain’s screams with its own, lower-pitched tones, and it met her between them, blocking the hit and forcefully shoving her back. She retreated, hissing, body low and defensive, and it pulled back as well, hovering very still in front of the other man. He gasped, looking stunned, then coughed nervously and straightened, adjusting his tie frantically.

“Okay, everyone calm down. No harm is meant, I swear it. Especially you, little one. I’m sorry we’ve angered you so much.”

Rain merely hissed in response, taking a vaguely cat-like form, and the man, Barry, gawped at her, clearly surprised.

“What is she doing? Is she shape-shifting?” He turned to his own creature, gesturing nothing with his hands. “Can you do this as well? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Maine felt when the other reached out hesitantly to Rain, and could see its flinch when she rebuffed it, screeching another warning to back off.

-I don’t mean any harm. I just wish to speak to you. I have never met one of my siblings before.-

Maine blinked at the genderless tone, lower pitched than Rain’s and slightly masculine. She hesitated, flaring her body every time the other moved, and finally Maine reached out, touching her gently.

-Let them explain themselves.-

She hissed for a moment longer, then deflated, sinking down to settle on Maine’s shoulders. She hissed slightly when Barry moved again, but a touch from Maine soothed her, settling the noise. Barry stepped away from the wall, palms out, and a cautious eye on Rain.

“I’m sorry this all happened, I didn’t intend it to. I merely wanted to talk to someone else who had experience with these creatures. I thought my friend was the only one.”

“Considering the only one that we’ve met other than Rain was a homicidal psychopath, yeah, we were a little freaked out. Yours hasn’t killed anyone, has it?”

“Killed anyone? God no! You’ve met another one?”

“Yeah, and she wiped out an entire planet.”

Barry and the creature looked shocked, the creature sending a stunned and sad feeling flashing through their minds. Rain hissed again when the emotions touched her, expanding slightly. The other creature backed off again, pulling away mentally, and Rain settled once more, seething quietly.

-Rain?-

She sent a distrusting feeling back towards him, and the other creature shrank slightly.

-I will not harm any of them.-

Rain hissed a second longer, then reached out quickly, touching the others’ mind before pulling back again. Apparently satisfied with what she saw, she relaxed slightly, pulling away and softening her form.

-Thank you, Rain.-

Maine blinked, as did Barry.

“Is she named Rain? Fascinating. My friend here has never shown any inclination towards picking a name. Or even choosing a gender, to be honest. The differences between the two is intriguing. Could I invite you all to stay for dinner?”

-There are others with them, halfway up the building’s stairs now.-

“Maybe I’d better order out, then. Come in, come in. We can make room somewhere, I’m sure.”

Maine and Wash looked to Carolina, silently waiting for her, and she nodded, finally clipping her pistol to her leg. The two Freelancers followed her lead once more, and stepped into the living room, Rain twittering anxious thoughts into Maine’s head all the while.

-

“That’s quite the story. No wonder you broke in here ready to shoot.”

Maine snorted as Barry glanced towards the other creature, which continued to insist that it had no name nor identity. Apparently, it preferred being called ‘it’.

“So you understand why we want to remain under cover here?”

“Oh, of course. I won’t say anything at all, you have my word on that. And this fellow’s as well.”

-Neither of us will say anything.-

Maine slid his gaze over to the corner, where Rain and the other were humming softly to each other. She told him that they were sharing information, the same way she had shared with her sister, only she was being much more cautious this time. At the memory of her past immersion, Rain pulled away from the other, turning to face Maine, disks spinning softly.

-will not happen WON’T do it againnever-

-I know.-

“And you say you had to teach her how to speak? Interesting, my friend was speaking almost immediately after finding him, yet you say you’ve had her for two years now, about? And she still struggles? How extraordinary, though to be fair it had no idea it could shapeshift until now, did you?”

-She is teaching me. It is…… remarkably difficult. Much more difficult than speaking.-

“The sister we encountered on Icarus could kind of shapeshift as well, though not to the extent of Rain. She didn’t seem like she could speak, either.”

-No, according to Rain, our sister was capable of nothing more than communicating in emotion and vaguely changing her form. However, our sister WAS able to take over the minds of everyone on the planet, and kill them with a thought.-

Everyone fell silent, a few shivering at the memory of the ferocious and feral creature that had attacked them, and wiped out a planet practically overnight.

“That’s comforting to know.”

“She was very mean. I don’t why there are so many mean ladies lately. They need to be nicer.”

Wash barked out a laugh, and Maine snorted, caught off-guard. Caboose looked pleased with himself, while Tucker shook his head.

“You’ve got issues, man.”

-What is Project Freelancer?-

Rain shrieked and flared, and the Freelancers turned cold, glaring at the other creature. It shrank down under their gazes, and they could feel a wave of regret in the air.

“None of your business”, Wash growled coldly, and the creature ducked.

-My apologies. I will not pry.-

Barry glanced between them in confusion, and made a small noise in his throat.

“Well, what about those mercenaries that attacked you on Icarus? It seems like they knew more about these creatures.”

“We didn’t exactly stay to chat, but they definitely knew what Rain was. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had watched the sister destroy the planet, they were very interested in finding security cameras.”

“They were posing as traders?”

“Yes, but they definitely weren’t. I’ve never seen a trader with artillery as heavy as that, nor would any respectable trader allow themselves to run out of fuel.”

“I see. Do you think they’ll follow you here?”

Carolina pursed her lips, before shaking her head. Wash let her speak.

“I’d like to say no, since we picked a course at random, but with our luck I wouldn’t be surprised if they showed up soon. We only stopped to resupply before we took off again.”

“And where would you go after that? From what you’ve told me, you seem to be wanted by pretty much every official in the galaxy.”

Barry’s question was presented with a chuckle, but the weight of its implications settled on everyone’s shoulders heavily. Maine frowned, and Wash and Carolina shared glances. Rain hummed, pulling away from the other creature to circle Maine’s shoulders before twining around the back of his neck, careful about touching his old A.I. implantation scars.

“I don’t know what we’ll do, we’ve pretty much been surviving on a day to day basis for the past three years.”

“Longer than that for some of us”, Tucker snorted, Grif and Simmons grunting in agreement. “I can tell you exactly what I’m going to do when this is finally all over. I’m going to go to the seediest planet with a wad full of cash, and I’m going to cover myself in prostitutes for the next few years. Just to balance out all the bad shit that’s happened.”

“Five words, man. All you can eat buffet.”

“Fatass. I think I’ll try opening a small computer store, maybe.”

“What is wrong with you people? Clearly the only logical thing to do is go back to the simulation exercises.”

Loud booing shut Sarge down, Grif throwing things at him until he finally shut up, grumbling and muttering angrily while he crossed his arms in front of his chest. Caboose raised his hand, and Tucker glared at him.

“Nuh-uh, I do not want to hear anything that comes out of your mouth.”

Maine growled at Tucker, who gave him a bewildered look, and Wash raised his voice over everyone else’s, quieting everyone down. Barry had a thoughtful look on his face, before he turned to the other creature, whose white disks spun slowly.

“Could you go get something for me?”

-Of course.-

The creature left the room, moving thickly compared to Rain’s light twisting, and Barry turned back to the others.

“Look, I know we’ve just met, and I know you still don’t fully trust me. I am more than okay with that. But I feel compelled to help.” The other creature came back, a small hand-like appendage coming from its head, and Barry took the small card, turning to hand it to Carolina. “This is my sponsor card for my political race. Take it. It has no balance, so you can’t withdraw any actual money, but charges on it will be covered by my sponsors. No questions asked. I’ve been known for donating large amounts of money, so large purchases should go unnoticed. Well, anything besides purchasing a new ship, or something.”

“We can’t take this.”

“Of course you can, you need it more than I do. Besides, I won’t take it back.”

Carolina took it slowly, a thoughtful look on her face, and when she spoke, she spoke slow and deliberate.

“Why are you helping us?”

“Because I’m naïve and innocent, according to my friend, but also because I believe in what you’re doing. Our government has been corrupt for far too long, it’s time there was someone willing to tear it down. Or at least remove the bad parts. That’s what my entire political campaign is about, remember? So take that, and help me complete my dream as well.”

“You know, this is getting really fucking sappy.”

Everyone laughed while Carolina gave Tucker a flat glare. He shrugged, and Barry grinned.

“He’s entirely right. Come on, I’ll escort you all out. Thank you for coming, and sorry about kidnapping your friend.”

“I wouldn’t exactly say friend.”

“Suck it, Blue.”

“Thanks for everything you’ve done for us today.”

“It’s not a problem at all. When will you be leaving?”

“Our ship comes out of storage rotation tomorrow morning, so by noon at the latest.”

“All right, then. If you need any sort of political push, just let me know. I wish you safe travels.”

-And I as well.-

“Thanks, both of you. Come on everyone, let’s get going. I want to be off this planet tomorrow.”

“Fuck.”

“Didn’t even get a chance to find a girl.”

“You couldn’t even pick up a girl if you tried.”

“Fuck you, I could!”

“Yeah? Prove it.”

“I will!”

“Tucker!”

“What, he started it!”

-

“Did you get a reading on which hangar they’re in?”

“I did, until the tracking device was knocked off. They landed in Genesis Station, but who knows where their ship is now. This planet uses conveyer belts for ship storage and moves them around. They could even be gone already, for all I know.”

The scientist stared out at the city planet thoughtfully, before turning to his partner.

“The readings?”

“Hard to tell, but yes, I do think we’re picking up one. It’s stronger than I remember, but it’s there.”

“Then they’re still here. Land the ship at Genesis. If they haven’t left yet, that’s where they’re leaving from.”

“Sir.”

“When we land I want someone guarding the docks. Keep a low profile, and let us know when they arrive. Before you leave the ship, I want your front line soldiers to come to the lab. We’ve developed something that’ll work a little better than those rifles you have.”

Chapter Text

“Centura IV requesting permission to land.”

“Permission granted, Centura IV. Make your way to docking bay twenty-three and wait for further instructions. Welcome to Ataria.”

“Thanks, ground control.”

Gren disconnected the communication system quickly, lest the ground crew somehow manage to catch any of the conversation in the background. Behind him, the scientists were arguing quietly over their new weapon prototype, which looked like a child’s toy. Gren made a brief face, and masked it before approaching them.

“This is it?”

“It doesn’t look like much, but this thing will incapacitate one of the creatures with no difficulty.”

Gren made a doubtful face, raising an eyebrow at the ridiculous-looking contraption.

“You’re certain?”

“No doubt. It’s not designed to work on humans, remember that.”

“It doesn’t even look like it’ll work on your science project”, Gren snorted, reaching out to hold the weapon. The scientist grudgingly handed it over, and Gren turned it over in his hands, unable to hide his disgust at the garish shapes the body of it held. “What exactly does it do?”

“All you need to know is it produces sound waves. The sound will be painful to human ears, which is why your armor will be given protection from it. For our creatures, the sound prevents them from taking solid form and will cripple them entirely. From there, it will be nothing more than scooping the creature into containment and taking the anchor captive.”

“You want my men to trust a musical instrument as a weapon?” Gren growled in disgust, and he almost threw the weapon in the garbage where it belonged until he saw the look on the scientist’s face. It was best not to piss off your superiors.

“This is not an instrument, Gren. I… understand your confusion, but this weapon is tried and tested.”

“On what, your computer programs?”

“That information is classified.”

The tone of the man’s voice sent a chill down Gren’s spine, and he went very still before attaching the contraption to his magnetic strip on his leg.

“How many more of these do you have?”

“Three. One will go with the man watching the docks. The other two can go to whomever you choose.”

Gren nodded, it was a decision he would have made himself. If the creature got off this planet as well, their boss would be… extremely unhappy, to put it lightly. And their boss was not a man to make unhappy.

The ship underneath his feet shook lightly as it docked, and outside he could hear the ground crew anchoring the ship to a mobile platform for storage in a hangar. Nodding to the scientists, he turned and made his way towards the crew’s quarters, ducking through the doorway.

“Give me five to get the men together, then we’ll start searching. Keep this ship out of storage rotation.”

-

Maine was genuinely confused when his planetary communicator started going off. To be honest, he didn’t even know he had one. But when Carolina gave him an irritated look at the interruption of her mission briefing, he shrugged and answered it, setting the volume to project so the others could speak for him.

“Hello? Maine? This is Barry, I got your number from my friend, who got it from Rain. This is Maine, right?”

Maine raised an eyebrow at Rain, who gave him a brief memory of the information sharing and how she hadn’t been exactly picky about what she shared. He gave her a little thought of disapproval, and she hummed low while he grunted and turned the communicator towards Carolina.

“Yeah, you got Maine’s communicator, this is Carolina. What’s going on?”

“I just wanted to let you know that ground control gave me a positive hit on the ship watch I had posted. Centura IV just landed ten minutes ago. According to the ground crew, ten men got off, but they don’t know how many more are on the ship. They have the credentials to keep their ship out of storage rotation, as well. Are you familiar with the Cerberus Corporation?”

Wash made a confused sound while Carolina spoke.

“No, Barry, I can’t say I am.”

“Neither can I, I was hoping you would know. I can’t find any information on them, either, even with my political connections. They have two men watching the docks, the video feed shows them both in armor, both black and gold. I couldn’t tell you what kind, though. Seems slightly similar-looking to Ms Carolina’s armor, from what I can tell.”

“Thanks for the heads up. Hey, Barry, could I ask you a favor?”

“Already on it, your ship’s been moved from Genesis Station to Ninteni station, gate sixty-four. It’s been pulled out of rotation, and I’ve paid a ground crew to wait for you and assist with loading, no questions to be asked.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Barry. Most likely literally.”

“Glad to be of assistance. I was hoping I’d be able to visit with you again, but with these circumstances, I’ll have to make do with this quick goodbye. Good luck, and my friend bids Rain safe travels, and…. What on Earth are you trying to say? I’m sorry, I don’t fully understand him, but he’s saying something along the lines of ‘keep your mind open and your faces guarded’, something like that. Sounds like gibberish to me.”

-Tell I understand-

“Rain understood it. Thank you again.”

“Not a problem, Carolina.”

Maine disconnected the call and immediately hard-reset the communicator, wiping any trace of the call from both his system and the planetary one. Barry would never be able to connect with that number again. Sarge and Tucker, who had stunningly remained silent during the call, both made a noise, sharing glances.

“Cerberus Corporation?”

“We’ll put Simmons in charge of finding out more once we get on the ship. We still have channels through the Director’s contacts, so we might have better luck.”

Sarge grunted ambiguously, and Tucker made a face.

“So, who’s in charge of getting Caboose packed?”

Maine grunted, rising, and he noticed that even Wash looked concerned at Maine’s volunteering. He made a gesture that Wash would understand, then exited the room, stopping briefly at his to pack his clothing before taking on the task that was convincing Caboose to do anything.

-

“Where the hell are you taking us, Steve?”

“Sensor leads here, man. I can’t control where we end up.”

“This is a residential building. I highly doubt they’re buying a house here.”

“Not my problem, dude. Take it up with your scientists, they’re the ones who built this damn thing.”

“I don’t want them”, Gren muttered, looking up at the building before him. Eighteen floors of higher-end residential homes, and the damn thing took them here. There was no way highly trained soldiers, especially ones that didn’t even get along, were playing house together.

Still, Gren shook his head, the damn machine took them here, might as well investigate before scrapping the fucking thing.

He shook his head and signaled the men up. The sensor was pointing between somewhere between the twelfth and fifteenth floors, they’d have to check each one as they rose. Gren sighed as he signaled half the men to take the stairs, and he gave a sympathetic wince when they groaned, but they obeyed. Loyal to a fault, these men. Then, waving the other three forward, he made his way to the elevator, punching the button for the top floor. The sensor would let them know what floor they needed as they passed it.

It ended up being the fourteenth, after a few floors of stopping the elevator for the sensor to scan, Gren’s frustration growing with each negative. By the fourteenth floor, he was gritting his teeth, convinced it was a waste of time, until the machine started vibrating in the operator’s hands, alerting them to the presence of one of the creatures. Gren was surprised for a moment, shared a look with the man holding the machine, then he was turning off the safety of his weapon and stepping through the doors, the man directly behind him holding one of the experimental weapons. In front of him, a simple door sat innocently, completely benign, and Gren ordered two of the soldiers to each side of the door, while he and the experimental weapon holder faced it head on. He waited, listening, and when he heard nothing but silence he nodded to one of the soldiers, who set a small breach charge on the door before turning away and waiting.

A small explosion took the knob off the door, as well as destroying the deadbolt and part of the doorframe, and Gren plunged into the cloud of dust to kick the door open and charge through the entrance, ready to shoot in an instant.

He paused and blinked at the empty apartment, and the men behind him made quiet noises of confusion as they stared into the empty space.

“What the hell? Steve, I thought you said it was this floor?”

“Sensor’s pointing directly ahead, man! Unless it’s busted, it’s gotta be fifteen feet in front of us.”

“Do you see anything fifteen feet in front of us?” Gren snarled in frustration, turning back to growl at his subordinate, but as he turned he noticed a flickering at the edge of his vision, the vague sensation that something was just far enough behind him he couldn’t see it, but he could feel its presence sitting there and waiting. He stopped talking immediately, tilting his head slightly in an instinctual attempt to see it better, then whirled to face the empty apartment again, weapon raised to his shoulder and eyes narrowed. He moved the barrel of the gun slowly through the air, tracking nothing, until something told him to hold his weapon right there, pointing somewhere between the empty kitchen and the raised floor of the living area.

He narrowed his eyes further, inhaled deeply, and slowly exhaled as he followed his gut, allowing his weapon to move four degrees to the right and one degree upwards. He waited a heartbeat, finished emptying his lungs, then squeezed the trigger, putting three rounds into whatever was in front of him.

The world crashed in an instant, the apartment suddenly filled with furniture as a man screamed and horrible screeching sounds rent the air, and Gren had a millisecond to take in the man falling to the ground in front of him, catching himself on a couch that wasn’t there a second ago while holding a hand to his side, and an enormous, furious black shape screaming and lunging for him.

He raised his weapon, knowing it would have no effect but unable to stop himself, and thankfully the soldier behind him had a cool head on his shoulders, because he merely raised the experimental weapon and pushed the button, tracking the black shape through the air.

A sharp, grinding sound ejected forth from the machine, and Gren winced at the sound, though he noticed it seemed muted and muffled to him. In front, the black creature started writhing in the air, tearing itself apart again and again while the man he had shot looked on in horror.

“No, stop! You’re hurting it!”

“That’s the point, asshole”, Gren muttered, signaling to the man standing to his left. He stepped forward, detaching a collapsible box from his back, and in a moment had it assembled, a magnetically sealed container that was completely airtight when sealed. He took the box hesitantly, stepping towards the screaming creature cautiously. He’d seen what they can do. Their training videos had shown men being torn to shreds by these creatures, or their brains being turned to liquid, only discovered after the autopsy when the man had suddenly dropped dead. But the sharp sound was keeping it occupied, and it was stupidly easy to just reach forward and shove the creature into the box, sealing it and locking the creature in. Gren stared for a moment, unwilling to believe it was that simple, then shook his head and signaled to the soldier to turn the sound off, something the other did gladly.

The quiet apartment rang slightly when the sound vanished, and Gren made a face and hit the side of his head lightly, as if to dislodge water from is ear. When that had no effect, he shrugged and handed the box to the soldier that had originally carried it, turning back to point the weapon at the man.

“Okay, this is how it’s going to go. I’m going to ask questions, and you’re going to answer them. Every time you give me a problem, I shoot you again. Understand?”

“What did you do to it?” the man asked, staring in horror at the black puddle pooled at the bottom of the clear box. Gren sighed angrily, then aimed his gun at the man’s foot and pulled the trigger. Once more the apartment was full of screams, which Gren found to be much better than the ringing sound left in his ears.

“I see it’s going to be difficult with you, so I’m going to go straight to the point. Where are the soldiers?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”, the man said defiantly, and Gren rolled his eyes in an unseen gesture before shooting the man’s leg at the shin. Once more the apartment was full of screams, and Gren waited patiently for them to stop, keeping an eye on the black shape in the box. It was starting to shake, and seemed to be making an attempt to rise.

“Let’s try this again. I know those soldiers are here, and I know you’ve met them. Do you want to know how I know? Because they have one of those monsters too, and those things are attracted to each other in the worst way. So, this time when I ask you where the soldiers are, I want an honest answer. Now, where. Are. The. Soldiers?”

The man started chuckling in hysteria, blood seeping out from between his fingers as he held pressure to the hole in his side, staring blankly at the mess that was now his lower left leg.

“They’re long gone, and there’s no way you’re going to catch them now. They left hours ago.”

“That’s impossible, we had the dock locked down.”

“I had their ship moved to another gate. They were gone half an hour after you landed. You’re never going to catch them.”

Gren snarled and kicked a coffee table as the man began laughing manically, whirling back to his soldiers. Inside the box, the black shape was moving slowly, white disks spinning ferociously as it tried to push its way out, unable to find an exit. Gren made a noise of disgust and frustration, glaring at the creature, then waved his hand vaguely in the direction of Steve.

“Call Centura, tell them we found one and need extraction. Target is hot but undiscovered, no need to cause a scene if we can avoid it. And tell those scientists I need to talk to them. I remember what color the disks were on the other one now, and they weren’t white.”

-

Rain hummed sadly at the diminishing Ataria, and Maine caught the feeling of melancholy emitting from her.

-What’s wrong?-

-Miss Gardens-

He went silent for a moment, then sent her a feeling of agreement. She turned back to face him, slowly moving through the air to twine slowly around his neck, and they both watched the planet get further and further away. Behind him, in the bay area, Caboose scribbled in a coloring book while Grif and Tucker played checkers, claiming it was the only thing to do on the ship besides argue and it was just a little too early for that yet. Lopez was puttering around in the cargo bay, playing with some piece of complex machinery he had bought, and Simmons was with Wash organizing all the supplies, since they had pretty much just piled all the crates in. Sarge was….

Maine frowned. He wasn’t actually sure where Sarge was. Probably seconds away from the crashing the ship, knowing him. Carolina was in the pilot’s seat, staring out the front window, and he knew better than to interrupt her now. Donut was going through and cleaning the cramped bunk room, something they were all a little happy for, though they’d never tell him. No need to encourage him.

Maine rose suddenly, exiting the bay and heading into the cargo room. As he passed the weapons locker, he found Sarge, and absently nodded to him, fingers reaching down to brush the top of his prosthetic as he walked. Rain twirled after him, humming softly to herself, darting from one side of the hall to another.

Maine smirked as he remembered the ground crew’s reaction to the interdimensional technology the ship had. “It’s bigger on the inside, man!” “No way!” Carolina had been more than a little irritated at that, considering the circumstances.

-works how?-

-Each door is a teleporter, and each room exists in a pocket dimension. It seems like the rooms are all in the same space, but really the only thing actually here is the bay and pilot’s chamber.-

Rain stopped dead in the middle of the hallway, puzzling over that, and Maine grinned as he heard the chaotic whirling in her mind as she processed the chunk of information. He paused to wait for her, turning back, and then his mind went blank as she winked out of existence.

He froze, staring, and she reappeared a moment later, puzzling over her actions. When she felt his growing fear, she stopped, turning to look at him.

-Where did you go?-

-Pocket dimension-

His blood ran cold at her simple explanation. He had told her about pocket dimensions seconds ago.

-Thought discovered learned travel explore-

She was concerned, and he forced up a feeling of approval, though she could still feel his wariness of the situation.

-Will not do again-, she hummed, apologetic, and he forced a cracked smile to his face.

-Please don’t.-

-Scare you?-

He thought about it for a moment.

-Yes.-

She screeched sadly, sinking to the floor, and he tried to organize his thoughts to reassure her.

-It….. unnerves me, how quickly you learn things.-

-Like to learn- she hummed quietly, rising up to him, and he reached out and scratched along her back distractedly.

-I know.-

Then, furrowing his brow, he continued his walk to the cargo bay, Rain twining carefully between his legs.

-

“You’re certain it was bronze? Absolutely certain?”

“Not entirely, but it definitely wasn’t white. This one isn’t the right one.” Gren frowned as he noticed the frantic look the scientists shared, gesticulating wildly. “Is there a problem?”

“None”, one snapped, and he made a quick gesture, shooing the mercenary out. “Get out, we need to talk about something. See if there’s any way to track their ship.”

The scientist ignored Gren’s curled lip, instead focusing on the bigger issue at hand, and when the door closed his partner turned towards him, panicking.

“Bronze?”

“It’s impossible.”

“But THIS is the generation eleven! And if this is the generation eleven, than what one is that one? There wasn’t another planted here, was there?”

“No, there wasn’t. This is the generation eleven that was planted on Sidewinder. How it ended up on Ataria is beyond me, but this is the eleven.”

“So what is the other one? All the others are accounted for!”

“Calm down!” the elder snapped, pursing his lips as he thought. Beside him, his partner started moaning and pacing, holding his head in his hands.

“And bronze? You don’t think it’s Origin, do you?”

“Origin is a myth.”

“Then where did this one come from-“

A sharp noise echoed in the otherwise quiet room, and the younger scientist stared at his partner in shock, slowly bringing his hand up to his face. The sting of the slap burned his skin, but he found himself suddenly able to focus beyond his panic.

“We tell no one until we figure out where this one came from.”

“Agreed, but…. What if it is Origin?”

“Origin doesn’t exist.”

“We know of it somehow!”

The older growled, turning quickly to glare at the other.

“I know Origin is dead, I was one of the ones that killed it. Origin is nothing but a myth now.”

The other stared in shock.

“Origin was…?”

“Origin was real, yes, and we killed it. This can’t be Origin. This one….. I have to make a few calls. Say nothing to the crew, and don’t leave until you get yourself together.”

The elder exited the room abruptly, heading to his private chambers and leaving the younger in the bridge. Behind him, the pilot wordlessly controlled the ship’s movements, guiding them aimlessly through space until they managed to find that other ship.

The scientist glared at the man, who seemed to not even know he was there.

“You’re lucky you’re deaf. Any other member of the crew heard that, we’d have to eject them into space.”

He left the bridge as quickly as his partner did, and the ship once more dropped into silence.

-

“Tucker, who won that bet anyways?”

“Ah, fuck, I forgot to keep track. Simmons!”

“What?”

“Who won the bet?”

“Carolina! She put in for five days!”

Tucker and Wash blinked at each other, and Maine started laughing soundlessly while Carolina finally poked her head out of the cockpit.

“That’s right boys, pay up.”

“What?!” Wash squeaked hoarsely, Tucker a breath behind, and Maine’s quiet chuckles turned into full blown wheezing laughs, holding his side as it began to ache. Rain was chittering above him, spinning in happy circles, and Maine could see the self-satisfied grin Carolina wore through the way her shoulders and neck were tilted.

“You hit me for placing a bet!”

“I’m squad leader, I’m supposed to discourage gambling.”

“What?!”

“Say that anymore, Wash, and I’m going to think that’s all you know how to say.”

Wash’s flabbergasted face was punctuated by Maine’s hoarse wheezing, and after a few seconds the other Freelancer joined in, very quickly ending up collapsed on the floor holding his ribs. Tucker looked confused, Carolina raised an eyebrow, and Maine decided that everything was going to be all right.

And he was suddenly very glad he didn’t place his bet.

Chapter Text

“Wash.”

“Tucker did it.”

“I was nowhere near you!”

“WASH.”

“What?”

“What. Is. That?”

“You said we needed a new ship, and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am tired of listening to Tucker masturbating when he thinks we’re all asleep.”

“At least I try to keep it down.”

“I don’t want to think about it.”

“Wash, I said we needed a ship. What we don’t need, though, is a frigate that requires a thirty man crew just to run. How did you even get this?”

“I borrowed Rain for a bit and had her convince the salesman to give me a good deal.”

“Wash.”

“It’s a fixer-upper, I know, but I figure with Lopez and Rain working on it we can get it fixed up pretty quick.”

“WASH.”

“Plus, I found some older A.I.’s that have a year or so before rampancy, they’re simple ones, but they should be able to run the ship pretty well. I thought three would be good to run all the systems, so we don’t even need a crew!”

“WASH!”

“I panicked, okay?! I saw the ship and I panicked.”

Carolina growled a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose, and Maine found himself beyond pleased he wasn’t the only one doing that more often. Rain, now that the yelling had ended, finally slithered out the back of Wash’s shirt, causing the man to shudder and twitch slightly.

“Oh that feels so weird. I need to shower.”

-I am not dirty-

“You just feel so oily.”

Maine gave him a look as Rain darted over to him, twining herself through his fingers, seeking reassurance.

-Oily?-

-You’re not oily, I don’t know where he’s getting that from.-

“Wash, I don’t care how small or how cheap the ship was. We don’t need to haul a retired UNSC frigate through space. We have enough enemies, we don’t need a bigger target painted on our backs.”

“It’s been over a month, ‘Lina, I’m pretty sure we lost them.”

“Maine hunted down our teammates for years. Teammates that knew him. Teammates that consistently scored higher than he did. And he still found them. He even found Wyoming, you know how good Wyoming was at hide and seek.”

Maine shot Carolina a look while Wash snorted.

“All you had to do was open up with a knock-knock joke and Wyoming would ruin his cover every time.”

“Not the point, Wash.”

“So we have a big ship, so what? Honestly, this makes me feel better than flying around in that bucket we have right now. You know, the one that’s constantly on the verge of running out of fuel?”

“No one asked your opinion, Grif.”

“He does have a point, though, I’ll give him that.”

“Thank you, Simmons.”

Sarge grunted at Simmon’s agreement with Grif, and Carolina stared up at the towering hulk of old metal, suddenly looking thoughtful. Everyone watched her as she walked halfway down the length of the Stalwart-class frigate. Maine eyed it, shaking his head. They needed a larger ship, yes, but even the smallest frigates were meant to carry thousands. What on Earth would ten people and a shape-shifter do with a ship that large?

Rain sent a mental picture of the greenhouses under The Gardens, attached to a wistful feeling.

-Even if we did, we’d still need dozens more people to run a self-sustaining structure like that. Ten people wouldn’t cut it.-

Maine tilted his head at the buzzing in his helmet, eyeing the private channel Carolina was calling in on. Growling softly, he reached for his text communicator, grimacing at how clumsy his fingers were on the small buttons.

?

“Maine, have we told you about Chorus yet?”

N

“It was a planet of caught in a manufactured civil war, who we helped out a while ago. Everyone on that planet had military training, and once we got them working together, we were able to fight off Charon Industries.”

?

“What do you think of swinging by to see how many volunteers we could pick up?”

Y not WA?

“Wash bought the damn thing, he’s looking for an excuse to keep it.”

Dont care.

“I’ll have to run it by the others, but I think it’s a viable option.”

Rain placed a slight pressure on the back of his mind, and he rolled his eyes before reaching for his text communicator again.

R wants a garf\\\den.

He could hear the smile in Carolina’s voice when she responded.

“I’m sure that’s something we can do.”

In the distance, Carolina began jogging back, and Wash turned to her expectantly.

“So? What’s your final decision?”

“Lopez, I’m going to need you to start running diagnostics on the ship, and write down a list of things we’re going to need. In English, if you can manage it. I want this ship up in the air in two weeks.”

-

Two weeks turned out to be pushing it a lot, because two weeks later Rain and Lopez were STILL replacing the damaged sections of hull and Carolina was still trying to get the computer systems up and running.

Maine grunted alongside Wash, lifting the two-ton metal plate up, and he could hear the power armor straining around him. Above, Rain had shifted into some giant insect-like monstrosity, and she reached down with a surprisingly delicate touch to place her claws under the edge of the metal plate, lifting it up softly out of their hands and moving it to the place it was needed. Lopez was strapped to the side of the ship with an elaborate pulley system, and he vaulted across the side, gliding twenty feet before resting his feet on the plate Rain held and starting to weld. Maine and Wash stood below, Wash obviously panting and Maine trying to hide it, and watched for a few minutes,

“Well, we got another section done today, what do you say we call it quits?”

Maine made an affirming noise, stretching his shoulders and rolling the tension out of his neck as he turned away. Rain sent a farewell thought, which he absently returned as he watched everyone else working around him. Sarge and Tucker were debating something over the cannon they were trying to fix (Maine wasn’t sure what happened to it, but it looked like it had been collided with), and as he walked by he could hear Tucker saying they should just get rid of the damn thing and Sarge insisting they could fix it. He tilted his head up at the cannon, then shrugged and walked past. It could be repaired, it would just be a lot of effort. Probably Tucker’s issue with it.

Inside the dark coolness of the ship, Grif was grumbling as he replaced lightbulbs along the hallways. Someone must have caught him napping recently. Donut was somewhere in the vast darkness of the ship. He was absolutely determined to get each and every room dust free, which kept him thankfully out of their sights. It had been what, three days since he saw Donut last?

-Four-

Maine grunted, causing Wash to look at him, and he brushed the noise off.

“I have to say, as slow as it’s going, the ship really is coming together. I think we have maybe another week at the most before we actually get it into orbit.”

Maine hummed slightly, giving a doorway a curious look before reaching out to pound his fist on it. Tucker’s repair job held, despite the fact that it looked crooked, and Maine left it the way it was. No need to repair something that was already fixed, especially if it was cosmetic.

“Mr. Washingtub! Mary Jane! I am so glad to see you.”

“What did you do, Caboose?” Wash sighed, ignoring the butchering of their names.

“Someone, it wasn’t me, but someone MAY have accidently broken a window.”

“Caboose, this is a space ship. There are no windows. Or at least windows you can break. Actually, forget I said that. There are no windows.”

Maine was sure Wash caught the sudden grin, even through his helmet.

“Well then something very fragile must have been broken by someone other than me.”

Wash sighed, then waved his hand towards the blue soldier.

“Lead the way.”

Maine considered following them for a moment, then decided that his time would be better spent seeing if he could assist Carolina and Simmons in getting the computer systems started up again. Rain was proving to be very useful at this task as well, able to slide in along the wires and find the shorts and breaks, and replace those wires without taking apart the consoles. They were still finding broken wires almost every few minutes, and after a while Simmons had just started making lists during the day, so Rain could help with the hull during daylight and the wires at night. Maine supposed it was a good thing Rain didn’t sleep.

“What about now?”

“Nope, still saying there’s a short in there.”

“Seriously? I’ve rerouted this thing four times now!”

“Read the computer screen yourself.”

“Yeah, yeah, jackass, I can read the computer screen.”

Maine pretended he didn’t hear that third voice and started limping heavily, pretending to stumble slightly on his prosthetic and causing a loud clunking noise to echo into the bridge. He moved slowly up, giving the two inside a chance to recover, and by the time he reached the bridge Simmons was underneath the center console, Carolina leaning on the table above him and reading the computer readouts thoughtfully.

“Oh, hey Maine. Rain done yet? We got another list for her.”

He shook his head and tapped his wrist once, a signal for soon, and walked over to read the same screen Carolina was reading. It looked like they were still fighting to get power from the engines to the bridge. Most of the wiring itself had been fixed, except for a few bugs with certain doors, but the power cables wouldn’t carry anything unless they were flawless, a safety feature they all wished didn’t exist by this point. He grunted, catching her attention, and she growled back.

“I seriously think it’s a mouse-chewed cable that’s causing us problems.”

Maine snorted, walking around to see what Simmons was doing, and watched him rearrange the wires for a bit, moving some to completely opposite sides of the console. He raised an eyebrow, but decided that he really didn’t know much about computers, he’d better not say anything. He was justified a moment later when Simmons plugged one wire in, yelped at the sparks suddenly raining down, and then the bridge came to life around them, humming and beeping as the screens lit up and began running diagnostics tests. Maine stood, feeling slightly proud of the man as Simmons rose and began running around the bridge, arms in the air.

“Yeah, take that! Simmons wins again!”

“All right, calm down”, Carolina chuckled, turning to face the screen to her right. “We still have to run all the diagnostics.”

“I know, but I just did what an A.I. couldn’t. So take that-“

Simmons immediately froze, looking panicked, and Maine pretended not to notice, bending down to watch the list of faults in the engines grow in size. He gave them a second to recover, not turning in their direction.

-You should tell them-

-There’s no point.-

“Simmons, they have maybe a year left before they’re going to need to be replaced. Give them a break.”

“They’re computer programs, they should be able to tell me the wires were in wrong”, Simmons muttered, and Maine reached out for the list, sensing Rain was about to enter the room. She did so loudly and energetically, bolting in and darting across the empty space to tackle Maine on his shoulder. He grunted and smiled at the action, reaching up to scratch along her back, then held out the list for her, watching her snatch it and spin across the room to take it back to Carolina. Teaching Rain to read had turned out to be an impossible task. Maine was fairly certain it was because she couldn’t actually see, and needed someone else’s eyes to read for her. By then, what was the point? She could just pull the information from their minds.

“Nice to see you, Rain. How much did you get done today?”

Rain sent a mental picture of the hull over the crew rooms being replaced, from her higher perspective. The image was fractured through the insect eyes she had seen it with, but a quick mental shift on her end translated the image to a human perspective. Carolina hummed and nodded, gently taking the list from her.

“So you guys are almost done.”

-Wash thinks one more week tops-

“The engines seemed strong, should only be a few days.”

-Lopez found holes? Couldn’t understand what kind-

Her thought was disgruntled. She hated the fact that she couldn’t communicate with Lopez. It drove her nuts, until she had almost forced Maine to start reading books on introductory Spanish. It was enough that she could listen to what he said (Maine still couldn’t speak Spanish despite her absorbing the information through him), and she could gesture responses, but it was still limited communication. Still much better than the previous ignoring of the robot. Lopez had seemed to be slightly less disgruntled lately too, and had started drifting away from the Reds more often and gravitating towards the Freelancers. Sarge had halfheartedly accused the Blues of trying to steal his robot, but a quick, irritated dressing-down by Rain ended that discussion quickly.

“We’re going to have to ask him if we can work with them. We’ve spent enough money repairing this ship to almost buy a new one, we can work with some damage. As long as it doesn’t endanger the ship’s integrity, it can stay.”

Rain hummed and tucked away the information for later, spinning around Carolina’s head as she mentally read through the list. It took her a moment to finish, and Rain began diving into the consoles, popping out every now and then to drop a broken wire and grab a new one to replace it with. This was one of Maine’s favorite pastimes lately, sitting back in one of the crew chairs and trying to guess where she would pop up next, ignoring her hints. He got it wrong on purpose sometimes, just to bug her.

-Not funny-, she hummed low, popping up across the room to look at him with disks whirling, and he grinned, crossing his arms behind his head. The main doors opened, and Maine tilted his head back lazily to watch Wash come through with trays of food, Caboose in tow and looking thoroughly chastened. Maine grunted questioningly, and Wash shook his head.

“He broke one of the glass panels in the showers. I have no idea where he got windows out of that.”

“It’s because windows are made of glass.”

“And so is your intelligence”, Simmons muttered, glancing to Maine quickly to see if he heard. Maine let that one slide. He was not fond of his reputation of protecting Caboose. He had merely wanted the others to treat him with more respect, and it had backfired on him quickly.

“How’s it going in here? I see you got the power in.”

“No thanks to those A.I.’s of yours”, Simmons quipped, taking his tray of food and bringing it back to the console he was watching, taking note of what was being repaired with Rain’s actions and what would actually need looking at. Wash looked confused, dropping the tray in front of Maine.

“My A.I.’s? They’re not even-“

“Functioning fully yet”, Carolina interrupted, giving Wash a look, and he looked confused for a moment before he got it.

“Oh.”

-He knows about Epsilon-

-RAIN!-

Immediately the room was silent, and Carolina had her pistol out and leveled towards his head, Wash’s hand on his and looking uncertain. Simmons was trying to edge away slowly, looking terrified, and Maine slowly raised his hands in the air, fuming.

-sorry-

He sent her a snarl, his gaze in her direction making it clear who it was intended for. Still, Carolina tightened her grip on her pistol, voice tight.

“How long did you know?”

-since Gardens-

The grip on the pistol faltered, lowering slightly, and Carolina looked surprised.

“Since…”

-doesn’t care-

-Speak for me, since you’re so determined to speak for me.-

The irritation in his voice made her wince, and he felt that familiar stickiness melting around his mind, making a face at the sensation.

=I’m not interested in Epsilon.=

“I hate when he does that, it sounds so weird in my head.”

“Why not.”

It wasn’t a question.

=Sigma. And Rain. And this.=

He reached towards the back of his head slowly, lowering the undersuit further down his neck, revealing the neural interface connection. They had all seen it briefly, but then they all had one. None of them had bothered to look close. This time he stood, waiting for Carolina’s permission, and walked slowly closer to her so she could inspect it. She did, lips pressed into a thin line, studying it carefully.

“How long has that been damaged?”

=Since they tied a car to my chest and threw it off a cliff.=

“Sorry about that”, Simmons squeaked, and he was ignored.

“You can’t integrate with an A.I., can you?”

=Even if it was repaired, I couldn’t. The wires are damaged. It’s what causes my seizures. My suit barely responds.=

“And there you were making me look weak with those plates”, Wash said, pulling his hand away from his weapon. “Carolina?”

She hesitated a second longer, then sighed and put her pistol back in its holster.

“Epsilon?”

“Not coming out man, that guy’s scary as fuck. Plus, I have no idea what’s being said.”

“There’s no risk.”

“Says you.”

Maine held eye contact with Carolina for a second longer, then returned to his seat, lowering himself gently, feeling the ache in his stump for the first time in a while. Rain pulled back from his mind, and slowly melted out of the console next to him, quietly approaching while the others talked in the background.

-sorry-

-Why did you do that?-

She sent him a disgruntled feeling, along with waves of emotions she had caught from the others. Distrust, fear, anger, disgust, hatred. And then the feelings she had gotten herself, of them trying not to think about Epsilon around her, failing, and their violent reactions when she asked. And then a feeling of tiredness, hating that one thing that kept them from being full members of the group.

-It wasn’t your place.-

“I still can’t believe it wasn’t Caboose that did it”, Wash said behind him, jarring him out of his mental argument. Maine blinked and looked up at him, frowning slightly, and Wash looked down at Rain, tickling her skin slightly. “Don’t get too mad at her. It was going to come out eventually, and I’m kinda glad it did when we could work through it. Not, you know, in the middle of a fight or something when one of us slipped up and mentioned Church.”

Maine blinked at the name, and Wash caught the motion.

“It’s… kind of a long story. Alpha called himself Church without knowing why, and Epsilon is the memory of Alpha, so he calls himself Church too. Besides, it’s not like Caboose will stop calling him that.”

“Church is my best friend”, the man said suddenly from across the room, and Wash shook his head.

“That is exactly why we thought Caboose would break it first, and we’ve been trying to keep you two away from each other. Not very well, I have to say.”

“Wash said you would turn into the scary man again if I talked about Church. He said Church kicked your puppy.”

Maine gave Wash a look.

“Look, sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do with Caboose.”

Maine nodded, conceding the point, and turned to Rain again. She flinched slightly, and he sighed and reached out to her. Nothing needed to be said. She crawled slowly into his lap, melting into a puddle, and began purring quietly as he ran his fingers slowly down her body. Wash watched for a second, then turned away to return to the others, leaving them alone.

Maine found himself glad for that.

-

“I can’t believe it’s finally fucking done.”

“Well, we still gotta get it up into orbit, and run it through its stress test before we can say it’s done.”

“Simmons, do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“The sound of you raining on my parade.”

“Come on, guys, let’s just enjoy the moment.”

They all stood outside the ship in silence, staring up at it while the sun slowly set behind them. Maine found it a little to cliché for his taste. He fully expected Grif and Simmons to hold hands in a second.

“Soooooooo…. what are we going to name this bitch?”

“Tucker, can we just enjoy this moment of peace and happiness before we start another fight?”

“Eh, it’s my job.”

“I say we name it something that shows the amount of work we put into it. Something like Long and Hard.”

“Bow-chika-bow-wow.”

“What about Annoying Piece of Space Trash?”

“We should name it Janice.”

“Shut up, Caboose.”

There was a moment of silence once more, then Carolina grinned, reaching towards one of the open cans of paint and grabbing a paint brush.

“Hey Rain, wanna help me with this? I have the perfect idea.”

Twenty minutes later, after a bout of laughing and one round of complaining, they all meandered back into the ship, the Reds and Blues mingling together, arms thrown around each other while they all headed eagerly towards the common room and the beer cooler that sat within. The sun finally touched the horizon behind them, golden glow illuminating the newly-repaired frigate, the name reflecting the light with still-wet paint.

ANGRY BITCH

-

“Gren, if this is another dead end-“

“Someone bought a retired UNSC frigate for five hundred dollars on Degan.”

The scientist broke off his thought, staring at the mercenary. Black eyes stared back unforgivingly, no longer able to hide the disdain the man felt for the scientists. Nor did the scientists hide their disgust for the mercenary, who had somehow been unable to find these soldiers for almost three months now.

“You’ve checked your sources?”

“Talked to the seller himself. He still doesn’t know why he did it. He could have gotten a million times that if he had sold it for scrap, which was what he was going to do. Some checks around the planet shows junkyards selling large amount of hull sheeting and common ship parts. Two days ago there was a large purchase of deuterium that was scheduled to be delivered to a remote location sometime this week. We have them.”

“Set a course immediately. How far away are we?”

“Three days if we can get a good slipspace jump.”

“Good. And Gren?”

“Yeah, this time it’s on my head, whatever.”

“I’m afraid the situation’s a bit more serious than that. If you mess this up, it’s on both of our heads this time.”

Grne froze, for once feeling a little panicked at their threats. On his head, there was always the opportunity to escape. The scientists were too valuable to lose, therefore the ship was always safe. All the soldiers belonged to him.

If it was on the scientists as well, there was nothing stopping their boss from just destroying the ship whenever he saw fit. And that was so much more terrifying.

Gren nodded slowly, turning back to sign to the captain. Then, clapping a hand on the man’s shoulder, he left the bridge, heading to his bunk. He had plans to make.

Chapter Text

“Uh, Angry Bitch? Wait, is that the name of the ship or the pilot, because I’ve talked to her once, and she’s-“

“Angry Bitch here”, Carolina calmly interrupted, leaning towards the communication screen. The man addressing them yelped, spinning back around and flinching sheepishly.

“Oh, uh, wasn’t sure anyone was there.”

“There is. What’s up?”

“Well, this is awkward. Just calling in to report your ship has passed her three-day stress. She’s clear for deep space travel.”

“That’s good to know. What’s your name?”

“Uh, Jim.”

“Okay, Jim. Where’s the nearest planet?”

“Besides this one? There’s Tarantula, Galvin, and Shore within two weeks’ travel, if your engines are good. From the specs you’re A.I.’s are reporting, it might take you three. Past that there about twelve more, if you want the whole list.”

“We’re good with the three you gave us. And Jim?”

“Yeah?”

Carolina just stared, and the longer it went on the more the man squirmed. Maine crossed his arms behind her, and was glad the helmet would shield his grin from the man.

“Make sure your communication lines aren’t open the next time you decide to talk about a ship’s pilot.”

Carolina ended the call before the man could respond, and a blue light hovered over her shoulder, vaguely taking on a solid form.

“To be fair, naming the ship Angry Bitch was asking for it.”

“Epsilon.”

“Your irritation does not invalidate my point. Even D agrees with me.”

“Keep it up and I’ll put you back in Tucker’s armor.”

“Please don’t. The sheer amount of porn that man has disturbs me.”

“So where are we going? Shore’s a nice planet, I’ve been there once. Clean and well-behaved.”

“None of them. We’re going to Sidewinder.”

“Okay, who pissed you off? Because I’ll just go beat their heads in right now and save you the effort of doing it later.”

“Something about the attack on Sidewinder is bothering me. It’s been in the back of my mind since we met Barry and his creature. Didn’t he say he met it on Sidewinder during that meeting?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Isn’t that the same time Maine met Rain?”

“What are you getting at?”

“The Gardens was researching cryogenics in secret. That much we know. But we also know that two of those creatures- sorry, Rain, I’m not sure what exactly to call you- but two of those creatures were found on Sidewinder, on completely different sides of the planet. What other research centers are there? It’s a secluded planet that gets no visitors. What if Rain was manufactured there?”

-don’t like that word-

“Sorry, Rain.” Rain hummed low, twisting once, disks still and thoughtful.

“Even if she was, why would we want to go there? I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to tangle with those mercenaries again. They were…. A lot better trained than we were.”

“It’ll take us a month or so to get there, we can work on discipline in the meantime.”

“You really do hate me, don’t you?”

“Actually, Maine’s going to be in charge of that.”

Maine’s surprise was almost audible, and as he stepped forward to protest she held up a hand.

“Wash is going to be working with Simmons to dig up everything he can about the Cerberus Corporation.”

“Carolina, that was a dead end.”

“Epsilon found a mention of Cerberus in the UNSC’s projects directory.”

“Carolina, a mention might be pushing it. We found something that with a huge stretch of imagination could be connected.”

“What did it say?”

“It was back when Project Freelancer started to go sideways. The UNSC turned away and left us, and they mentioned something about ‘resorting to the war dogs’. The entire project was heavily encoded, I could have translated that wrong. That itself could have referred to anything, but then they mentioned something about ‘the species being difficult to work with’. Again, could have been a reference to working with the Covenant, but alien-human diplomats aren’t working with military projects.”

“I don’t know, Carolina, that’s kind of a stretch.”

“Yeah, tried telling her that.”

“Epsilon, you’re forgetting the important part.”

“Carolina, come on, that’s an even bigger stretch.”

“There was a permission form submitted. Most of it was blacked out, but there was a list of planets. Sentra, Milestone, Eulogy…” She paused. “Sidewinder, Icarus…”

“We get it. So you think that more creatures were placed on those planets as well?”

“It’s a good guess. I want to investigate Sidewinder first, then if we don’t turn anything up there I want to try Eulogy.”

“Eulogy’s a big military planet, Carolina. Sure we wouldn’t be better off hitting Sentra?”

“If anything big was happening, it would be happening on Eulogy.”

Wash sighed, shaking his head.

“Yeah, it’s not like we have anything better to do. Come on Maine, I’ll help you break it to them.”

Wash exited the room, and Maine paused a moment, tilting his head at Carolina. She was bent over the information panels again, studying them thoughtfully, and underneath the helmet Maine imagined she was probably chewing on her lip.

-she’s different-

-She was always more comfortable during a mission. She never knew how to handle downtime.-

Rain brought of brief memories of him from the Mother of Invention, showing flashbacks of how he used to spend his own downtime. She didn’t do it often, knowing those memories hurt him. He pulled his lips tight, remembering how he had spent all his downtime training, and always giving his shore leave to others who needed another day.

Maybe Carolina wasn’t the only one that always needed an objective.

-

“Carolina, I will get on my knees and kiss your feet. I don’t know what it is you want, but please don’t make us go back to that frozen bullshit planet.”

“If I knew this was all it took to make you cry, Grif, I wouldn’t have hit you so much.”

“This is fucking bullshit. I knew you hated us, but this counts as cruel and unusual punishment.”

Carolina raised an eyebrow at Maine. He shrugged.

-I haven’t even done anything yet.-

“And you thought I was rough on you before. Do you want to hear stories about how Maine handled my hand-to-hand training?”

Grif wailed and Wash cracked a grin, and Maine snorted. Not his fault Wash had been hopeless at everything when he joined Project Freelancer.

“Grif! This is completely unacceptable behavior! You’re a soldier, I expect you to act like one!”

“Sarge, we haven’t been soldiers for a long time.”

-Rain, tell Sarge he’s going to be right alongside the others during the training.-

There was a moment where everyone was still, and Sarge’s face went completely blank. Then he coughed, turned to Carolina, and simply said, “I believe there was ass kissing to be done?”

“You guys are the biggest cry-asses I have ever seen.”

By this point, Maine had had more than enough. He had been able to ignore the lack of discipline, and had turned a shoulder to how poorly-trained they were. But if they were going to be watching his back while invading a heavily-militarized planet, he needed to be sure they were actually going to be behind him.

-Rain, tell them they’re all to be in the gun range in twenty minutes. That includes Caboose and Lopez-, Maine grumbled, turning to walk down the hallways. Behind him, Rain waited a moment to relay the information, then darted after him, twining between false foot and real foot.

“It takes twenty minutes just to get down there!”, he heard Grif whine, and he whirled and snarled, wordlessly asking Rain to project for him again.

=Then you’d better run! Anyone that isn’t there in twenty minutes will be running ten laps around the ship for every second they’re late!=

They all stared at him, and he snorted and turned to walk again.

“He isn’t serious, is he?”

“Have you ever known him to not be?”

There was a heartbeat of silence, and Maine heard everyone start sprinting for the gun range. Carolina and Wash stood in the doorway of the bridge, staring after him oddly. He turned another corner, and he could hear Wash’s voice faint behind him.

“Do you think he might be too hard on them?”

“Wash, he just made Grif run. I can’t even make Grif run.”

“Good point.”

Maine growled silently to himself, opening the door to the elevator no one else had thought to take (then again, none of the sim soldiers had ever really been on a frigate).

-This is going to be a long month.-

-

“What do you mean, ‘they just left’?” Gren snarled, grinding his teeth, and the orbital operator gulped on the other side of the pistol barrel.

“Seriously! They cleared their stress test yesterday! They left at around four in the afternoon!”

“By any chance, did they register a flight path?”

“Well, no, it’s not really required for civilian ships. Which it was! Since it was retired and rebuilt! But they did ask about nearby planets, so they might be headed for them!”

“Which planets?”

“Tarantula, Galvin, and Shore!”

“What were their expected arrival dates?”

“Anywhere between two and three weeks, their engines didn’t test very high and they didn’t clear for slipspace!”

Gren frowned, thinking. If their engines weren’t cleared for slipspace, and they only left the day before, there was a good chance they could catch them fairly quickly.

“What kind of frigate was it, exactly?”

“It was a Stalwart class, that’s all I know.”

Gren grinned quickly, and the other man flinched. A Stalwart class ship was almost useless in space battle. Now that they had dropped the trader guise, they were able to put their warship out into space.

The frigate would have no chance.

“Thank you, you’ve been very helpful.”

“So you’ll let me live?”

“No.”

He barely even felt the recoil from the pistol, and turned distractedly, signaling his men to kill their own captives. The gunshots rang out almost simultaneously.

“Gren, what’s next?”

“Call the ship, tell them to set out tracers. Their ship should be within the quadrant. Hail every ship that comes up, but focus on the Regent branch. They’ll be headed towards the closer planets.”

“Sir.”

“You, come here. Question the shipyard owner, find out exactly what UNSC ship was retired and sold. Something tells me that ship isn’t just a simple frigate.”

-

“Hey, Carolina?”

“What is it?”

“A distress signal was just sent out from the planet we left. It was cut off almost immediately, but the communications A.I. managed to catch it. Do you think it’s them?”

“I don’t think it’s anyone else. I thought our actions might be a little suspicious. Epsilon, did you ever get those engines online?”

“Still working on it, but it shouldn’t be much longer. This would be so much easier if that little mind reader could read my mind too.”

“Everything would be easier. How much longer?”

“An hour or two, but ‘Lina, these engines are going to leave a trail.”

“Go ahead, there’s no way they’re going to be able to catch us. Unless they also have experimental military engines that make slipspace drives look like a gasoline-powered antique.”

“Yeah, I highly doubt they do. I’ll give a warning before I turn them on. Talk to ya in a bit.”

The blue light next to Carolina’s head vanished into the main console, and Maine hummed thoughtfully, Rain rubbing her face against his cheek. Carolina looked up, and Maine signaled that it was nothing important.

“How’d it go with them yesterday?”

Maine gave her a flat glare. She grinned.

“That bad?”

Maine grimaced at the sudden headache. The training itself hadn’t been too bad. Believe it or not, most of them were fairly good shots, and had pretty good trigger discipline.

Getting them to actually start training had been another story entirely.

“It’ll get better. The complaining won’t ever stop, but eventually their skill won’t be as depressing.”

“I’ll just tell Freckles you’re the new captain. He’s pretty big on rank. He’ll get them moving.”

Rain sent an appreciative thought with a tinge of confusion attached.

“It’s a long story.”

“Hey, uh, Maine? Scary dude, sir, whatever you want to be called, I don’t fucking care.”

Maine turned in surprise to look at Tucker, tilting his head.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Tucker, you’re not getting out of training.”

“It’s not that, asshole. I have some ideas.”

Wash looked just as stunned as Maine was, and he nodded before rising and exiting the bridge. Tucker started walking down the hallway, and Maine tilted his head before walking alongside him.

“Look, I know you’re worried about everyone’s aim, and that is a genuine concern with Caboose and Simmons, but the rest of us have that shit down. We’ve been operating weapons for a fucking long ass time. Not to tell you what to do, but I think we should be working more on tactics and shit. Whatever you want to call it. That’s our weak point, Sarge especially. He’s too used to being the highest ranking asshat. And as much as I’m going to regret it, we could use some work on hand-to-hand shit too. None of us do that well but Caboose, and that’s only under certain circumstances. Oh, and you’re going to want Donut to run a throwing course or two. That man has a hell of an arm.”

Maine looked down at the soldier, then nodded, making a thoughtful noise. To be honest, he had been lost with how he was going to work on training them. He wasn’t used to being the one giving orders.

“Not to tell you what to do, and I’m still mad about my fucking ear asshole, but since I don’t want to die either I figured I’d give you a heads up. We’ve been scraping through every fight we’ve been in, for once I’d like to not be scared for my life.”

Maine rested his hand on Tucker’s shoulder for a moment, and when the man turned back he nodded and turned in the direction of his quarters. He had plans to make, especially concerning his training schedule, not that he had really had one to begin with. But he had some ideas now.

“Yeah, you’re welcome, asshole.”

Maine didn’t even turn as he raised his middle finger in Tucker’s direction as he continued down the hall. There was no animosity in the motion.

-humans are strange-

Maine hummed in agreement, turning to walk down the long, empty corridor. He couldn’t really protest.

An hour later found Maine watching the Reds and Blues attempt a capture the flag scenario. He had divided the teams in a way that put the members that conflicted the most together, to see how they’d react. It was incredibly depressing. Sarge and Grif were too busy arguing to help Caboose, who seemed to somehow think this was a game of Tag and was chasing the people shooting him with lockdown paint. Tucker and Simmons were working together fairly well together, except Simmons kept trying to stay near him and Tucker was attempting to split up to make them even less of a target. Donut was complaining about the color of the paint somewhere not useful. Lopez was playing the part of a rogue soldier, and had to respond to bribes from each team, double-crossing them every now and then.

Finally, after watching Tucker shoot Simmons in the face and Sarge attempt to strangle Grif, he snarled and signaled for the match to end, stalking down to the training floor angrily. Rain transmitted his disgust to the others, and some had the decency to look ashamed. Sarge opened his mouth to argue, but at Maine’s sharp look shut his mouth immediately.

-Rain.-

She slid her mind around his again, a tackiness he was starting to get used to, and he could feel the lowered mood in waves around him.

=That was the worst teamwork I have ever seen. And I hunted down my own teammates.=

“Maybe if SOME people-“

Maine cut Grif off with a sharp snarl and mental jab, making them all wince. Then, watching them, he had a stroke of brilliance.

-Rain, can you?-

-it can work will be harddifficult can do it-

“What is she talking about?” Tucker asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes, and Maine reached for his helmet, grabbing if off the wall and placing it on his head.

=New rules. All of you against me.=

“What the hell is this supposed to do? We tried this once, we kicked your ass, remember?”

“I am not going to feel right beating up a cripple.”

Maine casually spun behind Grif, grabbing his arm and twisting it upwards before kicking his feet out from under him and throwing him twenty feet to his right. Around him everyone yelped and winced, looking nervous as they all rubbed at their right elbows.

“What the hell?”

“What’s going on?”

=Every time any one of you gets hit, you will all feel it.=

It took a moment for it to sink in, and Maine slowly sank into a loose stance, feeling slightly out of touch with his body as he did so. He frowned to himself. It had been a while since the last time he had done any loose training.

“Dude, I don’t want to play this game.”

“I don’t think we have a choice, T-“

Maine lunged forward while Simmons was distracted, slamming his fist into his helmet and sending him backwards. Then, without pausing, he used his forward momentum and vaulted himself back and to the right, driving his elbow in between Sarge’s shoulder blades and causing the older man to yelp and fall flat on his face. He pulled back and waited as everyone yelped and cried out, some falling to their knees as the combined pain hit them.

=Don’t want to hurt? Don’t let your teammates get hit.=

“You’re an evil bastard.”

Maine darted for Tucker, intending to hit under his chin and drive his knee into his stomach after, but before he hit he felt a kick to his side. It threw him off balance enough he had to roll to regain his feet, and saw Simmons nervously standing in a sloppy fighting stance, Tucker glancing to him gratefully as he settled into a much more controlled stance next to him. Good.

He darted forward again, as was his style, and then he fell into the familiar motions, letting his mind go carefully blank as he settled into the rhythm of his movement. Block a punch, drive an elbow backwards into a face, twist to avoid another punch, grab the wrist, tug it past him, and club the back of the helmet as the body went by. Roll forward, knock the legs out from underneath someone in a tint of red, flip up and grab someone around the waist before throwing them into two more. Turn to avoid a reckless charge, grab them by the back of the neck and slam their face off another’s. Hiss at the blow to the side of his head, grab the offending foot to turn and throw them into a wall. Pull back a punch, no need to hit that hard, allow the blow to his stomach, trust the armor to block most of the hit as he slams his helmet off theirs, sending them off dazed. Realize the tide of the battle was starting to turn, start blocking more hits than he gives, have to move out of the center more than once.

Suddenly on the defensive, Maine actually watched them, studying how they worked. Grif was using himself as a distraction while Sarge and Tucker followed behind, Simmons attacked from the back only, Donut alternating hits with him to keep Maine constantly moving forward. Caboose was oddly focused, throwing blows that Maine genuinely did not want to hit him, and the need to avoid his hits kept him off balance enough he couldn’t retaliate with his own. Tucker fought dirty, going for the prosthetic, and Maine gave a grunt of approval that the man heard when he felt the blow rattle up the limb. Tucker looked surprised at the praise, and it made him pause just long enough to get another fist to the side of his head, throwing him backwards, cursing.

“Mother fucker, you hit like a truck!”

“Yeah, we know! Try not to get hit next time!” Simmons yelled, flinching, and Maine stood up straight suddenly to grab him by his head, lunging forward to throw him across the room. Following the forward motion, he dove low and drove his fist into Grif’s stomach, shoving him to the side before ducking his head and slamming his shoulder into Sarge’s solar plexus, knocking the air out of him and sending him off to the side, gasping with short breaths. Caboose narrowly missed a blow to the back of Maine’s head, and Maine clasped both of his hands together and slammed them down into the small of his back as he tumbled by. Caboose yelped, and Maine flinched, feeling slightly guilty over that one. Donut rushed him suddenly, limping, and Maine took a step back, watching him run clumsily past him and yelp as he tripped himself. Maine tilted his head, watching them all struggle to rise, then relaxed his stance, walking over to help Tucker stand.

=We’re done for the day.=

“Fuck you, we totally had you on the ropes that time!”

=Tomorrow will be another chance.=

“We’re gonna do this again tomorrow?” Grif whimpered, clutching his stomach as he shakily stood, using Simmons’ shoulder as a brace. Simmons just let him, not even bothering to stand.

Maine grunted and nodded, turning to exit the room as the Reds and Blues struggled to get themselves off the ground, all breathing sighs of relief when Rain separated their hurts again. He paused at the doorway, turning back to look at them, and he felt a faint sense of pride.

=You did well today.=

“Fuck you asshole”, Tucker grumbled, though Maine noticed the way his shoulders straightened. He watched them for a moment longer, then smiled slightly and left the room, Rain sitting idly on his shoulders.

-You did good too.-

-hurt them-

-I’d rather hurt them now than pick up their bodies later.-

Rain hummed, thoughtful, and Maine reached up to scratch her as he turned to walk the long distance to the mess hall. Wash should have dinner ready by now.

-

“Seriously, another few minutes and we would have had him.”

“Maybe if you actually changed it up a little bit. You did the same thing every time you got near him, no wonder you didn’t hit him more than once.”

“Hey, at least I tried! It’s not like anyone ever actually showed me anything!”

“Seriously? Not even in basic?”

“I don’t what Blue basic was like, but it was mostly crawling through mud and pushups for us.”

“Huh. I’ll show you some basic stuff Wash taught me tomorrow morning before the next training session, then. I’m tired of feeling you get punched in the back of the head constantly.”

“Like I enjoy it.”

Maine listened to the Reds and Blues chatter at the table on the other side of the mess hall, amused with the way they tried to keep quiet. Like he couldn’t hear their “plans” from across the giant echo chamber. Beside him, Wash watched them carefully, looking slightly amazed.

“What the hell did you do to them? You’ve only had them for a day!”

-shared pain-

Wash winced, and Maine shrugged.

“Those poor souls. Feeling my own pain during hand-to-hand with you was bad enough.”

Maine lifted an eyebrow and held up five fingers on one hand and one on the other. Wash snorted.

“Like it being six on one made a difference.”

“What was six on one?”

“Oh, hey Carolina. Any luck on the engines?”

“Not yet, Epsilon still can’t figure it out. He’s going to work on it overnight. What are they so excited over?”

“Maine beat the shit out of them training, and they’re trying to figure out a way to get him back tomorrow.”

“Really.”

“He made Rain share the pain between them.”

Carolina winced slightly in sympathy, glancing over to the other table.

“I feel kinda bad for them.”

“That’s what I said.”

Maine rolled his eyes and took another bite, ignoring Rain analyzing the taste of the food through him. His plate was the widest assortment of food he could possibly have, since Rain was determined to try everything she could. The first few times this had happened he had gotten strange looks, but after a while they got used to Maine having thirty different bite-sized items on his plate. He didn’t particularly care either, food was food.

“Hey, uh, Carolina? Can I get you guys to the bridge, like, pronto?”

“What’s up, Epsilon?”

“We have a pretty big problem.”

Carolina frowned, and the room went silent, watching her. Maine felt a sudden tenseness down his spine.

“What problem would that be?”

“Oh, you know, just the warship locking on to us a short distance away. Can you come up here please?”

Carolina was gone before the sentence was finished, Maine and Wash immediately behind her. Entering the bridge, they all stopped and stared at the giant ship slowly sliding in front of them, each cannon locking on one at a time down the row. Maine’s blood ran cold as the ship’s communicator suddenly rang, and Rain started spinning nervous circles around his head.

“Hey, would this be the Angry Bitch? Because boy, have we been looking for you.”

“Who are you?” Carolina snapped, and Maine growled low as the man on the other side of the communicator screen grinned, black eyes thinning slightly.

“My name’s Gren, though that doesn’t really matter. What matters is the warship in front of you. And boy, do we have a lot to talk about.”

Chapter Text

“What do you want?”

“Cut your engines now. And don’t think you can turn and slip away, I know what those engines can do. I’ve never seen the Holy Grail in action myself, but I’ve heard the stories.”

Carolina was silent, and anyone that didn’t know her would think she was thinking. Maine recognized the defeat in her shoulders, though, and growled quietly off screen as Carolina nodded.

“Epsilon, cut the engines.”

“Carolina, if we do that we’re dead in the water, so to speak.”

“Cut the engines.”

“Your call.”

“Good. Now where’s that annoying little creature you have? You know the one, we met on Icarus before. Ah, there you are. About as slimy as I remember.”

-not slimy-, Rain hissed, twirling in front of the communicator screen, Maine a step behind.

-They can’t hear you.-

She screeched in response, flaring her body and quivering with anger. The message got across that time.

“Ah-ah, don’t think you can try something. All it’ll take is the press of a button, and thirty plasma cannons will tear your ship apart. You might not even feel it.”

“We get it, you have us trapped. What do you want?”

“We’re going to trade prisoners for a bit.”

Wash looked confused.

“You don’t have any prisoners.”

The man on the screen grinned, signaling to someone on the side. Another mercenary stepped forward, dragging someone behind them, and everyone in the bridge stilled as Barry looked up, looking dazed and confused. His arm was twisted unnaturally, clearly broken and healed wrong, and he walked with a limp that spoke of old pain.

“And before you ask, we have his little creature, too. Here’s what I propose. We’ll send you Barry for safekeeping, and you’re going to send us your little creature and whoever the fuck she’s anchored to.”

“Anchored?”

“Bonded with, whatever you want to call it. Whichever one it is out of the box of skittles you call soldiers, step forward now. I want to see you.”

Maine snarled and stepped forward, and Gren snorted.

“Of course it’d be the big guy. What’s your name?”

“Maine-“

“I didn’t ask you”, Gren snarled, pointing a pistol at Barry’s head. The man didn’t even seem to notice, looking more concerned about staying upright.

“He can’t speak, he was shot in the throat.”

Gren frowned, glancing across to stare at Maine.

“Show me.”

Maine snarled low, and slowly reached up to lower the undersuit around his neck, rolling it down slowly to reveal the twisted mass of flesh that was his throat. Gren frowned, and slowly lowered the weapon away from Barry.

“Huh, guess you were right. Okay, new plan. The creature, the anchor, and a translator are coming here, and we’re going to keep Barry here. Just to guarantee you don’t do anything.”

“Rain can translate for him.”

“You named the fucking thing? No, don’t answer that. That creature is not going to connect with our minds at all. Every time one of my men notices her trying something, I’ll add another bullet to Barry’s list. When he stops becoming useful, I’ll start adding them to the anchor. Is that understood?”

“The trade seems a little one-sided to me.”

“Do you not see the warship in front of you? Seriously? We can turn on the exterior lights if you’re having a problem.”

Carolina tensed, then slowly growled out, “No, we don’t have a problem. We see you fine.”

“Good. Open your bay doors, our transport will be there in ten. I want all armor removed from the anchor and the translator, and even a single attempt to bring a weapon on board will mean the end of Barry’s life. Understood?”

“Understood”, Carolina grit out, and Gren nodded.

“Good. Don’t keep us waiting.”

The communications screen winked off, and they all stood still, waiting for Carolina. She remained crouched over the control panel, and everyone winced when her grip suddenly cracked the edge of the screen.

“So what’s the plan?”

“I don’t have a plan.”

“You always have a plan!” Sarge protested, and Carolina whirled around.

“I don’t have a plan this time! They have us by the balls, there’s nothing we can do. Wash, you’re going to go as Maine’s translator. I’d rather have two Freelancers aboard the ship. And you’re the only one that can understand Maine’s grunting.”

Maine made a protesting sound and Wash nodded, then turned and began removing his armor.

“Tucker, go grab me some clothes from my quarters. And some for Maine as well.”

“Yeah, back in a second.”

Maine waited a moment longer to watch Carolina, then slowly began the process of removing his own armor. Rain twisted around him slowly, and he glanced up in surprise as Simmons unsnapped the seals on his shoulders, removing the pieces for him.

“You’re not alone, we’re gonna be right here.”

-Tell them I’m not nervous.-

“No, I know you’re not. But if there’s an issue and you have to jump out into space, we’ll find you. Don’t worry about it.”

Maine watched him for a moment, then made a soft noise, releasing the chest seals and allowing Simmons to help him lower the piece to the ground. Tucker returned with clothing a moment later, and Grif wordlessly took his weapons, placing them on an empty console while Donut neatly stacked his and Wash’s armor next to each other.

The strange part was that it actually made Maine feel better.

-

“All right, step forward slowly.”

Maine remained silent as he listened, acutely aware of the three weapons aimed at his head, and the two at Wash’s. Other soldiers kept the rest of the Reds and Blues at the opposite side of the hangar, with their hands up and spaced evenly along the wall. Another step forward took him to the base of the ramp, where the mercenary held up his hand to stop and took out a scanner.

“Hold still.”

The soldier was very thorough in his search, and Maine let out a sigh as it went off over his right leg. The weapons surrounding him clicked as the safeties were turned off, and Maine reached down and yanked up his pant leg, revealing the prosthetic. The soldier went from angry to embarrassed in seconds, suddenly coughing and unable to look Maine in the eye.

“Oh, uh, you’re clear. Step on and sit in the seat closest to the door. You know how to work the cage?”

Maine shot him a look, rolling his eyes down to give a flat glare, then vaguely gestured towards his leg and other scars.

“Uh, of course. Forget I asked.”

“Moron”, Wash muttered, stepping forward to be scanned himself. Maine had to duck to enter the Pelican’s seating bay, and grunted at the soldiers inside, leveling their own weapons and tracking him slowly across the cabin. He reached up to lower the bars around him as Wash stepped on, shaking his head.

“Those idiots tried saying my dog tags were bombs.”

“Those idiots have guns pointed at you.”

“It’d be a lot scarier if the safeties weren’t on and the guns weren’t set to single shot”, Wash retorted, and the mercenaries shot each other looks before turning their weapons up to study them, yelping when their commander stepped on board and barked at them.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Keep those weapons pointed at the prisoners!”

“Uh, sorry sir!”

“Where’d you get these guys, ‘Discount Soldiers R Us’?”

The commander growled, shaking his head at Wash.

“You don’t understand how hard it is to find good help these days.”

“Yeah, with the war over and everything. Where’d you serve?”

“I served two tours as an ODST on Earth.”

“Damn, that’s an impressive record.”

“Says the Freelancer.”

“Uh, sir? Should you be fraternizing with the enemy?”

Maine raised an eyebrow at the young man, who gulped at his commander’s glare.

“Son?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Keep your mouth shut and leave the thinking to me. Lord knows you aren’t good at it.”

“Ah, yes, sir.”

“We’re all clear, sir!”

“Good. Get those other yuppies on board. No need to make Tall’n’Angry over here nervous about men left behind.”

“Sir.”

Maine gave the man an appreciative look, and he shrugged.

“They thought about killing everyone on board as soon as we took off, but I told them I didn’t sign up for that shit. Gren chewed those scientists out for even mentioning it. Idiots have no idea how war works.”

“Gren didn’t think of it himself? I have to admit, I haven’t known him for longer than a few seconds, but he seems like the kind of guy that would be okay with it.”

“Of course he does, he has to scare you guys. Now, I have to ask, where’s that little creature?”

“She’s hiding in Maine’s shirt. Rain, can you just poke your head out for us?”

Maine felt her slide across his skin, and she poked just enough of herself out of the collar of his shirt to hiss at the commander, sliding back in immediately afterwards. The man just shook his head.

“Those things are fucking creepy. And that’s before you know what they can do.”

“You should have met her sister”, Wash answered dryly, and the older man shuddered.

“I did. Come on, pilot, let’s get going. Gren expects us back in five.”

The bay doors closed, and Maine felt his mood slide down along with it. He shared a glance with Wash, and as the ship lifted off the hangar floor, they both closed their eyes for a moment. This was not going to be fun.

-

“Welcome aboard Cerberus, is there anything I can do to make your stay more enjoyable? A warm towel? Those little packets of peanuts?”

Wash did a good job of not reacting to the name of the ship.

“No thanks, we’re good. If you really want us to be comfortable, you can turn off those cannons and take the guns off us.”

“Woah, I said more enjoyable, not comfortable.”

“Then we’re good.”

“Glad to hear that. Now, I want that creature out where I can see her. She is to remain in my sight at all times. Does she understand?”

Rain slid out of Maine’s shirt, struggling to avoid responding. Maine grunted for her, and Gren grinned.

“Fantastic! Tell her to stay still and not move. The scientists are going to examine her, and they’re a little jumpy.”

“You can talk to her directly, she understands.”

“Whatever. Hey, morons, we’re good now. Bring your toys.”

“Mind your manners, Gren.”

“Hey, I found them where all your nifty little devices failed. After dealing with you the past few years, I am definitely going to rub it in.”

Maine found he immediately did not like the scientists approaching him, neither of them taller than his chest, and both of them looking particularly seedy. Wash gave him a warning look, and he held still, mentally reminding Rain to do the same. She flinched back slightly when the taller of the two reached out to her, and her low hiss echoed throughout the silent bridge.

“Now what did I just say?”

“The creatures have poor impulse control, Gren, we were never able to get it out of them. How was the disk cracked?”

“She was shot”, Wash answered dryly, and the scientist didn’t even bother to acknowledge the statement. Maine lifted a lip, and was surprised to see Gren doing the same. Wash glanced at him, and Maine flicked his eyes back.

“The serial number?”

“IVX 9043 62…”

The scientist trailed off, looking suddenly concerned, and his partner looked up, confused.

“What are the last two?”

“A1”, the man whispered, and Maine was immediately put on guard when the scientists suddenly looked worried, pulling back to stand next to each other again.

“Generation one was a failure. They were all destroyed.”

“I know that, but here it is, standing in front of me.”

“Generation one of what?” Wash growled, and the scientists finally looked at him, before turning to Gren.

“Lock them up, keep them under guard while we make some phone calls. This is even worse than we thought. Keep the creature separate from them.”

Maine snarled, stepping forward and ignoring the guns suddenly digging into his spine. The scientists went wide-eyed and wheeled backwards, stammering, and Gren tilted his head at Maine, watching him carefully.

“See, I don’t think that’s a good idea. We’ll lock them up together.”

“Are you trying to kill us?” the scientist hissed, and Gren responded with a flat look, completely unemotional.

“Well, since you still won’t tell me what is going on, maybe I am trying to kill us. Or maybe you’re overreacting like usual. Either way, that thing has been fairly well-behaved, and I see no need to separate them. They’ll be locked up together.”

“This decision will be on your head, Gren.”

“As you’re so fond of reminding me. Come on, we’re going to the control room. No need to make you guys walk all the way down to the brig, by the time we got down there we’d just have to bring you back up.”

Maine was puzzled as Gren led the way, and shared a glance with Wash as he turned to follow. They walked in silence for a few moments, and once the door to the bridge closed behind them Wash cleared his throat and spoke up.

“So, uh, what brought you to working for them?”

“The pay. You can’t compete, so don’t even ask.”

“How much, though? I’m kinda curious how much a conscience is worth.”

“Try ten thousand a day. One thousand a day for all my men. Plus benefits.”

Maine blinked, and Wash let out a long whistle.

“Holy shit.”

“Told you you couldn’t compete.”

“How long have you been working for them?”

“Long enough that when I’m done with you guys, I’m buying a planet, and no one is going to see me again.”

“Why haven’t you quit already? You had enough to buy a planet a year into this.”

Gren paused, and he glanced back to look at Wash. There was no hostility, even a slight bit of friendliness.

“I met my boss once. I know where I stand. Come on, head in. Hey, new guy, you don’t need to stay. I’ll keep an eye on them.”

“Are you sure, sir?”

“Yeah, do me a favor and keep an eye on those scientists for me. Report back if they do something weirder than usual.”

“Yes, sir!”

Gren patted the soldier on the back as he went out, then shut the door behind him, grabbing a chair and kicking his feet up on the console. Then, looking up at them, he raised an eyebrow, looking pointedly at the other chairs in the room.

“Come on, take a seat Gimpy. Leg’s gotta be bothering you.”

-DON’T-

Rain yelped and cut off the thought immediately, whimpering and ducking behind Maine as he stiffened. Wash froze, watching Gren warily, and the mercenary shrugged.

“She’s been doing good so far, I’ll let that one slide. Try not to do it again.”

-sorry-, she whispered in a private thought to Maine, and he crooned softly to her, scratching along her back as he settled heavily in one of the chairs. Gren watched them curiously, then leaned forward, staring at Maine intently.

“So what’s it like having one of those things in your head all the time? She make you do stuff like eat your hair when you do something she doesn’t like? Wait, you don’t have hair. She make you hit yourself?”

Wash looked horrified, and Maine glared at the man and bristled before hissing out a growl. Gren looked to Wash expectantly, gesturing for him to speak.

“Well?”

“What on earth do you think she is? Jesus Christ, that’s fucking awful!”

“I’ve seen what these things can do. I can show you our training videos if you’d like, they’re stored in this room. There’s a really good one in here somewhere, one of her siblings with the gold disks, that fucker made a man eat himself. Just calmly chewing off his own arm until they dragged him out of the room. Wanna know why it made him do it? The man asked if it could try one of those puzzle blocks for him, you know the ones with the different shaped holes? Yeah, Goldie there didn’t like being asked by an inferior man to do something as menial as that, and decided watching the man eat himself would be more entertaining. Turned out it was, because the thing did it three more times until it finally anchored on the cleaning woman. And that’s not even talking about the red one.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you people?”

“Hey, not me”, Gren shrugged, leaning back in his chair again. “I didn’t make the damn things. My orders are just to release them and see what happens, and pick them up again when we’re done. Until you fuckers came along, then my job was to chase you assholes. So, what’s it like? Having a little monster like that in your head?”

Gren paused as he finally heard the low, threatening rumble, and turned to look at Rain. She was hunched over, body flaring rhythmically, head lashing from side to side as she stared, disks quivering. Maine reached out cautiously, flinching as he met her anger.

-Rain, you need to calm down.-

She hissed, loud and low, and Gren pulled out a ridiculous looking weapon, pointing it at her, and Maine reached out hesitantly to touch her. She flinched and whirled on him briefly, then stopped and lowered herself, deflating and slithering through the air to melt on his lap.

-Sorry-

-What’s wrong?-

-don’t like it here-

-Don’t let him get to you, he’s trying to make us angry. It keeps us off guard. We need to keep focused, and be ready for a chance to escape.-

She hummed low, sad, and Gren watched them curiously, putting the strange weapon away after a few moments.

“Huh. Never seen one come off a high like that. Normally they just keep going until they snap, anchored or not.”

“What are they?”

Gren blinked at Wash, clearly distracted, then furrowed his brow at him.

“That’s right, you’ve met a few others, haven’t you? The blue and the white?”

Maine grunted, tilting his head at him, and Wash nodded.

“Strange that you’ve been with one for this long, and met others, and you still don’t know what they are. Oh well, all I can tell you is what I know, and I don’t know much. Strictly on a need-to-know basis, yet the need-to-know list has been getting longer every time we meet with you guys. The creatures were designed for infiltration and war, as you’ve probably guessed. I don’t know how they’re made, I don’t know where they’re made, and I don’t want to know. All I want to know is how to knock them down and keep them down, since you can’t kill them. They’ve told me the best way to do that is go for the anchor, since the things get so attached to them. Other than that, I don’t care about the damn things. They’re monsters that shouldn’t exist.”

Maine growled quietly, encouraging Rain to twist around his fingers. She did so slowly, making as much skin contact as she could, and Gren watched her, strange expression on his face.

“I’ve never seen one so calm.”

“Maybe if you didn’t shoot at them and tell them they’re monsters constantly, they would be.”

Gren grunted acknowledgment of Wash’s statement, and they sat in a strangely comfortable silence for a while, until the mercenary leaned forward again.

“So, she can shapeshift, right?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“I keep hearing it mentioned, but I’ve never seen it myself. Come on, show me a little bit.”

Maine gave him a look. He shrugged.

“I’m here to guard you and kill you afterwards if necessary. Doesn’t mean I can’t have a conversation.”

“I’m not particularly fond of friendly mercs. Brings back some bad memories”, Wash stated, and Gren shrugged.

“Not my problem.”

“Uh, Gren? They want you back at the bridge.”

“What for? Because if it’s just to talk at me again, I am not getting up. They can ramble to someone else.”

“The boss is on the phone. He wants to speak to you.”

Gren swore quite colorfully, then rose and signaled to his soldier.

“Keep an eye on them, don’t talk. Black thing? Yeah, don’t move.”

-not black thing-, Rain huffed mentally to Maine, and he couldn’t help the quick smile. The younger soldier watched him nervously, hand moving towards his pistol when Maine grinned, and his voice shook.

“What are you grinning at, huh?”

“Calm down, kid. We’re not going to try anything”, Wash snorted, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms behind him. “If we were, we wouldn’t signal it by something as stupid as smiling. It’d be a fingertip or something.”

Maine snorted in amusement, catching Wash’s intention, and the other Freelancer grinned, waggling his fingers at the other soldier.

“Ooh, what am I telling him to do now?”

The kid glared, finally catching on, and decided to obey Gren’s orders and remain silent, cheeks burning red with embarrassment.

-None of them have really caught on to the mind reader thing yet, have they?-

Rain relayed the question to Wash, who laughed out loud and shook his head.

“No, they haven’t.”

“Quiet!”

“Yes, sir!” Wash snapped back mockingly, and Maine tilted his head back, leaning the seat back and closing his eyes. He wouldn’t actually sleep, but the appearance of it would make the kid holding a live weapon slightly less jumpy. Despite the months in between and the hiring of new soldiers on their end, they still hadn’t fixed the trigger discipline issue. Just seeing the finger resting lightly on the side of the trigger made Maine want to reach over and yank the weapon out of his hands.

-Could do it-

-Don’t encourage me-, Maine hummed softly, cracking open an eye to look her. She had slithered up to rest on his neck and chest, disks facing towards the soldier in the door and guarding him. The kid couldn’t seem to stop staring at Rain, until Wash spoke up softly.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“I said no talking!”

“Okay, no talking, we’ll stop talking.”

Maine grumbled to Wash, a warning, and he flinched.

“Okay, I’ll stop picking on the kid. I get it.”

“What are you doing to the kid?”

Mine opened his eyes fully at Gren’s voice, and Wash spun around in the chair, sitting up fully and watching him carefully.

“Just teasing him a bit, nothing serious. Right, no talking?”

The kid muttered quietly, and Gren rolled his eyes, patting him on the shoulder.

“They’re just trying to get into your head, ignore them. You two, get up. My boss wants to meet you, believe it or not.”

“Damn, and I wore this stupid t-shirt today.”

“Your friend’s not dressed any better, come on. He’s not the kind of man to keep waiting. He’ll make you regret it in one way or another.”

Maine frowned, and set his feet down on the ground, one landing with a heavy clunk. Gren turned towards the noise briefly, then turned back and led the way through the door. Wash exchanged a glance with Maine, keeping a careful eye on him as he placed his hands on the console to push himself to his feet, stumbling slightly as he did before stabilizing himself.

“Yo, Clumso, come on. We don’t have all day.”

Maine grunted, stepping after him, long strides closing the difference quickly. The kid walked behind them, and Maine let the kid point the gun towards his back exactly once before he turned around, glaring down as he stood at his full height. The kid gulped, eyes wide, and tried to raise the weapon up, but Maine snatched the muzzle and forced it down, grabbing the kid’s finger and moving it off the trigger. Then, growling, he released the weapon, turning back around. Gren stood calmly in front, and merely raised an eyebrow and shrugged as the kid started protesting.

“Hey, I’ve told you to keep that finger off the trigger. You knew better.”

He turned and led the way again, Wash directly behind and Maine behind him. Rain twirled back and forth between them, determined to keep watch over both, and the chastened kid took up the rear, shutting the door to the control room behind him.

As the door shut, a single light flickered on the console, and there was a brief moment of static on the screens as certain protocols were overwritten. Then a blue hologram sparked to life above the console, watching the screens carefully, and a voice spoke up.

“Okay, let’s see what kind of trouble I can get into here.”

Chapter Text

Maine froze as soon as he saw the face on the screen. Gren turned around and frowned at him, swinging his rifle towards his direction, but Maine hardly noticed. Wash’s questioning voice was muffled, and the jab at his back unfelt. It took Rain sending a probing thought before he finally even blinked, still staring at the face on the screen.

“Asshole, what’s the matter? Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet.”

“Maine, what’s wrong?”

“Gren, get him moving!”

“Shut up, dipshit, I’m trying. Hey, asshat, get your ass in gear!”

-I know him-, Maine thought briefly, and Rain flipped through his mind, faces shooting through his memories like a flipbook until she stopped on one. And then she froze as well, vibrating intensely, and Wash went tense next to him, fingers unconsciously twitching for the pistol currently on the other ship.

“Maine?”

=Matthew=

Their joined voices rang through the minds of everyone on board, most flinching as the thoughts brushed past them, coupled with familiar images that none of them knew. The scientists started yelling, panicked, and weapons swung around to point at them, while the face on the screen frowned, unable to see them yet.

“What is going on?”

Maine growled low at the sound of that familiar voice, not noticing Rain matching him, imitating his posture and movements herself. He took an angry step forward, her moving in sync, and knocked Gren out of the way, ignoring the barrel that dug into his stomach as he did so. Then he was in view of the screen, and the man on the other side was staring back at him, looking just as shocked as Maine was.

“Maine?”

Staring, then suddenly the man was laughing, bending over double, and everyone on the bridge looked worriedly at each other.

“Of course it’s you! The entire time, it was you! All those years, and it was right there next to me the whole time!” The man had tears in his eyes, though they held a manic look to them as the laughter continued. “I spent this long hunting it down, looking for the anchor that had it, and you had it! How blind was I?”

“Sir?”

Gren’s questioning voice cut off the laughter completely, the man on the screen suddenly furious and looming. Maine snarled, Rain screeching in unison next to him, flaring as Maine tensed.

“I have spent decades looking for you, Maine. Oh, if only you could imagine how angry I am right now to know that you had her next to me this whole time. This whole time I snuck myself into The Gardens, killed a man to take his place, looking for the very thing that you were hiding from everyone. Well done, I have to say. How long did you have her? Did you find her when you woke up from your coma? Or was it before then? It was, wasn’t it? You were in a coma for MONTHS! I could have taken her at any moment! And yet, even unconscious you hid her from me. Well done, well done. You have frustrated me so much with that. To think I was right next to her the entire time!”

“Maine?”

Wash’s voice was quiet behind him, and from the corner of his eye Maine saw Gren nervously flicking his eyes from Maine to the screen, suddenly unsure. The scientists seemed to be completely lost, wisely staying silent. Matthew, or at least the man taking Matthew’s identity, leaned back in his seat, staring intently at Maine and the black form hovering over his shoulder. Maine snarled, drawing the man’s attention off Rain and back to him. The grin told him that Matthew knew the purpose of that.

“To think I traveled back and forth in time for this, just to find out she was right here the whole time. God, that is just so… frustrating.”

“Maine, what is going on?”

“Yes, Maine, why don’t you have your pet share with the group? Since you can’t talk yourself? Ah, just thinking of all those jokes that bitch made about you being a mind reader, why, it just makes me so mad!”

“Is he-“

=MAGGIE. Her name is MAGGIE.=

“Who the fuck is Maggie?”

“Shut up, Gren. It took you almost a year to catch a cripple and a group of idiots. I don’t want to hear another word from you.”

Gren immediately shut his mouth, stepping back out of view of the screen swiftly, keeping a wary eye on Maine and Wash. On the screen, Matthew shook his head, holding two fingers delicately to his forehead.

“What are you waiting for? Contain it already.”

Sudden loud screams rent the air, Maine gurgling as growl as the pressure on his ears drove him to his knees, almost everyone on the bridge following his example. The armored guards around him drew in close, holding those ridiculous weapons to them, the sheer volume of sound they were emitting warping the air around them. Rain screamed loud and long, body quivering in the air, then she seemed to start dissolving, flecks of her form peeling off. Maine pulled his hands away from his head, reaching out to her, terrified, and then the next few moments came to him in a moment of still images.

Rain’s body suddenly expanding outwards in spikes, driving through the armor of the guards surrounding them. Bodies on the floor, armor rent apart and seeping blood. One of the scientists screaming soundlessly, tendrils of black going through his body, peeling pieces of it apart. Matthew’s eyes suddenly going wide, a look of confusion and panic on his face. Gren lunging forward, grabbing him and pulling him towards the door. Wash writhing on the ground, a seething black mass above him. Then Maine snarled and drove an elbow into the mercenary’s face, diving back towards his teammate, struggling to get his prosthetic underneath him.

“What are you doing, you idiot? I’m trying to save you!”

Maine ignored him, running forward to grab Wash’s arm and start dragging him backwards, looking desperately towards Rain. She screamed, body formless, tearing apart everything she could get touch. Maine saw the man on the screen look towards him, and they locked eyes for a heartbeat, the world stilling. The eyes hardened, then the body moved forward, disconnecting the call as Rain slaughtered everyone on the bridge.

-RAIN!-

She screeched in response, a sound of agony and misery, and he finally saw her disks, looking towards him, starting to move and gathering her body together. Maine watched as one of the scientists stood shakily, holding one of those sound-emitting guns, and his warning had Rain turning, slowly building a screech. Then Wash drove his elbow back into Maine’s prosthetic, drawing out the laser weapons, and Maine snarled as he fired them, twelve shots almost disintegrating the body of the scientist. Rain cut off her screech as Maine pulled the weapons back into hiding and continued to drag Wash backwards, glancing around a moment before turning and darting after him, leaving the bridge smoking and in shambles.

There was a sound, and Maine whirled and pinned Gren to the wall, snarling, and it was only Rain pressing against his mind that kept him from tearing the mercenary’s head off.

-need him-

Maine growled low in his throat, then he yanked the weapon out of the merc’s hands and shoved him to the ground.

-Access code for control room weapons Barry-

“Why the fuck would I do that?”

Rain screeched, body flaring threateningly in front of him, and the mercenary frowned. Maine felt a strange sensation, his vision dimming for a moment, then the moment passed when Gren shook his head.

“Know what? Fuck this. Access code is twenty-one oh three, experimental weapons are in the lab with that other creature, and Barry’s in a holding cell a floor below the hangar. Once you get in the control room, take a watch. They have maps built in. The lab is room K1-407, Barry’s holding cell is C7-2043. Got all that?”

Rain hummed, a confusing tone, and Maine allowed Gren to stand, watching as the mercenary brushed himself off and shot a pitying look at Wash, struggling to stand, pants stained dark red.

“There’s a first-aid kit in the control room. There should be biofoam for that gunshot. Won’t last long, but it’ll get you out.”

“Fuck you very much, asshole.”

Gren gave a two-fingered salute, then spun and left the bridge. Wash finally gained his feet, leaning against the wall heavily, and Rain made a concerning croon, sweeping down to look up at him worriedly.

“I’ll be fine. Seen worse. Done worse. Come on, let’s move before someone discovers the bridge.”

Maine nodded, and Rain melted forward into a human, standing underneath Wash to help him move. He blinked at her, fastidiously ignoring her naked body, and Maine snorted.

“Not one word.”

They took only two steps before the alarms started blaring, and they could hear alarmed shouts down the long hallway. Rushing, Maine ran forward, punched the access code into the control room, then he and Rain dragged Wash in, closing the door behind them and activating the lock. Once the door was sealed, a blue light flickered above the main console, and the accusing form of Epsilon waved his arms at them in irritation.

“Hey, what the fuck did you guys do out there? The ship’s going crazy, the onboard A.I. system is trying to move troops- not an easy thing to relocate them, by the way- and we’re sending out deep space pings? What the fuck?”

“Long story, Church, but it can be told later. Eject now, we need to go.”

“I don’t have everything yet!”

“We need to GO, Church”, Wash snarled, punctuated by Maine’s growl. The hologram flickered, the lights on the console blinked twice, then the ship went dark, leaving the emergency lights running.

“Okay, I got what I could and turned off the main power. Ejecting now.”

Maine reached out and palmed the Epsilon device, slipping the chip into a slot on his prosthetic as he turned to search for the first-aid kit. Wash had already found it, pawing through the bag for the syringe of biofoam, and sighed in relief when he found it.

“Oh thank god.”

Maine helped him tear off the leg of his pants, and Wash guided the needle into the bullet hole, slightly above his knee and thankfully to the side of his femur. Rain made a chittering sound, spinning above them both, and Maine made a hasty tourniquet out of the ruined fabric of Wash’s pants, tying the knot steadily in place.

“Okay, we’re good. Now, let’s see if we can find this lab.”

Rain darted forward with two wrist consoles, and within moments Wash had them both on and displaying a map of the ship, the guiding arrow pointing them towards and elevator shaft to take them down two floors.

“Looks like the lab’s down here. Barry’s creature should be in here, right?”

Maine growled an affirmative, spinning towards the elevator with Wash behind and Rain darting ahead. They could hear the sound of a squad down the hall, but before the soldiers came into sight they had ducked into the lift, closing the door and selecting the floor they needed. Rain quivered nervously, body rippling, and Maine reached out to touch her lightly.

-will be okay?-

-We’ll be fine. This is the sort of thing we trained for on the Mother of Invention.-

Rain hummed, but didn’t press the topic. Maine sent an approving thought. This wasn’t the time.

The door dinged, and Maine ducked out into the hallway, sweeping Gren’s pistol from side to side before grunting an all-clear to Wash. Then, taking the lead, he pressed close to the wall and continued on, keeping the map in the corner of his vision to warn of any hidden doorways.

-soldiers ahead keep still going somewhere else-

Maine and Wash both froze, listening to the sound of jogging boots approaching and leaving. Rain chirped when it was clear, and they darted across an intersection, Maine glancing towards the door that lead to the lab. At the keypad, he kept watch while Wash punched in the code, raising an eyebrow in surprise when the code Gren gave them actually worked.

-couldn’t lie-

-I expected him to try anyways.-

He passed the pistol back to Wash, and stepped backwards into the doorway until Wash signaled the lab was clear and he could enter fully, closing the door behind him. Once inside, he turned and blinked, staring at the wall in front of him. Wash was grinning like a dog with a fresh bone, glancing back at Maine mischievously.

“Remember, you can’t take everything.”

Maine grunted, stepping forward to catalogue the weapons and weigh his options. He knew he should be grabbing the plasma rifles, but found himself reaching for a familiar weapon instead, feeling the familiar heft and he pulled it off the wall and under his arm. He inspected the chamber, then grabbed a belt of ammunition off another table, ignoring Wash chuckling behind him.

“And you say you’re not nostalgic.”

Maine swung the Brute Shot across his back, glad it had a strap for now. The belt of ammunition he swung across his other shoulder, reaching out to grab a belt with a pair of plasma rifles anyways. Wash had similarly equipped himself with a pair of matching rifles and another strange weapon, almost as long as he was tall that glowed a menacing orange. Maine raised an eyebrow, and Wash shrugged.

“Got used to these on Chorus. Don’t worry, I know how to use it.”

Rain chirped in the back of the lab, a reminder, and they both turned back and walked behind the weapons wall, staring at a glass cage on a pedestal. The bottom was covered in a thick layer of darkness, and as they watched it stirred briefly, a single white disk floating to the surface to look at them. At the sight of Rain the other two immediately snapped up, rotating quickly as the head of it slowly rose. Rain sent out a tentative thought, but if she received a response it was quieted by the cage.

“Okay, any ideas how to open this?”

Maine simply raised the stolen pistol and fired three shots grouped in a triangle. The first two ricocheted, merely chipping the glass, but the third shot finally sent a deep crack running through the front pane, and finally they could hear it’s thoughts.

-KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL-

Rain sent out a mental scream, and the other silenced itself, snapping backwards away from her. After a moment it ducked forward again, a feeling of seething anger barely restrained seeping from it like poison.

-Where is Barry?-

-searching for LOOKING going next-

There was an angry growl, and then it ducked again at Rain's warning as Maine shot out the rest of the panel. It surged forward, darting for the door, and only stopped at Rain's wordless command. Hovering in place, Maine could see the form quiver, and felt the barely contained fury.

-wait need others-

“Others?” Wash asked hesitantly, and slowly it dawned on the both of them that this was the lab, and they were most likely not the only ones in here.

Maine turned around the room slowly, seeing the glass boxes in the dim red light. In all of them laid a pool of inky blackness, though some were starting to shift with the commotion.

“Four more. How are we supposed to control four more?”

Maine only shrugged and leveled the pistol once more, aiming for the box that held gold-colored disks. They pulled back, out of direct fire, and he fired six times, emptying the clip. The glass cracked and shattered, and a wave of worry and concern flooded over them, accompanied by the mental image of an old woman in her sixties.

-search-

The gold one sent a wave of graciousness towards them before darting towards the ventilation ducts, vanishing out of sight. Rain turned to the next box, turning back expectantly at Maine.

-This one isn't anchored.-

-can control contain-

-If you're sure- he responded, taking out a plasma rifle and aiming it for the very corner. As he took aim, a single red disk floated slowly to the top, seeming to spin slowly. His finger squeezed the trigger as the other two joined it, rotating slightly. The shot left his gun, the kick sending him back slightly, and then he turned and calmly aimed the gun at Wash. Expressions darted across Wash's face, confusion, betrayal, hurt, and anger, and before Maine could squeeze the trigger again Rain screamed and lunged across the room, batting the red disked one out of the air, and suddenly Maine was aiming a plasma rifle at a friend with the safety off and no idea what he was doing.

Wash must have caught the expression on his face, because his own expression turned to one of shock and disbelief before Rain squealed again and pinned the other one to the ground, where it promptly submitted and lay still.

-NEVER AGAIN- she growled, and Maine caught a whiff of meek submission as he turned around to see Rain letting the red one up, allowing it to coil low on the floor. He glared, and felt Rain's hesitation.

-doesn't know better knows only pain-

-We can't take responsibility for that.-

-brother-

Maine paused and then nodded. Wash stared at him incredulously.

“You can't be serious.”

It wasn't a question, and if it had been Maine wouldn't have been able to answer it. Instead he fired three more shots, releasing the remaining few, all which submitted quietly to Rain once free. Two darted off immediately once given permission, and Maine could see them vanishing off into the ventilation systems.

-Where are they going?-

-anywhere- was the whispered response, and Maine could only give her gentle reassurance as he eyed the remaining two carefully. The red one lay still, seemingly keeping a quiet eye on Rain, while the sky-colored one twirled around her hesitantly.

“Maine, I don't know about this.”

-need them-

“Are you sure?”

Rain sent a feeling of affirmation, returning to Maine, followed closely by the sky-colored and the red. Maine kept a careful eye on the red one, and the disks whirled as it must have caught his dislike. Rain hissed a warning, and it lay low again, though Maine could feel a slight touch of sadistic amusement.

-Keep an eye on that one.-

-yes-

Barry's creature spun its disk angrily, asking Rain a wordless question, and Maine was the one who responded.

-Deck C7, room 2043. Get him ready as best you can.-

-Thank you- was the only answer as it vanished down through the floor panels. As it left the red whirred questioningly, and Rain hissed once more as Maine headed for the entrance to the room. It and the sky colored obeyed and took point, sliding low to the floor as Maine and Wash took a left for the elevator.

-empty SAFE-

Maine grunted and gestured Wash to enter, turning backwards to keep an eye out for behind them. Though with Rain and the other two present, he should have plenty of warning before anyone managed to sneak up on them.

-he doesn't hear LISTEN well-

Maine sent a questioning thought, and she sent him an image of red disks.

-Then I'll have to depend on you.-

Wash set the destination to deck C and Maine ducked in just before the door closed, raising his weapon for the moment. It was silent, before Maine grunted and handed the device containing Epsilon to Wash, who set the device hesitantly into the slot on the back of his neck.

“Fucking finally! What's going on?”

“We're getting Barry and getting the fuck out of here. Maine, who was that man?”

-Matthew- Rain hissed, disks spinning, and the red one gave a strange snarling chirp in response to her anger.

“Who the fuck is Matthew?”

-at the Gardens scientist worked with Phil Maggie-

-He was the one they sent forward to the future.-

Rain repeated his statement to Wash, who then relayed it to Epsilon. The blue image on Wash's shoulder flickered.

“He was disguising himself as a scientist on Sidewinder? Why?”

Maine grunted. He couldn't think of a reason and that bothered him. “Matthew” was seemingly already in charge of a large, wealthy corporation. What purpose would he have at a lab in the middle of nowhere? Time travel couldn't be the answer; with the Director hiding ties to Cerberus he would have already had access to Wyoming's technology.

-looking searching for ME-

-But why? If he made you and released you why would he be looking for you?-

Rain couldn't give him an answer. Wash hummed in irritation.

“We'll have to worry about it once we're off this ship. At the moment we have bigger problems.”

Maine nodded as the elevator ticked to C, and Rain sent him an all-clear as the doors opened. She took the lead to Barry's cell, the other two twisting after her, and he couldn't help the chill he felt when the red one passed by. Rain sent him a reassuring thought as he limped after her, Wash bringing up the rear and keeping an eye out.

-nothing here-

“Rather be safe than sorry.”

Maine felt her prepare a response before she let out a surprised -Oh-, and when he turned the corner he was equally surprised to see Gren standing before him with Barry slung over his shoulder, the other creature twisting around him angrily.

“Nothing?”

Rain let out an embarrassed pulse, ducking down, and Gren furrowed his brow before turning to Maine.

“C'mon, this way.”

“And where are you taking us?”

“Back to your ship.”

“Why would you be doing that?”

“Because if I stay here I'm dead”, Gren answered flatly, turning as he shifted Barry further up onto his shoulder. The man groaned in pain and his creature hissed, body forming into small spikes as it hovered over the man protectively.

“What makes you think we're taking you back with us?!”

“Did I not give you guys directions and send all the troops to the other side of the ship?”

-why?-

Gren paused at Rain's question, turning back to look at her.

“I had a feeling. You don't become a successful merc if you ignore those feelings.” He turned away again, leaving Rain feeling puzzled, and Maine gently nudged her into following him. As he passed the red one he noticed it was staying very still, staring after Gren and Barry.

-Rain?-

Her disks spun in question before she caught his intent, and he felt her send a probing thought to the red. She pulled back in surprise.

-What is it?-

-Gren-

He blinked and looked at the mercenary's back, who seemingly hadn't noticed yet. As Gren turned a corner the red one sent out a quiet hum, spinning after him swiftly, and Wash turned to Maine.

“What?”

Maine could only shrug. It wasn't important now. Wash grunted mockingly back and Rain twirled her disks in amusement.

“Are you fuckwits coming or not?”

Wash rolled his eyes and turned the corner, leaving Maine to limp after them and keep an eye on their backs. Gren led them to a maintenance elevator, and Wash closed the mesh gates once Maine crossed the doorway. Gren pushed the button to go up a flight, grunting as he pulled Barry back up to his shoulder once more, and Wash stepped forward to take him from the mercenary.

“You have armor, give him to me.”

Gren didn't hesitate, almost throwing Barry onto Wash's shoulder, who winced as he took the additional weight on his injured leg. Maine sent him a concerned look, and Gren laughed without humor.

“What a fucking lot we make.”

Barry's creature shrieked angrily, Rain giving a soothing touch, and on the floor the red one hummed low while the sky-colored one shrank back into the corner of the elevator. The air was tense between all of them, and Rain sent out a wave of gentle reminders. The elevator's rattling came to a halt, and then Gren took point out the door, the red following him closely as Maine followed.

-Anything?-

-people mechanics on far side can't hear us-

“All clear”, Wash relayed, following Maine as Barry's creature followed him. At Rain's command the sky blue slunk low along the floor ahead of them, and Rain turned to Gren.

-ship?-

“The one you came in.”

Rain communicated briefly with the other one, and the sky blue darted to the right, investigating the way. Gren watched it go, face twisting with an unreadable emotion as he glanced down at the red next to him.

“Problem?”

“Why the hell did you let those fuckers out?”

“Rain said we needed them.”

Gren let out a dry laugh.

“Yeah, we need them like we need a knife to our throats.”

He turned back in time to miss Wash's confused look and glance at the red, turning to slap the hull of the small transport that brought them in. The door opened, the sky blue already inside the ship. Gren did a quick sweep, ignoring Rain's all clear before settling heavily into the pilot's seat while Wash settled Barry into a seat and Maine closed the doors.

“Buckle up, I want gunshot wound up here.”

“My name's Wash, and why?”

“So you can tell your group to get those damn engines fired up and ready to go. As soon as this transport launches they're going to know and they're not going to be happy about it.”

“Gotcha.”

Maine settled into the back next to Barry, strapping himself in as Wash limped his way to the cockpit. Gren opened communications, patching Wash through the barrier, and Carolina's helmet filled the screen, her body holding an aggressive stance that softened as she saw Wash.

“Wash? What's wrong?”

“Shit went down, get the ship fired up and ready to go to slipspace. We have Barry and everyone here is confused for the time being, but we've gotta move fast.”

“Is Maine flying?”

“No, that would be me”, Gren answered sarcastically, and Carolina turned to Wash with clear confusion.

“It's a long story Carolina and I will explain later but we need those engines running when we get there-”

“In five minutes or less, if you could, because the alarm just sounded and I'm going to be making a very hasty exit.”

As he spoke the bay darkened and hazard lights started flashing, the bay doors slowly lowering the bomb shields. Gren cut the call short, cutting Carolina off mid-word, and hurriedly fired the engines and picked the ship off the floor.

“Hey, Wash? Do me a favor and hit the boost button.”

“Are you insane we are still inside-”

“NOW!”

Wash slammed his fist down on the turbo ignition, yelling as the ship whirled around and shot for the door. Maine grunted and braced himself against the roll cage, Rain making a shrill noise of alarm, and then the ship scraped its way past the closing doors and launched itself out into open space. There was a moment of stillness, and then Wash whooped.

“Fuck yes!”

Gren snorted, turning on the autopilot to stand and walk to the cargo area where Maine was strapped in. Barry's creature hissed quietly, and Gren side-eyed it as he sat across from Maine.

“So what's the plan?”

“Get on the Angry Bitch and get the fuck out of here”, Wash called from the cockpit, and Gren ignored him as he stared Maine in the eye. Maine was silent for a moment, thinking, but he knew what Gren meant.

They would be hunted, and there was no escape from a man who could time travel.

-No.-

Wash poked his head around the corner, looking at Maine in confusion.

“No?”

Maine glanced at Rain, and she curved her consciousness around his, allowing him to speak through her.

=We're going back to the Angry bitch.=

Maine snarled, and Rain hummed stubbornly alongside him.

=And then we're going to find Matthew and end this.=

Chapter Text

“So you want to find this Matthew person and kill him, is what I'm getting?”

-yes-

Carolina tented her fingers thoughtfully over her plate, ignoring her dinner for the moment. On the other side of the room the Reds and Blues were pretending not to eavesdrop, and Wash was currently downstairs in the brig keeping an eye on Gren and the red disked creature that has attached itself to him. Barry was in the medical bay with his creature. He regained consciousness briefly enough to scream in agony. They could do nothing but wait on the med bay machinery to help him now.

“Epsilon?”

Carolina brought a spoonful of cold mashed potatoes to her mouth while the hologram flickered to life above the table.

“I'm still piecing everything together 'Lina, but I am finding nothing on whoever this guy is supposed to be. Cerberus has no figurehead listed, and it's very clear now that this guy is not the Matthew that was supposed to go to the Gardens.”

“Anything on Cerberus themselves?”

“Ohhhhh yeah. Like we guessed before, the warship River Styx DOES belong to Cerberus, though they were supposed to be on the other side of the galaxy fighting Covenant forces when they were assaulting the Gardens. No action was taken against them for not going to their assigned post, so I'm guessing the posting was a cover up.”

“Any central location?”

“Only the ship we left, no known locations on other planets.”

“Do you have ANYTHING that's useful?”

“Jeez, what crawled up your ass? Don't answer that. I did find an encrypted log book, seemingly by the guy we'll stick with calling Matthew for now. Though I don't know if log book is the word for it, it seems more like the ravings of a madman.”

“Could the encryption key be off?”

“More like he's certified bat-shit crazy. Though from what I'm reading, there's a bit of an excuse.”

“Mind sharing with the class?”

Epsilon's form flickered, becoming the face of a man Maine thought he knew well. The face was scowling, rubbing at his forehead.

“Seventeen iterations and still nothing. Seventeen times I've lived the past ten years Over and OVER again. How many more times until I find Origin? How much longer must I suffer the same decade, the same conversations, the same facade? Origin EXISTS! I know she does! I know because I have already broken her down and ripped her apart like the machine she is. But I still can't find the source. I've traveled across time and space and STILL I can't find the appropriate paradox. Somewhere there is something different that creates Origin, but the problem is what! Every time I reset the clock there is something small that changes, something infinitesimally small that changes how the events unfold. She's SOMEHWERE-”

The face freezes, gripping his own skull hard enough the fingers turn white. He pauses for a second, and then relaxes.

“Once more then. Surely Origin will reveal herself this time.”

“Am I hearing that right?” Carolina asked quietly, turning her eyes sideways to Maine. He had frozen right at the beginning.

“From what I can tell, yes. There's at least ten log entries from the same person for every day and in each one he looks different. There's not enough time for him to record all of them if that was all he was doing.”

-what is Origin?-

Carolina looks at Rain, who had gone still, disks turning slowly.

“I don't know, but it's what we need to find out.”

-He's lived the past ten years over seventeen times.-

Carolina nodded as Rain relayed the statement.

“Which makes him at least one hundred and seventy years old with that much experience.”

Her face hardens.

“And that makes him a very dangerous man.”

-

The door slid open with a hiss and Maine limped into the room, nodding to Wash sitting in the corner and reading a book. Inside the cell Gren yelled furiously, seemingly to himself if one didn't know better.

“No! I am not dealing with one of you sick fucks, choose someone else!”

A feeling of irritation and smug satisfaction washed over Maine, who shuddered at the feeling. Rain flattened, upset, but remained quiet. As he turned the corner he saw Gren pacing angrily, with the red disked creature curled up in the opposite corner. The red disks rolled to look at them curiously as they approached, then dismissed them and returned the focus to Gren, who only swore when he saw Maine.

“And what the fuck do you want?”

-where Matthew Cerberus?-

“Like hell if I fucking know, I only did what I was told.”

Maine was silent. He knew as much already, but it was worth asking. He sighed, then settled himself heavily in the chair outside the cell, crossing him arms over his chest and drumming his fingers thoughtfully. Distracted from his fate, it only took Gren a few moments to follow, settling on the bunk and glaring at the red creature as it slid closer.

“So what the fuck are you guys going to do to find him?”

-Sidewinder-

Gren looked surprised, and Maine grunted a confirmation.

“Why Sidewinder?”

-where he found me him-

“So you think he'll be going back there too?” Maine tilted his head, and Gren looked thoughtful. Wash turned the page of his book, and he spoke up again. “It could work. You know you'll be seriously outnumbered though?”

“Yep”, came Wash's voice, not looking up from his book. Maine glanced at the cover and snorted at the title.

“You seem awfully comfortable with the idea.”

“Wouldn't be the first time”, Wash stated while Maine shrugged. Gren stayed quiet, the red creature made an interested noise. Rain slid in and out of Maine's armor, reluctant to keep away from skin contact after Cerberus. He reached out and casually scratched her skin as she did so, the red disked one watching them intently.

“I'm assuming a little bit of help wouldn't be missed?”

“Depends on what your motives are for that help.” Wash finally looked up, any pretense of a goofball gone. Now he was the Freelancer Maine knew well, staring Gren down while waiting to hear what he said. “I find it hard to believe that you'll help us just out of the kindness of your heart.”

“How about helping you for any chance to remove this creature from my mind”, came the flat response, and Maine glanced down to see the creature's reaction. It flattened, ignored by Gren, and pulled back slightly.

-It's not so bad- he projected, letting Rain speak privately to Gren, who only scowled in response.

“Maybe for you, but this thing is not so gentle as yours.”

-Murdoc-

The room stilled, and Maine glanced down at the creature. It didn't elaborate, merely pulling back underneath the bed and curling up on itself. Gren only lifted a lip at the word.

“I don't care what you want to call yourself.”

Rain hissed threateningly at Gren, flaring, and from underneath the bunk a low snarl sounded in response. She stopped, hiss turning into a confused chirp, then slid back into Maine's armor and remained there. Wash paused for a moment, then folded the corner of his page down (Maine grumbled), and stood and unlocked the cell door.

“Well, since you put up such a convincing argument, might as well let you go play with the other kids.”

Gren snorted, not bothering to rise quite yet.

“Yeah, definitely not because I'll be a good meat shield.”

Maine rose, Rain darting out of his armor to shapeshift into a human and help him up.

-Wait until Murdoc jumps in front of you and then see if you're the meat shield.-

He turned and left, Rain forming into vague shapes as she circled him, with Wash close behind. Gren remained where he was, and the door shut firmly behind him. As the door shut, Wash turned and raised an eyebrow at Maine, flicking his eyes down to Rain.

“Not biased a little bit?”

Maine fixed him with a flat look.

“Never mind.”

Tucker came out of a side hallway, glancing back in the direction they came from before following the pair back to the control room.

“Are you guys sure this is a good idea?”

“We don't exactly have the manpower to keep a guard on him, and I'd rather him be on our good side when he gets out then to be locked up, eventually escape, and be pissed at us.”

“Okay, fair point.” There was silence for a moment before Tucker spoke up again. “So are we really going back to Sidewinder?”

“Yep.”

“Fucking bullshit man.”

“Yep.”

Maine snorted, thumping his fist into the door lock to open the control room.

“I thought that was fixed?”

Maine paused and looked down at the now-dented button.

-oops-

Wash snorted and Tucker let slip a surprised laugh. Carolina looked up from the screens as they entered the room.

“How'd it go?”

“About what we expected to happen, we'll see if he ends up helping or not but at least he's not hostile.”

Carolina hummed thoughtfully, looking back down. Maine walked along the side of the screen to join her, looking down curiously. A portion of the screen showed the projected arrival time to Sidewinder, a small sidebar held their current supply list, and the majority of the screen was running calculations on something Maine couldn't determine. He made a questioning gesture, tilting his head slightly as he looked at Carolina. She glanced up at him, a small smile quirking her lips.

“I'm having Epsilon run some probability calculations.”

“On?”

“You sure you want to know?”

Wash grimaced.

“Probably not.”

“We should be arriving at Sidewinder the day after tomorrow. Hopefully that's quick enough to catch him off guard and give us an advantage.”

“And if it isn't? Gren knew about this ship.”

“If it isn't, we'll do what we always do and improvise. We seem to be getting a lot better at that as we go on.”

“At some point our luck's going to run out though”, Tucker interjected, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Maine nodded, conceding the point. Rain hummed thoughtfully, spinning over the screen she saw through four different sets of eyes. Something caught her interest, a number on the edge of Carolina's vision, and Maine glanced down.

He tapped the screen abruptly, half shoving Carolina out of the way as he did so and ignoring her sounds of protest as he scrolled back up. He stopped at the bottom of the list, stilling. Rain froze as well, a wave of agony and despair crashing through them both.

-nonononononono-

Maine growled, low and sad, and the screen flickered as Epsilon's attention was brought to the line as well. Stirred, he hurriedly brought up the keyboard, typing out a single command.

DELETE THIS

Are you sure?

Maine paused.

YES

The screen went black briefly before turning back on, and Maine leaned back, fighting against an overwhelming emotion. Rain came with him, rubbing against every surface she could, and he reached a hand up to comfort her, aching and empty.

“Maine, what's wrong?” Carolina demanded, leaning forward and staring at the screen. He shook his head, turning away and leaving the room.

“Maine? Maine! Get back here-”

He whirled and snarled at Wash, Rain screaming in furious agony behind him and flaring outwards in a clear threat. Wash took a step back, startled, and before any of them could recover he left the room, heading for anywhere quiet. As the door closed behind him he could hear Carolina demanding the information and hoped that the A.I. would stay quiet. In his head Rained howled, soul rent into pieces, and her pain made him stumble, sagging against the wall.

-Hold on for just a few moments longer.-

The maelstrom of pain and sorrow suddenly vanished, tucked away into a dark spot in his heart, and he limped his way deep into the belly of the ship, collapsing into the first dark room he could find. He remained in the middle of the empty floor, arms curled around his knees, curled up around the small, fragile form of Rain in his lap.

They screamed.

-

It was hours later when they finally emerged, bodies aching and hollow. Rain steered him to the cafeteria, and he absently obeyed, quiet and lost in his thoughts.

-don't need HAVE to please-

-We do-, was his only response, the truth in it heavy and undeniable. Rain quieted and pressed herself more firmly into his back, humming quietly just for him to hear. He smiled and paused for a moment, closing his eyes.

-I love you.-

The wave of pure adoration and all-encompassing love flooded him, and he stood for a few moments longer, soaking it in. A noise in the cafeteria distracted him, and he opened his eyes, reassuring her for a moment before opening the door and stepping in.

The Reds and Blues ignored his presence, but in the corner of the room Wash and Carolina froze, leaning over a table covered in charts with Gren sitting across from them, clearly going over plans. They stared at him openly, causing Gren to turn and look at him in confusion as well, and Maine strode across the room on legs that were only slightly shaky. Carolina eyed him with mild suspicion, silently giving him a promise that she WOULD talk to him later, and then bent back over the blueprints in front of her, gesturing for Gren to continue.

“As I was saying”, he started, eyeing Maine before turning back to the blueprints, “there will be posted sentries in these corridors, in three squads of six, two squads stationary and another patrolling between them. I was never in that room, but whatever is in it is very important.”

“Important as in...?”

“Important as in he killed his lead scientist when he walked in without permission”, Gren answered flatly. Wash blinked and stayed quiet. “Getting to this point will be fairly easy if we manage to catch him by surprise, since Sidewinder's weather is usually protection enough against any real incursion. If he's ready for us it's going to be an entirely different story.”

“How bad are you expecting?”

“Fifty percent casualties.”

“On whose side?” Wash asked, mystified, and Gren met his eyes.

“Ours. If we're lucky and what he has out there are just the standard soldiers. If he's fit them with that Hellhound armor we will not make it in.”

“Hellhound armor? Is that the experimental armor he was working on?”

Gren raised an eyebrow.

“I won't ask how you got that information but yes, it is. Last I heard only one suit was even barely operational but the goal was to make you Freelancers obsolete.”

Wash snorted and Carolina furrowed her brow, thoughtful. Maine eyed the blueprints, tapping at a side corridor.

“It's a vent hall, for heat distribution. A human can't fit through that, I doubt you could even fit your arm through there.”

Maine paused, and Rain stirred in terror, sliding against his back.

-NO not leaving you-

-If you don't everyone dies-, Maine thought softly, softening the edge of the words, and Rain stilled. After a few seconds she sagged, giving him quiet acquiescence. Maine grunted, and Rain slid out of his armor. Gren recoiled away from her but looked thoughtful.

“It could work, sending her and the others in. We have three? They're practically indestructible, it'd save us from soaking up a lot of bullets.”

Murdoc snarled sharply, drawing attention to his previously unseen location underneath Gren's chair. Gren lifted a lip in disgust and kicked at his chair.

“At the very least stay quiet, since I can't get rid of you.”

Maine snarled and stepped forward, leaning over Gren in a clear threat. Murdoc made to come to his defense and leaped back when Rain charged him, flaring in equal fury. Maine held the position for a second, watching Gren nervously swallow, and then stepped back once he was certain his point was made.

=No more.=

Gren stayed silent but nodded sharply, hate on his face and wisely withheld. Carolina and Wash just watched silently, waiting until Maine stood down before continuing.

“So with them helping us, how would you consider our odds?”

Gren took a moment to find his thoughts again, eyeing Maine with unconcealed anger before turning his attention back to the task at hand.

“With them helping, if there aren't any more of those sonic guns, our odds will be significantly improved. I saw the aftermath of when you guys left the Gardens.”

Maine growled low and watched Wash and Carolina's faces harden. Gren was unashamed, looking at them directly when he said it. Maine had to restrain himself, wouldn't have been able to if Rain wasn't a soothing presence in the front of his mind.

-it'll fix correct repair?- Rain asked quietly, mental voice small.

-I hope so-, he answered, flicking his eyes to Carolina before leaving and heading to the kitchen after she nodded. For once the smell of food had him ravenous, and he didn't need Rain's coaching to fill his plate. Tucker waved him over from the other side of the room but Maine ignored him, instead dragging a chair over to the corner furthest away from everyone, chewing thoughtfully. The taste of each food was overwhelming, and Rain reveled in each flavor, tucking the memories away for later. He paused a few bites into his pasta, noting the specks of seasonings he didn't know the names of.

-Who cooked?-

-Grif-

He hummed, spinning his fork slowly, and then took the bite and quietly finished eating his food.

Chapter Text

“Anything up on the radar?”

“All clear.”

“Then hang on kids, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.”

Maine nodded and ducked out of the cockpit, slamming the side of his fist into the bulkhead twice, a warning to the sim soldiers in the back of the ship. Grif started whining as Simmons forced him down and told him to strap in, Sarge yelling at them both, and Lopez was already secured, praying loudly in Spanish. Donut was fairly quiet, face pale and tense in his seat. Tucker tried to convince Caboose to sit, and in the end needed Rain's intervention before the man would do so, Tucker nodding up to him in thanks. Maine nodded back, settling down a few seats away from him and strapping himself in.

The spent the primary stage of the descent checking their weapons, Maine running through the controls of the prosthetic in a sequence, checking each shell of the Brute Shot's munition belt, guaranteeing the charge level in the plasma rifles was full. He knew that each weapon was ready to go, but the familiarity of the process calmed him, and it worked for the others as well when they followed his lead.

The secondary stage of the descent was spent screaming.

The winds tore at the ship, throwing it miles upwards before yanking it straight back down again, throwing it from side to side as if it was a toy. Maine grunted, hands white as they gripped the roll bars surrounding him, and Rain slid across his shoulders nervously, steady where he could not be.

-will make it-, she said firmly, projecting so the whole ship could hear.

“You're pretty certain for a creature that's indestructible”, Gren grumbled, sitting directly across from him, and above his seat in the shadows of the bulkhead Murdoc stirred, a serpent in the dark.

-we will protect save-, Rain reiterated, reminding them all of her and the other creatures' roll in the descent. The sky blue chirped worriedly, spinning absently through the cabin. Rain had assured them all that the blue was just as capable of shape shifting as she was, though she had yet to demonstrate it.

Or even prove that she would save them if it came down to it.

Rain gave him a mental reprimand, and Maine blinked, chastened. Even Barry's creature was here, for a reason it had not fully disclosed to the rest of them, hovering angrily by the door and vibrating occasionally. Maine switched his gaze to it, distracting himself as the ship plummeted through the sky yet again.

-Are we certain it's in control of itself?-

-We are all looking for completion.-

Maine blinked as all the voices rang in his head at once, even Murdoc's harsh growl echoing throughout the room. Each creature had stilled, disks turned in his direction, and Maine felt slightly unnerved.

“What did you do?” Tucker asked cautiously, eyeing the creatures, and they all relaxed simultaneously, returning to their previous activities.

-we are ALL here-, Rain hummed, and Maine could only nod in acceptance, Tucker still eyeing them all suspiciously.

“Ground impact in sixty seconds!” Carolina called back, and Maine could hear Grif start whining even as he braced himself against the cage, knowing it wouldn't help but unable to override the instinct.

“Why did she use the word impact? Why not, you know, landing? Settling? Touching down? Why impact?”

“Just shut up and brace yourself!” Simmons yelled back, voice cracking from anxiety, and Maine turned his gaze to the ceiling, remaining silent and breathing slow to force his heart to beat slower. Rain helped, closing himself off from his nerves, and he closed his eyes in gratitude. He kept track of the seconds with his heartbeat, counting down silently, the voices around him fading out and becoming background noise along with the sound of the ship's engines screaming and the wind howling outside. In the blackness of closed eyes there was only that familiar, welcomed orange glow, counting down with him.

One.

His eyes snapped open and he half stood in his restraints, absorbing the shock through his legs and unlatching the roll cage before the ship had even fully settled. Wash met him at the door to the cockpit as he stood on his feet, weapon raised and at the ready, taking point to the hatch door, and the moment the ship stopped sliding the hatch was open, the two of them ducking out and checking opposite directions, each calling out an all-clear as the others unbuckled and prepped.

The winds howled, visibility reduced to almost nothing, and Gren ducked out into the cold, holding a holographic watch in front of him.

“The door's fifty meters that way.”

He pointed and Maine nodded, Rain slithering out of his suit and gliding towards the door, black form a stark contrast to the snow, visible even through the storm. She stopped in range of the sensors, body flaring to make herself more visible, and they all held their breaths, waiting.

Nothing happened.

“Wash, you're up. Reds, move forward, Blues, cover them”, Carolina commanded, staying where she was and providing cover with the Blues. Maine and Gren took point, Wash protected between them as his job was to handle the door lock. As Maine walked by Carolina a blue light flickered to life above her shoulder, causing Maine to pause.

“Four minutes for the brain to die.”

Maine stopped, and Carolina looked down sharply at Epsilon.

“What's that mean?”

“Oh, uh, nothing? Fun fact, it takes four minutes for the brain to die after the body does! Thought that was interesting and wanted to share it?”

Carolina didn't buy a line of it but lifted her lip and allowed it to slide, glancing back into the snow. Maine waited until she was looking away and nodded down to Epsilon in gratitude.

“Use it well.”

Wash knelt in front of the door, connecting a wire from his suit to the lock, and after a few seconds analyzing it he nodded.

“Thirty seconds.”

Maine grunted, back to him, scanning the blowing snow. Behind him, to the other side of Wash, he could hear Gren's incredulous grin.

“We have the advantage, I can't fucking believe it.”

Maine growled caution, keeping his eyes wandering the horizon, and twenty seconds later the blast doors slid open without any resistance.

Maine and Gren both spun, weapons raised in alarm, and paused at the empty room before looking at Wash, who grinned sheepishly.

“Sorry, it didn't take quite as long as I thought it would.”

Maine grumbled then signaled the Blues forward as Gren and the Reds cleared the room. Nothing waited for them, no automatic sentries, no armed guards. Maine frowned at the ease of their entry. Gren paused next to him before Wash opened the next set of doors.

“I know this was exactly what we were hoping for but it still feels too easy.”

Maine grunted in agreement, unconsciously checking the level of his plasma pistol again before holstering it and pulling the Brute Shot off his back. Gren eyed it, staring at him.

“You sure you know how to handle that thing?”

“He's sure”, Carolina answered for him, approaching as Wash knelt down in front of the next lock. “Let me see the map again?”

Of course they had already gone over the plan repeatedly, until even Caboose could repeat it back to them nearly verbatim. Still Gren lifted his wrist, touching the button on the watch that brought up the holographic map.

“This door will bring us into the main complex, where there should be patrolling squads in groups of two. The creatures should be able to alert us of their presence, making them easy enough to either avoid or take down depending on their location. We'll follow this main corridor north, take this one west, and the room will be at the very end.”

Carolina nodded, Wash giving a two-second warning before opening the door this time, and as it slid open they all had their weapons raised, waiting. The doors revealed a clear hallway, Rain and Murdoc sliding forward to investigate themselves and also declaring it clear. Maine felt his skin prickle as Rain returned, feeling uneasy.

-I don't like this.-

She hummed in response as Gren and Murdoc took point, Barry's creature and the skyblue alongside him, followed by Wash and Carolina. Maine took the flanking position behind the Reds and Blues, keeping an eye behind the group.

“There's nothing?” Carolina asked quietly, looking back, and Rain chirped confirmation.

-building empty silent nobody-

Gren stopped in his tracks, looking back at her.

“What do you mean empty?”

-nothing-

They froze for a moment, and then Gren swore and started sprinting back the way they came.

“Shit, it's a fucking trap-!”

The door slammed shut just before he reached it, and he slid as he tried to stop colliding with the metal wall. He only partially succeeded, slamming his fists into the door as he caught his balance, and Carolina jogged up behind him, Wash already dropping to his knees and hooking himself up to the lock.

“The lock cycle's changed!”

“Open it!” Carolina snarled, spinning to scan the still-empty hallway behind them with her rifle, the Reds and Blues crowding around her.

“I can't!”

“What do you mean you can't!?”

“I don't even know what kind of encryption this is!”

“Epsilon!” Carolina shouted, a blue light flickering to life on her shoulder and sliding to the door.

“On it!”

The intercom flickered to life with a static noise and they all snapped their weapons towards the speaker, fingers on the trigger.

“There's no point, that door is sealed for good. Why don't you come see me, like you wanted? I'm very excited to meet you all. Especially that creature with you, Maine. Do make sure to bring her along.”

Maine snarled as the intercom flickered off, Rain bristling beside him. They remained in place for a moment, then Epsilon broke the silence, electronic voice low and infuriated.

“He's right 'Lina, I can't open these. They've been completely disabled. We don't have a choice. We're gonna have to play it on his terms.”

“Like hell”, she growled, lowering her weapon finally. Everyone followed her example, and she spoke again, voice steady. “We're going to go to that room, as soon as we get there I want all of the creatures to go into that room and tear it to shreds. Maine, Wash, and myself will follow immediately after with the heavy weapons. If anything's left after that I want the rest of you to take care of it. Got it?”

“Oh god”, Grif moaned, but nodded with the rest of them, Caboose loudly exclaiming, “Bath sink!”

“Let's move then.”

They followed that order down the halls, checking each doorway as they passed, unease growing as every room turned up to be empty of people, though personal belongings still lingered, food still on the tables in the mess hall, rotting quietly and abandoned.

“This is some horror movie shit right here”, Tucker whined, and Wash jumped as he spoke up.

“Please don't do that it's already creepy enough here.”

“He's not wrong”, Simmons defended, and Carolina shushed them all, turning to glare at them.

“Sorry”, said all three in unison, and their trek continued uninterrupted. They reached the corridor they were supposed to turn down and stopped for a second, sending Rain first, and at her clear signal moved forward, ducking cautiously around the corner. At the end of the west hallway they stopped, ten yards in front of the door that unlocked as they watched it, clicking open slightly.

“It's a trap.”

“I know.”

“If we go in there we're dead.”

“I know”, Carolina growled in frustration, shooting Gren a glare. He just shrugged, stepping back behind the Freelancers.

“You said you guys were going first, so lead on.”

Maine snarled in disgust at his cowardice, shoving past him to stand next to Carolina and Wash. Murdoc growled, though whether it was at him or Gren couldn't be determined, and he didn't move from his spot beside Rain, preparing to jump into the room.

“Silence until we're in the room, sync on three, one, two-”

“Sync”, they all repeated, Maine grunting and Caboose mimicking him, and Gren gave them all a bewildered look. Then Carolina was stepping forward, the creatures lunging ahead of her and forcing the door open.

Their unison doomed them. The moment the creatures entered the room they were frozen, bodies vibrating in place, suddenly cut off mentally from the rest and unable to warn them quickly enough. Maine, Wash, and Carolina, so close behind them, stepped on the floor and immediately froze as well, armor locking them in place, an intense vibration settling into their bones until they tasted metal and their teeth hurt and all thoughts were driven out of their mind. Tucker and Gren, right behind them, were also caught, though the rest of the Reds and Blues were spared by the sheer virtue of there not being enough space for them to walk through the door.

The room was painfully bright, walls and floor illuminated and stark white, a wide ring set into the floor, protecting the center, that they were caught on. In the center of the ring Matthew sat in a lone chair, leaning back comfortably, surrounded by a black cloak flecked with burnished amber.

With the vibrations distracting him it took Maine a while to realize that it was not a cloak, and as Matthew leaned forward it stirred, sliding formlessly behind the man, bronze shards the shattered remains of its disks. Matthew rose to his feet, stepping towards him, but Maine could only stare in horror at the creature behind him, seeing the shards gather together, even covered in grime and dirt, tarnished with age, the color so familiar. The disks slowly formed, some pieces missing, leaving bare holes, but the Y-shaped crack was there on one of the disks, staring at him dully. In front of him Rain began screaming in confusion, fighting through the vibrations. Maine could do nothing in the shock.

“You recognize her, yes?” Matthew grinned, walking up to Rain, leaning forward to examine the disks. Behind him the other creature remained still, an obedient husk. “It was that original crack that gave me the idea, you know. That the disks could be damaged, perhaps pieces of them removed. I used her to create the rest, named her Origin for her sacrifice. How could I have guessed that it was herself that I created? But paradoxes can't exist, and so the cycle came back and healed itself.”

Behind him Origin stirred, sluggish and slow, and Maine felt his eyes begin to water.

“You were always destined to come back here to this time and place, always. It just took a few attempts to find the correct timeline, to the one where you lived just a few minutes longer and she had time to find you. But here we are, and here you are, and I have to thank you for bringing her back to me. The Origin I knew has outlived its usefulness. I can't remove any more shards without threatening her physical integrity. With a younger version of her, though, I can continue the cycle anew.”

He paused.

“Especially now that I know where to find her on the next iteration.”

Maine blinked, eyes finally spilling over, hidden behind the dome of his helmet. Behind him he could hear Simmons gasp as he finally understood, looking into the room with horror and taking a step back. Matthew leaned to the side, around the door, and addressed the others.

“You might as well leave, I have no quarrel with you. I have what I need right here. You'll find the door open on your way back.”

“No way! You're insane!”

Matthew shrugged at Simmons' bravado.

“Suit yourself. Origin, kill them.”

The command took a second to register, for them and Origin. He could feel what was left of her consciousness, ancient and fractured, almost nothing left that marked her as a sentient creature. The vast expanse flinched at the order, then the form in front of him shuddered forward, menacing and eternal, the floor rotating Maine and the others out of her way so she could cross. She didn't hurry. She didn't need to. The hallway sealed behind the Reds and Blues, leaving them nowhere to escape, and in a panic they fired their weapons, entirely ineffectual as the bullets dropped off Origin's skin. She loomed over them, shards not moving, the abraded consciousness of her form dead to all of them begging and crying for their lives. She would kill them and feel nothing, and she moved to do so.

There was a furious scream, and suddenly Maine was flooded with blind fury, vision going white and ears ringing. When his mind cleared Rain and Origin were writhing in the center of the room, Rain so much smaller but eternally quicker. Her body and mind were lightning fast, an advantage as Origin took a moment to recognize the challenge that was even being offered, but the rage that flooded over them all once the mind woke up was insurmountable. Matthew stared at them in shock.

“That's impossible-”

He was interrupted by Rain's scream, deafening, and Origin's bellowing response to the challenge. It was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began, and somewhere in the confusion the vibrations of the ring stopped, releasing all of them. Maine didn't hesitate, and neither did the other creatures. He snarled as he swung the Brute Shot to his hip, pulling the trigger and watching the grenade rounds fly towards Matthew even as Murdoc and the other creatures lunged for him. But Origin freed herself from Rain's entanglement, blocking them all, screaming in mindless fury as Matthew yelled at her.

“Protect me and kill them all!”

The sound that followed was best described as similar to a foghorn, Origin shuddering in revulsion and pain as the form expanded. Spikes erupted from her and Maine rolled out of the way, growling when Sarge didn't move in time and was impaled. His death was near-instantaneous, arms fumbling weekly for his shotgun before finally going limp. Maine tore his eyes away and snarled and fired grenade after grenade into the black mass, throwing the Brute Shot aside when the belt ran out.

-HIS CHAIR-

The sound of all their voices rang in Maine's head, and he lunged for the center of the room, finally seeing the console on the arm, ignoring the sight of Tucker underneath Origin because he had to. A spike drove for him, catching his intent, and the sky-colored creature blocked it, whistling a challenge at Origin. Maine watched as Origin's shattered disks lunged forward, ravenous, the sky-colored creature screaming in terror, and then it was consumed, the mental touch vanishing and leaving a hole behind. He stopped for a second, stunned, but had no time to process the loss.

Wash lunged into existence next to him, firing that orange rifle into the mass, actually causing Origin pain and distracting her for the moment.

“Go, I'll cover you!”

Maine ran forward as Wash fired repeatedly, flinching when a spike moving for him was blocked by Barry's creature, watching it be impaled and dragged back towards the mass. The white disks spun at him even as it was dragged backwards towards its death.

-You and Rain both need to go, it can't be done by one of you alone. None of our lives matter if you don't make it. Go!-

Wash came up behind him, shoving him forward even as he ducked to avoid another lashing tendril, Rain's terrified screaming somewhere in the background.

“I don't know what it's talking about but if you've got a plan get your ass moving! We're getting slaughtered!”

His words were punctuated by a tentacle slapping him across the room, and Maine had to run on even as Wash collided with the wall with a wet sound, sliding to the floor with no resistance. But the way in front of him was clear, and Rain was there waiting for him, disks spinning so fast they were a bronze blur.

-Maine!-

-I'm here.-

He reached the chair, fiddling with the controls even as he sat down, entering the date he had memorized so very well. Rain gave a panicked warning and his head snapped up before he could continue, seeing Matthew before him, disheveled with a pistol leveled at his head.

“I can't allow you to do that”, he snarled, eyes wild. Maine snarled back in defiance, and then Matthew's eyes widened a split second before Murdoc lunged from behind Maine, entangling himself around the man and growling savagely. Origin screamed as Matthew did, and Maine finished entering the sequence that Rain provided in the second he had. He glanced up as he pressed the last button, seeing Carolina across the room, helmet dropping to the ground. She stared at him, time pausing briefly, standing over Wash's corpse. She met his eyes and nodded as the room went white, and he forced himself to pretend that the tears on her face weren't there.

-

Time travel was nauseating, he decided, falling forward out of the vortex and removing his helmet to vomit onto the ice. Rain twirled about him anxiously as he wiped his mouth with a handful of snow, the silence as shocking as the violence he had just left.

-How long do we have?-

She just drew his attention to the cliff edge in front of him, and he crept forward, peering over the edge. In front of him he saw Sarge attaching the car hook to his own chest, so long ago and yet right now, watching another version of himself get dragged off the cliff by the falling Warthog. It was a few hours before the UNSC came and went, the time passing by in a blur. He wished it would last longer, enjoying these last few moments with Rain, minds melding together into a haze, but then the ice was clear, and they had no more time left. Rain made a noise of loss as they separated, and for a brief moment he almost gave in to the temptation. But then he composed himself, standing, and Rain gave a sad whine before helping him down the slope.

-How deep was I when you found me?- he asked, standing at the edge of the ocean and looking down at the shattered ice, already starting to freeze over. The memory was so long ago, her swimming for him, and he nodded, hesitating a moment longer.

-will stop her me-, Rain promised, ducking down to face him with three still disks. Maine nodded, leaning his head forward to touch hers.

-Come find me when it's done.-

-Four minutes-

He nodded, and then took a step and fell forward, activating the space seals on his armor as he did.

The fall took a few moments but the impact was harsh and would have shattered his bones if they weren't augmented with mesh, and inside his suit his missing leg ached. He let the momentum of his dive carry him down before he started swimming, knowing he would have much farther to go yet. The external lights on his suit flickered on, revealing a slick of oil slowly finding its way to the surface, and he followed it downwards deep into the abyss.

He wasn't sure if it was the distance or the water surrounding him, but he couldn't hear Rain, and for the first time in a long time he was alone, surrounded by blackness and silence. He emptied his mind, forcing out the images of Sarge and Wash dying, the glimpse he had gotten of Tucker being crushed into the floor from the corner of his eye. As soon as this was done none of it would matter any more. All he focused on was the way down, the oil trail all he cared about.

It was all he could care about now.

The faint glow of headlights surprised him, a further approach revealing the twisted mess of the warthog, familiar white armor buried into the tire well of the car. He hesitated, treading water and staring at himself, wondering if there was any other way around this. But he knew there wasn't, and he reached forward to grab the bumper of the car, ripping it off with a sharp squeal. He held it up, aiming carefully even as the warthog continued to sink, and then he felt the vague touch of Rain in his mind.

He spun, bubbles blocking his vision, unable to see anything with the darkness of the ocean. And then there were shapes in the distance, twisting around each other, vaguely whale-shaped.

-Maine!-

The voice was full of despair. His heart wrenched.

-do it now NOW-

He turned, dived the further fifty feet the warthog had sunk. His other body had curled forward, and he reached out to straighten it, to better aim for the heart.

It jumped, suit lights flickering on for a second, and Maine was momentarily faced with his own dying body reaching out and grabbing his arm. The face behind the domed helmet was familiar yet unfamiliar, staring at him in confusion. Then the body sagged and he leaned it backwards, placing the serrated edge of the metal bumper against the chest of the suit. In the distance he could hear an agonizing scream, echoing through the water, and he couldn't tell what Rain it was. His muscles flexed, accented by the power armor, and the metal was forced through his heart, nailing him to the warthog as his final coffin. Maine was already kicking off and spinning away as the body seized, the countdown starting in his head as he swam for Rain, mentally searching for her, a soundless need screaming in his mind.

He felt her response, kicking in that direction, saw the two forms of Rain savagely fighting, both in equal loss and desperation. For a moment he couldn't tell them apart, and then her mind embraced his, and he knew which one she was, so far away and out of reach.

Three minutes.

She screamed in agony, diving towards her past self, trying to subdue it before the moment was lost, but her other existence had already experienced the pain and would not release her, mind sending out waves of pure torture and devastation. Rain spun away, seemingly free for a moment, aiming towards Maine, but then she was yanked back savagely, body near torn in two.

Two minutes.

He yelled past his mutilated throat, for a moment distracting the other Rain, making her freeze with confusion, and his Rain let loose an agonized howl before she tore into her past self, ripping her apart before she could restrain her again. Maine had to push against the waves of pain, crippling as it was, because there wasn't enough time-

Forty-five seconds.

She left the remains of past Rain as they were, still partially alive and in agony, screaming as she writhed through the water, body flickering between shapes, trying to find anything that was faster-

Ten seconds.

They were too far apart and they'd never make it, the weight on his chest might as well have been the ocean crushing him for all the pain it caused him but still he swam, so close, so close, if he could just move a little faster, if his past self's brain just took a little longer to die, maybe-

Zero.

Rain screamed, mind wrapping herself around his, reaching for him as he reached for her, climbing into negative time, desperate for any second that fate could spare them, feet away, closing fast, inches, almost there, fingers outstretched and

-

“Wash, are you coming?”

“Yes, I'm coming, hold on”, Wash grumbled, ducking out of the small transport into the light drizzle, blinking as a small droplet bounced off his nose and into his eye. “Really.”

Carolina turned, raising an eyebrow in question, and he shook his head at her and waved her on.

“Nothing, just got rain in my eye.”

She snorted and led him through the small city planet, the sunset bathing the streets in a glorious golden hue, accented by bronze lampposts that slowly flicked on, one by one, leading them through the streets. At the edge of a park she met their contact, and after introducing himself Wash stood a ways off, acting as the guard Carolina certainly didn't need but the role required.

He hummed lightly, looking around and drumming his fingers on his arm, soaking in the view. The city was swiftly switching from a light gold to deep amber, the sun catching in the light rain that fell, turning each into burnished droplets of gold. He tilted his face up, briefly closing his eyes and enjoying the warm drizzle as it caressed his face.

Carolina concluded their business rather quickly, startling him as she nudged him back into awareness, and he tripped over his feet slightly as he fell into step beside her, continuing to hum as they walked back to the ship.

“So?”

“So the deal's on.”

“Good.”

Wash was silent for a few moments before going back to humming again, a song he vaguely remembered but couldn't quite place. After a few seconds Carolina looked over at him, an amused smirk on her face.

“Are you okay?”

He grinned in response, throwing out his hands and playfully twirling in the warm rain before falling back into step at her side.

“It's just a really nice day today.”

She paused a second, looking around her before continuing, seemingly noticing the weather for the first time and knowing her it was likely she was. She thought for a moment and then smiled softly, tilting her face into the last rays of sunshine, rain leaving small trails on her face and dragging lightly at the loose strands of hair.

“Yeah, I suppose it is.”

Chapter Text

There isn't much time left, I suspect, before this universe collapses. If Maine is successful in the past this timeline should hopefully cease to exist, and all the shit that's happened will never have happened.

Everyone's dead now, except Carolina and Gren. At the moment they're assessing their losses, but I don't have time to reassure them. Our time left is possibly measured in seconds, and there's so much information here to sort through. For the moment I think we're safe. After Murdoc killed Matthew Origin stopped, and is currently motionless in the center of the room. She's been unresponsive to all of Carolina's attempts to kill her. Not that Carolina's tried too hard, because at the end of the day, Origin is Rain, and Rain is someone they all loved.

I know it doesn't matter, but the information regarding the creatures draws me, so I'll spend my last few moments in this world sorting through all the records. There's a lot here, and just in case Maine fails, well...

Maybe this information will be useful.

The creatures that we know are living paradoxes, brought into this world by a singular event of indeterminate origin. Consulting the records that Matthew has made, I think it's safe to say that the time travel event during our confrontation with Freelancer Wyoming ruptured the natural timeline enough to create a paradox, where Rain/Origin was first created. It's after this event that time gets strange, because it was the younger version of Matthew that inherited Origin from the older Matthew, so in a sense Matthew had Rain all along, and the Matthew we know was the Matthew spending his time trying to find where Rain first came into existence.

From there Rain was tortured and fractured, splintered off into hundreds of pieces. I can sympathize with her in that aspect. The first generation was where Rain was reborn, and the older Matthew had gone back in time to release her so that the loop could start again. It took seventeen attempts to find the correct sequence of events in time that led her back to him. It was only the timeline where Maine lived, and Hargrove did not have the Meta armor, so that we were more easily able to defeat Locus and Felix and fly through space in time for our ship to fail and crash at the Gardens on Sidewinder. Such a simple change, Maine living three more minutes for Rain to happen to wander by and find him, created all of this and led us to where we are now. It's unknown whether a human mind can appreciate the intricacies of this event, but in case Maine fails I will try to explain it to Carolina later.

The anchoring event is still unknown by Matthew, but looking at the records I think I've figured it out. The creatures anchor whenever someone of significant enough value makes a decision that could potentially alter the timeline and change the sequence of events. The most notable is when Rain anchored on Maine when Maine lived just a few minutes longer, where something happened in his mind to decide to fight just a little bit more. The second one that we most likely can determine is when Murdoc anchored on Gren, shortly after Gren decided to help us escape Cerberus. It solidifies the theory that they only anchor on significant events, as Gren had previous contact with Murdoc before this event where Murdoc did not anchor. Reading back through the records, Barry admitted to anchoring to his creature shortly after considering the option to run for president. Each anchoring event was a decision that led us to this place (it is unknown what impact the cleaning woman that the gold anchored to had, and most likely it will never be known. The records indicate she had considered quitting her job that day).

Each fragmented piece of Origin has the same abilities of various strengths, most likely due to the fact that they were all splintered off of the same source. Confirmed abilities are telepathy (to the extent that bodily functions could be controlled through their contact with the mind), shape shifting, and traveling through dimensions (as living paradoxes, it is impossible to determine how they did this, only able to record the fact that they could). Each could be well-described as a 'knowledge sponge', soaking up information and processing it faster than I think even I can. It was these abilities that allowed Matthew to gain funding enough for this project, and enough influence to skirt the laws regarding experimentation on sentient beings.

Something has shifted, and records are starting to disappear, so I believe it is safe to say that Maine has succeeded. Either that, or Matthew's death in this timeline altered it enough that the paradox of Rain could never be brought back and create this loop. I'm hoping that Maine was successful. I don't want Carolina to have to live on through a timeline where she's lost all of her team for a second time. I don't think she'd survive it. Origin is starting to disappear as well. It's strange to watch the fragments of her disks vanish slowly, the black form that is her merely fading into non-existence.

Carolina's starting to panic, and Gren has fled the base with Murdoc behind him. I'm going to go back to her, let her know that things are going to be okay. This record won't live, but Wash, Tucker, Caboose, and all the others will, so I think the exchange is worth it.

The only one who truly loses is Maine.

-

Death smelled like sulfur and tasted like ash, Maine decided, coming into awareness in a lightless and weightless void. He wasn't sure if his eyes were open, and decided it didn't matter, letting himself settle into the nothingness. He was prepared to accept his fate of living like this for the rest of eternity when there was a flash of orange light in the distance, and a wave of happy screaming echoing in his head.

-Rain?-

-hereHEREhere I am HERE-

He reached out his hand, searching through the darkness, and within moments he could feel her warm skin sliding against his hand, the joy filling him with a bright and vivid array of emotions and colors. He drew her close, feeling her slide all along him, and for a moment he allowed himself to enjoy her presence. Finally, though, he couldn't delay any more, and he could feel her sorrow as he drew away momentarily.

-Where are we?-

-pocket dimension!- she hummed, and he could feel her presence spinning around him.

-How?-

She whistled, and he felt her presence on his mind, closed his eyes to see the memory of them reaching for each other, with not enough time and the universe collapsing all around them, something that she could feel while he couldn't. The desperation when she realized that they wouldn't have enough time for one last embrace before they vanished into nothingness, that she wanted and needed to say goodbye for the final time. The power rippling through her as she tore a hole in time and space between them, sucking them both into the void, just for a few more moments of time with him so she could say goodbye properly.

He felt the tracks of tears on his cheeks, and he reached up to wipe them off before reaching out to mentally embrace her.

-Thank you. For this, and for all the time before.-

She hummed, sadly, leaning against him, still and uncertain.

-what happens will happen?-

-Time will go back to then, and this timeline will have never existed. I will die, and you'll just... disappear.-

Her emotions were black and gray static, contrasting the bright colors of the moments before.

-don't want to disappear-

-If we don't, they all die. If we go, time will go back and they'll still be alive.-

She screamed at his logic, torn, and he reached out to touch her, dragging his fingers down her smooth skin.

-I was never supposed to live. I'm ready to go.-

-don't want can't never meet youYOU-

-But we did, and I don't regret a single moment of it. Now, though, we need to save our friends. For once I know that I'm doing the right thing because it's hard, and I want nothing more than to not do it. We have to, Rain.-

She lunged towards him, flattening herself across his chest, as if to shield him from this choice.

-Do me a favor?-

She hummed, listening.

-Don't tell me when it ends. I don't want to know.-

The emotional sob ripped across his mind, but he felt calm, certain. Eventually she stilled, finally accepting what needed to be done, and Maine closed his eyes, letting himself drift across their shared consciousness. She was running through all their memories simultaneously, desperate to save them all, and he smiled softly into the blackness.

-love you- she said suddenly, firm and unrelenting, flooding him with the emotion. He opened his eyes, a faint light coming from somewhere to glint off the orange disks, and he reached out to tap one.

-Love you t