The Boss android and his girlfriend trembled on the pit floor, clinging to one another, their reactors glowing with desperate rhythm. The faint hum of damaged machines echoed like a dirge around them.
Valerian stood tall above the pair, his stormy-blue glow intensifying. His voice cut through the air flat, merciless.
"Machines are just machines."
The Boss android flinched as though struck. His optics darted upward in confusion. But… he's one of us. He wears the layers, he breathes this air, his glow is not human. Then why… why does he speak like a predator looking at prey?
Valerian raised his arm. The kinetic channels in his gloves came alive, a storm of compressed energy building in a perfect spiral. Sparks hissed, the charge climbing, climbing—until it became a glowing weapon poised above the terrified couple.
One clean move. That was all it would take.
But before the strike could fall, another hand shot forward latching onto his wrist.
It was Luna.
Her lilac eyes burned, her reactor blazing pink so violently that the faint glow of her biomechanical suit pulsed through the fabric of her casual outfit. Her grip tightened around his wrist fingers slender yet unyielding.
And for the first time in Valerian's life, his hand did not move.
His eyes widened almost imperceptibly. He engaged his biomechanical strength, the storm-blue reactor feeding power into his limbs, every actuator in his suit straining. He added his human strength, every trained muscle coiling. But nothing worked.
Her grip was absolute.
Impossible. His mind clicked like gears jamming under pressure. Even in combat drills, even against Mk-2 elites, I never… no one has ever stopped me like this.
Luna's voice was low, trembling but not with fear. With conviction.
"No, Valerian."
The words reverberated through him, sharper than the hum of his own reactor.
The Boss android and his girlfriend stared upward in disbelief. The one they thought was the executioner… stopped. Halted by his own partner.
Valerian's jaw tightened. His stormy-blue glow flickered with instability. "Release me, Luna."
She shook her head, grip unwavering. "If I let go, you'll kill them. And I won't let you."
He turned his eyes toward her fully now, not the targets, not the mission her. Her flushed cheeks, the trembling rise and fall of her chest, the way her life reactor shone like a star in the dim club.
"Why?" His voice was calm, yet beneath it, something cracked.
Her hand squeezed tighter. "Because I'm not watching you destroy love in front of me. Not when I " she cut herself short, lips quivering, "not when I know what it means."
Valerian's breath caught for a fraction of a second, but his expression remained hard. His reactor flickered between red and green, storm-blue lines crawling erratically beneath his suit.
The Boss android whispered hoarsely, still clutching his girlfriend, "Why… why are you protecting us? Aren't you Mk-1 like him? Don't you want our parts, our chips, our credits?"
Luna glanced down at them, her glow softening slightly. "Because you're more than machines. You're alive. You love. That's reason enough."
Valerian stared at her, his hand still trapped in her grip. Inside, his thoughts warred like fractured circuits:
She's wrong. They're tools. Machines. If I hesitate now, the mission suffers. Flame suffers. But… why can't I move? Why does her hand burn against mine, not with strength, but with truth?
The silence grew heavy, broken only by the distant hum of faulty reactors and the trembling breaths of the android couple.
Finally, Luna leaned closer, her voice softer but laced with iron. "Valerian… if you want to strike, you'll have to break me first."
For the first time since their mission began, his composure cracked. His stormy-blue glow dimmed, his fist trembling—not from resistance, but from uncertainty.
Valerian's fist trembled in Luna's grasp, the coiled energy whining like a storm desperate to be unleashed. Then—finally—he released it. The glow in his gloves sputtered out with a low hum, dispersing harmlessly into the air.
Luna's grip softened, sliding off his wrist. She exhaled with relief, her lilac glow fading back to a calmer pulse. Her voice gentle now, she turned to the couple cowering at the edge of the pit.
"I'm sorry," she said, bowing her head slightly. "For frightening you. For… all of this. We shouldn't have brought this here."
The Boss android blinked, optics whirring faintly. His girlfriend tightened her arms around him, her diamond-shaped life reactor flickering between pink and green, confused by what she'd just witnessed.
Machines weren't supposed to hear apologies. Not from other machines. Not from Mk-1s who fought like Mk-3s.
Up on the railing, the junior android and the two half-repaired fighters watched in silence, their servos humming nervously. They'd seen countless fights in this club—blood, sparks, reactors torn apart. But never had someone stopped an execution… with kindness.
Valerian stood rigid, stormy-blue glow simmering against the cracked floor. He didn't look at the androids. He couldn't.
Then Luna did something that broke him further—she smiled at him.
Her lilac eyes caught the dim light, her reactor burning bright pink as she tilted her head, lips curling into a teasing grin. "Now, who's reckless?"
Valerian's heart lurched. Her words stabbed deeper than her grip ever could. She was right. He had forgotten himself—forgotten the disguise, the act, the mission. Humans pretending to be machines couldn't afford raw displays of strength like that. Not here. Not now.
His jaw tightened, and without meeting her gaze, he turned toward the nearest wall. Shame rose in his chest like static.
Damn it. She's right. I let emotion slip. I'm supposed to be cold, unshakable. But the moment they touched her, the moment they spoke about her parts, something… cracked. No. I can't let this happen again.
His reactor pulsed, colors mixing chaotically—green bleeding into red, stormy light flickering across his veins.
Luna's smile softened when she saw his shoulders stiffen. She knew he was retreating inward again. Still, she stepped closer and spoke, her voice warm but steady.
"I am Luna. Luna Mooncreast," she said, turning back to the Boss android, his girlfriend, and the onlookers above.
The Boss android slowly straightened, his severed arm still sparking at the joint. "L-Luna…" he repeated, as though testing the strangeness of a name offered with sincerity. His girlfriend's optics softened, her hand brushing over her reactor instinctively.
Then, beside her, Valerian spoke. His voice was quieter than usual, though still edged with steel.
"Valerian Stormbane."
The name cut through the silence like a command. The junior android twitched, processing the weight of it. The repaired fighters exchanged nervous glances. The Boss android and his girlfriend held each other tighter, staring at the two strange Mk-1s who behaved nothing like machines.
Valerian's gaze flicked toward them for a heartbeat, then away again. He didn't owe them comfort. He didn't owe anyone comfort. But his name hung there now, given freely not as a threat, but as truth.