There are very few activities more psychologically damaging than waiting for someone to murder you.
I'd discovered this approximately three hours into our siege.
By hour four, I had developed opinions.
By hour five, I was prepared to write a strongly worded review.
ONE STAR.
Poor atmosphere. No snacks. Would not recommend.
The four yellow signatures hadn't moved from the corpse spire.
J.
V.
And the two strangers.
They were visible only through long-range observation cameras and intermittent sensor contacts.
One was huge.
Not N-huge.
Not even Murder-Drone-huge.
This thing had been modified until subtlety had apparently filed for divorce.
Thick armor.
Broad shoulders.
Oversized arms.
Weapon housings attached along both forearms.
The other was the opposite.
Lean.
Narrow.
Built like somebody had taken a normal Disassembly Drone and asked:
What if anxiety had wings?
Neither N nor Uzi recognized them.
Which was deeply comforting.
I love unknown murder robots.
Really improves the day.
『 CURRENT EP: 3,847 』
That number didn't stay still.
Over the next seven hours, I moved through the bunker.
Not because I was farming terror.
The system barely rewarded blind panic anyway.
Fear pointed at nothing useful.
Fear that swallowed every other emotion became static.
But fear wasn't the only thing inside this bunker.
Workers sitting beside friends generated relief when I approached.
Children—well, drone equivalents—stared at me through shelter doors and forgot to be afraid for thirty seconds.
Maintenance crews laughed when I stole Khan's screwdriver.
That had been an accident.
Mostly.
N hugged me approximately sixty-four times.
That was not an accident.
Workers who had refused to stand within ten feet of him yesterday now watched him reinforce barricades.
Some still hated him.
Some still feared him.
But every time N lifted another steel plate into position, every time he quietly moved aside rather than frightening someone, every time he asked permission before entering a crowded room—
something changed.
Not forgiveness.
Possibility.
My system drank that up.
『 SIEGE-WAIT HARVEST 』
248 Workers observed over seven hours.
Primary harvestable responses:
Relief
Gratitude
Trust
Humor
Hope
Protective affection
Pack reinforcement
Total gained:
+2,400 EP
Current EP:
6,247
Okay.
That was ridiculous.
Apparently emotional-support dog during an impending apocalypse was an excellent career path.
Very niche market.
Phenomenal compensation.
At hour seven, I sat in the command center beside Administrator Lara.
Screens covered the wall.
Maps.
Camera feeds.
Door status.
Ventilation.
Structural integrity.
Emergency shelters.
Uzi had taken position near the central junction with her railgun.
She'd changed it.
Again.
Because apparently giving a teenage engineering gremlin downtime was equivalent to handing a chimpanzee uranium.
Three bulky capacitor cells now sat along the weapon's side.
Three shots.
Not rapid-fire.
Not safe.
Probably not legal in any civilization that respected insurance companies.
But three.
N stood near the primary entrance.
Wings folded.
Claws ready.
He wasn't smiling.
That was how I knew he was scared.
N smiled when nervous.
Smiled when embarrassed.
Smiled when frightened.
Smiled while being threatened.
If N stopped smiling entirely?
Things were bad.
Through our bond, I sent:
You okay?
His answer returned much clearer now.
Scared.
Then:
Still here.
Good.
Come back.
His head lifted slightly.
Even through several walls, I felt his affection flare.
Always.
A voice crackled through the command center.
"Observation One to command."
Lara instantly leaned toward the console.
"Report."
"Movement."
Every Worker in the room froze.
"All four contacts airborne."
My stomach dropped.
"Direction?"
Pause.
Then:
"Us."
Silence.
"Estimated arrival?"
"Four minutes."
Lara stood.
Her voice changed.
Not louder.
Harder.
"All stations."
Every bunker speaker activated.
"This is not a drill."
Workers stopped wherever they were.
"Hostile contacts inbound."
Emergency doors began closing.
"Noncombatants to shelters."
Red lights activated.
"Defensive personnel to assigned stations."
Uzi's voice came over the communication channel.
"Finally."
Khan answered from engineering.
"THAT IS NOT THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE."
"I've been standing here seven hours!"
"YOU COULD HAVE USED THAT TIME TO RECONSIDER!"
"Dad!"
"Love you!"
"...Love you too."
N's voice interrupted.
"They'll split up."
Lara looked toward his camera.
"Why?"
"Because J knows we can hurt her."
N's expression was grim.
"She won't try the same thing twice."
I extended Emotional Intuition as far as it would go.
Nothing.
They weren't close enough.
Yet.
N continued.
"J likes control."
His claws extended.
"V likes chaos."
Pause.
"The other two..."
His visor narrowed.
"I don't know."
That bothered him.
It bothered all of us.
Then Lara asked:
"What would you do?"
N looked directly at the camera.
"Don't defend where they expect."
Lara's expression changed.
"Explain."
"If I were J..."
N glanced toward the bunker map.
"I'd make us think the doors matter."
Khan's horrified voice came over the channel.
"They ALWAYS matter."
"And then I'd attack somewhere else."
Lara turned toward the map.
Exterior walls.
Maintenance levels.
Utility access.
The entire bunker became suddenly suspicious.
"We reinforced the vents," Uzi said.
"She knows."
"We reinforced the doors."
"She knows."
Lara's eyes narrowed.
"Then she attacks the structure."
N looked sick.
"Yeah."
The first impact hit ten seconds later.
BOOOOOOM.
The floor jumped.
Workers screamed.
I nearly slid beneath Lara's console.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
An alarm activated.
"CONTACT!"
A technician spun toward the structural map.
"Eastern industrial section!"
N swore.
"The wall."
Second impact.
BOOM!
Metal groaned.
The bunker had spent decades worshipping doors.
J had brought something that didn't care.
Lara hit the communications panel.
"East teams, evacuate the outer corridor! Do not hold the wall!"
Too late.
Third impact.
The reinforced plating tore inward.
Not exploded.
Tore.
A massive metal hand punched through.
Then another.
The wall peeled open.
Workers ran.
The enormous stranger stepped through.
Up close, it was worse.
It possessed the unmistakable general shape of a Disassembly Drone.
Yellow visor.
Wings.
Tail.
But someone had built armor over armor.
Its forearms were essentially weapons platforms.
One unfolded—
Workers fired first.
Bullets sparked uselessly across its plating.
The giant looked down.
"...Resistance confirmed."
Oh, good.
It talked.
I preferred when nightmares didn't.
Its arm transformed.
"East team!" Lara shouted. "FALL BACK!"
The cannon fired.
WHAM!
The corridor vanished beneath smoke and shattered plating.
Not vaporized.
Not a magic death ray.
Physical rounds.
Heavy enough to rip through Worker cover like cardboard.
Screams tore through the communications channel.
My emotional sense recoiled.
Pain.
Fear.
Shock.
I felt—
No.
Too much.
I shut down the wider reading.
Focus.
Pack.
Lara.
Uzi.
N.
VA.
Wait.
VA?
A Worker sprinted through the command room carrying an electrical coupling.
VA-7042.
The Worker from yesterday.
The one whose sister had died outside Facility Twelve.
The one who had looked N in the face and told him:
I don't forgive you.
She had volunteered for electrical defense.
Of course she had.
I projected:
Careful.
VA glanced at me.
Her bond wasn't deep.
But enough existed for the warning to arrive.
"Planning on it."
She ran.
The eastern corridor camera went black.
Lara checked casualty telemetry.
Her face tightened.
"Four offline."
Nobody spoke.
"Seven wounded."
Something inside me sank.
Four.
Gone.
Real people.
Not EP.
Not statistics.
Four people who had attended yesterday's assembly.
Maybe one had pet me.
Maybe one had laughed.
I couldn't remember.
That made it worse.
Lara inhaled.
Then:
"Secondary east line, withdraw. We are not feeding it more bodies."
Good.
The system appeared.
『 MASS CASUALTY EVENT DETECTED 』
Direct panic and grief are unsuitable for efficient harvesting.
Priority recommendation:
SUPPORT SURVIVORS.
For once, system—
we agreed completely.
Then the main entrance exploded.
Uzi's voice:
"Oh, COME ON!"
The reinforced doorway buckled inward.
J stepped through the smoke.
V landed beside her.
And behind them—
the lean stranger.
Yellow eyes swept the corridor.
J looked at the defenses.
Then smiled.
"Wow."
Her gaze moved across the reinforced walls.
"Someone's been productive."
Uzi raised the railgun.
J noticed.
Her smile disappeared.
"Especially you."
"Miss me?"
"Immensely."
V leaned around J.
"Hi, Uzi!"
"Why are you happy to see me?!"
"Because you shoot back!"
"THAT IS NOT A NORMAL FRIENDSHIP STANDARD!"
N hit J.
No warning.
No speech.
Just one black-and-yellow blur colliding with another.
They smashed through a barricade.
V laughed.
"Oh, we're starting already!"
She lunged at Uzi.
Uzi fired.
KRAK!
Blue-white energy caught V's shoulder.
The blast spun her sideways.
She hit the floor.
Rolled.
Recovered.
Still smiling.
"Ow."
Uzi stared.
"Could you be more bothered?!"
V's arm became a missile launcher.
"Sure!"
Uzi's face dropped.
"Bad question."
She dove.
The missile hit the barricade behind her.
BOOM!
I flattened my ears.
Murder Drones combat was a strong argument in favor of living somewhere else.
Like Mars.
Or hell.
Possibly Missouri.
Anywhere quieter.
Then I felt it.
Fast.
Focused.
Predatory.
The lean stranger.
It had ignored Uzi.
Ignored N.
Ignored Lara.
Its attention was fixed on—
Me.
Oh.
Fantastic.
Its wings opened.
"Administrator."
Lara glanced down.
"Biscuit?"
I sent:
Me.
Then:
Coming.
Her eyes widened.
"SECURITY—"
The ceiling above the command-center entrance exploded.
The lean Disassembly Drone dropped through.
Workers fired.
It was already gone.
Left wall.
Ceiling.
Floor.
Desk.
Movement too fast for their targeting.
This wasn't V-style chaos.
It moved efficiently.
Every motion chosen to reach one target.
Me.
Its visor locked on.
"There."
I backed up.
It tilted its head.
"So you're the reason."
Nope.
Not discussing this.
Lara drew a sidearm.
"Get away from him."
The stranger didn't look at her.
"The anomalous biological is to be recovered intact."
Recovered by whom?
For what?
How did J know enough to tell this thing anything?
Questions later.
Running now.
The stranger stepped.
I opened the menu.
『 EMERGENCY ENHANCEMENT ACCESS 』
Current EP: 6,247
Recommended:
PROTECTIVE INSTINCT I — 300 EP
Temporary physical enhancement while a bonded individual is in immediate danger.
Duration: 15 seconds.
Strength / speed / resilience: +30%
Threat awareness: increased.
Cooldown after activation.
Lara was behind me.
The stranger's claws extended.
No debate.
BUY.
『 PURCHASE CONFIRMED 』
Cost: 300 EP
Current EP:
5,947
『 PROTECTIVE INSTINCT I — ACTIVE 』
Everything changed.
Not into slow motion.
That would have been convenient.
Instead—
my body finally matched my panic.
The stranger lunged.
I moved.
Its claws passed through golden fur.
Only fur.
No skin.
I hit the ground.
Turned.
Ran.
My paws hammered metal.
The stranger corrected instantly.
Fast.
Still faster than me.
That was important.
I was enhanced.
I was not suddenly a Murder Drone.
It reached.
I ducked beneath the arm.
And bit.
CRUNCH.
My teeth hit mechanical plating.
OW.
Terrible idea.
Then instinct corrected my angle.
Not armor.
Joint.
I shifted.
Bit down where the wrist assembly connected.
Sparks exploded into my mouth.
Disgusting.
The stranger jerked.
"What—"
I pulled.
The weapon mechanism in its wrist misaligned with a sharp metallic snap.
Not destroyed.
Damaged.
Good enough.
It slammed me into a wall.
WHAM!
Pain.
But not catastrophic pain.
Protective Instinct absorbed the worst of it.
I held on.
"GET OFF!"
It slammed me again.
I released.
Dropped.
Rolled.
The stranger raised its other hand.
Gun barrel forming—
KRAK!
Uzi's railgun blast took it directly in the visor.
Its head snapped backward.
The stranger crashed through a maintenance table.
Uzi stood in the doorway.
Smoke curled from her weapon.
"Nobody shoots my dog except—"
She stopped.
"...No, actually, nobody shoots my dog. Sentence complete."
My tail wagged.
In combat.
Why.
Why did it do that?
『 HOSTILE UNIT: TEMPORARILY DISABLED 』
Protective Instinct:
3 seconds remaining.
I ran back toward Lara.
The enhancement faded halfway there.
My legs suddenly felt terrifyingly normal.
I collapsed beside her.
She crouched immediately.
"Biscuit."
Fine.
Mostly.
My ribs disagreed.
But alive.
Very alive.
Then N's pain hit me through the bond.
I spun toward the monitor.
J had him pinned against the wall.
Her claws buried through his shoulder.
"You had ONE job, N."
N kicked her away.
"Yeah."
He tore himself free.
Oil sprayed.
"I quit."
Okay.
Good line.
J apparently disagreed.
She punched him through a door.
V meanwhile had pushed Uzi back toward the command corridor.
Workers fired from cover.
V danced between shots.
Laughing.
Not untouched.
One round hit her side.
Another clipped her wing.
But she loved this.
This was the nightmare scenario for everyone except V.
The eastern giant struck the blast door.
BOOOOM.
Integrity:
61%.
Another.
49%.
Lara looked between feeds.
"We're losing the east barrier."
N heard.
His head turned.
J noticed.
She smiled.
There.
The trap.
Keep N occupied.
Let the heavy stranger break through.
I sent:
N. East.
His response came instantly.
J.
Uzi holds.
Uzi heard through our connection.
She was breathing hard.
One capacitor remained.
"Go!"
N hesitated.
"N!"
V lunged.
Uzi ducked beneath her.
"GO SAVE THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T HAVE A RAILGUN!"
N looked at me.
Go.
He did.
Wings exploded open.
N rocketed away.
J didn't follow.
Of course.
Her smile widened.
Uzi slowly looked at her.
"...Ah."
J stepped forward.
"You know."
Her claws extended.
"I've been looking forward to this."
Uzi checked the railgun.
Two spent cells.
One ready.
"That's sad."
J attacked.
Uzi fired.
J dodged.
Not completely.
The shot tore across her side instead of hitting center mass.
She spun.
Kept moving.
Too close now.
Uzi swung the railgun like a club.
J blocked.
Kicked her.
Uzi hit the floor.
The weapon skidded away.
My entire body moved—
No.
Protective Instinct cooling down.
Too far.
Too slow.
J grabbed Uzi by the throat.
"Your dog isn't saving you this time."
Uzi kicked her.
Nothing.
"He's technically his own person."
"Charming."
J's hand shifted.
Blade.
Then—
A ceiling panel dropped onto her head.
CLANG!
Everyone stopped.
VA-7042 fell with it.
She landed directly on J's back.
"HI."
J screamed:
"WHAT IS WITH THIS BUNKER?!"
VA jammed the salvaged electrical coupling into J's damaged arm joint.
ZZZZZRAK!
Electricity detonated across her chassis.
J's blade spasmed.
Uzi dropped.
VA clung to J like a homicidal backpack.
"This is for Facility Twelve!"
J tried grabbing her.
VA ducked.
"UZI!"
Uzi scrambled for the railgun.
The final capacitor light glowed.
"GET CLEAR!"
VA jumped.
J spun—
KRAAAAAK!
The shot hit her head.
Directly.
For one instant, J was there.
Then her visor and upper head vanished beneath white-blue energy.
Her body fell.
No speech.
No dramatic final threat.
Just—
CLANG.
Motionless.
VA stared.
Uzi stared.
I stared.
VA finally whispered:
"...Did we kill her?"
Uzi didn't lower the gun.
"N came back from that."
Good point.
"But not quickly."
She nudged J's leg.
Nothing.
"Take the win."
VA's hands started shaking.
Hard.
Adrenaline leaving.
Reality entering.
"I..."
Uzi caught her shoulder.
"Hey."
VA looked at her.
"You did good."
"I jumped on a Murder Drone."
"Yep."
"That was stupid."
"Extremely."
"You shot at me."
"I shot near you."
"THAT IS NOT BETTER."
Uzi grinned.
VA laughed.
Once.
Then again.
Then she sank against the wall.
The system chimed.
『 COMBAT HARVEST 』
Uzi:
Triumph
Relief
Respect
VA-7042:
Catharsis
Validation
Connection
+222 EP
Current EP:
6,169
No time to celebrate.
The eastern blast door failed.
KRRRRRRAAAAAANG!
The giant stepped through.
Smoke rolled around its armor.
Workers retreated.
Some couldn't.
Its cannon unfolded.
Then N hit it from above.
The floor cracked.
Both machines went down.
N screamed—not frightened.
Furious.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM!"
The giant threw him.
N hit the ceiling.
Dropped.
Recovered.
Attacked again.
Its fist caught him.
BOOM!
N vanished through a wall.
My heart jumped.
N!
Pain returned through the bond.
Then:
Still here.
He emerged from the hole.
His coat was shredded.
One eye flickering.
Still moving.
The giant aimed.
N didn't charge straight at it this time.
Good.
Learning.
He flew upward.
The cannon followed.
N reversed direction.
Fast.
Claws tore across the weapon housing.
The giant swung.
N ducked.
Tail struck.
Nanite acid splashed across the elbow joint.
Metal began hissing.
There.
Not magic power drain.
Weakness.
N attacked the same joint.
Again.
Again.
Armor held.
Joint didn't.
The giant's weapon arm collapsed.
It roared and grabbed N with the other hand.
N's wings folded.
Its fingers tightened.
"N!" I barked.
Then three Workers attacked.
Not N.
The giant.
One threw an improvised electromagnetic charge.
Another fired into the acid-damaged joint.
The third—
Pipe Worker.
Still had the pipe.
He hit the giant Murder Drone in the knee with it.
It accomplished absolutely nothing.
But spiritually?
Incredible.
N used the distraction.
His tail stabbed into the shoulder seam.
Acid.
Claws.
Rip.
He tore open internal mechanisms.
The giant dropped him.
N landed.
Uzi arrived from the corridor.
Empty railgun.
"No shots!"
"Then DON'T STAND THERE!"
"Working on it!"
She grabbed the heavy unit's damaged cannon housing and yanked exposed cables.
Nothing.
VA joined her.
"Other side!"
They pulled together.
The cannon suddenly spasmed.
Fired.
Directly into the ceiling.
BOOOOM!
Debris collapsed across the giant.
It staggered.
N hit it one final time.
Claws through the damaged neck connection.
Twist.
CRACK.
The massive Drone went down.
Not dead.
Maybe.
But its visor was dark.
Its limbs stopped moving.
N stood above it.
Bent over.
Oil dripping.
Breathing he didn't need.
He looked toward the Workers behind him.
The same Workers who had feared him yesterday.
Nobody spoke.
Then Pipe Worker raised the pipe.
"YEAH!"
N blinked.
Someone else shouted.
Then another.
N's expression—
Oh.
I felt that.
Acceptance.
Not complete.
Not universal.
But real.
Then V landed in the corridor.
Everyone stopped.
She saw the giant.
Down.
The lean stranger.
Down.
J.
Headless.
Her smile vanished.
"N."
He turned.
V stared at him.
Not Biscuit.
Not Uzi.
N.
"You really did it."
N's wings opened.
"V."
Something passed through her emotional signature.
Pain.
Anger swallowed it instantly.
"You picked them."
N looked around.
Workers.
Uzi.
VA.
Me.
"Yeah."
V laughed.
It wasn't happy.
"Figures."
She unfolded her claws.
N did the same.
For one second, I thought they were going to fight.
Then V looked at J again.
At the Workers aiming weapons.
At N still standing despite the damage.
At Uzi reaching for another capacitor someone was carrying toward her.
At me.
I growled.
V's expression changed.
"You know what's funny?"
Nobody answered.
"I actually liked the dog."
N's claws tightened.
"Don't."
"I said liked."
She backed toward the breach.
"This isn't over."
Uzi rolled her eyes.
"You guys need new material."
V ignored her.
Her gaze stayed on N.
"J won't stay down forever."
Maybe.
Maybe not.
"And whatever you've started here..."
Her wings opened.
"...something worse will notice."
Then she launched.
N could've chased.
He didn't.
Good.
Nobody followed.
We listened until the wings vanished.
Then—
silence.
Actual silence.
The bunker was still.
I looked around.
Destroyed walls.
Smoke.
Oil.
Workers on the floor.
Some moving.
Some not.
Seven.
The final casualty count would eventually become seven.
Twelve wounded.
We had won.
I didn't feel victorious.
Not immediately.
Then someone behind N spoke.
"She ran."
Another:
"V ran."
Then:
"We..."
Pause.
"...won?"
The word moved through the corridor.
Won.
Workers emerged from cover.
Won.
From shelters.
Won.
From behind barricades.
Some began laughing.
Some crying in whatever robotic way crying worked here.
Some sat beside the bodies of friends and didn't move.
Joy and grief collided.
Relief and horror.
Triumph and disbelief.
Real victory.
Messy.
Expensive.
Alive.
The sound rose.
Workers cheering.
Not because nobody had died.
Because not everybody had.
The system filled my vision.
『 BUNKER DEFENSE COMPLETE 』
Hostile forces:
J — disabled
Heavy unknown — disabled
Fast unknown — disabled
V — retreated
Worker losses:
7 destroyed
12 wounded
Structural integrity:
Bad.
Very bad.
But standing.
Then:
『 VICTORY HARVEST 』
Joy
Relief
Triumph
Hope
Grief excluded from harvesting.
+1,578 EP
Current EP:
7,747
N found me.
He moved too fast.
"BISCUIT!"
He lifted me.
My feet left the ground.
"I THOUGHT THAT THING GOT YOU!"
Alive.
"I KNOW!"
You alive.
"I KNOW!"
His arms tightened.
Not hurting.
Never hurting.
Then his voice cracked.
"I didn't know if I could get back."
I pressed my head against him.
Back now.
N went quiet.
Uzi approached.
VA beside her.
Both looked exhausted.
Uzi pointed at me.
"This idiot bit a Murder Drone."
VA stared.
I wagged.
"With his mouth?"
N looked offended.
"What else would he bite with?"
"Fair."
Uzi crouched.
"You saved Lara."
I sent:
You saved me.
She smiled.
"Team effort."
VA remained a few feet away.
I looked at her.
Then approached.
She stiffened.
I sat.
Brave.
Her visor flickered.
"No."
I tilted my head.
She laughed weakly.
"Stupid."
Uzi said:
"Both."
I sent:
Both.
VA actually laughed.
Then touched my head.
Careful.
One stroke.
"Thanks."
The system chimed.
『 PACK REUNION HARVEST 』
N
Uzi
VA-7042
Love
Pride
Respect
Relief
Hope
+378 EP
Current EP:
8,125
Lifetime EP:
8,915
That lifetime number looked considerably less broken than the old math.
Small victories.
Lara entered.
Her coat was torn.
One arm sparking slightly.
Still standing.
"Final count."
The hall quieted.
"Seven lost."
Joy dimmed.
"Twelve wounded. All twelve expected to recover."
Better.
"Three hostile units secured."
She looked toward J.
"Do not assume they are permanently dead."
Good policy.
"V escaped."
Nobody liked that.
"Structural damage is extensive."
Khan emerged behind her.
His visor displayed the expression of someone witnessing crimes against doors.
"We're going to need..."
He looked at the eastern wall.
"...a lot of doors."
Uzi stared.
"Dad."
"For the WALL."
"THAT'S CALLED A WALL."
"A wall is just a giant door that doesn't open."
Everyone stared.
Khan crossed his arms.
"I've had a difficult day."
Fair.
Lara looked at N.
"You protected the eastern shelter."
N's posture changed.
"Yeah."
Several Workers looked toward him.
Lara continued.
"You had opportunities to flee."
N looked at me.
"Didn't want to."
"Noted."
High praise from Lara.
Then she looked at me.
"And Biscuit."
I wagged.
"You are no longer permitted to charge hostile Disassembly Drones."
I stopped wagging.
Uzi laughed.
N immediately nodded.
"YES."
I sent:
Worked.
Lara's eyes narrowed.
"That does not make it intelligent."
Worked.
"Biscuit."
Worked twice.
Uzi had to sit down.
N looked betrayed.
"You could've DIED."
I lowered my ears.
He stopped.
Oh.
That was unfair.
But effective.
"I..."
He crouched.
"Don't do that."
I licked his face.
"YOU'RE CHANGING THE SUBJECT."
Correct.
THREE DAYS LATER
The bunker smelled like welding.
Everywhere.
Khan had achieved his final form.
He had become:
Construction Dad.
No corridor was safe.
Walls were reinforced.
Vents narrowed.
Physical barriers installed.
Emergency routes marked.
The heavy unknown Drone had been stripped of its weapon systems.
The fast one remained offline under guard.
J's chassis was sealed separately.
Nobody touched her without three armed Workers present.
Sensible.
We still had no idea who the two strangers really were.
Their systems contained fragments.
Mission targeting.
Navigation.
J's identification.
My image.
That was the worst one.
My image existed inside their mission data.
Somebody—or something—had told them about me.
But the deeper records were corrupted or locked.
No convenient document labeled:
EVIL PLAN.txt
Rude.
We learned one useful fact.
Neither stranger had arrived from orbit during our watch.
Their flight logs suggested they'd already been somewhere else on Copper-9.
J and V had found them.
Not summoned them from Earth.
That changed everything.
How many Disassembly Drones were on this planet?
N didn't know.
Nobody did.
With the immediate danger reduced, I finally spent points.
Not recklessly.
Strategically.
『 ENHANCEMENT PURCHASES 』
Pack Synthesis I — 400 EP
Emotional Resonance I — 200 EP
Durability II — 180 EP
Protective Instinct II — 900 EP
Total spent:
1,680 EP
Remaining:
6,445 EP
Pack Synthesis was bizarre.
Before, every bond had been separate.
Me to N.
Me to Uzi.
Me to Lara.
Me to VA.
Now—
network.
Not mind-reading.
Thank God.
I did not need Uzi's search history.
But awareness.
N safe.
Uzi annoyed.
Lara awake.
VA nervous.
Simple.
Constant.
Pack.
Protective Instinct II doubled the active window to thirty seconds and improved the physical boost.
Still nowhere near enough to make me casually fight Murder Drones.
Good.
I was not becoming Dog Goku.
Not today.
Durability II made my ribs stop complaining quite so loudly.
Also good.
Emotional Resonance?
That one required caution.
Amplifying emotions around a bunker full of traumatized robots could become catastrophically stupid.
I kept it suppressed whenever possible.
Power needed brakes.
A lesson Uzi had apparently not learned.
TWO WEEKS LATER
For once—
life became routine.
We repaired.
Trained.
Ate.
Argued.
N discovered tennis balls.
This nearly caused a religious experience.
Where did the tennis ball come from?
Nobody knew.
An old human recreation locker apparently.
N threw it.
I retrieved it.
My canine instincts achieved enlightenment.
My human consciousness lasted eleven throws before surrendering completely.
BALL.
Throw.
BALL.
Throw.
BALL.
Uzi recorded the entire thing.
I will never forgive her.
Workers gradually adjusted to N.
Some never did.
Important.
VA still didn't forgive him.
Also important.
But she trained with him.
N taught her how Disassembly Drones telegraphed wing movement before aerial turns.
She taught N how Workers reinforced power junctions.
They disagreed.
Often.
That's what real rebuilding looked like.
Not everyone hugging.
People choosing to work together despite having reasons not to.
Then the observation alarm activated.
I was asleep.
Of course.
N nearly fell out of his charging position.
Uzi burst through the door holding a railgun.
Of course.
Lara's voice came through our pack connection.
Command center. Now.
We ran.
The tactical display was already active when we arrived.
VA stood beside it.
Khan behind her.
Nobody spoke.
Yellow dots covered the screen.
I counted.
Stopped.
Counted again.
Uzi whispered:
"...That's not four."
No.
Twenty-three.
Twenty-three airborne signatures.
Spread across formation.
Different sizes.
Different speeds.
Some looked like N.
Some looked like the two variants we'd captured.
And in the middle—
something enormous.
Not just heavy.
Huge.
A silhouette moving with the group rather than flying independently.
Maybe a machine.
Maybe a transport.
Maybe something worse.
N stared.
"I don't know them."
Again.
The phrase that kept becoming more terrifying.
Lara zoomed the display out.
"Direction?"
VA answered.
"Here."
"ETA?"
"Forty-one minutes."
Khan whispered:
"How many?"
VA hesitated.
"Twenty-three confirmed aerial signatures."
Then:
"And the large contact."
Uzi's confidence faltered.
Just a little.
"We can't fight twenty-three."
Nobody corrected her.
N looked at the defensive map.
Then at the bunker.
Then at me.
"No."
Lara folded her arms.
"Then we don't fight them the way we fought four."
Everyone looked at her.
"We evacuate noncombatants deeper."
Map change.
"We deploy decoys."
Another.
"Remote weapons."
Another.
"Fallback positions."
Another.
"We don't stand in a hallway and trade bodies with twenty-three Disassembly Drones."
Thank you.
A leader with survival instincts.
VA asked:
"And if they break everything?"
Lara went quiet.
Then:
"We make sure breaking us costs them enough time for people to escape."
Not:
We all die making a statement.
No.
We were trying to live.
Always.
N stepped beside Uzi.
His hand found hers accidentally.
Both froze.
Interesting.
Neither moved it.
Very interesting.
Not the time.
File away.
I moved between them.
Looked around.
N.
Uzi.
Lara.
VA.
Khan.
Workers rushing into position.
My pack.
My second life.
Three weeks ago, my biggest problem had been an email inbox and a banana peel.
Now twenty-three Murder Drones were approaching a bunker where I had somehow become a strategic asset.
Life came at you fast.
Death apparently came faster.
The system appeared.
『 LARGE-SCALE HOSTILE EVENT DETECTED 』
Current EP:
6,445
Known hostile signatures:
23
Unknown large contact:
1
Probability current defenses can repel a direct assault:
LOW
Recommendation:
Do not fight fair.
I stared.
Okay.
That was actually pretty good advice.
Uzi checked her railgun.
N opened his wings.
Lara began issuing orders.
VA activated surveillance feeds.
Khan sprinted away shouting something about emergency doors.
And through Pack Synthesis, I sent the only message that mattered.
Together.
N answered first.
Together.
Uzi:
Obviously.
VA:
Let's survive this one too.
Lara:
Agreed.
Then Khan's voice somehow joined from halfway down the corridor.
"WHY DO I FEEL THE DOG SAYING THINGS NOW?!"
Uzi shouted:
"PACK THING!"
"WHEN DID WE GET A PACK THING?!"
"RECENTLY!"
"WHY DOES NOBODY TELL ME ANYTHING?!"
Even Lara laughed.
For approximately three seconds.
Then the warning timer hit forty minutes.
The laughter ended.
Outside, twenty-three yellow lights moved through the frozen sky.
Inside—
we prepared.
Not to die dramatically.
Not to prove a point.
Not to make some corporation remember our names.
To survive.
Because pack protected pack.
And I had already died once.
I had absolutely no intention of making it a habit.
END CHAPTER 7