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Another day, another step closer...

Kilo sat in her shared dormitory, legs propped up on the bare coffee table in front of her and computer in her lap. Her partner sat at the table, dealing with paperwork of his own. Their new CO was riding them hard, and even their downtime became work hours as the suits tried to weed out the superior of the pair. She plowed through the logs for the day, her mind numb to anything but the job. She needed sleep, she needed aspirin, and god damn she needed a steak. She fought hard to keep her mind from wandering, knowing right where it would go if she let it.

Ash.

She'd known about his incarceration since he'd gotten made, and despite all efforts to keep him from getting grabbed in the first place, OMNI had won out. King's "rehabilitation" was bad enough, and the lack of mind-searing telepathic interruption from the MAGIC pricks was leading her to believe he might have actually caved for good. Either way, Ash was one of the few people left she still felt she could trust, and he was stuck playing gerbil to the whims of the sick b***h up top and her stupid crush.

She knew she should do something. She knew if she didn't he'd suffer... and when they were done he would die. She knew it was the right thing to do and that PQ would kill her for letting her boytoy rot and Gera would never forgive her, but hell, she never really expected to be forgiven by her old pals anyway. And she had a mission directive. One that didn't necessarily require Ash and that did require her to hold her position in the ranks.

She knew from the start that she was going to have to make sacrifices, and she figured she'd have to watch the people she used to care about get hurt. She could have broken her cover for King, but she barely thought twice. She could have sprung PQ from Surts' claws before he sank into her, but she let it go because she had to. But Ash she was hung up on. She'd really hoped he'd have just escaped by now, but realistically speaking she knew he couldn't. They knew everything about him, and they'd built the perfect little cage for their new pet.

She snapped herself out if it. She superficially convinced herself that Ash could hold his own until the city was secure again and that he sure as hell didn't need the likes of her coming to the rescue. It was a vain effort, but all she needed for now was enough to get her through one more night. One day at a time, and maybe she could actually pull this thing off.

PQ had slept little that night, falling asleep at the same time as the moon and being prodded awake by some of her members an hour or so later. The waking was welcome nonetheless; she had dreamt of Harlow being ripped apart by unseen forces, with Black as the magician pulling the strings.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she briefly glanced over at the sleeping mechanic. CM would need to be well rested for the adventures later on in the day. So for now, the girl would sleep.

Her first stop would be Aekea Asylum. Genna's father was employed there and got her access. In exchange for this favor, PQ swore to never allow the cold hearted killing of a Regulator. These past months had made her realize more so than ever that Regulators were her people too.

Absently she picked at a ration bar while she looked over some maps of the town. She had moments when she wanted to turn herself in and give up. They had done more harm than good at this point, but she never meant it to go that far. She was almost glad that Black had been taken; there were less deaths that way.

PQ was to go into the Asylum to drop of paperwork at Genna's father's office, and to drop off some spycams. Not to mention get a look at Ash. He hadn't had any hard feelings when she said that she had wanted to end the physical relationship they had. It had been a good time, but you can't get too attached. Not when friends are being taken left and right.

Quickly jotting down a note for CM, she told the mechanic to tend to any injured cyborgs and people the best she could until PQ returned. Then they would go to the old cabaret and investigate.

Waving goodbye to the other Screwdrivers and refugees, PQ headed out into the streets.

------


Retrostacja felt absolutely miserable without PQ around. It hadn't been so bad when Harlow was around, because he liked her very very much. But not as much as his master.

Whimpering to himself in the doorway of PQ's bedroom, he barely noticed the bird until it ruffled its feathers. Ears perking up slightly, he didn't even mean to start wagging his tail. It was a natural reaction to a living creature who was at a 0% threat level.

But almost instantly his tail lowered as well as his eyes. The whimpering started up again.

He missed his master.

Power poured in through his back. The image of a sunny Gambino faded away as he started to boot himself up. Jabber's smiling fanged face, disappearing. He wanted to reach out and hold the dragon kin but was jerked back to reality by the physical restraints.

Damn it!

He opened his eyes and glanced around the room. Same carpet, same couch, same kitchen. . . Same damned boring room. He was still OmniDrink's little pawn. Their lap dog, their slave, toy. The thoughts churned violently in his mind. This body, this life, it was dead. He shouldn't be here, he should be out causing hell and havoc. Erebus wanted blood.

A clawed arm appeared overhead and clamped onto the magic core that was exposed from his chest. It turned clockwise and pulled out the glowing rod of condensed magic. The cyborg felt drained and exhausted once the core was removed. He began to breathe heavily, like he would if he had exhausted all of his magic at once.

The mechanical arm pulled back from the cyborg and placed the core into a tube chute for extraction. It turned and selected an empty core to replace the one it had just sent down. The arm returned and installed the new core into the magic sink. After the locking mechanisms were in place, Erebus was finally free from the charge station.

He gasped and dropped onto the floor. The cyborg coughed several times and pushed himself off the carpet. He clutched onto his chest, trying to catch wind. Up in the morning and he was already ready to pass out. Erebus made his way out the apartment and down to his work lab.

Damn you OmniDrink. I'll get you for this. . . Even if I have to kill everyone to do it.

Erebus pushed on and finally made it into the damned lab. Tubes of the fast-growing soldiers lined up along the walls. All of them were standing in their respective liquid-filled tanks. They were almost ready for the "birthing" process. He needed to get them checked off. Physicals, mentals, brain functions, motor control. Everything.

He motioned for one of the lab workers to give him the status reports. The dark elf scowled and went to get the papers. She walked back and thrusted the clipboard at the cyborg. Annoyed that she had to be the gopher for the freakshow. Bah, machines, who needs them?

Erebus looked over the reports and scanned them for comparison. 60% of the tanks were in good condition. 30% had anomalies, 8% were still in processing and 2% were ready to go. "Huh, just two percent? That's better than yesterday. Small squad."

He walked over towards the ready tanks and double checked the reports for each respective one. Once cleared, Erebus tapped in the code for the next phase of development. The tanks drained themselves and replaced the liquids with a new variation of the bio-chemicals. OmniDrink wanted control and these chemical batches were it. The biological conditioning. Why fight something you were born to do?

After the tanks were set, Erebus tossed the clipboard on a desk and walked out. He needed to get out of this sterile environment of OmniDrink. The cyborg was getting dizzy with the cleaning fumes and preferred the smog at the moment.

He was finally out on the dirty slushy streets. Damn it never felt so good to be cold. It felt like he needed a smoke break. Oh hell, he was turning into one with the amount of time he spent outside without a mask. Of all the things OmniDrink could have taken out, his lungs were still intact. Though, they were starting to turn dark from the smog. Didn't care, he wanted to get out of this body. This puppet body. . .

Erebus blew out a puff of air and started to wander around again. OmniDrink this. OmniDrink that. Rebels this. Rebels that. Policy changes. The cyborg couldn't get away from the company no matter where he went. Cameras everywhere. Regulators patrolling streets. Sinks every few blocks. It was maddening.

He clenched his teeth and picked up his pace. Erebus just wanted to maul something out of anger and frustration. Something or someone. Didn't matter, didn't care. He was so lost in his thoughts that he ran into a woman with white hair, black hat and sunglasses.

"Gragh, mind your own!" the cyborg growled. His voice wasn't the same as the male!Black. His voice box had been so heavily modified that he sounded dry, raspy, mechanical and two octaves lower than male!Black. In short he sounded completely new and looked new. A no face, a re-ed face with voice to match.

He didn't care and was about to storm off on his own with he caught. . Something. Magic? It was just barely there but it was nearby. His gold eyes darted around the girl from under his visor. What the hell was going on?

He knew this feeling but where, where was it? Erebus cursed at OmniDrink mentally for the tech that often got in the way. Great, now it was going to bother him for the rest of the day. The cyborg continued to think it over. Magic, familiar yet not. Like a lost memory that was so far away from his grasp.

Magic users were tagged by the system. So why was this feeling here? Orcs. They were only ones off the list.

"You. . . " Erebus started, "You aren't human are you? What are you doing here in this form? Got something to hide?"

The cyborg let out a sinister sounding laugh. The kind of laugh that could have only come from a psychopath. . . Er, former psychopath. "I'm no regulator you seriously think they let someone like me in there?" Erebus ceased his mania and looked at her dead in the eyes (er, glasses), "You really like to sell people out to cover your own a**. No wonder this town went to hell. People like you make me sick."

He pulled back from her, "If we ever do meet again, I doubt it will be on such non-hostile conditions. For now, adieu." Erebus turned and kept on walking in the same direction he was headed before. Something just didn't feel right with that girl. The hell did that magic come from?

Erebus continued his stride around town. He needed to vent out somewhere. The cyborg made a bee-line to the junkyard. It was a rather isolated place and a lot of useful things can be found there. Granted that one digs around long enough.

Erebus wandered around the piles of junk metal and parts. Some were melted together. Some were rejections from a factory. Some were just broken, plain and simple. He saw their use, this can go with that. Connect this here. Everything has their use, they just need a little something to get them working.

This junkyard, this was Aekea to him. These little scraps of metal and things meant nothing to any random passerby, but to someone who knew their potential knows the worth of these piles of junk. They may not have fit their original purpose, they may have been damaged from time and use, they may have been replaced by a newer model. . . Didn't matter, they could always be built into something else and still work. No matter how different each piece was, they all can come together and be something great.

But this idea, this attitude of Aekea had long been abandoned. A city not even worth their steel. Aekea was a garbage dump, not a scrapyard.

The cyborg began to pick up odd objects from various piles. He thought he could use them for later. Make them into something else. The best part about it, he was free to do as he pleased with these piles of scrap.

When CM woke up, she felt groggy, almost like her energy was drained. With a slight groan she sat up. Out of habit she took a moment to look around, and observe her surroundings. She was with the rebels - where was PQ?

She took another moment to look around, and there it lay, a note next to her bed. It was from PQ stating that CM should care to the injured until she returned from her duties. Though CM knew PQ was not looking she nodded to her.

In two minutes CM had herself all ready to go to work, multitool in her pant loop, and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. As she stood ready to go though, she had no idea where to start. A sigh escaped her lips, she used to be a people person, at least that is what her dreams told her. Now, she is everything but a people person, she felt almost threatened because she did not know anyone.

With a clench of her fist and another huff of air, she proceeded to walk up to a very tall man. He was obviously too tall and built for a normal human, if a human was his height they would not be as built as he was. When she was behind him she gave an audible gulp before giving a tap to his mid back,
" umm excuse me?" she shakily asked.

The man turned around, first looking clearly over her body before he took a moment and looked down upon her five foot five inch stature, " Yes?"
" Hello, I am an aquiantance of PQ and I'm here to help any injured people or robots. I was wondering if you knew where I could find anyone to fix? I'm new here, and don't know my way around very well." the last sentence sheepishly came out. She did not want to be a bother, but she felt like if she should ask anyone about knowing where something was she felt like she should ask him.

The man merely peered down at her, first with a cautious judging stare then it seemed to grow warm when CM mentioned PQ. He ended up smiling, " yes I can help you, " he paused as he raised a hand and pointed behind her, " there isn't a designated area for injured folk, but I think you can find most of them over there."

CM gave a smile, " Thank you!" she called as she rushed off in the direction of his finger. Upon reaching the location, she was glad to say it was not as drastic as she thought. She did not want to seem biased in any way, but she instantly thought on a medical point of view that she needed to attend to humans first. Though, some of them only had minor cuts and bruises, where as others seemed to be suffering other ailments. Where as the same applied to the many robots, cyborgs and androids, some had serious injuries to minor ones.

Her mind was now set on her job, she went up to a child and started her work. . .