"It's full." I let her lay here for half an hour longer than I needed to, but she just looks so peaceful. Plus letting the alcohol make its way through her system can't be a bad thing.

Cassie reluctantly pushes herself off of me and begins to empty out her backpack. Once done, she places her car battery inside, quickly tying it into place to prevent movement even when she's running.

"How bad is it if this thing gets shot?" She asks.

That's a good question. A quick simulation answers it for me.

"Better than you getting shot, but a smallish explosion or acid being sprayed everywhere is possible, not to mention the battery would break. It should stop the bullet though, unless Ivy shoots you or something."

"That's better than I thought." She finishes securing her battery and begins to don her armor.

I pull out Corax's harness and quickly get him strapped in. I'm not sure how doable flying will be in the narrow hallways, but it's better to be prepared, just in case.

I should leave as much as I can behind, the extra weight will only get in the way. I can't risk losing my only important belongings though. I place Kara's letter inside Cassie's book, wrap it in a clean part of my shirt, and tuck it carefully inside my backpack. I can live without everything else, but not these. I'm not taking that chance.

I strap on my helmet and I guess I'm prepared. I'll wait as long as I can before putting on my cloak and headwrap, no need to start building heat now.

Cassie barely takes longer than I did to get ready, even with one arm and more stuff to put on. She's adapted really quickly to her missing arm.

She stands up, her hand shooting out of her cloak to help me up. I take her hand, but don't actually let her take any of my weight as I stand up.

"Hey." She says. "I um… Before we go." She pulls up her head covering and stands on her tiptoes to give me a quick peck on the cheek.

I wrap my arms around her, holding her there for a second before letting her go.

"You can do that too in the future, if you want." She says while hastily pulling her head covering back down.

"I will." I'm not even going to try to figure out what I'm feeling right now. I'm sure she can dissect my emotions from my voice and face far better than I can.

I put on my cloak and wrapping, holding Corax in one hand and my pistol in the other.

"Can you follow the directions?" I pass Cassie the small slip of paper. "I really don't like the crowd."

She reads the few words that are written on it and nods.

"Yeah. Ready?"

"I guess so." I pierce the cloth of the Molotov Cocktail with the wires I use for charging. A single thought and the wick will ignite. If I have to throw it, I can ignite it just as it leaves my hands, saving me just a moment.

Cassie leads the two of us out of the room, once again retracing our steps downstairs and onto the ever-packed street.

Cassie leads us around random turns, trying to find the start point of our instructions. Turn after turn, street after street, I follow her.

She glances back at me and the crowd around us before slipping into a narrow, dark alleyway, her head turning in response to sounds I cannot hear. She walks quickly to a small door and opens it, still keeping watch while I head inside.

I step into a small, empty cellar with a hand-carved staircase descending from the far wall. The place would look abandoned if not for a small path in the dust between the door and staircase further in.

Cassie steps in after me, closing the door behind us and spending a moment listening for anyone following.

Ok. She sticks a hand out of her cloak only long enough to sign to me.

I can't respond with my hands full. Instead, I just give her a short nod.

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Cassie stays low as she moves, her feet somehow silent on the stone floor. Corax stays in my arms, ready to leap from under the cloth and attack at the first sign of combat. I stay a few steps behind her, my pistol still hidden, but ready for anything.

The staircase leads into a small carved tunnel. Dim lights are placed at regular intervals, too far apart to properly light up anything. Thick bundles of wires paint the walls on either side of us. They're wrapped in thick metal, but a few small incisions have been cut into them. That can't be good, if they were for repairs, Zero would have welded the gaps closed.

It's a short walk, just a few hundred feet to our location. The tunnel ends in a small, three way intersection, the perfect place for an ambush. We're not dumb enough to walk straight inside, we stay in the hallway out of sight of the ledge.

Ready? I signal to Cassie.

Ready. She confirms. You talk.

It only makes sense for me to start. I spoke to the person who gave me the strip of paper, if they're here they will recognize my voice.

"Hello?" I call out, my voice echoing through the empty halls.

"Fuck!" Cassie yells, and a moment later an electric charge begins to burn its way through my mind, dancing its way across my thoughts, burning me to ash.

Corax goes limp in my arms, undoubtedly experiencing the same thing as me.

I throw threads at the burning edges of my mind, desperate to slow down the raging fire.

The last of my mind shoves Corax into Cassie, and two words escape the inferno.

"Run. Please."

The last thing I see before my world goes dark is the floor rushing up towards me.

My mind feels thick, like my threads need to dig through tons of sand to complete a single thought.

I get flashes of sensation and lucidity. Stone getting dragged across my skin. Independent words that vanish before my mind can even begin to process them.

My mind carves out small tunnels, buying me a minimal amount of space to think. A small portion of my mind that is my own. What happened? We got ambushed. Cassie and Corax could still be in danger. I need to do whatever I can. There's no room for emotions in here, just the endless need to help them fueling every thought.

I extend my tunnels towards one of my ears. The further I move, the stronger the force that weighs on the thoughts keeping the tunnels open, attempting to crush them. I keep all my focus on it, and eventually reach. It takes less processing power to dissect information compared to sight, and is probably more useful than feel.

"-hard drives are infected." I can recognize the words, but don't have any space left to discern anything else. No guessing their age or sex or emotions.

Don't touch those! I try to call out of habit, only for my thoughts to slam into and disintegrate against the ever-present weight in my mind.

"A payload from Zero?" A second voice asks.

"Yeah, and it's one hell of a bomb. Tried to fry Henry the moment it was plugged in."

"Fuck." The sound of metal clattering against the floor reaches my ear. "Give me one of those drives, it'd serve her right."

There is not enough space in my mind for panic. Knowing what I do now, can I fight that virus? Maybe? Plugging up all the tunnels I have dug and retreating into the core of my mind might work. I wouldn't need that many threads, which means not that much heat. I can outlast it.

"She's organic, it won't do anything while her processors are compromised."

Forget that plan, remembering it takes up space I don't have. Is that why my mind feels so awful? My co-processors are actively working against me?

"Besides," the voice continues. "Doesn't she look familiar?"

"Should she?"

"She's the bot the rangers are looking for."

"No fucking way."

"Look at this photo. It's a non-standard facial structure, and it all matches up."

"Son of a bitch." The voice says quietly. "That's enough to buy an army and finally finish off Zero. So what? Wipe the chip and send off the body?"

Fuck. Don't panic. Can I resist being reset? I never even learned how it worked, probably not. I need to move, I need control of my body. I slam my threads against the wall, desperate to reach my limbs. The pressure only grows, threatening to crush my mind.

"No." One of the voices says. Stop fighting, stop struggling. Reinforce the space I have. Listen. "They want her, not her body. They'd check."

Ok. Remove that thought. I'm not actively about to die, that's good enough. I have time to figure this out.

"Besides," the voice continues. "She's worthless without the other two."

The other two? Corax and Cassie? They're safe? She ran? I don't have the space to feel relief. I hope Corax recovered. I did, kind of. He's going to be ok. Believing that is my only option. Anything else and I'll worry until I fill up my mind.

"So what? We just leave her here?"

"'Course not. Hand me my tools."

Don't touch my body! My words slam against the impenetrable wall. I need my limbs. I need my vision. I need to fight. I'm not going to let them ruin Kara's gift more than I already have.

Dig through the pressure, reinforce the tunnels, ignore the crushing. My threads can handle it. I'm fine. I will not let them touch Kara's gift.

The pressure increases, but if I reinforce anything, I'll completely close the tunnels.

I widen them, and more pressure assaults my mind. I can take it. I'm fine. I extend my reach only a little bit before I'm forced to widen the tunnels once again.

I'm fine. I've handled worse. I'm fine.

My mind shatters.

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