Murmurs spread throughout the bunker as Cassie's message makes it to all the defenders. Whispers of fear, anxiety, and determination in equal measure.

"Tell nobody to fire until Ivy does." Vince whispers to the nearest guard, which gets echoed across everyone.

We wait in silence as time ticks by, all of us our weapons drawn and ready to fire.

"They've parked." Cassie whispers, and frowns. "I hear a drone."

"I'll take care of it." Nimda says. "Just tell me when it's entered the cave."

"Alright." A quiet buzz begins to fill the cave. "Now."

A quadcopter clatters to the ground, bouncing down the ramp and coming to a rest harmlessly in front of us.

"Oh man, he's pissed." Cassie is barely able to contain her laughter, her shoulders shaking from the effort. "They're sending another." The soft buzzing sound returns only a few seconds later. "Kill it."

A second, identical drone clatters down the ramp.

A moment later a gunshot echoes through the entrance to the cavern, instantly putting an end to Cassie's laughter.

"Thirty-Seven!" A voice fills the cavern, causing most of the people beside us to flinch subconsciously. "I'm giving you one opportunity to surrender."

Why can't they just be dumb and walk straight in?

Everyone looks to Joseph, who's only response is to adjust the grip on his rifle.

"Fucking say something." I barely catch the words on the edge of my hearing.

"Joseph!" The strained voice of a woman yells out.

Joseph closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and steels himself.

"Friend of yours?" Lance asks quietly.

"My daughter." He replies darkly. "I was hoping she died."

"Alright." Lance gestures towards the sky, and Corax swoops down, landing atop the barricade. "Check the extra entrances, find something Robin and I can climb up."

"One Ivy and I can get through too, if you can." Vince says.

Corax nods, and disappears into the darkness.

"How much time do you think we have?" Lance asks.

"Knowing him? A lot, unfortunately."

"Ok. There are too many people for us to just rush outside. Does he have cybernetics?"

"I don't know. Not obviously, at least. Generally the only ones who have any are people who lost limbs in the mines and were 'lucky' enough to be considered valuable."

"Well, she's your daughter, how big a risk do you want to take?" Vince asks.

"We all knew the risks. She wouldn't want us to risk the city."

"And what do you want?"

Joseph's silence is deafening.

"Nimda, can you hit everyone with the device?" Lance asks.

"It cannot pierce multiple feet of rock, no. To be safe, assume I need a direct view."

"Alright. If Corax can't find us a way to high ground, the plan is for Lance and I to move into Nimda's body, network ourselves together, and have our bodies push. The puck gets stuck on my shield and we hope it disables at least a few of them. Thoughts?"

"That's suicide!" Joseph complains.

"We're AI. My body only exists to keep myself stable. If it gets broken, then I just turn myself off until we get home and it gets repaired."

"Do you think you two will be enough?" Vince asks.

"No. But I'm not just going to sit here when that guy starts doing God knows what to her. We can at minimum put a bullet in her and remove his leverage."

"I'm prepared to back you up." Vince nods.

"No." Lance says firmly. "I'm here to get all of you home. If Corax can find another entrance and we can approach from a safe angle, then fine. But I'm not going to let you push into a killbox after everything we've been through."

"Then you'd better hope Corax finds something." Vince says, turning his attention back to the entrance to the cave.

"Time's up, Thirty-Seven!"

The woman lets out the worst thing I've ever heard, a bloody scream that scrambles my mind, sending me into a blind panic. Every thought is wiped away, replaced with only an overwhelming need to fix it.

I clamp down on my mind. I can't help her right this instant. We're doing what we can though, we have a plan. Killing her would be bad for whoever is in charge, we have time.

Acknowledge, rationalize, dismiss.

Even that is barely enough to keep my mind under my own control, but I'm managing. Rushing out and doing something dumb will only make things worse for everyone.

Her sobs continue echoing through my mind, ripping chunks out of the tiny bit of control I've managed to gain.

"Come on Thirty-Seven! I didn't take anything that can't be replaced!" The man yells, and a cruel laughter follows.

"How long do we give Corax?" I ask. I'm not sure how many more of those screams I can handle.

"How long are you willing to let her suffer for the chance to save her?" Lance asks Joseph.

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"She's willing to die for this." Joseph says.

"Give him five and we go." Vince says.

"Ok."

We wait in silence, the echo of the scream still bouncing around in my mind. I just wait silently for another scream, desperately trying to prepare my mind for it. Before one can come, however, talons grip my shoulder.

"Found." Corax says.

"Can we get through it?" Vince asks.

Corax nods.

"Let's get moving then." Cassie says, sliding her pistol and knife into their holsters.

"Just buy us some time." Vince says to Joseph before slinging his rifle over his shoulder and stepping back. "Lead the way."

Corax points in a direction from my shoulder, and I walk as quickly as I can without leaving Vince and Ivy behind wherever he tells me to. Cassie stays right at my side, and behind me Vince, Ivy, Lance, and Robin all follow.

"Thank you." I whisper to Corax.

We reach a roughly barricaded cave near the back of the cavern. Shoving trash away from the entrance is easy enough to buy us passage, and I lead the way.

Another scream rips through reality, demanding I turn back. I just need to get out of this cave, then I can help. She won't have to scream, nobody will have to worry. I grab Lucas' light from my backpack and begin to run.

I rush through the winding tunnels, always sloping gently upwards. Loose rocks give way beneath my feet, nearly sending me tumbling to the ground. I catch myself on the jagged walls and continue upwards, Cassie always right beside me.

A hand grips my arm, and I rip it away and continue into the darkness. I can't deal with them right now. I can't let them hold me back, to block up the path, to ensure her death.

The rock beneath my feet turns to sand and I burst into the hot sun. Pain blooms from my ear, and I finally stop.

"Blue!" Cassie hisses, still directly behind me. "Calm the fuck down!"

"Sorry." I'm in the sun. They're gone. We can help her. I just have to wait. "Sorry, I'm ok."

"Was it them?" She asks.

I just give a small nod.

"Just stay with me, alright?" She grabs my hand with her metal arm. It feels familiar.

"Wait, did you grab my arm?"

"Yeah?"

"Ok, maybe I didn't have a hallucination." My words come out quietly and embarrassment blooms in my mind.

"Then what happened?" She asks.

"I don't know how many times I can handle her screaming like that." I say quietly.

"Right." Her shoulders drop just an inch and understanding shines in her eyes. "Can you turn off your ears or something? Just for a few minutes?"

"It's too dangerous. I'll be ok."

"If you run off in a panic and die on me-"

"I won't. I promise."

It takes a few minutes for everyone to finally make their way out of the cave. Vince and Ivy are both breathing heavily, but are still managing to keep moving.

Both of them glance at Cassie and I, but a single look from Cassie is enough to prevent them from saying anything.

"Alright. Ivy? Let's find your perch." Vince says in between exhausted breaths. "Everyone, stay quiet, stay out of sight, and follow Ivy."

Ivy begins to work her way up the sandy edge of the mountain, apparently already having some path mapped out. Her crutches do little to stop her as she picks her way up and across the sandy and rocky slopes. Vince and Ivy need to help each other through steeper sections, but everything is doable.

Ivy's route always keeps us out of sight of the slavers. The only visible sign of them is a few tire tracks baking in the sun. We ascend high above them, and begin to make our way down through folds in the mountain. Our progress is punctuated by occasional, earth shattering screams.

Ivy stops on a small outcropping, high above the entrance.

Here. She signals to everyone quickly, lays down, and draws her rifle. She stays just behind the ledge, ready to push herself forward and fire, but not daring to reveal herself.

Lance and Robin, despite not knowing our signs, seem to have no problem understanding the plan. All of us follow Ivy's lead, posting up on the edge of the lip. Lance is the only odd man out, he stays back a few steps, his shield raised in front of him, but still out of sight.

Ivy grabs her tablet and begins to type, passing out the short sentence to everyone else.

"Don't fire until I do."

We all flash an ok and pass the tablet to the next person.

Lance and Robin network themselves together, and Lance holds out a separate cord for me. I plug myself in.

"Robin and I connect together to work out target acquisition. Send a signal before you aim at someone and we'll leave them for you."

"Ok." I respond.

Vince pulls out the cord from the base of his skull and passes it to Ivy, the two of them connecting together.

Ready? Ivy signals. Three. Two. One. Ivy pushes herself forward with her good leg. She digs one elbow into the ground, propping her up and giving her a stable position to aim her massive riffle.

All of us follow, taking aim. Robin forgoes his weapon, holding one primed grenade in each hand. Lance stands proudly on the lip, his shining shield the perfect target for a panicked person to fire at.

A group of slavers sit at the entrance, most taking cover behind the cars and watching the entrance. A few are scattered around watching the desert around them, but nobody is bothering to keep an eye open above them. One man stands in front of them, a haggard woman held tightly in his grip. Two of her fingers lay in a bloody puddle on the ground, each of them cut into thirds at the knuckles.

Lance claims one target, along with a firing route he's planning on taking as he kills each of them. Robin finds two separate clumps to target. I claim my two as well, leaving the man at the entrance to Ivy. It's a delicate shot, and there's no one I trust more than her to make it.

I steel my mind for what's coming, building barriers around my ears and nerves to filter the coming gunfire and shockwaves.

One of the slavers looks up, his mouth opening to yell. Before he can say anything, an explosion rocks the world, bouncing off the barriers in my mind. The one holding the woman explodes in gore as the bullet rips through the top of his head, and follows down into his torso.

An instant later more gunfire follows, Corax takes off to rain bombs from above, and my fingers flex. I activate my device to try to disrupt anyone with cybernetics, but few of them are affected. Even those who are, they aren't entirely stopped. People flop back into the sand as their legs spasm, but hoist their weapons to fire in panic. Those with artificial arms drop their weapons, and Lance, Robin and I drop them from our ever-shrinking list of targets.

Robin grabs his rifle and focuses on those who are turning their attention towards us, along with his twin, and I focus on those who are turning their guns towards the woman. I won't let anyone hurt her any more.

Rapidly dwindling gunfire rains back at us. Every second a few more of them lie dead, but every one of them can fire multiple times in that second. Most of it is directed at Lance, who stands firm under the force.

My head is ripped backwards. Nerves cry out under the force of an impact. Is my coolant pressure dropping? No. That's good enough, focus on aiming and firing.

Ivy fires again, the earth shuddering beneath the force. A hole is ripped in one of the car doors, and blood pools behind it.

Just a few seconds after beginning, the world goes quiet. The only movement is from the woman, clutching her hand, scrambling to her feet, and running for the cave, and the red pools soaking into the parched sand.

"Everyone alright?" Vince asks.

"Just took a bit of shrapnel from the shield." Cassie responds. Small holes have been torn through her clothes, with small, bloody scratches shining through.

Ivy gives a thumbs up, but keeps her attention on the world below.

"We're alright." Lance answers for the both of them.

I do a quick scan of my body. A bundle of nerves from a skin plate on my forehead have been crushed, but that's easy enough to adapt to. Every other part of me is reporting no issues.

"Pretty sure my helmet stopped the bullet." I say.

"Shit, yeah it did." Cassie slams her pistol back into its holster and reaches out, placing her hand on my helmet. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. No destroyed drives this time."

"Sorry you had to take that risk, Little Blue." Vince says, and reaches up to disconnect him and Ivy. "Alright everyone, let's get back. I'm sure that woman needs some medical attention."

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