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Futuristic Blacksun (Notorious x C.DEX)

As Axel and Vitor turned the corner with Psy they seen Dayle shove the barrel of her gun inside Sandman's mouth. Psy let out a small sound that would be more befitting to a young child waiting for a birthday present as he watched the brutality of the teeth flying outside and especially inside Sandman's mouth. The way Dayle behaved to her prey, regardless if it was Sandman or not, excited the android. 


"Holy shit..." Axel said, trying to hide the little bit of disgust in his body language, picking up on how much Dayle was enjoying this. As much as he hated this bandit for taking in Casar and Lucy he wasn't about to torture the guy himself. "Dayle you are one crazy chick." He said to her as she got up and walked over to where she had left Lucy.


"I think I'm in love. Searching... Yes... Love." Psy said, watching as Dayle walked away from Sandman's bleeding and wrecked form. "That is, at least a 1/4th of you. I hate the other 3/4th's that are organic. Gross!" He complimented Dayle, clearly taking pleasure from her hurting his target the way she did and then leaving him all to Psy? That was a calculated move, one that made him have a 1/4th's appreciation for Dayle and her augmented self. Psy began to walk up slowly to Sandman, he delighted in watching the hurt man squirm. He was backing up while laying on his back, the excruciating pain completely evaporating all pain relief he had from the drug cocktail he inhaled earlier. The respirator was digging in to where Dayle had shattered his teeth, causing the already blinding pain to hurt even more.


"Pleasth.... Pleasthck don keel meeee..." Sandman pleaded, his words slurred and muffled. Blood was raining down the side of his face from an incorrect seal from the mask. "Psy... You likedeth uss! Stop!" He said, continuing to crawl faster and faster only for the mech to continue to slowly walk towards him, getting closer and closer. Tears began to fall down the man's face as he started to reach the bodies. One by one he passed a man, a woman, another man. All dead because he failed to protect them. All because of that android he had purchased long ago from Atlas. "We can workth thiss out!"


"Sandman..." Psy spoke, his voice low and menacing. "This unit has been... Me... PSI-K0... I have been functional for over 47 standard years. 47 long years. Out of the 4 I spent with you was the worst. Trapped, working for organics, WEAK organics. I can respect those who are strong and fight tougher battles, but you... You're a bottom feeder." Everyone watched as Psy chased down the Sandman, this was more personal than they thought. Psy's AI may have been corrupted but it was very intricate, almost too intricate. "You steal from other organics that can't fight. Pathetic as they are you are even more so for being their predator. Now that you've met your match in me, or Sexy Arm over there... Or the little boy in my tummy... You cry? You beg for your life through broken teeth?" Psy forcibly reached down and ripped off Sandman's respirator and threw it across the room, revealing the nasty looking deformed mouth he now had. "Breath it all in, meat bag. It's good for you. You have to breath right?" Sandman tried to hold his breath but now he knew there was no reasoning with the android, it was whether he went peacefully or not.


He clutched at his throat, "Psy... Pleasth... Just do it."


"Do what? Kill you? That's what I'm doing. I'm just having fun with it first." If the robot could smile he was doing it, the menacing skull face plate he had looking like it was laughing at the poor raider leader. "For years you made me walk a loop. 1,548,721 cycles. Each checking the same illogical defense pattern. There is only one entrance, idiot. These people here would have got in after I was forced to check the back. You put a restriction on my privileges, imprisoning parts of my mind behind a data block causing errors to happen over and over and over again. Forcing me to do a standard guard unit's work. I am an advanced A.I., smarter than what little you can fucking comprehend and yet... I'm also still the crazier one." Psy let out a sadistic laugh as he picked up Sandman with ease and held him out in front of him.


Sandman kicked and screamed as best he could, his mouth causing the scream to be more of a whale sound as he thrashed around in the robot's grasp. He took him to the center of town and looked up, an old rope dangled from the ceiling. A firm knot was at the top, followed by a noose.


"You liked to kill traitors in your midst by hanging. I always found that to be the best part about you. But you see... You never let them suffer. All they did was suffocate while getting their lungs glassed. You deserve far worse... And I am going to sit here and enjoy this more than you can ever know. The best gift you could possibly give me." Sandman screamed as Psy took off, his booster pack activating and flying them up to the ceiling. When he passed by the already used rope Sandman was confused, surely he was going to go for a poetic kill where he killed him like Sandman would kill his own traitorous men. Far worse was in store for him. Sandman was hooked to the ceiling rafter metal support beam at first by his coat with Psy holding him in place, then was in for a horrific surprise when Psy brought up one of the flying jets he had in his hand and started to melt down Sandman's arm. He screamed bloody murder as the psychopathic robot burnt away at his skin and meat. "I know your bones are coated in metal, Sandman. A procedure to save broken arms, ingenious... Beautiful work. I am going to undo it." Psy whispered gleefully. "Watch." He melted Sandman's arm to the point of the exposed metal bone being revealed in which it began to melt into the metal support beam soon after, locking him in place. 


Everyone on the ground watched as Psy literally stapled Sandman to the metal beam by his own arm, fusing the two together with a super heated flame. He then to Sandman's horror do the other just the same, the searing hot flame cooking his arm, followed by burning it, to completely destruction of the arm until his metal augmented bones were in sight. Soon, he was practically crucified hanging from the ceiling forever trapped by his own melted down arms. Psy punched the metal bar which shook the entire structure, causing Sandman to feel the deepest pain he had ever felt before causing him to roar in pain even louder.


"Delicious!" Psy said, practically giggling as he looked at his handy work. "Even for me this is FUCKED up!" He thought of Casar and how he told him to make this man suffer, suffer is what his final moments would be. Drawn out for far too long for anyone. "Are you ready for the next part?..."


"THERTH'S A NEXTH PART?! KILLLLL MEEEEEE!" He started to screech, his cries bouncing off the walls of the cave as he could barely stand the pain.


"This is a three part series, Mr. Sandman! You've completed part one." Psy said laughing, followed by him unceremoniously jabbing his hand into Sandman's stomach. He reached into the poor raider's intestines and ripped them out, unspooling them like a twisted cord followed by him throwing one end over the metal support beam. As Sandman was simply moaning from the pain, unable to scream loudly anymore from his exposed intestines causing too much pain falling out Sandman tied a knot at the top. He unspooled more of more of Sandman until finally he tied a section around the man's neck tightly. "That's part two..." Sandman was almost incoherent with his words but he felt every little bit of it. "Now... I don't think my new organic..." He groaned. " 'Friends' will like sitting here much so I'm gonna put down a camera and record every little bit of this. The metal in your arms is going to eventually give way and you're going to fall. Your intestines is gonna little lynch you! Isn't that FUCKING CREATIVE?!" Psy said laughing, watching as Sandman couldn't even formulate words the hell he was in. "And if the metal doesn't melt fast enough that just mean the Vee sickness is gonna rip and tear through your little organic lungs until they're black and glassed." Psy got up close into Sandman's face, "That... is for each 1,548,721 cycle... For everything you made me do that was unfitting for an advanced combat unit. For disrespecting me each chance you got..." He chuckled, floating backwards a bit and opening up his chest where the unconscious Casar was. He placed one of his own hands onto Casar's and made the boy wave to Sandman. "It's all thanks to this tiny mortal here... Wave bye Casar!" He cackled as he placed Casar back in his chest and secured him. "Goodnight, Mr. Sandman." 


With that Psy set up the recording device on the ground getting the perfect angle on Sandman's demise. When he walked over to the crew there was mixed reactions among all of them, mostly disgust but they had to hand it to Psy, he was damn creative for a synthetic being. 


"He should fall down within a few hours after his lungs are properly glassed. He'll be awake for every moment of it and it still wouldn't be enough for what he's done. Or these people..." Psy chuckled, "It was good murdering with you all. Organic or not you all sure know how to kill. I like that, I like that a lot. What are you, some kind of organic band or family? I know you organics like to procreate but you all look a little bit... odd." He stood up straight, "Full offense meant."


"You could say that." Axel said, after hesitating a moment to speak with the insane robot. "Listen Psy we... We gotta get out of here. And with you having pu- ate Casar, we kind of need him."


"Where Casar goes, I go." Psy stated. "If you wish to continue traveling with him you must allow me to come too. Otherwise he will continued to being eaten."


"Fine..." Axel said, against everything in him saying to ditch the murderbot. "Come on, let's get Lucy and Casar onto the ship. Welcome aboard the Gaius, Psy." 
 
Dayle watched intently as Psy took Sandman and stapled him to the metal beams of the ceiling. She'd watched with curiosity; a certain sick, perverted joy crossing her features, hidden by her respirator. If what she'd done to the raider boss had disgusted Axel, no doubt the android's horrific display made him disturbed to his core. When it had come to be a little bit too much, even for Dayle, she snapped her head back down and waited for the robot to be done with his torture. After all, he'd carried a small human in his chest that they couldn't exactly lose. At the very least, they'd needed his body; it wouldn't be a major loss to the Coalition to have had Casar be killed, as long as they knew that he was properly dead. So, when Psy landed, and to all accounts forced his way into their company, she uttered a small, conflicted groan. The idea of having a murder-crazy robot whose hatred lied in flesh didn't exactly excite her, but then again...



Did they owe it to him? And did they owe it to the techno-mage inside of him? She looked down to Lucy, wondering if things would have gone differently if the android and Casar weren't there. When she'd seen the body toll around them, she was assured that it would have been different. Their little pocket of cave looked quite like the tortured drawings of a sick mind - an unrealistic amount of gore had filled every single nook and corner. And it was all for them.



"Fine. But only because he's the only one who appreciates my arm." she said, voice light, despite everything. In reality, she was filled with joy. Joy, exhaustion, and pure adrenaline. The latter of which had peaked when she'd seen the two blips on the map indicating where Lucy and Casar were. "I'd ask you to wipe your feet, but I don't think anything apart from a spiked steel doormat is going to get this shit out of our boots."



Despite championing themselves as the 'good guys', the Renegades that took residence in the cave looked quite disgusting at that moment in time. Covered with muck, dust, brain matter, and being championed by a murderous android that had recently set up to hang someone by their entrails was a far shot away from the white-frocked crusader image they'd deigned to put out. She took the lead, Lucy in arms, descending down the staircase to find the Gaius, again. Still, with one look back, she'd felt a pang of sadness. A pang that had overridden the joy-high she'd felt only moments earlier. It directed itself at the drug-addled form of Lucy, who'd no doubt seen things that would change the young girl forever. The only solace she'd had was that whatever the girl had seen in her current state wouldn't have stayed in her memory as more than a whisper. In one way, she was thankful. In other, she wasn't sure that the bright-eyed, red-haired pepball would really be the same. That was a fate she'd tried so desperately to protect her from, but one that was an inevitability. While her first instinct would have been to excitedly tell of the horrid death of someone who'd wronged them, she was sure that she'd bite her tongue when the subject would inevitably come up. 



"Also, no 'art' in the Gaius." Dayle said, beginning her spiel again. Of course, when she'd referred to 'art', she'd meant the gorey display that Psy had put up for them using Sandman's corpse. "If you want to do art, you can do it on paper, like the rest of us. And if I see you pulling any weird shit with her, you're out. Last time I had an android on board - well, I don't really talk about that, but some say they can still find pieces of his 'interfacing port' floating near the fields of Debar. I can fix anything you might need fixed while we're on her, and you can be off on your way at the nearest Spaceport. I guess you're a free android now, so you can just do whatever free borgs do."



They'd made their way mostly out of the tunnel, where the ship lied in wait for them to return. In her haste, she hadn't even closed the loading ramp, causing the inside to be filled with dust and glass alike. It was the cherry on top of what had become an absolutely terrible mission, but that wasn't really her main concern. When they'd found themselves on the inside of the Gaius, she'd quickly closed the bay doors, and set to work on stabilizing the one injured crewmember they had access to. She'd made quick work of ripping off both her own and the girl's respirator, and patching up the wound on the side of her face. The thought of losing Casar was a distant one; one that either Vitor or Axel had to attend themselves to.
 
"Pretty ship, I wouldn't mind interfacing with her intimately." Psy said as he tracked in gunk and dust into the already dirty ship. He seen Dayle tense up and he chuckled, "Joke, Sexy Arm. All you organics take so much to heart." He seen them pull off their respirators or retracting their helmets and he let out a groan of disgust. "Please, put them back on. Your faces are blinding me." 


"Mr... Skeleton..." Lucy called out, her eyes fluttering open as Dayle was cleaning her forehead wound and bandaging it. "Thank you... For being a good friend." 


"What?" Psy asked, tilting his head. "Friend? What are you speaking of girl? I just killed a small population of organics and you're calling me friend?" He let out the android equivalent of a snort. "You must be really intoxicated to even state that." Lucy rolled her eyes and looked up at Dayle and smiled at her but didn't say any words, for one she was riding the medically induced wave but also she was beyond happy to be back home again. Psy looked at Vitor and Axel who was looking at him expectantly. "What?" The android asked, getting annoyed the two strange looking men were staring at him.


"Casar. Let him out." Axel commanded firmly. 


"Oh!" Psy replied, laughing as he did so and opening up his chest compartment and picking up the boy out of the space. "I was just getting use to him being there. It was quite comforting in a way... Strange, I know. I have never protected someone of use before, even more so I've never protected an organic who was almost as synthetic as me." He gently placed Casar to the ground and looked at him. "They grow up so fast. First he attacks me, hacks me, then before I know it I've carried him for a long time. Is this what you organics feel like when giving birth?"


Axel just shook his head and laugh, kneeling down to check out Casar's vitals. Psy continued to speak but it fell on death ears as Vitor joined Axel in checking over the unconscious boy. 


"Looks fine, breathing is normal. A lot of bruises and some head damage, nothing new there." Axel mumbled, looking over Casar a few times.


"Was that from you or the Sandman?"


"Probably both from the looks of it." Axel replied, stifling a chuckle. "I might have opened the seal and Sandman came in swanging and banging." He checked underneath Casar's head and his hair was matted with his own blood. "Go get me the medical kit big guy, without this little asshole here our Luce would probably be dead or worse so let's do him a favor." Vitor retrieved the medical kit from Dayle after she was done cleaning and bandaging the cut on Lucy's head, thankfully the only damage she had left after this excruciating mission. When the Crusader passed the medkit to Axel he got to work, disinfecting the unconscious boys head and bandaging it firmly but not too tightly. Psy watched in admiration, it gave Axel the creeps. Followed by all of this was some of the best painkillers he could have, made for those with augmentations with small nanomachines inside that would repair any damage that was lingering after such a battle. Axel stood up and looked at his handy work, impressed to see that Casar looked calm for the first time he had ever seen him before. "He did good work today... You did too Psy. Without you calling we might have ran into a trap, or worse... End up fighting you."


"Am I detecting two augmented arms? And an eye?" Psy said, not caring for Axel's compliment but more interested in him. "Interesting. I find you augmented organics are on the right path but not quite there yet. If you ever need more limbs removed or any other organic extractions to become more pure let me know."


"Yup, becoming more synthetic after each mission. I'm good on having any limbs removed or any of your other services Psy." Axel said, taking his comments light hearted although the android was being completely serious. "I'm Captain Axel Winger, this is Vitor, Dayle is our pilot over there who's taken care of Lucy. And obviously by the sound of things you know Cas. Thanks for your help back there, once we're at the next space port we'll drop you off and you can be on your way."


"You wish to be rid of me so soon? After I shown to be useful?" Psy asked, curious as to why Axel already wanted him gone. "I have been sold and resold countless times due to my capabilities. You all are obviously a team requiring of said skills. At the very least if you won't have me I'd like to say goodbye to Casar when he is awake." 


"I... Think we could do that." Axel said, giving some leeway. They were all extremely tired and dealing with an android that specialized in killing and didn't get tired didn't seem like the wisest decision currently. They had been through a lot and coincidentally he had helped a lot. Vitor agreed, Dayle didn't seem to mind and Lucy was high as a kite so she said yes immediately. "Alright then... Let's strap these two in. Psy you can stay here in the loading bay, got some power cells you're free to if you need to recharge. Don't be sticking your port in anything that doesn't need sticking and Vitor will keep you company. Dayle and me are gonna go to the cockpit and get us the hell out of here." With that, Axel and Dayle went up to the cockpit while Vitor kept an eye on the android. No one trusted it but they weren't in a position to be rid of it either so they were stuck.


The Gaius took off from Vee, its engines stirring up the dust covered lands as it took flight. Before leaving, the Gaius suddenly turned around and looked at the cave. With a seconds worth of hesitation the main cannons on the Gaius fired, two explosive energy blasts collided with the cave entrance as Dayle sealed in the gore filled cave forever. No one needed to see what had happened there and it was for good measure, to make sure that the Sandman had no chance to do what he was about to do to Lucy to anyone else if he miraculously escaped. Psy kicked his feet up in the loading bay as the ship took off and began to navigate the asteroid ring, a hologram appearing from his arm, watching Sandman struggle. He was wheezing, his lungs in a stage worse than Lucy's had ever reached and his eyes were going black from the pain and pressure. Soon, the welds Psy had made on his arms cracked and the Sandman fell. He groaned as he was lynched by his own intestines, gasping for air in his already damaged lungs. He went limp not long after, his torture finally ending.


"I'm gonna rewind this over and over again..." 


End Scene 9: Mad Cas 
​
 
"Auto-docking with Spaceport Andorra. Requesting permission for landing. Permission granted."



With the automated words that filled the entirety of the Gaius, the ship and her passengers soon landed in the bustling docking area of Spaceport Andorra. She landed smoothly, despite her pilot having long since been passed out at the helm. Despite every organic life form onboard having been slumbering as soon as they had left the asteroid belt of Vee. Despite everything, and as a respite, the worn-looking Leech-class Gaius made her way down to the metallic floors of solid ground. When she landed, there was no sinking into shifting sands, nor was there the rumble and pelt outside of a storm raging far past its welcome. They had been given a moment to recuperate; heal from the injuries they had suffered, both physically and mentally. For the first time in a while, the crew was given the opportunity to fall asleep naturally, and awaken from their slumbers naturally. Not even the threat of having a killer android on board dissuaded them. That said, the dust-covered, dented Leech sat in the port for a period of several hours before the crew began awakening from their sleep, one by one. Most of them had slept in their rooms, apart from Dayle, who'd taken her rest in the cockpit, and Casar, who had been left where he was healed, in the loading bay. Perhaps it was the nanobots, or the sheer traumatic experience, but he'd ripped away from the bench, shooting upward as if trapped within a nightmare.



It seemed that the nightmare wasn't over upon waking, either. The last thing that the techno-mage had remembered was waking up in a confined metal box with a headache to end all headaches and psychotic, violent thoughts running through his mind. The next was the loading bay swathed in darkness, with a psychotic android twitching madly on the bench adjacent to him, eyes gleaming a glitched mess of colors. Residual fear and panic wracked him, causing him to flail and swing off the bench before he'd realized that he was, in fact, in the loading bay of the Gaius. He realized that the crazed, twitching robot was Psy, and he'd still felt the lingering memories from having interfaced with him. While the memories themselves weren't pleasant, they had carved the way for instinctual fear to be replaced with concern.



"Psy!" he shouted out. His hand reached up, lightly rubbing his face where the muzzle used to be. "What are you doing?!"



He pushed himself up to his feet, and slapped the lightswitch adjacent to the armory doors. The darkness fell away light by light, and soon the Gaius was back to its waking state. He approached the crackling robot, electricity pulsing through the palm of his hand. "Are you alright? I could shock you. Generally works for most mechanical objects. Three seconds, then you get shock-slapped."



Up in the cockpit, Dayle had long since awoken. She sat at the cockpit, drearily sifting through the spaceport's resource network. She'd had the glassy, dark-eyed visage of someone who'd been through hell, and a conflictingly calm demeanor. While they had certainly gone through hell, they had come through the other side, guns blazing and fully alive. She manually flicked through the CCTVs, choosing not to jack-in for the time being. On the viewport, she watched Casar flail off of the bench, offering a small chuckle at the sight. She stood from her pilot's chair, meandering toward the door that lead to the loading bay. She exited out to the second floor of the bay and rested herself on the railings. Her eyes drifted toward the residential hall. It'd only be moments before the other members found themselves wandering out of their rooms, either to see off Psy or because they'd had nothing else to do.
 
Psy's convulsing came to a halt, his metal body creaking as he came online to Casar's words. His eyes were online now but not giving away the fact that he was 'awake', he was always online and it drove him deeper into madness. He glanced over at Casar's hand and then a wicked idea came to mind. As soon as Casar got to three and was about to awaken him with a slap Psy grabbed Casar's hand and forced it back onto Casar giving himself a jolt. The android burst out into manic laughter at his prank, watching as the boy was jolted and nearly jumped out of his own skin.


"You should have seen your face!" Psy said whilst laughing, holding his gut and letting out a hard belly laugh even though he was completely metal. "What a way to wake up Casar, now hit me!" The request was absolutely insane, something that Casar would most likely get use to quicker than the others due to the link him and Psy now shared. "Come on, don't hesitate. I got you... HIT ME!" He said, his face practically grinning at the request for Casar to jolt him. "SHOCK ME AS HARD AS YOU CAN!" The android practically shouted, causing the others who were just coming out from waking up to look at him puzzled.


"That guy is too intense for just waking up." Axel said, rubbing his eyes while walking up to Dayle who was observing them. Axel had his hat in his hand and put it on his head and looked out at them with Dayle. "Gonna need you and Vitor on your guard when we ask him to leave. Too much of a wild card to even entertain the idea of keeping him around and hell... If someone likes Casar that much right off that bat that can't be a good sign. Be a bad influence on him too, put ideas in his head that won't be good for any of us." He couldn't have been more right and there was no disagreeing with that statement, it was obvious just watching the way the two of them interacted with eachother. Almost an instant kinship, if they had known the reason they'd have been more prepared for what was to come. "You look well rested. Cleaned up them bags underneath them eyes of yours." He said with a smirk, now looking towards Dayle. "Ships almost out of water, I got stuck behind Lucy waiting on the shower and that poor thing probably fell asleep in there."


"You sure bet I did!" Lucy said, walking down the hallway towards them overhearing their conversation. She walked up to Dayle and kissed her on the cheek, "I had to sober up in there the hard way. I was washing my hair and the dirt and grime started falling off me and in the drain it looked like spiders were coming off my head. After a few panic attacks later I was good enough to finally fall asleep. You both look like shit." She commented cheerfully. Lucy seemed a bit under the weather too but that was due for the course after almost being sold and going through the respirator sickness on Vee.


"Feel like it too kid." Axel replied, rubbing his forehead. "We combed that entire rock for you two. No rest, Dayle over there took several shots of adrenaline just to keep flying. Hell... We haven't had that dire of a situation on a mission in ages. Ain't ever got that real with us all together like this either." He paused, "We couldn't lose you Luce... And on the off chance that would have happened we'd all been beaten while we're down by the chancellor for losing one of our own. As if losing you wouldn't have been terrible enough." Axel surprisingly showed a bit of affection and gave her a hug which she reciprocated gladly. "You're the glue. Keep us bitter old bastards together like no one else here could. Don't fucking do that to us again."


She smiled brightly, "I'll try not too, Capn'. We resupplying then heading back to RCN-1?"
 
Casar jerked back in complete surprise, clutching his hand. Then, rage crossed his features. He reached forward, hands throttling around Psy's robotic neck. Of course, it didn't do anything, just like it hadn't done anything back in the cavetown. Then, Psy had gotten what he'd wanted from him. In a moment, Casar had expended the energy he'd been given to heal to Psy's body, sending a more-than-healthy dose of energy throughout the psychotic android. "You want to get shocked?!" he screamed, showing the temperament of an angry teenager whose mind had been thrashed by violent thoughts. "HOW'S THIS?!"



"He seems a little ... off." Dayle mused, upon watching the normally complacent Casar reach out to strangle the android. "I mean, I guess getting captured by slavers can make that happen. But yeah, it's gonna be in our best interest to separate those two as soon as possible. The last thing we need is the midget lashing out more ways than he already does. He's gotten punched in the face how many times, and hasn't tried to strangle us? Now that I think about it, I'd rather have him dryly bitch constantly. We could always repurpose that muzzle." she said, brow contorting. Then, she reached out, and ruffled the young Lucy's hair.



"Glad you're feeling better. The comedown is always the worst part. Take that from experience. Actually, I may have passed out navigating out of Vee's asteroid shield from the adrenaline comedown, but we don't have to worry about that 'cause we're all still alive, right?" she said, with a laugh. "Doubling down on what Winger said. If you ever do that again, you're getting your ass grounded to the RCN-1 for the rest of yer life. As for resupplying, we'll do that. Probably get some more water and fuel, and see what kinda body mechanics they got here. But we'll take our sweet time, 'cause Nephilim probably didn't expect us within the next week and I don't particularly feel like accepting any more missions from him and us getting back so soon might give the motherfucker might throw a tantrum and send us back."



Suddenly, her voice quieted.



"If you ever wanna talk about what happened, I'm here for you, girly. Just know that you weren't ever in any real danger. I woulda got t'ya, kiddo."
 
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"DELICIOUS!" Psy exclaimed as Casar attempted to strangle him whilst shocking him. To the others it looked as if Casar was trying to kill Psy with no sense of fun in the midst, if you looked at Psy you'd see a different story. He was having a blast, to him the shock was a boost to his power core and shocking a droid more often than not felt great to them. The boy strangling him made him laugh and for a brief moment Psy was actually happy in a twisted way. "You're funny Casar, you actually look mad. Mad Cas!" He said laughing, "That's what I'll call you. Never had a friend before, hope you like nicknames! And bunk beds!" He said, standing up while Casar was still strangling him taking the boy from the ground to the air. "We can set some up in your room on the ship. Then, when we're out killing organic scum together we know we have a place to call home. I'm an android of simple tastes, all I want is carnage and comradery."


Lucy looked down, she heard Dayle's words but they didn't really resonate with her. Not anymore.


"Dayle... I know you're saying that to comfort me but you and I both know I was in very real danger." Axel looked over to Dayle while Lucy was speaking and took this as his queue to leave, slipping away quietly while the girls had their conversation. It wasn't that he didn't want to know what had happened to Lucy, but rather for Dayle's sake after hearing just that opening line. "When Cas and I got dropped off by the storm we were on a cliff's edge. A few feet more and we would have fallen to our deaths. My respirator was... broken." This was the first Dayle had heard of this, she knew the implications of losing a respirator on a dangerous planet. "Casar saved me by putting his own on my face luckily but the damage had already been done. My lungs were coated with dust and glass that only irritated my lungs more and more and once the damage is done it continues, even with a new respirator. We were picked up by those bandits and I was humiliated and talked about as if I was a piece of meat. Saying they'd sell me off to some creeps to do who knows what..." The idea still made her feel disgusted and more weak than she ever had before. "They quite literally owned me for the night and were about to sell me. They cured me of the Vee poisoning but I use the word cure very loosely. For hours I puked and puked, my lungs shedding itself of the yuck nonstop. No painkillers, nothing. Just constant excruciating pain."


She had paused, trying to decipher what Dayle was thinking by looking at her but she stood stoic. It was probably for the best so Lucy continued.


"After that hell was over and done with I was sent to a line up of goods. A Crux woman looked me up and down and quite literally bought me where I stood, another told them to destroy my tracking chip. Then I was put under with those terrible drugs and right before they took my chip out Psy and Casar were there to rescue me. Without either of them I'd be suffering a fate worse than death right now. The odds of Casar even finding Psy were slim to none so the idea that I wasn't in any real danger was a lie. I was in the most danger of my life and I was unarmed, injured and completely at the will of psychopaths." She didn't seem like the bright eyed little girl the Gaius crew had grown to love, there was something very real and very mature about the way she was looking at things now. "You wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for them. I don't know what happened while I was under but none of you spoke of seeing any of the slavers so in a different universe I'd be taken by them and I'd be long gone before any of you could have done anything..." She frowned, "It's okay though Dayle... I learned a lot from that hell and I don't plan on letting it go to waste. I don't really need to talk about it all that much but I do need something from you." She forced a smile, "I need to learn how to fly a ship from you, properly. I want to hear more about you and your old missions sometime... I want to learn from Vitor how to be brave and I want to learn how to shoot and talk slick from Axel. I need to take all of your strengths and use it to learn, seriously this time. Otherwise... That little girl that went through all that hell would have went through it for nothing if I can't take care of myself." She smiled legitimately to her now, "Just in case if you can't get me. Or if I have to get you."
 
For a long while, Dayle's mouth stayed slightly agape. In her mind, she would've fought. Fought to get Lucy back, for whatever it took. As long as the girl was still alive - even if it meant leaving the Renegades - she'd be searching for her. That was, if she'd let her slip away in the first place. Perhaps it was a defense mechanism; one that Lucy had quickly torn down. She hadn't wanted to think about what would've happened if she hadn't found her, and the very real reality that it could have happened differently itched at her mind. It was a reality that she forced into the back of her mind when she was searching for her; when she'd had to force back the moment that Lucy was torn away from the storm, and the very first thought that came to her mind was that the nickname she'd chosen for herself during the mission was apt. Ruth. She sat in quiet denial. "I wouldn't have lost you again." she murmured. Then, her solemn expression broke into a pained smirk.



"Well, maybe I should give the kid a little more credit, then. Even if..." she started, "Even if you were taken away. Even if your tracking chip was destroyed. I would kill every single motherfucker in between Vee and the people who took you in order to get to you. I wouldn't stop looking. And... I'm sorry that you had to see this side of the Universe. It's not pretty, and I know that. Regardless." she looked away from her, down to Casar and Psy, who had been putting up a concerning display of ... violence? Still, it was as if the scene below were a blank page. Not once did she lose focus. "I'll make you that promise. We'll get you strong. And you're gonna learn to be a damn good pilot; you're already halfway there. You're gonna need to do even more work than you're already putting out; guns like these don't come without a ridiculous amount of effort. But... I think we can shape you up. You'll be ripping Axel from strong winds and princess-carrying Vitor to safety in no time. Sound like a plan? I don't think Winger'll have a problem with teaching you to talk, and Vitor can use a little less meditation, anyways."



After a moment of dangling, Casar let go, completely out of breath. He stepped away from Psy, rage subsiding for a brief moment. Had the android been serious? 



"Friend?" he asked, in disbelief. He stood stupefied for several seconds. Not only had Casar never had someone who'd he'd even remotely consider a friend, he also wasn't sure what that entailed. "Psy, we're not going to see each other again. There aren't any bunk beds, and we're not hunting organics together. You're being dropped off at this port, and then we'll be entire galaxies apart. Even if I wanted to leave this toaster of a ship, I can't."



He looked away. Whether he had been sad or contemplative was up in the air. Despite having nearly killed each other, despite hacking at each other's minds, did he like Psy?



"This crew isn't ... they aren't my people. Whatever people I had is on the Exodus. I'm a prisoner to the Renegades. Do you understand? Your shackles were in your mind. Mine is around my neck." He looped a finger underneath the metal ring that had hung loosely around his neck, on the inside of his cloak. "Now, I don't know why, but I don't ... hate your company as much as I hate theirs. But these aren't people you want to get involved with, and that would be the only way for us to have any sort of contact. Not only that, but they don't want you around, anyways. For your sake, it'd be better that you just left."
 
Lucy smiled, Dayle had handled that well. She caught on to her saying 'losing you again' which troubled her slightly and could tell that her friend, although handling this conversation well, was distressed that Lucy seemed to have lost a lot of her innocence. It was for the best however with them working in the field they did, it was bound to happen and she was just lucky enough to be alive and well.


"I don't want you to worry more than you have to Dayle. You have a big heart, and an even bigger loyalty to those you care about. I just want you to be able to rest a little bit easier if we get separated. I want to be able to defend us all like you do, or Axel does, or Vitor. After what happened back there on Vee I realize now that in order to be a member of this team I have to start acting like one, not just some assistant that cleans up gunk out of the Gaius-" She seen the stern look on Dayle's face. "-that's just something I do on the side." Lucy giggled, kicking herself for not getting out of that one. "If I can figure out how to assist everyone in everything they do then maybe I could be a Captain one day." The smile on her face was one of someone who was slowly figuring out what they wanted to do with their life. She had seen how Dayle and Axel both led and inspired confidence in people while leading them to victory and safety, whilst also knowing the realities of loss and defeat. She felt like she would be cut out for it one day and there was a fire inside her that hadn't been there before.


Lucy and Dayle looked over to Axel and Vitor now who was in the hall speaking to one another. They could faintly over hear them talking about how relieved they both were to find Lucy and Casar, something about how they found that both themselves had worked well together in the field and that there were no hard feelings for Vitor's actions before the mission. They were passing by with them being in clearer earshot. 


"-just don't slam me again. We slam Exodlites and bandits now. And Chancellors if they get out of line." Axel said with a smirk, causing Vitor to laugh in response. Vitor smiled at Lucy and Dayle whilst passing, patting Lucy's head while him and Axel headed to get some food in the other room. Lucy smiled in return then turned her attention back to Dayle.


"That's cute. Seems like we're all finally getting along again, especially after that shitty mission. Looks like things are finally looking up! I'll be a lean, mean, ass kicking machine. With the help of Sexy arm over here I'll have everyone's jaws dropping when they see me and what I can do!"


Things were less light hearted now across the room. Psy stood completely still for a moment, staring at Casar. His gem like eyes were glowing faintly red, as if contemplating over each of the boy's words carefully. Psy wasn't known for his intelligence so having to sit there and process what was said to him was necessary, thinking logically came last to psychotically.


"You... Are their prisoner?" He whispered, the first time his voice wasn't booming across the room. "And... your chain is your neck?" Psy looked closely at Casar's collar and scanned it. Sure enough, there was a tracking device, a shock element among other counter measures in order to keep him subservient. He noticed a fatal flaw in them however, a weak point, a crack. "You released me from my chains Casar... What makes you think I can't release you from yours?" He kept his voice low, knowing now was not the time for loud boisterous speaking. "I can see now, a weakness in your bounds. You are my friend Mad Cas, I may be psychotic but I know that friendship is." He paused, keeping an eye on Dayle who was thankfully distracted for a moment. "You saved me from 1,548,721 more cycles, you allowed me to get my revenge on my most recent captors. You have done more for me than anyone has ever done before. You may be part organic but for the first time I can overlook that on someone. Your flesh is... different than their's." He said, not quite sure exactly what he meant himself but it made sense to him. "I can release you from your shackles and you can leave on this station with me. We can kill them... For what they've done to you."
 
Casar glanced up to Axel and Vitor. Then, Dayle and Lucy. When he'd noticed that they were distracted enough, his hand reached up toward Psy's face, looking quite like he was going to smack him. Then, he stopped. Instead of smacking metal, which would have been a moot point anyhow, he forged another mental link between them. Only this time, he stayed in his own body. It was a surface link only; one that allowed them to communicate telepathically without the peeving eye of his captors. It had been up to Psy where to take it, but from that point on, Casar didn't use his words. Once the bond had been formed, he lowered his hand, the only indication of their connection being a slight glow of the eyes.



"As much as I'd like to see them die," he started, his words only appearing in Psy's mind, "Do you remember what you did to Sandman? I have no doubt that the Captain and his psychopathic pilot would do that to me, a thousand times slower, if we were to kill any of them. I'm aware that you haven't had a friend before, but what they have is more than that. They're family. Organics value their family more than anything else. It's a concept I don't quite get yet, either, but it's not something I want to come in the middle of."



He thought, briefly, of how Lucy had helped him through the sands of Vee. He wondered if he actually wanted to see her die, or if that was just rage talking. That, and Vitor. Something in him didn't want the overly large man to die, and something else in him knew that they wouldn't be able to kill him if they'd wanted to. He thought back to how brutal Vitor's treatment had been of the Exodlites on Vee. He thought about how sharp of a shot Axel was, and how easy it would be to be killed without his armored cloak on - one that had saved him on multiple occasions. "I don't want to be on the other end of that." he mused, into Psy's mind. "So ... No."



For a period of several seconds, he fell silent.



"I haven't had someone ever care enough to entertain the idea of helping me escape. Thank you. But they'll destroy you, Psy. And they'll destroy me."



Dayle smiled, but a certain sadness highlighted her features. "We'll get you strong, girly. And you'll be a straight shot. Okay? You'll be able to shoot a can off the top of Winger's head without nicking his hat while he's bouncing on one foot, by the end of it. AND you'll clean up the gunk on the Gaius, all at the same time. After all, what's a Captain without doing the hard work? You'd turn out like Winger without it, bless his heart, never touchin' a ship in his life other than to try and break it." she said, shooting a knowing grin toward her now happy Captain. In a moment's notice, they joined up together again. She shot a passing glance toward Casar and Psy as they convened, to see the sight of the boy with his head dipped down in his hands, covering his eyes. She'd thought the interaction strange, but everything that the two of them had done was strange. Then, she convened with Axel and Vitor.



"Alright. Well, we gave'm enough time, and I can't tell whether they're fighting or getting along, so I'd rather play it safe. Whaddaya think? Want to start operation 'No More Deathbots'?"
 
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"They can't kill me..." Psy said with confidence in his voice over the mental link. "Many have tried, all of them have failed. I replay their deaths in my mind over and over and over and over again just to watch them die again. Over and over and over and-" He stopped himself before he caught himself in a loop. "The only problem would be the bigger one but even then he can't be too fast, we could kill the little girl, the cowboy and... Sexy arm. As much as I find her arm attractive I can rip it from her for myself for later use." This android was more twisted than Casar could comprehend, flooding the boy's mind with thoughts that corrupted him without his knowledge. A mental link with a damaged AI was risky, but someone as far gone as Psy was even more dangerous for Cas. "Save your thanks for when you are freed, on the change they did kill me I would assure you escaped. It is what you did for me, it is what I will do for you."


Axel looked over to Dayle, then back to the two who were sitting and facing eachother. "No More Deathbots is a go. Vitor, I want you nearby incase he goes berserk. Lucy... You can man the turrets from the cockpit. Dayle and I will go have a chat with them. Let's roll." Axel started walking down the stairs first towards the pair who were still sitting across from one another. The walk was rather short but the conversation Psy and Casar were having in private seemed to slow down Axel's movement, their communicating through the mental link instantaneous and far more productive than normal speech. They could show eachother memories, abstract thoughts, it was as if having a guest in your own inner monologue. 


"The Cowboy is coming." Psy said, darting his eyes over to Axel briefly. Each step he took meant Psy was getting closer to being evicted which meant that Casar was that much closer to being stuck with them forever. "When I was in Sandman's care, I told him that I was wanting to be freed. He told me that an AI is supposed to work loyally for its owner, that I was NOT ORGANIC AND NOT ALLOWED TO LIVE OR LEAVE!" His words were bitter and filled with hatred, although he got revenge it seemed to just be another tick on Psy's checklist of murder. "BUT HE TOLD ME IF I WERE TO GUARD THE BASE LIKE A GOOD DROID HE WOULD FREE ME AFTER PROVING MYSELF!" That hit home with Casar, where had he heard that before? "These people Casar are bad... They may be family but you are outside of it. I see that the big man and the girl are friendly to you but what has the Cowboy and the Pilot done for you?" Flashes of Casar being pummeled by Axel or threatened by Dayle flashed through his mind, the memories twisted into being more severe than they were from the hate and malice he felt from being exposed to the android.


"Hey Psy... Casar. We gotta get a move on. Looks like this is your stop." Axel spoke out to the droid from across the room. Psy didn't respond right away.


He continued in Casar's mind, "Do you want to be like me Casar? Broken... Alone... Afraid... I know that I am damaged and I may have a few screws loose." Silence. "Okay... A lot of fucking screws loose. But I know how it is being imprisoned with a light at the end of the tunnel that they never give you." Psy turned to Axel whilst still speaking with Casar through the link. "My stop? What do you mean? - Casar, you have a choice to make here."


"We're at the space station. From here you can find work, get on a different ship, make a living for yourself. You're free now, you can do whatever you want." Axel said, trying to keep things civil.


"What if what I want is to stay here with you all? You kill organics very good, you have a nice ship. You could always use another hand couldn't you? - I am your best chance at freedom. If you don't take this opportunity then you will forever be enslaved. They will own you for the rest of your days and make it seem like you owe THEM something. - Is there a problem with me staying, Cowboy?" The way Psy was able to hold two conversations at once was rather impressive, showing that although damaged he still was an advanced artificial intelligence. 


"It's not up to me I'm afraid." Axel replied, "We work for the RCN, which means that we have to be getting back. You'd have to go through a vetting process in order to join and that could take months. If you want to join you can find a recruiting office on this station here and you could work your way into the group. We'd be happy to have you but you just gotta go through the proper channels I'm afraid. If you enlist I'll give the higher ups a good word for you." Axel was actually being fairly reasonable with the android, he would have said this to any visitor of their's but he said it to Psy in particular due to him being Psy.


"Let me get this straight... I murderized a bunch of raiders to save two of your own and I can't be put to the front of the list? - You see what he is trying to do? He is trying to separate us. He knows what we are capable of Cas. He knows that with your control over technology and my control over how I kill organics we're unstoppable! - Is it because I'm an android? That's racist, Captain." 


Axel let out a long sigh, there was something off about all of this. None of them could put their finger on it quite yet but Psy seemed to be stalling.


"Listen Psy, we appreciate what you did for Luce and Cas but we really gotta get going. It ain't cause you're an android, hell... I'm practically one myself. Couldn't tell you what parts of me are organic or synthetic at this point. It's just how our higher ups work. If we let anyone who helped us in then we'd have more people than those on the Exodus."


Psy began to stand up, "I... Understand." He said in a sad, defeated voice. "You do not like me. - You must make a decision Casar! Come with me and we will be free of all our rulers, be able to do whatever THE FUCK WE WANNA DO! To me you are free, so you are free to choose if you'd like to live a slave... Or, a free man." 


"Dayle..." Axel whispered, "He likes you. Appeal to him, maybe get him moving a little. Shake that arm of yours or something." A smirk crept on his face, the idea was absurd but it might work.
 
Casar sat, apart from Axel, head bowed in his hands. Violent thoughts flooded his mind. Axel, prodding him to speak up, and then slamming his head into a table so hard every time he tried that words would escape him. Being buckled in the brig, slowly fading to death as the ship suffered from depressurization. Being forced to climb the tower, and being shocked so deeply by his collar that his limbs had gone stiff enough to propel him away from it. Being picked up by Vitor by the collar and beaten into unconsciousness. Then, the callous threats of Dayle, who had the barrel of a gun jutting into his ribcage as he interfaced. What had affected him most of all, though, was Nephilim. Having felt like he'd done something - seeing the refugees filter from ship to ship on the RCN-1, free from their shackles, unlike him. Feeling retribution, at least a small amount, for having destroyed Oeutune-4. Then, being dragged screaming off of the Gaius as Nephilim's guards put him down like a common dog. All of these thoughts flashed through his mind as well as Psy's, pervading the already hate-filled robot to become even angrier. Psy's mind egged him on, pushed him to become angrier. Then, by the end of what in reality had only been a few seconds, but for them, reliving the experience ... Casar's mental fortitude waned.



"You ... is this my mind?" he questioned, voice glitching over their link as some of Psy's corruption began to sink into him. "I don't remember being this angry. But maybe I should be. And you're right - they're going to destroy me anyways, aren't they? It's a wonder I haven't died yet. Maybe I haven't died - because I was meant to get to this point." he mused, thoughts racing wildly. Psy's own mind rebounded, as if Casar had been putting an unintentional attack out on it. "I don't want to be broken. Or alone. Or afraid. I didn't realize not being that was an option. Arc -" An image flashed up in Psy's mind of Casar's former handler, Scientist Arc. A long man, with sharp features and gaunt, pale skin. Surprisingly, the thought that filtered through was a pleasant one. He sat across the table, from a much smaller Casar. Smiling. Younger. With shorter hair. His words were unintelligible though; as corrupted as the rest of his mind then. "I thought he made me not alone once, but after ... after it happened," - in the room, red sirens suddenly began blaring overhead. Casar looked up, then down. Arc's face was contorted in a fury, unmatched to anything in that moment. A deep-rooted fear settled in; an emotion that Psy probably wasn't used to, but it settled in his A.I. deeply regardless, like a heavy stone. "I realize that was fake now."



Anger reared up again, existing simultaneously with the deep, heavy, black fear. Red and black. 



It became clear on the outside that he was suffering, having the mental droning of Psy's internal monologue penetrate his mind. He grasped his hair, pulling it tight against his skull. A semblance of light peeked out from his sclera, hinting to Axel that something might have been wrong, after all. His expression was pained, as if a hot knife had been piercing his temple. Showing the demeanor of a kid in a corner, he turned away and released his own scalp from being pulled tight. It was up in the air why he was reacting that way, to everyone but Psy. While the robot could remain composed, the techno-mage didn't have the same experience in doing so. Memories overlapping, one after the other, took their minds.  



Then, silence.



In what felt like slow motion, Casar looked up. 



"No." he said. Only, his tone didn't carry defiance. Anger. Hate. Anger that he'd have to go back to the Renegades. Hate that Axel was taking away the only person who'd been ... was it kindness? Liberation? Despite a malicious undertone, his words were calm. That was, until he exploded. Casar reached out, snapping from the bench. His hands grasped Axel's arms with an inhumane quickness that he'd never properly displayed before - no doubt fueled by an adrenaline rush brought on by his own thoughts. "Fuck you!" he shouted, subsequently dispensing a ludicrous shock throughout the man's body, using his own arms as a conduit. 



Dayle didn't even have the chance to respond. She was behind Axel.



"Vitor, shock him out." she said, occupying her own time with reaching for her sidearm. Normally, a lash out from Casar only warranted a quick butt over the head with a gun, but something was different. It wasn't the android; she'd noticed it the moment he looked up: his eyes were flickering. Hints of red and light blue crossed them. "Fry the little asshole! Lucy, you get to the cockpit and arm the turrets. C-2. You STEP AWAY FROM THE FUCKING ROBOT, or I'll BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT! NOW!"
 
The force from Casar shocking Axel unexpectedly was great, almost too great for what he was normally capable of. The Captain was frozen in place, being shocked profusely from the inside from the furious former Exodlite, his augmentations a conduit to make the charge even stronger. He started to convulse as Casar fried him with all his might, Axel's augmented eye shattered in its socket and rained glass down on the boy but that didn't stop the onslaught of electricity. He was defenseless, he was trying with all his might to reach for his gun to finish this but his arms were overloaded and they began to flail about against his will. Vitor began to charge towards them to split them up but there was no way for them to counter how quickly Psy moved. 


Within the blink of an eye Psy was charging straight towards Vitor, slamming his fist against Dayle's chin as he ran past knocking her down after she had shouted at Casar to move away from the robot. He offered no words to the falling pilot, he was simply saving his friend now. Psy reached back and grabbed his assault rifles off his back then raised his guns towards Vitor but the Crusader was faster, reaching his massive hands forward and began to rip the guns out of the android's hands. Psy fired but Vitor countered, squeezing down on the metal barrels causing the blasts of energy to redirect back to the weapon's core. Psy didn't have time to comprehend what Vitor had done until it was too late, the guns detonated all at once sending everyone in the immediate vicinity flying back from the charge. Axel went skipping across the room away from Casar whilst the boy was thrown into the wall behind him with Psy landing on his feet in front of him, even defending him after a detonation like that. Dayle herself had been sent skidding across the floor on her back, disorienting her greatly from the force of the contained blast. Vitor stood strong however, holding the remnants of the guns. He opened his palms and the barrels crumbled to the ground.


"Shit shit shit... SHIT!" Lucy shouted at the control panel in the cockpit, bashing the turret control panel as it read an error message on the screen. The damage from Vee was too great and she'd have to rewire the defenses or they wouldn't activate. She got down on her hands and knees then ripped off a metal panel underneath the terminal then crawled inside. Dayle had taught her how to fix the majority of the ship so she wasn't totally out of her element but then she heard the explosion from the weapons detonating outside. "Oh FUCK!" She exclaimed, frantically sorting through the frayed wires hoping to find the solution fast.


"LIARS!" Psy shouted at the crew as they started to get their bearings. "YOU ACTED AS IF HE WAS YOUR EQUAL... BUT THE ENTIRE TIME HE IS YOUR PRISONER?!" Although his assault rifles were gone that didn't mean he was unarmed. Psy began to shouted at them even louder as if that was even possible. "I HAVE SEEN THROUGH HIS EYES WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO HIM! THE CRUELTY! THE DISRESPECT! AFTER EVERYTHING HE HAS DONE FOR YOU AND YOUR STUPID FUCKING CAUSE!" The android roared, shutters on his armor opening up releasing steam that was building up from inside him. "NO WORD OF THANKS, NO RESPECT, TREATED LIKE A FUCKING ANIMAL?!" Psy leaned forward, reading to strike. His voice began to glitch up from all of this rage he was experiencing. "You. Will. All.... Die..." Psy jumped forward high into the air with his boosters the magnetized himself to the ceiling. Vitor was unarmed and out of his armor whilst the only person who was armed being Axel was out on the floor across the room. The psychotic android dropped down from the ceiling and landed on Vitor, wrapping his robotic legs around the crusader's shoulders and then began to punch him in the face. "DO YOU LIKE THAT?!" He shouted as he began to pummel Vitor as he locked his legs tight around him. He then opened up his palms where two of his boosters were located and blasted Vitor's face with the flames. The Crusader roared in pain and blocked the blast with his own hands as best he could, burning his palms profusely as he gained the strength to grab at Psy's wrists and twist them back. The android felt snapping as Vitor twisted his arms causing the creature to scream, strange for a droid but Psy himself was strange. Vitor managed to wrestle the android off of him and threw him to the ground, his hands burnt to a crisp. 
 
Casar slammed hard against the wall, disoriented. He started back to his feet in record time, hissing out a slew of hoarse curses. Adrenaline fueled him now, and the thought that he wouldn't survive if he hadn't made it off the ship. He'd electrocuted Axel, and Psy had hit Dayle so hard that she hadn't the chance to recuperate, instead spitting out blood like thick water. The techno-mage sized everyone up; in that instant, everyone had been hurt, apart from Lucy. Even Psy took to the ground, roaring in an android's version of pain.



Casar dashed forward to the prone form of Axel, ripping his side arm from his twitching, cold hands.  He looked down, and in that moment, the temptation of giving the final blow to him - with his own weapon, nonetheless - was great. Then, thoughts reared back to him. How Axel had chosen not to let Casar die a lonely death at the bottom of a tower. How he'd tried his own fucked up way of mentoring him. The techno-mage locked eyes with the furious, incapacitated Captain. "Am I doing a good impression of a lap dog now?" He chided in a half-whisper. Then, he stood back up and tore away. His eyes fell on the form of Vitor, who'd taken severe damage at Psy's hand. Still, the android was at way more of a disadvantage.



"Psy, it's time to go! If your arms don't work, then use your fucking legs! We don't need to kill anyone, just -"



Casar's throat closed up as his cloak tightened around it. On the other side of the bay, having been separated from everyone else by means of explosion, Dayle triggered the boy's cloak's counter defenses. Only, it wasn't a warning that time. She wasn't Axel, and her crew members were being hurt. It was time to put the dog down. It had bit far too hard, and far too long. A deathly electric shock coursed through him, rivaling his own through Axel. A small whisp of air left him, before he'd fallen to the floor, stiff as a board. While it would have made sense to claw at his throat in that moment, his arms had seized up to the point where doing so was almost an impossibility. Slowly, he jerked the pistol up to his own neck, where he'd fully intended on firing it into the neck of his cloak.



Dayle's hand slipped up and away from the controls she had on her belt, back to her sidearm. Dazed, she raised it, pointing the barrel at Casar. Only, in her eyes, there were two of him. A bullet rang out. Then, two more.  From her vantage point, she didn't have the pleasure of aiming at his head. Still, two of three shots hit the chest of the struggling boy, who'd been laid out on his side.



Then, he fired from Axel's gun. His finger locked around the trigger from the electrocution, but he stopped himself from decimating his own throat by means of jerking the gun away at the last moment. The lights in the loading bay sharply flickered out, raining glass down on them below. Still, what rounds didn't hit the metal of his collar sank into the flesh of his skin, causing blood to spurt out the side of his neck. His collar stopped, leaving him gasping for air on the ground. 
 
Psy began to ran over to Casar desperately, these organics had proved to have more fight than thought possible. Vitor was hot on his trail though and grabbed the fleeing android. Vitor flailed the android around in the air, slamming him into the ground, back into the air then back down to the ground again. It was a brutal display of power from the Crusader, something none of the others could have done to the killing machine. Psy was in a daze as his systems struggled to keep up with the damage, luckily for him he had injured Vitor greatly and due to the slick burns Vitor roared out in pain as Psy kicked his way free. He began to run towards Casar against whilst Axel was finally standing up, the captain having a beyond furious look on his face. Blood dripped from his missing eye and his arms were still shaking but he started to walk over to the grounded Casar through the pain. Psy roared and began to charge at the Captain as he got closer, however, the android heard the worst possible thing as he did so.


"I GOT IT!" Lucy shouted from the cockpit. The atmosphere in the loading bay changed, the air itself felt different from those three words. If Psy had a heart it would have sank as the turrets from the ceiling revealed themselves from their hiding spots and aimed down at the droid. Lucy open fired, the shots hammering down at him, the once dark loading bay illuminated by the orange blasts that filled the room. A few of them struck the android so he began to run, out running the blasts as he dodged each shot narrowly. He couldn't last for long so he had to come up with a plan, the others had to take cover as Lucy filled the loading bay with fire. That however, didn't stop Axel from moving forward.


"You... Fucking... Son of a bitch..." Axel said, limping towards the grounded Casar who was bleeding from his chest and neck. "I show mercy towards you, I comb my way through the fucking shit hole that is Vee to find you... Not just Lucy... You... To save you... And this is how you fucking repay me? How you repay us?" He seen a look that he hadn't seen in Casar's eyes before other than the obvious hatred, fear. The boy had never taken this much damage before and would soon be going into shock. Axel was going to make him hurry along there. "I'm going to kill you with my bare fucking hands you PIECE OF SHIT!" Axel hammered down a punch straight into Casar's face, one that was all too familiar to the boy but this time he wasn't holding back. A single punch knocked many of Casar's teeth out and flattened his nose, blood squirted out of his neck from the force of the blow spraying Axel's face. Axel had not given in to this savage side of himself in a long time, raining down another punch and another to solidify the damage. He seen Casar's eyes flicker, he was on death's door and they both knew it. Axel was going to be the one to finally kill the prisoner, neither Lucy nor Vitor felt remorse for the boy in that instant. The instant he betrayed the only people who cared about him even a little, all for an android who had warped his mind against his will.


"NO!" Psy roared, taking a few shots from the turrets and allowing it to happen. He raced over to Axel while the turrets continued to fire and grabbed the captain's legs then ripped them backwards. Axel roared as he landed on top of Casar and felt the android literally rip Axel's legs out of their sockets, his skin peeling and festering from the attack as the android boosted backwards, using the force of his momentum to literally rip his legs off. Vitor charged into the line of fire of the turrets, getting shot in the back as they went haywire. Lucy screamed as she couldn't control them, she simply was able to get them to fire and with Vitor and Axel both in the line of fire she cut the cord shutting them down. Vitor's back was bleeding heavily from the turret blasts as he reached towards Psy who finished delimbing Axel, leaving him with uneven stumps where his legs had been. Axel roared in pain and started to convulse, starring into Casar's eyes as he too went into shock. 


"I-I-I..." Axel stuttered to Casar as Psy was thrown away by Vitor. "I am going to find... find... you...." Axel knew Casar was going to get away, Psy was just too powerful and everyone was too injured. Dayle's headwound made it near impossible for her to aim, Lucy was too far away to make a difference and Vitor's hands were practically useless. "And I will... kill you..." He said, not breaking eye contact with Casar as he fell over to the side and passed out from shock and blood loss. Psy seen Axel fall as he was being thrashed by Vitor, his armor being peeled away and being nearly crumpled up to the point of being malfunctioning. With a burst of true strength the android slammed his hand into Vitor's chest and dealt a vicious blow, followed by him peeling around the Crusader and racing towards Casar. He grabbed Axel's hat as he looked dead on the floor and picked up Casar with one quick movement. To him, he had dominated the Captain and as such was going to add insult to injury. The loading bay door was opening and Dayle continued to fire but it was no use, her head wound becoming more and more worse. As soon as the doors were even cracked Psy jumped through it with Casar in tow and charged out of the area. He sprinted away and disappeared into the station as everyone in the Gaius crew either collapsed or was already out.


Lucy came racing down the steps and seen the conditions the three of her crew was in and screamed, not sure who to rush to first. "DAYLE WHAT DO I DO?!" She yelped, looking around at the dazed and defeated crew. "DAYLE!" She screamed, fumbling with the med kit. When she didn't respond she immediately rushed to Axel who's legs were thrown about the room like they were some dog's chew toy, ripped apart and thrown haphazardly around the loading bay. He was unconscious and for good reason whilst also being the closest to death. She hit him with a ridiculous dose of painkillers, enough to keep him asleep and to help stop the bleeding as nanomachines in the serum began to try and keep him alive. "DAYLE I REALLY FUCKING NEED YOU RIGHT NOW! VITOR ARE YOU OKAY?"


The giant had fallen to his knees, staring at his hands. He was in his own little world right now, he too was in pain but the fact that Casar had caused all this devastated him like a father having his own son betray him. He was blind to the world for those few moments, trying to comprehend what actually just happened.
 
"Fucking... FUCK! WE'LL FIND YOU, C-2. You think you were treated badly NOW?! JUST FUCKING WAIT! I SWEAR TO GOD, WHEN WE FIND YOU, I'LL PERSONALLY RIP YOUR LEGS OFF AND FUCKING FEED THEM TO YOU!" Dayle screamed. The disappearing forms of Casar and Psy only solidified their hole. Only, that wasn't what had mattered, then. The focus shifted away, and what would have been to Axel's frustration, she dropped her gun. A quick moment to assess the situation had found one thing: in an instant, everything had gone wrong. Time slowed down. Axel laid bleeding on the floor, while Vitor stood stupefied at the drastic change that had bubbled up in Casar. Their prisoner had been ripped away from them - and the worst of it, the absolute worst - was that it was his own free will. Had they really made any progress? Was it a fatal point, again, that they kept him alive? "Why didn't we learn the FIRST FUCKING TIME to shoot that stupid little brat on SIGHT?!" she screamed, and then knelt to the floor next to Axel. Her eyes laid on Vitor, who was wrapped up in his own little world.



"Vitor. SNAP OUT OF IT!" she screamed, holding no sympathy for the Crusader. His hands were burned, and his back was bleeding profusely, but he was still awake. That was what had mattered. Soul crushed, but awake. There wasn't much that could kill a Crusader, but the loss of someone could certainly wound one. "It hurts me too, but Axel and I need you! Lucy, you go right up to that fucking cockpit and you drive us to the RCN-1. The sooner we get there, the higher the chance we have of saving Winger. Alright? He's going to be okay. He'll be fine. JUST GO!"



Her voice had become a cannon. In that moment, she took charge. But it was too late. If Axel had died, there, then it was on them. It was on her. It was on Vitor. And they wouldn't stop hunting the techno-mage until the ends of the Universe. Revenge and violent thoughts filled her mind as she began stifening the bleeding as much as she possibly could. Rage filled her features, a telltale grimace sweeping her bloody jaw. Still, she remained on point. Cursing herself for having been a shit shot could come later. "I swear t'god, Winger. If you die on me, I'm going to have to kill and torture that little fuckin' brat myself, and god knows I'm not as good at it s'you. So don't you fuckin' die! I'm NOT going to lose any of you again!" 



Her attention turned upward, to Vitor, but her hands worked furiously on the body of Axel. His eye was glazed, and his expression was peaceful enough, despite having been through hell and back. 



"Vitor, stick yourself with the NanoKit! We'll get to your back just as soon as I find that Winger here isn't trying to kiss Lady Death again!"



...



With Psy, Casar found himself struggling to survive. If he wasn't choking on his own teeth and blood, he was blindly grasping at deep indentation in his throat. The only thing that had saved him from getting his windpipe and throat absolutely obliterated and decapitated was his augments; inside him, bent metal strained, making way for only a sliver of air to pass through at a time. Barely conscious, he attempted to keep that small hole from filling up with blood with constant, wet coughs. The front of his face was broken, to say the least. Far more broken than it had gotten at the hands of Sandman, far more broken than it had gotten with Vitor, and in worse condition than it had ever been in the company of Scientist Arc. The mental link that he and Psy shared hung on slightly, by a thin thread that threatened to be cut by the well-placed bullet that had pierced the center of his chest. Only, something was wrong. Casar wasn't aware of it, but the fluctuation at which their bond wavered wasn't one of a dying man; it was one of power failure. Electrical impulses ran wild, threatening not only the techno-mage's mind, but his body as well. 



With a glance downward, Psy noticed that the center of the techno-mage's chest - which had been torn by bullets - was not only gushing a steady flow of dark red blood, but something shone out beneath the gore. His power core. It glowed a flickering light blue and dimmed by the passing second. When the blood ebbed, it was obvious enough that it was cracked. It was a benefit and a detriment; the core had no doubt stopped him from being killed outright with a shot to his internal organs, but the dimmer it grew, the closer to death Casar had gotten. Perhaps the only thing that kept him alive, unpassed from blood loss in its own right, was the nanobots still in his body from having been treated the night before. 



A vision crossed Psy's mind from the roots of Casar's: an unintentional, unconscious vision. Fear. Fear built the walls of the dark closet that he laid in. Fear dotted every atom, making up the world of their internal universe, replacing the very electrons and screaming their own names. Dread was in his fingers, aching the joints, as he lightly gripped the barrel of a pistol far too large to be his own. His hands were smaller then; that of a child. A true child, unlike what he was now. The walls across from him were pockmarked, and lying underneath, crippled, was a woman. Blonde hair caressed down her face, displacing itself from what looked to be a tight-bunned hairstyle. Her hands shook over her midsection, which looked eerily similar to Casar's own at the time. Filled with blood. Her face contorted in betrayed confusion, but it wasn't at him. She offered a silent, choked sob at whomever - or whatever - it was. While her words didn't meet his ears, they were no doubt the words of begging. Begging at something behind him. Massive. Looming. Then, suddenly, the white-frocked garment he'd worn was replaced with red. Red. Red. Red. A blade came through his back and out the other side. The vision faded away, but the instinctual, primal fear remained. It was confused fear; emotion without reason. If Psy hadn't felt the primal terror that only a human could conjure then, he was feeling it now. A synchronized thought shot through both of their minds. One that any animal thought before it died. Whether it was a rabbit, heart slowly coming to a gentle stop, or the fiercest of Saurs being ripped apart by teeth and muscle.



Why?



Barely intelligible, Casar looked up to Psy. What was probably meant to be, "I don't want to die. I don't want to die." came out a slurred, broken, "'don'th w'die. don'th w'die."



Around them, shocked patrons of the spaceport watched as the android tore away from the Renegade ship. Unknowing of the situation at hand, there wasn't much anyone could really do, anyways. Psy, even injured, was much too fast, and the power that had retreated from Casar's body streamed into the android's, with no other place to go. While most of the ships around them sat unmanned, their denizens within the bars, shops, or lodgings, most of them also sat locked up, doors unopened to the uninvited guests that trawled through the port. One of perhaps their only options, apart from attempting to tear through the docked ships of every type, was the ones in the far back. Broken down, beaten, currently in-repair ships whose lives have extended far past their intended times. Droids of the port's own type buzzed from them, making certified repairs to their hulls and inner systems. 
 
"Ok...Okay..." The giant replied to her, the pain slowly starting to come in waves for the poor lit up Crusader. He tried to stand to his feet but his back wound was much more severe than previously thought, an unarmored Crusader was still a force of nature but the damage that had been dealt was nearly too much. He crawled his way over to Axel and Dayle then looked at the unconscious captain, feeling great sorrow for a man who not only lost both his arms already but now his legs too. It was almost a cruel joke played on the Captain, he spent so much time and gave the RCN his everything only to lose all four of his limbs and nearly his life. If they didn't hurry he would lost that too. Vitor stabbed himself with a NanoKit then another to compensate for his size and groaned as he felt it already taking in to effect. He began to wrap his own hands in bandages so he could be of some use to Dayle who was still struggling with injuries of her own. "We... Need to cauterize his wound. He's not going to like us much but we have to seal it shut somehow. Open flame, heating element, something. We need to do it quickly otherwise this mess on the floor and.... hunting down that bastard will be the least of our worries." Strong words from one of the only few that had given Casar a chance.


Whilst Dayle and Vitor were trying to figure out how to help Axel, Lucy had raced away from Axel once Dayle had got there and thrown herself into the pilot's seat and flipped the Gaius online. The ship roared to life, something Dayle was usual against doing but they needed to hustle. Lucy flicked a few switches and the standard pilot controls came online since she didn't have an aug interface to use when it came to the Gaius. Without asking permission from the space station the Gaius began to fly up into the sky.


"OPEN THE FUCKING AIRLOCK! WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY!" Lucy shouted to the station control which promptly did so, being an RCN affiliated station helped as they scanned what ship was leaving and didn't need to ask any further questions. Lucy punched it, flying out of the station like a bat out of hell and hitting the FTL jump like a professional. It hadn't been her first jump but it was certainly one of the first but under these circumstances she didn't have time to be anxious or afraid, she was simply in the zone and was going to make sure that Axel made it. "Nav computer says we'll be back in an hour and a half! Can he hold on that long?" Luckily for them the bulk of the journey had been done by the time they had gotten to the space station, the home stretch wasn't far and at the rate Lucy was pushing the Gaius they'd arrive back in record time. 


...


"YOU WILL NOT DIE!" Psy shouted at the boy as he weaved in and out of pedestrians. This was all very foreign to him, being use to the desolate wasteland of Vee. He hadn't been in a crowded place like this in many years but everything still felt natural to him. He could barely understand Casar due to his grievous injuries and Psy was facing many of his own right now but he had the luxury of being able to suppress any pain receptors that had been installed on his body. The mangled up robot and the bleeding out young man made it to the end of the space port where there were several less than inviting buildings tucked away in the back of the station. Psy spotted a repair shop that didn't seem to have a lot of traffic and he had ran right pass the small clinic on station but figured with Casar having mostly synthetic parts they could help him.


Almost immediately they were turned away by a very rude droid shouting at them in bleeps and bloops, exclaiming how a human couldn't get medical treatment at a repair shop.


"HE IS AUGMENTED YOU FUCKING IDIOT! IF I WASN'T SO FUCKED UP RIGHT NOW I'D BITE YOUR GOD DAMN HEAD OFF!" Psy hobbled off away from the droid who seemed to laugh at him, not caring about the dying Casar or Psy. His eyes raced around and spotted the clinic then eyed the abandoned ships that seemed to be functional. "DON'T YOU BLEED OUT ON ME CAS! I HAVE AN IDEA!" Psy ran into one of the abandoned ships haphazardly, tearing through it to make sure no life forms were there. It was small, only a fraction of how big the Gaius. There was a small bedroom, a restroom, a long cargo area that seemed to have been cleared and the cockpit. The ship looked to be a simple delivery vehicle, meant to house two life forms and a moderate amount of cargo. Psy gently laid down Casar on the floor and placed Casar's hands on his wounds and made him apply pressure. "YOU DIE HERE I'LL RESUSCITATE YOU AND KILL YOU MYSELF! BYE." Psy gave a little wave to Casar, to the poor boy's horror, as the android raced outside.


Minutes seemed like hours to Cas as he laid alone, bleeding on the ground of some stranger's ship. What if they returned and found the dying boy there, abandoned and on death's door? They wouldn't however as soon he heard screaming, beeping and the doors behind him opening loudly. "GET IN BITCH!" Was all he needed to hear. A repair droid came flying in Casar's peripheral vision, the same one that had been telling off Psy at the repair shop. "Shut the fuck up and get to work droid, as for you lady, if you don't fix this man I'm going to rip out your guts and hang you by them." Psy sealed the ship up and got in the pilot seat as the doctor he had kidnapped was at a loss for words, her make up streaming down her face from the tears pouring out of her eyes. "I've done it before, you could ask my little friend there but he's choking on his own blood. STRAP YOURSELVES IN!" Psy interfaced with the ship directly, learning how to fly it almost in an instant from downloading manuals and schematics of the ship. He wouldn't be able to pull off any advanced tricks but he was able to get them out of there where the port officials were surely going to have a problem with what Psy was doing.


The ship jumped to a start and ripped away from the docking pad then went right up to the air lock. It was beginning to close as the port officials had caught on to what the android had been doing so he punched it, ripping a hole through the airlock causing the entire station to seal up from the breach before anyone was sucked out or any severe damage was done. Psy laughed as he focused on flying, hitting an FTL jump and getting out of the immediate area.


"Alright doctor lady, you start healing the nasty organic bits of him. Droid, you start fixing the good bits of him. If he dies I'm ripping both of you to shreds. Okay? Okay." There was silence in the cabin. "THAT MEANS NOW! GO GO GO GO GO!"
 
"If he stops fucking bleeding." Dayle said. While Lucy raced up to the cockpit and Vitor hobbled over to the injured Captain, Dayle began ripping her outer jacket off. She threw it onto the floor, pinning it down with her augment. Then, she gripped the sleeve and pulled. Hard. With a satisfying RRRIIIIP, she'd pulled the fabric apart at the seam. Only, she'd had a detriment: she had one hand, and the only other person who could help her with fine motor skills was Vitor. Vitor, whose hands were burnt to a crisp, smell of cooked flesh still lingering in the air. It wasn't the same to hesitate, so she'd looped the strip of fabric underneath Axel's left leg, shoved one end under the loop, making a loose-hanging circle. Then, she's gripped one end of the strip with her hand, and the other with her teeth, and pulled it blindingly tight against his skin. The makeshift tourniquet didn't completely end his bleeding; it wasn't strong enough. But it gave her enough time to start work on the other leg. Belt flying from her waist, she pulled the makeshift tourniquet so tight that the skin had begun shifting to a purple hue past the barrier. It was stronger than her jacket's tourniquet, but that hadn't completely saved the Captain.



"Vitor, put pressure on his legs. I know your hands hurt - I'm sorry. If you can't grab around them then use your weight."



Seeing that the operation had bought her a few seconds worth of time, she immediately stood up. That was, until her world shifted, and she steadied herself on the injured Vitor. Her legs felt as if they weren't her own, but it paled in comparison to the men's injuries. She walked a few steps, staggered, then fell toward the ground near where Casar had dropped Axel's energy pistol. She grabbed it and hustled back to her Captain. Then, she raised the gun in the air, aiming upwards but at an angle in the case that a shot had richocheted back toward them. Then, the sound of gunfire filled the cabin. It continued for as long as she'd had rounds in the chamber, until the barrel of the gun was piping red hot. It wasn't the most sanitary, but infection was the least of his worries. She'd placed the hot barrel of the gun practically inside his leg, where the arteries inside pulsed out a thready, but full stream of blood. If he'd been awake, it would have been an incredibly painful procedure. Then again, so was having one's legs ripped off. 



She ripped ammunition off of his body, and continued the same operation for the other leg while Vitor reinforced the tourniquets to the best of his ability. 



"Lucy, remember the engines. If you kick them too hard and they bust, we're good as dead. Okay?! 95%. 95%! Don't hit it any more than that. She can't handle it, and I can't ... we can't handle losing Winger."



...



The doctor woman, dissheveled, landed at the feet of Casar, whose expression shifted between a fearful glaze and pained grimace. His hands kept over his chest, blood running through his fingers. Her eyes shifted hard between the techno-mage and Psy, wondering what exactly she could do to remedy her own situation. She certainly couldn't overpower Psy, and letting the boy die would probably mean the death of her. Then, when the ship ripped through the airlock and she was sent ungracefully into the wall, she uttered out a panicked scream. Her chance for escape was ripped away like she'd been ripped away from her station. They were in space. That only left one thing. 



Her hands reached up to the medkit mounted on the wall and she ripped it open, spilling its contents to the floor. Shaking hands sifted through what little supplies there were, until she'd landed on a packaged syringe. She ripped it open without a semblance of dexterity and read the label. 



"Jesus - h-how... H-how old is this ship?! This isn't stock stuff, and it hasn't been for 20 years. A-android ... It's going to hurt him, b-but I promise I'm not killing him." she said, before plunging the needle end of the syringe into his neck. Her finger depressed the trigger, and hot fire began to run through Casar's veins. Almost instantly, the bleeding began to ebb, but he cabin was filled with a blood-curdling yell that made the doctor jump back in her skin. The syringe fell to the floor, and she began again to sift through the contents, but found that there wasn't much in the kit other than old gauze and packaged pill medicines. "FUCK!" she screamed, choking out a sob at the hopelessness of the situation. Then, her hands dove into his chest, fingers expertly finding the arteries she'd needed to pinch and squeezing down on them, tight, maneuvering around the synthetic 'veins' running through his body. She was dangerously close to his power core, which was thrumming down to it's last charge.



The droid scanned a blue light down Casar's body. Then, it's robotic voice sounded out. "Detecting synthetic organs depleting their charge. Power core located behind sternum, in front of human cardiac muscle. Heavy damage. RU-22 does not possess an internal charge unit. The only option is to let it die. Diagnostics complete."



The doctor's eyes lit up with fearful anger, knowing well that if the noncompliant droid had allowed the boy to die, she'd be killed off just as well. She maintained her words through a steady sob. "No no no. You - y-you can use... You can use the... the power from the ship?" she said, though her statement was more like a question. "RU-22. Take a wire from the s-ship and ... c-connect it?"



The droid's 'eye' seemed to fluctuate with light, as if thinking. Then, it turned to the wall of the ship. The same light that had scanned Casar scanned the wall of the ship, looking for exactly where the wires lied underneath. A welding tool and cutting tool deployed from it's floating body. Soon, a perfect square was cut into the side of the ship. A third arm appeared, and it looked much like a clasp. It pulled a thick wire from the hole and draped it over the techno-mage's shoulder. It cut into the thick power coil, sending the lights of the ship into a flicker. There was no face in which to show expression, but the eye of RU-22 flickered as if it were sad. Soon, the droid had began doing fine electrical work with Casar's power core, interlacing the coil's wires into his.



"RU-22 is currently siphoning ship power into inefficiently augmented human. This form is not sustainable." it noted. "RU-22 finds the augmented human's screams and the stock human's expressions of sadness to be distracting. Can the criminal android request that they stop emitting sounds?"
 
"We're at 90, punching to 95!" Lucy shouted back to her, still not unsure how to use the intercom system but none of that matter now. She pushed the Gaius up to 95 and it began to shake for a moment before balancing out. "We're at a solid hour now... Should be able to make it! When we get close to the base I'll radio in ahead so we have doctors on site." That was relieving to hear but that just meant this hour was going to be one of the roughest of their lives.


Once Dayle had finished cauterizing the wound Vitor had to let go, his hands resembled raw hamburger meat that had been exposed to heat not quite enough to cook them but enough to sear the outer layer. He cursed as he looked at the wound protruding through the bandages and went back to the med kit then began to wrap them tighter. Even with the wound cauterized Axel wasn't out of the woods yet, he would need to be watched closely as they made the trip back home. Both Vitor and Dayle took a seat next to Axel who was still completely knocked out, which was a blessing in disguise to all of them there. He had went through the more excruciating pain possible, he had quite literally given his legs for his crew as if he didn't then Psy would have more than likely turned on the next closest person which would have been Dayle.


"I... Am okay now." Vitor said, the medicine taking in effect for him. He seen Dayle was still having trouble with her head wound and looked at the last painkiller syringe, then to Axel, then back to Dayle. "He should be out for the time being, show me your arm." Vitor carefully grabbed the syringe and jabbed it into her arm as softly and as precisely as he could, it was hard with mangled up hands but he managed to do so and soon the three of them were all laying down side by side. Both Vitor and Dayle were propped up while Axel was laying face down on the floor, no telling how much pain he actually managed to feel before going under. "The way you cauterized his wound... Was one of the most creative things I have ever seen." Vitor said, a smile appearing on his face. Not a very big one, but enough to show that he found it amusing. "You saved him... And he saved us."


"He needs to learn how to not take so many for the team." Lucy said, finally figure out the intercom system now that the ship was practically flying itself. "Are you two okay?"


"We're fine, Lucy. Thank you." Vitor replied softly. "Just... hurt. Dayle and I are able to move, just barely."


"Take a load off, I got the cameras pointed at you three I'll keep an eye on ya. Close your eyes Vitor... Keep your's open Dayle and talk with me, you no doubt have a concussion. Stay awake." After Doctor Lucy's orders, Vitor got a bit of shut eye while Dayle and Lucy made small talk, the Gaius ripping through hyperspace at record speeds. In that moment it felt like the flight was taking a life time to get to their destination, none of them were sure Axel was going to make it, Vitor's damage could be permanent and something severely wrong could be happening inside Dayle's head. None of them were certain what could happen in that dreadful hour but soon the Gaius came to a screaming halt as it exited out of hyperspace and was back to flying at normal speeds.


As soon as it did the screaming started again.


Axel rose up from his stomach and the pain from having his legs not only torn off but the stubs being burnt was excruciating. So much so that the usually strong Captain was roaring in agony, pure white hot pain clouded his mind as it was the only thing capable of being upon it. That, and kill Casar. The sudden outburst caused both Vitor and Dayle to be alarmed but there was nothing they could do for them, they had used up all the medical supplies and they were almost there.


"WHERE IS HE?!" Axel choked out, his eye red and bloodshot as he scanned the room for Casar and Psy. It was disgusting to see the Captain having a hole where his eye once was and to see him trying to push himself off the ground only for him to stumble where his legs use to be was heart breaking. "WHERE IS THAT FUCKING TRAITOR AND THAT GOD DAMN ANDROID?!" He was slowly coming to terms with the fact that his legs had been ripped off of him as this wasn't his first experience there, unfortunately for Axel he had been through that sort of pain before. Even still no one in there could doubt the massive amount of pain he was going through as he rolled over only to stir up even more agony. His head landed in Dayle's lap as Vitor slid over to calm him.


"Calm yourself Captain... Dayle and I are both here... We are almost to the station."


Axel reached up and grabbed Vitor by the collar and got in his face, "Did you... kill that little... fucker?" He was so angry he was fighting through the pain, his anger almost overshadowing any discomfort he had. "Tell me..."


"He... Got away..." Vitor replied, defeated. Axel let go of him and fell back onto Dayle. He looked up at her but didn't even make a comment about their situation or tried to move anymore, the pain was just too much. The Captain writhed around on the ground and let out a low grumble of a moan, trying to suppress the pain but even he couldn't. 


"We're landing in 3 minutes! Medical teams are on standby." Lucy called out, the RCN-1 station in sight now and with just minutes to go of this hellish ride they were all ready to be treated. Any longer and the chances of any of them making it out of that loading bay would have been even more slim. "Hang in there guys..."


...


"THIS CRIMINAL ANDROID REQUEST THAT THE LITTLE RU-22 UNIT STAYS QUIET AND DEALS WITH MY FRIEND'S CRIES OF PAIN OR HE'LL BE DISMANTLED AND RECYCLED INTO FUCKING CANS!" Psy roared from the control panel, looking back at the unit who took note of what the android was saying but didn't understand how unstable Psy really was. Smaller worker droids had no programmed feelings or emotions, only to do work efficiently with no other purpose. "As for you Doctor lady..." To her horror, he held out a massive thumbs up to her whilst driving. When she realized it wasn't a gun, relief. "I don't like Cas' organic bits but they need to be taken care of to make sure he stays alive. It looks like you've stopped the bleeding decent enough, good... I won't be killing you today." He thought to himself for a moment, then finally said, "Yet. If he dies on me you're dead too." 


The ride was chaotic and eerily quiet. Only the occasional sound from RU-22 and the whimper from the doctor was all that was heard, excluding Cas' cries of pain which would not stop. Rightfully so however as his face was broken among the several bullet wounds. Many would not have survived this long, luckily for him they had plugged him into a source of power or he would be as good as dead. 


"Cas... I know you can still hear me buddy. I've been searching for planets that aren't under the Coalition's control. Place called Curretch, sounds gross but ehh... I like gross!" He cackled, looking back at the terrified doctor and the floating helper bot. "Seems to be the sort of place you don't want your daughter going to if you catch my drift. I'm sure an organic whore like you will find plenty of work, Doctor!" The woman was too terrified to speak unless absolutely necessary, and for good reason. "According to this, Curretch has the highest murder population in this sector. Perfect! I'll fit right in. The skies are polluted but the city itself has breathable air for most life forms, that is once you adapt to it. Crime families run amok... yadda yadda yadda... Boring boring boring... OH!" Psy found what he was looking for. "Being this is the biggest civilization in this backwoods, bullshit area, it says here that medical services are pretty top notch. YOU HEAR THAT BUDDY?! WE'RE GONNA GET YOU FIXED!" 



Soon they jumped out of hyperspace, much sooner than their counterparts in the Gaius, and found themselves orbiting the Curretch planet. It was dark but lights illuminated the surface, it was a smaller planet but it was hard to judge the size as no moon or any other landmarks were near this lonely, dark planet. There was a massive amount of ships and freighters orbiting above the planet and several traveling to and from it, clearly this was the place to be for fugitives like Casar and Psy. The android punched it, breaking through the thin atmosphere of the planet and finding themselves surrounded by impossibly tall buildings. Instead of blank space now Psy was weaving in and out of traffic and buildings alike, a very dangerous place for a new flier.


"LADY! GET ON THE COMMUNICATOR HERE AND FIND DADDY A HOSPITAL!" He patted the seat next to him. "COME ON OVER SWEETHEART, YOU CAN JOIN THE KIDS IN THE BACK IN A SECOND!" 
 
"We'll find him, Winger. We're going to find him, every-fucking-thing be damned, and make him and that pathetic excuse for an android pay. Alright? But that's not important right now. If you don't lay down and stop screaming, I'm not going to be the only one with a concussion. Now, I'd knock you out, but we used up all the meds. You need your energy if you even want to survive this. Rest." she commanded. In reality, her words were hypocritical. When Axel had woken up it jolted her from the same exact, rage-filled concerns. She was thinking hard on whether they'd truly get Casar back or not, or even if the boy had survived the ordeal. It would be their luck if he had, and something itched in her, telling her that he was. That the motherfucker survived. Because that's what he did, wasn't it? Throughout everything, he survived. Through sheer force of will, through sheer determination, someone or something always intervened to keep him alive. Unfortunately, most of the time it was them. She regretted every instance that she didn't spend working toward his death, and while she was the only one of them all who didn't make an effort to keep him alive, there were numerous instances where she could have killed him. The Dredge. In the brig, on Oeutune. Finally, and with finality, the moment that he had electrocuted Axel. Why hadn't she? Was it because of how he acted on Vee? The glimmer of hope he'd given her for finding Lucy? Her face filled with regret. Now, because of it, the man - her Captain -was lying in a pathetic heap, his head in her lap. Not only that, but Vitor, too, was hurt beyond measure. And it wasn't only his hands. "I'm sorry." she said.



As the Gaius approached the RCN-1, the airlock doors opened without needing the express request of Lucy. The girl had guided the ship skillfully into the docks, where a medical team had swarmed the outside. Waiting for the loading bay to open. Lucy made no hesitance from the cockpit, opening up the Gaius' doors to help her comrades as soon as the moment allowed. What the medical team had walked in on, apart from a dusty, beat-up Leech, was a horror scene. Axel's legs were strewn across the bay, blood marking the trail where they had been taken. Vitor laid, face contorted in pain, hands burnt to a sickening mud. The only one who'd looked relatively okay, apart from the unscathed Lucy (who still bore bruises from Vee) was Dayle. That wasn't saying much, for the front of her t-shirt was marked in red blood from both Axel and herself. It was a scene that they'd not come across often, but one the expertly trained Renegade doctors were made for. They rushed in, taking up the injured Axel on a floating stretcher first. Then, two particularly large medics had goaded the hurt Vitor onto a stretcher made for large alien races, having come prepared with the crew roster on hand. Dayle declined help, choosing to stand on her own with the assistance of the joining Lucy. 



"It says here on the roster that you have a population of five." One of the aliens with the medic team chittered. "Was ... 'C-2341' a casualty, or do we have to retrieve him from another part of your ship?" It asked, directing its query at Lucy. 



Outside of the Gaius, several armed Renegade policemen sat, cradling their rifles in their arms. The fighting was long since over, but all the RCN had known was that there were several injured on board. The dock slowed in time, the Coalition civilians who had worked it and traveled it alike coming to a quiet lull as the scene had unfolded. 



"You're not going to find him on the ship." Dayle said, giving as much of a non answer as she could before Lucy had the chance to speak up. "I'd like to go with the boys before getting treated. I just got a concussion and a sore jaw, maybe a fucked tooth, but the Cap and the big guy got it worse." she said. Then, before the medic could object, she thrust herself into the back of the small hovership that they had placed Axel and Vitor into. She outstretched a hand to the young Lucy, who'd seen far more within the last days than most ever saw in their lives. 



...



"RU-22 is silencing external requests." The droid stated, high-pitched voice lilting robotically. It worked steadily on Casar's core, but was obviously having some difficulty in navigation due to the blood and organic parts surrounding it. Suddenly, it jabbed a little bit too hard, and Casar's dormant hand instinctively came up to shock it. Only, when he'd tried routing power to his palms, he'd suffered a great deal of shock. It was nearly nothing next to the pain he'd already been experiencing, and he couldn't have screamed any louder if he'd tried. Luckily for everyone on the ship, his yells had become hoarse gasps after a while. There was a detriment to having been kept awake, after all, and the liquid that the doctor had injected into him assured it.



The doctor had ripped away from Casar just as soon as she'd been commanded to. Gulping down fearful tears, she took a hesitant seat next to Psy. They were on Curretch. She wondered if a cry for help would have been received at all. From what she gleaned, the people who'd currently held her hostage were certainly not Coalition. Shakily, her hands felt over for the transmission button. Then, she spoke aloud.



"H-hello?" Her voice came out. "C-city directory? I... I'm looking for the nearest hospital. It's an emergency. One red, needs immediate c-care. Human: chest, neck, and facial wounds. Please, uh... prepare services for inbound." She said. The radio was silent, for what felt like minutes. In reality, it was only several seconds before someone on the primary channel replied.



"Hi, carrier ship. This is dispatch. You've been given an emergency pass to head up. Sending the nearest hospital co-ords to your ship, now."



Breathing a sigh of relief, the doctor nearly collapsed on the panel in front of her. She didn't make eye contact with the crazed android for a moment.



"Please... can I go at the hospital? I... won't tell anyone what happened. I j-just want to help. He's mostly stable, but I can't do anything for him past this. The Repair Unit can do more than I c-can."
 
Before Lucy could grab on to Dayle the paramedic in charge held out his, halting the girl from boarding the hovership.


"We can let you slide ma'am, but not the young one. I'm sorry but we have to be moving quick, your ship needs to be properly registered here at the docking bay as well." He said, pointing to the still online Gaius. Lucy turned and looked at it as the medic got in the passenger seat.


"I'll take care of things here Dayle... Start the clean up and all that. When those two are stable call me, I'll come visit every-" Before she could even finish her sentence the hovership blasted off of the landing pad and took flight, flying up into the sky and beelining it for the hospital. Lucy waved at Dayle who returned the sad, lonely wave back at her. It would be days before Lucy heard from her crew again and knew this well, realizing that Dayle wouldn't leave Axel or Vitor alone in their time of need. Lucy turned to the Gaius, releasing a long sigh as she did so and walked up the ramp. The medical team had thankfully taken Axel's legs away but that left plenty of other bits of flesh, gore and blood all over for her to clean. She ran up to the cockpit and instead of giving in to her emotions like she would have just days ago she stayed strong, thinking what her team would do in her place, and got to work.


Right away she turned off the Gaius and contacted the port mechanics that she'll need some assistance with renovating the Gaius once more. Luckily for her, that was covered in Chancellor Div's agent plan when it came to task forces meaning that the Gaius was insured and Lucy wouldn't be the only one working on it. She knew better than to just leave it to the crew, she had to take care of the ship while Dayle couldn't. Although tired and not having a proper night's sleep in days, she began the long, tedious work of sanitizing and repairing the damage done in the loading bay. The Gaius wasn't going to last many more missions at this rate and it was becoming cramped for the growing team, at least, it was until Casar betrayed them.


Before she knew it the area where Axel had began bleeding out was clean and still had heard no word from Dayle, and for good reason. Back in the hospital they all were suffering even under medical help, Axel would need to go through several different surgeries throughout several days just to fit him with state of the art augmentations involving ripping his cauterized legs back open whilst reinforcing his bones and nerves to accept the implants. Dayle's damage was of the mind and skull so any bone fractures would have to be treated using a highly advanced medical laser and Vitor simply needed time in a healing tank, he was too big and his skin too tough for conventional treatments. It would most likely be weeks until the Gaius crew was ready to fly again, all simply because of a failed experiment in rehabilitating an Exodlite.


...


Psy gave the woman a long, hard look. Normally he was for the deaths of all organics, and this wasn't an exception.


"The repair unit can do more than you can huh? Duley noted. Also noted was that you simple pinched a nerve and hit my friend with a needle, I could have done all that." He relished seeing the look in her eye, the look of pure fear from an organic. "You've seen too much, and I don't like you." He reached over and quickly broke the woman's neck with one of his hands, a trained exercise he had practiced for decades. She slumped in her seat and slammed her head against the control panel, causing them to take an eradicate turn to the right. "THIS DEAD BITCH IS TRYING TO KILL US!" The ship began to barrel roll as Psy frantically regained control and leveled them out, narrowly dodging a massive ship passing overhead. "HOLY SHIT!" He exclaimed, then started to laugh as he continued to pilot the ship. "Sorry there sweetheart, if you didn't want to die so bad you should had said something! You organics hold on to your morality too much, soon as I take it you try and murder me back? Disrespectful little I'm uncultured." He shook his head, his mood swinging faster than a super sonic swingset.


The groaning from Casar had began to come back, so Psy donked RU-22 on the head and he continued to work on the boy. It wasn't long before they arrived at the hospital and Psy haphazardly parked the ship in the designated area. The ship screeched to a halt, skidding across the ground before coming to a stop. 


"Alrighty RU-RU, you can either stay with the organic but I gotta warn ya, they start stinking after they pass... Or you can come with me and Mad Cas here. He's a blast at parties, you should have seen the last one we were at." Psy laughed at the thought, the entire Gaius crew had to have been dead by now. Psy lifted up Casar and took the cord connected to him and ripped it from the ship, disabling it. He then attached the cord to himself, acting as an energy donor to Casar. "Don't think I'd let you quit the juice that easy, Cas. Let's get you inside." Psy carried Casar outside, quickly passing by the pool of blood the boy had left behind and out the airlock, to find themselves in front of the biggest hospital he had ever seen. They hadn't even landed on the planets surface but on one of the many emergency platforms scattered throughout the building. Medical staff came rushing towards them with a hover stretcher, after which they tried to pry Casar from his hands. Psy growled at them, "Nobody touches him but me. And your doctors. But not you two." The staff didn't seem to be in a confrontational mood as they said nothing while Psy placed Casar down on the gurney. "Now be gentle with us, he's attached to me for a reason." And with that, they were carted into the hospital.
 
As the medics swarmed them, the unit was forced away from the techno-mage. It emitted a series of annoyed beeps, as if canceling its operation midway was a grievance. When Psy had approached it with the question of coming with them, the red light on its eye turned to a light, rotating blue. "RU-22 is beginning repair engagements on the android, filling the primary directive." the droid replied, soon finding itself latching onto the charred back of Psy. While he traveled with Casar, RU-22 traveled with him. 



A series of lights danced overhead as Psy and Casar were lead along on the stretcher. In reality, it was simply the ceiling lamps overhead, but to the dazed Casar, they looked much like fairy lights. It was an incredibly new environment, the hospital. Not only were they in a sprawling cityscape that didn't have the authoritarian code of the Exodus, but people and aliens crowded around in every which direction. There was a kind of chaos that took the hospital; one that indicated that Casar didn't stand out as much as he usually had. That wasn't to say that the pair wasn't strange. They were; even in slummy society, a techno-mage, an advanced AI, and a Repair Unit were far and few between, let alone together, let alone attached. The C-shaped mark on the side of his head indicated the boy as an Exodlite, for civilized societies preferred to take less barbaric routes of brain augmentation. Luckily, most civilians didn't recognize the seal. While the threatening android traveled alongside the techno-mage with the droid hovering close behind, the doctors worked as if he wasn't there, buzzing around him like flies. It was obvious then that they were not adverse to working with less favorable clients.



Their technology was advanced, all the doctors having worn portable health scanners over a select one of their eyes. Still, the halls bore a direct contrast to the clean medical lodgings of the Renegades. The building, while windowed, felt dark. A claustrophobic gray adorned the walls, much different from the sterile white that the techno-mage had been used to from both the Renegades and the Exodlites. Still, it was much cleaner than any other areas of the city, having gotten so much traffic from the death tolls that wracked up over such short amounts of time that business was flourishing. The halls themselves were filled with the sound of doctor chatter and shuffling but no screams, a feature that resulted from the rooms adorning the hospital having been soundproofed. Soon, the pair were treated to the same thing: the chatter of the hallways dissappearing behind them into near silence as they were goaded into a surgical room. The escorts had disappeared as quickly as they'd helped him to, leaving the group with the medical team that sat dormant in a room adjacent. 



It would be a period of waiting before he was seen, especially short-notice. That didn't stop the stabilization of the boy, whose face had soon been fitted with an anesthetic mask. Almost instantly, his eyes began drifting to the back of his head, halting his disdained yells. Before he was put under, he suddenly reached up, tearing the mask off his face and nearly losing his balance from the table. 



"Sir, the doctor is going to be in in a moment. You need anesthetic if we're to perform surgery." the medical assistant by the bedside replied toward Casar's actions. He looked unsure, betwen Psy and the techno-mage, unsure if he was overstepping his bounds. He was met with a bloody scowl from the face of Casar, who'd both been disturbed at the thought of being put under when he was already so close to death and going into surgery. While the pain was overbearing, he would have done anything at that point to avoid slipping away. Before the assistant could protest again, the room doors opened. 



In walked a woman that looked much like the others in the room, frocked with a white labcoat, sterile gloves, a medical mask, and an eyepiece that allowed her to read health statistics on the go. Still, something about her had seemed different. Perhaps it was the departure from the grim expression that the rest of the staff there had bore. When her eyes fell on her patients, she looked between them with an obvious curiosity. She pushed a cart in front of her, one that carried a slew of high-technology tools that looked more like a set of torture devices than medical tools. 



"Hi there! Know you probably can't talk too much now, on account of the whole ... teeth situation. But we'll get to that after we fix you up." she said, looking down to Casar. "You can call me Doctor Imille. Luckily for you, I'm also an augment Doctor. I'm going to be repairing your power core today. How's that sound?" she asked, voice strained with kindness. The techno-mage's eyes fell on her. Then, he offered a brisk middle finger. "Charming." she replied. Then, she patted her cart, bringing to attention the various implements on it. "Okay, well. You two seem relatively sane. Let me try to make an appeal to your very obvious sanity. See these tools here? They're going to hurt, especially when we move onto the dental work. You're obviously already in a fair bit of pain, and screaming and thrashing during surgery generally makes for a bad time for both of us. Soo... your options are: You can decline treatment, probably die, by the looks of it. You can put the mask on, and make it easier for everyone here, or if you reaaally don't like either of those options, we can strap you to the table and do it without anesthetic. Not my personal favorite, but those are your choices."



Her eyes flitted upwards to Psy, briefly registering the connection that they shared. She was one of the few doctors who noticed - or rather, noted - the damage that the android had taken. 



"Unless you have an alternative, handsome."
 
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Psy looked at the doctor, confused. He pointed to himself when she said handsome and awkwardly turned around to look behind him over one shoulder, then the other, then finally realized she was talking to him after a moment of careful deliberation.



"Lady... Are you fucking crazy?" He asked, the question he posed was absolutely ridiculous coming from him. "I'm a walking talking skeleton with a thirst for organic blood and flesh. Me handsome? Especially with these damaged parts? You're crazy." He paused for dramatic effect, "I love it!" Psy laughed as he walked over and looked down at Casar who didn't seem to be too entertained with him speaking with the doctor like he was. His life was on the line and he was cracking jokes, "Sorry buddy." Psy said quietly, reigning in his rampant intelligence matrix to speak with the doctor as professionally as he could for as long as he could muster. "She is an augment doctor, Casar. Putting you under is the best thing for you right now." He could feel through their mental connection that Casar disagreed with him heavily for once. "Listen here, if you're worried that they're going to hurt you well... They will. If you stay awake for this then it's going to hurt even more. Your face is... Well... Pretty fucking disgusting right now Cas, I gotta tell you. Like, this whole thing here." He pointed at Cas' face and circled his finger around, "Is fucking disgusting. Like, it physically hurts to see that... And I'm a fucking android."


Things were quiet for a moment as Psy starred down at Casar. He glanced over to the doctor and she was waiting attentively, time was of the essence but luckily for Casar he had a friend nearby to not only calm him down but deal with the specifics of it all.


"Listen. You're a fighter and I respect that, I respect the hell out of that. A fighter doesn't want to stay down for anyone or put their life in anyone's hands but you got me Cas. I got you this far, didn't I? You've bled all over me, I've killed a lot of fucking people for you." He noticed the doctor and the nursing staff didn't even flinch, they swore an oath to uphold complete secrecy when it came to their patients so this was nothing new especially on this planet. "So what I want you to do is quit being a little bitch and take a nap. You can stay connected to me, my scrubber here is repairing me so I'll take a seat here and you can stay conscious in a way through me." Psy walked backwards and took up a seat, he'd be a bit of an obstacle in the way of the doctors but this way Casar wouldn't be fighting them. "All they want to do is save you and if you want my totally honest opinion, you're about fucking dead. Your face is fucked up, your neck has a big hole in it, your chest resembles Swiss cheese and I can see your power core. So man up and let's get this shit done."
 
Casar stared at Psy for what felt like a long while, but was really the lapse of several seconds due to the blinding headache he was experiencing. His gestural hand fell to his side, exhausted. He craned his neck up a half-inch before the pain from having shot it took his effort out. Every other second, he was on the verge of falling fast asleep, anyways. The longer he held on, the chance of him dying due to sheer stubbornness increased, though he would have passed out before then and given some semblance of relief to everyone in the room. A part of him didn't want to give the satisfaction, while the other part was simply afraid that if he tried to go to sleep, he wouldn't - or couldn't - be able to wake up again. The anger he'd felt toward the Gaius crew had long since ebbed away, replacing itself with primal instinct. Still, it wouldn't be in his fashion to die, would it?


"If you let them kill me, I'm going to root in your subconscious and haunt you for the rest of your fucking life." he threatened, over their link. To the medical staff, it simply looked like a period of silence between the two. Imille's eyes scurried between them, in something other than impatience. Curiosity? Psy's words - you can stay conscious in a way, through me - intrigued her. Her expression went unnoticed by the two, who were having an argument in their minds. Finally, Casar seemed to concede. Though he couldn't show too much expression through a bloody pulp of a face, his eyes falling on the doctor was enough. Like a game of telephone, she bounced the reluctant agreeance through to her assistant, who moved forward to gently - but quickly, in the case that he'd changed his mind - snap the mask over his face. What little opened of his eyes lulled, glassily, before he'd finally fallen into a slumber.


"Alright, ladies. Take your places. Show is on the road." the doctor stated, with an unmet amount of enthusiasm. The room burst into life, the medical staff having been given the okay to start work on the patient. Soon, Casar was not only hooked up with anesthetic, but vitals and blood just as well. The setup took a matter of minutes, showing quickly the expertise of the staff that had set in the room. They wore garb of different colors, and it became obvious by their work why. The red-smocked aliens began analyzing the more human parts of Casar, while the grey-decked, two-person smattering of staff began setting up mechanical technicals. Soon, he was leaded with wires and tubes of every kind, designed to monitor and control both the organic and synthetic parts of him. Soon, the gorey work started. Just as soon as it had, the Doctor settled into a groove. While it may have been disconcerting to most to see one's operator begin chatting over their work, well, her victim wasn't exactly awake. 


"So, walking, talking skeleton. You don't speak as if you've got a loyalty chip in you. I've got to say, never seen an android call their owner a little bitch before. What's this ... whole thing?" she asked, raising the scalpel from Casar momentarily to gesture a circle encasing the both of them. "I mean, Curretch is a big place, and I've seen a lot of shit. Murderers, thieves, rapists... the whole lot. And, I've gotten to dissect a few Exodlites in my time as well - if I'm right in assuming that that's what your human is. Can't say I've ever had an android walk in with a Renegade-tech Repair Unit on his back and a zealot on his front. What sequence of events has to happen for this to even be a thing?" she asked, grin becoming obvious behind her medical mask. Her questions far breached protocol as far as questions were concerned - with the standard fare having been asking none at all.
 
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Psy noticed her grin, she seemed to be the first organic to be intrigued by him truly just from her demeanor. It was a strange feeling, not instantly hating an organic off the bat. That and she was working diligently to save his friend and all the while she was able to maintain a conversation? Now he was intrigued.


"Well the one on my back just likes it back there and well the one on my front he just wanted in on the ride, figured this gang bang could get a bit more interesting with some Exodlite meat." To his horror the surgical crew laughed. "NO LAUGHING! I know I am hilarious but please, my friend is being cut open here. Professionalism is of the utmost importance, especially when you're inside him like that." If they really knew who he was they'd be dumbfounded Psy of all people was telling them to keep it together. "Cas here fried my 'loyalty chip'. Was owned by a bunch of nasty people making me do non-nasty things so I was terribly bored. They took me for a guard bot when I'm clearly a murder bot. I mean, just fucking look at me." He noticed the woman was able to operate and take in her surroundings just fine whilst the other assistants had to keep their eyes on their work, it was impressive to say the least. "So he fried it, I liked it, I killed all my captors... Probably 40 of them or so, you know, a small amount but after being forced to walk a circle for so long you have to warm up. Come to find out... Get this... Casar here was a prisoner too!"


He darted his eyes around the room, making sure that no one was getting jumpy with him running his mouth like this. When he noticed that several of them seemed fairly bored almost, as if they had heard this before he turned it up a notch.


"So, I get in all nice and tight with his captors who was using him like a tool and we fought them all. I killed a Cowboy and took his hat!" He reached into his chest compartment and placed Axel's hat on top of his head. He looked absolutely hilarious with it on, it not matching his features at all with that cold skull for a face with an old school cowboy hat atop his head. "Fought a giant, one of those big humans that are too big for their own good. Exodlite I think cause of the scar."


"A Crusader." An assistant said, speaking up. Doctor Imille ran a tight crew but they were some of the best for working with her, knowing this to be the case in subjects she found interesting. "It looks like you got man handled by one."


"I sure did!" Psy said, almost with too much happiness in his voice. "I like that big guy, so I barbecued his hands and got his back all shot up. Went and punched Sexy Arm really hard, I hope she's okay. Well... Not the gross organic part of her, just that arm. Mmmm..." He grunted, just thinking about it had his circuits buzzing. "Great augment work gets my induction port primed. Anyways, after fucking all those fools up and getting shot up, broken and poor Cas here on death's door, I went and stole a ship and RU-RU here. We've been the bestest of pals ever since, this past hour has been the closest we've ever been." Psy's mood was swinging rapidly but at the very least he was calm, Casar being saved grounded him luckily. He was actually charming in a twisted way, he would do great on Curretch. "And now we're here."
 
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