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I can’t promise everything will be to your liking, or even similar to Gesshru I’m afraid.\n\nAmazon: --- https://www.amazon.com/Gesshru-Esca...../dp/154327255X\nCreateSpace: --- www.createspace.com/6954737\nFor the physical copy, and owning something you can hold in your hands is the only reason to purchase from these outlets. Priced at $15 USD it turns out making a large novel costs a fair bit just to print.", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Patreon: --- www.patreon.com/arbon
For as low as $1 USD per month you can see not only the entire novel, but also everything else I’ve been too cowardly to show the world at large. I can’t promise everything will be to your liking, or even similar to Gesshru I’m afraid.

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For the physical copy, and owning something you can hold in your hands is the only reason to purchase from these outlets. Priced at $15 USD it turns out making a large novel costs a fair bit just to print.", "writing": "My name is Freya Savitri, and right now there’s only one way to describe my surroundings.\n\nStepping on an ant hill.\n\nKaos in Albanian. Pwnu in Armenian. Xaos in Azerbaijani. Xaoc in Basque. Haos in Bosnian. Kagubot in Cebuano. Idarudapo in Yoruba. Tartibsizlik in Uzbek. Anhrefn in Welsh. Hepohepo in Maori. Mhirizhonga in Shona. Complete and total chaos.\n\nThat’s what it was like, okay? No matter what language one uses, the word chaos fully and completely described their deranged mania. Already the large bay doors were closing tight, having no need to open higher than a few inches during normal use with only the rodents scampering around. There were no guards or combat units stationed on the inside of the building for reasons that largely have to do with delegation of resources. Enemy assault was deemed more likely than human escape. \n\nAnd yet time and time again here we are, back in the familiar screams with a newfound purpose. Better still, an entirely new strategy.\n\nI moved my legs. Do you hear that? Me. I moved them, entirely on my own, and no one was prompting me or controlling me or forcing me to aim at anyone in particular. Okay maybe there was a quick and disappointed scan for Tasgal, but no one else caught my immediate ire. That was the key difference here. That is what made these panicky rodents so different to the ones in Scando, as far as my emotional stability was concerned.\n\nI stepped down the halls, quickly asserting myself into the wider room opening up some forty or fifty yard with this hallway intersecting them. Twin rows of human cells behind me, there wasn’t any way I could smash them out of the doors before someone with a remote control came in to recapture me, and even with my most convincing stare I wasn’t quite adorable enough to seduce the Gesshru assistants into opening all the doors for me. \n\nNo, I didn’t try that in a previous attempt …\n\nShut up.\n\nThere were sections of the walls reserved for research, access panels leading into the network of maintenance tunnels and what could reasonably house secret rooms. Much of it went into the hidden machinery of those claws and towers designed for outfitting a human in armor, as well as producing and storing the bits of equipment between assembly.\n\nWhat interested me was the control tower though. Built directly into the wall like some boxy cabinet shelf, designed to look down on everything else from eye level to a human. Inside were the intricate computers and wires and a stuffy little office for the guys in charge, all set to a pretty glass window. Not polished quartz like most of the Gesshru buildings elsewhere, but real panes of glass that could only have been constructed via mimicking our technology.\n\nIt was on the other side the room, but the short walk didn’t take long, and I wasn’t in the mood to take this leisurely.\n\nChaos reigned supreme, rodents diving out of the way of my feet, soldiers collecting tiny weapons from wherever they could, assistants darting into thin little passages or hiding behind electronic equipment. All of their cutting edge toys and brand new developments were handled right on this floor.\n\n“Whoops.” I wasn’t especially sorry when I kicked aside what looked like half a radio with the wires missing and smoothed river stones tied up in duct tape. None of the Gashn specimens were crushed underfoot, largely through a mix of neither of us wanting that to happen, and within moments I was face to face with two dainty looking operators.\n\nMale and female if I had to judge based on the swiveling horns, the female fell out of her seat while the male was scrambling to level a needle thrower at my snarling visage. Sure those things could hurt, but it’s not like they could break through real glass to shoot me through it.\n\nMy fist on the other hand, suffered no such deficiencies. \n\nShards went splaying wildly, my fist bleeds to match my legs, the stink and sweat and rage of it all adds to the aura of terror. The sound of folding aluminum and crushed plastics mixing strangely with the chittery screams. \n\nIt was so hard to continue thinking of them as people at that point, because none of the sounds they produced resembled human terror in the slightest. It was all squeaks and clicks, sometimes loud chirps. The glass wasn’t completely removed so I bashed at it again with a balled up hammerfist, plucking at the sides and pulling until I had room. My fingers reaching inside for one of the two. \n\nThe male apparently didn’t expect me to crunch through his defense so easily and was a tad out of his depth when it came to defense. He fires off the release on his needle thrower, but just ends up embedding a thin strip of plastic into a display screen behind my fingers. I grip onto his legs and pull, dragging him gently but forcefully away from the tower, and … felt a prick.\n\nAh, the woman. She had a proper spear beneath the tables of her workstation and now took this opportunity to poke at me. It was like having a child jab you with a pencil, annoying certainly but nothing serious.\n\nHer screams intensified when I ignored her, the male partner at work releasing a panicked yowling noise and reaching his arms back as if to grab onto something. The woman lunges forward faster than I can safely pull my arms out, stabs her spear in a wild eyed jab, and … to my annoyance it wasn’t aimed at hitting me. It was just putting the plastic stick in reach of the male for him to grip.\n\nShe pulled, he pulled, the girl bracing herself against the torn bunker and the male scrambling to keep a tight hug around what had just become his lifeline. They were putting so much determination into saving each other it actually annoyed me.\n\nSo then I pulled, and neither of them had a solid ground to fight from. The woman dangling from one end of her spear and the man now holding on to keep his friend from falling. I roll my eyes at the display, it became a struggle to do my best to ignore what each of them assuredly believed were their last words to each other. Did one of them just spout ‘I love you’ while stammering through tears? \n\nGah! Spare me. Both were quietly deposited onto the floor without much ceremony, and I returned to the opening with my other occupant. \n\nIt was so hard to keep thinking of these things as people when they screamed. In the city, built for them, designed with their tech, clearly alien and so decidedly lived in one could scarcely imagine them being anything but sentient. When screaming and chirping and all hopping about while inside a building sized for humans? That was a tiny bit harder at this point. \n\nI had a very forceful reminder of the aggressive personhood these Gesshru displayed upon lifting Soto up to the control station. His own squeaks taking a moment for me to register, his face finally clear of nutriment paste and his naked body still warm in my grip. \n\n“I t-think I’m going to be sick …” he muttered, and to be honest I wouldn’t have cared much if he did make a mess of things. It really was not like any part of me was near clean at the moment, and so long as he could get us out of here it wasn’t anything to hold against him. Heh, if he could get us out. You see, my entire plan now revolved around him. \n\n“Make it quick alright, I’m going to need you to find the right button.” My voice wasn’t as gentle as it could have been, but I made sure not to hurt him while maneuvering the guy through glass and into the half wrecked room. There was a slight tickle at my feet as things tried to stab me, but that was irrelevant. Soto was in the control tower, he had senses that could read all of the colors and buttons, and what’s more he was actually small enough to press them.\n\nIf he could manage this quickly? All the better. \n\nMy hand pulls back and he’s now crawling through the half ruins, stepping on broken glass and eagerly rushing forward to the console.\n\n“What do I do?” He asks as if I had any answer he could gleam.\n\nI looked at all of the consoles, but still had no idea myself. Not as if I made it here often and they occasionally upgraded or changed equipment. But here’s where they handled the door controls, I knew that much. \n\n“Figure it out, I’m going to brute force it.” \n\nA quick glance down to see a swarm of five Gesshru were jabbing at my ankles with plastic spears, while another two were dragging an exceptionally thin string in a circle around me. One couldn’t help but roll their eyes at such childish tactics as tying rope across my ankle and hoping that I trip when stepping forward. \n\nI bend over to pluck at the string and lift up, in which the Gesshru decide that my face being so much lower meant now was the time to throw their spears. These were not aerodynamic spears, nor were they all that sharp. At most the awkward stings of getting pencils thrown at you, the disorientation of having to close your eyes while things pent against your nose. An exasperated sigh, all I had to worry about was someone with a controller.\n\nA quick scan for danger, a pull on the string to climb myself out of the loop. Hey? Why was the string trailing back to those machinery lines. And why was there a terrified Gashn soldier holding the other end of the string towa- …\n\nZszzssaaapp!\n\nSPARKS! PAIN! BURNING! I dropped the now electrified string and jerked away, my shoulders slamming into the wall and a thin red line of pure agony embedded into my palms like I’d been marked by a cattle prod. Those thin ropes were conductive? That bastard … plugged it into the assembly line power source? \n\nThe entire room was abuzz with frantic energy, those at my feet either collecting their weapons or running away and still others either trying to watch safely or trying to hide. Little miss ‘happy couple’ decided now was their time to slip away into a quiet little corner, I guess their final goodbyes before doom weren’t living up to expectations. Meanwhile I was contemplating if I should just stomp on everyone until they leave me alone.\n\nA growl. Took me far too long to realize the animal grunting came from me. Soto was still working on the doorway and all but pissed himself upon seeing the pain and anger in my eyes, but I couldn’t focus on him.\n\nI didn’t have time to go on a murder spree, my job was getting OUT. So I took that rage and slammed it into the reinforced metal with as much power as I could muster. A reverberating clang. If the entire fort didn’t already know that ‘Maneater’ had escaped, they certainly knew it now. Knuckles bleeding, my palm stinging from the burns, exhaustion and pain and sniveling dampness that ran down my nose, I slammed into the door again.\n\n“Open.” I pleaded to it, throwing my shoulder against the middle section. \n\n“Open, please!” How far does one have to go until it counts as begging? I chose another side of the hangar door and unleashed a desperate flurry of strikes. My elbow hurt, my face hurt, all of my fingers were hurting. And now my shoulders hurt on top of that. \n\n“Ggn aaahhh!” I shouted in desperation, throwing myself at the walls again and again. It didn’t matter if I was strategic and went for the sides, looking for joints was useless when it folds up into the roof, and the walls weren’t any less durable than the door itself. I’ve done this before and it never worked, but maybe if I could delude myself for a bit and draw attention to me, it would give Soto the time he needs. \n\nMy eyes were damp, but I had to ignore that. Out of this hellhole, out. Away from death, away from all the horror, just get away and don’t look back and stop crying until you’re back home in space. Skull hurt, kneecaps hurt, every single finger was this stinging pang of recent impact which all just seemed to blend in with burns and cuts and the stink of my own sewage. \n\nThere wasn’t anyone behind me, or near me. I sank to my knees in despair, glancing up to see Soto just as panicked and just as frantic. But also just as studious, apparently having had difficulty finding the actual open mechanism and now taking to just press all the buttons and find out what happens. One of them has to be the doorway, certainly? \n\nBut the ladder leading up, protected and housing smaller box sections, now sported a small team of armed Gesshru making their way into the control room. They weren’t attacking me because they were chasing down Soto. \n\nA whining growl, staggering up to my feet and lazily walking over to pick them off, this wasn’t much of a struggle. A pluck, a toss, another pluck. They weren’t taking this without a fight and spears into open burn wounds weren’t all that pleasent, so rather than engage them I just twisted off their ladder and pulled down the supports. No way up for them anymore. I stuck my tongue out in this minor victory and turned around to focus back on th- …\n\nController! \n\nThere was one with a lab coat. No time. Disable! \n\nI leapt like my life depended on it, chest slamming into the floor and fingers wrapping under this little guys arms. It was a full fifteen feet so he’d probably assumed it was a safe enough distance, but keeping my mobility was worth far much more than the price of scraping flesh against cold tile. The abrasions would heal in time, as would everything else. \n\nPain was irrelevant in the face of this tiny little plastic horror.\n\nWithout prompt or ceremony I tore it from his hands, placed it into my lips, and then bit down on the length of it. Making sure to crush plastic casing before the risk of any buttons pressing down. The fact I used my mouth for this means I still have some part of my body able to move and press the button again if I did accidentally turn myself off. \n\nBut then there was another one.\n\nNo time! Too far! SPIT!\n\nShards of plastic and a trail of spittle came bursting past my lips. Hurling at a distant Gesshru like a hail of shrapnel and sticky girl slobber, the poor thing was bowled over and scrambling for cover. I was already crawling forward, my outstretched hand slapping down on his controller and crushing it to tiny fragments. The smell of smoke was palpable, the aura of fear in each of these creatures was distinct and noticeable.\n\nAnd then apparently contagious, as I discovered upon looking past that frail little rodent in a lab coat and toward …\n\nDoors were open. No, not the outer door, cage doors!\n\nMultiple doors, light pouring out of the quaint little human enclosures and into a murky stained hallway. One, no that was four different openings. Two at the far back, one at the front, another directly across from mine. Details I didn’t need to care about just yet, and probably shouldn’t be trying to memorize so much as get back on my feet and plan.\n\nWe needed out of here, now! The bastards knew they couldn’t take me so their getting Max pilots to pin me down!\n\nLooking over at Soto and how that nude ball of stress and food stains was doing didn’t encourage me, nor did the soldiers newfound angle of attack. The ladder was torn and useless, and I rather doubted even a Gesshru could jump and climb the distance while armed, but someone apparently managed to get that string up by tying one end to a spear and throwing it to cross that vertical gap. But no one was climbing it …\n\nDifferent rodent from before now held the other end of the- ooh come on! It was the same string! One end on the metal ladder of a metal structure and the other end neatly trying to plug into the wires of their robotic systems. With an almost feral growl I stomped back over in their direction, latched onto the string, and tore at the end hoping to snap it free.\n\nIn retrospect I shouldn’t have been taken off-gaurd this unusual durability from a string thinner than my hair, but it just pulled taut without any noticeable harm. My foot tips over the first Gesshru at the opposite end, and then any others who come near, making sure to physically block anyone trying to send another electrical charge through this. A hard pull, then a harder one, but this just wasn’t working.\n \nA spear into my heel, jabbing right at the bottom of my ankle and sliding up. My knees buckle, my eyes shut tight in a seething hiss. It was becoming very, very difficult to not just stomp everyone and trade away the annoyances for bloodshed, that would have solved so many problems in the short run.\n\nIn the long run it would make them more desperate and elicit harsher confinement on the rest of my crew, but if I only need to escape once … \n\nI snatched up the other end of this silly little string and then tried to lift it out of their reach. On top of the control tower, parts of it dangling down and the opposite end still latched into a wall mounted ladder. \n\n“Can you get the door open yet, or not?” I squeaked in a hushed whisper, running out of time. So very quickly running out of time. \n\n“I’m working on it! Shut up, go cause a distraction or something!” Soto responded. If he weren’t shooing me away like a lovestruck puppy I would have almost assumed he’d caught my context. At the very least he understood impatience and didn’t want me breathing down his neck.\n\nThe wet slap of bare feet onto polished tiles alerted everyone that the cavalry was here. Not again, this was not fun no matter how many times I have to go through it. Striding boldly from the hallways was another human. Another Max, her helmet obscuring every aspect of the face and hair, but her body was unmistakable. Muscle and lean, thin and strong.\n\n“Hey Freya!” came the human’s words, a twinge of excitement buried beneath a broken sense of resolve. “Hope you have a better plan than last time. My pilot’s not that bad at this.” \n\nKell. I got to see her again. Not her face, that was so rare to see, but here she was … \n\n“No real plan, but I’m listening if you have a way to get this door open.” Came my response. Immediately I was circling toward the center of the room, further away from Soto but also away from the corners that Gesshru liked to hide in. \n\n“It’s fine. Make sure to watch for Chea, Toris, and Rodan so we don’t all swarm you, other pilots are suiting u- Ooomph!” she lurches forward. One foot jabbing out as if trying to kick the air, and then the rest of her body sliding in after each step. If it weren’t for the obviously skilled way in which she held up her hands for defense it would have looked comically stupid. “Incoming attack, please don’t be dumb enough to let this hit you.” \n\nI barely had to try to manage safe avoidance, her awkwardly forced grab lashing into the space inches in front of me while I needed only to swipe to the left. If one didn’t know the full context you could easily be forgiven in failing to recognize that this specimen was the best military combatant in our team. Designated defense specialist and usually very good at her job. Ironically it was failure to prioritize her warnings that lead to the complete enslavement we now faced …\n\nWho could have suspected such adorably primitive little rats would have such a bite to them? \n\n“Is your pilot a good one or a bad one, I can try to smash that cockpit for you.” I responded by sweeping in and delivering a short kick to the side of her legs. My front leaned back and making sure to expose as little as possible in this defensive posture, arms up to defend myself. Kell was barred from utilizing any of her own skill so long as that parasite was in control, but she was still the strongest person on this planet and possessed an iron grip I’d never be able to break. \n\nLetting her grab me was not an option, and it’s a lot easier to keep her from chasing me across the room if she’s flat on her face. \n\n“Mixed, I don’t care either way.” Hard smack as my shin impact hers, to the effect of her staggering but not really stumbling. That looked like it hurt more than it shoved her aside. “Just neutralize me and keep making a mess until they bring more controllers in. Don’t get swarmed, alright?”\n\n“Not planning on it.”\n\nAnother ambling swing that misses by a wide margin, my retreat taking me across the room and over a field of expensive looking Gashn toys. Shiny and sparkling, some showing a close resemblance to circuit boards while others were hobbled together bits and pieces of my shuttle craft, complete with NASA logo. \n\nThen came that horrendous wet slapping sound of bare feet stomping on tile, and I turned to see not one, but two figures barreling toward me at this close approximation of a dead run. At best it manages a steady march, fast enough to be intimidating and only just barely in the realm of what might sting if you crash into a wall. \n\nKnowing what my own injuries felt like, sidestepping their assault and watching them both smack headlong into the same doorway I’d been pounding against, they were hurting about as much as it looked like. Made all the more comical at Kell’s grab at me only latching her arms around one of her allies. \n\n“Sorry about that Chea, but your face will be okay.” words. Excitement. I had far too much time to think, and as usual the outright hilarious clumsiness of my opponents just didn’t help at all with keeping focused. I step in close while the other one was trying to reorient and then deliver a soft strike to the side of his head. Couldn’t reach the back. \n\nI think it tapped gently against the hard plastic armor, more knocking him about than genuine injury.\n\n“AAwww, you don’t care about my face?” Rodan whined. “That’s almo -ooop, watch it, my pilots trying to kick you- almost enough to hurt a guy’s pride, you know.” \n\nWhen he said kick, what he meant was a limp flail in my general direction that I didn’t even have to dodge. I extend my arms and grab at the knee, hold close and slide forward while lifting up and u-AArrgghg! Harsh touch of his skin against burnt flesh, my blood scraping off and dripping to the floor, my already injured hands struggling to keep hold. \n\nI didn’t throw him to the floor like I’d planned, even awkwardly he still had just enough balance. A step away while Kell drops her previous hold and then flails her arms at me. Driving me back, taking up room, once more I almost trip over the pile of useless clutter. \n\n“Can’t actually see your face Rodan, hah! Take the helmet off and I’m sure all the Gesshru will scream even- ggnnrrr. Okay, running out of room here guys.” They were backing me into a corner. It’s like fighting zombies, no skill and no grace but if they can just overwhelm you the sheer numbers advantage will drag you down. \n\nPlinkplinkjabjabplink.\n\nTwo more needles from a nearby team of Gesshru stab into my already bleeding wound and a number miss entirely to bounce off the far walls. Hitting right where it hurts, making my eyes water and my muscles lock. Acupuncture onto electrified skin, when I spend my time reaching a thumb down and pulling one needle out it comes back slick with my own blood. Breathing was difficult. Had to keep backing up, keep dodging, make sure I don’t stumble on the piles of old electronics and scattered plastics of numerous projects.\n\nCrunch sounded off from some of them, my heel jabbing through in a careless stomp. All too aware at least some rodents used this as a hiding spot. But the other needle still hurt so badly I just couldn’t think, just couldn’t fight back.\n\n“FREYA! Controller! On the left!” A new voice shouted from the hallway to my right. Ah, that’s where Toris went. Awkward hands grab at the air next to my head as I’m scanning the floors, only just spotting a thin little Gesshru woman with … \n\nOh come on! A makeshift controller? It didn’t even have the casing, and the button was still coated in spit! \n\nWhat, did she pick up scraps off the floor and start repairing the thing in less than a minute? NO! Fuck you lady, knock it off already! \n\nIgnore the pain. Elbow Kell’s arms aside as best I can and then duck underneath Chea’s grab. My feet pounding into the floor with my best attempt at not limping. That Gesshru noticed my attention alarmingly fast and took off at a halting run, focus still primarily on putting bits and pieces of the remote together. Looping wires around a small battery and connecting that this half eaten computer chip. I dove forward … \n\nI missed? \n\nToo far to the left, she saw me coming and bolted just out of the way. Oh god my leg hurt, my hands hurt, my chest hurts. Even my breathing hurts. Another volley of little needles plink away from the opposite side, jabbing into my ribs and shoulder. Those hurt less and I could still ignore the piercing stabs enough to move. \n\nMy hand swipes, misses again, fingers brushing against her tail while the frantic little rodent works as if her life depends on it.\n\n“Dodge! Move!” I heard shouting to my left from Chea, the woman’s faceless body ambling toward me at a step at a time, but then I felt strong arms wrap around my shoulder. Wrap around my neck. \n\nToris came up, too slowly for me to be alarmed and too quickly for me to ignore, and now he’s grabbed hold. He couldn’t stop me from standing up, but that woman on the floor with her controller. Come on, just … one more … step …\n\nI couldn’t walk, couldn’t break free of Toris’s grip. \n\n“Sorry Freya, I am so sorry.” He breathes through the plastic visor while his bare arms loop beneath my shoulder and wrap behind my head. No time, no struggle, the Gesshru was too far!\n\nI spit.\n\nOkay, again, having a ranged weapon that at the very least works was this immense blessing I will never forget, and within the moment I’d thought about doing it the girl was smacked to the floor and her arms limp. There was a harsh thump as her skull bashes the tile, and she wasn’t moving, but all I cared about was keeping her from completing the button. \n\nAnother arm grabs around my waist. Rodan holding one side, Toris holding the other. While Rodan was moving and pressing forward, his movement fluid and sweaty and utterly ignoring the fact his bulk shoved fresh needles into my skin, Toris was stiff and unyielding. My arms reach behind my head, my hips shove backward into his, and I could hear his now frantic shouting.\n\n“W-waitwaitWAIT!” but I’d already tossed him forward over my shoulders in a hip toss. Slamming Toris to the ground, his belly up and his feet impacting the nearby outfitting stations. A glimpse through his helmet and I could just barely spot the fear in his eyes through an orange tint. “On your neck!”\n\nHis body wasn’t moving … \n\nThere was a click sound behind my back. My own collar begins to unfold. No. NOOOooooo!\n\nToo fast for me to even think my arms slide up and feel behind the back of my head, moving as if on their own. Pure adrenaline, panic fighting through the gut wrenching pain on every part of me at once. Rodan’s host saw this opportunity and took it, hugging tighter and attempting to swing me to the floor with his own toss, but he was so inept I barely had to care. It was the Gesshru climbing around my hair like a jungle gym that was the real problem.\n\nClicks and sliding, the collar unfolds and snaps out into a half dome. Swinging up over my ears, soft padding expands out to rest comfortably and firmly. In moments half my vision was replaced with that orange tint, and the claustrophobic confinement surrounds my entire skull. \n\nFingers close around something soft. He’d tried to dodge, and was presumably waiting for the cockpit to unfold so he could assume manual control, but there weren’t too many hiding places behind my ears. \n\n“S-squeak!” I hear the thing shout. Tight grey uniform, twin horns pointed directly at me, his tail between his legs and ears folded to the back of his head. I thought about crushing him, but instead decided I could use the ammunition. My face was now covered you see, I wasn’t going to be able to spit. If this guy is in hand then at least I have something to throw, and can be sure he won’t just climb back into Toris. \n\nSuddenly my legs are out from under me. No!\n\nRodan’s persistence paid off, and I’m thrown into a crouch. Chea came up from behind and grabbed onto my helmet, one arm latching into the jagged hole. Kell walked up to the front and grabbed at my arm, having to bend down and press her leg against my knee. Ohgodno, not like this. \n\nI roll into the movement, leaning forward to throw Chea off-balance and place all of my weight on my left knee, then my right knee juts out. Slamming hard into her thighs and kicking away all of her support. Rodan ducks down low to get under my arms and pin me in place while Kell is busy trying to solidify her old on my right arm. \n\nMy left hand, balled into a fist, crushes down into the back of rodan’s skull. He staggers, the body slowing, but he doesn’t stop. \n\n“Guy’s still alive there Freya, another hit please.” Rodan mutters, of course the plastic and padding wasn’t quite as fragile as paper despite my wishing it were so.\n\nKell latches her grip on my other arm and now it becomes a childish dance of flailing at each other. Chea back on her feet and trying to choke me, Rodan bracing his knees into my hips. Everything hurt, all at once, from very point on my skin in this screaming agony. I tried to throw Kell off, to swing her on top of Rodan, but with her strength and while smothered in barely clothed humans I just wasn’t getting anything out of this. She swings my arms together like she’s preparing me for handcuffs. \n\nThat’s when I hear it …\n\nThat blessed, amazing sound of metal sliding into metal, the mechanical grind of gears turning in the roof and a rope pulling up the flexible panes of a hanger doorway. The entire door was opening to the outside, rising a foot high, and then higher still. Soto did it! Ahaha, you did it Soto-hmmgph …\n\nNo one was distracted by this, at least not more than I was, and in the time it took me to cheer I’d been shoved facefirst into the floor. Toris was still immobile, that one Gesshru pilot was forcibly pulled from my grip, and Kell was now maneuvering herself into a seat atop my back while sliding my arms behind my waist so I’d have even less leverage.\n\n“You were close there, Freya. Make sure you get this hand looked at when you can, alright?” Chea utters sympathetically. \n\nFrom Kell I simply heard grunts, and I suspect she was trying her hardest to fight against the commands. But it honestly wasn’t useful …\n\nSoto was shouting something, but I had no idea what. Rodan was standing up now. And walking over to the control tower … walking over to Soto …\n\n“N-no …” \n\nWhy did I think of his name. Why didn’t I properly detach myself from him? The specimen would have worked just fine. The Cavni prisoner perhaps. Anything but a name, anything to make sure I wouldn’t have to remember who he was. \n\nAs if fate just wanted to spit in my eye, the first thing to walk through the hanger doorway was a line of 50 strong, fully armed Gashn guardsmen each with a remote control in their hands. They unleash a squeak I didn’t bother to translate, and with just the press of a button nothing about my movements were in my control. My eyes couldn’t blink, my head couldn’t turn.\n\n“No …” \n\nTo my complete and utter horror, I am forced to watch. As through the corner my eye I can see Rodan dangling my food coated prisoner in arms in one hand. Grab his legs in the other. Then start to pinch until the limbs snap. He squeaks. Such a very different sound from a squeak, and my cynical mind could only identify it as alarm signals responding to stressful stimulai. Not … not people … not screaming. It was all just squeaks. \n\nFailure. \n\nRecapture.\n\nAnd no matter how many times I tell myself they aren’t people for my sake of sanity, I never can genuinely believe it.\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "My name is Freya Savitri, and right now there’s only one way to describe my surroundings.

Stepping on an ant hill.

Kaos in Albanian. Pwnu in Armenian. Xaos in Azerbaijani. Xaoc in Basque. Haos in Bosnian. Kagubot in Cebuano. Idarudapo in Yoruba. Tartibsizlik in Uzbek. Anhrefn in Welsh. Hepohepo in Maori. Mhirizhonga in Shona. Complete and total chaos.

That’s what it was like, okay? No matter what language one uses, the word chaos fully and completely described their deranged mania. Already the large bay doors were closing tight, having no need to open higher than a few inches during normal use with only the rodents scampering around. There were no guards or combat units stationed on the inside of the building for reasons that largely have to do with delegation of resources. Enemy assault was deemed more likely than human escape.

And yet time and time again here we are, back in the familiar screams with a newfound purpose. Better still, an entirely new strategy.

I moved my legs. Do you hear that? Me. I moved them, entirely on my own, and no one was prompting me or controlling me or forcing me to aim at anyone in particular. Okay maybe there was a quick and disappointed scan for Tasgal, but no one else caught my immediate ire. That was the key difference here. That is what made these panicky rodents so different to the ones in Scando, as far as my emotional stability was concerned.

I stepped down the halls, quickly asserting myself into the wider room opening up some forty or fifty yard with this hallway intersecting them. Twin rows of human cells behind me, there wasn’t any way I could smash them out of the doors before someone with a remote control came in to recapture me, and even with my most convincing stare I wasn’t quite adorable enough to seduce the Gesshru assistants into opening all the doors for me.

No, I didn’t try that in a previous attempt …

Shut up.

There were sections of the walls reserved for research, access panels leading into the network of maintenance tunnels and what could reasonably house secret rooms. Much of it went into the hidden machinery of those claws and towers designed for outfitting a human in armor, as well as producing and storing the bits of equipment between assembly.

What interested me was the control tower though. Built directly into the wall like some boxy cabinet shelf, designed to look down on everything else from eye level to a human. Inside were the intricate computers and wires and a stuffy little office for the guys in charge, all set to a pretty glass window. Not polished quartz like most of the Gesshru buildings elsewhere, but real panes of glass that could only have been constructed via mimicking our technology.

It was on the other side the room, but the short walk didn’t take long, and I wasn’t in the mood to take this leisurely.

Chaos reigned supreme, rodents diving out of the way of my feet, soldiers collecting tiny weapons from wherever they could, assistants darting into thin little passages or hiding behind electronic equipment. All of their cutting edge toys and brand new developments were handled right on this floor.

“Whoops.” I wasn’t especially sorry when I kicked aside what looked like half a radio with the wires missing and smoothed river stones tied up in duct tape. None of the Gashn specimens were crushed underfoot, largely through a mix of neither of us wanting that to happen, and within moments I was face to face with two dainty looking operators.

Male and female if I had to judge based on the swiveling horns, the female fell out of her seat while the male was scrambling to level a needle thrower at my snarling visage. Sure those things could hurt, but it’s not like they could break through real glass to shoot me through it.

My fist on the other hand, suffered no such deficiencies.

Shards went splaying wildly, my fist bleeds to match my legs, the stink and sweat and rage of it all adds to the aura of terror. The sound of folding  aluminum and crushed plastics mixing strangely with the chittery screams.

It was so hard to continue thinking of them as people at that point, because none of the sounds they produced resembled human terror in the slightest. It was all squeaks and clicks, sometimes loud chirps. The glass wasn’t completely removed so I bashed at it again with a balled up hammerfist, plucking at the sides and pulling until I had room. My fingers reaching inside for one of the two.

The male apparently didn’t expect me to crunch through his defense so easily and was a tad out of his depth when it came to defense. He fires off the release on his needle thrower, but just ends up embedding a thin strip of plastic into a display screen behind my fingers. I grip onto his legs and pull, dragging him gently but forcefully away from the tower, and … felt a prick.

Ah, the woman. She had a proper spear beneath the tables of her workstation and now took this opportunity to poke at me. It was like having a child jab you with a pencil, annoying certainly but nothing serious.

Her screams intensified when I ignored her, the male partner at work releasing a panicked yowling noise and reaching his arms back as if to grab onto something. The woman lunges forward faster than I can safely pull my arms out, stabs her spear in a wild eyed jab, and … to my annoyance it wasn’t aimed at hitting me. It was just putting the plastic stick in reach of the male for him to grip.

She pulled, he pulled, the girl bracing herself against the torn bunker and the male scrambling to keep a tight hug around what had just become his lifeline. They were putting so much determination into saving each other it actually annoyed me.

So then I pulled, and neither of them had a solid ground to fight from. The woman dangling from one end of her spear and the man now holding on to keep his friend from falling. I roll my eyes at the display, it became a struggle to do my best to ignore what each of them assuredly believed were their last words to each other. Did one of them just spout ‘I love you’ while stammering through tears?

Gah! Spare me. Both were quietly deposited onto the floor without much ceremony, and I returned to the opening with my other occupant.

It was so hard to keep thinking of these things as people when they screamed. In the city, built for them, designed with their tech, clearly alien and so decidedly lived in one could scarcely imagine them being anything but sentient. When screaming and chirping and all hopping about while inside a building sized for humans? That was a tiny bit harder at this point.

I had a very forceful reminder of the aggressive personhood these Gesshru displayed upon lifting Soto up to the control station. His own squeaks taking a moment for me to register, his face finally clear of nutriment paste and his naked body still warm in my grip.

“I t-think I’m going to be sick …” he muttered, and to be honest I wouldn’t have cared much if he did make a mess of things. It really was not like  any part of me was near clean at the moment, and so long as he could get us out of here it wasn’t anything to hold against him. Heh, if he could get us out. You see, my entire plan now revolved around him.

“Make it quick alright, I’m going to need you to find the right button.” My voice wasn’t as gentle as it could have been, but I made sure not to hurt him while maneuvering the guy through glass and into the half wrecked room. There was a slight tickle at my feet as things tried to stab me, but that was irrelevant. Soto was in the control tower, he had senses that could read all of the colors and buttons, and what’s more he was actually small enough to press them.

If he could manage this quickly? All the better.

My hand pulls back and he’s now crawling through the half ruins, stepping on broken glass and eagerly rushing forward to the console.

“What do I do?” He asks as if I had any answer he could gleam.

I looked at all of the consoles, but still had no idea myself. Not as if I made it here often and they occasionally upgraded or changed equipment. But here’s where they handled the door controls, I knew that much.

“Figure it out, I’m going to brute force it.”

A quick glance down to see a swarm of five Gesshru were jabbing at my ankles with plastic spears, while another two were dragging an exceptionally thin string in a circle around me. One couldn’t help but roll their eyes at such childish tactics as tying rope across my ankle and hoping that I trip when stepping forward.

I bend over to pluck at the string and lift up, in which the Gesshru decide that my face being so much lower meant now was the time to throw their spears. These were not aerodynamic spears, nor were they all that sharp. At most the awkward stings of getting pencils thrown at you, the disorientation of having to close your eyes while things pent against your nose. An exasperated sigh, all I had to worry about was someone with a controller.

A quick scan for danger, a pull on the string to climb myself out of the loop. Hey? Why was the string trailing back to those machinery lines. And why was there a terrified Gashn soldier holding the other end of the string towa- …

Zszzssaaapp!

SPARKS! PAIN! BURNING! I dropped the now electrified string and jerked away, my shoulders slamming into the wall and a thin red line of pure agony embedded into my palms like I’d been marked by a cattle prod. Those thin ropes were conductive? That bastard … plugged it into the assembly line power source?

The entire room was abuzz with frantic energy, those at my feet either collecting their weapons or running away and still others either trying to watch safely or trying to hide. Little miss ‘happy couple’ decided now was their time to slip away into a quiet little corner, I guess their final goodbyes before doom weren’t living up to expectations. Meanwhile I was contemplating if I should just stomp on everyone until they leave me alone.

A growl. Took me far too long to realize the animal grunting came from me. Soto was still working on the doorway and all but pissed himself upon seeing the pain and anger in my eyes, but I couldn’t focus on him.

I didn’t have time to go on a murder spree, my job was getting OUT. So I took that rage and slammed it into the reinforced metal with as much power as I could muster. A reverberating clang. If the entire fort didn’t already know that ‘Maneater’ had escaped, they certainly knew it now. Knuckles bleeding, my palm stinging from the burns, exhaustion and pain and sniveling dampness that ran down my nose, I slammed into the door again.

“Open.” I pleaded to it, throwing my shoulder against the middle section.

“Open, please!” How far does one have to go until it counts as begging? I chose another side of the hangar door and unleashed a desperate flurry of strikes. My elbow hurt, my face hurt, all of my fingers were hurting. And now my shoulders hurt on top of that.

“Ggn aaahhh!” I shouted in desperation, throwing myself at the walls again and again. It didn’t matter if I was strategic and went for the sides, looking for joints was useless when it folds up into the roof, and the walls weren’t any less durable than the door itself. I’ve done this before and it never worked, but maybe if I could delude myself for a bit and draw attention to me, it would give Soto the time he needs.

My eyes were damp, but I had to ignore that. Out of this hellhole, out. Away from death, away from all the horror, just get away and don’t look back and stop crying until you’re back home in space. Skull hurt, kneecaps hurt, every single finger was this stinging pang of recent impact which all just seemed to blend in with burns and cuts and the stink of my own sewage.

There wasn’t anyone behind me, or near me. I sank to my knees in despair, glancing up to see Soto just as panicked and just as frantic. But also just as studious, apparently having had difficulty finding the actual open mechanism and now taking to just press all the buttons and find out what happens. One of them has to be the doorway, certainly?

But the ladder leading up, protected and housing smaller box sections, now sported a small team of armed Gesshru making their way into the control room. They weren’t attacking me because they were chasing down Soto.

A whining growl, staggering up to my feet and lazily walking over to pick them off, this wasn’t much of a struggle. A pluck, a toss, another pluck. They weren’t taking this without a fight and spears into open burn wounds weren’t all that pleasent, so rather than engage them I just twisted off their ladder and pulled down the supports. No way up for them anymore. I stuck my tongue out in this minor victory and turned around to focus back on th- …

Controller!

There was one with a lab coat. No time. Disable!

I leapt like my life depended on it, chest slamming into the floor and fingers wrapping under this little guys arms. It was a full fifteen feet so he’d probably assumed it was a safe enough distance, but keeping my mobility was worth far much more than the price of scraping flesh against cold tile. The abrasions would heal in time, as would everything else.

Pain was irrelevant in the face of this tiny little plastic horror.

Without prompt or ceremony I tore it from his hands, placed it into my lips, and then bit down on the length of it. Making sure to crush plastic casing before the risk of any buttons pressing down. The fact I used my mouth for this means I still have some part of my body able to move and press the button again if I did accidentally turn myself off.

But then there was another one.

No time! Too far! SPIT!

Shards of plastic and a trail of spittle came bursting past my lips. Hurling at a distant Gesshru like a hail of shrapnel and sticky girl slobber, the poor thing was bowled over and scrambling for cover. I was already crawling forward, my outstretched hand slapping down on his controller and crushing it to tiny fragments. The smell of smoke was palpable, the aura of fear in each of these creatures was distinct and noticeable.

And then apparently contagious, as I discovered upon looking past that frail little rodent in a lab coat and toward …

Doors were open. No, not the outer door, cage doors!

Multiple doors, light pouring out of the quaint little human enclosures and into a murky stained hallway. One, no that was four different openings. Two at the far back, one at the front, another directly across from mine. Details I didn’t need to care about just yet, and probably shouldn’t be trying to memorize so much as get back on my feet and plan.

We needed out of here, now! The bastards knew they couldn’t take me so their getting Max pilots to pin me down!

Looking over at Soto and how that nude ball of stress and food stains was doing didn’t encourage me, nor did the soldiers newfound angle of attack. The ladder was torn and useless, and I rather doubted even a Gesshru could jump and climb the distance while armed, but someone apparently managed to get that string up by tying one end to a spear and throwing it to cross that vertical gap. But no one was climbing it …

Different rodent from before now held the other end of the- ooh come on! It was the same string! One end on the metal ladder of a metal structure and the other end neatly trying to plug into the wires of their robotic systems. With an almost feral growl I stomped back over in their direction, latched onto the string, and tore at the end hoping to snap it free.

In retrospect I shouldn’t have been taken off-gaurd this unusual durability from a string thinner than my hair, but it just pulled taut without any noticeable harm. My foot tips over the first Gesshru at the opposite end, and then any others who come near, making sure to physically block anyone trying to send another electrical charge through this. A hard pull, then a harder one, but this just wasn’t working.
 
A spear into my heel, jabbing right at the bottom of my ankle and sliding up. My knees buckle, my eyes shut tight in a seething hiss. It was becoming very, very difficult to not just stomp everyone and trade away the annoyances for bloodshed, that would have solved so many problems in the short run.

In the long run it would make them more desperate and elicit harsher confinement on the rest of my crew, but if I only need to escape once …

I snatched up the other end of this silly little string and then tried to lift it out of their reach. On top of the control tower, parts of it dangling down and the opposite end still latched into a wall mounted ladder.

“Can you get the door open yet, or not?” I squeaked in a hushed whisper, running out of time. So very quickly running out of time.

“I’m working on it! Shut up, go cause a distraction or something!” Soto responded. If he weren’t shooing me away like a lovestruck puppy I would have almost assumed he’d caught my context. At the very least he understood impatience and didn’t want me breathing down his neck.

The wet slap of bare feet onto polished tiles alerted everyone that the cavalry was here. Not again, this was not fun no matter how many times I have to go through it. Striding boldly from the hallways was another human. Another Max, her helmet obscuring every aspect of the face and hair, but her body was unmistakable. Muscle and lean, thin and strong.

“Hey Freya!” came the human’s words, a twinge of excitement buried beneath a broken sense of resolve. “Hope you have a better plan than last time. My pilot’s not that bad at this.”

Kell. I got to see her again. Not her face, that was so rare to see, but here she was …

“No real plan, but I’m listening if you have a way to get this door open.” Came my response. Immediately I was circling toward the center of the room, further away from Soto but also away from the corners that Gesshru liked to hide in.

“It’s fine. Make sure to watch for Chea, Toris, and Rodan so we don’t all swarm you, other pilots are suiting u- Ooomph!” she lurches forward. One foot jabbing out as if trying to kick the air, and then the rest of her body sliding in after each step. If it weren’t for the obviously skilled way in which she held up her hands for defense it would have looked comically stupid. “Incoming attack, please don’t be dumb enough to let this hit you.”

I barely had to try to manage safe avoidance, her awkwardly forced grab lashing into the space inches in front of me while I needed only to swipe to the left. If one didn’t know the full context you could easily be forgiven in failing to recognize that this specimen was the best military combatant in our team. Designated defense specialist and usually very good at her job. Ironically it was failure to prioritize her warnings that lead to the complete enslavement we now faced …

Who could have suspected such adorably primitive little rats would have such a bite to them?

“Is your pilot a good one or a bad one, I can try to smash that cockpit for you.” I responded by sweeping in and delivering a short kick to the side of her legs. My front leaned back and making sure to expose as little as possible in this defensive posture, arms up to defend myself. Kell was barred from utilizing any of her own skill so long as that parasite was in control, but she was still the strongest person on this planet and possessed an iron grip I’d never be able to break.

Letting her grab me was not an option, and it’s a lot easier to keep her from chasing me across the room if she’s flat on her face.

“Mixed, I don’t care either way.” Hard smack as my shin impact hers, to the effect of her staggering but not really stumbling. That looked like it hurt more than it shoved her aside. “Just neutralize me and keep making a mess until they bring more controllers in. Don’t get swarmed, alright?”

“Not planning on it.”

Another ambling swing that misses by a wide margin, my retreat taking me across the room and over a field of expensive looking Gashn toys. Shiny and sparkling, some showing a close resemblance to circuit boards while others were hobbled together bits and pieces of my shuttle craft, complete with NASA logo.

Then came that horrendous wet slapping sound of bare feet stomping on tile, and I turned to see not one, but two figures barreling toward me at this close approximation of a dead run. At best it manages a steady march, fast enough to be intimidating and only just barely in the realm of what might sting if you crash into a wall.

Knowing what my own injuries felt like, sidestepping their assault and watching them both smack headlong into the same doorway I’d been pounding against, they were hurting about as much as it looked like. Made all the more comical at Kell’s grab at me only latching her arms around one of her allies.

“Sorry about that Chea, but your face will be okay.” words. Excitement. I had far too much time to think, and as usual the outright hilarious clumsiness of my opponents just didn’t help at all with keeping focused. I step in close while the other one was trying to reorient and then deliver a soft strike to the side of his head. Couldn’t reach the back.

I think it tapped gently against the hard plastic armor, more knocking him about than genuine injury.

“AAwww, you don’t care about my face?” Rodan whined. “That’s almo -ooop, watch it, my pilots trying to kick you- almost enough to hurt a guy’s pride, you know.”

When he said kick, what he meant was a limp flail in my general direction that I didn’t even have to dodge. I extend my arms and grab at the knee, hold close and slide forward while lifting up and u-AArrgghg! Harsh touch of his skin against burnt flesh, my blood scraping off and dripping to the floor, my already injured hands struggling to keep hold.

I didn’t throw him to the floor like I’d planned, even awkwardly he still had just enough balance. A step away while Kell drops her previous hold and then flails her arms at me. Driving me back, taking up room, once more I almost trip over the pile of useless clutter.

“Can’t actually see your face Rodan, hah! Take the helmet off and I’m sure all the Gesshru will scream even- ggnnrrr. Okay, running out of room here guys.” They were backing me into a corner. It’s like fighting zombies, no skill and no grace but if they can just overwhelm you the sheer numbers advantage will drag you down.

Plinkplinkjabjabplink.

Two more needles from a nearby team of Gesshru stab into my already bleeding wound and a number miss entirely to bounce off the far walls. Hitting right where it hurts, making my eyes water and my muscles lock. Acupuncture onto electrified skin, when I spend my time reaching a thumb down and pulling one needle out it comes back slick with my own blood. Breathing was difficult. Had to keep backing up, keep dodging, make sure I don’t stumble on the piles of old electronics and scattered plastics of numerous projects.

Crunch sounded off from some of them, my heel jabbing through in a careless stomp. All too aware at least some rodents used this as a hiding spot. But the other needle still hurt so badly I just couldn’t think, just couldn’t fight back.

“FREYA! Controller! On the left!” A new voice shouted from the hallway to my right. Ah, that’s where Toris went. Awkward hands grab at the air next to my head as I’m scanning the floors, only just spotting a thin little Gesshru woman with …

Oh come on! A makeshift controller? It didn’t even have the casing, and the button was still coated in spit!

What, did she pick up scraps off the floor and start repairing the thing in less than a minute? NO! Fuck you lady, knock it off already!

Ignore the pain. Elbow Kell’s arms aside as best I can and then duck underneath Chea’s grab. My feet pounding into the floor with my best attempt at not limping. That Gesshru noticed my attention alarmingly fast and took off at a halting run, focus still primarily on putting bits and pieces of the remote together. Looping wires around a small battery and connecting that this half eaten computer chip. I dove forward …

I missed?

Too far to the left, she saw me coming and bolted just out of the way. Oh god my leg hurt, my hands hurt, my chest hurts. Even my breathing hurts. Another volley of little needles plink away from the opposite side, jabbing into my ribs and shoulder. Those hurt less and I could still ignore the piercing stabs enough to move.

My hand swipes, misses again, fingers brushing against her tail while the frantic little rodent works as if her life depends on it.

“Dodge! Move!” I heard shouting to my left from Chea, the woman’s faceless body ambling toward me at a step at a time, but then I felt strong arms wrap around my shoulder. Wrap around my neck.

Toris came up, too slowly for me to be alarmed and too quickly for me to ignore, and now he’s grabbed hold. He couldn’t stop me from standing up, but that woman on the floor with her controller. Come on, just … one more … step …

I couldn’t walk, couldn’t break free of Toris’s grip.

“Sorry Freya, I am so sorry.” He breathes through the plastic visor while his bare arms loop beneath my shoulder and wrap behind my head. No time, no struggle, the Gesshru was too far!

I spit.

Okay, again, having a ranged weapon that at the very least works was this immense blessing I will never forget, and within the moment I’d thought about doing it the girl was smacked to the floor and her arms limp. There was a harsh thump as her skull bashes the tile, and she wasn’t moving, but all I cared about was keeping her from completing the button.

Another arm grabs around my waist. Rodan holding one side, Toris holding the other. While Rodan was moving and pressing forward, his movement fluid and sweaty and utterly ignoring the fact his bulk shoved fresh needles into my skin, Toris was stiff and unyielding. My arms reach behind my head, my hips shove backward into his, and I could hear his now frantic shouting.

“W-waitwaitWAIT!” but I’d already tossed him forward over my shoulders in a hip toss. Slamming Toris to the ground, his belly up and his feet impacting the nearby outfitting stations. A glimpse through his helmet and I could just barely spot the fear in his eyes through an orange tint. “On your neck!”

His body wasn’t moving …

There was a click sound behind my back. My own collar begins to unfold. No. NOOOooooo!

Too fast for me to even think my arms slide up and feel behind the back of my head, moving as if on their own. Pure adrenaline, panic fighting through the gut wrenching pain on every part of me at once. Rodan’s host saw this opportunity and took it, hugging tighter and attempting to swing me to the floor with his own toss, but he was so inept I barely had to care. It was the Gesshru climbing around my hair like a jungle gym that was the real problem.

Clicks and sliding, the collar unfolds and snaps out into a half dome. Swinging up over my ears, soft padding expands out to rest comfortably and firmly. In moments half my vision was replaced with that orange tint, and the claustrophobic confinement surrounds my entire skull.

Fingers close around something soft. He’d tried to dodge, and was presumably waiting for the cockpit to unfold so he could assume manual control, but there weren’t too many hiding places behind my ears.

“S-squeak!” I hear the thing shout. Tight grey uniform, twin horns pointed directly at me, his tail between his legs and ears folded to the back of his head. I thought about crushing him, but instead decided I could use the ammunition. My face was now covered you see, I wasn’t going to be able to spit. If this guy is in hand then at least I have something to throw, and can be sure he won’t just climb back into Toris.

Suddenly my legs are out from under me. No!

Rodan’s persistence paid off, and I’m thrown into a crouch. Chea came up from behind and grabbed onto my helmet, one arm latching into the jagged hole. Kell walked up to the front and grabbed at my arm, having to bend down and press her leg against my knee. Ohgodno, not like this.

I roll into the movement, leaning forward to throw Chea off-balance and place all of my weight on my left knee, then my right knee juts out. Slamming hard into her thighs and kicking away all of her support. Rodan ducks down low to get under my arms and pin me in place while Kell is busy trying to solidify her old on my right arm.

My left hand, balled into a fist, crushes down into the back of rodan’s skull. He staggers, the body slowing, but he doesn’t stop.

“Guy’s still alive there Freya, another hit please.” Rodan mutters, of course the plastic and padding wasn’t quite as fragile as paper despite my wishing it were so.

Kell latches her grip on my other arm and now it becomes a childish dance of flailing at each other. Chea back on her feet and trying to choke me, Rodan bracing his knees into my hips. Everything hurt, all at once, from very point on my skin in this screaming agony. I tried to throw Kell off, to swing her on top of Rodan, but with her strength and while smothered in barely clothed humans I just wasn’t getting anything out of this. She swings my arms together like she’s preparing me for handcuffs.

That’s when I hear it …

That blessed, amazing sound of metal sliding into metal, the mechanical grind of gears turning in the roof and a rope pulling up the flexible panes of a hanger doorway. The entire door was opening to the outside, rising a foot high, and then higher still. Soto did it! Ahaha, you did it Soto-hmmgph …

No one was distracted by this, at least not more than I was, and in the time it took me to cheer I’d been shoved facefirst into the floor. Toris was still immobile, that one Gesshru pilot was forcibly pulled from my grip, and Kell was now maneuvering herself into a seat atop my back while sliding my arms behind my waist so I’d have even less leverage.

“You were close there, Freya. Make sure you get this hand looked at when you can, alright?” Chea utters sympathetically.

From Kell I simply heard grunts, and I suspect she was trying her hardest to fight against the commands. But it honestly wasn’t useful …

Soto was shouting something, but I had no idea what. Rodan was standing up now. And walking over to the control tower … walking over to Soto …

“N-no …”

Why did I think of his name. Why didn’t I properly detach myself from him? The specimen would have worked just fine. The Cavni prisoner perhaps. Anything but a name, anything to make sure I wouldn’t have to remember who he was.

As if fate just wanted to spit in my eye, the first thing to walk through the hanger doorway was a line of 50 strong, fully armed Gashn guardsmen each with a remote control in their hands. They unleash a squeak I didn’t bother to translate, and with just the press of a button nothing about my movements were in my control. My eyes couldn’t blink, my head couldn’t turn.

“No …”

To my complete and utter horror, I am forced to watch. As through the corner my eye I can see Rodan dangling my food coated prisoner in arms in one hand. Grab his legs in the other. Then start to pinch until the limbs snap. He squeaks. Such a very different sound from a squeak, and my cynical mind could only identify it as alarm signals responding to stressful stimulai. Not … not people … not screaming. It was all just squeaks.

Failure.

Recapture.

And no matter how many times I tell myself they aren’t people for my sake of sanity, I never can genuinely believe it.
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