Distancing ourselves from any criminal implications, the familiar T-Junction of the Dormitory Wing passed us as Lotte and I continued our southern heading down a long switchback of spiraling stairs.

A part of me was thankful that a retreat was paid for in part on my behalf. Had Lotte pressed any further than listening to my heart, I’m not entirely sure what would have come of my vulnerable position for Logic has yet to complete its reboot cycle.

Truth be told, even if it undoubtedly be better left unsaid; I longed for Slate to have elaborated on the environment in which he found Lotte in the hopes it would explain her augmentations. At the very least, something better than ‘indescribable’… His tendency to be vague raises apprehensions often for the sake of pity or excitement, both of which only serve to grate on my nerves.

And then it struck me.

“Ah- we left Slate!” I winced allowing my pause for thought to end in an abrupt yank upon my scalp. “Ah~ta~ta~! Lotte, my hair, please! You’re killing me! Is it really alright to leave him with… you-know… the ‘Overseer’?”

In response, Lotte briefly glanced over her shoulder while using the hand not welded to my scalp to flip the bottom half of her blouse up over her backside and then the waistline of her hosing halfway down her thighs. Now showcasing a significant portion of her buttocks, the punishment for trespassing took the form of a copious number of bruises in various stages of recovery, severity, size, and shape spanning in hue from yellow to purple.

“Overseer has never killed anyone. Noch nicht.”

[ᴀᴜᴛᴏ ᴛ.s: ɴᴏᴛ ʏᴇᴛ.]

I couldn’t decide if it would be appropriate to laugh or coo in sympathy. At a compromise of clearing my throat with a touch of pity, the reason wasn’t for this glutton for punishment standing in front of me or for my behalf. It was for Slate, who’s impending fate would cross paths with a notorious Overseer come dusk.

In a rhythmic clatter of metal on metal, Lotte wrestled a wheel-operated door lock basking in the bleakness of an iron mooring lamp. Hesitant of the luminous noise spilling out from the entryway, she turned back and gave me that same cocked pose as if asking for something I can never discern.

If it were not for the ominous, omnipresent and infectious uncertainty of the future, I might have asked permission to take her photograph and had it not of been for the manner of which we were tangled hand-to-head, our unspoken understanding might have allowed us to walk aside one another hand in hand.

Reveling in the warm and fuzzy notion of newfound friendship, I was forced into a solemn prayer that my carnivorous and outright cannibalistic reflection in the mirror would never dictate a selfish demand to consume our silent and fledgling oath.

“Heyo~!! THINK FAST!!!”

[ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ: ᴄᴏᴍʙᴀᴛ ᴍᴏᴅᴇ - ɪɴɪᴛɪᴀᴛᴇᴅ!]

[ᴘʀɪᴍᴀʟ ᴏs: sᴇʟғ-ᴘʀᴇsᴇʀᴠᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʀᴇǫᴜɪʀᴇᴍᴇɴᴛs ᴀᴄʜɪᴇᴠᴇᴅ!]

[ᴄᴏᴍʙᴀᴛ sᴜɪᴛᴇ: ᴏᴠᴇʀʀɪᴅɪɴɢ sᴛᴀɴᴅᴀʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛᴇʀᴍᴇᴀsᴜʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏғɪʟᴇ

Immediately, I found myself fraught with staying the quaking in my wrist now supporting the weight of a rifle that had been ripped indiscriminately from materials within my Cauldron.

All I could perceive through a blinding artifacts cast from the ceiling light was the glint of a gun-barrel aimed directly at my throat. With no time to formulate a reason, an analogous ghost imposed itself over my body, binding the imperfections until fear and emotion gave way to a flood of ones and zeros in less than the time required to blink.

Life or Death; they die, and I live; the alternative is simply not acceptable. That is something Logic would say at a time like this, but the fraction of a second to draw such a conclusion sparked great deal of dread.

[ᴄᴏᴍʙᴀᴛ sᴜɪᴛᴇ: ғɪʟᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ ᴄᴏᴍʙᴀᴛ ᴀɴᴀʟʏsɪs ʟᴏɢ // ᴘᴀʀsᴇᴛᴀɢ: ɪᴍᴘᴜʟsᴇ/ʀᴇᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ/sʏɴᴀᴘᴛɪᴄ-ʀᴇғʀᴇsʜ-ʀᴀᴛᴇ]

[ᴘʀɪᴍᴀʟ ᴏs: ᴄs sʏsᴛᴇᴍ ᴛᴇʟᴇᴍᴇᴛʀʏ ǫᴜᴇʀʏ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ! 67,993 ᴇʀʀᴏʀ(s) 1227 ᴄʀɪᴛɪᴄᴀʟ ʜᴀʀᴅ ꜰᴀᴜʟᴛs!]

[ᴏᴘᴇʀᴀᴛᴏʀ: ᴍʏ ʀᴇᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴛɪᴍᴇ… ᴡᴀs .623ᴍs, ɪ sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. ғᴀᴄᴛᴏʀɪɴɢ ɪɴ ʙᴏᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀᴠᴇʀᴀɢᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇxᴛʀᴇᴍᴇ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ᴀᴍᴘʟᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ ᴏʀ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴜʟʟ ᴀ ᴛʀɪɢɢᴇʀ ʜᴀᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴᴛᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀᴛ ᴍʏ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ ᴏғ ᴇɴᴛʀʏ.]

“You’ve stopped me from concluding my test, Lotte! Mrgrh~! Well, at least I got to see the prodigal flash-forming technique of a Creator, so I should be more excited, but it would have been real swell to see how sub-dermal graphene holds up against this sweet piece of Lost-Tech!”

In response to the woman recklessly wavering a Golden-Age revolver with Lotte’s fist attached to the end of the barrel, I parted with a large clump of my hair with the butt of my rifle poised to give a proper overhand bludgeoning.

Regrettably, I had yet to notice a rather large elephant in the room. One that was not a byproduct of having consumed the illicit Tank-Chocolate…

“You’ll have to pardon my Sister, Ma’am – Creator – Sir! She gets a bit overzealous with anything mechanical in nature. Please do not rearrange her face -it’s her only redeeming feature.”

I could not believe my eyes for it was like looking into the distant past and quite possibly the earliest days proceeding my conception. Standing just a few centimeters below the height of the raised ceiling, and empty Exo-Suit had moved between us impeding my assault using its four slender arms as a barrier.

“Faust! How can you say such a thing!? I have plenty of redeeming facets! Bust; eighty! Waist; fifty-two and one-hundred and fifty-five towering cee~em’s!” The cacophonic woman snorted pridefully.

In the hopes that rubbing my eyes would help differentiate the narcotics playing havoc on my perception of reality, I noticed a discrepancy in the woman’s forearms beneath the long sleeves of her shapelessly oversized white lab-coat.

They were prosthetic, which explained how she could swing Lotte who remained clamped to the handgun like a crab. Unlike the hallucination of Lotte taking the form of a stick of butter whose arms seemed to have been made with an intent to weaponize; the woman’s prosthetics had an elastic stand-in for Human skin would have been easily overlooked if it were not for the tell-tale signs of their carefully hidden seams.

Without warning, the invisible force watching over me alleviated the alert-status at the realization that this woman, although irritatingly stupid, was likely harmless sort of idiot. The full assurance came seconds later when I noticed the pistol’s biometric safety could have never been disabled by anyone other than Praetorian Law-Enforcement who have been long extinct.

“Lux, please stop swinging Lottie around like a sack of potatoes! You’re going to damage the lab equipment, and I’m not getting stuck picking up broken beakers and chemical spills!” The Exo-Suit pleaded in an odd dance to separate the two until the woman wielding the gun noticed I had dismissed my rifle and replaced timidity for a scornful, skull-hammering gaze.

In response to the Suit’s increasing distress, the woman leaned into Lotte’s ear and whispered nearly inaudible.

[ᴀᴜᴅɪᴏ ᴇɴʜᴀɴᴄᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ sᴜɪᴛᴇ: sʟᴇᴇᴘ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴋɪᴅᴅᴏ, sᴡᴇᴇᴛ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍs.]

As if on cue and without any sort of physical contact, Lotte’s eyes resisted as if they were struck with a heavy wave of exhaustion just as the woman propped her on the surface of a cluttered desk. After she stuffed the high-caliber pistol into her coat pocket, the woman moved to fold the little crab’s arms over one another, attentively posing Lotte like a porcelain doll.

Once satisfied, the woman who briefly had been referred to as ‘Lux’ adjusted her blanket of a lab coat before offering an outstretched hand of vibrant nail-polish in my general direction.

“I’d say kids these days, but relative to you I am a spring chicken! Eto~ no offense, I just run my mouth when I’m excited! Faust here can attest to this phenomenon! I swear I’m not on any drugs… Unless you count caffeine… we probably should count caffeine over 50 grams, right? Ehehe~♪”

Our greeting reverted to silence as I was too preoccupied weighing the probability of a mere handshake turning into some form of test or why my delusion decided to make the floor appear as if it were made of liquid linoleum.

If it were not for losing count of the times I had been startled, the emulated sigh of the Exo-Suit tending to the clump of hair left in Lotte’s hand would have scared me shitless if only my bowels were in functioning order.

“Are you aware it takes a conscious effort to stimulate graphene for it to resist trauma, let alone a bullet?” I inquired emphasizing my dismay as I paced forward. “Had you shot from this range, we would not be having this conversation, so forgive me for my inability to share your enthusiasm.”

As Lux retracted her handshake in order to scratch her head, I missed yet another apparent pachyderm in the form of two perky ears now lying flat on her head.

“Y-You’re a Beastkin!? How is that possible!?” I squealed throwing my err of caution to the wind. “I thought you were all extinct!? How are you managing without DNA Stabilizers? Are there more of you!? Your accent- you're Japanese!? How is this even possible?!”

Oh, how the tables have turned.

My interrogative barrage might put an online survey in the days of old to shame by the visible severity Lux had been taken aback, but her perky frown was as brief as a blink, dispersing into the shape of a bemused smirk.

“Gees~ not even our first date, and you’re already at the twenty-questions game! Let’s start with proper introductions, shall we~♪” With a teasing waft of her hand and a snicker, Lux placed the spotlight on the Exo-Suit who had been endeavoring to stem an endless flow of drool from Lotte’s mouth.

“Faust here is our Medical Specialist! And to answer one of your inquiries; she was the one to synthesize a cure for Genetic Deterioration Disease! Since... forever, Doctors motto’d; ‘It’s more profitable to sell the treatment than a cure’. It wasn’t terribly hard once we got to look’n for the amino-chain err, never mind to technics'! This is just incredibly exciting to meet someone who lived in a time where the furry few were the majority of Earth's inhabitants!”

As I reminisced of mute interactions with a secretary from the safety of my Glass Bastion. If memory serves, her name was Jez, though she far more anthropomorphized belonging to a winged ‘Harpia Genus’ in the Caste System. Completing the stereotype of a caretaker’s scorn, her eyes, much like Lux standing before me, were predatory, twinkling in the dreary light.

But that is where their short list of similarities end as Lux’s animalistic features must have been bred out through the years due to her near-perfect Human resemblance, unlike Nanny Jez whose appearance had been taken straight out of mythology, feathers and all.

The Caste System used in dividing their utilitarian purposes and culture was a sore subject for most Beastkin as they were for all intents and purposes render slaves as ‘D-STAB,’ an injectable medication needed to keep their organs from rotting and rejecting one another had been made only available to purchase by Humans.

“My Master advocated for a cure and dedicated some of his time to researching the possibilities. I find it hard to believe an A.I that still reads the environment in Lidar could synthesis blood thinners let alone an effective cure that thousands of people gave their lives to pursue.”

At some point, I should have caught on to this underlying theme of hidden properties and my inability of gauging first impressions. Alluding to my suspicious, Lux’s cheshire smile widened as she leaned back to knock her artificial knuckles against the suit’s wiry chassis.

“That’s because Faust isn’t your typical A.I, though the acronym ‘artificial’ and ‘intelligence’ still apply!”

Tapping once more as if to guide a spotlight, the seemingly empty suit remained at rest as if it were unwilling to perform on stage. That is until Lux cleared her voice harshly and slapped the suit's backside with a powerful thump.

“B-But Sis! Is that really okay?” An impish voice whispered timidly free from the electronic distortion emulated by the Exo-Suit Chassis internal speaker.

“Nani~?! Faust, I thought you’d be thrilled to shed your skin for once!?” Lux griped in frustration before jabbing a finger in my direction. “I didn’t think I’d have to say it, butttttt~; just - don’t - tell - anyone, capiche?! Besides; our Lilim friend has no identifier markings, which means she's got a rather juicy secret all of her own!”

Now it was my turn to scratch my head, more precisely; the discrete human ears that were anything but a set of metal antennae to make evident of my Synthetic nature as Lux implied.

“Figures that A.I from the cafeteria would have run its mouth..." I sighed irritably. "I’m a Prototype as I’m sure you figured out. From what I can remember, the people responsible for my design used a loophole to avoid adding identifier markings... although I wonder what it would be like to have tear seems, bladed ears or a cable tail... they were rather fashionable back in the day.”

Although it was not my intention to load a baited hook for Faust, my verbal rod bent as if I had landed the proverbial white whale. There was no definitive shimmer of light-bending stealth technology or combination of smoke and mirrors to conceal a woman who just happened to appear in place of the open design of the Exo-Suit.

I purposely refuted the desire to blink just in case this magic trick involved a surprise appearance from Tesla, but my expectations were soon to be surpassed. By the time I managed an eyeful of nudity, the woman had physically shrunk behind the frame’s waist plate, hoisting her head over the composite bib by use of her now grubby little fingers.

“Well, at least this concludes that there are some things that still amaze someone whose lived a couple'a liftimes!” Lux snorted in a fit of uncontrollable laughter as the strange child-like creature continued to drill through my Core with discontent.

“I am struggling to m-maintain my grasp on reality! There’s n-nothing in my Biologic Index other than a cuttlefish that can rearrange its physique... and they do not even come close to... to... errrh...!?"

“Bio-Organic Homunculus! A mouth full of overly complex words to describe a spineless blob of Nanite-Dense-Oobleck who happens to function on the day to day as my twin Sister!”

Perhaps it was to prove Faust's telluric existence or the solidity of her human form, Lux once again, utilized her prosthetic knuckles against the top of the liquescent child’s crown to a great deal of protest.

“Emphasis on the spineless, she can be overly ambivalent – but then again, she could be a he, or anything in between if you really wanted to, ain't that right Fausty~!?”

Had I blinked throughout the development of their sisterly quarrel and the inevitable backhand, I might not have caught the creature melting into the hollow of the Exo-Suit’s legs.

For a moment, I felt as if Lux would stop me from dipping my hand into the lively congealment quivering at my approach, but the fixation either dissuaded her from interrupting or this was precisely playing into another blind test.

“Your body is made of… Biometal...” I murmured in refrain from touching the Gel which in turn ceased its quavering with an attentive hum. “Lux, was that an intentional misnomer when you called it Bio-Organic? Biometal can only exist under artificial circumstances, namely; inside my Cauldron in a meta-physical state. It has always destabilized in it's raw state reverting to carbon ash!”

Chittering ‘No’ in quick succession, Lux whimsically skipped to my side taking my hands in her own while discerning the pair of devices that granted the entitlement ‘Creator’ only to find no trace of their existence.

“Can they really be sub-dermal implants or sandwiched through the skin in quantum layering!? I thought it wasn’t possible to layer molecules other than primal elements! To think I almost gave up that direction of research! Slate’s been no help at all, and I figured the precursor Creator would be far more primitive like Habu -oh!”

Entirely without pause and running on a single breath, Lux gripped my shoulders shuddering in blissful exhilaration.

“N-no offense! 3D-Printing isn’t going to make a comeback until we get past microprocessors in double-digit frequencies and out of hertz- megahertz no less! Bwahahaa~!, I'm sorry I just can’t contain my excitement! All this potential standing here before me, wait- no! It’s elegance in your um~ craftsmanship! Yewsee~, everything about you completely turns me on in every possible way! The quality of life - how much good we can do~ Err, c-can w-we be, start as, uhm, friehends!? Plwease!?”

Stunned and speechless wouldn’t so much as hold a candle to Lux’s idiosyncrasy and that rate to which she abrasively whittled away at my collective tenor. Without the support of Logic which generally provided enough social lubricant for such occasions, I had long been rubbed raw to the point my confidence cut loose from my actions.

It would seem that Slate’s habitual scalp-abuse stained me with an infectious need for a physical transfer of emotions. Chancing a head-pat for the second time, I hesitated as apprehension swelled in Lux’s wandering expectancy.

Through rubbing two fingers around the base of her flattened fuzzy ears, my wordless conveyance brought Lux into a calm diffidence; something I’m sure by Faust’s wide-eyed astonishment had rarely if never been seen before.

“It’s been a while since… I've had people to call... friends...”