“I can’t see a dum thing!” Twoey says as they crawl through the drone tunnel.

  Nyx growls out a laugh, “That dum bustud’s medicine is workin’. I’m seein’ even though there’s bein’ no light.”

  Nyx can see ahead of her until the tunnel ends in the distance. They couldn’t turn left because the drone tunnels double as air ducts, and there’s a fan there and no way to go past it. So, they turn right.

  They pass several rooms, most are quarters like the one they just came from and are empty, so they move along.

  Strangely, they don’t see any drones. No one has noticed they’re gone?

  There’s a drone hatch not far ahead that she can hear voices coming from, and Nyx peeks through. It’s a security room, and there’s an orderly watching a commotion on a screen. Nyx sees their room on one, the loogie doing little to hide Zone prying the control panel off of the door, the flashing red warning light next to it ignored.

  It’s Cai the security officer is watching on a screen. She can see him in a room and he’s holding an orderly in front of him, a gun pointed to the man’s head.

  There are gunshots and impacts but no blood as someone off-camera shoots into the room, hitting the hostage.

  Cai returns fire.

  “The prisoner is trapped in the room. Containment in progress.” A voice calls over the security, “ETA on drones and guard robots?”

  The man in the security room checks a display, “The drones are there, but are waiting for instructions. The robots were in storage, so it’ll be a few minutes.”

  Nyx realizes she can help Cai.

  She nods to Twoey, opens the hatch, and leaps onto the guard, tackling him and biting his throat.

  Nyx feels the taste of blood in her mouth as he tries to fight her off of him.

  Twoey drops from the hatch, then grabs a chair and smacks the man over the head until he falls unconscious.

  Nyx lets go and looks at the control panels, “You bein’ knowin’ how to use ‘em?”

  Twoey smiles, cracks her fingers, and turns to the controls, “Nope!”

  Nyx can’t even read half of the words, “I’ll be tyin’ him up.”

  Nyx notices blood coming from his bite wound and his head. Twoey did a number on him, and he’s bleeding profusely.

  “Security, where are those drones and guard robots?”

  Twoey presses some buttons, “Whoops!”

  Nyx looks up after finding some restraints in a drawer, “What’cha be doin’?”

  “No idea!”

  Nyx groans. She doesn’t know either, “Just… You can read, maybe…”

  “Security. Come in, over.”

  Twoey pushes a button and tries to imitate the guard, and surprisingly well, “Deploying drones now.” She lets go of the button, giving Nyx a smug look.

  “Oh… Your bein’ doin’ guys’ voices for your sparkin’ movie.” Nyx realizes, though Twoey still sounded feminine.

  Twoey brightens, “Found it!” She opens a list with several drones on it. She giggles to herself evilly and Nyx sees her change the drones’ commands, then pushes a button.

  Nyx isn’t sure what Twoey did at first, but soon, she sees drones swarm out of the maintenance hatches. Instead of attacking Cai, they attack the lab’s security.

  The drones electrocute any man they get close to.

  “Security! The drones are attacking us!”

  Twoey presses a button, “Go to hell, ya pieces o’ shunk!”

  She giggles and starts messing with more buttons.

  Nyx grins, “Good job! I’m gonna be seein’ if they have guns in here. Maybe lock doors or let Zone and Roxy out?”

  Twoey just gives Nyx and thumbs up.

  Nyx’s heart races as she looks for a gun and finds several in some lockers, “Found ‘em!”

  “Security is compromised. Director. Recommend locking down the computers.”

  Cai’s now in the hallway, taking advantage of the distraction from the drones. He’s firing like he’s been in this situation a thousand times. With the simulator, he probably has.

  Nyx grabs two guns, belts, and extra ammo.

  The computer locks, “Dum it!” Twoey says as she acts like someone stole her stylus.

  Nyx hands her a gun, “Point and be pullin’ the trigger. Not at me. Zone is bein’ okay.”

  They head to the door and notice it’s locked.

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  “N-Y-X. C-Z-X 2. Return to your room immediately and your punishment will be light.”

  Nyx hisses, “Spark you!”

  She shoots the camera in the corner.

  Twoey shoots the door lock, and they both yelp as the panel explodes in a cloud of metal and sparks.

  “Oh…” Twoey looks disappointed, “It works in movies.”

  Nyx coughs as she waves smoke from her face, “Hatch!”

  She spins to look at the drone hatch and moves a chair under it. With Mars’ low gravity, she can jump and reach it from the chair.

  There’s banging on the door, “The lock’s broken!”

  Twoey grins, “Lucky!” Her grin widens, and she looks at the security console and shoots it twice.

  Nyx jumps to the hatch and climbs inside, “Shiny, Twoey!”

  She reaches down and pulls Twoey into the tunnels, “We gotta be helpin’ Cai!”

  They crawl, listening for gunshots and looking through hatches.

  She hears a familiar voice, “No! That’s not acceptable!”

  “Director, they destroyed the console! We can’t get control back from here!”

  Nyx growls. The man responsible for the murder of her siblings?

  Heidi speaks, “Sir, I’ve got control here. We should ignore the security room for now and send the men to look for the escaped subjects.”

  “No, have them subdue Mr. Halley. We still need him to get the Donati. Once we have control of the drones again, have them search the maintenance shafts for them. The only way out is the elevator room, so it’s only a matter of time until we catch them.”

  Nyx lifts the hatch open, aiming like she’d learned in the simulator. Heidi glances up, her eyes widening.

  Nyx shoots, hitting the director in the head with a stun round.

  His head snaps to the side.

  Heidi jumps up, “Sir!”

  Nyx shoots her too, “Bitch!”

  Nyx jumps out of the hatch and walks to the director. He’s bleeding from where the round hit him, and he’s stirring as he shakes off the electric shock.

  Twoey jumps out behind Nyx, “Badass!”

  Nyx approaches the director, holding the gun to his head, “Were you bein’ the one that was orderin’ my siblings to be killed?”

  The director groans, “I wasn’t there. It’s protocol. If we can’t take the subjects, dispose of them…”

  “Dispose? It’s bein’ murder!”

  He groans, “It’s… it’s for the sake of the survival of the human race!”

  Nyx feels her rage and pistol whips him, “They were deservin’ to be livin’ too!”

  Twoey laughs in surprise, “Whoa! Brutal!”

  The director is out, so she turns to Heidi, “You! Were you bein’ there?”

  She groans, “No. Mars. Only Mars.”

  The director regains consciousness, and Nyx presses the pistol to his forehead, “I’m thinkin’ this will be hurtin’ from here?”

  He groans, “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

  Nyx presses the gun down harder, “I’m not carin’.

  She fires point blank.

  His head snaps back. He’s still breathing, but the stun round has left a nasty gash on his forehead.

  Twoey yelps and looks a little surprised. She then turns to Heidi, “Her too?”

  Nyx shrugs, “I’m not carin’.”

  Twoey shoots Heidi in the chest, the stun round causes her to convulse for a few seconds.

  Nyx turns to the console, “We need to be helpin’ Cai.”

  Twoey grins and giggles as she pushes the director off of his chair. Nyx looks for camera feeds as she can read that much and finds it on one of the holographic displays.

  Cai is holed up again, this time in a bathroom. Several orderlies and a guard are on the ground outside the door.

  Twoey whistles, “I think I’m in love…”

  Nyx growls at Twoey.

  Twoey shrugs.

  There are no guards or orderlies in the hallway outside. Several rooms have scientists waiting out the emergency, as are the AA kids. Zone and even Roxy are sneaking through the hallways.

  Twoey laughs, “Oh!”

  Nyx looks over, and she sees Twoey looking at something, “Communications?”

  Twoey’s tail is wagging excitedly, “And… send!”

  “What are ya doin’?”

  “Infodump to the news! And the governor… some other randos… Everything!”

  It takes Nyx a moment to understand what Twoey just did, “You were sendin’ the lab’s data to the sparkin’ colony?”

  Twoey nods excitedly, “Yep!”

  She skips to the door, and Nyx wonders if she’s scared at all. In fact, she’s enjoying it.

  Nyx shoots the director and Heidi one more time each, then exits with Twoey.

  The hallway’s quiet other than the sound of the alarm.

  They’re lucky the scum here didn’t expect her to use the drone tunnels. And Cai’s escape attempt was the perfect distraction.

  She notices movement, and Zone rounds a corner.

  All three Felis hiss in fright, and Zone almost gets shot by the two women.

  Zone rushes back around the corner, then peeks back around, “You nearly shot me!”

  Twoey points a finger gun at him, “I wanted to!”

  Zone scoffs, “Of course you did.”

  Roxy peeks around the corner, “Oh! You’re okay! I was so worried!”

  Roxy pulls Nyx and Twoey into a hug. She’s shaking as she cries into Nyx’s shoulder.

  Nyx pats her head, “We’re bein’ okay.”

  Twoey beams as she says, “Nyx shot the director. Twice in the head!”

  Zone laughs, “Oh crap! That must have hurt!”

  Roxy gasps, “He’s dead!?”

  Nyx growls, “No. Stun rounds.”

  Roxy relaxes but looks conflicted, “O-Oh...”

  Shooting in the distance.

  Nyx’s ears swivel to the sound before her head does, “Cai!”

  They hear footsteps running towards them, and Nyx and Twoey raise their pistols.

  Roxy makes an adorable ‘eep’ as Zone pulls her into a nearby utility room.

  Two armored robots round the corner Zone and Roxy had come from.

  Nyx doesn’t hesitate and shoots the nearest one. The first round merely impacts its armor, which staggers it a little.

  Twoey shoots wildly at both of them until her clip empties.

  They both raise their weapons, “Escaped specimens detected. Drop your weapons, or we will be forced to subdue you.”

  Twoey throws her pistol at the nearest one, giggling, then runs into a room.

  The robot doesn’t even flinch.

  Nyx is shaking. She’s not sure how to break these robots with stun rounds.

  There’s a shot behind her, and a stun round slams into the neck joint of the left robot, causing it to spasm as the round sends an electric shock through its weak point. Another shot, another hit.

  She turns around to see Cai leaning around the far corner on the opposite end of the hallway, “Mya! Cai!”

  Nyx sprints to meet Cai and jumps into his arms and nuzzles against his neck, taking in his scent deeply. How she missed this scent.

  Cai chuckles and pulls her into a hug, “I missed you too.” He picks her up, “Those won’t be the last, so let’s find our stuff, then go to the elevator and get out of here.” He looks at her eyes, but says nothing, though he scowls.

  Twoey tugs at Cai’s sleeve and holds out her arms to Cai.

  Nyx didn’t even notice when she got there.

  Cai looks at her, “You want a hug too?”

  Twoey nods, “I like you.” And jumps onto his back, her arms wrapped around his neck, “That was so shiny!”

  Cai chuckles.

  Zone comes next. He’s looking at Cai like he’s a nuisance, “So you’re Cai? Uh, thanks, I guess. I was gonna handle it.”

  Roxy comes. She’s blushing and has her hands clasped together, “Cai? Thank you. Um…” Her cheeks turn even redder, “I’m Roxy. Nyx told us what you did for her. I think that’s very hot…” She squeeks, “Umm… you’re very kind! Kind! Yeah! Very kind!”

  Nyx notices Cai’s eyes go to Roxy’s chest, and she feels her chest tighten. She knows Cai’s preferences, and Roxy is Cai’s.

  Cai nods, “Roxy, nice to meet you. Do any of you know where they keep valuables? I need my wrist computer to contact the Donati.”

  Nyx recalls her bracelet, “The bastuds were takin’ my bracelet too!”

  Zone scowls one last time at Cai then turns, “I can take you.”

  Twoey whispers something in Cai’s ear, which makes him blush. What was a harem?

  There’s the sound of more metal feet approaching.

  Zone hisses, “More robots?”

  Roxy rushes to Cai and pulls on his shirt, “Come!”

  Zone nods, “Follow me!”

  They break into a jog, Cai holding Nyx, Twoey hanging off of Cai, and Roxy using his large body for protection.

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