It was a heated stand-off. Mieus was in her standard battle stance, loose yet flexible, ready to lash out like a whip at the very slightest provocation. Rika understood the posture well; it was practically a mirror-image of her own. Rika had a bit of a funny idea that after all the years of nonviolence she was going to kick back off by first fighting her clone. After three years would she still be able to match the efficiency she had once shown? Rika looked over to Hahn lying unconscious and bleeding on the floor. For his sake she had better hope so.

Mieus was waiting for her to move. Killing her in one fell swoop wouldn’t be nearly as fun as letting her struggle first. She watched the woman in the long dress try to assume her own battle stance but it was difficult with the clothing she had chosen to wear. The numan girl paused, then stood straight again and sighed. "What is it?" Mieus asked, raising an eyebrow. She didn’t have the time for foolish hesitation.

"I can’t fight like this…" Rika complained as she berated herself for her poor choice of clothing. She had never intended on following Chaz back to Zelan during the beginning of the day, and when she had finally changed her mind there had not been enough time to change her clothing too. Just a pair of pants or shorts would have made a world of difference. She reached around behind herself to tug at the zipper of her dress. With the claws equipped it made things rather difficult. "Can you help me out here?" She asked Mieus with a grimace as she tried to get the zipper undone.

"What?" Mieus would never have that problem with garment restriction. Her tight red bodysuit had been specifically designed to allow her the maximum range of motion and comfort. Frankly she was surprised that Rika had asked such a request of her. What was even more surprising was that she found herself retracting her claws for the time being and moving to Rika’s side to offer her some help.

She reasoned logically that she would not enjoy the combat as much if her enemy was handicapped in any way. Mieus checked the zipper that Rika was attempting to undo. It was caught upon a tiny crease of pink fabric. It felt very soft. "I hope that layan scum have enough decency to wear undergarments beneath their clothing." Mieus said as she worked dexterously to remove the catch. The only venom in her statement came from her choice of words; the rest was clean.

Rika was extremely tense. If Mieus wanted to attack her then she had a good clear shot to do it. However, Rika didn’t think that Mieus would attack her, at least not right now. It was just a feeling she had that Siren’s servants held more honor than they thought they did. The zipper came free and Mieus stepped back as Rika wriggled out of her dress, freeing herself up for unrestricted combat.

She was wearing a set of black brassiere and panties to protect her modesty. It took a few seconds for the numan girl to get her claws through the sleeves of her dress but they went through eventually, then she toed the discarded piece of garment out of the way and to the side. Rika smiled and blushed at the same time. Ooooh it was cold on Zelan, she had almost forgotten about it until now.

Mieus walked back to where she had previously stood. "Are you ready to fight now, my dear?" She asked sweetly as she moved.

"I’m ready." Rika said, waiting just as Mieus had waited.

Briefly Rika was thinking she was glad that Hahn wasn’t awake to see her right now, but at the very moment Rika’s thoughts wandered slightly Mieus attacked. The change in her attention was apparent in her breathing, her heart rate, and a dozen smaller manners that were relatively apparent to Mieus’ sensors. She turned suddenly and made herself into a blur, ricocheting off the wall and lunging straight for Rika’s throat.

It was a little too quick for what she was used to. Rika had never been on the receiving end of such an attack before, nevertheless the direction of the attack was important; it dictated what side of the body to defend. Mieus slammed against Rika’s crossed claws and while she couldn’t cut into her enemy the blunt force was more than enough to hurt. Both girls grunted and Rika was slammed against the opposing wall, pushed further into defense.

Against that flat surface Rika got a leg up and kneed Mieus hard in the stomach while bracing her down with a hand upon her shoulder. The android’s body was cold from Hahn’s wat attack but it was also soft, easy to dig her knee into. Mieus gasped but got her arm underneath Rika’s raised leg, supporting her thigh and then using the leverage to hurl the girl over her shoulder. Mieus was strong; she had more than enough strength to perform the maneuver one-armed.

She hit the ground on her hands and absorbed all the shock in her arms, curling her body and rolling harmlessly away. Mieus turned around with a serious frown on her face, but inwardly she was enjoying it quite a bit. She had never fought anybody who had actually trained for combat before. Well, not seriously at least. They had all been scared cowards who had tried to run away. They never got very far.

Rika rose and raised her claws again. Together they clashed, metal blades scraping against metal blades. They locked together perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle and the entire battle became a match of brute physical strength. Her muscles burned and she squared her jaw bravely but it seemed like Mieus was only toying with her, for she appeared unconcerned. Under normal circumstances Zelan’s light atmosphere would not have bothered Rika in the slightest, but under such stresses she began to find the air terribly lacking.

Her breathing became quick and shallow. Her chest heaved with the effort. If she jumped up to hyperventilation then Mieus would certainly win and she could kiss living goodbye. The lightheaded feeling continued to increase, but when Mieus spoke again it grounded her, just a little. "Do you know what happened to the two layan friends who were following you? Surely you are curious." She purred. She had something in mind and it was most definitely poisonous.

Yes, she really was curious. Why had only Hahn followed her and not Chaz and Raja? Rika feared that Mieus knew something she didn’t. She shoved forward a bit like a bucking deer, trying to break the lock. It didn’t work but Rika was happy to see that Mieus had taken a step back towards the wall. "W-what do you mean?" She grunted as she looked into the android girl’s cold blue eyes.

"What I mean is…" Mieus shoved forward again and Rika couldn’t stop her this time, her arms just completely gave out on her. It was then that Rika realized she wasn’t wearing a single plate of armor, so that even the slightest scratch could wound her horribly. Mieus’ fist connected with her ribs with only a fraction of the strength that it was capable of. Mieus whispered sensually in Rika’s ear; "They’ve been stopped. Killed. Slashed to ribbons. My dear sweet partner has probably destroyed them by now."

The pain she felt was dull and blunt, barely acute. Rika looked down. Mieus had retracted her claws and had punched her in the stomach with all the force of her gloved fist. She could have easily skewered her liver had she left her claws out but she hadn’t, instead toying with Rika like a cat toys with a mouse. She wanted this battle to last, to entertain her, to satisfy her. A thought occurred to Rika as she coughed and choked on the punch. What if she was distracting her while the other android got down to the task of murdering Chaz?

Well, she could not allow that. It couldn’t be true; Chaz was the strongest person she knew. Nobody could kill him so simply, so easily. Rika drew on her strengths and clipped Mieus under the chin with her claws, then slid to the side to avoid the android’s fist and kicked her strongly with a sweeping leg. "I doubt it. Chaz has fought enemies far stronger than your wren type ever could be. He has probably destroyed him by now, reduced him to a pile of scrap metal."

The numan smiled when Mieus went reeling from the forceful kick, striking the side of the wall with her shoulder. Mieus glowered at her from where she had fallen. Rika had said something to really offend the girl. Perhaps she wasn't as confident with her partner as Rika was with Chaz. She must have a weakness. Everyone did. Rika just had to pin it down and find it, and she was finally getting somewhere now.

The android girl was only vulnerable for a few hasty moments. Rika's confident words caused Mieus to let doubt enter her mind. She did not know anything about the partner of her current opponent and his toughness in battle, but she was quite aware of Warren's mental fragility. He was kind and sweet and still recovering from his torture, if any of the layans hurt or upset him too much, well, Mieus would turn her weakness into a fount of furious strength.

She rose and regarded Rika with narrowed, focussed eyes. "You lie. You fleshbags are nothing but weak." Raising a hand Mieus clicked open the catch which kept her claws sheathed and they slid out in their smooth silky glory. No more toying, no more games. Rika had insulted her and what was hers and now she needed to pay. Smiling a carnivorous smile Mieus dove forward in a flash. "Let's open you up for all to see!" She screamed.

It wasn't just an empty threat. Rika could easily see that Mieus wanted nothing more than to perform a premortem autopsy upon her while she was still standing. Rika thought fast, trying to make every slice of her second count. What was Mieus' physical weakness? No, scratch that, what was an android's physical weakness in general?

She thought back to all the times she had seen Wren or Demi fall in battle to numerous things. It had mostly been through electrical surplus, corrosion, or a physical impact. Even Wren would become unconscious if he sustained a head injury serious enough. Something about sensory equipment being in direct connection to the core and going into emergency hibernation to protect said core. She didn't remember very well.

Anyway, there was no time to argue or second-guess herself, no time for anything but a single defensive maneuver. In the end Rika needn't to have thought at all; her perfectly-trained body performed all the thinking and the movement for her. She twisted and pivoted on her heel as Mieus darted towards her, side-stepping her opponent but extending a hand out to catch the other girl as she flew by. Rika grabbed Mieus by the shoulder and swiveled again to work her way behind her, frankly surprised at her own display of astonishing speed. She was certain she must have lost it by now.

Fleshbag or not, there was no possible way an android could match a numan's grace and agility. Rika held Mieus gently but firmly and would not let her stop, shoving forward with her own momentum and strength when the red-haired girl tried to apply resistance and stop. With a grunt she slammed Mieus headfirst into the opposing wall, grabbing a fistful of the girl's hair and bracing the back of her head for the rough impact. Rika herself used Mieus as a cushion and bumped against her, but she was unharmed. All the shock was absorbed straight into Mieus' body.

When Rika pulled away Mieus didn't make a noise, or if she had made a noise it was one Rika was not able to hear. She merely slumped to the ground, close to Hahn who was lying a few feet away. Her eyes had slid closed into emergency hibernation. Good, it had worked. Rika sighed in relief, yet still she felt kind of sorry for the poor, poor girl.

Now she was completely alone. The halls of Zelan were silent and she felt totally exposed standing there in her underclothes, like some embarrassing dream. Rubbing her arms in short motions Rika dropped to her knees to get a closer look at Hahn. His bleeding had stopped and his breathing was steady and regular, as if he were asleep. Something seemed very wrong with his mouth though, Rika suspected that his lower jaw may have been broken.

With her body warming down from the adrenaline and the fight Rika was becoming cold, just so cold. She shivered then looked for her discarded clothes. She took her claws off momentarily to slip the dress back on, the zipper sliding up quickly and easily with a pair of proper hands to coax it with. Afterwards the claws came back on for the protection that they gave. The single extra layer of clothing made the whole world of difference.

Rika was beginning to contemplate trying to wake up Hahn and treat him for his injuries, while also wondering exactly how long Mieus would stay unconscious for when a third thought swept back into her mind. A cold chill shivered down her limbs, all the way to her fingertips and toes despite the warm clothes. Chaz. While worrying about Hahn and Mieus Rika had totally forgotten about Chaz. He was behind her down the hallway, fighting against Mieus' partner with Raja by his side.

She bit her lip lightly as she remembered Mieus' teasing words. No, Chaz would never lose a fight against somebody so insignificant. It was absurd, but still…

Rika had to go check on him. Not because she doubted him, but for her own sake and peace of mind.

Reassuringly she stroked the unconscious Hahn gently across the cheek. She'd come back for him soon, way before Mieus had a chance to wake up again. She'd bring Raja up here and the old bishop would be able to help.

"I'll be back Hahn, I promise. Hang in there." Rika whispered as she rose up to her full height, then ran back the way she had came down the corridor. There was a sense of urgency in her pace that she outwardly did not wish to acknowledge or show.

Chaz would be okay.

He had to be.

†††

The explosive beginning to Chaz’s fight against Warren had suddenly come to a very abrupt halt. The youth was surprised and a little bewildered at what had just happened. He was even more confused as to why Warren had not retaliated yet. Chaz had raised his sword and had lunged at the android with a pretty cool battle cry, sweeping the blade down to slice through where the android’s collarbone should have been were he palman.

At least, that was what should have happened. Instead, halfway through the sweep and when Chaz’s concentration was at its peak he felt a sudden resistance slam against the blade and cease momentum, stopping him immediately in his tracks. When he tried to pull his sword away he couldn’t do that either; he was trapped. The hunter glanced up at his opponent. Warren had seen the sweep coming from a mile away and he had just simply grabbed it out of midair, holding it in his grasp so Chaz could not pull away.

Chaz pulled again and still nothing, Warren was not prepared to let go until he was good and ready. He looked at the boy, then then his guardian sword, then the boy again. Obviously the weapon was superbly made and powerful, but the driving force behind it was, how do you say… weak? In any case Warren was quite used to making the second strike; he rarely started fights. "Um, lad?" He said to Chaz with a gentle apologetic smile. "I am very sorry, but your swing is just too slow."

He let go of the hunter’s blade and shoved forward in one smooth motion, pushing Chaz back onto his heels, then thrust out with his own sword that he carried in his other hand. Chaz gasped and swept his newly freed weapon to the side to block Warren’s sword strike, the two blades clashing and generating sparks. His burned shoulder throbbed at the motion but he ignored it, continuing onward bravely. The deflection worked, Warren’s attack was easily knocked away.

"My teacher used to say the very same… thing!" Chaz grunted as he took a step to the right and thrust out on his own, nicking Warren in the upper arm. The android had not been able to block that in time, flinching away from the stab instead. It turned the deep stab into nothing more than a scratch upon armor. At least it was a hit, and Chaz found confidence with that. He smiled. That very first block was a fluke, as Warren had been expecting that strike. He wouldn’t be able to defend himself like that again.

The next three or four sword strikes made by Warren each was parried almost effortlessly by Chaz and his great skill. This was almost too easy; it was as if Warren was not even trying. The android had absolutely no proficiency with the sword whatsoever, he was swinging it about clumsily as if it were a club or some other blunt object. As Warren had said, he was only an amateur. The only thing he had going for him was his strength.

"You are a friend of lieutenant colonel Forren, aren’t you?" Warren asked politely as he attempted to slice Chaz into pieces with the aid of his sword. It was nice to know that Forren still had friends in this day and age, even though it seemed like he had discarded his emotions. The android winced as Chaz ducked down low, evading a sword strike and plunging his weapon into Warren’s side.

The blade had not hit his core, but it had come quite close. Chaz hoped that it hurt. By the way that Warren seemed to have frozen implied that it hurt quite a bit, that is, if this android was capable of experiencing pain at all. "I don’t know who you’re talking about really, but if you’re referring to Wren then that’s right." Chaz replied as he ripped the sword savagely out of his enemy.

"That’s… ugh, good then…" Warren gasped as the blade was yanked out of his body. It hadn’t hit anything vital. He could continue. If Forren really was this lad’s friend then he needed to be careful. Forren had a bit of a habit which caused him to kill close friends on uncommon occasions. He wondered if this boy knew what a jerk his friend had once been. As Warren thought this he took a step back and feinted, moving unexpectedly to the left.

The air was chill and incredibly thin. It messed with Chaz Ashley’s head. When Warren made a pass to move right but then bluffed and headed left it confused Chaz and made him pause to gather his bearings again. Warren cracked him over the back of the head with the butt of his sword and shoved him forward when the hunter stumbled from the blow. Like that, it would be remarkably easy to simply plunge his antique sword right into Chaz’s back.

But he did not do that. Chaz noticed it too, but instead of feeling relieved he actually felt indignant. Warren was not even trying to fight seriously, he was just dicking around and letting Chaz pretend he was getting somewhere. Maybe he was simply unable to perform the killing blow. Regardless, it irritated him. "What’s the matter?" He coughed as the back of his head stung like a bitch. "Aren’t you programmed to kill me?"

"I’m sorry." Warren said behind Chaz, and damned if he didn’t sound sincere about it. He hadn’t killed anybody up close for a very long time, he felt he had to work his way up to it. No… that wasn’t right. It was more like he didn’t want to do it, but in the name of his master he would. If he took somebody else’s life it would prove that he truly was alive. The android drew conviction from that. "I promise I’ll try harder this time."

And then it was like the atmosphere changed, or something changed, for Chaz felt it as well; the hairs on his neck prickling uncomfortably. He had his back to Warren and he needed to fix that quickly, so he spun around. The android wasn’t invincible and Chaz had already proven that he could punch a hole in him if he struck a part that was not heavily protected by armor. If he could just find the right place to stab maybe he could put Warren down for the count.

But when Chaz turned Warren was all at once far too close to him, his free hand shooting out and clamping down hard upon the boy’s neck. Chaz choked at the sudden violent pressure and there was a heavy crash as Warren slammed the hunter mercilessly against the opposing wall. Chaz’s feet dangled almost a foot off the ground, held up solely through the strength of his enemy. He gasped, he could not breathe, and not enough air was getting through to his lungs.

The hunter’s hand flew up to push and grapple with Warren’s arm, which may have been made of stone for all the give it made. Chaz’s sword-arm trembled stiffly by his side. He could not drop his weapon. It would be all over if he dropped his weapon, but if he did not do something soon about the hand bolted down over his throat and squeezing the very life out of him he was gone. Warren looked serious, as if he were concentrating hard on the task at hand. "Is this better?" He asked politely.

Chaz gurgled as a response. It was nearly impossible to speak as he was now. Color was draining out of his vision, making the world seem like it was painted in blacks and whites. A great pressure was building up in his chest, growing and expanding like a child’s balloon. His fingers twitched on Warren’s forearm, weakly trying to push the android away.

"I don’t want to see you suffer. I can snap your neck if you want and you will not have to go through the process of asphyxiation. It’s a very painful way to die. If you want to stay like this and suffocate though, well, I’m sure I’ll get over the experience. Tap me on the arm if you can’t take it anymore. I’ll make the pain stop." He said kindly. Chaz was making the most pitiful of faces as he struggled to breathe. It made Warren feel terrible because he was the one doing this. He wanted to get it over with.

From Chaz’s position it actually was a pretty tempting offer. He was in a state of horrible panicky desperation, his face turning various shades of red, then grey, then blue. His eyes rolled as he thought he just might black out and die before he had the chance to deliver his answer. He looked down at Warren while his vision went in and out of blurring. The android actually seemed to be in some minor distress himself. How odd.

"Well? Answer me. You don’t want to die like this." Warren pressed with anxiety. Chaz’s sword-arm finally went limp and he dropped his weapon. His fingers were loose and the boy’s struggles were weakening. Warren relaxed his hold a little, not enough to save him, but it allowed a small sigh to twist its way up out of the hunter’s throat. "Hey, come on, lad! Stop it!"

Chaz raised his hand from where it had been resting on Warren’s arm. It looked like he was going to consent to having his neck broken, which to Warren would have turned this from a murder into a simple assisted suicide. He could handle that gladly. But no, instead of a tap Chaz lowered his arm and gently pressed the palm of his hand flat against the android’s armored chest. He smiled through clenched teeth.

"… na… thu…" He managed to choke out in the wheezy voice of an old man.

Warren was blown back by a concentrated beam of light, a veritable laser. He cried out in pain and Chaz gasped in powerful mind-blowing relief as the pressure was broken from his throat and he could breathe again. It felt like his body had gone totally numb, he didn’t even feel it as he dropped to his hands and knees on the floor, gasping and coughing wildly. His heart was beating so fast it might as well have been vibrating. Air! Sweet, beautiful air!

The android clattered to the floor, smoking and noticeably wounded. The hunter’s technique had melted his chest armor down to the final layer, only an inch or two further and Chaz would have reached his core. Such a powerful attack coming from such a small and fragile boy, Warren had simply not been expecting it. He lay there on the floor perfectly still, his systems already undertaking minute procedures to repair his damaged body. He was conscious but he would not move until it was safe.

For some minutes neither opponent moved from where they lay, too busy occupied with themselves. After a while Chaz felt somewhat even again, his breathing semi-normal, and Warren had completed the necessary repairs to stand and move again. When Chaz could breathe and Warren could move somebody started to laugh, soft, quiet, amused laughter. They rose to their feet, weapon in hand, and then they were both laughing.

"I guess neither of us were being very honest with the other." Warren said as he started to remove the damaged and useless pieces of his own armor, the melted and burning hot pieces dropping to the ground. He smiled, slightly relieved that Chaz had managed to break free. "You are full of surprises."

"And you’re pretty strong." Chaz replied as he stilled his coughs and rubbed the raw red marks in the shape of fingerprints on his neck. They would turn into bruises soon. Well, he had expected a tough battle upon Zelan. It was good to know that he hadn’t been disappointed. "I’m not going to fool around this time either. I have to get this over with and make sure Rika is okay."

"What’s your name?"

"Chaz Ashley. Yours?"

"Warren McCulloch."

"It’s harder to kill somebody when you know their name."

"I know."

For five seconds there was silence and the two swordsmen just looked at one another. Then, as if somebody had rung a bell somewhere initiating the fight they each lunged for one another exactly at the same time. Blades clashed, grating against one another and then slid away, one further towards its foe. Chaz Ashley drew blood, but after the pain of the almost strangulation it barely felt like anything at all. "Why are you doing this anyway?" Chaz shouted as he stepped back and wiped the fresh blood from his face.

"Because…" Warren yelled back just as heatedly as the hunter jumped almost impossibly high and attempted a crushing sword strike from the air. He avoided it creatively by reaching up and snagging Chaz by the ankle, then swinging him about and hurling the boy directly into the wall. The hunter performed a trick that he had seen Rika attempt numerous times in the past, twisting his body and pretending that the wall was the floor, landing gracefully and then pushing off again within another half second.

"…I will never…" When Chaz came back towards him Warren thrust out with his antique blade and hoped that he could actually impale in the boy in one move, which would finish the battle quick smart. Unfortunately Chaz saw the stab and parried in time, but that also rendered his big dive practically meaningless.

"…Let you get…" He moved to the left, Chaz moved to the right, and then together their blades clashed again. A hairline crack appeared down Warren’s sword from the last impact, practically unnoticeable. At least, the two fighters did not notice it at the time. Chaz slashed horizontally, Warren leaned out of the way. Warren went for Chaz’s legs and tried to immobilize him, but the hunter artfully leapt away. Finally there was another pause, Chaz panting and bleeding from various minor cuts and Warren moderately damaged. Cold green eyes met cold grey eyes.

"…In Siren’s way!"

Blades impacted against one another for the very last time. Warren swung down, Chaz swung up. It was all a matter of simple physics. Chaz was physically weak when compared to the high-quality strength of his guardian sword, while Warren’s mechanical powerhouse of strength far outweighed his dinky little antique weapon. One could easily predict the outcome before it happened. The guardian sword defended Chaz bravely but the weak force crushed the hunter to the ground, and Warren’s sword could not withstand the unbelievable force the android placed upon it. It shattered upon impact, breaking into three-dozen glittering shards.

Chaz and Warren were peppered with shrapnel. The hunter blinked on the ground, wondering what had happened while Warren stared dumbly at the broken hilt in his hand. "Oh no!" He cried in a worried surprised voice, a far shot from the brutal war cry he had displayed only moments earlier. "You broke it! The doctor’s sword! That was his family’s heirloom!"

As Chaz pulled himself back up to his feet all of a sudden the android looked like he was getting close to tears. That sword had been just about the last thing he had left from his old friend. "Who cares? It’s just a sword. You weren’t even very good with it anyway." He groaned, feeling his cuts and bruises ache.

Warren glared. He dropped the hilt of the broken weapon. "You know, maybe I don’t really like you so much after all." He said softly, moving into an unknown battle stance that Chaz had never really seen before. It was utilized to emphasize no weapon, only his bare hands.

The youth smiled. He felt that he was winning. He had weakened the android's armor and had disarmed him of his weapon, now all that was left to be done was to break him once and for all. Chaz's smile became cocky. "Whoever it was that sword once belonged to, they're dead now. I doubt they'd care anymore if it broke. All of them, they're dead. I don't know exactly who the hell you are or where you came from, but if you threaten my friends' safety then I'll destroy you."

"I can see where you're coming from. If I were in your position I'd feel the same way. There is no more time for indulging you, lad. You will be dead in two minutes from this moment." Warren informed him efficiently then he slowly closed his eyes, concentrating and activating a dusty protocol from the past. In an overly monotone, bland voice he said; "Activating battle system. Combat mode initialized. Capped at one hundred and twenty seconds."

This was that separated a warrior wren from a silent wren, or a fortress wren. Standard warren models geared for general infantry purposes possessed a separate combat mode, an energy-burning heightened sense of being which was just as taxing for the individual invoking it as the benefit involved. Combat mode could only be sustained for five minutes at a time, no more than three times per day. Use it too often and a unit would simply collapse; a light bulb burning out. Mother Brain had given this line of her children five minutes and no more, but even four minutes was considerably draining and dangerous.

Warren himself during the war had never dared anything further than three minutes and forty seconds. Those had been an electrically metabolic nightmare. It would have severely damaged him permanently had a field mechanic not been a part of his brigade. He was sufficiently healthy right now, given the circumstances, so he gave in to the racial urge to deal some damage and moved, his target the young Chaz Ashley.

One moment he was there, the next he was gone. That was some pretty fast movement. Wait… Warren hadn't been in combat mode, even from the start? Chaz's eyebrows knitted together briefly. Fine. Whatever. He'd show his enemy the full extent of his own powers, too.

Chaz already had his sword out, but Warren had recorded the way and manners of which he had wielded it and its conventional use was no longer a threat to him. As a doctor the android made the perfect hand-to-hand combat fighter; he already knew all the weak spots on the palman body, exactly where to add pressure, exactly what to break. Zelan had slowed, Chaz had slowed, absolutely everything except for himself. A hundred and fifteen seconds left. Move. Move now.

Somebody grabbed Chaz's sword arm by the wrist and clamped down viciously hard, then twisted it three hundred degrees; almost a full rotation. The bones in Chaz Ashley's forearm and wrist snapped like dry twigs. He screamed in surprise and acute pain, his fingers going slack on reflex.

He dropped his sword, but he was not that far-gone just yet. Chaz had earned his hunter's license after all along with every skill that came with it. Warren had materialized by his side, slightly behind him, holding his broken wrist up like a trophy of some sort. The hunter's free hand swiped at his knife belt briefly and Chaz jammed the full length of his knife right into the android's arm, burying it in as deep as it could go.

Warren didn't seem to notice as the blade punched into the tough metallic muscles beneath his armor. He sharply heard the sound of Chaz's main weapon clattering upon the tiles of the space station. Disarmament? Check. Now to make sure this young lad never would pick up a weapon in this hand ever again, in self defense or otherwise. Warren performed calculations with lightning-quick speed, even as he moved to act out the very algorithm. Here, there and… there, yes, each area of the boy's arm lit up as targets in the android's vision.

He spun the young warrior around as if they were in the middle of a dance, twisting Chaz's arm behind himself and then using the unnatural angle to apply tremendous pressure, helping it along with the crushing strength in his arms and hands. Chaz's eyes flew open wide and all the colour was sucked from his face as he felt the second snap, his radius and ulna collapsing like a wishbone. This time he didn't scream, he just opened and closed his mouth a few times in the perfect impression of a fish. It hurt too much to make a single sound.

"Your upper arm next." Warren seemed to slur in what was a more artificial voice than usual, as if steadily getting drunk on his own power or if his lingual unit was being taxed to give his battle system more power. He pushed Chaz forward, repositioning the hunter as if he were a chiropractor, supporting Chaz's upper arm with a hand along the underside and placing his other hand just above the elbow. Chaz was still trembling and trying to deal with the first and second breaks; he could do nothing else. The only reason he was still standing up at all was because Warren was supporting him.

He mangled the humerus easily, offering one strong, sharp push which cracked the bone in two. Warren had removed all stability from Chaz's sword arm in just under twenty seconds, breaking it until it resembled a limp, bruised noodle. He let go and the hunter quietly folded in on himself, falling to his knees and practically pressing his chest against his legs, shaking and making weak 'aah'ing sounds that were between a whimper and a moan.

Warren pried out the short knife that had somehow gotten into his arm and tossed it haphazardly over his shoulder, looking at his handiwork. He could see the youngster's bone jutting out of the wound and the rip in his bodysuit that the break had caused. It was welling up with blood while the area around it was rapidly growing dark. A gruesome sight, but as a veteran medical officer he had seen much worse.

He reached down and pulled Chaz to his feet by his hair. The boy blinked almost vacantly at him, but then he glared murderously and spat in Warren's face. "You were just pretending to be a swordsman. It was all an act. You made me think you were an idiot." He accused rather weakly himself, but still indignant.

The spit oozed down the wren-type's cheek for a moment before he wiped it away with the back of a hand. He looked at it in a detached sort of way, then in proper response he balled his hand into a fist and propelled it straight into Chaz's stomach, mashing the hunter's armor into his own body and breaking a good handful of his ribs. "Please don't do that again. It's not very nice of you." He said calmly.

Chaz hacked up blood in one great choke, the fragments of his snapped ribs clawing into his insides. Suddenly everything tasted like blood. Warren set him back down onto his feet but miraculously he did not fall over, leaning against the surface of the wall. Oh god, oh Great Light, he had been hurt so badly, his arm felt like a bag of broken glass. It didn't even feel like an arm anymore. Was this it? Was he going to die here on this space station years after he had passed his final test, killed by some nobody he had never ever heard of?

No! It could not happen! He'd never let it! Chaz gasped and panted desperately as he smiled, trying to ignore the blinding pain. Blood dribbled from his mouth and down his throat as he struggled to hold the sword he was gripping in his other hand. When he had fallen the first thing he had grabbed was his guardian blade; he'd been taught to always keep his weapon by his side. "Hey, you…" He coughed to the warren watching him suffer with both interest and pity.

"What is it?" Warren asked, his combat mode reaching the one minute point and already experiencing some mild euphoric discomfort. He wasn't as new as he used to be, he needed to stop soon, but the thing was that he didn't want to. He never really wanted to.

Chaz thought that if he were going to die he might as well do it with some style. Maybe it was a small part of Rune rubbing off on him. He called forth one final burst of strength.

"I have two arms, you know…"

Uttering a roar mixed with a cry Chaz plunged his sword into the junction between Warren's shoulder and chest. He favored his right arm in battle but that arm had been cruelly crippled, so he used his left. It went in rather smoothly, all things considering. Chaz's hand slipped from the hilt of the sword and slumped down weakly. That was it; he could do no more. If he didn't defeat Warren using that attack or if Raja didn't wake up in time then he was in defeat.

Warren staggered back, the intruding weapon disrupting the flow of electricity to the limb. It had gone dead, but that was only temporary. This layan boy, Warren had never fought anybody like him before, and he liked the pain that his damages were delivering to him, it meant that he really was here and alive to experience them. He quirked a smile and startled to chuckle. It was nice and friendly laughter, even when he half-groaned as he slid the intruding weapon slowly out of his body.

The blade was clean as there was not a single drop of blood in Warren's body. He had broken Chaz's bones but that really wasn't enough; wounds like that could heal over time. In the off-chance that Chaz escaped Warren didn't want to have to fight him ever again. As he was processing this Chaz worked himself a miracle and carefully rocked himself off the wall he was leaning against, then slumped towards the android in a desperate attempt to reclaim his sword. He had left faint traces of blood smeared against the wall.

The battle came to a bitter, violent end. Warren mimicked Chaz's last sword strike and thrust the stolen weapon straight through the hunter's body, pinning Chaz against the wall like a rare butterfly. Chaz Ashley's tired and wounded body went still, weak, impaled upon his own sword. It went straight through his shoulder and out the other side, the tip of the sword digging an inch or two into the metal surface behind him. "You… you…" He breathed, pain concentrated in every word.

Compared to the other wounds there was not a lot of blood. The blade was like a plug, keeping all of the blood inside. Warren could hardly believe he had just done that, wounding the boy so critically, yet still it had not been a fatal attack. The layan would still live as long as he didn't die of massive blood loss. He had sliced through Chaz's ligaments and nerves, isolating the arm from the rest of his body. It was done. If he survived Chaz would be a cripple for the rest of his life.

Warren reached out and reassuringly braced the broken boy against his palm. He was horrified with himself and the terrible crime he had committed, but he needed to finish him off and get things done. Leaving the youth in such horrific pain was just too cruel. "Steady on, my friend. It will all be okay. It won't hurt for much longer. The next strike is destined for your heart. I am so sorry about this…" Ten seconds of combat mode left. He needed to be quick.

He pulled the instantly bloody sword out of the hunter's body carefully, slowly twisting his wrist in the process. Chaz moaned low as his wound was further mutilated, the blade screwdrivering the flesh as it came out. Blood poured freely and soaked his clothing, armor and the bandage which seemed nothing more than a tiny burn now; utterly insignificant. Chaz slid down onto his legs, painting the wall as he went. There was a hole in his shoulder. There was a goddamned hole in his shoulder.

The tears that had flown freely down his cheeks from the pain changed quality and became emotional. It was time for him to die, he could already see the bastard wren-type raising his sword for the final plunge. Nobody was coming to rescue him. Nobody. Not even…

"Rika…" Chaz whimpered softly as he closed his eyes, giving in.

Warren raised the sword up high, steeling himself, then…

Zelan was filled with a high-pitched scream of pain and agony, of intense anger and frustration, then became quiet. Unbearable silence filled the station once more.

Chaz did not move anymore, he was still and he felt no more pain. His head had drooped down to his chest and his blood continued to flow, utterly and completely defeated. Lost… but still alive.

The android hadn't struck him. He had meant to, of course, but that scream had been as good as an 'off' switch for him, freezing him stock still. Chaz couldn't have heard that scream, no layan or palman could. Only androids, only his own kind. Like a silent dog whistle Warren was immediately riled and at attention. He dropped his stolen weapon and paid it no more heed.

"Mieus…" He said out loud, powering down and exiting combat mode. His nervousness and revulsion came back at full force, along with his anxiety. He turned to look down the corridor where he knew his partner would be. Her signal had dropped out immediately after that scream and now only his master Siren and Forren were online. She hadn't- Those layans didn't- … Why the hell wasn't he there protecting her?

"Mieus!" Warren shouted, turning tail and running, leaving Chaz there to bleed to death on his own. At least the boy wasn't conscious to experience his own imminent death.

Blood dripped from his wounds and breaks, rolling onto the floor, slowly growing cold.

No more pain.

†††

It didn't take long for Rika to backtrack to where she needed to be. She was hurrying quite fast though and worrying so much about her fiance that when Warren came running up the corridor to tend to his own devices they almost slammed right into one another.

They stood there, looking at each other, one breathing hard and the other rather damaged. Upon this contact they knew they had to fight for their master and to protect their friends, but nobody moved or initiated any conflict. Rika had to get to Chaz and Warren needed to reach Mieus. There simply wasn't enough time for a battle while they both worried. To waste those precious seconds would be ludicrous.

No words were exchanged and it happened almost simultaneously, as if they already knew exactly what the other was thinking. Warren moved aside to let the girl pass and meet her fallen love while Rika darted forward at the very same moment, giving Warren clear passage to run and reach Mieus. A couple of seconds later the moment was lost and the android and numan girl had gone their separate ways.

At least, if only for a few seconds, both sides had decided to just forget about it and let go. Some things were more important than hatred and intolerance.