The songs of birds and the warm glow of the rising sun called Scapes back from the stars. He turned to look at his sister and found her already awake, watching him sleep with an expression he’d only before seen worn by their mother.

“Morning.” Her soft tone was matched by a gentle upturning of the edges of her mouth.

He turned to look back up and enjoy a few moments more of semi-wakefulness before responding in kind. After this, he asked, “What is the plan for today?”

She sighed, thinking. “We can probably nest here for a while longer before moving to another area. Those howls have been sounding distant the last few times. I don’t think we need to do much other than find something to eat.”

“Can we play fight in the clearing?” Scapes could feel his ears slowly rising involuntarily.

“Sure, why not.”

With an excited sound, Scapes leapt out from the nest and onto the ground below. Hights followed at a slower pace, taking her time to leisurely stretch.

Scapes rushed off ahead to the nearby clearing he had referred to. Once he arrived, he surveyed it. Tall and lush grass grew abundantly, free from the shadows of the trees. The blades reached higher than his head for almost the entirety of the clearing. Perfect for hiding.

Flaring his wings, he prepared to jump. He decided that he would aim towards the left side of the clearing. With a leap and a few frantic flaps, he landed where he desired. Once in the grass, he crouched down to keep a low profile. The purpose of that exercise had been so that he would not leave a trail in the grass for his sister to follow. Now came the wait.

Blocking out the sounds of the birds and the wind, Scapes strained to hear any unusual rustle or snap that might indicate movement. It was hard, what with the regular gentle breezes, but he eventually thought he heard something moving slowly towards the centre of the clearing. He crouched and carefully turned to face the sound. He tensed, ready to pounce.

A sudden loud crash and thud were heard slightly behind where he’d been tracking the sound. He ignored it. His sister was surely trying to trick him into going after her tail again. He pounced at where he expected she would actually be.

In the moments that he was above the grass, Scapes realised he had once again been fooled. His sister stood where the loud sound had been, having jumped backwards. And she was ready for him. Seconds after landing, Scapes found himself being bowled over and pinned to the ground. He wriggled against his captor for a few moments before conceding the round.

“Gotcha again.” She got off him.

Scapes opened his mouth to make a snarky retort but caught himself. “That you did, oh tricksy one.” He remained on the ground for a moment longer, looking at the cloudless sky. This is when he spotted a number of tiny dots in the sky. Way too small to be clouds or even birds. Plus they were not moving. “Uhh, sis, do you ever see stars during the day?”

“Nice try.”

“No, I’m serious. Look up.”

“You don’t get- oh. I see what you’re talking about. Still, they can’t be stars.” The two stared at the group of dots, neither hazarding a guess as to what they actually were.

“Hey, look, there’s more there!”

With two groups now visible in the unending blue sky, it became apparent that both groups were moving. And they were on an intercept course with one another. The first group seemed to become aware of the second and changed formation and course so that both groups now flew straight towards one another.

A realisation dawned on Scapes that made his stomach sink. “Do you think they ar-”

“Yes.”

Scapes feathers began to tingle and stand on end. Tearing his eyes from the sky, he saw his sister reared up on her hind legs, mouth agape. He dove away from her just as a bolt of lightning arced from her mouth, forking in the air before coming back down to the ground. “What are you doing?!”

“Trying to get their attention.”

“There’s no way they’d see us from way up there. Plus that looks the battle formation dad liked to use. They’re gonna fight! They won't be looking at the ground anyway.”

Apparently, she did not hear him or did not care, as another electrical discharge arced from her mouth. She fell over after this, the grass cushioning her fall.

“Stop! You’re going to hurt yourself. You can’t properly make or control it yet!”

Hights got up again, rising to her hind legs and opening her mouth, but Scapes tackled her. She struggled for a period before relaxing. “Yes,” she huffed, “you’re right.”

The two watched as the distant groups finally met one another. The individual specks, barely distinguishable from one another, darted around and collided. It was not long before individuals began to drop. As one uncontrollably plummeting creature neared, it became apparent that it was a dusk-born Windchaser. A lump formed in Scapes’ throat. “We should go see if they need help.”

“Scapes…”

His mind flashed to visions of his own fall, frantically trying to stabilise himself and slow his descent with his damaged wings. “Come on.” He ran off in the direction the Windchaser had fallen. The crashing through the trees was audible even from the clearing.

The twisted and broken thing he found left no doubt as to whether the fall had been survived. He hung his head in mourning. When Hights arrived, she turned him away from the fallen Windchaser, pulling him close and covering him with her wings. “Let’s go,” she guided him away.

They walked with a certain stillness to them, neither venturing a word. Scapes could feel his sister still looking up to the skies in the gaps between the trees, and her body growing tense, but he kept his eyes on the ground. After a long while, she spoke again. “The attackers are retreating. The Windchasers won.” Yet her voice remained sombre.

Some pained cries sounding in the distance became audible. Hights lifted her wings from Scapes and moved in the direction of the sound. He followed. They found the source of the sound: a creature unfamiliar to him, its left wing injured and unable to fly. It was large, flat, and had little distinction between its wings and abdomen. Its leathery skin was pale grey with white patches. It had spotted the siblings and was now brandishing a whip-like tail in their direction. The sounds it now made seemed to be some sort of speech, but Scapes could not understand it.

“What is that?” He received no response. “Hights?”

Hights stepped forward, mouth open. Again, Scapes sensed an electric buildup followed by a small electric blast shoot into the creature. It was not powerful enough to kill but was enough to stun it. She jumped on top of it. “I don’t know.” she bit down on its tail, ignoring the blood-curdling screams the creature made, and tore it off with her mouth. “I don’t care.” she spat blood. “But when I get back up there,” she raked at its wings with her claws, leaving terrible red trails. “I will make sure these,” Another scream from the creature. “the Turbuli that knocked us from the sky,” It had given up trying to get free from her, knowing its fate was sealed. “and anything else that threatens the Windchasers,” She, at last, unleashed a large bolt into the creature, ending its suffering. “are dealt with.” She stood over the corpse, panting. She was splattered with blood, her mouth and claws dripping the life-giving substance.

“Sis?” Scapes managed timidly.

Her tense pose broke as she once again became aware of her brother’s presence.

“Sorry about that,” she approached him with her wings open wide, as if she intended to embrace him. He backed away. She halted and looked down at herself and realised the mess she had made. “I’ll… go get cleaned up… You… find some berries I guess…”

Not even considering the possibility of objecting, Scapes nodded and walked in a direction that was away from both the stream and the two corpses that he knew of.

A hum from the trees above. I looked up to see a green illumination that was not there before. Crackling green lances erupted from metal gauntlets. It was headed straight for me. A mistake.

Diving to side, I fluidly dodged the attack and drew my weapon in the same move. I twisted around to block the follow-up in knew would come. My sword ignited and caught the plasma blade mid-arc. If the monster was surprised, I would not find any trace of emotion in those cold robotic eyes.

My footing was imperfect, I’d not hold if it tried to overpower me. Fortunately, I did not have to hold. The creature pulled away from me, barely blocking a blow swung at its back in turn.

My remaining partner and I engaged the robot, while our other three squadmates sprinted off into the darkness. They sought the other one.

A tail swung at me, the wicked brass ends gleaming in the moonlight. I leapt towards the tail, which - too late - began to veer away. Pressing a button on the hilt, I activated my weapon just long enough to cut clean through.

A third of the metal tail fell to the ground. Sparks flew. A robotic scream that almost sounded alive. We were knocked off our feet by a green blast as the monster surrounded itself in a pulsating barrier. Quick to our feet, we circled it. Waiting for it to make its move.

The barrier dropped and it launched itself at me. My partner gave chase, while I took a steady stance. I met the robot’s swing, locking blades. Motion from its other hand caught my attention - a jerking movement followed by a bright green pulse from the lights on its arm.

The dancing sparks ceased briefly as both my and my enemy’s weapons lost power. But mine still had a blade, which I stabbed towards its chest. Without power, I could only scratch the titanium armour. Yet, as intended, my blade sputtered back to life just in time to sink deep into the armour - lodging itself there.

Another ear-piercing scream. I smiled in satisfaction - though I too wore a mask that hid my emotion.

The ignition of plasma blades to either side of me informed me of the cost of that fleeting moment of self-indulgence.

All this had taken mere fractions of a second. Now my partner was upon the metal beast, allowing me to escape with only a sizzling wound on my left arm, and a whack to the side from a tail-stump.

I pushed myself off the ground. We could not lose here. These terrors must be brought to an end.

Even without my blade, I was not yet useless. I pulled a pistol from its holster at my side and began unloading its armour piercing rounds at the creature.

I scored a hit on the monster as it knocked my partner off balance.

Another hit as it knocked the blade from his hand.

The next threw the plasma blade’s swing off - but it was not enough, saving the head but not the arm. A human scream was swallowed by the dense woods.

My remaining shots melted against a luminescent green barrier.

I ran for the sword that had landed in the dirt. I kept firing, forcing it to stay behind its barrier. Timed the shots so that I’d have enough time to get the fallen weapon before the magazine ran empty.

It was one-on-one now. I would not be able to overpower it - I could only hope to outmaneuver it.

Dodge the side-swipe. Parry a second blow, riposte. Use the momentum from the mutant’s own parry to spin around for another blow. The next parry to push myself away before we again engaged. A flurry of strikes and blocks. Man and machine, locked in the dance of blades.

But I was losing ground. And I was losing time. It was playing safe, waiting for me to tire - while it had all the time in the world. We danced. Our moves automatic, as if in a play we had rehearsed a thousand times.

Two chess masters, analysing the others’ movements, looking for any slip-up. Any opportunity to gain victory.

I decided to give it an opening. I feinted to the right and then swung towards its head. My swing was wide and I moved too close to it. It took the opening, removing the sword and two fingers from my hand.

However, I too gained the opportunity I needed. I shoved my shoulder into the creature’s chest. I did not gain any ground against it, but I was now in reach of my sword - still lodged in its chest.

I grabbed the sword and pulled downwards. Yet my injured arm could not pull hard enough.

White hot pain engulfed my belly and I was shoved to the ground.

I closed my eyes. Prepared for the final blow. None came. All I heard was the scraping of metal on metal. I opened my eyes to see it looming over me, pulling my sword out of its chest. Once it had done so, it dropped the sword onto my chest - the flat of the blade landing on me with a thud. A chilling chuckle reverberated from its titanium maw before it turned an marched off.

I heard a desperate and weak “No! No! No!”, followed by a gurgle and a sickening crunch.

Perhaps there was wisdom in fear. A natural order to things.

Thudding footsteps began returning in my direction.

If I had shown even a little of the emotion I'd been taught to detest, I would not have been here.

The aberration stood over me, motionless. I lay, my breathing laboured and my limbs impotent.

We had been so close… If things had gone but a little differently… My family would not have to live in fear…

Maniacal shouting off in the distance brought attention to gunfire that both combatants had until now been deaf to.

“Well, I gotta go, and it doesn’t look like you’ll make it.” Why did it even bother to speak to me? To draw this out?

Perhaps if I had heeded fear, I might have yet seen my family.

A high-energy blade ignited from his gauntlet.

“He’s right,” a new voice confirmed, “you know.” The owner of the new voice suddenly found themselves staring down the wrong ends of a laser sword and a gun. “Woah, woah - calm down guys! I’m a friend. What’re your names?”

“Yeah, ok.” The laser sword was lowered. “I’m Techtor.”

“I’m Scope. Sorry about that.”

The interloper looked to have once been some kind of wildcat - perhaps a cougar. Bigger than its non-irradiated counterparts, this one was about as tall but less bulky than the two lizards. Its coat had become a duller version of what it might once have been, and the creature's extra tail and pair of ears gave it a curious look. “I’m Bedisa, a pleasure to meet you. I’m sure it’s a pleasure to meet me too, yes?” The creature’s eyes, those belonging to a reptile, only added to its quaint appearance.

The brothers nodded.

“Good. Now, what brings you two to the once-great city of Pineland? It’s awfully dangerous here these days.”

“Dangerous? Pah. We can handle some spiders.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll want to avoid this spider. Eats mutants your size for dinner. Lucky for you, I know my way around these parts. I can lend a helping paw. Stick with me and you’ll be safe. You’re safer already.”

“Good,” replied Scope, “but the sooner we’re out of here the better.”

“I take it you two are scavengers, then? Aside from mutants seeking to hide from the humans, scavengers are the only visitors I get. Would you be interested in some of last year’s latest tech? The humans left behind some good stuff.” The feline lead them around the side of a building, down an alleyway and through a hole that had once been a building’s back door.

“You get lots of visitors?”

Bedisa hummed. “I think I’d say more of a moderate amount. Most not nearly as intelligent or good-looking as you two. But I get them all where they need to be. You can have confidence in my abilities.”

“So why do you help? Do you want something in return?”

“I do appreciate it when my beneficiaries are able to make it worth my while.” She paused, thinking. “What do you do? Create guns from thin air, and…?” The creature looked quizzically over its shoulder at Techtor.

“I’m good with technology.”

“Oh, neat! So you built that body?” The cougar turned around, its ears perking up. “You think you’d be able to make something for me?”

“Most of my tools are back home.”

“And you?”

“My guns vanish if I leave them.”

“That is disappointing.” They resumed walking, soon reaching the exit of the building that faced the other side of the metal-web barricade.

“But if there’s enough good stuff here that I’ll need to make multiple trips, I could make something for you in between? What sort of devices would appeal to you?”

“Things to defend myself, things to hide myself. Anything that can help your standard mutant survive.”

“I'll see what-”

Bedisa’s tails brushed against Techtor’s mouth, signalling for him to be silent. One of the wires that stretched from on high made contact with the ground beside the three. The cat leaned in near to the wire, gently placed a paw on it and lowered her head until her twitching ears were right beside it. After a few seconds, she stood up and motioned for the brothers to follow her as she rapidly worked her way down the street, dodging the occasional strand of metallic spider web. Strangely, many of the more modern-looking buildings seemed to be worse-for-wear while older brick-and-mortar buildings were still standing just fine.

“Tech stop clanking so much!” hissed Scope.

“I can’t help that I didn’t bring my boots of running stealthily.”

Bedisa suppressed a snort before leading them back into the shelter of a building.

“So where are you taking us?” Techtor queried.

“The industrial sector of the city. More factories with more machines there. Also fewer webs. You'll be safer while scavenging there. There's even a vault I haven't been able to crack in one of those abandoned technology firms. You think you’ll be able to open it?”

“Dawntech? Yes, their vault and databanks will surely have some valuable technology and research. It was one of the locations I planned to visit.”

“Tech, I don’t like this place.”

“Is there any place you like, Scope?”

“Don’t worry,” Bedisa assured them, “You are safe here.”

The three were now making their way down a street that was surrounded by large industrial buildings. The spider webs, which had mostly seemed to favour high-rising buildings, were far lesser in quantity in this area.

“This is the one,” Bedisa motioned towards a compound which had enough security measures to make its abandonment almost comical. They crossed a broken-down gate, traversed the courtyard under the lifeless eyes of dozens of unpowered security cameras, and pushed their way through what was once a magnetically-locked door granting entrance to the facility.

“I’ll stay and watch be the lookout, as usual,” Scope declared sourly.

“Oh?” Bedisa looked back. “I wouldn’t advise splitting up.”

“He’s right. Now, show me to the generator. Place like this is guaranteed to have a backup.”

“Are you sure he’ll be ok?”

“Yeah.” Techtor grabbed a pair of headphones from one of his bags and tossed it to his brother, who first gave him a quizzical look then - under the solemn stare from his brother - rolled his eyes and nodded.

“Ok, right this way.” She led Techtor through the building until they reached his desired location. After some tinkering, Techtor managed to get it up and running. The two exited the room, the door closing with the click of a magnetic lock behind them.

“Now that’s done, shall we see what’s in the vault?”

“No,” Techtor turned to face the feline, “You’re going to tell me what your game is.”

“Oh, that’s so boring,” she sighed, “Seeing what’s in the vault would be a lot more fun, don’t you agree?”

“Oh yes my brain does, but I’m no longer operating from there. I’m running on my suit’s processing units now.”

A baffled “What?” was the only response he received.

“You see, I’m kinda like you. You can mess with organic circuitry - mess with our heads - but I can do more than just mess with machines. And I’m a lot better at it too. My suit’s processes detected an unusual number of irregularities with my organic brain’s thought patterns, and brought this to my attention.”

“Oooo, now that is interesting. I’ll tell you: My goal, just like any of us, is to survive in this world that seeks to rid itself of us one way or another. Anything else that benefits me is also a goal, but comes secondary. Unfortunately for you, I’ve brokered a deal that means I cannot let you leave here without forfeiting my primary goal. Now, shall we see what’s in the vault before you become dinner?”

“How about you tell us how to get out of here, or you forfeit your life anyway?” Scope called from behind Bedisa, a gun trained on her head.

“Oh,” she glanced at the grey reptile, “I wouldn’t do that.” His hand spasmed, causing him to drop the gun which then disintegrated. However, she quickly found herself facing the end of a plasma sword. A look of frustration flashed on her face before a smug look plastered itself across her features - her previously reptilian eyes now a cloudy grey.

“Fine. Run if you want. You won’t get far.” She turned tails and ran towards Scope, shouting “Duck!” and leaping over him as he did so - vanishing around the corner.

“What do we do, Tech?”

“Hold on, I’ll check the cameras.” He replied before his mechanical body froze for several seconds. “She’s moving too fast and probably knows this place too well for us to catch her. And we’ve got bigger problems. There’s something big and ugly out front.”

“The spider?”

“No, this one is long and has more legs. Lots more. And it seems to be waiting for us.”

“Ugh,” Scope shivered in disgust.

Some thuds sounded on the roof. “We should get out of here, but first...” Techtor quickly reentered the generator room to shut the machine down. “I want to be able to use it when we return. Let’s head out the back.”

“We’re coming back?!”

“I’m leaving that open as a possibility at a future date. Now come on!” The two sprinted in the direction that Bedisa had - eventually finding their way to another door. Techtor shoved it open and burst into the open air, only to be suddenly plucked from the ground.

Scope, who had been close behind, looked up to see a monstrosity. A body as big as a house was suspended by eight pole-like legs that reached from one side of the factory to the other. It held a hideous face whose defining features were its great big mandibles and bulbous eyes. It’s abdomen curved forwards - towards where it spun a squirming bundle in its forelegs.The sight of the creature was enough to produce a terrible sound from Scope’s throat that could barely be called a scream.

Fortunately for Techtor, Scope was so enamoured with his guns that his base instinct to run was almost as strong as his base instinct to shoot anything he didn't like. Unfortunately for Techtor, the barrage of bullets did not harm the beast. But they did cause enough of a distraction for it to hesitate.

This was sufficient opportunity for Techtor to slice through the web and one of the spider’s legs. It too released a bloodcurdling scream, dropping Techtor. The brothers scurried off at a speed that startled even themselves, weaving their way through broken buildings and narrow alleys almost at random.

They eventually found themselves surrounded by dead-ends.

“Dangit Techtor, why’d you leave your wings at base camp?”

“You know why!” He moved to cut the wires blocking their way.

“Have you ever seen what cables under high tensile stress do when cut?” A familiar voice called from an undetermined location, “It ain’t pretty.”

“Leave us alone, you monster!” Techtor waved his blades at the air around them.

“Darling, aren’t we all? I can’t help but say that you have piqued my interest. In the vault, in you, what you could make for me. Next time you come, bring me something interesting and I’ll make sure that those two -” a guttural scream from where they had come punctuated her sentence “ - don’t even know you’re here. Light a small fire on the middle of the three mountain peaks two nights before, and then come in the same route you did today. Don’t try anything else, it’ll end badly for you. Since I oh so want there to be a next time, I’ll give you a way out for free: the manhole in the street will take you into the sewers. Head north. Two lefts and then the third right, then you’ll be home free.”

“Why should we trust you?”

“You can’t, but nor can you remain here. Go now, I’ve already signalled to them that you’re here. They know of my disdain for the sewers, but the centipede won’t hesitate to follow you down there.”