“She’s still dragging her feet on the matter.”

  A sigh echoed off the walls of the room. It could hardly be said that it wasn’t expected by now, but it was a problem. And it was becoming a problem that couldn’t be afforded. Syuen was making excuses and delays. Ones that were very much covered by the Ark’s laws surrounding the development of Nikke’s.

  Specifically, this was related to Elen. Because of course it was. Syuen was dragging her feet over development and design. And while anyone involved could tell that the only reason the woman was doing so was out of spite. The Ark’s laws gave her plenty of cover in which to do so. Elen’s status as a mass-produced Nikke with an ability made her special. Something that any sane company would try to replicate.

  One that both Tetra and Elysion were attempting to. But there were complications when it came to the process. Neither were close to cracking whatever allowed Missilis to create something such as Elen. Of course, Missiles was nowhere near as close to having something as effective as Elen was, either, but the public didn’t have access to that information.

  What was the issue was that Elen, as a result of her unique abilities was considered a classified secret by Missilis. What made her abilities and weapons useful to her was something that could be handed over to another company.

  All while production for Elen’s personal body continued to meet delay after delay. For a company like Missilis, this is something that would be considered embarrassing. But it wasn’t Syuen’s goal to provide a body. Her goal was to deny what she could. Something that was legally her right, protecting the secrets of Missilis from its competition.

  Under normal circumstances, this would be more than fine. Not just from a legal standpoint. Each of Tetra Line, Elysion, and Missilis benefited from this arrangement. Each kept their secrets and ignored the regular espionage. Now, the problem was, it was being used to deny a proper body. Not that the law would care about such things. And while Commander Anderson’s reach was considerable?

  To challenge one of the Ceo’s was far from ideal, even for one such as him.

  “And even if she wasn’t, we can’t trust that she doesn’t leave any degree of surprises inside the new body,” Ingrid frowned, rubbing her chin. In truth, if she had the data, she could have Elysion build Elen a new body. One free of Syuen’s petty time constraints and other spiteful measures. It was obvious what was being done, but the Ark being the way it was, Syuen did have the ball in her court. And she could do with it whatever she may.

  It wasn’t entirely possible to hire someone or even burn assets to acquire the data. But that would take time. And while Elen had that, getting her into a body that could handle her abilities would be nothing but a boon to her. And there was no doubt that Syuen kept whatever information about the stress Elen’s abilities put on her body under a very firm lock and key. If again, likely out of spite. The odds that Syuen knew that Commander Anderson had taken Commander Johnson under his wing, or at least processed what that meant, even after the trail were low.

  And she certainly never considered that the man corresponded with the two remaining CEO’s.

  Still, something needed to be done. Even with a slightly upgraded model, Elen put a considerable amount of strain on it. This necessitated more frequent repair work, which always came at a cost. Enikk wasn’t going to care much about this either. Even with Syuen under investigation, what she was doing to Elen was sadly legal.

  “Of course it wouldn’t. But Syuen isn’t going to listen. Elen put her position under threat, and I know for a fact that Elen isn’t losing any sleep over that.”

  That, was something that was never in doubt. If anything, the amount of trouble Elen had caused Syuen would make Elen sleep sounder at night. And while one could argue that trying to punish a witness, or as some legal people considered Elen, evidence, was technically illegal?

  Nobody was going to step in against a CEO directly. Much less for a simple Nikke.

  “It’ll take time, but I’ll burn some favors.”

  It was far from her first choice in the matter, but between losing the assets or risking having to rely on Syuen? It was going to be clear what the worst of the two options was. And that was relying on Syuen.

  “Be careful. Syuen’s taken enough losses lately that her position is looking unstable as is. Either she starts lashing out in an attempt to recover from this, or the board takes the worst option it can.”

  Yes, that was something that needed to be considered, as much as it was painful to do so. As bad as Syuen was, there were far less ethical people who could lead Missilis.

  “I will.”

  With a move, she hung up the phone.

  “Miss Ingrid?” A voice came from the other end of the door. “There is a man who wants to meet with you. He said something about having Missilis secrets he was willing to sell, but he wanted, compensation for them.”

  Ingrid paused for a moment.

  “Let him in,” she said, keeping her tone firm. She knew better than to believe that this would be the solution to the problems she was facing.

  Not without a price.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  “Mother!”

  BOOM!

  Snow explodes over me as a shell decided that my position didn’t have a right to exist. I was practically drowned in it, but as it touched my skin, it swiftly started to melt. Not exactly a great sign, but neither was the armored monster advancing toward us, looking considerably worse for wear. And when I mean worse for wear?

  I meant that thing looked as if it had the consistency of some fancy cheese with lots of holes in it. Hopefully the inside of the lab was made of much sterner stuff than this, because if it wasn’t? Then we’d probably put several bullet holes through whatever computer the data was on. Either that or the damage was more superficial than I hoped it was.

  Then, with a groan that echoed over the still not insignificant distance between us, the metal monster collapsed into a heap. Still, the imposing shell remained, even if parts of it were falling off the sides. The light in its mechanical eyes flickered before finally fading.

  “Did we get it?” Anis asked, looking out over the carnage. I was a bit surprised we didn’t end up causing yet another avalanche during the shootout, though that massive metal monstrosity with all its guns would have been a much more likely culprit. The base turned weapon platform remained still, looking like a massive metal corpse.

  “Well, there’s one way to be sure,” I said, aiming down the scope, lining up a shot with its eye. A quick squeeze of the trigger sent a short burst into the structure, my helmet letting me see the shattering of the lens in the distance.

  “You shouldn’t be wasting ammunition like that,” Rapi chastised me as I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I got where she was coming from, but at the same time?

  “I’m just checking to make sure it isn’t playing dead,” I offered. Avoiding the words of checking for a pulse because that would raise several issues that I didn’t want to deal with. Mostly because I doubt Pacific Rim survived. Even if that was part of the reason I was so willing to double tap. “I’d rather not have the thing be faking and baiting us in.”

  It may not have been smart enough to do that, but taking that chance? It also didn’t help that the bugger reminded me of a snapping turtle. Nasty creatures. Could more than easily take off fingers and toes without issue. And it wasn’t like Raptures were stupid. Chatterbox was by far the smartest, but the existence of one couldn’t discount the existence of others.

  “It’s defeated. The rest of the base should be safe from any damage,” Ludmilla explained as I nodded. Hopefully she wasn’t wrong. She knew the base better than we did, and she didn’t seem like a lair. Well, maybe. I don’t know much I really considered playing along with Alice’s imaginings to be a lie. It was, on absolute objective grounds. But it was one of those lies that was never going to hurt anyone.

  Speaking of Alice, she seemed strangely quiet after our victory. After blasting it to bits, I figured she would be celebrating with Neon. Instead, it seemed as if her eyes were locked into the back of my head. It wasn’t hostile, or even a glare. But it still felt as if it were boring into my head like a drill.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  Once again, I would pay no small sum of money to find a way to learn what was going on inside Mustang's head. Why dancing, of all things? Why not just give us a regular card to get inside, instead of this mess? I just couldn't understand the man. What was even gained here?

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  At least Alice and Ludmilla were having fun dancing along with him.

  No, I wasn't jealous, shut up internal thoughts.

  Still, we made our way inside as the door opened. At first, the place looked exactly like I feared. Shot to pieces and covered end to end in destroyed equipment. But the deeper we went, the more it started to look untouched by the fighting. Or, at any rate, our fight.

  There was still damage, and I averted my gaze more than once. But after we passed through another layer of doors, everything seemed more intact. Dust hung in the air, making it clear that this place had not been disturbed in some time.

  “The Data Center is intact,” Ludmilla had a small grin grow across her face. She led us to one of the computers. “I'll give you the necessary information to reach the data when you are ready.”

  “Wait, why can't you do it yourself?” Anis asked, looking at Ludmilla with her arms crossed. I don't know why Anis was suddenly suspicious. If Ludmilla wanted to hurt us somehow, she already had time to do so.

  What came out of Ludmilla's mouth was an uncharacteristic sigh. “It would be best if I showed you.”

  Ludmilla's hand came up, touching one of the nearby devices with her hand. The machine shuttered, before shutting off completely, the screen almost filled with static.

  “That is part of why I'm called the Snow Queen. As you can see, any machine I touch breaks down,” Ludmilla said, her voice coming across as solemn. Destroying any machine you touched? That sounded rough. I'd go mad if I had to deal with anything like that as a power.

  Well, madder, at any rate.

  “I'm sorry for your loss,” I stepped forward, giving Ludmilla a brief hug, before backing off. Everyone gave me a bit of a weird look after that. What? She couldn't do anything involving electronics without Alice or someone else helping her! What a poor fate!

  All joking aside, in a work of technology, not being able to use it was a pretty big downside. I wonder how it worked? Did it just disrupt things? Was she siphoning its power?

  A few shared passwords later, and we were in.

  “We haven't met any of the Pilgrims in person, but we do see one in the distance from time to time.”

  On the screen was a map, with dots marked with dates and times on it. The times could vary wildly, but there was a rough pattern to it. It wasn't great, and geometry was not one of my math skills.

  “It's a patrol route, isn't it?” Rapi got the words out before I did.

  “I believe so as well,” Ludmilla nodded. “If the pattern holds, she should be not too far away in the near future. It would give you the best chance to meet her.”

  Ludmilla's tone was already back to the calm yet firm way it usually was.

  I took a look at the name given to said Pilgrim. Snow White.

  Well, based on the passwords, Alice was likely the one in charge of putting in names to the computer. Snow White fits the fairy tale obsession of the young woman perfectly. It also made sense that a Pilgrim in the area would prefer to wear whites for camouflage.

  And part of that made me wonder. Both times, the Pilgrim that saved me from Chatterbox had been wearing white. Was this the same person? It'd be one hell of a coincidence if that was the case.

  Oh, it was probably someone different. That person that saved us seemed to be after Chatterbox’s ass. If they were chasing Chatterbox, they wouldn't have time to be patrolling up North, too.

  And all I got from the Chatterbox radar said that he was tickling the outer edge of my range, if he was there at all.

  “For now, we've all had a long day. It would be best if we rested up for the time being,” Ludmilla said firmly, nodding her head. “It would be best if we went elsewhere. With the ceiling out, it wouldn't be comfortable here.”

  With her words, I looked up. Hah, what do you know? The ceiling was out.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  “Here we are!” Alice seemed to be in good cheer once again, smiling wide as she threw out her arms. I could scarcely call it a large space, but compared to what we had back at the Outpost? It was kinda an upgrade. We were not in glorified bunks anymore. The temperature still wasn't great. Back home, I'd be under a quilt at the moment, bundled up nicely under a mound of cloth for warmth.

  “Thank you Alice,” I smiled slightly. The bed didn't have what I'd prefer to see after spending so much time in the cold, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

  I would love to have a quilt to throw on it. And a blanket to throw on top of that. And a proper comforter to go under the quilt. What? I got cold easily! It was nice to get under a load of blankets and just burrow.

  “You're welcome Cinderella!” Alice beamed back at me, as Anis muttered something about her not having a nickname. It seemed whatever was bothering her had passed. “I'll be sure to bring you a cold blanket so you can sleep tonight!”

  “Really? Thank you, Alice, you are too kinda,” if Alice wasnt beaming before, she certainly was now, almost skipping down the hallway.

  I looked back at the trio, who were all staring back at me. “What, she offered me a heated blanket, right?”

  Anis face palmed.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  Sleep was still what the doctor ordered. I wasnt going to turn Alice down. Even if they did have a heated blanket, Commander Johnson needed it far more than I did.

  He looked well rested, but that didn't mean we were issue free.

  “We still cannot reach the Ark,” Rapi's face was a frown. As for why? It didn't make any sense. Alva Particle levels had plummeted. That should be the only issue preventing us from reaching out to Shifty. And yet, we couldn't. I did not like that one bit. As used to not having the Ark know where we were as I was, to the point that Ark based mission control remained a novel concept. It still was not a good sign.

  “It’s happened to be pretty frequently,” Ludmilla admitted, looking very regale with breakfast. “Something is probably interfering with the signal. I’ve heard tales that there a monsters buried underneath the ice that could be the cause.”

  Monsters? Powerful old Raptures? Maybe, that would make more sense than just fantasy monsters. Or may just old jamming towers that never lost their power source, the ice muting their effects but not destroying them entirely. I may not have been an expert, and jamming was far from something I focused a whole lot on, but didn’t jamming require just filling as many possible wavelengths with as much noise as you could?

  It wasn’t static or just white noise we were getting. It was nothing. Maybe the technology reached a point that jamming couldn’t be picked up? Again, not my wheelhouse. It could just be the terrain, that whatever battles that were fought out here before everything froze over let a lot of dangerous ordnance and equipment that we and the Raptures had thrown at one another.

  “How long as this been happening?” I rub my chin. Getting a timeframe probably wouldn’t help too much, but still, it might be useful somehow.

  “It can be difficult to track at times, but it’s been happening for years,” Ludmilla’s answer was about as hopeful as I’d feared.

  “My Queen, we need to check on the sleeping princesses,” Alice suddenly exclaimed, taking everyone by surprise. She was normally hard to read when she wasn’t excited. But right now? Alice looked nervous. It was not an emotion I’d come to associate with her, even after this short time.

  “They aren’t going anywhere, Alice. We can check on them later,” Ludmilla’s mouth was thin. Okay, clearly something was up about that. Sleeping Princesses was clearly an Alice thing, and it was something that seemed to make Ludmilla uncomfortable. For a woman that normally seemed so crisp and in control?

  “My Queen, we haven’t been here to check on them in some time. Some of them could have even woken up! We should check on them as soon as we can!” Alice exclaimed, putting more pushback into Ludmilla’s orders than I had ever seen from her. Whatever it was, Alice thought it was serious. And Ludmilla had to think so, too, even if she was trying to put things off. Likely tell we had left.

  “Sleeping Princesses? What are those?” Anis looked between the two, confused. I was curious as well. If Ludmilla wanted this under wraps, then it was either something that Alice was trying to cope with, and it was bad, or it was something incriminating somehow.

  “Very well. I suppose checking in on them to make everything is okay won’t hurt,” Ludmilla’s voice had lost a bit of its regal presence.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  “This is Princess Blue Hair!”

  I was biting the inside of my mouth so hard that if this was my old body, I’d be bleeding. Looking up into the vat, the sight was almost terrifying. Someone was floating there, suspended and connected with numerous medical cable in the bath. It was largely intact, with one major problem.

  The upper half of her skull was just, gone. Not all of it. One could still make out a pair of closed eyes, but behind that? Nothing. Just an empty case. The void descended around the sides of her for a short distance. It looked as if. As if.

  Something had torn out her brain case, leaving the body behind entirely. Like they’d been attacked by some Rapture equivalent of an Ilithid It looked wrong, oh so wrong. The human body was not meant to look like that at all.

  “And this is Princess Yellow Eye!”

  Alice moved on to another woman in a vat, this one matching the other princess, missing brain case and all. Expect this one looked as if she had been ripped in half, everything from the waist down being gone.

  This wasn’t what I was expecting. This wasn’t what I was expecting at all! There were far more reasonable explanations to this than murder basement. Logically, I knew that, I knew that very well. But damn was it not hard to start booking it in the other direction. Because this sadly had murder basement vibes written all over it.

  “They can’t do a lot, but I make sure to share milk and cookies with them,” Alice continued, seemingly immune to just how, macabre the scene was.

  “Milk and cookies are something they might appreciate after our long absence. Could you please fetch some, Alice?” Ludmilla asked. Alice quickly ran off, smiling as she went.

  “These are, Nikke you’ve rescued, aren’t they?” Rapi asked, looking up at the vat. Okay, that was a lot more reasonable than murder dungeon. That still didn’t explain why all their brains were, gone. It did nothing to explain what was going on there.

  “Yes,” Ludmilla nodded her head. “These are many of those we have rescued. At least, in part. They may look dead but.”

  If the brain persists, so does the Nikke. That is what I’ve learned.

  “Many Nikke’s when they get into a hopeless situation will remove their brains and hide them, hoping for a miracle,” Ludmilla spoke, and everything suddenly made a lot more sense. They were removing their brains. If the brain was destroyed, a Nikke would die. So instead, they gambled. That where they hid their brain, it wouldn’t be found, except for the people trying to find it. “That is Unlimited’s job. To keep the brains of sleeping Nikke’s safe and sound until they can be given new bodies.”

  That was, impressive. Unlimited was a search and rescue team! And a badass one at that!

  “That sounds like a lot,” Neon said, looking up at Ludmilla, eyes full of wonder. I don’t think the expression on Neon’s face quite registered.

  “It is,” Ludmilla admitted with a nod. “Yet, I cannot regret a single second of it. I must apologize. I had no intention of showing you any of this grim display.”

  “It isn’t anything worth apologizing over. This is important work.”

  “Yeah! More Nikke’s should be doing a job like this!”

  I grin at their praise. It wasn’t unearned. They certainly didn’t get nearly as much thanks as they should for the work they do.

  “It’s also good to have idea’s on what to do in an emergency,” I smiled. As grim as it could be, some plan was better than no plan at all. “Though I don’t know how helpful it would be to me though.”

  I muttered, but everyone looking at me told otherwise.

  “What do you mean?” Commander Johnson asked, concern on his face.

  Great, now I had to explain that.

  “The last time I had my head off, I was conscious for the whole ordeal. I’m not exactly in a hurry to see what happens if I take my brain out,” I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly. The silence that filled the air was almost as deafening as the wall of noise that replaced it.

  “What!”

  “How?”

  “Who messed that up?”

  “Who do I need to shoot?”

  “Syuen,” I answered the last question, with the look on Counter’s face being very unsurprised. While Ludmilla looked very concerned. “I don’t know the details, but as far as I’m concerned, Missilis just built me wrong.”

  Next thing I know, there is a face impacting the back of my spine.

  “You were not built wrong!” Alice, it couldn’t be anyone else but Alice, wrapped her arms around my waist. “You are fine just the way you are!”

  Objectively speaking, I every much was. Even with the upgrades, I still could barely handle my abilities for a handful of seconds. The strain and stress was still considerable. It was never meant to handle activity of this sort.

  Was that something I was going to say to Alice’s face?

  Hell no! I wouldn’t have said it if I knew she was close enough to hear it! She didn’t need stuff like that on her plate!

  “You’re right Alice. I’m fine as I am,” lying wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, but I could tell a little white lie if it meant sparing her feelings. I ruffled her hair to the best of my abilities, before realizing something. “Alice, weren’t you supposed to be getting cookies and milk?”

  Looking up as I felt Alice nod against my back, I found the plate flying through the air.

  x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

  I kinda planned on getting to a different stopping point. If you’re familiar with Nikke’s story, you probably know the one. But I felt this was a better stopping point.