Alimony Frill knocked on the door to one of the medical suites, not waiting for a response before pushing the door open. He peeked in, before quickly ducking his head out and closing the door. “Sorry! Didn’t know you had… maintenance today.”
A muffled voice called back through the door, “Typically I wouldn’t, General. Exigent circumstances though, as you’re aware. You know, most people wait for a response after knocking,” Doctor Regent replied.
Alimony was now blushing very lightly, having seen his friend of many years in such a… compromising position. Again. He had asked the Doctor for a schedule of when he would be performing “maintenance” over a year ago now, ever since the last time he had burst into the room like that.
“Yes, of course. Most people also lock the door when they know they’re going to be half naked, you know.” Frill leaned against the door, making sure that nobody else would make the same mistake as himself.
Regent’s laugh could be heard clearly through the solid door. “Well, I’m not most people, General. I’m certain that you could see that from your little peek,” he shot back.
Frill heard a clatter of metal and glass smashing shortly after Regent’s reply, quickly slamming the door back open in response.
He was greeted by the scene of Regent grinning at him, his eyes glowing a faint blue. A set of phials lay shattered at his feet, although Regent didn’t look panicked at all. He had nothing on besides a pair of socks, with his legs spread. Frill noted that Regent’s vulva was visible in its entirety from where he was standing, and quickly furrowed his eyebrows in faux anger.
“You did that on purpose,” Frill was doing his best to avert his gaze from Regent’s body, but couldn’t help himself from shooting a glance or two.
It really was a beautifully crafted body, he had said as much when the Doctor had first asked him for opinions on it. Some part of Frill’s mind still considered Regent’s work a form of dark magic, being able to make fully functional human bodies from what should very well be scrap metal.
Frill had met the doctor due to his work, having needed a new leg after his last prosthetic broke. He had introduced himself as Victor, a scientist that had been running from something he had made for the Imperials. Being one of the few licensed biotechs on the planet, Rebel Base Warren had accepted him into their ranks quickly.
Returning his attention back to the current situation, Frill continued to glare at the doctor expectantly, still not having received an answer.
Regent didn’t voice a response to Frill’s accusation, only widening his little grin. He eventually relented, letting out a sigh while bending over to pick up the glass shards now littered across the floor.
Frill shut the door behind him, before slowly walking over to the crouched over doctor. Frill watched as Regent slowly and deliberately picked up the pieces, ignoring the General standing over him.
A thought ran through Frill’s mind as he watched the doctor reach out for each piece, still refusing to acknowledge that the general had even walked into the room. He held back for a moment, giving Regent the chance to correct his mistake.
Of course, Regent continued to ignore the general, purposefully moving away from him as he continued to clean.
Frill sighed, and decided against his better judgement to indulge himself a bit. The general slammed his boot into the doctor’s legs, knocking them out from under him. He failed to keep in a chuckle as the doctor collapsed to the ground, cutting his synthetic flesh against the sharp glass.
“You’re just begging for attention, aren’t you?” Frill accused. His anger had largely subsided, watching the doctor now bleeding blue fluids across the floor itching his sadistic desire.
Regent choked down a whimper as he crawled away from the General, streaking his azure blood across the ground as he tried to put distance between his aggressor and himself. “I- Well, I wasn’t the one who just kicked somebody because he was being igno-”
“Get up, you’re making a mess like that,” Frill interrupted. Regent froze in place, staring at the General before putting his hands beneath himself. Frill waited for Regent to begin pushing himself up with his hands before he kicked him in the stomach.
A twinge of pleasure shot through Frill’s body as he watched the doctor fall back to the ground, groaning in pain. “That was for sassing me,” he justified out loud.
Regent rolled over, finally returning eye contact with Frill. “I don’t think we have time for this, General.”
Of course, he was right. The evacuation to Rebel Base Warren was due to leave in an hour or two. Frill was leading the effort, and had planned to be there early to coordinate with the group before they departed.
Frill knew that Regent wasn’t saying that out of some concern for the General, or schedule though. He was trying to weasel his way out of a well-deserved punishment, as usual.
He paused for a moment, considering letting the doctor get away with it, given the urgency of the situation. Of course, the evacuation effort didn’t need him there, but it would likely cause a sizable delay if he wasn’t present.
Although, It had been some time since Frill had taken some time off for himself. Things had been so hectic ever since Elara’s… defeat, and he had been picking up the work that Pyralis wasn’t in a condition to do for a few months following. A small break couldn’t hurt, at least, hurt himself.
Frill stepped forward wordlessly, and slammed his foot down onto the doctor’s stomach. Frill felt metal crack and bend under his boot, and smiled knowing that it would likely be more work for Regent to fix later. “And who are you to tell me what we have the time for, hm?”
Regent’s eyes darted around, before stammering out, “I’m- Well, I’m your doctor?” He averted the General’s gaze, grabbing Frill’s leg and trying to pull it off of his stomach.
Frill pressed down harder in response, grinning as he stared at Regent’s eyeballs rolling around in their sockets. “Look at me when you speak, doctor. It’s only polite.”
“It’s not-” Regent let out a wet cough as Frill shifted more weight onto his stomach. “It’s not polite to step on somebody either, you know.” He finally looked back at Frill, gave a weak smile while pushing off Frill’s leg.
It took all of Frill’s might to stop himself from bursting out into laughter, instead lifting his foot up and letting Regent get off the ground. “Usually you’d be all for this, doctor. Something on your mind?”
Despite the two of them not having had a ‘play’ session in over half a year by now, it wasn’t as if it was unusual for them to take a break for a while. Frill was a little bit worried, bending over to grab Regent by the arm and pull him up.
“Sorry, Allie. I’m just…” he trailed off, staring somewhere past Frill. Regent took a moment to snap out of his haze, shuddering as he came back to. “It’s not easy to go back there. I agree with the decision of course and wouldn’t want to leave you all alone at another base without me there but it’s just you know I don’t have very good-” Regent kept on talking, his pace speeding up as he began to spiral.
Frill slapped the doctor, and pressed his forehead to his friend’s. “It’s okay. I get it. It’s going to be fine, R. We’ll make it through this. We always have.”
Regent nodded in response, wrapping his arms around Frill and pulling him close. “Yeah. Okay- I mean, if you want, we can still-” He was shushed quickly by Frill’s finger pressing against his lips.
“Oh believe me R. After your little performance, I was getting what I want after this no matter what,” Frill growled into his ear. Frill moved his hand up to grip Regent’s neck, pulling his head back.
A clang reverberated through the room as Frill bodied Regent to the ground, shattering any remaining intact phials that he had spilled earlier. The glass shards dug into Regent’s back, and he winced in pain. Frill slammed his knee up into the doctor’s crotch, grinding his pant leg against his still exposed vagina.
Regent gasped, quaking as his body was wracked with intense pain, followed by a hint of pleasure as his lips were parted by the rough fabric now between his legs.
Frill began to choke Regent, a twisted smile growing across his face as he watched Regent desperately claw at his arm. Regent’s eyes were filled with panic, beginning to buck his body in an attempt to break free from Frill’s grasp.
The flailing didn’t help the situation, with Regent functionally grinding on the coarse surface still between his legs while he was suffocating. He felt some of his internal systems begin to shut down, his arms going limp. They collapsed to the ground beside him, alongside any hope of breaking free from the hold he was in.
Not showing even a hint of worry, Frill continued to squeeze down on the doctor’s neck with one hand, moving his other down towards his crotch. Without any care for his comfort, Frill jammed his fingers up into Regent’s pussy.
Regent’s tongue lolled out of his mouth as he was once again assaulted with pleasure, Frill now fingering his insides. More systems continued to shut down, his continual bucking and kicking slowing to a stop as Frill continued to play with his body as if he were a doll.
Frill watched with a grin as Regent’s optical modules shut down, the eyeballs rolling to the side, and the blue lights in his eyes dimmed.
He pressed his face to the now still body, kissing Regent as he relaxed the pressure on his neck. Regent’s sensors were still active, and he could feel the soft kiss, in stark contrast to the grip around his neck.
God, he needed this.
Regent was desperate now, sucking in as much air from Frill’s lungs as possible while his body recovered. Frill refused to move his head away, forcing the doctor to breathe in from his nose to replenish his stores of oxygen.
He closed his eyes, once again settling into a rhythm of humping against Frill’s leg. His body jerked around as systems ran their startup checks, but was firmly held in place under Frill.
Breaking the kiss, Frill pulled back while continuing to pump his fingers in between Regent’s legs. He took a deep breath, before diving back down and continuing to kiss the bloody and spasming Regent.
“Been a while since you’ve been in her, hasn’t it?” Krill asked.
Frill nodded, still focused on the mech in front of him. It was a reconstruction of his old machine, The Spider’s Nest.
The frame was thinner than he remembered it being, its body almost wiry in comparison to the one Frill remembered. “Did you make any changes? It’s- It doesn’t look like her.”
Krill nodded, “Ah, yeah. We had to cut some of the child-units, we don’t have the materials on hand these days. Most of the old material from your mech was repurposed for other machines, and we haven’t been getting much scrap in since the attack.”
Frill pouted a bit, not pleased at the idea of having to pilot a torn-down version of his machine. “I- Which ones did you cut? I see the armored slings’ are already missing.”
“Yes, we had to cut a lot of the heavy armor drones, too much metal needed to really keep them there. You have one or two, which should be enough to keep the vitals protected. We also couldn’t keep some of the scouters, too much material needed to make them fast enough to be effective,” Krill explained. He didn’t seem any happier than Frill did about the changes.
General Frill got more and more upset as Krill talked about how much was removed off of his machine. He had known that resources were getting low, but to see it affect his pride and joy like this was something else entirely.
He wasn’t one to take out his anger on the engineers though, given how much work Krill likely had to put in to get it even to this point. “Thank you, soldier. That’s enough, I’ll get ready from here.”
“Of course, sir. Good luck on the journey. I hope we’ll meet again,” Krill added. He quickly turned and left the General to his own devices, noticing how upset he had been getting as he learned about the state of his mech. Krill himself had been ashamed of his work on the machine, having been forced to make cuts due to lack of time and resources.
Frill sighed again as he took in the sight of what could only be described as a ghost of his machine’s former self. It would have to make do, given that they were already an hour behind schedule.
Speaking of being late, he looked around for Regent. He had left while he spoke to the engineer, and had begun to wander around the lab.
He spotted the doctor talking to another engineer, and began to sneak behind him. Frill grabbed him by the shoulder, and whispered in his ear. “It’s time to go, Victor.”
Regent blushed a bit, and pushed Frill off of him. “Apologies, miss. I’m being called for by our dear General Alimony here. I’d love to discuss my wo-” he was quickly shut up by Frill’s hand being placed over his mouth, as he was dragged away towards the Spider’s nest.
He licked the hand over his mouth, which Frill quickly pulled away. The General wiped his hand on Regent’s shoulder, and frowned.
“You deserved that one. I was in the middle of a lovely conversation and you- you!” Regent exclaimed. He gently slapped Frill on the head, and looked at him expectantly.
Frill chuckled, and gave Regent a peck on the cheek. “I thought you liked that name, hm?”
Victor had been the name that Regent went by when he had first come onto the base. It had been given to him more as a nickname by an old coworker, some joke about a mad scientist that had been lost on the doctor.
Regent was rather embarrassed about his initial days on the base, having tried to keep to himself. Frill had essentially chased him around, refusing to leave the doctor alone. Regent had interpreted it as suspicion from the Commander at the time, although Frill had explained it more as general interest.
Of course, Regent had every right to be suspicious of the Commander. When he had first joined up with Rebel Base Warren, Frill had many doubts about him. The doctor had claimed that he had been forced to work for the Imperials, and had escaped as a result of a recent rebel attack.
Frill had assumed that Regent was an Imperial spy sent to the base, but couldn’t turn him away. The tales about Regent’s prosthetics had preceded him, the doctor who could craft flesh and bone from metal. His implants were said to merge seamlessly with human biology, almost indistinguishable by the user.
Despite his reputation for expertise over the human body, one of the only terms that “Victor” had for joining the base was that he would not be asked to work on brain implants. He stated that the subject was beyond him, and that the topic was of great annoyance to him.
It was a minor detail in the end, and the rebels couldn’t afford to lose out on a biotechnician joining their ranks. The doctor would only end up working on implants grafting into the peripheral nervous system, despite salvaging many brain implants for his work.
His work on Preon’s body was only completed with assistance from the doctor herself, although she had stated that he had essentially guided her through the entire process.
Frill had attempted to dig into his history a bit more, but everything came up blank. Physical records of his work in Imperial custody were completely absent, and servers were wiped clean. Regent himself refused to divulge any further detail, stating that his past was a burden that only he should carry.
Regent had long proved himself in Frill’s eyes though, having shown no signs of Imperial bio-essentialist ideals. He had worked on implants with a smile on his face, while teaching some of the doctors at the base his trade. Preon had studied under him as a trainee, with nothing poor to say about him, even when pressed.
Finally stopping his reminiscing to reply, Regent giggled. “Yes, Alimony, I do like that name.”
The two continued walking down the hangar towards Spider’s Nest, and climbed into the hatch together.
The Spider’s Nest neared the location of the abandoned rebel base, leading the caravan of vehicles behind it. The journey had been rather smooth, only having to take a small detour to avoid a small Imperial scouting party.
Only one other pilot had chosen to head off to the new base with them, Aleria. The Para-Angel was at the rear of the line of vehicles, keeping watch for any Imperial machines that could be tailing the group.
Regent had fallen asleep in the rear of the mech, only occasionally waking up from the cockpit shaking around on the journey. Frill had been letting them take a rest, appreciating the company on the ride.
Frill had taken a bit to get used to piloting the Spider’s Nest again, its child units not moving exactly as he remembered. The lack of scouting units also bothered him a bit, feeling as if he was piloting blind.
Just a little longer.
“General!”
Aleria’s voice cut through the silence, stirring Regent from his slumber in the back.
It’s the-
The transmission was cut off by a loud bang ripping through the air, the cockpit of the Spider’s Nest shaking from the aftershock of an explosion behind it.
Frill quickly turned the machine, running towards the rear of the caravan. He saw the Para-Angel charging forward towards another machine, too far away to make out. He quickly buzzed over the communicators, “All units, scatter and head to the base. We’ll catch up.”
The Spider’s Nest continued scuttling its way to the rear, watching the Para-Angel deflect some balls of plasma arcing towards its body. It fired off an array of rockets at its enemy, a plume of fire erupting in the distance.
Finally, Frill was able to make out their enemy. The Moonrise, adorned in Imperial black. It seemed as if more of its body was covered by the reflective pitch-dark paint than it had been in the recording recovered from Citrus.
Some sick Imperial joke, then. He turned on his long-range communicators, broadcasting on every channel he had access to. “Pilot of the Moonrise, stand down. We know it’s you in there, Elara. We aren’t your enemy.”
No response.
He watched as it lifted off the ground, charging forward with speeds he had never seen it reach in battle. Elara was being reckless, she couldn’t handle that speed without giving up much-needed attention from her surroundings.
Frill activated his SLING units, the little units scuttling ahead of the Spider’s Nest, firing off bullets from their mounted turrets. The cacophony of gunfire filled the air, and Frill watched as the Moonrise raised its shield.
It was a proper shield, not the scrapper that Elara typically used. A demonstration of Imperial resources. The hail of bullets was parted by the metal aegis, barely slowing the Moonrise.
The Para-Angel raised its halberd, pointing it ahead to intercept the fast-approaching machine.
The Moonrise drew its blade as it neared the Para-Angel, dropping its shield and impaling its shoulder on the halberd, slamming its sword into the back of its enemy.
This wasn’t how Elara fought. She would never go for such a self-damaging attack like that. There wasn’t any of her elegance in that charge, just raw savagery.
Frill was made to watch as the blade lodged in the Para-Angel detonated, and the titan collapsed to the ground. There wasn’t even the slightest possibility that Aleria could have survived.
Five kills left.
Regent screamed as he saw the machine fall, squeezing his eyes shut so as to not have to witness the scene any longer. He grabbed Frill’s shoulder, gripping it tightly as he shivered. “Please. Frill. Run.”
The Moonrise didn’t pause for any longer than a moment, drawing its railgun and pointing it at the Spider’s Nest. Death stared Frill in the eyes, and he barely had time to raise one of the machine’s arms to take the brunt of the blow.
The limb crumpled as a metal spike slammed into it, ripping free from its socket and landing behind the Spider’s Nest.
Some of the SLING units finally reached the Moonrise, jumping at its legs. One latched on, and began to climb onto the backside of the machine. Frill focused its attacks on the thrusters, trying to keep his distance from the machine.
The Moonrise flew higher, avoiding the SLING units below it. It reached for its back, grabbing the unit latched onto it and throwing it to the ground. A spray of plasma blew it to bits, and Frill scattered the rest.
It seemed to hesitate now, hovering in the air facing the Spider’s Nest. It stayed still, not raising its weapon again.
Frill wasn’t about to let go of an opportunity to attack, and the SLING units on the ground fired up at the frozen Moonrise, landing some strikes on its thruster units. It began to careen, slamming to the ground.
Regent? Is that you?
Elara’s voice came in over the communicator, sounding as if she was in disbelief.
Regent looked wide-eyed, staring at the dashboard. “It’s- yes. It’s me, Elara. I’m here with Frill.”
The Moonrise stood, and destroyed some of the SLING units around it, still keeping its head transfixed on the Spider’s Nest.
You can hear me?
She sounded as if she was crying now, sniffling into the communicator.
“Yes, Elara. We can hear you. Put the weapon down. We can talk. It’s okay,” Regent replied. He loosened his grip on Frill’s shoulder.
Frill stopped the attack from the SLING units, and the Moonrise paused in response as well.
I’m so-
She choked.
I’m so sorry.
“It’s okay, Elara. It’s all okay. Just- put the weapon down, and we can get you home. Pyralis is waiting for you, Elara. It’s going to be okay.” Regent’s voice was shaking, and he put his other arm around Frill, hugging him from behind.
A new voice cut through the communicator, and the two could no longer hear Elara’s sniffling.
Hello, Victor. Pleasure to meet you too, General.
The voice spoke happily, as if greeting some old friends. Neither Regent nor Frill recognized them, however.
“Who is this?” Frill asked. He grabbed Regent’s hand, squeezing down, making sure not to take his focus off of the Moonrise. It was still standing still, returning his gaze.
Call me Theta, if you would. Victor however, might know me by another name. Cameron.
Frill turned to look at Regent for just a moment, before turning back to the monitor. Regent’s face didn’t have the capability of losing its color, but he looked as if he had seen a ghost. “Okay, Theta. What do you want?”
Just returning the favor to an old friend. If Victor here exits your cockpit in the next ten minutes, he can live.
Regent coughed, his arms going limp as he stepped away from the console. “What about Alimony?”
Frill shook his head, turning to look at Regent. “You’re not entertaining this.”
He stays. If he leaves the cockpit, I’ll be having my dog finish both of you off. This is a favor for you, not him. I’ll give you two some time alone to decide. Try to attack the Moonrise and I’ll take that as an answer.
“Wait- no!” Regent called out.
No response came.
Frill stood from his seat, turning to look at Regent, with an arm outstretched at the communicator. “What the hell is she talking about, Regent.”
Regent tried to pull his arm back, but Frill grabbed it before he could. “Answer the question, Victor.”
He wanted to throw up. Regent shook his head and looked at Frill, pleading with his eyes. “Please. I can’t- it’s. I won’t go. I’m staying here with you.”
“That isn’t what I asked. What did she mean by ‘old friend’, Victor.” Frill grit his teeth, and dug his fingernails into Regent’s wrist.
“Alimony- You’re hurting me, please. I- It was nothing. Please. We need to run. We can talk about this later.” Regent tried to pull his wrist away again, feeling Frill dig his nails in harder.
This wasn’t the time to be fighting, Frill knew that. The question gnawed at him though, and if he was going to die in a few minutes, he wasn’t about to do it with this on his mind. “Answer now, or I’m pushing you out of my cockpit alone.”
Regent closed his eyes, shaking his head again. “Fuck- Okay. I used to be an Imperial scientist. You know that. She was a… subject of mine. I developed a drug over a decade ago that was tested on her.” He was crying now, synthetic tears falling from his face.
Frill could tell that he was telling the truth, but it wasn’t everything. He was being vague for a reason. “Why is she calling you a friend, then?”
“I- I don’t know!” He cried. Regent finally ripped his wrist free of Frill’s grip, and stepped to the back of the cockpit. “We don’t have time for this, please. I’ll tell you everything when we get out of this.”
Click.
Frill opened the back hatch of the cockpit, the open sky peering in behind Regent now. Some part of him was about to do this out of love for the doctor, the other out of revenge. He charged forward, and shoved Regent out the back of the machine.
“No-” Regent began to scream.
Click.
The hatch slammed back shut, and Frill collapsed to his knees, and punched the door. He began to cry, but knew that he had made the right decision. Regent would live.
Regent hit the ground outside, passing out as his head slammed against the dirt.
Four kills left.