Cameron stomped into the mech bay with an air of frustration and a look that practically begged the other crew members to keep their distance. The tangy scent of transmission fluid hung heavy in the air, mixing with the metallic, acrid stench of welding fumes, pulling his focus toward the direction of Logan’s Crusader. Looking over, he watched as Aurora, hung suspended from a series of harnesses, as she welded and repaired the various damages Logan had sustained during the last battle.

He made his way over, causing her to look up momentarily, staring at him through the darkened visor of her welding mask. She turned back to continue her task for a few more moments, before turning off the torch and sliding down a line of rope and taking off her visor, looking at him curiously.

“What’s up?” She asked, shaking loose her messy tufts of blue hair.

Cameron shrugged, “Eh, just kind of walking around. Waiting for whatever briefing Logan wants to do so we can get this shit kicked off.”

“Ah,” She said with a nod, “Where’s little miss EarthGov at?”

He sighed and rolled his eyes, throwing a thumb behind him towards the door leading back towards the maze of hallways that formed the bowels of the ship, “I don’t know. Somewhere back there, hopefully regretting her choice to come on here.”

“Oh?” She said leaning against the leg of the Crusader, removing her gloves and eyeing him curiously, “Trouble in paradise?”

Cameron laughed with a nod, “Yeah, something like that…”

He recounted the earlier exchange he’d had with Sybil, as well as the inciting incident that brought him into the company of the Fenris in the first place. Aurora, to her credit, didn’t react too harshly as Cameron told his tale, merely nodding along as he spoke, or asking the occasional question. When he was finished, she merely looked at him, smirking and slowly shaking her head.

“Oh I’m sorry,” He said, feeling a fresh wave of anger beginning to bubble up inside of him, “Did I say something fucking amusing?”

“No no,” She said with a chuckle as she continued to shake her head, “Just a couple of follow-up questions is all… you have a headache? Feeling a little nauseous? Maybe a little dizzy?”

These seemingly innocuous probing threw Cameron off guard. So much so, his anger calmed enough for him to consider her strange questions. Sure enough, he did indeed feel off. His head felt foggy and heavy, his eyes felt like they were slowly dragging their way back and forth, and his stomach felt sick and sour. He looked down as he patted his person, before looking back up at Aurora who met his gaze with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

“Well?” She asked, crossing her arms as she watched him.

“Actually… Y-Yeah,” He said, looking slightly concerned, “How did you know?”

“Turn around,” She said.

“Why?” He asked.

“I’m gonna fix you,”

“I told you, I’m not that kind of girl.”

“Just do it, dipshit,” She said.

Reluctantly obeying, he turned away from her, focusing on the silhouette of his Headsman in the back corner of the bay. Without preamble, he felt her arm snake its way around his throat, before, with a sudden sharp pain that took his breath away, he felt something of a spike-like object plunged into his neural uplink jack.

“Hnng…Gah!” He groaned, eyes bulging wide before they rolled back inside of his skull. His legs turned to jelly before swiftly disappearing underneath him. He sank to his knees and threw his head back as a torrent of neon blue ones and zeroes passed in front of his blackened vision at the speed of light. He began to twitch and shake, mumbling incoherently for a moment, before, as quickly as it had begun it stopped. Slowly, his vision returned to normal, his feeling returned to his lower extremities, as he felt control over his body coming back to him.

He shot to his feet, whipping around to see Aurora, a shiny metallic spike clutched in her hand, as she struggled to fend off a wave of amused laughter.

“Wha…” He gasped, “What the f-fuck was that?”

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“How do you feel?” She asked in a sing-song tone.

“Violated!” He bellowed.

“And?”

He paused his dramatics for a moment, taking the time to assess himself. To his surprise he felt… good. Great even. His head was clear, his nausea a non factor, his lethargy completely eradicated. He looked at her, surprise clear across his face as she explained.

“It’s called a binaric jack,” She said, “Now that you're neurologically interfacing with an A.R.M.S. unit, your brain is under tremendous strain from all the information being passed from the V.I., that's partially why it hurts so much to thread yourself into a mech. But once your synapses get used to the information overload, it slowly starts to become your body's preferred state of being.”

“Okay…” Cameron said slowly, attempting to follow her logic.

She sighed with a groan as her shoulders slumped. “Ugh! Alright… In layman’s terms think of it like this. Piloting an A.R.M.S. unit is like taking an addictive drug. The more you use it, the more addicting it becomes. When you’re out of the mech, your body goes through withdrawals. This little device is kinda like a patch. It provides a temporary binaric burst to hold you over and keep you from being so pissy.

“Ya know,” He said, “I don’t really think I was being pissy. I feel like I was at least somewhat justified in voicing my opinions.”

“True,” She said with a nod, “But would you have normally acted like an edgy teenager and threw a bitch fit at the one woman around who actually enjoys your company?”

“Okay… hurtful… but… probably not.”

“Exactly,” She said, giving her arm a flourish as she continued. “She just caught you at the wrong time, and you probably made her cry. Although-”

“I did not make her cry.”

“Yeah you did,” Logan’s voice rang out from behind him. He and Aurora turned to see Logan standing there arms crossed and dressed in his operator attire. Looking at the two of them skeptically with a raised eyebrow. His brow went up even further when his eyes caught the gleam of the Binaric Jack in Aurora’s hand.

“Already?” Logan asked.

Aurora shrugged, looking just as confused as Cameron did, silently mouthing out ‘I don’t know’.

“Hmm,” He said, looking between Cameron and the Headsman, “I mean you did skip a level… Maybe that increase in data transfer caused you to start earlier than most. I guess It’ll just be something you’ll have to deal with.”

“Why does everything bad just so happen to be ‘something I have to deal with?’” Cameron complained.

“Why do you have to make EarthGov officials cry?” Logan asked.

“Yeah, ya monster,” Aurora chimed sarcastically, “I get murdering random strangers for money, but to toy with the emotions of a woman who could have us sanctioned and shot? How do you sleep at night?”

“Okay, what are you doing here?” Cameron said, turning on Logan and ignoring the teasing coming from the pair.

“Is it not my ship?” Logan asked.

“Ya know … I missed when you were being a pissy little asshole.”

“Yeah well,” Logan said, “Seems like you got that distinction now. In any case, we’re getting ready to leave slip-space in a couple hours. Got a holo conference set up with the raid team leaders so we can run through the plan and get ready. I’m expecting heavy resistance so we’re gonna be dropping hot and it’s best to be prepared.”

“Fair enough,” Cameron said, “Lead the way, boss.”

“Think I should grab a muzzle first?” Logan asked, “You know, just in case someone asked your opinions on the weather?”

“Just shut up and walk,” Cameron said, feeling his eyes beginning to twitch.