The creation appendage collapsed under its own weight, its strength draining rapidly due to the human's explosive device liquefying much of its internal structure. Its loss would be a blow to Charlotte, but it had been a calculated loss. With enough time and resources, She could grow a new one, but until that happened, She was limited to the limbs She currently possessed and no more. Still, that was why She had removed many of her hands outside the home, giving her plentiful chances to recover. What was far more dangerous was the vulnerability of her last node in the room Scott and Alice were hiding in. If that were compromised, much of her capacity would be diminished, and She could even potentially become a danger to those She was trying to protect.

The last pirate, Cooper, had been standing over her creation appendage, celebrating his victory when She'd shot his companion in the back. Now he was facing her last advanced appendage, the new diplomatic appendage She'd created for communication with humans. Though, of course, seeing as her old communication appendage had often acted as a protector for Scott and Alice, this body had several surprises for any would-be attackers, with speed and power that belied its small frame, as well as the human weapon, though according to Lacy it only had a single remaining shot. The question now was, with everything combined, would they have enough to win this fight?

-

Cooper's victory had been cut short when Hugo went and got himself shot in the back. Now, he was looking at some weird, freaky human spider monster holding a rifle and wondered how deep this proverbial rabbit hole went.

Well, his grenade launcher might be a wreck, but thankfully, he always had a backup plan or two, and his rounds were still usable like a more traditional grenade despite being designed for use with a launcher. Grabbing one, Cooper thumbed a release and tossed it toward the monster, only to see her jump away impossibly far and fast, easily avoiding the shrapnel despite the knee-deep mud. This one wasn't going to be so easy to take out...

Pulling out a smaller side arm, Cooper took a few potshots as he charged forward. As fast as this monster was, he doubted he'd land any clean hits and suspected a glancing blow wouldn't be enough to put it down. However, as soon as the beast started to move, he threw a primed grenade in the direction it was running. Sure enough, the thing changed directions again on a dime, avoiding the explosion but also redirecting itself back into his line of fire. With its small frame and impossibly rapid movements, he only scored a couple hits, but even minor injuries would slow it down eventually; he just had to keep up the pressure. Besides, given its smaller frame, if he managed to lay his hands on the thing, the fight was over.

-

Lucy watched the two rocketing around the cavern-turned-arena and wondered how to help. The handgun she'd picked up from the last pirate wouldn't be enough to damage Cooper's suit, and her other option...well, she needed to get a lot closer to use it, and for an unarmored human like her, getting close to an assault suit was tantamount to suicide.

With the suit's advanced servos and extended stride, Cooper was far faster than an average human in an open room like this, but even then, he wasn't close to keeping up with Charlotte. That made Lucy wonder why he wasn't using his boosters; then she realized he was trying to catch Charlotte off guard.

Urgently, she started whispering to the spider she'd been using as a guide.

-

Cooper had scored half a dozen glancing blows against the spider monster, but he was running low on ammo and would need to reload soon, giving her the chance to fire back. While the rifle probably wouldn't do all that much damage to him in this assault suit, he'd prefer to avoid giving her the chance to find out.

With her back near a wall, he leaped forward, this time to her left, while throwing another grenade to her right. As predicted, She lept forward, assuming his momentum would prevent him from reaching her, but this was what he'd been waiting for. Activating his thrusters, he changed his direction fast enough that his vision started blurring and reached out for her. Once he had her, he'd tear that thing limb from limb!

-

Charlotte could tell she was being backed into a corner, but that was according to the plan she and Lacy had devised. As expected, he activated the speed-enhancing portion of his suit Lacy had spoken of, which would be more than enough to enable him to reach her if she hadn't been saving something similar for just this occasion.

As the human reached for her, Charlotte brought up the ranged weapon and aimed, firing off her last shot into the upper portion of the human's assault suit. The forces involved were enough to propel her just out of his reach while destabilizing his own jump, sending him crashing to the ground right where Charlotte wanted him.

With a final burst of effort, she reached out with her creation appendage, slamming her bladed claw down onto him. It bit deep into his armor, but not deep enough to cease its functioning or significantly injure the human inside. What it did do, quite effectively, was pin him in place as he fought to free himself from her grasp.

-

Lucy knew Charlotte would be unable to hold Cooper long. Even now, her ex was prying up the claw, pinning him in place, but she didn't need very long, just a few seconds.

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Struggling through the muck, Lucy unloaded her gun, aiming for his faceplate to distract him as much as possible. As expected, it didn't finish anything, but it made Cooper hesitate while he assessed the new threat. She got the pleasure of a flash of recognition in his eyes as she leapt the last few feet. Now in place, she dropped the currently empty gun and reached back for the one she'd tucked away so long ago, placed the barrel of her handgun right into the crack left by the claw, and pulled the trigger twice, using the last of her ammunition.

-

Cooper didn't know how Lucy had gotten here or why she was working with the spider monsters, but it didn't matter. If she was involved, the threat was real. He had to act fast!

As he'd been prying up the bladed claw, he could tell its strength was fading, so he let go of it to grab Lucy's gun. The blade slammed back down into him, but it was so weak it didn't even scratch the armor this time. Two shots rang out, and pain flashed through him as the second shot bit home, but while he was injured, he could tell the armor had still absorbed enough of the shot that he'd probably live. On the other hand, even though Lucy pulled back, he managed to get ahold of both her hand and gun. He squeezed, and Lucy screamed.

A moment later, the spider monster was there with them. It formed its hand into what almost looked like a blade with its fingers and slashed downward, right through Lucy's wrist, severing her hand from her arm. It then grabbed hold of Lucy and pulled her back as it lept away.

Cooper didn't care. The gun was a mangled mess, Lucy looked about ready to pass out, and the spider monster probably didn't have enough power to cut into his armor with those bladed hands of its; otherwise it would have already done so. As he started to stand, he gloated. "Well, at least you all tried your best. Too bad it wasn't enough. I'm taking those kids, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

Lucy laughed, but it was the desperate sound of someone trying to hide their pain. He'd heard it a hundred times before. Though he had to admit, her pained grin held just a bit more venom than he was used to from someone in her state as she held up her remaining hand to show him something small and metallic. She taunted back, her voice ragged from her recent screaming. "Well then, it's a good thing I already made my move, huh?"

Looking closer, it suddenly occurred to him that it was the pin to a grenade. Not one of the improvised shells he was using, but a real grenade someone else must have brought with them. When did she? The gun hadn't been the threat; it was a distraction! He looked down just in time for the grenade she'd shoved into the crack in his armor to go off.

-

Lucy's mind was a blur, the pain getting in the way of coherent thoughts, but then her maternal side kicked in, and Lacy cut through the confusion with one singular goal. "The kids! How are Scott and Alice?"

Charlotte held her carefully. "They are fine, physically speaking, though I suspect they'd appreciate seeing their mother is still alive."

Lacy nodded as the fight drained out of her, and she smiled wearily, holding up her new wrist stump. "Anything you can do about this?"

Charlotte nodded before retching and then spitting on the stump, which would have made Lacy jerk her hand back if she hadn't been in shock. The stump was now covered in a gelatinous phlegm-like substance. Combined with the pain and shock, Lacy had to fight back a sudden bought of nausea.

After getting her stomach under control, she looked at the phlegm carefully but didn't touch it. Oddly, the pain was fading. Maybe she was in worse condition than she thought? "Is this stuff...safe to put on a wound like that?"

Charlotte nodded as she carried Lacy back toward the room the kids were hiding in. "Yes. Given human vulnerabilities, I designed this substance to be used as a form of first aid for humans. It will prevent infection and bind the wound, keeping it safe until I can craft a replacement for you."

Lacy shook her head. "Well, we might want to talk about your delivery system..." Then she hesitated as what Charlotte had said sunk into her. "Wait, did you say craft a replacement, as in a new hand?"

Charlotte nodded again. "Yes. Though it will take some time. Not only will I have to grow a new creation limb to create such a replacement, but it will have to be integrated into your body over several days to ensure it bonds well and the rest of your body doesn't reject it, but you should regain full functionality in time."

Lacy didn't have much time to focus on what she'd said, as that was when they walked into the room where Scott and Alice were hiding. Scott looked up with relief, and Alice hopped up. "Mommy! Are you alright?"

Charlotte placed Lacy on her feet as the mother bent down to grab Alice with her good hand, tucking her stub of a wrist away into her vest to keep it hidden from view. "Yes, baby, I'm fine."

Alice looked up at her mom. "Then the pirates?"

Lacy smiled comfortingly at her daughter. "Yes, they're all..."

That was when Charlotte placed a hand on Lacy's arm, and she sputtered. "He's not de..."

Just then, Cooper burst into the room. The front of his assault suit was in ruin, his eyes were cloudy, and blood was streaming out of the corner of his mouth. He was out of his mind and dying, but in his final moments, he seemed determined to take his killers with him.

Charlotte was on him fast, but he batted her away almost instantly as he stumbled toward Lacy.

-

As the nightmare unfolded before Scott, he pulled out the gun he'd taken from the other pirate and aimed for the center of the damaged armor, but looking into his father's face, he hesitated.

As Cooper, the man who'd raised him for the first half of his life, took another shaky step forward, Lacy dropped Alice to the ground and stepped in front of her daughter, Scott's sister, and closer to the monster he'd once called dad.

Even seeing the tiny, frail frame of his mom standing in front of the hulking form of his father in his barely functioning suit, Scott remained frozen. How could he shoot his father?

Just then, Alice squirmed out from behind Lacy's legs and ran forward, shouting, "Leave my mommy alone!"

Cooper pulled his armored hand back, and Scott and Lacy shouted in unison as it rocketed toward the girl, flinging her to the far side of the room. Charlotte was there in an instant and caught Alice before she could hit the wall, but the girl wasn't moving.

Something snapped in Scott, and he pulled the trigger. Once. Twice. Three times. Quicker and quicker, he pulled the trigger. Through his tears, it was hard to see how much was hitting the armor and how much was hitting the man within, but it was clear enough damage had been done. His father stumbled, then fell, and the assault suit stopped moving.

It took Scott several moments to realize the gun was making an empty clicking sound, which meant he was still pulling the trigger. He numbly stopped and lowered the weapon as Lacy ran toward Charlotte and Alice.