It all seemed to happen so fast.

The portals came down one after the other, Sasha lying half-dead in the grass while she watched her endeavors net her yet another reclaimed world. As exhausted as she was, she felt a little happier whenever the darkness got replaced with sunlight. It was like healing. She’d slap a few monsters around, and the world’s bruises came off. Granted, she’d almost gotten impaled and diced by the latest batch of legionnaire bruises, but her new companions saved her several times during the fighting.

“‘Does trying your best’ include getting juggled by the fanged monsters?” one of them asked.

“Hey, those things were like the spawns of the underworld!” Sasha defended.

“Could be you just suck,” said another.

“Oh, you can all eat dirt!”

The pirates regarded her with smirks and snickers. Far from the sneers and jives she’d expected to get when Madame Dyré told her she’d be getting an escort. She’d fully expected to be placed with Gabriella or Bettle to look out for her, but Dyré had instead entrusted her with a small group composed of mostly new faces. Not new in the sense that they couldn’t fight, of course. It was only thanks to them she wasn’t being nibbled on or stabbed by the giant fanged beasts that had come leaping out of the Stem portal.

“Give her a break, guys,” one of them said. “She’s an all-powerful graduate, remember? She might smite us.”

“Keep testing me, and I will.”

“And you’ll probably use up your reserves doing it.”

“Oh, that's it! You wanna go-”

One of the pirates dropped to the ground.

“Easy, Panther. No pick-”

Another twitched and fell.

Sasha’s ears rose, the pirates around her dropping one after another as she heard the sounds of footsteps echoing nearby. She saw lights. Red lights. Crap! She whipped out GT, flinging herself backward, fangs bared despite the weapon chiming warnings in her head.

“Energy Reserves at 10%, Ms. Sasha!” the staff said.

She ignored it, eyes scanning to and fro as she saw the small crew she’d been in lying unconscious on the ground. An ambush? She saw guns moving about. Figures coming out of the bushes like apparitions. One glowed with pink crystal. The heck? It didn’t feel like a legionnaire. In fact, she couldn’t feel any signals coming from any of them.

“Easy, Ms. Panther.”

Sasha growled. It talks? Whatever it was, legionnaire or otherwise, it had one blaster trained on her, the others following her downed companions.

“W-who are you?” Sasha asked.

“A friend.”

Sasha flinched. She whirled around, but it was too late. Something had her locked tight. She squirmed trying to break free, but her body was stuffed into some kind of cushion. Something soft. And white. No. She saw traces of black. Sasha's heart jumped. Her gaze rose, finally taking in the face of her captor.

It was a panda.

“Yo,” Mr. Xan said.

Sasha felt a jolt. She stared back at the man who she knew without a shadow of a doubt was thousands of planets away. Who she knew was nowhere near Forgy. Her brow furrowed. Another imposter? Was this going to be a regular thing?

“Don’t seem particularly happy to see us.”

Sasha turned at the second voice. Of course. A fake Mr. Erin. Were they going to recreate Iris and Cic next? Give her all her friends in one fake swoop? Sasha squirmed, the panda holding her tight.

“Let me go,” she said.

“Not until you’ve calmed down a bit,” fake Xan said.

“Let me go, you fakies!”

“Fakies?”

“It’s us, Sasha,” Erin’s lookalike said.

“Rabit crap!” Sasha snapped. “Don’t think I’m stupid enough to fall for a lie like-”

“You’re Sasha the Time Lord.”

She froze. Erin’s lookalike gave her a cheeky smile.

“That’s what you wanted me to call you, wasn’t it?” he asked. “When you asked me to train you?”

“Frankly, I’m more impartial to crazy bug freak kid,” said Xan’s lookalike. “With how you seem so chummy with bugs, I'd say you’re giving that Big Sissie chick a run for her money.”

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She stopped squirming, staring long and hard at the two AIC members. People who shouldn’t have been anywhere near her planet but had the same voices as her liaisons. Knew things that only they would know. That only Mr. Erin and Mr. Xan would…

“You’re not fake,” she said.

“Took you long enough, kid,” Xan said, finally releasing her.

Sasha dropped gently to the ground. She immediately threw her arms around him, burying her face in his fur despite having been freed of it. She pulled away to do the same to Mr. Erin, who gave her a small squeeze back. There was no mistake about it. She couldn’t feel their signals, but it was them. Erin and Xan were alive and in front of her. She didn’t know why or how, but they were on Foryg.

Sasha stepped back, glancing around at the many soldiers she didn’t recognize. They all bored the same three letters on their uniforms. AIC. Her elation deflated.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Panther,” the pink one said. She extended a hand, but Sasha’s gaze instead fell to the fallen pirates.

“Did you kill them?” she asked.

“Hmm? Oh no. They’re merely paralyzed.” The hand retracted. “Oh, but where are my manners? My name is Commander Saturn. We’re all here because we share the same goal. To free you and to take out your employer.”

“Kidnapper, more like,” Xan said. “You alright, kid?”

“Um. Fine.” She stuck a hand in her cloak. “You guys came all the way out here for me? That’s sweet.”

“Well, we couldn’t just-”

“But you should go. I’m not here against my will.”

Mr. Erin raised a brow. Mr. Xan looked at her like she’d just spoken in demonic dragon tongues. She swallowed.

“I-I’m not a prisoner,” she said. “I came out here because I wanted to. To do the job that- that the AIC isn’t doing. Not really.”

She tried to make the words sound tough and confident, but they wavered as they came out of her throat. It didn’t help the looks she got from both her liaisons. Xan especially. His eyes flashed with an intensity she hadn’t seen since Mr. Erin had taken that hit on Torpha.

“Sasha, what have you heard?” Xan asked.

“Huh?”

“What did that spider tell you?”

There was an edge to his voice. One that made her wince, but she tried not to back down from the large panda. It was too early to start crumbling at the first sign of pushback.

“That spider?” she asked. “Do you mean the Madame?”

“Madame?”

“Madame Dyré.” She met his gaze. “She told me the truth. That the AIC is just…letting worlds like this sit when we can save them. That my world was just a breeding ground for monster killers. That we’re all just tools for you guys to throw at the legionnaires. My friends! My denmates!”

She couldn’t hide the vitriol in her words. She didn’t even try to. The image of everyone she’d ever known being molded into tools of war had been more than enough for her to make up her mind about the AIC. And the people behind it. As much as she cared about her liaisons, her blood boiled just thinking about who they worked for.

“Sasha,” Erin started, but the words seemed to die in his throat. Sasha scoffed.

“Then it’s true, then?” she asked. “So what? Is that all I am to you? Just another tool? Is that why you’re here? Are you guys gonna drag me back kicking and screaming?”

“We came here to save your sorry tail!” Xan growled. “Less you forgot, that spider kidnapped you! She blew up our ship! She’s nothing but an evil witch!”

“That spider has a name!” Sasha growled back. “And she gave me a choice. Which is more than I can say for any of you! I’m out here because I chose to help Madame Dyré. Just like she chose to help me. ‘Cus guess what? She knows where Iris and Cici are. And she’s gonna help me find them!”

“You stupid little-” Xan grabbed her by the shoulders. “Are you brain dead? You're being used! That witch doesn’t give a crap about you, your friends, or your stupid flippin’ hangups! You’re her tool! And she’s working you like a friggin’ hammer! Open your eyes, you stupid cat!”

Sasha broke away, glaring back at Xan. He wasn’t anywhere near the lazy relaxed goof she’d come to know. His voice carried all the same weight, but his eyes shined with a mixture of anger and desperation. Fear. Was he that scared of her making her own choices?

Were the AIC that scared of a rouge graduate?

As she looked at the soldiers around her, Sasha felt the anger rise further and further. She saw herself getting thrown into another God Tool academy for ‘fixing’. Or being taken out for being defective.

And the looks on her liaisons' faces told her they wouldn’t go against such decisions.

It was true. To them, she was their tool. Their graduate. The AIC’s property they were contractually obligated to maintain. But Sasha had no intentions of letting herself get taken away. She let her fur relax, her nerves steadying as she took one hand out of her cloak.

“My eyes are as open as they’ll ever get,” she said. “I just wish yours were, too.”

As she spoke, the expressions around her turned from concern to fear in the blink of an eye. Several heads jerked upwards, all witnessing the same massive vessel descending from the sky. One which Sasha was grateful to have picked up her distress call so quickly.

“Oh God,” Saturn said.

Floating above the sky, the silhouette of Dyré’s vessel loomed, its massive guns loaded and trained on the soldiers as shuttles dropped onto the planet one by one.

“Spider Queen’s, more like,” Sasha said, pulling the commpad from her cloak pocket.

Both her liaisons looked at her.

“Sasha,” Erin said. “No.”

She felt a pang of guilt hearing the words, but she tried not to show it. No use giving the AIC ammunition to use against her. Mr. Xan didn’t say a word, his gaze turning cold as he raised his hands into the air.

Sasha clicked on her commpad’s projection, Dyré’s face appearing through the screen as the pirates came flooding the streets around her.

“Are you alright, my child?” she asked.

“Just a little shaken is all,” Sasha said. “Wasn’t really expecting all this.”

She glanced at her liaisons, who were being hauled into the shuttles along with the other soldiers. Why did they watch her the whole time? She turned away, but it did little to help her ignore the pit in her stomach.

“We’ll make sure to deal with these arrivals,” Dyré said. “In the meantime, you should rest. You’ve earned it after another job well done.”

Sasha nodded. “I will. And thanks for the save, Madame.”

The commpad switched off, Sasha tucking it back into her cloak. Dyré’s compliment should have filled her with warmth, but the pit refused to go away. She growled, looking between the shuttles to see which one to board. Of the four of them, she made sure to choose the one furthest from the rest.

It had no prisoners aboard.