The spikes felt even more intense the closer Sasha got to the garden. She could distinguish signals. Some from him. Some from Mr. Erin. Some from Madame Dyré. Please still be okay. Sasha slid to a halt.

“What the-”

A pile of broken machinery lie scattered across the hallway. Buzzsaws and scorch marks were strewn across the corridors.

She reached out, an odd sensation running through her head. Images flashed in front of her. She saw a weasel racing across the hall. A line of drones soaring his way. A panda. The images faded away, Sasha taking a step back.

This again?

She rubbed her temples. Just like Khepri and Torpha. The sensations felt so real. As if she could reach out and touch the figures she’d seen. That was Mr. Erin and Mr. Xan, wasn’t it? She looked at the robots. Guess that explains the mess.

Her ears rose, sounds of blaster fire reverberating through them.

As were the sounds of crashing metal. Better hurry. Sasha picked up the pace, racing down the corridors to find even more broken robots. An army of drones reduced to wires and gears. All this for them? She slid to a halt.

“Princess,” CP chimed. “The garden should be dead ahead.”

Sasha nodded, though her attention had been swiftly drawn by the many drones she found floating in front of the entrance.

A barrier shimmered with activity, several broken drones lying at its feet. A few were raining blaster shots on it, but the thing was holding steady through the abuse. I wonder. Sasha raised her commpad.

“CP.”

“Yes, Princess?” the device asked.

“Out of curiosity, do you have any control over the robots?”

“Control, princess? I don’t quite understand.”

“Well…Um…” Sasha searched for the right wording. “I would like to enlist the help of these drones. Would that be possible?”

“Oh. Have you tried asking them, princess?”

Sasha blinked. Her immediate response was “I can just do that?” but she stopped herself from voicing it to avoid blowing her cover. Instead, she focused on keeping her voice pitched enough to sell the ruse, walking out from her hiding spot.

“Hello there, robots,” she said. “Fine day today, isn’t it?”

The robots stopped attacking the barrier, all turning to her as one. She waved her commpad around, hopeful that it would be enough to convince them she was a little human girl and not a teenage panther.

“May I please pass?” she asked.

They didn’t react. She kept walking towards them, the fact that she hadn’t been shot to death her biggest indication that something was working. Still, she kept her claws ready behind her back. Sure they wouldn’t do much against metal, but they gave her piece of mind.

“Princess,” one said.

“We cannot access the garden,” said another. “The prisoners activated a barrier.”

A few parted to let her through, Sasha smiling as she approached the shimmering blue field. It sparked at her touch, Sasha wincing at the contact.

“That’s fine,” she said. “CP. Do you think you can do anything about it?”

“Certainly, princess. One moment, please.”

Sasha felt another jolt. Xan’s signal spike. It vanished. But now she felt the Madame’s rising like a geyser. Oh no. Hurry it up, CP. The commpad chimed, the barrier in front of her flickering and disappearing.

“That should do it, princess.”

“Thanks, CP, you’re a great help.”

Sasha looked to all the drones. CP had told her to ask, so she didn’t see the harm in following its advice. Plus, given what she was feeling, she knew she’d need the backup.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“By any chance could all you drones help me?” she asked. “Those prisoners. They… contain information valuable to the Black Web. I would like to safeguard their lives. Would you help me in protecting them?”

All of the robots beeped.

“Processing new directives,” they echoed to each other.

Their eyes flashed, the glows fading one by one across the many drones Sasha saw. They flew over her head.

“Directive accepted,” they said. “Protect the prisoners. Eliminate all threats.”

“No killing!” Sasha called.

“Incapacitate all threats.”

They all flew out ahead, splitting up in different directions throughout the garden. Sasha scanned over the expanse of fountains and statues. Mr Xan had felt so close before, but with the Madame letting loose, he suddenly felt as faint as everyone else. Alright. Guess we’ll deal with that fir- Her ears stood up to the nearby sounds of gunfire.

Sasha broke into a sprint, dashing between two raised statues. She turned just in time to see figures bursting through one of the hedges. Sasha’s heart lifted. A scarless weasel.

“Mr. Erin!”

He fell to the ground, one hand holding a pirate down while the other raised a blaster. He only seemed to notice her as she came running over.

“Sasha?”

He brought the gun down, knocking the man out cold.

“What are- Sweet whiskers!”

He whirled as pirates came dashing around the corner. Sasha froze, their blasters making her acutely aware of her lack of weaponry. But none of them so much as glanced her way. They all zoned in on Mr. Erin. Oh god. Sasha leapt forward, but it was already too late. They opened fire as one.

“Mr. Erin!”

The weasel, who attempted to dive, took the full brunt of a laser, sending him sprawling to the ground. Sasha dove over him, the shots stopping as the pirates seemed to finally notice her.

“Wait. Isn’t that the- Gyahh!”

The drones above seemed to zero in on all the noise, lasers raining down as they descended from the artificial skies.

The pirates broke apart, but Sasha didn’t move a muscle, cradling her liaison in her arms. The laser had left a dense hole, the weasel wincing at the pain but trying to play it off as a simple flesh wound.

“You’re here,” he said.

Sasha held him up, the weasel’s smile making her stomach sink. She wanted to hug him, but before she even got the chance, he was pulling her in heedless of his own battle scar.

“I was worried you’d gotten lost.”

That was all it took for tears to come rushing out. Sasha squeezed him back, all the emotions she’d felt draining away as she pressed her face into his shoulder. She’d had so many questions she wanted to ask him before. So much she’d been afraid to know the answers to. But at that moment, the only thought on her mind was getting to hug the weasel again. Getting to listen to him prattle on one last time. Of seeing one more world together.

Mr. Erin pulled her away, looking her over.

“You’re hurt,” he said.

“So are you,” she said, wiping her face. “Mr. Erin. I’m sorry. I never wanted you to get shot. I never wanted any of this.”

“Sasha, my only concern right now is whether you still see me as an enemy.”

She looked him straight in the face. “No. I…You and Mr. Xan are…I don’t wanna go anywhere if I’m not with you two.”

He smiled at that. Why did he have to be such a sincere tail brain? Sasha tugged at her shirt, ripping it apart to Mr. Erin’s surprise. She ignored him, forming the fabric into a ball and pressing it against the hole.

“I don't want you to die here,” Sasha said, grabbing Mr. Erin’s hand. “I'm not letting you. Keep pressure on this. It won’t stop the pain, but it’ll slow the infection, I think. Hey! Mr. Drone!”

One of the drones stopped shooting, flying down to Sasha.

“Mr Drone, can you find me some medicine? I can’t remember the name, but I need something with Remadrin and Synthetic Glucose. Oh, and Polymetheylenes.”

The robot beeped. “Directive accepted. Retrieving Synthezine.”

Sasha smiled, the name vaguely familiar even if she could only list a few of its ingredients. As the robot flew off, she found Mr. Erin staring back at her. She turned slightly reader, but she met his gaze.

“Just because I don’t listen doesn’t mean I don’t pick up on stuff,” she said. “I don’t know how long it’ll take, but you’re not allowed to die before it gets back, alright.”

“Not allowed?”

“That’s right. I'm giving the orders now.”

Sasha jumped to her feet, scanning around again.

She was no healer, but she figured Mr. Erin had a few hours before shock set in and his body gave out. Assuming she had any clue how blaster wounds worked. Which she didn’t. But that was beside the point. One liaison was accounted for. And as she searched for the other, she quickly realized the second was in even greater need of attention.

Above the sounds of gunfire and dying robots, she saw something flying through the artificial sky. Something fluffy and round. Covered in black and white fur. Being knocked to the ground by a leaping spider in a tattered white dress.

Her brow furrowed.

“I promise I'll be back,” she said. "We can talk then, okay?"

The weasel held his wound.

“Can't do much to stop you, I'm afraid. Be careful, Sasha?”

Sasha nodded. She knelt down to pick up Mr. Erin’s blaster. She wasn’t sure how much help it would be, but it was better than nothing. How do I keep getting in these messes? Sasha groaned.

With a final breath for strength, she took off in the flying panda’s direction.