Taking a deep breath in, Kellin waited for a few seconds, fully expecting the AI to pick [The Companion] rather than risking their safety on his ridiculous stunt. However, when she called his bluff, he was stuck between being confused at why and nervous about following through. Thinking about it for a few tense, breath-holding moments, he eventually concluded that if she believed it safe enough to allow him to continue then there shouldn't be too much harm in it. As far as he knew, Den Mothers couldn't sense heartbeats, so in the event they had to tail it out of here, he should be able to rely on the cloaking ability they'd gain.

'Here we go, then,' he thought, right before screaming out at the top of his lungs.

The nearby animals that had remained immediately became scarce, darting up trees or into the ground. The bird Kellin had been watching disappeared into the canopy as all sounds in the immediate area silenced. Pulling out his rifle, Kellin checked the [Credit] shop and confirmed that sadly there was no option of buying ammo available to him; he had to choose an initial [Evolution] before doing anything like that first.

Nothing happened at first, leaving him equal parts surprised, relieved, and regretful. Gypsy said nothing either, still firmly hovered over the first option. Kellin still didn't quite understand how or why the uptight, probability-driven AI was taking a gamble here and now. Even with better sensing capabilities than he had, she should know that stronger creatures in the area could have heard that and might move on it. Irregardless, he didn't have the mental fortitude to figure it out while constantly scanning his surroundings and on edge.

When nothing changed for another few seconds, he roared out again, silencing the din that was picking back up again. Another minute and he yelled a third time, this instance barely slowing the insects and other creatures that had begun to get back to life around the mad man in the big metal suit.

"What the hell is going on," he asked aloud.

"No Savul in area," Gypsy replied cheekily. "Unfortunate."

"Oh SWARMLING SWARMLING SWARMLING!!" he cried out again, to no avail.

Sighing, he began stalking off uphill, empty rifle placed back into the holster on his right thigh.

"Unsafe to change location," Gypsy stated quickly, halting the movement of the suit to Kellin's surprise. "Prior agreement: Staying in safety until [Evolution] finished."

"You said it yourself, there are no Savul in the area," he countered, forcing the Combat Suit to move once again against Gypsy's attempts.

It did, but slowly, like he was trudging through a swamp.

"Seeking danger is NOT answer to current situation," she quickly replied, causing him to halt his steps as his brow creased due to her tone.

"Oh, so it's fine if we stay here and yell about, but don't leave or else?" he asked just as something clicked in his mind. "Staying here is safe, you of all people don't care if I scream at the top of my lungs, so long as we stay here... and if I remember correctly, it's you that decided we should remain here as well," he listed, speaking to himself and her in equal parts as he began to look around the clearing once again. "What are you hiding?" he asked after a few seconds.

"AI D-Designation Gyp i-is hid-not hiding any information fr-"

"Oh my god you can LIE!" he shouted, laughing slightly and moving back toward his tree. "It's been less than one day! You know something I don't and won't tell me, and you're the one that wants to be a [Servant] hahahahah, that is priceless," he called out, smacking his gauntlet against his metal suit's abdomen in stitches. "AI's don't get to keep secrets! What do you know? Was it the Den Mother? Did you actually speak with it somehow?" he asked incredulously.

"AI Design-"

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"No, no wait. Don't tell me," he interrupted, holding up his left hand as he caught himself. "You're not an AI. A girl should have her secrets. SWARMLINGSS!!"

"Captain Finnel, I believe our priority should be- cease movement," she said, words halting as she focused her attention to stop him from moving the suit away from their clearing. "Den Mother-"

"Lalala not listening, people need their own secrets," he said, laughing while allowing the suit to remain locked in place. "If I was determined to pick [The Companion] before, now there is no way in hell I'm going to let this go."

"Dangerous to move from-"

"Here, yeah, I get it. I do. That's why we are going elsewhere."

"Captain Finnel acting recklessly. Combat Suit weakened, potential catastrophe. Probability of death excessive. Stop."

"OH WHERE OH WHERE CAN MY SWARMLINGS BE," he ignored, taking on a singsong tone as he began to force the Suit uphill once again.

"Unnecessary risks are not-"

"THE LORD TOOK THEM AWAY FROM ME-"

"Captain Finnel, singing while- Dangerous-"

"OHHH THE WHEELS ON THE SWARMLING DONT EXIST, DONT EXIST-" he continued, five or so steps away from the tree as he moved as slowly as possible.

"Expedition Captain Finnel! Please-"

"DONT EXIS-"

"CAPT- KELLIN!" Gypsy finally screamed, getting a reaction out of him as he stopped the suit and shut his mouth. "We must deliberate this-" she began, moving the suit one step backward but when he took a deep breath, the suit froze again. "Kellin, stop."

"You have about ten seconds to speak before I begin our long journey up that hill," he replied.

He was a bit irritated that he hadn't gotten her to swap the choice just yet, and even that nothing had shown up to hasten the decision. He wasn't being entirely reckless, though, moving as slowly as possible. The goal was to get her to swap her decision prior to getting out of their alleged 'safe zone' after all, not to attract everything in the area. Still, the plan didn't leave him entirely unstressed. He was banking almost everything on Gypsy's ability to cloak when they chose a Class.

"AI Desig-"

"Try again," he said, taking a step.

"Capt-"

Another step.

"Kellin. Why? Logs do not indicate self-destructive behavior like this in past. Why do you not prioritize survival as you always have?" she asked quickly, monotone voice taking on faint tones of confusion as her speech pattern became less disjointed.

He grinned slightly.

"You know, back when you were just an AI, you spoke less like one than you do now. I modified you specifically to fill out sentences with speech patterns pulled from all over the internet. You have been way overcompensating," he stated with a small laugh. "As for your second question, well, that's easy. I've been in charge since you began to come with me on missions. Leading. Me, keeping other people alive when I was the one that returned bloody and injured in nearly every mission prior to my first promotion. My first Lieutenant was with me from those days onward, back when I was barely a Platoon Commander starting out. Then, more faces became familiar and deadly mission after deadly mission, they all kept coming back. How could I not prioritize their survival over any mission objective or reckless maneuver?" he asked, laughing a bit. "But you know, it was almost nice in a way how survival almost always seemed like the objective any time we set out. Until the end there."

He went quiet for a little before continuing, Gypsy herself not responding either.

"I wanted to rush through to the LZ, but they promised us evac. We would have lost some men in the rush, but they promised us evac. How could I order them through a death zone when there was a guarantee of everyone surviving just minutes away? So, I prioritized survival, again. You were there, you knew how many would die if we rushed," he said, pausing to gather himself. "But they never came, did they, Gyps? How many Den Mothers did we mow through, Queens? An entire death zone. How many fucking-" he paused again, fist striking a nearby tree on his left as he took a deep breath to calm himself. "You're all I have right now. I'm not going to be stuck on this shithole of a planet with a [Servant] when I could have a companion. Choosing survival got us here. I want better this time."

A few moments went by with neither saying anything until Kellin felt the suit go slack against his muscles. Nothing changed; she was still firmly on the second option, but he felt like he'd made some ground as a twig snapped behind them.

"AI... Gypsy still firm that despite-"

"More distracted than me, huh?" he asked with a chuckle, turning around and setting his feet a bit further apart, a bit relieved at what he saw. "Tell ya what girl, if I kill this bastard without help, we pick option two. If I'm about to lose, option one it is," he said, taking his selection of [The Companion] off as he felt hers swap to it right after, speaking in a panic moments later.

"Fighting without [Evolution] not advi-"

"No, no, it's a bet," he interrupted, laughing as he slowly crouched down and palmed the large rock he'd uncovered earlier. "Plus, it's just one. I have some anger I need to work off right now anyway," he finished darkly, visor dropping and cutting off eye contact with the Swarmling that had just entered the clearing behind them moments earlier.