Ice pressed his boot against the Type 3s skull as he pressed the tip of his nanoblade through one eye down into the creature's brain watching as the nanoblade channeled the enzymes into the capacitor for the shoulder mounted plasma cannon. It had been a nice upgrade to the dronesuit and allowed him to effectively double his firepower. As the Type 3 dissolved into smoke his foot slowly sank to the ground. He turned to see Drake using what looked suspiciously like the sword from Conan the Barbarian. "Are you doing okay Drake? I know the first time I fought these damn things they…" He stopped mid question as Drake cut a theriope out of the air. "Yeah nevermind I think you'll be fine."

"Ice Cat reports three type 7s and a type 8 coming this way. Be careful with the type 8 because it has a poisonous gas it can launch. I recommend you turn on the internal air supply if you get close."

"Internal air supply… Raven I think we need to discuss something later."

" Whatever you say." Raven answered innocently.

_______________________________________

Brigham looked at the viewscreen aboard the bridge of the Nano Forge where he had been relegated due to his… deformity. They had told him once they figured out a way to replace his hand they would bring him to the battlefield with them. But they would not risk a friend in combat who was injured unless it was the only choice.

Ever since Drake got his new arm Brigham had regretted not taking the AI himself he felt like a coward. He pressed the still tender flesh of his nub against the console in front of him. The pain was a reminder. A reminder that he was still a soldier even without his hand.

"Brigham, are you ok? If you keep doing that you're gonna open the wound up again." Ducky said without turning from where he was watching the sensor screen.

Brigham just grunted before getting up and heading towards the galley. If he couldn't help them in combat he could at least ensure the food improved. What they had been eating had a passing acquaintance with food but that was being generous.

_______________________________________

Ice tossed the plasma grenade into the mouth of the type 8 before jumping away. Sure it was overkill, but it was the best kind of overkill. Explosive.

"That wasn't necessary, and quite frankly a waste of points." Drake pointed out from nearby where he was pulling his sword out of the body of the second type 7. He had sliced the first one completely in half. Somewhere he had gotten a bolt rifle that he was holding in two of his other hands.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Where do you keep getting all those weapons from anyways?" Ice said as he shrugged off the comment.

"Alice says to mind your own business." Drake chuckled at his insolent AI. He flicked his fingers and a knife flew past Ice only to sink into a type 1 as it tried to sneak up on him.

Ice shook his head as the knife dissolved into the air. "Thanks."

"No problem. Now do the Cats have any leads on the corpse of Diego? Ducky and Alice both say this is around where he was when they lost contact with him."

"Raven? Care to answer the man?"

"Certainly Ice. We have found some sign of environmental destruction on par with the damage we estimate a Super Human system user would generate. However due to the age of the damage we can't tell much from it. Cat thinks that the nearby ruins of the city would be a good place to look. However there is some kind of force field in place preventing him from getting any closer. He also says "HI Dad…" Ice you really need to stop naming things… they seem to become attached when you do."

Ice chuckled. "I always wanted a lot of pets."

Drake looked at the small speaker Raven's voice came out of. "He thinks of rogue AIs as pets… what is this universe coming to…" He absently stroked his newly grown beard. "Ok so we should go check this out because after a thousand years nothing on this planet should still have power."

Ice nodded and began to walk in the direction that showed up blinking on his HUD.

_______________________________________

Cat and his fellow recon drones prowler the edges of the forcefully seeking any weakness. Mother had asked them to find a way in and failure was unacceptable. Cat 2 had suggested they try tunneling in but the ground near the dome was hard and black. Cat 3 had suggested they use their plasma claws to attempt to cut the dome. Cat 3 was currently limping on three paws after his attempt.

Cat wasn't sure how they would get in but he was certain Father would think of something.

_______________________________________

Ice shot the shield with his railgun and ducked as the flechette was launched back at him upon contact with the dome. "Well I'm out of ideas, what do you have Raven? Drake?"

"We could try using the Nano Forge's cannons on the shield. Or even hit it with an RFG from orbit and see what happens." Drake suggested tapping the shield with one finger lightly. It crackled and he pulled his hand back cursing looking at his singed fingertip. "Alice says this looks like a meteor shield but none were registered on the planet at the time of the invasion. She also says Dora had an ability similar to this but it was much more localized."

"Diego’s AI? Maybe it did something similar to Francis and is running the shield from a factory or something inside." Ice suggested as he kicked a rock into the shield only to have it get shot back at his foot. "Maybe we can communicate with whatever is inside? Any ideas? Morse code or something?"

"What is Morse code?" Drake asked, puzzled.

"It's a non verbal way to … you know what nevermind. We could try knocking?"

"We could send a coded data packet through the shield… maybe…" Raven's voice said from the speaker on Ice's shoulder.