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April, 28** th ***_ 2033_*

Another day another problem...

She sighed as she was escorted by four ADVENT Troopers. The Viper armed only with a drone and a plasma pistol for defense. Her escort was to do most of the fighting if there were ever any need. Though she never had to worry; Troopers were some of the best fighters ADVENT had to offer. But they weren't the most conversational bunch. Much to her annoyance, but she wasn't allowed anyone else (the other ADVENT species were better suited for bigger more important tasks). She just had to deal with it whenever she was sent out to a facility.

That was her job after all. She was a special breed of Viper, carefully engineered by the Elders. One of a kind in fact, as far as she was aware. No other Viper was like her (that she's seen or knew of anyway), an architype for a future breed. The Elders seemed more impressed with the idea than she was. She was smaller than her sisters. Barely over four meters head to tail compared to the typical five to six, leaner and not as muscled. Her scales were a dull gray, with a creamy white underside, and matching diamond patterning along her spine and hood. Light armor adorning most of her upper body.

She wasn't weak and pathetic of course, but she wasn't bred to be a soldier. No, her specialty was technology. She helped maintain the hardware and software at many of ADVENT's facilities. Both in the city centers and at remote facilities. Like she was now, airdropped into a facility in some backwoods. She didn't care where it was really, she was more focused on what needed doing now that she was here. Once she was escorted into the facility she went right to work at the central terminal at the center of the smallish facility.

"Would it kill these guys to do a better job with maintenance?" She griped aloud.

She stared at the screens, reading through the system code. It was a complete mess! No wonder she was sent here. The software was heavily corrupted and possibly needed to be redone entirely. She was going to be here for the whole day, possibly longer.

"Wonderful..." She sighed and got to work, pulling out her own data pad.

Her escorts simply stood nearby, not really moving. If she couldn't see or hear them breathing, they could've been mistaken for MECs. Sometimes she wondered if their stoicism was from their training and breeding, or more likely from their connection to the Psionic Network. She felt the icy grip of the network herself, however its hold wasn't as strong over her mind. At least she liked to believe that was the case. She needed her mind open and free, it let her work more efficiently. Fix issues with out-of-the-box thinking and so on. Still, now and then she would feel that grip tighten around her brain when she lost her focus. Like right now as her thoughts distracted her from the task at hand.

She shook her head to clear it, she was here to do a job after all. It made no sense thinking about anything else right now. She directed her drone to plug into the computers and assist with her work. The drone was also unique to her, it was a part of her in a way. Linked directly into her brain in fact. It had a disc shaped body, with three hover pads over top, and six small limbs underneath equipped with tools to aid her work, and lastly a large orange optical sensor built into the main body.

Now that it was plugged in, she could work more efficiently. The data being fed right into her brain as she worked. More Troopers passed by, paying her no mind. That was fine with her, they probably broke the computers for all she knew. She might have to scold them later.

The Viper hissed and clutched at her head, a flood of errors in the code slammed feedback into her brain painfully. She hated when they let it get this bad, her clawed fingers flew across the keyboard, isolating and correcting the corrupted code swiftly. Stopping every few hours to reboot the system, letting the fixes take root. She was lost in her work when an alarm went off.

"That wasn't me!" She hissed quickly, "What's going on?"

Troopers were shouting and rushing to the outside. She could hear weapons fire and explosions now, and growing closer. They were under attack!? But how? This was the middle of nowhere. Wait. Was that why the system was so broken? The Viper dug deeper into the system; her escorts were on alert now as well. Taking up positions to defend the room. She ignored them and kept digging through the code.

"Where is it..." She muttered aloud, "Ah-ha!"

There it was, a backdoor into the system was introduced at some point. Someone from outside had brute forced their way in. Elders know what they accessed; it was impossible to tell. She probably destroyed some of the evidence without realizing it! That's likely how this facility was compromised.

The sounds of battle were getting closer, and more intense. She had to leave, even if the work wasn't done. It was pointless if this place was about to go up in flames!

Stay.

That icy grip returned, holding her in place. Forcing her hands to continue working. It was never this strong before. Why? If the facility was going to fall, wouldn't her life be more important?

Stay. Work.

She couldn't stop herself. Her hands working faster than ever. Her head was starting to hurt, a lot. The Psionic Network was channeling a lot of power into her skull now, that's never happened before. Her body twitched as she pushed back against the network, she was losing the fight though. Why would they do this to her? They needed her open mind to do her job. And yet they were shoving her aside, using her like a puppet! That icy grip only tightened more, cold, unfeeling, creeping deeper into her mind, her body.

She was growing scared, terrified more like. She was trapped, in so many ways. Hostiles outside, getting closer. The Psionic Network's vice over her mind and body. She didn't know what was worse! Was this what it was like for the Troopers? Her sisters, Mutons, Sectoids even? She didn't like it. She hated it! How could they do this to her? HER!? She was in a panic, trying to resist, but it was futile.

Her escorts were shouting, something was right outside. She couldn't look up, her eyes forced to focus on the screens as she worked. The doors were blown open, yet her body didn't move. There was more gunfire and shouting. She managed to look up for one split second. The Troopers were all dead, and she was next! Her glance lasted just long enough to see a human in Kevlar armor train a rifle on her, and pull the trigger.

Everything went black after that.

Later...

She gasped, taking in a huge breath as she jolted back into consciousness. What happened? Pain lanced through her whole body. Last thing she remembered was getting shot. That explained the pain, she blinked and heaved, struggling for breath. How was she still alive? She was still in the same room, so she wasn't moved. She looked around and listened, it was quiet. She must be alone.

"Should count myself...lucky?" She hissed as she got up, thick orange blood oozing out of holes in her hood, arms, and even spots on her tail, she needed to fix that and quickly.

She also spotted damage to her armor, but no penetration.

"Still hurts though..." She thought aloud to herself.

Her drone was still in once piece. The attackers likely didn't notice it, or just ignored it entirely. It thrummed back to life and started floating. The Viper had to find a med kit, stop the bleeding. Luckily these facilities all had the same layout. She knew where to go. Slowly, painfully slithering out of the room. The facility was in shambles. Bodies, Trooper bodies lay scattered. Walls were blown out, scorch marks everywhere, bullet holes marred most surfaces.

"Am I the only one alive?" She asked aloud, already knowing the answer, "I mustn't have been out long. Airships should be arriving soon."

She found a med kit in one of the ruined rooms. The Viper hissed as she used the medical spray over the wounds, luckily all the shots were through and through. She wouldn't need to try and dig out any bullets. It still hurt a lot but it would have to do for now. As she was treating her wounds, she noticed something. That icy grasp in the back of her mind, it was gone! She only felt her own thoughts, but how? She winced as she reached behind her hood, feeling along the scales of her neck. No damage, or pain. The chip in her skull was still intact, then again if it was damaged, she wouldn't be able to control her drone, right? So, why was she no longer connected to the Psionic Network?

"The connection must've broken because I was dead for a moment?" She said aloud.

It made sense, especially with how she woke up. She must've flat lined just long enough to be deemed dead, and the connection to the global network was cut. Would it stay that way? She didn't know for sure; the network was far beyond her. She likely would be reconnected to it when ADVENT arrived to clean up this disaster of a place. It was a strange feeling though, there wasn't a void in the back of her mind from its absence. She didn't feel off not having the network looking over her shoulder either. Did she really want it back?

"What am I thinking!?" She exclaimed aloud as she clutched her head, "Just up and leave? They'll hunt me down for sure! But then again...if I was dead, then they wrote me off already..."

What would happen when they arrived and she was still alive? Would they just take her to another facility and reconnect her to the network? Back to business as usual, or would they do something else with her? It was starting to bother her. Without the network her mind was starting to overthink anything and everything. It was giving her a headache.

"Is this what it's like to be disconnected from the network? It sucks." She hissed, "And why am I talking to myself all of a sudden!?"

Sure, she spoke aloud a bunch, but there was always someone around to hear it. A Trooper, Viper, Muton, just someone. Even if they didn't bother to give her a reply. But now, she was completely alone. This was really throwing her off, her thought processes were all out of whack now. She needed time, time to make an informed decision, time she didn't have if she stayed put.

"Guess I'm going AWOL..." The Viper sighed as she gave in to the idea, "But I won't get far on my own."

The idea of escape helped her mind focus, that's what she needed. Something for her mind to focus on, and not running wild with idleness. She quickly grabbed whatever other medical supplies she could carry, her drone following closely. There was no way she'd be able to slither far enough to avoid being seen when ADVENT returns. She needed a vehicle. Slithering outside all she could see was destruction. The drop ship they had kept here was a wreck.

"That thing isn't getting off the ground at all. Maybe there's a car around here?" The Viper muttered to herself.

She was starting to annoy herself with that habit. Was she this insufferable to everyone else? She shook her head and hissed before moving on. Her drone spotted it before she did, a lone ADVENT car.

"Still in one piece! Never drove a car before, but I better learn fast." She quickly slithered over, unsurprised it was locked.

"Well? Get it open!" She shouted at the drone before pausing, "...I think I've lost my mind. I'm talking to a drone now."

The drone didn't waste time, it moved to the hood of the car and latched on, quickly bypassing the vehicle's computer. The door unlocked and the car thrummed to life.

"Think you can drive?" The Viper looked at the drone as she opened the door, dropping what little supplies she had into the passenger side.

The drone let go of the hood and slipped into the car before latching onto the dash. The Viper shuddered as it connected the car to her brain this time. It was an icy tingling sensation, though different from interfacing with computers, smaller somehow. She shrugged it off, she was connected to the car now. She could direct it with a thought now. But she still had to figure out how to sit in the thing. She hissed as she fumbled with the driver's seat. It took her longer than she dared to admit to, but she managed to force it all the way back.

"Let's hope this works." The Viper muttered as she crammed herself inside and shut the door, "Even for me this is tight. But I've wasted enough time. I need to get out of here."

The link through the drone seemed to be working perfectly, a simple thought and the car lurched into motion. Quickly gaining speed before zooming down the road and out of the remote facility. She did her best to focus on the actual driving, for now. Get as far away as she could, this was tricky to pull off. So many minute changes needed to be done to keep on the road. But the drone was handling the brunt of the load.

"Just get as far as I can, and just...improvise from there. Easy right?" She said aloud.

The Viper continued on the road in silence, hoping this gamble was worth her life.

May, 19** th ***_ 2033_*

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!" The Viper hissed quietly as she slithered through a broken window.

Three weeks! Alone! Surviving as best she could. She had to ditch the car after only a few hours. An ADVENT drop ship had quickly tracked her down and tried to shoot her to pieces! She had to ditch the car and flee into the forest. Luckily, she wasn't pursued. But it made it quite clear she had made the right choice to run. And so, she kept on the move as best she could, only ever stopping long enough to sleep. Food was tricky however, with how active she was now she was burning calories fast. The Viper scavenged as best she could, snatching up rodents and birds whenever she had the opportunity. It wasn't much, but it was just enough to keep her going. At least for now.

Now however she was in a bind, no longer in the forest. But in what was left of Pre- ADVENT City. Anything edible was next to impossible to find. What was worse, she was being hunted herself! By humans no less! At least they appeared to be human. They were garbed in dark long coats, their faces obscured by masks, and armed with rifles. Worse still, they were sneaky! She'd only been in these ruins a couple of days, and they managed to sneak up on her three times already!

"Just who are these guys?" She said in a hushed tone, speaking to her drone yet again.

She was starting to resign herself to talking to herself, but using the drone as a stand-in helped her keep her thoughts organized.

"I need to get out of this nightmare of a city. I'm better off in the forest." She mumbled as she listened for movement outside of the ruined store she was hiding in now.

She still had her plasma pistol, but it didn't have the same range these guys did. They could shoot her well before she could hope to shoot them. They had the clear advantage; she wasn't a trained soldier either. Sure, she had some combat training programmed into her, but that wasn't her purpose. She was meant to work with technology, not shoot people. The pistol was just for emergencies. Maybe she could improvise some sort of decoy? She was lucky they didn't shoot her drone down yet either. That would've been really bad. As a matter of safety, she had it cling to the back of her armor. Better than letting it be a target on its own.

Thoonk!

"Already!?" She hissed as she ducked behind a counter as a bullet struck the floor next to her tail, "They're fast, and persistent!"

The Viper was trapped in the building. She'd get shot if she tried to flee through the back, that almost happened once already. Trying to get to the upper floors would also be a foolish idea, she'd be even more trapped. That left her with one other possibility, the basement. A lot of old city buildings like this one had joined basements. If she was lucky, she could slip into one of the adjacent buildings and elude her pursuers. At least for a while longer.

"Where's the basement...basement...basement...ah-ha!" She spotted a half-rotted door with a faded sign reading Basement.

She didn't waste a second and dove right for the door, sliding down the stairs with all haste. The space was crammed full of junk and who knew what. But it seemed the space was fully enclosed. She could hear voices and footsteps above her already. They weren't wasting any time either!

"This isn't good..." The Viper looked around in a panic then she scanned the room, for anything that could help her.

Then she spotted a pile of propane tanks, possibly stored here by survivors at some point. It was better than nothing. She just hoped they weren't empty, as she drew her pistol and fired.

BOOOOOM!

She hissed as she was blinded for a moment, and knocked off her tail by the explosion.

"The basement! Hurry!" A voice shouted from upstairs.

The Viper shook her head clear and saw a giant hole in the wall, she didn't think beyond that and dove right through it. Anything was better than being cornered! She immediately sought cover before taking her bearings. She was now in the city sewers! Well, the underground maintenance tunnels that tied into the sewers. So, she was surrounded by brickwork, pipes, steam, and whatever was making that foul odor.

She had to consciously stop her tongue from flicking out to taste the air. It was wretched and made her gag in disgust.

"This is horrible..." She scrunched up her snout a bit.

"It went into the sewers!" She heard a voice shout.

"It's as good as gone then. We need to move before the Lost show up." Another voice said.

"We were so close!" A third protested.

"After that explosion the Lost will be on us in minutes. It's not worth it." The first said.

"Fine, let's get out of here then. That snake is Lost fodder." The third said.

Things went quiet after that, the Viper remaining still. She did her best to remain quiet and listen. After several minutes it seemed she was in the clear. She sighed with relief.

"What's a Lost?" She asked aloud, "If they were concerned about it, I probably don't really want to know."

She didn't want to think about it anymore. She was reasonably safe now, but she needed to get out of this city. And unfortunately, this foul underground was her best bet.

"Hopefully I'll have some luck for once and I can follow these tunnels to the edge of the city and slip back out into the forest. I stand a better chance out there than I do in this forsaken ruin of a city!" She hissed as she picked a direction and started slithering off in hopes of escape.

As she moved, she took notice that there was still electricity down here. That could be useful, where there was electricity there usually was a computer of some description. Perhaps she could connect to it and find a map of the city or something else that could boost her odds of survival? She opted to keep an eye out for such a thing as she moved. Stopping only briefly to shoot out her long tongue, snatching up a rat that scampered by. With a sharp tug, she reeled her tongue back in and swallowed the rat in one quick gulp! At least there were vermin she could catch down here, disgusted by it as she might be. Any food was better than none at this point.

"At least I won't starve down here...still I need to be careful." She thought aloud yet again, this habit was getting on her already stressed nerves.

She lost track of time eventually, just following tunnels at random. It was an impossible maze down here. She stopped at surface access points here and there, climbing up to peek outside at the streets. She was still deep in the city, but making progress slowly. At least she hoped she was. The Viper was starting to have a hard time keeping calm, fearing she'd get so completely lost she'd never escape the city.

Then she heard gunfire down one of the tunnels. Now she had a more tangible fear. She ducked behind a stack of old oil drums and listened. More gunfire and shouting, were those ADVENT Troopers she was hearing? She peeked out from her hiding spot but didn't see anything. The Viper listened again, hearing the distant gunfire and shouting. It was echoing from a junction ahead.

"Maybe they have a computer I can access?" The Viper whispered to herself, weighing her options, "Or anything I could make use of really."

The gunfire was getting more intense, something serious was going down there. She sighed, and against her better judgement (for all the good it's done her so far) she moved in closer to the sounds of battle. The Viper wasn't going to rush in like a fool. She was smart enough to slither closer in short bursts. Listening in as the sounds got clearer. It was ADVENT alright. Troopers and possibly other ADVENT units as well? Some of the voices sounded different from what she was familiar with. She also picked up on what was possibly human voices. Did ADVENT send in troops to deal with the humans she had encountered earlier?

She slithered closer, taking cover behind a brick wall. She was much closer now, she dared take a peek around the corner. She could see at least six or seven ADVENT Troopers taking cover, their backs to her. They were in an intense firefight with a group of humans! Ones similar to the one she saw weeks ago, when she was shot. She still wasn't over that. But right now, that wasn't important, she focused more on the battle going on. It looked like a squad of four? No five humans! She spotted a fifth human huddled behind some heavy-duty crates, this one wasn't armed and was that a lab coat?

An ADVENT defector maybe? The Viper vaguely recalled hearing about such things happening in some of the city centers. From human civilians she'd crossed paths with while doing her work. But that was mainly human gossip, right? She didn't have all the facts; all she knew was the armed humans were protecting them. The Viper considered watching the firefight play out. But that would put herself at risk from both sides. She was torn on what to do. Slip past? Join the fight? For which side? She slipped back into her cover fully, clutching her head as her brain went into overdrive.

"What do I do?" She said in a hushed tone, "I help ADVENT the humans shoot me, I help the humans they still shoot me, and ADVENT too! I'm screwed either way."

The Viper was scrambling for ideas, solutions, anything that could help sway her mind.

BOOOM!

She jumped at the sound of the explosion, covering her mouth to stifle a surprised hiss. She peeked back around and the Troopers were reduced to three. Someone must've had a grenade. The remaining Troopers were injured, but almost robotically ignored their wounds and continued to fight, moving to fresh cover as they pushed the humans back. One of the humans seemed wounded, clearly in pain but continuing to fight back.

It looked like the humans had overextended, and are now paying for it as they got pushed back. The Viper watched on, conflicted about what was going on and what she should do. Who should she help? Should she even try? At this very moment she could tip the scales either way. Or let it play out. She needed to scavenge whatever she could from the results of this battle. It might be better to just help it to its conclusion and hope for the best.

"I hope I'm making the right choice." She spoke to herself as she again drew her pistol, peeked around the corner, took aim, and after a moment's hesitation pulled the trigger.

TSEW!

The Viper watched as one of the Troopers dropped dead with a fresh hole burned through his head. She froze for a moment, staring in shock. She just killed someone! For the first time in her life! Sure, she was trained to do so, but it wasn't her designed purpose. She never had need to use that training before her disconnection from the Psionic Network. She wasn't sure how to feel about it. Then again, she didn't have a chance to even process it! Rounds from magnetic rifles were coming her way! She hissed as she ducked behind her cover just in time.

The remaining two Troopers didn't take kindly to her ambush. But it gave the humans the opening they needed. They rushed the Troopers while they were distracted and swiftly gunned them down. She didn't dare peek around the corner for fear of more shots going her way. Her heart was pounding, adrenaline pumping, her lungs felt tight as if they'd collapse any second.

"Who's over there!? Identify yourself!" Shouted a voice from around the corner, and they weren't far away!

"Oh no..." The Viper tensed up in a panic, "What do I do? What do I even say?"

Her mind raced as she tried to come up with a solution, she ended up going with the first thing that came to mind.

"I-I'll come out if you promise not to shoot!" She said loudly, eyes clenched shut as she hoped it would work, "Just...no matter what please don't shoot. I-I'm just trying to survive out here."

There seemed to be some hushed talking, she couldn't make it out, but waited silently as she tried to calm herself. The Viper seemed to be waiting for eternity before they finally spoke up.

"Alright, as long as you don't." The voice replied finally, "But we're not lowering our weapons.

"...F-Fair enough. I-I'm coming out." The Viper sighed and steeled herself before slowly slithering around the corner her clawed hands above her head.

"Shit a Viper!?" One of the humans exclaimed as they all stepped back.

She tensed up but stayed still, trying to be as non-threatening as she could possibly be.

"Hurry up and put it down!" Another yelled.

"Hey we promised!" Said the third, the one she spoke to a moment ago, "Besides you saw how she capped that, Trooper."

"She was probably aiming for your ugly mug and missed." Remarked the second human.

"I...uh I was aiming for the Trooper actually... I'm a-a deserter, I'm not with ADVENT. Not anymore at least. I'm just trying to survive. I don't want to get into another fight." The Viper said slowly.

She had a better look at the group now. They all wore worn out Kevlar vests, three male, one female. All armed with primitive ballistic rifles, behind them a good distance was the fifth. Another female in a lab coat. She was hiding behind some oil drums further behind the armed ones. But listening intently to the conversation.

"Bullshit!" The first human (one of the males) yelled, possibly the leader of the squad, "As if you'd just up and leave ADVENT."

"She clearly did." The Viper said as she nodded toward the scientist hiding behind them, "What makes it so impossible that I couldn't do the same?"

"Aliens don't defect. You're all too loyal to your masters." He spat with anger and hate.

"Loyal? More like pranced about like a puppet doing their bidding." The Viper scoffed, "I spent my whole life until recently with a voice in the back of my head telling me what to do. When to do it. Granted I had more leeway than I'm sure others got. But I was still a puppet, a tool. Now I'm free. ADVENT wants me dead just as much as they want you dead. Believe me or not, but I'm not going to fight you."

Their leader hesitated as he listened to her words. Staring at her from down the sights of his rifle.

"What do we do Captain?" The second human (this one female) asked, still on alert.

"We wait for extraction. It should be here any minute. As for you Snake, you did help us. So, I'll let you live to repay the favor. Don't make me regret it." Their leader said as he slowly lowered his weapon.

"Are you sure about this sir?" The other armed female asked.

"I'm sure. We have it outgunned anyway." The captain said.

The other three lowered their weapons, but kept their fingers on the triggers. Smart, she noted.

"I'll make sure to capitalize on your mercy. Perhaps I can give you a bit of an edge in the future?" The Viper asked, "If there's an ADVENT computer I can tap into their network and give you information. I was a technician before I...departed. I know my way around their systems."

"You want to call in more ADVENT? You really think we'd fall for such an obvious trap?" The female soldier growled out as she raised her rifle again.

"U-um if I may interject?"

Everyone turned around to face the scientist who spoke up, "Perhaps we should give her a chance? She's different from other Vipers."

"One of a kind in fact." The Viper chimed in with a small bit of pride in that fact.

"Fine. But the moment it tries something it'll be Swiss Cheese." The captain growled after a moment to ponder the idea, "I'm already bending my shoot first ask questions later policy. There's an old terminal over here. Keep those claws where we can see them. And that tongue in your mouth."

"Thank you, I'll gladly avoid using my tongue. It smells horrid down here enough, I'd rather not taste it too." The Viper lowered her arms but kept them visible, "I noticed one of your number was injured, I have a spare med spray. It'll at least stop the bleeding and prevent infection. You're welcome to it, if you don't mind parting with a backpack?"

She didn't get a response to her offer or question. So, she quietly slithered after the captain. The others kept their distance but kept watch over her every move. She did her best to not startle them, she was surrounded and she hadn't gotten this far only to be killed by stupidity. The captain pointed to a collection of ADVENT hardware that was hooked up to what was left of the power grid.

"Oh, perfect. I can work with this." The Viper moved up to the main console and went right to work, "Feels like years since I touched a console. This shouldn't take long at all to do, I think? I've no idea what could be on this thing."

It was something she could focus her attention on fully. She tuned out the humans around her and got to it, the system functioned just as she remembered it. They hadn't made any serious changes to it, and the encryption was still borderline laughable. At least to her anyway, she likely wrote at least half of it herself. She woke up her drone and connected it to the nearby server. She probably should have warned them about it.

"What is that?" One asked startled.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry! That's my drone. It helps me work. Let me see here...I'm seeing blueprints for this city. And for several other cities in this region... an ADVENT rail line? But it doesn't go anywhere? I don't understand?" The Viper spoke aloud as files started popping up, she quickly copied everything she found to her drone for later.

There was a lot of data, much of it had little meaning to her though. She kept seeing certain words being repeated all over the place, in dozens, no hundreds of files. It was so confusing, and frightening. Just how little did she actually know about ADVENT? It made her shudder to think about what they could possibly be doing. She copied it all down anyway, and made another copy that the humans could take for themselves. It was overwhelming the amount of information being relayed to this console, almost as if...

"Nononononono!" The Viper hissed as she disconnected her drone from the server, pulled out a data pad that was conveniently plugged in and spat all over the server.

Unlike other Vipers, she didn't have venom that she could spit out into a noxious toxic cloud. No, her venom glands were redesigned to secret a thick gelatinous goo. Heavily laced with a nanite payload. On contact with anything it would discharge a powerful current and fry any electronics it touched. She rarely had need to use it, all it was really good for was shorting out the occasional malfunctioning MEC. But in this case perfect for frying a server.

The equipment instantly surged and sparked as the hardware was overloaded with current and burnt out entirely, rendering it all useless. The humans were all startled and backed away from the Viper, weapons trained on her.

"The fuck was that!?" The captain demanded.

"Sorry! Sorry! I was so lost in grabbing files. I-I failed to realize it was a trap! I'm so stupid! I slipped right into it. I think I fried the whole thing in time to avoid a lock on this location. But none of us should stay here. Everything I grabbed is on that data pad. Take it and run!" The Viper spat out her words so fast she barely understood herself.

"See! It was a trick!" One of the females yelled.

"Stow it...Finally! Drop down the ropes already we're in a bit of a hurry." The captain said as he had a hand to his ear, a radio maybe?

"Was that our evac?" The other male asked.

"Sure was, let's get out of here." The captain nodded as he snatched the data pad from the console.

A series of ropes dropped down from a hole in the ceiling.

"I hope it helps." The Viper said, "Good luck."

"If you're on the up and up, same to you. Screw us over, pray to whatever you pray to that we don't cross paths again." The captain warned as his soldiers and the scientist grabbed hold of the ropes and were pulled up and out.

"Noted." The Viper nodded as she watched the captain take the last rope and disappear.

She sighed, taking a moment to breath. That was a stressful situation, a shame she couldn't get a backpack from them. She needed something for carrying additional items, her armor was sorely lacking in storage. The Viper would need to improvise on front that later, for now she had to get out of the area before more ADVENT showed up. Much as she wanted to salvage anything else, she lacked the time.

"I need to get out of here, and fast." She said aloud, "Right, show me what you got."

She spoke to the drone again, calling up the maps it now stored via her personal data pad. It was easy to pinpoint her location, and plan a route in her mind thanks to the link with her drone. Confident they were accurate she took off in a fast slither. Life was easier in the forests than it was in the city ruins.

Meanwhile...

"This is Firebrand returning to base." The pilot reported as she steered the aircraft out of the ruined city.

"Good work out there securing the VIP. Smooth mission?" A gruff male voice spoke out over the radio.

"Up till the end Central, Ditz took a few hits. But she'll recover I imagine." The captain replied, "There were more hostiles present than expected. So, we got spread a bit thin."

"Understood, I'll have a medic meet you on the landing pad." Central said in understanding, "Sorry you were caught unawares, we didn't have as much prep time as we usually do for pickups like this."

"There's another thing. Though I doubt you'd believe me if I told you." The captain said with some reservation.

"What is it?" Central asked.

"We had a bit of help, from an unlikely source. And...I mean unlikely." The captain said as he paused for a second, "A Viper of all things showed up and shot at the Troopers from behind."

"Come again Captain?" Central asked, his tone restrained.

"A Viper. Different from the ones we usually come across. Smaller, gray scaled, talkative." The captain said, "Looking back it... she looked terrified."

"She had a drone with her too." Piped up one of the other soldiers said.

"A drone?" Central asked.

"I was getting to that Disco." The captain rolled his eyes, "Yes, the Viper was in possession of a drone. Not one I've ever seen before. It didn't look like a Security Bit or a Medi-Drone. Said something about it helping her work as some technician or something. Might be something Tygan and Shen could dig into. Even gave us a data pad loaded with Intel. Whether it's useful or not would have to be verified by them. That's not in my expertise."

"So, you just let it go?" Central asked.

"We were rather pressed for time. I'll give you the full details when we get back to base." The captain said.

"I want to know everything, every detail." Central said, "I'll be waiting on the landing pad."

"Looking forward to it sir." The captain agreed with a sigh.

The squad remained silent after that as they awaited their arrival home.

June, 12** th ***_ 2033_*

The Viper sighed as she carefully set down the bag she had been carrying. It was about a month after her city adventure. She was exhausted, but she'd managed to escape without further attack from humans or ADVENT. She'd wandered around for a few days in the forest but managed to find a safe haven of sorts. A fire watch tower, still in reasonable condition. It looked like it had been used as a shelter at one point. There were piles of old camping gear scattered around the elevated structure, and what must've passed for electronics years before ADVENT hardware became widespread.

Since no one else seemed to be using the tower the Viper elected to make use of it. Far enough from the city that she was confident those hunters or whoever they were wouldn't come looking. And high up enough she had a good vantage point all around. She did her best to make herself at home. Slipping out in the early hours to scavenge for food and supplies. Thanks to her vantage point she spotted cabins in the distance. Some sort of resort by the overgrown signage. And it paid off for her in a big way. She'd found a large sturdy hiking backpack, medical supplies that were still intact and safe enough to use, and no end of electronics and camping gear.

She spent weeks slipping into the collection of cabins to gather everything she could carry and bring it all back to the tower. She was certain there was still a lot of things she could scavenge, but for now she'd take stock of what she had.

"Okay so we got several alcohol stoves. Fuel for said stoves, should last a month or two if I'm careful with it. Seven laptops, two desktops, how functional it all is? Debatable right now. Couple old HAM radios whatever that means, still might be useful." The Viper continued rattling off what she had gathered the last few weeks, "A camping hatchet, multi-tools, found a fully loaded tool box too. Some canned goods, though I don't think it'll be safe to consume any of it."

She continued with her checklist, she even found some books on hunting, and cooking. Those would likely come in handy for her. While she had some in her words 'pre-installed knowledge' of how to survive on her own, it still paled in comparison to the real thing. So, having books on such subjects would be instrumental. She even came across fishing gear, something worth trying at least. And a wide selection of old clothing, still secure in numerous luggage containers. It gave her an idea, if she got rid of her armor perhaps, she'd be less threatening if she crossed paths with humans again? Odds were still high she'd still get shot at. And without the extra protection of said armor.

"Didn't really do a whole lot for me to begin with though." She said aloud as she glanced down at herself.

Her armor was little more than some thin alloy plates, tough and light-weight but not exactly bullet proof. The armor was all scuffed and dented from bullet impacts already, so it likely wouldn't be of much use for much longer anyway. It only covered her torso region anyway, keeping her heart, one of her lungs and her modified venom sacs protected. Most of her organs were spread out through her long form, protected by dense muscle and scales. She let out a soft laugh as she recalled hearing a rumor that a Viper's breasts were in fact their venom sacs. This was obviously false, what good would it do to have those sacs exposed in such a manner? She didn't really pay it much mind herself anyway, unlike the stock Vipers her chest was more slimmed down and flat. More befitting of a quasi-reptilian creature.

Still, it wouldn't do to be completely bare either, she was only partially cold-blooded after all. Regulating her body temp wasn't perfect, thus appropriate clothing was an absolute must. Thankfully she could dress light for now. It was the start of summer. The Viper removed her armor, tossing it aside before stretching and feeling over the scales of her chest and back.

"It's nice to let my scales breathe finally. Plus, I should be molting any day now anyway." She glanced to her drone as it hovered in place silently, "I should see about making some tweaks to your hardware too. Make certain our former masters can't find us."

She dug around through the clothing and managed to find a simple white t-shirt. It looked about her size, though it took some getting on thanks to her hood. The shirt hung low on her body, covering up more than her armor had. The sleeves were far too wide and short for her arms though. But she shrugged it off, it didn't matter too much. She'd look through the rest of the clothing later, keep what could fit her and repurpose the rest. She shifted her focus to the drone for now instead. While she was sure that she wasn't being tracked, they'd have found her in a matter of hours if she was. It was better to be sure, the Viper popped open the tool box and summoned the drone closer before carefully shutting it down.

She shuddered a bit, feeling like a portion of her brain suddenly went missing. While it didn't adversely affect her, it was still an uncomfortable sensation. But still better than trying to work on the drone while it was on, that had...painful results that she dared not repeat. Thankfully the toolbox had everything she needed for the task at hand and she went right to work with a screwdriver. It'd been a long time since she tinkered with the drone, making her own adjustments to it for better efficiency and reliability. She knew it inside and out, making this task easy as she carefully dug through the hardware inside. She did spot the transmitter buried deep inside, but strangely it was already burnt out. And only that component, which was even stranger.

How did that happen? She didn't have the equipment necessary to dig into that query, she'd stash it away for now and explore that at a later time. Fortunately, the transmitter wasn't needed for the drone to function properly, it was more of a security measure for ADVENT to commandeer the drone if it was deemed necessary. But aside from that piece of hardware there wasn't anything hidden or otherwise, but to be sure she linked the drone to her data pad and poured over its operating system. On the lookout for hidden subroutines that were installed without her knowledge. Again, she came up clean, but she would still be cautious for the time being. Better safe than dead at this point. Her mind at ease for now she got to work properly getting herself settled in.

June, 30** th ***_ 2033_*

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsssssssssssssssssssssSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH...ch...te...s...a...ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsssssssssssss-

CLICK

"Still barely getting any signals at all." The Viper huffed as she shut off the HAM radio.

A few days back she had gotten the power working in the tower, there was an array of still intact solar panels on the roof. She spent the last few days picking apart all the electronics she had scrounged up, jerry rigging a laptop into working order. She was getting a bit frustrated with the radio; she fixed it up as best she could. But it was technology far older than she was. She was hoping to be able to listen in on any transmissions ADVENT or otherwise. And hopefully keep her own position hidden, should she try to reach out to someone.

"Hmmm...maybe connecting the computer to the radio wasn't such a good idea?" She mumbled as she looked at the exposed hardware.

Perhaps some of the components were in worse shape than she realized? She'd tried all the frequencies the radio could reach but didn't get more than static. Then it dawned on her, the antenna! She'd worked on everything but the antenna set up outside. It probably needed power and possibly recalibrating, that much she knew how to do, having done similar at some ADVENT facilities.

"Shouldn't be too hard to do." She glanced at the drone, "Mind helping me get the antenna working?"

The drone simply stared at her with its optical sensor. She wasn't sure why she bothered talking to it, it couldn't respond back. It had no personality installed at all either, it simply followed whatever she asked of it. She saw herself in the drone upon reflection, just a tool for ADVENT. She wasn't made for her personality, just to do a job and nothing else beyond that. The fact that she was self-aware made it far worse for her than it did the drone. It didn't question its existence, question its function, it just followed its programming.

She didn't either, not until she was disconnected from the Psionic Network at least. Now that her mind was free of its grasp? She grew to realize how little control she actually had over her own life. The Viper sighed as she grabbed some tools, and slithered out of the tower. The antenna was built just a few meters from it. She went right to work, almost half paying attention as she and her drone worked in tandem. Her mind continued to think back to her life.

It disturbed her how little of her life was her own, and such a short life too for that matter. She'd pieced things together and realized she was only three years old! Three! She couldn't even recall any memories of a childhood; she likely didn't have any. All she could remember was her work for ADVENT , and the network being in the background the entire time. Always present, looking over her shoulder. Her entire life was her work, and the network telling her what do, when to do it, when to eat or sleep. She had no free time, no hobbies, she couldn't even really consider those she interacted with regularly as friends either.

Perhaps that's why she was trying to get the radio working, she wanted, no needed someone to talk to. She was all alone, and she didn't want to be. She theorized that was why she spoke her thoughts aloud and tried talking to her drone. Some means of compensating for her isolation. She snapped her head back to the present, she needed to focus on the now and the future. Not the past, not the shell of an existence she had been living till now.

"Well, the controls are rusty but still seem workable." The Viper said as she examined the controls for the antenna, "Just needs power I think."

She looked around and spotted a thick cable that ran along the ground and then up into the tower. It must've been connected to those solar panels as well. The Viper got to work removing overgrowth from around the cable, getting it free of the ground while looking for where it was supposed to plug in. The plug was buried in dirt and foliage, it took a bit more effort to clear it out.

"Alright, let's see if this works." The Viper positioned the cable and jammed it into the port.

There were a few sparks and she jumped back in surprise, but the antenna seemed to have powered up. She checked on the controls and everything seemed to be in order. With her drone's help she fine-tuned it just to be sure. Now to test the radio. She was almost giddy now as she quickly returned to the tower.

"I hope that did the trick." She said as she got her cobbled together computer and got the scramble software, she wrote up and running, "Hoping this software also works."

With some trepidation she switched the radio back on. There was static, but it wasn't as severe as before. That was a good sign. She carefully, slowly scanned through the frequencies. Nothing was really coming through so far as she continued scanning. Then she came upon a frequency that had no static at all, she was worried the radio had broken down suddenly. But everything was working properly.

"Maybe if I..." The Viper hesitated before reaching for the microphone to the radio, "H-hello?"

She was met with silence for a good few long minutes, then she realized the microphone wasn't connected or even switched on. She rolled her eyes and plugged it in, making sure it was switched on.

"Hello? A-anyone receiving me?" The Viper asked.

Again, silence for a good minute, when suddenly there was some crackling.

"Hello? Is someone actually out there?" There was a voice on the other end!

It was a deeper almost gravelly voice. But it was a voice!

"Yes! Yes! It's wonderful to hear another voice!" The Viper almost hissed out in joy, she needed to suppress the hissing.

"It sure is! We were beginning to think no one else was alive out in the surrounding wilderness." The voice replied.

"We?" The Viper asked.

"Yeah, me and a bunch of other survivors. We turn this thing on periodically to see if anyone else is alive out in no man's land. I'm Bruce by the way." The voice said with a sigh, "We were beginning to lose hope. Haven't heard from another soul in months."

There were people out in the wilds trying to contact others?

"That must be nice, I'm all on my own." The Viper said, "My uhh...name is complicated. I'm just happy to have someone to speak to."

"Well, whoever you are, you sound alright in my book. Say though you're not a Hybrid, are you?" Bruce asked unexpectedly.

"No, no, not a Hybrid. Why?" The Viper asked thrown off by the abrupt question.

"Group of Hybrids out there looking for other Hybrids to join up with them. Something about fighting back against the false gods or such. While we got no hate towards them, they're a bit on the aggressive side. So, we're cautious about having a chat with em again." Bruce explained, "And you sure don't sound like a rogue Sectoid either."

This Bruce was right to the point, and smart if he was asking such questions right away. Were there issues in the past? Perhaps she should be honest?

"Rogue Sectoid? What's with the interrogation?" She asked.

"Sorry, sorry. We've had...incidents in the past. So, we need to be more careful. That's why they got me running the radio. I'm pretty direct." Bruce admitted.

"I noticed. Doesn't me talking tell you I'm not a Sectoid? I thought they couldn't speak?" The Viper asked confused.

"Oh, they can talk alright. Damn network keeps them shut, because apparently, they don't know when to shut up! Just rapid-fire speaking." Bruce said with a bit of a sigh and a chuckle, "They're especially rare to find, far as we've seen. Crossed paths with two traveling together last year, I think? Both were serious chatterboxes. But luckily, they weren't interested in sticking around."

"I see..." The Viper stared at the radio perplexed.

"Sorry I'm rambling now. So, since my assumptions are clearly off... Are you human by chance?" Bruce went right for the metaphorical Berserker in the room.

She froze, unsure of how to respond to that direct question. She got lucky some weeks back, but she wasn't sure how much she could push that luck. He'd already made several assumptions about her not being human, just by her voice in fact. Could she lie and get away with it?

"Are you?" She responded with instead.

Silence...

"No, I'm a Muton actually." Bruce came back with after a few long minutes.

"Come again?" The Viper asked as her brain ground to a halt.

"As I said, I'm a Muton. Better to just be upfront and get that out of the way." Bruce said.

"That's...impossible...?" She said very much confused.

"Too articulate for you?" Bruce laughed, "Before you ask, my implant got busted in an explosion a couple of years back. Shrapnel right to the back of the skull. One moment, full on obey the Elders, and the next running for my life. Because fuck doing what the Elders want. I'm out to live for myself. And the people I travel with. Who are human, aside from myself. Oh, and two Vipers."

A Muton was disconnected from the network? But they were supposed to be heavily dependent on it to function right? And he mentioned rogue Sectoids? How could they break free? Wait did he say Vipers?

"D-did you say Vipers?" She asked.

"Yep, two of em. Pretty shy actually." Bruce remarked, "But they do their best to help out. Scouting and guarding our perimeter and such. We really need more paper though. They can't speak."

"I'm not the only one then..." The Viper mumbled.

"What was that?" Bruce asked.

"S-sorry, I-I'm actually a Viper as well." She said quickly, before really thinking.

Again, there was silence, and some shuffling going on, maybe distant voices?

"Are you really?" Bruce asked finally, "Zero and Rita are losing their minds right now."

"I most certainly am! And who?" The Viper asked.

"Our Vipers, Zero and Rita. They're both quite excited to know that they're not as alone as they thought. And quite frustrated that they can't speak to you directly." Bruce said, "I'm just surprised you can speak at all."

"Vipers generally can speak. Not the chattiest thanks to the network though. I wouldn't know too much about why your friends can't. I wasn't... built to be well versed in biology." The Viper said, "I'm more technically inclined."

"I see, okay, okay Rita, I'll ask her." Bruce said as he spoke to someone else, "Rita is begging me to ask you for your serial number."

"My serial number...? Why?" The Viper asked confused now, what good was knowing that?

"She won't tell me, but she keeps insisting." Bruce said with a sigh, "Never seen her so energetic. Zero either."

"Right... I'm T.A.U. Zero-Six" She answered finally.

"T.A.U.? Never heard of that line before. Then again, I'm not familiar with the Viper templates." Bruce said, "Neither has Rita it seems. Is that what you were hoping for? Another from your line? Sorry you were disappointed. Still, she is a Viper, that still counts for something right?"

"Sorry I let her down." The Viper frowned a bit, "I haven't met any others in my line either. It's just me far as I know."

"Well, I appreciate the honesty Six. Can I call you Six? Better than just saying you all the time." Bruce asked quickly, "And also more personal than just rattling off a serial number. I've long since forgotten mine."

"Uhh...yes?" The Viper rubbed her chin in thought, "I...I honestly hadn't even thought about it. I've been so focused on just staying alive."

"I don't blame you. The group I'm with gave me my name. I haven't come up with anything better so I've stuck to it. Rita came up with hers, and Zero seems to be unsure herself." Bruce explained, "So I figure you can use that until you can come up with something more suitable for yourself."

"I'll have to think about it. But I suppose Six can work as a stand-in for now." The Viper said.

"Wonderful. Unfortunately, I have to shut off the radio now. We only run it in short bursts. That and I gotta talk to the bosses about this. It's very rare we get others over the radio. There's a procedure to all this you know? But hopefully we'll be in touch again soon." Bruce explained quickly.

"Oh...I understand. I hope we can speak again in the future." The now christened Six said sadly.

"Don't be so glum, now you know that you're not alone in this." Bruce said reassuringly, "We'll reach out as soon as we can. Stay safe."

"R-right. Goodbye, and stay safe yourself." Six returned the farewell.

The radio went quiet after that so she shut it off. The Viper sighed heavily as she coiled up on her improvised bedding. She finally found someone that sounded at least friendly, but they only got to speak for a few short minutes. She felt like she had just made a connection to someone, only to promptly lose it.

"I guess it's just us still." She glanced at the drone.

She let out a soft depressed hiss, feeling even more alone than she did a short while ago. She was tempted to turn the radio back on, but he had made a valid point. She shouldn't leave it on at all times, lest she risk giving her location away. Either to ADVENT , or someone else just as unpleasant. Maybe in a few hours she'd try again. For now, she was just going to sulk a bit in her isolation. And hope that she wasn't truly as alone as she felt.

Two weeks later...

It'd been two weeks since she had made contact, and there hadn't been a response since. Six, as she had decided to stick to for now had gotten rather depressed by the lack of contact. It really drove home how starved she was for contact with another person. Still, she did her best to not dwell on it. Going out to forage for anything she could find useful helped. She'd also been studying those hunting books. Doing her best to apply the knowledge within to her advantage. Old foods, well preserved or not were harder to come by. Six needed to find alternatives, or she'd be forced on the move again. She wasn't ready for that, not if she can hold out longer.

Six did her best to hide her own tracks and presence, she had a close call with an ADVENT dropship that flew by a few days back. Now she was growing paranoid about being discovered. She'd recently molted as well, and being cautious she burned the discarded skin. She didn't want to just leave it around, and she didn't have any use for it either. Her paranoia was getting the better of her, enough that she dared travel farther than she usually did. She was hoping to find some means of security. The resort had security cameras, but they were mounted in a way she couldn't get them down without them just being destroyed.

Thus, with a great deal of trepidation she decided to take the gamble and venture back into those city ruins. It would take couple days trek to get there. She was terrified, but finding electronics were far easier to salvage in the city than at that resort. She'd already more or less picked the place clean. Now she had to put her life on the line to find what she needed. Six was better prepared this time. At least she hoped she was.

July 14** th ***_ 2033_*

Now that she was back in the city, she was incredibly on edge. The Viper had her plasma pistol in hand, a solid hiking backpack to carry supplies in, and for added safety the hatchet she had procured a while back.

Six stuck to alleys and narrow streets, taking cover wherever she could reasonably fit. She kept a sharp eye on windows and rooftops, any elevated positions someone could shoot at her from. She wasn't going to take any chances this time around, even if it wasted precious time. She just needed to find what she came for and get out as quickly as she could. This was a big city, even before the occupation they had to have had stores full of what she needed. Probably all looted into oblivion, but maybe she'd get lucky? Her drone was quietly floating beside her, keeping low as it scanned around. Six was grateful to have it, serving as her eyes and ears in ways she would otherwise miss.

For the moment she was coiled up behind a dumpster, the smell was horrid but she ignored it. She peeked around spotted what looked like a huge electronics store. She spotted a heavily faded blue and yellow logo above the long-gone doors. It just might be what she needed, there was just one problem.

Well, several problems, the least of which was that it was across a wide street. Several ruined cars were also in the way, making a quick quiet dash for the store impossible. Then there were...them.

"What on earth are those...!?" Six hissed quietly as she stared at the creatures.

She could only stare, they almost looked human. Almost. They looked a lot like desiccated corpses. Gray skinned bony corpses, with strange glowing nodules over their bodies, she also noticed some had clothing on them, barely holding together. She just watched them standing in place, if it weren't for the subtle body movements, she'd have thought them actual corpses! It was incredibly unnerving watching them, just standing there staring into the void.

This was completely new to her, utterly alien to her in a bizarre morbid fashion. And considering what she was and ADVENT in general, it was saying something! She didn't know a thing about whatever these things were. And that left her with the problem of how to get past them. They were standing still for the moment, but she had no idea how good their senses were. Maybe she could lure them away and slip past and into the store? It was worth a shot in her mind. So, Six instructed her drone to pick up an old rusty can and drop it a couple blocks down. Hopefully it would be enough of a distraction.

The drone did its assigned task swiftly and quietly. Zipping off around the corner with the can. Six was able to see from its perspective thanks to the link she shared with it. Of course, this had limited range, once the drone was close to the limits of said range it dropped the can onto a pile of metal scrap. The drone quickly zoomed back to her position as a loud cacophony of clanging metal rang out in the ruined streets.

It seemed to have the desired effect as the eerie creatures all let out groaning hisses and charged in the direction of the noise. Six shuddered a bit as she watched them move, it was incredibly unnerving. Still the way was mostly clear for the moment, after a quick scan of her surroundings she made a quick dash for the street. Carefully weaving around the numerous cars before she crossed the threshold into the store!

"So far so good. Now we just need those cameras and get out of here fast." Six hissed to herself as she slithered deeper into the store.

There was junk and debris scattered all over so she had to be mindful of where she moved. She didn't want to draw the attention of those creatures, or anything else that might be around. As she expected the store big as it was, had been pretty much picked clean. She let out a faint hiss of irritation.

"It figures the first spot I find would be a waste of time, might as well check the stock room just in case though." Six muttered to her drone as she moved to the back of the store.

The drone as usual, just silently stared and followed her closely. Six managed to find the stock room after a few minutes of searching the back rooms. It was bigger than she expected, easily the same size as the front of the store. And fully loaded with high racks of pallets, by some miracle untouched by scavengers!

"I retract my earlier statement." Six muttered to herself as she slithered about the room, "I doubt these shelves will hold up for too much longer."

She needed to find the right pallet, and then figure out how she was going to get what she needed. She had to plan this carefully, or risk a tremendous amount of noise and possible injury. After a bit of sneaking about she actually managed to find what appeared to be an inventory list. It was in pretty good shape for nearly twenty years of neglect, at least enough that she could read it. A lot of what was listed didn't make much sense to her, items and hardware much older than she was. And it didn't help that much of it was all abbreviated either. After some long minutes she was able to piece it together.

"Okay, see if you can find this section." Six said quietly to her drone as she pointed out where a pallet loaded with security cameras should be.

The drone quietly zoomed off to look for their target. Six snooped around for any other items she could scavenge. Unfortunately, anything she did find was too bulky for her to take without being a liability. The cameras were of greater importance anyway. The Viper felt a mental tug as the drone found what they were looking for. Six quickly went right to where the drone patiently waited.

"Perfect, now where...are...oh..." She looked up and up.

The pallet loaded with security cameras was at the very top. Well out of her reach. Climbing up was a foolish idea, the whole thing could come down on her. Even if she wasn't buried or injured, the noise alone would draw unwanted attention. That left one option, the drone. This would take some finesse; it wasn't quite designed to handle delicate tasks like this.

"It's up to you, let's take this nice and slow." Six said as she looked up at the drone.

She had to concentrate hard to make sure this worked just right. The drone got to work, with her careful guidance it carefully cut open the outer packaging to the pallet. Revealing individual boxes of cameras. Six winced a bit at the sound of the plastic wrapping crinkling, given how quiet it was the sound was almost deafening. Thankfully nothing happened, and the drone dropped a box into Six's scaled hands. It was a three pack!

"Oh, this is perfect!" The Viper hissed quietly, "Just grab two more!"

It didn't take long at all for the drone to drop her two more boxes, and the best part was they had all the necessary equipment for each set! It would save her some trouble later during the set up. Six quickly stuffed them into her backpack.

"Mission accomplished, now to get out of here." Six said as she looked around for a moment, making sure she was in the clear.

She was happy that things went so smoothly thus far. She had what she needed and now she could better secure her home. It was just a matter of getting back now. The Viper shouldered her backpack and had the drone stick close to her. Still being cautious she quietly slithered back out the way she came in...

Only to be face to barrels with several masked figures. It was those hunters from her last encounter in this city. And they were all standing there with rifles trained on her.

"Oh..."