As TO followed GiDi down the hallway, they suddenly remembered Avery. Avery hadn’t been in the best state when they left earlier and TO had intended to go after them, but Snout held them back and told them to go see Flit instead. It was with a guilty twist to their stomach that they realized they had not heard from their friend since. 

“Have you seen Avery?” They asked. GiDi stopped and turned. “Not recently. They were with you earlier, so I figured maybe they were waiting for the procedure to be over?”

“They didn’t seem happy with the whole situation.” TO admitted. “They ran off earlier…”

“And you didn’t go after them then?” GiDi asked, their ears pinning back. 

“I tried to!” They said, “But Snout held me back and told me to go talk to Flit-”

GiDi sighed, and doubled back down the hallway, “Come on.” They said, “Vik’ll know where they went.” 

“I was going to go after them!” TO insisted as they chased after GiDi. “I wanted to! But -”

“I know.” GiDi said, “I believe you… Snout’s been worried about Flit since we got you here, but they shouldn’t have kept you from chasing after Avery.” They huffed, “At the end of the day, Flit has Snout. Flit has support.” They looked at TO, “You know that you and DH are Avery’s support, right?”

“I know that-”

“And you need to be there for them, even if you’re distracted by one another.”

TO came to a sudden stop. “GiDi… I didn’t want to let them go off by themself, and I didn’t mean to leave you alone either… You know, back in training.”

GiDi stopped, “... I know.” They said, “This isn’t about me. It’s about-”

“Avery. And they’re upset. They’re worried about Kei, though for the life of me, I don't understand why.”

“... I know you wouldn’t want to hurt anyone.” GiDi said, “I know there’s a lot going on right now, but there’s a lot going on for Avery too, and Avery doesn’t have a mate, so… just keep an eye on them. I know they normally like to be alone, but lately…”

“Lately they don’t.” TO finished, “I know. Snout held me back and told me to go check on Flit.”

GiDi gave a deep sigh, “That sounds about right.” They said, “Come on.”

They rushed down the hallway in silence until they came to the common room where, as was normal, Vik was sitting and working on their computer. What was unusual was that they were alone for a change.

“Tham’s not back yet?” GiDi asked.

“Not yet. I got a report from him, though; they got the supplies, just moving them is taking longer than expected since he’s got only one good arm, and Lendulin can’t really help. Most everyone else is out trying to get supplies before things get too bad.”

“Does he need help?” GiDi asked.

“He says he doesn’t. I believe him. That tunnel is safe enough, and I’m watching him.” He pulled up a map on his screen, and with the press of a few buttons displayed a dot moving along a tunnel. “If I see him stop for more than a minute or two, I check on him.”

“While you’re checking on people, can you check on Avery and tell me when they’re gone?”

“Avery; Yes.” They pressed a few more buttons, and another dot came up on the screen. “There we go. They’re in the kitchens.”

GiDi gave a sigh of relief, “Good.” They said, “We’ll head there now.”

“Wait.” TO said, taking a step forward and squinting at the dot, “You’re tracking Avery?”

“Not actively.” Vik said as they closed the map, “But technically, I can find almost anyone’s location.”

“Our chips already have trackers in them.” GiDi said as they held up their hand, “So Vik’s software just uses that-”

“More complex than that, but yes, if you want to dumb it down, my software here tracks your chips.”

TO felt their ears pin back, “But why?” They asked, “Why would you track us-”

“So I can figure out your location in relation to, say, a group of officers working to round up a bunch of people from the tunnels. It’s also useful if someone — like Tham — is doing work somewhere and I want to make sure they’re ok. Or let’s say you got lost in the tunnels. I could see where you were and give you direction to get back.” Their ears twitched. “Of course, Tham doesn’t have a chip implanted into him; I just track his communicator. The officers from earlier were easier to track than that; they have a secured signal between them so it was easy to identify. It was easier to track them than it is to hack into their signal and hear what they’re saying.”

“So, you can listen in to what we’re saying then?” TO asked as they felt their ear pins back. They were used to being listened to, but they had relaxed a little once DH altered the system on their ship. They didn’t know if they wanted to have anyone just listening into their conversations now.

“I’m sure I could.” They said, “I haven’t bothered yet, but the programming -”

“They can.” GiDi said, “Technically. Keep in mind, they can also hack into altered Ai and give them alternative commands. They’re not listening in on your conversations.”

“Nah.” Vik said, still focused on their screen before them, though now they had gone back to working on some kind of code. “I used to. I mean, not with you; with other people. I used to listen to random people back when I was a kid.”

“You're still a kid.” GiDi said, their ears flattening out.

“Excuse you, I’m old enough to drink.” they snapped. “Anyway, when I was a literal child, I used to listen in on people all the time. It got boring. I ended up only listening to my parents so I could keep them from getting too pissy with me.”

TO didn't care what Vik said; If they could listen in on their conversations, then it was back to talking in low voices with music on. They didn’t want to risk saying the wrong thing.

“Come on.” GiDi said, tugging on TO’s arm as they led them out of the common room. They stopped just as they got to the door. “Oh, Vik, when’s the last time you slept?”

“Sleep is for the weak.” Vik said. “And there’s too much to do right now.”

“Right, well.” GiDi hesitated, then sighed, “Try to take a nap at least.”

“I’ll consider it.”

Another sigh, and GiDi left the room with TO following behind them. “Avery must be in the kitchens with Lake.” They turned to TO, “You’ve not met him yet.” They froze then, “And uh, he’s rather…” They frowned, their ears twitching, “He’s rather arachnid in shape?”

“... He’s a spider?”

“No, He’s an arachnoid.” GiDi said, “He’s the son of a friend of Pearla’s, and he’s a really excellent cook. He just doesn’t enjoy being around too many people all at once.” They continued down the hall. “Honestly, I’m surprised Avery’s still there. I wonder how long they’ve been there.” they shrugged, “Anyway... Please don’t act too scared around them? Bugs scare you, I know, but-”

TO’s ears dipped back, “They’re not a bug, they’re a person. I doubt they’re going to suddenly and without reason crawl all over me.” They huffed, “I don’t like bugs. Insectoids aren’t bugs.” 

“Arachnoids.” GiDi said, “It’s different.” A brief smile flickered over their face. “Still, I’m glad to hear that. There are a few insectoids that do work with us you haven’t met yet, and I’d hate for you to be afraid of my friends.” 

======

The insurgents had repurposed most of the old rooms from whatever their archaic purpose had originally been to what they needed at the moment; bedrooms, dorms, common areas, and, of course, the small prisons. TO expected much the same for the kitchens; a basic setup with salvaged equipment, squeezed into a random room.

It wasn’t like that at all. Stepping into the kitchen was like stepping back in time. The room’s original purpose had clearly been that of a kitchen; A stone oven sat built into the wall, the stones arching up and creating a gentle curve leading to the ceiling, from which hung a variety of mismatched pots and pans. Of course, there was no fire in the old hearth; the fuel for cooking with fire would be impossible to get on Arkane in modern times; no, a simple electric stove sat where a fire would have once roared. Its cord was longer than was strictly safe and trailed out of the room and off to some other part of the underground.

They probably had a setup like DH made for Lendulin; a water powered generator to keep things running. They hadn’t asked themself before how they were getting power down here for Vik;’s computers, or even the electric lights that kept things bright, but of course, now that they considered it, it made sense.

Along with the stone hearth and the old, battered cookware, there was a large, worn, smooth stone table in the center of the kitchen, currently covered in various cooking implements, various dried plants, and many jars with unidentifiable contents. 

“TO?”

TO looked to the corner and saw Avery. They were kneeling down on the floor next to a large plastic box. They had large, elbow-length gloves on, and in their hand they held a live, writhing cocopod, its legs all moving in a fluid motion as its large body wrapped around Avery’s hand.

Somewhere, deep inside themself, they could feel the urge to scream. However, to their own surprise, they instead strode forward, even as ice flooded their veins. They grabbed the first thing they could see off the table - a large plastic fork- and, not even knowing what they were going to do, headed to Avery to help get that disgusting creature off their friend. They had no idea what their plan was once Avery was free of the insect, but they had to get it off their poor friend as soon as possible.

TO was a few feet away when they felt someone hold them back- long, thin legs with simple claw-like hands grasping their shirt with a strength that didn’t match the appearance of the thin limbs.

“Careful now.” A clicking, staccato voice said from above. TO looked up, and someone with shiny black chitin, eight long limbs - four from their mostly humanoid torso, four from the narrow oval of their lower body- and a rounded head with four eyes was hanging from the ceiling. Three of the limbs held the ceiling, two held TO by the shoulders, and the other three were still busy mixing things in two different bowls. “If you get too close, you’ll scare the cocopods.”