As soon as TO saw Beck rushing forward on her four legs, they knew she was going to hit them. They had had little time to practice hand to hand as of late, but they had always excelled in that part of their training, and always had a skill for reading their opponent’s moves in practice and in simulations. 

Beck was no warrior, and her movements weren’t subtle. She was leaning into her gait, as though building momentum with every step. Just from the way her left arm seemed to tense in the air, they could tell that she’d be attacking from her left; she was likely left handed if that was the case. TO made a note of that. They also realized from her open hand that she likely was going to slap them.

If she had any training, they’d expect an open-palm fighting style. As she was just a normal civilian, TO expected nothing more than glorified flailing. 

 

There was something else they had to pay attention to though. Beck was angry. She seemed to be filled with that kind of white-hot anger that blurred one’s vision and made them do stupid things. Anger might make her fight more, and hit harder, but it would also make her fight stupidly. 

 

It would be a non-lethal civilian attack. 

 

She approached, and as TO suspected she swung around in an uncontrolled movement to slap their face. Foolish. She was really too short to reach TO’s face properly, and even if she connected, the strike would have lost most of her power. If TO bothered to block the hit, they’d probably do more damage to her than she would to them. Honestly, even if they let the strike hit, she’d probably just break her fingers. 

 

TO slid backwards in a simple, fluid movement and let Beck slap the air. Even hitting nothing there was a moment where TO worried that she might have overextended something in her attempt to hit them. They took a quick step forward, but stopped as she glared at them. 

 

“Fucker.” She hissed as she took another step forward. 

 

“Look, I know you’re angry.” TO said, trying to be sympathetic. Still, their ears were back, and their eyes narrowed as they watched her. It was hard not to be angry when someone was attacking you. “But if you calm down, I can tell you what’s going on now-”

 

“I know what’s going on.” Beck snapped. She growled as she tried to slap TO, but she only slapped the air where moments ago TO’s face had been. She stumbled forward but thanks to her four legs she kept her balance. “You kidnapped me from the center and brought me here, and now I’m going to be taken off the planet and sent to who knows where!” 

 

“Well, yes.” TO eyed her hands, watching for the next strike, “But… it’s more complicated than that. Staying here is dangerous. It was for your own good.” 

 

Her eyes flashed, as though the rage inside her had exploded, “How dare you decide what’s for my own good!” She snapped as she lunged towards them. 

 

Her hands flexed, and her claws came out. TO’s heart stopped for a moment as she saw those claws. They had no idea how dangerous they might be, how sharp this species' claws were, but they knew that claws out meant that someone seriously wanted to hurt you.

Just like how Q10 had hurt DH, costing them their eye and scarring their face. 

 

TO tensed. They felt their body shift slightly-

 

Stand angled to the side; it provides a narrower target to your opponent. The words Flit had said when they were in training, teaching them to fight, came back to them as they took their stance. 

 

-as their hands clenched into solid fists. 

 

Ensure your fist is solid! If it’s not, you’re going to break fingers.

Beck took another step forward, her hand out, claws glinting in the light as she swiped at TO. 

 

Instinct and practice both merged for TO. The hours they had spent in training, and the fear of what a person’s claws could do worked together and fueled the series of simple movements which they performed in quick succession.In one second, Beck was before them, claws out and about to attack. In the next, she was lying on the back behind TO, gasping for breath. 

 

Beck’s attack was a simple one; The most common of civilian attacks; an untrained, clumsy swing. Not dangerous as far as any of them were concerned, but if a civilian had a weapon in their hand, or had claws, then it could be a lot worse. Because of its commonality, they had all learned how to counter it early.

It was one of the first defensive moves they had practiced. 

 

Still, despite how easy the move had been, TO was breathing hard. They weren’t sure why they were breathing so hard, and why their heart seemed to beat so loudly in their ears.

“Someone, grab them!” 

 

TO didn’t know who it was who shouted; the sound seemed very far away to them at first, but they suddenly felt hands on their wrists as someone pulled their arms back. A moment of panic flooded them as they pulled away and turned around to face the scrawny Nagarajin who had tried to grab them. They backed away, but felt someone at their back. They couldn’t say if they had bumped into someone, or if someone had tried to grab them, but it didn’t matter.

TO was done. They were done with people yelling at them, attacking them, and just being overall nasty to them. 

 

“Get back!” TO’s voice was louder than normal, more of a shout than anything else. Their wings didn’t just puff out behind them, they spread with a sudden, surprising force so that the civilians standing around them to back away or suffer a strike from TO’s wings. 

 

“Yes, If everyone could get back.” A calm voice said behind them, “I’d rather not see more injury.” 

 

TO turned around and saw Goretta now helping Beck up off the floor. DH was there too, their kit in hand, ready to help. They leaned down to help Beck up, but she shoved them off of her when they tried to help, causing DH to lose their balance and fall backwards onto the floor. 

 

That woman just pushed DH. The woman who came at them with her claws out just pushed DH down to the ground! TO took several purposeful steps forward, their ears tensed and their eyes narrowed. They weren’t looking at DH though, they were looking at Beck. The rest of the world faded away in a shaking white blur as they closed the distance between them. 

 

“TO, I’m fine! Stop!” 

 

At that moment, DH’s voice was the only thing that seemed solid. Since those claws had come out, everything had seemed confusing and chaotic. DH calling their name was like a beacon back to reality, and TO stopped in their tracks as the world came back into focus. 

 

They were only a couple of feet away from Beck, who was now standing on unsteady feet with Goretta’s help. TO’s right hand was at their hip, as though searching for a multi-gun that they didn’t have with them. 

 

What if they had the multi-gun. What would they have done? Would DH have spoken in time? What were they about to do?

 

TO turned away from Beck and went to DH. They knelt down by their mate, their ears twitching, their eyes wide.

“Are you ok?” They asked as they looked over DH.

“I’m fine.” DH said. They took TO’s hand “Really, I just stumbled and rolled back. My pride hurts, but that’s all. Just help me up.” 

 

“That fucking synth just attacked her!” Someone in the surrounding crowd shouted. TO turned, looking about for the speaker but couldn’t tell who it was.

 

“Shut up, Dave.” Another voice said, “You saw what happened, she swung at them. She attacked them.” 

 

A third voice joined the argument, “They’re a synth. She’s unarmed-“ 

 

“They’re unarmed too.” 

 

“Doesn’t count; they’re basically weapons.” 

 

Weapons? TO had never considered themself a weapon and had never heard them or any other synth called a weapon. TO didn’t even consider themself a tool anymore but not even the most loyal of synths would have called themself a weapon. 

 

DH looked around, their ears twitching as they followed the voices. TO’s ears did the same, and they looked around to see if they could tell who was speaking but there were so many people around it was hard to tell who said what. 

 

“DH, why don’t you go get me a hot water bottle.” Goretta said flashing DH a quick smile as she helped Beck to a nearby bed. Despite her calm voice and warm smile, TO noticed her tentacles coiling tightly about her, the color shifting slightly to a warmer hue. 

 

“We have hot-water bottles though.” DH said, “Over in-“ 

 

“I’d like a new one with fresh hot water.” Goretta said. “She’s mostly fine, just bruised-“ 

 

“Shouldn’t you put ice on a bruise?” DH said, “You shouldn’t apply heat until-“ 

 

Goretta’s smile widened along with her eyes, giving her an almost manic look as her skin flashed red for a brief second, “Then go get me a bag of ice.” she snapped, showing her teeth. 

 

DH finally understood, “Ah, right.” They said, “Sorry... I’ll go.” 

 

Goretta looked at TO, “Can you go with them and make sure they get what they need?” She cleared her voice and spoke a little louder, “Since you’re basically in charge for now.” 

 

They nearly said that they weren’t ‘in charge’ and that they were just filling in while GiDi was out of commission. They weren’t in charge of anything! But they quickly saw what Goretta was doing and let the words die on their tongue. 

 

“Of course.” They said as they took DH’s hand and led them away. There was a group of six civilians standing before them as they headed to the door. It was a mix of tentacles and tails mostly, but there was an insectoid standing at the front who had an elongated body, long tail, rounded head, and only five arms where they should have had six. They stood in front of the others, and though they took a step back when TO approached they didn’t move. 

 

“…. Excuse us.” TO said through clenched teeth. They didn’t want their anger right now to be apparent to the civilians, so they did their best to keep their tone neutral and hoped they wouldn’t read into the aggressive and angry position of their ears. 

 

The insectoid glanced at Goretta, back to TO, and then stepped aside with a slight nod. The others behind them got out of the way as well so that DH and TO could speed walk across the room and get out and away from all the noise. Mostly, they wanted to escape the whispering, and the eyes staring at them. The whispers were quiet enough that TO could tell they weren’t meant to hear them, but thanks to their keen ears, they could hear every comment about them being synths, about them being dangerous.  

 

Their keen synth ears. Or, were they Chilacian ears? For all the wondering TO had done over that in the last few days, they had never felt more like a synth than they did right now as they rushed out of the room to the chorus of angry glares and whispers.