Tee opened and closed their fist. It was a strange new sensation, a hand that wasn’t theirs, sensations that were new, even alien. This was not their body, but it felt more like home than what they’d ever had before. They looked at the entire arm, soft, subtle, supple curves that would’ve made Renaissance sculptors lose their marbles. Fingers so delicate they would’ve never been able to capture it on canvas, capable of picking up an individual grain of sand. The near-perfect elegance of the body, its precision, would have been unnerving if it had been a human one. 

“How’re you feeling?” Flock asked.

“Good.” The voice modulator made their speech sound a little garbled, as if they were speaking through an old walkie-talkie. It was something to get used to, but Tee had always been very good at adapting to changes. And this one felt maybe better than it should.

“Any issues? Lag?” Flock paused. “Body dys… morphia?” 

“None,” they said. “I feel good. Like myself. Maybe even more so.”

“Huh.” Flock cocked her head and looked at Tee. Tee just shrugged. “You know… Couriers are a fairly… new concept. But they’re not supposed to feel good. They’re a temporary solution to a, no, the permanent problem. You’re the first not to resent it.”

“How many people have used one of them?” Tee asked. 

“Less than ten, you included. Five of the others went almost mad before we got them to the resurrectionists. Two of them did.” Flock’s voice was quiet with regret, and Tee felt sorry for her. She clearly cared about the lives of the people who worked for her, and this world seemed like it was more than ruthless. 

“I’m sorry,” Tee said. They sat on a bench near a landing pad, perched over the side of the floor over, and looked at the world through new eyes, although right now those were fixed on Flock, who was wearing a hooded coat. It probably wasn’t too safe for her to be seen outside, even somewhere as remote as the airways. They wondered if she was lonely. It was hard to read her, her face hidden. 

“They chose to. They knew the risk.” Flock sat down and leaned on her knees, clasping her hands together. “It helps. Sometimes.” Tee put a hand on her back. She startled a little bit and again Tee couldn’t help but wonder how often this woman actually came into contact with other people. “Sorry, didn’t mean to get all… melodramatic. I’m glad the body is working for you. Marrying magic and technology is a tricky business. Sensitive electronics tend to go a little funky.”

Tee looked down at their body, its lack of typical anatomical features, the utilitarianism of it. Knowing it was powered by magic just made it all that more interesting, all that more appealing. They assumed that this was also the reason for the body’s sensitivity, why they could feel the cold metal of the bench. It wasn’t perfect, of course. 

“It works just fine,” Tee said, “though there’s some things I’d change if I could. But that’s nothing new.” Their voice got more garbled as it petered out. The magic seemed to be interfering with their voice box, which was a little frustrating. 

“You can,” Flock said, sitting up straight and crossing her legs. “There’s plenty of people around the city who can do modifications, but it’s not cheap. Robotics aren’t very common. Sorry I couldn’t do more.”

“You’ve done more than I could’ve asked for already, Flock.” Tee chuckled, which was a distorted electronic noise. “Could’ve done with a face, though.” They ran metal fingers over the flat faceplate. It was capable of transmitting text, but facial expressions were a bit much. It was strange, not having a face, and they definitely wanted to have one again. But there was a certain freedom in being a featureless entity. Still human, still them. Just… less likely to be seen as something they were not. Other than a robot, of course. 

“I’m sorry, the only faces we had lying around were dogs.” Flock turned her head, and Tee was pretty sure they could see a raised eyebrow. “Unless that’s something you’d be interested in…”

Tee shook their head. “No, thank you. Not my thing.” Flock laughed softly to herself and looked ahead. The rain made it hard to see very far ahead, but the vehicles flying past, below and overhead, seemed to have no trouble navigating. “Where is the rain coming from?” Tee asked. “There’s just floors above us, right?” 

Flock nodded. “The atmospheric processors make sure there’s always enough moisture, but ‘always enough’ became ‘always too much’. Only the top seven or so floors stay dry.” She looked up, and her hood fell back as it rained on her face. Tee couldn’t look away if they wanted to. Flock’s face was striking, but it was the distinct loneliness of it that left such a strong impression on them. “It almost never stops raining. You get used to it.” She looked at Tee, then up. “And there’s dry spots. Those are nice.”

“What about sunlight?”

“Whatlight?” 

“Fuck.” Tee sat in silence for a bit, felt the urge to give Flock a hug. When she was surrounded by her guards, she was a perfect image of poise and power. Out here, she had immediately become a lot smaller. Just a woman, barely in her thirties, who seemed to be carrying the lives of… thousands? And she seemed to be doing it mostly on her own. Tee didn’t quite know what to say, but the longer they were around the woman, the more they got the feeling that the offer to stay here wasn’t exclusively altruistic. 

“Cab should be here in just a minute,” Flock said. Tee hadn’t seen her look at any kind of device, but saw no reason to doubt her. They leaned backwards on the bench and looked at the lights that hummed between the rain.

“Anything I need to know about this mercenary?” they asked. They were a little apprehensive about the idea of traveling with a stranger whose loyalty could be bought, but Flock had reassured them she only took a single contract at a time. Hah. A mercenary with standards and morals. They’d believe it when they saw it. 

“She’s been at this a long time,” Flock said. “From what I heard, she can turn you into a smear on the wall before you have a weapon drawn. And she’s strong and tall.” Something about the subtle shudder in Flock’s voice gave Tee the distinct impression that Flock didn’t mind her mercenaries being strong or tall. “She’s personally responsible for taking out half of my competition. I’m very glad she’s never come after me. Oh, and she doesn’t associate with heroes, which is a big plus in my book.”

“Heroes?” Tee asked, frowning. “Like, straight up… heroes?”

“It’s just a name. Glory hounds. Attention-seekers. Do-gooders. There’s dozens of words for them. In the end, they just want what everyone else does, and they’ve found acceptable targets to use as footholds to climb their way up.” Flock’s voice dripped with venom. Tee was about to ask more when the vehicle descended and hovered next to the berthing platform they were standing on. The panel opened, and a mountain of a woman stepped out. Flock gasped, clearly happy to see she hadn’t been wrong about Tore’s stature. Even the weapon on her back was comically large, a hammer that looked like it could be used to drive five-foot nails. 

But it was her fluidity and grace that really really grabbed Tee’s attention. The mercenary moved deliberately, not a single wasted gesture. Her long hair was braided and hung lazily over one shoulder onto supple armour that was adorned with cloth wraps that did nothing to hide her size, but made it harder to read what she was about to do. Even her face was covered with a cloth mask, only her eyes visible. And what eyes they were, their emerald hue visible even in the rain. Her crows feet were deep, but betrayed a sense of humour that Tee found immediately charming. 

“Queen Flock,” the woman said. It was a husky, breathy voice, pleasant to listen to.

“Just Flock. Tore?” Flock had to crane her neck to look Tore in the eyes, and Tee assumed that she hadn’t gotten up because it would just make the height disparity more obvious. Tore was very tall. 

“In the flesh. This is the package?” Tore nodded to Tee without looking at them. Tee couldn’t fault her. They looked, for all intents and purposes, to be a faceless automaton. 

“Yes, I am,” Tee said, quickly dispelling any notions with regards to their sentience. Tore turned to look at them, eyebrows raised. 

“Interesting. You have a name?”

“Uh,” Tee said, and realized that maybe it was best to just be a robot for a little bit until they were certain that this mercenary could be trusted. Flock had impressed on them that Deadstones, like the one embedded in their chestpiece, were a valuable commodity. Tore didn’t need to know that they were a person just yet. “T-Fourteen,” Tee said. They’d panicked a little bit. Tore just looked at them, and then turned to Flock. 

“A third up front, as agreed,” Flock said, and handed them a small card. Tore nodded in gratitude and put it away somewhere. 

“Send the rest to my account when the delivery is complete,” Tore said, and looked up, a gesture Tee felt was more for effect than anything. “Might take a while, unless you want to change your mind.” Flock started to shake her head, but then looked at Tee. Tee nodded. 

“You said fast or safe. You’ve got a lot of ground to cover, and I’d rather you cover it in one piece.” Another nod from Tore, who started to walk back to the cab. It hovered, engines thrumming quietly, patter of the rain on its hood a sharp staccato by contrast. She turned to Tee, and nodded at the vehicle. 

“This’ll take us up two floors. From there, it’s cheaper to use skybridges. Lots of walking to be done. We want to leave now to get ahead of morning traffic.”

“How do you even tell when it’s morning around here?” they muttered to themself. Flock put a hand on their back. 

“You’ll get used to it,” she said, and smiled reassuringly. “I hope you find him. Both of them.” Tee looked at her and realized that their lack of an expression made it very hard to show emotion. They took a chance, wrapping their arms around Flock in a quick hug. 

“Thank you,” Tee said, then pulled away. Flock looked a little dumbstruck, but the corners of her mouth curled up into a smile, so it couldn’t be all bad. Tee gave her a little wave, then stepped into the cab, and Tore stepped in behind them.

“So,” Tore said, typing in coordinates into the console. The route they were taking saw them dodge the majority of floor 61, which appeared to be a tricky proposition. “Why is the Queen of Sixty-Two sending a sentient robot up to Double M?” Tee got the feeling this was a rhetorical question. Something shuffled in the back seat, but they couldn’t see anything when they looked. The cab hummed as it accelerated through the name. Tore looked up some things on the console. “Now, I know for a fact that they have enough droids up there, so that ain’t it.” She looked behind her. “Don’t mind him, he gets grumpy on car rides.” Tee still didn’t see anything, but they thought they could hear a huff. Tore ignored it. “And that name… T-Fourteen.” She paused. “Hah! T for Teen. Nice.”

“What?” Tee asked. If they had eyes, they would be wide.

“Nothing. An old rating thing. From where I’m from. Don’t worry about it.”

“Rated T for Teen? Like M for Mature?”

“What?” Tore asked.

“What?” Tee replied.

“What?” the cat exclaimed from the back seat.

Elamimax

Mrow?

If you like this story and want to know how it ends, the whole thing is up on my patreon! Subscribers will get access to every single chapter right now. Other than that, I will be posting a chapter (maybe even two) every other day (I don't think we'll get many more four-a-day like this :p). If you're in the mood to catch up on my other stories, feel free to check them out. Additionally, Horns in the Library 1 is now available as an ebook! 

I also want to point people at the discord server of the ever-prolific QuietValerie (right here) where you can find her wonderful stories, like Ryn of Avonside, Falling Over and The Trouble With Horns, as well as other authors' works, and talk about them with fellow fans, and even the authors themselves! I heartily recommend joining it and reading their works! (Also check out Walls of Anamoor. It's rad as heck.) 

Thanks again for reading, and I'll see you all in the next one. 

<3