“And who is this… Skrap?” Syles asked his new puppet.

           “He is some type of engineer, I think.” Camilla replied.

            The Class Four assassin studied his work and was quite satisfied with the results, even though it was not his best. If Syles were to return to his master without suffering his wrath, he would need to bring him something. The fanatical man was unsure if that would be yet. He did not know what these rebel’s plans were but based on what his three puppets told him; he was sure that they didn’t really have one. Either that or this false emperor, Bas, or their commander Marrin were the only ones who truly knew the extent of their terrorism. They had to. It made no sense for them to attract the ire of the empire by destroying an entire armada when they appeared to have the ability to escape on their shuttle before Syles even appeared. They wanted that ship and refused to leave the sleepers for a reason that Syles would discover. It didn’t matter now, but Syles needed to get his hands on Bas.

            He could at least bring these three to the emperor if anything else, but he knew that his desire for revenge would take him across the four universes to find Bas and his… unique Hud. An intelligent Hud, now that would be a wonder gift to deflect the Faceless One’s fury. Once he had full control of his first puppet, Sam, he sent him along for the next few weeks gathering information for Syles. He itched to act, but after hearing that their Tank reached Class Four, he would not try to take them on Perfection. Tanks had an infuriating talent to not die, and he didn’t trust his own lack of combative prowess to test that talent. Decisions were made, and the first was to walk onto that horrific looking ship and come down to this world. Syles wished to take Bas the moment they reached the surface, but there were two things that prevented him from doing so. The first was that he wanted to know more of this Skrap. Modifying all their minds as they flew down, he was able to search the web of this planet for Skrap and nothing came back. With nowhere to go next, he decided to wait. The other reason for his hesitance was own personal wishes. He wanted to torcher this man, and though he isolated himself the week before coming to this world, he cared for these rebels deeply. So, he would remove them from his life one at a time.

            Syles wanted to take that Brawler before the others, as their relationship was his closest, but those bloody children interfered before he could act. It didn’t matter in the long run. Bas would watch his friends disappear one at a time. Then they would return, betraying him in the worst ways he could think of. Syles would watch, relish in his torment, and decide after what he would do. For now, Sam remained his agent on the Seeker ship, and now he had two more down on this planet. One of the beautiful shape shifting Artouse that he was thinking about keeping for himself, and the second, a rather unconventional Crusher. With the death of Cardin, he would need a new bodyguard, but he would have to lose that horrible Gillish accent. Those were thoughts for another day.

            “You came here for an engineer?”

            "Perfection is damaged, but he isn't an ordinary engineer," Deckel replied. “He hacked into our Huds.”

            “He… what?” Syles asked, baffled.

            Was that even possible? Syles had traveled much of the universes, had gone to thousands of worlds, and that was nothing he had ever heard of. There were plenty of abilities recorded that could take over enemy Huds. Hell, even Syles’s abilities could somewhat be similar, but to hack into a Hud, now, that was something impossible.

            “What kind of user was this Skrap?” Syles asked.

            “He was no user.” Deckel replied.

            “Of course, he had to be a user. There is no other explanation.”

            Camilla turned her flowing blond hair on her new master. Internally, the Artouse was in constant torment. She watched through her own eyes; she spoke through her own mouth, but it was not her. Camilla was only there, yet she was not. She fought, she screamed, she tried to kill herself, yet nothing made any difference. Not wanting to answer, she did.

            “He was no user.” She told him flatly.

            Tapping his chin, Syles paced the floor. They were still on the ship, having never left. It was a simple case of blocking these two from the ship’s sensors along with the Brawler and Caster’s. He was prepared to hide them if they came to investigate, but rather than that, they assumed their disappearance had something to do with the children. He would not correct them yet, rather relish on the time they would waste as he prepared.

            “You must be mistaken. But anyway, it is time for us to gather more information. Deckel, you go and find this Skrap. Don’t approach him, just find him and return to me. Camilla, you go find your friends. They disappeared from my senses about three hours ago, heading south. Take your time. When you find them, join back up. Contact me after you know their plans. I will figure out what you will do to them then. For now, I must ponder.”

            “Ponder?” Camilla asked.

            “Hmm?” Syles asked.

           Perhaps he needed to work on her head a little more before sending her out. She was not as weak willed as the others. Damned woman would be the end of him, if he didn’t fix her head right.