Reunion with the other hounds went well. Hex actually came over to hug her. Aaliya was in a leg brace and doing pull ups on a bar she’d put in her doorframe, but she actually stopped long enough to nod appreciatively. The Cats and Rats, too, were happy to see her. 

Yes, technically Epoc hadn’t been injured on her mission, but there had been the need to retrieve her, she’d been out for a while, and the story of her killing four other Frames on her own had somehow leaked its way through the facility. That was worthy of some cheering and jeering. She corrected people who asked about the 4v1 that, technically, she’d only been up against two of them. Then someone asked if that was before or after she single-handedly killed the Hexapod, and it was quickly becoming clear she wasn’t going to be getting rid of her rapidly developing reputation. What that reputation was going to be remained to be seen. 

She eventually fled the constant questions – most of which she didn’t want to answer – by visiting Nexus Alpha in the drydock. Other than the damaged arm, the Frame was in remarkable shape. Well, there was also the visible impact of the point-blank shot she had taken to the face from Priestess. It was strangely comforting. It confirmed that it had happened as she remembered it. That part, at least. 

The Hangar was built like a hive, with offices and small workshops all along the walls, no space wasted. That meant there were walkways everywhere and where there weren’t, it wasn’t hard to find a small hole to crawl inside of and watch Nexus Alpha in peace and quiet

“How’d she hold up?” 

Epoc looked up. Diana looked down from the top of the container Epoc was nestled against, hands on her hips. Where this woman found all of that grease and how it made its way onto her clothes was one of those mysteries science would never explain. She held onto the metal bar of the cargo container she was on and slid down to Epoc’s little alcove. Was Diana just like, this cool all the time? Was Epoc just the only person who wasn’t? She hugged her knees. 

“She was amazing,” Epoc said. “Responsive. Powerful. The pilot chair is… It’s a work of art.”

“Yeah,” Diana said, looking more than a little bit smug. “It’s one of the best things I’ve ever designed, I think.” She side-eyed Epoc and her look of awe with an expression that could only be described as ‘smarm.’ “Yeah, I’ve been developing an adaptable cockpit for a while, and I recently got my hands on the tools to make it a reality.” She shoved her hands in her pockets victoriously, looking up at the Frame. “She’s the smartest baby we’ve ever made. Did you know she has the most advanced Virtual Intelligence in the world? She doesn’t talk, sure, but we weren’t making a fucking digital secretary. She adapts to your movements better than any Frame ever made.” She leaned in close to Epoc. “She gives you what you need, and if you make some involuntary movements, she can filter those out better than anything else.” 

“Yeah,” Epoc said with a smile. “I noticed that.”

Diana leaned against the metal wall next to her, and her expression fell. “I don’t like seeing you like this, new blood.” She sighed. “I heard some of what happened on the mission and, I’ll be honest, if the boss hadn’t vouched for you I’d have been the first to toss you off the top floor myself. But I don’t know what’s going on with you.” She chewed her cheek for a second. “Want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know,” Epoc said. “You ever find out that you fucked yourself over a decade ago and only now find out about it when it’s way too late to do something about it?”

“Uh,” Diana said. “Not really. Closest I’ve got is that I used to go to a lot of concerts so my right ear is shot but I’ve got an aid that gets rid of the tinnitus. And like, I wouldn’t give those nights for the world anyway, and like… I’m right where I am. I’m working on the most advanced Frames. I get to design and develop with some of the brightest minds in the world. I’m perfectly happy where I am.” She let out a content sigh and then looked down at Epoc’s miserable little form. “Not quite the response you needed, I think.”

“It’s fine,” Epoc said quietly. “I’m happy for you.”

“So, what big mistake did you make that’s got you looking like someone fucked your breakfast sandwich?” Diana slid down the wall, letting her arms rest on her knees.

“I used a performance-enhancing drug in college that ruined my ability to form new skills while making me extremely susceptible to brainwashing and mental conditioning, effectively ruining my shot at being my own person, possibly for the rest of my life, while making it very easy for anyone who knows how to turn me into a sleeper agent.”

“Oh.”

“On top of that, there’s someone out there who already knows how and used me as the starting pistol for a war with the express purpose of ruining Mako Group, so now my only shot is to lean into the conditioning so I can be at least a little useful to Antimony before someone tells me to kill myself with the right trigger or she just has me put down because I’m a liability.”

“That’s… uh… Yeah. I got nothing,” Diana said. “That sucks, and I’m sorry that’s where you’re at. You didn’t know any of that before you joined, right?” Epoc shook her head. “And you’re still here. That means the boss sees something in you. If you were a liability, she wouldn’t keep you on the team. You would be in a hole somewhere, getting your three a day on a tray through a slot.”

“She does that?”

“Epoc,” Diana said, “I like the boss. She’s fair to us. Hell, she gave us the resources needed to set up the union and that’s why we have the pick of the litter when it comes to engineers. She’s got our best interests at heart and, I think, if she had to choose between the bottom line and screwing over her staff, she’d genuinely rather take losses than compromise her integrity. I say all of that so you take me fucking seriously when I tell you that there is no doubt in my mind that she would beat you to death with a chair if she thought you were a danger to Mako Group and its personnel.” Diana looked at her darkly. Had she seen Antimony do something like that? She had been very good at dismantling the hand gun…

“Oh,” she said quietly.

“As long as you’re loyal and she thinks you have a good reason to be here, you’re good, though!” Diana was clearly trying to cheer her up, but Epoc was in a spot where she was happy to let the other woman do exactly that. “Hey, get up, I need to show you something.” Getting up, she held a hand out to Epoc, when her eyes went wide. “Shit, sorry, is that okay?”

“I don’t have to do anything anyone says, you know,” Epoc said with a dry smile, letting Diana pick her up. “It’s certain key phrases. But don’t, uh, try to ‘train’ me into anything. That might work a little better than it should.”

“Done,” Diana said. “No conditioning.” She was strangely serious as she turned and climbed back up on the container, and from there to the catwalk above. Epoc had little trouble following her, and it was honestly quite fun to boulder her way up. She hadn’t had a chance to climb like this in a while. There was something relaxing about only having to focus on the next thing. She had a good grip. Good too, the fall from up here was a hundred feet. Doctor Sheffield would have to do a medical exam with a shovel. 

“Where are we going?” Epoc asked as Diana climbed behind a wall. There was nothing but cables and metal supports behind there, but something about the wear of the rubber and steel told her this was one of those places engineers knew about but upper management didn’t.

“Private spot,” Diana said, and with that, she shoved her shoulder into what appeared to be a panel like any other, and fell through. It was like she’d fallen through a hole in the world. 

Epoc looked around the corner. There was a room here. A whole room. In the walls of the facility. Just… there. It was cozy. There were no windows but there were openings. Little slits through which both Nexus Alpha and Reefdancer’s hangars could be seen, on either side. There was a large bed, and there were pieces of cloth hung all over. Small lights covered the ceiling. The other side of the room was occupied by a large workbench, completely covered in small projects. 

“I like to come here when I need to take my mind off things,” Diana said. “I feel like you could use something like that today, so…” she shrugged and waved around. “I was told you’re not going out on sortie for a few days. Nobody is. So, if you don’t have any other plans, you’re free to hide out here if you need to not be around people.” 

“That’s… thank you, Diana.” She looked around. There were drawings on the walls. Sketches. Many of them were the forms of women, sketched in charcoal or painted with dark oils. Some tasteful nudes. Some expressions of desire. A fully clothed woman looking at the artist with a look of ecstasy not reflected in her pose. A naked engineer, absent-mindedly staring into space, her tattoos painted with a single-hair brush. As Epoc looked and saw recurring features, Epoc realized they had also all been painted in this very room. She recognized the bed, the chair, the desk. “Did you do these?”

“Stay off my shit-list and find out,” Diana said with a smirk. She leaned against the desk and crossed her arms. Epoc glanced over and then quickly looked away, blushing. Forearms. Not fair. “You know,” Diana said, “I was told, before you got back, to punish you.” She walked over to Epoc, who looked at her a little apprehensively. 

“Wait, you?” Epoc said. “What kind of punishment?”

“That part was up to me,” Diana said with a shrug. “The point is that you not only get punished for disobeying the Handler in small ways – which was supposed to feed into pilot training and conditioning – but also that, frankly, I get a little pissed off when someone brings back my Frames with damage that was avoidable due to stupid decisions or because they don’t respect them.”

“Oh,” Epoc said. “So, uh, what’s my punishment?”

“Considering what you’re going through?” Diana said, putting her hands on her hips again. She loomed over Epoc, who had to swallow some fear and, if she was honest with herself, arousal. Diana would probably win in a pure contest of strength. And she wouldn’t necessarily mind the larger woman folding her in half. Diana smirked. “Help me clean this place up a bit. I haven’t vacuumed in ages, I can’t find my watercolors anywhere and I’ve got dust bunnies coming out of every cupboard.”

“Wait,” Epoc said, “really?”

“Yeah,” Diana replied as she looked around the room.

Epoc sighed two parts relief, one part disappointment, with a shot of confusion. Shake vigorously. 

“I can do that. Is that it every time or…”

Diana spun around, grabbed epoc by the collar and slammed her against the wall with enough force to knock the air out of her. Her feet weren’t touching the ground anymore. Diana snarled in Epoc’s face, her teeth so close to her eyes it sent her primate-brain into a frenzy. 

When in confusion, the human brain, like that of most animals, had five settings it reverted to when put under stress. The five F’s: Fight, Flight, Freeze, Feed and roommates. Epoc’s was now fully dialed into the ‘besties’ setting. Historians would say she had many friends. 

“If you don’t take this seriously. If you think I will not rip your skull out through your asshole. If you treat Nexus Alpha with anything less than pure devotion. If you do not worship the machine more than I do. If you think this is a fucking joke. I will hurt you.” She let Epoc go and clenched her jaw, and frowned, shaking her head. “I’m s– hold on, are you horny?”

Epoc slumped to the floor, panting and smiling to herself. “Little bit,” she said. “Sorry.”

“No, what, no?!” Diana said. “That was way out of line. I just…” She frowned. “That’s an ugly part of me. Take care of Nexus Alpha and you won’t have to see it again.”

“But what if I, uh, want to?” Epoc said. “I mean… it was kind of hot.”

“Threatening to kill you?!” 

“Uh.”

“You got issues.”

“You’re one to talk,” Epoc said. “Maybe we can help each other out.”

Diana shook her head. “Fuck. Mako Group is… something else. Not today, Pilot. But if you want to be a little freak about it…” She walked over to a closet and rummaged around in it. “Where is– Here we go.” She turned around and tossed something at Epoc. 

“What’s that?” Epoc said, and held it out in front of her, then let out a barked laugh. “A maid outfit?” She put it down. “You can’t be serious. I’d look ridiculous.”

“That’s the point, Epoc. This is punishment. Put it on or I make you mop the canteen.” Diana’s grin was truly fiendish. 

“I… fine. But I’m keeping my underwear on.”

“What? That was never even– Man, you are horny. Get in the maid dress, Epoc.”