Robin rounded the corner just as the patrol was about to, catching them by surprise. The CO/IN guards froze for an instant as the reality of her presence settled in. She punched the first one hard enough for them to see all of their ancestors. Her fists were balls of lightning, striking throats, kidneys, and deep into bellies, driving all air out of them. A guard dropped to their knees only to get greeted by her elbow. Another tumbled to the ground, slow to stand up. The last recovered quickly, jumping back up to face her. Just in time for her boot from a spinning kick to connect to their chin. They were out before they landed on their back. She waited patiently for the last to make their move. Sloppy and desperate in their charge, she blocked their first two blows. Her face grave and focused—her large eyes unblinking—she ducked under another blow only to rapid-fire punches directly into the guard’s gut. When they doubled over, she drove her hand straight down. Five bodies dropped in under thirty seconds.

“We should kill them to ensure their silence,” Ellis said.

“That is not our way. They are no longer a threat,” Epyc Ro said.

“They will be once they awaken.”

“We’ll deal with them then. For now, we don’t become monsters for the sake of convenience. Are you good with that?”

Ellis stared at the guards. Then the scratches on the wall. They spit on the guards. “Yes. For now.”

The team dragged off the bodies, binding them before securing them in a cell. Once the door closed, Ellis smashed the lock pad.

“Come on.” Epyc Ro took point without further comment.

The tunnels connected to another passageway, yet somehow this corridor felt different. Whatever stirred Epyc Ro’s emi, she felt it along the pores of her skin as if her navsuit weren’t there. The HOVA Hellfighters glanced at one another as if confirming the disturbance in their emi. The walls weren’t older. More as if the atrocities committed in its hallways stained the very core. The supports bulged along the archways like an insect’s exoskeleton.

“They don’t want us to see something,” Robin said.

“I think I know what.” Epyc Ro peered into the next chamber. She held her hand up as Ellis approached. “You … don’t want to go in there.”

Ellis read her eyes. Disturbed, their face already began to crack with sadness, they pushed past her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she dropped her hand.

The cold room had the feel of age and decay. A thin skim of moisture coated the walls. A lone light bobbed overhead, a floating ball producing a wan shaft of light illuminating the solitary figure.

Natan.

Strapped to a chair, naked. Their chest peeled back like overripe fruit. Their intestines piled into their lap.