She reached out in my direction, and it wasn’t a warning or a threat of a blast aimed at annihilating me. Just—a hand extended, relaxed.

I grabbed it, and I felt her shift her grip, her fingers interlacing with mine. She half-turned, reached for the wrist of the hand I held, and undid something before twisting it, partially using my grip to help the twist. When she pulled her hand free of mine, the movement was ginger, gentle, and careful to keep everything from elbow to fingertip pointing up. It required my cooperation, to let go of her fingers, and I gave it.

Her fingers were stiff in their movements and slow as she touched her other wrist. She didn’t keep her left hand upright, and instead let her arm swing down. The swinging motion coupled with the hand being unattached saw it sliding out, flying in Gary’s general direction. Pale and slender, each nail was done up in black and white polish.

It hit the ground like a lead weight, landing halfway between herself and Gary. Fingers twitched as they curled up like the legs of a dead spider. Nail polish splintered off.

Her other arm didn’t swing down, but simply lowered. I saw the hand slide free, striking the ground near her foot. The pipe that extended out from the bottom end of the wrist stuck up for a moment, before it toppled and hit the ground with a sharper sound.

“They took my hands,” Ashley said, staring at Gary, extending her arms partially up and out. The stumps were capped with metal discs with circular holes in the center for the hands to slide into, slick with blood and lubricating oil in equal measure. “They held me at knifepoint when they made me join. They took my hands, they took my ability to speak, and they made me act like one of them. I wasn’t an angel before, but the fact they had to make me says I wasn’t really Slaughterhouse Nine.”

I relaxed, dropping the six inches to the ground. With that, the tension of others in the room began to dwindle. One or two people sat. Others remained standing but didn’t look ready to bolt.

“Wherever you’re getting your information, you’re not getting the full picture,” Ashley said. “You’re attacking us for things that are far more complicated and unpleasant for us than you’re aware. I hope so, in any event. Because if you aren’t ignorant, you’re malignant.”

I bent down, picking up he hand by Ashley’s foot. When I looked up, Gary was bending down to pick up her other hands.

Rain’s voice was low and quiet, “Be gentle with it. I know she dropped it to make a point or something, but if you actively tamper with it or touch the sensors near the metal bone, it might muck with the settings.”