Moth shuffled across the room with his arms around himself and his head down. The door clicked shut behind him, and in the small amount of light given off by his suit he looked around. The facilities were simple, and clean, and dusty. He nearly didn't need them when he looked up and stared into the glowing eyes of his doppelganger. Stifling a scream, his shoulders sank when he realized it was the mirror over the sink. The glowing eyes weren't there and his mind was playing tricks on him. His heart started beating again and he slumped against a wall. He could barely hear the others speaking through the door, thick and heavy as it was. All Moth wanted was for the day to end and things to go back to normal.

A minute later he pressed the manual flush button and gave his hands a cursory rinse in the sink. He glanced up at his reflection. His thick blond hair was a mess, sticking out in several directions. His face looked even slimmer than usual, making his large nose and owlish brown eyes stand out even more. Disgusted, he looked away.



Moth squeaked in surprise and clutched the sink. It looked like his bathroom break was over. He meant to fling the door open, but it glided back silently on well-maintained pneumatics.

An enormous noise thundered outside, and the room shivered slightly as if from impact.

"THE WASH ROOM IS LOCATED TO YOUR LEFT."

BOOM

The second time, the explosion was clearer. The Grit were in the process of knocking a hole through the wall, down at the ground level.

"Grit?! Is that...is it the Grit?!"

"I think we should get going down now. The armory in the North wall could take to long and the grit could flood the wall before we know it. Going back up for additional arms would probably take to long as well. I don't know how quickly we can adorn the implants, but if they don't require surgery, we should use them. Also we should stop at the emergency armory. That one is on the way and we can quickly get weapons then. I can even jump down the center of the flights and scout ahead. I'm not one for arguing what we do, but I don't really want to fight my way out and I do want to act."

“Sounds as good a plan as any. I can’t imagine base jumping into a horde of Grit, or waiting here for them to come find us will work better.”

“Liam! Grab any implants that looks easy to use and let’s head out! ” Kat called, then paused for a moment. “Anbaric is a good brand, if you can see any!"

“Do you think there’s any way we can ask a question to find out more on that ‘Project Willow’? If not, I can just extract the bot’s central data storage unit and analyse it later.”

Holding the rum ball, Maria walked over and tapped Kat on the shoulder. "Excuse me, miss? I noticed that you looked a bit worried, so I got this for you. It's a rum ball. I've always thought that candy helps people relax a bit, so I wanted to give you some." Maria paused, looking a bit worried herself. "...If you don't mind me asking, what are you so worried about?"

Moth walked up, still hugging himself.

"Um, little...girl. The Grit...creatures, things from your nightmares, are coming through the damn Wall while we're standing around in the dark and not getting the nine hells out of here like we should have done an hour ago! And, and, and...the entire damn city is a damn statue garden and half a damn eclipse is hanging there, just hanging there out of nowhere and I've been thrown into a damn broken trolley and pushed through a filthy damn maintenance shaft into the damn Wall which is being torn apart as we speak and and I'm being haunted by my own damn self with damn glowing damn pink damn eyes and, and..."

Moth paused. If his voice cracked any more he'd never be able to put it back together. His breathing slowed, shaking. He felt himself teetering on the edge of a giant chasm and he felt like there was no way to keep his feet on solid ground.

"Um. I'm R...um, people call me Moth."

Moth looked down at his neat little brown saddle shoes as he shuddered and tried not to cry.

Moth walked up, still hugging himself.

"Um, little...girl. The Grit...creatures, things from your nightmares, are coming through the damn Wall while we're standing around in the dark and not getting the nine hells out of here like we should have done an hour ago! And, and, and...the entire damn city is a damn statue garden and half a damn eclipse is hanging there, just hanging there out of nowhere and I've been thrown into a damn broken trolley and pushed through a filthy damn maintenance shaft into the damn Wall which is being torn apart as we speak and and I'm being haunted by my own damn self with damn glowing damn pink damn eyes and, and..."

Moth paused. If his voice cracked any more he'd never be able to put it back together. His breathing slowed, shaking. He felt himself teetering on the edge of a giant chasm and he felt like there was no way to keep his feet on solid ground.

"Um. I'm R...um, people call me Moth."

Moth looked down at his neat little brown saddle shoes as he shuddered and tried not to cry.

Maria folded her arms and pouted. "I'm not that little!" Of course, her current actions weren't helping her case very much; if anything, she looked even younger. Her expression softened as Moth continued raving, and at the end she giggled slightly. She immediately felt bad for doing so; he did have a point about everything, obscured as it was by sheer fear. "You sure seem to like saying 'damn' a lot, huh?" She dug around in her jacket again, talking as she did, softly and kindly.

"Look, I know everything seems really bad right now. And maybe they are. But maybe we can make things better, you know? Maybe we can beat back the Grit, take back Periphery, and make everything like how it used to be. And I know it seems kinda impossible right now, that we few could do something like that. But all dreams seem impossible at first. We just need to act on them, and everything will fall into place. And then we'll look back, at when our dream seemed impossible, and go 'Hey, that wasn't so hard.'" She pulled out a small chocolate cream with a white filling and pressed it into Moth's hand with an earnest smile; it looked like she really did believe things would get better. "Here, eat this chocolate. You'll feel better."

"THE FASTEST ROUTE TO THE GROUND LEVEL IS A STRAIGHT JUMP FROM THE OUTSIDE LANDING." A red dot appeared at their location on the lit-up map, and a dotted line followed it as the dot leaped to the ground.

Vincent stifled a laugh at this statement. He wanted to believe the robot had a sense of humor, but it was far more likely it had no sense of human mortality. Either way he found the statement to be most amusing. He quickly calmed down however and listened to the barrage of statements the robot made as it answered every question that was asked of it.

"THE QUEEN'S ARMORY IS LOCATED AT THE NORTH WALL, LEVEL FOURTEEN, 2D6." The view changed, and another dot appeared at the appropriate place at the north side of the wall.

"ADDITIONAL ARMAMENTS ARE LOCATED EVERY TWENTY FEET AT THE TOP OF THE WALL." A view of the circumference of the wall appeared, dotted red.

"EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ARMAMENT STOREROOM IS LOCATED DIRECTLY BELOW YOUR CURRENT LOCATION LEVEL SIX ROOM 5Q4." A map of the interior of the wall appeared, with their current location marked and a red dot blinking far below, closer to the ground.

"BATTLE-READY IMPLANTS ARE LOCATED ON THE CURRENT FLOOR SURGERY ROOM." This time a map of the infirmary and the surrounding rooms appeared, with a red dot in the surgery room.

"PROJECT WILLOW LOCATION IS UNKNOWN." The red dot disappeared.

"THE STAIRWELLS EACH DESCEND FIFTEEN LEVELS AND ARE LOCATED IN CLOSE PROXIMITY AND MAY BE ROUTED TO THE GROUND." A map of the wall interior appeared again, with the stairwells highlighted in red. The stairwells were staggered every fifteen floors but could be easily navigated to the ground.

He frowned briefly as he recognized the North Wall being too far at the moment and the armaments on top of the Wall likely were a bad idea to get too, but perhaps the safest option of such things. Implants left him feeling a bit queasy, but since they were right here he'd investigate regardless. At least there was an emergency storeroom below them and it would be easy enough to get to. He looked at the others in the room. It seemed like there were people with the same idea he did: grab whatever implant would work and then head downstairs.

Suddenly the Wall itself started shaking as earth shattering BOOMs rattled the base of it. The damned beasts intended to tear a hole in the Wall for their other brethren to come through. He decided to not say anything as all he'd do is add to the noise. Then Kat faced him as if she were to speak, she stopped whatever she was going to say, and eventually did speak.

“Do you think there’s any way we can ask a question to find out more on that ‘Project Willow’? If not, I can just extract the bot’s central data storage unit and analyse it later.”

He wondered why she hesitated, but decided he would inquire at a later point of time if he felt necessary. He felt quite pleased that she was asking something from him. This made him feel important which he certainly loved, but that pleasure was a private one and definitely inappropriate to express visually. "Of course." He said in a helpful tone.

He then faced the robot. "Tell us all details you know of Project Willow." He turned back to Kat and put a hand on her shoulder with a smile. "Everything will be alright." He was absolutely assured of this. After all he had was confident he had everything he needed to fix everyone he wanted.

Vincent felt less than hopeful about getting much useful about the Project, so he stepped away from the robot and headed towards the Surgery room nearby. He was curious about the implants and if anything wanted to explore the place before circumstance forced them to leave. He stopped the moment he saw the pink glow underneath the surgery table. He stepped past Liam and knelt down at the surgery table and saw the stone child curled up fearfully and that soulstone right there near her chest. He grinned lightly and grabbed it from the air and put it right into his pocket next to Randy's soul. Another for the soul collection. To him there was no prize greater than that of a human soul.

"Excuse me, miss? I noticed that you looked a bit worried, so I got this for you. It's a rum ball. I've always thought that candy helps people relax a bit, so I wanted to give you some." Maria paused, looking a bit worried herself. "...If you don't mind me asking, what are you so worried about?"

He then faced the robot. "Tell us all details you know of Project Willow." He turned back to Kat and put a hand on her shoulder with a smile. "Everything will be alright." He was absolutely assured of this. After all he had was confident he had everything he needed to fix everyone he wanted.

Although Kat knew the others were trying to console her with the best of intentions, she had to fight down frustration at herself for making her distress so evident. Unwrapping the rum ball, she popped it into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. Not quite as good as a real drink, but it’ll do for now. She smiled bashfully at Vincent and Maria. It wasn’t like her to get so wound up about things, but when it came to her siblings… they were the only people she really gave a damn about. Despite the hundreds of friends and followers she’d accrued on social media, and the large amorphous social circle she hung out with on nights out.

The boy who called himself Moth proceeded to interrupt the moment with a “damn” filled rant on the morning they’d had so far. The young girl, who had been so kind to her, then responded with a significantly more inspiring take on the situation. Kat felt herself looking warmly at the two of them. They must at least a few years younger than me, and yet seem to be taking this so well. Vincent too. Perhaps I grew up more than I thought I had, to be worrying so much.

“You seem to have a sweet for every occasion. I’m quite impressed.” Kat remarked dryly to the girl.

“And I like the way you think, too. That’s the way a mechanic’s supposed to see things; if there’s a problem, then there’s no point getting worried about it. You’ve just got to figure out if you can fix it with what you’ve got to hand.”

The bashful look returned to Kat’s face. I hope that didn’t sound as stupid to them as it did to me. I was never any good at sounding smart.

“Sorry for being moody before. The people I was waiting for whilst up on the wall… I’m pretty worried about what happened to them. But Moth here has a point- we need to focus on getting out of here first. What’s your name? I’m Kat.”

Flor listened to Kat's instructions and waited for a moment to see if anyone else had any ideas. It seemed they were sort of forgetting the seriousness of the situation. They acknowledged the coming Grit, but didn't seem to worry as much as he did. He tried not to appear to ancy, but listening to them all worry about feelings and candy and cleaning up their mess was taking to long to him. There was a time for all of that and he did not think it was now. He decided that if he moved on then perhaps the others would follow him. He did think for a moment to realize he hadn't really introduced himself yet. "Hey, so I'm Flor by the way, and I'm going to go scout now." He said this just before darting through the door titled stairs.

He took a look down the center of the spiral staircase, that leveled off at each floor and continued down again on the other side. He didn't see anything from his initial look into the stairwell, so he went ahead and jumped over the railing to the stairs and plummeted several flights down to the bottom of that staircase. He tried to glance all of the floors as he fell past them to see if he missed any Grit in the staircase. As he approached the ground he activated his sigil a second before hitting the ground, leaving cracked tiles around his feet. He looked around again ensuring nothing was around to harm them.

She pulled out a small chocolate cream with a white filling and pressed it into Moth's hand with an earnest smile; it looked like she really did believe things would get better. "Here, eat this chocolate. You'll feel better."

Moth looked down at the chocolate in his hand. He smiled in spite of himself, and wished his outlook could be so simple and full of hope. In a matter of hours, his carefully constructed world had been torn apart by the Grit, and now he was lost in the dark and without direction. He just wanted to crawl into the corner and never get up. And yet.

“You seem to have a sweet for every occasion. I’m quite impressed.” Kat remarked dryly to the girl.

“And I like the way you think, too.”

This was the first time Moth had really been anywhere with people in...years. For an unfathomable stretch of time, it was just him, filling his little corner of the world all by himself. Well, it wasn't quite "going out with friends," so much as "running from living nightmares with a group of complete strangers," but it was something.

It was better. Moth bit the chocolate in half and his face lit up in the dusty gloom of the hospital ward. It wasn't caramel. He hated caramel.

He tried not to appear to ancy, but listening to them all worry about feelings and candy and cleaning up their mess was taking to long to him. There was a time for all of that and he did not think it was now. He decided that if he moved on then perhaps the others would follow him. He did think for a moment to realize he hadn't really introduced himself yet. "Hey, so I'm Flor by the way, and I'm going to go scout now." He said this just before darting through the door titled stairs.

Moth swallowed hard.

"Um. Should we...are we going now?"

"Tell us all details you know of Project Willow."

The lights around the robot's head flickered.

"PROJECT WILLOW. RESEARCH IN THE NATURE OF DREAMS AND EMERGENCY OFFENSIVE MEASURE FOR THE ERADICATION OF GRIT COLONIES. ALPHA TESTING STAGES. HEADED BY DOCTOR ALPHONSE DERIATHAN. AUTHORIZED BY KING LUCIAN UNQUIET. NATURE OF WEAPON REDACTED. LOCATION UNKNOWN. CLASSIFICATION LEVEL SIXTEEN."

The robot went quiet again. This was everything there was to access about Project Willow by a surgeon robot with no direct need to have such information. Its lights flickered again.

"CANDY IS A LEADING CAUSE OF TOOTH DECAY AND HIGH BLOOD SUGAR."

Within the surgery room, most of the implants were of a medical nature: new eyes for the blind, mobility implants, hearing aids, mechanical limbs, jars of microscopic robots. Then there was the detractable armor plating, the hidden blades, the lasers, some less intrusive than others. Though it appeared this place had yet to ever be used, it had been stocked in preparation to build and repair soldiers that could match the abilities of the Grit.

Now that Vincent had snatched away the glowing soul, the little stone girl seemed colder -- like she'd never lived at all.

As he approached the ground, Flor activated his sigil a second before hitting the ground, leaving cracked tiles around his feet. He looked around again ensuring nothing was around to harm them.

"WAAAHH!" A high-pitched screech of terror echoed all the way up the stairwell; even those standing in the infirmary could clearly tell something had happened.

A skinny, bare-shouldered little boy had been eating a sandwich near the spot where Flor made his harsh landing. The child jumped and scrambled and in a panic covered himself with the sheet he'd been sitting on, flinging bits of bread and cheese and tomato.

With the sheet still draped over him, he skittered backward and started chucking food at Flor: an apple, a water bottle, a package of deli meat.

"GO AWAY!" He peeked over the edge of the sheet for a moment. The kid had a messy mop of yellow hair, bright green eyes, and the long drooping ears of a jackrabbit. He shoved his head under the sheet again and launched a ketchup packet at Flor.

As Liam looked around in the surgery room his eyes caught the now stone girl hiding underneath the surgery table. His eyes softened as he knelt down in front of her. Poor kid, I would hate to know what your last thoughts were. He whispered softly as he slowly reached for the crystal.



Liam instantly drew his sword and went into a defensive stance slowly making his way outside of the surgery room.

Everyone al-



Another one. Whatever the Grit are doing, they were doing it fast and in full force.

"I think we should get going down now. The armory in the North wall could take to long and the grit could flood the wall before we know it. Going back up for additional arms would probably take to long as well. I don't know how quickly we can adorn the implants, but if they don't require surgery, we should use them. Also we should stop at the emergency armory. That one is on the way and we can quickly get weapons then. I can even jump down the center of the flights and scout ahead. I'm not one for arguing what we do, but I don't really want to fight my way out and I do want to act."

I agree with Flor’s idea, we need to get out quickly cause from the sounds of it these bastards aren’t getting any slower. The emergency armoury is also a good idea. So lets grab what we need and get the hell outta here.

“Liam! Grab any implants that looks easy to use and let’s head out! ” Kat called, then paused for a moment. “Anbaric is a good brand, if you can see any!"

Will do Mechanic Lady Sir! He said playfully giving a quick salute and turning back into the room. As much as Liam wanted to remain serious and cold he knew that everyone here was just as tense as he was and the last thing they needed was a group filled with tense and edgy people so if he could lighten the mood in any way possible he would. As he turned around he noticed that one of the group members had taken the purple floating purple orb and pocketed it, grinning lightly as he did so. Almost instantly after he took the purple thing, Liam felt a slight tingle in his spine as he made his way towards the locked cabinet. Something feels wrong about this dude, It could just be me overreacting but I got a bad feeling about him… but again, could just be me overreacting. He thought as he approached the cabinet.

He stood there for a moment before grabbing both handles of the cabinets and yanking at them with all his might. After about a minute or so of constant yanking, both doors finally gave out and flew open. Okay, okay okay okay okay okay…. He mumbled as he stared at all the implants in front of him. Outside Liam could hear someone cursing a lot but right now that was not really important as he instantly started searching for a bag that he could put this all in. For about a minute he searched through all the rooms finally coming across an empty medical emergency bag. Bingo he said as he took as many implants as he could and filled up the bag to the brim. He then quickly zipped it up and walked out of the room. Lets go dude He said to Vincent as he walked out of the room. Got nearly all of the implants. He said tapping on the bag now hanging from his side. They have some cool stuff there, blades, armour hell they even ha- Liam stopped himself as he heard Wailing.

He quickly dropped the bag at Katrina’s side and ran towards the sound finally getting towards the flight of stairs and running down them as fast as he could. As he reached the bottom of the staircase he pulled out his pepperbox and slowed his pace. Once he got to the base of the staircase he saw a rather peculiar sight. A little child chucking food at Flor shouting at him to go away. Shiiit, if this kid keeps up the noise we are screwed. He thought as he slowly holstered his gun and approached the kid bending down next to him. As he did he noticed that the kid had…bunny ears? Carter instinctively took a few steps back as he realized that the kid was Grit. Liam stared at the child for a few seconds before approaching the child again.

Hey buddy how are you doing. Forgive my friend’s sudden landing. It was not his intention to scare you, but believe me we are friendly and we mean you no harm. He said giving the child a warm smile. My name is Liam and you’ve already met Florence, may I have your name? Huh a child with bunny ears, welp this day is gonna go down in my books as the weirdest day to have ever existed He thought as he squatted down next to the kid and continued smiling.

As Flor landed he certainly wasn't expecting what came next. A young child screeched right next to him and ran underneath the stairs. He was sort of angered for a moment as screaming was something he did not deal well with. He mostly wanted to slap the kid and tell him not to scream like that, but he figured he had some good reason to scream and now would be a bad time to do anything but try to calm him. "Wait, I'm not going to hurt you." He began to dodge and deflect flying food. "Stop. My name is Flor and we're just trying to escape." The kid stopped throwing food for a moment only to look over and tell him to go away.

He looked like a relatively normal kid, except he had long rabbit ears? He barely caught a glimpse of them, but his eyes were eerily bright for green eyes. As he stood in awe of the kid, he ducked back under his sheet and threw a ketchup packet right in his face. He was getting rather tired of the kid's antics, but he was patient and wasn't going to do anything that might seem mean or harmful to the kid in any way. Just then Liam arrived at the scene, and began to try to calm the kid as well.

Vincent was fascinated about the sudden change that happened with the girl. It was as if she was only in a suspended state with her soul right before her, but now that he had removed it she seemed to be truly nothing more than a statue. He almost forgot that there was someone else in the room with him, but the rustling through implants reminded him.

Okay, okay okay okay okay okay…. He mumbled as he stared at all the implants in front of him. Outside Liam could hear someone cursing a lot but right now that was not really important as he instantly started searching for a bag that he could put this all in. For about a minute he searched through all the rooms finally coming across an empty medical emergency bag. Bingo he said as he took as many implants as he could and filled up the bag to the brim. He then quickly zipped it up and walked out of the room. Lets go dude He said to Vincent as he walked out of the room. Got nearly all of the implants. He said tapping on the bag now hanging from his side. They have some cool stuff there, blades, armour hell they even ha- Liam stopped himself as he heard Wailing.

Vincent simply nodded. He didn't really care about the implants because while technology was impressive, he very much was an elitist about magic. In spite of his lack of attention in Father's lessons, Vincent understood that magic was every bit technology's equal in power and potential and perhaps even more. This petrification could only be the works of magic as far as he understood it. Then the wailing interrupted his train of thought.

He stood up as Liam left the room and grabbed a scalpel from the surgical tray. He then grabbed a bandage and wrapped it around the blade of the scalpel before putting the scalpel into his jacket's pocket. He stepped back into the lobby. He stopped in the middle of it and looked for a clock. He found one hanging on the wall near the medical sigils, but the damn thing was on a digital interface and completely shut off. He glanced at the others that were still near the robot.

"Everyone OK over here?" He sounded genuine although he was really only asking out of courtesy. He did think that any of them coming to harm was a bad idea though. He glanced over towards the door that lead to the stairs and saw that it was wide open. He tilted his head with a curious expression and stepped over the door's threshold. He saw in the stairwell that there was food scattered everywhere and Liam was comforting a strange looking child with Flor standing nearby.

Vincent sighed with raised eyebrows. He then looked more carefully at the kid. The first question that came to mind was: what are you? However, he judged that perhaps would be an inappropriate question for the moment. The ears didn't seem to be a part of a costume. He decided to wait and watch to see what happened next from the point of view of the door.

“You seem to have a sweet for every occasion. I’m quite impressed.” Kat remarked dryly to the girl.

“And I like the way you think, too. That’s the way a mechanic’s supposed to see things; if there’s a problem, then there’s no point getting worried about it. You’ve just got to figure out if you can fix it with what you’ve got to hand.”

The bashful look returned to Kat’s face. I hope that didn’t sound as stupid to them as it did to me. I was never any good at sounding smart.

Maria smiled. "More like every situation can be improved with sweets. Like just now; you and Moth were sad earlier, and then I gave you something nice to eat and something nice to hear, and now you're not sad! In fact, I bet that if I could get a Grit to hold still long enough, I could give it a sweet and it would calm down some! Or just be too focused on chewing the sweet to chase after us, but either one works!"

“Sorry for being moody before. The people I was waiting for whilst up on the wall… I’m pretty worried about what happened to them. But Moth here has a point- we need to focus on getting out of here first. What’s your name? I’m Kat.”

Maria's face fell slightly. "Yeah, I have people I'm worried about too. I'm sure they're all safe, though; why would the Grit kill stone statues?" She cocked her head to the side slightly. "Though I guess they could have been missed by the lightning, or whatever it was... Well, either way, we probably should get going. Can't keep everyone waiting, after all!" She started walking towards the door, but turned around before she went for than a few steps. "Oh, and I'm Maria. My parents run a candy shop by the Seventh River, which is why I have so much with me! My mom used to say that that's also why I'm so sweet, but I prefer to think that it's because I was raised on a steady diet of hopes and dreams!" Now that the shock had almost completely worn off, Maria was gradually coming back into her usual personality - a tiny, crinkly chatterbox.

"CANDY IS A LEADING CAUSE OF TOOTH DECAY AND HIGH BLOOD SUGAR."

Maria stuck her tongue out at the robot. "Oh, hush! You're just jealous you can't eat any candy!" She blew a raspberry at it.

"WAAAHH!" A high-pitched screech of terror echoed all the way up the stairwell; even those standing in the infirmary could clearly tell something had happened.

A skinny, bare-shouldered little boy had been eating a sandwich near the spot where Flor made his harsh landing. The child jumped and scrambled and in a panic covered himself with the sheet he'd been sitting on, flinging bits of bread and cheese and tomato.

With the sheet still draped over him, he skittered backward and started chucking food at Flor: an apple, a water bottle, a package of deli meat.

"GO AWAY!" He peeked over the edge of the sheet for a moment. The kid had a messy mop of yellow hair, bright green eyes, and the long drooping ears of a jackrabbit. He shoved his head under the sheet again and launched a ketchup packet at Flor.

Maria gasped. "Someone's in trouble! C'mon guys, we need to help them!" And with that, Maria was off, out the door and down the stairs. Idly, she started reciting a little nursery rhyme as she went. Out the door and down the stairs, to find the one screaming we go~ She couldn't quite think of a second verse, and she had arrived at the bottom of the stairs by then anyway. "Hi guys! I heard someone screaming from all the way upstairs. What's going on?" She seemed almost entirely unfazed by the child's rabbit ears, or if she was, she didn't show it.

Maria gasped. "Someone's in trouble! C'mon guys, we need to help them!" And with that, Maria was off, out the door and down the stairs.

Moth turned white when he heard the screams. Most of the others ran out to the hallway along with Maria.

"Wh-what was that? And why is everyone running towards it? Uh, anyone?"

Timidly, Moth gulped down the last of his chocolate and inched out the door and to the edge of the stairs. At the bottom, they were crowding around a small person with long ears like a rabbit.

"Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no they're here. The Grit are here. The damn Grit are inside the damn wall and, and..."

Moth paused and shuddered and gathered his thoughts. He peeked out over the railing. He would've sworn he saw a flying apple. Moth hugged himself and slowly followed the others downstairs.

"PROJECT WILLOW. RESEARCH IN THE NATURE OF DREAMS AND EMERGENCY OFFENSIVE MEASURE FOR THE ERADICATION OF GRIT COLONIES. ALPHA TESTING STAGES. HEADED BY DOCTOR ALPHONSE DERIATHAN. AUTHORIZED BY KING LUCIAN UNQUIET. NATURE OF WEAPON REDACTED. LOCATION UNKNOWN. CLASSIFICATION LEVEL SIXTEEN."

What the hell?!

Kat waited patiently for the robot to continue, but it merely stated some dull platitude about how candy was bad for you. She tried to rack her brains- did she remember a Doctor Alphonse Deriathan, had she ever read anything by him… She couldn’t remember; the name rang no bells. Probably not my kind of doctor.

Something to do with dreams. Dreams, and killing Grit- Project Willow was some kind of weapon; and it was one which had been developed over some time, if it was authorised by the old King.

A loud screech echoed all the way up the stairwell, which was enough to distract almost everyone else- Liam, Maria and Vincent had all headed over to see what was up. Kat’s mind was too busy whirling to really focus on much else. Not that her thoughts got her much further, she just kept returning the same theme- Location unknown; does that mean someone took it?

Shaking her head, Kat focused back on her situation. Liam had dumped a bag of bionic implants next to her, before running off down the stairs. They seemed to be talking to someone, but given there had been no follow-up scream Kat decided to assume everyone was alright for now.

Kneeling, Kat opened the bag. Liam had a decent eye; he’d managed to find some impressive hardware. Or, perhaps the real surprise was that such impressive hardware had been lying around in the first place. This stuff wasn’t for neutralising humans, retractable blades, gun arm attachments… this was for Grit.

Kat hadn’t augmented herself for some time- she’d worn quite a lot of cosmetic bionic implants when she was a teenager, which was the in thing for most engineering students. That stuff had fallen out of fashion by the time she went to college- it was slowly making its way back into the mainstream, though this time in a more biopunk theme.

Still, she had never really been one for intense body modification (asides from her sigils)… plus, there was no time for it even if she found something that had been useful. So she searched through the bag, looking for something which would be quick and non-intrusive.

“Aha!” She cried, eureka moment buzzing in her ears. Alongside the shoulder tendrils (which would require surgery to implant properly, were two strips of thin, lightweight aluminium, small oval power packs with connectors like spiders legs attached to each strip by thin wires. A pair of subdermal implants, each of which were capable of ten electrical charges at max capacity. The charges packed a real punch too- about as strong as an electrolaser. Flicking the ‘test’ switches on each power pack, she smiled to feel the ovals vibrate twice in short succession- meaning they were both fully charged and working.

There’s sterile equipment here, a surgery bot- I probably won’t get a chance like this again for some time. I need to be able to fight somehow.

Kat didn’t have a great knowledge of medical matters, but in her line of work she knew how to get an implant in or out of someone quickly. Running into the surgery room, Kat saw one of the jars of microbots in gel and grabbed it, as well as a scalpel and a large syringe. Clicking her fingers, she gestured at the surgical robot to come into the surgery room with her.

“I need your help.”

She quickly explained the procedure that would be needed to perform the operation. Handing the scalpel to the bot, Kat worked quickly on her right arm to start with- rubbing some numbing gel on the area before beginning. The subdermal implants were best placed on the front of her forearms, and extended all the way up to her elbows, with the power pack and nerve connections on the underside of her wrist to catch her deep branch vein on either arm. The thin strips of aluminium were thin enough that her skin didn’t need to stretch over them- the power packs she kept external , bending the connectors so they dug into her skin and connected to her nerves. Looking at the robot, she laid her left forearm on the surgery table and nodded. The robot leaned over and made the first incision.

Ow ow ow ow ow

The numbing gel wasn’t quite doing the trick, but she didn’t really have many other options at this point- anything more potent would both take too long and dull her speed and sharpness after surgery. She didn’t turn her head away as the bot peeled the upper layer of her skin with one hand, and carefully placed the implants beneath her skin. When she was happy the implants were in place, Kat pinched her skin together with her fingers and, filling the syringe with gel, squeezed the gel out over the incisions she’d made. The microbots got to work almost immediately; noticing the damaged skin and replicating new skin cells to plug the gap.

After about thirty seconds, the thin cuts she had made were gone- you could see where they’d been, as the skin there was too new, too pale compared to the rest of her arm. But at least she wasn’t bleeding profusely. Grabbing a paper towel from the wall, Kat wiped off the gel and the two of them began work on the other arm.

The whole procedure took about twenty minutes, leaving long, thin lines of new skin along both her forearms. Tentatively, she reached out and touched the new skin, feeling the hard strips of metal beneath. Kat suddenly felt quite a long way from home- alien in her own skin. If you’d told me I’d be implanting myself this afternoon, I’d have laughed at you.

Looking around, she realised everyone had disappeared. Her arms felt odd, perhaps painful, but definitely uncomfortable. It’d be a while until she was used to the extra weight she’d added. Sliding her jacket back on (the powerpack was just visible above her cuffs, but only if you were looking closely) she walked out of the surgery room. Every had left- clearly gone to see what the shouting was about. Picking up the bag of implants (stashing some scalpels, the jar of microbots and syringe in her rucksack), Kat headed down the stairs to see what everyone else was making a fuss about.

"Wait, I'm not going to hurt you." Flor began to dodge and deflect flying food. "Stop. My name is Flor and we're just trying to escape."

Liam stared at the child for a few seconds before approaching the child again. "Hey buddy how are you doing. Forgive my friend’s sudden landing. It was not his intention to scare you, but believe me we are friendly and we mean you no harm." He said giving the child a warm smile. "My name is Liam and you’ve already met Florence, may I have your name?" He squatted down next to the kid and continued smiling.

Maria was off, out the door and down the stairs. "Hi guys! I heard someone screaming from all the way upstairs. What's going on?"

"Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no they're here. The Grit are here. The damn Grit are inside the damn wall and, and..." Moth paused and shuddered and gathered his thoughts. He peeked out over the railing. He would've sworn he saw a flying apple. Moth hugged himself and slowly followed the others downstairs.

Picking up the bag of implants (stashing some scalpels, the jar of microbots and syringe in her rucksack), Kat headed down the stairs to see what everyone else was making a fuss about.

Vincent decided to wait and watch to see what happened next from the point of view of the door.

The rabbit-eared kid lowered the sheet just enough to stare wide-eyed at Liam. He breathed quickly, his breath huffing against the sheet, furry ears twitching, and he glanced up at Flor and then back at Liam's warm smiling face -- then back at Flor.

The boy's eyebrows furrowed. His blue eyes grew even wider as he stared at Flor.

What follows took place within the span of ten seconds.

Maria's voice in the stairwell surprised the child; he sprang out of the sheet like a spooked cat, leapfrogged over Liam's shoulders, launched himself at Flor, slammed into Flor full-force, and bounced nimbly away.

The child perched on the stair railing, breathing in short gasps, and unfolded his thin hand; in his palm lay the pink glowing stone he had stolen from Flor's pocket.

In this brief moment of pause, it became clear that a peculiar image had been drawn on the boy's bare chest in black marker. A rune.



Immediately, the boy pressed the glowing stone against his chest. The rune on his skin flashed, and the stone disappeared inside him -- as if the rune had caused the stone to be absorbed into the boy's body.

The boy's eyes began to glow a bright, wild yellow as the power of the soul stone coursed through him -- he glanced between Flor and Liam with acute, feral fear.

He launched off of the railing and sped up the stairs toward Maria. The rabbit-eared child grabbed her crinkling oversized coat and swung around behind her, using her as a shield between himself and Flor and Liam, and he screeched.

The piercing, high-pitched noise echoed painfully up the hollow stairwell.

Just outside the wall, a swarm of Grit howled in response.

---

Upstairs, inside the infirmary, it was eerily quiet save for the echoes that drifted up the stairwell.

The robot was in the process of cleaning up after Kat's surgery when it suddenly stopped, lights flickering. Its speaker buzzed and crackled.

< Hello? >

A familiar feminine voice spoke through the robot's speaker and echoed in the surgery room. It was the same voice that greeted the city every morning on the center city screen.

< The line is open to every point of contact currently unlocked to level thirteen clearance. It should be safe. Please answer. . . . Please be alive. >

"Hi guys! I heard someone screaming from all the way upstairs. What's going on?"

Moth was still terrified to be alone, and he hurried to catch up to Maria as she bounced and crinkled down the stairs. There was a commotion ahead of them. His head shot up, eyes wide, as the small long-eared creature screeched and launched itself over the railing onto the girl's back. Time seemed to slow down. In the span of a second, several things went through Moth's head. First, he was an only child; he'd never really thought about what it would be like to have a little sister, but wondered if she would be anything like Maria. Cute and sweet and full of candy was a good start. Second, the small, golden-eyed Grit stirred something in him. The thing was about to hurt her. In the cold dark cavern of his lonely soul, a single spark flared in the black expanse and light flashed against the walls.

Moth pushed himself forward slightly, and let momentum carry him as he nearly tripped down the stairs. He barreled into the Grit on Maria's back. He clutched a bare shoulder with one hand, and the small creature pivoted to face him, eyes wild. With his own face showing no sign of emotion, Moth moved in one smooth arc and slapped it as hard as he could across its cheek.

A faint echo came from somewhere in the dark upstairs as a robot started making noise. Moth's hand slowly turned red and he came to the conclusion that he was in a lot of pain.

Vincent watched as some action broke out down the stairwell. The snatched a soulstone from one of the people here and shoved it into the symbol in his chest and turned into something completely different. He felt fortunate to have had just enough time to see the symbol from his position and memorize the design. He was pretty confident it was nothing like any rune he had seen before. He was about to say something when he heard the Grit howl and there was a response from those outside.

He then heard behind him some static.

< Hello? >

He turned to face the sound and heard the robot was speaking in a different voice.

< The line is open to every point of contact currently unlocked to level thirteen clearance. It should be safe. Please answer. . . . Please be alive. >

He laughed quietly to himself. He was pretty sure he knew this voice. He glanced back at Kat. "Hey, Kat. Is it possible to use robots as a, uhhhh, radio?" He then slid into the infirmary once again deciding it would be best to leave the adults to deal with the situation in the stairwell. He was more curious to identify who was on the other side of the radio. @MsChimeric

He sat next to the robot. "Hello, hello. Things have gone to hell in a hand basket and we're kinda caught right inside the Wall, and I'm sure your definition of safe may very well be different than ours." He kept his tone light and nonchalant, ignoring the sounds in the stairwell behind him. "Is this whom I think it is?"

Flor watched as the rabbit-boy springboarded off of him. A little upset with the boy's antics, he was still calm and fine. Then he saw what the boy stole from him. "Hey! Give that back!" He quickly scrambled up off of the floor, the boy put the gem into his chest. 'The Grit are using our soul stones for power?' Flor's assumption lit a flame of anger against the Grit.

He jumped to the railing the boy sat on, just as he was about to reach him, he leapt again toward Maria and landed behind her. Flor leapt to the railing next to her, but lost concentration as the boy screeched, and nailed the railing, tripping onto the floor Maria and Moth were on. Flor didn't really have any grudge or hatred against the Grit, until he found they were feeding on their souls.

He laughed quietly to himself. He was pretty sure he knew this voice. He glanced back at Kat. "Hey, Kat. Is it possible to use robots as a, uhhhh, radio?"

Kat had also heard the voice, albiet faintly, from the bot she had just left behind in the surgery room. "Yeah, easily especially for bots like this- they're all wirelessly linked to a government network, makes it easier to roll out software updates and co-ordinate in emergencies."

It wouldn't surprise her that they would act as speakers in times of emergency too- you were never far from a robot in Periphery, so you could be sure your message would get through.

Vincent had already headed out to speak to the bot. For a second she was torn to go with Vincent- she recognised that voice over the radio.

But the high pitched scream, and the response she could hear outside the wall, put Kat straight back into high alert. Now is not the time get distracted on Bots! She thought to herself, irritably.

Ducking her head round the door. Kat looked over at Vincent and the bot.

"Vincent, we need get moving to the others. I've no idea what that Grit just did, but it doesn't sound like we're going to enjoy it."

Walking up to the bot, she put her hands on its head, twisted the head and janked it clean off. It came off smooth- the base was clean metal, apart from an area onto which a circuit board was burnished in the middle- the docking point.

"This thing has a small powerpack in its head, it's so it can be transferred to more specialised surgical bodies if needed without shutting down." She explained. "Won't last long without being reattached to another body, maybe ten minutes- so I would avoid being too chatty."

She flashed a grin, adrenaline pumping through her as she handed Vincent the head.

"Now let's go!"

Kat set off, running down the stairs, praying that she wasn't too late to help the others, that they weren't too late to get out. I might be using these implants sooner than I thought.

<Snipped quote>

The rabbit-eared kid lowered the sheet just enough to stare wide-eyed at Liam. He breathed quickly, his breath huffing against the sheet, furry ears twitching, and he glanced up at Flor and then back at Liam's warm smiling face -- then back at Flor.

The boy's eyebrows furrowed. His blue eyes grew even wider as he stared at Flor.

What follows took place within the span of ten seconds.

Maria's voice in the stairwell surprised the child; he sprang out of the sheet like a spooked cat, leapfrogged over Liam's shoulders, launched himself at Flor, slammed into Flor full-force, and bounced nimbly away.

The child perched on the stair railing, breathing in short gasps, and unfolded his thin hand; in his palm lay the pink glowing stone he had stolen from Flor's pocket.

In this brief moment of pause, it became clear that a peculiar image had been drawn on the boy's bare chest in black marker. A rune.

Immediately, the boy pressed the glowing stone against his chest. The rune on his skin flashed, and the stone disappeared inside him -- as if the rune had caused the stone to be absorbed into the boy's body.

The boy's eyes began to glow a bright, wild yellow as the power of the soul stone coursed through him -- he glanced between Flor and Liam with acute, feral fear.

He launched off of the railing and sped up the stairs toward Maria. The rabbit-eared child grabbed her crinkling oversized coat and swung around behind her, using her as a shield between himself and Flor and Liam, and he screeched.

The piercing, high-pitched noise echoed painfully up the hollow stairwell.

Just outside the wall, a swarm of Grit howled in response.

Maria started as the odd child sprang around, apparently startled by her voice. "No, wait--!" She was about to say "We don't mean any harm" when the boy whipped out a small, glowing, stone - Maria fleetingly recalled her own version of that gem, stashed safely in a pocket with a bunch of candy wrappers - and shoved it into his chest. His eyes started to glow, and almost before she knew it, he was grabbing her jacket and emitting what sounded like a cross between a banshee and a cat getting kicked (her father had come from somewhere he said was far off and away, and had told her of the banshees, terrifying female wraiths whose scream deafened and even killed; she had seen a cat getting kicked by a boy once, out side her window, but after Maria had convinced him to leave off the poor thing with several well-placed lollipops; both of these things flashed through her mind infinitesimally as the rabbit-child swung behind her). Maria's ears rang, and she was left disoriented for a few seconds.

Moth pushed himself forward slightly, and let momentum carry him as he nearly tripped down the stairs. He barreled into the Grit on Maria's back. He clutched a bare shoulder with one hand, and the small creature pivoted to face him, eyes wild. With his own face showing no sign of emotion, Moth moved in one smooth arc and slapped it as hard as he could across its cheek.

A faint echo came from somewhere in the dark upstairs as a robot started making noise. Moth's hand slowly turned red and he came to the conclusion that he was in a lot of pain.

The sound of Moth's hand smacking against the child, combined with the howling of the Grit outside, sprang Maria back to reality (such as it was). Two thoughts dominated the now-blank canvas of her mind, stark black on white (some far-off detached part of her, perhaps in that land her father said he came from, noted that her internal handwriting was quite different from her actual handwriting; smooth and cursive, rather than blocky and printed), flooding her with acute and primal terror.

First: There's a Grit on my back. Then again: There is a GRIT on my BACK.

Second: SHIT SHIT SHIT GETITOFF

Fueled by instinct and fear, Maria backed up and slammed her back, and the boy with it, against the railing, once - twice - three times. A shred of rational thought managed to escape the blockade of terror, and, using it, Maria slipped out of her jacket faster than a cat could sprint across a room, then tried to pry the Grit-child off of her jacket with all of her strength.

Flor jumped to the railing the boy sat on, just as he was about to reach him, he leapt again toward Maria and landed behind her. Flor leapt to the railing next to her, but lost concentration as the boy screeched, and nailed the railing, tripping onto the floor Maria and Moth were on.

Moth pushed himself forward slightly, and let momentum carry him as he nearly tripped down the stairs. He barreled into the Grit on Maria's back. He clutched a bare shoulder with one hand, and the small creature pivoted to face him, eyes wild. With his own face showing no sign of emotion, Moth moved in one smooth arc and slapped it as hard as he could across its cheek.

Fueled by instinct and fear, Maria backed up and slammed her back, and the boy with it, against the railing, once - twice - three times. A shred of rational thought managed to escape the blockade of terror, and, using it, Maria slipped out of her jacket faster than a cat could sprint across a room, then tried to pry the Grit-child off of her jacket with all of her strength.

Meanwhile, in the infirmary:

Vincent sat next to the robot. "Hello, hello. Things have gone to hell in a hand basket and we're kinda caught right inside the Wall, and I'm sure your definition of safe may very well be different than ours." He kept his tone light and nonchalant, ignoring the sounds in the stairwell behind him. "Is this whom I think it is?"

"Vincent, we need get moving to the others. I've no idea what that Grit just did, but it doesn't sound like we're going to enjoy it." Walking up to the bot, Kat put her hands on its head, twisted the head and janked it clean off. She flashed a grin, adrenaline pumping through her as she handed Vincent the head. "Now let's go!"

Moth manhandled the Grit child, and the smack of his hand across the creature's face rang out in the stairwell. The boy's head snapped to the side with the impact -- and then he lunged with a terrible speed. The child drove his sharpened teeth deep into Moth's forearm, scraping bone and drawing a mouthful of blood. He would have continued his assault, except Maria thrashed him suddenly against the rail and forced him to release Moth.

The Grit yelped and scrabbled against Maria's coat every time she flung him into the railing, and his claws had ripped long gashes into the candy-filled coat. Maria was suddenly gone out of the coat and yanking at it instead; the boy dug in deeper, latched onto the coat, snarling, claws ripping savagely at it, unwilling to let it go. He spilled candy on the floor, furiously trying to search through the pockets while shoving at Maria. He wanted the pink stone, but all he found were wrappers -- and he was getting madder.

Meanwhile, Kat was rushing down the stairs with Vincent not far behind, a robot-head heavy in his arms.

< Oh it's such a relief to hear a human voice, > the queen's voice said through a speaker in the robot head. < I hear a commotion, are you under attack? What sector of the Wall are you in? I can send you an escort. >

The boy glanced over to where Kat and Vincent approached; alarmed, he flung the coat over Maria's head and shoved her into Flor. While they were occupied he launched himself at Liam, throwing him to the ground, and bounded through a door into the next room -- beyond which was the outside of the wall, where the masses of Grit were howling.

The child rushed and leaped across cafeteria tables and benches, past the open food storage that he'd ransacked earlier, and stopped at the emergency door at the far side, where something huge was scrabbling and snarling on the other side. The boy examined the locks on the door and struggled to yank them open, uncertain how they worked. He screeched a high-pitched wail, and a mass of feral voices howled just outside the door.