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“Do you want the Wrathborn taken care of or not? Because I kind of need his help with that, since, y’know, he’s the one who actually knows how this works.”
With the broken Wrathborn lure on the ground between them, Spider sneering from his chair, and one of his underlings ransacking through her pack, Mercedes' patience was long gone. She’d arrived on the shore that morning, only to be brushed off and made to wait hours just for Spider to grace her with his insufferable presence. Only for the ugly bastard to throw yet another tantrum the moment she mentioned needing to see Crow. The lure’s battery had been shorting out and it wasn’t deploying properly, and Mercy could barely get the thing to stay upright in the ground much less lure out any giant, homicidal hive guys. Out of the last five charges, she’d only had one successful hunt- and even that one came way too close to slipping the trap.
“Are you really so incapable that you need my little bird to do everything? I thought you were a better bet than that, Hunter. Where’s all that Europan ingenuity gone?” Spider was hissing mad, huffing ether from a rebreather and glaring down at her from his scrapwork throne. “Should I take back my generous offer, if you can’t even manage on your own for a week?”
“Right, let me just permanently break the fancy hive thingy- Hey! Drop it, those are personal!”
Arrha only chuckled where he was sifting through the clothing in her pack, snapping a set of her underwear between his lower claws. He did drop them, right into the filth on the floor. Bastard.
“My associate needs to be thorough, Guardian. Can’t have you sneaking contraband into my home now, can we.” Spider sat back, one meaty claw rubbing at his jawline. “You understand.”
Despite all his posturing and puffing, it was hard to be intimidated by a grown man lounging in the scrap metal equivalent of a baby bouncer. If it wasn’t for the bomb in Glint, she would’ve incinerated him a dozen times over by now, House relations be damned. Mix his ashes into the hive sewage on the moon.
One day.
He’d been keeping her away from Crow and Glint for three weeks now, first using her home assignment back on Europa as an excuse and then claiming Crow ‘services’ were needed more elsewhere. She’d been left alone with the lure and an ever-growing list of Cryptolith locations. Mercedes knew she was far from an expert on the hive, and despite Osiris’ best efforts she’d zoned out on most of the technical talk. There were still a few soulfire burns marring her forearms from the last time a summoning had blown up in her face. Now here she was, fed up and debating if just forcing her way into the lair was worth the risk of Spider’s sadistic wrath. Not to her (frankly, she’d like to see him try it), but she didn’t want it coming down on her friends trapped under his thumb.
He was growing increasingly paranoid about Crow’s “disobedience”. The Baron was convinced he’d been sneaking food while out on their hunts, without Spider’s permission, and he’d been ramping up his punishments in response. And maybe he wasn’t entirely wrong, but he’d left Crow starving to the point of weakness and that doesn’t exactly mesh well with hunting a bunch of murderous mutants. He’d be stumbling and distracted, forcing himself through the pain until he outright collapsed from exhaustion. They already took a lot of heat for any resurrections; she’d overheard him accusing Glint of “undoing his hard work” when, in reality, hunting a bunch of murderous mutants was just plain dangerous and they both died. A lot. The lack of food definitely didn’t help Crow’s odds, though.
And he had absolutely no proof. Of anything. They’d both made damn sure of that.
Plus his attitude would be much worse if he had a single thing to stand on.
Arrha grunted and began haphazardly stuffing her belongings back into her rucksack. He made a gesture with one claw and nodded towards his boss, before dropping her bag half on top of the broken lure with a thump.
“So did I pass, O’Dickhead mine?” Maybe that was a bit much. But hey, she was feeling testy today.
Arrha coughed to mask a laugh. Spider’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and he rocked forward in his bouncer to loom ominously overhead.
“Strip.”
“…You’re joking.”
“Thorough, remember.” Raspy laughter. “You understand.”
Mercy trudged down the dimly lit hall, arms crossed tightly over her chest solely to prevent her from channeling her inner titan and punching a hole in Spiders’ stupid walls. She swore she could still hear his hacking laughter echoing through the crude metal despite the ever-present hum of machinery.
One extremely embarrassing strip search later, she’d been so graciously allowed to collect the lure and given his permission to go “gawk at his pet in private” for exactly two hours. One hundred-twenty minutes. Not one more. They’d spat back and forth and she’d argued in favor of Crow joining her back on the hunt properly, but he’d shut that down fast. There was no point in wasting more of her precious hours arguing with the stubborn brick wall that was the Baron, so she’d grabbed her things and hurried down into the depths of Spider’s lair. Crow was nowhere to be found in his usual hovel. She’d instead been directed down into the dungeon and told to grab his repair kit on the way.
She was trying very hard not to think about what condition he’d be waiting for her in.
There were guards posted at the door of the prison block; the two Eliksni chittered insults and shook their arc staffs threateningly as she approached. Mercy brushed them off with a few choice words and shouldered straight past them, the airlock-style door sliding open with a whoosh. She stared them down until the door closed again behind her, then flung up a glacier wall from floor to ceiling to jam it shut.
Spider had said she’d have privacy, after all. Her turn to enforce it.
One hundred and five minutes on the clock. No time to stall. Taking a deep breath, her nose crinkling at the musty air, she turned and forced herself to take in the room.
Yeah. Okay.
That was bad.
Crow was lying face down, unconscious, in a metal cage built into the right side of the room. He’d clearly been there a while, because she could see the outline of his brutalized body stained into the ground around him. He was naked; covered head-to-toe in his own blood and bruises so dark they hid the ethereal lights that were natural on Awoken skin. She could make out distinct Eliksni claw marks and handprints imaged among them. Lashes crisscrossed his back all the way down the length of his spine, and a void burn on his calf betrayed that there was at least one Risen involved in this latest round of torture. He was painfully thin, his body eating itself between starvation and a desperate bid for energy to heal his wounds, and his hair was matted thickly against his skull.
The rest of the room was a mess. Lit only by a dim fluorescent bulb dangling from a ceiling chain, she could barely make out the far corners of the space. A wooden chair, stained dark from blood, lay on its side over a central drain. It had jagged shackles bolted into the arms and legs that clanged as she kicked it out of the way. A large canvas tarp was spread near the left wall, holding an assortment of torture tools she refused to look at. Stepping into the room her cape caught on a Molten Welder left propped up near the door, sending the scorch weapon to the ground with a metallic crash. Her eyes snapped back to him at the sound, but Crow didn’t even budge.
Mercedes sucked in a breath through her teeth and tried to ignore the smell of rot.
“Ghost-“
“Jammed them on the way in, we’re clear.” He materialized at her shoulder with a spin, frost shedding off his shell.
Ah, privacy. Spider would grumble later about her ‘mysterious tech’ jamming his cameras whenever she arrived, and she would repeat the same old lies about Vanguard protocol for hostile territories and info-stealing Psions lurking around every corner and orders from Ikora etc etc. Osiris was usually full of hot air, but she was forever grateful for the crash course in definitely-not-pirated Hidden software he’d given to her Ghost back when they’d started this whole clown fiesta. Guess being an ‘exile’ made keeping off cams kind of important, so she didn’t question him further. She might’ve felt worse about throwing miss Ikora under the metaphorical bus, but she was still being a bit petty about the whole Stasis thing so honestly, she kind of deserved it.
“Mercy! Ghost!”
In a flash of light, Glint popped into existence and floated up through the bars of his guardians’ cage, shell rocking back and forth frantically from nerves. He wasn’t able to spin anymore with the explosive packet bulging out one of his fins.
“You have no idea how good it is to see you guys.”
“Hello Glint.” Mercedes held out her hand and let him settle into her palm, her own Ghost hovering close to bump their shells together in greeting. “We missed you.”
“Traveler, I missed you too. Things have been…well, bad lately.” The expressive plates around his eye drooped low in distress and his fins twitched again. “But you can probably guess that already.”
Her eyes tracked back to Crows’ prone form sprawled in his cell. Glint followed her gaze and rose up out of her hand with a heavy sigh. In an instant, he blinked to Crow’s side and began scanning his injuries before looking back up to them as Ghost settled down on her shoulder.
“I can wake him up, but, well, he might be embarrassed for you to see him like…this. But I know he’d want to see you! He’s missed you too.”
She nodded. “Yes, please. We have two hours before Spider kicks us out, but I hope we’ll be back soon. We have a plan.”
“A sort-of plan.” Ghost chirped and dug one of his spikes into her collarbone. “It’s a terrible plan.”
She poked him in retaliation. “Shut up.”
“Alright. Let me patch him up a bit, none of his injuries are fatal this time, but he’ll probably need a tongue again to talk to you.” Glint’s Light lit up in a delicate orb as he got to work.
Alright. Not thinking about that one either.
Think about breaking Spider’s arms with a seafood cracker instead.
Glint started humming a tune while the worst of the injuries faded slightly from Crow’s skin. It took a worrying amount of time for the obvious wounds ones to start knitting together, the ghost trying to prioritize the internal damage so his poor lightbearer could actually hold a conversation without passing out. Crow’s breathing picked up instantly once Glint reached his ribs, each breath labored and wet. After a beat, his golden eyes cracked open, glowing faintly against the cold ground.
They closed again as he groaned deeply in pain, before forcing his wobbly arms against the floor to push himself up to a sitting position. She winced in sympathy when his skin made a slick peeling sound as he pried it from the floor. He was shaking like a leaf, his whole body trembling even from that small effort, and Mercy worried he’d collapse right back down where he sat.
Crow panted heavily, grunting with each exhale, fresh blood dripping from his nose and lips to splatter on the floor. His eyes were glassy and unseeing, staring blindly at the ground in front of him. Glint floated down to bump softly against his forehead, whispering softly, but he stayed unresponsive for a long moment before his letting his eyes close again. He leaned slightly into the little ghost, seeking his gentle touch.
Mercy let them have their moment while she took in the rest of his cell. Almost barren save for a waste bucket carefully stowed in the back, and another filled with silty water that had been placed between the bars near the cage door. A dingy wooden stool was the only thing resembling furniture, and she thought it might have been a kindness until she noticed the noose left hanging in the back corner.
Deep breaths. Stay focused.
Glint heard her huff and pulled back, turning to look at her and alerting Crow to their presence. He followed his ghost’s gaze and made an involuntary pained sound when he noticed who was standing there.
“M-Mer-“
He devolved into a coughing fit, hands clasped over his mouth as he bent over in pain. Once started it didn’t stop, and she politely stared at the door while he turned away and vomited bile. Even her ghost winced in sympathy from his perch on her shoulder.
Glint was speaking soft encouragement back in the cell. She deemed it safe and turned back once she heard the scrape of the water bucket being dragged across the floor. Crow had crawled to the front of the cage and was kneeling again, the bucket wedged between his legs, bloody phlegm still staining his hands and face as he panted from the strain. He was staring down at the water, and she could see him debating if it was worth the risk of spilling to lift it up or just swallow his pride in front of her and bend down for a drink like a dog.
She cut in just as he went to lean towards it.
“Ew, no. Don’t drink that. Here.”
She trotted over and plopped her rucksack down next to the cage, dropping down to sit cross-legged on the other side of the bars from him. Her ghost resettled in her lap. Arrha had left it a complete mess, but at least he’d stuck her canteen back in its loop on the outside. Thankfully, Spider hadn’t deemed water illegal yet.
Crow was staring at her, gaze intense, as she unscrewed the cap and stuck it through the bars. When he didn’t reach for it she wiggled it in his face.
A beam of light bounced off the bottle as Glint bobbed down. “It’s just water! Traces of mineral ions, but low ppm. Very low ppm actually. Glacial?”
“Europa’s finest.”
She could see Glint giving himself a mental high five while Crow just looked between them in disbelief. He tentatively took the bottle from her, hand shaking so badly she thought he might drop it, and just stared at it. He winced when he saw stains already forming along the edges of the stickers where he held it in filthy fingers.
Mercy propped her elbow up on her knee and leaned into her fist, pointedly looking between his face and the bottle. Crow let his shoulders slump as he gave in, closed his eyes and drank. Despite his initial hesitance, sheer desperation won out and he drank the whole thing in one go. She watched his throat work as he drained it, fingers trembling against the cool plastic. There were tears in his eyes when he finally looked back at her and lowered the bottle, still panting.
“I...I, um.” Crow cleared his throat, still rough, but he already sounded better while he searched for the words. “I’m sorr-“
“Thank you!” Glint appeared between them and floated up to her, cheery as ever, then spun around to stage-whisper to Crow. “Say thank you.”
“…Thank you.” He gave her a small, precious smile and set the canteen down at his side. Crow’s cheeks lit hot with shame as he finally seemed to take in his nudity.
She said nothing as he fidgeted in place, before daring to look back at her. The blush went all the way down his chest. Mercy just kept smiling back at him.
“You’re welcome.”
Ghost clicked in complaint as she leaned over to dig in her pack again, squishing him into her ribs. She rolled her eyes, like he wasn’t the one covered in pointy bits. Ow. But a moment later sat back with her prize: a pack of emergency wet wipes and one of her old undershirts. Crow watched her suspiciously from the other side of the cage. She scooted closer until she was right against the bars and wagged her fingers at him.
“C’mere.”
Glint responded first, chirped happily and butted himself lightly against her hand before settling down in her lap, snuggling up with her own ghost. He beeped indignantly in response, but Mercy saw him shift ever so slightly so their shells could fit even tighter together. Sap.
Crow hesitated, face scrunching in internal debate, but eventually let out a sigh and dragged himself over until there was barely a foot between them. He slumped against the bars, head resting limply against one of the metal poles. There was rust scraping off into the mess of his hair.
Golden eyes met hers. “…Hi.”
“Hi.”
Mercy snapped a wipe out of the dispenser and paused, watching her own gloves stain the white fabric. Oops.
Setting the wipe down directly on top of her ghost (hey, you’re clean!) for safe keeping, she undid the wrist buckles holding her leather gloves and pulled each one off with her teeth, letting them drop forgotten to the floor. Ghost grumbled and pinched his shell against her thigh in retaliation when she retrieved her treasure. The whole exchange got a startled laugh from Glint, which was so worth it.
Biting her tongue in focus, she lifted the wipe up to Crows’ face and started working the worst of the muck off. She started from his lips and worked outward in gentle motions, switching the wipe before tracing the new one gently over each of his eyes to dab the gunk out of his eyelashes. The fact that he didn’t even protest spoke volumes about how exhausted he truly was. He just closed his eyes and let her tend to him. His cheeks were sunken in and he had bags dark enough she’d initially thought Glint had missed a black eye. She pretended not to notice when his breathing picked up and his lower lip started trembling. She did catch a spot of dried blood she’d missed at the corner of his mouth.
She tried, very hard, not to think of what other fluids were staining his skin as she worked the dried filth off.
Several wet wipes and most of her sanity later, Crow’s face was once again mostly blue. He leaned heavily into her palm, eyes closed, drawing out the moment before he tentatively peeked back at her. She just ran her thumb over his cheek in response, and felt him tremble again at the comfort. Mercy let her shoulders fall with a sigh. If only they didn’t have a time limit.
When he gathered the strength to speak, his voice was still cracked and hoarse.
“…I don’t suppose Spider’s allowing social visits now.”
“Not quite.”
Crow forced himself to sit up a bit straighter, both quietly mourning the loss of touch when her hand dropped back to hold the left bar between them. She silently lifted each of his hands in turn, meticulously cleaning each finger until they matched the blue of his face. She couldn’t get all the gore under his nails, but his skin was clear again when he twined their fingers together. The ghosts stayed silent in her lap. He looked down at them softly, only for his look to turn slightly horrified when his gaze fell on the pile of disgusting wet wipes near her knee.
“I…Thank you. For that. You didn’t have to.” He gave her a weak smile. “That couldn’t have been…pleasant. I’m sorr-”
“Shush. Don’t you dare apologize.”
He shushed.
Stretching her free arm slightly, she reached back over to snag the undershirt where she’d left it on top of her bag. She set the rest of the wipes on the floor between them, just within the bars, and handed him the shirt which he took without a fight.
He unfolded the shirt, an old white long-john top she’d yoinked from one of Bray’s stashes, and raised an eyebrow at her. “Not really my style, Merc. Or size.”
She bounced her head at him with a pointed look.
“It’s a rag. For washing. Unless you wanted me to give you the full sponge bath experience, I assumed you’d want to take it from here.” She flicked the wet wipe packet further into his cell with a smirk. “Not that I’m opposed, mind you.”
Crow startled back, then winced when the sudden movement pulled too strongly on his wounds. That pretty blush was back, now even more visible on his clean skin. He stared down at the knit fabric in his hands.
“I don’t want to ruin one of your shirts for this, I’ll be okay.” He smiled sadly.
“Nah.”
“Nah?”
“It’s an old one. I don’t care, and you’ll feel better if you’re clean.”
“It’s fine, really.”
“Crow, please.” She let out a pained sound. Mercy knew well enough by now that Crow wasn’t used to kindness. A shame. Osiris had offered him a sweater once and she’d watch him have a whole conniption about owing him for it. The warlock hadn’t exactly helped, making some inane joke about the Dreaming City or something, and she’d wanted to bonk him on his bald head for it. They’d had their moments too; Mercedes was raised in a home where goods-sharing was common, be it food, ether, supplies, etc. Crow was raised in a home that locked him in a cage and made him thank them for the privilege. It had taken multiple hunts just to get Crow to accept sharing the tent for the night, and even longer to get him to share dinner with her.
She glanced away, thinking hard for a second, then stared straight back at him with a sly smile.
“…So you do want the sponge bath.”
The indignant noise he made alone was enough to leave her chuckling into her fist.
And Glint, blessed little ghost, took that as his chance to float up and chime in.
“That would be nice actually, he wouldn’t have to move as much since it still hurt- why are you looking at me like that?”
“Glint.“
Crow was staring at his ghost in abject horror, looking like he wanted to melt into the floor. Or golden gun himself. Whichever came first.
Mercedes slumped over in laughter, rolling flat onto her back as she dislodged Ghost from her lap. He hovered just above her, shell shaking as he muffled his own laughter. She rolled over onto her side, still snorting, and got a loose nail in the ribs for her effort. Ow.
Glints optic swung wildly between the two of them in confusion.
“What? It was a nice offer!”
Crow closed his eyes in pain. At least this time it wasn’t physical pain. Probably.
Then he sighed deeply and grabbed the water bucket and wet wipes.
“Give me a few minutes. And roll over.”
By the time he had finished, Mercy had counted the links in the lightbulb chain six times over. She was pretty sure she had it at twenty-nine, but had miscounted twice. The bulb itself had burned a shadow into her eyes when she closed them, but was dim enough not to really hurt. The other option was rolling to face the wall, but that would give her an eye-level view of the torture tarp. Which she was still very much ignoring.
“Okay, all set…I guess.”
She popped upright and spun on her ass to face him again. It was better at least. He was still naked, but the worst of the grime was gone from his skin. Every rib was visible, his collarbones jutting out, and his skin seemed limp and listless. Crow was painfully skinny, and she wondered when the last time Spider had bothered to feed him was. She had a bad feeling she already knew the answer.
The bruises were still jarring; Glint had healed the ones on his face, but there were still handprints sparsely dotting his body from his neck to his-
“Ahem. My eyes are up here, guardian.”
Alright, she deserved that one.
She met his gaze again and tamped down her own blush. He had a small, hopeful smile on his lips and the softest look in his golden eyes. He hadn’t been able to do much with his matted hair, but he’d at least tried to push it back to one side like he usually wore.
Minding his modesty, Crow sat back down directly across from her again. With a frown, she realized he was still shivering, and reached out to take his hand again on impulse. Sweet, warm solar light flowed between them effortlessly and he groaned in pleasure. He gave her fingers a squeeze of thanks and she brought her other hand over to lay on top of their joined ones. He let them all rest on his knee.
“So, social visit?”
“Ha. I wish, but hunts have been going sideways since he locked you up. I’ve gotten one Wrathborn this week. Also I broke your lure.”
“What?”
Even Glint blinked at her in disbelief. Ghost kept quiet.
“Sorry.”
Crow reluctantly relinquished her hands so she could pull the broken lure from its travel bag. It was still structurally sound, but the internals were dim and one wire was flashing a bright electric green. One of the ground spikes was also bent, the tube that usually deposited their bait in the ground twisted upward and broken clean out of the chitinous cover. They’d left one charge on it so he could take a look. She grabbed the repair kit they’d taken from his room on the way in and opened it up, laying the tools out near the bars so he could reach them. Crow picked up the lure, turning it back and forth in the low light. Glint popped on his flashlight mode, hovering over his shoulder at the perfect angle to light up the center. She did feel a pang of guilt for breaking it when she knew how hard they’d worked to put it together.
Crow grabbed a screwdriver and slotted it underneath a panel to pop it off, revealing more of the complicated hive tech he’d coopted to create the lure underneath. Instantly, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. He pulled a bundle of wires aside to get a better look at the battery structure.
“Mercy.”
She just hummed in response.
“Why are there plier marks on the terminals?”
Caught.
“Not sorry.”
He needed to stop glaring at her like that or she was going to start laughing again. Or kiss him. One of those.
…So she’d maybe gone digging in the lure for funsies. The thing had been acting up anyway (it had!) and she was sick of it. Osiris was no help and told her to go ask Crow, which she couldn’t, because Spider was being a dick. And she missed them. She’d stopped by a week ago and Spider had explicitly told her to pound sand unless the thing stopped working all together; as long as it got the Wrathborn out of hiding and she got them dead, it wasn’t his problem.
So…she might’ve made it stop working.
And hey, it got her in to see Crow, so it was a total win.
Mercy topped off explaining her absolutely brilliant plan with finger guns. Her co-conspirator remained quiet, twitching his shell and withering under the unyielding glare of Glint. Crow sat back from the bars, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes hard enough to see stars, trying not to laugh. Or maybe cry.
The lure clattered to the floor back on her side.
“Mercedes.”
“What!”
Glint finally looked up, finally freeing Ghost from his disappointed stare. His shell shook and let off several aborted noises as he tried to find the words to convey his rage, only to give up and dive down to bonk directly into her forehead in reprimand. The tip of his lower fin snagged in her curly hair when he pulled away, leaving him half-tangled on top of her head. “Uh-.”
“Ow!”
“Sorry, let me just-“ He shifted his shell slightly and it tugged.
“Stop moving- Ow. Ow. Traveler, stop!”
She reached up and grabbed at him as he wiggled on her head. He’d only managed to dig himself in deeper, with several inches of her hair now wrapped between the two halves of his shell. He even had the nerve to beep at her when she caught him and forced him still. The angle was bad, and he was still yanking on her scalp where he held him, which hurt. She felt along his shell with her right hand until she found the crease her hair had gotten stuck in, but the minute she started trying to work it free, he snorted out static and jerked out of her grasp.
“Ow- Glint! Please!”
“Sorry, sorry, that tickles.”
“Tickles?!”
Their bickering was interrupted by muted laughter. She looked up to find Crow with his face buried in his hands, one balled up against his lips as he laughed, watching their antics from inside his cell. His eyes had lost a bit of that glassy glaze and sparkled back at her in the dim light.
That was probably the first genuine joy she’d seen on his face in months, and Glint seemed to realize it at the same time. Alright then, truce.
Ignoring the pulling on her hair, she flopped dramatically down by the bars with a still-tangled Glint cradled against her forehead.
“Crow~ a little help here? Get your ghost.” She meanly thumbed along the crease in his shell to make him squeal again, ignoring the pressure on her scalp just because it got another timid laugh out of Crow. “Free me.”
The Awoken just shook his head and reached over, carefully taking Glint from her. His hands were shaking badly, but he managed to start working the worst of the tangle out only for Glint to lock up again and wrap himself tighter. Mercy rolled her eyes and stole a few glances upwards at his face as he tried valiantly to undo Glint’s wiggling.
He had this lovely little smile on his face and his eyes were clear and focused. She was quite enjoying the view until Glint turned in the completely wrong way and yanked a chunk of her hair out at the root. She let out a squeak and jerked back in surprise, pulling him from Crow’s hands only for him to fall and to bonk into her nose.
“Ow!”
“Sorry!”
He hung limply from his hair prison, not even trying to float anymore lest he make it even worse. Her own ghost chose this time to reappear and settle on Crow’s shoulder, and she felt a pang of affection as the man automatically brought a hand up to cradle him.
“Glint. Decompile.”
The purple ghost just blinked. “Oh. Right.”
And he was gone, tucking himself back into the Light only to reappear on Crow’s other shoulder in a heartbeat. There were still a few stray strands of hair stuck between his fins.
Mercy took a deep breath, and let it out, before sticking her tongue out at Glint. He beeped back at her.
Crow just smiled down at her until her focus shifted to him.
“I can’t say I’m thrilled about the lure, but it was…sweet, that you did it to check on us.” He looked away, suddenly finding something super interesting about the far wall. “We missed you both too.”
She sat up again and leaned into the bars, giving him her biggest smile. He was still shy. All boyish nervousness, picking careful sentences like he was always walking on a minefield. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even now, after all the nights they’d spent sharing a tent and when she’d just finished cleaning vomit from his face with a wet wipe.
“So did I actually break break it? Ghost suggested the battery stuff would probably be easier to replace than the discharge spikes, and because that one was an absolute pain to snap and actually broke my hammer-“
“Hammer?!”
“Ah well-“
Crow just shook his head, looking exasperated. He was still smiling despite it.
“I don’t want to lie to you, Merc, it’s pretty broken. I’m afraid I don’t have the right supplies to replace these hive parts, and unless Spider clears me for another salvage run to the moon I’m not sure I’ll get any more. It should still work, but won’t have as many charges. I’ll have to reroute what supply banks are left to maximize capacity.”
He tugged the lure over, struggling briefly with the weight, and nudged the center panel back open. Traveler, he looked tired, and his hands were quivering again where he worked. How he could manage to focus on anything while injured like this was beyond her. He gave the batteries a once over before removing three of them from their sockets and set them aside. Several bundles of neatly packed wires were pulled up and away, revealing the lower ring that held the bait supply module.
“Damn. The discharge pipe is bent. And…clogged? Looks like some contaminant got in last time you deployed it.” He slid off the ring clamp and let some chunky white clumps ooze from the tube. His eyebrows scrunched up adorably as he poked one with a screwdriver. “What even is this stuff?”
Glint scanned it eagerly, crinkling his shell as he processed, and then scanned it again as if to confirm. He turned to look at her, and she rolled her eyes and beat him to the chase.
“Expanding foam.”
“What?”
“Like for windows.”
They both stared. Her Ghost stayed silent.
Crow just reattached the tubing and tightened the ring clamp back in place without comment. She spaced out as he got back to fiddling with the internals, silently checking in on the time with her ghost. Fifty-eight minutes left. Damn. She mentally gave herself ten-ish minutes before they needed to move on to plan part B. Next to her, Crow gave a triumphant little “ha!” as he clicked a red-corded wire into place and the lure whirred back to life.
“So it’ll have one charge…two? Before you have to reset it?”
“Sort of. With the damage to the bait cartridge it’ll need to be manually reset after every use, I doubt you’ll get a full two uses out of it. I’ll have to show you-“ Crow cut off, his gaze snapping to her so fast it had to make him dizzy. His golden eyes were narrowed in suspicion.
“…What.”
“I didn’t say anything about resetting it before.”
Oops. Caught again.
“Wow…lucky guess?”
“Mercy. You-” He cut himself off with a huff of laughter. “And you can reset it yourself, it’s not that difficult.”
“Oh no. Nuh-uh, nope. Way too complicated for little old me, I mean look at what happened last time I tried to fix it.” She snagged one of the soggy foam clumps up for emphasis, and tossed it into the wall. It stuck like a spitball.
“Right. ‘Fix’ it.”
“So sorry. You know I’m not good with hive stuff. You’ll just have to deal with me being right back in here after every single hunt begging for your help. Guess you’re stuck with me.”
“…Right.”
And Traveler, he was pretty when he smiled like that.
Forty-nine minutes to go. Safety margin of three gave her Forty-six. Now or never for part B. This was either going to go great, or trample every single boundary in their situationship in one fell swoop. But damn it, she was tired of feeling helpless while he starved to death.
Crow had finished ‘fixing’ the lure and she packed it carefully back into its travel bag, one whole lure charge juiced up and ready to deploy. She scooched the bag aside and double checked that her glacial wall was still holding on the door, before turning back to the cell. Crow was staring softly at her, exhaustion plain on his face, and gave her a small smile when she made her way back over to sit beside him again. Now that the immediate distraction of the lure was gone, he was fading fast.
Mercy reached out and scratched lovingly at his undercut, avoiding tugging on the matted hair on his other side, and let him slump heavily into her palm with a happy sigh. He turned slightly to just barely press his lips to her wrist, carefully watching her face to gauge her reaction. She only smiled back. Ghost hovered near her in an unspoken question and she gave him a nod. He hovered over to Glint and gently pushed at him with his shell. The two whispering quietly as he guided him to the other side of the room to talk, leaving her and Crow relatively alone for now. He didn’t question it, might not have even noticed, just leaned deeper into her touch.
“Hi.” He blinked owlishly up at her.
“Hi.”
She closed her eyes and inhaled. Now or never. Better just rip the bandaid off.
“Crow, when was….when was the last time Spider- when was the last time you ate anything?”
He winced and dropped his gaze to the floor. At the same time, he cuddled deeper into her palm and scooted closer against the bars. “Does it matter? I know he’ll make you leave soon, can’t we just enjoy this for now?”
“It-“ Yes, I’m sorry, trust me please “It does.”
It took him a long moment to respond, as if he was bracing for a blow. He idly rubbed one hand across his stomach without even realizing he was doing it.
“I don’t remember. He gave me some the last night we got back, after you left. I don’t- I don’t know how long it’s been since he stuck me down here.” He looked back up at her and his eyes were wet with tears. “Mercy, please, it hurts and I’m trying not to think about it.”
His strength waning, he dropped his head back against the bars. His forehead was just able to rest on her shoulder blade through the gap.
“I’m sorry. But, well, I have an idea. It’s gonna be a bit awkward, but I’m tired of watching you waste away like this.” She drew soft circles into his hairline, ignoring the built-up grease. Traveler, how did she even bring this up without sounding completely unhinged?
He huffed a miserable laugh again her shoulder. “There is no way you’ll be able to sneak any food in. I’m grateful you’d even try for me, truly. I don’t deserve-“
“Shush.”
He shushed, and seemed content to drop it. She wasn’t.
“What if I could get you something?” Smooth, Mercy. Very smooth. “Strip search or not.”
He jerked back weakly in shock, before drooping back against her and closing his eyes, wincing. “Strip search? Hell, I’m so sorry he-“
“Shush.”
Crow only groaned pitifully in response.
Mercedes took another deep breath, and let it out. She forced herself to peel away from him even as he whined softly at the loss. As much as she’d love to let him drift off to sleep in her arms, she needed to have this conversation with him before she entirely lost her nerve. She kept him at arm’s length, rubbing his shoulder soothingly in apology as he swayed back and forth where he sat. he blinked slowly at her in confusion.
…Rip the bandaid off.
She gave him a nervous smile, and started undoing the lacing on her cuirass. He didn’t react, just kept staring at her as she dropped the worn leather to the floor where it joined her gloves from earlier. Okay, step one done. She mentally thanked her Ghost for reminding her to dress light when they left the ship that morning. And for suggesting the wrap shirt.
Crow finally snapped through his brain fog when she tugged the sash off, letting the front flutter open and expose her sternum and belly. She couldn’t stop a nervous giggle at how wide his eyes went. The blush was back, now dark enough to highlight the pretty Awoken swirls under his skin. Well, this was never not going to be awkward as heck.
“Um, Mercy, what…” He was hiding his face in his hands now, peeking out timidly from between his fingers. Even as emaciated wreck he was cute when he was flustered. “What. Are you doing?”
“Look Crow, sweetness, there is not a single good way to explain this. But I know you’re starving in there and I can, ah, feed you. If you let me.” Mercy squeezed her eyes closed and opened her shirt the rest of the way in one fell swoop, letting the fabric halves hang loose from her shoulders. Something, something, bandaid.
When she got the courage to look again, Crow was just openly gawking at her chest. Just flat out staring. Full deer-in-headlights. Eyes wide, mouth slightly open in shock, hands clenched into fists in his lap. Which was strangely flattering, despite the godawful circumstances.
“Please trust me on this. It doesn’t have to change anything, I just want to help you. I miss having you on hunts. It hurts to watch you suffer like this every time I get to see you. I’ll be back more often now with the lure how it is, and if we make this a regular thing, well…um”
She deliberately cleared her throat and coughed, which finally seemed to break him out of it. All at once Crow jolted to attention, eyes flying back and forth between her breasts and her face in disbelief. He opened his mouth several times as if to speak, but never found the words. Eventually he forced himself to swallow and looked up at the ceiling with a pained noise, before turning his head slightly to look back at her out of the corner of his eyes.
“Sweetness?”
Nevermind. He didn’t have to worry about starvation, because she was going to kill him herself.
“…That’s what you got from that?” Mercy let her shoulders slump and clawed her hair out of her face. She wished she had brought her camp pillow, just so she could grab it and scream. “Seriously.”
“I liked it. It was nice.”
Okay, he was being strangely sincere. That was probably a good sign. She leveled him with steady, questioning look and gave him time to piece his thoughts together. She did move back closer, settling next to him by the bars again while she waited. Eventually he met her eyes again and gave her a small, timid smile.
“Mercy, um. That’s a very kind idea, but I don’t think it works that way. You’re a guardian. And I don’t think you have any kids? You don’t, right?” She shook her head, but kept her gaze level. “So I don’t think you’d have any, ah-“
He choked on the word and cut off, his cheeks burning from the intensity of his blush.
She quirked an eyebrow. “Wanna test that?”
“Excuse me?”
“Okay, that was blunt, sorry.” She huffed a laugh. “But I do. Have, uh, milk.”
He just frowned back at her, about to protest again but she cut him off quickly.
“I think I know if I’m lactating or not, Crow. Forgive me if I don’t trust your vast expertise on this, considering they’re my titties.” Patience, Mercy. Have patience. “I was rezzed with it. Whenever I get picked up, it refreshes like it’s default for me. It’s something from my past life I’m stuck with.”
Maybe it was self-consciousness finally catching up to her, but she drew in on herself and nervously fiddled with her shirt. She was beginning to think she’d massively misread his earlier cues. Until she caught how Crow’s eyes snapped down to follow the fabric when it covered her, a flash of distress briefly flashing over his features. Oh. Oh, he was hungry. He hadn’t taken her seriously before, but all at once her offer had turned very, very real. Suddenly she felt like she was dangling a steak in front of a beaten hound.
Confidence renewed, she continued: “Once Ghost rezzes me, it dries up after a while. I usually ignore it and then it’s gone until the next rez. My last death was a few days ago and I, um, haven’t let it this time.“
She dared another look at his face and realized he was trembling. He looked terrified but didn’t seem to be able to pull away, gaze still locked on the open chest of her shirt. His breathing picked up and turned ragged, and for a terrible moment she thought she might accidentally be giving him a panic attack. Reaching through the bars, she lifted one of his clenched hands from where it rested limp in his lap and gently slotted their fingers together.
“…You can say no. I want to do this for you, but I understand if it’s too much. We can forget this ever happened, and never speak of it again. But.” She lifted their joined hands to her lips and kissed the back of his. “Nothing has to change if you say yes. Nothing has to change between us. But its killing me to know you have to sit and starve down here if I can do anything at all to make it easier.”
He swallowed thickly. He kept staring at her hand, holding his, and squeezed his fingers as if to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. He looked like he was about to cry- scratch that, he was crying. Crow closed his eyes, took a shaky breath, and nodded.
“Crow-“
“Yes. Yes, please. Traveler, I’m sorry but please.” He finally met her eyes, his gaze equal parts desperate and intense, voice so quiet she had to strain to hear it. “Please.”
Oh. Her turn for the reality to sink in. She’d thought about it all week, wondering if she could get him on board or if they’d just spend their new lure-time hanging out as usual. But now it was real, he’d said yes, and they were doing this.
Nodding back to him, she slowly rose to her feet while debating the best way to actually make this work with him stuck behind the bars.
She saw the raw panic flash across his face as she stood, the fear that she was leaving and heartbreak that it was all some cruel joke. She only squeezed his hand tighter in response and hummed softly, hoping to soothe his frayed nerves like she’d heard Glint do before. When she spoke again she made sure her voice was gentle.
“Do you think you could pull the stool over? You’re a bit tall to stand, and I don’t want you hurting your back leaning over if I stay sitting.”
Reluctantly letting her hand go, he staggered to his feet and nearly tripped in his lethargy as he moved to grab the stool. Carefully placing it down in the front corner, he glanced over his shoulder to as if make sure she hadn’t vanished into thin air before he sat down, dropping his hands back over his bare lap almost as an afterthought. Steeling her resolve further, Mercy took the few steps to meet him. He’d picked the corner that would keep her back to the door, just in case. Smart. She leaned in and pressed forward into the bars to test the angle. He blushed and stared decidedly at a point on the floor.
Eventually she thought she had the spot, and shrugged her wrap shirt even lower to expose her breasts fully to the chilly cell air. Well, she assumed it was chilly. Her reliance on stasis had left her practically immune, but Crow was shivering and she’d never heard anyone call the Shore warm. Or maybe he was just nervous. Either way, she gently reached through the bars to cup Crow’s jawline and draw his face nearer, leaving him to close the gap. He inhaled roughly and finally looked up at her.
The faint orange glow from his eyes reflected off her bare skin, and oh, that was a pretty sight. They made eye contact for just a moment before he shifted his gaze down to stare at her breast, now just inches from his face. She watched him swallow and lick his lips.
It was almost more surprising when he didn’t just go for it, instead leaning in and nuzzling into the soft flesh between, relishing in the skin contact and the strong heartbeat underneath. She wrapped her arms around him and cradled his head close against her, feeling his shoulders shudder with relief. Breathing in her scent, he acted on instinct and slowly kissed his way over the mound of her right breast, lips pausing just below her nipple. She could feel his warm breath puffing over her areola. He brought both hands up through the bars to her rest on her thighs, dragging them slowly upward until he was holding her waist.
He opened his eyes to meet hers again, seeking reassurance. She nodded.
His lips closed around her as he gently sucked her hardened nipple into his warm, wet mouth. Honestly, she’d had no idea what to expect, but the feeling wasn’t unpleasant. His lips were chapped where they pressed against her skin. Even in his hunger, Crow was kind enough to mind his teeth, and he kept a rhythmic, gentle suction while he tried to find the right angle. She shifted her weight slightly, lifting her breast a bit higher to help him out. She realized that somehow, she knew what was off.
“Deeper, Crow, take the areola too. And use your tongue.” She gently massaged his from his shoulder up his neck, running her hand soothingly over the tense muscles.
He sighed against her and tilted his head further back to do as she said, and she felt his tongue start to work along the underside. He shifted position one more time, flattening his lips and matching his suction to the rhythm of his tongue, and- oh. Yeah, that was good.
Once he had a strong latch it didn’t take long before she felt the pressure build. A warm sensation tingled through her chest as her milk let down, and she knew the moment Crow got a taste because he melted against her and moaned.
His hands tightened on her waist as he chased desperately after more, lips working hard against her breast as he drew mouthful after mouthful. He scooted closer, nearly falling off the stool in the process, until his body was pressed right up against the bars. She worried idly that the rusty iron would scrape open his bare skin, and tried to ease him back gently without dislodging him from her chest. Crow just burrowed closer, chasing his meal in a feverish haze. She gave up and continued to massage his shoulders, content to give him time to settle. She brought one hand up to tenderly cup the base of his skull.
Crow found his rhythm quickly, using his tongue and palate to draw deep pulls of life-giving milk from her body and into his empty stomach. He was making little grunting sounds deep in his throat, muffled by his wet suckling. His breathing was fast and shallow, warm where it bounced off her skin under his nose and his eyes were closed tight in concentration. She deliberately took a long, steady breath, hoping to encourage him to match her breathing. He chased her breast through the motion. Mercy let her own eyes slide closed and focused on the sensation.
The suckle alone didn’t really do anything for her, but seeing Crow’s blissed out face pressed against her bare skin sent a pang of heat places she definitely wasn’t going to think about right now.
It soon became obvious that he was too stressed to settle properly, far too desperate from starvation and denial, and she winced slightly as her nipple started to grow sore from his pace. A sudden warm tingle caught her off guard, healing the strain, and she tore her eyes from Crow’s face to meet her Ghost’s gaze from across the room. He was floating with Glint above her supplies, both ghosts staring at them silently. She sent him a quiet thanks as the pain faded.
It took a few minutes of his frantic nursing, but she finally felt her breast start to lighten as he drained her. Her other started to itch slightly from the uneven stimulation, still full and engorged, and she frowned as milk beaded up and leaked a pale white trail down her ribs. She could feel Crow beginning to panic as her right side ran dry, sucking harder to try and draw out more precious food. His feeding grew messy, saliva spreading from where they were joined to dampen her skin. One of his hands released its death grip on her waist to paw at her side, and he started to wiggle trying to press impossibly closer. The noises he was making grew louder, miserable whines vibrating against her skin through his mouth. She jerked back as he lost control of his teeth in his panicked searching, nicking her even as he pulled harder at her flesh.
“Ow, Crow, easy- easy. It’s okay.”
If he could hear her at all, he didn’t respond.
“Shh. Here, switch sides. Its- ow!”
Damn, she was going to have a hickey over her entire nipple if he bit her like that again.
Mercy drew her hands up to his face, cradling his jaw and rubbing soft circles into his cheeks with her thumbs. She brushed his hair from his sweaty forehead and tried to gently push him back. He moaned at the touch but just dug further into her breast, still so, so hungry. She tried desperately to soothe him out of his delirium but slowly realized she was going to have to break his latch manually, before he started gnawing on her.
Taking a deep breath, she moved one hand to rest her thumb along the seam of his lips. She could feel how chapped they were where they stretched wide, and she gently traced the edges through his spilled drool before lightly applying pressure at the cusp. The way Crow’s nose wrinkled up in response was almost cute, whining softly as he shifted restlessly and refused to give up the latch.
“Crow, c’mon. It’s okay. You just need to-“
And there were the teeth again. Alright, that’s enough.
Mercy dug her thumb against his lip, forcing through the seal and finally breaking him off her. He pushed back with a wounded sob- Traveler, he sounded like she’d stabbed him- searching blindly for her teat again . She cradled his chin and kept her thumb in his mouth, letting him suck wetly on her digit while he came down. He was hyperventilating, panting heavily into her palm, and his entire face was wet with sweat and drool. He was shivering violently, hands clinging to her sides so tight his fingers had gone pale. When he finally opened his eyes, they were glazed over and unseeing. He looked wrecked.
“Back with me, sweetness?”
What she wasn’t expecting was for him to burst into tears. Deep, awful sobs that shook his whole body. Crow slumped miserably forward and she met him halfway, releasing his chin to let him rest his head back against her bosom. She cringed a little as his drool smeared across her sternum, but pushed it aside in favor of holding him closer. His hands moved, grabbing helplessly at her until they wrapped around her back, trying to crush them together. The iron bars of his cage dug painfully between them, trapped between them in their embrace.
Mercy let him cry. He needed it. Months of brutal abuse and torture bubbling up all at once, his careful compartmentalization all shattered by his vulnerable state. The anguished sobs didn’t stop, and he curled closer into her, desperate for gentle touch. He wailed, his hoarse voice breaking, until he drove himself into a brutal coughing fit. She just held him through it, petting at his hair, his back, whatever she could reach. When it didn’t stop, she grew worried he was going to pass out. Or vomit.
Traveler, she was going to burn Spider at the stake.
Glint appeared at his shoulder in a flash of light, whispering tender words and reassurances. The ghost settled into the dip at his throat, optic light illuminating the underside of Crow’s jaw as he began to softly sing. Glint gave her a quick, hesitant glance, and she hoped whatever he saw on her face was supportive. It was, hopefully, because Glint perked up again and cuddled deeper against Crow, pressing his shell against her chest as he got a better angle. It took a few minutes but Crow’s cries slowly eased off, and his labored breathing evened out as he unconsciously matched her own.
Ghost floated over, hovering just behind Crow so he could make eye contact with her. His frosty shell spun twice and he sent her a pang of sympathy. Twenty-four minutes. Twenty-one if they wanted to play it safe. Damn it.
She nodded and felt another gentle pulse of healing emanate from him, patching up the bite marks blooming on her dry breast and drawing her attention to the painful fullness of the other one. Still leaking, she realized she was smearing milk onto Crow’s shoulder where he held her. That was…something.
Her Ghost only let out a tiny laugh before settling down on her shoulder, minding his spikes, and beeped softly down at Glint. Glint paused in his lullaby, then started whispering softly back to Crow again, the ghost’s voice balming his nerves and giving gentle encouragement. Another moment and Crow let out a long sigh, before finally opening his eyes and gazing up at her. They were still shiny with tears, but the haze was gone and his pretty golden eyes were clear again. She rewarded him with a smile.
“Hi.”
“…Hi.”
He sighed happily and pressed a kiss to her breastbone. And that was sweet enough it could almost make her forget the metal bar crushed into her armpit.
One of his hands eased down from her back to caress gently along her hip. He turned his face into her body, taking in more of her scent as he took a few deep, calming breaths. Eventually he pulled back, just a little, steadying himself again on the stool. Another blush was rising on his cheeks as he fully came back to himself. Even the shells of his ears were turning purple. It was adorable.
“That was, ahem.” He cleared his throat, embarrassed. “That was more- Intense. Then I thought it’d be.”
Glint floated up to bump into his cheek affectionately. Crow sighed, smiled, and pressed a loving kiss to the top of his shell.
Mercy grinned at the sight and cocked her head toward her own ghost, who realized what was coming and vanished in a poof of light before she could grab him. Coward.
Crow glanced up, startled by her sudden movement, before he calmed himself again and gave her a shy little smile. Glint clicked at him from his shoulder and tagged him with a fin.
“…Right. Thank you, Mercy. That was wonderful.” She'd be more inclined to believe him if he had less snot on his face. “I’m, um, sorry you-“
Nope. Nip that in the bud.
“Shhhh. Shush. You have nothing to be sorry for. No apologies.” She poked him in the center of his forehead. He just gaped back at her, bewildered, as she grinned at him and raised an eyebrow. “Unless you’re planning to leave me lopsided.”
Crow had the nerve to look shocked. Stunned, even. What, had he forgotten she had two? Sixteen minutes on the safe clock. He was -not- leaving her like this.
Ghost reappeared long enough to deposit a single surviving wet wipe on her head (payback) but decompiled in an instant as she snatched for him again. Ugh. She’d get a smooch, eventually.
She snagged the wipe with a huff and reached for Crow’s face again, he scrunched his nose but didn’t protest as she wiped the worst of the snot and drool away. She hadn’t thought his blush could get any darker, but was delighted to be wrong. Once his face was clean again she cradled his jaw gently and shifted her weight to the other foot, presenting her left breast through the bars. His eyes locked on the milk trail oozing down her side, and she felt him swallow.
“Fifteen minutes-ish, and we’ll have to dip.” Oof, that was pain in his eyes, like he’d just remembered. She pet at his jaw lightly in sympathy. “So, Bon Appetit.”
She snickered evilly at the disgruntled look he gave her for that and waggled her tit at him.
“Say ahh.”
“Stop.”
He leaned in, leaving a light kiss on the top of her breast before sliding his lips lower.
“….choo choo- OW!”
He laughed, actually laughed, and smoothed his tongue over the bite mark he’d given her in apology. She narrowed her eyes and pinched at the shell of his ear. He just squinted up at her and tossed his head to shake her off, then flattened his tongue and lapped up the spilled milk in one swoop. Mercy flinched involuntarily at the sensation and Crow quickly held her still, chasing his prize. The heat of his mouth again caught her off guard when he sucked onto her areola, but he got a good latch almost instantly. She relaxed and sighed happily as he got to work. He’d always been a fast learner.
It didn’t take him long to find his rhythm, but this time he wasn’t as frazzled and settled easily against her side, content to take it slow. She could still feel the undercurrent of desperation, the meager amount of milk he’d gotten from the first feed nowhere near enough to combat the weeks he’d gone without, but now he kept much better control of himself. Maybe it had taken the edge off, at least. She cupped the base of his skull again and hummed softly while he suckled.
Crow did start making those cute little noises again, not even realizing he was doing it, and she valiantly staved off the urge to squish his cheeks in response. It was close, though. There was also way less spit this time, which really helped him with the cute factor. She settled for rocking on her heels with a frustrated groan, before glancing behind her, eyeing the melting ice on the door. Eleven minutes.
Movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned back to watch their ghosts bobbing around the room, gathering the used wipes and neatening her stuff. Glint finished piling her armor together and even loosened the laces so she could throw it on fast, while Ghost bumped her empty canteen slowly out of the cell and nearer to her pack. Oh, she loved them. She loved both of them and was going to smooch them silly the first chance she got. As if reading her thoughts (he probably was) Ghost froze and turned his eye to glare at her. She blew him a kiss.
Crow shifted gently in her arms, nuzzling happily at her chest as he let himself drift again. The pressure lessened as he drained her, and soon there were only eight minutes on the clock and she had to wrap this up or Spider was going to throw a massive fit the second she stepped out of that door. Well, he already was when she rubbed the lure’s problems back in his stupid face, but y’know. More of a fit. With a resigned sigh, she nudged Crow gently and this time he detached on his own without a fight, only a sad, dejected whine. He rested his forehead against her for a long moment, eyes closed, then pulled back with a small smile.
Mercy returned it as she drew her shirt closed and retied the sash. She refused to wince at the uncomfortable wetness stuck between the silky fabric and her skin, not while Crow was looking at least. Maybe once she turned to put on her chassis. Definitely once she got back to her ship.
She hurriedly threw her armor back on, re-buckled her gloves and snapped her canteen back into the loop. She gave a little fist bump when she remembered she’d already packed up the lure and tool kit earlier. The filthy wet wipe pile and rag shirt were shoved randomly into her rucksack to be dealt with later, she had to undo Arrha’s damage anyway, so no big deal. Mercy paused, hands on her hips, and mentally ran through the list of everything she’d brought with her before looking to Ghost. He gave an affirmative beep. All packed up.
Ninety-one seconds. That had to be a record. Six and a half-ish minutes to go.
She spun on her heel to spend them with Crow. He had moved the stool back to the wall and tidied up his buckets. Now he had sat back down in his spot near the cell door, where they’d spent all their time earlier. Or a little to the left, to avoid the hive-bait-and-foam-chunk puddle. He’d also apparently remembered he was nude again, because his hands were clasped back over his lap in renewed shyness and he was sitting at an awkward angle. She suppressed a chuckle to spare his feelings. Plus he was staring at her with such blatant adoration it was hard to think about being mean to him right now.
She plopped to the ground with a grunt, tucking her legs up under her and propping herself up with one arm. Crow leaned forward, grabbing her hand and holding it tightly against his chest. Which screwed her balance and forced her to reposition how she was sitting, opting to just kneel now instead, but it was sweet so she wouldn’t complain too much. He pressed a gentle kiss to her glove and met her eyes with his golden ones.
“I’m gonna miss you.”
Ugh. Such a sap.
“I’d miss me too.” Don’t sniffle, Mercy. Don’t you dare. “Y’know the weather forecast is perfect tomorrow, I think I might go hunting. You’ll have to fix the dumb hive thingy when I use that last charge. Don’t want me breaking it worse.”
He smiled, and it actually reached his eyes.
“The Shore doesn’t get weather, Mercy. We’re in an asteroid belt.”
“Then why’s it raining.”
“Mmhmm.”
Crow kissed the back of her hand again, then used his other to move some of her ragged hair from her face, letting the touch linger on her cheek. He brushed away a streak of tears with his thumb. Mercy just sighed and leaned into him in encouragement. This man was so, so sweet when he felt secure enough to act on it.
“Stay safe out there, alright? Please don’t push yourself for my sake. I can wait.” He brought his hand down to her rest on her lips to stop her protesting. “Shush.”
She pouted, but shushed.
“Please. I don’t know how often Spider will let you down here. He’ll be fuming already. I can’t- I can’t have you getting hurt on a hunt for my sake. The Wrathborn are dangerous and I’m already terrified that you’ve been out there on your own. Sagira-“
She licked his fingers.
He jerked back and glared at her in shock, brows all scrunched up. Then he stared her down as he made a show of wiping his hand off on her thigh. Which was real bold, considering how much of his drool was drying under her shirt right now.
Whatever. He was working himself into a doom-and-gloom tizzy, and she’d rather not get all existential just yet. That breakdown could be saved for the shower later.
She yoinked her lip balm from her pocket and handed it to him through the bars. He cautiously opened the tube and sniffed it before applying a heavy layer.
“I’m going to bother the shit out of Spider until he lets you back in the field with me. I’m going to be a menace. I declined any other assignment, so really, he should be grateful for how devoted I’m about to be to cleaning up his Shore. I’ll be beating down his door to reset the lure morning, noon and night.”
Crow pinched the bridge between his eyes in mortal pain.
“I’m going to waste so much of his time making him and his bodyguards strip search me and the five bags I’ll drag in with me for fun. I’m going to make sure everything I own is completely caked in fresh screeb juice every time they go through my rucksack.”
“Mercedes.“
“And if he continues to be a stubborn asshole, I’ll still get to see you every reset. And the lure? I really fucked it, so it’s going to take like an hour to for you to unfuck it every time.”
She squeezed his hand and let her gaze go soft.
“And maybe you won’t have to go to bed half as hungry.”
Crow’s eyes were all big and wet again, and he hid his face against their joined hands. For a blissful moment, it was just the two of them together and nothing else in the world.
But alas, all good things must come to an end. One minute on the clock, and then they were cutting into the safety margin. She gently untangled their fingers and he let her go. Instead of pulling away though, she cupped his cheek and let him lean into her palm. He brought his own hand up to cover hers and smiled into her skin, eyes bright when they met hers. She tugged him closer to the bars to press a sweet, soft kiss to his forehead and he made a reverent noise deep in his throat.
Then she stood up, leaving him sitting alone on the cold filthy floor. She swung her bag over her shoulder and let the last of the ice melt away from the door. The ghosts had been saying their own goodbyes, shells cuddled up to each other, explosives be damned. Some of the frost had even rubbed off onto Glint, and she wondered idly if felt cold to him. Her’s caught her eye and she saw his spikes droop as he realized the time.
Well. This sucked. Even if they’d hopefully be back tomorrow.
Mercy looked back to Crow one more time, holding onto the bars of the cage and watching her. He gave her a cheeky little wave and she managed a smile back. She turned and forced herself to take a step toward the door.
“Mercy.”
Crow spun her chapstick tube between his fingers like it was a hunter knife, before flicking it over to her in a perfect arc. She snagged it from the air.
“You should keep that one, it’s a nice flavor.”
She giggled. “Pink lemonade. It’s superior.”
She popped it back into her pocket with a smile and met her Ghost at the door, swiping up the lure bag and repair kit as she went. She made herself ignore the torture tools, and the noose, and the shackle chair, and all the other little horrible things she had to leave her friends to face alone. She stepped into the airlock and paused when the door didn’t immediately open on the other side, leaving her stuck between the rooms. She could just hear the guards chittering on the other side.
Glint materialized in front of her, and she blinked at him as she held out her hand for him to once again settle down in.
“I just wanted to say thank you. For taking care of Crow. And helping us with Spider. And, well, everything else.” His shell was warm, and she swore she could see tiny hearts projecting from his Light. “I’m so glad we met you.”
Glint flashed his optic at her and leaned forward in her hand questioningly, wiggling his top fin just a little. She recognized the invitation for what it was and giddily brought him up to give him a nice big kiss, then another one right next to his optic. He chirped happily, then vanished from her palm in a poof of pink light. The airlock slid open.
Mercedes brushed past the guards without a word. She stomped her way through the hall, up the stairs, and twirled around the corner to Crow’s usual space. She tucked the repair kit safely back under his workbench, and was very careful not to bump into any of his half-finished projects on her way out. Looking at the empty room made her sad, so she took a deep breath and moved back into the hall to the last and biggest door.
She cleared her throat and swung the lure bag around to her front, making sure she had her biggest, cheesiest smile on before stepping on the sensor to open the door.
“Spider! Great news!”