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"Eyah--f-fuck!" Ilaria snapped awake with her arm thrown forward defensively, but calmed when she realized she was dreaming. She looked around with hazy vision as her eyes refused to focus. "Hello? Where am I?"

The familiar voice, and soon touch, of her twin brother comforted Ari immediately. "It's alright, Lulu. We're in the infirmary."

"But... I don't feel..."

"Nanites, sis. Carbon said your pain receptors might get shut down or something, sort of like automatic morphine."

"But I can't see..." As she said that, Ari's vision slowly started returning. "Wait, it's not too bad."

Iolvin reached out and gave his sister a hug, but had to pull back when a pang of pain managed to get through. "Sorry. It's just... hard not to hug you right now."

"You're getting sappy on me, lil' bro. That's never a good thing." Ari looked to her left and found Adrian on an adjacent bed, a large swatch of bandages over his eye. "Is he going to be okay? How's Dee's eye?"

"He... lost it. His nanites tried to fix it, but there was just too much lost already..." Yoyo quieted himself, making sure he addressed his sister's larger concern first. "Just don't freak out, but..."

Yoyo nudged his eyes to Ari's right and she tried to turn that way, but found her right arm wasn't responding to help. Then she craned her head and gasped, fighting back tears. "I... Gods, I lost my arm too!?"

"Lulu, look at me. I'm here for you. When you lost your leg, who helped you get used to it?"

"Y-You..."

"And guess who's going to do the same now?" Yoyo leaned in and gave his sister a kiss before helping her sit upright. "You're strong, sis. You'll get through this."

"But my arm was fucking burnt off! That's just shit!" Ari tried to grab something and hurl it across the room, but her throwing arm, or shoulder or breast for that matter, obviously wasn't present for those orders. "Fuck! ...Wait. That's right."

"Sis?" Yoyo stood up as Ari tried to slide out of her bed with predictably futile results. "Lulu, what's wrong?"

"Robyn! Where's Robyn!? Was I at least able to save her?"

"Shit, of course." Yoyo walked over to a collapsed wheelchair in the corner and returned to unfold it. "I'll take you to her. Ellie and Carbon are keeping an eye on her and the kids."

"They're all fine?"

Yoyo gingerly hooked around his sister's arm and thighs and transferred her to the chair. "Uh... I really don't know, sis. They haven't let me in to find out."

"Then we're finding out now." Again the otter tried to use her phantom limb, this time to roll the chair's wheels, and could only grunt in frustration. "Just... take me there, Yoyo."

"You got it." Yoyo got behind the chair and started pushing slowly, making sure his twin didn't fall over in a way where she couldn't recover. They only had to move a single room down the hallway, to the operating room. "They're in here. You want me to--?"

Ilaria formed a tendril of nanites and opened the door herself. "She's my wife. I'm not waiting on jack shit."

"Ari? You're not well enough to be moving about--"

"I don't care, Ellie. Robyn, are you hurt anywhere?"

"Not a... ding." The squirrel had various issues with her speech that betrayed that claim, but she tried to hold a smile regardless. "And yeah... the kids are just... dandy as well."

"You... suck at lying, Pillow." Ari formed another tendril and used the pair to pull herself up into a sort of swing next to her wife. "What's wrong, honey?"

"Ottah... My... love..." Robyn stared off behind her wife's head as she thought about her status. "I'm not... much... fated for... this world."

"How?" Ari looked over her wife and then stared at Ellie for answers. "I threw up a barrier, right? If she's not burnt then... then what?"

"She's fine at this scale," Ellie meekly answered, "but at the cellular level, she's rapidly deteriorating. The radiation from the blast was just too much."

"What? But then... Oh gods, you're dying too?"

"No. As cruel as that is, I'm fine. Some anti-rad meds can absorb most of the radiation in me. We have Ashe taking them too just in case. The whole station gets some later too." Ellie sighed as he tried to think of the most concise manner of explaining himself. "Robyn's pregnancy makes her more susceptible to things like this, and less receptive of harsh medications. Even if the medication ~would~ work, the kids would overdose and... well..."

"Then... we'll pump her full of nanites! That saved me, right!?"

Carbon stepped in here as the bearer of worse news. "No, that wouldn't work. Your 'nanites' can only repair you to a known state. If Robyn tried to bond new ones now, they'd actively try to help with the RNA deterioration."

"So then... Fuck! We have to have some kind of options!"

"Il...ari...a..." Robyn clenched her stomach as her body fought the last leg of its battle. "Glad I... see you... again..."

"Don't you dare give up now!" Ilaria reached forward but couldn't hold her wife until Iolvin came to help. "Please, Pillow... Just a little longer..."

"...made me... happiest... girl... Ottah..."

"I know, Pillow. I know..." Ari swallowed hard as her one and only cringed in absolute pain. "Gods... I love you, Pillow. You hear me? I'll always love you, Robyn..."

Robyn clutched her wife for a final embrace. "...love... you..."

Ilaria gasped and choked as her wife tensed up, then fell away into the great void. "No..."

"Lulu..."

"She... can't be..."

Iolvin held up his twin sister, regretfully feeling every iota of her pain through their many bonds, nanite-powered or otherwise. "Lulu... she held on for you. She loved you enough to fight through it and--"

"It must be a dream. A nightmare." Ari reached for her brother's holster and brought his pistol to her head. "I just need to wake up."

"Lulu!"

"Pillow..." Yoyo grabbed the handgun and tried to angle it away, but his sister still managed to pull the trigger. Thankfully she didn't have the spare paw to flip the left-sided safety and the weapon refused to fire, allowing Yoyo to toss the gun to the floor. "But...!"

Iolvin slapped his sister harshly over her muzzle. "You are _ not _ that kind of person anymore! and do you think that's what she would want with your children hanging by a thread!?"

"Chil...dren?"

Elliot snapped upright when he realized what Yoyo was saying. "Fuck, we need to operate! Everyone out!

"I'm helping." Carbon reached for a set of elastic gloves. "We need the room. Ari, I'll come out as soon as we're done."

"B-But..."

Yoyo heaved his sister over his shoulder and lugged her out of the room. "We need to trust them right now, Lulu. Trust them and pray."

"Ilaria?" Rose shook the injured otter in her twin brother's arms, waking the both of them. "That's your name, right? Ilaria?"

"Yeah..."

"Sorry to wake you like this." The Yangurran stood on her feet and checked the rest of the room. "We... need to talk. Away from Carbon, if possible."

"Like fuck you do." Carbon made herself quite known as she opened the doors to the operating room. "She's been through enough. I don't know what this is about, but you can just fuck off right now."

"I..." Rose sensed a quotient of raw anger in the hybrid's expression and submitted to her will. "I'll come back later. Sorry."

Carbon shook her head and ducked back into the room for a moment, returning with Elliot as well as two newborn pups. "Ilaria, turns out there's a silver lining after all."

Ari stared at the Major a moment, then diverted her eyes hopelessly back to the floor. Iolvin on the other paw perked up on his sister's behalf. "Can we see them? They're healthy and all that?"

"Yeah, they're just fine. Quiet, but fine." Carbon brought over one while Ellie followed with the other, lining the twins up for display. "Might not want to touch them right now, though. They're cute little things though, aren't they?"

"Adorable." Yoyo tried again to shake his sister to attention, managing to barely rouse her. "Look, Lulu. It's your children. You made them." He looked back up to Ellie as Ilaria finally started paying mild attention to the kids. "Which is which? Is that one the boy?"

"I'm... not sure, actually." Ellie sighed and nudged his head to Carbon. "You'd better let her explain that part."

"Huh?"

"Well... there's been a sort of mix-up." Carbon eased the whelp in her paws over to Ellie and sat down near the new uncle. "They're sort of a mix of both."

"Oh... like Lulu then?"

"No, not really. You know those 'nanites' of yours?" Carbon waited for a nod before offering her glowing paw pad in the dim light of the hallway. "They're roughly based on something inside myself, only much simpler. Except somehow they bonded with you and they're not so simple anymore."

"So... the kids have them inside their blood, too?"

Carbon used her paws to shadow the children and sure enough a faint yellow glow emanated from their flesh. "What I'm trying to say is that their blood is entirely made of them. That means they've bonded with effectively a part of me, too."

Yoyo shrugged his shoulders. "So what the hell does that have to do with their sexes?"

"Well my kind have more than two sexes. There's a third that... What's the best translation?" Carbon squinted her eyes as one of the children hurried its breathing. "Uh... They're like incubators of sorts. They take in the father's genes, add their own, and then deposit the viable mix into the mother..."

Ellie noticed the breathing now and took the children back to another room down the hall. "I'll check it out."

"So the kids are something I don't have a Terran word for. It's 'ousche' in Yangurran." Carbon watched in concern as Ellie picked up his pace in the other room. "...I don't know how much of that affects them, but the sex organs point to them being ouschee alright."

"Do we have to hide their sexes for them to fit in or something? Lulu already went through that hell once."

"No. In fact, they can hide their organs inside themselves if everything's formed... right..."

"Carbon? What's wrong?"

The hybrid dashed over to the side room and pulled open the door. "Stop! It's not what you think." Carbon pulled off her air system and offered it to Elliot. "Here, they need this. Put them in a breathing chamber with it."

"They... huh?"

Carbon pushed Ellie aside and set things up herself, conserving her breath as she did so. "Check Ari. I've got it."

"S-Sure." Ellie backed away as Carbon crudely taped his feed hose to an infants' air assist bed. "Right. Ari, are you alright? Do you need some pain medicine?"

The dismembered otter looked up for a moment and then drooped her head back down. "...No..."

"Well your bandages look good for now. I'll give the wounds a check in a bit when you're asleep." Ellie sat down by the twins and brought up the new pair. "So have you thought of names? I'm sure you and Robyn talked about... oh..."

Yoyo sighed and held his sister tighter in a makeshift hug. "I... don't think she's registering much right now. Don't worry about it."

"...Michelle..."

"Ari?" Ellie leaned in closer and tried to duck into her field of view. "What was that?"

"Robyn... liked the name Michelle..."

"That might work, actually. They do both resemble girls." The fair-furred otter nodded and pushed for more. "We'll work out which is Michelle later. What about the other?"

"...Robyn... only liked..."

"We're not calling them both Michelle, Lulu." Yoyo held his sister's paw in both of his and proposed another name. "What about Mikhaila, like your middle name? That's a pretty name for a girl, right?"

Ari lightly squeezed her brother's paw and slowly nodded her head. "...And Robyn... Their middle names... should be Robyn."

"That's honorable, sis. She'll live on in her children."

Ellie nodded and stood to check on Carbon. "How do we pick which is which? They look spotlessly identical to me."

"Uh..." Yoyo looked up as an idea came to him. "Which came out first? That one can be Michelle."

"We did a large section. They came out at once." Elliot sighed in relief as Carbon wheeled the pups out in their new patchwork beds. "Carbon, which one cried first?"

"Neither. Totally silent." The hybrid pointed to the 'girl' on the her left. "This one was the first to start breathing though."

Yoyo smiled as he got the idea. "Then her name is Michelle Robyn Rihzyet. The other is Mikhaila Robyn Rihzyet."

"Oh, did Ari actually come around enough for names?" A few nods later and Carbon smiled back while reaching for a syringe in a belt pouch. "Well I like that, especially those middle names. Just know that they might not identify as girls later though."

"They'll never be restricted like Lulu was, I'm sure." Iolvin peeked over the lip of the beds and inquired, "So how are they doing? And what's with the... Wait, that's your mask..."

Carbon took a moment to stick herself with the needle and depress the plunger. "They're more like me than I'd care to admit. I had to tone it way down, but they need at least part of their air to be like mine. I'll check with Eve later about that, but they're fine for the time being. Their quietness does concern me though."

"So... how much of them came from you, anyway?"

"The less, the better. I won't know precisely until they're a few years old. There's something we might be able to try to find out." Carbon took a deep breath and crouched near the older twins. "I owe another debt to your family after all of this, and I intend to repay it."

Yoyo rubbed his sister's only remaining shoulder and gave her a kiss behind the ear. "See, Lulu? Robyn left them in good paws."

Carbon groaned in frustration as she--no, more a 'he' now--stood in a dark bunk room. "Lilly... talk to me, please."

"Carbon... please just leave me alone." The rare specimen of a fluff drake curled up into a ball on her bed as she contemplated just how much rarer her species recently became. "I... gods, my head..."

The hybrid offered a tendril, but didn't force it forward. "I could at least help get you to sleep. That mental rewiring can't be easy to fight."

"No. I'll have to learn to--Gah!--cope with it eventually." Lilith flopped to her side and braced her paws on the sides of her head. "Just... it hurts to think, let alone talk. Please, Carbon?"

The Major nodded and backed out the door, trying to associate his teammate's genetic conditioning with a severe migraine for the time being. "Rest up, Lilly. I'll make sure nobody else bothers you."

"Thanks."

"Nobody?" Cid hobbled over with the assistance of a pair of crutches, somehow wedging a bouquet of flowers under her arm at the same time. "I figured on visiting her before it got bad, but..."

"She'll open up, I'm sure. Just let her be for now." Carbon quirked his head around and slammed on a control panel with his glowing paws, which in turn shut some nearby emergency shutters. "Sorry, Cid. I've got some business with a _sneaky, lying weed _ of a girl."

Rose hopped down from a vent nearby. "That's a bit harsh, isn't it?"

Carbon didn't waste any time, slamming a paw into Rose's throat and pinning her against a wall. "You held back information, Rose! Information that got an innocent would-be mother killed! You know what it's like to watch someone die that horrible way!?"

"I-I... I didn't..."

"Bullshit." Carbon snaked a queo around the Yangurran's back and wrapped it around one of hers. "You could have mentioned they engineered a damn nuke! And then what's more, I find you trying to sneak off with the very widow you wronged? What else aren't you telling me!?"

"Carbon..." Evelyn gasped as her host forced an unwilling Link upon Rose. "Carbon, stop it!"

«What else, Rose? Don't make me force it out.»

«I was... trying to comfort her. That Ilaria girl lost everything because of me and--»

Carbon's other paw rose to assist in compressing the girl's neck. «I can sense when you're not telling the whole truth, you know.»

«I'm getting there! S-Sorry!»

Carbon released his grip, then pulled off Rose's breathing mask and smacked it hard against her face. «Tell me!»

Evelyn collapsed to the floor next to her host, her hand rubbing her throat and cheek as if they were in pain. «Carbon!...»

«Pl-Please stop! I'm n-not trying to h-hide anything!»

Carbon took a few steps back as well as a deep breath, more for the sake of Evelyn than anything else, and severed the Link. "Then tell me. Why were you trying to sneak around behind my back?"

"I needed the twins." Rose reached for her mask and Carbon gave it back. "I was talking with those fiir of theirs when I was rescuing those civilians." She paused to set her mask on her face and steady her breathing. "They mentioned finding some sort of signal coming from the leader, from Sentra. All I got from them was that it related to the Sect's forward listening post, and they demanded I get permission from their 'creators' before they'd elaborate."

"You didn't need to hide that."

"Apparently I did! You almost fucking killed me, you crazy idiot!" Rose tried to calm herself, sitting on a bench as she spoke. "I've watched you longer than you'd expect. I think I know when you're too emotional to have a real talk."

"So you just avoided me while you did your research." Carbon sighed in frustration, then walked over to offer a peaceful paw to the Yangurran. "I apologize for that. It was way out of line. And you're right, I am emotional right now."

Rose took that paw with her three-fingered hand and gave it a solid shake. "I'm on your side. Just remember that and we'll be fine." She pulled on that paw to get to her feet, then went for the sealed door and unlocked it with a code she'd stolen from one of Cid's men. "If you don't mind, I'll be staying with you for a while. We can figure this out later."

"Either guest room is yours; just ask Fleur. Oh, and don't touch my room even if it looks like it's got a good atmosphere for you. I'll explain later." The girl nodded and walked off, leaving Carbon to tend to his shaken companion. "Eve, what was that?"

"I... don't know. I didn't think I could hook into her sensory information like that." The flower girl leaned back against a wall as she rubbed her sore spots. "But that was... great."

"Great? That looked like it hurt. I'll have to try not to get angry at Rose again. Maybe not Link with her unless we--"

"No! Goddess, uh..." Eve jerked off the wall at first, but tried to hide her face soon after. "I... I liked it, in a way. I mean, it hurt... but it was ~you~."

"Yeah, but it still hurt." Carbon walked over and gave Eve's shoulder a rub, his own senses and muscles reacting to make it seem like she was really there. "I'm fine with what we have, without risking hurting you."

"And I'm not." Eve took that paw and moved it to her cheek, softly kneading her hand against it. "As nice as this is, I've never been able to... to feel you touch me."

"Well--"

"Let me finish. For decades now, I've been wanting just that. Just to be a tiny bit more real to you. To really ~exist~ for you. But there are limits for me, and all I can end up doing is watch. I can't feel your paw on my face. I can't smell your wonderful scent..." Evelyn stepped forward and pressed her lips to Carbon's tenderly. "I can't feel your lips on mine, because I don't have any."

"Eve..."

"Carbon... I gave up hope of ever being closer to you, until now. That's why... I have to admit it now." Evelyn started tearing up as she built up the courage to press her point. "I love you."

"Goddess... Eve, I never thought of you..."

"I know. To you I'm just like a tool, or maybe a sister." Eve drooped her head and backed away a step. "You don't need to worry about it. It's okay."

Carbon closed the gap and gave his lifelong companion a deep kiss. "It's not okay. You're not some inanimate tool. You're a very alive veile with her own mind, her own emotions. You're also my best friend."

"Carbon? Do you...lo--?"

"Don't. I'm not sure myself, but I'd never trade what we share right now for anything." Carbon looked over to Cid as the meerkat started shuffling around, then his face started flushing indigo. "Let's just be ourselves and see where this goes. And by the goddess, don't hold yourself back. I rather like this emotional side to you."

"So, we can maybe go further?"

Carbon threw an arm around Evelyn's shoulders and spun to face Cid properly. "The stars are the limit, Eve."

Cid finally took the initiative and asked her undying question. "Got the hots for Eve?"

Carbon's face betrayed his words. "No. Why, you jealous?"

"I can always share, so no." Cid hobbled over and Carbon extended his tendrils to help steady his friend. "Thanks. So what was all that actually about? You're usually more reserved."

"Bad storms on the horizon." The Major threw his other arm around Cid and led the way over to a control panel. "I don't know if we can just batten down the hatches again. We barely pulled ourselves out of ~this~ mess intact, but the next. Oh, well..."

"Those poor girls..." Cid rested as Carbon unlocked the whole room, then followed him to the nearest elevator. "That Ari though, she's a survivor. If the rest are half as strong as her, I'm sure you'll make it through anything."

"That is true. So true." Carbon tapped a hologram and called the elevator car. "I've been through the best and the worst with her family. Baby Lulu's grown up though, and she's a force to behold when she's in her zone. Now though..." The car arrived and Carbon opened the guard gate, allowing Sydney to enter the lift unobstructed. "Just don't tell her father. Goddess, if I don't want to avoid a shotgun up my ass."

"I thought you were close?"

"Ah, I'm just kidding."

Cid leaned against Carbon as the car began moving to the medical bay. "Well at least you have plenty of friends to support the cause. Most furs can't say the same these days."

"So that include you?" Carbon pulled Eve in close as well, but the embarrassed phantasm shrank down to a pixie's scale and sat on his shoulder. "You ready to make getting ~mauled~ your new profession?"

"Ha ha. Can't say I didn't do my part, Carbon... Even if I did blow up your hallway. Uh, sorry." Sydney threw an arm around Carbon and hugged him tight. "I'm glad we made it, though. We have some wild times together."

"That's an understatement." The car slowed to a stop, then fell about a foot before recovering. "Damn I love this shaft!"

Cid somehow both braced herself in the tension of the moment and pulled a laugh out of nowhere at once. "Well I know you're into guys too, but..."

"Oh, shut up."

"You're adorable sometimes." Cid broke free and straightened her tie. "Thank you for the help, Carbon. And good luck with the crew. I see a bright future with them under your wing. Might even poach a few from you one day."

"Ha, just try it." Carbon placed his paw on the controls again and set his penthouse as the destination. "They are an amazing bunch, though. That they are."