Michelle was standing in the clearing smoke, covered in soot, and still wearing… most… of the duckie pajamas. “Michelle, are you alright”?! Allison shouted and ran towards Michelle, who was just standing and staring blankly.

“Yeah, I’m… fine. Why is Conrad here”?

“Not sure. Why’d our door get blasted off the hinges”? Allison asked.

“I saw something flying, and threw a knife at it to deflect it. When I did, it exploded. I saw Conrad right before, so I’m pretty sure this is his doing. Not even Jesse is that much of a fucking idiot”.

Conrad’s voice echoed from down the hall, “Damnit, Jesse isn’t here? I thought I saw him. All I got was the half pint Michelle…”

Allison grabbed the collar of Michelle pajama top to prevent her from assaulting Conrad. “Why don’t you learn? No, he’s not here, and I’m pretty sure calling her that was about as bad as talking about the duckie pajamas”.

Emilia entered the hallway and tossed Michelle a smaller pair of pajamas. “Go get yourself changed. You’re a mess. We’ll deal with this guy”. Michelle obediently walked into the room to change.

“If it isn’t the duck lover. You and your tights wearing friend gonna stop me”? Conrad taunted.

“You know, these clothes aren’t originally mine, and there are some odd circumstances as to why I’m wearing them, but that’s beside the point. Just get the hell out. I really wont feel bad if you actually get hurt this time” Allison warned.

“Yeah, whatever….” Conrad threw 2 grenade sized objects. One exploded, filling the hallway with smoke. The 2nd exploded, filing the area with an electrical pulse. The smoke cleared and Emilia had fallen to her knees. She didn’t make an effort to move. More precisely, she couldn’t move. Conrad continued talking. “So, we got a pipsqueak, a cyborg duckie woman who’s useless, and the new bitch who’s apparently just short of use…”

Conrad’s sentence was cut short. He checked the side of his face. A blade had passed through, leaving a gash in his cheek. He also lost a few strands of hair. “What the shit”?! he shouted as he jumped back a few feet. Allison turned to her right to see Michelle standing beside her, changed into a smaller set of armored pajamas (with duckies of course) and angrier than she’d ever seen. She stood with a throwing dagger in her left hand, and a short sword in the right. “Just so you know what it is you’ve done… Disabling Emilia isn’t cool. Calling me a pipsqueak is even less cool, and before today, would probably be the stupidest thing you could do…. But now…”. Michelle spoke with a freakish calmness that caused chills to run down Allison’s spine. “Now, the part about the ‘new bitch’, that was just too much. I won’t even make this painless”.

With a flick of the wrist, at a speed which could not be determined, the knife in her right hand was thrown. It tore through Conrad’s pants leg, but didn’t hit close enough to break skin. Conrad decided it was best to run, and turned to do so. He was quickly hit by another knife as he tried to escape. He was hit by 5 in total, all precise enough to cause deep wounds, but no life threatening ones. She was about to give chase, but was again stopped by Allison.

“Michelle, let him go, we have another problem… namely, Emilia, and also the door”.

Michelle turned and looked at Emilia, who was still kneeling. She then pulled out her comm-link. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Jesse, I need your help. You know where Emilia’s room is, right? Mark, I’ll need you here too”.

“Yes ma’am” Jesse replied nearly instantly. “On my way, I’m assuming this isn’t good” Mark answered.

Mark made it within 5 minutes. Jesse took slightly longer since he ran into Conrad, who was defeated and removed from the premises. They helped pick up Emilia and took her to bed. Mark then asked, “Should I bring the replacement components”? 

“Yeah, I guess I’ll get to answer that question before I make the explanation about Michelle”. Allison sighed. Mark removed himself from the room.

“I’ll explain myself… myself” Michelle muttered. “I don’t have a problem sharing if it’s just you guys”.

“There are girls here too…” Allison complained”.

Michelle’s eyes widened “Oh, sorry. Anyways, I basically hate being called small, oh, and stupid, that’s another one. I learned a lot, and mastered a lot, so that no one can call me stupid. Small however, is one that I’ve been dealing with for my whole life. I got teased all the time. Hell, people decided the play Michelle-ball in middle and high school. I had enough of being treated as a ‘thing’. That’s why I learned knife combat skills to, so stop people from being able to just toss me around as they wanted. Also, that’s part of the reason why I’m so mean to people. Not many, if any have shown me kindness. You guys haven’t been mean, but Allison has been the only one to openly be kind to me, and I never even gave her a reason. So for that reason…“ Michelle dove to Allison, tacking her and knocking her to the floor “You, I actually like”! She followed that statement with a kiss on the cheek.

Allison sat on the floor in astonishment as she picked up Michelle and sat her beside her. “I’m kinda curious as to what your… preferences are…” Allison muttered.

“Well, I keep an open mind”? Michelle whispered. The whisper wasn’t very effective, as everyone in the room heard it. Jesse couldn’t help grin.

“Well, we’d better get started, I’m pretty sure Emilia doesn’t like just laying there. Jesse, got any intel on what Conrad used for this. It was a micro EMP right”? Michel questioned.

“Yeah, looks like it fried your TV too, as well as the lights in that area of the hallway. The outside of the building has technology that keeps those waves from getting inside, but from within, we’re slightly fucked. Anyways, it was an EMP. We should probably remove the damaged components right”?

Emilia nodded. “Can I have Michelle and Allison do it. You touching me right now…”

Michelle smiled. “I won’t let him touch you. I nearly threw up in my mouth when I said I needed his…” she paused and swallowed, “Fuck! I almost did it again”! 

Jesse began dismantling the TV, probably preparing to replace the damaged components. Michelle walked Allison through the process of removing the mechanical components of Emilia.

“Well Allison, to answer your question, what’s left of me is totally human, though there are nano-bots in there somewhere too. The entirety of my right arm, the lower half of my left arm, and below each of my knees are all cybernetic parts or implants. It kinda sucks actually, I’m human enough to have all the human weaknesses, and I don’t get all of the strengths of being a robot. Don’t even get me started about going to the airport” Emilia said with a shallow laugh.

Emilia, who had the legs of the pajama pants rolled up, and the left sleeve rolled up, looked almost as if she were about to cry. Mark returned shortly with the replacement appendages. They were installed within minutes and Emilia was up on her own 2 feet again. “The next time I see Conrad, I’ll kill him…” she warned.

“Don’t worry about that. I kinda figured something bad happened when Michelle said she needed my help and I saw Conrad running away slashed and bloody. I fucked him up pretty good, so he shouldn’t be an issue for a while. Team omega is gonna be kinda pissed about losing a member for a while, but that’s what they get for not keeping that bastard contained.

“Thanks. Now Allison, you know partially why I wasn’t tired, though now, I’m very tired. I’m gonna go to sleep now…” Emilia quickly passed out even among the guests in her room.

“Well, I’m actually tired too. I’ll probably call it an early night, but what about the door”? Allison questioned.

Jesse replied “I already put in an emergency service order for door replacement. They should be here quite soon actually. All I had to mention was that Emilia went down, and Michelle got angry, and will get worse if the door isn’t fixed. That should make them hurry up”.

“Well, as much as I don’t like you using me as a threat to get shit done, it will probably work. Good thinking. Now get out. I’ll keep watch until this door issue is solved” Michelle ordered. Mark and Jesse left the room and Michelle stood at the door until the door was repaired, which took every bit of about 8 minutes in total.

Michelle looked back at Allison, who had yet to fall completely asleep. She walked up to her bedside tucked her in, and repeated the same process for Emilia. “Rest up you 2. Tomorrow is the heavy equipment training, it’s usually stressful. I’ll help out as much as I’m allowed <3” Michelle whispered as she closed the door to the room, that is, after she got a step ladder to replace the light bulb.