he heat was incredible, like falling straight into the mouth of a blast furnace, with air so hot he felt like his skin was going to peel away.

It was the fealty armor that saved him reacting faster than his addled human brain, and firing the jetpack, that, luckily for him, was included in the parts of the armor he was wearing. Even so, the heat from the jetpack's engines seared the fabric on the back of his pant legs, as they had been at an awkward angle when he fell.

Halfway to the lava flow, it felt as if he was going to burst into flame. The indicators inside his helmet flashed and screamed a warning as the air around him reached temperatures almost 200F/93C, at about the edge of human survivability. Neither he nor the fealty armor waisted time, and with a push from the engines, he shot upwards and in through the opening, just as the trapdoor was beginning to close.

The air inside was almost arctic in comparison, and it was glorious.

He only had a short time to be thankful for the cool air before anger overtook him.

He landed on the base of the steps before where Notctus stood, eyes wide, ears pulled back.

Around the room his friends were just beginning to stir.

Maverick was already on her feet, but both Red and Ramirez lay in a confused daze on the steps where they had fallen. Sunny was already upright and a few steps in Noctus's direction, her spear held tight in both hands, as there were very few things that could part a Drev from their weapon.

Though Adam had originally regretted not wearing a cape, he never regretted wearing his jetpack.

"Mistake." He growled, and inside his helmet, Fealty agreed with him, lowering the pitch on his helmet microphone just a tad.

Noctus took a few steps back, scrambling over the black marble floor.

He made no pretense that he wasn't calling down his guards, pressing his forearm implant repeatedly with what must have been a distress signal.

Adam stood over him looming, like only someone his height can loom.

"Only the architect can hear you now."

Noctus scrambled back into the wall, looking up at Adam with wide, dark eyes, which switched from staring at Adam to glancing towards the door.

"They aren't coming."

Noctus stammered, "B-but."

"Do you think I'm stupid." Adam said taking another slow step towards noctus, "You're a slimy little worm, and a coward at that, so there was no way that you WEREN'T going to try something. We just didn't know what, so I had my Maker friend disguise himself as one of your goons and dispose of the guards." He looked over Noctus who lay shivering on the floor, "The trapdoor was unexpected, I will give you that, but clearly, it isn't enough."

With one gauntleted hand, Adam reached down and grabbed the Tesraki by the throat, hauling him into the air.

Adam had once looked into the science of such a manuver, and, as it turns out, the way the human arm is built, holding someone up, by the neck while choking them with an extended arm is scientifically impossible unless you have something to brace the person against. No matter how strong you are, the force of counterweight, just doesn't tend to work.

However, Noctus was rather small, and Adam wasn't the one lifting him.

The SE exoskeleton in Conjunction with the Fealy armor hummed with delight.

Noctus continued to squirm.

"So, why don't we try this again."

By that point the others had regained themselves. Ramirez helped haul red to his feet, who was still looking a little Dazed. Both maverick and Sunny had made their way over, and flanked Adam as he held the Tesraki into the air.

Once upon a time this would have been incredibly illegal for Adam to do.

But he wasn't a member of the UNSC anymore.

Not officially.

Technically he was just a contractor.

He squeezed, and the little Tesraki gurgled, "Tell me about the vial." He said, holding up the small glowing glass container with one hand. Glowing orange liquid swirled and churned behind the glass, lighting the palm of his gauntlet in dusty orange light.

Noctus stopped struggling, gripping Adam's hands with his own.

At his side maverick stiffened, and inside her head he could hear the unease.

The sensation was so odd, that it pulled him out of his own head for a moment as, inside maverick, something stirred.

Adam knew about maverick's past, both pre life and post. He even knew about the incident that had occured when She and Ramirez returned to her home, a mega sub city, where it had been revealed to her that she had once made a deal with the void against the Makers.

This resulted in her now being attached to some sort of...

Entity

An entity that was stirring, reacting to something in the room.

"Adam-" She began

Noctus barred his flat Tesraki teeth in a near approximation of a human grin, and looking into his eyes, Adam caught the slow bloom of orange light, "Tell you, why tell you when I can SHOW you." And then, the skin below Noctus's fur began to roll and churn. The air was filled with the ripping sound of flesh, as two quivering shards of bone burst from the Tesraki's skin, one protruding from either shoulder.

The bony protrusions had two joints, like large fingers, but were pointed at the end, like a spider's leg.

In a blur both stabbed towards Adam, straight for his chest.

That's when Sunny came in, and before the blows could hit, she brought her spear down in a tight arc, shattering the two bone protrusions.

Noctus let off a scream, a warped sound that plunged into lower registers impossible for a tesraki.

A black shadowy nimbus had formed itself around the Tesraki.

Maverick snarled, and in her eyes, Adam saw the faint glow of orange. Black smoke seemed to cling to her skin like a patina of grease,

Noctus scrambled against Adam's gauntleted hand. Tesraki don't have claws or fingernails, but the small bone protrusions extending from the tips of hsi fingers raked themselves ineffectually against metal. He squirmed and screamed making it almost impossible to hold him as the skin below hsi fur continued to warp and churn.

Orange light pulsed up from under his skin.

He roared at him, voice impossibly low.

And then Adam lost his grip, and Noctus fell to the floor, the billowing black shadow seeming to pull Noctus into place like a puppet pulls strings. He turned to scamper away, but this time Maverick intervened,

And the shadow that surrounded Noctus suddenly became inconsequential, as the lights in the room began to flicker. All of the skin on Adam's body and face stood on end as the room was filled with an incredible sense of unease and fear.

The sensation stopped the entire room in its tracks, even Noctus who turned, eyes widening in shock.

The sticky black shadow, pulled itself from Maverick's skin like it was dragging itself from the mud ripping its humanoid body free, as she stood in the center of the room. Adam half expected her to be standing there still, and lifeless like a discarded puppet, but instead she stood with her teeth barred, eyes glowing, one with void light, and the other.

With golden Anima energy.

The shape that ripped itself from her body grew larger and larger with each passing second, filling the room with its presence, until the point where the small dark shadow, that once inhabited Noctus cowered backwards, curling itself into a tight ball. Maverick took a step forward, not moved by the shadow, but one with it.

"Crawl back to your hole creature." She said, and when she spoke her voice was two voices merged together, one deep and booming, the other familiar.

And then Noctus's shadow was gone, the orange faded from his eyes as he scrambled ack into the wall. The bone shards vanished, until he lay as normal cowering on the floor.

The room stood in stunned silence as maverick took a step back. The lights flickered, and then returned to normal.

The shadow was gone, and maverick stood, none the worse for ware in the center of the room, looking only mildly surprised.

You could have heard a butterfly flap its wings in the silent room.

"What, it my saggy SACK was that!" Red said, and when he spoke his voice was was about three octaves higher than the smuggler would probably have preferred in present company.

Maverick wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, like she had just tasted something mildly foul, "I have a condition."

"Condition! Fuck that! You have a... DEMON."

She shrugged, "He's cool, we've come to a mutual understanding."

Ramirez tried his best to keep a straight face, "oh, when did you guys make u."

"Its been a process."

Adam stood, allowing himself to processes for a good long moment before, "Okay, too much to unpack right now, so lets put a pin in this." he turned back to Noctus, who cowered against the floor, no longer worried about Adam but staring at Maverick with wide incredulous eyes.

"Traitor," He muttered

Adam reached out and hauled the Tesraki upright, using the scruff of his neck to do so, "You want to go ahead and tell us what the hell that was,"

Noctus glowered at Maverick, "Why, it seems like you already have one."

He glanced over at maverick, but she shook her head in confusion.

The Tesraki squirmed in Adam's grip, but he tightened it, "Look, you all have your maker friends, well maybe we wanted some friends of our own. Kazna just happens to be providing some of that help."

He leered over at Sunny, who gripped her spear tighter, burning golden eyes glowering at Noctus, seeming unperturbed by the scene that had just played out before them.

She thrust her spear forward, the cool silver blade tickling Noctus's throat, "Tell us everything, and make sure not to leave anything out."