The creature pulled itself from the ground in a shower of snow and ice sending a shockwave across the clifftop to disturb the hard packed crystal. Snow pelted his helmet and a chunk of ice slammed into his chest before shattering and falling to the ground in a shower of crystals. For its part, the snow crab didn't take time to inspect the interlopers, instead it took the offensive straight out of the gate.

It screamed, and the entire team covered their ears in pain. The noise was incredibly high pitched, so loud he thought his eardrums were going to rupture, but the sound continued to heighten, until he could no longer hear it. At his back, however, Krill could still hear the sound, all four hemispheres of his brain ringing in confusion. For a moment, it caused Adam to waver in confusion, but then the screaming cut off and the ground began to rumble as the creature charged towards them, its legs slamming into the snow and ice for purchase as it barreled towards them.

Adam and Sunny went one way and the others dove to the other side just as the creature came barreling through. Its legs churned as it attempted to turn towards them, but its vast weight and momentum carried it further down the hill before it was able to slow down.

The three of them were able to regroup.

Etim, for his part, took the safe route, mounting the back of his gun like a small pony, and kicking off the ground to float twenty feet into the air, and hopefully out of range of the crab. Adam could have deployed his jetpack, but with the others on the ground he didn't want to leave them, especially not sunny.

Before his minds eyes he imagined the crab rushing forward, barreling into her and throwing her bodily off the side of the cliff onto spikes of ice below, where her and their unborn child would expire in the cold. Unconsciously he placed himself in front of her weapon raised.

He was well aware of Sunny's confused thought process as he did so.

That wasn't his normal move, and she had to adjust her stance to match him, which took away precious time for her to ready herself.

The crab charged at them again.

The sucker was fast, faster than Adam anticipated, and any thought he might have had for a proper attack fled his mind. Instead he turned to Sunny and tackled her out of the way just as the creature went past. Ramirez and Maverick shouted waving at the creature to come back around.

Sunny pushed up from the snow as the crab ran towards Maverick and Ramirez.

The two of them did not run but linked arms and fell backwards as the crab charged towards them, falling under its belly just inside its churning legs and fired up into its soft undershell.

The creature screamed.

Sunny snarled and pushed him off, "The Hell Adam. WHat are you doing!"

He frowned, "Trying not to let you get squished."

The crab had reached the base of the hill now, and was turning around ponderously as orange Icor spilled out of its belly and onto the snow from where it had been hit.

"You are behaving strangely!" She shouted, and in her head he got the full picture.

Usually as her battle partner she knew what he was going to do before he did it and vise versa, but today she had no idea what he was going to do, and every time she set herself up for something he got in her way.

"I can't let you get killed!"

She gave him an incredulous look as the crab began its charge, "You never worried about that before!"

She stood and planted her feet stubbornly.

He gritted his teeth, "Well before I wasn't worrying about two of you."

"That's what this is about!?"

The crab charged them. Adam went one way and sunny went the other. Adam dove into the hard decline and skidded sharply through the snow, narrowly avoiding the pounding legs above him, but the legs were unable to avoid him. He slashed sideways scoring a direct hit on the joint of the middle leg which exploded with orange sudge.

The crab screamed again, but kept running.

Sunny Came out the other side with blood on her spear as well glaring at adam.

"I am not one of your squishy delicate human females, my body was built for combat and if you think I am going to hide and cry at the first space crab we run into, than you don't know me as well as I thought you did." She had approached and they were standing toe to toe now.

Adam prodded her in the chest of her armor, "No, I know you WONT which is why I had to intervene."

"It isn't even a few months old, behind carapace, muscle and now EVA armor! It's as safe as it is going to get. Unless my battle partner starts behaving erratically and we both screw up."

The crab turned again and paused this time trying to decide which one of them had hurt it the most,

It decided eventually that Adam and Sunny were the better targets considering their size and brightly colored nature and began running down the hill at them again. They both glanced up the hill.

"Throw me." She said.

"What, NO!"

"I swear Adam if you don't throw me, I won't speak to you for a millennia in the afterlife after we die." The crab continued to barrel down at them.

"Now!"

Adam cursed but planted his boots against the ground.

Sunny was bigger, that was true, and logically it should have been the other way around, but Adam had SE armor, an SE exoskeleton, a steel eye leg, and a maker enhanced body. Power thrummed through his limbs and into his suit, the exoskeleton whirred loudly as did his leg, and his suit responded.

The crab plunged towards them halfway down the hill now.

Sunny took a running start adding her momentum to the manuver. She leaped, and the caught her by the hand branching himself against the ground and spinning like he was throwing an anvil or a discus. The mechanical components in his suit roared with power as he threw her into the air staggering back.

Sunny leapt into the sky, outlined against the ice , her EVA armor a pearly blue gem against the white. And for a moment it seemed as if she was suspended above them, trapped in a single moment.

And then that moment burst and she came plunging down from above straight down onto the creature's back. Her spear at the ready she drove the point into the soft junction between its head and its shell. The crab screamed again and bucked violently, shaking at Sunny like a cowboy riding a bull.

But with four hands holding onto her spear she was difficult to throw off.

Maverick and Ramirez ran forward together, side by side as Etium sunk towards them aiming up a show at its left set of legs, doing his best to avoid hitting any friendlies .

As they reached the crab Ramirez turned, planting his feet against the ground. Maverick got the picture and raced forward, leaping up to use his chest plate as a springboard. The power of the blow sent him rolling backwards into the snow, and her high into the air, where she flipped once and landed beside sunny, clamping down on the spear and drawing her side arm and jamming it into he crack between head and shell firing once, twice, three times.

The crab screamed again.

Adam dove forward, again under the legs as the crab spun in place bucking and rocking WIth the blade of his spear adam slammed upwards into another junction between the soft shell of its body and ints neck. Warm orange fluid spattered the outside of his armor, but he kept going. The snow at his feet was drenched in orange. Sunny sawed from the top and Adam did the same from the bottom until the entire mountainside was a river of orange blood.

Ramirez ran around the outside perimeter with Etium shooting at whatever leg joints they could.

The back joints went first and the legs buckled jolting everyone as the crab tipped backwards.

Adam and Sunny continued to saw.

The crab roared.

"Oh shut up!" Etium said and fired a round straight into its open mouth.

There was a short delay before the crab exploded.

Sunny and maverick were sent flying backwards tumbling into the snow.

Adam was blown backwards into a jutting chunk of ice, while Ramirez was able to roll out of the way.

The echo of the blast lingered for a long time as chunks of crab slowly settled into the ground.

Etium hovered above them a look of shock on his face.

He looked down at them, "Sorry, I had.... No idea that was going to happen."

Adam staggered to his feet and ran towards Sunny, but she ignored him, rising on her own power and pushing him off. She duested the snow from her armor, "Well that was fun.

In her head he could hear

It would have been more fun if Adam wasn't being an ass.

He frowned and she looked at him, raising her chin. She knew he could hear her and she certainly intended him to. She didn't shy away from arguments and was unlikely to be passive aggressive about it. Maverick and Ramirez and Etium hadn't noticed their exchange and began walking up the hill.

The two of them stayed behind.

"I don't like the way you are treating me." She began as blunt as ever.

"I'm not a Drev, Sunny, I can't just pretend you dying wouldn't screw me up horrifically especially now that Kazna wants your soul, and the soul of whoever you are carrying. I don't think I could live with that."

Cards on the table as they always did it.

"And you don't think I don' worry about the same thing. You let Krill cut into your head and poke around in there, and I am supposed to be supportive, but as soon as I do something dangerous its not okay? Are you seeing the hypocrisy?"

"There are two of you." He pointed out stubbornly.

"I am aware of that, and as soon as I think it is affecting my battle prowess, I will back down. I would appreciate it if you supported my decision, and trusted my instincts."

There was a silence between them .

Adam could hear everything that the words in her head did not say. She couldn't articulate some of the feelings, but there was one that caused his face to burn in shame. The way he treated her reminded her of how she had been handled as a child by her mother.

Incapable.

He sighed

"I'm sorry Sunny, this isn't a commentary on your abilities, you know I never would..... It's just. WIth what happened to kelly. I am terrified of what might happen to you if...." He took another deep breath and tried again, "I will always trust your abilities in battle, but I doubt my ability to provide you with the proper cover that you need."

That was true enough.

She looked him over, "Than stop doubting. Doubt has always been your worst enemy, don't make it OUR enemy too." She turned on her heels and began a path up the hill leaving him to stand in the snow for a moment. He sighed and followed after her. At his back he could sense Krill trying not to have an opinion on their argument, but he was having trouble.

Adam blushed.

He forgot Krill was there.

whoopse .

And then, something strange happened. For ammoment Ada thought he sensed something. He paused and turned to look at the room behind him, eyes narrowing. For A moment he thought he sensed someone's thoughts brushing against his mind, but there was no one there.

He frowned.

How odd.

Must have been nothing.

So he turned and continued the rest of the way up to the crimson castle.