As Crow trudged into Xeno’s room, he found an upsetting lack of energy in the air. When he’d last entered a team meeting there had been butting heads and enough curses to make a butcher blanch. It had been unpleasant, seeing his teammates fight in such a way, but at the same time somehow reassuring. They were giving each other enough trouble, surely they’d be ready to fight tenfold as hard against their enemies.

There was none of that now, though. No sparks flew from locked horns, the air was not changed blue from a storm of swearing. Astra and Xeno simply sat on furniture pulled over close to Gem’s bed, with Astra looking somehow hollow and Xeno looking exhausted respectively. Unity was apparently yet to arrive.

“Hello everyone,” Crow smiled weakly- looking at each one of them in succession. He received no reply, and simply sat down in an unoccupied part of the sofa facing Gem.

After a few moments of silence, Astra spoke.

“We should just start,” she sighed. “The bastard probably doesn’t plan on even showing up, there’s no need to waste our time waiting on hi-”

“Or will he?” Came a voice from the doorway, interrupting Astra and pulling all of their attention to the source. Unity stood just in front of the entrance, leaning on a wall and grinning in that smug, self-satisfied way he may well have designed to infuriate.

Crow didn’t feel particularly furious as his mouth began to twitch towards a smile, though. He’d been worried about Unity after what Astra said, her words had seemed to somehow cut him rather than simply bouncing off as usual. It was rather relieving to see him fine with his own eyes.

Stepping towards them, he sat himself down on the back of Crow’s sofa- beaming as he spoke.

“So,” the artificial began. “We’re not doing very well.”

For a moment, Crow didn’t realise he was talking about placement in the Sieve.

“Now don’t get me wrong, all of us are literally guaranteed a place in the Gilasev Institute for making it into the third stage at all, and we’re in second currently, but that’s really not good enough. Crow needs to take part and win so he can have enough credits for whatever his goal is, I’m assuming deicide?”

Crow looked at his feet and didn’t answer, glad when Unity moved on.

“Little miss sunshine,” he gestured at Astra, “needs connections as well as qualifications, or else she won’t be able to do anything once she’s actually done in the Institute due to lacking that sweet, sweet nepotism.”

He moved on to Gem and Xeno.

“These two will actually probably be fine, really. But unlike them, I’ll have my fingernails ripped out or some shit if we don’t win.”

The way he said the last part made Crow wonder whether he was serious or not, his wondering was interrupted as Unity leapt to his feet and began pacing.

“So basically, we’re doing well but we need to be winning. I am now open to suggestions for how we can go about fixing that.”

“We’re second?”

The question came from Gem, who seemed genuinely perplexed. Unity turned to her, clipping his words as though answering in a hurry.

“Yes. We started with one more point than any other team, during the task you scored us six, AJ scored two and that Tenzo freak scored seven- plus five for having the most by the end. This meant that by the end we had a total of seven, five more than team Ra and team Triland, but five less than team Fate.”

Gem pulled a face Crow couldn’t quite place anywhere. Whatever she was feeling, he could tell it wasn’t satisfaction at coming second. His thoughts drifted from Gem as he found himself frowning in confusion. Had Unity just called Ajoke Balogun AJ?

“As you all know,” Unity continued as though he hadn’t been interrupted at all, “second place is one place worse than first place, which is exactly where we need to be. It’s also the second worst position for us to be in right now.”

Crow opened his mouth to ask why, but was interrupted as Xeno Warper spoke up.

“Are you saying that because it means we’ll have to fight the team in first place in the next task? If so, I disagree. Considering the kind of momentum being in first often gives, challenging them right after a loss is the perfect chance to push our way into first. If we were fighting any of the other two teams, we’d already be at a disadvantage from seeing…”

Her eyes flickered to Gem, and she stumbled over her words.

“Uh, from our loss.”

Xeno Warper, Crow reminded himself, was not very good with people.

“Yes yes,” Unity snapped irritably. “We’re all well aware of how intelligent you are, your inability to reach shoulder-height shelves or run for more than five minutes without vomiting was undoubtedly worth the trade-off.”

The girl’s face flushed, and Crow reminded himself that she was like Karma Alabaster compared to Unity’s people skills.

“My point is this, we’ve fucked up, and we need to be very careful not to fuck up more in the next task. Which reminds me, what actually is it? Normally it’d be announced at the end of the previous one, but I think everyone was a bit distracted by Gem’s…”

He paused, seeming to hesitate before continuing.

“Incident.”

Crow found himself frowning. Had Unity just used a euphemism?

Before he had any chance to dwell on the turn of phrase, Astra spoke up.

“So do you have anything to add, besides suggesting that we do well?”

The hostility in her voice was just as obvious as it had been the day before, albeit tepid rather than scorching. As always, Unity looked into a stream of vitriol and loathing and met it with a smile.

“I do. You see, over the last few days I’ve been getting quite close to a member of team Fate and have, using my extraordinary mind, managed to milk her for quite a bit of information in regards to her teammates.”

Crow’s heart sank as he realised who Unity was talking about. Amelia had been so friendly, so trusting, and he’d used it against her. It couldn’t be helped, with stakes as high as the Sieve’s such subterfuge was necessary. That didn’t mean he liked it, though.

Astra’s response was entirely different. Eyes widening, she leaned forwards- suddenly eager to hear Unity out, hungry for every scrap of information she could get. It was a look Crow had seen on her face many times before.

“Well what are you waiting for?” She hurriedly asked. “Tell us what you’ve learned.”

Though he was already grinning, Unity’s smile tweaked upwards at the corners- taking on a more mischievous air. He stifled the change so quickly that Crow wondered whether he’d even seen it.

“They’re weak.”

Unity paused after uttering that single phrase, clearly relishing the attention of the entire room. Just when Astra began to speak once more, he continued.

“All of their previous tasks were won thanks to a single one of their members, a girl called Amelia.”

Crow remembered the way she’d described herself. A brick for the rest of her team to hide behind.

Astra arched an eyebrow.

“And what makes you so certain they aren’t just luring you into a false sense of security?”

Before Unity could reply, Gem spoke in a weak voice- reminding Crow of her ruined body without even meaning to.

“I met that Amelia girl, and another member of their team. I didn’t think to actually look at their magic, but from what I could feel of it just by being near them, I’d say she’s definitely far stronger. Certainly above Tenzo, so at worst only two of them are too weak to be a threat to us.”

“Exactly!” Unity chirped. “Now frankly Amelia is a big problem right now, she’ll almost definitely be sent out in the next task to retain Fate’s placement, and since she wasn’t in the last one she’ll be completely unhurt. However, a decent number of the tasks in the past Sieve’s third stages involved more than only one contestant from each team, so there’s a good chance she’ll be paired up with one of her much weaker teammates.”

He was met with a confused silence, broken after a few moments only by Xeno’s quiet voice.

“Are you suggesting what I think you are?”

“That depends,” Unity replied. “Do you think I’m suggesting we do as much damage to her as early as we can to prevent them from using her very much?”

The silence changed, hardening from confusion into icy judgement in an instant.

Perhaps predictably, Astra was the first to answer. “We’re not injuring an innocent girl just to increase our chances, you bastard.”

Crow found himself nodding as he spoke.

“That’s a step too far, Unity.”

Unity shrugged, as though making a petty concession.

“Fine, I suppose. You can suit yourselves, just letting you know which course of action is best- it’s out of my hands whether you choose to go for it or not.”

Something told Crow that Unity wasn’t the one who’d lost, though he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what the artificial was gaining.

“Anyway,” Unity added. “That’s all I had to say, anybody else have anything to add, or is this little team meeting adjourned?”

Xeno opened her mouth, and Unity strolled out before she could speak.

***

Unity fought to keep himself from laughing as he stepped out into the hall. With great effort, he held the giggles at bay right up until he entered his own room- at which point the urge to burst out was too great for him to suppress anymore.

He’d managed to pull one over on them after all.

Leaping onto his bed, he landed face first and grinned as the soft mattress yielded so easily that his body sank the better part of a foot into it.

It had been clear to him from the start that, rational though it was, he’d had no chance of convincing them to go out of their way to hurt Amelia more than the relatively small amount they’d need to to win. Not even Crow’s urge for victory extended that far, at least from what Unity recalled of how much of a struggle it had been to convince him to leave Ethi.

On the other hand, he’d let them all know what a threat she was- any task in which she fought multiple members of their team would be one where she’d be the primary target. From what Unity had seen, that would surely be enough to set her off.

Those black eyes had made it clear to him who he was dealing with. Plenty of stories told of them, but they also showed up in a remarkable number of Unixian reports.

His thoughts were interrupted by the opening of his door, and by the time Unity had rolled onto his back, climbed onto his feet and turned around, he’d already realised that there was only one person who could both unlock his room at a whim and had any business visiting him.

Unison stepped inside wordlessly, his eyes affixed directly on Unity’s- unblinking and unwavering. Mouth suddenly dry, Unity began to speak. He was interrupted.

“Your team is second place,” Unison said. There was no emotion in his voice to reveal what his opinion was on the matter, and as if he were aware of the fact the Immortal continued. “The Faction Leaders have ordered you to win, and you will do so.”

Hating himself for it, Unity nodded- finding his eyes flicking to Unison’s fingers. The bastard wore an almost imperceptibly small smile as he took note of the fear he’d inspired.

“This is an excellent chance for you, Gemini Menza’s loss hit her public perception extremely hard. Granting you the perfect opportunity to bolster yours by performing comparatively well, provided you take part in the next task.”

Take part in the next task. He’d said it so easily, as though it hadn’t been a struggle for Gemini fucking Menza of all people to go up when she wanted. It was a ridiculous request. An unfair request. Worse, even. An unfair demand.

“Alright,” Unity said. Because what else could he?

That seemed to satisfy Unison, who turned and began to leave- only to pause just shy of the exit and turn his head to glance over one shoulder.

“Oh yes, and just so that you’re aware, you owe Karma Alabaster quite a lot. If she hadn’t cut you off before you’d finished your idiot team name, you’d be writhing around the floor once more.”

He left without another word, and Unity suddenly found his legs rather weak. He slumped down, dropping onto the floor- not even having the energy to fall on his bed instead.

That was it then. Unison expected the impossible, and would torture him if he failed to deliver. There was nothing Unity could do or say to dissuade him, reason could not be used as a deterrent because reason was not the motivation for his actions.

Isn’t it, though?

Unity thought back to the night before, to the way Astra Tempora had stared at him. The way Crow had stared at him before he’d talked him around. Had he talked him around? Unity had spoken, and he’d made an argument which had convinced Crow. But did that mean it was a reasonable one?

He’d known Ethi was untrustworthy the moment he saw her, and by the time she’d said a thousand words to him and Crow her desire to win had already shown itself clearly enough that he knew a betrayal was all but imminent. And yet he hadn’t said anything.

It was easy for him to tell Crow he’d known all along and given him warning, but when that warning amounted to telling him not to trust red people, it wasn’t really a warning at all.

Unity had no doubt that he couldn’t talk Astra Tempora into his side of things the way he had Crow, but why was that? Was she simply more judgemental, less reasonable? No. She was clever for an authentic. Cleverer than her brother by half, at least.

If his ability to make people forgive him was limited by the intelligence of the forgiver, then what could it be besides manipulation?

He closed his eyes, leaning his head back on the bed and sighing to himself.

A sad, pathetic little scraping of shit.

Clenching his fists with a sudden fury, he found his breathing grow more ragged.

For all her anger and bluster, Tempora may well have stumbled onto the perfect phrase with that one. Unity could dress it up however he wanted, but he was far less a monster than he was a shit. Rancid in place of terrible, inspiring disgust in place of fear, and dirtying everything he came into contact with in place of daunting.

Unity suddenly felt his cheeks grow wet, and his eyes grow wetter. It took him several moments to realise that his sudden, heaving breaths had been sobs.

A piece of shit, indeed. What else could be said of a life which came at the cost of two others?