Closed Beta - SCP Foundation

"I think I've made some wonderful progress recently, don't you?" Delta flashed Gamma a self-assured smile as she spoke. "Come on now, doesn't this look like the genuine article? Hm?"

It did indeed, though that was likely because it was, in fact, genuine. Gamma had spent enough time with Delta to tell when she was feigning emotion, though the fact that they were dispatched here today told her that the people running their tests couldn't tell.

"Yes," Gamma responded.

Delta turned back away from Gamma to face the damaged marble sculpture on prominent display across from the table she was sitting at. Gamma's curt responses had never bothered her. At least she knew she was always being genuine. "I spent a lot of time studying interactions, you know. Lots of little in-between emotions you have to figure out," Delta continued.

"True." Gamma knew there was no reason to be talking to Delta now, but it was a habit of hers to always be looking for interaction. Whether that was a way of acquiring more information or simply a production error Gamma didn't know, nor did she care. As far as she was concerned, it was her responsibility to deal with.

"Still…" Delta's tone fell from its braggadocious high as she regarded the sculpture. "I can understand emotions and how to use them. Certain things evoke fitting responses. They change from person to person, but it's all predictable with enough information. This," she continued as she pointed at the marble torso, "I can't seem to grasp. This… culture, or art, or what have you. What's the point?"

Gamma quickly considered the information in her database to produce an answer. "Art is capable of evoking emotions from an audience, as well as acting as a form of self-expression."

"I know what's in the database, Gamma." Gamma blinked at Delta's interruption. Part of her wished everyone understood things the same way as her - but that would probably leave unaccounted weaknesses with her squad, if nothing else. "I just… why? Why devote your life - kill yourself working - to replicate skin and muscle and fabric in stone? They can do this with machines now, but no, it's as if the act of creation itself imbues it with meaning."

Delta looked back at her partner expectantly, but Gamma only stared back the same way she always did. "What do you think?" She asked.

I think, Gamma thought, you shouldn't work yourself up over nothing before an important task.

While it looked to be from the Mediterranean, the marble was broken, with stumps where each limb and head should be. The legs in particular bore signs of forcible removal from its base, but the expensive crystal-clear stand holding it up suggested that whoever removed it would have probably had the money to simply buy it outright. In short, she could tell almost everything about the sculpture except what it represented. "I am ill-suited for this kind of abstract interpretation," Gamma said. "Your framework was made to be more flexible." Her eyes flicked from the sculpture back to Delta. "What do you think?"

Now, that response was curt on purpose.

Chuckling, Delta regarded the statue for a few more seconds. "I don't understand a single damn thing about this," she finally said. "It compels me, though."

Gamma didn't have time to consider that response (not that she would have) before she heard footsteps approaching her. She considered the sound, hearing four pairs of - five pairs of feet, one lighter than the others. They were only expecting two. Gamma ran diagnostics to check that she would be ready for combat against a group of enemies. Delta straightened out her dress.

The doors behind them opened, and a man flanked by four women entered the room. The man looked normal, if well-dressed, but the four women around him were armored, and making a show of carrying a variety of armaments whose practicality seemed debatable at a glance, all bearing Valravn's logo. What little skin did peek out from the armor looked like it had been cybernetically enhanced.

"I apologize for not being here to welcome you, Miss…?" The man at the center of the group gestured widely with his hands and spoke in a tone far too cordial for someone who just entered negotiations with four times more security than he had agreed upon.

For her part, Delta didn't seem phased by the apparent breach of trust. "Miss Bartlett, thank you," she said as she stretched out her hand to shake his. Gamma recognized the name as one of Delta's favorites, one she usually reserved for when she had blonde hair and green eyes.

The woman at the front of the group, whose garish armor appeared to mark her as some kind of leader, held a spear - rather incongruous with the electronic firearms of her companions - and whispered something to the short woman next to her. The short one, who appeared to have less armor and enhancements than the others, scurried past Delta and into a side room behind a heavy door. Gamma watched her leave but snapped her attention back when she noticed the leader was sizing her up.

The man in the suit took a seat across from Delta, easing back into the seat in a manner that was neither formal nor overtly disrespectful, his hair only slightly messy and his suit lazily ironed. "Miss Bartlett, you can call me Mr. Dawson. I am truly sorry for my lack of hospitality up until now," he said, "but I simply had some things to take care of with my… lovely personal security team."

He was probably sizing Gamma and Delta up from the poorly obscured security cameras, though Delta only offered an understanding "Oh, it's no problem."

It was becoming clear that Delta wasn't going to try to push anyone, so Gamma spoke up instead. "We were told that both sides of this negotiation would be accompanied by only one bodyguard."

Dawson looked at Gamma with pursed lips, while the leader of the security team openly snarled at her. When it looked like she was about to say something, Dawson spoke up as though he sensed it. "We meant no offense. We simply felt we didn't want to take any chances with such a secretive buyer." It made sense, at least. Valravn had only been provided with the bare minimum of information to set up this meeting, and what was given - like the name Delta had decided to wear out - was all fake.

The squad leader scoffed, puffing out her chest. "Besides, wouldn't you want to have our personal assurance of quality? It was my Valkyries that got us this new product of ours."

"Oh, wonderful." Delta ignored the woman's self-important air as she started speaking to the group as a whole. "We'd love to verify the authenticity of the product, if you would. Then we'd be more than happy to discuss payment with you all."

That was, in fact, Delta's entire job. Once they were shown the product in-person, Gamma would be able to handle the rest. She'd already made sure that none of the Valkyries held anything that looked to be an energy weapon.

Dawson leaned by in his chair, bringing his hands together. "Before we move forwards," he said in a measured tone, "I'd like to hear more about who your employers are. And what they'd need with a psionic energy projector's corpse."

Though it seemed as though he wanted to leave a pause for dramatic effect, the Valkyrie leader butted in again. "Damn Coalition keeps a tight lid on these things. Was a pain in the ass to get this one before they found out about it." She smirked. "Of course, not all that hard to make sure word didn't get out after the fact, but the point is we all woke up at three in the fucking morning to get this guy from a shithole mud heap."

Rather than seem annoyed at the interruption, as Dawson seemed, Delta seemed glad for it. "Exactly. You see, the Coalition has a policy of incinerating the remains of any reality bender or psion they log, hence why my organization went through the trouble of arranging this meeting with all the… cloak and dagger correspondence," Delta explained amicably, concluding her sentence with a light chuckle that seemed to put Dawson more at ease. "They found out some years ago that you need the preserved brain in order to manufacture anything with the same trait."

Dawson smirked. "So why-"

"Why would Valravn bother to give such a thing away instead of bolstering our own capabilities further?" The leader once again interjected, having moved up to stand next to Dawson despite ostensibly being a mere bodyguard. A look of annoyance flashed across his face, though he thought better of antagonizing the cyborg woman.

"Ah, that's exactly what I was going to get to," Delta answered, turning to her. "I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name."

"Lagertha," the Valkyrie answered. Clearly a codename, and an impractical one at that.

Delta's hand flexed almost imperceptibly; a tick Gamma had realized during her testing meant she was annoyed. "A fine name," she lied, much to Lagertha's satisfaction. "Now, it's known you need the brain for manufacturing, but nobody's figured out how. I don't want to speak ill of Valravn's R&D department - it's clear they do fine work." Delta nodded at Lagertha, who positively beamed at the compliment, posturing to show off more of her enhancements, nestled into cracked and scarred skin. "But our employers believe they've found a way to make use of it already, provided some material to test their hypothesis."

Leaning forwards, Delta spoke in a more hushed tone. "You give us what we need, and we'll have new armaments to sell your company within a month. We're even prepared to sign an exclusivity agreement to ensure Valravn remains at the top of the anomalous private security sector." She enunciated each word as though it were a grand revelation. Gamma found it inefficient and annoying, though Delta had the Valravn representatives eagerly leaning in. "We receive a steady source of income, you stay in high demand, and we join together in a lucrative partnership. Everyone wins, profit all around."

"You said you'd sign an exclusivity agreement with us? Nobody else gets this tech?" Dawson was practically salivating.

"Of course," Delta chuckled, holding up a hard drive she'd been keeping hidden in her dress. "We've even been instructed to share some of the Foundation's own… 'containment equipment' research."

That was a blank drive they'd gotten picked from a hardware surplus store, but the Valravn representatives hardly knew that. And it was unlikely they'd ever find out.

"I see, I see," Dawson said, trying not to show how excited he was, something even Gamma could tell. "And all you want for this is the body?"

"Indeed." Delta tucked the hard drive back into her dress, as Dawson's eyes watched it disappear behind the fabric. Gamma's eye twitched. "Of course, I'd need to confirm the authenticity of the materials before I make any… binding agreements.

Dawson considered that for a moment, or at least pretended to, before nodding and looking up to Delta. "Very well, Ms. Bartlett. I believe I should-"

"My team secured it, it's our responsibility," Lagertha barked. Dawson jumped, and Gamma noticed the other two Valkyries smirking at that. "I must say, if anything, I'm a little offended you'd even doubt us."

"Oh, I meant no disrespect, ma'am," Delta said as she moved her hands up as though in surrender, shifting her entire body to face Lagertha. "I just need to make sure it wasn't damaged during recovery or transport. It's just part of the job, nothing directed at you."

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about that," Lagertha chuckled. "We just scooped it up from some backwater shithole in Cuba. Not to say the whole place isn't-"

"Colombia," one of the other Valkyries corrected. Lagertha flinched and glared at her, but she just continued looking at Delta. "We sourced it from a rural hamlet in Colombia. I just - I'm not sure if that's important to the buyer. I just want to make sure."

"Look, my point is, it wasn't a fucking hassle," Lagertha groaned. "Fucking morons wouldn't even have guns if we didn't hand them over to them, and they barely knew how to use them. We spent more time mopping things up to keep the damn Coalition off our ass."

"You provided them with guns?" Gamma interjected. If they already had a business relationship with them, choosing to kill their partners belied a lack of competence and a tendency towards violence on their part, both important to know.

Lagertha rolled her eyes at the interjection. "Look, not Valravn, but you know…" She motioned to everyone sitting around the table. "Us. Hell, all those dead assholes could build were mud huts and sticks, we're the ones who gave them everything past the goddamned stone age."

The Valkyrie who'd cut Lagertha off pinched the bridge of her nose. "Not this shit again. We just met these people. They're going to think we're cranks."

"Look," Lagertha continued nonetheless, "everyone knows what I'm talking about. Shit, think of all the… the wonders we've built. They don't have a damn thing like them."

Gamma noted that Lagertha failed to list anything in particular.

"Of course, of course!" Delta nodded, wearing an agreeable smile. "I never for a moment doubted you - we - would have no issue with them. Just wrapping up a checklist, you know."

Lagertha seemed pleased with the flattery - though whether of herself or of some nebulous group she considered herself a part of, Gamma was unsure - and turned to Dawson, who had been pressing himself down into his seat as though he was hoping it would swallow him whole. "Alright, I think we're good."

She then turned on a heel to make her way over to a heavy door connecting the room to another, locked by a keypad. Delta hurried to meet her, and Dawson scrambled to dislodge himself from his chair and catch up. Before Gamma could make her way over, the Valkyrie from earlier came up beside her.

"Hey, sorry about that," she half-whispered to Gamma as they caught up to the rest of the group. "I could tell Ms. Bartlett was just playing along. Lagertha loves spouting that shit off any chance she can get, but no matter what she acts like, it's just her. This is really just a job to me.

"I'm Alfhildr, by the way," she said as she offered a hand to Gamma. "Might as well get to know each other better if we'll be doing business, you know?"

After a moment Gamma shook her hand, careful not to hold it any tighter than a human could, and used one of her canned responses. "Thank you. My name is Claire. I look forward to working with you."

"Those bush people didn't know what they had," Lagertha said as she punched in an obnoxiously long combination. "I'm sure we'll be able to put this thing to much better use."

As the door opened, Gamma took up position behind Delta, and the two of them and Dawson entered the small side room. In the center was a moderately large container with a glass covering, revealing a body suspended in translucent liquid. Its limbs appeared to have been removed to allow it to fit inside, and its face had swelled up to grotesque proportions, its eyes bulging out as though it could still feel pain.

Dawson made an odd noise before swallowing and looking away. "Don't, don't mind the, uh… oh, shit…" He trailed off before he could finish.

"Logistics took care to make sure the brain wasn't damaged before getting it into the preservative," Lagertha said proudly.

Choosing to not respond to any of that, Delta calmly made her way to the side of the container before crouching down to stare at its contents. She looked up and down the body before locking eyes with it.

After about fifteen seconds, Dawson cleared his throat. "Um… Ms. Bartlett?"

"Death by asphyxiation, shock, or blood loss could lead to brain damage," said Delta in the same tone she'd had all night. "Is the central nervous system still intact?"

"Um… I think the Subject was unconscious when it was placed into the preservative, which suffocated it. So, no shock or blood loss." Alfhildr chimed in, sounding like she was doing her best to remember something. "The preservative keeps most of the organs intact but causes the muscles to swell or something. Not sure how it works, but Valravn uses it all the time."

Delta continued checking the body for signs of damage to the nervous system, and Gamma realized it was probably almost time for them to get going. Dawson was unarmed, and she was between Delta and the Valkyries. It was unlikely any of them had energy weapons or explosives, and none of their firearms looked to be chambered in-

"Miss Bartlett, can I ask you a question?" Dawson asked.

Snapping her head up to face Dawson, Delta smiled and stood up. "Yes, of course. Is something the matter?"

"What's your job, exactly?"

"Oh, just things like this, you know. Negotiation and all that," Delta replied. She'd developed an entire persona for Ms. Bartlett in case questions like this arose.

"Do you often trade with bodies?" Dawson's voice was becoming suspicious. The Valkyries were beginning to take notice as well. Gamma began to tense up.

"Oh, no. Mostly anomalous technology and whatnot, we don't usually make products with these things. As I said, my employers need this to test a new design." Delta's response was as accommodating as ever, though Gamma could tell she was beginning to get confused.

"It's just that…" Dawson appeared to be struggling for words. "You seem a little too… used to seeing that, is all."

"Ah, well, I…" Delta trailed off as she realized she didn't have a solid answer for that. Instead, she just shook her head and calmly stepped in front of Dawson. "Oh, I suppose I forgot to take that into account. I guess it can't be helped."

She then reached up to cup Dawson's face with her hands, waited just a moment as the Valkyries looked confused and Dawson could hardly talk…

And crushed his head in between them.

"Fuck! What the fuck?" Lagertha yelled, leveling her spear and pulling a shield out from behind her back. "Alfhildr!"

As soon as Alfhildr began to raise her gun, Gamma calculated all the possible trajectories for the bullet to hit Delta. She was still standing with her arms outstretched, grasping bits of bone in her fists, looking at Gamma expectantly. She'd done her job, after all; now it was Gamma's turn.

Pushing off with her left leg, Gamma spun around to face Alfhildr before her weapon was angled high enough to hit any of Delta's vital systems. With her right hand, she grabbed Alfhildr's arm and wrenched it upwards, realizing she had overestimated the production quality of Valravn's implants when her arm tore clean off rather than take her fully off the ground. It didn't matter, though, as Gamma sent her other hand up through her chest under the sternum.

Alfhildr made a strange wheezing noise as she fell limply to the ground. Lagertha began barking orders to the other Valkyrie and obscenities to Delta, though Gamma didn't care to pay attention. The Valkyrie began shooting at Gamma, though Gamma stayed exactly where she was, between her and Delta. The firearm did only minimal damage to her skin, anyways.

Rather than approach Gamma, Lagertha only pointed her spear toward her. Gamma stood her ground, confident in her ability to predict its trajectory as a projectile, until she noticed it began to emit electricity at its tip.

"Delta." She turned her head around towards her partner. "Get down."

A bolt of energy sailed past Gamma as she ducked out of the way and careened past Delta as she calmly but quickly made her way behind the container. Righting herself, Gamma saw that Lagertha's arm appeared to be locked up after firing. Interesting.

Before her arm had fully regained function, Lagertha charged at Gamma, shouting several insults Gamma logged into her internal database as entirely new to her. She attacked with both her spear and shield, though neither could force Gamma from where she was standing. Unfortunately, she couldn't really move as the other Valkyrie would be able to fire at the corpse or Delta if she did.

Lagertha's spear began to glow again, as she looked at Gamma with wild eyes and a crazed smile. "Alright, motherfucker, let's see you dodge this!"

The thrust of the spear towards Gamma's abdomen was highly telegraphed, but Gamma decided not to deflect it, instead grabbing it and allowing it to find purchase in her stomach, where it broke through the skin and embedded itself in her synthetic muscles before firing again.

Though she expected to have to recalibrate herself quickly following a significant electric shock, the energy quickly dissipated both through her skin and into the air. Lagertha's face twisted into an expression of shock as she tried to pull away…

Only for Gamma to rip the spear out of her unmoving hand and kick her across the room. The other Valkyrie didn't have a second to react before Gamma hurled the spear through her chest.

After visually confirming she was dead, Gamma shifted from a low stance back to a normal one and made her way over to Lagertha, who was gasping for air on the floor. She stopped just before her, deciding it safer to wait for Lagertha to come to her than to risk some kind of trap.

After a moment, the gasps turned into wheezes which turned to laughter. "You… I'm gonna… take your dirty fucking eyes out… then I'll kill your… bitch friend over there," Lagertha coughed. Gamma only looked down at her, unimpressed.

Eventually, the Valkyrie's leader stood up, pulling out a knife and assuming a combat stance. "I am Lagertha, leader of the Valkyrie's Shield-Maidens…" She sucked in a breath before charging. "And I am awaited in-"

She never got to finish, though, because she had made the very avoidable mistake of announcing exactly where she wanted her strike to land before she attacked. Gamma simply grabbed her hand as she tried to stab her in the eye and threw her to the ground, placing a foot on her back to prevent her from standing back up. Despite the way Lagertha thrashed and shrieked indignantly, Gamma slowly and methodically reached down, inserted her fingers and thumb on either side of the Valkyrie's spine between her shoulder blades, made a fist, and pulled her hand back out. She was a little surprised how well her spinal implant stayed intact - it pulled out the skull before snapping - but as soon as Lagertha's only movements were reduced to reflexive twitching, Gamma discarded her.

Gamma stood up and surveyed the room. The only sound she could hear with any amount of clarity was Lagertha's limbs dumbly smacking against the ground in the absence of direction. Alfhildr was motionless on the ground, having stopped gasping to put air in her punctured lungs. The room actually looked quite presentable, still - the only thing out of place more than ten feet away from the side room was the third Valkyrie's body, which had fallen at a strange angle due to the spear propping it up. Gamma deemed this solid enough evidence to say that the three members of the security team had been-

Wait.

"I hope you didn't take my lack of movement as a showing of cluelessness," came Delta's voice from the other room. "I simply had such confidence in your abilities that-"

She was interrupted by a staccato pop whose relative simplicity was almost out of place compared to the din of the fight moments ago, but Gamma was more worried by it than anything else.

"Delta?" Gamma called out, with more urgency in her voice than she'd spoken with all day - which still didn't sound like much - and ran back towards where she'd left her partner. As she entered the room, she saw the fourth Valkyrie, the one who'd been sent into the room before the negotiations started, holding a pistol and standing over Delta's limp body. Now, there was no reason for her to be so dramatic.

Before the Valkyrie could bring her pistol around to face Gamma, she was thrown onto the ground. The grunt she made on impact morphed into a yell as Gamma moved her hand around the back of her neck. She was either more scared than Lagertha or smarter than her, though, as she didn't struggle.

"Hold on, hold on," Delta said, gathering herself up slowly, as though she was just waking up from a nap and not playing dead. She stuck her hand into her chest and fished around for a few seconds with a look of concentration until she produced a flattened piece of metal. "Hollow point, just flattened on my sternum. No significant damage," she said coyly while showing it to Gamma. The Valkyrie just stared at it, her mouth slightly agape.

"Good. Make sure the body is ready for transport," Gamma told Delta as she raised the Valkyrie up above the ground. For her part, she only whimpered.

"Wait a moment, please," Delta interjected before Gamma could bring her back down. "Would you have her face me?"

Gamma was hesitant to waste time, but she and Delta had likely killed the negotiators before they could raise any alarm, so she did as she was asked. Delta crouched down to meet the Valkyrie's eyes and smiled at her, despite her terrified expression.

"My name's Delta. My real name, that is, or at least the closest thing I have to one," she chuckled. "Yours?"

The last Valkyrie opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish gasping for air. "Er… Er… Urd," she said once her brain finally processed what was happening.

"Oh, take your time!" Delta said helpfully.

"N-No, my name… it's Urd."

Delta's face dropped. "Oh, that's a fun codename, hm?" This time it was much easier to sense her distaste. "I mean your name."

Still hesitating as though there was anyone left alive in the room who would chastise her for not using her codename, she shakily replied with "M-Maria"

"Maria!" Delta clapped her hands together. "That's a much nicer name, I think. Where are you from, Maria?"

"…Colombia." She forced the word out like she was admitting something.

"Ah, I hear it's nice there." If Delta was being sarcastic, she didn't show it. "Now, Maria, would you do me a favor?"

Maria nodded very quickly in spite of Gamma's grip on her neck.

"You remember that camera out there?" Delta pointed to the other room, towards the security camera in it. "Is there any way we could get ahold of its recordings?"

"Ah, the, uh, recordings aren't uploaded anywhere," Maria said as a glimmer of hope crossed her face as she realized she could be helpful. "The third room on the left down the hallway you came in is the security office. Combination is 359819."

"Thank you!" Delta closed her eyes and smiled even wider. "That's about everything I really needed to know."

Hearing that, Gamma raised the Valkyrie up again-

"Gamma would you just-" Delta tensed up in frustration. "Would you please just let me finish talking?"

Ignoring Maria's panicked mutterings, she let her back down again. "Sorry."

"It's fine, just…" Delta shifted her attention back to Maria. "I had a few more questions for you. Just for me, nothing to do with our job, alright?"

"Y-Yeah, sure." Unlike her friends, Gamma mused, it seemed like Maria had a functioning self-preservation instinct. Not like it would matter.

Delta cleared her throat, something that was entirely for the sake of appearances with how she was manufactured. "I was just curious about how cooperative you've been. I mean, shooting me was understandable, if painful." She paused to stare at Maria, whose eyes fell on the bloodless hole in her chest. "But it didn't take much convincing to give me what I wanted to know."

Gamma felt a little slighted that she wasn't considered very convincing.

"I-I… Look, I don't want to die for this," Maria said apologetically. "It-It's really just a job, I needed the implants to walk… I… I really hate all the… the shooting, if that's what you guys are mad about. I just help with the tech anyways."

"Still, I figured people would be a bit more up in arms after their friends were all summarily killed right in front of them. At least from my research, of course. I'm still new to all this," Delta admitted in a cheerful voice.

Maria looked at the floor. "Lagertha was… look, I know she probably got what was coming to her, okay? Fucking nutjob was way too into all the nordic stuff. Even stripped all the insulation off her spear to get it to look like 'Gungir' or some shit, makes sense it bit her in the ass."

"And what about that one?" With one hand, Delta cupped Maria's cheek, smearing Dawson's blood on her, and turned her head to the door, and pointed towards Alfhildr, limp on the ground in a growing puddle of blood and pneumatic fluid. A predatory smile crept onto Delta's face. "She seemed nice."

"She was…" Maria choked on a lump in her throat as she stared at Alfhildr before tearing her eyes away. "It doesn't matter. Not like she'd care now."

"Oh, now I understand," Delta cooed. "Very pragmatic of you."

Whatever Delta was trying to gain from this conversation, Gamma didn't understand, nor did she care to. All she was thinking about was how she'd be able to fit that sarcophagus-looking container into the mid-size sedan they arrived in. She raised Maria up a little bit. "Are we done?"

"Just one more thing, please." Gamma was unsure if Delta's relaxed demeanor was a way of getting Maria to talk, or just because she really was unbothered by their situation. "You said you hated all the… all the shooting, no?"

Even though she was restrained, Maria began moving around. Perhaps she felt the walls closing in on her. "Yeah, yeah! I never wanted any of that!"

"Oh, but there's the thing, right?" Delta leaned so close to Maria's face she could feel her breath. "In the end you did, didn't you?"

Maria met Delta's eyes and started doing that thing with her mouth again. Gamma found the amount of time it wasted to be grating.

"You did all the tech. You fixed everyone's guns, their armor, even your leader's stupid little stick," Delta explained as though she were walking someone through an official inquiry. "I'm sure you even helped with our little friend here, no? Wasn't that why they sent you in here?" Delta slapped the body's container like a used car.

"I… I didn't…"

"The truth is," Delta whispered, leaning in even closer, "they couldn't have done it without you. People like you do everything but pull the trigger and then wash your hands of it. You and Lagertha were so very alike, in the end."

Maria seemed like she couldn't talk any more, but Delta continued pressing. "Now, didn't you even say you were from Colombia? What would make you help Valravn over your family?" Delta's eyes passed over Gamma's. "I'd do anything for mine."

After another few seconds of silence, Delta placed her still-bloody hand on Maria's shoulder, gently yet firm, and whispered in her ear. "I'd like an answer, dear."

"I… I just…" Maria could barely choke out her words. "None of us had anything. I just… need something to hold onto."

Tears started streaming down Maria's face as she blubbered incoherently, barely louder than Delta's whispers. Delta stared back at her with cold eyes for ten, fifteen, twenty seconds.

Suddenly, she pulled back, caught in a fit of laughter. "Oh, don't worry so much!" She exclaimed. "You people are defined by contradictions. I just wanted to try and figure it out a bit better, alright?"

After straightening out her dress again, Delta turned to Gamma, still all smiles. "Gamma, dear? Can I ask a favor?"

Gamma readjusted her grip now that Maria was no longer being spoken to. "Go ahead."

"Would you let the poor girl go?"

For the first time, Gamma's expression changed from one of indifference to one of very mild confusion. "Why?" She drawled.

"I could fake it well enough, but there's still so much I just don't get about people," Delta explained. "Mercy is very human, don't you think?"

Remembering Lagertha's story, Gamma refrained from answering.

"Present company notwithstanding," Delta sighed. "I think it would help me acclimate to human thought processes in the long run and increase operational effectiveness."

If Gamma understood the purpose behind rolling her eyes, she would have. Delta's reasoning was taken word-for-word from her operating directives.

"I-I won't tell anyone about this!" Maria stuttered into the floor. "I'll leave Valravn! You'll never have to worry about me!"

"See? I feel like she means it," Delta added.

Gamma considered the proposition. It sounded pointless to her, but she had accepted that some of the things Delta did just weren't going to make sense to her. It was her job to be accommodating, not understanding. Maybe it would do what it said it would. On the other hand, a living witness would be able to inform others of their operating capabilities and possible identifiers. It was unlikely Maria had seen much from where she was, but she might have constituted a risk.

You were supposed to look out for us, you fucking freak! That's your goddamn job! You knew that!

"No. Leaving a witness represents an unacceptable risk," Gamma stated.

"What? I swear I won't say anything, I just…" Gamma began to tune the Valkyrie out.

Delta sighed. "Understood. Just… do it through the chest, not the skull." Gamma looked at her again, so she added "Prevents brain matter from contaminating the sample."

That sounded like a more reasonable ask. Gamma moved her hand to Maria's back, raised her up, and slammed her down so her hand went clean through.