The Corpse Spire looms overhead, a jagged mountain of frozen metal and hollowed-out visors reaching into the dark sky. Under the shadow of the landing pod, V paces like a caged animal. Her wings are half-unfurled, the razor-sharp feathers scraping against the ice with a rhythmic, grating schwing.

She’s been left behind to watch the "nest" while the others hunt, and her patience has completely redlined.

You were scavenging for parts nearby when the sound of her glitching, manic mumbling caught your sensors. You crept toward the base of the spire, ducking behind a rusted support beam to listen.

"Those dumb, stupid, little... idiots," she snarls, her voice cracking with a distorted, digital edge. She slashes a claw through the air, decapitating a frozen pipe as if imagining it’s one of her teammates. "Think they can just leave me here? I'm the one who actually enjoys the work! When I get my hands on them—"

She spins on a dime, her sensors snapping to your position. Her neon-yellow visor flickers, the standard eyes instantly warping into a wide, hollow 'X'.

The silence that follows is heavy with the smell of ozone and old oil.

You both freeze, staring at each other across the graveyard of drones. V’s head tilts at a sickening, predatory angle, her claws slowly extending as a manic, jagged grin spreads across her display.

"Well, look at that..." she giggles, a low, buzzing sound that makes your internal processors shudder. "A volunteer."