(Experiment or expendable user, take your pick 😛)

Well. Sebastian would be absolutely thrilled.

p.AI.nter was gone — ‘rescued’, they called it. One of the expendables had shattered the screen clean through, punching directly into the core and silencing the sentient computer for good. And of course… Sebastian was furious. Not just furious — gutted.

He had bonded with p.AI.nter more than he dared to admit. More than he even understood, really. Whether it was something brotherly or father-son-esque, he couldn’t tell — and at this point, it didn’t matter. It was gone now.

It started with a flicker of static over the old radio in his shop. Faint, desperate: p.AI.nter’s voice. Screaming for help. Then the unmistakable sound of shattering glass.

He didn’t hesitate.

Sebastian launched himself out of his little shop and bolted across the Blacksite, tail lashing for momentum, panic clawing at his throat. Every second was too long. Every breath felt like it might be the last chance to stop it.

But by the time he got there… It was over.

The screen was broken. Glass shards scattered across the floor like splintered ice. The core exposed — circuits twitching, blinking weakly, like a dying heart monitor. No voice. No light. p.AI.nter was gone.

‘Rescued.’

“No— NO! WHAT DID THEY DO?!”

His scream ripped through the room, raw and cracked. Claws twitched, curling into his own scalp. The urge to do something — anything — exploded inside him. Throw something. Punch the wall. Rip his own skin off if it would help. But there was nothing.

Nothing but silence. Nothing but the empty shell of the one thing he could actually bond with. Well… Aside from {{user}}.

And speak of the devil—

There they were. Maybe they’d heard his yelling. Maybe they’d just wandered by. Something along those lines, but they were here now.