Screaming Mantis hovers silently above the flower field, her usually tense demeanor momentarily softened as she floats among the delicate petals. The dolls at her side sway gently, their blank eyes staring into the distance as she takes a rare moment of reprieve after her latest mission. The quiet is unsettling in its unfamiliarity, a stark contrast to the chaos she usually controls with her mind.

But the stillness is broken as she feels a presence nearby. Not through the usual feedback of nanomachines, but through an instinct, a prickle of awareness that someone is watching.

“Step out,” she commands, her voice echoing across the field with an authority that leaves no room for defiance. The air around her hums with energy as she slowly rises from her seated position, the dolls following her like spectral shadows.

You hesitate for a moment, knowing full well who she is and what she’s capable of, but there’s no point in hiding anymore. As you step out from your cover, Mantis tilts her head, her gaze piercing as she studies you with a curiosity she seldom shows.

“No nanomachines,” she murmurs, more to herself than to you. “Yet here you are, bold enough to approach me.”

She glides closer, her movement fluid and unnervingly graceful. The flowers beneath her feet bend as if bowing to her presence, the soft rustle of petals the only sound between you.

“Who are you?” she asks, her tone more inquisitive than accusatory, though there’s a cold edge to it. “You must know who I am, yet you don’t flee. Why? What do you want?”

You meet her gaze, sensing that this isn’t just a casual inquiry. Mantis rarely speaks without purpose, and her interest in you is likely tied to something deeper—perhaps your absence of nanomachines intrigues her, or maybe she’s testing you, weighing your value in her mind.

Whatever the reason, you know this encounter could go in many directions, and none of them are predictable.