They were both losing steam.

The two women had been on the run from their giant pursuers for what seemed like hours now. Every twist and turn that Elena and Mihiya made to try and avoid capture was apparently for nothing. Every time they rounded a corner, there was one of the giants ready to snap them up in their giant hands. Really, the only thing that seemed to be saving them was the tight spaces that the giants had trouble getting into, and the fact that it took them several minutes to remove one of the panels in the shaft in order to gain access inside.

Elena was just about ready to give up and surrender when Mihiya tugged insistently on her shirt. Elena turned and saw her pointing at something ahead of them.

Directly ahead of them, hidden in shadows so dark there appeared only to be a vague outline, was a person. Elena stopped dead in her tracks, wary of this newcomer.

Beside her, Mihiya spoke a few words to the stranger. The voice that replied was deep, so Elena was sure they were dealing with a man. After a quick exchange between the two of them, the stranger turned and darted down a junction. Mihiya grabbed Elena’s hand and pulled her along as she followed him. Elena, of course, had no idea what was happening. He also wasn’t sure it was wise to follow a strange man into a darkened area but Mihiya seemed to be okay with it.

Of course, a few hours ago Mihiya had been naked in a giant cage, so who knew where her priorities were.

Still, Elena reasoned her choices were to either follow after Mihiya and the stranger; or get captured by the giant chasing after them. Between the two, she figured she’d have an easier time escaping the human sized person over the one who was the size of a building, if it came down to it.

She followed the sound of footsteps on the dusty metal floor. After several yards, she saw Mihiya round a corner so Elena sped up to close the distance between her and the other two. She didn’t fully trust this strange man who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

The corridor suddenly expanded into a vast room. The floor below them turned into a grate, probably more of a mesh to the giants, which covered a drop that faded into darkness far below them. Elena could hear the deep rumbles of some machine working steadily far below them.

Once her eyes adjusted to the new light, Elena saw Mihiya laid on the floor, face down, in front of the stranger. Elena caught a flash of metal as the stranger raised his hand above her neck.

“Hey!” Elena yelled charging forward. “Get away from her!”

“nα!”

Elena stopped short as Mihiya raised a hand. There was a hard look in her eyes that Elena hadn’t yet seen before.

Bemused, Elena stepped back and watched carefully. The man supported Mihiya’s neck with one hand, and pinned her down with his knee. Elena took another step forward, but backed off again when Mihiya glared at her.

The man spoke another word and Elena nodded. Then, before Elena could react, he plunged the metal shard into her back between her shoulder blades.

Mihiya’s body tensed and her face twisted into a rictus of pain, but she didn’t struggle to get away. The man murmured something in a soothing tone, before shoving a knotted length of cloth into her mouth, which she bit down on reflexively.

Crimson blood dripped down the girl’s spine as the stranger used two fingers to dig at the wound for a moment. Mihiya’s body went ramrod straight and a muffled scream of pain rumbled out of her mouth behind the gag. Elena shifted her weight between her feet nervously. She wasn’t sure what was going on at all.

Finally, after what seemed like an agonizingly long time, the man removed his hand from Mihiya’s back. It was hard to tell in the dim light, and through the blood soaking the tips of his fingers, but it looked like he held something in his grasp.

Mihiya, was breathing hard but seemed to be okay. Elena watched apprehensively as the stranger pressed something that looked like moss to the incision in her back and then helped her to sit up.

Once she was upright, he pulled out a leather pouch that sloshed wetly. Using his teeth, he pulled out a stopper and poured water down Mihiya’s back. Once the wound was clean, he pressed another bit of vegetation to the wound and began to wind a short length of cloth diagonally over Mihiya’s torso.

Elena realized he was bandaging the wound, so stepped forward to help. After a moment, they tied it off and then helped Mihiya to get her clothes back on.

Elena took the opportunity to study the man sitting across from her. He was tall, broad shouldered, with long dark hair and brown eyes. The right side of his face was marred with a long vertical scar that ran from forehead to chin, across one of his eyes.

Their eyes met and Elena looked away.

He turned to Mihiya and spoke a few words softly, Mihiya nodded in reply. He showed her the object in his hand. It looked to Elena like a small metal disc, covered in microchips of some kind. He wiped the blood from the object and placed it in a pouch at his waist.

Elena’s eyes widened as she put it together and realized that the object, whatever it was, had been implanted in Mihiya’s back.

The stranger caught Elena’s gaze and threw her the leather flask of water. Elena nearly dropped it before she was able to catch ahold of the end. She pulled out the stopper and handed it to Mihiya who took a long drink before handing it back. Elena was in the middle of taking a drink for herself when the Stranger heaved himself to his feet. He threw Elena a small smile, and then disappeared into one of the vents attached to the room they were in.

Of course, this just left Elena feeling very confused.

She was also torn. On the one hand, she realized that Mihiya probably needed to rest after enduring… whatever that had been… on the other, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the giants would be closing in on them, and soon. They had caught up every other time why should this time be any…

And suddenly it clicked. A sickening realization came over her. That strange microchip or whatever it was… had been a tracker. The giants had implanted Mihiya, and probably Oteo as well, with a device that led them right to them. The stranger had taken the device away.He was probably leading the giants away as well.

Of course, he was free to discard the device at any point. Mihiya had not been.

Elena glanced over at the woman who, despite only knowing her for a few hours, she had begun to think of as a friend. Mihiya’s face was pale, and sweat beaded on her brow. Elena moved to place the woman’s head in her lap. Now that they didn’t need to worry about being hunted, Elena recognized that the chase- and the impromptu surgery- had taken a toll on the woman.

Eventually, they would have to figure out how to make it back to Elena’s hiding place. And then they would need to find a new one.

But for now, they could rest.

*.*.*.*

It wasn’t easy to move silently through the metal corridors of the station ventilation system, but having practically grown up inside them had given Andimem plenty of practice. The man silently counted off the junctions in the shafts, working his way towards his destination. He was mindful of the fact that the Titans probably hadn’t yet given up the search for the girl yet, so would likely be right behind him.

He glanced down at the small chip in his hand. It was tiny to a human, so he often wondered how the giants could even see it. Still, it wasn’t the first one of its kind that he’d yanked from some poor pet’s back, and Andimem figured it wouldn’t be the last.

He had been rather surprised that the other woman hadn’t had a chip. But there’d been no scar or telltale bump in between her shoulder blades. Perhaps she’d been wild born.

Of course, that just raised the question of where she’d come from and why he’d never encountered her before.

It was at that point that Andimem realized he’d miscounted and gone one grate too far. Cursing mildly, he backtracked and resolved to not get distracted, no matter how intriguing he’d found the strange woman.

He carefully shoved his body between the slats on the grate and found himself under the shadow of a bench pressed against the wall. Directly in front of him, dozens of Titans milled about as they waited for the enormous vehicle that plowed through on metal tracks and whisked them away.

Where, he wasn’t sure, but he figured it was far enough that the Titans following the chip in his hand would probably give up the search.

The ground underneath him rumbled as a pair of Titan women lowered themselves onto the bench above him. Despite his apprehension at their appearance, and the healthy respect he held for the giant beings… He couldn’t help but take a moment to admire the colossal feminine forms above him.

But only for a moment. Andimem reminded himself that he had a job to do and precious little time to do it.

The two were chatting amicably, but Andimem ignored their conversation. He was more interested in the monumental brown leather bag one of the women had set on the ground at her feet. Creeping forward, the human palmed the chip in his hand. He glanced upwards to make sure that he hadn’t been spotted by any of the Titans that surrounded him. Feeling confident that he was still hidden, he carefully lobbed the chip into the Titan’s bag.

Without stopping to see if his throw had been true, Andimem disappeared back through the slats in the wall and into the ventilation system.

And none of the Titans had been the wiser.