My team meets me outside the arena afterwards and starts congratulating me. It's not exactly the red carpet, but when your team loves you for beating up that one cocky teammate, what can go wrong?

"How'd the scythe work for you?" Crescent asks. She's built like Siren: short and thin, with sparkling light blue eyes.

"Well, how do you think it worked?" I throw it over my shoulder. "I beat him, didn't I?" I laugh with my team as Ratchet walks out of the arena, looking a bit dejected. I pat him on the shoulder. "Hey, your time will come. It always does."

"Sooner for some than for others," he replies, grabbing my forearm. It's a sort of salute we have down here. I grab his, too. "I'll beat you someday, Snow Angel."

Before he knows it he's on his stomach, my foot on his upper back. "Don't flirt with me and maybe you'd be in a state of health to do that." I lift my foot and he bolts off the ground.

"I can't help it!" He smolders at me like he's done something wrong. "It's in my nature to fight! It's almost as if..." here he puts his hand dramatically over his forehead, "it's my destiny."

I punch him on the shoulder. Lightly, of course, but it still sends him into the wall. I motion for Crescent to come here. She walks over to me. "You need something?"

"Yeah," I say. "Did you say something about an upgrade about a week ago?"

Crescent's eyes light up. "Yeah, I did! You want to do it now?"

"Well, whenever you and Siren have the time," I say, trying not to let her get too excited.

"Hey, Siren!" Crescent calls. Siren walks over with Sprocket on her tail. Go figure. "Are you free to help me give Gayge the upgrade?"

"Oh... um..." Siren starts, twisting her hair. She's got something else going on. Sprocket puts his hand on her shoulder and smiles.

"We can do that afterward," he says. "Our team has to be the first priority... after all, if we get in trouble, she's the one that has to save you. How can she do that if her arm malfunctions?"

Now, I know what you all must be thinking. Malfunctions? Yes, Sprocket said it right. I have a bionic left arm. How I got it is a story for another time. The point is, since Crescent's the one who builds them and Siren's her doctor twin, they're pretty much the bionic team. They study what happened to Siren's leg when she was captured by Steele and use it to help others who are injured. Of all the people I owe my life to, they're the first in line.

I follow them to a room with a simple black sign over the door. The glowing blue letters read Med Room #2. Siren pulls a sheet of paper over the examination table and gestures for me to sit.

Crescent walks over to me. "Okay, so you have two options right now. We can upgrade the robotics while they're still attached to you, or we can take it off and you're free for an hour and a half. I get the feeling I know what you want."

I nod. "You can go ahead and take it off." Crescent turns her back to me and says something to Siren, who pivots back with a syringe full of some clear liquid I can't place. The bottle in Crescent's hand says Warning: Powerful Narcotic. Use Only In Operations. Sounds like my kind of label.

"I'm going to give you a little of this while we take the arm off," says Siren. "It's just going to numb the muscles while we take out all the crap that attaches you to it." I nod and she plunges the needle into my shoulder. Crescent unties the black bandanna around the transition area and they go to work.

It takes about twenty minutes to clear out all the pins, needles, and clamps in what's left of my arm. And even after that it's not a pretty sight. I mean, it's always a little weird having to get used to the fact that my left arm doesn't exist every time I upgrade it. That's kind of to be expected. I take a roll of bandages Siren holds out to me and wrap it around the stump, which feels naked and weightless without the hunk of metal on the other end. "Am I free to go train now?" I ask.

"Yeah, you're good. See you in 90 minutes," Crescent says, waving me off. I get off the table and walk back to the training room.

I get plenty of stares walking to the arena, mostly from people who haven't known me for a while. At one point a little boy about seven years old walks up to me and says, "Did you get hurt by a Motor?" That's what we call Steele's foot soldiers. I laugh at his question.

"No, I didn't. I've got an arm, it's just back being upgraded." The boy still doesn't understand, but someone calls to him and he runs off. I keep walking. Suddenly I see Glitch out of the corner of my eye.

"Whoa! What happened to you?" she asks, knowing that nothing's really wrong.

"Crescent's back in the med room upgrading it, and I figured I could use a little training," I reply, and keep walking.

"You know that thing's never gonna break down in the middle of a fight, right?" Glitch says. I look back and smile at her.

"That's easy for you to say. Only thing you've got to worry about is your eye." I keep walking, deciding to ignore her if she says anything else. Truth is, she's right. If Crescent's not a technological prodigy, she's pretty dang close. My arm probably won't break in a fight. But if it gets cut off or something, I always want to be prepared. So every time I get an upgrade, I go kick some sandbags around.
_______

Dang it! I scold myself in my thoughts for breaking another sandbag. I go to get a new one when I see none other than Ratchet in the corner, flirting with some poor sap. Be very quiet now, Gayge, I think to myself. No sudden movements. So I carefully pick up the punching bag, hoping the chain on the top doesn't rattle. But the truth is, it's hard trying to lift seventy pounds when you're accustomed to using both hands, not to mention one hand with enhanced strength. So, go figure, I knock an entire weight rack to the floor and Ratchet sees me. He looks back at the girl and makes the "call me" sign with his hand, then comes over to me. I try to sneak away, but I'm too noticeable.

"Gayge? Is that you?" Ratchet asks in disbelief. I turn around.

"Oh, were you expecting another damsel in distress?" I retort.

"No... I think I was expecting someone with both arms," says Ratchet.

I roll my eyes. "Well, you can come back in about 45 minutes. Then I'll be picture-perfect, just for you." His expression becomes more seductive. I've said too much...

"Just for me, huh?" he says, his voice becoming as smooth as butter. Crap, I shouldn't have said that, I think. "Sounds like my kind of picture."

Think fast, Gayge! I look at my watch. "Oh, did I say 45 minutes? It takes about half an hour to put the arm back on, and it's a fifteen-minute walk back to the med room. I really should be going." I try to go out.

"What room are you in?" he asks. I hesitate before answering.

"Eleven," I lie, because that one's on the other side of the compound and Two is just five minutes down the hall. But it's mostly because I want him to stop hassling me.

"Ah," he says, but I think he knows I'm lying. "Then you'd better get over there."

"All right... Good talk," I say, and dash out of the training room.

As I walk, I don't get as many stares. I'm about to wonder why, but then it occurs to me that they're all running somewhere. And most of them are carrying weapons or gigantic files. I start running back to the med room. When I open the door, Sprocket and Glitch are sitting with Crescent and Siren. As soon as she sees me, Crescent bolts up and sits me on the table.

"Thank goodness you're here early!" she says as Siren injects me with numbing juice. "Glitch just came in ten minutes ago and told us-"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" I say before she connects my arm wrong due to her overexcitement. "Glitch, would you mind telling me what's going on?" Glitch looks at Siren and Sprocket, then starts to talk.

"I was just in the second floor monitoring room and I saw a pack of Motors heading straight for us. A huge entourage- at least two hundred. HQ dispatched fifteen teams of new recruits to take them out, but it was no contest. All 105 of them are dead now. They thinned out the Motor forces considerably, though. There are only about fifty of them left, and our team's been dispatched to help when they get closer to base. So Eclipse and Ratchet had better get their butts here within ten minutes, or-"

Suddenly I see Ratchet's head in the door. He takes in the scene. "You lied to me?!"

"Well, were you really surprised?" I shout back as Eclipse pushes the door open further.

"I just heard from some specialists!" she starts. "Motors headed towards us, and-"

"Calm down," Sprocket interjects. "We know. We're going out to fight."

"Just let us finish this up," Siren says. She sticks the last needle into my flesh, reties the bandanna, and gives me something that will dull the numbness. Then she stands up on the table.

"All right, team, suit up!"