She'll be here within minutes, Delphi thought.

     He readied every weapon he possessed. 

     As for that weapon she had strapped to her wrist...

     Delphi knew it to be indestructible, yet he also knew of a rare metal it contained so that Delphi could attract it like a magnet attracted iron.

     He'd have his weapon back even as she got obliterated. 

     Delphi didn't inwardly smile. He was beyond that.

     Panic was the central emotion that coursed through him at the moment.

     How he despised her for that, for making him feel like that, for making him feel.

     That nonsense about some sort of "third option" he'd thrown as a threat at PhlaPhla. He had no third option. He had only what he always had, which were Hrrm's Hive's defensive capabilities and his own superior intelligence... 

     which, he now knew, were nowhere near enough to defend himself against this single, Azurian child.

     I will cease to exist within the hour, he thought.

     His superior intelligence offered him no other alternative. 

CONTINUE