This story was inspired by BotanicMaiden's coil-head Nines art, and they were kind enough to make a sketch to go with this story, too!

If you enjoy Lethal Company, they have a few more pictures, so check them out!

You can find them on: Twitter (@ZeNoirJcK), Bluesky (@zenoirjck.bsky.social), and Tumblr (@jceekay).

"Hank! Connor! Anybody?" Gavin was already breathless as he raced through the dark corridor, desperately wishing his boots didn't make so much noise on the metal gangway. He'd already lost Allen and Sixty, but as far as he knew, Hank and Connor were still alright. An ominous crackle over the radio made him rethink that, suggesting he might be alone as the signal bounced back. He didn't dare look over his shoulder, too afraid of what may lurk in the shadows. He swore he'd heard rustling earlier and hoped it was his imagination. That was the noise he'd heard before losing Allen. He was right behind me, phck! The hazmat suit was thick and heavy, weighing him down as his breath steamed the mask. It didn't help that he was lugging a full satchel and a framed painting. They really hit the jackpot! A genuine fucking Monet! That alone would will their quota for an entire month! It would even cover the sixty percent loss they'd be taking for not bringing the bodies back.

"Hank! Connor! Report!" It didn't matter for shit if there was no one left to help him fly the ship. Someone had to be left out there. Hope swelled in his chest as he turned the last corner and saw the airlock ahead. They were lucky this old outpost had a docking station for landing ships like theirs. Even luckier that they'd managed to secure the perimeter. Anything that came within five meters of that door was toast, which gave him a confidence boost as he ran past the line. He was even more relieved to hear an answering crackle on his radio as he reached the hatch.

"Gavin? Christ! I thought you'd been killed!" Upon opening the hatch with his code, he was relieved to find Hank inside. He was on the other side of the decompression doorway, hazmat suit long discarded. With everything going to shit, it had made sense for one of them to return to base and get prepped to leave. Good thing he had, too. There was a problem with the docking clamps, and a bug in the communications array he was trying to fix. His casual jumpsuit was tied around his waist in the hot, dry air, leaving him in a grease smeared shirt barely containing his chest and arms. The tool box was still open where he'd been doing maintenance under the terminal. Guess that explains the communications issue...

"I only just managed to get away. There's a whole hoard of brackens down there, not to mention the phcking coil-heads we saw earlier! I sealed all the airlocks I came through, but it won't hold them forever." He tried not to think too hard about that first encounter. How he'd watched the metal coil push through his neck, watched his head come clean off, and screamed so loud he thought his mask might crack. Sixty and Allen had dragged him away, kicking and screaming, desperately reaching back. Heaviness settled in his chest at the thought of just how much they'd lost. Dropping his satchel, he could at least say they'd smashed their quota. Whoopty-phcking-doo. It didn't seem important anymore. Not with three lives lost. That has to be a record, phck...

"Well, hurry and get in here. I've been having trouble with the docking clamps, and we can't afford to just rip our way free." That could puncture the hull, and with the toxic atmosphere outside, that wouldn't be pretty. Gavin was about to start the decompression cycle when his speaker crackled again. Connor? There was a voice. A vague cry for help barely coming through. Hank cursed as he dove under the counter and fiddled with a few more wires. It is Connor! They were both relieved to hear it. "Con? Jesus Christ! I thought you were dead! Hold on, I'll boost the signal..." A few twists and taps later, and the static eased enough for his voice to come through.

"H-help! I-I-I can't, c-c-coil-head!" Phck. "I-I can't leave! I-can't-get-out-please!" So much for decompression. Gavin didn't even hesitate before pulling his keycard and dropping it on the floor. They'd need that if he didn't come back. Since he was there, he refilled his shotgun ammo and grenade stock. He'd probably need it if they had coil-heads to deal with. "H-Hank, I'm scared!" Gavin let Hank play the calming, fatherly role as he signalled towards the door. I'll get him. Hank gave him a grateful nod before diving back under the counter. Those docking clamps wouldn't unlatch themselves.

"Alright, son, just breathe. It can't move as long as you're looking at it, alright? Gavin's coming for you. What's your location?" Now outside, Gavin secured the door, just in case something managed to sneak through somehow. Keeping his shotgun raised, he headed down the dark corridor, following the faded amber lights that lit the way. These old outposts were fucking creepy. Dilapidated and half rusted, falling apart. It was a wonder there was anything useful left, but power coils still glowed in the hidden depths, and countless treasures had been left behind. People had lived here once. Full, rich lives, and The Company was always looking for a profit. They'd take anything. Literally anything. Even the bodies of the fallen.

"C-corridor three, second bend...b-but, Hank! The coil-head, i-it-" He sounded beyond terrified, poor kid. This was only his second mission, and the first he'd had to deal with coil-heads. Nasty fucking things. Lumbering human dolls that looked like flesh bolted together with heads that sat on metal coils, waving back and forth like grotesque Slinkies. There were bolts through most joints, like split pins in an art project. They almost looked like they'd been sculpted from Playdough by children. Maybe that's what was most chilling. It certainly made them formidable weapons.

"Don't think about that right now, Con. Just keep looking at it. Gavin's on the way now. He'll be with you soon." Very soon. He was barely ten minutes away. Connor broke down into tearful gibberish as he crept along, considering himself lucky nothing had heard him earlier and come to investigate. He needed to be quiet now in the hopes of getting Connor back to the ship. How the phck are we going to lose the coil-head though? Sure, it couldn't move as long as one of them was staring at it, but there were a lot of twists and turns and no doors to close along the way.

"I-I don't-think-"

"I'm almost there! Hold on!" Turning the last corner, Gavin saw the open door. Connor was inside the small room, which was really more of a junction between corridors. There was another open doorway right ahead, and a third beside Connor, who was hunkering down in the corner. He was trapped between two walls with the coil-head standing less than two feet away, poised to strike. The lumbering creature stood at almost nine feet tall with the coiled neck. It was disturbing how fleshy and human it looked, even with no forearms. It stood ready to pounce, with its shoulders raised and the coiled head lowered to where Connor stood pressed against the wall. "Connor, I've got it...You good?" Gavin asked as he stared at the creature, not daring to move his eyes away now. He could hear the relief in Connor's breath, despite the dread in his voice.

"G-Gavin, you can't be here! Don't look! Y-you have to get back! We-have-to-go, we-have-to-go!" Gavin was currently skirting his way around to meet him, moving slowly along the wall. He wasn't sure if Connor had looked away or not, but he was too close to risk looking away to check. He reached out, feeling along and still staring. Although he was telling him they had to move, he didn't hear him moving. He was probably scared stiff and frozen to the spot. Why his brothers had brought him along, he couldn't say. He was so green he was a fucking liability. That's not fair. Connor had somehow outlived both of his brothers, and he was out here alone.

"Get yourself over here...I'm looking at it, alright?" Light, shuffling steps sounded as Connor finally left the wall, breaths trembling as he sniffled and whimpered. "Okay, you good?" Connor was most definitely not good, but he was alive, which was more than he could say for Allen and his brothers. Laying a gloved hand on his yellow sleeve, Gavin tugged him behind and slowly edged back, giving them some breathing room. "Here's the plan, kid...You go, quietly, and get yourself back to the ship. I'm just going to stay with our friend here and wait, alright? When you get back, let me know, and I'll run like hell." It sounded easy as pie when he said it, but they both knew it wasn't that simple.

"G-Gavin, i-i-it's-Y-you can't look! You have to come now!" Gavin could have rolled his eyes if he didn't need to keep them on the coil-head. He didn't want to be left behind, but of the two of them, he had more chance of getting back alone.

"Don't worry. I'll be right behind you, but you have to go now! I can't watch this thing forever, and there might be more creeping around." He was lucky that Hank had the same priorities. Connor was young and needed to do as he was told. With his experience, there was a good chance Gavin could find a way out of this, but not while he was looking out for someone else.

"Gavin's right, son. He knows what he's doing. Get yourself back here." Connor stammered another objection, tugging his sleeve and trying to lead him back. Shaking him off, Gavin shoved him back, turning his head just long enough to yell at him to go before turning back to find the coil-head now staring him in the face. Horror lanced through his stomach and up through his throat as he stared. His eyes were pure red now, as if blood had filled them in, even the pupils. There was still fresh, cloying blood around his chin and the base of his neck where the coil had burst through. There were deep black gouges across his cheeks and something tar-like pouring from his ears as if he'd been stuck back together, which he had been. That coil had burst his head like a fucking balloon. His skin had always been pale, but it had taken on a new withered look in the toxic air. The only thing that had survived unscathed was his hair. Though it was a littler messier than the last time he'd seen it, that stubborn little curl remained.

"N-Nines?" He thought he might faint as he stared at the vacant face. Disbelief settled in the pit of his stomach. It couldn't be Nines! Nines was dead! But he was killed by a...That couldn't be right. Is that what they do? He'd always thought the coils were just to kill them, but were they using them like scrap to make more of themselves? Well...they were war machines...What more fucked up method of warfare could there be than making the enemy stare long and hard into the faces of their own missing comrades? Could they stand it? Could they look? Every instinct Gavin had was screaming at him to look away, but he couldn't. He couldn't look away, because this was a coil-head. He was dead if he looked away. Worse, Connor was dead if he looked away.

"What?" Hank couldn't believe it either.

"I-It's Nines! The coil-head is Nines!" It sounded crazy when he said it out loud, but Connor's whimpering confirmed it was real.

"Gavin! Hey! Don't you start thinking anything crazy. That thing is not Nines!" But it was Nines! Even through the carnage and bolts, he could see it. His red eyes were lidded, long lashes almost brushing his cheeks as he stared vacantly. His bloodied lips had parted, trembling slightly as they stared at each other. Gavin swallowed, trying to quash the fleeting hope that flickered in his chest. Hank was right. Even if they'd used Nines' body, there was no way he was still in there. He was just a mindless automaton like the rest. A robot following orders.

"H-Hank! There's another one!" Shit! Connor had only just stumbled outside. He hadn't even left the doorway. That's good...That means it's close.

"Connor, tell me where." He wished he could turn his head to look, but the coil-head would kill him if he did. He had no choice but to trust Connor to fill him in and have his back. Connor's breath trembled as he stared at the second lumbering figure.

"I-it's to the left of the door, a-about three meters away." That was a nice bit of breathing space. Taking a shaky breath, Gavin stepped to the right. For this to work, he was going to need a view of both the coil-head in the room and the open doorway. He hugged the wall, feeling much safer with the bulkhead against his back. A sigh of relief slipped out as Connor came into view, a masked yellow figure staring down the corridor.

"Okay...Here's what you're going to do. You're going to slowly step back. Go right to the end of the corridor." Connor didn't argue. He was too scared to do anything but follow Gavin's calm instructions as he backed away. Even after he was gone, Gavin could hear the dull thud of his steps on the grating outside. There was a small gasp in his ear as Connor backed into the wall.

"O-okay..."

"Okay, good. You remember where the ship is, right?" There was a terrified hum of agreement that made Gavin shut his eyes for a second. Big mistake! He balked, cursing under his breath as Nines' head snapped to stare at him again, along with his body. Luckily, he hadn't blocked his view of the door. "Good. Now run! Run to the airlock as fast as you can, got it?"

"Are you fucking crazy? If the second coil-head blocks the door, you're finished!" Hank was right, but there was really no choice.

"And if the kid doesn't run, we're both dead! With the coil-heads stuck in the corridor, he'll have a clean run at the airlock!" Hopefully...There were other creatures that might be lurking about, but if Connor was fast enough...

"I-I can't just leave you!"

"This is no time for you to play the phcking hero! You'll get us both killed! Now go!" Gavin tried to ignore the pitiful little sniffles on the other end, reminding himself again it was the kid's first mission.

"I'm-sorry-I'm-sorry, if I'd been faster I-"

"Hey! Cut that crap! This isn't your fault. It's a shitty thing that happened. Don't ever forget that, you hear? I chose to come down here, and I told you to head back first knowing this could happen. You have to get back now, alright? Hank needs you." That was a lie. Provided he got the clamps free, Hank could fly that old bucket in his sleep. He also had his keycard for authorisation. With two ranking keycards, Hank could do anything. With another mumbled apology, he heard Connor run. Seconds later, the second coil-head lumbered by the doorway and froze, locked in place as Gavin stared. Well...this is cosy. He considered himself lucky the second coil-head looked normal. A nameless face. He returned most of his attention to Nines' vacant face, taking in the red eyes and blackened lips with a sigh.

"Phck, when I said you needed to gain a couple of inches, this isn't what I mean, asshole!" He couldn't even laugh as it came out in a humourless sob. "Alright, Nines...It's you and me now, yeah? Just like always." Nines' lips twitched, something like recognition crossing his patchworked features.

"G-a...Ga-v-in..." His chest jolted at the sound.

"Nines?" He wasn't sure whether he wanted to cry or vomit as the word slipped out. The coil-head couldn't move, but it seemed his mouth worked just fine. They don't talk! They never talk! Was that a sign? A sign that Nines was in there somewhere? Fighting?

"How far out are you?" Gavin ignored Hank as he took a step closer. He was safe as long as he looked.

"I-I'm not sure! Two minutes?" He continued staring at Nines, tempted to reach out and touch him.

"Ga-vin...Ga-vin...H-hurts..." It hurts? He looked so fucking sad. Pain and despair were etched into his features as he croaked his name again. It was worse as red tears finally spilled from his eyes in a desperate plea. He's phcking crying! How could that be fake? How would a heartless war machine even know how to fake that?

"It's alright, Nines. I'm here...Connor. How far out are you?" Whatever he did, Connor needed to get clear first. Looking at Nines' body was hard. What had once been sculpted muscle and perfect freckled flesh was now withered and greying. Bolts were holding him together in places, thick bits of metal driven through from front to back. His tender hands were gone, sliced off at the elbows. Being bolted together meant he no longer walked or ran, but lumbered. A mutilated beast. This isn't right!

"I-I'm almost there." The poor kid sounded numb. Looking at Nines, Gavin was almost glad he'd been trapped. He wasn't sure he could have done it. How could he? How could he leave him like this forever?

"Let me know when you're clear...Nines, you in there?" It was a foolish question. How could he even tell?

"Gavin..." Fuck, it was impossible. It sounded like Nines! It sounded like Nines, suffering and in pain! "He-lp..." That choked him up. There was no way he could have left. Not when he was begging him. What do I even have to go back to if he's not there? This was probably the best way things could have ended. He didn't have time to spiral out of control and go mad with grief. Saving Connor gave him the perfect excuse.

"I made it! I'm in!" Connor sobbed in his ear, unable to see the resigned little smile on Gavin's face. Tears spilled from his eyes, blurring his vision when he blinked. Of all the shitty endings...

"Hu-rt...Help...Gavin..." Gavin hushed him as he plucked a grenade from his belt. It wasn't exactly fool-proof, but they'd managed to get coil-heads to self-destruct this way in the past. A stun grenade was usually enough to spook them. If Nines and his friend in the doorway exploded, he wouldn't even have time to register he was dying.

"Gavin, you little shit!" Gavin almost chuckled at the grumble in his ear.

"Sorry, Hank. Hopefully that Monet will cover the eighty percent hit...Phck, get yourselves out. I'll take care of things here." There wasn't much to take care of, but he was pretty sure Hank knew what he meant. Taking a breath, Gavin turned off the radio. The last thing he needed was more yelling in his ear. "Looks like it's just you and me now..." Nines didn't speak, but Gavin was pretty sure he could feel him watching as he pressed the handle of the grenade. It was a pressure release. The moment his muscles slacked, it would fall. Hitting the ground would be enough to set it off, which should set the coil-heads off in turn.

"Gavin...Gavin..." Red tears still spilled down his greying cheeks, almost as if he knew what was coming. Gavin swallowed the ache in his throat, forcing down the sob that wanted to slip out.

"I'm here...I'm staying with you." Nines almost looked sadder at that. "Phck, I love you." He should have said it more before. Nines stared at him, red eyes almost curious as he reached for the catch to release his mask. Gavin didn't break eye contact as he took a breath to save his lung from the toxic air. He almost regretted it as he ripped the mask off, feeling the radioactive heat sear his skin as he stepped in. Regret melted away in the instant his free hand grabbed the coil and dragged Nines down, letting him kiss him one last time. Red stared at green until Gavin closed his eyes. He didn't even feel it as the metal coil rammed through his sternum and up through his torso, forcing the head from his shoulders in a hail of blood and shattered bone. Nines' shrieking cry was deafening as he fell to his knees, grasping Gavin's body with the stumps of his arms as the grenade hit the ground.

The combined explosion was big enough to rock the entire base and jolt the ship as Hank released the docking clamps. He didn't look over his shoulder where Connor sat sobbing and hyperventilating in his heavy suit. Before he could do anything else, he needed to get the ship clear, or it was all for nothing. He could lose himself and mourn the dead later. Right now Connor needed him. He tried not to think about it too much as the blinking light that signified Gavin's life signs blinked out.