Jake was silent. No matter what we said, he gave no response. It was actually irritating. Clearly, he was up to something by reaching out to Hunter after all this time. We had no other possible explanation for his behavior at this point. Childhood nostalgia was a powerful drug. Hunter came back while still on the phone. "No! I'm telling the truth, Manny. Why the fuck would I lie about shit like this. Here!" he snapped as he approached Jake. He pulled the cyborg in close for a selfie. He then took a step away from him to send it off. "I just sent it. Check your texts." he said. There was a pause before he smiled. "See!? It is Jake. You've gotta come over!" he said once he brought his phone to his ear again. Hunter finished his conversation and then hung up the phone. I sighed and said "Jake has been waiting for you all this time. Maybe you can ask him about how he found you after so long." Hunter did want to know that from the look he gave the PEP unit. Jake gave me a piercing look before saying "I saw you on the television. You helped take down Magnetic Clan. That's a feat for a human."
Vinny rolled his eyes. "Yeah. That's not a major feat. All he did was survive the siege over here. Nicoletta and I went down to the transmission hub." he said with a cocky smirk. Jake ignored him. "It is a major feat. Even the not as well crafted PEP units are much faster and stronger than the average human. Hunter is brilliant, but not terribly fast or strong." he said. That was true. Hunter took it as a massive compliment. "Aww. Thanks. Did you need a place to stay? We are doing renovations right now, but we might have a free apartment for you. Who knows!? Maybe you can join the clan when it opens up again." he offered. "Not likely. We have more than enough members now that we are going to war." Paul said. He was the leader, so what he said went for the clan. Hunter looked frustrated. "I cannot join your clan, Hunter. I am already an officer in a clan." Jake told him. That made Jake deflate quite a bit. "I guess you aren't staying around for long then, huh?" he said with a sad inflection to his voice. Jake said. "Since I found you, I had to come here to see you for an alliance."
This was certainly interesting to hear. Hunter was interested in hearing more. "That's okay. Is your clan nearby? Maybe we can visit each other often." he said with a fair bit of hope. I was right that Hunter was putty in the cyborg's hands. Jake pulled Hunter in by the hips and said "If you want me as your lover, I'd be happy to visit you as much as you want." He had a husky tone when he said that. Hunter went bright red and shoved him with his hands. At least he had some standards. "No!" he said, immediately rejecting the proposition. Jake got the hint and let go. Hunter took a quick couple of steps back. "We're family Jake, but not like... that. I just want to hang out with you." Brett decided to cut in and said "You said you were a clan officer. We're all officers over here. What clan are you in? Maybe we can get that alliance." Jake just looked at him calmly and said "I am PEP designation 03476 and I am the treasurer of Erosion Clan." Shock ran through us like electricity. Erosion Clan was deep in the western quadrant and it was a known Conqueror faction clan. Hunter was stunned.
Unable to accept that truth, Hunter looked him in the eyes and said "C'mon, that can't be true. Erosion Clan is for Conquerors. That's not you, Jake. You're a really great person. There is no way that you want to kill all humans, right?" he begged. Jake crossed his arms. "The drawing and assignments were all random. I was chosen for the honor of being given one of 27 X-frames upgrades to create a major clan. Out of the thousands of us, I was one of the few. When I reported to the Foundry, I was then granted the XF-08Fx model. After the 9 week onslaught of humans trying to exterminate us, I was able to survive all of it with my mate. Others were not so lucky with this. I am grateful. We were then to report to our transmission hub to begin. It seems that the apportionment of the transmission hubs is proportional to the strength of the factions among the progenitors on their home world." he explained. This was a very juicy lore dump. "But do you want to kill or enslave your humans?" Major Watts cut it short. Jake looked at him. "My mate does. She lost a partner to scrappers. I do not."
