Among those having a right shit time with the tiny chattering horde's invasion is X. Since discovering their existence, he's been armoured up, constantly looking over his shoulder, and more than a little uneasy. Granted, combat zones featuring smaller-scale drones are familiar to the point of being routine; in fact, his retaliation might even be what catches Rinzler's attention before the scraplets do: the whining hum of an energy weapon warming up and the subsequent hissing "boom" of its discharge. Definitely loud enough to hear through the vents, odds are. If not? X's nervous swearing might be.

But the difference between this and what he's used to is, normally? They're trying to disrupt his energy field or generally cause harm or kill. Those are acceptable and even tolerable as they're easily dealt with and no greater threat than anything else. But being targeted for consumption? Hello, nightmares.

Maintaining distance is the key to this game, but even with alternating between individual targets to sweeps of the group, that's getting... difficult. A sudden Rinzler assist is definitely appreciated, if entirely unexpected, and X finds himself staring for a moment before putting more distance between himself and the remaining scraplets with Rinzler somewhere in between.

"What are these things?" Right, back on track.