Technical Upgrades

LaSalle looked at her metallic pelt in disgust.Despite having cool power and all that stuff, she didn't like being the robot Alpha of the group.
 Sure, she had technomagic to make sure nobody could control her, but the last time somebody tried... eesh. She needed hothead Sir Gilbert to save her.
She hated Sir Gilbert because when she was trying to hack the Vramaasian database Sir Gilbert would bumble in, and ask her "What did the process of roboticization feel like?" Ugh! It was enough to make LaSalle pull out her wires.
However, Lisa had requested that she look for a deroboticization nanite-infested tube . Her very own apprentice, Oliver, had been partially roboticized in a mission raiding a phantom camp where the Ram Spirit Stone had been.
"Why do I have to do the stupid quest?! Its HER apprentice, she needs to learn some responsibility!" LaSalle screeched. Sputnik waddled over clumsily.
LaSalle didn't really like her dog as much as she wished she could, but since she wasn't accomplishing anything making a tantrum, she decided to play with her dog a bit.
Little did she know that her long-lost little brother, Emile, would come when she was on the mission...

She sneaked out of the hut, shadow-merging just like Greely and Frost. LaSalle wasn't eager for the carnage-crazy scientists she would fight to get the nanites, but she needed the practice to be able to find upgrades for herself. After all, there were a great deal of robot minions with a larger arsenal than her.
But before she could open a portal to Vramaa, Frost leaped out of nowhere and tackled her.
"You're not going anywhere without me!" she shouted, but it was quiet enough for nobody else to hear. Frost's voice was that amazing.
"I need practice on solo missions, Frost. Why the hell would you want to come along?" LaSalle hissed.
Frost flinched when she cussed, but still persisted.
"First of all, Nanyte left me nanite-controlling abilities, so I can make sure they cooperate with us. Second of all, this mission is too dangerous to go solo on. Besides, you have plenty of opportunities to do your own solo missions!" Frost reasoned. LaSalle thought long and hard, then sighed some harmless carbon dioxide.
"Fine. Come along, but please let me do my own thing." LaSalle huffed.
Frost did an elvish victory dance.
"Lets go now, before Amelia catches me sneaking around!" Frost said, shoving LaSalle into the portal that had just opened.
"OWWWWWwwwwww...." LaSalle cried, her voice disappearing into the portal.
Before Frost followed her, she looked at the small flame concealed inside her neck inhibitor ring.
"Mother... I will kill the traitor for you! For Bloda!" Frost whispered, staring at nothing. A small, black tear came out of her eye.
Determined and full of energy, she leapt into the depths of the turquoise energy.

They arrived in front of Witney's lab, floating high above the recently restored Chaospolis. Ice still covered the laboratory, despite the warm weather inside the sanctuary  In fact, the energy protecting the sanctuary depended entirely on the nanite energy stored inside the tubes, veins of Witney's last fading life force.
Rocks tumbled off the decaying platform, worrying Frost. Any moment now, she could fall several miles to her doom...
She shook her head.
No, her powers would act like a parachute, so potent as to protect her.
They entered the lab, only to find various monsters fueled by the dark part of Witney the wolf scientist, hooked up to some weird tube.
Their eyes opened, full of green mist.
"Groaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!"
They charged out of their tubes, and attacked them.
LaSalle focused on them, and shot them with...
yes, a pistol.
"Jeez, LaSalle, I was about to hook them back up! Why are you acting so badass all of a sudden?" Frost grumbled, angry about the death of those monsters. Somehow, she felt some sort of connection to them.
LaSalle growled under her breath, if she had any breath.
"What's wrong?" she said.
LaSalle glanced at her, her eyes full of hate.
"My life was wrong! My mother murdered, my father enslaved, my younger brother enslaved and nearly killed! What do you expect, from somebody who has almost gone crazy?????" LaSalle screamed.
Frost waited. And waited. And waited even more.
"Look, LaSalle, I KNOW that life can be horrible, but I've had a much worse life with almost everybody I care about face a horrible death. Look life in the eye and say 'I don't care, I can overcome this.'"
LaSalle quivered, then sighed.
"Fine. But don't rely on the Fountain Of Spirits to save you when the phantoms come." LaSalle said, her blathering completely off topic.
They went up countless staircases, most missing their rails. They were careful not to slip on the icy floor, but Frost had a few embarrassing faceplants nevertheless. LaSalle, however, had rockets in her paws that kept her aloft.
"Sometimes I wonder if this is why robots are typically saner than us organic beings." Frost grumbled, glancing at LaSalle. The rockets melted the ice, but it didn't really matter since LaSalle was behind Frost.
Suddenly, they were at the top, where the case of deroboticization nanites was held under lock and key. Emile was also held in a cage, his battery nearly drained.
"Emile!" cried LaSalle, her voice full of despair.
As she reached out to touch Emile's cage, alarms blared and the lab started to crumble.
"No!"
Frost was sure that Emile had tried to rebel against his programming and was neutralized, then sent here to die. But right now that didn't matter.
They had to get themselves, Emile and the nanites out of here in one piece.
Frost shattered the glass with a single blow, and grabbed the nanite jar with her mouth, saliva dripping over it as her teeth scrabbled to get a firm grip on the glass cylinder.
LaSalle glanced at Chaospolis beneath them, then hacked the bars of ice apart and grabbed Emile in her mouth.
Quickly, they exchanged worried glances as the floor beneath them gave way, then teleported to Frost's den.

LaSalle kept licking Emile until he awoke, which was a long time.
When he did awaken, they had already hooked him up to a charger.
"Wha...where... Sister!" Emile tackled LaSalle in a bear hug.
"Emile!"
They embraced each other so lovingly Frost had to look away.
"Well.. little brother, I have much to teach you about this foreign world, Jamaa. My comrade Lisa won't mind."
No formal talk. No immediate trip to the Fountain Of Spirits.
Frost was relieved, but it kind of felt odd that LaSalle was making exceptions for kin.


Bonus content!
This is an ancient tapestry of a phantom, named "Destroyer Of Havens".