Chapter Text
it's a normal night at the herta space station. the researchers are starting to head to bed, the puppets are... still doing things. well... apart from one particular, special puppet. the puppet whom had to listen to madam herta's drunken ramblings all night! before she inevitably became too tired and fell asleep. she was saying things like,
"that silver wolf has been on my mind quite a lot these days... i wonder..." and, "i just can't get that young hacker lady out of my head anymore, huh!.." and so on.
all about that cheeky silver wolf of the stellaron hunters. all heard and processed in the inner-workings of one puppet that drunk herta chose to assign as her personal therapist for the day. this one had some tweaks done, of course. it needed to be a realistic therapeutic session! this puppet absolutely had to have the ability to understand the human on a basic level, had to be able reply to her with sympathy and console the herta. of course, she'd put this one away after, she totally won't fall asleep before then. herta is still a genius even when she's drunk! not.
even if herta's rants were exhausting, a puppet never gets tired. they're a genius invention! they'll do all the hard stuff for me, they'll always follow my command and their coding! madam herta once thought.
after a few more wine-drunk rants about silvie wolfie of the stellaron hunters, herta finally fell into a slumber. she didn't have time to neutralize the puppet before it escaped. herta is still totally a genius, even when, she's drunk. and asleep. and her therapist puppet just slipped out of her room.
silver wolf must be so very important to herta, the puppet thought. and herta? is an unrivaled genius, a peerless gem, an inimitable beauty, and so much more. i will listen to madam herta! i need to find that silver wolf! and! make! herta! happy! and so the puppet instantly jumped up and began searching, for the silver wolf!
so it's a not-so-normal night at the herta space station.
puppets are a genius invention that will follow their coding.
until the genius makes a mistake.
it's very late at night when the hacker hops off her little space ship. she pockets her phone after sending the stellaron hunter group chat a message, saying something like, 'im going out for a while. dw abt me.'
so she's going to be out for a while. how long? only she knows.
she takes a few steps forward and looks up, and her eyes light up at her new target. the herta space station, owned by none other than the great genius herta herselfta.
okay, well, she's been here before. so it's not so new, but, after her first attempt at hacking here? she just wants to forget that and pretend it never happened. even if she got her accounts back, she couldn't forget how she felt during the period that they were all gone. so it's time to start anew... and create a memory of herta space station that she'll want to remember.
the silver wolf walks in, and gains a few suspicious glares from the researchers... but who would even want to mess with a genius hacker? that's right. no one. so she keeps walking... wait, what? who's waving at her?
"hey, girl! over here!" a man with luscious hair calls out to her.
...okay, that's kinda weird. but i'll check it out. silvie wolfie decides, and walks over to him cautiously.
when she gets closer, she notices the packet in the man's hand, and he instantly lights up. "oh! yeah, that? that's my super new cool awesome unique hair gel. want to give it a try? want to buy it?" he starts yapping on.
ah. its one of those SCAMMERS. "uhm, is that FDA approved?" she questions, eyeing him with loads of suspicion.
"uhh, well, um, yeah, totally!" the scammer stammers, then he notices the girl in front of him is still not convinced, so he waves his hands in front of him. "ah, um, y'know what? just- just forget it." he shuts her down, now knowing she knows how much of a scammer and liar he is.
silver wolf immediately gets outta there. i have to focus, i have to stay on task! this space station is going down!
...
after a while of traversing the maze that is this space station, the master of all hacking, silver wolf, dashes into a secluded hallway with a dead end. perfect.
now you may be asking yourself, why is silver wolf hacking the herta space station? well it's simple, the herta has many, many secret projects that she wants, no, NEEDS to uncover right now. it's totally a part of the script, and not just a plot excuse to set up some intense yuri action.
now that she's alone... the hacker pulls up a hologram screen and gets to hacking. what should i hack first? oh, i know-- great, just when things are getting started, her thoughts are interrupted by a sound.
a step. it's to the left.
another step. yep, it's a person.
OH, COME ON...! someone's already found me out!? shouldn't have talked to that salesman guy. silver wolf scrambles to delete all of the screens shes looking at and coding, she needs to get rid of the evidence before this guard-- wait, herta doesn't have guards or anything like that in here. just...
puppets.
and that's exactly what silver wolf sees when she turns around. a puppet, resembling a young herta, walking towards her.
the hacker is quick to defend herself. "listen, okay? i'm not here to mess things up like last time, i just wanna, uh, just want... to... uh..." she scratches the back of her neck, trying to think of an excuse. but that's when the silence signals to the puppet that it gets a turn to speak.
so when the herta puppet finally stops at a reasonable meter away from silver wolf, it speaks. "are you... silver wolf? you're silver wolf, right?" the puppet asks quickly, seriously, as if silver wolf was needed for something absolutely right this moment, but not for an interrogation. actually, the puppet doesn't seem angered by the hacker's presence in herta's domain at all. in fact, it doesn't seem to fully know who silver wolf even is, given it's asking, just to make sure.
silver wolf blinks. "uh..." she starts, but then falls silent. something's wrong with this thing. she thinks, of all her years of hacking various forms of technologies, she knew when something was up with them.
but she answers truthfully anyway. "i am silver wolf. do you need me for something? im kinda... busy. doing stuff." stuff, awesome excuse, wolfie.
the puppet nods. "yep! madam herta wants you." it states very enthusiastically.
but silver wolf is not so enthused. she's terrified now, actually.