The iron door immediately shut close behind them after Bianca and Lanstein jumped into the trailer. One brief moment of pitch-black darkness until the reddish interior lights flickered up, illuminating the once filled to the brim with edibles stowage into a ghostly scenery. Lanstein caught the disappointed look of her friend and chuckled in amusement: 

"Believed we haven't shared everything with the poor yet? Hoped we would hold something back? I am sorry to disappoint my seemingly still hungry master, but you will have to wait until we get to our headquarters."

The kobold blushed after realizing that the freezer read her greedy glance without issues. She tried to put on her poker face but failed, unable to conceal her disappointment.

<You do realize this is quite selfish? Try to put on your best and not screw our friendship up, partner. Or should I take over?>

<No need, Galen. My face just slipped, that is all. I got this! I only have to think of my brother and figure out how he does it all the time.>

Galen sighed in her mindscape; his voice filled up her whole.

<I told it you before, and I will do it again. You are not Denton. You are you, and people love you for being you. Just act natural and enjoy your time with our friend, will you?>

Bianca admitted defeat and gave her partner a brief mental nod before returning her attention to the waiting automaton:

"Hehehe, you got me, friend. But no worries, I still had the taste of the meat in my mouth and my mind derived. Anyway ...", she brushed nervously through her dusty hair, "You mentioned living quarters, where we can undergo our session? I am afraid I don't see them." 

"And yet we are standing here,

In front of this solid wall.

You look clueless, my dear,

But the quarter is ...

Eh, I don't find a rhyme to include the password. Bummer. Code: Spearhead-003." 

The glowing eyes of Lanstein glanced over in a mixture of embarrassment and shame to the green kobold; she seemingly was unhappy to have cancelled her rhyme, Bianca could see that. The gem curtain behind her head, which she assumed should mimic hair, looked not as sharp anymore; the frozen water was melting, which showed Bianca her discomfort. Bianca reached out and grabbed her friend's hand, intending to comfort her. She was expecting a chilling touch as the freezer's water body appeared frozen solid, so she was pleasantly surprised to feel a welcoming warmth when Lanstein embraced the handholding. The robot allowed Bianca's paw to reach into the amorphic water grabbing her metal endoskeleton, feeling the unusually soft blue padded fingertips of hers caressing hers. She smiled at Lanstein, and the robot's eyes smiled back.

Hearing the code and recognizing the Spearhed's voice, the wall changed its form, grew transparent and unveiled a hidden door. Bianca was amazed, realizing that they were only looking at a solid projection until now. With the words said, the projector hidden in the ceiling booted down with a protesting sirring, and a wooden door got visible. Still holding hands, Lanstein reached out her other in a welcoming manner and bowed down like an actor after performing their best trick:

"After you, master. I will follow you immediately."

Bianca chuckled and tried to reach up to the doorknob, having to tiptoe to even lay her claws around the brass handle. She refused to let go of Lanstein and tried to pull it down with only one hand, in which she even succeeded after a few attempts. Lanstein was visible amused by her struggles, but not in any malicious way. Bianca felt that it was more about the fact of how adorable she looked while doing it. Her happy mechanical humming gave it away. After the door finally opened found Bianca herself facing the strangest room she had ever seen. It was as if the room in front of her was located in a different place and time than hers. The small room looked ancient but in no way decrepit. They looked at a small saloon with a filled bar as well as hammocks hanging in the corner, inviting the watcher to a quick nap. A fluffy carpet was decorating the wooden floor, giving it the feeling of a nesting bed. A friendly yellow ceiling lamp illuminated the whole scenery in moody light rendering the atmosphere perfect. But when she walked in, she noticed an even greater feature. When she placed her left foot on the floor, she nearly stumbled surprised, that the room applied pressure against her. It was only because of Lanstein that she didn't fall back into the cargo room. Lanstein couldn't hold it in anymore and began to laugh cheerfully:

"I would have warned you, but I simply couldn't help myself. This room is unique. What you felt was the smart floor immediately counterbalancing your weight, allowing the room to stay calm. Look at the card tower in the corner when you enter it again."

With these fresh pieces of information and an extra portion of caution in her bag, Bianca attempted to enter the room a second time. She felt the counterpressure pressing against her leg, but when she finally took the second step residing now fully in the room, the pressure suddenly vanished. She took a brief look at the cardhouse; it was a perfectly balanced three-floor artwork. It was still standing. Heck, it was not even moving in the slightest: 

"Wow ... this feeling is unnatural. I feel like I am standing on a perfect surface. What is this?"

Lanstein hopped at her side, intentionally stomping the floor; the cardhouse again didn't move:

"Etherian tech.", the freezer explained, "They call it the 'perfect cube'. I don't get all details, but at its core - this room exists in its very own system. Thilarie could drive recklessly, and we wouldn't feel a damn because the room counteracts every exterior movement. Mhmm ... I wish I could in the future visit Etherium and all its wonders, wouldn't you as well?"

Slightly snarky, Bianca answered while pretending a cough:

"I would prefer affording to live first before even thinking about travelling."

Bianca felt Lanstein's three-finger hand grabbing her paw firmer. The automaton let out an uneasy growl, and her firm skin began to lose integrity. Realizing how much this slip-up troubled her friend, Bianca quickly added a few more words to ease her emotions:

"But yes, I am amazed by their technology. I wonder what else they could have in store?"

"For example, this fine confect.", Lanstein was trying to apologize for her tactless self, "Look at this chocolate cube and bite in. Don't swallow it whole."

Bianca accepted the offered sweet and dug in. A sensation that could only get described as an angelic choir, which soothed her underdeveloped taste buds and made her briefly forget all her worries. Even Galen enjoyed the taste feasting on her positive emotions and her thoughts describing the taste:

"Ah, ahhhh - awesome! I haven't tasted such sweetness since ... forever. There are too many tastes in this cube, and each is so damn good. What is this?"

A happy beeping from Lanstein later she happily obliged the curiousness of her mentor:

"This, master, is a so-called Domiwalden Brick, a popular sweet in a city called Echterwalden. Five layers of national sweets covered in a hull of tasty chocolate. Look at how neatly they are layered! Isn't this awesome?"

Bianca gave the half-brick a closer inspection, and indeed she was able to count the layers; how they swirled from the corners into a vanishing point in the dead-centre. She was nearly feeling bad eating the other half but eventually swallowed that piece as well, especially when her famishing sweet tooth and greed demanded more nourishment. Enjoying the moment of sweetness, she let herself get guided by the automaton in the middle of the room and stepped onto the fluffy carpet. Stepping onto it, Bianca let out a sigh of relief. She was never feeling such a soft texture under her paw pads; it was a moment of pure bliss. At that moment, she desired nothing more than to curl herself up on that fluff and sleep, but that could wait. She followed the movements of Lanstein and kneeled on the carpet, looking apologizing over to the freezer after realizing how much dirt really stuck to her scales ... she felt like a pig wallowing itself on a clean sheet ... she could make out her footprints on the white carpet:

"Don't worry, master Bianca. I will take care of the cleaning duties, just as I will care for you now. Say goodbye to the grime, to the yellow teeth and the frayed hair. I will grant you a full makeover." 

"I am looking forward to it as Den really liked it, so I surely will as well. Ready when you are."

A joyful beep later, Lanstein grabbed Bianca's other hand as well and began transferring her amorphic water body over to the green kobold. Bianca felt the gentle rubbing on her skin, the water making its way below her scales, cleaning her arms thoroughly. Her muddy hands changed colours, and a healthy orange tone emerged, replacing the brown of her paws. Bianca couldn't remember when she last saw them shining so clearly, and she was amazed by the results. With glowing eyes, she looked into Lanstein's concentrating face and gifted her a soft smile:

"What a great feeling. I could get used to it."

"Oh, we haven't even begun yet, darling. It will feel even better." 

Having finished saying that, the water around her wrist began growing. It reached up to her elbows, towards her shoulders and then down her chest. It wandered past her belly, encased her wide thighs, was climbing down her legs and wrapped up her feet in the gooey embrace. All while that was happening, more and more of Lanstein's skeletal endoskeleton emerged. In less than a minute, Bianca's whole body was covered in Lanstein's liquid, and only her head got spared. She then felt it start to work everywhere on her body at once. It was cleaning her dark-green scales, scrubbing the orange skin and was irrupting into every single opening of her body. She got cleaned from the outside as well from the inside, and that with dedicated precision. Bianca could follow the process of her scales getting back their greenish shine closely, up until the whole water skin was cloudy of dust. 

"So ... that was the rough cleaning, give me a hot second to extract the dirt and reject it out of my system, then I will continue with the polishing of this gem of a kobold." 

A sudden vibrating motion embraced Bianca, and she gasped in surprise just to melt in the given pleasure. She never even felt remotely as comfortable before as she did now. Lanstein gave her a full-body massage while transferring the dirt through a generated tendril to a free spot on the floor. When the tendril retreated, eager to join the craft once more, all that was left was a pile of blackish goo.

"Your old life, darling, has gotten rejected. From this point onwards, you will finally experience and embrace the new life. A life your secret project surely will grant you. Do you agree with me on that?"

"Oh, I agree, Lan. When we present to the triumvirate our discovery of cur -"

Just when Bianca was about to spill the beans telling her friend their plans, having her defences lowered by that lovely full-body massage of hers, she suddenly felt an odd sensation. The scented water was suddenly rising and encased her head whole stopping her sentence from ever finishing. It generated a bubble of water and replaced all the air in her lungs with breathable liquid. Lanstein was jumping in her performance, trying to cut off her mentor's foolish babbling:

"Oh, I am sorry, master. I think I missed a spot up there. We wouldn't want you to inaugurate me into your secrets yet. How did you two tell it to us? Better take no risks. I will soon enough learn what you two have discovered. I am rooting from the bottom of my heart-gem that you will succeed. But now. Please enjoy my healing bath; let yourself fall into my comforting embrace. I will take good care of you, oh I will. You will feel like a new kobold when I will bedone with you. Your brother will be in a loss for words. Close your eyes and rest, and let me do the rest." 

The following hour was the most relaxing of her entire life. After Lanstein was done with her cleaning duty, she directed the kobold over to a padded table to lay down on it face-down. While cutting her hair and brushing the orange mane, she let Bianca dive a bit into her past.

Before joining the Spearheads, Lanstein was working for a well-known beauty parlour in the city. There she learned the art of taking care of others and got to love it. But the freezer eventually had to leave, not by her free will but self-perseverance. After realizing that she was prone to develop a way too deep connection to the owner risking undergoing a mental link with him. 

Lanstein told Bianca, that such a link, while beneficial for most automatons, is quite harmful to freezers. They begin losing their individuality and independence through it rather than gaining it. They would become a loyal and silent guardian of their partner. 

So she instead joined the Spearheads, a group of freezers who experienced similar situations. Who have gotten scared of caring too much about a single individual and grow uncaring, and instead decided to spread their love for the people broadly becoming mercenaries for hire.

She also told Bianca that she should confront Denton because of these problems. She should speak with her brother about his feelings for Lan's superior. They both have felt the spark between them, and Lanstein got worried that Denton wouldn't be aware of the consequences and risks. Bianca promised her friend to tell her brother that, keeping the growing friendship at a not too serious level.

A few more minutes passed, and while Bianca got the massage Lanstein was famous for, a technique she called the 'Kali treatment', where she massaged every inch of her customer with countless scented aqua tendrils as well as her arms, the door suddenly got opened, and two familiar faces were peaking through the creek. 

Denton let out a steep whistle after getting a look at his manicured sister and immediately played dumb, taunting Bianca:

"Excuse me, Lanstein, I am looking for my big sister; have you seen her anywhere? All I can see in this room are two stunningly gorgeous beauties."

Bianca gave her brother a blushing death-stare, uncertain if she should be slinging back or accept the compliment. But the wobbling hand of her automaton friend on her shoulder calmed her down, and she granted her brother only a nod with a slightly outstretched tongue letting her now pearl-white teeth blink out of her maw.

Thilarie granted them a moment of sibling tomfoolery before announcing why they were here: 

"Mrs Peritl, Lan. We have arrived at our destination; our headquarters. Please finish this up and meet us in ten minutes in my office, alright?"