Rebecca knocked on Aerin’s door, waiting for her brother to answer it. She was fully expecting him to hate her, honestly. She had gotten him killed, after all. It had been her stupid fault.
When Aerin eventually answered his door, she spoke up, her voice a bit hoarse from disuse.
“Can we talk? It’s important.”
She wasn’t expecting anything right now. In fact, she was pretty sure Aerin already hated her and probably would not want to talk to her at all. Rebecca felt she’d be better off training right now, but Zero had said she’d be suspended until she did this.
A low rumble built in the chest of the wolf as he launched himself through the entrance, body slamming against the archway and causing it to crumble and begin to flake away from the force. Dark embers were visible inside his mouth as he launched himself towards Zero, paws slamming against red armor as the full force of his impressive body size and weight both crashed down on him.
Kai smiled grimly as his buster started to charge. The wolf was able to attack Zero, a feat that the reploid couldn’t copy. Instead his focus was forced onto the young male. A powered energy shot was aimed for Aerin’s chest as the purple-and-gold armored maverick dropped down from his perch, expression near maniacal.
“I’ll fucking kill you-”
Not Aerin. At least, the sentiment wasn’t aimed at him, even if Kai could only talk to him.
His eyes widened as he watched the wolf tackled Zero. If he could call it that, anyway. He was so distracted by this, that the only thing to really bring him to his senses was-
A charged buster shot to the chest.
There was no time to react as the contact had been made. The sheer force of the shot sending the reploid flying backwards. A loud thud could be heard as his body hit the floor.
There was a hole in his chest. And his body was put into immediate shutdown.
It was the only real thought that crossed through Zero’s mind as the– Calling it a wolfbot felt like it was doing the thing a disservice. It was far too large, far too powerful, and its weight had Zero slamming back into the electrified cage that surrounded Rebecca.
A scream was ripped from the blond’s throat as his whole body seized, synthetic muscles locking up from the voltage racing through him. The pain was intense but Zero forced himself to reach up, hands twinning through the thick fur of the wolf as his back connected with the ground. It helped to support him, but he still felt like he could feel something snapping inside of himself as his vision flashed bright white and blinding.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
His body felt half-paralyzed, but a sharp and forceful jerk had his knee snapping up to connect with the abdomen of the wolf. Zero’s reward was a set of hot teeth sinking down against his shoulder, melting through his armor to pierce his chest and shoulder. It was likely he would have screamed again- but all the air seemed to’ve been forced out of him with the last attack-
Their entrance was… roughly as Kai expected. The addition of the other child was a bit unexpected, but it wasn’t like he lacked a plethora of knowledge on him (Tomoe had been most useful for that). Factoring him into his battle strategy was hardly going to change things.
The child went barreling forward and Zero took his time. Seeing such patience in what was supposed to be a blood thirsty murder machine was odd almost to the point of hilarity, and Kai found himself grinning if only to offset the rage that was beginning to flood his system.
Zero. The… perfected warbot. The one that Kai himself would always be second best to.
He gave a slight nod of his head as they entered, and the slight sound of nails clacking around the floor would be the only hint to Cacophony’s movement as the wolf moved to block the entrance. His form was still shadowed, however, staying hidden until the perfect moment to reveal himself.
It took a few minutes, but he finally got up. Looking around before attempting to fix the now frizzy mess that was his hair. Why did he feel the need to just run in like that when he knew very well that this was a dangerous mission again?
Right. Rebecca! He and Zero are here to save her!
A look of concern was given as the boy rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah.. you look like you’re about to snap in there. Not very fun being held captive, is it?” That- that came out a lot meaner than intended.
“I mean- God dammit you already know I’m concerned. Let’s just get to the point. How do we get her out?”
He fell quiet as he examined the cell surrounding Rebecca. It was an energy generator that completely enclosed her. Zero had seen them before, used mostly outside of the lairs of mavericks to both keep things in and out, but never one designed to function like this. The two ends that formed the enclosure almost, but didn’t quite, touch. If they had it would have caused the entire thing to short circuit, but the hair width of space between them was enough to keep them working.
It was impressive, especially since it seemed like it had to’ve pulled off with the first try. There was no way Rebecca would have sat still to allow her captor to ry more than once.
“We need to break the circuit.” Zero stepped around it, scanning the ground to look down the source. The small little black box that the wires ran to and from to power it. It would be close by and- ah-ha!
Zero crouched down beside it before pausing, fingers almost but not quite touching it. “… You said you were put here as a trap Rebecca. What kind of trap?” His scanner wasn’t reading anything out of the ordinary, but it felt a bit off that it was simply sitting there. The whole thing felt off. There had been nothing stopping them from coming here, nothing stopping them from freeing her…
Turning his attention back towards the entrance way, Zero narrowed his eyes briefly before inhaling sharply. They might have been able to enter without an issue, but his scanner was already picking up something big waiting for them on the other side now.
“He wanted to lure you and X in to kill you two and cause me despair from bein’ the cause of it, or whatever the fuck. He’s got a gigantic… hell wolf thing, too. It’s fuckin’ huge. Be careful.”
She didn’t see a single reason to hide anything from her Papa. It would only help him in the end if she shared as much as she knew. This next bit would likely upset Aerin and anger Zero, but she had worked it out herself.
“He’s got Tomoe, too. Said she made the ‘right decision to be happy’. Pro’lly infected her to get her to tell him shit. She dumped everything she knew on that Maverick, going by what he tried selling to me. It’s probably why this mission went ass up too, fucking information leaks.”
It would look awful and Rebecca didn’t think the Hunters would be able to keep this quiet if it leaked to the humans. She looked really annoyed at the idea. This wouldn’t end well for Aerin or herself. It would make X and Zero look awful in the eyes of the public for covering it up as well.
“He got onto me and ripped into X for not somehow automatically knowing Tomoe had issues too. I’m not fuckin’ psychic. Can’t magically know somethin’ unless she says somethin’. And if Tomoe wants to fuckin’ say somethin’, she can say it to our faces, not through some Maverick middleman who’s pro’lly lying.”
She was still a bit angry about that, but it was quite clear that she was also a bit upset as well. She’d likely calm down and think rationally later, but right now she was angry, upset, and frustrated.
At this point, she just wanted to go home. She had faith in Zero to stay alive, but she was worried more about Aerin. And herself, but she didn’t think that Maverick bastard would leave any of them alive, despite what he said.
Kai arched a brow as he smirked at her. “More important things?” Mockery was all-but dripping from his tone as he took a step away from her. One hand went up to press against the side of his helmet as his gaze shifted to the Wolf; the over-sized creature nodded as he slowly rose to his feet before beginning to turn, leaving his post.
The discolored and miscoded version of X placed something on the ground several feet away from Rebecca. It was a small cube that slowly expanded, with wires that shot out from two sides to race in a straight line along the floor before turning at a sharp angle to connect with one another. A square was formed around her, one that she wasn’t about to just bolt from; Kai tested it by tapping at the ‘air’ to reveal the solid, translucent wall that had formed around her. “This will keep you here for now.”
Kai turned to leave as well, leaving Rebecca trapped in the empty room until her ‘saviors’ came. After all, what good would the trap be if the attackers were out in the open?
It wasn’t long until Aerin had run into the room. Spotting Rebecca instantly, and continuing to speed on in towards her. Leaving poor Zero behind in the process. Unfortunately, he was so focused on saving his sister, that he didn’t notice the trap she was placed in, face planting right into the ‘wall’.
He was electrocuted as a result.
“aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA–!”
It wasn’t long after, that he fell to the floor in a daze. Mistakes were certainly made on this day.
had been a mixture of bad timing combined with Zero’s guilt for allowing Rebecca to go missing in the first place. Tomoe’s disappearance was a heavy and constant weight that sat in the back of everyone’s mind, and adding another child to that list had clearly had negative side effects for Aerin. It had just been a few days but it was clear he was suffering.
And so, when he received the distress signal – and when Aerin had learned that they had picked up on one from her – Zero just hadn’t been able to say no.
Seeing him run face-first into the electrified field surrounding her really made him question that decision.
“Aerin-!” The word ended in a heavy sigh as Zero shook his head. Instead of barreling forward he simply dropped down into the room, scanner sliding down over his eyes as he immediately started to download all available information about the room. Schematics- traps-…
Walking slowly towards her- cage?- Zero shifted his scan towards Rebecca to ensure it really was her. “Hey babygirl,” he said slowly, hand reaching out to rest on Aerin’s shoulder as he helped him stand. “You doin’ alright in there?”
She had nearly screamed in frustration upon being put in the energy cage and had flopped down on the bottom of it, ignoring Kai mocking her even though she had been telling the truth.
It was a few minutes of staring up at the ceiling and making her tracking signal in her back flicker in the way she was taught to, that when she heard running and sat up to see what was going on. Aerin?
“Aeri-”
Oh. Oh she was doomed, wasn’t she? She put her face into her hands with a loud groan that Zero probably could’ve heard a mile away.
Once Zero actually got there though, she lifted her head to look at him, and looked up at her Papa.
“Papa? Yeah, I’m okay. The Maverick didn’t hurt me at all. It’s a trap, by the way. Yes, I’m pissed about it before you ask.”
She looked very put out by the fact that she was being used as bait to lure in her Papa. He could’ve been doing other important things but nooo, she had to get her stupid ass captured by that jackass.
“It kind of helps, yeah. After all, i don’t see why you’d lie to me.” He had to think about this for a moment. Telling them would most definitely speed up the process. After all, he couldn’t exactly go out and look for Tomoe on his own. X and Zero would freak if he did that.
“You wanna go with me? I’m too scared to do it by myself.”
“I wouldn’t, you’re family.”
She linked her hands together, giving it a bit of thought before nodding. She got up off her butt and dusted herself off a bit out of old habits.
It was clear to Aerin that Rebecca had been through a lot as well. And with her own share of troubles, comes her insecurities, her fears. He never really thought about it until now.
“I get you on that one.”
He sighed. “So do I, but try telling that to my overwhelming anxiety.” With that said, he leaned back in his chair. “I really should talk to them though, but they already have so much to deal with. What if all I’d be doing is adding fuel to the fire?”
If Aerin ever asked, Rebecca would tell him the story one day. Until then, she’d keep between her, X, Zero, and Dakota.
“I don’t think it would make things worse, if that helps?”
It probably didn’t.
“I mean, if you tell them, they’ll be able to keep an eye out and Tomoe’ll be found faster than she’d be otherwise!”
He shook his head once more. “No. I’ve been holed up in here. Ever wonder what it’s like to not see anything but a white wall for more than two days? It’s fucking wild, and I’m losing my marbles over here.”
“I want to tell them, but I’m pretty sure they’re busy. I don’t like going to other people first. It makes me feel like I’m bothering them.” Well, that will certainly explain quite a bit. “Tomoe was the same way. Expecting her to talk to you first is like expecting a miracle to happen. Anyway, I can see why you wouldn’t wanna dwell on it. But this might be a serious issue… it’s been a while.”
“When I first got here. I went a little stir crazy after I calmed down.”
Because she spent a good two and a half days staring at a blank wall unable to figure out what to do with her sad sack of a self.
Rebecca hadn’t known that. She felt bad that she hadn’t known that. What kind of sister was she that she didn’t know that?
“You’d never be bothering Dad or Papa though. And if anyone can find Sis, it’d be them or their units. I have faith in them.”
“I-I guess, I mean, it’s bothering me pretty bad so I may as well.” That, and she actually had the courage to speak to him first. Something that she had never done before. Why the sudden change?
He decided to shrug it off for now. What mattered was that Rebecca was here now, and wanting to support him.
“It’s about Tomoe. She’s been gone for a while, and I miss her. I’m really worried, and it’s lonely without her.”
She patiently waited until Aerin finished before speaking again.
“Have you brought this up with Dad or Papa yet? They could keep a better eye out for Sis than we could.”
“I’m worried about her too though. I’ve been trying to keep busy so I wouldn’t have time to dwell on things.”
Slowly, he turned his gaze to Rebecca and shook his head in response. “If by okay, you mean completely dead inside and wishing I didn’t have feelings, then yeah.”
“Er-” Cue a sigh as he rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry. That came out meaner than intended. I’m not doing so good.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“And it’s okay, it didn’t sound mean to me.”
She sat next to her brother, wanting to be there for him instead of what they had been doing before. What she had been doing before was stupid.
Back in the Game 
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