She felt a small moment of fretting as it became clear that Rebecca was far less… okay than she might have hoped, but there wasn’t really anything that Dakota could do. Was there? She was an absolute stranger to the girl, the face of the entity that was suddenly going to become her home. The blue-haired woman wanted Rebecca to feel at ease, but she also knew it was a bit of a hopeless desire.
“Ah- yes!” Dakota moved to step fully into the room, offering her the bundle of clothing. T-shirt and sweat pants, nothing fancy, but they were clean and free of tears and holes.
A step up from her old clothing.
Dakota stared at her for a moment before abruptly turning away to give her privacy. “U-um. We have a room set up for you and, ah… I can take you there if you want and…”
Leave you alone? Would that be what she… wanted?
“…Okay.”
She carefully took them and went over to the counter for a moment, putting the shirt down. She pulled the pants on as soon as she figured out which way was the front, and the t-shirt went right over it. She would be fine barefoot, she wasn’t a human after all. Shoes could probably come later.
Then Rebecca went back to the door, sapphire eyes blinking absently as she waited to follow behind the other.
A room set up for her. How long would it be until they threw her away too? It would be a waste of resources, but they did it anyway.
It was… nice, she supposed. She just wanted to make herself useful so they wouldn’t throw her away though.
“Shh, it’s okay. You don’t have to worry about it baby girl. You’re safe now.”
It wasn’t quite that he felt she didn’t deserve to know the details of the attack; X fully planned on telling her everything that had happened. But later. Right now all she needed to worry about was getting her hand repaired, and stopping the pain that the injury had to be causing her.
X carefully slipped an arm around her before pulling her off her feet, taking care to make sure that her uninjured side was the one pressed against his chest, allowing her to cradle her damaged arm against her chest.
Rebecca nodded a bit, wincing. She’d ask again later, when it didn’t feel like her hand got shoved in a pile of salt. Though that was a human thing, she was still in quite a bit of pain.
She involuntarily let out a pained noise when he pulled her off her feet, her hand getting jostled a bit before she held it close to her chest. Though that had been her fault, as she hadn’t expected X to lift her up.
“Didn’t e-expect it… M’okay…”
She’d at least be conscious until a medic knocked her out to work on her hand, she wasn’t hurt that bad.
“I-Is there anyone e-else hurt…? Or..?”
Her voice was a bit quiet when she asked that, both curious and dreading the answer.
Immediately, the caninoid’s expression brightened. His long ears pricked upright, his optical display turned distinctly cheery, and his entire tail began to wag. A hapless chair at a nearby table was sent scooting across the floor from the sheer force of excitement.
“Oh boy! Hello, new friend: Rebecca!” Gospel popped up from the floor, and scrambled forward to be sitting next to the table, instead of lying down a few feet away. He was almost tall enough to look her in the eye even from there, but he dropped his head down onto the newly cleared table. Issimo was always teasing that he looked ‘too cute’ that way.
“Perhaps Gospel can have…pets?” He asked hopefully.
Oh my god, that was adorable. Rebecca was definitely reminded of the various dogs she pet in her lifetime. Though those generally tended to wag their entire bodies rather than just their tails, she still found it adorable.
“Yes, you can.”
She gently pet Gospel’s head, absolutely reminded of one of the Great Danes she met several years ago. That one had been a complete sweetheart and loved plopping his head right on her lap.
It hadn’t been hard to learn about X’s plans. He was good at keeping secrets, yes, but Dakota had become equally good at digging them up, especially when they surrounded Zero.
Three key spots… One for his body, one for his blueprints… and one for his memory core.
The latter was the one that caught her interest. Located in one of the antarctic outposts, it was an area entirely uninhabitable by humans. Too harsh, too cold – but reploids could get there just fine. She could get there just fine, especially with her experience being an arctic guide.
She could go there and hunt out the core and be back before X was even done looking for Zero’s body. One thing less for him to do would help, right?
– Maybe, if someone hadn’t been blocking her path to the hangar, where the exploration vehicles were stored.
“Rebecca, aren’t you supposed to be training?”
Rebecca made a squeaking noise, looking back at Dakota like the other had caught her at something, and her face went a bit pink.
“U-Uh…”
“No? I, uh…”
Yes, yes she was. But she had been curious enough about where X was going to try and peek into the hangar. She looked a bit ashamed for trying to peek in, though she didn’t know if X even used this hangar.
“I, uh, wanted to see if I could help with what Dad’s doing…? Maybe take a bit of the burden off him…? He looked really stressed…”
She sounded unsure of that, like she decided on it not five seconds before Dakota found her.
Issues with someone she was navigating was… putting it mildly. Iris had to question how someone like Zero had managed to get so high-up the chain of command– only no, she really didn’t, because people like him would always thrive in military settings. In the back of her mind she could feel Colonel’s reluctant approval of his actions whenever he disregarded her advice and went off his own instinct.
It’s what a good warrior does.
Shut up before I find a way to SHUT you up!
“Yes– though honestly I shouldn’t even be trying. If he doesn’t want any help or advice then-” Iris grit her teeth together as she forced herself to hold her tongue. It took her a moment to smile, and as she did she shifted to the side. “It’ll be fine, I’m sure. One of us will learn eventually.”
Rebecca gave Iris a look of sympathy, shifting the datapads in her arms before looking thoughtful.
“Do you want to talk about it after I get these in there? I’d be more than willing to listen if you need it.”
God knows that was certainly the case when she volunteered for navigator work whenever Alia needed a break. Navigating was frustrating sometimes, and navigating certain people was an exercise in not throttling someone.
His knee wasn’t the only injury that Zero had received from Velvet. Three slashes ran down the side of his face, barely missing his eyes and curving along his chin, stain dark with coolant and exposed wires. The same had happened to his abdomen and his right arm, not to mention the impact craters left from where she had kicked him.
“I’m fine. Everything’s going to be fine.”
A lie. A lie. But he had to keep on repeating it, if only because he needed Rebecca to believe it.
He didn’t know what else to say – and allowed himself to fall into silence as he carried her to the repairbay.
Half of her wanted to squint at him at that, seeing what his face and body looked like, but the other half was protesting at the idea. She didn’t want him to get angry at her for calling him out about that…
Then again, she was too exhausted to try anyway. Maybe she could tell X later. She made a mental note of it.
“Okay… You get looked over after me though, just in case please…?”
Oh, they were almost at the med bay. Sapphire eyes looked over at the door and seemed to mentally calculate something before she bent her knees a bit more, bending her back a bit to bring her head in, so none of her would whack the door frame.
The tips of her toes would probably still clip it, but that she didn’t mind as opposed to the entirety of her feet and ankles. It was a much better option at the very least.
“Oh.” Caught red-pawed, Gospel laid down on the floor several feet
from the table, and lifted his head. This stranger wasn’t afraid of his
size and sharp points? Score!
“Hello!” The caninoid chirped, starting to wag his long tail a few segments at a time. “Am Gospel. You new friend?”
Rebecca chuckled a bit, putting down her paperwork as well to cross her arms on the table. She probably would have been more scared of him had she not known that Great Danes existed and pet quite a few in her time. A bunch of sweethearts, they were.
“It’s nice to meet you, Gospel. Yeah, I’m a new friend, I’m Rebecca.”
Back in the Game 
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