#chatlogs

“Fine,” she replied in a flat voice, pushing herself up on her arms. She wasn’t hurrying to get to her feet, though.

Gladius didn’t have time to reach her — the damned Crow, with his glitchy DEMON, had already materialized beside Zea and lifted her off the ground. She curled up, clutching convulsively at the strap on his armor, and only then Gladius noticed she had no feet.

“Medic…” he croaked hoarsely.

“Transport,” the Crow shook his head. “Now.”

“She’ll bleed out without immediate help!”

Gladius couldn’t see the Crow’s face, but he clearly heard the chuckle.

“I’m fine,” Zea said quietly. “Self‑preservation system… is working.”

“Where was it a few minutes ago?” Gladius grumbled, nearly running as he led the Crows through the container maze toward the bike.

z34>> ally protection priority, silly

Gladius didn’t immediately realize she’d sent him a private message.

5W0RD>> you ok? hurts? z34>> tolerable. wouldn’t mind some painkillers 5W0RD>> i’m sorry. i messed up 5W0RD>> you shouldn’t have done that z34>> i wanted to

The Crow trusted Gladius to take Zea back to base and hand her over to the medics. Gladius sped along the roads, breaking every traffic rule, steering the bike with just one hand. With the other, he tightly clung to Zea’s arms, fearing she might lose consciousness from blood loss and slide off the seat. But she held on, even encouraging him along the way and warning him about hazards on the road.

Gladius made a sharp stop near the med‑bay airlock, opened it with his chip, lifted her strangely heavy body into his arms, and handed her over to the medics — who had apparently been alerted beforehand (most likely by Zea, since in his panic he’d forgotten to do so).

The Crow showed up only after she’d already been taken into emergency surgery, silently sitting in the lobby. He took off his hood and mask, shook his model-like long hair. Damn good‑looking guy.

“How’s Zea?” Elek couldn’t leave his friend in trouble either. He wasn’t much help — just a lot of fuss — but at least Gladius could talk to him, like to one of his own. Though the whole team was still on active comms, under the “family” protocol.

Now Gladius remembered he’d gotten the exact same access the last time he worked with Light. The highest priority, the level of trust and understanding only a perfectly bonded team could have.

You’d have to be a complete moron to betray that trust…

“So? Will she live?”

“Huh? Yeah, looks like blood loss wasn’t critical. They’re prepping her for prosthetics or something like that…”

As soon as the surgeons reported the operation was successful, Light got up and left the med-bay.

<start> feed access 00000x36 granted <go to> archive 9x3bUj ------------------ <stop>

“How are you?”

Zea lay pale and sad, tangled in wires, under a thin sheet, staring at the ceiling. Tears occasionally slipped from her eyes, disappearing in her hair, which had darkened at the temples from the moisture. The surgeons had amputated her lower legs right below the knees — the flesh fused with metal had been deemed non‑viable. Gladius forced himself not to glance at the emptiness under the sheet.

“Got you some wings here,” he awkwardly touched her small hand. “And we ordered prosthetics for you. Good ones. They’ll be as good as your own legs.”

“Thanks,” she replied quietly, not looking at him.

5W0RD>> that bastard left while you’re lying here 5W0RD>> jerk 5W0RD>> damn 5W0RD>> shit, i didn’t realize 5W0RD>> i’m so sorry 5W0RD>> just pisses me off that he left you like this z34>> reasonable z34>> i’m waste 5W0RD>> not true! 5W0RD>> why would you say that? 5W0RD>> you’re not waste 5W0RD>> it’s just a few scars, could happen to anyone z34>> i have no legs z34>> this isn’t a few scars z34>> i lost 84% efficiency z34>> with prosthetics it’ll only recover halfway z34>> i can’t even initiate self‑destruct z34>> because some jerk blocked it

Zea’s thin steel fingers clenched into a fist.

5W0RD>> i’m sorry, sparrow 5W0RD>> it’s my fault 5W0RD>> and everything else… 5W0RD>> i was a jerk z34>> you were the best thing in my life, teddy bear z34>> thank you for everything z34>> don’t worry about me z34>> i’m fine 5W0RD>> except you want to die? 5W0RD>> yeah, that’s what i figured 5W0RD>> look 5W0RD>> maybe we… z34>> how’s neve?

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