#sa gil

“Alright, guys, that’s enough-” Lukas waved everyone down from their side conversations, focusing instead on the initial primary objective, “Gil, you’ve gotta wake up.”

Lukas, of course, was the first by his side, shaking his old friend by the shoulder with only a light urgency. He didn’t want to jostle him too badly, but time wasn’t something they had much of, anymore. Gil wasn’t responding much, only groaning faintly with the shakes. It was a gamble- Trying to wake him up without startling him in some way was going to be like playing Operation blindfolded, and it’ll only get harder with the amount of force that’s being used. 

“Maybe we could stick beef jerky under his nose,” Axel offered up. It’s difficult to tell if he’s just joking, or if it's a genuine suggestion. “It always works for me.” 

“Come on, Axel..”

“I’m serious!” Ah, it must’ve been genuine. “It’s strong! You try sleeping through that smell.” 

“We don’t have any beef jerky; We’re not at the agency anymore, man,” Jesse shrugged. 

“Tickle his eyelashes?” Olivia suggested. “If he doesn’t wake up, his body sure will.” 

“Guys-” Lukas started to interrupt and gather the party's thoughts again, but an agitated groan from the bed halted everyone’s suggestions, 

“Guys.” Gil, waking before the group could initiate any of their plans, moved his hand from where it rested over the covers to his forehead, rubbing between his eyebrows with his palm. “What’s goin' on?” 

“Oh.” Axel and Olivia spoke simultaneously, almost in mild disappointment. Axel continued on in a mumble, under his breath, “Well, that was easy…” 

“Gil, it’s good to see you awake-” Lukas jumped quickly on the alert, helping his friend sit up and keeping a gentle support to his back. 

“And not screaming, for once,” Jesse added. 

“Yes.. How are you feeling?” 

While Gil gathered his thoughts, Lukas whispered to Olivia to fetch a glass of water; she nodded and quickly left the room, letting the door shut behind her. Gil hadn’t been awake very long for most of the week- Any time he could, he needed to keep hydrated. 

“Like hell…” Gil only replied in a deep grumble. “You all’s talkin’ pulled me out of another- I don’t know.. Nightmare, I guess, but I’m not sure anymore.” 

“Yeah, neither am I. Do you remember anything about it?”

“Almost everything, when my head’s not pounding.."

"Good, that's good news… I need you to describe it. In as much detail as you can. What did you see?" 

Gil took a moment to think… All of his nightmares became a sort of clash of images over time, combining into a flurry of emotion and color and noise. He tried not to think about all of it, only part of it, the recent parts. He started with what he was just seeing, before being pulled from slumber, 

"I… Remember silver. Chrome. Silver walls with- Purple screens and purple stripes. I remember seeing my hands, but they weren't mine. They were darker, dirtier.. Still wrinkled from- From water, maybe. Yet dry, despite it. I held a weapon, a gun; it was silver, I remember…" 

Lukas raised his eyebrows a bit, waiting, and slowly beginning to realize how right he may have been. 

"Voices. I remember voices. And people. Not many, but they were there. Two voices. Talking about some kind of trip… I remember- PAMA was mentioned, and the U-boat, and.. Something about us. Someone came down the hallway, someone else left. It was easy to hear; these hallways were practically empty. I saw others like me, holding weapons and standing unmoving at posts, but none in this last dream. I think I was somewhere else… And I saw my reflection, once, but- It wasn't really mine, at all. It didn't look anything like me, but- for some reason, I knew him. Brown hair, tan skin, and his eyes- His eyes. How could I have forgotten? PAMA." 

Lukas sighed, letting his head dip a bit once Gil made it to the end in mild dread. Gil's voice only fell off as he pressed his palm to the bridge of his nose. Dread was all that hung over the room, for a moment, and why wouldn't it? Their knowledge of PAMA was limited; all they knew was that it invades and controls the minds of its hosts, and sometimes, it didn't need to be turned on to have already invaded. They didn't know where it was located, they didn't know how it worked, or how to rid themselves of it. PAMA was a wildcard, and a wildcard in war is nothing but dangerous, especially if held by the enemy. 

"I was right.." Lukas cut through the nervous silence first. "Gil, this could be very bad. You could still be- Somehow connected to PAMA.. But I don't think the Witherstorm knows that you can see it, so we also might have a huge advantage. Otherwise, they would've done something about it, right? I need you to keep remembering. Anything about that conversation; where they're going, when they're leaving, how long, for what purpose? Anything at all, we need to know." Lukas punctuated his conversation with Gil by giving him a pat on the shoulder, and then quickly turned to Jesse. "I'm going to start scrambling the team. Whatever this trip is, it's happening soon, and we need to be ready to move."

"Wh-” Jesse stammered, double-taking over his shoulder as Lukas got up to leave, “What are you planning on doing, exactly?" 

"We're intercepting. I'm readying the Terminal. Be ready.”

—

"Well, this could be a problem, putting it as lightly as possible."

Ranger was sitting cross-legged on his bed beside his bags, laptop on his lap. Orion was still helping sort things out while Ranger did a last deep dive into the PAMA system to check for last minute errors. Low and behold, he found one- Quite an anomaly compared to the ones he was used to. This PAMA trip was becoming more and more vital by the second. 

Orion glanced up from the dresser to acknowledge him; he’d just finished folding a black turtleneck sweater and tucking it away with the rest of the similarly color-coded clothing. He tilted his head a bit, as if to ask what was wrong. 

“Look.” Ranger flipped the laptop around to face Orion, and he shut the dresser drawer and stepped over to examine it. Ranger pointed over the edge of the screen to one of the subject numbers, which looked relatively normal, if not for the red flaring speck in the midst of it. It looked like it was throbbing, inflamed, almost like an infection of some kind. “I thought I saw something like this earlier, but- Now it’s just sticking around.” 

Orion watched the red spot, wrinkling his nose a bit in miniscule disgust. The infection was part of P-00-01: the very first agent chipped into the PAMA system. Nine years ago, PAMA was completed; Orion was delicate enough to not waste any human lives on tests… The first soldier connected to the mainframe was a complete success, and had been under since that very day. Every soldier after was equally as successful. Matter of fact, that same soldier was there at that very moment, posted guard outside of the door. Freshly rescued from capture.

“Do you know what it is?” Ranger asked after giving Orion a minute to process. 

Orion simply narrowed his eyes. 

Just outside of the door, in the hallway, a shout and clatter interrupted the brothers’ ‘conversation.’ Ranger snapped the laptop shut in surprise, while Orion quickly straightened and went instantly to the door. He slid it open, nearly getting his fingers caught in the slot in his hurry, and to the right of the door, the Hacked guard that was stationed there was crumpled to the floor. His weapon was in the middle of the floor, and his hands were occupied, clutching at his skull in what appeared to be anguish. 

Orion found himself surprised. There had been occasional fits like this before in Hacked soldiers, but never something so severe as whatever this appeared to be. Such fits were also caused by something foreseeable, like a minor glitch in the system caused by the consciousness of Hacked basically bumping into each other. They would shut down, in a way, but only for a moment… 

This soldier was very conscious, very awake, no sign of such a glitch. This was something new. 

While Orion looked on in mild horror and Ranger joined him at his side, Trevor was next to join them; he was followed closely by Lukas, who came around the corner in an equal panic. Trevor skid to a stop behind Orion so quickly that he nearly slipped on the slick metal floor, finding himself left as speechless as the leader. 

“What happened?” Lukas was the first to speak up, joining the rest of the Witherstorm. “Is everyone-” Finally, his eyes caught up with his brain, and he fell silent at the sight of the soldier on his knees. 

Aiden. 

He was groaning, and tremors wracked at his body. Lukas had almost gotten used to seeing him around, he’d almost gotten used to seeing how hollow he appeared, those empty expressions and empty eyes– He wasn’t at all prepared to see that emptiness disappear. Not nearly so violently as this, either. 

Ranger, still carrying his laptop close to his chest, flung it back open to check the status from before. Now, the red had changed; it’s spread, like the infection it appeared to be before, and Aiden’s subject number was… Broken. Pixels had glitched away from it, like it was fading. A different number was peaking through, one Ranger hadn’t actually seen before. The only number he could make out was a vague ‘6.’ A rogue soldier, a mystery consciousness- This could be bad.

“Leader, look-” He shoved the laptop over to Orion, who finally turned his gaze away from Aiden to examine it. “I think there’s a second consciousness- Somehow, I don’t know how it happened. I think it’s trying to take the front seat. I don’t know how it’s possible- PAMA wasn’t programmed for that, it’s not- His brain can’t take something like that for long.” 

Orion didn’t move to answer. Aiden was still crippled, blood from his nose had blotted the floor, his condition only looked to be getting worse. When Orion finally moved, it was to reach down and lift Aiden’s discarded silver firearm from the floor and position it securely in his arms. He wasn’t hesitating. A lift of the weapon and the barrel was pointed directly to Aiden’s skull. Orion pulled the trigger and- 

The bullet hit the floor to the left of him, missing Aiden entirely. He didn’t do that- Shocked, Orion turned to face the owner of the hands that had yanked the barrel aside so quickly. He wasn’t necessarily surprised to see Lukas, glowering at him as though he’d just kicked a dog. 

“You were just going to kill him? Just like that?” Lukas, understandably, didn’t take too kindly to the situation. Orion narrowed his eyes and quirked an eyebrow at him, before slowly handing the weapon aside to Ranger. 

“He could compromise everything,” Orion explained, slowly, putting emphasis on the last word with a more urgent sign. “A liability we cannot have.” 

“We don’t have to just kill him,” Lukas argued without hesitation. 

Orion’s expression didn’t change much, staying firm, and Lukas’s hardened further in return. Tension hung for a moment in the air, and the twins wilted back a bit from the minor face-off.

“Why prolong this? His brain will melt. Two consciousnesses will kill him.” Orion continued to sign. 

“Then let’s try and fix him.” Lukas was urgent, but Orion couldn’t fathom why. It was likely that Lukas must have known him, as he did the Jesse in this world. Perhaps it was jarring. Orion could understand that- Despite everything other than his heart reminding him how illogical that would be.

Hesitation, followed by the leader dropping his gaze to the floor, as though he were thinking. While silence, only pierced by Aiden’s continuous groans, hung heavy over the group for a moment, Trevor was the next to cut through. 

“He’s right, Leader.” Orion turned his gaze back up quickly as Trevor stepped closer. “We can fix it- Ranger is going to PAMA tomorrow morning. When he gets there, he can delete the other consciousness from the coding, and that should solve the problem.” 

After another short moment of thought, Orion took the weapon from Ranger’s hold once Trevor had finished talking and stepped closer to the crippled soldier. He raised it again, aggression in his stance- 

“Orion, wait!” Lukas’s desperate shout was punctuated as he reached out quickly in an attempt to stop him. 

But Orion’s fingers didn’t touch the trigger; instead, he gave it a harsh twist, and the butt of the weapon collided with the back of Aiden’s head. There was a harsh crack, and Aiden’s face hit the metal floor. His groans and tremors ceased instantly, leaving him dead unconscious. With a quirked brow, Orion glanced back at his brothers with the same quirked brow; Lukas only stood there, slowly lowering his hand and settling his anxiety. He’d nearly tackled him… Which would have been bad. 

Orion tried to appear unbothered by the group's prepared horror, and let the weapon slip from his hands and clatter to the floor. 

“It was that, or kill him. Others could be listening.” 

With that, Orion reached down, hoisted up the unconscious soldier’s body without much effort, and slung him over his shoulder. He didn’t address them again, only stalking off with Aiden towards the infirmary. 

Ranger and Trevor exchanged an equally as concerned glance… Orion was extremely quick on the draw. Of course, that was natural for him, it has been for their whole lives, but for the first time- They weren’t sure they felt entirely settled about it. 

—

“Aaagh-!” 

For the past ten minutes, Gil had been in a disastrous state, jerking, shouting, gripping at his head. The nosebleed he’d earned from the stress dirtied his white shirt and left dark, heavy stains blotted onto his chest. Both Axel and Jesse were holding him still, keeping him in the bed, trying to wait out the attack- This was the longest it had ever lasted. 

And then finally, abruptly, it came to a sudden halt. 

Gil fell unconscious in less than a second, like he’d been unwillingly shut down by some outside force. The group took a minute to recuperate, trying to steady their pulses and try and get a read on what just happened. 

“There’s never been an attack that long, before…” Olivia started. 

“Should we get Lukas? I don’t know if anyone can move, with Gil like this,” Jesse breathed. “He’s really starting to hurt. Look at this bleeding- I don’t know if his brain can handle the pressure.”

“I think that’s a good idea. We already got the information we needed, be it vague or not- We should turn focus to getting him out of it, now, instead of asking more.” 

“Right… The minute he tried to dig deeper, we didn’t get anything, and he just got wailed on by some malevolent, incorporeal force. This is a bad idea..” 

—

When Aiden woke up, he… Didn’t recognize his surroundings. Whilst he was used to an empty mind-space of void and silence, this time, he awoke on the rough, beige carpet of a dorm. It felt real, but he knew it couldn’t be. 

Groggy, he slowly pushed himself up with his palms. A good look around the room brought his attention to just how- well, familiar, it looked. It was small, compact with not much furniture, only a few deep blue cots and a small metal folding table set up in one of the corners of the room. The walls shared the same color as a floor with a grayer, worn haze. There were no windows, no posters, and only one bullet-gray, metal door. The cot he’d woken up beside was the only one undone, like he’d fallen out of bed… Like he’d had some kind of nightmare, like a little kid. 

Now that he was starting to come to, he was starting to feel things. Notice things. His skin felt like it was waking up for the first time in a long time, prickly with pins and needles and chilled. Not to mention, his face was warm, and his fingertips were cold- He felt alive, or more like he was beginning to live again, after years of being gone. A heat above his lip caught his attention, and he moved his fingers quickly to his nose; he was startled, disturbed, even, to be met with deep red spots coating their tips and glistening in the faint light as he moved them away. Since when did he bleed? And what was causing it?

His hazy, mystified thoughts were interrupted by a sound that came from the other side of the door; confused groaning and what sounded like the metallic squeal of a door opening in the distance. This mind-space shouldn’t have had more than one room- Not in Aiden’s head.

The idea that Aiden wasn’t alone was even more jarring than the rest of the situation, but, as was his way, he wasted no time before making his way to the door and pushing it open. 

…

He doesn’t know what he was expecting, but the sight of another person at the end of the hallway was… Not it. The figure was hunched over, holding a hand to his face. Aiden listened closely, on guard, and could hear the man’s mumbling and a faint tapping of drops of a thick liquid onto the now concrete grounds… Aiden didn’t remember the last time he had to listen closely to anything. He forgot how good he was at it. 

When the man noticed Aiden on his end of the hallway, he lifted his head in a sort of surprise. His face was covered by the shadow at the end of the hall, and Aiden couldn’t make out his appearance, or his expression. He squinted and stepped forward; whatever strength he was used to missing, it was making its way back very quickly here. 

“Who are you?” He snapped, breaking through the hollow silence of the hallway. “Where are we?”

The mystery man didn’t answer, for a moment. He only scanned the area around him, slowly taking everything in. 

“I know this place,” he rasped out, eventually. “These are my old barracks.” 

“Your old barracks?”

“Yeah, before.. Before the Witherstorm. Maya stayed here, with me. This was my door.” The man put a hand to the metal entrance to the room he appeared to have come from. 

Aiden was surprised, but didn’t let his defense fall. 

“These were my barracks, I stayed here.” He gestured to his own door, getting the man’s attention again. 

“Wait a minute…” The man stepped closer, and continued to move closer than Aiden would have liked. 

“Back off,” he growled, putting a hand up defensively. 

“Hang on… I’ve seen you before.”

Aiden blinked, surprised, and thoroughly creeped out. He didn’t lower his hand, but didn’t bother looking for a way out. If he needed to, he’d fight his way out. Tentatively, he finally continued,

“How?”

“In a reflection. And in these barracks. Your squad was mine, too. Maya, Magnus, Gabriel-”

“Ellegaard, Soren..” Aiden finished, his voice growing more gentle as he recalled the names. “The Order. And you-” The other man finally came into visible light. His face was streaked with blood from the nose, much like his own, and his face- Familiar, as he was starting to expect. It took him a moment to settle, but the appearance couldn’t be argued with. “Gil… I know you, but- How? How are you here? I’ve been gone for so long, I shouldn’t be-” 

“I don’t know,” Gil interrupted, sounding equally as confused, and equally as worried. “I think I’m connected to PAMA, somehow, but not fully there,” he tried to find a way to explain, but even saying it out loud started to befuddle him even more. He wiped at his nose, but the blood was quickly replaced by more… The stress on their brains must’ve been awful, but it was necessary. 

“You’re in my head..” Aiden lowered his gaze. No wonder they were here. Gil’s memory must be still intact, so they found a common ground. 

“I think so.” Gil nodded. 

“And so- Where does that leave us?”

“In a lot of danger, if this is anything to go by,” his old friend gruffed and lifted his wrist, displaying the blood that coated it. “But… I can assume you know things about PAMA, and about the Witherstorm, right?”

Aiden winced, and dipped his head, almost in hidden shame.

“Yes. I’ve seen everything from these past years… I know.”

“I’m with a group that can help. They’re trying to stop the Witherstorm, but they’re too elusive to get any intel on in this radioactive hell triangle- And I don’t think it’ll take them very long to figure out what’s going on and get rid of me. This could be our only way in. This accident- Maybe it wasn’t such an accident after all. We can win.” 

Aiden’s gaze reached Gil’s, widened, with more life in them then he ever expected there to be; the idea of freedom, the idea of bringing down these terrorists, these monsters- They imbued him with a determination to finish this, once and for all. Forever. For good. 

Lukas moved as fast as his legs could carry him, down what felt like miles of metal corridors, until he finally reached the medbay doors. Though, he quickly contained himself before he burst through and caused a ruckus. He slid through the swinging doors and was met by the piercing sound of rapid beeps.

He blinked in sudden surprise, getting caught off guard by the noise, and immediately ran to Gil’s bedside. Jesse was unaffected, still passed out and sprawled across the bed. Gil, however, was wide awake. He was curled up on his side, his hands gripping over his temples and his eyes wide as though he was in shock. Lukas didn’t know where the beeping was coming from, but it probably wasn’t helping Gil’s condition.

For a moment he didn’t know what to do. Gil’s vitals were registering mostly normally, besides a heart rate that was through the roof, but he clearly didn’t look nearly as okay. Gil didn’t seem to notice Lukas’s presence either, simply staring off into space.

Lukas put a hand on Gil’s shoulder, feeling his shudders for a split second before Gil whipped his arm around and grabbed onto Lukas’s wrist. Lukas yelped in surprise and jolted backwards, before catching the relieved and utmost terrified look on Gil’s face. He forced himself to relax as to not risk frightening him further. He dropped his voice to a whisper and untensed his wrist.

“Gil?” he started quietly, catching the man’s full attention, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Gil swallowed, trying to get control of himself and stop his shuddering breaths to speak.

“I can’t shut my eyes.. Nightmares.. They come back.. I don’t even need to be asleep..” Gil’s voice still ended up coming out squeaky, as if he was on the verge of tears, “They hurt… My head—”

Gil cut off mid-sentence and gripped his head again, groaning and burying his face back into the pillow. Clearly something was wrong.

“Easy, Gil..” Lukas tried to think of something to say to attempt to calm him, “It could only be an effect of blood loss.. Just rest easy, I’ll find you some painkillers to get rid of the migraine.”

Lukas moved away from the bed, heading over to the various cabinets around the medbay and rummaging through them in attempt to find something to help. Eventually, he opened a cabinet door to find a large variety of medicines and small paper cups. He dug through the pill bottles until he found a strong enough acetaminophen, pulling the bottle out of the messily organized cabinet and grabbing one of the small cups cups along with it. He then went to the sink, turning on the water just enough to fill the shot cup halfway.

He untwisted the bottle cap and dumped two pills into his palm, taking the pills and the cup back over to Gil.

“Here, can you try and sit up?” Lukas set the pills and cup on the bedside table, and helped Gil sit up enough to take the pills. Gil was clearly struggling to just move, always going back to grip his head. Lukas took one of his hands gently and moved it slowly away from his head, placing the pills in his palm.

“Easy, this’ll be quick, and then you can go right back down to rest.”

Gil nodded and tossed the pills into his mouth quickly. Lukas knew Gil’s hands would be too shaky to hold the cup, so instead he himself put the cup up carefully to Gil’s lips and helped him drink. Gil swallowed the pills, however quickly wincing again and putting his hands over his head. Lukas blew out a sigh and set the cup aside again.

“Back down you go, take it easy—” Lukas spoke quietly as he helped the man lay back down against the pillow. Gil sank into the bed and curled up once again on his side.

By now, the beeping had gone silent, and Gil seemed much calmer than before. Hopefully he’d stay this way long enough to get some rest.

Lukas cleaned up the room just a bit more, even stopping to tuck Jesse's limp arm and leg back up into bed with him and make sure his head was comfortably propped on the pillow. He didn't want him to wake up with a kink in his neck. That wouldn't exactly be ideal.

He covered Jesse with the bed sheet, tucking him in gently, before going to Gil to do the same. Once he made sure everything was tidy and taken care of, he left the medbay to go speak with the others about the somewhat odd situation.

~~~~

Aiden could see everything, and he could do nothing to stop it. He watched his controlled body pull the trigger on tens of hundreds of lives. Seven years he’d been under PAMA’s mind control, seven years he’s watched his body kill and maim, as he could do nothing in retaliation. So many lives he’d taken.

He used to be in the army, he’d taken lives before, but not like this. Never like this. Never with such a horrific intent.

His body was sent on a mission for the Witherstorm. A search and ‘rescue’, PAMA called it in the briefing. Though he knew he wasn’t rescuing anything worth it. Most likely a drone that’d been discovered by the military. Aiden’s mind didn’t know, but his body did.

The military outpost was where he was now, with a squadron alongside him. He’d already raided the small base and uncovered nothing. Yet PAMA still instructed a deeper search.

Did Aiden blame PAMA? Or did Aiden blame the Witherstorm Leader? He couldn’t remember who the bad guy was. He couldn’t remember much of anything. The PAMA control tortured his mind, it forced his memories aside for deeper security and mission logs. He was more machine than he was alive at this point, as most of his memories had simply been destroyed. He continued to try and fight back against the PAMA hacking, but he was always unsuccessful. It only put him in more pain.

Though, this time, through his internal screaming and agonized cries from PAMA’s control, he felt someone else in his head. It wasn’t him, and it wasn’t PAMA. It felt like a familiar presence, a sort of déjà vu. A third mind interlinked.

When Lukas finally came to again, he found himself bound tight by ropes, sitting against the wall. He shifted uncomfortably, almost immediately noticing that he was dressed in a different outfit. The fabric was almost stiff, and was definitely not what he was used to. His arms were pressed against his sides and his ankles were held together tightly by the rough line, all he could do was squirm, but couldn't undo any of the twisted rope.

Lukas looked around quickly at the area, seeing the agents conversing and deciding what to do next, and soon catching sight of his actual clothes, folded and set beside his bag which had obviously been gone through. A sudden thought struck him. His necklace. The necklace. He couldn't move his hands to feel for the necklace, he couldn't feel it around his neck. There was a new fear that he hadn't felt before. What had they done with it?

Lukas didn't get much more time to think before a voice spoke up beside him.

"Morning, buddy.”

He jumped at the voice of Jesse, who’d been waiting by his side for him to wake. Lukas for a moment didn’t know what to do. He was so used to his quick escapes, and even captured, he’d never had his opposer be Jesse himself. He reminded himself that this wasn’t his Jesse. No scar, that’s not his Jesse.

“H- Hello there,” he managed to contain a light stutter, however still unable to hide a break in his voice. He cleared his throat quickly and tugged against his binds. He tried to put up his act again, but he questioned his ability to keep it up for long.

“Would you mind?” he held out his hands and gave Jesse his best puppy eyes, “The uh— cuffs aren’t necessary, are they?”

Jesse scoffed and stood up.

“They are absolutely necessary.”

Lukas dropped his hands and sighed.

“You’d keep me tied up, Jesse? Me? Lukas?” he said in an almost pouty voice to get his attention. However, he dropped the expression with a groan as his counterpart stepped up beside Jesse, placing a hand around his waist.

“Unfortunately for you, he’s already got one of us.”

Lukas sighed at the appearance and shifted uncomfortably. It was like looking into a mirror. A mirror glaring, looking down on him.

"Hm. Guess I'm too late for the act, huh?" he grumbled.

"Mhm," Jesse nodded, earning another tired sigh from Lukas. His counterpart turned and stepped away, Jesse following afterwards. Lukas went to speak again, however the lightest sound of his voice was quickly cut off by an angry Jesse once again.

"Don't say anything, you're an imposter. A fake. Just keep your mouth shut and let us focus on other things."

Lukas squinted slightly and leaned back against the wall. He glanced around the room, searching for anything to help his escape. Orion would be waiting for him, and he didn't want to have to make him come back yet again for another rescue. Seems like their joke was becoming a reality.

Examining the room, he found exactly where the rope had been looped into the wall. Surprisingly, it didn't seem that secure. He could probably tug and undo the knots if he tried hard enough. An easy escape, he caught immediately what was happening.

He glanced back up to the other Lukas, who was standing over by the table surrounded by other agents. They seemed to be planning something, but he couldn’t tell what. That would have to remain a mystery, however he quickly pieced together the situation. He looked exactly like the other Lukas now, possibly with slightly different variations in features, however NEARLY exactly the same. A quick escape from the ropes, out an easy to follow back door.

The old twin trick. Now, he’d never had the luxury of being part of one of these before, but knew what was going to happen. A switch on Orion was the plan, that was obvious, but how to avoid it was the question. Maybe he could slip out unnoticed.

No, that was way too obvious, they’d expect him to try that without even knowing about the idea. They were watching him.

After a bit of thought, he decided he’d play their game. He just had to hope Orion would make the right choice. He trusted him to do so— but Lukas always wearing his mask could mean that he doesn’t know his face well enough to tell them apart. He could use sign? No, his hands were bound still, that would be a bit too difficult to undo.

Guess he’d just have to play and pray that he’s persuasive enough for Orion.

~~~~

“You have sights on him?” Jesse spoke into his earpiece, straying from the current topic of his plan B to check on Gil, who’d been placed as a gunner at the ready.

“Mhm. Sure do. He’s by the docks, just— waiting. He’s in my scope, this is a ridiculously easy shot. I can’t take it now because—?”

“Because if you take out the Leader the rest of them will just continue the plan, it’s like every other organization. We need to figure out how to actually stop them— to do that we need more than just these random journal pages.”

“True,” Gil sighed into the earpiece, “Its so easy though. So so easy..”

“I know, resist the urge, Gil,” Jesse chuckled and tapped his foot almost restlessly, “We’ve got a better plan on hand, and you know what to do if Plan A fails, which hopefully it will not.”

“Yeah yeah I got it, the whole Plan B thing.”

“And your part in Plan A.”

“Of course. This isn’t my area of expertise but— I’ll try not to let you down.”

“You won’t, Gil— Just do your best. If anything goes wrong, this is why we have backup plans.”

“Fair. Alright, well— see you on the flip side, I guess. Wish me luck!”

~~~~

Orion was standing just on the edge of the pier. The hatch of the Ender Dragon could be seen in the distance, out in the harbor. Orion stayed waiting for Lukas, knowing that he may take longer to get around than he did. However, it’d been over thirty minutes. Orion was in the right mind to be worried.

A voice spoke up over his own earpiece.

“Leader?” it was Trevor, dragging out the er at the end of the word in a bit of a concerned whine, “Are you alright up there? It’s been a long time, they’re gonna pick us up on the radar soon if they haven’t yet...”

Orion reached up to the headset and felt for the small button on the side. He pressed in in small beeps and dashes, Morse code.

“— • • — — — — • —

• — — — — — • — • • — • — • — —“

There was a bit of a pause before Trevor replied.

“... Alright, if you insist— At least you replied. Just be safe ok? And alert us when you need pickup.” Trevor sounded unsure, clearly doubting that everything was fine. He always was. Trevor was the brother to worry. It was his way of constantly saying “I love you,” and it was just a little bit of Trevor’s sweetness that Orion really loved.

However he couldn’t focus on it for too long. A glint from a nearby building caught his attention, and quickly took his mind off of anything lighthearted. He was standing out in the open, of course anyone would have a free shot at him, and of course he figured that’s what that exact glint was from. A sniper.

~~~~

"I need the ropes, too?" Lukas grumbled and shifted his wrists against the tight ropes that now binded them.

"Yes, you do," Petra replied with a faint amusement in her voice, "If one Lukas has them, the other Lukas has them."

"God... This is going to be ridiculous. Are you sure this is a good idea, Jesse? I mean-- what if something goes wrong?" Lukas turned to Jesse, who was sat at the table and hunched over a journal of his own.

"Don't worry, Lukas-- Even if something goes wrong, your buddy's got you covered. How's Gil with a sniper?" Jesse replied without looking up. Lukas thought back a bit to his times in the army. HE was the sniper, however Gil was never bad. What did this have to do with--

"Jesse, is he up there?" Lukas asked quickly.

"Maybe~"

"Did you at least test his aim-?"

"I did, not to worry. He's a very good shot, you don't have anything to worry about.." Jesse closed his journal, leaving his opened pen set between the pages before getting up. He stopped in front of Lukas and took both of his hands, them being bound together. "If Plan A fails, then we always have Plan B to fall back on. There's nothing to worry about.."

Lukas sighed and calmed down at Jesse's touch.

"Right... I trust you--.."

"And if Plan B fails?" Riot asked from the opposite end of the table. He had an ice pack on his jaw and was leaning over the table, still clearly a bit disoriented.

"Plan C!"

"And then?"

"Do you really think that I'm that awful at this?"

There was a light snicker in Green's direction, and Jesse huffed in annoyance.

"I'm willing to bet on it."

"Plan,, D, then!"

"Plan D? Might as well throw in a plan F to pay respects and accept the fat fucking L we get served on this mission if Plan C doesn't even fuckin work," Yellow piped up from the ground, his voice a bit raspy bit still getting the point along. There was a sharp laugh from Green that he quickly covered up as Petra looked over.

"Yellow!" There was a chorus of different moods, vaguely apart, when Yellow's voice was heard. Some were laughter, relief, and Jesse was clearly heard with the one dramatically offended tone. Riot was the first to drop down and nearly fall on Yellow in a hug, throwing his ice pack off to the side.

“Good to see you’re awake, man,” Petra shot him a quick grin.

“Glad to be awake.” Yellow felt around his neck after Riot had let go, feeling his throat wrapped in bandages with a couple ice packs pressed against his neck.

“The Leader got you pretty bad— try not to speak too much. Gil told us you were pretty swollen," Lukas said, still uncomfortably shifting in his rope cuffs.

"Mhm. Got that.." Yellow wouldn't admit audibly that every word put him in pain, but that was the truth.

"Rest for a while-- the next whole ordeal won't need us, I'll stay with you." Yellow felt Riot take his hand and give it a light squeeze. He smiled faintly and gave everyone a warning squint before leaning into Riot, who put his arms around him in a gentle hug. Petra grinned at the two, shoving her hands into her pockets.

A sudden clatter came from behind, and Jesse turned quickly to see Green hanging halfway out of the window.

"Oh Jesus, Axel!"

Axel's head shot up from where he was dozing off nearby. Jesse gestured to Green, who slipped out quite noticed.

"Oh uh- He's escaping!! Oh no!!" Axel's cry was half-hearted at most and playful if anything, making Jesse roll his eyes with a smile.

"Alright Lukas, go get him! I'll slow him down, you take the shortcut to the docks," Jesse finished his sentence by giving Lukas a quick kiss and running out the unlocked back door. Lukas couldn't help but smile, even going into this situation. He ran after Jesse, having to shove open the door with his shoulder while his hands were still tied.

The chase didn't last very long, and was a bit uneventful compared to the rest of the last hour. Jesse managed to catch up to Green, slowing him down just enough to where he and Lukas made it to the docks at the same time. The Witherstorm Leader was waiting there, and honestly didn't look too surprised. His arms were crossed and his expression was almost numb. Tired. As though he'd expected this very thing to happen.

~~~~

Lukas made eye contact with Orion quite quickly, and could tell immediately that Orion expected this. Orion's eyes moved between the two men in front of him, and his expression didn't change. Lukas wanted to yell out for him, but outing the Witherstorm Leader's name wouldn't be too smart. He knew there was someone watching them, he wouldn't take that chance.

He still, however, called out for him.

"Leader! Come on, you know the obvious choice, right?" he gestured to himself, not being able to hide his worry. However the other Lukas called out as well, in the exact same tone.

"No, Leader! Look at me! You can tell it's me, right?"

Both of them shot each other a simultaneous glare. Lukas had to admit, his counterpart's acting was on point. He really did look exactly like him, sound exactly like him. It was scary, if anything. Lukas called out again, so did his twin. Orion didn't move at first, just listening to their pleadings turn into arguments. He was less than amused, however soon enough stepped forward and approached them both.

He stepped down off the wooden pier, and each Lukas went quiet. Both had their arms bound, they couldn't use sign. The outfits were the same, both hairdos were messy and difficult to tell apart. The voices and expressions were the same. Determined and pleading.

He stopped in front of the first. He looked him over, watching him take a light step back, before stepping over to the other. He only needed a second before putting a hand on the second's shoulder. Immediately, the other's expression was riddled with what appeared to be heartbreak.

But of course, Orion wasn't done. He knew he had the wrong Lukas, the agent Lukas, the double agent trying to worm his way into the mission. He pulled a dart from his palm, wasting no time before he yanked this Lukas forward and jabbed him in the back of the neck with the needle. He then moved his hand away and kicked the agent back, onto the concrete.

Orion held out his hand to the other Lukas, Green, HIS Lukas. He knew it was him, and the relieved look that lit up across Lukas's face sealed the deal. However, as his Lukas took his hand, a gunshot went off in the distance, and a bullet went clean through Orion's shoulder. Lukas stumbled aside, and Orion only let out a quick grunt before whipping his own pistol from his belt and firing back almost without stopping to aim. A loud cry came from the building the sniper bullet was shot from, and the Lukas on the ground immediately reacted.

His face shifted to pure horror, as he cried the name "Gil" and stumbled to his feet before running off in the direction of the tall building.

Orion watched him go, placing a hand on his already soaked shoulder. He wiped his hand on his pant leg before heading over to Lukas and cutting his hands free from the rope.

"Orion-- you-"

Orion held up a hand to silence him.

"I know, don't worry. It's a clean shot. Easily fixed."

He motioned for Lukas to follow, who nodded and complied. They walked across the long dock together without mentioning much of anything, but as they were waiting, Orion stopped and signed to Lukas.

"You wait here, get on the sub. I will actually be right back this time."

"Dammit Orion, you aren't going back are you-?"

"Your materials and normal clothes are important to you, I presume? Wait here with the sub, I will alert you when I've returned."

Lukas felt a hand over his chest, his heart sinking for moment when he couldn't feel the gemstone necklace around his neck where it should be. He nodded to Orion, watching him turn and leave.

"You be careful! Don't get captured," Lukas called to him, and he waved it off nonchalantly with an assuring grin.

~~~~

Lukas was the first one to burst his way into the empty building. He used a piece of nearby broken glass to cut his own ropes before running up the stairs two at a time. It took nearly ten minutes to get up all of the flights of stairs, but when he finally did, he still was kicking. He showed no exhaustion, and crashed into the room where Gil had made his perch.

Gil was collapsed on his back, already lying in a pool of his own blood. The sniper was thrown to the side, and Gil had his hands clasped tightly around his neck. Lukas ran to him immediately, dropping down beside him and scooping him up.

"Let me see, let me see--" Lukas moved Gil's hands carefully, revealing the deep gash in the right side of Gil's neck. The Leader had managed to hit him, from that distance, with a pistol. Luckily it wasn't a shot, only a deep scrape, but it still wasn't good.

"This can be fixed, don't worry--" Lukas assured him, tugging off his jacket and tearing the sniper neckstrap off to use as a bandage, "You're gonna be fine-- you're fine.."

Lukas pressed the jacket over the wound and used the neckstrap to tighten and hold it against his neck, trying to make it just tight enough that it wasn't choking him. He picked him up, carrying him bridal style with his head against his chest to keep his neck in a comfortable position, and began heading down the stairs this time. He left the sniper rifle itself behind, lying on its side on the concrete ground.

~~~~

Orion's trip didn't take long. It was a simple expedition. The agents were too busy worrying about Gil's arrival to realize that the Witherstorm Leader had snuck back into the warehouse after trying for so long to escape. He simply snatched the neatly folded clothes and left without an issue.

The Ender Dragon was waiting for him by the docks, the hatch open and Ranger waiting at the top of it.

"About time!" he yelled over to his big brother, who rolled his eyes and handed him Lukas's outfit the minute he was close enough. Ranger huffed lightly and climbed down into the sub, followed by Orion.

Ranger handed off the outfit to Lukas, who was pacing worriedly across the sub. When he saw Orion, he gave him a mixture of a concerned yet thankful look.

"You-- went back just for this?" Lukas felt through the clothes until he found the pretty blue necklace, and immediately put it around his neck. He felt much better with it on, yet was hit with a sudden feeling of dread. Orion nodded to him.

"It's important, yeah?"

"Yes.."

"Then we don't leave it behind."

Lukas smiled at the comment, and Orion opened the door to another room, most likely to take care of his own wound.

"Wait, Orion--" Lukas stopped him before he left. Orion halted and turned lightly to look at him.

"How did you know I was the right one?"

At the question, Orion only gave him an almost gentle smile before replying.

Romeo was right, this was what Jesse was good at, what he’d been doing his whole life really, what led him into the most important parts of his life, so he wondered: why was he so bad at it right now? There was a numbness in his thigh he almost barely noticed, but still didn't care for. Nothing was stopping him.

He had sight of who he could only guess was Green, and was trying to chase him down, but for some reason he couldn’t seem to catch his balance yet. He still kept up, using the skills he taught himself to leap between buildings and over railings.

Green leapt clean over the street, landing on roof after roof. Jesse was close behind, slowly but surely speeding up and catching his balance. Trying to run in his dress shoes was obnoxious, slippery, and just sent him further out of control, but this is what he was good at. He let his anger fuel him, gaining bursts of speed as he kicked hard off of every landing. He wasn't letting Green escape, he wouldn't allow it.

Jesse could already tell Green towered over him in height, but he was fast enough still. He followed him over each rooftop, many of them gravel, which only made it more difficult as the ground slipped out from beneath him. Green seemed to be heading away from the pier, just futher into the city. He watched as Green took a flying leap off one building, down onto a much lower one, the crunch of the gravel beneath deciding Jesse's take to the situarion. He dove after and rolled upon hitting the ground, using the gravel to help him and shifting easily back into running. He was so close now, he could almost reach the masked man in front of him, but he stumbled. Green jerked hard to the left and Jesse, caught up in speed and startled by the motion, nearly tumbled off the building.

He tripped, his ankle colliding with the roof's ledge. He fell sideways, the ground underneath him disappearing for a terrifying second before he felt a hand grab him by the collar and yank him away from the ledge. Green had caught him, throwing him back away from the ledge before running off once again. Jesse landed in the gravel on his back, sliding to a stop.

It took him a moment to recover and register what happened, but once he did, for just a moment, he was more curious than enraged. Of course, that anger came back when he reminded himself what he was after.

He shook his head and ran after Green again, not wanting to lose him. He gained ground quickly, cutting through some shortcuts over alleyways and hopping over taller buildings. Soon enough, he leapt off a taller building and came down right on top of Green, slamming him into the ground as they both tussled and rolled across the concrete roof before coming to a stop just barely hanging from the ledge. Green's goggles clattered near to the side, exposing his bright blue eyes.

"Gotcha! Now hold still! It's time to see who's actually under this damn mask!" Jesse grabbed hold of Green's mask and tugged it down, finally revealing the mystery man underneath. And for a moment, Jesse was frozen in shock.

It WAS Lukas. It wasn't his Lukas. It couldn't have been. But it was LUKAS, decked out in unusual leather and dark colors. Ivor was right the entire time, and Jesse still couldn't believe what was before his very eyes, in clear daylight.

"Lukas?" Jesse didn't even hear himself speak. This Lukas gave him an almost confident grin before shooting a wink, Jesse recoiling lightly.

"That's me, Jess. Gotta go!" Lukas quipped almost cheerfully before grabbing hold of his goggles and disappearing into thin air. What was before physical Lukas underneath Jesse vanished with a shwoop and he fell onto his knees on the concrete roof.

Jesse, for a moment, was frozen solid, praying this was all a dream.

~~~~

Lukas was safe on the street below, kicking away a few enderpearl shards as he quickly tugged his goggles and mask back over his face. It took everything in his power to not crumble at the sight of A Jesse, not even his own. He hoped his acting was good, good enough to leave Jesse shocked for long enough so he could escape back to the U-boat. He began jogging down the alleyway, a quick thought soon popping up in his mind. He quickly felt around his neck, feeling for the familiar necklace string that should always be there.

It was still there, thankfully. It hadn't fallen off in the tussle. He felt the blue gemstone necklace outside of his vest, which he quickly fixed by stuffing it back under the collar of his shirt, where it was hidden and safe.

He stopped near the exit, watching cars go by. He hoped that Orion had made it out okay, and went to turn around. He had to find another way that wasn’t in plain sight. Trekking back through the alleyway, he checked every twist and turn that split off from it, trying to search for a proper way out.

He turned down one corridor, seeming to be the right one, before he heard a shout from above and felt a heavy force come down on the center of his back. He was immediately slammed into the ground, and someone rolled to a stop off of him.

“You’re not going anywhere, your tricks aren’t getting you anywhere!” he heard the all too familiar voice of Jesse once again, and slowly pushed himself to his feet. Jesse didn’t hesitate before throwing himself into a fight. He swung and Lukas quickly dipped to the side, away from the blow. He returned the attack and swept Jesse’s legs out from underneath him, throwing him onto his back.

“Come on, Jesse— let it go, I don’t want to hurt you—“ Lukas stepped back and away from where Jesse was stumbling back up.

“No!” Jesse’s voice broke, and he looked like he was struggling to stand, “Don’t you dare fuck with my head! You are not my Lukas! You are the enemy!”

Jesse was holding a lot of seemingly dangerous anger, and Lukas decided it was time to make a true leave. He reached for another enderpearl, ready to disappear from the situation once again. Jesse dove at him again, tripping over himself in the lunge but still coming in with a solid swing. Lukas once again evaded, dipping to the right before grabbing an enderpearl and lifting his arm to throw.

However before he could, Jesse slammed into him, and while trying to snatch the enderpearl from his hand, clasped their hands together and shattered the fragile pearl between them. Both were knocked backwards and away from each other from the shockwave that followed, and when Lukas hit the ground again everything went black.

~~~~

Meanwhile, Lukas was closing in on the Leader, managing to keep up good strides over each roof. Parkour wasn’t his thing, but he had enough training to at least follow a target. The Leader however seemed readily prepared with skill, and was making great time over the buildings. A few times, Lukas almost lost him, but managed to catch sight of his blatant appearance and sneak a shortcut to cover more ground.

Every time he'd seemed to corner the Leader, he was always amazing by the eluding skills of the man. Somehow, the Leader managed to weasel out of every tight spot, sometimes even scaling an entire fucking wall at unnatural speeds like some sort of Spiderman. Lukas would always find some way to follow, using balconies to his advantage, climbing up a ladder as fast as he could, all while desperately trying not to fall. Eventually it felt as though he was running the rooves of skyscrapers.

It was at this moment Lukas discovered he wasn't so fantastic with this height. He had to restrain from looking off the edge to avoid a panic attack. Every leap got more nerve-racking, every landing shot a burst of relief through him. There were times when he would land incorrectly, twisting his ankle lightly or tripping over his own feet, yet it was still relief. Relief that the light pain in his ankle was all he had to feel, not the terrible pain of broken legs and ribs that would've occurred if he'd missed the jump.

All the while he stayed hot on the Leader's tail.

Lukas followed the Leader further, over the largest gap between buildings, landing on the gravel coated roof and almost slipping. He stuck the landing wrong, not expecting the loose gravel. He caught himself, however, just in time to also catch the Leader by the back of the collar. Nearly a second after, Lukas felt a hand around his throat, and he felt his feet leave the ground.

The Leader flashed a sharp glare, and Lukas’s blood ran cold. He’d made a mistake, and now he was at the Witherstorm’s mercy. The entire chase was over in a matter of fateful seconds.

~~~~

Orion held Lukas up over the gravel and grumbled quietly to himself. He turned around and took a few steps forward, until Lukas was dangling over the edge of the building. Orion quirked an eyebrow at the terrified and choking agent as he tried to grasp onto his arm and kicked to try and touch the ledge.

And for the first time in years, he hesitated. Watching Lukas, he could see the fear in his eyes. The silent pleading, begging. But that wasn’t what mattered. He saw his Lukas, Green, for just a moment. A single moment.

And he couldn’t do it.

With a defeated and relatively disappointed groan, he turned back around and threw Lukas to the ground. He rolled in the gravel for a moment before coming to a stop and grasping at his neck, coughing and gasping. Orion turned and took a running start before leaping off the edge of the building and dropping down a few stories to land on a balcony on the next building over. He fell into the glass door, cracking it with the weight. He heard couple girls scream from inside, and he rolled his eyes and jumped down again, dropping another two stories before touching the ground and rolling into his landing unaffected.

He ran off after, heading right for the docks. He hoped his Lukas was already there waiting for him, he didn't want to have to turn around.

~~~~

When Jesse slowly made his way back, he was carrying the still unconscious and now cuffed Green on his back. He kicked open the warehouse door, and Axel came to open it. He came inside quickly, dropping Green onto the ground and stumbling his way over to Romeo. He limped with every step, yet still ignored the cause.

Gil was still kneeled by Romeo, and Romeo’s entire torso had been wrapped in bandages, yet Gil's expressions showed just the amount of hope he truly had, and there wasn't much there. Jesse dropped down beside him, clearly exhausted and still dizzy from his dash back to the past.

Olivia was the first to come over. She sat on her knees beside Jesse, putting a hand to his back as a sort of Olivia comfort.

"Are you alright, Jesse?" she kept her voice quiet, gentle, just to keep Jesse's mindset undisturbed. Jesse was still panting lightly, still in a bit of a daze, but he nodded.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"You look like you took quite a hit--"

"I took a few, actually. But I'm fine, really... I'm not the one we should be worrying about," Jesse paused for a moment, looking over Romeo, “Is he-?.."

“No, not yet, unfortunately..” Romeo opened one eye and shot a weak smile at Jesse. Jesse jumped lightly in response, surprised to hear Romeo's voice answer. He thought he'd at least been asleep. "Simply resting my eyes.."

“I’ve done everything I could, Jesse, I-“ Gil stumbled on his words, trying to speak quickly in an apology, but Jesse just placed a hand on his shoulder to quiet him.

“It’s ok, Gil, I know you have..”

Gil went quiet, and Jesse turned back to Romeo.

“Does it hurt too much?..”

“Not much, actually,” Romeo coughed, trying to hide a wince, “I— can’t feel much of anything, to be honest!..”

Romeo’s smile looked oddly strained, and he tried to let out a quiet laugh. Jesse almost cried. Romeo was still trying so hard to be cheery even on the brink of death, and it broke Jesse’s heart to see.

“Agh, but my suit though—“

“You’re suit,,? Romeo,,” Jesse chuckled and choked down a light sob, “You have,, larger issues than your suit—“

“I know, I know, shut up—“ Romeo shoved at Jesse’s face and laughed, however still breaking into a small coughing fit just after. Jesse chuckled and waited a moment before speaking again.

“Why’d you do it, Romeo?” Jesse’s change of pace caught Romeo lightly off guard.

“Well, Jesse... As I said before— why don’t kill I kill?... human lives are irreplaceable.. and.. your team needs you!.. You’ve got to stop the Witherstorm and— you can do that without me..”

“No— No don’t—“

“No— Jesse... listen..” Romeo reached for his suit jacket, bringing it over and pulling a golden lapel pin from the front pocket, "This-- This is the key to the Vault. If you ever need to access anything of mine, this is what you use.."

Romeo handed the lapel to Jesse. It was a golden bordered red and black flower lapel, beautifully etched and well taken care of. It was still spotted with blood from Romeo's jacket, but otherwise it was in perfect condition. Jesse clutched it in his hand and would be lying if he said he didn't cry. It felt too much like a goodbye, and that wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"Romeo, come on... You're gonna be ok!! We're gonna get you out of here-- Gil-"

Gil jerked his head up from where he'd been lightly hunched off to the side.

"Is there any chance we can call an ambulance?"

"N-.. No, Jesse... If we move him it'll only kill him faster... He's incredibly stable for his condition because of the way he's laid.. I don't know how or what but something must be blocking his punctured lung.. We can't move him.. And- he's an internationally wanted man.. They either would kill him themselves or refuse to help or simply let him die... At least in this way-- he's been able to speak with you... I.. Did my best, Jesse.." Gil curled in on himself slightly when he was speaking, almost looking guilty. Jesse sighed quietly and held the lapel tight in his hands.

".. You're right, I believe you... I know you did everything you could... I'm sorry-.."

"It's alright, Jess, really.. Don't lie to yourself, that'll make it hurt more.." It seemed to be getting difficult for Romeo to speak, but he still tried, "You know nothing can fix this.. But it's Ok. Do you know why?"

Jesse sniffled and wiped as his face before responding. He didn't believe it to be okay, but he wasn't going to argue.

"Why?.."

"Because, Jesse," Romeo gave him a big smile and chuckled, "I'm free. I'm free now... I did what I wanted this time, and there's nothing else I'd prefer. My head is clear, I'm not afraid, and I chose this."

"That's right, you're free--.. You won't... Ever need to be afraid of the Witherstorm again--" Jesse mumbled lightly. His voice broke a couple times, and he almost spoke in squeaks. At this point, some of the others had gathered around, still most of them keeping their distance. Olivia however stayed beside Jesse and squeezed his shoulder gently. She could tell he was in many different levels of distress, she'd seen the look before on him, only one other time before.

"I'm happy, and it's ok.." Romeo paused before wiping a bit of blood from his chin, "This however is a light inconvenience. Stopping me from speaking to you properly,,"

Jesse chuckled and wiped his face, slowly falling into the acceptance and just trying to enjoy the bits with Romeo he had left.

"I really do apologize for all of the trouble I've caused--.. Both before and during this entire Witherstorm ordeal. I thought it would be fun to begin with, but the wealth of a businessman can never substitute friends. I learned this the hard way,, and I must thank you for giving me a second chance.." Romeo's voice was obviously getting more strained. Jesse knew it was almost over, yet Romeo kept talking.

"My main Collosus-- his real name is Wally.. When you return to the Vault, give him the lapel... He'll give you my journal-- I believe you'll find it holds quite a bit of useful information in its pages.. Its-- coded, yes, but I'm sure your master codebreaker can handle it..." Romeo coughed and shuddered, the first real sign of a struggle during the entire conversation.

Jesse almost couldn't speak, but he knew he'd regret it if he didn't. He didn't know why he was feeling so much for the man who he'd called his rival nearly weeks before, but he was.

"You don't need to apologize--.. I'm glad you came to us.. If you didn't I don't know where we'd be--... And I'm sorry for being so harsh to begin with,, I.. Misjudged you--.."

"Not exactly, Jesse.. I really was a terrible person once, I know that.. I was manipulated, misguided, and... Ignorant. I lost friends because of it--.. Very good friends... You gave me a second chance I didn't deserve.."

Romeo cut off, obviously wanting to say more but knowing he couldn't. He cleared his throat, wincing from the action.

"It's.. About time I.. Take a nap, hm?.."

"A.. A nap?..." Jesse murmured, looking up from where his gaze was glued to the lapel in his hands.

"A simple nap... I'm quite tired, wouldn't you imagine..?"

"I.. Would.. But--" Jesse couldn't finish before Romeo interrupted him, already knowing from his expression what he was going to say.

"I'm just going to rest, Jesse... Just for a little bit.."

Jesse went quiet, trying to accept what was happening, he knew what was happening. He knew once Romeo shut his eyes, he wouldn't open them again, he'd truly be gone. And that terrified him. But he could tell by Romeo's smile that he knew too. He was accepting it, and who was Jesse to stop him.

After a moment, without saying a word, Jesse scooted closer, simply lifting Romeo's near limp body into a hug. Romeo immediately seized up at the action, both from shock and the movement itself. Romeo only managed to return the hug with one arm, the other would hurt too much to move.

"Sleep, Romeo... You deserve the rest... Thank you for saving my life... I wish I could repay you--"

Romeo choked a bit before responding, the blood finally starting to do the damage it'd been trying to for so long.

"You did, Jesse-- You came back, didn't you?.."

Jesse could hear the shake in his voice. He could hear the strain, he could hear every bit of pain. Romeo was trying so hard, still, just to speak with him until the end.

However, soon enough, Romeo went limp in his arms. Jesse felt Romeo's hand drop from his back, onto the ground, he felt his head go limp against his shoulder. The strained breaths ceased, and silence replaced them. Jesse didn't sob, he knew Romeo was okay, but he would never say he didn't cry. He felt Olivia's hand on his shoulder again, giving it a light squeeze of sympathy.

Finally, he let go, laying Romeo down carefully on his back. His eyes were shut. He looked asleep, as he wanted to be, and Jesse could swear he'd seen a bit of a curl in the corners of his mouth. A very faint smile. He'd accepted death as a friend, he truly went in peace, and Jesse would never disrupt that.

It was clear as day on the radar. The Witherstorm U-boat had appeared out of hiding, speeding towards landfall. It was now or never.

All of the team had gathered by now, a group of Romeo's Collosuses setting a sub up for departure. As everyone left the Vault and went back up to the surface, and waiting by the large docks for them they could all see the open hatch of Romeo’s own Hunter-Killer. He called it the Terminal.

Everyone made their way to the docks, and Jesse was the first one to step down into the sub. The inside of the Terminal was all a high tech aqua blue, with red buttons strewn around in the mix. It was significantly larger in comparison to the Ender Dragon, and stretched out way past the end of the docks. The team didn't take much time to admire, however. Maybe another time. For now, there were more important things to attend to.

The Ender Dragon had become a recognizable blip on the radar, heading due north and not stopping. It was moving much faster than it did before, reaching unprecedented speeds that seemed difficult to keep track of. It must've been going for a while, it was already heading alongside Virginia only 20 minutes after being discovered outside of the Bermuda triangle. Inside the radar blip, Aiden's tracker had also come back online. He was with them.

The agents didn't hesitate at all to leave. Once everyone was on board, they launched from the docks and began heading back near the coast. Jesse and Lukas talked over an actual plan while on the way. Obviously, they couldn’t just attack the Ender Dragon in the water with the single sub. From what the Witherstorm did to the three Hunter-killers, all with readily trained crews and the element of surprise, they already knew they wouldn’t have much of a chance.

Water was the Witherstorm’s element, it’s where they were most comfortable. Lukas decided to have the team park and wait, on land. Where they were most comfortable.

They came in to the New York docks and everyone got out one by one. It was dawn, and the sun was only just beginning to peak over the horizon. The docks were still empty, and hopefully the particular dock where the Terminal was stopped would stay that way for at least a few hours.

Now they just had to wait.

Olivia stayed watching the radar, using Romeo’s equipment to catch visuals from traffic cameras, phone cameras, anything with a camera. The second a camera caught a visual of the Witherstorm, the agents would be on the move.

It didn’t take too long, maybe a couple hours, before there was a quick flashing from the monitor. It caught everyone’s attention.

“Is that them?” Jesse asked first.

“It’s confirming,” Olivia replied, waiting a few moments before continuing, “Yup, it’s a match. Those are our guys, boys."

"Did it really need confirmation? Look at their outfits," Yellow pointed to the black and purple forms on the monitor with a wave of the hand.

"Oh shut up, Yellow," Petra cut in with a laugh.

"You never know, those could be some of those maniac criminals who snatch looks of terrorists for fear factor," Olivia suggested.

"Oh, yeah, you're right, I forgot those people existed for a moment."

"Well, since those are in fact our guys, let's hurry up and go get em."

“Alright! Load up! , we’re heading in. Romeo, did you grab what we needed?”

Lukas turned to address Romeo, who only smiled.

~~~~

Ranger was piloting the Ender Dragon this time, and both Ranger and Trevor were dressed in black leather outfits. Trevor was watching over Ranger's shoulder, while Lukas was near the back with Aiden. Aiden was the same, eyes a strange color and seemingly empty. Robotic. It still made Lukas uneasy, so he tried to not pay attention to it. Orion was in another room, not to be seen, for around a half an hour before emerging.

The door creaked open, and there was Orion, standing there in a new black and purple leather uniform. There was a purple W hidden in the pattern on his chest. His hair was pulled back and his bangs were pushed back from his eyes. He held a black helmet under his right arm, and no longer wore a mask.

Trevor shot him a thumbs up, and Orion nodded to him. He motioned to Lukas for him to follow. Obviously Lukas didn't argue, but was still a bit taken back by Orion's new look. He got up, following Orion into the other room. There were four motorbikes, all in a single file line. One was a bit scratched up- Ranger's- and another had new neon green lighting in the wheels and handlebars. This refurbished one Lukas recognized as the old rundown motorbike in the hangar before.

Orion set his helmet down on a nearby shelf before signing.

"I already know what you've done with Ranger's bike. It seems you've never come across a motorbike before. Obviously, he wasn't too happy." Orion ran a hand over the scratches on Ranger's motorbike's windshield, and Lukas gulped down a light bit of fear. Orion only smiled. "If you're going to join us on this mission, you're at least going to need to learn the basics of the motorcycle."

Lukas gave Orion a questioning, lightly surprised glance, and Orion gestured to him with his hand.

"Come. I will teach you."

After a few hours had passed of Lukas's attempted training, Ranger called back to the rest of the Witherstorm.

"We're here! Pulling up now. Let's get ready to head out, Trevor, we've got to make this super fast."

"Right! Because the governments onto us now, right?"

"Right. Alright, Aiden, let's start moving!"

With that, Aiden snapped to attention and got up. Orion came back into the room, followed by Lukas, and let Aiden pass to get to the motorbikes.

"We're in the harbor," Ranger said to Orion, "We should take the pod, right?"

Orion nodded to him, and Ranger got up to go ready the pod.

"This is just a fast mission for supplies. This shouldn't take very long, and it shouldn't be too difficult if we move quickly," Orion signed to Lukas, "There's no need to worry."

Maybe it was just Lukas's newness to the world, but for some reason his gut told him this wasn't true. He worried anyway.

As Aiden, Ranger, and Trevor were loading the pod with the small amount of things they needed, Orion signed with Lukas on the side.

"You don't need to know much for this. Just stay close to the twins, don't leave their side, and don't try any crazy stunts. Leave the stunts to me. We don't want any crashes, do we?"

Lukas grinned under the mask.

"Of course not."

"Orion!" Trevor called from over by the control monitors, "There's another sub!"

Orion turned quickly, heading over to him. Trevor pointed to the monitor.

"Another sub, a hunter-killer. It's... Not moving. Lodged at the docks. Should we... Keep course? Or-"

"Adjust. Lightly to the left. Different docks, closer, be quick. We steer clear of any enemies," Orion signed to him. He understood and started plotting a new destination into the pods autopilot.

Once the pod was loaded, everyone gathered on besides Aiden, who remained behind to pilot the Ender Dragon in case of emergency. The pod launched off of the Ender Dragon towards the new docks, away from the other sub. It didn't take very long for it to come up on the empty docks. It got close enough, and Ranger brought its top half up out of the water.

A hatch opened and swung on its hinges, landing on the pier and making a bridge. With that, two black motorcycles, Trevor and Ranger each on their respective bikes, launched out and down the road. Lukas followed, with Orion behind. Lukas was wobbly, the unexpected speed catching him off guard. Orion stayed close behind and tapped his own front tire against the back of Lukas's bike to keep him steadied when he seemed to lose balance.

They sped off, Trevor and Ranger leading, straight to the destination: an old warehouse just on the outskirts of the big city.

Inside the abandoned, eerie building was a mountain of crates, big and small, all carrying different materials seemingly perfect for the occasion. It didn't take very long for the group to get there, and they quickly began working, hoping that they didn't attract much attention in the always bustling city. For a while it all went smoothly.

Trevor and Ranger opened crates and dug around for specific items that Orion needed. Orion kept a watch, knowing the twins knew what to do. Lukas stayed with Orion, never leaving the seat of his bike. He was surprised he'd made it this far without skidding or crashing. However it was only a matter of time before Orion caught glance of a new group of cycles swerving through traffic towards the warehouse alley. Orion turned to Lukas quickly and tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

"Tell them to hurry. Hurry back to the pod. Go quickly, wait for me there. The agents have found us, but don't worry. I'll distract them while you all go. The supplies are most important," Orion paused for a moment and continued when Lukas didn't respond, "Do you understand? Those are orders. Continue on without me, wait for me at the docks."

Lukas quickly nodded and ran off to the twins. Orion wasted no time before mounting his cycle and blasting out of the warehouse and down the road.

~~~~

Jesse was the first to notice the Leader's black and purple motorbike speeding through traffic. Mounted upon his own, swerving through cars alongside Lukas, he motioned to the enemy cycle.

"Lukas! There! I see him!"

"Copy, Jesse, I've got him too! Don't let him get away!"

Olivia shot through on the comms.

"Jesse, Lukas, there are others in the warehouse!"

"Forget them, Olivia! Focus on the Leader! That's the one we need to take down!" Jesse quickly responded through, revving the motorbike and speeding up. He swerved past cars and trucks, going as fast as his bike could take him, desperate to catch up. The Leader had other plans. He climbed up on top of the cars rooves, his motorbike gliding over each one with ease as he sped ahead.

"Alright, Jesse. Clearly, we need a shortcut! Olivia, Radar, see anything?" Lukas yelled into the comms over the honking of the annoyed drivers.

"There's an alley to the left. It'll let you cut across and get in front of the Witherstorm Leader. Cut him off and try and wipe him out," Radar was the one to reply this time.

"Copy that. You get that, Jess?"

"Got it! Turn now!"

Jesse lurched his bike to the side, dipping out of traffic and into a thin alleyway. Lukas quickly followed.

~~~~

Orion already knew what was happening, but he also knew what he was doing. A cycle chase? Not exactly his first rodeo. He climbed over cars and trucks as he made his way to a small bit of clearing in the traffic. He dipped down, coming off the cars and ignoring the furious honks of angry New Yorkers. They weren't his problem.

He didn't wait for an alleyway. He drifted right and smashed straight through a large window, and the loud-mouthed motorcycle peeled through a small clothing store, to the back, before smashing out the other end. He came out in front of the agents, leaving them in light shock before speeding up and shooting away again. The agents took a moment to grasp what happened before chasing after, following Orion out of the alleyway and right into oncoming traffic. Orion swerved between coming cars, and he caught view of a semi heading his way. He knew he wouldn't be able to avoid it, so he dropped the bike to the side, skidding on metal, right underneath the carrier of the semi. He cleared it to the other end without issue.

He revved the motorcycle again, starting up the wheels and hitting max speed, and used his arm to push up slightly. The wheels caught the ground, and he did a sudden 360 before coming back upright and blasting down yet another alley.

The agents went around the semi, not wanting to risk it, but followed him quickly. Orion couldn't seem to lose them. But then again, that was good. He knew then that the twins and Lukas could easily get away with the more important cargo. He'd make his leave soon enough.

In the alley, there was a split, and one end was blocked off by dumpsters and heaps of junk. Orion knew that wasn't there to begin with, but it was too high for him to climb over. However he still didn't turn, not yet.

Instead, he slowed just enough, and touched his front wheel against the largest dumpster. He revved the cycle, and in a split two seconds, he climbed up the side of the dumbster, kicked off the top, and came down on both wheels just behind the two agents. Once again, they were left in shock, but quickly turned down the other alley to avoid crashing. Orion followed, behind them this time.

He whipped his pistol from his belt and fired twice, hitting both agents' tires and causing them both to slow immediately and spin out. Orion sped past, making a straight shot for the exit of the alley.

However a sound he hadn't picked up on before suddenly sounded the loudest once the opposing cycles were gone. He turned his head just in time to see the bright headlights of a silver car, coming at him at full speed from the right. He didn't have enough time to avoid it, so instead, he threw himself off of the cycle as the car smashed into both it and then the wall. Shrapnel flew in all directions, glass and metal, and Orion crashed into the ground and skid to a slow stop.

The driver of the car must've also thrown himself out, but from the back. He seemed fine, and was already heading in Orion's direction. One of Orion's arms was busted out of place, bent the other way, but he didn't let that stop him either. He snapped it back into place and got up, ignoring the pain and making way to another exit.

~~~~

"Don't let him get away!" Yellow, who was driving the stolen car that was now smashed into the wall, yelled to the rest of the group. Riot came up beside him, handing him a taser gun.

"Jesus, James! We don't want to kill him!" Jesse yelled back, running up with Lukas behind both of the others.

"Speak for yourself!"

"We're not killing him either way! We have questions and he's got the answers," Lukas ran ahead, dipping around the corner to see the Leader, almost halfway to the street, seeming to be limping. He fired his taser, hitting him square in the back. The Leader froze up only for a moment before ripping the nib from his back and continuing on.

"Jesus--"

Jesse fired this time, running up closer, and Yellow and Riot did the same. The Leader looked as though to keep going even still, but eventually, he fell, dropping hard to one knee, no longer able to get back up and yet still struggling to appear strong. The agents knew otherwise.

"Thank God... We got him," Jesse sighed and went over to him, "He's down!"

"Knock him out, Jess. We'll take him back to the others."

~~~~

When Orion awoke again, he came face to face with Romeo. Immediately, there was an anger that he hadn't felt before. He jerked forwards, as if to lunge into an attack, but found himself bound by chains. He was snatched back as he fell into the metal chair that seemed to have been welded to the floor. Romeo still recoiled quickly, for a moment blatent fear written on his face, but when he realized Orion was unable to move, a sneer replaced that quite quickly.

"Oh... Not used to the switch in power, hm?" Romeo taunted him, and Orion growled lightly in response, attempting to keep his cool. His helmet was off now, and his face was exposed. His stitches were open to all, and to be frank, he hated it. However he didn't move, he didn't fight. He went through Romeo's taunts and questions with not a single reaction.

He knew Romeo was going to betray him either way, it didn't matter.

Orion kept reminding himself of the twins. They needed all the time they could get, and if Orion had to be stuck in the agent's captivity for them to get that time then so be it. He leaned back in his chair and awaited yet further questioning, until someone besides Romeo spoke up.

"Romeo, the man can't answer us, look at him. Give it a rest, will you? Come look at this page we found, it could be important."

~~~~

Lukas beckoned to Romeo, who came over to the table where everyone had seemed to have gathered.

"It seems they've switched up the alphabet on us... Interesting how quickly a new code is made," Ivor studied the single page of the Leader's notebook. An entire new code was being used now, and the page was wrinkled and bloodied from the crash the Leader took. It was difficult to make out some letters, much less decipher whole words. Even Yellow was having difficulty.

"Well, we have the Leader now. It's not like we're running low on time. As long as the Leader is here, the Witherstorm is probably at a standstill," Lukas said, moving away from the table, "Let's not rush ourselves too much."

Olivia took his place at the table to look over the page, while Lukas went over to Gil to chat. Gil was at a bit of a loss for words at that moment. There was too much confusion and anxiety to do much. All those years fighting in wars and surviving grenade after napalm, and he'd never had any issues with PTSD. He was one of the lucky ones, he'd considered, however now, after the Witherstorm, every little thing had started to trigger him. Even seeing the Witherstorm Leader fuzzy in the monitors sent chills down his spine.

Lukas sat beside him and put a hand on his shoulder to snap him from his trance.

"Hey, Gil.." his voice was as soft as possible as to not disturb him, "How're you holding up?"

"Ah... Just anxious is all, I'm alright. It's just-- him. Being here, right now..." Gil gestured to where the Witherstorm Leader was trapped in the chair, his head dipped and not a sound coming from him.

"Yeah... It's weird, I'm sure. But don't worry-- once we get in contact with... Someone-- we'll have him out of here and the whole problem will be solved. We captured the head of a serious terrorist group. I'm sure we can take down the others too if necessary, and if anything, Isa has ways of making people talk. Or well. Sign, if you're in this Leader's shoes."

"Oh Isa. She never liked me. Specifically. For some reason. The one time we took a visit to the white house, after the Faux War? Oh no, never liked me. I feel like if I made one wrong move in her presence she'd have Reginald shoot me dead," Gil laughed.

"Oh Reggie would never! I'm sure Isa gives off that vibe but really she's very sweet. Just gotta get past the business side of her, is all," Lukas talked of both the President and her secret service as if they were old friends, which he considered them to be.

"Reggie? Did he really let you call him that?"

"Hah, not to the face." Lukas threw Gil a smirk and leaned back in his seat.

"You're extremely relaxed, huh," Gil gave him a light look.

"Well, I'm trying to be. See, I took a bullet here," Lukas tapped over his chest, "And since then, it seems like whenever I get... Stressed or- really startled-- I, well- can't breathe. And it hurts. So... I'm trying to stay as calm as possible. As stress free as I can possibly be, yknow?"

"Ah, makes sense, yeah. Wait, you were shot?"

"Yeah, occupational hazard."

"Hah, I feel you. You're doing alright though?"

"Yeah yeah, getting better as days go on. It doesn't hurt so bad now. If I was still back at the agency my stitches would be out too. For now though, I've just gotta deal for a little bit longer."

"Yknow, I could help you with that. After you left the army, I started work in medical. I- I could help that way, right?"

"Really-? Wow, Gil- yeah! We could use a real medic. Hopefully we won't need that much medical attention, right?" Lukas laughed, "But, seriously.. Why didn't you mention before, man? That's really helpful--"

"Ah I'm still a little nervous about the whole thing.."

"I'm sure you're perfect for the job, Gil. If I can trust any medic, it'd be you," Lukas paused for a moment before continuing, "I know we haven't been able to talk much lately, with everything going on, but it really is great to see an old friend.. It's great to have you back, man. Glad to see you're doing alright.. And... I'm really sorry that you got roped into this somehow.."

Gil smiled and shook his head as a way to say it was alright.

"It's fine, really... Sure it's a toll but... I'm in the army. I was bound to deal with some crazy shit someday."

"I suppose you're right.. I'm glad you managed to get away. You won't need to worry about Maya and Magnus and good ol commander Gabriel. We're gonna free them all.. And now we can, see-" Lukas gestured to the Witherstorm Leader, "Him right there is their ticket to freedom."

"Hm.." Gil paused, "What are we gonna do with him, exactly. A couple lines of chain isn't gonna hold him back forever."

"Well... I was going to suggest we let Romeo have his fun, and then we bring him in for Isa's judgment. We just need to find a way of contact with the rest of the agency. CIA, FBI, anybody. Anyone that can help us."

The two sat for a moment in silence before either said anything else.

"Yknow, I heard Olivia suggest chopper transport-" Gil was cut off by Lukas before he could finish.

It had calmed down a lot in the Vault. Jesse was sitting with Lukas, leaning against him and half asleep. Lukas was running his fingers through Jesse’s hair and keeping it out of his face, helping his always exhausted husband fall asleep. Olivia was still at the monitors, watching the radar and the cameras for anything. Radar was beside her, doing the same and double checking everything. Romeo had shown Gil and Axel to the gym, where they’ve spent the last hour together challenging each other to different competitions and seeing who could do the most heavy lifting. Yellow and Riot hadn’t been seen for a while now, as they’d been outside wandering and exploring the island forests together without a care in the world. They remained with each other and wanted to stay in this newfound bliss for as long as they could. Ivor was with Petra, stuck in a friendly argument per usual over their own beliefs.

Romeo was on his own, back off in the hangar and letting everyone tend to their own business. He was working on the chopper again, his prized piece. He’d fixed a few of the rotors, piecing together all of the wires and shutting up the panels. He’d set them aside, starting to work on the chopper itself now.

Half of the chopper was propped up, tilting it slightly diagonal. It didn’t have any landing gear on one side, and was being propped up so Romeo could crawl underneath and work on one of the fuel lines.

He worked for around another hour just under the chopper, blocking sparks from the wires every so often. He'd occasionally let out low mumbles to himself as he wiped at the grease smeared all over his face. He enjoyed working on the chopper, he was just so easily annoyed by light inconveniences. As he rubbed at his face, he smeared grease up and across his eyes. It didn’t register as quickly as he would’ve hoped, and soon enough he’d been lightly blinded by the sudden blurriness and burning.

Of course, he tried to blink it off, ignoring the stinging and continuing to work. It was only a matter of time before he slipped up. As he trusted his instinct, he didn’t register that that probably wouldn’t work. He twisted the wrong two wires together, receiving a strong shock and a puff of smoke from the inside of the heli. It coughed and shuddered before suddenly, the engine coughed to life. The rotors started to spin for a moment, rocking the tilted heli, and giving Romeo a heart attack. He tried to get out from under the chopper before it rocked again, but only kicked out the prop holding it up from falling. It dropped, its rotors chopping into the ground and snapping.

Romeo ducked and covered from the rotors, blocking his eyes and face from debris, only for the rest of the chopper to collapse down onto his lower half. A rotor had impaled itself through the metal ground right in front of his head, and the crushing pain from the choppers weight was such a sudden surprise that Romeo didn’t even register it at first. When he did, however, the cry to come from him echoed down the halls and caught the attention of everyone nearby.

Even Jesse, who was mostly asleep against Lukas, in bliss, noticed and jumped to his feet immediately. He startled Lukas, who nearly fell from the seat. Jesse said nothing before running off down the hallway, leaving everyone else in confusion before Lukas stumbled to his feet and ran after.

Romeo didn’t expect anyone to come, and if it was anyone it would be a Collosus. He tried to fight past the pain and crawl out, but he’d been caught by the open panels, and he only made it worse. He’d gotten dizzy, he’d gone numb, he was left under there for around ten minutes and he thought no one had heard him. However, soon enough, the crushing weight was lifted from his legs.

Romeo expected to see a Collosus, but instead to his surprise, it was the concerned face of Jesse that he saw. It was Jesse that held up the chopper and pulled Romeo out. Out of all of the agents, Romeo least expected Jesse to help him. It was Jesse’s voice he heard first besides his own.

“Romeo! Romeo can you hear me?” Jesse tapped at Romeo’s face to try and wake him up a bit, and Romeo groaned in response.

“I can I can... Don’t worry,” he replied with only a light shudder in his voice. His vision began to focus again, and he caught an orange glow coming from the chopper. He didn’t even wait for a logical answer: He already knew. Before Jesse could say anything else, he grabbed him by the arms and forced himself to his feet, trying to ignore the immense pain in his entire lower half.

“Fire, Jesse! Fire! Move!!”

Jesse didn’t even turn to look back. He didn't need to. He grabbed onto Romeo the same way, and they both ran off to cover, Romeo dropping to the ground nearly the second they reached a light barrier. Lukas came into the room at the wrong time, and Jesse waved his arms to get his attention. Lukas didn’t understand, until the chopper let out a terrible snapping sound, seeming to combust, and exploded into an inferno of fire and smoke. The shockwave blasted all three of them back, Jesse landing on top of Romeo and Lukas smacking into the wall behind him and falling to the floor. Bits and pieces of shrapnel from the obliterated chopper landed all around them, and Jesse had to drag Romeo out of the way of falling debris. Eventually they were safe enough away, and Jesse started looking over Romeo again, checking for any more damage. There wasn't any, he seemed alright, to Jesse's relief.

They couldn’t hear anything from the explosion, however Jesse was recovering much faster. And above it all, muffled but surely, he could point out Lukas, his nearby coughing and what sounded like strangled hacking. Jesse leaned Romeo up against a nearby wall and ran to search for him, stepping through debris thrown about and looking through the smoke in the room for his husband. Eventually, Jesse found him. He was slouched over the ground and looked to be convulsing, struggling to even stay on his hands and knees. Jesse slid beside him and immediately took him up in his arms. He didn't look physically hurt, and Jesse knew he was only having another attack. However, this one felt worse than the others.

Lukas couldn't seem to function. He stayed gasping and choking, curled in on himself as he instinctively gripped onto any part of Jesse he could. He went from grasping Jesse's shirt and sleeves to clutching his own chest, no sound coming out of him as he trembled and continuously convulsed. Jesse held him tightly, knowing he could do nothing besides try to help him calm down. He ran his fingers through Lukas's hair, combing over his head in the gentlest way he could. He held him tight, close, but gently, in a soft hug. He whispered reassuringly, telling him it would be okay, that he was safe. For a while, it didn't seem to work, and it grew more difficult for Jesse to hide his worry.

Eventually, however, the attack did subside. Lukas slowly but surely began to relax, still shaking quite violently but able to get in a few desperate gasps. His hands fell from his chest as he went limp in Jesse's arms, shuddering and twitching every few seconds. Jesse still held him close, he didn't let him go. He ran his thumb over Lukas's cheek, still whispering light assurances as he set his forehead against his husband's. Soon enough, Lukas regained full control and his gasps turned to sighs, relieved sighs as he was able to take full breaths again.

The attack went on for about 7 minutes, and Romeo had gotten up in that time, finding that surprisingly, he could still walk. Nothing was broken. Tremendously sore, no question, but not broken to his relief. He waved away smoke from his face and looked over to where Jesse was still cradling Lukas. The smoke was beginning to fill most of the room, but luckily the fire couldn't spread across the metal floors. Romeo went to every wire connected or nearby and put them all out. Every fuel pipe close was shut down and drained at the first detection of smoke. All he needed to do was seal off the room and get himself and the agents out of there.

He moved himself over to them, putting a hand on Jesse's shoulder to get his attention. Jesse almost looked surprised to see Romeo standing on his own.

"We need to go-- The room will be closed off and taken care of- but we don't want to get locked in here as it drains itself of all oxygen, do we?"

Jesse nodded and stood, Lukas still in his arms. Romeo led him out of the room and slammed his hand over the large red button just outside the door. The door slid shut with a snap and the entire hangar was filled with a chorus of locks and shutters clanging shut. Then the hangar went dark, besides the orange glow of the fire, and a light hissing came from inside.

Romeo left the hangar alone, and Jesse took him and Lukas back to the main central control. Lukas was once again tired out from the attack, and had fallen asleep against Jesse's chest. Nobody said anything during the walk. Romeo didn't mention it, but Jesse could tell he was stuck in his own bit of mourning. That helicopter meant a lot to him, even if it was stolen and he'd only had it for about a week.

Once Jesse had laid Lukas down to rest for a while in control, he stepped aside to talk with Romeo alone. He didn't answer any questions asked from the other agents before speaking with Romeo alone first. He found him sitting by the hangar door, the room inside still dark, but the fire gone. Jesse sat beside him.

There was an awkward silence between the two before either decided to speak. Jesse spoke up first.

"So... Are you alright?"

"Yes... No severe injuries, and-"

"I meant, emotionally, are you alright?" Jesse interrupted him.

Romeo went quiet for a moment before responding.

"I know it seems odd but-- not necessarily. It may seem a bit weird to mourn over a machine, a vehicle, but..."

"No, don't worry, you're allowed.."

"Hm. Doesn't seem as dire as-- well- the danger both you and Lukas were put in. It feels dumb to feel upset over something... Replaceable. Human lives are not replaceable..."

Jesse was caught off guard for a moment. He wasn't expecting Romeo to worry this much.

"No man--" he tried to play it off, "You're entirely allowed, it's fine.. We came to your rescue, it wasn't your fault--"

"No no, I was being a fool. I sparked the wrong wires- I kicked out the prop.. I got myself into that situation."

"Romeo, stop it. It was an accident. Accidents happen. I'm just glad you're alright, man. Lukas is just fine, too. We all got out alright, and the chopper-?..." Jesse hesitated before cracking a lighthearted grin, "Well, I'm sure we can get you another sometime."

Just then, an echo of a new voice cut through the halls. Olivia, calling for Jesse, clearly distressed. Jesse got to his feet quickly.

"That sounds important, Romeo--"

Romeo was already getting up before Jesse had spoken. He started dashing down the hall, a light limp in his step Jesse noticed, and called back to him.

"Hurry then! The Witherstorm may have just been found!"

Jesse chased after him, no questions asked. Only excitement in his step and a smile on his face that probably shouldn't have been there.

Romeo got nowhere with the Leader, and eventually opened the door and left him alone. He left it open behind him and left the Leader visible, just so he could see his work. Jesse was the first to notice him.

"Damn, Romeo. Feel better?" Jesse snarked to Romeo who chuckled and wiped his hands on his pants.

"Quite. If anyone else would like to take a go, he's all yours," he offered.

"Maybe later. Any more and he might die on us." Jesse studied the beaten Leader from a distance, surprised that he still showed no emotion.

"So, anything?"

"Lukas is still on the phone with Reginald. They're... Trying. Not only is it hard talking to the secret service, but the connection is also really bad in here and it's land-line so, the keep breaking up and having to re-call.”

“Really? That’s harder than speaking with the secret service?”

“Ehh yeah. Yeah.”

Romeo snorted a laugh and sat down at the table where both the Witherstorm page and the translated copy were laying.

“Oh- it was translated?”

“Oh, yeah- Not by any of us though. Luckily we’ve got some great connections. That whole blog thing? Really helping us out,” Jesse replied, sitting across from him.

“Who did it?” Romeo paused for a moment, “Their handwriting is very neat. And they worked... Quite quickly.”

“One of our contacts named Zone. She's very quick at this stuff, apparently. She beat Yellow to it," Radar spoke up from where he was sitting, "She must do that stuff for like, a living? I think Gil's mentioned her sometime too."

"Hm. Respects to Zone. That's good work-" Romeo tapped the paper and moved it aside, "And quite efficient. Easy to read. Accurate. Next time you speak with her, send my compliments. This is... Quite helpful."

As Romeo was taking his hand back, Jesse quickly noticed the bloodied marks on Romeo's knuckles that hadn't seemed to go away.

"Is that the Leader's blood, or yours?" he asked, snatching one of Romeo's hands before he could pull it away.

"Agh- probably mine, Jesse. I'm not used to so much punching. Believe it or not, the Leader's face is solid, and it kinda hurts to hit. But it was worth it, I can say without question!" Romeo drew his hand back and rubbed over his still stained knuckles with the other hand. He wasn't used to anyone else worrying.

Jesse got up without saying anything else, and left to go over and talk to Axel. For a moment, Romeo thought he’d upset him somehow, but Jesse came back moments later and sat this time beside him. He took Romeo’s hand again and gripped it as a way to tell Romeo not to jerk away.

They stayed silent, Romeo letting Jesse do what he needed. After a few minutes, Jesse let go of him, and Romeo pulled his hands back to see that Jesse had wrapped around his knuckles tight in bandages. He quirked an eyebrow and glanced up to Jesse.

“What? It’ll help it heal faster,” Jesse paused for a moment before cracking a light grin, “Besides, you’re not the bloody knuckles type of guy. It doesn’t match your image.”

Romeo chuckled and rubbed over the bandages.

“Thank you, I suppose you’re right."

“Yeah, you’re more of a clean and crisp businessman, right? I always got that vibe from you.”

“I try to be, yes,” Romeo folded his hands in his lap and cleared his throat quietly, “However working with so much oil at times can be a bit ruining to that appearance.”

“I would think so. But you don’t really work with machines a lot, do you?”

“Well—not necessarily. Yet the entire vault is filled with them. You can’t really even walk through there without getting some dirt on you,” Romeo brushed his vest, making the wiping motion as an extra theatric.

“Now you’re just being dramatic, it can’t be that bad,” Jesse waved it off with a smirk.

“You’ve got a bit of grease on your face still, Jesse. I can assure you it’s because you walked through the vault one solid time.”

“No, that was because I rescued you from underneath an attack helicopter,” Jesse wagged a finger at Romeo, who laughed and leaned back in his seat.

“Oh, fair, but I’ll prove this to you. Once we get back to the vault, I’ll show you how, with me doing nothing, I can somehow get dirtied in the vault. I don’t know how, but I promise you it happens.”

“If you say so, Rom,” Jesse grinned and leaned against the table, resting his head on one hand. Romeo smiled at the nickname. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, of course, but it felt nice just genuinely chatting with someone else. Be it it was his said rival, that didn’t matter. It felt nice being a person again.

For a while they sat in silence, before Lukas finally put the phone down. The clack of the phone brought everyone out of their dazes.

“Well, we’ve got nothing so far. Reginald is doing his best but it takes a lot to persuade the president,” Lukas sighed and walked over to the table before sitting down and leaning his head on his hand.

“Well, at least they’ve been notified of the situation. They should get help soon,” Yellow piped up a reply.

“I hope so. I don’t trust that this leader guy will comply to being captured for very long and the longer he’s here the more anxious I get.”

“I’ll go check on him and make sure the chains are right,” Yellow said, getting up, “Better safe than sorry.”

“Be careful.. I don’t trust him,” Riot spoke up this time from where he was watching the cameras with Olivia.

“Don’t worry, Riot, I’ll be fine, he’s chained up and is probably still out of it from whatever Romeo did to him,” Yellow’s tone didn’t change, but he gave Riot an assuring look before he left the room. Riot leaned back against the wall and watched him go. All he could remember was the first attack on their apartment. He didn’t trust Yellow anywhere near the Leader.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Yellow, it was just that he didn’t trust Yellow’s mindset. After everything that’d happened, and with the Witherstorm’s clear knowledge of Yellow as a potential threat, Riot logically thought that the two needed to stay as far away from each other as possible.

However there Yellow went, going to face the Witherstorm Leader to the face. The room separated Yellow from the others, and Yellow stopped only a few feet from the chair where the Leader was propped up still sitting tall. His head was dipped only slightly, and tilted upwards to give Yellow a passive glance.

Yellow had to control his own impulses, and went around behind the chair to tighten the chains and make sure they were all locked tight.

~~~~

Orion knew who he was, just upon instinct. This was Yellow. He had to remind himself that he was buying time, and shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He glanced over to the window, where light was pouring into the room, and leaned back against the metal chair. He felt the chains tighten against his chest and into his wrists, pressing him back even further.

Yellow came back around to the front and stopped just in front of Orion. He seemed to be containing something inside: heavy, heavy emotions, difficult to hold back. He lifted Orion's gaze to meet his, and Orion shot him a light look. Yellow didn't flinch, he didn't recoil, he barely showed a response. This caught Orion by surprise.

"You won't drop your appearance, will you?" Yellow said after a moment, nonchalantly and almost bored. His accent also caught Orion off guard. It was almost an obnoxious change from what he was used to.

Orion grumbled and turned his head aside, looking away from Yellow.

"I cannot wait to be rid of you. Maybe then can I start to heal. For now, I have to keep all this anger stored in me. But that's OK. Maybe one day I'll be able to take it all out on you. Luckily for you, they want you alive," Yellow stepped off to the side and scowled.

Orion chuckled to himself. This implied Yellow would be able to kill him, which was a foolish thought. He glanced back to the window, only to catch a quick glimpse of a figure, a shadow, poking through the rays of light. Yellow's back was turned, and Orion squinted for a better view.

Lukas waved from the window, his goggles and mask pulled over his face. Lukas signed to him from where he was, hoping Orion could see him.

"Can you escape? I'm going to create a diversion to get everyone off your back. Use the window on the high right to get out to the roof and split from there. We can meet back at the ED."

Orion understood, and nodded, before Lukas's figure disappeared from the window. He could finally free himself. In all honesty, he was expecting Ranger, as the usual rescue missions go, but wasn't disappointed to see Lukas. In fact, he was a bit excited. Lukas in action was something he'd been wanting to see since the first time they'd met.

In about a split second, Orion dug his heels into the ground and, with one brash jolt upwards, jerked and shattered the chains binding him. Metal chain links tinked against the ground everywhere, and Orion brushed the shattered chain from off of his lap. Yellow whipped around only for Orion to grab him by the neck and slam him up against the metal wall. He lifted him off his feet, ignoring the kicks and not losing eye contact.

~~~~

Yellow choked against the man's grip and tried desperately to kick away, but felt himself going out anyway. There was a loud cry from the doorway, and Riot ran in, not wasting any time before hitting the Leader as hard as he could over the head with a metal beam. The Leader dropped Yellow to the ground and turned to Riot instead.

Yellow dropped into a coughing heap on the metal ground, a hand to his throat as he tried to recover. All the Leader needed to do was get a good grip on Riot's head before delivering a harsh punch to the jaw to knock him clean out. He dropped Riot, watching with light content as he crippled to the ground, unconscious. Yellow pushed himself to his feet shakily, ready to make an attempt to attack, but he felt a hand shove his head into the wall and everything immediately went black.

Jesse was the next to notice the Leader as he came out of the room. He watched him grab the nearest pistol and raise it directly at him. For a second, he expected to feel the sharp pain of a bullet in his chest, but it never came. There was a different cry, and it took a moment for Jesse to realize his eyes were closed, and when he opened them, glancing down at his own chest and seeing there was no wound, no blood.

He looked up, only to see his own rival standing far in front of him, almost exactly between him and the Leader. Romeo stood still for a moment before dropping onto his knees, and Jesse suddenly knew what happened. He didn't even get a chance to cry his name before the Leader shot two more times, this time aimed directly at Romeo.

Romeo fell forwards, and the Leader held his ground, the pistol at the ready to fire at anyone else who dared move.

Jesse wanted to run, not to attack, just to get to Romeo, just to make sure he was alive, but even if he wanted to, he couldn't. He was frozen. He felt nothing but pure shock. For some reason, he felt as though he'd just watched a long-time friend die, right in front of him.

Then everything went from bad to worse as the sound of a window shattering was heard, and electric arrows almost rained down on the group. None hit, but they made their point, and the team scattered. Lukas caught sight of the Leader making a run for it, and ran after. He followed him up and out of a window near the roof, and they both left the warehouse. The arrows soon ceased right after.

Jesse ran right to Romeo, followed by Gil.

"Romeo!" he rolled Romeo onto his back, the three bullet wounds clear, however all missing Romeo's heart.

Romeo coughed and shifted uncomfortably, moving one hand over his chest. He had a stream of blood dripping down his chin, and there was already a puddle of blood where he'd been laying.

"Jesse, Jesse it's ok-- go catch them.. You're good at that... Rooves, it's your specialty, go catch them..." Romeo pushed weakly at Jesse, moving him away and motioning him to start the chase. Jesse knew he had to. He didn't want to, but he did, and turned to climb to the window the arrows came from.

Petra looked up quickly as the warehouse doors opened. To her relief, everyone was there, perfectly alright. Even Romeo, who was standing between Jesse and Lukas. Jesse waved to the group, a signal meaning everything was alright. Riot, seeing the wave, sighed in relief and got up to join them. Petra followed after, as well as Olivia. Axel and Ivor remained with the van to keep Radar, who was still visibly worried, company.

"Oh good, nothing went sideways?" Riot spoke up first, going over beside Yellow and staying close to him.

"Nope. In fact, I think we organized a- reasonable deal," Lukas replied lightly, glancing to Romeo.

"Yes. We can call it that." Obviously Romeo seemed slightly displeased, but was desperate for the help. He knew he couldn't take on the Witherstorm alone, and needed the assistance, though he still tried his best to hide this.

"So, what'd you all come up with?" Petra asked.

"Well, we can't garuntee full pardons. That's not part of our rank, yknow? What we can do, is lower jail time if he turns himself in at the end of this maybe to only a few years. That's the best we can do," Jesse explained.

"And you agreed, Romeo?"

"I can make some sort of compromise, I'm not that stubborn! It's better than nothing, yes?" Romeo spoke quickly as if trying to defend himself.

"Well, that's all we need. We've made our deal, so now what?" Gil spoke up next.

"Simple! We take our own boat to my own base! There we can get you what you need for your hunt. Not too hard! The van should also be able to fit on the boat, so no worries!" Romeo explained, with a sort of joy in his voice.

"Well.. Everyone's here, so-- I guess we leave now," Lukas shrugged, shooting Romeo a suggesting glance. Romeo nodded.

"Right! I'll get to the boat and make sure everything is ready!"

"I'm going with you," Jesse shot in, surprising both Lukas and Romeo.

"Pardon?"

"I still don't trust you, no offense. I'm going with you and keeping an eye on you, so you don't try any funny business. You're a snake, Romeo. Don't think I've forgotten about everything already."

Romeo smirked, taking it as a compliment.

"That's understandable. Come along, then!" Romeo began walking off, and Jesse tried to hide the fact that he was caught off guard. He jogged after Romeo, meanwhile Lukas herded everyone back to the van to pack everything up. He looked after Jesse, unable to hide his own concern for his partner. He didn't want to leave Jesse alone with Romeo of all people, after what he'd already done to both of them. He had to remind himself that Jesse was still the same tough ol' Jesse, and he could handle himself.

The gang packed up the van, making sure everything was put together before Lukas took his spot in the driver's seat.

He drove into the warehouse, heading out the open doors in the back and onto the docks. Romeo's boat was waiting there, anchored down with a ramp leading up the the deck.

Romeo, after some time, had managed to get the van onto the boat, and with the help of Jesse and Gil, got everything locked down and secure.

"Now, we're off!"

~~~~

It took only an hour to reach Romeo's base. It appeared quite small on the outside, however the interior was much larger. As the boat floated into a cave-like hangar, the small building peaking out of the side of the island opened up into many hallways, rooms and hangars. The lights were bright,a but only deeper into the hangar.

"Welcome to my vault! My hiding place. Don't ever speak of it outside of this area. The Witherstorm could be listening anywhere.." Romeo introduced the group, who were mostly still clinging around the van, to the massive hangar. There were only a few other people there, and they almost looked exactly the same. The Colossuses, which Jesse and Lukas knew all too well, were roaming around Romeo's vault, tidying up and fixing machinery. It was like being in the presence of a small army.

"Ignore them. They won't bother you," Romeo said as he gestured to the Colossuses, "I'll take you to the tracking equipment! We can see if we can discover the Witherstorm's whereabouts that way."

"That would be ideal," Lukas agreed, "Olivia?"

"Absolutely. I need to get to that stuff as quickly as possible to try and fix this flickering blip we've been dealing with lately. It's still off the radar currently, but maybe if we had stronger equipment we'd be able to catch it." Olivia was still typing quickly into her laptop, barely looking up.

"Alrighty then. Well, we'd better hurry. No telling where the Witherstorm could go next! And personally, excitement aside, the faster they're neutralized, the better for everyone."

Romeo led everyone off the boat, and with that their chase to find the Witherstorm had finally sprung into action.