#sa jesse

(Hi I’m back from the dead suddenly and with absolutely no warning; Anyways, I’ve got tons more experience now, and this is the piece that revamps and sets the line for how the story is gonna proceed :) have fun! There may be some changes because I might have missed something but that’s ok. Also my name’s Oz now)

Days were passing, one by one, where nothing happened. Two weeks went by. Jesse and Gil spent most of the time asleep; Gil, plagued by nightmares almost every night. He described them as someone else’s memories, from someone else’s point of view. There was imagery of his hands, which were not his own, killing. They were bloodied, so were the white or wooden walls he walked past. These were only occasional, though- Some of his nightmares were merely considered nightmares because they shared the same format of looking through someone else’s eyes. In them, sometimes, the actions themselves would be mundane, in a location he didn’t know, working technology or patrolling silver hallways like a drone soldier. Gil said he thinks this is what was what his future was going to be, if he hadn’t escaped from PAMA when he did.

Lukas worked quietly with Olivia and Axel in another room, going through a few of the deciphered notebook pages with them. They were vague, jotted notes and nothing more, but held significant amounts of information. Lukas hadn't been able to stop thinking about the final one that was decoded- 'Yellowstone.' Compared to the other pages, this was… More decisive, even- more severe, and it put a bit of a wildcard into play. The rest of the notes conveyed a planned pattern of multiple attacks, using bait and coordination. 'Yellowstone' conveyed a distinctive, worldwide annihilation event.

The Witherstorm had missiles, this much was clear. How they would use them, now, was not so clear. The only thing that was, was that the agents had to move first.

While the agents rested, he pondered. Through the calm silence that they were gifted by the Witherstorm Leader's intense injury, his mind just couldn't calm. The Witherstorm's plans, Jesse, Gil, Romeo, the unnerving stillness of the whole Vault, the uncertainty for how long they have, even… Nightmares of his own. Strange ones, like the one Gil complained about, from some other perspective, separated from the body. He blamed those on Gil's troubles for the past few days, worried constantly about him, and the added stress of Jesse, despite him being almost entirely healed, definitely didn't help. Then there was the other Lukas. That was something he couldn't forget even if he wanted to. He tried keeping his mind off of it all by helping Olivia with some of the more technical things, but it was all just so uncanny; like looking into a mirror. A mirror that gave you green goggles and a toothy mask, by default.

… "Stress" was an understatement. Definitely.

There was only one call out of the Vault since the last call to Reginald, and it was to call off the original call for transportation. The Witherstorm Leader was gone, and there was nothing they had to pick up. No one came to the Vault, no one left. It stayed quiet. Mourning, mostly, amongst the Colossuses, kept even the hallways to a heavy stillness. Even the very room Lukas was standing in felt hollow, despite the company of his friends there. Wally in particular had barely spoken to anyone since the news of Romeo’s passing, he only checked in occasionally to each room as he was patrolling, and never spoke in casual conversation. If he did speak casually, it was to Conner, who had all of his attention outside of his work. Lukas suspected he was walling up and focusing on anything else to not focus on pain, which of course was understandable of him. Lukas would be doing the same, if he had the option.

Unfortunately, he didn’t.

“You’ve been staring at that sheet of paper for almost an hour, Lukas. Blink, at least.” Olivia cut through the silence, giving him a nudge on the shoulder.

“Sorry,” he sighed, letting it drape onto the table. His voice was soft, almost under his breath. “I just don’t know what else to do.”

“I would tell you to stop worrying so much, but that would be hypocritical.”

“Yeah, and keep in mind it's impossible, as well.”

“We’ll come up with something. Jesse’s plan will work.”

“Jesse’s plan?”

“I think it was something like Plan C, or maybe Plan D.”

“One of the many, right…” Lukas heaved out a deeper sigh, putting his elbows up on the table and covering his face with his hands. “When does that go into effect, exactly?”

“I’ve been watching it. Technically, it already is in effect.” Olivia slid something across the table, over in front of him. Lukas peeked through his fingers, down to a small radar device. It matched the steel and blue aesthetic of the Vault; Romeo’s technology.

“What is that?”

“Remember your weird clone?”

“Um… Yeah. How could I not?”

“That’s Plan- Whatever. Jesse stuck a tracker to him while he was unconscious. Look.” Olivia tapped at the screen, overtop of a blue blip. “It hasn’t moved much in days… But I’ve been waiting for Jesse to get back on his feet before we do anything.”

“Where is that? Is there some kind of interference? It looks like it’s just barely holding on..”

“Under water, and in the center of one of the most irradiated places on the planet… It’s not doing too hot, but it’s managed to hang in there without getting worse,” Olivia picks the device back up, looking at the screen with a sort of sad impatience. “That’s all I can ask for.”

“I'll go check on Jesse. I wish he’d mentioned this to me sooner- But I guess.. His plan hinged on both of us putting on a believable act in front of the Leader, otherwise he might’ve thought something was up even by taking- the other me.”

“I thought he did tell you.” Olivia looked just as surprised as Lukas did.

“Maybe he forgot to- You know Jesse.” Lukas shrugged, before pushing himself up from the table. “Either way, I’m just glad it worked. We’re gonna have to do something with this soon, though, before we risk losing it entirely. I’ll be back with Jesse in a little bit.”

“Check on Gil, too, will you?” Axel finally spoke up, from where he was mostly dozing off in his seat. “Petra said he got worse.”

“I’ll make sure he’s alright.”

—

“You’re sure you’re gonna be ready to leave?”

A heavy stack of clothing is flopped down on a black-sheeted cot, followed by Ranger flopping down right beside it with a big sigh.

“No worries, Trev! I’m just waiting until Leader gets better, but I’ve been ready to leave since I heard about the assignment. I know Leader’s got the triangle under control, so I’ve got nothing to worry about,” he assured his brother, who was waiting, visibly nervous, in the door to his room. His arms were crossed, and for extra impact, he didn’t bother having his goggles on. Trevor spoke through his eyes almost as much as Orion did… Ranger, even from the bed, could see the worry in them. And the anger hidden beneath it.

“Look-” He started again, getting right back to his feet. “It’ll be fine. You know it’s just the usual routine, and I’ll be back in a couple weeks.”

“You told me this already,” Trevor gruffed. “And I told you already, the agents have been causing so much turmoil recently, and they have a sub. What’s to stop them from going after you?”

“They won’t know- The U-boat is practically invisible.”

“They have access to all of Romeo’s tech, now.”

“Pssh, that’s not gonna change anything.” Ranger gave his hands a nonchalant wave. “You worry too much. Besides, I have to go, I can’t exactly do anything about that.”

“You could let me go with you-”

“No no, Trevor-” Ranger waved the thought away quickly, “You know you can’t. Leader needs you way more than PAMA does. He’s been acting stupid, recently, and I need you to keep an eye on him and that- that ‘Green’ guy. Make sure he gets better and make sure nothing bad happens to him again, okay? You gotta yell at him for me while I can’t.”

“... You should at least ask Orion to make a plan.”

“Dude-” Ranger almost flinched at Trevor’s use of his brother’s name. Both because it frightened him a bit when Trevor got so serious, but also saying ‘Orion’ after so long of him being their ‘Leader’ just felt wrong. In hindsight, that was probably very telling.

“Do it.” For good measure, Trevor gave him a jab in the chest. “I won’t settle, and I won’t trust that you’ll be fine, until you do. I’ve had enough of ‘Everything’s okay’ and ‘It’ll be fine.’ Orion’s given me plenty, and he’s lying about it all the time. I don’t want you lying to me, too. Just do it.”

Trevor didn’t even give him a chance to reply; he simply turned on his heels and went to sweep out of the room. As he did, he noticed a figure had taken his place in the doorway: Orion, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed. Trevor startled for a moment, before the stern impression he just had returned, even slightly stronger. He swept right past him, without saying a word, and made his way down the hallway. If he felt any fear, or any guilt, he did not show it.

Orion simply let him go. He understood. He was being insufferable, these past few days… But it was necessary to continue. He spent three days in bed, and that was plenty. He’d already gotten an earful from Green, and from Ranger as well- Trevor’s righteous anger was only another consequence of the fight. The faster he finished, the faster he could put all of this behind him.

Ranger, unlike Trevor, looked nearly mortified to see that Orion had heard the conversation, and couldn’t help but panickedly wonder how much he had heard. Orion only stepped into the room and settled himself in front of Ranger. A firm hand placed on Ranger’s shoulder was enough to wipe most of that worry away.

“How much did you hear?” Ranger started.

Orion moved his hand away,

“Enough.”

“So… You heard what Trevor said. Have a plan?”

Orion nodded.

“They will not look at you.”

The emotion in Orion’s eyes was scary. Comforting, that he seemed so determined to assure, but scary nonetheless, for the malice they held alone.

“How?”

“Doing what I should have done before.”

—

“Hey, Jesse?” A light knock on the metal door to Jesse’s room was followed by Lukas stepping inside anyway. Jesse looked up from what he was doing; it looked like scribbling, in a pocket-sized lined notebook. “How are you holding up?”

“Way better than yesterday, and yesterday was better than the day before. Y’know, there’s only so long an injury can keep me down,” Jesse shut the little notebook once he locked eyes with Lukas; not like he was hiding, but more relieved that he now had something else to do. Lukas couldn’t hide a soft smile.

“I’ll cut right to the chase-”

“What, there has to be a chase for you to visit?” Jesse faked a pout.

“No, of course not– I’ve apparently been caught in a trance for a few hours, sorry for not showing up sooner.”

“Tsk, that special Lukas worry trance, eh?”

“It’s that frequent?” Lukas huffed out a short laugh through his nose.

“You do it sometimes when we’re about to board a plane. Normally you use the complimentary magazines. What was it this time?”

“The Witherstorm’s notes.”

“Ohh, man, it’s that bad?”

“Yes,” Lukas sighed, “Olivia told me about your plan C- or D-”

“I think we’re on D now-” There was a quick change in Jesse’s tone as he shook his head and quickly tried to begin his three part apology. “I’m sorry for not telling you, I just-”

“Needed the performance to be real, I know, I understand.” Lukas waved it down with an air of assurance. “It’s a good plan, and it’s working, but we’ve got to act on it, real soon. That’s why I’m here. You feeling well enough to move forward?”

“Absolutely.” A determined smirk brightened up Jesse’s features considerably… Smiles of any kind usually did. They, every time, without fail, made Lukas feel just a bit better about the entire situation.

It didn’t last very long, though- A room over, someone shouts. It’s not hard to guess who. Through the heavy silence it cut, obviously coming from Gil. Lukas doesn’t hesitate to bolt, giving a quick ‘come along’ nod to Jesse. Jesse threw the covers off and leapt out of the bed to follow.

Lukas threw the door open to see Gil not in the bed, but on the floor, head clutched in his hands and legs tangled up in the sheet that he dragged down with him.

“Gil!” Immediately, he was at his side. He steadied his twitching with a hand behind his neck. “It’s never been this bad before- Jesse, help me out!”

Jesse was already knelt alongside him, and gave him a heavily questioning quirk of the brow,

“How?!”

“The nightmares- They’re not going- They’re not- I can see them-” Gil was groaning beneath his breath, and he only dug his fingers in deeper.

“It’s alright, Gil- It’s not real, it’s nightmares-” Lukas tried to assure him, to no avail.

“I can see! I can see it- I know where I am… I know what this is! I know who I see! Urrgh- It hurts.. It’s real, it’s real… I’m not me. I’m it. I can see it. Through it..” Gil’s mumbling and groaning was practically incomprehensible, but it was enough to prove one thing; this went much deeper than it appeared. Lukas didn’t get a chance to ask what Gil was seeing, he was unconscious again before he could even try, once again limp in Lukas’s hold.

“... What was that?” Jesse spoke up first.

So I wanna do something like this so let’s-a-go.

CIA Agency

Jesse

Chaotic Good Dumbass

Smol and feral

Engaged with gay blonde partner

Lukas

Gay blondie

Engaged with smol and feral partner

Has a possible bad luck streak

Axel

Big boy

Pretty much a big boy who’s working for the CIA

Olivia

Pretty nerdy woman

She’s trying her best y’all

Dealing with hackers is hard af

Petra

Raging Diaaster Lesbian™

Pretty much ships two of her friends

Tough bitch

Ivor

The only straight man

Brought most of the CIA agents in like some sort of adoption??

Radar

Baby ™

Needs to be protected

Good boy

Yellow/James

Sassy bastard

Is gay with his partner

Nerdy and British yet sassy at the same time

Riot/Kelly

Gay with British sassy bastard

Also a dumbass

Almost died after getting his ass kicked

Witherstorm

Orion

Tall as fuck, Sexy, and full of spite

The one character that 90% of SAAU fans thirst for

Pretty Man with pretty eyes

He won’t hesitate bitch

Not the villain, just angry

Sexuality is spite

Ranger

Dumbass Bastard

Child who memes during high school

Pretty much hides his internal conflicts by meming

Toes and Yeet-haw

Swears more that a sailor

Trevor

Dangerous baby™

He’s trying his best and his brothers are proud of him

Just a sweetheart who would kick your ass

Bi-baby boy

Green/R!Lukas(belongs to @zonerz )

Bi/Pan badass

Friends with the guy who’s angry at the world

Literally acts like a cat

Wrecked the dumbass bastard’s motorcycle

Very kind guy

He’s a badass from another dimension

“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. 

"It's time to go. We need to hurry if we want to move on to Jesse's plan.. Which one were we on?"

Petra took the still unconscious Jesse from Lukas's lap, picking him up and making sure to be careful of every movement.

"Plan B or C, I can't remember," Yellow replied nonchalantly as Riot helped him to his feet.

"It doesn't matter-- let's just get everyone back to the sub. Once Jesse wakes back up we can ask him about his master plan."

Lukas got up next, gathering himself a bit before he went over to assist Gil. He hoped dearly for some relaxation time back in the Vault. A little bit of time to recover. Hell, maybe even something as simple as a shower. A walk along the island, perhaps. Something calm, away from the seemingly neverending waves of chaos.

Lukas picked Gil up carefully, adjusting him so that his head was resting against his shoulder securely in order to avoid hurting him further. Gil was asleep, and only groaned lightly from the new movement, however he eventually sunk into the hold and relaxed.

Axel picked up Romeo's body from the ground. He knew Jesse wouldn't want to leave him behind. Taking him back to the Vault so the Collosuses can give him a proper send off was the best option.

Olivia and Radar helped back up the tech, helping each other carry it out to the van. The dock wasn't too far, but the crowded van ride was obviously going to be an issue with keeping the wounded comfortable. Olivia tried to pack everything into the back of the van as secluded as possible, meanwhile Radar tried to stuff everything small enough under the seats.

Ivor collected the notes and books that had been thrown across the makeshift table and packed them all together, tying them with a loose string he'd found laying over one of the crates in the warehouse. Once they were tightly bound and secure, he took them out to the van where Olviia and Radar were still struggling with their gadgets and slipped the stack of papers and books into the glove box.

Soon everyone piled in, and somehow everyone managed to fit. Petra drove, and she made sure to take back roads, faster shortcuts to stay out of the way of regular traffic. The ride to the docks only took around ten minutes, and when they finally arrived, Petra parked around the back of a stack of crates, making sure the van was hidden decently for the time being.

“Alright, the Terminal should still be waiting for us beside the dock. Not too far away,” Petra put the van in park and opened the door, stepping out, “Let’s hurry, we don’t wanna get caught.”

The back doors of the van opened, and everyone took their turns getting out. Yellow, who’d been pressed up against Axel for the ride, sighed in relief and stretched.

“Thank God, I was close to losing my mind,” he mumbled.

“It was a ten-minute ride, Yellow.”

“Yeah, ten minutes in Axel’s armpit, Petra.”

“Fair.”

Most helped unpack the van, whilst Lukas and Axel carried Gil and Jesse to the Terminal’s hatch. Axel set Jesse lightly down on the pier before twisting open the hatch and helping Lukas down. Eventually once Lukas had made it down with Gil, Axel picked Jesse back up and followed him down into the massive sub.

Lukas laid Gil down gently on his back, trying to make sure he was comfortable. Gil shifted against the metal ground, moving a hand subconsciously closer to his neck. Clearly, he wasn’t.

Lukas got up and opened one of the nearby cabinets. He searched through walls of them, until finally one of them held a few towels, sheets, and worn-down pillows. Clearly Romeo had never used the Terminal for any long trips. Lukas grabbed a couple pillows and a cotton sheet and shut the cabinet. Though, as he was carrying the sheet back to Gil, he heard a light thump on the floor.

He moved the pillows from his view and saw by his feet a small knitted doll. Curious, he knelt down and picked up the doll with whatever available space he had in his hand. He went back over to Gil, kneeling beside him and lifting his head carefully to slide the two pillows under his upper back and head to support his injured neck. Then he draped the sheet over him carefully and made sure he was in the best supported position. Gil sank into the pillows and relaxed, and Lukas blew out a quiet sigh of relief.

He glanced down at the doll still in his hand. It was small, made for the hands of a child, and had woven dark brown hair and chestnut colored skin, with small blue gemstones that made the eyes. It had a name written in permanent marker on its satin blue shirt. ‘Esmerelda.’

Lukas didn’t know exactly who this doll belonged to, but he decided to keep it with him anyway and ask about it in the Vault.

Lukas’s thoughts were quickly interrupted by Jesse, who’d been laid up against a wall by Axel, beginning to stir in his sleep.

“Jesse?” he kept his voice quiet, scooting over to him quickly.

Jesse mumbled something incoherent, that sounded mostly like sleep-talk.

“… What was that?” Lukas spoke mostly to himself with a small grin on his face, just taking amusement in the presumed sleep talking.

“Where’d my pants go?” Jesse mumbled, a little louder this time, opening his eyes slightly and catching Lukas lightly off guard. Lukas chuckled and put a hand to Jesse's cheek.

"They were a little ruined, but we're going to get you new ones from the Vault. How are you feeling?"

"Tired.. But I don't think I'm gonna be able to get back to sleep." Jesse leaned into Lukas's touch and blew a light sigh through his nose.

"At least that's improvement. Still, rest.. You lost a lot of blood. And I mean a lot," Lukas gave him a small grin, "And know that once you're recovered you will be getting a good scolding, dummy."

"Ah, deserved.." Jesse returned the small smile, but grumbled and put his hands over his stomach.

"Something wrong?" Lukas asked with a tint of concern in his tone.

"I've just.. Got a weird feeling.. It doesn't hurt or anything I just feel... Odd," Jesse replied with a light grimace.

"Huh.. Really? What's it like?" Lukas sounded more curious this time.

"Like.. Kind of a lurching feeling.. Like you know when you go down a drop on a rollercoaster? That's specific but-- it's like that.."

"Hm. Interesting.. I got a similar feeling a while ago.. Maybe it's just stress, or something from blood loss.. Just rest for now, we'll figure it out later.."

----

Soon everyone was on the sub, and they launched from the docks. The Terminal's trip only took around a half an hour before the island Vault came into sight. Then again, the Terminal moved quite slowly at the time, as to offer a bit of smooth rest and recovery to both Jesse and Gil.

Once the sub arrived at the Vault, the bay door opened and the Terminal drifted into the large hangar as water filled it. Once the sub finally came to a stop, the room drained of all of the sea water slowly, bringing the Terminal down gently onto its props. The door hissed, popping open and lowering to the metal ground. At the bottom of the ramp, a Collosus was already waiting for the agents arrival. He must've ran out once the water had cleared.

Lukas was the first to make his way down, Gil leaning against him for support. He greeted the Collosus first, holding out his one free hand for a handshake.

The Collosus shook his hand, giving him a greeting nod before introducing himself.

"Welcome back from your journey. I see things may have been a bit shaky," he glanced to Gil, who was barely awake enough to respond, "I am Wally, Romeo's chief Collosus. I apologize for not being available before. There were things I was taking care of. However, now I am available, if you need anything."

"Ah, Wally. Jesse will need to speak with you once he's recovered.. Until then, can we get a medbay for the wounded?" Lukas replied, mostly concerned with the condition of his friends rather than formal introductions.

"Of course, I'll send alert. And I'll make sure to assist the others in any way I can."

Wally turned to leave, and Lukas quickly caught his attention.

"Oh, commander Wally, before you go--" Lukas pulled the small doll from his pocket and held it out to the man, "I found this aboard the Terminal.. I don't know who's it is or if it belongs to anyone here, but I was hoping you might know."

Wally took the doll from Lukas's hand gently, studying it for a moment before grazing a finger over the doll's woven hair. He read over the cursive name in the shirt and for a moment, his expression softened.

"I.. Believe I can help."

----

After a good hour, everyone had settled in. Wally walked alone in the hallway, relaxing in the calm again. Though even though the setting was calm, his mind wasn't. In fact, his mind was nothing but a blur.

He spoke privately with Jesse minutes earlier. He'd heard the news of Romeo, he'd been given the lapel of his leader. And for the moment, the wave of emotion hadn't yet hit him. For now, he was stuck in an emotional limbo. He held the lapel in one hand, tightly, and he could feel the dried blood on the polished gems. In the other hand, he held the doll by its small woven hand. He went to deal with other things before worrying about anything else.

He stopped at the end of the hallway, knocking lightly on one of the smaller doors. There was fiddling with the handle, before it popped open and swung outwards messily. A small boy was on the other side, just barely tall enough to reach the handle.

"Hi Daddy, you were gone for a while, 's everything OK?" the little boy asked in a squeaky, clearly sleepy voice.

"Everything is.. Fine, Conner. Here, someone gave me something today I think you'll recognize," Wally knelt down on one knee so he was at the boy's level, "Do you remember Esmerelda?"

"My doll!! Granny made me it before we left!" Conner replied excitedly, a smile growing on his face. Wally smiled at his son's sudden excitement, and held out the small doll to him.

"Well, someone found old little Esmerelda on the Terminal. Looks like someone lost her while sneaking around."

"I wasn't sneaking!!" Conner quickly took the doll with a bright smile and hugged it to his chest, "Uncle Romeo used to let me come on with him. As long as-"

"As long as you were wearing your safety gloves," Wally chuckled at the little memory, however quickly remembered the news of Romeo's departure. He'd have to say something to his son about the loss of someone who he considered family, and he dreaded it. Conner was too young. A six year old shouldn't have to deal with such a tremendous loss. But he couldn't hide it from him, it would just be more cruel to do so.

"Hey buddy, we've got to have a little talk.." Wally started carefully, the sudden change in tone catching Conner's attention.

"Is it about Uncle Romeo? I promise he always made sure I was-"

"Uncle Romeo's.. Probably gonna be gone for a while, kiddo.."

Conner tilted his head, confused.

"Gone? Like he's busy? Cause he's busy a lot!!" He didn't let the drop in his father's tone change his mood, lost in his little kid bliss.

"Gone as in.. Most likely won't be coming back."

"What? Why would he leave?"

"He didn't have a choice, bud.. Someone made him.. And he can't come back now.."

"Oh... Well that's OK!! We can still talk to him, right?"

At this point, Wally struggled to say anything else. Tears stung at the corners of his eyes, and he scooped Conner up in a hug.

"I'm sorry, Conner, we can't.. We can try and say goodbye, but he won't be able to reply.. He'll be able to hear us though. We can make little recordings for him, if you want to.. And we can try and.. Send them to him."

----

Gil's awakening was harsh, as he woke up in his hospital bed from a nightmare. He shot up off the pillow, immediately regretting doing so as a sharp pain shot through his neck. He fell back down, sinking back into the soft pillow and trying to recover. He was drenched in sweat and shaking, and he could barely remember his nightmare. He had no clue what he was so worked up about.

Jesse was in the bed to his right, and other than that, the room was empty. Jesse appeared to still be asleep, an arm and leg hanging off the side of the bed while his head was stuck under his pillow. The medbay was almost completely silent besides Jesse's light snoring and Gil's own breathing.

Gil tried to remember his nightmare, knowing he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. What had him that worked up? He tried his best to remember back, but couldn't seem to make out any sort of image besides blurred green. Eventually, after around ten minutes of desperately trying, he gave up and just shut his eyes.

Suddenly, as he cleared his mind, it all came flooding back, until his eyes shot open again and he slapped his hands to his forehead. He was overrun quite quickly with a massive migraine, and static sounds in his ears. The buzzing took a while to go away, and soon he was once again left in silence.

He kept his eyes open this time. He feared if he shut them again, the images would come back. He felt haunted.

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.

Lukas heard the dreaded, clearly agitated call of Jesse and watched him limp over. The limps were attempted to be hidden, but Lukas easily saw past that. He wasn’t able to say anything before Jesse spoke again.

“Is there something you want to mention to me, maybe? Something you must have glazed over before? Maybe I didn’t catch it?”

“Jesse, it’s alright, I swear— Nothing’s happened to me,” Lukas tried to calm him down, taking one of his hands in attempt to assure him.

“Why didn’t you say anything— Something COULD happen! Lukas please,, don’t keep things like this from me.. Tell me if you’re feeling anything wrong, anything at all. I don’t want you to end up hurt in my plan because I plan too brashly— You need to tell me things! So I can HELP!” Jesse stopped for a moment to breathe, clearly distressed. “Lukas, if you hid something and I put you through something that got you hurt or killed— because I didn’t know.. I—“

Lukas cut him off quickly, knowing where this would be headed. Jesse was obviously overwhelmed, and needed help of his own.

“I’m sorry, Jesse— ok, I was wrong. I should’ve mentioned it to you.. Just calm down— you look...” Lukas paused for a moment and squinted slightly before putting his hands to Jesse’s cheeks. His tone dropped into concern as he continued. “Pale-... Are you feeling ok?”

“What-?” Jesse blinked in surprise and recoiled slightly, “Yeah- yeah I’m- I’m fine. I-“

With closer examination, Lukas could see faint bags under Jesse’s eyes. A clearly exhausted complexion, with paler skin than the tan usual. It was just now, finally after all of the chaos had passed, that Lukas could see the shape Jesse was actually in.

“A- Are you sure?” he put his hands over Jesse's neck. Jesse was shuddering, not much, but enough that Lukas could tell. "M.. Maybe we should let Yellow and Ivor check you over, just in case-"

"I said I'm fine-! I'm just-" Jesse went to back away, but he stumbled. His knees gave out, and he nearly fell to the ground. Lukas caught him quickly, and for a moment all he could do was panic.

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.