I’m so sorry, Inshou.

I hope you don’t hate me, and that you enjoy these. Can you give the second package to the lady you are interested in?

~Xavier

The second package, the one for Azalea, contained some perfume and a multi-colored bat plush.

It was going to take a lot of work, Inshou knew, to mend the ties between his family and Xavier's, and despite the unit's apologies and his concerns, so clearly voiced in the short note, Inshou didn't have it in him to be angry with Xavier.

There was little the bioroid could have done to change what had happened in the months previous.

The guitar was unique in its design and material, certainly not the first design he would have had in mind for the instrument, but he liked it. The uptick in spider-themed gifts since the multiverse had opened to them delighted him, too.

Glancing at Snowshade and Frostmane, Inshou considered the poofy bat plush for a second before setting it on one of the shelves in his room. He knew that they were nothing but stuffed dolls, but that didn't stop him from setting the bat somewhere high.

“You’re making me upset.” ”And you knew what you were getting yourself into when you accepted me despite my name and my position. I’m sorry that you don’t like the hours I have to keep some days, but I told you that there would be days when my oaths to the City will trump the oaths I made to you as a bond-mate. Now, either back off and sever the link so I can get on with my mission, or I will collar you until I get back.”

“You’re mean.” He reached out to spank her as she moved from the room, a soft signal passing at the contact. “Only because you occasionally like it when I play hard to get.”

“You’re not as bad of a person as you think you are.” If only I could believe that, he thought, his legs dangling over the edge of the landing platform that stuck out from the side of the Tower on the AXR’s residence level.

“You’re not going to lose me.” ”That won’t stop me from worrying,” and he kissed her lightly before curling over her on the bed. “Just promise me that if anything happens and you have orders to get to a shelter or out with a guard, you’re not going to try and come find me, okay?”

“You’re really good at this…” Maybe I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I want to do to you, he responded through his signals, altogether too pleased with the sounds he was getting out of her.

“You’re so attractive.” ”That doesn’t explain why other women keep looking at me like that,” and he considered his drink for a moment. “Or is being bond-sworn not enough of a reason to discourage wandering eyes?”

“You’re so weird.” ”Thank you!” he responded cheerily, not at all put off by her comment.

“You’re under arrest.” ”But officer,” he exclaimed, barely holding back wanting signals as Azalea pulled his arms behind his back and cuffed him, “whatever in Light’s name am I under arrest for?” and he shifted just enough to graze his hand against her thigh, the desire-laden signal carrying a message of just how good he thought she looked in uniform. They needed to play games like this more often.

“You’ve done enough already.” ”It’ll never be enough, I have to do more, I can’t let myself become complacent, not after what I allowed to happen,” and he pushed her away as she tried to pull him into a hug, tried to comfort him, not caring how many days it had been since he’d last slept.

((“Okay, so Mids and I had a small oops here, in that we may have actually written the responses for eight of these a few days ago, but somehow managed to misplace them. Given that the posts thus far have been in alphabetical order, we wanted to let you know in case you noticed that these were a tad out of order.”)) [[I had an oops moment with Word, I think. My bad.]]

“You’ll be alright; no one can hurt you now.” Jet black optics took a moment to focus, the alien but familiar light blues and greens around him confusing him at first. When his mind finally caught up with the rest of him, he bolted upright, his arms winding around his wife. When he finally spoke some long moments later, it was with a voice broken by happy tears, the Cyber Elf unwilling to let her go after having been separated for so long. “By Light, I’ve missed you.” ((“Mids, you basically repeated an earlier one.”)) [[I know. It’s good feels.]]

“You’re a liar and a cheat.” ”All part of the game, mate,” he responded, “or didn’ya know that a pirate never plays fair?” He smirked at her, gathering up his dice. “Care fer another round?”

“You’re a spy?” ”Uh, not…not exactly,” he answered, glancing to Azalea before looking back to her coworkers. “At least, not by the romantic idea of spies that you’d get from the movies. Undercover operations aren’t nearly so…Bond.”

“You’re all out of tea.” ”We what now?” and Inshou pulled down the jars he kept his tea supplies in, more than a little surprised that they were empty. “Huh. I guess I should make a trip out, grab some fresh supplies.”

“You’re always so hard on yourself.” ”Comes with being a general and a Light,” he said with a shrug. “If you’re worried about yourself or any kids we have, don’t. I have no intention of being anywhere near as hard on my family as my father was with us.”

“You’re always welcome here.” He nodded to Azalea at her comment, considering his future in-laws for a moment before moving to give Josephene a warm hug, a handshake offered to Lewis. “It’s been a pleasure,” he said, “and I look forward to the next time we’re able to get together,” his smile warming as Azalea leaned into him.

“You’re an idiot.” ”Yes, but I’m your idiot.”

“You’re bad for me.” He smirked up at her, the curls of his lips not fading even as she pressed herself down against him and kissed him. “Maybe I am,” he said, his tone teasing as his hands caressed her thighs, “but I’m such a delicious addiction, aren’t I?”

“You’re cute.” ”Cute.” The word was repeated, his tone and expression both flat. “Cute,” he repeated. “Almost four decades old and I’m somehow still cute.”

“You drive me crazy!” ”Because of what I do as a prankster,” he asked, that smirk so very suggestive, “or because of what I do in the bedroom?”

“You have ten minutes, so make it quick.” ”Okay,” and his body was suddenly against hers, pinning her to the wall, his hands pressed into the wall at either side of her as his lips claimed hers.

“You hurt your leg?” ”Huh?” and he looked up from where he was sitting on the table in his maintenance room, nearly all of the inner mechanisms of his right thigh exposed or in pieces around him, before shaking his head. “Didn’t hurt it. Few too many auto-repairs in the area, though, so I wanted to see what kept demanding repairs. Ended up deciding to fully replace everything but the bone,” and it was more than a little disconcerting to see him so nonchalant about disassembling himself.

“You know I won’t judge you.” ”Not you I’m worried about.”

“You lied to me!” ”I had no choice!” he fired back. “Had you known from the beginning who I was, what would you have done?! You’d have been like all the others, so content to see me as something I’m not because of my surname!”

“You look handsome, but you don’t look fine.” His hands shook as he pulled the robes of state over the rest of his outfit, the light blue fabric zipping itself up along the nanoanchors on either edge of the cloth, and he looked to her, a strange mix of hope and loss in his gaze. “It’s my first time making a public address as Beacon City’s Commander. I’m nervous as hell and wondering if I can even begin to fill my father’s boots.”

“You look like you’re in pain.” ”Blasted calf hydraulic locked up on me,” he replied, intensive scans running over the affected leg, trying to figure out why the synthetic musculature wasn’t operating properly. “I have no idea how humans can handle Charlie horses.”

“You mean everything to me.” ”Only for the next couple of years,” he whispered, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her, one hand teasingly grazing over her belly, knowing she’d get the message even if they weren’t capable of replicating that particular facet of organic life.

“You owe me.” ”And how would you like to be repaid, mistress?” he replied, pinning her down on the bed.

“You can’t just leave me like this.” ”I think I can,” and he smirked, her bound and suspended frame the picture of illicit bliss. “After all, with how bad you’ve been lately, I think a quick break for me to step away for some tea will give you time to consider your…position.”

“You changed.” ”I’m not going out in anything obviously Arcadian, are you kidding? I’m a ninja; I don’t like drawing attention, especially when we’re going out.”

“You could have died!” ”Yeah, maybe,” he said with a lopsided grin, “but I didn’t, and that’s what’s important here.”

“You could have killed someone!” There was no answer he could give, no defense he could raise to her complaint, that would make her understand the weight of his oaths to the City, to all that he and his family held dear. Without the knowledge of all that he had lived through, without having seen what he had over his long years of service, there was no way to truly convey that he couldn’t afford to care when the safety of the City and her people was at risk.

“You coward.” ”Take that back,” he snarled. “You don’t know anything of the kind of threat he presents. Or would you rather I die out there to prove to you that I have no issue sacrificing myself?”

“You do know that I would do anything for you, right?” ”And I, you,” he said, pulling her into a warm embrace, one hand tangling into her hair.

“You don’t have to be alone.” Perched on the highest point of the Tower roof’s wall, some thirty feet above her, Inshou only shook his head in reply. After his grand failure, all he wanted to be was left alone.

“You don’t need to act so tough and then not say something when you get hurt like this.” ”I can’t afford to show weakness,” he challenged. “Show your hand to the enemy and you forfeit not only the battle but your life as well. Do not lecture me on how to be a soldier, Azalea.”

“You don’t need to be so gentle.” ”Maybe I want to be,” he answered, barely-there touches and ghosting kisses teasing her tactile array with ephemeral signals.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” ”Am I not allowed to admire a beautiful woman half-naked on my bed?” he replied, scooting closer to her and nuzzling against her shoulder. “Love you, baby.”

“Why are you wearing that?” ”Pulled from duty today to fill in for Cubit. He wanted the day off and no one else from the Council opted to follow suit,” and Inshou ran his hands over the jacket of his Counselor’s uniform, smoothing away nonexistent wrinkles. “I volunteered to sit in,” and it wasn’t unheard of for the AXRs to do that, given that they were listed as Junior Counselors on top of all their other titles.

“Why do we have to say goodbye?” Inshou couldn’t bear to answer her question, simply pulling her into his arms to give her a shoulder to cry against, his own heart breaking at the pain in his wife’s voice. Because no one is meant to live forever, he thought to himself.

“Why do you think I’m here?” ”Work?” and Inshou motioned for her to stay back behind the barrier for a moment, glancing over his shoulder at the crime scene. “Verikar,” and he motioned to one of the lower-ranked Zan’ei on site, “we’ve got a responder for hazmat removal. How much longer before I can open up the scene for her?”

“Why yes, I am as think as you drunk I am.” Inshou plucked the bottle from her hands, easily vaulting over the counter to get out of her range, and he forced the cork back into the mouth of the bottle before darting up for the ceiling and into the vents. He’d be leaving this bottle with his father to ensure people stopped drinking it.

“You always try to act so tough.” ”Better than the other option, given what I see on a daily basis,” he returned with a shrug. “You have to have a thick skin in my line of work,” even if some of what he’d seen over the years had left him a sobbing mess against his father once the mission was over.

“You can’t blame yourself.” ”Yes, I can, and I do,” he insisted, pushing her away as she tried to hold him, his arms wrapping around himself as he moved through the too-cold hallways of the Tower. “It was my fault. I should have known. I should have been able to stop it before it went as far as it did.”

“You can’t deny you have feelings for me.” ”I’m not trying to, and I would never lie to you, hurt you like that,” and he leaned into her, resting his forehead against hers. “I just…don’t know how to…” and he made a helpless gesture. “And I sincerely doubt my father would approve of me taking a page from my uncle’s book in this regard,” given how forward Zach tended to be with Leto.

“You can’t die on me!” Harsh coughs wracked his frame, the AXR not at all surprised to see the splatter of warm red on the ground, and he managed to roll most of the way onto his stomach before another wave of coughing overtook him. “Shit,” he swore, eyes focusing on the addition of a oily blackish brown fluid to the coolant he was already coughing up. “That’s a burst hydraulic line somewhere,” and the trio of bullet wounds on his back were slow to heal, his nanites more focused at the moment with stopping the assault going on inside, struggling to stop whatever it was that the bullets had been laced with. He winced suddenly, one hand pressing to his chest, and he wasn’t surprised to feel her wrap her arms around his shoulders as yet another coughing fit claimed him. There was honest fear in his eyes this time, and he was sure her systems had just run as cold as his at the sight of electric blue hitting the ground. A damaged coolant or hydraulic line he could deal with. But a leaking subtank?