It was 9 o'clock at night. Rex and Cesar Salazar had just had a spat over the importance of family, due to Cesar's original objective before he found his little brother. Rex had gone back to his room and cried himself to sleep, hugging their family photo album. Cesar had gone back to his lab.
Cesar had fled the room, Six's room, bawling. He dashed through the winding halls, trying to find his way back to the hangar. He brushed past Six and several Providence agents, but didn't really notice. He just wanted to get away. Away from the guilt. Away from the suffering he caused. His sprint slowed to a sluggish walk. He made the rest of his trek at this pace. By the time he got back to the hangar, it was 10. He meandered into his lab, sluggish still. Upon entering, he looked around. Random devices, most of them half-finished, covered the few worktops. The dusty box where the album was sat empty, excluding some papers, in the corner. Cesar sighed.
"Look at this." He mumbled to himself. "All I've been doing is wasting time, and I can't even find the time to finish any of this!" He looked the small trinkets over. "You always get so distracted. First one idea, then you think of something else." He picked up an old project and turned it over in his hands. It was a magnetic field generator, half-finished. He put it back down among its unfinished companions and sighed. "Some genius you are." Cesar looked down over the devices again. "Maybe…" He thought it over. He could do what he had always done. He could work, maybe finish some of these old projects. Nothing seemed to bother him when he tinkered. He scooped up the field generator and placed it down next to the selenium tracker. He stopped, staring at the tracker. "Why don't I finish that?" he said, thinking back to his endeavors earlier that day. "There's not much to do…" He spurred around and picked the welder and goggles off of the other work table. Placing the goggles over his eyes, he said to himself, "Just a couple welds, right? Shouldn't be too much. Oh! The screen! Where did I put that? I must've-" Cesar stopped. He looked over at the unfinished tracker. He took his goggles back off and put the welder down. "Why should I?" He sighed. "He probably doesn't want me around, anyway." Cesar sat down and crossed his arms on the table, using them as a headrest. He closed his eyes. He opened them a moment later. "There's no way I'm going to be able sleep." he almost growled. He sighed into his arms, thinking. Of all the knowledge he had, one thing came up. Studying sciences meant he was exposed to more than just technology. Human sciences were some of the most important. What he thought of now was more psychology. He didn't know it well, but it was a simple solution. He picked his head up. "I need to talk to someone…other than myself." Cesar lifted his hand and scratched his head. "But who?" He looked around. No clock. -Laptop!- he thought. Cesar wheeled his chair over to the computer and brought up the desktop. "Eleven o'clock? Who would want to talk to me, or even be awake at this hour? Think, Cesar, think! Ugggh!" Frustrated, he slammed his head down on the table. "A random agent might think I'm doing something. Do they even live here or what?...Agent Six scares me…and doesn't trust me. Rex hates me right now…the chimp is crude…and also sleeps in Rex's room…" Cesar growled. "Is there no one to talk to?...Not at 11:10 at night, Cesar." He lifted both hands over his head and ruffled his hair. "The White Knight despises anyone," he chuckled. Then it came to him. "Holiday! Si! She will listen! Kind, compassionate- possibly awake at this hour." Cesar stood up from his chair with confidence, and almost fell down. He began to tumble backwards and grabbed the chair for support. With the sudden, uneven weight and force, the chair rolled backward and sent Cesar flat on his back. The air was knocked out of him with a puff. He stood back up shakily. "Okay. Ugh. Caution. Need to be more careful." he wheezed. He stood up straight and breathed deep. "Where would she be…? The lab, maybe?" Cesar thought and found himself dumbfounded. "I don't know where else she could be." He sighed again. "This is what I get for being a hermit. Well, I can only try." Cesar padded over to the door and stepped out onto the elevator using the utmost caution. A fall from this height, maybe 3 stories, would either give him a concussion or kill him. The latter, he thought, is more likely. The elevator descended slowly. When it reached the ground, Cesar stepped off and looked around. Not an agent in sight. He turned his attention back to the task at hand. "Let's see. It's past the Petting Zoo, right? A turn here, a turn there. I just hope she'll be there." Cesar plodded out of the hangar and down the halls. He stopped by Rex's door. He didn't have far to go and he had time. It was already around midnight, anyway. He leaned in and put an ear to the door. No snoring or even talking. He came back up and sighed. He knew his brother and if there wasn't even a light snore, he wasn't sleeping. He started to turn away when he heard a quiet sound from behind the door. Short, barely rhythmic squeaks. He leaned against the door again and listened more closely. They weren't squeaks. He pulled away once more. They were quiet sobs. Cesar began to reconsider. The chances of Holiday being awake were slim. Not as slim as most, but still pretty slim. It was going to lead to this, anyway. Talking to him was unavoidable. Cesar willed himself to open the door, led by his older brother instinct. Even if he didn't want to see him, he needed to talk to him. While entering the room, Cesar remembered a quote from book he skimmed once. 'You and I are flesh and blood. I'm always going to be there for you, even if it's only as an obstacle for you to overcome. Even if you do hate me. That's what big brothers are for.'
