After getting writers' block and needing to procrastinate, I began writing this tiny ficlet. I don't know if I'll write any chapters after this- I'll let you decide (hint: comment!). *WARNING*: this is a very depressing storyline. Not suggested for the easily depressible.

Gone By Jessica Idres Rate PG-13 for language, themes

They had been chasing them so long now, he mused, that they had formed an odd sort of bond between them. Each party knew the other group in their encounters- which sometimes would be day after day, other times after a few weeks, but they always knew what went on between each other. If they hadn't been chasing after the fugitives for so long, Bennet would have thought they almost looked out for each other. In an odd, twisted way. None of the agents expected to find the situation before them now.

They had been investigating the last known sighting of the synthoid and his human friend when they found him. He was sitting in an alley, not really trying to hide. Even as Bennet drew his blaster and stepped closer, the synthoid, wrapped in his familiar hologram, took no notice. He stared at the wall in front of him, rocking slowly in drizzle, reminding Bennet of some of the war veterans he had seen on the streets, broken from what they had seen. Only as he stepped closer did he hear what Zeta was repeating over and over, like a skipping CD.

"Gone. She's gone. Gone, gone, gone." Even as Bennet leaned in to listen to him, Zeta's wide soulless eyes never saw him.

Bennet had no idea what he was jabbering about. "I need back up over here. I've found the synthoid, but." How could he describe the scene in front of him? This was a robot, not a human. But he seemed to be in shock, a very human emotion.

West looked at Zeta, poking at him to get a reaction. "What's up with him?"

"You think I know?!" Bennet snapped. "He just sits there, saying the same thing over and over again."

Rush entered the alley with her group of agents. "What's he mumbling about?"

Bennet shrugged. "He just repeats the word 'Gone'. Nothing else-" A terrible, terrible thought ran through Bennet's mind. He wasn't a very caring man, but as he knew, these fugitives were no longer just objects to him. He bent down and shook the synthoid by the shoulders. "Zeta! Where is Rosalie Rowan?"

At the mention of his accomplice, Zeta focused on the agents face. The extreme sorrow in those holographic eyes made even the veteran wince. "I don't know. One minute she was with me in the hotel, next, she was gone. Looked all over for her. No note, no nothing." If he could, he would probably be hysterical.

Then, in a blink of an instant, the synthoid recognized the Agent in front of him. A twisted mask of hatred and rage flickered onto the hologram, and Zeta grabbed Bennet by the neck. "You took her, didn't you! What have you done with her?!"

Every agent immediately tried to pull Zeta off him, but to no avail. "Zeta, please! This won't help! We didn't take her!" He looked into those false, wild blue eyes. "We still have some dignity."

The hatred and rage faded, replaced with- could it be shame? Zeta put the agent down, and curled into a ball. "I'm sorry." He whispered, but still audible to the senior agent. The synthoid then raised his arms, his hands hanging loose. "Aren't you going to arrest me?"

Bennet quirked an eyebrow. "Giving up so easily? You've faced worse odds before and still attempted escape."

Zeta didn't look at the agent, as his hologram flickered off. "Those times were different, I-" He paused, and Agent Bennet wondered if he would be crying now, if he could- "had someone to escape back to. Not now."

Bennet had no choice. Slowly, almost with complete regret, he placed handcuffs on Zeta. As the synthoid stood, Bennet caught sight of something that he knew was impossible, and could only blame on the rain.

But he swore he saw tears streaming from the synthoid's eyes.