'The truth hurts, but secrets kill.' - Halsey

It had been a month since Pilot Buddy 'BT' Thompson and Unit SLA-4394 had departed that Uso Ikari decided to pick up the adjacent room.

He never expected to find the pilot's old helmet.

Uso stared at it, the helmet laying sideways on the bed and staring back at him. Was this a mistake? Was this an accident? Was this on purpose? He frowned, crossing over and picking it up, turning it to indeed see Buddy's name on it.

Well fuck was the first thought that came to his head, followed up immediately by I wonder what they feel like. The mechanic, despite being alone in his own room, looked around sheepishly before lifting the item and gently tugging it down over his head.

It was a snug fit, everything dark till he adjusted it properly and the ocular system kicked in, showing him the room in a blue tint. He watched the information roll by, blinking.

IDENTIFIED : MILITIA
IKARI, USO
TECHNICIAN
03 - APR - 2290
88 kgs, 1.702 meters
LEFT IRIS PINK FROM COSMETIC INJURY

"Well, got that right," He mused softly, and the screen flashed, a chilling voice filled his ear. It was static and on the brink of insanity, much like a certain tone he'd heard once before.

"P-P-Protocol Three: Protect the P-P-P- Protocol Success. Protocol Two : F-F-F-Find BT."

Uso ripped the helmet off and threw it to the bed, backing away as fast as he could. His back hit the doorway and stopped, rasping through his breaths, body tense and waiting. The helmet, however, didn't do anything.

Jesus, what the fuck, Uso? It's just a helmet. It's probably glitching. He got ahold of his breathing and started to approach again. His soul nearly jumped through the roof when every light on the helmet started flashing, him staring until they stopped, and trying to get closer. Okay, what the fuck.

The helmet flashed again, and he paused, blinking. He recognized that pattern… the flashed matched with the noises of static coming from the helmet, it almost sounded...like..binary?

"An SOS?" He asked aloud, and crossed the room daringly, scooping the helmet up. The flashing stopped as he stared the plating down, eyes darting across every line, wire, and smooth glass. Confused, he went back into his room and picked up a penlight, flashing it at the frontal glass of the helmet, in a pattern. I wonder if I can use Morse Code instead...

Who R U?

There was an almost immediate reply with the flashing lights, him almost dropping the helmet again. He watched for a long time, trying his best to return the flashes, but decided in the end, he could not make heads or tails of this. Scratching his head, it was like a swift kick in the pants that he realized who might know binary.

Smith wasn't sure what to expect, but his new mechanic rasping and sweating profusely while carrying Buddy's helmet at 0624 in the morning was not one of them.

"Ikari, where in the fuck did you get that ?"

"Pilot Thompson left it. Sir, you need to see this."

Smith stared at the kid started to click the penlight in a fashion his system could immediately pick up as morse code. This kid knows Morse? That was new to him.

R U still there?

And then, silence. Nothing happened. Ikari's face didn't change, even after Smith looked up at him.

"Uso, I do-"

"Wait."

Smith was about to send the kid running laps when the helmet started to flash violently, a loud burst of static coming from the comm speaker and scaring him out of his non-existent skin. But he heard it, clear as day.

WHERE IS BT?

"Holy shit."

"Sir, I think… I think there's someone on here."

"No fucking shit there's someone on there, give me that!" Smith snatched the helmet, hurrying into his office and quickly starting to put the item into his diagnostic system. Uso trailed right after.

"Sir?"

"Hold on. Gotta see if I can, ah-ha!" The Master Technician pressed a button, and the screen went black before it began to fill with lines and lines of green code. Uso leaned in, squinting.

"That… looks weird."

Smith nodded, and clicked a button, translating it. There were rows and rows of the same three words repeating themselves, in full caps, like someone screaming into the nonverbal abyss.

WHERE IS BT?

"Ikari, go get Mob, he needs to see this."

"So you're telling me a titan might be in there?" Mob asked, gesturing at the lines and lines of repeating code, the same three words over and over again. Uso was staying close to the helmet, hands behind his back nervously. He had never, ever heard of this happening, and the two veterans were just as flabbergasted. They had no idea how this could have happened, and had been discussing it for the last hour. And somehow, they always came back around to this.

"Yes sir, but like I said, I won't know until I transfer whatever is in there onto, maybe, an optical?"

"We can't risk that! What if it's not a titan?"

"We never know until we try!"

"Um, e-excuse me." Uso squeaked softly, ducking under their curious looks, "Couldn't we… couldn't we put it a Spectre or Stalker frame?"

"Too dangerous, they're still heavy weapons."

"Yes, but, a thinner frame, like… A Sim?"

Smith ponder that, putting his hand under the chin of his own stalker frame, big and burly, head shaped like a shark. "I suppose we could, and limit its ability to move by disconnecting sensory cables. A start, maybe."

"But what if it's a titan?"

"So what? I can put it on an optical for now. Hey, listen to me Mob, I'm serious when I say do NOT tell Buddy. Keep him in the dark until we know for sure what's going on. Same for you, Ikari."

"Sir."

"I will, but I'm calling him the minute we figure this out," Mob hummed, "Good luck."

"We'll need it."

It took them days of endless work to find and refit a sim frame. They had picked a masculine one, stripping it of numbers and programs and everything till it was nothing but the basics, Smith unplugging the major cables that ran to the back of the skull so it couldn't move its body yet. There was a single cord that ran from a port in the side of its head down to the helmet, which had been flashing relentlessly for days. But the flashing had gotten dimmer, slower, as if whatever, whoever was in there was… giving up. Uso bent to look at the helmet, sighing.

"Just a little longer, hold on."

"Alright Ikari." Smith rumbled, patting his hand together, "It's time. Step back."

The young mechanic obeyed, pulling his now grown-out hair back into a tiny ponytail, which fell out the second he turned his head. He had changed in the last two months, a light stubble growing on his chin and cheeks, losing a lot of weight, heavy bags under his eyes. Sleep had been evading him, making his job harder unless he was working on this mystery, this… lost soul.

Smith went to the control panel and started typing in commands, the helmet's flickering slowing more and more before it suddenly stopped, and there was nothing. Uso swallowed, watching the uploading process on the screen. It had worked, but… why was nothing happening?

"Sir, I-"

There was a sharp jerk form the sim frame and the blue lights turned online, a haunting scream filling the room. Smith quickly started to type in commands, cursing.

"Easy, Easy! Easy!" He shouted at the screaming program, the noise coming to an abrupt cut-off. Uso had taken five large steps back until his rear was pressed to a wall, mildly terrified.

"Did you do that, sir?"

"No… Hey, anyone in there?"

There was a garbled mess of binary, then a scared sounding voice of a young man. "Hello?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm… I'm... Unit JCK - 2667... Who… Who are you?"

Iklari and Smith eyes locked, shock crossing their features before Uso looked back at JCK, voice tripping over itself, "You're…. You're Jack?"

"Yes… My systems tell me you're Uso Ikari, a … titan tech?"

"N-No, just a mechanic. Smith here is the master tech."

"Ah… It seems I cannot move me head to look for him."

"We've deactivated all your movement systems for now, until we know if you're stable," Smith stated, stepping into sight, "How are you feeling, Jack?"

"I've… I've been in that helmet for so long… I tried and tried to reach out to BT but he won't respond."

"Links are supported by your optical unit, that is why your link is not responding. Look, Jack, I need to run some scans. I can't let you move until I've made sure everything is back together."

"I want to see BT. Is he okay?"

"He's fine, but he's not here right now."

Despite Jack not being in control of the frame, the whole thing seemed to rattle for a second, and there was a noise that came from the vocal processor that startled Uso. He knew that noise, it mimicked the same noise Sola had made the night before she got sent out…

Ikari stepped forward slowly, putting his hand on Jack's shoulder, smiling comfortingly when the light brightened, "Hey, it's okay, you'll see him soon. We just gotta make sure you're alright."

"...Thank you, Mechanic."

"Call me Uso. Jack, right?"

"...Yes."

Several hours of test and intense questioning passed before Smith and Mob (who had come as soon as he'd gotten the ping) decided to let Jack have full control of his body. He was heavily throttled, however, like a robot version of an anti-anxiety medication, for the safety of the humans around him, and for the safety of himself. Mob decided that, strangely, Uso was going to be in charge of him.

"I don't want anyone to know of Jack's reactivation right now." Mob had stated clearly to all of them, "That will cause disruption and I want to talk to Buddy personally before he finds out about you being back."

"Why can't I see him now?"

"Buddy is off planet, I need to call him back so it will take a little while. You gotta be patient, Jack."

"You'll see him soon," Uso had smiled, "I promise."

Those two words had rattled around in Jack's processor as he followed Ikari to his room, the mechanic opening the door and showing him the joined, still unoccupied bedroom. His room was a bit of a mess from these last few weeks of trying to figure out the helmet, but it was nothing that couldn't be cleaned.

The other room, however, was untouched from the moment BT had left.

"You can stay in there… I think some of Buddy's stuff is still in there. I haven't gone to look." Uso stated, rubbing the back of his neck as Jack nodded.

"He prefers to be called BT."

"BT? I'll remember that…" He followed only to the door and Jack entered the room, looking around. There was almost nothing there beside some rumpled sheets and paper plates in a trash can, but after a second look over, Jack saw it. Folded neatly on the nightstand was a flight suit. Crossing over, he unfolded it and immediately recognized it as the flight suit that BT had been wearing on Typhon. It was washed but none of the holes were fixed yet from the gunshots and the creatures and the accidents of those days on hell… he shook again, and brought the flight suit close, trying to… remember what BT looked like in it.

There was a soft creak of the door and Jack looked back to see Ikari had halfway shut it, and a gentle symphony of noises could be heard. He must have turned on a radio and begun to clean his room. Jack recognized the human gesture as the invitation that if he did not want to be left alone, Uso's proverbial door was always open.

After being alone in that helmet so long, he wasn't ready for that. Gently, he folded up the suit and went back to the door, standing in the doorway to watch. Uso was picking up things that were laying around, either tossing them in the wastebin or the hamper, nodding his head back and forth to the music and mouthing some of the songs. Soon, everything was picked up and straightened and before Jack knew it, the kid had moved on to the stove. It was amazing to watch him as he started to move more to the music as he surfaced a pan and rummaged through the refrigerator, pulling out some food that Jack did not recognize and going to work with it.

It was a while before Uso noticed Jack standing in the doorway, and jumped slightly, "Woah, hey, how long you've been standing there?"

" 57 minutes, 28 seconds, and counting. "There was an awkward silence that filled the room, and Jack decided to try again, "A little bit."

Uso laughed, "You can come in if you want, take a seat! I have… folding chairs. Hmm. Maybe you'll have to sit on the edge of the bed, I don't know if they can support a sim frame."

"I appreciate it, but I think I'll stand."

"You sure? Alright." Uso went back to cooking and Jack started to look around. There were drawings covering the wall. Curiously, Jack approached them, and started to look. Most of the art was mechanical but some of the art was of the base, of people and titans, of battle and of peace.

There was one piece of art in the dead center, however, that stuck out as different to him.

Unlike the rest, which if he queried were direct copies of descriptions of things or places that were real, he could not find anything like this one. The background was a place of swirling clouds, pieces of rock and metal and shapes floating through the air like the rocks that hovered on Harmony, but higher, all the way until they were nothing but specks. The ground was covered in a thick grass, and sitting in the foreground was a woman. She had long hair that flowed all around her, facing the artist and holding a hand that was offered to her, a bright smile on her face. The entire picture was done in a black pen, just like all the other art, but there was one single ounce of color in the art, and that was the woman's eyes.

A beautiful bright gold.

"She's beautiful, ain't she?" Uso's voice drew him out of his stare, looking over to see him finishing whatever meal he was preparing, smiling.

"Who is she?"

"I don't know. I kept having dreams of her, this one stuck out in particular. Whenever I try to speak to her, I wake up, so I've just learned if I sit quietly and listen, I can have a whole night with her." Uso smiled, "She's never told me her name, but she loves to talk. Sometimes it doesn't make sense but my dream brain gets it."

"...It sound like you don't get a lot of social interaction, Uso."

The mechanic laughed, shaking his head softly as he sat down at the table, "Maybe so!"

Jack watched him for a moment before making a small noise, and starting to turn to head back to his room but noticed something on the nightstand. Casually, he walked over and looked to see a picture of Uso… with an optical. That same gold.

"Who is that?"

"Ah, Unit SLA-4394. I was assigned to watch her for a little while, kinda like I am with you." There was a different tone to Uso's voice, and when Jack looked at him, unlike before, Uso was not looking towards him at all. In fact, he had hunched slightly over his food, seeming more focused on it.

"What happened to her?" There was a pause, and Uso leaned away from his food, turning his head slightly so Jack could see his pink iris.

"...she had to move on, get a new pilot."

"You don't sound very enthused with that."

"She…. Never mind. It's not my place to say." Uso shook his head, going back to eating, maybe a little more forcefully then he needed to. Jack decided that was a sensitive topic, and left it alone, heading back to his room.

"Goodnight, Uso."

There was a noise behind him, like the mechanical had startled but he didn't look back to check why. After a long moment, he heard 'Goodnight' as he started to shut the door, leaving the titan in total darkness.

"What the hell do you mean they're not going to tell BT?" Uso's voice had been angier then he wanted it to sound, but he couldn't help it because that's how he felt. Only because Smith was bigger, stronger, and higher ranked than him did he keep his cool and not lash out, but his eyes were burning in anger.

"I don't get it either but apparently they think it will hurt the healing he has made." Smith sighed, "BT and Jack have a very odd relationship, I don't understand it either, and I don't agree but there's nothing I can do."

"What the hell is going to happen to him, then?"

"I don't know, that's a question you're going to have to ask Mob." Uso ground his teeth together so much that the robot could hear the noise before turning on his heel and swiftly heading away, "Hey, where you going?"

"Lunch!"

"The Dfac is the other way!" The young mechanic ignored him, and he sighed heavily, "That kid cares too much."

Uso was fuming as he stalked through the rows of titan racks, eyes darting this way and that, trying to find who he was looking for. These last few days, while not filled with the same grief as BT, was still filled with emotions. Jack was slowly becoming frantic again to get back to his pilot and Uso could see it. The robot longed for some company, so much that the minute Uso was home they were talking non-stop until he had to go to bed. He could hear it in his voice, Jack was going to snap.

It's going to be Sola all over again.

Uso rounded a corner and came to a halt, confusion written on his face and all anger leaving. Up ahead was Mob's titan SARH (Mob missing), crouched as low as she could go so her optical was level… with a MARVIN. Uso recognized it as one of the flight-pilot bots, its jacket bearing the emblem of the ACE group. It was crooning sweetly in binary, gently caressing the Vanguard's SERE kit as if it was trying to… woo her? And the Vanguard was soaking it in, crooning right back. He could see a heart emoji on the chest of the MARVIN slightly from where he stood, and when he moved just slightly, he saw a cord going from the back of the small robots neck to back of SARH's sere kit. Uso watched the entire exchange in a daze, so confused and entranced that he did not hear the footsteps walking up behind him, and jumped several inches in the air at the sudden voice that filled his ears.

"Mechanic Ikari, what- Unit B-R-K-R! " Mob's voice of question changed to one of anger and the two machines jolted, the small one quickly unplugging the cord from the back of the SERE kit he was petting and whirling around the face Mob, an angry face on his chest-plate as he let out a loud series of binary. SARH, however, looked embarrassed and flustered. "You little shit, what the fuck did I tell you about messing with my titan!"

There was a loud burst of binary that followed, then a bleat as Mob drew his sidearm. Uso jumped away slightly but SARH was quick, putting her hand between her pilot and the Marvin to guard it.

"Pilot, I have requested multiple times and I request again, please do not harm Unit 'Barker'."

"And I'm telling you now if I walk up on that happening again I'm putting a cap in his aft! Get lost, Barker. Before I have you scrapped!" Mob reholstered his gun and the Marvin, after a few binary whistles at SARH, sprinted off and disappeared. Uso stared at where the Marvin went, and asked slowly.

"What…. What was that."

"Hardline sex." Mob deadpanned, getting a look from the young mechanic.

"You're not serious…"

"That marvin figured it out and mastered it years ago. You think this is the first time I've walked up on them doing this? I'd actually scrap him but he's a damn good pilot." Mob sighed, shaking his head and glaring at his titan, "I expect a full link scrub before the next time we engage in battle."

"Already being taken care of, Pilot." SARH almost sounded smug, and Mob shook his head, turning his attention to Uso.

"Now, what can I help you with?"

Uso forgot, for a moment, then his face filled with anger, "Why are we not telling BT about Jack?"

"Because he's already moved on. He's back on missions, doing what we need him to do, with a new titan."

Uso's mouth fell open, "You're...what?! You're not going to give him Jack back because he has a new titan?"

"If we had known about Jack a week ago, yes. But we need Buddy to focus right now, he's going on a big mission very soon. As soon as he's back, we'll consider about getting Jack back to him. But for now, no."

"Jack is going to snap before that happens! Do you want another SLA on your hands?" Uso voice cracked a bit, getting a raised eyebrow.

"This is the exact reason we put him in a frame, so he can't hurt anyone. Now, if you leave now, I'll excuse your stepping out. Get back to work, Ikari, this isn't any of your business. And not a word of this to Jack yet."

Mob turned and continued forward, Uso watching him go, his anger bubbling more. There was a flash of red and be started to step forward but a grinding of gears caused him to look up to see the titan gently shaking her optical at him. Defeated, he let his shoulders sink.

There was nothing he could do.

The rest of his day was a blur, and soon it was time to go home. He dragged himself upstairs, opening the door only to be greeted with a wave of delicious aroma. Blinking in surprise, he looked around to see...Jack.

Jack was standing at the stove in Uso's room, trying his hand at what looked like boxed mac and cheese. Dazed, Uso shut the door behind him, staring in shock as the titan-sim turned to look at him, optical brightening.

"Oh hey." Jack said, that shake Uso had been noticing in his voice for the last few days gone completely, "I needed something to do and decided I'd try some cooking. Hope… you don't mind."

The mechanic didn't know what happened, but suddenly his throat was tight and his eyes were watering, and Jack started, setting the food down and turning the stove off as Uso fell back against the door, sliding down it and putting his face in his hands.

"Uso?! Uso, are you alright?!"

"I'm fine I'm fine I just-" he hissed through clenched teeth, "I'm so angry, I'm so angry at the place. You don't deserve this. You saved everyone's lives and they're treating you like this ."

"What do you mean?"

Uso took a long time to bring himself down to a calm before he finally got ahold of himself, scrubbing his face with his hands and looking at Jack. He was squatted down by the mechanic, looking as worried as he could be, a hand on his shoulder while rubbing it softly. Slowly, questions began to roll through his mind.

"Jack… why is BT so important to you…"

Jack paused, then made a soft venting noise. He stood, rising and doing something at the counter before he returned with a bowl filled with the mac and cheese, offering it to his roommate. Uso took it, and Jack sat down in front of him.

"Eat while I tell you. It's… It's long."

"Okay…" Uso swallowed, and tried the mac and cheese as Jack began. It was delicious.

"I met BT a few months before Typhon, when I was assigned to be his rack titan. I wasn't fresh off the racks but I'd had new pilots before, not senior pilots. I knew about battle but not about how t hey battled in special forces. So Last and BT, they taught me some things to get me ahead… BT said we were like a little group of friends. Then… then Typhon happened. I got dropped as the ship was coming down and something went wrong that I needed time to reboot so they had to come rescue me… I got Last killed and BT wounded. When I came back around, we had no choice but to link… he was in so much pain from losing his eye and losing Last and I just… I tried to fix it. I pushed past all mental blocks and boundaries that titans are suppose to for their pilot, tried to give him a drive and despite how many times I fucked up he'd always come back for me over and over and then we were at the ark and we were going to die... And I couldn't let that happen."

"What do you mean?"

"We were going to use my chassis to destroy the Ark… but I didn't want to see BT die. So… I ejected him last second, after I downloaded what I could onto his helmet. I thought it was Protocol 3 telling me to do it, but… none of my protocols were ever online. I ejected BT not because I was directed to, but… because I wanted to."

Uso was silent, stopping hs chewing altogether as he continued to listen to Jack go on. His voice was stronger, so much more confident when he talked about BT. Does he…

"I… I think that because I tried to fill those holes, I did something to myself. I found myself not wanting him out of my sight, how I'd become anxious if he got into a firefight or frantic if he got hurt. But when it was just us, no enemies… I was peaceful. I think he felt something was off with me too over the link because he'd always look like he want to say something but never did… I think maybe he caught on because soon he wasn't going out of sight if he could help it and he came back the minute we got overwhelmed….I wish… I wish I hadn't cut BT off when I ejected him because I think he was going to tell me something important. I need to know, what was he going to ask me, what-"

Uso suddenly lurched forward, hugging the titan tight, causing him to freeze. There was a moment before the frame started to shake, and Uso's chest was tight as he spoke.

"Jack… They don't want to give you back to BT yet…"

"What?"

"But I'm not going to let them do this to you. We need to go find BT."

"H-How?"

"You're not like the rest of the titans, you're so much more than that. I wish I had seen it before but I realized it too late and I'm not going to let this happen again. Come with me, and I promise you, we'll find him."

Jack leaned back to look at Uso, the mechanics face firm despite the tears in his eyes. Slowly, very slowly, he nodded. Uso nodded back and took Jack hand, setting the bowl aside and throwing open the door, and like that, the two left that room forever.

To Be Continued...

Thank you all for your patience! I'm sorry I couldn't get another chapter of Take My Hand out so I really hope you forgive me and enjoyed this! Another One-Shot might appear soon. Until then! -Danii