"At last! I'm finished, you alright there-uh oh.." Vector came down the stairs and noticed the missing Anubis.

"Did he go outside...?" the old man wondered. But a quick check showed he wasn't there either.

--Seems a little odd...the guy seemed too scared to venture off that couch. Somebody or something must've startled him into running..this cant be good. He shouldn't be out on his own in his state, he could get lost or injured..--

Little did he know how right he was..


Anubis hid behind a pile of rubbish bins. The guys had finally left him alone, leaving him with the threat of his life ending prematurely if he didn't leave...

But where could he go? He didn't know anything about where he was. And every time he tried to stand up, the various injuries ached and pained. He had a good few bruises, a cut across his cheek, and a few injured ribs. His stomach hurt too from the beat down...

He tried to lift his right arm, but it wouldn't respond. Looking at it seemed to have dislocated from its normal position. That'd been when he tried to run and they'd hauled him back...

He rested his head on his knees and sniffled. He didn't understand, didn't remember. Why wouldn't anyone tell him what he'd done before? It must've been bad if those men wanted to hurt him so bad.

--I must have...hurt somebody important...attacked this place...that's why their mad..-- he hiccupped --I wish I knew what I'd done..I'm not the same person I was when I came here before, I know that much. The other side of me must've been a very bad person..--

"Guess the Vector was wrong...I C-CANT stay h-here.." he said softly to himself. Somehow that hurt the most. He'd learned a lot since those guys had rescued him. He had a brother. Who was always cuddling that fierce-tempered human. The little girl Lena had been able to fix his speech for him. These people all seemed nice. But he hadn't learnt what it was he'd done before.

--If I knew what it was...id try make it right,..but nobody will tell me...I don't understand...was I such a horrible person before..?-- he felt about to be sick...

He heard footsteps, someone humming. They were headed this way..what should he do? He tried to stand again but it hurt too much..

"Lessee...which bin is it? GAH!" the person with the trash bag got the fright of his life when he spotted the battered Anubis.

"Holy..you're the guy Mahad was blithering about...Why are you out here-" he got a closer look at the injured robot. "holy crap on a pogo stick..what happened to YOU?!"

Anubis huddled up and shook his head. He wouldn't say.

"You look like you just fought a match with a mangler bud, no way this was just an accident.." he poked the dislocated shoulder, and Anubis made a pained noise.

"Shit, sorry..geez this looks worse then id guessed...c'mon come inside.."

For the first time Anubis looked up and got a look at the guy. And panicked. He was the spitting image of the scary guy his twin loved.

"Gwah...b-ird..I mean..y-you look like the other you-"

The guy blinked, then cracked up. "Aha,..youv'e met my brother I see...the one you seen is Aran, I'm Christophe. I take it you have a name bud?" as he spoke, he helped the battered Anubis to his feet.

Anubis shakily told him, and asked where he was taking him.

"I know a back way into the tavern, you can stay in the back room, they have a first-aid kit too..but judging by the state of you, you'll need a doctor.."

He got him there eventually, and had him sat down in the small cosy room that served as an office when stock had to be taken. Anubis sat where he was put, feeling scared and sick.

"Stay here OK? I'm gonna go find my brother-" he blinked as Anubis looked even more scared "don't worry, he's all bark and only occasional bite. He wont harm ya, just glower at ya, that's more his style...You'll be OK here, nobody can get through.."

The injured angel just nodded, sitting there, shaking in exhaustion and confusion.


The three had returned to the tavern, having washed their hands of the affair (literally). They got a shock when the Vector came barging in.

"What's up man?" Mahad asked.

"Its Anubis, he's missing, I haven't been able to find him anywhere..."

The three attackers just stared incredulously, trying to look as confused as everyone else.

"I haven't seen him either.." Mahad responded "I thought he was staying in the lighthouse?"

"When I came back from sending the transmission, he was gone. There's no way he'd go this far by himself...he doesn't have the stregnth..so somebody had to have seen him. He probably freaked out and ran away..."

Christophe had come out of the back room, sidled past the bar and towards the crowd surrounding Vector.

The old man carried on "He's not in a good mental state, he has minimal systems operating, no recollection of this place at all." He looked at Sirus "as you checked?"

Sirus nodded, "Its true..as I was built with the same system, I can read his on contact..most of his system OS didn't survive the collapse of the building, he's running on the bare basics...no idea how to defend himself, nothing. He's in no state to harm anyone-"

"Yet someone seen fit to do it to him!" someone interrupted. Cortes blinked.

"Christophe?" he asked, confused "you found him?"

Christophe nodded, and hopped up on a chair to address the gathering crowd.

"Oh I found him alright...in a state you normally see a bar brawler. SOMEBODY obviously didn't think to ask the guy if he even had his wits about him. Instead the chose to practically slaughter the poor goit. I found him bruised and bloodied, scared out of his muddled mind, and barely able to stand."

People looked at each other, who could have done this?

"Vector just said he hadn't even sent the transmission when the guy must've gone.." Lena added, confused.

"Exactly. SO whoever went after him had to have to have been here, to hear Mahad telling us all..."

The people in the bar looked at each other. The three at the bar seethed, how dare this guy stick up for that piece of trash!


In the back room Anubis was wondering where Christophe had gone. He'd been awhile. Had something happened, had those guys gotten him too? Panicking he managed to get the door open, and stick his head out into the corridor. And seen something very odd indeed...

Somebody was creeping towards the front of the tavern. They were clothed entirely in black, face covered too. That wasn't normal, even Anubis knew that. So he snuck after the guy...

The masked man barged the door down, aiming a dangerous-looking plasma gun at the occupants. People screamed and panicked. The guy took aim at the bar staff

"Whatever of value ya got there, give it up-" he heard someone's footsteps scuff behind him. He turned, coming face to face with Anubis.

"Well, looks like someone's got a death wish-" he raised the gun to shoot the angel, but Anubis moved too quickly. Acting on impulse, he grabbed the guy by his collar, lifted him off the floor, and sent him flying into a stack of crates.

The robber dropped to the floor like a ton of bricks.

"uhm...sorry...but you shouldn't do that to people..." Anubis said at last, poking the guy with his foot. The figure didn't move...out cold.

"who the fuhh are you?" the bar staff said. Anubis panicked, realised there were people staring at him, and turned to leg it. But his injuries ached again and he lost his balance, and landed splat on the floor.

"Owwwie...floor so close.." he mumbled. Christophe ran over and helped him sit up. While he checked the scared Anubis over, the bar occupants finally unfroze.

"Holy shi-..are you OK? what happened?" Sirus panicked, seeing his scared twin.

People stared, seeing the injuries Christophe had just been describing to them. The guy looked a mess. And when hugged by his twin, started crying in shock.

The Vector sighed, relieved he'd been found, but concerned by the state he was in. Who the hell had done this?

What in hell is going on?!" Cortes snapped, looking round the bar. "Someone on this block is responsible for this, and I want to know who, NOW."

Anubis winced as he heard Cortes yelling. He looked over at him...and his heart stopped for a second. The three were right there. He began trying to get up, panicking worse then ever. The Vector had caught sight of where he was looking, and passed this info to the raging Cortes.

"I'll have them hauled in.." Cortes muttered. He was pissed. Sure he hadn't exactly been to thrilled about having the guy here, but that didn't mean he wanted to lynch him to within an inch of his life..

The crowd had calmed down now, and Anubis scared sniffling and garbled explanations about the attack was all that could be heard.

"Its OK..." Sirus patted his hand gently "I wont let them get away with this..."

"I n-need you to d-do something for me..please.." the beaten angel begged. Sirus blinked "what is it..?" and what his brother said next startled both him and Christophe.

"I...w-wanna..go back t-to standby...switch off..."

"But why..?" Christophe asked, "you've barely been here.."

"Its not...a g-good thing...I'm here...p-people are angry...I don't know what it is...b-but it must've been p-pretty bad..." he struggled not to start crying "its nice here...v-Vector and the others have been really nice...but they'll get in trouble for helping me.." he swiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his clothing "m'sorry...guess the sphere was r-right...I was a mistake to build.."

By now the crowd had gone mostly silent, and bit by bit they heard the injured angel shaky speech.

"..so please...go get Vector..somebody that can start the shutdown!"

"No way in hell." everyone looked up as Cortes spoke.

"Huh?" Anubis blinked, startled into pausing crying.

"I said, no. way. in. hell. Your brother remembers everything about you...including the fact the thing you wanted that whole time, despite acting like a fruit loop, was the chance to have a life of your own after your own creators abandoned you."

He turned to glare at the three at the bar as he spoke "your memory is gone, ill destroy the damn report...what's to stop you? Oh wait...I know.." he glared at the three, pointing a wing at them, the feathers snapping out. "SOME PEOPLES RETARDED INABILITY TO WAIT FOR ALL THE DETAILS BEFORE THEY DECIDE TO USE TORTURE TACTICS!"

He grabbed the ringleader by his collar. "There's blood on you, I can smell it..and there's only one person here with enough injuries to give off that smell." his eyes were cold, and the guy began to see why portuchi had been afraid this guy would kill him.

Without warning Cortes threw him from the bar stool to the floor. "You make me sick. Sure I may not have trusted this guy when I seen him...but I figured it best to give him a second chance. Everyone deserves that. Except people that beat up an innocent person!" The wings had snapped back, and Vector winced again. Cortes was well and truly pissed off now.

"You appoint yourselves as some twisted sort of vigilante, yet who are you to judge, WHEN YOU ATTACK PEOPLE SOLEY BECAUSE THEY MADE A MISTAKE!"

Anubis had his hands clamped firmly over his ears by now, and was shaking from fright.

--He's like a little kid...he needs someone to take care of him...-- Christophe put an arm around the shaking angel and patted his hair. "s'ok, my brother'll sort this out." he snickered "you mess with Aran, you get an ass-whooping!"

Anubis blinked, then, seeing people were looking at him, buried his head on christophes shoulder, clinging to his sleeve.

--D'oh. He's kinda sweet...like Aran when he was little...he used to hate arguments...-- Christophe thought to himself. The guy looked too vulnerable for him to say no.

Sirus blinked as he seen Anubis clutching hold. He chuckled. Anubis clearly didn't realise just how cute this looked.

--This is weird...of all the people my brother could latch on, its Aran's brother...this is bizarre..--

Christophe noticed the goofy expression on Sirus' face. "you on the fritz again bud?" he asked, bemused.

Meanwhile Cortes hadn't finished yelling at the three;

"We can run sooo many tests to determine it was you three degenerates that attacked him, besides the one where he freaked out when he spotted you. So we'll keep you in lockup 'till we can staple the test results to your sorry asses. and if I EVER-" here he turned to the rest of the bar "-EVER, catch anyone pulling a stunt like this, no matter who the target, ill rip your arm off and beat ya to death with the soggy end, we clear?!"

Aside from the few that laughed at the strange threat, everyone else nodded, too scared to argue.

Christophe noticed meanwhile, that Anubis had stopped crying...and appeared to have fallen asleep leaning on him.

--D'oh...talk about awkward...poor guy must be worn out...better find a bed for him...-- he poked the blonde angel and pointed to the snoozing Anubis.

Sirus chuckled at the sight "he must be comfortable around you...he kept hiding behind me when he met Aran and the kids..."

"I'm not sure whether to be pleased or confused..." Christophe said at last. "now gimme a hand, I need to move him without waking him up..."

"First we need to sort his arm out.." Sirus added "its dislocated slightly..."

They brought him to the doctors, where they had to wake him up to give him painkillers, then set about putting said arm back in its socket. Even with painkillers, it was too much for poor Anubis, and he blacked out again.

"Poor guy...what a way to spend your first day awake..."

Sirus sighed, watching the twin, who was sleeping huddled in a ball, the blanket wrapped round him, "I'm worried about him, he was pretty scared to start with, being dragged here by the scout ship...then this..I hope it doesn't put him off trusting people for good.."

"He'll find someone to trust.." Christophe said at last.

"I think he already has.." Sirus smiled "you must've been the first person in town to offer help instead of hitting him.." he sighed "I know its a lot to ask, but do you think you could look after him when he gets out? Itd do him good to know someone will help him..."

Christophe blinked "blimey, didn't think the guy was that attached to me so fast.."

Sirus smiled "his mental process is still a little shaky, he's gonna have to learn a lot of things from scratch...so he's still a little innocent and naive..."

Christophe sighed "he reminds me of Aran as a little kid...guess that's why I felt sorry for him..." he shrugged "I guess it wouldn't hurt him to have a friend.."

Sirus looked relieved "thanks, it'd be good for him..."

--Blimey..-- Christophe sighed --what'm I getting myself into...babysitting this guy. Although he seems pretty nice, even if he's scared of his own shadow..--


Part 2 wheeh

Random Fact: I think i FINALLY found a suitable replacement for beasts twatty monitor...