I can't possibly express how good it feels to upload this chapter.

Some of you already know it, but I will explain it once again:

I had finished writing this chapter weeks ago, but I am my worst critic and I didn't like it, so I deleted it completely and began anew. This version of it still has its flaws here and there and I will probably change a few sentences in the future, but overall I think it is finished.

As always, I am very happy that YOU, fellow DitF enthusiast, are here to read my fanfic. Enjoy!

Goro had spent the last few hours searching for Hiro, but to no avail. Frustrated he sat at a fallen tree near the pond and looked around. It sure was quiet out here. If he ever would try to hide somewhere to not have to deal with anyone, he would come here, he decided.

But he had no time to stay and admire the view. It was possible that Zero Two had already found Hiro and he didn't want to stay outside the entire day. There would be a meeting with Nana in a few hours where she hopefully would explain something regarding the missing breakfast. He of course understood that the Plantation couldn't function like before anymore, but at least a letter with some friendly excuse would have been nice.

With thoughts like these he trotted back to the boarding house.

And he arrived just in time to hear the sound of something breaking. Probably a vase as it sounded. After that followed a high pitched scream.

"What in the world are you people doing in our home?!"

That sounded like Miku.

Goro worriedly opened the door, just to find himself staring into the muzzle of a submachinegun.

The soldier wielding said gun was turned towards Miku, who had just come out of the bathroom with a vase full of water and some flowers and who had been so startled by the many soldiers in the entrance hall that she dropped it.

But upon hearing the door behind him, the soldier immediately turned towards Goro and the muzzle of the weapon rose a bit, to aim at his face.

"Who are you?", the man asked with in a very unfriendly tone of voice.

Goro hastily showed his bare hands and answered: "Parasite Code 056, Squad 13, Sir!"

The man lowered his gun a bit, but didn't swing it in another direction.

"Well Code 056, maybe you can point us towards Code 016 and Code 002 as they happen to not be in their rooms. Any idea on their whereabouts?"

Goro froze inside. That wasn't good. There were never soldiers in Mistilteinn, weaponized ones much less, and at no single time since they had been stationed here had one asked for a specific Parasite. That all didn't sound good to him.

"Errrm … well … I was looking for them too, Sir. Code 016 wasn't in our room this morning, so I decided to take a look on where he might be. He is one to get in trouble easily, you see, so I thought …"

He was interrupted by Hachi, who came down the stairs and said:

"We're done here men. Escort formation and back to the elevator. If one of them tries to flee on our way down you have my full permission to shoot them on the spot."

To Goros horror they meant no one else than Hiro and Zero Two, who were dragged down the stairs by many more soldiers.

The one right in front of him turned towards him again - his weapon rose a little bit - and said: "We found them, so you don't have to search anymore. You can go back to your room now."

Goro still couldn't find it inside of him to simply obey that order. He was way too confused.

"I … Sir, what exactly …"

The muzzle was way too near to his face again.

"None of your concern. I said move back to your room, Parasite."

The way he said 'Parasite' really wasn't friendly.

To Goro's never ending thankfulness another voice interrupted their conversation.

"It may be none of his concern, but it is most definitely mine", said Ichigo while storming down the stairs on the other side of the entrance hall. Miku nearly threw herself behind her as she past the broken vase. She had never been so thankful to see her in her life.

Without betting an eye, Ichigo marched straight up to Hachi and looked angrily up at his monotone face.

"What is the meaning of this, Overseer?"

Hachi stayed still for a while and gave the men behind him the time to catch up with the prisoners. He then turned towards Ichigo and answered calm and quietly: "I am not here in my role as Overseer, Code 015. In fact, I gave that title to Nana for the next few days. I am here on behalf of APE-Command and try to find out what those two were thinking as they broke into a restricted area and stole military secrets."

Ichigo took a step back as if he had hit her in the face.

With a bewildered look she tried to catch eye contact with either of the two in question, but they both were staring into nothing and just followed their respective guards. They looked like they expected a court martial or worse. And given the claims that might be very well what would happen to them.

"If you excuse me now, Squad Leader, I have work to do", Hachi ended the conversation. He then turned towards Goro and the soldier in front of him and said: "Code 056, do you intend on stopping us or are you just too tired to move? Sergeant, get him out of the way, now."

Goro threw one glance towards Ichigo, who silently gave him the sign to step out of the way, while making a very grim face.

Sighing he blocked the hand of the Sergeant that was reaching out to him and stepped out of the way on his own.

As he reached a distance the soldiers considered safe, they took their prisoners into their middle and moved out of the building and towards the elevator.

Miku, who still were hiding behind Ichigo, was the first to speak again: "What in the world was that? And what did he mean by 'restricted area' and 'military secrets'? They would never do such a thing!"

A second thought crossed Miku's mind a second after.

"Well Zero Two might do such a thing, but Hiro? Maybe she dragged him into this and …"

The looks the two others threw her way were enough.

"… ok, ok … it doesn't matter I guess, as they are both our comrades now, right? So, great leader, what do we do?"

She – and Goro too – looked very curious at Ichigo.

Who in return looked very concerned and shrugged: "I have no idea."

Goro looked after the soldiers, out of the open doors.

"We can't stop them. Neither with arguments nor by force, Papa forbid. We don't have the means to. If they really did what they are accused of … well let's say I hope to ever see them again …"

He was still in shock over the entire situation and couldn't feel anything yet, but he knew that wouldn't last. The others had to feel the same way.

"Anyway", Ichigo had already calmed a little, "Wake up all the others and tell them exactly what happened here. At today's meeting with Nana, I'll inform her of what happened here – as I hope at least she isn't part of this – and ask her if she can do anything for those two. Until then you are back on standby."

Goro nodded and trotted away to the boy's dorm, to inform the others. Ichigo's words had sparked a slight hope in him. Maybe Nana could help them.

Miku – after cleaning up the mess in the entrance hall – did the same thing with nearly the same thoughts in mind. Though she added: geez, these two always manage to get themselves in trouble …

Meanwhile Ichigo looked through the windows in the main door and watched the soldiers as they disappeared into the elevator building. She had not half as much hope for their friends as she had inspired in the others. She knew that Hachi had all the power he needed to get rid of those two forever. Or maybe not of Zero Two, but certainly of Hiro.

Hiro stared at Hachi as he got dragged into the elevator.

Six of the soldiers already stood in there, weapons still pointed at him at all times.

But Hachi didn't seem interested in a staring contest and just had eyes for Zero Two, who - for the second time since they had left the boarding house - went on a rampage.

"Get your damn hand off me you bastard!"

A soldier fell down with a broken nose.

"And stay away from me!"

A second soldier flew a few metres through the air and ended up crashing into the wall behind him.

With a face full of hatred and despair Zero Two turned towards Hachi.

Hachi still simply looked at her with his monotone face.

Two soldiers jumped at her from behind while two others got between her and Hachi, so she tried to claw her way through them, biting, cursing and growling like an wounded animal, while the soldiers from behind tried their best to drag her back out of the elevator.

Hiro took a step back. Not only because he didn't want to stand in her way if she made it through, but because her face reminded him all too well of the incident that had led to the recovery of his memories. He hadn't knew it up until now, but he really hadn't wanted to see her looking that way ever again. The only thing that set his mind at ease for a bit, was the thought that she wasn't mad at him but someone else this time.

Someone else he wasn't all too fond off too, that was.

He looked back at Hachi who had raised his pistol up to the height of Zero Two's face.

Her glowing red eyes didn't even realize the danger she had gotten herself into. Or maybe she simply didn't care at this point. In her blind rage she threw herself on top of the two soldiers in front of her and pulled the two others onto the pile as well.

Hachi's pistol followed her carefully, but it seemed as if he didn't want to risk a shot as he might very well hit one of his own men.

The struggling soldiers had finally gotten a hold of Zero Two's limbs and brought her more and more under their control with every passing second.

Hiro had seen enough to know that they probably would inject her something now to keep her unconscious. He would not stand idly by as that happened.

While everyone was watching the fight on the ground, Hiro had steadily retreated back to the wall of the elevator and stood right beside a soldier who still stared at his struggling comrades. His pistol holster was open, so that if he should lose his gun, he could draw the pistol quicker.

Hiro's hands slowly grabbed the weapon.

Nearly immediately the soldier recognized something was wrong and turned towards him.

Hiro pulled the weapon out, threw the switch up to unlock the gun and pointed it straight at Hachi.

The soldier let out a warning shout and pointed his weapon right at Hiro's face.

Hachi looked over and found himself staring into the pistols muzzle.

Relatively quick, but surprisingly long in the case of Hachi, he showed a pained face and his left eye even twitched slightly, before he regained his composure and shouted: "Cut it out!"

Everyone now watched at him and realized what had happened.

Zero Two nearly instantly calmed down and looked with growing fear at her Darling and his slightly shaking hand with the weapon.

Her eyes screamed at him.

Please don't kill him, please don't kill him, please don't kill him!

But whether she was pleading at Hiro or at Hachi she couldn't tell.

Either way the result would be a shoot-out with many dead people.

But Hiro didn't even look her way, so he completely missed that.

He stared firmly at Hachi and slowly began to speak:

"Overseer … if you don't make them let go of her right about now, I promise I will put a bullet in your skull, no matter the consequences. I am not one to be reasoned with today."

Hachi just stared back for a while.

It felt like the time within the room was moving in slow motion, the air felt so heavy under the intensity of the situation that it was nearly tangible. The soldiers all moved their weapons in position, not quickly, but menacingly slow instead, while they all just waited for the order to riddle Hiro with holes.

The moment went on for a minute, before Hachi decided to slowly lower his weapon.

"Alright", he nodded briefly, "Is that all?"

Hiro – surprised he actually had managed to do something like this – quickly replied:

"Your men will let go of her, let her stand and won't do anything to her like injections or anything like that, you hear me? You will let her come over to me and I will give you back the weapon and obey. I am not so stupid to actually believe you would consider to let us go."

Hachi nodded.

"Alright. But if she goes on another rampage against my men, no matter for what reason, I will put her down. Either to sleep or into the grave. Are we clear on that, Code 016?"

Even though Hachi showed no emotion, his tone of voice had gotten a whole tone darker.

Hiro had to swallow hard, before he finally gave in.

Now, for the first time, he looked Zero Two in her eyes.

She was just lying on the ground, her limbs still pinned down, and looked up to him, her face full of sweat, blood and tears. Her face said more than any word could have, as she understood what he had done for her sake.

Slowly the soldiers got up and pulled Zero Two up with them.

Then, with a rest of intact pride, she pushed the soldiers in front of her away and marched over to her Darling's side.

Hiro in return handed the man beside him back his weapon.

The soldier took it with a muttered curse, returned it back to his holster and the entire situation seemed cleared.

While the soldiers dragged in their wounded and unconscious comrades, Hiro turned towards Zero Two, hugged her tightly and whispered as quiet as humanly possible:

"Did you manage to get rid of it?"

She simply nodded, still a little bit moved by what he had done to save her.

"You are an idiot", she muttered grinning as she breathed a kiss on his cheek.

Hiro returned the grin a bit weaker, than turned back towards Hachi as everyone was finally within the elevator and they began to move downwards.

The further way to their prison cells was a rather uneventful march over empty corridors and through lesser illuminated hallways. That was not because the prison tract was a dark and ugly place deep underground, but because it was one of those areas that had been hit by the giant hand yesterday and thus was partly damaged. The cell block on the other hand was not. And soon after their arrival, Hiro and Zero Two found themselves in two separated cells, each equipped with only a small bed, a chair and a small table.

It wasn't long after Hiro had been tossed into his cell, that he could hear another door shut with the same metallic sound like the one he himself was locked behind, so he figured that Zero Two must be imprisoned somewhere close by.

He threw himself on his bed, realized that he shouldn't have as it was hard as stone, and rolled over, facing the wall. He stayed like that for a good hour, in which he finally managed to calm down his racing heart and mind.

The bitter truth of his world had already been replaced by the way worse reality he found himself in now. Hiro had always been one to explore and ask things, where other children had been more obedient and introverted. For the first time he asked himself if that was the reason he had gotten himself in so much trouble over the years. Maybe it would be safer for the rest of the squad, now that he was as good as gone.

He hit his head hard against the wall after realizing what he just had thought.

His friends would die if he didn't find a way to save them fast. That was undeniable. How could he think they would be better off as they are now?

Frustrated Hiro sat up against the wall and wrapped his arms around his legs, his head rested upon his knees.

Why had his life had to turn such a bitter way? Couldn't it have stayed as it were?

No, you fool. Because you had to look into those files to justify your anger. And look where it has taken you, his darker side told him mockingly.

Hiro shook his head. That wasn't helpful, if true though.

Ok, enough of that, he told himself, I have to find a way to not get killed or memory wiped.

His face became worried and he looked over his shoulder against the wall.

And to make sure you are safe as well, he added.

Over at Zero Two's cell, she had already made herself at home. This wasn't the first prison she saw from within and if everything went better than the worst case scenario, it would probably not be her last one either.

She sat on the table, her feet laying over one another on the chairs lean.

It was not a very comfortable position as it started to hurt her legs after a while, but it was the most rebellious thing she could think of, so she ignored the pain. Not that it served any valid point either way … the first thing she had done while being in here had been to block the door and its window with the mattress of her bed. So no one would see her sitting on the table.

Zero Two then proceeded to take off her uniform. There was nothing more hilarious than the look on the face of prison staff people, after they had gotten through the mattress barrier, just to be called filthy perverts and being thrown at with clothing and other things.

After her preparations were complete she finally reached a state of calmness she usually only reached when her Darling was with her.

She looked against the wall that separated them from another. She had seen how they had locked him in just behind the next cell door. With her nails she scratched on the wall on instinct. It was way too thick as that she could have hoped to breach it. The door was a massive one too, made out of metal and locked with the same kind of magnet lock like the doors of the archive. No way, she could even hope to damage that.

Now the only thing left to do was to wait. She knew that they would come eventually. Sometimes they brought skilled torturers, sometimes weird machinery and sometimes only the doctor would stroll in and get her out. But never before had she been imprisoned for something like this. So maybe it would be different today. The only thing she knew for certain was that she would not tell them a single thing. If they searched her, they would find nothing. Her data stick lay all the way down in the lift shaft, where she had thrown it in the commotion of the fight earlier.

Nothing they could say would convince her to talk about something she or her Darling had done. She had also her status as Special Forces pilot going for her, which granted her a special treatment on behalf of all military personal. They could not simply question, torture or kill her without first getting in contact with the seven sages themselves. Only they could decide on the fate of one of their chosen ones.

Zero Two never had given a damn about her status, as she knew best how her abilities stood far above those of other parasites, but in situation like those, she didn't mind it at all.

Suddenly a thought crossed her mind and her feeling of untouchability crumbled a bit. There was indeed one possibility this time, how they could make her spill out everything they had done and everything else they wanted to hear. If they dragged her Darling in here and questioned her while pointing a gun to his head.

She shook her head a little bit and got rid of that thought. Not even APE could sink so low, she thought, to make herself feel more confident. But it didn't quite work, as the nervousness now stayed with her.

Irritated she eventually got up from the table to get some blood into her hurting legs and began to march in a circle through her cell. This was also different from all her earlier imprisonments. Never before had she actually gotten herself in some kind of emotional distress over her being in a cell. Or rather: someone else being in a cell.

Suddenly – with a loud metallic sound – the magnet lock opened and the door to her cell moved inwards and threw the mattress to the ground in the process.

Zero Two, who had walked around in her cell for minutes and who's uniform still lay upon the table, felt pretty stupid all of a sudden and sat down on her bed to not look like the biggest idiot.

Hachi stood in the open door, two soldiers by his side, and walked in over the mattress. The soldiers stayed on the other side and closed it behind him. With another loud metallic sound the lock snapped back in place.

Hachi walked straight over to the table, threw the uniform over to Zero Two and sat down on the chair, while taking a few things out of his pocket and displaying them on the table.

Zero Two just glared at him and got back into her uniform.

"Are you feeling too warm in here?", was the first remark Hachi made, while placing another thing on the table, that she couldn't make out from her position on the bed.

She simply huffed and stood up to come over to him, but immediately Hachi drew his pistol and pointed it at her.

"You stay were you are. Come one step closer and I shoot you were you stand."

She froze and raised an eyebrow.

"That's pretty straightforward, coming from you. Are you afraid of me?"

He now turned towards her, his face monotone as ever, and said:

"On the way down here you gave me no reason to assume that I could reason with you, so why do you thing I would begin doing it now?"

He paused and one of his eyes twitched at little.

"But no. I am not afraid of you. I just want this to go like I want it to and without you causing any more trouble for me. Understood? Then sit down."

His weapon was still pointed at her face.

Zero Two inspected his face carefully, but to no avail. He wouldn't show any more emotion than that.

She bit on her lower lip, thought for a second and then shrugged.

"I would probably be on your throat before you could even pull the trigger. Besides, your superiors would lynch you for killing me. I am still part of the Special Forces, you kno…"

A loud bang erupted from Hachi's pistol as a single bullet flew only a few centimeters away from Zero Two's head against the wall of the cell, ricocheted against the metal door and came to a halt on the ground.

All of that happened in a single second, so none of them had time to react until it was all over.

Zero Two let out a sharp hiss and pinched her eyes.

"I don't fool around like you children, Code 002. We both now know that I would really shoot you down if you would try something. I wasn't all too sure until now, but now I am. Are you?"

Hesitantly she dropped back onto the bed, still looking at Hachi like she wanted to tear him apart right about now.

The pistol stayed pointed at her face at all times.

"Very good. We will now began this questioning. I will ask you questions and you will answer them. You may argue that I have no right to question you like that, as you are part of the Special Forces and I am not, but right now I have the weapon and you do not. And that is all you have to know about this rather unique questioning you find yourself in."

Zero Two's eyebrows raised up as she finally understood that they had really fucked up with what they had done. Hachi wasn't after them because of his allegiance to APE. He wanted something. And that would probably be at least as illegal as what they had done. It also meant that Hachi could simply shoot her, talk it off as self-defense and no one would know what happened.

She had to chuckle. More out of gallows humor than real amusement, but still.

"I understand", was all she answered him with a knowing look.

Hachi nodded.

"I'm glad you do. I will begin now. You broke into the military archive of plantation 13. Do you want to deny that?"

Zero Two thought for a second.

"I know you said that you would ask and I just answer … but do you allow me a question in return without blowing my head off?"

He rolled his eyes – the first visible reaction she got out of him – and gave her a signal to go on.

"Is this questioning being recorded?"

He was shortly taken aback, but then realized what she had in mind and his face turned somewhat sour without changing at all. It was just that he looked at her differently than before.

"No, it is obviously not. And no, I won't accept any deals with you. I have to openly punish you for what you did. No possibility goes around that fact. Nor will you have the chance to blackmail me for my personal goals, I will make sure of that. Now answer my question."

Zero Two's face turned sour in return, as she laid down on her bed, the hands folded behind her head, and replied:

"I don't need to confess anything to you. First off, you know the answer. Second, you don't have any means to make me talk, as you just openly stated to punish me nonetheless and without granting any kind of reward in return. So tell me, why the hell should I answer you?"

Hachi stayed still. He stayed indeed so quiet that she took a peek at him to confirm he was still there. He just stared at her. For a minute or so. Then, suddenly, he stood up. He lowered his pistol, checked the magazine and then went over towards the door.

Zero Two just looked after him, unbelieving of what she saw.

"Hey, you're just going to stroll off or what?"

The door opened up and he stepped outside, but turned towards her for a last time.

"You won't talk, I get that. I wanted to speak to you first, because you are used to violent environments and imprisonment. So I figured you would be more likely to respond to my questions without the need to demonstrate force on you to make you talk. That is – obviously – not the case, so you just made me turn towards Code 016 instead. I'm sorry. I promise I will try to hold back if he should proof to be as stubborn as you."

Her eye twitched, pain shot threw her head.

The door began to close again.

She snapped.

Zero Two was on her feet the second he stopped talking. She arrived at the door the second it closed and threw herself against the window with every bit of muscle she could muster, a pained scream like that of a wounded animal on her lips.

The window cracked. But it didn't shatter.

Leaving a bloody trail, she slid down the door and came to a comatose halt.

I'm sorry Darling. I didn't meant to …

Hiro had heard the gunshot earlier and he knew exactly where it had come from. At first, he had panicked like crazy, but since then had passed half an hour and his beating heart had calmed down.

The door to Zero Two's cell had opened and closed too quickly, he thought. No way they could have dragged … a corpse … through it so fast. So either she was still alive or they had let her dead body lie in her cell.

Upon that thought his heart began to beat faster again.

That's not true, she wouldn't just die like that. I would have heard it if they killed her. She would have fought like crazy. I would have felt if …

The door to his cell began to open.

With one of his legs nervously hammering on the ground, his face full of fear and with a crazily beating heart, he looked at Hachi, as he came marching in.

He directly went over to the chair, sat down and began to unpack a few things.

The door closed.

Hiro looked over at the table but couldn't make out what Hachi was putting there.

Slowly Hiro came to his legs and took a few steps towards him.

Hachi didn't stop him, but simply said: "So … Code 016. I am here to …"

Then he stopped suddenly as he felt the strong grip of a hand on his right shoulder. A hastily look towards his pistol - which was out of his reach right now – later his eyes met Hiro's. There was some kind of murderous intent in those eyes. Hachi had to gulp a little upon realizing that he underestimated the Parasite. But none of his evaluations had let him think of Hiro as a threat at all. This was so out of line, it was downright scary. But that also applied to the reason of Hiro being in this cell.

They stared at each other for a second while those thoughts jumped through Hachi's mind.

Hiro's grip around Hachi's shoulder tightened.

"What have you done to her?"

The question was plain and simple. Hiro didn't shout, nor did he whisper. He asked straight away like any other question in his life. But the unhidden wavering of his voice was a clear indicator of all the suppressed emotion behind that seemingly lighthearted question.

In this one heartbeat Hachi had no doubt that Hiro would try to kill him with his bare hands if he were to say something wrong. He may have knew it before Hiro himself.

Slowly Hachi rose his hands into the air.

"I understand that you are in an emotional turmoil right now, Code 016. I swear that neither I nor any other person has done any harm to Code 002 …"

The grip around his shoulder got less painful.

Suddenly the door opened up and the two soldiers outside pointed their weapons at Hiro as they noticed what was going on inside the cell.

"Back off! On the ground!", one of them yelled.

Hiro gave them a quick look and let go of Hachi, then got on the ground as told.

Quickly one of the men rushed over to Hachi and the other handcuffed Hiro again. This time with the hands on his back.

Hachi sent them out right afterwards.

As soon as the door closed he resumed: "As I was saying … Code 002 was not harmed in any way by us. Yet she may have inflicted some harm upon herself by attempting to breach the door with her body alone. I can't guaranty her wellbeing after seeing that. I don't say that to anger you, just to tell you the truth. Are you now willing to answer my questions?"

Hiro sent him a glare from the ground.

"Do you intend to mention the gunshot?"

"Oh, that, right … We got in a somewhat heated argument and I had to demonstrate something. I missed her of course. It was just a show of force. Are you being satisfied now?"

Hiro got on his knees and back to his feet from there, before letting himself sink on his bed.

"Alright. I believe you Hachi. You in person never gave me a reason not to."

Hachi rose an eyebrow.

"That is … good to hear. Then I won't lie to you now either. You are in very big trouble, Code 016. What you did was no minor rule breaking, but military sabotage. Care to explain that?"

Hiro just sat at his bed – his leg hammering on the ground again – and tried to make up something logical. The problem was … there was no logical reason he could come up with, other than the truth.

He eventually sighed and asked: "How much do you know about my personal history Hachi? Seriously?"

Hachi was shortly taken aback by that question, but collected himself quickly and opened up his copy of Hiro's file.

"Well, according to my personal experience, gathered while working with you and your Squad, you are a very eager and passionate Parasite, with few to none other in the squad coming close to your skill. Yet, that testimony may be falsified by you riding with Code 002 and in Strelizia. Nonetheless, you never gave me any reason to doubt your fighting spirit or even your loyalty."

Hachi skimmed over the entire file to be sure.

"And neither does the data I got on you. You are very curious and somehow convinced the caretakers at the garden that naming yourself and others was okay. But that is how far …"

Hiro let out an unintended chuckle.

Hachi looked at him, surprised by that reaction.

Hiro was consistently shaking his head in disbelief, while grinning joylessly.

"If that truly is, what is written in there, than you are being fooled just as I was. And that is even sadder than everything I already knew. Because it means that not even the Parasites that escape this deathtrap are being entrusted with more knowledge.

Hachi slowly got the feeling that he wasn't the one interrogating anymore.

"Well … you have to explain that a little more, I'm afraid. I don't know what you are talking about …"

Yet some of Hiro's words had indeed triggered some thoughts of his own to resurface. Especially the mentioning of being fooled and the word deathtrap came close to some thoughts of his own, back when he used to actively think about the state of his mind and his place in the world. Days long gone now, until the current case had been brought before him.

Hachi shook his head and concentrated back on Hiro.

"You know … I have the feeling we really should change the topic. This doesn't lead anywhere. What am I being accused of, again?"

Now Hachi was completely thrown off.

"Well … of high treason and sabotage … basically."

"Alright. And what would be the appropriate sentence for these crimes?"

Hachi lowered his data pad and looked Hiro straight in the eyes.

"Death."

Hiro simply nodded. He was kind of relieved to have finally heard it.

"Then why are we talking? Just shoot me and get it over with. The reasons are pointless if you kill me anyway. And … I know she will hate me for even trying to do this, but … please spare her. I will beg on my knees if you want me to. But please, don't kill her for something I suggested and mainly carried out myself. She was just helping me because of her feelings …"

Hachi made a placatory gesture with his hands, as Hiro's emotions finally welled up and drove him to sob a little.

"It's ok, we can still talk this over. You can lower the weight of your crime if you confess, help us clear everything up and help me to get that data back, that you have stolen. Then I may find a way for you to live. And have no fear … the higher ups would never decide to terminate Zero Two. They need her way to much for that to happen."

The way Hachi now talked nearly sounded fatherly. He spoke scolding, yet relieved Hiro from his worst thoughts.

Hiro was shortly taken aback by that feeling.

"Well …", he began, but then realized that he had seriously been only a few words apart from telling Hachi everything. Irritated he shook his head.

"No, I can't. You may don't understand it, but they will shoot me even if I tell you everything. I'm sorry Hachi, just get it over with, please."

But Hachi just made a stern face. Kind of as if he just had an epiphany about something.

"I think I begin to get it. Alright. I'm changing the topic. Tell me what I want to know, then we can talk about your execution."

Hiro flinched, but nodded.

"Were is the second data stick?"

Hachi hold up the one he had picked up at the table in the library, together with Naomi's wristband. He raised an eyebrow again.

"Very clever, I must say. To use someone else's wristband for that. An idea of your own or your girlfriends?"

"My own", Hiro muttered, "The second stick is well hidden. I would exchange it against my life, but that is pointless even if I could get you to accept that. Only Zero Two can tell you more. You should talk to her about it."

Hachi let his head sink on his breast for a second, before getting his posture back up.

"That is not especially helpful. Talking to Zero Two is pointless. She will just try to rip me apart again."

"Then why don't you be happy with what you got? It can't be so urgent to risk your death over it now, can it?", Hiro asked shrugging.

Instead of an answer, Hiro got the scariest look Hachi had ever shown him.

"That is out of the question", Hachi growled, "I need that second stick way more than this damned thing!"

He threw the stick in his hand back on the table.

And suddenly Hiro had an epiphany too.

"You don't want the stick … you want something that's saved on it …"

"Quiet. That is none of your concern. Just tell me …", Hachi got up, his eyebrows drawn together, his entire face an emotional mess of rage and helplessness, and came towards Hiro, "… where I can find that damn data! Afterwards I can do anything … let you see Zero Two one last time, shoot you on the spot, or even talk to APE about you and try to convince them to let you live … but first you tell me the location of that stick!"

He now stood right in front of Hiro, like a menacingly looming tower.

Hiro was completely startled by all of this.

"Well, I … I could … but …"

Hachi draw his pistol.

"No more buts. You managed to get me emotional, so here we are. I will not shoot you in your head or breast, but I assume you wouldn't like a few shots to your legs either, am I right?"

The weapon now was pointed straight at his knees.

Hiro gulped. And broke.

What is it even worth being tortured over at this point?, he thought to himself, They won't hurt Zero Two and give me a painless death. That's a better ending than I could have wished for. And yet, still … I would prefer seemingly everything over that …

"Alright."

Hachi's face evened up a bit.

"Alright?"

Hiro nodded slowly.

"It is somewhere inside the main elevators shaft. Zero Two dropped it down there while your men were busy holding her down. I'm sorry, but you will have to search down there."

The anger shortly flushed back over Hachi's face, but he got himself back under control, his face changed back to his usual monotone self and he nodded.

"I will check that. Thoroughly. If I shouldn't have found it afterwards I would be very displeased, as you can probably imagine. I'll be off now. I have to search a few hundred floors of elevator shaft, if the stick didn't miraculously fell down to the very bottom. Until then, rest a bit."

And with that Hachi turned around, swiped the data stick, the wristband and his pistol back into his pockets and holster and marched out of the cell.

Afterwards the guards came back in to take Hiro's handcuffs off.

After they were gone as well and the door closed with its typically metallic sound, Hiro let himself fell backwards upon his bed.

Was that the best I could achieve? To send him searching and prolong my life that way?

Sighing he got back on his feet and started to walk around in his cell.

I don't want to die. But I would prefer it over losing her for good this time. On the other hand, she would be devastated either way. As crazy as it sounds, I am her entire reason to live right now and have been it unknowingly for ages. I could never hurt her that much.

He shook his head. It was out of the question that he would get punished severely for what he did. Only one very small possibility remained in the backside of his mind, born from sheer hope after realizing something while he spoke to Hachi.

It was a silly, if not crazy, plan. But maybe … maybe it could work. With a lot of luck.

Hiro looked towards the wall that separated him from Zero Two.

I'll try anything I can to get back to you. Even if all odds are turned against us.

Hachi was getting more and more nervous by the minute.

This entire scenario of him imprisoning those two and keeping it a secret from the entirety of APE was madness.

Nana could be walzing into the prison any second now, maybe directly followed by the Doctor or worse.

And then it would be a matter of heartbeats before he would find himself in one of those cells as well.

First my best chance doesn't talk to me, then the other sends me off on to a damned treasure hunt and now I am stuck with waiting for the damn drones to find the thing in time. Why couldn't have at least one thing be in my favor?

He looked over towards the soldiers, who were guarding the two cells. Any of them could already be suspicious of what they were doing. Maybe they had already called for the Doctor. He trusted his face not to let any of them read his thoughts, but still. If only his hands and feet could stay still for one second. He must look like the embodiment of tension to them.

Then, half an hour later, one of the drones returned with the stick.

Hachi's heart jumped up and down upon holding it finally in his hand.

He looked over towards the entrance to the prison tract as if he just waited to get caught by someone. But nothing happened.

With a nervous twitching of his mouth, that nearly resembled a smile, he turned towards one of the empty offices of the prison and closed the door behind him. He then dragged a chair into one corner of the room, so that if the door suddenly were to open, he would longer be out of sight.

Twitching with uncertainty and nervousness, Hachi connected to the stick and opened up the file tree.

Phew, I have done it again. Another chapter that feels like I'm dragging this story into eternity.

But I really wanted to tell how desperate all the main characters are becoming right now, soooo ... I'm sorry.

The next chapter will see the ending of this first story arc, I promise!

I am as always really happy to hear your thoughts on the story and hope to see you soon, at the first arcs finale!