YES oh my gosh I love Dakota Twin chapters so much. There's something I look forward to in each of the Recovery Agents' parts, and I'm looking forward to certain heights (and depths) in all of the sections, but by the third round it's pretty safe to say that writing the Dakota Twins has been just an absolute blast and I'm excited to be back on this one.

Special thanks to secretlystephaniebrown, godoflaundrybaskets, meirelle, Adelaide, and Yin for the feedback on AO3 and on tumblr!

Recovery None
Recovery Two III: Hard Knocks

"Dear Counselor: I fucking see you, prick. Sincerely, this asshole."

Hearing her message spoken so clearly from the droning tone of the Counselor was an absolute delight. If South had half a mind to do so, she would have recorded it on her helmet at the start of their little meeting and kept it on loop for her longer voyages.

Fucking delightful.

Which was the exact opposite of the expression worn by the Counselor as he looked over his tablet, scowl firm on his face.

That in itself was an accomplishment as far as South was concerned. It was about time that she was making someone else upset or uncomfortable rather than the other way around.

She crossed her arms over her chest and tossed her head back slightly.

"I'm not entirely sure why this was worthy of a meeting unto itself, Counselor," she fired back.

"You don't find your language here disrespectful?" he asked severely.

"Oh, I didn't say that," South responded. "But there's a difference between being purposefully disrespectful and accidentally disrespectful. Since this was the former, the fact that my point got across is pretty good in my opinion."

The Counselor's frown grew more and he adjusted in his seat.

"As I suggested in our last meeting, South, I believe you view yourself as having dealt with some transgressions through our program."

"Yeah," she responded, glaring into him. "That would be because I have."

He tapped his pen on the tablet. "And you don't believe that, perhaps, the solution here would be to evaluate your own reactionary behavior?"

"No, I don't," she stayed firm. "That's not how I play the game."

"And you don't believe that it is your failure to play the game that has led to the majority of your transgressions through the program?" he asked.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes," she said darkly. "But you're making a mistake, Counselor. You're acting like there's only two options here - for me to play the game, or not to play the game. I think there's a third."

"Do you?" he asked, frown still apparent. "And have you discovered for yourself yet what that third option is?"

Keeping quiet, South looked to her lap, releasing a deep exhale from her nose before shaking her head. "I guess until I do I'm just technically in the not playing option, right?"

When she looked up, the Counselor was writing away on his tablet.

"This performance is unbecoming of an agent of your caliber, Agent South. We expected far more of you when we called you to this program." He looked up at her. "You will be returned to assignment only if there is a marked improvement on your ability to follow our orders."

South shook her head. "Okay, okay. Look. You and I both know I'm going to go nuts if I'm cooped up here and that's not going to work out for any of us. Right?" She tapped the table. "I'd also wager that you know what my real problem with you all is here, right? You know what I want to go after. You know why I'm pissed off at the program first above all else right now."

His attention fully on South, the Counselor leaned back, watching her, studying her.

"If you want a happy, orderly little Recovery Agent, if you want me to be the spectacular Agent South who was a leader in the pack before all the shit was going down, you know what I want. You know you've all been jerking me around," she reminded him. "Just let me go after North. Let me get North. For real. And once that's done, I'll be happy. My conscience will be clear and I'll be the happiest, most trustworthy Recovery Two on your whole fucking planet, Counselor."

He watched her, putting the tablet pen to his lips and remaining quiet. It was just enough to make South's blood want to boil. "Counselor, I'm begging you-"

"Do you understand my concerns with letting you go after your own brother, Agent South?" the Counselor asked. "I don't know how much objectivity you will carry - "

"As long as you get North and I get North, I don't think it matters that much, now, does it?"

The Counselor closed his eyes in thought. He took a long, collective breath and then looked to South again.

"We will consider your request and come back to you with an answer soon enough," he told her. "You're dismissed."

Smirking, South got to her feet and headed out of the room.

It was fine. She had other things to do, after all.

Even in his anger and disappointment, it was against Theta's character to be a dormant AI. Loneliness was the one state he could not tolerate.

So rather than the absent quiet of his mind or the curiously slow drum of pulsing that North had heard other agents describe in the program when the AI fell into non-activity, North found himself with a constant itch at the back of his neck.

Theta had spent days by that point humming, scratching, vibrating on a different plane than North's own mind, but its presence was a constantly felt entity.

If anything, it should have tempted North to just pull the AI again, as the action had been devastating to his ability to sleep or to fully pay attention on sweeping patrols of their new location. But, as South had always been happy to say, North was nothing if not a stubborn bastard. And he had long since made a point of showing Theta that he was a partner that could be trusted.

So he combated Theta's sulking the best he could. He talked out loud as he laid awake in bed, leaving long pauses for Theta's interjections that never came. He kept focus on his observations with his rifle scope by keeping a physical pad and pen to write down everything during his survey. And even if the constant murmur had eradicated his appetite, North forced himself to have a meal of the canned food or MRE that York and Delta had given them.

And he continued to tell his stories about South and himself, a colony just on the outer orbits and how a set of twins managed to watch it be glassed just as they left orbit.

"We used to be so similar when we were kids," North said out loud, looking through his scope. "People used to ask if we had a connection. A twin thing." He snorted a bit, shaking his head. "I don't know. When we were really little we'd try it out. Try to see what the other was thinking but... no matter how many times we were right, it never felt like we were reading each other's minds. Whatever the 'twin' thing is supposed to be."

He waited for a moment, breathed through his nose at the constant humming and pivoted his gun to continue inspecting elsewhere.

"It never bothered me that people asked a dozen questions about being twins. But it bothered South. Always did," he sighed. "South and I are competitive, Theta. But South thinks that she has to do everything alone to prove a point. Like if she gets real help, if she's not in charge, then it's meaningless." He frowned, backing up away from the scope and rubbing his eyes.

"Okay, maybe some of that's my fault," he admitted. "I push her a lot. I just. It's a sibling thing. We might get upset over the same stuff, but I have a better time... I don't know, putting off reacting. I don't have the need to go with the throes of the moment. And I know South does and it's..." He looked back over the city line. It was so quiet and inactive - a dying hub of a drained planet. "I didn't want to hurt her. I knew she was unhappy with the program, with people doing better than us, with not getting an AI. But. Maybe for the first time I knew what it was she liked so much about being the one who wasn't just the twin. And... I had you, Theta. At the end of the day, having you and being responsible for you has put a lot of that in perspective."

He didn't miss the flicker of a hologram over his shoulder, but he didn't look to it either.

North sighed, leaned forward and put his head in his hands.

"I'm not that different from York at the end of the day, am I, buddy?" he asked softly. "I was right. I do what to help South get away from the past, from Freelancer. That's all I want for her. But... I need to tell her that I get it. I get why we fell apart, and it wasn't just her. I knew what was going on but as long as it was me at the top, I didn't care enough to make it stop."

There was a moment of silence before Theta moved, standing more in front of North. His tiny head tossed to the side.

"That's not all true, North," Theta whispered.

"It's more true than it's not," he said softly, looking up to Theta with a broken smile. "I mean, I do get my sister and my brother angry at me at an alarming rate. And usually it's something I'm doing, after all."

Theta kicked the air. "Brother?"

"That's you, Theta."

"Oh!" The AI fell quiet, looking to his feet. "You didn't trust me."

"You were telling Maine where we were, whether you wanted to or not," North said pointedly. "And that's not something we can afford to do - at all. Whether it's Maine chasing us or Freelancer. You telling people where to find us... it's dangerous, Theta. If I'm going to protect us, you can't do that."

Theta dropped his head. "I'm sorry."

"I know you are," North sighed. "And for what it's worth... so am I. You're right. I escalated the situation when I went with my gut instead of your numbers and got distracted by that projection of Maine first. We both made mistakes."

"Like you and South?" Theta asked.

North smirked. "Exactly like me and South," he agreed. "You know... a year is the longest I've ever gone without talking to my sister? I can hardly believe it... It just makes me worry that I'm running out of time to make things up to her."

"It's been that long for me and most of my brothers."

Surprised, North had to blink a few times before looking back up at Theta, judging his projection carefully. Theta talked about Delta quite a bit, which was reasonable considering that they had spent so much time together on the road, but it was a rare day for Theta to bring up the other AI fragments of Project Freelancer.

"Do you miss them?" North asked, a little concerned.

"I don't know them. Not well," Theta admitted, twiddling his thumbs together. "The only one I talked to, besides Delta, was Sigma. And Sigma... Sigma was very scary."

Irrationally, North felt defensive of his small AI. "I didn't know Sigma talked to you. Why didn't you tell me?"

Theta looked up cautiously. "Sigma said it was dangerous to say. And you never liked Sigma. I didn't want to be in trouble." He looked to his feet again. "Sigma used to tell all of us that we were supposed to be together. That's why we always wanted to be closer but the program wouldn't let us. He said we were pieces of a puzzle. And if we came together we would make a whole AI again."

North frowned. "Was that true?"

"It felt true," Theta mumbled. "That's what scared me. But... you and South... you made me think." He looked back up to North, worry radiating from him. "If we were all one AI again... and that's all we were... I couldn't be Theta anymore, could I? I couldn't be myself. I think that's scary. I want to be a family with my brothers. But I don't want to stop being Theta again."

Looking to his hands, North sighed. "I'm sorry that you didn't trust me enough to let me know these things, Theta. That is a lot for you to have to think by yourself."

"It's okay, North," Theta responded. "I do trust you. You're my brother now." He paused, humming as he tapped a finger against his avatar's mouthpiece. "I guess that makes South my sister."

"I guess it would," North agreed.

"Then I guess I want to be back with her just as much as you do," Theta concluded. He held out his tiny projected hand. "I forgive you, North. Do you forgive me?"

North smiled and pretended to shake a finger for Theta's tiny hands to clasp. "Theta, you were already forgiven.

It had been over a week since South first realized she was alone at Command, since Washington got to take her place right from under her. Once again.

But fortunately enough, her patience had been uncharacteristically in high supply after her meeting with the Counselor.

Which didn't mean she was sitting around and waiting idly as her request was look over.

The training room had been open regularly without competition for it and she took advantage. Beat her time, made sure FILSS recorded the fractions of seconds she could shave off of Washington's time, then start over again.

From time to time she would stop and look mindfully toward the observation deck. No matter what, she wore her cocky grin and made a show of letting anyone watching know that she was keenly aware of their presence. Then, to herself, she'd wonder just what her chances were that that was even the case.

She wondered only once if that was what Washington had always felt like, if that was why he looked ready to kill each time he glared above himself.

But Wash never had an edge on the program, not like South. She mused that, perhaps, that edge was the difference in her mood as well.

When she grew irritated with the wasting time, waiting for the Counselor's answers, she knew that best person to annoy over it all was not the intangible Counselor but rather Command's dispatch.

Retiring to her room after an evening in the training room, South directed her personal line to Command.

"I am sorry, Recovery Two, but this line is unavailable," FILSS' voice surprisingly droned out.

South crinkled her nose. "FILSS, you're not supposed to access this line-"

"I must block all incoming calls to Command dispatch currently, as that is my newest directive from the Counselor and Director of Project Freelancer," the computer continued. "I am sorry for any-"

"No no, it's alright. No inconvenience," South said, leaning forward. She couldn't help the toothy grin she was growing as she realized what kind of opportunity laid before her. "Say, Command wouldn't happen to be too distracted to run some systemic maintenance, would they?"

"Oh, yes, Command is very busy at the moment," FILSS replied. "However, if it is system maintenance on your equipment, I am more than happy to assist you, Recovery Two!"

"Oh, wow, FILSS!" South called out in feigned excitement. "You wouldn't mind?"

"It would be my pleasure!"

"Thanks, FILSS, it was very important," South replied, plugging in a drive to her desk system. "And while you're at it, would you mind scanning this? Just make sure it's safe?"

"Of course, anything to be of assistance," FILSS responded, chipper. "And for future reference, I am best suited for these tasks and would love to do them. There is no need to go to Command fist. Scan complete."

"Thank you, FILSS," South responded, smiling as she dropped the drive into her pocket. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

North carefully stirred the can of beans, not feeling they were particularly appetizing when Theta popped up in projection without his usual cloud burst of fireworks. The immediate sense of fear worked over North as he stared at Theta knowingly.

The AI flickered. "Sensor went off."

"Which one this time?" North asked, already mobilizing, putting the can aside and grabbing for his always nearby rifle.

"Corner of three-four-three and one-three-thirty-seven," Theta announced, voice growing progressively worried as he blinked out then reappeared closer to North's preferred vantage point, looking out over the cityscape already. "Rooftop. Clear view. Nine-thirty."

"Thanks, Theta," North grunted, dropping to the flat of his stomach at the alcove and immediately setting his sniper rifle into position. He quickly looked through the scope, waiting anxiously as his view lined up with Theta's directions.

Theta projected to his shoulder, giving off the usual faint glow across North's face.

"Is it him? Are we in danger?" Theta stage whispered, the nervous energy he pulsed with in the back of North's mind quaking with his heightened anxiety.

"Can't say yet, Theta," North announced. He narrowed his eyes as he caught the glimmer of movement not far from the initial directions Theta had given him. "Hm. What do we have here?" he wondered out loud.

"Oh, no, is it him!?" Theta cried out. "I'm trying really hard, North! I haven't made fireworks or checked any networks or anything since-"

"Shh, just a second, Theta," North whispered as soothingly as he could manage as he caught up with the moving body in his scope.

It wasn't Maine.

North exhaled sharply through his nose and followed the movement, watched the body, and felt his own jaw dropping slightly.

Very unlike himself, North pulled away from his scope, sitting up some to blink and rub at his face before peering again. It didn't take long to find the body racing across the rooftops.

"North!? What's the matter?" Theta squeaked.

"Theta, check something for me," North ordered. "Who does that look like?"

The small AI hesitated before disappearing from view. North could feel the spread of Theta sinking deeper into his neural implants again, looking with North as they tracked the very person who had set off their set sensors.

"That's... not right," Theta mumbled.

"Are you seeing the same person I'm seeing?" North asked.

Theta withdrew and projected to North's shoulder again, hands wringing nervously.

"I'm seeing Agent CT," he announced. "But it's such a big distance and... CT's dead and..."

North sat up and shook his head. "That armor's too distinctive to not be her's," he announced. "I would recognize it anywhere. Wouldn't you?"

"I didn't know her as well as you did, North," Theta reminded him. "She was a traitor already."

"Yeah, well," North looked over his shoulder. "We're all traitors now, I guess."

"But... they said she was dead, didn't they? Would they lie about that?" Theta asked worriedly.

"I don't know," North muttered back. "But... I guess it's possible."

They lapsed into silence as North watched for CT, slowly losing the figure in the distance. He shook his head, still feeling so numbed from that initial shock of possibly finding an old friend and ally.

"Are we going to try and meet her?" Theta asked.

"I just don't know, Theta, it doesn't sit right," North frowned, leaning his chin on his forearm after losing CT to the distant obstructions of the city. "I know I can't trust half the horse hockey we were told by Freelancer... but CT dying was something we were all there for, even if I didn't see it myself."

"So it... isn't her?" the AI asked in confusion.

"I'll put it this way, Theta. Whoever this is... they set off a sensor," North reminded him. He then looked carefully to Theta. "Connie never would have set off a goddamn sensor."

"Okay," Theta nodded. "I'm gonna monitor all the sensors even more."

"I'd appreciate that, Theta, thank you," North nodded. He sighed and rubbed his face. "Maybe... maybe we should think about packing up again, too. Close call with Maine... someone else with Freelancer equipment running around... this might not be the best place to set up a meeting with South after all," he sighed.

"If there's so much danger... do you think we should find Delta and York?" Theta asked, voice small with apprehension.

"Maybe," North sighed. Maybe that's not such a bad idea.

Theta seemed incredibly pleased before disappearing on North.

The former special agent sighed and roughly rubbed at his face. It wasn't how he wanted things to go at all.

With Command still distracted well into the night, South made her move.

She was smart enough to know never to attempt contact on a traceable channel from Command, and as such had been sure to see to it that Hargrove and his Charon buddies set up station for her off base. She she messaged them earlier that day, her only message had been "package" and a time - three hundred hours - to meet.

She knew that it wasn't likely to be a message overlooked given the Chairman's interest in any inside information the Director and Counselor would never be willing to give.

Quietly in the middle of the night, South pulled herself from her cot and checked FILSS' localized hub a few feet from the office desk. Smirking to herself, South pushed off from her cot and padded over to the computer.

Pulling the equipment away from the wall, she quickly assessed the wires, reached in, and pulled out a fistful.

"Whoops," she said to herself, watching as the glow of the equipment dimmed and extinguished entirely. With another firm push, South shoved the hub back into alignment then headed over to her armor. It wasn't advisable to put on the Freelancer tech without FILSS' supervision, but then it would have been documented and South couldn't have that.

It took a while, almost twenty minutes from the time she started to pull on the pieces of her armor, equipped the enhancements of choice, and started to undo the hatch she pulled together in her bathroom for the air ducts, but the results were worth it. And it wasn't long after all that she was on her way to the offsite Charon radio hub

Just enough results to be worth a grand show of patience for South.

When she arrived, South slowed to a walk, looking around the area, then checking her HUD clock for the time before shrugging. There was no one to be seen.

"Guess I showed up to my own party a little early," she huffed, holstering her rifle behind her shoulder, and making her way toward the hub. She checked it, hands running over the simple equipment. "No messages for me from... not Command. What the fuck did he want to call it again?"

"The word you're looking for is Control."

Without a moment's hesitation, South pulled her handgun and shot right between the eyes of the figure behind her. Her breath hitched as she looked into the face of the very familiar brown armor, the yellow eyes piercing right back.

"CT?" she mouthed before watching the figure flicker out of existence. South's glare hardened. "A hologram...?"

"That's the thing with, the Chairman," the voice continued, drawing South's attention and aim toward the true source just a few feet further back. He stepped forward, larger and broader than CT ever was, but the armor so clearly the same. He tilted his head. "He's all about feeling that sense of power..."

Snarling, South readied her gun. "And just who the fuck are you?" she demanded, gun whipping up and down his body. "And who the fuck gave you that armor and enhancement?"

"You don't need to know me personally, not yet," he said darkly. "And to be honest, I don't care if we ever do get to know each other. Just call me CT."

"Not fucking happening," she roared back.

"Then call me nothing, bitch," he snapped. "All you need to know is I'm here for Control. And that if you're wasting our time, well, I have the Chairman's complete faith. And I'm sure he'll not mind too much if I saw the need to take you the fuck down."

"Work on your threats, fuckface," she snapped. "You're not as scary as you think you are, because if you're really here for the Chairman then I'm the one who has what you want." She narrowed her eyes. "I'm sure the Chairman would be very forgiving if you failed to give him information from inside Project Freelancer, though. So why don't you just try his patience? If he has such good faith in you."

The man stayed toward the shadows, keeping his gaze even with South's for a good run, before he peered down and took a breath. When he looked up, his shoulders were less squared. "Alright," he snapped. "Give me what you've got."

"Two things," she replied, never taking her hand from her gun but reaching with her free hand to her belt. She pulled out the two drives, tossing the first toward the so-called CT. "That's a copied scan of FILSS."

"Phyllis?" the man snorted back.

South narrowed her eyes. "Shut the fuck up, you have no idea what you're talking about," she sneered. "FILSS is the Freelancer Integrated and Logistics Security System. She's vital to the daily operations of every part of the program and your most likely bet for giving me something back that can hack the entire system for more of Hargrove's attention. Tell him to get his dumbfuck scientists working on that."

"You can't do it yourself?" he demanded.

"I'm not a hacker, I'm a soldier and, when needed, a spy," she reminded him. "I could try, but the chances of me getting caught increase a lot when that happens. Get me some help, I'll do what needs to be done beyond that."

He glared at her. "Our last source was able to give us much more than this without needing coding-"

"Yeah, the real CT was good," South hissed. "She still got caught. Or did you forget."

The man looked ready to lunge, prompting South to cock her gun as a reminder of his position. He stewed in place instead. "No," he snapped. "No, I don't have to be reminded."

"Good," South replied before tossing the second drive. "And that's the specs he told me he wanted about the planetary scans. They're years old - from before the UNSC gave the colonies over to Freelancer for these projects. No idea why the fuck you Control assholes wanted it so bad."

The impostor CT held up the drive, looking it over before plugging it in to the cuff of his armor.

South waited before letting out a low grunt, drawing his attention back to her. "Okay, maybe I was being too obtuse with that. Forgive me. I'll stick to being direct. Why the hell did your bastard boss want old geologic scans of the planet to begin with? What's that have to do with Freelancer?"

He looked her over, as if surprised, then released a low laugh, shaking his head.

"You actually believed that Hargrove was just interested in some payback and a little side of justice against your bastard boss for breaking some laws about AI code?" he laughed. "What a group of naive pricks you all are at the end of the day. This must have been how you were so easily led to slaughter by this fucking program."

Angrily South dove forward, tackling the man to the ground, pressing an arm into his throat. "You have something to say to me, you bastard? Try saying it now. May I remind you, I'm a little tired of being played around with, so I'd recommend you tell me what's going on before I kick your ass to get the information."

He coughed, shaking his head. "Hargrove doesn't do any operation that doesn't have value to him in the end," he replied, voice straining. "This planet got his attention to begin with because the UNSC chose to give it to Doctor Church over Charon Industries to begin with, they were both vying for it as a resource to their projects. There's more than just colonized terrain here. When the UNSC first set foot on this planet it was still covered in alien technology. Most of it was gone after just a few years of colonization, but some of the untouched ruins could possibly hold more alien technology than we could ever hope to find in other planets under UNSC control."

South sat up on his chest, looking down at him. She threw up her hands. "Who the fuck cares about alien shit?"

"Hargrove cares. He cares a lot, more than you could imagine," he replied coughing for air. "Even if the war's almost over, he thinks the ability to turn on alien tech will-"

Without warning, South knocked him down to the ground again, looking angrily into his face.

"What. The fuck. Do you mean?" she roared. "How can the war almost be over?"

He stared back at her, that mask, those eyes so hauntingly like CT. He shook his head. "You poor fucks had no idea. All this bullshit you endured... all the people - my people - you killed in a petty dispute. All of us... at the end of the day, we missed our true calling."

South stared at him before slowly pulling herself off and raising to her feet. A numbness settled over her, she was almost sick.

"Life's a bitch, ain't it?" the soldier laughed as he got off the ground.

She stood quietly, soaking in everything, before turning to face the man claiming to be CT again. She scowled. "Where's my end of the trade?" she demanded. "Where's the information on North."

When he tossed a similar drive, South caught it without even looking, her fist closing around it with all her might.

Instead of checking it, she kept her watch on CT as he readied to leave, hesitating only to look at her.

"The real CT died doing this, you know," he reminded her. "You must really think you're better than everyone else to think you can do better than she did."

South flipped him her finger and watched as he disappeared into the night. She then looked to the drive in her hand and plugged it into her armor. The display appeared with a map and an encircled radius.

...

Her attention was on the training floor, running the drills, securely knocking into the dummies with everything she had. She hardly took notice of the differences in FILSS rhythm of compliments even as she came to an end.

South paused finally, having beat her score yet again, and roughly rubbed the sweat from her brow, looking up toward the ever present blue eye of FILSS on the console above.

"What's up?" she more demanded than asked. "You're being... funky."

"My apologies, Recovery Two, but I was ordered to not interrupt you with the news until you were formally done with your exercising."

"Well now would be that time, FILSS," South pointed out, beginning to unwrap her hands.

"Yes, very well. Recovery Two, we have a new mission assigned to you and it is just wonderful!" FILSS announced.

"Oh?" South questioned, leaning back against the bench as she continued to stare up at FILSS' screen.

"Yes!" FILSS continued, seemingly ignorant of the ambivalence in South's voice. "We believe to have finally found a lead on Agent North Dakota!"

"You don't say," South smirked. "Whoever could have predicted that coming?"

"I apologize. I do not understand the nature of this question," FILSS hesitated.

"Don't worry too much about it, FILSS," South announced, heading toward the door. "Prepare my suit for the field. Get me a ride. I'm about to have a little reunion with my precious twin brother."

"I do wish you luck, Recovery Two. Recovering your own sibling must be very difficult-"

"I'm all choked up," South responded, pushing through the door. "And, FILSS, I won't need luck."

"Alright, so by going through what Delta shared with us, you think you can map us a way to him and York?" North asked for what probably felt like the hundredth time to the AI.

"Nooooorth."

"Theta, this isn't me doubting you, alright, buddy?" North explained, breaking down the last of the supplies that they couldn't carry and pulling it toward the stairs of the loft. "I just have to make sure we're on the same page before we make a move this big. That's all."

"And following Delta and York's such a big move?" Theta asked, head tossing to the side as his sprite floated after North. "I don't think it's that big of one."

"It's pretty damn big, li'l guy," North assured him as they carried down the stairs. "Theta-"

"Okay, okay. Yes. I'm sure," Theta answered at last. "I'm really excited about this, North! Oh! Are we going to steal a car?"

"Maybe," North chuckled. "Depends on how well-"

They both flinched as Theta's entire being went into high alert. The AI's body let out a gasp before disappearing from sight to concentrate on more delicate operations from within the suit.

North dropped the trash and raced back to the loft, grabbing his gun. "Theta?"

"Sensor warning! One mile. West. Street level," Theta spat out as quickly as possible.

"That's not enough for an alarm," North pressed as they began racing down the stairs.

"Then half a mile closer en route to the New Nest!" Theta continued, sounding increasingly panicked.

"We can't afford a freak out, Theta, stick with me, talk to me," North ground out, dropping to a crouch by the first level's door, pressing himself against the wall. He waited, listening for a go ahead.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," Theta remarked before flickering into existence over North's shoulder. He looked to the door. "Street level. Closing in. Clear in three. Two... one-"

North kicked the door open, eyes widening as Theta screamed in his head DUCK which he then did. The sound of a gun clipping the door frame above wasn't lost on the agent.

He gathered himself up enough to crawl outside and slide beneath the dumpster he had been heading toward. His eyes narrowing.

"That shot was way off mark," he muttered. "Are they not at a good range or..."

"North, they're approaching!"

Pulling his legs to his chest North waited, locked the magnetized bottoms of his boots to the dumpster siding. "Theta?"

"Now!"

With all his might, North threw his body into the kick off, Theta unlocking his boots in time to throw North back and the dumpster forward toward their pursuer.

Managing to land it, North tore forward, heart racing. He needed distance - had to see for himself who it was that was chasing them, whether it was Maine or the mysterious possible CT when he heard a creaking noise.

He turned, eyes wide just in time for the dumpster to come hurdling back for him.

"North! Jump now!" Theta commanded.

Barely just managing the order, North did so, only for his leg to get caught, sending him spiraling face first to the cement. He let out a pained groan as he hit the ground with a thud.

Trying to get up, North began shaking his head. "Theta, give me an idea-"

"Wait! North! I think it's okay," Theta piped up, appearing over North's shoulder. He looked up at the approaching figure as it stopped. "I think we can trust her."

Blinking, North looked up. He felt a relief grow over his bones as he looked at the familiar armor of his sister.

"South," he let out weakly. "Thank god-"

"North," she growled, pulling her arm back, "Shut up!"

He saw the fist coming and then the lights went out to the sound of Theta gasping.