Now Aile could understand Vent's dislike of being blown at by missiles: being chased by active lava flow wasn't very fun either. She made a mental note to apologize to him later for making fun of him. When she entered the room that the Pseudoroid was meant to be in, she was greeted with nothing but dirt. Suddenly, a small rubble from underneath of her made Aile look down, when she realized that the Pseudoroid was underground and now making its way up to her, she quickly jumped out of the way. Emerging from the ground was a small, mole-like Pseudoroid that didn't seem to notice her for a moment. When it did, it gave her a cold, unfriendly glare dead in the eye.

"Oh… it's you." the Pseudoroid grumbled. "You're one of those clods goin' around and stealin' the Biometal. I could feel your presence a mile away..."

For a moment, Aile found herself rather impressed at such an ability, before remembering her duties. The Pseudoroid continued its spiel though, with or without her interest.

"Lord Serpent said there is an even more powerful Biometal lingering, close close to the ground. I've been diggin' around for it all day. But! Nothin' is comin' up! I am the Model F Pseudoroid, Flammole. I'll take ya down and the Biometal you stole will be back, safe in our hands!"

With a cackle, the Pseudoroid went back underground in an attempt to get Aile from under, but she was ready and moved out of the way- Flammole drilled with enough force that he kept moving forward into the low ceiling, allowing Aile to fire at him. When the Pseudoroid started to attack her on the ground, she carefully dodged each attack and retaliated with precise slashes from Model Z's blade.

"I see now..." Flammole wheezed as his system shut down, "You weren't the one I sensed. It musta been… Model W? Or… is it somethin' else entirely…?" In this thought, the Pseudoroid gave in to his damage and combusted. Aile switched over to Model F to retrieve the rest of its data shortly after the debris cleared. The data returned to Model F, much to his glee.

'What a waste that a loser like that had my power!' Model F even chuckled to himself. To Aile, he then said (she could see in her mind's eye that he was still snickering at the ordeal), 'Sorry, but it'll be some time before I can recover the password. Don't worry though kid, I'll get it for you.'

"Take your time." Aile encouraged. "Now we just need to report back to Prairie."

As Aile worked her way back to the transerver, Model X, at the back of her mind, inquired, 'I wonder how Vent is doing.'

For a moment, Aile stopped. She had forgotten about Vent…

'One of us should have stayed behind with him.'

"Rush would watch him." Aile protested. "He's not completely alone."

'Pfft, that mutt?!' Model F snickered, 'The thing's got the loyalty of a Sour Patch Kid; here one minute, gone the other and no one knows what side he's on.'

'Regardless,' Model X then interrupted, moving Model F out of the way, 'The next time we see Vent, we should apologize. Things were said that we didn't really mean. You two would make an excellent team if you would just work together. It hurts me to see you two fight like that…'

"I'll apologize when I see him again." Aile promised the Biometal as she entered the transerver room. "The poor guy, he's lost practically everyone close to him. But I've never had anyone like that. No one I can remember anyway. I don't know what that's like… I'll apologize to him Model X, promise."

From the back of her mind, she could feel the Biometal smile. It wasn't until later that Aile realized Model Z was purposely trying to hold its opinions back, no matter how much it was starting to irritate him. For now though, Aile finished the mission report and received her next orders from Prairie.

. . .

Vent had tried to go to sleep again when Prairie sent him a call through his headset.

"Aile has retrieved the last of the Biometal fragments. Your extended recess is over so we can regroup and prepare. Please head back to HQ for further instructions."

"Sure Prairie." Vent agreed before ending the call. Before he went back, he tried to find Sho to tell him that he was leaving, as promised.

"You leaving already?" Sho asked with a smile- it seemed a bit forced, but for what it was worth, he was just as alone as Vent was now. But Sho had to take care of Giro Express, while Vent did whatever he did when he disappeared.

"Yep." the boy agreed dully.

"Well then, don't be a stranger next time, alright?" Sho offered, giving Vent a hearty pat on the back. "If current trends keep up, every man, woman, and Reploid I can get would be a big help around here. I just hope you'd listen to me better than you could Boss!" Sho gave a small chuckle, but Vent wasn't buying it. Leaving his friend there, Vent went to the nearest transerver and transported back to Guardian HQ.

Stepping out of Guardian's transerver, Vent made his way to the commander room without much enthusiasm. He felt so… drained. He wasn't used to feeling like that. Has he ever felt like this before?

Whatever the case, he ran into Aile on the way and she looked at him as if he was a ghost. Her next reaction was the question, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," was what Vent told her without looking her in the eye, "Just a bit tired, I guess."

Aile looked at him for a moment before getting out Model X, Model Z, and Model H and handing them over to Vent. For the longest time, he looked at the Biometals, then at her with a confused glance.

"I can't pretend to know what it's like to lose your family so quickly," she then hastily explained. "But you can't expect me to empathize just as quickly. So… to make amends, I want you to keep those Biometals. They'll help you, I think."

"Aile, I..."

"Model H could help because he reminds me of you a bit. You'd be a pretty great leader if you set your mind to it! And… and Model Z, I think he'd help you because he was close to Giro. Right? He's guided Giro though some hard times, I bet, so maybe he could help you too."

"Aile..."

"And Model X..."

"Aile."

"You need to have him because-"

"Aile."

"Because-"

"Aile, stop." Vent told her, a certain tone in his voice making the girl freeze. "I'm not taking Model X. We agreed you'd keep him. Didn't we? You need him more than I do."

But that was when Aile looked Vent in the eye. Her green eyes stared at him with determination and a few degrees of defiance.

"No." she told him in a still, but certain voice. "You know why? It's because I'm not the one that looks like they got run over by a truck. I'm not the one who couldn't sleep on vacation because the only place they knew they could go was also the place where everyone they knew died. I'm not the one who needs some form of love because his sister lacks the empathy to. You need Model X more than I do, Vent, and I won't take no as an answer."

For a moment, Vent opened his mouth to debate, but closed it just as quickly. Pocketing the other two Biometals, he held on to Model X tightly as he looked at it. Aile looked on, silently goading him into merging with Model X. He found himself giving in as he got into his merging pose, shouted "Mega Merge!" and allowed the welcoming embrace of Model X's armor as it covered every portion of his body.

A hug.

Model X was giving Vent a hug.

As the Merge's transformation ended, Vent admitted to feeling better than what he had been. Noticing the difference as well, Aile gave a bright smile at him before suddenly remembering something. She quickly took a hold of Vent's hand and started to drag him toward her.

"Come on!" she told him, "Prairie's waiting for us!"

Although Model X had made Vent feel better, his mind still hadn't caught up to what Aile said until she dragged him to the commander's room. When she realized their presence, Prairie turned her chair around to address them face to face. In her lap was her cat doll- the Reploid gently rubbed one of its ears as if in thought.

"You two have done great work these past few days." the commander informed them with a light smile. "We've succeeded in recovering the content on the data disc you found in the research lab." But that was when Prairie's smile seemed to fade into a more worried expression. Her voice even lowered a little as she revealed, "It was left behind by Sis after all."