Connection Strings Chapter 2: Unforgettable, a dr. stone fanfic

2. Unforgettable

Taiju stood up as he dropped the last of the cases he had been moving into the storage unit, sliding it up against the wall and out of the way. Nodding to himself, he turned out of the room and down the hall, figuring the others were probably still in the command room. Well, he assumed the auction thing was still going on, at any rate.

Sure enough, he saw Senkuu's hair the moment he entered the room. Walking down the ramp, his eyes were drawn to the movement on one of the many screens on display. That was the weirdest looking auction he had ever seen. Was it a dance move auction? It looked like a dance move auction. And so, with childlike wonder, he asked, "What kind of auction is that?"

Ukyo turned to him, having heard him come in well before he approached. "Things took a turn for the worst. We found out they had kidnapped Tsukasa's sister and were going to sell her off. However, some random person showed up in an exosuit and started beating up the guards. Now, everyone is fighting robodogs and trying to escape."

Taiju blinked rapidly. "Are the robodogs the ones trying to sell Tsukasa's sister?"

Senkuu turned slightly, sticking a finger in his ear and giving Taiju a pained look. "Careful, I think your brain is overheating with those extreme mental calculations you're making."

Taiju looked at his friend and smiled radiantly. "Nah, don't worry, Senkuu! I feel fine, and my sensors are all normal! But thanks for worrying about me; you're the best!" He walked up, clapping a heavy hand on the scientist's shoulder. Senkuu almost buckled underneath the force, giving his friend a strained grimace. Taiju failed to notice, turning his attention back to the monitors.

"Aww, the robodogs are cute! Can we keep one? I want to give it to Yuzuriha as a pet!"

It was a strange battle to fight when your opponent did not recognize you as an enemy, but was focused on attacking everything else. In this case, the robodogs were completely focused on the woman warrior, allowing Tsukasa to move freely. However, his attacks had little effect on the dogs, outside of knocking them off balance or delaying their next attack. He needed weapons, and it was frustrating to be in a situation without one at all.

Additionally, something felt off about the woman he was now fighting beside. She had considerable speed, definitely enhanced like him, but it was more that he felt she was holding back. He was not exactly sure why he thought that, but maybe it was because she was managing to avoid every single attack by mere millimeters in a way that seemed too calculated. Despite that, she only continued to flip and dive around the dogs, as if she was playing with them.

'Or buying time.'

He did not have any reason to suspect she was actually their enemy, but he did have every reason to suspect she had something to hide. The exosuit gloves probably were not strong enough to take out the dogs, but he still suspected her to make an attack of some sort. At this rate, they were going to have guards swarm them in seconds–

He felt it, more than he heard it.

A sudden change of energy in the air, coupled by a soft thrum that he could swear was only in his head. It made the hairs on his skin stand up, and he suppressed the urge to shiver. Bewildered, he stopped to look around when the woman beside him suddenly dropped to her hands and kicked her feet out, sending one of the robodogs colliding into the other. Using the force of impact, she flipped the other way, landing on her feet, arms behind her. There was a sharp flash of neon blue, a blur as she charged the rebounding robots, and the sound of metal shredding.

The first of the two robots collapsed in two pieces as Kohaku moved in on the other, and Tsukasa's eyes honed in on the flickering, blue-white outline of a knife by her hand as she whipped it up and through the head of the other robodog, slicing through it like it was made of paper. With a series of shudders and twitches, the robot collapsed, and the warrior withdrew her weapon. Or rather, she moved her hand, and the hovering energy blade followed it, before it faded away.

Without a moment's rest, she turned, gesturing for him to follow. "C'mon, we gotta go!"

"What kind of weapon was that?" Ukyo breathed, eyes wide. He turned to Senkuu, expecting the scientist to have some kind of answer, but his breath caught in his throat at the shell-shocked look on the other man's face. "...Senkuu?"

The scientist said nothing, lips parted in shock, eyes wide behind his lenses. Beside him, Taiju looked startled as well, though it was far less terrifying to see that expression on his face. Slowly, the brunet's mouth worked before he remembered how to speak. "That's… that was…"

The sound of another explosion roared in his ears, and he chanced a look behind him, eyes wide at the plumes of black smoke rising up into the wasteland sky. The sound of metal groaning followed, as a large section of the compound caved in on itself. As it fell, numerous small shapes darted through the dust and into the ruins, accompanied by several whooping calls and then the distant sound of people screaming.

"Tai…"

He returned his attention to the mangled form in the seat beside him, words barely audible through the oxygen mask on his face. There was so much blood; too much... "I'm right here, Senkuu. We're escaping; just like you planned."

It was not like how he planned at all.

"K...haku…"

"Yeah, I'm sure she'll catch up with us. She can probably outrun this jeep anyway..."

Taiju's eyes fell to the blood-smeared and cracked display on the tablet sitting between the seats, dread building deep in his gut.

[Signals]

T: Connected

S: Connected

K: Searching…

"Yeah." The word came out breathlessly, and Taiju snapped out of his reverie, letting the bloodied image of a much younger Senkuu fade away. The present day version of his friend inhaled and set his jaw, letting his fingers race across the keyboard. "Yeah," He said again, more confidently. "I don't know how, and I have so many fucking questions, but that's ten billion percent her, and we are not letting that go."

He paused, bringing up a traffic map, and his eyes narrowed. "But first, we gotta get them out of the Apex."

"Eleven minutes and thirty-seven seconds. That's the longest it's ever taken to load."

Kohaku gritted her teeth at Chrome's commentary but was at least grateful that he waited until they were out of the building before speaking. Still, it was not like she could respond, focused on keeping silent as she ran down an alleyway, Suika cradled in her arms. She could hear only one set of footsteps behind her, and she turned her head to see why. Tsukasa kept up with her with ease, the other girl in one arm, and the man with glasses in the other. She supposed it made sense. Neither were fit to keep up with their pace, and she was certain the long haired man was augmented with more than a few body enhancements.

Despite not wanting to be distracted, Chrome's words echoed in her mind. She had mentally called on it the moment she saw them bring Suika out to that stage, but it had taken until the fight with the quadruped sentries to activate. She had expected closer to five minutes, but this was bad. It was already unstable in use, and now had a load time that was near worthless. It would probably stop working all together soon enough.

Well, it had been, what, six years? What did she expect?

That was not the only thing nagging at her. The sentries had only been focused on her during the entire fight, which was worrisome. She had no idea how their AI worked, but apparently they somehow deemed her the larger threat, since they had left the guy hitting them alone. Except… a part of her told her that had to be wrong, because the sentries had not even reacted to the man knocking them around. Had their team somehow been able to camouflage him against their sensors? If so, they had someone working with them who had a deep understanding of the technologies the Apex used, which meant they were familiar with Citadel Technologies, and that meant they might know about her own… circumstances as well. It made her uneasy.

"Let me lead; we have a rendezvous."

Kohaku slowed her pace to allow Tsukasa to pass her, half wondering why she was trusting these two men, but the sight of the young girl tucked into his left arm was a good reminder.

Tsukasa led them down another narrow alley, and her eyes focused on the sleek, nondescript car that pulled up in front of the exit. Before she could question if they were an ally or enemy, the back door opened, and a man with wispy brown hair and a feral grin waved at them. "Get in, losers! We're escaping the Apex!"

"Oh, Ryusui-chan, am I ever glad to see you!" Gen purred as Tsukasa dropped him to his feet. Opening the passenger door, he bowed slightly before climbing in, "And of course equally happy to see you as well, Francois."

Tsukasa wordlessly slid into the backseat of the car, motioning for Kohaku to follow.

She hesitated, but the grip Suika had on her shoulders, the sounds of people shouting back at the auction house, and the alarms echoing in the near distance all pushed her forward. She found herself squeezing into the back of the car with them with a terrified child in her lap.

Every muscle in her body tensed as the car pulled out onto the street. Tsukasa, who could feel her beside him, gave her an oblique look. "I will not tell you to relax, but harming you in a car would be very difficult, and after what I have seen tonight, unwise. I believe right now, we all have the same goal."

Grateful that her helmet hid most of her face, the woman took a moment to close her eyes and breathe before responding. "Yeah."

"The soldiers have blocked the public exits out of the Apex," Francois informed them, turning onto another street. "Provided we can get to the Nanami headquarters without incident, we can secure you a route back to the Inner Ring through our freight elevator."

Gen nervously drummed his fingers on the door. "That is, assuming we don't get stopped at a checkpoint."

Francois hummed in agreement. "And that is why I am following a very specific route provided by our 'ears'."

As Francois's words registered, Kohaku leaned forward so that she could see the other man in the backseat. "I did not realize Nanami had anyone in the family with a drop of decency."

Ryusui winked at her in response and put a finger to his lips in mock secrecy. "I might even have two drops."

"Oh, fuck." Everyone looked up at the sound of Gen's voice. Ahead of them, traffic had come to a stop, and a new checkpoint was forming at the upcoming intersection, with soldiers moving to inspect passing vehicles.

"It will be hard to turn around here and bypass it. They will see us, and there's no turn off before we arrive," Francois murmured softly. "But if we can somehow pass through this checkpoint, we can be at the headquarters in minutes."

Kohaku pursed her lips together, looking down at the girl in her arms. "You're sure we can exit through the elevator?"

"Positive," Ryusui responded without missing a beat. "I use it to smuggle things all the time and have never had problems. Perks of a name and award-winning personality!"

She ignored him after his confirmation, pressing for more info. "And you're sure this is the only checkpoint we'll come across? How likely is another one to form?"

Francois pointed to a building in the near distance. "That's our destination. There are no other intersections after this one that we could cross, so another checkpoint isn't feasible. Once we're on Nanami property, things should be fine."

Kohaku nodded. "All right. Man with glasses. Your face is familiar. What's your name?"

Gen looked back to her, blinking owlishly. There was no point in hiding it; he was recognizable. "Gen. Asagiri Gen. And you are–"

"Gen," Kohaku interrupted. "This child in my arms is Suika. If anything happens to her, I will hunt all of you down and wear your entrails, do you hear me?"

Gen swallowed, color draining from his face. "Y-yes. I hear you. Wha-"

She continued. "There is a club that sits on the edge of the Inner Ring and the slums in sector four. The Priestess. Know it?"

"Uh… Kohaku…" Chrome's voice filled her ear. "...what are you doing?"

"Yes, but…" Gen started again.

Kohaku ignored them both. "When you make it to the Inner Ring, head straight there with Suika. The bouncers will recognize her. Ask to speak to Chrome."

"...What?"

"...What?"

Suika looked up, her glasses fogged from having buried her face in Kohaku's neck. "Are you leaving me?" Her voice trembled.

Kohaku worked her jaw for a moment, fighting with a wave of emotions. After what felt like forever, she reached up and smoothed the girl's hair with a gloved hand and replied, "No. I'm protecting you. And to do that, I need to lead the soldiers away from you. I will come back."

"Wait, wait, wait," Ryusui looked over at the only woman in the car. "Lady, I don't know who you are, and don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for your help in getting us to safety, but how are you gonna get out of the Apex if you run off with soldiers chasing you? Every public exit is blocked, and ours is probably the only operable private exit."

Kohaku shrugged. "I dunno. Jump? I'll figure it out as I go."

Four voices in the car and one in her ear piece all echoed at the same time, "Jump?!"

"Look, you're almost at the checkpoint. We doing this or not?" Kohaku snapped.

Gen shoved something towards her. She leaned back, eyes focusing on the abandoned glove from her exosuit earlier. "You probably want this."

She grabbed it, pulling it onto her hand and securing it. "Yeah, thanks. Nanami guy, take Suika."

She slipped out of the car, equipping her batons. 'All right. It's play time.'

As she mentally called for it again, she hoped eleven minutes was not the new norm.

Gen watched as their new vigilante friend slipped out of the car before looking back to Ryusui. "The people behind us…"

The other man nodded. "Yeah. I know. At worst, we'll dispose of the car. But maybe–"

Whatever idea he was about to voice was cut off by an explosion. At the checkpoint ahead, one of the armored cars had erupted into flames. Beside it, Kohaku twirled her baton around, then rushed off down one of the streets, several soldiers in tow, firing at her.

"That is quite the distraction," Francois said with a note of approval. "I like her. You should keep her."

Ryusui snapped his fingers. "We're collecting dangerous women now? I love it!"

Gen gave him a wide-eyed look. "She threatened to kill us all! I personally like my entrails inside of me."

Francois smiled and looked in the rear view mirror at Suika, now sitting in Ryusui's arms. "Miss Suika, was it?"

The girl looked up, wide eyes behind her spectacles. Francois gave her a warm, reassuring smile. "Everything that woman did tonight was for you, it seems. Is she your mother?"

Suika shook her head, a bashful smile on her face. "No…I don't have a mother. But if I did, I would want her to be just like her."

Francois glanced back at the mentalist sitting in the passenger's seat. "She is the kind of person we need working with us. After all, she saw Miss Mirai and did not hesitate to save her as well. Her threats are born from her desire to help others. She's our people."

Gen chuckled, glancing away. "My, my, Francois. When did you become such a mentalist? But, yes…you're right."

Ukyo leaned back in his chair, glancing over to Senkuu. "Was it necessary to have Gen put a tracker on her glove?"

Senkuu zoomed out on the map on the screen, watching one blinking dot move away from the cluster of dots in the car. "Yep."

"Okay…" Ukyo inhaled, pulling up information on the rendezvous point. "So… who is this woman? Can we trust her? She learned a lot about us tonight."

"You bet!" Taiju balled his hand into a fist and lifted it up. "Kohaku's like my sister! Well, not genetically. And we look nothing alike. But we both were built by Senkuu!"

Ukyo's eyes cut between the two. "Are you serious? There's someone else out there as ridiculously strong and indestructible as Taiju?" It made sense, given how easily she had taken down those robodogs, though Taiju did not have weapons like that. In fact, Ukyo could recall Senkuu's exact words to describe his friend once upon a time, 'Taiju's near-invincible, but ten billion percent harmless.'

The scientist smirked, eyes bright. "Not quite. Let's make sure everyone gets back to the Rings safely, then I'll explain. Plus, I want to confirm it's her in person. But if it is her, we just leveled up ten billion percent in our war against the Apex elites, and our ability to get resources out in the wastelands."

"Aren't you excited though, Senkuu?" Taiju asked. "She's not dead!"

The scientist did not reply, a distant expression on his face as his eyes fixated on the solitary red dot on the map. Reaching up, he absently massaged his left forearm through the sleeve of his lab coat.

He looked at his two pet projects standing in front of him. One was a petite girl with a shaved head of blonde hair and teal eyes. She wore a black full-sleeved bodysuit. The other was a much taller and muscular boy with a shaved head of darker hair, brown eyes, and wearing a similar bodysuit. Glancing around, he pressed a button on the keyboard beside him, watching the security camera's lights go off. "Okay, now we have three minutes to speak freely. So, this escape plan has three phases."

He held up a finger. "First, I have uploaded a sleeper virus into your interfaces. When it goes off, it will disconnect you from the Citadel Network and lock your systems down from external access. It will also reprogram the tracker in you and link you both to a mini network that I created." He held up a small tablet device and waved it. "This phase takes a long time to complete, so for a while you'll both be fully offline and untraceable while we execute the rest of this plan. But once it's done, we'll be linked together, me included." He pointed to his ear, and the small metal ball attached to the lobe.

"Fashionable!" Taiju commented sincerely and enthusiastically. Kohaku rolled her eyes, but a hint of a smile played on her lips.

He grinned, sticking a finger in his ear. "So, while all that is going down, another virus is gonna run in parallel in the Citadel Network. It's gonna delete all the data on each of us. And I ten billion percent mean all of it! Everything on the project, and everything about us. After this, our identities will be wiped out from the entire Bubble's cloud infrastructure."

Taiju and Kohaku exchanged surprised looks and the boy genius in front of them giggled. "Kukuku, you both look so surprised! I told you, for this to work it has to be thorough!" Rocking on his feet, he took a deep breath and calmed down. "Phase two is gonna be the Lioness's favorite. We break shit and cause utter chaos. Once you're both offline, Taiju's going to help me get this collar off, and you, Lioness, are going to sabotage the generators, targeting the ones that power the lifts to the mines, the security and monitoring systems, and the communication tower. You'll know which ones because I've coded the data into the virus."

Senkuu lifted a finger, eyes wide. "Once the entire compound has been plunged into chaos and panic, we execute phase three, which is 'get the fuck outta here'. We'll meet at the hanger and hijack transportation. As a precaution, I've ensured the virus in your interfaces has operational data for each vehicle we keep on the premises. Our priority should be to get an airship. If we have to take ground transport our chances of success drop to, like, twenty percent because we'll be an easy, lone target."

"I can just kill the ones that attack us," Kohaku stated quietly, looking down at her palms.

Senkuu lifted a brow. "Your trial runs have been fantastic, Lioness, but it will take us six hours by ground to get to the Bubble from here, and that's a lot of opportunity for the packs to attack us. You're both optimized to survive the wasteland. I'm not. If they immobilize the vehicle, and we gotta travel by foot, I'm ten billion percent gonna die, even with rations and a gas mask."

"Even if it comes to that, I'll protect you! It's what you made me for, protection!" Taiju replied, thumping his chest. "I'm the defense to Kohaku's offense!"

Senkuu gave him a wry look, but it was tinged with something akin to affection. "Not… quite. But thanks." He held out his fist to them. "We're doing this. Together."

Both Kohaku and Taiju covered his fist with their hands, smiling.

Senkuu blinked out of his thoughts as Gen's voice came through. "I never thought I'd be so happy to see the Nanami garage…wait did you get another motorcycle? Why? You have six!"

"I desired it. It was green!"

"This has definitely been a wild night," Ukyo said, speaking over the two of them. "Here's the info I have on The Priestess." He pointed at a tab on the screen. "Owned by a person called 'Rui'. Has a surprisingly low incident rate with Ring police, especially given its location by the slums. No mention of the name 'Chrome' though."

"Not surprised," Senkuu replied. "What's the air quality like over there right now?"

"Low-moderate risk. As long as they don't linger out in the streets they should be fine," Ukyo replied. "I take it you're actually going out there?"

"Yeah," Senkuu replied, pressing a button on the keyboard. A window popped up on one of the screens beside the map, showing an aerial view of the Apex, and someone running down the street. "And I want Taiju there, and you as well."

"Yeah, I figured. We can–did… you just hack a military drone's camera?" Ukyo sounded slightly exasperated.

Senkuu waved him off. "It's fine. I've already cleaned up all the evidence of our backdoor access at the auction. All they're gonna know is that something happened, but not what or how."

Despite the reassurance, Ukyo pressed his lips into a thin line. "If we aren't careful, they're going to realize that whoever's been messing with them has intimate knowledge of Citadel technology. They might start investigating ghosts, Senkuu."

Senkuu stuck a finger in his ear, giving a thin smile. "Friction's unavoidable. We'll do what we can keep off their radar, but to make progress we gotta cause some chaos. Besides, there's enough unrest down here in the Rings that we're not standing out too much yet. I mean, we haven't even killed anyone. And what we stole ultimately has little impact on residents in the Apex, but monumental for us."

Ukyo nodded, knowing Senkuu was making good points. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. I'm sorry; I do trust your judgment."

The scientist shook his head, giving him an oblique look through his visor. "Nah. Keep calling me out. I value your criticism, and I'm not infallible. Not one millimeter."

"Uh… Senkuu?"

Both stopped, looking over to Taiju, who was watching the moving dot on the map closing in on the edge of the Apex. "...Where's she going?"

Ukyo's mouth fell open. "Is she… really going to jump? Can she survive that fall?"

Senkuu's own face was a mixture of exasperation and frustration. "Fuck no, she can't. She's gonna ten billion percent die. Goddamnit, why does every superhuman I build have to be so fucking reckless?"

Out of nowhere, and almost forgotten, Gen's voice came in over the speaker, ever so helpful. "Because that's your type, my dear. Reckless at heart, in action, and in some cases, like me, even in be–"

"It ten billion percent is not," The scientist protested loudly, a scowl on his face as watched the drone follow the woman with an apparent death wish.

Well, she had certainly gotten their attention.

Flipping over a car, Kohaku tucked and rolled before rebounding up and over a railing, gunshots firing but missing their mark. Dodging was not too hard, given she was built to be constantly moving and changing directions. Of course, her original design had not been envisioned to be fighting humans, but, well. Things change.

Pursing her lips, she focused on the wall now in her line of vision, separating the Apex from the five hundred meter drop into the Inner Ring. She figured her best chance of escaping was to run the length of the barrier until she reached one of the exits. There were enough cables and supports around the lifts that she could possibly scale her way back down, assuming she didn't get shot first.

That assumption was a weak one, but determination was never something she had in short supply.

Now with a vague, terrible, suicidal plan, the superhuman picked up her speed, bolting down the street. She let momentum carry her as she leapt up and grabbed the edge of the wall, hauling herself up onto it. It was wide enough for her to run on, and without delay she took off in a mad sprint, hoping the nearby architecture would provide her some cover from the ground, since she could no longer zigzag through gunfire.

Of course, attacks from below were the least of her worries as she saw drones approach. She was certainly fast, but without being able to dodge, they were definitely going to shoot her.

A soft beeping sounded in her mind that only she could hear. Eleven minutes again, but at least it came online. Calculating the best use of her skills, her eyes flicked over to the skyline of the Inner Ring, before focusing on the rooftop of one of the closest buildings. With her enhanced vision, she could easily gauge the distance, and if she calculated the trajectory, assuming she was at her top speed…

She felt her lips pull into a fearless grin as she bolted, channeling her everything into a mad sprint, and leapt off the wall. She felt the air whip around her as she sailed forward, watching the rooftop rapidly approach. Over the rush of air she heard the rapid sounds of automated gunfire from the drones, and a burning sensation ripped through her right arm. She ignored it and came crashing down onto the rooftop.

The impact hurt. She tumbled across the concrete, momentum rolling her body across the flat surface, and she lashed her hand out. With a flash of blue, the knife appeared and embedded itself into the roof, dragging her to a halt.

She laid sprawled on her back for only a few seconds, knowing she needed to move. However as she staggered to her feet, holding up her hand with her glowing blade parallel to her arm, the drones came to a halt, turrets lowering.

She did not waste that opportunity and darted off towards the exit.

From within his base, Senkuu smirked, removing his fingers from the keyboard as she disappeared from the drone's line of sight.

Beside him Ukyo sighed. "First the camera, then the controls…"

Gen had done many strange things in his life, but leading a child by the hand to a nightclub was not one of them. Until now. He gave a sidelong glance to the girl walking beside him, then back to the building they were approaching. The sign flashed 'The Priestess' in rainbow neon lights, and people milled about outside the entrance, most wearing gas masks, but not all.

Ryusui and Francois had stayed behind while they made their escape, and upon entering the Inner Ring, Tsukasa had left to get Mirai and the stolen inventory back to the base. Now left alone to make sure this girl got to the club safely, Gen felt highly nervous. His entrails were on the line, after all.

"Yo, to your left."

The familiar voice in his earpiece was a welcome relief and Gen turned, seeing three figures approach. Ukyo looked like his usual self, wearing his favorite hat and preferred yellow jacket. A gas mask hung around his neck. Taiju towered over him, wearing a double-layered raincoat with reflective accents, the hood pulled up over his head. And beside them was Senkuu, hands shoved in the pockets of a gray hooded jacket, gas mask on and his visor glowing a soft neon green around the edges, all effectively hiding his face from public view.

Gen breathed a sigh of relief as they approached. "I am so so glad to see you!" He paused when he felt Suika move behind him, and he glanced down at her. "Ah, no, it's okay; they're my friends. They were the ones guiding us out of the auction house earlier. I promise."

Taiju crouched down in front of the girl, smiling widely at her. "Hi! I'm Taiju. What's your name?"

Suika peaked from behind Gen, still holding onto his hand. "S-Suika."

Ukyo put a hand on Taiju's shoulder. "Let's get inside first. She doesn't have a gas mask on and the air quality isn't great."

"Ah, yeah, I forget about that stuff," Taiju replied, standing back up.

The bouncers at the front door eyed them as they approached, however, both sets of eyes fell to the Suika, and their eyes widened, though their gas masks hid the rest of their expressions. "Suika!"

"Kinro, Ginro!" Suika called out, letting go of Gen's hand and running up to hug each of them. The taller one, Kinro, looked up. "You must be the people Chrome said would be coming. Pass on through. When you're inside, go right and through the glass doors that say 'Reserved'. You'll see him."

Ginro leaned in, squinting at Senkuu, as he was the only one fully disguised. "But try anything funny and we'll fuck you up, got it?"

"Language, Ginro. Suika's right here."

"Oh! Shit, sorry! I-I mean, s-sorry!"

The club was typical. Loud, with lots of moving lights, heavy bass, and throngs of people on the floor. Gen chanced a glance at Ukyo, wondering how he would fare in the overwhelming setting with so much noise. The older man looked back at him and smiled slightly. Leaning in, he shouted loud enough for Gen to hear, "I'm fine. The last upgrade Senkuu gave my ears makes settings like these way more tolerable."

Gen nodded, pushing through the crowd as they approached the booth in question. Taiju had opted to let Suika sit on his shoulder, since moving through crowds would be hard for her. Senkuu walked behind them, letting Taiju's towering form do most of the work of clearing a path.

When the glass doors fell shut behind them, the music quietened considerably, allowing for normal conversation to take place. The room held various cushioned seats around tables, but only one was occupied. The occupant looked up as they walked in, and relief washed over his face at spotting the girl sitting on Taiju's shoulder. Closing the laptop in front of him, he gestured to the seats in front of him. "Yo. Have a seat. Or, if you want, go get a drink from the bar."

At that, Taiju lit up, placing Suika down. "I want a cocktail!"

As he ran off, Senkuu shook his head. "Why? He can't even get drunk."

Gen chuckled, squeezing the scientist's shoulder affectionately. "He probably just enjoys the concept, my dear. Anyway…" Looking up, he smiled at Chrome as Suika took a seat beside him. "You must be Chrome. I believe we may be acquainted with a certain child-saving vigilante with some impressive combat skills."

At that line, Chrome ran a hand over his face in exasperation. "I… yeah. Just… yeah. She's one of us. But not all of us are that, uh, aggressive. Honest."

Gen nodded in understanding. "Well, it certainly got results tonight. I was hoping to have a proper chance to thank her for her help, but I suppose she's not back yet?"

At that, Chrome smirked, before jerking his head towards the dance floor. "Nah, she's right on time."

They turned, watching as someone emerged from the dance floor, moving towards them with purpose. Still equipped in the exosuit, she pushed through the glass doors, allowing a wave of music to hit the room before they fell closed behind her.

Reaching up, she pulled off her helmet, just as a delighted child's voice rang out, "Kohaku!"

Kohaku tossed the helmet aside and dropped to her knees as Suika collided into her, pulling her into a tight hug and burying her face into her hair. She squeezed her eyes shut, rocking the girl in her arms. "I'm here. I'm back. Just like I promised."

For the first time since Suika had gone missing, Kohaku relaxed.

For a half second, Senkuu forgot how to breathe.

Before him was a face he had not seen in six years. She looked so different, and yet so much the same. Her hair had grown out, damp locks sticking to her face from being trapped under the helmet. Her eyes were still expressive, carrying all of her emotions. She had lost the roundness in her cheeks from her youth.

Her voice was more confident; strong and reassuring. He felt a surge of pride at that.

His heart pounded. She was alive. In front of him.

It was exhilarating.

But how?

He had so many questions.

Kohaku scooped up the girl and walked over to the table. As she sat down next to Chrome, he focused on the sleeve of her uniform, stained dark. "Shit, what happened?"

Kohaku glanced down at her arm. "Oh. I got shot. Seems fine, though."

"What? When? How?"

"Uhm," Kohaku looked up at the ceiling, thinking. "While I was jumping off the wall of the Apex onto a skyscraper. A drone shot me."

"Oh my god you actually jumped," Chrome muttered, dumbfounded. "You absolute gorilla."

Kohaku's brow twitched, and she reached over, grabbing his ear and twisting. The hacker yelped, leaning in to reduce the strain until she let go. Taking a deep breath, she turned her attention to the men sitting across from her, specifically Gen, since he was the only person she recognized. "Thank you. For keeping her safe."

Gen shrugged helplessly. "Ah, well, you did threaten me." A smile played on his lips as he added, "Though, I would have done so, even without the promise of bodily harm."

Her face broke out into a grin. "Hah! Is that so?" Untangling one hand from around Suika, she held it out to shake. "Let's do a proper introduction. I'm Kohaku."

Gen took the offered hand, but brought it to his lips instead. "Gen. A pleasure, Kohaku."

She snorted, but let him proceed. She then turned her attention to the others as Gen pulled away. "And you two? Must be the guys helping out in the background."

Ukyo tipped his hat, offering up his name. He then paused and glanced at Senkuu, as did Gen. Both waited, unsure of how the scientist wanted to approach this situation.

Kohaku tilted her head at him, a brow lifted. "Well…?"

Senkuu took in a deep breath and leaned forward, pulling his gas mask down to hang around his neck. The hood of his jacket followed, freeing his hair. Lips pulling into a smirk, he offered out a gloved hand to shake. "Hello, Lioness."

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

The boy looked up from his work, tilting his head. "Why not? Seems fitting for you. Lions were strong and fast hunters. Some of the biggest cats in the animal kingdom, you know, before the Collapse."

She met his gaze, before looking down at the exposed circuitry in her arm he was working on. "I… see. So… it's a compliment, then."

He grinned at her, before returning his attention back to the tools in his hands. "Of course it is. Ten billion percent! And I decided it's gonna be my nickname for you, so deal with it."

She did not have a name to describe the fluttering in her stomach, so instead she smiled and looked back up at the ceiling. "Okay."

Kohaku's entire world came to a screeching halt.