"Have I mentioned that I hate this plan?" Bose asks. "Because I do. I really hate this plan."

"Trust me, none of us want this," Ray sighs. "But it's not like we have another option."

Bose isn't sure how much he believes that. They've only been in this predicament for a day, maybe a little more. There must be other options, yet here they are. At least a dozen silver wires run from Mika's head and neck like strands of a spiderweb, hooking her up to what looks like a modified game system from the 90s. With the thick box screen and black joystick, he's not sure how else to describe it.

It doesn't matter. What does matter is Mika and her deathlike grip on his hand. It's the only thing that betrays the cool bravery on her face and in her body. She sits on what Schwoz called a bed, but it doesn't look nearly comfortable enough to be called that, and she's either pretending to be listening or actually listening as Schwoz outlines the fine details.

"Now, when you're asleep, this machine will allow us to navigate through your brain and into your subconscious," he explains.

"And if there's still a part of Rick Twitler's memories in there, it might help us work out what his next move is," Ray adds.

"And you're sure this will work?" Mika asks.

"And you're sure it's safe?" Bose adds, just loud enough for them to hear him. Ray freezes, and his gaze shifts from Mika to Bose. He tries to hide it, but Bose has seen that look before. It's almost permanently etched on his stepdad's face; the one where he's desperately trying to hold back an eye-roll.

He drops his eyes to the floor and decides to save his pity for later.

"Yes, it's safe," he says. "As safe as it can be anyway. As for whether it'll work… only one way to find out."

A myriad of responses rush to the front of his mind but he dismisses all of them in one swoop. They've all learned what fighting with Ray can cause and they don't need it now. Instead, he turns to Mika and tilts her face to his, using his hand to block out the other two.

"You don't need to do this," he says in a low voice. "We can find out Twitler's plan without this."

"Yeah, a way that takes twice as long," she tells him. Her hand leaves his and travels up his arm, a gesture that in most cases would be soothing. The corners of her mouth and he almost smiles back. "I'll be fine, trust me."

He's not sure he believes that. But he also knows he can't talk her out of this. Sometimes he doesn't know who's the more stubborn one; her or Ray. So instead of pressing he settles for kissing her forehead and pushing his hands on the bed so she can't feel his shaking.

They stay like that for a second or so, foreheads pressed together like they can stop time if they hold each other long enough.

Unfortunately, the Omega Weapon didn't grant them that power. So Mika nuzzles him and then turns away, sliding her hand into his as their only contact. Bose watches as with a determined nod, Bose watches as Mika lies back on the bed. Her dark eyes stare up at the ceiling, white light reflecting in their pupils. She exhales, long and steady, and squeezes Bose's hand.

"Let's do this," she says. Ray steps back as Schwoz comes over, a needle glinting in his hand. Mika's eyes don't move as he wipes down her arm, but her hand grips Bose's so tightly it might burst. Bose doesn't complain. He wouldn't even if she ripped his arm off.

"Just take a deep breath," Schwoz tells her. He moves the needle into position on her arm. Mika's jaw is so tight that he worries it might snap.

"Do it."

Bose doens't watches him insert the needle. Instead, he watches Mika's face. She gasps a little when the needle pierces her skin, then her eyes flutter shut and her features start to relax. In seconds, her desperately tight hold on his hand weakens until it's just him holding onto limp fingers.

He whispers her name softly but firmly, and his hand brushes her warm cheek. Nothing.

"Okay," Ray says flatly. "She's out for the count. Let's do this." Bose's eyes don't leave his mentor's as Schwoz begins. Ray's expression is unreadable, his face half hidden by a closed fist. His usual larger-than-life demeanour is shrunk down to size and something is unsettling about it.

Ray glances across at him and for a second, Bose finds a vulnerability that's so unlike Ray that he's convinced he imagined it.

"I'm in Mika's memories," Schwoz announces. "In her short-term memory now…"

"So like… the things she did today?"

"Yes." Schwoz's tongue pokes out the corner of his mouth as he concentrates. He moves the joystick with incredible carefulness Bose forgets for a second how chaotic he usually is. "Okay, shifting into her long-term-"

"I still think this is too risky," Bose hears himself say. He looks over at Schwoz again and tries not to think about what could happen if that careful, dedicated focus breaks.

"I know," Ray replies. He opens his mouth like he's about to say more, but nothing comes and he just keeps hanging halfway between Mika and Schwoz, his gaze shifting between them. "I know."

His voice comes out shaky, unsteady, and it's then that Bose's anger gives way to something else. He wonders, in that brief moment, if Ray is thinking about Henry at this moment. He also wonders how he should feel about that.

A sharp groan from Mika draws their attention back to her. Her forehead creases slightly, tension locking her jaw.

"What's happening?"

"Shifting into some unpleasant memories," Schwoz says. "Mika is reliving things she'd rather forget."

"Well get out of there!"

"I can't. Not right away." Schwoz's eyes stay on the monitor, but his mouth presses into a thin line. "This is a delicate business.

Bose sighs and looks back at Mika. On the surface, he doesn't doubt what Schwoz said. If he trusts anyone to get Mika out of this safely, it's him. That doesn't make him want to rip those wires out of her and smash that computer to pieces. It just means that he won't. Because he's smarter than he pretends he is and he's gotten good at ignoring and repressing his anger over the years. Now is just the best time to practice it.

"Bose." He looks up to find Ray standing over him, his hands wringing in front of his chest. "You don't have to be here. I'm sure AWOL and Volt wouldn't say no to some help.

Bose bites his tongue. He knows full well the reason Miles was sent on patrol with Chapa was because he wouldn't be able to handle seeing Mika like this. Hell, it was Mika's idea that he go. He also knows that he promised Miles that he wouldn't leave Mika's side until it was over.

Not that he was ever planning to. But he made that promise to himself and both Macklin twins, which is why he runs his thumb over Mika's knuckles and replies "yeah, I do".

He doesn't see Ray's reaction.

Mika only gets worse the further Schwoz goes. Her steady breathing turns into short, quick gasps, broken by pained moans. The monitor across from them grows louder as her heart grows more frantic. Bose can only sit helplessly at her side, try not to drown in his uselessness and attempt to make it bearable. He runs his finger lightly across her cheek and brushes her hair away from her face.

"It's okay," he tells her quietly. "It's okay, I'm right here. I've got you, it's okay." Her fingers tighten around his and he squeezes back. "It's okay."

If his words have any effect, it's drowned out by whatever is going on in Mika's brain. At some point, Schwoz declares he's entering her subconscious, and the whimper Mika gives feels more like a plea for help. Bose raises his efforts to ease her pain, but they feel even more futile than they did before.

He guesses there's only so much one guy can do.

"Schwoz, is this nearly over?" he asks. Mika is almost entirely on her side, curled up with her back to Schwoz's machine. Her face is screwed with fear and pressed into her knees like she's hiding. Bose pushes her hair away only to find his hand trembling. "Schwoz?"

"Almost there," Schwoz says in a voice he guesses is meant to be reassuring. "I've located all of her memories from when she was possessed by Rick Twitler. All I have to do is enter."

Silence falls over the three of them. Even Mika's whimpering grows quiet. Because this is it. Mika told him about how it all felt on her side. He listened as she told him how she was held hostage in her own body, how loudly she had screamed when it started. How she was in the same room as all of them but felt a kind of loneliness she didn't know existed. He watched as she fought to feel at home in her skin again. He was there for the shaking and the crying and the sweating and once or twice for the throwing up.

He can't make her go through that again.

Bose looks up at Ray and finds a surprising amount of apprehension. Maybe Mika told him. Maybe she didn't and he still knows. For a second, the look on Ray's face makes him think it's over.

Then he's reminded who he's with. Ray turns to Schwoz and says "let's get this over with".

Bose considers himself a forgiving person, but right now his limits are being tested.

It's only seconds of Schwoz moving the joystick before Mika mumbles "no". It starts quietly, her voice breaking on that one syllable, before it comes again, louder.

"No."

Her body curls in on itself even more, and her hand clings to Bose's like he's a liferaft. The monitor's beeping becomes stronger until it's punching Bose's skull. Mika's free hand grips the mattress, her nails digging into the fabric.

She calls out "no, please, no". A tear bursts from her eyelid and runs down her cheek, followed by another, then another, and Bose can't take it anymore.

"Stop it," he says. Still holding Mika's hand, he looks over at Schwoz and Ray, his anger riling behind his gritted teeth. "Stop it. Get her out."

"Bose, we can't-"

"I don't care!" The words echo across the room. He looks down at Mika through his falling hair and feels his cheeks burn. Mika shakes her head roughly, half-breathing and half-sobbing. "I don't care whether or not it worked, just get her out of there!"

There's a moment when no one says anything. Bose hears his words repeated back to him and his voice has never sounded so unfamiliar.

Mika whimpers again, louder than before. Bose looks down and almost stops breathing. Even in their line of work, he didn't think it was possible for someone to look so scared.

He swallows the lump in his throat and whispers "please".

Ray's face is almost completely hidden from view, but he nods and Bose almost lets himself be relieved. Almost.

"Get her out Schwoz."

Schwoz doesn't push back. Instead, he runs to the monitor and does whatever he needs to do with a steely determination. Bose waits, Mika's heartbeat punctuating the seconds, and braces himself for whatever is about to happen.

Mika's eyes fly open, her hands grasping desperately at him. Her nails scratch against his skin, but he doesn't care. Her terrified cries fill the Man's Nest, her words overlapping and bleeding into a horrified jumble.

Bose moves with her as she sits up, one hand on her back as he tries to cut through the images she's still seeing in her mind.

"It's okay, I'm here," he tells her. "I've got you. I've got you, it's okay. I'm here, it's okay."

He repeats it for what could be minutes or hours until her screaming dies down. He repeats it even then, whispering in her ear with her head on his chest. Even when he's just competing with her heavy gasps, he doesn't stop. Her hands are balled up in his shirt, her body shaking against his chest.

He presses a kiss to her head just as she speaks up.

"Bose?"

"I've got you," he says softly. He holds her closer and links his fingers through hers. "I've got you."

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Ray and Schwoz in the corner.

"It's okay," he breathes.

Seconds pass in silence. Bose blinks and finds his eyes damp and his cheeks sticky. When did he start crying?

Mika shifts so that her face is pressed into the crook of his neck. No doubt whatever he's feeling, she's feeling ten times over, plus some things he'll never get.

"Did we do it?" she asks.

In the corner, Ray shakes his head.

On the one hand, Bose couldn't care less if it worked or not.

On the other… it means Mika went through all that for nothing and Twitler's still one step ahead of them. And she'll blame herself, regardless of what he says otherwise.

So he doesn't say anything. Instead, he kisses her head again and reminds her that he's got her.

If he can't promise anything else, he can promise that.