Disc: Same thing as Chapter 1.

Two

-

The reeds were silent today. Data Seven had no doubt that it was the calm after the storm. He could not make noise as he ran uphill to a dilapidated old mansion- he had a mission.

Wait outside until you find an unlit window, he'd been instructed. It won't be hard- when Jose leaves, the guard will be weak.

As he hid in the bushes outside, another scent came to him, one of gasoline. A truck was speeding away from the mansion entrance. Though it bulged with gray muscle, the black panther would not be surprised if Jose was at the wheel.

He sniffed again, and curled one lip back to reveal his fangs. Big Sis always knew best about this sort of thing. She'd told him everything he had to do to complete this task, because she couldn't bear the thought of his death.

Not that this would be that hard. Even if he was found out, two Fixed Ideas was not something that would frighten him. It would be a scuffle, that's all. He'd been in dozens, many with much worse odds than two-on-one, and deadlier opponents that these brainless brutes that Big Sis mopped the floor with so often.

Data Seven would miss her assistance in battle, if there ever was another.

The final echoes of the noisy motor behind him, Data Seven effortlessly leapt onto the wide awning on the second floor, crashing through the window and onto a floor of creaky boards. Stopping again to listen, he heard a dull grunt from the next room, and readied his claws in the darkness.

One quick pounce later, the guard lay flat on his back with major leg injuries, unconscious. His partner was still happily watching TV five doors down, so for now, he would turn his attention to his real objective.

Sniff. It was here. He could tell the scent was coming from somewhere in this room, if not exactly where. Leaning closer to one wall, Data Seven nosed anxiously through the cupboards to find it, remembering what Big Sis had told him of Jose's incredible carelessness with his father's inventions. She was hoping that extended to the neon green liquid known as Sustenance.

That was the smell. He'd caught from Big Sis sometimes, after a battle. She hated to drink it, but it was the only thing keeping her from the most painful death imaginable.

To willingly face that death... Data Seven could only marvel at that kind of bravery. Sustenance was the key to all of Von Reichter's creations, the life source... and also a leash, which Big Sis had managed to stretch, but not break. He was the sole exception to that rule, and thus could survive for long time even after his demise.

If he could have given his life to save hers, he would have done so without hesitation. As it was, it was tearing him up inside to see her the way she was now.

That was what was causing such hesitation in him, he realized. He could have found the Sustenance minutes ago, but he was procrastinating. The deed he was about to perform- it was second cousin to killing his best friend.

Suddenly confused, he shook his head. All the Sustenance was past the bookcase, within a hidden room just beyond it. He had to destroy it- Big Sis had told him to, but...

The bookcase slid open at his touch. Within it, a circular chamber housed a pillar of metal and glass. Each level housed over thirty of the little vials he was used to- enough to feed Jose's Fixed Ideas for months.

-And enough to keep Big Sis alive for years. It was the only batch of Sustenance remaining. The only one. Once again, revulsion and self-doubt filled him, both of them foreign feelings to Data Seven.

It was what she wanted. She'd told him to do this.

But when that was done... she would be gone. What then? What could he possibly do, alone?

It was suicide.

It was necessary!

Turning away for a moment, Data Seven growled at the pillar. It was just hanging there, innocuous, harmless...

With so much glass making up the canisters, he destroyed the lower half, shredding the smaller vials in moments. The chemical washed over his fur, as it burst from the tubes, giving it a clear sheen. Lunging now for the larger ones, Data Seven closed his eyes and mouth tightly, lancing into bottle after bottle, shattering them. The sharp noise filled him, and he imagined it was Big Sis' life he was shattering, just like the glass.

Due to the height of the uppermost canisters, it took him some extra time to rebound off the walls and into the frame, hitting it again and again. Then, when every single vessel was reduced to broken glass and every drop of Sustenance dumped onto the floor, Data Seven watched it burn from the exit, whimpering sadly at Cyber Six's funeral pyre. The smoke from destroyed floorboards eked out past him, over the fallen Fixed Idea, and out to the window.

Into the sky, he followed the trail of smoke, up into a pink sunset, through the trees until it was blown away, dissipated into the smallest molecules.

Data Seven growled harshly at that. A copter had blown the smoke away. A copter heading out of the ruins of Von Reichter's lab.

Suddenly, he had a very bad feeling. It grew worse even faster than he could put all his energy into sprinting out of the manor and back along the forested path to the ruin. Trees and shrubs whipped by in an instant, and he still wasn't going fast enough.

If they'd harmed her, he would...

It was extremely unlikely that they had gone down there to harm her. She was good as dead already. But if they'd found her hiding spot, a simple cave buried beneath a thick layer of debris, then...

Knowing that he'd come to the proper conclusion, Data Seven roared loudly up to the copter. The bad men deserved death for this abduction, if he could only bring it to them...

Not easy- the copter was moving away from the site at an alarming speed, and was unhindered by cliffs or lakes. Pouring all of his energy into running, Data Seven kept after the aircraft, ignoring the sudden crack of gunfire and the flash of a muzzle. They were trying to shoot him, but at the clip both pursuer and pursued were moving, the chances of actually hitting him were quite slim. A gunshot wound wouldn't stop him anyway, not with Big Sis in the clutches of these thugs. The shots were deafening, nothing more.

Had to keep after them, no matter how fast the copter flew. Less than a mile ahead, there was a tall outcropping of rock, covered in ferns. If he beat the chopper there, Data Seven thought, he could jump at it from the highest peak. It was the only way he was going reach them- after that, the cliffs ended in one final drop to the sea floor. That copter could fly several times faster than he could swim. If they got there, he would lose them.

This far out in the wilderness, there was no sign of human life. Bushes and unkempt weeds that Data Seven would normally have tolerated sprung up in his path, slowing him. A den of raccoons stood up, fright in their marble eyes as Data Seven blew past them in a blink. Now the whole forest was an obstacle course designed to slow him down, to keep him from reaching that cliff in time.

His fangs flashed angrily. NO. He would not let the bad men take Big Sis away. Not now. Not ever. He could do this, if he could just move a tiny bit faster...

Relief creased Data Seven's muzzle as he broke out of the woods and into an open field, gouged by a deep ravine.

It seemed so very wide now. He had to make the jump, or he would lose them. Without even slowing down, Data Seven's paws curled and launched him over it, ignoring the sudden pleading for a rest that came from his system.

He was only halfway across when something else occurred to him- leaping over this ravine would slow him down enough to present a viable target. He had exactly three breaths to dwell on that before domineering noise cut into his rational thought processes, and pain shot into his nervous system, radiating out from the wound. He'd been shot in midair, over water.

Falling...

-

Lucas' eyes flickered open prematurely, and he caught his alarm clock a few seconds before it hit 6:30. Unimpressed by his hammering of the snooze button, it went off anyway, waking up the grouchy tomcat in the next room over.

Morning, and the hole had festered instead of healed. It was all he could do not to lash out in anger at his fellow tenants as they waved to him over a soggy breakfast. They didn't know about Cyber Six, how she'd saved them by giving everything to protecting this city during the darkness of night. She'd even given her life, and still no one knew. No one even cared!

The walk wasn't much better. A cluster of clouds seemed dead-set on blocking the sun, and a light fog was obscuring the streets. Anyone more than a few feet away looked alike, giving Lucas the impression that he was going nowhere in a sea of gray figures.

Was it going to be like this every day, now that she was dead? A painful, agonizing stroll over memories of his lover, wondering what he could have done? He couldn't let it show, he reminded himself sternly. Don't cry. Don't mourn, not in public anyway. Only Lori and Reginald would understand why. Suck it up.

Riding on that resolution, ignoring the steady hardening of his heart, Lucas made through the day. None of the students gave him a hard time, and despite his best efforts to prevent it, he ignored the ones that were having problems.

Lori, he thought as he left through a thin mist of rain. He had to talk to Lori, alone. She knew all about what had been going on, including the truth about Adrian. Surely she was having a hard time coping as well, with the loss of them both.

Feeling a little better as he strode through the rain towards her address, all the emotions he'd been bottling up surged outward when he caught another familiar face loping through the streets.

A black panther. Data Seven wasn't looking at all like his usual self- very clumsy and sluggish, leaning against the occasional wall, causing anyone nearby to recoil from what they probably saw as a dangerous, and possibly rabid animal.

Dangerous, no question about that. But Lucas saw a friend. He rushed to the creature's side compassionately, helping him to his feet paw by paw. Data Seven grunted, wincing in pain as Lucas brought him into a side alley, and once they sat down in relative privacy, he saw the cause of his friend's pain.

Underneath a shining matte of wet fur, there was a hole above the left rib cage, leaking dark blood. Neither man nor beast wanted to seem weak in front of the other, but Lucas' mind brimmed with questions he wanted to ask the only survivor of the confrontation.

And yet... if Data Seven had survived, surely the one he'd give his life for would have as well. For a moment, everything was all right once again with the world, and his heart sang. The hole might as well have not existed. He was back to his old self.

Data Seven, on other hand, was certainly not. His spirit had been injured along with his body, and he remained sullen despite Lucas' best efforts.

He brought his new guest back to his own apartment, foregoing all other concerns like dinner until he could get an answer out of the injured panther who now lay on his bed. Stroking him did not cause him to purr or snarl, and the dim lighting did nothing to help Data Seven's mood. All Lucas could discern from this silent treatment was that he'd been in a lot of action, followed by a thorough drenching- the wound was really more messy than lethal, or else he would have been unable to tend to it himself.

"Here" he said, holding out an open can of spare tuna as he bandaged the panther's wound. "Make yourself at home."

Well, now he'd hit maximum weirdness. Talking to an injured black panther, trying to coax it back to normal, whereas normal was growling, usually wanting to keep him away from Cyber Six/Adrian. They hadn't always gotten along, but now Data Seven was the only one who knew the details behind Cyber Six's survival, if any. That was the information, the answer that he needed with all his heart.

Heck, forget normal. Nearly shredding the bandages he'd just had applied, Data Seven snarled, standing upright, and staring straight ahead, to a picture on the wall.

Lucas wasn't completely sure which picture his guest was looking at desperately until he looked at each of them. One, in the very center, bore him and Adrian, standing together in a photo of the beautiful Meridiana harbor. That was the one, the person that Data Seven was trying so hard to reach.

"Cyber Six" he said to the photo warily. "She's in trouble, right?"

Amazingly, the panther nodded. Whoever had put a metal slug in Data Seven's chest must have been a part of it. Organized men with guns had taken her away, or done something with her. Something that Data Seven could not deal with on his own. If Data Seven, with all his strength could not help Cyber Six, what made him think he could?

"We'll find a way" he suddenly murmur softly to Data Seven, feeling a rush of energy through him as he ran one hand through black fur. "We'll find a way to help her."

-

M: Well, it looks as though the site will be down for a few days (Aug 17-18), so that's just more time to make Chapter 3 even better. That's when I'll finally introduce the REAL villain of this story. 'Till then!