Electronics today are a sad thing. Nothing is permanent.

History can change at the blink of cybernetic speed.

Oxygen is a good game. You can loose days.

Ruby started calling out for Isaac as soon as she entered the main house. Moving quickly and checking the living room before heading for his bedroom.

"He is in the lower floor." Came a male voice from the ceiling. Surprised Ruby came to a dead stop and looked about feeling a bit disturbed. Then felt a nauseating chill remembering that this home and she were being watched. "Huh?, ok, wh?"

"Small door to the right of the kitchen entryway." Came that voice.

This was so creepy to her that Ruby had to ask. "Why does my brother want, um.. to be watched?"

"We don't know. Isaac pay's us to do this, but he has never explained why."

"So, your police?"

"No, we don't use them here. Private security companies nicknamed Watchers. Everything from guarding one person to whole neighborhoods. There are several. The Night owls, Sprinters, Logan, and us. The Pinkerton's who Isaac bankrolled. Surprisingly this method keeps us competitive. We offer good security at all levels, this is our highest, and we catch any who break our laws. If crime starts to increase somewhere, we concentrate on that location."

"Sounds like police."

"Do police pay fines for failing to protect?"

"Oh…." Ruby said her mind quickly grasping at the strange idea. Moving to the kitchen she looked around. Finding it at the far wall. The only narrow door in the kitchen. It looked to her a lot like a pantry door. The kind you would find in a kitchen of any worth, so she opened it.

A dark staircase going down is what she found, like a cheap monster movie it vanished into blackness. Sighing while pulling out her light Ruby moved to the first step. Lights quietly came on by way of motion detectors, showing a gray concrete staircase going down tens of feet. Ruby had to admit she found herself a bit nervous about this whole thing, so she asked. "Not to be nosy but what are the worse crimes here?"

"You need to understand. Our laws are simple. Respect others, their possessions and properties, if conflict accrues seek arbitration, if that's not effective you can, well, you can take things into your own hands or challenge someone. Think twice about doing that. Your allowed to be as lethal as you want. In the case of challenges some can not happen for obvious reasons, but sometimes two people just hate each other so much there is no other recourse."

Ruby was thunderstruck. "That's mean. What if someone kills another and says they challenged?"

"If it's not public, like in the Colosseum, or a large amount of varied witnesses that is considered murder. If the verdict by arbitration is guilty, the family, or survivors decide ones fate at that point. Most go for execution as restitution."

"WHAT? You kill them?!" Ruby felt her heart sink down to her knees. This place, Ruby didn't realize how dark they could get, this was sickening.

"No. The survivors do. If arbitration finds another at fault the victims can declare what punishment is to be given. Most choose, in the case of murder to end the person responsible for it. Not all do. Arbitrators can and do fine people, say for property damage. In the case of fines. If not paid or making payments they can't keep there job and no one will hire them. Then that person forfeits their possessions or has to leave the city. If a hunter they forfeit their license."

"You, you don't have laws? How do you get anything done?"

"Arbitration. As an example. You can build where you want, buy the land. If no one wants you to build, say a monster house next to them, and arbitration agrees, you can not. Same with pollution, noise, even neighbors. ect. People here I feel are becoming well rounded for it. We govern ourselves." The voice explained."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Ruby asked feeling like she had gone into some other world where law and social conduct did not apply, to anyone.

"For me? You kids, even your father does not understand how our society, what we built, is. So this was a small guiding explanation. For more information there are sites on the computer you can access. If you want to see the darker side, well, recordings are made for crimes and how they are handled. For now, I think I should shut up. The bodyless voice from the ceiling is bad enough, and I can tell I'm upsetting you explaining our laws. So, Isaac is downstairs. I have no monitoring there, or in the attached dwelling. Good night. Ruby Rose."

Ruby sagged a bit letting out a sigh that was more a groan then anything else. "This place." She just couldn't finish the thought. It was just too strange. Some things here are good, even exciting, but this stuff? With a glance over her shoulder Ruby walked downstairs with one hand on the wall. The lights coming on as motion sensors detected her.

"It's a workshop." Ruby whispered reaching the last step. Equipment for shaping, molding and finishing were here. The open cupboards were numbered containing parts and equipment. Tools workbenches, and equipment lay scattered all around. Even a micro forge and a full sized weapons forge. Four pillars came down from the roof well spaced in a box pattern and again at the corners which had thick columns. Spacing on the outer walls was one support pillar every twenty feet. "It's the size of the property." Ruby said hearing her voice echo slightly.

She looked around. Not finding Isaac. Just scattered parts from unfinished projects and some blueprints for equipment. Mostly military stuff. Then she spotted an elevator. Wondering at first why it was even here, then realizing there were even more basements. Ruby pushed the only button. The door opened immediately and a bit disquietingly.

The elevators was large inside. Finding a simple push button for three levels, the top floor indicator was lit, the one she was on. A second and third then a round hole that looked a lot like the one Sellock used just below it all. She pressed the two button.

The door closed. Ruby with nothing to do right then fidgeted a bit as the elevator rocked in the guiding rails, wondering what, if anything she could say to Isaac. He had been acting odd lately, well when she thought about it not all that odd, more like a kid then adult, but he would shift modes, sometimes so fast it was hard to understand him.

The elevator passed the second floor. Ruby blinked at it. Surprised Ruby quickly pressed the button several times getting no response. The speed seemed to increases as it descended. Then it went passed the third and kept dropping. Ruby became restless the deeper she went, finely deploying Crescent Rose, her aura came fully online as the elevator started to slow. Ten seconds passed before it stopped.

When the door opened the smell of stale air, and earthy moisture filled her nose. The floor was concrete as the walls before her. "Hay." Came Isaacs voice. "Welcome to the mad scientists lair."

Stepping out Ruby spotted Isaac to the left of the elevator. Sitting by a workbench that had computer monitors dotting the wall displaying parts of the basement complex, one showed the inside of the elevator. The place was not near as big as the top basement, but it was still rather large with unusual equipment. Tall cylinders in a line loudly humming, others were scattered about. Some equipment lay broken in scrap piles.

"What are you doing down here?" Ruby asked deflating Crescent Rose then holstering it in one quick motion to the small of her back as she approached him.

Ruby heard the elevator moving, going up. Isaac caught her attention when he said. "Dangerous experiments. You shouldn't come any closer." He warned.

Frowning and a bit over stressed Ruby kept walking. "What do you…. ACK!" Something bit at her and there was nothing around. Hopping backwards her weapon unfurled in an instant. "What?"

"Told you." Isaac pointed to the floor at a braided wire which encircled him. That's when Ruby saw an aura chart on one of the smaller monitors. Isaacs, and it was half way down and lowering as she watched.

"What are you doing to yourself!" Ruby cried out running to him. Ruby had just holstered her weapon when that same bite happened and didn't stop. Pushing pass the mild pain which felt like bee's were stinging her. "Stop this, you're hurting yourself." She grabbed Isaac intent on dragging him away.

He was so surprised he didn't even resist. As she pulled him off the stool his hand came off a big red button, with a stiff sounding click the button popped up and the pain stopped. Ruby started looking Isaac over seeing if he had any wounds on him.

"Stop fussing. The powers off." Not caring Ruby kept going. "Not until I'm sure your ok." Sighing Isaac suffered her attentions until Ruby was satisfied nothing was torn open. Then Isaac explained.

"It's a reality stabilizer, kind of a lame one, but I finely remembered how to make it." He made a motion to a pile of papers and junk next to a drafting board. Ruby was so surprised she could only stare. Isaac sounded proud of himself. She shook her head in defiance.

"No, this, this is wrong." Then she hugged him saying in almost a whisper. "You don't have to do this to yourself."

"What are you on about?" He lightly struggled a bit before understanding she wasn't going to let him go and stopped. "Its just an experiment to confirm a theory of mine."

Ruby pushed him to arms length still holding Isaacs shoulders. "No it isn't. it's past ten at night, you said you've had a long day, there's no reason for you to be down here." Ruby had a momentary lapse of reason. Just how deep are we she wondered. "Where, ever we are." She quickly finished before getting back on track and a bit angry and fearful of what he was doing to himself.

"Your hurting yourself, and I think it's because of us. What you said in the kitchen. Now you're down here sitting in something that is taking down your aura and its painful. Why?" She saw his eyes shift, going dull for a moment before refocusing on her.

"Aura, and Semblance's do not appear to have an upper limit. So, I asked myself why no limits? This worried me because the answer was most likely artificial. Something to do with this world. I was hardly here for more then a few days and bam! Aura turned on. That got me wondering. If so, these abilities. Are they placed here? If so then they are not truly real. This would allow for the no upper limit. If true, any limits we have would be just in our heads. In short, we make them real. We tap into an unidentified energy that's somehow available. A reality stabilizer proved, well, simply put that it's not real." He finished.

"Oh, Isaac." Mewed Ruby unhappy he had gone all know-it-all. Then hugged him again. "It's ok, you were off your medication and in a stressful state. You don't have to suppress your feelings. It's ok, you don't have to do self-punishment, and you don't have to feel pain to make up for it." She let him go seeing confusion on his face and how he started breathing faster. "You're my brother." She stressed.

Isaac moved away before he looked down, his voice sounded a bit choked. "Ruby, please don't."

Ruby would not leave this alone and closed on Isaac and slowly hugged him again. "Its ok, were family, sometimes we fight but we make up to each other. Isaac?" She asked. "You know I love you. Right? You're my brother." She hoped this was getting through to him, everything she knew said he had shut down a long time ago, just to survive.

Ruby blinked as she realized something about him. This whole thing with her family. What was it to him? To the emotional part of his mind that had shutdown. Ruby refocused and hoped that she understood him enough to give him hope for a future. "I don't want this to be fake, or a cover. I want my brother, I can't have that until you want me as your sister."

"Ruby, please, I, I can't, this."

"I know, this is hard for you and I think I know why, you've been through a lot, I know that, and it's ok." She told him. A few seconds passed and he started to sniff. "Come on Isaac it's ok to hug me back. I'm your sister and I'm here for you. You don't need to worry, this is for you and me, no one else. It's ok."

"I, don't, can't." He tried to say. Then started crying, slow at first then increasing in strength. When he did put his arms around Ruby Isaac started bawling, gasping out. "I'm sorry, just, with everything, I'm sorry, your team, I don't want.." He was so upset he couldn't even form a thought. Ruby found herself overwhelmed and started to blubber with him and kept whispering it's ok, to let it out.

When Isaac slowed down enough he pulled away. Still crying and wiping his eyes and nose with his shirt. After a bit he muttered. "I'm feel so tired. This, is so exhausting."

Sighing with relief Ruby ruffled his hair her hand straying and rubbing his ears. He didn't even bat her hand away, just grabbed it. Looking her in the eye. "I'm sorry, your too good for something like me."

"You're a person not a thing." Ruby told him putting as much frustrated conviction in her words as she could. "You're my brother, forget all that past stuff, what ever it was you lived." Glancing at the monitor Ruby smiled with a bit of relief. Isaacs aura was slowly recovering. "Is that why you were hurting yourself? You don't think you're worth anything?"

Ruby could see the denial forming on Isaacs face. Ruby leaned forward with a "Well? Prove me wrong." expression on her face. Isaac looked up at her for a few then slumped in defeat. "Maybe, the docs seem to think so. Dad. Now your saying the same stuff, so, I guess?." Then he shifted gears.

"Let me show you something." Isaac told Ruby. He hesitated a bit seeing her expression. "Look, I'm not, well, trying to deflect, ok. This really is weird." He waited until Ruby sighed tired of it and motioned for him to go on.

Unplugging the braided wires he moved a large box on wheels to and down a side hallway where another row of shoulder high cylinder shaped machines hummed, spinning like a revved up bullhead engine. Two workbenches next to the things had a decanter and crushed stone and a coarse yellow dye laying messily on it. Walking passed it all they turned down a side corridor. Stopping before a black glassy wall. Ruby counted six of them all on one side in this corridor. Then Isaac turned the lights on.

"A Ravager? How?" Gasped Ruby seeing the tied up bat like grim. It's head and body chained to a wall. It turned and tracked them with its huge deformed ears. The sightless opaque eyes stared at them unblinking. It struggled but was tied up so completely it could only wiggle. "Those are only found in the deserts." Ruby finished as it seemed to calm down, if a grim could be calm.

"Wasn't easy. They're pretty strong. This one hurt two hunters before we bagged it. Then it was refused for the matches because it fly's." Isaac hooked the two braided wires into two wall jacks. "These things can't walk well, so cutting off a wing wasn't an option. So I bought it. Any who. Watch this."

He turned a knob on the box numbered one through five. The grim started thrashing in its restraints. "This is level one, which is what you felt, now jump to three." Ruby gasped as it roared and turned watery, slumping down like a hot candle and started to puddle. "If I turn this off it will reform, but if I go to four." The liquid thrashed, unbelievably it screamed. Falling apart, dissipating into the air, quickly becoming nothing in seconds. "Now level five." With a click Ruby saw a lot of firefly dots of red swirling and sparkling in the cage dissipating quickly. "It's completely gone, not even particles are left. This is the sixth grimm I've disposed of this way."

It all fell into place what he was saying. This was beyond implying. She saw it happen. Her own words almost trembled as she spoke. "Grim? Aura? There not part of our world? Ah, I mean, reality." She gasped as her hands came to her mouth as her idea of what was real and not grew. "Someone put them here." Isaac nodded and added. "Or something." How he said it reminded Ruby what Yang said about him.

"You just take the fun out of breathing.." That sarcasm Yang had voiced throughout the story she told about Isaac in the hospital always seemed a bit off to her. Ruby didn't want to admit that it made sense right now. He was saying all the options, all he could think of. With hardly a whiff of emotion or? Maybe ego? So every angle could be seen. It was a shock to her that Isaac was that way because it was the way he learned to survive in his world.

"Well. Guess this says it all." He began. Ruby could feel and see he was unhappy. "Shows over, we best call it a night." Isaac pulled the leads out of their ports. Then unplugged the machine. Ruby watched quietly and fallowed him back to the elevator deep in thought, a lot was on her mind. The idea that everything she used. Everything she had been taught for a lifetime, how to become a huntress was somehow, to Isaac at least, false. No wonder the professors had a hard time with him. Back then he was going on instinct. Seeing the world the way he was trained.

In the elevator Ruby saw Isaac use one of those circle keys. Turning it counter clockwise a quarter turn, he counted to three turned it another quarter turn and kept going until the key made a full turn before reaching up and pressing the one button.

Ruby wanted something to break the silence between them, something to get her mind off this reality thing, something fun. Smiling with mischief Ruby started to tickle Isaac not heeding his complaints until he started fighting back. "That's against the rules, tickling only." She told him. By the time they reached the first basement floor Ruby had Isaac pined in the corner of the elevator.

"Oh, were here." She quipped. Stopping she started walking leaving Isaac snickering and gasping in the elevator. Once he did catch his breath Isaac rushed at Ruby. Ruby did to him what Yang had once done to her. She stepped to the side at the last second then grabbed him and started tickling him again until he cried out "I give I give!" She let him go with a huge smile. Ruby pointed a finger at the ceiling "Victory!" She shouted. It was completely silly and stupid but exactly what she needed.

When Isaac could stand he was actually smiling. "Ok sis, you win, this time, but there will be a reckoning." Ruby giggled, she loved it, he was acting like a kid. She watched smiling as Isaac snickered the whole way up the stairs.

Once on the first floor Ruby said her goodnights hugging Isaac once more before going to bed. Isaac found himself rather melancholy as Ruby closed the door. He pushed the button to close the entryway. Watching as the shelving arced slowly down and settled into some grooves on the floor locking it down. Now it looked like a pantry closet. Closing the door he sighed anew. Then he readied for bed.

It was only after he showered when he understood why he was feeling this way. He missed her, even though she was close. That warmth in her hugs, was addictive. Just Ruby not being around made him admit that inside at his core he was lonely.

It was to him a strange emotion and it all revolved around. Family. Real family. Not some father who kept spouting children should be seen not heard, or a mother irritated by her children's needs. Not some cover to protect himself from this alien world. As he settled into bed the watcher heard Isaac say as he was falling asleep. "I guess everyone deserves a second chance."

Thank you for reading.

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