It seemed that Ki - even in his deactivated state - was swimming through an ocean of pain. It washed relentlessly over his being; there seemed no end to it. However, he could trace it back to an intense point on his back through the little concentration he had.

Slowly, he roused.

Ki felt someone take apart his armor and attach something to him, like a wire or cable. His vision suddenly activated. It took a little while to adjust with the harsh lighting in the room.

It looked like he was in Isis' lab, though he was drawing a complete blank on how he got there to begin with. Had there been an accident in sparring? It would explain how he ended up on the table being repaired.

But the damage reports that he could read stated that the only damage received was to the head, and even that was rather light - not enough to put him out of commission and have little to no memories. Ki did vaguely remember that Flame had punched him and everything was black from there. He remembered that he got angry, though, in hindsight, it shouldn't have been anything to be irritated about for more than a few minutes.

So just what was he doing there?

Ki saw Isis hard at work over her computer monitor, fingers flying over the keyboard and she rapidly reading a scroll of text. Ki traced the cable from his body and saw that the other end was connected to a port in the computer. Was she reading his vitals?

The Medabot was quickly descending into deep confusion and impatience from being confined to the metal slab. His fingers twitched - good to know he hadn't lost mobility. He was on his way to pulling out the cables in his body when Isis snapped around.

Ki froze, caught in the act, and Isis' gaze darkened. Ki gave a stiff and awkward wave. "Uh? G-good to see you?"

Isis was nowhere near amused. She crossed her arms, "so, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I-I'm not sure what you mean-" Ki faltered. What did he do again? Why was his memory banks so glitched?

Isis raised her brow. He didn't remember? She supposed he wasn't in control of his actions, but she'd expected that he would recall something.

"You went berserk on Flame in training about an hour ago. You're telling me you can't remember anything?"

Ki was speechless.

He did what to Flame?

Sure, he got mad, but that was all he remembered. Ki figured that Flame ended the session or something.

Isis scowled, "I need answers, Ki. What do you recall about this incident? What set you off?"

Ki gazed at the suddenly interesting floor. He racked his memories, carefully following one trail to the next. In the end, they all lead to the same thing: nothing.

He looked back up, "I'm sorry, Isis. I just can't remember."

Isis looked at him for a moment before turning back to her monitor. She keyed in several commands before pulling up different security cameras. She chose the correct footage and clicked on it, enlarging the video. She fast forwarded the video to the relevant footage.

Ki watched as the training session between himself and Flame went smoothly as normal. It had been fifteen minutes according to the time listed on the monitor. He watched closely to see where everything had gone wrong.

There. Flame had struck him and something snapped within him. Ki felt a sort of chill ghost through his armor. He wasn't in control. Not that time.

Ki watched as he had gone berserk on Flame. He watched as Flame had tried to hold him off and presumably try to make him come to his senses. Ki never stopped rampaging.

He shivered and glanced at Isis. She had been staring at him, searching for some kind of reaction. "I did that?" Ki quietly asked.

Isis nodded.

"Oh," It was a small sound - almost an exhale. That is, if Ki could breathe, of course.

"I'm going to try to see what went wrong. If I can't do that, you'll be labeled as dangerous and deactivated for good. I'll be labeled as a failure for wasting resources on a project that turned out to be useless in the long run," Isis said tiredly, "I really don't want that to happen, you see. Just for both our sakes."

Isis moved behind Ki, "I'm just going to take your Medal out. Nothing to be afraid of." She added when she noticed him tense. She opened the hatch and inspected the golden coin.

"Alright, it looks good so far, but I'm not going to take any - what the?" Isis stopped short, peering harder at the Medal.

Ki tried to twist around, "what? What is it?"

A closer look revealed a flaw to Isis that she missed the first time around. It was small - very small. It was easy to miss.

A fine, borderline fracture marred the otherwise smooth surface of the Medal. This wasn't good. Isis grimaced and pulled her mouth into a frown.

Ki's Medal was beginning to crack.

"What's wrong with him?" Ikki asked, curious. He had watched the chain of events that had taken place.

Lucien didn't reply, choosing to lean over the pool slightly.

This didn't go unnoticed by Ikki. He looked up from the pool. "Hello? What happened?"

"That robot's Medal is a special one," Lucien finally answered, "however, I wasn't expecting it to deteriorate this quickly. Time is running short and he still hasn't completed his objective."

Ikki sat up straighter, "and what would that be?"

Lucien was momentarily silent, pondering whether or not to reply. "...He needs to prevent that organization from rising to power... He will be its downfall, though it will cost him."

Stunned by the implications, Ikki simply remained silent.

"If he is to fail, the world will be plunged into darkness again. Millions around the world will die. I want to stop that from happening."

A growing, turbulent uneasiness ate at Ikki. This was the apocalypse Lucien had warned could happen. Even worse, apparently, it had already happened before.

"That robot can't kill anyone." Ikki mumbled, "there are strict programming and codes built into Medabots that prevent them from killing people. Otherwise, we couldn't battle them the way we do. The military would just take them."

Lucien chuckled, "Ikki, you still have a lot to learn about the world. Nothing's infallible - these codes can be bypassed if one tried hard enough."

Ikki didn't respond.

"The Medabots are machines of war turned into fighters of a children's sport. They can be tampered with to kill. Your Metabee is an example."

Ikki shot to his feet, "since when? He's never killed anyone!" He spat angrily.

Lucien was unmoved. "He put your life and lives of others at risk time and time again. He had no qualms of hurting you. Had he continued behaving the way he did, he would have gotten you killed sooner or later," he stated calmly.

Ikki growled, "Metabee may have had issues when I first got him, but now he wouldn't hurt me or anyone else; we've been through too much for that to happen! Metabee's a good guy."

"But the fact remains, Ikki, that Medabots will kill others if their programming is altered - that includes your dear friend."

All pent up anger suddenly vanished and Ikki deflated.

"The consequences are too great to allow this disturbing event to pass. That is why I interfered to begin with."

Ikki didn't reply. He sank down to the grass and looked at the surface of the water. He couldn't understand why he was being kept there, but he hated it. If he and Metabee had several things in common, it was their pride and independence.

But what good were those characteristics now in a place like this?

Isis furrowed her brow as she inspected the Medal. Ki's deactivated body slumped over where it sat on her examination table. 'This cannot honestly be happening right now,' Isis thought, absentmindedly biting her lip.

No matter how strong her denial, the crack wasn't going away. "How could this have happened? How?" Isis slammed her hands down on her desk in a fit of frustration.

"Okay, you want to tell me what happened?" Ex leaned against the doorway, having seen what just transpired. He had just gotten there after patrolling around the city.

Isis didn't look up. "Just... go away, please. Now is not a good time," she gritted out.

Ex didn't say anything, instead opting to walk in and examine the body. "He looks pretty good to me," Ex commented. He glanced at Isis from the corner of his eye.

She didn't react to his continued presence. He then noticed that one of her hands was clenched on to something. He walked over to her, "uh, can I have a look at whatever you have there?"

Isis said nothing.

"Look, I know it's a technical breach of security and all, but c'mon, I thought we were pals," Ex chuckled quietly.

"That's news to me," she muttered.

"Isis, look, whatever just happened, it can't be that bad," Ex stated seriously, "you just need to take a couple deep breaths and look at it from another perspective."

"...Ex, you don't understand, it doesn't matter if I 'calm down,' it won't fix this! My work is ruined! All those funds wasted on a failure..." Isis' voice sounded thick, as if close to tears. Ex had the better sense to remain quiet. "He won't just fire me - he's going to kill me, Ex..."

"The boss?" Ex spoke, eyebrows furrowing.

Isis nodded, head in arms. "Once he catches word of what happened, he'll eliminate me. Probably elevate Ryu to my position while he's at it," she finished sardonically.

Ex hesitantly placed his hand on her shoulder. Isis slightly flinched at the contact. "That won't happen. Not on my watch," Ex replied.

He finally spotted the Medal in her hand. Without another word, he gently pried it from her fingers. Isis let it go without much struggle.

Ex inspected the coin and spotted the crack, "I heard about that little guy going crazy on Flame. You think this caused it?"

Isis stirred, "perhaps. I'm not sure. However, the fact that word got to you means that Shadow should already know about it... He's going to summon me for an explanation."

"Hm... Well, I say pop it back in the 'Bot and give it another go; maybe everything was a fluke - a glitch in his systems." Ex suggested, handing the Medal back to Isis.

"Ex, I've ran multiple diagnostics trying to find the problem. All the data in there went blank at the time of Ki's rampage. Now it's functioning normal as usual," Isis responded wearily. "I just don't know what the problem is beyond that fracture - and even then there has to be a cause for that."

Ex didn't know what to say to his friend; this was way out of his league. He tried to think of ideas of why the Medabot would go crazy for virtually no reason but... there was nothing. No ideas, no realizations, no anything. Isis was stumped and so was he.

Isis sat her desk motionless for a moment. Then she rose and walked towards the deactivated Ki, putting his Medal back in. It took a few seconds for Ki to "wake up" as it was.

Ki tested his limbs and made sure he could move alright. He seemed surprised to see Ex in the lab. "What're you doing here?"

Ex scowled at him, "last time I checked, I can go wherever I please."

'Yeah, sure,' Ki scoffed silently.

"I heard you were giving trouble," Ex jabbed.

Ki bristled, "I don't understand what happened anymore than you do. It was an accident."

"An accident you will not repeat again," Isis sternly stated, "I was dead serious when I said they'll put you out of commission permanently."

Ki hung his head in shame, "I'm sorry, that won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't," Isis replied, a little softer.

A slight chirping filled the room. Isis desktop glowed with a new message, she glanced at it and immediately went pale. Ex's jaw tightened and Ki glanced curiously at the monitor.

"Is it-?" Ex began.

"Him? Yes, he wants me to give an explanation of what's going on." Isis took a long breath to calm down, "no doubt he's furious with me."

"...Do you want me to go with you?" Ex rather timidly asked. Isis took note of that. It was unlike Ex to be shy and quiet.

"Not unless you want another collection of scars... I'll be fine - don't worry about me," Isis gathered her notes and set off, not looking back.

Despite her insistence for him to stay behind, Ex leaned against the wall near the doors entering into the room that his boss resided in. His eyes were lightly closed and his breathing was deep rhythmic pattern.

He wondered how Isis' meeting with Shadow was going. As bored (and unproductive) as he was, he willed himself not to move.

'Isis will be fine. The boss isn't going to straight up murder her. She still has a lot to give.'

Ex couldn't help but feel somewhat worried. He knew that Isis was the only one to give him the time of day - even when she felt like setting him on fire most of the time. He... he wouldn't let her get hurt.

If having another set of scars and subsequently turning into the world's ugliest man was the price, he was more than willing to pay it.

Ex suddenly sensed someone walking through the entrance and he opened his eyes. A pale looking Isis walked as if in a daze and didn't notice him at first. Ex struggled with asking a hundred and one questions or staying quiet and letting her speak when ready.

Isis stopped for a moment, releasing all the pent-up tension in her shoulders, "well, since I'm still walking around unscathed, I'm obviously not dead."

"Hm?" Ex questioned.

"Well, he's not happy with me at all, but I was expecting that."

Ex made a "go on" motion.

Isis took a shuddering breath and pressed her palm against her forehead, feeling rather feverish, "he wants Ki to go into the field. He's getting impatient; says that the results aren't coming fast enough. Whatever plan he has, he wants to execute it soon."

They continued walking. Ex watched Isis struggle to relax. He leaned in closer, "what sort of plan is it?"

Isis shot a glare at him, "that's above both your pay grade and mine. Besides, I'm not going to continue to stick in the spotlight any longer."

Ex shrugged, knowing Isis wouldn't tell him anything else... she wasn't above punching him if annoyed too much. Ex rather liked his nose the way it was.

"So, lemme get this straight; our boss wants a barely trained and potentially defective Medabot to complete his first recon mission in the city... and what would that mission be?"

"I have no clue, Ex," Isis sighed tiredly.

"...I think he's nuts," Ex mumbled, more than aware of the security cameras around them. The walls definitely had ears.

Isis sighed, "that's not the first time I thought that. He's been getting worse since the Japanese government started cracking down on us. I'm surprised those idiots haven't found us yet."

Ex smiled, "now you're rabbit-trailing." He then frowned, "did... did Shadow threaten you or anything?"

Isis glanced at him with a strange look, "I appreciate your concern, but i-it wasn't worse than any other time. I'm fine... why the protectiveness all of a sudden?"

Ex furrowed his brow. He was unsure of how he was going to word his next (misdirectional) statement, "don't you think that Shadow is a bit odd? In a not so good kind of way."

"As in a threat to our safety as a group?"

"Yeah. I'm sure when he gets the chance, he'll screw us over in some way or another. That doesn't sit well with me, you know."

"If this organization falls, he will fall with us," Isis said.

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. What's to stop him from fleeing to Europe, the Middle East, or even America? We got cells all over the place - all he has to do is lay low and do some regrouping while we take the fall. Might take another five to ten years, but eventually he'd grow to be just as powerful as he is now."

Isis exhaled with another shudder. "Ex, I don't like where this is headed," she warned.

"I don't like it either, but I have an uncanny ability to predict things. My gut isn't usually wrong."

"Whether it's wrong or not isn't the problem right now. The problem is that this is the wrong time and place for you to be discussing this kind of subject," Isis hissed, looking over her shoulder.

"Alright, alright, I relent," Ex said, "but I was serious when I said I had a bad feeling about this whole thing."

"Then you shouldn't have joined up then," Isis replied coolly. A moment later, she winced subtly, 'smooth, Isis, you sure showed him!' She thought, disgusted at herself. That wasn't professional.

Ex stumbled a bit in slight shock, but ultimately decided to let it go. He wasn't fooled; he saw through her façade. Isis didn't say anything else.

They walked all the way towards her lab in silence.

However irritated Isis was with the man walking alongside her, she had to admit he wasn't incorrect: something was going to happen and Isis knew she probably wasn't going to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

You reap what you sow after all.

(Edited: 12/08/18)

A/N: Alright, that chapter's finished, I can rest easy (not really).

Well, my senior year of high school has just begun, but I still have some leftover work from the last grade to do (which is my fault, I'll admit). Plus I have a job. So that means I'm going to be busy, busy, busy with little time to write!

I wish it wasn't so, but y'know, high school - soon to be college... I think most of my older readers knows what I'm going through.

But anyway, regarding the story, I hope you didn't mind the fact that this chapter focused on my OCs. As fond as I have become of Ex and Isis, they're still antagonists and thus needs their viewpoint to be shaped from this side of the conflict. Speaking of antagonists, my "main" one is really flat, isn't he?

*sigh* Shadow's rather boring to write, but I'll see on what I can do with him. My mistake was not focusing on him earlier and I trapped myself into writing him as your cliche villain. That's fantastic because everyone knows that readers love dull villains that don't get any build-up. :)

...(sarcasm)...

Anywho, enough of my rambling and inflating the word count, I hope you have a good day/night, guys.

-Winterbornbree