A/N: I don't own World Trigger

Mimics

Chapter 32: Birth of A New Future

"He doesn't trust me."

"What are you on about?" Izukacha demanded, turning around to find Yuma pouting at the table.

"He's constantly stepping into my fights!" Yuma complained, leaning forward to drop his chin down to the table. "He's trained me for six years, so why can't he trust me to handle myself in a fight?"

"Ah," Izukacha said, taking a sit at the table and planting her elbows on the table so she could rest her chin in her upturned palms. "This is about your father stepping in to help you earlier. You got distracted with one enemy and suddenly two more were raining down on you."

Yuma's brow twitched in annoyance. "I didn't need his help. I can take care of myself!"

Izukacha rolled her eyes. "You should never turn away help when it's offered so freely. I bet even Yugo would accept help when a friend stepped by his side to fight with him, even if he didn't need it." There was still a shade of annoyance on Yuma's face that made Izukacha chuckle. Her friend was just way too prideful. "Besides, he's your father. He loves you. What father wouldn't jump in to defend his son? Wouldn't you do the same for him?"

"I know that." Yuma grumbled. He wasn't denying the love his father had for him. There had never been a moment in his life where his father wasn't there for him. Yugo had been protecting him his whole life. His protective instinct didn't even exist until they left Tropoi. Perhaps losing his wife made him more determined to keep Yuma safe or it was because they were traveling through all the countries that were at war. Either way, Yuma saw that protection and decided that he would make it so his father would never have to step in for him again. He wanted to become strong enough so Yugo didn't have to worry about him anymore.

"You wouldn't want the person you saved getting mad at you, would you?" Izukacha asked.

"I'm not mad at him."

"Could have fooled me."

Yuma rolled his eyes as he turned his head to the side to rest his cheek on the table while observing the rest of the room. "I just wish he would trust me out in the field. Actually give me a chance to fight and show I do know what I'm doing."

"But he does." Izukacha said, feeling a bit confused as to what Yuma was complaining about. "You're only eleven and he's letting you fight in a war here. Why would he agree to let you fight if he didn't trust you to be able to handle yourself? You can trust an ally and still want to help them. You can't do everything on your own, so stop with the whole solo act."

"I'm not trying to do everything alone. I just want to prove that I can take care of myself so he doesn't have to worry when he needs to go take care of something else." Yuma muttered.

"Know what would help with that? Not arguing with the help that is given to you. Mature up and learn to gracefully say thank you." Izukacha scolded.

Yuma hummed softly. He didn't really say thanks to his dad earlier for stepping in front of him to take out the two opponents coming towards him. He just got annoyed that his father stepped in. He said that he could take care of himself in response to his father doing that. To be honest, Yuma didn't even have time to think of how to move in that moment so he would have been in trouble if Yugo didn't come to help, but that wasn't something he was willing to admit out loud.

"Yuma, come on. We're having a strategy lesson." Yugo called to his son.

Yuma lifted his head off the table so he could turn around to look at his father who was already walking out of the room with the expectation that his son would follow him. It was an expectation born from the fact that Yuma would always run after his father when called.

Jumping to his feet, Yuma waved to Izukacha in farewell, but she reached across the table to grab Yuma's hand, tugging on it until Yuma turned to look back at her. "Give him your gratitude. He deserves it."

Yuma glanced towards the door that his father had left through. He always had gratitude for his father. Yugo had done so much for Yuma and all Yuma wanted was to pay it back by showing he was alright on his own; that his father no longer had to worry about him. The lessons his father taught him were how Yuma lived his life and he wanted to be able to show the fruit of his labors by standing on his own. He just felt like he would never be able to accomplish that when Yugo constantly stepped in to help him. It came to be then, that Yuma just got annoyed when Yugo gave all that help and he never truly expressed any type of gratitude for it. It just felt like his father was babying him.

"I have to go." Yuma pulled his hand free, running out of the room before Yugo got impatient waiting for his son to catch up.

Izukacha pursed her lips as she watched her friend run off. She was not convinced he was going to learn how to properly say thanks ever.

Hearing the hurried steps finally catching up to him now that Yuma had finished his farewell with his friend, Yugo turned his head to watch his son running up to him, a smile playing at his lips. With a war going on, he and Yuma had both been too busy to spend much time together. The moment Yuma reached his side, Yugo dropped a hand to Yuma's hair to ruffle it affectionately.

Yuma tilted his head back, staring up his father through his bangs. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. His mouth clinked back shut when he couldn't find the words he wanted to say so he just silently followed his father.

*Mimics*

Mogami tilted his head when he saw the flash in the sky in the distance. He knocked Jin back, breaking their blades apart so he could jump away from Jin, landing on the ledge of the roof. "Looks like we're done here."

"What?" Jin asked sharply.

"Places to be, things to do." Mogami swung his sword multiple times before Jin or Tachikawa could react to his statement. The last nine wind blades he had left whipped across the roof, striking out at the two agents. Mogami didn't wait around to see what kind of damage he had caused the two as he was already dropping down from the roof while Jin and Tachikawa were busy being distracted.

Jin dropped down to one knee, Trion spilling from cuts all over his body. If Mogami was leaving in the middle of the fight like this, then it was telling Jin that his theory was right. Mogami was just fighting them here to keep them busy while Yugo attacked HQ. If Mogami was saying he was done here, did that mean Yugo had finished his business at HQ?

Yuma...

Tachikawa collapsed to his knees, rubbing the black Trion spilling from the cut on his neck away. "Your mentor sucks, though Kuga is still worse." He complained as he activated his Grasshopper, glancing at Jin.

Jin nodded. He wasn't a pro with Grasshopper, but he could use it. It was slower, but at least there was more control with it then with Yuma's Bound seal that slammed him into a wall. At least Tachikawa wasn't there to see that happen.

Throwing multiple Grasshoppers ahead of him, Tachikawa allowed Jin to go first in propelling himself forward before following after him. Mogami had dropped down to the streets below and it was dark so it would be hard to see where he was going while they were moving quickly through the air, but it was better than running through the streets and having to follow all the twists and turns of the city to try to find him.

"Do you have an idea of where to go to find him?" Tachikawa called towards Jin.

Jin used the last Grasshopper Tachikawa had created to land on a roof. He heard Tachikawa's feet hit the roof behind him, but didn't turn to look at him as he stared off into the distance thoughtfully. "Mogami-san was stalling us to give Kuga-san time inside of HQ. There was a flash in the air a few minutes ago and then he decided to leave. I think it meant that Kuga-san was finished. Mogami-san doesn't need to waste time killing us if it's not part of the plan so he left. The question is, is he going to meet up with Kuga-san now or are they going to get out of here on their own?"

Tachikawa stared in the direction of Border HQ. If Rindo and Shinoda had failed in defeating Yugo and he managed to get to his son, did he get what he was after? Was the kid even still alive? Questions that Tachikawa would not speak out loud since he was sure Jin already had these questions plaguing his mind. He didn't need Tachikawa voicing them as well. "We never found where they were hiding out to use as base either since they came out to meet our attack."

"It has to be in this area somewhere. If that's the case, Kuga-san will be coming back here."

"I see." Tachikawa activated his Grasshopper again. Kuga Yugo had been the one he was aiming for from the beginning and he knew Jin had been looking for him as well since he was the one who was hurting his precious kouhai. It was best to go for the one who attacked HQ anyway since they had no idea of what he had done in there. There was no guarantee they would manage to find Yugo before he disappeared completely though. "They could decide to move to a new location after this." He pointed out just so Jin knew before they were both flying forward quickly with the Grasshoppers.

If there was anything he knew about Kuga Yugo, which was mostly offhand comments he heard from Yuma, and what he knew about his own mentor, Jin was certain Yugo and Mogami would be moving locations in the Restricted Zone. Both of them wouldn't be reckless enough to stay in the same place as before if they wanted to avoid Border agents. The question had to do with how far Yugo and Mogami planned ahead. They had no idea that Border would act tonight to draw them out so they wouldn't have thought to picked a new location or even know where to go. They knew what the city well and the Restricted Zone was part of the city but it was also pretty destroyed at this point which made it quite different from what they remembered. It would make it harder for them to find certain locations to meet up. If he used that logic, Mogami and Yugo would want to meet up before moving to a new base.

"I'm not opposed to going after Kuga, Jin, but is it really a good idea to leave Mogami free like this?" Tachikawa asked as he followed after Jin, raising his voice as the Grasshoppers propelled them through the air.

"No, but," Jin bounced forward to the next set of Grasshopper pads that Tachikawa had set out for them. "Their Black Triggers were in HQ. If Kuga-san is leaving HQ now, he has to have them on him. We can't let him get away with them."

Tachikawa's eyes widened briefly before his expression was smoothing out in understanding. Between Mogami and Yugo, it would be Yugo that was more important to go after if he had the Black Triggers on him. They had no idea of what they wanted with the Black Triggers, but it most likely wasn't something they wanted to find out.

"Usami!" Jin called. "Tell me what's going on in HQ. Is Yuma okay?"

"I'm sorry, Jin-san." Shiori replied. "The cameras on that floor have all been knocked out. Cronin-san, Shinoda-san, and Rindo-san all bailed out though, so Yuma-kun...he got left alone with his father. I can't tell what his status is."

Jin closed his eyes briefly before snapping them open. He looked on ahead of him with narrowed eyes. "Keep everyone off that floor." It felt like abandoning Yuma, but he couldn't put anyone else at risk by having them go to that floor. With Kuga Yugo, there was no telling what he did to the floor or if he left traps for anyone who tried to get to Yuma. Unless they were in a Trion body, Jin didn't want anyone going to help Yuma when they weren't aware of the situation.

"But Yuma-kun–"

"I know, Usami, but there is no one left in HQ who has a combat Trigger. We don't know what they would be walking into." Jin replied. "We can't risk anyone else getting hurt. Tachikawa-san and I are going after Kuga-san right now."

Shiori's hands curled into fists over her keyboard, but she didn't voice any argument. Jin's reasoning wasn't flawed. They didn't need to add any more injured to the list by moving recklessly. If anyone moved to get to Yuma right now and they got hurt, Yuma would only feel guilty again. Even if Jin was convinced that Yugo had left HQ, they couldn't act too carelessly based on assumptions.

Kido glared at the screens that had been showing the fights taking place in HQ before the cameras went out. He couldn't even blame Yugo for that since Rindo had been the destructive one who destroyed the hallway. It had been foolish of them to leave Fujin and Yuma's Black Trigger on the same floor. None of them had expected Kuga or Mogami to come and break into HQ. They shouldn't have even been able to get in, or at least not as easily as Kuga did. They had made the assumption that if the agents managed to find the Mimics tonight, they would be taking care of them outside. They really should have known better than to assume.

*Mimics*

Kazama landed on a nearby roof, looking down towards the street where Shin was standing alone now that every member of Kazama squad had moved out of his range. Crouching down, Kazama thought it looked lonely for his brother to be down there alone. He didn't know too much about Shin's time in Border before he died, but from what Kazama remembered, his brother was always quite happy when he spoke of it, even though he had to be quite vague about what it was that he was doing. Then came the last time he saw his brother. When Shin was getting ready to leave for Aristera, it was the most serious that Kazama had ever seen his brother. It was so rare to see Shin serious that Kazama thought it was truly unfitting for him.

There was a serious air to the Shin that was standing below them now, but to Kazama, it also felt like there was an air of loneliness as he stood and fought all on his own. It was probably a far cry to what he was used to during his normal days in Border.

Perhaps it was because of the Mimic that he was. It was adding an air to him that wasn't fully like his brother that he remembered. It was frustrating to see his brother reduced to this. Shin would never attack him like this so that told him this was for sure a Mimic, but the voice and words and the teasing tone were all Shin. He didn't like this. It felt wrong hearing his brother's teasing voice and seeing his face while getting attacked by him.

It was just all so confusing.

Seeing a Mimic as his brother now, Kazama could understand Yuma's conflicting feelings and Jin's anger. To Kazama, the conflicting feelings he had were coming from having his brother tease him again. It had been so long since he and his brother could just hang out. It was one of those things that he did miss greatly, but it was something that was lost a long time ago when Shin died. As much as he missed it and wanted it back, Kazama had already learned to deal with no longer having the chance to spend time with Shin ever again.

If anything, having his brother back as a Mimic was just a painful reminder of what he had already lost. A reminder of something that he didn't need. Kazama had no longing to spend any time with this fake. Instead, he simply wanted to destroy this Trion Soldier for giving him the reminder.

"Soya!" Shin shouted into the sky. "Are you really hiding? When did you begin to like hide and seek? You hated it when we were kids."

Utagawa raised a brow at that. Kazama squad focused on stealth attacks. It was their tactic to raise up to A-Rank so it was strange to think about their captain hating the idea of hiding as kids. Though, hide and seek was different from using stealth to attack an enemy that was trying to kill them. A fight for his life was more important than a child's game. He would want to try any style for combat that could help protect his life and get him successfully through a battle.

"He hasn't used anything but his Kogetsu this whole time. I think we don't have to worry about any shooter Triggers." Kikuchihara said, glancing over at his captain. He knew that Kazama was being wary of being shot by unexpected bullets, but he had a feeling there was another reason he had them put some distance between them and Shin. It was probably a similar reason as to why Yuma wanted to pull out of the field for a while.

It wasn't easy to fight loved ones.

Kazama turned his head to meet Kikuchiahara's stare as he glared back at his teammate as if he was able to guess what he was thinking. He wasn't hesitating to meet Shin into a fight. He just didn't want the risk of getting blasted full of holes when he didn't know what type of Triggers Shin had. Shin appeared tonight by Kazama's mistake so he wasn't going to let himself be killed and leave his brother for another squad to deal with. He would clean up his own mess.

"Kazama-san," Mikami's voice came through the coms. "I've managed to get in contact with Rindo-san."

"Did you now?" Kazama asked. "Did you bother them while they are dealing with Kuga?"

"He said that your brother was solely an attacker in the past." Mikami explained.

"Like I said." Kikuchihara said. "We don't need to hesitate."

"And for your information, Kazama-san, Shinoda-san and Rindo-san got defeated by Kuga-san." Mikami replied, overwriting what Kikuchihara had just said. It was probably for the best. They didn't need Kazama getting annoyed with Kikuchihara talking easily about killing Shin. "So, I didn't distract them to ask about your brother."

"The directors were defeated?" Utagawa asked surprised.

"Jin-san is on his way back to HQ with Tachikawa-san to try to take care of things. You need to focus on the enemy in front of you." Mikami replied.

"Then they defeated Mogami?" Kikuchihara asked.

"Well, no, Mogami-san left. Instead of trying to hunt him down, Jin-san decided to make his way back to HQ. He thinks going after Kuga-san is more important." Mikami explained.

"I see." Kazama murmured. It was a shock to learn that Rindo and Shinoda had been defeated. The directors were the strongest Trigger users that Border had, so if they couldn't win against Kuga, who else did they have? They could send agents after Kuga and Mogami, but if the directors couldn't handle them with Black Triggers, then it didn't seem like they would have much hope. "If that is the course of action that Jin decided to take, then we need to trust that it is the right one. As for us," Kazama called his two Scorpion blades back out. "We need to take care of this problem." He glared down at the streets where his brother was patiently waiting for Kazama squad to make them move. "We don't need any more Mimics running around and causing problems."

Things would be a lot easier for them if they could get rid of as many problems as they could tonight.

*Mimics*

Everything hurt.

His vision was fading in and out.

How much longer was he going to be here?

Please, let this agony end.

"You fool...why were you defeated?"

Yuma's sight was hazy as it faded back in, but he was certain that was his father's shadow looming over him. Yugo kneeled down in front of him, which let the sun through once more to beat down on Yuma. Yuma barely felt the heat from it as all he could truly focus on was the pain radiating through his body.

What was going on?

His vision was already a mess, but now there was a blinding light. There was enough pain in his body without adding the burn in his vision from the bright light. His one eye slid shut to escape it.

It wasn't until the pain throughout his body had all but disappeared that Yuma opened his eyes, carefully at first to make sure the blinding light was gone so it wouldn't hurt him again. The pain being gone in his body was a miracle so he wasn't eager to rush into facing more pain. When it was clear there was no light to hurt his vision, Yuma opened his eyes fully and was surprised to see his father kneeling in front of him.

No, it was the shape of his father.

It was Yugo turned to dust. His shape only stayed for a second before it was collapsing in front of Yuma's shocked eyes and the ash was blowing away in the wind.

"Do you think Dad hates me?" Yuma asked, staring blankly ahead at the wall opposite him as he just didn't have it in him to pull himself off the floor. He just felt so utterly defeated at this point. The silence that answered him gave him a twinge of annoyance. "I know you're still alive, Replica."

"You must figure out your relationship with others on your own, Yuma." Replica replied.

Yuma's eyes shifted to the side to look at the Replica he managed to damage earlier, but apparently not kill. Autonomous Trion Soldiers were quite stubborn about not dying that easily. He should have made sure he was quite certainly dead earlier before he went to help Michael. If he had, Michael could have survived and been there to help deal with Yugo. Though, if he was being honest, Michael would only have delayed Yugo from getting the Black Triggers by a little bit.

"I forced Dad into a position where he had to give up his life for mine. And now, he's taking it back from me." Yuma said softly. His head drop down so his chin rested on his chest as he looked over at his cracked hand. It was strange to look at his hand and not see his ring there. "Do I have a right to complain? I was supposed to die years ago. Dad died for me and gave me five more years to live. Perhaps, it is time for me to give it back to him."

"You were always the most important thing to Yugo." Replica replied.

"There is a limit to that though. I disobeyed his orders and got killed for it. Forcing Dad into that situation had to anger him." Yuma argued.

"I cannot say what Yugo was feeling as I am not him." Replica said. There was also the thing to be considered that Replica didn't actually know what Yuma was referring to. Perhaps he was missing something as the last he recalled, Yuma and Yugo got along great and Yuma had black hair. It was a strange situation that Yugo called him into, but Replica, though designed to be Yuma's friend and chaperone, was also meant to work with Yugo. He was meant to watch over Yuma and follow Yugo and Yuma's orders. It had been strange that Yugo would ask him to go after Yuma, but that was the order. Yugo's orders preceded Yuma's, no matter how confusing they were to him. This was a problem for Yugo and Yuma to work through. "However, Yugo has always loved you so much, Yuma. I don't have any memory of him ever truly getting mad at you."

"I also never screwed up this badly before." Yuma murmured. He no longer understood his father. Though, to be honest, Yuma thought he understood how his father's mind worked growing up, but ever since Yugo gave up his life for him, he's had to rethink everything he thought he knew. Yugo taught him to always look out for himself so the idea of dying for someone else didn't make sense to Yuma.

It wasn't something Yuma would ever do.

This life he had was too valuable to him since his father died for it. The least he could do was to make sure to live this life.

Perhaps his father, despite the smile he gave when he created the Black Trigger, was angry that he was forced to choose between his life and Yuma's. He didn't complain when he was doing it, but the fact that he had no hesitation in taking the Black Trigger from Yuma with the knowledge that it was the only thing sustaining Yuma's life was a very telling sign.

The father he was dealing with was a Mimic. He was sure that had a hand in his father's violent behavior in stealing the Black Triggers, but the part that was casting doubts in Yuma's mind was that it didn't seem Yugo tried to fight the Trion programming at all. Nothing in his expression or his movements indicated that Yugo was trying to stop himself from hurting his son.

Was this Yugo's way of saying he wanted it all back?

In a sense, maybe it could be real. If Yugo Mimic had all the memories of the real Yugo and his Black Trigger which was returning its Trion to Yugo, he could survive forever. At the heart though, he would still be a Mimic.

A Mimic to take away the pain of someone's passing by replacing them. Yugo had said that was the original purpose when his mother created them, but she never took them to that final phase. The idea for them still came from her though.

A design she created to help deal with grief. It was a bit funny his mother's design was going to kill him. A combination of Yugo and Eleni to kill their son. He bet there was something poetic about that, in a morbid kind of way.

*Mimics*

"I am just that amazing after all."

"I don't see why he's behaving like this. Rads have no defense or offense. There is no reason to be so proud about killing them." Kumagai said, feeling a headache growing the longer Yuiga stayed in their presence. How did they have the unfortunate luck of running into him?

"Ignore him and let him have his fun. At least we don't have to listen to his complaining." Nasu replied as her Viper launched through the air and twisted around to aim for each Rad that Sayoko had marked on her radar.

Kumagai grabbed her sword's hilt, but didn't draw it. If she drew it now, it would be hard to resist the urge to knock Yuiga down a few pegs. "Any Gates get opened?"

"It doesn't seem like it. Still, you should be careful. Even with the dummy beacons now deactivated, Rads can still draw Trion from all the agents." Sayoko replied. "But it seems everyone is doing a good job of destroying the Rads and taking care of the Trion Soldiers. There are less Trion Soldiers appearing now so it is getting easier to get through them all."

"Sounds like we'll be done soon then." Kumagai said.

"But it's not a win." Sayoko said softly, confusing her team. To them, it might look like they were accomplishing something by killing all the Rads and Trion Soldiers to end this attack. However, as the operators were located in HQ, they were being kept informed of what was going on with the attack from Yugo. That information told her that her former teammate from the Away Mission exam was in serious trouble. She didn't do well with boys, but the exam did help her get comfortable with the boys that were on her team at least, so she didn't want to see Yuma hurt.

Nasu shared a look with Kumagai, concern radiating in both of their eyes. "Did something happen?"

"None of the transformed Mimics have been beaten. We are surviving the night, but we're not winning." Sayoko explained. The purpose of tonight was to destroyed Mogami and Yugo. It wouldn't stop the Mimics from coming through the Gates until the nation was out of attacking range of Earth, but it would make their lives easier without Mogami and Yugo towering threatening over them. Too bad it looked like tonight would just end in a failure.

"Jin-san and Tachikawa-san went after Mogami-san and Shinoda-san and Rindo-san went for Kuga-san. I can't believe neither pair succeeded." Kumagai replied.

Nasu turned her back on her teammate to look at the surrounding buildings. "It is something to focus on later. For now, our best way to help is to finish up out here."

Kumagai's brow twitched in annoyance when she caught sight of Yuiga on the roof above them again. If he didn't cut out that posing soon, she was going to lose it. This was not the time for his arrogance or goofing off. Perhaps they should take a page out of Tachikawa and Izumi's book and just leave him behind.

*Mimics*

He wasn't making any attempt to hide. Jin had been expecting Yugo to be moving stealthily when he left HQ since there was no reason to be drawing any attention to himself now that he succeeded in his endeavors.

But no.

Yugo was moving very openly by taking the roofs. He seemed to know Jin and Tachikawa were approaching as he turned in the middle of his jump to the next roof to look straight at them.

Jin's eyes widened in surprise when he met Yugo's eyes, feet skidding on the roof he was on to pull himself to a stop, getting Tachikawa to stop a few feet in front of him in surprise. "That's not the surprise I wanted." He murmured softly, eyes narrowing as his face shifted to a more serious expression.

"What's wrong?" Tachikawa demanded, though he kept his eyes locked on Yugo in the distance. He was a few roofs over, but he felt that if he took his eyes off of him, he would use the time to disappear like Mogami had.

Instead of giving a reply, Jin shook his head and launched himself to the next roof. Before he could land on the roof, a grasshopper appeared under his foot courtesy of Tachikawa. Before Jin could touch the roof, the Grasshopper launched him through the air straight towards the roof that Yugo was at. A Scorpion blade appeared in his hand that Jin was swinging towards Yugo's face, only to be blocked at the last second as Yugo pulled his sword up from the sheath to meet the Scorpion.

Pushing all of his weight and strength behind his blade, Jin locked eyes with Yugo, trying to get a read on this person who was supposed to be a great father if the stories Jin heard were anything to go by. That wasn't what Jin was seeing though. Mimics were Trion Soldiers, even while transformed into someone else. He and Yuma had argued enough about the issue and Jin eventually got it in his head that he would never be able to read the future of any transformed Mimics because they truly weren't real humans. They were still just enemies designed by Neighbors with their unique programming of what they were meant to do.

So, why?

Why was he seeing the future of Kuga Yugo?

His eyes flickered down to Yugo's waist where he saw the familiar black and green sheath of Fujin. That was left in the lab with Yuma which told Jin that Yugo got to him and it was very likely he got his hands on both Black Triggers. Was that the reason for this sudden change? There had to be a new cause to suddenly make it so Jin could see Yugo's future, and that was the only thing that could possibly be the cause for the change.

Regardless of the cause, which would be something to think about later, Jin could not let him leave with two Black Triggers.

An amused smirk twitched at Yugo's lips as he shifted his hip away from Jin to keep Fujin farther from his reach. "I've never known anyone to be careless enough to leave a Black Trigger just sitting on a desk. You were just asking for it to be stolen."

"Nice to know you can acknowledge that you are a thief." Jin retorted. "And it's not careless to leave a Black Trigger in a lab in our base. It's on you for breaking in and taking it. Just as it is on you for hurting your son."

It was a blink and miss it moment, but Jin knows he didn't imagine the flash of regret in Yugo's eyes. Jin was angry with the Mimics for stealing the form of the ones they love and using that against them to attack, and yet, despite that, it seemed there was still more to them than met the eye. The memories of the real one made him up so it had to have some influence over him, not enough to keep him from attacking them, but it was enough to tell Jin there was more going on in his head.

"So, it is." Yugo replied. He was never one to shy away from accepting the consequences of his actions. He was a firm believer of accepting responsibility for one's actions and taught Yuma the same thing. His current actions would result in suffering, but there was no way for him to right any of the wrongs he was doing as it wasn't possible for him to go against his Trion Soldier programming, which was telling him to survive at all costs. Even if it meant his son's death, Yugo was not going to release the Black Trigger he just stole from Yuma. It was the only thing he could use to ensure his survival.

Yugo's eyes flickered to behind Jin to see Tachikawa on the next roof over in a similar stance that Mogami had been in the other day. It took him less than a second to start swinging his Kogetsu to release his Senku. There wasn't an ounce of concern from Yugo though because before the slashes could reach him, wind blades were soaring out of the ground to slam into the Senku slashes.

Tachikawa wasn't given a moment to digest what had just happened as he was attacked from all sides by the wind blades that were protruding from the roof he was standing on. With the wind blades slamming through his torso, he collapsed to his knees in shock as the Trion spilled out.

"You let your guard down."

Tachikawa glanced over his shoulder as Mogami stepped up behind him. "Damn you. Both of you." He griped as his body began to crack from the severe loss of Trion he was suffering from.

"It was a good effort." Mogami said, stepping pass Tachikawa as he stared at Jin and Yugo on the next roof over. "I applaud you for trying, but it won't be that easy to stop us." He glanced over at Tachikawa. "Yugo never wanted to hurt Yuma. Tell Yuma that his father does love him."

Tachikawa was left in confusion at such a statement as he was bailing out and heading back to HQ where he was left blinking up at the ceiling as he hit his mattress. Wasn't it obvious that Yugo loved Yuma? They were father and son. Not to mention, Mogami was currently their enemy, so why was he asking for Tachikawa to give a message such as that to the kid?

Unlocking their blades, Yugo jumped away from Jin and pulled Fujin out to send it flying high over their heads. Jin's eyes were automatically drawn to the sword he needed to get back. There was no way for him to get it with how high Yugo had thrown it so Jin could only watch helplessly as it was caught by the waiting Mogami on the next roof.

Jin tsked softly. "Will you truly be satisfied with this outcome?" He turned to the side and backed up a few steps so he could keep both Yugo and Mogami in sight. "To hurt your own organization like this?" His jaw clenched tightly as he locked eyes with Yugo. "To have it be your fault that your own son is going to die in a couple days?"

To Jin's surprise, Yugo was the one who broke eye contact. That wasn't right. This was the man who taught Yuma everything–from how to live to how to fight. Having Yugo be his role model, Yuma most likely picked up a lot of his habits, because Jin knew he picked up things from Mogami that he emulated out of love and grief.

And the intense stare and refusing to back down wasn't something a child would just have. It's something he would have picked up from someone, and Jin was certain it was Yugo. He radiated the same type of intensity as Yuma. Kuga Yugo wasn't the type to back down. So, why was he backing down in the face of Jin's accusation?

A question to ponder later.

For now, Yugo's hesitation gave Jin an opening.

Throwing up multiple Escudos to at least slow Mogami down from reaching this roof, Jin launched himself at Yugo. His Scorpion swung through the air, but before it could reach, two things happened at once. One, Mogami had sliced through Jin's wall of Escudos, and two, even seemingly distracted, Yugo was a force to be reckoned with. The Anchor seal hadn't even been set out as a trap. Yugo was just that fast at reacting to danger.

Jin collapsed to one knee, unable to move from the lead bullets pulling him down. It was taking all his strength to keep from face planting the roof.

"I expect no less from Soichi's pupil." Yugo murmured softly.

"And I expected more from the great Kuga Yugo." Jin snarled angrily. He couldn't fight like this, but he would not bail out. They would have to kill him. Until then, he would do what he did best–gather intel. There was so much about Mimics that they didn't understand. The basic design seemed simply enough. Even when transformed, they were still Trion Soldiers so Jin came to accept that he couldn't see their futures, so why had that changed?

Yugo stared down at Yuma, who was kneeling in front of his father, a set of swords laid strewn behind him. He stared up defiantly as Yugo pointed his sword down at his son, resting the tip lightly against Yuma's neck.

They were talking, but nothing of what they said reached Jin's ears. He could only stand there and watch the scene play out in confusion. Yuma lost his Triggers, but he clearly had another as he was dressed in a black uniform and was going back out to face his father, despite giving a promise to not go near his father again.

The sword was pulled back and soaring through the air as it went to slice Yuma's head off.

"Life is full of disappointment. Things will never turn out how you really want them to." Yugo replied, pointing his sword down at Jin, lining it up with his eyes.

Jin looked beyond the sword to keep his eyes locked on Yugo's face. "Speaking from experience? What is it that you truly want?" He retorted, feeling a sense of satisfaction when he saw the flash of pain in Yugo's eyes, though it was only there briefly before the calm was settling back in.

Yugo's sword was held steady at Jin's throat, but there was a stiffness to Yugo's stance that told Jin a lot. The man that gave his life for Yuma's life was still hiding in there somewhere. It had to be the manipulation of the Trion Soldier that was making Mogami and Yugo act the way they were. Underneath the actions dictated by the Mimic programming were the true feelings of Kuga Yugo, and Jin had a feeling that those feelings were guilt for hurting his son like this.

"I expected you to fight harder for what you wanted." Jin said before accepting his fate as Yugo's sword impaled him through his heart. "The once powerful commander-in-chief of Border, the great father I heard about, shouldn't be this weak-minded."

With those last words, Jin bailed out, heading back to his temporary bail out point in Border HQ since Tamakoma was still off limits.

Slamming down into the mattress in the operation's room, Jin stared up at the ceiling in complete defeat, failure ringing in his heart. There were so many unknown about the Mimics, but having them remain meant trouble so they went with a plan to drive them out so they could kill them and end this hell. He had wanted to finish this tonight. It was a fit of desperation because of the hazy future he saw for Yuma that he wanted to change.

It wasn't to be though.

Yugo and Mogami had more tricks up his sleeve than they were prepared for.

He had known about what Yugo and Mogami had at their disposal, but he didn't expect how they would use them. To think that Yugo would have access to Rads and spread them over the Restricted Zone to open Gates and bring out Trion Soldiers to keep them busy. He didn't even consider that Yugo would be able to attack them with so many Trion Soldiers since Yuma said it took so much Trion to open Gates and summon Trion Soldiers. It seemed that Yugo was much trickier than he predicted if Rads were his solution to that downside.

And now he had stolen two of Border's Black Triggers.

Things could not get much worse for them.

"They're a force to be reckoned with, aren't they?"

Jin turned his head on the mattress to see Rindo sitting on his mattress, one knee pulled up towards his chest so he could rest his arm on top of his knee, a lit cigarette dangling between his fingers. "Did we underestimate them? I wasn't taking either of them lightly." He replied, shifting his eyes back towards the ceiling.

"None of us were." Rindo lifted his cigarette to his lips. "I've called Osamu's team back. They'll investigate the lab floor. I doubt there is anything dangerous left there, but just to be safe and this way someone can check on Yuma."

Jin closed his eyes. "Is that so? Good."

*Mimics*

Utagawa stumbled back, grabbing his chest where Shin had managed to break through his defense and stab him. Even as he was losing Trion fast, Utagawa wouldn't just let himself die here without doing anything. He had no care about doing it as he was already about to die, but he was sure it was a surprise to Shin when the Meteor bullets ripped through Utagawa from behind and continued on to Shin.

While Utagawa was forced to bail out from his injuries, Shin had managed to throw up a Shield barely in time to protect his chest and head. Unfortunately, to survive Meteor, he had to make them focus Shields and thus, wasn't able to protect his full body which is why he tried to dodge at the same time. This was the reason that his leg was blown off in the chaos of the bombs going off.

Planting a hand on the ground, he flipped himself back over to land in a crouch on his one remaining leg and brought his sword just in time to block Kazama's sword that was coming for his head again. He had his brother and his one teammate left in front of him, but with the injuries he had sustained, there was no chance of victory here.

Still, he wouldn't give his brother the win here. He would not die by Soya's hands.

But, at the same time, despite feeling the need to kill the agents in front of him, Shin was able to acknowledge the fact that there was no need to kill them. He didn't want to kill anyone, especially his brother. He couldn't understand why he woke up in the city with the need to kill, but with his injuries and the Trion spilling out from him, for some reason, his mind was beginning to clear up.

Knocking Soya's sword back, Shin pushed himself to a standing position and jumped back to get away from his brother. With the distance between them, he lowered his sword and looked up towards the night sky to look at the twinkling stars. "The sky here is so different compared to the one in the Neighborhood." He said softly.

A statement, while true, was something that Kazama already knew. He had been to the Neighborhood on away missions and have seen the stars in that world. It was a lot different to the night sky here, but it was a strange thing to bring up in the middle of a fight.

"It's the last thing I had seen." Shin said. "Laying on that hard ground and watching the stars until I could no longer see anymore."

Soya tightened his grip on his Scorpion as he listened to his brother. The way he was speaking, it was like he was remembering his last moments before he died in Aristera. Considering the Mimics transformed into people who had died, it made sense that their last moments would be something they could remember.

"I died fighting for what I believed in." Shin continued slowly as the feelings and memories of his last moments came back to him. "But even while fighting til the end for what I thought was right, I didn't leave without regrets. I feel like I left too abruptly years ago without ever explaining anything properly to you."

"I never held it against you. You kept the confidentiality of Border like you were supposed to." Soya replied, unsure of why he was entertaining the words of this Mimic. Maybe there had been some frustration at his brother when he learned the truth of what organization he joined, but back then, most of his angry had been directed at the Neighbors. When the Neighbors attacked in the first large scale invasion, it gave Kazama the chance to learn the full truth of Border and from there, he joined and found Rindo to learn the truth of what really happened to his brother. On top of the first large scale invasion, there was the anger burning his blood at learning not only why his home was attacked, but that his brother had also been slain by them.

Going to the Neighborhood though, Kazama was able to stand in that world and see all the people just going about their daily lives with smiles mixed with the tears and suffering that they faced with the wars that destroyed their homes and killed their friends and family. The suffering that they faced was the same that they faced every single day. Kazama felt no need for revenge against people who faced the same pain and his hatred for them for what happened to his brother had lessened. All he wanted now was to protect his home and help Border grow stronger to survive everything that the Neighborhood sent their way.

A ghost of a smile appeared on Shin's face, but to Kazama, it felt like a trick of the light from the moon since by the time Shin tilted his head back towards him, it was long gone. "It's a shame. I truly wish, we could have had the chance to fight side by side just once."

The Trion that was bleeding out from Shin's wounds seemed to wrap around his form, taking away Kazama's sight of his brother. The form that was once his brother's features shifted into a black figure that could have blended into the night if not for the moonlight shining down on them.

The true form of a Mimic.

Kazama was left blinking in confusion at seeing the Mimic revert back. Why did it change back? There was no purpose in giving up the form that it had stolen from Kazama's memories. The only thing it achieved by doing this was that it got rid of all the wounds that Shin had accumulated in their battle.

He didn't even know transformed Mimics could revert back to their original design. Mogami and Yugo never did. They stayed this whole time as the forms they had stolen from Jin and Yuma.

Though, that would be something to ponder later. Staring at the Trion Soldier wasn't going to give him any answers as to what was really going on here.

With it only being one Mimic in front of him, it was easy to for Kazama to weave through its limbs that were trying to attack him again. Slicing off those limbs as he approached his target, just as he got there, Kikuchihara came down from the roof behind the Mimic to attack at the same time as Kazama, allowing them to slice the Mimic to pieces.

Kikuchihara stared down at the corpse. "It certainly made things easier for us by changing back." He glanced up at his captain who had already turned his back on him and the dead Mimic. "Mimics take the form of the dead and use that face and those memories to manipulate us. Why would it give up the deceit?"

"Who could possibly begin to understand how the mind of Trion Soldier works?" Kazama commented, deactivating his Scorpion as he walked away. There was a manipulation to the way that Mimics operated. Pull at the emotions of a fighter hard enough and that could cause a moment of hesitation which meant an opening for the Mimic to attack and kill. So, nothing that happened in a fight against a Mimic was real. It was all just a form of deceit.

And yet, why did those last moments feel so real?

The smile that spoke of nothing but regret and apologies.