Chapter Three: Koali Pehu

Wednesday found the family sitting down to breakfast, a video call from Lilo and the early series heading the table and with it the surrounding conversation. Yuna, Tigerlily, Obaa, Stitch, and Ani mostly carried the conversation, leaving the rest of the experiments to talk amongst themselves-mostly discussing the group of visitors coming that day.

"Chops, Leroy, 627, Dark, and Joules, right?" Bonnie asked, and the others nodded, "Yeesh; surprised they're leaving Kas and Pan behind. That or they're expecting free babysitting."

"As if we weren't doing that enough…" Heat joked. Angel gave him a jab in the shoulder, but her smile told him how she actually felt. "I hope they're bringin' them; I think they'd like it here-627's already been and so's Joules, but it's gonna be the other's first time." She said, blue hearing aides momentarily screeching as she readjusted them, "I wonder if they'll notice anything different between here and Kauai."

"Maybe they will; though-then again, Leroy hasn't been here in years so he's probably tripping out over grass." Bonnie said, "Either way, they're coming soon, so I'll take care of the dishes. Clyde? Wanna join?"

The larger experiment groaned, but stood up regardless and took his and his partner's dishes to the sink, "Man, I was hoping you'd forget."

"I don't forget anything. And don't worry, I'm gonna join ya." Bonnie said, casting the 6-series a smile as she got up to help Clyde. Kixx returned it as a blue claw tapped him on the shoulder.

"Lilo's signing off." Stitch said, gesturing towards the laptop. The three 6-series waved and offered their goodbyes to Lilo and the early series, who-despite tired eyes, were happy with the success of the bans. However, right as the laptop clicked off, Heat heard his phone's ringtone from the other room.

Joules. It must be.

"Aw-shoot, I've gotta answer that." He said, Kixx quietly nodding behind him as he sped into the living room and unlocked the phone. "Hey Jewel."

"Goddamnit Heat." The exasperated voice of his unofficial child picked up from the other end. They sounded like they were in a hurry, as Heat could hear the sound of pounding footsteps in the background, "Why do you call me that?"

"I'm not the one who chose Joules and gave me an easy nickname. How far along are you?"

"We're almost here!" 627's deep voice cut in, "We had to take the kids-couldn't find a babysitter and they didn't want one, so we were running late for a minute."

"Well, you're still pretty early, you don't need to sprint all the way here." Heat reassured them, hearing the footsteps start to slow down. He squinted out the blinds, seeing the group of seven headed straight their way, "And you're in sight-I can see you from the window."

"You can? Great; I'll hang up then." Joules' out-of-breath voice clicked off as Heat flung the door open to greet the five approaching experiments-kids jostling around in a pack carried by Chopsuey. The five screeched to a halt at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the porch, Kasumi and Pandora immediately disembarking from the pack and running to hug him. Heat smiled and ruffled the fur on both their heads before waving to the others, "Hey! Transporters work alright?"

Chopsuey nodded, though holding up a claw as he caught his breath, "We had-had to finish up some stuff before we came over; Kasumi begged to come so…"

"We wanted to see 001!" Kasumi exclaimed, stamping a foot on the porch's wooden floor, "And we're too old for babysitters!"

"No you ain't." 627 said, Joules, Dark End, and Leroy shaking their heads at Kasumi's explanation, "Flute was right there you two; she would've taken you in."

"...If she didn't have that recital to go to that night." Pandora said, causing Dark End to groan in annoyance, "Pan, don't do that; you two were supposed to go with her."

"Yeah but we wanted to see 001 anyways and we promised her we'd tell her how she's doing."

Joules sighed before turning to face Heat, "Anyways. How are you? We were going to leave 'em with Flute, but…you heard why that fell through."

"We're doing good; you should come in-we're just getting the dishes cleared away."

The early 6-series were quick to set Kasumi and Pandora up on the couch with the TV, their guardians meeting them in the backyard to catch up with one another. The five had spread out across the yard, 627 and Joules huddled together while Chopsuey conversed with Leroy and Dark End. Heat and Kixx's entry into the yard caused them to spring to attention, 627 leading the rest as they came up to greet them.

"The gremlins treat ya well?" Leroy asked, giving the two a sly grin. Heat returned it, "Well enough; still can't believe how much Kasumi relies on her crystals. I swear I spent ten minutes trying to get shards out of the remote she grabbed."

"Yeah, she's…a lot." 627 said, rubbing a temple as he settled into a chair on the porch, "Then again, I did first find her and Pan trying to hotwire my ship, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised."

"And then there's the other one." Kixx added, shaking his head as the rest of the group followed suit, "She reminds me of Angel when we first met her; even has the same outdoor voice."

Dark End nodded, "I mean, I'm a rescue myself, but even I can see that."

"Speaking of; how's your group doing?" Kixx asked, crossing his upper set of arms, "Still setting up your monitoring systems, or are those up and running?"

At the mention of their still growing group, the five instantly perked up, 627 and Leroy's voices leading the charge, "We found more-only issue is reaching out to them so we're not like…kidnappin' 'em or something similar." Leroy explained, sheepishly scratching the back of his head, "We're thinking about sending them coded messages like we did with Dark-they responded, so we might try it again when we go to rescue more."

"On the other hand, I was made as an adult, so I got it really quickly. Even broke out on my own over it." Dark said, "A lot of these experiments we've been finding are kids like Kas and Pan."

"That too…" Joules said, resting her chin on her hand as she surveyed the table beneath her. "We set up clones to help with nursing and archiving, so that's the hard part."

"Other than that though, it's coming along nicely." She concluded, but quickly smirked upon seeing her guardian's shocked faces, "We are fast, not gonna lie…"

"Almost too fast. I'm surprised you've already found so many of them." Heat said, "You didn't lose your organ too long ago Joules, are you sure you can handle this?"

Joules gulped, but nodded, carefully removing the beanie she'd been using to conceal her still new scars from the procedure. "Well, they're still fresh, but…you know. They're healing." She adjusted a buttoned-up flannel that hid two more on her chest and smiled, "I'm less tired than I was when I had it."

Heat nodded, though not without wondering if the sense of urgency the group had was over this. Either way-and despite her focus on building the group-Joules seemed much more at ease without her prior features, and Heat was glad to see she was.

"We've been keepin' an eye on her Heat, don't worry." 627 said, causing the fusion experiment to stretch a spiked arm over and flick him on his ear, "Don't start conehead, I can handle myself."

"What about you two? Sango kind of…said some stuff when she came back; has this week been alright or…?" She asked, raising her brows at Heat and Kixx. The two exchanged glances before Kixx sighed, "...Okay, what did she tell you?"

Leroy shrugged, "A little. Enough."

"So you know I'm afraid they break back out?" Heat asked, and the five shared concerned looks before nodding in unison. 627 sighed, giving the table a slight grimace, "...If it makes ya feel any better Heat, I'm worried too. That base he had when I came in was really advanced. And I saw those transmissions they backed up. It spooked me and I didn't even realize how bad it was."

"Yeah that shit was creepy when my clones and I heard of it." Leroy added, "He had records on us too, so…I get the feeling. It's why we're setting up defenses for our computers."

"If you want we can just end 'em if they come here." Dark said, but was promptly given an irritated stare from Leroy, "I will, and I'll make it look like a bloody accident."

"No you won't. You'll get arrested and we need ya here." Leroy retorted, albeit smiling at Dark's enthusiasm. "But…you know you aren't alone in that, right Heat? We're watching those three to make sure they stay away. Even got permission from the GCW as part of our rescue certification."

This got Heat's attention, and he blinked at them in shock, "Wait, you five got-"

"Permission to watch those bastards? Sure did, especially since I've got little kids now." 627 said, "Even Corn Chowder himself, given how much he likes to rat us out."

Kixx snorted, "That's a new one."

"Man though-thanks so much for telling us; you have no idea how worried we've been about this." He added, "We're even here just for some extra defense."

"Heard about that. Flute says to watch the nervousness." Chopsuey said, casting a glance inside the house, "I can see why Hammer's doing what he's doing. I'm tired and I was barely involved when it came to the disappearances. Can't imagine how you two must feel."

Heat sighed, letting a weight fall from his shoulders-they had help. The feeling of the three coming back began to shrink as 627's words sunk in, and while it didn't necessarily disappear, he could picture it curling up like a rattlesnake in the recesses of his brain.

The five must've noticed, as 627 held up a sparking claw, "Thought that might cheer you up; you really thought you were gonna be alone?"

Heat shrugged, "Living in the ship will do that to you."

"Well, time to stop letting it. If they break out? We'll help. And we're not affected by Angie's siren song. Save Chops but we'll get him earplugs." Joules said, offering her guardians a toothy grin as the green experiment rolled his eyes.

"...On a different note," He began, crossing his arms at Joules, "can we uh…see 001? You've probably been asked that a lot, but we want a look before the big reveal, you know?"

Kixx snorted, "Single file line please."

The group of five exchanged sly grins before 627 jabbed a claw toward the house, "You two okay with the kids visiting?"

"Sure, just tell Kas to not dissipate her arms and we'll be good to go."

Taking the seven down to the basement resulted in tears-largely from 627 as he surveyed the new experiment drifting inside the vat, the group seeing themselves off before dinner and hugging the couple goodbye. Dinner had passed, and soon Heat and Kixx were back inside their temporary room, Heat running his brush under the water in the sink to dislodge melting orange hair. He sighed and-despite his anxiety-smiled at the thought of 627 and his group charging to their defense should anything happen.

How could he have forgotten? Aside from himself and his feelings, how could he have not realized they had ways of fighting against them? Especially after the basin…maybe its creation had alerted everyone to band together…?

It didn't deserve its name. That was for sure.

He carefully dried his brush, setting it facedown in its holder before stepping back into the main room. Kixx was the one in bed this time around, scrolling through his tablet and occasionally tapping at the screen. Likely digging for more old memes again…

Kixx looked up and caught his eye, smiling as he set the tablet down on the nightstand. He scooted over as Heat slid into bed beside him, placing a hand around his shoulder and drawing him close.

"Feelin' any better?"

Heat laughed, feeling his throat close up as his vision blurred, "You have no idea."

"I forgot we're not the only ones who don't like 'em." He said, wiping his eyes and smiling up at his fiance, "I'm still…afraid, but hearing 627 say all that…it's disappearing."

He felt Kixx's fingers wiping away the last of his tears and pressed his cheek against his chest, "I'm glad Heat; you don't need to be afraid all on your own."

"You think they knew?"

"Well, Sango told 'em, so I bet they do." Kixx said, "I'm glad they came. Not to mention? Joules looks so much better without the organ-no offense."

Heat snorted at the disclaimer, "Heh-I agree; she never wanted it. She looks the happiest I've seen her without it."

"Still kept Thresh's powers though. And Hunka's." He observed, "But hey; she's so laidback nowadays. Must be nice to go no contact."

"That'll be us this Saturday. Maybe we'll see how she feels."

Heat nodded as the two settled underneath the sheets, curling up against Kixx as the fighting experiment's arms went around him. It suddenly occurred to him that they weren't holding hands. Then again-they'd only taken that up after Kixx had run away from Hamsterviel's base with the others. Truthfully, it wasn't an old habit.

Them cuddling however, was one. And he was glad to be getting back into it.