Tucker jogs slowly through the base, the fingers of his right hand resting where his sword sits on his hip. So far, his sweep of the base hasn't revealed anything. He hasn't run into a single soul since he started. This fact doesn't surprise him, though. Everyone's been gathered in the mess hall since Silver left. There's a collective buzz of nervousness surrounding that room, like everyone there expects something terrible to happen soon. Grif said it reminds him of a time he and Sister had gone to a public shelter to wait out a hurricane, back when they were kids. He'd said the people there'd had the same look in their eyes that Tucker sees in the people here now; like they don't know what the next few hours will hold, but they know it could be bad.

Tucker understands the feeling. He's been restless for the past few hours, unable to stand the thought of sitting around waiting for something to happen. He knows he should go back to the mess hall soon to check on everyone. But, he also knows that if he does, he'll get dragged into one of the games Donut's been trying to get the teens to play. The pink soldier's made it his business to distract the family ever since they all gathered in the mess hall. Last Tucker saw, he was trying to get them involved in a giant game of telephone, like it's some kind of fucking sleepover.

Surprisingly, Sarge is one of the few to have joined Donut in his mission. Not with the game, obviously, but with trying to distract everyone. Tucker watched part of his contribution before leaving. He couldn't handle listening to the veteran tell so many wildly exaggerated stories of his many victories against blue team. At least he was being more useful than Grif, though. The lump of Hawaiian dressed in orange armor had been napping, last Tucker had seen, though he'd claimed he was keeping an eye on things.

Simmons, meanwhile, had been standing with his 'not girlfriend' near the mess hall doors, fidgeting nervously and generally looking like he was going to throw up. Tucker wasn't sure if the nervousness came from the overall situation, or just the fact that the maroon soldier had been standing near a girl. Either way, he'd decided not to stick around. And Tucker definitely didn't want to return to that any time soon.

Besides, he figures it's better if he keeps watch here in the hangar anyway. He doesn't want any surprises.

Tucker zones out for a while, going over the evacuation plan again and again in his head. He's already picked one of the locations Silver gave for them to run to, and had Yttri pre-program it into the ship's autopilot. The ship in the hangar, the one used to send all the copies to attack before, should be able to hold everyone, though Yttri said it might take a creative use of the cryo-pods. Whatever the case, he knows they can all get out if they need to. That doesn't stop him from being nervous, though. Silver left her family in his hands. He can't help but feel the pressure of this responsibility. He doesn't want to let them down.

Tucker jumps when he hears someone clear their throat behind him. He spins and sees Rubi staring up at him, her eyes uncharacteristically dull. "You've been gone a long time," she says in answer to the unspoken question of why she's there.

"Well, y'know, I've got a lot to think about," Tucker says evasively.

Rubi grabs his hand wordlessly and plasters herself to the side of his leg. Tucker flinches at first but doesn't push her away. Tinu's explained to him in the past that the girl tends to be very touchy when she's scared, and the last thing he wants is to take away whatever comfort she's trying to find. Instead he drops a hand on her shoulder in a hug-like gesture.

"Franc doesn't think Tinu will come back," she says emotionlessly after a moment of silence. "Not alive, anyway."

Tucker looks down at the normally cheerful child, wondering when she got so fatalistic. "And what do you think?" he asks.

Rubi shrugs. "She might die," she finally decides. "They all might. That's just what happens."

"They won't," Tucker tries to reassure her. "Silver's with them. She won't let that happen."

"Silver was with Lico," Rubi points out with another shrug. "I… I'm not giving up on them. I just want to be ready if something bad happens."

"Well, you're gonna feel pretty dumb when they all come back alive, then," Tucker tries to joke.

"I hope so," Rubi says, finally cracking a smile. She grabs the sword off his hip, fiddling with the handle as she tries to activate it. "Lico loved this thing," she whispers, though Tucker doesn't hear the words.

The girl eventually gives up, sticking the sword hilt back to the magnetic strip on Tucker's armor. "Why don't you head back to the mess hall?" Tucker asks in response to her bored sigh. "Franc's probably looking for you."

Rubi shakes her head, hugging his leg again. "Not without you," she declares stubbornly.

"I need to stay and watch the hangar," Tucker argues, knowing he's already lost. Junior used to use the same voice with him, and he could never deny that little guy anything.

"Please?" Rubi begs, turning the widest, most pitiful eyes Tucker's ever seen toward him. "I don't wanna go."

Tucker sighs. "What about franc?" he asks, reaching for his last hope.

"I'll bring franc here," Rubi volunteers excitedly. "We can both help you keep watch."

"I don't know…"

"Please?" Rubi begs again, pulling on his arm in desperation. "Please, please, please, please, pleeease!"

"Alright, fine," Tucker eventually snaps, cutting off the whining request. "Just go get him and hurry back."

Rubi giggles as she finally lets go of the aqua armored leg. She sprints away to retrieve her partner, waving back at him, which prompts another sigh from Tucker.

"So much for some peace and quiet," he whispers, a faint smile gracing his features. Honestly, he doesn't mind the kids' company. Especially not if it keeps them from worrying.

Boron fires a line of bullets and I roll to the side, springing up to knock the gun from his hands and deliver a punch to his chin. He twists left at the last second and my fist flies past his head, leaving him open to drive an elbow down into my arm. I sink down with the blow, trying to lessen the impact. While down I kick outward, knocking his legs from underneath him.

I jump on top of Boron while he's down, driving a knee into his ribs while punching at his face. He grunts with the impact to his torso but manages to yank his head away from my fist in time. He grabs one of the knives off my belt and drives it toward my stomach, right where the plates of armor separate. I roll away, barely keeping the blade from touching me.

Boron laughs as we both spring to our feet. "Y'know, it's impressive, really," he says, waving my knife casually as he talks. "You've really managed to trick all of them. I actually used to look up to Nick, thought he was smart and everything, but even he's fallen for your act. They really think you care about them."

"I do care about them," I insist, keeping my distance. What Boron lacks in strength he more than makes up for in speed and ruthlessness, and he's always been good with knives at close range. I know my best chance is to take him out right now. I have my gun. Part of me wants to do it. I want to do it. But for some reason my arm still doesn't move.

"You're a liar," Boron sneers. "You tried to kill me, then made up some bullshit about your crazy AI doing it. You've lead dozens of us to our deaths. You couldn't even go on a simple reconnaissance mission with Neon and have her come back alive. I don't know if you're just careless or if you actually want to watch them die, but I do think it's funny that they're all still loyal after all of that."

"Shut up!" I shout, throwing a knife at him. He dodges it easily, still smiling.

"You couldn't even stop yourself from killing Lico."

I hear Rho in the back of my head, telling me not to react. He's baiting me for a reason. He has to be. I can't fall for it. But I do. I can't handle standing here and listening to him accuse me of stuff like this. I am not a murdered. I did not try to get anyone hurt. And I did not kill Lico.

I charge at him, drawing a knife as I go. He makes an immediate stab at my gut when I reach him, but I dodge it and aim one of my own. Boron deflects the attack with his own knife.

"I did not kill Silicon," I hiss at him as we fight.

"Really?" Boron asks, feigning confusion. "That's not what it looked like on the footage I found."

"You know that wasn't me," I argue, ducking under a swing of his knife.

"I know that the people you claim to love tend to die around you," Boron counters, driving his elbow down into my back.

The blow drives me to my knees. I know Boron will follow with a knife in my back. I kick out to the side and hear a crack when my foot hits his ankle.

Boron screams and jumps back, keeping the weight off his injured side. "You stupid bitch," he seethes, reaching a hand behind his back. "You'll kill all of them just to get to her."

I recognize what he's doing, what he's reaching for. He and Gold used to be partners, and there's a lot about the way they move that is identical. I know the grenade's coming. I also know, with the wall behind me, I'll still get caught in the blast even if I dodge. I catch a bluish purple glow out of the corner of my eye and move so my shadow blocks the light from reaching Boron's face.

"I won't let that happen," Boron continues. "I won't let you kill this family." His hand appears from behind his back, holding the blue sphere I'd expected. He hurls it toward me and I duck to the side, allowing the grenade to get caught in the man canon and fly back toward its master.

Boron's eyes widen as the projectile flies toward him. He ducks under the path of the grenade, only to have it hit the wall behind him. The resulting explosion sears burns into his back, his thin armor doing little to protect against the damage. Boron lets out an agonized shout and sinks to the floor, unmoving.

I watch him warily, knife held high and ready to strike if necessary, stepping toward the prone figure. I cringe when I see the burns. I kick away the knife he dropped and sheath my own, kneeling next to him. I already know this is beyond medical attention. The weak rise and fall of his shoulders is only staving off what's inevitable.

"Boron," I say gently, wanting to help him despite everything but not trusting him enough.

A soft groan escapes his lips, and he turns his head enough to see me. "Si?" he whispers, voice filled with confusion. His eyes dart around, like he's trying to remember where he is. I feel my stomach drop. I recognize this look. It's the same one Nick had when I first deactivated his chip. I realize suddenly that I've made a terrible mistake.

Boron's eyes widen suddenly as the memories rush back. "Oh- oh, god," he whispers in horror. "Si, I… I'm so sorry, I didn't-" his voice cuts off with a ragged gasp of pain.

I rest a hand on a part of his arm that avoided the burns. "You weren't in control," I guess, voice softened by the shock of this realization.

Boron tries to shake his head, eliciting another hiss of pain as the motion stretches the burned skin on his neck. "Mom found me after the attacks. You'd already tracked down and freed most of us who'd been chipped. She… she made mine look like it was damaged so you'd think I was safe, then left me for you to find." I see tears falling from his eyes, pooling on the concrete. "I- I killed Lico," he whispers. "I let them into the base. I tried to kill you…"

"That wasn't your fault," I say quickly. "You couldn't control it."

"I still did it," he says. "I- I hated you so much, Si. It wasn't even mom. She made me fight, but I… I chose how I did it. I'm so sorry."

"Stop apologizing," I tell him. "This wasn't you. Just hold on." I hear Rho in the back of my head, radioing Nick and telling him to send Doc. "Help will be here soon. Just hold on, that's an order."

"Sorry," Boron says, and I can't tell if he's trying to laugh or gasping from pain again. "You know I was never good at following orders."

"You're going to be fine, Boron," I insist.

"Silver, stop," he groans weakly. "Just… Make sure they know I didn't want to," he says, locking eyes with me as he makes the request. "I- I don't want them all to think I was a monster."

"They won't," I promise. "You can come back and work with us again. They'll all see you're on our side."

"We both know that won't happen," Boron wheezes.

"Please," I beg suddenly. "Please don't die."

"Not a lot of choice on the matter," he says with a pained smile. "Sorry I couldn't let you keep hating me. It probably would have been easier."

"You never could let anything be easy," I joke back. If he wants to die with a sarcastic smile on his face, I'll let him. It's the least I can do.

"Guess I'm just a jerk like that." Boron's breathing grows more labored, and he looks at me again urgently. "You can't let mom escape," he says. "You can't let her get away with this."

"I won't," I promise. "She won't escape. Boron, just hold on. Doc's almost here. You'll be fine, you'll see." He doesn't respond. I watch his shoulders stop moving, watch the way hands previously clenched in pain suddenly relax. He's gone.

I'm not sure how long I sit there, silently waiting for him to take his next breath. Eventually Doc arrives, but it's already too late. He starts to ask me to move before checking Boron's pulse, his spine stiffening when there's nothing there.

"Silver, I-," Doc starts, and I shake my head. I don't need to hear it. Not right now.

I vaguely register the medic's voice somewhere behind me, radioing the rest of our team about what happened. A few minutes later Wash shows up, kneeling beside me. He doesn't speak, and I'm grateful for that. Instead he just wraps an arm around my shoulders and lets me sag against him. Eventually he coaxes me to my feet and turns me away from the body, walking us toward the hangar.

"We caught Dr. Han," he says and I nod numbly. "Carolina and I met up outside her lab. She didn't put up a fight; just followed us to the ship. I guess she knew she'd lost."

"Good," I mumble.

"Carolina brought her ship around to the main hangar. She's going to leave with Gold and Dr. Han. Nickel and Tinu are flying with her, to keep an eye on the prisoners." I nod again humming a small indecipherable sound to acknowledge his words. "Doc's waiting at the pelican for you and I," Wash continues.

We lapse into silence for a few seconds before he speaks up again. "I'm sorry. I know you still cared about him. Even if he did betray you, he was still your brother."

"Didn't," I manage to say, forcing the word past the lump in my throat.

"What?" Wash asks.

I take a shaky breath before speaking. "Boron didn't betray us. He was being controlled."

Wash is silent for a long time, absorbing this information. "We've caught Dr. Han," he finally says. "And Gold. Focus on that."

I don't think it's possible to stop thinking about what I did to Boron, but I nod anyway. It's easier than arguing.

We finally reach the hangar and Wash immediately leads me to the pelican. I sit next to Doc while he moves up to the pilot's seat. I'm grateful he doesn't ask me to fly. I don't think I could right now. There's too much on my mind. I stare down at my hands as we take off, trying to think of how I'll explain everything once I get home.

Two things I want to say real quick. First of all, we just reached twenty thousand views. Basically, you guys are all awesome and I can't believe we've come this far. Thank you all so much for following and liking this story. I couldn't do it without you. (Like, seriously, I've got some sort of motivational issue. I'd have given up if I didn't know you like it. :P)

Second thing: I want you to keep your eyes open for a oneshot I'm posting today as well. It's a co-write between myself and lilfoxkit, and I think you all will immensely enjoy it. Anyway, have a wonderful weekend and I will see you again next week.