Authors Notes: Apologise for my tardiness of this chapter. FFN wouldn't allow for me to put it up at all and I've been trying since 6pm yesterday!

Frozen Timepiece

Chapter 23

Samurai X

Echo felt his heart breaking as the car door was closed, the only person in the car was a black haired woman. He sat back looking up at the ceiling, letting the tears fall down his bronze cheeks.

"Good morning Echo. I wouldn't try anything with my assistant in the car. Your seats are magnetic."

"Bronze isn't magnetic." Echo exhaled. Sanza chuckled knowing perfectly well that was true, but was rather hoping he didn't have to go to extreme measures.

"Perhaps, but lets keep in mind that i can still kill your brother. Alright?" The voice said. You will arrive at my compound in under an hour, so let's get acquainted shall we?" Sanza said looking on through the monitor.

"I will not tell you a thing until I know my brother is alive."

"Bit late for that isn't it?" Sanza said and sat back in his large brown leather chair. Behind him Echo would see many taxidermied animals. He must have been a hunter.

"I could still self destruct." Echo said looking at the monitor finally. He had been sitting back, tears still lining his face.

"Oh and why would you do something like that with your brothers life on the line?"

"Because my life died moments ago." Echo said sitting back again closing his optics.

"Oh don't be such a child. You know perfectly well that woman wouldn't have loved you forever. You're not human!"

"No...I am a nindroid...I was her...nindroid." He said closing his optics again. Her image crying because of what he said was burned into his thoughts. Her look of such pain and torment. How could he have said those things. He loved her so much.

Sanza watched through the monitor as a fresh wave of sobbing could be seen. He even heard the sounds he creaking back panels were making when he shook.

"Dr. Julien did a great job making them seem human." Raya heard him over the monitor as she handed her father a brandy

"Yes...he did make them 'seem' human. They couldn't possibly be human, and his love for that woman was a fabrication of a being who must have learned it from Julien. Well lets get Zane off the table and into a pair of shackles shall we Raya?" Sanza said looking back at the monitor.

"What should we do with Echo when he gets here?" Raya asked.

"We'll give him a few moments of hope. We'll leave him with his brother for a few. I want to see how they act together before we pull them apart." Sanza took the shot of brandy and swirled it around in the cup. He smile was slow to show itself, but it did show itself and all the perfectly white teeth behind it.

Upon arriving Echo was grabbed from behind by two large men and led into the building by a woman with purple eyeshadow. Her hair was a mix of black and purple dreadlocks, and black clothing. Her skin on the other hand was an unhealthy white. Almost as if it was painted that way. Her eyes were a bright pink color. The woman could be mistaken as an albino.

"Lets throw him in with his brother. Poor guy is exhausted."

"What did you do to my brother!" Echo yelled and gasped as he was bodily thrown into a room covered in hay, and the walls had many different shackles. The ceiling even had them hanging. His brother was hanging from a pair in the far off corner. His feet barely touched the ground. Echo grabbed a stool from the corner and ran over to him. He picked him up and set him down on them, it didn't seem to do much good since he his legs just gave out anyways.

"Zane?"

"You should have ran." Zane scolded his brother. Echo walked over to him trying to pull on the chains. He needed to try and get him out of their...or at least let him lay down. He looked so tired.

"No I had to come get you." Echo said holding his brother up in his arms. Zanes head lollied to his brothers shoulder. He took a few deep breaths showing his brother he wasn't feeling to good. "Oh Zane...what did they do to you?" Echo looked at his brother chest plate. It had been bent in unnatural ways.

"I'll be alright." Zane whispered in his brothers audio.

Raya watched from the door as Echo turned to look at her.

"Please...can...can he come down? Please you can chain him to the wall. I just...I want to hold him."

"You are." Raya looked unphased by Echos plea.

"Better...let me hold him better. He's so tired."

"You will share the same fate as he did." Zane shuttered in Echos arms. Echo looked up instantly.

"Please!" He called out looking at the woman again. The woman rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. The shackles clicked and Echo found himself holding his brother up completely. He slowly walked over to the corner and lay his brother down in a mound of hay.

"Echo...what about Kate?"

"Kate and I are...we've...we've broken up." The pain was apparent on Echos features. Zane looked over his brother and slowly pulled his arm around him. It hurt a great deal to do so, but his little brother was in tears once more.

"She's an understanding person Echo. If you told her what happened. Perhaps she will forgive you." Zane said and kissed his helm.

"Get some rest brother...I'll watch over you." Echo whispered.

"I can not...they have a firm hack on my systems. Whenever I try to sleep…" Echo touched the back of Zanes neck he could feel something sticking out. He slowly pulled it. A small antenna came out with a magnet. Zane gasped and rested his head on Echos shoulder.

"Thank you." He whispered. Echo wasn't to sure what he did, but Zanes optics turned off and his eyes closed. He nuzzled closer to Echo, Echo smiled down at him despite himself and his own troubles knowing that his brother was safe now with him.

The rain still fell in buckets, with no end in sight. Kate had walked for a few hours not really knowing where to go, her aim was to head back to the Bounty. But her legs took her nowhere, or anywhere except a place that reminded her constantly of the nindroid that just broke her soul in two all over again. After hours of walking her legs just gave out under her. She pushed herself up again and she went down an alleyway. The lights weren't touching her now, just dark shadows. Silent tears were masked by the rain. Her clothing were wet, and she was freezing. But her mind didn't care. She just wanted to sit there in that alleyway and just stop existing. A light blue light caused her to look up into the familiar face of Samurai X. Or rather no faced. She looked back down at the steel boots.

"I remember who you are. But Echo didn't trust you then, and I still don't know who you are. So if your planning on killing me...just do it. If not please go away." The fact that she was crying was apparent in her voice.

Samurai X looked down at the pitiful view. Wasn't sure what to expect when Zane had called her in a panic about two hours ago. In hurried tones, Samurai X had heard him tell them about Echo and what he was being made to do. They were supposed to go find Kate and then the ninja. They knew where to go now. They had a destination. But first things first...the sad sob sitting in front of them had to know.

Samurai X kneeled down in front of Kate and touched her knee.

"He didn't mean it." The voice was that of Lloyd.

"Wh...What do you mean? He said it to me." She ran her fingers over the place her ring once sat. The place was pale around her tanned hand. She had been given it three months after they began their relationship officially to the public which was around 6 months after they met. He and she had a bit of an argument about the people around them saying they couldn't possibly be in love since Echo wasn't a human. Kate wanted so desperately to show him that she loved him completely and yelled at him in front of the ninja that he was the man she loved and would love to marry to show the world her love was true. Echo had yelled back that it was impossible. She had taken this the wrong way and left the room. Echo had to run after her and look all over the Bounty for her. He had found her asleep in the crows nest an hour later. She was still subconsciously sniffling. When the morning came their was a little box laying on her pillow. Within was a ring, one Echo had got a few days before. He was sitting on the bed cross legged. He hadn't slept that whole night. He had told her she had misunderstood him.

Samurai X took Kates hand and pulled her up to a standing position.

"He was ordered to tell you that. If he hadn't Dr. Sanza would have killed Zane and then came after you."

"How?" Kate looked up to see that Samurai X's helmet was in their arms instead of on their head. Her eyes grew wide as she looked over the features of the familiar AI she only seen on monitors. "Pixal?"

"Kate." Pixals face broke into a smile.

"You mean to tell me theirs a man after Echo? If he didn't break up with me he'd have killed Zane and came after me?" Kates voice rose above the whisper that it was.

"I'm afraid so." She said. "Come on we have coordinates." Kate balled up her fists and followed Pixal who had her helmet back on.

"Oh um...can we keep this Samurai X thing a secret?"

"I knew...sort of."

"How?" Pixal looked around and Kate pointed to her nose.

"No idea...it was your style I guess…" Kate climbed into the tank along with Pixal.

"Don't touch anything…"

"Fine...what about the radio?"

"No…"

"Does it even have a radio?"

"Uh...maybe."