Brad wasn't terribly interested in a long conversation with Layon. After a few curt responses, he returned to the study to sleep. This left Layon and Ambient standing in the dim corridor together.
Layon remained dumbstruck by the sight of Ambient, flicking eyes eager to wring every last detail from the Organoid. He reached a tentative hand towards the beast, earning a sharp glance.
"Can I…?"
~Only if y'wanna see how fast yeh'r hand disappears.~
Layon withdrew and stuffed both hands into his pockets.
Despite his agitation and prior jolt of adrenaline, the relative calm now reminded him that he was tired. He wondered if Organoids slept.
Ambient perceived the thought's edges. It arched its neck forward, just enough to invade Layon's personal space. ~Nae, too dangerous. S'easy to kill things while they sleep.~
Layon stared. Not only had the damn thing answered an unspoken question, but it also was making not-so-subtly-terrifying threats.
~But of coo'urse, I'm nae talkin' about you.~ Ambient reflected a smirk, and dimmed one optic briefly - a wink. ~The tod likes y'too much. He'd be mad.~
Layon nervously laughed. If this creature represented a typical Organoid, these things were far smarter than Layon - or anyone else he knew of, really - had thought. And smart predators were extremely dangerous.
That's why humans were always so self-assured of their own superiority.
~Mm-hmm. Exactly what one expects from a race of idiots.~
Layon stared, blankly. The insult did not land.
Ambient stared back.
~...Eve I fuckin' hate you humans.~ The beast turned to slink off down the corridor, grumbling as it went. ~Yeh'r so very fortunate I like the tod.~
Layon just watched Ambient skulk away.
After what he'd seen it do to Alteil, did this qualify as a near-death experience? He dourly watched the details of the creature's gait, trapped between a desire to follow and stare - and a very reasonable fear of doing so.
He wondered if he had anything he could possibly entice the creature with. Something to offer it in exchange for any amount of cooperation.
What would an Organoid want, anyways? Mentally, Layon ticked through things he thought they might like. It wasn't a very long list because he didn't really know what a Zoid liked, nevermind what a small, rare, ancient-
Layon glanced at the dark window he could see at the end of the hall.
He thought about the various animals he trapped for research. Though society at large would never agree on this point, Layon couldn't find any real reason to not classify the planet's various native, tiny fauna as Zoids. Albeit a very small, pestilent, and inferior subspecies.
Zoid Magnite. He bought magnite scraps from various commercial operations, and used them both in his research and as bait for the wildlife. They always came to it. Always.
The red Organoid wheeled around and returned, drawing uncomfortably close. Its emerald optics glowed with interest: Layon's musing had Ambient's full attention.
~Ay, now? What's this about magnite?~
Try as he might, Brad couldn't sleep.
He'd only barely been dozing when Layon had come in earlier, and the renewed irritation now kept him up.
Not to mention pain. Now that the panic of seeing to the Fox had worn off, his tired but unoccupied mind brought everything else to the fore. Sharp pain seared his hand, his arm, his shoulder.
Getting shot hurt. He'd been shot a few times in his youth. Never anything too serious, glancing strikes of too-slow limbs. Nothing more than light scars and painful reminders to stay away from the business ends of projectile weapons.
Or, you know. To just not get caught.
He sucked in an angry breath, wondering if this was indeed going to be a permanent part of his life. To think that his well-being was tied to that of a random child's just pissed him off.
Vega wasn't really just a random child though, was he.
Brad then thought about how not long ago he'd been mouthing his own revolver.
It was a small but cold comfort to think Vega was likely facing down a similar predicament. But he'd rather not deal with it at all.
Naomi lay on Brad, deeply asleep.
At least someone was getting some rest. As much as Brad wanted to stand, move, and be angry, he refrained. After everything he'd ended up dragging Naomi through, she didn't deserve anymore stress.
Brad just watched her in the dark, silent.
Really, he couldn't do much about the pain he was in anyways. There wasn't anything there to alleviate. It was all in his head.
He closed his eyes and tried to keep his breathing even, actively dreading the thought of trying to somehow explain more inexplicable bullshit to Naomi.
He thought instead about the Fox.
It was odd, but now that the thing had been reduced to only base functions, Brad noticed its absence. He'd never really understood what it was, until it wasn't there… but some aspect of the Zoid always just stayed with him.
And now it might never be again.
The thought hurt. There was still every chance the Fox's core could collapse, simply unable to sustain itself after such serious injury. Layon had been unfortunately clear on that point.
Brad's arms drew together around Naomi.
One easily could have killed her too.
He didn't want to, but he pictured how much worse everything could have gone. One tossing back mangled chunks of Naomi much like Ambient had done with Fuma.
Except Brad didn't care about Fuma.
Then he pictured Vega laughing, indifferent.
Fuck that stupid kid.
Brad was so, so much better for-
Even the split-second of misplaced desire broke what poorly-maintained dam existed in his mind. Frustration with the situation, the lack of control, remembering One's horrible, irresistible voice.
Part of him recoiled in horror while the rest reveled; for an excruciating moment he felt like he was simply going to tear in half, unable to deal with the dissonance.
Red blazed, and Ambient reappeared in his periphery. A welcome, and thankfully sufficient, distraction.
The Organoid was licking its chops as it began to slink around the dark study. It paused occasionally to give items a thorough sniff or nip, before settling on a spot to lay down. Ambient didn't seem to notice that Brad was still awake.
The man squinted, and looked more closely at the creature. He didn't quite believe what he saw.
Ambient looked… great. It had no more cracks or pits in its armor, and the wound in its chest seemed to be gone. One of its brow's edges - which had started growing back just a little, where it'd been missing - was now complete. Completed, the spines on its head gave its profile a much more daunting appearance.
The Organoid also now had a variety of new sharp points and edges, many of which had obviously prior been broken off or worn to nothing.
The changes were startling, to say the least. So much so that Brad became deeply concerned he was seeing things or otherwise somehow out of his mind.
Ambient glanced at length, noticing Brad's agitation.
~Yeh'r fine. Tod's man here has magnite!~
That explained literally nothing.
...what?
~Lad. It's all good. Go back to sleep.~
The Organoid watched Brad's eyes flick in the dark, trying to make sense of things. Ambient then understood that Brad hadn't actually been asleep, and shifted to face him.
~Magnite, lad. Fantastic stuff. For Organoids at least. What do humans even do with it?~ It pictured the blue-hued rock in an attempt to give Brad context.
And while that did give Brad context, he was still confused. He tried to remember what magnite was and what it was used in. To most, it wasn't anything special.
Uh… it's used to make armor. And in construction stuff. Some weapons' structure, I think. It... resists heat, right?
It was obvious Brad had little knowledge on the topic, so Ambient didn't pursue it. The beast rumbled with delight as it quietly groomed itself, regarding the man sidelong. ~Ah, it's nae matter. Ah'd no idea humans could even mine it now. When did that happen? Fuck me fehr' hidin' in a hole I guess.~
Brad kept glancing down at Naomi, then back up at Ambient, as if stuck trying to verify the last known state of things.
Ambient didn't seem concerned by Brad's disbelief, and started cleaning between its teeth with its tailblades. ~Tod's man's has a whole crate of the stuff. Wee lil' bits, but it chews up all the same. He let me have my fill! Ah dinnae even have t'threaten him!~
Brad either finally managed to wrap his brain around the situation, or just accepted that this was reality now. He sat up slightly. Can this stuff help the Fox?
Ambient tilted its head. Zoid magnite did work to heal larger Zoids, but not with the same expedience or efficacy it did Organoids. Modern Zoids, mangled messes that they were, also couldn't actually eat it.
~Magnite's good feh'r Zoids but... no.~ The Organoid glanced in the direction it knew the Fox was. ~And ah' mean. I can heal Zoids, if they're nae too bad off. But…~
It trailed off, and Brad's stomach dropped.
Ambient quickly continued.
~Lad, the difficulty's that I donnae think ah can actually symbiose without hurtin' him more. He's in no position to negotiate, and I…~ Ambient seemed a little chagrined. ~...have a hard time bein' gentle.~
Ambient attempted to convey the utterly alien experience of asking, then fusing with a Zoid. Well - trying to. The thought dragged along its recollections of numerous violent rejections, and Brad winced at each.
Especially the Liger Zero. He could relate.
~Aye... sucks. Ain'nae a problem anymore though.~ A terse pause. ~Eh. Providin' the tod survives.~
Brad lay his head back and closed his eyes. He didn't really want to entertain any other outcome.
Sufficiently distracted and extremely tired, the man soon managed to doze again. But not much time had passed before he was roused by the sensation of being watched.
Brad opened an eye.
Ambient was standing over him. The Organoid's face was so close, Brad could feel the puffs of breath from its nostrils. Its green optics were fixed on Naomi, however, watching her closely.
"Uh."
Ambient stole a glance at the man and grunted softly, tilting its head to one side. It made an unspoken request for Brad to scratch an itch on the back of its head that it couldn't reach.
Almost without thinking, the man did so. Ambient's optics dimmed as it leaned into the scratch. Ultimately the Organoid folded to the floor beside the sofa, its body awkwardly large in the small space.
In several hours, Naomi would wake to find Brad sound asleep, hand draped across an alarmingly-close, also-asleep, and quite-nicer-looking Ambient's snout.
Bit awoke in the early morning to the distant, soft rhythm of Zoid servos.
The blonde had fallen asleep between the Liger's claws, nestled into a sleeping bag. But at the sound he sat up sharply and glanced at the desert, searching the horizon.
The Blitz Base was well out of the way of major thoroughfares, and never really got stray travelers. There'd been a brief worry after the Royal Cup that folks might try to seek the Team out - but thankfully, nobody had.
"Zero," Bit whispered, glancing towards where Vega and One had been. Neither were to be seen.
Zero roused from within the Liger, lifting its head from the Core to glance.
Bit stood, pulling his gloves out of his pockets and putting them on. He wasn't in the mood to be bothered, and didn't want anyone coming too close to the compromised base. Scenarios of having to engage someone in combat flicked through his easily-agitated mind.
As the sound drew closer, the Zoid itself remained obscured by the dawn's haze - but Bit recognized it by the sound of its servos. A Lightning Saix.
Zero's pique lessened after a few attentive seconds. It lay its head back down.
~No need for alarm. We know him. Stigma Stoller.~
Bit flexed his hands but let his guard drop slightly. Stoller?
He jogged out to meet the incoming Saix, which smoothly slowed as it drew closer to the base. It also vanished the moment it slowed: Bit blinked, but could still barely make out the Saix's stealthed outline. It subtly refracted the sun. Lightning Saixes could equip stealth?
Bit watched the Zoid come to a discreet halt and crouch. The opened cockpit disrupted the Saix's stealth only briefly. Stoller acknowledged Bit with a glance and quick grin, slipping carefully down to the ground.
"Bit Cloud." Stoller greeted the Liger pilot with formality, nodding as he approached. Bit nodded back.
"Hey Stoller. Haven't seen you in a while. How've you been?"
The man's expression was difficult to read. "Been better. Been worse." He half-smiled. "Is Sara here?"
Bit regard became suspicious. "Why would she be here?"
A smirk. "You're a good man, Bit Cloud. But I know she's here. And she's who I need to speak with."
Bit didn't get a chance to respond, because Stoller's eyes flicked towards Vega - who'd appeared from nowhere in a dead run at the man.
Vega came to a sharp halt near Stoller and tried to sweep a kick at him, but Stoller easily dodged the attempt. The man retaliated with a smooth arc of his knee, which Vega likewise avoided, albeit narrowly.
Vega laughed, and Stoller chuckled.
Bit blinked.
Being considerably taller than the child, Stoller knelt to Vega's level and slightly bowed. Vega returned an awkward bow, a gesture of respect that seemed bizarre coming from him.
"Master Obscura." Stoller said.
"Naahhhh c'mon don't do that. Where've you been?! You gotta come back!"
Stoller simply shook his head. "I need to speak with Sara. Where is she?"
Vega indicated a direction with an impatient flick of his head and eyes, then grabbed one of Stoller's hands. The tall man allowed himself to be led this way, grinning sidelong at a very confused Bit as he went by.
Vega promptly broke away from Stoller after leading him to the closed door of the room his mother stayed in. Beside said door, Polta stood, his hands folded neatly in front of him. He raised a brow at Stoller's arrival.
"Polta." Stoller said.
The smaller man's nostrils flared. No greeting. "What are you doing here."
"I've come to speak with Sara." Stoller eyed the door, then Polta in turn. "Are you her new guard dog?"
Polta didn't dignify the question with a response.
"No? Mm." Stoller moved towards the door, and Polta shifted to be in his way. The taller man's blue eyes narrowed. "Not here to play games with you."
"Alteil trusted you, you know." Polta said quietly.
"And I did not betray his trust. I am, however, allowed to think and act for myself."
"Well. I'm not about to let you pull the same shit again."
"Speak for yourself, dog."
Polta's brow twitched. "If you try anything, I will kill you."
Stoller just smiled. "You're welcome to try."
"Gentlemen." Sara stepped out of the door, placing herself between the two. She set a firm hand on each. "Stop. There's more than enough going on. Let's not argue."
"Had no intention of it." Stoller said, glancing at Sara. "Surprised you've kept him around though."
Unseen by Sara, Polta shot a dangerous look at Stoller over his dark glasses.
Sara shook her head at Stoller. "Don't. He's more than proven his loyalty. And he's in the same damn situation."
That arched Stoller's brows. His eyes flicked to Polta. "They went after you? Why not Alteil?"
"Because Alteil's dead." Polta said through his teeth.
The taller man's face registered surprise, followed by a wary concern. "What happened?"
Sara just shook her head, then motioned to the open door behind her.
There was a lot to discuss.
It wasn't a comforting feeling to lose track of One.
Bit finally spotted the black Organoid after uneasily looking for a while. The beast had relocated to a high rafter in one intact corner of the hangar. There it perched, motionless and indistinct. The only way Bit had even pinpointed it was via the ire it exuded. Zero made him strangely sensitive to such things.
Zero also had an idle eye on One, who was quite aware it was being watched. Hence the ire.
The air held an uncomfortably thick tension. Bit considered going out for a run with the Liger to try and dispel it, which the Liger liked the idea of. Zero, however, did not. It simply motioned at One in-mind, and that was that.
Bit sighed, and chose instead to do a few idle stretches and warm-ups while silently debating breakfast. He noticed Vega watching him from atop a large crate after a few reps, and watched Vega right back.
That was until he became uncomfortably aware how firmly they were mirroring their Organoids. Then he devolved into hopeless self-consciousness and wasn't sure what to do at all. So he stopped and stared.
"You know Stoller?"
Vega didn't say anything. His eyes half-lidded, a visual really?
Bit wasn't expecting the rebuff. "Hey. Wasn't going to assume you knew everyone in Backdraft, dude. There's got to be a lot of people."
Vega looked out at the horizon, annoyed. "There was."
Probably could've worded that better.
Silence reigned for several seconds. Bit kept trying.
"Is… Stoller your dad or something?"
While it wasn't terribly unusual for children on Zi to not know their fathers, or even know who they were, maybe it was different in Backdraft.
Vega glanced down at the blonde, expression curling with sarcasm. He stifled a laugh.
"Man, I hope not. Don't know what you think goes on in Backdraft, but it's not dune country."
Bit blinked. Once, twice, several times.
Oh. Related. Stoller was related.
Vega grinned, watching the realization cross Bit's face.
"Sorry," Bit said. "I didn't-"
Vega just shrugged. "You're not the first person to think that."
Bit promptly made a wiser assumption. "You were trained by Stoller, then? Those were some cool moves. From both of you."
"Stoller mostly made me read ," Vega said, peeved tone making clear what he thought of that. "But, eh. They're nothing special." Another shrug, then the child wryly grinned. "I'll get him sometime."
"I'm sure you could kick my ass."
"Outside of a Zoid I don't think that'd be too hard."
Bit took the jab with a smirk. "Hey."
Vega broke into one of his obnoxious laughs, but it quickly ended.
He felt a mental sensation not unlike having a cat brush up against one's legs.
A hungry cat.
A feral beast twenty times larger than he was.
Vega's throat worked. His stomach growled, and he firmly ignored it. With mild distress he glanced in One's direction.
He wondered if he'd be in this same situation if he hadn't kept insisting on piloting Zoids before he could actually reach the controls.
Vega could poke at Bit all he wanted, but the fact of the matter was that the blonde was a good pilot. Skilled, even. What good was all of his own being-educated and well-trained if he was so easily bested by raw… what was it? Skill? Talent?
Stupid luck?
Layon stood making himself breakfast as Naomi walked silently into the kitchen area. It wasn't large or particularly fancy; just clearly a space for making and eating food.
Layon watched Naomi, and she watched him right back.
They sized each other up, and a silent truce went into effect.
The woman wasn't stalking around wearing her full outdoor gear anymore. She'd stripped to a black tanktop and slim red shorts, yet two belts of gear were still fastened around her waist and audibly laden.
She seated herself at the kitchen's bar counter - it was well lit - and started disassembling and cleaning a pistol.
Layon watched this for a few seconds.
Naomi glanced up. She was the first to speak.
"Sorry for barging in last night."
Layon just mumbled an acknowledgement. He also sat down at the counter, keeping his distance from Naomi. The stool creaked under his weight as he focused on his plate of food.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Layon ate with little grace while Naomi swiftly cleaned, inspected, and reassembled her guns.
The man at first thought she was doing so as some kind of weird power move. But as Naomi remained lost in thought, aimlessly studying her pistol - Layon realized she seemed deeply agitated, and was likely using the activity as a substrate for thinking. As far as everything else went, she probably couldn't have cared less he was there.
"Do you trust the Organoid?" Layon finally asked.
"Not really."
"Yeah. He's kind of an asshole."
Violet eyes slid sharply. "You can hear it too? Am I the only one who can't? Fuck ."
Layon tilted his head a little, but said nothing. He opened a small bottle of bourbon and poured entirely too much of it into his coffee.
Naomi remained silent for a few minutes. She glanced up at Layon again. On one hand, the man seemed intelligent. On the other, she'd seen him put away more alcohol in a day than her and Brad did in two weeks.
A sigh. "Do you know anything about these 'Organoids'? Because I sure as hell don't."
Layon arched a brow, and grinned.