When I first made this chapter, back when Lost Time was an indulgent story I planned to just live solely in my computer, this chapter was only about 1500 words.

When I published Lost Time, and as such cleaned up that shitty draft so that other living beings other than me will read, I explained here how much that draft sucked and said that the word count was now bumped up to 6000 words.

And now that I am rewriting the rewrite of the original of that draft, I am now saying that the published chapter kinda sucked, and that the word count has since been bumped up yet again to 8200 words.

How did I get here.

"Ah." Kaden mutters in satisfaction, bringing his coffee down from his lips. "Now… Let's do this."

He puts the mug down on the desk of his quaint office, pausing to take out a remote from his desk to turn on the news on the holovision in his office—set on mute so as to not distract him too much—and after seeing the forecast of sunny weather on Fastoon as always, he picks up his pencil to resume his latest project: A new solid-light one-way door technology. His solution to the recent string of intrusions from the walls from people—mostly children—wanting to sneak in and out for fun.

From the beginning, he always thought built-in emergency exits in the walls protecting their city was an asinine idea right from the get-go, but no, they're 'a necessary risk for the safety of our citizens, Kaden!' 'We want to ensure that every Lombax gets a chance to evacuate if need be, Kaden!'

It was a gaping hole in their security is what they were!

Sure, there were the sensors that alerted guards when they're used, but with the type of people assigned to wall duty from the City Guard, an intruder had plenty of time to do some harm before a guard showed up. And kids use them so much to sneak out, they've figured out how to bypass them all together anyway, so they were pretty much worthless. If it was up to Kaden, he would have all the exits permanently sealed to get rid of the damn problem entirely instead of this bandaid solution.

But, just as it always was, it was no use with them. The Council never really listens to him anyway.

He pauses for a moment, groaning as he leans back in his chair, stretching from hunching over his desk for an hour to sketch the blueprint to get approved by the R&D Division, satisfied with his progress thus far.

But as he returns to a normal sitting position, his gaze flickers away from the blueprint, and instead to the picture he kept on his desk. In it, his younger self holds Kipler in his arms, wearing a proud smile as Marie stands next to him, resting her hand on his shoulder, absolutely beaming with happiness.

While it was a photo that he has held dearly to him for the last twenty years, sitting on this desk for almost that long, today, it especially filled him with sadness as he looks at it.

With a small frown, he reaches over to grab the frame, looking down onto it as he holds it in his hands.

The edges of the photo were a little torn, and there was a large fold going down the center of it. It was his favorite picture of their, which is why made sure to take it from their home back on Old Fastoon when he went to bury Marie.

He kept it in his pocket when he went to fight Tachyon in his last stand, wanting to feel assured that while he will die fighting against that cockroach, he at least won't die alone with his family with him in some small way, even if it was just an old family photo that he remembered Marie forced him to take.

After… Everything, he thanked his past self for deciding to take the photo, and even more thankful that despite how vicious that battle was, the picture managed to escape unharmed, leaving it as the only photo he had left of Marie and Kipler.

He sighs sadly, rubbing his thumb on the glass over his son's face.

It was painful looking at it today.

Today was the day for yet another one of his monthly appeals to the Council to commission a Dimensionator and retrieve his son from the old dimension. It will be appeal number two hundred and twenty-one, if he counted correctly off the top of his mind.

It had been twenty years since the Great Exodus, and the pain was still as fresh as the day he woke up from the coma.

He always missed Marie, of course, but he somehow managed to find the strength to eventually accept the fact that he couldn't have done anything to save her. He tried his best, he tried hard, but after years of guilt and mourning, he accepted that her fate was sealed as soon as that roof collapsed, and that there wasn't a single thing he could have done to save her, bar neglecting his responsibility to ensure every single other Lombax managed to evacuate.

Even then, it took him very long to accept that the lives of his people were worth more than the singular life of his one true love, but it was something that Julie, Mags, and time were able to convince him.

No, today, it hurt looking at this photo because it was Kipler that ate him up, knowing that while Marie's fate was decided, his wasn't. Even worse… It was uncertain.

Was he alive and well, making a life for himself on Veldin?

Or did Tachyon manage to fulfill his promise and kill him?

Many sleepless nights of his life have been spent pondering on that painful question. Many nightmares. Many tears. So much pain.

And what made it even worse was the fact that it would be so EASY to answer it, too! But no matter what he said, or promised, or begged, or even threatened, the Council never once permitted the construction of a Dimensionator after all these years.

And he hated them for it.

It was cruel irony, hating the very Council he was a member of that even ordained him as a Keeper of the Dimensionator. But that wasn't to say he liked the fact that he was a Senior Councilman.

In fact, he had actually threatened to resign out of anger the first time his appeal for a Dimensionator was denied—being the closest he's been in getting it granted, too.

He initially had a lot of support for his cause in the beginning, with people being more sympathetic so soon after the Exodus, being all too familiar with the feeling of losing a loved one, and the fact that he may be able to save his.

It also helped that he became a small hero of the people, too, being the Lombax who faced Tachyon himself, and lived to tell the tale. Although, whenever he heard that, he always felt the need to say that 'lived' was perhaps an exaggeration given how he most certainly was mere minutes away from death, but people hardly paid attention to that part.

But even through all of that, even through his begging and sobbing and desperate cries to save his child, it was never enough to convince them bypass their stupid prohibition, with a select few Councilmembers too adamant and cowardly to risk the unlikely threat of introducing an invasion.

"You really think the life of a single child is worth that of our species?"

"You have seen firsthand the terror and atrocities that monster is capable of, and you expect us to believe it wise to return?"

"If you hid your son even half as well as you did the Dimensionator, then we should not even be having this discussion right now, Kaden. Be grateful that you even have a son to be worried for, as there are many, many fathers who are mourning theirs as we speak."

Bastards.

He planned to use his threat of resignation as a bargaining chip for his next appeal, but they flatly refused anyway, citing that while Kaden was most certainly one of the most talented engineers they've seen, his intellect nor skills were worth enough to risk an invasion from Tachyon. Julie and Mags also convinced him that quitting the Council would eliminate his ability to even appeal them, too.

So, after a year of being told he cannot see his son again, he began to try and build a Dimensionator of his own, with Mags' reluctant help.

It was relatively easy for him to design one, being the Keeper of the Dimensionator, but he eventually hit a wall when it came to the Phase Quartz. Like Mags said, they locked it down hard, and he never managed to get his hands on the stuff, not even straight from the mines on Blizar Prime. When he arrived there, he was immediately questioned by a Lombax ship patrolling the planet, but he managed to snake his way out by pretending to be a lost tourist.

Further recon showed that the Council apparently commissioned an entire division of guards to do nothing but patrol the planet and question any ships entering or leaving the mines. It didn't stop him though, as he managed to get in contact directly with one of the miners and set up a shady deal off-planet for an exorbitant price, but seeing Kieran again was well worth it.

But when he arrived, Kaden unfortunately found that it was actually a sting operation, and he was promptly arrested. He never did mention Mags' involvement, which he was grateful for, but it meant Kaden had to miss his appeal while in jail. That was the only time he managed to miss one over the last twenty years, which was something he took pride in.

Luckily, he wasn't banished nor executed, as being the Keeper and protector of his people meant that the judge was willing to give him a stern warning just this once—with some parole, obviously. But it also meant that the Council started to keep an especially watchful eye on him, throwing any chance of building a Dimensionator out the window, having to resort to beg for their approval once again.

Kaden puts the picture back down onto his with a grumble as his mind wanders back to the years that followed, with appeal after appeal getting denied as his son started to grow up without him.

And with every passing year, with every failed appeal, with every new risk and uncertainty that cropped up over time with the idea of returning to the old dimension, he lost more and more support support for his cause. Eventually, the only members still willing to even entertain the idea of saving his son were Julie and Mags. Everyone else just wished he'd shut up about it already to stop wasting their time.

The only reason he was even a member right now was because it was the only meaningful platform to benefit Lombaxkind with his inventions and ideas—like this solution to the walls' stupid exits. If Kaden still hadn't felt the need to help his people no matter what, he would have told all of the Council to burn in hell and walk away years ago.

And so, thus was the delicate and infuriating balance of his life he's lived for twenty years;

Making contributions for Lombaxkind that incidentally also help the Council he hates just to be able to make an appeal for his son every month, and the Council tolerating said appeals to be able to have Kaden's great contributions.

With a sigh, he picks up his pencil, finished with his unexpected and unpleasant walk down memory lane, ready to resume on yet another one of those contributions.

"Bastards." He grumbles under breath as he begins drawing.

As Kaden puts the final touches on his blueprint, writing the dimensions and cleaning up some lines, he hears the door to his office open without warning.

He didn't have to look up to know that it was Julie, since she was the only one who barges into his office or labs without knocking first.

While he loved her as his best friend, he had to admit that he was sometimes a little tired of her always bursting in all the time, interrupting his work as she explains a breakthrough that she's had, or asks for combat advice for her most recent weapon model, or wants to hang out for a break. And right now, this was one of those times, already being in a very sour mood from reminiscing about his fruitless efforts concerning Kipler.

"What is it, Julie?" Kaden asks tiredly, still drawing on his blueprint. "I'm a little busy right now."

"Council said that they're going to push your appeal back a few hours." She says, closing the door behind her. "Apparently, Harold is a little held up with a project of his, so we'll have to wait for him to finish up with that. Which, I mean, I don't get why they don't postpone meetings for my projects, but, whatever." She says annoyedly, rolling her eyes.

"Got it." He says grumpily, still not looking up from his design. "I'll see you and Mags later, then."

Julie slumps a little with his uncharacteristic coldness, immediately feeling bad for him.

She never did like seeing Kaden like this on his appeal days, and he seemed to become more and more standoffish as the years went by. Granted, it was understandable, having been separated from his child for so long, but it didn't mean he had to be so defeated about it. He still had to have some hope.

So, she puts on a small smile, wanting to cheer him up like she always loves to do.

"Hey, who knows? Maybe they'll let you save Kip this time around?" She says with a shrug. "Never say never, they say!"

Kaden stops writing and shoots a look to her, with no warmth behind it, already making her regret her words with a look like that.

"And what makes you think that, huh?" He asks her irritably. "If they haven't been listening to me for the past twenty years, just what makes you think they've changed their minds now?"

She scratches the back of her head, nervously shifting in place.

"Erm… They… Might just give in, after so long?" She suggests with a desperate smile. "You know, from you being so… Um… Persistent? Or something?"

"Like hell they will." Kaden retorts sternly, crossing his arms. "Those bastards have only been more certain about preventing me from seeing my own goddamn son again. At this point, I think they've resolved to make sure that doesn't happen just to spite me as payback for holding all these meetings every month!" He turns his head away as he mutters. "I swear, they're worse than Tachyon. At least he gave me the choice to see Kipler again."

"Well, hey, I know the Council really sucks sometimes, Kaden, but… I don't know, don't you think it's just maybe a bit cruel to call them worse than him?" Julie cautiously says with a shrug. "I mean—"

"CRUEL?!" Kaden snaps as he stands up and throws his hands onto the desk, making Julie jump. "Do you know what's cruel, Julie?! Telling a father that he should just give up on his child despite making a promise to his dead wife! Telling him that it's pointless because his son is rotting away with the rest of Tachyon's victims! Telling him that there's nothing he can do about it, all because they're nothing but spineless cowards who are so scared of a stupid goddamn hypothetical that won't ever happen, they'll do anything to prevent it, not giving a damn about those who suffer from it! And you're telling me it's 'cruel' to call them out on that? That's bullshit, Julie." He finishes coldly, glaring at her.

Julie just remains silent as Kaden's eyes burn into her, a sight that honestly scared her and reminded her that he was once a battle-hardened General who went toe-to-toe with the bane of their species' existence.

And at that glare, and his angry words from her just trying to cheer him up as his friends, she just looks down while nervously rubbing her arm.

"I'm… Sorry, Kaden. Forget I said anything, then." She says quietly, turning towards the door. "I'll… Catch you and Mags later, then."

However, upon seeing Julie so put down and hurt in stark contrast to her bubbly and loud energy, knowing that he did that, Kaden's anger almost immediately vanishes as shame and regret fills its place, making him loudly sigh while sitting back down, planting his face in his hands.

"No, Julie. I'm sorry. Really." His calmer, muffled voice speaks, prompting her to pause as she looks back at him. "I know appeal days make me… Well, an asshole, sometimes, but… It just gets harder and harder with every month that passes by. It always tells me that's another month I failed, another month I break my promise to Marie, and another month that he grew up without me."

Julie quietly watches him lower his hands from his face. His expression isn't of anger or bitterness anymore, but rather… A morose defeat, like every spark in his eye just died.

He glances back over to the picture frame sitting on his desk, and slowly reaches for it, taking it into both hands once again, staring down at it, gazing at the face of his infant son, rubbing it with his thumb.

"He's twenty years old right now." Kaden says quietly. "His birthday was last month. If he was anything like me and Marie, he probably has a girlfriend right now, too. Maybe thinking of proposing to her like some young idiot in love. He's a grown adult that has lived a long life already… A long life without me."

His vision blurs a bit as he feels warm tears begin forming in his eyes, still blankly staring at his photo.

"…I don't even know what he looks like now. He could probably just walk right past me on the street, and I still wouldn't be able to tell that he was my little Kip." He says. "Even if I do get to see him again… I'm still too late to be a father. I never got to hear his first words. I never got to see his first steps. His first day of school. His first invention. His first flight. His first… Anything. And I'll never be able to… Because I was too late."

He sets the picture down, laying its face against the desk, and he wipes the tears from his eyes before giving a deep, shaky breath, staring off into space as Julie hesitantly walks towards him in worry.

"Maybe… Maybe the Council is right." He whispers. "Maybe I should give up."

"Wait, what?!" Julie cries out with wide eyes, planting her hands on top of his desk. "Shut up, you can't just… Do that, Kaden! You've been fighting for this long, you can't just abandon him now, dammit!"

"And why not?" He asks her miserably, unfazed by her reaction. "I've been fighting them for twenty years, and what do I have to show for it? Nothing. Nothing but a child who grew up without his father, and nothing but a criminal record for going against their stupid ban. If they've never listened to me for the past two hundred appeals, they'll never start listening to me for the next two hundred, either. It wouldn't even make a difference if they did listen to me anymore, anyway. Kip is too old for a father now,"

"What about your promise to Marie, Kaden?" She argues sternly. "What would she say about you quitting now?"

Kaden remains quiet for a few moments, making Julie think she's gotten through to him, but he just sighs.

"That I did all I could." Kaden answers. "I protected him when I left him in Solana. I made sure that when I die, he'd be safe. It's not my fault that I didn't anticipate you and Mags saving me, and it's not my fault that the Council won't let me go back, either. As far as I'm concerned… I fulfilled that promise the moment I left Kipler on that doorstep." He states. "Marie would understand that."

Julie just gawks at him—she couldn't believe what she was hearing right now! Sure, Kaden's had his moments of doubt throughout the years on really bad days, but this? Simply dismissing his wife's words that he's lived by for twenty years? Saying Kipler doesn't need a dad? That the Council was RIGHT?!

This wasn't Kaden, and she hated seeing… Whoever the hell this was.

"Kaden, there's still a chance we could save him, though!" She pleads with him. "You and I both know that, to be honest, some of the other Councilmembers are months away at best from kicking the bucket with how old they are. And do you know what that meabs? There's going to be fresh blood on the Council! The younger members will sympathize with you! They'll be too young to remember the genocide, so they'll have nothing to fear from making a Dimensionator to go back!"

"And what kind of plan is that?" Kaden retorts. "I just… Outlive the Council long enough for a new generation to vote for my appeal? No one supports me anymore, Julie. No one except you and Mags. In order to have it pass, I have to wait for at least twenty people to die! By that time, I'll be dead, too. And even if I wasn't… Kipler would be my age right now, and it'd be pointless to go back for him."

Kaden sighs as he crosses his arms on his desk before burying his head in them.

"I'm already too late, as is." His muffled voice adds. "He probably doesn't even want anything to do with Lombaxes in the life he's already established in Solana, let alone his father who was never there." She hears him swallow. "He's gone, Julie… And I have to start accepting that."

Seeing Kaden collapse in a heap and admitting those words devastated Julie. She always admired his dedication to his family, never resting in his struggle against the Council, no matter how unlikely a victory would be. In fact, it honestly inspired her through hard times of her own, knowing that if Kaden never gave up despite years of hopelessness, then what excuse did she have? It never failed to help her, and goddammit, she didn't want it to fail for Kaden.

And right now, it seemed that she had to return the favor.

"Don't say that, Kaden." Julie says softly, taking a seat in one of the chairs he had at his desk across from him. "I know it's been a long time, but that doesn't mean he's just… Dismissed you. I mean, what kind of kid would just give up on their parents, huh?"

"The kind whose parents abandoned him." Kaden replies from inside his arms, his voice tearstained.

"Kaden. Come on. First off, you didn't abandon him. You died! Almost! And second: There are all kinds of stories about orphans doing all they can to find their parents." She says, waving an arm around. "It's damn near a cliché at this point! Enough to make those stories suck with how boring they are!"

She leans over and rests her hand on his arm, prompting him to look up at her with watery eyes.

"I have no doubt that Kipler is looking for you, too." Julie states firmly, staring into his eyes. "Are you just going to leave him high and dry, forever wondering for the rest of his life?"

Kaden sniffs.

"What choice do I have, though? The Council won't listen." He mutters.

"Then make them listen, Kaden. Come on!" She says, not breaking eye contact. "Sure, it hasn't worked the last two hundred times, but it's better than just giving up and doing nothing about it! Are you really sure you want to think back to this point at the end of your life, and accept the fact that you just laid down and died instead of fighting back? If the Council really don't want you to see Kipler again, then make them work for it, at least!"

She moves her hand from his arm to one of his hands and grips it tightly.

"Because if they do work to keep you from seeing Kip, then they really are worse than Tachyon, like you said. They would've managed to do something he didn't, which is breaking you. And the Kaden I know wouldn't give those bastards the satisfaction, right?"

He remains silent, thinking about her words. But then, for the first time since she's walked in the room, Kaden manages to give a small smile.

"I guess not." He says.

Julie beams, happy to see that she managed to drag him out of his self-defeating funk despite the fact she thought she was horrible with words.

"And hey, like I said, maybe at some point, we'll get lucky and have them break first! But either way, neither of you are going down without a fight. Especially you, if Mags or I have something to say about it." She says, crossing her arms. "We didn't save your ass from Tachyon just to have you lay down and die like this, goddammit."

Kaden manages to huff a small laugh through his nose as he sits up, making Julie smile.

"Thanks, Julie." Kaden says earnestly. "I… I really needed that today. Thanks."

"No problem. And I'm serious about me and Mags not letting you give up, too. We'll make our own appeals to save Kipler if we have to."

"I don't think the Council will be that patient with you two, though." Kaden says amusedly, wiping the tears from his eyes to compose himself. "You're still on their shitlist for dragging me out of Tachyon's claws and making me their problem now."

"And I wouldn't want it any other way." Julie says proudly. "If we get kicked off because we had the audacity to help another Lombax in trouble, then screw them. I'm eligible for a nice severance package, anyways. Enough to upgrade my shooting range at home, even! I dare them to fire me."

Kaden can't help but smile warmly at such a Julie comment. It was moments like these where he was glad that he had her and Mags in his life. In all honesty, they were the only real friends he had now. Ever since the Exodus, Kaden never was quite the same person, and he was often so swallowed up in his grief and efforts to save Kipler that he never really bothered to find new ones.

If he didn't have these two to support him for the last twenty years, he probably would've given up on Kipler long ago. Hell, if he was being honest, he'd likely have given up on himself. At this point, after all the times like now where they've been here for him, and the times he was there for them, he considered them as part of his family, and he knew they felt the same way.

But as Kaden thanks his stars that the Exodus failed to take some things from his life, he looks back down at his blueprint on the desk, and his smile drops promptly as he instead sighs in frustration.

"What is it?" Julie asks with some worried confusion, looking down onto his blueprint as well.

"I, uh… I cried a little on my blueprint." Kaden says with quiet embarrassment. "Now a bunch of the lines are all warped."

He tries to dry the paper by dabbing it with his glove before gently erasing the lines with his pencil, trying not to rip it. He fails, however, as the eraser easily tears a small hole into the damp paper.

"Dammit." He mutters.

Julie chuckles, albeit feeling a bit of relief that his concern was over something so mundane.

"Well, you got the tears! I guess all it's missing is the blood and sweat, then it'll be a real bona fide labor of love." She says with a smile, throwing an arm across.

He rolls his eyes but can't help but smile at her comment.

"Shut up. Don't you have a Weapons Division to supervise, Julie?"

"Eh, I got Percy covering for me. They probably don't even notice I'm not there right now."

"Yeah, I doubt that." Kaden states flatly as opens a drawer and retrieves a fresh sheet of paper to redraw his design. "They're probably relieved that they don't have to worry about you trying to kill them with some kind of… Portable nuke, or whatever. That, and the fact that you constantly gawk at their designs over their shoulders."

"Hey, it's my job to make sure they don't make something that'll immediately blow up in a soldier's hands the moment they pull the trigger!" Julie defends herself. "If they didn't want that, they shouldn't have joined my team!"

"Julie, that's Percy's job. You're the one he and the QA team always have to double check for safety concerns. You just like being nosy."

"I do not!" She pouts, crosses her arms with a pout.

He looks up at her and raises an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Just two days ago you were gushing about some sketch you found in one of your engineers' trashcans."

She pauses for a moment, making Kaden grin.

"Well… I mean, it's not like I was actively searching through her trash! I was merely passing by her desk and happened to see it sticking out on top, and I got curious, so sue me! It looked cool!"

"Whatever you say, then." He says with a roll his eyes. "Now, unless you have anything else you wanna argue about, I've gotta get back to redrawing this door design. I'll see you and Mags at the appeal later."

She tilts her head as she points at it.

"Couldn't you just tape up the hole instead of starting over?" She says, waving her finger around.

"And give the Council another reason to get on my ass than the usual? No thank you."

She raises a finger while opening her mouth, but then shuts it as she shrugs, standing up.

"Alright, fair enough. I'll leave you to it, then. Doors are boring, anyway."

But as she turns around for the door, she glances over to the small holovision on the wall, kept on mute and turned onto the news like always. She's asked him before why he even bothers to even have a holovision in here if he only ever watches the snoozefest that was the news, and on silent, no less.

His response was always that it was the perfect thing to take his mind off a project if he needed to, just being able to look up and tune out for a minute. He chose the news because it was boring enough that it wouldn't completely take his full attention away from a project, and it didn't hurt to be informed.

A little strange, in her opinion, because her idea of taking a break was to try out some of the most dangerous prototype weapons out on the range, but to each their (boring) own.

But as she looks at the holovision, she sees that instead of covering some obscure daily holiday like 'Waffle Day' or a video that went viral a whole week ago, it was playing some actual exciting news; some Lombax kid getting in a chase with the City Guard—with live footage, too!

"Woah, hey, Kaden! Check it out!" She says to him, pointing to the holovision.

He glances back up from the beginnings of his new sketch to see a giant headline of 'LIVE: CITY GUARD CHASES UNIDENTIFIED LOMBAX INTRUDER'.

He stares at it for a few seconds before groaning, rubbing his eyes.

"This is exactly why I'm making this one-way door design." He complains. "I swear to the stars, if this doesn't work, I'll fill those damn exits myself."

"Who cares about a door? That kid's smoking the Guard!" Julie says eagerly, grabbing the chair from his desk to turn it towards the holovision before sitting down, entertained by the coverage.

Kaden removes his hand to see the footage of a Lombax flying through a road downtown on hoverboots with a guard running behind him, but very quickly losing ground. It's a little hard to make out his specific features with the camera so far away, but Julie seemed right about 'kid', as the Lombax looks young with his size. On his back, he could see a small silver hunk of metal, but it moves a little to show that it is in fact a small robot strapped to his back.

And amidst his chase, the kid glances up at the camera, and he proceeds to give it a wave, making Kaden roll his eyes.

"Well, yeah, it's easy to outrun someone when you got hoverboots, Julie." The footage pans up a bit to show the Guard setting up a defensive barricade on the road. "And now they're going to catch him, end of story. What an exciting chase."

"Ah, come on, but it was getting good." Julie complains with a slump. "I wish they sometimes just let people go to just—Wait!"

Before she gets up to leave, the Lombax kid suddenly jumps onto a hovercar in front of the barricade, then uses a building next to him as a kick pad to flip over said barricade, turning around to salute at the guards as he appears to laugh.

And at the maneuver, Kaden can't help but widen his eyes a bit, now growing a bit more intrigued with this chase.

"Wow, kid's got some moves, I'll give him that." He comments.

"Hey, almost like you on hoverboots, huh?" Julie asks playfully before returning her attention to the holovision, resting her chin on her hands propped on her knees.

Kaden doesn't disagree with her as he watches on. It's been a while since he's put on a pair himself, but he still remembers all the compliments he'd get from bystanders and colleagues whenever he did risky moves like that back in his prime.

But he especially remembered the reprimands he'd also get from Marie for endangering himself so recklessly, be it when they were dumb teenagers, or married spouses with her reminding him that he has a child that wants to be raised by a non-crippled father.

Memories like those always did bring a warm smile to his face, remembering the happy times he once had with his family a long time ago.

On the news, the kid suddenly stops, seeing another barricade being set up ahead. He looks around, and then climbs up a ladder and onto the roof of a building before stopping to talk with the robot on his back. It looked to be agitated with the aggressive movements of its hands as it converses with the Lombax, who appears unfazed by it.

Guards suddenly appear from the roof across them, pointing blasters as they look to be yelling at them. The kid doesn't stand down, though, instead just returning to talking to his robot until the guards begin to fire at him, causing him to start flying across rooftops to dodge them.

"Woah! This must be serious if the Guard has to shoot him!" Julie says in surprise. "What'd this kid do, huh?"

"Well, he doesn't look to be stopping anytime soon." Kaden says. "But I don't understand why he isn't just giving up. And why does he look so… Composed at being shot at?" He asks with a slight worry, seeing the way he seems to fly with a cool focus despite the bolts flying past him. "Everyone else gives up at the mere threat of being shot!"

"Hey, you saw the way he waved at the camera, he's probably just doing this for attention." She offers with a shrug. "Plus, everybody knows the City Guard only uses nonlethal rounds with their crappy guns, so he probably knows that he's going to get a bad burn at the worst. I've been shot with one of those in testing, and while it burns a bit, it's nothing!" She says, waving an arm across.

"I—Wait, is that how you got your burn?" He asks, pointing to his neck for emphasis.

"Nah. Rifle exploded in my hands, experimental plasma rounds, good times." She dismisses with a wave of her hand. "Now shush! I wanna see how this goes!"

She returns her attention back to the chase, but Kaden gives her a doubting look at her prior explanation for the kid's coolness.

Sure, everyone knew that those stunbolts don't kill, but everyone also knew that they hurt if you got hit. And if that kid was on the rooftops, the chance of getting stunned and falling off should make him second-guess what he was doing, too, but it doesn't appear to be the case as he starts to incorporate flips in his getaway. Something about it put Kaden off in an odd way.

Eventually, though, a guard appears in front of the kid, readying his OmniWrench for a swing.

Kaden cringes, bracing for impact, his training days back in the Praetorians having taught him firsthand how painful it is to get clocked by one of those, and this kid was about to fly into one! Honestly, he was starting to think this was a little extreme of the City Guard to hurt a dumb kid that badly.

But as he winces in anticipation when the guard begins to swing it, he watches in disbelief as the kid simply ducks under it without a second thought, even turning around to give him a quick salute before resuming his flight, leaving a stunned guard in his wake.

"Wha—How did he dodge that?!" Kaden says in awe. "Not even I managed to dodge hits that well for months in the Praetorians!"

"…Maybe he has training?" Julie proposes with a shrug. "But, yeah, that was sick!"

"Who would train someone that young, though?" He argues. "I was on the younger side of the Praetorian Guard, but I was still in my early twenties when I enlisted."

"Well, didn't you win a combat tournament when you were only sixteen?" Julie asks. "Maybe this kid's just as good as you?"

"If that was the case, I'd think we'd be able to recognize him. Pretty much everyone knew of me when I won the Agorian Gold, but I haven't heard anything about this kid." He retorts, gesturing to the holovision. "Do you recognize him?"

She leans forward a bit, squinting at the holovision, but then shakes her head.

"Maybe if we get a better look at his face, it could ring a bell?" She asks. "

He scoffs.

"We'll see if he even slows down enough to let the camera get closer, then."

They continue to watch this mystery Lombax kid continue to jump from rooftop to rooftop while dodging stunbolts from below. He soon reaches a dead end, however, where the commercial district ends and the industrial district begins, situated far below him. He stops in his tracks, and even more guards funnel out onto the roof, surrounding him. The kid looks over the edge, and after a brief moment, turns around while raising his arms, letting the guards move in to finally arrest him.

Kaden can't help but breathe a small sigh of relief. He didn't know a thing about this kid, but he was still getting anxious, just waiting for the kid to slip up and hurt himself, or worse. But at least now it's finally over—

"Holy shit!" Julie exclaims as the kid does a backflip off the roof.

"What the hell is wrong with him?!" Kaden also exclaims, widening his eyes. There was no walking away from a drop that high!

But before the kid could hit the pavement in an unfortunate mess, the robot on his back suddenly shifts into a heli pack, landing them both softly onto the pipes of the refinery buildings instead, to which he begins to grind after giving yet another wave to his pursuers.

"Goddamn, we're lucky this kid isn't trying to hurt anybody." Kaden says as he tries to swallow back down his heart from his throat. "I don't think the City Guard can catch him."

"Well, actually, they would if they weren't so damn lousy at shooting!" Julie says irritably, throwing her hands to holovision. "I'm rooting for this kid, honestly, but come ON! I can shoot better than that!"

"You're the head of a Weapons Development Division, Julie. I should damn well hope that you can shoot." Kaden states. "But they're just Lombaxes that do nothing but sit around and give out parking violations all day. This is the most action any of them has ever seen." He crosses his arms as he grumbles. "Which is another reason why exits in the walls are idiotic since they're the only ones who guard them, but whatever."

"Wait, look!"

The Lombax kid, in the middle of laughing at the guards shooting at him, turns to realize he's grinding straight into a dead-end. He panics, and jumps off the pipes, aided once more by the Heli Pack. He looks around him and sees no escape with the mob of guards blocking him from his only exit.

He hangs his head down for a moment, and slowly kneels, hands in the air, finally surrendering for good.

"Aw man, I was hoping he'd get away." Julie says with disappointment in her tone. "I wanted to see what else he could do."

Kaden shakes his head. He was uneased and anxious by the whole thing, watching a kid get shot at and almost killing himself, but he couldn't expect anything less from Julie.

"At least we can see if we can recognize this kid." He mutters.

The camera then zooms onto the kid's face, showing an expression of annoyance at getting arrested. He glances over, and upon seeing the camera he gives it a smile and a wink.

But as Kaden rolls his eyes at the telltale cockiness of teenage belief that you are immortal that he himself experienced full-force, Julie instead leans forward, hand on her chin as she squints between the holovision and Kaden.

"You know…" She mutters curiously. "This might sound crazy, but… That kid is, like, a spitting image of you. Well, I mean, if you were, like, way younger, at least. But still."

He shoots her a look, unsure if that was some kind of backhanded jab at his age, but as he too looks at the image of the Lombax, now posted on the side of the screen along with the live footage… He can't help but agree with her. It was uncanny, even.

It sent a strange chill down his spine.

"Hey, let's turn the volume up." Julie suggests. "I think the camera's close enough to pick up on their conversation now."

Kaden snaps out of his gazing at the picture, trying to pinpoint this odd feeling he got from it to instead look back down at his desk. He grabs the remote for the holovision to unmute it as the Guards walk up to the kid, blasters still raised.

"—Not make any sudden movements." A guard says to him.

"Don't worry, I'm done running." The kid reassures him, still kneeling with his hands in the air, one of which he uses to extend a pinky. "Pinky promise."

"Damn, he even kinda sounds like you." Julie mutters.

"Shh." Kaden shushes her, wanting to hear as much as he can about this strange Lombax.

Just what the hell was this feeling, looking at him?

The guards walk up to him, however, and grab his arms before placing them in cuffs.

"Ah, hey, watch it! Those are tight!" The kid complains to them.

One guard takes then grabs the robot off his back, who does not protest, only giving a look of disgruntlement as he crosses his arms, glaring at the Lombax. The guard then produces a tool and sticks it into his back, making him go limp as his eyes close.

The kid immediately tries to get up, yanking his arms, but is held down by two more guards. "Hey, what did you do to Clank?!" He yells at the guard. "I swear to the stars that if you hurt him, I WILL—"

"Relax, kid, he's just deactivated as per procedure." She reassures him. "We'll wake him up back at the station, after we're finished with you."

"He'd better be alright, or I'll swear I'll—"

"Wait, what's this?" Another guard asks as he takes a device from his belt.

The kid pauses in his rant, looking to the device, then back up at the guard, with a confused look.

"Uh, it's my Arsenal Retrieval Tool. Duh."

"And a nice one at that." Julie says, gawking at it. "How did he manage to afford one of those!"

"Really?" Kaden asks as he looks at her quizzically. "That's the question you ask, and not 'why does a kid even have an Arsenal Retrieval Tool?'"

"Shut up!"

"Well, let's see what you've got, then." The guard gruffly says as he looks at the holographic display screen, to which his jaw drops and his eyes widen. "What the—Just how many guns do you OWN?!"

"I've honestly lost count at this point." The kid tells him, but unable to suppress a grin. "I think a few hundred is the ballpark."

"Hundred?!" Both Kaden and Julie repeat.

"I so need to meet this kid!" She says with a smile.

"Julie!" Kaden scolds her. "Wrong priorities, here!"

"I've only ever heard of some of these, just where'd you—Wait, what?"

He taps onto it, and immediately, Kaden and Julie gasp in shock as their eyes widen, leaning forward upon witnessing what manifested from the device and into the guard's hand.

"…Is… Is that…?" Kaden breathes.

"Just what is this?" The guard demands as he holds it up to the kid.

"Are you serious? It should've been labeled in there. Can't you read?"

"I need you to confirm or deny what this is, kid." He reiterates harshly.

He looks at him angrily.

"I'm not a kid! I'm TWENTY, for crying out loud!" He yells. "Just because I'm on the shorter side doesn't mean you guys get to disrespect me, you—"

"Answer the question!" The guard cuts him off, shoving the device in front of his face.

The kid looks at him in disbelief and irritation but groans loudly as he rolls his eyes.

"It's a Dimensionator." He utters slowly and clearly. "There, you happy? Now will you guys start believing me?"

The guards holding him suddenly yank him up and start dragging him away at his protest, and the guard holding said device holsters it back into the Arsenal.

But as he does so, he suddenly notices the camera, turning directly to the camera watching them, and begins to walk over with a frown.

"Shut it off, now! By order of the City—"

The feed then cuts to a technical difficulties splash, before it hurriedly cuts once more to the typical news anchors of the program, who begin to recap what has transpired to viewers just tuning in.

However, Julie ignores them as she slowly looks back over to Kaden, who sits frozen in shock as he stares at the screen. He barely breathes. She couldn't see it, but she knew that he was pale underneath his golden fur. He looked like he had just seen a ghost…

Which he did.

Julie knew that he realized what she did as well.

This mystery Lombax has appeared out of nowhere, who may as well be Kaden's doppelganger with all the similarities between them, even right down to the voice. He somehow has a Dimensionator, something that shouldn't even exist in this dimension with the Council's ban, and appeared oblivious to it.

But the final nail in the coffin was what he said to that guard when he called him a kid.

He said he was twenty. The exact same age as Kipler would be today. Just as Kaden was lamenting just five minutes ago, saying that if he ever saw his son out on the street, he wouldn't be able to recognize him.

Kaden manages to tear his gaze away from the holovision as he slowly and silently grabs the remote to shut it off, bathing the room in a tense silence except for his heavy, shaky breathing, tightly gripping the edges of his desk, almost as if he'd fall over if he didn't.

He stares down at his desk into empty space, eyes wide, leaving Julie to only guess what he may be thinking, and her not daring to speak at all, almost scared to voice it out loud.

But then, after a solid minute of silence, he looks back up to her, staring right into her eyes as his own begin to water, a tear rolling down his cheek.

"Is… Is this really happening?" He whispers. "J-Julie, D-Did… Did I just see…"

Julie doesn't say anything at first, her mouth suddenly gone dry, but she takes an uneasy swallow before opening her mouth with the tiniest of nods, speaking in a careful, measured tone.

"I… I think we just watched Kipler get arrested by the City Guard, Kaden."

Not going to lie, I honestly kinda don't like this chapter for how expository and 'tell don't show' this feels, but unfortunately it was the best way I could think of to explain why Kaden never managed to save Ratchet for twenty years, lmao. Plus, of course, action, yuck.

However, it's ironic because it actually has one of my most favorite chapter names, being 'Breaking News', and the description simply being: "Both literally, and emotionally." I'm proud of that, dammit.