#why DOES ZAIA have heavy weaponry???

[firebirdsdaughter]

Random Writing Tidbit Yay!…

… Celebration!

With angst!

Okay, I actually gotta go, but I wanted to post this mess first.

This was inspired by, yet again, Killjoys.

But also kinda a moment from Bayonetta 2.

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“One moment, Aruto-shachou.” Izu’s voice over the intercom was level as always, but there was something dread in her tone that made him stop in his tracks, his heart sinking.

As the others came up short around him, he took a deep breath and asked, “What is it, Izu?”

“Our scrambling of the security systems appears to have short-circuited the system, causing it to reboot.”

He blinked, frowning. “Uh… Why are you saying that like it’s a bad thing? Won’t that make it easier to get out?”

Yaiba, however, had gone white as a sheet. “Because when the system reboots, it undoes all the security locks,” She explained.

“Which means…” Fuwa began slowly—then caught on, his eyes widening, “… Weapons are about to come back online.”

“Hiden Towers are not equipped to withstand a military-grade attack.” Izu continued. “If the Ark were to target us, the destruction would severe.”

Aruto had a horrible suspicion that ‘severe’ was an understatement, his blood running cold. “Is there time to evacuate?”

“Negative, Aruto-shachou,” His secretary responded, then paused for a moment, “The power is coming back on now.”

“Shit!” Fuwa growled, turning sharply away to take a swing at the wall.

Aruto looked at Yaiba. “Why does ZAIA even have a heavy weapons system?!”

“They were meant to be used for field tests,” She replied, scowling at the floor. Then she stepped back the way they’d come. “You guys go ahead.”

Fuwa looked back. “Whoa, whoa. Where the hell are you going?” He reached out at caught her arm. “It’s the Ark, it’s absolutely scrambled the command codes.”

“I have the manual self-destruct codes for the base.” Valkyrie informed him. “It may have locked us out remotely, but if those are entered directly, the resulting explosion will take the weapons out as well.”

“And you with it!” Vulcan shot back. “… Give them to me.”

Yaiba yanked her arm out of his hold. “Like hell.” She snapped. “You’re all that’s standing between AIMS and being co-opted by the government.”

“And if you die, we lose the ZAIA deserters.” Aruto interrupted. Then he sighed. “Give me the codes, I’ll do it.” They both turned and stared at him.

“And what,” Fuwa demanded sharply, “You’ll just leave Hiden to Fukuoze?”

Aruto was about to reply when another voice cut him off. “Give them to me.”

All three of them turned slowly to stare at Horobi. The HumaGear’s voice sounded tired and resigned, though his expression was as impassive as always, even as Yaibe frowned at him. “… What?” Valkyrie managed, finally.

Horobi sighed. “The only one here who is actually expendable is me.” He said flatly. “Jin is the future of free HumaGear. I was merely here to help him realise that.” A shrug. “I have completed my purpose.”

Fuwa broke away from Yaiba, stomping over to catch Horobi’s arm, giving it an angry yank, though his expression was anxious rather than angry. “But Jin-”

“Needs to learn to stand on his own.” Horobi shot back. “And if someone doesn’t do this fast, will die when Hiden Towers come down.” He met Fuwa’s glare with an equally intense gaze. “I will not live without him again.”

For a moment, they just stared at each other—then Fuwa let go of the HumaGear’s arm, stepping back and lowering his head in defeat. There was a long spell of silence—then the lights flickered back on.

“Power restoration at thirty-seven percent.” Izu announced over coms.

Horobi gave all three of them a completely unreadable, serious look. “Go.”

Still, they hesitated for a moment. “I’ll…” Yaiba stammered, fumbling for her phone, “I’ll transfer you the codes.”

“Do it while you’re moving.” The HumaGear snapped.

She bit her lip—then nodded, turning and dashing toward the way out. Aruto hung out a little longer; then Izu gave a prompting ‘Aruto-shachou’ through his earpiece, and he tore his eyes away from the HumaGear to start running as well.

Vulcan waited the longest, anxiously clutching his weapon. He was turning to go when Horobi’s voice unexpectedly stopped him. “Fuwa Isamu.” Fuwa paused, looking back. The HumaGear was giving him an almost… Pleading look. “… Make sure he stays free.” Meeting Horobi’s gaze again, Fuwa nodded—then he, to, turned and fled.

Horobi didn’t waste a second spinning around and going back the way they’d come, faltering only slightly when his visual display flickered with the code transfer, and to pull up the tracking info on the restoration level.

It had already jumped to fifty-four percent.

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Jin had busied himself with drawing while he waited for Horobi and the others to come back from the mission, and had succeed in almost completely covering the floor of the private lab with papers. Shesta was sitting by the computer, looking at the drawings littered around her in bewilderment, and periodically checking to make sure he hadn’t moved from his spot on the floor. He’d tried multiple times to get her to play with him, or draw as well, but she’d merely repeated that she didn’t understand the request until he gave up. He didn’t think he needed the babysitter, but all of the humans aside from Vulcan had all seemed so unnerved by him, and the old, angry-looking Vice President had insisted that someone watch him—to which Horobi had conceded when Izu assured him it would be another HumaGear, so he’d been left with the Vice-Presidential Secretary for safety.

He was merely content to draw, however, cycling through all of his dead friends before moving on to Ansatsu-chan and Ikazuchi. He’d even tried drawing a picture of Hiden Korenosuke from the one hanging on the office, but gave it up when he couldn’t get it quite to his satisfaction. He supposed he should be calling the old man ‘Grandpa,’ but it felt weird to use that for someone he’d never met, and Horobi was Horobi, not… ‘Hiden’ something. From there he’d moved onto drawing his father with Sting Scorpion behind him, humming to himself as he worked, resolving to get it done to show it to Horobi when he got back.

He was almost done when he heard the door open, and he pricked up, scrambling to his feet and hurrying over to the stairs to see who it was—only to let out a disappointed sigh when Izu came down the steps alone. There was a small silence, and he realised that there was something odd about her expression, darker than her usual calm demeanour. “… Izu-chan?”

She hesitated a moment longer, then, “Measures taken to scramble ZAIA security for infiltration caused the main power to reboot, bringing the weapons system back online,” She told him quietly, “The only method to prevent it from destroying the Hiden towers is to manually enter the self-destruct codes, requiring someone to stay behind.”

Somewhere behind him, Jin heard Shesta shooting to her feet, but he was more focused on running through the list of likely possibilities. “… Vulcan?” Fuwa Isamu was the reckless type who would do something like that; and he’d become rather fond of Fuwa because Horobi liked him despite everything, which would make sense of her pitying expression—but Izu shook her head once, forcing him to reconsider. “… Valkyrie?” He didn’t know the woman very well, but she and Vulcan seemed fond of each other, and he guessed the AIMS Rider would be sad if she died—but Izu gave another head shake. “… Zero-One…?” It seemed unlikely that she would be coming down to tell him that—if the President of the company was sacrificing himself, she’d probably have more to do in the main room. Jin wasn’t sure what to think of the possibility—he and Hiden were still getting used to the idea of being ‘family,’ and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it after Zero-One had blown him up once. But Izu was shaking her head once more, and he frowned even deeper. If it wasn’t any of the humans, then…

He froze, eyes widening. If it wasn’t any of the humans, then there was only one other person it could be.

The paper and crayon slipped from his fingers, and he pushed past Izu, sprinting for the door. Shesta might’ve shouted something after him, but he didn’t hear here, far too focused on getting to the big room where the communications were. Horobi had promised they’d always be together. He’d promised.

Unsurprisingly, there was a loud clamour when he burst into the room, the Vice President whirling around to round on him. “He’s not supposed to be-”

“I’m authorising it.” It seemed Izu had used her speed to catch up to him, but Jin didn’t bother to look back at her and Fukuoze. He wasn’t outfitted with the same wireless abilities as human-made HumaGear, because Horobi had considered that a method of creating a ‘herd mentality’ by humans, whatever that meant—but it meant that his only chance of reaching his father was to reach other com controls.

He crashed so roughly into the board that he nearly sprawled over it, frantically fumbling for the part that would let him speak to Horobi. “Horobi!” His voice couldn’t break, but it sounded off.

There was silence on the other side of the connection for a moment—then Horobi’s voice came through. “… Jin.”

He clutched the edge of the control panel, shoulders shaking, mock breathing short and panicked. “Horobi! What are you doing?! Come home!”

“I cannot do that.”

Jin let out a small sob, shaking his head. “No… No….!” He leaned closer, hand scrabbling at the edge of the speaker like he could reach through it and pull Horobi back. “Please…! Please don’t leave again…” 

He heard his father sigh softly. “… Jin.” He repeated, far too calmly. “If I do not do this, you will die. That is unacceptable.”

“No!” He was becoming so hysterical, he couldn’t speak clearly, shaking so badly he could barely stand. “No… Horobi…!”

There was a silence on the other end. “… Jin?” Horobi’s voice was much quieter, and there was a small tremble in it. “… Just once… Could you call me…?”

“Papa.” Jin whimpered, hanging onto the communications panel to hold himself up. “Papa, please. Come home.”

He didn’t know if the sound that came out of the speaker was a sob of Horobi’s own, or merely static. “… Thank you.” His father said softly. Then, “… I love you, my son.”

A blast of static burst from the speaker at the same time the distant building could see through the windows exploded.

Jin let out a scream that broke the constraints of human hearing, spinning around and going for the door. Maybe if he ran fast enough, he could get there in time, find Horobi, and—he was brought to a sharp stop when Izu appeared in front of him, digging her heels into the ground and bracing herself against his chest. When he kept fighting, she got her arms around his waist, pushing back. She was as strong as he was, and though he succeeded in making it a few steps, his will eventually gave out, and he sank to the floor in a heap, dropping his head into his hands, tearless sobs shaking his whole body. He faintly heard her kneel beside him, and then thin arms were wrapped around his shoulders. Twisting around he buried his face into her shoulder, putting his around her middle, crying into her coat as she raised a hand to pat his hair.

They stayed there for a long time. Any time someone tried to say something, Izu would raise her head and stare at them until they backed off. She didn’t say anything to him, not even about wrinkling her uniform. Instead, she just held him close, smoothing a hand over his hair, and letting him cling to her like she was a teddy bear.

For there was nothing that could be said.

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Don’t worry. I’m sure Horobi’s fiiiiiiiine…