"Uhm, Commander X?" The faerie-ploid is nowhere near her normally bright self, nervous-looking with a worried Igniculus at her side.
It’s a tired-looking X who looks up at Aurora’s approach, and while he offers a smile for the trainee, it’s strained and doesn’t quite meet his eyes.
“Aurora, wasn’t it? Did you need something?”
It’s rare that he’s in HQ for very long, these days. With the steady increase in Maverick activity and the growing signs of another Outbreak upon them, the last active immune hunter is being run ragged trying to keep everything together.
The first responders in a containment breach were easily dealt with by Commander X - he didn’t want to hurt them, really, since they were just doing what they were told in most cases, but this was for Zero and some treatment couldn’t be tolerated.
Maybe after this was over he would resign his position, take up a navigation or political one that would let him have more influence with the council. But for now he had to make sure Zero and the little trainee both got out. And that, unfortunately, meant using potentially lethal force. It didn’t sit right with him, but neither did what had been done to Zero - and in the face of that, his own actions were what was necessary.
Zero, meanwhile, still appeared unresponsive as the stasis began to deactivate. Even as her systems slowly powered online again, her gaze remained blank, and her awareness negligible. Except… she could see everything.
Through eyes not her own, through a sense that wasn’t really sight but rather a deep, code-level networking with data and processors, she could sense friend and foe alike.
Really, she could pick up so much more? Why bother with that trapped, blind and motionless chassis when she could spread and divide and be everywhere at once, she could fight and destroy and conquer all in the name of—
“…No.” The word was barely audible, forced out past still-unresponsive systems, but grew louder with another repetition. “No.” And again, “No,” before the blonde moved, ripping herself free from cables and sensors alike in one vicious attack.
Her optics still eerily blank, she shot forward and grabbed Aurora around the waist as viruses surged forward to the first responding team. A jump this time and she had done the same with X, throwing the blue-armored android over her shoulder and diving in the direction of a few floating viruses, disappearing into the rift they had seen and marked out for her.
Once they were through, both grabbed targets were dropped unceremoniously to the ground as Zero herself fell to her knees and groaned.
Aurora had no expected to be unceremoniously grabbed and toted like so much luggage, brown eyes wide and the girl glowing a bit as her little support unit zoomed along behind them to catch up. He darted through as the pair were dropped, Aurora yelping at the sudden impact.
“Is...is the rift closed?!” She stumbled to her feet, wanting to make sure they weren’t going to be followed. The LAST thing they needed was followed!