chapter 3

For almost a whole day after that, things started to seem mostly normal. For the morning, everything was pretty much routine: people going on patrol while we got ready for school. I was able to put the metallic mystery man out of my mind long enough to focus on classes. But when we got back from school, things started to go down pretty quickly.

One step in and I could tell that something was wrong. It was like the atmosphere around the place had changed. The way people were moving around, it felt tense and rushed.

"What's happened?" I asked one of them as they were going by.

He looked at me not as if he was surprised I knew something had happened but like he was considering whether or not I should know exactly what had happened.

"There was an attack." He said, probably deciding that I would find out sooner or later anyway. "People were hurt."

Dad.

He didn't need to tell me any more. I knew where the medical bay was from being taken there once or twice, so I ran off in that direction.

When I got there however, I saw my dad sitting perfectly fine by a patient's bed-side. He must have heard me coming because he was looking at the doorway when I arrived. He stood up when he saw me. I breathed a sigh of relief and went to him. "I heard…someone was hurt. I thought…"

He put his arms around me, silencing my fears. "I'm fine." He whispered. "At least for now."

I was so focused on him, it was a while until I noticed the patient in the bed he was sat by. Sky. He lay unconscious, hooked up to an I.V on his bare arm and a cover pulled up to his chest.

"What happened?"

"Ambush."

I hadn't even realised both Jay and Maggie were there with us until they spoke.

"On a regular patrol. When he didn't come back, Brain and Cid went looking for him. They ended up trying to look for the one that did this but…" she indicated two other beds with two other figures lay semi-conscious and also hooked up to drips. I leaned more into my father and in response he held me tighter.

"So what happens now?" I heard Zees voice before I saw her and James in the doorway by Jay after I detached myself from my father.

"Hunt down that metal monster and bring him to justice." He told them.

"Even you know it's never as simple as that." James said, giving Jay a half playful-half disciplinary bash on the shoulder.

"One thing we should do is make sure the rest of us stay together. No one else should go anywhere alone. Maybe if there's more of us…"

"Two of us still had the same outcome as one. More won't help."

"Well we can't just wait around for the next attack."

"We can't stay holed up in here the whole time either…"

It was rare that James and Zee properly argued. In a way, they were a lot like me and Jay: grown up together as street orphans until dad took them in.

I never liked it when people argue so I attempted to block my ears until I heard my father speak.

"No." The word was sharp. Final. This was his commanding voice. "I'll go after him myself."

I stared at him. "But, dad…"

"I'm the one he's really after. I'm the one he has history with and I know his ways. It has to be me."

No one spoke. I swallowed, looking at the floor and folding my arms. I didn't look up again until I felt father's fingers brush my check. "You'll be ok."

(Jay's pov)

I had to admit, even I found it a little disturbing to know there was someone out there who could do something like this to people like them. I wasn't sure how I felt about the commander going after that person by himself. Was I reassured or concerned? Well if I was worried, it was entirely for Thias sake. Might not like him much but she loved him more than anything and she meant everything to both of us.

And the relief would be more out of envy. I was no fool, I knew how good he was on the battlefield, I'd seen it first hand. And I wished I could be like that.

But then again, this mystery Metoid had taken out three of our best people…

Automatically, my body has taken back to the highest point of Nebulas Rise where I sat with these thoughts going around in my head.

I wasn't sketching this time because I couldn't focus enough. Besides, I kind of wanted to think about this.

He'd said they had history. I wonder what that was about.

A buzz from my phone brought me out of my thoughts. I took it out and was surprised to see it was from the group chat I shared with Tiana and Thia.

The message was from Tiana and it was a link with the caption 'watching this kinda made me think of you'

The link was to some sort of animated show, likely something she'd looked at from her recent study of animation. I thought about staying up here and watching it if it was better to go back inside and watch it.

As it happened, going inside was definitely the right choice because Thia was already casting it in the cafeteria when I got there. She seemed pretty happy with it at the time, looking at it with a wide grin. "Is that David Tennant?!" She exclaimed, likely talking about one of the voice actors. An up-sides of having noise-sensitivity is that it makes you very good at recognising sounds - and voices. "Please tell me that's David Tennant."

"It's David Tennant." I said, heading to the kitchen.

She gave me a look. "Without lying."

"You don't know it's a lie."

"I don't know if it's true either." She came towards the kitchen and leaned her hands against the counter. "And neither do you."

I smirked and went to join her, bringing food for us to eat while watching.

After a while, Tiana messaged us again.

Tiana:

you like?

Thia:

eh. No context: who are the union, why are they fighting and what the hell happened during that 4 year time skip 🤷🏼‍♀️

Tiana:

sure hope you guys aren't still at it after 4 years

You:

honestly wouldn't be surprised if we were

Before that could turn into a debate between me and the two sisters, I decided it was time to go to bed.

It was rare that I went to bed before Sam so I was surprised to find our room empty when I got there. Though when I looked at the time, it made more sense. Maybe I should stay up a bit longer. But hay, I'm here now. Perhaps I'll just do something to wait for him. So I lay in bed and played a mobile game and when Sam did return we played multiplayer until we got too tired to carry on properly and both went to bed.

Sam went to sleep pretty quickly but once I was effectively alone and undistracted, the thoughts I'd had on the roof came back into my head.

He was supposed to be leaving first thing in the morning but as we were about to go to school I saw him talking with Thia at the entrance. He was on his knees with both hands on her shoulders. I felt that familiar feeling I got whenever I saw those two together but it was a bit different this time. There was worry there between them. Fear. Whatever it was, it softened the feeling inside me. Unbidden I started to wonder what it would be like if we didn't have him.

I might not like him much but I knew how important he was and not just to my Thia. Not even just to everyone at Nebulas Rise. The whole town needed him. And I wasn't so much of a selfish bastard as to want him gone just for my own benefit if it meant the devastating of everyone else.

This planet needed him.

Thia needed him.

I didn't ask what he was talking to her about. Some things I knew, however much it infuriated me, were personally between those two, so I let it be. I didn't want to jeopardise anything by sticking my head in where it shouldn't be.

At school, even JJ seemed to realise she needed space, as for once he was keeping his distance. (I had to admit, that made me smirk.) The four of us still stuck together though. Still talked to each other, just not about anything that had happened within the last 24 hours. More just our usual chit-chat about shows we watched and games we played. This seemed to please her. She smiled and played and teased, like her ordinary self again.