Before the War

Chaos and Confessions

"You want me to let them run off?"

He could detect the tone of the sentence was incredulous to say the least, and he typed back a response rapidly.

"They will find the pieces much faster if you are not there," he replied. "If you put the tracker on them like you were supposed to, it shouldn't take too long to find them again."

He hit send and the response was close to instantaneous.

"So what am I supposed to do in the meantime?" Percy replied, the sharpness in every letter and the man cocked an eyebrow.

"Be patient. I'm sure you can find other jobs in Solace to do in the meantime," he replied before he hit send and shut off the ECHO comm.

He closed his eyes and rubbed them tiredly as he sighed.

He knew he couldn't afford to be wasting money like this, not when the company was only starting out. The accountants were already sending him reports insisting that he needed to start selling more products or the company would fall apart before it had even made a name for itself.

"It'll all work out," a cool voice declared pleasantly. He opened his eyes as a young woman stood in front of him, her hair plaited on one side of her head.

"You keep saying that and yet..." the man began before he gave a small groan of frustration.

She perched on the edge of his desk, crossing her legs as she turned to face him and for a moment he was struck at how young she looked. He sometimes forgot she was barely in her twenties, mostly due to the fact she possessed a knowledge and wisdom beyond that of any twenty-two he had met in the past decade.

Then again, her being an AI may have had something to do with that.

He felt a strange prickle by his port, looking down to see her hand was resting on his metal one before she tried to squeeze it, causing the hand to contract a little as her fingers rested on the back of his hand.

"It will all work out," she reassured him, a small smile on her lips. "I can promise you that. You just have to trust me."

He wished he had her confidence.

Fiona found the piece within hours of them leaving Solace, grinning to herself as she placed it with the others.

Rhys shot her a cold look and she just rolled her eyes as she settled in the front seat of the car. She booted up the ECHO, sending Loader Bot a quick message about them going to find the final piece, feeling Rhys' eyes digging into the back of her head.

She elected to ignore it, sitting back as she waited for Loader Bot to respond, tapping her fingertips against the side of the car as she could practically hear Rhys stewing. She sighed before she turned on the radio, looking for a decent station before her ears caught a familiar tune.

It played for a few moments before Rhys spoke.

"So was it your sister who taught you that move?" Rhys asked sourly and Fiona laughed a little.

"I taught her, actually," Fiona admitted as she tapped her fingertips against the steering wheel. "She just ended up being better at it then me."

"You...you didn't need to do that, you know," Rhys retorted and she caught his eyes in the rear view mirror for a moment, and she was a little stunned to see he looked almost...hurt, by it.

"Don't take it too personally, Hyperion," she replied as the song continued to play.

"I thought we were starting to get past this whole thing..." Rhys replied gently.