Rex just barely managed to make his retreat, using his remote to call to the Rexcelsior to beam him up and vanishing into thin air a mere moment before Lucy's heart bomb exploded where he'd been standing. He collapsed into the captain's chair and took a moment to simply breathe. That had been close; too close. He'd... almost forgotten how vicious Lucy could be in a fight, it had been so long since he'd seen her do it. He tried to suppress the little flutter it had caused.
With shaking hands he reached for the ship's controls, dialing back to when he first broke the timeline.
He needed to think. Clearly his interference had interrupted whatever spell his friends had been placed under before, allowing them to come looking for his past self. Maybe... maybe they hadn't simply abandoned him, in his original timeline. Maybe he'd been right about the brainwashing. Old doubts welled up inside him again. He should have known better than to think Lucy would have ever given up on him.
Rex swallowed down bile at the guilt that gnawed away at him. He'd spent so long hating the people he'd been closest to, and to find out they hadn't stopped caring- not on their own, at least...
He jerked his head up as Ripley chirred worry at him, and roughly wiped away his tears. She gave him a reproving look and grunted, lowering her head to nudge him. "I'm not crying," he huffed at her. "Just got something in my eye..." She snorted at his response, and nudged him again, more gently this time. "Alright, alright, I got the hint," he sighed, hugging her head. "Ripley, do you think I might've been wrong...?" She lifted a claw, waggling it from side to side in a familiar gesture.
Rex chuckled to himself. His raptors were so smart. They could get their point across even without the translator. "Yeah, I think you're right. We're gonna try it a little differently this time- I might've gotten in over my head. Just a little." He grinned as she rolled her eyes at him, but his mirth was quick to fall away again. "Lucy came back for him- me- us? Which makes me wonder..." Ripley pulled back to tilt her head at him. "We were the very best friends once, something had to have happened to make her forget, to make them all forget. I need to find out what. I think we're gonna spend this trip doing some recon." Ripley nodded in approval.