-Ze-

"Or... is it Steven? Do you... remember?" Gassy asks very cautiously and seems to be extremely cautious without even touching me. I stare at him silently for a while still judging in my head which choice I should make and how I should react. But... I think it's already too late to fake attack him and act like a fuck. I have to trust him, not like he trusted me much. Remembering and still being bitter about just a second ago causes me to avoid his eyes feeling like I saw something I probably shouldn't have. I have no choice, maybe I can play off not a Hidden but definitely not with IRIS. Which... is actually true so it should work. "Ze...? Ze, did you hear me?" Gassy asks and grabs a hold of my shoulder after assuming I won't do anything from the lack of doing shit up until now. I sigh and shake my head, feeling a bit depressed for now good reason and a bit bitter from him saying he was "weak" right now. He almost gave in to the brat over me, I'm a bit salty about it, of course I am. Gassy steps closer to me shocking me with the sudden proximity and quickly back off.

He stated at me blankly in complete confusion and several things to through my mind. I should be able to trust him, but somehow I'm more worried about him. Right now he's completely oblivious and doesn't know shit, but if he knows and Minx finds out he knows... she already killed one person I cared about deeply. But if I run away right now he'll tell Diction and they'll assume I had something to do with the two other events happening on base right now making me even more guilty. Glancing around I sigh internally and pull a knife out of my pocket. It's the easiest method I can find to get out of this situation. He doesn't move an inch as I gave the blade a mere centimeter in front of his neck and push him against the wall beside me. I don't have any strength compared to him but if I have this surprise on him I should be fine as long as he doesn't turn on me and outplays me. I just have to hold off until Chilled is here and I could run. Once he gets here I'll run acting as if I'm afraid of more people against me and he'll probably have fun playing it off. I guess he doesn't technically need to be with Ohm and me when we escape so I'll just tell him about the change of plans.

"Don't tell anyone I was here or I will-" I stop as soon as I see his expression that breaks my heart. He looks... upset, disappointed, depressed, crushed. Immediately the knife in my hand lowers and I feel discouraged to continue with this. He isn't even doing anything, not even right now while he has the perfect opportunity to get out of my pathetic hold. I... really hate myself right now. Why am I even doing this? Shouldn't I just trust him? Isn't that what this is all about...? ...Fuck that. He doesn't trust me, he really thinks that I'm some sort of evil and forgetful person. If he doesn't trust me and didn't believe me when I told him I'd try my hardest.... Suddenly a wave of lightheadedness hits me causing the knife to drop out of my hand and I immediately step back in temporary shock. A familiar tight and cold sensation hits my chest cause the air in my lungs seem useless as I pant for air and stumble backwards. I was... becoming hateful, it triggered something in me. Every Time I became the tiniest bit hateful or stressed this happens... I really should have avoided Gassy.

"Ze, you motherfucker," Gassy suddenly shouts and grabs a hold of me, pulling me towards him forcefully and enveloping me in his warmth that... strangely makes the tightness in my chest relieve. "Don't you fucking die on me now. You're so strong-willed and a powerful existence to me, please don't fucking leave me alone. You said you'd try your best but from what I see you didn't try at all shit head," Gassy says with his arms wrapped around me so forcefully I feel like I'm going to bruise. Staring at the man who is clinging desperately onto me right now I can't help but roll my eyes. I tried, I'm just keeping it a secret from him that I cared so much to try to the point of being in constant torture attempting to keep him in my memory. I'm feeling completely fine right now compared to literally just a second ago. Only this man, only this man could just completely take away my anger and stress by shouting insults at me.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. How did you find out about that anyways?" I ask and he immediately pulls away and meets my eyes before glaring and pushing me away suddenly, a lot more rough than just a second ago when he was being all lovey and holding onto me. This guy, I forget he can change his emotions so quickly. I kind of missed it.

"Fucker, you remember everything. Why the fuck did you-... why the fucking knife? Completely unnecessary Ze. And just dropping off Elaine and running off? You're just trying to give me an anxiety attack at this rate," Gassy complains, obviously being salty over my cold actions. I laugh at this childish behavior and pick up the knife off the floor, the same one Leo gave me a long time ago. I'm honestly surprised it lasted this long.

"I'm sorry, I had to play you along. You are with the people who think I'm a murderer, are you not?" I question and surprisingly he immediately turns around to me with an extremely pissed off expression.

"You fucking thought I'd sell you out?! Fucking... Jesus, Ze. Did you forget who I am?" Gassy snaps seeming legitimately angry. It's been a while since I've seen this legitimate angry face, where he's actually on the verge of shouting he'll break up with me. It's not like it's my fault, I was thinking of his safety. Pouting I look away from his eyes feeling guilty but also too stubborn to admit it.

"I didn't. But if it came out even a little there is a traitor in here who'll hurt you," I complain and wait a couple of seconds before turning to him. "And how do you expect me to trust you when you fucking bullshitted me when you said you trusted me? I saw you nearly cave in to the new researcher, so just any cute researcher will bend you, huh?" Alright, a lot of jealousy was just revealed to him but I can't help it. I'm still a bit pissed about that so he's not the only one with a reason to be pissed. There is a moment of silence before he suddenly laughs and I pout, upset at the laughter but I don't brush him off when he walks towards me and lays his hand on my shoulder.

"We both have trust issues. What do you fucking expect with the fucked up shit we've been through?" Gassy asks and I frown but sigh, unable to refuse or deny that I have trust issues. Considering I spent most of my career with Chilled... fuck trust, I always have to look after my own back. Before I can say anything in return I'm suddenly pulled to the bigger man's hold once again only this time it's a lot calmer and loving. "I'm sorry for doubting you. But fuck you, Ze. Do you know how fucking worried I was for you? Do you know how I felt when I was told you may already be dead with the time limit on your head? Fuck, this wasn't supposed to be how it'd go when you came back." I stay silent but slowly move my arms up behind his back as well, holding him closely to me. I'll be honest, I've imagined what would happen when I came back. Very often in the Hidden base I'd blank out just imagining it, his look of shock but the immediate happiness and loving expression it'll change into for me. Or if he was home with Elaine I'd suddenly knock on the front door and he'd immediately hug me the moment he sees me at the door. Whatever my imagination was, it was all eliminated out of possibilities the moment Leo died.

"Ze, you need to get the hell out of here," I suddenly hear Chilled's voice and instantly feel shock and embarrassment realizing he must be at the door right now. "Finish your goodbyes and get out here." I hesitate at the voice and immediately Chilled snaps at me again. "Finish the fuck up Ze! Tom is running out of time and Smarty is on the verge of getting his ass thrown in jail just from annoying them." I flinch at the sudden urgency and Gassy notices this, pulling back and looking at me curiously.

"I... I'm sorry Gassy, I need to go. Like right now. I... I'll see you again. I promise," I say quickly and trying to pull away from him but his hands have a hold of my arms holding me slightly close to him.

"I'm supposed to believe that shit? How much longer do you have?" I flinch at the mention of my lack of time and his grasp on me only tightens when I say nothing in return. "I know Ze, I know this may be the last time I see you like this so just fucking tell me." Sighing, I nod, still averting his eyes and instead looking at the duffle bag strung around my shoulder.

"Around a month or so, a bit less now. It would have been earlier but I found a way to extend it for now. I'm... working on it, you don't have to worry about it." He doesn't seem at all satisfied by my attempts to reassure him but his grasp on me is gone with his question answered. I don't feel satisfied leaving him like this though, we just fought for this entire meeting, it isn't at all what I expected for meeting up with him again. He notices me staring at him feeling at a loss for what to do and suddenly he walks towards me again and takes me by the arm and pulls me towards him without a bit of hesitation. His lips find mine easily as they have countless times before and he absolutely overwhelms me as he pushes against me and deepens the kiss more and more and doesn't seem intent on stopping soon. I try to back off but he doesn't listen and only pulls me towards him and runs his fingers through my hair pulling my head towards him closer and closer.

"Ga-... Max," I gasp and finally manage to push away from him but when I meet his sad puppy eyes that makes me feel like I'm abandoning a poor puppy I can't stay mad at him. Frowning at his expression, I sigh and grip onto the strap of the bag and focus on the mission. "I'll... miss you too. Don't worry, I'll be back. You'll have to trust me, and I'll trust you. Got it?" I call out, keeping a decent distance away from him just to make sure I don't get pulled again and completely distracted. Gassy stares at me for a long time before sighing and shaking his head, crossing his arms and seeming to be seriously considering it as if he actually has something to doubt. Pouting at his lack of belief I nearly get sucked into a conversation before I recall Chilled's voice and quickly shake my head and turn around before he gets to say anything.

"Please don't tell anybody about me being here, with my memories, Gassy. And please, please be safe goddamn it. I don't want you to be the third," I beg of him, my sanity already breaking slowly between the other two deaths. Gassy seems confused but nods, following me to the door.

"I won't, I promise. But you too, I don't know what the hell you're doing or anything but please just try to be good." I laugh and glance back to him, stopping right in front of the door.

"Be good? You're acting like my mom."

"Ze, you and I both know you've done some questionable things that wouldn't be considered good. But I can't blame you since I'm in the same boat," Gassy says and a moment of silence passes between us. Staring at each other awkwardly for a while I finally decide to just have one final goodbye kiss and reach up to him just as he reaches down, completely synchronizing with me. One tiny gentle kiss before I wave and open the door to leave but before I can he calls out one more time to me. "I love you, Ze. Be safe." I freeze momentarily before hurrying out trying to hide the fact those few words caused me to become completely red and burns up my face completely. Fuck him, how can he affect me so much? I can't stop these fluttery feelings all over my stomach no matter how hard I try.

-Gassy-

"What the fuck? What do you mean Ohm...?" I ask in legitimate shock. Diction stares at me for a long time before groaning in irritation and turning away from me, walking over to the large case of files lined up along the wall of his office. Trying to get my thoughts together I stand up from the chair in front of his desk and slowly walk towards him with caution. "So you mean to tell me, there was some citizen that nearly broke into the base and Ohm somehow escaped in the middle of that and no cameras were working around the area?"

"Yeah that's what I fucking mean," Diction snaps, the reason I was so cautious around him. Turning towards me I find him seeming completely frustrated and angry at this development. "We're supposed to have the highest security and yet shit like this happened?! I turn away for one second for a meeting out of all things and all of shit breaks loose. Fuck me, Tom just has the worse timing," Diction complains with a hand over his forehead. I stay silent, all of the pieces coming together. Is it really a coincidence that Tom and Ze had been doing something at the same time? Recalling Ze something feels strange in my chest and I can't help but be so fucking worried and scared at the same time.

"How... what was this meeting you're talking about? Why didn't I go?" I ask, a bit curious why their plan didn't go quite perfectly, with me discovering Ze. Diction shrugs and walks over to his desk, opening up the email.

"It was really sudden and decently quick so it wouldn't be surprising if you were just out of your office when the email was sent out. A couple of sergeants missed the meeting but it was all stupid stuff, just the mandatory reminders of things we need every few months. I thought Tom had given up on those though, he must have been yelled at by some other people," Diction explains but then remembering his anger he slams his fist on the desk and turns around. "What did you do? Did you see anything? You were out of the office, right?" I hesitate, nearly just giving up all that happened right now but then Ze's words come back to mind. Does that... include Diction? Diction won't say shit if I tell him but... Ze and I are already a bit shallow with trust so I guess I shouldn't tell him no matter what.

"I was talking with Mark in the lab. I was trying to convince him not to quit the base like he had been planning to do but that's where I was this whole time." Diction nods slowly, easily believing me. There was a great deal of time he doubted everything I said but that was before I fucked yo and became a pure IRIS, not a traitor. I feel a bit bad now that he actually trusts me knowing I'm no longer trustworthy. It took a while for him to trust me completely and I did it, he doesn't doubt me anymore.

"Well, I guess we should figure out what to do next. I'm going to see if Tom is still in the meeting room. Find... Chilled and Minx, I got a mission for them. Bring them to me in the meeting room," Diction orders and slams the door to his office behind him. Damn, he's mad. I would be too, we have a reputation to keep and this isn't doing too much good for it. The reason I'm not is because it's the only person, the only group of people I guess, who I don't mind getting fucked by. Sighing I follow behind him out of the office and look around, the hallways empty halfway out of sleeping soldiers or just ashamed sergeants. Chilled is probably asleep by now, he doesn't have to stay awake this long. Why the he'll did he ask me to bring Chilled? Shaking my head I just continue in the general direction of Chilled's room, right next to Ze's room so I know the path well. Just as the hallway comes into sight I notice Nanners pacing around seeming troubled.

"Nanners? What are you doing here?" I call out seeming to surprise him. He turns to me and I notice the expression in his face very familiar because I have felt exactly that way before. Damn Ze and Chilled, they're both such trouble. I thought that Chilled would have become a lot more stable and less worrying since he rejoined IRIS as full time and get it doesn't seem to have changed him at all.

"I'm worried about Chilled. He's been acting weird all day. He's acting as if he's so sneaky when he's actually not, which I'm usually okay with because he usually fails, but this time something feels off," Nanners explains seeming truly troubled, something I never see Nanners like any time unless it has to do with Chilled. Glancing over to the door to Chilled's room I sigh as Ze pops back up into my mind. Does Chilled's weirdness have to do with Ze? Who am I kidding, of course they're doing something together. I should just tell Nanners, he's probably okay to tell, right? Fuck, I didn't expect it to be this hard to keep a secret as big as the fact Ze was here and did something in the lab.... Now that I think about it I should have asked exactly what he was doing in there. I'm guessing he just stole some shit he wanted to have at his disposal, and I didn't really want to burden myself with knowing he was actually doing some legitimate illegal shit.

"It's probably nothing. It's Chilled, he's always up to something," I mutter but Nanners doesn't seem comforted at all by this and only crosses his arms. Sighing I turn away from him and stare at the empty hallway behind him. "Just calm down, it's probably nothing important. If it really was he'd tell you," I sigh, not entirely believing it myself. There were plenty of times Ze has kept important information from me just because it was some sort of secret. They're both a bit of assholes when it comes to keeping stuff from us.

"Gassy," Nanners says suddenly, the shift in his voice gaining my interest as I turn towards him but he's looking away from me. "Something's changing, we can all see it especially after what happens today. What do you think will happen in the end of all of this? Wanna make bets?" He giggles bitterly, not a small amount of humor in his voice as he said the joke and suddenly a cold feeling comes over me. Holy shit, he's right. I didn't notice but... it is feeling a lot like the end of the whole Hidden and IRIS things is very near. What will happen after it ends? Will the Hidden or IRIS be surviving? What will happen to all of us?

"Not really. I need to look for Chilled, captain's orders," I explain and Nanners smirks but nods, allowing me to pass by him and head towards Chilled's room just to make sure.

"Just so you remember," Nanners suddenly says, regaining my attention before I get the chance to go to Chilled's room. "We're both still being hunted as Hidden traitors and they know well about the relationships we held. So... for both Chilled's and Ze's sake, don't do anything stupid because it will affect both of them. And if you do anything to harm either of them, the guy I love and the guy who saved my life, it'll be really fucking hard to forgive you. So be really careful and don't get yourself in trouble." I stay silent and Nanners walks down the hallway without another word, just leaving me a bit stunned. Despite always teasing and poking at everyone, I've never seen Nanners seriously concerned or intimidating ever. Not even towards his enemies, he was always lighthearted. And it's just telling me to be careful with myself. Taking a deep breath I shake my head, trying to not let it get to me but to be completely honest it shook me. I nearly did forget I can be a target, I should have realized with it being the entire damn reason Ze is so quiet with me.

"Gassy?" I hesitate at the sudden voice and glance over to find Minx walking towards me from the dark corner down the hallway. Slowly turning towards her I watch her as she walks to me, holding her side where she was hurt still seeming affected. I haven't seen her much since the incident because she was hospitalized, she only came back yesterday but doesn't have any physically straining activities due to her condition. I am aware that she's been getting along a lot more with the captain from KRIM who visited her when she was hospitalized. Everyone thought it was strange, for a captain to visit a mere sergeant-in-training from another base. I never thought much because they did meet and talk when Krism was visiting.

"Hey Minx, I was just going to look for you. Have you seen Chilled around?" I ask and without a word she pulls out a handgun and points it directly towards me. I freeze, hesitant to move and even to defend myself in fear she's just messing with me but then I notice the pure anger in her eyes.

"No, I was just going to look for him but you're just fine. Ze needs to learn his place," she says and I immediately move to protect myself but with the trigger already halfway pulled I have no chance. At least I wouldn't have had a chance before the gun is forced to aim towards the nearby wall and the shot alerts everyone in the base, most likely including Nanners who shouldn't have been too far off. Minx hits the force that moved the gun away causing Chilled to stumble back but pulls out his own knife he had as a Hidden and slashes towards her though she moves quickly despite the injury. I also pull out my handgun most of us have on us and point it towards her but she immediately notices and kicks the gun out of my hand but allows Chilled a chance to grab her arms and holds her back. In the distance I hear steps rapidly heading towards us but we never get to see the source of those steps before everything is clouded in a black smoke.