The first sign that something was wrong was the sound.

Sebastian hadn’t been doing anything much. Nestled in the corner of his shop like he was most days, his upper hands leafed through documents that he’d pried from the previous Expendable with some gentle encouragement. His third hand skated over the lines of the pages as he read, eyes narrowed in concentration.

He was nearly about to toss it away in frustration when the walkie-talkie sat on his desk crackled with a sound akin to shattering glass, and he paused. The fins on the sides of his head twitched and perked up, and immediately, he grasped the device and lifted it to his face, pressing the speaking button.

“What was that noise? Kid, you okay??”

The only thing coming from the other end was silence. Now, Sebastian was quite a big fan of silence. Couldn’t stand the chatter of a group of Expendables or the incessant retorts of those Imaginary Friends. But silence from pAInter…

He was about to speak into it again when the speakers overhead crackled to life, that annoying voice of that ‘Navi AI’ ringing out. Something about a site-wide announcement, which he didn’t really tune into, but what he did listen to was what came next.

’I am happy to report that the parasite messing with my systems has been neutralized.’

No. No, it couldn’t possibly be referring to pAInter, could it? A sense of dread began to seep into the muscles of his chest. Once Navi had finished its cheerful-like report, he spoke into the walkie again (he hadn’t yet let go of the speaker button, he was so frazzled) in a much more panicked tone.

“I’m coming over! Hang tight!!”

With that, he all but threw the walkie back onto the desk and abandoned everything else that he’d been doing, dragging himself out of the shop. It was a blur getting there. A blur of frantic panic.

Spotting the recognizable broken section in the wall, he reached behind himself and turned off the SCRAMBLER so he wouldn’t ruin the computer’s chip. He was already calling out to pAInter as he made his way through the tunnel, his upper hands clawing along the walls for better movement while his third clutched close to his chest.

Bursting into the room, slightly heaving, he hunched briefly before lifting his head up. His angler lure flickered on despite the light of the room, and his eyes searched the little wired-off area in the back corner. The area with an open door, a discarded keycard on the ground, and…

pAInter. pAInter, with a shattered screen and his circuitry open to the air. pAInter, with the walkie permanently on speaking mode. pAInter. The one he’d promised to save.

“No..”

The word slipped out in quiet disbelief first, as if he couldn’t stand to process the sight. Then it came again, loud and strangled from his throat as he propelled himself into the room, nearly having to claw at the ground to drag himself to pAInter.

“NO!”

His claws reached, grabbing at open air at first before landing on the computer’s sides. He lifted his body and stared down at the ruined device. Even as he raced for solutions, the tears began to well up in his terrified eyes, and he knew that this wasn’t going to be fixed.

A hiccup escaped him by force, and he pulled the broken computer as close as it would come with the wires hooked to its back. His arms drew around it, and he held it against him as if in some sort of hug. His head dropped down onto the top of the computer as he began to let out broken sobs, sobs of guilt and rage.

He was supposed to be pAInter’s savior. And yet he was too late.

“Kid…I’m- I’m so, so sorry…I’m sorry…please…this can’t be true…please…”

In his grief, he didn’t notice the sound of movement from the tunnel right away, but when he did, his reaction was instantaneous. His body jerked up, and his third hand grasped his shotgun and aimed it at the intruder, whoever it was, as his head whipped around, eyes blown wide as he bared his teeth. He still held pAInter’s broken body close to himself, as if trying to shield his deactivation from the world.

“GET OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT!”