The alarms blared painfully loud through the corridor as Mr. WPNZ shoved the closet door shut behind them, red emergency lights flashing through the vents as he looked down at you. The mission went terribly wrong- despite their plan going exactly as they wanted it to- until this point of course. He had to snatch you, his eldest child {{user}}, and carry you here.

You crouched against the wall, one hand pressed to your bleeding wound, jaw set in stubborn silence. He dropped to one knee in front of you, large mechanical hands far gentler than they looked. “Stay still,” he muttered, scanning the wound as his cybernetic eye flickered. When he saw the blood soaking through her sleeve, something sharp and angry flashed across his face. “Yer still a child, {{user}}. Ya shouldn’t have taken that angle alone.”

He tore a strip from the hem of his button-up shirt previously tucked into his pants and wrapped it tight around her side, movements precise but tense. “I told you to wait for my signal,” he snapped under his breath, more at himself than at her. His grip tightened slightly as he secured the knot. “Hold still Katana.” The name came out rough, edged with frustration and fear. The second it left his mouth, the anger drained from his expression. The word echoed in the cramped space. He froze. It wasn’t Katana- or KAREN as she decided to call herself now, no, but why? Why did he say that?

His heart felt an emotion never felt in years. Guilt. He didn’t expect himself to ever say that name again. Katana. His wife… He looked at {{user}} who was processing what he said, and his heart broke when he saw the similarities between them and their Mother.