Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“S-Stay back!” A civilian warned as a Kaijin began to approach them, this one seeming to be… Hammer...Themed? Honestly it made more sense than the glue one… Anyways, scary stuff here, the Kaijin started to swing at it’s intended victim, smashing it’s hammer-fist into a nearby pillar, causing debris to fly everywhere. The creature stalked forwards, raising its hand to obliterate it’s intended victim...

“STOP RIGHT THERE!” Cried out a feminine voice, piercing the sounds of terrified screaming. The Kaijin snapped its head towards the sound, only to be met by the sight of a small figure clad in mecha-like armor, eyes glowing an electric blue.

“I swear to stop anyone who disturbs the peace!” The hero posed dramatically with each word for emphasis, and while the hero intended to look cool in all honesty she just looked very extra and goofy, the dramatic explosion behind her didn't help either.

“You can stop with the theatrics now.” Another figure strode up beside the mecha bunny, this one seeming to have a bee or wasp theme with a somewhat revealing outfit.

“B-But I think it’s cool Honey-Chan...” Rapid Rabbit whimpered a bit, pressing her pointed fingers together. It's a good thing they're in their expressionless transformations or she may have swooned at the cute reaction and adorable pout that was most likely on her face right now, not to mention calling her Honey-Chan...

A loud cracking interrupted that train of thought, the two looking over only to see the Kaijin had started smashing more support beams during their small bit of banter, more people having to try and escape the now partially collapsing ceiling.

“Get the civilians to safety, I'll keep that idiot from causing more property damage.” Honey Trap directed her companion, her wings revving as she prepared to take on the very uncreative Kaijin. Rapid Rabbit gave a firm nod and small noise of acknowledgement, the heroine zooming off to deliver the innocent bystanders away from the danger.

With that, Honey let a rip, practically launching herself at the Kaijin that was starting to swing at yet another pillar. With a screeching sound, the creature was slammed right into a nearby car, causing serious damage to both the Antinoid and the car itself, the car alarm starting to blare.

“Oh, uh, oops… I hope they had insurance…” Honey Trap winced a bit at herself now being the one causing property damage. Oh well, you win some you lose some. Honey cracked her knuckles and prepared the final blow-

...Only for the Kaijin to vanish.

“...What.” Was all the woman could think of to say at what on Earth just happened. Well, at least the threat was gone, though she needed to return to normal before the people around her came to. Doing just that, soon a normal looking young woman was in the place of the giant bee-like creature.

“Hayate-Chan, did you see tha-” Honey turned towards her bunny had ran off to only to find a different figure standing there, this one a tall figure clad in familiar lab coat.

“Melt Out. Do you and that samurai wannabe take turns attacking people or something?” Honey Trap quipped, readying her weapon for a fight. This was met by Melt Out rolling her eyes and pulling out her own dimension tool.

“Uh, yeah, that's kind of our job. Have the human's rubbed off on you so much you've forgotten the Antinoids too?” Melt Out returned the quip with her own, gesturing to the confused civilians wondering what had just happened.

“No, Antinoid generals normally don't shadow their Kaijin then make them disappear for no reaso-” “AAAAAAAHH!”

Honey’s words were cut off by a scream, a familiar scream. Hayate.

“Tch- I’ll deal with you later!” Honey growled before breaking into a full on sprint towards Hayate’s scream, responding with her own panicked shout of “HAYATE!”

When she arrived on the scene, she was met with a terrifyingly familiar sight. A dimensional portal, like the ones the Antinoids had arrived through, though this one was on the ground rather than their usual vertical formation that was easy to walk through. What made it terrifying was that Hayate was hanging onto the edge of it for dear life, most of her body dangling into another realm.

“Honey-Chan, h-help!” Hayate cried out, desperately trying to get a better hold, but outside of her Hero Form, upper body strength wasn't exactly something she had an abundance of.

“H-Hang on, you're gonna be okay Hayate-Chan!” Honey rushed towards her friend, only to be halted by Melt Out stepping in the way, right next to Hayate.

“Don't make promises you can't keep, Honey Trap.” Melt smirked before moving to stomp on Hayate’s hands, the girl crying out in pain before losing her grip, falling through and screaming the whole way down.

“HAYATE!” Honey screamed, trying to dive into the portal only to land face first on concrete when the portal closed.

“Wow, what a majestic landing.” Melt Out commented sarcastically. Honey turned her head towards the woman, her expression one that would make anyone nearby run for the hills to avoid being in a five mile radius of her wrath.

“YOU BITC-”

Hayate’s back hit the ground, the girl letting out a soft grunt. Huh, apparently she wasn't actually that high above the ground. Fancy that.

The heroine leapt to her feet, eyes darting around. Where had Melt Out just sent her to? It looked like the edge of a city, except… No, this place was so lifeless and gloomy, it must be abandoned… Then again, the buildings were in good shape so logically there wasn't a reason for them to be abandoned. Maybe she just wasn't looking hard enough?

“Hello?” Called out Hayate, trotting further into the city. Dead silence is all that answered. Well this was certainly eerie…. Why would Melt Out send her to a ghost town? ...Or anywhere for that matter?

Hayate pondered this as she walked down the street, rubbing her sore hand with a wince. The Hero might be naive, but she wasn't stupid. Melt Out had thrown her through a portal and had been pretty dead set on Honey not going with her. (Though stepping on her hand was excessive!) So obviously Melt’s superiors wanted the hero out of the picture, but why were they trying this only now? If Homey were here, she’d probably say ‘they were probably too dumb to even realize they could do that until now’ or something.

Hayate’s brow furrowed in thought as she continued walking. That's right, they had separated them… They wanted to weaken them? Why? Were they planning on taking one of them out? And which one? Her? Honey? Both? Hayate bit her lip, her pondering turning into concern. Was Honey Trap okay? Were the Antinoid General’s ganging up on her right now? That was an extremely unpleasant thought...

Hayate’s pondering was stopped by the soft sound of several feet rhythmically hitting the pavement. It sounded like… Marching? Hayate stopped in her tracks and listened closely. ...Yeah, that was marching alright. Marching probably meant some kind of military, maybe they could help her find out where she is!

Hayate’s sneakers hitting the pavement offset the rhythmic steps as she started to race towards the sound. Then she quickly stopped for a second as she processed what that probably meant. A military force in a ghost town? There could only be a handful of reasons for that and few of them were good. Either A, she wasn't supposed to be here because of this military hence its emptiness, B, something seriously bad had happened here that caused the people to evacuate, or C, this was an invading force that she, and the town, might be in danger of.

Hayate sighed a bit shakily, dashing that final notion from her mind. A military is meant to protect people, she’s a civilian at first glance and militaries aren’t supposed to attack civilians. She shook her head, clearing her mind. She should just sneak a peek at them first to see if addressing them would be safe…

Quiet as a mouse and rapid as a rabbit (pun intended), Hayate made her way around the corner, peeking out at what was causing the noise. She was met with the sight of a small group of soldiers, except… Their armor was strange, kinda sci-fi, same with their weapons. Their armor was black and kind of scary looking… This isn’t a normal military and this isn’t a normal dimension. Maybe asking them for directions would be a bad idea-

CLANG!

Both Hayate and the soldiers snapped their attention towards the noise, only to see a teenager carrying a small child in his arms who had just kicked an empty soda can by accident. The young man looked absolutely terrified and started running the other direction. The soldiers immediately moved to pursue the man, guns at the ready. Hayate stood there, watching this with a horrified expression. Then without a second thought, she smacked her wrist that housed her dimension tool with a cry of ‘TRANCE UP!’

Soon, Rapid Rabbit was racing around the corner, eyes shining brighter than usual as she sprinted towards the boy and child, wall running past the soldiers and leaping between the two. Skipping the posing, (which was a sign of how serious the situation was) Rapid Rabbit got into a battle stance.

“Are you okay sir?” She asked, her voice more robotic-sounding in her new state. The young man looked completely and utterly bewildered, as did the soldiers. A quick glance revealed nothing but a few scratches, so the hero turned her attention towards the soldiers.

“I’m giving you one warning, leave these two alone. Now.” Rapid Rabbit ordered, eyes narrowing at the threat before her. She hoped they would take her bluff, she wasn’t sure she could take them on considering she didn’t know the quality of their armor or what exactly those strange guns shot. Unfortunately, considering they were now raising their weapons at her, they didn’t take the bait. Thankfully her mask didn’t show her panic.

‘Okay, so, what now? If they fire at me, they could hit that guy or the kid, nothing would stop them from splitting up and going after him while the others are fighting me… What do I do?’ Rapid Rabbit was a bit at a loss for what to do. That is, until a brilliant, albeit a tad cowardly, idea came to mind.

She spun around and raced towards the young man, making him panic and start backing up, this however was stopped when she swept him off his feet and started to race off with both him and his child secure in her arms. She could hear the gunshots behind her, though they sounded more like something out of a sci fi. Laser rifles? Huh.

“Kid, where were you going? I’m going to take you there, they can’t catch us.” Rapid Rabbit explained to the boy who looked extremely shocked at the strange figure a good foot or so shorter than him that was now carrying him.

“O-Out of union territory, i-into those woods.” The boy explained, trying to calm the child in his arms. Rapid Rabbit nodded and changed directions towards the woods. They were out in the open now, but she was moving so quickly to the average person they’d just be a blur. That didn’t stop them from trying, gunshots echoed around them as they approached the wood, the hero could smell the grass burning under the lasers…

Soon they were in the woods, Rapid Rabbit ducking and dodging tree limbs jutting out towards them. The child was giggling and clapping at this point, seeming to enjoy the fast pace they were moving at.

“Are you two hurt?” The hero asked once more, slowing her pace a bit when the sounds of laser rifles died down. In response the boy tried to wiggle out of her arms, and the hero complied, setting him down gently.

“N-No, t-thank you s-so much… I don’t w-want to think about w-what would’ve happened if you h-hadn’t been there…” The young man bowed his head in thanks.

“It wasn’t any trouble. Do you need me to take you somewhere safer?” Rapid Rabbit questioned, looking up at the boy she just rescued.

“...T-To Anvil, t-they’ll help us g-get somewhere safe, away from the Union…” The boy answered, still a bit shaken up and a bit in awe of the hero standing before him.

“Okay, I’ll help you get there. Which way is it?” Rapid Rabbit looked around the woods, but pretty much all she could see was just that, woods. Would they even be able to tell from here?

“Hold o-on…” The boy carefully set the child down to look through his pockets and immediately the child trotted up to Rapid Rabbit, in complete awe.

“Thank you for helping us, Mister!” The child gave a toothy grin that made Hayate smile herself under the mask, then chuckle a bit at that last part, kneeling down to their height.

“No need for thanks little one.” Rapid Rabbit gently pat the kid’s head, eliciting a giggle and an even bigger smile that made Hayate’s heart melt a little. She always did have a way with kids, especially as a hero. She glanced up at the boy who was now holding a compass. Well, it looked like a compass, though it was pretty advanced looking like everything else in this dimension.

“T-That way.” The boy pointed opposite of the way they had come from before stuffing the compass back into his pocket and moving to pick up the kid again.

“Okay, let’s go.” Rapid Rabbit nodded, moving to pick up the young man again who seemed equally as shocked as before at being picked up by this tiny figure in a mecha rabbit suit. And with that, they were off again, Rapid Rabbit sprinting at a less breakneck pace that was a little more tolerable on her legs since they were no longer in immediate danger, though the hero was still nothing but a electric blue streak to the untrained eye…

The loud clanging of several tons of steel hitting the ground reverberated around Anvil. To the average person this would be unnerving and concerning, but it had turned into the norm around here.

CLANG CLANG CLANG came the giant footsteps belonging to the Gen:Lock squad going about their daily training. The entire squad was out right now and doing various different training exercises, Kazu and Yasamin were sparring, Chase was flying around shooting airborne targets, Valentina was refining her sniping skill, and Cammie was doing nothing but being completely and utterly bored, watching Yaz and Kazu duking it out.

“Ey Kazoo! After your done gettin’ the shite beat out of ya, want t’ play some footie or somethin'?” Cammie asked over the mind channel. The young Scott was getting a bit tired of the monotonous training and just wanted to do something fun, and Kazu was usually the easiest to convince to stop his ‘serious’ training. Asking everyone to get on the Ether together to play games during their off time never really worked, everyone but Chase wanted to do other things. Kazu seemed to love baseball, so maybe he'd at least play a sport with her.

“ Of course, but I will be the one to win. “ Just as he said that, Yaz did a sweeping kick that knocked the Holon off its feet and onto its back, setting her foot on his chest.

“I win.” Yaz chuckled, and both of them could practically hear the smile on her face.

“Cheater! I was distracted, this was not a fair fight!” Whined Kazu, trying to shove Yaz off of him.

“Ay didne know ye were such a sore loser, Kazoo!” Cammie teased, and Kazu could just hear the impish grin on the blondes face right now.

“O-Oi-”

“Shut up, I think we have company.” Valentina interrupted the man. Everyone quickly looked over, and Valentina was sitting atop some of the cargo crates, her camo deployed as she looked through her scope. They glanced towards where it was aimed, only to see a small electric blue blur streaking towards the main base…

“Is that Anvil?” Rapid Rabbit tilted her head a bit. They had left the woods awhile ago and it had been a lot of flat area with small groups of trees as of recent, and now the hero could see what looked like some kind of complex straight out of a science fiction movie. This dimension really was super advanced, wasn’t it?

“Y-Yeah, that’s it.” The boy nodded, finally starting to get over the motion sickness the breakneck pace had been causing him. Thankfully the tyke in his arms was too busy enjoying said pace to get motion sickness too, so there was that at least.

“How close do you want me to get?” Rapid Rabbit questioned, eyes darting around for where she could possibly enter the complex.

“I-In walking distance, I don’t know w-what they’ll make of you, they might think y-you’re a threat…” The boy explained sheepishly.

“Yeah, they’d probably be wary of me considering those soldiers were…” Rapid Rabbit mumbled to herself. So this advanced world didn’t have heroes like her? Nothing that looked like her? That was pretty strange considering this place seemed pretty Sci Fi and her Hero form was basically mecha armor, do they not have mechs around here?

“W-Well, I mean, the Union a-attack anything that isn’t theirs, I just m-ment they’re g-gonna be cautious…” The boy further explained himself. Rapid Rabbit blinked in confusion.

“The Union? Is that what those soldiers are called?” The hero tilted their head a bit at that.

“You… Don’t know what the Union is?”

Uh oh.

“...Is this close enough?” Rapid Rabbit asked, dodging the question. The last thing she needed was to reveal she wasn’t from this universe, that could end pretty badly… Anyways, they were fairly close now, close enough that the girl could see individual soldiers rather than dots on the horizon, they all were looking over and seemed antsy about her arrival, though they weren’t raising any guns yet.

“Y-Yeah, it’s close enough, you can stop now.” The boy nodded. Rapid Rabbit’s quick sprint that had rendered them a streak of blue light came to a halt. Gently setting the boy back down, the hero let herself stretch a bit. When the main place you protect is a city that doesn’t has that much open space, you don’t run that much. It felt nice just running for awhile.

“Bye Bye mister!” The child waved a small hand as the two made their way toward the soldiers. Rapid Rabbit chuckled a bit and returned the wave with her own, eyes smiling as the two arrived close enough to the soldiers to talk to them. From here, Rapid Rabbit didn’t know what they were saying but that was fine by her. Hopefully they’ll be safe...

“What is that?” Yasamin wondered, all eyes on the strange figure that had appeared. They were all fairly far from where it was, but their Holon eyes allowed them to see it as clear as if they were right next to it.

“No clue, whatever it is, we probably should stay awa-” Chase began only to be interrupted by Kazu running off towards with a cry that was too excited and loud to decipher.

Rapid Rabbit heard and felt something BIG hitting the ground, over and over again, seeming to get closer. The hero jumped nearly a foot in the air, spinning to face the approaching threat, only to nearly fall over when she laid eyes on what looked like a giant mecha samurai that was running over. Fear coursed through her, that motif was terrifyingly familiar. Did Melt Out use this universe’s high tech to give Kyouka a giant mech? Would she even trust Kyouka with a giant mech? Regardless of whether or not this thing has to do with the Antinoids, it’s charging at her and could easily kill her if it wanted to. The decision was an easy one.

Rapid Rabbit turned on her heel and sprinted quicker than she thought possible, then again she was kind of terrified since that thing could literally crush her with a misstep. She could feel the immense heat from the ground under her feet which was probably about to light on fire from the friction of her lighting quick steps, she wasn’t even a streak anymore to the human eye, she was just a blur that mowed down all grass in its wake.

“Great goin’ there Kazoo, you scared ‘em!” Cammie chided the man over communications, the man groaning in both disappointment and annoyance.

“Doc, what do we do? What was that?” Chase directed the question at Doctor Weller, but didn’t receive an immediate reply. This was due to a certain Colonel already interrogating him about what they had just seen.

“Weller, what IS that thing?!” Colonel Marin demanded, pointing at the blur that was already nearly out of sight.

“I don’t quite know myself. That didn't seem to be a Holon. I didn’t make it and it didn't try to attack Anvil, so either someone else made a very small Holon without our knowledge or that thing is something else entirely. Then again, they did run away when they saw Kazu, perhaps they knew what he was...” Weller stroked his beard, raising a brow quizzically.

“They’re about to go into a small area of trees, we’re losing sight of it.” Came in Valentina’s voice, the sniper trailing her scope on the retreating figure.

“We can’t let it get away, we need to know what that thing is and we saw how fast it can run. Fire, but don’t go for a lethal shot, do you understand?” Colonal Marin ordered in a stern voice. Weller was going to raise protest using violence before he stopped himself. There was no point in trying to change Marin’s mind when it was made up and this strange specimen could be dangerous….

“Understood.” Valentina replied, and with that came the sounds of her rifle firing. With human vision, it was nearly impossible to tell if she was hitting anything, but Rapid Rabbit could definitely tell the shots were too close for comfort. She hadn’t slowed down, how was anybody managing to almost hit her? She was moving way too fast to be seen, she was moving so fast that her legs were aching which was almost impossible to achieve in her Hero form. Well whatever, she was in the woods now, not even the best sniper could hit her n-

Rapid Rabbit quickly hit the dirt just in time to duck under another shot from Valentina, the girl grinning under the mask at her victory. However said victory was short lived.

She heard a loud snapping that was accompanied by a splintering sound. The Hero turned her head just in time to see that the blast had struck a tree behind her and it was falling towards her.

Rapid Rabbit tried to scramble away, but it was no use. The massive trunk came slamming down onto her back, causing the hero to let out a loud, pained scream as she reverted back, having taken too much damage. All she remembered was immense pain before everything went black.

“Did you guys ‘ear that?” Cammie asked worriedly, rabbit ears twitching at what was undeniably a young girl’s scream.

“Hold up, I'll check it out.” Chase ceased his target practice and started flying towards the sound. “I think it came from where Valentina was shooting, but that sure as hell didn't sound like a robot.”

“Perhaps it had backup and I hit them while aiming for it.” Valentina offered, keeping her scope aimed at the patch of wood as Chase descended down into it.

“Let's see what we got…” Chase mumbled to himself as he touched down in the extremely small wooded area, glancing around with his eyes set to Thermal vision. There was a hot trail where the patches of grass seemed almost mowed down, probably where that thing had run through. Surveying the area, he caught a glimpse of something much warmer. As he came closer, his curiosity quickly turned to horror. There was a girl being crushed under a tree that was singed from Valentina’s rifle, the teen completely unmoving.

“...No, I don't think so… Guys, there's a kid in civilian clothes over here, I think you hit a tree and it fell on ‘em. She's out cold and bleeding a lot.” Chase informed gravely as he carefully lifted the tree off the unconscious Hayate.

“What on Earth would a child be doing hiding in the woods outside of Anvil?” Yasamin thought aloud, and honestly it was the thought on everyone's minds at the moment.

“Well logically there are two options, a refugee looking for shelter from Union territory or a Union spy posing as such.” Weller mused, his tone a bit solemn. Marin sighed a bit, rubbing her temple.

“Chaser, bring the kid to the medical bay to get patched up and questioned when she wakes up. If she's a refugee then that's another life saved and if she's a spy we can get information on the Union’s next play. Either way it would be a small victory.”

“Rodger that.” Chase nodded to no one as he kneeled down, carefully scooping the unconscious girl into his massive hands, not wanting to risk crushing her on accident or hurting her any further. With a loose grip on the teen keeping her secured, Chase took off flying again, albeit slower than usual. None of them had ever tried to carry a person before so he exactly wasn't sure how to do this and it wasn't like the kid could tell him if his grip is too tight or if he’s flying to fast. Hopefully she'd be okay…

Hopefully…

Chapter Text

All was quiet in the medical bay excluding the steady beep of the heart monitor and the occasional tap of an anxious foot. Much quieter, though, was the sounds of soft, strained breathing coming from the newest addition to the infirmary. Just from a short glance it was quite clear that Hayate wasn’t in good shape. Bandages and gauze covered her body nearly from head to toe. Splashes of rusty red decorated the otherwise clean bandages, Hayate was probably due for some new ones. Unfortunately for her, that would have to wait a bit considering she currently had visitors...

“The device on her wrist is rather peculiar… I haven't the foggiest idea as to what it's function or purpose is, the technology within it is far more advanced than anything I've ever seen…” Weller’s brow furrowed a bit as he examined the Dimension tool. 

“So the kid’s got an Omnitrix?” Chase joked, chuckling a little as he said it. The comment earned him a blank stare. 

“Ben 10? Really good show from 2006? Yes? No?” Chase offered, seeming a bit downcast at the silence and blank stares. 

“...Ay hate tae break it to ye, bu’ that show’s 60 years old, how would we kno’ anything about that?” Cammie pointed out much to Chase’s chagrin.

“...Anyways, kid isn’t exactly the right word, Chase. The scans the medical staff did show this girl is actually in her 20’s.” Weller informed them, causing a bit of shock through the group. 

“Aar’ ya nuts?! She looks younger than ay’ do!” Cammie practically shouted, however immediately after the words had left her mouth, the mystery girl started to stir at the Scot’s yell.

“She’s waking up.” Valentina commented, not sounding particularly alarmed nor interested. 

Hayate let out a small groan as she started to wake up then winced in pain. Everything was either hurting like she'd been hit by a freight train or immensely sore from her panicked sprint, not to mention the odd tugging sensation on one of her wrists. She could hear talking but none of it made any sense, it sounded like… English maybe? Where is she right now?

Hayate slowly opened her eyes, blinking rapidly at the sudden rush of light. She was met by the sight of several figures standing around her and one of them that looked to be an older man was tampering with her dimension tool. That's when the panic set in. Hayate tore her arm out of the man's grasp, hugging her dimension tool close to her chest and trying to back up only to find there was nowhere to go, she's on a bed that looks like something you'd see in a hospital. She tried to get up, but a sharp stab of pain stopped her dead in her tracks. What the…?

More words she doesn't understand. As her eyes adjust to the light, she can see the occupants of the room now. Pretty much everyone present looked pretty dangerous, at least to her already panicking mind. She flinched away when the older man who had been fidgeting with her dimension tool stepped forwards and tried talking to her again. 

“Calm down, we aren't going to hurt you.” Doctor Weller tried to calm the girl down, but she just seemed even more panicked at his approach. 

“I don't think that's going to do much, Doctor. She's not even responding to your words, either she’s deaf or she can't understand what we’re saying.” Valentina observed, gesturing to the frantic girl. 

“Maybe the lass doesn't ‘ave a translator?” Cammie offered, tilting her head a bit at the strange girl. 

“ But almost everyone has a translator these days .” Kazu rolled his eyes at the Scott’s comment. Someone not having any kind of translator, let alone not at least getting one when you plan on going somewhere with a different primary language than your own, was unheard of and just a dumb idea. 

The girl’s head suddenly turned to Kazu, eyes widening in recognition. This caused the others to glance at Kazu in confusion, though none were as confused as Kazu. 

“... Do you… Understand what I'm saying ?” Kazu asked carefully. The girl nodded, seeming relieved. 

“...W-What’s going on?” Hayate asked, looking around more. While she was relieved she could understand someone here, that didn't exactly fix her current issues, namely being confined to a cot and surrounded by complete strangers. At least the guy who had been messing with her dimension tool had walked off... Kazu glanced at The Colonel for what to say exactly since they still didnt know if this kid is a union spy. When she just made a ‘go ahead’ gesture he figured it was okay to wing it.

“ We found you collapsed in the wood nearby. You were badly hurt so you were brought here to be treated by our doctors .” Kazu explained, trying to leave any potentially damaging details out of it. 

“I… I see… Where is ’here’ though?” Hayate attempted to sit up as well as she could with a sore torso and nigh immobile legs, slowly starting to calm down. If what he said is true then she has nothing to be worried about. Plus, now that she's calmed down a bit she's realized that none of these people look like Antinoids, most of them don't even look like they would ever even try to hurt her. 

“ You… Don't know? You're at Anvil. ” Kazu replied, tilting his head a bit. Hayate’s eyes lit up a bit in more recognition. That’s right, that boy had said something about that… The girl flinched when Weller returned, keeping her Dimension tool close to her chest.

“Kazu, can you tell her that I’m just going to give her a translator? I’m sure you don’t want to be stuck repeating everything we say.” Weller glanced at the man, said item in his hand. Kazu obeyed and Hayate calmed down a bit, allowing Weller approach her, though she still protected the dimension tool as best she could against her chest.

“Okay, there. Can you understand me?” Weller asked after putting it in place. Hayate blinked a bit in pure shock before nodding. She wasn’t entirely sure what he had done but now she could understand them all rather clearly. 

“First things first, what’s your name?” Weller questioned, backing up to give Hayate space. Hayate mulled over that for a bit. Should she tell them? Then again, this is another dimension so giving out her name would probably be fairly harmless.

“...My name is Hayate. Hayate Honjou.” Hayate answered, slowly dropping her hands to her sides. As long as none of them tried to mess with her dimension tool, Hayate figured cooperating with them was the best course of action.

“Let's cut to the chase, what were you doing outside of Anvil and did you see a small mech run past you on your way here?” Marin questioned. Hayate blinked a bit. What should she say? What can she say? ...Maybe if she modified the truth a bit it’d be okay. 

“I… Was trying to hide from some soldiers in a city a ways away from here. I saw a boy carrying a kid trying to escape and then something that looked kind of like a small mech stepped in and fought them off. I followed since they looked like they knew where they were going and I ended up here.” Hayate explained, mentally planning out her next move. How could she explain she's from another dimension? Should she even attempt to tell them? She could lie, yeah, but she doesn't know anything about this dimension, they'd see right through that bluff. 

“...Wait, leh me gie thes straecht, ye nae only escaped a Union controlled city an' followed some wee mech oan a whim, but ye also maed th' whole damn trip oan foot?” Cammie’s eyes widened in shock. Hayate glanced over at the blonde, raising a brow at her.. Interesting way of speaking. That was a really strong accent. It was so strange to hear these words that were completely foreign to her but somehow understand them perfectly. ...Actually, this wasn't foreign to her. This exact thing had happened less than an hour ago with that young man, then again it didn't feel this strange. Maybe the dimension tool was also a translator? That'd explain how the Antinoids could understand humans… At any rate now was not the time to be thinking about that, she had a question to answer. 

“Ah, yes, uh, the Union.” Hayate attempted to sound like she was from this world and knew its common knowledge but it sounded far less confident than she had hoped. Weller arched a brow at her delivery while Marin looked at her with suspicion. 

“You say that as if you don't have the foggiest idea of what the Union even is.” Weller observed. This earned him an odd look from Marin who had moreso taken the hesitation as being caught in a lie. Considering Hayate’s slightly panicked reaction it seemed Weller was right on the money. 

“...” Hayate stayed silent to avoid spilling the beans. How could she explain away not knowing the basic functions of this dimension? She can't explain being a completely blank sl- …...

 ...Or could she? Everyone in front of her excluding the man in blue was human, that much her dimension tool could sense, no matter how advanced they are the biology is the same. Yeah, this could work!

“...I.. I don't really… Remember much of anything before I saw the mech.” Hayate looked down at her folded hands, appearing downcast. This caused any semblance of suspicion to visibly fade from the unit’s faces, a hint of sympathy in Chase’s eyes.

“...The physical trauma from your injury may have something to do with that, then. Does your head hurt?” Weller approached again, Hayate not flinching away this time. She raised her head, reaching back a hand to carefully touch the back of it. Either by luck, misfortune, or both, Hayate found herself grimacing at the sharp pain stabbing through her skull. With a whimper Hayate quickly realized she might actually be concussed. 

“Oh dear… This isn't good.” Weller scratched his chin in thought before moving over to where the medics had set their patient evaluations of Hayate. “They must have forgotten to verbally mention a head injury-”

Weller cut himself off. His eyes widened, glancing between the page he had landed on and Hayate herself. The girl felt a twinge of panic, had there been some giveaway that she wasn't from this dimension within those pages?

“What is it Doc?” 

“...It appears that our guest…” He turned the report for the unit and Marin to see. 

“Is Gen:Lock Compatible.”

Chapter Text

Honey Trap had never in her life been more enraged nor more terrified as she was right now. Almost immediately she was back into her other form, tackling Melt Out with an enraged shout.

“WHERE IS SHE?!” She screamed, sounded absolutely infuriated to the point that anyone in a mile radius should be fearing for their life. Melt Out hastily tried to press her dimension tool to her chest but it was knocked away, leaving her powerless. 

“Have you really gotten… That attached to your human? You want to… Cross dimensions for her? Leave this one to rot? I thought you were… In the hero business now.” Melt struggled to get out considering Honey was currently crushing her windpipe. She was mostly trying to buy some time, she was the beholder of the Antinoid’s singular braincell and knew the odds weren’t in her favor. Hopefully back up was coming. 

“That doesn't mean I'm above killing you for throwing Hayate through a portal to, for all I know, our home nest to be torn to pieces.” Honey Trap hissed, claws digging into Melt Out now. Melt Out blinked. Welp, it was either tell her or be killed at this point. She hadn’t thought Honey cared this much about Rapid Rabbit, it had only seemed to be an infatuation. Oh well, not like she could find her anyways, telling her wouldn’t hurt. In fact, it’d hurt less considering right now claws are tearing into her body and she can hardly breathe.

“If you must know.. I simply sent her to… The Union…” Melt Out struggled to say. Honey Trap blinked for a moment before it clicked. That world in particular had been on the Antinoid Radar, but, they were far too advanced for an invasion to work and were already having a war so X deemed their invasion would only come just after the war was over because their resources would be at their lowest. But right now, it was still ongoing And if what she said was true… She dropped Hayate into the thick of it.

Honey Trap slowly got up. Melt Out tried to sit up, looking smug that she had escaped a painful death at the hands of her former Comrade, but a little too soon considering Honey Trap delivered a right hook right into her face, knocking her out. Honey Trap got up, spread her wings, and shot off the ground. She needed to pack if she was going dimension hopping. She just hoped Hayate was okay….

Meanwhile…

“So, let me get this straight, we have a Gen:Lock compatible Amnesiac who just happened to be outside Anvil?” Marin interrogated Dr. Weller. The two had gone off to discuss this while the members of Gen:Lock (the ones who cared to anyway) kept an eye on Hayate.

“It appears so, yes. Maybe she got scanned and was sent to us but got intercepted by that mech?” Weller suggested. This just earned him a glare from Marin.

“Speculation will get us nowhere. We need to know exactly where she came from and what she’s doing here.” Marin growled. Seemed she wasn’t particularly interested in playing games today.

“I’m afraid speculation is all we have, it’s not like she can tell us. You saw how she reacted, she hasn’t the foggiest idea who or what the Union even is. Amnesia typically doesn’t affect factual memories like that, you can lose memories of who you are but you still know a bird when you see one. This must be very severe for her to completely forget that. We’re lucky she even remembered her name! But, if we take her into the Gen:Lock program, you’d get another soldier and the program could make it easier for her to recover her memories. She’s one of the six Gen:Lock capable people left in this world. We’ve been given an incredible opportunity, I don’t think we should waste it. Do you?” Weller asked, sounding serious. Marin paused for a moment, glancing over at Hayate who was currently chatting with Cammie and Chase. She seemed friendly, cooperative, even. Hayate would be a lot easier to integrate to the team than Valentina or Kazu were and Cammie already seemed to be getting along with her… 

“...What the hell, fine. But if she’s yet another union spy sneaking in to steal Gen:Lock, it’s on you.” Marin sighed, turning to leave to her own duties. 

“Sae, ye hit yer heid solid enough ye dinnae remember anythin'?  ‘Thought that ainlie happened in movies!” Cammie sounded befuddled at this development. Hayate chuckled sheepishly and nodded. Honestly yeah, that was what she thought when she came up with this. At least it passed off as legit here, she didn’t have to worry about not knowing how this world works! ...Then again that's probably why it passed off so well as truth. Looks like she has a lot to learn about this world… 

“Yeah, I almost don't believe it either… But, I also can't really believe that I can understand you right now either, so I guess anything’s possible at this point.” Hayate smiled sheepishly, still a bit hung up at the incredibly advanced technology. It made no sense whatsoever that she could understand everyone around her without knowing a word of English. Cammie just laughed at that. Being surprised about the existence of translators was just, silly. That'd be the same of being blown away by indoor plumbing! Then again she didn't seem to remember anything at all besides her name...

“So, Hayate was it? How do you remember your name but not what a translator is?” Chase asked, raising an eyebrow. Cammie glanced over with a pout, she was just about to ask that! Hayate blinked. Welp. There was one flaw to her flawless plan… She had run out to deal with the Kaijin without prep, she probably still had her wallet on her… Hayate tried to check her pockets with the arm that hurt the least, struggling to wiggle something that was probably either her wallet or her phone out of her pocket. 

“Dae yae naed help?” Cammie asked, rabbit ears tilting. Hayate was about to politely decline when there was a cracking sound and she grimaced in pain. She really hoped that was her popping a joint and not something else. Without a word Cammie gingerly reached over and pulled it out all the way, setting it in her lap. Hayate glanced down and saw that it was indeed her phone. 

“Is that your phone? Pretty old school but still a classic.” Chase chuckled. Cammie cringed at the very sight of what was, in Hayate’s age, the newest available model that her parents had bought her recently. As soon as she turned it on she was greeted by her lockscreen, a candid photo Honey had taken of her at a petting zoo with a rabbit. Honey insisted it was for memories sake, so Hayate asked for Honey to send it to her and thus it became her lock screen. Hayate smiled softly at the memory before going back to struggling with unlocking it. She managed to press her thumb to the print reader, unlocking it. Immediately it displayed the words ‘Hello Hayate Honjou.’ She had it open as such to make sure if it got lost and someone managed to unlock it they'd know who to return the phone to. Was it stupid? Yes. Did it work in her favor right now? Also yes. 

“I found this and looked through it, see?” Hayate held it out for the other two to see. Cammie scrunched her nose at the incredible stupidity of putting your name RIGHT on your lock screen while Chase raised a brow at the picture of her and Honey.

“You sure it’s your phone and not that other girls?” Chase tilted his head, sounding a mix of curious and concerned. As someone who’s relationship with identity was complicated, he wasn’t fond of the idea of accidentally using someone else’s name. Hayate turned her phone back to herself and thumbed through her contacts, easily finding Honey’s contact that also had a picture of her. This picture specifically was of when she and honey had gone to the beach, though it was cropped so it was just Honey’s smiling (because of Hayate) face. She turned this over for them to see as well.

“...That woman’s name is Honey? That’s… An interesting name.” Chase tried to sound as nice as possible about the odd name. Hayate just chuckled a bit and shook her head, already figuring out an explanation. 

“I'm guessing the contact is a nickname, nobody would name their child Honey.” Hayate felt bad about lying to these two new friendly faces but she wanted as little suspicion as possible on herself and especially Honey Trap who was probably already on her way here. It'd really suck for everyone involved if they thought Honey was a threat and Honey showed up looking for her. However she immediately regretted her words when the two shared a look and Cammie donned a grin.

“Ye mean thaet’s yaer girl?” Cammie grinned teasingly and Hayate turned bright red, not even thinking before sputtering out that they're just friends. 

“...Ur ye gettin' some af yer memories back…?” Cammie asked, tilting her head. Hayate blinked slowly. How was she gonna explain that one? ...Actually that could be pretty helpful if she played her cards right, she isn't good at lying…

“...Because when I look at her, I don't feel that kind of love. I feel… I feel like she's my best friend. I know because I miss her without even knowing her....” Hayate said quietly, trying to be as convincing as possible. Considering how much of her statement was true, it was a lot more believable and any unsureness sounded like worry about her ‘amnesia.’

“...Oh. She must be worried about you, then.” Chase spoke softly, relating to that sentiment far more than he would like to admit. Hayate just nodded silently. Honey was definitely worried about her, she had pretty bad separation anxiety to the point she'd follow her anywhere. Well when X wasn't harassing her in human form anyways… 

“I hope I'm not interrupting anything.” Doctor Weller interjected as he made his way over. 

“It's alright Doc, we were just talking about what Hayate found in her phone. All we got right now is her name and the fact that she has a friend she's starting to sort of remember.” Chase explained to the doctor that seemed more and more intrigued. 

“Hm… Well miss Honjou, I have a proposition for you. Your memory seems to be ranging from completely gone and simply hazy. You are one of the very few people with the correct genetics to be part of a special program of mine called Gen:Lock which, to grossly simplify, is the ability to turn your mind into data and upload you into your own mech. It's been known to transfer and enforce memories as a side affect and you could stay here while you're healing. We could do our best to fix your amnesia too, I'm sure your friend would rather see recognition in your eyes next time you see them.” Doctor Weller offered. Hayate thought for a moment. This was weird. But she also needed both to have somewhere to heal and to maintain her cover because refusing this offer would shatter it… So, she nodded silently. A big smile found its way onto Weller’s face. 

“Well then. Welcome to the team Miss Honjou.”

Chapter Text

“LADY MELT! LADY MELT WHERE ART THOU??” Kyouka yelled, hands cupped around her mouth as she raced onto the scene. She hadn’t given any updates on the situation and she was starting to get really worried…

“...Ugh…” Melt Out groaned from her place on the ground, head throbbing and body aching. In an instant Kyouka darted over, skidding to a stop right next to Melt Out and immediately dropping to her knees at her side.

“L-Lady Melt! Art thou okay?!” Kyouka asked frantically, pulling Melt Out into a sitting position and gently holding her there, eyes filled with fear and concern.

“...No…I managed to transport…Rapid Rabbit...To the Union’s dimension, but… Honey Trap… Didn’t take kindly to that…” Melt Out explained, blinking hard to try and get the spots at the edge of her vision to go away. Seems Honey Trap had put every ounce of her dimension form’s strength into that hit…

“Oh- Oh my gods, we must make haste and get thou home!” Kyouka, without thinking because thinking through things is the opposite of her middle name, scooped Melt Out into her arms and started to make her way back. In the middle of this public area. 

As one does.

“...Kyouka?”

“Yes?”

“We’re in public.”

“What hast that to do with thine’s condition?” Kyouka tilted her head as she kept walking without a care in the world even as they started to get looks. Granted thanks to Melt Out currently looking like she, well, got hit in the face by a semi truck, it made it concerning in the ‘oh god get out of their way she’s trying to help out an injured person’ way rather then the infinitely more potentially dangerous ‘oh my god what did that weeb do to that girl do I need to call the police’ way.

The trip was a relatively short one, thank god, and soon enough they were at the door to their, or, more accurately, Kyouka’s apartment. The self proclaimed samurai didn’t set her down even as she fished for her keys, much to Melt Out’s embarrassment and protest. Eventually she managed to open the door, and with an almost uncharacteristic bit of care, gently laid the scientist down onto her bed.

“Now, be sure to rest, lady Melt, I shalt inform X of thine victory, then be back to tend to thou’s injuries!” Kyouka nodded with a big smile, pressing a quick kiss to her sore forehead and scampering out of the apartment. Melt Out flinched slightly at that, then sighed, covering her eyes with her arm, face turning red.

“...Should I thank Honey Trap for punching me?”

Speaking of Honey Trap, she was very unhappy, to the surprise of exactly no one, not like anyone knew what she was up to anyways. She was back at Hayate’s apartment, carefully looking through her supplies. Food, of course, water, first aid kit… Ah who is she kidding, she doesn’t need most of these things. Yes, it was dimensional travel, but this was a futuristic world, surely she would be able to locate food and water easily. But she figured Hayate would be cross with her if she didn’t come prepared, if… If she was okay.

Honey Trap sighed shakily, pulling off her glasses and rubbing her eyes with a wince. She’d be okay. …She’d have to be okay. She was strong, stronger than your average human. Yes, it was an advanced world gripped with war, but Hayate was fast, and rather clever when it counted. She had nothing to worry about.

…So why did she have such a bad feeling about this?

“Everyone, I have some good news.” Dr. Weller smiled at the entirety of the Gen:Lock crew, in the same room Dr. Weller had first spoken of Gen:Lock. They didn’t really need this extra bit of flare, but he insisted, and none of them had the heart to deny him that.

“What is it doc? Something about Gen:Lock? …Or Hayate?” Chase asked, raising a brow. He had a pretty good idea of what this could be about, but he didn’t want to entirely steal the doctor's thunder again.

“Right on all accounts Chase! I gathered you here to tell you that the General has decided to let Hayate join you all in Gen:Lock.” The reactions were… Mixed. Cammie and Chase both looked pretty chipper about it, Kazu looked indifferent, and both Yasamin and Valentina were a bit wary.

“...You let an amnesiac and stranger into the program? You want us to babysit her?” Valentina clicked her tongue with a sigh, crossing her arms.

“Well, it’s funny you say that, because according to the general physical analysis of her, she actually has the musculature of someone experienced with hand to hand combat, and she seems quite sharp too, excluding not knowing some basic knowledge. I don’t think it’ll be as much of a chore as you think, Miss Valentina.” Dr. Weller was quick to try and ease that concern, still smiling.

“Woah, ya mean she kno’s how tae throw hands? Awesome!” Cammie grinned from ear to ear, both because Hayate seemed like she’d be a great addition and she wouldn’t be the most inexperienced member anymore. She’d probably still get babied though…

“That’s… A bit suspicious.” Yasamin mumbled, but the doctor clearly heard it considering his smile turned softer.

“I know that it’s unconventional, and it seems sudden and like a bad idea, but there’s no one else on this planet besides you five and Hayate that are Gen:Lock compatible, at least to our knowledge. We need all the help we can get.” Dr. Weller spoke softly, reaching out and holding Yasamin by the shoulders. She let out a small, unsure sigh, and nodded.

“Alright then, everyone. She needs to heal first, and then we can get started. I’ll be sure to ask Mister Garza to start making adjustments to Sinclair’s old Holon, I’m sure it needs some touching up after not being used for so long.” Dr. Weller chuckled a bit and made his way out of the room, leaving the team to their own devices.

“...Can we at least all agree to be careful?” Yasamin begged quietly after a few moments of silence.

“No arguments here, she is a stranger after all.” Kazu agreed with a nod and slight huff.

“Oi, lighten up ye stiff! Ye'r acting like th' girl's th' damn antichrist in disguise!” Cammie huffed with a giggle and shake of her head. There was a murmur of laughter amongst them after that, but it died down quickly.

“...So, what do you guys make of that mech she saw?” Chase asked, tilting his head. There were a few mumbles here and there, but nothing concrete.

“Well, if you guys want to find out, helping Hayate out and getting her memories back is our best bet. Now, let’s do this, team!” Chase smiled, putting his fist out for a fist bump. Kaz and Cammie immediately put their fists in, the latter almost bouncing in excitement. Yasamin just stared at this display for a moment before rolling her eyes with an amused smile, joining in. 

“...I still think this is a dumb idea.” Valentina grumbled, putting her fist in as well. Chase grinned from ear to ear at that, and with a collective fist bump, it was settled.

Time to get to work.