Work Text:
Melissa lowers herself onto her bed, her many bruises aching as she does so. Zack sits down next to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. She leans against him. She is so exhausted, so relieved, she feels like she could sleep for a week. But they have to talk first.
“We need to tell you something.” Zack says to Cavendish and Dakota, at the same time as Dakota says,
“I need to tell you something.”
They blink at each other. “You first.” Dakota offers.
“Deja vu.” Melissa whispers to Zack, who chuckles weakly. A conversation starter so similar to one they had not long go, when they were locked up and terrified and certain that they weren’t going to survive. And Cavendish and Dakota rescued them. “I lied, about the object of our mission. The Murphy Weapon exists, but it didn’t kill my best friend. My best friend is the weapon. They found a way to weaponise his condition. I want to rescue him.” She looks away. “I’m sorry for lying.”
Shock flickers on Cavendish’s face. “The weapon is a child? Good god.”
“Yeah. Yeah, it’s horrible.” A dark scowl sneaks onto her face. “I need to get him back.”
“And we will help you.” Cavendish says immediately. “You should not have lied, but I understand that you had trouble trusting us.”
Melissa smiles gratefully at him. But her eyes are drawn to Dakota. He doesn’t look shocked. He doesn’t ask any questions. He just smiles reassuringly at her, but with an edge.
“My thing is worse. When I first met Melissa, I was trying to hand her in for the reward. I got in over my head, so I lied to her and said that I wanted to join the resistance. And I kept lying for a while, until I decided that I couldn’t betray you, that I wanted to resist even though I was scared.” Guilt has a tight hold of his heart, of his lungs, of his throat. He looks at the ground, ashamed.
Melissa nudges him. “And I forgive you, you idiot.”
He chances a glance up at Cavendish and Dakota. They have twin looks of surprise on their face. He flinches and looks back at the ground.
“It’s alright, kid. What matters is what you actually did, not what you planned to do. You’re a good kid.” Dakota’s fond words are tinged with something. Anger? Betrayal? That would make sense, and both feelings would be deserved. Zack really does feel like he deserves to be yelled at by his friends, that he should be grovelling for forgiveness. He can’t deserve such easy forgiveness, he can’t deserve their kindness and reassurance.
“Dakota is right. It would have been better if you had never planned to do that, but you cannot hold it over yourself for the rest of your life.” Cavendish adds. “You know that I have made mistakes too, done things that I regret. But I can’t go back and undo those things.”
“Ok.” Zack has trouble accepting it, but he can try.
Dakota sighs. “My turn, then?” Cavendish squeezes his hand. “Ok. So… I knew that the Murphy Weapon is actually your friend.”
Melissa knew that he was wasn’t surprised. She leans closer. “How?”
Another sigh. “I’m an agent for an organisation. The Bureau of Tackling Tyranny- BoTT.”
Melissa blinks. She really didn’t see that coming. “So you’re a secret agent? That’s cool.”
“I suppose I am.” Dakota concedes. “Although it’s not cool. Not really. It’s very much centred around ‘destroy Doofensmirtz no matter the cost’, and I thought that was right, but now… now I’m not so sure.” He frowns, avoiding eye contact with her. “The Murphy weapon causes a lot of problems for us. My mission was to take it out… literally.”
Melissa’s stomach twists. “What do you mean?”
“I was supposed to ingratiate myself with you, earn your trust. Help you rescue the… Milo, get him away from that place. And then I was suppose to kill him.”
Silence.
"You... you what?" Melissa repeats, staring at Dakota.
"My mission was to kill Milo Murphy, and you if you... impeded me afterwards." He looks down. "I dropped the mission after a few weeks, I’ve left BoTT. I couldn't do it. I really do love you kids, and I want to rescue Milo. For real. I... I'm sorry."
More silence.
Zack's hand shoots out to hold Melissa's arm. He isn't sure if he is intending to comfort her, or protect Dakota. Maybe a mix of both.
Melissa just stares. Dakota is half certain that he can see her vibrating as she stands there, is half expecting smoke to billow from her ears as she flies across the room to attack him.
Well, the smoke is unlikely (although not something he would entirely put past her), but he does expect her to attack him. And he won't fight back. He would deserve it. Standing there, with the children staring at him, he feels like the worst piece of dirt in the entire Tri-State Area.
"Did you know about this?" Melissa asks Cavendish, short and snappy.
"He told me after you two were captured. Not about Milo, he said that was yours to tell if you wanted to, but that he was initially working against us." Cavendish says quietly. He has a hand on Dakota's arm, reflecting Zack's hand on Melissa's arm.
Melissa glares, and glares, and Dakota wills himself to stay put. She looks so angry, so betrayed, and he feels terrible. "I'm sorry, Melissa. I want to help you rescue your friend, but I understand if you want me to leave."
Melissa stands up and flounces out, slamming the window behind her. The walls shake with the force of it.
Zack stands immediately. "She's hurt, she's unarmed, I'm going after her." He says shortly, sprinting after his friend, fast enough he nearly falls out of the windowframe. "Mel, wait! Melissa!"
Dakota sighs, sinking against the wall. "I'm awful."
"You were following orders."
"That's no excuse."
"You thought that you were doing the right thing." Cavendish tries to reassure him.
"How could I ever think that killing an imprisoned child was the right thing to do?" Dakota buries his face in his hands.
Cavendish sits silently next to him for a while. "How could I ever think that working for the Emperor was the right thing to do? How could I ever think that attacking the resistance was the right thing to do? God, Dakota, I may have been involved in the mission to kill this Murphy boy's family."
"You don't know if you were."
"That is not the point! I did things which I now regret, because I thought that I was doing the right thing. Because I was following orders. Just like you." He sighs, removing his glasses to rub his eyes.
"It's-"
"Not different at all."
They sit next to each other, in a silence that feels like a blanket made of steel.
———
Zack runs after Melissa. "Melissa! Melissa, wait!"
She doesn't slow down, running and running and forcing him to keep up as they sprint along pavements and across roads. They narrowly avoid a Normbot.
And then she skids to a stop in front of a house. The house is clearly abandoned, and likely has been for some time. The grass is overgrown and the building is damaged, graffiti scribbled over it.
"Melissa?" He tries, more softly this time.
"This is where Milo lived." Melissa says, her tone inscrutable. Zack tries to scrutinise it anyway, and finds anger. Upset. Regret. Grief. "His family, I mean. And me, for a few years."
"You really miss him." Zack guesses.
Melissa snorts, a snort Zack is shocked to find has tears mixed into it. She is still staring up at the house, her hands clenched around her backpack straps. Painfully tightly. "Every day. All the time. Like the Emperor stole a part of me."
"What was he like?"
She opens and shuts her mouth a few times. She even manages to get some words out. "He was... was..."
Suddenly she starts marching in, slamming the door open. Zack rushes behind her, and his eyes are caught by the business of the house. He sees a picture on the wall, of a family. He recognises Sara, and Diogee. And he has seen pictures of Milo before. There is also a red haired woman, and brown-haired man. Milo's parents. The picture has a crack right through the middle.
He sees toys and belongings on the surfaces and the floor. He sees a dog bowl, long empty. As Melissa leads him through, he sees what was once a busy family home. Now eerily empty.
"I come here a lot." Melissa says quietly.
He can see that dust covers much of the house, but also a clear path. Where Melissa has walked, who knows how many times. Mourning.
Up the stairs, and past more relics of a family in the corridor. One door has warning signs hanging off of it. "Milo's room." Melissa explains, before she pushes it open.
Zack sees warning signs, and protective equipment. Posters for one of the many shows that was outlawed in the Tri-State Area, and for a movie series that is also outlawed. A loft bed, with a desk underneath it. And a camping bed pushed against the wall. Everything is also covered in dust. Aside from the path to the window. And the spot in the middle which Melissa immediately moves to. She looks around the room, grief and guilt written across her face like graffiti.
This room reminds him of a shrine.
But he can see the remains of the boy who used to live here.
Without a word, Melissa climbs out of the window and onto the roof. Zack silently curses her and scrambles to follow her. She stands for a few moments on the roof, pensive, then sits down on the edge. Her legs hang over.
Zack sits down next to her. She is fidgeting something in her pocket. When he squints, he sees a thick pen with a red cap. Melissa looks at the overgrown grass on the ground underneath them. “Milo is the reason I always cross out the D on my overalls.”
———
Zack looks down at the new cross on his Dooferalls. Or, anti-dooferalls, using the name Milo gave them. He is perfectly content to just sit here forever, letting Melissa work through her grief and guilt. But they have other problems. “Why are you so much angrier at Dakota than me? We both planned to betray you, and we both stopped.”
Melissa’s hand tightens on the marker. “He was going to hurt Milo. No one gets to do that.” She glowers, then softens. Softens with guilt. “I’m supposed to protect Milo. And after failing for years to rescue him, I nearly delivered him right to someone who wants him dead.”
“It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know.” Zack squeezes her hand. “You don’t have to forgive Dakota, but…”
Melissa sighs. “But I want to. Come on, before they get in a tizzy about where we went.”
She clambers through the window, to find Cavendish and Dakota still there. Both men look rather pensive. “Hey, guys.” She scratches the back of her neck. “Sorry about running off.”
“You have nothing to apologise for.” Dakota says. He stands. “I can go, if you want.”
“No!” She blurts out. Dakota freezes. “Look, I’m obviously furious that anyone wants to hurt my best friend. But you realised that you didn’t want to, and you’re really with us. So we’re cool.” She holds out her hand.
“Cool.” Dakota slowly takes her hand and shakes it.
“Now, we need to come up with a plan.” And somehow, despite everything, Melissa feels more hopeful. She thinks that together, they really can do it.
“But first you are resting.” Dakota says sternly. Melissa glares playfully… but knows that he is right.