Chapter Text
(multi): Stay home today.
As soon as he sends the message, Multi pockets his communicator, coat brushing against his legs in his hurry to the other side of his reactor.
There isn’t much time. Aldo only warned him of his plans this morning, and while Multi is grateful for the heads up, it would have been more appreciated had it been a few days prior.
Even a full 24 hours would have sufficed.
But now he feels frenzied as he waits for his doorway to part and barely remembers to wait for the familiar rush of decontamination before he stomps out into the exterior of his reactor
He’s circled the perimeter twice for any unenforced stone when a ping forces out a sigh of annoyance from him.
(katie): holy airball
(katie): I got shit to do
Feigning ignorance for a few mere seconds (why does she always make things so difficult?), he peaks into the short hidey-hole near the entrance to the reactor and makes sure his turrets are loaded.
Done, he stares down at her message, a frown pulling at the corners of his mouth.
(multi): I’m serious katie.
After a few moments, there’s no reply, and he doesn’t have time to keep staring where her message might show up, so he pushes his building worry away with his communicator and instead tabs over his camera feed. Each one clicks through with a comforting buzz of static.
All in working order. For now. Not for long. He doesn’t even know why he checked, a nervous habit, he guesses. A complete waste of time. None of them will be online by the end of the day.
Focus. He curses under his breath and starts towards his main concern.
His communicator pings and Multi rushes to check. It almost slips out of his fingers.
(katie): all day? are you sure?
(katie): i really do have stuff i need to do
(multi): Don’t go far. Be back home before sunset.
(katie): sir yes sir
He really shouldn’t give her that leeway. Shouldn’t have to. It’s risky. Dangerous. And he has proven how he cares for her more times than he’s willing to admit.
What if she gets stuck somewhere far away when the warpstones go down? What if she’s with Ash or Ewron? Dark Cucurucho comes for her and Multi has no way to get to her?
Multi stares down at their exchange again.
Dwelling on it is bad for his mental health, he doesn’t want to imagine the possibility that something bad might happen to her, but it’d probably be overly weird if he told her to stay with him in his reactor for days and nights. To sleep in the same room as him.
She is capable, smart.
Multi will remind her again in advance, later, when he has a few offline traps set and the doors can open without their wiring, to go home. To be safe. He will explain everything to her then.
Semi-satisfied, he moves to get to work, but another message comes through.
(katie): is nacho okay?
He fizzles midstep as he reads it.
(multi): Yes, he is fine.
(katie): are you okay?
Multi blinks at the message, delusions boiling under his skin and wiping his mental list of crucial tasks clean.
(multi): I am okay, thank you.
(katie): whats happening
(multi): I will tell you later, okay? I need to finish preparing.
(katie): ok be safe
His heart out of its preferred rhythm, Multi shakes his head. He can’t overthink about this right now. He can’t reread their messages and think about how she might actually care about him past Nacho and let that stupid warmth he’s craved all his life sneak in.
If he doesn’t lock down his chemicals, Aldo’s distraction could let all the uranium loose. He needs to make sure the tubes are set to stay shut and the doors are set to stay open, for this one time.
An exit to the outside is probably wise as well, even though the idea makes his lungs work double time and his vision go blurry as he maps out where exactly it should be. A back door. Hidden.
Not near Nacho's room in case someone manages to find it above ground. Only he will know. And Nacho.
Maybe Katie too, just in case she needs to come in.
Fuck.
He hopes Aldo gets what he’s looking for.
-
The main reason Katie hates The Nether is the noise.
The bubbling sound of lava is ever-present, no matter if you are directly in front of it or 200 feet deep in netherrack, five pickaxes down, and contemplating all the shit wrong in your life. It’s impossible to ignore, it makes her ears itch.
Her idea of a soundtrack to her life is more kickin’ back in a pimped-out Chevrolet for her everyday, and more dramatic, more never over, for when she is at her lowest.
Not the pop of hot gas at the surface of an orange pool.
The lava is more than just noise pollution. It boils the air around her until her hair sticks to her forehead all the way to the back of her neck. She’s had to sew up more than her fair share of burned holes from rogue liquid-hell spatter.
On top of that, bugs bite at every exposed inch of her, not shying away from including her gorgeous face in those inches. She can’t blame them, she’s hot as fuck. But between them and the burn marks littered across her skin, she very much wants this building task to be over with.
But it’s taking a long time.
Katie is many, many things. Talented things. Smart things. Gorgeous things.
Funny, hot, adventurous, graceful, nurturing, charming, reliable, radiant, and, don’t forget, humble.
But she is not patient.
She makes enough progress to at least show Dark Cucurucho she’s working on it, and she’s loyal to them or whatever (don’t kill her, thanks), then portals back to the island.
The breeze feels like pure bliss all over her body and she opens her arms to it, hoping it’ll sweep her away.
She checks the sky, her clock for the day, because Multi is anything if not ominous. It’s past the highest point, falling towards a gradual sunset, and then she looks for an update on her communicator.
Seven messages: She’s a popular woman, after all.
She replies through each one, disinterested, a little disappointed. The last two on her list, sent an hour ago, are from Ash. None from Multi.
(ash): hey, can we talk?
(ash): im sorry about ewron
She spares a glance at the sun once again then types up her response.
(katie): omw
He tells her a lot of nothing. Not even on the subject of Ewron’s latest betrayal in getting her in trouble with the dark workers. Just that they are working with them, a new development, and he didn’t know better.
As usual, but it’s not as though she expects anything different.
Sometimes she wonders if his lack of trust in her is actually a lack of anything interesting in his life at all.
Perhaps Ewron is the most exciting thing and that’s why he keeps him around. Forgave him for whatever seemed to have happened last week, when Ash went stomping angrily around town, a stressed line in his posture.
But then she remembers Multi mentioned Haipers chip going offline and can’t help but be curious to how much her supreme leader knows about that and just isn’t telling her.
Afterwards he looks at her expectantly. For gossip she may have once shared with him some time ago, but not anymore, not even as she runs her gaze over the deep bag under his one good eye and outgrown patches of facial hair on his chin.
“It was nice chatting with you.” Katie states plainly. “But I have another meeting in… right now, actually. So.”
“With who?”
She could lie, she’s really good at it, not that it’s hard, but just in case, she admits, “Multi,” with a nonchalant shrug, not letting her hesitance lead her.
Multi didn’t tell her if she was allowed to mention anything to anyone else. But knowing him, everything is top secret.
“Katie…” Ash replies. Hesitation palpable. Katie could chew it up and spit it out if she wanted, but it’d probably taste weak and flavorless. She’s used to a higher standard than that.
She rolls her eyes, knowing exactly where this is going. “What?”
Brow furrowing, he declares. “You need to watch out for him.”
“I literally manipulated him.” Katie inveighs, annoyed at his insistence of her being some innocent and naive girl. A locked up princess for him to protect but turn a blind eye to the perfectly good knife in her hand. “I betrayed him. I gave our son away to be kidnapped.”
She doesn’t like to view it like that.
It was complicated. Completely and utterly planned out in her head: an easy spy mission. In and out, with the whole salad, not just the chips. But complicated.
She gave up their son behind his back. And while she knew she would get him back, she also knew that Multi wouldn’t like it. She knew he would see it as a betrayal.
Which she guesses is the only perspective that matters here.
Serious is a ridiculous look on Ash’s face. “That means it’s his turn.” He intertwines his fingers atop his dark wooded desk and looks her dead in the eye. “I mean, do you really think he trusts you after what you did?”
Katie’s teeth stay stuck together, for just a singular moment. Her inner worries float in the air around her just like that, after weeks of dutiful delusions working overtime to convince her that everything was okay.
Her stomach feels like it’s in her feet, like the words of someone else is bringing her thoughts to fruition and they are now fact, rather than just the nightmare she’s been comforting herself over.
She hates how he’s always putting his nose into her business, thinking he knows what’s best. If he really cared, he’d see that Nacho makes her happier than anything in a long time.
And Multi… he’s a package deal. As long as Nacho loves her, Multi has to care for her in some way too.
He wouldn’t betray her.
And Ash would support her if he really loved her.
Instead, he’s kind of really ruining her mood. Killing the vibe.
Her jaw clenches before she laughs with as much bravado as she can muster. “Please, he’s my baby daddy. He’s wrapped around my dainty little finger.”
His gaze pivots to her pinky as she wiggles its tininess in emphasis. “Right…”
Katie resists the urge to drop her smile and roll her eyes so hard they fall out of her head. Vibe officially murdered. She’s over this conversation. Her hair tumbles over her shoulder as she dramatically rises from the Regime chair. “This has been so fun. But I’m a very busy business woman and doctor.”
Her shadow falls over him, dark and menacing.
“I trust you, sister. Just be safe.”
He blends into the shadow with ease, the glow of his purple glitches the only thing giving him away in her tense pause.
The Dark Federation is trying to control her. The normal Federation is this close to finding out her forced affiliations, and they already do not fuck with her. Foolish knows she is lying about not saving Nacho, but still hasn’t done anything about it, but, at the same time, Tina has been eyeing her strangely for days, so maybe they are plotting behind her back.
She’s also running out of suits. Dark worker blood is thick, and stains like a motherfucker. And, unfortunately, there is no dry cleaning on this damn island.
Her family is alive. Nacho trusts her. Multi trusts her.
That’s all that matters.
She turns on her heel. Her smile drops. “I’ll be fine.”
Ash doesn’t reply. She doesn’t bother with any further pleasantries.
She teleports back to her HQ. The pink of it brings her a small comfort even as her frown finally emerges.
Despite her denials, Ash’ words follow her to her desk. Past all the pictures of whoever decided they want to be on her interior this week, up the stairs, and through the beam of the beacon in her flooring.
A breath pushes out of her as she sits in her chair and presses her fingertips against her temples.
Do you really think he trusts you?
She got Nacho back. She explained herself, and Multi seemed to agree with many of the points she made.
Why wouldn’t he?
She pulls out her communicator. No message. No promised explanation.
Worry pushes its way under her ribs, hiding behind a kindling of something hot.
The longer she stares at the empty message field the more the heat grows. She saved everyone. She is useful. She is a spy for 3 other affiliations, she tells him everything she learns and shares nothing he tells her.
He should trust her.
Why hasn’t he told her what’s going down at sunset then?
She whips her chair around toward the big window behind her. An orange glow streams in through her pink glass in hazy lines, lining the ugly neighboring buildings in a bright outline as it slowly descends down.
The warmth of it is gentle through the glass against her skin, but somehow weaker than she remembers it. It makes her feel sticky, reminiscent of her time building.
She takes a cold shower. By the time she’s out it’s almost sunset, but still, she has no new messages.
Strenuous relationship aside, it’s not like Multi to not update her.
She’s pissed when she pulls up to the reactor. It’s damp and dark and she’s pulling her sleeves closer around herself before her warpstone particles have fully faded from her travels. Every step she makes towards the front door is echoed twice.
As she nears, she realizes there’s no alarm.
That sends all of Katie’s anger to the back of the line, replaced by ever-eager worry. Never has she known Multi to skimp on security.
She hurries forward, dancing impatiently as the doors take ages to open.
“Multi!” Her voice echoes down the eerie hallways once she reaches the main room. “You alive?”
She takes a step further in, the sound is deep and plays back to her three times before dying off. “Nacho?”
Only the constant whirring machinery and metal panels clinking against each other call back to her. The corners of the room seem darker than when she comes here with her usual company.
It’s almost corny how creepy it is. She resists the urge to laugh at the fact that Multi probably eats up the theming he has curated and glances around for any sign of life.
Nothing, as usual. Clean and empty of anything identifying. One might think it were abandoned if not for all the active tech shit. She doesn’t know what any of it is, nor does she care. That’s for nerds, which she is not.
“Multi where the hell are you? You are really starting to piss me off.”
Again.
She climbs up the rocks to Nacho’s room, fairly well hidden as a path, but frustratingly much less usable as the makeshift staircase it’s intended to be. Her breaths come heavier as she tries all the buttons on the door trying to guess the code to get in. “Nacho! Mama is here. Let mama in, baby.”
Silence greets her on the other side of the wall. And beeps resonate as she guesses wrong time and time again. This is useless, she doesn’t even know how many digits it is. Knowing Multi, it's probably a fuckton.
She slaps her hands flat against where she knows the door is. “Nacho! If you don’t let Mama in right now I am going to take away your cocaine for the entire week.” Nothing. “You better just be sleeping safe and sound and not pretending to not hear me.”
“Mama?”
The question comes from not inside the bedroom, but behind her, and she whips her head towards it.
Two dozen feet below her stands her son and his father, both straining to look up at her. Multi’s dreads are in disarray, his coat covered in smudges of different colors. None very appealing. Nacho adorns a few matching marks of his own.
Multi’s eyebags are apparent, even from as far as they stand apart, but his expression is obviously startled. It’s been a while since she’s seen him in person. The askew neckline is new, the flush to his cheeks is new.
Her throat suddenly feels tight as she looks down on him.
Do you really think he trusts you?
“Katie, what are you doing here?”
She ignores him and pivots her attention to her adorable, immensely distracting, son. “Nacho!” She hurries to descend, uncaring in the how, only the speed.
Nacho waddles towards the base of the slope. “I missed you, mama.”
At the same time, Multi hisses, “Katie, be careful!” as she basically slides down the rocks.
Her legs and hands spark with small lines of pain, but she smiles through it. Beams as she lands. “Nacho, baby. I missed you. Hi. How are you?”
“I’m okay.”
“Okay good. Did anyone hurt you?”
“No.”
“They better not.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll stab them good if they try.”
Katie smiles and scoops him into a hug, holding him close as they part.
“I told you to stay home.” Multi sounds tired, but unsettled, his words fast.
You told me to be home by sunset. And nothing about not coming to the reactor.
She glares at Multi over her son's head. The small egg gets dirt on her as he wiggles into her. “You told me you would tell me what was going on.”
“Yes. I—I was going to. Later. I have things I have to finish—”
“It is later. It’s basically sunset already and you can’t keep telling me things after they have already happe—”
“What?” The man’s eyes widen and he pushes back his coat to peer at his watch. “Oh kurwa. It’s 7:40. Okay, Nacho, we need to finish that wiring now.” He goes to grab Nacho out of Katie’s arms and she steps away from him, twisting Nacho out of reach.
“Woah, woah, woah.” She states. “Woah. First you have to tell me what is going on.”
“Katie, kurwa, please. There’s no time for this. You need to go back home. Straight home.”
He should know her better than that. She glares harder, “I’m not going anywhere until you open your big fat trap.”
“What?” His face pinches, then he shakes his head. With a sigh he mutters something in polish. There’s panic clear on his face, which upturns Katie’s expression if just barely. “It’s a lot to explain and—kurwa—I don’t even think I have time to tell you anymore. But Katie, I need Nacho to help me finish up this—“
It’s not enough to pivot her thoughts, though.
“Nuh uh.”
“Katie.”
“Multi.”
There's a tense lull. Their eye contact is harsh and biting, and Katie soaks it up greedily, addicted to the feeling of the blood rushing through her.
He looks back and forth between each of her eyes, and she can hear his breaths come harsher, see it in the way his chest expands under his white coat. Too soon, he breaks their connection, flickering down to his watch attached to a shaking wrist.
“I don’t even know what to do. I wanted to explain to you before it happened and now… There isn’t much time.”
“Mama stay with us.”
Nacho isn’t asking Katie. He’s telling Multi. The same expression he always has boring into him from Katie’s grasp, waiting for the response he wants and will probably get, especially from his father.
Spoiled.
His mama’s son.
“Nacho, that’s—” Multi falters. “You know why she can’t.”
“Mama stay.” Nacho says. “Better if we all stay together. Dark Cucurucho doesn’t know where the reactor is. Plus, Mama stubborn.”
Mama stubborn indeed. She's not going anywhere.
Multi sighs, running his hand through his hair, showing just how it ended up in its messy state. “I suppose that makes the most sense, Nacho. We will be the most safe here, and I won’t worry about something happening to Mama when we can't see her.” He turns to Katie, oblivious to the way her inner alarms start blaring with a million questions. “I just didn’t want to trap you in here—“
One comes spilling out. “Woah. Trap me in here? Wat dat mean?”
Multi starts for the stairs in the back corner. Hello? What does that mean? Should she go somewhere? Should she leave? “I will explain. But me and Nacho must work. Come.”
“Wh—” Katie follows after him, nearly tripping in her haste up the stairs, Nacho still resting on her forearm tucked under him. Narrow ass stairs, damn. Rusty piece of shit, musky, reactor cave. “Start explaining!”
The first door opens without a code. Multi holds it for her with an obvious strain. “Aldo is planning to knock out all of the technology on the island.”
“What.” It's more of a statement than a question. “Bitch, forever?”
That’ll be annoying as hell. Who does he think he is?
He huffs out an involuntary laugh, “No, temporarily. Come in. Hurry.”
She rushes through and ducks under his arm, watching as he bolts to lead her down the hallway. Katie has never seen the scientist move so fast. She actually has to try to keep up with him for once as he scurries down the hallway towards another door.
“Me and Nacho have to finish locking down the uranium. I have divided up the amounts very specifically so there is never enough uranium in one place to cause a long enough chain reaction for a critical mass. But if the containers leak or open or mix or anything, their atoms could split enough times to cause-”
“Right, right. I completely understand all that.” No the fuck she does not. Nacho promptly hops out of her arms and rushes towards a tool laying around a weaving of wires and scrap metal. She lets her arms drop, thankful for the break. “But why is he turning off everything?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.” They stop as they reach the next door and Multi glances back at her, looking as though he's contemplating something. Then he pushes open the door and says, “I think it might have something to do with The Regime.”
Katie can feel her eyebrows furl. Nacho rushes into the room between their legs. Is it concerning that she has no urge to warn them at all? “Where did he get it?”
She follows her son, inching past Multi as he holds the heavy metal open for her. Her arm grazes the fabric of his shirt and she pulls it back with an accidental speed. Cold, even through the thick layer.
The door slams shut behind them loud enough to make her jump.
She turns to face him just as he breezes past her, clearing his throat. “The Federation. He asked me to check they weren’t trying to trick him. The technology was, I don’t even know, Katie. Some sort of electromagnetic pulse machine, but I could barely understand it. It was way more advanced than anything they’ve ever shown us.”
“Made by papa.” Nacho says.
“Cucurucho?” Katie straightens, not hiding her surprise.
He nods, no verbal reply, a screwdriver or wrench, maybe a saw, in his little hand.
She knows that Nacho does not enjoy talking of his past, so she does not press further on the matter for now.
But she doubts that she will have much insight on anything machiney either, that’s why she has Multi: to do the boring science part while she gets in on all the spy action, even though recently that’s been going a little sideways.
But if it’s created by the big dog himself, this must be serious.
“So it’s going to turn off everything. What’s everything?”
Multi heads straight for the glass container of chemicals, a lever mechanism on the side with a small compartment open, allowing her to see a maze of wires.
“The lights. The electricity. Our communicators, warpstones, cameras. My doors. It’ll probably blow up a few buildings around wherever he starts it too.”
Katie watches the pair work, thoughts going crazy.
That sounds like a complete disaster. She won’t be able to teleport anywhere, or talk to anyone, or see anything. She won’t know what's going on either, on the outside.
What if they blow up her HQ again?
What if they blame everything on her family? She wouldn’t put it past a few of them. And she won’t exist to talk circles around them like the awesome spy she is.
Spy.
Her work.
She won’t be able to continue the dark HQ. Or do anything if the Dark Workers show up to take her away.
Would they be able to take her away?
Are their powers magic or technology? Technology makes the most sense.
Is The Nether going to be affected? It’s not technically on the island. It just leads straight to it.
She swallows at the sick, sinking feeling in her stomach. “So it’ll turn off everything in here?”
“Yes, Katie.” He says sharply. “The entire island, all the way to bedrock and above. Hopefully it’ll kill Ash’s ghost daughter for good. And,” He laughs, a little crazed, “maybe, if we’re lucky, she’ll take Ewron with her.”
“Is this electric magnet like a one time use bomb or is it an on off switch situation or…?”
“Electromag—It’s a one time machine. If I had to guess, it can probably be reset and activated again.” He hisses and yanks his hand out of the little square, shaking it wildly. "Kurwa." He says, pressing down on his finger. “Nacho, hand me the lug crimper.”
Nacho pulls out something Katie can’t help but notice looks nothing like the crimper she keeps under Schlatts’ bathroom sink.
Multi immediately locks back in.
“But it's not on a timer.” Katie clarifies.
“No, just one wave that will knock out everything.”
Her hand finds a place under her chin. And she paces. Back and forth on the bright white floor near an operating table she knows has strapped down many people she once called her friends.
Surely, this is nothing to be paranoid over, she says to herself, but can’t get past the gnawing doubt pressing up inside her.
“What if, I don’t fucking know, what if there’s something else going on here.”
That finally gets him to look up, a new streak of dark grease across his cheek. The green of his eyes ends her pacing. “Katie… What are you talking about?”
“Like, what if someone were to, you know, hide stuff in The Nether and then bring it into the overworld after? They’d be the only person with any technology. They’d basically be fucking god amongst the rest of us losers.”
That’s what she would do if she had more time to prepare. But she has more experience with The Nether than anyone on the island at this point.
Save for the workers themselves.
Multi puts the crimper down.
“But, that’s crazy. Right?” Katie laughs, watching as Multi raises to his feet, cutting off mid-sound. “This is the part where you say I’m overreacting. Just being an overprotective mama bear.“
He does nothing of the sort.
Katie watches in real time as his thoughtful expression hardens the longer he doesn’t give her an answer. Suddenly, he curses under his breath, something polish that she doesn’t understand nor recognize. “Nacho, finish compressing the wings on the battery connectors. Close the panel up when you’re done, okay?”
Nacho jumps into action. “Yes, dada, of course.”
All that can be heard is the rustling of Nacho’s ministrations and the gears turning inside Multi’s head.
“Multi?”
More thinking, for a long moment. He glances at his watch.
Katie asks, “How long is everything going to be down?”
Finally, he speaks, “One to seven days.”
“Damn, big ass gap. I thought you were good at this!”
“The design was complicated!” Multi shouts, voice far more emotional all of the sudden, the dam broken. His composure has gone flying out the window and he’s now marching back and forth across the room.
“It’s nothing, right Multi?”
He nods once. “Right.”
“I mean, what would they even want?”
Multi stands still. Slowly, they both turn to look at Nacho, who has just completed his work and is making small steps towards them. Stupid question.
“Oh shit.” Nacho says.
“We are practically the damn main characters of this island! They are all obsessed with us, its kind of annoying!” Katie yells. “You should know that almost everything that happens affects us at this point.”
Multi is just as loud, “I just found out this morning! I texted you immediately after my conversation with Aldo.”
Sharing fear, they both take a pause to catch their breaths and recollect their downward spiraling thoughts. Multi meets her gaze, his eyes going soft, an honest anxious, and Katie finds herself taking a step towards him.
“We’re safe here, right?” She asks.
His eyes flicker down to where she’s moved closer, then back up. He swallows, he nods. “I will protect you and Nacho.”
“You too." She insists, her heartbeat too fast, chest too tight. "You can’t get hurt either.”
He blinks at her, tripping on his words. “I. Ye—Yes, of course.”
Nacho steps up next to them. “The Dark Federation can’t track us here?”
“Yeah! Yeah.” Multi looks at Nacho, then pivots to his watch, again. “Yeah…”
Katie flattens her expression. “Well, when you say it that many times it makes me not believe you.”
“I don’t know what keeps us safe from their tracking. It could be something technology related. But also could not be. I didn't think about the fact that The Nether would probably keep their stuff online.”
“Oh my god.” Nacho inputs with as much trepidation as his experimental voice allows.
Katie kneels next to him, her heart hurting at the egg’s panic. Why does everyone want her family dead? Look at him, he’s just a baby. “It’s gonna be okay honeybunches.”
“Like damn, they want to kill me so bad.” Nacho says and grabs onto her arms with his tiny hands, the strength of it giving away the fear his voice lacks. She sits fully back on her heels so he can clamber into her lap. “Why are they so jealous of me?”
Katie snorts, “Probably because you’re so epic and amazing and handsome and you have so much aura.”
“Oh yeah, so much aura.” He giggles. “I get it from my mama.”
“That’s right! From your mama. Who loves you so much.”
“And from my dada.”
“Well… I guess—”
“Guys, please.” He rubs at the sides of his head, smearing more mess where he touches. “We don’t have much time.”
“It was The Federation that gave it to Aldo, right? They have no reason to want Nacho.”
“Yeah.” Nacho agrees, his hold lessening on her arms.
The rubbing at Multi’s head ceases. “It was definitely made by The Federation.”
Katie would throw her hands up if Nacho weren’t attached to them. “So, it could have been given to him by Dark Cucurucho, then. How much do we trust this Aldo guy?”
She still hasn’t met him, only stole his plane while he was torturing Ash. Over and over.
“Uncle Aldo wouldn’t hurt me.”
Okay, fuck her, she guesses. That was fast. Since when are they so sure of people outside of the three of them?
“So he was tricked then?” She supplies.
Multi retorts, “Or maybe it really was The Federation.”
She can't help her surge of indignance. “Are you really willing to risk our son on a maybe?”
He checks his watch again, then does a double take as he registers her words. “No! Katie, no. Don’t say stuff like that.”
She waves away what would have been embarrassment, but fuck that. She still feels bad for her smiting words. Multi cares about Nacho more than anything. “Sorry, sorry. You are right. I shouldn’t have insinuated that, I didn’t even mean it, I’m just worried about him.”
“It’s okay. I know you are.” He lets his words linger, his softness, then he gets back to stony mode. “We have a few minutes. Let's send an email to the Federation. If they really gave Aldo the machine, there is no worry, and if they didn’t, surely they will come to help us.”
“Okay,” simple enough for her. They best plan they’ll get with what they have. “Get to writing.”
“No, I don’t have time. You email The Federation. Me and Nacho will do the last tube.”
“Me?” She splutters. “They don’t like me. Do you really think they'll care about a single word I say?”
He tosses her his communicator without a second thought, then he’s prying open the metal on the last task of the room.
She stares down at it. Despite owning her own identically pink one, it feels foreign in her hands. She’s never given her communicator to anyone else, honestly didn’t even know it was an option. Has she ever seen anyone else do it? She can’t recall a time.
It’s their entire identity. Connected to their DNA. It’s the only way to know if you are talking to the real person, especially with all the clone mishaps as of recently.
And he gave it to her, just like that.
“Are you typing? I don’t hear you typing.”
“Okay! I’m doing it! I'm typing!” She slams her fingers over his keyboard, feeling oddly intimate at the moment. “Can you hear it? I’m typing!”
“Yes, yes. Good.”
After a second, she presses the backspace a number of times, erasing the gibberish she wrote. It’s loud in the otherwise hushed room. A rhythmic thock, thock, thock, thock. She hears Multi cackle in the back, and she cracks a smile of her own.