Cinder

24 - Unspoken Thoughts

As Tobias exited the command center, he passed Fenrir who was traveling in the opposite direction presumably at the request of Barker. The Embers' second-in-command staunchly refused to meet his gaze, though he wasn't too eager to meet hers either if he was being honest.

Finally hearing the door slide shut behind him as he found himself in a hallway leading to the rest of the pre-fab facility, he found himself surrounded by the other three who had been waiting patiently for him to emerge from his one-on-one with Barker. Gates was the first one to catch his eye, and she did not look happy with the situation at all.

"Am I in trouble?" he asked jokingly, though, despite his tone, it was a very real question.

"We'll discuss that later," she answered shortly, and he was all too sure that he'd guessed correctly that there'd be some repercussions from her coming his way.

Deciding not to worry about that now, he diverted his attention to Vale and felt an involuntary grin creep over his face as he extended a hand towards her. She bypassed the handshake entirely and pulled him into a gentle hug, likely a consideration on her part for being composed entirely of sharp metal.

"It's been too long, Tobias," she greeted warmly, and stepped back to look at him again for the first time in years. "I haven't seen you since you entered the gardens with KT."

He remembered that moment somberly, leaving Vale behind as she volunteered to keep the Amalgamates off their back while they looked for the final array. "There was so much that happened that day ... I never got the chance to reconnect with you in the wake of all the chaos. I was still trying to deal with losing Kay ... and Tyra."

The Simulacrum gave a small, regretful nod. "It was hard for a while after she was gone. Still is, but I don't let it hold me back. The last thing she would have wanted would be for me to mourn her the rest of my life." She gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. "Besides, I think she'd be pretty stoked to see you and I teaming up to save the day again, right?"

"That's right," he chuckled, gripping her hand in an expression of camaraderie. "At this rate, we'll have to start charging for our services."

Stepping back, she gave a quick jab of her head towards Buck. "This is Cedric. Gates tried to send me to meet you at the landing zone, but I was denied by Fenrir, she said I was too 'valuable' to lose if this all went south. Had to settle for him instead."

"Not a bad reason to be denied permission," Tobias joked. He turned to Buck. "Glad it was you and not Fenrir herself who came out to meet me."

"No kidding," the commander agreed, "I half-thought that she'd skip with marching you out back and just shoot you then and there."

Though he didn't verbally express it, he was relieved that everyone aside from Fenrir seemed to take him at his word, or at least refrain from passing judgement, like Buck.

Noticing the way that Vale had introduced Buck by his first name, he looked at both of them curiously. "So, you're a good friend of Vale's I take it?"

"I would hope so," the male Simulacrum chuckled, "Amelia and I have quite the history."

"Not just us," she added, "Gray was there too." Turning to Gates, she asked, "Where is she, by the way?"

"She and Davis are monitoring air-traffic," the Captain supplied. "That's where I was too, until I picked up his signal which lead to the shit-storm we're in now." Upon saying 'him', she jabbed a thumb at Tobias accusingly. He winced somewhat at the sharpness of her tone, like his ears were being forcibly fed broken glass. He was definitely in trouble.