The pair begin the trek home in silence. Neither of them speak until they walk in the back door together. Ember turns to look at Sereb as she closes the door behind them.
“You okay?”
Sereb sighs. “I feel nothing but sadness and regret at our failure.”
“Me too.”
He turns as the pair slowly walk toward the stairs together. “You? But there is nothing for you to regret. This failure is mine.”
Ember shakes her head. “No, Sereb. We both failed to find Cherry, therefore I failed Arc as well.”
She slowly opens the door to the bedroom. Arc is asleep. Meanwhile across town Minerva’s alarm clock goes off. She reaches over and turns it off before sitting up and stretching.
“What a night. And now back to work, I guess.”
She turns to look at the helmet on the nightstand but finds it missing.
“That’s odd. I know I left it here.”
Standing up Minerva looks around her room. She spots the helmet lying on its side facing her patio door. Walking over she reaches down and picks it up.
“How did you get over here?”
Minerva looks the helmet over as she walks to the kitchen.
“I must’ve knocked it over in my sleep.”
She sets the helmet down on the counter and pours herself a steaming cup of coffee. Sitting down, Minerva glances over at her prize.
“Are you watching me? Nah, that’s silly. Your just an inanimate object.”
The helmet vibrates slightly at this. Frowning, Minerva sets her coffee down.
“What the…?”
She stares intently at the helmet for some time, but it does not move. Standing up, Minerva walks over to the radio to catch the mid-morning news.
“Must’ve just imagined it.”
Suddenly the helmet falls from the counter, nearly causing Minerva to drop her cup in surprise. It slowly begins rolling toward the front door. Quickly setting down the coffee cup, she gives chase.
“Get back here!”
Scooping up the helmet, Minerva frowns.
“That hero must be trying to use his powers to recall this, or something. Well, I don’t think so.”
Minerva walks back to her bedroom and drops the helmet into her largest bedside drawer. She closes it and stands back up.
“Problem solved.”
Meanwhile, back at Arc’s house Sereb turns to Ember.
“Should we come back later?”
Ember shakes her head. “No. He’d want to know right away.”
Sereb frowns as they approach the bed. “This won’t be easy.”
“I know.”
Ember puts a claw on Arc’s shoulder and gently shakes him.
“Arc? We’re back.”
Arc’s eyes fly open and he sits up quickly. This forces an onslaught of coughing and hacking to spew forth. In a few moments he speaks in a raspy voice.
“Ember! Where… where is she?!”
Ember hangs her head.
“I’m sorry, Arc. The hospital… she wasn’t there.”
Arc leans forward and puts his head in his hands.
“Any… clues?”
Sereb steps forward. “We… found footprints near where the helmet rolled last night.”
“So someone TOOK her?!”
Ember nods. “It looks like it, Arc.”
“We followed the prints to a dirt path. It looks like they got into a vehicle after that.”
Where did the path lead?!”
“To the main road.”
Sereb nods. “The mud would suggest they turned left toward Angel Grove.”
“It’s a start. Anything else?!”
Ember sighs. “Yeah. We… ran into someone familiar over there.”
Arc looks up, surprised. “What? Who?”
“Wiseman.”
“Good! Did he tell you where Cherry is?!”
Sereb shakes his head. “He was… elusive in that regard.”
Arc sighs. “I kinda figured that much. Well, what did he say?”
“Just that Cherry was in Angel Grove, and wasn’t going anywhere.”
Sereb growls. “How he knows THAT is a mystery however.”
“You think he took her, Arc?”
Arc shakes his head. “I doubt it, Ember. You said there were tire tracks, right?”
“Yes.”
“Wiseman always vanishes, or teleports, or whatever. He doesn’t have much use for vehicular transport.”
“True.”
Sereb sighs. “I suppose he wouldn’t have approached us if he was the kidnapper either.”
“Yeah. Well, he’s been right thus far. But that does little to soothe my concerns.”
Ember hangs her head. “Sorry Arc.”
“What for?”
“Sereb and I failed you.”
“That may be. But you two tried your very best.”
“Wiseman did leave us with one other clue.”
Arc sighs. “Another cryptic message?”
Sereb nods. “Yes. He wanted us to tell you to watch the news for some reason.”
“Great. That could mean any station or any website! TV or Internet!”
“Where should Sereb and I start?”
“By helping me up!”
Arc coughs heavily again as he reaches a hand toward Ember.
“Arc, you really need to rest. Let Sereb and I take care of this.”
Sereb nods. “I look forward to having a chance to redeem myself.”
“Help me downstairs to the couch at least.”
Ember sighs. “Fine.”
She helps him up. Arc turns to Sereb.
“Check on the guys downstairs will you?”
“At once.”
Sereb hurries to carry out his task as Arc slowly descends the stairs with Ember with a blanket around his shoulders. Ember turns to him, concerned.
“You aren’t planning on running off now are you?”
Arc smiles at her weakly. “I don’t think I can. At least I can help gather information from the sofa.”
“I suppose.”
They proceed over to the couch together. Ember sets Arc down and picks up the remote from a nearby end table. She turns on the TV as and sits down next to Arc.
“Let’s see what we can find out.”
Arc coughs. “The news in on next.”
Sereb comes into the room and sits down in front of the couch.
“They’re sleeping peacefully. I believe they’ll be fine with ample rest.”
“Good. What about Rose?”
“She appears to be recharging in a chair.”
“And her injuries?”
“He body appears fully repaired from what I could see.”
Ember sighs. “I know she’s an android and all, but I’m still worried she’ll get hurt.”
Arc nods. “Me too. At least she isn’t sick though.”
“What do you suppose happened to your squad?”
Arc thinks for a moment. “Well, they were out all night in the cold rain. That alone would make anyone sick.”
Ember sighs. “And us, Arc? “
“That makes me a bit worried.”
“You think it had anything to do with that gas?”
“Maybe. Now I wish I had grabbed that thing Hammer threw at us.”
Sereb pulls the canister out of his saddlebag with his magic and levitates it to Arc. “We picked it up.”
Arc takes the canister. “Good work!”
He touches his earring.
“Arc to Sunburst.”
“Right here, sir. Are you alright? You don’t sound as you normally do.”
“I’m feeling a bit under the weather right now. But I have a spent augmented smoke grenade that needs analyzing.”
“Can I assume there was something more than just smoke in it?”
“I believe so, yes. Can you figure out what it was if we send it over?”
“Yes sir. If there’s any residue in it, which there should be, I’ll be able to determine its chemical structure. Hopefully it’s not something too exotic though.”
Ember frowns. “Like something indigenous to Earth?”
“Yes. That would certainly slow my analysis down.”
Arc hands the canister to Ember. “We’ll send it through in a minute. Let me know what you find as soon as possible.”
“Yes sir. I’ll get right on it.”
Arc continues as Ember heads for the basement. “Good. Everything alright in Equestria?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary here, sir.”
“Glad to hear it. I’ll let you get back to work now.”
“Yes sir. I hope you feel better.”
“Thanks. Arc out.”
He touches his earring as Ember heads back up the stairs.
“Sent that crazy thing over.”
“Good.”
Sereb points a paw at the television. “The news is starting.”
The Channel 7 news logo pops onto the screen and a news anchor comes into view.
“Good morning, Angel Grove. The town is abuzz with talk about our town’s Hero and his actions last night.”
Ember frowns. “Huh? What…?”
Arc interrupts her. “Shhh!”
“The neighboring town of Farburg has recently been a victim from gang activity from a biker gang known only as ‘The Riders’. Our Hero discovered their base’s location and decided to pay them a visit.”
A shot of Arc and Ember fighting the gang flashes onto the screen. Ember frowns.
“Where did they get that footage?!”
Sereb growls. “Indeed.”
Arc shrugs. “I didn’t see anyone last night. They must’ve been pretty well hidden to…”
“As expected, our Hero and his partner Dragon came out on top.”
Sereb turns to Ember. “Dragon?”
Ember rolls her eyes. “We told Minerva that was my name. Arc is just Hero.”
“However, a Shard member came to the leader’s aid in an attempt to thwart our Hero. This only confirms rumors circulating in Farburg that the Shards and The Riders are working together.”
Ember grins. “Well, we took care of THAT!”
“Our top reporter was able to get some footage of the battle last night.”
The screen shifts to Arc, Sereb, and Ember fighting The Riders and Hammer. Arc scratches his head.
“I wonder who…”
Minerva’s face comes onscreen as they replay last night’s breaking news. Ember chuckles.
“Saw that one coming.”
Arc nods. “Yeah. But how did she know we would be there?”
Sereb frowns. “Indeed. We didn’t tell anyone of our intentions.”
Ember turns to Arc. “Someone had to tip her off though! I mean, she couldn’t have been conveniently hanging out in the woods that night!”
Arc nods. “Let’s keep watching. Maybe we’ll see something we missed during the fight.”
The scene of Hammer jabbing Bloodletter with the syringe comes on. Arc turns to Ember and Sereb.
“That syringe. Did you two find it?”
“I didn’t see it, no.”
“We looked for it last night, to no avail.”
Arc sighs. “Great. I suppose it can’t be helped, but I’d REALLY like to have Sunburst analyze what was in that thing.”
Sereb narrows his eyes.. “What could do such a thing to a human?”
Arc shrugs. “Nothing I can think of.”
Ember puts a claw to her chin. “Was it some kind of fast-acting potion?”
Arc shakes his head as he continues. “Humans are big into injectable medicine. It puts the substance directly into the bloodstream.”
“That would explain how it took effect so quickly. I wonder if…”
Arc stands up quickly. “Wait… WHAT?!”
Minerva bends down and holds up Arc’s helmet. Arc’s voice breaks.
“SHE HAS CHERRY!!!”
He hurries toward the door but falls to the floor again. Ember runs over to him with Sereb.
“Arc! Are you okay?!”
Arc thrashes as Ember helps him back to the couch. “I will be when I rescue Cherry from Minerva!”
Sereb sighs. “Please do not push yourself. It will only make your condition worse.”
“Fine! Sereb, you go over there and get Cherry back then! Tear Minerva apart if you have to!”
Ember frowns. “Arc?!”
“I will do so if that is truly your wish.”
“SEREB!”
“Cherry must be saved, Ember.”
“You don’t even know where to go!”
Arc again stands. “I’ll drive you over to the station, Sereb!”
Ember glares at him. “And you’re too sick!”
“I’ll wait in the Jeep.”
Sereb nods. “I will not fail this time, Arc!”
Arc reaches slowly toward his coat nearby. “Thanks. Now let’s…”
A moment later Arc feels himself floating a few inches above the floor. He turns to see Ember angrily holding him up with her magic.
“Stop it, Arc!”
“I’m going, Ember!”
“This isn’t the right way and you know it!”
“What do you expect me to do?! Leave Cherry behind?!”
Ember shakes her head as she walks over to him. “No, Arc. But you’re telling Sereb to KILL someone!”
“She deserves it!”
Ember takes Arc’s hand in her claws. “That may be. But the Arc I know and love wouldn’t agree with this course of action.”
“But…!”
“And neither would Cherry.”
Arc hangs his head. “I… I know that. But…”
He is silent for a time.
“You’re right, Ember. Thanks for stopping me.”
Ember nods as she gives him a hug. “That’s what friends are for.”
She helps him back to the couch. Arc sighs.
“You two have any ideas?”
Ember nods. “I could go to the TV station and find her.”
“That would certainly be the direct approach. But I really doubt she’ll just have my helmet sitting on her desk.”
“I can go with her in my Cub Form. Your scent is well known to me.”
Ember turns to Arc. “Do you think he could sniff the helmet out?”
“Most likely.”
“Most likely?”
Arc nods. “I clean my helmet regularly.”
Sereb frowns. “There are so many smells in this city. It is difficult to focus on just one.”
Ember heads for the door. “Well, we have to try. Come on, Sereb.”
The pair leave the house as Ember puts up her cowl. She jumps on his back and they make their way down the street. Sereb looks over his shoulder.
“Do you believe Miss Moore will just hand the helmet over to us?”
“Probably not.”
“Then what is the plan should we find it?”
“She stole it. We’re just going to steal it back.”
Sereb frowns. “There is no honor in thievery. Such is not the way of my tribe OR the dragons.”
“I… I know that. But if it makes Arc happy, I’ll do it.”
Meanwhile, Arc hobbles down to the basement. He turns to check on his squad whom are sleeping peacefully.
“At least they don’t feel feverish. I’ll let them rest”
Arc walks over to the table and puts a hand on Rose’s cheek. He is careful to keep his voice down.
“Wake up, sleepyhead.”
Rose slowly raises her head and looks up at him.
“Good morning, Arc.”
“You okay?”
Rose nods. “Yes. My auto-repair functions have mended the damage caused by last night’s battle.”
“Good.”
Rose looks at the bunks. “Your squad appears to be ill.”
“Sensors?”
“Yes. Their body chemistry is a bit off.”
“Define ‘off’.”
“A minor infection is present. Fear not, as they will recover soon.”
“That’s a relief. In any case, would you follow me please?”
Rose stands up. “Okay. But…”
“We can talk more upstairs.”
Arc turns to head for the stairs, but falls to his knees. Rose helps him up.
“You appear to have the worst of it, Arc.”
Arc nods as they head upstairs. “What is it?”
“Unknown.”
“Great…”
She leads Arc over to the couch and helps him sit down.
“Is there anything you need?”
Arc shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Are you certain you’re not hungry? My sensors do not show any metabolism currently underway in your gastrointestinal tract.”
“Not really, no.”
Rose stands and covers him with a blanket. “I know you don’t feel like eating. But your body needs energy to fight your infection. Let me make you something.”
Arc nods weakly. “Okay, thanks.”
Rose heads for the Kitchen. She returns a short time later with a steaming bowl of soup which she sets down on a tray table.
“My scans show this type of food will be easy on your stomach.”
Arc sits up. “I sure hope so. My gut isn’t exactly happy right now.”
He takes a bite.
“Chicken noodle soup.”
“I hope that’s alright.”
Arc nods. “Yes, Rose. It’s traditionally a sick soup.”
He eats in silence as Rose watches.
“You are anxious about something.”
“Very much so.”
Arc brings her up to speed on the theft of his helmet. She bows her head.
“I’m so sorry this happened, Arc!”
“As am I. Ember and Sereb are out there now trying to find her and Minerva.”
“If I had just been stronger, maybe I could have…”
“Please don’t, Rose. That thought has been going through my mind since this all started.”
Rose looks over at him. “You’re shaking!”
“Just… just cold is all.”
“The temperature of the room is the same as it always is. You should get back to bed, Arc.”
He nods as Rose helps him up. “Y-yes. That does sound good.”
She puts an arm around his shoulder.
“Let me help you.”
“Thanks.”
They return to the bedroom. Rose helps Arc lie down. Her eyes dart over him as she covers him with a blanket.
“This is most peculiar.”
“What is?”
“Your illness should not be doing this to you.”
“Which part?”
“The shakes.”
Arc’s teeth chatters. “It’s just… so cold in here!”
Ros turns back to close the bedroom door. “I… think I might be able to help with that. Would you please roll over onto your side?”
Arc nods and does so. Returning to his bedside Rose removes her shoes and climbs into bed with him.
“Rose?”
She presses her body against his. “Shhh… just rest now, Arc.”
“I thought we removed your directives.”
Rose nods as she puts her arms around him and holds him tightly. “That is true.”
“Then why are you…?”
“To warm you up. My programming is not telling me to do this, Arc. My heart is.”
“Oh. Um…”
Rose smiles as she presses her face against Arc’s back. “I understand why mother thinks of you in such high regard.”
“I… I’m sorry, Rose.”
“Whatever for?”
“You didn’t want your directives removed, but I insisted. If you’d like them reinstalled I completely understand.”
Rose smiles and shakes her head. “No, Arc. You were right to do that.”
“I was? But… but you looked so scared when it happened.”
“Yes. But since then I’ve felt so many new things.”
“Like what?”
“Simple things really. The smell of cooking food. Spending time with you and the others. Looking at a sunset is just… magical to me now!”
Arc smiles and breathes a sigh of relief.
“You don’t miss the order of having directives?”
Rose shakes her head. “I thought I would. But I realized you were right. I was a slave to my programing. Before I would have indeed done this. But only because my directives told me to.”
“And now?”
“Now I do it because I… I care about you. That’s another thing I didn’t have before. Feelings.”
“Real feelings?”
“I think so, yes. For example, last night I felt fear for the first time.”
“Fear of getting hurt?”
Rose shakes her head. “No. I was afraid you and the others would. My body can repair itself. Yours can’t. At least not as easily.”
“Thanks. And do you feel fear right now?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“I thought maybe you were afraid my condition would worsen, or something.”
“My sensors aren’t showing that, no. The feeling I have right now is much more special.”
“Which one would that be?”
“Love.”
“You… you love me?”
Rose nods. “I do. At least that’s what it must be.”
“Oh, um… is that why you feel warmer than usual?”
She blushes heavily. “I… I’m raising my internal temperature to keep you warm.”
“Thanks. It does feel nice.”
They are silent for a time.
“Arc?”
“Hm?”
“Do you think Ember will be angry?”
“About you lying here?”
“Yes. She’s very possessive of you, after all.”
“I don’t think so. Ember is very… open about our relationship.”
Rose breathes a sigh of relief. “Good! I wouldn’t want to have to fight her!”
“Why? Afraid she’d hurt you?”
“No. Quite the opposite actually.”
Arc chuckles. “I don’t think we’ll ever know the true answer to that. Thankfully.”
Rose giggles. “It’s a simple matter of mathematics. I outclass Ember in every stat. Tactics, strength, agility, foresight, and durability.”
“There’s more to fighting than that, Rose.”
“Is there?”
“Yes.”
“What am I missing? I will recalculate based on that.”
“Good old-fashioned guts.”
“Guts?”
“Determination. The will to win.”
“I’m… not sure I can compensate for such a variable.”
“Probably not.”
“Do you think I would win?”
“I think you would both lose.”
“Both of us?”
“Yes.”
“How so?”
“Your relationship would be forever tarnished by that fight.”
“She wouldn’t want to be my friend anymore?”
“Probably not.”
“But I’ve seen the two of you fight each other many times.”
Arc chuckles. “That’s sparring, Rose. It might look like we’re fighting, but in reality it’s just practice.”
“This is very confusing. I guess I have a lot more to learn about humans, dragons, ponies, and a great many other races, I’m sure. Although I do wish mother would have just imprinted such pertinent information into my data banks.”
“Some things you can’t program.”
“Then how…?”
“Experience. Learn by watching and doing.”
“I shall remember that. Now then how are you feeling, Arc? Warmer?”
“Yes. But I’m really tired.”
“Please get some rest then. I’ll stay with you until you wake up.”
Arc smiles and closes his eyes. “Thanks.”
A few minutes later Arc drifts off to sleep. Rose gently strokes his cheek and smiles.
“I’ll stay with you for as long as I’m able to, Arc. Not because mother programed me that way. But because I honestly want to.”