[ siblings AU: all angst all the time ]

[bombsheltered]

They're having the superhero argument again. It's not as bad as the first time it blew up, when her father told her it was equal parts too dangerous and a waste of her future when she was smart and talented, when she could get into a good university, and he'd built her that body to protect her, not to be used as a weapon. But he couldn't actually stop her, and she'd enrolled in a local university as a compromise, because she never really wanted to make her father unhappy. She's just always wanted this — she feels like it's her calling, like it's her duty, and in the end, her father always does whatever repairs she needs. They have an understanding, even if he doesn't like it. Milly wants to think that Jack would be proud of her, to see her all grown up and protecting the weak and helpless.

They still get into fights about it, of course. Always framed in her father's terse concern, and Milly thinks he just doesn't have enough faith in her. She thinks that if she keeps it up, if she can keep showing him how much Starbreaker can help, he'll start to believe in her. But she still comes home, because as much as they fight, her father is the only family she has left, and she's never liked to feel alone.

The house feels too big now. It's part of why she moved out after she turned eighteen, even though she spends weekends here more often than not. It's always been a big house, big enough to hold her mother's ghost along with the rest of them, but ever since Jack died, it just feels...empty. At least when he went off to war there was a place waiting for him when he got back. But he isn't coming back, and even though it's been years now since she last saw her brother, she still feels a flutter of grief in her chest every time she passes his old room. She'd gotten into a screaming match with her father when he wanted to clear all of Jack's things out, as though to bury the memories along with his body, and she'd refused to let Dad touch a thing. She still opens the door and checks every so often, when she's feeling brave, to make sure all of Jack's things are still there the way they were when he left.

It's Friday night and she's up late into the night, stretched out over her bed with her phone, reading some slow burn horse girl AU fanfic she's totally going to send to Cynthia later. Her water bottle is empty when she goes to take a sip and she rolls off her bed with a sigh, wriggling her feet into her slippers. She's still reading on her phone as she descends the stairs to her kitchen, totally engrossed — until she hears a distant shattering noise, and suddenly she's on full alert, her phone going in her pocket as she activates her night vision. It wouldn't be the first time someone's had the audacity to try and invade the Baelheit home, but it's not about to happen on Milly's watch.

Comments

[cyborged]

He'd been trained as a stealth operative, and for all his many faults Raiden was damn good at it. Making it into the house, into his-- into Baelheit's office had been no trouble at all, for all the weight this body carried, Raiden was silent and he was fast. If he tried to be, he was undetectable in most situations.

Which is why he's silently cursing himself as he tries to quickly clear up the broken shards of some glass ornament. Maintaining professionalism was easy when things were a step removed, but he'd never been the best at managing his emotions when things were personal and apparently that hadn't changed. All those jobs he'd run for the people who broke him out damn near flawlessly, and then he comes home and breaks an ornament in his hand because he got mad at some new accolades hanging on the wall.

How stupid could he be?

He could manage it. Raiden gets the thing cleared up as best he can, dumps the shards in the waste bin and resolves to take the bag with him when he leaves. What a stupid way to get sidetracked. It takes a moment to get back on track, but there's no way he can leave without what he came for. There's a way to access all that old research in here somewhere, there has to be. The old man might be smart enough not to just hope a locked cabinet will do the job, but the trail starts in this room, he's sure of it. Raiden doesn't fully know what he'll do with the evidence once he finds it, if he'll hand it over to someone better placed or simply use it to justify a decision part of him has already made, but it's important. It's more important than his own feelings and trauma and his desire for revenge.

Standing there, searching his memory for anything that stands out, he was sure he latched on to something and moved to start moving a few things around when his ears prick to footsteps coming down here. Because of course she heard the glass smash. Why wouldn't she? Probably been fitted with enhanced hearing in the interim, just the thought made him scowl.

Moving quick and silent, Raiden picks a hiding place. Back against the wall where the door would hide him when it opened. Hopefully she wouldn't look too hard or he could slip out unnoticed while her back was turned. It'd be a real mess to deal with otherwise.

[bombsheltered]

Whoever it is, they managed to get through the security system undetected, which already puts this above Milly's head. But she's stubborn, and as far as she knows her father is asleep, and she's sure she can handle this herself. She can tap into the security system and trip the alarm, but she won't have to.

She quiets her own internal systems as much as she can, though she wasn't built for stealth and her footsteps are probably clearly audible. That's fine, though. She's plenty primed for punching, and she was built for that.

The room is empty when she opens the door, but she's not convinced. Her father's office is a favored target for all the obvious reasons and then some, and Milly's sure she hasn't just been hearing things. She scans the room, and her vision snags on the conspicuous empty spot on the wall. Someone has been in this room recently. Someone is still in this room.

"I know you're in here," she says, her voice steady, confident. It's her superhero voice, the one her father never hears, but she'll prove that she's plenty strong enough to protect the both of them. She switches to infrared vision, and she sees residual warmth, proof that a person was there, but it looks off, somehow. Not quite right for a human being. But it's something. She flexes her fingers, poised to fight. "If you come out with your hands up now, I'll spare you the beat-down."

[cyborged]

She sounds... Older.

And it should be obvious, but it's not something he was at all prepared for. To hear Milly sounding not like a child (or an annoying tween) but nearly adult wrenches at him in a way he hadn't thought he could even feel anymore. His brows pull together in a brief expression of pain before he gets his head together. This is a job, and ultimately it's for her good as much as the rest of the world. Maybe moreso.

He doesn't know she has infrared vision, so he holds his position behind the door. If needs be he could knock her out? But that would be more difficult than he'd like for a number of reasons, sentimentality and her hardiness joint for number one on the list.

Managing to stay unseen would be best, but he has to be prepared for that not to be an option.

[bombsheltered]

No response. Milly kind of expected that, and she's already scanning the room with her infrared vision, turning to sweep the periphery, and —

There's someone there, just behind the door. She was right, the heat signature does look off, but that doesn't matter. She throws back the door, one fist at the ready, and switches back to her normal vision so she can get a glimpse at the intruder. But it's dark in here and she can't get a clear look at their face, face partially obscured, the silhouette not quite right. Whoever it is, they aren't entirely human. A little like she isn't entirely human. She narrows her eyes, a sudden prickle along the back of her neck, the sense of something vaguely familiar. She has to focus.

"You've got thirty seconds to tell me who you are and what you're doing here before I start punching."

[cyborged]

Despite being caught out like this, Raiden looks perfectly calm. Relaxed, even. He's leaning against the wall, visor down to hide as much of his face as possible. If he thought hearing her was hard, seeing Milly gives his chest the phantom sensation of something clutching his heart, a twinge of pain that only shows outwardly in a twitch of a frown on his face. Otherwise he's almost statuesque in how still he is.

"I wouldn't recommend that," he says before he can stop himself. His voice is different — a little deeper, a digitized undercurrent to it — but it's still his voice. It's not unrecognizable. Internally he curses himself for talking, but it's done now.

[bombsheltered]

She's just about ready with a comeback — yeah, well I wouldn't recommend breaking and entering — ready to throw down even though this guy looks like he's probably above her pay grade, and then his voice clocks on a half-second delay. She could never forget his voice, immortalized in old recordings and voicemails she'd backed up in five different places so she'd never lose them.

It's impossible. He was killed in action when she was still in high school, and while Dad hasn't always been as forthcoming with her as she'd like, she's sure he'd never have lied to her about her own brother. It could be someone else with an uncannily familiar voice, maybe. But it doesn't feel like it. Maybe someone lied to her father — maybe her brother's not really dead after all, although she hardly recognizes him like this. But it's more than enough to give her pause, to make her falter, her eyes wide and her voice suddenly so small.

"...Jack?"

[cyborged]

"Jack's dead," the response is immediate, like this isn't the first time he's said it. Somehow both firm and dispassionate in his tone. That's just the truth of the matter, and he's not interested in discussing it.

There's the briefest moment of hesitation, but then Jack slips past her to move further into the room, at this point just trying to get around her so he can leave. This is a bust, he's going to have to go to ground and form a new plan. He needs that information, but... He can't bring himself to hurt Milly, even if it's just to knock her out. Raiden doesn't think it'd be any trouble, but she'd fight him, he knows she would.

[bombsheltered]

Somehow, hearing the words out of his mouth hit her harder than her father's terse delivery. She feels like she's had the wind knocked out of her, the chair kicked out from under her feet, and he nearly gets away from her entirely in her faltering bewilderment. But she can't let him just — slip away. If he's not Jack, then who — how could he not be Jack?

"Wait," she says, all tough fronts dissolved into a juvenile desperation, and she lurches to catch him by the arm. "Stop! If you're not my brother —"

finally

[cyborged]

He flinches away from her touch like she's brandishing a hot iron, trying to maintain distance and get out of the room. If he can get a little space and get out of here he's sure she can't stop him leaving.

"Nobody." His answer is quick, terse. Final. This isn't a conversation he wants to have.

YESSSS

[bombsheltered]

It's him. It has to be him.

There are so many things Milly doesn't understand — why he's alive when they were so sure he was dead, why he's here now, why he's trying so hard to lie to her — but she knows it's her brother standing in front of her. It's Jack. The more he talks, the stronger her conviction grows, memories sparking to life like too much electricity run through old bulbs. She knows it's him, and she knows, somehow, that if she lets him get away now, she'll probably never see him again.

She can't let that happen.

Milly's hand misses his arm the first time, but she grabs for him again with renewed determination, her grip tight and unrelenting. He's different and she doesn't fully understand how, but right now, she's less afraid of hurting him, and far, far more afraid of letting him go.

"Jack!"