Rory woke up to the sound of low bickering. Her vision was still blurry. Her eyes continued to open and close slowly because of the piercing light that was aimed directly at her pupils.

"Now isn't the time, Decha," Jessica's soft voice rang in Rory's ear.

"Now is the perfect time to start." Decha rebuked. "She could've died. She doesn't have much time left. If I hadn't noticed her condition in time... she..." He paused.

"Decha, this surgery isn't something you can easily recover from. You still have to solve this case. Even more so after what that dastard did to our home!"

"Screw the case!" Decha shouted. "If something happens..."

"Decha, you're acting unreasonable!"

"Unreasonable?" A bitter scoff came from him.

"When was the last time you've gotten any sleep? You look exhausted. Take a rest and think it through. Then we will decide whether to commence. Donating a kidney isn't as simple as you think it is. You have to stay in bed to recover. Who knows what will happen while you're bedridden?"

Rory squinted and rolled her head to the side hearing their conversation. Were they talking about her? What did they mean by donation? Decha was giving away his kidney?

Why would he do something so risky right when he was so close to finishing the case?

"Schedule the surgery for tomorrow. Now." Decha ordered. "I've thought it through."

"You'll end up killing yourself by working right after." Jessica's voice cracked. It was more sorrowful than before.

"That's fine by me." Decha huffed.

Rory felt a warm hand grab onto hers. It was Decha's. He took off his gloves. Rory frowned after noticing that.

"I want to give her a chance."

"What if the surgery causes complications?"

"It won't,"

"You don't know that!"

"Because I'll make sure nothing goes wrong during this surgery. Everything within my ability to make sure Rory makes it out alive."

Was he donating his kidney to her?

Rory felt her stomach sink.

A soft kiss was placed on her forehead, and Rory could hear Jessica gasp. She groaned and began to stir. A moment later, she was finally able to see Decha.

He looked like a mess. His hair was damp and disheveled. His face was still stained in black dust from the smoke. His dark eyes stared at her in a way she didn't feel comfortable with.

There was fear in his eyes. She could tell. Rory realized that there was an IV standing next to her, and an oxygen mask around her face, supplying her with air. Her mind struggled to remember what happened or why she was there.

"Decha..." Rory's voice came out all scratchy. She began to cough. That's when she realized that she didn't feel so strong. Her body was weakened. She hadn't felt like this in a long time.

Rory tried to push herself up, but Decha grabbed onto her shoulders and nudged her back against the pillow. "Your eyes..." Rory whined.

"Don't move," Decha shook his head. He feared that her using too much of her energy would make things worse. "Just lay there,"

"What happened? Why am I plugged into this machine?"

"You just... passed out. It's okay."

"I can't move my legs..."

"You hit the ground a bit hard." Decha didn't want to explain everything. He needed her to be as calm as possible.

"You're lying to me... why do you look so terrified?" Rory huffed. "Am I... dying?"

"No," Decha tightened his hold on her hand, and Rory clenched her jaw. Everything felt so sore. "I'm fine, everything is fine... you're not dying."

"Decha—"

"I won't allow it." He brushed his hands through his hair and sunk his head. "You're not going to die."

There was something wrong. He looked so... broken. His answers were so indirect. Not only were his clothes wrinkled and messy, but Decha looked like he hadn't slept at all. Was he deprived of rest?

"Where's Jessica?"

Decha remained quiet. He was busy massaging the bridge of his nose as a migraine overwhelmed him.

Rory looked over his body and she saw that the infirmary was a lot darker than usual. Only where she was resting was lit up. "Decha, why don't you lay down on the other bed and take a nap?"

Decha scowled at her. "Does it look like I can sleep that easily?"

"I'm worried about you,"

"Don't be," Decha denied. "I'm fine."

Rory reached up. Her fingers grazed across his skin as she examined him more intently. Decha placed his hand over hers and sighed.

"Your hands are cold,"

"You're not fine," Rory mumbled softly.

"I'll get you another blanket." Decha stood up abruptly. He wanted to change the topic. The state she was in aggravated him. But he felt more irritated by the fact that she was still trying to check on him.

She was able to see through him so well now. You'd think he'd feel comfortable with it. But the circumstances weren't right. If she worried, her heart rate would increase.

"Rory, I'll be okay," He reassured her. "You're in stable condition right now. But you'll have to stay in bed."

"Can I take the mask off?"

"Can you breathe on your own without feeling like there's pressure on you?"

"Yes," Rory nodded.

Decha reluctantly helped her take off her mask, but he rested it on her torso. This way it would be close for her to put it back on if she needed it.

In seconds, Rory wrapped her arms around Decha's shoulders while he hovered over her. She clasped her hands tightly to prevent him from moving.

"What are you doing?" Decha frowned.

Rory stared at him for a while, just making completely sure that he wasn't going to lose his mind from the lack of sleep. His shoulders were stiff. "I just want to look at you."

It made him uncomfortable. "Are you trying to read my mind?"

"Something like that," Rory smiled, and Decha's heart ached at the sight. Rory used a little bit of the rest of her strength to tug him closer. Then she kissed him.

Decha allowed her to, but he was very stoic. Rory could feel the lack of reciprocation and pulled away slightly. "I love you," She murmured in his ear.

"I'll be back with another blanket, okay?" Decha responded instead rather than repeating her words back to her. It wasn't that he didn't love her. But he was just... a lot of things were on his mind. He wanted to kiss her back, but not in the condition she was in.

He was used to taking in sick people, but this was on a more extreme level. Rory's face turned when she didn't hear him say it back. "Okay," She released him, and Decha walked away and out of the infirmary.

~~~

"What did you find?" Decha called both Jax and Amir when midnight finally arrived. Theodore was at the Council Hall, explaining the to the Council Members about the situation. He was handling necessary paperwork to prevent reporters from trespassing.

News about the bomb at their house was bound to slip out to the public, but he and Decha both wanted to try as hard as they could to prevent it. Fortunately, the house was only charred from the outside. The entire left and front of the house were going to have to be repaired because of the burn marks.

The front porch was completely damaged and would have to be replaced.

Jessica had one of the Butlers take Avon to a hotel in midtown. He was going to be staying there for some time until the house was completely fixed. That was already being planned. Theodore hired technologically advanced Architects that weren't from Kilos to work on the home.

There was another company, less popular than Kilos, but their rates and ratings were pretty good. The company was based by the beach, Coral Glide. It was very secluded from the city, which was great because they could make a deal more quietly.

Jessica was attending to Rory for the night, wanting him to get more rest before tomorrow. But he couldn't sleep. That's why he was on a three-way video call with Jax and Amir. He wanted to go over their next game plan.

Decha was running out of ideas.

"Theodore and I tried going after them. But Risor had already dropped Windsor off somewhere by the time we stopped him." Amir sighed.

"Did you check the cameras? Or the checkpoints that the Generals are stationed in?"

"The street cameras were tapped into. I think Windsor knew that you were going to list him as the primary suspect. He probably had his team erase all the data when he was coming to and from your house."

"And I contacted every General stationed at the checkpoints," Jax sent Decha a message in one of their chats. "The statements say that there were no cars or people past curfew."

Decha's blood boiled. Windsor had slipped under his nose successfully, once again. He hated the constant feeling of losing. "Shite!" Decha threw off his cap, and it smacked into the wall before plopping onto the floor. He was in the guest bedroom since his room had been affected by the bomb.

One of his pins almost broke. But he didn't care. Decha sat on Rory's bed and began to run his hands through his hair, beyond frustrated.

"Decha, try not to work yourself up about it much." Jax frowned. He wasn't sure how to offer comfort to him over a video call.

"You're telling me not to work myself up? Deliverance was right in front of me and now I let him slip away and off the radar! Let me just relax!" Decha spat sarcastically.

"You think this is easy, Jax? Do you think I can just make myself comfortable while there's a criminal on the loose?" Decha began to spew out curses in a fit of rage.

"We know that you're in a rough patch. We all are, Decha. Don't you think me and N9899 are worried too?" Amir retorted.

"Let's not fight or blame each other," Jax sighed. "It won't get us anywhere. We're all tired. We're dealing with each other and venting out of frustration. It's not going to help us solve the case. So let's try our best to think of solutions."

"I'm all out of ideas," Decha admitted, very ashamed. What could they do next? There was no sign of Windsor's location. He doubted there would be a sign in the future.

Decha threw himself onto the mattress and rested his hands by his side. However, his gloves buzzed and a larger display hovered over him. Decha blinked a few times, wondering whether what he was seeing was true or not.

"What... the heck?" Decha narrowed his eyes. On the display was a map of Astell. There were different landmarks to show where everything was on the map. There was a blue dot in the middle of a brown square that had a large font written above it. 'Decha's house'.

On the bottom left of the screen, there was a red dot that was blinking. Decha wasn't sure what the red dot represented, but it was moving all around the left of the map where downtown was.

"Decha, you still there?" Jax's voice was laced with worry. He'd been calling him a few times but he wasn't answering.

Decha reached for the display, and the moment his fingertips grazed across the screen, the red dot became larger. "I'm here," Decha huffed.

"What happened? You went quiet for a moment."

"Rory's gloves just..." Decha sat up and the map moved with him. Maybe the coordinates meant something. He observed the red dot more intently and realized it was zipping around the buildings in smaller fonts. Decha experimented and hopped off the bed.

He took a few steps around the room, and the blue dot followed him slowly. "Amir, I'm going to send you some coordinates. Can you tell me how fast this red dot on the screen is traveling?"

Decha took a screen clip of the red dot and sent it over to his friend immediately.

Amir, who was located in the computer room of the Agency received the coordinates and dragged the holographic clip from his watch onto his laptop. Then he began typing away and a few windows full of data popped up.

"Heavens," Amir inhaled. "This thing is moving at 257 kilometers an hour!"

"I figured," Decha puffed. He realized why the coordinates were important. "All means of transport are set to go 60 kilometers after the border collapsed. And it's after curfew, so what do you guys think is moving that fast during this time of night?"

"POYO," Jax voiced.

"Bingo," Decha nodded in agreement. "POYO is fast. That droid is the only thing fast enough to kill an entire fleet of Generals within 10 minutes. And since Windsor is off the radar, most likely he's using POYO to run his next errand."

"How did you get the coordinates?" Amir chortled.

"I don't know, I—" Decha glanced at his gloves and smiled. "Rory,"

"Rory helped you?"

"She upgraded my gloves. The other day when POYO came to the Council Hall, the gloves acted on their own. Her hologram appeared and must've placed a tracker on POYO when I was down."

"Well Shite!" Amir cheered. "I don't know what you're talking about, holograms and all, but that sounds crazy. Crazy good! What are we waiting for?"

"We can't go after him now," Decha frowned. "It's too soon,"

"What do you mean it's too soon?" Amir snapped. "Now is a perfect time! We know where POYO is! We can finally track Deliverance down!"

"I can't..." Decha refused. "Rory will have surgery tomorrow morning. I have to be here."

"Oh! Come on!" Amir shouted. "Your girlfriend will be okay! Your mother is talented—"

"You don't understand," Decha hissed. "I have to be here. Because—"

"Wait, you're not seriously thinking of donating your kidney to Rory, are you?" Amir remembered the argument between Director Chen and him from a few days ago. Jax was more surprised to hear something so absurd.

"You WHAT?" Jax coughed. "Decha! You can't do that!"

"Out of hundreds of people who are on the organ donor list, I'm the only one who came up as a compatible match for her. I've already decided."

"Do you realize how long it'll take for you to recover?" Amir roared. "I'm no Doctor, but even I know how serious this is! These types of surgeries aren't as simple as you think! Do you realize what you're jeopardizing, Decha?"

"Amir—"

"This will put the case on hold! You have an opportunity to catch the culprit and you're throwing it away for some Bracket girl! Astell will be at risk!"

"I can't sit here and let Rory die, Amir!" Decha rebuked. "She doesn't have much time left—"

"Protecting Astell is more important than anything else! That is the first rule of being a General, Decha!"

"Our duty is to protect BOTH Sectors! Not only Astell!"

"But you're not protecting both Sectors." Amir reasoned. "You're protecting HER. That's selfish. Deliverance CLEARLY has no problems killing off Bracketers or Astellians, but you're choosing HER above hundreds of thousands of lives!"

Amir was beyond fed up with Decha. "I can't talk with you right now. Call me when you've come to your senses!" Amir hung up, leaving just Jax and Decha to talk.

"Decha—"

"If you're just going to scold me too, don't bother. I've already heard enough." Decha grumbled.

"I wasn't going to scold you," Jax sighed. "Why are you so adamant about saving Rory? You know Amir is right."

"I lost Chai the same way..." Decha groaned.

"Chai... she's the one that Rory reminds you of?" Jax asked, referencing one of the conversations they had a while back. Back when Jamison turned himself in and it was announced all over Astell. Jax witnessed the emotional turmoil that Decha was going through.

He knew there had to be a reason why Decha was acting irrationally. As much as he admired Rory, even he knew that Decha having surgery would slow things down. More bombs would occur while he was in recovery.

"I was protecting the Sectors on the Outside, and when I came back from one of my assignments, Chai, the woman I..." Decha clenched his fists, trying to fight off painful migraine with the memory. "She was sent away to help stop a war, and she disappeared. I never had the chance to grieve or look after her. The Sectors made me pack my things and sent me off to my next assignment."

There was a lot of bitterness in his tone. Decha feared that going along with doing what everyone else wanted would result in him losing someone else he cared about. He went through it once. He didn't want to go through the trauma again.

"I... I'm sorry..." Jax huffed. "But... who's to say that will happen to Rory? That girl's strong in her own way, I'm sure she'll be able to hold off—"

"It won't happen because I'll be donating to make sure she recovers."

"Decha," Jax responded sternly. "Would Rory be okay with you throwing away your opportunity to catch Deliverance?"

Decha didn't respond to him, and Jax understood.

"She doesn't know you're her donor, does she?" He scoffed. "So you know she's not going to be okay with it. Think this through, Decha. She provided you with Technology to HELP you DEFEND the Sectors. You're so proud of them that you don't even wanna share."

"Are you done?" Decha mumbled. "It's getting late. I need to get up early."

Jax rolled his eyes before signing off the call. Decha sat back down in a fit. He knew that he had to protect both Sectors by going after Deliverance. But... he couldn't allow himself to abandon Rory when she needed him the most.

~~~

Poor Decha. He's going through it.

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