"Aw, man! I couldn't find a good spot to ambush him," Alpha Trion grumbled. "And now I've lost their trail entirely!"
Water gun in hand, Trion trudged back home through the late afternoon sun, feeling the sting of defeat after losing Maximus.
"I'm home!" he called out as he stepped inside.
Silence.
"Hmph... everyone is always so busy," Trion muttered. He headed straight for his room, flicked on the TV, grabbed his controller, and dived into a game.
...
In the middle of an intense session, his phone buzzed. It was his mom.
"Trion, honey, do me a favor. Boil some water and fill up the tank. I'll be home late, so stay put, okay?"
"Sure thing! But if I stay home, can you bring me back some snacks?" Trion bargained.
"What do you want?"
"Hmm... Grease Pudding! Low-fat, please!"
"Good grief, you and your Grease habit," his mother sighed. "You know you'll get 'drunk' if you eat too much of that stuff."
"Fine, fine. Just get me some toasted rubber and some light snacks then."
"Deal. Stay inside. If you wander off, your father will eat all your snacks before you get back! Okay, I'm heading back to work. See ya!"
"Bye!"
The call ended, and Trion locked back into his game.
"Rgh!! Die, you AI piece of trash!! Ahhh!! NO!!" He slumped in his chair. "...I lost again."
CRASH!!!
"By Primus!" Trion shrieked.
The roof suddenly buckled and collapsed. Someone plummeted through the ceiling, landing right on top of the television set.
"Who are you?! A burglar?"
Trion instinctively reached for his water gun. The figure stood up, cloaked in a tattered black robe with glowing orange eyes. It was him. A Taken.
"Haaah..." Trion took a sharp, shaky breath. "Y-You're... a Taken? I've never seen one in person before!"
'...Oh my god, he's so cool! Wait, what am I thinking? He's a legend who kills Legendary Primes, but still...'
WHOOSH!
Without a word, the Taken launched himself upward, leaping through the hole in the roof and disappearing into the sky.
"Hey!!"
Trion scrambled outside to catch a glimpse of the departure. Police sirens blared from every direction, cruisers racing past his house in pursuit.
"...I should have asked for a photo. Or at least an autograph," Trion lamented.
"Trion!!" His mother suddenly screeched to a halt nearby.
"Mom? You're back?"
"The house alarm went off! What happened? Did the gas explode again?" she asked frantically.
"No, some guy just fell through my ceiling! The roof is totaled. And Mom, you won't believe it—it was a Taken! Up close, he looked so cool!"
"Are you hurt? Trion, if you see one of those, you run! They are dangerous criminals. Don't you ever go near them!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. So... where are my snacks?"
"Oh... I almost forgot. I have to head back out, I left them at the shop. And don't forget the hot water!"
"I got it!"
His mother sped off again in her vehicle mode.
"...Seriously though, that Taken was awesome," Trion whispered to himself as he walked back inside. "Ugh, why did I just freeze up? I should've taken a picture or something..."
****
"Wipe your feet and wash your hands first."
Before entering the house, Onyx and Maximus rinsed off. Once inside, Maximus took charge.
"Alright, let's prep the fish. Put the small ones in the fridge," Maximus directed.
"On it!" Onyx replied.
She hauled the small catch over to the fridge, but when she swung the door open, she gasped. The shelves were crammed with Maximus's food supplies.
"Oh Primus, your fridge is stuffed! What is all this? Maybe we shouldn't cook the fish if you already have this much food."
Maximus walked over, drying himself with a towel as he prepared for a shower. He paused, looking at the crowded fridge. It would be a waste to throw the fish away.
"We're still cooking them," he decided. "Just do the big fish for now. Chop the small ones into tiny pieces and clean them—they'll fit then."
"Hmm... good call," Onyx nodded.
Maximus headed to the bathroom, leaving Onyx in the kitchen with the massive, still-flopping fish.
"Uh... okay..." She stared at it, bewildered. She had no idea how to start.
She grabbed a metal rod. If she knocked it out first, it would be easier to cut, right? She took a deep breath.
THWACK!!
"ARGHHHHH!!!" Onyx screamed.
"Onyx?! What happened?!"
Maximus came sprinting out of the bathroom, clad only in a towel and covered in soap suds. He found Onyx slumped on the floor, hiding her face in her hands.
"The fish... it slapped me in the face," Onyx whimpered.
Maximus stood there, mouth agape. The fish was still flopping wildly on the kitchen tiles.
"I'll be honest," Onyx said, giving him a sheepish grin. "I have no idea how to butcher a fish."
"Haaah..." Maximus groaned.
After finishing his shower, Maximus gave Onyx a crash course in fish prep.
"Once you've stunned it, scrape off all the scales. Cut the tail and fins. Then, slit the belly, clear out the organs and the gills. When you're ready to slice it, swing the knife hard, or tap the back of the blade with a wooden block to force it through."
Onyx nodded along, genuinely impressed. "You're like a pro."
"Your turn," Maximus said. "Try it."
"Where should I cut?"
"Wherever you want," he shrugged.
Onyx began carving the large fish into manageable portions. "Anything else?"
Maximus pulled a bottle from a kitchen drawer. "Vinegar," he explained. He placed the fillets into a bowl. "Add some water, a splash of vinegar, and rinse."
"What's the vinegar for?"
"Gets rid of the slime," Maximus said. "Tell you what, I'll handle the cooking. You just finish cleaning those small ones."
"You got it."
As Onyx worked, she watched him out of the corner of her eye. 'He's surprisingly skilled,' she thought, a small blush creeping onto her face. 'So independent. He's actually really cool... I can't let him outdo me. I'll have to show off my own skills later.'
Maximus finished the meal: a fragrant fish soup.
"Wow, that smells incredible!" Onyx exclaimed.
"Let's eat," Maximus said.
He was about to dig in when he noticed Onyx pausing to pray. Caught off guard, he awkwardly followed suit, offering a silent prayer before they both started eating.
"Seriously, Max, this is delicious," Onyx said between bites. "If you can cook like this, why do you ever bother with restaurants?"
"Sometimes I'm lazy. Plus, I like exploring different flavors," he replied.
"You should cook more. It saves a lot of money, even if it takes more time."
"Yeah, you're right. I should probably stick to home cooking."
"Where'd you learn, anyway?"
Maximus hesitated for a second. "...The internet. I haven't been living on my own for very long."
"Oh, I see," Onyx said, though her eyes lingered on him a moment longer.
****
"Alright, let's get your bed ready," Maximus said later. "But do the dishes first."
After the chores were done, Maximus led her to his room. Onyx blinked at the state of it. It was... lived-in, to say the least.
"A bit messy, huh?"
"Yeah, I haven't felt like tidying up lately," Maximus muttered.
Onyx noticed a second door. "Is this part of the bedroom too? Why don't we—"
"Don't!"
Maximus lunged to block the door. "That's... a secret room. I mean, it's private. Stay out."
"Oh. Okay... sorry."
"Look, I'm not exactly comfortable sharing a room with you either," Onyx admitted.
Maximus flopped onto his bed. "Just sleep. I'm not going to try anything—I haven't even hit my 'puberty' yet," he mumbled. Then, he thought to himself: 'Wait, did my body modifications affect that? No, it was just the outer plating, not the internal systems... right?'
"I'll stay in the corner," Onyx said. "I talk in my sleep sometimes, and I don't want to accidentally kick or punch you."
"ZZZZZ..."
Within seconds, Maximus was dead to the world.
"Wow, he goes down fast," Onyx whispered.
She lay down, staring at the ceiling. Outside, the wind began to howl, followed shortly by the rhythmic pitter-patter of rain. But Onyx couldn't sleep. That forbidden door was gnawing at her.
She sat up and looked at Maximus. To test him, she tossed a pillow lightly toward him. He didn't even flinch. He was out cold.
"Now's my chance," she whispered.
She crept toward the door and tried the handle. Locked. She remembered the ring of keys Maximus had used earlier. She found them hanging right by the bedroom door. Ten keys. Luckily, they were all labeled except for one.
Heart racing, she slid the nameless key into the lock and turned it. Click.
The room inside was like a storage vault, packed with boxes and plastic crates. She carefully opened one, finding old armor pieces and toy collections. But in the next box, she found something that made her heart stop: a framed photo of the Nexus family.
"What is this? Why does Maximus have this?" she hissed under her breath.
She dug deeper, finding photo albums full of Nexus's life. Finally, she found a case of USB drives. She plugged one into her wrist-com, and a holographic display flickered to life. It was filled with photos, videos, and old logs.
She opened a random video. It was a home movie of a young Nexus throwing a tantrum and... well, peeing on his father.
Onyx closed the video immediately, stunned into silence. She began sorting the files by date, quickly downloading a batch of recent photos and videos to her own device. She put everything back exactly as she found it and slipped out, locking the door behind her.
She sat back down, staring at the sleeping Maximus. She looked at him for a long time.
'No wonder he felt so familiar,' she thought. 'What happened to him? Why does he have all of Nexus's things? Who IS Maximus? I didn't see the resemblance before, but... is he a brother? No, the face... it's almost identical. Is he actually Nexus?'
She lay back down, her mind racing.
'It has to be. He's the same person. I've got enough data here to find out the truth.'
She opened her downloaded files and clicked on the most recent video—the day Maximus bought this house. She watched the recording of him touring his new home.
Onyx deactivated her display. She watched his chest rise and fall in the darkness.
"So, you're living a comfortable life now, aren't you?" she whispered.
She looked up at the ceiling and smiled, a heavy weight lifting from her chest. "Good. I'm glad. Mom... she's still alive. Is this a second chance for me?"
Onyx rolled over, trying to force herself to sleep, but the questions kept coming, keeping the shadows of the room alive until dawn.
***
To be continued...