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[rexthebuilder]

I can't come to the phone right now because I'm either kicking EVO butt or hanging out with friends. Leave a message after the beep, and I'll get back to you pronto!

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[pineapplesalmon]

"Doctor Holiday's work was impeccable; he just wasn't alive." César's voice lightens up with a near laugh as he keeps speaking. "I had to cover for that, you know. Come up with some fake 'theories' and the like. She was still suspicious, but not of me. I knew Providence would likely find you first, and by the time the 'Confine, Constrain, and Control' protocol replaced 'Cure, Contain, Kill', I knew you'd have to get out. Robo Bobo solved the issue of how to communicate your return to the people I knew would keep you safe."

[rexthebuilder]

Stop. Making. SENSE!

"Why the collars?" Rex asks coolly. "Why, César?"

He knows to ask because of Magne. But that doesn't mean he still doesn't need to hear it directly from César's mouth.

[pineapplesalmon]

César's mildly impressed Rex is straight up asking. He thought he'd have to lead into that himself.

"What do you think the Providence protocol became after you vanished?" There's no more cards, now. More walking Rex down the halls of his mind and reasoning.

Rex still hasn't knocked his hands away. He's listening.

[rexthebuilder]

"Contain, Kill." Rex knows where this is going. The anger starts to fade, and he stops fighting it.

[pineapplesalmon]

A nod. César squeezes his shoulders.

"Doctor Holiday and Six left when White Knight was removed to look for you. Black Knight took over Providence as the number of captured and uncured EVOs started ballooning; we were bursting at the seams. She started looking over the books for 'cost savings'. Reducing the number of EVOs were were holding became a priority target."

[rexthebuilder]

The squeeze prepares Rex, if only a little. He feels numb. "... Kill."

[pineapplesalmon]

César nods again. "I had to create a fourth option. One that Black Knight and the Consortium would accept without question. One that would make saving lives a priority. And the languages they spoke were money and power. It was the only possible solution." A beat. "You can't save people when they're dead."

[rexthebuilder]

People. Not humans. People.

It rolls off César's tongue naturally. He already made the choice to use it long ago; that much is obvious to Rex. And that, too, is something Rex needed to hear.

Rex's anger is gone. But he's still stubbornly dragging his heals even as he walks through his brother's logic. Looking for hidden enemies in the corridors.

"Why didn't you tell me all this weeks ago? This was important." It's a question only César can answer.

[pineapplesalmon]

"I was a broken man after working under Black Knight for so long, Rex. I was tired. I didn't expect your forgiveness... or anyone's, really." César's thumbs rub across Rex's shoulders, and he lets out a sigh.

"I've been here ten months. I would've been ready to tell you in one, maybe two, here. Because Magne and so many other people helped me piece myself back together, and the adhesive had begun to set." That timeline is important. "The man I was back home had no one, and he hadn't even had time to grieve for our parents. Which aren't excuses, just... the condition I arrived in here."

[rexthebuilder]

Rex is unusually quiet.

"If you meant to save everyone with the collars, then why did you lie to me when I confronted you about them?" He asks, finally.

[pineapplesalmon]

César blinks at Rex.

[pineapplesalmon]

Wait. Rex is serious.

[pineapplesalmon]

"Rex. Mijo." Okay, there's definitely laughter this time in his voice. "Security cameras with audio?"

[rexthebuilder]

A little thrill as César calls him by that endearment again before the gears stop turning together in his head.

[rexthebuilder]

One gear is spinning freely.

[rexthebuilder]

Its teeth almost catch its neighbor.

[rexthebuilder]

And then, somehow, the spinning gear finally contacts properly with its neighbor, and Rex's entire brain restarts.

[rexthebuilder]

Rex smacks his forehead and leans back, groaning loudly even as the last of his worst fears evaporate. "I didn't think to look for fucking cameras!"

[pineapplesalmon]

"Language." César's shoulders are shaking with laughter he's barely suppressing. "Why did you think I was so worried and told you to stop?"

[rexthebuilder]

"Don't rub it in~nn~nnnn!!" It's not rubbing it in, but Rex shoves his brother by the chest anyway, and César's hands get pulled along away from Rex's shoulders.

Rex is ignoring that comment about language. He's earned a cuss word for going through all this!

[pineapplesalmon]

César started laughing like a popped balloon, a mixture of post-anxiety relief and Rex's faces always being funny.

[rexthebuilder]

"Céssaaarrrrrrrrrrr!" Rex whines.

[pineapplesalmon]

Annnnnnd he loses it entirely.

[rexthebuilder]

"It's not that funny!"

[pineapplesalmon]

"No, no—you whining my name must be muscle memory!"