"Carnelian," Rye whispered, her voice trailed off. The man had a similar build as her, with the same dark hair and eyes. He was wearing clothes cut from fine materials with the emblem of Gamma eight-four's government on his shoulder. In his hand was an energy powered hand cannon with smoke pouring from the barrel.
"It's taken a long time to find you," he said, holstering the gun. Rye looked down at the ground in realization.
"You orchestrated all of this, didn't you? Me being hired by the Apex Organization, Bloodhound verifying my identity, keeping me imprisoned in the facility, and this?" She gestured around her.
"You're usually the one a step ahead," Carnelian said with a small smile. "Alexander made sure that wouldn't be the case."
Rye's eyebrows furrowed as she locked eyes with him. He continued, "You can't forecast in this condition. It'll take a day or two for you to recover, which is more than enough time to get us a ship back home."
"You'd see me executed?" Her fists clenched.
"As the Chief of Criminal Justice of Gamma eight-four, who bravely turned in his own sister, it's my duty," he said, a cruel smile still lining his face. "Someone needs to pay for killing all those people." His smile dropped and he narrowed his eyes at Rye. "And mom and dad."
"Carnelian, they weren't good people, they weren't just stealing anymore. They'd been assassins for a long time. I had to stop them from launching those nuclear-"
"Shut up! You betrayed us!" The calm demeanor dropped and he stepped right in her face. "You turned your fucking back on your own family!"
Rye firmly stood her ground and said, "I tried to reason with them. I am a killer, but you're a murderer."
Her younger brother toppled her to the floor with a shove, sending bolts of pain through her bones. She looked up and saw the fire in his eyes. Rye rose to her feet and said, "You were the one who pulled the trigger. Mom and dad betrayed us, and you betrayed me."
He silently fumed.
"You want to add my life to your guilt?" she asked. Her face was abruptly met with his knuckles with a sickening crack. Despite the force behind the blow, she was able to hold herself up. She felt the side of her face starting to swell.
"I won't feel anything when I watch your head roll," Carnelian said between gritted teeth. He grabbed her arm like a vice grip and dragged her out of the room. They stepped out into a large laboratory where she saw several concrete cubes surrounded by equipment, a lot of which was shattered on the ground. She saw another metal door that she guessed Caustic had exited and entered through. Carnelian punched in a code on the outside of one of the concrete enclosures, the screen popped open, and he tossed her inside. He pushed the screen closed.
"Try not to kill each other before I get back," he said and walked away. Rye turned around and her heart jumped. There was Caustic, his lab coat dotted with blood, skin covered in bruises and abrasions, and in the opposite corner was Bloodhound, unmoving. She dropped to her knees at his side and held the back of his masked head in her hands. She saw the circular pool of blood on his abdomen, staining his coat. She ripped off the end of her tunic, lifted his coat just enough to see the oozing energy bullet wound, and applied pressure.
"What happened?" she asked, turning her head towards Caustic.
"That bastard," he said, pointing at Bloodhound, "Came in here like a rapid animal and then your sweet little brother came in, punched me, shot him, and threw us both in here."
"I thought you two were in cahoots?"
"Once a backstabber, always a backstabber, it seems," he said with a scowl.
