The car ride to Crimson Light HQ had been silent so far. Gary drove, not wanting to distract Little Cato from whatever he was thinking about as he looked out the window from the passenger seat beside him.

At some point though, Gary couldn't help but look across to Little Cato, seeing him staring out the window while still looking so…troubled. It wasn't that it meant there was something wrong with his Spider Cat, but he was usually feisty, impassioned, and just as fun-loving as the other was. Gary knew this perfectly well now, but at the time he first adopted him, he thought the little cat was just somewhat bitter. The biggest thing was that Gary understood why.

13 years ago, Little Cato's father – Avocato – was the only family he ever had growing up. Sure Gary, Quinn, and Jack were around, but it was more of a 'family friend'-thing. Even when Avocato was usually out busy dealing with Tenebri, Little Cato always had his admiration for him. At the same time though, it led to Little Cato having his own little beef with the Tenebri too. His father's death after the sudden destruction of their home by a Tenebric flare only made that beef a whole lot bigger.

So seeing his somewhat melancholic look, one that Gary was sure also held sympathy, was a rather jarring development for his Spider Cat. By the time they both arrived and parked in Crimson Light's hangar, he decided to try and talk to Little Cato some more. "Hey, uh…Spider Cat," Gary tried to ease in nice and slow as they both got out, feeling nervousness creep back in as Little Cato didn't respond at all to his words. "So, uh, about the cave…what did you find in there?"

Little Cato paused, unsure if he wanted to share this sensitive kind of information with Gary at this time. Everything that had happened at the cave remained impactful to him, even when it had only been way more than a day since then. But then again, why would he choose to hide something this important from his father figure, the man who not only raised him but had his back on every rescue mission. "When I went in the cave," he decided to open up quietly, "I found a whole group of Tenebri." The name made Gary look at Little Cato with fearful concern. But Little Cato continued, "and also…there was Ash, Ash Graven."

The sound of that name was what sent Gary staggering back. "Wait, what did you say?" he gasped. "Ash Graven? You're telling me she escaped!? Oh my crap, that's not gonna go over well…like with Quinn, Gov. Jack, and Stoney boy, oh definitely Stoney boy…"

Little Cato nodded, not bothered at all by Gary's sudden reaction. "Yeah. She was there too. She knocked me out, tied me up, and made me talk to her." He anticipated Gary's increasingly worried reaction. "It's okay, it's okay, she didn't hurt me…but she still made a point about what things were really like for people like her." Gradually as the two began to go about their day, Little Cato recounted everything that had happened that night.

"Whoa," Gary gasped quietly. "That's…I don't know what to say. That, like, changes the whole game here, man."

"I thought that the whole time I was there too," Little Cato agreed just as quietly. He took a few side glances left and right, curiously checking if anyone else in Crimson Light overheard them. He then leaned into Gary's ear to whisper. "Could you maybe keep this between us for now? I'm not sure how everyone else might handle it."

"Not to worry, Spider Cat," Gary whispered back to him. "Your secret's safe with me."

"Safe, huh?" Little Cato raised an eyebrow in return, crossing his arms while pushing his lower lip forward in an expression of mock-suspicion. "You sure? I know plenty of people who've broken into you layer by layer, gotten to your core. Not sure if I can trust you not to crack, Mr. Safe."

"Aw, come on," Gary gave a whine. "I really am a hard nut to crack! Sure, maybe a few know my ultra-complex safe combos, but I guarantee you that secrets you put in Mr. Safe here are tested 90% airtight!" Gary proudly pointed two thumbs to himself, poking his puffed out chest twice with the tips of said thumbs.

"And what about the other 10% of air that gets through," probed Little Cato, who bent towards Gary with his hands behind his back and slinked his head right up into Gary's face with a smile.

Gary leaned back defensively, even though he was trying not to laugh at Little Cato's attempt to be sassy. "Well…" he tried to start, his lower lip pressed under his upper teeth, "...umm…"

Little Cato kept smiling, waiting for Gary's "answer"...

...then Gary made a run for it.

"No! Get back here!" Little Cato dashed after the speeding Goodspeed, "I take 'em all back! I want a refund on those secrets! Gimme back what's mine, Gary!"

"Well, you already gave 'em to me," Gary protested as he kept running down the hall, "so technically, they're kinda mine now!"

They both sprinted down the entry hall, Little Cato in hot pursuit of Gary, until they rammed through a set of double doors to be suddenly met by an unexpected scene in the main hangar, forcing both of them to skid to a stop, their eyes widening at the sight of Quinn standing nose-to-nose with Superior Stone.

"Stoney boy?" Gary exclaimed in an even indoor voice. "What's he doing here?"

"We are not doing this again, Stone!" Quinn growled angrily with a finger pointed at Stone's chin.

"We will do this as many times as it takes until you get it!" Stone snarled, leaning forward right at her.

"I haven't kept count of how many times you brought this up and I don't ever plan to," Quinn snarled right back. Stone huffed in return before storming away from her, moving to the opening of the hangar. Quinn didn't notice that Little Cato and Gary were now standing next to her after Stone had left a good distance away. "Oh, hey guys," she greeted them, sounding a little bit startled.

"Hey Quinn," Little Cato greeted back. "What was Stone doing here?"

Quinn turned away, not wanting to let either one, especially Little Cato, see her frustrated expression. She looked Gary's way. "Apparently, there's been some kind of surprise incident that sprung up on Scarlet Lance's itinerary, and that's gotten Stone super stressed." She turned around to put her hands on her hips. "Stone's wanting to tell us to do another 'collaboration' with them," she spat out that aforementioned word, "which we all know how it tends to work out."

Gary narrowed his eyes, knowing what that meant. Little Cato, on the other hand, tilted his head in confusion. "Well, not you, Little Cato," Quinn turned to him, holding up a hand as a little sign of reassurance, "you didn't know that yet."

"Collaboration?" Little Cato asked both Gary and Quinn out loud.

"It just means they want us to do their dirty work," Gary remarked to him.

"No," Quinn corrected, "it means they want to volunteer us to use lethal force in case a Tenebrus operation goes south."

"Exactly," Gary insisted. "They want us to do the dirtiest job they don't wanna do, just because they want to keep looking like the good guys!"

Hearing that, Little Cato gulped, shivering at the thought of having to try and kill a Tenebrus, even worse if he was forced to try and do that to Ash Graven; he couldn't imagine that going well. But then he also wondered if Scarlet Lance really had that much jurisdiction, if not authority, over other lower-level rescue squads like Crimson Light. He even wondered if the possibility of killing Tenebri was part of what Quinn and Stone constantly fought each other over.

Meanwhile, Gary found himself occupied by a human-shaped problem of his own. A few meters away from the ship that Superior Stone had just boarded after his argument with Quinn, Sheryl was standing and looking across the hangar to Gary himself. Gary held a rather displeased expression on his face when he looked at her before turning to find some other business to attend to. Little Cato noticed what Gary did only moments before and curiously turned to look to Sheryl as well before following Gary to whichever corner of the hangar he was headed.

"Did your mom do something, Gary?" Little Cato asked, getting straight to the point.

Gary blew through his lips. "Nope, nothing...yet." He picked up a stray paddle that he once used to play Thimbles with Little Cato just under a week ago, fiddling around with it between his fingers. "I don't have a choice seeing her again...and again...but I sure still wish she didn't need to be 10 years too slow on the uptake."

"You told her something 10 years ago?" Little Cato inquired further, fascination all over his curious face.

"I told her a lot of things actually," Gary clarified with the point of a finger, "and I really hope to who-knows-what that she better get the message already." When he finished saying that, he left, dropping any stuff he picked up with rough carelessness, making Little Cato flinch.

Later on in the day, Little Cato was in the middle of testing out a new mech suit that HUE had just finished designing.

"Alright, Little Cato, rotate your right arm so I can analyze the joint," HUE instructed.

Little Cato did exactly that. The sensation from the mechanical parts moving smoothly transferring their energy to his flesh felt somewhat nice, almost like a massage.

"It looks like all the joints have been assembled properly," HUE concluded, inputting more data into a plugged-in console. Behind his back, Little Cato practiced a few punches while still in control of the mech suit's limbs.

As he played around with the controls, he was approached by a particular Tryvuulian who was just as curious about HUE's latest developments.

"Hey Ventrexian!" Fox called out loudly and suddenly, almost making Little Cato fall over forward in the mech suit. "Planning on breaking your new toy in the next mission?"

Little Cato narrowed his eyes, displeased with a few things about Fox's sudden intrusion. The orange feline had only been in Crimson Light for less than a year, but he had already achieved so much in that short time. But even after all that, Fox decidedly didn't know Little Cato well enough to not call him by his people's name. However, it wasn't really as antagonistic as it was mostly in casual jest, even if it did mostly come at Little Cato's expense. "Who knows, Tryv…Fox?" he quipped back, careful to keep on being the more mature one between himself and Fox…even if his people's history did keep getting in the way.

"Oh, I know," Fox declared, "It's gonna end up with you going all 'ka-chow', 'boom', 'yaaahh' and then standing like you're a star!" Fox was making lots of exaggerated poses as he said this, then slumping in disappointed relaxation, "...took me at least a year to get that noticed…"

Little Cato sighed at the pouty sight in front of him. "Just…what do you want, Fox?"

"Nothing," Fox said in protest, "just heard about Scarlet Lance getting all up our backs over more Tenebrus sightings near the city, AND I WAS NOT LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO VENT AT 'CAUSE STONE INSULTED ME, OKAY!?" He finished it off with a stomp of the foot and a pump of his machine gun arm.

"Whoa, whoa, okay," Little Cato raised his hands defensively, moving his mech suit's hands as well. "Are you done now? Have you finally vented?"

"Eh, enough of it, I guess," Fox answered much more calmly this time. "But I actually was just curious about what you think that whole thing with Quinn and Stone was about."

"Beats me. Quinn and Stone are infamous for arguing with each other over anything and everything."

"Well, you think we'll be fighting with the Mad Tenebri again?"

It was in that moment that Little Cato stopped, frozen and silent as the recent memories associated with that name slammed back into the forefront of his mind like an oncoming truck. He remembered asking Gary to promise never to speak of his talk with Ash to anyone else and reminded himself not to speak of it in turn. "What…makes you think that?" he asked hesitantly.

"Well, I don't know," Fox said, "It's just that they're the most dangerous guys out there, and they have to be really good at what they do to be called that. Just looked a little too easy when you caught 'em. I mean, no one who's fought a Tenebrus is that good." Little Cato couldn't help but scowl at that remark, but that didn't stop Fox from talking. "...and their leader…" At that last part, Fox suddenly sounded very quiet.

Little Cato's face relaxed, no longer tense but dropped into a look of jarred curiosity as he observed the Tryvuulian's sudden change in attitude, not expecting him to start speaking out of character. "Wh-what about the leader?" he reminded himself to ask, sounding a little quiet himself.

Fox turned around, not willing to look at the Ventrexian while being confronted by the thought of imminently opening himself up to someone like him. "W-we-well, it's just that when I looked at her, she reminded me of someone!" he began, starting off defensively, "Someone I used to know…"

"Yeah? And who's that special someone?" asked Little Cato while giving a side-eye glance, thinking he won't be surprised by what he might hear.

The way Little Cato asked that question rather flippantly made Fox narrow his eyes at him in irritation. Closing his eyes, Fox took a deep breath and then…"YOU KNOW WHAT!? NEVER MIND! IF I WANNA DIG UP MY PAST ABOUT MY FAMILY AGAIN WITHOUT GETTING VENTREXIAN ATTITUDE, I'LL JUST TALK TO KVN!" Fox turned away and stormed off, leaving a reactionless HUE and a visibly flinching Little Cato slightly quaking in his mech suit.

"Uh, what's up with Fox?" he managed to squeak out to HUE once he knew the Tryvuulian was fully out of sight and hearing range.

"It is unknown," HUE replied, "For his outgoing disposition, anything regarding his personal past are the only things Fox will not openly discuss." He pressed a key that commanded the mech suit to unfold and allow Little Cato to step out of it. "As he likes to say, 'I ran from it for a reason' when even the word 'past' is spoken directly to him."

"So nobody knows Fox's past?" Little Cato questioned for clarification.

"Well, he did just mention talking to KVN," HUE warily worded his response, "and I don't like the sound of that."

"KVN, heeeeyyy!"

KVN had been busy floating around the hangar on the lookout for Crimson Light teammates he could 'talk to', but never expected any of them to come to him for a talk. That was why the moment he heard Little Cato's 'enthusiastic' call directed to him, he swung around and zoomed into the Ventrexian's face without hesitation.

"Little Cato! 'Heeeeyyy' to you too!"

Little Cato had to wrestle a bit to pry and then push the yellow orb-like robot off his face. "Grgh! KVN! Can't breathe!"

"Wow! This is wonderful!" KVN twirled around in the air as he fantasized out loud, not paying attention to Little Cato standing behind him trying to get his bearings. "A true companion, finally coming to me for comfort, security, guidance, companionship…"

"Actually, KVN," Little Cato interrupted him before he could go further, "I just wanted to ask you something real quick."

"Ooooh," KVN went at it again, swiveling around and zooming to Little Cato until he was only several inches away from his nose, "you've come to me to seek answers? Ask me anything you want, buddy! Any question at all! What kind of question you wanna ask? Is it about love? Romance? Gary's secret cookie stash? Homework? Me? Quinn's -"

"Did Fox ever tell you about his past?"

KVN floated silently for a moment, processing the question Little Cato gave so suddenly. "Past? Fox? Fox's past?"

"Yes!...KVN. Fox's past." said Little Cato with exasperation, already feeling the annoyance creeping back in little by little, his patience wearing thin.

"Well, yeah!" KVN began, "He did come to me to talk about his past. I'm the only one who knows, 'cause I'm the only one he told."

"And, you know that how?"

"Oh, he told me that himself," KVN gave a roll of his eye, "He said that no one else knows."

"And...what did you tell you?"

"Oh, that I can't say!" KVN suddenly moved away from Little Cato. "Fox made me promise him to never tell anyone what he told me, and I mean, everyone!"

"So that's how it is, huh?" Little Cato thought. He had no idea KVN could actually agree to make promises to people, but then again, KVN simply was, and even that fact proved to be unknowable. He needed a plan to get KVN to tell him without actually telling him to. Fortunately, at the very least, KVN was easily more of a gabber than a secret keeper.

Walking right up to KVN, he grabbed the robot's chassis with both hands and forcibly turned him around until he was face-to-face, pulling his eye right against his own nose. "KVN! You have to help me!" he exclaimed in a faux-panicked voice. "Fox is in a really bad spot right now and I need to know how to talk to him!"

"Omigosh! Fox is in trouble?" KVN said with real panic in his vocal synthesizers.

"Yeah! Tell me everything you know about Fox's past! Don't tell me what he told you! Tell me what you know!"

For a second, KVN didn't say anything, but once he did, "Okay! Anything for a friend!" And just like that, he began to reveal to Little Cato what he knew from what Fox allowed him to know:

Fox was extremely young when he lost his parents. He had effectively been an orphan for most of the early years of his life, at least until later in his cognizant childhood that he was picked up by slavers and then shipped off and sold on the planet Serepentis. There, he was bought by a couple who happened to have two daughters at home.

He was purchased with the intent on being a house servant, but he somehow grew on the two daughters – sisters – who took a rapid liking to him and even viewed him as their brother. Fox didn't expect that kind of treatment, but he liked it very much, so in turn, he began to see them as sisters as well.

Then one day, the sisters were selected to take part in a ritual ceremony for the village's patron god in which he got to attend and watch as well. But to his shock, judging from the giant terrifying monster that appeared before them, it appeared that the sisters were going to be sacrificed. Fox was already horrified when he saw the younger sister swallowed whole by the monster itself, but what came after would stay at the top of all his buried memories for the rest of his life.

The older remaining sister suddenly lost control and in one fell swoop, killed all the attendees within proximity of her, her parents included. The familiar purple energy and the darkened eye told him one thing – she turned into a Tenebrus right before his eyes.

Seeing what she became and did knocked him off his feet in fear, unable to take his eyes off his only remaining sister figure who, after seeing his fearful state, took off running while destroying everything in her path, which he assumed was from lack of control.

That was the last time he saw her. On that night, he had truly become alone once again.

Little Cato took in all this information like a sponge. He felt a little bit in awe over the circumstances surrounding Fox's background and current personality that was shaped by said background. He was, for all intents and purposes, adopted and had gotten himself two sisters, later losing both of them by one dying to a serpentine monster and the other mutating into a Tenebrus. Little Cato had no idea how the Tryvuulian managed it on his own after that, but he wasn't going to go that much deeper than KVN's account.

"Dispatch request for Crimson Light. Dispatch request for Crimson Light."

The sirens and automated notifier suddenly rang and echoed within the walls of the hangar bay, which everyone knew was time to get to work.

Little Cato made a dash for the ship, running past HUE who was meticulously working to get the new mech suit onto the ship's loading bay as quick as he and his available tools were physically able; no one else was helping.

Fox rushed on board like Little Cato, only he seemed a little more abrasive in his steps; Little Cato narrowly avoided getting a violent shoulder bump from him.

And as usual, Gary was moving to the forefront of the ship on the bridge, getting ready to pilot the vessel out the hangar for another rescue mission out somewhere in Tera Con Alpha.

"Alright, Crimson Light!" Gary barked his usual opening. "Let's rock and roll out!"

"Yeah! Let's get 'em, Gary!" came a familiar chipper robot's voice.

"NO, KVN! YOU GET IN THAT CLOSET! GET BACK IN THE CLOSET!"