On the way out, Alex picks up Red Glare, slipping it into the strap at his back. ED-E is hovering over the dead BOS members, silent except for his mechanical buzzing. "I didn't want to," Alex says, without meaning to.

He doesn't need to justify himself, and there's no need to say anything. But he does anyway.

"I wanted them to leave. I wanted them to go back upstairs."

That's not what they did, ED-E replies.

"It's not. They didn't." Alex looks at the dead bodies, and ED-E rotates until he faces Alex.

You were alone. You shouldn't have been.

"You couldn't be here. They aren't like the ones we know. They--"

There's a complicated series of sound, one that Alex struggles to understand. ED-E shakes, frustrated at the inability to communicate correctly, and tries something else. Men in metal know the ones that are only metal. Only enemies. I'm an enemy.

"You're you," Alex replies, before a heartbeat has the time to pass. "You're my best friend, and I would never let anyone do anything to hurt you."

You hurt me.

Alex swallows, fiddles with the LAER+ over his shoulder. Wonders how this kid learned to be so blunt. Doesn't really wonder that long. "I was trying..."

To protect.

Alex lifts his gaze to look at ED-E. "Yeah. I was."

I'm treasured by you?

So he heard that. "Of course you are. Why else would I piss you off to keep you in that room?"

Stupid.

Alex grins, starts to walk toward the entry room. ED-E, buzzing, begins to follow slowly. "No doubt. I'm habitual like that."

The eyebot butts against Alex's shoulder as he catches up, and Alex lifts a hand to tap two fingers on the shiny metal.