Chapter 9

  Maria and I don't speak as we run back to HQ.

  We run upstairs, into the Comm room. Only Lenny is there. He just glances at me.

  “Where is Jodi?”

  “You fucked up kid.” He says.

  “How so?” I ask. But I clearly know how.

  “Man, I hate this shit, fucking hell. Ok, so when Underwood came up here with Paris, when Jodi tried to warn you, Underwood smashed her in the face with his revolver to shut her up, knocked out some of her front teeth. She needed to get taken to the Cavern Harbour for medical help, she refused to leave until she knew you were safe. Then she waited, watching you two run around the city for 3 hours on surveillance, throwing back pain killers like candy, then she watched you two kiss. Not being able to speak because her mouth was smashed in, she had me radio a man who she's apparently married to, saying she was sorry and want's to come home. He was an older sounding fellow who was quite concerned for her well being, he said they can sort things out.”

  I can't think.

  I can't breath.

  Things go dark.

  I'm laying on the Comm room floor, a blanket on me. They brought some Doctor in to assess me a couple of days ago, I heard the whispers; apparently I need time. I don't want to move, what's the point? If I don't move nothing can go wrong, I'm safe here. Even the suit agrees, it lets itself be covered with the blank. There is no killing here, no fricking things up, just relaxing comfort.

  I'm a prisoner on this island, I'm a slave. Everything I touch goes to shit, everyone leaves. But here, laying on the floor, it's fine. I hear the wind outside, the creaking floor of someone walking about in another room.

  It's been days of this. Maybe I'll have a nap. There has been a small pebble under my right shoulder blade since yesterday. I should do something about it. Maybe I'll look into it tomorrow.

  “Is he alive?” Dan asks, looking at me laying there, I don't look up. Is he speaking at a normal volume? Or am I not listening? It's like he's speaking in a dream. I watch the dream play out.

  “Yeah.” Maria says. “So you can operate all this equipment?”

  “That I can. So obviously the big guy is Goliath, what was your code name?”

  “Oh, I don't have one.”

  “Well you need one, it's procedure.”

  “To be truthful I am terrible at coming up with Code names.”

  “How about 'Short Stuff'?”

  “How about you come up with a code name for me that won't make me what to throw you out the window?”

  I let out a single snort. Wait, I feel the snort, I'm not dreaming. I see Maria smile as she looks down at me.

  “I have an idea; Edgar will give me my code name.”

  “The bird?”

  “Arrack, Dan the man.” Edgar says.

  “Yes. Ask him.” Maria says.

  “Ok, Edgar... Am I really talking to a bird?” He says.

  Snickering some it's the most I've moved all day.

  “We do all the time. Go on, ask him.” She says.

  “Ok, Edgar, what code name should we give Maria?”

  “Arraack, dirty old man.” He screams.

  I chuckle, Maria does as well, Edgar joins us with his mocking laugh.

  “Come on bird, you can do better.” He says.

  “Maybe you need to say 'please'.” Maria says, covering her face, trying very hard not to laugh.

  “Ok. Edgar, can you please come up with a good code name for Maria?”

  “Arrack, raven, raven, raven, raven...”

  “Ok, enough Edgar; Raven it is.”

  “Eh, I guess.” Maria says.

  “I like 'Dirty old man' more then Raven.” I say in a low scratchy voice. My throat is so dry, definitely not a dream.

  “Oh, hey you're alive. I'll get you some water and food.” Maria says.

  I look up and nod at her.

  It's a little too comfortable laying here, I guess Dan is helping us instead of Frankie. I suppose I should ask him. A bunch of water splashes on the side of my head, I jump to my feet, Maria is standing there with a MRE and an empty cup.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Frick...”

  “I should have tried that days ago, you've been laying there for 4 days. Frankie and Paris tried to move you to the side, your suit was resisting and, well, you're a big guy. You Ok now?” Maria asks.

  “Ye.”

  Taking the offered MRE bar I grab one of the 4 litre jugs of water we store in the room adjacent to the comm room, drinking more then half of it in one go.

  “Aaarrack, party hardy.”

  “Hi Edgar.” I say.

  “Sexy beast.” He replies, following up his words with a content warble.

  Breaking off a crumb of the MRE I give it to Edgar.

  “Sorry buddy, I don't have mealworms, I just woke.” I say. He gobbles the piece up.

  “Arrack, tastes like shit.” He then lets out a loud, grating screech.

  “Yeah, I know buddy, hey, have you guys been getting him mealworms?” I ask.

  “We were preoccupied with whether or not you would break out of your catatonic state.” Maria says.

  “Oh, so I take that as a no?” I say.

  Dan looks up at me. He looks quite a bit different then the other day, he's more relaxed, not stressed. At the best of times working for Underwood is a lot, the man is definitely the worst commander I've ever had.

  “Wow, you're taller when your not flopped out on the floor.” He says.

  “I thought you were under house arrest with Frankie?” I say.

  “Frankie said you guys needed someone to run comms, I told him I had experience, he sent me here for now.”

  “So what's the plan, Raven?” I say.

  “Are you talking to me or Edgar?” She says.

  “Don't be silly, me calling Edgar Raven would be like giving you the code name Human.”

  “Good point. The plan is there is no plan for another 3 days, Paris said to take a week off. Oh, and he's still pissed we lost the helmets, all we have are these shitty, 20 year old combat goggles for now.”

  I've never even seen this model of goggles; the newer models look like wrap around sun glasses, this fricken crap looks like something you would wear while welding.

  “Arrack, I need real fucking food!” Edgar screams, followed up with an ear splitting screech.

  “Frick me, I think he cracked my skull with that last scream. I'm going to get him some damn mealworms.” I say.

  “Central Park?” She asks.

  “Yeah.”

  “I'll join you.” She says.

  Putting on the goggles we head out. In the real world it's a crisp, sunny autumn afternoon; I switch to the Inside view, the image quality on these goggles is terrible but the weather looks to be about the same, the HUD is very basic. The menu system is clunky, I manage to set my Inside cloths as a red track suit with white stripes down the side. Maria looks over at me, she's wearing some sort of pantsuit.

  “Where did you find the jogging cloths? This menu system is weird.” She says.

  “It's a sub-menu off 'casual wear', not a sub-menu of 'workout cloths'.” It's midday, jogging down the busy street we'll definitely want to stay visible, the last thing we need is the Others trying to do a system flush on our IP because we walk into one of them and the system doesn't register our presence.

  She switches to a tracksuit identical to mine only blue.

  “Got it.” She says.

  We take off, running towards Central Park, my suit has my combat machete absorbed into my back, out of view just showing as a slight lump. It's nice just not thinking, I spent to much time going over things the last few days.

  “You wanna talk?” She asks.

  “No. But we should discuss one thing.” I say.

  We glance at each other. I can see it in her face, I think we're on the same page.

  “It was the suits.” She says.

  “Agreed.” I say.

  “We need to keep that in mind.” She says.

  “Yes, Stinger let the suit get in his mind.” I say.

  “And look where that lead.” She says.

  “Exactly.” I say.

  “Good, it won't be awkward now that it's sorted and were on the same page.” She says.

  “Agreed.” I say.

  “Not awkward at all.” She says.

  “In no way.” I say.

  “Exactly.” She says.

  “Yes.” I concur.

  Spending the rest of the run to Central Park not thinking about our kiss was a goal I didn't achieve; I'm glad that's sorted.

  Guilt should be running through my mind, but it isn't. I don't blame Jodi for leaving. A life of luxury, of ease as a Baroness seems like not all awful. And I'm a prisoner here on this island, how many years would she be happy staying here to be with me, never leaving the prison when she is able?

  Arriving near the zoo enclosure we move to a discreet place and kill the Inside view feed; the Others can't see us now. Right away I see it, it looks fresh.

  “That looks disgusting.” She says.

  “Yes, but it's the only thing he likes more then mealworms.” I say, looking down at the dead squirrel.

  “You're not going to...” she says as I pick it up the squirrel carcass and absorb it into my suits chest “... I think I'm going to vomit.”

  “We need to keep baby bird happy. Want a hug?” I say with outstretched arms, looking down at the tiny lump on my chest where Edgar's treat is under my suit.

  “Don't you even joke about that!” She says laughing.

  “Hugs!” I say walking towards her, arms stretched out laughing.

  “Ok, ok, enough, lets get a few mealworms and get out of here.” She says. “I'm glad to see you're mood has improved.”

  -Guys, are you not getting the request for assistance?- Dan asks over the radio.

  -No.- I reply -These goggles don't have the software for the automated distress. What's going on?-

  -We have a team pinned down at Columbus and West 77th, they're taking fire from 12 units.-

  -Ok, give us audio on the Agents channel and tell them we're on the way.- I say.

  - 10-4 -

  We start running there, turning our avatar in the Inside on until we can better assess things.

  Avatar on, looking at the Inside we see more then a dozen units, this fricken ancient HUB doesn't even give us a count. I cue up the emergency comm channel:

  -Agents, this is Goliath and Raven, cease fire and we'll clear the enemy.- I say.

  -Will do, glad to hear you Goliath.-

  The Agent's gunfire ceases.

  The two of us flank the enemies, charging in with our machetes. I take the first one out with a chop to the side of his neck, spinning I get another in the neck. I see Maria working on the others, she has two down as well. We start cutting through them, I take out two more, then we finish off the rest.

  “I haven't seen you in action for over a year, good job.” I say.

  “Thanks, glad to see you almost kept up this time.” She says with a grin.

  “We both got 6.” I say.

  “But I was faster.” She says.

  We bend down, looking at them laying there in the white, smooth walnut shell textured exoskeleton, I cut their jugular, ensuring that the Hosts are not suffering in anyway. The Others jack out of the bodies when it looks like they're going to die, we're not sure if the Hosts are conscious of their last moments at that point, so I always make sure they bleed out quick at that point.

  “Thanks for the help. What is that shit you're wearing?” It's Sargent Grady.

  “We, um, misplaced our helmets.” I say.

  “You misplaced the most advanced, bullet proof combat helmets? You deserve to wear that shit.”

  “Hey, come on, we just saved your ass.” Maria says.

  “And for that you have our thanks. Wait, aren't you Maria?” He asks.

  “The new comms guy said I needed a code name, so it's Raven out here now.” She says.

  “Once again, thank you.” Him and his men salute us and head on our way. We start jogging again, heading to HQ. My mind keeps coming back to the suits, just how much do they influence us? I was in my own head over the last few years, I didn't see how lost Stinger was. I did but I didn't loose touch with Maria.

  She stops running.

  “What's up?” I ask.

  “Come here.” She says, we go down a side alley, it's just the two of us. “Give me your goggles.” I hand them to her, she runs them down to the end of and alley and puts them behind a dumpster and walks back. She puts out her hands, I take her hands in mine.

  “What is it?” I say.

  “I don't want to risk anyone else knowing what I'm about to say.”

  Looking into her eyes I know exactly what she's thinking, I'm thinking it as well. “You want to get rid of the suits?” I say.

  “Yes, I want to be free.”