“Is he fully patched up?” An unfamiliar voice questioned. 

“His external injuries are all healed, but he sustained a lot of internal damage and is experiencing a great deal of exhaustion and fatigue. I can’t exactly wake him up. But his condition has greatly improved over the last two days” Christine replied.

“What exactly happened?” A third voice asked. Now this one’s somewhat familiar. Dimanche? Why’s he here? My vision began to clear as I saw myself lying on Christine’s operating table with three figures around me. I recognized Christine and Dimanche, but the third was a brand new addition. He wore white armor that somewhat resembled Genji from Overwatch. Wait, was this the one who saved me?

“None of your business” The Mystery Figure growled.

“Alright, alright, I’m just asking. Besides as a cop, it’s my job to interfere in such things” As the two bickered, Christine turned her attention towards me. 

“EDEN!” She exclaimed, rushing to the table. “Are you okk?!?!”

“Uhh, yeah? How long was I out?”

“Two days. I’ve fixed mostly everything but you lost a lot of blood and drained most of your energy during your mission” Everything after getting saved is a blur. I was out for two days? “Also, Eden, please forgive me for what I’m about to do”

“Hm? What do you mea”- My sentence was cut short as Christine’s elbow came crashing down on my nose. Blood splattered everywhere, but before I could scream in agony, she had already fixed it. 

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? Roxy called and told me everything. Moments after that this armored freak showed up with your nearly dead body! DO you understand how close you were to dying? One second late and you’d be gone for good!” She chided. “NEVER do that again” Two days…. Roxy’s gonna kill me. 

“The Pitch Black Five, did you get it?” I asked my rescuer.

“Yes. Alongside this mech” He replied.

“The mech? How did you?”-

“I had been keeping track of this operation for some time. I saw you on the scene but before I could back you up, all the peripheral guards converged on my position while you fought their enforcer. They were quickly disposed of but then their real security showed up. By the time I was finished with them and arrived at your location, I heard you talking about taking some mechs back with you” I see. Real security? Was there some other threat we didn’t pick up? OR was it meant for this person specifically?

“How did you manage to pick me up with the drugs AND mechs?” There’s no way we got out that quickly. Unless…

“My ability. Unfortunately I cannot reveal it here. Just know I have been monitoring your movements for some time, so I trust you. These other two though, are complete strangers. That being said, my work here is done” He stated, heading out of the room. 

“If you don’t mind, uh, Mister Teriyaki, DC Sutner instructed me to pick you up and bring you back to HQ. There’s some things he wanted to ask you” Dimanche informed. Shit, he’s gonna kill me too…

“Tell Sutner to leave him be. He’s been unconscious for two days and is still recovering! God what is wrong with you uniformed officers? At least give him time to get back in shape!” 

“Nahh it’s fine. Sutner’s a stubborn bastard. Also he definitely needs to hear this from me ASAP. On the bright side, I managed to get what I needed. Please analyze the sample and let me know what you find” This couldn’t even count as a victory. If it wasn’t for that Mystery Figure, the outcome would have been COMPLETELY different. 

“What if you”-

“Get hurt again? That’s bound to happen. I know I have you to fix me up right after” Should she be recruited too? I’ll talk to Velec about it. We could definitely use her.

“I’ll be waiting for you outside” Dimanche said, heading downstairs. 

“Eden, you can’t keep doing this to yourself, expecting to get away each time. I’m not gonna try talking you out of it cause that’s pointless, but just, PLEASE be more careful” Can’t promise that.

“I’ll try. I’m sorry for putting you through this” I apologized, holding her hands. “I know this trip wasn’t ideal for us and I wish we could’ve spent more time together. Maybe we’ll be seeing each other more often, hopefully. Thanks for patching me back up” I smiled. 

“I’ll heal you and fix you a million times over without question. I just, don’t want to lose you for good. Especially over something as trivial as this. You didn’t need to try so hard” 

“I know. You’re right. I was dumb and reckless. I shouldn’t have been so selfish. I, I love you” I pulled her in for a hug. God I missed this feeling so much. I could hear her heart beating against mine as we finally found our way in each other’s arms once more. 

“I love you too” She rested her head against my collarbone. 

“If we start becoming more permanent in each other’s lives again, and start seeing each other regularly, can we be together again?” Her eyes widened at my question.

“I, I would like that, very much. But didn’t you say you’d wait for my boyfriend and I to break up? Once that happens we can”-

“I don’t know how this’ll sound, but to be honest I don’t really care about that anymore. I know you love me more than him and he’s just a temporary thing you have until we get back together again. I almost lost my life and I would have died without us getting our love back. There’s no pressure of course, just know I’m ready to be in love with you again, and I want to be with you” 

“Even though I’m already in a relationship?”

“You told me the conditions for that already. Just keep being a part of his life until he gets better and then leave him. We can still be with each other despite that” 

“You really are a bad influence, you know that right?” She chuckled, leaning into me even more. 

“Mm well”- Before I could say anything else, she pressed her lips to mine. It had been a while since we last kissed. I closed my eyes, sighing with content as I kissed her back, feeling and tasting her lips after a long time. I familiarized myself with them once more. 

“Please, take better care of yourself. I’ll always be here for you no matter what, but you need to learn to treat yourself better” She warned as we broke off from the kiss. 

“I’ll make sure of it. I should uh, get going now. Sutner and Roxy need me back home” God, Roxy’s going to kill me. I grabbed onto the mechs and some of the Pitch Black Five, leaving the rest with Christine to examine. 

“Take care Eden, hopefully we’ll see each other soon”

“Hopefully. I’ll call you when I reach” I assured, heading downstairs. Dimanche waited for me outside. “I brought my own ride so you go on ahead”

“Are you sure? Sutner said to escort you to avoid any potential harm” He argued.

“Then stay a respectable distance away. I like having my alone time when I drive. How did you even know to come here by the way?”

“Sutner knew of the drug deals going on but never got the time to deal with it. He also figured you’d try intervening so he sent me and a couple others to back you up and to prevent you from getting killed” I see…

“And where are these ‘couple others’?”

“I sent them back after they rounded up the thugs at the dock. However the main Bane enforcer disappeared. I decided to stay on and see how you were doing” He lied. But I’m not going to pressure him about it. I’ll just take it up with Sutner and Carver. Dimanche was always a strange guy, but he’s being a thousand times weirder. 

“Ahh ok, that makes sense. Let’s head out now” Can’t waste any more time here. If Dimanche’s a rat, or got something up his sleeve, the higher ups need to know, NOW. 

“Actually I’m feeling kinda hungry. Was gonna get some meat first” MEAT?

“Ummm, define ‘meat’” Hella vague.

“Oh basically chicken, mutton, beef, veal, fish, lamb, venison, pork, and so on. Flesh basically. You know, red meat, white meat, that kind. How else do you want me to say it” By specifying the TYPE of meat? That just sounds wrong on so many levels… “In my language we refer to all types of food like that as meat. It comes under one category so we generalize it as one term” NO LANGUAGE HAS THAT!

“Where are you from again?”

“I’m from Zuul” Certainly don’t look it. Dimanche is concerning me a lot right now. Then again, who am I to judge people on where they’re from? I’m a Torakirri and Quarl but I look the farthest thing from either. 

“Ohh I see. I don’t know much about that place to be honest”

“Perhaps I could teach you about our people”

“Maybe another day. Right now I’d just like to get home. You can get your, uh, meat if you want. Tell Sutner I’m not going straight to him. I have better things to do” I explained, getting in the car and driving off. The ride back was rather quiet and uneventful. I queued my favorite songs while trying to get over the fact that I almost died and let two of the most important people in my life down. I checked my phone to see any messages from Roxy. Surprisingly there were none. Christine probably kept her updated on the situation during that time. Which means, she’s definitely gonna kill me when I reach…

It was close to midnight by the time I arrived. Reggie awaited me at the front door, as usual, standing guard like an angry parent who just caught their kid sneaking back into the house. He glared daggers at me as I parked the car and walked up the steps. 

“Eden” I stopped dead in my tracks. “I’m glad you’re ok” He sighed, embracing me fully, tightly squeezing me with his surprisingly bulky arms. Oh wait, he used to be a hitman. It’s impressive that he’s retained his build at this age. 

“I’m sorry” I apologized, not being able to look him in the eye at all.

“Oh don’t apologize to me. There’s nothing to be sorry for on my behalf. But, SHE is waiting for you” The butler gulped, gesturing to the basement. I nodded, taking a deep breath as I entered and went downstairs to accept my fate. 

Roxy sat on my bed, burying her nose in a book, flipping each page slowly and daintily with a slight grimace on her face. “I’m back” I smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck as I stepped inside. The look on her face changed from one of anxiousness to relief as she got up and ran towards me. Hm, doesn’t seem so ba-

“YOU IDIOT!” She cried, punching me twice in the stomach. “You’re so stupid!” The tears started freely flowing down as she kept striking me in the torso. “You’re s-so g-goddamn st-stupid” Her voice cracked as each hit got weaker and weaker. “I h-hate y-you! I ha-ate yo-you! I hat-hate y-you!” She sobbed, trying her best to hit me as hard as possible. “I h-hate you!” And with that, she punched me right in the face, nearly knocking me off my feet. “I hate you!” She cried out again, burying her face into my shoulder as I got back up and pulled her in for a hug. “I hate you s-so mu-much” She hiccupped. Whenever Roxy cried, she’d always get the hiccups if she tried to speak. It’s just a little thing she’s had since childhood. I always found it really cute and endearing to be honest. 

“I love you too” I replied as her tears dampened my shirt. It, had been a while since I said those words to her. We used to say it to each other a lot but after a few “personal things” happened, I just couldn’t bring myself to say it to her anymore. But this time the words flowed out freely, without anything holding them back. “I’m sorry” Dammit, I can’t keep doing this to her. How many times has she almost watched me get killed over the past two years? She doesn’t deserve it. I held her tightly, wrapping my arms around her as I rested my head against hers. I decided it was best not to say anything. She remained silent too, just huddling closer to me. The tears continued flowing as she started hiccupping some more. It didn’t fail to make me smile this time either. 

“Th-there’s n-no poi-point tel-tellling you to sto-op is th-there? N-no mat-matter wh-what you’ll just ke-ep mo-mo-, moving. Nothing will, will discourage y-you. Nothing ev-ever does” 

“Trust me, I’ve learnt my lesson. I got way too cocky and it resulted in me getting my ass kicked” I admitted.

“That’s an understatement” She managed to gain control of her emotions again. “You were on the verge of dying. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve seen that? Don’t you know how that makes me feel?” She paused, trying to catch her breath. “You do, of course you do. But, I get it. You’re not, you don’t live for me. You’re not doing this, for me. It’s for, the betterment of humanity right? It’s your own mission that you’ve set out on. I’m honored, and really happy to be a part of it. I’m really glad I can make myself useful to you and be part of how you get the job done but, but; do you really expect me to just sit there and watch you burn your heart up? I understand you’re willing to sacrifice whatever, but when will the cost be too much to pay? If you die, do you think anyone’s going to just, carry on with this little, ‘crusade’ that you have going on? Do you really think it’ll continue? You can’t expect yourself to become a martyr this early on” She’s right.

“I’m not trying to be”-

“Then stop acting like it. Your death at THIS stage will mean nothing. If you die now or ANYTIME soon, people will just look at you as some idiot who tried to challenge the system and failed. No one will be motivated to carry on whatever legacy you were trying to establish. They’ll look at you and laugh, and be discouraged from trying to rise up and change this world. You won’t be doing anything but killing yourself, and the future generations’ desires. So please, for our sake, for the world’s sake, for your OWN sake, please at least just try to stay alive. You don’t need to be so goddamn reckless. What’s the point of doing any of this if you’re just gonna pull a few stints and then vanish without a trace? At least let yourself get some recognition from the people first! Once they see you as a success, they’ll follow your steps and try to make this shithole of a world a better place”

“I thought that’s what I was trying to do”

“No, not in this case at least. Or your previous ones either. We’re clearly not prepared to be dealing with threats of that level just yet. And yes to be fair you weren’t expecting that, but still. I know they’re our main opponent and we have to make a team to stop them, but for now, anything involving the Banes should be something we stay FAR away from. For now at least”

“Understood. Anything else?” I’m glad she’s been my eyes and ears since the start. Wouldn’t ask for anyone else. 

“Start off small for now. Don’t try pushing above your weight. Focus on teambuilding, and while you’re at it, try to understand your powers a bit better” Wait, how come she isn’t surprised by that fact and why didn’t she mention it earlier? “There’s SO much other stuff you could be doing right now rather than focusing on your number one opponents. I get they’re a major adversary but quite frankly, we’re just not ready to take them on. We have to start making a name for ourselves” She explained, finally letting go and taking a step back.

“Yeah got it. Can we hug a bit more though please?” I requested.

“Your actions make you deserve a proper beatdown and here you are asking for a hug. Besides, you smell terrible and now I’m covered in your stench. So, no. Go shower ASAP!” I sniffed my clothes a few times and sadly, she was right. Then again I’ve been wearing the same outfit for three days…

“How’s Jeremy, by the way?”

“Still unconscious. Well, I don’t really know how to explain it. Christine probably has a better idea. It’s like he’s stuck in some daydream. His condition hasn’t gotten much better but it hasn’t gotten worse either. He just, is. The purple lines and rashes have already faded though so he should be fine soon. Let me know when Christine gets back to you. I’m gonna shower then sleep” Oh I have to give her the mechs too. I’ll just surprise her with them tomorrow. For now I should probably shower then head to sleep as well. 

“Monsieur Eden, the monitor and PC have been returned in mint condition” Reggie informed as I stepped in the shower.

“Perfect. Just leave it as is, I’ll set it up later” My body had been fully healed by Christine but the pain still lingered. Was it cause her powers were still underdeveloped? But she’s had them for years. Speaking of which, I have to get mine checked out as well. I’ll talk to Roxy about it in the morning. As for that fiend, I still have unfinished business with him…