9- EDGY

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“He’s waking up!” Aurora said from somewhere near me.

“Is he okay?” I heard Jeff ask.

My eyes stung from the bright blue lights shining in my face and everything looked blurry, like I was looking through rain soaked glass. A few seconds later, everything came into focus and I saw Jeff lying on a stretcher. He looked like a hot mess, covered in mud and bandages, ripped clothes drenched in blood, both red and blue.

“I was fine until I saw your ugly mug,” I muttered through the oxygen mask I had on.

Jeff threw his head back and laughed, “yeah, he’s fine.”

I felt someone else standing over me and I saw Aurora there. She had a slight smirk on her face, despite the still noticeable bruise.

“Is he always this grumpy?” She asked.

“Oh yeah he is,” I heard Todd answer from my left.

“Yup, that’s normal for him,” Jeff said while coughing.

I glanced left and noticed Todd, beanie-less, with paper in his nares and bandages on his head. He was also lying down and had bandages around one of his ankles too. He looked as if someone had tied him to a truck and dragged him through mud. His glasses were beyond broken, but he still wore them. Force of habit, I guess. Both Jeff and Todd were munching on toasted sandwiches wrapped in foil.

“What happened?” I asked.

Aurora’s expression darkened for a second.

“You almost died, man,” she whispered. “I stabilized you, but you’ve been in a coma for the past three days.”

“Three days?!”

Aurora nodded. I noticed she still had my diamond-shaped body shield clipped to her hip.

“You saved my life,” she whispered.

“You saved mine.” I tried to force a smile as she removed my oxygen mask.

She unclipped the body shield and handed it to me. I saw that its charge was near zero. I remember charging it before we arrived on Hurrikos. Then I remembered hearing footsteps.

“What about the mob?”

“More of them…more of them came.” Shaking, she took a deep breath and looked at the body shield. “If not for that, I would’ve died.”

“Did you kill them?”

Aurora shook her head. “When I locked the place down, it sent a warning to the cops. They came in less than a minute after you lost consciousness. They killed the gangsters, and I was just barely able to stabilize you.”

“You okay?” I asked.

Aurora chuckled, “no, I’m gonna need a stiff drink, a carton of nice cigarettes, and months of therapy.”

Even through forcing a smile, I knew she was still scared. I watched her grab a syringe full of glowing fluid.

“What’s that?”

“A second dose of nanobots. I’m using them to rewrite your DNA so the genes that were killing you go dormant,” she said. “Hopefully, this and your medication will solve the problem.”

I was still in pain from the gunshot wounds. That’s when I noticed the bullet fragments in a jar of disinfectant near me.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Don’t mention it.”

Forcing myself to sit up, somehow despite being shot multiple times, I didn’t feel too terrible. I guess she gave me some powerful painkillers. I saw bandages and my arm in a sling, the one hit by the bullet.

Surveying the office, I noticed the cops had already collected all the bodies and sectioned off parts of the clinic that were torn apart. Holes covered all the walls, and I saw bits of rubble scattered everywhere. Despite all the cleaning fluids masking the scent, I still smelled blood. Lights flickered on and off above me and I smelled the burning wires and melted plaster from the energy weapons. I also noticed the broken bed I had chucked was missing and thin plastic sheets blocked off the hole in the wall.

I smelled warm bread and fish as Aurora handed me a sandwich wrapped in foil.

“The fish sandwich?” I asked.

“Yeah, got one for everybody,” Aurora said.

She helped me unwrap it so I could eat it with one flipper. Not bad. Damn good actually.

“Damn,” I said, smirking.

“Better than a brothel?” She asked.

It was pretty damn close. I didn’t realize just how hungry I was until I started wolfing it down.

“Yeah, that’s really good.”

“Okay, you gotta tell me what the hell you did back there,” Aurora said pointing to all the destruction.

“Oh…yeah…that,” I said, knowing what she meant. “I just sorta do that when I’m pissed.”

“You sorta do that? Where did you get that from?”

I shrugged, “no idea, can’t remember.”

“You shattered a guy’s skull and ripped out another guy’s entrails. That was…something.”

“He does that,” Jeff answered, laughing.

I smiled, “believe me, that was mild.”

She sat back in her chair, eyes widening. Doubt she had any idea how destructive it really was. I then noticed the Azure Flash model kit she had on her desk. I had the same one, only she had gone above and beyond and repainted the whole thing with a more true to life metallic, electric blue and she installed real green lights where they should’ve been. She repeated the process for the thruster units, adding black to the recesses between the panels for emphasis.

“You a huge Ace Starborne fan?” I asked.

Aurora smirked. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“You really tricked out that model kit,” I said, looking closer at it.

“I did. None of the official ones even come close to matching the real thing,” she said as she handed it to me.

She painted tiny decals, only visible up close or in high-quality images.

“Damn, you even got the decals right,” I said.

“I ought to. I’ve seen it up close in person before,” she smiled as I looked up from the kit.

That caught me off guard. I almost dropped the model.

“You met him!?” I asked.

“Yeah, he…he showed up in town once. He was trying to be sneaky, no paparazzi or anything. He just saw me eyeing these pastry balls coated in icing and powdered sugar, but I didn’t have the money for it, so he bought me a batch and then I got to see the ship up close.”

That was incredible! I often wondered what meeting him as a child would be like.

“Seriously!?”

“Yeah, I’m serious,” she said as I handed her back the model. “I take it you’re a huge fan?”

“Oh, you have no idea,” Jeff said, “dude has like fifty different model kits, and footage of him fighting off pirates and other stuff.”

Aurora nodded. “I remember seeing the movie about what happened on Jakurtu as a child. It was a pretty wild movie, the real story even crazier.”

I swear I had that film memorized. It was a summer blockbuster rollercoaster ride. Ace didn’t play himself, but he did a cameo. I remember seeing the lead actress that was the love interest won a stupid amount of awards for it back on Aves. Don’t know what happened to her. After that, she did a couple more films and vanished.

“Yeah, it was.” I said, “wish I could’ve met the guy.”

Aurora nodded. “Maybe he’s still out there somewhere.”

When I was younger, I thought the same way. When I was a teen, I saved most of my money to buy a starship, wanting to be more like him. I wondered how he’d feel about someone like me. I wasn’t some heroic pilot at all, just a guy skilled at killing and blowing shit up. It’s for the best that he and I have never met. He’d probably try to arrest me, or worse. There’s that saying about not meeting your heroes.

“Maybe,” I said.

“What’s that look for, Red? You look like I just handed you another death sentence.”

“Red?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Based on the statistics I have, natural red hair in males isn’t very common. You might either be from the Kalis region or your parents were.”

“Kalis region?” I asked.

“Yeah, that population cluster had the highest concentration of redheads on Aves. Same with red eyes.”

“Huh, but your eyes are red. Are you from there?”

“My mother wasn’t before she left Aves, but I’m guessing my father was. Although his eyes were purple. Men from the Kalis region tended to either have red or purple eyes.”

“So why aren’t your eyes purple or whatever color your mom’s eyes are?”

“Because those with purple eyes also carry the red eye genes and there’s a slight chance they can pass it to their offspring. I guess I got lucky,” Aurora muttered before lighting a cigarette.

“Huh, I didn’t know that.”

“Your eyes, though, are weird. Through the data I have, I haven’t seen anyone with eyes as red as yours.”

Didn’t expect to have a conversation about eye and hair color, but learning more about our missing homeworld was pretty interesting. Aurora returned to her computer and glanced at some data, likely related to me. Observing her hair, I spotted electric blue roots.

“How common is blue hair?” I asked.

“Pretty common, actually. Most census data I found said it was like thirty something percent,” she answered. “Alright, looks like the medication is working to correct the condition. You can take those sensors off now.”

I started doing that. As I did, I felt something land in my lap, a bottle of glowing orange gel capsules.

“Take those pills twice a day for the next three months.” She said, spinning around to face me, “you need to come back here next month so I can check you and make sure it’s still working. If you feel sick again, get to a hospital and then call me.”

“Got it.”

“Oh, and here’s your bill,” she said, handing me a folded piece of paper.

That was the part I was dreading. I knew this was gonna cost me an arm and a leg, and then some. I unfolded it and looked at the price. It cost fewer than one hundred credits. Hell, five cartons of cigs were more expensive than this.

“What’s this?” I asked.

Aurora smiled and inhaled from her cigarette before answering. “Since Beanie got the flower for the pills, it’s only fair to charge you less since I didn’t buy it. Besides, it’s not like we aren’t an endangered species or anything,” she laughed. “It’s also not like you didn’t just save my life.”

“You saved mine.”

“I’m a doctor. I’m supposed to do that.”

Wasn’t about to argue. Then I thought about how angry I felt when that mobster smacked her. I never felt that angry unless Todd or Jeff were in trouble. I guess I wasn’t as fucked up as I thought. Looking around the destroyed room, I had another question.

“What about all the damages?”

“Oh, insurance’s got that covered,” Aurora answered. “The cops are going to be running security around here for a while to make sure they don’t come back.”

That thought crossed my mind. I needed to get those scumbags off my back.

“Although if you have the Golden Sevens gunning for you, maybe you should consider a career change? Getting into shootouts with mobsters isn’t healthy.”

I smirked and looked at her cigarette.

“Neither is smoking,”

She laughed, and I noticed she was showing more of her smart tattoos now beyond just the sleeve. Todd’s face turned red, and he opened his mouth like he wanted to speak.

“You wanna say something, Todd?” I asked as I grabbed my shirt and jacket.

“Um…is that a Kaguya from Metal Dragon Black tattoo?” Todd asked, looking at Aurora.

Aurora blinked twice, and I swear the white parts of her face turned red for a second. I gotta give Todd some credit. He got some balls to admit he was staring at a girl’s tits long enough to recognize her tattoo, especially someone like Aurora.

“Hell yeah, it is. That shit is awesome!” She said, “Kaguya’s the best, ain’t she?”

“Oh y-yeah, she’s great! But I’m more of a Minato fan, especially after the Slipstream Emissary Arc. They really fleshed out her character,” Todd answered, his face getting even redder.

“I keep trying to find the full arc online, but I always find the awful Tesin edited version!”

“Oh, uh…let me get a pen and some paper. There’s a site that has the originals in high quality. You’ve gotta watch it.”

I’m gonna be honest, they lost me after that. Judging by the confused look on Jeff’s face, he, too, was lost. He mouthed “what the fuck” in silence while I shrugged. I couldn’t believe Todd, who is so shy and dorky, talked to a goth chick without getting roasted. He made her laugh, much harder than anything the rest of us did. She leaned forward in her chair, her smile getting wider and wider the longer they talked. I kept thinking, what the hell is happening?

“Oh dude, you gotta come back here in two months. There’s a big Metal Dragon black convention here on the upper ring!” Aurora said.

Todd’s face turned tomato-red.

“Uh…um…uh…” he looked at me like he was dying for help.

I signaled him to say yes.

“S-sure!” He said.

“Awesome!” She said. “You all are going to need to take it easy for the next few weeks.” Aurora then turned to face me, “especially you.”

I paid Aurora and then headed for the exit.

“See you around, doc.”

“You too, Red, stay out of trouble.”

That made me laugh. If I had a middle name, it was probably trouble, or extreme violence. Even though Aurora gave me a cure and I felt better, I still couldn’t walk straight and leaned on the wall occasionally. As we headed past the fountain and towards the exit, I elbowed Todd.

“Nice move back there,” I said.

“Huh?” Todd asked.

“Striking up a conversation about the tattoo. I don’t know how the hell you did it, but she’s into you.”

“What? No, that’s. She’s just a fan of Metal Dragon Black.” Todd shrank back, his face somehow getting redder.

I stopped and looked him in the eye. “Todd, you basically admitted you were staring at her boobs and she didn’t even get mad, and her face turned red. Then she invited you to a nerd convention. Come on, man, you at least got your foot in the door. While y’all were away, I was talking with her about metal music and she didn’t get half as excited as she did talking to you.”

“Are you making fun of me?” Todd asked.

“Nah, I’m dead serious bro, I’m mad. How the hell do you get a girl like that interested in you?”

“Man, it should’ve been me!” Jeff complained.

“Jeff, get real. She wouldn’t be interested in you,” I said.

“Bruh, you get zero hoes,” Jeff muttered, “unless it’s them psycho bitches.”

He wasn’t wrong. One of the longer serious relationships I had ended with the girl trying to rip out one of my kidneys with her teeth. It’s a long story.

“Maybe if you cut your damn hair, you’d get some bitches,” Jeff said.

“You’re lucky you and Todd just saved my life,” I muttered, scowling at him.

Walking ahead, I then stopped and turned around to face them. I hadn’t thanked them for doing that. I couldn’t believe they went to such lengths for me. I doubted anyone else would’ve done so much to save someone like me. Jeff and Todd looked like they could use several months of vacation.

“Seriously though, I can’t believe you two did all that to save my dumb ass.”

It felt weird being genuine, but the situation warranted it.

“I thought you two wouldn’t make it, especially not Jeff,” I continued.

Jeff laughed, “don’t sweat it man, we owe you one for how many times you saved our necks.”

I scowled at him. “More than one.”

I heard a chuckle from Todd. “Yeah, I’ve lost count of how many times you’ve saved us.”

“Me too,” I replied. My stomach growled, “you know what, let’s go get some celphos rings first, and then figure out if I’m gonna need to donate a kidney to pay off ship repairs,” I said.

Their faces both lit up.

“Hell yeah!” Jeff said.

“So uh…after that, what do we do?” Todd asked, fixing his cracked glasses.

“After we eat and see how bad the damage is, I don’t know. Might lie low for a bit, might have to kill a couple of mobsters,” I muttered.

“Oh dear,” Todd replied.