Love or Death?

A Struggle Between Jose and Henrietta

Chapter 1

"Gasp!" I awoke in my bunk bed, right above Rico. My eyes were full of tears as usual. I sighed. "I have to get ready to go to the range today," I said as started to climb down the ladder, Rico was waking up too. "Where are you going, Henrietta?" She asked me with wondering eyes. "I'm getting ready for. Are you going to come with me to the dining hall?" "Sure," Rico said as she stepped out of bed.

When we finished getting ready, we walked together to the dining hall. Suddenly, Triela walks by with Claes. "Oh, hey, Henrietta," "Yes?" I replied to her in curiosity of what she was going to ask me. "Can you do me a favor and deliver this to Petra?" "Okay," It was a box with a big postage stamp on the top. On the postage stamp, it said it was sent from Jean, Rico's handler. The parcel was sent from Sicily.

I walked down the corridor when I finally spotted Petra walking down the hall with Alessandro. "Um… H….here is your package." I handed it to her in a stammering voice. "Oh, thanks." "Y….Your welcome, Pe…Petra, Alessandro." Alessandro looked at me in suspicion, and then said "You can call me Sandro; alright?" "O…Okay, Sandro!" I turned and walked back, quickly towards the dining hall. I started to hear a conversation going on between Petra and Sandro. "Who is it from?" Sandro said.

"It's…from Jean. He's in Sicily." Petra started to open the box and said "It's…a teddy bear?" "Huh. I wonder why he got you a teddy bear from Sicily." Sandro sounded incredibly confused. I turned back to see what the bear looked like. It was a big brown bear, with a red bow on its head. I noticed a note was attached to its hand. "Maybe it's a souvenir?" Petra said in a questionable answer. I shook my head. I then grabbed the note and read it aloud. It said:

To Petrushka:

This bear is to you from Sicily.

I am giving you this as a welcoming gift

for joining the SWA. Have a good time with

Alessandro and the others and listen to your

orders. Jean Croce

When I finished reading, Petra was happy now that I read the note. She smiled and said "Thank you very much, Henrietta!" I grinned back at her and walked back to the dining hall. When I finally reached the room, I grabbed my breakfast and sat down with the others. "Oh, there you are Henrietta." Rico said. "Hey." I said in a tired voice. "Did you give her the package?" Triela asked. "Yes," I started to eat my breakfast, quicker than usual. Claes, who noticed my speed eating, finally said, "You okay? You seem stressed." "Me? Stressed? I'm….not…stressed…." My head fell flat on the table.

"Henrietta!" they all shouted. "Ugh. Jose, where…are you?"I said, in pain. I tried to stand but as soon as I got up, I collapsed on the floor. "Henrietta!" Triela shouted. "Stop...huff...huff...it's okay." I started to stand back up. As I regained my balance, I began to run. Faster and faster, I dashed down the halls, looking for Jose. Until, had suddenly bumped ito Hillshire. "Why are you in such a hurry?" he said, with a puzzled look on his face. I dashed past him, hoping I didn't waste too much time waiting for him to move.

As I looked for Jose, I had ran across almost the entire fourth floor of the agency. I ran down halls, I looked in many rooms. Then, as I ran down a flight of stairs, I suddenly tripped. I was upset and afraid as I flew in the air. I knew one of two things may happen: I may either fall out of a nearby window, or fall face first on the tiled floor. I then closed my eyes and hoped of the best; the fall on the tile floor. I'd rather fall there that fallout a window, covered in shards of broken glass from the broken window.

"Umph!" My eyes were still closed. It felt like I fell on something, something soft. I slowly opened my eyes and turned my head. My eyes widened. "JOSE!" I yelled. He quickly put me down. "You alright, 'Etta?" Jose asked. I looked at the ground and back up at him. As I looked back down, I began to cry. "You..." I paused. "you didn't come... when I called you," "I was...I was very busy with work, Henrietta. You see, I was helping Section 1 translate documents from Japanese to Italian." "So," I said, in a quiet voice. "So what?" I shouted. "Why are you always intent on finishing work so much?" I covered my face. I turned and ran once more.

"Henrietta!" Jose shouted from behind. I ran to the Second Gen. dorm rooms. I ran and ran around the dorms until I found Petrushka. "Petra!" I shouted across the hall. "What is it, Hen- AAH!" I grabbed her and gave her a tight hug. I cried into her shirt and said, "Petra...do...you.." I was too choked up in tears to even speak. Petra looked down at me. "Hmm. 'Etta, did Jose upset you?" I nodded. "What happened between you two?" "I..." I stopped and rubbed my face. "I don't think Jose cares about me any more." We stood there in silence. I began to grow tired. I slowly began to collapse onto the floor. I also started to sweat. "P...Petra...help..." I passed out on the floor.

"Henrietta!" Petra was shouting for help. Soon, Triela came running with Hillshire. Hillshire then picked me up and carried to Dr. Bianchi. Bianchi then took me and put me in a hospital bed. I was taken to the infirmary, where I was then given some of the 'medication' to help keep me calm. As I lay there in the hospital bed, I was asleep. I as I dreamed, tears began to form in my eyes. The more I dreamed, the more I cried. "Gasp!" I jumped out of the bed. I looked to the side of me. Sitting in the chair by the bed was Jose. I began to become angry, but the angrier I got, more I cried. I didn't really want to hurt him.

I got out of the bed and walked towards the chair. I then grabbed Jose's sleeve. "SNOOOOOOOR" He was sleeping. I then grabbed his coat that was on the back of his chair. I put it on and ran out the room. Suddenly, as soon as I opened the door, I was being held tightly. "Don't struggle. Please don't, Henrietta," It was Jose. I turned and slapped him. He then dropped me and started to rub his face. "Henrietta!" I quickly ran out the door and dashed to my dorm room, where Rico and Angelica were sitting at the table with books in their hands. "Oh, Henrietta," Rico said in a happy voice. "No time!" I said in an furious voice.

I grabbed my p90 and left to the shooting range. I once again bumped into Petra and Sandro in the middle of the hallway. I then didn't bother to talk and just ran by them. "What's wrong with Henrietta?" Sandro asked Petra. "I don't know. I'm going to go ask." Petra then started to catch up to me. " 'Etta! Where are you going?" I didn't answer her. I just kept going. Suddenly, Petra had come too close to me and tripped. She fell right on me, and I then fell too. But, there was a nearby window. I then fell right out the window. I was terrified. Damn! Not again! I thought. Would this be the end of me?

I knew this time, that Jose wouldn't be there to catch me this time. I then noticed that Petra, too, had fallen out of the same window. "Henrietta!" she yelled from above. For she had fallen out the window right after I did. She started to grow closer to me. I shut my eyes, knowing she wouldn't catch up to me. I then felt arms wrapping around me. I opened my eyes "Petra!" She turned and held me from behind. Her back was facing the ground. "No! Don't, Petra!" I shouted. THUD! We landed on the hard ground. I got up off of Petra. We were both covered in blood and glass. Petra still laid there on the ground. "Uh." "PETRA!" I screamed. She then slowly started to get up. " 'Etta...you alright?" I smiled. "Yeah, I am," I then picked her up and carried her back inside."Henrietta! What happened, and why are you and Petrushka covered in glass and blood?" Triela said from behind. I then pointed upward towards the broken window. Triela then had a puzzled look on her face.

"Hillshire! Hurry over here. Henrietta and Petra fell out a window!" Triela called over to Hillshire. "Damn!" I started to run inside as Hillshire came running towards us. "Hang on, Petra!" I shouted to Petra for I was carrying her on my back and was running at a very quick pace. I had to give her a heads up, for since I was running so fast that she was probably thinking 'What the hell.' As I approached the dorms, Jose was standing in the middle of the hallway. "Move!" I shouted across the hallway. Jose shook his head. I stopped right by the nearest dorm and put Petra inside the room.

"Henrietta, what's wrong? You've been running away from me all day."I growled. "Shut up!" I screamed. Tears began to form in my eyes once more. Jose started to run towards me. I looked down and looked back up. I grabbed my hand gun that was attached to my belt. Jose then stopped running. " 'Etta, please, don't," I took the gun and pulled out the magazine, and cleared out the chamber of the one bullet that was inside. I dropped the gun and threw the bullet at Jose's face. It whacked him on his forehead. "OW!" He yelled. I dashed back into the room where I put Petra in, grabbed her and left. I went to go find Dr. Bianchi. "Bianchi! Bianchi!" I shouted down the halls looking for him. I found the room he was in and tried to open the door. It was locked! I then started to kick it. The door busted open.

"Please help her," I said. I tried to catch my breath. Bianchi grabbed Petra from my back and grabbed tweezers and bandages. He used the tweezers to pull out the glass. After he finished pulling out the glass, he got some ointment and rubbed it on the cuts and scrapes. He found a gash on Petra's shoulder. Bianchi quickly stitched it up, and wrapped it in bandages. When he finished with Petra, he moved on to me and did the same thing. Jose walked in with a completely upset face. He opened his mouth, getting ready to say something. He then closed his mouth and sighed. "Come to my room when Bianchi is finished," He then left the room with his head down.

LATER...

I walked out of Bianchi's room, covered in bandages. "Sorry 'bout kicking down your door," "No problem, I'll have someone fix it,"Bianchi said. "Oh, and keep an eye on Petra," I walked up the stairs, to the fifth floor. As I came closer to Jose's room, I began to cry. I hurt Jose, twice! What am I supposed to say? I walked in the room. Jose was sitting in on his bed, with a tired, upset look on his face. "Hen-" "JOSE!" I ran towards him and gave him a tight hug. I began to cry and wail loudly. "Henrietta, what's wrong? One minute, your running away from me, and the next your crying in my arms." We sat there in silence. Jose's eyes widened. "The conditioning!" he said in an angry voice.

Jose then laid me on his bed and said, "Get some rest, okay?" "Yes, sir," Jose then left the room, enraged. As he approached the meeting room, Jean was walking down the hall with a cigarette in his hand. "There you are, Jose." Jose just walked past him, he didn't even bother to look up. When he walked into the meeting room, Ferro, Sandro, and Bianchi were talking about the broken window and Bianchi's kicked down door. "Oh, Jose," Sandro said. "Bianchi! What's up with these girl's conditioning? Henrietta attacked me twice today and fell out a window!" "We don't know. The same case happen with a second gen. cyborg last week. She went out of control and almost killed a first gen. cyborg."

"Is it curable?" Bianchi shrugged. "We're going to have to test it out on Claes to find out. But, I'll fax you if I figure out something." Bianchi concluded. "Fine," Jose left the room, with full doubt that they'll find a cure to help stabilize Henrietta and the other girl who faced the same problems. He walked back into the room and said, " 'Etta?" I was sound asleep. He picked me up and carried me to my room, where Rico was asleep, too."See you tomorrow, Henrietta,"

I awoke the next morning, with tears in my eyes, as usual. I looked at the corner of the room. Their were piles of clothes that were either covered in blood, dirt etc. Or,they just stunk. I sat in bed and began to brush my hair. Rico got up out of bed and said "Henrietta, we need to do the laundry today," "I know. I'm about to get dressed." I climbed out of my bed and said, "Rico, go grab a laundry basket and put the clothes in it," "Okay!" As Rico did so, I got dressed and opened the door. "You ready, Rico?" I said. "Yep!" As we walked to the laundry room, Jean waked by and said, "Well, you girls are up early," "Yep! We're going to go do laundry," Rico said to Jean."Rico, when you two are done, I need you to come down to the range with your sidearm, okay?" "Yes, sir!"