Authors Note: Hello everybody, it's been a while. A small note for this chapter: this story takes place two hundred years in the future, and while it was only mentioned once, Urchin was not the first person Edward saw during the time. I open with a flashback from Edward.

Disclaimer: Urchin and her friends are part of the Shadow Town Universe, other then that, the only thing with Edward Scissorhands that I own is my t-shirt.

VertiCut: Chapter XII

--New Suburbia, year unknown--

Edward stood in the open attic of his father's mansion and breathed a deep sigh before he glanced back out to the sea of lights below him. They had begun showing up so gradually over the years, that he had hardly noticed them. He remembered the day he looked out into the city and realized the brightness had both replaced and overshadowed the shine of the stars. While the ground sparkled and twisted like an ocean the sky had been drained dull, and it made Edward feel sick. It was a constant reminder that the world was changing, and that everything he had once known was slowly fading away.

Well…almost everything.

He glanced back over at the ice sculpture he had just finished. It had been rarely cold enough to make them in the past, but recently the weather had become quite unpredictable. This particular sculpture—which Edward now realized he had carved absent-mindedly—was of Gina. It had been years since Edward had seen Kim's granddaughter, but he still remembered how she looked. He moved towards her face, and caught a glimpse of his own reflection in the glistening ice.

He wondered if this was how Gina had seen him.

The ground shook and Edward jumped, slicing a new cut across himself. Cringing in pain, he made his way over the wall, hoping it wasn't another earthquake. The last time an earthquake happened, the tree had fallen over the fence while he was outside and had pinned him on his back. It had taken him a long time to saw through the wood, and afterward he had no feeling in his legs for days.

He braced himself, but nothing else happened. He cautiously moved over towards the broken window that overlooked the garden. He saw the faint outline of what looked like a car. The door below him creaked, and he heard an echo of footsteps.

"Gina." He whispered.

As he made his way downstairs, many thoughts flooded through his mind. Why would Gina come back now, after so many years? What was she coming for? How much time had passed? And then, one thought came to mind that stopped him in his tracks.

What if it wasn't Gina?

He was close to the bottom now, and could see someone with a flashlight. They had moved passed the stairs and had their back turned. He stood frozen, unsure of what to do.

And then the door opened a second time.

"Doctor Rowan?" A voice called.

Edward drew back—it had been so long since he heard someone speak.

This person had some sort of flashlight too—one that filled the room with a dingy yellow light. He had brown hair, and he was wearing a white lab coat. Edward suddenly realized he was completely exposed, and took a step back. The second person caught Edwards movement, and began to walk closer to the stairs.

"Dr. Rowan?" he asked.

"Over here."

The second man pulled up the light, but the other man—the Doctor—moaned in agony.

"Jesus Christ. You look like shit." the second man said as he put away the light. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for something..."

Edward took this moment of darkness to climb down from the staircase and hide beneath it. He watched as the two men made their way over to the back room.

"You're not fit for this." The second man whispered.

"You heard what they said. The man who lived here was an engineer,"—

"You're fucken bonkers. That was centuries ago."

"He was centuries ahead of his time."

"This is ridiculous. Not to mention illegal."

"Since when has that ever stopped us, A.Z.?" he asked.

The two stood in silence for a moment before the second man—A.Z.—sighed.

"Alright. First level only then." He said.

Edward watched as the two men went back to the table and his heart stood still. There was a reason he never went back there.

"Look at this table. The books on it are all deteriorating…" A.Z. whispered.

"Everything is deteriorating. Careful, there's something down there…"

Edward grimaced as he heard a crunch. No.

No, no, no

"What was that?" A.Z. asked. "There's a sheet. Something's under the sheet."

Edward walked forward, forgetting himself. His fingers twitched and snipped together as he did so, but the sound was drowned out by A.Z.'s gasp.

"It's a body." The Doctor said. "Or was, a long time ago. I presume the late inventor. Put the sheet back over it, it's disrespectful. Hey, look at the board. There are designs on it."

"I think we should go." A.Z. whimpered.

"Deaths part of life, and this person died hundreds of years ago. Shine the light on this board, but not too brightly."

A.Z. heaved a big sigh and turned on the small light again. The doctor stared at the board, and after a while, A.Z. glanced up at it too. Edward remembered what was on that board. It was how his father made him.

"Jesus Christ. This is…how…" A.Z. stuttered. He reached out gingerly and flipped the crumbling pages. "Is it human, or is it machine?"

"I…I can't tell. There's nothing this advance that exists today, that's for sure. Not yet. Huh. Little old technique in this stage…wait…Jesus Christ wait…."

The Doctor paused to flip the next page.

"Started off like this, turned into this. Slow replacement of compatible robotic parts with compatible human parts." He said. "Scientist have been trying to perfect this for years, and someone already figured it out centuries ago. From the look of these designs, the process could go both ways."

"You mean…synthetic bodies for humans?" A.Z. whispered.

"If this works," the Doctor began. " The term human is going to be open for interpretation…"

Edward didn't like this. He took a step back and this time, A.Z. heard it.

"We should leave. Please. I don't…this doesn't feel right. Why is there still a body up here? Why wasn't it moved?"

"No ones' been up here in ages, you said so yourself." The Doctor said simply. " No one knew he died."

"Then who put the sheet over his body?" A.Z. demanded.

A low rumble came from the ground. Sirens echoed from the bottom of the mountain.

"We need to go. Now."

"You get the car started," the Doctor said. "I'm taking these with us."

Edward shrank away as A.Z. ran passed him, but if he had seen Edward he didn't show it. The Doctor pulled out a long, plastic bag, and gently eased the designs into it. He slowly made his way to the door. Edward had almost pulled himself out of sight, but as the light from the car seeped in through the door, the gleam bounced off Edward's bladed hand. The Doctor saw it, and turned back.

Edward's first instincts were to run, but as he took a step back he tripped and fell on the stairs. The man moved closer and Edward lay there, frozen in fear. The man was tall and striking, and had a sick look to him that made him look menacing. He glanced at Edward, and slowly looked down to the designs on the paper.

"My god…" he whispered. A faint smile grew across his face, and his expression softened. He took a step forward.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Outside, a horn honked. A.Z. yelled, and the sound of the sirens was drawing closer.

The man ran his fingers through his hair and heaved a big sigh. He looked down and met Edward's eyes.

"I'll come back for you." He said.

And then he was gone.

Edward lay there a long time before pulling himself up and walking back to the attic. The sound of the sirens had faded soon after the two men had left. He didn't know how to feel—if he should anticipate the doctor's return, or if he should hide in case they did come back.

Edward had no intention of spending his time waiting for them to come back. In fact, over the next few years this memory would become so deluded that he would put it aside and forget all about it. But that night, as Edward sat down in the fireplace and looked over at the ice sculpture of Gina, a wave of loneliness washed over him.

She was already melted beyond recognition.

--SnipSnip--

New Suburbia: South Gate, Year 2199

"Okay, one more time." I said. " Who are you?"

Edward looked across the balcony and into the night sky. He closed his eyes.

"…My name is Edward Pierce." Edward began. " I was born in 2178, and I grew up in Oakland, California. I had prosthetic hands throughout most of my life. When I was in Central America I was,"

"You can skip the kidnapping and surgical adaptation part." I said. "Go to the factory."

"I was held in an industrial factory and was forced to do manual labor. The factory was liberated in 2195, but …I was in a coma and no one knew who I was."

Edward stumbled on the last part, but I gestured for him to keep going.

"I woke up in the spring of 2199, and the people at the hospital helped me track down my sister. The hospital couldn't fix my hands…because there are too many veins wrapped around the base." He said.

"…And?" I asked.

"I am still traumatized, please don't ask me again."

"Perfect."

"Urchin?" Edward asked.

"Yeah?"

"What about Tin-Tin's parents?"

"All the papers say you're twenty one, so you're an adult. No need for them to contact your 'parents' for anything." I said. "Tin's legal guardian is her aunt, but her aunt went crazy and lives down in the Projects. Her dad sends her a check every month, but he lives in a different state. "

"She lives by herself?" Edward asked.

"We all pretty much live with each other. Her apartment was one of the nicer ones in West Suburbia, but we mostly just slept outside under the tarp in the alley." I said. "Her apartment didn't have an AC."

I glance over to the glass window. Lintu and Tin-Tin are both sleeping on the couch, and Beck has his eyes glued to the TV. He glances up at me and then looks away.

"Beck said you'd be mad if I went outside." Edward said, following my gaze.

"Not at you. At Lintu and Tin-Tin." I said. "But nothing bad happened, so no harm no foul. Hell, first day on the outside and you got a job offer."

"Urchin?" Edward asked. "Do you think I should…?"

Of course I didn't think Edward should get a job. With Beck, it's not like we needed the money, and the last thing I wanted was to flaunt Edward in the public eye. But the way Edward asked, it sounded like he wanted my approval.

"It's up to you," I said. " People already know you're here, and you've got your back story all worked out. Do you want the job?"

Edward was staring at me, like he didn't know what to do.

"If you want to check it out, I'll go with you." I said.

"I would like that." He said, glancing back down at the street.

"You like being around people, don't you?" I asked.

Edward tilted his head to the side and nodded.

"I don't blame you. You were alone for a long time."

Edward's eyes were beginning to glaze over. Like he was trying to remember something.

"You know, when my dad disappeared, I was alone for a little bit." I said. "Asimov had been taken away, my mom was never home, so I kinda just roamed the streets on my Skimmer for a while… is something on your mind?" I asked.

Edward jumped, and his fingers twitched.

"…What does A.Z. mean?" He asked quickly.

"…It's slang for Alpha Zeta, which is the male version of a Zeta model robot. It's what people call a robot they're tight with." I said. " Where did you hear it?"

"I can't remember." He mumbled. I shrugged.

"Maybe Addy called Dwight it." I said.

Edward shook his head, but there was something about the way his eyes were that told me not to push it. So I didn't say anything.

"Addy couldn't tell how old I really was." Edward said, finally.

"Well…we know you went down to Suburbia in the 1980's. That makes you over two hundred and ten." I yawn.

"Addy says most humans don't live to be a hundred."

I glance over at Edward. He's staring out into New Suburbia, past the hover trains. I look with him. The skyscrapers thin out over on West Suburbia, and in the dim glow, I can almost see the outline of the mountain.

"I'm not human, am I?" Edward asks.

I spin my head around.

"What?"

"I'm not a robot, either." He continued. " I…I don't…"

He searched for something he couldn't put into words, then gave up and looked at the ground.

"Didn't stop all the people in South Gate from loving you." I said.

"They don't know what I am." Edward whispered.

"Well, I don't know what you are." I say.

Edward looked back to me.

"There may be something in you that ain't human, but you've got more compassion then the humans in this city." I said. "I don't know what you are yet, but I know you saved my life, and I know that I can tell you stuff I can't tell Beck and Tin-Tin. Whatever you are, it doesn't change that."

"It doesn't?" Edward asked.

"Hell no." I said. Edward smiled.

"You fit in a lot better with the crowd today then I did," I added. "Big surprise right?"

I smiled at Edward, but he was seeing through my sarcasm.

"What made you want to stop being alone?" he asked.

"I was waiting for my dad, for Asimov, for someone who understood me to come back. One day—after you saved me—I realized that even though they might come back, their memory wasn't going to protect me the next time I got in trouble. I realized…that I was only human. I needed help, same as everyone."

Edward turned to me, and the two of us stared at each other for a long time. When we finally broke away, I twisted my head up and looked into the dull black of the night sky.

"Thank you for helping me," Edward whispered.


Hope you all enjoyed the flashback, and the chapter as well. If anyone is confused about Gina, I say this for the record—like so many other fanfics, Gina (Kim's granddaughter) visited Edward. It happened after Kim died, and over a hundred years before my fanfic began. While I have no plans to show any flashbacks involving Gina directly, I will say that Edward and Gina were much closer then him and Kim were. Edward mentions her briefly in a past chapter.

And as always... I know that if I try to proof read this shit, I'll second guess myself and it will take me another million years to post a new chapter. So I'm putting it up now, and if there are any mistakes, I'll correct them later.

Any feedback, I love to hear anything. makes me feel all fuzy and warm.

Write on!