Authors Note: Hey everyone! It's been a good long while, hasn't it? I always seem to let my fanfics escape me when I'm in school…nasty habit I hope to break myself of in the New Year. Anyway, here's the next chapter of VertiCut, so I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Edward or the characters from his film.

VertiCut: Chapter XIV

South Gate Memorial Park

I slip my foot out of the harness and push down on the ground. I haven't been using my Skimmer nearly as much as I used to, and I'm surprised that the reserve of energy is showing. It's flying higher. Faster. Smoother.

Or maybe I've been using it so little that I forgot how good it felt.

I don't know why I didn't think of coming to the park before. For the past week or so, we've been going to the shopping center to wait for Edward to get done with work. I'd play in the arcade with Beck and Tin-Tin and hide when Lintu would visit so I wouldn't have to go shopping. Then Beck and I would find things to do. Things where we didn't have to talk to each other very much—movies, laser tag, bumper cars. Some days Beck would disappear and I'd be on my own. Days like this, I ain't got a problem with 'em.

I should have been doing this all along, coming out here and flying. It keeps the all the buzzing from settling in my head. Keeps it all from sinking in. How disgusted I am about the Battle-bot fight I saw. How much I hate this tension that's spread between Beck and me—how much I miss it just being me and him and Tin-Tin against the world. How under the mattress in my new room, there's official paperwork saying my father's really gone. How uncomfortable Edward's crowd of groupies makes me, and how bad I just want to sit by him and talk to someone unbiased and nonjudgmental. How I feel like he doesn't even need me anymore. How his boss is a robotic duplicate of a friend he lost to time a hundred years ago. How everything's changing so quickly and it feels like I can barely keep up with it.

But I know one thing in the world I can keep up with.

I kick into higher gear and feel the hot air go cold against my face. Faster. Fast enough for the wind to lift my heavy dreads up behind me. I'm so use to navigating through people, crooked streets, through the back alleyways of west suburbia…the fluidly of this movement is serine. Smooth. Free.

I weave my way over to the memorial fountain and spin with just enough pressure to ease my way up onto the ledge. I lean away and the air jets send the water straight up into the air, curling into a wave as I flutter pass.

I wonder…could I fly over water?

I pivot away from the ledge and kick off. I tap the verti-boost lightly with my foot and it sends a surge of water rocketing up around me as I flail forward.

"No…no, shit!" I yelp. I stick my arms out, trying to keep my balance.

I manage to pull my feet out of my skimmer before I plow face first into the water. The force sends me down to the grimy cement bottom, and I go sliding for a good few yards before I get a grip.

"Owww," I cough as I yank my head out of the water.

My chin stings, my nose aches, and I feel like I swallowed a gallon of slimy water. I open my eyes in time to see my skimmer skipping across the water like a stone, shooting out of the fountain and into a hedge.

-Snip-

Edward watched his customer walk out the door before glancing at the front desk. His shift wasn't quite over yet, but the crowds that filled the store during the day had drained out early tonight. The intercom clicked as Imogen readjusted her earpiece, and Edward suddenly realized they were the only two people in the shop.

She sat behind the desk, clicking at thin air, her eyes clouded over by some unseen program. Her long, red feathered hair was down today, and it swayed in a way that was both beautiful and alien. Imogen glanced over at Edward and jumped a little.

"Damn Edward, you're quiet. I totally forgot you were here," she said, surprised.

"Where is everybody?" Edward asked.

"Ummm…some big move premier is going on at the multiplex. Xander and the others begged me to clock 'em out early. You didn't wanna go, did you?" she asked.

Edward shook his head.

"They're probably sold out by now anyway," Imogen shrugged.

"…You don't want to see it?"

"Nah. It's some bloody war movie," she said. "I'm not much one for gore 'less it's stylized or animated."

"…I don't like blood either," Edward nodded.

"I can imagine, after what you've been through."

Edward cocked his head and twitched a bladed finger.

"With the Industrial Abductions," Imogen went on. "Must have been some horrible shit."

Edward felt his face go hot and he nodded before turning around.

"Oh, crap dude. I'm sorry. Shouldn't have brought it up," Imogen mumbled.

"It's okay."

Edward lifted his shaking hands and started flicking the stray hairs off his blades. Why did he feel like this? He had never been in the Industrial Abductions, and the few times costumers had brought it up he didn't even pause before feeding them the lies Urchin and Addy had given him.

"Do ya need some help?" Imogen called.

Imogen picked up a small hair-dryer and walked over to Edward. He held out his hands as she flicked it on, and he kept his eyes pinned down.

"Thank you," he whispered to the floor.

Edward knew Imogen was a robot, and he knew what family owned her, but he knew relatively little about what that meant. His only exposure to robots had been the mindless, rusting, rotting, horrible smelling creatures that encircled him back at the mansion and chanted human. Imogen…was nothing like that. She could speak, and she did so a lot. She was sociable. She was smart. She was funny. She could make anyone smile. Edward glanced up at her quickly.

She was exactly like Gina.

Edward opened his mouth to speak and Imogen flicked off the hair dryer.

"What was that?"

"I… Tin-Tin said you were…made to look like an actress?" he stuttered.

Imogen grinned and nodded.

"I don't get that often, but I love it when I do. Guess I feel like I'm keeping Gina alive," Imogen smiled. "Well, me and a few dozen films she starred in. and directed. And wrote. And produced. Come to think of it, she really doesn't need me for shit."

"Did…did you get to meet her?" Edward whispered.

Imogen looked at him questioningly.

"No. no, she passed away almost eighty years ago."

Edward unconsciously twitched a bladed finger and sliced a clean line down Imogen's hand. He gasped and pulled away.

"I'm sorry," he whimpered.

Imogen looked down, not fazed in the slightest.

"Oh, don't worry 'bout it, it's ruby. I've got some lamination on me," she said, reaching into her purse and pulling out a little spray bottle. She misted it over her hand and at once, the bleeding stopped and the cut faded away.

"Did that hurt?" Edward asked, confused.

"Little bit. Between you me and the wall, I kinda numbed my sensors down so I could jam my feet into my shoes every morning." Imogen said, stomping on the ground with her heavy boot heal.

Edward nodded. He had no idea what that meant.

"Anyway, I may have never met Gina, but I met her kids. And her grandkids. And her grandkids' kids. Are you a fan of her? Of Gina?"

Edward nodded meekly and felt a smile creep across his face.

"You shoulda said something earlier in the week, I have a ton of old DVD's of hers they don't make anymore. I'll bring 'em after the weekend," Imogen offered.

"I'd like that," Edward nodded.

The last time he had talked to Gina, he remembered her saying she'd gotten into a few TV shows and had landed a part in a small independent film. She kept promising to bring a DVD player up and show him. He remembered counting the months, waiting until Christmas, and the disappointment that came when she didn't come back. He still waited. Years and years he waited. The green and rainbow sea that made up Suburbia slowly morphed into a gray landscape by day, a sea of colors by night. And still, Edward waited.

He waited until one day; he looked down and saw a billboard that illuminated the time and date. It was only then did Edward realize it had been more than a hundred years since he had seen Gina. He couldn't even remember how long it had been since he saw Kim.

"You okay there?" Imogen asked.

Edward shook himself out of his trance and nodded. Imogen smiled and went back behind the desk.

"Imogen?" Edward asked, walking towards her.

"Yo."

"How many kids did Gina have?" he asked.

"Just two, a girl and a boy. They were really old when I knew 'em, but they were always nice to me. Kimberly made me call her grandma."

Edward smiled to himself. Gina always said she wanted to name her daughter after her grandmother.

"…You and her son actually share a common name," Imogen said slowly.

Edward froze.

"She…she named her son Edward?"

"Yeah. After the male lead in the first indy movie of hers that got picked up by a major distributor. She starred in it, co-wrote the story and everything, it even took place in this town. Before it became New Suburbia," Imogen chuckled. "It was pretty obscure, didn't have a very wide release or fan base. I'm still trying to find a good quality copy of it."

Before he could possibly stop, Edward opened his mouth and asked the first thing to come to his mind.

"What was it about?"

Imogen turned around. The smile on her face began to lessen, but it didn't vanish completely. She took a step towards Edward and when she did speak it was slow, but warm and gentle as well.

"It was about the man who made the snow."

Imogen stared directly into Edwards eyes, silently, smiling. Edward was frozen in her gaze, unable to move, to breathe. He could practically feel his heart stop beating.

Imogen suddenly pressed the button behind her ear and looked up.

"We got company," she said, walking towards the door.

Edward turned around to see Tin-Tin and Lintu walking through the entrance.

"Hey Edward!" Tin-Tin yelled. "How was work?"

Edward opened his mouth, but he just couldn't speak.

"Busy as hell," Imogen said. "Lucky that big movie premier cleared some of the mall rats out."

"The Halo remake," Lintu nodded.

"I wanted to see it sooo bad," Tin-Tin seethed. "It sold out while we were in line. Oh, Edward, Urchin and Beck didn't stop by earlier, did they?"

Edward shook his head.

"Hmm. I ain't seen them all day," Tin-Tin said.

"…Should we wait for them?" Edward asked, finding his voice.

"I'm sure they just went home early," Lintu said. "We should probably clear out now, while there's nobody in line for the shuttles."

Edward glanced back at Imogen.

"I…"

"Your shift's about done, I'll clock you out now," she smiled. "You guys have a good weekend."

Lintu and Tin-Tin waved and walked to the door, but Edward was bolted to his spot.

"We'll finish talking on Monday," Imogen whispered.

Edward nodded and reluctantly dragged his feet to the door.

-Snip-

It's dark by the time I fly my aching body back home. I had stopped by at the Shopping Center, but everyone was closed early. Ghost town. My Skimmer runs out of juice a dozen blocks from Beck's place, and it takes me an hour to limp down the streets.

I bang on the door, and Tin-Tin opens and lets me in.

"There you are!" she says. A pause. A glance at my mangled face. "Holy crap! What happened to ya?"

Aside from my reflection in store windows, I hadn't gotten a good look at my mangled face. All I know is that I must have scraped off a big chunk of my chin skin and that a few of my teeth are loose.

" Nothing. I ate it," I say, holding up my skimmer.

"You biffed? You ain't fallen off that thing in years. It's like, an appendage by now," Tin says as we walk down the hall.

"Why do we learn to fall?" I ask.

"So we can learn to pick ourselves back up," she grins, completing the Batman quote. "Beck wasn't with you, was he?"

"Haven't seen him all day. Where's Lintu and Edward?" I ask.

"She went back to her place, restin' up for some big test thing. Edward's chilling out on the balcony. You should go talk to him; he's being kinda…aloof."

"Aloof?" I ask. I pull my skimmer chord out of the port and jack it into a wall outlet before going to the stairs.

"Aren't…aren't you gonna fix up your face before going up there and scaring him?" Tin-Tin asks.

"I like scaring people," I call back.

Most people. Truthfully, I don't want to scare Edward at all. It's just…between the crowds at VertiCuts and Tin and Lintu in the evening; I haven't caught Edward alone since he started working.

I miss it. Talking to him.

I slide open the balcony door. Edward's staring off into space, doesn't even glance up at me as I walk out next to him.

"Hey,' I say.

He snaps his head over and nearly does a double take.

"Urchin…what…what happened to you?" he asks, wide eyed and gaping.

"Tried to skim over a fountain. Turns out I don't navigate across water as well as I would have hoped."

"…Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I shrug. "I was gonna go put some stuff on it, but…it's kinda been a while, you know. Since it's just been me and you."

Edward nodded.

"How's work? You…you like it there?" I ask.

He nods.

"Well, they sure love you," I sigh, leaning back.

"You don't like it there," Edward says. "Do you?"

I chuckle.

"Can't say I do. I'm not much one for the people here. Or people in general, especially in large doses. I'm not a big fan of all this…hair and appearance stuff either, if it's not obvious," I say, gesturing at my face and flicking one of my lighter dreads forward.

"But…I'm glad you're happy. And money. Money's good to have," I nod. "Imogen's pretty cool, too."

Edward nodded enthusiastically.

"She…told you what she is, right?" I ask.

"Yes."

I flick at my chin uncomfortably. There had been another reason I was partially avoiding a conversation with Edward.

Fuck it.

"Did she tell you who she was modeled after?" I ask.

Edward glances at me and nods.

"She did," he says. "I…I knew before she told me."

"That much like her?" I ask.

He nods again.

"She acts like her too. Little things she does…and says."

"Are you…you know, okay with that?" I ask.

"I don't mind. I…I like it," he whispers.

"Well, good. Must be nice, seeing an old face," I say.

We sit in silence for a moment, staring over at the projects, watching the hover trains cut through the air.

"Urchin?" Edward asks.

I glance over at him. He's got this…unsettled look about him. Not like he's worried or concerned…but like he wants to tell me a secret.

"Yeah?"

"Imogen…I think she knows,"—

"You guys!"

Tin-Tin jams herself through the sliding door, the beads in her hair clanking loudly against the frame.

"I just got a call from Beck. He's been on the West Side with Addy all day," she says.

"And?" I ask.

"He wouldn't say over the phone, but…he says we all gotta go over there, now. I think Addy had a breakthrough."

Edward and I exchange glances before sitting up. I wonder if I'll ever get to talk to him alone. Like how it used to be.

"Just let me change into some clean clothes," I mumble.

So I kinda just sat down and wrote this thing out today, it was weird. It normally takes me way longer to tap into things. Then again, this chapters been kicking it in the back of my head for about a year, guess it was time for it to get the fuck out. And after that last chapter, I feel a little sorry for the lack of action here…but hey, it's an Edward Scissorhands fanfic, not a Kill Bill fanfic.

I should probably update my Kill Bill fanfic next.

Anyway, it was nice to get back into the groove. As I said before, I plan on completing all of my fanfiction children, no matter how long it takes me. Hopefully not too long. Late at night once again, so I'll correct mistakes later-god, there must be forty billion, but if i don't get it up now, i don't get it up ever.

Any reviews, critiques, suggestions, questions are always welcome and frequently returned. Thanks for reading!

Write on!