The sound of the waves crashing on the shore swayed me back into consciousness. I could recall fireworks in the sky, vibrant and colorful. They were too loud, their bang sounding more like an explosion with every further second. Gunshots and cries of pain… I was on the ship again, running for my life, then on the raft. Tom and Roxie were dead, the Endurance was sinking! I had to do something. Fear grew from my heart and began to spread throughout my body, paralyzing me. I knew I had to do something before it was too late.
I sat up, looking around in panic, felt my heart lurching into my throat. My mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton and my hair was a sand-filled mess. Next to me, a small mound of leaves, shaped like a human being, launched into a coughing fit. At first I jumped in place, startled, then I saw a very confused V claw her way out from underneath the leaves. The vague memory of us deciding to "weave a quick blanket" drifted back into my consciousness. We certainly tried our best, considering the state we were in. I was under the impression that my mind was already clean and my body managed to process whatever was in the infamous Frog Jar.
As for V? I wasn't so sure about her trip being over. She stared at me with wide eyes; we sat there together in silence, pretending we were listening to the waves.
"Hi!" V beamed a wide smile as if I had just appeared in her view at that moment. It didn't quite matter. She had been staring at me for what seemed like an hour. Maybe her vision managed to focus enough.
"Mornin'." I waved at her and sighed, feeling heavy and unmotivated to move. "You feeling okay?" The concern in my voice made her frown, she began scanning herself, visibly self-conscious.
"Think so? Something wrong?" she asked, to which I shook my head. After a moment of silence and fidgeting with a little branch she found, V spoke again. "You were really pretty at night," she said sheepishly, averting her gaze.
She remembered, and so did I. Well, to be fair, I was at the stage where images, words, and flashes were crawling towards one another slowly, in a valiant attempt to eventually form an image. The fact that they were taking their sweet fucking time was incredibly annoying to my groggy self.
"What, only last night?" I quipped and saw panic widen V's eyes again as a result. It had already cost her a lot to say that and I must have sounded dismissive enough to discourage her. She grumbled something and frowned, moving to stand up.
"Should see the guest," she suggested, holding out her hand to me.
I took up her offer with a sigh. My hand, as if acting on its own initiative, moved to V's shoulder. Felt good there. Right and familiar. I slowly looked up at her and the intensity of her stare surprised me.
"Not just last night," she said and gently took the hand from my shoulder, giving my knuckles a gentle, tentative nuzzle, "Always are."
Oh shit… The realization hit me harder than utter rejection in peer review. We had spent the better portion of our nocturnal trip making out like two unhinged teens. Holy fucksticks it was really good. Felt amazing, the better the further we got into it - something I didn't think was possible. V was a quick learner in that respect.
But did we… No, probably not. I still had my clothes on. So did V (well, her usual attire). I didn't think I would have been able to get dressed again while tripping, and I realized we could have just gotten distracted by how nice the kissing was to go any further. It was for the best. Crossing that boundary while high seemed bad enough. Was it though? Or was it just a poke we both needed?
And now she was giving me that damn smile again. I couldn't help but reciprocate and give her at least a small bit of reassurance while I tried to make sense of it in my head, "You were pretty, too. Not just last night," I nodded and gave her a quick, affectionate hug. I really wanted one, but at the same time, I had to stop looking into her eyes, lest I was going to forget the world again. There was, of course, a part of me that wouldn't say no to another make out session. That would not be wise, considering we left the injured man completely unattended.
"You're right, let's go check on our guest," I reminded and led her by the hand, back to our house.
As we walked, I began to see just how much we fucked up with the trip. I didn't have the gun on me. Neither did V. If the guy was up and he armed himself… Our best case scenario was him still being unconscious. V must have felt how I stress-squeezed her hand, because she gave me a squeeze back and said, "Gonna be okay," in a soft tone. Almost sounded like something she picked up from a parent.
When we got to the house, I heard a pained groan, just as we reached the stairs. He was awake. I looked at V and she nodded, hunching down to take the lead. I tentatively followed and saw our guest on the floor, on his abdomen, trying to crawl. It looked like an advanced exercise in masochism, especially considering where his wound was. The gun was safely on the table, way out of his reach.
"Nani desu-ka?" he murmured, looking over his shoulder. It took a lot of his energy just to prop himself up to be able to do that. Sweat covered his forehead and dripped down his face, and his expression was one of complete and utter confusion.
I guessed it had something to do with facing a topless, bronze-skinned warrior, and a Latina castaway with two tone hair and lots of tattoos.
"You know, you should really stop movin'," I crossed my arms on my chest, unsure how to proceed with the conversation.
"Where...am I…?" he switched to heavily accented English, still propped up;I could see that his arms were shaking with the effort, "Who are you?"
"Both are good questions, but first let's get you back onto the bed," I hummed and V nodded at me, stepping over the man to take him by the shoulders while I handled the legs. We turned him onto his back and then lifted him onto the spare bed. He exhaled with relief and his hand immediately moved to his abdomen.
"Thank you," he inclined his head, his voice croaky.
"Suppose we should thank you first. For saving us from that… well, whoever she was," I gestured vaguely. He must have been thirsty, so I went to the kitchen to get him a cup of water.
"You are in our home," V informed him, "I'm V."
I sat on the bed next to him and helped him drink. At first he gave me a look of distrust, but I imagine he must have been pretty parched, because he didn't hold on to that suspicion for longer than a few seconds.
"And I'm Judy Alvarez, if that helps. My expedition ship was destroyed by pirates. I found V here and she helped me," I shrugged.
"I am… Takemura Goro," he inclined his head, keeping his gaze away from V. Yeah, buddy, it took me a while, too... "And I thank you for giving me shelter and assistance."
"We couldn't exactly leave you there after you shot that woman," I shrugged, "Gotta say, not what I expected on this island. How did you even get here?" I shook my head in confusion.
"I am afraid… that I am not at liberty to say," he took one last sip from the cup and then lay back down on the bed with a heavy sigh. His eyes closed and his breathing began to sound a bit less raspy.
Corporate bullshit. Even at the end of the world.
V wasn't so keen on sharing my patience in the matter. She picked up the gun and pointed it at the guy, frowning, "Why are you here?"
He smiled weakly and shook his head. For some reason the entire situation amused him, "If you shoot me, you will never know," he said, "And I believe this is mine," he added, squinting at the gun.
"V… please. I really don't think he's here to hurt us. He can't hurt anyone in this state," I tried to reassure her and myself at the same time. She's been taught to fear guns, for sure, but if she was the one handling it, she looked incredibly intimidating. It was as if handling one came almost too naturally for her. She wasn't completely convinced, but lowered her gun and sat on our bed, keeping her attention on Takemura.
"I really doubt anyone's going to ruin your corporate career if you tell us why you're here, at the literal ass-end of the world," I decided to try and reason with him, "To be fair with you, I have no clue where I am, so any information you can spare will be helpful."
He regarded me for a moment, I could feel the scrutiny drill deep into my soul, "According to my data, this island is on the Pacific Ocean," he informed me. I tilted my head to the side at him.
"Yeah, I know. We're on earth, too, would you believe that?" I quipped and shook my head.
"You said you did not know…" he replied in his defence.
"Well, I know where my ship was heading, and you can only drift so far. Besides, based on the species I've identified locally, I can certainly tell we're in the Pacific," my nostrils flared and I sighed, gesturing for him to continue.
"I see," he stopped squinting at me and nodded slowly, "The woman, she was my target. She fled here, hoping to escape the consequences of her crimes. I was tasked in bringing her to justice," Takemura explained, eyes closed, "Does this satisfy your curiosity, Ms Alvarez?"
"Judy, just Judy, please," I wrinkled my nose at his official tone, "And yeah, I guess it explains things a bit. But how did you get here?"
"I jumped from a plane," he replied, giving me a slight shrug.
I looked up at V, then back at our guest, "So you're stuck here? Can you call that plane back? Come on, dude, work with me a little bit," I felt my jaw clench; this guy was testing my patience. I could see V nervously tap her knee with her free hand, gun in the other.
"No. Arrangements have been made for my exfiltration. Once my objective is completed, of course," he explained.
"I mean your objective is pretty dead. Nothing's stopping you from leaving once you get better, right?" I raised my brows. I really hoped it was that easy. And that we could tag along on his exfil as unlucky castaways.
"I'm afraid it is not. My objective has several parts to it," he replied and moved his hand to his abdomen again, frowning.
Of course there were complications.
"Stop keeping secrets…" V frowned and shook her head at him, "He's useless," she complained to me, clearly at the end of her own patience.
"In this state he is, yeah. But if he gets better and does whatever his mission is, maybe we can get out of here. Safely," I replied. V considered my words for a moment with a hum, "I dunno, Joodee. Sounds like a gonk idea."
"In this state you won't do much, nope. But we could cut a deal if you hear me out," I offered and he nodded, graciously allowing me to continue.
"We help you with whatever you need to do. Well, first we help you get better. And you will help us get out of here. Does that sound fair to you?"
"It is fair. But unlikely," he replied, his tone dry. It was bold of him to make these kinds of comments in his current state.
"We could just leave you here to die, maybe your corporation will send someone else to finish the job. Doubt they really care about who does it," I shrugged. Maybe it was finally my turn to annoy him.
His brow furrowed. Did I hit a sore spot? That'd be preem, as the conversation wasn't leading anywhere constructive.
"I would prefer to not endanger you and your… friend," he glanced at V, still confused. He didn't dare ask.
"You know, I've been here for a while, and I doubt it's a question of preference, really," I argued against his logic.
He let out a heavy sigh, then wrinkled his nose in pain.
"As long as you do not get in the way of my work. You lack the training and the experience I have." This alone told me enough. Whatever they had sent him to do, it must have been important. Guy was terrified of fucking it up. Maybe it was something of a last chance thing after a failed mission? Corps loved punishing people for everything. The rule of thumb was to keep the carrot small and juicy, while the stick was thick and covered in thorns.
"Ah, yes. We're really nothing compared to your bedridden might, choom. I feel so helpless thinking how little I can do. That was some good crawling there," I reminded him of his attempt to move away from the bed. I was pretty tired of him and his high fucking horse.
"There is no need to mock me, miss Judy," he frowned at me.
"Then how about you have some faith in your new sidekicks?" I quipped and he looked at me with a glint of surprise.
"You are right. The pain is making me... Not quite amicable, I believe." His way of saying sorry was really annoying.
"Alright then. It's settled. So what do you have to do?"
"In short, find and destroy enemy assets," Takemura replied, "According to the intel we've acquired, the assets are dangerous and should be approached with extreme caution. Just like the woman I killed."
"Oh, so there's more of them?" I raised my brows. Shit. This could indeed get tricky.
"Most likely. The exact numbers are unknown. There is supposedly a facility here, devoted to creating them," he admitted with a frown. His boss would probably tear him a new one for divulging that to us.
"Are you telling me they're making human weapons in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?" I snorted in mild disbelief, to which he calmly nodded.
"They have been for years. And a stop will be put to that," he nodded.
"Why come alone?" V asked. If the human weapons were so dangerous, straight out bombing the place down would have been the corpo way.
"I am the best available agent to perform this task without the enemy realizing my presence. An all out attack could lead to an open corporate war."
That was the last thing anyone needed.
"Fuck… I knew getting out of here wasn't going to be easy, but now I'm pretty certain it's going to be a bit too exciting for my taste." I frowned and slumped. Superhuman assassins and a secret lab making them. I should have known.
V reached out and touched my knee with her free hand, determined to chase away my doubts, "Gonna be okay," she said and smiled at me. I couldn't help but reciprocate.
"I… still feel weak. Pardon me," Takemura groaned. He was covered in sweat and his breathing was shallow. He wasn't going to complete any missions if a conversation put so much strain on him. Then again, maybe being social was usually this challenging to him?
"Get some rest, we'll find you something to eat and make sure you're back on your feet in no time," I turned to him and nodded.
"The woman. Her body. Where is it?"
"Safe. Why?" V tilted her head to the side.
"I need you to inspect it for me… I am in no state to do so myself," Takemura requested, "I could draw a reference if you have any paper…"
"You could also get a nap while we head out to get groceries at Mother Nature's and find something to help you survive."
"Bone broth," V hummed and scratched along her ear, "Could hunt a bird," she offered.
"Okay, sounds like a plan," I nodded and smiled at her, then looked at the gun. Wouldn't leave much of the bird…
"Bow and arrow, gonk," she chuckled at me and leaned in to kiss me on the forehead, "Be back soon," she promised.
I could tell she needed some V alone time to think about it all. And that she'd keep her focus regardless. Naturally, that made me the designated nurse. I could at least keep an eye on Takemura and make sure V wasn't alone and getting impatient enough to shoot him instead. It was a decent plan for the time being.
"Alright, I'll be waitin' right here,'' I smiled and reached out to give her hand a squeeze. I sat on our bed and took the gun while V got ready for her outing.
Takemura fell back asleep before she was even out of the house.
It was still good to keep an eye on him in case something happened. We were sorely lacking in the department of emergency first aid kits, but if I saw him getting paler or more feverish, I could always try and help regulate his temperature. I was pretty sure that rest was all he needed, though. He had to pull through. He was our way out of here, after all.
Once V was gone, I realized that the trip and the unexpected arrival of our guest managed to interfere with our morning routine of cleaning up and breakfast. Perhaps it was for the better. I wasn't sure if I was ready to face V when naked, especially considering how we spent the better portion of the night. We were still going to share the bed. Not that it bothered me, quite the contrary. I just wondered how things would go from there on. She was more affectionate with me and I liked it.
Could we really allow ourselves to move any further? If at all, that is. V's kisses weren't exactly chaste, but I didn't want to make the assumption. Having a vulnerable, groaning Takemura next to our bed wasn't exactly what I'd call great conditions for getting my game on.
There were always cuddles and hand holding. That way we'd stay more focused but still remain close. Takemura didn't give me a lot of details, but the perspective of tackling super assassins wasn't something I particularly looked forward to. The bit after that - leaving the island - sounded much better. But it was never going to be that easy.
I busied myself with a few tasks at home - made some tea in advance to let it cool, so that V had something nice to drink by the time she was back. I peeled and cut some fruit in pieces too, for a future snack. I could even feed Takemura a bit if he decided to wake up. I also wondered about the bit where he mentioned having to check something and wanted to draw us a reference. Perhaps the cyberpsycho had some sort of a mark, a tattoo… as silly as that would be, if she was trying to blend in. Nothing about that woman was subtle.
How did they discover those 'human weapons' anyway? My best hypothesis to date was that she must have killed someone important to them and they pursued her. I didn't know enough about corporate espionage to make bets about how that happened.
After preparing drinks and food, I made my way to storage to mark the 'Frog Jar' with coal and put it in a place where it couldn't be mistaken for the regular painkiller. I looked at the container fondly. Its magic did bring V and me together… I put it back into a safe spot with a smile.
And then I almost had a heart attack, as my companion seemed to burst from the floor behind me, grinning, "Hey," she said softly, grinning. That gonk was always incredibly proud of herself for managing to sneak up on me like that.
I playfully swatted her across on the upper arm, "I almost had a heart attack!" I whispered dramatically; I didn't want to wake Takemura too early.
"But you didn't!" the grin remained plastered to her face. She kept her hands behind her back for a moment. Was she trying to be all innocent with me? V was hiding something, I could tell by the cheeky spark in her eyes.
"What is it…?" her smile was infectious, the corners of my lips moved upwards as well.
With her gaze on me, she revealed a bouquet of wild flowers and held it up in front of me.
"They're beautiful!" I gasped and covered my mouth, watching the combination of purple, red, blue, and orange plants.
"For you," she said and handed me the bouquet, "Dad sometimes picked flowers for mom…" she shrugged and despite my reservations about wasting wildlife, I couldn't help but take the flowers and smell them. I smiled like a gonk and looked up at V.
"Joodee Aflowers in her natural, uh… environment," she beamed a wide smile at her own quip. I shook my head and moved the bouquet to the side so it didn't get squished, then stepped in to kiss her on the cheek, "Oh, V…" we ended up cuddling up to each other for a few wonderful moments, "Thank you so much," I whispered and felt her peck me on the shaved side of my head. Sadly, hair was beginning to grow back there. And my roots were starting to show. No, I didn't want to think about that. V holding me was a much nicer thought.
As I lifted my head from V's shoulder, our gazes locked and our breaths met for a moment, right before our lips did. I couldn't deny the pull between us, the attraction was obvious. And very much mutual. With my hands wrapped around the back of V's neck, flowers still in hand, I pressed myself close to her as we got lost in the kiss.
It was a simple, but much needed confirmation of what we had done the night before. I didn't want the kiss to end. V's lips felt so soft against mine, and we both went as far as to let our tongues poke out and slide against each other. I could hear myself moan and I almost dropped the flowers. It was quickly becoming too much for my poor, wobbly knees. I had to physically force myself to pull away.
"Something wrong?" V asked with concern. Her breath was hot and quick against mine.
"No… no. It's great. Perfect. We should just… Keep focused. This is wonderful, V. And incredibly distracting. We shouldn't… not before we figure out what's going on with our guest." I reminded her. The way her shoulders slumped told me a lot about what she'd rather do instead, but it also kind of proved my point.
"Yeah… yeah," V nodded slowly. She leaned in again to kiss my forehead.
"But maybe once we help him we can finally get out of here… or at least stop worrying about him seeing us or pulling something funny," I shot her a sheepish smile and gave her an audible smooch on the cheek.
"So, did you hunt anything good?" I wondered, leading V away from our side store room and back to the kitchen. It turned out she managed to bag a few small birds, just enough to cook a nice pot of soup.
While V busied herself with plucking and butchering them, I gathered water and ground some of our herbs to prepare a primitive antiseptic. Takemura's bandages would definitely need a change, and we could use the paste together with dried leaves to press against his wounds and keep them nice and closed.
Despite all the giddiness that filled me after the kiss, I managed to keep my focus. Maybe it was the knowledge of V actually feeling the attraction outside the trip that made me so confident. It's not like I hadn't seen the signs before… I just didn't know whether I wanted to acknowledge them. But here we were, two consenting adults from two worlds, getting the teenage hots for each other.
One pot of poultry stock with a few local root veggies later, we fed and cleaned Takemura and gave him a leaf and some charcoal to draw that reference. Once he was done drawing, he explained to me that the human weapons could be identified if someone could take a good look at their links and ports. They were non-standard for some reason, but only if one were to take a good look. I took his picture and made my way to the half-buried body of the cyberpsycho. She did indeed have non-standard input ports.
There was only one major problem. They looked exactly like the ones I spotted on V.