DISCLAIMER: I don't own Zoids or anything associated with them except the
Cunning Wolf, Gloria and Dr. Goman. Everything else that has to do with
Zoids New Century/ Zero belongs to Viz and Pioneer. I just use them
because they amuse me. I am not making any money off of this. No
infringement is intended.
CHAPTER NINE: A New Hero Emerges: Bit Cloud vs. the Cunning Wolf
"Hey, Doc."
Bit's voice slit thought the gloomy silence like an arrow, surprising the lone occupant inside the tactics room. No one spoke to anyone around here anymore. Least of all, Bit. And least of all to the Doc. The guilt and the sobriety and the sheer gravity of all that had taken place filled the Torros base so thickly that one could almost cut it with a knife. The fact that someone was missing from the atmosphere was very clear to the four remaining members every passing second; the responsibility for everything sat on their shoulders and weighed them down until they could barely stand up straight. No one talked. No one laughed. No one even smiled.
Things had almost slowed to a halt since his. since *his*. well, since *he* had been sent to the hospital. The bathroom floor was littered with dirty towels, wet washcloths, tissues and toilet paper rolls that had either fallen out or not made it into the overflowing wastebasket. In every bedroom except one, dirty clothes spilled out of the hampers and lined the floors; dressers were nearly empty, and people were running out of clean underwear.
The kitchen wasn't nearly as dirty as it could have been, if you overlooked the fact that the dishwasher was more than overflowing and the supply of food in the refrigerator and the pantry was dwindling quickly. Bit - as they had discovered to their surprise a week or so earlier - was actually not that bad of a cook, but he was certainly no expert on grocery shipping. Plus, he hadn't nearly the money for a decent trip in his own account, and didn't know how to begin the process of getting the money from the Blitz team's savings, or wherever it was that grocery money came from.
The only thing it seemed that they *weren't* running out of was paperwork. E-mails and messages from the Zoids Battle Commission and from Zoid and Zoid part retailers and repair shops and too many other places to count needed to be sorted through and dealt with. The Stinger team had called, having heard the news of Jamie being put out of commission, and had agreed to reschedule the date of their battle for a later time. All the paperwork and forms and messages to and from the ZBC were lying scattered on and around the seats in the tactics room. Maintenance reports, budget forms, account transactions... the work was piling. Quickly.
Doctor Torros sighed and set down the clipboard he was holding on top of another two that were sitting on the desk. He turned around in his seat.
"Yes, Bit?" His voice was careful, and fairly calm. Out of all of them, Bit was taking the incident the hardest, yet he was also the one to lay the guilt and responsibility upon everyone around, himself included. It was best not to set him off these days.
"Is Jamie allergic to anything besides strawberries?"
Doc. flinched. The little that was said around here skirted around that name at all costs. The poor kid pierced their thoughts and emotions enough these days; they didn't need to add to the pain by bringing it out in the open. He noticed that Bit didn't mention Jamie's allergy to alcohol. He didn't need to. Doc knew what he meant.
"Just peanuts. And blue food coloring."
"Blue. food coloring?"
"Yeah. Actually, any kind of artificial blue dye. Candies, juices, frosting, cereal. he can't have anything with unnatural blue in it, including green or purple."
"That it?"
"Yes, that's all. Why do you ask?"
Bit scoffed. "Wouldn't you like to know."
He hadn't meant for it to come out sounding so bitter. It was just that the Doc was making him so *angry* these days. He was doing nothing, *nothing,* absolutely nothing to reverse what they'd done. Jamie's birthday was more than a week ago, and rather than at least try to show he cared and try to apologize for forgetting it, Dr. Torros was just ignoring it. Like if he pretended it hadn't happened, his little mistake would just disappear or suddenly be okay. Things around here needed to change, *why* couldn't he just own up to what they did and finally see that?
Doc covered his eyes with his hand. "It was just a question, Bit," he said tiredly, "There's no need to jump all over me. And I do want to know. I do care."
"Of course you do," came the venomous reply. "Excuse me for not seeing it, considering how *obvious* it was that you ever cared for the kid as more than a homemaker."
"Bit - "
"Considering how very *clearly* you showed him that he meant as much to you as the rest of us on the team. You know, all the *respect* you always showed the kid, all those times you actually *listened* to what he had to say, those many times you took his ideas into consideration, because you *respect* the kid so much - "
"I think I can pride myself with knowing a *little* more about Zoids than he does," Dr. Torros replied sharply.
"That's your excuse for just throwing him aside every time he said something that you didn't feel like hearing? That you have more experience? Look what we've done to him, for Zi's sake! You - "
"*We,*" Doc interrupted loudly, "So you admit that it wasn't just me who's responsible."
"We *all* had a part in this, Doc," said Bit angrily, "I know that."
"Then what right do you have to - "
"I'm trying to do something about it!" Bit cried. "At least I feel sorry for what happened, not like *some* people around here who couldn't really care less about the whole thing!"
"I never said I didn't care - "
"You never had to, Doc! It's fairly obvious from the way you're just sitting there doing nothing while our teammate, *your* teammate, the kid *you're* responsible for is lying in a hospital, recovering from attempted suicide! If that doesn't say 'I don't give a damn about him' than pray tell me what does!"
"And what exactly are *you* doing for him, Bit? Stop acting like I'm this terrible person because I made a mistake when *everything* you're accusing me of is something you're guilty of, too!"
"I already told you, I'm trying to help!"
"*Now* you are, yes. If you're so quick to accuse me of being so negligent, pray tell me, exactly what were *you* doing that I wasn't one week ago when his birthday came around?"
"Me? I was hanging out, waiting for one of *you* to find me and tell me that it was even coming! Yes, I know I didn't treat the kid with even *half* the respect that I should have, but if I'd been a part of the team long enough to have any idea when his birthday was, I assure you I would have done *far* more than any of you cared to!"
Dr. Torros froze, and Bit knew he had him cornered. The Doc looked to the floor and didn't reply.
Bit lowered his voice to a normal, but still furious, tone.
"When your, Brad and Leena's birthdays came around, nobody expected me to know when they were. When Brad's birthday first came up not long after I had joined the Blitz team, who was it that first told me it was coming? Jamie did. He approached me and told me quietly two weeks in advance. When your birthday came around, who first found me and told me it was on its way? Not Leena. Not *your own daughter.* Jamie did. And when Leena's birthday came up a couple of months ago, who beat you to the punch and told me two nights before she announced it to the whole planet? Jamie did. He made it his business to know every single one of your birthdays, and what did you do for him in return?"
Doc didn't look up from the floor. He knew when Bit was right. He *had* gone and told Bit that his daughter's seventeenth birthday was approaching, only to be greeted with the news that he already knew. Jamie had told him the night before.
"Was that your problem, Doc? Did Jamie have to tell *you* everybody's birthday too? Was Leena's the only one you knew? And you never remembered Jamie's because he's too shy and polite to tell anyone who should already know?" Bit paused for a moment in his speech, staring at Dr. Torros through narrowed eyes. "Jamie didn't have to tell you about Brad's birthday," he growled.
"Well," Doc stammered. Bit was right, and he knew it. "It was his eighteenth. It meant a lot of changes had to be made in his registration. I *had* to remember it."
"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard, Doc," Bit replied in almost quiet shock. "If you knew Brad's you should've known Jamie's. There's no excusing it."
"Well, what do you want me to do now, Bit?" shouted the Doc. "It's over. It's done with. There's no going back now." He made a move as though to stand, knocking an entire pile of papers to the floor as he did so. A folder opened, and its contents spilled freely across his feet. "GOD DAMMIT!" he shouted, slamming his fist against the computer board. Bit drew back ever so slightly. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS, BIT! I can't talk to you right now! I can't argue with you anymore. I have to get through all of this paperwork, and we've got more on the way, and I have to go through all the computer files and I." he trailed off and sat down hard into the chair. Only their heavy breathing was heard for a couple of minutes.
Neither of the two had noticed Leena and Brad standing together in the doorway. They'd been drawn to the room by the shouting, and now stood practically speechless at what they saw.
// "They won't realize how much they need yeh until suddenly they're stuck out there and they ain't got yeh around teh help 'em outa whatever mess they got themselves in."//
"We're falling apart," Leena whispered, tears peeking out of the corners of her eyes. Bit and the Doc looked up. "We are absolutely falling apart."
Brad made an unintelligible sound of affirmation in his throat and left.
"I'm going out," said Bit sharply. "I'll be back sometime tonight. Don't bother waiting up for me."
He left the room without another word and there was silence.
Leena crossed the floor and bent to pick up the fallen papers. She set them carefully and quietly on the desk and sat down in the chair next to her father. Neither of them spoke for a very long time.
"I never meant to hurt him," Dr. Torros whispered finally. "I would never in my life hurt Jamie intentionally. I never thought for a second that he thought we didn't care about him. I just figured he knew we did. I mean, we paid him and all. That should have told him something. And we. I mean. I do care about him. It's just that, I don't always have time to totally focus on him and put every ounce of energy I have into showing it. Is that a crime?"
"Jamie didn't need to always be the center of attention," said Leena, sounding quiet and defeated. "He just needed some of it. He needed us to not toss him into the shadows like we did all the time."
"It was always such an easy thing to do, though," replied the Doc sadly. "I mean we had you and Bit who were always so loud and so wild and. you two were always at the center of things. When one of you spoke up you were always, or almost always, heard. That's just the way you both are. And Brad, he's quiet, sure, but he knew what he wanted. He did what he wanted to, when he wanted to, and as long as he got his money it was good enough for him. He made his own way. Jamie isn't like that. He's shy, he's giving, unlike the rest of you he's willing to give something up for the team, even something he wants."
"The rest of *us*?" pressed Leena.
"Myself included," the Doc admitted quietly. "You know what I mean. It's just his character. He was always the first to step back when something conflicted, and that made it so easy to just shove him out of the way every time."
"Face it," said Leena bitterly, "Who actually listened to the poor guy when he had something to say? It became second nature to just walk all over him." She wiped away a lone tear that had begun tracing a path down her cheek. *I'm really sorry, Jamie,* she thought as more began to take its place. *I do care about you. I never meant for any this to happen.*
"But," said the Doc uncertainly, "He had to know we didn't *mean* to. It isn't like we completely forgot him."
Leena gave her father a withering look. He flinched and looked down.
"I. I don't know how that happened. I just never got around to marking it on the calendar, and with everything that's happened these past couple of weeks. it just completely slipped my mind."
"I remember thinking about it after my birthday," mumbled Leena, "I remember thinking that, depending on when Bit's birthday was, the next birthday that came up would be Jamie's. I don't know what happened after that. I just never thought of it." She buried her face in her hands and muttered, "God, I feel so stupid."
"It never even crossed my mind," said the Doc in reply.
"Never?" said Leena incredulously. "You mean, you never even thought about it? Not once?"
Dr. Torros shook his head regretfully.
"But, dad, aren't you - "
"I know, I know. You know how I am about Zoids and Zoid battles and all that. When something new and exciting comes up, I just get so worked up that. everything else just doesn't seem to matter anymore. You know what it's like. And when Bit came. it was like some sort of dream come true. Here we were, a lower ranked team with mediocre Zoids and middle-of- the-line battle skills, and here he was: the only known warrior who could pilot the Liger Zero. From the day he joined our team, we only went up in rank; we've only lost one battle since Bit became a part of the team. He was every team leader's dream; *he* was the one who was going to get us everywhere any Zoid team wanted to be. I told him myself, he was born to be a warrior.
"And then, you and Brad, your skills as warriors kept improving with every battle after Bit joined. I don't know if you saw it, but I did, and I'm sure Jamie did. Especially after we got the Gunsniper and the Shadow Fox; things just couldn't get any better. I remember sometimes just sitting back and looking at you and wondering what more I could possibly ask from this world. I have a rapidly rising team with three of the finest warriors there are and one Ultimate X. It just pushed everything else from my mind."
"Like Jamie."
Dr. Torros sighed. "He's. he's young. Too young to be at the peak of his skills as a warrior. He knows that. As for that Vega Obscura kid, I'm willing to bet almost anything that he was either genetically altered to be that good, or to seem much younger than he actually is. Someone that age doesn't have that kind of ability. It isn't natural. Jamie - Jamie has the real talent. I always saw it in him. Aerial Zoids are especially hard to control; you must have noticed that when you got into that little incident with Jamie's Pteras," Leena nodded silently. "I'm sure Bit felt it too. When those Zabats from the Backdraft group took the Liger, Bit got the Pteras shot down almost immediately. And you must have noticed that all the other aerial Zoid pilots we've fought against have been considerably older than the three of you. It takes someone with a special gift to really bring out the full potential of an aerial Zoid. Jamie has that gift. just like his father. He just doesn't have the experience yet. But he'll get there. Give him another year or two, and he'll be one of the greatest aerial Zoid warriors around. I thought he knew that."
"And," said Leena cautiously, "The Wild Eagle?"
Doc waved his hand dismissively. "That's his father's gift, the one I was talking about. Jamie has it in him, but he doesn't have the confidence in himself or the true experience to really use it yet. And since his father doesn't fight anymore, and for reasons I could never understand, that gift somehow causes his subconscious to come forward. and you see the result. In another year, when Jamie gets the confidence he needs and the true warrior ability comes forth, the Wild Eagle will disappear and Jamie himself will show talent far beyond anything the Wild Eagle could do. I can guarantee it.
"But Bit, Bit was now. Bit already has drawn out the full potential of the Liger, and we've all seen what the two are capable of together. I didn't need to wait a year for his ability to emerge, because he was already there. That's why it was so easy to just brush Jamie aside, I figured that he knew his time would come and right now was time to focus on Bit and all the things he gained for the team. After a while it became a subconscious effort; I never even thought of Jamie and what he wanted because right now the focus was on Bit and the tables hadn't turned to Jamie yet. I never in my life meant to hurt him.
"Never."
* * *
*Looks like that's everything,* thought Bit as he set one last bag into the back of his open-topped car. A tiny hint of a smile played at his lips. Finally, he was doing something right. Finally he could turn the tables a little and show the poor kid how much he really meant to him. Finding what he needed in the Grocery Store had been hard after he realized that no blue dye meant no green - he had been planning to use green to show the Raynos - but he thought he had it all worked out quite nicely. He was almost broke with everything he'd had to buy. But it was worth it.
*It's too late to set it all up now,* he thought, gazing up at the two orange moons lighting up the street. *I'll have to wait until tomorrow evening. I just hope it's enough.*
As he was climbing into the front seat he took a chance look in the window of a nearby restaurant and saw a figure that made him stop in his tracks. A black jacket and a raspberry-colored braid that he'd seen before. His green eyes narrowed and he went inside.
It was difficult to tell weather the strange old man saw him or not behind the dark glasses he wore, but Bit was in no hurry. He stood behind a chair on the opposite side of the table and watched the old loner sip something out of a white mug with a fiercely cold expression on his face.
"Can I help yeh?" the old man muttered after a moment.
"Yeah, actually you can," replied Bit sharply. "Do you happen to know anyone called Jamie?"
"Sorry, kid," he answered without any physical response. "Can't help yeh there."
Bit was taken aback. "But, I saw you here with him the other night! Of course you know him."
"Sorry, kid," the old man repeated. "I don't know anybody by that name."
Bit felt a pang of annoyance. This was the same man he'd seen that night. He was sure of it. "Come on, he's a little shorter than me, dark, spiky hair, gray eyes?"
"Lotsa people 'round here fit that description," the man replied casually. "But I told yeh, I don't know anybody by that name."
Bit clenched his teeth. He was really starting to not like this guy. He had to be lying. This was the guy Jamie had been talking to, and Bit knew it. Not many people wore jackets like that, and certainly very few brought their own drinks into a restaurant, more or less that trademark red one.
Wait a second. that bottle! He remembered seeing that bottle on the table where Jamie and this strange man were talking, and also. he'd found that bottle one other place.
"Quit the act and tell me the truth already," he snapped, sitting down in the seat so suddenly that the man looked up. "I know you know exactly who I'm talking about."
"'Fraid I don't, kid," said the man, taking a sip from his mug. "Not big on listening skills, are yeh? I told yeh, I don't know anybody by that name."
"But. he was holding a red bottle, *that* red bottle, when I. when I found. wait a second," Bit looked up in sudden inspiration. "What about the Wild Eagle?"
The man set down his mug quietly. Bit smiled.
"You do know him," he said smugly. "I know it."
"Well," replied the man, "If yer looking teh find him here, I really can't help yeh. I haven't seen him around for a couple'a days."
"I *know* where he is," snapped Bit. "He's in the hospital. Thanks to you."
"Really?" the old man seemed uninterested. "And would yeh like teh tell me exactly what I did teh constitute this?"
"He was found in a parking lot holding *that* bottle. He had a major allergic reaction to everything in whatever's in there. He nearly *died*."
"Did he now? And I forced my drink down his throat, is that it?"
"Well, no," replied Bit dejectedly. "He took it himself."
"I see. And at what point are yeh going teh tell me where I fit in- teh all of this?"
"You know what I'm talking about!" cried Bit in frustration. "You were talking to him here. A lot. You can't tell me you didn't at least have *some* idea about what was going to happen."
"You mean the same kind of idea yeh had about him before it happened?"
Bit froze. The guy had him cornered. If Bit said yes, then the man would ask why he didn't do something about it sooner, and he wouldn't have an answer. If he said no, the man would point out that, having known Jamie for longer than he had, Bit should have some idea and shouldn't be holding *him* responsible for anything.
"Look," he finally said. "Things haven't been great around the base lately. I'll admit it; communication between me and Jamie hasn't been at it's finest. But that's all changing now. And nothing really went wrong until after the first night he came out here by himself. The first night he met *you*. You had something to do with all this. Don't even try and deny it."
"I've nothing teh deny," replied the man calmly. "I know, whatever you choose to believe, that I had no part in whatever happened between yeh and him back at yer little base. Yer accusing me of something extremely foolish, boy. If yer so quick teh put the blame on somebody else, than that really only points in one direction as teh who's really responsible fer whatever that kid did teh himself, and what kinda person it would take teh push someone teh that level."
Bit scowled but didn't say anything.
"Now," said the old man, packing the bottle and mug into a very familiar black satchel. "I've got teh go. Nice talking teh yeh."
Bit rose at the same time as the man did.
"Don't you even care?" he asked sharply. "If you've been talking to him all week long, shouldn't you even *care* that he's in the *hospital* right now?"
The old man shrugged. "The kid stole my drinks. Do yeh expect me teh feel bad fer him after that?"
Bit's expression twisted into a mixture of fury and disgust. "You are a horrible, horrible person," he said quietly.
The man laughed and opened his mouth to reply.
Bit punched him.
END CHAPTER NINE
NEXT CHAPTER: The Gift of the Eagle: Things change for the better
CHAPTER NINE: A New Hero Emerges: Bit Cloud vs. the Cunning Wolf
"Hey, Doc."
Bit's voice slit thought the gloomy silence like an arrow, surprising the lone occupant inside the tactics room. No one spoke to anyone around here anymore. Least of all, Bit. And least of all to the Doc. The guilt and the sobriety and the sheer gravity of all that had taken place filled the Torros base so thickly that one could almost cut it with a knife. The fact that someone was missing from the atmosphere was very clear to the four remaining members every passing second; the responsibility for everything sat on their shoulders and weighed them down until they could barely stand up straight. No one talked. No one laughed. No one even smiled.
Things had almost slowed to a halt since his. since *his*. well, since *he* had been sent to the hospital. The bathroom floor was littered with dirty towels, wet washcloths, tissues and toilet paper rolls that had either fallen out or not made it into the overflowing wastebasket. In every bedroom except one, dirty clothes spilled out of the hampers and lined the floors; dressers were nearly empty, and people were running out of clean underwear.
The kitchen wasn't nearly as dirty as it could have been, if you overlooked the fact that the dishwasher was more than overflowing and the supply of food in the refrigerator and the pantry was dwindling quickly. Bit - as they had discovered to their surprise a week or so earlier - was actually not that bad of a cook, but he was certainly no expert on grocery shipping. Plus, he hadn't nearly the money for a decent trip in his own account, and didn't know how to begin the process of getting the money from the Blitz team's savings, or wherever it was that grocery money came from.
The only thing it seemed that they *weren't* running out of was paperwork. E-mails and messages from the Zoids Battle Commission and from Zoid and Zoid part retailers and repair shops and too many other places to count needed to be sorted through and dealt with. The Stinger team had called, having heard the news of Jamie being put out of commission, and had agreed to reschedule the date of their battle for a later time. All the paperwork and forms and messages to and from the ZBC were lying scattered on and around the seats in the tactics room. Maintenance reports, budget forms, account transactions... the work was piling. Quickly.
Doctor Torros sighed and set down the clipboard he was holding on top of another two that were sitting on the desk. He turned around in his seat.
"Yes, Bit?" His voice was careful, and fairly calm. Out of all of them, Bit was taking the incident the hardest, yet he was also the one to lay the guilt and responsibility upon everyone around, himself included. It was best not to set him off these days.
"Is Jamie allergic to anything besides strawberries?"
Doc. flinched. The little that was said around here skirted around that name at all costs. The poor kid pierced their thoughts and emotions enough these days; they didn't need to add to the pain by bringing it out in the open. He noticed that Bit didn't mention Jamie's allergy to alcohol. He didn't need to. Doc knew what he meant.
"Just peanuts. And blue food coloring."
"Blue. food coloring?"
"Yeah. Actually, any kind of artificial blue dye. Candies, juices, frosting, cereal. he can't have anything with unnatural blue in it, including green or purple."
"That it?"
"Yes, that's all. Why do you ask?"
Bit scoffed. "Wouldn't you like to know."
He hadn't meant for it to come out sounding so bitter. It was just that the Doc was making him so *angry* these days. He was doing nothing, *nothing,* absolutely nothing to reverse what they'd done. Jamie's birthday was more than a week ago, and rather than at least try to show he cared and try to apologize for forgetting it, Dr. Torros was just ignoring it. Like if he pretended it hadn't happened, his little mistake would just disappear or suddenly be okay. Things around here needed to change, *why* couldn't he just own up to what they did and finally see that?
Doc covered his eyes with his hand. "It was just a question, Bit," he said tiredly, "There's no need to jump all over me. And I do want to know. I do care."
"Of course you do," came the venomous reply. "Excuse me for not seeing it, considering how *obvious* it was that you ever cared for the kid as more than a homemaker."
"Bit - "
"Considering how very *clearly* you showed him that he meant as much to you as the rest of us on the team. You know, all the *respect* you always showed the kid, all those times you actually *listened* to what he had to say, those many times you took his ideas into consideration, because you *respect* the kid so much - "
"I think I can pride myself with knowing a *little* more about Zoids than he does," Dr. Torros replied sharply.
"That's your excuse for just throwing him aside every time he said something that you didn't feel like hearing? That you have more experience? Look what we've done to him, for Zi's sake! You - "
"*We,*" Doc interrupted loudly, "So you admit that it wasn't just me who's responsible."
"We *all* had a part in this, Doc," said Bit angrily, "I know that."
"Then what right do you have to - "
"I'm trying to do something about it!" Bit cried. "At least I feel sorry for what happened, not like *some* people around here who couldn't really care less about the whole thing!"
"I never said I didn't care - "
"You never had to, Doc! It's fairly obvious from the way you're just sitting there doing nothing while our teammate, *your* teammate, the kid *you're* responsible for is lying in a hospital, recovering from attempted suicide! If that doesn't say 'I don't give a damn about him' than pray tell me what does!"
"And what exactly are *you* doing for him, Bit? Stop acting like I'm this terrible person because I made a mistake when *everything* you're accusing me of is something you're guilty of, too!"
"I already told you, I'm trying to help!"
"*Now* you are, yes. If you're so quick to accuse me of being so negligent, pray tell me, exactly what were *you* doing that I wasn't one week ago when his birthday came around?"
"Me? I was hanging out, waiting for one of *you* to find me and tell me that it was even coming! Yes, I know I didn't treat the kid with even *half* the respect that I should have, but if I'd been a part of the team long enough to have any idea when his birthday was, I assure you I would have done *far* more than any of you cared to!"
Dr. Torros froze, and Bit knew he had him cornered. The Doc looked to the floor and didn't reply.
Bit lowered his voice to a normal, but still furious, tone.
"When your, Brad and Leena's birthdays came around, nobody expected me to know when they were. When Brad's birthday first came up not long after I had joined the Blitz team, who was it that first told me it was coming? Jamie did. He approached me and told me quietly two weeks in advance. When your birthday came around, who first found me and told me it was on its way? Not Leena. Not *your own daughter.* Jamie did. And when Leena's birthday came up a couple of months ago, who beat you to the punch and told me two nights before she announced it to the whole planet? Jamie did. He made it his business to know every single one of your birthdays, and what did you do for him in return?"
Doc didn't look up from the floor. He knew when Bit was right. He *had* gone and told Bit that his daughter's seventeenth birthday was approaching, only to be greeted with the news that he already knew. Jamie had told him the night before.
"Was that your problem, Doc? Did Jamie have to tell *you* everybody's birthday too? Was Leena's the only one you knew? And you never remembered Jamie's because he's too shy and polite to tell anyone who should already know?" Bit paused for a moment in his speech, staring at Dr. Torros through narrowed eyes. "Jamie didn't have to tell you about Brad's birthday," he growled.
"Well," Doc stammered. Bit was right, and he knew it. "It was his eighteenth. It meant a lot of changes had to be made in his registration. I *had* to remember it."
"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard, Doc," Bit replied in almost quiet shock. "If you knew Brad's you should've known Jamie's. There's no excusing it."
"Well, what do you want me to do now, Bit?" shouted the Doc. "It's over. It's done with. There's no going back now." He made a move as though to stand, knocking an entire pile of papers to the floor as he did so. A folder opened, and its contents spilled freely across his feet. "GOD DAMMIT!" he shouted, slamming his fist against the computer board. Bit drew back ever so slightly. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS, BIT! I can't talk to you right now! I can't argue with you anymore. I have to get through all of this paperwork, and we've got more on the way, and I have to go through all the computer files and I." he trailed off and sat down hard into the chair. Only their heavy breathing was heard for a couple of minutes.
Neither of the two had noticed Leena and Brad standing together in the doorway. They'd been drawn to the room by the shouting, and now stood practically speechless at what they saw.
// "They won't realize how much they need yeh until suddenly they're stuck out there and they ain't got yeh around teh help 'em outa whatever mess they got themselves in."//
"We're falling apart," Leena whispered, tears peeking out of the corners of her eyes. Bit and the Doc looked up. "We are absolutely falling apart."
Brad made an unintelligible sound of affirmation in his throat and left.
"I'm going out," said Bit sharply. "I'll be back sometime tonight. Don't bother waiting up for me."
He left the room without another word and there was silence.
Leena crossed the floor and bent to pick up the fallen papers. She set them carefully and quietly on the desk and sat down in the chair next to her father. Neither of them spoke for a very long time.
"I never meant to hurt him," Dr. Torros whispered finally. "I would never in my life hurt Jamie intentionally. I never thought for a second that he thought we didn't care about him. I just figured he knew we did. I mean, we paid him and all. That should have told him something. And we. I mean. I do care about him. It's just that, I don't always have time to totally focus on him and put every ounce of energy I have into showing it. Is that a crime?"
"Jamie didn't need to always be the center of attention," said Leena, sounding quiet and defeated. "He just needed some of it. He needed us to not toss him into the shadows like we did all the time."
"It was always such an easy thing to do, though," replied the Doc sadly. "I mean we had you and Bit who were always so loud and so wild and. you two were always at the center of things. When one of you spoke up you were always, or almost always, heard. That's just the way you both are. And Brad, he's quiet, sure, but he knew what he wanted. He did what he wanted to, when he wanted to, and as long as he got his money it was good enough for him. He made his own way. Jamie isn't like that. He's shy, he's giving, unlike the rest of you he's willing to give something up for the team, even something he wants."
"The rest of *us*?" pressed Leena.
"Myself included," the Doc admitted quietly. "You know what I mean. It's just his character. He was always the first to step back when something conflicted, and that made it so easy to just shove him out of the way every time."
"Face it," said Leena bitterly, "Who actually listened to the poor guy when he had something to say? It became second nature to just walk all over him." She wiped away a lone tear that had begun tracing a path down her cheek. *I'm really sorry, Jamie,* she thought as more began to take its place. *I do care about you. I never meant for any this to happen.*
"But," said the Doc uncertainly, "He had to know we didn't *mean* to. It isn't like we completely forgot him."
Leena gave her father a withering look. He flinched and looked down.
"I. I don't know how that happened. I just never got around to marking it on the calendar, and with everything that's happened these past couple of weeks. it just completely slipped my mind."
"I remember thinking about it after my birthday," mumbled Leena, "I remember thinking that, depending on when Bit's birthday was, the next birthday that came up would be Jamie's. I don't know what happened after that. I just never thought of it." She buried her face in her hands and muttered, "God, I feel so stupid."
"It never even crossed my mind," said the Doc in reply.
"Never?" said Leena incredulously. "You mean, you never even thought about it? Not once?"
Dr. Torros shook his head regretfully.
"But, dad, aren't you - "
"I know, I know. You know how I am about Zoids and Zoid battles and all that. When something new and exciting comes up, I just get so worked up that. everything else just doesn't seem to matter anymore. You know what it's like. And when Bit came. it was like some sort of dream come true. Here we were, a lower ranked team with mediocre Zoids and middle-of- the-line battle skills, and here he was: the only known warrior who could pilot the Liger Zero. From the day he joined our team, we only went up in rank; we've only lost one battle since Bit became a part of the team. He was every team leader's dream; *he* was the one who was going to get us everywhere any Zoid team wanted to be. I told him myself, he was born to be a warrior.
"And then, you and Brad, your skills as warriors kept improving with every battle after Bit joined. I don't know if you saw it, but I did, and I'm sure Jamie did. Especially after we got the Gunsniper and the Shadow Fox; things just couldn't get any better. I remember sometimes just sitting back and looking at you and wondering what more I could possibly ask from this world. I have a rapidly rising team with three of the finest warriors there are and one Ultimate X. It just pushed everything else from my mind."
"Like Jamie."
Dr. Torros sighed. "He's. he's young. Too young to be at the peak of his skills as a warrior. He knows that. As for that Vega Obscura kid, I'm willing to bet almost anything that he was either genetically altered to be that good, or to seem much younger than he actually is. Someone that age doesn't have that kind of ability. It isn't natural. Jamie - Jamie has the real talent. I always saw it in him. Aerial Zoids are especially hard to control; you must have noticed that when you got into that little incident with Jamie's Pteras," Leena nodded silently. "I'm sure Bit felt it too. When those Zabats from the Backdraft group took the Liger, Bit got the Pteras shot down almost immediately. And you must have noticed that all the other aerial Zoid pilots we've fought against have been considerably older than the three of you. It takes someone with a special gift to really bring out the full potential of an aerial Zoid. Jamie has that gift. just like his father. He just doesn't have the experience yet. But he'll get there. Give him another year or two, and he'll be one of the greatest aerial Zoid warriors around. I thought he knew that."
"And," said Leena cautiously, "The Wild Eagle?"
Doc waved his hand dismissively. "That's his father's gift, the one I was talking about. Jamie has it in him, but he doesn't have the confidence in himself or the true experience to really use it yet. And since his father doesn't fight anymore, and for reasons I could never understand, that gift somehow causes his subconscious to come forward. and you see the result. In another year, when Jamie gets the confidence he needs and the true warrior ability comes forth, the Wild Eagle will disappear and Jamie himself will show talent far beyond anything the Wild Eagle could do. I can guarantee it.
"But Bit, Bit was now. Bit already has drawn out the full potential of the Liger, and we've all seen what the two are capable of together. I didn't need to wait a year for his ability to emerge, because he was already there. That's why it was so easy to just brush Jamie aside, I figured that he knew his time would come and right now was time to focus on Bit and all the things he gained for the team. After a while it became a subconscious effort; I never even thought of Jamie and what he wanted because right now the focus was on Bit and the tables hadn't turned to Jamie yet. I never in my life meant to hurt him.
"Never."
* * *
*Looks like that's everything,* thought Bit as he set one last bag into the back of his open-topped car. A tiny hint of a smile played at his lips. Finally, he was doing something right. Finally he could turn the tables a little and show the poor kid how much he really meant to him. Finding what he needed in the Grocery Store had been hard after he realized that no blue dye meant no green - he had been planning to use green to show the Raynos - but he thought he had it all worked out quite nicely. He was almost broke with everything he'd had to buy. But it was worth it.
*It's too late to set it all up now,* he thought, gazing up at the two orange moons lighting up the street. *I'll have to wait until tomorrow evening. I just hope it's enough.*
As he was climbing into the front seat he took a chance look in the window of a nearby restaurant and saw a figure that made him stop in his tracks. A black jacket and a raspberry-colored braid that he'd seen before. His green eyes narrowed and he went inside.
It was difficult to tell weather the strange old man saw him or not behind the dark glasses he wore, but Bit was in no hurry. He stood behind a chair on the opposite side of the table and watched the old loner sip something out of a white mug with a fiercely cold expression on his face.
"Can I help yeh?" the old man muttered after a moment.
"Yeah, actually you can," replied Bit sharply. "Do you happen to know anyone called Jamie?"
"Sorry, kid," he answered without any physical response. "Can't help yeh there."
Bit was taken aback. "But, I saw you here with him the other night! Of course you know him."
"Sorry, kid," the old man repeated. "I don't know anybody by that name."
Bit felt a pang of annoyance. This was the same man he'd seen that night. He was sure of it. "Come on, he's a little shorter than me, dark, spiky hair, gray eyes?"
"Lotsa people 'round here fit that description," the man replied casually. "But I told yeh, I don't know anybody by that name."
Bit clenched his teeth. He was really starting to not like this guy. He had to be lying. This was the guy Jamie had been talking to, and Bit knew it. Not many people wore jackets like that, and certainly very few brought their own drinks into a restaurant, more or less that trademark red one.
Wait a second. that bottle! He remembered seeing that bottle on the table where Jamie and this strange man were talking, and also. he'd found that bottle one other place.
"Quit the act and tell me the truth already," he snapped, sitting down in the seat so suddenly that the man looked up. "I know you know exactly who I'm talking about."
"'Fraid I don't, kid," said the man, taking a sip from his mug. "Not big on listening skills, are yeh? I told yeh, I don't know anybody by that name."
"But. he was holding a red bottle, *that* red bottle, when I. when I found. wait a second," Bit looked up in sudden inspiration. "What about the Wild Eagle?"
The man set down his mug quietly. Bit smiled.
"You do know him," he said smugly. "I know it."
"Well," replied the man, "If yer looking teh find him here, I really can't help yeh. I haven't seen him around for a couple'a days."
"I *know* where he is," snapped Bit. "He's in the hospital. Thanks to you."
"Really?" the old man seemed uninterested. "And would yeh like teh tell me exactly what I did teh constitute this?"
"He was found in a parking lot holding *that* bottle. He had a major allergic reaction to everything in whatever's in there. He nearly *died*."
"Did he now? And I forced my drink down his throat, is that it?"
"Well, no," replied Bit dejectedly. "He took it himself."
"I see. And at what point are yeh going teh tell me where I fit in- teh all of this?"
"You know what I'm talking about!" cried Bit in frustration. "You were talking to him here. A lot. You can't tell me you didn't at least have *some* idea about what was going to happen."
"You mean the same kind of idea yeh had about him before it happened?"
Bit froze. The guy had him cornered. If Bit said yes, then the man would ask why he didn't do something about it sooner, and he wouldn't have an answer. If he said no, the man would point out that, having known Jamie for longer than he had, Bit should have some idea and shouldn't be holding *him* responsible for anything.
"Look," he finally said. "Things haven't been great around the base lately. I'll admit it; communication between me and Jamie hasn't been at it's finest. But that's all changing now. And nothing really went wrong until after the first night he came out here by himself. The first night he met *you*. You had something to do with all this. Don't even try and deny it."
"I've nothing teh deny," replied the man calmly. "I know, whatever you choose to believe, that I had no part in whatever happened between yeh and him back at yer little base. Yer accusing me of something extremely foolish, boy. If yer so quick teh put the blame on somebody else, than that really only points in one direction as teh who's really responsible fer whatever that kid did teh himself, and what kinda person it would take teh push someone teh that level."
Bit scowled but didn't say anything.
"Now," said the old man, packing the bottle and mug into a very familiar black satchel. "I've got teh go. Nice talking teh yeh."
Bit rose at the same time as the man did.
"Don't you even care?" he asked sharply. "If you've been talking to him all week long, shouldn't you even *care* that he's in the *hospital* right now?"
The old man shrugged. "The kid stole my drinks. Do yeh expect me teh feel bad fer him after that?"
Bit's expression twisted into a mixture of fury and disgust. "You are a horrible, horrible person," he said quietly.
The man laughed and opened his mouth to reply.
Bit punched him.
END CHAPTER NINE
NEXT CHAPTER: The Gift of the Eagle: Things change for the better