Chapter 8

Roin's story

Two more days until they land in Zion and Roin wanted to make sure Faith and Frost were physically and mentally all right.  He told them both at breakfast to come to him for a check up some time during the day.  Frost came in first.

"How are you feeling?"  Roin asked as he gestured for Frost to sit on the table.

"Peachy."  Frost replied with out any emotion.

Roin checked his vitals and reflexes.  "You can talk to me about anything, like a shrink."

"No thanks."

"Withdraw is hard, Oz knows better than anyone.  When we get to Zion the vampire changelings there may even be able to help."

"Don't need any."
"Course not."  Just as Roin finished, he wanted to check one more thing.  He pretended to be examining Frost hair.  When he touched the skin around the plug, Frost jumped off the table and faced Roin.

"Am I done?"

Roin nodded his head.  "Thank you, yes."

Frost backed out of the room slamming the door behind him.

Faith came in two hours later covered in oil.

"Hard at work?"

"Ivy forgot to turn off the fuel main, before I tried to tighten it."

Roin smiled as he pointed to the right corner.  "We don't shower much to conserve water, but in this case you have minutes.  There are fresh clothes in the cabinet."

"Thanks," she replied as she tread over.  Roin looked down at the oil prints and sighed.  He picked up a rag and began to mop up the prints.

Three minutes later Faith stepped out fully clothed.  "That soap smells funny."

"It's lye, it's made out of animal fat."

"I do not even want to know."  She said sitting on the table.  "So you were an actual doc before?"

"Surgeon in the ER."

"Handy."

"Certainly can be."

"Is that why you're here?" 

"No, I wasn't pulled for my medical skills."

"Hacking?"

"Yeah."

"Never understood computers."

"I didn't either, but it helped fuel my addiction."

"For hacking?"  Faith sounded confused.

"Drugs."

"Oh."

"We all have our obsessions."

"Don't I know it.  So what kind of drugs?"

"The usual meds."  He walked around the table to get behind her and slipped his hand under her shirt.  He placed his palm over her back.  "Breathe in deeply."  She did.  "Exhale…again.  Well, I started on meds: perks, morphine, codeine, vicodine, whatever I could get my hands on."  He pulled his hand out.  "Okay, one more thing."  He reached up and touched the skin around the plug.  She flinched, but remained on the table.  He walked around to face her.  "One day I was in the med closet when a nurse caught me.  At first I was suspended and sent to rehab, but I kept taking.  They took my license.  In rehab they had this brilliant idea."

"Or so they thought?"

"Yeah, find a healthier addiction, well they called it a hobby.  They sat me in front of a computer and the second they turned their heads a guy next to me showed me how to hack into a hospital database.  The DEA came after me a few months later.  Luckily I had flushed the drugs, so they couldn't pin anything on me.  They did confiscate my computer though.  By this time Eyecon had discovered me, but had a hard time connecting with me without a computer.  Meanwhile I was upgrading to new drugs, Heroin, which I exchanged for medical services.  I was a mess when Eyecon finally found me.  I was online at a library trying to hack the hospital I was fired from.  Just as I got in he found me."

"And offered you a new life?"  She asked as he paused.

"Yeah, I was broke, living on the grate outside the library.  So I jumped at his offer.  It was the ultimate way to quit.  After I was unjacked and found out drugs didn't exist, I was so angry.  Not at the lack of drugs or that machines controlled us, but because I had spent half of my life addicted to nothing."

Faith nodded her head.  'So where does the name Roin come from?"

He smiled fondly.  "When Eyecon found me my screen name was HeroinAddict101.  He told me that most unjacked usually took their hacker name.  I didn't want to call myself that, so I took the name of my worst tormentor, Heroin to remind me of why I'm here."

Faith smiled.

"And you were born with the name Faith?"

"Nah, I just always liked the phrase, 'gotta have faith'."

Roin smiled.  "Well, you're all done."

"So how long have you been out?"

"Um, six years."

"Wow."

"Not really."

"Still, I wasn't even a slayer that long."

"I was under the assumption that it was something you are born with."

"Well, a girl is born a potential, but she doesn't become the slayer until the current slayer dies."

"Oh."

"Well, it used to be that way."  She wrinkled her brow.  "Have you met any other changelings."

"You mean other than present company?"

She nodded her head.

"Sure the witches in Zion are good healers.  One of them called Mystic believes herself to be pretty powerful.  If you want help with whatever is bothering you ask her."

"Thanks."

"Welcome."

As Faith left, Roin smiled and went back to work.

Frost didn't like his situation.  He went through all this for power, only to discover that everything he is was a lie.  It filled him with such rage.  He wanted to taste blood again.  As he watched El walk by he exploded.  He tackled her and held her down.  She didn't scream like he had expected. 

"What the hell are you doing?"  She asked sounding annoyed as she glared up at him.

He clenched his teeth, wishing for the fangs he didn't have.  Suddenly he was grabbed from behind and thrown into a wall.  His head bounced painfully off the wall.  He looked up to see Kale glaring at him as he blacked out.

Oz checked the harness he attached to himself and then the one he attached to frost.  He needed to fix something on the outer hull of the ship.  This was the last time he was going to play intervention with Frost, who was still unconscious.  Oz pulled the shield of welding mask down, crawled a few feet away from Frost, and got to work.

Frost moaned as he awoke.  His neck was stiff; he blinked looked around.  Everything looked old and dirty.  He spotted Oz a few feet away with a blowtorch, welding something.  He glanced around again and realized that they were on the top of the ship.  The torch turned off, Oz turned around, and lift the shield.

"Where are we?"  Frost asked.

"You don't recognize it?"  Oz asked.

Frost looked around again and shook his head.

"It's the old sewer system."  He said as he went back to work.

Frost glanced around again.  He climbed over to Oz and waited for him to turn the torch off.  Oz did a minute later.  He didn't speak, instead he handed Frost a small torch and goggles.  "I assume you know how to weld."  Oz said as he pointed to his left.  "Just patch the holes."

Frost glared at him, but did as he was told.

 Faith and El watched Oz and Frost from the access door.

"Was Oz always so talkative when you knew him?"  El asked.

"You mean in the sense that he didn't talk?"  Faith asked.

El nodded her head.

"Yeah, really quiet, but his body language and facial expression told a lot."  She caught El's eyes fixed on Frost backside.  "What do you see in him?"

"Frost?"

Faith smirked.

"I don't know, I guess I like bad boys."

Faith climbed down the ladder.  "Over rated."

El closed the hatch and followed.  "If you say so'  She watched Faith stretch her arms.  "You want to jack in?"

"Jack in?"  Faith asked, not understanding El's weird slang.

"Train."

Faith straightened up and smiled.  "I was hoping you'd ask."

Kale put in the disk that El had requested.

"Ready?"  She asked.

"Ready."  The two replied.

Faith found herself in a skate park, she looked around and realized that it was on the roof of a skyscraper.

"After training you can try the jump again."  El said.  She was wearing green  cargo pants and a black tank top with black sneakers.

Faith looked herself over.  She was wearing black flared jeans, black boots, a red tank, and her hair was pulled back into a messy bun.

El hopped off the bench she was sitting on and faced Faith.  "Ready?"

"Shoot."

El smiled wickedly as she started toward Faith.  She tried to punch, Faith blocked.  El punched again Faith block sand went in for her own punch.  El ducked and kicked Faith's legs out from under her.  As Faith fell El smirked.,  Faith rolled back and got to her feet.  El tried to kick Faith in the head, but Faith grabbed her ankle and pushed her backward.  El fell onto a railing.  As she started to fall back over it she put her hands out to catch herself in a handstand.  She curled her legs over the railing, swung her arms out and grabbed Faith's ankles and pulled her down.  As Faith fell, El grabbed the railing and straightened out.  Faith met her with a roundhouse kick.  El caught Faith's foot and spun around.  She let Faith fly into a ramp wall.  El ran and jumped.  She landed on top of the ramp, which was 7 feet above the ground.

"Damn."  Faith breathed, looking up at her.

"Faith, don't think, act.  Free your mind."  El commanded.  She jumped to the other side of the ramp.  "Come up here and get me."

Faith bit her lower lip.  She breathed in and out, then jumped.  As she neared the top she flipped and landed on the ramp.  El and Faith exchanged hand to hand for a couple of minutes.  El's hand shot out and slammed into Faith's chest.  Faith flew backward.  She reached out and grabbed a flagpole.  She swung around and slammed her legs into El who had ran toward her.  El landed hard on her feet.

El smiled slightly as Faith landed next to her.  "Good, want to try the jump again?"

Faith rolled her shoulders.  "Okay."

El led her to the ledge, "want me to go first?"

"Yes, please."

El jumped and landed.

Faith closed her eyes.  She ran and jumped.

"Faith, open your eyes."  She did, she was standing facing El on the opposite building.  "You did it."

"I did."  She smiled.  "Yea, me.  You don't have a shooting range do you?"

"Kale, you heard her!"  The building melted away and into a wooded area.  "Sniper, handguns, rifles, take your pick."  El showed her three stations setup.  "As you end a level, a new one starts.  It's like a virtual reality game, and the targets move starting level 3."

"How many levels?"

"Five."