Chapter 10
Joe didn't bother to open his eyes at first- he could feel the heat of the lamps through his thin eyelids and the glare of the bright lights couldn't be blocked out so easily.
"What have you done to me this time?" He could hear the grogginess in his voice, but at least it sounded more like his own.
I should be used to this by now. He thought waiting for his answer.
"Since you managed to do some damage to your chest plate along with other malfunctions of important organs…kidneys collapsed….a lung almost gone. Joe you're lucky to be here all. What hit you so hard in the chest?" Dr.Raphael sternly chided him for his neglect. "You still don't know your own strength at times…"
That comment made him think of how hard he threw Ken against a tree, he could have killed him if it had been any harder, it had been unintentional the sheer force he used. "Can you turn down those lights, you're blinding me here." Joe tried to open them, but he felt the surgical tape across his eyes when he tried to blink. The intense heat of lights softened.
"Joe, I told you to stretch your legs for a day and get to know your new strength, not disappear for three weeks." Dr. Raphael voice came close to his ear.
"What do you care…?" Joe said trying to sit up, only to find his limbs tied down too.
"If I didn't care I'd have left you to-"
"I know I should be grateful to have been turned into a killing machine."
"Joe have you always been this bitter? …Full of hate and revenge? " Raphael had pity in his voice now, making Joe grimace internally. Joe hated pity from anyone.
He hardly recognised the man he had been before, Joe Asakura died he concluded, he couldn't go back to his former life, and he tried to accept it. Then why couldn't he forget his former teammates…especially Jun.
"Maybe…Just don't call me Joe." He said in a flat tone. "I don't know what I am anymore…but I'm not Joe Asakura…I never will be again."
"Suit your self about what people call you…You're same as you have always been, only stronger, and more alive." The doctor told him while he did something to the nerves on Joe's fingers.
"Alive?" Joe laughed bitterly. "Is this what you call living? Making me into a killing machine…"
"Find something to live for Joe…I didn't just make a killing machine out of you I hope." Dr Raphael's voice had gone quiet. He pursed for a moment." I've done some adjustments to your internal organs, they should work better now, don't wander too far…I had to put you in an induced coma just so your body could recover from your last adventure." He heard the doctor let out a long breath, it sounded relieved. "At least you made it a few hundred metres from here before your heart gave way…next time you may not be so lucky." His stern medical tone left no room for arguments.
"Well at least you fixed my voice box, it went all strange…" Joe's bitterness intensified, he could hear a growl entering his voice "I've always had trouble following orders, especially from people who lecture me."
He thought about Ken again, to be honest with himself, he would give anything to have him lecture him again… like he used to in the old days.
"I can shut you down Joe- do you really have that much of a death wish?" Raphael inquired while he gently began to take off the surgical tap covering Joe's eyes. "You have this way of pushing your body to outer limits and beyond… dangerous thing to do-"
"Cut to the point doctor, why do you really make people into cyborgs?" Joe let the bitterness seep through his voice.
Dr. Raphael sounded surprised at his direct question. "Why? To help the rest of humanity… you'll know your task when the time comes, and I believe I've picked the right cyborg to do the job if the occasion ever returns." Raphael pulled up an eyelid to look into Joe's grey eye. Joe tried to clear his vision but all he saw was a hazy mist.
"Well…I'm a machine now so there's no going back… ever." Joe's bitterness returned as he thought of Ken, and Jun. The two people he cared about most in the world. He even thought of Jinpei and Ryu, he missed all of them badly.
"I'm going to put you back under for some more surgery." Raphael's face took on its customary serious expression reminding Joe of Dr.Nambu.
Joe didn't say a thing- he'd been out for a month, what is another month to him in his solitary new life. He pressed down the growing misery he had felt since he first found out he was dying just before the war ended and his world faded to nothing.
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The next few weeks Jun's body began to blossom with the growing baby inside of her. She would look at the growing bump everyday in the mirror and the put on clothes to disguise it as best as she could. She thought about Ken each day, the constant reminder of the hormones racing through her body didn't allow her to forget.
She knew it would get harder to do as she grew bigger, she'd just have to get creative. Biting her bottom lip while she thought about her clothing, she knew she needed to go shopping for more. She knew she couldn't hide her expanding waistline forever. So she had begun to leave empty packets chip packets and candy wrappers around the Loft in places Jinpei would notice them. Throwing out the actual candy, or she just nibbled on it when he came into the room.
Ken had call at least once. Jinpei took the call, and she missed it because she had been out buying sweets for the Snack J and she walked in just minutes after Jinpei had hung up. At least it was something, he cared that they parted in such a bad way. Deep down she knew he loved her and that's why he made the effort to call her. Ken calling her went to her heart- she still loved him, after all the situation she found herself in couldn't be entirely blamed on him.
She had the TV on one evening when Jinpei say down next to her. He looked at her sternly. "Sis, you gotta stop eating like this, you're getting fat." He said frowning and then taking the remote control from her and he turned down the volume.
She looked at him in surprise, but continued to nibble on her chocolate bar. His little shoulders slumped like he'd had something had been weighing on his mind for some time.
"Sis there's something we need to talk about." He looked nervous. Jun stopped eating her chocolate bar and looked at him trying to stay calm. Had he figured it out, and now he wanted her to some clean with him about the pregnancy.
"What is it Jinpei?" She asked trying to sound normal.
"Well sis…I've been meaning to ask you this for weeks, its just." He stopped and looked at her with hopeful eyes. "Ryu has asked me to go home with him, spend a few months with his parents. He promised we would go out on his dad's boat fishing and tour the islands." Jinpei's eyes became brighter as he spoke. She could tell he really wanted to go.
"Sis I know how hard it's been for you since big bro went away…I don't want to leave you here all alone." She could see his transparent conflicting emotions written across his young face.
"Jinpei, if this is what you want to do…then go." She gave him her brightest smile. "Don't worry about me...I might decide to go to Africa after all. So don't hurry back here…"
Jinpei's threw his arms around her in his excitement about his up coming trip." I'll have go and call Ryu…and pack some of my stuff."
He got up to leave and then looked at her again. "I know…" She said with a little bit of sadness. Since they found each other at the orphanage they'd hardly been apart. "I'll give you some spending money." She promised.
"I hope you decide to go and join Big bro…if not you can always catch up with Ryu and me." He said smiling again.
"Thanks for the invitation Jinpei, I might just want some time to myself here for a while…Ken and I didn't part on the best of terms." She looked away from Jinpei to hide the tears stinging her eyes. She hated herself at that minute for keeping secrets from Jinpei.
"Sis, he loves you…I know he does…" Jinpei said trying to reassure her.
She faked a smile. "I'll try and talk with him Jin…" She tried to promise, she had been hoping he'd try and call again. Satisfied with her response the excited Swallow ran down the stairs to call Ryu.