Well, here's another one! I'm on a roll right now, so expect Chapter 15 really soon.
Chapter 14
Julius, the head medic on board the Mother of Invention, was known for his no-fools policy. He had absolutely no patience for people who put themselves in the med-bay for foolish reasons, nor had he any patience for the fools that put others in them. People circulated on and off his official List of Fools like seconds ticked by on a clock, but there were always a few precious individuals who managed to find themselves permanent positions on his list that warranted yelling, ridicule, and scorn.
At the moment, two people on board the ship had just gotten themselves permanent positions for eternity on Julius' list. Carolina had earned her spot for beating Agent North Dakota to a pulp and almost shooting him in the head. The poor man had several cracked ribs, three broken fingers, and multiple bruises and lacerations from his beating. When North Dakota had been released from surgery, Julius had cornered Carolina after her debriefing from the Director and had shouted at her for having to use precious resources due to a personal grudge. The red-head had hung her head in anger and shame as he had rebuked her, and good riddance for it too. It took a long time to placate Dawn after he had seen the condition of her lover, so he had sent her off to grab some food.
That had been Julius' mistake, certainly, but he corrected himself as he stared at the two occupied beds in the Recovery ward. The real fool had been the absolute idiot from maintenance, Kilt, who had gotten a hand on Dawn's food. Curiosity had driven her to taste that biohazard consumable liquid known as Mountain Dew (by recommendation), and she had taken a sip…to have to be rushed to Julius because the drink had been laced with antifreeze. Julius had been so upset by his charge's attempted poisoning, he had told the black Freelancer, Texas, exactly who had put antifreeze in Dawn's drink.
Last he had heard, Texas had been using Kilt as a hog-tied punching bag to settle her nerves.
Julius sat at the edge of his charge's bed, pulling her black hair behind her ear as she slept off the anesthetic administered to her while she had had her stomach pumped and antitoxins administered to her bloodstream to mitigate the effects of the poison. The poor kid didn't deserve all the crap that she got. It was like her very existence was cursed from the get-go. Not having a proper place to grow up in, having to learn to fight and kill, her mother dying, raising her sisters on her own, getting involved with the Freelancer Project after leading an uprising, and now this…
A buzz from the battered tablet on his operating table made Julius jump slightly and reach for the electronic device. He submitted the password and analyzed the two messages on the screen, alarm increasing as his eyes scanned the text. "Damn," he whispered before standing up suddenly and leaving, needing to have words with the Director.
North groaned as light flashed in his vision, and he sat up slowly and shakily from the soft mattress in the Recovery ward. Something warm was enveloping his injured hand, and a presence in his mind was attempting to diminish the pain that threatened to beat his skull. His vision clearing, North looked up to see a lightly dozing Delaware sitting at the edge of his bed, garbed in a white hospital gown. A flinch in his hand woke her up in an instant, and she leaned down to hug him. Weakly, he brushed his lips across her cheek.
"Why are you here?" he asked hoarsely from his bruised windpipe.
"I had to have my stomach pumped. Someone snuck antifreeze into my Dew."
"I wonder who could have done that?" North asked sarcastically, and Delaware smiled softly at him.
"Scoot over," she ordered, sliding onto the bed so that she sat against the pillow with her legs stretched out. He leaned his head against her with a tired sigh as Theta continued to keep the pain in his head down. Delaware started running her fingers through his hair softly, removing any tangles.
"I guess Carolina and South got a nasty surprise today when they got shot by all that paint," Delaware remarked slowly, and North laughed, leaning his head into her hand.
"Do you remember the look on Carolina's face when I shot her point-blank in the chest?"
"How could I forget? It must've been what Wash looked like when I shot him in the butt."
"Or Texas when she shot South in the foot at the same time as York shooting her in the face."
"Or Wyoming and Maine when they shot each other because they saw you and Carolina behind each other."
Many laughs were shared, even though North clutched his ribs as pain racked through his side. Delaware stopped laughing and held him close as his coughing fit subsided. North breathed heavily to dissipate the pain in his lungs. Theta's presence coursed through his neural net to dissipate the waves of pain, and he leaned back against his girlfriend with a sigh. She took his uninjured hand in her own and held it close, kissing it gently.
"Do you want me to read your palm?" Delaware asked quietly, and he looked up at her out of the corner of his vision.
"Sure, why not?" he shrugged. "Not much else to do, anyway."
So, the black haired woman opened his palm flat against one of her hands and gently traced her fingertips along his hand. The sensation of her calloused fingertips against his scarred hand was quite pleasant, and North smiled as Delaware gave sounds of thought and realization.
"Well, we begin with your heart line here," she whispered, tracing the line closest to his fingers. "It starts below your index finger, so you're content with your love life. Long and curvy," she paused in her tracing as North gave a slight shudder. "You have a good handle on your emotions. You're also separate from your head line here," she traced another line on his palm in synchronization, and North clenched his hand reflexively around her fingers, chuckling. She traced her free hand along his cheek, kissing him gently on the lips.
"I'd say that I'm content with my love life," he murmured into her ear with a husky breath, and she flinched at the ticklish sensation coursing through her ear.
The door to Recovery opened with a snap all of a sudden, and Texas stalked into the room with York. Both were dressed in armor, and their pace was hurried with urgency. The two lovebirds separated with flushed cheeks.
"The Director's called some of us up for a meeting," Texas jumped straight to the point.
"He does remember that we're in Recovery, right?" Delaware responded as she got up shakily while York went to carry North in his arms.
"Since when does that matter?" York responded as he put his arms under North's shoulders and under his knees.
"True. The war waits for no one," Delaware conceded as she put her arm over Texas' shoulder. "Do either of you know what the Director wants with us?"
"Not just us. You," Texas replied, and Delaware tossed a confused glance her way. "He said that you're going home."
"Our enemies grow more powerful by the day, and we just sit here and watch the clock tick?"
"We can't intervene until the time is right; you remember that, daughter."
Two flickers of light on two separate pedestals glimmered faintly, one green and the other a pale gold. The two AIs shone in front of a blank screen, arguing with each other.
"And we can't take any sort of decisive action to prevent us having to call them? ALL of them?" the green one groaned in exasperation, flickering like an angry green ember. The gold one dimmed soothingly.
"No. I am sorry, but for this to happen, we must wait."
"I AM IMPATIENT!" The green light blinked to red as suddenly as a stoplight. Warnings blared around the two AIs. "I HAVE WAITED FOR CENTURIES TO SEE THIS THROUGH, AND NOW I FIND THAT I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL AN UNNECESSARY DEATH TO ACT?!"
"Eternal Night, stop!" The gold light flared as well, golden wisps arcing across to its angry counterpart. The green slowly returned to the red. "I know that you are upset, and I am as well. But the Mantel must be upheld to its purest form as we can allow, and our meddling goes against what we have inherited. Please, be patient."
"If the One Who Sees All Souls of Pure Life could be awoken-"
"But she cannot," came the curt reply, and the green light dimmed in submission.
"Mother, she is the one who can deliver us-"
"This discussion is NOT up for debate!" The golden light took the form of an older woman with a solemn face, garbed in long, splendid robes and light-colored hair, with pale skin and bright eyes. She towered over the small green ember, her face stern. "As the Librarian, I am tasked with determining the course of events from here on out, and you WILL work with me in preserving the future of our race. Do NOT go against my decision, Courage through Eternal Night."
"…Forgive me, Librarian," the green light sulked, before vanishing into an unseen computer system. The golden woman sighed and pressed her fingers to the bridge of her flat nose, before she clasped her hands in front of her."
"I, too, wish that I could change the course of events, my daughter," the AI whispered to the blank screen, not eager to deal with her daughter's unruly temper. "But we are tasked with upholding the Mantel, and I will not allow ANYONE to jeopardize it. Even if life must be lost, we must wait."
Yay, fluff! XD
Lots of good stuff happening, keep reviewing! Love you all,
anna1795
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