A/N: I'm back after 2 days (new record), I hope you enjoy this! Epilogue comin up!
Disclaimer
I own plot and OCs, nothing else.
Chapter 20
Road To Recovery
Desert Springs Hospital
Paradise, Nevada
6.02 p.m.
Thea's Perspective
We all followed the ambulance from behind in our trucks and cars to the hospital. While the others were in the waiting lounge as I followed the hospital bed, Danny was admitted to the ER, and I was left alone outside the doors after escorting the poor boy because the doctors only let one person inside. Geronimo told me to stay, and told me that he'd be out with some news. There were a few waiting chairs outside the room, so I occupied one, propping my head up with my elbows on the knees and my fists on my forehead with my eyes closed, and hoped for the best.
A few full minutes had past, Geronimo had stepped out of the doors to the ER, looking relieved and at he same time worried. I immediately got off my chair and asked about Danny's condition. "How is he?" I squeaked, taking small steps forward.
"The doctors and nurses have managed to stabilize him. But his physical conditions are critical. He's suffered first degree burns on his face, a brain concussion, and a ruptured left eardrum."
I looked away. "That's...good to know."
"But, because of the brain concussion he got from that Force Maelstrom was really severe, I'm afraid that the doctors had declared that he's in the state of a coma. They're unsure when he'll be awake, but they're going to give him a CT scan in one minute to estimate when."
I looked back at him. "Will he remember us?
He breathed in deeply to think of an answer. "Um...the doctors are unsure of that as well. But, I think he will. Don't worry too much, okay?" He gave me a pat on the shoulder with a little smile on his face. "Everything will be fine." At least that cheered me up a little. "Come on, the one of the unoccupied doctors inside said that we were to step inside his office to treat our minor injuries."
"Let's go..." I replied.
After we were patched up and bandaged, we went back to the waiting lounge to break the news to the others in the waiting lounge. They seemed anxious at first when they saw us walk in. When Geronimo told them about his conditions, they were in for a bombshell. Questions arose and gasps louden.
"The doctors and myself wouldn't be expecting him to wake up soon, but let's not give up hope. Know that when he didn't give up on Thea when she was dying, and we should do the same," Geronimo said.
"Poor kid, he's done a lot for me. I'll never forget that," Hussein said, recalling Danny's deeds towards him.
"We all will remember what he did for us, and we owe him our lives," Benjamin stated.
"True that," Trap agreed.
One of the doctors that worked with Danny came and called Geronimo to speak with him. They spoke outside, and Geronimo nodded to every word from the doctor.
He came back in to tell what the doctor said. "Danny's undergone his CT scan. He's been transferred into a private ICU ward and we all may see him at once."
Still in our wet and drying combat clothing, we marched down the halls and followed the lead of the said doctor to his ward deep inside the hospital in silence. As we got to the ICU, I played 'Say Something' by A Great Big World in my head to suit the mood.
"You may enter at once, but please keep your voice down," the doctor instructed, opening the door to Danny's ward.
We followed his orders, and entered in quiet footsteps. With a single light from the wall lit up the room in the night, seeing Danny on the bed really broke my heart and made my ears turned down. He used to be bright and happy, he used to be active. But then, he was laying down on a bed, looking somewhat dead. He had a tube going into his mouth, hooked up to a breathing machine. Tubes that injected into his arm delivered glucose for his body, and his head was wrapped in a cast.
I nearly broke into tears. Everyone did. Great thing we all had each other for comfort. Geronimo was beside me, tucking his right paw in his pocket. He saw me emotionally distressed, so he pulled me close by the shoulder and pulled my head to his.
Benjamin got Pandora side by side, the Thea Sisters group hugged, whilst the Specters stood weeping and sobbing in the back.
We were only allowed to see him for a short time, so the doctor asked us to leave. With all the goodbyes, good nights, and get well wishes said to Danny, the Specters saluted farewell to him respectfully and left the room and followed the rest to the waiting lounge, leaving me and Geronimo behind so the doctor could give us the CT scan results.
"He's showing major brain activity during the scan. We tried the EEG test, and his brain waves sit somewhere around the delta but he should be in the alpha. He could be dreaming in a REM sleep, and that would indicate that he could wake up at anytime soon," the doctor told.
"That's great to hear!" Geronimo responded.
"It is, as long as he's not having a nightmare," said the doctor, looking back at Danny through the window. Then he returns his attention back to us. "One of you is welcome to stay and keep him company for the night."
"You go ahead and rest, Thea. I'll take care of him for tonight," Geronimo said.
"The others?" I wondered.
"Tell them to go back to base. If they have any complications in passenger capacity, Phantom and Banshee are in the parking lot and they're are available for driving. But Pierre stays, just in case.
"Will do," I replied.
I walked off to tell the others to go home, get some rest and sleep. They weren't happy about it, but I promised to update them about Danny's condition. So they went off towards the base, hugging and bidding each other goodbyes before they left the hospital.
I was left alone in the waiting lounge, waiting for my shift to come in the morning. I turned on the news on the TV, and was I in for a surprise.
"And a recap from the breaking news, LVPD officers yet have to investigate the origin of the explosion that caused the Concourse D of McCarran International Airport to collapse to the ground. So far, only one was severely injured, a 13-year old Danial Arif, junior multi-billionaire video game developer and iOS software designer, was admitted to Desert Springs Hospital..."
I had enough with the bad news, so I turned the TV off.
I got bored at one point, so I did what I felt like doing to keep my mind off things. Instead of curling up with a book like what Geronimo does, I played a few songs stored in my iPhone's music library with a pair of earphones plugged into the device. I enjoyed myself listening to some joyful beats and a little dubstep, but the next song was where it hit me right in the core of my emotions.
'My Immortal' was playing in my ears. I wanted to turn the song off, but I thought I'd just embrace the sadness and let the song continue. So I let the phone sleep by itself, and stared out the window, looking at the sky.
(Piano riff)
I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears...
And if you have to leave, I wish that you would just leave...
Your presence still lingers here and it won't leave me alone!
These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real...
There's just too much that time cannot erase...
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears...
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears...
And I held your hand through all of these years...
But you still have...all of me...
I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone..
But though you're still with me,
I've been alone all along!
(Band plays)
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears... (Remembers time at the airport, Chapter 19)
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears...(Remembers fighting thugs, Chapter 7)
And I held your hand through all of these years...(Remembers grabbing wrist of Danny during explosion, Chapter 9)
But you still have...all of me...
Remembering the memories we made couldn't keep me off, especially withe the song playing. I curled into a ball, hugging my legs and hiding my face behind them, and began crying over the ending piano riff.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
7.10 a.m.
It was my turn it look after Danny. I walked down the hall back to the ICU wards in a new set of my regular everyday outfit I bought last night, holding a bag that contained a new suit for Geronimo. I reached Danny's ward, seeing the door left ajar, I peeped from behind the wall from the outside. Geronimo was seen sleeping on the visitor's chair next to the bed.
"Geronimo..." I called, trying to wake my brother.
He opened his sleepy eyes narrowly, responding to my call. He rubbed is eyes with the palms of his paws and inhaled deeply with a sound, then he sighed it out. "What time is it?" he tiredly asked.
I came out of hiding and leaned on the door sill. "Ten minutes past seven."
"Could you wake me up a little bit later, next time? I hate mornings," he stated.
"You wake up late every morning, G."
Geronimo stretched out as he sat, and some more after he stood up. He was on the way out, so I gave him his new suit in the bag. "What's this?" he asked, being handed the bag. Or rather pawed.
"A new suit for you. I bought it last night."
"How thoughtful, thank you," he said, starting to head for the restrooms to get changed. Meanwhile, I took his place on the chair and grabbed a fashion magazine from the bedside table.
Geronimo came back a few minutes later, showing up at the door with his new suit. "Aww! You look so cute in this!" I commented.
He put his arms akimbo. "Seriously Thea? A green suit?" I intentionally bought the suit to surprise him, and to remind him that who he was.
"Aw, c'mon! I missed you in this suit, you know that?" Geronimo could do nothing but smile and shake his snout.
"Thank you anyways, Thea," he continued, coming inside the room and sitting down on a chair next to me. "It's...nice to be who I really am for once in an Interpol assignment. I really owe you a favor."
"Your welcome," I replied.
Then came knocking an unknown person at the door, peeping from outside. He was tall, Caucasian, blonde, had a wide forehead, a long nose, and a small chin. He wore a blue shirt and a deep blue tie to complement the shirt, and a pair of black slacks and shoes. He carried a laptop bag on his right hand.
"Um...excuse me," the British gentleman began, "is this Danial Arif's ward?"
Geronimo immediately stood up. "Yes, it is. I'm Interpol Special Agent Stilton, Geronimo Stilton. This is his protective agent and also my sister, Special Agent Thea Stilton," he introduced. "May I know who are you?"
"But first, has he told you his secrets?" the man asked.
"Yes?"
"Then I'm Dr. Professor Graham Philips, a Caltech professor, his foster parent, and the creator of the microchip."
"...I'm surprised by his brainwave activities, and judging by this, he should have woken up by now," said the professor after seeing the results from last night's CT scan. "And like the doctor said, all is good in his REM sleep as long as he's not having a bad dream."
"Whether he's having a good one or not, it seems that he doesn't want to wake up from it," Geronimo theorized.
Then the doctor knocked on the door. "Um...is this a bad time?"
"No, no. What is it doctor?" Geronimo asked, standing up.
"We need to take Danny in for another CT scan. The other doctors and I will be done in about half an hour. Meanwhile, why don't you get yourselves some breakfast? The cafeteria's just one level down."
"Well, I am a little famished. I think I'll head down," said Professor Philips, getting off his chair.
"I'll join you," Geronimo said to the Professor. "Thea?"
"Sure," I replied.
"So, you two were involved in the events of the 2011 Weapons Expo?" asked the Professor, carrying his food tray to a table as the three of us walked to it.
"Yup," I answered.
"Don't remind me...I was the head of security at that day," he said, looking down and guilty. "To be honest, I never really did a good job on focusing on my directive."
"I understand the conflict you must've had," the Professor continued, "Either to avenge your friend or stick to your directive."
"I wish I had done the second option," Geronimo added as we sat down. "Danny's family could have been alive if it wasn't for me. I mean...I'm still overwhelming with guilt when Danny told me that Hisham Sidik was his father!"
"Hey, people make mistakes. It's all part of being a person, even a mouse! Don't punish yourself too hard," the Professor said, injecting some wisdom into my brother.
"Thank you for the words, Professor Philips-"
"Hold on a minute," he ordered, holding up his index finger. "I'm sorry, but I truly dislike this type of formality. Call me Graham."
"Geronimo," he referred himself.
"Thea," I squeaked.
"Again, thank you for the words, Graham."
"No trouble at all. Now, let's dig in!" Graham declared.
2 hours later
"The results are here and they look very strange," the doctor announced at the door of the ward.
"How strange, doctor?" Graham wondered, getting up and approaching the doctor.
"For starters, his brain activities were in the gamma region, meaning that his brain is active and racing with thoughts. So, I'm saying that he's supposed to be awake right now if he were still to be in that state," the doctor explained as he showed the piece of paper to Graham.
"If he's still not awake but his mind is active with thoughts, then he's not in the state of dreaming. He's playing back the memories he had stored in his brain!"
"So your saying in a way," the doctor added, "he's dreaming about the memories he had in the past?"
"Yes! Exactly! Oh thank God..."
"But why isn't he awake?" I asked as I stood up.
"Sometimes, people are aware that they are dreaming. That's called lucid dreaming where the person gets to sometimes control what happens in his dream and unusually controls when that person wants to wake up," the professor added.
"And in this case," Geronimo interfered, "maybe Danny's recalling all the good memories you and him made together and he doesn't seem to want to wake up from them. He wants to stay as long as he can."
I looked and stared at Danny blankly. "It's good to know that he still remembers me though..."
Thursday, August 29, 2013
12.00 p.m.
It's been a two and a half days since Danny's been admitted to the hospital. He went through a few CT scans and EEG tests, and all was normal with his brain activity being constant in the gamma waves, still dreaming about our memories. His newest development, he was able to breath by himself, without the assistance from the breathing machine. When I told the others through FaceTime, they jumped for joy. The only thing I'm disappointed in was that, he still didn't want to wake up.
I sighed, almost running out of hope as I scrolled on my phone in YouTube for some funny vids to cheer me up. But, as my last video ends, I already didn't know what to do. I sighed again, taking off my earphones.
I started to sob. "Oh Danno..."
The professor then shows up at the door. "His father used to call him that. Even I do. Looks like the nicknaming has infected you."
"Sob...I'm sorry that you had to see me this way, Graham. I'm not usually like this..."
He grabbed a chair and sat at the other side of the bed. "You seem have a soft spot despite being New Mouse City's toughest, Thea. And that soft spot is the boy on the bed."
"He's more than a friend. To me, he's like a brother."
He looks at Danny. "Oh, Danial. I wish you could see how much you friend misses you."
"Excuse me for interrupting you two," said Geronimo from outside the ward. "But I've the results from the scan and the EEG test."
"How is he?" I asked.
"According to this, he was dreaming wildly the time the doctor scanned him. His gamma waves are of the charts."
"Let me see that," the professor said while he stood, holding the paper and studied it in detail. "Hmm...this isn't good. He's having a nightmare."
"How bad is it?" Geronimo wondered.
"It depends on how painful the memory is." He turned to me. "Thea, what's the worst thing that happened to the both of you?"
"At the airport, I died when he tried to heal me," I replied.
"Hmm...the chance of him having that dream again is very high, and it could affect his mental state," the Prof stated. "Though let's not panic. Let's just hope that it doesn't get any worse."
I shifted my eyes towards Danny, who's closed eyes were letting go of loose tears that flowed slowly down his cheek. I knew that he was still dreaming something that hurt him. So I went to his right side and grabbed a chair.
His bed as low enough so I could put my head beside his, and sang into his ear. "Come stop your crying and you'll be alright... Just take my paw," I took his hand, "hold it tight..."
"I will protect you from, all around you... I will be here don't you cry..."
"And you'll be in my heart, yes, you'll be in my heart..."
"From this day on, now and forever more..."
What happened next was a miracle. He responded to the song and slowly gripped my paw.
I gasped before my squeaks. "Geronimo! Graham! Look! He's gripping my paw!"
"What?!" Geronimo said of shock.
"You're not joking, are you?" said Graham in response.
"No! I'm serious! Look!" They came close and looked at his newest development.
"Gracious!" Graham exclaimed. "And look! He's opening his eyes!"
We shifted our attention towards Danny's eyes. They were narrowly opening. Graham rushed to his other side.
"Danial? Danial, if you're in there and if you can hear me, move your left index finger," he ordered. He heard his command and raised his finger up until I can see it.
"Stay still, I'm going to check your eyes," said Graham. He took out a small flashlight from his pocket and shined it into Danny's eyes as he held the eyelid up. "Pupil sizes are normal... Danial, you're in hospital. Say something if you got anything that I just said."
Hearing him say repaired my shattered heart. "Which hospital am I in?"
"My word! He's fully awake!" He rushed to the door. "Nurse! Get a doctor in here! He's awake!"
"Thank Gouda..." Geronimo and I mumbled.
The doctor rushed in did some medical procedures. And then, the moment of truth. "Danial, do you remember these two people?" Graham asked him, extending his arm to address us.
Danny just looked at us in shock, like he never knew me or Geronimo at all. "Danny," I started, "do you remember us? Do you remember me?"
He replied; "I don't remember, but I know the two of you. You guys are Geronimo and Thea Stilton," then he turned to Graham. "I know them from their books."
The words had broken my heart once again, like a baseball bat smashing a piece of glass. "You mean, you don't remember the things you've done with them? The times you spent, the battles you've fought with?" asked the professor to clarify.
"No. I'm sorry, but I can't remember at all."
Again, from my smile of relief and joy returned to a disappointed frown. I released my paw's grip from his hand and slowly pulled it back. The dam of my tear ducts began to burst, flooding my eyes and slightly blurred my vision. I stormed past everyone and out of the room and ran away crying.
"Thea, wait!" Geronimo called, trying to stop me. He followed behind and tried to catch up.
Meanwhile: "Nurse, get him to another CT scan. See if there's any damage to his hippocampus," ordered the doctor.
Back to my situation, Geronimo caught up to me near the waiting lounge and grabbed me by the shoulder. "Thea!"
I kept on crying, and crying, and crying. "Why doesn't he remember me?"
Geronimo turned me around so I'd face him. "Thea snap out of it!" he said.
Feeling embarrassed by the way I was acting, he brought me inside the waiting lounge and made me sit down on the couch.
"Thea, you shouldn't be like this. He awake, is that good enough?" he questioned. Overwhelmed with guilt, I didn't give an answer. So he continued; "Plus, don't expect too much from him. He's just woken up from a coma, for cheese's sake. Cut him a little slack."
"Your right...sob...your right, I'm sorry..."
"Here," he took out a handkerchief from his jacket pocket, "blow on this." He pawed the piece of cloth over to me, blew my nose, and handed it back to him. He seemed disgusted by the way he was holding it by his fingertips. "Blech..." He reacted. "Anyway, we'll have the answers from the professor when Danny's scan is done. Don't worry."
Waiting Lounge
12.50 p.m.
The three of us gathered at the waiting lounge in so we could discuss what happened to Danny's memory. Earlier, I FaceTimed the people back at the base, informing them that Danny's awakes and told them that he doesn't remember any of us except Benjamin.
"The doctors said that there's not a sight of damage dealt to the hippocampus when they scanned Danny," the professor stated, sitting on the couch at the side of the room with his MacBook Air on the coffee table. "But, I checked his microchip's activities with this custom-built software I use to monitor him, and memories from both his chip and brain was from November twenty-eleven. He could remember up till then and only knows you both as authors of your respective novels."
"What happened to his recent memories?" I raised a question.
"He deleted them. Both from his brain and the chip," he simply answered.
"Why would he do that?" Geronimo asked, sounding info-hungry as I was.
"I can answer that since I'm a psychologist," Graham informed, "but first, I hope you won't be offended when I ask you this, Thea, but how many painful memories have you shared?"
"Plenty, especially at the airport," I replied.
"Well, that solves it. Here it comes, he deleted those memories because they hurt him too much. Therefore to relieve the psychological pain, he deleted them. He doesn't want to remember all those bad things, failing to save Thea, turning Sith, possessing Sith powers, no, he doesn't want that in his memories."
"Then if he deleted only the painful ones, then why doesn't he remember us? And how'd you know that he had Force powers?" I asked again.
"One: You said that he was like a second brother to you, correct?" I nodded my head. " Then he must've felt the same way with you. You remind him of his sister so much that when he reminds himself of his sister and the fact that she's already long gone, he deletes all the memories that were related to you by accident, along with the adventures you had. Two, don't tell anyone that I'm his Jedi master. Only the rest of your family."
"Forget the Jedi thing..." Geronimo interjected. "When did he deleted his memories?"
"I'll check..." He dragged his finger on the trackpad of his MacBook Air and double-tapped on something. "Almost an hour ago. The time when he woke up. When Thea was singing in his ear, it must've reminded him of the last piece of memory he enjoyed before his final deletion and before he was awaken. The song you sang before your death."
"Maybe you were so dear to his heart, only you could revive him. Because he loved you like his own sister," Geronimo summarized.
"Is there any hope of retrieving his memory back, Graham?" I asked, returning to the topic.
"There is, the chip has a 'backup to cloud' function where he sends his memory into a server I built back at California whenever he likes. But I can't assure you that he had backed up before the time of the deletion. But better to be safe than sorry, I'll check his latest backup. Let's see..." He dragged his finger on the trackpad again and double-tapped. "Wow. You're really lucky, Thea. He backed up all of his memories about ten minutes before he deleted them."
"Thank Gouda..." I said in relief.
"Luckily I brought my personal network dongle along with me so I could download the data, and I estimate that it'll be done in twenty-four hours. Then I'll send it into his chip, and he'll be back to normal."
"Thank you so much prof...um...Graham. You have no idea how happy you made me."
"Believe me, I do. And to help him, get his friend here, Benjamin. He'll help by retelling the story of what you had done."
"Settled. I'll get him on the phone..." then he frowned, reminding himself that; "if it weren't drenched in the rain..."
"I've got you covered," I said. I quickly got Benjamin on speed dial. "Ehem..." I waited for him to pickup. "Hey, Benjamin. Yeah, I need you to do me a favor..."
2 hours later
I was in the ward with the professor while Geronimo was out to The Strip to find a new replacement iPhone for himself. Benjamin was had arrived via riding in Anton, and I had him to wait outside until we cued him in. Meanwhile, the laptop was plugged into an outlet as it downloads a hundred gigabytes of data as a speed of five hundred megabytes a minute.
"Prof, why am I taller than usual, feeling all muscly, and why does my voice sound deep?" asked Danny, sounding naive.
"That's called puberty, Danial. And you have entered it a long time ago. About a few months," Graham answered, marching back and forth inside the ward.
"But it felt like a short while."
"Danial, your age is not like what you think it is. How old do you think you are and what year do you think your in?"
"Twelve years old at twenty-eleven?"
"Here's the thing Danial. You have lost your memory in an explosion and you're thirteen years old, turning fourteen this year in the next couple of days, which is twenty-thirteen." The expression of his face said: 'Whaaaa?'
"And to help you, we have brought your friend, Benjamin," he steps in and waves at Danny, "to tell you the story of what has happened while the memory you backed up is being downloaded. Benjamin, take it away..." Graham stepped out and left the three of us in private.
Benjamin took a chair and sat next to Danny's bed. "Benjamin, is it true that I've lost my memory? Talk to me, bro, I need to know what I did in the past couple of years!" said Danny, stroking the cast on his head.
Then Benjamin started rhyming. "Weeeeellllll...this is a story all 'bout how, your life got turned upside down... I'd like to take a minute just sit right there, I'm gonna tell you all about it while I'm on this chair."
"You still got the rhymes, now tell me what I need to know," Danny demanded.
Benjamin started talking fast, quick, and he told Danny everything. From when he started to work with Apple, until when he became successful.
3.44 a.m.
"Then we got a call from the General Secretariat saying that you need protection from Interpol. So he sent us..."
6.23 p.m.
"Not even finishing her first night of Aunt Thea's stay, someone broke into your property, and you just shot the cheese out of his car..."
8.43 p.m.
"We found the body of the marine with the NCIS agents, so we had to investigate the murder..."
9.50 p.m.
"Then, your house was under attack by a team of Technologist troops. There was a helicopter on the roof, and you guys shot it down..."
Friday, August 30, 2013
8.39 a.m.
"You had to blow up your retreat estate, and we had to relocate again..."
10.45 a.m.
"You initiated Operation On Your Six after you saw the ransom video with Aunt Thea..."
12.12 a.m.
"She died...but you still Forced Healed her even when you turned Sith when you battled Williams in a lightsaber duel..."
1.03 p.m.
"You told us to evac the place as you tried to fight Williams' lightning, and did a Force Maelstrom that brought the whole concourse down. We searched under the wreckage for you, but when we found you, you were in a coma. That's how you got yourself here."
"Thea," Graham called, checking his computer screen.
"Hmm?" I responded, turning to him.
"It's done."
I my eyes sparkled in anticipation as I slowly left a wide grin.
This was it, the big moment. I was standing by Danny's side with Professor Philips eagerly while Geronimo and Benjamin stood opposite of us. At the same time, Benjamin held up his iPhone and pointing the back of it towards Danny so the others at the base could see the process via FaceTime. Plus, when this turned out successful, he got to leave the hospital!
"Danial, I'm going to start the restoration of your memories back into your chip and your head. Now, the computer is going to send the data and you'll feel a slight tingling for a few seconds," explained the Professor.
"Okay...I'm ready," Danny signaled.
"Close your eyes, mate," the Professor ordered. Danny did as told, and laid still on his bed.
"Starting the restoration," he announced, going to his computer, "now!"
He pressed the 'return' button on his MacBook's keyboard to initialize the syncing process. The blue loading bar was slowly filling up to 25 percent in five seconds. Then it reached 50 percent, and then it got to 75 percent in no time at all!
It was at 99 percent when another gigabyte of his memory was being restored into his chip. We all waited for it to completely fill up in anxiety. Then the process finally finished, showing on the screen was a message that said: 'restoration complete and successful' with a green tick beside it.
Danny took a breath as he opened his eyes. "Oh God!" he exclaimed.
"Danny?" I called, wanting seeing how'd he react.
"Thea!" he responded.
I was so glad that he had his memories back, I just had to give him a tight squeeze. "Thank Gouda! You remember me!"
"Argh! So glad to see you to Thea!" He said, gasping for air after I let him go. I heard the guys at the base screaming in victory through Benjamin's phone's speaker.
"Doctor! His memory's restored!" Graham called.
The doctor came to the door. "That's great news, professor! I'll sign some papers, and he'll be out of here very soon, congratulations, professor!"
My Perspective
We were all out of the hospital, outside at the north entrance. I was dressed in new threads Thea bought for me during her trip to The Strip. She knew me well and bought me the right clothes. The only difference was the absence of my drop-leg holster, I didn't have my gun with me, so I didn't really need one.
"Welp professor, this is goodbye, I guess," I stated.
"Until next time Danial... Until next time," he replied.
I gave him a tight hung as if he was my father. "Love you prof..."
"I love you too, Danny." Don't be weirded out, that wasn't the first time he called me other than Danial.
"So Graham," I started. "You wanna hitch a ride with us?"
"No, thank you. I've a flight scheduled for California at two."
"Have a safe flight then. I hope to see each other again," Geronimo bid, stepping closer to him. "And thank you for bringing Danny back, Graham."
"Thank you, Professor," Benjamin thanked.
"Thank you, Graham. For everything," said Thea.
"Your all very welcome," he replied. Then he saw a cab coming into the parking lot, driving towards us. "There's my cab, I'll be off." The cab stops in front of us. "Goodbye!"
"Bye!" I waved. He hopped into the back seat, and the cab drove away. And so I turned to the group. "So, I guess this is goodbye? With Williams dead and all, and the assignment done?"
"Not yet...we still have a surprise for you," Benjamin corrected.
"Where?"
"We gotta get to it first..."
"In cars?"
"Pierre and Colette are in the parking lot waiting for us," Geronimo interrupted.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get this show on the road..." Thea cut in.
We hopped in the two Bugatti Siblings with Thea in the driver's seat, started the W16s and squealed off out of the hospital area, and sped off to the surprise.
Santa Monica Beach
Saturday, August 31, 2013
11.50 a.m.
We took the I-15 to Santa Monica, and traffic was moderate, no signs of heavy weather, and it was cold last night, and Thea refused to turn the heater on. What made the journey take a whole night was that we (by we I mean Thea) was constantly driving at 62 miles an hour.
"Are there yet?" I asked for the fifth time.
"Almost," Benjamin replied.
"And why are we at Santa Monica Beach?" I asked again.
"You'll see..." Thea answered, hiding something.
We entered a street where my beach house was at. As we went further down the road, I caught a sight of what appeared to me my cars.
"Wait, what are my cars doing here? And why are they parked in front of my old beach house?" I asked for the final time.
"Like Benjamin said, you'll see..." Thea answered.
Thea parked right behind Wraith at the other side of the street opposite to my old house, while Geronimo parked right in the driveway to the garage. Me, overflowing with curiosity, quickly stepped out after unbuckling my seat belt and shut the door, waiting for the others to do the same.
"Would someone tell me what's going on?" I demanded.
"Yeah, we're here. Everything's set? Okay, we'll bring him out back," said Geronimo to an unknown caller in his new phone. "Let's go, Danny! Your surprise is at the backyard!"
I crossed the small road with Thea, continuing my walk at the small pathway at the side of the house. The rest of us followed behind. "What do you guys have on store for me?" I said, strolling along the path as I looked back.
"That," Thea replied, pointing at the beach.
The moment I set foot on the sand of the beach, I could not believe my eyes.
"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANNY!" That's right! The 31st was my fourteenth birthday! How could I forget my own birthday? Everyone was there for the surprise; the Wolf Pack, the Thea Sisters, Trap, Pandora, everyone! They were all huddled up around the giant birthday cake on a picnic bench, with Kassim and Khalid at both side as they each held up a stick with a banner tied that wrote; 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
I was so moved by the surprise, I froze in place, showing nothing but blushing bright red cheeks and wore a big grin. "You guys! You shouldn't have! Who's idea was this?"
"From all of us! Primarily Benjamin," Pandora told.
I looked at the mouse responsible. "Benjamin, you told them about my birthday?"
"Eeyup..."
"Gimme a hug!" I bent my knees to match my height with his, and gave him a Thea-styled squeeze.
"D'oh man! You're a hugger!" the mouselet reacted, being able to barely breath.
I let him go before he ran out of air. "Guys play the song!" Thea requested.
"We're not gonna play it, we're gonna sing it!" Trap squeaked. "And a one, two, three!"
As they sang 'Happy Birthday' to me, I approached the bench with slow steps, getting a glance at the cake. It was in the shape of a pair of large-scaled Glock 17s, one on top and the other at the bottom. They even placed a pair of lit candles at the muzzle to simulate muzzle flash. Three large-scaled 9 mm cartridges complemented the cake. As the song ended, I blew out the candles, and Thea captured the moment in a picture with her iPhone.
We cheered after I blew the candles out, and Pandora handed me a cake knife so I could slice it. I proceeded to cut the Glocks, and put the slices on a plate. Soon, everyone lined up to get a slice and finished it all up, including the cartridges.
I took a scope of the cake, along with the black chocolate fondant. And it was divine. I enjoyed it in the wind of the beach, and Thea took another photo. "This cake is good! Where'd you guys get this stuff?"
"On the contrary," Trap started. "Pandora made the Glocks all by herself! Using your kitchen oven to bake it!"
Pandora who sat beside me with Thea on the bench blushed away. "You made this?"
"Uh...he-he-yeah..." She giggled.
I rested my plate on the bench's table. "C'mon, you deserve a hug!"
"I think it's not necessary," she said. Ignoring her rejections, I gave her a friendly Thea-styled hug anyway. "Oh, cheese! Benjamin's right, you're quite the hugger!"
After having the cake, they surprised me more with a wheelbarrow of birthday presents. Literally. Hussein brought the presents out on the beach with a wheelbarrow from the other side of the house.
"Oh my..." was my reaction when Hussein brought the wheelbarrow out. "Guys you really shouldn't have! Seriously!"
"Oh, you deserve them! You saved the world, you know that?" he stated, stopping at the bench. He then reached in for a wrapped present. "Here! Open this one!" He threw the package at me, and I caught it with a single hand.
There was a card stuck to it. I turned the cover and read the contents aloud. "Dear Danny, thanks for getting us together. Hope you like what's in the box! Love, Pam and Hussein. You got this together?"
"Yup, as a thank you gift for what it said in the card," he said. Then everyone reacted by giving them a loud 'ohh'.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Open it," he instructed. I teared up the wrapper, revealing some kind of miniature briefcase. It hand a giant 'G' logo on it. I proceeded to open the case. "My gosh! A fully aluminum Glock 17!" The gun looked awesome. It came packaged with two aluminum mags, and a cleaning kit. The gun as I would describe it, made from ionized aluminum from slide to frame, had artistic engravings on the slide, and an engraved message etched on a plaque at the left of the slide saying: 'Happy 14th!" in all caps. At the top, two signatures, each belonging to Pam and Hussein.
"Seriously, this gun is to precious to shoot!" I said, admiring the craftsmanship of the gun's engravings as I held it. "I'm gonna frame this and mount it in a wall!"
"That's why it came with this," he held a frame for the said gun and handed it to me.
"Thanks, you two! I love it!" I put it back in the case, closed it, and set it on the table.
"And this..." Hussein took something out of his pocket, "is a Medal of Honor from me and the Specters, for bravery for participating in an Interpol rescue op."
"Thanks guys!" I waved to the Specters after receiving the medal in hand, lining up. They gave me a salute.
"Okay, the next one's from..." he said, getting back to the wheelbarrow. He got his hands on another present and read the card attached. "Trap, Benjamin, and Pandora."
He gave me the box and I immediately ripped off the wrapper. It was... "A tactical pistol kit! Personalize-able!" It came with a tactical attachment rail, a red dot sight and a flashlight to go with the rails, a suppressor and a laser engraver. Everything was ionized aluminum like Hussein and Pam's Glock.
"Compatible with any pistol," Trap stated.
"Thanks you guys..." I thanked. "Who's next?"
"The Rodent's Gazette team!" Hussein announced.
Geronimo stepped up. "A front page article of you in The Rodent's Gazette. Telling about what we had did during the past few days."
"And from the Thea Sisters?" Hussein interrupted.
"A show!" Nicky shouted from the beach house, coming out through the sliding kitchen doors, followed by the Thea Sisters. They were dressed up in combat clothing.
They scampered to the empty part of the beach, made a circle, emptying the spaces beside them. All five stood in a stance, taking out combat knives. I was feeling nervous, they were about to start a melee deathmatch as a gift. We all stared at them as they eyed each other, waiting for someone to attack.
Pam made the first move, throwing a thrust of her blade to Nic beside her. Nic took Pam's arm and countered by stabbing her in the gut. Nic pulled her knife out, and Pam dropped dead on the sand, with blood flowing out of her wound. We gasped, and Hussein called out her name.
Meanwhile, the last four started to fight among themselves. The deathmatch lasted about 50 seconds, with Paulina and Violet dead, it was down to just Nic and Colette. Both commando-trained mice gave each other a stab in the abdomen, and both thudded in the sand.
We watched in terror when all of them died.
But, it was just a show. Pam got back up. "It's okay! We're still alive!"
We sighed in relief, and saw all of them got back up. "Anymore horrifying performances that I should know about? That almost gave me a heart attack," Hussein said.
"Nope, we are done here," Colette answered. "How was it, Danny?"
"One word. Realistic."
"Just as I thought..."
We spent the rest of the day in the beach house to rest so they can reenergize for their flights back to their homes in the night.
Los Angeles International Airport
8.12 p.m.
"You're not gonna fly back to Malaysia with us?" Hussein wondered, holding his carry on while waiting for his flight to call.
"Nah, I'm gonna stay. I really miss this place," I answered.
"Hey, don't forget to contact us," Paulina told.
"I will. I got your numbers on my phone," I said.
"Hey, I've got something for you," Geronimo stepped up.
"What is it?" He took out a folded piece of paper from inside his green jacket and handed it to me. I unfolded it and scanned through the whole thing. "This is an Interpol recruitment form. My recruitment form my dad sent when the agency started accepting kids as agents."
"And I have approved it. From now on, you are Special Agent Danial Arif," he dubbed me.
"This is so awesome, I've always wanted to be one of you guys. When will I start?"
"We agents work part time, therefore I'll call you every time Interpol assigns us to a mission."
"I'll be sure to answer..."
"And another present from me..." Thea interrupted.
"Thea?"
She took a wrapped item from her backpack and handed it to me. "I want you to have this. Go ahead, tear it up..."
I clawed the rectangular-shaped gift's paper wrap. The moment I had my eyes locked on what was hidden under, my eyes sparkle when my tears were released from the ducts.
There were two framed photos, one was a photo of me and Thea walking down the Nye County base to the garage with our weapons and combat clothes on, taken by Pandora before we took off for Operation On Your Six. The other was my family photo, taken in front of the fireplace at my Santa Monica beach home.
"Where'd you get the family photo?" I asked, returning my attention at Thea.
"I managed to save this at the mantle of your retreat estate before you blew it up," she answered, crouching to match my height. "Cherish those for all your life."
On the spot, I gave her a goodbye hug with the photos still in my hands to thank her for the thoughtful gift. "Bye," I whispered into her ear.
"Bye Danno," she whispered back.
The group's reactions: "D'awwwwww!"
We let each other go of the embrace, and Thea promptly stood back up.
"Last call for flight QBZ95 and QBZ97, please report to Gate B6 and B7," said the announcer over the PA system.
"That's our flights, we better leave," Geronimo declared.
"See you guys again!" I said as a form of farewell.
"BYE DANNY!" They returned, waving as they walked to their gates.
I watched their flights took off plane by plane at the concourse's glass wall, wishing them a safe flight to their homes.
I drove home in Pierre with the 15 other cars behind following my lead back to Santa Monica Beach, got to my old room when I was twelve, and slept on the bed, replaying the adventures the gang and I had in my dream.
A/N: almost the end. Stay tuned in another day.