Fragmentation 1.y

(Kevin Norton)

December 31, 1999

Kevin Norton was sitting at a bar, staring into the ceiling and wondering about the mysteries of the universe.

Life had thrown a wrench in his plans to mope about and die in a ditch, but it wasn't a bad one.

He'd met a man.

The most powerful man in the world probably, and Kevin had yelled at him while he was a depressed, blubbering mess.

But his words had done something. Instead of flying around the world and sightseeing, the golden man was now helping people.

All thanks to words he'd yelled while not in his right mind.

Him.

Kevin Norton, weakling and runner, always evading his past and fleeing from trouble.

He told the most powerful man in the world what to do, and he wasn't sure if it was a permanent ability or a one-time event. He wasn't even sure if the man would come back!

But then the golden man had stopped a few months ago to float around a bit then fly off, repeating this every time he came near London.

Eventually, Kevin got annoyed with the nudity, giving him a white bodysuit to cover himself with. Apparently the man liked it, as the suit was still there today, as pristine as the day Kevin first bought it.

Kevin looked back down at the crowd around him that was waiting for the year and the world to end, and started to smirk. Half of the people there were lightly sipping of whatever drink was in front of them, knuckles white with tension as the clock ticked down, while the other half were drunk out of their minds, some already ten drinks deep. But both were coping with the bundle of nerves that filled them all.

It was funny.

To him, at least.

How could they think computers could end the world if the golden man was helping now?

The clock hit 11:50, and a woman in the back corner of the bar was already counting down at the top of her lungs to the tune of some new single just released. He'd been a bit out of touch with music, as well as anything really, and didn't recognize it. The group around her were laughing and attempting to cover her mouth, but they appeared to be as drunk as the singer, and were falling all over each other, giggling.

Kevin was somewhat glad he only had enough money for a single drink.

He glanced around the bar again at the mass of people, one group nervous, the other drunk, and noticed something that didn't seem to fit with either crowd.

It was a woman at the bar, near the bartender, with the palest skin he'd ever seen. Almost white, but still some tint to it. She had grey, almost silver, hair down to her waist and dark brown eyes that seemed to peer into his soul. Her clothes reminded him of the businessmen down near Camden, pristine and recently pressed.

She looked like a woman who handled meetings like he handled a meal after a day without any.

And she was staring at him.

Was he that noticeable? Did he smell?

Kevin checked his pits to be sure, but he had showered two days ago at the shelter. Usually it gets bad after four days, but it could have gotten worse with him being near the heater.

But no, she didn't appear to be crinkling her nose, or even looking at him with distaste. She was staring with an intensity that reminded him of the PTSD victims at the shelter, and he didn't know why.

He hoped she didn't find him attractive, somehow. He didn't ever enjoy disappointing anyone.

He discovered something else, while peeking looks back at her.

She didn't blink.

He almost thought she wasn't… no, her eyes still followed him when he moved left to right.

It was creepy, almost in the way that reminded him of…

"Excuse me."

She interrupted his train of thought, and he returned his focus on her again.

"I need to get something off my mind, and you look like someone who'll listen. Will you?"

It was odd, having someone ask him for something. He hadn't realized that he'd missed it.

"Sure, miss…"

"I go by Lucile."

"Ok miss…Lucile. What can I do for you?"

She paused at his question, and closed her eyes for the first time he'd noticed, opening them once her thoughts appeared to be in order.

"I went through a troubling event about fifteen years ago, and I want to get it out before I sit on it too long to matter. The world is supposed to end soon anyway, so it's as good a time as any." She paused, seemingly assuring herself that she could do it. "I was wondering if you'd be the person to let me talk for a few minutes."

"I'd be happy to ma'am. I know I've done that to a few before."

"Thank you, I think I'll start you at the beginning, just to get you in my headspace."

"I'll just sit here until you're finished, then."

"Thanks, let's see…" She stared up again and mumbled briefly. Kevin was about to ask her to speak up, when she began to talk.

"About fifteen years ago, maybe fourteen, actually, I didn't go by the name Lucile. I changed it to get away from someone, you see, so I'm not going to tell you my original name. I hope that's fine with you." I began to nod when she continued.

"Right, well… This person was close to me. Not emotionally, but physically, because we were assigned together as a team, meant for search and destroy missions, as well as some combat. We decided to take out this tiny little place in the middle of nowhere when a solo agent from the same, um, company? I can't really tell you, but you get the idea. Anyway, he came and decided to share some information with us, about the place we decided to remove. It was just some info about the language spoken there, but also some about their military forces. As weak as their weapons were, they could still be scary."

"Like, bows and spears? Or were they armed with guns?"

"Sort of." She shrugged "Can't really remember the specifics, but something like that. It was a bit intimidating, how threatening the agent made them out to be, but after he left, something came to us while were nearing the target."

"Something, or someone?"

"Yes." She nodded at him "It was some… people, who joined our team that were from a branch of the target. Not related to how it was at the moment, but they knew about it. They told us about some threats the target could pose if left unattended, so we decided to hurry our way there, letting them join us, and get started with our work."

"You and your partner?"

"Yes, him." She stared off into space again, her deep brown eyes misting over a bit.

"He wasn't the most… emotional… man. Hardly talking, ready to pick a fight, but he always, always had my back. He was the muscle of our duo. When I finished the espionage and sabotage, he was ready to destroy everything after I finished."

"A demolitions expert? So you're…" She glared at him as he tried to speculate. "Right, don't talk about it."

"Yes. Don't. Back to my story, if I'm allowed to?" Kevin quickly nodded at the woman, trying to get that piercing glare off of him. "The thing was, I didn't think of him as a person, just a tool to help get the job done. I thought for sure he was stinted in the emotional factor, but then he proved me wrong."

"Something the people who joined us said, maybe something they did while interacting with each other, inspired him to talk to me one night. He'd never asked anything of me before, so of course I stopped our approach of the pl… target." Again, she stopped, face going grave as she remembered what happened.

"He told me he loved me. Or at least that he was convinced he did. Maybe because of some interaction between the locals, or some delusion that he made up in his head, but he was convinced that the looks I'd given him were reciprocation."

"Looks?"

"Yes, he was approached by one of the locals that had joined us, and even though he didn't respond, the local just talked, and talked, and talked in his own little language that I wasn't even sure my partner understood. Oddly enough, he was listening, but the topic wasn't something I particularly liked." The grimace that overcame her face was oddly similar to the look his ex had given him when he failed to hit her back. "The local was talking about his, uh, the target's various mating rituals. Sadly, my partner took what the local said to heart, and took the times I'd looked at him in concern as those of affection."

"So he was convinced you loved him?" Kevin was experienced in unrequited love, and didn't like to be reminded of it. But this woman needed someone to listen to her tale, even if it disturbed him.

"Yes, and even when I told him it wasn't true, he tried his hardest to keep me nearby, tried to make me love him like he believed he did me. I'm still not even sure if he loved me, or was ever able to feel any emotions and believed what that local told him. But he was insistent that we were meant to be together for the rest of our lives, even after I told him my suspicions that the local that talked to him was trying to get him distracted, but he still didn't listen."

"Wait, distracted? Was the local a part of your target?"

"Yes, of the thirteen that joined us, only one really seemed to not like me, even though he faked it as well as he could. I think it was the way we looked that made him dislike us enough to try and distract us with his faux warmth and caring."

"Did he ever attack you?"

"That's the thing though, for all the animosity that he appeared to have towards us, he never tried to kill us, ever. Just… talked to my partner about his feelings towards me."

"So he was a distraction for the place you were visiting?"

"I'm not sure… but the target was… No, you're just trying to find out where I'm talking about, aren't you?" Kevin sheepishly shrugged his shoulders and grinned at her.

"Can't hurt to try? Can it?"

Lucile, though that wasn't her real name, swayed with the drink she was holding as she mused over his words.

"No, no I can't. It really was just some third world…" she faded off as she shut her eyes, tilting her head forward into her drink.

Kevin snapped his fingers in front of her face, and she snapped awake. "…country. Which country am I in again? Is this London?"

"Ah, lots of business trips?"

"Yes, something like that."

"So, what did you do about lover boy?"

"Ah, right. Well, to put it simply, I faked my death."

Kevin spat out his drink.

"Faked your death? To get away from your partner! Really?" Kevin's eyes went wide as she shrugged her shoulders at him.

"Well he wouldn't stop, and it was the only thing I could do, so near to the target, so yeah." She took a sip as he drunk in her words.

"How did you do it? How did you get back without him noticing?"

"I did mention that he wasn't very smart, right?" she asked while smirking at him. "To answer your question though, I made up a body of one of the locals look like me then smashed it up in a field. I even asked one of the locals to stick a knife in my neck to make it seen real, but she was a little gung ho pretending it was me, so I scrammed out of there."

"And he really couldn't tell it wasn't you?"

"Nope, I even saw him a few years back, and he still had the same frown on his face that I watched him make after he found my 'body'." She air quoted

"So this isn't just a random confession to a murder of anything, just a faked death to escape a crazed man that loved you?"

"Oh I've killed lots of people," she smiled sadly at him "I don't ever want to talk about those, even if the world's supposed to end." Kevin gulped

"What happened to the locals, by the way?"

"Oh them? The first twelve went back to the target after my partner abandoned them, but the one that talked to him about his feelings? No clue."

"Really? After all he'd done?"

"Yep, he up and vanished one night into the wind, no clue where he went, even with all the tools at my disposal."

"Wow. Well that's quite a story." Both fell silent at his words, one contemplating her past, the other wishing he had something to match it.

"Do you want to hear my life story now?" Kevin asked Lucile, both returning their attention to the conversation.

"Sure, where do you want to start? I don't think we have much time before the countdown though."

"It's short enough, and nowhere near as exciting as yours, I bet." She grinned and nodded, leaning back to prepare herself. "I'll just start I guess…"

He was cut off by the drunk girl in the corner screaming "TWENTY!" at the top of her lungs, the rest of the crowd counting down with her.

"Maybe later!" Lucile yelled over to him at the increasing volume of the room.

He nodded at her, and turned around towards the TV that was counting down.

He murmured along with the mess of people around him.

"FIVE!"

"FOUR!"

"THREE!"

"TWO!"

"ONE!"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

He was sure he was deaf, as the screams overtook his hearing, blasting out any other noise.

People were cheering and jumping around, happy for the fact that the year 2000 didn't appear to want to kill them all.

The news bar at the bottom of the screen was reporting the lack of disabled computers, and the people around him were rather happy at that fact, one man crying while calling someone, a wife or family, probably.

Kevin smiled with them, knowing that even if the event had happened they'd be fine.

For the golden man was there to help them now.

He turned back to Lucile to begin his story, when he noticed her gone, note on her stool.

'Dear man I never had the decency to ask the name of,

Terribly sorry that I didn't get to hear you story, but I had business to attend to tomorrow, today now, that was rather urgent. Then next time I stop by London, I'll be sure to say hi and hear your story, I must thank you for listening to mine. I needed to get it off my chest, and I'm sorry I didn't let you get that life story off yours. Have a happy new year, you delightful man, and I hope it treats you well.

Lucile

p.s. Nice job convincing Goldie to help people. He needed something to get his mind off the past.'

'How in the world…?' Kevin thought to himself as he glanced around the room trying to find her.

The intensity of the crowd around him didn't seem as bright anymore, but he felt something inside now.

Someone was grateful of what he'd done, even if she'd ran away after a single conversation.

Someone had known what he'd done for the world, and she thanked him.

The warmth inside him wasn't just from the heater now.

Maybe this year would get better after all?