I was wearing a blue dress, though my mask was still on.

It’s funny, in most movies I’ve seen, hospital gowns are open at the back. Maybe that’s just for a little juvenile humour.

I was still in the city, that much was clear from the panelling on the ceiling and floor. To my left was a window, showing me that it was night out.

Not that the it meant anything to me, I’ve been flown between two continents, I haven’t the faintest clue how long it’s been from that. The only way I’d know, is by checking a Korean clock.

To my right was an exit.

There were potted flowers, curtains hiding other beds, but none of that mattered, I needed to find the others.

Where did I see them last? Actually, what was I doing last?

It took me a moment, both to recollect myself, and to get out of bed.

“Ow, damn…”

It wasn’t a numb pain; not from a monster, those go deathly numb pretty quick.

This was like getting a cut as a kid, when my body was normal.

I threw my legs over the side, feeling up the stinging pain in my side.

Where Isaac punched me.

I forced myself up, with no clue where to start looking for them, I needed to at least find somebody-

I hadn’t noticed, Clover was sleeping in a chair beside me.

I unclenched my fists, just a little relieved to see one member of our party safe.

Charlie has had an actual objective to go to, it would make sense that she’d go ahead to work out a deal for her brother. Where else would Clover go?

It made sense that no matter what, she’d stick with me.

I was her only ally out here, at least, I was the only person she could trust.

Still, I’d rather not keep to one place for too long, if I’d been interned here, then I’d be on some systems, right? I’ve probably been checked in.

Once again, I felt up my mask, still glued to my face. I’d already checked, but my paranoia told me to do it again.

Once I heard a fast-paced trot from the exit I reached over to Clover, trying to wake her up.

She’s a heavy sleeper, I guess.

I was too late, the trotting had entered the room, not stopping till it reached the foot of my bed.

I could now see that it was an older woman, she looked like she was in her early fifties, greyed hair tied in a work bun, and a slight wrinkle running down her upper lip.

She didn’t look at me as I tried to stand.

“Please remain seated while I’m talking to you.” She had flipped the clipboard she was staring at, closing it, looking down her nose on me.

“My name is Dr Attrition. I aided in your operation. Though, if you intend on thanking anyone, thank the medical staff here, I provided transportation and your diagnosis. Not your medical diagnosis, your Unitary.”

I noticed an unrecognisable accent from her. With a name like Attrition, I’m assuming she’s from some second-worlder country or something. Though, there was definitely an American or Canadian tonality to it. That was one unanswered question from her.

She raised a brow higher, “It was probably overkill, but we had to perform with a subterrainium scalpel, by my diagnosis, it was necessary. They could have used a regular scalpel, or a lazer, but honestly, it’s just a lot cleaner, less risky.”

I felt around where I’d been punched.

“Isaac Cre-umha ruptured your kidney. We didn’t waste foam on closing the incision. It was relatively minor, given your apparent pension for grievous bodily harm.”

She walked to the opposite side of the bed from Clover, tapping a metal dish with a pen.

Looking into the thing, I had no clue what I was looking at.

It seemed like some kind of small tree branch, green budding leaves growing from it.

“Uhm,” As I was about to admit my confusion she interrupted, “We found it in your rib cage.”

I looked back to it.

She theorised, “A few of my contemporaries warned against its removal, the reasoning being that, as you are a Unit, any strange biological features could be a result of some power, or the causation of said powers. I noted both the unnatural symbiosis, and coupled that with the areas relatively new tissue.”

I was actual holding my breath when she’d brought up a possible origin for my powers, even if she had removed it. Is that why my side is still sore like this?

If that is the origin of a power, then it would have to have been my Primary. SP2 was still acting normally.

“Luckily for you, I’m a damn good diagnostician. You’ll find you’re just as tough as you were a seven hours ago. As mentioned, you’ve clearly undergone a large Rebirthing procedure, over four months ago, or else you wouldn’t have gained untreatable injuries.”

She flipped the clipboard up again, “Honestly, it’s a nightmare. Untreated skull trauma, untreated nasal fractures, and multiple stab wounds, those were at least disinfected, bandaged.”

She looked me in the eyes, or at least tried to.

“We were able to treat your rib contusions, simple minor fractures that were still within the time frame for Cellular rebirthing agents. And obviously, we repaired your kidney too.”

She closed the clip board again.

“I had… a root stuck in my chest?” That was the most catching part, so it’s what I stuck to.

She nodded, “Stuck in there after a field deployment of a large quantity of foam. Done by an amateur. Robert, I’m assuming.”

I assumed that was Bob.

I didn’t want to say anything that I shouldn’t, “Why do you say that?”

“Well, I know you’ve met. You are… ‘friends’ with Ms Parker, that’s what I’ve been told. And around a week ago it came to my attention that Agent Parker had used a heavy-duty canister of foam, around four months ago.”

I thought hard for a second, “You were the person Bob told us to contact! The doctor, it’s coming back to me now.”

She glanced to the side, “Your ‘friend’ did contact me. I was close enough, Administration. I took you here, sent Ms Parker ahead to her meeting with the CFO, and this one stayed to nag us, she told us not to remove your mask. We obliged, under the assertion that doing so might remove your powers, the same argument my colleagues had made concerning that plant.”

I sighed, glad.

Dr Attrition had conveyed a cold demeanour before now, there was a hesitation as she glanced over to Clover. I wondered if she’d revealed her identity yet, or if she’d been found out.

“I humoured it, though I didn’t believe that piece of fabric did anything, at least not in a medical, or literal sense.”

I looked back to her as she slowed her pace back to the foot of my bed, “Thanks…”

“I am a licensed physician, but first and foremost, I’m a… psychologist. A hyper specialised psychologist, but a good one.”

She was whispering now, “I’ve only known of your existence for the last few hours- your implied existence for little over a day, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say-”

She tilted her head to the side, in that light, I could see the tired bags under her eyes.

“-that if I were to take that helmet off, you would have died.”

I looked at her. She was waiting for a response, my jaw hung open waiting to respond.

I didn’t say anything, something about her wording…

It was spot on.

Involuntarily, the corners of my mouth lifted in a grin.

Strangely, she smiled back, it defied the image I had of this lady.

“Wake up the girl. I’d like to talk to the two of you about Ireland.”

I was going to ask how she knew where we were from, but she must have read the question from my face.

“Your accent, Robert’s travel history in the last four,” She closed the door leading into the hall, “-And with the hunch I got from that information, I did a little research into your situation, and I think I understand it better than you.”

I was concerned. It didn’t matter that Bob trusted this woman; I don’t know her motives. For all I know, she’s one of the man from Belfast’s supporters.

I wanted Clover awake, not just to hear what she was going to say, but in case we needed to make a run for it.

I stuck an arm out, pinching her by the eye lid.

“Uhh!” She smacked at my hand and gave her eye a rub, “Fucking ass…”

“News from back home. From this doctor.”

Clover looked up, not exactly snapping to attention.

“I’d say I’m glad you’re awake Sham, but…” She eyed the doctor, who’d moved her hands to her coat pockets, “-yeah, it seems we’ve got more important things.”

“Glad you could join us. Before you do anything rash, know that I’m relegating myself to a neutral alignment in your territorial disputes, Clover. Robert is an acquaintance of mine, so I’d rather he ceases any involvement in your affairs. I’ll tell you everything I know, in the hope that you might figure a way out of this predicament without involving the Parkers any further.”

She frowned slightly, “And honestly, it’s in my best interest to keep the Mountain’s grubby hands off of this experimental technology, which would mean getting you out of here.”

Clover toyed with a strand of hair, “I’m not exactly the type of person who cares. I don’t even know what gravity is capable of. What, making your opponent heavier? Flattening them? She doesn’t seem like a weapons dealer, but then again, she doesn’t seem like a mechanic either.”

I gave her a nudge, “Side-tracking, Clo.”

The doctor pulled her phone out now, she seemed to be partially reading from it.

“June 29th, 2022, Vortech records a transaction with Clover, the requested wormhole leading from Ireland to Seoul, the Seoung-Soo syndicate’s headquarters. Within 48 hours, a request is placed by five Units for the unclaimed territory.”

Clover half laughed, half wheezed, “Five? There aren’t that many Units living in Ireland, let alone those who’d be willing to side with you. There’s me, Rocky has the notion that he can do everything on his own, and then there’s the Fomorian girl, but she’s from the country that worships the Dark Gods, and last I checked, they were the enemies of Isaac Cre-umha’s nation. Seeing as he’s walking around with no punishments after assaulting an unaligned-”

Attrition rolled her eyes, “Will you shut up? This is a claim that has been verified by the Mountain. By Bastard. They haven’t been allowed the territory because they’re an allied party, they’ve been allowed that island so they don’t over step their bounds, and because its government isn’t a funder of the Internationals. Don’t get the wrong idea, they aren’t allied with the mountain, if anything their relationship is even more contentious.”

Clover sunk into her seat.

“Has Belfast become a ‘hotspot’?”

That was a term I hadn’t heard before. It made Attrition pause.

“No. Not yet, though I think it will be.”

I wanted to ask what a hotspot was, but decided against it, I didn’t want to waste our time.

I asked, “You found this out after a few hours, how many other people have access to this stuff? You were able to put together that when Bob flew out to Seoul, he was coming to get us, who else could do that?”

They replied with complementary tone, “It’s a good question to ask. Though ultimately pointless. There are three roles an Agent will be assigned, Exterminator, Researcher, and Cleaner. Out of all researchers, I’m given the highest clearance. So, as far as your ownership being uncovered, ‘Rebecca’, nobody else would be able to gather that information, from here on out they would have to simply happen upon the information.

She changed her stance, “That being said, Belfast has supporters. Many would see them as… a way to deny the Mountain resources; ‘enemy of my enemy’. But for them to have gained access to Vortech’s files, for the territory request to have gone through so quickly; they aren’t just trying to use Belfast, there are people in this organisation working for them.”

I hunched forward.

“That’s fine. It’s not like we were planning on trusting you guys anyway. We’re getting out of here fine. And when we do,” I looked over at Clover, “I’m going to take nap.”

She looked at me like that was an anti-climax, but I’m seriously not in the mood for fighting Apocalypse and his four horsemen.

I want to see Saoirse again. I want to be happy.

If I don’t get to be Sam, then I’ll collapse.

Attrition stood. “Right. You can get a cab to Administration. Your ‘friend’ has been given a work space on the ninth floor.” She changed her tone, it became annoyed, “That’s ninth from the street level, not from the lowest sublevel in the city, I’ve had too many idiots shouting at me because they walked themselves into the sewers.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

I laughed, it sounded like a joke.

After she narrowed her eyes, I nodded.

After she left, she called back to us, “Walk a few blocks away first.”

After a minute, I said to Clover, “She seemed, relatively, nice.”

Clover frowned at me, “Few years back she tried to start a world war.”

I laughed, it sounded like a joke.

After she narrowed her eyes, I frowned back.

.

.

.

The elevator dinged to a stop, and I peeked my head out, adjusting my restraints.

“They really messed these things up, they practically pulled them off. It would be like taking a shoe off without untying the lace, accept, the lace is tight enough to restrict blood flow. They’ve stretched them out.”

Clover side eyed me, “Rock, you don’t have to wear that crap, nor do I care. And you don’t have to keep poking your head around the corner, it makes us look suspicious, we’ll get thrown out. Besides, I’ve already taken care of the us getting found out.”

She raised her marked hand as we were walking, showing only two of the cloves on it.

“What, and just like that our worries have faded away? Why don’t you just use that to ask the universe to get us home in a second.”

She walked ahead of me, flopping her arm back down, “That would work, I’m sure. Some sort of freak malfunction at Vortech, we’re instantly transported back home; I’ll be fine, without a doubt, but you? You’ll probably get there de-atomised.”

I shut my mouth, “And… you wishing that ‘nobody will figure out who you are’ isn’t going to blow up in our face?”

“Yeah, maybe it will. It depends how close the objective is to sheer luck. If I want a copy of the bible signed by Jesus Christ within the next hour, I’ll get it, but it being so hyper specific and illogical will mean that the Universe’ll need to make some leg room. I’m sure some cataclysm would be born in the prosess.”

“What are the odds that we just happen to pass the enemy by any way?”

She smiled, “They’re infinitesimal because of me.”

As we finally found the lab room, we passed by some delivery men who were dropping off parts. It occurred to me that if we’d gotten here a few seconds earlier, we would have been in the room when they were setting things up.

Sooner than that, we would have been locked in the elevator with them.

Maybe there was an enemy on this very floor, we’d just never encountered them because they dropped something, and we passed by while they were picking it up.

For all intents and purposes, we would be rendered esentially invisible to that person.

“Kid!”

I was taken back to the facility by a familiar call.

Bob rose from his seat, a cane replacing his crutch. Once again, he flung himself at me, except this time I’d dodged.

He stumbled on one foot, turning to me, ignoring his own weird behaviour, “Ahh, how are you feeling? I was told you got surgery! What was that like?”

I tilted my head, “I don’t know. I was unconscious.”

He laughed, “Well, hey, everything’s turned out alright in the end, huh? They’ve arranged a flight in 54 hours, Charlie blew the ball out of the park!”

I looked around for her, not seeing her among the helpers and movers, “So you’re not being charged?”

His attitude changed, his stony face was meant to hide his feelings, but it only exemplified his sorrow.

“They took my keys. I’m not going to be flying for a few months.”

I tried to cheer him up, “That’s not so bad right? It could have been worse.”

Clover folded her arms, “If I was your boss, I’d have your balls chopped off.”

I side eyed her, “No, if you where his boss, you’d have him dress up like a rabbit and humiliate him in front of your friends.”

Bob was left out of the loop, he reapproached the conversation.

“Charlie’s been worried about you kid. She told me you… you know. Got her down? She wanted to say thanks before you leave.”

I nodded, “Yeah. She’s here I’m guessing. If anything, we should be thanking her, for sorting out the flight back home and all.”

Bob started walking, pretty normally even with a reliance on his cane, “Alright, it might take us awhile to find her in here, they gave her a quarter of the floor. It’s a temporary set-up, most of the resources are bein’ taken off of Yoshida’s stuff. They want more than one prototype set up.”

Clover commented, “Implying you’ve got a prototype set up.”

I flashed a look at her, she calmed me down, “Hey, it’s like I told the doctor, I’m not interested in this tech stuff. Well…”

She gave a pause, “Nope, I don’t wanna know. I just want to go home.” Her smile wasn’t too reassuring.

We wandered through a couple dozen rooms, filled with blue gravity discs of varying sizes, there were miscellaneous machine parts, none of which I had any way of recognising as anything other than pieces of metal and rubber.

We eventually came to a large room, centred by the makings of another machine, this one crescented up ten feet.

This room was like an intersection to multiple other rooms, so Bob was calling out, “Charlie! Goth and Green are here!”

Clover beared her teeth, “Why do you keep calling me that?”

Nobody replied to the three-foot-long black bush of hair, but there was a voice calling from behind the top of the machine.

Shortly after it had rung out, a person in a mechanic’s blue jumpsuit descended, they were controlling their movements through large bulky braces that started at the elbow and ended at the wrist.

They bore the same design philosophy as other pieces of gravity tech, but the signature circular plates were glowing red.

They came down in front of us, their long brown hair was tied and maintained by a cap.

I would have thought she was giving me the stink-eye, if I didn’t already know the type of person she was.

Clover commented, “So you traded chic for utility, huh? You only dressed up like an asshole for your meeting then,” just when I was thinking Clover’d over stepped her boundaries again, she smiled, “It suits you.”

“Thanks…”

She wasn’t really finding her footing, literally, her feet were only touching the ground by choice, tiptoeing just above the ground.

Clover pulled at me, “Don’t you think so Rocky?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know.” I didn’t want to make a comment similar to Clover’s, I’d probably end up saying something rude.

Just when Clover was about to yell at me, there was a whistle from one of the entrances to the room, everybody turned, except Bob.

“Oh, Yuki…” Charlie tried for a smile. It seemed like she had more to say.

I turned to Bob, the life seeming to leave his eyes, “I’m going to guess she’s not a friend of yours?”

She was wearing the same tie as Bob, and from what Dr Attrition had said, it seems like that denotes position, blue must mean cleaner.

“No,” replied Bob, slowly, “she’s my friend.”

I recalled now; Yuki was the second contact Bob had left us with.

She was an Asian woman, looking a little younger than Bob, but not by a lot. Two things caught my attention about her, she had wavy white hair, and a sour look on her face.

She was wearing a suit, the same quality of Bob’s, she had a duffle bad slung over her shoulder, and she was walking towards us.

Bob finally turned, “Hey Yuki, I’m back! Haha, no hard feelings about pushing you out on to the landing pad, right? I mean, we’ve both taken a few days to cool down- I’ve realised that I screwed up, bu-”

She threw the bag at his head in one quick motion. The anger on her face bursting out in the same instant.

Before vanishing.

“Ahh, yeah were even!” She laughed as he rose back up.

She walked towards me now, “So, you’re that kid from Ireland I’m guess? The one he spent ten thousand on like an idiot, leaving me to clean up that mess when the post-June equipment check came up? You’re doing good? Well, apart from you getting into fights, being hospitalised as soon as you got into town, you’re doing fine?”

There was a familiar levity to her questions, despite the assault I’d just witnessed, she seemed welcoming.

“Hey, I’m good, thanks. My name’s Shamrock, this is-”

She moved on, “And you’re the girl I spoke to on the phone! Sorry I couldn’t help you, I was on the 75th floor, it just seemed like the doctor’d do a better job, right?”

Clover asked, looking over at Bob, who was clutching his nose, “I thought you two were friends.”

Yuki frowned, “We are friends. I think. Not that I’d say that in front of other people. Especially people who were at the 2016 Christmas party.”

Bob called out he’s eyes blood shot, “That’s enough! You promised to never bring that up!”

“And you promised I wouldn’t have to do you any more favours, but here you are! Me and the doc had to keep them from shooting you down when you were flying over the Philippines.”

Bob smiled, “What?”

She shrugged, “It’s in the past. Don’t worry about it.”

She looked up to the machine, “Is this the time machine?”

Bob screamed out, “SHAAHAPAH!” Grabbing his head, staring wide eyed at Clover.

I expected Clover to be smiling at them fumbling the bag, but she went cold.

She tried to hide it, “Is that what it is? Ha, I thought it might be smaller, whatever it was.”

Charlie laughed nervously, “I-It’s not a time machine, I-it’s just a step in that direction.”

Clover folded her arms, “I believe you.”

I was suspicious of her reply, Yuki was silent, Bob was happy, “You do? Seriously, Yuki hasn’t a clue what she’s talking about.”

Clover folded her arms, smiling with an explanation, probably for me, “Time travel is a reported phenomenon, though I’ve never experienced it. There’s supposedly a terrorist operating in Russia that’s from the future, or a possible one at least. Growing up, I was told that if under any circumstances I should find a possible avenue for time travel… I should destroy it.”

It was as soon as she had started that I thought she was going to do something rash. I don’t know whether I was preparing myself to stop her, or to get us out of there.

“You Internationals. You’re all so obsessed with progressing this status quo, prolonging it as long as possible. I’ve heard about your attempts at space travel, I’ve seen your opposition to change. It’s completely in character for you to desperately find a way out of the grave you continue to dig for yourselves. You would risk all of existence just so you can get your hands on a fresh oil reserve, or so you can attempt to stop the damage you’ve already done to the planet.”

Yuki was giving Bob a look, which Bob reciprocated.

“So, I believe you. If you did invent time travel? If it were in your hands, we’d already be dead.”

She turned with a smile, “You should be happy Charlie, I’ll be keeping in touch.”

Yuki clapped, “Ok, I don’t know who you the hell you are-”

Clover turned, expecting the same thing I was.

“But damn, you need a drink. Chill out, right? You’re on Vacation! Bob’s treat!”

I’ve heard people give some strange responses, but this one was downright insane.

A gloomy looking girl just professes her hatred for your organisation, and your response is to invite her out for a drink?

“Oh, yeah, sick.”

Bob shook his head, though Yuki kept throwing out invites, “Charlie, Problem child?”

I was a too confused to respond, Charlie mumbled out, “I’ve got to finish up here, so…”

Clover nodded, “Alright, Rocky’ll stay with you! If you don’t hear from me, they’ve probably had me executed.”

Still too confused with everything that was happening, I said nothing.

The two of them left, Bob following close behind them, obviously concerned about Clover saying she’ll be ‘keeping in touch’ with his sister.

Clover was laughing away at something the white-haired woman said.

Charlie let out a sigh, when I turned to her, she held her breath.

“What just happened?”

Charlie breathed out, “She’s like that. She’s mellow, she deescalates situations, that’s probably why her and Bob are so close, he tends to bring some craziness out of people. I can’t blame her for reacting like that though, what the hell would you do if someone said that stuff about the people you work for?”

She tilted her head before pushing herself back up into the air, “Your friend is pretty… crazy.”

I thought about saying she wasn’t my friend, but there’s no real point in denying it anymore.

I circled around the machine following after her, “When it comes to this stuff, she’s loyal, to a fault I guess.”

“Loyal to who?” There was a clattering from something just out of sight, “That’s right, the Bastard King or whatever. You’re from Europe. Do you work for the Mountain? I h-heard that she does, but you don’t seem like the war mongering type.”

I was a little surprised by how talkative she’d become since Clover left, “Yeah, I’m solo. Like I said, you’d have to be pretty stupid to join up with people like that, especially when you have no clue who they are.”

She smiled, a little dirtier than when I last saw her.

“That’s what my brother did, at the ripe age of sixteen he left to join the Suits, I met him when I was eight. I sell to them, but I’m not planning on joining them. It seems like they encourage independence, in an admittedly stupid way. As private owners, people like me, Axel and Vortech can sell to whoever we want, we can decide how involved we are in all of this super-crap.”

She threw her arms up, “If they’re interested, they’ll fund me.”

That part of what Clover said must have been true then. For them to encourage this sort of environment, the Ints must be at least secondarily motivated by turning some kind of profit, instigating an economic upturn for the countries, or something.

Seriously, I really do just punch assholes, I’m not sure I’m ready to understand their business.

She asked me another question, “But, you’re involved enough in this stuff to get taken by… June, right?”

I lied to her, “Yeah, I was. I’ve faced off against one of the largest supernatural organisations, I’ve seen Gods, and a whole host of other Unit’s.”

It wasn’t for the same reason as Bob, who cares if I look cool, I was trying to keep me and Clover’s story straight.

“R-right…”

I thought about asking if she needed me to help her with anything, before I could, she asked, “But you’re not a part of the Suits? Why’s that?”

“Well, I think if I joined up with anyone, it’d get harder for me to stay anonymous. I’d be losing a part of my civilian life.”

She was floating down, “That’s right, you’re a superhero, right? What’s… that like?”

Again.

Again, I got déjà vu from the first two weeks in the given world.

That was the first time that somebody; somebody who was real, just accepted that I was a super hero. The first time I’d been called that.

“It’s…”

I diont know. I’d like to say it’s been fun. Running around town, being taken semi-seriously, talking to people.

But then there’s the Gators. The soul crushing reality of my situation. That I’m a very small fish in an ever-expanding reservoir. A reservoir built by beings far more intelligent than me, who allow my existence for some twisted incomprehensible reason.

“It’s somewhere in the middle.”

I wasn’t sure if that was a lie or not.

She skipped over to a box, lifting something out of it. It looked to be some sort of cable, stretching the length of her body.

I asked, “How can you lift stuff if you’re weightless?”

Charlie looked over to me, “It’s the same principle as the disks. It’s not that the disks being weightless makes the ships rise, it’s that they make the ships lighter. That being said, Bob’s was different, it directly changed the gravitational push, it employs (something) magnetism (something). My… I’m a naturally occurring version of the phenomena,”

She might have noticed now that I had no clue what she was saying.

“I… sort of ooze it. I make things lighter and I can lift things without… following gravity.”

I nodded, trying my best to understand.

“What about you?”

I looked up, “Hmm?”

She motioned to me, not finding the words.

“You’re like me.”

She seemed like she was batting between making eye contact and looking down.

I had to guess what she was talking about.

“Do you mean my biology?”

She nodded.

“My body operates at a higher capacity, in a way that’s beneficial. I’m stronger, but I don’t burn calories faster or anything. Higher pain tolerance, surviving with grievous bodily injury, that sort of thing.”

She finally held her gaze, “But it’s- it is hard, right? I mean, you can’t turn it off, can you?”

I had a feeling she understood my situation.

“You can’t turn off being a Unit,” I agreed.

“No, I mean, Bob warns me about monsters, that’s one of the reasons I don’t like coming out here. I’ve only been twice before, and the second time didn’t go so well.”

She toyed with her fingers, “I’m talking about- we’re different, right? We can’t live normal lives.”

I knew where she was trying to take this, “That’s the hand all Units are dealt.”

She kept pushing, “But- Those things around your arms, you wear them because you’re afraid of… it aren’t you?”

She lifted her arms, the gauntlets seeming more like chains now, “No matter how much you try, no matter what you do, you’ll never be like everyone else.”

I frowned, “You were born like this?”

She nodded, “I’ve spent every day of my life afraid of the sky. I couldn’t go outside for eighteen years without a weighted suit. You- I saw the state your body was in. You can’t go to a regular doctor, you said you feel less pain, but with those bruises? Those scars? You must have been living in agony.”

I tightened a fist.

I don’t know why. Something started to boil up in me.

“Do you really think that’s all that defines you? Do you really think there’s nothing worse?”

I glared, though she couldn’t see it, “You aren’t wearing a weighted suit. You aren’t being held prisoner by some robots and an undersea king. You’re a revolutionary scientist. You have undeniable skills, that I’m quite sure were gained through nothing but your own dedication to your craft. Through bending your curse into a gift.”

She floated back slowly. I thought she was frightened, but that isn’t the face she was making.

I continued.

“There is no such thing as normal. Simply by living people are cursed. You can dread it, you can hate it, you can even ignore it, but eventually you need to accept it.”

The room went quiet except for a droning sound from a faraway room.

I looked down, regretful, “Sorry, I don’t know what you’ve been through, but I think it’s just a little ignorant to only look at what might be wrong with your life. You’ve got money, family, and… not too many people have that.”

Charlie stopped me from going further, “No, y-your right.”

She was smiling, “I wanted you to feel the same as me, but I think that’s what I needed to hear.”

She drifted over to me, now completely putting aside her work.

She sort of sized me up, “Shamrock? How…”

I turned my ear to hear her better.

“How old are you?”

Looking back, it was a weird thing to ask out of the blue, but I guess she was asking because I was giving her advice, despite obviously being younger.

I actually had to think about it.

“Nineteen,” I answered plainly.

Though I was born in 2003, and my birthday wasn’t until September, I figured I should count the time in Irminsul.

She looked like there was something she wanted to say.

I took another guess, “Clover’s eighteen, back home that’s a legal drinking age.”

She seemed somewhat disheartened.

“Sorry,” I raised my hands, backing up, “I’ve been hanging around because Clover cleared off, I’ll let you work, just tell me where I can find that, ‘accommodation’ Dr Attrition was talking about.”

She went quiet.

For a while.

I’d say she was trying to remember where it was or something, but she’d have checked her phone if that was the case.

She was frozen, until I asked, “Are you ok?”

She turned red and laughed, I was worried that something was wrong with her.

“I-It’s probably for the best, yeah. Call the doc, sh-she’ll know where it is, better than me.”

She ascended quickly, turning her back on me.

I shrugged it off, “Well, thanks for everything, I guess. In case I don’t see you again, just know that me and my friend really mean that, she might have been a little… off-key at times, but she’s not the type to go looking for trouble.”

I grinned to her back, “I for one wish you the best of luck with your time stuff, so long as you work out how to use it responsibly first.”

As I turned to the door, pulling up the contact numbers Bob had left me, she called out.

I twisted back, and she’d closed the gap already.

“Do you- do you have Discord?”

I blinked, “No,” I lifted my phone, “I only have a flip phone,” I lied.

She seemed to redden again, I tried to stop her from freezing up again, “I can give you my number if you want.”

She found a piece of paper pretty soon.

And she didn’t say anything as I handed it to her back to her after writing the string out.

As I was trying to make my way through the halls, I started to think if she was really all that weird.

I mean, that sort of behaviour, if Sam saw that then he’d think that she was insane.

But as far as Unit’s go? She’s not racist, she’s not a criminal, so an especially bad stutter isn’t much, right? Especially if she’s been stuck inside most of her life.

So I don’t think her experiences were an especially bad influence.

Though, I’ve only known her a day. I should know better than anyone else, that people wear masks. They have multiple identities that they take on in different situations.

Do I trust this girl? Not as far as I can throw her, I’ll tell you that much.

But I don’t trust anyone really.

So, as I’m writing this in my hotel room, I think I’ll get to know this girl before I make any judgements.

Though, seeing as I’m leaving tomorrow night, we’ll have to do it over the internet or something.