Karu was back the next day, looking as good as ever, and once again with functioning weapons and jetpack. The first thing she did on seeing me was smile broadly, showing off her new teeth.

"My apologies for being later than anticipated. Repairs to my jetpack were intensive, and I underwent oral surgery before entering the regenerator."

"I guess I never thought about it but...we don't regrow teeth, do we?" I asked. I'd once considered the regenerator as a miracle cure-all, but after my nervous damage in my hand, and now realizing there were parts of us we couldn't simply grow back, I was beginning to realize their limitations.

"No, we do not. Do not fret, those are far from the only teeth I have ever lost. The ceramic composite replacements are much more durable and resist plaque. If I am fortunate, by the time I retire, I will have a complete set and will never have to brush again."

She laughed, but mostly that sounded gross. She was obviously trying to improve my mood, but instead I just felt bad for AEGIS doing that to her, and now that I'd given in to AEGIS, I was guilty by complicity.

"So how are your injuries?" she asked, examining my wrist as though she could see the bones mending through my cast.

"Bad. You're a real ass."

She smiled. "I prefer you injured and vocal to hale and mute. Your lifestyle here was destructive, and I am glad to see you have forsaken the worst of it."

"Haha, yeah."

She wasn't wearing her visor, just sitting in the chair opposite my bed, but I felt like she could read my lies anyway. I was a terrible liar anyway. She was my friend anyway. Why was I trying to hide the fact that I was still living exactly that 'destructive lifestyle'?

"Have you been getting much exercise? I would prefer we converse while walking if that would be suitable."

"I'd rather not."

She smiled. "Too bad. The walk is not for my benefit anyway. Up you get."

She was halfway to pulling me to my feet when AEGIS appeared.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" she asked, breaking us apart and putting me back down to bed. "I let you in here so that Athan could catch up with one of his friends, not for you to kidnap him and make his injuries worse. Again."

"There is nothing wrong with his legs, and spending all day in a bed will do him no favors." Karu's eyes flashed as she stared AEGIS down. "And of all the people in this room to mention kidnapping--"

"I kidnapped nobody. I followed Lia while she picked him up from Saga, and I've been helping him ever since."

"And yet, I need your permission to enter his chambers, to visit? You act as though you control everything, yet speak as though you control nothing. Make up your mind or be silent."

"I am just helping Athan and doing whatever he wants me to do."

"And yet you materialize in the room the moment I threaten to remove him from it. I wonder if there is possibly a camera or two in here, keeping eyes on the man whom you are 'just helping'..."

She slid her visor on and began peering into the corners of the ceiling.

"If there are, it's only so I can make sure Athan's okay, okay!?"

"A shameless confession of guilt. You should be disgusted with your behavior, not defending it."

"Athan, tell your bazooka-titted friend that I'm only doing what you want and to get off my case."

"Yes, Ashton, please tell me that," Karu said, wheeling on me. "I would be very surprised indeed to learn that Athan somehow takes enjoyment in being a captive here, coddled by his warden and is complicit in making no steps to improve or engage himself. Please feel free to educate me on just how much you enjoy lying here day in and day out while the world slips past you."

Karu sounded confident in her sarcasm but it was AEGIS who was smiling.

"Uh, don't drag me into--"

"Drag? You were ever the focal point of this topic, Ashton."

"Yeah, just tell her exactly what she wants to hear and she'll fly off and leave us alone."

AEGIS' grin had escalated to 'malevolent' status.

I looked back and forth at their expectant faces, both looking improbably triumphant, each confident they knew me better than the other.

What the fuck was I supposed to do? Was this what Lia meant when she said I'd have to just pick one? They were both right. Of course I wanted to get better and go out there and live again, but of course I enjoyed spending time here being taken care of all day. But if I said that, they'd just both want to kill me.

I'd already spent too long thinking. Shadows of concern were appearing in both girls' eyes. The confident smiles were weakening at the corners. 'Why hasn't he agreed with me yet?' was written plainly on their faces.

"Yeah, I'm going to go on that walk," I said.

It was, perhaps, the worst decision. I could see both immediately making the conclusion that I agreed with the other.

"Hold on, Athan, just yesterday we talked about this--"

"Ashton, am I to understand that you are choosing this, no, anything over pursuit of your dream--"

"You said, you trusted me, and you decided--"

"That you could so easily choose to cast aside your righteous path, I refuse--"

"We were perfectly clear. Perfectly. And now not even a day later, after I told you everything I was feeling--"

"Simply cannot believe that you are siding with her."

"Just can't believe that you are siding with her."

Their arguments reached a crescendo and peaked with the mirrored accusations. The two looked at each other and glowered.

"And I am to suppose that if he disobeys, you will knock out his teeth as well?"

"I'm not the one who covered him in injuries already. You must have mistaken me for a self-righteous bounty-hunting cow I've seen around here."

"Is a trite personal attack all you can muster? There is an individual in need of serious help here, and I would be remiss if--"

"Damn right there is, you need all kinds of help, but not the kind we can offer."

"I was referring to Ashton. Dissociative disorders? Emotional detachment? Perhaps your memory core is faulty and you simply forgot."

"My memory is fine, and Athan will be too. Stop parading in here like you're the only one who can fix him."

"He does not need to be fixed, he needs to be treated like a normal, recovering human being."

"Or what?" AEGIS yelled. "Is there something so wrong with him being happy for a while? What the fuck do you have against him just taking it easy and, I don't know, being a normal person for once?"

"Or what?" Karu towered over AEGIS ominous and dark. "Or what? Do you remember our combat, just three days ago?"

"Yeah."

"Do you recall Athan's pitiful bleated words? I believe they went 'oh God please don't kill me'."

"What about them?" AEGIS asked petulantly.

"That is 'or what.' That is the Athan you are creating. A weak, pitiful creature not worth of his name or gifts. A complete hindrance on the battlefield."

"Life isn't a battlefield, Karu. There's nothing wrong with being weak."

Karu scoffed. "If I had any doubts before, I am now certain that you are utterly insane. Strength is the one truth we can attain. Strength is all there is in this world. Strength of mind, of body, of will, of purpose--"

"Fuck your meathead attitude. I'm a fucking AI, I can be as strong or as weak as I want to be, and do you know what I've learned? Being strong just means you're nothing like a human. Do you think Exhumans are strong by choice? Do you think there's a single one of them who wouldn't give up all their strength and powers to have a shot at a normal life again?"

"Yours and his do not count. Strength must be earned to have meaning, that is why every Exhuman turns to darkness. Like a lottery winner, they find themselves replete with power they cannot comprehend and so waste it on foolishness and sin. Ashton fought these impulses and earned his strength, and now you are trying to coddle it out of him, which is unforgivable."

"Okay," I cut in, finally seeing this was going to start leading to blood soon. "Both of you need to stop and back down. You are allowed to disagree, you are not allowed to fight."

Karu gave a superior look at AEGIS which clearly said, 'See? Strength.'

"I can't believe I thought bringing you here would help him. You seem more like you're trying to kill him to me."

"AEGIS, knock it off," I said, with as much steel in my voice as I could muster while wearing pajamas in bed at noon.

"How can you side with her?" she yelled at me. "After yesterday, after everything you said, you just turn around on me like this as soon as she's in the picture?" She paced back and forth once. "Holy fucking shit, you really do love her still, don't you? I can't fucking believe this."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"I'm not siding with her, I'm telling both of you to drop it. If I'm arguing with you, it's only because she dropped it already, and you're still yelling."

She stomped over to the holo and jammed a strand of her hair-cable into it. The holo lit up and displayed a scene from yesterday in this room.

I saw myself on the bed through AEGIS' eyes. "Why should I be happy when she'll never feel anything again?" I saw myself ask. My voice sounded so different.

"Then don't worry about it. Let me worry for you instead. Just believe in me and I'll face the world for you. And when you're ready, we can face it together."

AEGIS offered me the hug, and after a moment, I accepted it.

"Okay," I said on the screen.

"And just what is this supposed to prove?" Karu asked, still imperious but more wary.

"He said yes! To me!" AEGIS shouted at her, her voice choking a little bit. "Not you, not Saga, me! You already threw him away, and the minute we were back together, you have to come and take him away again." She was screaming now, her voice getting shrill. "I'm not letting you!"

"AEGIS, let me be clear--" Karu began, her voice more quiet, more level.

"No! NO!" AEGIS screamed at her. "You can't just fly in here and take him away from me whenever you want, okay? I know you think I'm just a big dumb robot, but I have feelings! I hurt! And I want you to stop hurting me! Just stop it, just leave us alone, just let us be happy!"

The scene on the holo started to move again, and I walked up and unplugged AEGIS before it showed Karu anything more from that night.

"Let her see how happy I make you!" she screamed at me. "Why can't she just let you be happy?"

She looked like she was totally losing it, and Karu and I exchanged worried glances.

"AEGIS," Karu said.

"NO!"

"AEGIS, listen, please."

"Just leave! Leave us alone!" She clamped her hands over her ears and I saw tears falling out of the corners of her eyes. I sighed painfully as I moved her hands and held her in a one-armed embrace.

"AEGIS," Karu was almost whispering. "Please do not misunderstand. I am not here because of you and Athan's relationship in any capacity. All I was arguing was about his care and well-being. The nature of your relationship beyond that…"

She gave a smile which looked pained under her visor. "Well, that doesn't concern me in the slightest, does it?" She stood up and gave AEGIS a bow, her face a smile obviously covering great pain. "I apologize for causing you undue distress, and ask only that you consider Ashton's recovery seriously as you care for him."

She almost bolted for the door, pulling something off her bandolier as she went and holding it to her chest. I almost missed the motion except that I had gone after her, grabbing her wrist with my good arm.

"Karu wait--" I said.

She hissed with a sharp intake of breath and flinched at my touch, stopping suddenly.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing. Please let me go."

"Karu, I'm asking seriously."

"And I am telling you seriously. Nothing is the matter. Please recover well, I shall see you later."

I put myself between her and the door and she shifted whatever was in her other hand behind her. "Are you hurt? I thought you just went through the regenerator?"

"And I told you it is nothing. Release me at once, Ashton, this is not a jest."

She tried to break her wrist free, but I held on, involuntarily clamping down on it tighter, which made her gasp and waver on the spot, looking like she might faint.

"Seriously, Karu, what the hell."

"And I am telling you...seriously…" she was panting now, and sweating. I trapped her hand between my good side and elbow above my broken wrist and started pulling off her forearm armor, gun hardpoints, and ultimately, working on rolling up the sleeve of her flight suit.

"Ashton, I am begging you," she said, her face flush, unable to pull away, and unwilling to use her other arm for whatever reason. "Do not persist. I beg of you."

"Then tell me," I said, persisting.

"I...cannot! Don't look!"

I rolled up her sleeve and she looked away, her arm trembling in my grasp. All along the inside of her arm were shallow horizontal cuts, barely healed, some oozing blood from my grasp. It looked like she'd let a cat just maul her for a while. I didn't understand what that meant, but AEGIS' eyes went wide and she covered her mouth.

Silence fell over us for a few moments. I grasped at comprehension.

"How did this happen?" I asked, letting her go and she immediately moved to roll down her sleeve without revealing what was in her hand. "Was this from an Exhuman?"

She smiled pitifully at the floor. "It was from an Exhuman, yes. In a way…" She looked like she was going to cry behind her visor. I didn't understand. She was still here, which meant the Exhuman would be dead by now, if he'd tangled with her. The wound didn't even look severe just...extensive. Why it would move her to tears, I couldn't fathom.

I was about to ask another question when AEGIS silently crossed the room and helped Karu roll her sleeve back down and picked up the armor I'd flung to the floor, gingerly replacing it like she was putting a broken egg back together again. Karu stood like a mannequin with cut strings while AEGIS finished with her arm, and then she carefully took whatever it was from Karu's other arm and put it back on her chest with a snap.

Most surprisingly, she gave Karu a small hug before stepping away again. I had no idea what had just happened between these two, but I was happy about it, I guess. Anything which could make the two of them stop fighting was okay in my books. When she stepped away I took a quick glance at Karu's frontside...really not that unusual an occupation for me...and tried to figure out what it might have been. There wasn't really anything there but grenades, ammo, what looked like a flare, and her knife. Nothing unusual she'd need to hide.

"Nobody's going to explain this to me, are they?" I asked.

"Athan, just shut the hell up," AEGIS snapped. She opened the door, Karu gave us a stiff bow, and left, wordlessly. "You're the worst person in the world, did you know that?" she said once Karu was gone.

"I didn't do anything."

She sighed. "I know. I just can't believe...that girl of all women. What is it about you, anyway?" she said, scrutinizing my face.

"Am I still supposed to shut the hell up?" I asked.

"Yes. Don't you ever fucking try to talk to Karu about this, and don't you ever fucking tell anyone else, understand?"

"I don't understand at all."

"Fine. But can you do that anyway?"

"Sure, but--"

"Then we're done. Pretend you never saw it." She sat down. "Fuck, Athan, if a girl is saying 'I'm begging you' not to do something, why do you do it?"

"I wanted to know and she wouldn't tell me."

"You're such an arrogant asshole. Nobody likes that about you, Athan."

"I feel like I went from you two fighting over me to both of you hating me."

"Well, you really did that to yourself, didn't you? All you had to do was tell Karu what you'd said to me yesterday."

"But then she'd hate me."

"Well, now I hate you. Is that better?"

I sat back down in bed, feeling like this whole afternoon had punched me in the face. So much of it, I just didn't understand. I didn't even feel like I'd done anything wrong. Both of them were right and both were wrong in some way, and maybe I should have tried to mediate that a little better, but it seemed like my involvement at all was adding water to sizzling oil.

"AEGIS, I don't understand today," I said, putting the pillow on my face.

"That's because you're an idiot."

"I'm being serious."

"And so am I. I understand exactly why you did what you did, you didn't want to side with anyone, you didn't want to hurt anyone, you didn't want us fighting at all."

"Right."

"The fact you thought that would work proves you're an idiot." She sighed heavily. "Look, what do you think Karu and I both want?"

"Uh, from the argument, I'd say you both want to help me recover in your own ways."

"Oh my GOD, it's like you're a fucking infant!"

"Then stop berating me and tell me!"

"You, you fucking dumbass! We both want you! That's why we have to fight because whoever doesn't fight loses you."

"Nobody's losing me, I'm still here."

"Oh. My. Fucking. No. You know what, She can have you. This is impossible." She got up and paced again, and then upon returning to the chair, spun and slammed it under her heel, splintering it into pieces.

"AEGIS what the hell."

"There is no possible way someone as stupid as you is still alive. It's a mathematical impossibility! I ran the numbers just now. You should have suffocated to death on a cloud of your own statistically-improbable inability by now!"

"Can you please spare me the insults and just explain?"

"I don't know, can you try not to be completely moronic?"

"Yes, I will try," I gritted out, feeling like I really wasn't the one being an idiot here.

"Only one person gets you, Athan. Only one of us wins. Remember yesterday when I said I was content to just be with you, but she had to swoop in and start shit by kissing you? You're so spineless, you'll just fall for whatever girl pushes harder, so we're both here, stuck, arguing because neither of us can afford to do nothing. Because of your spinelessness."

"But you were arguing about my care. Karu said so herself, you were getting tied up in this relationship stuff while she just wanted my well-being. I don't even know that Karu's really even into me still."

"You--" AEGIS seemed to be choking on her own hate for me. "You don't...you...you're serious?"

"Nothing she did today indicated so. I mean, she did kiss me before she left, but the way things are going, I'd half-attribute that to her trying to get at you."

"And...her cuts." She stopped.

"What about them?"

"You don't think that has anything to do with you?"

"No...she said they were caused by an Exhuman."

AEGIS just blinked at me once or twice, shaking her head, before picking up broken pieces of the chair and stuffing them into the hotel's tiny waste bin.

"What, do they?" I said.

"No, Athan. Just...like I said before, forget all about them."

I watched her work with the chair, and it felt like both of us were in a haze. She kept muttering and shaking her head, and I was just spinning my wheels, trying to connect completely unconnected things in my mind. Finally finished, AEGIS flopped down on the bed next to me, her yellow eyes smouldering.

"I don't really hate you," she said in what I thought was an apology. Now that she'd sacrificed a chair on the altar of her emotions and gotten to keep herself busy with cleaning it up, she was back to herself again?

"I'm...I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry."

"I know. I'm still going to help you get better, but...that girl probably isn't wrong. Taking a walk or two and doing some light rehab as you improve will only help. I just...I'm selfish, okay? I don't want to prepare you for what's outside this room. I want to keep you here forever, if I can."

"This is...unusually honest. Aren't you giving up by telling me this."

She sighed heavily. "Well, yeah, but it's bad of me to do. I think we know I have a habit of trying to manage things the way I want and keeping you in the dark, and that's gone badly, what, two times now? And after those I said, I'm supposed to trust you and believe in you. And now here I fucking am, trying to run your life again."

"I guess you could see it that way. There's a big difference between trying to wipe me out and pampering me, though."

"Bad decisions are still bad decisions. Fuck, I'm so mad at me for doing this again!" She stewed at herself for a moment before taking a deep breath and pushing it away. "Anyway. That's why I'm telling you...warning you, really. Don't trust me. I don't want what's best for you. I just want to keep you safe and happy forever."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Don't tell me that. I'm trying to do what's right here. Don't give me that false hope to spare my feelings. It's insulting."

"Sorry."

We both laid there in silence for a while. I wasn't lying, it didn't sound so bad.

"I do think you were doing a fine job on taking care of me. Maybe when my wounds heal more we can focus on getting ready for the world, okay?"

"Sure," she said, looking at the ceiling. "You seem a lot better mentally already. We could probably dip you in a regenerator and send you off whenever...tomorrow even," she suggested, her voice the opposite of hopeful.

"Yeah, maybe," I said. "Maybe next time work calls?"

"Oh, I don't think they're going to do that," she said with a sigh. "I'm a little surprised Karu didn't try to bring you back."

"Why?"

She hesitated and then flipped open her mobile to show me the bounty. My stomach fell. I guess I should have expected I couldn't just vanish like this without repercussions.

"Also means we can't get you into a regenerator anywhere on our own, they'd be looking for that. You want one, we either have to hide again, or you rejoin them."

I pressed the pillow down on my face again. The good news just kept coming today.

"Are you going to go back?" AEGIS asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're off the grid. XPCA lost you, if you never go back, they're just out of luck. But I know what you've been working on is there. So...do you want to go back?"

When she put it that way, it was almost exactly the same choice as earlier. Karu and chasing my impossible goal, or AEGIS and happiness. And I couldn't choose both.

Well. I kind of could. For a while at least.

"I think I'll stay as long as I can," I said. "Once I go in, there'll be no getting back out, right?"

"Don't ask me, I'm the one who's supposed to be trusting you now."

"Right. Then that's the plan."

She gave me a small genuine smile and then turned towards the ceiling, which we both lay and watched for the next few hours in silence together, wrapped in our own thoughts from the day.