"C'mon. Can you walk?" Parker asked, letting Harvel prop himself up on her arm.

"Yeah, should be alright. You got anything for broken fingers?" He asked, holding up his gnarled hand.

"We have a couple splints in here. How's your back feeling?" She answered, glancing at his backwards fingers.

"I'm good, I think. You got any clothes in here?" Harvel asked, scanning around the remains of the ambulance. He was still wearing his ragged hospital gown, and though he hadn't noticed the cold much during the crises, at this point he was nearly frozen through. The only parts of him that didn't feel like they were about to fall off were his fingers, throbbing with white hot pain.

"Here, some of my spares. Don't mean to ruin the mood you two, but we should get moving soon. Dunno who might be watching." Aldon said, tossing Harvel a stack of clothes as he rounded the back of the AV. Parker glowered at him a bit. Harvel didn't even attempt to catch them as they hit him in the chest and flopped to the floor.

"I might help you feed yourself, but you're on your own for this." Parker said, reluctantly picking up the clothes and draping them over his shoulder.

"Fine, I'll get you sorted out kid. Don't pay her no mind. Probably just irritated. We haven't been taken down in a while. They must have really wanted you." Aldon said as Parker stepped down from the AV. He grabbed the clothes and pulled the gown off of Harvel, leaving him standing in the wind, stark naked.

Harvel grabbed the underwear as quickly as he could and slipped them on with his good hand. The waistband read "Born to Fly" in slightly faded black lettering. He was about the same build as the old pilot, perhaps a bit taller, leaving the pants tighter in the crotch than he would have preferred. After getting some help with the shirt he was fully dressed.

Aldon stepped back to inspect him as Harvel slipped on the long blue coat he'd handed him. He leaned forward and squeezed a spot on Harvels lapel, causing little blue lights to glow along the zipper. Immediately Harvel felt the coat begin to warm itself along his back and arms.

"Well, you need a shave, maybe a haircut as well, but it'll do for now." Aldon said, pulling the coat a little tighter around Harvels shoulders. He ran his hand through Harvels brown, unkempt hair a few times, pushing it back off of his forehead.

"I appreciate it but I don't see why you're making a big fuss about how I look. I'm just glad to be warm. And alive." Harvel said, pulling and holding the warmest bits of the coat against his body.

"Have a reputation to uphold kid. Can't have you walking around looking like the sewers just spit you out if you're going to hang with me. This is going to hurt by the way." Aldon said, chuckling and grabbing Harvels left wrist. He'd grabbed a splint and was having a look at Harvels fingers.

Harvel sucked in some air and held his breath. He nodded and held his tongue against the top of his mouth, looking up at the orange sky above them. It was nearly dawn. Aldon pulled quickly on both of the fingers, sending immense pain up Harvels wrist as the disconnected bones shifted tentatively back into place. Aldon wrapped the fingers together with some tape and slid the splint into place.

"Good, you didn't even cry. Would you like a lollipop?" Aldon asked, smiling and opening a drawer to his left. Harvel leaned over to see it was full of rifle rounds. Some looked as if they were too large to be used in Parkers rifle.

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"Ope! Wrong drawer." Aldon said, quickly slamming it shut and opening another one above it. This one was in fact filled with lollipops.

"I think I'm good, thank you though." Harvel answered, still cradling his throbbing hand.

"Just as well, Parker likes to keep them for herself anyways. She'd never admit it but she's got a bit of a sweet tooth." He said, pushing the drawer closed and latching it. "Bit of advice for later, eh?" Aldon finished, nudging Harvel in the ribs with his elbow and shooting him a conspiratorial wink. Harvel winced reflexively. He rubbed his side, eyeing Aldon with suspicion as he did.

'What's the old man getting at with that last one? Why should it matter to me if Parker likes sweets? It wasn't like, wait. Ah, I see.' He thought, realization dawning. He'd been here before, just not very often in the last few years.

"Aldon, you might not have noticed but I don't think she likes me all that much." Harvel commented, glancing at Parker, currently discussing the details of their situation with a couple of local police. To his surprise they didn't seem the least bit worried.

"Heh! You might not have noticed young man, but she isn't exactly the talkative type. She's said more to you in the last three hours than she's said to anyone, including me, on our last three jobs." Aldon scoffed, leaning in close. Parker had turned around and was eyeing the two of them.

"Plus, she didn't tranq you the first chance she got. That alone says something in my book." He finished, putting his arm around Harvels shoulder and waving at Parker in a reassuring manner.

"You two ready? I'm getting hungry." Parker said, pulling off her collar and tossing it onto the floor of the AV.

"We're good. What do you think?" Aldon asked, presenting the now fully clothed Harvel. Harvel tried to stand up straight and gave her his best nervous smile. It wasn't a very good one. Though he did keep them clean, his bottom teeth were so crooked you could fashion keys out of them.

She looked him up, and then down, and then whilst stifling a laugh, up again. The pants really were very tight. With quite a bit of effort Harvel kept his good hand from reorganizing the one spot he was most acutely aware of. Doing so would be admitting to his shame.

Without looking him in the eye, Parker leaned in and picked her masher up off of the floor. Laser focused, she placed both it and Doreen in some compartment below the bumper. She managed to get out a "Looks fine." as she stifled another laugh and walked away towards the restaurant.

"Don't worry too much bud. Nothing wrong with being "up front" eh?" Aldon said, sauntering off the back of the AV and into the street. After a bit of readjustment Harvel soon followed, still pulling at the fabric situated around his crotch. The pants were still quite uncomfortable.

Though they only had to walk a few yards to get to the restaurant Harvel tried to take in everything he could about this part of the city. He'd never really been outside of the Wharf save for when they traveled underground, and when he'd been to the Dome. To be honest he had very little experience with the neighborhoods outside of his own.

The street was lit from nearly every angle by neon signs and bright street lights. He looked down to realize he didn't have a shadow. It must have been nearly four in the morning by this point and he couldn't see a single unlit corner. It nearly made his eyes water.

Whatever corner they were on was only about half a mile from the edge of the Swamp. The darkened towers loomed over the streets like a massive wave only moments away from crashing down upon them. It was like looking in a mirror. On one side, civilization at its brightest and most advanced, on the other the same civilization brought low by the failure of a single aspect of that advancement.

He would have considered the thought a bit poetic, had he not unconsciously used nearly eleven expletives while thinking it. Harvel looked at the sign for Phó Saigon, not yet understanding the old Earth reference. He would never be a poet. He didn’t quite know the words for that sort of thing.