Chapter 19: High Fever
I searched through the robbers and found a bundle of zip ties in one of their pockets. Quickly, I secured the orc-masked leader and dragged him to one of the nearby seats, binding him tightly to ensure he wouldn’t be able to escape. I then moved systematically, erasing the memories of the remaining staff, making them forget my existence entirely. It was a delicate process that took roughly three minutes.
The confrontation itself took roughly five minutes, and if it hadn’t been for me, this place would have been robbed by a good amount already. Finally, I crossed my arms and waited for reinforcements from Dead Whore to arrive. Soon, several black sedans gathered outside, and Chris stepped out, followed closely by Steph. A group of armed men followed them, quickly securing the perimeter of the bank.
“I owe you big time on this one,” Chris said as he approached me. “And you even kept one of them alive just for me. This deserves a reward.”
“There’s no need for a reward,” I replied.
I started to head for the door, but one of Chris’s henchmen blocked my path. I frowned beneath my mask, feeling the fatigue from stretching my powers to their limit.
“Move,” I ordered.
“Not unless the boss permits it,” the grunt responded firmly.
“Leave him be,” Chris instructed. “The enforcers will arrive soon, so we have a lot to do.”
“Understood, boss.” The henchman stepped aside, allowing me to pass.
“Until next time, Mr. Nobody,” Chris called after me.
Unfortunately for him, I had no desire for a next time.
I returned home around eight in the evening, the sky painted with the soft hues of a setting sun.
As soon as I stepped inside, Lois greeted me with a mix of excitement and impatience. “I’m hungry! Where have you been?” she exclaimed.
“I brought take-out,” I replied, lifting a bucket of fried chicken for her to see.
“Wow! Yum!” she said, her eyes lighting up at the sight.
“Half and half,” I reminded her. “Don’t eat it all, okay?”
“But I’m hungry, and you made me wait!” Lois pouted, already reaching for a piece.
“Just leave some for me,” I insisted, giving her a playful nudge.
Leaving Lois to enjoy her dinner, I headed down to the underground hideout. I dropped the two duffel bags filled with money on the floor and removed my mask and hoodie. Underneath, the bulletproof vest I wore bore the marks of several gunshots. I realized that the pain hadn’t registered at the time, likely due to the effects of my power.
I carefully examined my wounds. Bullet grazes marked my shoulders and arms. Although the injuries weren’t serious, I knew I would still need stitches. I also noticed some bruising here and there. Navigating through the hideout was second nature to me by now, so it didn’t take long to locate the shelf where Lois kept her medical supplies. I grabbed a small box of sutures and returned to the living area, where Lois was devouring the fried chicken like she hadn’t eaten in days.
“What happened to you?” she asked, her eyes widening at the sight of my injuries.
“I tripped on the stairs,” I said, trying to play it off.
“And you got lacerations from that?” she replied skeptically, her gaze moving across my bloody torso. Too much bruising that it started to bleed. Ugh… that wasn’t good.
“Just kidding. I need you to patch me up.” I handed her the box of sutures.
Lois washed her greasy hands and then took the box from me. She had me sit next to her and began stitching me up, her hands working with practiced efficiency. To ease the process, I used my power to make myself forget the pain, allowing her to finish her work quickly and without interruption.
As I sat there, allowing Lois to work on my wounds, my mind drifted back to the confrontation at the bank. I had to admit it: I was terrible at group fights. I had been under-equipped and unprepared for the sheer number of opponents. Sure, I could have used my abilities to run away, but that would have meant leaving behind the duffel bags—and the ten million credits I had deposited in the bank. Maybe I had been too greedy, but the thought of losing that money had been too much to bear.
“So, would you tell me what exactly happened?” Lois asked, her eyes filled with curiosity.
“No,” I replied, not wanting to delve into the details of the chaotic evening.
“Hard ass,” she muttered under her breath.
“What?” I asked, somewhat amused by her choice of words.
“It’s my word of the day. It means a tough and uncompromising person. Personally, I think it’s synonymous with stupid.”
“You’re getting more eloquent by the day,” I commented, a small smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.
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“The dictionary helps,” Lois responded, her expression serious as she finished up the last of the stitches.
We ate in silence afterward, the only sound in the room being the rustle of the take-out bag as I pulled out the last piece of chicken. I only managed to eat three pieces; Lois had devoured the rest like a starved hog. As I sat there, wondering if I should order more food, Lois suddenly poked one of my bruises.
“Ouch, that hurts!” I exclaimed, jerking away from her finger.
I glanced up to find Lois blushing furiously, her eyes fixed on my shirtless body. I shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.
“W-what?” I stammered, unsure of what was going through her head.
“I don’t know why, but I wanted to keep poking them,” she admitted, biting her lip.
A mix of panic and disbelief washed over me. There was no way Lois was feeling… that. I gulped, my mind racing to process the situation. It seemed this was a new experience for Lois since she lost her memories. She reached out and poked another bruise, and I yelped in pain, scooting away from her.
Lois smirked, apparently enjoying my reaction, but she managed to hold back from continuing her assault. Inwardly, I was screaming and praying that this new Lois wouldn’t develop sadistic tendencies.
“Can we… kiss?” she asked tentatively, her eyes meeting mine.
I blinked, caught off guard by her sudden request.
What should I do? The question echoed in my mind as I recalled the old Lois, the one before she lost her memories, the one who was always so sure of herself.
"How about be a man and just take it?" her voice seemed to taunt me from the past.
I sighed and inched closer to Lois, feeling the weight of her expectation. Then, without overthinking it, I leaned in and went for her lips. The kiss was brief, just a few seconds of intimate contact before I pulled away.
"Goodnight," I said, planning to head to the sofa and crash for the night. My body was worn out, and I could feel every bruise and graze from the earlier confrontation.
But before I could take a step, Lois grabbed my wrist, her touch soft but insistent. "W-wait," she stammered.
I turned to face her. "What?"
"Let’s go to… bed."
I hesitated, searching her eyes for what she meant. I was certain this wasn’t an invitation for anything more than companionship. Lois was just lonely, and even if it was more, I knew my battered body wouldn’t cooperate. Overexerting myself now wasn’t an option.
"Cuddle?" I offered, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes! Cuddle!" she replied, her voice lightening with relief.
And so, we ended up in bed together, sharing the space like a husband and wife might. We slept in a close embrace, her warmth soothing the aches in my body. There was something comforting in its simplicity, in the way we just held each other, the world, and its troubles left outside the door.
Before I knew it, I was suffering from a severe fever. Everything felt hazy, and my skin was on fire. Lois pressed the back of her palm against my forehead, her expression turning to worry.
"You’re burning hot, forty-nine degrees," she exclaimed. "Here, drink lots of water!"
She propped me up from the bed, carefully supporting me as I drank from the glass she offered. The water was cool and soothing, but it did little to calm the raging heat within me.
"I… have to go," I managed to mumble, my voice barely a whisper.
Ignoring Lois’s concerned protests, I rummaged through our shared wardrobe, pulling out fresh clothes. Each movement sent waves of dizziness through me, but I pushed through. I had to get to Chet’s café and retrieve Lois’s forged identifications for her cover story. The sooner I had the documents, the safer we would be.
"You should rest!" Lois pleaded, her voice strained with worry.
"I have to go," I insisted, my resolve unwavering despite the fever clouding my thoughts.
I stumbled on my way to the door, my legs giving out beneath me. Lois caught me before I collapsed.
"I'm fine," I mumbled, trying to convince both her and myself.
"No. You are not," she replied firmly.
"But I need to go," I insisted, the urgency of the task weighing heavily on my mind.
"I will go," she declared, leaving no room for argument.
I opened my mouth to protest, but she cut me off. "I will go, and that’s final."
Lois guided me back to the bed, gently removing my shoes and socks before tucking me under the blankets. After removing my shirt, she then fetched a cloth and dampened it with warm water, wiping my fevered skin. As I lay there, I felt a mix of frustration and gratitude, knowing that despite my stubbornness, Lois was there to take care of me.
"You don’t have to keep everything to yourself," Lois said, her voice soft yet firm. "I don’t know the full context, but you care for me. That’s why I will care for you."
She looked almost remorseful, her eyes searching mine for something—perhaps a confirmation of her worth. "Tell me, Tom. How much do you know about me?"
"Everything," I replied, my voice barely above a whisper.
"Can you tell me?" she asked, her eyes pleading.
I hesitated, the weight of her past heavy in the air between us. "You had a hard... childhood," I finally said.
"Yes, I knew. I was part of the Dome project," she revealed.
My breath caught in my throat. "H-how?" I stammered, caught off guard by her sudden admission. Did she finally recover her memories? Was my old Lois back?
"While you were away, I started inventorying the books in the base and found my journal. To be specific, the journal of a past me," she explained, her voice tinged with a hint of sorrow. "I’ve done terrible things, and most often, I find myself asking—do I deserve you?"
Her words hung in the air, a poignant reminder of the darkness we both carried. I reached out, taking her hand in mine, offering silent comfort and solidarity in our shared struggles.
And here I thought she had recovered her old memories, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“The past. How much do you remember?” I asked, the question heavy with the weight of our shared history.
“Nothing. I had nothing,” Lois replied, her voice distant, as though she was speaking from a place far away. “It is strange, seeing my past self as another person and not a part of me… It felt like I was cheating. I don’t know if I was Lois, or zero-three-five-six, or the Ebony Knight.”
Her words lingered in the room, a testament to her struggle with identity and memory. I nodded, understanding the confusion and turmoil she must have felt. She was caught between her current self and the fragments of her past, uncertain of where one ended and the other began.
As she spoke, I felt my eyelids grow heavy. The day's events had taken their toll on me, both physically and emotionally. I soon drifted into a restless sleep, my dreams filled with images of the game ‘Versus,’ the game upon which this world—or universe, as I knew it—was based.
Like Lois, I had thought the same, especially after I lost my past life’s memories from my shedding. The fragments of my previous existence had slipped away, leaving me with a vague sense of loss and a struggle to reconcile who I was with who I am now. It felt as if I was floating between two worlds, tethered to neither fully.
The night wore on, and as I drifted in and out of consciousness, I pondered the connection Lois and I shared. We were both remnants of a past that had shaped us into what we had become—yet it wasn’t enough to define us completely. Our experiences since then, our choices, and the paths we’d taken had molded us into different beings.
Lois had drifted off beside me, her breathing soft and steady. In the quiet moments, I realized how far we had come. From our initial struggles to survive to finding comfort in each other’s company, we had both learned to navigate the complexities of this world with our shared knowledge and strength.