Chpt. 14) I Rise

Haru opened her eyes blearily and looked around the room. She laid in what looked to be a medical bay with a curtain pulled around her cot and had an I.V. tube in her left arm. She blinked a few times to rid the blurriness from her eyes and felt the familiar gunk in the corners of her eyes. Trying to lift her right arm to wipe the build-up of gunk from her eyes, she felt something heavy holding her hand down. Looking over, she wiped her eyes with her free hand and saw a familiar blond head holding her arm down, her fingers interlocked with hers, and her chest slowly rising and falling in blissful sleep.

She smiled down at the sleeping form of Violet, and after wiping her hand on the bed sheets, she ran her fingers through the woman’s short hair. After one stroke, Violet jumped and sat up, looking up and around to lock eyes with Haru as a small smile slowly spread across her beautiful face. “Hey,” Violet whispered as she wiped the sleep from her eyes, “How do you feel?”

Haru scoffed as she whispered, “A bit dizzy. And tired. How long was I asleep?”

Violet looked sullenly down as she sighed, “You’ve been asleep for three years.”

Haru narrowed her eyes at her friend as she fell silent for a moment before saying, “Seriously, how long?”

Violet refused to look Haru in the eyes for a moment before letting out a puff of air, “All right. You caught me. You’ve been asleep for a week.”

“A week?” Haru chuckled and let her head fall back to her pillow, “I could’ve sworn I only slept a few days. I guess my guess was off.”

Violet chuckled as well before falling silent again. She looked as though she didn’t know what to say. Haru felt her squeeze her hand tighter before whispering, “You should’ve told me.”

“Told you what?” Haru asked, cocking her head.

“You should’ve told me you were seeing that bastard Brineck,” Violet growled, venom creeping into her voice.

Haru pulled her hand free of Violet’s and scowled at her, “My clients’ privacy is important, and they all trust me to keep their identities private. I will never tell you their identities.”

“I don’t care about all your other clients!” Violet spat, standing up, “What I do care about is making sure you’re safe! And that bastard is one of the most dangerous men in the galaxy!”

“That doesn’t matter!” Haru shot back, “I would never expect you to divulge any of your clients, no matter how dangerous they are or their reputation!”

“YOU ARE NOT ME!” Violet yelled, her anger reaching a boiling point. Haru recoiled at Violet’s outburst and felt stunned at the reaction. Violet took a deep breath, “You are not me. If a client tries to hurt me, they won’t get a second chance, and they hardly ever survive the first chance.”

“That’s not—”

“The point?” Violet finished Haru’s sentence, cutting her off, “You know my past. You know more than most. You knew my history with Brineck,” Violet spat each sentence out as though it sickened her, “You should’ve told me you were seeing Brineck. You shouldn’t have taken him on as a client in the first place. I can’t keep you safe if you don’t tell me everything. I can’t—”

Violet cut herself off as she struggled to say what she needed to say. Haru reached out and pulled her close, bringing Violet’s head to her chest. Haru stroked Violet’s hair slowly and silenced her, “Shhhh. Shhh. Shhh. It’s all right. I know. I know.”

Violet sniffed and spoke into Haru’s chest, “Do you though?”

Haru nodded, rubbing her cheek against the top of Violet’s head, “I do. I know.” After a moment of silence, Haru gently pushed Violet away and looked into her yellow and blue eyes, “I know I’m not you. I know I can’t take care of myself like you take care of yourself. But I do have my ways of protecting myself. I am fine and will always be there for you. And I’m glad that you were there for me, too.”

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Haru smiled as she pressed her hand against Violet’s cheek and wiped a tear away with her thumb as Violet smiled, leaning into the touch. Then, the curtain was flung open rudely, revealing a beautiful young woman in heels with boxy glasses and long, curled purple hair with blue and pink highlights tied up in a tight bun. She had porcelain skin and wore black scrubs under a lab coat. The woman scowled down at the two of them with golden eyes and growled, “You two need to be quiet. You’re disturbing the other patients.”

Haru scowled back and asked, “Violet, who is this woman?”

Violet stood and gestured to the woman, clearing her throat, “Well, this is Dr. Whisper.”

Haru blinked and looked the woman up and down again before blushing with embarrassment, “Oh, uh, Dr. Whisper. I didn’t know you were here. I see you’ve gotten work done.” her eyes then wandered down to the doctor’s chest, noting that it was bigger than hers, “A lot of work done. It seems.”

Dr. Whisper sighed, “I am Dr. Elaina Whisper. You must have known my father, Dr. Ellie Whisper.”

Haru mouthed the word, “Oh,” and nodded before scowling at Violet, “You should’ve introduced us properly, Violet. Why do we need an overly sexy doctor?”

“Because she’s good at her job, and I like having eye candy around,” Violet said hurriedly, “I’ll just leave you two to get acquainted.” Then she turned and left, leaving Haru and Dr. Whisper alone as the doctor closed the curtain around them.

***

I walked away from Haru and Dr. Whisper, letting them do their medical check-up. I wiped my face with the back of my hand and huffed a deep breath. I will keep her by my side no matter what she says. No more clients that I don’t know. I’ll be like a security escort for the escort or something like that. I nodded to myself and began to walk toward the exit when alarms began blaring from the corner of the room. I reacted quickly and pulled a knife and pistol from my jacket, and aimed for the source of the noise.

There, in the corner of the room, Jin’s tank screens flashed red and blared the alarms. Dr. Whisper rushed out from behind Haru’s curtain and to Jin’s tank. I followed a step behind her and asked, “What’s happening?!”

Dr. Whisper didn’t answer immediately and instead focused on the flashing screens. After a couple of seconds, she answered, “There’s something wrong with his re-breather. His lungs are filling with fluids.”

“What do we need to do?” I asked, and Dr. Whisper didn’t answer immediately again as she examined the console.

Then she cursed under her breath, answering, “The only thing we can do.” She began tapping in a command to the console, her fingers moving quickly. Once she stopped, a red button popped out from under the console, and she slammed her palm against it. Immediately, all the alarms stopped, and the screens stopped flashing. The murky blue fluids in the tank began to drain rapidly.

Within ten seconds, all the fluids were drained from the tank, revealing a child no older than Sparky, suspended in the air by a harness and some rope, a breathing tube shoved down his mouth, and a cap on his head connected to hundreds of wires. He wore nothing, and his skin was dark blue and almost transparent, with no hair on his body. This is the new Jin. The glass cylinder around the tank began to descend into the base of the tank, only opening halfway before stopping. Dr. Whisper didn’t hesitate before rushing over to him and undoing the harness, pulling his re-breather out of his mouth with a long tube following after it.

She dragged him out of the tank and set him gently on the floor, checking his pulse and his breathing. “He’s not breathing,” she said a moment before she began chest compressions, “One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.”

“Cou—BLAGH!!” after a few seconds of chest compressions, Jin coughed and threw up the fluids in his lungs. Dr. Whisper quickly rolled him over on his side so the vomit didn’t go back down his throat. He then blinked a few times before squeezing his eyes shut and asked, “What happened?”

“There was a problem with your re-breather. Your lungs were filling with fluids,” Dr. Whisper answered between breaths, “I had to pull you out of there.”

Jin nodded and said, “Thank you, Dr. Whisper. How do I look?”

“Like you’re a fourteen or fifteen-year-old abnormally tall Smurf,” I answered, unable to hold back the jokes now that I knew Jin was okay.

“Fives?” Jin asked questioningly as he started to shiver, “You have the oldest taste in media that I’ve ever seen. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re a thousand-year-old bitch.”

I laughed, “HA! True. Let’s get you into a bed and cover-up that micro willy you have.” Jin nodded, and I helped Dr. Whisper pick him up and carry him to the nearest bed before covering him with a blanket.

“Thank you both for everything. I’ll need some time to recover and to let my body grow and heal a little more. Dr. Whisper, I imagine I’ll need vitamins and other supplements?” Jin asked.

“Yes. I’ll be providing those when you have an appetite. After that, we’ll give you ten-minute UV treatments every other hour for twelve hours. Other than that, you just need food and rest,” Dr. Whisper answered.

Jin nodded, “Good to hear. Fives, please have Alexandra examine the tank for the problem that led to this.”

“Sure, I suppose,” I relented, “But you’ll owe Haru and I some cocktails when you’re better.”

Jin chuckled, “It’s a deal.” I smiled and nodded to Dr. Whisper before turning to leave and find Sparky.

***