Vesper Walda Vasska, Arc 5, Chapter 3
We stood in front of the clear glass windows and the long cemented steps that led to wide, reinforced glass doors. I gazed up at the curves, this place was way bigger than our base across the street. At first glance you might not realize just how many rooms and floors there were. Along the side there was a back entrance that the ambulances used when they were rushing people into the emergency room. The roof had a landing strip for helicopters and Medavac's drop ship. Speaking of which it was sitting up there parked beside several helicopters. The hospital was a bit intimidating. The sterile white walls and floor did not ease my mind at all. The distinct lack of humanity always bugged me about these places. It was impersonal and made you feel like just a number.
I had never really liked hospitals. It seemed like the place you went to die or be turned into a vegetable hooked onto a machine to survive. The needles and the wires and tubes, ugh just thinking about it made me sick. I hated the dentist as well. Their drills and the grinding sound as they bore through your soul. Most of my worst experiences were at the hands of so called doctors and nurses, not going to say any names, but you and I both know who. Isn't that right Sub? She nodded. I sat there while Chief was talking to some nurse at the front desk. Not a single part of this was I looking forward to. From the sounds of it that Richard guy had to have a few parts replaced. I wonder if Medavac is around somewhere? I mean this is where he works. Speak of the devil. He was walking down the corridor towards us. His bulky armor plates were thick as ever and the red cross on his chest was singed a little. The visor was down so that the jawbone of a skull was visible.
“Medavac!” I waved at him.
“Mecha Fairy!” he chuckled with that gravelly voice and wiggled his fingers at me. “What brings you to this neck of the woods?”
“Chief brought me to meet that guy I saved the other day,” I replied, standing next to him.
“Oh yeah, Mr. Richard? He's up on floor five. Wasn't for you that guy would be ashes right now.”
“I always get worried if I did a good job though,” my head hung a little and he slapped me on the back.
“Stop being so self conscious. I don't have a single complaint about your actions so far,” he reassured me.
Chief stood over me. “She is still very rough. Don't give her reckless ideas. You could have killed a lot of people last week on the bridge. Next time you need to work with the group more.”
“I was working with the group,” I said in a small voice. When we were just messing around it was different, but when he talked about hero business there was no funny stuff. I respected him so much, which made every word of criticism sting all that much more. After all half of the reason I am even a hero is so that he will praise me.
“You ran off on your own three times, threw yourself in front of a speeding car and almost dropped a bus filled with children into the canyon. Now look just because you can stop a semi does not mean you can be reckless. I know it was your first week so I am cutting you a little slack,” he said with crossed arms.
I could not raise a voice to argue. Chief was, well he was my coach and he was teaching me everything I needed to know about this Super Hero stuff. If he says that I fucked up, then I fucked up. So far it had been way different than I thought it would be. Here I was expecting cartoon and comic book crap like weirdo villains getting into fights with us, we beat their ass and go home. Yeah, that is not what happened in real life. You see those things always leave out the nitty gritty. In fact they don't even touch on how much damage gets inflicted and we as the heroes have to play a significant role in helping the clean up after the fight or disaster. I mean we gotta comb through the wreckage and find anybody that might be trapped or help somebody who is dying from injuries. Granted, yes I am on the response team that deals with that stuff so we see it more than most.
“Lay off on her she is still getting used to it,” said Medavac, pointing a thick finger at Chief.
“No. He's right. I need to do better,” I replied looking at the floor.
“Damn it, Vesper. I am not trying to put you down. This is constructive criticism. You are rash and violent, I mean hell half the time you are charging straight at the problem like you have a death wish. You need to take things slower and more calculative. Think things through more. You could seriously get hurt if this keeps up.”
“The only thing I am good at is taking a hit. If I hesitate then things get worse.”
“I am worried about you. What if you get so hurt you can't regenerate it?”
“Then I will die? What do you want from me?” my voice trembled. “Tell me. What do you want me to do?”
“Listen to orders.”
“I have been. Not well enough apparently though,” my fists clenched. “Fine, from now on I will do whatever you say and I won't even question any of it.”
He shook his head giving me a firm grip on the shoulder. “I don't want you reliant on me like that.”
“I already am so deal with it,” I sneered back.
Medavac started laughing, “She got you good, boy. Man up and take responsibility for your junior.”
“You don't have to tell me that old man,” said Chief turning away. “I just don't want her clinging to me so much.”
I guess I am being a little clingy and assertive. I essentially just told him that I was his dog. Although that is not too far off from my position in the team. I am basically an attack animal just waiting to be set loose on somebody. What else was I good for? With me running around sniffing things out and taking the bullets the rest of the team is free to do anything they want. That is not a good thought process, but it was making more sense than much else. The only other way to do this would be to think everything was like a video game, I tended to take them rather seriously. There was a can of worms with that as well though. If I started rationalizing things that way my inherent evil might take over. I am a demented monster when I play games, so that is out the window as well.
My arms were crossed while I brooded and Medavac asked from behind me, “Anybody ever tell you, you have a fine booty?”
“I always thought that I did. Chief do I have a nice ass?” I looked myself over.
He dismissively waved at me and Medavac said, “Don't let that old party pooper get you down.”
“Don't call me old. I am ten years younger than you old man,” laughed Chief.
“And I can still kick your ass boy,” they high fived and I felt left out. I put up all four of my hands. Medavac was looking me over and he slapped all four like he was playing paddy cake.
“Hey Medavac you an ass man or a boob guy?” I asked.
“Hard choice. Both are great. There are all types of girls out there. Itty bitty ones with the tightest snatches you ever felt,” he was making hand gestures the whole time. It was impossible not to laugh. “Then you get those big girls with the bazoongas and bubble butts.” Medavac looked around for a moment and whispered to me. “Those subhuman girls are something else though. Never seen a girl lick her own cunt before I went to the Sparkle Kat. Them girls will put your dick in the dirt with how rowdy they are.”
“Where do I scale up on there?” he knew his stuff so I kinda wanted to know.
“You got a solid eight for the rack and seven for that sweet ass.”
“Only a seven?” I pouted.
He gave me a firm slap on the ass and I jumped, “Don't worry about it too much. You look great in that suit.”
“This suit is always riding up my ass though,” I complained.
He gave me the thumbs up. “That is why it is so good.”
Chief put his hand on both of our shoulders. “Stop encouraging her, will you?”
“Alright grumpy gills,” he chuckled and pulled me to the side a little, whispering, “If you ever want to get some pussycat I will take you next time I hit up the Sparkle Kat.”
“Why would I want a pussycat?” I asked a little too loud.
“What did I just say? You are not going to take her with you to get hookers and blow!” seethed Chief barely able to keep his voice down.
“I never said nothing about blow,” said Medavac with his arm over my shoulder. “I bet she would love to get a lap dance, hell she might want to give one.”
“Never really thought about it,” I scratched my helmet.
“You are a bad influence on her. Don't you have better things to do?” Chief grabbed my hand and dragged me away from him. “Come on Vesper lets leave this perverted old man to his ramblings.”
Medavac snapped his fingers and pointed at me, “Offer is always good.”
I put my hands up in a shrug not really sure what to do. It did sound like fun, but then again it would piss off Chief. Who knows I might hit him up on it at some point. It could be a sort of undercover op or something? Seemed like a good idea to check out the base of the villains. He was not too perturbed and followed along behind, whistling. We took the elevator to the fifth floor and as usually I looked over the panel to see how many floors there were. I might be a little OCD about this. The hospital was eight floors above ground and three below ground, at the least that were accessible from this elevator. There was probably a few secret floors down there that only Supers could get access to though. For all I know there is some evil underground lair that nobody knows about. What are the odds of that though?
Our little tour came to a stop in front of Mister Richard's room. I lingered for a moment feeling some sort of trepidation. Honestly I did not understand it, just last night I did not even hesitate to throw myself in front of a speeding car and yet here I am afraid to receive a man's thanks. I mostly just did not want to see what he looked like, knowing that I had done it to him. Medavac prodded me from behind and I took the plunge into the room. He lay there with tubes and wires sticking out of his skin and my carapace felt like it came to life with wriggling worms. The steady beep of his heart monitor was to the side and I watched as some fluid moved down an IV bag into his arm. He looked weak to say the least, I got the feeling he could not really move if his life depended on it. He had a robo hand and it reminded me even more that all of this was my fault.
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We stood around him and his head turned towards us. It was bandaged a little as he looked at us. His voice was hoarse and he almost croaked, “There she is, my angel.”
I took a step back. What the fuck was that about? I scratched the side of the helmet a little. “They got you on the good stuff I see.”
“Oh yeah hes higher than a kite right now. Got the morphine going,” said Medavac.
“I am so happy to see you,” he said reaching towards me limply. I looked over at Chief and he gave a nod. I took his hand and sat beside the bed on a little stool. His fingers grasped lightly and my own just gently pet the hand. I did not know what else to do. I am not good at this stuff.
“So how are you holding up?” I asked.
He did not really answer, mumbling to himself about something. “Coca... need to get it out.”
“Coco? What you want some Coco Puffs or something? I don't know if we can accommodate that,” I said looking at Medavac who shook his head.
“He is on a liquid diet until he gets healed up.”
“I am sorry you can't have any,” my voice was as gentle as a synthetic voice could be. “Is there something else you want? If you don't mind me asking what were you doing in the slums to begin with?”
He squirmed a little bit to my words. It seemed he was having a bad trip. “I, I don't know where... I have a family, let me go.”
“You have a family?” I asked.
“No. That was a lie. I had to, to escape from hamster girl. Don't leave me, please, please angel don't leave me.”
“I am not going anywhere just calm down,” I stroked his hand and it seemed to have a good effect on him. “Who the hell is hamster girl?”
Medavac and Chief were looking at each other. I am getting a very bad feeling about this. Chief spoke up, “I think he means gerbil and if he does then he means Nibbles. Son of a bitch.”
“Who the fuck is Nibbles?”
Medavac answered, “Nibbles is a well, a Weregerbil. She is a mean little thing that can bite through just about anything. If she is involved it means Glitter Kitten is closely involved. She is after all the fourth highest up in the command structure of the Mad Dogs, though there are a few stronger than her.”
“Why is she high up if others are stronger than her?”
“She is smart and cunning. Most of the Subhumans down there are not exactly gifted with wit,” said Chief.
“So I see,” I mumbled, looking away from them back to Mister Richard. “It is alright now. Nobody is going to hurt you.”
“Thank you,” he said and oh boy did that feel good to hear.
Sure the guy was out of his gourde, but it feels pretty good to get thanked. I will take what I can get, better than being screamed at and called a monster. I glanced around and saw a crumpled up piece of paper on the floor. Seems that the janitors are slacking. Two fingers snagged and after a few moments unraveled it. It looked like a hastily drawn map. I changed position, looking at it from different angles in an attempt to figure it out. The only words that were legible were, “Stash. Sparkle Kat. Three Dog. Honey Badger.”
What any of that shit meant I had no idea. I guess Sparkle Kat Cafe, but what the hell was the rest of it? Looking at it from that point of view, I could sort of figure out where things were. I would have to actually go down there and follow this bizarre scavenger hunt to see what was at the end of the rainbow so to speak. That was not a very good idea, so I guess I will never know if there was a pot of gold or not, not worth fighting off a bunch of animal people. I considered throwing it away, but Sub was interested, so it got slipped into a compartment for safe keeping.
He had drifted off to sleep and I gently slid my hand free. “So is that it?” I asked.
“No you are going to stay here and guard him,” said Chief.
I frowned, “What the fuck are you on about? So what now I am your guard dog?”
“If he had a run in with Nibbles it means he pissed off Glitter Kitten most likely. She might order a hit or something if she learns he is not dead.”
“Does she read the paper?”
“Probably, why?”
“Then she most likely knows he is alive and not fatally injured,” I said, holding up last Wednesday's paper.
Chief tapped his helmet for a moment. “I will be back in five hours to relieve you. If you need help call it in otherwise keep the line clear.”
“Wait you are actually leaving me here? I fucking hate hospitals! Am I getting paid for this?”
“I bought you breakfast.”
“That was to make up for waking me up so damned early.”
“Alright I will buy you dinner later.”
“I will see your dinner and raise one of those blueberry pies your wife makes that you were bragging about,” I pointed at him as though I had him cornered.
He just started laughing, “A small sacrifice, you are in for a treat. Alright so stay here and keep a close eye on Mister Richard. I will be back around three.”
“He is in good hands,” I grinned, waving them off. Medavac walked him to the elevator then circled back, kicking up a chair next to me. Seems I have some sort of entertainment. He sat there smoking a cigar... this is a hospital you know.
“You are sharing that pie with me you know,” said Medavac.
“What the hell are you on about? I asked for it. If you wanted one you should have asked. Get your own damned pie.”
He shook his head and started riffling through his pockets pulling out some cards. “I would but hes stingy and won't get me any. He is doting on you though so that is my ticket to some tasty pie.”
I looked him over. “Why do you want that pie so bad? Wait is blueberry pie code for drugs?”
“You think that brat does drugs?” he laughed. “No they are just really good. I remember the last time I had one was when I was over at his house for Tim's fifth birthday party. We were grilling up meat and stuff.”
Something there caught my attention, no, not the meat... I mean it did, but there was something else too. “So you have been over to his house before?”
“Well yeah. Why?”
“You think you could show me where it is at?” I asked.
He gave me a long look, “Why would you want to know where his family lives?”
“I will give you half the pie if you tell me,” I wiggled my fingers at him.
“You did not answer my question,” he said crossing his arms. “Now look here all kidding aside this is serious. It is best if you don't know in case some villain captures you and tortures you for information. Why do you think most of us keep it hidden and don't reveal our real names or faces to people outside of our trusted zone. It is a little different with the Juniors, they don't have enemies. At the least not yet and by the time that they do you guys will be as close as me, Chief, Neon Nurse and Enforcer.”
“Alright I get it,” I replied hanging my head. Now that I think about it was a rather stupid idea to begin with. “I was going ask to see if I could get more pies on the side or something. Just forget I said anything though, I see your point.”
He pat me with his hand and a couple of pictures entered my field of vision. It looked like Glitter Kitten or maybe one of the strippers it was hard to tell, they all look a like. There was a bunch of sexy poses, she was naked in most of them, well as bare as fur will allow. She was tangled up in a ball of yarn in one, it was rather cute honestly.
I looked up at him and he grinned, “I will give you these if you give me three slices.”
Well I do enjoy looking at cat girls. I pocketed the photos and shook his hand. “Sounds like a deal.”
“Pleasure doing business with you.”
“Hey I was wondering, why have I not seen Enforcer, like at all?” I asked.
“Oh he is working on the other side of town, the east side. He has to deal with the Diablos and the Sixes. Scarlet Sweeper has the North of the city to patrol and Dreamer's group watch over the middle, they also help out if there are calls. Basically all us people with experience are spread out over the city.”
“How come Downtown has you and Chief then?”
“I just hang out waiting for calls,” he said, lounging and taking a heavy drag off of the cigar. “Only reason I am here is because my last call was here. I roam all over, where ever they need help. Every base has a hospital, fire station and a police station, but depending on who the resident hero of the sector is it changes what is the biggest influence in the area. For instance Enforcer is set up over there with militaristic swat teams, they use a gimped version of our suits just like the firefighters and my paramedics as I am sure you have seen. His base is a walled fortress with gun towers set up right at the edge of the Slums to make sure they don't try anything.”
“They use lethal force?”
“No, they use tranquilizers. However if shit gets real they don't pull punches. Right now he is actually more busy with the Sixes and Sevens fighting the Diablos than he is with the Mad Dogs. You would not believe how much the Irish hate the Mexicans. Speaking of Slums they have been rather quiet as of late. Either Glitter Kitten got knocked up again or they are up to something.”
“Is it quiet? I mean almost a week ago I rescued Richard over there.”
“No, trust me on this one. When they move it is not quiet at all. You will see next full moon for sure.”
“Well let's just hope that some new kittens are on the way and not some devious plot,” I said a little worried.
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Next week Vesper and Medavac face off against Den Mother and Nibbles ^^