FIVE: PART 2

A bell dinged as the door to the restaurant opened, and Avery stepped out onto the street. "Alright, see you tomorrow!" She called, giving a wave to the owner who was still inside, doing some last-minute closing tasks. He had let her go, and after a long night dealing with diner customers, she was not going to stay longer than she needed to. There was an event that night, half price drinks and live music. It attracted more customers than usual, which created more noise than she would have liked. Even the busy streets of nighttime Haven seemed quiet as she stepped out into the cool breeze.

As she walked through the darkened streets of Haven, she thought about all that had happened since she had first arrived. She had her own apartment, a small one room place in a nice spot in town. It was all she could afford, and rent wasn't exactly easy, but she got by fine. Karma had left shortly after they came to Haven, and she hadn't seen him since, it had been months. She saw Bing quite often, but he seemed to be the only one left. Ella had returned to where they came from, another city called Hargreave, the place they were before they had met her in the fighting pits. Ella was apparently looking for something, and she hadn't heard from the girl since.

When she thought back to her time in Haven, it was unfortunately, not what she hoped for. What she hoped would be more freedom, and good memories, turned out to be more mundane, and loneliness. Her friends had left, she worked multiple jobs, and she just went through the days working, watching weeks and months pass by. She was disappointed in it all.

She had at least stayed stable so far, but sometimes she had cut it close. She missed her friends. Even though she saw Bing still, it wasn't as often as it used to be. She had no idea what he was up to, and it seemed like he only ever came around to recharge, which wasn't something he needed to do often.

It was a half hour walk back to her apartment. She was lucky to find jobs nearby where she lived. The commute was easy enough, she didn't mind the walk when the weather was nice. She had some bags with her as she walked up the stairs to her floor of her apartment, built with open air hallways and staircases. There was no lobby, no central place of control, just rooms in which hundreds lives all cluttered on the same block.

Avery lived in the twelfth room on the fifth floor, room 12-5. That was what she called home in Haven, one of many rooms in the many buildings of a massive city's habitation complex. It made her feel small, and she didn't like it. However, it was affordable, and that was enough for her to put aside her distaste for the scale of it all.

It was just another day, another night of doing nothing only to go back to work tomorrow. At least that's what she thought, until she saw a familiar face sitting against her front door. She dropped her bags at the sight of a skinny, white haired boy bleeding all over the floor. The excitement that came with seeing him was immediately ripped out of her soul and thrown down the five floors beneath her and onto the street to be run over by the oncoming trucks as worry and fear forced its way in.

She ran over to him and fell before him. "Karma!" She shouted, lifting his head up to check if his eyes were open. They were, though his face looked weak, she could see a dim, faint smile growing on his face. She sighed. Seeing him hurt and bleeding was no new sight for her, and if he managed a smile, she knew it wasn't too serious. "What did you do?"

"Got stabbed." He said simply, his voice was weak, but still carried the same careless attitude he always seemed to have toward everything. "You know how to stitch a wound, right?"

She hit her face with the palm of her hand and shook her head. "Good to see you too, asshole." She replied.

"Sorry. You were the closest one."

Avery stood up and stuck her key into the door's lock. "So you didn't want to come see me."

"Not with a stab wound. Wasn't my preferred option."

She opened the door hard, which he was sitting against. He fell back but caught himself with his hand as she stepped over him to go inside. She threw her jacket down on a chair in the living room and took off her shoes before coming back and scooping him up under his arms.

He winced in pain of being lifted but allowed her to slide him inside. He wasn't very heavy, and even though she was smaller than him, she didn't have a hard time lifting him. "Come on in." She said, teeming with sarcasm. "It's been a while. So great of you to stop by. Guess I'll need a new couch." She said, lifting him onto her large, two-seater that was unfortunately not made of leather. It would never be clean again, at least the blood would come out of the floor, eventually.

"I'll pay for it." Karma promised.

Karma slowly pulled his jacket off, ignoring the pain of doing so. His fight, though brief, had only made the wound worse, something he had only felt once the adrenaline subsided.

"So, what actually happened?" Avery asked, running across the room and into her bedroom to grab something.

"Got stabbed by a guy at the club. Then he sent two others with guns and bombs to kill me." He said, between winces and breaths. "Typical night."

"So, you're causing trouble again?" She asked as she came back out with a first aid kit and sat on the floor beside him so she was more at head height with the wound.

"Causing trouble again?" She asked, pulling up his shirt to see the wound. She looked away and nearly gagged when she saw it and had to take a few deep breaths before looking back. She'd seen plenty of violence in her time, especially with him, yet she never got used to it. Something about bleeding, open, pulsating wounds always seemed to disturb her the most.

"I wouldn't say that." Karma retorted. "But sure." His eyes darted around the room to take it in. It had been months since he'd been there, and it looked very different from what he remembered. The couches were new, there were decorations, a television, the kitchen seemed to have more stuff. It looked more livable, when at first they had started off with nothing. "This place is coming along."

"Well, I had to get my act together some day." She said, running thread through a needle for the stitching. Once through, she put it down and shoved a large clump of medical gauze on his side, the pressure of it shot pain through his body and it made him sneer.

She grinned evilly as she did.

"Thought you'd be happy to see me. You taking pleasure in this? Figured you would've missed me at least."

Avery glared at him. "Of course, I missed you! It's been a long time. You just up and left and I haven't heard from you in months. But you can understand why I'd be upset."

"Yeah well. Things changed, stuff came up. Been busy." He said between more heavy breaths as she wiped the dried blood away with rubbing alcohol and a cloth. He grit his teeth in pain as she pressed the alcohol covered cloth on the wound to disinfect it. It burned amost as bad as the flames of Hatsu's bombs, and he let a long gunt of pain shoot through him once again. "I'm sorry." He let out.

She pressed on his wound again, this time unnecessarily. He groaned. "I forgive you." She said with an innocent smile. Karma remembered why he didn't like making her mad. "Never heard you apologize before. So I have to believe you actually mean it."

"So, now you should tell me what's actually happening. Or is it top secret?" She asked, holding up the needle and bringing it close to him. "By the way, I haven't done this in a while. Haven't had to since you left. So, don't be mad if I lose the needle inside of you."

He glared at her. She just giggled. He had missed her more than he would ever admit. Her smile, her laugh, her positivity. It balanced him out, someone like him needed to be around someone like her. He'd go insane otherwise, he had.

"I don't know how much I gotta keep explaining it. A guy at the club stabbed me in the side alright? Caught me off guard. First time for everything I suppose..."

"And why did he do that? What did you say to him?"

"Why do you assume it's my fault?"

"It usually is." She said, putting the needle into the wound to start the first thread. He winced a bit, but the pain of the stab was much worse. Pain was something he was used to, and stitches were far from the worst of it.

"I managed to win that fight in the end, but it seemed he didn't have enough. He sent two people from the club to rough me up after. They followed me and attacked me when I was alone."

"And you didn't stay where it was crowded?"

Karma smirked, knowing she learned that from him. She would know nothing about navigating a tail, or a combat situation if he hadn't taught her urban survival after they had met. He was happy to see that some of his lessons stuck around.

"Well, I wasn't sure if there was an attack coming. I was just trying to get away. And if there was an attack, I didn't want it near civilians."

"Oh, so you're a hero now?" She asked, pulled the thread up to give it a lot of string slack. Karma jittered at the uncomfortable feeling of the string sliding through his wound underneath his skin, pulling it together.

Karma rolled his eyes. "They were amateurs, that makes them dangerous, unrefined. One of them was a cyborg with a knack for explosives, so it was better that way."

"That explains the burn marks on your arms and face." Avery said. "Seems they weren't so amateur after all."

"They happened to have my weakness on hand, they were lucky. The fight wasn't long anyway, I doubt they'll be coming back." He explained, and then leaned back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. Aside from the pain all over him, especially that in his side which the stitching wasn't helping, he was able to relax a bit. He never knew why, but he felt safe with Avery, despite her being harmless and sweet. If there was danger, she was not the one who would be protecting anyone. She had no abilities, no fighting prowess, not skill with weapons, nor any weapons in her possessions that outclassed a kitchen knife. "Do you have an ice pack by any chance?" He asked her.

Avery thought for a second. "No, but I do have frozen peas. That's good enough." She said, putting the needle down beside him. "Don't move." She ordered, as she stood and went over to her fridge, opening the freezer compartment above it and pulling out the forementioned peas. She came back and gave it to him, and he laid it on his upper chest, on one of his bigger bruises. She grabbed the needle again and went back to her stitchwork. "So, these guys seem to have it out for you, and you didn't do anything wrong? Why don't I believe you..."

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"I wouldn't lie." Karma replied.

Avery wasn't buying it, but decided to change the subject after a short silence that awkwardly filled the room. "Are you hungry? I have food." She said, knowing she would get no where with him in the previous subject. Karma remembered that Bing was supposed to be getting him something. He had forgotten about that. "You're a lot lighter than I remember, are you eating? I hear food is good after being beat up."

"Hey, careful. They just caught me at a bad time." He said and started coughing a bit. She stopped her handiwork as his stomach and torso tensed from it. Once he was done, she went back to work. The wound wasn't too large, the stitching wouldn't take too long. "Either way. I've never seen these three before, but I have a lot of enemies. They may be related to one or hired by one...but that doesn't narrow it down much." He said, but he was lying through his teeth. He couldn't tell her about the Underworld, or anything related to it, and he had to patch up the inconsistencies. It was true that Bones had no reason to attack him, but with Obsolete at his door, Karma wasn't surprised that he panicked.

Avery nodded. "A lot of enemies indeed." She said as she looked at him. "You might as well wear fire protection." She said, and then thought for a second. "You know, for them to know you weakness already, that's a bad sign. They may have been lucky, but they must have seen that it worked. They'll use it aain if they come back...unless." She said, slight worry on her face.

"I didn't kill them." He said, waving her off. "I let them go. They'll be in more pain when their employer find out their failure. It sends the guy a good message too, he'll have to up his game fi he wants me dead."

"I don't see how that's a good thing." Avery stated. She was mostly focusing on the stitching. The only had a few left to make.

"Well, intimidation I suppose."

Avery just flicked her eyebrows, saying nothing else as she got the last few in. IN a minute, the last stitch came through. She tied it, cut it, and put the needle down. "There, all done." She said, before standing up to go wash off her hands. "I'll still bandage it, wipe some alcohol on your hands to clean off the blood."

Karma complied with her demand; it was the least he could do. Though by doing It, he found out that his hands were home to cuts and scratches of their own. He had not noticed under the more significant pain, but as his hands stung while wiping them, he became acutely aware of just how much of him was damaged.

No one had ever really taken care of Karma before. He honestly felt a little uncomfortable in his vulnerable state. People who got close to him always ended up dead, and so he always feared being around Avery, especially since joining the Underworld. "I'm sorry if me being here puts you in danger. That's not out of the question given tonight's issues. I don't think I was followed but-."

"Don't." Avery said, as she came back and sat beside him on the bloodied couch. "I don't need that keeping me up tonight. I have to open tomorrow. Besides, it's not like I haven't been in danger before." She continued, grabbing some alcohol wipes and cleaning off some of the other, more minor wounds he had brought home with him. "You're hurt. Was I supposed to leave you for dead? Not that my door could stop you from coming in anyway."

Karma just grinned.

"You're lucky I had the supplies to do this, or you wouldn't be well off right now."

"That's true."

"Regardless." She said, finishing what she was doing and just leaning against the back of the couch beside him. "Even though its not the best circumstance, it's good to see you again."

Karma grinned. "Yeah. You too." There was a pause for a bit as the two seemed to relax and enjoy each other's company. Karma eventually broke it, feeling more awkward than Avery. Karma needed something to be happening, relaxing wasn't his preferred state. "So, you sew now? You got a whole kit there." He said, looking down at the floor where she had a sewing case along with the first aid kit, which he hadn't originally noticed. There were many different thread colours and a small box of needles with it.

"No." she said, shaking her head with a small smile. It's one of those things you see at the store and go, 'yeah, I should probably buy that'. Those one-time purchases that are useful in the long run. Like a mop, toolbox, band-aids, the little things you never think you need until you do."

"Toolbox? You're handy now?"

Avery laughed. "God no. Got it anyway." She said. "I just get things in case a very oddly specific situation shows up at your front door. Like you, and now there's blood all over my floor and couch, and you're dying in my apartment." She continued.

Karma chuckled, keeping his gaze fixated on the ceiling.

Avery was shocked. That was the closest thing to a laugh she ever got out of him. "Wow, you really are dying."

Karma waved her off. "Hardly." He said, turning his head to the side to finally look at her. "I've dealt with worse many times over."

Their peaceful night was immediately interrupted as a familiar sound of glitching filled their ears and multiple moving after imaged of Bing filled various spots in the room. He landed in the kitchen with his back to them, standing whole as the after images caught up to him and immediately started speaking, not yet scanning the inhabitants of the room. "Avery, I saw karma earlier and-" He stopped as he turned and noticed the now less bloodied Karma on the couch. Karma thought for a moment he saw shock on the android's uncanny face, but he wasn't sure. "You're here." Bing said, though his tone wasn't quite natural, he sounded confused.

"Yeah." Karma replied bluntly.

Bing noticed the wound in his side, and the fresh stitching job on it. "What happened to you?"

"The usual."

"Were you stabbed?"

"Yeah."

"How were you stabbed?"

"Someone put a sharp object in me." Karma said, enjoying the sarcasm.

"No, I don't mean how were you stabbed. I mean how were you stabbed?"

"I don't follow." Karma said, tilting his head and narrowing his brow in confusion.

"I thought you were supposed to be unkillable, never beaten, this is unlike you."

"Do I look dead to you?" Karma asked, raising his arms up to the side. "So far, I'm still correct. Still unkillable. And if I die, I'll be too dead to hear you give me shit about it."

Avery giggled. "Yeah Bing, this is why I don't ask him questions. He doesn't like to answer them, you know that."

"I was nearby and could've taken you to get help, why didn't you call me?"

"How many more questions are you gonna ask before you shut the fuck up and realize I'm alive and well?"

"You don't look well." Bing said, walking over and sitting across from them. "You told me you'd meet up and then never showed."

"Yeah well...I was too busy getting stabbed..."

"Bing, you have no respect for privacy." Avery called out, changing the subject to try to stop the arguing of the two and unstoppable wave of sarcasm from Karma. Bing looked down at her confused too. Avery pointed at the door. "You can teleport, but teleport to outside my door...then knock. Don't just barge in."

Bing said nothing as the expression on his face continued.

"He's always been terrible with that. Came into my hospital room once while I was being cleaned by a nurse. She was not happy, and of course he played the victim as if its their fault its against hospital policy." Karma explained. "I didn't really understand it or what the issue was, but it was a pain in the ass."

"He came in here once while I was changing. The door to my room was open. I live alone, didn't think I had to close it." Avery added, looking back over at her bleeding friend. "One day. One day he might learn."

"Wouldn't bet on it." Karma said, looking up at the ceiling and waving off the comment. His deadpanned tone and expression seemed glued to his face.

Bing didn't bother responding to their sudden bombardment and stayed instead focused on Karma. When they were finished, and Avery was just giggling, he finally spoke. "Karma. You need to stop this."

"Giving you shit? No."

"I mean what it is you're doing, You've been gone for months. We haven't seen you, you've been not telling us what you're up to and you only show up now after you're hurt. That tells me you're dealing with something extremely dangerous, or you're losing your edge."

Karma shot him a glare. Losing his edge? As if. That wasn't possible. How could Bing even think that? "You know, Bing. As someone who is still unkillable, I am able to rise above those types of insults and-"

"You're dodging."

Karma returned to his glare. He wished he could tell Bing everything. He wished he could tell them both everything. What he couldn't tell them was the reason why he couldn't tell them anything, which only made it worse. The cracks of his façade were slowly fading away, he could tell. He couldn't keep it from them forever and keep them as friends, and he knew it. It wasn't like he had any other choice.

"I've said I can't tell you; I stand by it. It's not by choice. I've been busy with work, and that's all I can say."

"What is this work that involves getting stabbed?"

"Who said that had anything to do with work?"

"I left you so you could do your work-related thing. You were going to meet with me after, and somewhere in there you got stabbed and brought yourself here. That wasn't work related, because it happened in a short span of time that was supposed to be for your work that happened to be at a night club."

Avery looked at Karma with an unimpressed look.

"Those two things are not directly related." Karma said, which was only a half truth. The stabbing was a potential risk, bodily harm always was, but it should not have happened.

Bing let out a noise that mimicked a sigh. "Just...you're pushing us away. You've pushed us away." We're supposed to be a team, partners. We're supposed to handle stuff together!"

"You're being emotional Bing, that's very out of character for you."

"And you're being irrational, which is very out of character for you!"

Karma let out a loud sigh, and spoke up toward the ceiling, not even sparing Bing a look. "I haven't told you because I can't. I can't because its classified. It's classified because it's important and if word gets out, and shit get's leaked, there are major consequences. Why can't you two just trust me? Have I not proven myself? I wish you would understand that everything I do, I do for us. I just need you guys to let me do what I need to do. Like I said from the beginning, it's hard now, but it will all be worth it in the end."

"I'm not going to sit here and do nothing while you run around and get yourself killed." Bing argued.

"I WON'T!" Karma snapped, standing up from the couch, his usual angered frown returning on his previously somewhat relaxed face.

Bing dialed it down, knowing that Karma was not the best with hostility.

"Karma." Avery said, looking up at him. "I'm with Bing on this one. We're worried about yowe want to help. And you coming over only when you need help is a shitty thing to do."

"If you want to help, then you need to stay away from it. You need to stay safe and out of the loop. The last thing I need is to be worrying about you guys on top of everything." He explained. It was hard enough living two lives; he didn't want to have to protect them from the dangers of the Underworld on top of everything. He had enough to worry about to worry about already. "I wish I could make this make sense. I really do." He said, his tone dropping along with his gaze. "You just need to trust me."

"Can you not see how it's hard to at this point?" Avery came back. "You're keeping secrets from us. You're living this other life. You promised you'd make things better for us but nothing has happened. It's been months. You've just been gone. You tell us to trust you but we don't even know what we should be trusting you on."

That stung. Karma had never considered their reactions to it all. Or maybe he did. He figured he knew deep down, and that was one of the reasons he didn't come back, knowing he would have to hear it all. "I didn't want it to be like this." Karma said.

"Be like what? There's a lot that's gone wrong, Karma." Avery said. Bing had given up arguing, but Avery hadn't not this time, and she felt the need to step in after Bing backed out. Though she was happy to see him, there were issues that needed addressing. He was ok now; he was safe and patched up. As the immediate concerns were dealt with, she allowed herself to address the bigger, overarching issues which had been eating at her all the same.

Karma just sat back on the couch, leaning back and covering his eyes with his arm.

Bing shook his head, awkward silence now filling the room. He walked over to the wall beside the television and sat in a space below the window that onlooked the street below. There was a plug in the wall, one which connected to a spot in his back. After it was in, Bing curled up into a ball, and life seemed to slowly fade from him. His eyes dimmed, he went limp, and he was left there, a shell of his former self, a small flickering light emitting from his back that signified he was charging.

Karma watched it all through a small space between his arm and face, waiting for Bing to shut off entirely. "You should just get rid of that cord and let him burn out." He said.

Avery just scoffed and glared down at him. "Don't you start."

"I'm just saying."

"He's our friend. He can be annoying, yes. But you're far from perfect, mister. What's with you two anyway? Why all the arguing?"

"He won't stop nagging me about stupid shit, it's annoying. I'm not gonna just take that."

"Stupid shit?" She asked. "You're the one pulling stupid shit! He's concerned, and he has ever right to be. You guys fought together for a long time. You're supposed to be like brothers."

Karma rolled his eyes. "He's not concerned. His mind is a collection of ones and zeroes. He has logic, probabilities. He doesn't feel concern. His version of concern is concluding that an outcome is suboptimal. He has no emotions, don't make that mistake."

"You know." Avery said, walking over to her bedroom and opening the door. "Sometimes, you two aren't so different. Good night, Karma. It's good to see you again, and though I don't imagine you'll stay long." She said, giving him a smile before retreating into her bedroom and shutting the door behind her.

Karma was impressed. He knew she was angry, yet she still made sure to show that she was still happy to see him regardless of things. That she kept her kindness and made sure to not let her angry get in the way of her being happy he was alive, was more than he felt he deserved. A part of him felt bad for it all, and he knew that he had messed up. What a strange feeling guilt was.