Looks like today was another long day of training. I sense someone familiar coming up the stairs.
"Yo, Tara." (Luis)
"Yo." (Tara)
"Feeling lonely now that Mary has left for a Michigan?" I say as I sit down.
"Not much, I mean we have phones so it's not like I don't hear from her anymore."
"Guess you are right. But you can't hang out with her for two months!" I say teasingly.
"Shut up!"
A brief silence ensues the night. Neither of us saying anything.
"Well, I guess I miss hanging out with Mary. But I'm sure I'm not the only one."
"Guess so... I mean she's left all the way to freaking Michigan!"
"Well...I mean...I believe that true friends are never apart."
"Saying under these circumstances, you are really something."
"...What I meant was that even if we are apart by distance, we are never apart by heart." (Tara)
A brief silence follows what she said.
"...Why is it that you turn all Shakespeare when you come up here after a long day." I say laughing.
"Shut up!"
The memory of that slowly fades as I wake up. It's been so long since I last had a dream from those times. I wonder how Mary is doing right now. I open my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.
What is going on?... We finished what we had to do and as we were leaving... I got shot. I lift up my shirt to see if there was a bullet hole or anything like that... There's nothing like that, all I see where there's supposed to be a bullet is a small circular scar. So is that where the bullet went through?
How did I heal so fast? Does it have to do with my healing magic? I try standing up but feel a pulsing pain coming from the area of my scar. I guess I'm not completely healed. I lay back down.
If I go by what happened last night then I can assume that this is where one of the Vigilantes live. I try to pick up where they are. It looks like they are two doors over with some presences I've never met before. I start examining my surroundings. It looks like they took off my mask, so they already know what I look like, great.
Both my bracelets are on the desk and my jacket is nowhere in sight, neither is my gun and cartridges.
"Looks like part of my promise is fulfilled for now Tara," I say looking at the white bracelet.
I then notice the black bracelet in the background. Come to think of it, I never really paid much attention to my black bracelet even though I always carry it around. "Proof of friendship" was it? Well, Tara, we'll test your theory on friendship in about 2 weeks time...
I focus on the inside of my body to see what the source of pain was. Some muscles, there some small muscle tears all over that spot. They are small but are scattered all over and require precise healing, maybe that's why it hasn't healed completely yet. Well, now that I am awake I can easily heal this. I focus my healing magic and heal with pinpoint accuracy. After about 5 minutes the muscle tears are completely healed.
I get up from the bed I was in and put on my bracelets. I sense Argus coming from the side room, I guess he sensed me get up from the bed... I'll wait for him here I guess. I have no idea where we are and if they wanted to do something to me they would have done it already. Argus opens the door and sees me awake.
"I'm so glad you are alive," he says as he comes in for a hug.
I avoid him.
"My lungs got shot, I didn't get amnesia. I don't remember being close enough to you to get hugs from you." I say with a slight smile.
Honestly, what the hell is he doing? He looks at me.
"You are smiling!"(Argus)
"...That reminds me, where are my mask and jacket?"
"We sent them to wash, they were full of blood," Sara says as she comes from behind the door. " You know, you have a pretty handsome face, why bother hiding it?"
The hell did you say woman?!
"It's so I don't get empty compliments." I retort back
"...I thought I would get a nice reaction now that I can see your face. You either have a good poker face or you actually thought that."(Sara)
A little bit of both, a little bit of both.
"Where are we?" (Luis)
"The NYC Vigilantes main base of operation... Well, I say that but we only have a couple of rooms rented on this floor and we treat it like our base." (Sara)
"I see... how long have I been unconscious for?"
"A little under a day, I'd say about 18 hours. I'm honestly surprised how resilient your body is. How did you heal yourself from that so quickly?"
"Since I've been-" a growl comes from my stomach.
"Looks like you are hungry." (Argus)
"As anyone would be after not eating for 18 hours." (Luis)
"Well, we were planning on eating in a little bit. Can you hold out for an hour while I do something? I will call you guys to help me in a bit I just need to prepare something. In the meantime why don't you get acquainted with everyone else?" (Sara)
"Sure, I don't mind." (Luis)
"Then in the meantime, I can introduce you to everyone in the other room." (Argus)
"...Sure." (Luis)
Have I become more trusting of them? Well. I mean, they got me to safety after I was extremely vulnerable. We start walking next door to have another try to surprise hug me. I dodge again.
"What is it, Rebecca?" (Luis)
"I just wanted to thank you for healing me!" she says with tears on her eyes. "I heard that even after you fell unconscious you kept on using healing magic on me to repair my ribcage."
"Well, I just heard about that too." (Luis)
Healed while unconscious? Is that even possible? Does it have to do with the fact that I didn't want what happened that night to repeat itself or is it something I'm actually capable of doing?
"Well, after you fainted you kept on holding onto Rebecca. We were about to separate you but Argus said you were still healing her even if you had fainted so we let you stick together."
"I see." (Luis)
Is that why I have a scar?... Well, I guess that's fine I don't really have a problem with that. There might've been a chance of her dying if her ribcage got punctured again by one of her ribs so I guess it's alright.
"We didn't mean any harm by it, we just didn't want Rebecca to die!" (Argus)
"I understand, if you were given the choice to save someone close to you or some you barely know it's obvious who you would choose." (Luis)
I don't hate them for it, in fact, it's a pretty good policy. I wouldn't want to work with people who don't try to keep their friends alive...Now that I think about it, the way I said it might have come off as if I was hating on them because they put my life at risk.
"....I mean...I didn't mean it like-" (Argus)
"Me neither, I realize that came out as wrong. I just thought that the policy of caring for one of your own was a good thing. It wasn't me criticizing in any way shape or form." (Luis)
"..."
No answer from anyone in the room. Everyone tries to maintain a poker face. This is honestly kind of awkward, can someone please speak up!
"I didn't know you were so kind Dark Menace!" (Rebecca)
"...I'm not really kind...We'll be working on another raid so I don't want there to be any remorse or bad tension since we have to strike quickly on the Bloody Crips." (Luis)
"Okay," says Rebecca with a smile.
"*Clears throat* Anyways, weren't you going to introduce to me who these people are Argus?"
"OH! Yes! I will!" (Argus)