Six years later
"Hey Exi."
"Hi there, guys..."
Elise put the flowers on the side table while Masahito kissed his girlfriend. Lowlife, Works, Xian, Dream and Akaya were outside.
"Nice of you to come by." Alexanne said with her weak voice.
Masahito smiled, attempting to stop a tear from falling. "Hey, we're your friends after all."
The mutant was almost unrecognizable. Her once young skin had disappeared to reveal a wrinkled and flaccid old face, with empty gray eyes and a constant frown due to the skin on the cheeks sagging down, almost like the upper lips of a dog. Her hair, now sporting long gray roots, was starting to fall off. The once luxurious mass of blue beauty was becoming thinner every day. The rest of her body wasn't in any better shape. Skin and flesh hung from knees and elbows, as if she had been put into an oven and melted. Two of her arms had gone numb and couldn't move anymore. Her collapsed lung had healed, but had stopped working shortly thereafter. She had also lost a kidney and was beginning to wet her bed. The moving lips were cracked and dry.
Alexanne Ilica had reached sixty-one years old, and her age had caught up with her at breathtaking speed, like a rubber band suddenly snapped and both of its broken ends flying past the center point, taken by their own inertia.
Xian had had the same problem, more or less. Though she was younger, her body was still relatively old. She had stopped dying her hair and now went about with an almost fluorescent white halo around her head and oozing onto her back all the way to her waist. Her face had changed too, revealing a few wrinkles here and there. She also found herself caught by impossibly extreme heat waves. At the same time, she stopped using tampons. The doctor was giving her no more than fifteen years of life. Since then, the woman appeared jaded by everything, and Elise had tried her best to cheer her up - it was of no use. The Crate had been talking behind her back. They were thinking she would end up dying just by sheer will. She didn't enjoy anything, or so it appeared. Everything left her indifferent. When she visited Alexanne, she did so with the discipline and the rigor of a fighter worthy of being chief operative, never shedding a tear and never letting any emotion show. Elise began to think Xian would never show any emotion at all. The news had hurt the woman in a way worse than the android had thought. She felt sad for her. Yesterday, she had pulled the depressed woman off to the side and told her that despite the differences they had had in the past, she'd always be there. Xian had thanked her and walked away.
Lowlife and Works were still managing the Crate and their facade business with the skill and wisdom of years of experience. Nothing had happened since the assault on the main lab, but Works didn't want to let go of his business, which was flourishing beyond expectations lately. The Crate thus stayed at the ready, waiting for the Department to come back or start a hunt down. In time, they learned it would all be useless, and decided to sign on to mercenary missions against the Reli demons, which were making a small comeback. The Mutant war was still raging on in the center of the country, but no one dared touch at it even with a ten foot pole.
Elise had joined the fight against the Relis as well, putting her abilities to good use and racking up enough cash to buy herself a used, matte red Lancila Rabbit hatchback. The rest of her money was spent regularly on her apartment (she had moved out of Masahito's) and sometimes a little food treat. She also shopped for some clothes, shoes and even underwear. Though she had nothing to hide, she felt better wearing things. She had tried to pay Dream for the dresses, but the singer had declined, saying she could live on for several years without working. Nowadays, Elise couldn't be seen outside without her trademark crimson loose leather coat, which she had spotted with acid to form large holes at several places, while leaving the thickest parts intact, like the very top or bottom, the button line, and the very ends of the sleeves. Under that, it was shirt, jeans, pants, skirt, sweater, tank top, whatever she felt like wearing. She had noticed that her clothes made people unconsciously behave as if she was a real woman. Conversations were more lively, subjects were easier to find and talk about, waiters asked if she wanted anything to drink - she stopped being a machine and was considered like a real person. It came to the point that, ironically, Elise felt naked without her clothes.
Her next goal was to find someone to check her body and certify it as fully waterproof, this way she could enjoy swimming. So far, no one has been up to the task, and some of them even told her she was such an old mode, her entire exterior would have to be redone to allow her to upgrade this way - a suggestion which she refused categorically. She took great pride in her original parts and believed changing her skin would be like doing plastic surgery. It would look too beautiful to be true, and she'd end up being a fake.
Today, she had left her coat in the car and had gone into the hospital wearing a black version of Dream's ever-remembered dragon robe - her favorite these days.
Masahito was still busy letting his emotions out. The young man had been constantly worried about Alexanne, visiting her every day at first, then every week - at the suggestion of Elise who believed he was overreacting. His days at the Crate had been working with the rescued mutants since the operation. The Crate had to do its own studies, and from interviews, they went to tests, to get an idea of how powerful those with the Alpha-Powers were. In the meantime, Department Twisted made the system public to save the face, arguing that the people gifted with them before the announcement were willing testers. Of course, anyone with a few contacts could learn a number of their files had been stolen, and that it was only a matter of time before the Alpha-Powers became available to the common citizen. DT had somehow felt they'd be at an advantage if they sped things up.
Elise didn't see all the fuss in it though. Her own experiences with the discipline wasn't the smoothest in the world. She soon learned she had to practice everyday and make daily use of her new abilities just to keep them from dwindling. She then learned she had to practice twice as much to grow and master more complex techniques. After six years of constant practice, she was only up to level four out of seven, and had perfectly mastered three skills out of a total of thirty-three. It paid off after a while; she found herself able to stand her ground more easily, and smiled in satisfaction when she concluded after some field testing that her kicks now felt like two to her opponents. Of course, since this was the only complete reference in circulation at the time, she had kept it hidden for as long as possible. With the system now public, she began to care less. She knew that if she lost her booklet, she could always go and buy another one. Concentra Weight was a popular discipline among shooter-fighters like her, and thus the technique books sold like little warm breads in the military and the mercenary communities. Anything went if it meant eradicating the Reli monsters.
She heard some noise behind her. She took her gaze away from the April sunset (barely visible through the golden skyscrapers) and saw Alexanne giving a light kiss to her boyfriend's cheek. Without much ceremony, she stood next to the young man and waited for him to move away, which he did almost immediately. She wasn't satisfied until he closed the door and left her alone with the mutant.
"...So." Alexanne muttered. "How's life?"
Elise shrugged. "Could be better. Stuck doing cheap runs these days. Easy search and destroy missions in the same spots. I'm trying to rack up some cash to get myself a new power module for my shotgun. If I have any left, I'll fetch myself a brand new top-of-the-line hard drive to replace the main one I've got right now. With the advanced RPM settings of nowadays, I should be able to search my memory a little faster."
"Nice dress by the way."
"Thanks!" Elise posed. "I found a guy who had the tools to erase all the blue from the robe, so I had him do that. You should see my wardrobe. It's bursting! T-shirts, business shirts, zip-offs, carpenters, evening shoes, running shoes, construction boots, goth clothing, medieval clothing, plunging necklines, tons of robes and dresses, a few swimsuits, some pieces of lingerie of every type there is."
"...Swimsuits? I thought you couldn't swim?"
"No, but that doesn't keep me from sitting on a long chair to enjoy the sunshine. I happened to find this sweet pair of pink sunglasses with thin black rims yesterday. I put this on, plus my black tankini, and let me tell you, I do get some whistles! For an android, can you believe that?!"
"...Heh, and that ring..."
Elise looked at her right hand and suddenly remembered. "Oh! This! Well, I kept on seeing people walk around with a ring or some piece of jewelry, and all of a sudden, I thought 'I have to get one of these!' So I went to treat myself to this little diamond on a simple gold ring. Doesn't fit with the metal gray hands but I could really care less. I like it too much. How d'you find my little bijou?"
"It's great, it's great..."
Bang bang bang. "Hey! Can we get in?" Works said.
"Yeah sure!" Elise said back. The rest of the gang walked in, with some little treats and gifts.
Alexanne stayed put. "Uh, you guys don't mind if I don't sit up? My back is aching these days..."
Masahito passed a hand through her hair. "It's all right, baby. You don't need to do anything." His look then went to his hand, which had harvested an impressive amount of hair.
Elise waved her fingers at him. "Here, gimme." Then, after rolling the clump of hair around her hand and putting it in her pocket, "I know a good guy who makes custom jewelry, especially for goths and such. I'll ask him to make me a stretch spiral collar with the hair inside. It's gonna be beautiful. Want me to have him make one for you too Exi? As a little souvenir from the olden days? I could put my own hair in there instead if you wish too. I'd get a bit of you and you'd get a bit of me..."
The mutant waved a hand at her. "It's okay, thanks though."
The door opened once again. A bald man peeked his head inside the room. "Everyone, if you would please meet me outside."
"I'm Doctor Olam. I'm in charge of Mrs. Ilica - nice to meet you all. All right... Now, I would like to speak only to the close relatives of Mrs. Ilica, please..."
Works stared at him straight in the eyes. "Alexanne has no family. We are thus his family. Right, guys?" Everyone nodded. "So, what's the score?"
The doctor took a deep breath. "Mrs. Ilica's state has degraded constantly since being admitted into the hospital. Now, I see into my files here that she stayed in this hospital about six years ago, due to a collapsed lung and several broken ribs. It's quite obvious that this was a accident like any other and it's not even closely related to what we have here, just so that you'd know."
"Thanks, we kinda figured that out."
Works elbowed his brother in the side. "Shut up..." He gave a head sign to Doctor Olam. "Please continue."
"Mrs. Ilica is currently aging rapidly. This is what the tests have shown, and anyways I have a picture of her taken six years ago, looking like a young adult. It would be superfluous to say she's a mutant - it's obvious you all know that. Baasically, her age has just caught up with her. She stayed young and healthy until passing the age of sixty, after which her cells died by the masses. It's due to the transfer of a substance present in each cell, which cannot be reconstructed, and without which the cell cannot divide. What happened in Alexanne's case is that this substance was spread equally among her body, and she had a gene regulating this action. Hence, the cells kept a high standard of quality until the end of the substance's supply. Since this event happens in the entire body at the same time, almost everything dies in one shot, thus explaining her rapid aging process. Another factor is that she is a mutant, and thus life expectancy is somewhat variable. I recall admitting a young girl a few months ago, who had been the victim of a heart attack, believe it or not."
"Hecate, we know..." Works looked down. "She was a friend of ours."
Olam's face brightened. "Ah! Then you might be able to explain something to me."
"What?..."
"She died during the night after suffering, we think, a second, much more powerful stroke. However, when we found out about it, we found in the bed three girls, all alike and hugging each other. No one's been able to explain that so far, considering that the Alpha-Power system wasn't mainstream yet."
Works smirked. "We'll let you in on a secret, but you'd better keep your mouth shut because this is classified info."
Doctor Olam gave him an interrogative stare. "Please tell."
"Hecate was one of the original guinea pigs for the Alpha-Power system. The Department gifted her with a set of abilities, and we happened to rescue her six years ago."
"Oh!... So... You are..."
Works nodded gravely. "Exactly. You are in front of the so-called 'terrorists'. The Crate. If you are thinking about it, don't bother. We know there are no proofs against us."
The doctor shook his head. "Don't worry, I didn't follow or care much about this whole story, to be honest with you. I had to admit though that I am happy with the retreat of the Department from New Colombus. Governor Taylor must have done a lot of work to come to this." Elise coughed loudly. "Hopefully the Mutant war will stop and I'll have less work on my hands..."
"We hope so too, Doctor." Works looked off to the side and patted Olam's back. "Well, thank you very much, Doctor Olam... Oh, by the way, how long are you expecting..."
Olam hesitated... "Sir, if you need to say anything to her, I suggest you do it now than later."
"Okay... Thank you..."
Irony... I'm the one enjoying life at its fullest while my old teammate is stuck in a hospital with just a few days to live at best.
The whole thing's left me puzzled so far. I have seen androids die, and I understand what this is, but I have never seen an actual living being die - I could've said human but then I remembered Alexanne's heritage. I didn't count the stuff I had killed in battle. It was a quick a sudden death, and the stress of a fight was too present to allow for emotions. Now, for the first time in my life, I was in front of a friend dying slowly and naturally. It made me want to vow to shoot myself if I ever got terminally sick, to avoid the pains and sufferings of battling the disease. Of course, I wasn't going to ease Alexanne's pains right in the hospital. I had stuff to tell her too.
We decided to take a small box and put some scraps of paper with our names on them. It was the best way to decide who talked to her first. Lowlife got first, Akaya was second, Masahito came in third, Works came fourth, Xian was fifth, Dream sixth, and I was the last. I felt the hand of fate playing with the papers in the box during the callout, and I began praying into my mind, praying so that Alexanne would live at least until I was done to her. Of course, I had to ask for a signal... But I didn't have anything in mind, so I left that out. Signal or not, I was hoping my prayer would be answered. Gradually, I began to feel my soul stretching out and plugging itself onto Alexanne's. It was the only way I could describe it: me pumping some life into her to make sure I'd get to talk too. As the minutes went by, I felt my own energy going down. I began to think it was really happening. To change my mind, I sat on a chair, put my elbows on my knees and began circling my thumbs around each other.
Lowlife came out two minutes later.
Akaya entered, and came out thirty seconds later.
Masahito entered and spent fifteen minutes inside the room.
Works entered, spoke to her for thirteen minutes and then came out.
Xian entered, and came back out eight minutes later.
Dream entered, and we heard beautiful and hypnotic melodies for a good thirty minutes, after which she came out.
I entered, and I spent a total of ten minutes with her...
Ten minutes.
Elise walked in with a defeated face and locked the door behind her. Not looking where she was going, she almost walked into one of the diagnosis machines on her way to the bed. She placed her hands on the side bars and stared into Alexanne's eyes with an apologetic look.
"Exi, I have something to tell you."
The mutant turned her head to face her.
"You know..." Elise paused. "You know, when we did that operation six years ago? That big-ass operation that went all wrong and you ended up with some broken bones?"
"...Yeah."
"Well, I saw what happened there. It wasn't pretty. First, we were just between the inner and outer corridor network, in some sort of buffer room. I had just left when you were attacked by Governor Taylor."
"Governor Taylor?!"
"Yeah, Ash Taylor. He's an android. He had been in line with the Department all along. No one had seen him but me, and you... and you don't remember about him."
Nine minutes.
"...No."
"Well, anyways. You were alone in the buffer room. We had had a heated talk and I had just left when he popped in. I watched from behind the window and the left to join the rest of the team. After a minute, I came back to check up on you since the team was worried. I found you pointing your guns at Ash. So I entered the room and struck you."
"Huh?!"
"Calm down, Exi, calm down... It's as hard for me to say as it is for you to hear. During that operation, my mind had been warped by something. I couldn't think straight. I was drunk from adrenalin and I fought like a maniac. You knew back then I was jealous of your six arms - I'm sure you remember that. So after the buffer room talk, I snapped. When I found you able to wrestle down the guy with so much ease, I decided to do the job myself and went in there to finish you up. After a short fight, I managed to get my foot under you and I slammed you into the ceiling, crushing your ribs. I then had to leave because someone was trying to force one of the doors."
Eight minutes.
"How... Why..."
"I was jealous, Exi. Jealous! I hated your guts back then!" Elise's chin began to shake. "All I could think about was how I could upgrade myself to be better than you. I couldn't stand to be teamed up with someone superior to me in every aspect. So I tried to take you out of my way. It was a foolish thing to do in retrospect."
"I..."
"I'm so sorry!"
The android wrapped her arms around Exi's neck. Pushing the covers down, the mutant hugged her with the four arms that were still functional on her. The hug lasted for a long, long time.
Seven minutes.
Six minutes.
Five minutes.
Elise released her grip. Alexanne, out of energy, had released hers a long time ago.
"Exi... Will you forgive me?"
The mutant nodded, very slowly. "Yeah... I forgive you. I couldn't see you lie to me now."
Elise gave her a weak smile. "Thank you..."
Alexanne smiled back.
Four minutes.
The two smiled at each other. Elise turned her head to look at the rest of the mutant's withered body now that the covers were gone. She began to run her hand up and down Alexanne's leg, lost in some fascinated stare that meant she wasn't thinking anything at the moment.
Three minutes.
"Elise, can I see your legs?"
"Sure."
She put her foot on the other side of the bed. Alexanne ran one of her hands up and down.
"It's smooth..."
"Yeah..."
"It makes me recall my good days." A tear fell from the mutant's eye. "Those beautiful legs of mine that I opened up so often. I wish you could enjoy sex at least once, Elise."
Elise nodded slowly. "It's been Shrike's goal too. To enjoy sex. I'm striving for the same thing. I think all the Insas had had that goal set in their minds. It all came down to sexuality for us; enjoying what humans seemed to enjoy so much. Everything done on this world is either for power, sex, or money. You had sex... I would've loved to trade, but I had nothing to offer."
Two minutes.
Alexanne's gaze went up. "Elise, you have something priceless I can see right now."
"What is it?"
"I'll let you find out for yourself. It'll be easy, trust me."
"...Okay, whatever you say."
Another pause.
One minute.
"Alexanne, gimme another hug..."
"Sure."
They hugged again. Taken by a sudden impulse, Elise grabbed the mutant's two dead arms and put them on her back.
Zero. Elise felt her soul's connection evaporating to nothingness. The prayer's effect was over.
Alexanne smiled at the android's initiative. "Thank you."
"No... Thank you."
Elise turned around and went out of the room, without looking back.
They all stood next to the door. A beep sounded its presence inside. When the entire group stared and shook their heads in unison at the oncoming nurses, a message went through. The room was left alone, and the beep eventually died.
Everyone hugged each other.
They then sat on the available chairs.
"So, what are you guys going to do now?" Elise said, almost too quietly to be heard.
"I'll travel to Elenbakk with Lowlife." Works said. "There's a liberator group out there and I think they could use our help. I'll close my facade company and try to do something on the west coast against the department."
"And you Akaya?"
"I'm going back to Sofia. It's about time I do something else for a change!"
"Ragie?"
"Going back to Sofia too. I'm sick of everything here. I'd rather go back to my land of birth and join the offense against the Relis. I feel it's my duty to defend my land, just as it was my duty to defend the mutants."
"...Dream?"
"I found myself some work as a secretary. Everyone except a few remember me. When they ask, I say I do look alike, but I'm not the star. I now have something do occupy my days."
"And you Xian?"
"I'm retiring... Works has promised me a good amount of cash as a thank you note, so I'll get myself a small part time job and try to forget about fighting for a while."
Elise nodded. There was no more conversation.
Minutes passed. The corridor was empty except for them. After a while, Akaya walked to the staircase and disappeared from view.
Masahito looked around, smiled at Works, patted him on the shoulder, and walked way.
Dream went to Elise. She took the android's hands and gave them a light squeeze. Elise smiled weakly. The singer kissed her on both cheeks, waves bye-bye to the rest of the team, and walked out of sight.
Lowlife and Works, out of a common unspoken accord, walked away without a word.
It was ten minutes after Akaya's departure now. Xian looked at Elise, muttered a little - and sincere "Take care." and walked away.
After she was out of sight, Elise looked at the door, behind which was Alexanne's body. She passed a hand through her hair, and took the stairs down.
She walked over to her car, took the coat out, and put it on, after which she locked the doors again.
The warm and cool winds of spring time were chasing each other at this time of April. The snow almost completely melted, trees were already showing leaves, and the street was dry, with not even the slightest hint of slush. Looking up, she saw the golden sunset reflecting off the buildings, but her gaze went past that. She looked at the semi-dark clouds, the tiny little clouds passing by at their usual slow pace.
The noise of the traffic and the people was slowly inching itself into her mind. After several minutes, she stopped, realized she had walked for a long distance with no destination, and sighed. She finally decided to cross the street and keep on walking, but on the other sidewalk. The street was interesting. It was lined with small trees and clothing shops, very beautiful to look at.
As she walked, she thought of Shrike, of Alexanne, of Lowlife and Works, of Masahito, of Dream, and Xian, and everyone else she had met in the Crate. It had been another adventure in her life. She could've recalled her work days fighting off the Relis during the past years, but the events against the Department Twisted were more present, more powerful, more interesting. She remembered the symbol of the Broken Eye and was sure she would see it again someday.
She thought of herself, her plates, her simu-skin, her Reli organs, her average mastery of Concentra Weight, her powerful legs. She thought of her log files, her drivers, the contents of her memory. She thought of the new hard drive she was saving for. She thought of her slim, beautiful young-looking body. The image of this body nested itself in front of her eyes, and slowly, the image of the dying Alexanne came by and took the place.
She shook her head to erase that picture.
Then, she realized it. Alexanne had spoken wisely, about the android's own gift. Dream had been right. Elise was unique, talented and gifted in her own way. Granted, she didn't have some things she wanted, but thinking about who and what she was, she concluded she didn't want to trade her own gifts for anything else. It's now that she took conscience of the value of her own gift. The gift that was given to androids, and only to androids.
She looked to the left. She saw a slim, beautiful young-looking body.
She stopped.
The jealousy, the competition, the rivalry was over, but she couldn't help but think those wicked words. Her eyebrows raised. Her face brightened. For a moment, she looked like a child learning something new. Her mouth opened just slightly, and she whispered.
"...I win."