A Spaceman

Chapter 4--A little night explosions

I enter the hospital room quietly. As Shannon predicted, the little girl is lying in the bed, bandaged like Jesus, hands and ankles wrapped, her side bloodied, her neck red and bruised, and her forehead scarred from what looked like barbed wire. She's asleep soundly, though, despite the injuries. Shannon said she'd have her heavily medicated so I can take her away, but I'm still wary. The government fears the mutants for a reason. not a great one, but it is still a reason. They are powerful and after what this little girl has been through, I wouldn't blame her for wanting to lash out.

Carefully, I undo the IV bag and examine the bed. The little girl isn't strapped down in anyway, it should be straightforward. I pick her up, carefully, wrapping her in the hospital blanket. She is limp in my arms, her head lolling on my shoulder, a mess of blonde hair, she's indistinguishable.

I walk out of the room, calmly and confidently as I entered. I'm wearing a dress which I HATE it but it makes me look maternal and normal. So does the knit hat that covers my typically blue hair and ear piercings. Normal and maternal are not two words typically used to describe me, but I need to be both to walk this child out of the hospital looking like a mother taking her kid home or outside or something not to do with kidnapping.

Nobody stops me. it's brilliant what you can do when you look like you know where you're going. I just walk calmly confidently, down the hall, smiling at nurses and thanking a man who holds a door for me.

And I walk right out.

**

"I cannot believe you set the guard house on fire," Aiden is cross with me. I don't see why I didn't set him on fire.

"It worked," I say.

"You can't use that as an excuse for everything, murdering somebody would work but that doesn't make it right," Aiden groans. We are standing on a train, going into the Capital. We are both dressed in street clothes, so nobody pays us any mind. There are enough orphans wandering the streets that we blend in. nobody glances to see that we are a bit too well fed, our skin too clean, our hair too well kept, to be actual urchins. They see what they expect to see. A couple of rag tag children chattering and getting in the way. Not a pair of Project 10s on the loose.

"Right by whose standards?" I ask.

"The---like---the universe's standards---what if somebody had gotten burned?" he asks.

"They shouldn't have gotten to so close to the flames," I say, "And anyway I didn't start a fire, I made a small explosion which caused the fire."

"Oh, okay, you made something blow up, that's better---"
"I don't see why you have to be cross with me I didn't burn you or blow you up---"

"I'm not just----I don't want you to get in trouble, like real major trouble," he says.

"You're thinking with my dad gone nobody will be around to protect me," I realize. My dad sometimes gets me out of trouble because he's so famous and important, people have to listen to him when he says I must be innocent for the things I've clearly done.

"I'm thinking I will be," he says.

"I don't need protecting," I say.

"Everybody needs protecting sometimes, Tess," he says, "I know you're cleverer than I am, and than most people, but someday you're going to need somebody there just to care about you. and you need to let them be there."

"I don't know what you mean," I say.

"You will," he says, sighing a little.

"Sorry I made you sad," I say.

"It's okay, you're just being you," he says, shaking his head, "Let's find Billy and have some fun, eh?"

"Okay," I agree, cheering up. I wonder why he gets so upset sometimes. My dad says if I make a chart it'll make more sense. I don't wonder that much. And it's rich coming from my dad because he's the one who complains that his Major Tom doesn't love him with the unending frankly inexplicable passion he loves her with, yet I don't see him making charts.

**

"Tell everyone to get ready and to get in their ships we have four minutes fifty seconds----make that two minutes thirty seconds," I say, tapping on the last control panel inside the main lift for the Russian facility. 

I'm about to go up, and when I do I have about one minute to run get in my ship and be prepared for take off before the whole thing blows, giving us enough power to lift off. the Isylgyns have loyally offered to set off the explosives for me, but their number system is slightly different from ours and I haven't fully figured out how except that it's about half of what ours is in terms of digits. I am aware I should just ask them, but you can't go around asking those sorts of questions when you're trying to convince a race of people you're omniscient.

"It's gonna take at least a minute for the lift to come up, you are never going to run across the entire tarmac in a minute and twenty seconds, it'll take you two fifty max, that's your fastest running speed in ideal conditions---"

"The heat won't reach me for forty seconds that gives me----fuck---" I trip as my acid burned leg gives way.

"Did you seriously forget AGAIN that one of your legs is burned?" Leavitt asks. He's been narrating this for some time.

"My brain is processing more important things at the moment," I say, haughtily, because of course I did.

"You did, didn't you? That's weird, I find it hard to forget not having legs anymore," he growls.

"Are you still on that?"

"I'M GOING TO BE ON THAT FOR SOMETIME, TITUS, I LOST MY FUCKING LEGS---" there is a brief scrabbling which gives me time to giggle, then:

"Major Card, what is your location?" that's my Major Tom, again.

"I'm ready to set the timer and come up, get in your ships and lift Leavitt into ours—can he still shoot?" I ask, concerned. My escape plan hinged on him being able to shoot.

"TELL THAT BASTARD I'M GONNA BE ABLE TO SHOOT EVEN AFTER I'M DEAD WHICH SHOULD BE SOON THANKS TO HIM----"

"That's a yes," Tom says.

"Okay, good, lift him into our ship, get in yours, I'll set the thing to blow, run out, climb in and take off," I say.

"Ten four, good luck," she says.

"I don't need luck," I say, into the dead com. I shake my head and turn to run, of course falling down because yes I did forget again that my leg is burned if you think it's so funny why don't you remind me, eh?