Cybil (2018) #projectsuper

Chapter 61: Waking Up Old Wounds

With Ryu...

Ryu was still pretty much consumed with thoughts of his little "outburst" the night after they had landed in the little desert community which happened to be their next destination.

The night had been cold. Thankfully, the commander had prepared them with a decent amount of supplies for any situation. That didn't make sleeping in sleeping in sleeping bags in their abandoned warehouse "headquarters" any easier, though.

Corrin took the opportunity to go around waking everyone up this morning.

"Come on, guys. Get up. Rise and shine."

Ryu cracked one eye open. He didn't feel particularly rested, but they had business to take care of.

"Uh..." Instinctively, he glanced toward his sister. She lazily waved at him upon seeing him. Her movements could be so incredibly lifelike sometimes. There were indeed times where if you didn't look very hard, you could confuse her for a bona fide human being.

If only his...discrepancies were as easy to overlook or draw attention away from.

He turned his attention to the matter at hand. "So... What do we do now?"

"Hold on," Moonie didn't exactly want to wake up, so Corrin was busy trying a series of "tactics" to get the job done. These included shaking him, yelling at him at various volumes, and kicking him (as gently as possible, of course). He was contemplating his next move when Moonie woke up slowly, as if from a nap.

He yawned. "What's up...?"

In short, the ninja lost his cool for a moment, snapping at the gamer. "You have GOT to be kidding me! I wasted so much time trying to all but suplex you in order to wake you up and you..."

To everyone's surprise, Moonie waited for him to stop his rant before answering. Perhaps he wasn't fully awake yet?

"Sorry, dude. I'm kind of used to loud noise, and that's not just because of the video games, either."

Corrin clearly would need some time to cool off, but he appeared somewhat satisfied with that explanation. "Whatever. We need to get moving. There's a restaurant in a certain part of this town that we need to find. That's where our mark is."

"Mark?" Raelynn piped up.

"Our target. Our man. Get it? It's just... language I grew up around..."

"Okay..."

"Anyway, we'll eat there. I'll pay for us. I have a feeling that this is one meal we're not gonna forget."

***

It didn't take long to find the establishment. It was a quaint little number nestled among some surrounding shops.

Ryu tried to mentally tune out the whispers he was sure were coming his way, as well as not to look at the uneasy stares. To his sister's credit, she was waving at the people around and even chatting a few up along the way.

"Don't make a scene by using your powers," He overheard the ninja saying this to his gaming friend.

Who were they kidding, really. They were a walking scene.

On the way to their table, a little boy pulled on Ryu's chair.

"What?"

"Are you a robot?"

"No," Ryu answered, trying not to sound as irritated as he felt. "I'm not."

"Then how come you don't have legs?"

His fingernails dug deep into the leather of his wheelchair as he fought to control himself. The last thing he needed here was to have an outburst similar to the one back on the plane.

Somewhat thankfully, the boy's mother stepped in, covering his mouth and whispering a "sorry" to him. Unfortunately, she didn't stop there.

"We're trying to teach this guy not to point out anyone's...special needs."

Ryu face-palmed. That floor looked pretty comfortable right about now...

"No problem." A clipped response.

The pair rushed off into the distance and Ryu turned to see very uncomfortable yet sympathetic looks all around from his comrades.

He closed his eyes. "Don't worry about it. I'm used to it," That was a flat out lie, as he felt he never would get used to any of it. "Let's just get this over..."

His sentence fell dead in his mouth when he saw in the crowd a very familiar face...

It's her...