Tala

Tala- Chapter Two

"WHAT?!" Niko screamed. She was more than pissed. At Tala, for not being careful, even though she insisted on getting drinks in the first place, and at the attacker, for even trying to pull a stunt like that. The attacker.. that girl... she was familiar to Tala. They just couldn't place where they'd seen her before.

Niko paced angrily across the room.

She started mumbling under her breath. "Niko, you can calm down, I'm fine-"

"You are CLEARLY NOT FINE TALA. Don't give me that BULLSHIT!" Niko screamed. "Your neck hasn't healed, in fact, the stitches fucking popped off!" Tala suddenly noticed that the stitches were all broken, the choking feeling dissipated. Niko's shouts faded into background noise, For Tala was thinking of other things. They were... Perplexed, to say the least. They were determined to find out who the attacker was and where they had remembered them from.

"Niko. Calm down, please. Look, I'm alive, right? That's all that matters. It's not like I'll get attacked again." Niko flopped onto the small armchair in the room. Silent tears streamed down her face. These tears turned into sobs. Tala walked over to her, and comforted her the only way they knew how. They gave Niko a hug, careful of blades on their forearms. "Look, I'm cleared to leave. Let's go home." Niko had calmed down a little and nodded shakily. Tala changed out of the hospital scrubs and into some black ripped skinny jeans, leather boots, and a graphic tank top.

"I like your boots," remarked Niko. Of course, she decided to slip in that little comment. She smirked. She was back to normal. There was a four-armed mutant at the front desk. When they reached the front desk, the receptionist started to speak.

"Y-you're Tala, right?" she exclaimed. Tala didn't have a chance to respond before she said "Before you go, to may want to cover up. The media will tear at every bit of info they can get. Here, take this-" The receptionist pulled out a pale maroon scarf and some sunglasses from lost and found. "Oh, and you may want to put up your hair. A different style will help conceal your identity." She pulled a hairband off her wrist and handed all three items to Tala.

"Oh, I can't accept this-" Tala started to say, but Niko quickly placed a hand over their mouth.

"Thank you, Miss...?"

"Miss McKallie. Kagen McKallie."

"Thank you, Kagen. This means a lot." Tala replied. "I'll pay you back. An IOU, per say. Um, here's my number, so you can contact me for it-" Tala quickly scrawled their number onto the back of one of the business cards on the desk. They quickly put up their hair in a bun and slid on the glasses.

"B-Bye!" exclaimed Kagen as the couple left the building. The two started walking home.

When the two arrived home, they realized Kagen was right. No one had noticed them, and Tala actually had a minute to enjoy the view of the city. Skyscrapers and buildings fading into industrial homes just outside it. It was quite beautiful now that they had the chance to experience it. Niko put down her bag and flopped onto the couch, her partner in tow. Then, all of a sudden, Tala snapped out of this daydream.

"Niko... I think my memory was wiped."