Lucy waited for Alex and now tended to him as Dana had shown her the whole process. And it hurt her to see that Alex was this messed up that he needed so many surgeries and IVs to get better. Yet he wasn't waking up.
This scared her the most as she held his hand and was on either side for days, close to a month by now and nothing yet. Not even a small opening of his eyes.
He missed his words. The voice that made her stay conscious and not fall into depression. She felt so guilty that he was like this. She blamed herself for not being strong enough to protect him and that he had to take a lot of blows that made him mortal, capable to die when he was a being that couldn't die.
He said that she was the reason he kept going. And it bruised her mind that in finding such a dangerous purpose, to be with her, that might have almost killed him.
She now sat beside his bed and brushed his hair with her free hand as she hoped to hear a moan, a groan, or anything that may confirm he was sleeping smoothly. Yet that wasn't happening. Instead it was like he was choking or worse going into a nightmare fit by shaking and rocking himself too hard.
She kissed his cheek and at least smiled seeing that the black veins had dissipated or receded back into his body. Scabs and dried blood infused with the whitelight virus was slowly brushed off him with each bath she scrubbed with Dana's help to keep him clean.
She hoped nothing will remain once he woke up. It would burn her everytime she had to look at those blue-black veins.
Lucy breathed at a faster pace as she imagined that Alex never did wake up. She imagined never seeing him awake again. That made her eyes water and her heart strings constrict at such a possibility. She stood up from her seat and hugged her beloved, grasping him hard as he smelled fine with a tinge of medicine.
Alex always had the scent of a perfume that a leather wearing man that seeked adventure. A smell that equated to a sense of freedom.
Now... He smelled like a hospital patient.
She hated it.
Lucy then let go and gave a somber barely uplifting grin at knowing that Dana was here to make Alex well again.
By this point she bet without Dana's medical skill, she would have lost Alex by now. How fast she would have killed herself then... She was glad fate spared her that fate. Now she had hope. Small but there. And she would hold on to it no matter what.
She let go of Alex's hand and stepped away from the bed as she left the tent and went outside. Lucy looked at her hands and saw the bare palms of hers reflect the bright sunshine.
It was a nice day. She closed her eyes and looked up as she still held her hands out in the open. That's when they began to morph, changing into claws as Lucy looked back down to see the change.
After some practice, Lucy had the grasp on this new power. It was something else entirely as she practice with Dana's help. She was very willing to see her extend, even offering her to test her regeneration by cutting off an arm.
She of course bonked Dana and she helped her with a more reasonable and less gory approach by setting up targets, transforming her arms, and even informing her what these powers are best or worst within battle.
She jumped with superhuman speed, testing her legs as she felt her body sing with the virus, or her cells at this point "That was a weird thought" Lucy noted to herself as she was soaring high in the warm wind that soon became cold with her rising and quick decent.
Keeping a constant distance, she leaped high enough to avoid anyone from seeing her as well thankes the not so populated place this area was. It was Suriname. A city far into the forest of South America. She had been around and learned about the locals, traveling around to see what threats they could be facing.
She just found two. Law enforcement of the local. She has seen they are not much of a threat however they do tend to do patrols into the forest, which has made her alert and wary to hide Alex as well take down every tent of Dana had set up to keep their location secret.
They have not gotten even a whim that someone even less an animal lived here, so she and Dana must be doing a spectacular job in hiding.
Problem number two: Drug dealers. Or as Dana called them 'Narcos'. Dana herself ordered her to keep watch from them and if any attempt to get near their camp for whatever reason, then she could kill them.
She didn't see those criminals in daylight. It was always by night and worse off they did pass by the camp of theirs. Lucy had killed a couple now and had absorbed some to come know of what they know. Disgusted but intrigued by what she came to know more about. She even picked up some tricks like learning languages and how to make food from this region. It wasn't bad at all she admitted, having become a better cook by using what Alex had given her.
She landed on a two story building with a sharp thud as she hid with a skid to the corner and looked over the small ledge of the roof to see that no one had spotted her. Not even the police that she saw casually driving by as Lucy sighed and looked to her hands. They became claws.
"Control yourself..." Lucy told herself as her hands immediately went back with an array of counter clock spins of her flesh as she had experienced that even her emotions can affect her body. She had to be careful. She almost transfigured her arms in a small market place and scared the entire folk of this small village she came by to pick up food (stealing it or hunting for nearby wild animals).
She wanted to do so today too as Dana wanted some groceries, like apples and oranges, which she didn't even respond and just went to get them.
Now with a open and slow days, Lucy truly wondered what she could do with so much time. It was crazy to be this free yet at the same time know there is a bullseye behind all three of them. She wondered why Alex considered this his hell as she did her own, the complete opposite feeling like a relief for her but slowly the diclonius came to know that every person has their own nightmare scenario.
For him, it was to be alone. Forgotten. Remaining unknown. If it was her, she aimed for something like that to get some semblance of peace and quiet. But for her boyfriend, that was hell itself. He couldn't bare the thought to just be thrown into the wind and become no one.
Lucy then heard a slight commotion. She looked over the ledge and peered into what seemed to be a robbery.
The alarms soon came as she kept well hidden and saw the police she was keeping her eye over exited their vehicle and had run over and aimed their guns at the store which was some kind of loans business. It's wooden doors and windows got shot out by bullets as police aimed to the robbers wearing grey masks over their heads that revealed the bridges of their noses and eyes.
"Jalale wey-! (Pull it, dumbass-!)" A robber said in Spanish. Lucy was shocked a little as... She somehow understood that. As creepy and monstrous that technique was, she found it very useful. She then heard one of the cops says something but he was caught off short as a spray of bullets left the broken doors and windows to hit the police cars that came to unload more law enforcement forces.
The bullet spray was strong and Lucy was actually hit as the spray was given in a upwards arc, hitting her left shoulder as she ducked down and was amazed to feel the staining burn yet none of the pain she was accustomed to.
She looked to her shoulder and pried a finger on it as she saw that no blood spilled out as the wound sealed up and at the same time the healing made the flesh spit out the bullet.
She caught the bullet in her head and squished it in her fingers.
"Incredible..." She said as she heard the burning of tires on the road and the sirens blazing as they followed the guys running away.
She looked up the ledge and came to see that everything was gone just like that. She jumped over the ledge and landed on the alley way side of the building to inspect the broken in bank.
People began to swarm as some officers were left behind to control the situation.
"Gente-! Calmness por favor-! No se acerquen al sitio del crimen. Dejen una yarda de distancing de aqui a aca-! (People-! Calm down please-! Don't get closer to the site of the crime. Leave a yard of distance from here to there-!)" The officer said as Lucy blended in to the small crowd as she felt really out of place with the more diverse crowd as she stuck out like a sore thumb. Her tranquility and focus on the crime for a mysterious reason however made her body do naturally what it could to keep her 'safe' so as she crossed and went into the group, among the ranks of people she morphed into a woman nearby to take every single thing of her appearance before reaching the now rising ranks of police that stood by as examiners inside where seeing the victims.
Lucy got as close as she could and tapped one of the officers in the chest as she swayed her black hair and failed to notice her brown eyes and crow's feet as she was a more mature woman so the cop who turned her way expecting to be pulled, just tapped her hand in response and let her be to focus back on the rest of the crowd.
That's when she backed away and sighed as she slightly crouched to again change shape and now she was dressed up as a cop.
'These shape shifting powers are great... I don't even need to eat them.'
Lucy thought about this as she passed by the barrier of hands from the police as she made her way to see the deaths that happened not so long ago.
She kept a low profile and sneakily got around while acting as a patrolling officer.
Three dead. That's what she saw and upon seeing the open restless eyes of theirs, Lucy came up with a question she wanted to ask ages ago before ever descending the roof.
Why was she doing this?
So what if a couple humans killed others? That happens every day. So what if she saw the crying and shouting victims outside demanding answers? Their loved ones and friends are dead. They can never come back.
However upon seeing the eyes of each of the victims, a name came upon her head.
A friend she didn't thinks about long but did made her remember an innocent that died and almost became a friend she could entrust... Maybe even the friend that changed the course of her life since the beginning.
Aiko.
The friend she never got the chance to be with. The one that let her to be captured for so long before escaping. The only time she let herself be captured in order for Aiko to live through that bullet wound she got for protecting her.
She tightened her hands into fists and before she knew it, she understood why Alex was so strange and ongoing about saving those that have hurt them.
The humans... In a way needed help to stop them from becoming all those violent and greedy bastards that they could be. If someone did something, to stop vegeance and overcontrol, maybe all this death and unjustness could vanish.
Maybe if she did something instead of just trying to hide... She could change things to let others be happy. For she was now thanks to Alex. And maybe now... She would thank him again for instilling this dumb idea into her head.
But after Dana and the interaction of so many people she had met, she knew that not everyone was a monster towards her. If she could stop them from killing themselves, maybe she could atome the sins and let the hatred vanish.
Lucy would for the first time... Attempt to a hero. Just like Alex has tried with her and even then heard what he has done... She was going to follow him and hope for the best.
She exited the building and ran outside as her vectors trailed behind her, the invisible arms actually passing by to grab something as one did the job: It grabbed a radio and she heard in for the location as she knew more about this village than she thought.
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Minutes later:
Lucy was jumping above trees as she heard from the radio that they lost sight of them. However she knew more about the hidden places than the actual village so this was her domain per say.
They were doomed as she swung branch to branch with her vectors in swift short burst as she saw the gang of them with their grey masks still on and apparently having set up a camp already. They were littering the forest ground near their campfire with the loot they've got, spilling the stacked bills 9f foreign money on the floor as well putting their guns on stands that kept their rifles and handguns there as she kept silent to hear them. Four people or robbers in this case.
No sounds of movement where around and it seemed to be their time to eat, which Lucy had an idea what to do as she listened into what they said.
"Que buena racha tuvimos hoy-! Nunca habiamos tenido la suerte de que bajaran la seguridad hasta hoy. Que habra pasado? (What good luck we had today-! Never have we had the luck that they would reduce security until today. What happened?)" One of the peeps asked as the boss who seemed to be a darker tone of skin with cuts on his eyebrows chewed on a piece of meat as he had that information.
"Se acuerdan de los muertos de ayer? Creo que todo esta pasando por eso. Narcos y vendedores de la buena han sido encontrados despedasados o triturados por halgo. La policia y otros cerdos han estado buscando quien fue... Pero la neta yo no se quien fue. Pudo ser conflictos entre gangas o Los de rojo y azul... Pero esos cuerpos encontrados haci espantarian hasta al mas veterano. (Do any of you remember the dead of yesterday? I think everything is happening because of that. Narcos and vendors of the good stuff have been found dismembered or torn to pieces by something. The police and other pigs have been looking for who did it... but honestly even I don't know who did that. Could've been conflicts with other gangs or the reds & blues... But those corpses found like that would scare even the most veteran.)" The leader said as another asked about that
"Cuanto va la cuenta? (How many is it now?)" The other thug asked as the leader ate the piece of meat in his hand and counted with his fingers, snapping his thumbs with the conclusion
"Aver... Era... 3 docenas. (Let's see.. it was... 3 dozens.)" The leader cleared as all his henchmen we're at awe at the new statistic of killings. Whoever it was, that group or person was seeking to eradicate crime with violence. Extreme raw violence.
"Pero aun asi, no deberiamos preocuparnos. Con esto, es mas que suficiente para irnos de aqui y irnos mas pal norte. Ahi va haber mas trabajos y negocio con los nuestros. (Even with that, we shouldn't worry. With this, is more than enough to leave from here and go further north. There should be more work and business with our people.)" The leader said as suddenly they all heard guns cocking as everyone turned to the back to see their own guns pointed at them, floating in the air as if ghosts were planning to kill them.
Two rifles: a hunting and a semi-automatic, a pistol, and a revolver. All loaded up.
They raised their hands up and looked at this bizarre scene with confusion and that's when Lucy walked out, anger in her eyes as she stepped out with a malicious intent.
"¡¿Y esta ruca quien es!? (Who is this chick!?)" One of the lackeys asked as he had no idea what she wanted or who she was.
Lucy grinned as she made one of the pistols
"Eso no les importa. Estoy aqui para agarrar venganza para los que no pueden obtenerla solos. (That doesn't matter to you. I'm here to get vengeance for those that can't get it alone.)" She said as a vector shot out to cut the arm of the one who asked that, spooking the other three as the leader believed they were surrounded. However the floating guns told him she was alone yet that alone will kill them.
"SUPUTAMADRE-!!! MI PINCHE BRAZO-!!! (MOTHERFUCKER-!!! MY FUCKING ARM-!!!)" The man said as she went down and quickly got helped by another as he applied a tourniquet by using his own belt. The leader got angered by this.
"Pinche morra. ¿¡Para los del banco?! ¿No me digas que eres una heroina o algo asi en ese pedo? ¡Que te valga madres lo que les pasa! Tu ni eres de esta region. ¿Para que nos vas a acribillar en nombre de nada? (Damn bitch. For the ones of the Bank!? Don't tell me you are some hero or some shit like that? You shouldn't give a damn to what happens to them! You aren't even from this region. Why are you going to tear us apart for?)" The leader said in a serious gaze and anger for this ambush.
"Para parar gente como ustedes. Nomas asi de simple. Ya me canse de hacer nada y ver todo el mal que pasa en mi alrededor. Alguien me enseño ha usar mis habilidades para el bien. Algo que quiero ver mas a menudo. No ha estupidos y cabrones como ustedes. (To stop people like you. That simple. I am tired of doing nothing and seeing all the evil that happens around me. Someone showed me how to use my abilities for good. Something I want to see more of. Not idiots and sons of bitches like all of you.)" Lucy cursed them for last as the guns angled strangely and the leader smiled as he knew this was the end, but he wasn't going to beg for his life or ask for a brief moment. All he wanted to say was one last message.
"Puede que nos mates. Arre. Pero nomas estate bien alerts, morra. Esta region es nuestra. Nuestro grupo esta informado que nosotros estamos aqui. Si no reportamos en 30 minutos donde estamos... Ellos vendran. Y espero que tus poderes te ayuden porque todos van a estar en peligro. Lo del banco de va ver diminuto comparado con la massacre que viene. (You may kill us. Fine. But remain very alert, bitch. This region is ours. Our group is very informed about us being here. If we do not report in 30 minutes where we are... They will come. And I hope that your powers will help you because everyone is going to be in danger. What happened in the bank will look tiny in comparison to the massacre that's coming)" the leader warned as now Lucy had an even bigger smile.
"¿Mas de ustedes...? (More of you...?)" Lucy asked as she walked forward to the boss and the rest backed away as she smiled at the chance to clear a big group of crime just like that. All she needed to do was expand a becon to attract them here. For she wanted to dispel all this anger and impatience against the trash that cause and create the real monsters that make life unbearable.
"Que bien. No puedo dejar de temblar de emoción... (That's good. I can't stop shaking from excitement...)" Lucy said as she fired the guns held by her vectors and killed them in a fury of bullets. Emptying the clip or chamber within each gun as the robbers were turned into riddled corpses as she then crushed the guns within each vector.
She then threw the smashed and broken guns to the campfire as then her vectors grabbed the corpses of the men, slumped over and bleeding, to then smash them together with such force they became a single ball of meat, clothes, and raw gore as she kept squishing it. She did this until finally the ball was effectively cramped to the size of a soccer ball and 15 vectors kept holding it together until she let go and it imploded, letting a river of blood to be released as limbs and pieces of body parts fell down all over as Lucy left, leaving the campfire intact as around the stone circle of it there was a small pond of crimson blood with clothes, flesh, and bones sticking out as the fire shined in the scarlet reflection.
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Back at the camp:
Dana whistled as she had good news and was moving to do another treatment using RVNA but with a different chemical solution added to now I do the changes Alex has been forced to undertake to survive.
It was a purpleish liquid that mixed with the bright yellow until the RVNA maintained it's untainted yellow as the purple vanished into the mixture.
That's when Lucy slammed the tent door open which scared Dana as she crazily fiddled with the mixture and was clumsy enough to have it dance on her left hand.
"No no no NO NO NO-! DOMINANT HAND HELP-!!!" Dana screamed as her right hand tried to reach the small triangle flask with the purple liquid but it was futile as it swerved from her hand and was about to fall bottom first.
That's when the beaker barely off a centimeter off the ground was now floating, held by one of Lucy's vectors as she picked it up and it levitated right to the Diclonius' hand.
"Oh my GOD-!!!! Thanks Lu-! I really... Fuck my undominant hand... Anyway thanks-! This bad boy took me an entire day to make, no sleep or rest, and had it dropped I swear I might have gone to kill those drug dealing bastards with you from pure rage." Dana said as she didn't notice her face as she looked at the liquid with heavy bags under her eyes. However upon smiling to the pink haired diclonius, she grew a frown as Lucy was crying. She was in a state of sadness as she bit her lower lip.
Dana grabbed the liquid off her hands to put it on a table nearby and hugged the emotional girl. She let Lucy rest her head on her chest as she huffed to her hair.
"Lucy. Lucy. It's okay. Everything will be. I promise by the life of my mom and dad that I will save Alex. He will come through. He will. I am more sure with everyday that passes." Dana assured the worried sick girl as she felt all kinds of emotion now.
She even hated herself for not eating those four robbers and instead left with a sense of futility, not wanting to eat trash yet now realized that she wouldn't know who or what was coming after them. However deep down she knew that she just wanted to fight. To kill. As some sort of handicap she was knowingly giving herself to face the forces that were supposedly about to come to declare war. And she wanted to tear them limb from limb.
Yet deep down she knew this wasn't hate completely. It was just... Sadness. She wanted to take it out by covering with all sorts of emotions and using the stronger ones she realized all that was futile.
The reality was she wants to be hurt. Damaged. Punished in a way that would make her feel what she did to Alex. Because Alex didn't need to go through this. She did. And now she wanted to wage war to end any threats as well to change into a person that Alex can be more proud of.
She also hated that not once has Alex woken up. Seeing him in bed can be done only so much before she goes insane and ballistic.
However Dana's kept hugging the diclonius as she wondered when would Alex wake up. Because she felt only Alex's eyes and words could ever sooth this young girl's heart and mind that were now in the eye of the storm. More things and chaos were about to come.