"He's over here!" Jax called to Amir as the two rushed out onto the roof. Both men heard a loud boom and it frightened them. Amir feared the worst as they climbed 2 levels of stairs to get to the top. When they did, they saw Windsor's body lying flat.
Windsor was coughing as dark smoke surrounded him. Amir jogged over and binder him in cuffs before he could attempt an escape. "Dastard! Where's N96? You'd better not have killed him or else I'll—" Amir stopped when he saw Decha's body lying nearby.
"N9899! Make sure this guy doesn't move," Amir stepped over Jax and rushed over to Decha. He realized his friend was unresponsive, and he threw himself next to him. Amir pressed his hand against Decha's neck.
There was a pulse, but it was very weak. That meant his friend was in severe condition. "Clarke, Henry, you read me?" Amir hollered on the earpiece.
"Loud and clear." Henry chirped,
"Send an emergency shuttle to our location, ASAP. N96 is unconscious."
"What?" Henry gasped,
"Send the shuttle!" Amir barked out the order. "Come on, Decha, dude, you're stronger than this, aren't you?" Amir frowned. "Come on man!"
It took around 25 minutes, but the shuttle from the Agency finally arrived. Jax made sure Windsor was handed over, while Amir was busy worrying about Decha. It wasn't only him.
Everyone was worried about Decha. The paramedics who checked his vitals had never seen N96 in this state. They definitely weren't expecting one of their greatest heroes to be bruised, battered, and covered in his blood, sent to them while he was unresponsive.
Amir demanded they take him to the Agency's infirmary, but Jax fought the idea. Jax wanted Decha to be taken home because he knew that Rory needed surgery. It's what Decha would've wanted.
Jax was surprisingly very successful in convincing the paramedics and the driver to bring Decha back to his house. Although Amir was livid, there was nothing he could've done. He was only stressed because he feared what state his friend would end up in.
Would Decha get worse? Or would he recover? Only time could tell.
~~~
The sound of soft giggling echoed in Decha's ears. When he opened his eyes, the sunlight nearly blinded him. He squinted and blinked a few times as the sweet sound of laughter brought him out of his thoughts.
He moved his hands forward and felt soft petals rub against his fingers. That's when he realized that he was in a large field full of klovocs.
Decha touched one of the flowers gently and tilted it so he could examine it.
Just where exactly was he? He couldn't remember how he got here or what happened before he woke up in the field. Though his memory failed him, he felt an odd sense of comfort.
Decha pushed himself off the ground and stood straight. Another giggle was heard, and he glanced both left and right. Where was that soft sound coming from? The voice was very familiar, and his ears were practically begging to hear more.
Decha looked ahead. Maybe the sound was coming from over the hill. He began to walk and made sure that he wasn't crushing any of the flowers. By the time he reached it, he noticed a woman in the valley chasing after and playing with a petite canine.
The woman wasn't just anyone. It was Rory. But in this scene, she looked different. Her appearance was completely unexpected. She seemed to glow more than the klovoc flowers.
Her curls were down and dancing with the wind that kissed her skin. Her smile seemed more radiant. Rory wore a baby blue sleeveless dress with beautiful pink threaded flowers at the bottom of the skirt, and she wore white sandals.
The animal she was playing with had a klovoc flower in its mouth. It hopped around her legs before taking off and sprinting away. Rory followed and ran after it.
Decha had a bad feeling about the scene. In his mind, Rory wasn't supposed to be doing any type of activity that promoted physical exertion. So he went after her. He jumped over patches and forced himself through a bush to cut corners to get closer to her.
When he neared, he could hear Rory's heavy pants. Decha snagged his arm around her waist and raised her off the grass. A small yelp escaped her as Decha placed her beside him gently.
"Are you crazy?" Decha hissed. "You know you're not supposed to be running around like this! Are you trying to get sick?"
Rory's heavy breathing softened as she studied Decha. There was a gentle breeze that brushed his black hair softly. The scar made him look more mysterious. "You're quite handsome," Rory stated.
"Thank you?" Decha raised a brow at her. "We have to figure out where we are so we can get back home." Decha looked at his wrist, but he realized that his wristwatch device wasn't there. None of his tools were.
How was he going to figure out a way home without a map?
"Shite," Decha growled and let his hands fall to his sides. He wondered how the heck he got into this predicament.
"What are you looking for?"
"My watch, it's gone."
"You seem... lost."
Decha froze and looked at Rory. What did she mean by that? Without any navigation, they both were stuck here. "And aren't you?" Decha scoffed.
"No, my house is over there." Rory pointed in the opposite direction of where he had walked up the hill.
"Your house?"
"The place where I live,"
"I know what a house is, Rory," Decha sneered, "You don't live here... whatever this place is! Let's just try to find resources to make a compass. I can get us back home when I know where I'm going."
"Sir, please excuse my unfamiliarity, but how do you know my name?" Rory frowned and took a step away from him.
"What?"
"We just met..."
"I assure you, we didn't." Decha snickered. Then he placed his hands on her head. "Are you sick or something?"
"You're acting like you know me," Rory blinked at him, confused. "How did you end up in my field? Did someone send you here to buy flowers?"
"Buy flowers? What? Rory, don't play games with—" Decha saw Rory's blank expression and stopped talking. Her eyes kept narrowing, showing that she didn't recognize him. Did she lose her memory too? "You don't know who I am? At all?"
"Nope," Rory emphasized on the p. "Maybe you're an old customer?"
Decha was perplexed. Before he could respond, the small puppy from early came running back and barked at him. "Go away, mutt," Decha frowned and waved the dog off.
Rory smiled and picked the puppy up and took the klovoc flower out of his mouth. "I'll offer you the deal of a lifetime. How about 12 klovocs for 150 Tekels. I'll even throw in an extra one for free."
"I'm not here to buy flowers,"
"Ah, you must be hard to bargain with. Okay, that's fine. How about 24 flowers for 200 Tekels? I'll even make a bouquet for you to give to someone you love."
"Rory, please, what I need... I mean, what WE need is a map. Or a compass. Not flowers," Decha snatched the flower out of her fingers. "There are plenty of these in Sector A I could find."
"Sector A?" Rory huffed. "What are you talking about?"
"Sector A, that's where we... where I live... you're a guest for now." Decha grabbed her hand, but she snatched it away quickly.
"Sir, I don't know where you came from, but even if I gave you a map, that place doesn't exist!"
"Uh, yeah it does."
"How do you know?" Rory challenged him.
"I am a General, responsible for protecting both Sector A, that's where I live, and B where you're from—"
"You?" Rory cackled, "A general? You don't even look like you could harm a fly. And I already told you, my house is over there. If you're not gonna buy any flowers just save the antics for another time—"
"Whatever happened beforehand must've wiped both our memories. I can't figure out how I got here, and you don't remember me."
"I've never seen you before."
"That's what you think. But we know each other. In a way, we're close."
"Close?" Rory pouted.
"Closer than you think," Decha explained. "Once I find a map, I can find our way back home—"
"Our way home? No sir. I'm not going ANYwhere with you." Rory placed the pup back on the grass and turned on her heel. Decha stopped her.
"Where do you think you live?"
"My house is over there," Rory turned and pointed to her left. But there was nothing there. No foundation or any signs of a building. It was all open field, full of flowers. She was perplexed and had to blink to try to understand it. "That... can't be right... it was just over there."
"I don't see anything..." Decha teased her.
Rory walked in the direction of where she said her home was. Her silence made Decha anxious.
Rory felt empty. Something was missing and she couldn't understand it. She realized that she didn't even know where she was. Maybe she wandered off, but the field wasn't familiar to her.
Decha stepped forward and crossed his arms. "I told you, this isn't where we are from. I don't live here, and you don't either."
"If that's the case... how did we get there?" Rory frowned.
"I don't know. But we can't stay here and ask ourselves that. We have to find a way back. You..."
Decha paused when he remembered it. The surgery. Rory was supposed to have surgery. Her condition was worsening the last time he saw her. But now, she was standing here as if she didn't have a medical condition at all. And what's stranger is that she was running around earlier without a bad reaction to it.
"Are you feeling okay?" Decha grabbed onto Rory's arm.
Rory nodded before asking, "Why?"
Decha thought for a moment. If she wasn't coughing or struggling to breathe, all was okay. But he still needed to find a way back. "There's no pain in your abdomen? Right?"
"No, I feel fine."
How was this possible? At any other time, Rory would have collapsed. Something about her was different.
The way she smiled and the way she carried herself. Decha noticed that she looked so much happier. Earlier when she ran through the field, she looked so free. His heart was touched by it. That's what he had been wanting to see in her.
In great Health.
"Decha," Rory's voice brought him out of his thoughts. She repeated the name, but her voice changed in pitch. The world around him went dark. Everything around him, the flowers and Rory soon faded out of existence.
But Decha was too entranced by a warm feeling to prevent it. Then suddenly there was a piercing bright light. He winced, but the light shone through his closed eyelids. He blinked several times to stop the irritation, and then he was in a completely different environment.
Instead of an open field, there were cream-colored walls surrounding him with medical exam beds nearby. Rory was replaced by a different woman he wasn't familiar with.
"Decha," The sound of his mother's voice alerted him.
Decha felt a warm hand brush his cheek and he shifted his gaze to the person touching him. There Jessica was, smiling at him. Her eyes were lit and Decha could feel relief radiating off her aura.
"Oh, my son, you're awake... thank goodness!" Jessica brushed her lips against his forehead. Decha let out a sigh.
"Mom..."
"Shhh, don't speak yet, let me get you some water."
Decha blinked a few times and rested his head. "Where... am I?"
"The infirmary." Jessica raised a cup of water to his lips. Decha began to drink and he could feel the scratchy irritation in his throat disappear.
"Shite," Decha sat up and an extremely sore feeling throbbed in his abdomen. Then he noticed how heavily bandaged and wrapped up he was. He felt like a shuttle hit him in the gut. Or like he had to poop, but something was blocking its way.
Either way, he felt disgusted by it. He hadn't felt this type of way ever. What happened to him?
"Don't move around much. You're still recovering. The anesthesia is wearing off." Jessica grabbed onto Decha's shoulder and began massaging it gently.
"Anesthesia...?" Decha mumbled.
"You got out of surgery some hours ago."
"Surgery?" Decha's eyes widened and he re-examined his torso. No wonder he felt the way he did. If his kidney was already removed, that meant...
Decha throw the covers off his legs and climbed out of bed, and Jessica shrieked when he collapsed onto the cold tile.
"Decha! I told you not to move! Your perception is off—"
"Rory," Decha groaned as Jessica eased him back onto the bee. "Where's Rory?"
"She's resting, as you should be!" Jessica sneered.
Decha stopped fighting it and let himself lay stiff.
"Is she...?"
"Rory is fine. She got out of surgery an hour or two after you did. She is still sleeping." Jessica huffed. "You should worry more about yourself. What were you thinking? Throwing yourself into danger and saving that wretched man? Amir and Jax told me everything!"
Decha rolled his eyes as his mother reprimanded him. He could care less about her lecture.
"They brought you there completely unconscious! I didn't want to take you in for surgery but Jax begged me to. Do you realize how big of a sacrifice I made for you? If I didn't continue with the surgery, I knew you would've been angry if I let Rory die. But to sacrifice my child..."
"I'm glad you did," Decha mumbled. "I wasn't expecting Windsor's explosive to take so much out of me. But even so,"
He looked at his mother and smiled at her. "Thank you for saving Rory,"
"That face..." Tears welled up in Jessica's eyes. "You get those taunting eyes from me, but I hate when you go out of your way to do crap like this."
Decha wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a hug.
"I almost lost you... I was scared that my skills weren't good enough." Jessica sank into Decha's shoulders and cried. She went into detail about the surgery. "When we finished stitching you up, your heart rate suddenly failed... and I knew I didn't have enough time to resuscitate you. But the technicians helped while I rushed to go and help Rory..."
"It's official... you're the best surgeon I know." Decha chuckled softly, in an attempt to comfort her. The feeling was very odd since he wasn't used to displaying physical affection often to his parents. But he was relieved.
Windsor's plan was foiled and POYO was eliminated. Rory had her surgery. Everything that he wanted was going according to plan. Now, he could finally get some rest. Real rest. A break to recover.
Certainly, this was the longest and most extensive mission he had ever been on. It was much worse than what he'd experienced on the Outside.
"From now on, your diet will have to change. You have to eat more to recover. Within the week, you will start physical therapy." Jessica wiped her tears away. "You'll be out of work for a while..."
"No I won't," Decha retorted, confidently. "I want to start tomorrow. I'll be back to normal within a month."
"Decha, you can't—"
"I'm not going to let this keep me down for too long," Decha argued with her. "If I don't start training now, I'll never get better. You're not going to convince me otherwise. I will do what I think is best."
"You're so loyal to your country... loyal to your job." Jessica seethed.
"The Sectors won't protect themselves. I have to get back out there. Where is the Director?"
"Your father is at the Agency, processing that man's arrest. The council is there organizing a date for his trial."
"I want to submit a temporary request of absence. This will give me time to recover so I can return to my original station."
"I guess... I can't stop you." Jessica whined softly. "I'll let your father know when he gets home. But he may not agree with you."
"It doesn't matter if he does or not. I'm not his employee or one of his Agents."
"But he's still your father,"
"And you're my mother," Decha grabbed her hand and squeezed. "I appreciate your concern and... I do care about you both. But this is my choice."
"I understand... but promise me you'll make sure you're fully recovered before going back to work."
"I'll try my best." Decha nodded.
And that's what Decha strived to do. When the anesthesia had worn off completely, Decha was able to begin therapy. In the beginning, he struggled to get back to his usual speed. Keeping himself up for extended periods was very difficult.
But he pushed himself. Every failure gave him a boost to continue. His determination surprised his mother and even his father. His request for absence was accepted but purposely extended beyond 30 days.
As the days went by, there was word going around about Decha and Deliverance. The stories told about Deliverance and Windsor's arrest spread like rapid fire. Before Theodore could control it, a massive amount of gifts were sent to the Agency to honor and show appreciation to the General that stopped the bombs from occurring.
Windsor's assets were stripped away from him, and Kilos was being thoroughly investigated. The Brack's organization quickly diminished after finding out the motive for the horrible events.
Decha began to recover. Because he only had one kidney, he had to be extra careful. Often, he wore extra padding around his torso to protect his body. But he was moving back at his usual pace.
The people of Astell wanted him to give a statement about the case. They wanted to show their gratitude. Decha traveled to different parts of Astell to give short speeches. But in his words, he always included how it was Rory that helped him take down Deliverance once and for all.
News about her spread to the Brackets, giving them a chance to celebrate the honorable mention.
Not once was Decha's mind clear of Rory. Not a day went by without him thinking about her.
Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into a few months... but she still hadn't woken up. Rory stayed at the Chen's residence, in the guest room, still stuck in a coma. Not even Jessica could figure out why it was taking her so long to wake up.
Every day, when Decha returned home, he'd stay with her and watch as she slept. Jessica told him that she could hear and feel everything around her. Decha would try to talk to Rory, but the lack of response became too awkward for him to bare.
So more often than not, he'd go to her room and hold her hand, just to show her that he was still there. But time was running out for him to stay. After finishing his assignment with Director Chen, the country, Portoland called for him to come back to his station.
He was to help the King of Portoland handle official documents regarding the alliance of Aers.
Decha would soon have to return to the Outside.
He wanted to see Rory, awake and well before he left. But he knew that it probably wasn't possible.
"I knew we'd find you here," Amir's voice chirped as he and Jax both walked into the guest room with wide smiles on their faces.
~~~
I hope you enjoy this. :)