I woke up for the third time in the day, moaning with a splitting headache that felt like my head was a size too small. I unclasped the stuffy respirator as a machine beeped to my left; prying something stick off my chest, the whining of a flatlining ECG machine snapped me out of my stupor.

“ He’s coming around ma’am,” I heard from somewhere in my awareness. The voice was a familiar soprano with a lilt―nurse Lea. I almost relaxed and let the bedding take me before I realized what got me in there in the first place and my eyes snapped open to the walls of a ward with muted sky blue walls.

Breath caught in my throat as the sound of footfalls echoed from beyond the door accompanied by a murmur of voices. Flipping off the covers I stifled a hiss as a needle detached from the inside of my arm. Then I realized why I would not be getting out of this whether I wanted to or not as I caught sight of the plastic handcuffs tying me to the bed railing.

‘Shit,’ I slumped back in resignation.

A very severe woman walked in holding a folio. Before the door closed, I chanced a glimpse of two men in gear that was close enough to something Special Weapons would have worn but the armbands told me otherwise.

“ Ryan Z. O’ciaran,” the woman said approaching. The ticktock of her kitten heels echoed across the tiles as she made her way to a stool by my bed. “ May I?” she asked.

“ Knock yourself out,” I sighed, motioning to the only seat there was. I watched her sit placing the folio on her lap. Black hair was pulled back in a chignon bun that had nary a strand out of place, half moon frames adorned her with crow feet at the edges of her eyes. She wore a burgundy turtleneck, under a charcoal gray blazer and a tulip skirt to match. All that had been taken at a glance right down to her stockings, expensive taste in shoes and the beauty mark on her left cheek. She was most definitely of Asian descent.

I stared at the woman, never taking my eyes from her thin lidded gaze that made my skin break in goosebumps. It did not help that I was bereft of my shirt and once again, I was wearing a bandage across my chest like a vagrant samurai. The battle of wills only lasted just as long as I would hold my eyes from watering before she blinked and spoke,

“ Are you a headstrong person, Mister O’ciaran?” I winced at the name but replied nonetheless.

“ Are you here for a psych eval?” I couldn’t help quip back. She broke a wintry smile that was gone as soon as it came. I bit my tongue, I was not doing myself a favor. I’d made a bad habit of ribbing Lucas and Cassandra. ‘Cassandra’―my heart twinged.

“ It is only fair to introduce yourself, no?” I said. I wanted to know what or who I was dealing with.

“ May Yoshiko,” she said as she retrieved a spectacles’ cleaner and got to cleaning her glasses. “ And no, while I do have a background in psychology, I am not here for that,”

' Why would you willingly volunteer that information? bait?’ I frowned.

“Then what are you here for?” I said. “ Look, it seems like you have all the time in the world, but I don't,”

“ I would like to think not Mister O'ciaran,” she replied, putting stress on the latter part of her statement. I had the feeling she was needling me to get a response and fishing for something—but what? “ Of all the questions I would have expected you to ask what you were in for—” she said, glancing at the handcuff on my left.

“ Seems a bit too late for that, don't you think?” I said, giving the woman a one arched brow.

“Not even a lawyer?”

“ I fail to see what kind of crime I committed,” I shrugged.

“Are you sure?” she said as if in disbelief as she emplaced her glasses back. Then she opened the folio, “ Let's see, it says here you are accused of attempted voluntary manslaughter,” she said, reading me my rap sheet. I bit back a snorting laugh; there was no such thing. However, I did play along feigning surprise,

“What?—Where did that come from?” I gawked. “ Wait—is this about Cassandra?”

“Hmm,” she nodded. “ Her mother is suing for damages—according to the doctor's reports, she might have died from your intervention after suffering a spine injury. Which adds contributory negligence to your list of misdeeds ,”

“ What do you mean?!” I snapped back. “ She would have died if I hadn't gotten her out of there!”

“I am afraid that would not fly under Duty to Rescue Mister O’ciaran,” the asian woman put across. “ You failed to exercise the minimum duty of care,”

‘Fuck!’ I swore as I racked my brain for a counter.The circumstances under which I was arrested though didn’t add up. All that undercover as though I was a terrorist could only be the work of one agency― I’d been had. It wasn’t the prosecution they were after, that seemed too convoluted for the agency to go through all this just to get me.

“ However, we would be amenable to getting some of your sentences struck down,” she said. “ Or otherwise removed.”

“ How?” I whirled glaring at her with suspicion. The only thing they could do was extradition, which further cemented my supposition that she was working for Central. The following document that she pulled from her folio confirmed it―my death certificate.

“ That won’t fly at all―” I said, folding my arms as I leaned back on the bed. She frowned. My back had stopped smarting and both of my stat bars were recovering. I shuddered, recalling the feeling that had landed me in the hospital. Towards the end, I felt like my insides were melting.

“ I am afraid you don’t have a choice in this Mister O’ciaran,” she said. “Whether you go through with this in the litigation process or not, one way or another you’ll just prolong the inevitable.”

“ Is that a threat?” I said, narrowing my eyes at her.

“ Hmm, think carefully about our offer Mr. O’ciaran,” she said as she dusted off the non-existent lint and stood to leave. “ Have a good evening,”

“ Yeah right―”I scoffed.

As soon as the door was closed. I crashed. They already knew something was off about me and while she didn't make any overt mentions of it, I knew they could make me disappear. That certificate seemed like the real deal—maybe Lu had failed to mention it or he'd barely known it existed.

Perhaps my brain waves had stopped and I'd been about to be written off before they came back again. Dwelling on that was not getting me anywhere though—I wondered whether these benefactors of mine were putting me through this just for fun. The way things went, I was doubting my chances of doing something as time went.

Nonetheless, I turned my attention to my stat bar recalling the changes right before I lost consciousness.

Æ ///////// ( ! )

I mentally prodded at the alert and the list was populated with the stats. It seemed unless something related to it occurred, it would not give an option to outline its details.

Æ ∆

Acuity: 6

Affinity: 6

Insight: 5

Fortitude : 5

Maybe 5 was the baseline for this kind of thing; I don’t know why but that looked like a good average number. I remembered the other stats had been all over the place before a +3 increase. As to what the numbers meant in terms of application, only the aliens knew. Yet that was not doing me any favors if I didn’t know how to use it―I could try breaking the cuffs off my arm. I knew I was strong enough for it but the men outside the door were no slouches. I wouldn’t be the fastest man alive if I couldn’t outrun a bullet. I don’t know if they were allowed to use them, perhaps they were rubber bullets, a non-lethal option and it seemed like they were there to keep people out rather than keep me in.

I cast around for my things; I found my shirt, half-coat and surprisingly the trenchcoat Lotte had lent me. Reaching for them, I was surprised to even find they'd let me have my phone at all. I called Lucas, hoping he'd pick this time. I wasn't going to say anything incriminating if they'd bugged my phone.

“Bruv?”

“ Lu…you around?”

“Yeah—I hope you got Ma's things.” his voice sounded exhausted. Knowing him, he'd probably been staying at Cass' bedside.

“ I did, thanks for the save―forgot fridge was empty,”

“ What are you up to?,”

“ In the hospital,” I said, chuckling.

“ The fuck man?!” He swore.

“ And get this, Cassandra’s mum is suing me for manslaughter,”

“Huh? Who told you that?” He blustered. “ I didn’t know her mum is even in the country,”

I quirked a brow at that. Was May Yoshiko bluffing? He knew that I didn't actually have any contact with Cass' mum which meant—

“Fuck. Knowing her, she might be flying in tonight,” he said in realization. “ I didn't see you come in; How’d that happen—”

“ Some Intelligence Agency I think ,” then I explained how old man Bentham had ratted me out, leaving out the parts about the sensation of the otherworldiness that had landed me in hospital. I mentioned that I got into an accident while on the run from some people. He was of half a mind to go throttle the old man himself.

“ I wouldn't do that if I were you, I'm not sure we're even communicating on a secure line. These people are big shots and I think they know things—but I don't know what they know,”

“ Shit bruv! You're really in a bind—where are you?”

I looked around the suite, noting the decor and other miscellaneous things—

“ I think I'm in the VIP wing,” I said. “ And before you even think about coming here, don’t. I got guards,” I chuckled deprecatingly. I heard him mumble a curse under his breath.

“ What about you know what?”

“ What?”

“ Can’t you―I don’t know, send a message to you know who?”

I facepalmed. Lucas really sucked at not being obvious―If they were bugging my phone, I didn’t want to give them more than I thought they knew . Which was just as infuriating since I didn’t know what they did. So I played dumb instead; outright denying things would imply something.

“ I don’t know what you mean man―I’ll get a lawyer,” I replied, using a tone which meant I would not be pursuing the line of conversation Lucas was insinuating.

“ Ah, look man―I can’t think straight right now,” Lucas sighed. “ I’ll catch up tomorrow ok?”

“ Yeah sure―” ‘If I’ll even be there by tomorrow’ I left unspoken as the call dropped.

V ∆

Dexterity: 5

Endurance: 6

Energy : 7

Vitality : 5

Æ ∆

Acuity: 6

Affinity: 6

Insight: 5

Fortitude : 5