As Jiro would wake up, he'd hear some footsteps coming towards him, and the unconscious Eddie & Umbra.
( @ask-spw-mercenary )
Jiro didn't respond, Jiro was barely processing anything right now. He barely bothered to look up.
(( @ask-spw-mercenary ))
(( cont))
"Nana tried to reason with Ed, and got captured, so she called me. I was giving him the beating of a lifetime when Umbra showed up and caved his fucking skull"
Arden heard that last bit and didn’t know if he should feel proud or not. At least he knows that Jiro didn’t straight up just beat the shit outta Eddie as payback now. “And those piles of scrap, plus the chunks of a head?”
Ardram sat back and waited to see what Jiro would say. Izzy on the other hand grew a little pale recalling the sight.
"No clue," Jiro looked remarkably paler too.
“No clue? Ya sure?”
“Are you sure you don’t know? Please don’t hold anything back we just want to help” Izzy asked trying to figure out what happened.
Ardram merely was looking around to see if anyone was close enough to listen in on their conversation.
"that's all that happened. probably his fucking boss."
“Boss? There wasn’t another body in the building, let alone any with fresher blood.”
After confirming no one would hear Ardram interrupted. “I’m pretty certain I know whose blood it was.” Izzy turned to him. “You do?”
"some sap his boss killed. Obviously. It's obvious"
There’s no way this kid was implying what Arden thinks he’s implying. “…It was too fresh to be something like that, unless you had a fourth in that building that felt like keeping you alive.”
Ardram pointed to Jiro. “It was his blood.” Izzy paled further. “It couldn’t have been there was…” she left unsaid the chunks she saw. “It just couldn’t.”
"IT WASN'T MINE"
“Are you REALLY sure about that?” Arden doubted that, especially now.
“No use denying it. I got a good nose for these things.” Ardram tapped the edge of his nose. Though his smile was faltering he revealed more. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you’re not human anymore.”
Izzy couldn’t believe it.
"FUCK YOU!"
Jiro's voice cracked a little bit with the confirmation of what he'd already known
Arden picks up on the confirmation, taking a deep breath. "If you're worried about being opened up like a dead frog, don't. We just have a few questions, and let's just say that you're gonna need to lay low for a bit."
“You need to hear it even if you don’t want to accept reality.”
Izzy had to take a deep breath to steady herself. “We can figure this out together.”
"I-
I just want to go home!"
"You'll get home, just not right now."
“I’m so very sorry, but you can’t go home just yet. We can figure out visitation?” She didn’t know what would come next.
Jiro started struggling again, "I JUST WANNA GO HOME!"
"You will, it'll just take a bit."
“We have to make sure you won’t be dangerous to your family. You don’t want to hurt them do you?” Ardram asked as the golden threads squeezed around Jiro a little tighter.
"I'M NOT DANGEROUS I'M NOT!"
"Then let us make sure, please. This will go quicker if you calm down."
“I can cover his mouth again till we get back to the foundation to sort this out.” Izzy shot Ardram a glare before trying to reassure Jiro. “We just want to help you.”
"I-
I DON'T WANT IT"
"Why not?"
“No one wants to do this, but we have to. To make sure you and everyone around you will be safe.”
"L-
Just let me go, and I'll leave," Jiro admitted to his real plan.
"Pardon?" The mercenary sounded as if he was caught off guard by the wording. "Leave as in run home or leave as in splitting town?"
“I think he means skipping town.” zzy shook her head fast. “No, you can’t just leave.”
"WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO DO?!"
"I mean... Foundation's here to help?"
“Have you even thought of what you would do on your own? The people that would miss you? You just can’t.” Izzy started tearing up, but quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand.
“Here’s something you can do. Give the foundation a chance to help you.”
Jiro didn't respond. He bit back the fact that he didn't really get a choice on the matter, clearly.
"It's better than splitting town with no further plan, that's for sure."
Ardram nodded agreeing with Arden. “First thing on the to do is to get a doctor to check him out.”
".. i want to see oda."
“Let’s get ya to the hospital then.”
“We can certainly get him!”
"... fine."
Nothing about this was fine. All Jiro needed to do was disappear, never to be seen again.
After that little talk, Arden proceeded to lead the group back towards the backup and the ambulances.