Walk The Line: Part One
His heels clicked against the metal cabinet doors as he swung his feet to and fro. It was not Fox’s first time in an office like this. Nor would it be his last.
He could smell the alcohol used to sterilize the instruments that he knew were for probing, poking, and prodding; he could feel the constant push of a wall of icy wind from the vent to his right, and with the constant thud of the rubber outer soles of his shoes hitting the metal, he could feel the space around him.
There was the door he’d entered in, slightly ajar to let in the warmth of the hall along with the occasional chatter of doctors dashing by. He liked the sound of their heels against the tile floors. Click clack, click clack, click clack. There were the drawers towards the back of the room, the ones with the awful squawking noise every time they were opened and would require so much force to shut that the entire cabinet would shake. Then there was the counters along either sides of the wall, a sink to his left, cabinet spaces both above and below. If it wasn’t for the word “Laboratory” written in braille on the door, he would have considered this to be a storage room. There was a break in the rhythm down the hall. A man who walked with louder steps, probably of larger build than most of the others who worked in the facility. Fox could tell by the way his shoes clicked, he had broad shoulders, long legs, and was heading straight for this room. “You must be Mister Alistair.” A voice said from the door. It was the man who had come for him; Fox recognized the voice as James Ironwood, Mantle’s top general and headmaster to Atlas. “I’m so glad you decided to come in and have a little chat.” The man stepped into the room now, Fox heard him shift, and the gentle click of the door closing. There was a change in pressure, the warmth and sound from the hallway now gone, and the two men were left with one another.
“In the advertisements, you said that there was a prosthesis... That your scientists or whatever made something that could help... people like me...” Fox’s hands were gripping the edge of the table, he could feel the strain on the skin around his knuckles while he kept himself grounded.
“Does anyone know you’re here?” Ironwood asked, Fox’s grip lightened. He hadn’t even thought to tell his friends where he was going.
“No I... I came alone, I told my teammates I had a doctor’s appointment, but I didn’t specify where.” Fox frowned. Did he get himself into trouble? Should he have been there in the first place? At this time, Ironwood had crossed the divide between them, placing his hand on the young man’s shoulder. Fox could feel the unnatural weight of the hand, how bony it was where most hands were rounded out.
“Come with me, Son. Let’s get started.”
“He’s where?!” Coco slammed her mug on the desk, sloshing her iced latte across the stacks of papers that had been sitting there since the start of the conversation. “U-um, Coco, your homework...” Velvet tried to raise a hand to help but Coco stopped her.
“Leave it Vel. We’ve got more important things to worry about,” Coco said, pushing up her shades, “now tell me what exactly you saw?”
“Well... I saw Fox leave for the airships into town and I was headed there anyways, so I tailed him.” Velvet started. “We get on the ship together and I ask him where he’s going and he says ‘Doctor’s office’ which doesn’t sound so suspicious until I realize Fox doesn’t actually visit a doctor that often. So I wanted to make sure he was okay. I’m pretty light on my feet, so I figured he wouldn’t know I was following him if I kept a safe distance. Then I noticed he was heading towards one of those heavily guarded buildings, with mecha soldiers surrounding it. And shortly afterward the general went inside.” Coco was pacing the room now, heels clicking, hands behind her back as she thought about all of this. Yatsuhashi shrugged the information off. “So he went to see the General. Come on, Coco, it’s not that big of a deal... What’s the worst that could happen?”
Coco shot the tall male a glare. “What’s the worst that can happen? WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? Our team mate- no- my PARTNER just waltzed his ass right into Ironwood’s base of operations and didn’t tell any of us jack shit about what he was doing. We need to go down there and get him back before...”
“Before what?” Fox interrupted, he was standing in the doorway now. He hadn’t heard most of the conversation, but he did hear Coco’s outburst. “I can do as I please with my free time, thank you very much.”
“Fox, oh thank heavens!” Velvet said, rushing to hug the blind boy. When he didn’t reciprocate her touch, she backed off a bit. “A-are you alright?”
Before Fox could answer, he could feel the rush of air as his partner approached, heels clicking more rapidly now, and the next thing he knew, his cheek was stinging in pain. “What the hell were you thinking, Fox? Why did you go see the General? That man isn’t trustworthy!” Fox rubbed his cheek and let out a huff of breathe. He could tell that everyone in the room was observing him, waiting for whatever response he deemed appropriate.
“Why did I go see Ironwood?” He chuckled a bit at the question, as if the answer wasn’t right in front of them. “I thought you of all people would understand...”
There was a silence in the room, as everyone froze, Coco with her hand halfway in the air in case she needed to slap some sense into him.
“Spit it out already!” She hissed, her foot tapping against the floor.
“I just...” Fox started, then felt the tears well up. It was such a stupid reason. Something he’d proven time and time again to himself that he could live without it... But he’d grown so very tired of settling for less.
“I WANT TO SEE, DAMMIT!”
