.:Sun Peeks Through:.
Chapter 36: Sun Peeks Through
Hey guys! Sorry again for the long wait. Writer's block is a bitch and a half and with a new job, it's not helping any. That being said, I think I'll have to say that my slower upload speed is gonna be my new norm. But fret not! I haven't abandoned this story and I'll keep writing until the story is done!
Also, might see a familiar face if you've read @one-n-only-cedar's InFAMOUS: Equilibrium! Tell him Caper sent you! But with that being said, let's jump in!
-------
“About fucking time.”
I growl to myself as I leave the Exam room with Dr. Sims. God I hate physicals, just sitting there on the uncomfortable bastard child of a counter and a shrink's couch, answering uncomfortable questions and being poked and prodded. Silver lining is that the doc said I have a clean bill of health, so that’s good.
Ezra’s trying to explain what an Energy Read is and all the mumbo jumbo that goes into it, but I couldn’t really give a rat’s ass about how it works and why, so I’m not really paying attention. Something else, however, does catch my attention. Something much more interesting.
A Blast Core, a damn powerful one at that. I could feel it. The energy coming off of it, I’ve only felt something similar once before when I spied on Kestrel making the purified Core for that damned brickzooka.I could only guess that this is a purified Core too and we were heading straight towards it.
I can feel my teeth begin to itch and my fingers begin to twitch, I can feel my desire start to rise up inside. “Looks like this idiot’s leading you straight to a tasty little power boost.” My thoughts hiss into my head. “Bet you could crack whatever’s housing it and take it, then nuke the place afterwards.”
I do my best to suppress a growl as my logic kicks in. The Amp is still not repaired and if I blew this place skyhigh, I’d be out of a place to live and I was promised sanctuary here. So it’s better to play nice and… Ugh…. “Behave.” At least for now.
Mercifully, something else catches my attention, the muffled sound of two familiar voices. Kestrel and Pangolin. I remember Dove saying that Kes was taking her turn watching over him, so I wasn’t surprised about that… But how they were talking, it was making me curious. Whatever they were going on about sounded serious… Hmmm… Maybe I can get some details from Dr. Sunbeam over here.
“So.” I start, trying not to sound awkward. “I heard from Mako that you popped the question to Crow. How’s everything been going so far with the prenuptials?” Ezra’s face beams like a lovestruck goof as he plays with the ring on his finger. “Everything’s going great so far. We’re still in the early stages of planning, but as of right now, it’s been smooth sailing.” I let out a chuckle, trying not to let the sting of memories get in the way.
“You must be one lucky son of a bitch with the way you’re smiling.” I point out, Ezra lets out a chuckle before nodding. “Yeah, I am. She’s saved so many lives, we’ve even worked together on a few cases and I fall in love with her all over again when I watch her work her magic.” He gets a dreamy look in his eyes and I try to swallow back a bitter sting in my throat as I remember how I used to talk about Trish. Beaming with pride and love. Now’s not the time for pity parties, Cole.
“I remember that Crow’s in charge of Pangolin’s care, how’s he holding up?” I ask Cupid over here, it seems to snap him out of the love haze for a second before he compouses himself. “Thought about visiting or maybe taking a shift myself and giving the other three a break.”
“Pangolin’s stable and conscious, but he’s still not out of the woods entirely yet.” Ezra responds, keeping a tone of professionalism. “Can’t have too many visitors right now and Kestrel’s currently visiting, so unfortunately you’ll have to wait a bit before you can pop in.” I nod in acknowledgement, but when has anyone saying “No” ever stopped me before? I’ll just have to find a way to sneak in.
I’m led into a room that's separated into two sections, one that's blocked off by a wall, a window and a door and the other that has what looks like a sitting CT scanner… Or at least that's what I think it is, there’s so much random jerry-rigged nonsense that it makes me question what it actually is!
I look at Ezra as if he's completely wacko, but as I stare, my impulses creep back in as I can feel that tempting Blast Core inside the machine. Now I know I could easily nab it, but I remind myself that I kinda need a place to live so I can get my head on straight.
“I know it looks a bit piecemeal…” Ezra's voice cuts through my thoughts. "But I can assure you it works and it's perfectly safe.” Perfectly safe? Yeah… I’ll believe it when I see it. "All you need to do is sit down and hold a midline charge and the machine will scan the energy and send it to the computer.”
"You know I don't like sitting in cramped spaces, right?” I huff while I begrudgingly start sitting down.
"I’m aware, but I promise I’ll do my best on my end to make sure you're in and out.” Ezra reassures as I sit down, a sour look on my face. "You know… This is a pretty selfless act you're doing… There's still some good in you yet, Cole." I roll my eyes hard.
"Just cut the sappy “good guy" shit and turn the damn machine on.” I snarl. Who does he think he is, my life coach?
The fucking sunbeam chuckles before apologizing and heading into that one room to start the machine. I charge up my electricity like I was prepping for a blast and hold it.
I try to be still, but with the cramped space I can’t help but feel the need to move. The machine turns on and it feels like my senses are in overdrive. The purified Core, I can feel it, it’s against my back. God, I can fucking taste it against my tongue. I can feel how flimsy the machine is. How easy it would fucking be to take this core… Especially since I’m currently holding a charge... I am hanging on by a fucking thread.
I hear the intercom fizzle to life and I hear the doctor’s voice over the speaker. “Hey Cole, I’m not getting a good read from the machine, can you increase your power a little bit? Not by much, just a little more juice and I can get a better reading.” Did he just seriously ask that? Is he a fucking dumbass?! Though come to think of it, while this might be midline for my electric abilities, it’s not my midline full on… Not anymore, not as the Beast.
If Dr. Funshine Bear wants a little more juice? I’ll give him juice. Just a little bit of Beast energy and….
I feel the energy from the Core against my back surge as Beast Energy starts to flow. I damn near SNARL from how good it feels... That is until I feel the metal start heat up. Shit… It’s about to blow!
*KRRRZZZZZTTT!!!*
I’m blasted forward as the energy wave throws me out of the chair, electricity arcing and jumping off of the machine to everything around and smoke filling the room. I think I heard Erza jump from surprise and I can’t help but to laugh. Just about forgot how fun it is to hear people get frightened. As the smoke continues to grow thicker, I lower myself onto the ground to stay out of it. An idea comes to me. Erza probably can’t see me, I dunno if he has a Pulse ability, but from the sounds of it, he’s busy with something else… Perfect time to sneak out.
With the smoke from the machine filling the room and the literal ray of goddamn sunshine busy, I army crawl out of the Scan Room and then start sneaking down the hallways, making sure that I don’t get spotted by any orderlies or anyone else that would want to stop me. Once I was out in the main hallway, I walk with purpose. People don’t tend to question you so long as you’re acting like you got business around here.
I focus on my hearing and follow the sound of the pinecone and the bird.. I got a little bit worried when I didn’t hear them, but soon enough they started chattering again. Thank god the explosion didn’t stop them from continuing with whatever they’re doing.
Once I was near the room where Pangolin was set up, I use a quick Radar Pulse to confirm the occupants before posting up nearby, leaning up against a wall near the door. I pull out my journal to act as a prop, making it look like I was a visitor waiting my turn and passing the time by reading a book.
At first the voices were muffled, but as I focus in, the voices become clearer. “... Pangolin, did you not think I was stressed too? That I wasn’t wondering what the hell went wrong myself?” I hear Kestrel mutter out, I can practically visualize her running her hands down her face, it causes a pang of… Something, but I ignore it for the time being. “Look, I understand you were stressed, but that doesn’t give you the right to use me like a goddamn emotional punching bag!” I hear a bang and a clatter, most likely from a fist slamming down on something.
I hear the woman sigh before continuing on. “Did you know your outburst had me tearing myself down again? Mako and Coyote had to knock sense into me because I was so out of it.” I bite my tongue to keep myself from letting out a growl. I hear Pangolin take a breath and I steel myself so I don’t charge in.
“There…” He begins. God, he sounds like hell. Weak and ragged… A cold chill shoots up my spine remembering what Crow said about those Blink Scorpions and their Corrodium venom. “There’s… No excuse, Kestrel.” He breathes out. “I treated you like shit; over a stupid prototype. I’m… Sorry.”
There was a heavy pause before Pangolin continues. “I’m sorry for… Everything. Pushing you so hard to the point you barely ate or slept. Holding what happened at the mines over your head and using it as justification for questioning your loyalty, even going as far as to insinuate that you lied about your estimation. Implying that the destruction of Firewall was your fault… All of it.” He sighs again and sniffs… Is he… Crying? “It’s been eating at me. I failed you, as a leader, as a friend… As a brother. I failed you by letting my emotions and pride get in the way and treating you horridly. I may hope for your forgiveness, but if you never do, I’ll understand… Hell, if you wanted to leave, I’d understand too.”
I shake my head as I try to process what I just listened to. He… He’s just spilling his guts to the bird. Truly remorseful. Ready and willing to take whatever consequences may come on the chin. Seems like my little talk with him back in Kes’s forge rattled him good.
Kestrel sighs softly and I swear I can hear her shaking her leg to calm down. She clicks her metallic teeth before speaking again. “Pangolin… Thomas… I don’t want to leave the Misfits. Outside of what recently has happened, you guys took me in, treated me like family. We are family.” She murmurs. “And even though we ain’t on good terms right now, I ain’t leaving you.” She sighs softly through her nose before continuing.
“Look… I know that I will forgive you in due time, especially now since you’ve given me an honest-to-god apology, but right now… I can’t forgive you; not yet. I still need to be pissed at you, still process the hurt and heal.” I can hear Pangolin hum in acknowledgement before I turn my thoughts inwards, the last thing I hear before I go into my head is Kestrel thanking Pangolin for saving her life.
I can’t help but to pause, any anger inside cooling. For the first time, I feel like my words actually held weight. I knew Kestrel listened to me when I spoke to her about the nature of forgiveness, but to hear that Pangolin took my words to heart when I ripped into him, even though it was more delayed… I start to feel something that I hardly ever got to feel. I feel that I wasn’t just heard… But truly listened to. They listened.
In this moment of quiet, memories started to seep in. Memories of Zeke, memories of my own journey to forgiving him for betraying me those many years ago. “I don’t call you brother because I like the way it sounds.” His words echo in my head as I remember that day we truly mended the bridge. A familiar dampness stings my eyes. “Shit…!” A voice rattles me out of my thoughts before they can consume me. “SHIT!!” Uh-oh. Looks like the doc’s back and has seen I’ve gone missing, best try to make my way back before he tears the damn hospital down.
Unfortunately for me, as I was making my way back to the room, Erza walks over to me. Stopping me mid-stride and giving me a look that reminded me of my father when he was about to drag me off by my ear to scold me. Great.
“Cole.” Ezra starts, his voice calm, but low. “You and I need to have a serious talk.” “Why.” I hiss out, becoming more agitated by his tone.
“Because I don’t think you know just how dangerous your powers truly are, Cole.”