Synthetic Violet

Chapter 3: Actions

I hear him before I see him. It sounds like... I can't quite place it. A mixture of a deep sob and an agonized wail. My mind can't keep up. I feel like a computer that just blue-screened.

He knows.

I rush back into the room, but she's in shambles, fingers digging into the cavity where their eye used to be. I put a protective plate in the socket to keep the wound from infection, but now it serves to keep her fingers from her brain.

"What did you do to me?" Tears run down from his remaining eye. I had to remove their left tear duct, it had been too damaged to save.

"I... I'm sorry. I didn't know how to tell you..."

"My eye is gone. You took my eye."

I want to say that it was damaged beyond repair. That I can splice genes but I'm not a surgeon. I want to tell her that I couldn't find my ophthalmologist– my eye specialist. That I'll find you one. That I'll get you the best doctor money can buy. That I'll build you a robotic eye myself, That I'll learn how to do it, just for you.

"Say something."

He's not crying anymore. They're just staring at me. Staring through me. And the look in his eye...

"SAY SOMETHING!"

I did everything I could, I want to say. Your entire body is healed, I want to say. I'm sorry about your eye, I want to say. I JUST WANTED TO SAVED YOU, I want to say.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

But I say nothing. And I hope that says enough.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My desk is empty. All the spreadsheets are gone, copied by hand and filed away. All payments calculated and sent out where I could afford. All the rest sent just the message, "You'll get your money," and nothing else. The old spreadsheets are in the backyard, I couldn't even tell you where; the spot picked for its insignificance. Maybe I should dig another and jump in.

I asked around about my ophthalmologist, but he's in the psych ward. I looked up my contact in downtown, but he's dead. And hell, I'm not good with robotics. Last time I built one she broke it. Wasn't all that hard, I guess.

I hear someone open the front door behind me, to find me sulking on the front step.

"Are you feeling alright Doc?"

Janus. Can always count on her for excellent timing.

"Not a bit."

She sits down next to me, and we sit in silence for only a moment.

"You need to go talk to him."

"Heh, yeah. That didn't really go so well before. You would know, you were there."

"Sarcasm is a classic coping mechanism, you know that. You didn't even say anything."

She turns to me now, concern written all over her face.

"What happened in there? I've never seen you look so scared before."

"... It was my parents. When I first made a name for myself, they came by the house to see for themselves. The house was new then, and so was I. The way they looked at me was exactly the same as Vagabond just now... confusion, pity, and rage."

We both said nothing after that. We just sat there in silence.

And then we hear a window break.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vagabond is gone. No note, just a broken window, the brainwave device lying on the bed, and a feeling of... emptiness? I've never felt this way before. I never want to feel this way again.

"There's no sign of them anywhere. I'm going to call Voyeur and see if she can--"

"NO! I mean, don't call anyone. I can't let anyone know I saved a Cape, much less MY Cape. That could be a death sentence depending on who hears it–"

"Shut up."

"...Excuse me?"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! I have been working for you for 3 years. I have seen you organize bank robberies, sabotage competitors, and make empty threats to kill colleagues which I know you would NEVER go through with, and not ONCE have I ever seen you look like that."

"Look like what?"

"Oh, COME ON, Doc! You brought Vagabond into your house out of the rain, bleeding everywhere, and you can't even tell me why? You ruined this month's payroll and had to buy a new desk and you somehow broke both the elevator button and the latch to the stasis tube because you slammed them so fucking hard! How did you even manage that? I can see it in your fancy genetically enhanced eyes: She gave you purpose. You had to save him and you don't even have the guts to tell me why."

"You know why. They're my responsibility. No one is allowed to kill Vagabond but–"

"Fuck off, Phillip."

I don't respond. I don't even move. I just let Janus finish.

"Now, are you going to go find V, or do I have to shoot you?"