Floor 21- Dark Angel

by Jason Luthor

  “I remember you mentioning him. He didn’t sound nice, to put it mildly.”

  “It was pretty brutal. He had total control of the Creep’s behavior and was strong enough to tear apart a whole building if he wanted to. I ended up infected by the end of our trip through the Tower, but like you’ve already seen, my body adapted. I ended up beating him. I would say killing him, but Judge, the original person, died five hundred years ago. What was left was this . . . I don’t want to say monster, but all that was left of his personality was this unending desire for revenge. Even before that fight though, before getting separated, things were not looking great for me and the team. We were being hunted by these fanatics that lived in the Tower, and there was more than one time I had to put everything on the line to make sure my friends survived. It was honestly pretty stressful, but Tommy, he just knew what to say to keep me from losing it. So, even though there was a year after that when he went his way while I was wandering in the Deadlands, he’s still one of the people I’d drop everything for. If he has something he wants to tell me, I listen, even if I still end up disagreeing.”

  “You two sound very close. It’s rare to find someone that can provide that level of honesty with you. That’s quite the bond you two forged.”

  “Well, me and Mike were the same way before he started losing his mind. Now, Mike and Tommy are both . . .”I stop, smile, and then just laugh as I bury my head in my hands. “Well, I guess they’re both officers with girlfriends who’ve got their own lives now. They don’t really need me around anymore.”

  “Unless you’re there to save their lives.”

  “Yeah, which I’ve done, and which is obviously something I’ll always do. I just want to find . . .” I struggle with my words. “I just want to find a place for Jackie in the world, not the Dark Angel.”

  “That’s a very powerful idea. We all want to know what it is we’re supposed to do with our lives. To find a place we call home.”

  “Right, so, asking me out, asking me to do things that I never do, whether that’s friendly boxing, sitting at a bar drinking, or even wearing this silly dress, at least it’s something that reminds me I’m still human. I don’t . . . I don’t feel like that a lot, so I when I get a chance to be human again, I take it.”

  “And here I was thinking it was my sparkling personality that got you out,” he jokes between drinks.

  “Nice call back,” I say with a laugh. “You’re not . . . You’re not asking me here to talk about my military ideas or ask me advice about dealing with raiders. That’s nice, and . . . it’s interesting that you asked me out because of Ishara.”

  “Like I said, you speak with her same energy and passion. It’s . . . hypnotizing.”

  “Even if it is a little weird that I remind you of your sister.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Dinner? Drinks? A fancy dress?” I say with a smirk that pops across my face. “I may be a girl who was locked away in a Tower, but I still had movies to watch.”

  He grins at me from above his glass. “What is it you’re implying?”

  “That all this, well, I mean, if this isn’t about the alliance, then I think it seems pretty obvious what this is. Right?” Suddenly, I can’t feel the blood draining from my face. “Wait. Unless I’m . . . Am I wrong? Did I misunderstand?” I bury my head in my hands as I look away. “Oh, God, I can’t believe I’m embarrassing myself this way.”

  “Hold on, hold on,” he tries to comfort me as he bursts into a laugh. “I didn’t agree or disagree to anything you were just pointing out!”

  “Then can we cut the drama and just . . . just let me get out of here before I make myself look like even more of an ass than I do right now.”

  “Jackie, I did want your company. I enjoy talking to you. This, all this,” he says as he waves around the table, “Was because I wanted to make an impression on you. I wanted your attention the way you have mine. There’s no reason to be embarrassed. After all, I’m the one who went through so much just because . . . Well, just because I thought you might be interested in me.”

  “Interested?”

  He sighs but his smile never fades. “I was hoping this could smoothly transition into a . . . a date.”

  “You realize I’ve never been on one of those, right?”

  “Never? But I thought you said you and Mike . . .”

  “God. I was 12 when I met him. We didn’t start hanging out regularly until I was 16, and it wasn’t until I was 17 that we ever talked about anything romantic. Every other guy I knew in the Tower thought I was weird, and I’ve spent all my time in the Deadlands just fighting . . .”

  “I might have underestimated what you meant when you said you didn’t have a normal upbringing.”

  “Yeah, it was . . . it was pretty bad, you know? So, if I didn’t get the message you were trying to send . . .”

  “I should have been clear about it from the start. Just because I have a title and I’m a general doesn’t mean I actually know what I’m doing when it comes to women.” He sighs. “I was also afraid because of the age difference.”

  “I can’t really tell you anything about that. I’ve never heard of age being an issue, so I don’t have any point of reference about whether it’s good or bad.”

  “Well, out here, people can be judgmental when the age difference is too great. They might think I’m trying to take advantage of you.”

  “I don’t know who ‘they’ are, but ‘they’ probably don’t know I’m also the Dark Angel. I can take care of myself.”

  Yousef laughs. “Something we’ve all figured out during the last few days.”

  “Was it when I threw the transport while flying in the air or when I cut off the limbs of your robot walkers?”

  “All of the above,” he says with a drink and a smile. For a second his eyes looks down at my fingers. “So, I wasn’t wrong when I thought you might find me attractive?”

  “If you’re talking about looks . . . You’re a pretty handsome guy, Yousef. As far as your personality, you’re not half as bad as everyone said you might be.”

  “Not half as bad? Is that all?”

  “You’re . . .” I shake my head and smile. “You’re fun to hang around with. It’s peaches. I can dig it.”

  He hesitates for a second before placing his hand on mine. It’s a little too bold for someone like me, and I can feel my face twist up with anxiety, but at the same time, I can feel my heart speeding up. He has to see how nervous I look, because he laughs a little as he pulls his hand away. “Let’s just enjoy dinner and have some good conversation.”

  Tommy’s Recording 24

  Recording this at four thirty in the morning because what the hell just happened?

  It’s, ah . . . four in the morning, when I hear a ringing in my room. At first, it’s a pretty hard struggle to get out of bed and pull a shirt over myself. When I finally do, I rush while stumbling to the door of my quarters. In my head, I’m thinking it’s going to be the president arriving to tell me something’s gone wrong and we’ve got to evacuate the fort. At worst, Yousef’s decided to screw us and attack while we’re sleeping.

  It’s nothing like that. It’s Jackie.

  “Hey,” I tell her as the door slides open. I’m still wiping the sleep off my face when she pushes past me and into the room. “I mean, feel free to come in, obviously.”

  “Thanks,” she mumbles as she practically drops into the living room chair. “I needed to talk or something.”

  “This couldn’t wait until tomorrow?” I ask her as I flip on a light and try to adjust to the brightness. That’s when I realize something that makes me wake up pretty quick. “Jackie, are you wearing a dress?”

  “What, Tommy, I can’t wear a dress once in a while? Because I’m the Dark Angel, I’ve got to keep my armor on all the time? Well, who the hell made that rule, huh? Who made that decision for me?”

  With my sleep really wearing off now, I finally realize her eyes are bloodshot, and I c
an hear a slight slur in her speech when she’s talking. “Jackie, are you . . . Wow. I can’t believe I’m actually going to ask this. Are you drunk?”

  “No. Yes.” She smiles. “Maybe.”

  “Jackie, your metabolism isn’t supposed to let you get drunk.”

  “Except when I want to be. My cells have to obey me, remember?”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” I say as I take a seat across from her. “So, did you need to tell me something or is this just a four in the morning social call? I’ve heard of drunk calling, but . . .”

  “No. I had to tell you something. It’s important.”

  “Well, I might not like you pulling me out of bed at this hour, but you know what it’s like between us. If you’ve got something to say, I’m always here for you, even if you’ve had a little too much to sip on tonight. You’re one of the most important people in my life, Jacko, and I’d—”

  “I kissed him.”

  That stops me in my tracks, and I just stare at her for a long second before I lean in, my face frozen in shock when I ask, “Kissed who?”

  “I kissed him, Tommy. Or, more like he kissed me, but I guess I didn’t do anything to stop him. I could have. I didn’t, though.”

  “Jackie, who did you kiss?”

  She looks at me for this long second, smiling the whole time but also looking like it’s the biggest secret in the world. I’ve practically got it figured out by the time she says his name. “Yousef.”

  When she tells me his name, I feel myself instinctually pulling at my hair while I try to control my reaction. “Jackie, what the hell were you thinking?”

  “I wasn’t. Drunk, remember? That was the best part. For once, I just didn’t have to think. It’s . . . amazing, Tommy. To stop thinking about what everyone want from you for a second.”

  “Well, obviously you weren’t thinking what anyone else wants. If you’d been thinking, you wouldn’t have kissed him. Shit, Jackie, you didn’t tell him anything secret about Central Freedom or anything like that, did you? Something that could compromise our security?”

  “What the hell, Tommy? Why do you think I’d do something like that? You think I’m some dumb girl who gave it all up for some guy she liked?”

  “What do you want me to say? You just came to my room, drunk at four in the morning, to tell me that you kissed a guy who could potentially wipe out Central Freedom with his army if he wanted to.”

  “He wouldn’t . . . he wouldn’t do that.”

  “And how do you know that?”

  “I don’t, okay? But I know what I did, and I didn’t go betraying Central Freedom . . . No, not just that. I didn’t go betraying you, Tommy.”

  “Jackie, why did you even come over here and tell me this?”

  She looks at me like I’m crazy. “Because we haven’t talked about anything, anything, that wasn’t about the military or the Deadlands since I came back? Because you’ve treated me more like the Dark Angel than Jackie Coleman since I got to Central Freedom? All those tests you’ve run on me and all those questions you’ve asked, everything’s been about . . . what are my powers, how can I help Central, all of it. But who the hell cares about Jackie, right? The only thing any of you care about is whether I can lift a tank over my head or not.”

  “That’s not fair, and you know that’s not true. I don’t know where this is coming from, but you know we care about you.”

  “Then why haven’t you bothered asking me about what I’m going through? About me? Why does everything have to be about what I can do and nobody asks me what happened to me out there?” She slams the armrest of her chair, and it actually makes my heart stop to see it literally evaporate into splinters as she springs onto her feet. “You wanted to know why I never told you about who I lost out in the Deadlands? Maybe because you never earned the right to know. Maybe because you never showed you cared about what I’m dealing with, so why should I bother talking about one of the . . .” She wipes at her face, and I can see her struggling to hold back tears. It doesn’t work. I can see her gritting her teeth as trails run down her cheeks. “One of the worst things that’s ever happened to me, Tommy.”

  “Jackie.” I get up and walk to her, but she just stands there, with her arms crossed. “Look, maybe you’re right. It’s been . . . I don’t know, it’s just been unbelievable that you were alive at all. And since you’ve come back, you’ve been bigger than life. The things you do, the way you fly through the air and lift vehicles over your head. . . It’s like staring at an angry god sometimes, except you’re on our side. And, yeah, sometimes it’s hard to think of you as just Jackie Coleman.”

  “Tommy, ‘just’ Jackie Coleman? Do you hear yourself?”

  “I’m . . . I’m sorry. You’re right.”

  “You wanted to know why I kissed him. I’m not stupid, Tommy. I’m not falling for him. I don’t even want anything more out of him. A girl kisses a guy and everyone thinks she’s falling in love, but . . . I just wanted an experience. A normal, human experience, so I don’t feel like this . . . this . . .” She turns around and puts distance between us. “This . . . monster.”

  “Jackie. You’re not a monster. You’re still human like the rest of us. Sure, you’ve got some new powers, but you’re not like Judge or Sally or any of them.”

  “I’m not?” She asks me while looking over her shoulder, and when she does, the air feels like it starts to burn with her anger. “Then what about this?”

  She tosses her arm out, and three blades of bone slice of her skin, cutting through so cleanly that there isn’t a sign of blood or anything else. They slide back from near her wrist to her elbow so fast that it doesn’t even look like it hurts. Her fist closes, and she presses it against her chest, like she’s trying to hold in something. What gets me is her eyes, though. Staring at her . . . I guess I’d always thought it was her mask doing it. I thought it was her mask making that red light. It wasn’t. Her eyes are burning red, trails of light dripping into the air above her as she looks at the ground. Her pupils are on fire. An indescribable fire. I . . . I don’t mean to look shocked when she does it, but . . . it’s my instinct. It’s also the wrong one. I stutter for a second and take a step back. “Jackie . . .”

  “That look in your eyes.” She turns to look at me, her blade arm dropping to her side and her crimson eyes falling to the floor, red fire still bleeding into the air as she starts to suck wind. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen it. You don’t think I haven’t seen that look of terror in someone’s eyes before? You don’t think . . . What do you think, Tommy? That I just got to Central without any pain? That I just magically showed up knowing what I could do? That it didn’t cost me something?”

  “I’m not . . .”

  “When they see what I am, Tommy,” she says as she looks up, her voice tensing as she tries to keep from screaming. “They’re scared of what I am. Everyone is afraid of what I am when they see what I’ve really turned into.”

  I shake my head and walk up to her. “I’m not afraid of you, Jackie.”

  “Maybe not. But that look you just gave me . . . Why do you think I don’t want anyone knowing I’m the one in the armor? They only cheer for you until you do something that scares them. Then you’re the villain. And if you can’t look at me without thinking, even for a second, that I’m something horrendous . . .”

  “That’s not what I think, and you know that. Yeah, you took me by surprise. I reacted badly. But I’m still the guy who held onto you after you busted your fist shattering a bathroom mirror in frustration. I’m the guy who held you when you cried. You might be the Dark Angel to other people, but you’re still Jackie Coleman to me. And that person has always put too much pressure on herself, and she’s always felt like an outsider. That feeling didn’t come around just because you got these new powers, but I guess they didn’t help.”

  I see her take a breath as her shoulders finally relax. The blades extending backward from her arms retract and her eyes stop shimmering with light. She a
ctually relaxes for a second. “That’s . . . true.”

  “I’ve got to tell you, that’s a pretty cool trick, now that I’ve had a chance to catch my breath.”

  She smiles as she looks up at me, but I can tell she’s a little embarrassed. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess it is an interesting party trick. Look at the girl who can whip out bone knives from her arms. Yay.”

  “I can almost guarantee it would go over well with the right crowd.”

  “Yeah, a bunch of psychos.”

  “Nah. The troops would love this stuff.”

  “Well, they’re not going to see it. That Jackie . . .” Her smile fades and she shakes her head. “That Jackie should never come out.”

  That Jackie. The Jackie who was out there, before she came to Central. “What exactly happened out there in the Deadlands, Jackie?”

  “Nothing. Enough for me to know that . . . that we need to protect the people we care about. And I shouldn’t be the one people are relying on. There needs to be a . . . a system, you know? And Fort Silence can give us that.”

  “So, you’re going to support Yousef’s plan to join with Central Freedom?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I won’t say anything to the president against it.”

  “Maybe this is the wrong time to have this conversation, but . . . you know that’s unacceptable. Taking the freedom out of the hands of the people?”

  “The people? The people can’t protect themselves, not from what’s out there. Out there,” she says, pointing behind her, “In the . . . in the utter wilderness. There’s a world of people, like the raiders, who’re ready to kill anyone they come across. Okay? And there’s worse out there. Worse things I’ve seen, in the Creep, that we need to be ready for. We have to make Central safe.”

  “At what cost, huh? Your solution to our problem is to concentrate all of our security in the hands of a man who . . .” I turn to the side for a second and grab at my mouth, trying to hold in from saying anything I’ll regret. “A man that . . . Look, I don’t care if you kissed him, but I don’t trust him.”