TBVF: Chapter 14: Picking up the pieces

Title: The Blue Vast Future
Author: Ariel Chew
Genre: Sci-Fi, Humor, Friendship, Family
Summary: A SB#187 team aged-up to be in a Kaiju battle. Ariel’s merely a 21-year-old supervisor of Gamma Rapper, but with all the training of the Academy she has, will it prepare her for the biggest turns of events of the century?
~*~

Iris sighs, nursing a mug of Earl Grey tea with a slice of lemon in it as Talha and Amirul spar at the centre of the Kwoon Room. There’s an uncomfortable silence after the battle yesterday, everyone still recovering from the total damage received: Gamma Rapper has its Conn-Pod torn into, and its electric core needs to be replaced; Eric is comatose and Aaron handicapped, both temporarily out of commission until further notice. On the other hand, Ariel is left to care for them, overseeing the Jaegar repairs and checking in on Aaron, who refuses to leave Eric’s side.

Good news is, the Marshall had just received a call from the director of Pan-Pacific Defense Corps., who congratulates her on the mission well done with a promise to provide some hard-earned funds for the Shatterdome. Iris could tell that Achik is just seconds away from chucking the telephone against the wall.

Iris doesn’t even know if Beta can do this by himself, without the support of Gamma.

“[Iris, do you want to go out and have a walk? Perhaps it will clear your mind for a while, rather than being cooped up in here with us.]” Amirul voices, with Talha hovering behind him and wearing a matching expression of concern even as Iris waves them off.

“I’m alright. Just thinking about things.” Iris knows that they know she’s lying, just by judging her vacant eyes while she absent-mindedly holds onto her mug of tea. She supposes that they do have a point – Perhaps by taking things off her mind she would be able to help Ariel, rather than spending the afternoon being haunted by watching a ghost in Ariel’s body going about in a daze in the morning.

“You know what, you’re right.” Iris’ sudden words cause the two to freeze mid-sparring. “Let’s go out for early dinner. What do you guys say?”

With that, the three of them all called it a day, heading out to a famous Korean restaurant that was within walking distance. A good thing that Iris has a privilege card to collect benefit points.

“Since it’s my treat, order whatever you guys want! Don’t be shy now!” She encourages, shoving the menu book into Amirul and Talha’s hands before she rattles off something to the pretty waitress in Korean. Amirul nudges Talha, exchanging whispers as to what they should have.

“[I’m not sure if I can eat that much… I think I would like some noodles.]” Talha flips the page to the noodle section, pointing at a particular noodle dish. Amirul nods.

“[If that’s the case, I can order some meat so we share.]” Amirul hums, catching Iris’ attention when the waitress heads off to attend to another table. “[Iris, Talha and I are thinking of sharing a noodle and some meat. What will you be having?]”

Iris beams when Amirul tells her the choice of noodles. “[Oh, you’ll definitely love it! I’m thinking of getting a hotpot for three, with a side of mandu. I ordered us some tea, but if you want some shoju or other alcoholic drinks, just order away.]”

In the end, they leave the restaurant with a full stomach and body system slightly intoxicated. Not that they drank a lot, just a few small cups of good shoju to relieve stress. It’s way past curfew, as they make their way back to the Shatterdome when something in a particular dark alleyway catches Talha’s attention.

The taller Ranger lingers behind of the two while his co-pilot laughs at Iris at something she said, which is why when Talha walks into the alleyway, neither of the two realized the other was gone until a scream breaks through the night. Amirul whirls around first, recognizing it was his partner in distress, makes a break into the alleyway with a quick retrieve to turn on the flashlight on his phone. Iris follows suit, dread deep in her gut as she turns on the flashlight option on her phone.

Nearly dropping her phone in the process once she sees what had happened.

Amirul had rushed over to Talha, the man bloodied as Talha clutched onto his wounded arm, the assailant long left the scene after the horrifying deed. Iris fumbles, fingers trembling while she calls Dr. Shah and the Marshall.

“Achik! Talha is wounded; someone attacked him and got his arm pretty badly. I just called Dr. Shah, and he says he’s on his way, w-what should I do…??” Iris chokes on her words, only able to listen vaguely to the Marshall as her panic attack rears its ugly head. Not now, Iris frantically thinks and taking in deep breaths at the same time.

Seconds later, Dr. Shah arrives at the scene with the ambulance in tow, hurrying all three into the van while Zul, who heard the whole thing from the doctor himself, debriefed them. It was a good thing that the public was not alerted with the attack, Zul tells them gravely, when they aren’t sure who the attacker was. At least Talha was not badly injured, managing to get away with an arm cast and two weeks’ rest after fighting back. Amirul was clearly not convinced, mothering the other with an inborn istinct of a hen until Talha can be seen sulking from the unnecessary extra attention. He’s fine, really.

“For now, all three of you are to stay inside the Shatterdome. The rest of us will try to make sure the public will stay unaware of this, is that understood?” Iris nods at the stern look Zul gives, and so do Amirul and Talha, until they are given the green light to leave. Iris watches the two back into their rooms, before leaving to her own room in the opposite wing of the floor.

There are some things that don’t make sense to her, Iris realizes: Why worry about the public finding out that one of their heroes were attacked? Is it something to do with the image of the heroes? Or is there something else?

Iris stops, another thought coming to mind.

Or is this an intended attack by an anti group that the higher-ups are trying to investigate into, without arousing the attention of the public and said anti group?

Iris turns around, and heads to one place she knows she can find the answers to.

~*~ 
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