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Chapter 52: The Irregulars: Skyler and Alethea
Skyler spent most of his days recently running after Nyx. He was her ‘partner’ all of a sudden so the two of them often went into the field together. It was after all more than a little risky to venture into areas of possible ‘infestation’ on one’s own at the best of times. Keeping up with Nyx hadn’t been too hard at first, after basic he was the more physically fit of the two of them, not to mention Nyx’s fake leg, but she just didn’t stop.
Sometimes Skyler thought half his job was to convince Nyx to stop before she overextended. Getting into a situation where one might have to run when she was already panting hard was a disadvantage after all and as her partner he had to be the voice of reason sometimes.
Sometimes though, being the voice of pacing themselves could give their quarries the time to escape, or to grab another citizen. He told himself that if they overextended they could be killed and couldn’t save anyone then, but it didn’t help him hating it when they were too late. He got the feeling that Nyx was the same, though she didn’t talk about it much, or indeed talk about many things at all, outside of calling her husband whenever they were at the base.
That had been the routine. Base then scout the city responding to calls. Skyler and his rifle put as many bullets into the cyber freaks as he could while Nyx got slashy with her sword and exploding containment rope. Something was different this time though.
“Nyx, what is it?” He came up to his partner where she stood with a manic grin on her face.
“I killed one” Nyx replied still smiling.
“We do that pretty regularly”
“No, I mean, we destroy the bodies, or incapacitate them, this time I actually killed it, the spirit in the body, the ghost in the shell, if you will.”
“While I appreciate the reference, are you saying you actually killed the demon directly? How? You saw it?”
“I did. Now I can kill them for real.” Nyx tried to control her breathing, “Now let’s get the car, more to do.”
Skyler glanced over at the immobile corpse before the pair started towards the car, shuddering a bit at the process he knew was used to make these things. He tried not to think about it much, especially the theory that some of the people turned into cyber monsters were still conscious and aware of what was going on. He had a hard time deciding whether it would be better to save them or just end them, and the disparity in those options tore at his insides. He knew it must have affected Nyx too though she was better at not showing it. All he could really do for now though was to not think about it.
Ironically the best way he could avoid thinking about it was just stick to gunning them down. It was becoming easier and easier too. He may have just been through basic and not any advanced combat, but he could use a gun fine and put a bullet through skulls at a reasonable distance. The more he did it the more the skulls started to look like the target practice dummies, rather than like disfigured possibly suffering people.
Seeing them as just targets itself might not have been the healthiest things to focus on, but it was all he had to hold onto for now, well mostly all he had.
Alethea wanted to vomit.
She wanted to do that more often than not it felt like, and sometimes she even followed through with the feeling during some quiet time in the bathroom. She felt sick knowing what was going on outside. She felt sick seeing the writhing captured ones being dragged to the labs for experimentation. She felt sick seeing her sister being one of the ones doing the experimentation, even if it was important. She felt sick seeing the glassy stare her beloved sister adopted to hide her emotions during her work, and most of all she felt sick at how little she could do.
She did whatever she could of course. Occasionally when the stress started to get to Atasi, Alethea found herself cradling her sister through another breakdown. Atasi wouldn’t let anyone else see her get overwhelmed, after all she was somehow in charge of the research division beign the resident ‘expert’.
Alethea thought it was ludicrously unfair, but Atasi had accepted it, and as far as anyone else knew she handled it with near stony professionalism. Only Alethea knew that sometimes the resident expert needed someone to hold them to even fall asleep anymore. It was a service Alethea was completely willing to provide if need be,
Then there was Blythe. He hated being NOT in the field anymore, and had more than his share of paperwork to deal with. So, when Atasi didn’t need her, Alethea would help him out. She spent long nights on occasion helping sort through the general mess that came with trying to run a city sized task force. She had to limit the amount of time she spent in his office thought, especially at night. Alethea knew she had a bit of a ‘reputation’ as it were for being, to put it politely, ‘outgoing’.
It was pretty true actually, and in fact she wasn’t too bothered by it. A part of her had even considered helping the team ‘destress’ in a way she was fairly adept at. Ultimately, she had decided against making such an offer to her fellow teammates. It wouldn’t have been a problem for her per-se, but when two members of the team are married and a third was your sister, Alethea figured that offering manual relaxation would just make things MORE stressful for them, not less. Though if any had ever asked, she might have said yes, she did notice Blythe glance her over one or twice.
Then there was Skyler, her actual official ‘boyfriend’.
Every time her rabbit came back in through the doors she was ready for him. Even if all she wanted to do was bury her face in some pillows so the world would go away, she still would make sure she was well brushed and groomed to look her best. Even if she thought the world felt like it was ending and would soon take her with it, she still smiled wide when she saw him. And even if she was more in the mood to curl up in to a ball and cry than anything else she still helped him pull off his boots, layed him back on his bed, and did what she was good at.
Every time she swore she could feel every muscle in his body uncoiling and unwinding under her attentions. She couldn’t prove it, but she knew that being calm and focused would be better than stressed and strained so in some way she hoped she was increasing his odds of coming back alive. If there was even a chance that that was true then she’d do what she had to every damn day to help him rest and focus.
Not to mention what guy wouldn’t want daily, ‘welcome back’ sex.
He would always nod off before her, often when she was still on top of him. She hardly blamed him, just curled up next to him, resting her face against his chest, and hoping she didn’t leave too much of a damp spot on his chest the next day.