Chapter 359
”I’m home!” I called into the apartment and stripped off my Crusade armor. It was deceptively heavy, and my shoulders ached from wearing the vest all day.
The shower was running, leaving no doubts where my mikata was. I tossed the armor onto the couch built into the apartment's wall and shuffled over to the kitchen. A bag of burgers was thrown into the microwave. There weren’t any wrappers in the trash though—did she wait on me?
I ran a hand through my hair, combing through the silver and black strands. It ended up taking over an hour longer than I told her, though… I didn’t get out of the Crusade HQ for a long time. Hope wanted to go over the case so far before I was allowed to head home. She was apparently going to rip open Phyxaflame for everything they were worth.
Probably shouldn’t just dig into the food then, huh? She waited for me, so the least I could do was wait for her. I resisted the temptation of food and moved over to the couch to wait and do some more research into Lavender. I scrolled through the endless reports—
— - —
“Hey.” Something slammed into my shoulder.
I jolted upright and reached for my gun—only to immediately slump back onto the couch once my eyes focused fully. Mira stood over me with her hand half stretched out, half pulled back. The halo atop her head pulsed with light, and her eye curled cheerfully.
She brushed her blonde hair back out of her face and grinned at me. Her hair still wet and matted to a baggy t-shirt that slid off one of her shoulders. With help from the hibiscus, it’d had grown out quite a bit. It was now just below her neck. Slowly but steadily, it was returning to how it was before she was taken by the Savants. Maybe in another weak or so, she could stop using the stuff so I wouldn’t have to keep it around the apartment.
”Should I have let you sleep?” She pulled uncomfortably at the neck of her shirt and adjusted it so it wasn’t pulling awkwardly at the metal plating sticking out the back of her shoulder. She never really liked baggy stuff—that was more of my thing—but it wasn’t hard to figure out her change in fashion. The Shift ExoCore made the tighter, form fitting clothes she liked hard to wear.
“No, no… thanks for waking me up.” I rubbed at my eyes and checked the time. “I didn’t realize I was so tired.”
”Busy day?” She shuffled away toward the kitchen while rubbing at her hair with the towel. The black metal along her exoskeleton whined and creaked like it usually did when it got wet. “I’m right there with you.”
”Something like that.” I stood up, turned on the microwave, and took the towel from her hands to help out. Long hair always was annoying to dry after it got wet. Hers wasn’t quite young yet, but still.
We just stood silently in the kitchen for a few minutes while I worked through her hair and cleaned up the moisture. Once it was as good as it was going to get, I tossed the towel toward the bathroom and leaned against the counter. “I’m going to miss this… I think.”
”You think?” Mira chuckled and reached for the burgers. She brought dinner back around to the couch and coffee table. I didn’t have an actual dining table in the apartment, so it was the next best thing. “I’m going to miss it too. It’s been… interesting.”
”You don’t have to move out, you know.” Living with someone was hard, but being so close was something I hadn’t felt in a long time. It was refreshing, in a way. I felt stupid for speaking, though. I was like a cage, and she was a bird meant to break free. Her wings were mended enough to fly, so staying with me like this probably wasn’t helping her recovery anymore.
She laughed and leaned back against the couch. Her eyes moved up to the roving band of holographic ads along the crown molding. Even on dim, they never truly went away. “I really do. I can’t keep living in the Crusade forever.”
“We could get a big apartment somewhere else.” I needed to move out anyway. I couldn’t keep just living on the Crusade’s dime… especially since I think I might do something stupid and tell Hope who I really am.
“We could.” She nodded along and grabbed a burger. “But we talked about this, didn’t we?”
”Chek.” I slumped down onto the couch and likewise grabbed one. They were from Big Mike’s. She must’ve driven quite a bit to get it—ah, right. She didn’t have a car. I needed to make her a Roughrider too. That was five I needed to make?
”It’ll be for the best in the long run.” Mira laughed lightly. She looked so very free tonight. Did being a Troubleshooter really mean that much to her? If it made her this happy… I could give up some stuff and run the agency with her, maybe. It wasn’t like running Cold Moon Solutions actually sounded appealing.
”How was the test?” The last time I asked, she hadn’t really answered.
Mira unwrapped the burger. Even though they weren’t the pizza-sized ones, Big Mike did everything, well, big. The burger was easily the among the largest I’d seen around the city. “It was just the written stuff today. The practical is tomorrow, and then the day after is an in-field examination if I did good enough on the other two.”
”Sounds like a lot.” I took a bite of my own burger. It was just a busy week for everyone, it seemed.
“Yeah, it is.” She stuffed her face full of food and devoured the burger like a rabid dog. She wiped at her mouth with a napkin and reached for another. “How’s Luna?”
“Hacking a corporate database, last I heard.” I checked in with her very briefly. “We gotta get her out of Neal’s clinic. It can’t be good to just sit and sleep next to Iris like that every day.”
”That’s your thing.” Mira shrugged. “If you need help, though, just let me know.”
”I might need some. Could I borrow some rayn to get Iris set up in Medtech?” What I had in my bank account wouldn’t cut the sky high prices they charged.
She tossed me her phone with the bank account app open. She had just below 500,000 rayn. “Take whatever you want.”
I transferred 100,000 rayn to my account. It should be enough to buy Medtech’s mid-tier subscription for two months. After that—well, hopefully I’d have stuff running after that. Two months should be more than enough time to start up sales.
Mira took her phone back and raised a brow. “Is it that expensive to keep a coma patient?”
”More, actually.” I’d done some research on the whole thing. “Buying their subscription naturally comes with the highest levels of care. Otherwise, it’d be upwards of two thousand rayn a day to keep her there.”
”Damn. I really got into the wrong field, didn’t I?” Mira shook her head and bit into another burger. “They’ve got the best legal scam in the world.”
”Every scam is legal if you don’t get caught.” She was right though. Medtech charged an arm, leg, brain, and every organ. That was just for keeping a comatose patient alive, and not any invasive surgeries. Most people couldn’t afford that kind of thing unless they fell deep into debt or turned toward Scav dens.
”I guess.” She gulped down the rest of it quickly. “Speaking of, your psychiatrist appointment is tomorrow. It starts at nine.”
My lips pulled into a frown. “Really?”
”Sorry.” She sighed and shook her head. “This guy is the best in the biz though. His target clientele are mercs and soldiers, so he’s seen and heard it all.”
“If you say so.” I really wasn’t looking forward to this.
“I do. And so does Pa.” She toyed with the bits of black metal sticking out of her arm. “He, uh, he helped me out.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I’d rather no one knew I was going to counseling. It was… embarrassing? That didn’t feel like the right word. It was closer to… I didn’t want anyone else to think of me as lesser for going to get counseling. “Helped how?”
”He recommended the psychiatrist. Helped me pull some strings to get you in soon.” She didn’t look at me. Just continued to pluck at the metal bits of the ExoCore.
My jaw clenched. So much for him not knowing. Would he look at me differently the next time we met? Like I was some fragile piece of glass? “You sure decided this quick.”
”I mean, yeah.” She sighed and finally looked up to meet my eyes. Her smile faded, and she looked exhausted. “You said yes to this thing.”
”I did, didn’t I?” I lost my appetite and set down the half-eaten burger. Why did I have to say yes back then? Why did this have to be her condition?
”Shiro.” Mira reached out a hand, though pulled back just before touching my knee.
The way she spoke—it bugged me. It was like an owner carefully speaking to a raging dog. ”I’m not mad.”
“I didn’t say you were.” Mira started to pick at the chrome again. “What’s this about?”
”What is what about?”
“Don’t play the fool, Shiro. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Between Iris, getting Cold Moon back up, and the Crusade—fuck! The fucking Crusade.” I dropped my head into my hands. “We’re under investigation. My ID might fall apart at any moment, and I stupidly want to tell Hope the truth. Can you believe that? Me, telling the truth… It’s just—it’s a lot.”
“You got this. Character growth, right?” She smiled and lightly patted my shoulder. Her hand felt incredibly warm against me.
“Fuck character growth. That shit’s for fiction, not real life.” I placed my hand over hers and looked up. “And then this?”
The smile dropped off her face. A bolt of guilt struck through me. She was just being supportive, and I shot her by accident… Mira pulled back and crossed her arms defensively. ”Would you rather I didn’t do anything?”
”No.” Why was she the one getting defensive. That so wasn’t fair. “I’d rather you didn’t sneak around behind my back. I said I’d go. You didn’t have to ambush me with an appointment like this. Why couldn’t you trust me to say when I was ready?”
“I didn’t think you would.” She winced after her words came out, and the Halo Cortex pulsed. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
My eye twitched, and I roughly rubbed at it. ”Whatever you say, Mira.”
She ran a hand through her hair once more and sighed. “You just—you push things off. Say you’ll handle it later—“
”Because I will!” I may not be timely, but I do take care of the things I said I would.
“And then later turns into never and you’re just…” She waved a hand in my general direction and shook her head.
What was that supposed to mean? That I wasn’t good enough? “That doesn’t mean you can manage my life.”
“I’m not managing you!” She threw her hands up into the air like I was the one being difficult.
“It sure feels like it.” My words came out with more bite than I intended. She flinched like I just scolded her and dropped her head into her knees. “S-sorry. I know you mean well.”
It was too late though. The apology felt like tacked on. We sat there in silence for a while with the burgers cooled between us once more. Cold food was Unfortunatly in the itinerary.
Finally, Mira spoke again with a quieter, somber voice. She didn’t look up at me, and just kept staring at the floor. “I’m scared you’ll break one day and not tell me.”
I swallowed roughly. My throat suddenly felt like sandpaper. “I won’t. Even if I did, sneaking around behind my back and deciding how things are going to happen isn’t right.”
She looked at me, and the fight drained out of her eyes. “I don’t want to control you, Shiro. Not everything can wait till later though.”
”I know.”
“I just—I don’t know how to help you.” She snorted and shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
”Me too.” I didn’t need help… My fist unclenched. I hadn’t even realized it was clenched until now. I got where she was coming from, though. It was the same for me. I didn’t know how to help her.
Am I the bad guy here? She’s just trying to do her best, and I—I shook my head. Was there even a bad guy? It was just the two of us trying to look out for each other in our own ways. ‘Course there’d by conflict.
Mira nudged a burger toward me. “It’ll get cold.”
”I’m not hungry.” Though I picked up the burger anyway and bit into it. Funny—it didn’t taste nearly as good as it did just a few minutes ago.
”I’ll go with you tomorrow. My test doesn't start till later.” She leaned back into the couch and scooted closer to me. Not touching, but close enough I could feel the cushions dip under her weight.
”Okay.” She looked up toward me like a scared dog wanting cuddles. I hesitated for a moment and then wrapped my arm around her shoulder in a side hug. It was a bit awkward since she was taller than me.
I finished up my food, and a sharp scent caught my attention. Her arm, where she’d been picking, was bleeding. The skin around the black metal had been scraped clean off in a large swathe. “Mira.”
Mira followed my gaze and then flinched. “I—“
”It’s alright.” I cut my finger with a knife and dripped blood into her wound. Perfect Donor would probably work better with a transfusion, but this should work well enough.
Mira hesitated for a moment before settling down. “That Perk is a little freaky.”
I chuckled lightly. This was the first time I was actually using it, now that I thought about it. “A bit. Should be all healed up quickly.”
”Sorry.” Her voice drooped quietly.
”It’s okay… I am here for you, if you need me.” I sprayed some hemostatic foam over it and wrapped the injury with a bandage. “Have you been taking the medicine Nael gave you?”
”I… I ran out last night…” Mira sighed and looked away like a guilty kid about to be chastised.
I bit my tongue and held in the words I wanted to say. Instead, I just continued to wrap the bandage without looking up at her. It looked like some kind of cyber rejection, and if not treated could very easily lead to glitching. I couldn’t have that happening. Not to Mira. “We can go tomorrow before my appointment and get more.”
Her shoulder curled up, though she let me have her arm to patch up. “C-can, you, uh, s-sleep with me? I-I’ve been having nightmares, and—“
“No problem.” I pulled the bandage tightly and leaned back. “All set.”
I ended up swapping to my silver fox form for the night. She nearly strangled me, but it did seem to improve her mood while I was cute and fluffy, so it was whatever. ‘Sides, the way things were going? There wouldn’t be too many more nights like this.
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AN: We’re so back! Vacation is officially over, and I can write my days away once more. My rough draft for book 2 was sent in too, so I should be back on schedule. Here’s to hoping nothing else super time consuming happens for the next couple months. ^^
Oh, right. I was informed that Outrun was accepted into Bookbub’s news later. I’m still not a hundred percent sure what Bookbub is, but I’ve been told it’s a pretty exclusive newsletter for book fans. As such, the e-book kindle version of Outrun Book 1 will be free March 16-19, I think. I might need to double check the dates and stuff. If you hadn’t already picked it up, now’s your chance!
In my not so humble opinion, the rewrites are a thousand times better than the web serial version. Not that this here is bad, but especially on the early chapters of Outrun, they needed a bit of fixing up. Like the school arc. Yes, I finally rewrote it, and holy cow is it so much better this time around. If you want to check it out without waiting for book 2, there’s a link to the very rough draft on my Patreon free for everyone.
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As for the people that already bought Neon Divide… sorry >.< I feel your pain of buying something and then seeing it go free. Usually for me, it’s a video game my friends convince me to buy for 60$, and then it goes free the next week. That being said, thank you for all the support! It means more than you could know that you enjoyed Outrun enough to pay for a book.
I have another book that’s up to 54 chapters on RR now. Myth//OS is actually doing better than Outrun in the site ratings by almost two hundred ranks, which is kinda crazy considering it has half the followers Outrun does. If you’re interested, here’s the link. It’s also here on SH, if you’d rather read it here.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/118846/mythos
As always, thank you for reading! You guys are legendary!