[Zen Gypsy]

Her blush, her breathing, and the unasked question in her eye awakened something in Bryant, something he thought long since dead.  A potent mix of desire and hope.  As these echoes of the man he had been carried to the surface, Vlad's voice cut through it all.  Even as he spoke, Vlad's displeasure was evident to him, but he needed to continue to be honest with the man, and surely one such as himself could not begrudge an ally for being cautious.

He watched Vlad and Barbara leave the room, as Rowena spoke to him from her chair.  He knelt down beside her, "Honestly Rowe, you amaze me.  After my," he unconsciously flexed his myomer hand, the whir of the micro-electric motors evident in the silence, "surgery, I struggled to accept my condition.  I was half a man, perhaps less, bones shattered, arms crushed, legs, inoperable.  Perhaps worst of all, I had no memory of who I was, the only things I know about Bryant are files and images, pieced together from a past I can't recall." 

"I'll do everything in my power to see that justice is done, that you walk again, and the people who did this to you," he paused, thought of Raleigh, thought of Jacob's, "to my friends, don't.  You need to remember that you have this," he tapped a finger against his skull, "and you have this," he held to fingers over his heart, "you're smart Rowe, and you have more heart than all the thugs in this building put together.  We just have to figure out how to tap into that, to use it, to get everyone out from under these guys."

"Right now Vlad, his cousin and B., are doing the leg work, finding the data then it'll be up to us to stop these guys.  Find what they want, and take it from them.  I'll be in the field, you'll be with B., so you'll need to pay attention, and you'll need to be able to protect her, protect yourself.  I respect the hell out of you Rowena, for fighting through the $h!t's that been thrown your way since yesterday morning, but I don't know anything about you, not really.  So why don't we start there."

[Mercy Merchant]

The woman in the wheelchair blushes again, but does not look away.  "Not much to tell, really.  Not much interesting, anyway.  Parents still alive and I have two brothers older and two younger, making me Mrs. Calder's only daughter.  Mom is the life of the family and dad knows it.  They are terribly in love so no real drama there.  I love my brothers and cannot help but think how all of this will affect them.  I wanted to call, but Barbara told me that it might be dangerous for them so I have not.  But they must be very worried.  Anyway, mom has always been the one to push me to do better.  She has always said that any daughter of Mrs. Calder could be anything she wanted to be.  And I have believed her.  You should meet her someday.  Anyway I moved out of the house when I started the university.  First year was in a school dorm, but that sucked because it seemed that all the girls were interested in was sex and finding a rich corp husband, preferably one that had a secure slot in a AAA, you know.  I was taking a dance class and some nice looking man came up to ask if I wanted a job that would pay my bills.  Since I was practically starving I said yes and signed some papers.  Turned out that the job was dancing with a pole and stripping.................and other stuff.  I tried to leave but the papers I signed said I agreed to work there for a year.  The money was very nice and so were the other girls, most of whom had been tricked like I was.  But they told me that the guy that owned the place was straight with the girls and would let me go after my year if I wanted."

"So I did the year and even considered staying on because the money was good and the owner did treat us fairly, or at least more fairly than some places.  Then one day Matt, my oldest brother, came into the club with some friends and saw me in my birthday suit in all my glory.  I tell you that Mrs. Calder's daughter was embarrassed that day.  I quit that night.  I already had the summer day job at Washington Rec with the food stand, so I went to Tony and he took me on full time, sort of.  At least as full time as he could afford.  I had to make some serious changes in my life, you know.  like how much food I was allowed to eat.  But I was making do, at least until yesterday.  Now...................well now is a different story and I will get past this challenge."

She will put out a hand and touch your cheek.  The warmth in her slight touch is amazing.  "I am sorry that you were hurt.  It would be horrible to not know who I am, so I can only imagine how bad it must be.  Sort of makes my little problem seem less.  I wish there was something I could do to help you get your memory back.  I am studying psych at..................was studying psych at the U.  Maybe I could ask my prof to talk to you to see if he thinks anything can be done."

[Zen Gypsy]

Bryant squeezed her hand, "That's the thing that scares me Rowe.  Sometimes I feel like Bryant, the one I was before, is a ghost, or an echo.  What if I don't like who he was, or what he did?"  He stood up, "It's part of why I don't bring it up, or talk about it.  At least not with those who I don't trust."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, leaned forward over the back of the chair, "Sorry about your folks, your family.  A healthy one's a rare thing I find, and something to be cherished.  We'll get you back to them, in time, but B. was right, reaching out now could be real dangerous.  For them."  Her hair was fragrant, and the warmth he felt from being this close to him, it too was distracting.

"Shall we talk to Vlad's boys, see if we can't figure out what's going on outside of these walls, keep busy until B., and Vlad's cousin turn something up for us?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Rowena smiles and chuckles a bit.  "I can still see my brother's face when he saw me all spread out on that stage.  I was not even wrapped around a pole, but was standing in front of some cheering construction workers, showing them everything and they were being appreciative with their money, too.  I am hardly ashamed of my body, Bryant, but I guess I was just not prepared for my brother to see it.  But in your case, if you are concerned about not liking yourself in the past, maybe you should just stop trying to remember the past.  Live for the now and the future.  Mrs. Calder used to tell me that the past is fragging over and done with, although she almost never used the word fragging.  But her point was pretty clear even without swearing.  She is very down to earth in her opinions and not afraid to tell anyone what those opinions are.  So, take me, I cannot afford to spend any time wishing that I had not been shot.  What good would that do?  No, I have to live believing that I will get out of this wheelchair someday and walk again, even though the doctors are all saying I will never do that.  Frag the doctors.  They do not know Mrs. Calder's daughter."

"Besides, I would not have got to know you if I had not been working there and been shot, would I?  And that would have been very sad."  She goes quiet and looks up at you for a moment then blushes again at what she has just said before changing the subject.  "And yes, I would like to take a spin outside this building, if that is allowed."

If you saw the earlier version of this post, I had to remove the comment about the contact because that contact takes place later in the day.  Very sorry

[Zen Gypsy]

He nodded at Rowena, "Alright, Vlad mentioned an alley around back where I could go for a smoke if I couldn't sleep."  He smiled sheepishly, "Not that I needed to apparently," on a normal day he was typically up by 4:30 or 5:00, not so today.  "We came in through a car port originally, so we could go for a walk in that direction, see if we can find some of his soldiers.  Their boss and I share the same poor taste in eastern bloc cigarettes.  Lets see if that holds true for his crew?"

He began to walk towards the rear of the facility, he kept his pace in check, he wanted Rowena to get used to her current condition, he'd be there for most physical transfers, but she would have to get used to maneuvering the chair.  "Lets see if you can keep up, eh?"  With that he began plotting a course around the perimeter of the building, and walked towards the rear exit.

When they came across some of the Vory soldiers, Bryant walked up and offered the battered pack of Szczepanski with what he hoped was a warm smile.  "What's the news boys?  We've watched the feeds, but we don't know what's going on beyond these walls, and we can't really wander out without bringing the heat down on you and your boss, yeah?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Rowena tries hard to keep up, but is still getting the hang of the chair and is a bit slow, especially at some of the corners.  She keeps up a good face through it all, even when she has to back up and try again.  You can find a group of three soldiers watching the rear of the building.  One of the men shakes his head at your offer but the other two accept.  One of the men nods at your question as he accepts a light from you.  "Благодаря, thanks.  These things will kill us some day, but so will just about anything else.  Is not much new on news feeds.  If you go for walk, it is best to not leave alley."

[Zen Gypsy]

Bryant nodded as the soldier spoke, "No, the risk is too great.  If we get spotted we compromise our safety, and put you and your boss into their line of fire.  Was curious though, if you boys had heard anything out there?  Things that wouldn't be on the feeds?"

He didn't like waiting, hopefully Vlad, his cousin and B., were going to be able to discover some data that would set them on the right track, but he couldn't be certain of that, and they would need to be ready to move on if need be.  He drew his own slim, and held the door to the alley open with his foot, exhaling the acrid smoke into the morning air.

[Mercy Merchant]

Rowena speaks up from behind you.  "So not outside trip today?  I can go back and practice some more inside.  Trying those corners is a bit harder than I had thought it would be.  See you later, Bryant."  You hear her turn the chair around in the narrow hallway leading to the back door and can tell that she hits the wall a couple of times.  She is whistling a happy sort of tune that fades away as she disappears into the building. 

Your smoking buddies watch her leave, one of them holding his hands out in front of him and saying something in Russian, causing one of the other two to laugh and drawing a sharp sound from the third man that can only be interpreted as a rebuke.  The two laughers fall silent and the other looks at you.  "They mean nothing by it, my friend.  You have to admit that she is pretty nicely built, though, and they were admiring her form.  I find it amazing that she seems to be taking this so well.  Is it true that she was only paralyzed yesterday?  She certainly takes it like she is well used to it.  Are you two together?  The way she looks at you when you are not looking says a lot."

[Zen Gypsy]

He smiled as he listened to Rowe move down the corridor, "Yeah, she's strong, got a good head, and a good heart.  Brave to the point of foolish."  He checked over his shoulder to ensure that Rowe was out of earshot as he responded to the soldier, "Together?  I've been in her life maybe 24 hours at this point, she's spent 23 of those hours with a bullet lodged in her spine.  Know what that tells me?"  He took a deep drag from the slim, letting it out slowly.  "That I fragged her life, and the sooner she's rid of men like us the better, yeah?  But that ain't happening until I put those bastards into the ground for what they did, to her, to my friends," he paused, "to me."

He didn't want to walk away, hell, he near as promised Aisha he wouldn't.  That didn't mean that some part of him, didn't blame himself for her condition, didn't ask himself what he could have done, how he could have prevented it.  Just being near her was intoxicating, but he was concerned that he was a cancer, and the violence that followed him would consume her.

That thought scared him, because she was the brightest thing in his life since ... he shrugged.  He couldn't remember his life before the Tetreault extraction, so, she was the brightest thing in his life. Period.  Full stop.

He flicked his butt through the cracked door into the alley, "Thanks for the distraction boys.  Stay sharp, hopefully this will be over soon."

With that he turned back down the corridor, towards the parking garage, and the clacking of Rowe's chair.

[Mercy Merchant]

Rowena does clack about in her chair in the parking garage, trying to maneuver around things in sharp and gentle turns.  Her arms are not yet strong enough to keep this sort of practice up for too long, though, and she has to rest.  The men move a small couch into the garage from somewhere and try to lift her out of the chair before you stop them.  She smiles up at you and puts her arms about your neck as you lift her from the chair and set her on the couch so she can rest.  From the couch, she looks at you.  "Sorry for the extra weight, Bryant.  I will have to lose some of it if you are going to do carry me about too often, but I hope that Mrs. Calder's daughter is out of that thing before too long."  There is something in her eyes that tells you that she is far more scared than she is letting on.  She pats the couch cushion next to her and says, "So sit a bit.  My prof is fond of saying that people are prone to talk about things just by talking about them.  He means that sometimes people have buried something in the past in a form of amnesia, but that talking about just stuff can sometimes loosen the memories and allow them to come back.  So, do you want to sit and try?  For instance, is there a wife or girlfriend in your life?  Before or now."

[Zen Gypsy]

He sat beside her, and put an arm over her, allowing her to nestle against his chest, which was typically warmer than his prosthetic limbs.  "I think so, at least someone I cared about."  He paused, uncertain, "He, cared about?  It's confusing.  I read the dossiers, service records, academic transcripts, employment files, hell, they even included interview footage, and security feeds from my, his, day to day.  So would I know her, to see her?  Yes, I think I would.  People tell me I, he? Loved her, but would I feel that if I were to see her?  Hell, I don't even know if she's alive ..."

As he looked towards Rowe he felt something, a twinge of regret, guilt perhaps.  He wasn't sure if it was because he was talking about Iris to a woman he cared for, or because he was talking to another woman while Iris was still missing.  "Her name was Iris Chase, she was uniquely talented.  It made her an asset to our firm, but she had a past, and that caught up to her.  Someone wanted her, badly.  So they came for her.  I was Chief of Security, we expected trouble we didn't expect Mega Corp trouble."  As he spoke, the hand behind her head dug into the synthetic leather of the stuffed couch, his cold cybernetic eyes betrayed nothing, his face remained calm except for a slight twitch beneath his right eye, "We were betrayed from within, the extraction had been planned, breaching charges placed, routes confirmed, I'd found the route, I was beside the charges when they went off. Blast didn't kill me, least not right away, bullet to the head did."  He looked towards Rowe, there was something on his face, grief, perhaps.  "Aisha told me I was down 7 minutes, she was the one who scraped me off the rubble, brought what was left of me to the recovery clinic."  His hand released the stuffed couch, having torn through the leather cover.

He smiled sadly, then his eyebrow raised, and he spoke softly, "'But tears run down to the ocean, in rivers that can carve through stone, and in the dawning morning, we see that we were not alone.'  Mercurial?  I think she liked listening to her, I preferred jazz, old pre awakened jazz, but For the Children kinda stuck with me."

He looked around the garage bay, and a fog lifted from his face, as if suddenly remembering the den of wolves they had sought refuge in, while trying to evade the pack of dogs that had their scent.  "Maybe we can talk more later, but we should stay focused on the here and now, so there is a later for us, yeah?"  He looked around the garage, spotted what he was looking for, and disentangled himself from her comforting weight, picking up a pair of work gloves, he grabbing a pair of tin snips, and cut the fingers off.  "Try these on, should help with the chaffing from the wheel rails."  He paused, as he handed her the gloves, considering, "You got a jack Rowena?  I know when they were first calibrating my legs, the hooked up an external connection, we may be able to find braces or something like that."

[Mercy Merchant]

When you help her put on the gloves, she softly grips your hand and looks up at you.  "I......I don't know that I can compare well to a memory like that, Bryant.  I don't have any unique talents or skills and I.........and I can understand you not wanting a future with.............well, with what I am now and not able to do anything much for you.  And I don't want you hanging about from guilt, either, you hear?  Mrs. Calder's daughter could not handle that sort of thing."

She looks away for a bit then looks back at you and you can see that her eyes are a bit wet.  "Bryant, you go on looking for that Iris woman.  She will be needing you and I will be fine.  And I don't have a jack or anything else implanted.  All of Mrs. Calder's money went to her sons, because they needed it for their cars and their girlfriends, and.............well everything.  It got so I did not expect any so was never disappointed and wanted none of it.  What I got from my mother was something else.  Maybe I am not sure yet what all that is, but I hope it is something worth having.  I....I think I am ready to try the chair some more."

She reaches out for the arm of the chair to pull it closer and tries to get in, but fails and falls to the floor.  She waves you away when you move to help.  "I need to learn how to do it."

[Zen Gypsy]

He nodded as she spoke, studying her face, "Do you know what Vlad's soldiers were asking me after you left the alley while I finished my smoke?  They were asking if it's true that you'd only suffered this set-back yesterday.  Hardened thugs, gunmen, killers, asking about your strength, courage and determination?  B.'s asked me the same thing, Aisha noted it as well.  Don't question your self like that, you don't have to compare yourself to ghosts in my head, ok?"

As she struggled to the chair, he let he work through it, she was a strong woman, and would need to be self sufficient.  When she fell he winced, but then leaned forward, pulled her chair closer to her.  "Here, brace yourself on the couch, but make sure the brake is on the chair's wheels, it won't get away from you then.  On three.  1.  2.  3."  As she began to hoist herself to the chair he continued.  "I will go on looking for Iris, but to me, it's a debt, an obligation to the memory of a man I used to be."  He shrugged, "My post augmentation therapist says I need to try and sever attachments to my past, make new ones to the present, and the future.  Part of me hope's that you'd be a part of that future, part of me is scared of that possibility, and a third, nagging part, tells me you should run as far away from me as possible.  Either way, we've got to get you through the next few days before either of us come to a decision.  I promised to keep you safe, and I intend to keep my word."

He smirked.

"Besides it sounds like Mrs. Caulder would track me down and kick my sorry @$$ if I didn't."

[Mercy Merchant]

Rowena goes silent as you help talk her through getting into the wheelchair then she looks at you.  "Thank you, Bryant.  Would you really want a girl like me in your life?  I mean, it is possible that I might be in this thing for a bit and that........................and you should not give a girl hopes if you do not really mean it.  So don't say things just to be nice or to perk me up."  She spins the chair around a couple of times before adding, "But thank you for saying them anyway.  I did need perking up and if you really mean it..........................."

[Zen Gypsy]

He smiled, almost sadly, "You know, as well as I do, that nobody can predict the future, so I don't know what that will bring.  I just know that until yesterday morning, I felt," he paused searching for the word,"distanced from most people.  I had allies, co-workers, people I respected, people I trusted.  What I didn't have was a connection with many of them, disassociation, that's the word my therapist uses.  When I arrived at Washington Rec, you were so.  Present?  So real?  It was like watching an out of focus trid, but you were in 3D High-Def.  Ask B., the way you acted, kind, concerned.  Your smile, your eyes, I thought you were a plant, an actress, doing her job too well.  Turns out I was wrong, and you were just ... you."

His face tightened as he continued, something stirring in his chest, "I won't lie, I blame myself for you being in that chair, there is guilt, and I doubt it'd ever go away.  That doesn't mean it's all I see when I look at you, and it doesn't change the fact that I want to be with you, to watch you push, to watch you fail, and to watch you overcome.  I can't promise that I won't hurt you Rowe, I don't know what the future brings, but I can promise I would never do so intentionally.  I feel like a ghost, stuck between a past I can't remember, and a future that I can't know, so I can only live here, in the moment."  He reached out a hand, "And I don't intend to go anywhere ..."