26 Chapter Twenty-Six: Ace (1/2)

”Ugh” Siran moans, ”where am I?”. As Siran slowly opens his eyes, he finds himself in a white void. Surrounded by nothing, laying still as if he were floating. Siran begins to hear a disembodied voice, but one that he is already familiar with. The voice was that of a woman, and though disembodied and ominous as it sounded, the voice was soft and gentle.

”You have finally returned” she says, ”it's been a while”.

Without changing his expression, as if this situation weren't surprising to Siran at all, he replies ”Not exactly like I volunteered to come back”.

The voice of the woman giggled and said ”You really are an interesting human”.

”You need to stop calling me 'human' already” Siran complains.

”You know why I wanted to talk to you, don't you?” She asked. ”It's because your job has still yet to be completed”.

”I had the feeling 'he' was still out there” Siran says, ”I guess this is you confirming my suspicions? Is The Ly'Lum really looking to use him as a military power?”.

The voice giggles again and says ”You know how I work. I like to make humans think for themselves”.

”... Is that a yes?” Siran asks.

”That” She begins to say, ”is usually a no. You should know this by now”.

”Thanks for being so cryptic...” Siran complains.

”I have a deal to make with you” she says. ”You finish this job once and for all, and I'll show you how to fix your life span”.

Siran crosses his arms and thinks for a moment. ”No thanks” he says, ”last time I made a deal with someone from 'this realm'.... well, you know the rest”.

”You'd deny a deal with a god?” She asks, skeptically.

”You should know how I work by now” Siran says, then laughs a little. ”I'll do the favor you already asked of me so long ago. I don't want anything else to do with anymore.... 'gods' after that”.

The voice laughs softly and says ”That's why you're my favorite human. It's time to wake up now, you've been asleep for a long time again. It's time to return to your own world”.

”Thanks for being so vague” Siran says, ”guess I'll catch you next time and hopefully get actual answers”.

”Only if there is a next time” she replies. ”Let's hope for your sake, that there is not. After all, it is your fault that the job hasn't been finished”.

”Sorry” Siran says, ”I guess in the end, I felt at least a little mercy for him”.

”You can not fool me” she replies. ”You failed your task because you felt sorry for yourself, not him”.

”Yeah” Siran says, ”I guess you're right”.

”Farewell, Siran” she says.

”So long, Gaia” Siran replies as he starts to feel the sensation of falling. As he fell, he could hear a different voice slowly get louder and louder.

”-Et up... Get up!” It said. ”Hey! GET UP!”. As Siran finally woke back up from his dream, Tanya was standing over him. ”Get up, shit head!” Tanya yells.

”You don't have to be so loud” Siran complains.

Tanya stands up straight and puts her curled up fists on her hips. ”I told you I'm an impatient person” she says. ”Anyways, get ready, this is important”.

”What is?” Siran asks.

”I've got a tip on the doctor, Demetri Ivanov” Tanya replies.

Siran sits up, Picks up his hat and slowly puts the hat back on his head. ”What's the tip then?” He asks.

”Well” Tanya tried to recall, ”we got the coordinates for where he's operating. His place is outside of the opposite side of this town, so it won't be much of a hassle to get there. We got the tip when we went outside without you. Rose fell down and someone else asked 'what's her deal?' and we explained that she is blind. After that, Rose explained that she wanted to see Demetri. I mean- there was a lot of arguing about ethics on the topic, but in the end, we got the information we wanted”.

As Siran stood up, he asks ”You did all of that in just a couple hours?”.

Tanya shook her head. ”No, it's been 6 hours, not just a couple. It's already 3 in the afternoon”.

Zia walks up to Siran and offers him a hand to help him get up. ”You really were asleep for a long time” she says.

”Sorry about that” Siran replies.

”Go ahead and get ready” Alex says, ”we're heading out now”.

Siran nods his head, and gets ready to leave. The crew immediately leaves to go to the place where they were told they can find Demetri. Once they get there, they knock on the door, but no one answered. They knock again and hear someone yell from the other side. ”Alright, alright, I'm coming” the voice said. The door opens slightly and a man asks through the crack of the door ”Who are you people?”.

”Are you Demetri Ivanov?” Rose asks.

”Doctor Ivanov” Demetri replies.

”Right, Doctor Ivanov, I wanted to ask for your assistance” Rose says. Rose takes the bandages off of her face to reveal her eyes. Her corneas, the skin over her eyes were scarred and blurry. ”You see” she begins to say, ”I'm blind and was wanting to know if your cybernetic enhancements can help with blindness”.

”Look, girl” Demetri says, ”I'm too drunk to look into eyes and see blindness. Also, of course cybernetics can fix blindness. Don't ask such stupid question”.

Rose begins to get irritated, but calms down and asks ”Can we request your services then?”.

”Eh- don't really feel like it” Demetri replies. ”Come back tomorrow, when I'm not drunk”.

Rose gets so angry that she could almost spit smoke out of her ears. Rose kicks down Demetri's front door and pulls out her gun. ”Look here jackass” she says.

”Hold on a minute” Siran says. Siran walks up to Rose, grabs her gun, and points it at Demetri. ”You weren't even aiming at him” he says.

”Oh, thanks” Rose says. ”Look jackass! We came all the way here, and we're kind of in a desperate situation! So take our damn money, or I'll make your body too unrecognizable for the autopsy!”.

”Okay, okay... crazy woman” Demetri replies. Demetri eventually gets back up and sits at the table. He pulls out a sheet of paper to write measurements on and thoroughly stares at Rose's face. Although, not long after, Demetri fell asleep at the table before writing anything down.

”This son of a bitch!” Rose says after Demetri's head hits the table with a loud thump and begins snoring.

”This is going to take longer than we thought” Siran says. ”Guess we'll stay here until he wakes up”.

”We should probably fix his door at least” Alex suggests.

”Not it” Siran calls out. Immediately, everyone else calls out 'not it' except for Finn who looks around aimlessly.

”Aw, you guys suck!” Finn says.

After several hours, night approached and the team still waited at Demetri's place. Finn had fixed the door that Rose kicked down, using tools borrowed from Demetri. Demetri slowly wakes up, and most of the team had long since grown impatient.