Chapter Six
Come Back
Kino bolts upright. The sudden movement brings a sharp pain from her abdomen. She clutches her arms around the sharp stabs, like hunger pains only a hundred times worse.
"Careful, you shouldn't move yet."
An ork woman is at the bedside. Her face is partially hidden beneath a dingy hood. Short, ivory tusks protrude from her lower. Her short, warm hands are on Kino's shoulders. They ease the discomfort. The room, lit only by candle light, is filled with the smell of incense. Kino is wearing an oversized shirt that looks like it would be too big for a troll and jogging sweats half the size of that. She tentatively reached beneath the shirt. She was surprised to contact smooth skin. The wound is gone. The deep cuts and gashes are healed, but still swore on the inside. Alive? Yes, thank God. Alive.
For now anyway. But how? What happened? More importantly, where is she?
"You must be still." The woman insists. "I know it is painful, but it will feel better soon."
Kino crosses her arms over her chest. It's not getting better soon enough. "Who are you?"
"My name is Sera. I'm Boxer's sister."
Kino didn't know Boxer had two sisters. "You helped me?"
"Yes, but you block some of my magic." Sera pressed a finger against her head. "Here makes it difficult. That is why you are swore. You need to rest."
She held her arm tighter across her stomach. "Where is Boxer?"
"Don't worry, he is here."
"I need to see him." Kino took a deep breath and tried to get up. Standing brought a sensation not unlike needles piercing eyeballs.
"No." Sera tried to gently coax her back onto the bed. "He'll be here after you're had a chance to rest."
Standing erect made the needles ten times worse. The troll t-shirt dropped below her knees. The sweats sagged, but at least they were long enough to keep her bare feet off the cold floor. "My clothes?"
Sera pointed to a pile in the corner. Kino looked over them. The armored vest, which could stop a .22 slug at point blank range, is nearly torn in half. The shirt, stained and still moist, is barely in one piece.
"Your pants are being washed. They were very dirty."
Kino nodded just as a dizziness came over her. Sera was at her side to keep her from falling.
"I told you that you needed rest."
Kino took a sharp breath in response to the ache inside. "I'll be fine. I need to talk to Boxer, though."
"I'll take you to him."
Sera lead her out of the small room and down an old, creaky hall. They passed a window. The sun was already low in the sky. The lights of the sprawl lit up the horizon. The further Kino walked the stronger the smell of fried meat and soy grew. It was coming from the kitchen. The mere scent made her mouth water in anticipation. There was a old, plump ork woman humming a merry tune as she worked over a stove. Boxer was sitting at the table, wearing different clothes than before. Kino couldn't be sure, but it looked like a cut on his arm had been closed with sutures.
The look of exhaustion and concern lifted from Boxer's face when he saw her. He rose from his seat. "Kino?"
She forced a smile. "Hey, Box."
"Ohhhh there she is! Come here and let Momma Langley give you a big hug!" The jolly woman shrieked in delight, wiping old and wrinkled hands on her apron. Before anyone could object she wrapped her in a hearty embrace. Nothing in the world could have broken the smile on the old ork's lips.
"Mom!" Boxer blurted. "Be careful."
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Momma Langley released her bear-like hug, much to Kino's relief. "It's just so good to see you up and about. What with all the trouble you and my little Boxer got into over those nasty gangers. Here, please, sit. Oh, it's just so nice when my little Boxer brings a girl home!" She pulled out the chair at the head of the table. "Dinner will be ready in a pinch."
"Mom." Boxer groaned, wrapping his fingers over his forehead. He could really fault her. She was a doting and compassionate woman. Plus she always called him 'Little Boxer' like she did when he was a child. Boxer detested being called that, but tolerated it. He didn't have much choice in the matter.
He was so caught up in his embarrassment that he didn't hear Kino mouth the word, "Gangers?"
"Don't tell her about anything else." He leaned and whispered. "It will only make her worry."
"I hope the two of you don't make a habit of it either." Sera frowned at them before turning to the kitchen. "Here, Momma, let me help."
Momma Langley smiled that motherly smile of hers. "Such a good girl. Get the good forks from the pantry."
Kino scooted her chair back. "I should go."
"Go?" Momma Langley said. "Nonsense. Stay and have dinner. You'll need your strength after what you have been through. Both of you. I insist."
Kino stood. Boxer winched slightly as the chair made screeching noises across the old flooring. "I'm sorry, but I've unconvinced everyone enough. Excuse me." She left the kitchen.
"It's okay, Momma. She's just upset. I'll get her." Boxer caught up to Kino halfway to the front door. "How do you feel?" He asked in a hushed voice.
"How do you think I feel? Sore!" She answered. "What happened?"
"You blacked out just as Lone Star came up. They said something to slot off tall, dark and gruesome. While they were duking it out I grabbed you and slipped out the back."
Kino's gaze hit the floor. "I guess I owe you a thank you."
"You're not the one who needs to be saying that. You saved my neck first." Boxer stuck his lower lip out. People who had spent enough time around him knew that meant he was working him up to apologize for something. Guilt had a habit of making him do that. He hoped that she didn't see the disgust he held for himself. It was one thing to get himself killed. That was a fate that he deserved for some of the actions he has taken in his life. Getting someone else killed is different. "I'm sorry for what happened."
"Who the hell was that guy? No, I don't care. I'm going home. I'm going to lay low for a very long time. Then I'll ask that question."
"Kino-"
"No," She held her hand up.
"I didn't want you to come in the first place. I should've been more insistent. I nearly got you geeked."
"Nice of you to be so insistent now."
"I'm sorry." To Boxer that didn't sound good enough.
"What's going on, Boxer?"
Boxer shook his head. Spilling his guts wasn't on the top of his list of things to do, but Kino's attitude suggested that she wasn't going to be quiet until she got her way. Boxer gave her the slimmed down version of the truth. "I got a message from a shadowrunner that use to run with my brother. He wanted to meet me at the Shack."
"That thing wasn't him, was it?"
"No. He never showed up." Boxer huffed. "Look, I understand if you want to go. Even get out of the sprawl for a while, but stay for dinner. If you don't Momma will get all worried and think she ran you out."
Kino didn't say anything for a moment. Good, Boxer thought. Maybe that would give her something to ponder while he drifted to more important questions like what that thing was, where it had come from, and what had happened to Grubber? He suddenly regretted ever opening that message from Grubber. If he had deleted none of this would have happened. They would probably be at a bar right now discussing the finer points of datajacks over a bottle of Burn.
"You have a nice family." Kino said abruptly.
Boxer smiled slightly, almost like it was a fact he had never noticed before. "My Mom's a little pampering."
She nodded in agreement. "But she loves you."
"That's what mothers do best."
Kino crossed her arms. It was obvious to Boxer that she was thinking about something. There was a worried look on her that he hadn't seen before. Was that regret he detected in her voice?
"I'm just scared, Box." She suddenly admitted. "That thing today could have killed both of us."
"I know. Wasn't in either of our fates, though." Boxer forced a smile. "Stay for dinner. If you don't Momma will have my tan my rear." Kino giggled at that. Boxer found it funny too. A grown man, an ork even, afraid of crossing his mother. How comical is that?
They returned to the kitchen. Mother Langley was already well into setting the table and preparing the meal in the same manner as she had done countless times before this one. She was overjoyed to see Kino return an insisted that she sit at the head of the table as their guest. Boxer flushed with embarrassment as his mother talked about how nice it was for her 'little boxer' to bring a girl home. Boxer couldn't fault her for her ways. She was a proud woman who had raised five children all by herself. She was proud of them in every way a mother could be. As she set the table she hummed a merry tune. One that Sera joined in on.
Boxer found himself remembering his childhood. Every night they would gather around the table to eat. All five children and big Momma Langley. They always said a short prayer first. The food is the same as it was then. The smell brought memories back. Momma Langley always sat at the head of the table. Boxer's brothers, Trevor and Tommy, would sit on the left. His sisters, Dee and Sera, on the right. Back then missing dinner was a high crime. Momma Langley would redden the rear end of any of her children who dared to be tardy. That was a long time ago now, but Momma Langley still thought family super was very important.
Momma Langley sat platters of steaming food on the table. She placed her hands on her hips, admiring her work. "Where is Tommy? That troublesome boy?"
"Outside." Boxer got up. "I'll get him, Ma'."
"Good, my little Boxer." Momma Langley slipped into a chair next to Kino. "That will give us a chance to catch up. What's your name, dear?"
"Kino, Ma'am."
"What? Now last name? My dear, a last name is something to be proud of. It's your heritage."
Kino couldn't help, but entertain her. it was hard not to. "Kino Blythe."
"Blythe? What a lovely name."
Boxer listened as long as he could before stepping out the door. His younger brother, Tommy, was down the street talking with some of his friends. The two brothers had never been close. Boxer had moved to college when Tommy was only eight. He had grown up a lot since then. He had Trevor's stout muscle, but none of his common sense or intelligence. Trevor had read classic literature to Momma. Tommy would sit on his rump and argue about the Urban Brawl. Once, shortly after Boxer had graduated, he and Tommy spared at a local gym. It just so happened that around this time Boxer was wondering in to the business of Shadowrunning. The month before he had augmented his muscles with vat-grown tissue. In the process he nearly broke his brother's nose without even realizing it. They didn't spare any more after that. Tommy had gotten bitter and was every bit an arrogant teenager now. Like most of his family, besides Dee, Tommy didn't know about Boxer's life in the shadows.
"Tommy!" Boxer called to his little brother. "Momma says its time to eat. Come inside."
Tommy looked embarrassed. The two friends with him, one a rather attractive young ork girl, pointed and teased him. Boxer couldn't help, but laugh a little. I'd be nice if the only thing he had to worry about was a teasing young woman too. Tommy didn't come running right away. Boxer figured some of it was due to pride. He would rather tough out the teasing that show he was a Momma's boy. That was okay with Boxer. It was a stage he would grow out of. Once upon a time Boxer had been the same way, embarrassed to be seen in public with his Mother. Now that he was older he realizes how trivial he was back then.
Tommy jogged across the street. Apparently he was embarrassed enough or the call of food had temporarily sedated his pride. He pounded his chest in what Boxer recognized as a would-be gang greeting. Tommy had been watching too much reality television again. "Hey, bro, got any new holez' in youz' head?"
"No new ones." His little brother was referring to his ever increasing collection of datajacks, holes in his head that fed straight into his cerebral cortex. In fact the last implant Boxer got was a reflex trigger for his wired reflexes. Though his wires were no where new as high strung as some gillette, it was still nice to simply switch them 'off' for a day.
"Didn't know youz' were around ta'day, bro. Get sick of plugging that jello-baked brain of youz' into that make believe world? That's youz' problem, don't spend enough time on the down side, right in the streetz' wherez' the action iz'."
Boxer frowned. His brother was speaking the latest 'Trog Rock' street talk. Ironic considering the band he was imitating was part of a glitzy record company project to get the metahuman audience. Not real Trog Rock at all. "Momma doesn't like you talking like that, so straighten up. We have a guest tonight. Momma will want you on your best behavior. No sense in yanking her leash."
"Say! Who's car?" Tommy was eyeing a Honda Turbo parked across from the house. It was Kino's car. Boxer drove it here after leaving the Stuffer Shack. The front seats had blood stains, but the heavily polarized windows kept anyone from seeing in.
"It belongs to a chummer of mine."
"Really, bro?" Tommy ran his fingers along the sports car's sleek features. "Maybe he'll let me take it for a spin later."
"I doubt she will."
"She?" Tommy laughed. "Sounds like you got youz' head out of make believe long enough to get youz' a nice, rich slit. I knew youz' was my bro."
"I said stop talking like that." Boxer said harshly. "Now come on else Momma will get upset."
"Youz' know, bro, youz' really up tight. Youz' need to trip that deck down a little."
Boxer gave an unhappy grumble as Tommy bounded up the steps. Tommy might have been a popular kid at his school, but he was becoming more of a punk every day. A few weeks ago he had visited Boxer in Redmond. He talked about visiting the 'real' orks. Then he got itno a disagreement with some locals that sent up running back home. Boxer looked up and down the street. This neighborhood was a lot better than Touristville. It was safe to sit on the porch. It was safe to walk down the street. It was safe to raise a family. Compared to Boxer's current so-called life this place was a few steps up. As he looked over his shoulder at the house he grew up in he realized that it wasn't its location that made it better. It was the people who shared it with him.
"What the frag is this?!" Tommy roared from inside the house.
The words snapped Boxer out of his daydream. He rushed inside as his brother's shocked and confused voice reached his ears. A very confusing scene waited for him in the kitchen. Tommy stood just inside the doorway with fists raised. He was yelling at the top of his lungs. Kino was on the other side of the table with hands raised defensively. The chair she had been sitting in had been overturned. Momma Langley was yelling almost in unison with Tommy while Sera trying to calm her down.
"I won't have that language in this house, young man!" Momma Langley scolded.
"I can't believe you let her in, Ma'." Tommy pointed an accusing finger at Kino. The would-be trog slang was long forgotten. "A breeder! A softie!"
"Tommy Langley you will apologize this instant!"
"Tommy!" Sera said.
"I mean look at her!" The ork glared, his lips spitting out cancerous words. "Look at that smoothie skin! Straight teeth! Nothing swore on the eyes! I'll bet she doesn't get hassled in glitzy downtown!"
Kino, looking like a child in the oversized clothes, had a look halfway between embarrassment and disgust on her face. She didn't want any trouble. Near death experiences had a habit of improving one's love of life. Tommy was seething with rage. Momma Langley and Sera had moved to her side of the table. Hopefully discouraging Tommy from throwing her on the street or worse. He was only sixteen, but being an ork meant he was built like a linebacker and Kino had never been much in the way of getting physical. Unless it was with a stun baton. She didn't have a stun baton right now.
"What's your problem, Tommy?" Boxer questioned.
"Boxer?!" He whirled around with hate boiling behind his young eyes. "This is your chummer? A human!? What the frag are you thinking?"
"Language!" Momma Langley warned.
"Yeah, Box! I'm talking about your chummers. Look at the company you're keeping now! Remember the Night of Rage! It's all the breeder's fault! That breeder's fault! The Wall of Tears? That's there to remind us orks what happened To remind us those breeder's did to our kind and you're letting one of them sit at the dinner table?!"
"Tommy what are you talking about?"
"The Night of Rage, Ma'. Big Troll T says that we should show those breeders what they did for that." He glared at Kino like she was the source of all the problems in the world. "Orks first!"
"Hush, Tommy! You weren't even born then and neither was this girl." Momma Langley put an arm protectively over Kino's narrow shoulders.
"That doesn't change what happened!"
"Calm down, little bro." Boxer grabbed his brother's arms.
"Don't touch me! You can't tell me what to do!"
"But I can, Tommy." Momma Langley scolded. "Now stop this nonsense this instant. We're here for family dinner."
"I'm not sitting at the table with her!"
"Okay, look." Kino interrupted, waving her hands. "I don't want to cause this much trouble. I'm just going to go, okay? Really. It was nice meeting you, Momma Langley."
"Oh, no, dear. Don't go. My little Tommy is just upset." Momma Langley tried to sound comforting as she scolded Tommy. "Tommy you get some manners about you or I'll tan your hide!"
"But Ma'! She's a human! We get looked down on and treated like drek when we go into their neighborhoods!"
"Language!"
"Hey," Kino interrupted again as she made quick steps for the door. "I'm leaving, okay. I don't want to cause any trouble."
"Yeah! Now you don't, breeder! Now that us orks got you outnumbered!" Tommy growled. "You're not getting out of here without being thrown out!"
"Tommy!" Momma Langley shouted.
Boxer grabbed his brother by the back of his shirt as he made a move in Kino's direction. The shirt nearly ripped. "Tommy, you're not going to throw anyone out."
"I'd expect that from a breeder lover like you! Let go!"
"Calm down."
"You can't tell me what to do! You're not Dad!"
"Do what Momma says."
Tommy jerked away from Boxer's grip, ripping his shirt in the process. The enraged teenager balled his first a took a swing at his older brother. The blow got Boxer off guard. It rattled his head, just like one of Trevor's jabs had years ago. Boxer rocked backwards. Tommy turned towards Kino with fists raised in a classic boxer's stance. The same one Trevor had taught him. Momma Langley protested loudly. Boxer flipped his reflex trigger without conscious thought. The Novatech-Special Wired Reflexes kicked in and everything slowed down. He wrapped his hand over Tommy's crown and yanked him back. Tommy gargled something as Boxer locked his neck and forced his face painfully into the kitchen table. The bowls of food bounced as Tommy's forehead contacted the surface.
Tommy growled, but the more he struggled the tighter Boxer's vat-grown muscles held him. "Let me up!"
"Enough! Enough of that! Stop it!" Momma Langley cried as Sera tried to calm her down. "I won't have fighting in this house!"
Tommy grimaced as his face pressed against the tabletop. He could see Kino at the end of the table. "Yeah, breeder, you're scared now! You make me sick! All of you! Why can't you learn that orks are people too!"
Boxer pressed his face a little harder against the table. "You don't know how the real world works, Tommy. You can walk around acting like you're on trog street. Trog street like that music makes it out to be. Hell, that band you listen too all the time was put together by a company to sell albums! It's not meant to reflect the truth. Mom and Dad worked hard to give you this house in this neighborhood and go to that school. So get your head out of the clouds! Stop letting a band dictate how you see the world!"
"You're not Trevor, Box, so stop trying to be like him. You can't fix everything with a few fancy words!"
Rage boiled behind Boxer's eyes. An image of a shadowrun gone bad flashed through his mind. All he wanted to do was smash his brother through the table, break every bone in his body, equal his hurt to what he was feeling inside due to his own failure to see the world for what it really was.
Suddenly Kino slipped around them and out of the kitchen.
"Kino?" Boxer called as he heard the front door open.
"There goes the little breeder." Tommy grunted. "Good riddance."
"Enough of that! Boxer let your brother up" Momma Langley scorned and turned to Tommy. "Young man, go to your room until you can learn to behave."
"Ma'!"
"Kino!?" Boxer called again as he slowly released his vice like grip.
Momma Langley looked flustered. "Go on, Boxer. See if she is okay."
She didn't have to tell him twice. Before the words were out of her mouth he was halfway to the door. As he stepped onto the porch Kino was getting in her car. He called her name, but she just looked at him with accusing eyes. Wordlessly she shut the door. He called for her to wait as she clumped down the old steps and knocked feverishly on the passenger window. To his surprise she lowered the window.
"Kino, wait." he put his hand on the windowsill. Rigger jacks were already plugged into her head.
"Leave me alone, Box. Just leave me alone." As if on second thought she added, "Tell your Mom and sister I said thanks."
"But-" He didn't get a chance to finish.
The Honda hummed to life and pulled away. Boxer was left standing in the middle of an empty street.
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