Yours is gone

[moonshadows]

I'm the only one left, so they come to me. Someone took the other one, they tell me. They'll have a guard ready when he gets back, but they need me to go out and retrieve him. I glance back towards mine. He's in no condition to do anything, they tell me. Hand me an address. Well, may as well make it as quick as possible.

It's a nondescript motel. He's waiting in the lobby, manager hovering around nervously. Comments on how long it took me to get here, stands up and strides imperiously towards the door. Hold it open for him, open the car door. Drive back in silence, except for his commentary. Moment of sympathy for his new guard. Maybe they'll wipe him to make the bonding easier.

Good job, I'm told. But yours is gone. Darkness.

Light, again. Stiffness. I sit up. Wizards come in. My Clover has been abducted. I have been Reconstructed, and I am to go find and retrieve my Three-Leaf. Address? One turns away, another glowers. They have no address. He may have gone willingly, but there were drugs stolen. One a sedative, very potent and not the best for long-term use. The other an inhibitor, not approved for long-term use for anything over a One-Leaf. I am given several bottles and vials, some for my own use, some for counter-measures.

 

(And apparently, we skip tracking them down and go straight to the rescue.)

 

I kick the door open, sword out. The lady kneeling by the bed looks over in shock, something shiny in her hand. She fits the description I was given. There are other objects on the bed, next to my target, who seems to be either drugged, or asleep. The lady runs at me, screaming and brandishing what looks to be a crude knife or scalpel. I step into the room and to one side, and trip her as she goes past me out into the hall. I close and lock the door behind me; securing the target is the first priority.

The first syringe is empty - it held the last of the sedatives. Pull out a syringe, insert into a plug...there, the neutralizer should wake him up soon enough. There's a second syringe, dangerously full. The other objects on the bed...surely she wasn't that stupid. There's a moment of incredulity, quickly swallowed up by my signature rage. At that moment, my target opens his eyes. I lift him off the bed and deposit him into a closet/cabinet. Warn him to stay there and stay quiet, then move a handy dresser in front of the door.

The rage comes out like it hasn't in years. All the frustration, all the difficulty he's put me through - all is forgotten. Or perhaps it is the fuel I'm burning through. Rip the door off its hinges, throw it on the bed. The bitch has run off, no doubt to gather people to try to stop me. I know the manager won't let her out, on pain of his own death. Footsteps; they're running down the hall towards me. I back into the room again and wait for them. It's been far too long, and I'm far too angry.

When they're all dead, I make a quick trip to the car and back, making sure no one on the route is going to challenge me. They're not. Move the dresser back out of the way, open the door. He flings himself at me and clings, sobbing. The last of the rage ebbs away, and I scramble to pull some of it back. Seeing him broken down like this and apologizing is making me feel things that have been buried for a long time. He's not safe yet; my mission is not complete. Warn him to be quiet, cover him with my jacket, guide him down to the car. Lift him over obstacles he can't see.

The doctor is waiting; good. Lift my target into the medical van that arrives and plug him for draining. The doctor does a few tests; I take out the rest of the bottles the Wizards gave me and explain part what's going to happen to him. Once that's done, the *safe* sedative goes in, along with the nutrients and the neutralizers. She used the inhibitor right to his threshold, and the sedative has left unhealthy build-up. Only the Wizards and their doctors know what state his hormonal system is in.