I let out a long-suffering sigh when I stepped into Technica’s bunker for the second time that day. When Tanisha and I had headed out for dinner yesterday evening, we had run into Karen and Ru Shi, with them tagging along. Both had been curious where I had been, but accepted that I could not speak about it. The rest of the day had been quite pleasant, mostly filled with smalltalk, or rather teasing Ru Shi. I had been a little out of the gossip-loop and there was something therapeutic and relaxing in hearing stories that had little actual impact. It was different for the ones in the story, I could understand that, so I mostly sat back and listened.

Today, earlier in the morning, I had visited Sophia before going to class, which was a little strange as it required a costume change. I was not yet willing to show the staff at the hospital my face, so I first headed into Technica’s lair, donned the lab-coat that was the top-layer of my stealth-suit and added the mask, making me stand out a little but concealing my identity. The only visible feature I was showing once I had donned the coat were my jeans and shoes and blue jeans paired with black leather boots were hardly an identifying feature.

Sadly, the visit had been too short to talk a lot and Sophia had insisted that I went to class, instead of staying with her. And thus, my return now, after class. What made me annoyed was that my last class had been a total waste of time, the professor had merely read his script out loud, without adding further explanation. I had noticed that that particular professor was bad at his job, but today’s lecture drove it home. Curious why such a professor was lecturing at one of the best universities in the world, I had quickly found the problem.

The professor was a researcher, and judging by what I was able to understand from the papers he had written, a damn good one. He was just not a teacher, but apparently, he had to teach a set amount of classes, to keep his job. The system made me scratch my head in disbelief, why would one think that a good, or even great, researcher was a good teacher?

With those thoughts in mind, I changed into my black suit, pulled on the black lab-coat, once again grinning at the sinister look I was sporting, and headed over to the hospital, to visit Sophia.

She was sitting in bed, reading something on a tablet, when I entered, greeting her with a smile, after taking off my mask, seeing that we were alone in the room.

“This morning, you said you had news. I just sat through ninety minutes of adult reading hour, so I hope for something good.” I told Sophia, grinning.

“Well, that depends on your point of view, I guess. I talked to Isleen and even had a phone-conversation with Curadh, her husband, and the dean at the University I studied at. We all agree that it would be problematic if I returned there, even if there is no further threat.” hearing that, I frowned. For one, I could not hear any good news and I was annoyed that Clark and his interference had derailed her life to that extent.

“I looked into it a bit and thought that it might be good to switch to one of the Universities here on Accord Island, there are enough of them after all. I floated the idea with the Dean and he was quite happy to support me, seeing that the attack was not my fault.” Now, my smile was back. Having Sophia nearby made me happy, even if there was still the elephant waiting outside the room, after being banished while she was recuperating. I instantly started to compose a message to Technica, hoping that she would be able to fast-track the application, using Guild ressources, part of the Guild’s purpose was to take care of Powered after all. Some might call what I wanted an abuse of power, but I was quite willing to abuse powers, I was labelled a villain after all. And in the grand scheme of things, abusing powers to smooth someone’s path to University was hardly worth mentioning.

“I would be happy to have you nearby.” I told Sophia honestly, causing her to smile as well.

“That’s nice. You know, the Doctor cleared me for light exercise, apparently, my healing factor works especially well on surface wounds. Would you take a walk with me, maybe up to the roof garden?” she asked, her voice rather serious, despite her smile.

“Sure.” I answered readily, noticing that she had exchanged the teal hospital gown with a blouse of similar colour and now, that she was standing up I saw that she had been given a pair of cartoon-print jogging pants. I put my mask back on and started to laugh.

Sophia looked at me with some annoyance on her face, so I quickly suppress my laughter and explained.

“I am not laughing about you, honestly. I am just laughing about the, let us just say, difference in get-up.” As I spoke, I first gestured to me, dressed in a sombre, black suit and lab-coat made from a material that would stop small-arms fire, before gesturing to her, dressed in jogging-pants with cartoon-pigs on them and a blouse of a similar design, only there, the print was rabbits, not pigs. Rounding out her outfit was a pair of fuzzy slippers, with cartoon carrots on them. In contrast, my outfit was completed when I donned my mask, hiding my face with an imagery reminiscent of a black cloud.

Sophia looked down at herself, looked over to me, and joined in the laughter.

“I didn’t pick those, blame Isleen!” she pouted.

“But you like them, do you not?” I asked, still grinning.

“Yes, I do. Problem with that?” she asked, her voice challenging, despite her smile.

“No, absolutely not.”

It felt good to have Sophia back to talk to. And not just Sophia, but snarky, confident Sophia, the one who I had gotten to know in school, not the slowly hollowing husk that had lived with me after the problems with her family.

We left her room and, after checking with the nurse-station, walked together in silence, taking an elevator to the roof. As we walked, I got a message back from Technica, that she would look into things with Sophia’s transfer and that I should not worry about it. It was a strange feeling, to know that there was someone who I ask to help, to fix things. And who helped me, almost without question. What was that joke, a good friend will help you move, a true friend will help you move bodies? By that, Technica had proven as more than a true friend, she had helped me produce bodies before destroying the evidence. The elevator-chime pulled me from my thoughts and I stepped onto the roof-garden with Sophia.

It was a nice, open space, clearly designed with relaxation and recovery in mind. The paths between patches of ferns, flowers and small shrubs were laid out in round gravel and multiple benches allowed to rest. At the same time, no plant was higher than chest-high, making it hard to hide, if someone had nefarious intent.

Sophia guided me along a small, meandering brook that was softly gurgling from one side of the roof to the other, probably before getting pumped back or something similar, but it added a touch of movement to the otherwise static plants. Despite the fact that it was merely a few centimeters deep, it gave the illusion that the garden was natural.

We ended up in one corner, the western corner to be precise, which was easily discernible due to the sun shining from that direction.

“You know, I thought about a lot of things, since that fateful day a year ago.” she started, standing with her back to the sun, looking at me. The sun illuminating her from behind added a golden glow to her that made her seem almost otherworldly.

“Are you sure that we should talk up here?” I asked, wanting to hear what she had to say but not sure about telling it whoever might be listening.

“I won’t go into details or mention names, don’t worry.” she told me with a smile before continuing.

“What happened that day, especially how you left, it hurt me. I don’t know why you left like that but I decided that it doesn’t really matter, not in the grand scheme of things. You obviously care for me, your actions two days ago showed that. So, I want you to know that I forgive you for leaving me like that. You can tell me, in your own time, why you acted like that, but know that your reasons won’t change my forgiveness.”

For a moment, I was stunned. I felt a little lighter, as if a weight was lifted, but at the same time, I was wondering why I was feeling that way. Had I needed Sophia’s forgiveness?

“But that doesn’t mean we will go back to the relationship we had before.” her words broke my deliberations, making me frown.

“Honestly, when we first got together, I think both of us were grasping at straws, clinging to the other because it was the only thing in reach. From what I’ve read, that’s not a healthy base for a relationship, it can make for a workable one, yes, but not a really healthy one. So, I would like to take a step back, first get to know you again, be your good friend, go on dates with you, all those things. But we need friends and contacts outside of our little bubble.”