Redux Vol1 Ch16: Worries

Jack sighed as he sunk into the couch. He had really needed that, it was an excellent distraction to the chaos that his life had become, but there was also something about coming home after a vacation, that sinking back into the familiar, you could feel it in your gut. Hethuk had taken Tirs and Arka home and jack spent a moment wondering exactly where home was for them, did they live on a planet or perhaps a space station of sorts? And if so how far away was it? It had to be a rather significant distance right? If that was so then whatever ships they had needed to be significantly faster than the speed of light right? That was a logical rabbit hole and as such he just shut it down, he would find out later, for now it was just him, Mina, and Hisra lounging on the couch. Even Jean and Jessika had gone home, for the first time since they were engaged Jack and Hisra didn't have to worry about anyone interrupting them, er, at least without relying on waffles that is. Well, if they could find some way to prevent Mina from interrupting that was. Jack didn't know how exactly they were going to figure that one out, but he was hoping however they accomplished it they could do so soon.

He had work tomorrow, and while it was not something he was looking forward to it was something that needed to be done. The bills needed to be paid after all, with a sigh at the morbid thought he turned on the TV , and started to casually flip through the channels.

Mina was currently curled up with her head on Jack’s lap it reminded him of how his aunt’s cat used to sleep anytime he came over, though thankfully Mina wasn't curled up and resting entirely on his lap. For a creature that was by everyone's admission an A.I. she seemed to like to sleep and eat.

Hisra leaned over, rested her head on Jack’s shoulder, and made a sound of contentment. Jack smiled and closed his eyes, it wasn't long before everyone on the couch was drifting off to sleep. The best use of this alone time any of them could think of at the moment...

***

Jack pulled on the smock and buttoned it up, Hisra and Mina were currently sitting on the couch watching the TV with apt attention. Jack looked over at the two of them and smiled, with almost no sound he made his way to the door, only to be startled by Mina who suddenly appeared in front of him.

“Mine?” she asked, and he needed no translation for that one, it was apparent that she wanted to know where he was going.

“I am off to work, I'll be back in a couple of hours, it's a short shift today, you stay with Hisra, have fun watching the tv.” He told her, and much to his surprise she simply nodded, but before she made her way back to the couch she grabbed his wrist, there were several seconds her hand lingered on his wrist before she pulled it away. Where she had touched there was a silvery bracelet l, it was smaller and thinner than when she was in her full storage mode, but it was un.

“You can split like that?” he asked, she looked at him and nodded with a big smile.

“Mine!” she said, before planting a kiss on his lips and slinking off to sit by Hisra to once again stare at the tv. What were they watching that was able to hold their attention for so long. Whatever he was only going to be gone six hours today, he could ask them when he came back He was going to be late for work at this pace, so he simply smiled and closed the door.

Work was a strange thing, part of him hated the mundaneness of it all, the other part liked the structure and schedule, and all of him liked the money. Honestly, it wasn't so bad, everyone always said that these entry-level jobs sucked, However, there was a sense of freedom to it, you went in, did your thing, got paid. You never had to worry about telling other people what to do, you only had to focus on your job. There was a sort of simplicity to it that had its own appeal.

“Did you hear? They are going to be giving out the pink slips soon,” Jack was currently sitting in the break room having his lunch which consisted of some Deli chicken and potato chips. Two other workers were there as well, and it seemed like they had a rather interesting thing to talk about.

“Again? They did that what like four months ago? Why are they cutting more?”

“I heard that the new district manager wants to cut down on cost so he is cutting employees and increasing the workload of those who aren’t fired. How much do you want to bet that it is due to the recent rise in minimum wage.”

Jack sighed, so it was time for another round of pink slips? Why didn't people understand that an increase in minimum wage, though great on paper has some major ramifications in real life? Companies are going to want to keep their total profits, so they either had to fire employees or increase the price of the products they produced, so yeah employees would be making more, but when the price of milk and other essentials was raised would they actually be making profit? In this situation the middle-income people got shafted real hard as they got no pay increase but there was a spike in the price of everything.

Jack could feel the stress setting in, he hadn't worked here for long, so if a round of pink slips went around there was a good chance that he would be on that list, he had barely squeaked by last time. Finishing up his lunch he clocked back in with his punch card and went back to work to finish his day. He made it through the entire thing without an incident, no call to the manager’s office, no slip in his locker. Still, until the current round of pink slips was done being passed around he was going to be on edge no doubt about it.

Jack went to open the door of his apartment, but there was something wrong, he could feel it, what was Hethuk there to test him again or something? He didn't know but something told him he needed to be cautious. For a second he wondered if it was just the nerves from the workday, but he ultimately decided it was better to play it safe.

He opened the door slowly peeking in, and just as he did he felt a wind brush by his neck, he snapped his neck to the side to avoid it, it was almost faster than he could react. With a look of horror, he looked at a silver piece of sharpened metal that was embedded in the door trim mere millimeters away from where his neck had been a second ago. As he watched the silver melted, and flowed down the door trim before pooling on the floor and beginning to slide back from wince it came.

“Jack?” called out a frightened Hisra’s voice.

“Mine?” Mina called out, there was a quiver in her voice as well.

“I’m, ahh, I'm home, can I come in without you attempting to kill me?” he asked. To his surprise, the door was practically ripped right out of his hand and he was pulled inside. The second he crossed the threshold the door slammed shut again.

“Jack your back,” Hisra cried out, wrapping him in a tight hug, he often forgot how physically strong Trilska as a race were, and Hisra in particular. It was just so easy to see her as a five-foot nothing woman with dyed blue hair, and not as the actual alien she was, and his pride as a man meant wrapping his head around the fact that he not only didn't have to defend her, but likely would be more of a nuisance, was one hell of a bitter pill to swallow. As such he often simply put it out of his mind, up to the point she did something that reminded him of the fact that was.

“Miiiinnnneeee,” Murmured Mina as she wrapped him in from the other side, they were both shaking slightly and were very clearly frightened. They clung onto him as though they both thought he would turn into thin air and vanish if they let go.

“What's wrong?” Jack asked, he was concerned, what had possibly scared them this much. He started scanning the room, looking for what could have possibly set them on edge like this, but honestly he found nothing. Nothing at all.

“I don't want them to get me, I don't want to forget!”

“Mine!” Mina nodded in agreement, her silver locks bouncing on her face as she desperately tried to add her opinion to the conversation.

“Who?” Jack asked, there was a hard edge to his voice, who was frightening these two so much. Even if it was the last thing he did he would not allow them to live in fear. If someone was scaring them they would have to deal with him.

“We didn't come here legally, we didn't know, there was no way to know!” Now that was interesting, it brought up a load of questions, like was there some intergalactic force that prevented visiting planets without documentation or something? What exactly was going on? “I don't want to get neuralyzed!”

He was about to respond when he paused, he had heard that word before, it struck some sort of memory deep in the back of his mind, what was it from again? It was at this moment that he heard something seemingly out of place at the time.

Music.

Here come the Men In Black, Men In Black

Galaxy defenders.

Oho oho oho

Here come the Men In Black, Men In Black

They won't let you remember

He looked at the tv. It was currently in the credits reel for M.I.B, and he looked at the two alien girls currently cowering in terror and holding onto him for dear life. He could almost physically feel the pieces of the puzzle click together, and slowly, he felt all the stress from the workday and the possibility of a pink slip melting away. He looked at the two and laughed, it started as a low rumble in his chest before growing into an avalanche that seemed to burst from him with incredible force. He laughed, even while holding them, even while working to make them feel safe. In the end, it didn't matter, none of it mattered so long as he had these two he knew he could find a way through anything...