Chapter 8.A

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, what are you doing here Jimmy?” shouts Hank with his door open as Jimmy runs over to him.

“Hank, you are literally covered in blood, it looks like even your eyes are bleeding. What the fuck is going on?” asks Jimmy.

“Shit happens when you party naked. Quit changing the subject, why are you here?” asks Hank.

“Because you needed my help you crazy fuck. Why are you destroying the town in a Bulldozer?” asks Jimmy.

“Jimmy, I promise you on my father’s grave...” Hank’s face falls into his hands because he is so overwhelmed, but he only ends up smearing some blood around so he stops that quickly. “I’m not crazy Jimmy. I only killed really bad guys. I have an exit strategy of sorts for all of this, but we don’t have time for any of that right now. We have to stop these shit heads. I know the other side of this wall is clear. I can doze through and kill the ones on the other said,” said Hank.

“I’m not even going to ask how you think you know the way is clear. I don’t know how clearly you are thinking…. Hank do you know that most of your blood is on the outside of your body right now? Why don’t you smash through and then let me lead the charge. I’ve got two guys around the corner who can help me,” says Jimmy. Hank wants to argue with him, but he realizes how much energy it is taking just to stay awake, so he nods his head in agreement. Jimmy whistles and two overly muscular bald men come around the corner sporting FBI windbreakers.

“Nice costumes Jimmy, where did you pick those up?”

“Heh, costumes… yeah. Let’s do this thing, hit that wall and we will rush in and clear the bank.” Jimmy hops off of the ledge of the cabin and runs over to meet his guys. One of them throws him an M-4 variant and another FBI windbreaker which he hastily puts on. He spins back around to Hank and gives him the thumbs up. Hank can’t help, but grin as he slams the door shut and revs the engine a few times, before finally popping it into gear. The Killdozer lurches forward faster than it ever has before, the upgrades have clearly been working their magic. He smashes entirely through the outer wall of the bank and slams on the breaks as fast as he can so he doesn’t run over any hostages.

His Arbiter Intuition is going crazy, screaming that he needs to help these poor souls. Jimmy and his two men fly in guns-a-blazing. There is sporadic gunfire from each side and some of the hostages start to run. One woman is clipped in the arm and spins around once before falling. Hank can’t sit this one out, if he does more innocent people might be hurt. He grabs the AK47 and hops out of his bulldozer into the smoke and dust still floating in the air and immediately rolls his ankle in the rubble he created from crashing through the wall. He falls onto his back into a pile of rebar, sharp concrete chunks, and brick shards that were once the decorative outer-wall. Hank isn’t a quitter though so he gets up and glances at the cab of the Bulldozer just long enough to see the puddle of blood leaking over the seat where he had just been. How much blood did I lose?

The gun is slippery in his bloody hands and trying to manipulate it at all brings about great bouts of pain from his shredded palms. He works his way through the smoke, shirtless and covered in blood. Still drowsy as hell from the fatigue of his injuries. He takes one more glance back because he feels something weird tugging on his Intuition. One of the bank robbers is half crushed below the treads of his bulldozer. He is dying as Hank watches him. Again Hank watches a man’s soul get sucked up into the engine. He can hear Jimmy and his men yelling at the remaining bank robbers to put their guns down. Hank only has eyes for Suzie, or rather Arbiter Intuition for Suzie. He has been passively using it to track her position, barely even cognizant of the fact that he is doing it. Hank spots the man who is holding her at the back of the bank. He sees the bloody apparition that is Hank staring at him and immediately begins pulling her back further into a hallway that Hank can only assume leads to the manager's office. He has to follow, he won't let her get hurt again.

Hank can hear Jimmy yelling somewhere behind him. He is yelling for Hank telling him to wait, but Hank is too tired to pay attention and too desperate to protect Suzie. He heads down the hallway, a door at the end slams shut. The employee bathrooms are on the left side of the hall, as he walks past them a man lunges out behind him and tries to put Hank in a choke hold. Hank is too slippery though and years of muscle memory had his chin pinned to his chest before the man could fully constrict his arm. So instead of a choke hold the man ends up on the piggy-back ride from hell. Hank loses the AK47 in the fight so he just throws his back against what he thinks is the outer wall of the bank. The bank robber is crushed behind him. Hank picks up his AK and calmly shoots the man in the face and then watches in sick detail as the man’s soul leaves his body. Instead of going towards the bulldozer it flies directly into Hank’s chest. “Well that’s new,” Hank says to no one in particular.

He gets to the doorway at the end of the hall where he knows an armed gunman has a weapon pointed at Suzie’s head inside, Arbiter Intuition is awesome. He steels himself, he only has one shot at this. Hank spins the door handle as quietly as he can with his off-hand and then spins around the corner and begins to raise his rifle. That’s when the bank robber holding Suzie shoots Hank in the chest. Hank falls backwards and loses his weapon as his bare and bloody back hits the shitty industrial too-thin carpet.

He hears the bank robber shout something like “Take that you fuckin idiot!” but he is too tired to make out exactly what it was. Jimmy comes through a second later. He steps over Hank and puts a round right through the remaining bank robber’s head.

“Hank what in the fuck were you thinking!” Jimmy screams. “You, get over here,” he yells at Suzie. She runs over and he takes off his windbreaker and t-shirt and hands her the t-shirt before putting his windbreaker back on. “Hold that t-shirt over his wound, don’t let up. I have to finish securing the bank!” he yells before running off. Then it’s just Hank and Suzie.

“Hey mister, keep your eyes open. I don’t think you are supposed to close your eyes in these kinds of situations,” said Suzie. Hank cracks open one of his eyes, the other one doesn’t want to work it feels like glue is holding it together but it might just be dried blood.

“Suzie, how you been?” asks Hank. Suzie Q. looks very confused for a second before recognition shows on her face.

“Hank?”

“In the flesh.”

“Hank, oh my God! What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t let you get hurt, not again,” he says with a smile on his face. This time Hank can’t help but to close his eye. He is just too tired to do anything else.

“Don’t go to sleep Hank, don’t do it!” she screams.

***

A short while later Hank comes to laying in a ridiculously comfortable form-fitted bed of some type. The ceiling above him is purple, it’s the first thing he notices as he glances around.

“Hank are you awake?” asks a female voice, he can’t see who it is because he is still laying down staring up.

“Am I dead?” Hank asks no one in particular. Before Hank even has a chance to sit up Suzie is wrapping her arms around his prone form. “Well hello to you too.”

“I thought you were dead, it was a shitty feeling,” she says before sobbing a bit into Hank’s chest.

“Yeah but why am I not dead, or in handcuffs for that matter?”

“Because the aliens came...” before Suzie can finish telling her story a door opens with the slightest of noises at the end of the room and Hank sits up to investigate. Cerulean and Dractus walk in wearing their futuristic silver onesies trailed by Jimmy. Hank looks town and sees his torso is almost entirely wrapped in something that looks like thick plastic with blue wires running horizontally through it. His hands are also wrapped in it, along with the leg he got shot in earlier. He is also surprised that he is in a pretty minimal amount of pain overall. Jimmy is standing side by side with Cerulean and Dractus, which is also a confusing sight for Hank.

“I have just so many questions,” said Hank.

Cerulean is the one who answers him “Blame me. I was able to sneak a tracker on you earlier that also monitored your vitals. I saw you were close to dying and we came running. It was a real shit show when we arrived. Let me tell you, your local authorities do not like aliens in giant flying ships. Anyway when Dractus threw you over his shoulder this one here about shot him in the face,” she says as she points at Jimmy who only smiles. Sometimes shooting people in the face is an average day for Jimmy.

“Anyway this woman comes running out,” she says while gesturing towards Suzie. “We had to move quickly and these two refused to leave your side so we just took them with us.”

Hank tries to parse the story he just got told quickly and piece it all together, but he did just get shot twice earlier this day so he is still a bit sluggish. Finally he comes to a terrible conclusion and his heart starts pounding in his chest.

“WAIT, WE HAVE TO GO BACK! MY BULLDOZER”

Again it is Cerulean who answers him “No worries Hank, this baby is a galactic tug, Leviathan Class.” she says while stomping her foot on the floor of the ship. “I’m hauling your bulldozer below us, it’s safe and sound.”

Hank feels like a weight has just been lifted off of him. “Thank you, fuck that had me worried. Where are we going now, and why is this place purple?”

“We are headed to the general area of where the demon was last spotted. The purple around you is an all-purpose spray to protect the steel components of the ship. It stops rust, it’s bacteria resistant, it’s a great insulator, and it is surprisingly hardy. We can talk more about that later though. For now we will give you some time alone with your friends.”

Dractus and Cerulean turn to leave “Wait!” shouts Hank. They both turn around “Thanks for saving me, both of you. Dractus I guess you can have that tongue thing whenever you want it now since I owe you one.” Cerulean giggles at the comment and keeps walking. Dractus turns his head slightly without turning around and flips his lizard tongue in the air a few times before walking out and laughing softly. After their departure the room suddenly feels a little awkward. Jimmy catches on quickly.

“Hey I’m going to go see where a guy can take a piss in this tub. I’ll be back in five minutes.”

Once he leaves the room Hank can’t wait to blurt the question out that’s been bothering him for years. “Why did you do it? The cold shoulder, the restraining order, everything?”

Hank realizes Suzie is holding one of his hands with both of hers. She looks down at the floor before responding.

“It was Eugene. He sent men to my house, they threatened my family. Eugene said if I ever talked to you again in a friendly manner he would have my father killed...”

“So why didn’t you call the police, or come to me? We could have dealt with it together. We had something, I know you felt it. All of the wasted years because that little weasel lobs one threat. You should have come to me!” Hank lays back down when he realizes he has shouted his last sentence. Suzie doesn’t say anything, she just keeps staring at the floor.

“That was a bullshit answer Suzie.”

Hank can tell he has devastated her. He doesn’t care though. What they went through together was a lot and he could have used her support. He can’t help but notice how viciously beautiful she still is, even with one side of her face marked with a long jagged scar. If anything the scar only increases her natural beauty by drawing attention to the soft curves of her face.

“I don’t know what to tell you Hank. I was young and scared. I knew Eugene’s family was powerful, and I knew he was insane. I love my father and I didn’t want to potentially throw his life away over some high school relationship. Can’t you understand that?”

“Why didn’t you come to me Suzie, I would have helped you.”

“Hank you don’t understand. Back then, yeah you were big and a skilled fighter, but beyond that you were just a yokel local, a boy with a pretty face and big muscles. Eugene is connected to some very bad people, even back then he was.”

They are at an impasse and they both know it. Hank can never forgive Suzie. He also wonders if maybe the spark he felt with her all those years ago was just teenage hormones. As if she can read his mind she speaks up again “That’s all in the past Hank. We are here together now, we can try again. I heard you ran Eugene out of town. The police were looking for him for questioning but apparently he loaded up a suitcase and disappeared. I know now what I should have known then. That you would have never let me or my family get hurt.”

Hank sees her expectant eyes and doesn’t really know how to respond. She left him when he needed her. Now that he had saved her from harm he feels his karma has been reset. He didn’t fail this time, he no longer owes her anything. Before he can tell her as much Jimmy comes back into the room. He rests one of his hands on Hank’s shoulder.

“Hank, you son of a bitch. You should have called me. I could have had Eugene whacked on the down low. That whole bulldozer mess was nonsense.”

“No, it was my problem Jimmy, I had to deal with it. I appreciate everything you have done for me... and my father. I really do, but it was my problem.” Jimmy just nods, he understands.

“So your new friends tell me you are some kind of a space cop now. This should make this next bomb I’m going to drop a little easier for you. It seems especially trivial to keep it a secret now with aliens flying around and what not... Hank I’m a federal agent, I work for the FBI.”

Hank just raises an eyebrow questioningly. Hank and Jimmy know each other well enough to know that the raised eyebrow carries some serious meanings and implications. Like for example if Jimmy is a cop why is he working as a loan shark in small towns and beating up deadbeats. Why didn’t he arrest Hank in some kind of a Rico case. Why didn’t he try to arrest Hank when he was destroying town hall with a bulldozer. Jimmy being a cop just doesn’t add up. These were all the things Hank had implied with the lift of that brow. Best friends can do that kind of thing, exchange messages via eyebrows.

“I’m telling you the truth Hank. I’m a federal agent. I’ve been deep undercover for years. I don’t have any close family and I love the work. So I just keep volunteering to stay under longer. I have one of the most notorious covers in FBI history.”

“I’m not really sure what to say Jimmy… Congrats? I dislike criminals as much as the next person, but I worked for you as a criminal for a long time. Why didn’t you turn me in?”

“Because you aren’t a criminal Hank. Standing around and looking scary isn’t against the law. Besides I only chase kingpins and syndicates. And as you know… I really did count you as one of the best friends I have ever had. In the world of shit that I call home you were a ray of sunshine. I’ve kept track of you since then, just to make sure that none of my world spilled into yours. You’ve become a pillar of your community. I’ve seen you help people. How could I lock someone like that up. I kept your name out of the paperwork bud.”

“Yeah until I became the maniac killing people with a bulldozer.”

“Well, you're a space cop now. I’m pretty sure Galactic law supersedes federal jurisdiction.”

“Is that the same logic you use to justify the crazy shit you do?”

“YEP!” Jimmy says with a grin.

“You haven’t changed at all Jimmy.”

“Look who's talking.”