Chapter 18: A Mutant’s Life

MRPA HQ: Infirmary

When Kimaru finally opened his eyes the sun was already falling from the sky. He was confused, his memory seemed fuzzy. He tried to sit up but found he was too weak.

I was dying….I was dying….I should be dead….

He looked around and saw that he was in a hospital room and as he strained to look down at the rest of his body he saw her. She was asleep of course, and Kimaru could only see the top of her head as it rested at the foot of his bed. Agent 00….the agent that saved my life? He wondered why she would save him. He wasn’t a good person, he wasn’t even a decent mutant. Maybe she only saved me cause of the information? Even as he thought those words he knew he was wrong. This agent was different...maybe the red or white haired agent would have left him for dead...but she, agent 00 was different. She saved him. Maybe it wasn’t because she thought he was special...but he was important enough to keep alive...and that was a new experience for him.

The agent suddenly jolted awake and stared at him in surprise, “Kimaru?”

He nodded his head slowly, not sure what she was going to do.

The agent's eyes filled with tears and he felt a hard slap across his cheek, “You idiot! How could you try and kill yourself?!” she tried to wipe away her tears but they kept flowing.

Kimaru couldn’t believe it, that this stranger; this agent, might care for his life. He was a delinquent, a drug dealer. He was putting people in danger- and yet she cared, “I just-”

“No! There is no excuse!” with tears still streaming down her face she stared at him seriously, “Every mutant life is precious! Even those that make bad choices, ”

He tried to hold back his own smile but couldn’t, “You win,”

She tilted her head in confusion.

“I’ll tell you everything I know about the distribution of Free,“

Red’s Office

“There are four dealers,” Arisa started, “Each dealer has their own supplier that picks up unmarked MS from pick-up points. Ping was a supplier to Kimaru. Durim was a dealer whose supplier is still out there. According to Kimaru, no one knows who leaves MS at the pick-up points, but it is always a large quantity of unmarked MS. Kimaru said that the other two dealers are called MeiLin and Teddy but apparently there is a ringleader to the dealers who is in charge of the entire operation,”

Keiko nodded slowly, “So do we know where MeiLin and Teddy are?”

Akumako shook her head, “I don’t see them in the database, they must be unprocessed still,”

Arisa nodded, “But Kimaru did have information on several pick-up points, so we can go to them and raid the supplies and create a shortage in the system. It might cause enough trouble to find a trail?”

“Sounds possible,” Red spoke, “This ringleader is concerning….I also wonder where all of this unmarked MS is coming from….” he was silent for a moment, “013, 014 go clean out the pick-up points tonight and make sure you get all of them, let’s end this fiasco quickly,”

Before Arisa could speak up in protest, Red’s screen went black.

Keiko sighed, “He must still think you are on suspension….”

Aku shook her head, “We shouldn’t be too long Arisa, we can go out for snacks afterward if you’d like,”

Arisa nodded her head without looking at them- she didn’t want them to see her cry.

Sector 14: Suburban Complex

Julio Steers turned the corner of his street in a full sprint. His dress shoes thumped against the sidewalk nearly as loud as his beating heart. He was so scared; he might already be too late to the most bittersweet day of his life. He could only think of the phone call from his wife he had received just an hour ago. Her voice was shaking, “She’s here-” he could hear her bite back a cry, “Your daughter...your daught- hnngggghhh!” he ran out of work immediately. His daughter- his baby girl. He bit back the tears welling in his eyes, my wife, Tamia my baby.

Without slowing down even a moment he made the sharp turn into his apartment building and flew up the stairs so fast he almost ran right past his door.

Julio’s hand reached shakily for the doorknob through his panting breath. He worried he might faint and took a deep breath. He heard Tamia from inside the house muffle a scream and his hand ripped the door open, “Tamia!!” he slammed the door behind him, making sure to lock it.

“Juliooooooooooo!” she called back, his name turning into a soft scream.

He ran to the back room past the photos of their life together: dates together, balls, their wedding, her family and his, all the memories of her pregnancy. Julio pushed open the door to the bathroom and found his beautiful wife in the bathtub. Her dark curly hair was pasted to the side of her sweaty face. She sat in only one of Julio’s t-shirts in the bathtub filled with only a few inches of water. Tears immediately gushed from her face at the sight of her husband, “Julio! Julio!” she reached out to him, her arms shaking.

“Shh shhh, baby I’m here. It’s gonna be ok baby. I promise everything is going to be ok-”

“I’m so scared! I’m so scared! I can’t do this babe I-” she bit down hard on her teeth and her grip tightened around Julio’s hand.

He bit back his own tears, “I know baby, I know, I know,” he repeated nervously, “Everything is fine. We are having this baby,” he looked at her dead in the eyes. The weight of that pronoun burrowing a hole in their hearts that this baby would never fill.

She clenched down again, her eyes squeezed in pain and fear, “It’s here- it’s-” she screamed, unable to fight her reaction to the pain.

Julio did everything he could. He gave Tamia ice, he told her to push and relax, her told her how much he loved her, and most importantly he thanked every god that did and did not exist that she was able to birth their child. He had feared for weeks of the alternative- of his wife breaking open like an egg.

“Push Tamia- just one more!” his hands were shaking as they waited to receive the baby. He looked up at Tamia. Her lips were pale, her eyes were sunken into her face, and her body laid limply in the tub.

“I don’t want to,” tears were streaming down her face, “Baby I can’t, I don’t think I can. I’m so scared, I’m so-”

“Tamia!” Julio interrupted as tears began to stream down his face, “I love you so much. You just need to push one more time baby, and then you can hold our baby girl. I know you can Tamia. I love you so much but you need to hold our baby girl. Just once, please just once.” he let the tears fall from his face and they mixed into the tub.

Tamia sniffed and nodded, “I love you Julio-” she took a shaky breath and pushed one more time. Their baby’s cries filled the bath room.

“It’s a girl, baby it’s a girl!” He picked up the child carefully and shuffled over to the other side of the tub. Gingerly, he wrapped his wife in one arm and placed his newborn daughter in his wife’s limp arms. He helped her hold the child.

Tamia was crying, her voice was hoarse and shaking, “She’s beautiful….she has your finned ears….”

Julio held his wife tightly, his tears pooling on the crown of her head, “She has your third eye...”

Tamia’s body started to shake, “It’s cold...”

He held her closer, “Her name...is Tamia.”

The newborn Tamia started to scream and cry as her mother died in Julio’s arms. Julio began to wail holding his wife in his arms. He knew this would happen. They both knew this would happen, but he wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye to his wife. His chest tightened and he heaved in wet shaky breaths.

Julio picked up the baby Tamia and tried to control himself. He washed her and cut the cord that connected her to her mother. He pushed the thoughts from his head reminding him why his wife died. Why this child was alive while his wife was dead.

After wrapping his baby in a towel, he walked into the living room and coddled his daughter to sleep. He sat there for a long time just staring at his daughter.

That’s when the doorbell rang.

Calmly, Julio stood and went the door. Through the peephole he could see the MRPA crest on the chest of the two people outside. He opened the door slightly to get a better look.

The shorter of the two moved slightly to show the MRPA symbol more clearly on his chest, “Mr. Steers, I am agent 332 and this is agent 213. We are here because of your wife-”

“Tamia.” the taller agent interrupted.

“Yes. Tamia informed us that she had gone into labor...”

Julio opened the door and motioned for them to come in, “It was clean,” Julio started as he closed and locked the door behind the two agents, “She is in the bathroom,” he motioned down the hall.

The tall agent walked to the bathroom.

The shorter agent had pulled up information on his watch, “We’d just like to register your newborn into the system...”

Julio handed his daughter to the agent and let his body fall to the couch. The weight of what was happening started to hit him- Tamia was gone. He felt tears well into his eyes and they erupted in shaky breaths and muffled cries.

The agent patted Julio’s back in a sign of comfort, “I’m so sorry for your loss- and congratulations on your daughter. She is perfectly healthy.”