The Long Drive "Home" Part 1

Vas blinked slowly fighting off the blurriness, putting a hand up against the bright light from the car window. The sound came into focus as well as the sharp aching pain in his leg. He felt like he had been stuffed in a meat grinder. He gritted his threat trying to sit up, looking at the hole in his leg, the blue bloom of blood was still wet, staining the seat and the car floor.

Nate glanced over at him as he drove, admittedly taking his time. “Dont be such a little bitch, the nanomites will fix you up and you know it.” He sniped. “You wanna tell me what all this is about?”

“Tell you about what? Some asshole busing in my home, threatening my family, and shooting a hole in my leg?” Vas said giving Nate a scathing look. “Where the hell are you taking me?”

“Home, dick. Tartarus, the place you’ve been Awol from for weeks. I thought you were dead,” Nate told him. “What is this family bullshit? What’d you shack up with the blue haired chick?”

“What?! No! What the fuck man! What the fuck is Tarter Sauce? Kind of a place is named after a fucking condiment. Home is where you fucking taking me from jackass!” Vas shot back. “Do you have bandages or are we just rolling the dice to see if I heal or bleed out first?”

Nate rolled his eye, taking the bandana he was using to keep his eye closed from his head, throwing it into Vas’ lap. “Cut the shit. You catch a piece of tail and think you can just walk away to some sort of apple pie life?” He scoffed.

Vas grimaced as he tied it around his leg paling a bit from the sharp pain, taking a few deep breaths while the nausea passed. “Fuck you. I already told you I wasn’t hooking up with anything and … who the fuck are you anyway make any kind of judgment.” Now he wanted apple pie.

Nate pulled the car over, so he could turn to face his brother. “Tell me your head was scrambled? Fuck man, that explains it. Son of a bitch. Well, at least it’s better than you being some low-life deserter. Don’t worry, we’ll get you fixed up.”

Vas gave the man a confused look. “Who the fuck are you?! You keep throwing shit and I have no clue what you're talking about!” Vas snapped irritated. Maybe he would have been a little less hostile if he hadn't had his family threatened, beaten and he himself, shot. Tended to slant the conversation a bit.

“My name is Nate, I’m your brother, we’re tank born the same class. I don’t know those people, if they were jennies and mind fucked you or what, but they are not your family,” Nate explained.
“I’m a hellhound. You are a hellhound. Home base is called Tartarus. That’s where you live.”

“They took me in. They’re family.” Vas said his voice tight. “That's why we have the same eyes, I thought I was just … you know … modded like most people.” He was feeling so conflicted. Vas wanted to just not believe him be it on principle or spite but from the little he had gleaned from Serena … it unfortunately lined up.

“You’ll be okay,” Nate said, giving him a wry grin. “They’ll fix you right up. And by the time we’re back, nanomites should have that healed up.” He pulled the car back onto the road.

“How far away is this place?” Vas said making a face. Okay part of him was curious and another part terrified. Serena had been so … scared … even when he had learned something by accident.

“Far,” he said cryptically. “You got time to heal up.”

“So what like a day and half?” Vas guesstimate trying to sit up more comfortably. Sometimes being tall had its drawbacks.

“Don’t worry about it,” Nate told him, not willing to give too much away. “Just get comfortable. You got time.”

“No no … I am pretty god damned worried. I got someone who shot me telling me he's my long lost bro from a place that sounds like something you put on fried fish. Telling not to worry … and it is having the opposite effect.” Vas glared at the rearview mirror. “Brother or not you pretty much just kidnapped me and I'm supposed to be chill. Are you part of the military or something? Is this why you are so …” He made a motion at Nate.

“You didn’t give me much of a choice,” Nate told him. “And we’re not really part of the military, though it is militaristic. “

“I have no idea what that means,” Vas said flatly. “Maybe if came in like a normal person? Might not have ended in a brawl.” Which Vas realized a bit hypocritical of him to say but at the same time this was his family being messed with so he was willing to let that slide not sure if NAte was able to call his ass out or not.

“I was in under the impression that you were kidnapped, because why else would you have not checked in?” Nate explained. “Red and Blue were collateral damage.”

“No. No I wasn’t like I said they found my sorry ass.” Vas said trying to rack his brain. Everything this guy threw out made Vas feel less and less sure about himself. But there was nothing. Just nothing before waking up. “I didn’t know. All I had was my gun.”

“What happened before that?” Nate pressed. “You were running an exercise, and just blipped off the radar.”

Vas shifted in his sea uncomfortable. “Nothing. There’s nothing. I just woke up on the ground. Real messed up, I think I fell or something? I might have bled out if they hadn’t found me.”

“So you’re saying you’re not 100% sure they had nothing to do with it.” Nate answered.

“I’m sure they had nothing to do with it. Neither of ‘em know how to use a gun.” Vas said letting the narrative that it was Cyd and Mathis that had found him. He was not going to drop Serena. No way in hell.

“You don’t think Ms. Knife-to-the-eye can’t figure out point and shoot? Or the thug with the bat? What about the assholes that were trying to ID you?” Nate asked.

“They’re sprawlers … you busted into their home what the hell were you expecting confetti, tea and cake? On the same note, they’re Sprawlers they couldn’t afford a gun even if they wanted one.” Vas snorted. “Who was trying to ID me?”

“Major player in Japan,” Nate explained. “That’s all I know. Like I said, before that, we wrote you off as dead.”

“So what happened, you know, before. Why was I in the Sprawl? Did I just … there one second gone the next?” Vas asked. He couldn’t help ask question when he was getting answer. He was just used to Serena being really tight lipped about it which, once you got to know her, was a genuine achievement.

“Survival training. Whole squad was dropped off in random areas, no credits, task was find your way back to Tartarus. You dropped off the face of the earth. No check ins, you were just gone.” Nate replied. “We swept the area, three times, and nothing.”

“They found me at the Elysium construction site. I don't know how long from when I fell to when they found me to when I woke up. I don't remember much from the first couple of days.” Vas admitted.

“Mmm,” Nate said, a bit of disbelief in his grunt. “Tops are probably still going to question ‘em.”

“Question who? The Skye's? Yea good luck with that.” Vas laughed. “They see anything looking close to Jag and they would have better luck squeezing blood from a stone. The Sprawl is its own ecosystem and a Jag is never welcomed.”

Nate scoffed. “It’s the sprawl. Throw some credits, you be surprised what you buy. I found you, didn’t I?”

“Well I hope they milk it then if they do.” Vas gave a lazy smirk. “They know less than I do, hell I didn't even think to have ‘em save the casings.”

“Well, if money doesn’t jar memories,” Nate said, with a shrug. What happened to these people was of no consequence to them.

Vas gave Nate a blank look. “I don't know what happens if ‘money doesn't jar memories ‘.” He asked, brow furrowed.

“Not your concern. But you said they were smart, so,” Nate said, adjusting the air in the SUV, “as long as they had nothing to do with anything, they’ll get a little bank, and no one gets hurt.”

“What do you mean it’s not my concern? These people kept me dying, they pulled bullets out of my ass. They didn’t have to do shit, they could have just walked away and now they could get fucked for being human fucking beings?” Vas said heated sitting up sharply, hissed with pain and sharply leaned back down. “It is my concern.”

“Yeah?” Nate asked. “Why? You going to say out of the goodness of their hearts? Something doesn’t add up.”

“Of course it doesn’t add up! You don’t know them like I do.” Vas said indignant.

“So tell me. These people in the sprawl, according to you, who see anything looking like a Jagg avoid the fuck out of it, find you - who could easily pass for a Jagg, bring you home and nurse you back to health? Shit, you’re still wearing your tags, they knew something was up.”