A Volatiles Claim

Thoughts and Feelings

              "I can't believe you two! I mean, what were you going to do, kill the other?!" I seethe in anger and annoyance looking at the idiots on recovery cots that are separated from each other. "Aiden, you know Barney is crazy but not stupid enough to kill Lucas. And don't you start Barney!" I point at my closest friend when I see his mouth open to talk. "Aiden was gracious enough to give us control of the water tower despite what we put him through, besides he was only doing what needed to be done to find the real killer."

A few days after Aiden and I went to the hunting shop for supplies, he had accomplished so much in little time. He checked on Barney when he decided to go out to a dark zone to get the crystals for Jack and Joe's fees in exchange for water; needless to say, I was not too pleased when Barney came back all beat up from the infected, but I forgave him a while later. Aiden was also tasked with overseeing the transaction, things went south fast, we not only lost everyone who went plus the crystals, but Aiden had to fight a Goon. He managed to take it down and that in itself is phenomenal as any other person in Villedor would not have stood a chance. Though I shouldn't be too surprised as he, along with a good chunk of survivors, cleared out the bandit camp in the Horseshoe district to rescue Carl. And, according to Barney, Aiden rushed to the Tango Motel as soon as the camp was liberated to help the rest of the survivors as the PK attacked the safe house. He took down Hermann, I chewed him out about that over the radio as Hermann is old, but once he explained the misunderstandings and revealed why he was aiding the PK, I gave him a pass. Since the PK controls the only passage to the Central Loop and knowing how important it is for him to find his sister, I don't blame him for trying to expedite the process of finding the killer by volunteering himself to act as a detective and going where the clues lead.

Which brings us to today, Aiden went into the water tower, also in Horseshoe, to finally deal with Jack and Joe only to discover the crazy fools rigged the tower to explode after they escaped the bandit camp. Aiden not only diffused the bombs but also talked Jack and Joe into leaving Old Villedor to somewhere else so he can help them leave the city for good. Aiden told only me about that part as he knew that the other survivors would be pissed that they weren't killed on sight for all that they put everyone through. Some part of me was upset, but only a little, as the rest of me couldn't help but admire him more due to his kindness. Once the water was handed over to the survivors, he snuck into Barney's apartment while most of the survivors from the Bazaar went to the water tower to fortify it. There he found the skinned tattoo that belonged to Lucas in a hidden room and that was when Barney returned, and they got into a huge fight quite possibly to the death. Luckily Sophie was not far behind her brother and was able to stop them and reason with Aiden that no one from the Bazaar killed Lucas and proposed that the tattoo was planted here so the real killer could get off Scot-free.

"Calm down, Marcus. Right now, we need to tend to their wounds then we need to figure out who planted the tattoo in Barney's apartment." Veronika's voice calms me somewhat but the thought that if either of them killed the other... well I don't know if I'll be able to look at them the same.

I begrudgingly nod and go to patch up Barney, but Veronika beats me to him and nods her head in Aiden's direction with this weird look in her eyes. I could only squint my eyes at her expression before I go over to Aiden's cot and sit in front of him on a chair Veronika put there along with a foldable dinner table with all the supplies I would need. Aiden's head faces forward but his eyes are purposefully avoiding me, all while having this guilty look on his face, I would call the sight cute but the pulsating headache from my anger is still in charge.

"Yeah, you need to calm down Spark or else you will drop dead from high blood pressure in your thirties. Besides, Aiden and I made up, we are good pals now; right, Aiden?" Barney asks turning to Aiden who looks at him wearily but nods his head, nonetheless.