spears of Uu'kata (CLEAN(ish) Version)

Chapter 33 - Plots

"Where are you going?" Ben asked.

Vasquez stopped and turned, barely stopping himself from telling Ben to fuck off. Ben really believed he'd done what was right and Vasquez couldn't get over it. He'd tried to understand, he'd even told himself that if his and Charlotte's places were swapped, she most likely would have done the same. But it didn't help.

"I'm going to Dr. Himura's lab," he said, opting for the truth this time. "Wanna come?"

Please don't come, he thought.

"Why are you going to see her?" Ben asked.

"I'm going to ask her to dinner," he said, now opting for a lie. That was the thing with lies, they had to be speckled with truth or they were too hard to keep track of.

Ben scoffed. "You're going to ask the doctor out? Are you out of your mind? She's so far out of your league."

"Oh, come on. Don't you see how she looks at me?"

"Yeah, like you're a dumbass."

"No, like she wants to take me for a ride," Vasquez said with a grin, swinging his hips.

"Dude, she's a ten and you're, like, a six at best. Don't humiliate yourself like this," Ben said.

"Ohhhhh," Vasquez said, "You actually rated me? And you gave me a six? It's my ass, right? Definitely my best feature."

"Shut the fuck up, dude. How about we go get a beer? We need to talk anyway. We're all that's left of Delta and I get the feeling you've been avoiding me," Ben said.

Well fuck, Vasquez thought.

Taking a deep breath, Vasquez stopped screwing around and said, "Ben, let's be real here. Are you really okay with what you saw in the lab on the Artemis?"

"Yes," Ben said without hesitation.

Vasquez felt the twisting of revulsion in his guts.

"Vas, I don't get why it bothered you. We've killed hundreds of them. We've seen their insides before. Splattered over the battlefield. Hell, I remember the time you exited your suit and got hit in the face with an entrail you didn't realize was chillen on your mech's head. You laughed about that. Why is this so different?" Ben asked.

Vasquez smiled, though sadness weighed upon him. If Ben couldn't understand the difference, he never would, and trying to explain it was a useless waste of time. Still, he wished Ben could see how wrong it was.

Instead of trying to explain, Vasquez huffed and shook his head, shrugging his shoulders. "I dunno, dude. It just bothered me. But I'll pass on the beer for now. Rain check?"

"You're seriously going to go ask Dr. Himura out?" Ben asked, putting his hands on his hips and shaking his head.

"Hell yeah!" Vasquez said, running his hand over his scalp.

"Tell you what," Ben said. "I'll be at Hops Cantina with a beer you can use to nurse your wounds when she's done with you."

"Ah, you have so little faith in me," Vasquez said pressing a hand to his heart. "Why don't you come along and watch me work my magic?"

"I'll pass on the secondhand embarrassment, thank you very much," Ben said, which was exactly what Vasquez was expecting.

"Fine, but you'll see when I have a beautiful Asian doctor on my arm tomorrow," Vasquez said with a grin as he turned around and continued down the hall. The click and hiss of his mag boots loud in his ears.

The Warthog relied on spin gravity, so the Coriolis effect wasn't as strong on levels closer to the internal spin engines. Which meant less gravity, ergo, mag boots.