I'll Remember

Chapter 8: Memories

I'll Remember

Chapter 8

Memories

"John!"

Ow...his head hurt like hell, what were all these warning signs he was seeing in his head. Who kept yelling his name and why was she pushing on his ch...

John sat up coughing. He panicked, looking around the room he had found himself in. He wasn't too sure at first where he was. He found he knew the room to be the observatory. Of course she was his mechanic. He turned slightly, feeling someone near his shoulder. Soft bright flashes lit up the room more than it already was.

The dark black hair could be seen from over the welding helmet. He jumped hissing as he felt the burn along his arm. How could he possibly feel pain? It wasn't even a real arm! A question for later perhaps.

"Apologies Dr. Slickstein has disappeared." Ren told him. "I'm having to do this without your blueprints." Ren lowered the welding helmet and reached over for another wire.

"What...happened?" John asked her, running his good arm over his face. It had a burn mark around the elbow, and it hurt like hell.

"You had a run in with my sister...I did tell you she was going to try to kill you. She works for Claw." She rubbed her hand over her sweaty face and sighed. "Try moving your fingers." She told him as she patted his hip.

To John's astonishment his fingers moved perfectly. Ren looked so relieved at this. Did she really care? Why?

"Extend the arm." She told him. Oh no...he hated to do that, it hurt like h...

"Go go gadget arm..." the arm slowly and flawlessly extended past the bathroom door. He picked up the soap from the sink and pulled his arm in.

"You look surprised...didn't know you could do that?" She asked with a chuckle.

"Well no, but the times I did try it hurt my shoulder." Ren scoffed as she turned around and picked up a jar of something pink and started to squish it over her fingers.

"Oh...they probably wound you up too tight. When I did your upgrades this morning I fixed a lot of those things. You should be able to..." She jumped when John jumped up off the bed.

"Penny!" He cried out looking over at the small crib she had in the corner realizing she probably had it set up for Penny because she had it for her own children.

"I'm sorry John...they have her." Ren rubbed her elbow. She seemed to do that a lot when she seemed anxious about something.

"What aren't you telling me?" Question...everything she had told him.

Ren sighed sitting down in the chair next to the bed.

~"Six months ago there was a police mens ball. Normal spring activity. We were there, my husband was your partner. The night was great, we all had fun. Getting you to dance was never going to happen but a lot of the young ladies tried." She giggles, rubbing her elbows again.

"What is it?" John put his hand on her shoulder trying to coax her to keep going. He knew this story was going to be harmful. She would be reliving some things.

"Quimby had you, my husband, Mary, and George inside the office. I don't know why they wanted Mary in there. She was off duty. I mean she was about to pop out a kid any day." She shook her head as she looked at her knees. " It was on a need to know basis and I wasn't among the privileged so I can't tell you what was said. I'm just a mechanic. But I believe that night that whatever was said inside that office had to have been bad because that night as we were going home both our vehicles were hit."

"Hit? N...No we swerved out of control because of the slick roads." John told her. She shook her head watching John jump up and start to walk back and forth. He wasn't getting it, she had to figure out a way to tell him without causing further mental harm...that would be impossible.

"John..." She walked over to her computer and looked up the weather for the day in question. "It wasn't raining...not for at least a week." She told him. John's mouth went dry. He cringed feeling a pain in the front of his brain. Grabbing his forehead and leaned over.

"I...I can't..." Oh he felt like he was going to throw up, this was bad. He walked over and grabbed the waste basket and promptly threw up the contents of his stomach. All that good thanksgiving food...and probably the wine too.

Murdered...they were murdered moreover children were killed. John looked up at her. She stood there with her arms crossed, but the look on her face told him she was on the verge of tears. But not from sorrow, but from rage.

"I tried to talk to people about it, tell them that it wasn't an accident. When I went back after I healed I realized that there were inconsistencies with the report...then I realized something." She held up the file. "This person that wrote the report...must work for Claw...this looks clean and this..." She slowly pulled out a box from under her bed and gently set it down on the counter.

"What am I looking at?"

"Remanence of a remote guided missile." The man looked up at her, shocked. "The missile hit my car...it killed my husband and son first. The explosion threw me and you from our cars. It threw your car through the trees, and mine...it killed our families John." She pointed to the report. "You want Penny? Question him..." She pointed to the officer's name.