Vigilante: Adventures Of An African Hero [COMPLETED]

[Six] Breaking News

Nipp drew his head backwards on the two-seater couch and gazed upon the white ceiling with brown spots on it. His mind was consumed with one thought; he had finally seen the rebel's face. "He was right, the rebel does look like he was born in Mega Dar," he mumbled to himself, remembering a conversation he had a few weeks ago.

"Thinking about Romeo?" a voice asked him.

Nipp's thoughts escaped his mind and he faced Mercy, the slum doctor. After he watched Romeo fight Dran's men and lose, he took it upon himself to make sure the rebel didn't die by running over the Gang Rat members with the van that had brought clothes to the slums. After that, he walked over to Romeo, who was lying unconscious on the ground, and heard him mumble "Doctor" in his sleep. There was only one qualified doctor he could be talking about, and as it turned out she knew Romeo. 

"Yeah," Nipp replied before chuckling. "When I asked him about his name, he told me he was called Juliette."

Mercy shook her head with a smile spread out on her face, before she pinched the bridge of her nose. "He does that a lot. If you don't know Romeo and Juliette then you'd never be able to interpret it." She took a seat next to Nipp. "Did he tell you he wants to save the world?"

Nipp nodded. "He told me." His eyes moved towards the small flat screen TV that was glued to the wall. "But he can't... Sometimes I wish I could save the world too, but then I realize the world is too corrupt to be saved, so I decide to live in the moment."

Mercy folded her arms. "I feel the same way." This was the first time the two sat down and actually talked. The past week had been all about Romeo. Mercy had found a bullet wound that Romeo never told her about and it was infected, causing him to have a high fever. Luckily, she found it in time and saved his life, again. "Sometimes I ask myself if it's worth it, what he's doing. He could have come with me to Mega Dar and chosen a field to study before coming back to the slums and actually help people... What he's doing now is showing the slum dwellers that the only way to solve a problem is through violence, and that's not true." She buried her face in her palms and let out a sigh. "I don't know... I just..." She shook her head. "I don't want to be the one to receive his dead body."  

Nipp knew what she was going through. He remembered how he felt when he lost his mother, the one person who truly understood him, and he wouldn't want anyone else to experience that pain. "You studied in Mega Dar?" he asked.

"Yeah. Romeo and I used to be in the same orphanage, and you wouldn't believe me, but he got bullied a lot--maybe that's why he chose this life. One day when he was being bullied I stepped in and helped him. From that moment on we became friends. So when Hans came to adopt him, he begged him to take me too. A few years later, Hans offered to take us to school in Mega Dar because he had connections. I said yes, but Romeo declined. He was already too deep into his vigilant life. So I left for school. And when I was done, I came back. Flash forward today, I'm treating all sorts of criminals."

"But haven't they ever figured out you might be the one treating the guy who hurts them in the first place?"

"They did, but what could they do? I'm the only one trained to properly treat their wounds. Plus, I never treat Romeo at the dispensary. I bring him here... at my house."

They heard a loud thump on the floor, which got them scared for a moment as they thought they were alone. But the noise came from Mercy's room, where Romeo was asleep. They got up and rushed to see what had caused the sound and found Romeo on the floor, struggling to stand up.

"I'm fine," Romeo said, groaning as the two helped him to his feet. He took a moment to catch his breath. "Nipp?" Shock consumed his tone as he watched the boy smile at him. He patted his face. "You've seen my face?"