Storm

Ah well, wear some armour next time. This police issue armourgel protects like a rubber coated concrete wall. I rubbed my back with one hand, felt the wetness. Panic briefly tried to edge in again, but trained responses took over. The wet between my fingers felt more like- Like gel. Armourgel. The shock had compressed the gel to bursting point! And I still lived? No trained response could stop the trembling in my hands now.

Jonny turned to me, and gave me a funny look. Almost disbelieving. I knew he has seen my back. I ignored him, moving forward over the suddenly very clean floor. All the rubbish were piled against the walls, and even the dust was lifted from cracks. My gun was still trained at the prone forms of the five thieves, and Jonny was covering with that almighty cannon of his, but we both know that it was only for show.

I lifted the stolen microstims from the wreckage of what was human only a minute ago. They looked fine, the ?stims that is, in the protective packaging. The thieves had actually slipped the ?stims into some sort of armoured pouch. They took no chances with their merchandise, but for themselves-

Wannabes.

* * *

That night in my apartment I lay on my bed, the comforting feel of the mattress lost to me. The ceiling had several small cracks in it, and I had tracked each one from its beginning to its end. I had also done various meaningless tasks before retiring tonight. My mind kept returning to one thing, and my hand was rubbing the small of my back almost of its one volition.

Maybe the gel absorbed all the shock- Bullshit. I had seen people who had been hit with something hard enough to puncture armourgel, and most of them were not recognizable as human anymore. Again, who am I fooling. No one survived that kind of shock. But I had, in some mysterious way. Almost like a comic book, or a VisualNet broadcast.

I smiled, silent in the darkness of my room. Comic book. I only had to wait before some scientist showed up, with dark knowledge of my origins, revealing all my powers to me.

Yeah right.

What I did have was a powerful thirst. I rolled of my bed, and made my way through the darkness of my apartment towards the fridge. The door opened, spilling light into the dark room, and I clenched my eyes against the sudden brightness. Abrupt pain flared across my face, and settled into two itching lines below my eyebrows. Then the feeling vanished, as sudden as it came. I cautiously opened my eyes, rubbing at them, but nothing felt different.

Weird, but maybe it was the light. I selected a beer from the fridge, knowing that people might think it strange, but I was really thirsty. For some reason I knew that I wanted a beer, or maybe some old-fashioned whisky. Must be the adrenaline cooling after todays fighting.