Back To Work

Four days finally pass, not much happened during my last days in the hospital.

Sometimes Edward would come by and visit to share what he has found. Defender and Specter came to check in on me every morning. Warmonger didn't visit. From what I heard, she was waiting to meet me once I've recovered.

A doctor opened the door, he carried bandages in his arms.

He acknowledged I would fight out there again. So he took his time to tighten each bandage around my wounds.

"I know you've hard this more than a thousand times, but you're very lucky. That old armor of yours took a beating. Not sure if Specter told you that already."

I knew the doctor was trying to make the room a little less quiet.

"They told me about my armor being sliced up, yeah. But never how." I felt the bandages get tighter around my neck.

He took a step back and examined me. "If you're curious, take a piece of paper and picture a lion's claws tearing through it. You're good to go. Just take care out there and don't do what you did again."

I thanked him for his services.

My return to the outside world wasn't very welcoming. The sky threatened with rain and the paved streets were empty.

That didn't matter to me, what did matter was who I'm going to visit first. "Edward? He's most likely scouting around. Specter? Maybe, I still need to get that dagger back from them. Defender wasn't inside the hospital, odd."

Warmonger's name popped into my head. She said she has ordered me better armor. That's exactly what I need, better armor.

If the world won't soften up because I'm weak, then I'll just have to get tougher to make it seem weak.

My walk to Warmonger's home was a very silent one. If no one is outside, then this must mean a rain storm was going to start soon, or that we've been threatened by someone else.

I knocked on Warmonger's door loudly and shouted a little joke between us. "Warmonger isn't scary!"

The door suddenly swung open, I looked up to see Warmonger but someone else opened the door.

"Wait, Defender? Why are you here?"

Defender and Warmonger in the same room is a recipe for disaster. I'm surprised Warmonger hasn't betrayed her yet and killed her, then blame it on a random Savage.

"Athena, Finchie's back!"

Inside, Warmonger walked into my view. She wasn't wearing any armor, just casual clothing.

"Finch, we can explain later. Come inside, I heard today's going to be cold enough to freeze you inside of your armor." Warmonger's voice sounded more motherly.

Like Defender's but a bit more angry.

I stepped inside. The warmth of the fireplace consumed me and I suddenly felt tired.

"Okay, who is going to explain first. Why are you two friends all of a sudden?" I'm sure they noticed the confusion in my voice.

Warmonger told me to sit down on the chair she had next to the fireplace.

"While you were... sleeping, I called Jenna over to discuss peace for a while. Death is a possibility everywhere you turn, if we're going to lose a friend I want to lose one with peace." Warmonger's tone of voice proved this wasn't a joke.

She wouldn't be so peaceful if this was a joke. The only humor she knows is hearing her enemies scream while she drags a hot rod across their skin.

"I thought you were all conflict?"

Warmonger crossed her arms. "Finch, we both know I'm the last one you want to be at conflict with. Stop assuming so much about me. Look at your history books, every tyrant has had their moments of peace. I'm no different."

"Allow me to stop this from escalating. Athena and I have been looking over you new armor, and we think it looks Finch enough."

"Huh? 'Finch enough?'"

Warmonger walked out of the room and into the next one. Then she came back with a black and green helmet in her hands.

It looked like an altered version of a normal battle helmet. Where the facial protection would be, it was empty. But at every corner of the helmet were the missing pieces.

"I'm a bit jealous of you, honestly. Look at this." Warmonger tried her best to keep her tone of voice.

She sat the helmet down on the table behind me and grabbed on the edges of the missing pieces. Then she pulled them together.

They met in the middle and acted like a normal helmet from there. The green X in the middle added a nice little bonus.

Something told me Warmonger ordered the armor and Defender painted it.

Over the next two hours, a rain storm raged on. But we didn't mind it. We were too busy fitting me into my new armor.

We came up to my neck and upper back, that's when Defender excitedly told me to stop putting on more armor and ran into the next room.

When she returned, a reinforced steel plate. Painted black and green, just like the rest of my armor.

"I feel like you're going to love this piece." The excitement in Defender's voice was there.

The plate clipped to the back of my neck and back. I felt more pressure around my wounds, but not cold metal. But soft cotton.

Defender jumped in front of me. "Hey, how does that feel on your cuts? Feel free to ram anyone through walls, AFTER you've recovered."

I never thought I would ever see Defender and Warmonger being peaceful with one another. They cracked jokes and laughed with each other, and me.

Even when Warmonger's jokes were a lot more cruel, Defender still laughed.

"Is that the sound of two women and a brand new bad ass in there?"

Someone shouted from the outside.

I walked to the door and opened it. Edward's armor was soaked.

He pounded his chest. "Yep, I knew Warmonger's taste in armor and Defender's taste in paint were good. Hey Warmonger, may I come in?"

"Will you be cleaning your mess?"

"No! Also thanks for inviting me inside. Listen, one of my scouts just found out where that last Savage is hiding. Hey Finch, one of them almost got you killed might as well clean them out." Edward giggled.

Warmonger heard Edward's suggestion.

"NO!" Warmonger's voice returned into her usual tyrannical voice. "Finch will not fight, especially alone."

I balled my hand into a fist. "They must be terrified. I bet I can handle them. Finch, tell your scouts to focus on this guy. We are not letting them get away with turning one of us against us."