Chapter 54 - Why can't I kill you?!

It was an unknown amount of time later when Damian slowly opened his eyes again… only to be faced with the trembling barrel of a gun. With lazy amusement, Damian looked up at a frustrated Alita, glaring at him with undisguised annoyance. She now stood next to the bed and his chair, pointing her gun at him. 

The fact he was now awake to witness her obvious attempt to kill him didn't seem to faze either of them at all. 

"Why the hell can't I kill you?!" Alita growled furiously, her fingers trembling over the trigger. She wanted to pull it—no, she should be able to pull it—but something stopped her. Something she couldn't really identify. 

"Now, that would be rude, wouldn't it?" Damian mused, tilting his head as his eternal, lazy, yet charming smirk had already found its way to his lips. "Imagine if kids could just off their parents whenever they felt like it. Society would collapse." 

Of course, technically, the inability for scions to harm their progenitor was just a part of the bond, not anything innate, but he wasn't about to reveal that after his mother made him promise not to. 

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Alita snarled, her grip on the gun unwavering as she kept it trained on him. She'd heard some of these terms earlier in the alley, but she still had no idea what they meant. 

Unbothered by her question, Damian pointed at the weapon in his face curiously, "I guess you managed to repair it? I wasn't sure if there was any sentimental value attached, so I decided to take it with me." 

Alita's eyes narrowed. "You're a cocky shit, aren't you? Are you so sure I can't pull this trigger?!" 

"Yes," Damian nodded, his smirk unwavering. Despite the situation, he acted like he was in complete control of the situation, which was supremely annoying to Alita. 

Then, Damian tilted his head a little and looked into her clear, light blue eyes, now filled with frustration. "Anyway, no gratitude for the man who saved your life, huh?" 

"Please," Alita snorted dismissively. "I'm still not sure you weren't behind the whole thing!" Finally deciding there really wasn't any point, she snapped the safety back on with a sharp click and hurled the gun onto the bed. "I finally managed to repair it while you remained asleep, and it was definitely sabotaged!" 

Crossing her arms, she continued glaring at him. "Tell me again how you had nothing to do with it?!" 

Seemingly without a care in the world, Damian shrugged calmly, continuing to smirk lazily. "I had nothing to do with it." 

Alita rolled her eyes, "Ugh, I was being rhetorical," before glaring at him again. "Some Rustborn assholes manage to ambush me, knowing exactly when and where to strike, and on top of that," she shook her left arm, the lower part of which was covered by a kind of strap with a screen, "both my CyberStrap and gun were sabotaged!" 

Not done yet, she now pointed accusingly at Damian, "Then, just before they manage to kill me, you show up to magically save my ass or whatever, in return for some creepy deal about serving you?! And you tell me it's all just a coincidence?!" 

Once again, the lazy Damian shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't say coincidence, exactly. I'd been keeping an eye on you and a few others for a few days now, waiting for one of you to get into trouble so I could pull you out of it. You were simply the first to end up in such a situation." 

Somehow, Damian's attitude was extremely aggravating and calming at the same time. For some reason, she felt herself beginning to believe him, but she refused to show it. So, instead, she snorted again. "Hmpf, and who else have you been keeping an eye on, hmm?" 

Seeing no reason to keep this from her, Damian quickly rattled off a bunch of names from the high-ranking gang members he'd targeted. "These were the only ones I could discover, anyway. To be honest," he sighed with charming helplessness, "I wasn't even entirely sure all of them were high-ranking." 

"Hmpf," Alita sorted a third time. "There were a few names I didn't recognize, so I doubt they meant anything…" 

For a moment, silence fell. Alita narrowed her eyes and focused on Damian, who continued to sit in his chair with a calm, charismatic smile. His hands were entwined in front of his stomach, and his feet rested on the bed. 

Finally, Alita sat down, slow and deliberate, like she was choosing to let him have the floor—for now. She drummed her fingers against her knee, expression tight. "So, what now? What exactly did you do to me? Why do I feel so…" She waved a hand, scowling at the lack of a word strong enough for her current situation. 

"Powerful? Renewed? Reborn? Perhaps… awakened?" Damian helpfully suggested, smirking slightly. 

"Yes," Alita growled, annoyed at his seemingly calm control over the situation. "All that, but mostly… why do I feel strange when I look at you, and why couldn't I kill you just now…?" She felt a pull towards Damian that she found hard to describe and couldn't really quantify the consequences of. 

"Hehehe," Damian chuckled as he looked at her with twinkling eyes. "Right, I'm still going to have to punish you a little for that, but it can wait. For now, why don't you go clean yourself up, and I'll answer some of your questions afterwards?" 

As if suddenly remembering the state of her own body, Alita blinked and looked down at herself. Her clothes were torn and barely recognizable, but you couldn't really see her skin, as everything was covered in a layer of dried blood and filth. 

At the same time, she sniffed a little and immediately recoiled, suddenly aware of the grime clinging to her skin. The stench hit her like a punch—sweat, dried blood, and something metallic. Her nostrils were flaring. 

"Fuck!" she cursed, immediately shooting up from the bed and glaring at Damian again. "You just let me lie in this filth for however long I was out?!" 

His expression unchanging, Damian chuckled and shrugged. "Hehe, I'm sure you would have complained even harder if I'd actually undressed and cleaned you." 

A small blush appeared on Alita's cheeks, although whether it was simple anger, or if Damian had finally managed to embarrass her a little, was unclear. "W— Whatever… Just point me to the bathroom." 

Smiling, Damian waved his hand in the correct direction. "I also left some new clothes for you there. I figured you'd need them." 

"Hmpf, hmpf, as if I'd wear anything you give me," she grumbled, clearly just trying to be contrarian for the sake of it at this point. She knew putting these disgusting rags back on after cleaning herself would have made it pointless. 

Without delay, she disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Damian to chuckle a little. "What a firebrand," he muttered to himself with amusement. "I doubt my days on Earth will be boring with her by my side…"