//------------------------------// // Brawn Meets What's Left of Brain // Story: It Ain't Gold that Dazzles // by Gyro Steambass //------------------------------// ”...s.re she’ll be f.ne?” She heard a familiar voice. Low and rough. When she came to, everything still hurt. But her head hurt a little less. People were talking. She couldn’t really remember what had happened. Something about green and running. It hurt when she tried to focus. ”She’ll live. She j.st has to t.ke it easy for a l.ttle while,” a calm but bored and monotone voice said. A man. Her hearing was getting better. “Could you keep an eye on her while I make sure everything checks out with the police.” She heard the bored voice become distant. He had left. She heard a deep sigh. “Sure thing doc. Wasn’t planning on sleeping anyway.” It was the low and rough voice. He was next to her. Things were coming back. She had been chased, thrown on the ground. She had hit her head, hard. A big blob appeared and saved her. Was this him? She tried to open her eyes. The light hurt. She moaned in pain. She lifted her hand to her head. Bandages. “Hey, you awake?” He was talking to her now. She tried to open her eyes again, but it was still too bright. She moaned again. She squinted, barely making out a huge blob. There was some black, some beige and a lot of white. “Y-yeah.” Her voice was raspy and it hurt to talk. “What happened after-” She was cut of by her own coughs. Her throat couldn’t be drier. She sat up on her bed, her head spinning. “You hit your head hard, apparently.” He handed her something. She took it. It was a glass of water. She drank greedily. “You’re lucky I heard ya scream. Those two good for nothings almost got ya.” She opened her eyes and blinked a few times, her vision finally clearing up. She took a good look at her savior who was sitting next to her bed. She kinda wished she hadn’t. He was huge, absolutely huge. He was taller than the brother of that cowgirl and his shoulders almost twice as wide as his. His hands were almost as big as his head. He had pale gray skin and messy long black hair that was cut short in the front so it didn’t cover his eyes, but was kept long in the back, almost reaching his shoulders. His eyes were narrow and brown. He wore a beige t-shirt, loose grey pants and an apron that was once white but was now covered in weird brownish stains. His head was narrow. His face barely showed any emotion as he stared at her. A long story short, he looked like a serial killer. She didn’t know what to say. This man saved her? He looked scarier than those thugs combined, and capable of tearing her in half with his bare hands. “I-I... T-thanks for saving me?” She managed to say, stuttering nervously. At first he didn’t reply. He kept staring at her, like he was trying to figure something out. His stare suddenly lost it’s intensity, his face relaxing a bit. “What’s your name?” He suddenly asked. “A-adagio. Adagio Dazzle.” He was still scary, even if his face looked friendlier. He blinked once, still looking at her. “The name’s Blackjack. Now tell me,” he narrowed his eyes, his gaze becoming intense again. “What the heck is someone like you, doing in a place like this. Because ya sure as hell ain’t from around here, that’s for sure.” “To...” She took a deep breath. “I came here to improve my life. To show that I’m capable of doing something good. Looks like I only managed to almost die.” She looked down at the floor, tearing up a little bit. Neither of them said anything for a while. After a little bit of waiting the doctor came back. He was a really short man with sky blue skin and long yellow hair that covered his eyes but was done up in a ponytail in the back. He looked incredibly bored. “Looks like everything checks out. You’re free to go and so is she.” He even sounded bored with how monotone his voice was. “You’re lucky they’re gang members, otherwise you probably would’ve been in trouble as well.” He then tilted his head, as if he was thinking about something. “Although, judging by the gang they’re from, you might still get in trouble.” Blackjack tsked as he got up. He was even bigger standing upright, at least two meters. “Have a good night, doc.” He picked up some kind of sack, large enough to hold two of her and it looked completely filled up, and lifted it onto his shoulder like it was nothing. He left the room. “Sure.” The doctor just shrugged, the huge man’s size clearly not even fazing him in the slightest. The doctor then looked at her and said with an annoyed tone: “When I said you were free to go, I meant that ya had to go. This ain’t no hotel.” “R-right. I’ll leave.” She got up to leave, almost falling over from how quickly she got up, and left the room. When she left the building she quickly stopped in her tracks when she noticed that Blackjack was waiting for her, that same intense look in his eyes. “Where are ya gonna go now?” She was surprised by his question. After all, he didn’t seem all that interested in her, nor did he look like the type that cared about people like her. He also didn’t look like someone that would help others, but he did. Maybe he was going to help her again. “I-I... I don’t know.” She sighed. She felt like she had been sighing way too much lately. “I’ll probably go to another district and hope that someone will give me food, I guess.” He scoffed. “You wouldn’t last a day.” She winced at his bluntness. “This city doesn’t care about the poor or the homeless. Sure ya got some exceptions, but that’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.” He was looking at her again. No, studying her, looking for something. She looked at her feet, hugging herself, knowing that he was right. She was doomed. She would- “Lucky for you, ya found one.” Her head snapped up at those words. His tone had shifted slightly and he looked friendlier again. Not by much, but there was a difference. He walked up to her. “But I ain’t helpin’ ya for free. You’re gonna have to work for it, got it?” He raised his eyebrow, waiting for a response. Her response. “R-really?” She whispered, not believing what she was hearing. Was he really willing to help her? “Take it or leave.” He held out his huge hand, waiting for her to shake it. She thought about it for a little bit. What did she have to lose? If she went back to begging she’d definitely die. If she accepted his offer, he MIGHT be lying. He could be telling the truth. She’d have a better chance at staying alive. “I’ll do it.” She took his hand. He closed it around hers, completely engulfing it with his. He smiled, but only a little. They shook hands. “Good to hear.” He let go of her hand and turned to leave. As he walked away, he gestured for her to follow. “Come.” She jogged until she was caught up with him. He took huge steps. “S-so, why are you helping me?” “I ain’t planning on letting someone die if I can help it. ‘Sides, it’s fall. It won’t be long ‘till it’s winter. You don’t want ta be living on the street when that happens.” “Okay.” They walked in silence for a while. A million thoughts bouncing inside her head. But one stuck out the most: what was he expecting her to do. She turned to him. “What exactly am I going to have to do?” He grinned. “I’ll answer your question with a question. Can you handle blood?” “Blood? W-why?” She didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean?” “You’ll see.” He didn’t say anything else, but he kept his grin. She was scared. What was he going to make her do? Was she going to have to kill? Fight? Multiple horrible scenarios flashed before her eyes. They kept walking in silence, until they arrived at a building. It seemed to be some kind of store. There was a sign above the building’s storefront windows. Blackjack spoke up. “We’re here.” He fished a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. She looked up at the sign. She was both relieved and weirdly disappointed by what it said: Jack’s Butchery All Kinds of Meat Available, From Poultry to Beef, From Fish to Goat. “Oh.”