This chapter is due a re-write.
Deus Exquestria: 7
Chapter 7
Apartment 404 – Boston - United States of America
The rest of the night was stressful to say the least for both Wade and the girls. After convincing the man on the third floor that they had climbed down onto his balcony, so they could leave and after realising that the apartment was no longer suitable for sleeping in, they looked elsewhere to spend the night. Trying to convince a neighbour to accommodate them after the 'horrible racket' they inadvertently caused was easier said than done. In the end only the girls were able to sleep in any comfort while Wade slept on the kitchen table. Because of this Wade was more than irritable.
'You could have always harassed a different neighbour to sleep in an actual bed but no, you had to be the big man in front of the girls didn't you?'
"Like it matters to you... When did my physical health concern you anyway?" Wade grumbled.
'Because, when it slacks you get punched in the noggin' and I get bruises.'
"I can always get hit deliberately if that's what it takes for you to hush."
'You're cold.'
"Damn straight." Wade mumbled before sleep took him.
Twilight and Applejack had a better night. They slept on the sofa of number 416 and were woken up by Wade when he knocked on the door the following morning.
“Hello?” The owner of the apartment asked, an elderly lady who went by the name Beryl.
“Hi, it's Wade. I’m here to get the girls.”
“Howdy Wade!” Applejack yelled from inside. Wade waved to her.
“I’m sorry for asking and I don’t want to feel like I’m prying but, how do you know these girls? They’re very sweet ladies and I don’t want them being brought into any trouble because of you.”
“They’re new here.” Beryl raised an eyebrow.
“Surely there’s more to it than that. There are better places for people to be. They’re not… ‘Working Girls’ are they?”
“What!? No!” Wade’s eyes widened and his face turned red.
‘Phahahahahaha! If only I could see the look on your face.’
“Relax Wade, I’m only teasing you. My, you young ns’ sure are fun to talk to.” She chuckled.
‘Especially when they crap themselves.’
“It’s okay. I’ll admit though, you had me good.” He laughed.
“So they are-?”
“No. They’re friends.” Wade replied quickly.
“We’ll be out in a second!” Applejack said from the hallway.
Pier 43 – Boston – United States of America
Wade was sat at the edge of the pier with the girls. He looked at his watch.
“11:14. Seems we still have some time to kill.”
“Can I ask you something Wade? About the… arm.” Twilight asked.
“Sure.”
“Why did you even have it in the first place?”
“I did say this was a replacement didn’t I?”
“Yes, but before that. Why would you give up your arm willingly?”
“Because I didn’t…” Wade sighed, “I take it you want to know how I lost my real arm then huh?”
“If y’all don’t mind…” Applejack said.
‘Why not? We do have some time to kill.’
“Sure. Quite a long time ago, must have been 5-6 years ago at the time. I was a fresh recruit in the British army, being shipped off to the latest warzone in ‘The War on Terror’. I say war, the fighting was basically over. All that was left was keeping hold of the towns we’d secured from the enemy. I was assigned on checkpoints, checking vehicles for drugs, explosives, that sort of thing…”
Checkpoint Lima – Outskirts of Kabul – Afghanistan – 2015
“Man this heat is gonna kill me.”
“Suck it up Wade. It’s only your third week; you have just over five months of this left.” The man next to him chuckled. He had a stocky build, black hair and a small scar just above his right eyebrow where a bullet grazed him, kept his helmet on ever since.
“Whereas you’ve only got a couple of months left eh?”
“Darn right I have… Car’s coming; you check it while I question the driver.”
“Got it sir.”
“I keep telling you, only call me ‘sir’ in front of the other men.”
“Sorry Jackson.” Jackson flagged down the car and began questioning the driver of their business as Wade opened the boot. Inside were some plastic bags.
‘Milk, cheese, some meat and whoa.’ Wade thought as he found a packet of condoms. “Clear.” He closed the boot and crawled under the car for any explosives attached underneath.
“Anything?” Jackson asked.
“Nope!” Wade yelled form under the car, “kinda smells down here!” Wade got out from under the car and the driver was told they were free to go.
“’Kinda smells down here.’ of course it does, it’s a fucking car. What were you expecting it to smell of, lavender?”
“Yeah actually.” Wade smiled. Jackson rolled his eyes.
“I’m gonna be glad when I’m off this shift and have a nice glass of water in my hands.” He muttered.
Another hour passed, only two other cars had come in that time, both was searched and cleared for travel. One had a considerable amount of cocaine in the trunk.
“We have a car at checkpoint Lima with a block of cocaine in the back; send in a car for pick up and arrest over.” A few minutes later another car turned up at the checkpoint.
“Wade. Can you stop the car while I get this guy detained? I’ll be out in a moment.”
“Yes sir.”
“Jackson, damn it.”
“Sorry.” Wade flagged the car down and made a gesture to roll down the window. The afghan man complied.
“Sorry about this but we need to check your vehicle.” Wade was responded by a lot of angry Arabic.
“Jackson. Need you for this one. I don’t know Arabic.” Jackson stepped outside as a Humvee rolled into the checkpoint. Two American soldiers climbed out.
“Bloody perfect timing.” Jackson muttered. “The guy’s in there.” He said, pointing inside the concrete booth.
“Thanks.” One of the Americans said as they went inside. Jackson began to calm the man in the car down while Wade looked inside the car through the dusty windows. On the back seat was something in a plastic bag, metal with wires sticking out of it.
“Shit, IED!” Wade yelled. Jackson dived into the concrete booth and the car exploded.
Everything went black.
Pier 43 – Boston – United States of America – Present Day
“… I woke up in hospital sometime later and found out that I lost most of my arm and my sight was considerably damaged, I couldn’t tell I’d lost any of my eyesight since they had replaced them with these augmented ones.” Wade tapped the rim of his glasses. “The funding couldn’t afford for my arm to be replaced as easily though so I was told to leave once I was well enough since I was ‘unfit for duty’. A couple of weeks later of me being stuck in a bed I left. Then I moved to the states, scraped enough money for my arm and replaced my stump with something similar to this. That one gotten busted after a pretty big brawl with a guy twice my size. Although since I had paid my insurance fees I was able to get it replaced with this model. Much better I must say.”
“I’m… I’m sorry for asking.” Twilight said.
“Ah’m sorry too Wade. We didn’t expect y’ah to have gone through that, nopony; I mean nobody should be made go through that.”
“Hakkuna mattata, it seems to be easier for me to come to terms with it the more I tell the story anyway.”
“Hakkuna mawhata?” Twilight asked.
“Hakkuna mattata, it means ‘no worries’.”
‘For the rest of your days! You really need to stop making me watch these kiddie films with you… It’s having an adverse effect on me. Also its kinda sad a guy at your age is watching ‘The Lion King’, it’s probably the reason you haven’t been laid yet.’
“I resent that.” Wade muttered.
“Pardon?” Applejack said.
“What? Nothing.” Wade replied quickly. He looked at his watch again. 11:26.
“Your friend was okay? Jackson I mean.”
“He lived. Burn on his arm and maybe another scar to add to his collection but he was fine for active service. He lived out his tour and retired from the army when Belltower gave him a job opportu-.”
“Ah, Twilight!” A voice said from behind them. Wade turned to see the man he saw from the hospital, this time he was dressed in a dark buttoned jacket and jeans.
“You must be Me.”
“I am, although I’m afraid that pun has gotten very old over the years Mr Adams.” Joseph said as he shook hands with Wade.
“You said we’d be meeting at your place. I doubt you actually live on a pier.”
“Don’t be silly, I live under it.” He clicked a button from a device he pulled from his pocket. A low rumbling sound was heard. “Step back from the edge if you would please.” Joseph said. Applejack and Twilight stepped back shortly before a wide capsule broke the surface.
"That... is very cool." Wade said.
*Ding!*
“An elevator… you have to be kidding me.” He sighed, effectively taking it back.
Unknown Location – Boston – United States of America
“This had better be good news.”
“If only Boss.” The suit muttered.
“You’re 13, right?” Boss said. The suit nodded.
“Wade has once again taken out some of our boys.”
“Please tell me this is some sick joke.”
“It isn’t boss. Sorry.”
“You will be.” Boss growled.