CODE X 777

C O D E 1 9 H U R T

It had been a week since Jimmy's father's death. The company was proclaimed by his cousin as they believed that there was no heir anymore. Jimmy Valentine was dead months ago. Jimmy heard that his father used to remain sick after his son's death.

It felt nostalgic to see his mother again at the funeral. He stood at the railings on the terrace and looked at the Manhatten bridge shining like there was no tomorrow. He had dark bags under his eyes. He hadn't been able to sleep because of all the nightmares and memories that muddled up within him. Meanwhile, MiK and Norman did most of the X-DROID killings whenever the sirens went off.

As Jimmy stood there, he heard footsteps behind him. It was Lupin. He stood beside Jimmy with a writing pad. It was very quiet since it was early in the morning, at about five. The sun wasn't up yet and neither were the people. It was slightly foggy and the buildings far ahead seemed blurry.

Lupin wrote something on his writing pad. All Jimmy could hear was the voice of the pen rampaging through the paper. He looked at it.

"How are you now?" It read.

"I'm barely alive," Jimmy replied.

Lupin was writing something when Jimmy took the pen from him and stared at it "When I was young, I was a crybaby. It was like—I wanted everything—Doesn't matter if I need it; if I see it then I want it. Mom didn't like spoiling me but dad would always get me whatever I asked him to. Now, that I think about it, what did I give him in return? Pain. The pain of never being responsible, never studying as much as he invested in my education, the pain of my fake death. And now he lives in my nightmares, where I see that he is finding me in heaven but then I become sad wondering that maybe he'll do it for as long as I don't die."

Lupin stared at him. Jimmy chuckled with his sad eyes fixed at the pen.

"How painful it is... to love something that can be taken away from you any moment and you can do nothing but watch yourself lose a person before you."

Lupin kept his notepad aside and took out a packet of baked pretzels.

Jimmy took a bite and then turned towards Lupin "Say Lupin, can I have some of what you take?"

Lupin looked at him.

"You have some coke with you, right? How does it feel when you're high?"

Lupin wrote, "Are you stupid or stupid?"

Jimmy laughed, "It's so funny that I'm crying over one person's death—While about hundreds of people died by now due to the same cause. Why are humans like this? Selfish bastards. And does taking drugs make any difference to these feelings?"

Lupin wrote something on a paper

"It makes you numb so that you can run away from the pain you are meant to. And only cowards run away from pain. I am coward, do you wanna be one too?"

"I guess being a coward hurts less than being proven again and again that you are just not good enough, and you will be,"

"But Jimmy, weren't we supposed to be heroes?"

"How do expect me to save others when I can't save myself? I just can't keep my s**t together anymore, it hurts, man. It hurts a lot!" Jimmy snorted and rubbed his eyes.

Lupin wrote something else and passed the notebook to Jimmy.

"Life is eternal

Death is nothing but a change in conditions. Your surrounding conditions have changed so you'll have to change too."

Jimmy hugged Lupin and Lupin patted his back. Everything was quiet and slowly the orange sun peeped out of the buildings. 

Lupin walked down the stairs as the sunrise struck Jimmy's hair. It was morning already.

"I trust you" Lupin left a piece of paper with Jimmy. Jimmy folded the paper and kept it inside his pocket. He went down and entered MiK's room. He was sitting on a sofa with a book in his hand. He looked at Jimmy.

"Why are you here?" He asked.

"I want to fight you!"

"You've finally gone crazy."

And MiK was right. Jimmy was finally taking things seriously. He trained meticulously every day and in his free time, he would play video games. He fought with MiK every day, but never once did he win. Everyone seemed happy that he was finally serious. Everyone but Slaine.

So, he decided to talk to Jimmy. He went to the central park where Jimmy trained every day. It was raining that afternoon but Jimmy was still busy training. He looked at Slaine and jumped down from the bars. He was drenched and flushed. Slaine stood under his black umbrella.

"Hi, Slaine." He smiled.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Over exerting yourself."

"It's because I want it to be worth it." 

Slaine looked at him "I told you before and I'll say it again, for this world I'm dead. So I must live for the future—Even if it doesn't have me in it. I want to make my death worth this pain I'm going through."

Slaine didn't know what to say. Even if it does not have him in it—He said. So, he wasn't expecting anything in return?

"You just came here to talk about this?" Jimmy asked as he removed his shirt and scrunched it.

"No," Slaine said, "I wanted to apologise."

"Apologise?"

"I'm sorry for hurting you. I was an a*s and couldn't stand up for myself so I pushed the guilt on you...Jimmy"

"Well, at least you acknowledge me by name and not a blonde." Jimmy laughed. Slaine looked at the flowing water.

"Man, it's fine." Jimmy pressed his wet hand on Slaine's shoulder and then he looked at him. Jimmy was smiling "I forgive you—You must have your reasons which you don't wish to share."

"Actually," Slaine dropped the umbrella "I do want to tell you."

Jimmy raised his thick, blonde eyebrows. Suddenly, they heard sirens from their headsets.

"I totally forgot about these." Slaine pressed his ears.

"These are waterproof!"

"You're the kind of guy who'd search for cup holders in a Ferrari."

"Guys," It was Asselyum "There is an X-DROID in the city."

"Which type?" Jimmy asked.

"It's a C2."

"A 5th oblivion..." Slaine said and Jimmy ran off "Is it Emmett?!" He asked, aggressively. Slaine followed him. It was still raining like cats and dogs and the raindrops were striking him like bullets as he ran. They reached the 5th Avenue street but Slaine got tired and stopped while Jimmy disappeared in the fog.

"No, it is the 3rd oblivion, Allianz." 

"Where is it right now?" Jimmy asked as he ran.

"5th Avenue street. I'm reaching there right now."

"We just passed from there!" Jimmy stopped and turned back "Slaine let's go—" There was no one behind him "Slaine?"

"What happened?" Asselyum asked.

"Slaine disappeared."

"Where are you now?"

"I'm at the Met Breuer." Asseylum landed near him within the next few seconds.

"Go back to the bar."

"But Slaine—"

"I'll go get him."

"I'm coming with you."

"You're not."

Asselyum ran in the rain scanning for Slaine and Jimmy ran after her.

Slaine stood under a shelter at the nearby house with his board on his hands "My bearings—Dammit!"

Soon, a girl came from nowhere and stood under the shed. He shot a glance at her from the corner of his eyes. She seemed to be gothic by her black hair and demeanour. She wore a black shirt tucked into a black mini skirt and long black boots. She was as pale as bread and had black lips—Perhaps a lipstick which didn't seem to be affected by the rain. In fact, she wasn't even drenched! They looked at the rain for a while.

"Do you like the rain?" She asked him.

"Pardon?" At first, he didn't think she was talking to him "Oh Nah—I hate it. It's gross."

"I like it. It makes me do this after all," She moved her hand and the rainwater surrounded both of them forming a curved wall. He felt as if he was at the eye of a cyclone. He looked at her "You're an X-DROID?"

She smiled.

"I might hate rain even more after this."

Asselyum was running fast on the wet street "Slaine!" She pressed her ear "Where are you? Can you hear me?" 

There was no response from Slaine's end. Soon, she stopped and looked at something.

"Guys, Axel here. You should come back. Allianz's signals suddenly disappeared. She's not there anymore."

"You heard him," Jimmy said but Asselyum ran towards a shed and sat on her haunches. It was Slaine's skateboard. She picked it up.

"That's Slaine's property," Jimmy said.

Asselyum looked at it "They took him."

"What?"

"She was here only for him—They took him, Jimmy!" She shouted as little blue sparks appeared from her right ear.

"Asselyum, calm down. Something is happening to you—"

"I won't let him die!" She pressed her ear as the sparks grew in intensity.

"Axel!" Jimmy shouted.

"Come back, guys," Axel commanded.

"But I haven't found Slaine yet," Asselyum said.

"How are you so sure that they have him? Maybe he's hiding somewhere." Axel reassured her but it was on vain.

"He's not!"

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because... Jo-Anne disappeared just like this... And I never saw her again. They r***d her and then ate her."

The sparks grew more and more.

"Was she your—"

"My controller."

She moved away "I'm so weak it hurts. It isn't supposed to."

"No, I guess... it is supposed to hurt."

-To be continued