Cyborg 009 Fan Fiction ❯ Of Moths and Flames ❯ Out of the Frying Pan . . . ( Chapter 2 )

-Of Moths and Flames-

Chapter 2: Out of the Frying Pan . . .

"Cathy? It's Jet. Are you all right?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she was reasonably sure that it wasn't a figment of her imagination. Her imagination wasn't nearly that good and she wasn't feeling light headed enough to hallucinate. (Of course, if I was hallucinating, how would I know?) Besides, if she was going to have a figment come to her rescue, it definitely wouldn't take the form of Jet Link.

"Jet. It's you?" It was a fact that she was finding hard to wrap her mind around. What the heck was he doing here? How did he find her? How did he even get up here?

"Don't worry. I'll get you out of here."

Worry? Why on Earth would she worry? She was just stuck in a burning building and was probably going to say her last words to a delinquent who probably wouldn't care less about them. Oh and her only son was going to be an orphan. Nothing to worry about at all.

The out-and-out bleakness of the thoughts shocked her. She wasn't very optimistic at the best of times, but this sort of pessimistic garbage wasn't the sort of thing she usually went for and she would've been very annoyed with herself for thinking that way if she didn't feel so tired already.

Suddenly there was a loud roar and Jet was on top of her, hissing in pain. (I hope the fool didn't hurt himself!). It seemed that he hadn't, because a few seconds later, he was on his feet and scooping her up into his arms. For a moment, he just stood there and Cathy groggily wondered what he was doing. At length, he sighed a little. "Ah man. There's no other way."

Something in his voice made her look up. There was a sort of quiet desperation in it that she didn't like the sound of at all. What kind of crazy stunt was he planing?

Vaguely, she felt the sensation that she was rising. Confused, she looked down. At first, she couldn't understand what she was looking at. When she finally did, all she could do was gasp. "No way."

"Hang on. This is going to be a rough ride."

And suddenly, she was on a roller coaster. She buried her face into his shirt and tried her damnedest to pretend that this wasn't happening. She wasn't being hurled through the air; Jet didn't have rockets attached to his feet and his arms weren't wrapped around her. (Heck, if I'm going to be in denial, let's go for everything!) She wasn't even in this hotel that wasn't burning down. Her life wasn't in danger and-

"Stay cool, Cathy. I've got to get us to the roof or we're done."

Jet's voice forced her out of her denial and she moved her head so she could see the flames coming from the rockets attached to his feet. This was incredible. If it wasn't for the fact that she'd just come out of a bout of denial, she might have been tempted to say that this wasn't happening. As it was, she decided that she'd just accept the fact that she'd been thrown into a cheap action movie and deal with the sheer insanity of it later.

Jet made a surprised sound in the back of his throat and the roller coaster stopped abruptly. The rockets were gone and he was standing on the floor again. "Can't go that way."

Cathy didn't bother turning so she could look at whatever Jet was talking about. She liked to think that she was pretty brave, but that didn't mean that she wanted to see the latest obstacle that stood between her and life; she didn't want to look death in the eye when it came for her and Jet.

In that instant, she wished that Jet hadn't come. She probably would have died sooner, but now . . . Now Jet was going to die too. It was bad enough she ruined Jimmy's life by coming here; she didn't want to be responsible for Jet too. Why didn't he just stay home? Why was he here at all? How did he even know where . . .

Maria. She must have told him what was happening when she picked up Jimmy. Was Jimmy here? She knew he wasn't in the building (No one would be stupid enough to bring a child into a burning building!), but was he down below? Did he know what was happening up here? Was he-?

Something caught her attention. A strange creaking, groaning sound. The door. She stared at it blankly for a second. It looked like it was straining, bulging. It looked like it was going to . . . She felt her eyes widen in horror as she realized what was going to happen.

(Oh God.) "Jet, look out!"

There was a loud boom as the door burst and for a few seconds, time lost all meaning. She was certain that she was dead; she couldn't have survived that. There was no way-

She felt something pressing her to the floor. "Huh?" (I'm alive?) What about-

"That was kind of a close call." Jet's voice was tight with pain, but he was obviously still alive.

As he rolled off her, Cathy felt her heart climb up into her throat (That idiot!). Feeling a strange combination of relief, fear and anger, she sat up quickly, ignoring the pounding in her head. She wasted no time in giving Jet a piece of her mind. "Jet, are you crazy?! You could've been killed!" She started looking him over, hoping that he wasn't too badly hurt. "You're lucky you're-"

(-still alive?) Cathy couldn't stop herself from gasping when she saw Jet's mangled knee. It wasn't the fact that it was mangled, - she'd lived in New York her whole life; it took a little more than some blood to take her breath away - it was the fact that underneath the torn skin and flesh was a large metal hinge where his knee cap should have been. The metal was surrounded by wires and sparking circuits and fluids that she couldn't even begin to guess what they were. This was insane. Absolutely insane. This couldn't possibly be real.

A thought wormed its way into her mind as she stared at the sparking gash. A strange, impossible thought . . . but was it any more impossible than what she was seeing with her own eyes? What other explanation was there? She knew from watching the news that medical science couldn't make prosthetics like that and, even if they could, someone like Jet wouldn't be able to afford them. And, even if he could, what kind of doctor would put rockets in?

Tearing her eyes away from his wound to look at his face, she tried to think of away to ask the question she was almost sure she knew the answer to. "The story you told Jimmy about the cyborgs . . . that was your story, wasn't it?"

When Jet didn't look at her, she was certain then that she'd been right. Of course, if she was right, well, she'd have to reevaluate her opinion of Jet- assuming Jet hadn't lied to Jimmy about what the cyborgs had done. Then again, even if the cyborg thing hadn't come up, she would have had to reevaluate anyway. The Jet that she thought she knew would not have come up here. He wouldn't have risked himself for her. He wouldn't have tried to protect her. The fact that he was here at all spoke volumes about the sort of person he really was-

Person? If Jimmy's stories were true, how much of a 'person' was Jet? Brief flashes of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster crossed her mind- except., this time, the animated corpse had robotic parts. Was that all Jet was? Or was he just a robot with some skin laid over it? Was he even alive? Was it-

(Stop that!) She was so angry that she could've slapped herself. How dare she? Jet Link was risking his life and she had the nerve to call him an 'it'? What the heck was wrong with her anyway?

She was tired, she could barely breathe and she had suddenly found herself smack dab in the middle of the Twilight Zone - or a cheesy comic book. Taking all those things into consideration, she decided not to be too hard on herself. She was a maid and a waitress; how well was she supposed to take this? Finding out that cyborgs were real was not something one could take in stride. Finding out Jet was a cyborg was a bit hard to swallow too. Maybe if she thought of him as more of a Steve Austin (1) . . .

In any case, Jet was still definitely a person, even if he wasn't completely human, and she was determined to remember it.

Abruptly, Jet broke the long silence that had come between them. When he spoke, his voice was soft and pained. "Leave me."

"What?!"

"You've gotta find away to get up to the roof. They'll be a rescue helicopter; it's your only chance to survive."

Cathy didn't miss the emphasis on the word 'you.' He was going to be stupid about this, wasn't he? Well, she wasn't about to let him get away with that heroic 'leave me' crap! But, considering how badly she'd misjudged Jet before, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt before she got angry. "How are we going to get you up there?"

As soon as she saw his small smile and heard his soft chuckle, she knew that Jet was going to be stupid after all. "I'll stay here. Haven't you seen the sparks coming frm my leg? You see, when you're a cyborg, that's not really a good sign."

He still wasn't looking at her as he raised his hand up in a 'it's-like-this' gesture. "Look, this is the end for me- it's over." Putting his hand down, he continued in a voice that would have won him an Oscar in a Hollywood death scene. "Now leave this tin can behind and get going."

As he spoke, Cathy had felt herself become angrier and angrier. She wasn't sure what angered her more: the nonchalance, the self pity, or the fact that he was just going to give up. The last two were deadly sins in Cathy's book and she wasn't about to let him get away with either of them.

With a growl, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and lifted his face closer to hers. The surprise on his face was deeply satisfying and she was glad that she finally had his full attention.

"Listen! Don't give me all that garbage. It's only a broken leg, so stop being such a cry baby!"

The offended shock on his face was encouraging. While her Catholic father used to have many a word (and none of them good) about pride, Cathy knew the power it had over people. She just hoped that she'd be able to wound Jet's pride enough that he'd be willing to listen to reason and stop being so stupid.

"Aren't you the same guy who told Jimmy that a cyborg never gives up, no matter what the odds? Is that true? Or should I just assume that you were lying to my son?"

No one liked to have their own words tossed back into their face or their integrity questioned and she expected Jet to give her some kind of angry retort. When it didn't immediately come, Cathy grew a little concerned. Jet wasn't looking at her now and it was impossible to see what he was thinking under all that hair.

Maybe she'd gone too far. She'd known before tonight that Jet, despite his other faults, seemed to genuinely care about what Jimmy thought about him. Hitting someone below the belt after they tried to help her was not something that she liked to do and she didn't like how it made her feel. . . .

But feelings weren't important right now. Getting out of here alive was. She was just about to try again when Jet chuckled.

"I've got a real soft spot in my heart for humans." Jet put his hand over the hand she still had clenched in his shirt. He was looking up and, while his voice still held that same nonchalance, his smile told her that she'd reached him after all. "What kind of Super Cyborg am I?"

Cathy smiled at his weak joke and let go of his shirt. She was about to suggest that they get moving when the hotel sun and the world blurred. It was only chance that her head landed on Jet's chest rather than hitting the floor when she tipped forward with a soft groan.

"Ca-Cathy?" While she was only faintly aware of the arm that he'd put around her, there was no mistaking the fear and confusion in Jet's voice. (Where did I get the idea that you didn't care about anything?) When Jet started talking again, the confusion was gone but the fear and concern remained. "You need more oxygen."

Although she felt too dizzy to actually look up at him, she smiled a little anyway. It touched her that he would be so concerned about her welfare. If (Not if, when) they got out of this, she and Jet would have to have a long talk. But if that was going to happen, they had to get moving. "I think I'm going to be all right, Jet. So why don't we get out of here?" She only hoped that her voice sounded strong enough to reassure Jet rather than make him worry.

The arm around her tightened a little and the fondness in Jet's voice was plain. "Wow, you really are one heck of a woman, you know that?" She didn't have to look up to know that he was smiling.

As Jet told her how he planned on getting them both to the roof, part of Cathy's mind was occupied by how glad she was that Jet had said 'woman.' After everything that they'd been through so far, she would have hated to have had to slap him because he'd called her a 'girl.'

(1) A reference to Steve Austin from the show the Six Million Dollar Man. In case you've never heard of it, Steve was a guy who was rebuilt using bionic parts.