The patrol trudged its way back to the office with full stomachs. With her shoes finally giving out, and potentially overeating to the point of being sick, Mercy needed some assistance walking back. Each patrol member took a turn helping her walk or carrying her on their back. When the group finally arrived at the office, everyone, except Henry, dropped off their equipment at the armory before heading for the showers. Henry headed for Gerald’s office, where Reggie knew he was going to have the difficult task of explaining Mercy’s mental illness and her behavior today in a way that she wouldn’t be let go. As they moved through the office, Reggie swiftly deduced that word of their exploits had made it back to the office already since their coworkers seemed to be talking about them in hushed tones. Before hopping in the shower, Mercy headed for the bathroom, where Reggie and Aimee could hear her begin vomiting.

Really hope she digested some of that…

Aimee and Reggie exchanged a guilty glance before entering the showers. Although Reggie’s eye wasn’t terribly painful, the cool shower water relieved some pressure caused by the swelling. Using the full-body dryer, she quickly toweled off and got dressed. She could tell Mercy was still in the bathroom, but could no longer hear her evacuating her bowels. Grabbing a cup of water from the office cooler, she slid it under the stall door so Mercy could rinse out her mouth. Getting a vague acknowledgment from the exhausted feloid, Reggie left the locker room and waited outside Gerald’s door for Henry to finish their conversation. She chatted with other coworkers that approached. Some of them directly probed about the legion and the new recruit. A few of them somehow caught wind of their standoff with the blockbuster. As Reggie chatted, the rest of the patrol joined in as they left the lockers, but Mercy didn’t appear.

“Was Mercy still in there?” Reggie turned to Aimee.

“Think so, or, I think she was taking a shower.”

HENNY: Hey, Gerald would like to talk with you.

Reggie reached over and knocked on the door.

HENNY: Oh. Have you been listening in?

ME: naw, just waitin for my turn.

After a few moments, the door opened and Henry stepped out, holding it open for her. Reggie motioned for him to lean over so she could whisper in his ear. He complied, grunting a bit as he crouched down.

“Can you see if you can find a pair of work boots for Mercy? Size 4 or 5 DG.” Henry had a vacant stare.

“Why didn’t you grab them yourself?” Reggie playfully grabbed his left cheek.

“I needed to get approval from Gerry first.” 

“Were you talking with him while I was?”

“Nope. I’m about to get approval now.” Henry looked like he was ready to be done with the day. As Reggie walked through the door, she turned back to the patrol. “Before you guys head out, wait for Mercy and tell her to hang out here for me and Henry, k?” Aimee and Luke gave an exaggerated salute. With a loud click, the door closed behind Reggie and she headed for the closest chair to Gerald’s desk. He also looked ready to be done with the day.

“WHAT. WAS. THAT. A. BOUT. GET. TING. A. PROV. AL?” As Reggie took a seat, she instinctively lifted her right foot to rest it on the chair cushion, but a glare from Gerald reminded her of some previous chastising.

“We need a pair of work shoes for Mercy. Her shoes literally fell apart on the way back.” She lowered her leg so they both dangled over the edge of the seat. Gerald waited a few moments before speaking.

“SO. IS. THAT. AN. EN. DORSE. MENT?” Reggie had worried that Henry wouldn’t be able to fully convince Gerry.

“I mean, I think she did a damn good job, even with all her… stuff going on.” Gerald stared at her for a few moments before looking down at the tablet in front of him. The tapping of his mechanical finger bounced off the walls. “You’re not sold?”

“SHE. IS. AL. REA. DY. A. LI. ABIL. ITY.” He lifted the tablet. “I. HATE. HAV. ING. A. NY. HEAT. ON. US, E. SPE. CIAL. LY. SYN. DI. CATE. HEAT.”

“It’s not her fault that enforcers started threatening Sasha!” It occurred to Reggie that she still didn’t know what the deal with that was. It gave her a bad gut feeling since Sasha had been very mum about it. Either that or something had been up with the curry. “She had an episode and shot them, but she didn’t kill them, and they didn’t make any more moves or press charges. I’d take that as they knew they fucked up and didn’t want heat from their own superiors.”

“WE. CAN’T. AS. SUME. WITH. THEM. HEN. RY. SAID. THEY. WERE. POL. ISH. THAT. MEANS. UL. TRA. TIES.”

“Then let’s ask Sasha what that was about! They talked to him! For all we know, Sasha is the one we need to worry about.” Gerald let out a long, crackling sigh.

“WE. HAVE. TO. WOR. RY. A. BOUT. BOTH. OF. THEM. BUT. HEN. RY. THINKS. SA. SHA. MIGHT. BE. A. BIT. BRAIN. FRIED. TO. TALK. FOR. NOW. SO. I. WILL. HOLD. OFF. ON. HIM. FOR. NOW.”

“So Mercy gets left to the wolves?! What a load of bull!” Gerald tossed his tablet on the desk.

“I. AM. NOT. RIS. KING. THE. LIVES. OF. THIS. OUT. FIT. FOR. HERS!”

“I’m not asking you to do that!” Reggie realized that she was putting enough force on the chair’s armrest that it was beginning to creak loudly. She took a deep breath and leaned back into the chair. 

“WHY. DO. YOU. CARE. SO. MUCH. A. BOUT. HER? YOU. JUST. MET. HER. SHE. HIT. YOU.” Reggie looked him square in the eyes.

“Even when there’s bad blood, strays look after each other.” They sat for a minute or two with only Gerald’s breathing filling the void in conversation. “Look, if you’re dead set on firing her, then just let her have some shoes before she goes, just so she has… something.” Gerald slowly exhaled.

“WHAT. ARE. YOU. HO. PING. WILL. HAP. PEN. IF. SHE. STAYS?”

“A second chance at a better life.” Reggie leaned closer and spoke softly. “I remember someone saying that’s what they tried to give people. That still true?” Gerald’s chair whirred as he turned to face the window. As Reggie looked between the slits of the blinds, she could see Mercy was sitting in a chair, vacantly staring at the floor. The joy of her meal seemingly robbed from her. All of her clothes were dirty and threadbare, some clearly a few sizes too big or small for her. The rest of the patrol seemed to have already headed out. Henry emerged from the quartermaster’s office holding a beat up cardboard box. “Could you decide before Henry gets to her?”

‘Cus it’d be nice not to crush her spirit.

Reggie saw Henry come to a halt, looking to the office window. He made a small gesture towards Gerald with the box, standing there awkwardly for a minute. With a nod, he turned around and headed right back to the quartermaster’s office. Reggie exhaled to accompany feeling deflated.

“WE’RE. NOT. A. CHAR. I. TY.” Gerald’s chair rotated so he could face her. “I. EX. PECT. HER. TO. TAKE. CARE. OF. HER. GEAR. OR. IT. COMES. OUT. OF. HER. OR. YOUR. CUT.” Reggie stared at him, blinking several times in disbelief. She watched as Henry reemerged, carrying a few boxes that were in better shape. “FIND. A. PAIR. FOR. HER. AND. TAKE. THE. REST. BACK. UN. DER. STOOD?” Gerald began messing with the tablets on his desk, refusing to look up at Reggie. Reggie wondered if it was so he didn’t have to see her shit-eating grin.

“Gerry, you big softly!” She knew if he was a standard humanoid, Gerald would be red as a tomato.

“RE. MEM. BER, YOU. BOTH. AS. KED. FOR. THIS. DON’T. COME. COM. PLAIN. ING. TO. ME. IF. THIS. GOES. BAD.” Reggie blew Gerald a kiss.

“Thanks Gerry!” He rolled his eyes.

“YOU. CAN. LEAVE. NOW.” Reggie bounced up and went for the door.

“I’ll bring you a drink some time.”

“AL. CO. HOL. DOES. N’T. A. GREE. WITH. ME.” 

“We just need to find something you can hook up to that IV.” Reggie scurried through the office door. “Night Gerry!” With a big grin, she closed the door and scampered over to where Mercy and Henry were. Mercy was staring at a box Henry had given her, but her expression seemed dower. “Hey, everything good? You still feeling sick?” Mercy didn’t say anything as she continued staring at the box. Mercy shot a glance at Henry, but he shrugged his shoulders.

“She froze up when I handed her the box.” He waved a hand in front of her face with no reaction. “Might be somewhere else right now.”

Pondering what to do, Reggie gently placed a hand on Mercy’s.

“Just take your time. We’ll wait right here, right Henry?” 

“Uh, I was actually…” Reggie shot him a look that cemented his fate. He sighed. “Yeah, sure. We’ll be right here.”