A Touch of Blue - 12. It's Totally a Date

Zafiro

“Wait, I have another question!” Tin Can says as I try to go up the stairs once again.

If this happened before the mess that has been happening recently, I would have left long ago. The fact that I am scared to be alone in the safe house is pretty much the only reason I keep myself from running out of this house already.

“Yes?” I say with a smile.

“Where are you staying exactly?” He says. “You are over here this late at night, that much mean you are not staying at your home.”

“What makes you think I would tell you?” I laugh.

He shrugs. “If we are working together now, I would think that we would try and be on the same page.”

Raising an eyebrow, I tilt my head and just inspect his face. I am trying to see if this is some kind of trap. Obviously I won’t be telling him where the safe house is, but if this means he will continue to help me then so be it.

“Nowhere,” I say. “I am pretty much staying wherever is empty and safe.”

That is not exactly a lie. If I had to stay in one of the other random safe houses, I would. The only reason I have been using the one under the casino is because it is pretty much the closest one I have been to for the past two days.

Tin Can frowns. “Nowhere? That does not seem very safe. Someone could find you while you are sleeping.”

I try not to let my face react to that. That is literally my biggest fear at the moment. Well, that and possibly being shot right now.

I just shrug in response. “It has been working so far.”

I take it that this is my time to go, so I start to move up the stairs again.

“Wait,” Tin Can says. “Have...have you gotten anything to eat tonight? It is pretty late.”

Looking at him in confusion, I shake my head. Is he going to ask what I think he is going to ask?

“Why don’t you stay here for a bit, then?” He asks. “I will order us some food and then you can go and run off to wherever you have been staying.”

I narrow my eyes at him. He did. Which is strange.

“How do I know if you are just trying to trick me?” I ask. “You could have called someone to check your house this whole time.”

TIn Can points out his phone on the coffee table.

“Oh,” I say. “I guess you didn’t.”

Now I feel really weird.

The one who has been chasing me since I was fifteen years old has all of sudden had a change of heart and wants to buy me food? This is all kinds of sketchy. However, I have not had food in forever.

I tell myself I will dip out as soon as I grab enough food for myself.

“You should know,” I say as I walk past him to sit back in the living room. I cross my legs as I slip into the armchair. “This is pretty much our first date.”

He snorts and looks at me as if I am insane. “What? Absolutely not. I am just getting you some food to keep you alive.”

“Aww!” I grin. “You do care about me!”

He rolls his eyes. “It is just to keep you alive. Nothing more.”

I smirk and bounce my leg. “Uh huh. You know, taking people to restaurants for a date could also be seen as the same thing. We are just buying the other food to keep each other alive. It seems rather romantic don’t you think?”

“Well there is not a single ounce of romantic feeling with this ‘survival food’ then,” He says while picking up his phone.

I tense up a bit as he picks up his phone. I watch his fingers to see if he takes too long to order something.

“Just what are you bringing me? I hope it is expensive,” I paste a grin.

He shakes his head and quickly brings the phone to his ear.

He typed in the number fast so I guess everything is fine. He ends up ordering pizza.

Raising an eyebrow, I stare at him as he orders. He gives me a weird look and turns his back to me.

Once he finishes the call he looks at me again.

“Pizza,” I say with a smile.

“Yeah?” He says slowly. “Is something wrong with that?”

“No, not at all. I just assumed you would only eat things that were probably touched by a million dollars.”

Tin Can laughs. “Why would I do that?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. I thought that all people that lived here ate like that. It is kind of nice to see you are not entirely like them.”

“Not entirely?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Yup,” I say. “You are giving me food which is a far stretch from anyone else here.”

He frowns at that.

Yeah the Rich Side wants absolutely nothing to do with us. They never bother helping us repair the roads or the old buildings that are on the verge of collapsing. They throw their homeless at us as if they are trash, and they always seem to forget we are here.

When I was younger, a old android named Annie would be with me under the bridge. We would just watch the people on the Rich Side walk on as if we did not exist. Annie said that they are in their own little worlds and only care for themselves. I saw no reason to disagree and say that she was wrong.

Of course, she was a bit insane because half of her ‘brain’ was gone since she was abused and thrown into the Poor Side, but I still like to think she was right.

She had died a few years later. Since she was not repairing herself, she eventually just shut down.

I guess I could say she was my only childhood friend.

She may be the one that made me understand that Androids have more life than others think.

“Oh!” I stand up quickly. “You should meet our new friend!”

He narrows his eyes. “That would mean?”

“The man in your garage,” I smile and start walking to the side door in the kitchen. It leads into the garage.

“Why did you have to put him in there?” Tin Can sighs behind me.

I chuckle and hold the door open for him.

“Would you rather run all the way into the Poor Side or have him in your hands immediately?” I say with a grin.

He gives me the side eye as he walks past me.

As soon as he sees a man tied up to a chair with a hood covering his head, his eyes widen. There is some dried up blood that had run down the side of his face.

I may have hit him a bit too hard with the metal baton. I kind of have a tendency to underestimate my strength.

“Zafiro, what the fuck!” He turns to me. “You never said you almost beat his head in!”

I roll my eyes. “It was either him or me. Besides, he is not going to be hurting anyone anytime soon.”

Walking behind the passed out thug, I set my elbows on his shoulders and smile up at Tin Can.

“Do you think this will be enough to let U.U.P.P. help me?” I ask.

He purses his lips. “Honestly, I think it will, but we will not get anything if this guy tries to keep his mouth shut.”

Inwardly, I sigh.

Ok, obviously I can’t be mad at Tin Can for how stupid U.U.P.P. is, but I really wish they would just open their eyes.

There are gang members out there who are selling their shit right in the open on the sidewalks of the Rich Side.

If U.U.P.P. could get their head out of their ass, then maybe something can be done about Cody and Arturo.

“My friend Avery should hopefully be able to get something out of him,” Tin Can says.

Hearing that makes me feel a lot better. It feels like the tightening in my chest has loosened.

I nod and push myself off the guy held hostage.

“How do you know this Avery will be able to help?” I ask. “Are they like you?”

Tin Can raises an eyebrow. “And that would mean?”

I smirk. “I think you know. You care unlike the others stationed in this city.”

If I am not mistaken, I think he is starting to blush again.

Wow! Twice in one day? Who knew the metal head was actually a blushing nerd. Actually, he is buying me dinner so there is the possibility that I am dreaming and going insane.

This is all way too weird and random. I am still keeping tabs on where I need to run incase I need to make a quick getaway.

“I-I uh...Yeah she cares,” He scratches the back of his head. “You might remember her. She was usually in the helicopter when there were about eight of us chasing you down.”

I shrug. “I can’t say that I do. I did not exactly try to get close and personal to see what you all looked like. This is the second time I have seen your actual face and by the way, I must say, it is looking real nice.”

He looks at me in surprise and blushes again. For a moment, he does not seem to know how to respond to that. He instead skips over that and talks about something else.

“Do you mind telling me why you decided to become one of the biggest thieves in Sector 4?” He asks.

I laugh. “Are you trying to interrogate me, Mr. Officer?”

He shrugs. “Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I just want to try and figure you out.”

Raising an eyebrow, I smile. “It might not be smart to dig into that.”

Frowning, he crosses his arms. “And why not? Was it bad? I would guess it has something to deal with your mother.”

Trying my hardest not to crack, I keep smiling.

“Something along those lines,” I say. “What about you? Why did you decide to become an Officer for U.U.P.P.?”

“Simple,” He says. “My parents said it would be the most honorable thing to do and so I did it.”

I nod slowly and narrow my eyes.

It could not possibly be that simple. Following the wishes of your parents so easily? There must have been something else. Something better and flashier that he wanted.

I would know. I gave my Mama little heart attacks all the time.

“Did you ever want to do anything else?” I ask.

This brings out something a little unexpected. However, this behavior was much more anticipated when I was on my way.

“Of course not,” His says in a harsh tone. “There is nothing else that I wanted to do. I did what was expected of me and I was fine with it.”

Honestly I expected him to sound more of an asshole like now. Instead I find myself on a weird ass date that feels strange. The attitude he is bringing out now is more to my liking.

“Really?” I smirk. “Nothing else at all? Never a small thing you wanted to do when you were younger?”

He opens his mouth to say something but then he has to think his answer over again.

“Yes,” he says. “Yes, nothing at all. It was my dream to be in U.U.P.P.”

Tilting my head, I step a bit closer. “Are you sure? Most kids want to become things that are not so...plain.”

He does not respond. He just stares down at me in a hard silence.

“Want to know something about me?” I ask.

His expression becomes a bit more softer at that.

“When I was younger, I wanted to be a ballerina,” I say.

Tin Can snorts and bites his lip.

I roll my eyes and smile. “Hey don’t diss it till you try it. It takes a lot of work.”

“I know that, but how do you go from a ballerina to a painting thief?” He asks with a chuckle.

Shrugging, I stare at his chest in front of me as I speak.

“Honestly, I don’t really know. It just kind of happened,” I say. “I like to think it runs in the family?”

Tin Can hums in response. “A bit of a wild family trait if you ask me. What ever happened to Sophie by the way?”

Honestly I was a bit surprised by the question.

“Oh she is fine,” I smile. “She ran off to another sector. Something about planning the biggest heist the earth has ever seen. Every now and then she sends me a letter.”

He must see something in my face or body language because I can tell he does not believe me.

I do not like speaking about my mother and where she could possibly be. All I know is that all traces of her disappeared. Piggie tried to find her files in the U.U.P.P. private documents and they had clearly been tampered with.

Nobody in the Poor Side seems to know where she is and I believe some are being paid to say that.

It just brings bad thoughts. Mostly about how she most likely just abandoned me. Why wouldn’t she?

She was being held down because of me. She could not go out and live the life of thrills she would love to tell me at night.

My guess is that she is either in another Sector or she is on another planet entirely.

There is the possibility she just died somewhere.

Thanks to our small family, if something were to happen to us, nobody would really know.

Thinking of that just brings some existential problems and I really do not have time for that.

The doorbell rings and I look over at Tin Can.

“Looks like the pizza is here,” He says with a smile.

He walks past me and towards the front entrance. I move to the stairway, ready to run if I have to.

Tin Can and another man speak and then the door closes.

Tin Can walks in alone with two boxes of pizza in his hands.

“Huh,” I say. “I guess this really is a date.”

He sighs and gives me a look that says I need to stop.

“You are seven years younger than me, that would just be weird,” He says as he drops the boxes onto the coffee table.

“You are twenty seven?” I ask. “Interesting. Also, you are not at all that much older than me. Don’t be ridiculous.”

He rolls his eyes and goes to grab two plates.

“How are you holding up with all of this?” He asks. “I’d guess being chased down by a gang can be rather scary. I imagine you have been face to face with more of those killing machines.”

The robot is still behind the couch. They look so creepy.

“Yeah I have seen them before,” I say. “They have never chased me down or anything so this will be a first I think.”

He nods and we both grab a slice of pizza.

“Anything I should know?” He asks. “Anything that has changed over there that I should be worried about.”

I stare at my pizza for a moment, thinking of an answer. I might as well tell him about Cody, right?

“I, uh, you were not exactly my first hope for help,” I say. “I went to the other gang leader of the city. His name is Cody.”

Tin Can watches me as I speak.

“He is the one who brought me into this mess, so I told him he needs to help me and my family. It would have been the least he could do.”

“And he said no?” Tin Can asks.

I slowly nod. “Something like that. He pretty much wanted to sleep with me. When I said no, he tried to force himself.” Tin Can’s face hardens at that. “In a way to defend myself, I grabbed a wine bottle and knocked it against his head. Then I just walked out of there.”

Tin Can frowns before speaking. “Sorry you had to go through that.”

I shrug. “I then found Arturo’s men hanging around my friend’s place and so I killed them except for one. He is in your garage right now.”

Tin Can nods and sets his plate down.

“You must be pretty scared,” He says.

I laugh.

“Of course I’m not,” I say. “I am perfectly fine. I just need a little bit of help.”

He gives me a look that says he does not believe me.

“Ok fine,” I say with a sigh. “Yes, I am terrified. I am not used to having to worry about friends and family being held at gunpoint because of me.”

Tin Can’s face softens. “Again, I am sorry about all you are going through, but I will try to help in the best way that I can.”

I just nod and bite my lip.

Is it weird that I trust him? Well, not entirely. I am still sitting on the edge of my seat incase he tries to do something, but I can honestly say I feel safer here than at the safe house. Even if he probably wants to call one of his former partners and let them know I am here.

Just then, my phone begins to vibrate in my pocket.

After wrestling it out of the tight suit, I open it to find that Piggie is calling me.

I answer the call immediately and stand up.

“What’s wrong?” I start to panic. “Are you both alright? Do you need me to come back?”

Tin Can stands as well and awkwardly moves next to me, unsure on what to do.

“No, no we are fine,” Piggie says. “I take it since you don’t sound like you know, you should check the main monitor and put on the news.”

I frown and turn to Tin Can.

“Can you put the news on, please?” I ask.

He grabs the remote and turns on his monitor.

“Wait are you with someone?” Piggie asks.

“Um, maybe,” I say.

“Zafiro!” Piggie groans. “Who the hell are you with? Is it that damn Officer again?”

My eyes widen when the news come up on the screen. It is being shot with a helicopter.

The main train that circles around the city has fallen over into the Poor Side. It has fallen on tons of homes and there are a bunch of people running around searching through the rubble.

They show a few families covered in dust who are crying and holding onto each other tightly.

There are a bunch of bodies covered with blankets that are lined up on a cleared up road.

Not a single U.U.P.P. Officer is there. Not even an Ambulance. Literally nothing.

“Jesus,” Tin Can whispers next to me.

“What happened, Piggie?” I ask.

“We don’t know,” He says. “I think it might have something to do with Cody.”

I frown at that.

“I’m on my way,” I say before ending the call.

Turning to Tin Can, I start to back away towards the stairs.

“Sorry for having to leave this little date,” I say, “but I really need to get home.”

He nods. “Yeah...Yeah, you do that. Be careful out there.”

I smile and nod before running up the stairs to leave through his gym area.