Week 65: Space Surgery

The small clinic on the moon wasn't really bustling, but it was full of a casual, augmented crowd looking for new tweaks and fixes. There were some agents and lots of normal folks... And there was Hugo. For simple surgeries, this tattoo-parlor like clinic on the moon was serviceable, and they didn't seem to mind Hugo talking to his phone in a muttering Mandarin, using his free hand to browse the WDN.

Shinobu may or may not show up soon. Hugo didn't seem to mind either way. He was somewhere else thousands of miles away, breaking into a prison in space. His face was grim and his eyes were focused on his phone. The cyberneticist working at his side hummed to himself, ears full of music as he added augments to the muscles in Hugo's open arm.

If Hugo was somewhere miles away, Shinobu was... months away? Years away? Perhaps, hopefully, only weeks? Either way, her thoughts were on the future, on the era of the New God. It wasn't prayer, exactly, but certainly something of that ilk. That her friends would be around in the new age had always been part of her vision, and there was no way she could just accept they had been captured and move on.

Her hand drifted instinctively towards her sheathed blade, and that pulled thoughts Shinobu back to the present. Being on the moon was odd, Shinobu's first time in space, but this was just a stepping stone to the important part. At least she'd got the important cybernetics fitted, ready to go.

On the thought of people of important, she considered Hugo, and tapped her PDA to call him. "Hey, J. How's the surgery going?" she asked in an upbeat tone, trying to do just a little to keep his mood from getting too dark in light of Silvia's capture.

It took Hugo a moment to answer, his face filling the screen. He looked very grim, his face wrinkled in concentration. His expression lightened a little while he looked at Shinobu. He sighed, forehead slowly unwrinkling. "Hey hermana. I'm... busy. Getting upgraded before the mission. Might not be able to pick up a glass without it shattering, but I could rip that thing apart when we get to it." There was satisfaction and a little loss in his voice, but his ever move dripped with determination. He seemed a little vague intentionally; they were in public, after all. "What about you?"

"I'm all space-proofed and plated up. Won't be all rip-and-tear like you, but I won't be breaking myself either," Shinobu replied, tapping her torso for emphasis (which would have worked better if body plates made a sound, but the point was there).

As much as Shinobu wanted to try and cheer up Hugo, she had to raise a possibly prickly question for the mission's sake. "Have you... made up with yo- with Una?" she asked, a little hesitantly stepping into Crazy Nuke Territory. "We need our best gear on this op, and she's a pretty good gun."

"No, she's not a good gun.. She's the best gun." Hugo seemed less grim, though, even managing a small smile at his own compliment to his girlfriend. He shrugged a little in response to the question, though. "She's definitely going on the mission. She likes S..everyone, and wants to help. And.."

He shook his head, voice getting soft and almost tender. "And I think I know why she was mad at me. I think she was mad at me for being so mean.. to Silvia. Just didn't know any other way to get through to me." Shinobu could clearly see Hugo's distress as he said their housemate's name. He was obviously very concerned about her.

So Hugo was projecting more productive things onto his gun now - that was good news. Nevertheless, concern passed over Shinobu's face as the topic of conversation turned to Silvia. "That sounds pretty plausible to me. She wouldn't be the only one to turn to those means of getting a message across..." There was a pause as Shinobu collected her thoughts. "I won't tell you not to worry about Silvia, J. That wouldn't be healthy. But don't you dare ask yourself what could happen to her, what if this goes wrong, what if you can't help her... because there's no way she won't be home safe by the end of all this. We won't fail. We can't." It was obvious from the determination in her voice that everything she said had more certainty behind it than Hugo had ever heard from Shinobu, and when she said that they couldn't fail she clearly didn't just mean it figuratively.

Hugo didn't notice his housemate's fervent sincerity, or at least didn't seem to think it was any more unusual than normal. His only response was to nod solemnly and look away. As Shinobu watched his face, he realized that Hugo hadn't considered what would happen if they did not succeed. Not in any detail. Shinobu could see the grim look on his face growing, eyes looking down.

After a second, he looked back at the screen. His jaw tightened. "We cannot fail. We'll get them back. Get her back. Have her safe." His voice dropped, more muttering to himself than speaking to the phone. "I'd do anything to get her back."

Damn. All Hugo's planning and seriousness had made Shinobu forget how innocent he could be - perhaps just how dumb he could be? It was a mean way to think of Hugo, sure, but he did amaze her at times. "I know you would," she replied, wistfully. "Remember, it's not just you trying to save her. Count on me, okay? I'll give everything I have and then some, but I don't want to see you going too far. If you died... We couldn't get all of what makes Silvia so special back."

Hugo nodded a little, though didn't seem convinced, or any less focused. "I don't plan on dying. Trying to.. think.. really hard about the ways it could happen. So we don't die." And Shinobu knew he was. He sounded exhausted by this basic but thorough mental effort. "When I finish with the surgeries I am going to pick up everything I am ordering. Oh, right, rope too. ..Got a lot to do, you know?"

He sighed. It was weird if understandable to see him so mirthless and worried.

"Yeah..." Shinobu spoke quietly, not wanting to seem as if she were making light of the situation. "That just shows you know what you're doing though. We've got this, right?" Shinobu's sombre expression disappeared, replaced by a happy smile that would make an onlooker think the whole conversation had never happened. "Well, I've got hacking to get done myself, and you've got stuff to get, so I'll speak to you later, yeah?"

Hugo nodded again, already withdrawing from the conversation. The socializing was over, and now was time to focus on the mission. "We got this. Do well. Check in with the plan." And without waiting for more of a reply, Hugo ended the call.

He looked at the screen for a moment before flipping back over to the Talk2Text program. He used his thumb to scroll up and re-read, before mumbling in a whisper, "New Point. Two. We do not know where the transport ship is leaving from, or even what planet..."