Chapter 2 - Fresh Air

The Felis was yet again in front of him. This brawny creature with its glaring eyes and shallow breath always piqued Wazir's interest. Wazir reached out to the cat, what reaction he expected, he didn't know. The topazes buried in its skull wandered off into the black emptiness. Why was this beast in his dreams?

Wazir opened his eyes. His other senses slowly returning to regular conditions. His vision caught hold of a pale white ceiling. It wasn't pure white, for it had textures of the paint roller on it. He sat upright to examine his surroundings. His muscles were sore, his head still spinning. White tiles paved all over the floor. Various metallic tools on the side table gleamed in the white light spreading through the room. It was evening, the rain seemingly gone. Mild sunlight peeked in through the blinders. An IV was injected into Wazir's wrist, making the whole arm feel numb. Something Wazir also noticed was that he was relatively cleaner. His disheveled clothes exchanged for a clean hospital smock, his body washed and smelled of lime zest.

'Good morning starshine! The world says hello!' He heard the same voice from before. It was pink-guy. Except, he was clearly being sarcastic. Wazir creaked his neck to look at the figures in his room. Pink-guy obviously stood in front of him. The pink bowl on his head, Wazir now saw, was actually a pink shaded bowl cut. The man was wearing spotless white blazer, a striped blue shirt beneath and a pair of black pants.

'Uh… can I get some water' Wazir let out a hoarse appeal. His sense of taste was agitated by the dry acid covering his pharynx.

A glass of water immediately appeared in front of him. Another man with glasses poured out water faster than Wazir could even make sense of anything. His horned rimmed spectacles added a gleam to his already childish face. He seemed older and more mature than pink-guy. His fluffy, wavy brown hair parted towards one side, Don't move too much. Oh and by the way, name's Finnegan. You can call me Finn.'

'So he gets nickname privileges and I don't?' Pink-guy hollered. Finnegan addressing that continued, 'This is Beast. He was the one who saved you. Don't mind his pushy attitude.'

'Pushy?' The man now titled Beast inquired loudly, 'Try saying that again when you have to look after a piece of meat and bones for three days.'

Wazir's eyes widened on hearing that, 'I was out for three days?'

'I know this whole ordeal might be perplexing for you, but bear with us okay? First off let me begin by introducing myself. As mentioned earlier, I'm Finnegan, one of the four directors dubbed "Fortis" of G.E.A.R. I'm responsible for managing all the internal affairs. This right here is Beast my subordinate, best of the best. Currently you are in the medical ward of our institution since you faced some life-threatening forces on the roof. Please be patient with the whole healing process.'

'Wait… what life-threatening forces and what the hell is G.E.A.R?'

'G.E.A.R. standing for Gaia's Executive Antiviolence Regiments. It is an organization which looks after anomalies in the construct of our society. We are a safe space for employing special individuals who can be assets to maintaining threats. As for your other question, I don't think this is the right time soooo…'

'I think we should stop.' Wazir heard a feathery muttering on his right. On the bed barely few feet away from him, was another male slumped over the white covers. He wore a T-shirt and sweatpants. He had a bandage running below his neck, on towards both his hands, stopping right before the wrists. Wazir wondered if those bandages covered the rest of this man's body. He had a frail face. His cheekbones popping out. His eyelids heavy and lips partially open. His blonde hair matched that of Wazir. His fingers were clearly bony and veins dug out from below the skin, connected to an IV filled with transparent cobalt blue liquid seeping into his bloodstream. 'He'll probably faint again if you overload him.'

Finnegan placed his hands on his waist, 'Oh… Yes Wazir this is-'

'Revan Karmic?' Wazir finished the sentence for him.

'Wow. I guess you do have a good eye. Didn't think you would recognize him like this.' Finnegan rolled his eyes. Only anyone living under a rock on a deserted island for the past thirty years wouldn't know Revan Karmic. World-renowned "Mr.Gaia 2025", he was amongst the rising stars of the 2020s. Lifetime award winner and infamous model, Wazir had no clue why this odd triumvirate was doing.

'Yeah, in fact, he's one of the youngest directors of G.E.A.R. in all of its history, managing the external affairs and ensuring secrecy of our organization from anyone outside. You see he was rescuing a case similar to how Beast was rescuing you, and himself ended up facing a "life-threatening" force and hence he ended up using all of the nutrients in his body and is now recuperating through injections and drip supplements flowing directly into his bloodstream.'

'Stop dumping info over him, I'm guessing half of that stuff probably went over his head.' Revan pressed on. Wazir didn't object. Beast let out a heavy sigh of disappointment.

'Well, we can discuss all of this later I suppose.' Finnegan now jumped on his heels. He had his pant sleeves rolled up, exposing hairy legs.

'For now, take rest. Spend the night here, get something to eat, don't worry the food is free.' He continued pointing to Revan, 'And as to all the context of the events on the rooftop, I urge you to stay shush about it. There's no good things coming your way even if you report us to the authorities as kidnappers. Cooperate and we will too.'

Wazir was perplexed by the sudden change in tone. He nodded in agreement.

Beast looked at him perplexed, 'You- You're not the slightest bit curious about any of this?

Wazir could only gulp his water in reply, quenching that desert in his throat with a flood of heavenly fluid.

Both the men towering around him hesitated for a second. Beast yelled, 'Give us a minute.' He pulled Finnegan and stomped over to Revan's bed. They started murmuring to each other as Revan lent them an ear. Wazir rocked his head side to side, inspecting the room.

'You know it could be that or he's just a dumbass.' Beast's whispers werent whispers at all.

'I can hear you guys…' Wazir didn't know if he should've said that because now all three men were even more awkward. Beast and Finnegan stood up.

'We know you're not deaf.' Beast aligned his collar, 'What comes tomorrow will be tackled tomorrow. Let's go sir.' He stormed out mumbling about headaches and coffee.

Finnegan shrugged, 'Enjoy your stay!' He jogged after Beast.

.

'You graduated high school right?' Revan questioned. His fingers curled in the most intricate way around the spoon.

'For the last time, just because I don't know basic trigonometry doesn't mean I didn't pass school I'm just not very smart okay?.'

'Hmm… It's not that. You're quite tall for your age' Revan stared away. He was right, Wazir was after all was almost 200 cm in height. Wazir knew that himself. Something, he felt, alienated him further from others.

'You don't do sports either. I'm surprised that you weren't picked out by some basketball or volleyball team.' Revan said after an audible gulp. The staff really needed to change the porridge recipe, his throat burned with embers of ginger.

'I was asked for try-outs a few times. I didn't go for them though.' Wazir's voice reduced in volume with each word. His heart felt a familiar hurtful throb. Revan also lost the will to ask why, after hearing the loss of enthusiasm from the boy.

Suddenly a heavy pat on the back sent Wazir lurching forward. He coughed the morsel of food that almost choked him and looked at the source of that slam.

'So this is the new inclusion, huh.' A young man, somewhere around twenty, had just taken a seat next to Wazir. He had a weird haircut, which Wazir couldn't exactly define. A little boisterous, a little bit of a quiff. His clothing was lavish, a grey fur coat hiding a netted black tank top and black leggings making him look like a judge on a modelling reality show. His youngish face matched his lean figure. His eyes, partially hidden by round sunglasses, beneath which Wazir saw sparkling green irises and bright red capillaries in the surroundings. His jaws gnawed away at what Wazir assumed was gum. How were all of these people appearing out of thin air?

'Good evening Enzo.' Revan monotonously greeted the youngster, 'Yes, this is him. He was brought in a few days ago.'

Enzo was awfully chummy with Wazir. Placing his elbow over Wazir's shoulder, taking a bite out of his, now half-cold meal, 'Whatever, whatever. I'm done with your special demand…' He spoke in a sarcastic and elaborate Russian accent, or at least that's what Wazir hoped it was.

'Is that so? We can go over the details later on. Right now, how about you take…' He stared emptily at the blonde boy, internally embarrassed not remembering his name.

'Wazir.'

'Right, how about you take Wazir out for some fresh air. It isn't good for a person to stay within the confines of a hospital room for long.' His formal tone clashed with the smile he tried so hard to put on his face.

'I don't mind if he doesn't.', Enzo's stare was chillingly sensed by Wazir. The chills seemingly conducting into his food making it colder.

'Uh… sure. Fresh air doesn't sound bad.'