Trickster

I was staring out the window at the red and orange trees just outside. It was a pity the window didn't open. I'd rather be sitting in or under one of them when the time comes.

When the time comes...

Am I ready to die? I know that if I refuse to the very end, that when Koda activates those nanobots, the destruction of my biotech will definitely damage my organs, muscles, and bones. Irreparably. So, yes, it'll be a slow painful death.

But can I really accept it?

I folded my arms around myself, fingers digging into my back, trembling uncontrollably. I already know what the answer is. But I'm not a killer.

"Jones?"

I turned tears still visible on my cheeks. Standing in the doorway was Koda, my old friend and master. The shock was evident on his face as he looked at me. I could see two thugs behind him, his guards I suppose. And my limited vision ran over him. He was thin, with a frail touch to his stance. Very different from before prison. He didn't look like he'd seen the light of day for a very long time. The guards pushed him fully into my room, and then closed the door.

We both stood in complete silence for a minute. Then he shuffled to me and hugged me around the neck, tears in his eyes. That broke my shock, and I hugged him back. He kept his hands on me as he backed up. "I'm so sorry, so, so sorry that he's using me against you. My technology...inside you..."

I laughed, "Your technology has been inside me a long time, Koda, what exactly are you talking about? The eye?"

He smiled a grim smile, and I helped him sit down in the chair Randall had occupied a few short hours earlier. I pulled the one from the desk a few paces away and lounged in it. He shook his head, "Jesus, Jones, you're planning on keeping to your guns, aren't you?"

I frowned, and looked away, fingers braiding together. "Maybe."

"Jones, I designed those Nanos. I know exactly what will happen to you. They may be small enough to go into your bloodstream through a needle, but through the imperceptible gates into the other parts of your body? Nowhere near it. The destruction of your tech is the least of your worries."

I smiled grimly myself, "Well, I already knew I was screwed, but I hadn't accounted for the blood vessel bit, doc, thanks for that."

He narrowed his eyes. "How much tech have you added to your system while I've been gone?"

"Just a few here and there. Like this really cool one in the joint of my wrist. I can block all electrical signals from picking me up with that one." I leaned back in my chair, "And some music and radio stuff in my neck joints."

He shook his head, "Your skill in operating on yourself..."

We both fell silent, and my eyes went on the trees again. Koda looked between me and the trees, and he sighed, "Look, Jones-"

"How have you been, Koda? You don't look well." I interrupted him. I know I did. And he looked like he was just going to ignore me for a second there. But he sighed again, and held up his hands.

"Life in prison wasn't good. Solitary confinement all the time, which I didn't mind much except for the boredom. That would drive anybody insane after just a week, Mercury." He leaned back, putting his foot on his other knee. The foot wiggled in his usual impatient way. "And the food sucked. But I knew I was down for the chair anyway, so I didn't care about that either."

He shook his head. "And here is almost as bad as prison. Except I have a better bed."

I raised an eyebrow, looking at the camera in the corner. "Sure you want him to hear you say things like that?"

Koda snorted, "He gets a kick from it. And even if he didn't, there's a reason he paid forty million bucks to bail me out."

"Forty...?" My eyebrow weren't higher, and I looked at the room around me. "This would be one awesome gig, man..."

He laughed, "You haven't changed, Jones, still seeking those challenges. I guess that's what sets the extraordinary criminals from the petty ones."

My mind dulled from the excitement and I feel limp against the chair. Extraordinary criminal? What is that even supposed to mean?

Koda was watching me, I realized. I quenched the urge to be childlike and stick my tongue out. Instead I looked out the window again.

"How have you been, Jones?"

I shrugged, "Doing gigs, enjoying life. Designed a lot of new BioTechs. And in my spare time, I make clothes."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" I turned my head and rolled my eye. He simply laughed, and leaned forward, "That Randall Jackson is handsome."

I didn't roll my eyes this time, actualy thinking about it. Yeah, I suppose he was handsome. And he did seem to have some will of his own. However..."Randall Jackson is a pig. A stupid, cocky pig."

And Koda started laughing really hard. His laugh was a deep belly laugh of sorts- but I could hear a wheeze in his voice. And I suddenly realized why he was here. And I was livid. It was when the glower passed over my face that the guards opened the door. Koda looked at them, then back at me. And he sighed. "Think about it, Jones. You're only twenty-one years old."

I smiled at him. "Good-bye, Koda."