April 7, 2050 - 03:19
Da Nang, Vietnam - Tien Sa Port
Pvt. My Phan
The Navy hotel above the hidden cavern was lit by a horde of law-enforcement, first-responder, and mercenary vehicles, turning the hotel grounds into a makeshift nightclub with red and blue lights all around. Police and investigators cordoned off the entire port and hotel area for the crime scene; paramedics checked up on the hostage victims by the ambulances, and additional reinforcements from Black Angels Division scattered about to gather the contraband, weapons, evidence, and bag up the dead criminals. Out of the 80 or so criminals, the original ones in the warehouse and cavern, and the backups included, only about 30 survived the raid.
The Heaven's Hounds squads were mostly ok after the ambush, thanks to the two backup squads that came to help them with the bandit reinforcements. Most of the mercenaries were only wounded with a few light scratches here and there; all of them were still alive to continue fighting another day.
My was finishing up her mandatory check-up with the paramedics, even though all she had was maybe a few bruises from the scuffle with the strange biker boss lady. The medics gave her a quick check of her body, making sure there weren't any hidden injuries My didn't know about, and gave her a complimentary stim injection to help boost her body's healing processes. What it was exactly in the stim, My didn't know, as she blanked out when the paramedic explained it to her.
As soon as the paramedic finished with the stim injection, My stood up from the stretcher, grabbed her plate carrier without putting it back on, and walked out of the temporary medical tent. She was immediately greeted with the blinding lights from all the police cars and ambulances. She squinted her eyes for a moment before looking around the medical area. She wanted to check up on the victims before she reported back to the squad. It didn't take her long to find the specific medical tents tending to the victims.
She walked over to the area to find a group of paramedics already performing check-ups and first aid to multiple of the women. My remembered that there were three male victims, but she couldn't see them anywhere, so she decided to ask one of the paramedics who was preparing the stim injectors and syringes.
"Hey doc, where are the three guys who were in the hostage group?"
The paramedic, a man in his mid 40s who had a tired look on his face as if he hadn't been sleeping for days, paused his work, put his half-filled syringe down, and looked up at My.
"The men? Uhh… I think they were taken straight to the hospital since their conditions were more critical." his voice was coarse and tired.
"Ah gotcha." My was about to walk away to the girls when a question popped into her head. She abruptly stopped to ask the tired paramedic. "Wait, before I go, question."
"Answer." He replied with a simple word.
"Why do you have to prepare syringes when you already have the stims?"
The paramedic briefly looked at the container of stims, and the container of a clear liquid vial, what My presumed was a medical solution.
"Yeah… So.. the stims are filled with medical nanites that heal internal injuries or detect internal injuries and let us know what we're dealing with. I think it's similar to what you military or mercenaries use."
"Yeah, what about the syringes?"
The paramedic grabbed one of the vials of liquid solution and showed it to My. The plastic cap holding the liquid back was thin enough for the syringe to penetrate without a problem.
"That is just a parenteral shot, just a mixture of different vitamins that our body needs. The patients will definitely need whatever nutrition their bodies can get after we inject the healing stim. They are malnourished, but that doesn't mean that we can just give them any food to eat immediately, and the nanites in the stim don't just magically heal them. It helped boost the natural healing system on top of healing them from the inside. To heal from any injuries, the body needs energy, vitamins, anything. Hence, the syringes."
My nodded before asking another question.
"Why not just put the parent-whatever shot into a stim?"
The man gave My a Gen-Z stare before explaining.
"Just because it is convenient and fast doesn't mean it's always necessary. The healing stims are in the injector because it needed to be delivered into the body quickly and efficiently. The parenteral shot doesn't. Stims are for emergencies, syringes for non-emergencies."
"Ah. Thanks, doc." My smiled at the man before leaving him to his work, missing the fact that the paramedic sighed at her before returning to his job.
My walked over to the first person whom she had talked to when she was back in the cavern. The girl was in the process of being given a parenteral shot by one of the paramedics. Compared to the state that My found her in, the girl seemed a bit better now that she was freed from that hellish place, both mentally and physically. My noticed that the girl's eyes seemed to have some life returned to them, like a tiny spark in a dark tunnel. My doubted that the girl would return to being normal anytime soon, but just like the spark, she just needed some caring, guidance, and time to heal from the trauma.
My waited until the paramedic finished up her procedure and gave the girl a pack of jellied nutrition before approaching the girl. My tapped on her shoulder to get her attention, only for the girl to jolt back and drop her jelly pack.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that. Didn't mean to scare you." My apologized to the scared girl while she leaned down to pick up the jelly pack.
The girl took a moment to calm herself. My patiently waited for the girl to calm down before offering her the jelly pack again.
"… Thank you." She said quietly.
"No worries, I understand how you felt. It must have been hard this entire time."
The girl didn't say anything, only offering a nod as a reply.
"My name is Mỹ, what's yours?"
"… um… Tiên. My name is Tiên." It took Tien a while to reply.
My offered a calm and reassuring smile to Tien.
"Tiên. That's a very pretty name."
Tien was still quiet, still holding onto her jelly pack. Though My could see her expression ever so slightly relaxed. She decided to continue slowly with the poor girl.
"You reminded me a lot of my mother."
There was a slight shift in Tien's expression as she glanced up at My.
"My mother and I were also in a similar situation to you. We were both taken and kept around by horrible people. It was some of the worst years of my life… Hell, even for most of it. But do you know what keeps me going?"
"…"
"My mother. She was the sweetest and most caring person I've ever known, and the strongest woman out there."
"…"
"You reminded me of her. You and all the other girls. Despite all the things that had happened, you're still here, persisting."
"…"
"I know what you've experienced was horrible… but you're strong, and you are free now. You have people you could reach out to, family… It will take time for you to recover, but you will heal. You're strong, I could see it in you."
The girl was still quiet, and My wondered for a moment if she might have dealt with the situation the wrong way, though only for a moment.
Out of the noisy orchestra of chaos that was the crime scene, My could hear it.
Tien was sobbing.
A few drops of tears made their way down her cheeks from the corners of her eyes.
Then the floodgates opened.
All of her emotions poured out all at once, like a dam that broke after carrying too much water for far too long.
She cried and sobbed, letting all her pent-up emotions come pouring out.
My didn't say anything else and just went closer to hug the poor girl, letting Tien feel the warm embrace of My's chest. My didn't think much of it before, but at a moment like this, she was thankful for her body physique, since being taller than Tien probably made My seem like a guardian, a protector.
They both took a while before Tien was calm enough to finally let go of My's embrace, leaving a wet mess on My's leotard, right where her chest is. Tien wiped away her tears, then noticed that she had left quite a mess on My's clothes.
"I… I'm so sorry… for making a mess…" She profusely apologized while trying to control her stuttering after bawling out her emotions.
My let out a hearty laugh and just waved Tien off.
"No worry, girl, this mess isn't anything at all. I'm just glad you were able to let out your emotions."
"Thank… Thank you. Both for helping us out… and for… letting me cry on you."
"You're welcome. Now you should probably get some rest and recover your body. You have a lot ahead of you, and you're going to need all the energy you can get."
"Can I ask… what will happen to us after this?"
My gave the question some thought before she answered Tien.
"From what I know, you and all the girls will be transferred to a local hospital to keep you monitored and to help you fully recover your health. Then after that, I think the police will be asking you some questions, and then return you to your families. I think the city will also be offering some monetary and other types of support."
Tien nodded, though My could see that Tien still had an unsure look on her face.
"Well, I'm just here to check in on you, and I'm glad you're ok now. You should go get some rest before they get you to the hospital."
My did what she wanted to do already, and she should really get back to her squad for the post-op debrief; otherwise, she would get an earful from Harry about manners, professionalism, and whatnot. She smiled at Tien and was about to turn around and walk away when Tien held onto her hand. My looked back at Tien, who now looked at My with much more liveliness than before.
"Will… I see you again?" Tien asked.
"Always, I'd be happy to see you again. Anytime. Well, if I'm free, of course."
My then gave Tien her phone number written on a sticky note before walking out of the medical tent. She took a breath of fresh air and refreshed herself from the sterile air of the medical tent. She was about to walk to the mobile command truck when someone placed their arms around her waist and hugged her from behind. My could feel a pair of breasts pressing against her back, and judging based on the feeling alone, My knew exactly who it was.
"Miss me already~?" My asked playfully.
"Mhmm… yeah…" Chisato muffled while pressing her face against My's back. My could feel Chisato's warm breath tickling her sweat-covered back.
"Hun, your breath, it's ticklish. Also, I'm really sweaty right now."
"I don't mind, you're my stinky baby." Chisato purposely sniffed aloud so My could hear it. "Also, we were literally fighting in a life-or-death situation; do you think a little bit of dirt and sweat would scare me away from my girl?"
My giggled, then grasped on Chisato's hand before turning around and embracing her girlfriend, letting Chisato bury her face in My's chest.
"I guess not~" My smirked when Chisato looked up after experiencing her chest.
"Also, you were really hot down there, by the way."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, when you took that first guy out."
"Oh, that's what you mean… Totally weren't thinking of anything else." My blushed slightly.
"I definitely was thinking of something of a sort." Chisato decided to push further with her playful attitude today.
"Ooooo… Do tell me later."
"Later."
Both of them leaned in for a quick kiss before turning to get to the debrief, only to see Edric just standing there and staring at them with a deadpan expression.
"Come on, you two, get a room, after we're done with the debrief."
"Yep yep. Right, we're going."