3am Friday morning 3am, May 9th, 49482

--The Beating--

As soon as he opened the door to his Newland apartment he collapsed on the floor. He started to crawl down the hallway taking deep breaths as his body screamed with in agony. Despite the pain he told himself to stand up, something inside him refused crawl along the ground. “Stand up!” he said out loud in a breathy voice, as blood dripped from his mouth. He moved over to wall and used it to push himself up. As he stood himself up he looked down the hall and noticed the trail of blood he was leaving. It didn't matter, and he hoped nobody would be coming over anytime soon, he could clean it up tomorrow.

Foos laid against the wall taking in deep breaths and he tried to block the pain from his mind. He'd never been in so much pain in his life. He started to strip off the remains of his armor littering them all over, and walked down the hall into the heart of his apartment. He fell down again, and took of his pants and boots. He needed another stim, for the life of him he couldn't believe his travel med pack was almost empty. Where had his mind been lately, and why was he now putting himself through so much pain, he thought to himself. He could have just died and gone to reclaim, he would have been fine by now.

As many times it allowed him to live, he hated reclaim. Something about it never felt right to him, and worse he believe it made him sloppy and careless. He was sloppy tonight, he wasn't paying attention, that was how that thing got him, he thought to himself. He thought about how the rafter seemed to pop out of nowhere, grabbing him by the leg, and throwing him in the air. He cursed himself as he looked around for his med-stims, while he thought how foolish he was to be caught off guard like that. What was happening to him he thought as he found his stash and injected himself.

He needed an energy boost, the added exhaustion from his nanobots working overtime was getting too much for him to stay awake. He needed to be conscious, he had to tend to his wounds. He forced him self to stand up again he need to make to the shower and clean his wounds, there was far to many to take care of them one at a time. As he made his way into the bathroom and turned on the water, he tried to wrap his mind around how he managed to live tonight. He was still in shock he was back home standing in his shower after the beating he received earlier.

As the water fell onto his broken body, his mind drifted back to what happened. He had went to the shadowlands to be alone and think. An attempt to try and take his mind off of things. He had been so angry lately, he wasn't sure what was going on with him. Something inside him was changing, he was starting to question if he was on the right path or not. He knew in the end the path he was on really didn't matter any would take him to the same choices he'd been facing since he came to Rubi-Ka. He stood there in a quiet place in the shadowlands thinking of everything that was going on in his life. When suddenly he felt something grab at his leg and the next thing he knew he was airborne.

The rafter was all over him, pounding at his body and ripping at his flesh. Somehow Foos manged to fight back against the beast. When he was thrown the fall had caused him to drop his guns. Before he could scramble for them the rafter had pounced on him and dropped it's fists into his chest. Foos fought back as hard as he could but his kicks and punches did little against the thing. Even has he made wild slashes with the hidden blades in his armor, they had little effect on the beast as well. He felt for sure he was going to die, when something inside him screamed. He wouldn't let himself fall. No matter how bad it was, he would make it home without dying. He mustered all the strength he had in his being and threw a powerful haymaker at the rafter's head. It stunned the beast long enough for Foos to make a dash for his gun.

He grabbed his gun and fell on his butt as the rafter charged at him. The first shot was perfect hitting the thing between the eyes and killing it. But Foos couldn't stop shooting. He keep firing at it, unloading a full clip into it's dead body. Even after the bullets were gone, he kept pulling the trigger. All was quiet except for the clicking of Foos' empty gun. He laid down for a moment trying to grip reality. He looked around an picked up his other and started fumbling at his teleport unit. The adrenalin was starting to wear off and the pain was beginning to kick in. His arm started to feel like it was catching on fire. He realized he must have over exerted the symbiant in his arm. He looked in his med-kit to find it just about empty, and almost nothing he could use. He found a low grade pain suppressant stim, and used it on his arm.

Foos stood there in the shower as the hot water washed away the blood from his body. Thinking about the battle with the rafter. “Why didn't I just let myself die, it would have been so much better then this” he said to himself as the water rushed over him. Was it because he had already made a trip to reclaim a few days ago? Was that why he fought so hard to stay alive. His mind went back to the attack at the council meeting.

“What was I thinking?” he said to himself, “I ran in front of that mech with no armor and just nanoshields”. He knew it wasn't the smartest plan in the world. Part of him was mad at himself because he felt he decision was based on him knowing he would end up in reclaim. But another part of him wasn't so sure, at the time his only thought was getting other people to safety. He turned off the water still unsure of what was going on in his mind. He didn't want to think about it anymore, he just wanted to clear his mind and go to sleep. He stepped out of the shower and gave himself another more powerful pain stim, and started to bandage his wounds.

He stood there looking at his bed as his covered up his last scratch. He was ready to pass out, when he realized there was still a good chance he might wake up in reclaim. Everything in his body had been working double overtime, he wasn't really sure if his nanobots and symbs could hold out much longer. It's a risk he was willing to take. He knew he could easily go to a hospital, but then he would run the risk of someone finding out. It wasn't his pride he was that kept him from wanting people to know what happened, he didn't feel weak or defeated. It was, he didn't want people to worry about him, a part of him didn't want people to care for him. He thought back to the words someone once told him, about how he didn't have to always be so strong and how he could let others care for him. He just wasn't ready to really make that step yet. He felt even if he did let someone take care of him, they would leave and he would be left by himself again, so it would just be easier never to get used to someone being there for him.

He couldn't think about things any longer, he was so tired. If he didn't make it through the night so be it. He needed rest and staying away in pain worrying about what was wrong with his head wasn't helping him. He was about to get into be when he realized he was still naked. He started to giggle, the pain medication was in full effect, as he thought about walking up somewhere naked and having to walk home. He thought about the few conversations he had on the subject, and it make him giggle more. Then he wondered for a moment if he was walking through the streets of Newland naked might upset someone he did care about. Foos quickly threw on a pair of shorts, and a tee-shirt. Then he got into bed and fell sound asleep.

[[Well this is the first part to a longer story. I will be posting more soon. Comments are welcome as always. ]]