With Friends Like These

[Some time later...]

A medley of voices rumbled in the background, all at once everywhere and yet nowhere. They came and went like a swift breeze. Only bits and pieces of the conversation were picked up, but neither party involved were particularly pleased with the circumstances, whatever they were. Behind it all, there was a persistent and rhythmic beeping along with a whirring noise. They were the most annoying of all, and they just wouldn't go the fuck away...

Maya slowly opened her eyes, equal parts relieved and annoyed that she appeared to be, in fact, still alive. The lights overhead burned her eyes, and she tried to bring her hand up to shield her face. She felt the slightest pull of something under the skin of her arm and hand, the discomfort of needles adjusting and moving beneath the surface as the attached tubes wrapped tight around the outside. She resorted instead to just keeping her eyelids only partially open, a low groan emanating from somewhere deep inside and fogging the mask affixed to her face, carrying with it the stink of bile mixed with the faint burn of alcohol.

She saw a dark figure standing over her, blurry and out of focus, as another figure departed into the shadows, disappearing from sight altogether. The same sickening scent of ammonia offended her nostrils, and she knew then where she had landed as a single word crossed her mind, ...shit...

A familiar voice broke through her clouded mind, and considering her earlier actions, it was the last voice she ever wanted to hear, "You're a real fuckin' piece of work, you know that...?"

Maya's voice was weak, but the words forced themselves from her mouth anyway, the mask causing them to rattle and reverberate in her head, "O-o-oh fuck..."

The invasive red glow of the optic came into focus as she recognized Rafael's face, a smirk creeping in as he said, "Welcome back..."

"F-First... d-do... n-n-no harm...", Maya joked as she tried to point up with her arm, "...t-that ab-bout c-cover it...?"

She felt the doctor's hand gently press down on her arm, and despite her reflex to jerk away from him, or anyone who tried to touch her, she was too weak to fight. He stifled a chuckle as he answered her, "Wasn't me that saved you..."

Maya tried to open her eyes again, wincing before Rafael reached up and dimmed the lamps to a more comfortable level. She asked the pertinent question as she looked up and all around, "H-How did I g-get... here...?"

"One of your johns found you...", Rafael obliged and sat back on a stool, "Seems to be pretty sweet on you... said he overheard some heinous shit went down from your neighbors... screams and crying... and came to check on you. Found you naked and face down on the floor in a puddle of your own puke, an empty vodka bottle a few feet away and half a bottle of bennies spread out on the kitchen table..."

...fuck...

Maya's face twisted with regret, her lips quivering as her nostrils flared. Rafael cut her off with a deep and grumbling sigh before she could say anything, "I should be pissed about the pills... I should bounce your ass back out on the streets."

"T-Then w-why... d-didn't you...?", Maya asked, intimidated by the sudden change in the 'doc's attitude. He firmed up as he leaned in, the smirk returning as he answered as bluntly as a baseball bat to her already bruised face, "Because the clip I make on bringin' you back to life covers a klepped bottle of pills ten times over..."

Maya groaned as she rolled her eyes. She read like an open book, and Rafael let loose the chuckle he fought to hold in as he said, "Don't worry, your tab's already covered..."

Her eyes shot open wide as she stared the doctor down, "W-Who—"

"Not the john... or input... whatever the fuck you want to call him...", Rafael pre-empted her, "We'll get to that in a sec... tell me what happened. All of it."

Maya shook her head as the memories rushed back, "W-Where do I even start...?"

"How about you start with why it took you two hours to return my call...", Rafael laid it out as he leaned back on the stool, propping an arm up against a nearby desk, "As good a place as any, don't you think?"

Maya took a few deep breaths to collect herself as she started, unsure just how much or for how long she could force herself to speak, "Tony came home as I was... finishing... with one of my regulars... he wasn't happy, I knew he wasn't happy, so I offered to take him out for some food at the Kenmore..."

"That's where you got into an argument and he stormed out...", Rafael filled in the blanks for his own edification, "He came here right after... what happened next?"

"I-I walked home alone... I was so pissed off... at myself, at him, at fucking everything...", Maya continued, "On my way up to the apartment, three big Valentinos stopped me, one of 'em said he knew Tony... I wanted to rub it in Tony's face that I let three of his chooms take turns on me..."

"Sounds like a real ro-day-oh...", the doctor joked. Maya scoffed, resisting the temptation to flash a middle finger as her face changed in a split second, "...I-I was sandwiched b-between all t-three of 'em when you called... I didn't know why the fuck you were calling me, and then it hit me... Tony said he was coming to see you after we fought."

Rafael leaned in, intent on hearing all of it as Maya's voice started to break, "I... t-tried to tell them... I w-wouldn't have e-even charged 'em for it, b-but..."

Her entire body trembled beneath the sheet covering her, and she tried to turn over on her side as tears formed, curling into an almost fetal position, "T-They just w-wouldn't stop... s-said all I was g-good for was... they h-hurt me... o-over and over..."

"T-that's okay, Maya... you don't have to keep going...", Rafael tried to comfort her from a distance, not even chancing trying to touch her in that moment. She cried out in frustration, "I-I d-did it to myself! I d-drove him away! I drove him t-to... and now he's d-dead... and it's a-all m-my f-fault!"

Maya nearly ripped out her own IVs and personal link, and the pads attached to her chest came loose as the heart monitor screamed with alarm codes. She curled into her own body as she wept, loudly and openly. She tried to cover her face with her arms, not wanting to be seen like this. She didn't even want to be alive at this point, and yet here she sat in a ripperdoc's chair, made to answer for all her failures all at once.

Rafael jumped from the stool as he scrambled to turn off the machines, a heavy silence befalling the room as he stood and watched... and waited. Maya needed time to grieve, to let it all pour out of her, but she also needed help... a lot of help. Rafael looked down at the floor, considering how to say what he had to say as a medical professional. When he had some idea, he looked at her as he took a seat and spoke gently, tenderly, "Maya... I can't even begin to understand where your head is right now... by all rights, you should be dead. You've mainlined Lace for two years straight, on top of God knows what else. That your nerves alone aren't tearing apart at the seams is..."

He gave a deep sigh before continuing, "...you're a lot stronger than you look... than you yourself realize."

"Of course she is...", a distantly familiar and gruff older voice with an accent called out from the shadows, "She's Emiliano's kid, ain't she?"

It took a few seconds for the voice to register, but Maya's sobs subsided as she loosened up, a curious and confused look on her face as she raised her head and turned. As the older man stepped into view, the light catching his leathered face, Maya's eyes narrowed as she focused and called out, "...H-Hector...?"

"Heya kid...", the older man replied with a twinkle in his eye and a light smile. Maya stared at him for several more seconds before her eyes rolled back in her head, something overtaking her as everything turned to black. She collapsed in the chair, unconscious, and Rafael stepped in between her and Hector as he said, "She's been through hell... needs to rest..."

Hector smiled as he chided the 'doc, "I got nowhere else to be, choom..."

--

[A few hours later]

Maya felt a cold compress against her forehead as her eyes slowly opened yet again. If this was Hell, at least the amenities were commendable if not for the persisting stink of ammonia and body odor wafting around her. There was a lingering soreness all throughout her body, subtle and subdued. She tried to raise her head as a sickness washed over her. All at once, she forced herself up at the waist, grabbing for the chair's arms and bracing herself as she heaved for air before the vile flood surged up her throat and out of her mouth.

With lightning-quick reflexes, Rafael had a bucket positioned in front of her face, catching all the contents of her stomach forcibly emptying itself amid the guttural retching sounds and coughing. Hector and the doctor both sat in awe that such a small body could withstand such a force and produce so much waste in one sitting. After almost thirty seconds of protracted dry-heaving, Maya finally gasped for air with a drawn out groan, spitting whatever was left into the can as she nearly fell forward. Her throat burned with the sting of stomach acid mixed with straight vodka, and she looked as though she'd collapse again at any moment.

Rafael pulled the can away, catching her with a hand against her shoulder as he observed her. She was in rough shape, but she was alive against all odds. He set the bucket down, reaching for a small cloth and handing it to her as he said, "It's okay, this is a good sign..."

Maya took the cloth in her hand, looking through heavy eyelids anywhere but directly at him as she wiped the remnants of bile and spit from her face and said, "H-How the fuck is any of this a good sign...?"

"Probably all the pills are purged from your system by now...", Rafael answered, his tone cold and clinical, almost disciplinary, "And the fact that your body's voiding all of it instead of just shutting down means you have a chance to heal."

"T-The f-fuck makes you think I w-want to...", Maya forced the words against the scratch in her throat as she rubbed across her collarbones and neck, trying in vain to simply stop feeling the fruits of her own efforts. Everything hurt, her head was spinning, and if she had her way, she'd fall asleep and never wake up again. What was there left for her in the churn of it all? All of her family was dead, and worst of all, she blamed herself for the one person she was charged to keep safe. Her head dipped down as her arms folded in, her back arching forward. She silently wept to herself, pulling closed the folds of the sheet covering her body before her hand curled over her heart. All of it was lost, everything she loved, and she was all alone.

Rafael didn't really know what to say, so he went about doing the only thing he really could as he cleaned up the mess. Hector stepped forward, the light bouncing off the sharp lines of his jaw as he called to the 'doc, "Mind giving us a minute... alone?"

Rafael stopped and turned, looking at Hector for several seconds before he nodded, "Take all the time you need, I'll be in the other room."

He whisked himself away with the bucket in hand, probably to clean and sterilize it for some other divine purpose. Hector gave him a wide berth, his eyes following to make sure they were alone before he pulled up a stool and sat down. The wheels and metal base creaked against the weight of his large and muscular body as he rubbed his hands together and looked at his own two feet. His hair was thinner and grayer than Maya remembered, a sharp widow's peak forming as the line of his scalp receded. His full beard had the same grey streaks, leaving him looking distinguished for a life of hard labor. His large forearms bore the same threading patterns Maya remembered her father having; he was a construction worker through and through, if only proven by the disrepair of his heavy steel-toed work boots peeking out from under the frayed hems of his blue jeans. And yet from under the collar of his shirt, there were faded traces of ganger's ink from a lifetime ago. He had seen some shit in his day.

After a long and uncomfortable silence, he looked up, trying to catch Maya's eyes as she tried to avoid him. He moved his head to the side with a smirk as he said softly with a scoff, "If your old man could see you now, kid... Jesus, what would he say...?"

If this was a lecture or an intervention, Maya wanted no part in it, turning away from Hector as her legs dangled over the edge of the exam chair. Her jaw was clenched as she brought her hand up, wiping a stubborn trail of spit from the corner of her mouth while she sat in defiant silence. Hector saw the same spark in her eyes as he remembered seeing in Emiliano's. The girl still had some fight left in her, but how to draw it out was the million-eddie question. He chuckled and kept going, "Emil had a lot of gonk dreams... and he believed in them. And we believed in him, but... shit, I'm not sure seeing his firstborn mija turning herself out like this would have been among 'em..."

"Not like I really had a lot of options, choom...", Maya snapped back, her voice strained but quiet as she stared dead ahead. The fire was burning in her eyes as she gripped the firm vinyl cushions of the chair and spat, "After he... after all of it... the fuck was I s'posed to do?"

Before Hector could even try to answer, Maya cut him off, "I always thought cockroaches liked to scatter when the lights came on... but man, you motherfuckers delta'd real fuckin' fast when 'Saka came calling, didn't ya?!"

The older man cleared his throat, narrowing his eyes and clenching his jaw as he took the verbal hit on the chin in stride. Still, the onslaught continued as Maya finally turned to face him, "It wasn't enough when you threw us out in the streets for a free pass and a pat on the head...? His old crew just had to be the ones to demolish the entire fucking apartment building?!"

She jumped off the chair, knocking over a stool and losing the sheet covering her altogether as she stood naked in the cold room and stared him down, "You weren't raped at sixteen while a crumpled wad of eddies was shoved in your mouth... you didn't hear that fat fucker laughing as he knocked you up and left you for dead in a shit-filled alley... all so you could eat just one meal that week."

The faint sounds of Rafael working fastidiously in the next room ceased for several seconds, the tension rising in the air before the clatter resumed. Hector's shoulders sagged as his pride drained away, a look of sullen regret creeping on his face. He had no words to give. There were no apologies for this. None of it would have even started to make up for everything Maya and Tony had experienced over the last five years. Nothing could make up for the lost and broken soul standing before him, fighting to hold it together as she twisted the knife one last time through tears filling her eyes as she screamed, "EVEN AFTER WE LOST EVERYTHING, I STILL HAD A BABY BROTHER TO LOOK AFTER! WHAT THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?!"

Maya fell to her knees, bringing her arms up to her face as she sobbed. She frantically clawed at her own scalp, her entire body trembling as she struggled just to breathe and not tear herself out of her own skin. Her movements were erratic as she wrapped her arms around her back, trying like hell to hide and cover herself. She felt every john over the last three years peering in through the vents and cracks in the walls and floor. She heard their snarls and masculine grunts as they forced themselves on her. Even through closed eyes, she saw their hands reaching for her from the void, snatching and pulling at her as she screamed inside her own mind.

In that moment, Hector saw the same little girl sitting in the apartment, crying her eyes out as he tried to explain what happened to her father while a cop stood idly by in the hallway... saying nothing, doing nothing. That fight died with her father as soon his heart stopped beating. His flatline was the flatline felt throughout the City of any resistance against corpo tyranny. There were no excuses for what happened, or any reason or logic. Everyone simply gave up and moved on, trudging through the mud as they always had. And in the middle of it, two helpless children who needed their community most in that moment were left to drown. How could anyone answer for that?

Hector took a careful step forward, reaching out with his hand to try and comfort the girl. He had no right to do so, hardly even a right to be in the room, but he wanted her to know here and now that she wasn't alone. In her mind, it was one more hand trying to grab for her, and she instinctively swatted him away as she screamed out loud, "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!!!"

The shrill and shrieking tone of her voice sent a shiver up the older man's spine, nearly freezing him in place before he pulled his hand back. It broke his heart to see his old choom's firstborn in this state of mind, and he started asking himself why he showed up in the first place, aside from the cold hard fact that a long time ago, Emiliano had himself replaced for both of his children as the next of kin emergency contact. He never had any illusions about the world he was stepping into, and he wanted to make sure if anything happened, his children would be looked after. As of now, all of his efforts had amounted on all fronts to jack shit.

Hector turned, his nose perking up to the scent of a freshly lit cigarette as he saw Rafael standing off to the side. The smoke trailed up, caught by the negative pressure of the vents overhead as it was whisked elsewhere and away. He took a quick drag as he inserted himself and spoke softly, "You can't force it, amigo... it's time to leave..."

The older man looked down with a sadness in his eyes before he nodded, "W-We're square?"

"Yeah...", Rafael answered him blankly, exhaling smoke from his nose, "...her tab's covered... I'll see to it she gets home safe..."

Hector nodded again, taking one last long look at Maya as he wanted nothing more than to hug the poor girl and tell her she was loved. He wanted to do so much for her, and he knew then and there that he should have done so much more five years ago. His heart sank, but his bed was made. Maya didn't want his help, that much was clear. From where he was standing, she didn't want anyone's help. And so for what he prayed wasn't the last time, he silently bade the girl farewell, placing a heavy hand on Rafael's shoulder as he turned to leave. His heavy boots crashed against the tile and trailed off while Rafael stood awkwardly, smoking his cigarette and watching the naked girl on his exam room floor pouring out her soul with no one to listen... and no one to help. She was all alone.

--