BINGED: Reincarnated as an OP-Chapter 20: Susan Botch

All eyes were fixed on the blonde lady as she approached Ren with that smirk.

Ren’s heart was beating fast as he watched her. Her eyes scanned him like a predator deciding where to strike.

One of the scientist opened his mouth to protest, but he had to suck up his words when she didn’t bat an eye to him.

Ren barely had time to flinch before the laser knife slid across his neck. It kissed his skin, nipping a little portion of it and something tugged free.

The diamond-shaped pendant dropped into her waiting palm. Ren had forgotten he had that on all these while.

The men in the room just kept exchanging looks and adjusting their weapons, unsure of what action to take.

The woman studied the pendant closely. Her eyes rested on the diamond-shaped stone, not the chain.

Her fingers tightened around it.

"Where did you get this?" she asked.

Ren swallowed. "Someone gave it to me."

She raised a brow at him with skepticism. "Who?"

"A noble," Ren said. "He was trapped in the mines."

Her breath hitched, almost imperceptibly.

"His name," she said.

"I don’t know his name," he said.

The laser blade reduced to a simple metal stick and she shoved it into the pocket of her coat. Her hand closed around the pendant.

"Was he alive when you last saw him?" she asked.

Ren groaned as he tried to adjust himself.

"Not really..."

The memory of such horror wasn’t a good one.

Her expression shifted as she observed Ren for seconds.

She turned to the officers. "Release him."

"What? This is an active execution order," the captain moved towards her.

She turned to him.

"I am aware of that."

"He killed my men. Three of them," he added, raising three of his fingers with a bitter expression.

"My condolences, Captain Dent."

"Ma’am," the other scientist chirped in, raising his forefinger like a child asking for permission to speak.

He stepped forward, "With all due respect, that young man can’t be released. His core is unstable and unclassified, he isn’t even a registered Awakened, he has no name in the official Imperial records and the official procedures requires that such people like him be taken out to keep our city and the unawakened safe."

She smiled at him when he finished his breathless speech.

"Is that all?"

The scientist folded his lips, "Uhm... yes."

"That young man just saved you the paperwork of discovering what you were about to destroy," she replied with her smile.

"So let him go, now."

The captain gestured to his men. They rushed to Ren and disengaged the restraints. Ren staggered as his weight came back all at once. The two officers grabbed him and steadied him.

"Take him to my office," she said. "And if anyone interferes, I will personally file the incident against them."

No one argued. They watched as the officers led Ren out of the execution chamber. They marched Ren through corridors while the woman followed behind. They all stepped into a lift that sent them to the upper levels of the building.

At the door of her office, she waved them off.

"That’s fine," she said with a smile, "I’ll take it from here now."

The officers saluted and marched back towards the lift.

The door swung open on its own accord, like it had sensed that the occupant of that office was at the door.

Her office had glass walls, dark brown floors, shelves filled with sealed files, some books and data slates. There was no fancy or extremely formal decorations.

She took off her white coat and hung it on the coat hanger behind the door. Ren just stood there in the middle of the office, looking around.

"Please sit," she said when she turned, gesturing to a chair by her table. Ren sat, but still looked around.

He wasn’t very comfortable. For all he knew, this woman was as scary as that captain that beat the hell out of him.

She walked to the table and leaned, facing Ren directly.

"Now, tell me about this noble man that gave you this," she said, raising the pendant to Ren’s eye level.

She dropped the pendant and waited for him to speak.

"He was already sick when I saw him," Ren started, "He knew he didn’t have long. So, he gave it to me before he turned Binged. I asked him why he entrusted it to me and well, he said he believed his guts was never wrong."

She smiled, but did not interrupt him.

"He told me to bring it to ZeCO," Ren said. "He said to find Susan Botch and to tell her..."

Ren hesitated for a bit. "...that he loved her."

The office remained silent. The lady didn’t look at Ren. She stared at the pendant and then looked away through the glass walls. She turned back to him and studied him in silence.

She leaned off the table and reached for Ren’s face. He jerked away immediately.

She smiled, "Relax. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done that in the execution chamber."

Her soft palms rested on his face and he stiffened. She brushed her thumb beneath his eye, wiping away a smear of dried blood. The touch was light, almost clinical, but it made his breath catch.

"Are you okay? You are shaking."

"I’m fine," Ren muttered.

She hummed softly, unconvinced by his response, but continued anyway.

Her hand slid to his jaw, tilting his face up. It wasn’t forceful, just soft enough that he had no choice but to look at her.

Their faces were suddenly too close. He caught a whiff of her scent, it was a sharp jasmine fragrance mixed with a touch of mint. Her blue eyes searched his. He couldn’t read her intentions from her eyes, yet he couldn’t look away either.

He swallowed as she leaned in.

Ren’s heart slammed against his chest like it was going to explode.

’What is she doing? Why are her lips coming that close? Is she—’

His mouth parted and she exhaled slowly into him. The mint-fresh air slipped into his mouth and Ren closed his eyes when he felt it. The air carried a strange warmth. It slipped past his teeth, down his throat, and bloomed in his chest like a slow-burning candle light.

Pain flared around his body and then dissolved. Ren gasped despite himself. She pulled back immediately.

"Breathe," she said calmly.

Ren did as she said, and realized the ache in his ribs was gone. It was like it was never there.

Her fingers traced along his arm next, pausing over a dark bruise. Light shimmered faintly beneath her finger as she concentrated on his bruise. It was like a golden light beneath glass. The discoloration on Ren’s skin faded under her touch.

Finally, her gaze went up to his neck where she’d made a shallow cut earlier while cutting off the pendant.

"Hold still."

She brushed her fingers over it once. Both the mark and the sting vanished.

She stepped away, folding her arms like nothing intimate had just happened.

Ren sat there, stunned, his pulse still racing.

She raised her brow at him, "Wow, you’re such a breather." She laughed amused at his stunned face.

Ren examined his arm and felt his face. "What, are you some kind of healer?" he asked, hoarsely, to hide his shame.

She smiled faintly.

"I’m many things, I guess."

She walked to her seat.

"My name is Susan Botch," she said, as she sat down, "I’m the head of ZeCO’s Research Wing."

She sighed, "The man who gave you that pendant is my father, Ernest Botch. He spent his entire life studying Rancidity. They called him obsessed, maybe he was, but he was determined to find a solution for it even if it meant breaking official protocols, or... stepping away from everything he held dear."

"And this," she picked up the pendant, "is his life. I’m the only one that has access to it."

She dropped the pendant and focused on Ren again.

"I only spared you because he trusted you and you didn’t let him down. You carried his work out of a death zone, and you nearly died for it again today."

She straightened up.

"You are not going to be executed by ZeCO or anyone, as long as you’re under my watch."

Ren smiled. She focused on his scarlet eyes.

"And know this, a new Chapter of your life starts today, I can’t tell you it’ll be easy anyway."

’What does she mean by that. Why do I get this weird feeling that I might regret this new Chapter of life?’

"What is your name, young sir? And tell me, did you really come to Zenith City to cause chaos, just so you can deliver this pendant? Or there’s something else?"