All in your head

Who: Micky
Where: Still in his head
When: Just after Jay had left
Micky sat at the top of the twisted and wrecked radio tower, looking down at that portal, seeing what his real life eyes could see. Not a lot really, just the ceiling of the medi-bay. He stared into it for a few minutes, a battle going on inside his mind. Stay or go? Those memerasers that Jed had given him all those years ago were a blessing. Getting his memory back was a curse. He hated himself for what he had done, especially now that he had seen the good that people can do, seeing the good he himself can do. He couldn't go back to that life that was now a lie. That wasn't him on that hospital bed, it was just a shell, carrying the violent murderer that he really was.
Micky jumped from the tower and landed hard on his feet next to the portal just in time to hear Jay tell Keto to switch off his life support.
"Bastard." He said as he turned and walked away from the portal, expecting to fade away to nothingness as his own body died in the medi-bay.
It didn't come, but still he kept walking. His surroundings were slowly changing. Dull grey walls formed either side of him. He walked past doors that were sliding open with a hiss of air. He looked into the one on his right. It was his quarters back on the Blue Dwarf. A toaster was sat on the table laughing like a school girl, Holly was on the monitor looking guilty and a very wet, very angry looking Micky was picking himself up off the floor.
"This was my first day for duty on the Dwarf." Micky told himself as the scene unfolded in front of him. As his memory of himself ran out the room to report late for duty, his surroundings faded again, replaced this time by that bar on Blackburn two again. He saw himself sitting there, drinking beer with Pete and Jed, being merry and getting wasted with dirty stolen money. He watched as Micky finished the last of his beer that was laced with the memerasers and slumped over. Jed and Pete laughed, stood up, then walked out, never thinking twice about what would happen to Micky after that.
He stood and looked at the memory of himself with his head on the bar, eyes closed, memerasers already working their way around his brain, clogging up the signals and jamming the electrical impulses that were his memories. He heard a scream to his right and turned to see who it was.
He was stood in a bank, looking at a hostage situation unfolding. Three men were robbing the place, all wearing masks of Donald Duck and brandishing pistols and one holding a machine gun, waving it round screaming at everyone to stay down. The man in the cowboy hat had a long length of rope coiled and thrown over one shoulder. Micky was filled with dread as he realised what was happening. He remembered it all too well now.
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Jed was holding a gun to the forhead of a cashier quickly loading all the money from the till into a bag with 'swag' written across it in black. Pete was holding tight to the waist of a woman, also with a gun pointing at her head, but getting a good feel of her as he did so. Micky was waving the machine gun from person to person, making sure they stayed on the floor. He was only thirteen at the time. Little more than a child playing cops and robbers for real money. Siren noise poured in from outside the bank. The three robbers could hear the police heading for the door.
Jed dragged the man from behind the counter, grabbed the two sacks full of money and took his hostage to the front door.
"Make any stupid moves and this here load of people get their purdy little bodies spread across the floor!" The Texan shouted to the police. Micky started to panic, looking around for a way out. All the doors to the back of the bank were locked. The only exit was now swarming with police.
"Jed! There's no way out! They've caught us! You said there were no worries!" Micky was waving the machine gun about still, more erratic and panicy this time though.
"Shut yer trap boy!"
"Release the hostages!" A booming voice came over a megaphone from outside. "We have you surrounded, there's no escape. Come out with your hands up!"
"Look, kid." A man in a business suit said to Micky. "You can't get out. Make it easier on yourself and just give it up."
"Shut up!" Micky screamed back, his temper lost already to the stress of the situation. He pointed the gun at the man on the floor who immediately covered his head in fear. "Just shut the hell up!"
Pete looked around to find out why Micky was screaming just as the windows exploded in, a well timed SWAT team swinging in at precisely the right moment.
"Get down on the floor!" One of the masked SWAT team shouted. Micky couldn't see which one as all their faces were covered and they all looked the same. Smoke grenades rolled all round the room, choking Micky, Jed, Pete and the numerous hostages.
Micky heard a gun shot. Then another. And another.
He knew it was Jeds pistols. The unmistakable sound of his shooters thundering through the building.
"I'm hit! Open fire!" The SWAT team started firing on Micky and Pete who were taking cover behind a stand while Jed ran around like a maniac firing on anything that moved. "Over here!" Another of the SWAT team shouted from beside Micky. He barely had time to raise his hands and beg not to be shot when a bullet from Jeds pistol went straight through the guys head.
Jed ran over to where Micky and Pete were taking cover.
"What in blazes are you two chicken bitches playin' at?!" He took out a long grey tube from his jacket pocket. one end was pointed and red, the other end looked like a flare. He clipped it to the rope around his shoulder and threw both on the floor. "This is why 'ahm the Captain and you two'r still just shovellin' shit fer a livin'!" He shot at the grey tube, which shattered to expose the lit rocket. "Time to go fellas!" The rocket took off and blew a hole through the roof of the bank, taking the rope with it. Jed grabbed hold of the rope, Pete did the same. Micky reached out for it, but was hauled away by the man in the business suit.
"No you don't! I'm not letting you get away with this!" Micky struggled against him as the rocket took Jed up first, hanging onto the rope being pulled into the air by the rocket. The guy tried to pull off Micky's mask, but Micky punched him away and scrambled to reach the end of the rope. He was pulled away by the ankle again, the man not wanting him to escape. Micky turned over in a panic and saw the machine gun. He grabbed it and swung it to hi the man away. There was a flash of light as Micky grabbed the trigger without thinking. He just wanted to escape. Everything seemed to slow down. He watched the mans face turn from anger to fear. Micky had shot him through the chest numerous times. The man in the business suit was dead before he had hit the floor.
"Get hold laad!" Pete shouted to Micky as he too was hauled off the floor by the rope.
Micky grabbed and missed.
Grabbed again. This time he caught hold of it, half a second before it pulled his feet off the floor. Bullets tore at them as they were pulled through the roof by the rocket. They each let go and landed on the gravelly surface, not wasting time in running to Jed's small ship. The captain still had the bags of money tied to his belt loop. He grinned at them both and patted them on the back proudly.
"Well done boys!" He cheered as he removed his mask. "We're eatin' well tonight!" He spun and walked up the small loading ramp into the ship. Pete looked at Micky with a grin on his face and followed.
Micky didn't know how to feel. He knew he now had more money than most people in this day and age. But at what cost?
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From a few yards away, Micky watched the memory of himself walking up the loading ramp and into Jeds ship. The ship took off from the roof of the bank and tore away into space as the surroundings faded. When he looked around he saw that he was outside the house of his girlfriend from his teenage years.
"Oh no." Micky whispered to himself. "I don't want to see this."
<TBC>
<Thought I'd best elaborate on Mickys back ground story rather than leave you wondering>

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