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Mission Complete

Chapter Six and Chapter Seven

Chapter 6
“Josh, what the Bloody Hell are you doing up there?!” Heather yelled out at the silver and black automaton in front of her, her British tone clear in the large hangar. “I just fixed your damned machine, and I don’t want to have to do it again. I can tell by the way the eyes aren’t lighting up, but the suit is moving that you’re screwing around in the control panel. You better not mess it up, or I’m going to . . .” Heather stamped her foot childishly, hoping to let out some of her frustration. Visions of dark smoke and broken gears flashed through her head in snippets of red flame. She pushed them away with another vision of hanging Pilot Yuy with wires off the side of his own suit. It made her smile. Some days, she felt more like a personal mechanic than a special forces pilot.

“You’re gonna what?” The Opiate pilot smirked, peeking his head from the door in the front of the console. The dark, spooky colored machine seemed to share its owner’s sense of humor as its eyes lit up in random spurts with the tone of Joshua’s voice. Instead of the hatch on the top of the P.I.F.S., like the Lilith and the Apollo suit, the Opiate module’s command center opened in the middle of the body, allowing room for a set of four steps used for descent to the legs, where indentions in the metal created a make-shift ladder to the ground. Getting into the machine was easy, piloting it was another matter. Although the computer itself was a copy of the basic prototype used in I.S.U.M.s, used to be able to completely control the machine from the outside in case of emergency, the system that ran the computer could only be operated by total body movement. The Morpheus P.I.F.S. it shared a hangar with, on the other hand, operated on slight of hand maneuvers from a joystick. The modifications made the machines easier for the assigned pilots, but difficult in the odd times when a pilot had to switch machines in order to complete a mission.

Heather counted slowly down from ten, calculating how long it would take her to get into the command center and strangle Joshua. She figured that it could be done in five minutes or so, depending on how long it took her to get inside the machine, because at the acceleration of the force of her anger, it wouldn’t take long to strangle the last breath out of his grinning skull.

“I’m going to climb up there, and hit you so hard, it will knock your earrings clean out of your huge ears!” The Lilith pilot began to race toward the base of the Opiate machine. It was crouched on the floor, and by her calculations that would cut several seconds off her ascent and allow Josh a few more seconds of suffering because she would be that much less angry. She jumped over a box of dirty rags and dodged around an open toolbox before Julian grabbed her by her belt as she passed him and pulled her back forcefully. Cordelia buckled over in laughter, letting herself down onto an old couch and struggling to catch her breath: Heather only lost her emotional detachment when Josh was involved. Normally calm and unbreakable, Josh made Heather rage often enough to keep her cool when her world threatened to fall apart in battle. Cordelia found it humorous that neither of them recognized it as sexual tension. She winked at Julian, who nodded with a slight knowing smirk.

“Now, now, let’s let him die a hero in battle instead in the hangar like the loser he is.” Julian wrapped his arms around her reedy waist and pulled her against his large, muscular but pudgy body. “He’s not worth getting demoted.” He soothed as Heather quit fighting and began to relax against him. She was the youngest of all the pilots, but no one could figure out why she was as cold as she appeared to be. They didn’t think her training had been much different from their own, nothing was unusual about it, except her age. Where it had take Julian ten years to finish his training, he didn’t think Heather had started training at nine years old, she could have just been a extremely fast learner. It just wasn’t proper protocol to train anyone under at least sixteen, and the NOVA forces were trained extensively in protocol. At least he thought he could remember something about her being trained at Fort Bratumil. Her attitude was enough like Commander Renata to warrant her training with him. “It’s all right.” He continued loosening his grip and flinched as he watched the stony expression she normally wore return to her face. She straightened, sealing herself from the contact and everything else that might indirectly cause more emotion before turning on her boot heel and marching out of the room. Julian could see her cursing herself for not holding her emotions.

“That girl,” The Opiate pilot started, as he came down from the cockpit of his Piloted Interspacial Flight Suit. He used his remote to stand the mechanical monster up, but unlike Renata, the machine stayed just how it had been crouched, with the arms hanging wherever they happened to be when he lowered it.

“Woman.” Kearns corrected. He watched until Heather had pushed the hangar door shut before turning and addressing Pilot Yuy.

“Woman.” Josh nodded his acceptance. “Is just so . . . loveable, don’t you think?” he mused, nudging Julian, and laughing at his hold on Heather. “She’s like an Ice Princess, holier-than-thou attitude and all.”

“Josh, I should have let Jules - let her - kick your ass.” Cordelia said simply. “You two just need to screw or make out and get it over with.” Julian shook his head, and him and Cordelia walked away, before Josh could respond, leaving him confused and alone in the grease filled hanger. She was cold and he didn’t see how she could be any other way. Sure, she was beautiful, but so were ice sculptures, and that didn’t mean he wanted to hug them. Cordelia needed to wake up. There was nothing but a rivalry going on between him and Lieutenant Kou, and that’s all there ever would be. ‘Not that I want more,’ Josh amended. ‘Who could love such a frosty bitch?’


Chapter 7
“Josh, you really love causing me trouble, don’t you?” Lieutenant Kou laughed. Some how, he had gotten through the frozen palace and replaced it partially with a summer cottage. There would still be a lot of winters to get through if they ever wanted a summer to their fledgling romance.

“Not trouble. Friction. I was testing your endurance.” Josh volleyed as he put his arm around her shoulders and they headed toward the Legerdemain and Miakoda’s hangar, the Thelema Room. That had been four years ago, but there was still a lot she kept hidden from not only him, but everyone but Commander Renata. He knew everything only out of necessity.

“Her endurance? I think you more tested her patience, Joshua.” Cordelia’s girly voice quipped as she raced ahead and opened the doors to the newest hangar in Fort Bratumil. It was roughly the same size as the other hangars, with the same tile, colors, and equipment. Tools in boxes lined the side walls as they walked in, and a large skylight took up most of the space on the ceiling. That would be open for launch of the machines. A few dirty machine pieces lay about, but for the most part, the hangar was fairly neat. The Miakoda stood proudly on one side of the room, its face scorched slightly above the eyes. Heather silently noted that it would have to be repainted before Levi was out of the hospital so it wouldn’t cause any unnecessary problems. The Legerdemain pilot, Spencer, entered the large room from the opposite end and caught Cordelia, tossing her easily into the air.

“Spencer!” Cordelia squealed as her arms found their way around his neck. “You put me down!” Spencer laughed warmly and slung around his hip and back onto the floor.
“It’s good to see you, Lieutenant. It’s hard to believe we got this hangar done in only six months.” He smiled, turning to look over the kneeling form of his own P.I.F.S. The eyes began to darken as the power mechanisms were shutting down from the inside, much like the lights from a closed car door fade. It seemed almost as if the tired machine was going to sleep. “It seems like we’ve been here forever, but it’s only been three years. Do you remember our first week?” Spencer turned and saluted the officers, mostly out of innate habit. Heather and Drake saluted back rigidly, but Josh and Julian didn’t bother. Formalities were stupid when one was dealing with a family unit.

“I remember. She left without even telling me.” Josh whined. “I don’t like pilots having to leave on vigilante missions alone, especially either of the girls.” Truthfully, he didn’t really care if Cordelia left. He didn’t like that Heather had taken off without telling the rest of the crew where she was going. Only Drake, who had given her the orders, and the Command office, which had to keep the records of the mission, had known her true purpose for leaving. Josh believed that her lies showed more detachment and frigidity than all her harsh words and bitter remarks had ever done combined. Hadn’t she said that she hated vigilante missions by herself to anywhere? Supply trips were one thing; they could be done anonymously in a regular flight machine. Vigilante missions required the heavy fire power of the P.I.F.S. suits, and there was nothing anonymous about their distinctive coloring, especially the femininity of the Lilith machine. Plus, there was no excuse for disappearing in the middle of a war. He thought that they were supposed to be a family. Even if Heather had never had a real family, she needed to start somewhere.

Word Count for these chapters: 1,695 words
Word Count Total: 6,994 words
Days Left: 26 days



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1 Comments:

At 1:54 AM, Blogger 'Ailina said...

6,881! Way to go! You seem to keep your groove well. If you're struggling, I can't tell by your narrative.

 

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