Confined to the back-seat of the Renault Laguna, Marisa seethed with jealousy. Her Elio was in the front with Olga. Olga who was classy, exotic, and very close to Elio's own age. Like any SWA cyborg, Marisa saw other women as competition for the attention of her handler, and the buxom Russian was a serious threat.
Olga had been sent to pick the fratello up and get them out of Paris after a mission that, while successful, had encountered complications. Elio & Marisa needed to avoid the French police and Olga was an expert at such things. That was no comfort to Marisa though...the Russian woman was monopolizing the time with her handler. Marisa subtly retaliated by interrupting their conversation anytime it got too familiar in her opinion.
"It's a very long drive to Cannes, little red myshi, why don't you try to get some rest?" Olga suggested. That was too much! Marisa resolved not to sleep one single minute until they were in Cannes and she was alone with Elio again!
A half hour later she was asleep.
_____________Lifetime Things to Do List________________
Two days later they were back at SWA Headquarters. The 27 hour nautical journey from Cannes to Fiumicino had been made aboard a small tug vessel. It wasn't luxurious, but Marisa loved being back out at sea, rocked by the waves and splashed by the salt spray. Best of all (at least as far as the young cyborg was concerned) there were not enough spare bunks available, so she was "forced" to curl up with Elio in his bed at night.
As late afternoon turned to evening the 2 sat on the stern together watching the sunset. Elio noticed Marisa writing in a little black notebook that he had not seen before. As he had given her everything she owned it puzzled him. "Where did that come from?" he asked.
"I got it in Paris," she explained "some asshole store clerk wouldn't let me use the bathroom unless I was a paying customer. So I used that 1 euro coin you let me keep in Piombino."
"Watch your language Mari" warned Elio, but he continued, "Hmmm, that was your only money, wasn't it? Remind me next time to make sure you have some cash in your pocket before we go on a mission...just in case. In fact…" Alboreto dug into his pocket and took a pair of 20 euro notes out and handed them to her, "…here's a few euros now. Be careful with these."
Marisa grinned ear to ear, and ran her fingers up & down across the bills, studying their texture. Lacking a wallet of any kind the carefully folded them and tucked them into her black notebook.
"So what are you so busy writing?" asked her handler, "A diary?"
"That's kind of dorky," she replied, "we have mission logs to keep track of the important stuff. I'm writing a list."
"What kind of list?"
"I'm not going to live very long, not as long as a normal human...I know that" she explained, "so I want to keep track of all the things I want to do before I die. Kind of a 'Lifetime Things to Do List' you know?"
Elio smiled sadly. "You still have a long time left, but I think that's a fine idea." Marisa continued writing in her little notebook as the setting sun colored the clouds gold, orange & purple.
_____________The Feud______________
There was still one awkward moment when they pulled into the docks at Fiumicino and Marisa rushed to help the tug-boat's crew with the lines. The deck-hands were astonished to see an 11-year old girl who could pick up and throw a wet 3" nylon hawser as well as any full grown man! Elio put a quick stop to it, whispering harshly in her ear "Quit showing off...these sailors don't know you're a you know what!"
After a night of sleep in her own dorm room it was back to work the next morning. Dorm life was still a depressing grind for Marisa, who had no friends among her own "age group." She was still feuding with Henrietta and her friends, but that left few others to hang out with, or even eat breakfast with.
Success on the Paris mission did have its rewards though. Mari was congratulated by every adult who saw her eating alone. Every adult including Giuseppe Croce. The best part was that Henrietta, watching from her own table, noticed him praising Marisa on the good job she had done, even when separated from her handler. It made 'Etta flush red with jealousy, as she bent the tines of her fork stabbing at her breakfast. Marisa caught her staring and flashed Henrietta a smug grin.
After breakfast it was straight to the indoor shooting range for both cyborgs. Marisa hoped she would get assigned a stall right next to her rival, but they were placed at opposite ends of the gallery. The person who would be shooting directly to Marisa's left was a surprise.
"Elio, you're shooting today?" she asked with amazement, "You never practice with me."
"Well," he explained, "since you had to get rid of my old Colt in the Seine, I've got a new side-arm to learn."
"What did you get?" she asked, "Another 1911?"
"Nope..." Elio replied, withdrawing his new pistol, already assembled and ready to fire, "I picked up a Beretta 92FS like yours. The armory has piles of them so I figured; why bother special ordering something from overseas."
Marisa liked his choice, but was puzzled, "I thought you didn't like my 92."
"I think it's too big, physically for you...too hard to hide on your body or in a small purse" he explained, "I still wish you'd try some more compact pistols, like the SIG's the other girls use. I'm sure if you'd ask they'd let you try one of their pieces out." In truth he had only given Marisa a Beretta 92 because it was handy at the time...he had no idea she would become so attached to it.
She scowled and replied, "I don't want the same gun as those girls. I like my 92."
Elio rolled his eyes "Does that mean you're still feuding with them?"
"I'm not feuding...I just hate them" she answered.
The older man sighed and loaded a magazine into his new Beretta. "We'll talk about that later."
After an hour of shooting Marisa safed her weapon and leaned back to talk to her handler again. "Pssst, Elio?"
"Yeah Mari, what is it? Do you have a problem?"
"Can you see how stall #3 is doing?" she asked, "I'm too short to see over the barriers."
Elio glanced down, and saw the reason she was so interested. "I'm not dumb, kid...I know that's Henrietta's stall. Quit being competitive and focus on your own target."
"I'm not being competitive...I just want to beat her!"
"Focus on your target Mari" Elio ordered, looking down-range at his student's target "see, you're doing really well, good grouping, no strays...wait a minute." Elio did not trust his eyes so he hit the button in her stall and the electric winch zipped the paper target to his hands. Just as he had suspected, there was short bobbed hair drawn on the human silhouette with a marker. That was enough, Elio was out of patience. "Secure your weapon and return your unused rounds, you're done!"
"But we've only been here for an hour!" she protested.
"Tough" he growled, "I've had enough of your stupid feud. Go back to the dorm and cool off until lunch!"
"But..."
"Dorm. Now. That's an order!"
Marisa stamped her foot once, but did as she was told, returning her half empty box of 9mm rounds, holstering her pistol, and walking out of the range with her head hung low. Elio looked right then left, catching a few cyborgs and adults who had been watching the whole embarrassing scene. He gathered up Marisa's targets and left, but as he was walking out he glanced at Henrietta's target in stall #3.
She had drawn braided pigtails on it with red marker.
As her boss had ordered, Marisa sat in her dorm room to "cool off" until lunch time. She knew Elio did not like to enter the girls' dorm, but still Marisa expected him to come in at any minute and yell at her about what had happened. When this had not happened by lunch she decided to go down to the dining hall. The cooks had prepared grilled sandwiches for lunch today. Mari didn't have much of an appetite after her humiliating incident, so she only ate 4.
While Marisa was finishing up her last sandwich the most unexpected thing happened. In walked her hated rival Henrietta. The brunette filled her own tray, but instead of walking to her usual table, where Triela & Claes were already sitting, Henrietta walked straight to Mari and sat down across from her. She avoided eye contact, but said "Giuseppe told me I had to come talk to you. He told me we had to talk this out. He was really angry."
"Elio hasn't talked to me since he kicked me out of the shooting range" replied Marisa.
"Giuse said it was Mr. Alboreto's idea" added Henrietta.
The red-head nodded, and agreed, "Yeah, it sounds like one of his ideas." There was no point in wasting any more time; she got straight to the point. "Elio calls this fight we're having a feud. How did it start anyway?"
"I think you said something mean about Giuse" said 'Etta, "something about his car."
"Oh yeah..." sighed Marisa, "...we were talking about Giuse's Porsche and Elio's M3, and...well, it isn't important. I should have known not to argue about something silly like that."
"Me too" admitted Henrietta, "and Giuse told me you were right anyway. Elio's car is faster."
Marisa could have gone on the attack right now, but she knew it was wrong, and besides, Elio would be furious if she didn't patch things up right now. It was time to reach out, to extend the proverbial olive branch. "Which car is faster isn't the only important thing. Your Boxster is a convertible, and that makes it cool no matter how fast it is!"
Henrietta smiled for the first time. "You're right! I love riding in it with the top down. I ask Giuse to lower the top even when it's cold outside!" She blushed and added, "Is that all we were fighting about?"
"I think so" Marisa replied, "it seems silly now."
"Yeah! I can't believe I was imagining shooting you over it!" giggled 'Etta "I even drew your red pig-tails on my range target! Lucky Giuse didn't see that or he would have been really mad!"
"I drew your hair on my target too" groaned Marisa, "but I got busted for it."
Just then Rico walked up and plopped down on the chair next to Marisa. "What'cha doin'?" she asked. Rico was oblivious to the serious conversation the two had been engaged in.
Marisa came up with a reasonable lie; "Umm, we're talking about our handler's cars."
Rico took a bite of her sandwich and replied, "Both of your handlers have such cool cars, but Jean's is kind of...boring." Both girls could tell it was difficult for Rico to say anything that seemed the least little bit disloyal to Jean. The blonde girl continued "Still, it would be fun to try and drive it someday!"
Henrietta broke out laughing and said "That's silly, cyborgs can't drive! I don't even think Giuse would teach me how if I asked for it as a reward!"
At that moment, as Henrietta & Rico laughed, Marisa came up with an idea. It was the kind of idea that seemed so perfect that it couldn't possibly be wrong! "Hey...who says we can't learn to drive on our own?"
The other two froze, and looked at her curiously. "How?" Henrietta asked "Our handlers would never give us their cars."
"But the agency has plenty of extra cars. The little Fiat delivery vans are parked here all night. We could borrow one of those!" explained Marisa.
"They'd never let us!" Henrietta retorted.
Marisa leaned forward and whispered, "We do it at night...covert mission!" The other 2 gasped. "We can sneak out of the dorm after dark and get some practice driving around the compound. As long as we bring it back and park it where we found it, nobody will ever know we did it!"
Rico objected next, "But it's not worth it...we'd get reconditioned if our handlers ever found out!"
Marisa depended on her sneaky way of looking at things to convince the blonde girl "Just look at it as extra training. What if your handler got injured and you had to drive his car to carry him to safety? Just think how proud Jean, or Giuse, or Elio would be if we learned a new skill without any help!" That pushed Rico's buttons! She smiled and nodded, indicating that she was on board.
Henrietta needed no more convincing. "This sounds like fun! We have to do it tonight!"
"Alright...we shake on it!" Marisa whispered. She held out her hand, but was surprised to have both of her wrists grabbed by the stronger Generation 1 cyborgs. The 3 waved their arms up and down in a triangle, apparently this was how Henrietta & Rico shook hands. "So we're agreed...we sneak out and meet behind the dorm at 10pm tonight. Like I said, this is a secret covert mission, dress for stealth!"
___________Stealth Mission_____________
At 10pm all 3 girls met at the rendezvous. Marisa was dressed all in black to avoid being seen, but she rolled her eyes when she saw the other two. Henrietta was wearing her grey school-girl outfit. "But this is what I always wear when Giuse takes me on a covert stealth mission!" she explained. Rico was wearing her usual clothes...but with a fake moustache. It was obvious that they hadn't understood what Marisa meant by dress for stealth.
It was still easy for the 3 fast, small girls to reach the agency parking lot without being noticed. They chose a basic white Fiat Fiorino, one with an automatic transmission. Elio always objected to automatics, but the girls decided they'd better start easy, especially since they hadn't even figured out how they were going to reach the gas & brake pedals yet. The door was already unlocked.
"Damn...what about the keys?" cursed Marisa, but Henrietta & Rico just laughed.
"We're all trained to disarm bomb wiring, silly, I think we can get a little van started!" giggled Rico "Hot wire in...ground out, it's simple!"
"Use that wire!" pointed out a helpful 'Etta. The Fiat's 1.3 liter turbo-diesel fired to life! The 3 girls were scared that the noise would attract attention but when nobody showed up they grinned and set about the next step.
"You go first, Mari" suggested Henrietta, "This was your great idea! But don't turn the headlights on or someone will see us." Their cyborg eyes could see just fine in the moon-lit night.
"Thanks!" exclaimed the red-haired cyborg. She sat in the driver's seat, which she had to slide all the way forward, and she could just barely reach the pedals. Marisa took a deep breath. "Okay...first gear!" She started off awkwardly, pressing the throttle & brake with clumsy jabs of her foot. This was a lot harder than her handler made it look!
"Steer!" urged Rico, yanking the wheel just in time to avoid a slow speed collision with another vehicle.
"Okay, okay, I'm getting the hang of it!" Marisa said with a grin. She steered out of the parking lot and onto the service paths of the SWA compond.
Over the next 45 minutes they all took turns. None of them was very good...they cut corners and frequently drove across the grass lawns, but it was huge fun and they all felt like they were seriously accomplishing something! "We should do this every night!" Rico giggled, "In a week we'll be able to drive for real!"
"I think I need to practice longer than that!" joked Henrietta, who was behind the wheel. She bounced off the path and onto grass, slippery with night-time dew. It was difficult to regain control.
"Steer back on the path," Marisa told her, "slow down with the brakes and turn left!"
"I'm trying!" 'Etta replied, but she hit the wrong pedal and the little van slid on the wet grass! Poor Henrietta knew nothing about counter-steering into a slide, so she cut the wheel in the wrong direction and totally lost control!
*CRASH*
The airbags deployed, knocking the girls back. For a few seconds they were dazed...none of them had ever been in a car crash before. "We hit something!" exclaimed Marisa!
"I hope it wasn't a zebra!" Rico nearly cried. The 2 other girls stared at her like she was crazy, so Rico added, "I just...really like zebras."
Henrietta stumbled out of the driver's door and inspected the damage. "Ooohhhh, nooo" she moaned, "we crashed into Claes' garden!" It was true, the van had climbed up the corner of the brick walled garden and now had its front wheels high off the ground.
Marisa & Rico scrambled out of the van. "Quick!" implored Mari "Pull the van clear...we're all strong enough!" When they did the bricks of Claes' garden came tumbling down, spilling soil out on the grass!
"Ohhh, fix it! Quick!" Rico exclaimed, trying to re-assemble the bricks, but only making a bigger mess!
Marisa couldn't believe what was happening...it had all gone wrong so fast, and it was all her fault! She began to get sweaty & her artificial heart was pounding in her chest! A panic attack was coming, she could feel it! She tried the mantra Chief Lorenzo had taught her...reciting the name of kind old Mama Galati, but that only made her feel worse. If Mama Galati or Chief Lorenzo found out about this...
She was snapped back to reality by Henrietta, who grabbed Marisa and shook her. "People are coming! What are we gonna do!?" she whined. It was already too late though.
In minutes there were security & maintenance personnel all over the place. All of them wanted to know one thing, "What the hell is going on?"
"I would like to know that too!" growled a very irritated Mr. Hillshire. He was the only handler still at work this late, and he quickly took charge of the situation. All 3 cyborgs stood shoulder to shoulder before him and took turns trying to explain themselves. No excuse really sounded good at the moment. "Follow me!" he barked the command like a drill sergeant. Heads hung low, the 3 nervous cyborgs followed him all the way back to the dorm, dragging their feet the whole way.
Mr. Hillshire steered them into an unoccupied room and ordered, "You three wait in here for your handlers to arrive!" Then he slammed the door.
As soon as they were alone Rico breathed a loud sigh of relief & sat on the bench near the window. "Boy, Mr. Hillshire seems really angry! I sure am glad he's not my handler!"
Henrietta sat down on the bed and replied "Oh Rico, don't you think Jean is going to be just as angry when he finds out?" Rico thought about that for a second. She said nothing more, but hugged her knees up close to her chest and made a noise that was a combination between a groan and a whimper.
"I'm so sorry!" Marisa cried out, "This is all my fault!"
"What?" the other two asked in perfect unison.
"This was all my stupid idea!" Marisa continued, "Neither of you would be in this situation if it wasn't for me!"
"But," Henrietta answered, "I was driving when we crashed."
"And I hot-wired the van" Rico added.
"Yeah...it seems like you're the least to blame" concluded 'Etta.
Mari couldn't believe what she was hearing! "Are you both crazy!? This is totally my fault! None of this would have happened if I didn't dream up this idiot plan! I screw everything up!"
"You're being silly, Marisa" chided Rico.
"Oh, am I?" Marisa retorted, "Did anything like this happen before I showed up?"
"Well, no" Henrietta admitted, "we never got to do anything fun after lights-out!"
"Fun?" groaned Marisa, "Tell me how much fun it's gonna be when Giuseppe, and Jean, and ohhh god....Elio, shows up!"
The 3 were quiet for a couple of minutes, each contemplating their impending doom. Henrietta was the first to break the silence. "You know...maybe this is how it feels to be a normal girl."
"What do you mean?" Rico asked.
"I hear," she explained "normal girls are not allowed to do stuff like carry & shoot guns, to get into knife fights, or to jump across rooftops while wearing a skirt! So if they're not allowed to do so much stuff I bet they get in trouble all the time!"
"I met a normal boy once" offered Rico, "but then I shot him in the face."
"Well, normal girls," Marisa sighed, "it's gonna be a long night."
Jean, Giuseppe & Elio walked into Chief Lorenzo's office together the next morning, their faces dour and their spirits as low as the cyborgs' had been last night. The Chief seemed surprised to see them. "Can I help you, Gentlemen? I don't have much time I'm afraid."
"We thought you would want to discuss the incident with the delivery vehicle last night" suggested Jean.
Lorenzo shrugged his shoulders. "Vic Hillshire filled me in when I arrived this morning. No cyborgs were hurt, the vehicle is easily repairable...I do expect them to fix Claes' garden of course." All three handlers nodded in agreement and added "Of course."
"Then I don't see how this is any of my business" said Lorenzo concluded.
"You're taking this better than I expected" Elio ventured.
The Chief stood up from his desk and gathered up a few papers. "Gentlemen, I have a conference call with Secretary of Defense Petris in 7 minutes. As long as I can report truthfully to her that all cyborgs are either currently deployed or mission ready I am happy. Is that the case gentlemen?"
"Ummm, yes" admitted Jean.
"Good. I need not concern myself with every bit of juvenile mischief that occurs in the dorms, or outside of them in this case" Lorenzo explained, walking toward the door, "that's what I have you handlers for. I expect you will deal with this appropriately in your own fashion." He paused and muttered, "Frankly, if it were up to me all three of them would be getting their skinny rear-ends paddled."
Elio shrugged his shoulders dismissively. "What good would it do to spank a cyborg? They'd barely feel it."
Giuse sighed heavily and suggested, "Perhaps we should ask the medical-technology division about giving us that option in the future..."
Jaws dropped all around the room...the other 3 men were astonished to hear those words come from the mouth of Giuseppe Croce. They all felt pretty uncomfortable, and were glad when Lorenzo changed the subject. "I now have 4 minutes until the start of my conference call. I'd just like to admit one thing to you handlers. When I was 13 years old I did the exact same thing...I borrowed the family car because I thought I could teach myself how to drive. Of course, I side-swiped a wall." The Chief smiled nostalgically and added "My father was furious of course, we were not a wealthy family...but he went a lot easier on me than I thought he would. Keep that in mind gentlemen..." he opened his door, "...while you clear out of my office."
The girls had been awake most of the night worrying about their fate, so all 3 were still asleep at 9:30am when their handlers arrived. Henrietta was in the bottom bunk, Rico curled up on the padded bench near the window, and Marisa was sprawled out on the couch. They all woke up and sprang to their feet when the door swung open! The three handlers strode in and stood shoulder to shoulder, facing their cyborgs.
"We've just come from the Section Chief's office, and he is fuming mad!" lied Giuseppe, "We had to talk him out of having every one of you reconditioned!" The fabrication worked, all 3 girls believed it and cringed. "Henrietta, come with me..." Giuse ordered.
"You too Rico" added Jean. As the 2 ushered their charges out he was poised to give Rico a 'not-so-gentle' shove, but he was stopped by a sharp glance from his younger brother.
Marisa was left alone with Elio. He went straight into question mode; "I thought you were feuding with those two!?"
"Ummm..." she muttered, "that was a whole day ago."
Elio rolled his eyes. "Well, do you have an explanation for this?" he growled.
She winced at the sound of his voice, but replied, "Not a good one , Sir. I dreamed up a zillion excuses while we were waiting for you last night, but the truth is...I got an idea in my head that was either a really good idea, or a really bad one, and obviously I couldn't tell the difference."
Alboreto was impressed by her answer, but tried not to let it show. "That's about the best explanation you could have given, but it still doesn't change the fact that you're in deep trouble. Do you have anything left to say for yourself?"
Mari sighed and told him "It was all my idea."
"Why does that not surprise me?" groaned her handler.
"I mean...the other girls shouldn't get blamed!" she clarified her position, "I dreamed up this stupid plan, please talk to the Mr. Croce and...the other Mr. Croce and tell them Rico & Henrietta aren't responsible!"
Elio regarded at her with a skeptic eye. "Are you saying this just because you're afraid you'll lose all your new friends if you don't take the fall for them?"
"No!" she protested, "Please believe me! I always believe you!"
"Okay..." the man suggested, "...if I was to offer you the opportunity to accept all 3 of your punishments, yours, Rico's and Henrietta's, all by yourself, would you take it?"
Marisa took a deep, ragged breath, and nervously answered, "Yes."
Alboreto was pleased by her courage. It was difficult to stay angry at her. "Well, I'm impressed and proud of you," Elio told her, "but it doesn't change anything. The other handlers & I disagree...Rico and Henrietta share some of the blame and they are going to have to face the consequences just like you." He sat down on a chair that was uncomfortably small for him, and continued; "Jean is taking Rico out to the obstacle course, where he's going to have her run laps all day or until she pukes. Once she's done the 3 of you can fix Claes' garden, together. Giuseppe has cancelled an outing to the Bioparco (the Rome Zoo) that Henrietta was really looking forward to...she'll be writing an essay about last night's incident instead."
"What about me?" asked Marisa, meekly.
"I gave this a lot of thought, and I think you should work off the damage you did by spending every spare minute you have for the next week in the kitchen. You'll mop the floor, you'll do dishes, you'll scrub pots, you'll do everything they tell you to whenever you're not scheduled for training or classes. In addition I want you to do 5 hours of service for Claes to pay her back for the damage to her garden...once your sentence in the kitchen is complete."
"Do I have any training scheduled for today?" she asked hopefully.
"Practice your knife work," Elio replied, "you have 20 kilos of potatoes to peel before lunch." She groaned when she heard that, so Elio added in a gentler voice, "Spin the potato in your hand. Try to take the whole peel off in one piece...it's harder but it makes the time go faster."
"How do you know?" she asked.
Elio smiled and replied "Hey, what do you think my old Sergeant used to do to me when I screwed up as a young Royal Army recruit?" That drew a smile from Mari too. She found it hard to imagine her confident, distinguished boss in British Army fatigues peeling a giant pile of potatoes. He stood up, and ushered her toward the door. "Now get moving...I'm looking forward to patate al forno at lunch but it isn't going to make it's self!"
As Marisa trudged to the dining hall to begin her sentence she met Henrietta coming back from Giuse's office. They each gave a quick glance over their shoulders to make sure it was safe to talk. Henrietta's eyes were red & puffy like she'd been crying, making Marisa wonder what she looked like.
"I'm really sorry about your trip to the zoo, Henrietta!" apologized Mari.
She replied "Yeah, Giuse was pretty upset with me...I've got to write a 2-page essay now..."
"That's not so bad" said Marisa.
"...but then I have to copy it, word for word...4 more times!" lamented 'Etta, "And spelling counts!" This last part was a big deal to her. She flexed her fingers in anticipation of impending writers cramp and joked "They're gonna have to replace my hand by the time I'm done!" She turned her attention to Marisa with sympathy, "I'm really sorry you have to work in the kitchen for a week...hopefully you'll get to learn some cooking!"
"More likely I'll learn how to scrub burnt grease & cheese out of a cooking pot" admitted the red-head.
Henrietta whispered her next words with a guilty smile "At least we got to do something fun!"
"It was fun, wasn't it?" chuckled Marisa, but the conversation was cut short.
"Henrietta! Your room, now! You have an essay to write!" came Giuseppe's voice, booming down the hall.
"Marisa! The chow-hall now! March!" commanded Elio from the opposite end of the hall. The two cyborgs gave each other a private smile and trudged off to their respective sentences.
The two handlers met in the middle of the hall and shook their heads. "Rough morning..." commented Alboreto.
"Yeah, I could use a cup of coffee," suggested Croce, "actually, you're half-British, maybe you'd prefer tea?"
"I'd prefer whisky right about now" muttered Elio, and the two handlers walked together down the hall.
END