The G-Bracelet Origins: Melissa Rogers

"I'm sorry." Said a man in front of the door to the Grace Homeless Shelter. "We can't accept anyone anymore. We're full for the night. You might want to try St. Anne's downtown."

The door then closed, leaving yet another homeless teenager on the streets another night. Knowing that St. Anne's Homeless Shelter was over two hours away on foot, the rugged young woman found her way to an alley, and crouched herself into a ball to maintain warmth. Her thoughts began to wander, as they always do every night. She remembers the alcohol on the dining room table, slowly emptying as each hour passed. She remembers a new bottle end up on the table every day, thus repeating the same process. Worst of all, she remembered the pain of his belt, and the cries she would scream, begging him to stop. She knew the scars on her back would never heal, and these thoughts cried her to sleep every cold night outside.

She was awakened by the bright light of the sun, even in the darkness of the alleyway. She was annoyed to be woken up so early, but thankful that it was getting warmer outside. She went into the Grace Shelter again, which welcomed her to have a warm meal. The thought of soup, to her, seemed so simple, yet so mouth watering. She ate the bowl quickly and then went back outside, finding a place on the street to beg for change. Her "earnings" for the morning were small, but people were usually nice to her once noon came around. It wasn't long before she was greeted by an elderly gentleman who smiled down upon her. She looked up to see him, but the glare of the sun kept his face hidden in the shadows.

"You seem to be in need of something special, my dear." He said to her.

"I'm just looking for some change, old man." she responded, assuming he was asking for sexual favors. "I'm not that kind of girl."

The old man chuckled a bit. "Oh, I'm sorry. I meant nothing of the sort. I mean to give you something that will help you a great deal."

"Unless it's a house or winning lottery ticket, I don't think--"

He placed something into her hand, and closed it, smiling at her once. "You seem to enjoy living in the shadows, so use this Blitz, and make the shadows your ally to hunt down your enemies."

He then walked away into a crowd, as she got up to find him. He seemed to have disappeared without a trace. She looked at what was in her hand, revealing a small envelope. She opened the envelope to find a small, simple looking black bracelet. She seemed confused of what this crazy old man was doing, but she shrugged it off, and put it on. She then found a small piece of paper in the envelope, with a simple message on it.

Say your name, Blitz, Launching! and let the shadows guide you.

"Melissa Rogers, Blitz, Launching? What the hell--"

After saying the command, her bracelet began to glow, and a black light surrounded her body, as the Blitz armor encased her. She looked at herself to se that she wasn't just wearing some raddy clothes anymore. It wasn't long after that her mind began to flow with the information of her new toy, and quickly activated the Mirage Colloid, hiding herself from plain sight.

"Whoa," she said to herself. "This is going to be interesting."

The day concluded rather quickly, as Melissa processed everything that happened to her today. She kept going over what the old man told her, about using the shadows to hunt down her enemies. She started thinking about who she considered an enemy, and only one name came to mind.

Midnight arose a building Melissa once called home. She knew that if she wanted to come here, it would have to be after her father was drunk and passed out on the couch. She activated the Blitz and snuck in. She found him the same way she always found him at night. He was drunk off his ass, watching some cheap late night soft core porn on cable. She walked over to him, thankfully invisible, as she armed on of her silver projectiles. She pointed it directly at his face. All she could feel was a hatred for this man, and it was a hatred that she could feel for no one else. She was ready to fire, when she realized what she was doing.

"What the hell am I doing?" she said to herself, "If I do this, I'm no better than he is!"

She moved her weapon away, and aimed it at the alcohol bottles on the dining room table. She fired, shattering every bottle on the table. The noise didn't even wake him up for a second. She looked down on him once again, only in pity.

"Hmm, Figures." she said as she left as silently as she entered. She took to the sky, and flew off, not caring where she went.

She went for hours on end, taking breaks when needed. It seemed strange that she didn't need much food while she was wearing the Blitz. She then realized that the suit was controlling her metabolism, letting her go for longer periods without food. It still didn't change the fact that she was craving food. She spotted an island nearby, and decided to set down and look for something to eat. It was then that her radar detected three incoming mobile suits. They moved in rather fast and stopped her in her way. The two mobile suits at each end of the centre were simple looking. They were blue models with dome-shaped heads, carrying beam-bladed battle axes. The centre was a more impressive suit, with a red and yellow chest plate, with a green and yellow mount on his arm that looks like a dragon's head.

"Halt!" said the leader. "State your reason for trespassing in our airspace!"

"Umm..." she said. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was trespassing. I was just running."

"Running?" he asked. "What from?"

"It doesn't matter." She said. "There's no turning back for me."

He moved closer to her slowly. "Well, in that case, I welcome you."

"Welcome?" she said, not hearing that word in a long time.

"We are a small group of people, planning to help change the world. Help us, and you can make this your home."

"How do you plan to change the world?" she asked.

"We will probably have to fight for it," The leader said. "But I believe we can succeed with our superior technology, and little blood will be spilled."

"Well, I guess I can join. I haven't had a decent meal in some time, and I could use some rest."

"Excellent!" he said, "We welcome you then. What's your name?"

"Melissa Rogers" she answered.

"My name is Lars Keough," He responded. "Commander of the Mobile suit fleet."

Commander Keough was as good as his word. For the next several months, Melissa felt like she was at home. She had made friends in the Unit, and trained hard to become a fighter. Lars treated her well, partly because she was the only other Gundam based unit. She was promoted to Lieutenant after just a few weeks, and was privy to all of the Commander's plans.

Night fell, and Melissa lay awake in her bed. She decided to get up and take a walk around the complex, and decided to look at the stars from the arena area. As she walked closer, she heard the sound of weapons clashing. She knew a battle was going on, so she rushed toward the arena, to see a Gouf model suit, in combat with Lars and his Shenlong. The Gouf noticed her and opened a secure communication channel to her.

"Get off the island now!" Her communicator said. "Keough is a madman! He kills anyone who wants to leave! He plans to use us as pawns for genocide! You have the best chance to escape! Go get help!"

His last words were garbled when the Shenlong ran its Dragon Fang through the Gouf's chest. His suit then exploded, but Shenlong was unharmed. He set down and saw Melissa standing there. He powered down, and asked to see what she knew.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, my dear." He said. "He tried to overthrow my operation."

"I see." She said, trying to sound like she believed him. "Then I guess he got what he deserved."

"Indeed. So how come you're still up?" he asked her.

"Couldn't sleep. Thought I'd take a walk around."

"Well, I'm sure everything is okay now." Lars said to her. "You get some rest."

"Yes, Sir." She said, as she went back to her room.

A ruckus began to hit hard in the afternoon, as alert sirens went off like crazy. Melissa rushed to the command room to find out what was happening.

"Report!" she said.

"We have a trespasser on the island." A computer operator said. "He's been there for several hours with no movement.

"Send a team to investigate!" Lars said as he walked in, overhearing everything. "Bring him in alive."

"Yes sir!" said the operative as he activated the loudspeaker, "Command squad one to briefing room. Repeat, command squad one to briefing room!"

Melissa wondered who this new person was. Would he be a member of her new family, or just another casualty in Lars Keough's deadly war game? Her only hope was that whoever it was, he would at least be able to defend himself.

END