Chapter 2 Interesting Introductions
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! SMACK! "Urrg, I thought I turned that off..." said Livi as she groggily rolled over on her back. Looking back at the alarm clock, it blinked back the numbers 6:00 A.M. Sighing she sat up, stretched, and yawned, before squinting around her overly bright room. Glaring at nothing in particular she grabbed the shades on her window and closed them as she plopped down on her bed and into her pillow. "Forget getting up, I'm going back to sleep, the team can handle the morning without me." She mumbled, closing her eyes to fall into blissful sleep.
That's when she heard a slight knocking on her door, opening her eyes she glared at the wall. "Ma'am, uhm, Grand General Williams would like to see you." Growling, Livi got up; stomping to her door, and as it whooshed open Livi pointedly glared at the disturbance in her doorway. The girl standing before her stepped back in slight fear at the look on the commanders face.
Looking at her, Livi could see that she couldn't have been much older than her, in fact she looked too young to be in such a war, but then again this base served as much a refugee camp as a base for the resistance.
"What the hell does that old geezer want this early in the morning," she asked, not caring that she just insulted her superior.
"Um, well..." But she paused, looking quite nervous.
That kind of ticked her off, "Well spit it out, or I'm going back to bed!" Livi was mad now, and didn't care if she scared the girl or not. She knew at this point by now that her ears and tail had made an appearance, as well as her fangs.
Staring more at her ears and fangs rather than her face she answered, flustered. "The Grand General wants you to show the new transfer around the base." Livi squinted at her for a moment trying to think. "New transfer...?" That's when she remembered last night. "Ohh that transfer. Riiiight.' What rank are you, I don't remember ever seeing you before?" She said pretending to ignore what the girl just said.
A little put off, she blinked. "L-lance Corporal, Kati Rosen, I'm new, but I've been here for about a month. I was recommended by Lieutenant General Santiago, and I work in the intelligence and resource branch." She paused, her brow knitting together when she saw that Livi was staring at her, but not really seeing her, not to mention she looked exhausted as hell. "Ma'am, are you alright?" Poking her forehead, she tried to get her attention, but only succeeded in making the girl jumped and glare at her for a moment.
"What do you want? I'm tired." Livi spat grumpily, Kati squeaked and withdrew her hand not wanted to elicit more anger from her. Noticing, Livi sighed, and looked down the hall; it was deserted say for a few soldiers, talking to each other. "Look, give me an hour an 'a half, I need shut eye, I don't get enough sleep as it is, and being woken up at 6:00 in the morning doesn't help, I had a busy night last night, so I have more important things to do then show the Major around.' Though I wouldn't mind doing so, I just don't think he wants to deal with some one who's really crabby.' Tell the old man that. I'm sure he'll understand." She finished as she waving her hand at Kati, trying to dismiss her. She was about to turn to go back into her room, when she noticed that Kati hadn't moved.
"What, do you not know how to get back to his office...?" She said unenthusiastically. She seemed kind of antsy, like she wanted to say something, but was afraid to come out and say it. "I know I'll probably regret this, but-' Look, I can show you how to get there-."
"N-no, that isn't the problem, I know how to get back, I was just wondering... About LTG Santiago, he recommended me, but I barely know him... And since he's your commanding officer... I was wondering if you could tell me about him."
That through Livi off, usually someone with such a low rank as hers wouldn't even consider trying to get to know their higher ups, let alone ask about them. Most just go about their business, and do what their ordered, being that their pencil pushers an all. "This could be interesting."
"Well for starters, he's a very busy person, and if you want to get to know him you're not gonna get anywhere by asking other people about him." Getting the desired effect of seeing her hope deflate like a balloon, she went on. "But since you're asking me, and not some other random person, I can tell you a few things." Seeing Kati smile, she smirked back. "Come by my office at lunch, and we can talk."
"OK! Arigato MG Romayne." With that she bowed slightly and raced off toward the Grand General's office. Livi watched her race off, an eye brow raised. "What an odd person..." she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her room to go back to bed. "I guess I'll be seeing more of her if she's gonna follow Santiago around..." The door whooshed closed behind her.
Meanwhile in the Grand General's office, Brandon was staring at a huge tapestry painting of the world map; back when the United States where actually united. Now the country was divided into territories, thanks to China, and all the other armies that pretty much hated US's guts. Not only was the US split, but physically also. Parts of it floated off- Like California and parts of Florida, and then New Grand Lake appeared. It was basically a giant hole that opened up alongside the Adirondacks during the Great Catastrophe of 2030, which killed millions of people. It got its name for its shear depth and length; spanning from the mouth of Old Mississippi River, all the way up through to what was Niagara Falls, now known as the Great Falls of Providence Canada. And since it filled up with sea water, the water level actually dropped significantly around the world, witch caused the deaths of many species of the aquatic persuasion.
During the Great Catastrophe, many other things happened; the shadow creatures came to be. Originating from New Grand Lake, they started terrorizing anyone they got a hold off; causing more wide-spread death and destruction. Even more heart breaking then that was that parts of the US was sunk into the ocean. The Florida Keys and Miami- gone, half of Texas- disappeared down a sink hole that opened up. Nevada, all the way up to parts of New Canada, devastated by massive volcano's that sprouted up when the San Andria's Fault line Split, causing California to become an island. All in all the United States now, are nothing like what it used to be.
Now 25 years later, the shadow creatures are being controlled by a vicious ruler, and are systematically trying to take out ever base of the resistance, an army of US military, Navy, and any who had the heart to fight, no matter the age. There are some even as young as 10 in the resistance, and though they don't really get to fight till they get of age, they get to help in ways of cleaning or cooking, just so that they could feel useful in the fight against the shadows. Of course when they say 'of age' they mean when you're about 14. They stick you in rigorous training classes, and make you train till your red in the face, or crying in shear pain because they'd push you to hard.
But it wasn't all that bad really, there were good times as well, though very few. Like after particularly gory battles, when we would come home the victors, we made sure to celebrate, and lift up spirits so that we may avenge the lost in the next battle. As they say, "go into battle dismayed, and the battle is already lost." Of course with the resent take overs of the few bases we had, being high spirited was getting increasingly hard to do.
Looking away from the map and not wanting to engage the thought of failure any longer, Brandon gazed around the large study. The room he was in was full of bookshelves which reaches the ceiling, and covered two walls. In the middle of the room was a very elegant, red wood desk, which complimented the rooms stained wood trim and white carpeting. The walls were a very soft beige color with golden curtains on the windows that looked out into the training grounds of the base. The room was old fashioned and though he hadn't met the Grand General he could tell that this guy had good taste.
Hearing the door to the study open he turned expecting to see the figure of a tall man who carried himself with the pride of many battles won, instead he saw an old man that looked like he'd been around the block one to many times. Brandon watched the old man make his way to the large desk in the center of the room as he leaned heavily on a red wood cane.
"This really can't be the guy I've heard so much about, right…..?" thought Brandon, a bit confused. "I mean he's a bit old to be running this place."
The old man sat at the desk and proceeded to scribble something on a piece of paper and go about his business as if Brandon wasn't even in the room. He was about the make his presents known when the old man looked up and stared right at him with a questioning look on his face, as if he knew all along that Brandon was, and standing by the map the whole time.
A long uncomfortable moment went by before the man finally got up and stood to his full height without the cane. "Well, are you going to stand there all day gawking at me or are you going to introduce yourself, soldier." At this Brandon jumped into a solute. "Sorry Sir! My name's Major, Brandon Melville, and I've-"
"I know who you are boy, and I would implore you to be more courteous when your superior comes into a room- particularly his own study."
"Forgive me Sir, up till now I had not realized that you were the Grand General of this base."
"That's better. See that is doesn't happen again." Brandon nodded and GG Williams sat back down and started scribbling even more on the same paper, "Now that that's taken care of, I trust that you've already met your team?" He looked up when he didn't get an immediate answer.
"Team, Sir?' He can't possibly mean Romayne's team, right?" Williams put his pen down and put his hands, palm down, on the desk.
"Major General, Romayne hasn't briefed you yet, she was supposed to notify you before this meeting that you will be in her squad from this day forward."
"No Sir. Though I did see her last night when that Steeler demon attacked the engine room."
"Yes, I heard about that, I trust you now know where the bathrooms are?"
"Yes, Sir, but how-" The sound of a door opening made him cut his words short out of habit, as a young girl stepped in and bowed.
"Yes, what is it Rosen?"
"Sorry for the interruption Sir, but I have a message form MG, Romayne. She said to tell you that, she needs an hour an 'a half of shut eye, and that she doesn't get enough sleep as it is. And being woken up at 6:00 in the morning doesn't help, she had a busy night last night, and that she had more important things to do then show the Major around."
"Ouch…."
"I see. Thank you Rosen you may go." With that she bowed low and left with a troubled look on her face. Brandon looked back at the General expecting to see anger on his face, but saw nothing. Instead he was just scribbling on the paper in front of him again.
"Sir, forgive me for asking, but wasn't that a bit rude? I mean, you are her superior." Ventured Brandon, trying not to sound to nosey. The General put his pen down and looked at him for a long moment before gracing him with an answer.
"Major General, Romayne, though she may come across as rude and over barring at times, is an excellent soldier. She deserves the respect she worked for over the short time she's been in my army. She has worked harder than anyone I know, and is allowed to take whatever time she needs off if she so choose, and if you want to make it in her squad, you will show her that respect and do as she asks of you." All Brandon could do was nod, since he had no clue about Romayne's history with the General.
Looking at his desk he suddenly noticed a small picture frame next to the Generals phone. Brandon was at a good enough angle to see and old photo from the side. The photo was a close up of a little girl with short orange hair and a younger looking General, aiming at an invisible target off the photo, the little girl looked to be about 10 years old and had her hands on a hand held proton blaster. She was smiling a mischievous smiling as the man was showing her how to aim the deadly weapon, she looked incredibly like Livi, only younger, with her small orange and white tipped cat ears and tail. Then it clicked, the General must be related to MG Romayne.
Looking up at the man he noticed that he too, was looking at the photo with a look of fondness on his face, Brandon was about to ask him about it when the General spoke. "She was only 9 when that photo was taken. She was so energetic and loved everything about the base. She literally begged me the show her how the shoot that gun that day, she was so adamant about it that I couldn't refuse." That's when Brandon put two and two together; that girl in the photo had to Livi. "How long had MG Romayne been here?"
"Her whole life, her parents were killed in a shadow creature raid when she was 5. I was next of kin so I took her in." The General caught the suspicious, wondering look on Brandon's face and instantly knew what he was thinking. "No, I did not put her in the rank she's in now just because she's my grand-daughter; it's true that she wasn't allowed to join the forces till she was 14, but she worked her tail off to get the rank of Major General. Her squad can testify to that."
"Bwa… of course." Said Brandon, stumbling over his word. That's when he remembered what he wanted to ask the General in the first place. "…. Sir I have a Question."
"Go on."
"Last night after the Steeler attack, and after the regrettably short meeting of her squad, Sergeant Major, Fatín was kind enough the walk me to my room, however we got talking and she mentioned and old team mate, a close friend of Romayne's, and that I had gotten his room, could you tell me what happened to them. Not that I'm being nosy, I was just wondering."
"You're not the only one to ask that question, however, I believe that is a question better answered by her."
"But sir-" that's when the door to the study was slammed open, making the framed photo of the General rattle on the wall from the vibrations. The person in question; a very pissed looking MG, with orange hair, stomped in, already in her cat form, right up to the general and slapped her fists on the dark wood of his desk, making a few small nick-knacks jump.
"What's the big idea about you sending armed guard to me room to escort me to your study for a stupid meeting! I don't recall a tour of the base being top priority, old man!"
"I did it anticipating that Rosen would come back, without you and with only a message."
"Are you that paranoid that you have to rob me of my sleep!" she shouted, nearly whacking Brandon in the face what she flailed her hand back in emphasis.
That's when the Grand General stood up, his shoulders tense and with an air of intimidation that would scare anyone into submission. "Major General, Olivia Ann Romayne!" He boomed, "Are you so blind that you can't see we have a guest! Or do I have to remind you again not to be disrespectful!"
"Whoa…." Was all Brandon could think.
"I'm not afraid of you, old man! I've been trained by the best, I could run circles around you 10 times over, and you know it! And what the hell do you mean by guest?" She whipped around to face this supposed person and stopped short.
"Did she really not see me when she came in…?" thought Brandon, feeling insulted. He gave her a look of indifference when she turned around.
"Aw shit..." was the only thing that came to mind when she saw Brandon sitting there, looking at her with a blank face; she knew right then that he was not pleased.
"Uhhhm..." seemed to be the only syllable that she could articulate, she felt so embarrassed.
"Don't." said brandon, waving a hand in dismissal, "It seems you are too busy to deal with me." He turned to the Grand General, "Perhaps someone else-"
"NO-!" shouted Livi, effectively making Brandon jump. "I mean... I'll do it." She finished, trying to regain her composure.
"Are you sure?" He was answered with a look that basically said 'are you challenging me?' "I'll take that as a yes."
"Then it's settled, Major you are to follow her and take notes on where everything is located." he then turned to Livi. "And you are not to brush him off at any opportunity that arrises, do I make myself clear Major General? They both nodded, though, somewhat begrudgingly. "Good, you're dismissed." They both gave a short bow and made to leave.
Walking down the hall to the next room; which was the training room where Tiara and Fatín worked, the silence between the two of them was so deafening that Brandon thought his ears had stopped working for a time. At least until she let out discontented sigh and stopped walking all together. Turning around to see why she stopped, he wasn't expecting to see her cat ears and tail out, nor the embarrassed look she had on her face.
"Um... are you ok...?" he asked tentatively, not wanting to make her angry. "Can she not control her cat form...?" he wondered as an after thought. Her ears went down and she looked at the floor whispering something. The way she looked made his think of how adorable she looked all the sudden; he almost wanted to go pet her ears to see how soft they were, but he forced his self not the move from his spot. Something told him that if he ever did that he'd loose a hand.
That's when he realized that she had said something, but since she said it so low he didn't catch what it was.
"What did you say, I didn't hear you, sorry." She pursed her lips and glared up at him from were she was standing.
"I said. I'm sorry for the way I acted in there, it was not the way a high ranking officer should act. It was... unnecessary."
"No kidding...' It's fine, though I believe you should be apologizing to the Grand General instead of me." That earned him the 'I already know that' glare as she crossed her arms.
"It was his fault in the first place, he knows I don't get enough sleep," she protested," and last night's mission didn't help." She started walking again, ending the conversation.
"Like grand-father like grand-daughter I suppose... both bossy." Thought Brandon as they got to the door of the training room.
As they entered the room, they could hear the sudden cry of aggravation and a shout of pain as Sal got flipped and thrown across the room by Sergeant Crossland. Both Livi and Brandon visibly wince when he crashed and skidded across the floor on his back.
"Thats for broadcasting to half the bace about that stunt you pulled!" she yelled after him. They watched as Sal staggered to his feet, "Awe come on, it was funny! Lighten up!" he shouted back, smiling. Needless to say that infuriated the cheetah even more, for she raced at him at top speed and pounced on him, claws out and ready. But before she could horrible maim the poor guy, Livi intervened by grabbing her in the back of the caller and throwing her back; Tiara's claws coming with in inches of Sal's Face.
Doing a double take, Brandon looked at where Livi had been standing next to him, then back to where she was now. He didn't even see her move, she was so fast. Amazed, he stood there watching her as she restrained Tiara by pinning her the ground. She was struggling a whole lot but it looked like Livi was having no trouble, so he decided to go see if Sal was ok.
"Hey, you alright?" asked Brandon as he offered a hand up.
"Yea... Hey, you should have her court marshaled for assaulting an officer!" yelled Sal as he dusted himself off.
"Shove it, Sergeant!" Livi shot back as she help Tiara up, and shockingly enough Sal shut his mouth up, quick. "T, go take a break."
"But-"
"Go. Sit." Livi glared at her, and seeing that all too familiar look in her eyes, Tiara smirked at Sal and went to the benches. "Major, I suggest you get out of the way or become part of the floor." Seeing the excited, but threatening look on her face, he decided to do just that. She obviously meant business. Sitting down next to Tiara, he leaned over to her. "She's not going to kill him is she...?"
"No, but she will humiliate him. He should be grateful that it's not in front of the entire base."
"What's she going to do to him?"
"You'll see. Now shush I wanna watch this."
Turning back to the potential fight, they saw Livi circling Sal like she was sizing him up as a piece of meat.
"Uhm... Commander? What are you doing...?" Sal was getting more and nervous by the minute as his coyote form made an appearance. Livi kept moving like a prowling animal, ignoring his question. Then suddenly, and without warning, her ears, tail, and claws appeared and she was racing toward him so fast that it was almost hard to keep track of her. The orange and green clad blur seemed to hit and rebound off Sal so fast that there was to be a split second before Sal went flying into the opposite wall on the other end of the room. He slid to the floor and looked at her, wide eyed and somewhat dazed, but what was amazing was that there wasn't a scratch on him, not even a hint of blood in the air.
Brandon looked at her astonished, and the fact that Livi was literally standing in the exact spot Sal had been in, tapping her foot as if she was waiting in line for lunch, was incredible. As they watched Sal get up, Livi started walking toward him again like she was walking through a park, her claws ready.
"Its funny how you talk all the time about how skilled you are, and how much stronger you are then every one else. Yet, here you are now, and you can't even protect your self from a simple push!" Livi taunted, as she moved forward.
"That was a push? It looked like you were going to kill him!" Said Brandon, in shock. Livi ignored him and kept walking toward Sal.
"That's her most popular move; in a real battle, believe it or not, she would have killed someone doing just that." Said Tiara, as she watched excitedly, "He's lucky, cause she's going really easy on him."
"What does the attack do... if she were to use it for real?"
"Well I've only seen it once, but basically she gets incredibly still, and starts drawing in mana from the area around her and when it gets to the highest possible level she strikes at such a high speed that the attacker can't react. Then, when she delivers the blow, she thrusts that mana through her hands creating a kind of barrier that repels the attacker away so fast that their insides get torn apart." Tiara shivered at the thought and looked at him. "But it does have its draw backs. Did you notice when she rebounded?"
"Yea, it looked like she bounced off him."
"Well that was the barrier, it's basically one of the laws of motion in action. For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. When she first had to perform the attack for real, she almost killed herself.
Brandon was shocked at this. How could Livi ever want to use such a fatal attack? "But how is she able to still use it? Isn't it going to cause her pain?"
"Good question, I don't even know that answer... She won't tell me. I'm not even sure how she survived the attack, I mean, the guy was torn to shreds... Shockingly enough, the guy survived too..."
"Who was the guy?"
Tiara went quite for a moment, and looked back at the fight. "I'm not allowed to say, all I know is that when we found her in her room, she was covered in blood and bleeding profusely; the guy was in worse shape... Livi's not even sure what exactly happened either, and from what she told us when she finally regained consciousness about two months later, was that every thing had gone dark and all she could hear was screams of pain and a loud crash... looks like she's done playing with Sal." She finished, effectively ending the conversation.
Looking around he saw Livi helping up a bruised and cut up Sal, that's when he saw Fatín on the other side of the room, also watching quietly.
"Fatín, take Morrone to the infirmary, he's been embarrassed enough." Said Livi as she lead him to her. She nodded and lead him out of the room.
Watching her as she walked over, Brandon noticed that she was limping and looked pale and could see a small smudge of blood at the corner of her mouth, like she tried to whip it away. Concerned, he got up and came over to her; she didn't look to great.
"You alright?"
"I'm fine. Just tired... and thirsty." She seemed to wilt then, and swayed a bit as if a wave of dizziness had hit her, suddenly she topple over. Thinking quickly he caught her around the waist, and supported her.
"I think your body says otherwise..."
"I'll get you some water." And with that Tiara was out the door.
Leading her over to the benches, Brandon had Livi sit, though she kept protesting that she was fine.
"Would you stop worrying about me, I'm fine." She said as she sat down heavily.
Brandon knelt down in front of her and proceeded to take her foot in his hands to look at her ankle, regardless of her complaining.
"OW, stop that!" She swiped at his hands, earning him three scratches on the back of one of them.
"I'm trying to help you, stop complaining." he said, ignoring the stinging.
And if looks could kill, he would have been on the floor gasping for air, like in these old Star Wars movies when Darf Vator would use his dark force to choke people from far away. Her glare was murderous, yet she didn't come back with a retort, instead she crossed her arms and leaned back on the wall in a huff, pointedly looking away form him.
He rolled his eyes, and went back to what he was doing. "Can you move it?" She sighed and looked at him while she rotated her foot.
"There, see? It's fine." He looked up at her, and she raised and eyebrow at him in return.
"Ok good. So I guess you won't mind if I do this." with that he pressed two knuckles into the bottom of her foot, causing her to yelp in pain. "Well jee, I thought you said it was fine, I barely pressed on it." She glared at him. "You didn't sprain your ankle but you foot's out of joint. You need to get it checked." Then he got up and sat next to her on the bench and leaned back. Looking up he noticed many different dents in the vents, lights, and pipes, like some one had taken boulders and pitched them at the ceiling for fun. However when he took a closer look at one of the dents, it had a very human like shape to it. Not wanting to think about what might actually go on in here, he looking back at Livi. She cleared her throat absentmindedly as she tapped her foot impatiently. She stilled looked like she wanted to gnaw someones arm off.
"You know for someone who's a freakin' cheetah, she's incredibly slow..." she said, almost sounding bored, then she turned to him. "What were you and Tiara taking about before, during the fight?"
Caught off guard he blinked at her for a moment; she looked at him patiently waiting for him say something.
"Uhh well, she told me about that special move you used on Sal, and that apparently it's dangerous to you and the attacker... Why use such a dangerous move anyway?"
"That better be all they talked about...' Well that's simple, I'm the only one who perfected it, not even the old man could pull it off. And no I'm not going to tell you how it doesn't effect me, cause then every one would be able to do it."
"If it was that easy you wouldn't have that smudge of blood on you chin right now." She frowned and proceeded to try and whip it off, he chuckled at her.
"Hey don't laugh at me! I never said it was perfect!" she batted at his arm.
"Yes you did." Now he was laughing at her.
"Shut up!" She crossed her arms in a great huff, and glared at the wall as if she wanted to burn a hole into it. Brandon couldn't help but think that she looked really cute when she pouted like that, the ears and tail only made her look all that much more adorable.
That's when the door opened, admitting a somewhat stressed out and soggy looking Tiara. As she hurried over to them, she handed Livi the water as if it would burn her.
"Thanks, what took you so long?"
"Well, first I had to find a working water fountain when I got a cup, and when I did I was literally half way back when I had a sneezing fit out of no where and I spilled it all over myself, so I had to go all the way back and get more water." Livi and Brandon shared a look; Tiara saw it. "What's that look for?" she accused, raising an eye brow.
"Nothing, thank you for the water though." Livi took it, and drank the entire thing as if she hadn't had water in days. Tiara shrugged it off though she had her suspicious.
"Well what ever, now could you get out of here, I got someone coming in, in a few minutes, to pop the dents in my ceiling."
"Alright we'll go, but you need to stop throwing your students into the vents, you don't want to burst another water pipe do you?"
"No..." She averted her eyes making Livi laugh.
"Ok, good. Brandon lets go, next stop's the firing range." she said as she both started towards the door.
"Hey guys, be careful Jerry's in one of his moods again!" Tiara yelled after them. Livi waved a hand in acknowledgment before they went out into the hall. But some how that worried Brandon, even though Livi showed no sigh of concern.
OK so thats chapter 2. review please! :D