Antonio held the gun shakily in his hands. He had never wielded a gun before and the feeling was foreign to his skin. He felt a large weight pushing down on him and an odd sensation of power and testosterone-eliciting dominance.
Lovino stood to the green eyed boy's side, having been assigned the task of teaching the knot head how to fire a gun with some sort of sense. On his dusty exterior, Lovino frowned and kept his arms crossed in a sign of disapproval. Inside, however, Lovino was quite pleased by the wonderstruck expression that made its place on Antonio's face as soon as he touched the small gun.
Having been with him for a month or so, Lovino had grown accustomed to the dopey faces and the faint lisp that danced about Antonio's lips. He had learned that the mechanical boy wasn't just smiles and a cute voice, though, a few days earlier.
Antonio had proven himself a deadly shot with a throwing knife, and that his sinewy body was not just the product of good genes. The tall boy could lift the entire Runner, completely full, over his head with no more than a grunt. When Lovino had witnessed the sight, his first thought was filled with a blasphemous curse, and then he expressed his second thought out loud.
"If that jerk breaks my beautiful Runner, I'ma skin 'im." Lovino, harsh words aside, was quite impressed by the feat, and how Antonio was able to gently put his baby back on the ground made Lovino respect him just a bit more.
So, Lovino stood, arms interlocked, face hard, and eyes squinting in the obnoxious sun, watching Antonio flip the shining gun over in his hands. A hungry look passed over Antonio's artificial eyes, which Lovino thought was incredibly strange.
A queer feeling crept into Antonio's stomach and an urge to press the tarnished silver barrel of the old handgun into the mouth of an Integral came over him; man, woman, or child, he didn't really care. Their hysteric mumbles of vain begs for their lives graced his thoughts and the images of tears of fear staining cheeks tickled his fancy. A slow brushing of the sensitive trigger, a loud, beautiful sound, eyes wide in frozen disbelief, and an empty hole at the back of the cranium. How does it feel to be incomplete now, you horrible Integral?
Then, Antonio caught himself, almost gagging at the thoughts his mind ran wild with. Children? Wide eyed, beautiful, innocent little children? A sad look over shadowed Antonio's eyes and he turned to where Lovino was standing. He thrust the butt of the gun in Lovino's chest.
"I refuse to use this," said Antonio sternly, eyes sharp and worried. Lovino pushed the gun back at Antonio. His hazel eye had an edge to it that scared Antonio, but he still declined the gun. Lovino let a growl escape his lips and he snatched the gun from Antonio's hands.
"Are you not enough of a man to use this," Lovino waved the gun in the face of the taller boy. Antonio, though larger and much stronger, felt small under Lovino's multicolored gaze. He puffed out his chest, trying to intimidate the bear challenging him.
"I am, but that doesn't mean I have to use it," said Antonio lowly, "I'm a big enough man to not need a gun." Lovino scoffed.
"You, on the other hand," said Antonio cheekily, rubbing his hand in the smaller boy's auburn hair, to which Lovino scowled. The sound of quickly approaching footsteps met their ears then, and a loud voice called out to them. Feliciano was racing towards the boys, bare feet nimble in the hot sand.
"Lovino! Lovino!" Feliciano's feet thumped the ground hard as he neared the pair watching his approach. He smoothed his hair off of his forehead so he was able to see where he was heading. As he reached Lovino, his breath held little tiredness or fatigue.
"Our scouts, brother, have spotted an Integral vehicle! Eh… We need you to come back to the quarters and prepare for an encounter. You too, eh, Antonio," Feliciano spoke in a tireless fashion. His arms flailed wildly and his rapid speech was laced with a strange tic. Lovino nodded, breaking into a run through the sand. Antonio took off after him, astonished by the speed that the boy's legs shifted over the ground.
As Antonio was running, his eyes noticed a faint cloud of dust rising in the distance. He tried to measure the distance of whatever was causing the storm of sand. He determined that, at the rate at which the cloud was approaching, they had only minuets before they were faced by the threat. His feet began to move faster against the ground.
Lovino, Feliciano, and Antonio reached their quarters still running. Lovino grabbed his battle worn rifle and climbed the ladder that led to the nest atop the building. Feliciano stuffed two long barreled handguns into the holsters hanging off of his jutting hips. He handed Antonio a small pouch attached to a belt with a stretching of his upper lip in a smile. In the pouch were a dozen throwing knifes which Antonio could balance perfectly on his finger. He wrapped the belt around his waist and rolled his shoulders to loosen the muscles he didn't even know were tight.
"We need to be out there, eh… Antonio," Antonio looked towards the shorter brother. He was startled by the arms thrown around his torso and the face buried into his chest. As Feliciano pulled away, his face was red and his eyes were wide with worry. His metal jaw clamped shut tightly then loosened with a whirl of gears.
"If a fight goes down, eh… Don't die, alright?" Antonio felt a smile morph his anxious expression and he patted the fretting boy on his shoulder. He let himself grin wide even though he was just as nervous as Feliciano.
"I'll give 'em Hell!" Feliciano gave a metallic smile.
"You best, 'cause me and my brother like you," said Feliciano with a hard pat on Antonio's own metal shoulder, "And Lovino don't like no one." Antonio gave a small laugh and the pair walked slowly out of the building and into the blinding sun.
The duo was met by a sole four wheeler that carried only one person. It was a man with dark hair and a double breasted coat that must have been blistering in the over bearing sun. He stepped daintily off of the open air vehicle and dusted off the black coat.
Antonio was stunned when one of the few female members of their Scrap Metal resistance, Elizaveta, walked right up to the man. She held up her metal hand, the fingers having been replaced by a double barreled gun, to the man's face. With a sweet smile on her pleasant countenance, she said something that almost made Antonio's jaw drop.
"Hello Roderich, dear. How are the children?"
