Life aboard Battleship King wasn't bad at all. It was infinitely times better then working at a shipbuilding site or digging up coal from beneath the crust of some miserable planet that they were lucky enough to find work on. Still, the thing about life on King had some drawbacks. Like if you managed to piss of the wrong person, you would find yourself running around the space city, praying that you didn't slip and that you'd make it to safety. Sadly, running fast over a great distance was not Leo's forte.
The soldiers caught up to him in time, sure he'd led them around the city for a while. They'd seen many wonderful aspects that they didn't get to on a daily run; perhaps they should thank him. They'd passed the Grand Central, the pristine white entrance where new cadets and new citizens arrived when they came to live on King. They'd taken their run through the Lowland cities, or the Graffiti lands if you so choose to call it that, they'd made their way into the shops where the fresh smells of stews, pies, and pastries wafted from shop windows and into the air. Yet somehow they'd found themselves closer to the barracks then they'd started. Leo cursed in his head, he'd hoped to take the run past the barracks and down to the gardens, least there he could die with a happy sight.
When they finally caught him, they tackled him. Not one, not two, but three soldiers lunged and tackled him to the ground. As he hit he bit his tongue, not the smartest move at all but maybe it would keep them busy. As he was pulled to his feet he relished the metallic taste in his mouth.
One of the soldiers steps forward. "Name yourself, boy." He ordered.
Leo glanced up at the man. "Leon."
"Last name?" The man growled.
Leo spit at the ground. "What's it to you?"
The soldier pulled back his fist and nailed a punch in Leo's gut. He gasped, air leaving his body for seconds before he was able to control his breathing again.
Suddenly there were more soldiers, only these ones were dressed neatly. Leo's brain started working, putting the pieces together and he stood up straighter.
"Oh great." he muttered, mainly to himself but the soldiers holding him cast a small glance his way.
The soldiers in their neat outfits formed a single line and allowed a man to walk through. He had his hands behind his back, a frown on his face.
"Leo." The man said.
Leo ducked his head. "Hey."
The man sighed. "Honestly my son, is this becoming a weekly routine?"
The boy shrugged as best he could as he was still restrained by the soldiers. "Who knows, maybe I'll amp it up to daily. Gets the men running."
A girl steps up beside the man and a look of disappointment is directed at Leo. Oddly enough, he say the look before her striking blue hair. He gapes and glares at the man.
"C'mon Palace, you brought her!" He snaps.
Palace shrugs. "She was quite persuasive."
The girl glares at Leo. "Really Lee? Really."
He ducks his head, he hated when she called him Lee, it shortened the already short name and made him feel like he was annoying, like she couldn't say his name properly because she didn't want to waste the time. He sighs. Palace must have given a signal before the soldiers holding Leo let him go. He stood straighter and nearly flinched as he caught the look of the girl again.
She crossed her arms. "You're impossible, you know that!" She snapped.
Leo sighed. "I know."
She let her arms relax, but didn't uncross them. "Leo, why are you so persistent to annoy the soldiers as they train?"
He shrugged. "Not sure, it's fun."
"It's annoying." She corrected and let her arms fall to the sides. "Are you coming home?"
He nods. "Yeah, following you."
She nods back and turns. Walking away from the barracks the two begin the descent into the city of Kingdom. Often, the name of the city made him laugh. Honestly, a city called Kingdom? How odd was that? Of course the ship they were on was called King, but that didn't mean that everything had to follow along with that name. Oh wait, the ship being under the control of Director Palace meant that exact thing.
A few whistles reach his ears and he attunes himself back into reality. There's the girl, walking ahead of him like before; only something is off this time. Her arms are held tightly to her body as though she's trying to make herself smaller, not as noticeable. A few of the more daring soldiers actually call out to her.
Leo takes several large steps and is beside her, hand grasping her bicep. "You wonder why I piss of the soldiers often, I wonder why you force yourself to come up here."
She turns, ready to retort to his words but stops herself. "I need to make myself stronger, strong enough to ignore all of the words shouted at me."
He rolls his eyes. "You're impossible."
"And you're annoying." She responds and stops. "C'mon, we can jump the rest of the way."
With that she leaps over the railing and falls straight for the ground. Leo rolls his eyes but follows her. Just as they near the ground one of the vents pushes a huge gust of air up at them. The girl tucks her body together and rolls to the ground, she springs to her feet and heads to the official doors on the base level. She types in her keycode, the doors sliding open without hesitation. As she sets through and Leo follows he's instantly glared up by several of the ship's officials.
"They're glaring at me." He whines to the girl.
She shrugs, pushing his poking finger away from her shoulder. "As they should, do you know how close you constantly come to revealing all of us?"
Leo sighs. "Yeah, I get it, I'm a horrible leader."
She spins. "No you're not, you're just an idiot."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"No," Palace's voice rings throughout the hall. "But I have something that will. All Zodiac meeting in my office at 14:00, we've got business to discuss."
The girl sets her hand on his shoulder. "C'mon Lee, better go round up the others."
God, he hated when she called him that.