Chapter 3
Perzun Surface, January 15th, January UC0080
Ensign Rick Evans
"Fucking hell! Rick, watch your six!" I turned on the back view switch on my main panel; a Rick Dom was sneaking up behind me and Andrew. On the left, Tasha was facing my GM, starting to turn around to bring her Beam Spray to bear on the incoming. I boosted forward without even knowing what was in front of me, skirting over to the right as I watched the Dom fire a bazooka round towards my back.

"Jesus...that was close Ri...ahhh!" I looked to the left monitor again, Tasha's suit was out of view now but I could only watch on as Peltier's GM started to disintegrate on him.

"Fucking hell! Andrew!" I turned my GM to face towards his, putting its arms out to push his out of the way of any more incoming rounds. As I did so I could see that Tasha and the Dom were in the middle of a firefight, both of them looking at about equal footing. Turning to face my front panel again, Andrew's suit did not look good at all, the left vent was completely gone, the torso warped around it, the left leg completely melted away with the hit. I opened a video feed.

"Andrew! What's your status?" I didn't get an answer for a few seconds, until he opened up his on feed on my end, the whole front left of his helmet covered in blood, both of his arms down and positioned to his left. He was moaning loudly in pain.

"My cockpit breached, ahh...fuck! My leg!" I shook my head, continuing to monitor both situations on the left panel. Tasha was starting to win her fight, two shots starting to rip apart the Dom that had hit Andrew; and then Andrew screaming and holding his leg, jerking wildly in his seat toward the left. I couldn't even his face; the visor was completely stained with blood. His flight suit had a large splatter pattern on it as well, the bottom half of his chest was covered, dripping down.

"Calm down, we'll get you out of this..." I already knew I was just trying to sympathize with the guy; there was no possible way that we were going to get off this rock; now that those charges failed to go off. The beam turrets were a bitch to get through just to get down on here, going back up was suicide. On the right, I saw the friendly Zaku floating nearby, Burr. It started pointing forwards, several steady streams of yellow light flying upwards in the distance.

"There's going to be two more sets of turrets lining here, we take those out and we can get your man back alive." I nodded, it would have to be only way. Peltier would have to wait until we could accomplish that. If he could last that long...my head was ringing with the sounds of his screams echoing inside my helmet. I knew Tasha could, too...her yelling was starting to echo back and forth in my helmet as well.

"I got your man, Andrew! You stay alive for me!" I turned my view back to where Tasha was at; her suit starting to fly back towards us...the Dom she had been engaged with was starting to fall back onto the asteroid, in flames and shards of metal. I felt a bit of a smile come across my face, she had become damn good behind the controls...anything she came across was sure to be killed as soon as it flew in-between her sights. As she settled down on the ground next to our suits, she brought her GM's eye facing straight towards the Zaku, glowing green as it recognized its former target. I knew inside that suit, she had her own reservations about flying with the man.

"How many are left? The Zaku turned to its left, the monoeye glowing as it recognized her GM.

"Over there, there's still twelve. If we conserve our ammo we'll more than plenty to take out all of them. Just hope that your other team behind us was able to take out the other firing line behind our position." I could sense more than a little harsh tone in his voice as he started wondering out loud about the 05th MS. For being a defector, he was sure seemed to doubt in our abilities. On his part, the 02nd and 03rd would still be around if the charges he supposedly set would have gone off as planned. I was wondering why we hadn't been vaporized yet, myself. We'd gotten down pretty safe...well...

"Fuck! Fuck! Ahhh! Fuck!" I turned back to my left panel; Andrew was still writhing around in pain on the feed to my suit. I was hoping he'd still make it back. I didn't think Tasha would be able to handle it if he didn't. He just had to wait a bit longer...

"Wait, fuck! In front!" I found myself rapidly focusing in on my front panel; the view was filled by the flares of six thrusters, all bearing down on our position. I responded by throwing my hands down, the controls responding by forcing my GM back, bracing itself for a boosted jump forwards to come.

"I count three! Rick, follow me, Andrew lay your suit down!" I turned to my left for the slightest second, but by then Tasha's GM was already out of view on that panel and now on the front panel and flying forwards towards the Doms, three beams flying from the muzzle of her Beam Spray. I responded by forcing the control sticks forward, my GM replying by throwing itself from its braced position, flying forwards straight into the lead Dom's line of fire. That didn't matter to me; I fully intended to fire first.

"Evans, watch your three 'o clock!" I found myself scanning the right side of my front panel, the Dom on the right starting to boost itself to get itself into position to start firing at me and Tasha both. I didn't have the time to respond, barely managing to even recognize the threat this posed...but suddenly the Zaku was filling up my entire view, shells from its machine gun flying by on my right panel.

"Adam! What are you..." I managed to force the controls to the left, the AMBAC replying by throwing the right arm to the side, my GM starting a roll to the left. As his Zaku left my front panel and back onto the right, I could see that the Dom was starting to be rocked with the hits on its armor, its body leaning backwards. As I kept my target in sight, I could only watch on as Burr's target started firing its own gun at the Zaku as a last stand...the Zaku being raked instantly, several hits landing on its chest. It started lurching back, out of my view on my right.

"Shit! Adam!" I found myself starting to turn my view around to face his Zaku, trying to view the damage to his suit at the same time I was trying to the lead Dom to fall in my sights. As far as his Zaku went, it didn't look good. There seemed to have been several shots that would have breached the cockpit.

"Rick, watch yourself!" I threw my eyes back to my left panel, Tasha's suit filling the view; on the far right of that panel I could see that she had downed another one, their left wing mate. The lead Dom started to reply to the loss of both of its mates by throwing it's bazooka to bear on its left shoulder, focusing on Tasha's suit. I wouldn't let him get the shot, though...I managed to get him on the targetor...another second and he'd be dead center in my sights...and then it started lurching backwards, out of the targetors view, MG rounds knocking it around. Knocking the targetor back to the left in my cockpit I looked back to my right panel, the Zaku starting to boost past me again.

"Both of you watch yourselves. I don't need all three of my escorts killed." I felt a little tense at his return, he hadn't died after all. As the Zaku started boosting forwards the now wounded Dom, Tasha's continued forwards, not content with our new friend to end up finishing off the lead Dom. I was, though, throwing my vision down towards the bottom panel underneath the front panel, Andrew's suit still lying on the ground where we had left him. It worked well enough, his suit appeared to have been destroyed to anyone flying by, but the entire time we had been engaged I had his yelling going through the inside of my helmet. It hadn't been pleasant.

"You can go fuck yourself, zeke! I don't care if you are on our side..." I focused back in on what was happening on front of me, the Zaku managing to dispatch the Dom with a heat hawk to the chest. Tasha's suit just floated watching the spectacle as I did, but I didn't watch on with the passion I knew she was feeling...I could only imagine it took every single bit of determination on her part to not pull the trigger on him.

"I do think I saved the life of your distracted wingman, Rivers. So I think you can go fuck yourself, feddie." I could hear a bit of a guttural roar coming out of her, I knew as soon as he said that it wouldn't settle well with her at all. I didn't want to live up to his definition of being distracted, however, and so focused my view on where the right Dom had been....it wasn't there anymore, and if it had floated down...it would have been on the surface at this point...

"Shit, where's that other Dom?" I started boosting towards my two allies, throwing my eyes towards all three panels, not finding any trace of that one. The other two were floating dead, out of battle...but that other one, it still had to be active...

"I don't see anything, Rick...you got him, didn't you Burr?" She didn't sound convinced it what she had just said, her suit starting to turn around in place; inside it I knew she was throwing herself at all sorts of twisted angles to get a full look around her surroundings. Burr's Zaku just floated in place, in front of her.

"I did, Rivers. He couldn't have survived a hit like that, I hit him dead mass." That was true, he did...but as far as I knew, the Dom was one damned tough suit. I thought it would take more than a few rounds to take one down. I guess if a zeke was confident that he had brought down one of his own suits, though...I instantly found my doubts to be correct as soon as it appeared from behind a outcropping on the surface on the asteroid, firing its own machine gun at the Zaku from underneath, the rounds tearing through it like it was made of butter. I think both me and Tasha both reacted in horror at the sight of him being ripped apart like that.

"Below us, look out Rick! I'm engaging!" She started boosting down towards him, my fears being that she'd be hit by the incoming rounds that Dom would be firing...but he didn't get the time to correct his aim, her suit bearing down on the beast, easily overshadowing her GM despite being below her. I fired my own thrusters in order to come in from behind it, not wanting my friend to meet the same fate as that poor bastard in the Zaku. As I kept pacing towards the Dom, I realized that as she was starting to bring her bring her saber down, he was boosting back, reaching for the long rod on its back.

"Wait, Tasha, parry that!" I couldn't even stop moving forwards if I wanted to, the GM seemed to move at a snail's pace in regards to what was unfolding behind me. Before she could even comprehend what I had said, the Dom was already slicing through her GM's elbow, the whole arm with beam saber in hand harmlessly sailing behind it. And then it was starting to bring it back up, aiming to swipe out her cockpit in one blow. I wouldn't let him, though...

"You fucking bastard!" The force of slamming into its back rocked me violently forward against my restraints, but I had accomplished what I had intended. Tasha flew safely out of the way behind me, watching on as I continued forward with my momentum...the Dom still unaware of the imminent death that was behind it...the last thing it would see if it managed to turn around would be the green flash that killed it...

I brought it in to my sights as it turned to face me; the crosshairs dead set again its chest. The only thing that went through my mind was to pull the trigger. I depressed my thumb, doing that over and over again, the beams flowing towards my target, ever so slowly...my voice rising...

EFSF Indignation, February 2nd, UC0080
Officer's Recreation Room, 0800 Hours
Ensign Rick Evans
I felt a rather hot sensation on my thumb and on my lap, and upon realizing that I yelled out in response. Once I looked down, I realized that for whatever reason, I was now holding a coffee cup sideways, my thumb inside it, making the motion needed to kill. The liquid inside was now dribbling out at a slow drip, my thumb rapidly going left and right down into my closed fist. The motion needed to kill...but the trigger was missing, and now I had a cup's worth of hot coffee now burning my groin. To say I was unsatisfied was to say the least.

"Jesus christ, Rick...what's wrong with you?" I managed to shake my head around a bit to get rid of the hangover, and look to the right to see Evonne, who was staring at me with her mouth open. I felt a bit awkward now.

"Ahh...shit...I, I..." She shook her head, taking a sip of coffee herself; a pack of cigarettes next to her, one ready to be lit.

"...did you have a flashback, or something? Seriously, you just spent the last minute or two yelling with your eyes closed and you were holding that cup sideways with your thumb it." I bit my bottom lip, trying to pull out the napkins out of the dispenser on the table to deal with the fact that my pants were now soaking wet. At the same time, I was reaching for my own pack with my free right hand.

"I...did, yeah. I guess...I don't know." As I felt that I had enough napkins to decently hide the fact that I had spilt coffee on myself, I put my left arm down on the table, trying to hold my head up so I could light the cigarette now dangling out of my mouth. To say I felt like shit was an understatement.

"Damn...you were really freaking the fuck out, Rick. I was actually kind of afraid there. You were yelling out 'Dom! Dom!' and 'Fucking bastard!' and shit like that. People actually got up and left." I didn't reply to that immediately as I was having a hard enough time as it was trying to get the damn cigarette lit as I could barely hold my right hand stable enough to even get the lighter next to it. As soon as I did manage to get it lit, I looked over to her again.

"I...thought I was at Perzun, again." She looked at me, a puzzled look on her face, taking a drag at the same time I did. God, my head was killing me now...how much did I have to drink last night?

"...fucking weird, that's all I have to say. Sorry Rick." I nodded at her, in-between the thumping sensation that was going on inside my head. Wait, this isn't my room...

"Uhh... Where are we? Where's Tasha?" She looked at me, almost as if I was stupid or something. Couldn't really say she'd be wrong if she thought that.

"...seriously? We're in the rec room, I just pulled you out of yours. Looked like you two had a good night...you must be black out drunk still." I was wondering over what she had to say, still cringing from the pain that was waving over my forehead. Fun night? Fun as in...

"...what do you mean?" She looked at me, laughing after she exhaled some smoke.

"She was sprawled out all on top of you, and you still had a half bottle full and an empty one lying on the bed with you two." I exhaled myself, trying to patch what had happened together. I remembered that we were both stumbling around trying to get back, and that...but once we got back to the room, I couldn't even remember. It wasn't there. We went through a whole bottle and a half by ourselves?

"Fuck...how'd I end up here?" She smiled, pointing at her coffee cup.

"Well, I went in to see if you were up, and I found you just laying there with your eyes wide open. I figured you needed a pick me up and dragged you here." I frowned, laying my head on the table. God, I couldn't move if I wanted too.

"She still there, then?" She nodded, taking another drag.

"Yeah. God you two were rowdy last night. Carrying on and downing shots one after another. The bartender had to boot you two, you were that bad." I felt a little bit of a smile come across my face, before the pain made me cringe again. I forced a little bit of a laugh out.

"Eh...it's what we do. Their fault for making it on the house." She laughed, patting my head.

"You drunk asshole. She was pretty belligerent too. Pity about those scars, she wouldn't stop going on and on about them to everybody. She was pretty nice to me, though." I nodded, taking the insult as a compliment and the compliment for Tasha on her behalf.

"You know me, Evonne. I can't live without booze. I'll tell her you thought she was nice." She nodded, stubbing out her cigarette. I realized I had one dying question, however.

"Umm, Evonne...the empty bottle, was it..." She nodded again, finishing up her coffee.

"It was the White Label." I instantly put my palm up to cover my face, the pain this time being a mix between physical and realization.

"Fucking hell!"

EFSF Indignation, February 2nd, UC0080
Corridor - Living Quarters, 0830 Hours
Ensign Rick Evans
After a while I managed to force myself up and walk to my room again, upon opening the door I found Tasha lying on my bed, her bottle of vodka in her hand and a smile on her face, in a position like she was being cradled. I guess she was still under the impression I was underneath her. In any event, I left a little note next to her, stating basically "Out seeing the sights. I'll be back later.". Being content with that, I left again, Malady waiting for me outside the room.

"Well then, did you meet anyone else last night? Or at least, remember meeting them?" I thought about it a good while, then shook my head. We started to walk off, no particular destination, not that there really was any at this point.

"No...just you, Rodecker, the bartender...Harrell, I think his name was? Then Nash...and there was this one girl there, but we didn't talk." She looked at me, confused.

"What'd she look like?" I tried to think about it, I just barely remembered. God I must have been smashed last night.

"Well, she had black hair, kind of long...glasses. That's all I remember." She looked at me again, almost as if I was an idiot.

"You mean Brooke? My wing mate?" I had no idea. Then again, I vaguely remembered that her nametag started with a J, or at least that was right if I wasn't imagining things.

"Wait...does her last name start with a J? Like Ja...Jag..." She nodded.

"Yeah. Brooke Jaeger." I nodded, but was confused how to pronounce it.

"You mean, Jagger?" She shook her head.

"The J is silent, or something like that. But that's her." I nodded, remembering now.

"She seemed a bit annoyed, last night, from what I remember." She kept walking with me, both of us nearly reaching the end of the hall.

"She's...got some issues, to put it mildly. Apparently her mom was in that colony they dropped." Damn, that would have been a horrible way to go.

"Huh. But...didn't they gas them before they dropped it?" She nodded, thinking it over.

"Yeah, they did...but either way, she's dead. Brooke ended up in some orphanage or something like that afterwards, and now she's flying for us. She's a newbie, though. I don't think she can handle it." I nodded, thinking it over...that must have put her around eighteen or so. And I thought that they were pushing it putting me and Tasha in the first wave of MS pilots, despite our age. I couldn't imagine just barely being an adult and flying a GM, must be a hell of alot more intimidating.

"There's no way she could be a MS pilot. How old is she?" Evonne laughed, looking forward.

"She's eighteen. But, apparently, got good scores on her operating tests and passed all the simulations and actual flight tests. So she's good enough, I guess." I nodded; I supposed that was all true...but the simulations and the flights in the GM trainer meant shit. I found out that much.

"Heh. Well, good luck with that one, Evonne." She nodded, seeming to share in my disbelief.

"I hope so. She's too weak. She's breaking down all the time and shit. Complete nervous wreck. I don't think she'll pull the trigger, let alone take the thing off of autopilot." I nodded, having had that experience with some wing mates in the past. Then again, I had my own complete wreck of a commander the last three battles I'd been in, and she'd turned out fine as a pilot.

"Maybe you're being a bit too harsh. Doesn't take too much time to figure out getting shot at is bad." She just kept a blank stare at me, as if I was being a bit idiotic. We ended up reaching the elevator, her opening it up for me.

"I'm not harsh if I think it's going to be a liability. You know that. I saw way too many Tin Cods go down without even taking a single shot since the pilot was afraid of a single fucking Dopp. I don't think that's going to be any different here. I don't want to pick up an idiot's slack." I nodded along with her, I'd known that myself, but just didn't pay that much mind. The last few battles I'd been in, any and all wing mates ended up more or less interchangeable, and dead. Only me and Tasha were the surviving ones. Well, there was Peltier...but who knew how well that guy was doing now.

"Eh. Well, damn. Usually you're the optimistic one." She laughed a bit, closing the elevator door as I entered, pressing the button to head down.

"Yeah, but everyone here seems to be nothing but bitches. Well, except you. I dunno about that Tasha lady." I nodded, the elevator starting to go downwards, several lights passing upwards, each indicating a level down.

"Thank you. As far as Tasha...she's more vicious then me, a lot more." Evonne laughed, shaking her head.

"And you call yourself the Green Death?" I nodded, but it was to be expected. Just about any other pilot, mechanic, officer, bartender...everybody else wondered why I had the nickname, but why Tasha was the one with more kills.

"Well, I just named myself after the paint job. It's more the suit's name then mine." She laughed even harder, shaking her head again.

"That's the suit's name? You named your GM? You are fucking weird. What are you, then? The Red Comet?" I shook my head, but had to laugh. I kind of opened up myself to all kinds of comments of that regard.

"I don't know...how about, 'The Incredible Evans'." We both laughed at that, the elevator reaching the last floor, the ready room and the forward observation areas being in front, and the dock leading to the mobile suits on deck behind those two rooms. We got out, Evonne looking at me.

"Well, don't get too big of a head. In any case...I got to go talk to Rodecker. Figure out what I'm gonna do with this Jaeger girl. You know we're flying first mission, right?" I stood in disbelief as I shook my head. First mission? What was this?

"Umm...no, I didn't. What's this about?" She smiled.

"When we get to the Shoal Zone...my team and your team are the ones that are going out and bagging that Musai. Can't wait. How about you?" I felt a little wave of shock continue...take on a Musai? But then again, it's what I wanted. I smiled back.

"I'm ready for anything, these days." She nodded, starting to walk off towards the ready room.

"Well then, I'll see you later, Rick." I nodded, waving her off.

"Take care." She turned back, waving at me too. In the meantime, I had noticed that there was a man standing behind the observation port, with the red beret. I figured it'd be time to get to know some more of these people. I was about half and half so far with those I had. I needed some more friendly faces. I stood next to him when I reached him, extending my hand.

"How's it going today? I'm Ensign Rick Evans." He looked to me, not extending his. His nametag read Brunner. Oh shit, not this guy too...

"Ah. The Green Death himself. It's going fine." I nodded, taking back my hand and put it at my side. God, these guys were a bunch of assholes.

"You look a bit too young to be in the cockpit." I took it as an offense. I wouldn't have gotten that name otherwise. In his defense, he looked like he was in his thirties or so. He seemed frail, weak. Short brown hair, rugged features, the kind that would kill the ladies; but it looked as if he had seen better days.

"Eh. At least I was actually old enough to join. They were sending kids into this shit." He nodded, but continued to shake his head.

"Both of you two that came on, you and Rivers. Much too young. And Malady as well, and Jaeger, Yanamato, Allister...you're all a bunch of damn kids. I can't believe this is what we're considering fit for duty." I shook my head, wanting to disagree, but it really wasn't my place to do so.

"...I think that me and Tasha's records more than speak for themselves. So does Evonne's." He nodded at me, but turned away.

"...we shouldn't have been throwing children into this at all. You know that all too well, I suppose." I balled my hand into a fist at my side. I wasn't a damn kid.

"I made my own decision to join. The Zeon did things...things that I cannot forgive. That's why I joined." He looked at me, and then stared off to space again. Somewhere ahead in the distance was the shoal zone.

"And that's why you're here. You just couldn't go back and be a civilian at the war's end." I kept staring out the port with him. I didn't need to question my reasoning.

"Damn right. A year after flying for the Feds, flying their transports, flying their GMs...watching all sorts of people dying around me, friends, fellow pilots, civs...this is the life I want to live. I got to make someone pay." He looked at me, if I was lost.

"You haven't had the time to decide that. I have. Anyways, all you'll be doing here is shooting the occasional pirate down...is that going to make you feel any better?" I could feel my fist shaking. How dare he...

"You're damn right it will. I had plenty of time to decide that. It took about a week." He didn't respond with any body language, just kept staring at the stars.

"And so that's how we condition the new generation. All sorts of kids now, all trained to fight and kill...and nothing left to kill. No other guy on the other side now. You're going to make your own war, now." I kept stoic myself, not wanting to even look at the guy. And he was my new commander. Fucking hell, flying with some idealist piece of shit and a guy that thinks I'm a traitor. This was just great.

"It wasn't my fault that everything I knew is gone now. This is all I have left...I love every second of it. I don't feel alive unless I'm behind the controls of that GM." He laughed, shaking his head.

"That over colored thing that you brought in? You and Rivers have the silliest looking suits here. I guess it suits your age." I just wanted to punch the asshole in the face, but...that wouldn't go over so well.

"Heh. Well...I know you're here to kill some zekes yourself, right?" He nodded, not looking at me.

"I have my own reasons." I nodded, starting to turn away.

"Then I look forward to our first mission. See you then." He didn't respond as I walked off, starting to wander over to the docks. As I did, I realized what I wanted to do, but had forgotten my flight suit back in the room. I shook y head, going over to the nearby locker to retrieve one of the normal suits stored in it. Must have been some tech's that was off duty. He wouldn't miss it.

EFSF Indignation, February 2nd, UC0080
Mobile Suit Deck, 0900 Hours
Ensign Rick Evans
It was a great feeling, floating through space again. Hadn't in about the last week or so. I made my way up the rows, the various other GMs in their team stacks, until I reached the first...my suit on the left side. I just smiled as I looked at it, the dark green paint on the body standing out much more bolder then the bright red ones that were on the line. The right shoulder, a black Spade emblem, the one that I used to paint the MS team number on, it had changed more than a few times already. And it was going to yet again...it still showed the number four from me and Tasha's old team. I had to get that changed...but it didn't matter that much. I just continued to look at it...from what I had heard from other various pilots, they hadn't liked the base GM, preferred their light armors or their Kais...but this was just perfect. It was a perfect killing machine. Two 60mm vulcans, head mounted...beam saber, maximum output runtime at one minute...Beam Spray Gun, fourteen rounds per charge, close range preference...two foes had fallen to this specific GM. The first one, my first five, my ace...pity it had been shot down. You kind of had a bond with your suit, a friendship, just like it was an ordinary person...the only difference being that it was a sixty foot tall war machine. But, we'd seen alot at Perzun...hopefully, would see more...

I found myself being interrupted by another person out here, in a normal suit. Whoever it was put their hand on my right arm, shaking me.

"Hey, Hatchins...you got to get a move on getting that suit up to bear! Don't just look at it!" I turned around, having no idea as to who she was referring to. I turned around; the girl in the normal suit gave me a very confused look.

"Wait, you're not..." I shook my head, smiling.

"No, I'm not this Hatchins guy. I'm the guy that pilots that suit." I put my hand out, she looked at me horribly confused still, but took my hand, just holding it rather than shaking it.

"You're...Rick Evans?" I kept smiling, and nodded.

"That's right." She looked a little taken aback, but kept her hand on mine.

"...you're breaking regulations, you know. Stealing a tech's suit and all of that." I nodded.

"I just wanted to see my GM, I forgot my flight suit. I got to thank you personally for making sure it's in working order." She looked at me with a smile, starting to giggle.

"Oh, thank you. I'm Flight Tech Julie. Julie Darnell. It's nice to meet you." I smiled, I wanted to pull my hand back but she wouldn't let go of it.

"Nice to meet you, as well. You know, if you could do me one favor...you see that four painted on the spade emblem? If you could change that into a one for me. I'd feel weird flying in this 01st team with a 04th marking." She nodded vigorously, still holding onto my hand.

"I will. I'll be right on that." I nodded myself, looking around and seeing all the other techs floating around. She put her other hand to the side of her helmet, as if she was trying to hold her other ear shut so she could hear something better, but of course it didn't work that way. It was just human instinct, I suppose.

"Well, I got to back to work, but I want to say that it's going to be a pleasure working with you, Evans. Just don't get shot up too bad, okay?" I smiled again, it sounded like she had really meant that. I hadn't heard something like that coming out of anyone's mouth other then Tasha's for quite a while.

"I won't. You take care, have a good day." I floated off; as I looked back I could see she was still just staring at me as I was leaving, and so I smiled to myself. At least somebody here was being nice, other than my old hands.

I did make one more pause, my suit almost out of view but I could just barely see it.

Alright buddy, we're going to have alot of fun a day or two from now. I hope you're ready, I am.