CHAPTER THREE
Privilege
After the three day period Prozen's team of scientists had kept Reika under extreme medical watch, it was Raven's turn to baby-sit. He didn't think too highly of this but Prozen secretly did. To every other person in the midst of taking care of her he refereed to it as "Raven's privilege". Prozen intended to make Reika, Raven's weak point, and thus control him more so than he already did. He was a clever and malevolent man and the entire planet Zi could tell that from the way he simply smiled.
Raven slowly made his way down the corridors to Reika's quarters. Almost to a trudge it seemed. He was trying to postpone the inevitable. An inescapable fate, he was destined to get close to her, regretfully to him. Raven had no desire to be a part of anyone else's life. He wanted to live his own the way he had started to believe was the way. To kill and destroy. To murder and massacre. To loathe and hate all beings and Zoids alike. To get close to someone else was something he was almost allergic to. He never really needed company after all.
He found her room. He knocked once and he heard Prozen's voice boom.
"Enter." Raven turned the knob and walked inside. There he saw Prozen with his arm around his "daughter's" shoulder sitting on the side of her bed. She was wearing a simple white dress with black laces trimming the chest and skirt of it. It was spaghetti strap and she also had on a black lacey choker. Her lilac hair was up in a messy bun and her eyes were wide and wondering. She lifted her hand up skittishly and gave a small wave to Raven. Raven was dumbstruck and didn't do a single thing. "Reika this is Raven, he is your care taker for now." Prozen stated. He gave her a pat on the back. Reika got up nervously and walked over to Raven. Raven was trying his very best not to show any form of emotion. She gave a small smile and curtsied.
"Nice to meet you, Raven." She said. Raven gave a small gulp.
"Nice to…meet you too…" He managed to stammer. Prozen chuckled a bit.
"Ok, well it's time to escort Reika to her friend." Prozen stated getting up off the side of the bed. He walked up to the two and placed his arm over his daughter again. Raven felt the feeling bubble up again. Then Prozen began small idle chit chat on the way to the storage room with her Organoid. Raven walked behind them, never taking his eyes off of Reika. He was told to guard her, and guard her he will. Guard her from what? Or better yet who? Prozen, that's who! Even though the man was posing as her father, he was still a threat to her in Raven's eyes. A wolf in sheep's clothing. He knew that Prozen planned on doing experiments on her, and planned on using her for more information on Zoid Eve.
As they wound their way through corridors Prozen finally led them into a hangar. The sounds of drills and machines working on the damaged Zoids were a sickening sound to Raven, but to Reika it was unfamiliar. Prozen kept them going until he reached a storage room. There he took his arm off of Reika's shoulder and punched in the key code. Raven took the spot next to Reika, unknowingly. It was almost like a robotic movement. The door opened and the dark purple Organoid that Shadow had wrestled was standing right before them. It was about the same size as Shadow, it had three reptilian fringes coming off the back of its head. Making it just seem a little fiercer. The under side of its neck was midnight black, and inner thigh-ish area was also that same color. The whole abdomen, except for one strip where the spine would be located on anything else, was black as well. The rest of it was that dark purple violet color. The eyes were emerald green and its tail was tipped with a sharp blade.
"I remember you." Reika said walking towards it. The Organoid made a mechanical purr sound as it nuzzled her. Reika began to pet it like a dog. "How are you feeling Luminescent? How did these nice people treat you?" Reika was speaking in a kind and almost motherly voice. Raven made a small chuckle to her comment about "the nice people". Luminescent began to make speech like sounds and nuzzle her again.
"Ah so her name is Luminescent?" Prozen stated as she began to giggle when Luminescent nuzzled her some more.
Prozen led them back through some more corridors and pointed out several rooms to her. "Ok sweetheart I have to go to a meeting with the Emperor." Prozen gave his daughter a kiss on her forehead. "Raven I leave you in charge of her now. Be good Reika." Prozen said as he began walking down the corridors towards the meeting room.
Reika stood there with Luminescent gazing quizzically over at Raven, who was desperately trying to avoid looking back at her.
"So…what are we going to do now?" She asked in her innocent voice. Raven gulped. He didn't think about what he was supposed to do while watching her. Prozen didn't give him much to work with did he?
"Well I don't know." Raven answered. He started walking away without looking at her and she began to follow. They walked on for a while in silence before Raven finally said something else. "What would you like to do?" He asked. In the first time in years Raven considered what someone else wanted.
"I do not know. What is there to do?" She asked while she was trotting next to Luminescent. Raven looked at her Organoid and remembered he left Shadow in their room.
"Well, I need to go get Shadow, and then we can find something to do." Raven stated turning back around, avoiding eye contact.
"Shadow? Who is Shadow?" She asked.
"My, Organoid." He answered.
"Oh, so Shadow is your friend like Luminescent is mine."
"Sort of…" Raven replied.
"Oh. I cannot wait to meet him. I'm sure him and Luminescent will get along." Reika stated cheerfully. She had no clue Shadow had helped the grunts take down Luminescent at first to capture her.
"Yeah…Let's hope." Raven murmured the last part of his sentence.