Chapter 9
Someone Else's Perspective
Luna Elise Wilde sat in the back of her grandparent's car, the seventeen year old vixen utterly confused at why Marian and Robin Sr. would call her out of her second month in college on a random day. It was too abnormal for her tastes, even for the rebels Luna called her grandparents.
"Uhh...what's going on?" Luna asked.
Marian looked back and smiled. "Just wait and see," she said. Luna raised an eyebrow, and Marian and Robin simply smiled, as Robin steered around the bend towards the Dawson Tech Building.
"Why're we here?" Luna asked, looking around, nervously. "What's going on here?"
"You'll see in a second," Marian said. They pulled into an alley and Marian pushed a button on a device she was holding. A large underground spiraling roadway opened up, and Robin drove in.
"What the..." Luna mumbled.
"I know, it's kinda pressuring on your mind at first," Robin Sr. said, chuckling.
"Wait...does this have to do with your vigilante personas, or..." Luna asked. Robin Sr. and Marian looked at each other, before looking back at their granddaughter.
"Well, sort of," Robin Sr. said. "This won't address us, it'll address you." Luna was confused, until they parked. The two elderly foxes brought their granddaughter into the secret headquarters known as the Bunker.
When the door opened, Luna was surprised to see someone familiar standing on a large metal briefing table. "Olivia?!" Luna cried.
Olivia Dawson, daughter of David and Basil Dawson, was working on a large mech suit, which Luna noticed was about a few centimeters taller than her, but to a mouse like Olivia, it was massive.
"Luna!" the Scottish mouse cried. She scampered over to Luna and hugged her childhood friend, or basically trying to with her hand. But Luna was too shocked looking at the mech suit before her. "What-what's that?" Luna said.
"Meet Spitfire," Marian said.
"Aww, I thought we were gonna name it the Titan," Olivia said, a little disappointed.
"The Titan sounds like a monster, like a mammal who'd eat other mammals," Marian said, a slight scolding tone in her voice.
"But what about-" Olivia said.
"Come on, your favorite plane was the Spitfire," Marian said. "This thing's gonna fly, isn't it? Why not the Spitfire?"
Olivia sighed. "OK," she said. "For the record, my favorite plane was the Messerschmitt BF 109."
"I don't think you can name your creation after a German engineer that lived over a hundred years ago," Robin Sr. said. "I'd say that brings up copyright issues. Very old ones."
Luna blinked. "Well, what about me? What's this gotta do with me?" Everyone's attention was turned back to the granddaughter. Robin spoke up, seeing his granddaughter's nervous look.
"You see..." Robin said. "You know we're the MM Gang. Little John couldn't come over to help us explain this."
"We need a successor, or in this case, two." Marian said. Luna and Olivia looked at each other. Judging by Olivia's expression, she hadn't been seeing the whole picture either. Either that or Olivia had secrets kept from her as well.
"I-I'm sorry, what?" Luna asked. Olivia gave a cynical look to the elder foxes, using a paw to gesture them to go on.
"We're retired, so we need another hero to protect the city. And we thought, well..." Marian said, before looking to her archery mastered husband for help, and Robin gladly intervened. "We have two very good candidates in front of us," Robin Sr. said.
Luna stayed silent for a while, worrying her grandparents, before she instantly recoiled with her back to the table. "What?" she said, her pupils dilating. Olivia's eyebrows also shot up in surprise. "Say what now?"
"We're making a new project. The Ceartais Project. Basically we're making a new group of heroes sent to protect this city," Robin Sr. said
"Luna, your archery skills are incredible, almost matching my husband's. Olivia, you can build a defibrillator out of paper clips. I don't see why you can't be heroes," Marian said.
"I made a defibrillator out of paper clips and a car engine. That's different. Plus I got it off of the MacGyver series," Olivia muttered.
"So, you're telling us to give up our normal lives for your legacy?" Luna asked, her voice mixed in anger and disbelief. Marian looked down in some guilt, enabling Robin to continue the explanation.
"We can't help this city forever. We're asking you to give your future for the lives of others," Robin said. "I know it's a hard decision to make, and it's OK to be a little selfish, but...think of what's at stake here."
"We're willing to pay you. Given your current...job, Luna," Marian said. Luna felt her cheeks heat up.
Luna looked between Robin, who was looking at her, and Marian, who was fiddling nervously with one of her batons, and Olivia, whose expression was completely unreadable. She looked down, seeing her reflection in the shiny neosteel floor.
"I...", Luna said, before rubbing her forehead in frustration. "I need to think about it." However, at that moment, Olivia made a decision that shocked her childhood friend. "I'm in," she said.
"What?" Marian asked, dropping her baton.
"What? You're agreeing so suddenly?" Luna asked, looking to Olivia. Olivia looked bad with a molten expression. "What about your life?"
"I know this is what I was meant to be the moment I built Spitfire," Olivia said. "Call me crazy, I call it destiny."
"Luna, please, let us know what your decision is," Marian said.
The young vixen rubbed her forehead. "I'll...I'll get back to you," she said. "I...I need to get back home. Dad...mom...sis..."
Marian nodded. "I'll drive you home," she said. As Luna and Marian walked to the garage, Luna came up with another question.
"What's Ceartais?" Luna asked. "Sounds weird to me."
Marian sighed. "Don't question it," she said. "I really don't wanna explain this again."
THE NEXT DAY…
Luna woke up and got ready to go out. She was brushing her teeth when she thought back to when Marian and Robin Sr. broke the news.
"A hero, huh?" Luna said, quietly to herself.
"Lu?"
Robyn stepped into the bathroom, yawning. She wore a simple sleeping shirt that went down to her thighs. "Morning," she said, rubbing her eyes.
"Morning, little sis," Luna said, rinsing her mouth.
"Hey, Robbie? Can I ask you a question?" Luna asked.
"How do I say yes or no to something you already did?" Robyn said.
"Ha ha, look, it's serious," Luna said. Robyn noted the tone in her older sister's voice and nodded.
"I've been given another job offer, and it could change my whole life. It's for the good, but it could potentially ruin my life," Luna said.
"Is this a 'should I or should I not' question?" Robyn asked. Luna just nodded in response.
Robyn thought about this. "Well...like I heard from TV, do what your conscience dictates," she said, genuinely thinking about it. "Now, are you done? I really need to pee."
Luna left the bathroom and Robyn stepped in, closing the door behind her. "What does my heart tell me?" Luna muttered.
"Well?" Robyn's voice beyond the door said.
"Nothing for you to worry about," Luna said back.
As she drove to the archery course in her scooter, she kept weighing the options, between going to school and pursuing her old passions, or going to the rushing path vigilantism and helping others.
"This is so difficult!" she groaned, as she headbutted the handlebars. The horn went off, and she jumped in surprise. A female sheep in a nearby van was staring at her. "Are you OK?" she asked. Luna blushed in embarrassment and nodded, before heading to the range.
Luna was practicing her skills in an archery arena, hitting bullseyes, when she remembered how her grandparents would talk about stories of their vigilantism. "Mammals called us heroes...we loved it. The best part is being a hero was our passion," Robin Sr. had said.
"Passion, huh?" Luna muttered, letting loose an arrow that hit a bullseye on the target. She drew back another arrow and fired, hitting the bullseye again. "Maybe I can pull it off..." Luna said.
"Pull what off?"
Luna turned to see her dad and her uncle Jack with their bows. "Hey, dad. Hey, Skippy," Luna said.
"Heh, hey Lu Lu," Nick said. He took his bow and grabbed an arrow, as did Jack. "Whatcha talking about?" Jack asked.
"Oh, nothing important," Luna said, looking around nonchalantly.
Nick chuckled. "Luna, I can see right through you. You know that, right?" he said. "Come on, what's bothering you?"
Luna sighed and put her bow down. She had to word this carefully, explaining her problem as truthfully as she could without giving away her grandparent's expectations.
"I got...a job offer. It could turn other mammals' lives for the better, but it could ruin my life. I wanna help others, but I don't know if it's worth doing at my expense," Luna said.
"Nailed it!" she thought.
"What's the job?" Nick asked. Luna twitched, which Nick didn't notice, luckily for her. "I can't tell you. It's classified," Luna said.
"You sure?" Nick asked, raising an eyebrow at his daughter.
"Yes, they specifically told me," Luna said. "That part's technically true," Luna thought. Luckily, her dad could see that.
Nick smiled. "Yeah, it's probably not important. OK, remember when Trevor Moon was running for mayor?" he asked.
"Yeah?" Luna said. "He was supporting interspecies relationships."
"He was pretty mych an inter, but he kept it in. But when he wanted to run for mayor, he chose to represent inters in the city. It could've ruined his life if he lost, but he took a chance. He took a chance and won," Nick said.
"Everything involves a risk. Trevor said he never regretted making the choice of his sexuality," Jack said. "It was a choice with no regrets."
"No regrets..." Luna muttered. Jack and Nick nodded. "So, you're saying..." Luna said.
Nick smiled. "Go for it. If you don't get the job, you'll go back to the life you wanted, back where you started. If you do make, then you'll be helping mammals get the lives they want," he said.
Luna smiled, finding hope and resuscitation in her father's words. "Thanks, daddy," Luna said, as she hugged her dad.
"No problem, angel," Nick said, hugging his daughter back. "How about a father daughter competition?"
"Ahem!"
"My bad. Father, daughter, and uncle competition?" Nick said, making sure to include Jack. Luna smirked. "You're on, dad!" she said, taking her bow and quiver of arrows.
TIMESKIP...
The next week, Luna was back in the Bunker, courtesy of her friend Olivia bringing her there via personal transportation. "I've decided. I'm joining Ceartais,", Luna said. Marian and Robin Sr. smiled, Marian wiping a few tears.
"What made you after?" Marian asked. Luna sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.
"I...I wanna make a difference. Plus I don't think I see Olivia enough as it is," Luna chuckled. Robin smiled.
"Great. First, we're gonna do training. I hope you're prepared," Robin Sr. said. Robin Sr. tossed a bow at Luna, who caught it with ease.
"What?", she asked, before Marian charged at her. She started throwing punches at her granddaughter, making Luna jump up and roll away. "What the hell?!" Luna cried, before Robin Sr. fired an arrow that grazed her ear, embedding itself in the wall behind her.
Luna acted quickly, grabbing the arrow and aiming it at her grandfather. By then, Marian had grabbed her batons and swung them straight into Luna's face.
Luna dropped her bow, but she grabbed the arrow, attempting to defend herself against the onslaught of punches. She deflected some of the baton hits, before a leg sweep sent her sprawling helplessly on the floor.
By then, Luna couldn't get up. "Ow..." she groaned, clutching her kneecap in pain. As much pain as she was in, the fight was amazingly impressive.
"Not bad. But not good enough," Marian said, holding out a paw to help her up. "If you're gonna protect this city, you need to fight," Luna let out a pained groan, before taking her grandmother's paw and getting up.
"Alrighty then, hit me," she said. Marian threw another punch, and Luna dodged. She grabbed an arrow and threw it at Marian.
The hacker swung her tonfa, knocking the arrow out of the air. Then she charged, as did Luna, after pulling a baseball bat off a deactivated practice bot.
Then the two clashed. Have you seen any anime where two characters fight with swords so fast they're blurs with sparks flying out? This is similar, except with blunt objects.
The two continued to fight, before Luna scored a hit on Marian's thigh. Marian stumbled, before Luna performed a jump kick.
Marian ducked and scored a hit with her batons, against Luna's hip. Luna stifled a cry of pain and performed another swing kick.
Marian grabbed Luna's leg and flung her over her shoulder. Luna swung the metal bat as she flailed, hitting Marian's crotch, hard.
Marian let out a vulpine squeal as she collapsed to the floor, holding her groin. Robin had cringed from the *crunch* the hit had made, and was now running to his wife.
Luna stared in horror at what she'd done. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" she said. "Are you OK or-"
"I'm...fine...that was good..." Marian said, trying to get up. Luna could barely stifle a laugh at her grandmother's position.
Marian's knees were bent inward, and both her paws were holding her "baby-maker". Robin Sr. looked on in worry. "Are you OK? Do you need anything?" Robin asked.
"Yeah...could you take a look?" Marian hissed, finding it hard to walk. Robin blushed, but quickly helped his wife to a spare room.
When the door slammed shut, Luna just broke down in laughter. The situation was strangely funny to her, as guilty as she felt about it.
When she calmed down, she sighed and looked to the door. "Can I go home? I don't want my friends to worry!" she asked.
She was met with a moan from the other room, and Luna paled instantly. She turned around, grabbed her jacket, and bailed immediately.
(Anyone notice those references? If so, please put in the reviews.
Plus I'm not too proud of the ending, but screw it, what's a story without some abnormalities?
Song of the day: Superstar - Pegboard Nerds)
