Chapter 9

Amadi bolted to her room, not even stopping to peek in through Warren and River's open door. She closed her door, locked it and shoved as much furniture and mech parts as she could in front of it. She sighed and flopped down on her bed. "What's up?"

"Did I call at a bad time?"

"No," Amadi lied.

"Really? It sounds like you're out of breath. Were you on a hot date?" His tone picked up when he said that last part.

"What are you going on about," Amadi said nervously.

"Who's the lucky girl," he asked excitedly.

"Who said it was a girl," Amadi asked defensively. Even though he couldn't see it, she hid her blush behind her hand.

"You can't fool me. A gay guy can always tell when someone else is gay, bi or straight, no matter what gender the subject is."

Amadi scoffed. "Liar. You're just hyper observant."

"That may be, but I know plenty of other gay guys that can do that."

"Whatever. Why'd you call me anyway?"

"I was wondering if you could come visit."

"No," Amadi answered.

"I can taste the venom," Robert joked. "Seriously though, I need to talk with you. Meet me at the Devil's Nest tonight at nine. Feel free to bring your girlfriend," he added joyously before he hung up.

Amadi face burned bright red and she mumbled, "She's not my girlfriend." She closed the phone and tossed it onto her bedside table. She stood up and moved the things she put in front of her door back to their original positions, unlocked her door and peeked outside. All was silent in the halls. The question for her was, would she really invite Damyen? Would Damyen even say 'yes'?

Amadi sighed and looked back at her clock. She had an hour or so to kill before she left. Just enough time for her to find Damyen, chicken out of asking her to come, leave, find her again and ask her to come with, get rejected, get over said rejection and meet Robert at the Devil's Nest five minutes late. Yeah, that was the plan.

Damyen busied herself updating Red and Black, and working a little on getting River's put together. Mostly working on River's. It made it all the more obvious something was wrong. Jadeline quietly entered, examining the new mech, still in bits and pieces. "This all scrap?" She asked.

"No use buying a brand new mech," Damyen answered, never stopping work. "Mine's about as tweaked as I can get it, and I bet Riv's off playing innocent, so I thought, hey, why not start it. Nothing else to do around here."

"What about the-"

Damyen stopped her. "It didn't. Something more important came up and she up and left."

"Do you know why?"

"Like hell. If I knew, I wouldn't be doing this right now, would I?"

"Guess not," Deli smiled. "So, anything you need extra hands for?"

The red head slipped out, glancing up at the girl. "What?"

"Well, no one should have to build something this big alone." She offered her hand. Damyen brushed it off, sitting up on her own.

"Oi, are you serious?" Deli nodded. Damyen had to seriously consider it for a moment. It wasn't that impossible alone, and this girl was new enough to know nothing. This could be interesting. "What the hell," she mumbled to herself. "Grab that piece of metal. You an artist?"

"Um, a little designing here and there."

"Good. Draw that," Damyen pointed to a loose piece of paper. River had sketched it out to put on his mech, brand it as his, "and make sure that it is perfect. Can you do that?"

Deli grinned, grabbing all the necessary items. "Can I do that, you're funny," she commented satirically.

Damyen smiled, a little laugh escaping. Perhaps this would prove to be more interesting than she initially thought.

Amadi stumbled around the corner of the maintenance room and saw Deli drawing on a piece of metal and Damyen working on River's mech. She took in a deep breath and held it in for a moment before releasing it. She happily skipped up to Damyen. "Hi Dai-chan," she said cheerfully. "I was just wondering," she drawled. Maybe I should wait for her to be less busy, she thought.

Deli's ears shot up while she continued drawing an exact replica of the drawing on a big chunk of metal.

Damyen, on the other hand, being the revenger she loved to be, continued shaving little metal pieces to fit somewhere on the gigantic machine. "I see the phone call made you overly cheerful," she said cold and distant.

"I thought she was always that smiley," Deli cut in.

Damyen lifted her goggles, leaving them on her head. She glared at her friend before walking over to start molding a new piece to shape. "No," she stated nice and sharp. There was a halt in her molding. For a good cause, she believed. Amadi had to learn not to leave her with something that wasn't her idea in the first place. She calmly strode over to Deli's station, criticizing the art so far. Side to side, it was indeed an exact replica, even blown up about twice the size, down to every last sketching detail. "Damn girl. I've underestimated you."

Deli grinned, steady hand engraving the pencil markings. "When I'm given a task, I do it perfect, ma'am."

"No need for titles, Deli. Just try to get it done before him and Pinky come through here, 'right?"

"Will do!"

Damyen pushed past Amadi. "Get to work or leave," she ordered, quickly getting back to work. Anything to get her mind off of the pain twisting in her stomach.

Shot down and she didn't even get to ask. She turned around and blurted out, "You're such a jerk Dai-chan!" She ran to her room to hide her blush and tears.

Deli immediately stopped. "What did you do to the poor girl?"

"I didn't do anything. Just told her either get to work or leave the work room."

"Damyen," she said in a wondering tone. "At least go figure out what she was happy about."

"This is more important." Only because she didn't want to go face her friend. Every time she thought about staring her in the eyes, the pain increased. Deli noticed the crease between her eyebrows.

"Dames," Deli placed a warm hand on the mechanic's shoulder. "Just go. I'll help you finish that up later."

Damyen looked down in shame, shaking her head. "Whatever." And she left, a knowing smile plastered on Deli's face.

It was tough to walk down the hallway, taking the necessary twists and turns to follow Amadi's path. "Moko-chan!" She screamed out with all her breath, echoing throughout the entire building and twenty states over. "Come here or I'll leave and never come back!"

Amadi dashed out of her room and stood in front of Damyen, after drying her tears of course. If she didn't respond then she would never get to ask her friend. "Don't leave," she cried. "I'm here!"

Damyen's hands sat on her hips. "Uh...," Damyen hid a slight hint of blush. "What the hell did you want?" She would give anything to show affection for the girl. If only she didn't believe it would be more than anyone should know. Another pang in her stomach. Ignore it. That was her mantra, arms crossed over her chest.

"I'm going to the Devil's Nest later, do you want to come," she asked plainly. Now, that wasn't as hard as she thought, but the waiting for an answer, however long or short, seemed like centuries.

The Devil's Nest. Damyen groaned. She wasn't a fan of that place. She wasn't one to go out anyway. But could she live with turning down Amadi? "That's all? You want me to come to some...stupid place with you?" Her heart raced. Only her mind stuttered. On the outside, everything seemed normal. "Is there a reason?" She said a little more calmly, a softer voice no one had heard before, including herself.

"I have to meet someone there, but I really don't want to go alone," she whined.

"Let me get this straight," a slight pause as Damyen walked closer to Amadi, "You want me to go with you, just so you can meet a friend? No way. I never do well as a third wheel, let alone a second." The fright hit her, heart pumping because she didn't want to be left alone, replaced by this "someone" once they arrived. And she wouldn't be able to leave without Amadi unless Amadi's "someone" was willing to escort her home.

"Why not," Amadi whined. "You know I can't go to the Devil's Nest without you! All those creepy, slimeballs. Not to mention my anger problem. Dai-chan, the world will end if you don't come with me," Amadi said seriously.

"Yeah, and you can't come home without me, either...I don't see the point in joining you if I am going to be ditched. You know the universe will end when my real anger problems arise," Damyen said in return. She didn't think it should be this frustrating to tag along somewhere.

"But Dai-chan," Amadi cried. "I don't wanna go alone...Dante's out of town and she left her lover in charge." Amadi paused and made a face like she was thinking. "The greedy, womanizer one."

Damyen sneered and growled and mumbled. "Fine...But the moment you walk off without me, I am gone and you'll never see me again." She wouldn't trust Dante's lover with anyone. Damyen had to be there to keep him in line.

"Yay," Amadi cheered. She threw her arms in the air and nearly tackled Damyen with the hug she gave her.

Damyen quickly stepped back, wide-eyed and a little nervous. She quickly turned away, hiding a small child like blush. "Whatever...Just tell me when we need to leave."

"Um...we need to be there at five past nine." Things hadn't gone as Amadi had planned, but she'd be damned if she actually got there on time.

"Five past nine?" Damyen quirked an eyebrow.

"See I had this plan earlier, but things didn't go like that, but I wanted to keep that part of it," Amadi explained quickly.

Damyen stood up, gripping Amadi's neck with her hand. "Explain or I'm staying," she demanded, not wanting to run around in circles with the girl. There was only so much she could take.

"Don't worry about it Dai-chan," Amadi said calmingly. "It was my plan for asking you to come along. I didn't plan on making you mad is all. "

"Tsk," she released Amadi, resuming her metal work. "Whatever. Don't expect much guarding from me."

Amadi smiled and sang an "Okay!"

"Whatever," she mumbled. "Hey, Deli," Damyen called out.

"Yeah?"

"You almost done there?"

"Already finished."

"That's a good girl," she smiled. This was in hopes Amadi would get jealous and apologize for everything at some point. Apologize for what exactly though, Damyen didn't know.

Amadi turned around. "I'm gonna go get ready. I'll see you in a little bit Dai-chan." She gave her comrade a small, fake smile and ran to her room. How come Damyen was being so nice to Deli all of a sudden? Oh well, it didn't matter. Dai-chan was Amadi's best friend, not Deli's.

There wasn't much time to do much on the mech before leaving, so Damyen stopped and went to her room to get prepared. "See ya Deli."

"I'll be here and working," the girl saluted with a grin.

Amadi tossed off her dirty clothes and threw them into the steadily groing pile. She put on something that looked like a boy's school uniform except it was gray with red lining all the edges. Over this, she wore her new coat. It wasn't fashionable, but Amadi wanted to wear her new coat and something that Robert would be able to recognize her in.

In a short amount of time, Damyen had taken a quick shower and put on the newly cleaned outfit she had been given awhile ago but never wore. She slipped into the pair of black jean short-shorts and a red tank top with short sleeves hugging the side of her arm. She zipped up her knee-high leather boots and called it good. It would be a chance to get let off some steam if anyone tried to mess with her in that outfit. She could take anyone wearing this. "Amadi!" Damyen screamed, clicking out of her room and down the hall.

River whistled. "Damn, what's the occasion?"

"Going out." She called the girl's name again.

"I'm coming. I'm coming," Amadi shouted back. She ran out of her room and stopped in her tracks when she saw Damyen. Her jaw dropped and she tried to form words. "D-d-d-d-d-dai-chan! Why are you wearing that? You're just asking for a guy to rape you," she whined. Girl's too, she added in her mind.

Damyen grinned, laughing to her heart's content. She bent over, laughing until she cried. "I," she couldn't finish. It took her a moment to recover, wiping her eyes. "I'm hoping someone will want to try," she stated directly. "What do you think? Do I look good?" She spun around once.

Amadi blushed and turned away. "Sure, whatever." This kind of thing was bad for her health. If Damyen does anything the wrong way then she might lose it.

"Let's go then. Bye Riv," Damyen waved, becoming a different person entirely.

"Hope you have a good time," the boy winked. She nodded, and headed off to her mech. She hopped in and waited for Amadi's cue.

Amadi hopped into her mech. "Alright, let's get this over with." If I stay out too long with Dai-chan when she looks like that...it will be bad, Amadi told herself.

Damyen got comfortable in the seat and followed Amadi to The Devil's Nest. "Who are you meeting exactly," she asked over video chat.

"A sibling of an old student slash friend of mine," Amadi said. She felt she had to be very vague.

"Fuck, another sibling friend of yours? Please tell me he isn't as bad as Warren and Jack," she pleaded. "I'm not taking another trainee."

"Don't worry. He is way different than Warren and Jack...But he might ask about Jack a lot so maybe you shouldn't talk to him so much." Amadi thought for a moment then sighed. "On second thought, you will hate him."

"Will he let me beat him up then? I wanna show off my new style," Damyen smirked. She was sure everyone might appreciate that in some form or another.

"No," Amadi said. "I think he'll like you...he's gay by the way."

"Until he sees this outfit, I bet," she challenged. She clasped her hands together, cooing. "Oh, this is going to be so entertaining," she ominously grinned.

"Trust me, he's not going to be interested. He already has a boyfriend." Amadi blushed when she thought about it. "Maybe it's more of an unrequited love," she mused.

"If it's Jack," she giggled. Giggled? That wasn't right. Damyen wasn't supposed to giggle. "Is it JackASS?"

Amadi rubbed the back of her head. It wasn't sore right now, but she was expecting a smack eventually. "Yeah...heheh...it is."

Damyen laughed her heart out, forcing herself to not fall over in the seat. "I knew it!" The girl cried out. She ended up falling out of her chair anyway, still laughing.

"Stop laughing, Dai-chan," Amadi whined. "Robert's really got it bad~! It's not funny!"

She tried to make a full sentence, but she just couldn't. "It's...too funny!"

"Dai-chan," Amadi cried. "Please stop. Robert is a really nice guy. Frankly, I don't know why he even likes Jack."

"Whoo," Damyen gasped, situating herself back into the seat. "Does...Does Jack know this?" She wiped joyous tears away from her eyes.

Amadi sighed. "He does...and he uses and manipulates him with it. The scary part is that Robert acts like he doesn't know."

"Hey, Moko-chan? Would you kill me if I had an idea?" Damyen smirked, narrowing her eyes mischievously.

"No," Amadi answered warily. "But I might hurt you if it isn't a good one."

"You would be involved," she answered in a less-than-normal tone, trying to persuade as best as she could.

"I realize this, now what is your plan?"

"Call Jack up, say you are in danger and I can't help you. He'll be here in no time, but when he arrives...BAM! There's little Robert waiting for him. We can help 'em hook up!" She was giggling like a fan girl.

Amadi widened her eyes in surprise. "That's actually a really good idea. I'll call him right now!"

Amadi dialed Jack's number on her normal cell phone and waited for him to pick up. "Hello," he asked. Amadi picked up the hint of worry in his voice.

She silently cleared her throat and began her act. "Jack," she nearly screamed. "I need your help! Dai-chan and I got separated when somebody surprise attacked up." She did a small manouver to make her mech shake and partially disrupt the signal. "Ja**, **lp! I'm stu** **er th* *evil's ****!"

"Where," Jack asked. It sounded like he was getting clothes on and preparing to leave.

Amadi stabilized her mech and resisted the laughter that was bubbling up inside. "The Devil's Nest." She played a sound effect she had preloaded onto her mech that made it sound like she had been hit and screamed before hanging up. "That should do it," she smiled happily.

Damyen laughed even harder. Once they arrived, she stumbled out of her mech, using the leg of her mech to keep from falling down. She fell anyway. These things were just inevitable.

Amadi jumped out of her mech with a smile of her face. "I'm glad you're having fun with this. Let's go before he gets here and catches us."

Damyen jumped up, landing perfectly on her heels. She used her friend to walk, wobbling like a drunk. "Moko-chan, he will freak once he sees us and Robert. I'll kill him if he hurts anyone," she made that point clear.

"I know...don't make me start to feel guilty."

"I don't feel guilty." Damyen kicked her leg high into the air, accidentally knocking the door in. "Oops..."

"Oops my foot," Amadi sighed. "You're already drunk and you haven't even had any alcohol yet."

"Moko-chan," she side-hugged Amadi, continuing to walk forward, "I'm not drunk. People will just notice me if I bring attention to myself, and seeing as I want people to see this outfit..." Her hand trailed down Amadi's side, "Unless you are already jealous."

Amadi blushed and looked the other way. "Why would I be jealous?"

"Alright then. Have fun with your friend!" She left to peruse the crowd of people, scanning for anyone who was thinking the slightest bit of challenging her. After all that talk of not being left alone, she went off anyway. She wasn't fooling anyone, though, saying it was because she wanted to. It was only to prevent herself from being left alone. When Robert was found, at least Damyen would have someone else to...talk to, keep her company.

Amadi didn't even try to find Robert. She wouldn't have been able to recognize him anyway. A guy in a bar...not an easy find when you were in a bar full of guys.

"Amadi," she heard someone shout.

She looked around and saw boy about four years younger than her over at the bar. Amadi shook her head. He was easier to recognize than she thought. She walked over and saw the beer in his hand. "Don't drink that crap. It's bad for your health."

"As usual you say nothing about me being underage."

"Nobody cares about that kind of thing. Why did you want to see me anyway?"

"There's going to be a memorial put up soon."

"So what," Amadi said. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Sis' name is gonna be on it."

Amadi sat down and took his beer. "So?"

"Don't so me! I want you to be there."

"No," she said simply as she took a swig.

There was a rather loud crash heard on the other side of the bar, glasses smashing and tables being knocked over. Damyen was kicking the crap out of some random guy who had thought it kind to make his move physically rather than with crappy pick-up lines. "Don't mess with me," she whispered into his ear. Her heel dug into the man's waist.

"Fuckin' ow! I get the point," the stranger cried uncle. It was her quick victory.

"Great, good to see we are on the same page."

"Damy?" A small hesitant voice said her name. She turned from her punishment to see a younger girl tackle her to the ground.

Damyen couldn't see before she hit the ground hard. She quickly immobilized the girl and pinned her down to the ground. Feral golden eyes and bouncy dark blue ringlets. "Oh my god...Chartile!" Damyen stood up, helping her old mate to stand as well.

"How long's it been?" Chartile gave Damyen a big hug, strong for a little thing.

"I visited...Where've you been?"

"Drinkin, obviously," she raised a bottle. "So what about Akiko?"

Damyen audibly swallowed. "Um...yeah, yeah, not much. Uh, you know, same mystery," she answered, now hoping it would be time to leave soon.

"I heard he died," Chartile continued without noticing the change.

"Um," Damyen nervously glanced around the crowd. She made up something to keep conversation going, a diversion to think of a getaway plan. Many would have worked if Amadi wasn't there.

"Come on Amadi. You were Rachel's teacher and she basically worshipped you," Robert said in a whiny tone. His eyes shined in all their purple glory, just like his sister's had. Things like that really got to Amadi.

"I already told you that I'm not going. If you remember what happened then...you know I wasn't a very good teacher." She looked away, not wanting the tears that were threatening to fall escape.

"Are you kidding? You're one of the best pilots and you are a teacher of the same caliber. I thought you were dead until Jack brought you back around. You were so different." He looked over at Amadi's orange-haired companion. "You've become more like you old self since Damyen came along, right?"

Amadi blushed. "Don't get me wrong. I haven't forgotten-"

"I know. Rachel is hard to replace, but I'm happy to see your heart is healing."

Amadi blushed again and childishly punched Robert's shoulder. "Shut up, you mind reading pixie."

"I'm not reading your mind, you're just that predictable." Robert dodged a punch that was not so playfully aimed at his face.

The bar's door slammed open and a blue haired man ran up to the counter. "Damn it Amadi! What the hell was that fake call about?"


A/N: And we'll stop there. Don't worry there is plenty more to come. Keep reading and reviews make us work harder *hint hint*!