Enter the Siren – Part 14
The shuttle was steadily moving away from the moon and the space station, curving back towards the planet. Lilith kept a firm hand on the controls, glancing around and peering into the darkness for any signs of hostiles. Gaige and the others were done studying some of the finer laser weapons and decided they ought to hassle Marcus to import some ammunition for them, which they would buy in bulk, until they would eventually shelve them.
"These will be a good addition to our armory." Maya commented, sitting next to Vian.
"Well, I'm gonna take half of them apart. Maybe I can make DT some new upgrades." Gaige told them, sitting and leaning against the side of the shuttle, across from them.
"Not this one you won't." Vian aimed her empty cryo-railgun at Gaige, who mockingly put her hands above her head. Vian waited until she lowered them and, without warning, tossed the gun at Gaige, who barely had time to raise both hands, back up, to catch it. She and Maya looked at Vian with surprise.
"Aha! So, your robotic arm is just as fast as your real one. I thought it would be slower." she concluded and Gaige understood why she nearly threw the weapon against her.
"Uh...yeah. There was some lag, at first, but they pretty much got cybernetics to the point where response time is just as fast as with real limbs. It's no big deal, anymore." Gaige explained with a shrug.
"And it only comes up to about halfway on your upper arm. So, when you move it and lift it, you're still using your shoulder and neck muscles. Mmh, your neck, there, gets a good work out." Vian smirked with a lick of her teeth and made a biting motion. Gaige gave her a guarded look, knowing where her mind was and she suddenly had the mental image of a vampiric Vian biting down on her neck, making her shiver, slightly, which made Vian's expression deepen. Gaige blinked at her, oddly, as Vian raised her hand and moved her fingers back and forth as if greeting her. Gaige mimicked her with her metal hand. Vian made a devil's horn, extending her index and pinky finger, while keeping the others closed and Gaige let out a snort as she returned it.
"I couldn't do that, at first. Had to tweak the neural links and the joints." she said. Next, Vian only extended her thumb and pinky as if it was an old head-seat with a speaker or an even older receiver for a phone. Gaige easily mirrored her, but raised a brow at Vian's next sign. The latter split her fingers, holding her index and middle finger together, on one side, and her ring finger and pinky, on the other, making a v-shape. "What's that?" Gaige asked Vian, who only shrugged and made a face that said she did not know, either. Gaige did the sign and watched with amusement as Vian struggled a bit to keep her ring finger extended, while closing all others and even used her other hand to pull it up. Gaige smugly repeated it with ease and stuck her tongue out, to which Vian gave Gaige her middle-finger, with a pout and the latter returned it with a sweet smile.
"Look, we're bonding!" Vian turned to Maya, on her left and commented with a smile.
"Indeed, you are." Maya told her as if she was proud of both of them.
"You're not out of my woods, yet, though." Vian pointed a finger at Gaige, who hung and shook her head, along with Maya. "What? The whole preppy schoolgirl theme really isn't helping to keep my libido in check, you know." Vian told Gaige, almost accusingly and the latter took it as an accusation.
"W-what!? Like it's my fault you can't keep it in your pants when you see a skirt?" Gaige asked, incredulously.
"And those stocking." Vian added as her eyes and brows danced, clearly messing with her.
"Blaming one's lack of ability to control their urges on how the other person dresses isn't exactly a strong argument." Maya pointed out.
"Huh! Tell that to a rapist. Or a pedophile. Or some really conservative male folk." Vian exclaimed.
"It's totally not even an argument!" Gaige yelled. "I saw this article on the ECHO, once, about a high school, where some guys and the male teachers freaked out over a girl's prom dress. So, her shoulders were bear! Sheesh! Call the freakin' police! If people wanna ban that, 'cause they say it'll make guys have impure thoughts..." she said the word mockingly. "Then, those guys are the problem!" she concluded. "And some women." she added, looking at Vian, who rolled her eyes.
"Someone's eighteen or twenty-one, it doesn't even matter, but some people don't have a bar. They're sure popular in prison, though." Vian said as she popped a bottle and took a swig.
"What do you mean by popular?" Maya asked.
"I heard from people that prisons have their own hierarchy. It's completely ridiculous. I mean, they're all criminals, but still, the lowest of the low are the child molesters. It doesn't matter what everyone else is in there for. They could be murderers and robbers, but if a pedophile gets thrown in there, they're lucky if they live to serve their time." Vian explained.
"That is ridiculous." Maya made a face and Vian shrugged with a bottle in her hand.
"So...are you actually over eighteen, then?" Vian carefully asked Gaige, who averted her eyes and lowered head, but Vian could still see her smile under the brim of her cap. She turned to Maya leaned close to her. "You told me she wasn't old enough." She told Maya, accusingly, who was not exactly being successful in keeping a straight face. "You did it on purpose, didn't you?" Vian pressed her and Maya only smiled more. "You wanted me to stop hitting on her, so you could have me all to yourself!" That made Maya's face fell and she stared at Vian.
"Uh...yes. That...was my plan." Maya played along, despite knowing she was adding fuel to the fire. Vian smirked and laughed, internally.
"You little minx!" Vian exclaimed. "Not so little." she added as she pressed against her. "Hey, pilot!" she called to Lilith. "Dip this thing, so I can accidentally fall on top of her!"
"As her flight-instructor, I forbid her from performing more advanced maneuvers!" Gaige told them, authoritatively.
"Oh?" Lilith was certainly not going to let herself be bossed around by the girl for too long. She dipped the shuttle, causing Maya to slightly fall to the side, who saw Vian practically jump, not even trying to make it look accidental and she was leaning over her, on one knee.
"This'll do." Vian commented and looked down as she felt Maya's hand lightly pressing against her chest, keeping her at bay. She locked eyes with her.
"Heel!" Maya told her with a playful smile and Vian's eyes briefly shot up, before she growled and obeyed, sitting back as Maya sat up. Gaige was propped up on her right elbow as she watched the scene and Lilith turned her head to look at them and she exchanged a glance with the girl, remembering what they both saw, back on Concordia. They decided not to mention it to anyone, as they figured it was nothing to worry about. After all, they could not possibly know what happened when two Sirens got physically close, just huddled together, or of it even happened before.
"Hey, you think two Siren ever got...close. In the past?" They both suddenly turned to Vian, who just asked Maya.
"Uh...maybe. I don't think it's impossible." Maya answered, as she pondered it, herself. "It's not like we're different from other people. We just have these powers. We don't...experience emotions and...form bonds any differently. Right?" Maya smiled at Vian, a little nervously.
"Right." The latter agreed, never taking her eyes off Maya's. Lilith and Gaige remained silent and the latter stepped over to the cockpit. She leaned down and hesitantly started whispering to Lilith.
"Hey, so when you had...you know...with someone. Did you glow, too?" Lilith gave her half a glare.
"Don't know." she muttered.
"How could you not know?" Gaige whispered, slightly raising her voice.
"Know what?" Maya asked, having heard at least the end of the question.
"Eh, nothing." Gaige answered, nervously.
"She's asking me about...flying...parts. Things on this panel." Lilith came up with an apparently satisfactory explanation for Maya and Vian. She silently mouthed to Gaige that she did not have an answer for her.
"Okay." Gaige whispered and sat back down, embarrassed that she even asked her about it. She soon had to get back to her and take over the controls as they entered the planet's atmosphere and began their descent. They saw the top of clouds and passed through them, keeping to a safe trajectory, the whole time, to avoid burning up. From still high on up, they could see a familiar tundra below them, with snowy cliffs, train-tracks running between them and a destroyed bridge. Their ECHO crackled and they heard a distorted voice shouting in it. The transmission cleared up and they immediately recognized the unmistakable lingo of the girl on the other end.
"Everyboday!?" Came a high-pitched scream, demanding a response.
"We're here, Tina! Calm down!" Lilith shouted back.
"Oiii! Pretty Lily! Mordi and Brick told me about you laaadies going for a night-out." She was talking in a sultry tone, as much as a thirteen-year-old could even affect one, which suddenly changed to mild rage. "They FORGOT to tell me you're gonna make it rain Hyperion from space!" She changed her speech, again. "Them were some fiiine explosions! Proud o' youz."
"Thanks." Lilith replied.
"Coming from you, that's high praise!" Maya spoke up.
"Maya! Mah faiiir lady! How arth thou on this most auspicious of nights?" Tina switched to literary speech and Maya let out a light laugh at the girl's sudden change in demeanor.
"I'm doing well. And how are you?" she asked, courteously.
"Ready and willing!" Came the response and Vian's jaw dropped.
"Uh...heh. What are you doing up so late?" Maya asked, swiftly glazing over the fact that a thirteen-year-old made a rather blunt pass at her, well beyond the borders of a sexual advance.
"Same old. Same old. Drinkin' mah tea. Crunchin' man crumpets and blowing bandits butts!" she replied. "Got a bit looow on the crumpets, 'cause SOMEONE hit mah delivery and killed the guy who was gonna set me up for months." In case any of them had any doubts that the girl was literally blowing up people in the middle of the night, they heard a terrified voice, in the background, begging.
"Oh, please! Oh, please! Oh, ple-e-e-ase! I didn't know they were cookies! I didn't know they were your cookiiies! Have mercy!"
"They...were...crumpets." Tina whispered in a dangerously low voice and those who knew her, also knew that the bandit was a goner, just for getting the name wrong. There was an explosion and the communicator briefly gave static. "Night! Burn all the bed-bugs!" Tina signed out. Maya looked at Vian, who stared and kept looking between all of them.
"That...was Tina." Lilith said.
"Told you, she's like you." Gaige told Vian as she navigated. "But, like, cubed or something. Times ten to the power of...whatever. At least you two still didn't meet each other. All of Pandora is grateful."
"I'm honestly scared of what she'll be like as an adult." Maya wondered.
"If she even grows up." Lilith folded her arms.
"Sounds to me like she's already grown up in some sense." Vian grinned at Maya. "That line, back there? Like, if we'd put it on a scale, it would need, like, three of mine, to balance it out." Vian calculated and Maya looked like she was doing the math, herself.
"There she is!" Gaige exclaimed, after a while, and they could see Sanctuary's lights.
The place was quiet and dark. The lights they saw were mainly coming from HQ, Moxxi's bar and the Eridium-powered machine that kept the city airborne. Mordecai and Brick rubbed their eyes as they walked down in front of Scooter's garage and opened the door so they could guide the shuttle in and lock it up. The buzzard was inside, as well, along with the hover-trolley.
"Had fun?" Mordecai asked Lilith as they stepped outside.
"More than we wanted." she replied.
"Saw the fireworks from here. You talked to Tina?"
"Yep. She didn't miss it, either."
"You busted some heads up there?" Brick was eager to hear.
"Literally." Vian answered and looked at her boots. "Gotta wash that blood off, before we stink up the place." Brick gave her an approving nod.
"Guess you won't need a bed-time story, then." Mordecai said as Gaige walked past him with a stack of weapons and the latter made a face at him. They started loading the trolley with crates.
"You're telling me they left a fast travel around that got you behind their lines, just like that?" Mordecai asked.
"Pretty much." Lilith replied.
"We're not even sure if they even disabled it. It might still be useable." Maya added and Brick started laughing to himself.
"We could just step outta one of 'em, beat everyone up and get out, before they could even tell where all the punches came from."
"I don't know. They were kinda heavy on security." Lilith discouraged him.
"The loaders have more brains, too." Gaige added.
"Damn! Their robots are getting smarter? That's not good." Mordecai shook his head.
"Hey, maybe they'll grow a conscience and stop killing at least some people." Gaige shrugged as she started pushing the stacked trolley up to HQ.
"We'll see, I guess." Lilith was sure, along with everyone else, that whatever war was coming, it would draw in Hyperion, as well.
"Athena and Janey are gone?" Vian asked.
"Stayed 'til around midnight. Moxx made 'em knock back a few. Never figured Athena for a light-weight. That Janey could hold twice her liquor." Mordecai chuckled. "Didn't loosen their tongues much." he added with some disappointment. "Probably 'cause they were too busy wrestlin' with them."
"Eww..." Lilith shoved him.
"Man..." Brick groaned. "It's like listenin' to Tina, sometimes." he commented and Vian laughed out loud as they were crossing the square.
They left the trolley on the ground-floor and quietly moved through the room, taking note of sleeping resistance soldiers. The men went to their room and three of the women took a quick shower, as Vian promised to hang back until they were all done. They did not want to waste her time by taking turns, so they all occupied separate stalls and finished with it, quickly. Vian emerged from the showers with a towel wrapped around her and was met by Maya, who was wearing a short night-dress that only went down to the middle of her thighs. She was holding up a similar one to Vian.
"Here. This fits me. So, it should fit you, as well."
"Mmm...looks good on you, too." Vian eyed her up and took the garment. She thanked Maya and slipped back behind the door and stepped out a minute later.
"Follow me." Maya beckoned and chuckled at Vian, who did not need to be asked twice to follow her. Just about anywhere. In a night-dress.
They went into a small room, with bunk beds on both sides. The one on the left was occupied by Gaige, lying on the top bunk. Lilith was sitting on top of the bunk on the right, with her naked legs dangling and Vian's eyes quickly ran up on them.
"You're gonna bunk with me." Lilith told her. "For now." she added, looking at Maya, who slightly narrowed her eyes at her.
"Tch. Aww. I wanted to be on top." Vian commented.
"I'm sure you did." Lilith replied and jumped as Vian suddenly grabbed both of her ankles. She released one and held the other that had the markings. She stepped back and looked between Lilith's leg and Maya's, taking a few seconds to compare the patterns, before she let go of Lilith, who did not feel threatened enough to pull her legs up.
"So, where's that Doctor? Tannis." Vian found it strange she was not in one room with them.
"She's got her own room. Good thing, too. I don't wanna wake up to her pulling my hair out or sticking some equipment on me." Lilith explained.
"Sounds like she's not much for...consent." Vian said, after a pause and Lilith rolled her eyes, pulling her legs up and she lied down.
"It's not like she doesn't have boundaries." Maya told her. "They're just different for her."
"More like totally random." Gaige muttered.
"Pretending to be asleep? Tsk. Tsk." Vian told Gaige. "I can't exactly use that as a defense in Court, you know." she muttered and Gaige groaned. "I thought she was asleep, Your Honor. And she told me she was over eighteen." Vian acted out the scene. "So, you got a nighty on." she told Maya, feeling the fabric on the bottom of the latter's dress. "She's got one on." she pointed to Lilith. "What's she got under there?" Vian took a step towards Gaige, without even making a sound, but the latter twisted around in her bunk to shoot her, not only a glare, but a bullet if need be, as she was pointing a Maliwan pistol at her. Shock-elemental, judging by the blue lights on it. Vian briefly held up her hands, before bursting out in laughter.
"Bwhaha, damn, girl! Well...that's...better than the pill. That is, if you don't even wanna-..." Vian started to say.
"Alright, pack it in." Lilith groaned. Gaige turned back, facing the wall. Maya smiled and whispered a good night to Vian, before climbing under the covers. Vian looked at her for a few more second and after Maya raised a brow to her, she went to lie down. She caught Maya's eyes, when the latter could not help taking a glance that lingered, as the bottom of her dress hiked up her incredibly toned thighs. Maya quickly shut her eyes and hoped that the heat she felt moving to her cheeks would disappear. She slowly opened her eyes to see Vian smiling and winking at her, with her head on the pillow. Maya awkwardly bit her bottom lip and knew there was no use closing her eyes, feigning sleep or pretending to not be aware of the other woman looking at her and she could not even will herself to do it. She kept glancing at Vian, only to avert her eyes, as the latter's expression did not change and she even started giggling, which Maya could not even hear, but could see. They both closed their eyes, but kept catching each other peeking, for a minute, before they drifted off to sleep.
Author's Note: It ain't over, yet.