Act II

Chapter 11-2

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Week 4 - Day 1

When Alessia woke, the sun was shining in through the windows, warming her and her head felt strange, mostly due to the fact that her upper body was hanging off the couch. The sound of a pot hitting the kitchen floor jolted her awake and she sat up just as Lewis walked by. "Where're you goin' this early...?" Alessia asked as she rubbed the sand from her eyes.

"Out," Lewis said, putting on his jacket as he headed to the door, "I'll bring ya back some breakfast if you want. I shouldn't be gone for long,"

"That's okay," Alessia said as she stood and stretched, "I got a call last night. Got a meeting later,"

"A sponsor?" Lewis asked as he opened the door to the garage.

"Hopefully,"

Lewis left the house as Alessia went into the kitchen and went into the garage where he got into his car. Seconds later he was on the road, listening to his old western music and singing along under his breath.

After a short commute, Lewis arrived at the Cheshire Correctional Institution and parked his car. The waiting line was short and Lewis was able to get through the door faster than usual. In the visitor's area, Charles sat waiting patiently for Lewis to get to his table. "Been a while," Charles said as Lewis sat.

""Been busy," Lewis told him. "Haven't seen or heard anything from Vai. Wanted to let ya know..."

"It's fine, I spoke to her a little while ago. She was lookin' for her mother,"

"Ah. Explains why she was missing. Is she at her place now?"

"I'd assume so. You gonna ask her to join again?"

"I'll probably get Alessia to do it. Maybe she'll open the door if it's her," Lewis chuckled and Charles did too.

"How is Arthur's kid?" Charles asked.

"She's fine. Stubborn like Arthur but smart like Alyssa..." Lewis joked.

"Dam', that's a dangerous mix in one person," Charles laughed. A silence took hold when the laughter died out. Lewis and Charles locked eyes, both had serious expressions on their faces. "So..."

"I saw Victor the other day, while visitin' their graves..." Lewis said.

"And -"

"An' I wanna know... What really happened back then... why're ya really in here, Charlie?" Lewis asked. Charles played with his handcuffs, looking down at them so as to avoid looking his friend in the eyes. "I'm sorry that I'm not as smart as ya, or Arthur, or Alyssa, or John... but I've gotten wiser in my old age, Charles,"

"Well I didn't expect you to stay hard headed for ever," Charles joked halfheartedly but Lewis wasn't laughing.

"Ya're in here for murder... for killin' some guy... the reports say it was a muggin'..."

"It was -"

"Ya were havin' money problems back then... an' I know ya mother's a big player in the underworld..."

"You think my mother made me do it, is that it?" Charles asked angrily. Lewis looked at him and shook his head, no.

"That's one o' my guesses... but since ya went an' said it, nah. That can't be it..."

"Then you haven't gotten as wise as you think you have... I killed that guy and took him for everything he was worth. Split it with my mom. I needed the credits, to feed my family, keep a roof over their heads..."

"I'm ya friend, Charlie. I don't care if ya lie to me... but if ya not gonna tell me the truth... at least tell ya daughter," Lewis said as he stood from the table, "she has the right to know her ol' man's not a criminal,"

"I am a criminal...!" Charles shouted as Lewis walked away. Lewis stopped and turned his head to his friend.

"If ya were a criminal, ya wouldn't be tryin' this hard to convince me ya're a criminal..." Lewis said. "I'm slow...!" Lewis yelled as he walked away, "but I'll figure it out sooner or later...!"

With that, Lewis was escorted from the visiting area and Charles was taken back to his cell block. Lewis went home after returning from the prison. Alessia had already left, leaving the house quiet and Lewis home alone.

A rhytmic knocking pattern on his door let Cael know who was knocking on his front door. Cael dried his hair off with a towel as he went and opened the front door. Noland stood in Cael's doorway with a bag of burgers in hand. Neither of them said anything and, after a brief staredown, Cael gestured for Noland to enter.

"Figured four days was long enough..." Noland said throwing the bag to Cael. Cael caught the bag and pulled out one of the burgers before giving the bag back to Noland. Cael sat on the couch and ate his burger. Noland joined him, grabbing the TV remote as he jumped onto the couch. Noland turned on the TV before starting to eat a burger. "But I still think you're an idiot," Noland said randomly. Cael balled up the wrapper to his burger and threw it at Noland's head.

"Here's a suggestion for next time," Alessia said as she stood from the conference table, "If you're just gonna give me bad news... do it over the phone...!"

Alessia stormed out of the meeting room, mumbling under her breathe. She made her way out of the building and to her car, sighing once she was in the driver's seat. She sat there in her car in the parking deck, trying to compose herself and when she was calm, she started the car then drove it out of the parking deck. She drove to the Black Raven hangar and was surprised to see that Eliza was waiting in the parking lot, standing next to her own car. Eliza waved to Alessia when she pulled up.

"What're you doing here?" Alessia asked as she got out of her car.

"Waiting for you," Eliza laughed. "Heard you guys were taking an off week,"

"Yeah," Alessia sighed, "Probably wasn't a good idea though..."

"I was thinking we could hang out again today,"

"You don't have training or anything today...?"

"Well, my dad's the team coach and he's not here so we're kinda slacking off..." Eliza laughed.

"Your dad's your coach?" Alessia asked, "Where is he?"

"He's military, kinda. There was some attack over in the UEN and he got called up,"

"I heard about that... I wish I could hang out with you today but I've got problems that I need to figure out..." Alessia sighed as she began walking towards the hangar, Eliza followed.

"Financial troubles...?" Eliza asked.

"Yeah... We need sponsors but we still haven't gotten any. You didn't exactly help with that," Alessia sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"I just left a meeting with the heads of the american branch of the Felix Foundation. They decided not to sponsor us on the grounds that we could barely beat a rookie team... "Our performance left something to be desired," they said,"

"Sorry..." Eliza apologized. The two entered the hangar and were surprised to see Alexander inside, working on the White Wolf alone. Eliza looked to Alessia and Alessia looked to Eliza. "I knocked more than once," Eliza said. Alessia walked over to Alexander, calling his name but he didn't hear her. He had ear phones on his head and Alessia could hear the music as she approached.

"Alex...!" Alessia called, kicking Alexander to get his attention. Alexander quickly removed his ear phones. "What're you doing here? Everyone has the weekend off, remember?"

"I know but I'm the only one here who can even attempt to fix the White Wolf until Dr. Vinheim's team comes by. I need to learn to fix it eventually. Might as well start now," Alexander explained.

"Don't let me stop you," Alessia said sarcastically as she headed over to the stairs. Eliza followed her up to the office where the two of them sat. Alessia got to work looking at potential sponsors for the team and going over the team's budget. Eliza watched videos on her phone, occassionally watching Alessia express her frustration as she went over her work.

"How's it goin' over there?" Eliza asked when Alessia let out a loud groan.

"Not good... we're flat broke. We probably won't be able to afford repairs after our next match..." Alessia told her. Lewis knocked on the door and entered. He had brought food with him and Alessia face palmed her head causing Lewis to laugh.

"Figured ya'd forget to eat... What's she doin' here?" Lewis asked.

"Got turned down by the Felix Foundation and she's visiting... and keeping me from bursting out into a blind rage..." Alessia told him.

"Guess ya'll be sharin' yo' food then 'cause I ain't sharin' mine," Lewis joked, removing his food from the bag then sliding it across the table over to Alessia.

"I already ate," Eliza said, preemptively refusing Alessia's offer to share her food.

"So how's the hunt for sponsors goin'?" Lewis asked as he ate.

"You already know it's not goin' well," Alessia said sarcastically, "No AC companies're willing to sponsor us..."

"We'll figure somethin' out..." Lewis said.

"Wait... AC companies?" Eliza asked, confused, "Have you only been trying to get sponsorships from companies that make AC parts?"

"Any company that has anything to do with ACs," Alessia corrected and Eliza laughed immediately.

"There's your problem...!" she said, "You're limiting your list of possible sponsors!"

"You have sponsorships from non-AC companies?" Alessia asked, curious.

"Just because we're an AC league teams doesn't mean we have to be sponsored by AC companies. New Suns' top sponsor is the Ark."

"Ark...?" Alessia asked. Lewis' expression turned serious at the mention of Ark.

"It's a security contracting company..." Lewis said, his voice as serious as the expression on his face. Alessia noticed it but didn't say anything.

"Yeah. They're looking to sponsor ACFL teams. I figured they'd already turned you down though if they weren't already sponsoring you. But if you haven't been looking for sponsorships from anyone other than AC companies..."

"You really think they'd sponsor us?" Alessia asked optimistically.

"I don't see why they wouldn't. You guys are three time champions and you never really lost the title..." Eliza pointed out.

"We may have found our first spo-" Alessia stopped when she noticed Lewis' expression go from serious to angry. "What's wrong?"

"It's yo' team, Alessia... I work for ya... but I don't agree with it..." Lewis explained. Eliza's jaw dropped slightly.

"You're Vertex?" Eliza asked, "I-I didn't know..."

"What about it?" Alessia asked, confused.

"Vertex was disbanded decades ago after it's members were divided over whether or not the then new ACs should be developed as military weapons," Eliza answered, staring at Lewis.

"You know, you never told me exactly how Vertex was disbanded..." Alessia said looking at Lewis.

"'Cause I don't care to get into the details..." Lewis explained, "there were a lot o' groups that wanted us to focus on weaponizing the AC prototypes were developing... security contractors were more outspoken than the rest..."

"I wouldn't have brought it up if I'd known you were... I didn't spend much time learning about you..." Eliza tried to explain but Lewis gestured for her to stop.

"I'm not mad at ya... it's the security contractors I don't approve of..." Lewis explained.

"I won't ask if you don't want me to..." Alessia said.

"I'm gettin' ol' an' I know I'm too close to this. My decison might not be what's best for the team right now... but it's not my call, Alessia." Lewis told her as he got out of his seat. He left the office leaving his food sitting on the table and Alessia struggling inside as she tried to make a decision on the matter.