30/05/2009 17:11:00
One Long Month Later
"Gah!" Amber groaned, hanged her the top half of her body off the couch. "It's been too long since I've shot someone, AND, we haven't even heard anything from the SGC. What am I supposed to do with my life now!?"
Raine did the same next to her. "I agree, it has been way too long," she sighed looking up at the ceiling. "If only the Replicators attacked the bastards, that would make our worlds spin a whole hell of a lot faster."
"If only, if only," Amber nodded, folding her arms behind her head. They sat there in silence, pondering their options for entertainment, which wasn't much. "What do you want to do now? The guys are out doing guy things, so they aren't much help."
Raine shook her head. "I have no idea, we've torn apart nearly every square inch of this place. What's left, some secret underground bunker with a couple jets?"
Amber jumped up, a light bulb flashing above her head. "I've got something better! It's something I've been working on since SG-1 found the first puddlejumper awhile ago." She took Raine's hand, got her to her feet and dragged her to the basement, which really wasn't a basement because it had everything that Amber couldn't fit on the second floor.
Amber's hand trailed against the wall to find the trigger to open a secret door in the wall. "Where is that fucking thing?" she cursed under her breath. As she finished her sentence, her hand hit the trigger and opened the secret door in front of them. "Here we are!"
"This place is like a fortress, no wonder we can't find you half the time," Raine muttered, following Amber down the steps. A clap, revealing a one-person fighter jet that was larger than the Daedalus' CO2s, cued the lights on. The jet was a silver color, normal because it was unpainted or marked. "It's a jet, what's so special about it?"
Amber shook her head and turned on the computers on the wall, pulling up the schematics on the jet. "It's not just a jet, silly! Last time I was home I was interfacing ancient technology with our modern-day tech."
Raine looked at her puzzled. "You mean like the Daedalus?"
"No, that would be Asguard technology. I took the jumper's power crystals…" Amber was interrupted.
"So, it's a Puddlejumper 2.0?" Raine said, looking at the schematics with interest. "Interesting."
Amber nodded, crossing her arm by her chest. "Yes, and it is very interesting. Already it is much faster, has more firepower and it comes with a personal shield. However, there's some error with the controls and it's very difficult to land, as well as shoot in a straight line."
"Ah, I can fix that. I have to ask, why is it smaller than a regular jumper?" Raine asked, starting to fix the errors that Amber had described.
"A regular jumper is used for more transportation and exploring. I designed this one for fighting and defense, something we could use on Atlantis. It uses zero-point energy to supply an unlimited amount of firepower, which also powers the shield," Amber explained, watching Raine fix the bugs in mere seconds. "These would be better for Atlantis to use during a wraith attack or Replicator invasion."
Raine turned with another puzzled look. "Why hasn't the SGC granted you permission to bring this prototype to Atlantis for testing? This could really help with the whole expedition."
Amber smiled, nodding her head in defeat. "The I.O.A. says that the zero-point energy would eventually become unstable and backfire, also, they really aren't fans of my work with artillery and planes. So they are a bit… malicious and shouldn't even exist for the sake of humankind."
Raine laughed, turning back to make sure she corrected everything. "Ah, some twits they are. Don't you have more say than they do? I mean, you have joint ownership over the SGC."
"The I.O.A. and the president trump my say, unfortunately," Amber sighed, running up to jet and opening the hatch to the pilot seat. "Let's test this sucker. If it works, it's coming to Atlantis, never to be duplicated so the I.O.A. will be "happy"."
"Okay, I get next round," Raine smiled.
Amber nodded, closing the hatch on her. Hit the purple button to open the roof.
Raine nodded, pressing her finger to the purple button. The ceiling quaked and then slid to the right leaving an opening to the sky. Amber turned the jet on and it lifted off the ground silently, the engine was very quiet due to the crystals powering it. The jet soared upward and spun on it's side. The controls are working great, at least I don't have to worry about my brother getting a call that I'm in the hospital again, Amber said, putting the speed control the highest it could go. The highest speed was 926 miles per hour.
After a few minutes, Amber brought the speed gauge to about 70mph so she could test the weapon and shield systems. The shield was clear with a soft white tint when hit. Where should the new pool be? Amber asked Raine when she was outside and no longer in the secret room.
Hmm, over to the north east of the house, Raine replied watching the jet.
Sounds good to me, Amber replied, activating the weapon system with a quick thought. A bright purple comet-like beam was shot from the left wing of the jet (both wings have multiple firing units) and collided with the ground six yards to the northeast of the house. There was a big boom and the ground shook for a moment, the weapon system defiantly worked. A large hole was left in the ground with a diameter of about forty-eight yards.
Right when the jet fired, Jeremy and Alek were pulling into the driveway. "Holy shit," Jeremy exclaimed, slamming on the brakes of Amber's red Ferrari, "we left them alone for an hour and they already blew something up!"
"I expected that, though I didn't expect a jet," Alek replied opening the car door and running up to Raine who was beside the landed jet waiting to get the next ride.
"Hi Alek!" Raine smiled, giving him a hug and a peck on the lips. "We got really bored."
Alek nodded, looking at the jet shocked. "I can see that," he replied, nodding his head in approval. "Nice firepower."
"Zero-point energy, really good firepower, Amber's design. And we got a new pool out of it," she smiled, pointing at the hole in the ground.
"Amber thought of that? She surprises us every single day," Alek sighed, shaking his head while wrapping his arm around Raine's waist.
Raine nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know," she agreed.
Amber hopped out of the jet and went up to Raine. "Your turn, careful though there aren't any inertial dampeners."
"We'll fix that later…" Raine said and drifted off when Amber's cell phone rang.
Amber was puzzled, who the hell was calling her? She answered, turning away and walking passed Jeremy, into the house. Raine watched her go, listening into the conversation through their mind-link. Amber walked back out of the house after five minutes and answered Jeremy's question as to who that was. "It was Carson, he's invited to a dinner with my dad, Rodney, and, unfortunately, Elizabeth, but we don't need to pay attention to her."
"Sounds good to me," Raine nodded. "Get out of the house and be around other people, no offense."
"None taken, same here," Amber smiled. "We've got to leave in about an hour to be fashionably late. You'll have to wait to take your turn tomorrow."
Raine sulked. "Of course," she muttered, reading Amber's inputted thoughts. They had to dress nicely to out-do Elizabeth, which wouldn't be that difficult but John and the others weren't the only ones they wanted in impress. Amber grabbed Raine's arm and dragged her into the house to start getting ready, leaving Jeremy and Alek standing there.
"Half the time I don't even know why I bother," Jeremy muttered, slowly walking back to the house.
"I don't know why you bother either," Alek agreed, following him. "But, she's perfect for you." Wow, he said something nice not like Alek, but he actually considers Jeremy to be a friend, someone that he could get along with at least.
Jeremy was shocked by his kindness. "Thanks, I think," he replied, entering the house to see that Amber and Raine were already gone into a secret closet were Amber kept all her clothes. He found her there once, but he couldn't really remember where it was since he wasn't paying attention to where he was at the time.
Raine looked at the giant revolving closet, examining each article of clothing that interested her. "What to wear, so many things to choose from!" Raine said, turning to Amber who was looking at herself in the mirror as she held up different outfits.
"Mmm, it's such a dilemma!" Amber sighed, tossing the outfits in her hand to the floor. "I don't know where to begin! This is probably why I haven't picked out a wedding dress yet…"
"You are such a procrastinator!" Raine exclaimed, rolling her eyes as she turned back to the clothes. A short midnight blue skirt caught her eye and she took it off the rack. She held it up to her body and it went down to her mid-thighs. "Since when do you wear blue? Other than Tripp® pants?"
"I bought 'cause some other bitch was eyeing it," Amber smiled, tossing more clothes to the floor. "Geez, I can't find anything to wear!"
Raine put the skirt aside and went up to Amber while smirking. "You don't have to worry about choosing for yourself, I know just what you should wear."
"Why am I trembling in fear?" Amber muttered.
Later
Jeremy and Alek waited at the bottom of the stairs, hoping that they could leave soon since they were already running late as it is. Jeremy sighed, leaning against the wall. "At this rate, we'll just miss the deserts," he muttered, getting Alek to smirk slightly.
"I can't even see/hear what they are doing up their, Raine blocked me out," Alek replied.
"Raine most likely tied Amber down and is dressing her like a doll," Jeremy said. "She never takes this long when dressing herself."
"No comment," Alek smirked. "I'd say, let's go see what's taking so long, but we'd better stay here."
"Why?"
"Not your house yet, now is it?"
"Ugh, you're right," Jeremy sighed. Before Alek could reply, the sound of a door shutting echoed through the house. Raine stood at the top of the stairs within a few moments after the sound faded. She wore the midnight blue skirt that she had found in Amber's closet and a spaghetti-strapped black top that had multi-colored blue fireworks around them. She wore her flat black shoes and she walked down the steps to Alek's side.
"Isn't this nice?" she asked him, spinning once. "I stole it, like she'd actually care; blue isn't her color."
Alek nodded, shocked that she had on a skirt; he hadn't seen her in a dress or skirt since the ancients inhabited Atlantis years ago. His arm wrapped around her waist. "Very nice," he mumbled.
Raine smiled and looked up at the stairs. "Amber, get your ass down here! I don't care that you don't want to! Hey, don't say that! That's it, you have 'til the count of three to get down here or I'll personally kill him!" she shouted. She turned to Jeremy. "You'll enjoy this." One… Two… Thr-
Alright! Amber hissed stepping out into the open. She felt her blood rush to her cheeks as she gracefully walked down the stairs without tripping over anything, which was a shocker since she was wearing black heels and a skimpy black dress that stopped just above her knees. Her hair was up in a tiara twist and all in all, it seemed like the real Amber went poof. Jeremy just stared, since he never saw his own fiancée in a dress before; they had skipped both proms since it was really pointless.
Good girl, Raine smirked when Amber reached the bottom of the steps. "Alright, let's go and make our wonderful arrival," she said, heading toward the door with Alek.
"Fashionably late, as always. Jeremy? Goddamn it, you used that damn wormhole in your head to transport to Mars… again," Amber sighed, waving her hand in front of his stunned face.
-x-
John Sheppard, Rodney, Carson (YAY!), and Elizabeth (grr) stood waiting outside the restaurant as the waiters set up the table for the eight-person party. Carson was attempting conversation with the somewhat crazed Elizabeth while Rodney went on and on about some new device he was working on. Then, McKay's voice drifted off as he saw a black Lamborghini pull in to the valet out of the corner of his eye. "John, look at that…" he said, pointing to the very nice, expensive sports car.
"Wonder which celeb is driving it," John mused watching as a valet man opened the driver's door. He nearly fainted when he saw thin, pale legs step out and then the rest of his daughter's figure exited the vehicle. If he hadn't been expecting Amber to show up, John wouldn't have recognized her at all. Jeremy exited from the passenger seat while Raine and Alek exited from the back seats; John could barely recognize Raine as well.
Amber tipped the valet and led the way up to the waiting friends of theirs. "Carson!" she smiled, nearly shrieking like a little girl. She ran up to him, keeping very good balance in her heels as she did so, and hugged him like she hadn't seen him in four years. "It's so glad to see you! I almost went insane!"
"Same, don't you look fancy," the doctor smiled.
Amber shrugged at Elizabeth, not even giving her a "hello" for a greeting, and smirked evilly at Rodney. "What have you done with your life? You haven't changed a little bit," she said and moved on to her dad without waiting for Rodney's reply. She tilted her head to the side as she got a good look at her dad. "Holy crap, you look so much like Jay, it's not even funny anymore. Oh… hold on, I've got a picture somewhere in this demonic contraption…" She dug into the small little purse she carried, since she had no pockets on her to put her things in places she would find them easily. There seemed to be hissing rising from the inside of the purse as she pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to John.
He took the piece of paper and unfolded it, revealing it to be a picture of Jay and Sarah, with Seth and baby Sophia.
"That's Jay… his wife Sarah… and his kids Seth and Sophia. He wanted me to give that to you, his number is on the bottom," Amber smiled. "Come on, let's get inside, people are starting to stare at me and Raine." Which isn't really a bad thing, but now's not the time.
Raine smiled as she, too, gave Carson the biggest hug possible; he was the only member on the expedition that she could stand that wasn't Amber or Jeremy. Yeah, Alek's about to rip out their throats for staring at my ass.
Amber laughed slightly and held the door open as they entered the restaurant.
Later
Dinner went by a little too quickly and soon the waiter came by with the two hundred dollar check. Amber took it and slid her credit card into the pouch. Carson and John shook their heads, "You don't have to pay the whole thing."
"Nonsense!" Amber smiled, sipping her glass of soda. "I own the place, I'll pay for it if I want." Jeremy smirked, he could get used to the whole not having to pay everything thing.
"Own?" John questioned, making sure he heard right. "Serious?"
Raine nodded, looking around at the decorations on the wall; they seemed very Amber-ish, except for the color of the walls, but oh well. What else do you own?
"Yep," Amber replied, signing the receipt when it came back. The waiter's eyes widened as he saw the signature, said it was an honor to be in her presence and walked away to tell the manager who their guest was. I'll show you the list later. The only major thing is half the SGC, Jay and I have a joint thing over it. It is mostly him though, since I'm always working.
Nice, do you sign the checks? Raine asked, sipping the wine she had order, which, she had to admit, was better than the shit they had on Atlantis.
Nah, can't let people know they work with the man, Amber replied. I have people do it for me…
Amber's cell phone went off, as did John's, Rodney's and Elizabeth's; Carson and Jeremy left theirs at home, and obviously Alek and Raine didn't have any. The three of them answered their phones and jumped up immediately. Amber recited the call to Raine by their mind link and Raine told Alek: the Replicators had raided Atlantis and have taken over.
Alright, as we promised: a MAYJOR update. We're getting closer to summer and we will update more! No worries! After this chapter, things start getting very interesting on Atlantis. And we mean "interesting" in more ways that one. LOL. –Raine and Twi