"Y'know, I was rather surprised to get your e-mail," Namarra said, sitting down on the curb outside of the Peacemillion Cinemas. They were back in the parking lot, staring at the glass doors and looking for FS and the other flunkies that most likely accompanied him. If there was anything they knew about the heads of associations, it was that they never traveled alone. Seeing as FS was extremely capable by himself, his friends were getting rather annoying, but protocol always seemed to come first. Cover the bases, never go alone. Hence the back-up, but the bitching and ego fights were getting out of hand. They had met up an hour prior, scouting the place individually before ending up surrounded by sports cars and pick-up trucks. To put things bluntly, the place was packed and more people were driving up as they watched the sun sink below the horizon. It was going to be an interesting night.
Eclipse didn't respond to her partner's quip, leaning back against the tree about ten feet from the parking lot. She wore jeans, tennis shoes, and a t-shirt with an oval-shaped hole near her right side and belly button. Most of the people she came across thought it was the designer's creativity, but really it was just a soldier who hadn't had the chance to go shopping or do some laundry. As long as it fit, was comfortable in a fight, and could be considered "decent" for movie theater policies she wasn't about to change.
"So, what did you want me to do? Being back-up can usually incorporate more than what one person is able," Namarra asked after a few more moments.
"You know SIN-ED just as well as I do. Pride isn't coming alone and being in such a crowded area bothers me."
"You want me to go into that building," the Natural pointed at the theater, "and look for SIN-ED operatives?"
"You know the floor plan pretty well now, and they're going to stick out."
"You do know two of the biggest movies came out tonight, right? A 3D animation flick and a horror movie. Both will call in the childish, hormonal, and terribly annoying younger generation."
"And here I thought you were good at babysitting."
"Where the hell did you get that idea?" Namarra asked, looking back and up at her supposed partner. "That building is two stories high, has twenty-six separate theaters, four food counters, eight bathrooms for each sex, and—"
"I'm just here to talk to Pride," Eclipse interrupted. "Keep an eye on the cronies, that's all I ask."
"Fine," the Natural grumbled, rocking to her feet. No, she wasn't happy with the situation, but she wasn't about to complain anymore either. After all, now she had something interesting to do for the night and if anything went seriously wrong, there were three people ready to jump in and back her up. It was such a comforting feeling. Stretching, she fixed the strap of her black tank top and wiped off her jeans. "You'll call me when it's all over?"
"You're rather observant and have good instincts. I'm sure you'll know when I know."
"So glad to see we can read each other's minds now."
"That's a scary thought."
"Very." Cracking her neck, she reached around the tree the redhead was leaning against and pulled out a long, black case. Producing a key, she unlocked the small pad lock and unlatched the front.
Eclipse didn't even have to see what was inside to know there was—most likely—a shiny, new sniper rifle resting there. "No."
"But why not?" Namarra whined, only opening it part way. "You called me for back-up."
"And you don't think that looks just a little conspicuous?"
"No," she replied curtly. She even looked serious.
"You promised, no innocents."
"I'd only hit SIN-ED members." They had a stare down then, but they really had no more time to argue. The sun wasn't about to pause and let them fight over some sadistic form of entertainment, and Eclipse was getting restless by the second.
But that wasn't enough to make her back down.
Finally, the Natural sighed. "Fine, I won't take it. I just really wanted to try it out."
"There'll be other times. Just make sure I'm there because I want a round or two."
"It'll cost ya." Eclipse matched the smirk on Namarra's lips, and nodded her off, basically saying, "It's a plan," without so many words. That was definitely going to be an interesting day off.
Watching the Natural lock up the case and walk towards the building, the redhead sighed. FS wanted to meet her alone, but not even she knew what the hell that meant. Most likely there was some talking involved, but Eclipse was too itchy to just stand there and flap her lips. She was supposed to be unarmed—at least to a certain degree—but that didn't meant her back-up couldn't have a little something. Namarra—not including the sniper rifle—had a few tricks of her own. Knowing better than to ask, she just let her have her fun. Hopefully, she would keep her promise, but that wasn't really her concern at the moment either. Eclipse was pissed. People she knew and trusted were killed. There might be some information on one victim, but there was no guarantee.
Maybe she'd get some peace of mind at least.
"I'm rather surprised you came alone. Somehow I figured you'd be a little more suspicious than that. You've grown soft, my dear."
The sight of FS should have surprised a part of her, or even stirred some kind of emotion, but she felt nothing. Turning her attention to the man standing off to her left, Eclipse pushed off the tree and took a few steps forward. The brunette wore jeans, a t-shirt—with some abstract color sequence on the front—and a zip-up sweatshirt. Leave it to him to be trendy and weird at the same time. "And, as usual, looking so stunning."
"You have a lot of nerve talking to me like that."
"Nerve?" FS wondered, batting his eyes innocently. "My, my, in a bad mood are we?"
Eclipse couldn't remember when he had turned into such an ass. Perhaps the utter infatuation had run off—or she was so pissed everything was annoying—but that smug smile on his lips had to go. This guy had been nothing but trouble since he got his own free will and all the redhead wanted to do was strip it away again. Death was a good way to ruin anyone's enthusiasm.
"Stop provoking me, what do you want?"
The brunette smiled and leaned back onto one of the random cars at the very end of the parking lot. The little devil in Eclipse's mind had hoped an alarm would go off as soon as he touched, but looking down to where the tires met the concrete, the redhead noticed they were all flat. The car was dumped there, it seemed. How fitting.
"I guess you could say I came here for a final confirmation. Jaeger's in outer space right now waiting for me to come back. Will you be accompanying me?"
"You killed Stray," the redhead spat. "Stop lying to me." She wanted to jump him; put her hands to his throat and demand information, but she wasn't about to be that foolish. FS was different and, to be honest, she was rather weary of him. Before, she may have tackled him out of friendship, but now she would never lay a finger on him unless it was to kill him. As of right then, that wasn't an option.
"Wow, you have gone soft," FS remarked, a chuckle rising in his throat. "I hoped you'd at least be curious about the news, but I don't think you'd actually fall for it."
Eclipse refused to respond, seeing her folly immediately and feeling embarrassed. Yes, maybe she was too quick to believe the words, but perhaps, in the back of her mind, she was anticipating something like that. Stray had done some risky things—at least from what she could tell—and FS had changed so drastically. Knowing that, her friends trying to kill each other didn't seem like an impossible notion. But the brunette was right, she had let her emotions get too involved.
"What, nothing to say?"
"Why did you call me out here, FS? Surely it wasn't merely to mock me."
"You're right, I came to enlighten you." Smiling, he shifted his weight on the car, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched her face. She was curious; good. "We're building a weapon—well, a cannon more like. Its power is horrendous and very unique. So unique, in fact, we've sold the basic system and blueprints to both armies." He paused, gauging her reaction and silently laughing when he saw how furious she was. It was sad how predictable she had become. "The system is called Cyclops and the cannon we're building, Genesis. Fitting, wouldn't you say?"
"Fitting?"
"Yes. The armies will blast each other to oblivion as we sit back and watch, ready to make our peaceful world afterwards. Genesis is the book of the Bible where everything started, right? It's only natural to name it Genesis seeing as we plan on recreating a peaceful world."
Namarra really wanted her sniper rifle. Staring at a crowded lobby of over-hormonal teenagers—laughing at the random jokes involving hands and fingers in various positions—screaming toddlers, and frustrated parents, she wanted nothing more than to stand on the balcony and pick off the various annoyances. However, the only weaponry she had was the one handgun tucked into her waistband—a small caliber gun tiny enough to be concealed in her palm if need be—and two daggers at her belt, hidden at her hips inside her jeans. The sheaths scraped against her legs as she walked, but the pain was better than the panic of having someone see them.
"Hey, honey," one of those hormonal boys teased in Namarra's direction, confident because three of his friends were standing behind him snickering. The Natural was pretty sure he wouldn't have been so bold if there were a couple less sperm banks back there, but she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
After all, stupidity was contagious.
They all wore t-shirts with some form of sports team on it and jeans, both looking like avid fan boys and a group of kids who suspiciously dressed alike all the time. In some ways it was unnerving, especially when they all shifted their weight at the same moment to end up in the same pose: arms crossed at the chest and leaning to the right side. Well, at least they had different colored hair. Two blondes, a light brunette and—the one so brave to speak—a dark brunette.
"Hey yourself," she said and walked towards them. "I have the feeling you guys are bored because there's no way you're all feminine enough to watch a chick flick by yourselves." When in doubt, stroke the ego. She was bored too and just standing and staring was making her look suspicious. Chatting with the locals helped her blend in a little bit better.
"Bored? Heh, something like." The boy was hesitant before replying, not even expecting Namarra to pay any attention to them. Usually, if they were smart, girls didn't respond to such verbal harassment. But what they didn't know, that particular Natural was not the typical damsel. Hell, just look at her killing count the day before.
"Well, how about we stop being bored?"
That question even froze the three cronies behind the speaker. Namarra smirked, gave a light chuckle and a short wave, telling them she was just kidding. To their luck, she decided not to do anything too reckless when an interesting pair of girls walked through the front doors. The Natural had rather terrifying ways of quenching her thirst for excitement. "Actually, I found something else fun to do." Another wave and she turned, walking towards the female twins. The boys remained silent behind her, as if trying to figure out what had just happened. They had only been talking to her for a minute or so and she had gone from sounding interested to brushing them off.
Must have been one hell of a mood swing.
Seeing the girls at first glance, Namarra wouldn't even have called them sisters, but she knew them well. Or at least knew their photos rather well. "Lust," she greeted when they met near one of the concession stands.
"Berserker whore," the pale one, Phoebe, said with a smile. For some reason, the Natural didn't take offense.
At least for the moment.
Phoebe wore a jean skirt and flip-flops with a white, sleeveless halter top. The collar laced around her neck, making the front of the shirt look like a lampshade more than a piece of clothing, but it fit surprisingly well on her pale form. Her skirt was a bit short for Namarra's tastes, but if the girl wanted to show off, she wasn't going to stop her. There were four boys looking for company in the opposite corner of the room.
Melanie wore the same top, just red, with black leggings that stopped mid-thigh. She was smart enough to have on some sort of "active" footwear, but they still looked too much like sandals to be of any real use. There was a pink, veil-like fabric tied around her waist. It hung lopsided on her body, one end brushing her ankles while the other stopped mid-thigh. The fabric was thick enough to look like a skirt and not make the leggings look so scandalous, but it looked more annoying than fashionable. Then again, Namarra was usually a pants kind of girl.
"Aren't you two looking fabulous?" the Natural mocked, bringing her hands up to rest on her hips. While neither Lust girl looked like she was going to pull out an Uzi and start shooting, Namarra wasn't going to give them a chance. Sometimes the comforting feeling of a knife hilt is all one needs in stressful situations.
"Aren't you not," Phoebe commented. The Natural just shrugged.
"Shall we take this somewhere else?" Melanie asked.
"Sure. And I see you're not dumb enough to bring backup. How nice."
The girls shrugged and started leading her away, but Namarra took a quick step around to stand in front of them. "No, I lead."
"Fair enough," Melanie replied, holding up her hands.
Those same, four boys called out to the three of them when they started walking, hoping to catch their attention before they left the lobby altogether. Melanie winked—causing some smiles—Phoebe blew a kiss—some whistling—and Namarra flipped them off.
They shut up that time.
"Sit back and watch, huh?" Eclipse wondered. "You're just going to sit in the stands as humanity destroys itself?"
FS thought about the question carefully, rubbing his chin with a propped hand. "Actually, we're more like the second string. Once the starters are dead, we take their positions."
The redhead hated the cocky way he stood there, leaning against the car and pulling at his bottom lip as if he was bored. She didn't expect him to be scared of her, but didn't he feel as nervous around her as she felt around him? And all of this insane talk was making her sick. Were they, honestly, at one point friends?
Did she used to think like that too?
Sighing, the redhead looked away. They're building a weapon. It sounded plausible yet ridiculous to her at the same time. Out of all the things they could do, why did it have to be that? Did their madness have to go in the scientific direction as well? Couldn't they have just stuck with the mercenary route?
"What are you thinking about?" FS asked, pulling her attention back to him for a second. His voice was kind at that moment, sounding like he genuinely wanted to know.
I guess it's not impossible for him to still care, she thought briefly, but remained silent nonetheless. The brunette had done too much recently for her to absently respond.
FS didn't ask again when she didn't reply, shrugging off being ignored. Staring at her, he guessed what was going through her brain anyway, starting with his own position. She didn't trust him anymore. Suddenly, he felt sad, having to bite his bottom lip when he almost gave into the grief and blurted something foolish. He had anticipated their "break up," as it were, but never expected to care about it. Harsh? Probably. Realistic? Yes, but still, surprisingly, painful. Why couldn't she have just come with them in the first place? "Last chance."
"For what?" Finally, she spoke.
"To come back with me."
Eclipse sighed, shaking her head. "No."
"Is it too much for me to ask why?"
"Because you enjoy this too much and—"
"Enjoy what, exactly?"
The redhead hesitated, debating whether or not to be blunt. Then again, he probably already guessed at his insanity and was proud of it. She sighed. "You like your bloodlust too much."
"You used to, too, y'know. Why the change?"
Why the change, indeed? At that moment, she didn't know either, but for what ever reason, she was exhausted. "So, you're building a weapon—cannon—thing," she stuttered.
FS smiled then, exposing his teeth in a grin she had come to hate. Maybe that was why she was so tired. She had been trying too hard to find the old FS that she never saw his smile for what it really was.
That damn grin said it all.
In actuality, they never talked. Namarra led them to one of the second floor theaters, slipping through the door just as the people were leaving and one of the workers was finishing up his cleaning rounds. He may have begun saying something intelligent, but they all glared at him, making him hurry and shrink out of the room as soon as he threw the last empty bottle into the trash bin.
Namarra had been debating what to talk to them about when Phoebe drew out two pocket knives and started charging the Natural. The attacks were easily evaded, but when Namarra attempted to counter attack with her small caliber pistol, Melanie was right there to cut it out of her hand.
Literally.
The blood had been flowing freely enough to reach back and wipe the excess across Melanie's eyes, blinding her, but sending her into a frenzied attack at the same time. Namarra had avoided the flailing arms, fended off Phoebe, tripped the pale twin into a row of seats, and then ran out of the theater to seek a safer hiding spot to regain her bearings.
One of the sixteen bathrooms seemed like just the place.
"Fuck," Namarra cursed, flipping the lock on the stall door like it would make a difference. She headed towards one of the bathrooms near the back of the theater on the second floor, hoping to not get any innocents involved. She probably should have left the place altogether, but going through an emergency exit would sound an alarm and get police on the scene. That would just make things worse for both parties. So, she was stuck in the bathroom trying to bandage her right hand with toilet paper, glad the place had enough hard surfaces to serve as a weapon themselves. It might end up being a trap but there were six stalls to hide behind if need be, three sinks, two pocket knives, and one Natural with the Berserker just under the surface.
What could go wrong?
Hadn't those two ever heard of playing fair? Namarra thought, throwing another bandage into the toilet before grabbing more paper. Two against one? Where had they learned their math? And where the hell is Eclipse? Cursing again, the Natural spun around to sit on the toilet, putting pressure on the wound. Luckily, her subconscious led her to the right room. Accidentally walking through the door to a bathroom full of males may have been a problem and besides, they had less cover. But women weren't the only ones to come to the bathroom. Screaming kids with little bladder control normally accompanied those women.
Like the two walking in now.
Namarra's inner sensors blared. All of that noise had deafened her to the new people walking in. If Lust knew where she was, she was going to be trapped in a lot of shit. Maybe even literally. When another screaming kid came in, the Natural opened the stall.
Bad choice.
The barrel of a 9mm handgun was aimed at her about chest high, Phoebe—the handler—smiling and waving at her from the other end. "Shit—" Namarra started and slammed the door just as the girl fired. The bullet ingrained itself through the metal, grazing the Natural's side and giving her something to curse about. The door swung back open quickly and just as a new gap formed, the gun fired again. That bullet split the tiles above and behind the toilet. Finally—after another careless shot—the pedestrians in the room seemed to pick up on what was happening. What was the common response? More screaming. Maybe Namarra should have picked the men's bathroom after all.
Less panic.
With a handgun awaiting her escape through the stall—and going up was too risky—the Natural crouched down just as the door started swinging closed again. Bracing herself on the tiled floor, she stuck a leg out and hooked the top of her foot around Phoebe's ankle, pulling her to the ground. Hearing the crash on the other side, Namarra got up and hurried out of the stall.
The Sin had caught herself awkwardly on the sink behind her, her left hand cramped over the drain with her elbow against the faucet. Her right leg was bent with her left splayed out wide, her back leaning against the wall. The right hand still held the gun, but she seemed a bit dazed—probably from her head hitting the mirror. After being the one to start coming in shooting, Namarra figured she would have anticipated such a trip. Perhaps she was just cocky.
The Natural—now berserk—stepped forward and reached for the gun, but Phoebe had recovered faster than she thought. The gun arm was smacked out wide and to the right, but Lust had used the momentum to swing her left leg across her body. It caught Namarra at the knees, but didn't have enough power to do any damage. The Berserker pushed Phoebe's arm into the wall to catch herself, grabbing the gun and stepping out of reach. The Sin spun in the same direction and stopped to face Namarra.
The advantage had switched, it seemed.
The same lady and the two kids were—for some ungodly reason—still in the room. They were crouched down under the paper towel dispenser, her hugging the two youngsters to her breast as they watched the fiasco. "Why the hell are you still here?" the Berserker shouted at them, feeling the furthest wall of the bathroom brush against her back. At least she had the gun pointed at Phoebe because being trapped in a corner was not a comforting scenario. The woman didn't answer—not like Namarra expected her to—and that made the Berserker even angrier. No, she didn't want some damn security guards walking in, but she didn't want those pedestrians to get killed either. And with all the racket they were making, someone was bound to bust in sooner or later.
"Aw, just shoot 'em," Lust suggested, reaching behind her head to check the bloody gash the mirror made. Cocky bitch. "They'll get us both caught and I don't think either of us can afford a trip to the police station."
"We're in the back of the theater surrounded by horror flicks. I doubt screaming and shooting is unnatural." Phoebe just shrugged and checked her head again. Namarra may have switched over by that time, but her promise to Eclipse was still resonating in her head. It may have seemed like a stupid reason to jeopardize the situation so, but it was an interesting restriction that gave the whole fight an element of fun. No, the Berserker would let them live for now.
Or not.
The restroom door opened once more, introducing another female into the chaotic mess. The two fighting adversaries feared it was a security guard at first, having heard the racket and was sent to investigate, but as soon as her face lightened in a smile, Namarra cursed and Phoebe cheered. "Hiya, sis!"
Melanie didn't respond. Slipping a hand into her front pocket, she drew out a pen, clicked the end, took a step into the room, reached around the wall, and jabbed the utensil into the stunned woman's eye socket. Now that was good aim. "You guys were having fun without me?"
"Sorry, got a little excited," Phoebe said, seeming to ignore Namarra and the gun behind her. Not that it would have mattered anyway. The Berserker was the one momentarily stunned now, watching the woman's head bow down in death and seeing the children's eyes gaze up in utter horror. One even reached up to try and pull the pen out, thinking he could save her. The drop of blood on his cheek stopped that movement.
"Damn you," Namarra hissed.
"Well, now, there's a unique phrase," Melanie mocked, absently rubbing off more of the dried blood from her cheek. "Now she won't make any noise and half the clean-up. You should be thanking me."
"Well, thank you for not making me break a promise," the Berserker said, flipping her eyes from side to side. Damn, she had gotten into quite the predicament. There she was in the back corner of the room, maybe the only one with a weapon, with two psychopaths between her and the exit. Shit. Her only option would be to shoot Melanie—probably not be able to kill her given Lust's skill—fend off Phoebe's attack, and hopefully get out alive.
Or just rely on some little kid's heroics.
Namarra could never tell the ages of children—let alone their gender—when they were buried against some woman, but now she had a clear view and the five-year-old boy was going to get a surprise Christmas gift from the Berserker that year. It could have been some random spur of adrenaline, or even the "knight in shining armor" image was rubbing off, but, either way, he got to his feet and ran screaming at Melanie. She said a few choice words and tried to kick him to the side, but either he was an annoying little pest or the Lust girl decided to have a bit of fun. Still too cocky for her own good.
Phoebe leapt at Namarra during the heroics, aiming for the gun. The Berserker let her grab the weapon, swinging her left elbow around to hit the Sin across the cheek. Phoebe stumbled into the open stall at the end, falling on top of the toilet in a crumpled heap. Her forehead hit the plumbing hard and the gun slid into the next stall, the end sticking out into the open. Hopefully, she would be down for a while and not a threat.
The kid was surprisingly resilient, but he was definitely losing to Melanie's strength. The Lust girl must have decided to have a bit of fun because when Namarra turned around, she was tossing his body roughly against the stall. The Berserker had had enough. She just wanted to get the hell out of the movie theater. Their little game had gotten disturbingly annoying and since there wasn't much more she could do without getting more innocents killed, heading outdoors for round two was the best option.
Rushing forward, Namarra grabbed the gun, dodged Melanie's frantic punch, and brought the barrel up to her right shoulder, firing a bullet into her skin. The Sin screamed before crumpling to the floor in agony, but seeing the look in her eye, Lust was not out just yet. Taking a moment to acknowledge the boy, Namarra said a silent thank you before rushing out the door.
The entrance hall was crowded with more people than the Berserker was comfortable with and all of them eyeing her suspiciously. Perhaps it was the gash on her hand—now bleeding onto the carpet—but she wasn't entirely sure. Maybe the people were just being rude.
Melanie, she figured, was going to be down for a bit, but the exact amount of time Namarra couldn't be sure. Those Sins were rather resilient and as reckless as the Berserker was, she had to find Eclipse and get away. They were greatly outmatched if Pride was still alive and—frankly—she wasn't in the best shape to face them all. Given, she wasn't that injured, but she didn't have the right weaponry either.
Fists and knives vs. guns was never a contest.
It involved too much fun on one side and a lot of screaming on the other.
Nearly tripping over a wandering kid in the lobby, Namarra slammed into the glass double doors and stumbled outside. The brisk air hit her face and cooled her skin, making her—for the first time—realize she had been sweating. Not that she was surprised, but it wasn't a happy revelation. The SIN-ED people were tough, sure, but she had never been this worried she'd come out alive. Two on one could make anyone nervous. Now, Eclipse, where the hell are you? She thought of the possibilities and laughed when she figured out her exact location. Still at the far end of the parking lot stood her redheaded partner and Pride, talking and getting into quite the heated conversation based on Eclipse's body language. Flailing hands never looked good in any sort of exchange.
Turning to her left, Namarra caught sight of a line of motorcycles, making her inner child both squeal and laugh with excitement. Yes, it was the perfect getaway machine as well as the most fun to choose. Offering up a silent "thank you" for the good weather, she ran towards them.
"You're insane"
"So glad you noticed," FS replied, smiling brightly as he uncrossed his arms to prop them on the car. Looking at his watch, he was surprised at the time. He had hoped Lust would have come back by then, having killed the other little cockroach—he figured Eclipse wouldn't come alone—and whisked him away as if the whole thing had never happened. He had told Eclipse what he had planned to, and that was all. There was no need to involve her in anything more if he was just going to kill her later on. She was of no use.
"What, got bored with being the Earth Force's special ops? Wanted to kill more than twenty at a time?"
"What do you mean? The war will end soon and afterwards we'll happily take on the role of grave digging. I don't see why you're so upset."
The redhead merely glared after the statement, but she couldn't help finding it curious as well. FS seemed to be making quite the profit out of the whole thing and even if his motives were revenge, she knew he couldn't avoid the large amount of money he was making by sending out his troops to work for each army. Did he really not care about that? Did he really just want each side destroyed, all of the soldiers annihilated and then build his "peaceful world" on the grief left over?
She debated going into it further, but stopped. She wouldn't get anywhere. FS had definitely changed since they had left the facility, but she hated the direction. Then again, had she been the one to change? If she had left with them, would she be the one assassinating those officers and building this weapon?
"You always look so cute when you think."
"Shut up."
"No, really. It's a new look for you. I don't think I'm quite used to it yet, but I can't say I don't like it."
"You haven't seen me in a long time, FS. You have no right to judge me."
"Judge you on what? Forehead wrinkles?" He smiled after that, throwing his hands up in front of his body as if anticipating some kind of retaliation. Eclipse, however, held off. Maybe before she would've given him the pleasure of seeing her so befuddled, but now, she debated pulling out her pocket knife. She tried planning a counterattack, going as far as to look on the ground for something as miniscule as a stone to force him off guard. It was amazing how quickly her infatuation with FS had turned to utter hatred. Perhaps those two emotions weren't as far off as she originally believed.
There was a pen lying broken on the ground about three feet from her position. She stared at it for a good twenty seconds, coming up with something creative, but—thanks to some shouting and a trigger-happy Lust member—Eclipse's attention was pulled elsewhere. Namarra had hijacked a motorcycle and was speeding in her direction, avoiding the random pedestrians and trying to swerve away from Melanie's insistent shooting. The evasive maneuvering was quite impressive, but the bullets were still ricocheting off the cars and her stolen bike to land mercilessly into the moviegoers. One child got hit in the arm and another gentleman got a graze across his forehead.
Cursing, Eclipse turned towards FS as if waiting for him to explain. He just smiled. "Bastard."
"Thank you."
Namarra was gradually getting closer. She had kept the speed slow because of all the people, but as she neared the end of the parking lot, the customers had figured out how to remain safe in their cars. Melanie continued her shooting, but soon stopped and focused on running instead. "What would your brother think? What would Kai think, Namarra!" she shouted, making no sense to Eclipse. She kept shouting, however, repeating the name "Kai" over and over as if the word itself had become her ammo.
The Berserker veered off to the redhead's left, holding out her hand to catch her and swing her up onto the back of the seat. It sounded foolhardy in Eclipse's mind, but she looked across at FS, glared, and then held out her hand to catch her new comrade's. How times had changed.
"What about Kai?" Melanie shouted behind them, falling behind once Namarra revved the machine faster. FS didn't even try to stop them, blowing at kiss to the redhead when she was flipped up onto the back of the motorcycle. That was rewarded with the middle finger and the Sin just laughed.
They hadn't gotten too far from the theater when Eclipse felt the motorcycle wobble. It wouldn't have been a concern if the battle before hadn't taken place. When the redhead had grabbed her comrade's hand, she noticed panic on her face as one eye was normal and the other was still berserk. She must have been between transitions, but Eclipse rarely felt any pain when she was snapped, so it had to be something else. Why was she so rattled? "Namarra—hey—you all right?"
No response.
"Namarra—"
"I'm fine," she spat, swerving sharply into the other lane to go down a side road and out of town. And out of town was no understatement. Apparently, they hadn't been in a big city and judging by the scenery, they had officially ridden into the countryside. Either the Natural was speeding that badly or Eclipse had miscalculated their position. However, the road was still busy enough to make anyone nervous, especially when the bike swerved dangerously close to oncoming traffic. Something wasn't right.
"Namarra—"
"I said shut up, damn it!"
Eclipse was going to leave it at that, but she had her own life to think about right then. Her fellow Berserker wasn't about to jeopardize her future as much as she already had. "Damn your pride. Pull over and let me drive."
Namarra didn't respond. The redhead growled and started reaching over her shoulders to grab the handles anyway, but the bike swerved again, nearly causing them both to fall off. There were a series of snake curves up ahead, so Eclipse reluctantly decided to wait a bit longer. Since there was a guardrail, she felt reasonably safe.
Namarra was turning around the last curve when Eclipse dared to strike up a conversation again. "What was that Lust girl shouting at you before? Who the hell is Ka—"
"Don't say his name!"
The reply startled the redhead, but not as much as when the Natural lost total control of the bike, sending them both skidding to the ground. Helmets probably would have been a good thing in that kind of situation, but when a person was trying to escape sudden death, she didn't usually think that far into the future. So, they both hit the ground pretty hard, but because the bike skidded downward and to the side instead of going end over end, they were saved from too critical of injuries. Both girls had large scrapes in their pants, but the quick thinking on both their parts—coming unarmed had forced them to take more defensive measures—the thick under armor stopped most of the damage. The skid burns still bled pretty well, but they weren't as bad as they could have been. Just as the bike fell, they both ducked into side rolls, going with the impact and avoiding as much damage to their body as possible.
Eclipse groaned as her body stopped, shifting onto her back and discerning her health based on what hurt the most. To her luck, everything hurt and her head spinning wasn't allowing her a concrete enough report. Well, she was alive.
Namarra didn't even seem fazed by the impact. In fact, she started rolling around on the grass hysterically after everything had stopped. Eclipse propped herself up in order to see if there was anything seriously wrong with the Natural, but she couldn't see anything other than the skid marks on her arms and legs. No doubt her head was spinning as much as the redhead's, so why did she feel the need to throw such a fit? "N-Namarra—hey!"
The Natural was trying to get to her feet now, falling each time, but slowly making her way towards the street. Eclipse's sense of loyalty kicked in then, forcing her to her feet and run in Namarra's general direction. "Narmar—damn, calm down! I said stop! Ugh!" Eclipse had her arms looped under her armpits, but the legs were getting to be a huge problem. It was getting harder and harder for them to stand upright, but she couldn't exactly let the Natural run into the street. Sure, it'd solve so many problems, but Eclipse's conscience would bother her afterward.
Damn guilt complex.
Namarra's head thrashed backwards, hitting Eclipse square on the right cheekbone. "Kai, Kai! Damn it, don't go! I said don't say his name!" She was making no sense; it was as simple as that. But why was she so disoriented? What had happened inside that movie theater than screwed her up so much? Did it even happen in the movie theater? Would she even answer a question if she asked? "Kai, save me, please!"
A cell phone fell out of her pocket, causing the redhead to look down momentarily. She needed some help, that was obvious, but would calling Yzak over to pick them up make matters any easier? No doubt Namarra would be forced to go with them and as a member of the Earth Forces—well—it wouldn't turn out so good. But what choice did she have? She might be able to calm her down by the time he arrived, and if that happened, she could hide. But if she didn't calm down… Ah, screw it, Eclipse thought and grabbed the phone, shifting her hold to one arm locked around her comrade's waist. She'd bandage the nail scratches later. "Yzak," she spat breathlessly when his voice sounded on the other end. Who knew he'd so eagerly pick up his phone?
"Eclipse?"
"I need you to pick me up. I'll send the coordinates to the Stealth—ow, damn it—and meet me here as soon as—" Namarra knocked the phone from her grip then, her elbows jabbing back into the redhead's sides as she tried to break loose. It was just getting ridiculous. "Namarra, I said—" No use; the girl didn't seem to hear her anymore. In fact, it didn't even seem as if she was in the same reality. Her arms flailed as if trying to grasp something, or perhaps someone. Whoever that Kai was, was close to her. Eclipse could've realized that without hearing his name shouted every other second, but whoever he was, had to have messed her up pretty good. Or something like that. The Stealth's mechanical voice resonated in Eclipse's head, but she was too occupied to respond. She could only hope the CA system understood what she wanted and told Yzak. It was a risky move, but she had to try and calm Namarra down.
Somehow.
"Alright, alright, I won't say his name. I'm sorry, okay? Hey—I said I was sorry!"
"Kai, don't let them take me!" Her head thrashed back again and hit the same spot as before, causing a few curses to leave the redhead's mouth. Leave it to a teammate to get her more beat up in the aftermath than in the actual fight. That hit loosened Eclipse's grip, sending the Natural stumbling forward after the lack of restraint.
And directly towards the road.
Shaking off the pain, the redhead took a few steps and lunged forward. She caught her a few feet from the concrete, tackling her to the ground. They both hit hard, Namarra's head striking the gravel with a force that would've knocked anyone out; however, she didn't even look affected. That was suspicious. "Stop! Stop! Let me go!"
"I can't just let you run into the street. What the hell is wrong with you?" A car passed extremely close by, the horn blaring as it swerved. The smell of the burning rubber as the car slammed on its breaks made Eclipse nauseous, but Namarra's fit hadn't subsided. It was getting extremely annoying and even scarier given her unusually calm demeanor prior to the escapade. It was a huge switch and not a comforting one. Was this a side of the Berserker she hadn't experienced yet?
The Natural's hands flailed in a frantic offense, like a toddler throwing a tantrum. Eclipse sat on Namarra's stomach and grabbed at her hands, snatching one, but failed at getting the other. Sharp fingernails raked across her face as teeth sunk down on her exposed hand. "Ow—damn it!" The feet started going next, knees jamming into the redhead's back. There were just too many things to keep track of.
The Natural twisted beneath her, throwing the redhead off balance and tumbling off to the side. Now what? Eclipse thought, but when she rolled over to look for her comrade, she had already stepped out onto the concrete. "Namarra!"
Another car slammed on its brakes when she hit the middle line, swerving to the side and barely missing her. Some curses sounded from the seats, but it sped off without stopping. "Damn it—Namarra!" Two more cars sped by before she made it to the other side of the road, one coming so close to hitting her the two people actually stopped and attempted to help. Eclipse ran over to them, gave a brief explanation and hurried them back into the car. Luckily, they went without a fuss.
That was when another car stopped.
"Dear God—Nam, what the—" A redhead jumped out first, brushing past Eclipse to grab the Natural around the waist and drag her towards the car. The struggling threw him off balance, sending him down on his butt with her in his lap. Cursing, his head banged against the car bumper when she flailed some more. "Damn it!"
Eclipse started panicking when she saw the redhead pulling them both to the car. She had no idea who these people were and they were just going to grab her comrade and run off? "No! Stop!"
"Clotho, keep her still," a deeper voice ordered and Eclipse froze when she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. Spinning around, she instinctively brought her right arm up to punch his face. The attack was blocked and before she could grasp the pocket knife near her waist, the man had grabbed her other wrist. Struggling a bit at first, she stopped when the lights from the car shown on his face. This was the green-blond boy, Orga—presumably the leader of the group—who had picked up Namarra last time. "Stop this; we aren't enemies." Seeing the calm look on his face and the worried expression in his eyes as they flicked over towards his screaming teammate, Eclipse nodded. Returning the acknowledgement, he let her go.
Namarra's fit hadn't subsided, but Clotho had her under control. He hugged her elbows to her sides, his arms folded over her stomach in a tight hold as his legs crossed over hers in his own version of a strangle hold that looked strangely loving. The look on Clotho's face said enough. He was worried. Her head was the only thing he had to be concerned with, but other than that, she wasn't going anywhere.
Orga walked back to his comrades without saying anything more to the ZAFT soldier. Kneeling down, he grasped Namarra's shoulders and shook her hard to get her attention. "Nam—Namarra, stop. It's all right—" Nothing happened.
"Hey, dumbass—" Clotho started, but a head butt to the chin shut him up quick.
"Nam—" Orga tried again, but she just started her screaming once more, lashing out at him with teeth instead of the limbs she so wanted to use. Now it was the leader's turn to look worried. Perhaps she had never been that bad for that long before.
Shani—the last one to arrive on the scene—walked over and pushed Orga aside. Taking his spot, he slipped out his earphones, carefully put them into her ears then stopped her thrashing head in his hands. Her eyes stared into his, blinking rapidly as more tears tickled her cheeks. She looked panicked, pupils wide and frightened like a four-year-old separated from her family. She was terrified, but of what? "Nam, calm down. Everything's fine. I'm here; your brother's here." Her eyes softened at his words, body loosening in Clotho's arms. She sniffed a couple more times, eyes turning away from him in either grief or humility. Given the scene before, Eclipse was betting on the grief, but Shani kept his hands cradling her face, whispering, "I'm not going anywhere," a couple more times. Her shaking had stopped by that time, Clotho untangling his legs from hers to make her feel a little more comfortable; less trapped, in a way.
While her body language showed she was calming down, her eyes shared a different story. Shani—apparently the observant one—didn't miss that, leaning in and resting his forehead against hers. "Everything's fine," he whispered. Clotho, seeing the phrase as some sort of sign, let go of her completely and sighed lightly when she lunged at Shani and wrapped her arms around his neck. Finally, she just cried and Eclipse could feel everyone release the breath they were holding. But one thing was bothering her.
What the hell had happened?
"Clotho, sit with her in the back seat," Orga ordered, watching the redhead try and peel Namarra away from Shani. She had calmed down enough to be separated from him, they all figured, and no matter how well Shani slipped into the older brother role, he was never one to cuddle and comfort. That seemed to be Clotho's forte and Namarra didn't argue. She just needed to feel safe again. "Shani, get in too, we're leaving."
Eclipse was going to let them go, but the bruise on her cheekbone was slowly becoming a throbbing nuisance. After all, she went through most of that shit too and they were just going to drive off without any kind of explanation? Damn, she was beginning to wish she was anti-social again; fewer medical bills.
"And what about me?"
Orga turned to her after that statement, shrugged and walked over. Eclipse tensed and took a step backwards. If he tried to capture her, she could put up a decent fight, but seeing how easily Namarra was apprehended—and remembering how easily she was snuck up on before—the redhead knew she wouldn't last long.
Great.
He slowed as he approached, stopping a few steps away with an amused look on his face. Crossing his arms over his chest, he shifted his weight to one foot and cocked an eyebrow. "I told you, we're no enemies, so there's no reason to take you with us."
"Thank you, I'm grateful, but what was that?" she asked, referring to Namarra's outburst. "Even in Berserker—"
"She wasn't berserk, that was something else."
"What then?"
The boy sighed and scratched his head. Taking a moment, he looked her over, as if debating whether or not to share any information. Given the circumstances, Eclipse would have expected him to make up some excuse and leave, but instead he gave a wry chuckle, muttered something about someone being mad at him and continued. "I'm not totally sure how it all works, but it has something to do with her brother's name, Kai. We may be on the same team, but we're in different medical programs. I can't even guess at what they did."
"So, that guy—your teammate—is her brother?"
"No, her brother's been dead for years. Saying he's still around seems to calm her down and Shani's the only one who can pretend to be that brother. I'm surprised actually, most of the time he's anti-social, but he takes on the role voluntarily."
Eclipse thought about that for a second, gazing over at the three in the convertible. He had said they were in different medical programs. That was an interesting piece of information and the fact that she had a brother was also intriguing. But the reaction the mere mention of his name had caused made Eclipse very curious. "So, this happens often?"
"We avoid his name because of this." He paused as if something just occurred to him. "Did you do it then?" The statement sounded threatening as it left his lips, but looking at his face, Eclipse knew he was just curious. That was good to know.
"I may've made it worse," she admitted, "but I didn't start it. Blame SIN-ED for that one."
"SIN-ED?"
The redhead inwardly cursed, realizing she probably shouldn't have said that only after her mouth decided to vomit the words. Of all the times to be careless. It was a surprise they didn't know what she was getting into, but then again, Eclipse's team—besides her active commander—didn't know anything either. Opening her lips, she attempted to come up with some excuse. Orga just smiled and held up a hand. "I'll ask Nam later, but as for you." She tensed and took a step backwards, however his grin grew. "I know you have someone picking you up. We have Nam's phone tapped and wouldn't have been able to find you if you didn't make that call."
"Well, you're welcome," she responded and relaxed. That was comforting to hear. Somewhat. "So, we're not enemies?"
"Why, did you want to be?" He smirked at that and even laughed when Eclipse matched his look. "We'll worry about that later; we have to get Nam home." Scratching his head again, he extended a hand. "I don't know who you are, but you've saved her ass twice now. I'm grateful."
"She's saved me plenty of times too." She grasped his hand and gave it a shake. "Keep an eye on her."
"What're brothers for?" With that, he walked back to the car, jumped inside and sat behind the wheel. Namarra was sleeping in the backseat, head on Clotho's chest and arms wrapped around his waist. The boy hugged her in return and Eclipse had to smile. Shani, in the front seat, looked like he was going to take his headphones back, but turned around to brush her hair behind her ear instead. Apparently, he didn't mind being without his music for a while.
"Oh!" Eclipse shouted, grabbing their attention before they sped off. "Namarra's sniper rifle is still at the theater." Orga replied with a wave, put the car in drive and they were gone, leaving Eclipse behind feeling suddenly lonely. Hopefully, Yzak would get there soon.
Now that thought scared her a bit.
Yzak arrived roughly twenty minutes later. It was a rather lonely twenty minutes and quite hectic given the police came looking for the motorcycle Namarra stole. Leave it to her to dump all the problems onto Eclipse, but given the past display, she couldn't blame her too much. It just didn't seem fair.
Eclipse had left the bike where it fell and fled down to lie in the tall grass out of sight. She had hoped there were some trees or something around, but the only thing off the side of the road was meadow; a vast meadow with overgrown grass, mucky dirt, and an overabundance of thorns. The redhead found that out thanks to the lack of cover. She'd blame Mother Nature another time.
"Why you all dirty?" Yzak asked, finding Eclipse sitting on the side of the road. "And you look like you got mauled by a stray cat." He wore commoner's clothes, sporting jeans and a red polo shirt tucked into his pants. There were even tennis shoes on his feet. For some reason, Eclipse hadn't expected him to even own any kind of comfort wear, but she had to admit she was rather impressed. To make the whole experience even more enjoyable, he pulled up in a pick-up truck. Who knew she had a redneck rich boy on her team.
The redhead chose not to answer his question, brushing off her pants and walking up next to him. He almost made another remark but was rendered speechless when Eclipse threw her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. There were so many intelligible things he could have said or even done at that moment, but he couldn't think of anything, merely stood there and tried to keep breathing. "Uh."
"C'mon, I really need a hug and you're supposed to be helping," she muttered, mouth buried into his right shoulder.
"Huh?" It took a few more, awkward moments of hesitation before he finally crossed his arms behind her back. To any prying eyes, it would have been a cute scene. The last remaining members of the Zala team reunited by a comforting hug displaying both affection and merely the desire to forget about what had happened.
For the next minute or so, Eclipse had to smile, feeling just as safe in Yzak's arms as Namarra must have felt in either Shani's or Clotho's. She never knew how much she missed the feeling until she tried this little experiment. And while it didn't heal anything completely, she was happy to have that sensation for even a minute. "Alright," she said, patting him on the back as she pushed away, "moment of feeling pathetic over with."
"Hm," Yzak began, blinking a couple of times as they stepped apart. "When did you turn into such a girl?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Eclipse asked, placing her hands on her hips. "What's so wrong with wanting a hug every once and a while?"
"Nothing, I guess," the boy began, scratching the back of his head. "Just a bit unexpected."
"Unexpected?"
"N-not a bad unexpected, of course," he added quickly, flailing his hands out in front as if to salvage the situation. He looked so embarrassed.
The redhead laughed. "Just—never mind. Don't tell the crew or my reputation's dashed. C'mon, let's get back to base."
"Fine, fi—hey! I'm driving!"
"But I wanna drive!"
"No! You look beat up as hell and I really don't want to join Athrun in the hospital wing thanks to some damn car crash!"
Eclipse froze with her hand on the handle to the driver's seat. What did he just say? Whipping around, she stared at Yzak as he smiled and walked closer. "Athrun's alive, Eclipse." Putting his hand on hers, he opened the door. "You should learn to have more faith in us. We aren't about to leave you so easily."
That remark deserved another hug.
A/N: Alright, here's the next installment. I hope it was worth the wait and breaking it up made a bit of sense. This would've been one long chapter and while I admire the people who can do that, I don't like making them too long. Besides, it's easier for you guys to read shorter chapters than extra long ones. Anyway, I hope you liked the second half.
Heh, don't worry guys, Stray isn't dead. I thought I made that clear when FS and Lust were talking at the end of chapter 36, but maybe I didn't. Shrugs Well, now you all know for sure that quirky kid is still kicking. I love that guy too much to kill him now. And the funny thing is, when I started writing this story I was sure I was going to hate Stray. Not sure why I felt so strongly about that, but he's definitely evolved into one of my favorite characters.
Alright, and another question answered: what the hell was SIN-ED building in space? Well, now we all know and it's quite scary. They were actually the masterminds behind the whole idea. O.o Not surprising really, given their role in the war, and if Eclipse was half as sadistic as she was before, she might actually be proud of them.
The Lust fight was kind of epic, I realize that. I was originally going to have the four of them (Eclipse, Namarra, and Lust) duke it out to the death, but decided to save that until later. There's still a lot of SEED left and since there was so much fighting already, I thought I would save that kind of thing for another time and maybe even make it a chapter. Shrugs I like to think that far ahead sometimes, but it never turns out like I planned. Funny how the creative spirit works, huh?
And, yes, Druggies! I'm hoping a bunch of you are happy about that because they are some of the best underdeveloped characters in SEED and deserve way more personality/air time than they were given. Well, that's what we authors are for and here they seem to have big brother complexes. :P Some of you are going to think they are rather out of character, but all of that will be explained a little later. I hate saying that because it really doesn't sound fair, but I don't want to spoil anything either. Besides, isn't it so much more fun to see them acting—well—human once and a while?
And now we get to see a little bit more "cuteness" between Yzak and Eclipse. More like she's just relieved to see him and feeling very emotionally insecure after seeing how willing FS was to just let her go, thinking Athrun was dead because of her, Nicol dying, and Dearka disappearing. Man, that's enough to screw up anyone's psyche. O.o Anyway, I really like this ending to the chapter. We get to see how much Yzak mellowed and how much Eclipse has changed. Overall, it's a good break.
So, I've already started on my next chapter and am about half way. It might end up being another long one—not entirely sure at this moment—but there probably won't be any fighting in it. After all, we're in the part of the series where everyone's thinking is turned upside down, so there's a lot of "in the brain" action. There'll be some characters brought in that will—hopefully—keep the monotony less—well—monotonous, so it won't be too bad.
Alright, for those of you who did not know the Gundam reference, it is indeed Gundam Wing. I needed a random theater name and I was rattling off mobile suits, battleships, etc. from any and every Gundam I knew of and ended up on Peacemillion. Hm, maybe I should've thrown Howard in as an attendee or something. That would've been fun. Ah well, I'll have to bring him in another time.
As always, thanks for all the reads and reviews! My story stat counter has been down for the past week or so—not really sure why—so I can't see the numbers, but I'm still excited you are all reading it!
Special shoutout to my betas: I'm running out of things to say to you guys in these author's notes so I'm glad you always have some witty things to say to me. :P
Questions/Gripes:
As many of you have realized, I am staying very close to the cannon. Saying that, I'm sure some things won't really come as a surprise since you already know what's going to happen. Well, I guess that's the chink in my armor, but I'm trying to spruce those areas up a bit to still make it interesting. Suggestions are always accepted because when it comes to the battle in outer space, I'm not quite sure how I'm going to fit my characters in. I have loads of ideas, but can't narrow any of them down. O.o There are a lot of holes in the beginning of the series to fit in my OCs, but towards the end things get tighter, almost as if the writers finally realized what they were going to do. Damn authors always making jobs difficult for us fanfiction writers! Sigh
Please check out my forum if you're interested and I'll see you guys next chapter!
Strata