Before y'all get into this new chapter, I wanted to kind of explain something y'all might have missed in the last one. So that "ball" that Barricade was messing with, the one with the metal ring on it...Yeah, that was a frag grenade.
Cackles
And now that some of y'all are probably spazzing because Barricade almost blew up her sleeping brother, let's get y'all into the new chapter. In which, Marcus does something that is arguably as stupid as it is brave, and demonstrates just how much he actually cares for Barricade.
Chapter 8: Big Brother Protocol
Hotel
The next morning: 11:27AM
Barricade's POV
He was gonna GET IT NOW!
I asked Fleshbag last night if we could go for a drive this morning, and he said YES, but that dumb human STILL WASN'T UP!
I had been nice to him and waited, I even quietly shut the door and turned the TV off last night when I got Warlock and went to sleep!
But now?!
NO MORE NICE BARRICADE NOW! IF HE WASN'T GOING TO GET UP, THEN I'D MAKE HIM GET UP
I activated my holoform, got the keycard to the door from my glove compartment, and slammed my door shut after getting out. I balled my free left fist and began stomping for his room with a snarl.
"Dumb, stupid, heavy-sleeping flesh creature!" I growled to myself as I loudly stomped up the stairs. "Fleshbag is gonna get it now! Yeah, I'm gonna kick his butt!" I added with a rev.
"Stupid human thinks HE can tell ME we're going for a drive, and NOT do it?! I'll show HIM!" I snarled as I got to the door and shoved the keycard into the slot. The door unlocked and I flung it open.
"WAKE UP!" I hollered at the stupid mound on the bed. I heard a tired groan and heard him shift a little under the covers. "Just give me like...ten more minutes.." he sighed.
I clenched my fist's and stomped over to him. Fleshbag wasn't going to GET ten more minutes!
"WAKE! UP! FLESHBAG!" I growled while stomping. "NOW!" I demanded with a rev.
Stupid Fleshbag just cracked his eyes open, rubbed them, and groaned some more while moving around under the covers. I quietly glared at him to make it VERY obvious he wasn't going to get off easy this time!
"Alright.." he sighed, "I'm up. What's the problem kid?"
HE KNEW WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS!
I crossed my arms and glared at him harder. "You PROMISED we'd go for a drive this MORNING!" I snarled with another angry rev. "Huh, I did..?" That dumbhead obliviously asked.
"YES!" I screamed in his face.
"When did I say that?"
"Last! Night!" I snarled in response.
He sighed and rubbed his face. "Alright, lemme get cleaned up real fast. What time is it?"
"Eleven-Thirty!" I growled while jabbing at the clock on the nightstand. "And you said that morning ends when the clock hits TWELVE!" I added, remembering what he told me yesterday while we were in the park.
Fleshbag sighed and started shifting around. "Watch out kid, I need to get up. Go watch TV or something, I won't take too long."
I ripped the sheets off of him with a huff and began heading for the TV.
"Dumb, stupid Fleshbag better hurry up! Or else I'm gonna stuff him in my trunk!" I grumbled to myself.
"You'd better chill out kid. I'm easy-going, but if you keep pushing it, I'm not going to be so nice." I heard him warn.
"I'm Barricade, not kid!" I huffed as I continued changing channels past all the dumb, boring stuff humans had going on.
"Yeah, well around here, people your age are called kids. So if I'm "Fleshbag", you're "Kid." he said.
At this point I was done listening to him run his fleshy mouth. I angrily huffed at him, crossed my arms, and plopped myself down into the soft cushions of the desk chair now that I had found some human show that I liked. It was called "Ed, Edd, and Eddy". Fleshbag showed me it yesterday, but I wasn't about to tell him right now that I liked it.
He wasn't going to get nice Barricade right now, he was getting Barricade, Empress of Ravaging and Destroyer of Worlds!
Marcus began heading over to the bathroom to go get washed up and changed. I just ignored him and kept watching TV. "You better not take forever!" I growled at him as he passed. He just sighed and kept walking, not that I cared. He had five minutes before I went over there, busted down the door, and dragged his stupid butt out.
He had THIRTY SECONDS!
I was getting mad now! What was taking him so long! I don't take that long to get up!
I clenched my fist's and started growling from how angry I was. Oh, he was about to get it so bad! I hopped out of the chair and started stomping for the bathroom. He had fifteen seconds before I drug his dumb self out of there and stuffed him in my trunk! I got to the door and raised my fist, just about ready to bang on it.
"If you don't get out here in the next fi!-"
The door opened with Marcus fully dressed in a red shirt, black shorts, and his combat boots. "Alright, you can stop freaking out now. Jeez..." he sighed. I dropped my fist, glared at him, and slowly revved angrily at him. "It TOOK you long enough!" I growled at him through my teeth.
I stepped aside and glared at him as he moved past me. I then followed him as we made our way to the door. Marcus opened the door and walked outside. I followed him and jabbed him hard on his side when I walked outside and closed the door. Marcus flinched and whirled around. "The crap was that for!?" he asked with a scowl.
"What took you so so long?!" I demanded with a jab to his chest. He shook his head, covered his face with his hands as he took a deep breath. "Kid, can this not be how today starts? Just knock it off, alright. Please?"
"I'm not doing anything, and my name isn't "Kid!" I replied while angrily crossing my arms over my chest. Marcus clenched his fist's, bit his lip, and just turned around. I stomped after him and jabbed him again as we started down the stairs "I asked you a question, human!" I snarled at my dumb brother. He kept walking down the stairs and clenched his fist's tighter. "Barricade, I don't even know what your problem is, but I'm REALLY starting to lose my patience here..." he quietly replied.
"You know what my darn problem is human! I asked you last night if we could go for a drive this morning, and you said YES, but I had to go wake you up because your dumb self wouldn't wake up before morning ends!" I hollered while glaring at him.
Marcus stopped walking and just stared at me for a few seconds with some lost look on his dumb face before he tensed up a little. "Kid, I DON'T even REMEMBER you asking me something like that last night..." he slowly and forcefully told me.
"I'm NOT! KID!" I snapped, stepping up to him and clenching my fists. He looked like he was about to say something, but he just turned around and started walking down the stairs again. I just turned my holoform off and turned my engine on as I waited for him to get his slow self over to me.
I started growling my engine at him when he finally DID get near me. Marcus reached down to open my door, but I flung it open and swatted his hand away instead. "Yo, are you freaking kidding me right now?!" He snapped.
"IN!" I barked with a rev. Stupid human used his brain and listened to me like he should. "Well, good morning to you too, SISTER!" he hissed at me as he slumped into my seat and slammed my door.
"SHUT IT!" I snapped while tightly wrapping my seatbelt around him and strapping him in.
"Barricade!" He started, raising his voice at me. "I am REALLY getting tired of this crap, alright! My freaking bad for being a human that need's more sleep than you do, and not hearing some random stinking question you decided to ask me when it was OBVIOUS I wasn't listening! My Lord, dude! I don't know why you've gotta go getting your freaking panties in such a bu-!"
"SHUT UP!" I snapped, cutting him off. "JUST SHUT UP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR DUMB, STUPID, HUMAN EXCUSES! I ASKED YOU IF WE COULD GO FOR A DRIVE THIS MORNING, AND YOU SAID YES! YOU STUPID, FUCKING, HUMAN! ALL YOU HAD TO-"
I choked up and my engine stalled when I realized what I just said.
"DID YOU JUST!?" he started. Marcus then stopped himself and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and leaned back. "Kid." he started, speaking in a calm and quiet voice. "I'll let all that other crap you threw at me slide, but not THAT." I quietly whined and softened up around him. I felt really ashamed, and I just wanted to shrink in on myself. "M-Marcus, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have said that, and I didn't mean it, but I just got so-" he cut me off by raising his right hand up and making a quick slicing motion.
"Look. You cussed at me, straight up. I'm not going to take any excuses for that. As your big brother, I just can't let that fly. I wouldn't be doing my job as your older sibling if I did." he said while looking off into the distance. He sounded calm, but I knew that I had hurt him. I started to hug him with my seatbelt, but I quickly stopped. It wasn't going to do anything to make up for what I did.
I felt Marcus unbuckle himself and grab my door handle. "W-What are you doing?" I tried to ask as my voice started to tremble. He didn't say anything. Instead he just opened my door and stepped out. "Hey wait!" I shot my seatbelt out and wrapped it around his right arm to hold him back. "Don't go, PLEASE!" I begged.
"Kid, let me go." He softly ordered while looking down at the ground in front of him.
"Where are you going?" I croaked.
"Inside." He replied, "We're not going anywhere...and you better not try to drive off on your own. I'm not going to lock the door or take Warlock from you, so you can come in when you're ready if you want."
I whimpered and slowly reeled my seatbelt back in after letting him go. Marcus quietly shut my door and started walking off.
I felt so bad, like I was the worst sister in the world. I dropped on my axles and watched as my brother went back up the stairs and to his room with his head dropping. I WANTED him to come back so badly, but I know he wouldn't.
I turned my holoform on and reached back to pluck Warlock from my backseat and hold him. I needed his comfort, because I just felt horrible. I held Warlock close and buried my face in his fuzzy head as I closed my eyes while the tears started running. I fell back and sank into my driver's seat, just where Marcus had been sitting, and cried.
Normal POV, with Marcus
Marcus opened the door to the room and went inside. He quietly shut the door behind him and slowly collapsed down onto the floor, sliding his back down the door. He was in shock. He never thought Barricade would curse at him...but that's exactly what had just happened. He was disappointed with her, obviously. He was even a little ticked at her for being a complete jerk to him first thing after waking up.
But most of all, he was disappointed and pissed at himself. It wasn't like she just spontaneously discovered the F-bomb and started dropping it. No, she learned it from someone.
HIM!
The Marine growled and thumped his head against the door. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" he snarled at himself. "Yeah, what a good brother you are, you FUCKING DUMBASS! Already teaching the kid curse words cause you can't keep your big mouth SHUT!"
He wanted to slap himself because of how idiotic he had been. It was universally known that children had a knack for picking up on things said or done by the older people around them. OF COURSE the kid was going to pick up on any cuss words Marcus dropped around her!
Marcus clenched his fists and let off one more loud and pissed off growl to get the rest of his anger out before taking a deep breath and pushing himself up onto this feet. As much as he wanted to just berate the hell out of himself, there wasn't much point to stewing in that mood. The nineteen year old took what had happened as a learning experience, and a wake up call to realize that he had someone who looked up to him and would be influenced by him now.
Regardless, the Marine just needed to do something to get his mind off of what had just happened...and he got an idea when he looked over to his bed.
Truth be told, it had been a while since Marcus had cleaned his Carbine. The last time he had cleaned it was on the last day of the training exercise he was in over at Camp Pendleton. However, on that day his group had practiced a good number of room clearing drills and spent some time at one of the rifle ranges, so a good number of rounds had been put through his M4.
Marcus snagged his pack from where it was leaning against the wall near the window and set it down on the cabinet the TV was atop, and then went over to his bed and got his M4. He made sure the weapon's safety was engaged as he made his way back to the desk and sat down in the chair. He pulled the mag from the Carbine and set it down on the table, and then leaned the gun to the table with the ejection port facing it. Marcus racked the charging handle a few times to finish clearing the gun. He then set the Carbine down on the table after hitting the bolt release, squeezing the trigger to drop the hammer, and finished by closing the weapon's dust cover.
Pakowski then opened up his pack and pulled out the weapon's cleaning kit and a large, rectangular, olive drab cloth out that he would use to place his field stripped M4 on. He unfolded the large cloth and draped it across the desk.
First, he picked up the loose FMJ round and used it to release the two takedown pins that were located above and to the right of the fire selector, and just in front of the magwell. Marcus then loaded the loose round back in the mag, detached the upper receiver from the lower one and placed the lower receiver on the cloth. Moving on, he pulled the charging handle back and pulled the loose bolt carrier out and set that down, then removed the charging handle and placed it on the table. He then opened up his cleaning kit and pulled out a small tool that would help him in releasing any smaller retention pins and finished disassembling the bolt carrier.
With everything disassembled, he got to work. Marcus first turned the TV on and found Ed, Edd, and Eddy playing on a channel and instantly threw it on. He then turned the volume up, and placed the remote down and away from his things so he wouldn't get it dirty. He then pulled a long cleaning snake from his back the he had folded up, and made his way to the bathroom with the barrel of his M4 so he could get it cleaned out in the shower.
20 minutes later
Marcus was currently at the bathroom sink cranking on the breach of his M4's barrel as he tried his hardest to scrub off the layer of carbon that was caked on pretty good. He was starting to make some progress with a cleaning rag he had stuffed in the weapons cleaning kit.
"Ah come on! Just! A little!...MORE!" he hissed with determination. The Marine kept scrubbing for ten more seconds and then set the rag down in the sink and took a breath to rest his sore arm muscles. He had actually managed to get most of the carbon buildup scrubbed off, but there was still a little more that needed removing. Thankfully everything else had been cleaned at this point, finishing up on the barrel was the last thing he needed to do before he could put everything back together again.
Marcus got back to scrubbing after taking thirty seconds to rest and stretch out his right arm. He was ready to get this done and stuff his face with breakfast.
Over on the other side of the house the front door was quietly opened. Barricade cautiously peeked around the door and into the room with a quiet sniffle while holding Warlock close to her chest for comfort. Her optics worriedly scanned the room for her brother, however the anxiety she was feeling only increased when she didn't see any signs of him. She pulled Warlock closer and walked deeper into the room after shutting the door behind her. Honestly, she was terrified of facing Marcus after what she had done to him. Marcus always seemed to just radiate positive energy, but the way he silently waked off...it scared her.
She knew he was mad, probably furious considering how mean she had been to him on such a regular basis since she met him. It burned to think of how disappointed he was with her and, she was petrified that he would leave her after she just pushed him too far.
Barricade heard noise coming from the open bathroom door on the other side of the room. She slowly began moving towards it, forcing herself to put one foot down at a time and crawl closer. Each step brought more anxiety than the last. Each painful pace made the room seem to become more foreboding and her brother more intimidating.
Marcus finally got the carbon off of his M4's breech. He tilted his head back and took in a deep breath as a satisfied smile formed on his face. Now all he had to do was put everything back together before he could stuff his face with something to eat. The Marine rinsed the barrel one more time and washed his hands. He got both dried off with a towel and then began heading out of the bathroom to go reassemble the M4.
Upon exiting the bathroom and turning right, he almost smacked right into a certain little black-and-white painted creature. He stopped before he ran the kid down and got worried when he noticed how she was shrinking in on herself as she looked up at him fearfully with her face mostly buried in Warlock's fuzz. He wasn't mad at her any more, but now he was beginning to feel very concerned for her as she looked up to him in apparent terror, the trembling of her metallic body barely noticeable to the nineteen year old.
Marcus hesitantly took a slow step towards his sister "Hey kid...are you alright...?" he asked uncertainly.
At first Barricade just stood there looking at him, then she started to make the smallest little whimper as her red eyes began to shine a lighter shade of crimson. The Marine just froze up, completely confused by what was happening. Marcus then noticed his sister's eyes tearing up as the small whimper turned into a louder keening.
"Barricade, sis what's wrong...?" he asked, completely perplexed.
It was at that moment that everything went to hell in a handbasket...
The little interceptor exploded into all out wailing as she crumpled down on the floor into a little ball, Warlock dropping out of her grasp and plopping down onto the floor next to her as she squeezed herself and began writhing around. Marcus immediately began to panic as he had NEVER dealt with something like this before, be it from a human child or the alien one he had before him.
The Marine rushed over to the TV cabinet and hastily dropped his M4's barrel on the desk before frantically throwing himself over to Barricade's side as her wailing got even louder. He looked down at her with his hands raised uncertainly as he tried to figure out how to approach the situation.
Marcus slowly began reaching forward to hug her "Hey, hey it's alright kiddo, it's-WOAHH!" He shot himself away as his metallic sister began flailing around in her hysteric's, those little claw-like hands of hers becoming little knives slicing through the air at high velocity.
'OH CRAP! OH CRAP! OH CRAP!' Marcus screamed on the inside as his panic shot clean through the roof of the hotel and thousands of feet into the stratosphere.
"COME ON MARCUS, BIG BROTHER MODE, CALM THE KID DOWN!" he rambled at himself over the crescendo of screeching that was beginning to emanate from flailing ball of black and white in front of him.
"Come on man, THINK! Gotta get her calmed down! Gotta do the thing with the thing!" He said in panic as he frantically looked around for anything that could help stem the raging torrent of wailing that had enveloped him. His answer came in the form of a certain fuzzy teddy bear who's name came from his callsign, and was laying on the floor near the foot of his bed.
Marcus began moving for Warlock, however he was overtaken by the sheer volume of the Interceptor's all our screeching. The Marine winced and jammed his fingers into his ears as the auditory assault caused him to physically feel pain from it's surprisingly extreme volume. Marcus shot himself over to the window and threw his ear protection on before throwing himself back over to Barricade and scooping Warlock up. He lifted the bear up and presented him to Barricade.
"Hey! Hey Barricade!" Marcus called to get her attention before dropping the voice of his voice and speaking in a calm and quiet tone, "Warlock's worried about you kiddo, and he wants to comfort you, but you gotta calm down a little? Alright?"
At first Warlock's presence didn't seem to have any effect, however the little alien gradually stopped flailing around and reduced from complete screeching to heavy sobbing, which just ripped at Marcus' heart like shrapnel from a frag grenade. The figurative shrapnel tore through him and made him felt so weak and small as he tried anything he could to help his hurting sister.
"Barricade, I'm scared. What's wrong?" The Marine spoke through Warlock, raising the pitch of his voice as high as he could while continuing to maintain it's warmth in order to aid in making it seem like it really was Warlock speaking.
"I-I'm a horrible si-sister! I'm always b-being mean to my brother! ev-even though he's always t-trying to help me!" the metallic being whimpered.
"But you're not! Marcus told me!" "Warlock" pleaded.
"But I AM!" she screamed, her body exploding in guilt before curling back in on itself. "I'm terrible to him, and he do-doesn't deserve any of it!" she sobbed. "All the b-bad things he's seen! All the horrible feelings he tri-tries to lock away! All he does to help me, a-and I just h-hurt him for it!"
Marcus winced and couldn't stop his body from flinching. 'Damn it kid, that's not true!' he screamed internally.
"He doesn't think that's true, and neither do I." Warlock replied. "Your brother doesn't think you're terrible to him or that you're a horrible sister. He really cares about you a lot Barricade. Marcus thinks that while you can have a temper at times, really you're very caring. He thinks that you're the best thing that's happened to him, and that you're also the most adorable ball of cuteness to ever exist. But really, we both think that."
Through the sobbing, Marcus heard a faint laugh from his hurting sister. His spirits were immediately lifted by the flicker of happiness still within the kid. He then though of something that had slowly made it's way to the back of his mind pretty recently.
Obviously Marcus had now taken a liking to his new sister since they had met. But the nineteen year old had begun to feel something deeper for the kid, something more than a mere preference or want for her to be his little sis, his family.
It was yesterday morning when he woke up to Barricade dressed in his gear, when she happily squealed and thrusted herself into his arms and started purring, when he could feel the sheer happiness that radiated from her smile as she hugged him. That's when he felt the sensation and identified what it actually was.
Marcus loved the kid.
The Marine looked down on Barricade and contemplated telling her what he really felt. He was uncertain, wondering if she would actually accept it. Seeing that he was an alien to her, and that she had only met him a few days prior. He then thought back to what she told him as they sat on the staircase after his nightmare. She said that she really liked him a lot, but what if she was actually holding back? After all, she WAS she one who saw him as her BROTHER, and not an alien before he saw the same in her.
As he looked down on his sobbing sister, something snapped within him. There was no reason to hold this back or be uncertain about it! She was HIS little sister, and she had a RIGHT to know how much her big brother cared about her, consequences be damned!
"Barricade?" Warlock asked.
Four tear-filled optics opened and looked at the bear. "Yes Warlock?"
"Marcus wants to tell you something, but I want you to hold me first."
Barricade slowly reached for her fuzzy and soft comforter and took him from Marcus. She then brought the bear close to her chest and hugged him, closing her optics and lowering her head in the process.
After a brief period of absorbing Warlock's gentle comfort, she looked at Marcus.
"W-what do you want to t-tell me...?" she asked with some fear present in her trembling voice.
Marcus slowly brought her into his embrace and brought his mouth up to the left side of her head where her ear would be if she were human.
"God blessed me with you kiddo, you know that?" He whispered before pulling his face away and looking into her awestruck eyes. "But that's not what I wanted to tell you." he added.
"W-what did you-" Marcus cut her off by quickly reaching up and and pulling her head to him, where he kissed the top of her forehead. She flinched up and went rigid to the contact, but it just felt so warm, so affectionate.
Marcus pulled back and looked back into her eyes. "Barricade, I love you kiddo." He said with a warmth to his voice that washed over her, and in conjunction with his kiss, completely filled her being with the welcoming love he truly felt for her now.
"You're my sister, and I never want you to think that you're terrible, cause I'll love you no matter what." He said, smiling at her with immense joy.
"Y-You...you..." she staggered, completely surprised by what Marcus just told her. She NEVER thought he could actually love her like she was his own flesh and blood sister, but he DID.
Marcus nodded as his smile broadened. His loving warmth just surrounded Barricade and immediately evaporated all the sadness, guilt, and fear she was feeling. She flung her arms around her brother and pulled him as close as she could to her, tears of joy spilling forth from her optics.
"You love me! You really love me!" She cried out as she embraced Marcus. The Marine laughed and began rubbing circles on her back. "You're darn right I do little sis!" he affectionately replied. Marcus felt as if the little thing wrapped around him had become electrified with some kind of energy that just pulled him closer.
"I love you too big brother! I love you so much, and I'm so happy you're here!" Barricade exclaimed on his right shoulder as she pressed herself against his body. Marcus felt the warm metal come in full contact with his torso and suddenly felt some kind of electrical shock jump from her form to his, right over the center of his chest and what felt like right into his heart. It didn't hurt him. Instead it felt like some kind of spark that lit something deep within him, some warm and welcoming thing that embraced his presence just like how Barricade was embracing him. Whatever it was; it just felt right.
So Marcus just let it happen. He held his sister close and felt like he had just gotten a huge weight off of his shoulders as the affection he felt for the kid was reciprocated back to him from her. It almost felt like the two were now sharing a new and deeper connection between each other, one of those things where one could just look at the other and automatically understand exactly what was going on in their sibling's mind. It felt amazing for both of them, and both looked at each other in a new light.
Eventually the kid did get calmed down as exhaustion replaced overflowing emotion. The two were now laying on Marcus' bed watching TV and finishing off the last French bread pizza. Aside from slowly absorbing the immense goodness of human food, Barricade refused to do anything that wasn't clinging to her brother and cuddling up to his warmth while Warlock continued to remain by her side.
Marcus heard a little yawn and looked down to his left side. The kid had just finished her piece of pizza not even a minute ago, and it was looking like she was going to knock out within the next three or so. He threw the last of his slice into his mouth and gathered up the two's paper plates so he could chunk them over into the kitchen trashbin. He began sliding his legs over the edge of the bed to get up, however his comfortable metallic companion tightened her hold around her brother and gave off a small whine of protest.
"I'm just going to throw this stuff in the trash." Marcus explained with a nod to the two plates he had stacked in his right hand. Reluctantly, and slowly, Barricade released her brother and let him get up. Her bundle of warmth was only gone for a short period of time before he sat back down on the bed next to her and let her burrow back into his warmth. The Marine felt his sister's head begin to droop and rest against his left shoulder as the little venting of air that emitted from her slowed down.
"I think someone's tired over here." he softly commented while rubbing her head. His response was a slight head nod as four drooping red eyes glanced up towards him. "Why don't you turn your Holoform off and rest kiddo, I'll go take Warlock out to you." Marcus softly suggested.
Barricade burrowed deeper into Marcus' side. "My Holoform barely takes any energy to use, and you're my cuddle buddy." she sleepily mumbled as she picked Warlock up and cradled him to the left side of her chest, right over her headlight.
Obviously Marcus couldn't deny what the kid said, nor could he ever make himself push her away. Instead, he slid his left arm around his sister and let her rest against the side of his torso. The Marine picked the TV remote off of the nightstand and dropped the TV's volume down so his little sis could drift off into sleep.
7:48PM
Marcus stepped into the hotel room with some freshly washed clothes folded up and tucked away against the left side of his chest. The two had spent the day relaxing in the hotel room as they watched more TV, listened to music, or played games. Marcus had also spent some time looking over his gear and getting things re-organized or cleaned up as needed. His sidearm had also been cleaned now, as well as his ballistic goggles, helmet, and the exterior of his pack, which had accumulated a noticeable cover of dust.
He had also gone outside and spent some time browsing the airwaves on his radio. He shot off another batch of transmissions, however as expected, zilch. The only thing he DID manage to snag was a very faint radio transmission that mentioned something about an "NBE" in the "AO."
He knew that "AO" stood for Area of Operations, but he didn't know what AO the transmission was referring to since it could have come from anywhere really. Marcus could only guess that it was either in or generally near Mission City. He also heard the callsign "Oracle 4-1" thrown around. The Marine immediately recognized that as the callsign used by an Air Force squadron that operated RQ-4 Global Hawk recon drone's.
Whoever this "NBE" was, he sure hoped the poor sucker knew how to hide well from the electronic eye of that Global Hawk, cause that thing RARELY blinked, and if drone's were put in rotation, it WOULDN'T blink.
The Marine got his clothes stowed away and went to go join his sister over on his bed.
"Hey kiddo, whatcha' watching?" he asked as he sat down to her left and hooked his right arm around her.
"It's called "Cops", it's about human police officers going around and busting bad guys and stuff." she replied as her eyes remained glued to the TV screen where a car chase was going on. "This is the best part, whenever the bad guy runs and the police chase him!" she added as the suspect dodged a thrown spike strip and continued hurtling down a highway with four officers hot on their tail.
Marcus perked up and fixed his attention to the TV. "So what's the story on this guy?"
"He got stopped for running a stop sign. When the officer found out he had a robbery charge and went to arrest him, he ran." his sister informed from below him.
The Marine watched as Florida Highway Patrol continued to chase the suspect down the highway at full tilt, eventually hitting One-hundred Miles per hour as they shot down the highway. Marcus snorted a laugh and poked his sister's tire on her left shoulder "So you like the high speed chase stuff, eh?"
Barricade eagerly nodded. "Yeah! It's cool! You know, going as fast as those guys is easy for me! I can actually go WAY faster than them!"
"Way faster..?" Marcus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yep, I can go One-eighty!" the Interceptor replied with a bounce.
"You WHAT?!" he all but screeched. "With all that stuff thrown on, you can STILL go ONE-STINKING-EIGHTY MILES AN HOUR?!"
"Yep!"
"HOW?!"
Barricade giggled and booped her brother's nose "I'm special."
Marcus stared at the kid completely dumbstruck for a few seconds before shaking his head and turning his attention back to the TV. It had been a while since he had seen Cops, so he liked seeing it again. He watched as the police chase went on for a few more minutes before Highway Patrol PIT maneuvered the suspect's vehicle and dragged they guy away in handcuffs to be taken to the station and booked.
He felt a poke on the side of his stomach and looked down.
"Ya wanna go for a drive?" Barricade asked him with a hint of mischief in her optic.
"Oh no." Marcus shook his head. "I am not about to be thrown around at some ridiculous speed by you kid, not my vibe."
"Ah Maaarrrcccuuus, I won't go fast." the Interceptor protested with puppy eyes.
"Alright, how fast are you GOING to drive us then?" the Marine asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The speed limit." Barricade innocently answered.
"And what's the speed limit?"
"I don't know." she replied, still as innocent and sweet as ever.
Marcus sighed and looked up at the ceiling. He bit his lip and then looked down at his sister. "Fine." he conceded. "But you better not do something dumb Barricade. I'll turn you right around and bring us back here if you do." he warned.
The kid nodded at her big brother before giving an excited giggle and deactivating her Holoform. Marcus sighed again as he pushed himself off of the bed. He was REALLY hoping his little sis wasn't about to do something crazy tonight. He took Warlock with him and tucked the bear away in his pack before snagging his BDU's and jogging off to the bathroom to quickly change clothes.
Marcus walked out of the room with all his gear on two minutes later and locked the door when he shut it. Down below the Interceptor already had her engine and headlights on as she waited for her brother. She gave an eager rev as Marcus descended the last stair and hit the ground.
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Chill out ya speed demon." Marcus casually said, waving the rev away.
"What's with all that?" Barricade asked, opening her door when Marcus got to her.
"I don't feel safe leaving any of this stuff here at night, even with the door locked." Marcus replied as he set his radiopack in. He then got in and strapped in with his Carbine over Barricade's seatbelt. He shut her door and looked up at her steering wheel, something telling him she was still curious about why he had all of his gear with him.
"Alright, honestly kid, even though I'm pretty sure it's just us here, I can't risk some of this getting stolen. There's a good number of things that aren't too important to me: markers, pencils, heck I wouldn't mind if someone jacked one of my flares." He then pointed down to one of the frag grenade's "But stuff like THIS; weapons, ammo, my radio equipment. I can't let these things get stolen by some wacko. Someone can do some real damage with my weaponry and ammo, and having someone snag my radio would mean they'd have access to our radio frequencies. Now that might not do much good now, but later on planning an attack on U.S forces wouldn't be too hard if someone knew what they were doing since now they'd be able to hear what we were saying or doing."
The Saleen softly rumbled below him. Something in the back of his mind told him it was a way of letting him know she understood what he had explained while in her current form.
"So uh, you driving?" Marcus then asked as he put his gloves on.
"Yep." Barricade replied as she shifted into reverse and began pulling out.
The turned out of the hotel parking lot and just began cruising though the the tranquil, dark streets of the city. Neither of them had any preference for where they went as they drove along the still roads. The only sources of illumination were an occasional streetlight, storefront, and the beams of cool illumination from Barricade's headlights. Marcus turned the radio on and brought the volume up to a relatively quiet level as the soft red and green tones of Barricade's dash shone on him.
The Marine quietly settled in and enjoyed the ride as the two went on. A few times he'd raise the volume of the radio and sing along with a song he knew or really liked. His sister silently listened intently every time his voice would softly drift up in song. She really liked hearing him sing since she thought he sounded really good. Eventually she began to purr with content from how nice everything felt.
"You know, it's been a while since I've done something like this. Like, just going for a drive at night just for the enjoyment of it." Marcus quietly spoke up after a while.
"You've done this before?" the Saleen asked.
"Yeah." Marcus replied. "Back in High School me and my friends would get together after school on Friday night and pile into my friends SUV. Then we'd just go cruising around Santa Monica at night. We'd throw the radio on and just sing to our heart's content like a bunch of crazy dweebs...well, I guess we WERE just a bunch of crazy dweebs." he finished with a chuckle.
"Was it fun?"
Marcus looked up towards the roof with a fond sense of nostalgia and nodded. "Man, you don't even know!" he exclaimed with a smile. "I think those night's were the best times of my life. It was just us and whatever road we found ourselves going down. When we were together in that car, none of us had any worries in life; math test's, homework, life at home. It all just went away for those hours we were together cruising around."
He then looked out the windshield at all the illuminated sky scrapers of downtown off in the distance. "It was kind of like this, except we also had the light's from the beach and the pier along the coastline. I really just digged the feeling of driving around those night's."
"It sounds like it was really fun." the Interceptor commented. She then looked at her brother in her rearview mirror and had a curious question pop up in her processor. "Hey Marcus, are you from that Santa Monica place?"
"Yep, born and raised." the Marine replied with a nod.
"Hm...When me and you get out of here, do you think you could take me to Santa Monica so we could go driving around at night like you used to do with your friends? I'm fine with it just being us two, you don't need to bring anyone."
Marcus looked back down and watched as the steering wheel rotated as Barricade turned down a street and shifted gears, thinking the question over a little in his mind.
He reached up and patted the top of her dashboard "Yeah kiddo, we can go do that when we get out of here...but we might have to get you a new look if Santa Monica PD is iffy about the way you look right now."
"Hopefully they won't. I really like the way I look." Barricade replied.
"Yeah...I think I gotta second that. I think you look pretty cool." Marcus said while looking around the interior of the Interceptor, still marveling about just how awesome of a car Barricade was.
20 minutes later
"Uh...Marcus..?"
The Marine immediately perked up at the sudden worry that he heard in his sister's voice. "What's up kiddo?"
"I think something's going on Marcus, I'm a little worried." Barricade answered while turning on her CB radio and tuning it to the frequency she had started monitoring.
"..racle 4-1 is continuing to monitor the NBE over in the West part of the city. He's still on the move."
"Roger that Oracle. Jackal is moving to intercept the target."
"That doesn't sound too good. We'd better keep our eyes open for this guy, he doesn't sound like good news." Marcus advised as he grabbed his M4 and began to casually scan the streets around them.
"You think we can talk to them?" he asked, looking at Barricade's CB radio.
"You can try, I haven't tried talking to them." the Interceptor replied.
Marcus nodded and picked up the microphone. "Warlock Actual transmitting in the blind. Jackal and Oracle, do you read me?"
"Jackal reads you Warlock. Interrogative: What unit are you with?"
"First Battalion Fifth Marines. I've been on my own for a few days in the city." Marcus replied. There was an uneasy pause for a few seconds as the two drifted on in the dark streets.
"Understood Warlock...Umm, what's your location?"
"Warlock is in the Western part of the city, currently on the move. I can't give you an exact location right now."
"Roger that Warlock...You should probably hunker down somewhere, you've got a hostile contact in your area and you definitely don't want to piss this guy off."
"Oh..oh that isn't good news." Marcus said aloud. He then keyed the mic to respond. "Warlock acknowledges, I'll definitely get hunkered down. Thanks for the heads up Jackal."
Barricade tensed up under the Marine. "Marcus...I'm scared." she worriedly said to him.
"It's good kiddo, we just need to find somewhere to lay low while all of this blows over." he said while flipping his M4's safety off. "You want me to take over on driving?" he offered.
"Please." Barricade replied, tugging on Marcus with her seatbelt. Marcus nodded and took control. He drove the two on with a determined look in his eye as he continued to scan sectors for the unknown hostile. Obviously he didn't want to run into whatever nasty thing this was, but he wasn't going to just flee from the thing without putting up a fight in protection of his sister. He picked up some speed as he looked out for a parking garage the two could duck into, however nothing drew his attention as the two drove on for another five minutes.
'Come on. Give me something here!' Marcus thought as he turned onto a new street. The only thing he saw were more shops, no parking garages yet. The Marine added on some more throttle, Barricade's engine revving up as her brother pushed a little faster through the night. She was definitely a little scared, but she trusted him to get them to safety. She was slowly tightening her seatbelt around him as she clung to his comfort, unable to completely stem the slow feeling of worry that was overtaking her.
"We got this Barricade, we got this!" Marcus encouraged as he approached another intersection. "We just gotta go a bit further, this jerk isn't going-HRRGH!"
Blinding light assaulted Marcus' eyes as Barricade gave a terrified squeal around him and locked her breaks before he could do anything. The two had turned right at the intersection and came to stop in the middle of an open street that was flanked on both sides by the brick walls of two factories.
The Marine sucked air through his teeth and brought his hands over his face as he tried to look out through slits he made with his arms.
"SURRENDER NOW, OR WE WILL FIRE UPON YOU! THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING!" A booming voice shot out from their front.
"Jerkoffs!" Marcus seethed as he grabbed his M4 and flung Barricade's door open. He shot out like a coiled cobra and brought his Carbine to bear on the threat. The light shut off and revealed two huge, black 6x6 wheeled armored vehicles armed with 30mm cannon's mounted on their roof's blocking the road with a line of heavily armed infantry posted up in front of them in a roadblock.
"DROP THE WEAPON, MARINE! WE'RE HERE FOR THE CAR, NOT YOU!" the voice ordered.
"FUCK YOU!" Marcus shouted as he stepped out and moved to place himself between his sister and the threat. The pissed off Marine would be damned if he was going to let ANYONE harm his sister!
"Marcus!" Barricade squealed from behind him.
"It's okay sis, I'm not going to let these BASTARDS hurt you!" he growled. He took his left hand off of his M4's foregrip and set it against Barricade's push bar behind him, continuing to stay aimed in at the roadblock in front of him. "Let's back it up kiddo, okay." he softly ordered as he put some weight into his left hand.
Despite almost being completely locked up from terror, the Interceptor began slowly backing up as she trembled against her brother's hand. The Marine started backing the two up as the infantry at the roadblock continued to keep their weapons trained in on them, along with the two gunners in the armored vehicles.
"MARINE! WE DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU!" the voice called again.
Marcus snarled and took aim with his M4. "YOU'RE FUCKING BRAINDEAD IF YOU THINK I'M GOING TO LET YOU HURT HER WITHOUT SLINGING SOME LEAD!" he hollered.
A few in the group in front of him flinched up at what the Marine said and many started looking around at each other in apparent confusion. Marcus refused to waiver in his posture. He continued to scan targets. He wasn't going to drop his guard anytime soon.
A new voice rang out from the roadblock, this guy sounding like he wanted to de-escalate the situation.
"Easy there Devil Dog. What's your name kid?"
Marcus refused to answer the voice. He wasn't going to give in. Someone began stepping out of the group towards the center of the formation. The Marine immediately aimed in at the movement, causing all the infantry to turn their weapons on him.
"Hey! Woah! Relax people!" the same voice called out, this time it wasn't through the loudspeaker.
A single soldier put a hand on the barrel of a support gunner's M240 and lowered it, those around him slowly lowering their own weapons. Marcus continued to aim in at the man and picked out the name on his uniform. "Lennox" it said. Marcus looked through his ACOG at the man's flak patch and identified his rank as Captain. He also carried an M4 with an ACOG like Marcus, however this guy had an M203 40mm grenade launcher mounted under the barrel of his Carbine. Aside from that, he was dressed in the same black gear like the rest of the infantry. Another thing that separated his appearance from that of Marcus was that he seemed to be wearing a more streamlined helmet that had a pair of night vision goggles mounted on it and different ear protection.
The Captain broke out from the group and carefully began moving his way towards the Marine, slowly raising his hands up as a sign of his peaceful intent. Marcus continued to stand as rigid as a statue while the barrel of his M4 hovered center mass on Lennox. Barricade could feel the subtle fear radiating from her brother and forced herself to gently bring her push bar up against the back of Marcus' legs to comfort him and give him support.
"Look man, something's not right here. We don't want to hurt y'all, we just want to figure out how all of this happened." Lennox calmly said as he approached Pakowski.
"The hell are you on about?!" Marcus snarled with a flinch of his M4, Barricade slowly backing herself away from the unknown man who was close to her brother.
"I'm trying to figure that out myself. But like I said, we don't want to hurt y'all." Lennox replied. He then brought his right hand down and slowly reached for the barrel of the Marine's M4. "Just calm down, and lower the-"
"DON'T TOUCH MY BROTHER!" Barricade snapped, lunging forward with a very hostile roar of her engine.
Lennox immediately backed away from the Marine and brought his hands up a little higher "Woah! Okay, okay. I won't touch him. It's cool." He then pointed to the American flag patch on his right shoulder "Just calm down man, we're on your side."
Marcus kept his Carbine up, but he lowered it down into a low ready. "You guys are all wearing black gear, you're in an abandoned city, and you've got armored vehicles that I have NEVER seen used by U.S forces! You could be a freakin' PMC for all I know, that's bullcrap!" he countered. "You want me to actually believe you?! Give me a unit!"
Lennox sighed and shrugged. "Look kid, I literally can't tell you about my unit, it's classified." He winced a little when the Marine understandably bristled at the vague answer. "Alright I'll tell you this; we're a joint-branch unit and we're U.S military. I've got MARSOC, SEAL's, PJ's, even Ranger's, we're basically SF. Trust me Pakowski, we're on your side." he pleaded with the Marine.
Marcus slowly lowered his Carbine a little more and looked to his sister behind him. Barricade gave a small rev of encouragement and gently nudged him with her push bar, signaling to him that she reluctantly trusted the man. Pakowski lowered his rifle and slowly untensed. "Alright." he sighed. "You're lucky she trust's you, otherwise you'd still have a very pissed off Marine on your hands. Don't think I won't body someone if I see one of you try to hurt her though!" he warned.
"I believe you. Trust me, we won't hurt either of you." Lennox reassured.
Marcus simply nodded with a grunt and put his M4 on safe. "So what now?" he asked, looking over towards the roadblock.
Lennox looked over to his group and gave the hand signal to mount up "I need you to come with us. We'll get you two out of here, and then we're going to have y'all fly back to our base with us. The base location is classified as well, but I'll tell you that we're off the coast, and there's more like your sister there. But don't worry, they're the good guys." he added when the Marine gave him an accusing look.
Marcus stared at the man for a few more seconds as he thought everything over. He then reluctantly nodded. "Alright, fine. We'll come with you. Where do you want us?"
"We'll tuck you two into the middle of the convoy and give you cover as we push to the airstrip we've got set up." Lennox answered.
"Alright Captain, lead the way." Marcus said, his voice calming down. Lennox nodded and began making his way to one of the armored vehicles as everyone else finished finished boarding the vehicles. Marcus continued to carefully watch the group until Barricade gently nudged him with a soft rumble. "Yeah, got it kiddo." he said as he turned for the Interceptor's open door.
The Marine got in and slumped back upon shutting the door and getting strapped in. He limply threw his gloved hands hands over his M4, closed his eyes, and sighed.
"You okay big bro?"
Marcus lazily nodded and let himself go limp within the soft leather that surrounded him. "I just don't want these guys to hurt you sis. I still barely trust them."
"Yeah, I don't really trust them either." the Saleen agreed. "That guy you were talking to didn't seem too bad though." she added as she began to follow one of the huge armored vehicles that had gotten turned around and begun rolling forward to lead the convoy, it's powerful diesel engine revving up with an obvious whine of a supercharger adding to the intimidating sound.
"I guess we'll just have to see what happens.." Pakowski shrugged.
"I think it'll be okay. I know you'll kick their butts if they try anything." Barricade said, nudging her brother.
Marcus chuckled and patted the Saleen's dash "Thanks for the confidence sis."
"You're welcome big bro, and I'll kick their butts if they try to do anything to you." the Interceptor then added with an eager rev.
Marcus just laughed and shook his head. Barricade was just the best. They drove on in silence for a few minutes and just listened to the radio transmissions between the two armored vehicles as everyone scanned sectors. The Marine fully collapsed the buttstock of his M4 and perched it on top of his right shoulder as he aimed over his ACOG and out of the Interceptor's window after rolling it down.
Barricade started to play Blow Me Away through her radio and nudged her brother with her seat to get his attention. Marcus smiled when he immediately picked up on what was playing and brought the volume up as he started nodding his head and singing while going back to scanning sectors, tapping his trigger finger on the side of the lower receiver to the beat as he went.
5 minutes later
"Wild Bill to Warlock."
Marcus recognized the voice as Lennox and picked up Barricades radio mic. "Go for Warlock."
"We're curious over here, you said that your from the First Battalion Fifth Marines, right?"
"Affirm."
"Ah shit...y'all were the first ones into the city. Reports say the fighting got bad."
"Yeah." Marcus sighed. "I got knocked out, but the fighting was pretty gnarly once we got into it."
"I heard y'all were tasked with evacing civvies. Y'all roll in with heavy armor?"
"Affirm. We were flown in and got mounted up at various staging areas after getting briefed. My group had two Bradley's, an LAV, and two MBT's. We got quite a few civvies out before everything went to crap. It seemed like the flyboys were putting up a good fight though up in the skies."
"We uh, we actually lost quite a few aircraft. I heard we lost like ten Raptor's..."
"Raptor's were downed?! Holy crap!" Marcus exclaimed in amazement. He knew it was getting crazy up above, but F-22's getting downed was something unheard of.
"Yeah I know. The bad news is that one of those assholes turns into one. Bastard's name is Starscream, He almost did me in when we reached the city."
"Dang. I hope they downed that guy..." Marcus said, a slight feeling of uneasiness building up in his stomach at the thought of the Air Force's top fighter being compromised by the hostile forces.
"I'm sure they did. The good news is that we've now got the first Ace's we've gained since Vietnam."
"Holy crap!" Marcus exclaimed.
"Yeah and get this, we also gained a Double Ace. A Raptor pilot got ten kills up there. Eight with missiles and two with guns. The Brass hasn't revealed who did it yet, but I'm sure they're gonna become a celebrity overnight."
"I'd imagine." Marcus said. "Do you know what happened to my unit?" he then asked.
"I don't know Warlock. There's still a lot of craziness going on. It's probably going to be a while before all the pieces are put together. I'm sure you've got a bunch of Devil Dog's asking the same in regards to you."
"Yeah...got it..." Marcus sighed as anxiety crept its way back into his mind.
"Hey don't start losing hope Marine. You've made it this far, I'm sure there are other's like you."
"Yeah...but unlike them, I had help." Marcus said looking down at the dash in front of him.
"Don't start thinking that way Marine. You guys are a tough bunch." Lennox encouraged over the radio.
"Affirm..." Marcus replied with an obvious lack of confidence in his voice. He felt the seatbelt tighten up around him in a hug and pulled it closer to him. He looked down and closed his eyes as he prayed to God he wasn't going to lose even more of his Marine family in the aftermath of the battle.
25 minutes later
"Coming up on the airstrip people."
"Jackal 1-2, rog."
"Warlock Actual, got it." Marcus replied in a quiet monotone. He had been clutching the dog tags of his fallen family for the past five minutes as he fell into a slightly depressed mood. Survivor's Guilt had crept it's way back into the Marine's mind, try as he might to kill it off. Barricade could somehow feel the dreadful feelings her brother had going around in his mind, and she continued to hold him close and comfort him as they went on.
"Hey kid, you should probably let me drive when get to the jets." Marcus quietly said as he stuffed the dog tags into his left cargo pocket.
"Why don't you take over? I've done most of the driving today." Barricade offered in an attempt to help her brother stop thinking about the dog tags.
"Uh yeah, sure." Marcus mumbled as he took control.
Barricade activated her Holoform next to her brother and gently took his right hand in hers from where it rested on the center console. Marcus looked at her when he felt the contact and found his sister looking at him with a supportive look on her metallic face. He gave a slight nod and a faint smile as he squeezed her hand in acceptance and turned his attention back to driving.
The convoy transitioned from paved roads to dirt as they entered a forest that surrounded the forward airstrip set up for the transport aircraft. Marcus pulled back a little bit so he wouldn't be eating the dirt and rocks kicked up by the vehicle ahead of him, his sister squeezing his hand and silently thanking him to his right. Barricade curiously watched as the gunner in the vehicle in front of them continued to swing the long barrel of their cannon around as they scanned the area around the large vehicle.
Out of curiosity, she did a scan of the cannon to see what it was. A schematic identifying the cannon popped up in the top right corner of her HUD. The cannon was identified as a Mk 44 Bushmaster II 30mm chain gun. She looked down at her left arm and deployed one of her chain guns, and then looked between the two, just comparing them out of curiosity.
OBVIOUSLY her cannon was better, because...well it was hers and that's why! And she had MORE!
She heard Marcus chuckle and looked up to him.
"I think theirs is bigger, kiddo." he said with a faint smile, light from her dash making his eye shine with a little glint.
The Interceptor huffed and slumped down in her seat. "Traitor." she grumbled, shooting her brother with a small glare as she retracted her cannon. Marcus squeezed her hand and got a quiet growl in response, but it didn't sound hostile.
"Love you sis." he said as he went back to focusing on his driving.
"Love you too meanieface." Barricade growled next to him with a tight squeeze of his hand. Marcus smiled as he felt something warm "poke" his subconscious. He didn't know what it was, but it felt right to him.
"Oracle is bored of playing with you, we're RTB. Good luck Jackal."
"Thanks for the overwatch Oracle, we're just about at the taxies. I guess we'll see you guys sometime once we get back to Hawaii."
"Hawaii..?" Barricade confusedly asked, looking to her brother.
"That Lennox guy said their base was off of the coast. I don't...think we're actually going to Hawaii. It's probably just a code word they use instead of referring to the base by it's actual name." the Marine said with a little hesitation.
"I guess we'll see what happens.." the Saleen shrugged next to him. Marcus nodded and watched as the forest began thinning out in front of them. The "airstrip" was soon in view. It wasn't actually an airstrip, it was an old airport that was small in size, and had obviously seen better days. The Marine scanned the runway and found two C-17 Globemaster III's parked at the end of the flare-lit runway.
"Those are our ride's." Marcus said, pointing a finger towards the two transports.
"Woah! Those are BIG!" Barricade exclaimed in amazement at the huge aircraft.
"I've never flown on one of those before so this should be interesting for both of us because I'm pretty sure you've NEVER flown before." her brother said as the convoy quickly approached the C-17's.
"Is flying scary?"
Marcus chuckled and looked down at his sister who had gone back to looking like a cute little ball of curiosity next to him. "Nah kiddo, it's not. We'll be fine."
"Okay" she chirped as she went back to looking at the two large transports.
"Wild Bill to Warlock. You two have the one on the right. We'll load the MRAP's in the left one, along with the guys. We didn't expect things to go the way they did, so y'all get the bird to yourselves."
Barricade picked up her mic with her right hand and brought it up to her brother's face and pressed the transmit button. "Warlock acknowledges. We got right. Thanks for the room." he answered. Barricade put her mic back up and let Marcus have his right hand back so he could shift as the two rolled up to their designated transport.
"Should I turn my Holoform off?" the Interceptor asked uncertainly.
"Nah, you're good." Marcus replied as their C-17's Loadmaster descended down his aircraft's lowered ramp and watched the Saleen pull up.
The Marine stopped Barricade in front of the ramp and waited for the Loadmaster give him the signal to enter the jet. The Airman threw him a thumb's up and began waving him forward. Marcus threw his own thumb's up out of Barricade's window since her window's were so tinted and began rolling her forward. He was soon rolling up the ramp and had to give a little more gas to compensate for the angle of the ramp, however his entry was spot on so he didn't have to make any corrections as he carefully drove into the cargo bay of the four-engine transport.
"You're good!" the Loadmaster called from in front once the Saleen was far enough in to properly balance the Globemaster's center of gravity.
"Got it!" Marcus called as he set Barricade's parking break and shut her engine down.
The Loadmaster came over to Marcus' side and flinched a little when he saw the little alien sitting next to the Marine. "So that's...her..?" he asked uncertainly as he curiously looked Barricade over with an obvious hint of fear.
"Yeah, well the miniature version of her." Pakowski replied.
"How big is she really?" the Airman asked as he shot a glance to his crew.
"She's like eighteen feet or something when she's not like...this." Marcus answered a little awkwardly, motioning to the car around him.
"Oh, um, okay." the Loadmaster fumbled as his eyes went a little wide while he backed away a little, definitely out of fear since Barricade already looked a little intimidating, even in her miniature form. He then gathered himself and motioned to the alien in question "We gotta get you tied down so nothing bad happens in-flight. Is that okay with you?"
Barricade retreated a little behind her brother "Um...I guess. Please just don't make it too tight mister." she replied a little fearfully.
"Don't worry ma'am. You've got my promise we'll be gentle. Just say something if you don't like how anything feels, alrighty?"
The Saleen nodded and tucked herself a little closer to her brother. The Loadmaster gave her a comforting smile and gently patted her roof before turning away and getting to it. Marcus could sense how apprehensive his sister was to the whole ordeal, he could also literally feel it too since she tensed up a little around him. He unslung his Carbine and looked over to her. "Want me to hold you?"
Barricade nodded and slid Marcus back enough for her to crawl into his lap as he set his M4 down in her backseat. Pakowski brought his sister into his lap and wrapped his arms around her as she sat against him and looked out her windows and around to the C-17's crew as they began to get her strapped down to the aircraft.
A few minutes later one of the Globemaster's Pilot's walked into the cargo bay. "Hey Mack! How's it going?!"
The Loadmaster, Mack, finished tightening a strap tied to Barricade's rear axle and stood up. "She's just about secure LT! Let's keep it gentle on this flight, eh? She's just a kid."
The Pilot did a double-take at the Loadmaster's request before he slowly approached the Interceptor's driver side door.
"Woah..." he said when he saw the alien in the Marine's lap.
"Second time that's happened today." Marcus chuckled. The Pilot picked his jaw up off of the floor and gave the alien kid a curious look. "You got a name small fry...?"
"It's Barricade." the Interceptor answered, "And this is my brother Marcus." she added with a point to the Marine holding her. Marcus nodded and flashed a small smirk at the Airman. "Thanks for the ride, Sir." he said with a casual salute.
"No problem." the Pilot answered. "How long have you two been together?"
"I found her a few days ago...well it was more of she found me. We've been together ever since." Marcus replied.
The Pilot nodded and turned to head back to the cockpit "Gotta go back to doing Pilot things. I'll make sure you two enjoy the ride." Marcus chuckled and nodded at the man in response.
A few minutes later a metallic whine filled the Globemaster as the crew began to get their engines spun up. Soon enough all four turbofan's were whining at idle. A hydraulic whirr then filled the cargo bay as the ramp was brought up and the bay was closed.
"This is your Captain speaking. We're just about ready to take off. Thank you for flying Moose airlines. Crew, make sure we're all good to go." one of the Pilot's said over the intercom. The transport's crew made sure they had everything set and then got settled in on the folding benches that lined the cargo bay.
"All good in back. Let's burn this candle." Marcus heard the Loadmaster say into his flight helmet's microphone from the rear of the aircraft.
"Got it. Everyone take your seats and secure any loose items, we'll be rolling in about a minute."
Two minutes later the lead transport turned onto the runway and began it's takeoff roll as the pilot's brought their aircraft's engines to full power. Marcus and Barricade had moved to one of the benches and were looking out of a small window in the side of the transport's fuselage as their Globemaster was brought onto the runway and prepared for takeoff once the first C-17 had lifted its nose into the night sky with its various anti-collision lights either blinking or holding a steady intensity as they visually marked the aircraft's position.
"Final warning people. We're going in five seconds."
Barricade got out of her brother's lap and sat on the bench next to him. Marcus helped her get strapped in since she was fumbling with the restraints a little before getting his himself strapped in. Both of them twisted around in their spots and shoved their faces as close to the window as possible as the big engines of their transport were brought to full power and radiated a metallic growl. The Pilot's released the breaks and the large jet began rolling forward and gaining speed.
The two watched as the red flares that had been placed a good ways down the runway began passing by faster and faster. They felt their bodies tilt a little sideways as the Pilot's reached their takeoff speed and pulled the nose of their Globemaster up and into the dark sky. Both watched in amazement as the Earth fell away below them and the stars in the sky drew nearer. After a few minutes they watched as their C-17 drifted up to the lead aircraft and took up formation on their right wing. Everything on the ground looked so small now that they were at least one thousand feet up.
"Alright crew, we're now cruising at a nice six thousand feet. You're free to unbuckle and move about."
Everyone immediately unstrapped at the Pilot's announcement. Marcus quickly got himself unstrapped and knelt down in front of his sister as he picked at her restraints. "What do you think about this flying stuff?" he asked as he released the last strap.
"It's pretty cool. Everything looks so different from up here." she said. She then looked at Marcus innocently "But I like being down there more." she added quietly. Marcus laughed and affectionately rubbed her head, causing her to purr with content.
"My Lord, I don't know whether I should be scared or consider this to be the most adorable thing I've ever seen..." a voice spoke up from behind them. Marcus immediately flinched for his M9 however he quickly stopped himself from un-holstering the pistol. He looked behind him and saw the Loadmaster standing over his left shoulder. "Sorry." Marcus sighed, "I guess I'm still a little jumpy from earlier." he apologized.
"It's alright man. Anyone who's been down their and on their own for days is bound to be a little more switched on than most people." the man said. "I just came over to let you know that it'll be a VERY long time before we land, I'm talking something like twenty hours of flight time here. If you want to nap or something; go for it, cause we won't have anything to do for quite a while.
"Thanks man." Marcus nodded. "I think I might catch some z's myself. I've got a feeling it's going to be a stupid long flight, and a very long day tomorrow." he added as he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead under his helmet.
"You'll make it man. I've got a feeling you've been through a lot heavier stuff recently." the Airman replied encouragingly. He then turned his attention to the Interceptor. "How do you feel? Anything too tight for you?"
Barricade shook her head "No, it's okay...but I'd really like to just get all of that stuff off of me though."
"Me and you both little miss, nobody likes being all tied down." the Loadmaster agreed. He then pushed himself up. "I'm gonna shoo and leave you two alone. Now would be a good a time as any to knock out if you're thinking about it." he said before turning away and heading back to the aft end of the cargo bay. Marcus pushed himself up and looked down at his sister "You wanna get some sleep?"
"Only if you do." she replied innocently.
"I think I do kiddo." Marcus said as he started taking off his gear. Before long he had everything but his M9 and it's holster neatly stacked up against the wall. He kept his sidearm strapped to him just in case something went down, however he trusted the crew of his C-17.
Marcus cracked his neck and stretched his arms out. "Plenty of room kiddo, you got a specific spot that looks particularly cozy?"
Barricade nodded and plopped down from her spot. She then went over to her real body where she opened her driver's door and folded her seat forward. She then turned to her brother and looked at him expectantly. Marcus chuckled and smiled at the act. "Come on kiddo, you don't have to do that now."
But of course, Barricade was not satisfied with her brother's reaction. She went over to him and started pulling on him. "I DID have to, and you better like it Fleshbag!" She ordered as she started dragging him over to her open door. The Marine gave in and didn't try to resist as his sister brought him over to her real body.
"Get in you!" the Interceptor order, poking her brother's right side.
"But what if I don't waaant to." Marcus protested, trying to pull off his best look of innocence.
"Don't "but" me mister! You're gonna nap in my backseat and you're gonna like it!" Barricade countered with another poke.
"Ah fine, have it your way." the Marine replied with an eye roll. He moved past his sister and began crawling his way into the Interceptors backseat, picking up his Carbine and setting it on the back deck below the rear windshield. It was a bit of a tight fit, but it actually turned out to be pretty cozy back there.
Barricade hopped back in up front once she folded her seat back and looked back at her prone brother. "So, you comfy?"
Marcus shifted himself onto his back and sat up against the right wall. "It's a little tight, but I'm not complaining." He then reached down and pulled the legs of his BDU pant's up and reached for the laces of his boots. "Do you mind if I take my boots off? I don't want to be putting them on your seats." Barricade had no problems with that and nodded at him before reaching across to get Warlock from his pack while he untied his boots.
The Marine set his boots on the floor behind the driver's seat and got curled up as best as he could in back with a pleasant sigh. "Napping all curled up back here doesn't sound too bad to me. What do you think kiddo?"
"It's good." the Interceptor answered. "But it would be better if you'd be my cuddle buddy." she then said, laying on the puppy eyes while laying back in her seat.
"I dunno sis, it's a little tight...But if you want to curl up back here with me, it's not like I can really tell you no." Marcus replied as he wiggled a little farther back to make some space.
Barricade happily smiled and crawled her way over with Warlock tucked in under her right arm. She laid down on her brother's stomach and wrapped her left arm around his body as she got cuddled up real close to him and put her head in the crook of his neck. Pakowski wrapped his arms around his sister and began rubbing the back of her head with his right hand.
"You're a REALLY good cuddle buddy, big brother." the Saleen purred against his chest. Marcus chuckled warmly below her and and kissed her forehead. "You're pretty good yourself little sis. Let's get some rest while we can, eh?" His sister nodded her head and closed her optics as she let her brother sink deeper into her backseat. She really hoped that nothing bad would happen once they got to the base. She also wanted to know what had gone wrong when they they had been found, and who that "NBE" guy was that was mentioned on the radio.
Overall, she just hoped that her brother would be able to relax a little, and not have to constantly worry about their safety. She wanted to go to Santa Monica with him and go on that drive, and she wanted to spend some real time with him and go do things fun. She liked being with her brother when he didn't have to be a Marine and go around kicking butt, and she wanted to help him get through all the bad things he had to go through.
She was hopeful for both of them. They'd get through the night and everything would be alright soon.
Barricade felt her brother drifting off to sleep below her. She waited until he was completely asleep and wiggled her way up his torso a little. Slowly, and very gently, she placed a little kiss on his forehead. "I love you big brother." she whispered to him before she let herself drift off after sliding back down and cozying up to his warmth with Warlock softly tucked against her side.
After Action Ramblings with Phoenix: Not much to say, just wanted to clear some things up.
"Moose Airlines" was a reference to the C-17's nickname, that being the Moose. It gets this nickname from the noise it makes while refueling on the ground. It's said that air venting from the tanks during the refueling process makes a noise reminiscent to that of a bellowing moose, hence the nickname.
RQ-4 Global Hawk's are capable of remaining airborne for an insane 32 hours.
"Wild Bill" is Lennox' personal callsign, although I don't think it was ever said in the movie's.
SF stands for Special Forces.
In order to be labelled and "Ace", a pilot must achieve five confirmed aerial victories against opposing aircraft.
MRAP stands for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected. The MRAP's that Lennox' team used are Cougar HE's. These MRAP's have been in service with the U.S military since 2004.
Anyway, that's it for now. Tune in next time to see what happens once the two C-17's land at their base. I hope y'all have enjoyed this story so far, and I hope you will continue to enjoy the coming chapters.
I just want to apologize again for taking so long to get another chapter up for y'all. School and life are still kicking my butt a little, but the end of the semester is pretty soon so I'll have six weeks off from school to relax before throwing myself back into the fire.