Author's note: Shout out to SomeoneForeign! Time to get back to cyborg business, uhuhuhuhhh!
Ripped this straight from the Mythos arc. Next chapter won't be so based off their dialog (just the battle! I have other ideas. EVIL IDEAS! MUHHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! –ahem-)
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Chapter 11: Business as Usual
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"Yeah, all is clear here, Albert. Are you leaving tomorrow? Then so will we. Alright, done," Jet disconnected his headset and closed the laptop. He sighed heavily and stretched back in the chair, looking out at the open terrace of the little Italian villa. Lily was curled up in a blanket on a lounge chair; sound asleep with her text book open on her face. She let out a little snore and Jet took out his phone to snap a photo. 'One for the wall….' He scrolled through his photos from their adventures around Italy: Rome, Bologna, Turin, Bari, and Naples. Five weeks' worth of travel, food, wine, and fun. They decided to take it easy and rented a small place in the oh-so small town of Atrani. Their plans had changed continuously depending on their flights of fancy.
Being in Italy had breathed new life into Lily. They talked about her family more now, seeing as Jet had made a connection with them. She spoke of them with fondness rather than sadness. They discussed when they would tell the rest of the team that they were now engaged, or to just let them figure it out and be casual about it. Jet had suggested rubbing Joe's face in it, but Lily found that tacky. Cathy and Jimmy were the only ones to know so far.
Jet loved Italy more than he thought he would. He picked up the language easily, having only spoken Italian with his grandparents when he was child. He had always wanted to visit the country when he was human but the money or opportunity was never there. Now he had the means to travel and a companion (who snored loudly). Originally they would have been in Germany by this time, but Italy had so much to offer. Jet looked back at his fiancé, sleeping soundly and smiled sadly.
They had kept in touch with the rest of the 00 team constantly. Over the past two weeks there had been some strange cases around the world. One was of a statue crying tears of blood… Others were of extreme weather conditions causing fires, and countless people claiming sightings of flying creatures. Hysteria was breaking out as the odd phenomena became more frequent. Chang even reported that he threw several crazies out of his restaurant one night.
Joe, Francoise, Chang, and GB lead by Dr. Gilmore were headed out for the Middle East, after concluding that another attack may happen there. Albert would leave the following day from Germany. Pyunma and G Jr. were already on their way. They too, would join the rest of the team soon. Jet felt a squeeze of anxiety in the pit of his stomach. Most likely, they would have to fight. He knew Lily was the now the strongest member of the team, but her being in the midst of danger made him feel sick, especially after what R-02 had said. Jet rubbed his temples wondering how he could change his mindset.
After spending almost two months being a normal couple, they now had to don their uniforms and revert back to their cyborg egos. Jet never worried about himself in the battle before. In fact, he actually looked forward to the thrill. Knowing that he was fighting against such evil while pulling the most unimaginable stunts was something he felt wrong for loving so much. Well delivered attacks left him replaying the action in his head for days after and got him pumped for the next encounter. Even though he fought in a team, he rarely worried about his comrades. They could handle themselves, and he was always there to come to their rescue when needed. But now, he had Lily. Even though he knew that if push came to shove, Lily could probably destroy all of them, as was the intention for her creation, something deep within him screamed out to take her and run far away from all this insanity.
Rising to his feet, he walked quietly out onto the terrace. He looked up at the clear sky as the stars started to appear. Then he bent down and took her book, closing it. Lily frowned and mumbled in her sleep, "We don't need more mozzarella, Jet…." He chuckled softly and gently picked her up and carried her to bed.
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Jet and Lily stood, donned in their uniforms, over a deep ravine. Thunder rumbled in the dark sky, rivaling the hollow sounds of shells from the nearby fighting. "They are right in the middle of a war here, but this is where the Dolphin signal is coming room," Jet spoke, as though to himself. "Yeah, and G Jr. and Albert are coming from the north side. We better get going," Lily responded and took off using her accelerator. Jet also activated his and followed, as his accelerator was not as speedy as hers or Joe's.
-Jet! I can sense another presence up ahead!-
-I feel it too, there are several. Hang back a little. I will scout from above!-
Jet ignited his rockets and tore ahead, bypassing Lily as she slowed down. He flew in stealth mode as he reached top speed. Up ahead, he saw a figure in red floating up through the air. 'Joe!' As Jet approached the scene, he could see that Joe was tensed in pain as his back arched. Suddenly he dropped through the air. Jet swooped down and grabbed him. "002!" Joe exclaimed. "Thought you might need a lift!"
Lily reached the scene, seeing G Jr. lifting a giant boulder and tossing it down into the gorge. Albert stood next to him. She leapt from boulder to boulder to join them. "Hey guys, what's jumpin'?" Albert turned to her with a smirk. "Oh, you know, the usual." The rest of the team regrouped, facing off against the enemy; a panter , a bull soldier, a woman in a long cloak, and a young man with flaming hair steering a chariot with winged horses. The latter spoke in a booming voice, "If you are not afraid, you should be!" He extended his palm and the earth beneath their feet started to vibrate. Small pebbles rose into the air and suddenly, jets of lava spewed from the ground. The flames enclosed around them, forming a prison.
The bull soldier directed an electrical current to the flames, causing an explosion. The cyborgs were hurled to the ground. The chariot rider flew over them and peered down. "Tell me… now do you know how foolish it is to oppose the gods?" he mocked. Lily pulled herself up, seeing her team mates struggle to do the same. "You are no longer amusing." The flaming haired man stated coldly and raised his hand into the air, but his attacked was interrupted as a sapphire blue arrow streaked past his face.
The team followed his gaze, seeing a huge robot with a young female archer and boy standing on its shoulder. Her outfit was similar to the chariot rider's and her inky blue hair covered one eye. "You shouldn't have done that, my dear sister," the chariot rider began but was cut off by the young woman. "Apollo, stop this at once!" He smirked, "Why should I?"
"When humans ceased to believe in us, we were no longer responsible for them. But they are not our enemies and it is wrong to our powers against them!" The bull soldier stepped forward. "But Artemis, we should get rid of these pests while we have the chance. Besides, they're not humans, they're cyborgs!" Artemis ignored him as her gaze bore into her brother. "Apollo." He tensed and returned her harsh gaze. "I understand. My sister, Artemis, is right. It's over. Come, all of you. We are going home." And with that, he cracked the reigns for his winged horses. One by one, the rest of the enemies disappeared, except for Artemis. She gazed down at the 00s. "There is a lesson to be learned from all this. People forgot about us for centuries, and they will forget about us again. Eventually the earth will be peaceful once more and people will forget this happened."
Joe rose to his feet. "Forget? Hmph. Forget?! Tell that to the families of the men that died in that war!" Artemis sneered, "Humans invented war before they invented gods, so their cruelty to each other is their own affair, not ours. Humans are naturally aggressive and fight bravely and well, but they rarely know when to stop. So in the name of peace, they ask the gods to help them vanquish their enemies. The gods merely fulfill that request. After all, that is why humans invented us in the first place." Smoke blew up, obstructing her from view as she disappeared, along with the giant and little boy.
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Jet punched the metal wall of the Dolphin. "Uhhh! There's something wrong with this picture but I don't know what!" Albert looked over at him. "You're right. We don't know if they're gods or what. All those impressive moves we saw them do could have just been some sort of advanced technology."
"Look at this, someone else is out there!" Dr. Gilmore exclaimed. The team turned towards the radar screen as he tapped on the keys. "Let me turn on the camera and scanner." The screen changed windows and there stood R-02 in her navy uniform a few yards from the ship. "Uh, I should have known," Lily muttered.
"Well, she had tipped you off on the attacks before they happened. Maybe she wants to talk?" Pyunma suggested. "Let's meet her outside the ship, just to be safe," Albert added. Joe nodded and made his way for the exit. Lily shrugged, "Okay, but if she bites me again, I will not be held responsible for my actions."
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"Looks like you arrived a little too late for the action, R-02," Lily stated, trying to keep her composure. R-02 looked at her with dead eyes. "I saw everything, I just hung back." Lily glared at her. Jet stood beside Lily and crossed his arms. "What business do you have with this?" R-02 crossed her arms over her chest and stared back at him. "My business is taking down anything that is a threat to humanity." Joe stepped forward. "Then we have a common goal, R-02. Why don't you join us now?" R-02 titled her head, a small smile playing on her lips. "I was thinking about it. But, I am not joining if this plain Jane is your alpha," she nodded towards Lily.
"What?! What she say?" Lily started to stomp towards her but Jet grabbed her scarf. "I thought I was alpha," Joe whimpered as Francoise patted his back. Now Albert spoke, "We are a team, no alpha, omega, or lone wolves. You gotta play nice if this is to work." R-02 smirked at him. "Very well, I will give it a shot. Once we take care of these gods, we split. Deal?" Lily jumped up. "Don't shake on it, Albert, that vamp will bite you!" Albert chuckled and extended his gun hand out. "No point trying to bite this, R-02." She stood forward and took his hand. "I could bite through Ionsdaleite if I wanted, but I already have my connection here," she flashed a brilliant fake smile at a glaring Lily.
Over the transmitter, Dr. Gilmore spoke, "I have traced the gods trail to the Island of Magma. We better follow them before they attack again." Joe raised his fist to his chest, "Alright, let's get going team!" and he turned on his heel, heading back into the ship. "Pffft, try hard," Jet mumbled to Lily. The rest of the cyborgs got on board, tailed by Lily and Jet. Francoise spoke to R-02 as they walked down the hall. "I will go and get a bed made up for you, R-02. Thankfully we have a spare." R-02 put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes. "Don't worry about it, I don't sleep," she responded flatly. Lily elbowed Jet so hard he almost fell over. "See?! She IS a VAMPIRE!" she hissed.
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R-02 Mini Profile:
Code: R-02
Name: R-02 will do fine.
Abilities: Rejuvenation/ Healing / Acceleration / Super strength / Reinforced skin/ Intuitive / Vamp
Age: Late 20s
Height: 5'10 (178cm)
Weight: approx 70 kg/ 155 pounds
Build: Slim / alethic
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Dark bown
Descent: Looks Indian but NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS
Defining features: Silver skin when in battle. British accent.
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Author's note: Just a little background on R-02. More shall be revealed later! :D