When Akima Awakened

Disclaimer: Same as before.

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Akima felt a slight draft of air that smelled sterile, like that of a hospital. She slowly opened her eyes, feeling that same disorientation that one usually feels when awakening in an unfamiliar place. She pulled the blanket from her hospital bed over her slim frame, clothed in a hospital gown.

"Feeling better." A blonde nurse asked.

"I'm a little disoriented but I'm alright. Where am I?" Akima asked.

"You're in the infirmary." The blonde replied.

"I can see that." Akima replied, sensing that the people at the hospital weren't really going to hurt her, "But where is the Infirmary."

"You're on an army base." The blonde replied, "I work here as a nurse, my husband is one of the medics."

"Are you a Gamma unit?" Akima asked.

"No, but we work with them. I take it you've run into them." The nurse replied.

"Yeah. They came and fought to help us when the Heartless attacked my world." Akima replied.

"Well they've just come into ours too and the Gamma unit sent a team to help us out." The nurse replied, "By the way, I'm Bree."

"Akima."

"Wait a minute, one of the soldiers in that unit seems to be rather fond of you." Bree replied. At the sound of footsteps Bree replied, "Speak of the devil."

"He's been waiting by your bedside for nearly six days now." Bree replied.

"Was I in a coma or something?" Akima asked.

"No. Your mind just needed a little time out while your body recovered, that is why you don't remember anything." Bree replied, "There's some clothes for you in the next room, now if you'll excuse me, I've got to hold off the blitzkrieg while you get dressed."

"I can go?" Akima asked.

"Yes, you're released from the hospital but we need you back for the occasional checkup or two." Bree replied.

Akima walked through the door into the small bathroom where she found an almost exact duplicate of her clothing folded neatly on the side of the sink. She dressed herself just as she heard Bree saying, "Hold your horses will you, she's alright."

She threw her spacers cargo vest on after the rest of her clothes and opened the door. She could see Bilby just then. His smile beaming and evidence of hope in his eyes stood in stark contrast to a face that had been devoid of such feelings for over a year. He seemed a good deal more careworn from grief but other than that he looked almost the same way she remembered him.

Bilby's heart nearly skipped a beat when he saw her. Everything about her seemed to be the same as it had been before she had died. The way she wore her hair, her wry smile, her graceful stride, they were all as he remembered in his many flashbacks and dreams since the Titan mission. It felt as if a 200-pound weight had been discarded from his shoulders.

"I'll leave you lovebirds a little moment's privacy." Bree replied.

Both of them stood speechless for a while, awkwardly uncertain what to do next. Bilby was the first to speak, "How about I take you for a walk around the Pit if you're up for it."

"I'm up for it." Akima replied.

They walked through the garden located behind the Infirmary. Akima trailed her hand through a nearby hedge, she breathed in deeply and said, "It's so beautiful back here. All my life when I lived on the drifter colony I dreamt of big open fields, meadows where nature was allowed to roam free, breathing unrecycled air."

"Then move to a new planet." Bilby joked, "Because this air's been recycled a million times."

Akima playfully punched him on the arm, "You are so not funny Martin."

"You do need to recycle the air after the Blob's eaten Mexican cuisine which should be about..." Bilby said, peering at his watch.

"Now." He commented as several Joes, Misfits, and X-men came stampeding out of the cafeteria with towels, napkins and hands across their faces.

Akima said, "The Blob?"

"You'll meet him later." Bilby said, rolling his eyes, "Along with the other kids on this base. Put it this way, this is not your average Army base..."

"The horror! The horror!" said Footloose, sprawled out on the pavement in front of the cafeteria, "BA should know better than to give Mexican food to the Blob, especially if they're beef and bean burritos."

"Yeah, not even my respirator can cope with the results." Barbecue coughed.

"Fresh air! Fresh air! My kingdom for fresh air!!!!" Airtight moaned as he lay twitching against the wall.

"OK, maybe the cafeteria isn't the best place to visit hon." Bilby said, taking Akima's left arm in an escort position and steering her in the opposite direction of the cafeteria.

"BA sounds like Guen. You know our wacky inventor on the Valkyrie?" Akima replied.

"Of course I remember. Of course I'm the one who said that in the Army being a cook and a chemical warfare specialist aren't all that dissimilar." Bilby replied.

"I heard that Aussie! My Bloomin' Onion recipe was great!" BA shouted.

"It would have been if you hadn't put Nickelodeon Slime in the mixture!" Bilby shouted back.

"You liked my Outback Soufflé last night!" BA replied.

"That was before it exploded all over the kitchen. Why you decided to put dynamite in a recipe I'll never figure out." Bilby replied.

"Dynamite?" Akima asked.

"Don't ask." Bilby replied.

"Is it my imagination or is BA...." Akima replied.

"...missing a few marbles." Said a female voice from behind them.

"Hey, Cover Girl, this is Akima. Akima, this is Cover Girl." Bilby said, shyly.

"He talks about you almost all the time. I never thought I'd actually meet you." Cover Girl replied.

Akima looked up, the woman was nearly six feet tall, taller than her 5'8" and Bilby's 5'9" respectively, and said, "Being reported dead will do that to you."

"How did you...?" Cover Girl asked.

"Survive. It's a long story." Akima replied.

"Well where were you two going?" Cover Girl asked.

"Anywhere far away from the kitchen. If you're headed there go get a gas mask, we had a Code Blue." Bilby replied.

"Oh God." Cover Girl replied, "Not again. You'd think that after the Chili Catastrophe, as Pietro called it, BA would learn it's never wise to give the Blob any sort of Mexican cuisine."

"Chili Catastrophe?" Akima asked, then turned to Bilby and asked, "What kind of army base is this?"

"Not your average one, that's for sure." Cover Girl replied, then sighed, "Well I've gotta see if Lifeline can't give the Blob some extra strength gas relief medicine, again."

As Cover Girl walked off Bilby explained, "You meet all sorts of interesting characters here on this base."

"You take that back!"

"Make me!"

"With pleasure!"

Bilby rolled his eyes again, "I'd go far away whenever I hear those two going at it."

"Why?" Akima asked.

"Oh that's easy, because something explodes, catches fire, or is destroyed whenever they get in any sort of debate." Bilby replied.

"Such as?" Akima asked, pulling Bilby along towards the sound.

"You want to watch? Don't say I didn't warn you." Bilby replied.

They came into a room in the motor pool where two men, one wearing a black coverall, the other wearing camouflage were shouting at each other. Bilby recognized them as Leatherneck and Wetsuit.

"So what are Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee fighting about?" Akima asked.

"It could be ANYTHING! But whatever it's about, disaster is sure to follow. Like the time they blew up a tank, demolished the auditorium....." Bilby replied.

"Hah! Only a Marine would think that Jet Li is a better martial artist than Jackie Chan!" Wetsuit replied.

"Jet Li IS the better martial artist!" Leatherneck protested.

"Over my dead body! That was only because of computer generated effects that Jet Li did all that crap in that movie the One!" Wetsuit replied.

"Listen Muffin Head, don't even start that again!" Leatherneck replied.

"Who's a Muffin Head?" Wetsuit replied.

They tore into each other with kicks, punches, and gouging. They rolled around on the floor as they fought.

"Strudel Brain!"

"Oatmeal Face!"

"Blueberry Butt!"

Akima walked up to the pair and said, "Actually I thought that you're both wrong. Bruce Lee was the best martial artist of all time!"

"Blasphemer!" they shouted as one and advanced on Akima.

Bilby jumped into the fray, "Don't you hurt my girlfriend!"

Bilby successfully contained Wetsuit but Leatherneck ran towards Akima who calmly sidestepped his charge and kicked out with her left leg and sent a devastating knee kick just above Leatherneck's naughty bits that sent him on his rear end, stunned. Just then Bilby landed a solid right hook on Wetsuit's jaw. Bilby took Akima's arm again as they walked back outside.

"Marshmallow Muscles!"

"Jigglypuff!"

"That's it! You called ME a JIGGLYPUFF! YOU'RE DEAD!"

Bilby and Akima jumped behind a rock just as a loud bang sounded from the motor pool. "Are they always like this?" Akima asked.

"Yeah, even when they're sleeping they still debate with each other in their dreams. I'll never forget the sight of Leatherneck sleepwalking in his underwear muttering about whether Batman was the better superhero than Superman." Bilby replied.

"Oh my God this base is an insane asylum." Akima replied.

"You're telling me." Bilby replied, "And now we're headed for the epicenter of this insanity. Abandon all hope all ye who enter."

"Very funny Dante Alighieri." Akima replied, "They can't be any worse than anyone we've seen so far..."

"Give me back my Sergeant Snuffles!!!!" Beach Head shouted. He was crashing into the door and sending splinters of wood flying everywhere.

"Thou shalt not regain thy beloved Sergeant Snuffles thou foul smelling brute!" Pietro, wearing a medieval getup, complete with a plastic Viking helmet and a plastic shield, shouted from an upstairs bedroom. He was holding a cup of coffee in the other hand.

"Taketh a bath your stench be offensive!" Toad shouted, wearing a gold crown and throwing several water balloons down.

"I take that back." Akima replied as they watched the mayhem unfold from a safe distance away.

"You should see what happens when the X-men come here in about an hour or so." Bilby replied, "Then things really descend into madness..."

"Maybe I should have stayed in that prison cell." Akima replied, "At least the Heartless weren't completely off balance."

"You should have seen the pink tutu incident. The kids have a tape of it somewhere." Bilby replied.

"You know, I wonder how you can stay sane among these people..." Akima replied.

Bilby turned her towards him and leaned forward, "Not exactly the most romantic setting, but it's as good a time as any."

Akima smiled as Bilby tilted his head so that their noses wouldn't bump. Their embrace was interrupted as it began to get started...

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Up next, what happens when Akima finally meets the Misfits and the X-men? Will Beach Head regain Sergeant Snuffles? And will the kids get off their coffee hype? Three guesses who interrupted the lovers' intimate moment....