Well, sorry about the wait, but here it is, chapter 4, and things get
a little 'friendlier'. Heeheeheeheehee!
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A year had past since that very rough meeting in the park, and neither Fury nor his pilot wanted to leave this diamond in the rough. Audrena had let them stay on one condition, that they never tell a living soul about their new home. They had come to stop jumping every time the wall or some other seemingly inanimate object started speaking to them, forming tiny mouths and throwing insults at them with every turn, and instead enjoying their new surroundings. After all, they had an actual home now, even if the only other human in the entire complex paid seemingly little or no attention to them. It was getting better though. Audrena was quickly becoming more social with the both of them, much to Kyle and Fury's delight, well, more of the first's delight, but oh well.
"Kyle?" Fury inquired, plodding up to his pilot, who was half way submerged in a massive computer, tinkering around with the machinery. There was a long pause before Kyle pulled himself out of the old motor, looking greasy and grime-covered. He blinked, watching as the massive Fury started bouncing around in a very giddy manner, unable to contain himself.
"Uhhh...Let me guess, Audreniliger introduced you to frozen sugar coated gasoline." Fury continued his little happy dance, then finally stopped and spat out his message in a high pitched squealing voice that usually meant complete happiness for him and total misery for his pilot.
"The Audreniliger's got a match tomorrow! And we're invited to be part of a 5 zoid team for a bat-tal roy-yal! Isn't that great?!"
Kyle blinked, absorbing it all, then sweatdropped and said dryly,
"Oh boy oh boy, I'm thrilled to pieces." He shook his head, putting away his tools and cleaning the grease off his face with an old rag. Fury watched him march away, looking grim.
"I'm going to tell that Audrena something about recruiting!"
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"Tauros, you no longer own the Blizt team, and the Blitz team no longer exists. You have no say in the matter anymore."
Tauros looked indignant, glaring into the shadows where this bargainer lay hidden. The only revealed was a feminine hand, resting on the shoulder of Vega Obscura. The normally independent teen was half lidded and pale, and his speech sound as though it was not his own. Simply because his voice was not his own, the 16 year old boy being used as a comatose intermediary, a living com-link system. This person went to great lengths to keep himself or herself anonymous, and it worked magnificently.
"I swear," The doctor started, pointing a finger in his rage at his host. Through the shadows, she smirked, but let him continue. "You cowardly leech, you haven't heard the last from me!"
There was a pause, and the hand lifted suddenly from Vega's shoulders, the boy collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut. Tauros shut his mouth and gulped, wondering what he had gotten himself into as the female stepped from the shadows, over the crumbled Obscura's body into the dim light from the natural sun. The hood she wore over her face shadowed all but the right side of her cheek, chin, and lips, some rays lighting buts and pieces of the left side, the cloak covering all but the well worn hiking boots and both of her pale and well shaped hands. Dirty blonde hair spilled out from inside the hood, framing the incredibly white face, what was visible at least. The doctor blinked, trying his best to look composed. He was still fuming; but that wicked smirk playing about the visible lips made him shudder internally. It sent the hairs on his neck standing.
"My dear doctor Tauros!" She said with false cheerfulness and sickly sweet comfort, and that sent yet another chill down his spine, approaching him slowly to stand a good 20 feet away. That was good, he didn't want to be anywhere near this woman. The smirk increased to show the teeth on the top of her lip, the sheer coldness and playful malevolence increasing ten fold as the strange woman raised a hand lazily, the fingers and palm starting to spark with energy. Her smirk immediately dropped into a frown, and her hand raised even more, to the point where the palm was facing outward, at the level of Tauros's head.
He started praying, but was interrupted when that threatening hand began to spark with energy, starting to make a humming noise, but growing louder and higher pitched as it grew larger and radiated from the center of her palm.
"I do believe that everyone you know has heard the last from you." She spat coldly, and her smirk returned, only carrying much more spite then before.
"Mara! Please!" Tauros called out, but to no avail. Mara's smirk turned into a violent grin. She loved hearing her victims beg before they died.
"Pathetic." She spat, and released a shot of purple/white energy from her palm, looking bored in the process. Tauros never even got a chance to scream. After the light flash cleared, his headless body crumbled to the ground, lying there before disintegrating into ash, steaming on the stone floor after a moment. After a minute of smiling down at the smoldering pile, Mara threw back her hood to reveal what could be a pretty face, had it not had such contemptuous electric green eyes and that wicked smile.
"Cinder Shot. Instant nuker every time." She said, raising her finger and blowing it lightly, as one would blow the smoke from a freshly shotgun. Turning swiftly, she snapped her fingers and barked. "Come Vega!" The seemingly deeply unconscious boy snapped awake and was on his feet instantly. "We have a little zoid battle to attend tomorrow..." Vega nodded sleepily and followed after her.
He was too far under the mind control technique to notice that Mara's face had changed from wicked and spiteful to bitter and acrimonious. Her green eyes became hard as the two emerged from the room into the main hangar she owned, the former members of the blitz team waiting for them, all in the same trance-like state that Vega was in. But Mara was not thinking about the fight coming up...
'Audrena,' She thought, her face and disposition going sour. 'Most despicable and abhorred sister of mine, you had better lose, to create the event that I will finally be able to finish what mother could not, to eliminate the runt of the half-saiyan litter...'
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Kyle let out one last shuddering breath, trying to pluck up his courage. It wasn't working very well. He would rather poke a sleeping dragon in the eye then ask the exceptionally temperamental Audrena a question. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he peeked out from behind the corner into the main hangar, where his target was working and tinkering with some kind of computer chip. He allowed himself a smile, he couldn't really help himself. Over the course of a year, he had grown quite fond of his 'landlord', especially when she smiled, which was very rare. He'd see her occasionally in the various levels and sub-levels, always off in her own world or thinking up some new design or cursing various teams under her breath, not to mention she'd occasionally run around the place, whooping about some discovery she had made. You never knew with her, she could be bursting with joy one minute and be fuming and snappy the next. At least, that's what the other zoids told him. A loud let off of happy whooping told him that this was as good a time as ever, though he still had doubts. . .
Letting out a sigh, he plucked up his internal fortitude and turned the corner, strolling out into the open doorway and hoping to whatever god there was that he would have his head at the end of this, leaning against it casually.
"I heard that you recruited me for a upcoming battle?" He stated, doing his best to keep a straight face. For some reason he kept wanting to burst out smiling or something. That wouldn't cut the mustard. Audrena stopped jumping around, seeing him standing in the doorway and realizing that he had been watching her jump around like a complete idiot, she stopped immediately, regaining her composure. She turned to face him, crossing her arms and trying to look annoyed.
"Yeah, you have a problem with it?" She spat, trying to appear aloof. It didn't work, Kyle saw right through it, and strolled over just to add to the oddness of the scene.
"No, I was just wondering why." He didn't excellent job of catching Audrena off guard, but she didn't dare show it. The female pilot rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Simple. Because you're one of the few human beings on this planet that isn't scared to death of me. . .then again, maybe you should be afraid."
"Be afraid Void, be very afraid." Kyle muttered to himself, then blinked, hearing a short laugh. It was quite shocking to hear a chuckle from the normally poker-faced Audrena, much less a laugh. He swung around with his hands in his pockets, but saw the norm, just that wary glare.
"You've got the right idea." She mumbled.
"I heard you celebrating. What did you pioneer? Not to be nosy or anything." That was another shocker to Audrena. So he wasn't a brainless idiot, just a prodding idiot. But that was ok, at least he had interest in computers. Grinning, she made sure he was looking at her before she pulled something to slip him up. To Kyle's shock, Audrena ripped off her own head and put it under her arm. Poor Kyle, he thought he had seen everything in this base too!
"This you mean?" Kyle's silver-gray eyes widened, and he did his best to keep from fainting on the spot. It was only after a moment did he begin to notice the small details. There was no blood, no torn flesh, no spurting blood vessels, and no pain even! Putting on a mischievous smirk, he crossed his arms and eyed her playfully.
"Good one!" He exclaimed, staring at the spot where Audrena's head used to be. "You fooled me there for a minute."
"Darn." She spat; putting her head back on like it was some kind of party hat and throwing down the hologram. "Thought you did look pretty pale there for a minute. The last person I did that looked ready to wet themselves, and you should have heard the scream! I've never seen anyone run that fast!"
"So THAT was the scream I heard!" He blurted out, his voice showing a bit of relief. He was wondering if she had murdered someone, because that scream sounded like bloody murder.
"So what was that anyway?" He asked, looking at the tiny computer chip in the palm of her hand. Blinking, she looked down at it and grinned proudly.
"It's the smallest known Holographic Generator, created by yours truly!" Audrena declared, sweeping a very over-dramatic bow. Kyle blinked, then chuckled lightly. What antics! Why hadn't he seen this humor-filled side around her zoids? In fact, Audrena herself was wondering that same question. Where had this come from?! She shook it off as she rose. It's not like this was something horrible and life changing. So she was being social. Big deal. It took a minute before she realized that there was no hologram emitter in her hand.
Kyle looked up to meet the glare and grinned sheepishly, sweat dropping and handing the chip back to Audrena, hoping not to get killed. The question that he had meant to ask in the first place came to mind, and threw in a bit of the most recent events into the question to make it sound casual.
"My conniving mind must know more about this. Perhaps we could discuss this further." He scratched the back of his neck in his nervousness. After all, he had never done this before. "Over dinner, perhaps?"
For the next several seconds, he expected to get hit by something or have some kind of bodily pain inflicted upon him. Oddly enough, nothing came. Under normal circumstances, Audrena would have beaten him to a bloody pulp then left him to the wolves that lived in the forest behind the base. In this case, she was too shocked to react. Hoping to whatever god was out there that this was nothing but an information outing, she nodded and replied quietly, "You're lucky that the battle isn't until tomorrow. Otherwise I would have refused outright. 5 then?" It took a moment for him to recover from his disbelief to remember that she was talking about the time.
"Err. . .I was thinking about 8 actually." He said, hoping that his face wasn't as red as he felt.
"You're blushing like a school boy." She remarked dryly, but Kyle wasn't paying attention. 'God she has pretty eyes. . .' He thought, watching her walk off into the depths and bowels of the base. He tore his gaze away to look at the ancient grandfather clock that Audrena owned. 3:30, a few more hours of agonized waiting.
(4 1/2 hours later . . .)
"Well, I finished telling my life's story, now it's time for yours." Audrena looked quite shifty-eyed for a moment, grinning hesitantly.
"Could you tell it again? I only got the part about your dad running off when you were little."
The two were sitting on a park bench, and it was long past 11. Both the moons of Zi were out, casting milky light into the fountain they were sitting in front of and causing silvery reflections on the pair's faces. Hundreds of starts lit the dark blue-sky overhead, the night incredibly clear and warm.
"You're avoiding the subject, then again, maybe you have a reason to." Kyle smirked internally. Reverse psychology. Audrena rolled her eyes, but hey, why not? Perhaps this'll make him wish he had never asked.
"Alright, don't get your panties in a wad." Kyle fell off the bench anime style at this, and Audrena busted out laughing at him, not even stopping when Kyle burst out with a 'That wasn't very nice!', looking very indignant while Audrena roared in mirth at him, almost falling off the bench herself. Rolling his eyes, nonetheless smiling, he hauled himself back on the bench, ignoring the strange looks he got from the other passerby's. Audrena calmed down pretty quick, especially when she gripped the side of the metal bench and she tore the metal off accidentally. Her laughter quickly turned to a 'YEEOWCH!' Kyle almost jumped out of his skin at this vehement exclamation, but silence eventually reigned again, broken only by the sound of the fountain and the soft but colorful cursing of Audrena, who was picking metal splinters out of her hand.
"Well? Where should I start?" She said patiently, taking Kyle completely by surprise. He hadn't expected anything.
"Tell me about your family. What were they like?" There was a very long silence while Audrena kept picking pewter shards from her hand, staring at it as though hypnotized.
"Oh come on, do I have to?" She whined, sticking her lip out and pouting.
"Yes, you do!" Kyle said firmly, crossing his arms and turning his back to her playfully while looking impishly angry, although it appeared that he was holding back a smile. Audrena poked his shoulder with a forefinger that she wasn't picking at after a minute, cocking her head to the side.
"Err . . . Kyle? Hello?" The silence stretched for a while. Kyle suddenly whirled around, looking much like a mad doctor with his hands wringing themselves and shoulders hunched over like that. "NYEEEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!"
"YAAAAAAAAH!" Audrena shrieked, jumping backwards to land on her butt in the grass off the bench, wide-eyed and very much alarmed. Kyle bowled over with his hands on his stomach; he was laughing so hard. Tears began running down his face as he leaned over side-ways, lost his balance, and ended up lying on his side on the bench, struggling for breath in his mirth.
"You should have seen the look on your face!"
"You butthead!" Audrena spat, hauling herself up, a massive red blush on her face from embarrassment. Sticking her nose in the air, she marched to the next bench and sat down on it, glaring at Kyle. If looks could kill, he would have been ripped apart in 5 different ways and his body parts spread over the continents. After a moment, she looked at the fountain, her anger simmering away with the movements of the water. Kyle, seeing this as an opportunity, got up and slowly proceeded forward to sit on the opposite end of the bench, hoping not to get hit. Nothing came. Instead, Audrena began picking at the hand she had ripped metal off with, splinters prickling the flesh.
"My father," She began, taking a deep breath, and true to Audrena's expectations, Kyle began to wish he hadn't asked. She continued though in a steady voice, broken occasionally by pauses, all the while staring into the hand she was picking at.
"My dad was the best one of the family. He's probably the only reason why I'm alive." She chuckled mirthlessly. Her fellow pilot leaned forward to rest with his elbows on his knees, watching her with concern.
"Go on."
" . . . You see, my mother was really weird. She was incredibly strong, impossibly fast, and very temperamental. She would hit someone she just met on the street if she disliked them. To this day I don't really know why my father married her . . . but I had an older sister, Mara. She was just as bad, perhaps worse, because she had an excuse to use me as a punching bag." Audrena finally stopped picking at her hand, now staring at the ground with a pained look. "And she was just as strong and merciless as my mom. Those two, they had . . . delusions. Delusions of power and perfection, and I wasn't exactly fitting in the picture." Kyle whistled slowly.
"And I thought my family was dysfunctional." That got a small chuckle out of her, but it didn't have any real mirth in it.
"So they tried to kill me. On three separate occasions, every single time I got myself out of it. My father was never home when they tried to eliminate me. They never tried when he was around. He was quite the imposing fellow, at 7'7" and all."
"Didn't you tell anyone?" Kyle said breathlessly, gawking at his now good friend. What a change over the last few weeks . . . He thought to himself.
"Yeah. They never believed me. Then again, maybe thy were too scared of my 'saiyan' mom."
"A what and a who?"
"Something she always called herself and Mara. Some weird alien race that can blow things up with mere finger pointing and were unconceivably strong. I didn't really believe them, not until they tried to blow my head off the second time they tried to kill me." She shook her head, smiling ruefully. "Something a 12 year old shouldn't be experiencing. Their own mother trying to kill them."
"For 15 years, I took the bashings and attempted murders without saying a word. Eventually, my father came home once after they had cornered me. Good lord, I thought I had bitten it that time. He immediately separated from my mother, taking me with him." Her grin became one of remembered happiness, though bitter. "Those years were the best of my life . . ."
"What about your sister?" Kyle inquired, scooting closer. Audrena didn't notice.
"Mom got her, and they looked absolutely thrilled to have me and dad gone. Though," The smile dropped and was replaced by a scowl that sent chills up Kyle's spine, it was so hateful and venomous. He was quite happy that that glare wasn't intended for him. She looked up from the ground for the first time the whole conversation, and her dark brown eyes were ablaze with hatred and bitterness.
"Mara came back to rain on my parade. A few years before, we got a com-message that my mother's remains had been found in a ditch, but I never knew it could extend to my father." Her hands began to shake, and concern returned to Kyle's silver eyes, and he dared to get closer. She, again, didn't notice.
"I came home one day from the machine shop to find Mara outside, leaning against the door with a huge smirk on her face . . ." Despite herself, she began to remember the events that had taken place, outside her father's home . . .
Everything had begun normally enough that day. She had left her father, Theo Void, to polish his own zoid, a red Shield Liger. He had jokingly complained about his old limbs having to do the imposing job, even if he was only in his early 40's. The both of them knew that he enjoyed any sort of attention he could pay towards his favorite zoid. It was a day of excitement for the whole household, even if there only was two. Audrena had been finally been able to afford her own zoid, having been saving in joint with her father over the years. The teen would be going in today to pick up her purchase, not to mention add in her latest AI invention and speed boosters, and planned to heartily show off to her father as well.
Approaching the house, the 18-year-old Audrena knew that something was wrong. Something wasn't right, even from the mile and a half distance she could feel it. Throwing the waist length braid over her shoulder, she halted her freshly bought Liger and climbed into the cockpit, fearing the worst. Pushing her brand new zoid forward; it was within minutes that she skidded to a halt outside the small home, dropping to the ground heavily. Standing again, her heart dropped when she saw a 7-foot tall absolutely beautiful woman standing outside the door, smirking at her, green eyes sparking with mischief, perfectly styled blonde hair neatly in place.
"You, what are you doing here?" Audrena spat, glaring at her fraternal twin. Mara smiling grinned, holding up a hand as though to silence her . . .
A blood splattered hand . . .
Audrena's eyes widened, shoulder's dropping quickly and a helpless look coming to her eyes, heart freezing over completely and dropping to her knees. "You couldn't have . . ." She rushed, hoping against what she knew in her heart to be true, no matter how much she hated it.
"Oh yes I did." She hissed, looking at her nails, as though bored. "He was no trouble, though he did complain a lot."
It hit the new pilot like a ton of bricks. Shock was the only thing on her now snow white face, but it was replaced quickly by desperate disbelief. Audrena clenched her fists, glaring at her sister with a deep running hatred, unshed tears gleaming in her blazing eyes. "You BITCH! How could you kill our father?! He did nothing you!"
"Simple." She said airily, still staring at her fingernails. "Because he had no use. He was a hindrance to my prefect ideal. Therefor, he had to be eliminated." She looked up from her perfectly manicured and polished nails to grin wickedly at her younger sibling, which she liked to rub in, even if she was only 3 minutes older. Audrena glared daggers at the much taller Mara, but couldn't help thinking, despite all the pain, 'Good god she's vain . . .'
"Come to think of it, you don't exactly fit into that picture either." She said, leaning forward and removing herself from the wall. Despite herself, Audrena gulped. There was no one to get her out of this one . . . Mara smirked. She could almost see the thoughts running through her sister's head.
"Yes, my most deplorable sister, no one is here to protect you anymore . . ."
"I don't know how I'll do it, but I'll get you one of these days. You'll get justice, and I'll gladly spit on your grave when it happens!"
"Language language little sister." Mara tutted, waving her finger at her. "Naughty naughty."
"Go to hell!" Audrena cried passionately, wishing that she could just wake up.
There was a pause, very uneasy on Audrena's part. "Save me a seat." Mara smirked, raising her hand, the palm flickering with hostile power . . .
There was silence for a very long time.
"Satisfied that you now know my past?" She muttered bitterly, getting up and walking away. "I knew I shouldn't have come . . ."
Big oops on Kyle's part! Things start getting better in chapter 5, Losses and Gains. See you then!
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A year had past since that very rough meeting in the park, and neither Fury nor his pilot wanted to leave this diamond in the rough. Audrena had let them stay on one condition, that they never tell a living soul about their new home. They had come to stop jumping every time the wall or some other seemingly inanimate object started speaking to them, forming tiny mouths and throwing insults at them with every turn, and instead enjoying their new surroundings. After all, they had an actual home now, even if the only other human in the entire complex paid seemingly little or no attention to them. It was getting better though. Audrena was quickly becoming more social with the both of them, much to Kyle and Fury's delight, well, more of the first's delight, but oh well.
"Kyle?" Fury inquired, plodding up to his pilot, who was half way submerged in a massive computer, tinkering around with the machinery. There was a long pause before Kyle pulled himself out of the old motor, looking greasy and grime-covered. He blinked, watching as the massive Fury started bouncing around in a very giddy manner, unable to contain himself.
"Uhhh...Let me guess, Audreniliger introduced you to frozen sugar coated gasoline." Fury continued his little happy dance, then finally stopped and spat out his message in a high pitched squealing voice that usually meant complete happiness for him and total misery for his pilot.
"The Audreniliger's got a match tomorrow! And we're invited to be part of a 5 zoid team for a bat-tal roy-yal! Isn't that great?!"
Kyle blinked, absorbing it all, then sweatdropped and said dryly,
"Oh boy oh boy, I'm thrilled to pieces." He shook his head, putting away his tools and cleaning the grease off his face with an old rag. Fury watched him march away, looking grim.
"I'm going to tell that Audrena something about recruiting!"
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"Tauros, you no longer own the Blizt team, and the Blitz team no longer exists. You have no say in the matter anymore."
Tauros looked indignant, glaring into the shadows where this bargainer lay hidden. The only revealed was a feminine hand, resting on the shoulder of Vega Obscura. The normally independent teen was half lidded and pale, and his speech sound as though it was not his own. Simply because his voice was not his own, the 16 year old boy being used as a comatose intermediary, a living com-link system. This person went to great lengths to keep himself or herself anonymous, and it worked magnificently.
"I swear," The doctor started, pointing a finger in his rage at his host. Through the shadows, she smirked, but let him continue. "You cowardly leech, you haven't heard the last from me!"
There was a pause, and the hand lifted suddenly from Vega's shoulders, the boy collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut. Tauros shut his mouth and gulped, wondering what he had gotten himself into as the female stepped from the shadows, over the crumbled Obscura's body into the dim light from the natural sun. The hood she wore over her face shadowed all but the right side of her cheek, chin, and lips, some rays lighting buts and pieces of the left side, the cloak covering all but the well worn hiking boots and both of her pale and well shaped hands. Dirty blonde hair spilled out from inside the hood, framing the incredibly white face, what was visible at least. The doctor blinked, trying his best to look composed. He was still fuming; but that wicked smirk playing about the visible lips made him shudder internally. It sent the hairs on his neck standing.
"My dear doctor Tauros!" She said with false cheerfulness and sickly sweet comfort, and that sent yet another chill down his spine, approaching him slowly to stand a good 20 feet away. That was good, he didn't want to be anywhere near this woman. The smirk increased to show the teeth on the top of her lip, the sheer coldness and playful malevolence increasing ten fold as the strange woman raised a hand lazily, the fingers and palm starting to spark with energy. Her smirk immediately dropped into a frown, and her hand raised even more, to the point where the palm was facing outward, at the level of Tauros's head.
He started praying, but was interrupted when that threatening hand began to spark with energy, starting to make a humming noise, but growing louder and higher pitched as it grew larger and radiated from the center of her palm.
"I do believe that everyone you know has heard the last from you." She spat coldly, and her smirk returned, only carrying much more spite then before.
"Mara! Please!" Tauros called out, but to no avail. Mara's smirk turned into a violent grin. She loved hearing her victims beg before they died.
"Pathetic." She spat, and released a shot of purple/white energy from her palm, looking bored in the process. Tauros never even got a chance to scream. After the light flash cleared, his headless body crumbled to the ground, lying there before disintegrating into ash, steaming on the stone floor after a moment. After a minute of smiling down at the smoldering pile, Mara threw back her hood to reveal what could be a pretty face, had it not had such contemptuous electric green eyes and that wicked smile.
"Cinder Shot. Instant nuker every time." She said, raising her finger and blowing it lightly, as one would blow the smoke from a freshly shotgun. Turning swiftly, she snapped her fingers and barked. "Come Vega!" The seemingly deeply unconscious boy snapped awake and was on his feet instantly. "We have a little zoid battle to attend tomorrow..." Vega nodded sleepily and followed after her.
He was too far under the mind control technique to notice that Mara's face had changed from wicked and spiteful to bitter and acrimonious. Her green eyes became hard as the two emerged from the room into the main hangar she owned, the former members of the blitz team waiting for them, all in the same trance-like state that Vega was in. But Mara was not thinking about the fight coming up...
'Audrena,' She thought, her face and disposition going sour. 'Most despicable and abhorred sister of mine, you had better lose, to create the event that I will finally be able to finish what mother could not, to eliminate the runt of the half-saiyan litter...'
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Kyle let out one last shuddering breath, trying to pluck up his courage. It wasn't working very well. He would rather poke a sleeping dragon in the eye then ask the exceptionally temperamental Audrena a question. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he peeked out from behind the corner into the main hangar, where his target was working and tinkering with some kind of computer chip. He allowed himself a smile, he couldn't really help himself. Over the course of a year, he had grown quite fond of his 'landlord', especially when she smiled, which was very rare. He'd see her occasionally in the various levels and sub-levels, always off in her own world or thinking up some new design or cursing various teams under her breath, not to mention she'd occasionally run around the place, whooping about some discovery she had made. You never knew with her, she could be bursting with joy one minute and be fuming and snappy the next. At least, that's what the other zoids told him. A loud let off of happy whooping told him that this was as good a time as ever, though he still had doubts. . .
Letting out a sigh, he plucked up his internal fortitude and turned the corner, strolling out into the open doorway and hoping to whatever god there was that he would have his head at the end of this, leaning against it casually.
"I heard that you recruited me for a upcoming battle?" He stated, doing his best to keep a straight face. For some reason he kept wanting to burst out smiling or something. That wouldn't cut the mustard. Audrena stopped jumping around, seeing him standing in the doorway and realizing that he had been watching her jump around like a complete idiot, she stopped immediately, regaining her composure. She turned to face him, crossing her arms and trying to look annoyed.
"Yeah, you have a problem with it?" She spat, trying to appear aloof. It didn't work, Kyle saw right through it, and strolled over just to add to the oddness of the scene.
"No, I was just wondering why." He didn't excellent job of catching Audrena off guard, but she didn't dare show it. The female pilot rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Simple. Because you're one of the few human beings on this planet that isn't scared to death of me. . .then again, maybe you should be afraid."
"Be afraid Void, be very afraid." Kyle muttered to himself, then blinked, hearing a short laugh. It was quite shocking to hear a chuckle from the normally poker-faced Audrena, much less a laugh. He swung around with his hands in his pockets, but saw the norm, just that wary glare.
"You've got the right idea." She mumbled.
"I heard you celebrating. What did you pioneer? Not to be nosy or anything." That was another shocker to Audrena. So he wasn't a brainless idiot, just a prodding idiot. But that was ok, at least he had interest in computers. Grinning, she made sure he was looking at her before she pulled something to slip him up. To Kyle's shock, Audrena ripped off her own head and put it under her arm. Poor Kyle, he thought he had seen everything in this base too!
"This you mean?" Kyle's silver-gray eyes widened, and he did his best to keep from fainting on the spot. It was only after a moment did he begin to notice the small details. There was no blood, no torn flesh, no spurting blood vessels, and no pain even! Putting on a mischievous smirk, he crossed his arms and eyed her playfully.
"Good one!" He exclaimed, staring at the spot where Audrena's head used to be. "You fooled me there for a minute."
"Darn." She spat; putting her head back on like it was some kind of party hat and throwing down the hologram. "Thought you did look pretty pale there for a minute. The last person I did that looked ready to wet themselves, and you should have heard the scream! I've never seen anyone run that fast!"
"So THAT was the scream I heard!" He blurted out, his voice showing a bit of relief. He was wondering if she had murdered someone, because that scream sounded like bloody murder.
"So what was that anyway?" He asked, looking at the tiny computer chip in the palm of her hand. Blinking, she looked down at it and grinned proudly.
"It's the smallest known Holographic Generator, created by yours truly!" Audrena declared, sweeping a very over-dramatic bow. Kyle blinked, then chuckled lightly. What antics! Why hadn't he seen this humor-filled side around her zoids? In fact, Audrena herself was wondering that same question. Where had this come from?! She shook it off as she rose. It's not like this was something horrible and life changing. So she was being social. Big deal. It took a minute before she realized that there was no hologram emitter in her hand.
Kyle looked up to meet the glare and grinned sheepishly, sweat dropping and handing the chip back to Audrena, hoping not to get killed. The question that he had meant to ask in the first place came to mind, and threw in a bit of the most recent events into the question to make it sound casual.
"My conniving mind must know more about this. Perhaps we could discuss this further." He scratched the back of his neck in his nervousness. After all, he had never done this before. "Over dinner, perhaps?"
For the next several seconds, he expected to get hit by something or have some kind of bodily pain inflicted upon him. Oddly enough, nothing came. Under normal circumstances, Audrena would have beaten him to a bloody pulp then left him to the wolves that lived in the forest behind the base. In this case, she was too shocked to react. Hoping to whatever god was out there that this was nothing but an information outing, she nodded and replied quietly, "You're lucky that the battle isn't until tomorrow. Otherwise I would have refused outright. 5 then?" It took a moment for him to recover from his disbelief to remember that she was talking about the time.
"Err. . .I was thinking about 8 actually." He said, hoping that his face wasn't as red as he felt.
"You're blushing like a school boy." She remarked dryly, but Kyle wasn't paying attention. 'God she has pretty eyes. . .' He thought, watching her walk off into the depths and bowels of the base. He tore his gaze away to look at the ancient grandfather clock that Audrena owned. 3:30, a few more hours of agonized waiting.
(4 1/2 hours later . . .)
"Well, I finished telling my life's story, now it's time for yours." Audrena looked quite shifty-eyed for a moment, grinning hesitantly.
"Could you tell it again? I only got the part about your dad running off when you were little."
The two were sitting on a park bench, and it was long past 11. Both the moons of Zi were out, casting milky light into the fountain they were sitting in front of and causing silvery reflections on the pair's faces. Hundreds of starts lit the dark blue-sky overhead, the night incredibly clear and warm.
"You're avoiding the subject, then again, maybe you have a reason to." Kyle smirked internally. Reverse psychology. Audrena rolled her eyes, but hey, why not? Perhaps this'll make him wish he had never asked.
"Alright, don't get your panties in a wad." Kyle fell off the bench anime style at this, and Audrena busted out laughing at him, not even stopping when Kyle burst out with a 'That wasn't very nice!', looking very indignant while Audrena roared in mirth at him, almost falling off the bench herself. Rolling his eyes, nonetheless smiling, he hauled himself back on the bench, ignoring the strange looks he got from the other passerby's. Audrena calmed down pretty quick, especially when she gripped the side of the metal bench and she tore the metal off accidentally. Her laughter quickly turned to a 'YEEOWCH!' Kyle almost jumped out of his skin at this vehement exclamation, but silence eventually reigned again, broken only by the sound of the fountain and the soft but colorful cursing of Audrena, who was picking metal splinters out of her hand.
"Well? Where should I start?" She said patiently, taking Kyle completely by surprise. He hadn't expected anything.
"Tell me about your family. What were they like?" There was a very long silence while Audrena kept picking pewter shards from her hand, staring at it as though hypnotized.
"Oh come on, do I have to?" She whined, sticking her lip out and pouting.
"Yes, you do!" Kyle said firmly, crossing his arms and turning his back to her playfully while looking impishly angry, although it appeared that he was holding back a smile. Audrena poked his shoulder with a forefinger that she wasn't picking at after a minute, cocking her head to the side.
"Err . . . Kyle? Hello?" The silence stretched for a while. Kyle suddenly whirled around, looking much like a mad doctor with his hands wringing themselves and shoulders hunched over like that. "NYEEEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!"
"YAAAAAAAAH!" Audrena shrieked, jumping backwards to land on her butt in the grass off the bench, wide-eyed and very much alarmed. Kyle bowled over with his hands on his stomach; he was laughing so hard. Tears began running down his face as he leaned over side-ways, lost his balance, and ended up lying on his side on the bench, struggling for breath in his mirth.
"You should have seen the look on your face!"
"You butthead!" Audrena spat, hauling herself up, a massive red blush on her face from embarrassment. Sticking her nose in the air, she marched to the next bench and sat down on it, glaring at Kyle. If looks could kill, he would have been ripped apart in 5 different ways and his body parts spread over the continents. After a moment, she looked at the fountain, her anger simmering away with the movements of the water. Kyle, seeing this as an opportunity, got up and slowly proceeded forward to sit on the opposite end of the bench, hoping not to get hit. Nothing came. Instead, Audrena began picking at the hand she had ripped metal off with, splinters prickling the flesh.
"My father," She began, taking a deep breath, and true to Audrena's expectations, Kyle began to wish he hadn't asked. She continued though in a steady voice, broken occasionally by pauses, all the while staring into the hand she was picking at.
"My dad was the best one of the family. He's probably the only reason why I'm alive." She chuckled mirthlessly. Her fellow pilot leaned forward to rest with his elbows on his knees, watching her with concern.
"Go on."
" . . . You see, my mother was really weird. She was incredibly strong, impossibly fast, and very temperamental. She would hit someone she just met on the street if she disliked them. To this day I don't really know why my father married her . . . but I had an older sister, Mara. She was just as bad, perhaps worse, because she had an excuse to use me as a punching bag." Audrena finally stopped picking at her hand, now staring at the ground with a pained look. "And she was just as strong and merciless as my mom. Those two, they had . . . delusions. Delusions of power and perfection, and I wasn't exactly fitting in the picture." Kyle whistled slowly.
"And I thought my family was dysfunctional." That got a small chuckle out of her, but it didn't have any real mirth in it.
"So they tried to kill me. On three separate occasions, every single time I got myself out of it. My father was never home when they tried to eliminate me. They never tried when he was around. He was quite the imposing fellow, at 7'7" and all."
"Didn't you tell anyone?" Kyle said breathlessly, gawking at his now good friend. What a change over the last few weeks . . . He thought to himself.
"Yeah. They never believed me. Then again, maybe thy were too scared of my 'saiyan' mom."
"A what and a who?"
"Something she always called herself and Mara. Some weird alien race that can blow things up with mere finger pointing and were unconceivably strong. I didn't really believe them, not until they tried to blow my head off the second time they tried to kill me." She shook her head, smiling ruefully. "Something a 12 year old shouldn't be experiencing. Their own mother trying to kill them."
"For 15 years, I took the bashings and attempted murders without saying a word. Eventually, my father came home once after they had cornered me. Good lord, I thought I had bitten it that time. He immediately separated from my mother, taking me with him." Her grin became one of remembered happiness, though bitter. "Those years were the best of my life . . ."
"What about your sister?" Kyle inquired, scooting closer. Audrena didn't notice.
"Mom got her, and they looked absolutely thrilled to have me and dad gone. Though," The smile dropped and was replaced by a scowl that sent chills up Kyle's spine, it was so hateful and venomous. He was quite happy that that glare wasn't intended for him. She looked up from the ground for the first time the whole conversation, and her dark brown eyes were ablaze with hatred and bitterness.
"Mara came back to rain on my parade. A few years before, we got a com-message that my mother's remains had been found in a ditch, but I never knew it could extend to my father." Her hands began to shake, and concern returned to Kyle's silver eyes, and he dared to get closer. She, again, didn't notice.
"I came home one day from the machine shop to find Mara outside, leaning against the door with a huge smirk on her face . . ." Despite herself, she began to remember the events that had taken place, outside her father's home . . .
Everything had begun normally enough that day. She had left her father, Theo Void, to polish his own zoid, a red Shield Liger. He had jokingly complained about his old limbs having to do the imposing job, even if he was only in his early 40's. The both of them knew that he enjoyed any sort of attention he could pay towards his favorite zoid. It was a day of excitement for the whole household, even if there only was two. Audrena had been finally been able to afford her own zoid, having been saving in joint with her father over the years. The teen would be going in today to pick up her purchase, not to mention add in her latest AI invention and speed boosters, and planned to heartily show off to her father as well.
Approaching the house, the 18-year-old Audrena knew that something was wrong. Something wasn't right, even from the mile and a half distance she could feel it. Throwing the waist length braid over her shoulder, she halted her freshly bought Liger and climbed into the cockpit, fearing the worst. Pushing her brand new zoid forward; it was within minutes that she skidded to a halt outside the small home, dropping to the ground heavily. Standing again, her heart dropped when she saw a 7-foot tall absolutely beautiful woman standing outside the door, smirking at her, green eyes sparking with mischief, perfectly styled blonde hair neatly in place.
"You, what are you doing here?" Audrena spat, glaring at her fraternal twin. Mara smiling grinned, holding up a hand as though to silence her . . .
A blood splattered hand . . .
Audrena's eyes widened, shoulder's dropping quickly and a helpless look coming to her eyes, heart freezing over completely and dropping to her knees. "You couldn't have . . ." She rushed, hoping against what she knew in her heart to be true, no matter how much she hated it.
"Oh yes I did." She hissed, looking at her nails, as though bored. "He was no trouble, though he did complain a lot."
It hit the new pilot like a ton of bricks. Shock was the only thing on her now snow white face, but it was replaced quickly by desperate disbelief. Audrena clenched her fists, glaring at her sister with a deep running hatred, unshed tears gleaming in her blazing eyes. "You BITCH! How could you kill our father?! He did nothing you!"
"Simple." She said airily, still staring at her fingernails. "Because he had no use. He was a hindrance to my prefect ideal. Therefor, he had to be eliminated." She looked up from her perfectly manicured and polished nails to grin wickedly at her younger sibling, which she liked to rub in, even if she was only 3 minutes older. Audrena glared daggers at the much taller Mara, but couldn't help thinking, despite all the pain, 'Good god she's vain . . .'
"Come to think of it, you don't exactly fit into that picture either." She said, leaning forward and removing herself from the wall. Despite herself, Audrena gulped. There was no one to get her out of this one . . . Mara smirked. She could almost see the thoughts running through her sister's head.
"Yes, my most deplorable sister, no one is here to protect you anymore . . ."
"I don't know how I'll do it, but I'll get you one of these days. You'll get justice, and I'll gladly spit on your grave when it happens!"
"Language language little sister." Mara tutted, waving her finger at her. "Naughty naughty."
"Go to hell!" Audrena cried passionately, wishing that she could just wake up.
There was a pause, very uneasy on Audrena's part. "Save me a seat." Mara smirked, raising her hand, the palm flickering with hostile power . . .
There was silence for a very long time.
"Satisfied that you now know my past?" She muttered bitterly, getting up and walking away. "I knew I shouldn't have come . . ."
Big oops on Kyle's part! Things start getting better in chapter 5, Losses and Gains. See you then!
