Runaway
By: Raven Moonshadow
Chapter 7: Part one-The Base
Whispers had gone around.
Now the entire base knew that Tamora, Victory, Brooke, Derek, Lann, and Lucius were their supposed gundam saviors. The problem was that they didn't believe that a bunch of teenagers, ranging from 12 to 16, could possibly defeat MIDNIGHT.
And it was completely pissing Tamora off.
She was 14, by the Gods! In less than two months she'd be 15! She hated it when people thought less of her just because of her age. With a glare, she walked down the halls towards the mess hall. At 5:34 in the morning she was a little more aggressive than usual. But then again, Brooke and Lann seemed to be the only morning people out of the group.
Speak of the Devils.
Brooke settled down at the table just as Tamora got there, a breakfast of eggs, toast, and orange juice settled before her. Derek had a Pepsi and a waffle, yawning every once and a while. Lann ate something similar to Brooke, though with more eggs and a cup of green tea, and Lucius had his head on the table, a Snapple, a chocolate chip muffin, and a two eggs lay forgotten next to his head.
Victor stumbled in sleepily behind her, his hair sticking every which way and his eyes half lidded.
"G' morning." He flopped into his seat and his head immediately fell forward with a resounding 'thunk' onto the table. Brooke looked at Victor and blinked.
"You seem to have an inability to wake up." She stared at the blond and then took a bite of her toast. Victor mumbled something into the table. Derek yawned.
"He said, 'Well we can't all be sunshine and daisies in the morning'…I think." He gulped his Pepsi.
"I see you're the master of sleep speech." Tamora said dryly. The auburn haired teen flopped down next to Lucius and proceeded to pick off his muffin and eggs. Then she took a sip of his Snapple.
"Bite me." He mumbled.
"You wish."
"So what do you think we'll be doing today, Brooke? Do you think they'll let us celebrate?" Lann said after giving Derek and Tamora a disdainful look. Tamora immediately began to perk.
"Celebrate what?"
Blink. "Hm…that's right; you're new to the group. Today is Brooke's birthday." Lann said.
"Really?" She gave Brooke one of her rare smiles as the little blond nodded. "Happy Birthday. Gods, I'm your roommate and I didn't even know. How old are you?"
"I turn 12 at precisely 9:45 pm tonight." Brooke said, her voice a monotone like a computer giving you data.
"That's great. We should do something. I heard the moon has a nice shopping mall and I brought money and stuff along. When we get out of training, if we're not too tired, I'll take you. We'll do some girl stuff…unless, that is, the boys want to come along?" Tamora looked towards them. Half of them were too asleep to even acknowledge the question. Lann shook his head.
"I will continue to train even after they say we're done." He said blank faced.
"You don't know how to have fun, do you?" Tamora said bluntly. His face colored.
"I do too know how to have fun. I just don't see the point in going to crowded area where one could get kidnapped or lost."
"When you get kidnapped is the day that I sprout wings and dye my hair green. You just don't know how to have a good time. You're a workaholic."
Pause. "Yes…I am addicted to workahol." He said dryly. Tamora sighed.
"Never mind. Just…stay here, study, train, I don't care. We'll go out. Maybe we'll meet some hot guys." She smiled. Brooke, though, looked blankly at her.
"Why would it matter if we met 'hot' guys?"
Sigh. "Never mind. I guess 12 is still too young to begin an interest in good looking guys as potential mates."
"Potential mates?"
"To make a long story short…people you want to be with; date, go out with, hook-up with. You know. All that sex-ed stuff that they begin teaching you in 5th grade."
Derek looked awake now. So did Lucius and Victor. Lann was looking at her in an almost horrified way and Brooke looked taken aback. Then Lucius and Victor tried to scoot unnoticeably closer to her while Derek remained hopelessly trapped on the other side of the table. He looked thoroughly distressed at not being near her.
She really didn't notice though. Her eyes darted back and forth between Lann and Brooke, whose reactions had not been expected ones.
"Why would you want to do that?" Brooke asked. "You are not much older than me. Why would you want to do those things? I don't see the point. We're still in our adolescence."
"You haven't reached puberty yet. Yet, I think. Besides, my mom was never really home while I was growing up so I was raised by the animals. Nightstalker told me as soon as I hit puberty that my body was now ready to mate. Of course, mom smacked him around when she heard what he told me." Tamora was now off in memory land, remaining blissfully unaware of the stares she was receiving.
"A tiger told you that you were ready to mate?" Lann still looked horrified, as if it were the first time he had ever heard something like this spoken so bluntly. Tamora nodded.
"Yeah. I know, it sounds strange, but this is the norm for me. I'm pretty good with the whole hormones thing but once in a while I like to go out and check out the male population."
"So it's a kinda heat thing?" Lann was beginning to look like he understood. "My mom goes into that sometimes. She drags dad away with that predatory look on her face. She told me that I haven't gone into my first heat yet."
"I think that's the most I've ever heard you speak," Tamora joked.
He blinked.
"But back to the question: I think it's kinda like a heat. Though I didn't know you went into it." She blinked.
"Not yet but I'm a shape-shifter, remember. With all those animals locked up inside, of course I would go with their needs once in a while. Though I am trained not to." He sat back in the chair and then looked up at something behind her.
From her experience that usually meant someone was behind her.
She looked up to find herself face to face with Miles, the mechanic. "Now, now, lets keep the dirty talk limited—" He was then smacked upside the head. Jasmine stood behind him.
"Will you quit saying things like that. Just say 'please don't speak of going into heat or looking for potential mates'. I'm sure that's all it takes without adding all that sexual innuendo." The Indian woman glared at the Miles, watching as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Aw come on. They're teenagers! I'm sure it's nothing ne—" He was cut off by another smack upside the skull.
"Miles!"
Tamora looked between them before going back to her, or Lucius', plate, "You know he's right, we, or at least I, have heard that before." She snatched the orange juice out of Lucius' hand and took a sip before placing it back into a stunned young mans hand. He stared at her, then looked down at the cup, her, cup, her, the place where her lips were before he took a sip from the exact same place…discreetly that is. She saw nothing, being completely oblivious as usual. Derek, though, didn't miss it. He glared as Lucius smirked. The light haired teen mouthed the words, 'indirect kiss', and then stuck his nose into the air haughtily.
Derek slammed his fist on the table, his teeth ground together. The whole table stared at him. "Derek?" Victor blinked, tilting his head cutely, his eyes wide and innocent. "You look a little mad."
"Yes, quite infuriated actually." Lucius smirked down his nose at the braided young man. Tamora looked between them with narrowed eyes; something was going on between those two and she definitely didn't like secrets. Especially when she felt like she was involved some how.
"What's got your knickers in a twist?" Morgan asked. Derek glared at Lucius, Lucius looked mockingly at Derek. Understanding flared in the half-British girls eyes.
Tamora stood, casting both boys a glance before turning to the instructors, "So, what are we doing today? Fighting techniques, power control, gundam control simulation,…tea and biscuits as we discuss the strategic advantage in being young and virile?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Jasmine smiled.
"Well I believe those are all good suggestions but, Miles and I are here to tell you that half the day will be spent on understanding you're gundams, getting to know the mechanics and special…uh, enhancements they have, and the other half will be spent with me where you will learn to control your powers." Derek raised his hand. "Yes Mr. Maxwell?"
Derek looked a little hesitant when she called him Mr. Maxwell but then his usual grin appeared, "What if we already know how to control our powers?" Smirk.
Jasmine gave a polite smile, "I'm sorry to say, but you may believe you can control it but I will show you real control. Fine tuning your powers and helping them grow will definitely aid you in many ways and no matter if you think you have them completely under control, trust me, you don't. You're still young, inexperienced. It took me years to learn how to completely control my powers, and even now I still enable them to grow." Tamora nodded.
Yells from across the cafeteria grabbed their attention. A bunch of soldiers and workers seemed to be chasing something…or somethings. Byakko, Ieisha, and Oni leapt for Tamora, toppling her into Lann who in turn fell off the bench with Tamora not far behind him. Lucius made a desperate grab to save her only to end up being tugged down as well and Brooke, Derek, and Victor all stood at the unexpected flurry of movement.
Three young animals wiggled their way out from under the three incapacitated humans and sat not far away, watching and waiting for the teens to get up. Tamora was the first to growl, though it was half caught by Lucius who was on top of her. Lann growled after her, making the three animals take a step back.
"I swear you three, when I get up I'm going to give you all punishments that will send you yelping." Tamora ground out, her eyes narrowed, as she tried to wriggle out from between the two guys. Then she turned her face towards Lann. "And you…stop threatening me and my cubs. I'm older than you and I'll take you out, you mini-shape-shifter." The auburn haired teen growled. The half-chinese boy growled back his own threat once again.
"All right, break it up. This little manwich has to be broken up before someone gets slapped with a sexual harassment charge." Miles grinned before ducking the on coming fist headed at him from Jasmine's general direction.
"Miles! What did I tell you before?"
"Don't use sexual innuendo?"
"Yes."
"That wasn't sexual innuendo, that was just saying it how I see it." Grin.
Jasmine shook a fist in front of her and very anime-esque bulging vein appeared on her forehead. "You…you…ugh, it's the same thing."
Miles whistled innocently. "No it's not."
Tamora watched the exchange with a distinct disinterest, a frown marring her face. She was still stuck between Lann and Lucius and it wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing. "As interested as I am in your little debate on sexual innuendo and harassment I'd rather you be more productive in the removing of Lucius off of my personal being and thus allowing me to get off of the infuriated Asian-American boy that I happen to be laying on." There was a certain way she said it that it almost gave twitching a sound. Miles bent, still whistling innocently, and pulled Lucius up, who had a rather dazed blush on his face.
Now free Tamora leapt off Lann and made a mad grab for the scrambling cubs.
There were prices to pay when you messed with a McHawkings girl.
Especially when you were meddlesome animals.
* * * *
"Each of your gundams has been adapted to your own unique abilities." Armand said. "As you've heard, we gave you weapons specifically engineered to you. Lets take Lucius' gundam, Thor. The electronic scrambler is specific to your electrokinetic abilities." Lucius nodded. Tamora stored that in the back of her mind: Lucius = electrokinetic which meant he could throw bolt of lighting or electricity at people.
That was definitely something she would want to remember for later.
"Your gundams, unlike all other gundams, have a special A.I stored into it so that it will directly take orders. Like voice command. Cool, right?" Miles said grinning. "If you'll follow me well get you acquainted with you're A.I's." No one protested. Everyone seemed relatively interested in seeing what they meant by A.I.
They turned the corner and found themselves surrounded by electronically equipment. There was a computer linked up to each of the gundams and little colored visors, which surprising matched in color with the certain gundams they were hooked to, situated on the keyboard. Morgan was the first to go over to the Valkyrie gundam computer and put the visor on. The little blond seemed to know exactly what she was doing. Miles and Armand looked relatively surprised at her knowledge of the system.
"How do you know what to do?" Armand asked. Morgan looked over her shoulder through the lavender tinted visor.
"My parents have been bringing me to bases and training me in gundam mechanics and computer programming since I was little. They thought that the information would be helpful should a situation like this occur. They didn't completely believe that all war had ceased to exist just because the Peacecraft family said so." She turned back to the computer and brought up a picture of a woman with long wavy blond hair and blue, sightless eyes. She was wearing a strange oriental costum in the Valkyrie gundam colors with long slits up the sides of the dress. A long, thick braid was woven through the ponytail on her head and little white angel wings stuck out of her back. "This is my gundam A.I?" She asked.
Miles seemed to snap out of his stupefied state first. The Latino man nodded slowly. "Yes. All of the gundam A.I's have a human image. We thought it would be more comfortable to speak to a human looking thing than just hearing the gundam's voice." The blond nodded.
"You wanted to make us comfortable."
"Yeah that was the idea."
"So all of us have a cute little female dressed funnily as our gundam's A.I?" Derek asked. Tamora shook her head, bringing her hand up to cover her face. Knowing the pervert he'd ask if the girl could come with no clothes on at all. What a dumass.
"No. The boys have males and the girls have females and they are all different. You'll just address them by their gundam name. Like Morgan's is named Valkyrie and Derek's is named Loki. The funny costumes where just Miles idea of being bored." Armand gave Miles a disgusted look. "He always seems to have too much free time if you ask me." Derek was grinning as he watched them.
The braided boy headed to his computer with the blue visor and put it on. Cracking his knuckles dramatically he gave Tamora a grin and then started pulling up programs. It wasn't long before he looked confused.
Tamora couldn't help herself, she started laughing.
"Hey shudup! Morgan, can you help me out here? I can't find the program."
"It's right there on the desktop."
"But you went through all these different programs to get to yours."
"That was just for show." Victor laughed too, and Lucius, and yes, even Lann was grinning at Derek's foolishness. Once the laughter subsided they all found there computer. Tamora had a purple visor, Victor had a red one, Lann had a green one, and Lucius had a yellow one. Going from Derek's foolish example they all found the program on the desktop that stated plain as day, GUNDAM A.I SYSTEM. It was a little hard to miss.
Lucius had a male A.I with spiky orange hair, run through with gold highlights and bright green eyes. He had an outfit that was in the gundams colors, lightning bolts and all.
Victor also had a male A.I but it had slightly longer hair and it was fire red. Part of it was pulled back in a pony tail and his clothes, which looked more Korean than anything was, of course, in the gundams colors. It also wore gold armor over its chest and he also had gold gauntlets on his arms and ankles and a gold helmet (the pony tail stuck out the back of the helmet.
Lann had an Asian looking guy with olive green hair and gold eyes whose hair fell long and bangs were spiky. Little brown dragon horns poked out just behind his ears. He was wearing a very simple white dress…uh I mean a simple long white men's oriental top and billowy white pants. The gundams colors were sown into the dragon design on the top.
Derek, after much trouble, finally got his image up. His gundam had short dark blue hair and blue eyes. The A.I looked like it was glaring at Derek through the computer screen. It was wearing what looked to be black spandex with bone armor. Little gray and black bat wings stuck out of his back.
Looking all of them over Tamora looked at her gundam A.I. She had dark long dark purple hair and ice blue eyes. A pair of black feathered wings came out of her back and she wore what seemed to be only a small piece of dark gray cloth. It looked like a skimpy version of the skimpiest of Roman goddess clothing with little lace up sandals.
"Why do we need to wear this visor if we can see the A.I on the computer?" Lann asked.
"Well you need to get used to the visor since when you're in your gundam you'll only be able to see the A.I via that visor. That and there is an ear piece in there that you'll be able to hear the gundams voice through. A space helmet can fit snuggly over it so no worries. If you all really want. We could get you up there into the gundam so you can get more accustomed to your gundam and it's A.I. Then we'll go check out the flight simulator." Miles grinned. Everyone nodded eagerly.
"Alright, let us go forward." Armand said.
~Owari (end of part 1)
AN- Yes, I know it's been forever since I updated. I had to cut this chapter in half because it would have taken forever to type in the rest I have planned so I use it for chapter 8: Part two- The Mall. It'll be interesting. I swear I'll try to update it within a few weeks. Hopefully less if I'm lucky. Review and tell me what you think.