*pulls up review dialogue box*
@Biowolf: Boredom does lead to strange things. Boredom with every other B/L fic resulted in this! ;p
@Maelgwyn: It's not as bad as it looks. I think you'll get a kick out of it.
@Mark Kallen: Don't count your Pteras before they hatch. It's a B/L pairing, but I never said what it was going to be like. This is me writing here. You were warned.
@Paladin Dragoon: I'll continue as long as inspiration burns. Which may twist and spin, because I have no idea how Mute is going to react to the Blitz Team when he joins. Poor, misunderstood bastard he is…
@Rocke&Roll: Secretly, I'm a godhead, and therefore I'm going to hell because I like writing yaoi. Kidding! Yeah, I go to technical college, but it ends this year. My course that is. Then I ezz goink back to ze mudderland to be wit' my fameelee. My dad actually. In the dark times of life we always seem to turn to religion, so if some nasty-ass demonic thing was attacking your cities and killing your citizens, you'd look to religion too. I think it must be that My Fave Thomas fic I read once…I don't know. Anyway, it was just some random thought, and occasionally I will bring that sort of thing up in this because I have always found religion fascinating.
Things will move slowly from here…I have to get chapter 2 and 3 to Zinou today to read and review and tell me if I'm a good Plink or a bad Plink, but writing Harry and Vega is fun-fun-fun! Vega fans will probably not like how I depict him, and Harry? The guy's a basket case. Anyway, read on, and, uh, leave a review? Reviews are nice. Helps my battered ego. I also do fan service, so if you want to see something, or a particular fight, then tell me because it helps in inspiration.
Booyah!
Chapter One: From out of the blue
Things were not doing well, even with the massive win that the Blitz Team had ridden in on almost a month ago. Brad Hunter opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of his room and listened to the screaming down the hall, the same screaming he woke up to every second day.
Every second day…be it a Monday, a Tuesday, hell, even a Sunday, was Leena's bath day. The girl loved showers, to the point of obsession, and it wasn't to get clean either. It couldn't be singing, because Leena had a terrible voice, it couldn't be just because she felt dirty (though Bit did have the greasiest demeanour and often made Brad feel like buying a cheese grater or having a long, scalding shower. Probably the cheese grater, then he knew it would all be gone…) and it wasn't because she was trying to avoid people.
Brad rolled over onto his side, squealed, rolled back and swore very colourfully.
Even if it had been three and a half weeks since the Gold Cup, his entire body was still tender from his tumble as was his beloved ShadowFOX, and both had been licking each other's wounds within the hanger. His Zoid always knew how to cheer him up, and working on him eased the tension he felt with the world around him. Brad wasn't coping well with the fact that a damned rookie had managed to win the stupid competition, and that he, Brad Dante Hunter, had been left in the dust. With a freakin' woman fawning over him. Yeah, Naomi was cool, hot, and damned good beneath the sheets in the horizontal tango, but he was a free man!
Free!
Free, if you counted being stuck in a stupid contract to a madman, forced to work with kids, and having the boss's eldest son looking down at him with a look that said 'one day, I will catch you touching Naomi, and I will have your balls for breakfast.'
And Leon probably could, too.
With a side order of Bit for perving on his beloved little sister.
Sitting up, Brad yawned, looked blearily around the room, and stood up, the sheets falling away from his body, catching on the bandages around his waist. The ruptured kidney he had suffered left an empty space that ached, and the bandage needed changing all the time. It was more than just an annoyance; it was a stupid, horrible thing that he didn't like at all. Cringing as his body complained, he stumbled, found his clothes, and pulled them on, fished around in the drawers beneath his bed for the medical kit the nurses had given him and finding what he was looking for, went outside to wait for the screaming to stop.
Thankfully Bit and Leena were probably down around the hanger level now, so that meant the bathroom was free – he went inside, frowned at the steam and opened the glazed window to let it all out, then closed the door, locked it, and sat on the sink so he could examine his stitches and fix up the wadding.
It should have healed by now.
He only had one bloody kidney now. A bruised liver and lung, cracked ribs and a twisted wrist, but one kidney. He was half a man now! Half a bloody…
"Ow. OwaaarrrGGHHHAAARRRHHHHH!!!"
He made a mental note not to rip it off like that again. Frowning and scowling at the bloodied bandage he glared at it then flung it away, not caring if it missed the little rubbish bin or not, which it did, and left a mark on the floor. Because Brad refused to relax, the stitches kept getting torn open, and he'd been back to the hospital three times already.
"C'mon…"
The door thumped, and a screeching voice told him Her Majesty was back.
"Who the hell's in there?! Get out!"
Brad hissed through his teeth and started to run the water. At first it was hot from Leena's shower, then began to cool and he dampened the little medical sponge to wash away the fluff from the night before and just clean the damn thing in itself.
"Jamie, I swear if that's you I'm going to-"
"Leena." Brad yelled. "For Christ's sake, back off, will you?"
"Brad?! Brad!!! Get out of there!"
"You left." He clucked his tongue and bit back tears as the sponge snagged. Carefully untangling it he washed it clean and picked up the antiseptic bottle to spray the contents on the ragged line of crimson. "The bathroom is fair game."
"But my clothes are in there!"
"I don't care."
"You insensitive prick!" Leena howled.
Brad rolled his eyes. She was always disagreeable around this time of the month, which was understandable, she was a girl, but if that was the bloody case, then why the hell had she run out after Bit anyway? Yuck!
Unrolling some new wadding, he cut it free, put it over his wound and started to tape it securely so that hopefully, it wouldn't come free again. It would though. They had a battle against a new team, the SharpShooters, so that meant a couple of GunSnipers or SnipeMasters…not good. It was hard enough going up against a single GunSniper (mental note, one in the hands of a professional, not a trigger-happy adrenaline addict) but a couple of them?
Their winning days were over.
It was not, he reflected while cleaning up his mess and listening to the melody of Leena's howls, a question of luck anymore, or relying on the obvious skill of the LigerZERO to save their sorry arses. Truth was they'd been riding on that success. And while he was a fine warrior, Brad had the sickening sense of depression creeping up on him that Bit, should he apply himself to the job instead of going off on a tangent and satisfying his own base instincts in battle, could be good. Better than good.
After all, hadn't he beaten Vega?
Disturbed by that thought he pulled his sleeveless T down over his trim form and slid off the bench top, packed up the kit, and went to open the door, only then remembering the bloodied bandage on the floor. Going back, he put it where he belonged, cleaned up the little splatter of blood left behind by it falling and with a cheesy grin on his face slid out of the bathroom and prepared himself for the assault.
It never came. Leena pushed past him, went inside, and began her ranting and raving about being the only female on base, and how all men were chauvinistic pigs.
Situation normal.
And so, as he went back to his room to put away the medical kit and straighten out the mess he called his room, the intercom clicked on, and from there, Brad's life changed forever.
~*~
Battle Mode 0988 – Combatants ready…Fight!
With a jerk the world started to move as the ShadowFOX took off and headed for cover, avoiding the other two on the field, the LigerZERO and the GunSniper and the noise of the pilots both still arguing over the bathroom incident only an hour before. This was one of the modes he couldn't stand, only six damn shots to take out the enemy. Six shots each.
Make 'em count, Brad.
The words of the Doc hit home. The winning streak had long since been over, they'd fluked one battle, and been creamed in two more, which was probably the reason he hadn't healed yet. S Class was like nothing he'd ever seen before, no wonder few people talked about it. The rules were the same and so were the battle modes, but the fighters? Close to BackDRAFT quality, pulling all sorts of stunts and moves to make a man weep. Being blown up and kicked around was not good for one's health, especially with a Zoid like the ShadowFOX in use and having not quite healed yourself just yet, not at all. Besides, the tension between Leena and Bit had been growing recently, and the Doc was obviously really worried. With two hot-blooded non-family males in the house and one introvert obsessed with porn, he was thinking that Leena needed some time away.
Well, so did Brad.
Shit-shit-shit…One shot had already been fired, the FOX picking up a lot faster than he ever could have, and ducked away, the lead slug slamming into the sand and kicking up a cloud of dust. A hard swing to the right and he was into the soft darkness of the surrounding forest, sand and forest, earth and stone, sky and –
"Brad!! Watch out!!"
Pulling up quickly, and feeling his body thrown hard against the restraints, Brad caught his breath and hung his head as the LigerZERO took a step back and snorted at him. The rich blue armour of the JAEGER system armour caught his eye for a minute and he sighed.
"Sorry."
"These guys are good. At least with Naomi there was just one of them."
"Yeah, one who knew what they were doing." Brad flipped his long hair out of his face and opened up the FOX's scanning systems, seeing with a growing sense of dread that there was no way he could find where the bullets were coming from. "Any ideas Bit?"
"Well, I think one of them is in here with us." Bit's baby-clean face screwed up in thought. The boy was so innocent and naive about things, wasn't he? "One of 'em's bound to be up on the bluff and stuff, and…"
"Guys?" A second window opened up on the screen in front of him and Jamie's neurotic features appeared in front of him, his eyes quite wide and worried. Ah, Jamie, the boy with a mental disorder, a ton of guilt from a past life, a nervous disposition, and of all things, their strategist. "We've located two of them…The forest around a half a mile from you…and on the bluff."
Bit snorted, but Jamie wisely ignored him. Most people ignored Bit because of the fact he liked to rub it in as to how much better he was than anyone else on the team, Jamie needed some time to adjust to it all, but was doing quite well with the circumstances. He wiped his nose on his sleeve (aah, childhood) and sighed. "The third is still hidden, and I think it could be a jamming signal they're producing. I isolated the blank area and they should be in the middle."
"This is cheating you know." Brad muttered.
"I know, but how else are we going to win? And why would you care? You're just in it for the money!" Bit grinned. "Hey, where's Leena?"
"I think she's still upset over what you did, Bit." Jamie piped up.
"Then she should lock the damn door." Brad glared at the two younger men and urged the FOX forward, but like him, it felt sluggish and unhappy.
We'll just try and pull this off, okay? And then we can rest. I can give you another buff, we can see each other's scars, and you can laugh about a human's fragility…
The FOX rumbled softly as he began to run again, each step jarring his body and making his insides crawl. This was dangerous.
"Brad! Hey Brad, what are you doing?!"
"Just an idea. A little idea."
The FOX continued it's odd erratic gait swinging left and right, paw over paw. Brad closed his eyes and let his Zoid take control. It was something he was learning to do – the ShadowFOX was perhaps one of the most headstrong Zoids he'd ever met and definitely one of the most curious. He felt the unmistakable feel of power coiling up beneath him, spreading across his gut and making his breathing become tighter, more in control than the ragged gasps he'd been making before.
The FOX sped up.
Two more slugs hit the ground where he'd been a moment before, the strange dodging and weaving pattern painful and quick to his poor insides. A particularly hard jump from the ground to the first rise made his side scream. Those SnipeMasters must have been really desperate to try and catch him moving like this…but then again…
"C'mon."
It was a grunt, barely audible to the human ear, but the FOX moved faster. Each hop and skip was drawing out the enemy as they tried to match him, seeing him as the obvious threat. Maybe then Bit and Leena would see them and kill them, metaphorically of course. Provided they stopped arguing first. Leena must have appeared just after he left, and as if by thinking about her he had made some sort of silent signal to the pink haired firebrand to contact him. The little com screen popped up and her bright eyes regarded him with the kind of animosity Brad had seen in the really dark bars where you bump into someone by mistake, and they turn around, and grab the bottle, smash it against the bar and says… "You gonna pay for that? Or am I going to have to show you what mister bottle can do?"
She was pissed.
"Brad!! You moron, what are you doing?!"
"Drawin' 'em out, whassit look like?" Another clunk. Wow, that was close. Something warm entered his mouth from the wrong direction – his throat. Wow, cool, he was bleeding internally…
"You idiot!!"
"Any other ideas?!" Came the gasped reply.
Leena howled and charged. Gods that girl was a maniac. Brad opened his mouth to shout a retort, but it never came.
Perhaps, if people had been looking at their radars they would have seen it. But they'd been too busy in battle, which was fairly normal. The clouds had been gathering recently, but now something shot through them, a bolt of black and green, with a number of Zabats in hot pursuit.
Warning! Warning! Unauthorised Zoids in the battlefield! Warning! If you do not leave the designated battle zone you will be destroyed! Warning!
The pilot of the Redler obviously couldn't hear the judge. It dived, and Brad's breath caught in his throat in a tight sob as the FOX stopped and cowered. It howled over them, the metallic screeching of the Zabats loud in his ears as they came down-
The Redler pulled up.
Going into a corkscrew it shot over the other team who had revealed their hiding places in their surprise and using the tail-blade, neatly sliced the judge in two. If this was on purpose or if it was a mistake Brad wasn't sure but still out of control the Redler swung around and buzzed back, it's wings cutting long lines in the dirt and sand. It knocked over one of the SnipeMasters, turned and went up.
"What the hell is that?!"
"Redler. Piloted by a mad man or doing it on it's own."
"Those are Zabats!"
"Duh." Another sweep and Brad managed to leap out of the way. But not before seeing the pilot. For a moment it was a freezeframe, a moment in time, a youth –
-There was so much fire and blood. The screaming had long since stopped, but that was on the outside. No, the screaming in his head remained and as he raised his voice to the sky he listened to the echoes of the-
- sitting with his head lolled to the side, his hands vacant at the controls, knocked out from the sonar blasts he'd been hit with. This kid was powerless to control what was happening, powerless to save himself. But then, it soon became apparent he might not need to.
While the kid was unconscious, the Zoid was obviously not. With a metallic screech, it fought the slack grasp of its owner, and straightened, turned around and headed straight for the oncoming bat like Zoids with a vengeance. As if flipped again, there was little time to escape the onslaught, and three of them fell from the sky, only to be caught by their fellows. Caught by the heavy assault on the ground, the remaining SnipeMasters shrieked and fled, leaving the Blitz Team in shambles as they tried to catch up. It was only when Leena unleashed a full assault on the group of invaders that it seemed to deter them, and the stress eased. Only for a moment however, seeing as the remaining shots took out the SnipeMasters, a few trees, the ShadowFOX and one stupid squirrel, which actually did more good to the species as a whole than harm.
There was a click, a whirr, and a creaking voice saying: The winner is…the Blitz Team…help…please?
But it was completely ignored.
The Redler, having come to a messy stop against the ancient pine trees creaked softly in the light breeze that had picked up in the silence.
And deep within it's Zoid Core, something opened a glittering green eye…
~ to be continued.
Sorry to the Br/N fans. I will be nicer to the couple in future, but I meant the theme was there, not always the love, okay?