-Jess-
A lot has happened in the time that passed since Hiro got his Sakabato back. He changed his whole outfit to something more gender appropriate. Starting with a black gi that tucked into his white hakama. His precious sword was tied quite securely in his sash. Strife also got another gun to add to his collection ever since he lost "Quick Silver" in a bet.....He tried to fight for it back but it didn't end to well...Now he has two identical, large, and most likely powerful guns strapped to him. To me, they're like old-fashion six shooters on steroids. They hold the maximum six bullets and have to be changed one at a time but the barrels are so long, half the length of his caster. The shaft that the barrels are in are also really thick, the top stretches the whole gun upwards so the thing looks more rectangular then anything. The width is also be thick too..... But not that thick. For awhile I thought poor Strife was compensating for something. Also, one's black and the other's white. No one asked why he colored them like that....Because frankly.....No one cared. He also changed his look. He still had the all black clothes but his body-length coat now had elbow-length sleeves and he were long, fingerless gloves. Sheesh, he changes fashion more then most mags I read.
Kitty....Well Kitty's still Kitty no matter how much time will go by. Mel seems to be getting antsier to get to the Leyline but I don't blame her....If I was in her shoes I'd be going just as crazy.
Oh? And me..... Well, I haven't changed much either, really. I'm starting to wonder if I should carry a piece with me but with all these other fighters hanging around I should just stick to good ol' computer stuff. I started wearing an old beat up blue denim jacket but only because I've been feeling really cold as of late. Strange, I know....But hey, that's just how I am. I've also been kinda obsession a little over..... Actually, let's not even talk about that right now.....
I walked down the corridor and absent mindedly walked into Strife's room without knocking. He looked up at me and shoved something under his pillow, seemed like a book of some kind. "What was that?"
"What was what?"
"That thing under your pillow?"
"I don't know what you're talking about but MMMAAANNN if you people keep barging into my room without asking I'm sealing it off."
"Touchy today, are we?" I crossed my arms and gave him a small, coy smile.
He sighed and stood up heading for the door. "I'm going to go work out a bit. Are we almost to.....Ummm.....Hey, where ARE we going anyhow?!"
"To some no name planet to re-stock and we're almost there now."
He walked out and headed for the rec room. "K, tell me when we get-"
"We are closing in on Prox right now sooooo you might wanna get up to the bridge." I quickly added in as I turned on a heel and walked my own self to that same destination.
I got up there and sat in my seat, Strife close behind with Hiro, Kitty, and Melfina already there.
We went through the basic docking procedures and was told it would take a couple hours so we all headed out to the town to see what excitement we could stir up. Kitty was off in a flash and Hiro was gone before he realized everyone was splitting up.
"Well, I'm going to go find a bar or something. Will you two be fine on your own?"
I scoffed and looked away from him. "We're not some helpless women you have to worry about every second you know?" My mind stirred again about whether I should have had a gun on me or not for these kind of occasions. A feeling of something grazing against my check shook me from my thoughts. It was Strife's hand.
"Hey, I'm just asking.....Don't get all up-tight over it, alright?"
He roughed his hand through my hair a bit, turned, and walked down the street. A flicked a blonde strand from my face and watched him leave. It seemed to him not only was I helpless but inevitably I was also four....
"I think Strife does care, Jess....He just doesn't know how to show it."
"Oh, I know what he's showing.....His superiority....I've seen that cockiness in him since day one."
Mel sighed. "Perhaps we should go look for something to eat."
"Ok, fine.....Let's go."
We went to search for a good dinner or something, pretty much anything, to do. We came to a place that kind of looked like it served food so we went in. Man, it was like one of those old truck stops Strife would talk about. Nothing but big, non-grinning, muscle-bulging dumbasses in here.....Of course, I would never repeat this out loud.....
We sat down and a female (if you could even call that garbage that walked over to us that) waitress (if you could even call someone working in this place that) came over and asked what we wanted. We ordered some water since we obviously didn't trust anything in this joint.....I'm not even sure that water was all that trustworthy.
"Jess, what's wrong? You don't seem to 'up-beat'."
"Oh, sorry Mel....Maybe it's just the atmosphere around here. I'm pissed off just sitting here....I mean.....Look at all the garbage around!! And the place looks just as bad!" Hmmm, I think I went a bit too far with that one.
Some guys who were eyeing us since the beginning came over, quite mad at my comment....Maybe they were the only ones that got it.....
"You have a problem with us, little girl??"
I stayed silent, looking down. Now I was a little afraid.....Man, I can just SEE the grin Strife would have on his face right about now!
"Not gonna even say nothing to me, huh?!"
He sat down next to me and glared only an inch away from my face. "I think yoos two are too good ta be hangin round here. I thinks we shoulds be making yoos more....adapteded to ers ervirement."
Man! His breath could have killed me right then and there. "How about 'wees' just leave?"
"Well, I dunno about yoos.....Not meh type....But yur friend over ther..." He grinned and looked at Mel. NOW I was beyond pissed. I shot up on my seat and twisted around, belting my foot into his face without a moment's notice....Holy crap! Did I really just kick this one-thousand foot baboon in the face?!
"RUN MEL!" I yelled, following my own command.
We both took off and ran through the doors not stopping until we were safely out of sight. They didn't seem like they were chasing us.....Maybe that guy's pride was too scared after being taken down by a girl's kick. I laughed at the thought and looked at Mel. "Nice place, huh?"
She smiled and nodded hesitantly. "Oh yes, fantastic....I think I'm going back to the Outlaw Star if that's ok with you...."
"Yeah, I guess I'll come too."
"Oh no you won't....."
"Who was that?!" I yelled to the streets at the voice that was suddenly around us.
"You guys picked the wrong planet to land on.....Your whole crew is screwed. This is what you get for landing on Ka-Shinta territory."
No way...NO WAY! We landed on pirate land without even knowing?! Rrrr, my day was just getting better and better.
A couple basic black-clad silver armored pirates came from no where and charged us instantly. I balled my right fist and sent it into one of their skulls.....Their metal faced skulls. "OWWWWW!!!!!"
I grabbed my hand and shook it. What a stupid STUPID move! I saw Mel go down and that same pirate come for me. I ducked his blow and twisted around, raising my foot up and clubbing him in the neck and NOT head this time. Two more came up behind me so I threw my best punch into one of their stomach. He caught my attack and flipped me around, slamming his knees into my chest. I watched as everything slowly started to black out.....If I lived through this I was defiantly going to ask Kitty for some fighting tips.....
------
"Hey, Jess!"
Ugghh.....Go away.
"Jess, C'mon!"
I'm sleeping....Gooo.....
"Jessica Brittany Hawking!"
I shot up. "Mooomm! I'm trying to sleep!"
"Would you like to sleep all through school too and miss that math test, fail, and repeat the grade over?"
"You act like the whole year depends on this one test...."
"It's your final! You don't take it and you fail the whole subject!"
Ack, alright, alright. I'm up...."
"That's better. Now hurry up or you'll make your dad late....."
"What? He doesn't work! What's he going to be late to?"
"He's going out for a job but he needs to take you to school first. Now hurry and get dressed or you are walking!"
"Twenty miles?!"
"To and from if you don't move, young lady!"
"AHHH, just leave!"
She stormed out of my room and slammed my door. Not like I cared, though. My mother and I never really got along. I dressed my 'best' which was my own personal style....One my mom OBVIOUSLY hated and walked downstairs. She glared at me the whole way down. "What are you mad over?"
Her eyes were slits. "Your attitude! Why can't you just treat with me some respect once and awhile....."
"Why don't you practice what you preach once an awhile." I mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Huh? Nothing, I didn't say anything. You're just going crazy."
"Maybe if I didn't have such a rebellious child...."
My father came down and sorted the whole thing out. "Now now, Chel. She's only seven! Cut her some slack."
"Ohhh, I know Jim but she just rubs me the wrong way sometimes...."
"God, sorry I can't be perfect!" I shouted, making them both jump.
"Do you have to put your two cents in about everything?" She snapped.
"Only when you say some air-headed comment!"
"That's IT! You are going to be severely punished when you get home! I hope you have fun with your friends today because you won't be seeing them for a long, LONG time!"
"Why are you always so strict with me!?" I was on the verge of tears now.
"Because you don't follow my rules!"
"I don't WANT to follow your rules!!!"
"THEN DON'T LIVE HERE!!"
"Whoa, whoa...Chel!" My father pleaded but it was too late.
"FINE THEN! I WON'T LIVE HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO!! YOU'RE SO EVIL WHO WOULD WANT TO LIVE HERE!! I HOPE YOU DIE!!!!!!!"
And with that, I ran out of the house and down the street....That would be the last time I would ever see my mother alive again.....
-------
I woke up in tears. Damn my nightmares.....They always haunted me here and there and every SINGLE time it just made me wish....Wish that I said SOMETHING other then that to my mother.....I knew because I said that, she died. There was no other reason for it. I simple got my wish.... Now I wish I hadn't. You really do never know how much you love something or someone until they're gone.....
"Ah, awake sleepy head?"
That voice....? "Strife?!"
"Yep, right across from you. Mel's still out to your left but Kitty and Hiro have yet to be caught. They only got me cause I was drunk off my ass, easy target.....My hangover feels ten times worse now....."
"Serves you right." I said, wiping away tears in the darkness of the room we were in.
"You don't sound too enthusiastic. Something on your mind?"
"Maybe it's because we're trapped in this hell-hole that I'm not all 'enthusiastic' and no.....Nothing's on my mind."
"That's not what it sounded like in your dream."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I can tell something's eating at someone when they start shouting. "'I hate you mom!' in her sleep. Something you want to tell me?"
"My mom and I weren't the best of friends and that's all I'm saying about that."
I heard him sigh.
"What?!"
"Nothing, forget it...."
"What, what???"
"Well....I don't know how someone can hate their parents. I wish I knew mine because if I did....I would love every second with them.....You don't know how alone the world is without parents. To sleep at a park and see kids playing with their dads and knowing you'll never do that...."
"I'm.....I'm sorry-"
"No. Don't be."
I winced slightly and his stern words. I guess the whole parental issue was a serious one for him..... "So, ummm....How do we get out of here?"
"I'm not sure. Wait for Kitty or Hiro or both to bail us out."
"Oh so you're not going to go all hero-like and get us out yourself?"
"Hey, this isn't some fantasy story where everything revolves around us so just be quiet and wait...."
"Hmph, fine then....."
There was a moment of silence as we waited.....And waited....And waited. I could hear a small rumbling from Strife and I knew he fell asleep. Gee, it was SO horrible seeing that poor boy stress out over such a miner problem....Tch.
"Hey, wait you tw-MMPH!"
There was a small racket outside the door which rose me to me feet. Strife still wasn't awake and Mel was still knocked-out.....It was only me against whoever was on the other side of that door. Please PLEASE let it be a friend!!
The large metal door creaked open and two figures stood before me. The light was too bright so I couldn't see their faces. Strife woke up and yelled at them. "Hey.....Turn the light off. People are trying to sleep, Y'know??"
"Heh, well Buddy ol pal. We can leave you here if you want." That voice.....It was Kitty!
"No, Miss Clan Clan. That's quite alright." He stood up and rubbed his eyes. "Man, thought I would've slept that hang-over off before you got here. Guess not."
"How'd you even find us?!" I asked, trying not to get annoyed at Strife's nonchalant attitude.
"Quite easy, really." Hiro said, picking Melfina up off the ground. "There's a transmitter in your small, hand-held, personal computer you carry with you. Gillium tracked it down and lead us here....Well actually, it lead us to your gear. Finding YOU was a simple matter of looking."
As he talked, Strife was gearing up, a smile growing on his face with every gun he strapped back on. "Well, are we ready to go?"
I put my PDA into the holder on the back of my waist and nodded. "I am."
"Me too." Hiro added, stirring Mel awake. "Hey, you ok?"
She smiled slightly. "Yep, just fine...."
"Good, ready?"
She nodded once.
"Ok, good." Strife said. "Let's get going.
Hiro looked around. "It's not that easy...."
Kitty mumbled. "Figures."
He went on with his reason why. "The door locked as a security measure to keep us in. We were able to take the alarm off but guards will catch on soon. We need to re-open that door if we hope to escape."
"Ok, well how do we open the door?" Strife asked.
Hiro looked at him. "It's in a control room not too far from here. You can't miss it, the door's big and black, it contrasts the steel's color around it."
"Ok then, someone should go and secure the door so we'll have safe passage after we re-open this thing. We also need someone to do the actually opening.
"Well I can handle the door by myself. Electronics ARE my thing after all." I added, trying to be of some service.
"I'll stay with you then. You shouldn't go alone."
I looked at Strife, half smiling and half glaring. Did he always have to be my protector?
"Alright then, Kitty will come with me we'll make sure no one interferes with our escape, right?" He half-way asked, looking at her and getting a nod of agreement.
"What about you, Mel?" All eyes turned to her.
"I'll stay with Hiro and Kitty, I should try to get to the Outlaw Start as quickly as possible and get it space-ready."
"Ok, then we're sets. Let's move out people.
"Strife." Kitty shouted as they all walked out of the cell. "You two just head down this way. It's the quickest way to the control room." Kitty added as they started walking the other way.
We headed down our own hallway as Strife seemed to be strapping on yet another gun. "Oh god, where'd you find this one from?"
"One of the guards Hiro and Kitty dropped. It's a .45 Magnum, never had one before."
He took his jacket off and flung it over his shoulder placing the holster around both his arms and positioning the gun right under his right arm where he could easily reach for it. The clips were zipped up in a pocket under his left arm. He put his jacket back on and continued walking.
"Do you now where we're going?" He asked out of the blue
"Yeah it's right down here, can't you see the door?" I replied pointing at the black contrast along the silver wall.
"Oohhh, so thhhhaaatttt's the door, ok."
I sighed. "Smartass."
I walked up to the door and examined it, there was a place to insert a key card near the door handle, along with a keypad underneath that. It would take a while for me to crack the password.
"If you're down poking a prodding the thing, I'd like to get into the room now."
"Hey this takes time and effort and WHY are you pointing that thing at me?!"
His caster was out and charging, I knew what he was going to do but it was too late to stop him now.
I rolled out of the way just in time to hear the large explosion of the door as it flew into hundreds of pieces.
"See?" He said, putting his gun away. "No hacking, no de-coding.... Just pure, simple power. Now let's hurry and get this done, we have people waiting on us."
I growled and thought about saying something about him almost blowing be away along with the door but why even bother. I sat at a console that seemed to be a main one....Kind of sad since it wasn't that big to begin with. It took just a couple seconds to hack through the firewall and get to the juicy center. Numbers of codes flew around in the sea of cyber space and I could understand it all, it was such a wonderful language, I could loose myself in it, and I always did. This was normally when I glowed the brightest, when I was on a computer. My father taught me everything he knew and that's certainly saying something.
"Ok, Strife. We seem to be in some abandoned military base a small faction of the Ka-Shinta now call home. It's quite a ways out in the middle of no where so we'll need some kind of transportation to safely get away."
"Umm, Jess. Weren't you supposed to be unlocking a door...?"
"I am, I'm also looking up info on this place, Ka-Shinta, and their leader. At the same time I'm screwing with their power so now their main barracks are now in the dark...and their doors are unfortunately locked. Check out screen 14, See them trying to get out but failing miserably?"
"Wow, quite the multi-tasker, aren't you?"
I smiled a bit. "Somewhat....Now let's hurry and get out of here." I hit a few keys and a disk popped out of it's hardrive.
"What's that?"
"It's the info on our enemies. Just call it.... 'Ka-Shinta 101'"
A smile grew on Strife's face causing my own to surface. After the pause we finally headed out of the room.
Strife was leading the way as I followed, keeping a close eye out for any pirates that might still be lurking around. Once again my thought was on having a weapon of my own...
I saw a flash of something behind me that caught my attention but the real show came from Strife. A couple shots came from behind and as I instinctively hit the wall to my right. I soon saw that it was Strife trying to take out two pirates that had suddenly ambushed us. That new .45 he had seemed to be some gun seeing as they both went down relatively fast.
A slew of pirates started to appear from the flash I saw earlier. "Run!!" I screamed to Strife. We both turned and started down the hallway but heard the sound of bodies dropping behind us. We turned and saw the pirates lying down, out cold, with one lone figure standing over them.
"Hey, Hiro! Nice to see you decided to hang around, where are the others?" Strife yelled as he walked up to him.
"They are on the ship, if we wait outside we'll meet them shortly."
"Wow, this is going to be an easy in-easy out mission huh?"
Hiro sighed. "Have you even been outside lately? Jess's barracks lock up kept a good majority of them at bay but there are still a group or two out there, waiting for us."
"Wonderful..." Strife said with a sigh. "All hell must be breaking out over there then, huh?"
"It hasn't broke out quite yet...We're not out there." Hiro added with a small smile.
Strife laughed and pumped his left hand into the air. "Well let's not keep them waiting!! To the exit!"
All three of us ran towards the exit, Strife and Hiro picking off the one or two guards in our way. Soon enough the door was in sight.
"This is the hard part." Hiro said as we reached the door. "It locks every time it's opened. I was the last one to open it so it should be locked again."
Anger suddenly came over me. "Then what was the point of me opening the door from the control room!"
"To let Mel and Kitty out. Is there anyway for you to get the door open from here?"
I searched around the door for anything I could hack into but found nothing. "Sorry guys, no key pad, no hacking, and I am NOT going back through the pirate infested hallway Guess you're going to have to go for brute force."
Strife felt the thick metal door then began to knock on it with his fist, judging the overall hardness of it, I guessed.
"Ok, Hiro C'mere." He said as he started to rub his left shoulder, rolling it around and stiffening it up. "If we both hit it at the same time with all our force, it would fall right?"
"Maybe..." Hiro said hesitantly.
"Cause Y'know we are pretty strong."
"Perhaps..."
"And there's a lot of force onto one spot in that door."
"Theoretically..."
"So on the count of three?"
"I guess...."
"Ok, one..."
"This is going to hurt..."
"Two..."
"Why am I always dragged into things like this?"
"Three!"
"Here goes nothing!"
They both ran their fastest and plowed into the door with more force then I could have thought they could ever muster. The door bent and swayed but didn't yield, it was their own fleshy bodies that fell to the ground, both grabbing their respected shoulder.
"Oww! Man, that hurt! Damn door! Shouldn't it have fallen?!"
"Strife, just because you get two people to run head first into a door doesn't mean it's about to break into a million pieces." I added, shaking me head.
He stood up and reached for his caster. "Ok, that's fine. We'll move to plan B. Code name: Blowshitup."
"You seem to use that plan a lot..." I shot at him, getting annoyed.
"Hey, it's worked so far, hasn't it?"
He pointed his caster at the door but suddenly stopped half way, looking at the door and almost THROUGH it. "Do you hear that...?" He asked, still looking at the thick steel.
"I don't hear anything, Strife." I replied.
"Exactly, there was gun fire going on.....It's silent now. Why do you think that....?"
He did have a point. I must have not noticed the gun fire due to the panic and disorder of running around but now since it's gone...Well now you can really tell.
"Something is wrong." Hiro said, stating the obvious.
"We shouldn't go through this door, they might be waiting for us out there."
"No, we have to Strife. I told Kitty to bring the ship this way. If there is something wrong they may be in danger."
"Dammit!" Strife scolded the sky. "Why are we always in danger?!" He sighed and became a little less tense. "Ok, I have four caster shells left and some clips and shells for my other guns. I should be able to hold off a good many. Hiro you should be able to fend off more then I ever could. You need to get Jess to the ship, once she's there we should have some serious back up power. This needs to be quick and fast. If we're not on that ship in 5 minutes, consider ourselves dead."
"'Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.' Huh Strife?" I said, looking at him. He seemed so stern, so empowered. Like he really did know what he was doing. The look of determination in his deep blue eyes, the feeling of leadership radiating off of him. I didn't know what was out that door but knowing Strife knew exactly what to do made me feel like no matter what was out there, we'd be fine.
He raised his gun up a second time. "On three. One.....Two..."
The door slid open and a huge mammoth of a man stood in the entrance with every gun you could think of strapped somewhere on his body, along with chains of ammo slung here and there. It was the same man we saw on Galactica....
There was a pause, everyone stood still. The three of us paralyzed in fear. I think Strife was the one who was the most afraid.
"Jess, Hiro....Please go outside and get to the ship." Strife ordered to us, as if it was just a normal thing for a mountain of guns to be standing in front of us.
I started to speak up. "Are you sure Str-"
"Just go!"
I almost jumped out of my skin. He wasn't acting normal.....I never saw him quite like this before. Hiro took my arm and lead me out the door, after saying one more thing to Strife. "How long should we wait...?
"I didn't say for you to wait. I just said to go."
"Strife..." I added, not knowing what else to say.
He didn't turn from the man as he looked at me. "Jess, I'll be fine. Just please go."
Hiro tugged my arm some more and we ran out of the door. I watched as it shut behind me. The Outlaw Star was in plain sight and settled down right next to us, allowing us to get on. There were no more pirates around to stop us, it was like they simply didn't want to attack us anymore.
When we got to the bridge I asked what happened.
"Well it was quite the battlefield until that walking tank came out of no where, yelled something to the pirates making them run off. Then he walked up to the door and stepped in. What I want to know is how you guys got out of that very same door a couple minutes after he walked in. Didn't he see you?"
"Oh he saw us, Kitty, but he didn't attack. He must have some grudge with Strife. They didn't take their eyes off each other the whole time."
"So is Strife coming out anytime soon?"
I looked down at my knees as I sat down. Hiro answered for me. "He said to leave without him and we will without hesitation since we are his crew and he knows what's best for us. Understand?"
I could see Kitty wanting to protest but Hiro's stern tone made her die down.
I closed me eyes and pretended like we weren't leaving without Strife. Melfina started the countdown and we were soon up in the sky, flying into space. I opened my eyes and hit some buttons, getting the base up on my small screen. I still couldn't believe we were leaving without him...
I sighed as I watched the building blow up in a cloud of fire and smoke....my actions were so delayed due to me thinking about us not leaving.....Did.....Did the building Strife was in just blow up?! "Oh my god!" I yelled, now falling into hysteria. "The base is gone!"
It was now on the main screen for everyone to see. "We have to go back!!"
"Mel, turn us around!" Kitty screamed.
Gillium's voice came through the speakers. We cannot turn around now, we are going too fast. If we change direction now, we will burn up and break to pieces."
"But we HAVE to go back! Strife could be dead!!"
"Jess, be calm." Hiro said from his seat, eyes closed and fists balled. He was doing his best to hide his anger. "Strife wanted us to leave without him, please remember this. He must know a good reason for giving that order and I am sure he was not killed in the explosion..."
"But how can you be sure?!"
Now he snapped. "I cannot be sure! I can only hope! But he did not want us to stay there! Please understand this, there may be a danger there none of us have seen! If we go back down we may not only ruin his plans but put our own selves in harm's way!! Do you think Strife's last wish would be for us to ignore his command and get ourselves killed?!"
I shut up and glared at him. The blackness of space became more evident. Without thinking I rushed off the bridge and down to my room where I balled on for hours and hours until I literally cried myself to sleep. Please Strife.....Please come back.....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's note: WOW! Gotta chapter up! Can you believe it?!?! Thank you Hotshot45 for that review and I'll take all your corrections into account...Even though it's been a LONG while since you've probably even looked in the direction of this fic...Like everyone else Sighs
And I know about the typos so I looked at a random chapter, fixed it (21, so If you want to see it without mistakes, go for it) and saw that my typos were pretty bad. Sorry, about that. I'll comb over my later chapters a little better next time around and I'm fixing those older chapters right now so watch out for them.
And the one POV a chapter thing is intentional, I have never written a story like this so I thought I might as well give it a try, people seem to like it so far so I'm glad.
And thanks for the nice words about the Hiro/Kenshin thing. I was just starting to watch that anime and read the manga around the same time I was brain storming Hiro's personality. What little I had of Hiro seemed to fit Kenshin and I already loved Kenshin's original way of thinking. So I just melded what I could into Hiro. I just hope the melding works out evenly and I'm able to stay true to it the whole time.
P.S. There's some things I didn't quite add in this chapter on purpose. Like what exactly the base that blew up is and why they were really captured and some other crap. Basically anything you might think didn't make sense will be added to the next chapters. Sorry if this one wasn't grade A stuff.
Anyway, this is Blades. "Good reading equals good times." I'm out.