DISCLAIMER: See previous entries
I bounced a rubber ball across the wall of the waiting room opposite me. I was leaning back on the back legs of the plastic chair, my legs propped up on the table full of magazines. Moon, dressed in his armor for a change, sat next to me reading a magazine and moving his head without looking whenever my ball nearly hit him.
"How long does it take for some nerd to stick a chip in an android's head?"
Moon shrugged as he turned the page.
"They're probably trying to talk her out of it, her Mechgun record makes the Rangers look good."
I went into bitch mode, my nostrils flaring.
"And I don't?"
He didn't look, still reading. I shrugged, blew the hair out of my face and kept bouncing the 25 cent ball like nothing happened. A few more minutes of this, around 127 ball bounces, and the technician walked out wiping some circuitry fluid off her palms with a clean rag.
"The chip's settling into her system, you'll have to carry her home."
I smirked and glanced at Moon, sizing up how long he could carry her before giving out. Maybe we'd take the scenic route. The female mechanic kept on.
"She'll get the internal changes first, expect her to start acting more like a Hunter unit."
Moon tossed his magazine onto the table, turning to ask a few questions in his own official way.
"What will happen to her Ranger systems?"
The tech widened her eyes at his tone a bit, but responded politely.
"They'll still be there."
Moon blinked, no longer a business master, and turned to me. I had the same expression on my mug as I asked another question.
"…so she'll be a Hunter unit…with all her old Ranger abilities…"
The tech nodded as she finished cleaning her hands.
"She'll get a bit more aggressive, maybe some mood swings. Things will even out once her systems start rebuilding her frame."
I heard Moon's voice from behind my turned head, asking another odd but very interesting question.
"What if she does a quest while she's going through all this?"
The tech and I both looked at him with a blank expression. He shrugged calmly. The tech snapped out of it.
"…well, actually Androids repair themselves faster on Ragol for some reason…we think it's the atmosphere composition."
Moon nodded to himself. He probably had read that somewhere and wanted to use it to our advantage. Snake was getting settled down at his guard job, so Moon volunteered to help Sarah out. They knew each other pretty well, but who doesn't know Moon these days. I signed some release forms, and a few minutes later we were walking toward Moon's building. He was carrying the 'sleeping' android over his right shoulder, tilting his head so he could see past that stupid skirt thing.
For some reason Moon had agreed to let Sarah crash at his apartment until she got back on her feet. He was always a giving guy, but Sarah isn't a little matchstick girl. She's more like a cranky old Vietnam vet. I was also going to spend my days there, helping her break away from the Ranger regulations while Moon taught her his blade tricks. It was going to be a hopefully smooth operation. I helped Moon lay her down on the couch and hook her into a power outlet before heading home to watch my husband sit around in a dress and dress my daughter in boy's clothes.
1 Day Later
"…how about a set of double swords?"
I snorted, flipping through the first draft of Moon's book, sitting on Moon's couch, and wearing Moon's robe after using his shower. You see, Moon isn't home. He's out doing whatever it is he does, and I'm here talking with Sarah about becoming a HUcaseal. When I let myself in this morning, she was examining all of Moon's trophies and reading those old books he keeps around. Of course she's an android, so she did this at an impossible speed.
"Sarah, how much blade experience do you have again?"
She shrugged, her shoulders clinking on those horrendous pigtails.
"I use a Brand sometimes."
I sighed. She wanted to use these expert level weapons that even Moon had trouble finding, and she didn't have any training. I flipped the magazine over to look at the back while she kept asking about swords. I noticed that her voice had changed. It had gone from a sickly loyal, but sarcastic tone to a more articulate monologue with a dominant edge. So she's going from chamber maid to feminist, fight the power.
"So who's in charge of giving me a Hunter name?"
I sorted through a stack of magazines, looking for an older copy.
"I am. Speaking of which, what are you going to look like after all this?"
She grinned, showing a set of perfectly engineered teeth.
"Well, I was thinking an artificial ponytail down to my waist. Not sure about colors. My system is making this form from scratch, so it may not be fashion-compatible."
I stopped my search for a magazine to look up at her with raised eyebrows. I hope they were raised anyway, the pencil I use to draw them on needs to be sharpened.
"Hm…the long braid sounds unique. How about Hornet?"
Yes, I'd stolen Snipe's idea. And he's so meek he'd never mention it, ha-ha. Well, the newly named Hornet broke into a rather scary bout of laughter and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms.
"Hornet…sounds badass."
She repeated her new alias to herself in several corny 'badass' voices, while I went to the kitchen to raid Moon's fridge. After I'd made myself a sandwich I noticed Moon's gym membership on the counter, it had a little stamp saying he was qualified to use the advanced martial arts equipment. Huh, guess those lessons from Snake really paid off. I walked back out to the living room and spent the day watching 'Hornet' change the name on all her accounts. Hey, she's a registered communist, who would have guessed.
The Next Day
Moon was dressed in his armor once again, this time with a headband on. It was an old, nearly black with age piece of cloth with some old designs on it. He wore it whenever he did this whole samurai thing. Standing across from him in the empty room of his apartment was Hornet, who now sported a shoulder-length ponytail that her pigtails had melted into. And another thing she was proud of, that car crash of a skirt had receded to mid-thigh level. She like a cheerleader, showing off her newly streamlined legs.
Both the bushido master and the cheerleader captain were holding classic katanas, Moon with one trained and relaxed hand, Hornet in the stance and grip he'd shown her. He lectured her on the weight of the blade and its advantages and weaknesses of it over other weapons, while she silently (for a change) paid close attention. Afterwards he showed her how to swipe the blade vertically through the air. He demonstrated, and I swear I didn't see his blade between the time he said watch this, and the time he was in a finishing stance with his blade extended. Hornet copied this, much slower but with the same mechanics.
I leaned against the weapon-covered wall as he pointed out where her weight was in mid-slash. They'd been at this for hours. He'd started out teaching her Sabers. Then Swords and Daggers, this katana thing was probably important to him. Why? Oh dear, I've neglected to tell you why Moon can do that thing he does to the one thing.
Moon's grandfather taught him everything he knows, that much I've let on. But did you know moon's grandfather followed Bushido? Yes, the code of the Samurai. Moon was trained in the same pattern those ancient warriors were, with some modifications and in many ways improvements. For instance, his mother insisted he not be taught to kill himself when dishonored. His grandfather, who agreed with his daughter about seppeku, also taught modern fighting techniques before he retired as a high-ranking HUmar. He was in his own right a hero, but because Moon does not have his grandfather and his mother's last name, the public has not associated him with them.
Moon doesn't need the extra publicity anyway. He's semi-famous for his Ragol Crusade, in some areas at least. The civilians truly think the Government did all the work on Ragol, and the Hunters just helped. They're not supposed to know us Mercenaries, or Hunters as we're called nowadays, took this war into our hearts and ended it.
Even if Moon did get talk show deals, he wouldn't accept the fame. He likes to be comfortable, but he's pretty reserved. Most of his funds go to this huge weapon collection. And even then, it's not a trophy collection but a religious thing. You see, samurai believe every true weapon is the soul of a warrior. Well, Moon came down to Ragol and saw hundreds of weapons left to rot after their owners perished, either by monsters, other Hunters or by Falz. Somehow he can tell if a weapon was a real warrior's tool, and not some heap mass produced model they hand out to everyone. All these blades in here he found, bought on the market, and often inherited from fallen friends.
Which happened more than it should have. In fact Moon is one of the only surviving members of his brigade, the transporter full of new recruits they beamed down to Ragol on the front line. I'm not sure how he survived that first day, but he did. They had to force him back into the transporter when his group retreated, he wanted to stay and fight. To avenge his friends. Well, right as they got him back to Pioneer 2 he snuck right back down again, this time on a Quest with a supervising older Hunter. Moon was just supposed to help the old guy pick up items.
Well, when things got heavy he tossed Moon a Saber and you know the rest. They had me go after him, to bring him back before he got himself killed. Before I could we ended up in the Central Dome with the Dragon. I saw who I was dealing with, and I took the kid under my wing. A couple months of fighting later Moon took down De Rol Le on his own with just a Slicer he found next to the corpse of his old commander. Moon also helped clear most of the Mines, and the Ruins…well, I already told you the Falz Scandal.
"Now, try weight shift to the left while slashing."
I shook Moon's biography out of my head as I watched him maneuver his blade around like it was a fifth limb. Hornet then copied it perfectly, those androids have it easy. He taught her a few more tricks of the trade before stripping off his headband and mounting the blades on the wall, saying that's all for today. I left after he began lecturing her on the history of something, it was never my subject.
The day after that I came to find the apartment empty, with a note from Moon on the door saying they went down to Ragol. Well, I'd told Snipe I had other plans and apparently he was doing quests all week, I picked the lock to his little apartment and it was just as empty and clean as ever. Snake was also down on Ragol, his new security job must have overtime. I fought it off for a while, but in the end resigned to spending my free day at the Range and in the Lobbies scrounging the white market for anything that resembled a baked good.
This went on for a while, Moon and Hornet didn't come back for three days. Moon's been known to camp down there when he finds a clear area and not come back until he needs medical attention. And Hornet is copying Moon like a mocking bird. She'll stay down there as long as he does, probably longer because she can just stand still for a while instead of beaming up to the hospital like Moon has to.
I was waiting in his living room when he dragged himself through the door. His spotless black armor was now dulled with dust and grime, probably all that's left of some mutated predators. Even his twin Kama MAGs were sputtering around, crashing onto the nearest table and going into sleep mode. He didn't acknowledge my being there as he shuffled into the bedroom and closed the door.
The door stayed open, and in walked a HUcaseal that I would have never recognized as once being Sarah. For one thing, she was quite a bit taller. There wasn't a trace of the infamous RAcaseal skirt, just a thin waist and a pair of legs that any woman but me would be jealous of. Above the male-attracting figure sat an elegant head atop a rather long neck. That ponytail had extended in length from her shoulders to a bit above her waist, just like she predicted it would.
The faceplate wasn't the usual two-toned atrocity, but a very human-like facial mold that was completely silver. Even the detailed eyes had no visible pupils, just a silver mask. And the coloring. Scarlet and silver. Scarlet hair, pretty nearly covered in scarlet except for a few highlighted areas such as the wrists and ankles to look like jewelry possibly. Overall, a very nice looking yet intimidating Hunter unit. She turned her newly movable neck (Ranger units aren't very mobile in places) and I was shocked to see the blank mask smile at me as if it was just painted flesh.
"So, what do you think?"
Hornet's voice. I weakly smiled back, a bit taken off.
"…very nice…how did it happen?"
She shrugged, her new braid swinging behind her back.
"We went down, and I spent a day taking out freaks with Moon. I didn't notice until the next morning that I looked like this."
"So Moon was right about the atmosphere and the combat speeding up the process."
Another smile. I'd never seen her smile, possible because as a Ranger she was unhappy, and possibly because RAcaseal faces are usually stuck in one facial expression. The reborn android took a few leggy steps to a chair and sat down, her unidentified MAG landing like a helicopter on the coffee table. I asked the obvious.
"So, why is Moon wiped out?"
Another cheerful shrug.
"We made a little trip to the Ruins before coming back to the ship. He loaded his MAG with a bunch of stuff."
I put one of my fingers to my chin.
"From where?"
"They just opened the bridge to one of those freaky cities. Nobody is allowed in, but we snuck past the android they had guarding the place."
Now she had my attention. As I held my chin I pondered if my new theory was correct.
"So Moon and you snuck in there, he took a few things with him, and you're not sure why."
A nod.
"Were there any scientists in there?"
"Tons, only stiffs allowed in."
Bingo. Moon was just a curious intellectual. Speak of the devil, he walked out of his room in fresh clothes, holding what appeared to be a stick covered in layers of filth. He slumped down onto the couch and examined the mud stick as if it was something of value, then he looked over and noticed me.
"Check it out. Found her in the forbidden city."
He proudly help up the piece of garbage. I cocked an eyebrow straight through my forehead.
"…wow…so that's what the the cave man's dog played fetch with…"
He weakly smirked for some reason and set the thing down on the table.
"You should see it after I take off the refuse. Underneath the crap, I think it's a Slicer."
My eyebrow settled back down above my eyes.
"…a Slicer…like you use…curved stick, flings photon blades?"
He nodded proudly at his find. I sighed and got up to leave.
"Well, I'm sure you two will be very happy together. Hornet, where you heading?"
She looked up from examining her hands.
"Oh! Well…I heard how you got Snake that guard job…"
I rolled my eyes as I walked out without a goodbye.
"Show up at the Guild, say I sent you. You'll be equipped and working before the day is over."
With that I went down the elevator, out the lobby and back toward home again. To my beautiful daughter, and my beautiful cross-dressing husband.