Chap 5
I continued boosting and overboosting until I reached the city. Once i got there, i jumped to the top of the closest building, trying not to collapse it. I jumped up again and hit my overboost. I did this from building to building until i got to the garage.
I walked up to the main hanger gates for ACs and instead of the gates opening, the guard turrets activated and the searchlights pointed at me. The com opened:
"Identify yourself!" The gruff voice of a guard racked across the com.
"My name is Xero. This is my AC revolution." i said as i raised my arms to guard my eyes from the light.
"You are not a registered raven with this cortex."
"I just took my test today and I'm coming back from my first mission. I got my license only this morning. That's probably why I'm not registered yet."
"Your raven name is Xero? Correct?"
"Ya."
"Just a moment. If you move from your position we WILL open fire."
"Ya ya, ok." I could tell the guard put his hand over the mic, i could hear the scratching of his hand and some muffled voices in the background.
"Very well." The guard returned. "We apologize for this misunderstanding Xero. Please continue through to the garage repair hangar to your left."
"Ya, no problem. Don't worry about it." The lights turned off and the turrets deactivated. The gates opened a moment later to let me in.
I walked through to the repair center doors and waited for the automatic hangar doors to open. When they opened enough for me to; I walked in to the hanger and saw blaze walking her AC through a door on the other side of the hanger. I tried to radio her but she had her com off. I looked to the AC stalls on the side of the hanger and saw angels AC supported by two repair MTs that had obviously been locked into that position to hold up the wrecked AC. I walked over and backed my AC into the stall two stalls to the right of Angel's. The catwalk automatically extended over to my AC's cockpit hatch.
"Computer, please deactivate the AC."
"Yes, Xero. Goodnight." With that the AC shutdown and the cockpit monitors faded into blackness and the cockpit lights turned on. The pilot suit loosened, i unzipped it down the front and i slipped out and put it onto the side of the platform that had been made by my leg braces when they unclipped themselves. I jumped up and grabbed the bar that was about three feet above my head and pulled myself out of the cockpit. I closed the hatch and input my new password. I jumped off the core and looked around, there was a bridge that went from one side of the garage to the other and the bridge crossed across the cores of any AC that would be parked in a stall. On one side of the bridge was a door with a sign that said in large black letters "REPAIR OFFICE". On the other side of the bridge was another door that said "ELEVATOR", and it was where the repair crews would get down to the ground floor. The ground floor was mainly for the AC mechanics and the repair MT pilots. Nobody else really went down there, i don't think it's that we weren't allowed; it's just that nobody really had any business down there. I'm pretty sure the elevator went to the upper levels as well so the pilots could get around. So i walked to the opposite side of the bridge to the office of the repair center to see somebody about repairing my AC. It was late so i left them a note about it on the desk. As i was walking back across the bridge to the door on the opposite side i stopped to look at my AC. Its head was partially smashed in and the core was flat in the front and sides where it was supposed to be round. Its arms were mostly unharmed except for some small holes (relatively speaking, they were three inches wide) and some dents in the armour. I'm sure that there were a ton of holes in the back and the legs. I shook my head and continued down the bridge until i got to the elevator. I opened the elevator and stepped inside.
"What floor please?" A smooth female voice reverberated from the walls.
"I wonder how angels doing?" I wondered allowed. "Infirmary please."
"Level eight, third passage to the left." The elevator started moving abruptly, giving me a smashing feeling. After about a minute the elevator stopped and the doors opened.
I exited the elevator and walked down the hallway until i came to the third passage on my left. I took it and then i kept walking until i reached a door marked "INFIRMARY". I proceeded inside and came to a counter in a medium sized white room lined with doors on both sides. I walked up to the counter and to the old woman who was standing there. The room smelled strangely sterile, which was unlike a cortex garage facility because the only places people see are the offices and maybe the garage if they have a good connection.
"Good afternoon. Can i help you?" The woman said with a cheery voice and face.
"I was wondering if a raven named angel was brought in earlier?"
"Angel? Let me check." She started typing away on the computer keyboard next to her. "Ah, yes. Angel, she was brought in earlier but was released shortly after. Actually, she was only in here for about ten minutes." She chuckled a bit.
"Alright thanks. C'ya later." I spun around and went back the way i came. Through the halls to the elevator.
"What floor please?" The female voice asked of me again as i stepped in.
"The Nest please." I said in monotone and walked to the back of the elevator and leaned against the wall with my arms crossed. "She was only in there for ten minutes? I thought she would be bed-ridden for a week! Geez, i guess the pilot is more protected then they tell you."
DING! "Level six." The doors slid silently around into the walls of the elevator. "Have a good night." The pleasant voice rang out as i stepped out of the elevator. I walked to the closest door marked "NEST" as i had only hours before.
This time however as the door opened i got smashed as six girls, including blaze, tackled me out of the doorway and onto my ass. I heard cheers and "woot"s coming from the door. I stood up after the women got off me and walked through the door. I saw everybody holding a beer and in a damn good mood. I spotted morrow and angel sitting in a booth at the far corner of the room, both holding a glass of wine and laughing. I walked up with two girls hanging on each arm. They looked up at me and angel scowled upon seeing four super-model class women swinging on my arms, Morrow stood up and gave me a high-five; the girls walked away as i sat down.
"Ok guys, what's going on?" I asked as morrow motioned one hand toward a twenty-four pack of beer and he motioned the other hand towards a bottle of champagne. I pointed to the wine and he poured me a glass and handed it to me.
Angel answered my question as i took a sip. "Well Xero... I'm sorry but after you left for your little AC test run, Chris ran in here and told everyone that he had a recorder installed in your AC's cockpit and head before you picked it up."
I almost spit out what was in my mouth, "WHAT!!!" I was suddenly in a very bad mood. "What is it with you guys and watching what i do in my AC?! This is twice in the same day! What's wrong with you guys?" I said exasperated and I slammed my head down on the table.
Angel put her hand over and patted me on the shoulder, trying to be nice but laughing instead.
"Hang on there Xero!" Morrow spoke up. "Before you blow up completely, let us explain. Now, blaze and I were already on a mission. So-"
"Um, I was here! I'm telling him what happened!" Angel spoke out as she scooted closer over on the booth bench towards me. I could probably get a buzz off of her breath if i tried, the alcohol was so strong. "So we all gathered around the TV while Chris set it up. All we really wanted to do was see what kind of effect the overboost would have on you, but as we were all talking people started telling me to take you on a mission because i knew you. They talked me into it somehow and i looked one up really quick and accepted. Then i went off to meet you." She looked around the room really quick. "Hey Evergleam!!!" She yelled across the room and a young male raven looked up. He looked around for a second until he saw angel flailing her arms and started walking over.
"What's up? Oh hey! Its you! That was one hellava damn good job you did out there man!" He swung his arm around and hit my shoulder a few times. He had black spiked hair, he was about 5' 11'', dark tanned skin and dark brown eyes that were almost black.
"Ya thanks. But I'm trying to figure out just what i did that was so good."
He walked around the table and took a seat next to Morrow. "so Xero, what happened before is when you were on your test everybody thought you freaked out towards the end there. So after you left we were all anxious to see what would happen when you tried out your overboost, it gets us all the first time we use it but we were especially interested in you cause you got spooked earlier. Now we all laughed of-course when you fired it off, but I heard some talk going on behind me about someone taking you on a mission to see what you were really made of." He looked over at angel who was now chugging her wine. "that's when I suggested that we send angel to take you because we all knew you and her knew each other from that one mission the other day." He inhaled before continuing. "so we all got together and talked her into going, after she accepted we found a mission that looked easy enough and sent her on her way." He was one of those people who talk just as much with their hands as with their mouth. "so, things went just as you witnessed just that there were thirty other ravens in this room all huddled around three TVs seeing what you were seeing. We were very impressed to say the least with your maneuvers against those mammoth MTs and inside the base against those little spider-monkey pieces of crap. But the real surprise came when the phone rang in here and when it was answered the A-1 rank raven, Nexus, was requested on the line. He was watching but was able to unglue himself long enough to walk over and talk to whoever was on the phone. He was over there for a few minutes but nobody noticed because they were all watching the battle. But when he hung up he got everybody's attention and told us that he had just accepted a mission for Crest to eliminate a group of four ravens that had attacked one of their AI bases. None of us understood why he was telling us this until he said, "guess who I have to fight?" and when nobody answered he pointed to the TV screen with you blowing apart MT after MT. we all ushered him out the door and told him to hurry and get out there before you finished your mission. We continued watching your mission until Nexus got there, that's when things got interesting. He let your buddies get away while he took you on." He looked at me then at the table then up at me again, "well, Xero, sorry but to tell you the truth we weren't expecting you to last five seconds with him. But when you busted out some of those awesome moves and tore him up, the room was completely silent then when you landed next to his smoldering AC and pointed your gun at him and said, "you lose Nexus" the room went into an uproar. Then after you turned around and hit your overboost back this way the whole room was screaming! We were blown away completely man! We decided to have a party for you and everything."
"just because I beat the number 1 raven?" well, I beat the number 1 raven! That's enough reason for me to celebrate!
"well everybody likes Nexus but he was getting a little cocky, the way he took the arena by storm and beat the last A-1 raven in about twenty seconds, but that's not the point. It was getting irritating how nobody could ever put him in his place! And well that is half the reason why were having this little party."
"and the other half?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.
"well, we got to see one of the best movies we've seen in quite a few years!" he started laughing like hell and stood from his seat then went back to the group he had come from.
"oh, my, GOD!!!" I slammed my head down on the table again and angel tried to pat me on the shoulder again but missed and hit the back of my head, hard. "well, whatever. Might as well enjoy myself then." I looked around the room at all of the ravens sitting together and having a good time. I picked up my glass and topped it off.
One guy jumped up on top of a table a few minutes later and yelled a few times to get everyone's attention.
"that's Shade, he's the A-6 ranked raven. He used to be A-3 until the arena expanded." Morrow bent over the table to tell me.
The guy on the table started talking to someone on the ground in front of him then stamped on the table again to get everyone's attention again. "ok everybody! I need the raven now known as. Xero to step up here!" when he said "Xero" he jabbed his finger up into the air and almost fell off the table.
Oh god, what does he want from me? I rolled my eyes and stood up to walk over to him. I walked over to him and i could almost feel everybody's eyes digging into me. when i got to him he motioned his arm for me to get on the table.
I got up on the table and he hooked his arm around my neck. "what's wrong Xero? Huh? I mean wees all 'aving a gud time. We'r all drunk here so com- on 'ave a good time." he turned his head away and took another drink, which was a good thing because his breath was killing me. "well, in a fuw minut, we ar gona show his good thow againe." with that he patted me on the back and almost fell over in his attempt to get off of the table.
I walked back to the table with morrow and what was left of the conscious angel. "so i get to relive that whole mission again. O-boy." i looked around the room again and then back to morrow. "hey morrow."
He looked up from his glass of wine which he was swirling around in the cup. "ya?"
"have you seen Dash? Where is that guy? I haven't seen him."
"you saw him this-morning. remember he said he had some business to-" he was interrupted as angel collapsed onto the table. "-to take care of. Remember how he got pissed when we asked him what was up?" he returned to his wine.
"ya i remember, but i have a bad feeling. Why would he get mad at us for asking?" i looked over at Angel, who was now unconscious on the table. "so, nobody was seriously injured on the mission then?"
"nope." that was all i got, along with a shrug. "i dont know how but none of us were injured."
then i wonder why it was so hard for angel to talk to me earlier? She sounded hurt over the com. I decided to change the subject a bit. "hey morrow, what kind of AC does Dash have?"
"he has the fastest AC I've ever seen. Its got the PETAL hover legs, a light weigh, overboost core, and a pretty good head. His weapons are the SAMURAI beam-blade arms, a small missile launcher, and a chain gun."
"sounds pretty nice. What kind of chaingun?"
"the 300 round one." his eyes went over to the table that shade was on earlier along with everyone else's. A new raven was back on the table.
"ok guys, we are starting the recording again! Those who want to watch, gather around the TV!" he shouted then jumped off and walked over to join the rest of the ravens at the wall screen television.
"morrow, you gonna watch?"
"ya i am. I missed it the first time."
"well, I'm not, i got enough of a show the first time around. so what are we gonna do with her?" i pointed towards angel.
He started laughing. "i don't know. i say we leave her here. We don't know where she lives or anything. And its not like anything's gonna happen to her while she's here." he stood up to join the others.
"you really think that's what we should do? That just doesn't seem right to me."
"well, you can't take her home with you, dumbass. You live five hours away! What do you want to do?"
"well, as her friends we can't leave her here."
"damnit. Well i guess we could call around?" he looked greatly disappointed.
"look, you watch your show and I'll go and get some dinner for us. Blaze too, where is she?" i looked over and sure enough there she was, passed out on a table on the other side of the room.
"well, shit..." he saw her too. "Well, what do we do about them?"
"well where does Angel normally live? Does she garage in Cercall or Zenith?"
"who cares?" he shrugged his shoulders.
"holy Christ morrow. Geez your heartless." i laughed a bit with him.
"ok, well, its not like you can bring them back with us! What should we do about them?"
"Well, we might have to bring them back with us. We cant just leave them here unconscious at the mercy of the next horny bastard that walks by." that though crossed my mind after watching all of the other women that were hanging on me at first long since had drunk their cares away and had been seen being escorted into separate rooms by multiple other men.
"why not?" he was obviously ignorant to the point that i had just tried to make.
"what do you mean "why not"? All you have to do to understand is walk over to the door, put your ear on the door and listen!" i pointed to the closest door that i had seen open not too long ago.
He walked over and put his head against the door. I didn't know why he couldn't believe me but after about thirty seconds his eyes got really wide and I'm pretty sure that if he had no pride or dignity he would run inside. Luckily though he contained both and so he stepped away from the door and back over to me.
"i see your point." he seemed to be a bit uncomfortable in his pants at the moment.
"i thought you would. So what i guess we could do is put the two of them in my truck and then the two of us would take our ACs home and carry the truck."
"that sounds like a really crappy idea but i guess it would work. Is your AC pilotable? I mean does it work?"
"ya, its works fine. I wont be taking it back into battle until i get it repaired, but it will get me home."
"well then i guess that's what we're gonna do."
So morrow walked over to watch the rest of the show and i walked over to blaze, picked her up, and carried her back to where Angel was laying. I sat her next to angel and did my best to prop her up, but to no avail, her breath was intoxicating and she wouldn't sit up straight. So i leaned her up against Angel and left her there.
"morrow, I'm gonna get something to eat, ill be back in a few minutes." i said to the crowd around the giant screen on the wall. I didn't know which glowing hump was morrow but o-well.
I walked down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I got a big sub- sandwich and paid my 9 credits for it and sat down to eat it.
While i was eating i started thinking about the strange units that i was seeing all over. "am i hallucinating?" i thought to myself. "am i really freaking out and I'm in denial? I don't remember 'freaking out' or doing anything that they described to me?" i thought for a moment, "what's happening? I just don't understand... Well then maybe its too early for me to understand. That's it, I'll give it some time and things will work themselves out. Right? But its gonna be hard to just push this thing aside for now." with that closing thought i finished up my sandwich and then bought another just like it for morrow and walked back to the nest.
As i approached the door, it opened and people started filing out. Among them was morrow who, upon seeing me walking toward the door, walked over.
"did you eat? The shows over. Everybody's calling it a night and heading home." he pointed his thumb back towards the door with people still coming out in pairs.
"good, now we can go home." i held out the bag with the sandwich to morrow.
"mine? sweet, thanks man! I'm starving." he looked into the bag and pulled the sandwich out. "ham and cheese?"
I gave a nod.
"alright, good then. Lets get on home." he spun around with the bag in one hand and the sandwich in the other and plowed through the crowd of people still squeezing through the door.
when we finally made it through the door I noticed something that wasn't there before. "smells like sex in here." i looked over to the booth where we left angel and blaze and I saw blaze laying on the booth seat still passed out apparently, and i saw angel laying all spread out on top of the table on her back. Also passed out. "morrow! You guys did not do what i think you did!" i turned to him.
"wha?" he looked over towards the pair at the booth. "oh no no no! we didn't do anything! Well, i caught a couple of guys over there that moved them but i put a stop to that before they could do anything!"
"oh Jesus... Lets get them out of here."
"fair enough." he sat down. "let me eat first."
"ya alright." i pulled angel down and sat her up on the bench, i sat blaze up as well then sat down myself.
Morrow was dissecting his sandwich, taking off the tomatoes, the pickles and half the lettuce. After which he proceeded to suck down the sandwich.
"holy Christ morrow! Your like a snake! You just unhook your jaw and stuff it all in!" he took the whole 12 inch sandwich in about six bites.
"that was really good. Thanks Xero." he leaned back and patted himself on the stomach.
"you swallowed all that? Geezus, whatever, lets go." i stood up and then turned around and picked up angel, morrow picked up blaze. "follow me." i walked out of the room.
We walked down to the elevator and out to the parking lot. I walked to my truck and carefully opened the door. After putting angel inside and buckling the seatbelt around her, i motioned my arm for morrow to bring blaze around to the other side. He opened the door and put blaze inside and buckled her in as well. I pushed angel over so that the two of them were leaning on each other.
"hey morrow." i whispered, not wanting to wake them up. "should we leave them a note or anything?"
"why bother?"
"well, i for one don't want to face the wrath of two women. That is enough reason but in addition they will probably have hangovers and they are waking up inside of a truck that will be moving at 400+ mph at 20 feet in the air."
"i see your point." he pulled out his PDA and typed something quickly then put it on the dashboard. It magnetically stuck there with its screen light illuminating the cab. "there. If they wake up they'll check that and it'll be fine."
we closed the doors and i locked the truck. "so morrow, what did you put on there?"
"how to use the communicator in your truck and how to set it to your ACs frequency."
"damn you." i laughed as we walked away. "so now when they wake up I'll get bitched at instead of you."
"that's the point." he laughed at me.
"well, someday you'll learn morrow. There are advantages to being nice to women."
"like what?" and that sparked it off, we argued the entire way back to the garage to get our ACs.
I ran back to the repair area and got the note out of the office and ran back across the bridge, up the ramp and onto my ACs core. I walked up to the cockpit hatch and typed in my password. The hatch responded with a slight hissing sound followed by the hydraulic hum as the hatch swung up and open.
I jumped inside and strapped myself in as before.
"good evening Xero."
"good evening revolution. Start the AC please."
"yes sir." and i could here the electro-static, nuclear generator start up and begin pumping energy to all parts of the AC. "revolution has battle damage, would you like a report?"
"save it for later, revolution." i said as i put the gloves, and the suit on. afterwards the platform broke apart and became braces around my legs.
"do we have an emergency mission, Xero?" the computer droned on.
"no, but i would just like to get home as soon as possible. please activate mobile mode."
"affirmative. All weapon energy re-routed to boosters."
"lets go then." i pushed a button on my pilot suit that opened a comm. channel. "morrow, you ready?" i stepped out of the repair stall.
"I'm waiting by the parking lot. Do i carry the truck or will you?"
"ill carry it. You've been drinking and you look pretty tired." i walked out of the hangar and back into the star conquered night.
"whatever, your choice." i boosted around the building and over to the parking lot and sure enough, there was morrow standing over my truck.
"alright, lets go." i stopped boosting and walked over to the truck and picked it up. I turned back to morrow. "which way is it?"
"north, lets go." he turned and started boosting through the city, weaving in and out of buildings. I followed closely behind, being careful not to hit my truck on anything or go too hard on it. We didn't need to smash the two of them into my interior.
We continued boosting until we were clear of the city. Once we cleared the final buildings i saw the back of morrow's core start to glow and build up energy. Shortly after it exploded with red plasma energy and he shot forward at sound breaking speed. I wanted to do the same but as i was carrying some "vital equipment" i didn't want to take any chances. If i hit my overboost it could rip the car apart or the G-forces could kill them.
morrow, after a while stopped using his overboost and let me catch up to him. I estimated that we were about half-an-hour from home when my comm. lit up.
"XERO!!!!!"
"who is this?" then i checked the source, it was coming from about two meters away. The truck.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!?? WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!?? I JUST WOKE UP IN A TRUCK GOING 400 MPH TWO STORIES IN THE AIR!!!!" it was angel, and i was dead.
"hey calm down angel, we're going home, its no big deal. You and blaze are in the truck and morrow and i are in our ACs. I'm carrying you home."
"home?!?! I live at the garage! I don't have a house of my own!"
"well, we didn't know where either of you lived so we were just gonna bring you back to my house and you guys could stay there until you decided to go back home. You could stay at my house for awhile if you want. I don't mind the company." so, she lived in one of the apartments at the garage. i thought that just about every raven had their own home?
Angel had quieted down for now and I guess blaze was still out cause she didn't make a sound.
"so angel, how come you don't own a house of your own?" I asked about ten minutes later to break the silence.
"well, I just move around so often that a house wouldn't be practical." she was was calm now. despite the occasional stumble in her words as the boosters were activated.
"that makes sense." i never really thought about that. "well angel, i do not plan on selling my house any time soon, simply because i like to have a place that i can call home and a place that i can return to."
silence.
As we entered the city morrow came over the channel again. "well Xero, since this was all your grand idea I'm gonna head on back to the garage and leave them to you. Its been fun!" and he boosted up and hit his overboost to shoot him over the city.
"thanks morrow, real friend-like."
Angel watched him fly away through the window as i began to walk through the city.
It took me about half-an-hour with no traffic to make it to the garage. Once i arrived at the main hanger gate i radioed to the control tower and told them who i was. they opened the gate for me and i proceeded inside after setting the truck on the ground. I walked through to the repair area as i had before in Zenith. Thankfully most of the garages have the same basic layout to make life a little easier for passing ravens. I walked my AC into a stall next to a quadruped AC that was as tall as mine and it had a hole in the core. I wondered how this was possible until i looked down and noticed it standing on the tip of its four legs. There were a few more ACs in the garage but none worth mentioning except for this large heavyweight AC. It had large legs but it had the strangest weapon layout for a heavyweight: it had two strange weapons on each forearm, i guessed that they were beam blades. They were elongated and they were colored black, they split into two long blades at the end. I guessed that the base of the split was where the actual beam extended from. On its back it had two thirty percent ammo additions which made me wonder why it had blades, but i didn't know that they were actually blades in the first place. It had a jet black paint job, there was no other color on it at all.
"i just hope that i never have to face that thing." i thought aloud and then exited my cockpit.
"good night Xero." my computer droned as i powered down the AC.
I stepped back out onto the core and onto the catwalk that crossed all the cores like the one in every other garage did. I walked to the repair office and put the note that i had used before on the desk. Afterwards i left the office and walked to the elevator on the opposite side of the garage. I wasn't paying attention to anything on the bridge except for the black AC i had seen earlier. As I walked by i thought i saw its arm move. That kinda creeped me out, it couldn't have been that hard because it was kinda dark and i was the only one in here that i knew of. So whatever.
I dismissed it and kept walking to the elevator. I stepped inside after the doors opened with a small "hiss". "what floor please?" the computer's female voice rang through the elevator.
"ground floor please." i droned, sounding annoyed partially cause i wasn't in th best mood and partially cause i was tired.
"level 3." the computer chirped and the elevator accelerated upwards, giving me that crushing feeling again.
After about twenty seconds i heard a loud "DING" 3 telling me that i had reached the desired floor. I stepped out of the elevator with the familiar hiss and looked both ways to find a way out. The garages were mostly laid out the same but i had never tried to exit the building coming from the AC side.
It took me about ten minutes (i work fast) to find a familiar way out. Once i was out i started walking back to the truck, which was easily on the opposite side of the building. I started running around the garage, then lessened to a jog and then back to a walk. I kept up a brisk walk for about fifteen more minutes until i had the truck in sight.
I got in and saw that Blaze was sleeping happily in the backseat and Angel, barely awake, in the passenger seat with her arms crossed over her chest.
"it took you long enough." angel said looking up at me when i got in, then she returned to looking forward.
"i have never docked in the AC side of the garage before." i replied as i started the truck. It responded by giving an excited roar as it came to life.
"whatever." she looked back at blaze. "i guess we're both staying with you tonight." she said in a tone that made it more a question than a statement.
"is there anywhere else you had in mind?" i asked as i pulled the truck out of the parking lot.
"no, where else do you think we should stay?" her head dropped a bit then she quickly picked it back up.
"well unless you feel like paying for a hotel? You could stay at my house. Its not like i have a trashy place or anything. i live in a nice neighborhood with a good home. Its got plenty if room. Yesterday , all four of us stayed there. Us meaning dash, blaze, Morrow, and myself of course."
"I never said that your house was trashy or anything. I just... Nevermind."
"um... Well ok. Ill tell you when we get to my house, we have a good forty minutes at least back to my house."
"why so long?"
"we have to get through the city and then we have to get to Trene, then through there to my house."
"well, tell me when we get there."
I looked over and angel had her head on the window and she had her eyes closed. She was sound asleep.
I continued boosting and overboosting until I reached the city. Once i got there, i jumped to the top of the closest building, trying not to collapse it. I jumped up again and hit my overboost. I did this from building to building until i got to the garage.
I walked up to the main hanger gates for ACs and instead of the gates opening, the guard turrets activated and the searchlights pointed at me. The com opened:
"Identify yourself!" The gruff voice of a guard racked across the com.
"My name is Xero. This is my AC revolution." i said as i raised my arms to guard my eyes from the light.
"You are not a registered raven with this cortex."
"I just took my test today and I'm coming back from my first mission. I got my license only this morning. That's probably why I'm not registered yet."
"Your raven name is Xero? Correct?"
"Ya."
"Just a moment. If you move from your position we WILL open fire."
"Ya ya, ok." I could tell the guard put his hand over the mic, i could hear the scratching of his hand and some muffled voices in the background.
"Very well." The guard returned. "We apologize for this misunderstanding Xero. Please continue through to the garage repair hangar to your left."
"Ya, no problem. Don't worry about it." The lights turned off and the turrets deactivated. The gates opened a moment later to let me in.
I walked through to the repair center doors and waited for the automatic hangar doors to open. When they opened enough for me to; I walked in to the hanger and saw blaze walking her AC through a door on the other side of the hanger. I tried to radio her but she had her com off. I looked to the AC stalls on the side of the hanger and saw angels AC supported by two repair MTs that had obviously been locked into that position to hold up the wrecked AC. I walked over and backed my AC into the stall two stalls to the right of Angel's. The catwalk automatically extended over to my AC's cockpit hatch.
"Computer, please deactivate the AC."
"Yes, Xero. Goodnight." With that the AC shutdown and the cockpit monitors faded into blackness and the cockpit lights turned on. The pilot suit loosened, i unzipped it down the front and i slipped out and put it onto the side of the platform that had been made by my leg braces when they unclipped themselves. I jumped up and grabbed the bar that was about three feet above my head and pulled myself out of the cockpit. I closed the hatch and input my new password. I jumped off the core and looked around, there was a bridge that went from one side of the garage to the other and the bridge crossed across the cores of any AC that would be parked in a stall. On one side of the bridge was a door with a sign that said in large black letters "REPAIR OFFICE". On the other side of the bridge was another door that said "ELEVATOR", and it was where the repair crews would get down to the ground floor. The ground floor was mainly for the AC mechanics and the repair MT pilots. Nobody else really went down there, i don't think it's that we weren't allowed; it's just that nobody really had any business down there. I'm pretty sure the elevator went to the upper levels as well so the pilots could get around. So i walked to the opposite side of the bridge to the office of the repair center to see somebody about repairing my AC. It was late so i left them a note about it on the desk. As i was walking back across the bridge to the door on the opposite side i stopped to look at my AC. Its head was partially smashed in and the core was flat in the front and sides where it was supposed to be round. Its arms were mostly unharmed except for some small holes (relatively speaking, they were three inches wide) and some dents in the armour. I'm sure that there were a ton of holes in the back and the legs. I shook my head and continued down the bridge until i got to the elevator. I opened the elevator and stepped inside.
"What floor please?" A smooth female voice reverberated from the walls.
"I wonder how angels doing?" I wondered allowed. "Infirmary please."
"Level eight, third passage to the left." The elevator started moving abruptly, giving me a smashing feeling. After about a minute the elevator stopped and the doors opened.
I exited the elevator and walked down the hallway until i came to the third passage on my left. I took it and then i kept walking until i reached a door marked "INFIRMARY". I proceeded inside and came to a counter in a medium sized white room lined with doors on both sides. I walked up to the counter and to the old woman who was standing there. The room smelled strangely sterile, which was unlike a cortex garage facility because the only places people see are the offices and maybe the garage if they have a good connection.
"Good afternoon. Can i help you?" The woman said with a cheery voice and face.
"I was wondering if a raven named angel was brought in earlier?"
"Angel? Let me check." She started typing away on the computer keyboard next to her. "Ah, yes. Angel, she was brought in earlier but was released shortly after. Actually, she was only in here for about ten minutes." She chuckled a bit.
"Alright thanks. C'ya later." I spun around and went back the way i came. Through the halls to the elevator.
"What floor please?" The female voice asked of me again as i stepped in.
"The Nest please." I said in monotone and walked to the back of the elevator and leaned against the wall with my arms crossed. "She was only in there for ten minutes? I thought she would be bed-ridden for a week! Geez, i guess the pilot is more protected then they tell you."
DING! "Level six." The doors slid silently around into the walls of the elevator. "Have a good night." The pleasant voice rang out as i stepped out of the elevator. I walked to the closest door marked "NEST" as i had only hours before.
This time however as the door opened i got smashed as six girls, including blaze, tackled me out of the doorway and onto my ass. I heard cheers and "woot"s coming from the door. I stood up after the women got off me and walked through the door. I saw everybody holding a beer and in a damn good mood. I spotted morrow and angel sitting in a booth at the far corner of the room, both holding a glass of wine and laughing. I walked up with two girls hanging on each arm. They looked up at me and angel scowled upon seeing four super-model class women swinging on my arms, Morrow stood up and gave me a high-five; the girls walked away as i sat down.
"Ok guys, what's going on?" I asked as morrow motioned one hand toward a twenty-four pack of beer and he motioned the other hand towards a bottle of champagne. I pointed to the wine and he poured me a glass and handed it to me.
Angel answered my question as i took a sip. "Well Xero... I'm sorry but after you left for your little AC test run, Chris ran in here and told everyone that he had a recorder installed in your AC's cockpit and head before you picked it up."
I almost spit out what was in my mouth, "WHAT!!!" I was suddenly in a very bad mood. "What is it with you guys and watching what i do in my AC?! This is twice in the same day! What's wrong with you guys?" I said exasperated and I slammed my head down on the table.
Angel put her hand over and patted me on the shoulder, trying to be nice but laughing instead.
"Hang on there Xero!" Morrow spoke up. "Before you blow up completely, let us explain. Now, blaze and I were already on a mission. So-"
"Um, I was here! I'm telling him what happened!" Angel spoke out as she scooted closer over on the booth bench towards me. I could probably get a buzz off of her breath if i tried, the alcohol was so strong. "So we all gathered around the TV while Chris set it up. All we really wanted to do was see what kind of effect the overboost would have on you, but as we were all talking people started telling me to take you on a mission because i knew you. They talked me into it somehow and i looked one up really quick and accepted. Then i went off to meet you." She looked around the room really quick. "Hey Evergleam!!!" She yelled across the room and a young male raven looked up. He looked around for a second until he saw angel flailing her arms and started walking over.
"What's up? Oh hey! Its you! That was one hellava damn good job you did out there man!" He swung his arm around and hit my shoulder a few times. He had black spiked hair, he was about 5' 11'', dark tanned skin and dark brown eyes that were almost black.
"Ya thanks. But I'm trying to figure out just what i did that was so good."
He walked around the table and took a seat next to Morrow. "so Xero, what happened before is when you were on your test everybody thought you freaked out towards the end there. So after you left we were all anxious to see what would happen when you tried out your overboost, it gets us all the first time we use it but we were especially interested in you cause you got spooked earlier. Now we all laughed of-course when you fired it off, but I heard some talk going on behind me about someone taking you on a mission to see what you were really made of." He looked over at angel who was now chugging her wine. "that's when I suggested that we send angel to take you because we all knew you and her knew each other from that one mission the other day." He inhaled before continuing. "so we all got together and talked her into going, after she accepted we found a mission that looked easy enough and sent her on her way." He was one of those people who talk just as much with their hands as with their mouth. "so, things went just as you witnessed just that there were thirty other ravens in this room all huddled around three TVs seeing what you were seeing. We were very impressed to say the least with your maneuvers against those mammoth MTs and inside the base against those little spider-monkey pieces of crap. But the real surprise came when the phone rang in here and when it was answered the A-1 rank raven, Nexus, was requested on the line. He was watching but was able to unglue himself long enough to walk over and talk to whoever was on the phone. He was over there for a few minutes but nobody noticed because they were all watching the battle. But when he hung up he got everybody's attention and told us that he had just accepted a mission for Crest to eliminate a group of four ravens that had attacked one of their AI bases. None of us understood why he was telling us this until he said, "guess who I have to fight?" and when nobody answered he pointed to the TV screen with you blowing apart MT after MT. we all ushered him out the door and told him to hurry and get out there before you finished your mission. We continued watching your mission until Nexus got there, that's when things got interesting. He let your buddies get away while he took you on." He looked at me then at the table then up at me again, "well, Xero, sorry but to tell you the truth we weren't expecting you to last five seconds with him. But when you busted out some of those awesome moves and tore him up, the room was completely silent then when you landed next to his smoldering AC and pointed your gun at him and said, "you lose Nexus" the room went into an uproar. Then after you turned around and hit your overboost back this way the whole room was screaming! We were blown away completely man! We decided to have a party for you and everything."
"just because I beat the number 1 raven?" well, I beat the number 1 raven! That's enough reason for me to celebrate!
"well everybody likes Nexus but he was getting a little cocky, the way he took the arena by storm and beat the last A-1 raven in about twenty seconds, but that's not the point. It was getting irritating how nobody could ever put him in his place! And well that is half the reason why were having this little party."
"and the other half?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.
"well, we got to see one of the best movies we've seen in quite a few years!" he started laughing like hell and stood from his seat then went back to the group he had come from.
"oh, my, GOD!!!" I slammed my head down on the table again and angel tried to pat me on the shoulder again but missed and hit the back of my head, hard. "well, whatever. Might as well enjoy myself then." I looked around the room at all of the ravens sitting together and having a good time. I picked up my glass and topped it off.
One guy jumped up on top of a table a few minutes later and yelled a few times to get everyone's attention.
"that's Shade, he's the A-6 ranked raven. He used to be A-3 until the arena expanded." Morrow bent over the table to tell me.
The guy on the table started talking to someone on the ground in front of him then stamped on the table again to get everyone's attention again. "ok everybody! I need the raven now known as. Xero to step up here!" when he said "Xero" he jabbed his finger up into the air and almost fell off the table.
Oh god, what does he want from me? I rolled my eyes and stood up to walk over to him. I walked over to him and i could almost feel everybody's eyes digging into me. when i got to him he motioned his arm for me to get on the table.
I got up on the table and he hooked his arm around my neck. "what's wrong Xero? Huh? I mean wees all 'aving a gud time. We'r all drunk here so com- on 'ave a good time." he turned his head away and took another drink, which was a good thing because his breath was killing me. "well, in a fuw minut, we ar gona show his good thow againe." with that he patted me on the back and almost fell over in his attempt to get off of the table.
I walked back to the table with morrow and what was left of the conscious angel. "so i get to relive that whole mission again. O-boy." i looked around the room again and then back to morrow. "hey morrow."
He looked up from his glass of wine which he was swirling around in the cup. "ya?"
"have you seen Dash? Where is that guy? I haven't seen him."
"you saw him this-morning. remember he said he had some business to-" he was interrupted as angel collapsed onto the table. "-to take care of. Remember how he got pissed when we asked him what was up?" he returned to his wine.
"ya i remember, but i have a bad feeling. Why would he get mad at us for asking?" i looked over at Angel, who was now unconscious on the table. "so, nobody was seriously injured on the mission then?"
"nope." that was all i got, along with a shrug. "i dont know how but none of us were injured."
then i wonder why it was so hard for angel to talk to me earlier? She sounded hurt over the com. I decided to change the subject a bit. "hey morrow, what kind of AC does Dash have?"
"he has the fastest AC I've ever seen. Its got the PETAL hover legs, a light weigh, overboost core, and a pretty good head. His weapons are the SAMURAI beam-blade arms, a small missile launcher, and a chain gun."
"sounds pretty nice. What kind of chaingun?"
"the 300 round one." his eyes went over to the table that shade was on earlier along with everyone else's. A new raven was back on the table.
"ok guys, we are starting the recording again! Those who want to watch, gather around the TV!" he shouted then jumped off and walked over to join the rest of the ravens at the wall screen television.
"morrow, you gonna watch?"
"ya i am. I missed it the first time."
"well, I'm not, i got enough of a show the first time around. so what are we gonna do with her?" i pointed towards angel.
He started laughing. "i don't know. i say we leave her here. We don't know where she lives or anything. And its not like anything's gonna happen to her while she's here." he stood up to join the others.
"you really think that's what we should do? That just doesn't seem right to me."
"well, you can't take her home with you, dumbass. You live five hours away! What do you want to do?"
"well, as her friends we can't leave her here."
"damnit. Well i guess we could call around?" he looked greatly disappointed.
"look, you watch your show and I'll go and get some dinner for us. Blaze too, where is she?" i looked over and sure enough there she was, passed out on a table on the other side of the room.
"well, shit..." he saw her too. "Well, what do we do about them?"
"well where does Angel normally live? Does she garage in Cercall or Zenith?"
"who cares?" he shrugged his shoulders.
"holy Christ morrow. Geez your heartless." i laughed a bit with him.
"ok, well, its not like you can bring them back with us! What should we do about them?"
"Well, we might have to bring them back with us. We cant just leave them here unconscious at the mercy of the next horny bastard that walks by." that though crossed my mind after watching all of the other women that were hanging on me at first long since had drunk their cares away and had been seen being escorted into separate rooms by multiple other men.
"why not?" he was obviously ignorant to the point that i had just tried to make.
"what do you mean "why not"? All you have to do to understand is walk over to the door, put your ear on the door and listen!" i pointed to the closest door that i had seen open not too long ago.
He walked over and put his head against the door. I didn't know why he couldn't believe me but after about thirty seconds his eyes got really wide and I'm pretty sure that if he had no pride or dignity he would run inside. Luckily though he contained both and so he stepped away from the door and back over to me.
"i see your point." he seemed to be a bit uncomfortable in his pants at the moment.
"i thought you would. So what i guess we could do is put the two of them in my truck and then the two of us would take our ACs home and carry the truck."
"that sounds like a really crappy idea but i guess it would work. Is your AC pilotable? I mean does it work?"
"ya, its works fine. I wont be taking it back into battle until i get it repaired, but it will get me home."
"well then i guess that's what we're gonna do."
So morrow walked over to watch the rest of the show and i walked over to blaze, picked her up, and carried her back to where Angel was laying. I sat her next to angel and did my best to prop her up, but to no avail, her breath was intoxicating and she wouldn't sit up straight. So i leaned her up against Angel and left her there.
"morrow, I'm gonna get something to eat, ill be back in a few minutes." i said to the crowd around the giant screen on the wall. I didn't know which glowing hump was morrow but o-well.
I walked down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I got a big sub- sandwich and paid my 9 credits for it and sat down to eat it.
While i was eating i started thinking about the strange units that i was seeing all over. "am i hallucinating?" i thought to myself. "am i really freaking out and I'm in denial? I don't remember 'freaking out' or doing anything that they described to me?" i thought for a moment, "what's happening? I just don't understand... Well then maybe its too early for me to understand. That's it, I'll give it some time and things will work themselves out. Right? But its gonna be hard to just push this thing aside for now." with that closing thought i finished up my sandwich and then bought another just like it for morrow and walked back to the nest.
As i approached the door, it opened and people started filing out. Among them was morrow who, upon seeing me walking toward the door, walked over.
"did you eat? The shows over. Everybody's calling it a night and heading home." he pointed his thumb back towards the door with people still coming out in pairs.
"good, now we can go home." i held out the bag with the sandwich to morrow.
"mine? sweet, thanks man! I'm starving." he looked into the bag and pulled the sandwich out. "ham and cheese?"
I gave a nod.
"alright, good then. Lets get on home." he spun around with the bag in one hand and the sandwich in the other and plowed through the crowd of people still squeezing through the door.
when we finally made it through the door I noticed something that wasn't there before. "smells like sex in here." i looked over to the booth where we left angel and blaze and I saw blaze laying on the booth seat still passed out apparently, and i saw angel laying all spread out on top of the table on her back. Also passed out. "morrow! You guys did not do what i think you did!" i turned to him.
"wha?" he looked over towards the pair at the booth. "oh no no no! we didn't do anything! Well, i caught a couple of guys over there that moved them but i put a stop to that before they could do anything!"
"oh Jesus... Lets get them out of here."
"fair enough." he sat down. "let me eat first."
"ya alright." i pulled angel down and sat her up on the bench, i sat blaze up as well then sat down myself.
Morrow was dissecting his sandwich, taking off the tomatoes, the pickles and half the lettuce. After which he proceeded to suck down the sandwich.
"holy Christ morrow! Your like a snake! You just unhook your jaw and stuff it all in!" he took the whole 12 inch sandwich in about six bites.
"that was really good. Thanks Xero." he leaned back and patted himself on the stomach.
"you swallowed all that? Geezus, whatever, lets go." i stood up and then turned around and picked up angel, morrow picked up blaze. "follow me." i walked out of the room.
We walked down to the elevator and out to the parking lot. I walked to my truck and carefully opened the door. After putting angel inside and buckling the seatbelt around her, i motioned my arm for morrow to bring blaze around to the other side. He opened the door and put blaze inside and buckled her in as well. I pushed angel over so that the two of them were leaning on each other.
"hey morrow." i whispered, not wanting to wake them up. "should we leave them a note or anything?"
"why bother?"
"well, i for one don't want to face the wrath of two women. That is enough reason but in addition they will probably have hangovers and they are waking up inside of a truck that will be moving at 400+ mph at 20 feet in the air."
"i see your point." he pulled out his PDA and typed something quickly then put it on the dashboard. It magnetically stuck there with its screen light illuminating the cab. "there. If they wake up they'll check that and it'll be fine."
we closed the doors and i locked the truck. "so morrow, what did you put on there?"
"how to use the communicator in your truck and how to set it to your ACs frequency."
"damn you." i laughed as we walked away. "so now when they wake up I'll get bitched at instead of you."
"that's the point." he laughed at me.
"well, someday you'll learn morrow. There are advantages to being nice to women."
"like what?" and that sparked it off, we argued the entire way back to the garage to get our ACs.
I ran back to the repair area and got the note out of the office and ran back across the bridge, up the ramp and onto my ACs core. I walked up to the cockpit hatch and typed in my password. The hatch responded with a slight hissing sound followed by the hydraulic hum as the hatch swung up and open.
I jumped inside and strapped myself in as before.
"good evening Xero."
"good evening revolution. Start the AC please."
"yes sir." and i could here the electro-static, nuclear generator start up and begin pumping energy to all parts of the AC. "revolution has battle damage, would you like a report?"
"save it for later, revolution." i said as i put the gloves, and the suit on. afterwards the platform broke apart and became braces around my legs.
"do we have an emergency mission, Xero?" the computer droned on.
"no, but i would just like to get home as soon as possible. please activate mobile mode."
"affirmative. All weapon energy re-routed to boosters."
"lets go then." i pushed a button on my pilot suit that opened a comm. channel. "morrow, you ready?" i stepped out of the repair stall.
"I'm waiting by the parking lot. Do i carry the truck or will you?"
"ill carry it. You've been drinking and you look pretty tired." i walked out of the hangar and back into the star conquered night.
"whatever, your choice." i boosted around the building and over to the parking lot and sure enough, there was morrow standing over my truck.
"alright, lets go." i stopped boosting and walked over to the truck and picked it up. I turned back to morrow. "which way is it?"
"north, lets go." he turned and started boosting through the city, weaving in and out of buildings. I followed closely behind, being careful not to hit my truck on anything or go too hard on it. We didn't need to smash the two of them into my interior.
We continued boosting until we were clear of the city. Once we cleared the final buildings i saw the back of morrow's core start to glow and build up energy. Shortly after it exploded with red plasma energy and he shot forward at sound breaking speed. I wanted to do the same but as i was carrying some "vital equipment" i didn't want to take any chances. If i hit my overboost it could rip the car apart or the G-forces could kill them.
morrow, after a while stopped using his overboost and let me catch up to him. I estimated that we were about half-an-hour from home when my comm. lit up.
"XERO!!!!!"
"who is this?" then i checked the source, it was coming from about two meters away. The truck.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!?? WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!?? I JUST WOKE UP IN A TRUCK GOING 400 MPH TWO STORIES IN THE AIR!!!!" it was angel, and i was dead.
"hey calm down angel, we're going home, its no big deal. You and blaze are in the truck and morrow and i are in our ACs. I'm carrying you home."
"home?!?! I live at the garage! I don't have a house of my own!"
"well, we didn't know where either of you lived so we were just gonna bring you back to my house and you guys could stay there until you decided to go back home. You could stay at my house for awhile if you want. I don't mind the company." so, she lived in one of the apartments at the garage. i thought that just about every raven had their own home?
Angel had quieted down for now and I guess blaze was still out cause she didn't make a sound.
"so angel, how come you don't own a house of your own?" I asked about ten minutes later to break the silence.
"well, I just move around so often that a house wouldn't be practical." she was was calm now. despite the occasional stumble in her words as the boosters were activated.
"that makes sense." i never really thought about that. "well angel, i do not plan on selling my house any time soon, simply because i like to have a place that i can call home and a place that i can return to."
silence.
As we entered the city morrow came over the channel again. "well Xero, since this was all your grand idea I'm gonna head on back to the garage and leave them to you. Its been fun!" and he boosted up and hit his overboost to shoot him over the city.
"thanks morrow, real friend-like."
Angel watched him fly away through the window as i began to walk through the city.
It took me about half-an-hour with no traffic to make it to the garage. Once i arrived at the main hanger gate i radioed to the control tower and told them who i was. they opened the gate for me and i proceeded inside after setting the truck on the ground. I walked through to the repair area as i had before in Zenith. Thankfully most of the garages have the same basic layout to make life a little easier for passing ravens. I walked my AC into a stall next to a quadruped AC that was as tall as mine and it had a hole in the core. I wondered how this was possible until i looked down and noticed it standing on the tip of its four legs. There were a few more ACs in the garage but none worth mentioning except for this large heavyweight AC. It had large legs but it had the strangest weapon layout for a heavyweight: it had two strange weapons on each forearm, i guessed that they were beam blades. They were elongated and they were colored black, they split into two long blades at the end. I guessed that the base of the split was where the actual beam extended from. On its back it had two thirty percent ammo additions which made me wonder why it had blades, but i didn't know that they were actually blades in the first place. It had a jet black paint job, there was no other color on it at all.
"i just hope that i never have to face that thing." i thought aloud and then exited my cockpit.
"good night Xero." my computer droned as i powered down the AC.
I stepped back out onto the core and onto the catwalk that crossed all the cores like the one in every other garage did. I walked to the repair office and put the note that i had used before on the desk. Afterwards i left the office and walked to the elevator on the opposite side of the garage. I wasn't paying attention to anything on the bridge except for the black AC i had seen earlier. As I walked by i thought i saw its arm move. That kinda creeped me out, it couldn't have been that hard because it was kinda dark and i was the only one in here that i knew of. So whatever.
I dismissed it and kept walking to the elevator. I stepped inside after the doors opened with a small "hiss". "what floor please?" the computer's female voice rang through the elevator.
"ground floor please." i droned, sounding annoyed partially cause i wasn't in th best mood and partially cause i was tired.
"level 3." the computer chirped and the elevator accelerated upwards, giving me that crushing feeling again.
After about twenty seconds i heard a loud "DING" 3 telling me that i had reached the desired floor. I stepped out of the elevator with the familiar hiss and looked both ways to find a way out. The garages were mostly laid out the same but i had never tried to exit the building coming from the AC side.
It took me about ten minutes (i work fast) to find a familiar way out. Once i was out i started walking back to the truck, which was easily on the opposite side of the building. I started running around the garage, then lessened to a jog and then back to a walk. I kept up a brisk walk for about fifteen more minutes until i had the truck in sight.
I got in and saw that Blaze was sleeping happily in the backseat and Angel, barely awake, in the passenger seat with her arms crossed over her chest.
"it took you long enough." angel said looking up at me when i got in, then she returned to looking forward.
"i have never docked in the AC side of the garage before." i replied as i started the truck. It responded by giving an excited roar as it came to life.
"whatever." she looked back at blaze. "i guess we're both staying with you tonight." she said in a tone that made it more a question than a statement.
"is there anywhere else you had in mind?" i asked as i pulled the truck out of the parking lot.
"no, where else do you think we should stay?" her head dropped a bit then she quickly picked it back up.
"well unless you feel like paying for a hotel? You could stay at my house. Its not like i have a trashy place or anything. i live in a nice neighborhood with a good home. Its got plenty if room. Yesterday , all four of us stayed there. Us meaning dash, blaze, Morrow, and myself of course."
"I never said that your house was trashy or anything. I just... Nevermind."
"um... Well ok. Ill tell you when we get to my house, we have a good forty minutes at least back to my house."
"why so long?"
"we have to get through the city and then we have to get to Trene, then through there to my house."
"well, tell me when we get there."
I looked over and angel had her head on the window and she had her eyes closed. She was sound asleep.