Chapter 12
Spinner cracked an eye open. Did he feel like getting up? Not really. But he laid there for at least two hours without successfully falling back asleep, so he pulled his groggy self out of the sheets. On the other side of the room, Sherman still snored soundly. Their clock on the massive dresser blinked the hour but it didn't really matter.
It was common for Spin to either wake up through the night or unable to sleep most of it. It was a miracle if he woke up past 5 am without interruption. The energy and obnoxiousness he exerted through the day that tended to cause his teammates so much grief, was just his brain running its last cell.
Spinner made his way to the club room/kitchen, aware that he was wearing beach ball print boxers and a white tee with a small hole in the shoulder. As he reached the end of the hall, he heard another door slide open. It was Zoom.
"Can't sleep?" the scout mumbled just barely audibly as he rubbed his eye.
"When can I ever," Spin shrugged. "help me grab cocoa puffs,"
The boys took the lift down a level and grabbed bowls, spoons, and cereal. Zoom opened the fridge and moaned.
"I have to go on a milk run – I'll be right back – just heading down to the corner gas station,"
Spinner nodded as he powered up the game console and flopped on the couch with a box of cocoa puffs next to him. Zoom fully expected that box to be empty when he returned… maybe he should buy some more just to be safe.
Zoom grabbed his sweatshirt and shoes from his room before heading down to Chopper. While leaving his room, he paused and stared at the door across from him. He could've sworn he heard something. His natural desire was to check to make sure she was doing alright, but after a long pause he finally left. Even if she wasn't doing well, it would be totally inappropriate to barge into her room uninvited. Then again… the whole team did that just yesterday – then he reminded himself that was special case. Her scream literally ripped through the walls so loudly they thought she was dying.
The rest of the team woke up closer to 8am (or 9 if you were Stanford), all except for Silver. They had all eaten and grabbed either a coffee or energy drink by 10am before converging in the hub for more simulation training with the antimatter containment unit. She still hadn't come out of her room. Vert asked Sage if she had seen her, to which the sentient responded no. The leader furrowed his brow, debating whether he should wake her for training. Sherman passed by, holding a fusion tool to make a couple tweaks on the containment unit.
"She's probably exhausted more than usual after yesterday – maybe give her another hour before checking," he suggested.
Zoom nodded his agreement. Vert decided that if Zoom wasn't worried, he shouldn't be either – seeing as their scout seemed to be the most paranoid of her.
"Let's go boys," Agura called, saddling up into Tangler.
Their training began.
After small bursts of sleep, Silver woke indefinitely sometime after 8am, but the number on her clock held no significance to her. Without the sun, it was impossible to tell the time of day. Silver wondered if her body somehow knew the time in relation to the energy of the world around her.
She spent the first chunk of time staring up at the stars on her ceiling. Her dreams had been few, but no more pleasant than they usually were. The guardian sat up, combing her fingers through her hair. Now that they knew her true story, she worried it would be awkward seeing them again. What if they looked at her different? What if they didn't trust her or think her strong enough to fight any more? She ran scenarios of conversations through her head as she cleaned herself up, splashing water on her face and rinsing out her mouth. She figured she could delay encountering them by washing her clothes. This only took about ten seconds. She dressed in uniform – she figured she would have to get used to being so covered with fabric. But she had to give the credit that it was comfortable for the most part.
Silver sat back on her bed and scolded herself for stalling. The only way to find out was to go out there and just let things happen. This still didn't budge her from her bed, though. Maybe she would pass the time by meditating?
11am. Vert swapped out with Tezz to go check on Silver. She still hadn't shown. Though he knew she was still adjusting, he couldn't give her too much slack on her first couple days.
The leader rapped on the metal door. "Hey, Silver, get up – you got training to do,"
She appeared. She didn't look tired, so he wasn't sure what had been keeping the gaurdian. She was dressed in her battle suit and her hood was off – a sign of security for her that Vert thought was encouraging.
"You ok?"
"Yeah… just … nervous," she said timidly.
"Why,"
"Now you know… you know what happened – you know that I ran and hid… that I'm really not as strong as I pretend to be – that I'm nowhere near mastering magic... I think… I think I'm nervous you'll see me differently than before… and I'm worried you won't trust me to have your back," Silver rubbed one of her elbows as she talked.
"You did lie with your story the first time – you said the sentient put a collar on you and you blacked out, waking up in the cave,"
Her eyes shifted away. "I know… I'm sorry,"
"What kept you from telling us the truth?"
"I wasn't ready – I had just found out you were working with Sage…"
Vert loosely crossed his arms and leaned on the doorframe with a sympathetic smile. "I would say that you did what Sorren asked you to because you respected him – and he did what he felt was right because he loved you – you didn't run. I would also say that along with Sage, you are the strongest person – or – alien, I guess… that I know. You were almost kidnapped two days ago and handled it like it was no big deal – and we saved a bunch of girls in the process." He arched a brow at her. "Yeah, you lied. Regardless, we have your back – if you're so worried about us trusting you, show us you got ours in training,"
"Ok," she smiled, brushing the silver streak of hair out of her face before following him down to the hub.
The team was all in the simulation, suspended in the air with virtual reality projections while Sage ran various scenarios that had the higher possibility of happening in real life. She used her data of her brother and the red sentients and combined that with probability equations to figure out the best way to prepare her team. Silver and Vert watched as he discussed their thought process, the leader also occasionally calling out instructions. He glanced at the sword strapped to her back.
"How are your shoulders feeling?"
She flexed and arm and tested her range of motion, stopped with a wince. "They're alright… I think I need another, um, seed,"
He nodded, understanding that she was referring to the painkillers. "Go grab it and something to eat – be back in 15,"
Silver nodded and left. She didn't really know how long '15' was in their time units so she hurried. She peeked in the fridge and figured it would be alright if she settled on some of the turkey (or was it ham?) and a slice of bread for now.
When she got back, Vert asked how she felt about some hand-to-hand combat and weapons training while they waited for the others to finish a couple more simulations. Silver's brows popped up.
"We did do pretty good against Krytus last time," she commented. "let's do it,"
Vert took her to the garage where they had the old training mat laid out. It was mid-day, so the heat was pretty bad, and Silver already missed her old training uniform. Vert handed her the material to wrap her knuckles. She left the sword and sheath off to the side along with her gloves and gauntlet, and they stepped into the space.
"No magic," she stated.
Vert grinned, putting his hands up and prepping his stance. "Not yet,"
Silver's brows bounced up again.
They cautiously threw a couple punches and jabs, each a tad nervous to hurt the other. Eventually, Vert got a little bored with the pace they were keeping and grew a little more aggressive and bolder in his advances. Silver smiled and matched the energy immediately, her arms feeling better already.
"How did you find Kyrosis' containment unit on Faven?" Vert huffed, dodging her heel flying toward his jaw. He threw a couple jabs and swipes at her to retaliate, none of which met their mark. Her blocks were surprisingly strong for her relatively small frame and injured shoulders.
Silver puffed out air, pushing the hair from her face. "Found it while exploring, and eventually Zemerik triggered one of the alarms I set up in a perimeter and explained some of what happened while I was gone,"
"Yeah – he's been useful sometimes," Vert feigned a swipe and landed a blow to her ribs. He stepped back to let her recover. "but, he's also stabbed us in the back – so – we try to be careful,"
"Yeah… so I've learned," Silver grit her teeth with a quick recovery and swiftly closed the gap between herself and her opponent with the gliding grace of water. "I should've known better than to trust sentient artificial intelligence – he tricked me into Tors Ten's facility,"
Her following movements were quick to make contact with Vert's block, but he didn't expect the power behind it, and he faltered a small opening. Vert ended with his knees kicked out from under him and his back to the floor – her hands to his neck and sternum. If Silver's face hinted satisfaction, it only showed for a second before she released him and stepped away.
The blonde's grimace with the landing eventually died off and he huffed himself back to standing and took his stance for another go at it. He started to remember she'd been training since she was little, and he only had what he knew from the boxing and wrestling club in high school (which was years ago).
It's not that he expected to win, he just didn't expect to lose most of their bouts. After two wins for Vert and six for Silver, they took a break, and she grabbed a pair of bottles from the minifridge.
"Jeez – what did they teach you back at that magic school…" Vert mumbled as he nursed his wounded pride along with the new bruise forming on his cheekbone.
"Sorry…" Silver cracked the seal and formed a small ice bar for him to hold to his face. He took it reluctantly. The guardian decided that she wouldn't ask about adding magic into the mix – or even if they were going to move on to weapons.
Now about her clothes, she had never felt so confined in fabric before. She unzipped the top half a little, hoping open air would cool her down a bit. "This heat is… too much,"
"You get used to it… usually – but yeah that doesn't look like it would be ideal. Maybe wear something looser next time,"
Silver nodded quietly and took a swig. Vert realized his error.
"You don't have anything else – do you,"
She leaned forward with her elbows propped on her knees. "Not really – I was wearing my main stuff that got turned into this suit,"
"Right… sorry – how about you and Agura go shopping for some later? I'm sure she'd love to take you,"
"How would I pay for them?"
"Don't worry about it,"
Silver looked at him, a little confused. "Ok… thanks… I'd appreciate it,"
The blonde grinned and nodded. "let's head back – it's almost time to eat,"
"And then I'll do some sim training later?" she added, taking her sword, and following him to the elevator. "I didn't do any yesterday,"
"I don't think you're ready,"
Silver stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him. She almost looked furious, but Vert honestly couldn't tell.
"What,"
"Nothing," she shook off her placid expression and walked past him.
The ride down was silent and edged with a slight tensity. Vert wasn't sure whether to ask her again or just let it go, because sometimes when he would ask what was bothering Agura, she really would be fine buthis questions would then cause her to be bothered. It felt like a losing battle either way – safest route was to let her communicate herself if something was wrong.
"So… I guess I'll run some more agility drills," she said after they stepped out.
"That's what I was thinking,"
She nodded. "At what point will you determine me ready for the simulations,"
"I think after a couple days you should be good – you pick up on it fast,"
"Yeah, because I was a slave in Tors-ten's testing facility – I'm not a complete novice,"
There was a bitter edge to her tone, but Vert ignored it and kept walking.
The team was finishing up their last scenario when they arrived, and eventually the vehicles floated down to the ground. Vert talked to Sage about how they were doing and what strategies they were using and the sentient gave him a rundown of their stats. Stanford hopped out of Reverb, pointing out the red mark on Vert's face, but not before gloating over his marksmanship.
"What did you guys do?" Sherman asked the blonde curiously.
"Sparring,"
"Oh cool," Zoom piped in. "how'd it go?"
Vert gave him a look of slight annoyance. "Eh,"
The scout grinned. "Hey Sil, spar with me sometime?"
"Think you can handle it?" she toyed.
He forcefully palmed his fist and cracked his knuckles. "Let's see what you got,"
"UM," Agura cleared her throat, looking less than pleased. "YOUR STITCHES – we agreed we're not making a habit of using the medical bay,"
"I took one of the little seeds you gave me,"
"That's for PAIN – it does nothing for healing" she sighed. "so you're telling me you took a pain killer so you could go possibly injure yourself more,"
Silver and Vert looked at each other, then back to Agura. They shrugged. Agura groaned but didn't say more.
For lunch, they all went their separate ways and the huntress invited Silver to make a chicken and rice meal with her. Interestingly, Tezz asked to join.
"It's been a while since I've had good chicken," he shrugged.
The girls grinned and Agura started giving instructions as she laid out the ingredients and tools to teach Silver.
"Why does rice sound familiar…" Silver mumbled while measuring out the scoops of white grains.
The meal turned out delicious and Tezz, who did in fact help (without egotistical input one might add), seemed pleasantly content. He finished up with a cup of black coffee. Just then, Zoom rounded the corner into the kitchen.
"I swear I can smell rice from a mile away…" he muttered.
Rice… Silver mulled over the word again in her mind. Where had she heard that before?
"What do you mean?"
"I grew up with the stuff – it's got to be the most tasteless thing, and I can still smell it from anywhere in the building,"
"Ohhhhh… you were the one who told me about it," she realized.
"Yeah,"
"I don't think you hate it as much as you let on,"
"Huh,"
"It may be annoying, but it still smells like home,"
The smile playing at the corners of his mouth let Silver knew she was right. He shook his head at her and left.
"I can feel you smiling," she called out once he was in the hallway. He could hear a snicker from Agura.
"Cut it out, Sil," he called back in amusement.
In a quieter voice he wouldn't hear, she said to the others, "nah, he really doesn't want me to stop,"
Later, after a little more sims training, Agura took Silver shopping for basics at Walmart. They spent hours combing through tees, shorts, sweats, pajamas, hoodies (like Zoom's – Silver thought), and finally underwear, socks, and shoes. The favian was elated to find breathable and stretchy clothes in the athletic wear. They were the closest thing to what she used to wear and were much more suited to the heat of this climate. The girls returned with fistfuls of blue Walmart bags, signifying the success of their trip. Immediately after, Silver changed into sweat shorts and sports bra with a fleece hoodie (one size too big – in case it shrunk). The claw hair clip added to the natural 'human' lounging look with half-up hairstyle, and she felt more like one of the team. Silver, not usually one for hugs, threw her arms around her friend with a giggly 'thank you'. Agura happily returned the embrace with a tight squeeze.
The guardian had only just finished putting away the clothes when Spinner stomped in, demanding she play some games with him. It had been a while since he first offered, and she never had a chance since then, so now was the time. Silver, feeling very human, happily sprawled across the couch and devoted the next hour to learning (as Spin called it) 'the prime form of earthly entertainment'. At some point, Tezz and Zoom came in to watch and try a couple games against her. Both boys easily won but she wasn't bothered.
Almost a week passed where the guardian focused on agility, speed, and strategic maneuvers – pushing herself so Vert would have to let her train in the sims. Her deltoids were completely healed – free of scars, and Agura (in utter shock) removed the stitches. Sparring hadn't been brought up again, mainly because of Agura but also because Silver sensed Vert was still a little salty about it.
Food lessons were almost a regular thing, and normally because they each wanted to see how she would like certain things. It was discovered that chips (of most kinds) were not her favorite, nor were Ritz crackers. They just had something to their texture that was like a tree bark they would eat back on Faven, but the flavor was nowhere near similar. It was the same with certain cereals. Spinner learned she liked Kellog's frosted flakes, but not fruit loops or cocoa puffs because the texture and flavor didn't match something back on her home world.
The team also started to include her in some of their basic chores, showing her how they kept the place clean and giving her certain days of the week to help with dishes, sweep and mop a room, and other simple things. They quickly realized tasks involving water would be completed in less than half of the normal time it normally took them.
"It's like having life cheat-codes… so unfair," Spinner huffed.
Stanford was tempted to have all the water-based chores assigned to her, but the others felt that it would be unfair. They weren't about to let Stanford get away with no work.
On the race track, the guardian began to learn what it was like to work with a team unit rather than on her own, and it easily felt more and more natural. Somehow, Vert still hadn't brought up putting her in simulation training and it had been way more than a couple of days. He would walk her through the rest of the team's sims – sometimes irritating them with the comments he would make – but it was how he wanted to learn for now. It worried Silver that the more she waited, the less prepared she would be for when Sage got a lock on Krytus, launching the mission.
The next morning, Silver was up at 5am, simply from the inability to sleep, and took Lenka out on the salt flats. What more do I need to do to prove myself? Her mind droned on in a conversation with itself. She found a cliff facing the east and parked her bike. The air was refreshing, and her thoughts started to slightly relax. Time passed quickly, and the sky's glow grew more intense until the bright beaming sun peaked from beyond the horizon. The colors reminded her of Sorren…
Agura shuffled into the kitchen, hoping there was still a couple of eggs and sausages left. Spinner was in his usual spot, his mouse-brown hair standing up from the grey couch cushion, the tv displaying Slug-Bots for the umpteenth time. The huntress wondered how he never tired of his small set of five games – considering the number of hours he already poured into them.
"Morning, Spin,"
"Hm," the small Cortez hummed his greeting.
Sherman then appeared in salmon pink long-sleeve and Adidas sweatpants. He looked like he'd just gotten a workout in by the pink flush in his cheeks and sweat stains so clearly visible under his arms and across his back.
"Vert up yet?" he huffed, shuffling out the smoothie ingredients.
"Yeah, he'll be down shortly,"
Agura finished making her plate and retreated to the quiet of her room to eat. Sure enough, a couple minutes later their leader was down making his breakfast as well. The kitchen was considerably cluttered by 8:30.
"Tezz, it's your day," Agura reminded him.
He grunted and was about to make a retort but thought better of it and started with the plates – rinsing them and loading the dishwasher.
"Hey, has anyone seen Silver?" Zoom asked.
There was a pause while everyone looked at each other.
Vert shook his head. "I guess not – want to go get her? We're going to get started soon since everyone is up,"
There was a collective groan.
"Can't we have a rest day," Stanford mumbled.
"She's normally up by now…" The scout headed upstairs and knocked on her door. "Sil, time to get up – we're going to start training,"
He waited a long minute before knocking again. "Silver – you good? C'mon, Vert is waiting – ,"
Silence. Now Zoom started to worry. Should I just go in? He didn't know how he felt about that, but he didn't want to go back and have someone else barge in, so he pressed the button and the door slid to the side. The light from the hallway showed no one was in, and her bathroom was dark too. Her bed was neatly made, and her things were orderly on the shelves. Now he was really confused. Where would she be?
"She's not in her room – I'm going to check outside," the scout announced as he passed the group lounging in the club area of the room.
"That's odd," Stanford sighed obnoxiously. "well, no training today, I guess,"
"She wouldn't run away – would she?" Agura considered.
Sherman said that his check on the surface level of the hub didn't yield any results either.
Zoom went down to the computers. "Sage, have you seen Silver?"
The sentient replied negative.
"Can you pull up her location? She took Lenka…"
Sage sidled to a quantum computer and plugged in her locator. The scout's anxiety was alleviated when she announced she was on earth – 20 miles northwest. What is she doing out there?
Zoom pulled up a communication panel. "Silver – it's Zoom – can you hear me?"
"Yeah I'm here,"
"Are you good?"
"Yeah I'm fine – why, what's going on?"
"Vert wants you back for training,"
"I'm on my way – see you in a bit,"
He closed the tab and left to tell the others. They all thought it was a little strange.
"It could be part of something in her culture," Tezz suggested.
Vert decided that they should get started, estimating she would arrive in about 15 minutes anyway. The team huffed and dragged themselves into the hub. Sage pulled up a scenario and they got started, Tezz sitting out for this first round. A little while into it, a low rumble announced the guardian's return home. She parked Lenka in the level below with the mobi before standing in front of the computer to watch. Tezz sat off to the side, completely uninterested.
"I didn't realize we'd start so early," she remarked to Sage.
"It was an unusual time, yes,"
Sage watched the guardian fixate on Agura's screen as they prepped for containing Kyrosis. Everything was working like clockwork. She admired how she studied so intently.
"Silver, you should join in the next one," the sentient suggested. "swap out with Agura,"
The favian perked up. "Are you sure?"
"I feel confident you are ready – the only thing I cannot account for in the training is your use of magic – other than Lenka's thrusters,"
Silver tried to not look too eager to bring up Lenka. She prepped on the special operations section of the pentagon and nearly an hour later, her friends were finally lowered to the ground. Vert got out to debrief the exercise. Agura smiled when she saw her friend ready to take her place and readily backed out of position.
"You ready?" the huntress grinned, sidling up to the biker.
Her visor clicked open, revealing eyes glistening with anticipation. "Born for it,"
"Be alert – for anything,"
"C'mon, who do you think you're talking to?"
Agura laughed and sat at the desk. Vert came up with a slight frown.
"I didn't say she was ready for simulation training,"
"Why are you being so harsh?" Agura leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms. "give her a shot – have a little faith,"
"I suggested she join in," Sage interjected. "but I will respect your judgement if you think otherwise,"
The leader sighed and jumped in for the next exercise. He honestly didn't know why he was so uptight about her. Agura was right, he should have a little more faith.
Chopper revved its engine from across the room. "Alright! Silver jumping into the fight! Let's gooo," Zoom shouted enthusiastically.
"Let's see what you've got" Stanford smirked.
They were lifted into the air and Silver had to ignore the distance between her and the ground for a second while the projection loaded up around her. A few moments later, they were in a very dark, geometric-looking zone with neon gridlines and shapes floating throughout space. The Guardian's spine tingled with excitement. She had been watching, memorizing the phases of the plan. There were two ways they could catch a sentient: the first starting with a stealth approach, hacking a drone, and setting a trap for when they came to investigate. The second being a strategy of separating one from the pack and cracking their shell within 30 meters of the Buster's containment unit.
The coast was clear, so the team set about looking for a drone to hack. Stanford echo-mapped the area, pinging off a pod of sark about five miles north of them. The team got to work.
About thirty minutes later Silver pounded her handlebars in frustration as the simulation ended.
"I'm sorry – I'm not used to being without my sixth sense… I've been trained to rely on it to see through illusions," she sighed. "This'll be harder than I thought…"
"Hey, don't sweat it," Agura assured from somewhere below. "let's run another one,"
"C'mon," the scout nodded. "let's do this – I know you got this,"
Tezz scoffed. "She's a rookie – this may take a while,"
"Cut her some slack, Tezz," Sherman called out.
"We don't have time for 'slack',"
Sage started another simulation.
After the third simulation of Silver getting t-boned by a sentient and many other harsh finishes, Vert called a break. The vehicles lowered to the ground.
"I was correct," Tezz stated flatly, earning mean looks from the rest of the team.
"I'mgoingupstairs," Silver's words spilled out of her mouth before Lenka turned and shot up the ramp to the surface. The fuming heat only made her blood boil that much more violently as she tore across the flats. She yanked her steering, swinging the tail of her bike in an arcing, beautiful drift – then another. Once facing the garage, the throttle and boosters left her stomach behind for a split second. Her tires skidded to an aggressive stop in front of rusty sliding doors, and she whipped off her helmet, throwing herself off her bike. Her jaw locked in a grim line as she strode over to the sparring pads in the corner of the garage and tossed her gear on the bench.
Silver didn't even bother to wrap her hands before punching a stack of tires. A slight pang resounded in her shoulder, but it didn't matter. In fact, it felt good – fitting.
She used all of her body's force to unleash on the undeserving pile of rubber, feeling the heat build to an even higher level under her suit. Her trembling fingers yanked the zipper down, exposing her sweaty body to the dry air, immediately providing some semblance of relief. She yanked off her sleeves before unleashing her next volley of blows and kicks.
Unknowing to her, prisms started appearing in the ground and air around her, shiny, sharp-edged images and colors and energy. The sunlight was reflected even more intensely, and the rubber in front of her began to grow soft in the focused light.
"Oh… shit," a voice said from somewhere behind her.
She stopped – catching her breath and stilling the thumping in her chest. Her tunnel vision cleared, and the magic around her ceased. "Sorry…"
There was an audible sigh of relief, followed by footsteps coming up behind her. "On second thought, maybe we shouldn't spar," Zoom sat on the bench, plate in hand.
"Probably a good idea," Silver grunted, still staring at her handiwork.
"You good?" Zoom asked, putting the two sandwiches to the side.
Silver shot him a look.
"Sorry, stupid question,"
Silver stared at the tires a little longer before moving over and plopping down on the mat a slight distance away. She missed her old clothes. This sports bra was better than a full body suit, but it still wasn't the best. She flopped her legs out and leaned back onto her hands. Her knuckles were bright red.
"I… brought you a sandwich," the scout offered timidly.
"Is it weird that I'm too frustrated to eat,"
"No,"
She paused. "I would've done fine if I could just sense them like in real life – it's like losing an eye – I can't tell when anything is coming and I can't react and I know I can do so much better but that purely sucked,"
"Yeah, I can imagine," he sympathized with a small grin. "don't beat yourself up about it,"
Silver pushed out an angry breath of air, finally making eye contact with him. His eyes were gentle, soft while he leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees.
"Regardless of how the simulations went, I know you still got it in the real world – I mean you clearly took care of my punching column just fine," he waved a hand over to the drooping rubber.
The guardian's jaw dropped slightly. "Oh – I'm sorry,"
Zoom laughed. "It was actually awesome to watch – go at it whenever you want. Better them than me…"
"How long were you watching?" Silver arched a brow, shocked she never sensed him until he spoke.
He shrugged, eyes bouncing to the ceiling before back to her. "Dunno, maybe two… three minutes?"
"That long?" Silver gaped incredulously. "How did I not… why didn't you say something sooner?"
"I didn't want to stop you – I've been there before… but I kinda had to step in when I started smelling burning rubber,"
Silver bounced her brows in disbelief at her own carelessness and shook her head. She'd been so tunnel focused on her thoughts that she'd cut off her senses of everything around her. Arena would've been pissed.
She flopped onto her back, her unzipped suit bunching around her waist. Zoom took a bite out of his sandwich.
"Can I ask you something," he said through a mouthful of bread.
Silver lifted her head of the mat for a second. "Depends,"
"Where were you this morning?"
"I couldn't sleep… so I drove out and watched the sunrise,"
"Bad dreams?"
Her face twisted in annoyance. "I've been running the track and practicing out here for days. This isn't new to me – I'd been driving for Tors for a while before all this happened," her body sunk into the matt. "now I finally get the chance to train in the simulations and I completely screw it up… every time."
"The simulations aren't all that important,"
"If I can't be successful in those, I doubt Vert will let me in the field, and I need to be out there. I can't just be here practicing all the time… I'd rather die than stay cooped up here,"
Zoom finished his sandwich and sat next to her on the mat, holding out hers.
"Thanks," she said quietly, sitting up and accepting the meal. Her back felt sticky and grimy – undoubtedly holding specks of dirt.
"Food will make you feel better,"
She mindlessly took small bites, still sifting through her thoughts. Zoom tried to keep himself from staring at her, and instead found an interesting screwdriver laying in the corner of the room to look at for a bit.
"Aside from training, how have you been?"
Silver blinked. That was a loaded question. That was a very loaded question. Did she want to answer it?
"We see each other every day – what do you mean?" she glanced over at him. Zoom's attention left the screwdriver and went back to her. He could see her hesitancy.
"You know… like – living here with us – adjusting and stuff…" he barely made it through his sentence without stammering. Dammit, it felt so awkward for no reason. "you… seem to be doing better,"
Silver nodded a little, buying time to form a response in her head. Her instincts wanted to shut down further exploration of this, but logic told her that she should at least try to talk about it. She took a deep breath.
"Yeah… yeah… it's good,"
"Do you… like it here?" He seemed nervous. "I know it's nothing like Faven,"
"It's nice… " she made a small smile to hide the small lump forming in her throat before cramming a big bite into her mouth.
"Do you miss it?"
Silver put the plate down with a half-eaten sandwich, leaning on her knees folded in front of her. "Yeah… I do. I try not to think about it… like the last view I had of home before I came here,"
"The salt flats are not purple," Zoom remarked with a slight grin.
"No," she shook her head. "but you do have nice sunrises,"
He smiled. "maybe we can watch it together sometime,"
"Yeah… maybe," her eyes turned hollow, and she wasn't with him in that moment anymore.
Zoom felt a pull to reach out and touch her.
"I miss him," she said suddenly, surprising herself a little.
Zooms face faltered a little, but he kept the sympathetic tone. "Sorren?"
She nodded and her eyes glazed over for a second before she blinked back into the present moment. "sorry…"
"It's cool… you can talk if you need,"
Silver stared at him, slightly squinting her eyes. Zoom scratched the back of his head.
"I'm not talking about that," she decided, straightening, and taking the plate to the bench. "want some water?"
Silver strode over to the minifridge and brought out two bottles. Using her magic, Zoom's bottle floated through the air, and he snatched it with a grin. Both guzzled their drinks.
"Thanks for the food – should we head back down?"
"Let's go,"
The rest of the day didn't run much better, and Silver collapsed into her bed after a noisy dinner. Vert didn't approach her about her performance, and he didn't give her looks of 'I told you'. He actually had been really encouraging through it and even seem impressed with her even though the sims didn't finish with their goal of catching a sentient essence. Tezz was less inclined to give such positive feedback.
Silver stripped off her shock suit, showered, changed into pajamas, got ready for bed. She then curled up under the sheets and laid wide awake. This moment of pause between wakefulness and sleep was usually torture because her mind would wander to places she didn't want – memories she'd try to avoid. She'd spend an hour thinking about her old life and friends back at the compound. She'd endlessly think of Sorren, running their favorite memories over and over again in her brain. Then the sadness would be too much, and sadness would pull her eyelids down, and a couple tears would drop before she finally fell sleep.
Zoom was among the last to head to bed. He glanced at her door as he passed into his room. She must be sleeping now. She'd gone to bed about an hour and a half ago. He slipped off his suit and took a shower before throwing on a pair of plaid boxers. He had just finished brushing his teeth and was about to crawl into bed when he heard something outside. His door slid away and he peaked out into the hall. Spinner, Sherman, and Tezz shuffled into their rooms while chatting loudly. Sherman glanced down the hall at their scout.
"G'nite," he waved.
"Nite guys," Zoom nodded.
He faked going back into his room until their doors closed, then he went out and listened again, staring at the door across from him. The silence stretched, but Zoom was determined to wait a full minute just to be sure.
He was about to go to bed when he heard a slight cry. Zoom frowned and threw on a hoodie and sweats before going to knock on her door.
"Silver," he whispered, doubting she would hear. But he didn't want to call out louder in case the others came out. He started to hear mumbling and a muffled moan. The tone that carried her cries dropped his heart to its knees and he pushed the button to open her door, prepared to face possible icicles or jagged edges of water.
Her room was dark, save for the dim glow of the stars and moon on her ceiling. It only took a moment for his eyes to adjust while he walked over to her tossing around in her bed, face twisted with a frown.
"Silver," he said a little closer to normal speaking volume. Her eyes stayed squinted shut as she twitched and squirmed. A whimper escaped her lips.
The scout gently took her shoulder as he sat next to her on the bed. With gentle nudges he kept trying to coax her out of the dream.
"Sil, it's a nightmare – c'mon wake up… it's ok,"
Her hand fumbled around before landing on his arm. Zoom expected it to be ice cold like last time, but she was warm – clammy. With a small gasp, her eyes suddenly opened. Silver looked up at him, dazed and confused, a gloss over her colorful irises.
"Hey," he whispered gently, taking his hand off her shoulder. "sorry to barge in, but you were making noises and I was worried… I didn't want you to keep sleeping with a nightmare,"
The Guardian breathed and relaxed back into her pillows, pushing her palms into her eyes.
"Do you ever get a good night's sleep?"
"Rarely," her husky voice managed to say.
"Is there anything that helps,"
Silver shook her head, her hands still pressed to her face. She started to sniff and wipe away tears.
Zoom watched, his heart aching for her. "Do you want to talk about it…"
"No,"
"Will you be ok?"
There was a long pause as she stared up at her ceiling. Her hands now fidgeted with her bedsheets, pinching them and twisting them around her fingers. She turned away from him, laying on her side.
"Silver, if there is anything I can do to help…" he offered quietly. "I don't want to leave you like this – but if you want me to go just say so,"
Quiet. The stretch felt eternal.
"Just say the word and I'll leave," he repeated.
Still quiet. Zoom thought that maybe she fell back asleep. Just then, she shuffled and turned back to him, her dark hair tousled over the pillow, eyes slightly puffy. She just laid there, looking up at him, and he could see the gears turning in her mind.
"I don't want to be alone…" she finally whispered.
"Ok,"
Zoom sat next to her at the head of the bed, propped up with a pillow. "Is this ok?"
She nodded without looking at him. She'd turned away but kept her back against his thigh. Zoom sat there trying very hard to keep his hands from petting her hair. He pulled up his hood, rested his head back, and folded his arms.
"Try to get some rest… I'll be right here,"
Zoom would watch her at intervals, checking the rise and fall of her ribs and shoulders. Sometimes he would drift off himself, but every time he woke up, he would glance down at her again. It was like he had this odd fear that she would stop breathing at any moment and she would be lost to the dream world forever. When he was satisfied that she was alive and calm, he allowed himself to doze off again.
Silver didn't make a sound or move an inch the rest of the night.
