Reviews :
faolan1230 : The time has come to PUSH THE BUTTON lmao!
Snake557 : True! Gunner's just got a ton of baggage that's finally coming out of the terminal lmao. His flight got delayed.
Song Listened To :
Amateurs ft. Lights by Sleepy Tom
Something the Way You Move by Ellie Goulding
*Chapter 165*
Berri faltered a nervous step back, looked down to her feet in a rise of desperately trying to collect herself and inhaled a trembling breath that caught at the back of her throat. She long blinked in pinpricked confusion and looked down to her body; whilst still wearing the same clothes, still barefoot and fresh in her own skin, she furrowed her eyebrows in a mild sink of dread and firmly looked to herself in the mirror, absolutely certain this whole thing didn't work. She opened her mouth to firmly protest in raw, billowed irritation, though the woman peering back at her in the mirror halted in a jolt of surprise and urgently held tight eye contact. Berri choked an elated giggle, gasped and stepped closer to her reflection. In a stark switch up, Berri's hair had been chopped off just above shoulder length and changed to a darker, chocolate brown. It waved in the natural state her hair usually eased into, the vividness of her blue eyes was softly dulled to a lovely hazel grey, speckled with darker kisses of grey and gold about her pupil. She huffed another shaky, silent giggle and felt the very odd, short length of her new hair, the only two things different about her somehow made a world of difference, something she was certain would do the trick, out in public. Berri inhaled a deep breath, confidently peered to herself in the mirror, bobbed an affirming nod and beamed in collected, devious delight.
"Thank you, Mr. Turbo Black, you have earned yourself a make out session," Berri muttered playfully to herself, though she raised her eyebrows and quickly gathered the disguise device, as well as her materializer as she sneakily mumbled on, "Maybe more."
Just as Berri was due to rushing out the door and potentially sneaking out of the calm and quiet castle, she jolted in terror, hovered her hand over her bedroom door and hung in the dark in collected, frozen fear. The voices of Theo, Throttle and Wren came back into their apartment suite, and though she could hear them press closer to her bedroom door in quiet contemplation, she sagged her shoulders in relief the second she heard Throttle's sweet, reasonable voice politely tell both boys to kindly leave Berri be for the night. She bit her lip and hissed herself a silent obscenity over the fact that she was trapped in her bedroom, though as her eyes scanned the sealed balcony of her bedroom, she drew to the conclusion that they were way too high up to simply escape out the window. She raised her eyebrows and finally drew to the notion that Turbo had suggested, all that time ago, by using the avenues of electricity that coursed all through the game, all through Arcade. With silent footwork that pressed back into her now nearly pitch black bathroom, she sagged her materializer into her back pocket, held her breath and let the dim glow of her silver coding, on her palms, mildly illuminate her surroundings; she eyed the double outlet, on the wall, and bit her lip in a spike of adrenaline that came rushing to her.
Through a tight, readied inhale, she sagged into a simple wave of coded, silver electricity and allowed her energy to bounce straight into the outlet. Although only really in a state of consciousness, an out of body experience, she perceived this now simple, coded world through this brand new game's fresh grid. Within seconds, Berri's live-wired coding shot from the high floors her band resided on to the bounce of the electricity given to the castle's beautiful, ground foyer. Knowing there was no time to waste, Berri did everything she could to simply bounce from power source to power source. Certain that she had now travelled far enough away from the main castle, Berri began to feel a wiggle of claustrophobia take over her typically freed coding. Although Berri forced herself to suck it up and was prepared to travel this whole electric ride to Castle Run's gaping outlet entrance, she popped out of the loose wiring of a nearby bus stop's sparking overhead light. With a spill of silver coding and sparks that suddenly splayed the asphalt with a pop and a jolt of crawling lightning, Berri huffed a noise of unadulterated shock, fumbled on her feet and urgently began to peer about her surroundings.
"Whoa, whoa, miss, you okay?" A nearby gamer pressed in hot concern; a bipedal gargoyle, a foot or two taller than Berri, quickly eased his presence over to her and hovered with his beautiful set of grey wings popped in hot concern, "Th-that was a nasty spill, are you hurt?"
"No, I'm not hurt, I'm okay," Berri panted as she peered up into this gargoyle's curiously odd looking eyes; similar to Turbo's, his faintly glowing, pale peachy colored eyes had dark pupils that were simply cross hairs, unimaginably hard to look into and even harder to read, though Berri was relieved his demeanor was warm and welcoming. Berri halted in hot concern and now felt the dregs of confusion continue to plague her, and it was in this raw instance of panting bewilderment did she realize something crucial; this individual had no clue who Berri was, the first victim to her dainty disguise was a success. Berri straightened her short hair and felt odd at just how light her head had become, "D-Do you know who I am?"
"No, miss, I... You just POPPED out of that light, it scared the crap right out of us," He pressed in a bark of a laugh as he gestured to the few other gargoyles patiently waiting at the rather grungy, run down bus stop, though it was here did Berri's vision broaden to more than just the bus stop before her.
Hung about a mile up the hill was Castle Run's beautiful, haunting castle amidst the humid fog. Berri exhaled a shaky breath and felt all eyes on her, though not in the way she was typically met with. They curiously stared at her like she was deranged, as if they were very due to keeping their distance, though Berri huffed a hard giggle, pat herself down in continued bewilderment and finally gripped her short, dark hair.
"Holy shit it WORKED," Berri huffed in hard, elated girliness. She giggled with panting excitement, grappled said stranger's upper arms, jostled him a little and beamed her grey eyes tight to his, "Thank you!"
"Y-You're welcome," He mumbled nervously, though everyone at the bus stop watched the strange sight of Berri pulling the wand of her light cycle out of her materializer, unveiling the incredible beast, revving the engine and speeding off down the road like the bolt of silver lightning she had so quickly become.
Berri cranked the bike's speed as fast as she could. Although the hilly terrain made for some slowing and nervous maneuvering, she kept the game's gaping entrance, in the distance, tight in her line of sight. She was well aware she'd have to then travel to the game station over, Game Central, in order to get to Sugar Rush, though she felt confidence absolutely flood her being as she rocketed down the smooth, freshly paved asphalt, a narrow road that eventually lead to Castle Run's main city. She continued to divert through the woods and travelled the single highways that came and went from the entrance, a weave about gorgeous, haunting, old trees, the splay of her bike's headlights through the humid, misty fog had her eyes held tight ahead in full concentration and purpose, she felt her rebellious heart beg her to just keep driving until Orion City was eventually in her sights.
"Bo! We're gunna head across the street, y'comin man?" Bug called over the gentle amount of noise.
"Damn, no, I can't keep up," Turbo blurt with a hearty laugh as he leaned back on the bar stool he was on. Him, Bug and a few other coworkers of Bug's hit Orion City's streets in early celebration for Turbo's birthday. Monday being his day off, they figured tonight would be best to have a guys night out for Turbo, something he desperately needed.
"Y'sure man?" Bug wondered cutely, he softly flattened his ears as a few of the other guys began to lightly and playfully hound Turbo for not joining; Turbo choked a louder laugh and smiled wider than he had, in awhile.
"Nah, man, I'm showing my age, I guess," Turbo beamed, he jostled the half empty glass of alcohol he had been taking his time with and shot Bug a sweet smile, "You guys carry on, I should probably head home anyways. My little brother is probably bored out of his mind."
"Alright, Bo," Bug sighed with a conclusory smile. The group of guys had probably bar-hopped twice before Turbo was now due to tapping out, and though the night was still young for Bug and crew, Turbo was relieved he got to spend an hour, or two, with some buddies, good food, drinks and a fun and lively crowd deep inside his own city. Bug warmly pat Turbo's upper arm in a brotherly way, gestured to the tab and tried to get the bartender's attention, "Get another, it's on me."
"Bug, seriously," Turbo huffed a cheekier laugh, shook his head at the merely glancing, busy bartender and gently eased Bug's arm down, "I can hold my liquor, but I gotta drive home."
"Alright, alright, fine," Bug rolled his eyes and smiled into Turbo's eyes, "Y'gunna see Berri on your birthday at all? I know she's on tour, but is there ANY way she can slip away?"
"She can, but I wouldn't want her to jeopardize her tour for that," Turbo stated with warm honesty as he shrugged and raised his eyebrows in surprise; with the crew here, at this bar and club, as lively as ever, the crowd closer to the stage and deeper into the building began to loudly cheer and clap for the open mic and karaoke line-up happening on stage. Turbo merely glanced over his shoulder to witness said contestant wave to the crowd in gratitude and begin to gather their own instruments and equipment, "I'll see her after her tour, it's no biggie. It's been years since I've properly celebrated my birthday, so it's totally fine... This really... Made up for it, so thank you."
"Hey, you're worth it," Bug assured with a wide, cute, toothy grin as he sagged into Turbo's presence with full comfort, something Turbo was absolutely certain would never be a reality out of anyone but the residents on palace grounds, "Birthday or not, we should DEFINITELY do this more often."
"Yeah, invite grandpa out to attempt to keep up with you fools," Turbo blurt in playful, smiling irritation; him and Bug were rocketed into happy laughter.
"Oh, shut up, it's not like that," Bug protested with a wide grin, "Someone's gotta keep us in line, right?"
"Gotta be someone," Turbo raised his eyebrows and shrugged in playful agreeing, though he sorrowfully smiled as Bug and crew began to stand from the bar stools they sat at.
"Don't get into too much trouble, dude," Bug firmly pat Turbo's arm, once more, and as the rest of the guys stated their kind goodbyes, Bug gestured to himself and grinned as he began to step away and through the crowd, "Hey! Change your mind, I'm just one call away."
"Thanks, man," Turbo nodded in gratitude and waved them off, and in a soft sigh of satisfied collection, he sagged into his own presence and felt his bubble broaden to the bar about him in solitude.
More aware of the noise of the crowd, and the people about him, Turbo inhaled a deep, shaky breath and peered down to his frothy beer. He dared to feel a frown upon him, how badly he wanted to do something like this, with Berri, how badly he secretly did wish Berri would show up for him on his birthday, and though he'd never make that clear for fear of leaving Berri feel guilty, he allowed his own thoughts to selfishly wallow in it all, a safe haven of desire and brooding cuteness. Turbo finally took another swig of his beer in slow delight and figured he'd at least finish his drink and mosey on home, he was well aware Lash was in bubbled purgatory likely either going mad, or trying to sleep the trapped feeling away. In the soft few moments he had with the murmuring noise of his surroundings, the announcer fumbled the mic in a reverberating thud of bass and mild chaos before clearing his throat, straightening out his crinkled sheet of paper and curtly listing off the next person in line for the open mic.
"Alright, uh... Our next contestant is a Sugar Rush local with her acoustic guitar," He narrowed his eyes and peered into the sheet as he concluded his statement, "A miss Bailey Black."
The crowd lightly clapped in nuetral welcome, though as the name gently bounced around Turbo's dizzy head for a moment, he slowly furrowed his eyebrows in soft confusion and felt the reels of his own, back tracking powers do everything they could to tightly rewind to a lazy conversation him and Berri had had weeks prior. The name he had playfully made up to pretend to Berri that he had a girlfriend named Bailey, something she obviously immediately saw through, coupled with his own last name, Turbo felt his skin prickle in cold, bewildered disbelief. In the slow, lulling slow blink of unmitigated, still surprise, Turbo held his breath, furrowed his brow in whole entire contemplation and very slowly peered his sharp, attentive and now entirely sobered-up gaze across the bar and night club, honed straight to the stage crowned with a few spotlights.
"This song's for someone I'm hopelessly in love with," Berri proudly announced into the mic, her stage presence was confident and other worldly, something Turbo was entirely certain was just a casual thing for her, something that nearly would give away her disguise, her beautiful, short brown hair glistened nearly red amidst the beaming stage lights.
Turbo huffed a shaky breath, shook his head in continued, unadulterated disbelief and finally turned to step down from the bar stool he was on. As if in a waking dream, he slowly began to press away from the bar and in a gentle weave of the crowd that attentively listened on in murmuring delight, and as Berri furthered her confident stage presence, she began to play Turbo's grey, acoustic guitar with pride, her powerful range and vibrato very easily captivated the crowd as quick as lightning, the whole room was very rapidly becoming electric with energy as Berri's strumming quickened with whole entire skill. Turbo choked a small laugh and held his eyes tight to her gorgeous figure, he could hardly even believe this was real, and the second Berri's wide, toothy smile pressed into the microphone with a further splay of sweet, lovely words of her's and Turbo's preciously written song, Turbo sagged his shoulders and felt cupid's final, deathly arrow pierce his heart dead on, a definitive K.O. that he knew he could never come back from.
After two songs, Berri felt bad about abandoning the stage as the crowd cheered and went wild for her to continue. With the loud, repetitive chanting of an encore as she hesitantly left the stage and cheekily waved to her new, adoring fans, Berri beamed and softly slipped away, once and for all, feeling like a million dollars. She bit her lip and was now faced with the looks of near terrified displeasure of the next contestants of said open-mic, patiently awaiting their turn, and although a few people glommed her and assured her that her performance was incredible, Berri was well aware she should likely dip out of this event for fear of having way too much skill and presence for this kind of an event. Certain that someone would likely discover her, she stepped to a quieter, darker corner from back stage, pulled out her materializer and sunk Turbo's loved guitar back into the safety of her own possession.
"Bailey?" Chimed one of the back stage workers, and though Berri had to switch gears and get used to her alter-ego, she perked up in delayed response and peered her grey eyes tight to the guy that moseyed on over to her.
"Hey," Berri eased in soft expectancy as she tucked her short, unfamiliar, dark brown hair behind her cute ears; said stage worker was a taller, red haired guy with a cute fuzz of a small beard. He wore an opened button down all wrinkled and rolled at the sleeves, he bashfully rubbed the back of his head and began to look nervous.
"That was INCREDIBLE," He huffed with a cute laugh of disbelief, his deep voice pressed over in an aura that Berri quickly understood, and though she was itching to now get out of this bar and potentially drive about Orion City and feel a little bit more freedom, she hovered for a second and quite enjoyed the fact that she was going unrecognized. He looked about and spoke up a little louder the second the contestant, following Berri, began to sing and play their own little song on stage, "You uh... You stickin' around? Can I buy you a drink?"
"Oh, no, thank you, I... I gotta go, I'm sorry," Berri fibbed in sheepish cuteness, though she gestured to the side door of the stage, a one-way exit that lead to the side of the building and out to the streets, "I have somewhere I have to be, but I'll... Probably be back, y'know."
"I sure hope so, h-here, I'll walk you out," He rushed in a twinge of mild disappointment, and as he kindly ushered Berri to the heavy, dark, metal side door, he grunted, popped it open and welcomed the two to the brisk, cool, early summer Sugar Rush air, "You, uh... You claimed you were a Sugar Rush local, you live in the city?"
"Yeah, I live near the palace," Berri mumbled as she slowly stepped out into the side walk as said gentleman held the door open for her. Berri further tucked her hair behind her ears, again, and faced him with a warm, apologetic smile, "Thanks for letting me squeeze in, there, I'm... Sure that wasn't in protocol. I just was passing through and thought it'd be cool to get my music out there."
"Safe to say you won the night," He raised his eyebrows and bobbed a nod, "Well, hey... Next time, drinks are on me and we can just hang, yeah?"
"Sure," Berri agreed with a smile; she knew full well that was never going to be a reality, and that she'd likely never be back at this bar and club, though she knew a simple, naive affirmative and a beautiful smile would ease the tide, here, "Thanks, again. I really appreciate it."
"Anytime, seriously," He nodded as Berri began to strut away, the clack of her heels practically echoed about the city, she could feel said gentleman's eyes now all over her backside due to just how long it took for said side door to finally choke to a loud, banging close.
Berri rolled her eyes with a cheeky, riveted smile and inhaled a deep breath. She felt as if she was on top of the world, the stress and weight of everything in her real life came sliding off of her shoulders with that one, little show where the spotlight was all on her, for once. Although the side exit wasn't crowded, she gently began to come upon a few straggling group of people loitering about the side and front of the building as she rounded the corner; a line to get into the building was something she had in her sights. As she pressed on down the side walk, on a main, busy four-laned road deep in the city, she felt a wave of now hot irritation come over her as she saw three men, in her peripheral, nudge each other, subtly gesture to Berri's oncoming presence and mumble incoherent things to each other. Any other night, Berri would understand that these were fans and they had good intentions, though Berri quickly switched gears and put on a full swathe of resting bitch face, fully prepared to ignore the cat calls she could practically hear already.
"Hey, gorgeous, slow down," One man kindly chimed; Berri could feel well-intentions in their words, though she didn't bat a lash and confidently pressed on.
"C'mere, babe, take it easy, now," Another one of the group cooed after her, it was here did Berri firmly stare forward followed by the act of a full eye-roll, though in this, she was unaware she had also passed someone to her left.
"Good evening, your highness," Came a roll of depth Berri was well versed in.
In the scuff of her thin, tall heels, Berri raised her eyebrows in a spike of unadulterated surprise and quickly whirled her surprised attention over her left shoulder. Stood poised, masculine arms crossed, leaned against the fastest car in the Universe, Turbo's loving, familiar pierce of his golden eyes hooked tight to hers in cheeky inquisition. Berri huffed a shaky, faltered breath and could see all three men, further down from Turbo, now peer to the situation in almost irritated, gawking surprise, though Berri honed her bashful, sheepish attention tight to Turbo's eyes. She remained still and didn't move, her chest heaved softly in an attempt to collect herself, and in the act of being discovered, she felt her veins wiggle with cuteness. She promised herself that before the night's end, she'd see Turbo, though her plan was to live wild and free about the city before doing so. Although something she was desperate for, her coding wiggled to correction in Turbo's still, dominant presence, and it became clear that no matter what, the desire to be in his arms was something that overrode nearly every wish and want inside of her.
"Please," Turbo's warm voice eased over the traffic directly out before them, he gingerly gestured to the empty space of sidewalk before him as he stood off the curb, on the asphalt, confidently by his parked, gorgeous Lumos.
Berri slowly crossed her arms, looked off to the traffic now to her right, scanned in aimless cheekiness and continued to hold fast to her alter-ego's new show of reserved, bratty no-nonsense act. Her eyes finally met with Turbo's as the slow, sauntering clack of her heels eased a few feet from Turbo's still, patient and hovering disposition. His eyes held tight to her in cheeky inquisition, it was entirely obvious that he wanted to grin the widest grin, obnoxiously scoop her up into his arms and whisk her away into the night, though they both held fast to a new wiggle of role-playing and remained calm and collected, as if they were genuinely strangers, something the general public about them was nonchalantly certain about.
"Can I help you?" Berri pressed in reserved, walled off cuteness, she shook her head and gave Turbo a mild look of annoyance, as if she was en route to doing other important things, though his alluring presence had her coming over just to see what he wanted; Turbo choked a silent laugh, peered down to his feet, shifted a little and was entirely on board with playing along, no matter what.
"I just want to know what a stunning woman, such as yourself, is doing out here in downtown Orion City all by her lonesome," Turbo's deep voice glossed over her with a toothy grin, a show of his prominent canines had Berri's heart melting, simply as if he was a predator ready to strike and she was willing to go down with it all. Although gentlemanly about it, he made no attempt at hiding the gentle draw of his golden gaze softly glancing down Berri's body, to her wide hips, below her knees, into the gentle plummet of her bare cleavage and back into her sharp eyes, his voice drenched to a depth of luring delight as he crowned a small, cocky smile, "...Someone might snatch you up."
"Are you out here specifically for that reason, then?" Berri snapped with a smile of challenge, she kept her arms crossed, she was well aware she was full eye-candy for Turbo to ogle, though somehow she was floored this all was even happening.
"Ah yes, my nightly prowl of searching for my next victim," Turbo choked in annoyed tease, he shook his head, aimlessly looked off, coughed a silent laugh and gave Berri a delighted grin once more, the sweet narrow of his eyes proved to Berri that he was entirely enjoying this banter, "I'm pretty picky, though, so I usually don't have THIS great of luck."
"Well, tough tits, because I have a boyfriend," Berri sneered with a cute, cheeky smile, she wrinkled her nose and shook her head in Turbo's direction, though Turbo playfully tsked her a noise, eased a fake frown and looked off in exasperated despair.
"Ho, man, if only I played by the rules," Turbo huffed in sorrow, though he perked back up and gave Berri a look of mean, cheeky delight, his golden eyes had never seemed brighter, he now was a little more liberal with his glossed, easy, eager eyes down Berri's beautiful, curvy figure, "Hasn't stopped me before."
"My eyes are up here, buddy," Berri muttered in still, un-smiling annoyance as she remained frozen with her arms crossed.
"So are mine, I've seen you glance down three times now," Turbo muttered with a cocky smile, he held tight eye contact with her for a moment, though she broke it with an eye roll and a smile she desperately tried to stifle; he could tell she was fully enjoying all of this due to the hard blush across her cheeks, "Takes two to tango."
"Are we done here?" Berri mumbled in a stern, reserved tone, though her demeanor read welcome and delight as she snuck Turbo a sneaky little smile from the corners of her mouth.
"Not yet, you haven't told me your name," Turbo chimed in scheming delight, and it was with the gentle sag of Berri's stiff shoulders did her bashful, sheepish demeanor now crown Turbo the victor of this banter. He huffed a soft chuckle, shook his head and side-eyed her with sweet delight, "Miss...?"
"Bailey," Berri stated in renewed confidence with a shaky inhale, she held her head high and tried to hop back on the horse with gust, though Turbo perked his eyebrows in further anticipation and jostled his hand about lightly.
"Baileyyy...?" Turbo prod for a last name, though Berri stiffed, furrowed her brow in a further show of smiling, sheepish embarrassment and knew she was entirely discovered, here.
"... Black," Berri mumbled, though Turbo scoffed a silent, sarcastic laugh and clutched his chest in a show of beyond delighted fervor.
"Wow, what a coincidence... MY last name is Black," Turbo's deep voice lovingly glossed over her in knowing tease, "Man, if you and I got married, we'd avoid so much paperwork with THAT amount of luck."
Berri raised her eyebrows in hot surprise and shot her eyes into Turbo's in a roll of hook, line and sinker. She heaved a shaky giggle and finally showed an easy smile, she opened her arms from the crossed position, stood a bit more confidently and tucked her hair behind her ears in a softer show of cute shyness, something Turbo now entirely craved and she knew it. Turbo inhaled a deep breath and gently pushed himself off of the side of his passenger-side door with a quiet grunt.
"Need a ride?" Turbo pressed nonchalantly, he eased his keys out of his pockets and pressed the sleek clicker, his incredible Lumos chirped a blip of a futuristic noise, cueing unlocked doors.
"Yes please," Berri stated with sneaky gust, she took a few steps back as Turbo politely opened the passenger-side door for Berri, it sleekly opened in a butterfly-wing fashion.
"Where-to?" Turbo coyly wondered, he sweetly took her hand and carefully helped her down into his incredibly fast and expensive car, she didn't hesitate to follow his lead.
"Your place," Berri cockily pressed with girly confidence as she sat down, for good, and shot Turbo a look of entire, teasing delight; she beamed him a smug, closed-mouth grin of victory and shrugged her bare shoulders, she could tell by the way Turbo raised eyebrows and faltered a breath in the back of his throat that she was finally catching up with him in this game of taunting.
"... Yes, ma'am," He concluded in cute, boyish surprise, and as carefully as he could, he gently sealed Berri inside his luxurious car once the coast was clear.
Turbo inhaled a shaky breath, muttered himself a silent few notions of begging himself to hold it all together, and as he slowly sauntered around the back of his car and to the driver's side, he only briefly caught eyes with the gawking, three men that were previously cat-calling Berri; they were frozen in shell-shocked surprise at the scene that had just played out, and had Turbo felt as if he wasn't running out of time, he grinned to himself and was well aware he'd likely have something cheeky to say to the crew. Instead, he knew he had his spoils, he had won this night and then some, and any amount of boasting on strangers wouldn't change anything. He sunk into his incredible beast of a car, turned the ignition, carefully pulled into traffic and was off with the jet-engine packed power of the rocket he so carefully maneuvered.
"... What the hell just happened?!" One of the guys barked in unadulterated surprise, though the other two shook their heads in full, irritated defeat and waved Turbo's incredible car off as it vanished.
A/N : Hey all :D I drew the last scene of this chapter! It's on my deviantART titled Orion City's Keeper - it's also on my instagram! Usernames Vyntresser and Vyntastic, respectively.
