Gino's Lament.

A/N: People are licking their wounds after the Battle for New LA. Set right after Ch. 8

Sorrow and swears by the dozen because I just let Gino rip (& Vandham, duh). Lila and the station crew are mine, but the whole wonderful world and all its other creatures belong the geniuses of MONOLITHSOFT.

Another Tuesday, not much going on. The Reclaimers had removed the burnt-out skell, and Lila had hired some random help to scour various bits of blast gel and fire suppressant off her refueling station, as well as repair the roof of the storage container that served as their office and otherwise fix things that had been burnt, shredded, or crashed into. The business was back in poor shape within 24 hours, in full run, all three bays open and refueling, in double that. It had been a long week, but life was back to normal, practically.

You wouldn't realize how close they'd come to losing the city, how many BLADEs had lost their lives to the Ganglion attack. The deck was scarred a little, that was all.

But Lila could figure out where that skell had been, the one that had protected her and Gino. Exactly 17 steps from the door of her office. Between where the scrapes ended, and the burn marks, scrubbed almost but not quite away, began. Not a bad point to stand and view the station, somewhat subdued but still busy.

Ricky Bobby and Twyleth were at Bay 1, their usual duty station. Used strictly for refueling, if they weren't absolutely swamped, which today they were not. Strange, Twyleth kept getting in Ricky Bobby's way, dashing around his legs, bouncing off him more than once. Usually it was the other way round. Mostly, the little Ma-non had to keep a careful watch that R-B didn't trample her in his eagerness not to miss any step of the job. But now the Ma-non was the one constantly asking questions of the human. Not job related, that hadn't changed, the xeno tech knew her business just as Ricky Bobby so didn't know his. No, these were personal questions, friendly questions. What was Ricky's favorite music? What was his favorite color? What was Ricky's favorite food? Pizza, right, because what could be better than than than pizza, you know? But what kind of pizza?

Lila stopped eavesdropping. Something had happened on the Ma-non ship during the attack. She didn't know what, she had been too busy to find out, but whatever it was had changed that pair's relationship. If she didn't know better, she'd say the Ma-non now had a big crush on her slower-thinking human partner. Why else would she be here when it wasn't pizza day?

What HAD happened up there? That was supposed to be the evacuation ship, keeping human civilians and other xenos safe. But once they'd come back, Ricky Bobby had told her, with a huge smile, that he'd done just what Lila'd told him to. Stuck by Twyleth and made sure she was okay. Lila had said it just as a way to keep him out of trouble, but something else may have happened. "Nobody hurt her," he had said, with satisfaction. Which hinted that maybe it would have been different if he hadn't been there. When she had time, she'd ask around.

Bay 3 had a retreading job. Priced half off, just like she'd promised herself. She would run the special for one more week, maybe two. She hadn't enjoyed watching the skells pushed back for lack of good traction. If it came out as a loss, she'd cover it herself. She needed to get back to it, but after doing 6 of these jobs in a row, she had to admit that she was getting bored by it. Two more weeks, she decided. I can bear two more weeks, after just sitting there and watching those guys fight.

That was all the good Gino and she had done during the Battle for New Los Angeles. Watched and cowered and possibly insulted an enemy skell or three. She didn't like thinking about it.

A sudden burst of swearing from Bay 2 drew her attention. Gino was cursing loudly at a baby skell. No one liked working on those finicky weak darlings, but this was something else again. Gino had the fueling coupler mostly disassembled, parts scattered at his feet. He was leaning against the wrench he was using to strip another of the rings that so often blocked the connection. She'd be glad when the whole of BLADE switched to the larger level 30 models being released now.

Gino had stopped even trying to take off the ring. He was swaying in front of the skell, a perky green number, screaming at it. Then he lifted the wrench up and swung at the machine.

"Stupid! Useless! Piece! Of! …" with each word, he slammed the oversized wrench into the side of the skell. Lila made a running leap to grab his hands as they flew by.

"Worthless! Oughta! Pound! You! Into! Scrap!" Gino was still getting some good blows in, even with Lila flapping along attached to his wrist. He'd lifted her off the ground a few times.

"Gino!" she shouted. "Stop it! Stop it! What are you doing? Skell insurance is not cheap!"

"Just let it die!" Gino was really whaling away on the skell. Lila couldn't stop his fury, so she switched to trying to drag him away from the innocent mech. On an upswing, she managed to get him off balance and twist him away, then wrapped her arms around his chest and placed herself between him and his target. Not good enough, not for long. Talk about being pushed back. Maybe she should retread herself. From the corner of her eye, she was relieved to see Ricky Bobby and Twyleth running towards the fracas.

But Gino had already dropped the wrench once the skell was out of reach, and instead he'd leaned into her embrace. He slammed his head, over and over, into Lila's shoulder. Tears were streaming down his face as he continued to howl. "I'm worthless. Useless. Burn it down. It's all shit. Should've died a long time ago." By this time, Ricky had reached them, and without asking, he wrapped his massive arms around the both of them. Lila was grateful for the support, literally. Gino was practically dead weight by now, although he was still battering her damp shoulder.

"Shhh, shhh, baby, it's okay," she murmured stupidly. She held him all the tighter.

"Shh, shh, we got you, Gino," echoed Ricky Bobby.

xcxcxcxswitchxcxcxcxc

Twyleth did not know what to make of this human behavior. She wondered why Gino was upset. Should she be upset too? But Ricky wasn't, not really, not worried. She knew when he was worried, he'd hunch his shoulders and shuffle. Now he was standing tall, just like on the ship, when those humans came to attack all of them, the ones that were the Ganglion's friends. No other humans were that mean. Certainly not Ricky Bobby. He was taking care of Lila and Gino. Ricky was just so so so amazing, you know? Lila had started the hug, and Ricky Bobby had joined it, so she, Twyleth should help too. But how could she? She darted around the group of humans, not quite sure how to fasten herself on. Her arms were just so so so small, right? She needed longer arms.

Lara Mara! What a brilliant idea. He was usually over by the elevator, right? Just a skip away. And as a Mediator, wasn't he sworn to help all the civilians in New Los Angeles? She pattered over towards the elevator. Its gates were swinging down and she spotted an even better solution in the shape of Commander Vandham. Now that was a set of arms, don't you think?

"Come on, you're just in in in time, right?" Without saying more than that, she ran behind him and pushed him towards the station. He was asking questions, putting up some kind of protest, maybe, but Twyleth was not going to lose this chance to win the hug.

"Ricky! Ricky! I brought more help, you know? Do you think this will improve the hugging?" She grabbed one of the commander's wrists and wrapped his arm around the sobbing, soothing group.

Ricky Bobby swung his own arm out a little farther and encompassed the stunned BLADE into the group embrace. "See, Gino? We're all here. It's going to be okay, right?" Twyleth was pleased. Ma-non ingenuity at its best! Why do the job yourself when you can get get get just the right tool, you know?

xcxcxcxcswitchxcxcxcxc

Commander Vandham stayed put and tried to assess the craziness crammed up against him. In the center was Lila on one side, crooning, with Gino to the other. Her scrawny and generally volatile tech was weeping and swearing in equal measures. The great big liability, Ricky Bobby, was holding both of them, and now him, mostly. And there was a Ma-non hanging off his belt. "Lila, what the hell…" he breathed into the station manager's ear, conveniently located directly below his mouth.

She turned her head and flashed him a glance, all brown and silvery wet. A slight shake of her head, a flick of her lashes. Later. He got the message. She went back to crooning at the tech, who was telling some kind of sob story now. Vandham tried to find some emergency patience.

"…said I wasn't a real part of it, the city, that she wasn't going to waste her time on…"

"Why didn't you tell her…"

The tech looked up, dark eyes bitter. "We did shit, Lila. We were no good. No one needed us. She was right, she was right, she was…" He slammed his head down again and again.

"Maybe she's just mad you spent all your money," suggested Ricky Bobby.

"Ricky!" snapped Lila.

Gino twisted and growled. "I'm broke too. Way to rub it in."

"You'll earn more. You can have my overtime shift if you want."

This forced a laugh from Gino. Thank God. Maybe this hugfest would be ending soon, because this was not in Vandham's comfort zone.

It took longer than he hoped. Lila had them organized pretty quickly, but she kept a hold of Gino. That's right, Vandham remembered, the tech's legs had a tendency to buckle at awkward moments. She kept Vandham to Gino's right. Ricky Bobby and Twyleth were sent into the office for sustaining warm drinks. For everyone. Wonderful, thought Vandham with deep sarcasm, dark roast machine oil. The station was infamous for its terrible coffee.

It got worse. Twyleth had found some hot cocoa mix. Only Doug would drink this crap, thought Vandham. Why hadn't he been the one kidnapped by an enthusiastic Ma-non? Enthusiastic and loyal. God, he thought for not the first time that day, we don't deserve these allies but I sure as hell will keep 'em. He tried to sip the brew politely, but something in his expression was giving Lila a case of the giggles. Screw that. He put the mug down and said, "Are we done now?"

Gino managed to look both furious and shamefaced. Lila just looked disapproving. At him, not at Gino. Then she fished her comm device out, gave a few swipes, and said, "Pizza. Go get it. Don't come back until you're done. It's on the station. And bring me back a suid and coldberry slice."

While Lila was gathering up the mugs (mostly empty, this really was a station staffed by freaks, he thought to himself), Vandham watched the unlikely trio move off towards the commercial section. The Ma-non was practically skipping with glee beside Ricky Bobby. He wasn't sure Lila's business could afford this move, but he wasn't going to argue.

"You gonna explain?"

Lila sighed. "Gino's girlfriend dumped him because he's not a BLADE. Not brave enough to be worth her time. The attack clarified her thinking or something."

"And his staying to defend your dump of a station didn't impress her? Against orders, I'm going to add, because that's why I'm here. To pound some sense into you rank amateurs."

"He didn't bother to tell her. He knows we were stupid to stay. I know it too." She turned sad eyes to him, helpless, "Just, at the time, we couldn't make ourselves leave. We'll remember it next time."

"I'm going to pretend that the message has been received by Gino. He's more fragile than I remember him being. But you are not getting off, missy." He blocked her way into the office, crossed his arms, and gave her his best glare. "What the hell were you thinking, taking on an enemy attack with a patched together pile of sandbags, two losers, and some extremely off market firepower?"

Snap. Oh lord, he'd forgotten that face she'd get, when she had to take it. Eyes clear, blank, face blank and pale, back straight like a poker. Hands at her side, the mugs dripping cocoa dregs. "It was wrong, sir."

"Wrong does not begin to cover it." He was warming to the theme. Chew out enough overly clever teams, you got a pretty good standard reprimand. "Can you, or can you not, understand the order to evacuate?"

"Yes, sir, we understood. We were wrong to ignore it."

"You think you are any different from the rest of New LA? Better?"

"No, sir."

"You are not better. In fact, you behaved several levels worse than even I expect to find in this rat hole of yours." He paused. "Eleonora sends her greetings, by the way."

Lila flinched. She muttered something that could have been, "Kill me now."

"What? You care to share it?"

"No, sir. She needs to tell me something. Probably about how obedience is important to the smooth running of a large institution. She's not wrong."

"You're getting really good with that word. Right, wrong, screw that. Idiocy, or a lack thereof, is more the issue. I need better from you."

Even Lila's perfect stance couldn't hide that he was getting to her. Good. Maybe she wouldn't try to give him a heart attack the next time things blew up. "Sorry, sir, it won't happen again."

"Damn straight it won't. If there is ever an evacuation order again, I will make sure you and your band of jackasses are the first to be off-loaded someplace you can do no harm. Under guard. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." But then she looked at him, with eyes so full of sorrow that he almost stopped his rant. Only almost. "Sorry, sir, but what can you do? This station is…"

"Completely disposable. You could turn it into a latrine tomorrow and New LA could care less. It gets broken? No loss. We can replace any crap I see here in a week. Don't even try to pretend it's of value."

"You're right, sir, you're right. We won't make the same mistake again. Gino and me, we tried to pretend, but we get it now. We're worthless."

God, he could have shaken her. He leaned into her face and growled very clearly and slowly. "You're worth everything, that's the whole damn point. The station? Crap. You? You cannot be replaced. Are you starting to get it?"

If her eyes got any wider, she'd need a new face. "Yes, sir, I understand, sir." And dammit he hoped she did, because he did not have any extra time to worry about her, or Gino, or her station.

He pulled away and relaxed his arms, and Lila relaxed her stance. She lifted the mugs back to her chest and shrugged. "I guess I better start on all these unfinished jobs. At least until they come back from lunch."

When she came back from her office, mugless, he was bent down, inspecting the green skell in the middle bay. "What happened to this one?" The lower left leg was badly dented, but the rest of the thing was fine.

"Friendly fire, I'm calling it. I hope the insurance covers it."

His back was to her. He continued, softly. "Eleonora explained the topic of your little tiff. Care to discuss it?"

She squatted down next to him and poked the dents. "No, sir. It's just, I have a lot of time to think, down here. Not exactly full time brain work, is it? I worry about Ricky's future, how he's going to fit in, broken as he is. Think we can beat these dents out ourselves?"

"Not likely. Very noble of you to spare Ricky Bobby your worry."

"Not really. I'm worried about all of us."

"All you broken ones."

"Not just us. But, yeah, starting with him, and starting with us. It won't necessarily get easier, once the Lifehold is found."

"If…"

He hadn't gotten the word out of his mouth before she gave his arm a good pinch, before swiftly returning her attention to the skell. Ow, dammit, she had a grip. "When, sir, and you should be the last one to forget that. Since you're going to find it for us."

He looked over at her, hiding a smile. "On my own? Or am I allowed help?"

"All the help you can get, sir, of course. But you will do it. I'm sure."

"Brown, remind me, who is supposed to be getting their ass handed to them?"

"Me, sir. We were stupid and useless, and we will be better in the future. You can count on us, really you can."

"Well, I'm not envying your next interaction with New LA's all-seeing blonde. Honestly, she scares me."

Lila grinned as they both stood up. She quirked her head. "What ever happened on the Ma-non ship?"

"You haven't heard? Ha, it was good. I'd save it for Thursday, but you look like you could use good news now. Some asshole xeno-haters decided that it was a good opportunity to attack the Ma-non ship in all the confusion. What the shields didn't take care of, your Ricky Bobby mopped up nicely. A one man wrecking crew, that boy, given the right circumstances. Eleonora is pleased."

"Really? So that explains the current state of hero worship at my station. But, oh, do you mean they were humans? Us?"

"Likely, although we're not completely sure. Probably that crew that killed those Nopon a few weeks back."

Lila looked stricken. "I cannot believe it. Why would they do this? Don't they realize…"

"Who knows or cares? We'll probably have to take them out soon, and I think I know the team to do it. Don't worry. Your employees are all safe. I'll send you the surveillance video from the ship. Blink and you'll miss it, that boy is efficient. Even Nagi liked it."

"I am so glad. Something went right."

Many things were going right, in his opinion. New LA was still standing, they still had better people than they had any right to expect, and better allies. Lila and her station were still there, thoroughly weird and broken and just as irreplaceable. He said good bye, and sloped off to find some other miscreant to set straight.

A/N: This was supposed to be a short little thing, not much point to it. Somehow, I got to play with the voices of Lila AND Vandham AND bonus! Twyleth. Short, ha! I'm starting to love Gino and Ricky Bobby almost as much as I love Lila. And of course I love Twyleth so so so much, you know? This is one of the last bits to be finished, even if it is in the middle.

If you want to know exactly what happened when that jerk Alex and co. tried to take on the combined might of the Ma-non and Ricky Bobby, check out "Shield of the Ma-non".

Next up: I don't care what it looks like, Vandham and Lila are not on a date. No, no, no. Flufffffffff with extra cheese.