CHAPTER TWO: Assemble the Cast

Andrea walked in between Maggie and Tina on their way to Bonnie's quarters.
Tina scratched her head. "Do you think she'll be awake?"

The three women stopped in front of their injured comrade's door.
Andrea nodded; her blonde bangs shook against her forehead. "I heard from the doctor that she's doing a lot better."

Maggie lifted her fist and knocked gently.

"Come in," a soft and weak voice replied from inside.

A smile lit up Bonnie's tired face as they entered the room. She looked absolutely wretched otherwise—her hair was matted and in tangles and her ruby red eyes had even lost their luster; they were dull and glassy.
"Andy, Maggie, Tina, hi…"

Tina bounded over to Bonnie's bedside. "Hi Bunny! How are you feeling today?" She bent forward and gave her a hug.
"I've been better," Bonnie answered in a cough.

Maggie greeted with a friendly wave as she approached the foot of the bed. "Hi Bunny."
Bonnie's eyes glimmered warmly. "I'm so happy to see you all; thanks for coming to visit."

Andrea waved it off with one hand. "Don't be silly—we do it because we love you."
Tina gave a firm jerk of her head in agreement. "Yeah!"

Maggie took a seat on Bonnie's bed, by her legs and admired the plush patchwork quilt beneath her.
Bonnie moved her stuffed dingo aside to make more seating room for her guests. Andrea and Tina took places on opposite sides of her.

Andrea grabbed the hairbrush off the bedside table and gently began to work the tangles out of Bonnie's hunter green mane. "I see they finally took the tube out of your nose."
Bonnie sighed with relief written all over her face. "Yeah, finally. After that fiasco yesterday, I finally gave up fighting the doctors."
Tina gave her a playful punch in the arm. "You mean you don't like the Dilaudid?"
The sick young woman returned to her a tested frown. "I'm still hung over."

"That's great!" Maggie praised, "you'll be back to your old self in no time!" She grinned next. "You know, Ringo says that the Blue Earth just isn't the same without you around. He misses you a lot."
Bonnie scoffed. "After all my clawing and struggling with him, I'd be surprised if he'd be glad to see me if I was the last person on earth!"
Andrea shook her head. "Nah, you know Ringo. He hates it when you're not around."
Maggie abruptly changed topics by pulling a box out from behind her back. "We brought you something! But you can't have it until you're 100% better.

Bonnie eyed the box with interest.

Andrea and Tina both nodded.
Andrea wagged her finger at Bonnie. "And you can't share it either."

Bonnie slowly opened the box and smiled from ear to ear. "Oooooooo…a whole box of different flavored chocolate truffles. Yumm…" Looking up at all her friends, she declared, "Now I'm going to have to work twice as hard to get better; so I can eat something decent for once. Thanks, guys."

Tina pinched Andrea's arm. "You were right, Andy."

Ringo came in at that moment without knocking. "What you got there, Bun-bun?" He asked while poking his head over Andrea's shoulder with sparkling eyes of curiosity.
Bonnie looked up at him. "Hi, Ringo. A box of chocolate truffles."

Tina stuck her tongue out at him. "But you don't get any!"

A pout washed over Ringo's face. "Why not?"
Bonnie shook her head. "I'm sorry, I was told I couldn't share with anyone."
He sighed. "That's not very nice. But if it meant you'd actually eat them, then I guess I shouldn't complain."
He bent over to kiss her cheek and caught the corner of her mouth by mistake. "I just came to tell you that I'm leavin' for the day."

Maggie folded her arms across her chest. "Where are you going?"

Bonnie reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck for a hug, her face slightly flushed—it felt nice to have his lips there.

"I have a few things I need to take care of…" He answered, loosely returning the embrace—he didn't want to hurt her. "The Commander gave me the day off."
Her hold slackened. "You're leaving me?"
He shut his eyes. "Sorry, Bunny. Rachel's been in town for awhile…I think it's about time I go over and pay her a visit."
She grinned. "Oh, tell her I said hello. Let me guess…she's going to make you take her out and go shopping."

"Little sisters…" He grumbled in a slightly rankled tone of voice. "Gotta love em."
Bonnie let him go as he stood up. "Bye, Ringo. Don't have too much fun."
He rolled his eyes. "Hah. Yeah right. See ya, ladies."

They all waved.

He left just as quickly as he'd appeared.

Bonnie sighed. "Poor guy…the Commander probably gave him the day off cause he felt sorry for him. I'm sure poor Ringo's dying to get away from me—I'm such a pain in the ass."
"Why is the doctor still insisting that you go to the infirmary for your meals?" Maggie asked.

Bonnie smirked. "Because. I wouldn't eat otherwise. He has to make sure that I eat-or actually drink-every bit of that crap he gives me. And if I don't, then I get the tube put back in to make sure of it."
"O-oh. How awful!" Maggie sighed.

Bonnie nodded again. "Yeah…but now it's not hurting as badly…the doctor says I can try real food that's easy on the stomach later on tonight."

Andrea changed the subject. "Ringo's not dying to get away from you, Bunny! As a matter of fact I spoke with him earlier this morning; he said he'd much rather be with you than carting around his little sister for the day. He cares for you an awful lot…"
Tina saw a band of pink flush across the bridge of Bonnie's nose.
Maggie pointed a finger at her. "Ah! You SEE? I knew you had a thing for him."

Bonnie's head sunk as her pale face became tinted with a pinkish hue. "…" Was all she could answer in her defense.

Maggie giggled. "I was right! You do!"
Tina snorted. "So what? I think they look cute together."

Bonnie could almost feel the heat radiating from her face now. "…" She said again as she scratched her head nervously.

"Aw! Just imagine all the little kids!" Maggie crooned in another giggle.
Bonnie knit her brows together. "Guys…come on, knock it off…"

"Well, he did just waltz in here like he owned the place…" Andrea added.
"Hey! That's because—"
The rest of Bonnie's afternoon was filled with joy and laughter.

If only the same could be said of Ringo…

Adjusting the rear-view mirror to his car, Ringo's eyes grazed over his reflection. A pink streak was still visible down the side of his jaw, from the 'attack' yesterday.
Attack…well; he really wouldn't call it that. It was more like an act of self-defense.

Poor Bonnie.

His heart welled up with anger every time he recalled all the pain and suffering she'd gone through to get this far. "That bastard sonuvabitch's ass is mine the next time I run into him…" He promised himself for the umpteenth time.
"He's gonna pay for all the shit he's pulled…" Placing his sunglasses over his narrowed eyes, he turned the key to the ignition, and left the Command Center.

The desert air outside was hot and dry, and the blazing sun baked the dusty, sandy brown landscape mercilessly. Flat—the horizon lay out for miles and miles; its view unobstructed, save the few rocks littered about here and there. The city was quite a ways away, but that was all right.
He didn't mind.
Long drives like this gave him time to sort out his thoughts and feelings. It gave him time to think, undisturbed from the rest of the world.

For instance, what possessed Bonnie to go out and confront Saber like that–it was still bothering him—what was her motive?

Was it suicide?

She didn't want to die anymore, did she?

He couldn't bear to have to go through something like that again. He winced as the gruesome images of Bonnie being run through replayed in his mind. He was there, he could've done something…but instead he'd just stood there like an idiot…
He noticed that Saber liked to target his brother and Bonnie. Why her, though?
Did she have some connection to it all?

If she did, she wasn't talking about it.

Once he asked her why she went to Saber and spoke to him. She looked at him for a moment, and then her head sunk and she cast her gaze to her lap. "I…I don't know."
After that, she never talked about it ever again. She'd always find a way to avoid it and change the subject.

Bonnie…that woman was truly something else. She was kind, generous, carefree and outgoing; yet at the same time she was a serious, brave and aggressive soldier. Oh sure, sometimes his self-proclaimed, 'mad flying skills' would scare her half to death, but…

Ringo smiled to himself. He couldn't wait until she'd be able to 'come back to work'. She was the best copilot in the world, and he wouldn't have it any other way. She was fun to be around. Cute, too.
He kicked that thought. Forget cute, the woman was beautiful—even if she was a little shorter than him. As a matter of fact, he just thought it made her all the more interesting.

A little shorter than him?
Ringo smirked. The top of the woman's head just barely reached his diaphragm. His smirk turned into a wolfish grin as his mind wandered from there.

He really cared for her a lot—her near-death experience had given him the extra push forward he'd needed to finally decide to do something about it. He loved her. And there was no way, he decided, that she would die without him getting it off his chest.

He would have to confess.

Vitani was curled up in a corner on the cold floor with her face in her knees. "I…" She began, listening to the way her voice echoed off the barren walls of her cell. "I'm alone…" She giggled mindlessly to herself. "I'm all alone…"

It had been three days since she'd been given the coffee—she hoped Marlow hadn't been caught. The last thing she needed was to lose him too. She dug her face further into her skin and did her best not to cry.
It was so dark in her cell now, she couldn't even see herself. A cold shudder ran down her spine. The cold and darkness were so unsettling—it was slowly driving her insane.
How long was it going to take before she was sentenced for her insubordination?

She already knew what it was going to be. She was going to be given the death penalty for attacking General Gault. That's what he did with all his traitors nowadays.
She shook her head. How could she stop herself? Watching her husband die like that… Oh well, it didn't matter. If she died, she died. Death never scared her, but… Being alone scared her; she'd much rather die than be alone.

Ringo grumbled something bad under his breath and hopped out of his car. The sudden flatness of his tire required inspection. His eyes nearly fell out of his head—the left rear tire was blown so hard, it was already draped across the wheel like a thin rag. He sighed loudly as he popped the trunk to fish around for the jack and his spare.

Rummaging around, he found all sorts of stuff he thought he'd lost; stuff like a jacket, box of old letters, some energy drinks…
He located the spare and the jack; they hit the dirt with a loud clang. Ringo rolled up his sleeves, and checked his watch.

Rachel would have his head if he was late.

Midway through the task, he stretched his neck to peer over the side of his car—he felt as if he was being watched. By what, he had no idea. A cold shiver washed across the back of his neck and down his spine.

He was alone.

And besides…what could possibly get him all the way out here? A jackrabbit? He shook his head and went back to work. He was being retarded—there was nothing to be afraid of.

Afraid? That was new.

How sheepish he felt when he realized he hadn't had an intuitional sense like that since he was a kid. Back then the most he was afraid of stalking him were the creatures of the Bermuda Triangle that Randy always warned him about. His older brother used to tell him all sorts of horror stories about pilots who crashed in the Triangle. They mutated into vengeful monsters, bent on destroying anyone who dared to fly over their territory.
Ringo scoffed. His brother often loved to scare the piss out of him when he was little. It was his hobby: scare Richard into a little bundle of nerves so that by the time he has to go to bed, the family cat would send him up the walls.

Standing up, Ringo brushed away all the rusty colored dust on his clothing. He still felt uneasy, as if he should get out and back on the road soon. Turning to pick up his things, his body slammed into the rear fender. The next thing he knew, he was swiftly moving further and further away from his car. Soon enough it was just a speck in the sand.

What the hell was going on?

The shock wore away and he was able to perceive his environment. Cold metal pressed into his stomach; he was dangling upside-down. Something else metal barred across the backs of his legs. His eyes widened—he was just swept off his feet by a Tekkaman. The color of his armor was black and red.

Saber.

He knit his brows together and swallowed hard. Whatever happened, he wasn't going to give in without one hell of a fight.