-Sasha-
"Uh… where's the cyborg?" Fiona wondered.
Felix stormed past her into the caravan, and Sasha and Fiona shared worried glances. Something had happened. Sasha had a bad feeling about it, and it seemed Fiona felt the same way. They had gone with three and returned with two. Judging from how the boys didn't notice one of their group was missing, it had to have been recent. Very recent, if the relationship between the cyborg and the nerd meant anything.
Fiona glanced at the nerd Hyperion, and we shared another glance. Time to split up to cover more ground. "I got Vaughn." She said.
"I'll get Felix." Sasha returned.
A bit impromptu, but they do that. They had a sixth sense thing. Sasha didn't meet many other families with siblings (or even intact families for that matter) but she had the impression it is because they were so close that they can build tactics and exchange entire conversations at a glance.
Sasha entered the caravan to find Felix dumping a box of ammo on the table. It was a box of ammo left for emergency only, hidden in a secret department. The sight of the shotgun was worrying enough, but the amount of ammo he seemed to believe he needed was worse. Just how bad was this? Sasha knew the mountain of trash was populated, but then so was the rest of Pandora. What made this go the extra effort of opening that?
"Hey, uh… Felix." Sasha said.
"Hey, Sasha." He returned. His attention was focused on his work. He pulled out of a strap of leather he hadn't worn as long as Sasha knew him. It was something he wore in the old days before he adopted them, back when he had to fight and kill on a regular basis. It had lots of holes and small straps to hold shotgun rounds. He started filling the slots with fresh rounds. The old rounds had decayed to the point of being unreliable and even dangerous to use.
Sasha gulped and set herself at the task of equipping herself as well. If the situation was this bad, she would need to be ready as well. She laid her rifle and some clips on the table opposite him, and he stopped only long enough to give her a meaningful look. She ignored it, unsure what he had going through his mind. Clearly they would be entering dangerous territory.
Sasha counted her clips, "How many you think we will need to get him out?"
Felix halted in mid-movement so briskly that ammo clattered, rolled, and fell onto the floor. He completely froze for a brief moment, but then he looked up in confusion and outrage. "Get him? What do you mean get him?!"
Sasha glanced around all they had been doing and asked, "Aren't we getting ourselves ready to go rescue him?"
Sasha knew Felix as a lot of things, but the side that suddenly showed was not something she had seen in… ever. He laughed. He laughed at the thought of saving someone. It was so cynical and full of disbelief that Sasha didn't know how to take it. She felt a pain in her chest, and she wasn't sure why. She would also fail to deny it if she didn't admit to being scared of this side of him all of a sudden. It was like something deep inside was momentarily released.
"Rescue him?" He laughed. He kept laughing, then he abruptly stopped. "You serious? No. No, no, no. We are getting ourselves out. That idiot got himself into it, he can get himself out, or he can die, either way we have to hightail it before Vallory comes after us."
"What?" Sasha gasped. "But-"
"But what?" Felix demanded. "He's Hyperion. I told him not to leave the path. He screwed up."
Sasha found she couldn't argue. She didn't know what had happened and couldn't argue against the events, but it felt wrong to just leave him to die. He was Hyperion… but…
But what?
'This is your problem, Sasha… you have good gut instincts, but you don't know what that gut says…' She chastised herself.
"I just don't like it." She argued truthfully. "My gut-"
"Your gut?" He raised an eyebrow. "You mean that con-artist gig we pull on people? Don't try that crap on me, Sasha. I'm not someone you're conning."
She grit her teeth angrily. Of course… when did anyone ever believe in her instincts unless they were on the opposite sides of their plans? It's not like he was being an ass, but the truth was simply there. Her gut instinct was part of the act they always used. She was the youngest of the team, so she was the less wise one. She was the child. The feeling of being treated like one only made her angrier.
"Then how about we simply go with the fact that we can't find the briefcase, and keep it from Vallory, without him!" She yelled.
"Yeah, well! Screw Vallory!"
"Yeah, screw her, but if we damn him then we also damn ourselves! I'm not like you! I'm not so pissed off at the world I would happily take it with me! I want to live!"
He stopped his raging and stared. Sasha felt she hit a nerve with him, judging from his widened eye; however, too incensed to really care, and now having successfully made her blood-boil and her adrenaline start pumping, she grabbed her gun and stomped out of the caravan leaving a stunned father-figure in her wake.
A part of her was guilty at the idea of shoving that in his face, but she shoved it down. She didn't know where it came from, but it felt like it was the core of some truth with him. He was so different from her and Fiona. He was an old Pandoran of an old age where all he knew was blood and death. He came from a time when you didn't give a damn about living so long as you took everyone with you. He lived in a time of hate… and to be fair, they still did. Sasha knew he protected them from it, and she would thank him for that later, but for now… they had a dumbass to save.
As always, Fiona had a calming influence on people. Vaughn still looked worried for his friend, but also suitably prepared to go out and look for him unarmed. (Stupid as that may be.) Fiona herself packed a small pistol.
Sasha eyed it on her hip with a smirk, "Going in armed for once? Only took twenty years to rub off on you."
Fiona smiled nervously. "Yeah… Talking is my thing, but I don't think talking with do much with these people. It's just incase you miss one. Try to let me keep my record intact, eh sis?"
Sasha unconsciously patted her SMG. "I'll do my best."
They didn't even ask what she wanted. They instinctually had the same idea: To save the dumbass. It made her feel good. They ventured out into the mountain. Sasha glanced back at the caravan as they turned the bin, hoping Felix would follow, but all she saw was him watching them leave. He looked like he was at war with himself.
Well it was too bad. Pick a side. Sasha still hated Hyperion, but she could live with saving one if it meant saving her family. (Plus one nerd that wasn't half-bad.)
Sasha said, "Okay, Vaughn. Where did you last see… uh…"
"Rhys." Vaughn gave.
"Right." Sasha nodded.
Fiona snorted in amusement. "I could have told you that."
"Yeah, impeccable memory my ass."
"Only if you insist on me kissing it."
"Why don't you have your pet Hyperion do it for you?"
"I'd rather not be dragged into this…" Vaughn inserted. "It was right about here." He motioned a moment later. "We went around this bend, and I saw him out of the corner of my eye."
They looked backwards and forwards. "We can see the edges of the caravan from here." Fiona said. "He was very close."
Sasha kept an eye on their surroundings. If he was grabbed this close, then the kidnapper was near.
It was at this point that Sasha noticed Vaughn was looking at them expectantly. "What?"
"You found his scent?"
Fiona tried to a hide a smile behind her hand politely, but Sasha just stared. "What?"
Vaughn suddenly got nervous again. "Um… don't you people know how to track other people? And stuff like that?"
"We aren't dogs!" Sasha argued. Fiona couldn't contain it anymore and laughed.
"S-so that's not a skill you Pandoran's pick up along with… you know… shooting and cutting and knifing and-"
"No!" Sasha insisted incrediously. She turned on her sister. "Stop laughing!" Back to Vaughn. "Some bounty-hunters know how from their trade, but the rest of us are not dogs! I wouldn't know the first thing about tracking if it bit me in the ass!"
"I could always have Vaughn do it!" Fiona blurted out in a fit of laughter.
Vaughn went from red, to a deep red as he realized how deeply he had shoved both of his feet in his mouth, and Sasha glared at her sister. "You aren't helping."
Fiona finished chuckling. "It's not that bad, and technically tracking is a skill to be learned as much as anything else based on intuition."
"What you gonna smell my breathe and tell me what I had for breakfast now?"
"Nah. Although, knowing us, it's something with cheese."
"I wonder what told you that." Sasha replied sarcastically. "Not like we've had, Oh I don't know, ANYTHING ELSE!"
While the conversation went on for a bit longer, it was mostly Fiona giggling at the other's expense, and before long even Vaughn was smiling in amusement, while Sasha was inwardly amused at the whole thing and outwardly quite peeved. Before long they chose to treck back along the path the three men had taken before up the mountain and they walked in silence.
To Sasha's amazement, Vaughn was the only one not having a difficult time climbing at the tail end of their journey. Sasha wouldn't say she was out of shape, but she and Fiona were sweating and panting and had a tough time grasping at a foundation with their hands with which to climb, while Vaughn just pressed onward.
He stopped and helped them up as best he could with a smile. Part of Sasha wanted to climb up and wipe that smile off his face (she was not weak!) and the other part was too busy trying to keep up to waste energy in assaulting his face. But then… he didn't seem like the type to look down on people. Ironic for a Hyperion. So she could forgive him this time for being the superior one.
After what felt like hours, and hours, and hours (really it was probably thirty-minutes) they stopped at a clearing to rest. It was near time to eat, and Sasha had been too hot-blooded to consider food when they left. She was not hungry enough to eat trash either…
For that matter eating ontop of a literal mountain of trash didn't seem that appealing. The others must have been of like-mind, because they didn't complain of hunger at all. They just rested their legs. Sasha leaned back on a dirty cushion with a spring coming out of the side and groaned in the heat. The heat of Pandora was stifling here, and it didn't help that the nature of trash lacked the same nature as good ground. It gave off a loooot more heat.
"Hey, uh… guys." Vaughn said with clear hesitation. "Thanks."
"For what?" Fiona asked.
"For coming. I realize we are technically supposed to be enemies, and yeah, Rhys screwed up, and-"
"We get it." She responded. "Its fine, Vaughn. We need him, all of us. Besides, not like you would have gone after him on your own. That would have just been stupid."
He was amazingly silent.
Fiona sat up. "You would have wouldn't you?"
He nodded and looked down at his lap. He rubbed his hands together. Fiona looked concerned and shared a glance with Sasha. Sasha didn't share her concern. She just thought it was stupid. No one goes anywhere alone in Pandora and expects to live out the door.
Fiona continued to look at Vaughn, as if processing something. Trying to understand. "Why? I realize you are both Hyperion, but why be willing to do something as stupid as throw your life away for one guy?"
It could be said they were just as stupid, but being in numbers made it less stupid.
Vaughn shrugged. "Because that's what friends do."
Sasha stared at him in amazement a moment. He wasn't just an enigma among Hyperion, he wasn't a rarity… he was the exact opposite of everything she ever considered Hyperion to be and mean. He was, in a way, full of such naive innocence that it was a wonder Pandora and Hyperion both had not taken that precious trait away.
She also pitied him, because it was that exact thing that would kill him one day.
They rested in silence. For Sasha, she was confused. For Vaughn, he was content to just thank them.
After a short rest, they continued on. They arrived at the destination and searched a short distance from there. They did not want to go too far from where they recognized.
Sasha heard something, like a stomp. She whipped out her SMG so fast she nearly got it caught in her jacket. Fiona reacted by whipping out her pistol. Vaughn reacted by squealing and staring down the barrel of said pistol, as she happened to be aiming between his eyes without paying attention.
"Ah, watch it!" He dropped down beneath her aim.
Fiona grimaced, "Sorry, wasn't look at you! Stay down!"
"Shh!" Sasha hushed them. She listened closely. It was definitely a stomp. A lot of stomping. She couldn't make out where it was coming from. She kept her eyes down the sight of her gun and pressed herself against a barricade, ready to shoot at a moment's notice.
Fiona hid with her back to a busted up fridge and Vaughn scrambled inside the fridge, and closed the door on himself. Fiona looked around. "Where's that coming from?"
"Don't know. Hush a minute!" Sasha hissed.
They kept themselves poised and silent with anticipated breathe. The stomping continued… but it never seemed to come closer. It was also erratic… like a beat.
"Drums?" Fiona wondered outloud.
"Possibly…" Sasha allowed herself a moment to decide what to do. "Watch my back." Fiona nodded.
Sasha skitted across the open space to the next groove she could press herself into, and looked down the path. In the distance was a couple dots of fire, some huts, and lots of movement. It was too far to figure out what it was exactly. Sasha glanced back and found the others were following her lead, both out of their element.
As nice as it was to be the one in charge, to be in the respected position and hot-seat, it was a bit troublesome to be the only one who was remotely comfortable in the moment.
Sasha pressed forward a bit more, bit by bit, until the sight in the distance became clear.
What they found made the four of them stare and gape.
There was dancing around fires, beating of drums and playing of musical instruments, shaking of tambourines, tables upon tables upon tables of good food, laughter, and…
"What the hell?" Felix wondered.
Nice to know he made up his mind, but Sasha was too busy being absolutely stunned. (Took him a while to make the same journey as them on his own. He was exhausted from playing catchup.) Vaughn took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, cleaned his glasses, and looked again. He openly gaped. Because the thing that blew their mind the most was that at the very height of it all was a podium, with a throne, upon which sat… Rhys.
"Okayhe'sfinelet'sgo." Sasha turned around to leave, but Felix grabbed her shoulder without even looking.
"Your idea, we're staying."
"Am I dreaming? Or high?" Vaughn wondered.
"If you are, I want some of what you're smoking…" Felix replied.
"Make that two of us." Fiona sighed.
"Three of us…" Sasha added.
"HEY GUYS!" Rhys waved. With one collective moment, the whole crowd turned to look up at them. And with one collective moment, they sighed.
-Rhys-
This is bad. This is very very bad. The lunatics have seen Vaughn and the others.
Think, Rhys, think...
They think I'm a god. I can use that.
"HEY GUYS!" I wave. If I appear to be on good terms with them, then so will be new 'friends'.
I step down from my throne and move through the crowd. The psycho's bow to the ground and worship the very ground I walk on. A group of them run in front of me and lick the ground before I walk on it.
Ew.
Regardless, I walk on the licked ground to the guys and I smile as welcoming as I can. Its not hard, I REALLY am glad to see them. The old man may think me as nothing more than a slave, Sasha is extremely emotional and unstable, and Fiora is too cautious for my liking, but they have nothing on my new friends. STFU-69 is NUTS!
"Wow, you are in so much danger... I'm glad I rushed here as fast as I did. What would you ever do without us..." Sasha says sarcastically while eyeing the psychos around me. The psychos are pawing at their tongues cuz it is covered in trash, literally. Who would be stupid enough to lick the ground to create a path for their god when the very ground is made of trash? These guys.
If I was a god, I wouldn't be here. I would be home. I would snap my fingers to make Vasqez serve me food on a silver platter and I would sleep the rest of the week off.
"Yeah, you have no idea." I smile. I am genuinely terrified here.
"My Sweetness!" The claptrap unit comes up. "Who are these fine delicacies! Are they friends?!"
"Sweetness? What?" Fiona giggles.
Sasha looks between me and the droid then smiles evilly. "Did you get a girlfriend while you were out? Ah, your making me jealous."
"No!" I exclaim. What?! That THING is not my girlfriend! Hell, that thing isn't girlfriend material for anyone! Period!
"Why yes! I am my god's girl friend!"
Fiona bursts out in full-blown laughter. Felix pinches his nose in frustration.
"No, you are not!" I exclaim louder. "Guys, this is a claptrap unit named STFU-69."
"You do realize his name means-"
"I know." I interrupt Vaughn. I hear sniffling and look over to the see the claptrap unit is making sniffling sounds and looks like its about to cry.
Ah hell... can't I have one moment of peace without stupidity and chaos?
"Look at what you've done now. You made your girlfriend upset." Sasha teases me. I glare at her and she just breaks out in giggles along with Fiona. I swear she is loving this.
"You're not helping!" I hiss. "ANYWAY! STFU, these are my friends. They will be staying at the temple too."
It's eye goes incredibly wide. "Friend's of the Jack god. It is a good day to be alive!"
"Rhys, what are you doing?" Felix whispers.
"Roll with me on this." I reply.
STFU-69 takes us to his house, which still sucks, and after a brief one-room grand tour, leaves us to spend our time until my next 'appearance' among the worshippers.
"You guys have got to get me out of here!" I exclaim as soon as we are alone. "These guys are NUTS!"
"Of course, they think you're a god and are celebrating in your honor." Sasha replies while looking at the dog cage.
"Were they seriously licking the ground before you walk on it..." Vaughn shivered in disgust.
"Yeah, they were." Fiona added.
"Rhys..." Felix growls. "YOU HAD TO SCREW SHIT UP DIDN'T YOU!?"
"I know I'm sorry!"
"It was so simple! STick with me! Don't leave the path! Don't go alone! WHAT PART OF THAT DID YOU NOT GET!" He exclaims loudly.
"Uh. The part where you don't give a damn about me and we were not getting results needed to get to the briefcase."
"Well, congratulations Hyperion retard! We are now even FURTHER away from making the antenna! Now we have to worry about getting you out of here too!" He pokes me in the chest. What is with these people and poking me in the chest? And why do they keep getting surprised when they hit something metal. Yes, I know, I'm a cyborg.
"Actually..." I say slowly. "We have what we need."
"Oh?"
I nod. Despite everything that has happened here, there is one very interesting thing that makes it worth while. I put my hand in the curtain door and open it to reveal my throne. The crowd cheers on seeing me, but I point to the throne. "Look."
Part of the throne itself is an antenna, and an operable one.
"Well..." Fiona says thoughtfully. "At least that is something. Good job, Rhys."
"Thanks." "Don't compliment the idiot." Felix and I say simultaneously.
"But how are we going to get it to do what we need? Its out in plain view." Vaughn asks.
Well... there is one way.
Fiona looks to me, and we share a knowing glance. I think she is thinking along the same lines I am.
"I'm not going to like this... am I?" Felix mutters.
"Nope." Fiona replies. "Rhys. Do what Hyperion's do best. Play god."
"Why do I feel I am being insulted?" Vaughn asks.
I nod. "I'll do my best. How hard can it be?"
"We will still need an exit strategy when we are done." Sasha says.
"I'll take care of that." Felix inserts himself. "None of you know this land like I do. You guys just worry about getting the damn antenna sending that signal of yours, and... what else was it?"
"Making a gps to track down the return ping." I answer. "Shouldn't be hard."
"How long?"
"Most of tomorrow." I answer. Rough estimate.
"Okay..." Felix sits down on the bench and puts his hands together in thought. "Fiona, Sasha. Con time." The girls instantly are at attention and are focused. Seems this is their element. "Roles?"
"God's best friend." Vaughn says quickly.
"Too easy and may not fit here." Sasha argues. "Last thing we want in a group of worshippers are favorites."
"Actually I think that is exactly what we want." Fiona returns. She moves to the curtain and looks outside. "Look at how the droid looks at us. It thinks itself Rhys' high priest."
"You mean girlfriend?" Sasha replies sarcastically.
"It's delusional." I defend myself.
"Yes, but my point is." Fiona continues. "Is how it looks to us in awe for being close to her god. The psycho's follow the claptrap's lead in this like sheep. So we specifically want to place ourselves as being second only to Rhys."
I smile. "So I'm in charge? I think I might like this."
"Don't push it." Sasha narrows her eyes at me.
Felix nods in thought. "I agree with Fiona. This may be the best way to secure a safe position, but time is limited. Cults like these are extreme. So the danger is real even if it seems safe." He looks between us all. "Rhys, you will play god."
Shouldn't be hard. I grin.
"Vaughn, you will be his little brother."
"Not best friend?"
"No, works better this way I think. Make yourself to be a lesser god in subservience to him. Claiming to be best friend emplies equality, which we don't want with a god here."
Vaughn nods.
"Sasha, you will be Rhys' executor."
"What does that mean?"
"Means you judge the wrong from the righteous. Keep them in line."
She grins ferally. "Oh, I can do that alright." She pats her gun.
"Fiona... wife."
"What?" We all blurt out simultaneously. All good humor is gone from Fiona's face.
"As wife to a god, you will be subserviant as well, but be in a position of authority to use your tongue effectively in his stead." Felix explains simply.
Fiona looks at me and appears as uncomfortable with the idea as I am. Wife? Seriously? I don't like nor dislike her, if anything Fiona is nothing particurally noticable in that area. Point is, she would be forgetable compared to the rest of her family when I return home. We simply have lacked the extreme despisement Felix and I share or the sarcastic-bull Sasha and I share. Fiona would be more memorable to Vaughn at this point.
And she has to be my wife? I don't picture it. If anything I picture a girl a little shorter than me that is fiesty as hell. Okay... not sure where that reflection comes from, considering I've never actually taken the time to consider what I would want in a wife, but this is just... this is getting very weird.
The others don't look comfortable with that idea either. "You sure?" Sasha asks.
Felix replies. "I'm not saying sleep together and do husband and wife things. If anything, if I find you do, I'm killing you Hyperion."
"Wasn't even thinking it, Sir." I answer respectfully.
"Good. It is purely an act to let everyone use their skills to the best of their ability. Rhys, the sooner you get that antenna and gps going, the sooner we are out of here."
I nod.
Note: At this stage a lot of things are happening that is important for the characters as a growth. They are in their first situation where they have no choice but to work together for their mutual benefit. It won't be too big of an Arc, or a difficult one necessarily for them to do. But the simple act of working together will help be the foundation of teamwork to come. Also Vaughn needs to be a better light. While they may see themselves as a kind of messed up family one day, I want Vaughn to be the first one to truly be on their good side. He's a good guy. Rhys is too scheming to be as easily trusted.
I may have Sasha be too emotional in general, but I have a number of key points in her character in my head. First off, she is the youngest yet the strongest in terms of the ability to defend herself. So she feels she can handle herself, and she is known for her gut instinct. Yet she is the child of the group despite being 21. Thats really old for being the child-figure. She had a relationship with August where she was no longer the child in the group, and that let her blossom in a way, and she is dealing with the fact that it was a con-game. She may have been the one conning, and her feelings for August may be small, but that freedom that came with it in comparison to what she has now. Second, her family doesn't trust her gut instinct. Fiona will, but in the end her gut instinct is something they use as part of their cons. they do not associate it with anything but an act, so its like crying wolf for them. It simply doesn't count. Long story short she is in a cage of sorts where she simply isn't given the recognition her skills and maturity expect. If she is given the respect and recognition then she would be a lot calmer than she is.
Thats at least how I view it. What do people think?