CHAPTER 6

Office Spaces and Familiar Faces

Riven and Fernandina walked through the bustling white corridors of the Midtown Military base. They followed Colonel Low like sheep towards what was supposed to be his office. Chaplain Robert Petters had to go to a short meeting with the Atheist Society, so they were left alone with the Colonel. Several of the officers were running around in their blue uniforms and papers flying around the hallways. The two girls once witnessed a couple of soldiers collide with each other, sending their entire stack of work to the ground. Though every officer in the building seemed to be on a rush to get somewhere, they still seemed to have time to stop and give a few curious glances at the new visitors. Whenever Riven would catch someone staring at them for a little too long, she would give a menacing glare back at them, sending the soldiers on their way. Though the hallways were large, they were crowded, making it harder for Fernandina's large stature to get through the tiny gaps of space between the soldier's chaotic parade. She stumbled into a few people, sending them sprawling to the ground in a cloud of white paper. It wasn't until she knocked at least five of the little blue people down that they finally learned to clear a path for the large golden stranger.

John led the two girls down the many spiraling hallways and up a few flights of stairs until he was outside the two large wooden doors that led to his crew's workspace. He stopped outside for a moment and turned towards the two girls, giving them an overlooking glare.

"My subordinates and I have work to do. I expect that you two will behave yourselves until we figure out where you will stay for the time being," He said in his strictest voice. His eye contact did not falter one bit as he stared down at the white haired girl. "Whatever you do, don't touch anything, and don't provoke my subordinates. They don't need any distractions." Riven and Fernandina nodded gravely at the tall dark haired man. After being given another look over, the two girls slowly walked into the office area.

As soon as they stepped into the room, they were sent ducking for cover as a chair came out of nowhere and collided with the wall where their heads once were. Papers and desks were overturned, and chairs cluttered around the office spaces as the group of officers ran around screaming and yelling at each other. This is not what Riven expected a military office to be like at all. The colonel looked confused, and slightly surprised only for a mere second until he stood up and scolded his subordinates. "ATTENTION!" he yelled with his deep unwavering voice. All of the officers dropped what they were doing and saluted their commanding officer. One dark haired boy dropped a heavy box of files, while doing so, and it landed on a blonde haired man's foot. He winced at the pain, but did nothing other. "Explain yourselves," John commanded. The sisters were amazed at how much control the Colonel had over his subordinates, because they immediately started to blurt out random answers in defense. John pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration as the sea of words jostled together. "Quiet!" he commanded and they all immediately shut up. Low turned towards a blond haired girl who was the only one who didn't blurt out an answer. She looked completely strong against the Colonel's power, unlike the other babbling buffoons in the office. "Lieutenant, care to explain why I so recently had a chair chucked at my head?"

She gave a stiff nod. "Someone brought a dog into the building sir," she answered firmly. It was just then that the three of them noticed that a dark haired woman was holding a tiny struggling puppy in her hands. It pawed at her grasp and she constantly shifted her arms to keep a hold of the little black dog. "And you know how Charleson gets around dogs," the Lieutenant added. It was then that Riven noticed a dark haired man in the corner shaking in fear. He was holding an umbrella like a sword ready to hit the beast if it came near him. Riven gave a little snicker at how a military soldier could get so overwhelmed by a tiny dog. The colonel just shot her a glare and returned to his subordinate.

"Charleson either pull yourself together or go take a walk," John ordered. Charleson gave the Colonel a stiff nod and started to etch his way across the wall to the door, making sure to keep the most distance between him and the dog as possible. When he finally made it safely out the door, all the people in the room seemed to relax a little more given the fact that they weren't in a battle arena with a frightened Charleson. The colonel then turned to the Lieutenant and asked, "Who let the dog in here?"

"We don't know, "she answered simply. All of a sudden a loud cry was heard from the hallway. Everyone turned their head to the door in alert.

"Beowulf!" the voice screamed. They heard something crash to the floor and a moment later their door burst open. A young man, no older than 20, was panting in the doorway, his uniform tossed about and out of order, and a pair of big glasses hung awkwardly on his face. He dripped with panic as his eyes darted around the room looking for something. They didn't rest until they caught sight of the dog. With a loud sigh, he walked over and took the black puppy from the girl's grasp. "So this is where you ran off too, Beowulf," he muttered to the puppy that immediately licked him in the face playfully. The entire room just stared at the newcomer with surprise and disbelief. "Hope he didn't cause too much trouble for you," the man said ignoring the fact that files were scattered everywhere and several pieces of furniture were broken to pieces. John stepped forward and addressed the man.

"Cadet, keep better care of your animals. The military doesn't need any more distractions, let alone any more paperwork," he said pointing to the blanket of white on the floor. The man blushed a bit in embarrassment.

"What's your name cadet? And who is in charge of you?" Just then it was like a light bulb clicked on inside the boy's head. He reached in his pocket and fumbled with a wrinkled pink slip of paper. He handed it to the Colonel with a small smile.

"The names Henry Jordan, sir. My commanding officer is you," he said happily. Everyone in the room gave a small groan to welcome their new co-worker. The Colonel just gave a little chuckle.

"So you're a newbie, I knew when I told you to get a desk job you would, I just didn't expect it to be with me," he said cheerfully. John then turned back to his team, "I expect this place to be cleaned up as soon as possible. Get Cadet Jordan a desk." He started to walk to his separate office then turned around. "Cadet Jordan, make sure these two don't leave or disturb anyone until I'm done," he commanded before he slammed the door to his office. Everybody went about their business cleaning and picking up papers. Riven huffed to herself and plopped down in one of the chairs that wasn't smashed to bits. Fernandina sat down on the floor next to her sister with a clunk as her armor hit the tile. She untied her sheathed sword from her waist and laid it beside her. The Cadet glanced down at the two strangers just noticing that they were definitely out of the ordinary. "Why do you wear all that armor? It must be at least an extra fifty pounds to carry." He asked innocently as he too sat down on the floor opposite of the two girls.

"It's a hobby," Riven grumbled lazily at him. Fernandina just replied with a happy nod.

"And it keeps Riven from hitting me too hard," she joked.

"Hey!" Riven called as she slapped her sister across the head, just to slam he hand into the golden helm. The Cadet laughed a little at this. Riven slowly stood up and stretched her back out. She ran her hand through her hair, finding a few pieces of stray glass. She nearly forgot that she broke the window of that inn. Well that's what that keeper gets for kicking them out when they had enough to pay for their stay, well most of their stay. As Riven took a step forward, he leg creaked. Beowulf started to growl and lunged at her foot. As his teeth sank into her leg, she didn't even flinch, but instead started to scold the dog. "Get off me you stupid dog!" she said as she shook her leg trying to get the dog off. The black little dog just clung onto her leg. Everyone in the room looked at her in surprise. The Cadet was pacing around her trying to get man's best friend off of her without getting kicked in the face. He was apologizing all the while he was doing this. Riven bent down to the dog and gripped if by the belly and yanked. Beowulf let go and was handed eventually back to his master.

"I'm sorry, he doesn't normally act like this!" he apologized for the twentieth time. "He usually does lash out unless he is attacked, or something's wrong." The dog was still growling in his hands, but Riven just gave it a menacing glare. The brown haired girl ran over to them.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Papers were still in her hands as she started to bend down to look at Riven's bitten foot, but she pulled back.

"I am fine. It was just a puppy after all."

"But we should still try to look at it in case something was damaged," she pushed.

"Major Tonks, leave the girl alone. The dog couldn't get past her boots," the Lieutenant said from across the room, not looking up from a stack of papers on her desk.

"No wonder, Charleson doesn't like dogs," she heard the blond man mumble from his desk in the corner. "It is just like me and women."

"Don't listen to him," Major Tonks said to them. "He's just grumpy that he can't get a girlfriend." The Victorian sisters gave a light smile. "Oh I almost forgot! My name is Major Oliveria Louise Tonks, but you can just call me Tonk. I am the technical expert on the team." She started to point around the room to all of the soldiers listing off their name, rank and job. "That's lieutenant Rosy Parkinson, she's the Colonel's right hand girl. She is in control of weapons and training for the recruits." She pointed towards the blond haired man. "that's Sargent Gordon, expert in transportation and current affairs, failure in relationships." With that the Sargent grumbled at them and unfolded a newspaper to hide his face. Next was the extremely tall and super built red haired man. "That is Major Bolden. He is a state alchemist along with our Colonel. The Boulder Alchemist is what he's called." Just then Bolden marched up to them and gave Riven a bone crushing handshake. She didn't flinch, but her face was distorted a bit from the pressure.

"It is so nice to meet you, young lady! I heard so much about you young alchemist! I am always so glad to meet another scientists among the people!" he said to her, not letting go of her hand. Riven could have swore she saw a small tear in the corner of his eye, but she wasn't sure. She pried off the man's hand and massaged her arm.

"You were at the train station correct?" She asked. He just gave a nice nod.

"Yes, when I saw you and your sister running through the station, I was terrified, but then you were amazing with your alchemy skills. Such talent!"

"Wait, you know them?" The team basically said at once.

"Why yes, these are the Victorian Sisters."

Hey! Finally got this chapter up. Stupid AP's soaking up all the valuable time to write. At least it is the weekend. This is just a link chapter to introduce characters. Sorry no suspence :( I will try to update as soon as possible. Hope y'all like it. Don't forget to review!