Chapter 27

Rod's POV

I starred horrified into Baker's eyes. I simply had nothing to say.

"So tell me Rod, should I punish you for stealing the vulture, or perhaps for driving one without proper authorization!" Baker roared, furious. Nicky came running up in a rush, with a look of guilt displayed on his face.

"Seargent Baker!" he yelled, stepping in front of me. "I'm sorry sir, it was completely my fault. I take full responsibility."

"Nicky you surprise me with your confidence, but allow me to remind you. We are in a military base. Those caught disobeying orders and doing things they shouldn't, will be rebuked. It doesn't matter who, when, where, why, or how. Do I make myself clear?!" Baker shouted. All or any sureness Nicky had had previously vanished. "Now make your way to my office. I will speak to both of you when I've made a decision."

After wondering around for quite some time, Nicky lead me into the Seargent's office. We walked in and awkwardly stood around for about ten minutes. I spoke up, breaking the silence.

"I vote we run,"

"Pff, come on Rod you and I both know that would be impossible," he responded folding his arms. I looked over at him with an eyebrow raised.

"You still know how to drive a medivac, right?" I asked. He looked at me with a "you serious" look. I shrugged. "It was just a suggestion."

We stood for what seemed to be another century until finally the door opened behind us and Baker marched in. I gulped.

"So… what do you two lovely children have to say for yourselves?" he started.

"Um… sorry?" I replied, nervously. Baker slammed his hand on his desk, making me jump out of my skin.

"Sorry?!" he yelled. "I'd imagine you'd be more than sorry!"

Baker sighed and rubbed is eyebrows.

"Look this isn't that big of a deal, so I'll let it slide," he grunted. I let out a sigh of relief and turned my head toward Nicky, smiling. "But if I ever catch you goofing off again, you'll for sure be more than sorry!"

I jumped and speedily turned back to face Baker.

"Now get out of my office," he concluded, waving his hand. I ducked out the door and lead the way back to the dorms.

"Ugh, what's his problem," I complained, throwing myself onto my mattress. "It wasn't even that big of a deal."

"I don't know, I didn't think it was bad either," Nicky responded sitting on the bed across from me. But before we could even get comfortable, a loud voice over the intercom said:

"Rod Lifferjingle report to Seargent Bakers' office. Again, Rod Lifferjingle report to Seargent Baker's office."

"Ugh," I moaned, standing up. "What does that old man want now?"

"I'll see ya in a bit then?" Nicky asked, watching me leave.

"Yeah, of course," I responded pausing. "Just don't go hang out with any… creepy people, okay?"

He shrugged, and replied, "Sure thing Rod."

I smiled and nodded. Heading back the way I had come I thought about what he would want. Did he change his mind on letting me go? Is he going to punish me? Uhhh, I'm so sick of this place. I just wanna go back home. Opening the door to his room, I entered.

I noticed a man standing with him. It was the same guy that had brought me Tenny's message earlier.

"Hey," I said, with a questioned look.

"Hello Rod, long time no see," Baker responded, still upset from our previous encounter. "This is Kurt Shrogud. He has something for you."

"Here, something sent from Jinksole," Kurt said handing me a very large metal briefcase. I took it from him, almost dropping it. The thing was heavier than I'd thought it'd be. "The man said there was a message attached to it. I suppose it's on the inside."

"Huh, thank you," I replied, looking at the bag. Curiosity filled my mind.

"Alright, now that that's done you both are dismissed," Baker said, waving his hand. I excitedly rushed out the door and back to Nicky. He, surprisingly, was still sitting on the bed.

"Hey bro, check this out!" I said lifting up the briefcase and slamming it on the mattress. Nicky soared up and jumped over to see. "I wonder what it is."

"Well I guess we're about to find out," I replied, clicking the briefcase open. Inside was a screen with a large amount of buttons below it. The monitor showed an image of Tenny's face.

"Well how do we start it?" Nicky asked. I looked dumbfounded at all the switches. I looked for one with a "play" symbol on it.

"Huh, I'm not sure," I replied, hitting what looked like to be the right one. Suddenly the image on the screen moved and Tenny began to speak. It looked to be another recorded message.

"Hello Rod. It's me again," Tenny said. "Now I don't have a lot of time, which I would like to apologize about, so I have to make this semi-quick. I have gotten you a long distance transmition device that you can where on your arm. Heh you can thank me later. Now we can talk without us having to send recorded messages to each other all the time.

"As you know I am here with Leary and Mark. I haven't been able to contact Crip or Derk yet. I'll spare you the details for now. But anyways, if you open up the other side of this case you'll find it. There are two different objects; one of which you can attach to your arm, and the other smaller chip, you can insert into multiple different suits. I'll let you figure out how. And sorry I wasn't able to get two sets. So you guys'll have to share. But anyhow, don't try to get a hold of me yet. I'll contact you as soon as possible, so just carry it around with you for now. I have to go, so I hope to see you soon. Tenny out."

Immediately I flipped the case over. Hitting the two buttons simultaneously, it clicked open. And just as Tenny had said, there was the chip and the arm strap device. I pulled them out and hooked the object to my arm. I smiled and began grazing the transmitter with my hand.

"Hey now, who said you could have it first," Nicky said, reaching for it.

"Pff, your mom bro," I replied admiring the device.

"Yeah whatever, I thought you wanted to leave. If you take that you're basically admitting you wanna stay," Nicky huffed, irritated. I jerked toward him.

"I am not," I said, glaring. "I hate being here."

"Then hand it over," he responded, putting his palm out.

"Pff, yeah I don't think so. You'll probably just end up breaking it."

"Ugh, fine," Nicky shouted. I jumped back surprised at his anger. "Go be a selfish butt head."

He marched out of the room in a huff. What's his problem? Ever sense we got here he's been getting offended at the stupidest things. I thought. Huh maybe he's just scared. Maybe he's too afraid to admit that he really does want to leave. I sighed. Nicky'll come through, I'm sure.

I stood up and looked at the clock on the wall. It was four. Holy cow! I haven't even had lunch yet! I headed out the door, but then stopped. Ugh it's too late, they probably won't let me. I groaned and fell back onto the bed. What am I supposed to do now?

I got up again and walked to the hallway. Might as well go watch the men train. It'd be nice to know what I'll be doing tomorrow. I continued down the corridor and rounded the corner.

And then out of nowhere, a girl as bright and beautiful as the sun passed by. My heart skipped a beat. And my eyes followed her. She had jet black hair and pale white skin. She turned and looked at me. My eyes widened and I gulped. The girl gave me an awkward look. I jerked away and ran into the nearest restroom.

I starred at myself in the mirror and took in a deep breath. I ran my hands through my brown hair and shook my head. I turned on the faucet and threw water on my face.

I think I just saw an angel. I thought to myself. A very beautiful angel.

"Look bro, I don't know what happened to you, but you're hogging the sink," someone said behind me.

I jumped sky high and screamed. Twirling around, I faced a very annoyed man.

"Sorry," I said, and ran out the door. Alright bro, everything's fine. She's just another human. Nothing to worry about. I was lost so far into thought that I narrowly missed running to the person directly in front of me.

"Hey, do you have something you wanna tell me?" She asked. I looked up to see the same girl from before, except she had an annoyed expression on her face. I froze.

"Um…." I replied nervously. "No, I-I-I was just…. Uh…"

"Well watch where you're going next time," She started walking away, and then turned back to face me. "And don't stare at me."

The girl gave my one last look up and down, and then marched off.

"Wow," I said out loud. And then after a moment to recall and organize my thoughts… I smiled.

Hey bros! Here's another Chapter. I think I've apologized so many times that its basically become a useless jumble of words. And Yes Izwan, the end of the Chapter is VERY rushed...

lolz, heh but thanks anyways guys. Especially you Izwan, I just tease you because your the only one who is consistently reviewing. I really appreciate your support. THANKS EVERYONE! 3