"This is quite an impressive house you live in, Bell." Serena honestly compliments the girl's opulent residence once they finally venture outside to the driveway.
"Thank you. My parents made sure that there was enough space among the three of us." Bell exasperates before a butler dutifully opens up one of the doors.
Serena listens to her heavily emphasize the word "space" in her sentence while she idly slides in the seat next to her.
"Don't you think it is interesting that my parents are far too busy with their own lives to even bother to take care of a thing they made together?" She interestedly poses to her once the car backs out of the driveway.
Serena did not immediately provide an answer to her question, which leads the teen to assume, "I figured that you wouldn't want to answer that question."
"Did my father tell you how many handlers he sent just for a simple task such as this?" Bell grills the auburn haired woman that sits off to her left.
"I'm sure that you've been through quite a handful since the General reached out to a Special Officer. "
The platinum blonde quickly nods her head to show that she is right on the right mones with her remark, "Even I lost count after a while Ms. Serena."
"So you don't say…" She merely comments after she listens to Bell's sudden confession to her.
"However, they weren't nearly as charming or honest as you are being towards me. They tried to either treat me like a baby or too much of a grown woman." Bell complains to Serena.
"But you my dear Serena…you treat me like a teenager. The age that I am, not in the past or in the future but right now." She genuinely compliments the woman.
"I'll try my best to maintain that high opinion of yours." Serena merely says before the car head toward their location.
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"Serena isn't back from work yet." Boomer discloses to his two siblings upon entrance to their home.
Butch thrn closes the door behind him, locks it shut and watches Brick plops down on the living room couch.
"Boomer," He loudly shouts out to his blonde brother, who currently was in route to his bedroom.
"Come back to the living room! There's something that Brick and I need to tell you." He speaks up, which earns an inquisitive expression from Brick.
"Wait…we do?" He inquires to Butch, who merely nods his head up and down.
Butch waits until Boomer flops down in the love chair in front of him with a look of curiosity present on his face.
"Butch what are you doing?" Brick questions his brother's actions after he faces his direction.
"I'm telling our little brother the truth." He decrees while he points a finger at a rather confuse Boomer and adds, "We might as well practice on him before the real thing."
Red eyes repeatedly glance between Boomer's innocent and Butch's stoic expressions before he eventually releases a heavy sigh.
"Fine, but since its your brilliant idea you will only give him the basic rundown." He sternly instructs his raven haired brother.
Butch simply nods his head once again and sharply retorts, "I was planning to do that anyway…"
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Blossom was deeply engrossed in one of the books from her personal library until someone gently knocked against her bedroom room.
"It's unlock!" She softly hollers to the person on the opposite side of her door as the knob jiggles a bit before the door swings open.
"Hey," The person casually greets her once they enter before she registers it as Buttercup's voice.
She doggy folds the current page, breaks her focus from the book, and stares at her sister.
"So what's up?" Blossom asks while she observes her sister carefully leans against the frame of her door.
"I came to check and see if you were still alive. I know how you get when you find a good book." She playfully teases her about her intense focus for one of her favorite hobbies.
The orange haired girl stretches outward, rises to her feet, and expresses, "I appreciate that. I was just about to take a break anyway."
"So how are you feeling now?" She suddenly poses to her, which earns a stare in her direction.
'You should tell her now!' Blossom's consciousness angrily shouts at her.
She slightly hesitates in the middle of her statement, "I'm doing good. I've been trying to avoid becoming ill again but other than that..."
Buttercup registers the slight pause in her statement, which prompts her to raise an eyebrow at her sister.
"Hey you two…" Bubbles promptly interrupts after she sticks her head inside of Blossom's room and ensnares the two girls' concentration. "What do you two feel like eating for dinner?"
"How about Hamburgers and French Fries?" Blossom suddenly suggests before the two easily consent upon that idea.
The blonde happily nods her head before she eventually withdraws back in to the hallway with the kitchen as her final destination.
"I guess I can go and help Bubbles get dinner ready. Are you sure that you are alright?" Buttercup poses to her sister again.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She replies to her sister's question, which prompts a staring contest between the two sisters.
Eventually, Buttercup leaves out of her room in order to help Bubbles with dinner.
'Why didn't you tell her then?' Her conscious screams at her, which causes a slight headache from the tension in her forehead.
'I should at least find out the truth first before I tell her some rumor.' Blossom inwardly reasons to her subconscious while she returns to her seat.
'Yet you seem to believe it by the way you've been treating Brick.' Her consciousness opposed.
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Midori was about to head up to her bedroom once she enters inside of her parents' home when she remembers to announce that she is home.
"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" She yells at the top of her lungs after she reaches the bottom of the stairs to the upper level or the second floor.
"I'm in the kitchen." The red head teen hears someone respond to her broadcast, which prompts her to change her destination to the kitchen.
She casually strolls in the kitchen before the aroma of food hits her nose. Right before she could even ask who is home, she beheld her father in the kitchen.
"So how was your day today?" Her father curiously asks her once she finally settles in a seat at the kitchen table.
Midori glances over to the fruit bowl, scans her selection, and seizes an orange in order to knock the hunger off of her stomach.
"We were playing dodgeball today for Sports Fest and I end up injuring myself during the Championship game." She discloses to him while she gently knocks the orange on one of its sides against the table.
The sound of a metal against metal ceases as her father wipes his hands off on his wife's frilly pink apron.
"Let me see…" Her father instructs her while he covers the distance that separates him between his daughter.
She gently inclines her arm until he secures her wrist within his clutches and starts to inspect the extent of the damage.
"Can you move your hand a little?" Her father poses to her, which earns a nod from her as he gently massages her wrist.
"It looks like a sprain…just make sure you ice it every thirty minutes." Her father advises before he resumes cooking.
'That's the exact same thing Drake told me.' She inwardly recalls to herself before she peels the smooth skin from around the orange.
"So where's mom?" Midori curiously asks her father, who closely searches the cabinets and carefully plucks the specific spice from the holder.
Her father then unscrews the top of the jar when he retorts, "She just called a few minutes ago. She's stuck in traffic but should be home in a few."
Midori swept the last bit of orange rinds and plucked seeds in to the nearby trash can. She then pushes the chair out from underneath her, stands to her feet, and informs her father that she will be in her room until dinner is called.
As she steps up the staircase, she could not help but to reflect back on something that Drake told her before she exits his car.
"It's no problem. I like to take care of the people who I deem important in my life."
His declaration causes her to pause in the middle of the staircase as she brings her tape arm to her mouth with a red tint across her cheeks.
'What did he mean by deem me important in his life?' The red head teen nervously wonders to herself before she dashes straight to her room.
4444
Serena and Bell remained completely quiet until they finally reached their intended destination and swiftly cleared the security checkpoint for Fort Jackson.
The driver comes to a stop, turns the engine off, and exits from the driver's side of the car.
"We've arrived…" The driver declares right before he tugs the door open andaids them in and out of the car.
They came face to face with a rather tall athletic built man, who appears to be in his late twenties with short spiky brown hair that rests underneath a green garrison cap. He was in the full standard green military gear before he casts his hazel brown eyes in the direction of the girls.
Bell deliberately shifts closer to Serena and cheerfully mutters to her, "Finally, they give us a cute guide."
She was slightly caught off guard about the teenage girl's statement but reminded herself that Bell is a teenager easily swayed by her emotions.
"Special Officer Shaw," "Ms. Malone," they were then greeted by a fellow solider, who served as General Malone's personal assistance.
Bell suddenly stiffens upright, which instantly earns Serena's awareness as she glances to her left at the platinum blonde.
Her white pupils display a yellow box that hones in on her target until it glows a solid red. A set of binary codes followed a green screen that materialized with the soldier's respective information.
"You are Thomas J. Smith, age: 31, rank: Command Sergeant Major, a part of the military since 21 years old, specializes in weaponry tactics, status is...single, right?" Bell spills his information that she acquires from Fort Jackson database while the solider slowly drops his salute.
"Why yes , yes I am." He confirms out of astonishment after the young girl openly divulges his personal information on their very first meeting.
"Whenever you are around me don't be surprised as to what I know." Bell confidently declares to the man in front of her with a smirk on her face.
"Command Sergeant Major, I guess I should've forewarned you that this young lady is a hi-tech supercomputer." Serena directly reports to the man how Bell was about to easily disclose personal information without prior knowledge.
"Duly noted." The brunette confirms with a slight nod of his head as he tries not to gawk at the teenager, or the hi-tech super computer, in front of him.
"Now if you will follow me, I will guide you to where you can start your check-up." He continues on with his mission.
"Gladly…" Bell happily voices after she quickly separates from Serena, who merely shakes her head left and right at the young girl.
Command Sergeant Major Smith led them inside of a room that was covered in rectangular shaped metallic walls. There was the standard run of the mill hospital accessories such as an examination table, the large lamp that hangs from above, the heart monitor and the IV drip.
'It doesn't seem so bad. I wonder why she hates reporting in for her check-up?' She inquires to herself as Bell sits down on the examination table.
"Please lay down on the table, Bell." The doctor politely instructs Bell, who irritably rolls her eyes, before she merely stretches out against the table.
The doctor presses a red button that produces metallic shackles from the holes on the side of the table and secures the examinee's body in place.
"Are those shackles really necessary?" Serena poses since they were around her neck, wrists, waist, knees, and ankles.
"Its just standard procedure during these check-ups, ma'am." The doctor kindly addresses her while he gently attaches cotton pads on the side of Bell's head.
The sound of metal can be heard again as another shackle strap shot across the right side of her head to the other side.
Serena felt highly uncomfortable with the way that the doctor simply went about the check-up instead of doing it in a more humane manner.
The doctor nimbly hooks up various machines that she did not initially see so she closely surveys the new pieces of machinery.
'No wonder she doesn't like going to this thing! I wouldn't either!' She notes as she listens to the various noises that sound like power drills, gears, and other sounds that suit a car assembly line not a doctor's office.
Thirty minutes later, Bell was released from the shackles, sat forward, and spun her head back around until a click noise was heard.
Serena physically cringes at the sight before she hears Bell falsely proclaims, "Thanks doc, I feel much better now."
"Hey Serena, I'm ready to go now!" She enthusiastically declares while she eagerly waves down the auburn haired woman.
'She's on a whole new level…'
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Author's Note:
04.04.17 Major editing revisions