Aren't I being good, next chapter is here! Yay! Thanks for the reviews guys, glad you're all enjoying this story!
Though I could hear nothing I knew that I was screaming. I was begging for someone to let me out, to come and help me but no one ever came. I gave up eventually, conserving my energy to begin groping through the darkness as I began my walk through the void. I was beginning to regret ever making it.
All I could see was darkness but occasionally an image would flicker across my mind, most of them frightened me. I saw the Commander, with his sharply refined tools digging into me, needles drawing my blood whilst pain danced within my body. I turned away from those but they latched onto me, now forcing their way into my memory once again.
I ran. I ran as fast as I could, not caring where I was going although blinded. All I wanted was an escape, some way out of this hell hole. I wanted my mother.
Suddenly she was there. I stood before her, blinking in the dazzling light which shone around her as she beamed down at me, wearing a soft orange dress for summer, her brown hair framing her rounded cheeks as she danced with me around a kitchen. Then I saw my dad, a face I initially did not recognise but when he swooped me up into his arms, I knew it was him.
He was tall. Very tall, with ginger hair and full beard which he kept neatly tamed. He wore casual jeans and jacket with a cowboy hat on his head. He smelled of horses. Was he a rancher? Yes, he was. I remember him now. He owned a ranch full of beautiful horses. He also helped save the wild mustangs and kept them safe from poachers.
The light was warm and hazy but I could still see their faces perfectly as they embraced, my dad holding me in one arm as he kissed his wife gently on the cheek then sat me on top of the kitchen worktop.
This memory I grabbed onto and held onto it tightly, letting it seep into my mind before taking a relaxing breath and walking forwards again. I was older, staring up at the face of a bully in fear as she pulled on my hair, making it hurt. Such feeble pain, it didn't even bother me. So much so that I had balled my fist and swung at her, bloodying her nose.
Moving on I saw much of my life return to me. My childhood flashed before my eyes, bringing laughter and tears, especially as I stood at the grave of my dad and then later my mother. At least I could remember their faces now.
By the time I had retrieved as much as I could carry I felt exhausted, so physically and mentally drained that I collapsed and allowed myself to break through the darkness, falling to new levels of silence until finally, I woke up.
I was back on the island and Scarlet was sitting beside me, waiting. "Hey, you okay?"
"What happened?" I asked quietly, sitting up and rubbing my head. "Did I pass out again?"
"Yeah. You were screaming for a good deal of the trip." Scarlet smiled softly then sniffed. "It breaks my heart to hear you begging me to stop hurting you."
"Oh Scarlet, I don't mean that. You know I don't mean it like that." I murmured gently to her. "I don't know what I'm screaming in this crazy head of mine." With a gentle shrug Scarlet stood up.
"If you're up for it, Anna wants to meet you properly." Eagerly I got out of bed, went to my wardrobe and got a change of clothes. I went into my bathroom to have a shower then got changed, rolling my shoulders as I came out to loosen them up. "You've been out for twenty four hours, the guys were beginning to worry about you."
"Really? That long? You didn't stay for the entire time did you?" She shrugged.
"Most of it." Bless her. We went to the rec room where Anna leaped up and embraced me the moment I was through the door, making me blink in shock.
"Thank you! Thank you so much for finding me!"
"Uh…you're welcome." I said, patting her on the back gently before returning her hug. "I have sensitive hearing. I wouldn't have found you had you not been calling out for help." I said. "So technically, I only loosened the straps."
"But still." She smiled at me as Duke came over and placed his arms around her. She chuckled at him. "He hasn't been able to let me go since I got here."
"Because I'm making sure you don't get into trouble." He excused, making me chuckle.
"It's good to have you here." I said to Anna, nodding my head. "Have they figured out how to take out the nanomites?"
"Scarlet's been working on a signal similar to the one on the warheads. She's isolating the frequencies of the nanomites in my system and trying to build up a signal that can act like a kill switch. At the moment they're only dormant."
"Well. That's better than nothing." I replied optimistically. "Don't worry. We'll get those little buggers out." She grinned at me then looked to Duke.
"Told you you'd like her." He smirked victoriously as he kissed her shoulder. I went further in towards Roadblock who instantly grabbed my shoulders and glared at me.
"Are you alright? No pain? No numbness?"
"Well, now you mention it. My vision is a little impaired." I answered him with a grin. "There's this big ugly thing I can't seem to stop seeing all the time and now it's blocking my view." Instantly I dropped and rolled out of the way as he tried to tackle me. Once I had verified that I was fine, everyone stopped hassling me. Scarlet and I decided to go for a beach run since there was little else for me to do and Scarlet wanted some fresh air.
We changed into shorts, kicked off our shoes then began our jog around the island. "We were all pretty worried about you. Breaker said you'd slipped into a sort of coma." Scarlet was saying. "You were completely unresponsive once you'd stopped screaming.
"I was walking through the void." I explained to her. "You know, the sub-reality I had created? Well I got a lot of my memories back. I can remember my parents and what they looked like. It's not all there but it's definitely close. Just a little more." I informed her.
"That's great!"
"Tell me what the plan is. We can't let Commander get away with turning people into half animal mutants." I remembered Sabrina and I instantly felt disheartened. I would never get my old friend back.
"Hawk's working on a plan. We have our best scientists working on a counter transmission which should deactivate the signals from the chips and more on a similar signal for the nanomites. I'm just one of them." Scarlet was saying. "We've lost his trail again so we're back to square one for tracking the signals. Breaker's optimistic though and so am I. We'll catch him. Then we'll bring him in."
I nodded my head as I listened to her, focusing ahead as we continued our run around the beach. A lap of the island took the most of two hours before we were back to where we started. Scarlet stopped, panting for breath and I stood next to her, not even breaking a sweat. "You're so lucky…to not…be out…of breath." Scarlet rasped and I chuckled.
"Hey, I have great endurance, you're smart. Smarter than I could ever hope to be. Even with some sort of modification." I shrugged, stretching with a yawn. "That's better than anything."
"I suppose." Scarlet replied as she smiled, her breath now back. "I best get back to work."
"I think I'll go find someone to steal from." I replied casually. Scarlet laughed.
"I still don't get how you do that, either. Were you made stealthier as well as your other genetic enhancements?" My grin broadened as I looked ahead, walking back to the base.
"Nope. I've always been a great thief." I told her proudly. "Best in the business."
"What's the best thing you ever stole?" I thought back, racking my brain.
"Well, I don't remember everything but I'm pretty sure the best thing I ever stole was a war hero's medal from nineteen forty five." The answer felt right so I just went with it. I could remember that medal perfectly, the silver embellished on a faded ribbon. "I stole it from a shop."
"Why? Was it the most expensive?" Scarlet asked in confusion but I shook my head.
"Not the most expensive. The most important. I don't know why but that medal seemed important to me. Or at least to someone else. I'm sure of it." I couldn't remember why so I continued. "The most expensive thing I had ever stolen was a Rolex from a guy's wrist whilst he was talking to someone on his phone." I recounted simply. "It bought meals for me and my friends for a good two weeks."
"Friends? You've never mentioned friends before. Are you beginning to remember them?" I paused before answering, unsure about whether or not to tell her about Sabrina.
"I can remember two, though I'm sure there were more. Sabrina was one. She…she was turned into a cat by Commander. She hates me now." Scarlet looked at me with sympathy so I moved on. "The other is Petunia. She had been a really old lady and couldn't move well during cold seasons. That's why Sabrina and I went out getting her and the others money so I could buy them food and supplies to keep warm."
"You must miss them." I didn't know what to say. I think I missed them, but it was like trying to miss something you can't remember having. Scarlet and I separated and I went for a shower to wash off the sand I had picked up. The warmth was welcoming, even though it was a hot day I still preferred heat to the cold. Once I was done I changed into comfortable slacks and a jumper, heading out to the mess hall to get some food.
Practically everyone knew me, either by training or by me stealing something from them for a laugh. No one ever held it against me though as I always gave the items back. "Hey Robyn! We're having a wrestling match tonight. Want to join in?" Someone asked as I walked by them, making me stop.
"I don't know. Maybe, I'll think about it." I answered. "It depends if Snake and Shadow want me for training."
"Ah too bad. I hope you'll come. Means I can bet all my money on you." I grinned at Eric then looked down into the wallet I was holding, flipping through the dollars.
"Would that happen to be seventy two dollars and nine cents?" I asked him and he looked down in shock.
"Hey!" He grinned then swiped the wallet back, stuffing it into his pocket and zipping it up. "How did you do that?" I tapped my nose mysteriously then walked on to the line. "So you'll come?"
"Maybe!" I returned over my shoulder, finding Ripcord and Duke at my side suddenly.
"He likes you." Duke said to me, making me blink.
"Well I'm pretty sure he doesn't hate me."
"No, Robyn, he likes you." I just frowned at them in confusion.
"Can you please elaborate? I still have the neurological function of a six year old in most centre parts of my lexical understanding." They just stared at me as I chuckled. Rip rubbed his head in confusion.
"Huh?"
"Sometimes I'm six, sometimes I'm twenty five." I translated for them bluntly and they nodded their heads slowly in understanding.
"Oh." Rip laughed then folded his arms across his chest, his face becoming serious and forlorn. "What we mean is, Robyn, that he is interested in you sexually."
"Ew! Guys I'm just about to eat!" I scowled at them, placing my hands on my hips. "And I think you're wrong."
"Aw, Robyn, don't ever grow up. Stay six forever." Rip said to me, placing an arm around me and rubbing my arm roughly with an affectionate smile. I ducked under his arm then punched him lightly with a soft smile.
"Eric's just a friend. Besides, who'd want to date me? I'd likely crush anyone's fingers if they so much as tried to hold my hand." I reasoned with them simply. "I mean, I had to be so careful around Roadblock's kids when I was helping look after them." Duke shuddered. "One moment of lack of concentration and I could have crushed their ribs."
"But you controlled it, so what's the big deal? Wait, scrap that, we're talking about Eric." Ripcord reminded himself as we moved closer to the cafeteria. "We just want you to be careful. Guys like him are interested in only one thing. You need us to explain that to you?" I held up my hands.
"Whoa guys, don't worry, I know all about the bird and the bee." We all fell about giggling like a bunch of school girls. Today was lasagne, one of my favourites. I took my share and sat down at a table with the others as they gradually piled in with us.
"Why doesn't Snake or Storm ever join us?" I asked as I began to shove food into my mouth.
"Antisocial ninjas." Roadblock answered. "And Snake doesn't take off his mask in public." I looked up at him, chewing on my food before swallowing.
"Why?"
"Don't know. People say it's because he has no face." My face remained blank.
"That's stupid." I said bluntly then continued to eat. "But seriously though."
"No one knows really. Some say one thing, someone says something else. Oh, by the way, Spanner wants to see you for weapon customisation." This stopped me in my tracks, fork halfway to my mouth.
"Really?" I squeaked in excitement, dropping my fork. "I get my own gun? Sweet!"
"Take it easy or you'll choke." Rip said, grabbing my hand to slow me down and pull the food away from my mouth, which was already full. I pouted and tried to lean forwards but Rip wrestled it from me. I turned my upset face to him and he groaned. "I hate it when she does that." He handed back my fork.
Smiling happily I continued to eat as quickly as I could, wanting to go over to Spanner's workshop to find out what weapon I had been given. The moment I was done I grabbed my tray, threw it into the washing up pile then raced out of the mess hall, leaping over people in my haste.
"Spanner's called her in." Someone guessed as I slid along the floor between someone's legs to cut through the queue so that I could reach the door. I ran, skipped and bounced my way to the workshop, excitement gnawing at my stomach as I spotted the door I wanted. Inside I could hear the sound of bangs and the sharpening of metal, sparks flying off inside. At last I heard a crash and a loud curse being bellowed, which allowed me to knock and be heard.
I banged my fist on the door, shouting for Spanner who stumbled over to the door then tore it open. The tiny man peered up at me through the thick glasses which magnified his eyes, making the icy blueness stand out further. His wiry hair stood at least five inches out from his skull at all angles, the white coat stained with several different colours from chemicals.
"Ah! Robyn. Come on in. Don't touch that! Watch out for that!" Instantly I was hammered with regulations. Basically I had to stand in the middle of his shop and not move an inch. Strange gadgets and equipment stood all around me, hardly any of it recognisable. There were beakers of chemicals bubbling over, with twisting tubes leading into others which changed the colour from one to another. It was like a mad house.
Spanner shuffled back to me, sniffing back his running nose then handed me a pair of slim fitting gloves, with strange circular pads on each fingertip, and at various points surrounding the palm. "Those are electric gloves. You touch someone with those on and you'll knock them out for at least an hour or so." Instantly I was sliding them on. They fitted me perfectly like a second skin.
"How do I activate them?" I asked him and he touched the pad at the centre of my palm. Instantly blue lines appeared around the black carbon fibre fabric. At least I think it was carbon fibre, I wasn't too sure but we'll go with that. I could feel the electricity vibrating softly against my skin, making me grin. "And to turn it off, you touch the same pad again." I did so and the humming stopped.
"Sweet!" I grinned at the tiny genius who waved his hand.
"They're to help with your hand to hand combat. As I understand it, you excelled in this area as well as in marksmanship. So, for this, you'll have your own pair of guns." He now placed these two new treasures in my hands. "They have specialised bullets." He said, gesturing to the handguns. "They can penetrate through six feet of concrete if necessary and explode." This made me draw back from them slightly.
"So the bullets will go right through someone if I shoot them? Isn't that a little…gross?"
"Not all the bullets, stupid girl. Here." He took back one of the guns and showed me the three panels in the grip where my three fingers would naturally curl around. "The guns will fire regular bullets unless you press one of these three panels. Top one is the stronger bullets that pass through the concrete and blow up, second one freezes whatever the bullet hits and the third one is a tracking bullet. You lodge that into something then no one will be able to escape you." He gave me a little scanner which would be able to follow the signal. "You clip that onto your belt. However if you lose it or it gets broken with a device still out there, I'll be able to track it from here as I designed the signal." He told me proudly.
"Okay. I have no idea how you got these to work like that but thank you. They're amazing." I told him with a smile. "I'm just a little confused about the freezing one. How does that work?" With a sigh Spanner lifted the gun he held and shot at a piece of metal thrown in the corner after pressing the second panel. The gun fired and the bullet hit the metal, instantly letting off a gas which froze over the entire piece. When Spanner picked up a wrench, he tapped the metal lightly. It crumbled into tiny pieces.
"Awesome." I grinned from ear to ear, taking both guns and putting them safely in their holsters with the safety locks on. The bullet hadn't even made a dent, it just melted into the metal like some sort of glue. "You really are a genius."
"Yes. I am." Spanner nodded his head in acknowledgement, smirking with pride. "One more thing." Another gadget? Sweet! Spanner shifted a few of his things, muttering to himself as he tried to find it before lifting it up victoriously. "Aha!" He turned then held it out to me. I looked at it then beamed from ear to ear. A thieving kit! In the belt there were picklocks, a heat laser, some shuriken, exploding glue and even a pair of night vision goggles. "You are a legend. Thanks Spanner!" I exclaimed then hugged him tightly but carefully, not wanting to crush him.
The tiny squeaked in surprise then hastened to push me off. "Alright, alright, alright! You're happy, yes, yes, yes you should be. Now go away, I have important work to do." With one last grin and a thanks, I raced out the door to return to the others and show them my new prizes.
Duke and Rip loved the guns, Scarlet the gloves and Breaker curiously looked through my thief belt. "You're set now. You've got everything you need." Scarlet grinned, looking down at the glove she was wearing then reached out to Rip, grabbing his shoulder.
Ripcord yelled aloud and dropped to his knees, his shoulder jolting violently as Scarlet laughed then pulled her hand away. Stunned, Rip patted his chest and shoulder, wondering why he was still awake. "You're such an idiot." Scarlet said to him lovingly before tossing the deactivated stun glove back to me. I put all things away with my suit carefully, locking it before leaving them all to rest.
I was just considering to go to the wrestling match when Storm Shadow walked up to me. "Dojo. Now." I groaned.
"No wrestling then." I sighed but followed Storm obediently to the gym where we trained. He made me go through all the katas he and Snake Eyes had taught me. He was impatient and constantly corrected my form if he believed it wasn't good enough. He was driving me crazy. After a while though, he left me alone, simply watching me. Perhaps I was doing something right for once?
At the end I turned to look at him, arching an eyebrow. He snorted. "Adequate." I rolled my eyes then continued with the next one. We were in the middle of a fight when someone walked in with obvious swagger in his step. We both stopped, my leg caught by Storm's hand as I had tried to strike him in the face and my hands on both his wrist and ankle, both of us twisted at odd angles.
"Oh, am I interrupting something?" Eric asked, grinning at me and gave a little wave. Instantly my brow creased into a frown.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded, neither of us moving from our position.
"I was…er…going to ask if you were coming. The boys want a good fight." Eric arched an eyebrow at us, obviously wondering how the hell we got into that position. "I'm sorry but, doesn't that hurt?" Storm looked like he was about to pummel the guy then stick his katana up where it's not meant to shine. Quickly I pulled away and strode forwards.
"You can't just walk in here, this is Storm and Snake's private training dojo. You're not even meant to have shoes on!" I whispered frantically. "Get out of here before he tries to murder you."
"But you will come?" He persisted.
"I'm training!"
"You train all the time." Eric shrugged, not understanding.
"I love training."
"With him?" Now he was turning dark, glaring over at Storm who arched an eyebrow curiously.
"In general."
"Then come to the match." I growled, placing my hands on my hips.
"I'm staying here. Now please leave." Eric pulled his glare away from Storm Shadow and turned to me again, shifting on his feet before smirking and reaching out. As he spoke, he ran a finger across my chin then slowly trailed it down my neck.
"Come on baby, I know you want to." I snapped. Without any warning I grabbed Eric's wrist and twisted it, forcing him to bend at an odd angle with a strangled cry then threw him over my shoulders, carrying him over my neck to the door before kicking it open. I strode past Snake Eyes who got out of my way then tilted his head in bewilderment as Storm Shadow followed with a smirk.
"Training's over. You'd better come see this." Thankfully it was not far to the wrestling arena, but I made sure I was careful to hit Eric's head on every door as he struggled and yelled for me to drop him. The moment I walked inside, everyone parted and stared cheering, including Duke and Ripcord, Scarlet and Anna in their embraces. I lifted Eric up then threw him into the ring, clearing the ropes before sliding inside elegantly myself.
"You wanna fight?" I snarled at Eric who was slowly getting to his fight. "Fine! We'll fight." I gripped his jacket sleeve and fisted some fabric from his trousers before lifting him up easily, my enhanced strength barely feeling the weight as I spun him around like a baseball before slamming him into the ground. "How'd you like that huh?" Everyone was yelling and laughing as I flipped Eric onto his front, standing above him. "Anymore?"
"Alright! Alright I'm sorry." I scoffed at him, folding my arms then jerked my chin to Storm Shadow who was watching with amusement.
"Apologise to my sensei for disrespecting his dojo." Eric looked at me then turned his head, looking directly at Storm.
"I'm sorry." He said sincerely then backed away from me as I lowered myself down, crouching in front of him.
"If you ever, call me baby again," I pointed to the wall. "I'll toss you through that and leave you in a grave six feet deep." With that I got up then strode from the ring, disappearing into the crowd. I left everyone behind, returning to the dojo. I was surprised that neither Snake nor Shadow had followed to continue the session.
I bowed at the door then entered, looking around. I saw the loudspeakers and stereo station so I walked over then selected a CD from the shelf, placed the disk in then let it play. I breathed in the beat, letting it relax me as I took a few steps back, swaying my hips with the rhythm until I had found the flow.
Moving with the music I turned around, hands behind my head before twisting with a high kick, dancing like I was fighting. It was smooth and melodic but at the chorus the beat picked up and I moved with it, throwing punches then simply dancing until sweat was pouring from my body. If I was sweating then it meant I was putting a lot of energy into this dance.
When the song flipped over I continued to dance, changing to match the beat, melody and lyrics. I couldn't remember the last time I had danced like this. Back in my troupe, I suppose, over ten years ago. Still, my body had never forgotten what it could do. As I turned several pirouettes I finished with a high roll of my leg, circling it around as my torso leaned back then I turned, taking a beat of a step before leaping high up into the air, stretching out my arms and legs into a perfect split before landing again, barely making a sound as my hands and arms began to move, my hips swaying and dipping with the pulse before I barrel leaped several times, a wide smile plastered on my face as I kept my eyes pressed tightly shut.
As the song climaxed I rose up on my feet, turning tightly with my arms held above my head like a ballerina, spinning until I was dizzy to the point of collapse. I stopped and opened my eyes, panting for breath. When I saw Snake Eyes standing there, watching me, I froze in place and my eyes widened in horror. Had he seen me dancing?
I tried to take a step back but my spinning mind made me lose my balance and I tripped up over my own feet, falling hard onto my rear with an oomph. "How…long where you standing there?" I asked slowly, tilting my head to the side as Snake's shoulder shook slightly with laughter. "Great. Um. Promise not to tell anyone?" He nodded his head then walked over to me, holding out his hand to help me up.
Smiling I gripped his hand and he pulled me to my feet but when I wavered, my mind blacking out and Snake's hand went to my waist to support me, keeping me steady until I could see again. "Thanks." I said to him, giving him a soft smile. He pulled back once I was steady but his hand lingered for a moment, pausing as if he wanted to say something. Or at least say something the way Snake says something.
Looking away, my cheeks flushed from the dancing I went over to the stereo and stopped the music, an eerie silence filling the dojo. "Training?" Snake shook his head. "Oh. Was there something else then?" He shrugged then signed something at me but stopped halfway.
"No, I learned some. See?" I signed a few words to him, slowly and with a deep frown of concentration. Snake chuckled silently and I smiled, looking at the ground as I tucked my hair behind my ear with my little finger. Snake asked me whether I was alright. "I'm fine. I just didn't like the way Eric interrupted Storm's lesson." I explained then pouted slightly. "Plus he called me baby and touched me inappropriately. I didn't like that." Snake tensed then clenched his fists, making me chuckle. "Don't worry. I think he got what he deserved." I reasoned as I put the CD away. "If there's nothing else, I think I'm going to go and get some sleep." Snake nodded his head then drew his katana, turning his back to me as he began to train on his own.
I paused at the door, looking back at Snake to watch his movements. He was so elegant with every move, he barely had to twitch his wrist and that blade was singing through the air like a bolt of lightning. I was transfixed by his movements before my mouth spoke without thinking. "Snake?" He paused and looked over to me. "Goodnight." He inclined his head then returned to training.