Chapter 13: Recovery Reverb
Mila was left to her own devices after a rather eventful morning. Mostly just to try to rest and calm down. She had managed to convince Gibson to let her at least walk around the base a little bit to stretch her legs. She caught a glimpse of herself in the reflective metal of the walls and groaned in irritation.
She looked rough. Bruises and artificial membranes on her face, her arms still wrapped in bandages and wearing her pajamas because she needed something comfortable to wear.
It was still hard to process. Her little brother was going to be moving out of her home soon, years before she ever thought she had to think about it. Even the thought made her heart clench with anxiety.
Maybe part of this "walk" around the base was more so snooping than she'd rather admit.
To be sure Chiro would be growing up in a safe environment here too.
Walking into the orange elevator, she waited for it to activate and momentarily forgot that this was the broken one… Too late, she realized it, when it vibrated, instead of just moving.
"Oh shi-!"
Mila was cut off with a shriek as it shot upwards.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
The elevator came to a screeching halt, jerking on the last moment as Mila was sent flying out of the thing.
The floor rushed up to greet her face as she tried to brace herself.
SPLAT!
And that was how Nova and Chiro's combat training was interrupted as Mila laid flat on the training room floor, her limbs splayed out.
Nova and Chiro both cringed in sympathy.
That could not have felt good.
"Mila?" Chiro hurried over to her, helping her up. "You okay?"
"Anything hurt?" Nova rushed over as well, giving the woman a worried look. "You took a pretty bad beating the other day too…"
Mila rubbed her face, glaring at the elevator behind her.
"I should take a freakin' sledgehammer to that thing…"
"Please don't. Just don't use it."
"How does Ichi even use this thing?"
Chiro grinned.
"I don't go splat."
Mila narrowed her eyes, taking off one of her black cat slippers.
Chiro's eyes widened in horror, recoiling back.
"NO-!"
She threw it as he ducked.
"Splat huh? I'll show you a splat!"
Nova watched the two interact as she was scarily reminded of when she and Antauri were much younger.
"Nova…" Her brother narrowed his eyes before pouncing on her, the two younglings rolling across the lab floor.
"HEY!"
"Ahem!"
The two froze, looking up at their eldest sibling.
Boy, Mandarin's death glare worked on us as kids…
Nova snickered.
Mila and Chiro stopped bantering, turning to her.
"What?" They both asked.
"Sorry." Nova laughed a little, her tail swishing in amusement. "You guys just sounded like when Antauri and I were little."
Mila's jaw dropped open.
"NO-!"
Chiro busted up laughing at his sister's expression.
"Oh no, Nova, you struck a nerve."
"No, I do not sound like him!"
"You sounded pretty close." Nova admitted. "He wasn't always that calm, y'know?"
Mila put her face in her hands.
This was a low moment. Oh this was definitely a low moment.
Compared to Obi-wan Kenobi… Great…
This is a really low moment now.
… Come to think of it, what did I even walk in on?
"Sorry, I interrupted something didn't I?"
She looked around, surveying the training room. The massive pillars had risen out of the floor, various weapons displayed on it.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Nova grimaced, noting the panicked look on her face.
"Mila, I'm gonna be honest… You probably shouldn't be in here right now."
"Is the safety on?"
"What!?" Nova exclaimed, crossing her arms. "Of course! What idiot would turn it up to level ten?"
"There's a what!?"
Chiro cleared his throat, helping Mila to her feet.
"Okay, I think that's enough for you. You probably should go finish resting up-"
Mila whirled around, walking over to the control panel, looking it over.
"WHY IS THERE A LEVEL 10!?"
Chiro and Nova exchanged a look.
"Well, I see Mila's feeling better." Nova shook her head. "This is gonna happen a lot isn't it?"
Chiro ran a hand down his face.
"You have NO idea… Sis! Remember, all that crap you said? Trusting me to make good decisions, all that about how clearly I was meant to be here?"
Mila looked up and sighed.
"You know what? I don't wanna know…"
She walked over to the green elevator.
"I'm gonna keep walking around… Have uh… a good training session, I guess?"
"We will. Don't get caught overdoing it." Nova called over. "We'll hang out or something later, yeah?"
Mila craned her neck and smiled.
"I'd really like that actually. Love you, Ichi!"
"Love you too, Mila. Don't go too nuts, okay?"
"I won't." She nodded, giving him a gentle look. "See ya soon."
As she left, Nova and Chiro exchanged a look.
"I think that went well, yeah?"
"She didn't try to turn off the training simulator… I'm STILL worried."
Chiro still wasn't sure if his sister was actually okay with all of this or if it was still the concussion talking. Admittedly, while he was relieved she was okay with him furthering his training and even agreeing to let him live with the monkeys…
He was going to wait a few days to see if it really stuck.
"Alright, back to work!" Nova nudged him back towards the training area. "C'mon, c'mon."
"Uwah! Okay!"
oooooo
As the elevator arrived at the next floor, Mila wandered out, fishing through her pants pocket for her phone, deciding she needed to relax a bit. She smiled at her lockscreen picture.
It was a picture of herself and Chiro, making goofy faces at the camera. She was ruffling up his hair while he tried to take the picture, both of them having big grins on their faces.
Her heart sank a bit as that feeling of anxiety formed around her heart again. She looked back towards the elevators, pursing her lips together.
No. She told herself, shaking her head. She needed to let him train in peace. With her recent experience, the monkeys had proven themselves to put her brother first when it counted.
Mila unlocked her phone, putting her earbuds in, grateful they hadn't been damaged either.
Although I guess getting hit with Antauri's attack at close range, it's a miracle I didn't lose my hearing…
"AAAAAAAUUUGH!"
Mila shivered a bit. Valina had been… terrifying. The vile things she hissed in her ear, the way she knowingly swung Mila around like a ragdoll as some sort of human shield.
All for the purpose of hurting her brother and his team. To make them hurt her on purpose and Antauri had been the one who unfortunately it worked on.
She wasn't mad about it. If anything, she was just grateful Chiro hadn't been hurt in that scuffle.
Besides, not like he wanted to do that. Sure, Antauri's a pain to try to understand but I know he didn't want to hurt me on purpose.
He's not petty like that.
Her heart skipped a beat as she thought back to what happened to her store and tried to shake her head free of the memory.
She turned her music up as loud as she possibly could stand to drown out her thoughts.
This was how Mila coped. Her music, her mind becoming one as she tried to focus on anything but what was happening.
Mila swayed along to the music, trying not to over do it but doing anything to clear her mind.
It wasn't the first time she used her music to cope with something that had happened. Her background in music was both a talent and a crutch at the same time.
Not having her guitar was literal torture but her fingers were not in any condition to be playing. So, she would have to settle for her greatest instrument.
Mila closed her eyes, imagining she was anywhere else. Imagining the stage, her pajamas transformed into her favorite outfit for her old band.
In this moment, in this single moment, she was her old self.
She started humming as it built up into the crescendo following along to the music.
Focus on this.
Nothing else.
The powerful music that made her heart slow as she focused only on the song.
It was okay, she reminded herself.
Life didn't always go the way you planned it.
As she walked down the halls, she peered into one of the doors that was cracked open, seeing Gibson hard at work, focusing on some type of chemical.
Judging from the wicked grin on his face, it could not have been anything good.
She took out an earbud, leaning on the doorway.
"So, is that for helping or hurting?"
Gibson looked up as his safety goggles retracted back into his helmet, giving her a stern look.
"I'll answer if you can answer a question of mine. Are you overdoing it?"
"Nope. The elevator tried to make me overdo it though -seriously, when is Ichi's being fixed?"
"Mila, our to-do list is a mile long. It will get fixed at some point. Until then, please don't use it." He paused. "... Are you alright?"
"Hmm? Yeah, a little sore, but nothing that bad." She moved closer, taking a close look at the bubbling blue liquid. "What is this anyways?"
"Actually, this is for you." Gibson explained, holding it up to her eyes.
Mila raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"It's a rapid growth plant food. Given the damage to your store and how Chiro spoke of how hard you worked on those plants, I felt it was only right to help restore what was lost. We'll test it properly once you have some seedlings to work with."
"Okay, note to self I'll get some started… I'll have Ichi grab my old hydro-garden. That thing may not be the best way to grow commercial plants but for a test it'll get them going."
"Excellent."
"... Okay I'm just asking because you looked a little too smug when I was walking by, I'm not gonna have an Audrey II situation, yeah?" Mila asked.
Gibson was baffled, staring at her, his tail swishing in a curious manner.
He swore, sometimes the words that came out of that woman's mouth were utter nonsense to him.
Mila stared back at him, with a questioning look.
"Pardon?" He finally asked. "What the devil is an Audrey II?"
Mila's face fell into a hurt look, putting a hand over her heart. She dramatically bent forward, letting out a loud gasp.
"You really know how to hurt me. Dang, you guys don't know ANY of the good stuff?!" She exclaimed.
Gibson groaned, rolling his eyes.
He knew exactly where this was going.
"Gibson, come on! Science fiction should be your thing!"
"Mila, need I remind you I am a warrior, a scientist and a doctor? I don't have time for leisure like this-"
"It's a movie! It's like, an hour and a half! You don't have time to relax for that long?"
Gibson narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms.
"I'm going to regret this. What are you talking about?"
Mila's eyes widened, her jaw dropping open horrified.
No, she did not hear that right.
She didn't.
Come ON!
"Oh my gosh, I need to educate you guys hardcore… Little Shop of Horrors?"
"Pardon?"
Mila inhaled slowly.
"That's it. I'm gonna tell Ichi you guys need to be educated."
"You will do no such thing!"
"Bonding exercise, I bet I can sell him AND Obi-Wan Kenobi on that."
"... Obi-what?"
"... Antauri. It's the name of a mentor who also spouts cryptic bull crap."
Gibson snorted, trying so hard not to laugh at that moment.
He needed to be serious. She was not supposed to even be in here.
"Oh?" Mila grinned. "Did I just catch you laughing?"
"Pfft no."
"... So… think he'll realize it if I call him that?"
Gibson looked out the door to be sure Antauri wasn't walking down the hall before shaking his head.
"He won't. We never had this conversation."
"Okay…" Mila's grin only grew as she took a seat at the stool next to him. "So, is there some sort of drama I'm missing here?"
"Oh no, I'm not telling you anything. Now, shoo." Gibson waved her away. "Go, get out of here."
"I won't tell anyone… and I'll buy coffee in bulk when I can go grocery shopping."
"... Okay, maybe just a bit. But we never had this conversation."
Mila gave him a sneaky smile, propping her chin up on her hand.
"Tell, tell…"
Oh, this is gonna be too good…
It was a concerning moment for everyone involved when the others walked by and heard Gibson and Mila laughing, while they talked as Gibson worked on his project.
"... Should we be worried they're friends now?" Nova asked.
Chiro shrugged.
"I… I don't know actually… We should probably go."
"Go?" Sparx asked. "Kid, we gotta stop the apocalypse from happening."
Mila looked over.
"We can hear you guys!" Her grin turned wicked. "And Gibson was just telling me some VERY interesting things."
Nova put her hands on her hips, giving him a glare.
"Oh did he?"
Gibson scoffed.
"Please, it's stuff you were mad about too."
Nova rubbed her temple, deciding she didn't want to know.
"You know what? I'm gonna go see my brother." She headed off for Antauri's room.
"And I'm gonna… go too. I don't want any part of this." Chiro took his chance to escape.
Otto and Sparx exchanged a look before looking back at Gibson.
"It was Antauri wasn't it?" Sparx asked. "The Chosen One thing?"
"Yup." Mila grinned, getting up and going over to him. "By the way Sparx, I wanted to ask you a BIG favor-"
"Never," he scoffed. "Whatever it is, I don't want any part of it."
Otto tilted his head.
"You didn't even let her finish."
"Yeah?" Sparx rolled his eyes, with a smirk. "I know it's gonna be trouble."
Mila smiled, giving him a pleading look.
"Please?"
Sparx looked away, his tail swishing irritably behind him..
"No!" He snapped. "That puppy-dog eyes routine doesn't work on me. Quit it!"
"I'll make you and Nova lunch so you can go on a date somewhere."
Sparx was debating internally now. On one hand, if he turned her down, no one would ever know. He could walk away from it guilt free.
On the other hand…
Taking Nova out after the long few weeks they've had to finally have some proper ALONE time, where there wasn't any fighting or battles, just them and maybe a nice afternoon just to themselves…
He shook her hand.
"Awright, you got a deal."
"You won't regret this." Mila grinned, mischief gleaming in her eyes.
From the way she was looking at him, Sparx was already regretting it…
"C'mon, Maverick, let's walk and talk." Mila started walking away with him. "See ya, Goose! Good talk!"
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Gibson called out.
"Yeah we're gonna talk about this nickname…"
"No, we're not or no lunch for you and Nova."
"... I hate you."
"Love you too!"
Otto scratched his head, watching them go before looking back at Gibson.
"... You guys confuse me. If you don't like the names, why do you still answer them?"
Gibson bit his lip and tried to ignore it.
"Gibson?"
"... Maybe they're not so bad."
"... You like them."
Gibson sputtered.
"NO!"
Otto snickered.
"This means you and Sparx agree on something."
Gibson lowered his head to the lab desk, mentally cursing his youngest brother for this.
"Stop it. Please."
"Never."
oooooo
The kitchen was bustling with activity, savory smells escaping it into the rest of the base.
Whatever he had thought Mila was planning, this was not it.
"Alright, run the knife over the fish skin to loosen up the scales. None of us wanna eat that." Mila instructed, leaning against the counter.
Sparx raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"Because it tastes nasty." Mila grimaced, shaking her head slowly. She sighed, looking down at her hands. Most of her fingers were still wrapped in artificial membranes. Washing her hands was fine but she didn't feel comfortable handling food like this… so, her solution was to pick Gibson's brain to figure out who was the least likely to give everyone food poisoning.
Which led her to spending this time cooking with him.
"Duly noted." Sparx grimaced. "Also, what're we gonna do for Antauri? He's vegetarian, he won't eat this." He held up the fish he was handling, giving it a little wave as it swayed back and forth.
Mila grinned.
"Don't worry. Otto already filled me in on that. I got him covered too."
Sparx shook his head, chuckling.
He had to admit, everything he had tasted while they cooked so far had been incredible. He made a note to try some of these recipes himself later.
"So, you make this stuff a lot?"
Mila nodded, crossing her arms, watching as Sparx went onto the next step.
"Yeah… I grew up eating this stuff when I was on Earth so I keep these same recipes. It's a comfort." She smiled, her gaze softening.
"Got it. Any particular reason for this stuff?"
"Because it's Ichi's favorite and while I'll be here as much as I can… I know there's gonna be times where I might not be able to be there to cook him dinner. Like if you guys go somewhere… Ichi mentioned you guys got a base on the moon too?"
Sparx stopped short, looking up at her, furrowing his brows.
Mila had turned her head but he could see how tense even talking about it made her.
He couldn't blame her. If it was his kid who had this fate, he would've been just as worried.
"Hey, Mila? I'm… sorry we didn't tell you sooner about the whole destiny thing."
"Sparx, believe it or not, I kinda figured that out when Antauri did the whole "Jedi mind trick" thing." She shuddered. "You know, he could've just used his words."
Sparx groaned, rolling his eyes.
"I'm sure Gibson told ya how we really felt."
"That you were all against it and all kinda did a mutiny on him?"
Sparx grinned, pointing his knife at her.
"Right on the nose!"
Mila snorted, grinning.
"Duly noted."
It was quiet as Mila looked through her phone, going over the recipe before selecting some music, turning it up.
Sparx raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as he listened for a moment.
Mila watched him out of the corner of her eye, giggling a bit when she saw his tail swishing to the music as he cooked.
"Okay, you're a pain in the butt but this is some good tunes." He had to admit. "Alright, what's next?"
"Alright, next, we're making the croquettes. They don't have any meat, just potatoes and vegetables. Also, start slicing those sweet potatoes uber thin, 'kay? We're battering and frying those."
"So… Antauri doesn't get to hog all these right?"
"Oh heck no!"
They laughed as Mila turned up the volume on her phone, the music echoing through the kitchen.
That was the sight that greeted the rest of the team as they made their way to the kitchen.
"Whoa…" Chiro looked at it all, impressed. "Mila, you didn't…"
Gibson gave her a stern look.
"I thought I said no overdoing it-"
"Cool it brain strain or you won't get any of this misu stuff." Sparx smirked.
"Miso." Mila corrected.
"I cooked it all, she just told me what to do."
"Oh… Well then thank you-Wait what did you call me?"
"Boys.." Nova grabbed them both by their antennae, forcing them to sit down at the table. "Cool it."
Mila stifled a laugh.
Otto's mouth watered as he took a seat eagerly, already filling his plate up.
"Ohhh this is gonna be good. What's this? How about this? This?"
Mila giggled.
"It's all for you guys. There's even stuff without meat for Antauri."
As the team hurried to tuck in, Mila and Chiro exchanged a smile, sitting beside each other.
Chiro rested his head on her arm before he started to eat.
"Whooaa! This is great!"
"Nice team up, Maverick!"
Sparx and Mila high fived with a laugh.
The chatter and conversations around the table… her brother beside her.
Mila sighed, smiling as she ate her food with a thoughtful look.
This is nice…
This is how it should be for him…
Oh boy, I don't know if I'm ready…
But I will be.
Mila looked down at her brother, smiling, giving him a kiss on the head.
"Love you, Ichi."
"Love you too, Mila… Thanks again for being so cool." He grinned. "And I'm proud of you. You didn't freak out at the training room level."
"She didn't!?" Sparx laughed. "That's a new one."
"Watch it! I'll still be here every day. I ever find out it gets to Level 10, one of you will be getting the shoe."
Chiro laughed, as his sister and his team bantered.
Now this… was perfect.
I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
