Welp, here we go. Um, I hope I captured your character accurately, Doc. And, uh....hope I haven't offended you.
Also, damn it Typhon.
[spoiler]Luna sighed and shifted the serving tray to her off hand, giving the hem of her skirt another sharp tug as she headed towards DrWilyII's office. She'd been fine with following his orders, it was what she'd been built to do,after all, but was the maid outfit
really necessary? Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that the other copy-bots based here allowed her a couple of days off every week, she'd have probably gone insane from the sheer
indignity of it all. Stopping just outside the door (and ignoring the extravagant gold-plaque attached to it. The nameplate was fine, but the engraving of an impossibly muscular Doc striking a manly pose was just unnecessary), she reached for handle, only to stop short when the Doctor's voice reached her ears.
"WHAT!?......WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE RESEARCH FACILITY IS TRASHED!? WHO TRASHED IT!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW!? What? It gets worse.....WHAT?! THE PRISONERS ESCAPED!? HOW DID.....What? There's more?.....THEY STOLE THE AIRSHIP. TOO!? WHO'S "THEY"!? YOU DON'T KNOW!?....NO SURVIVING WITNESSES!?.....WHAT AM I NOT USING YOU AS A GUINEA PIG FOR ANYWAY!? ARGH, FINE!"
A loud crash signalled that the impromptu phone call had apparently ended. Luna's mind was racing as she considered the implications of what she'd just overheard. Someone had defied the Doctor, and from the sound of things they seemed to have gotten away with it. She'd briefly had thoughts of escaping from here before, but the knowledge that the Doctor would never let her roam free kept her from ever acting on them. But, an airship? If she could reach that, she could probably convince whoever had stolen it to take her in, and if they could defy him once, they could probably do it again, right? Then he'd never be able to take her back. She could be....free?
That particular train of thought lasted only a few seconds, but was enough to reinforce the spur of the moment decision she'd just made. Pasting a smile on her face, she pushed the door open and stepped through. "Good morning, Doctor. I brought your morning coffee."
DrWilyII pushed his swivel-chair away from the computer he'd been sat at, the gaping hole in the screen forgotten as he swung around to face the one who'd spoken to him. "Hm? Oh, Lunamaria." His eyes roved up and down her form for a moment.
God, I love that maid costume. A lecherous grin briefly spread across his face. Fortunately for Luna, he was too distracted to notice her roll her eyes as he lost himself in his thoughts. Shaking himself out of his daydream, he gratefully accepted the drink. "Thank you. This is just what I need to calm myself down."
Luna tilted her head to the side, examing the still-smoking computer on the desk behind him. "Bad news, Doctor?"
He gave a dismissive wave. "Ah, a call from my secret facility in the Dry Dry Desert. Someone attacked it, released the test subjects there and stole the prototype airship I sent to aid the researchers there. I'll find them eventually, and when I do...." He broke out into an evil cackle. Luna struck a thoughtful pose and waited for him to finish.
"Excuse me, Doctor? Why don't
I go and look for them? It'd be the perfect chance for me to field-test the Mobile Suit you built for me. I could find the ship, tell you where it is, and then you could....I don't know, teleport a swarm of Rabid Mets onto it or something."
DrWilyII sipped his drink, his expression thoughtful. "I see, not a bad idea. OR! I could send you to go and look for them! Then, when you find the ship you can tell me where it is and I can teleport a swarm of Rabid Mets onto it....or something. It'll be the perfect chance for you to field-test the Mobile Suit I built for you." He rose from his chair, glasses shining ominously, and swept an arm in front of him in a stereotypical "dramatically giving orders" pose. "YES! This is the perfect plan! Lunamaria, I order you to track down the miscreants who stole my ship and report their location to me! I might even have a special reward for you when you return." He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.
Luna forced down the instinct to shudder at that, and instead saluted. "Aye aye, sir! I'll go and get ready to launch right away!" She turned and practically sprinted from the office. DrWilyII watched her leave, a grin splitting his face.
I hate to see her go, but boy do I love watching her leave.
As Luna zipped the front of her pilot suit up, she shot the discarded maid outfit a glare that unfortunately
didn't see it burst into flames in front of her. The walk to the hangar passed quickly, and she hopped into the cockpit of the Zak-2 with an ease that belied the fact it was her first time doing so. She'd gone over all the data that could be found on the airship's last known heading, and had mapped out some potential locations to begin her search. Fiddling with the port on the back of her neck, she connected herself to the MS' systems and slipped into a temporary hibernation as her conciousness took over the larger mech.
In his office, DrWilyII sat in his chair, idly stroking a Rabid Met with a pair of novelty cat-ears duct-taped to its' helmet. All he had to do now was wait for Luna's signal. He eyes strayed to the nurse outfit laying on the table that had formerly housed his computer. Soon....
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly, and life aboard the
Halcyon was about as peaceful as it ever got. The ship was currently suspended over a large lake, siphoning water to refill the reserve tanks. Xhai lay on the deck near the bridge exit, Siraj leaning against the wall just behind him. Both were there to enjoy the sunshine, thought their thoughts were heading in entirely different directions. Siraj was idly rolling a lit cigarette between his fingers, thinking about nothing in particular.
Xhai, meanwhile, was going over the events of the last few days, wondering what ridiculous turn of events would befall him next. Between the raid on the facility, stealing the ship, meeting his "older brother" and then Saden showing up with
another undead knight, it'd been a crazy week.
As if on cue, a twinkle in the sky caught Siraj's attention. The elder cyborg took a long drag on his cigarette and exhaled slowly. "Hey, little bro. Don't wanna get you excited, but something's heading this way."
Xhai sat upright, and followed Siraj's line of sight. Squinting, he couldn't keep the surprise from his voice. "Is that a Mobile Suit?"
Luna couldn't help herself and gave a little fist-pump of victory as the silvery mass of the missing airship filled her optics. The first few locations had been busts, turning up nothing but disappointment and a genuine fear that she might actually have to
go back to the....well, it wasn't exactly a hellhole, but she didn't want to go back there regardless. Now that she'd found the thing, the next step was to make contact with whoever was in charge of it and hopefully reach an understanding.
Drawing closer, she spotted two figures out on the deck and slowed her approach. Neither one of them made any move as she slowly halted over the deck and cut the thrusters.
Xhai and Siraj watched the Mobile Suit descend on to the deck. Xhai's hand strayed towards his belt, and the hilt of his scythe, but caught himself as it landed and raised its' hands in the universal gesture of surrender. Siraj just took another drag on his cigarette and quirked a brow at the sight.
There was a
hiss of pressurised steam, and the cockpit popped open. A lithe figure in a red and silver pilot suit dropped out, and quickly mimicked the pose of the suit stood behind her.
Luna did her best to hide her nervousness as the two men on the deck studied her. The younger of the two seemed wary, while the older just looked amused. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened to him, though. She knew cybernetics were slowly becoming more prevalent as an injury treatment from listening to the Doctor rave about the success one of his research labs had been having, but....
exposed cybernetics? They looked old, too, almost outdated. Shame really, he'd be kinda handsome if not for the mismatched pink-and-gunmetal look his face sported. She was snapped out of her musings when the younger one spoke, his tone....curious?
"And you are?"
She took a cautious step forward and slowly removed her helmet, letting it fall to the deck with a dull
clunk and trying to look as nonthreatening as possible. This was her
chance. If she could pull this off, she'd be
free. "My name is Lunamaria Hawke. Please, could you help me? I'm trying to get away from-". She felt something shift in the back of her mind, and then all she knew was darkness.
Xhai's initial wariness quickly changed to panic when the girl started speaking, only to scream and collapse with smoke pouring from her mouth.
As Xhai raced over to check on the girl, Siraj took a final drag and dropped the cigarette, stubbing it out with his boot. "Huh. I'll go get Mika."
The door to Mika's workshop slid open, and a clearly exhausted pink-haired girl staggered out. Xhai gently guided her across the hallway to her room and sat her down on the bed. Once he was sure she was going to be fine, he asked "How's our guest?"
Mika rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Sleeping. I'll admit I was surprised when Siraj asked me to come out onto the deck and take a look at an injured stranger. Even more so when that stranger turned out to be a robot-" She paused briefly as a huge yawn split her face for a moment "-Mm. Sorry. What did you say her deal was?"
Xhai shrugged. "I don't know much. She got about as far as asking for help and saying she trying to escape....something."
Mika looked thoughtful. "That sounds about right. Once I got her patched up, I asked her some questions. She's telling the truth when she says she not our enemy, but for some reason any time I asked about what she was running from she locked up. Trying to talk about it triggers the reaction you saw earlier. I tried asking her to write it instead, but her arm refuses to move whenever she's about to cover anything important. I think there's some sort of failsafe in her programming that's preventing her from saying anything about the person or persons she's trying to hide from. I did remove THIS from her headcase, though." She pulled a small, silver disc from her pocket and handed it to Xhai. "I think it's some sort of tracker. She couldn't tell me too much about it, but she was able to imply that she was supposed to use it to call for reinforcements after she found us."
Xhai stared at it for a moment, then grinned as remembered something he'd seen during his earlier sunbathing session. "I think I know what to do with this. Anything else?"
Mika nodded. "I think we'll need to take her clothes shopping at some point."
Xhai blinked. "Okay, first off, you're fine with letting her stay? And....
clothes shopping?"
Another nod. "Like I said, she's telling the truth when she says she's not an enemy. If she's running from someone, she'll likely be safer here than wandering around on her own. To be honest, I don't think she has any friends, so maybe staying with us will be good for everyone. And yes, clothes shopping-" She blushed. "-I don't think she'll like me telling you this, but she's....not wearing anything under that pilot suit."
Xhai forced himself not to think about THAT particular mental image. "Right, I'll give her the good news when she wakes up, then. In the meantime, Im'ma go set this-" He held the tracker up "-in a special place. If we can trigger it remotely, and everything goes the way I'm hoping, this'll be
fun".
Mika nodded and sank back onto the bed, clearly ready for a nap. "Wake me up before you do anything too fun, then. Oh, before I forget, what happened to that Mobile Suit she brought with her?"
Xhai grimaced. "I think Typhon's trying to put the moves on it. Something about "an axe that just won't quit". I don't think he realises it's not sentient."
The bubblegum-haired tech wiz shuddered. "Great, now I'm going to have nightmares. Tell him to get his mind out of the gutter and get that suit into one of the hangars, will you? I'm going to take nap. Open head surgery's more tiring than I thought."
A nod. "Got it. Sleep tight."
Waking up initially proved rather difficult for Luna. Her systems were booting much slower than she was used to, but then she remembered what had happened before she passed out and practically shot off the workbench she was laying on. A quick spot-check showed she was still dressed, but for some reason she couldn't shake the feeling something was missing. The sound of someone clearing their throat caught her attention, and she paused her examination to meet the gaze of the young man-
cyborg, her scans corrected her-from earlier.
"Hey there. Luna, was it? I'm Xhai. It's nice to meet you. My friend told me about the discussion you two had before you went to sleep. For what it's worth, I'm glad you're okay, and....if you want to stay here, you're more than welcome. We're more than happy to have another friend on board."
Luna couldn't fight the smile that spread across her face. Just like
that? They'd accepted her that easily? She was finally free of....Oh. The smile disappeared as she remembered one rather important detail. "Wait. There's a...." She trailed off, not sure if she could talk about it, but pointed to her head to try and get the point across.
Xhai smiled. "Don't worry. We know about the tracker. My friend got it out while she was helping you." A grin spread across his face. "Actually, if you're feeling up to joining us on the deck, I
might have a little "welcome to the family" present for you."
Luna grinned again, both surprised and happy beyond words at the "welcome to the family" bit. "Sure. Lead the way."
She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting when she stepped out onto the deck again, but the first thought that ran through her mind was
Oh God, I've traded one madhouse for another. If her scanners were accurate (and she had little reason to doubt they
weren't), she was now part of a group consisting of at least two cyborgs, a zombie, an empty suit of armour that was moving around with no apparent justification and a girl who seemed to have had her legs replaced by a
freaking scorpion. It was only Xhai's hand on her shoulder that stopped her from shutting down on the spot. When he did speak, his tone was gentle.
"I know we seem like a strange bunch, and trust me, some of us are. This isn't everyone, but I promise you, everyone on this ship is a good person, even if some of us don't come across that way at first."
Seeing that his speech apparently hadn't entirely reassured her, he passed her a small silver box with a red button on the top. "Remember I said my friend took that tracker out of your head? She also told me you were supposed to call for back-up with it. I don't know who you used to work for, but how'd you feel about giving them a poke in the eye for driving you to rebel like this, eh?" He pointed to the spot he'd marked when setting up his little stunt earlier. "When you're ready, just push the button."
Luna couldn't quite suppress a shark-like grin at the thought of getting a little payback.
"Y'know, I think Xhai might be right. I think I might actually be able to be happy here. I think I can call this ship home. Just gotta take the good with the weird, I guess." After a moment's hesitation to make sure she was looking at the right spot, she pushed the button.
In his office, flanked by one of his closest aides, DrWilyII smirked as Lunamaria's beacon activated. "Now I have them. Send the reinforcements and destroy the fools who dared to defy me!"
As one of his satellite cameras locked in on the location of the beacon, he watched with a triumphant grin as an army of Rabid Mets teleported in....and charged straight off the edge of the cliff, falling into the depths of the lake without a sound.
An awkward silence permeated the room. Then, DrWilyII fell off his chair, twitching slightly.
Staring down at the now-insensate evil genius, Aile-bot #57 rolled her eyes. It was going to be another one of
those days.
Back on the deck of the
Halcyon, the assembled group watched in stunned silence as the crystal blue waters of the lake slowly began to turn yellow as an apparently endless number of Mettaurs performed a lemming-like exodus into its' depths.
Setting the tone for her future relationship with the team, Luna mused aloud, "Hey, I wonder if this would be considered an environmental disaster?"[/spoiler]