Rise in Revolution (Chapter Twenty)
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World map: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Kaldri
Chapter Twenty
Eyes of Fury
Street 8, Sector IAL. January 19, 2272. Time instance 842N.
Jimmy looked over the weapon she had been provided. It was a shortsword, pre-invasion, part of Kyir’s stockpile. He had been reluctant to hand out his weapons, and thus only members of the Black Market had received them. She looked over the silvery blade, adjusting her grip on the hilt. Kyir had given her a crash course in how to use the sword, but she was pretty sure she was totally useless at it. She swung at the air experimentally and almost dropped it.
Deciding to work on her skill with deadly weapons later, Jimmy sheathed the sword. The weight at her hip was unfamiliar, unbalancing, leading to her feeling uncomfortable as she started to walk down the street.
“Trying to take someone’s head off?” Jimmy jumped at the voice and turned to see Fan leaning on the wall of Kyir’s house, bottle of some alcoholic drink in hand.
“No, I just don’t...know how to use a weapon.” Jimmy frowned at her. “Shouldn’t you be helping with something? Cap was talking about you being able to help with the tunnel.”
Fan shushed her before taking a gulp from the bottle. “Scott said he’d go fishing soon. She can’t make me do shit.”
Jimmy sighed. “Did you get a weapon, at least?”
Fan patted a small, makeshift crossbow at her hip. “I’d rather it be higher power, but this’ll do.”
“I don’t know if I trust you with that.”
“Why, because I’m drunk?”
“Because you’re Fan!”
Fan considered that before shrugging and taking another gulp from the bottle. “I am trained with it, you know.”
“You are?”
“I’m an ex-demon hunter. Well. Ex-demon hunter apprentice. My group was in SOV but, as you can kinda guess, that didn’t work too well.” She took another drink.
Jimmy frowned. “What happened?”
“We got discovered. Everyone except me and Cap got shot, including my mentor. We were relocated to IAL because we were, like...fourteen? Or something. I don’t remember. Guess that’s the point.” Fan sighed and sank into a sitting position. “They didn’t even shoot Atar right off. They were gonna capture him. They led me away first and when I next saw Cap, she told me he’d been shot. Sucked. Sucked a lot.” She emptied the bottle. “A lot…”
Jimmy shuddered and turned, slowly walking away to leave Fan alone with her empty bottle and memories, mumbling something about being sorry for her.
Shit.
Jimmy kicked at a rock as she walked. She wasn’t quite sure why she had just walked away like that, but she just felt wrong being there, as if some presence had been urging her to leave. Had Fan been sober (although, Fan was never sober), she likely wouldn’t have said a word.
She was so lost in thoughts of Fan and darkness that she almost jumped out of her skin when Gali tapped her shoulder. “Hi, Jimmy!”
Jimmy shrieked.
“Woops!”
“Gali, you scared me!”
“Sorry!” Gali grinned at her, adjusting her purple mask. “I thought you knew I was there!”
“No, I didn’t! You walk silently!”
“Oh.” Gali blinked. “I didn’t know.” She paused. “You look weird armed. You have no idea what you’re doing with that.”
“Neither do you!”
“Well, I mean…”
Jimmy rolled her eyes. “We’re both inept.”
“Yeah! It’s great.” Gali grinned at her. “Hey, I’m going to go find Geek to deliver a message. Do you want to come with me?”
Jimmy shrugged. “Sure. What’s the message?”
Gali puffed up. “That’s confidential.”
Jimmy raised an eyebrow, making Gali giggle. “Actually, it’s just from Tanadin to see if Geek could help with the tunnel at all. They’re mostly limited on how quickly they can get supports set up. Then I gotta find Scott and tell him to recruit the fishermen to keep getting us food. Hawk’s mobilizing the orchard workers to keep going, too.”
“Darn it. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to work anymore.” Jimmy told her, pretending to be upset.
Gali laughed and led the way down the street, breaking into a run with Jimmy not far behind.
“Wait up! You know you’re faster than me, you butt!”
“Can’t catch me, can’t catch m- oof!”
Gali almost fell flat on her back as she ran directly into Nine, who raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay?” He extended a hand to help her up. Gali took it and grinned sheepishly.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just racing Jimmy to go find Geek. Do you know where she is?”
Nine shivered. “You might want to find Geek later.”
Jimmy frowned. “Why?”
Nine shook his head. “Just...trust me.”
“...Okay. Time to find Scott, then!” Gali grabbed Jimmy’s hand and raced off down the street again, the Doravian scrambling to keep up behind her. Gali practically dragged her to the lake, skidding to a stop as she saw someone helping Scott out of the water.
“We just can’t leave you alone for a minute, can we?” Cap demanded. “Not a minute!”
“Did you fall in the lake again, Scooter?” Jimmy asked as she approached.
“No.” Scott frowned unhappily. “Fucking Chester’s girlfriend threw me in. How anyone cared about that trashcan for a human, I’ll never know.”
Cap crossed her arms. “Do you need a babysitter? When left alone you get yourself arrested and thrown in lakes.”
“That was one time each!”
“And attacked by cyborgs who are tired of your nonsense.”
“Babysitter.” Gali agreed. “By the way, Tanadin says to organize the fishermen so we can have food.”
“I’ll do that once I’ve got a towel! I’m glad I didn’t take Clash with me.”
“He’d be a very soggy phoenix.” Jimmy noted.
“And also dead. Phoenixes and water don’t mix.” Cap turned around and strolled away.
Scott crossed his arms. “Downer.” He turned to Jimmy. “Well, you heard the cheaty wonder. It’s fishing time.”
~~~
Nine paused on his way into the Black Market at the sound of giggling. He stepped forward to get a better look at what was going on and had to resist laughter as well.
Tanadin and Mars were both sitting on the ground, looking up at a table where a very young phoenix was perched, peeping unhappily.
“Come on, Clash! You can’t just sit around forever. You’ll grow faster if you do things.” Mars insisted. “Jump into the nest!”
“Peep!”
“I promise you won’t hurt yourself.” Tanadin patted the red-black cloth reassuringly. What it was, Nine had no idea. “If you miss, we’ll catch you.”
“Caw!”
“Clash, c’mon.”
“Peep.” Clash looked away.
Tanadin and Mars exchanged glances. “Clash, it’s like...three feet. You’ll be okay even if you hit the floor. You’re a phoenix.”
“Peep.”
“Clash, please.”
Clash’s talons clicked against the edge of the table and he peeped unhappily again.
“What are you guys doing?” Nine asked, walking forward.
“Trying to make Clash do things. Once he can fly we won’t have to watch him all the time because he’ll be more mobile.” Tanadin told him, not looking away from the young phoenix. “And to get ready for flight you have to jump into the nest.”
Clash shook his head and stepped back from the edge. Tanadin sighed. “Where’s Scott where you need him?”
“Gali was going to go find him last I checked.”
“What about Geek?”
“I...told her to see her later.”
Tanadin nodded. “I...see.”
“Unfortunately, so did I.”
Mars and Tanadin both turned around at that, Mars bursting into hysterical laughter. Tanadin had the tact to look horrified for a moment before laughing as well. “Poor Nine! You need to learn to knock.”
“I’ve learned, thanks! I’ve learned that the really hard way!”
Mars laughed harder. “That was maybe not the best word to use.”
“Wh- oh, dammit.” Nine crossed his arms. “It’s not funny! I’m scarred for life!”
“It is funny.” Tanadin giggled. “I mean, I feel bad for you and all, but…”
Nine jumped a bit as Clash suddenly bounced forward and jumped off the table, landing safely in the nest. The three applauded him, to which he peeped happily in response. He yawned and snuggled in against the cloth, shutting his eyes.
Tanadin carefully picked up the nest and set it down on one of the other tables before sitting down in a chair. Mars and Nine joined her. “By the way, Nine, I’ve been meaning to ask about the trenchcoats. Why do all of the seven thousand units seem to have them?”
“Oh! They’re armored.”
“They’re…” Tanadin blinked. “Armored?”
“Yes. It’s very effective. Our main defense is our ability to avoid being hit, but when it’s unavoidable, the armor’s nice.” Nine grinned at her. “Ever tried one of these on?”
“No.”
“It’s probably kinda heavy for you.” Nine shrugged it off, revealing the black clothes underneath. He handed it to Tanadin, who looked surprised at its weight, before handing it off to Mars.
“Wow.” Mars handed it back and Nine slipped it back on.
“All seven thousand units have one, just like we all have at least one robotic eye and arm. The arm is necessary to work some equipment, although I have no idea what falls into that category. Seven might know. He’s a weird guy but his brain isn’t as fuzzy as mine.”
“It’s less human.”
“True.” Nine drummed his fingers on the table. “True.”
~~~
It was near midnight when Kyir sat down on his bed. He scooted back to lean against the wall, sighing quietly.
He hadn’t slept in a long time. He tried to tally how long it had been- had it really been before the three thousand units showed up?- but his head spun. He sighed and shut his eyes for a moment, taking in what had occurred in the last couple of days and failing. He had been so, so busy, with fixing the turrets at the train tunnel, making Tac’s hands, fixing Nine, handing out weapons, fixing the jeep, and starting to look at the high-powered turret that was set to destroy anything trying to fly into the sector. He hadn’t managed to fix it before he almost stabbed himself with a screwdriver, at which point Seven told him to go home and get some sleep before he got himself killed.
Says the guy who almost never sleeps. Kyir wondered if he ever had since being turned into a cyborg, but dismissed the thought. He had to have, right? The human half of his brain needed sleep to function properly. Right?
He opened his eyes. He wasn’t exactly a sleep expert, oftentimes skipping it, himself. He briefly entertained the idea of changing into pajamas before deciding that he was too tired to get up again. He took off his shades and set them on the table before snuggling under the blankets and falling asleep the moment his eyes closed.
~~~
Fan carefully opened the door to Kyir’s room and stepped inside, intending to apologize for barging into his room the previous day. Clearly the best way to do that was to barge into his room right now and wake him up. Obviously.
She might have been drunk.
Fan cleared her throat quietly and tapped Kyir’s shoulder. “Kyir, I-”
Kyir’s eyes snapped open as he sat up, seizing her wrist and baring his teeth. She froze, completely locked on his eyes.
His eyes.
Kyir’s right, unscarred eye was bright icy blue. Its gaze was piercing and reminded Fan of the edge of a sword- sharp and uncaring. His left eye, the one with the scar across it, was quite different. Where the scar ran across the eye, it was an angry bloodred color that had bled into the rest of his iris. His dual-colored gaze was furious and Fan had only seconds before lightning sparked from his eyes and raced down his arm and into her body, making her screech in pain.
“GET OUT OF MY ROOM!” He shoved her away and jumped to his feet, putting his shades back on. He stepped forward and pushed her again, into a wall. “WHAT PART OF “GET THE FUCK OUT” DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND?!” Another shock ran through Fan’s system, enough to jumpstart her hazy mind into bolting from the room.
Kyir growled in fury and slammed the door, remembering to lock it this time, before falling facefirst down on his bed and screaming into his pillow.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-06 11:51 pm (UTC)like all I did was make fun of her dead boyfriend who died like, 2 days ago, maybe.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-07 04:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-07 04:04 pm (UTC)jk I never fail, your point is just wrong sweaty (:
no subject
Date: 2016-05-07 08:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-09 11:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-09 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-07 06:32 am (UTC)Scott, don't get thrown into lakes. It's not a good survival technique. I like this comment by Cap: "Do you need a babysitter? When left alone you get yourself arrested and thrown in lakes.” because it's true. We've seen how true that is. Sorry, Scott. xD
-the lurkiest lurker
no subject
Date: 2016-05-07 11:11 am (UTC)Sheva's her favorite. Sheva doesn't argue about light fixtures at two in the morning, keeping Cap from sleeping. Mentor and Atar, however, are assholes.
This is Cap
Date: 2016-05-07 09:43 pm (UTC)Re: This is Cap
Date: 2016-05-07 09:46 pm (UTC)BUT IF YOU HAVE TIME YOU SHOULD TOTALLY LOG ON I LIKE TALKING TO YOU XD
HOW DO YOU ENJOY READING YOURSELF WITH +6 SALT
Re: This is Cap
Date: 2016-05-07 11:51 pm (UTC)It's great. I imagine I probably would be a lot saltier if I had two ghosts nagging at me, friends to make sure weren't dead, and supernatural abilities I'm trying to hide.
Re: This is Cap
Date: 2016-05-08 01:05 am (UTC)Re: This is Cap
Date: 2016-05-09 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-07 11:24 pm (UTC)XD Nine walked in on Geek and Vel'kex 'catching up' didn't he?
“What about Geek?”
“I...told her to see her later.”
Tanadin nodded. “I...see.”
“Unfortunately, so did I.”
Mars and Tanadin both turned around at that, Mars bursting into hysterical laughter. Tanadin had the tact to look horrified for a moment before laughing as well. “Poor Nine! You need to learn to knock.”
“I’ve learned, thanks! I’ve learned that the really hard way!”
LOL Nine DEFINITELY walked in on Geek and Vel'kex XD
Also things Fan has definitely learnt, DON'T disturb a sleeping Kyir and DON'T enter his room >_
no subject
Date: 2016-05-08 06:30 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
no subject
Date: 2016-05-09 11:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-09 03:53 pm (UTC)sadie here
Date: 2016-05-09 11:29 am (UTC)Re: sadie here
Date: 2016-05-09 11:50 am (UTC)Re: sadie here
Date: 2016-05-09 03:54 pm (UTC)