Skinwalker, Part 1
December 2024
When SHIELD takes an interest, you know things won't be as simple as they seem on the surface
(Yes, I did change the date.... things are a little anachronic because I suck. And I'm trying to post *something* rather than nothing)
----------------
Kotono tried to find something to occupy her mind as she waited. It'd taken her half a day to travel in to Kandor, rushing in her own Bolitho after she received a message telling her that all her qualifications and licensing were due for renewal.
And now they made her wait.
It was already an hour past her scheduled appointment time. They didn't even have the decency to supply any interesting reading material. On the table in front of her were a few year-old gossip magazines, a few outdated copies of the JLI's own monthly publication along with well-thumbed fliers offering a variety of training courses. Someone was offering corrective surgery for Liefeldians.
The worst part... the part that really raised her hackles... she'd seen at least a dozen people arrive after her, and they'd been ushered straight through. Her ticket was Number 7. They'd skipped her to go to 8, then on up to 22.
Only she remained, alone in the waiting room. Not even League's spartan decor offered relief from the monotony of waiting. Had they forgotten about her? Had she missed the call?
She fought the urge to pace around the waiting room, fidgeting on the hard plastic chair. She adjusted her white jacket, tugging at the lapels until they sat right. Getting dressed in the back of a Bolitho was an artform she'd long mastered.
She checked her watch, nothing that less than five minutes of eternity had passed since the last time she checked. She checked her communicator - still nothing. She re-read the pamphlet offering a training course in advanced driving, then the one about costume design, followed finally by a third one about aerial soaring with glider pack. Her reading complete, she checked her watch one more time, to find that exactly four minutes had gone by.
She sighed, deciding which of the three pamphlets to read again for a third time. Or did she care to read a Following the Curve article from two years beforehand.
She was aware of the automatic door swishing open at the other end of the room. She looked up to see a man step through, dressed in an average, common-or-garden dark suit jacket w that seemed purpose-made to bulk out his thine frame. His face was lean, his dark hair tight to his scalp. His eyes stared out through square thick-lens glasses.
Kotono wrote him off as a bit of a creep, deciding he was beneath her interest. She made a point of deliberately ignoring him as he crossed the room towards her, hoping he'd get the message and leave her well enough.
He took the seat beside her. Of all the empty seats in the room, he had to take the one beside her. The man removed a thick, hardbound book from under his jacket and set it on his lap.
She glanced at it.
Birds of the West Indies.
A lump rose up the back of the throat when she saw the author's name embossed below the title. Somehow, she doubted there were many ornithologists on the moon, or that they would chose to be so public with that particular book, by that particular author.
The skin on the back of her neck began to bristle.
"So," the man began. His voice was calm - almost soft. "I was wondering if you could help me with a little something I need done. Would you know anyone interested in a job?"
He didn't look at her. His gaze never left the far wall.
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Kotono.
It was a lie. She mastered herself quickly, falling back on her tai-chi experience to keep calm,
"I know you're smarter than that. I know you saw the book's author for a start. So you can guess who I am."
There was a smile in his voice. There wasn't one on his face.
"I run an aerobics gym on Frigga. And I'm the physiotherapist for Survival shot. I'm here because my qualifications came up for renewal. That's all"
She kept her tone firm. She knew she wanted nothing to do with him.
" I know about that," he said.
A flash of anger bolted through her mind as the pieces of the puzzle finally came together.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"We don't kid," he responded, his voice chilling. "We were going to give it the Due Null treatment. But I think there're four ladies who might like to take care of it. Especially after what happened to your Sammie friend," he sighed, "Nasty business that."
Kotono glared at him, trying to get a read on him inspite of the anger simmering in the back of her mind. He wore a professional's poker face. She was looking for an excuse to hit him a slap across the face.
"How do you know?"
"That would be telling"
"What do you want?" she ventured, coolly.
"All we ask," he said, his voice warming slightly as he offered the hardbound book to her."Is that you turn the target over to us alive and sound, and that you're seen in action. You can tell your employer we'll pay double her usual rates if she'll take payment on delivery. Full details in the book."
Kotono seized on her way out, brushing the book away with her hand.
"You should get in touch with her in person. I can't take this."
"I'd prefer to talk to you."
Polite, but firm. There was no room for disagreement. He still held the book towards her. His eyes still stared. She began to wonder if he wasn't just a puppet for an AI somewhere...
Kotono sighed, taking hold of it in her right hand. "I'll pass it on. But I can't guarantee anything."
She slipped it into her handbag.
"Grand," said the man. His face was still set in stone. "Now, there's just one other matter."
She swallowed "What?"
You and your soldier girls earned a few fans amongst us, I'm pleased to say. How would you like to move back here, to Kandor City?"
"Am..." her mouth goldfished for a moment as he brain struggled to catch up. "Not right now thanks." It just burst through her lips.
The man nodded in acceptance. "Some time in the future, of course."
'Maybe..." She felt herself start to quiver inside. Excitement or nerves, she wasn't sure. She was only just beginning to grasp what'd been offered
He stood up, taking a moment to straighten his dark suit jacket before offering her a strange sort of salute, his finger touched to his thumb, covering his eye like a lens. "Be seeing you."
She swallowed her words as she watched him leave, her whole body fixed rigid and taught. She didn't relax until she saw the door close automatically behind him, locking him out of her life for what she hoped was a very like time.
Certain he was gone, she slumped back into the chair, letting out a long, tired breath she hadn't even realised she was holding. The book still weighed heavy in her handbag, and she wasn't sure whether she was grateful to have survived her little meeting, or terrified of the implications of it.
An electronic chime rang out from a speaker built into the suspended tile ceiling.
"7, Number 7... " it called out.
Now they called her up to renew.... it really had been set up.
-------
The scent of perfume and hot coffee filled the Silky Doll. It wafted around the replica penthouse, mingling with the artificial sounds of a city beyond the windows. Kotono'd taken her favourite chair - a plush armchair that embraced her warmly while she tried her best not to loose herself in the holographic city beyond. Anika got between everyone and the sweets, Daryl had turned one of the plastic chairs backwards, straddling it while she supported herself with her crossed arms on the chair-back
Jet, was in her usual position, giving the briefing through a wireless micro-projector. Kotono didn't really need to pay attention to it, preferring to lose herself in the view instead
It was a beautiful fake, twinkling in eternal light. A gilded ziggurat of a towered over a tinsel city. Traffic pulsed in glowing veins through a living, breathing city. Shadows of people flowed through the streets below. Blue lights strobed in the distance, the wail of a police siren rising over the noise of the traffic. Airliners drifted through the sky trailing contrails across the surface a clean, spark-less moon. Neon grime painted whole streets receding into the mountains from her.
MegaTokyo; all of it procedurally generated by a computer tied into a projector hidden just out of view. And impossible to feel like she couldn’t just step out the window and fall into it.
"I kind of assumed that SHIELD found out about us shortly after A.C. did, " said Jet, drawing Kotono back out of her fantasy. "But if they're being this upfront about it."
Being a real Knight Saber, seemed so much simpler than being a part of someone's facsimile. Kill the boomers, stop the corrupt corporate executive, then get cancelled halfway through.
"Yeah, but why us?" Anika asked, looking around the room for answers "Why not the Double-Oh's. I mean, that's why the have them?"
"They're protecting an agent, and using us as the cover story," Daryl cut in, he voice betraying the anger simmering behind her face. "They don't want something deniable - they want something that obviously wasn't them. Because if there's one thing the Knight Sabers aren't, it's fucking SHIELD."
"That might be it," said Jet " But probably not all of it."
"Doesn't matter, does it? If she's the one then lets get her." Daryl's polymer skin creaked as she clenched her hand into a tight fist.
"Not if they want us to be a scapegoat for something." Jet glanced at Daryl, before allowing her own attention to slip into the back of her own mind, into the depths of the briefing. "They want her handed over to us, publicly - like we hired the Knight Sabers to grab her. Then we turn her in."
A finger tapped on her chest, emphasising the we.
"Shit…" Daryl breathed. "They're using me…"
Behind her eyes, she was visibly seething, her body straining to keep the fury locked up inside. Anika filled her mouth with cake to keep from saying something stupid.
It seemed simple enough. Daryl finds out who spiked her body shampoo. Hires the Knight Sabers to grab them, then turn them over to the Space Patrol. Along with the added benefit of some time alone in quiet space ship for someone to fall down some stairs a few times.
The Patrol get someone to interrogate, while SHIELD's agent who dropped them into it remains hidden
Simple.
Suspicious.
Kotono had to speak up.
"They offered me a job," she said in a small voice, bracing herself for the response. All eyes snapped on her. Guilt sickened her. "I mean, I think they insinuated that they wanted me to join. Maybe they want all of us."
It hung in the air, all four women exchanging uneasy glances. After long moments - and swallowing a buttered scone - it was Anika who broke the silence
"Not a chance in hell!"
--------
Kotono's manoeuvre gear rattled tinnily as she clambered the ladder to the top of the high gantry crane. Below her the mechanics from the mine hurried to evacuate the bay. She was keenly aware that falling off was certain death, but that was part of the excitement.
Stardancing was just that little bit too safe.
Buzzed with adrenaline by the time she reached the gantry top, she took a moment to check her gas bottles and magnetic pitons, making sure the equipment her life depended on was dependable. All was well and she smiled at that.
It'd do some good to get her mind off of SHIELD in the time before the KnightWing was launched. She checked her gas-brakes and cable reels. She tightened the straps on her harness, and made certain the replica leather jacket wasn't getting caught on anything.
All was well.
It was as safe as it was ever going to get. She looked up, and saw the dark figure of a woman leaning against the railing. Kotono recognised the ghost-white hair immediately, even as the woman began to climb up onto the railing.
Kotono watched as she steadied herself
"Daryl!"
The woman on the railing paused. Kotono was already running, her maneuver gear clattering and battering off itself an her hips. Leather straps and buckles tugged at her thighs.
"Stop! Wait! Don't jump!"
Her voice echoed off the metal walls of the landing bey Daryl turned to face her, slipped, reached for the gantry rail in one desperate attempt to keep herself on her feet before falling backwards onto the steel floor with a thump.
Kotono sprinted, pushing herself as hard as she could, her feet hammering on the checkerplate steel as Daryl began to pick herself up, rubbing at a sore spot on her back with one hand as she pulled herself to her feet with the other.
"Don't! Jump!" Kotono pleaded, skidding to a halt beside her. She stopped so fast she felt herself topple forward, steadying herself on the rail, fighting to catch her breath. "It's not worth… it."
Daryl stood there, blinking owlishly at her, struggling to look offended.
"I'm not trying to kill myself. What makes you even think I'd…." she stopped mid-sentence as her mind began to realise "I just…. I just wanted to test something out."
"But….the mission….." Kotono gasped, already regretting pushing herself as hard as she did. "Your biomod?"
Daryl looked out over the railing at the landing bay beyond.
"I've…." She clenched her fist tight, swallowing a tense lump. "I've accepted it."
"You don't sound…"
"Just because I've accepted it, doesn't mean I can't be angry about it." Her voice stretched taught, betraying the true depth of her anger. "I want to see that bitch before an arbitrator. I want her in Azkhaban. And I want my medical bills paid."
Kotono tried to read her, gauging her true feelings. For all her blunt simplicity at time, Daryl could be a hard person to read deeply.
"I'm alright Kotono, really. It's just…." an faint blush of embarrassment began to heat her cheeks as she clasped her hands together. "I got a little curious…"
"Curious?"
And so was Kotono now. Her mind immediately found its way into the gutter as her gaze
Daryl drew in a deep breath "Bashir told me the suit was being powered by my body's own sugars," She tapped herself on the chest,"….and some complicated biobabble stuff, but the original batteries were empty. So I decided to see what happened when I actually charged the power cells."
"What'd you do to yourself?"
Daryl held up her wrist, showing the suit's charge indicator glowing green.
"The suit has a gravity brake built in," and mischievous grin spreading across her lips. An impish spark lit up inside her red eyes. "I thought I'd try it out."
Kotono peered over the edge, and the landing bay floor far below. "Over the gantry?"
Daryl whistled while mimicking the fall with her finger, before taking a firm grasp of the railing with both hands.
Then vaulted herself over into free-space, howling "GERONIMO!" as she fell.
Kotono watched, stunned, with her heart in her mouth as the other woman dropped towards a very hard steel floor, tumbling in the air once before landing on both feet like a gymnast performing a dismount.
Kotono herself followed a moment later, firing both pitons into the ceiling above, allowing the howling gas-brakes on her manoeuvre gear to slow her descent down to an easy landing on her good leg. A tweak of the triggers retracted the cables with a steady whine.
Daryl was visibly fizzing as she paced under the gantry, throwing glances up at it before looking at her wrists. Kotono could see her breathing rapidly, either from the thrill, or something else.
The smile on her face was obvious.
"So, I guess you're cancelling the surgery then?"j ibed Kotono, placing both her hands on her hip-mounted gas canisters.
"No," Daryl shook her head, before turning her red-eyed gaze to her. Blood-coloured eyes made Kotono's stomach tense. " I don't think I could live my entire life like this. Not with the bodysuit anyway. I really don't " She placed a hand on her hip, drawing a finger lightly up over a seam on the suit. "For one thing, I'd like to be able to have a normal relationship… without the additional turtle wax."
The edges of her lips curled up. Their employer's unusual…requirements being well known. The pair shared a childish giggle, Kotono covering her mouth
"Does the great Daryl Haur, enemy of men, dare to fail the Bechtel test in public?" she teased, leaning in towards Dary's face - close enough to taste the curry she'd eaten for dinner on her breath.
Daryl shoved her away with an open palm. "Just because I don't squeal on about men like a parody of teenaged girl, doesn't mean I can't appreciate them. It's just…." Daryl took a moment to master herself. "You know why It's hard for me."
"I'm sorry," said Kotono.
"S'alright," sighed Daryl. It's been years. I'm over it now." She took a breath, adjusting her harness. "So what's this between you and SHIELD?"
Kotono felt herself turned cold immediately, all the playful energy leaving her body.
"They've taken an interest in me," she answered sourly. "Like the Borg take an interest in the Enterprise."
That's what it felt like. They could be relentless.
"You interested in them?" Darly asked, keeping her tone unthreatening and matter-of-fact.
"No!" Kotono shrieked back at her, a flash of anger heating her face. "Okay, so I've got a JLI license, but that's just a certification as a fitness instructor and medic, not a combat agent or wannabe cape or anything like that. It was just the best professional qualification in space." Daryl seemed to be thinking, giving a Kotono a chance to breath a nervous sigh while being painfully aware just how treasonous she sounded, before fidgeting uneasily with her gas canisters for a moment. "I don't want to be a SHIELD agent. I like what we do here."
Daryl gave her a sidelong glance. "Not the wrong answer."
Their wristwatches interrupted with an electric chime, a four character message flashing up in green multi-segment LED's.
Daryl glanced at it and frowned. "Speaking of what we do here."
Kotono checked hers, before closing her eyes. "At least we're getting paid."
--------
>.>
All my friends have left the country. Now my family are going.... and now I'm the last one posting fiction ;P Why am I always the last? Is it something I do that drives 'em away?
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
December 2024
When SHIELD takes an interest, you know things won't be as simple as they seem on the surface
(Yes, I did change the date.... things are a little anachronic because I suck. And I'm trying to post *something* rather than nothing)
----------------
Kotono tried to find something to occupy her mind as she waited. It'd taken her half a day to travel in to Kandor, rushing in her own Bolitho after she received a message telling her that all her qualifications and licensing were due for renewal.
And now they made her wait.
It was already an hour past her scheduled appointment time. They didn't even have the decency to supply any interesting reading material. On the table in front of her were a few year-old gossip magazines, a few outdated copies of the JLI's own monthly publication along with well-thumbed fliers offering a variety of training courses. Someone was offering corrective surgery for Liefeldians.
The worst part... the part that really raised her hackles... she'd seen at least a dozen people arrive after her, and they'd been ushered straight through. Her ticket was Number 7. They'd skipped her to go to 8, then on up to 22.
Only she remained, alone in the waiting room. Not even League's spartan decor offered relief from the monotony of waiting. Had they forgotten about her? Had she missed the call?
She fought the urge to pace around the waiting room, fidgeting on the hard plastic chair. She adjusted her white jacket, tugging at the lapels until they sat right. Getting dressed in the back of a Bolitho was an artform she'd long mastered.
She checked her watch, nothing that less than five minutes of eternity had passed since the last time she checked. She checked her communicator - still nothing. She re-read the pamphlet offering a training course in advanced driving, then the one about costume design, followed finally by a third one about aerial soaring with glider pack. Her reading complete, she checked her watch one more time, to find that exactly four minutes had gone by.
She sighed, deciding which of the three pamphlets to read again for a third time. Or did she care to read a Following the Curve article from two years beforehand.
She was aware of the automatic door swishing open at the other end of the room. She looked up to see a man step through, dressed in an average, common-or-garden dark suit jacket w that seemed purpose-made to bulk out his thine frame. His face was lean, his dark hair tight to his scalp. His eyes stared out through square thick-lens glasses.
Kotono wrote him off as a bit of a creep, deciding he was beneath her interest. She made a point of deliberately ignoring him as he crossed the room towards her, hoping he'd get the message and leave her well enough.
He took the seat beside her. Of all the empty seats in the room, he had to take the one beside her. The man removed a thick, hardbound book from under his jacket and set it on his lap.
She glanced at it.
Birds of the West Indies.
A lump rose up the back of the throat when she saw the author's name embossed below the title. Somehow, she doubted there were many ornithologists on the moon, or that they would chose to be so public with that particular book, by that particular author.
The skin on the back of her neck began to bristle.
"So," the man began. His voice was calm - almost soft. "I was wondering if you could help me with a little something I need done. Would you know anyone interested in a job?"
He didn't look at her. His gaze never left the far wall.
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Kotono.
It was a lie. She mastered herself quickly, falling back on her tai-chi experience to keep calm,
"I know you're smarter than that. I know you saw the book's author for a start. So you can guess who I am."
There was a smile in his voice. There wasn't one on his face.
"I run an aerobics gym on Frigga. And I'm the physiotherapist for Survival shot. I'm here because my qualifications came up for renewal. That's all"
She kept her tone firm. She knew she wanted nothing to do with him.
" I know about that," he said.
A flash of anger bolted through her mind as the pieces of the puzzle finally came together.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"We don't kid," he responded, his voice chilling. "We were going to give it the Due Null treatment. But I think there're four ladies who might like to take care of it. Especially after what happened to your Sammie friend," he sighed, "Nasty business that."
Kotono glared at him, trying to get a read on him inspite of the anger simmering in the back of her mind. He wore a professional's poker face. She was looking for an excuse to hit him a slap across the face.
"How do you know?"
"That would be telling"
"What do you want?" she ventured, coolly.
"All we ask," he said, his voice warming slightly as he offered the hardbound book to her."Is that you turn the target over to us alive and sound, and that you're seen in action. You can tell your employer we'll pay double her usual rates if she'll take payment on delivery. Full details in the book."
Kotono seized on her way out, brushing the book away with her hand.
"You should get in touch with her in person. I can't take this."
"I'd prefer to talk to you."
Polite, but firm. There was no room for disagreement. He still held the book towards her. His eyes still stared. She began to wonder if he wasn't just a puppet for an AI somewhere...
Kotono sighed, taking hold of it in her right hand. "I'll pass it on. But I can't guarantee anything."
She slipped it into her handbag.
"Grand," said the man. His face was still set in stone. "Now, there's just one other matter."
She swallowed "What?"
You and your soldier girls earned a few fans amongst us, I'm pleased to say. How would you like to move back here, to Kandor City?"
"Am..." her mouth goldfished for a moment as he brain struggled to catch up. "Not right now thanks." It just burst through her lips.
The man nodded in acceptance. "Some time in the future, of course."
'Maybe..." She felt herself start to quiver inside. Excitement or nerves, she wasn't sure. She was only just beginning to grasp what'd been offered
He stood up, taking a moment to straighten his dark suit jacket before offering her a strange sort of salute, his finger touched to his thumb, covering his eye like a lens. "Be seeing you."
She swallowed her words as she watched him leave, her whole body fixed rigid and taught. She didn't relax until she saw the door close automatically behind him, locking him out of her life for what she hoped was a very like time.
Certain he was gone, she slumped back into the chair, letting out a long, tired breath she hadn't even realised she was holding. The book still weighed heavy in her handbag, and she wasn't sure whether she was grateful to have survived her little meeting, or terrified of the implications of it.
An electronic chime rang out from a speaker built into the suspended tile ceiling.
"7, Number 7... " it called out.
Now they called her up to renew.... it really had been set up.
-------
The scent of perfume and hot coffee filled the Silky Doll. It wafted around the replica penthouse, mingling with the artificial sounds of a city beyond the windows. Kotono'd taken her favourite chair - a plush armchair that embraced her warmly while she tried her best not to loose herself in the holographic city beyond. Anika got between everyone and the sweets, Daryl had turned one of the plastic chairs backwards, straddling it while she supported herself with her crossed arms on the chair-back
Jet, was in her usual position, giving the briefing through a wireless micro-projector. Kotono didn't really need to pay attention to it, preferring to lose herself in the view instead
It was a beautiful fake, twinkling in eternal light. A gilded ziggurat of a towered over a tinsel city. Traffic pulsed in glowing veins through a living, breathing city. Shadows of people flowed through the streets below. Blue lights strobed in the distance, the wail of a police siren rising over the noise of the traffic. Airliners drifted through the sky trailing contrails across the surface a clean, spark-less moon. Neon grime painted whole streets receding into the mountains from her.
MegaTokyo; all of it procedurally generated by a computer tied into a projector hidden just out of view. And impossible to feel like she couldn’t just step out the window and fall into it.
"I kind of assumed that SHIELD found out about us shortly after A.C. did, " said Jet, drawing Kotono back out of her fantasy. "But if they're being this upfront about it."
Being a real Knight Saber, seemed so much simpler than being a part of someone's facsimile. Kill the boomers, stop the corrupt corporate executive, then get cancelled halfway through.
"Yeah, but why us?" Anika asked, looking around the room for answers "Why not the Double-Oh's. I mean, that's why the have them?"
"They're protecting an agent, and using us as the cover story," Daryl cut in, he voice betraying the anger simmering behind her face. "They don't want something deniable - they want something that obviously wasn't them. Because if there's one thing the Knight Sabers aren't, it's fucking SHIELD."
"That might be it," said Jet " But probably not all of it."
"Doesn't matter, does it? If she's the one then lets get her." Daryl's polymer skin creaked as she clenched her hand into a tight fist.
"Not if they want us to be a scapegoat for something." Jet glanced at Daryl, before allowing her own attention to slip into the back of her own mind, into the depths of the briefing. "They want her handed over to us, publicly - like we hired the Knight Sabers to grab her. Then we turn her in."
A finger tapped on her chest, emphasising the we.
"Shit…" Daryl breathed. "They're using me…"
Behind her eyes, she was visibly seething, her body straining to keep the fury locked up inside. Anika filled her mouth with cake to keep from saying something stupid.
It seemed simple enough. Daryl finds out who spiked her body shampoo. Hires the Knight Sabers to grab them, then turn them over to the Space Patrol. Along with the added benefit of some time alone in quiet space ship for someone to fall down some stairs a few times.
The Patrol get someone to interrogate, while SHIELD's agent who dropped them into it remains hidden
Simple.
Suspicious.
Kotono had to speak up.
"They offered me a job," she said in a small voice, bracing herself for the response. All eyes snapped on her. Guilt sickened her. "I mean, I think they insinuated that they wanted me to join. Maybe they want all of us."
It hung in the air, all four women exchanging uneasy glances. After long moments - and swallowing a buttered scone - it was Anika who broke the silence
"Not a chance in hell!"
--------
Kotono's manoeuvre gear rattled tinnily as she clambered the ladder to the top of the high gantry crane. Below her the mechanics from the mine hurried to evacuate the bay. She was keenly aware that falling off was certain death, but that was part of the excitement.
Stardancing was just that little bit too safe.
Buzzed with adrenaline by the time she reached the gantry top, she took a moment to check her gas bottles and magnetic pitons, making sure the equipment her life depended on was dependable. All was well and she smiled at that.
It'd do some good to get her mind off of SHIELD in the time before the KnightWing was launched. She checked her gas-brakes and cable reels. She tightened the straps on her harness, and made certain the replica leather jacket wasn't getting caught on anything.
All was well.
It was as safe as it was ever going to get. She looked up, and saw the dark figure of a woman leaning against the railing. Kotono recognised the ghost-white hair immediately, even as the woman began to climb up onto the railing.
Kotono watched as she steadied herself
"Daryl!"
The woman on the railing paused. Kotono was already running, her maneuver gear clattering and battering off itself an her hips. Leather straps and buckles tugged at her thighs.
"Stop! Wait! Don't jump!"
Her voice echoed off the metal walls of the landing bey Daryl turned to face her, slipped, reached for the gantry rail in one desperate attempt to keep herself on her feet before falling backwards onto the steel floor with a thump.
Kotono sprinted, pushing herself as hard as she could, her feet hammering on the checkerplate steel as Daryl began to pick herself up, rubbing at a sore spot on her back with one hand as she pulled herself to her feet with the other.
"Don't! Jump!" Kotono pleaded, skidding to a halt beside her. She stopped so fast she felt herself topple forward, steadying herself on the rail, fighting to catch her breath. "It's not worth… it."
Daryl stood there, blinking owlishly at her, struggling to look offended.
"I'm not trying to kill myself. What makes you even think I'd…." she stopped mid-sentence as her mind began to realise "I just…. I just wanted to test something out."
"But….the mission….." Kotono gasped, already regretting pushing herself as hard as she did. "Your biomod?"
Daryl looked out over the railing at the landing bay beyond.
"I've…." She clenched her fist tight, swallowing a tense lump. "I've accepted it."
"You don't sound…"
"Just because I've accepted it, doesn't mean I can't be angry about it." Her voice stretched taught, betraying the true depth of her anger. "I want to see that bitch before an arbitrator. I want her in Azkhaban. And I want my medical bills paid."
Kotono tried to read her, gauging her true feelings. For all her blunt simplicity at time, Daryl could be a hard person to read deeply.
"I'm alright Kotono, really. It's just…." an faint blush of embarrassment began to heat her cheeks as she clasped her hands together. "I got a little curious…"
"Curious?"
And so was Kotono now. Her mind immediately found its way into the gutter as her gaze
Daryl drew in a deep breath "Bashir told me the suit was being powered by my body's own sugars," She tapped herself on the chest,"….and some complicated biobabble stuff, but the original batteries were empty. So I decided to see what happened when I actually charged the power cells."
"What'd you do to yourself?"
Daryl held up her wrist, showing the suit's charge indicator glowing green.
"The suit has a gravity brake built in," and mischievous grin spreading across her lips. An impish spark lit up inside her red eyes. "I thought I'd try it out."
Kotono peered over the edge, and the landing bay floor far below. "Over the gantry?"
Daryl whistled while mimicking the fall with her finger, before taking a firm grasp of the railing with both hands.
Then vaulted herself over into free-space, howling "GERONIMO!" as she fell.
Kotono watched, stunned, with her heart in her mouth as the other woman dropped towards a very hard steel floor, tumbling in the air once before landing on both feet like a gymnast performing a dismount.
Kotono herself followed a moment later, firing both pitons into the ceiling above, allowing the howling gas-brakes on her manoeuvre gear to slow her descent down to an easy landing on her good leg. A tweak of the triggers retracted the cables with a steady whine.
Daryl was visibly fizzing as she paced under the gantry, throwing glances up at it before looking at her wrists. Kotono could see her breathing rapidly, either from the thrill, or something else.
The smile on her face was obvious.
"So, I guess you're cancelling the surgery then?"j ibed Kotono, placing both her hands on her hip-mounted gas canisters.
"No," Daryl shook her head, before turning her red-eyed gaze to her. Blood-coloured eyes made Kotono's stomach tense. " I don't think I could live my entire life like this. Not with the bodysuit anyway. I really don't " She placed a hand on her hip, drawing a finger lightly up over a seam on the suit. "For one thing, I'd like to be able to have a normal relationship… without the additional turtle wax."
The edges of her lips curled up. Their employer's unusual…requirements being well known. The pair shared a childish giggle, Kotono covering her mouth
"Does the great Daryl Haur, enemy of men, dare to fail the Bechtel test in public?" she teased, leaning in towards Dary's face - close enough to taste the curry she'd eaten for dinner on her breath.
Daryl shoved her away with an open palm. "Just because I don't squeal on about men like a parody of teenaged girl, doesn't mean I can't appreciate them. It's just…." Daryl took a moment to master herself. "You know why It's hard for me."
"I'm sorry," said Kotono.
"S'alright," sighed Daryl. It's been years. I'm over it now." She took a breath, adjusting her harness. "So what's this between you and SHIELD?"
Kotono felt herself turned cold immediately, all the playful energy leaving her body.
"They've taken an interest in me," she answered sourly. "Like the Borg take an interest in the Enterprise."
That's what it felt like. They could be relentless.
"You interested in them?" Darly asked, keeping her tone unthreatening and matter-of-fact.
"No!" Kotono shrieked back at her, a flash of anger heating her face. "Okay, so I've got a JLI license, but that's just a certification as a fitness instructor and medic, not a combat agent or wannabe cape or anything like that. It was just the best professional qualification in space." Daryl seemed to be thinking, giving a Kotono a chance to breath a nervous sigh while being painfully aware just how treasonous she sounded, before fidgeting uneasily with her gas canisters for a moment. "I don't want to be a SHIELD agent. I like what we do here."
Daryl gave her a sidelong glance. "Not the wrong answer."
Their wristwatches interrupted with an electric chime, a four character message flashing up in green multi-segment LED's.
Daryl glanced at it and frowned. "Speaking of what we do here."
Kotono checked hers, before closing her eyes. "At least we're getting paid."
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>.>
All my friends have left the country. Now my family are going.... and now I'm the last one posting fiction ;P Why am I always the last? Is it something I do that drives 'em away?
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?