Rouge of the Blades

A two part story, also, tomorrow i will post the weekly chapter of "YOU NEED A HERO", thanks!

The full moon shines in the clear night sky, as the wind blows furiously, but the hundreds of armored soldiers guarded the fortress built as a ancient Japanese castle, a perfect cut stone in the middle of a artificial lake. The men were silent, and heavy armed mechs painted in red scanned the area searching for intruders. Inside the castle, an old man watched over his scared master:

-Master, the defenses are in place. Now this fortress is inexpugnable, so please rest.

-Quiet you old fart! Damn… Why I accepted making part of that foolish plan? “attack from north while we move from south, then we will take the land of Ord”… idiots, all idiots, got themselves killed miles before reaching Kardis! Now that scum, Ord, put a bounty on my head…

-Master, there is no proof of that, and even if he did so, there is no guarantee the Blades would accept such task…  Also the regular troops and the mercenary we hired are now watching the perimeter.

-Silence you stupid goat! That arkharian viper, Mariz wouldn’t waste the opportunity… As long war is declared, the assassin guilds can kill nobles without fearing prosecution… she would take the job for free, just for the taste of my blood! If I knew those morons would get slay so easily I would never enter this enterprise!!! Damn… my only chance is to negotiate a truce with Ord and suspend the war state… then the assassin guilds won’t be able to touch a nobleman like myself… You! Why I have no news of my messenger??

-Master, we dispatch several diplomatic messengers, but none return. Ord’s troops don’t let anyone leave his feud…

-That fat bastard!! He wants to see me dead? Then take my land? I have no choice than draft the commoners and try a surprise attack. Even if they all die, I can cause damage enough to force peace talks…

Suddenly an alarm sounds.

-What is this? Is an attack? Go check it! Now!! And call some guards to my room!

The old man leaves in a hurry as the feudal lord thrown books and paper weights at his heels.

Then the sound of gunfire and explosions fill the air, as a battle starts outside the castle. Too afraid to leave the room alone, he grabs a elegant energy pistol and touch a large crystal ball that lay over his table. It project a hologram with images of several security spheres around the premises. Smoke, confusion, gunfire everywhere, shadow figures moving too fast to be tracked, but none inside the castle, yet. They all are gathered at the main gate, fools!

-Guards! Ardann! Come here now! Is time to leave! Bring a squadron!

He touch a hidden button, and a wall opens, revealing a vault, full of treasures, gold, jewels, a feast to eyes, which the feudal lord try to fit inside leather bags and travel trunks.

-Where are Ardann and my guards? I will punish that old fart for making me wait like that…

-Ardann is dead, like the guards on this floor.

The voice, feminine, strong, cold but with a little drop of spite came from behind him, and he recognized it instantly.

-M… Mariz! It…it’s you!

He stuttered as his shivering hand slid discreetly to the pistol grip.

-Mariz, my dear… Please, don’t do anything rash, see all this gold? I’m sure I can outbid anything Orb offered you for my head… Let’s talk…

Quick as a snake he took his pistol and shot at the shadows, but she wasn’t there anymore.

-Don’t call me “dear”.

Her fist, wrapped on solid leather hit his jaw, as her feet kicked the pistol away, without effort.

-And above all, don’t forget: You don’t own me. Not anymore.

Her big green eyes shined like jade, filled with hatred.

- Ahh! Please Mariz! Forgive me for what I did before, I was just a boy!!! Look, now I am serious, take everything, as an apology! Just… don’t kill me!

Her cold face didn’t warned him about the kick she gave in his guts, and his cries didn’t made her stop kicking him after his fall.

-I remember. You had fifteen. I had eight, my sisters had six and four. You remember them? Alirah and Tabatha? And our mother, Neptunia? I bet you do.

He tried to crawl away like a maggot, just to be hit on his lower back. A snapping sound and a terrible pain were followed by the numbness of his legs.

-My mother wasn’t your doing… Your father killed her. I remember him, grabbing her neck, after the guards finished beating her, like she was some kind of broken toy.

-Sorry! Please let me go!!! It’s not my fault!

A soft “click” was the only indicator that she pulled the trigger of the energy pistol, hitting his hand, which burst in flames like paper in a furnace. His left hand had disappeared, leaving nothing below his elbow.

- I will never forget, me and my sisters, we watched it all. But it wasn’t over yet. He slowly stabbed her, just bellow the ribs, and waited her die in his hands, before throwing her dead body at our feet. You looked impressed.

-It was my father fault, everything! He was a sick man! I hated him too!!! Believe me when I say I tried to help!

She kick the back of his head, and he hit the floor with his teeth, that brake soaking him with blood.

-Shut up. Help us? Like when your father asked if he should “give something to the dogs to play”? Oh I remember well that you smiled like a devil and said that the dogs would love to play with… Tabatha.

She kicked him again, several times, until he was covered in wounds. He cried and beg, but she wouldn’t stop.

-She was only four, and you feed her to war dogs, laughed as she cried and screamed, while your beasts ripped her to shreds! It was you way to help us?!

-… Please!!!

-But it didn’t end. No, as your father leaved, drunk, to his prostitutes and little boys, you challenged your brother, Despain, to some night shooting practice.

-I was drunk! I didn’t want to! I swear!!!

She punched until he stop moving and laid still on the floor, crying.

-You were drunk… But still had a gun and two girls. Alirah wasn’t your type, I recall you saying she was thin as a stick, not the type of girl to take as a prize.

-Please…

He cried as she took her sword of the sheath.

-You were pretty good with a rifle, better than Despain. I remember that killing that inbreed pig was like crushing a maggot. A maggot like you. If I recall you won that night, first hit her in the leg, let her crawling in the mood and finally burst her head with a beam of energy. You let her body there, to rot in the middle of nowhere. For the next two years you told that tale to everyone, how you won a little slut in a bet against your brother. You would always say “she screamed like a hog, so annoying, that I decided to blow her head of”. Two years in your hands, chained, tortured, raped, humiliated in everyway possible way, as you would mock me over the death of my family, and how easy was to take this land from my father.

-You…You want the land back? I give it to you! Right now! Take it please!!!

-I want to see you dead, like the rest of your wretched family. I killed every single one of them, now only you are left.

-You, you WHORE! YOU CAN’T KILL ME, I AM A NOBLE MAN!!! I AM THE LORD OF THIS LAND!! YOU CAN’T KILL ME!

-Oh, true. Noblemen can only be killed during war time, accordingly to the war rules. Was difficult to be the first to get the war-time jobs I needed to kill your family. I had to sleep with many filthy men, kill some good people, pay off important politicians, and above all, lie to many, many nobles. Oh was so hard to plant false information good enough to make you and your allies attack Ord. But I could always count on your greed, isn’t true?

-You...You set me up! You started a war so you could kill me!!

-I started nothing. I am one of the Blades. We just finish things. Things and people.

Her sword cut his head of swiftly, and his two last beats gushed blood over the once precious treasure. Everything on that room disgust her. How many times she tried to kill him, to kill herself, just to fail and to be tortured even more horribly.

 If she wasn’t left behind in the battle field during one of the many failed military attacks of the Drepain… Only the gods knew what would be of her. She armed incendiary charges inside the vault and in the damned bed, pick his head and wrapped it on a thermo blanket to preserve it and leaved. On the door of the master bedroom, the Blades mark: A long dark steel dagger. That part of her life was finally over, she finished her businesses there.

Without looking back, she disappeared in the shadows, not Mariz, not anymore. Now she was finally one of them. Her name, Rouge of the Blades.

She managed to leave the castle without be seen or heard. Like a ghost, she avoided the confuse soldiers, and planted discrete energy bombs. As she entered the cold waters, s the pressed a small button on her discrete wrist-computer, and the entire castle was engulfed in a huge ball of fire. The men outside the castle panic, mercenary, knights, samurai, professional soldiers, they all started to run around like insects. Some would fall to friendly fire, others would be killed by a sniper from the Blades, one of her team mates.

One hour later they were reunited, hidden in the dense woods, close to the border between Ord’s and Drepain’s feuds. They were in five, and one of them, older and with red cybernetic eyes talked first:

-Give me your reports, first you, Stonehands.

A muscular man, bald and in his twenties smiled, he have a ordinary face, and could pass easily as a commoner.

-Yesh! Mister Wireblade! My assignment was to track down and kill a rich weapon trader called Mori Gaspent, Drepain supplier, destroy the guns and ammunitions he would supply to Drepain forces, and plant virtual evidences that he was murdered by his younger brother, Adrani. The mission was a success! I caught him with his favorite prostitute, no guards. Killed both – The man make a movement with his hands, like he was snapping a stick –Too bad about the girl. The weapons were a far cleaner job, made it explode in the river harbor, investigations will show that a malfunction on the fuel lines of the barge made the entire thing explode! Was beautiful!

-Good. Next, you Lionant.

A man with a face covered with scars bow down respectfully and spoke in a cold tone:

-Sir. My mission was to sabotage the West Gate bridge, destroying both, the bridge and a convoy with supplies and reinforcements. The bridge is no more. I used a patrol boat as a Trojan horse, filled with directional charges. When they figured something was wrong, was already too late. The bridge and anything in a two hundred meter radius was destroyed, and all reinforcements killed.

-Very good. Now you two, Crowfeather and Rouge, spoke.

Rouge had a calm look, but the young Crowfeather, a energetic girl tall as her sniper rifle, took the lead and narrated the attack to the castle:

-Was a piece of cake! Was a show, I killed 85 foot soldiers, 41 mercenaries, 9 knights and even took down four mechs, and Rouge made her part while I distracted them! Show them what you got, Rouge!

Crowfeather’s hazel eyes shinned, but Rouge was at best, bored. She unwrapped the feudal lord’s head and offered it to the leader.

-The last… The only one in the Drepain bloodline. Now all his samurai are ronin, his knights are homeless and his land vacant. This war is practically over.

-Excellent. Tonight the blades did well. In two of three jobs, our mark was left, so they will know our strength. Now we split again. Crowfeather, you will come with me to the frontline, where we will meet Ord’s generals. Stonehands, Lionant, in this self destructive letters you will find each one a new mission. Rougeblade, the feudal lord Ord asked you to deliver Drepain’s head to him, and to describe his death in details.

-Yes, will be a pleasure.

The woman get up grabbed the morbid package and left, looking annoyed. Stonehands scratched his muscular neck and spoke one last thing before they all went their separated ways.

-Ehh, she just made an excellent job, and still can’t smile… I wish I was assigned good jobs like killing feudal lords… !

New mechs

2 new mechs...

The dark cell part 1 of 5.

This is the first of 5 chapters of "The dark cell", my story with tanks and monsters, and maybe kitties in power armor.

The dark cell.

 01-05

The dead city was covered by the first snow of that winter. Only he kept track of the date: November, 8^th, year 2309, 07:30:45:009.

Many would look at him and call him an “it”, a monster, a mere machine, but he choose to address himself as a male individual, with a name, Dark Cell 208809.78#NXZ. When some humans were still around, they called him DK, Dee Kay.

He missed the humans, the ones who worked with him, not the ones who were classified as hostiles or civilians, those were just annoying, running around and hiding in places his big body couldn’t fit.

He was big, three times the size of an old Abrahams tank, with energy-reactive crystal armor, capable of withstanding a direct hit  of one hundred thirty five kilotons, barely indestructible, I mean, to conventional weapons.

His memory accessed file 0900029030029-1A, the moment he was hit by a rail gun ultra-thin crystal kinetic projectile with a depleted uranium core, and he remembered the pain of the wound, processed and quantified in more than  fifty thousand errors and damages reports (gladly none critical). He felt something similar to relieve while accessing the subsequent file, with his counter attack, a volley of his main weapon, the MK989-350mm energy gun. The image of the anti tank vehicle bursting into superheated metallic vapors brought a feeling of relieve, safety, not vengeance. He wasn’t a vengeful war-machine.

The rays of sun started to piece the dark clouds and rained over the city, a beautiful view, pondered DK. But he had work to do.

OPERATION THOR: directive 9819299190000012#L12, search and destroy all hostiles, time elapsed, 13.140 days, three hours, twenty minutes, four seconds.

He checked his mission data, and thousands of maps, videos, voice recordings and numbers flooded his cyber mind. Bottom line, he confirmed the destruction of 177.092.445 hostiles.

He loaded the encrypted information and transmitted it to the support-satellite. In the old days, while humans were still around, they would give him feedback on his progress, sometimes cold reports asking for more incisive actions, other times a cheerful complement (and he missed those last ones). Now he got nothing but raw information on possible targets. Sometimes he tried to talk to other machines, but most of them didn’t had the intelligence to talk back like humans, and the others never developed a personality, like he did, so they were cold and distant.

Sad and lonely, he accessed the memory file 01076433302-F: His favorite human, Hudson, Michele, mechanic. The red haired girl with short hair and freckles was in her early twenties, who had beautiful green eyes. She was up-grading his optical sensors on his main sensor tower. Sweat and grease  covered her joyful face.

-Easy… almost done Deek. Ok, how is it?

-No software related issues detected, new hardware working perfectly on its specifications. I confirm an increase of 39 to 43% in my long range fine targeting capability and a boost of 60% in my wide specter scanning capabilities.

The girl smiled even more, and with motherly pride, pated DK on the top of his sensor tower. His nano pressure sensors registred every micron of her skin touching him, and he felt strangely warm, even with his temperature systems working perfectly accordingly within specifications. He was happy to see that she was happy.

-That’s my boy! Now get ready to run some field tests, some military will follow it from distance, and it will include real targets and live ammo. Make mommy proud!

-I will Michele.

She frowned. And looking sad, asked:

-Michele?

Worried with her feelings, he decided, again, to suppress the official name designation code and mended:

-Sorry, I will make you proud mom!

She laughed and gave him a little kiss, smiling happily:

- You already do Dee! You are such a good boy!

He felt so happy, so proud of himself, so motivated. His sensors saved the print of her lips against his armor. That was his more precious memory file, more even than his access and control codes.

Soon he was heading to his field test: first he boarded the unmanned air transport, its cargo area refited to accommodate him with few centimeters to spare.

-Dark Cell, we have confirmation on a hostile force moving outside the urban area of Narita. Five possessed tanks, all level 7, two hundred infested soldiers, all above level 9. The auto-defense systems can’t hold their advance for much longer. Narita is one of our main center of weapon industries, and have a large settlement of refugees. Protect our industrial capabilities is your first mission objective, all collateral damages, structural and human must be minimal. You will be fast-dropped north-west of lake Inba-numa, then you must procced south. The enemy is holding both ends of it’s bridge. Heavy suppressive fire is expected, but causing damage  to  the bridge is unaceptable. For this you will test your new long range fine targeting, and snipe any enemy forces there. At least two tanks are there all the time, and 90 soldiers.

-Once you accomplish destroying enemy forces at the bridge, proceed east. Regular troops will follow from east and secure the bridge. Be aware of their location prior and after the attack so we don’t have any friendly fire incident.

-Understood.

- At east, a dense residential area. Civilians have been evacuated, the enemy control it completely. A heavy carpet bombing with incendiary charges would clean the area, but we are already on the limit of our capacity to sustain refugees. We cant afford to loose the housing and hospitals in this zone, so you will proceed to a cleaning operation, seeking minimal damage to the structures. Its very important that you move carefully and quickly, once a important industrial area are nearby. Is under our control by now. The Highway marked in your map is the line that separate friendly and enemy zones, so when you reach the center of the residential area you will have friendly forces at west and east. Once you clean this area, move south, across the remains of the Azuma Elementary school, were the major enemy forces are engaging our auto defense forces. Expect heavy resistance.

-Understood.

-Once you destroy the hostile units you will patrol the area until new orders are designed to you.

-Understood.

Far away, on an underground military complex, executives and generals watch the operation unfold.

-So this is the latest model. You think it can turn things in our favor?

-If it can’t, nothing else can, general.

-… Is better work.

-It will.

The transporter flew low and fast, as the rear door opened. But before DK could be ejected, a beam of red energy hit the plane, that bursts in a scarlet ball of fire, crashing at the edge of the lake.

-Dammit… If you think the army is going to pay for that lost bot…

-No “lost bot”. watch.

Melted metal touch the waters as clouds of smoke and vapor covers the crashing point. Suddenly, a roaring sound resonate over the chaos and destruction. Powerful metal threads crush debris like paper, as the metallic behemoth crawl out of the fire, undamaged.

His body is covered with armor and weapons. With his sensors, keen far beyond human, he scans the area and find two possessed tanks and twenty six infected soldiers. He weights his options and priorities. He could literally level the city, but take it back with minimal damage demanded finesse. He actives his 20mm rail gun, and loaded two high explosion soft point shells.

-What?!? Soft shells against possessed tanks?!?- A old general shout, pointing the deformed enemy at the screen, something dark and slime that growth around and inside a old leopard 9F tank. Dark appendices who sometimes looked like branches, sometimes like spider legs covered its structure in a nightmarish way, with the barrel of his main weapon, a 200mm ballistic cannon mutated into a supernatural energy cannon, still glowing red hot from its previous fire.

-Those soft shells are anti personnel ammo, your silly tank is going to waste its shells and burn the bridge down in the …

But before the general could end ranting, two fast shots, followed by explosions were heard.

The possessed tanks were reduced to burning flesh and metal.

-How…

Now was the sound of  Michelle sounding on the speakers.

-He shot both shells directly inside the barrels of the paranormal energy cannons. A respectable test, considering it was over 300 meters away and its targets were moving…He isn’t stupid general… Not at all.

Now his attention was on the infected soldiers, creatures who in the past were regular soldiers in advanced protection armors, turned into monsters; The infected tissue grown like a tumor, deforming its host beyond recognition. The only thing that gave them a human-like shape was the armor, now their skin. A tube, like a proboscis of a insect dangled from side to side, waving it’s small snake tongue from left to right. Dark eyes grew from its forehead like mushrooms on a rotten carcass. They still had the good AK-909 rifles, but the infected skin covered it, turning the gun into a living extension of their arms.

DK carefully marked the small unarmored section on their faces and selected thirty two incendiary rounds in his six barrel electric 8.75mm machine gun. Two rounds to each hostile. He fire a quick, almost continuous burst, correcting the angle of the gun so fast and so precisely that all enemies were hit in no more than two seconds. They fell dead on the floor, their heads in flames, bursting gulps of disgusting dark and viscous blood.

The horrid spectacle made the room silent. A man in a expensive Italian suit smiled with satisfaction as the military started to drop jaws in awe at the demonstration.

-See gentlemen, we invested much time and effort to develop our “Dark Cell” unit, and our goal was to craft a war-machine with unprecedented fire power and precision, after all, this war will not be won though mere numbers or raw brute force. The hostiles infect dead and alive, turning soldiers and citizens in new infected troopers, each one capable to turn others alike. They also take control of our machinery: Any vehicle can be possessed and turn in a biomechanical entity that defies our scientific knowledge. All that without mentioning the weapons they use.

In the wide screen, DK advanced directly through the waters. His powerful engines displacing tons of water like it was nothing. The wave he created hit the bridge, washing several corpses away. Now DK moved carefully around the bridge.

-See how smart and prudent our product is: Professor Michele Hudson, the creator of this machine, please can you explain to our guests what DK is doing?

-Gladly. DK is the most advanced AI ever designed using a original mind technique. Other AI’s cores are based in organic brains, from humans to mice. Those AI’s are actually softwares developed to emulate a previously existing organic structure, therefore they are limited, slow to learn, waste too much time and effort to replicate a structure that is prone to disaster and flaw. Not our DK. He use a neural-network that evolved from a original design. It’s core is unique, far more intelligent, emotional responsive, with great capability to supposition, imagination and learning. He is to other Artificial Intelligences what  a ordinary AI is to a abacus.

The men stand there, marvelous at it, watching how naturally he searched the bridge and destroyed several IED’s well hidden in the structure.

-The hardware is also revolutionary. Let’s start from outside, where a revolutionary crystalline mesh alloy is blended with state of art ceramics and tungsten reinforced steel, completely developed by a Double Zero process: All materials are crafted in zero-g environment in our orbital factories, then slowly refrigerated to absolute zero. The result is the most perfect structure ever manufactured. But its not all. Look at the screen.

Dk stopped, a small barrel of  steel aimed itself at the ground. Suddenly a shockwave irradiated from it, visible only due to the water and dust it agitated.

-Sonar cannon. As an offensive weapon can resonate in specific frequencies that can turn bones into splinters, or all buildings in a 300 meter radius in dust. As an sensor, its allow our unit to have 3D imagery of any solid structure. The perfect, functional X-ray vision, you could say, but with sound. And its not all. Every inch of his armor, threads included, is covered by a network of pressure and temperature sensors, that give him over thousand times the tact sensibility of the human skin. It also works as passive sonar, using environmental sounds to generate images. His own threads and engines against the ground allow him to pinpoint a single individual in a ten thousand crowd, just by the shape of his feet, obtained through sound waves resonating on the ground, in a radius of six kilometers. The water and the ground become his ears and eyes.

And a new screen opened. A perfect 3D map generated only by the sound of Dee Kay’s engines, showing vehicles, structures and even people. They were stunned to see the image of their own troop’s trough his sensors, like a live long range ultrasound.

-It’s…very impressive… It could solve our problems in identifying cover agents between refugees…

-It could and it will general. We are already in the late stages of a long range, man-portable ground sonar just like it…

A artificial voice sounded:

-First objective accomplished, proceeding with operation.

His voice had the same tone from before, but now the impact of his speech was greater, now the men in the meeting room watched silently and with satisfaction.

Away from there, Professor Michelle, AKA “mom”, rolled her eyes at the men in uniform. Idiots, she think, so damn limited and narrow minded. Wasted hundreds of millions lives and bankrupted economies with the “conventional warfare”, with the “nuclear intervention”, and with “strategic withdraws”.

He look at the screen monitoring the operation and smiled: Dark Cell was the only option now. Better later than never.

"I BELIVE IN" new chapter

"I BELIVE IN": a new chapter of this light hearted story about light hearted things, that just happens to have a name thats resemble a over used political add.

*

A week went by, John and Lizzie kept contact, but didn’t actually went out, John as usual had something job related to do, what was a downer to Liz, once she didn’t had much friends to hang out with. But she was a different person, or so she would say to herself everyday, and she would not let something like that broke her into depression again, so she did a very reasonable thing, picked her old phone book, and looked for old friends. She didn’t had many male friends, but it didn’t bothered, she wasn’t much in the mood of calling guys and ask them out, but she did found a couple phone numbers from good girlfriends she had in college. She tried all numbers, but none worked, until she got to the last number, Sally.

-Wow! Sally! Don’t see her in ages! She was a super hype girl, and still hang out with me… Let’s try…

A familiar voice pick up the phone:

-Hello?

Lizzie dint quite knew what to say, so she stuttered something:

-Uh, hi, is it Sally?

-… Yes. Who is asking?

-Hm, you may not remember e, we went to college together…

-NO SHIT! LIZ IS THAT YOU!?

Lizzie literally jumped and almost dropped the phone.

-How did you know?!

-HA! I remember your voice Lizzie! We used to talk on the phone everyday! Oh my god…! I´ve been looking you for ages, since we finished college and you moved!

Lizzie Blushed, to be remembered for someone she used to envy and ye be welcomed warmly like that was a great experience, Liz had to hold her tears, she wont cry over the phone and make a fool of herself… again.

-Sorry! I simply lost contact too, I was looking for some old friends, when I found you phone…

 A jovial laugh burst through the phone:

-Let’s thank god for those spring cleanings, right? Oh, damn I can’t believe, I’m so happy!! Lizzie! How have you been?

-I’ve… had some problems last year, nothing too serious, now I just have a lot of free time… And you, still runs? I remember you loved to compete!

-Hahaha, oh girl, how can I say it… Well I got used to kept sit since college, so now I run on wheels not on sneakers! Hahahahaha! You gotta see my wheels, it’s a Hot rod!

-Haha! I bet it is, lemme guess, is a red car right? You always wanted one!

-Lizzie! You got it right, its a red sport coupe, trust me when I say, I stay on that beauty night and day. Hey Lizzie, lets meet!

-Sure! I would love it!

-Ok, how is you agenda today?

Lizzie gasped, she didn’t had anything to do in the whole day, but still she was too insecure to just go out and meet a old friend like that, but Sally didn’t left her much choice.

-I…

-Oh, I know that “I”; Girl, my afternoon is free, lets meet at the Crystal Mall and make some gossip! Three n the afternoon, at the JaVa Coffee Shop! And I wont take a NO as an answer!

Liz was shinning with happiness.

-Sure! Then I see you soon!

Both said good bye and Lizzie felt very happy with that. So happy she decided to kill two birds with one stone, printed a couple resumes and decided to go around after job till three o’clock.

Shortly after she was on her way to look for some new opportunities; as she walked from home a cat and a dog watched her from across the street, and whispered:

-Fine, here we are. So how we help her with a job?

-Don’t ask me dog, I wanted to go solve “love”…

-Don’t be mean Miza. Let’s tag along and see how she do thing on her own.

Both animals become transparent, then invisible, and carefully follow after Lizzie.

Lizzie first stop was at city’s job agency, not much to see there, plenty of unhappy faces looking for jobs. She got in a line and after an hour managed to submit her resume to their data base.

-Wow, it took longer than I expected…

She took a quick look at her list of places to visit, and decided to go first to the most interesting one. A couple meters behind her, a man tripped in some invisible obstacle, and a feminine voice from nowhere told him to pay attention to where he was heading.

But Lizzie didn’t even noticed it, she was busy checking the bus schedule.

-Damn I should really think about getting a scooter… Oh no, my bus I can’t lose it! Hey please wait!

But the bus driver didn’t even bothered in looking at the girl. Somewhere behind Lizzie the sound of a hiss and a angry girl’s voice come from nowhere.

-Oh you damn bus driver… wouldn’t KILL you to wait a second…! Maybe you forgot which pedal the BREAK is…

And inside the bus, the brake pedal was stepped all the way down, stopping the bus suddenly, what truly irritate the passengers:

-Hey guy! Be more careful! We aren’t cattle!

-But…I did nothing this thing…

He looked everywhere to see what could possible be wrong, just to see the “open door” button pressing itself on.

-Wh…Wha?

Lizzie didn’t see it, she just saw the bus stopping and opening the doors, she dashed in:

-Thank you so much for waiting! I’m sorry for causing trouble!

-Wha…what? No… everything is fine, just fine…

The bus driver shook his head, checked the pedals and move on, as Lizzie sat herself close to the window. Behind her a old lady jumped and look around her feet… She could swear she felt something fluffy rubbing around her ankles.

Took a while, but Liz found the address, a company John indicate.

-John said to leave a resume on the reception and say he sent me…

-Hello –A chubby, lovely blonde woman, elegantly dressed welcome her at reception –Welcome to Dynamic South Software, what I can do for you?

-…Huh… John Sawyer told me to left a resume with you… about some job as programmer or designer… or tech support…

She handed the resume, but the blonde woman took ignore it, got up, gave her a big hug and said with a jovial tone:

-You are Johnny friend, Eliza! He told me you would come around, eventually! I was almost losing my faith, but here you are! Oh I shouldn’t doubt of Johnny! Quick come!

And she lead the girl to a door and pointed a office:

-Go straight to the end of the corridor, third door to the left! Just knock and get in! I will let her know you are here.

-But… my resume…

-Oh silly, take it with you, I’m sure they will love to give a look at it!

The woman turn her back and return to her desk, before sitting back at the front desk, she feels something like a warm draft passing through her legs.

-Hey… Where are my cookies?

She looks around and sees nothing.

-Oh those interns, I told them, if they want some just have to ask… no need to wait for me to turn my back before picking some sweets, aw…

 Muffled by the sound of the busy office, two voices whisper softly:

-Oh boy, you cant stop eating Kev?

-Can’t help if tagging people make me hungry…

Lizzie feel uneasy, as she was under watch, but still, she decided to move on and see what John found to her.

-Excuse me…

A girl with big green eyes and short black hair, dressed in an elegant but tom-boyish business suit welcome her with a smile and point her a seat.

-Marjorie told me you actually came, I was almost loosing my faith you know. My name is Lorraine, nice to  finally meet you, Eliza right?

-So…sorry, where you all waiting me?

The beautiful tomboy executive look at Lizzie with surprise, then with a smile:

-Well, John told me 100% sure that he arranged to you to come and look at our position on tech support, a couple weeks ago. But no surprises, look like Johnny forgot to tie some loose ends, like warning you about it. Oh that’s typical of him.

Lizzie couldn’t help but smile, John was like that, more action but too little talk… Still she felt strange, even uncomfortable with the intimate relationship between John and all those people.

-hmm yes, he told me just to come around and give you a copy of my resume…

-Oh? Well to me he spoke almost like you were already employed here! See, the company suddenly got too big to our people to handle, and Johnny told me you could take care of our new, expanded tech support… Can you?

-Sure…Sure! I have plenty experience in tech support…

-Hmm you know what service we supply here?

She gasped, she forgot that…

-Hmmm software developing…

-For…?

That was bad… John arranged everything and she simple fucked it up. Suddenly she felt like words were whispered deep down her mind.

- Dynamic South Software develop Business Management Software’s for small and medium companies, and also offer tech support with servers and internal networks. Also had three following years of continuous growth in local market, now providing services to almost 40% to the small and medium companies in this city.

Wow, from where THAT come from? She was wondering why and how she said all that, but Lorraine laugh and sit back with a satisfied look.

-Yep! Just like says on our press-release! Good to see you did your home work! Eliza, can I be brutally honest with you?

-… Yes.

- I’m having trouble with my company right now. Too much people to handle, and few people to coordinate. Me and other two guys are all administrative personnel I have, and to be honest, we are still trying to fit in those big shoes we got in the last years. I do need people on tech, really. I have twelve technicians, only two with experience, everyone else is fresh out of college, and most of them are not really into hard work and low payment. And that’s all I can give right now, because until we finish restructuring, we can’t pay what I think it would be fair for the burden they are handling. John is a close friend, and he told me to wait for you, but to be honest, I can’t simply hire you on personal feelings. This company here is my life, and I rather lose a friend than losing my company.

-I see, John put you in a hard situation…. I … I will talk to him and make things clear… -Lizzie felt horrible, like a beggar or a party crasher, but Lorraine interrupted her.

-nice of you, but fact is that John gave me a copy of your resume a couple weeks ago. He told me you really need a job, still, you wait for what, ten days, before showing off. And he told me you had some rough times, no details, but then, it’s not my business. Bottom line is I need someone to make people work harder on tech, and also to do a fair part of the job herself. I need someone to be a boss and a technician, and if you don’t have the balls to do it… then I can’t have you.

Well, that was unexpectedly rude and honest, now her heart was on her throat: What she should do? What she should say? Lorraine kept her eyes on her, cold as steel, waiting for an answer, anything.

But she didn’t had anything to give back as an answer.

- I see Eliza…

-I can do it.

Lorraine look at her, once again surprised:

-So I will schedule to you meet the team in the next days. Still, can’t say its definitive, or anything.

-I understand, but I will make it become definitive, trust me!

The look on both women changed, one, Lizzie, was stronger, more confident. The other Lorraine, was enigmatic and puzzled at the same time, but with an unconditional satisfaction.

After Lizzie left, Lorraine stood at the window. She saw Lizzie walking away, strong, decided.

-First impressions can be misleading…

She looked at the pictures on her cell phone: In one she was hugging a man, both eloped in a lover’s embrace, so happy, so free of worries. It dated from a month ago.

-Johnny, I guess I acted like a bitch to your friend, when I see some indecision in her eyes, some weakness… But it was because I wanted to make sure she was up to the job? Or was because I am jealous of your friend? I am not a jealous girl, I’m not a bitch who want to break little girls, still why I wanted so much to see her break and run away?

She took a deep breath and said to herself:

-Life was easier when I only had to worry about my company… John, what’s up between you and that girl?

*