Insert standard disclaimer here: The one that reminds everyone that this is a work of fiction. No one is real and any resemblance to someone who is real is just the reader's imagination. This is also a Fan Fiction set in the Whateley Story Universe. No Canon characters were permanently harmed in the making of this story. I hope. :)

** Chapter 26 **

Sunday, 18-Feb-2007 1920 hrs

I must admit, the flight in DARPA’s private jet was pretty damn cool.  It was still a long flight, but it was way more comfortable than flying commercial.  Follow that up by having the freaking President of the United States of America call and I challenge anyone to not feel a bit stressed.  Even more crazy was his advisor’s idea that I should be able to qualify for a JROTC scholarship to pay for me to go to Whateley and even College if I wanted to.  I just want the crazy days to end so that I can relax.  I am so not looking forward to all the tests that they want to run on me over the next few days, but I guess that the sooner I get them over with, the sooner I can go home.
 

I am surprised by how normal and hotel-ie ( if that is even a real word) that the Air Force’s Temporary Bachelor Officer Quarters look like.  Just like a normal hotel, there is a front desk with a small lobby area complete with a big TV showing the news.   I catch the tail end of the story they are calling “Terror in the Skies!” and briefly wonder what that is all about.  Fortunately, I spot a few leftover newspapers stacked on the front desk with a picture of a Virgin Atlantic plane on the front page. I decide to grab one to read in the room; If I get the chance. I briefly consider scanning it while waiting to be checked in, but that process goes much faster than I expect.  I guess that having Mr. Reilly and Langley’s commanding General make your room arrangements can make things go smoother than normal.

“Finally!” I say as my mom and I enter a normal looking hotel styled room. Based on the movies, I expected to see a highly polished floor, footlockers and industrial gray metal beds.  Instead, the room looks exactly like a regular hotel room complete with carpet, two queen sized beds, mini-fridge, microwave and 27 inch TV.  I detect an open wi-fi access point, but with Nikki’s warning, I’m not even going to look at it. If it weren’t for the uniformed and very polite Air Force Staff Sergeant who is assisting us with our room, I would think we were in a regular hotel.

“Is there anything else that I can help you with, ma’am?” Sergeant Rawlings asks my mom after he insists on helping my mom with her monster suitcase.  He tries to help me, but I just smile at him as I easily put my smaller suitcase on the suitcase stand.  

My suitcase is super light and it’s not because of my newfound strength.  It’s only half-full, or empty, depending on how I think about it and that makes me a little concerned that my mom has plans to fill it before we leave. I’m not going to worry about that right now because it’s Sunday, it’s late and I’m starving, again. So, unless the good Sergeant can cook or drive us to a restaurant; I doubt that he can really help us.  I look at my mom with my best “I’m starving” expression.  

My mom turns to Sergeant Rawlings. “Yes, thanks for your help, but do you know where we might be able to find a decent restaurant that might be within walking distance?”

I think that I’m getting better at my non-verbal communication skills.  Maybe I should try working on my increase-my-allowance expression next.

Sergeant Rawlings shakes his head ‘no’ and I start to get worried. “I’m sorry ma’am. There are none that are really within walking distance, but the General did leave a driver and a vehicle for you to use while you and your daughter are staying with us.”

Like, OMG!  I could kiss the dude, but not, because that would be yuck and I’m still not used to be referred to as a “daughter”.  That noun is unsettling.

My mom smiles at the Sergeant. “I didn’t realize that he was going to leave a car for us.”  She pauses for a second and looks at me with a thoughtful expression. “It is a shame that it is Sunday and that it is so late.  I would love to be able to take you to a mall for some shopping.”

Yep, I was right.  She does have plans to fill my suitcase with more girl clothes.  “Yeah mom, what a shame.” I say with maximum false enthusiasm. “But, on the plus side, I am sure there are some restaurants that are open.” I helpfully offer as a food friendly alternative.  My mom laughs at my not so subtle attempt to get her mind away from the shopping trip.  I am positive that I am going to hate my first mall shopping death-march experience.  Going from store to store and trying on thousands of outfits while only buying one or two items is not my idea of a constructive use of free time.  I don’t even want to think about the inevitable first salon trip that I am sure my mom and sister are already planning for me.

Sergeant Rawlings chooses that moment to make a strategic withdrawal from our room. “Ma’am, if you don’t need anything else, I will go let your driver know that you will be heading down soon so that you all can get some chow. I mean food.”

“Oh thanks, umm, Sergeant Rawlings. It will probably take us a few minutes to get ready.”

As soon as the door closes on his retreat, I turn to my mom. “A few minutes?”  I ask, concerned that my mom has plans that will delay our eating plans.  I can’t think of any reason why we can’t leave right now.

 
“Yes dear.  I need to freshen up my makeup and change out of my travel wrinkled clothes.  It wouldn’t kill you to put on a fresh top, too.”

I don’t see what is wrong with our clothes.  They aren’t ‘that’ wrinkled.  We flew on a private jet.  It’s not like we flew commercial and had to sit all jammed together and stuff.  Plus, my mom’s face looks perfect to me.  “Ummm, okay.  I don’t really have that many other clothes to wear.  Wouldn’t it be better if I just went with what I have on already?”

“No, Bree.  Your jeans are fine, but that top is out.  Just grab a fresh top from your suitcase while I freshen up in the bathroom.”  My mom extracts her full size makeup kit from her suit case and some fresh clothes before she walks into the bathroom.  

Ten minutes later, I have three different tops spread out on the bed and I am feeling thoroughly confused when my mom walks out of the bathroom ready to go.  There are only six different tops or shirts or whatever girls call them in my suitcase.  Of the three tops that survived the cut, two of them are short-sleeve and one of them is actually a tank top.  I know that we are in Virginia and it is warmer here than it is at home, but it is still winter here so I don’t understand why I don’t have any more long sleeve shirts. Do girls just expect to be cold all the time?   Maybe a shopping trip isn’t such a bad idea.

The one tank top is in the running only because it is black.  The other two tops have a v-neck and I am not too sure I want to expose that much of my chest.  Aaaah!  This modesty crap is getting on my nerves.  I never worried about this kind of crap when I was a boy.  Seriously, as a guy, I could walk around with no shirt on at all and not have a care in the world.  Well, except for sunburn. Why in the hell should it matter if I’m wearing a shirt, but showing a little bit of the very top of my chest?  Millions of girls across the world wear this kind of clothing every day and they look hot. Maybe that is the problem.  I don’t want to look hot and grab the attention of every guy, but I also don’t want to stick out. If I want to fit in and not be noticed, I need to wear what everyone expects girls to wear.  Maybe I will feel better about it if I think of the clothes as girl camouflage.  

Okay. Camouflage. Black tank top with black bra and I saw a spiffy looking black zip up sweatshirt in my suitcase. I pull out the sweatshirt and place it next to the tank top.  

My mom chooses that moment to weigh in on the issue.  “That is a good idea Bree, but you should wear the navy cami with that sweatshirt instead of the tank top.  Black is good, but there is such a thing as too much black.”

“Cami?  Navy?  Why would I want to wear some navy clothes on an Air Force Base?”

The look on my mom’s face would be extremely funny if she wasn’t trying to not laugh at me.  “Oh Bree, I’m sorry.” She gives me an affectionate hug. “I just forgot how much you don’t know about women’s clothing.”  She reaches into my suitcase and pulls out a dark blue silk thing with strings for shoulders. “Okay, this is called a ‘camisole’ and the color is ‘navy blue’. You don’t need to wear a bra with this because there is a built in bra, plus, you will be wearing your sweatshirt over it.”

Ooohh, no bra!  That sounds like a win to me.  My chest could use the break, but why would I even need to wear the camisole thing when the sweatshirt thing will just cover it up?  I shrug and re-remind myself. Camouflage.

The cami thing feels nice against my skin and my breasts, umm, girls, umm, never mind, I like the less restrictive feeling up there.  The cami thing hugs my stomach and falls to about mid-hip on me.  I do like what I see in the mirror and I can’t stop the self-satisfied smile that sneaks out of me.

My mom sneaks in another hug and hands me the black sweatshirt to wear over the cami.  The sleeves only come to just above my elbow and the waist stops at my belly button, but at least it zips all the way up to my neck.  My mom steps in and adjusts the zipper down until it is in the middle of my chest so that the top of my cami shows.    She runs a brush through my hair a few times and gives me a critical once over.  Satisfied with the results, she gives quick kiss on the forehead.  “Almost perfect.  All you need now is a little lip gloss.”  She hands me a tube of some lip balm stuff. “Here, put this on.”

“Camouflage.” I mutter to myself as my new mantra for girl clothing acceptance.

“What was that Bree?”  

“Oh, nothing.  Just reminding myself not to worry about how I look.”

“Oh, that’s good, because you look lovely.  I’m feeling kind of hungry now too. So, let’s get out of here and find our ‘driver’.”

As we enter the lobby, a cute woman with short brown, I mean brunette hair and sparkling hazel eyes wearing a completely unflattering camouflage uniform perks up and walks towards us with a friendly smile.  I feel surprised when what I just thought about her uniform registers with my conscious mind. As she approaches, my ever helpful HUD identifies her as:

U.S.A.F./RA/Airman First Class/E-3/Jessica/Ann/Reynolds/xxx-xx-xxxx/A-/FALSE

“Hi!  I’m Airman First Class Jessica Reynolds.  You must be Mrs. Peters.” she says she shakes my mom’s hand before she turns to me. “And you must be Miss Peters.”

“Umm, Brianna or Bree.  You can just call me that.”

“Okay ma’am, oops. Sorry, habit.           Bree it is then.” She smiles at me.  “I’ve been tasked to be your driver this evening.  You can just call me Airman Reynolds,” she looks around and changes her voice to a whisper, “or if we aren’t on base and surrounded by other military people, ‘Jessica’ will be good too.”  She returns to her normal voice, “So. Where do you two wanna go?”

I beat my mom to the punch. “Food! I’m starving!”

Airman Reynolds giggles before she looks to my mom for confirmation. “Ma’am?”

“Oh, yes. The nearest good restaurant would be nice.”

“Okay.  There are few just outside the gates.  What are you two hungry for?  There is a good Thai place nearby and the usual large chain restaurants. Oh yeah, and a good sushi place if you’re into that too.”

“Bree? What do you think?”

With that question, I am reminded of my new taste in foods.  I would’ve loved to try that sushi stuff that John and Lisa seem to gush about every now and then. “I dunno mom.  As much as I hate to admit it, it needs to have a good vegetarian menu.”

“Hmmm, did you say that the Thai place was good?”

“Yes ma’am and friends who know what real Thai food is supposed to taste like say that it is good, too.”

“Okay, why don’t we try the Thai place then?  Thai food is mostly veggies and it has been awhile since I’ve had some good Thai food.” My mom turns to look at me. “What do you think, Bree?”

I’m so hungry now that I would be willing to try choking down a burger. “Umm, okay?”  

As I step outside, the cold air hits my mostly open and thus non-functional sweatshirt. Thankfully, the nondescript government car is already warmed up.  That makes the short ten-minute ride to the restaurant much more bearable.  I really wish I were wearing Jessica’s warm looking uniform right about now.  She drops us off right at the door so that she can park the car.  I get out of the car first while my mom turns back toward the car. “Are you going to be joining us, Jessica?”

“Thanks Mrs. Peters, but I already ate and I wouldn’t want to intrude.  I will just wait with the car so that you two can eat in peace.”

As we enter the restaurant, the complex spicy scents of Thai food hits my nose. I smell curry, coconut and other yummy food scents.  My mouth starts to water and my stomach growls at me. I look around and there are only a few tables that are full.  The electronics are pretty minimal too.  I only “see” a couple of cell phones and no wi-fi. An empty restaurant is normally a bad sign, but it is kind of late to be eating dinner, so the lack of customers is probably normal for this hour.  

I notice the hostess’ eyes widen with surprise when she spots me.  I wonder if she heard my stomach growl or if she spotted my ears as the wind from the door blew my hair around.  She doesn’t say anything about it and sets us promptly at a semi-secluded table.  While I like the fact that we have some privacy and from my seat, I like the fact that I can see the front door. I can’t help but wonder if she seated us here due to my appearance.  It would really suck if the staff here hated mutants.  

I look at my mom and I am about to ask her what she thinks about it when she stops me with a gesture.  “No, Bree.  The hostess doesn’t dislike you.  She was just surprised by your appearance.”

Geez.  She’s positively spooky now with her Jedi mind tricks.  I start to look over the menu when an older oriental woman approaches our table and gives us a slight bow.

“Greetings, honored guests.  I am Mali Tojirakarn. My husband and I own this establishment. How may we be of service to you this evening?”

The owner is waiting on us? Does this place treat all their guests like this?  Maybe that is why Jessica said the place is so good? My voice stress gauge isn’t helping. The woman’s voice was in the green zone except for a slight spike when she said ‘honored’.  

My mom looks a little confused by the treatment too.  “Um, yes?  Can I have an iced tea?”

“Certainly ma’am.” Mrs. Tojirakarn says with nod of her head before she turns to me with a smile. “May I also ask what the young lady would desire to drink?”

I am beginning to think that we are getting special treatment for some reason.  “Can I have some ice tea too?” I ask with a great deal of hesitation in my voice.  I swear that I must sound like I am ten years old or something.

“Most certainly.  I will have it brought out. Is there anything else that I can get you right now? An appetizer maybe?”

My mom glances at the appetizer section of the menu for a second. “Oh! Spring Rolls.  Can we get an order of Spring Rolls please?”

Mrs. Tojirakarn smiles at my mom. “Yes. I will get that right out for you.”

“Thanks.” My mom says, returning Mrs. Tojirakarn’s smile.

Mrs. Tojirakarn leaves us and disappears into the kitchen where I hear some yelling in what I assume is Thai.  Hopefully she is just calling out our order and not angry at the chef back there.  I wouldn’t want the chef mad while he is cooking our food.

My mom distracts me from my thoughts. “So, Brianna?  What do you think about starting at this Whateley Academy in a few weeks?”

I shrug my shoulders.  “I dunno, mom.  It seems kinda sudden, but it also sounds like my magic could be kinda dangerous if I’m not trained.”  With that thought, I am reminded by what the President and everyone else said on the plane.  I sigh with exasperation. “Heck, everyone else seems to think that I should already be at this Whately school.”

My mom tilts her head slightly to the side with a curious expression. “But?”

“Well, everything has been happening so fast and I’m scared.  I wouldn’t really know anyone except for Nikki and Sara and I would be away from home and I’d be doing this JROTC army stuff.”

My mom looks confused. “Sara?  Who’s she?”

Oops.  I am about to reply when a different waitress sets our drinks down along with the Spring Rolls.  She shyly smiles. “Sorry to interrupt, but are you ready to order now?”  

Perfect timing!  I smile at the sight of some food to eat. It’s just an appetizer, but finally, food!  I’ve never had a spring roll before, but if my mom likes them, then maybe I will too.  I hear my mom say “I think that I will try the Shrimp Pad Thai, please.” to the waitress as I reach for one of the spring roll things.  There is some sort of brown colored dipping sauce that I decide to try with my first bite.

I’m just about to take my first bite when I hear, “and for you ma’am?”  It takes me a second to realize that it is me that she is referring too.

Crap, I didn’t even look at the menu and I have zero idea what to get.  “Umm, Pad Thai, but without the shrimp?”  I have no idea if I will like or not like the shrimp, but why take chances?  Maybe my mom will let me try a bite of hers.  

“Sure.  Anything else?”

“No, thanks.”

The waitress returns to the kitchen. Finally!  I can take a bite of the spring roll thing.

OMG...so good! I scarf down the spring roll while my mom works on hers at a more civilized pace.  Hopefully, she will forget about my little Sara slip-up before she finishes.  I suck down some of my iced tea as my stomach grumbles some more.  The spring roll only seems to have teased my appetite.  

My mom pauses before she takes another bite. “Sara?”

Crap!  She didn’t forget and I am sure that she knows that I am hiding something.  Oh well.  I might as well get it over with.  “Sara is sorta Nikki’s sister and she’s a demon or something, but I think that she’s a nice demon.”  I lamely finish.  I probably gave her too much information with that admission.

My mom’s expression is somewhat hard to read.  She has stopped chewing and is just looking at me. I’m going to go with “shock” as her expression.  She swallows her bite without completely chewing it and sputters a bit.  Yepper.  She is definitely a little shocked by my revelation.  She takes a sip of her iced tea as she holds up her hand for me to wait.

“Umm, Okay. And how do you know this Sara, person?”

“Well, she sorta helped Nikki visit me when I was doing that re-org thing up here.” I say, pointing to my head.

“And?”

“But Nikki didn’t think that it would be good if everyone knew that Sara was involved...and she was super nice and helped me a lot and well, Nikki trusts her...”

“A demon?”

“Welllll...maybe?  I dunno.  She just looked kinda like a demon when I first saw her with Nikki. I mean, I thought that I was dead and that Nikki was an angel, Sara was a demon and that they had come to take me to heaven or hell.”

“Hmm, okay. I am a little concerned, but I guess it’s not that important right now and as a plus, you would know two people at Whateley, so that’s good.  Right?”

“Yepper!”  I am so glad that the Sara issue seems to be over.  My mom finishes her spring roll just before our meals are delivered to our table.  Oh man.  It smells so good.  I take a tentative bite and my taste buds decide that this Pad Thai is the best thing since sliced bread.  I wonder what was better than sliced bread before sliced bread was invented.  Oh well, I dig in as my mom eats a bit slower.  

I’m half done with my meal when I remember to ask about trying her shrimp.  She gives me one and it tastes pretty good to me.  Awesome!  Now I can almost be an omnivore again!

My mom pauses before she continues with her meal. “So, what did you think about the idea of a JROTC scholarship at Whateley and his asking you to help investigate GEO? I noticed that you looked excited about the JROTC idea, but you were very nervous about the GEO investigation thing.”

She resumes eating while I gather my thoughts.  “Well...It sounds like Whateley is expensive and I don’t think that you and dad can afford to send me there, so the JROTC scholarship would be perfect for that.  I’m glad that Nikki was there to help negotiate that extra uniform allowance due to my clothing allergies.”

My mom looks concerned with my reminder. “Yeah, I was a little shocked by how eager and willing his staff was to get us to accept the idea. It almost sounds too good to be true.” She trails off with that though before she snaps back. “Okay, so you like the JROTC idea even though you would have to serve in the military afterwards?”

“I think so, yeah.  I mean it’s not that big of a deal.  I’m a girl now, so it’s not like they would send me to Afghanistan or something where I could be shot at, right?”

“Hmmm, hard to say.  You are a mutant now too though and there are different rules, but I’m not as worried about that.  Actually, being in the Army would probably be safer than being a superhero.”  She finishes with a small laugh that makes me smile at the irony of the idea.

We both eat more of our meals to help us gather our thoughts. I finish my food while she is only halfway through. I’m still hungry, but decide that it might help if I let my meal settle before I ask if I can have seconds.

My mom breaks the silence first. “And GEO?”

I take a deep breath and sit back in my chair as I look up to the ceiling for inspiration for a second.  “I dunno, Mom.  That game scares the ummm, poop outta me now, but if I can help the President figure out what kind of danger GEO might be to our country...I kinda have to help. Don’t I?”

“I don’t know hon, maybe? But not if it is going to be a danger for you though.”

Before I can think of a good reply to that, I notice a smiling Mrs. Tojirakarn heading toward our table.  My mom follows my gaze and hurriedly swallows her bite just as Mrs. Tojirakarn arrives at our table.

“Pardon the interruption, but I just wanted to make sure that you two are enjoying your meals.”

My mom smiles at her. “Oh yes.  This is the best Shrimp Pad Thai that I’ve had in a long time.”

“Excellent!” Mrs. Tojirakarn smile grows even more pleased when she takes in my empty plate.  “And you, honored lady?”

I’m not sure why she called me an “honored lady”, but maybe it is a cultural thing?  “I’ve never had Pad Thai before, but it was awesome.”

“Good. I am glad to hear that we could provide satisfying nourishment this evening.  Is there anything else that I can get for you?”

I could use another serving. I give my mom a pleading look. “Can I have some more, Mom?  Maybe with some shrimp this time?” Mrs. Tojirakarn looks a little surprised.

My mom just sighs with resignation. “Sure. I guess if you can’t eat it all, we can bring the leftovers back and store them in the fridge.”

After Mrs. Tojirakarn leaves, my mom looks at me and laughs. “You know? I was really hoping that one benefit of you being a girl would be a lower food bill, but you eat more now than you ever did!”

I find myself giggling with her, but I’m still glad that I have more food coming.  She takes another bite of her Pad Thai and stops as if struck by a good idea before can take another bite. “You know...one more benefit of you going to this Whateley place is that they would have to feed you.”

“Mom!”  We both break down and giggle over her joke.  A plate of Shrimp Pad Thai with what looks like twice the serving size arrives and helps to break up our laughter.  I manage to eat just over half of it before I start to feel full.  I’m pretty sure that I could finish it, but I decide to save the rest for breakfast in the morning.  

It is pretty dark outside of the restaurant, but with my new vision tricks; I spot the car with Jessica just as she looks up from something and notices us exiting the restaurant.  It feels even colder outside now.

She pulls the car up and I am so relieved to jump into a nice warm car.  As I jump in, I notice some sort of book or manual lying half open on the front seat.

“What were ya reading, Jessica?”

“Oh, I was studying for my promotion exam next week.  If I do well enough on it, I should make E-4 in a month or two.”

“E-4?”

“Oops, sorry.  See my rank here?” Without taking her eyes off the road, she points to the funny looking patch that has two stripes with a star in the middle sewn onto her uniform’s sleeve. “I’m currently an E-3 or Airman First Class, but if I make E-4, than I will be a Senior Airman and have more responsibility.  On the plus side, I will make a little bit more money too.”

“Ahh.” I look to my mom.  She seems pretty interested in what Jessica is telling us. “Umm, Jessica?” I ask, hesitantly.

“Ya?”

“As a girl, what do you think about being in the military?”

“Hmmm, It can be kinda tough having to do what people tell you all the time and deal with the horn...” she stops herself with a blush and I see her look back at my mom via the mirror. “Umm, guys sometimes, but at the same time, it’s better than working at some fast food joint flipping burgers or waiting tables.”

“Why?”

“Well, I like my job and feel like what I’m doing is actually important. I’m making a difference and as a bonus, if I decide not to be a lifer, my current job pays pretty well in the civilian world, too!”  She laughs for second. “Oh. My. Gawd. Don’t I just sound like a Recruiter now?  Why are you wanting to know?”

“Well, I was offered a JROTC scholarship at an expensive school and I’m just not sure if I’d make a good military person.”

“Well, Bree.  You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders.  You just gotta play it smart and learn to not take things personally.  Most of what looks like Military BS has a good reason behind it.  Accept that fact and it’s a piece of cake.”

“Oh.”

“Plus, I think that if you join up from a JROTC program, you get to enter as an E-4.  I certainly wish that I would’ve done that now!  If you go to college, you come in as an officer.  Then, you don’t have to put up with nearly as much BS.”

“Hmmm, thanks Jessica.  That’s good to know.”

“Hey, no problem.” She smiles and gives me a quick glance while navigating onto the base. “Besides, we girls got to stick together. Ya know?”

Well, I don’t really know, but I guess that I should agree with her on that. I return her smile. “Umm, yeah.”  I look over at my mom and she’s not helping any.  She’s just has an amused little smile on her face.  We arrive back at our building a minute later and after saying our goodbyes to Jessica, we head back to our room for the night.

We find a note that Mr. Reilly slipped under our door.  It lists the plan for the next day and I am surprised to see that it starts nice and early at 0700hrs and it doesn’t end until 1800hrs. He even suggested that I wear athletic wear due to some of the physical tests. It sounds like it is going to be a long day for us tomorrow.

It is only 2100hrs and I’m not a bit tired yet.  My mom claims first dibs on the bathroom so that she can get ready for bed.  I am not sure how long she will take, so I decide to scan the newspaper while I wait for my turn. That way, I can read it later and find out what has been going on in the world. Since there was something mentioned about a mutant, I am especially curious about that plane thing.

I finish the scan and decide to turn on the TV. Maybe I can find some cartoons to watch while I wait. Unfortunately, I manage to find the cartoon channel just as my mom exits the bathroom. I sigh with frustration as I flip it back to the channel guide channel for my mom to pick something to watch.

Getting ready for bed is pretty easy, but once again, it is my hair that gets in the way of drinking directly from the faucet like I normally would.  I debate putting my hair up with a clip thing, but decide that using a drinking glass will be easier.  I’m just glad that they have real glasses in the room instead of the normal plastic ones.  Other than the hair, my body, sitting down to go to the bathroom, my pa-underwear and the silk pajamas, getting ready for bed is completely mundane.  I mean, I still brush my teeth with a toothbrush, so everything is normal, right?

I rejoin my mom to see that she has the “Princess Bride” playing and I can’t stop myself from laughing with her as we enjoy the movie together.  It’s older than I am, but it’s still pretty darn funny.  During a commercial break, she sets the alarm for 5am.  I almost ask her why we need to get up so early, but just thinking about my new morning routine stops that thought in its tracks.

I look over at her during the next commercial break and she has already fallen asleep.  I decide to turn the TV off and play the parent by tucking her in.  She sleepily mutters her thanks, turns over and promptly falls back asleep.

I’m not really feeling tired, but I decide to at least lie down and give it a try.  It still feels a little weird to be wearing silk pajamas to bed. I guess I could try wearing just my underwear to bed, but since I’m in kind of a strange place, I don’t feel comfortable dressing down that much.  Before I can banish the thought, I wonder about the nightie that Nikki wore and what I would look like if I wore something like it. Oh yeah, I’d look hot and I’d feel embarrassed as hell about that fact.  Plus, there is no way that I can justify wearing something like that as “camouflage”.  

I sigh with frustration as I lay my head on the pillow to try and make myself fall asleep.  I eventually manage to clear my head enough to relax and fall asleep.  

I wake up feeling completely rested and ready to go 1.5 hours later at 2334 hrs.  Crap!  And, I have to pee too.  For the record, cold toilet seats suck.  Grrr.

Now that I am definitely wide-awake from the cold toilet seat, I decide to read the newspaper and maybe other book.  After that and if I have enough time, maybe I will play around in the VR range.

I prop myself up against my bed’s headboard with some pillows and get comfy as I enter my VR living room.  After setting up the room monitor in case my mom wakes up, I sit on the couch and open up today’s newspaper.  I skip the article I want to read so that I can read the comic section first.  I could use a good laugh and Dilbert delivers as usual.  I don’t even have a job, but I still think that the strip about non-essential workers being allowed to leave work early so that the boss can figure out who to lay-off was hilarious. This one was about performance reviews and I didn’t understand it completely, but I still thought it was funny.  I skip over the Sports section, meh, and read the Entertainment section.  Mostly for the car and tech article, because I really don’t care about what some blond bimbo does in some fake real life show.  The Business section has something about Goodkind Industries posting above expected earnings due to some new military contract they won.  I only notice that article because Goodkind is rumored to be anti-mutant and that is now kind of important to me for some reason.

The article that grabbed my attention in the first place is kind of a let-down.  I thought that an article about the attempted hijacking of a plane that had a mutant successfully stopping the hijackers would be full of juicy details and blow-by-blow accounts of heroic action, but no, the article was low on details and full of fluff.  They talked more about the Air Marshals and the hijackers than the super-hero that helped the Air Marshals stop the hijackers.  The only thing that they let slip about the super-hero was that he was in critical condition at some undisclosed location and under the protection of the U.S. Marshal Service.  I hope that he will be okay.

After that, I make it 30 pages into the book when I just can’t read anymore.  The story about the hijacking makes me too keyed up to concentrate on the book.  I feel the need, the need to blow stuff up!

I switch back to my Selene kick-ass, take names vampire outfit, and enter the range again.  I start with one gun until I get bored and decide to play around with a two-gun style.  I’m surprised to discover that with the fire control thing-a-ma-jig, the two guns actually work pretty well.  Until it is time to reload anyway.  It proves to be much easier to reload and maintain a steady rate of fire with just one gun, but two guns are hard to beat when I need to put down some serious firepower.  Plus, it just looks cool.  I could just carry two extra guns if the reloading thing became a problem.  It’s hard to believe that I could shoot thirty bullets or rounds as my system calls them, and still need to fire more, but oh well.  There is no such thing as too much firepower, is there?

After forty-five minutes of playing around and firing off over five-hundred rounds in the plain target range, I decide to try that “Hostage Rescue” scenario.  I hope that maybe it will have some plane-hijacking scenario that I can play with, but instead, it is just a normal pop-up thing. It is still fun though.  

Targets pop up with bad guys, good guys and bad guys holding good guys.  The goal is to not shoot the good guys and that proves to be a little tricky until I learn to look for the bad guys by how threatening they look or when there is a hostage, who is holding the gun.  I started the scenario all conservative by using just one gun, but that got boring so I added the second gun and set it for two-player mode.  After an hour of that, I had the difficulty level set so high that if I wasn’t careful, I would run out of bullets in both my two main guns, but also the two extra guns I added for backup.

I’m really into it and having a blast when I hear someone clapping at the end of a 100% successful mission. “That was awesome, Bree!”

Ambush alarms start to sound and threat screens start to flash in my HUD. I spot a human shaped target as I desperately spin around. In just 0.0103 seconds, my system automatically cycles through all of the hostage target parameters.

>Target: Single
>Sex: Female
>Armed: False
>Target Designation: Hostage

The hostage jumps back and raises her hands. I am confused.  How did a target get behind me, how did it know my name and why is it moving?  The target is wearing a cute little school girl uniform and none of the other hostages in the sim have looked like her. What is going on?

Somehow, the hostage speaks. “Bree?”

I blink my eyes and realize just who I am pointing a pair of loaded guns at.

“Sara?”

“Whoa.  Bree.” Sara smiles, drops her hands and steps forward. “Ya scared me there for a second.  I almost thought that you were going to shoot me.”

I suddenly realize that I’m still pointing my guns at Sara.  I feel myself blush with embarrassment as I quickly lower and holster them both.  I could’ve shot her. I almost knock her down when I rush forward and wrap my arms around her. “Sara!  What are you doing here!?”

“Whoa kiddo!  Not so rough.” She laughs and I feel her kiss the side of my head before her voice slips into an octave that makes my body tingle. “Yer looking good enough to eat in that outfit...oops.  Sorry.”

Confused by both what my body is feeling and her apology, I pull my head back and look into her face.  I am surprised to find that I am an inch or two taller than her. My breath catches in my throat. She’s so beautiful and her lips look so kissable.  I move to kiss her, but she gently pushes me away. I don’t understand why she is pushing me away until I suddenly realize that I wanted to kiss her and not a just a friendly little kiss either.

I feel so many shades of embarrassment flash across my face. “Oh-my-god Sara.  I am so embarrassed.  I dunno what came over me.”

“Don’t worry. It’s not you.  It’s part of my nature.”

My insides are still tingling a little bit. That reminds me about my dinner conversation with my mom. I want to ask her what she is, but I don’t want to sound like I don’t trust her.  She’s Nikki’s sister or something. Except for some minor differences like the fangs and Goth makeup, she looks a lot like Nikki. “Umm, I’m sorry Sara, but I don’t know how to ask this without sounding rude.”  I watch as her eyebrow arches inquisitively as a playful little smile forms on her perfect lips.  I’m starting to feel distracted by her again. Oh, crap. I just need to say it. “What are you and why am I having such a hard time here?”

She giggles at me and even that sounds seductive to me, but at I’m glad because it doesn’t look like she’s mad at me for asking the question.  “Well...I suppose that since, according to Nikki, we are now cousins and all that, you are entitled to know. It’s a little complicated, but the simple answer is that I am a demon of sorts.” She looks at me and studies my reaction.  For some reason, I know that I should be screaming in panic right now. I’ve seen plenty of horror movies.  Demons are bad.  Nothing good can come from associating with a demon, but I just don’t feel that way about her. She nods and continues. “As to why you are feeling so attracted to me, one of my demonic powers is lust.  That is what has been affecting you. I’m sorry, but I can’t turn it off completely.  However, now that you know, you will probably have an easier time resisting it.”

Well, that sort of explains a lot. “Ummm, okay...”

Sara tilts her head to the side.  She looks a little surprised by my calm acceptance. “That’s it?  Okay?  You do know that demons are evil, right?”

“I know that Nikki trusts you.” She snorts at that one, but she doesn’t deny it. “Maybe ignorance is bliss?” I hopefully finish with a shrug of my shoulders.

She frowns at me as she places her finger to her lips as she thinks something over. “Hmmm...maybe there is something to that, but are you strong enough?”

“Strong enough for what?”

My question galvanizes her thoughts. “We will have to find the answer to that question some other time.”  She saunters past me and gives my virtual range a quick visual inspection.

“I like what you have done to the place.  Having a simulator like this could come in handy for you.”

The abrupt change in topics confuses me at first.  What question? She’s hiding something from me.  I want to ask her what I might not be strong enough to handle.  I’m sure that if I can handle being turned into a girl and having my life turned upside down, then I can handle anything else. Wait a second.  What did she just say? “Huh?”

She giggles at me. “I said that this sim you have could be handy for training.”

“Oh, yeah. It is kinda fun.”

“Well, I’ve seen a few sims and yours looks pretty good.  Basic, but still good.  Can you do anything else with it?”

“There is a custom option that I haven’t tried yet.”

Sara bounces with excitement. “Oooh...try that!”

“Ookaay...”  I switch it over to the custom setting and everything in the room disappears.  We are in a flat and featureless space that seems to be endless.  “Ummm...this seems a little too basic?”

“Do ya have any additional options to pick from now?”

“I dunno. Lemme check.”  I think ‘options’ and a window opens up with a few additional menu choices.  There are things like ‘Weather’, ‘Terrain’, ‘Enemy’ and ‘AI Level’.  I start to relay the choices to Sara, but decide that it might be better if I can just show her what I see.  

A holographic display appears beside me and mirrors everything I can see for the options.  Sara looks at it hesitantly touches the ‘Terrain’ option.  Addition choices open up in a sub-menu.  She picks ‘Urban’ and another sub-menu opens.  She picks ‘Inner-City/Slum’ and the next thing I know we are both standing in the middle of a street.  We are surrounded by run-down buildings on both sides with a few broken down cars sitting on blocks.

We both spin around and examine our surroundings a little closer. Everything looks very real, but at the same time I can tell that it isn’t real due to how clean the street looks, how perfect the buildings look and how eerily silent it is.  I walk over to one of the cars and touch it.  I’m not sure what I expected. Maybe that my hand would pass through it or if it is solid, that it wouldn’t feel real, but the car feels very real to my touch.  I tap on the hood and it sounds like I am tapping on a metal car hood.  “Wow...this is so cool.”

I turn back to Sara and I see her selecting more options using the floating display.  I hear her muttering to herself, “Nope”, “Yep”, “Not that”, as she selects different items on the menu.  She stops selecting items. “Okay...that looks good.”  She turns and looks at me. “Are ya ready?”

I’m a little surprised. “Ummm, sure?”

Sara pushes one final option and the street comes alive with sounds, people and cars.  I think that she is a little surprised too.  Her eyes widen as she turns and smiles at me with pleasure. She’s still standing in the middle of the street as a low-rider custom car cruises past her and the driver honks his horn at her.

“Yo, chica!  Outta the street! I don’ wanna ruin my paint if I hit ya!”

She flips him off and casually joins me at the side of the car I was testing.   Her eyes are shining with excitement and I can see her fangs showing.    “Wow, Bree.  This is pretty damn cool!  Once you know what you can do and we have more time to play around with it, I think that you will be able to use this for some good training without having to worry about using the Whateley Simulators.”

I can only nod in agreement.  “This is cool, but I still haven’t decided if I am going to go to Whateley.”

Sara looks at me with surprise. “What do ya mean?”

I’m about to reply when I am rudely interrupted when I hear a wolf whistle from behind me. “Nice ass, chica!”

Startled, I turn to face the source and I feel myself blush from embarrassment as I realize that it is just a random NPC.  I turn back to find Sara not even trying to swallow her shit eating grin.  “Sara!  It’s not funny!”

That just causes her to laugh out loud at my reaction.

“Yo, chica! How about you and me,” I turn back to see the NPC approaching me as he pantomimes something with his hands that I can only assume is rude. “Ya know?”

Oh.  Two can play at this game!  I whip out my Berretta and aim it at his face. “How about no?”

The NPC’s eyes widen with shock as he raises his hands and backs away. “De nada, chica.  Ya don’t have to be so violent about it!”

As I re-holster my gun, I can hear Sara laughing at me. I spin back to yell at her too.  That emotion dies as soon as I see how down-right cute she looks as she laughs at me.  It is just so not fair. I can’t help myself.  I feel my cheeks stretching into an involuntary smile.

She brings her laughter under control, but still manages a giggle or two. “Oh my god!  You shoulda seen your face!”

More NPC’s and traffic are passing by our place on the sidewalk.  It’s a little distracting.  I think “pause” and everything except for Sara and I freeze in place.  “Sara!  That was soooo not funny!”

That stops her giggles for a second as she pretends to give it serious thought.  “Oh yeah it was. Plus, ya gotta admit.  With that outfit on, you do have a nice ass.”

I can only gasp with surprise. That causes her to laugh at me even more. “Sara! You. Are. So. Evil.  Evil with a capital ‘E’. Evil.”

That starts her laughing again and it takes her a little while to get her laughter under control while all I can do is stand there with my arms crossed, trying and failing to achieve a murderous glare at her.  I finally give in and twist around to take a quick peek behind myself.  “Okay.  Yeah.  I do have a nice, umm, ass.  Thank you very much for pointing that out.”  I hope that the sarcasm levels in my voice are high enough.

Sara simply smiles at me as she saunters past me while I turn my head to keep my eye on her.  She uses that opportunity to sneak a playful slap on my ass. “Psshhta!  Ouchie...so hot!”

She barely touches my leather-clad butt and my momentary shock dissolves into helpless laughter as she pretends to be hurt by sucking on her finger.  She even does that seductively.  “You’re impossible, but I don’t think you came all this way to just tease me.”

She smiles demurely at me. “Did I?”

“Sara!”  I will the sim to go away and replace it with my virtual living room.  My outfit morphs into a comfy pair of sweat pants with a matching and loose fitting sweat shirt.  No more shows for Sara.

“Party-pooper!”  She pouts.  

I ignore her obviously fake pout and cross my arms while I tap my foot. “Well?”

She is such a drama queen. She switches to mock fear. “Okay, Okay!  I’ll talk! Please don’t spank me!”  She stops for second and I just know that she is going to say something “evil”.  I can see it written all over her face just before she looks down at the floor with a shy and innocent schoolgirl expression. “Well, if you put back on your vampire outfit, maybe you can spank me just a little?” She says as she looks up expectantly at me.

It isn’t easy, but I manage to maintain my tough girl facade. “Sara...”

She sighs with defeat and plops herself down on the couch.  “Okay.  I just wanted to see how you were doing and what you thought about coming to Whateley.”

I didn’t think that she would give up that easily.  I walk over and sit down next to her.  I give her a hug and ignore all the tingly feelings that touching her is causing me. “Oh, Sara.  In spite of your teasing and maybe even because of it, I am glad that you’re here.”

I feel her squeeze me in return and it feels like she has more than two arms for a second, but when I pull back and look, she is just sitting there trying to look innocent and failing miserably.  I just shake my head. “I think that I want to go to Whateley, but it would be a big change for me.”

She just smiles and points at me with her eyes. “Even bigger than what you’ve already had?”

“Okay, but I’d be away from home and it is a JROTC scholarship so I would have to do Army stuff.”

“I can’t really relate on the ‘away from home’ thing, but I can understand how that could be hard on a person.  The Army thing...I’ve worked with some of the folks on that team. They are pretty good kids.”  She pauses for a second in thought. “Just don’t let ‘em know that you’re friends with me.”

“What?  Why not?”

“Well, some of them are still a bit upset with me for beating them in a battle sim run.”

“Oh.”

“As a matter of fact, you should probably pretend to not know me at all when you get to Whateley.”

I get the feeling that she is pushing me away. Like maybe she doesn’t like me. “Huh? Why would I need to do that?”

She just looks at me with a sad expression and sighs. “Because of what I am.  There are a lot of folks who would try to hurt you just to get back at me.  They would consider you “tainted” if they knew that we were friends.”

I notice that she called me her ‘friend’ there. That makes me feel better. “What about Nikki?”

“Oh, you can be friends with her, but my advice would be to take it slow at first. In public, I’d pretend like you don’t really know her either.  She’s very popular at school and getting too close to her right off the bat could cause you some troubles too.  Team Kimba seems to be a lightning rod for trouble too, so until you’ve had a chance to learn the terrain, the more distance you can keep between them and you, the better.”

“Team Kimba?”

“Yeah, that’s the umm, training team that Fey belongs to and I’ve had a relationship with.”  She stops and studies me for a second.

I look down and stare at the couch to help remove the distraction that she can cause. I think that she can tell that I’m feeling a little lost.  I thought that going to Whateley would be easier because I already had two friends there, but now it sounds like that might actually make things harder for me.

Sara reaches out and grabs my hands. “Look, Bree.” I initially try to keep looking down to help maintain my distance so I won’t start crying.  She reaches over with her hand and gently lifts my chin up. “Based on what Nikki has told me, I firmly believe that you should be at Whateley right now.”  

I can see the concern on her face and that causes me to feel a lump starting to form in my throat. I am so close to crying now it isn’t funny.

“I don’t even want you to go through powers testing down there, but...” She pauses as a pained expression crosses her face.  “...but I think that things will be okay since you’re going to be there under completely different circumstances.  Plus, you have Mr. Reilly and the President behind you.”

I can feel the fierce concern in her voice and body language.  “You’re still worried though.  What happened?”

She sighs and shakes her head. “It’s a dark story and I don’t think that now would be a good time to go into it.  It’s done and over.  Time to move on instead of reopening old wounds,” Her body begins to change as her mood darkens. An inky black miasma pools around her and forms tentacles.  Her eyes become bottomless pools of an inky black color that tug on my soul while her voice takes on a hollow timbre that causes every hair on my body to stand on end. “...but if I ever find the scum who caused the pain that my friend suffered; I will happily drag him to hell and torture him myself!”

I find myself rooted in place.  Conflicted over what I am seeing and feeling. My monkey brain is telling me that I need to run as far away from this demon creature thing as I can possibly get, but the part of me that knows that it is Sara just wants to give her a hug.  

This whole hug instinct is so out of control.  I swear that I have hugged and been hugged more in the last two days than in my entire life. A hug just always seems to make things better somehow.  I don’t understand why I didn’t know this fact sooner. I beat down the fear and before I can think about if I’m doing something stupid, I close my eyes and throw myself at Sara, wrapping my arms around her body.

Initially, she feels all wrong.  My skin crawls from the contact with her body.  It feels like I am hugging worms, maggots and all sorts of creepy crawly things. Horrible nightmare things that should never see the light of day, but I tell myself that I’m hugging Sara.  I hug her tighter and the wrongness fades.  See? A hug does make things better.

I feel Sara return my hug and am surprised when I feel her shudder.  I tilt my head back to look up at her face and I am relieved to see that her eyes have returned to their normal blood red color.  I am further surprised to find that I think that blood red for an eye color is normal and reassuring.

She smiles and gently kisses my forehead. “You’re one tough cookie.  Methinks that anyone who tries to mess with you will be in for an unpleasant surprise or two.”

I can’t stop a nervous laugh from bubbling up from my throat. “Oh? If that’s true, then why does the idea of my mom taking me shopping at the mall scare me so much?”