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 Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:31 pm
 Silently, Agent Montana crept up on the snoozing soldiers. Asleep on the job! A smack on the head would keep them out until she could safely drive the three Mongooses back to the gathering point. It occurred to her as she drove the third back that she was about to embark on the most dangerous mission of her life on little more than a whim. No. Not my whim. Pi's. Monty's AI had been moody and depressed lately with the talk about Epsilon. Well, if Epsilon was kept at Command's headquarters, why not storm them and take him out? A daring mission, but for the past several years, Monty had had a cultured hate of Command. This ought to take the wind out of its sails while making up to Pi for all the things she had done to her in the past. Impatiently, Pi waited for Monty to return with the last Mongoose. She paced back and forth, checking her gear a couple more times. She had left notes for Urania and Vestia; hopefully they would understand. She felt more excited than she had in years; finally, they were doing something! She might see him again! And she was surrounded by...yes, by friends. Funny...she had never expected to have friends, but here they were, ready to stand by her side as they broke into Command, the very heart of the program that had ruled their lives for so long after its supposed end. Kyna waited somewhat more patiently than Pi. She had never seen Command; she had only heard about it from her fathers. This was my parents' world, she realized. I've never really lived in a world that was my own, just a world that belonged to my parents. Well, it's time to change that. Time to take a little control of my life and find out just what I can do.
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:50 pm
 Yvette fiddled in her kits just away from everyone else. She'd made a mental list of every possible gadget they'd need from here on out and was determined to get them finished before they got anywhere near command. D had figured the trip at about two days. Plenty of time to make the little odds and ends that could be essential to getting in and out. She gently blew a speck of dust off of the component in her paws and carefully attached it to the assembly in her lap.  D was an nervous as Pi, but was much better at hiding it. He covertly watched Yvette-no he corrected himself- Albany work on the device in her lap and had to restrain himself from thinking about her father. She looked a lot like him, he realized. From the look on her face as she worked to the way she carried herself. She had York written all over her and more than that...she thought like York. It had surprised him a bit the first time he'd been in his daughters head but he should have expected it...she was like him in almost every way...
D mentally slapped himself. He couldn't act like this, it was dangerous. Not only to himself but to his daughters and the rest of the team. No he had to get his head on straight...and more than that he needed to make sure things were clear with his girls. "Kyna, Yvette," he called quietly to them. "I need a word with you two." he said. He knew the coming conversation wouldn't be easy...well...maybe for one of them it would be...but for the other...he sighed. This was just one of those things he had to do.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 4:31 pm
Kyna trotted over to D. "Don't you mean K and Albany?" she said with a slight smile, green eyes bright with anticipation and excitement. She sat down next to Delta and Yv--Albany. That's her codename. Daddy's D, Monty's, well, Monty, Miss is herself, but Yvette is Albany and I am K. This was going to take some getting used to!
From the tone in D's voice, however, K realized that this was not the time to be messing around. He sounded serious...perhaps a little worried. She fell silent and waited.
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 5:11 pm
D frowned slightly at Kyna. This might be slightly harder than he thought it would be, she was excited...maybe too excited. He hoped she knew precisely what she'd gotten herself into when she'd decided to come along. "No...I meant Kyna and Yvette right now." he said in all seriousness.
Yvette put down the device in her lap and walked over to D and K. "Yes, D?" she asked sitting down her face neutral. She didn't quite understand why, but the moment she'd said 'Call me Albany' she'd felt something shift inside her mind...as if she wasn't quite Yvette anymore. She fidgeted slightly as D said he wanted to talk to his daughters by proper name right now. She wondered if he'd felt what she'd felt the instant they'd joined this little adventure.
D looked between his little girls...well they weren't so little anymore...but they were still his. He looked at Yvette and saw what he'd already felt from her mind. She'd already learned to some degree...in Kyna he didn't see it yet. Well he hoped he'd be able show her what he expected from her.
He stood up and then moved towards them and put a paw on Yvette's left shoulder and the other on Kyna's right one. He then pulled them toward him in what he figured would be his last gesture as a father to his girls until they got home. "I love you both." he said quietly nuzzling the tops of there heads. "Never forget that." he then let them go, stepped back and immediately changed his perspective. Yvette and Kyna were gone, only K and Albany remained.
He looked at K first. "This may be hard for you to understand at first, but you have to try." he said. "From this moment forward, I'm not your father, Albany is not your sister, and you are not Kyna...you're K, AI temporarily assigned to Agent Missouri. Just as Albany is my assignee. You will spend as much time as possible with Missouri, learn her habits, how she fights, you will assist her as best you can in combat should it come to it. You will not abandon your partner...Ever." he said pausing for a moment to let that sink in. "You will refer to me only as D or Delta. I am your senior in all respects, as is Pi. If one of us issues you an order you will obey without question. Do you understand?" he said flatly. He knew this had to be hard on her, but it had to be done. She had to understand and no matter how much he wanted to comfort her, he couldn't. Things had changed now.
He then looked at Albany. "You understand don't you. The minute you spoke your codename, that you weren't Yvette anymore, didn't you?"
Albany nodded. "Yes. But she's still there...waiting inside me, but I just can't be her right now..." she looked over at K. "Just give it some time...you'll figure it out."
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 5:11 pm
Miss looked down at the jar she held in her paws, debating on if she would need it. It wasn't something she liked to do but if the mission required it, Miss wanted to be ready.
Figuring it wouldn't hurt to ask, "Hey Pi, do you know what I will be doing because if I need to be close I have this," Miss held out the jar she had been holding, "that will tone down my wonderful pink armor so it doesn't stand out so much."
Not only would the contents of the jar tone down her armor but it would actually form a nearly black shell that couldn't come off unless Miss applied a different solution to it. She had used it a few times before when her sniper rifle wasn't right for a job and it was a pain in the a** to remove and required a lot of scrubbing.
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 7:56 pm
Kyna opened her mouth to say something, then closed it, blinked, and swallowed. Da--D seemed so...far away now. Family was all that K had had for a long time; the delicate position her parents had occupied had made friends a little tricky to make when she was a child. The idea that she didn't have a sister now...
Of course I don't have a sister! part of her snapped. AIs have no relatives. Everyone knows that AIs can't have children, so how can an AI have parents? Or siblings? "Yessir," K said with a nod to Delta. "Does that mean that I need to be in her mind, or will that not be necessary?"
"To hide your armor color?" Pi asked, trotting over. "Well, we might need to...it sort of...well, your armor is fabulous, Miss, but it does stand out a little. If we need to sneak around, it may have to be disguised, though I don't think we need that quite yet." She gave Miss a smile.
Monty hopped off the last Mongoose. "Vehicles secure," she reported. "Are we ready to move out?"
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:13 pm
D kept his face impassive but inside he was a turmoil of emotions. He wanted to grab K and hold her, tell her it wasn't forever, but he knew that she knew that just as he did. He collected himself and looked at her. "That's up to you and Agent Missouri. I suggest you ask her first chance you get, so that if she does want you to implant you have time to learn how she operates."
He looked up as Montana announced that the vehicles were secured. "Pack your things, K and report to Missouri." He said dismissing her. I love you, sweetheart... he said silently.
Albany immediately moved to her gear as D finished up and packed the kit she'd been working on back into her bag. "Ready." she called. "D?" she asked looking over at him yanking the card from her helmet.
D walked over to Albany and nodded. "Ready." he said touching his AI card and disappearing.
Albany took of her glasses and put them in the case at her hip and put her helmet back on and then inserted the card. "Agent Albany and D ready to move, Montana on your mark." she said.
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 8:39 pm
Miss sighed before she gave Pi a small smirk, "Alright, but you are helping me clean my armor once we're done with the mission." Pocketing the jar, Miss wanted to make sure she had it on her in case anything happened.
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 9:46 pm
Pi sighed and nodded. "Okay, Miss," she grinned. "I'll help you clean your armor." She turned to Monty, who offered out her helmet, and touched her AI card, disappearing.
"Agent Montana and Pi, ready to move as soon as we're all ready," Monty said with a smile.
K turned to Miss. "Er...Agent Missouri? Would you mind if I...went in your head?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:47 pm
Miss held in a giggle at the thought of how much cursing Pi was likely to do when giving the task of getting the stuff off the armor. At least she would get a little entertainment for having to put it on in the first place.
Turning toward K, Miss grinned, "I have no problem with that Hun, you wouldn't be the first I had in there."
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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:01 pm
K tried to hide a wave of excitement as she grinned and put herself into Miss's helmet.
Everything was awash and different, a sudden flow of emotions, thoughts, memories, feelings...K had lived inside her own mind and thought she knew it fairly well, but this was completely different, a tide, a flood, a wave of consciousness she had never known...and yet...it felt comforting almost. As if this was what she was made to do. Did I just think "made"? K wondered. "Sorry, Miss, this takes some getting used to for me, too...I'll try not to be in the way too much. I think I'm settled. Ready to go when you are!"
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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:17 pm
Miss closed her eyes as she got used to the feeling of having someone else in her head besides herself. "Don't worry yourself Darling and take the time you need."
Looking toward the others, "So what are we waiting for?"
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:17 pm
Albany picked up her bag and went over to one of the mongooses and securely strapped it down onto the back. Last thing she wanted was to loose her equipment. She took a deep breath and checked the straps again. I'm not nervous... she thought to herself. I'm not nervous...
You're going to be fine, Albany. D said from the back part of her mind reassuringly.
Albany jumped slightly as she got the mental response. It was surprising how easy it was to forget that D was in her head with her. She fiddled with the straps on her bag since she couldn't very well use the end of her braid and took slow even breaths. D was right, she was going to be fine...at least she hoped so...
D shook his head and restrained himself from trying to comfort his partner. She wasn't used to having him around and hadn't learned how to keep thoughts from him. He hoped though that she'd never have to learn that much. We've got lots to think about on the drive. he said giving her something to think about.
Albany nodded. Yeah... she thought back at him. Give me something to do at least... she thought.
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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:13 pm
Monty laughed. "We aren't waiting for anything now!" She leapt onto her Mongoose and got herself settled. Pi was back in her head...well, arguably Pi had always been in her head since the first implantation, but she hadn't been in in for some time. It felt strange to feel Pi settle herself in. "All ready?" Monty asked her partner. "This is going to be a long journey. Remember the last time we went on a trip together?"
"Yes, I do," Pi said in a tone of thought that implied a dark smile. "But I would not think that you would enjoy such a memory. However...I don't believe we've ever gone on a trip with others. They will make the journey...interesting."
Monty agreed. Getting used to Pi being fully back in her wasn't that bad; she was used to hiding some of her thoughts from another entity, most especially her memories. Didn't matter. If they were going to do the group any good, they'd be shared memories.
"Stop that. Remember last time you failed to give my crucial information?"
"Hush." "All right, let's go!" Monty said quickly before she and Pi started arguing again. They got along well nowadays, but sometimes she wondered if they would ever fully finish forgiving themselves and the other.
"Thanks," K said gratefully. "This is just as new an experience for me as it...well, it isn't new for you, but it's new for me." K decided to wait for the drive before fulfilling D's orders. Find out everything there is to know...how far will I have to go? And how far will I go?
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:29 pm
Albany hopped on her selected mongoose and settled herself. She started the ATV and revved it a bit getting a feel for the little vehicle. Maps...we need a map...a good one...and schematics. Maybe a jammer, a scrambler more than likely, a randomizer for any computer locks...D anything else? she asked.
D thought for a minute. Force field generators maybe... he thought back at her. He nudged her mind gently as he saw the others about ready. Mind on task, Albany.
Albany nodded. Yes, D. she said. She looked up at the others and waited.
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