Chapter 2:
Morning Greetings
Xan wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep when a loud pounding on her bedroom door pulled her out of her familiar nightmare. Pale blue eyes shot open, immediately alert when she heard the incessant knocking. She turned her head, reading the time on her clock, and scowled when she read what it said. She threw the blankets off her legs and noiselessly walked to the source of the hammering sound outside her bedroom.
She pressed the button that was built into the wall next to the door and the metal barrier quickly shot up, revealing a scarcely clothed Henry standing outside her room, wearing only a pair of checkered boxers and a white tank top that did little to hide his muscular torso. She chuckled inwardly at his appearance before leaning casually against the doorway.
“Do you always wake people up at three in the morning or is today just a special occasion?” she asked coolly, an irritated look on her face. The big man ran a nervous hand through his hair before answering her.
“Well, you see… we’re having some difficulties at the moment. I thought maybe you’d be able to help us out.”
“Difficulties?” Henry shifted as the pale eyes stared at him, an eyebrow raised in question. “Do you care to elaborate on that?”
“It’s a little hard to explain. Do you mind if I just show you the problem?” he told Xan. “Okay, follow me.” he instructed her when she nodded her approval.
Xan followed the big man through the halls. While they walked, she thought she could hear screaming becoming louder and louder. It had started off quietly and at first, she thought she had just imagined it. But with every step they took, it became louder. She followed Henry up the stairs and she began to get an idea of where the loud screaming, which was now accompanied by muffled sobs, was coming from. They stopped just outside the open door of the android’s room. She pushed through the crowd of teenaged Protectors and Ilarius, who all had their hands over their ears to block out the loud cries, so she could see what was going on. She had to dodge a flying suitcase that was sent her way when she pushed through the small crowd, hearing an indignant cry from Ilarius when it missed her and hit him instead.
Xan was greeted by the sight of the small woman thrashing around in the bed, arms attacking an unseen enemy. Tears streaked the soft skin of her face and they continued to fall as she took turns screaming and sobbing. Her reddish blonde hair was matted to the sides of her face and her nose was beginning to run slightly. As Xan watched, not sure of what she should do, glazed over green eyes met her pale blue ones. The shrill screaming stopped immediately and the sobbing began to lessen, leaving the blonde sniffling as she tried to talk through the hiccups. Xan shrugged off the foreign language and turned to face her dumbfounded partners. As she turned around though, the screaming began again.
‘That must’ve just been a break!’ she thought, exasperated, as she covered her ears with her hands. “Well?!” she asked loudly when she turned around, looking from the Protectors to her fellow Guardians.
“We’ve tried everything! She won’t stop!” Ilarius answered her, having to yell to be heard over the shrill screaming. Xan frowned and turned back towards the blonde on the bed. The woman had curled herself up against the wooden headboard and was staring at them with seemingly unseeing eyes while she screamed and the tears fell freely. Xan could tell her voice was getting hoarse from so much use. She walked over to the side of the bed so she could figure out what was making the android scream like it was, pressing her hands tighter against the sides of her head with every step to block out the cries that seemed to get louder as she got closer. Xan felt something enclose around her wrist before she even registered what had happened.
She had just gotten close enough to the bed that she could clearly see the cold sweat that drenched the small woman’s clothing and was reaching out to pull the blanket off the bed when a small, clammy hand darted out and weakly gripped onto where her forearm and hand met. The screaming died out once again and Xan removed her free hand from the side of her head, blue eyes never leaving the small fingers curled around her wrist.
“How… I don’t get it. Every time we tried to get close to her, she tried to attack us.” Ilarius said in amazement. The one thing that could comfort the small woman was the most intimidating person he had ever met. Who would have guessed? Xan didn’t answer him, which was either her way of letting him know she had no idea or letting him know she was ignoring him. Maybe it was both.
For a moment, Xan forgot that the scared being she was allowing to hold onto her was really an android and she allowed the smaller woman to keep a hold on her wrist. After all, didn’t she just get woken up from a nightmare that would have later made her wake up in a pool of sweat? Of course, she had stopped screaming and thrashing around a long time ago, after she became used to the horrors that haunted her sleep. The sound of Ilarius’ voice brought her back to reality though, and she remembered just what had a hold of her. She scowled at the heavily breathing woman and pried the slender fingers off her wrist before slinking back into the crowd of Guardians that had stared in wonder when she quieted down the android.
She hadn’t been away from the woman’s side for three seconds when the loud screaming began again.
“Why’d ya leave her? She was finally bein’ quiet!” the pink-haired girl asked as she clapped her hands over her ears again. She had been amazed when the shrill screaming was stopped just by the presence of the taller woman in the blonde’s grasp.
“She’s just having a nightmare, nothing serious.” Xan waved her off as she made her way through the six other guardians.
“Nothin’ serious? How d’you expect us to go to sleep with all the noise that bitch is makin’?” Lawrence asked angrily, nodding his head in the direction of the blonde. The dark haired Guardian quickly turned around and towered over the messy, green haired Protector. For some reason, she found part of herself angered that he had even dared call the small woman a name like that. Another part hated the fact that she even cared. So she covered her feelings up and directed the anger at Lawrence.
“Look here Lorrie.” she snarled. “If you don’t like the noise, deal with it. I don’t care how, as long as you don’t bug me.” she said loud enough for him to hear over the noise. After a few moments of silence, he shakily nodded his head in understanding. “Good. Now clean up your act and focus more on the job ahead of us than you do on complaining.” she ordered him before leaving the room, leaving six quiet Guardians and a screaming blonde behind.
Lawrence turned to the older men that had been left with them and gave them a questioning and somewhat desperate look. The two sadly shrugged and motioned for them to head outside. Lawrence looked at his friends and nodded, signaling for them to follow. With a final glance towards the scared woman, they left the room, the door sliding shut behind them.
“What are we s’possed to do with her? I ain’t sleepin’ with all that noise goin’ on down the hall.” he asked. His friends all looked over at Henry and Ilarius with the same questioning look, not sure of what to do. Ilarius sighed and Henry shook his head, neither of them knowing what they should say.
“Well, I guess we could ignore it.” Ilarius finally suggested, eyes rolling at his answer. “What? It’s the best answer I could come up with! Besides, I don‘t see any of you geniuses coming up with anything.” he defended himself, looking to Henry for support. The bigger man shrugged his shoulders and then looked to the teenagers.
“Just put some music on and drown it out. That’s the only thing I can come up with.” he said, defeated.
“She seemed to calm down drastically when she had Xan to hold onto. Maybe if one of us was to stay with her through the night so she’d have something to hold onto, she’d be quiet.” Ace supplied, squinting to see clearly since he didn’t have his glasses on.
“Ace, that idea’s perfect! In fact, I volunteer to be the one to stay with ’er!” Lawrence said, slapping Ace on the back.
“You seem to be forgetting something, guys. Xan was also the only one she let close enough to make contact with her. Anybody else and she attacks them.” Henry reminded them as he shook his head.
“Well ain’t you got some kind of super strength? You could stop those attacks easy and make her hold onto ya.” the pink haired girl questioned, wishing she had a cigarette or a stick of gum as her hands fidgeted. The big man shook his head.
“The way she’s fighting, I might not be able to control my strength. We’re supposed to protect her, not send hurt her.”
“So it’s decided. Just go back to your rooms and put on some music. It should be able to keep out the sound of most of the screaming.” Ilarius told them, shooing the teenagers off to bed. Once they were out of sight, he turned back to his friend. “Y’know Henry, Ace was on to something. I could always--”
“Ilarius, you are not going anywhere near her. As… attractive as she is, the girl is dangerous in this state of mind. Who knows what’d she do to someone trying to force their way next to her, even if it was to help.” Henry interrupted, declining his friend’s offer. “Besides, we both know it would be more for you than for her, you sly dog.” he smiled before heading towards their room, Ilarius following after a few minutes. They both tried to ignore the feelings of guilt as they lay in their beds, but found that the blonde continued to creep into their thoughts before they finally fell asleep.
Although Xan didn’t have to be up early that morning, since she’d be working from home with six other people, her internal clock woke her up three hours after the screaming incident. For the first night in ten years, she hadn’t woken up in a cold sweat trying to recall a nightmare. No, after the incident that had interrupted her sleep three hours earlier, she hadn’t dreamt at all. Deciding not to question her luck, she pulled the covers off and began her early morning routine.
‘Why question good luck?’ she thought to herself as she chose an outfit from the panel next to the closet. Choosing a pair of black gym shorts, a grey tank top, a white sports bra, and a pair of white sneakers, she waited for her selections to show up in the closet. While she stood in front of the closet for the short wait, she began to feel a little guilty about abandoning Sam. ‘When did I decide to start using her name?’ she asked herself angrily as she reached inside the closet and pulled out the floating garments. True, she hadn’t actually spoken the android’s name but if she started referring to her by name in her thoughts, no doubt she’d be calling her by name out loud not too long after. She forcefully pulled the nightgown off and began changing while convincing herself not to get attached to the abomination, reminding herself that it would only end up hurting her in the end. After throwing her nightgown in the closet like she had done with the dirty clothes the night before, she left her room and headed for the kitchen.
Xan loved this time of the day, before the sun rose, because it offered her a sense of tranquility that she hardly ever got. A strange feeling was disturbing that sense of peace, though, as she made her way to the large kitchen. She was the only one up in the house, a benefit of waking up so early, so it was almost like it had been yesterday morning. So why did she feel as if something was wrong?
The feeling stayed with her as she crossed the tiled kitchen floor over to the refrigerator. She dug through the fridge, trying to find something edible that she wouldn’t have to cook the old fashioned way. She managed to scrounge up food tablets for bacon and eggs, along with a carton of orange juice. The hairs stood up on the back of her neck as she felt a pair of eyes on her. Cautiously closing the fridge door with two food tablets and a carton of milk in her hands, she turned around. She was greeted by a pair of green eyes staring up at her. Everything was silent for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only a few seconds, before Xan spoke.
“What do you want?” she asked coldly, the refrigerator door closing quietly as she shifted her weight to the side and juggled her items in her arms. The blonde blinked and tilted her head to the side, reminding Xan of a puppy.
“Anyuk?” she finally asked in a hoarse voice, her throat most likely sore from last night, when she couldn’t figure out what the taller woman was saying. Xan shook her head, not even trying to decipher what the blonde said, as she carried her findings over to the counter where the food dispenser sat, the only type of domestic machine that Xan really liked since she had no idea how to cook. After placing the tablets on the deep tray that stuck out from the side of the box, which was about the same size as the old fashioned microwaves Xan had seen when browsing through the encyclopedia, she slid it inside and waited a few moments.
Sam watched in amazement as Xan pulled the tray back out seconds later, what she assumed to be food magically appearing where the two little tablets had been earlier. She unconsciously leaned forward for a better look and her nose was treated with the delicious aroma that was coming from the items in the tray. She had never seen, or smelled, anything like it on Solarius. The tray was suddenly yanked away from view and she looked up at Xan in question. ‘Not for you’ was the only answer she got from the taller woman. Sam couldn’t understand what she had been told but the harsh tone easily sent the message.
When the dark haired Earthling left the kitchen, Sam followed after her, curious about what she was doing. She was grateful when they entered a room that didn’t have such a cold, hard floor and was instead covered in a soft, comfortable fabric. The woman she was following sat on a black piece of furniture, which contrasted with the white material that covered the floor. The furnishing looked big enough for at least three people so Sam happily took a seat next to the dark haired woman. The look she received caused her to lose the smile on her face and made her scoot over to the empty space furthest from her tall companion, Xan making it clear she wanted nothing to do with her.
She jumped when a loud noise came from a screen built into the wall of the room. Images began to appear in the screen, some being of other Earthlings and others being of creatures Sam had never seen before. Curious, she stood from the couch and walked towards the large screen that held the creatures inside it.
As she got closer, it occurred to Sam that it seemed like the figures in the screen were nearly popping out at her, looking as if they were trying to escape from their prison. She squealed and fell backwards, nearly hitting the wooden table in front of black piece of furniture, when one particularly menacing, large creature with sharp teeth, scaly skin, and red eyes blew fire towards her. When she realized she wasn’t in any danger, she looked back at Xan and saw a somewhat amused expression on the other woman’s face. Sam could feel the burning in her cheeks, embarrassed by her reaction to what was obviously supposed to be entertainment. Not wanting the other woman to see her face turn different shades of red, she turned back to the screen with the figures inside.
Xan had seen the blonde blush and almost laughed when she turned back to the screen. To her, the android seemed like a little kid who was just beginning to discover the world around them, the child-like reactions from the blonde only adding on to the image of innocence. The android reminded her so much of her brother Lonnie, with the blonde hair and innocent actions, that it hurt to really take a look at her. The fact that this woman was also one of the things that had destroyed her life didn’t help, either.
‘It’s strange… one of the things that I hate looks so much like the one person that I truly cared about.’ she thought sadly as she concentrated on her now cold food instead of the excited and amazed squeals of the other woman in the room.
After slowly finishing the meager breakfast, Xan stood from the comfortable couch, leaving the tray on the coffee table in front of her, and headed for a door next to the staircase that led upstairs. After pressing the button on the side of the metal barrier, it shot up and revealed another staircase that led downstairs, to her personal workout room. Without another thought, she started down the stairs, ready to work off the emotions that were slowly driving her insane, most of them caused by the strawberry blonde that was still tapping on the television screen, obviously confused by the images playing inside it.
The workout room was her favorite place to be in her large living quarters. It allowed her to block out the rest of the world and concentrate on building up her already impressive strength, an attribute that was greatly needed in the Agency. Once an underground gym built in the eighties, the workout room was large enough to hold fifty people. The large room wasn’t lacking in equipment either; it was probably the most furnished room in her house.
Treadmills and exercise bikes lined one wall, stair climbing machines forming a row behind them. On the other side of the room was a large, red punching bag hanging from the ceiling by a heavy chain. On the right side of the room, the wall was lined with flat benches, the weights that would fit the bars resting in a large container next to each bench. Taking up the middle of the gym was a large square that Xan used as an arena, where she could practice her fighting skills with and without weapons. A rubber model of any creature could be placed in the middle, allowing her to spar without a living partner. On the left side of the room was an entrance to a smaller room that had a gun range and held the weapons she liked to train with, usually swords. Taking a deep breath, Xan headed for one of the treadmills to start off her work out.
She concentrated on the pounding of her feet on the track and the sound of her breathing, not allowing any thoughts of the past or her future creep into her mind. She focused her eyes on the numbers that appeared on the screen of the treadmill that represented her heart rate, speed, and how far she had run, this way her thoughts couldn’t wander as she increased how fast she ran. It had been awhile since she had been in the gym, seeing as she never seemed to have any free time anymore since she had been promoted, but she still pushed her limits, determined to make up for lost time.
Twenty minutes later and she was stepping off the old fashioned workout machine and walking towards the arena. With every attack at the air, she felt the tension leave her body and her muscles begin to loosen. The exercise was tiring but it was relaxing at the same time. Unlike her job, where she could be killed if her thoughts weren’t focused on the task at hand, she could allow her mind to wander here. She never did stop concentrating on her actions, but just knowing that she could think about other things without her head being blown off helped her relax. So focused on her workout routine, she hardly noticed how time slipped by her.
Sam wasn’t sure how long she had been captivated by the moving images in the screen but when she turned around, Xan was no longer on the dark piece of furniture and all that was left of her was the leftovers of what she had been eating. Sam looked around, just to make sure she really was alone, and then walked over to the table that the tray was on. She hesitantly reached out a hand and took a piece of the yellow, soft food that she had seen Xan eating. Her eyes lit up in happiness after she took a tentative bite of the soft food. Before she knew it, she had cleaned the tray of most of the leftovers.
“I see you’ve discovered the breakfast delicacy known as eggs and bacon.” a female voice said from behind her. Sam turned around and found a blue haired teenager staring at her with grey eyes. Not understanding, she looked to the almost empty tray and back to the girl, hoping she hadn’t gotten herself into trouble. She saw the girl smile before she took a seat next to her. “Eggs and bacon.” the blue haired girl explained, pointing to each object slowly. Sam nodded in understanding and repeated what the girl had said, pointing to each object as the girl had done. “Wow, fast learner. My name’s Alicia.” blue hair introduced herself while pointing to her chest. Sam recognized that this was how Xan had introduced herself the night before and was beginning to pick up on how Earthlings introduced themselves.
“My name’s Samnervinalindana.” she replied, trying to use as much of the Earth language as she could. “Sam.” she added when she saw the girl blink. It had reminded her of Xan’s reaction the night before, although this girl was much more patient than the dark haired woman that had disappeared on her. Obviously they weren’t used to such long names.
“Amazing… you’ve only been with us one night and yet, you’re already picking up on our language. That’s great, considering how long you’ve been asleep.” Alicia marveled when she could finally speak again. It was Sam’s turn to blink. “Oh, sorry. Too many words at once, I guess.” the teenager apologized before standing up. “Will you come with me?” she asked, motioning for the blonde to follow her. Sam tilted her head to the side before standing up and following Alicia. “I really would like to help you. I mean, who else gets the chance to work with a member of a race that’s been extinct for who knows how long?” Alicia said excitedly as she led Sam to the room she shared with Moira, not caring that the blonde couldn’t understand most of what she was saying.
She opened the door to her room and led her charge inside, the door falling back down behind them and leaving the room dark. Alicia heard Sam squeal before she clapped her hands and the lights came on, forcing her roommate to roll on her side and bring her blanket up over her pink head. The blonde looked at her and then down at her hands before clapping them. The lights went off and Alicia quickly clapped again to bring them back on. Sam must have thought it was a game because she clapped and the room went dark, making the young woman giggle and Alicia‘s roommate growl slightly. Before Alicia could clap to turn the lights back on, Sam was clapping again and illuminating the room. The Protector gently took a hold of Sam’s wrist before she could clap again and waved a finger.
“No more.” she said gently before leading her to one of the large chairs that had been place in her room. Sam looked at her with confused eyes, tilting her head to the side. “Chair.” Alicia explained before gently lowering Sam into it. “You sit in chairs.” she continued as she sat herself down in the chair next to the strawberry blonde’s, pointing to Sam and then the chair as she spoke. Once she was sure the woman understood, she stood up and walked over to the bookshelf that was against the wall and pulled out a thin book. It was a children’s story, meant to help develop reading skills. Alicia figured it could serve as a language teacher as well.
“Lidnil krambas!” Sam exclaimed excitedly as she sat up in the chair, eyes sparkling when she recognized the object that Alicia was holding. It seemed like forever since she had last read something. Alicia looked down at the book in her hands and back at the blonde. She held it up and watched as the woman’s eyes followed the book’s path.
“You… like books?” she asked, making sure she understood her charge. Sam nodded furiously and stood from the chair, excitedly walking over to the blue haired girl.
“I… like… books.” the strawberry blonde said slowly, trying to pronounce the words right as she looked down at the thin book in Alicia’s hand.
“Well, you can’t start on any heavy reading right now, but I’ll try to help you learn our language faster so you can read more. Right now, you’re stuck reading children’s stories.” Alicia promised her.
“Anyuk?” Sam asked, not understanding most of what her friend was saying. Alicia chuckled and shook her head.
“Never mind. Go sit in the chair again and we can start on your first reading lesson.” she said, holding the book up and shaking it slightly for emphasis. Sam grinned and quickly jumped in the comfortable chair, nearly making it fall backwards. Alicia smiled, amused by the woman’s actions, before walking to the side of the chair and opening the small book, beginning the reading lesson.
The morning was almost over with Xan finally finished her morning work out and the rest of the house was just beginning to stir.
‘Won’t they be in for a surprise tomorrow?’ she thought to herself with a small chuckle as she headed up the stairs, looking forward to the shower she had in mind.
The only people in the living room were Henry and Ilarius, both eating the same meager breakfast that she had eaten six hours ago. Mentally reminding herself to go out to the city later that day to buy more food, she headed to her room, ignoring Ilarius’ waving hand.
“Y’know, I really do have a problem believing she cares about us.” Ilarius said as he watched her go to Xan go to her room. “I mean, she’s a valuable member to the Agency but she just doesn’t seem like she’s a team player.”
“Ilarius, compared to what she was like before, her behavior now is the epitome of politeness.” Henry reminded his friend as he finished off his breakfast. Well, early lunch considering the time. The blonde man shrugged and shoveled in the last of his bland eggs, wishing there had been more. He had thought that because Xan had a large kitchen, she’d have a lot of food. Digging through the refrigerator that morning had proved him wrong.
“I shtill done git whay they put ‘er on sthis assignment.” he said through the mouthful of his food. Henry shook his head and tried to figure out what his smaller friend had just said.
“Sam is supposed to save the Earth and possibly the universe. Xan is one the top Agents in the GPA. In fact, the only reason why she isn’t higher up is because of her past. Wouldn’t you put the top agents on an assignment this important?” Henry answered. Ilarius thought about it for a moment and nodded. “Alright, well that’s why they put Xan on this assignment. And don’t talk with your mouth full.” he chastised.
“Well, Xan may protect Sam from the Kryaks but who’s going to protect her from Xan? I mean, she may be the best agent but you remember what she’s like around man-made… things.”
“Xan’s just going to have to learn that Sam isn’t like the rest and deal with it. If she doesn’t, we’ll have to be the ones to stand in her way if she tries to hurt Sam.” Ilarius frowned at this news. There was no way he wanted to get in the way of an angry Xan, especially if she was in kill mode.
‘Correction: Even when she isn’t in kill mode, I don’t want to get in her way.’ he thought as he placed his tray on the table next to Henry’s. “So while we’re protecting Sam, we get to train those Protectors?” he asked, changing the subject. He knew how Henry got when they talked about Xan too much. His large friend nodded and stood up.
“Speaking of which, we should go get them ready before Xan gets out of the shower.” Henry told Ilarius as he stretched his arms out in front of him. Ilarius nodded his agreement and stood up beside him.
“Um… where are they?” he asked, scratching the back of his head. Henry was quiet for a moment before heading towards the door to the girls‘ room, hearing four excited and loud voices. Ilarius followed after him, beginning to hear the excited voices that his godly friend had heard before him. “We really need to teach them to use indoor voices.” he commented as his friend opened the door. The sight that greeted them was four excited teenagers crowded around the supposed savior of the universe, reading to the strawberry blonde.
“Ahem. Is there something you would all like to share with us?” Henry interrupted them, his arms folded as he raised an eyebrow, spotting the book they were reading to the young woman. It was a picture book meant for a third grader and her found it highly amusing that four teenagers were reading it to a fully grown woman.
“Nuh-uh, We’re just tryin’ to help our little Sammy hear.” Moira answered, the chewing of her gum nearly covering up her words. “Alicia hear figures, the more she hears the language, the faster she’ll be able to talk to us.” she explained before stretching her gum out of her mouth and twirling it around her finger boredly.
“Well, the lessons will have to wait until you have more free time. It’s time for your first day of training.” Henry told them as he lowered his arms to his sides again.
“Yeah, we’re going to make you all into lean, mean protecting machines!” Ilarius added on. “So I hope you’re ready, because this isn’t going to be easy. Especially with Xan leading the workout.” At the mention of Xan’s name, Sam’s gaze left the book and looked up, expecting to see the dark haired woman around. A disappointed sigh left her lips before she looked back down on the book she was reading. The action didn’t escape the two large men and Ilarius glanced over at Henry with a questioning look, who merely shrugged his broad shoulders in response.
“Alright, follow us. Xan’s probably already waiting.” Henry ordered before leading the way out of the room. With a few grumbles, the teenagers and Ilarius followed after him, all of them wanting to spend more time with the small blonde instead of going to torture themselves. It wasn’t long before they were all changing into the appropriate clothing for working out and heading down the stairs to the personal gym that Xan kept in her basement, a small blonde savior following after them curiously, hoping to see the dark haired woman that she felt so connected to.
Just as Henry had predicted, Xan was already waiting down stairs, freshly showered and clothed. She raised an eyebrow, mentally questioning Henry what took him so long. Her answer was a shrug of the big man’s shoulders. She shook her head and quickly stood in the middle of the matted floor that she had just been working out on not too long ago. Henry and Ilarius joined her, leaving the teenagers standing on the edge of the mat.
“Alright, because this is the first day, we’ll go just a little easier on you than we usually would. Don’t get used to it though. Tomorrow is when the real work begins.” Xan started off, mentally wincing when she said they’d be going easy on the Guardians in training. She hated slacking and not pushing herself and others but she had taken into account the ages of the people they were training and decided it had been for the best. “You will not be sleeping in late tomorrow, which goes for all of you.” she told them, also making it clear to her fellow trainers that they wouldn’t be sleeping in either. Her two companions grinned sheepishly, simultaneously rubbing the back of their necks.
“Alright, to start off, go hit the cardio machines.” she ordered the teenagers, who grumbled slightly before doing as she said.
“Why are we stuck usin’ this old fashioned junk? Why ain’t we got the new workout equipment like all them fancy gyms?” the green haired teen asked. Xan rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“These work the same muscles and do it just as well, if not better. Now suck it up and stop complaining.” she told him before turning to face Henry and Ilarius. “I am not paid enough to put up with people like… why is that down here?” Her two friends turned around and saw Sam standing behind them, curiously trying to figure out what they were doing.
“Huh… I guess she must have followed us.” Ilarius answered. Xan rolled her eyes at his uninformative answer.
“Gee really? I wouldn’t have guessed.” she said sarcastically before pushing past the two men, who hadn’t been much help. “Keep an eye on those four. Make sure they don’t slack off.” she told them as she walked over to the blonde. Ilarius mouthed ‘uh-oh’ to Henry for the third time in two days before heading towards the exercise machines. The bigger man took a glance behind him before following his small friend. He stayed close enough that he could stop Xan from doing something stupid, though, unlike Ilarius, who had decided to stay as far away from Xan as possible.
“What are you doing down here?” Xan asked, her arms crossed against her chest to add to her intimidation factor. It didn’t quite work, seeing as the girl still stared up at her, a thoughtful look on her face.
“I… you… watch?” the smaller woman answered her slowly, having to search her mind for the right words but only coming up short. Xan blinked; had she really just heard the girl talk? She mentally shook herself and stared back down at the younger woman. She mumbled something under her breath before nodding her head. “Don’t get in the way.” she added on, however, before walking over to join Henry and Ilarius, a small blonde following after her. She heard the footsteps and slightly shook her head in aggravation before turning back to the blonde. “No. You need to stay out of the way. Go over there.” she told the woman, pointing to the wall on the other side of the gym.
“Anyuk?” Sam replied, unsure of what exactly the woman was saying. Understanding quickly began to dawn on her though, and she began nodding her head with a smile before quickly going to the indicated wall. Xan shook her head again, closing her blue eyes to shut out the headache she was sure was going to be visiting her again, before turning back to go to her assistants.
Twenty minutes later she found herself calling a halt to the cardio exercises. “Now it’s time to get down to what you came here for.” A small smile found itself on Xan’s lips as she remembered what she had planned for them. “Alicia and Lorrie, I want you two beginning on the mat in the center of the gym with Henry and I. Ace and Moira, you two will be with Ilarius and he will be helping you with weights.” she assigned them. “When I believe it’s time, we will switch it around.” she added on before heading over to the mat with Henry, two terrified teenagers following after them.
“Now then, Xan and I are going to show you two how a fight should look. You may have had simulated fights back at the academy but there’s a difference between predictable artificial intelligence and human thought.” Henry explained. “After our demonstration, you two are going to show us what you know.” he continued, seeing as Xan wasn’t showing signs of talking any time soon. “Understood?” he asked. He smiled when two teenaged heads nodded in understanding. “Good.” was all he said before telling them to step off the mat so that he and Xan would have room.
From across the gym, a pair of green eyes took in everything. Her focus had remained on Xan, mostly, but her eyes strayed occasionally to see everything else that was going on around her. The blonde man, whom she still didn’t know the name of, was helping one of the teenagers that she knew as Ace lift a bar with some type of round thing on each end as he lay on a bench. The pink-haired Moira was chewing the strange substance called ‘gum’ with an amused look on her face. A shudder ran up her spine as she remembered when the girl had given her a piece of the chewy substance earlier that morning while they had been reading to her.
“<I won’t ever try that again.>” she muttered to herself as she returned her focus to Xan and the bigger man she had heard was called Henry. The two were fighting each other but something told her that neither of them were in any danger. Perhaps it was the graceful moves from Xan captivating her that made her so sure. It seemed less like a fight and more like a dance. A painful dance, but a dance none the less. It seemed that every time Henry somehow managed to make contact with the agile Xan, Sam’s breath caught and she ended up holding it for long periods of time. This eventually made her very light-headed and she had to focus her attention back on the blonde man that was now supervising Moira on the same bench Ace had been on. She turned once again back to the scene of the painful dance taking place on the mat in the center of the room as her mind drifted, her thoughts being of home and why she couldn’t remember most of it.
“Alright, now it’s time for you two to show us what you know.” Xan’s voice broke Sam out of her sad thoughts and her attention was brought to Lawrence and Alicia as they started to fight each other like Henry and Xan had done. She realized almost immediately that their moves weren’t as fluid as the tall man and woman’s had been. The two teenagers were stiff and clumsy, stumbling over each other as they tried to attack. When Lawrence aimed a punch at Alicia’s head, she ducked and he fell forward, landing on top of her. Sam noticed that this left Henry in chuckles while Xan glared at the two awkward teens. “Try again, only this time, don’t screw up.” she ordered them. Sam watched again as the two tried to fight each other. They were a little more coordinated this time, until both Alicia and Lawrence tried to kick each other at the same time, knocking them both to the mat. She saw Xan shake her head before walking over and pulling them both up by the backs of their shirts. Obviously they hadn’t done it right.
“I think that’s enough of a demonstration. It’s painfully obvious that you’re both in need of help.” she criticized them before setting them back onto solid ground. When it was obvious she wasn’t going to speak again, Henry began to lecture.
“Anticipation is the key to winning a fight. You have to be three steps ahead of your enemy or you’re done for. Until we can drill that into you, though, we’ll be teaching you a few new moves that can easily dispatch an enemy without killing.” The two teens breathed a sigh of relief, glad they wouldn’t have to embarrass themselves further. Sam tilted her head as she tried to decipher what was going on. She was only able to make out a few words that the large man had said. Everything became clearer when Xan and Henry began to demonstrate different techniques and attacks.
As she watched, Sam recorded every move of the tall, dark woman to memory. It wasn’t long before she was trying the techniques herself. Unfortunately, she wasn’t as graceful or as in shape as Xan so the moves never turned out quite right. More often than not, she found herself with her back hitting the floor, usually because her feet became entangled with each other.
“Ethel Yamuku’s Sajal!” Xan heard the strange words come from the wall on the other side of the gym. Allowing her attention to stray from her students, what she found didn’t surprise her. The little blonde was on the floor nursing her right ankle. She rolled her eyes and looked pleadingly over at Henry. She was not in the mood to deal with bumbling blondes that weren’t even supposed to exist. She doubted she ever would be.
Henry saw the look and an idea began to form in his mind. He shook his head no before nodding in Sam’s direction. He noticed Xan mouth ‘What?!’ with an incredulous look on her face before shaking his head again and turning away from her. This was his friend’s chance to get to know their charge and, hopefully, she’d stop hating the blonde once she got to know her. Xan glared at Henry’s back, wishing she could shoot knives at it, before giving in and heading towards the injured girl.
‘Henry is going to pay for this.’ she thought as she passed the two clumsy teenagers attempting to perform the moves that they had shown them earlier. They weren’t exactly bad fighters, but they needed a lot of work. Alicia especially. She seemed like she’d be more at home coordinating plans for an infiltration mission instead of knocking heads in.
“Are you alright?” Xan asked, now standing in front of the downed blonde.
Green eyes peered up at her through blonde bangs and a weak smile was on the girl’s face. She began waving Xan away as she tried to stand back up. Her ankle must have protested, though, because she was soon back on the floor, muttering something Xan couldn’t hear, although she doubted she’d be able to understand it if she could hear it. Crouching down so she could be at the same level as the other woman, she noticed the frustration etched on the blonde’s face. “Y’know, you should probably be resting.” Emerald eyes looked at her questioningly. She gave an inaudible sigh before continuing. “You were just brought back yesterday. Maybe you should take it easy.” she suggested. ’Why am I even talking to her?’ she wondered as she stared at the younger woman, trying to figure out just what was so intriguing about her that she was even sparing her a second glance. The girl peered back at her, trying to understand what she just said. Xan groaned inwardly and wished things were a little simpler. “You know? Sleep?” she said, repeating the gesture she had done the night before to indicate what she wanted.
“Ak sleep! Ak! Ak!” the blonde exclaimed, hopping back onto her feet despite her injured ankle. “Sleep blazrial sone!” Xan was temporarily caught off guard by the yelling and began to think maybe sleep wouldn’t be such a good idea for the blonde.
“Hey, it’s alright! It was just a suggestion. You don‘t have to do it.” the dark woman cooed, trying to calm Sam down as she supported her so she didn’t fall again. Panicked, green eyes focused on pale, blue ones and Sam stopped yelling in her strange language. “Alright then,” Xan said as she let go of Sam’s arms, “sit down and don’t move until I’m done.” She gently pushed down on Sam’s shoulder, making her take a seat, and then raised a hand, signing as best she could what she wanted. The younger woman stared at her for a moment from her seat on the ground before nodding. A small smile forced its way onto Xan’s face, surprising even her, before she turned around to find everyone looking at the two of them.
“Is there a reason you all are just standing around gawking at us?” she asked, her blue eyes turning to ice once more. The others got the message and immediately started working again, not willing to face the wrath of Xan if she caught them staring again. The dark haired woman let out a breath and rubbed the bridge of her nose. It was going to be a long morning.
Twelve chimes sounded through the living unit just as Xan and her helpful assistants were dismissing the young Protectors from their first day of training. The teenagers all looked as if they were about to collapse and a knowing smile quirked on Xan’s lips.
‘Boy are they going to have fun tomorrow.’ she thought devilishly. She saw her two friends smirk at each other before they followed after the teenagers up the stairs. Xan was about to follow after them when a small whimpering noise from the other side of the room reminded her that she had unfinished business to deal with. Remembering that she had promised to talk to her charge after she was finished, she headed for the wall that she had left the blonde near. What she found was Sam’s small figure curled up into a ball, caught in a restless sleep. ‘Guess she was more tired than she thought.’ She was just going to leave the unnatural being there to deal with her nightmares on her own but the small whimpering noises coming from the girl made something tug at her heart strings, something she thought she lost long ago.
Xan knelt down next to the prone figure and tried to shake her awake. She frowned when, instead of waking up, the other woman’s hand darted out and grabbed hers. She rolled her eyes and made an attempt to tug her hand free. Sam was stronger than she looked, though, and held tight, no matter how hard she pulled.
‘Why does this seem familiar?’ she wondered as she looked down at her trapped hand. Images of blood and darkness flashed through her mind but she pushed them away. Nightmares were for later, when she was asleep, not when she was awake. Especially not when she was trying to wake someone else up from theirs.
After another tug with no success, Xan tried another tactic. Taking her free hand, she began to smooth the girl’s sweat plastered hair over while unconsciously humming to her. After a few moments, Sam’s whimpers faded into nothingness, leaving only the deep breathing of one in a pleasant slumber. The hand that had once held a death grip on Xan’s loosened and then went limp, signaling that the younger woman was in a real sleep. The dark haired woman rubbed her now free hand, which had begun to go numb from Sam’s squeezing, and looked around. The only thing she had left to do was get her charge into bed.
‘This should be fun….’ she thought sarcastically as she slipped an arm behind Sam’s neck and another under her knees. She lifted the girl as gently as she could before making her way to the stairs. The blonde unexpectedly nestled herself closer to her and rested her head in the crook of Xan’s neck, a pleased sigh escaping Sam’s lips. ’Great. I’m the only thing that comforts something I hate. Irony, you never cease to amaze me.’ Xan let out a sigh of her own before shaking her head at the ridiculousness of it and heading up the stairs, a happy savior of Earth in cradled in her arms.