literature

Fragile Fates: Chapters 6 + 7

Deviation Actions

digs1114's avatar
By
Published:
260 Views

Literature Text

Ch. 6: Revelations


"Finally," Alex said, a bit exasperated from all that effort.  "Just had to knock some sense into ya, I suppose."  He chuckled at his own joke in spite of himself.

Alex took the moment of silence to look over her collapsed body.  Knocked unconscious like that, she just looked so peaceful.  It was a stark contrast from her normal demeanor, that's for sure.  However, he knew that she would have to be moved.

He went over to her now limp body and carefully picked her up, carrying her to the only piece of undestroyed furniture in the living room, the couch.  He softly placed her on it, then, after a moment of thought, he took her weapons to prevent any further outbreaks of destruction.  Afterwards, Alex sat on the ground next to the couch her, waiting for her.  He'd wait there all night until she woke up again if he had to.  There was no way he'd just let her go, and plus, he doubt that he could sleep after that second huge surge of adrenaline.

For a good long while, Alex sat, admiring his companion while she peacefully 'slept'.  As unfriendly and uncaring as she seemed, something about her truly left an impression on the meerkat, which, even in the case of girls, was a rare occurrence, indeed.  He was genuinely interested and quite a bit enamored by this mysterious character.  As he sat, he tried to figure exactly what he would ask her.  While he really wanted to pry as much as he could, he decided he'd simply settle for her name in a worst case scenario.

Recon didn't do anything until about two hours into the night.  All she did was speak, though it was little more than a murmur.  Only one word in her sleep. "Solo..."  After this, her eyes flashed open and she sat up.

"Good, you're awake again," Alex said as she rose.  "Now, look, before you say anything, I at least want you to know that I'm no idiot, and I don't appreciate the comment.  Hence why I knocked you out.  Well, one of the reasons, anyway.  But I do hope that at least proved something to you."  It was a bit rambling, but he figured she probably wasn't listening to this part anyways.  And he was right.  Without responding, she looked down at the ground, frantically searching for her weapons.

"I've already got them, right here," Alex stated, gesturing to the objects in his left hand with his head.  "Look, I just want you to hear me out, okay?  Do that for me, will ya?  I promise I'll give you back your things if you do."

"Then talk and get it over with," Recon replied.

"Alright, then." He paused to clear his throat.  "First, I want to know your name."

"...My name is Reconnaissance.  Recon," She answered.  "Now give me my things."

"Was that really so difficult?" Alex asked, chuckling a little.  "In exchange, I'll give you mine as well, even though I imagine you don't care, as usual..."

"Alex," Recon said, cutting him short.

Alex was a bit taken aback by this.  "What?  How'd you already know my name?"

She pointed across the room.  There were some papers which he had signed with his name.

"Very observant," He admitted.  "Fine, then I have a few more questions for you..."

He paused for a moment of thought, taking a breath before continuing.

"Why are you so stubborn, Recon?  Why do you hate me so much?"

"I think Idiot is a more fitting name," Recon mused aloud, ignoring his question for the moment.

"Just answer the question." Alex growled, clenching his fist on the weapons.

"I don't owe you anything," Recon replied.

"Yes, you do.  You owe me an answer for all the trouble you've put me through.  And you're going to tell me what I want to know," Alex paused to hold up her weapons. "Or else good luck getting these back."

He paused again, as if expecting a response, but all he got back was silence.  He decided to pressure the question a little more.

"Why is it so difficult for you to answer a simple question like that?"

She scoffed, eying up her chances to snatch her weapons.  She doubted she could beat his reactions in her current state.  Her head was still spinning.  Alex really gave her a hard knock.

"Don't even think about it," Alex stated, seeing her eying her weapons.  "Answer the question and I promise you'll get these back.  On my honour."

Recon gritted her teeth.  She didn't like either of the options, and her face truly showed it.  Something really bothered her, and her changed expression proved it.  Suddenly, a wave of sympathy passed over him once again.  In that moment, he realized that there was definitely something more to Recon that he didn't realize.  Something so deep and so scarring that it would cause her to be so prideful, so stubborn, and so downright mean.  And maybe, just maybe there was something about him that reminded her of it, and hit a raw nerve.  Just what exactly had this poor woman been through?  And while his curiosity wanted so badly to be satisfied, he knew she'd never talk about it.  At least, not yet.

He sighed and shook his head, the sympathy finally causing him to give in.  "My apologies.  I didn't realize how much you must've been through.  I can see that plainly in your eyes."

A slight pause to try to gather his thoughts, and he continued.  "I guess an idiot like me doesn't deserve an answer to my curiosity, anyways."

He then stood to his feet, though still gripping her weapons in his left hand.

"Here you go, Reconnaissance," He said, holding out her weapons, though trying his best to look as dejected and uncaring as possible.  She snatched them quickly, perhaps too quickly for someone who acted like she never cared about anything.

"Now, go..." Alex said, his voice trailing off.  He was still deep in thought about all of today's events, and especially about Recon.  However, as she sat up and headed for the door, Alex snapped out of his little trance to say one last thing.

"Good luck against whatever you're fighting.  I hope we meet again, Recon..."

He turned his back and started cleaning his apartment.  A spare piece of rubble somehow managed to make its way from Recon's hand to the back of his head, and all Alex did in return was smile.





Ch. 7: Setup


The cleanup at Alex's apartment didn't really take long.  All it essentially consisted of throwing out just about every piece of what used to be the furniture.  Fortunately, he wasn't really attached to any of the possessions here.  It was furnished to simply complete the look of the apartment.  Now, however, it looked entirely bare, aside from the one lonely couch that towards the middle of the room.

"At least she was nice enough to leave my bedroom intact," Alex thought to himself.  After all, the only thing that really mattered in the end was that he had a bed to sleep in.  As long as he had that, he could fix up the rest of his apartment over time.  However, for now, he decided that it would be best to finish refurnishing the place before he returned to live there, though.  He'd have to live at the base for a while it seemed.

After finishing up, he packed up what little he had left and headed off to the location of the rebel meeting, which, if things had gone according to schedule, had already started.  Recon had delayed him quite a bit, causing him to be very late on his delivery of the stolen goods.  The location of the Rebels' meeting place changed for each specific meeting, with a new code indicating where the next meeting would occur.  It usually happened on the outskirts of the city in places like abandoned warehouses, where the Tyrantess' robot patrols were essentially non-existent.

After a bit of sneaking and slinking through the city, Alex finally arrived at the meeting place, which was in an old, run down mansion.  As he walked in, he was greeted by several familiar faces.  Sitting on top of a box was Rose, the punk canine of the group who took the female descript of her to heart.  She was a remarkable street fighter whose fist work allowed her to hold her own against even the strongest of foes.  Her weapons, which were two spiked 'Frisbees' she kept on her back, gave her the additional range she needed to be a truly avid fighter for most all to fear.  Except 'fools' like Alex, of course.

"What took ya so long?" she asked as she popped a bubble and leaned forward, putting her hands on her knees.

"Some robot goons held me up," Alex responded casually, completely failing to mention any word of Recon.  He figured it'd be best if they didn't know that little piece of information.  "Not really a problem, though.  More of a pain than anything."  He grinned as he mentally patted himself on the back.

Rose eyerolled and looked away, but it was the other canine that spoke her mind.  "Isn't that usually why we work in pairs?" Rio the spaniel asked.  Rio was one of the many technicians around the place, taught only in basic combat.  Her tactical strategy, however, was second to none.

"C'mon, Rio. Y'know that ain't my style," Alex replied, chuckling a little.  "If you're so concerned about me, come with me next time."

"Last time I agreed to that, you left two hours before the mission and 'forgot' I was coming along," Rio said, frowning.

"So, you figured it out," Alex responded, shaking his head and laughing a little.  "Not surprising. You've always been the smart one."  Clearly he didn't even take himself seriously.

"What does it matter whether he works on his own or not?" Rose stated.  "So long as he gets the job done, it's fine.  Besides, if he gets his sorry ass handed to him, it'll serve the cocky fella right."  Rose blew another bubble after finishing.  Truthfully, she wasn't really one to talk, considering she had just as little, if not, less respect for the rules than Alex.

"See? Rose has the right idea," Alex said.  "Plus, you know I won't get my ass handed to me anytime soon.  Trust me on that.  Now, if you two will excuse me, but I've got to deliver this."

"But, but, hey!" Rio shouted after Alex before losing him in the crowd.  "Oooh...Just one of those days."

Alex pushed his way towards the front of the Rebel crowd and approached the current leader of the resistance, a human fellow named Aust.  He was certainly an odd leader amongst mostly animaloids, especially seeing that several humans usually found ways to get around the Tyrantess' rules and regulations and remained in good financial shape.  Aust, however, found what was happening to the rest of the working population absolutely disgusting, and wanted to do something about it.

"We were waiting for you," Aust said.  "Just what were you doing that was more important than this?"

"C'mon, gimme a break," Alex replied.  "I got my job done didn't I?"

He pulled out the small carrying case and handed it to Aust.  The case itself carried a small information disc.

"Finally.  These plans are crucial if we are to successful set up what's to come next."

"There's more than just the plans," Alex said, grinning from ear to ear.  "I was able to shove a bit of extra, top secret data on there was well.  Deleted it from their mainframe, too.  They put it on the backburner, so they'll probably never figure it out."

"We'll take a closer look at that later," Aust stated.  "Now, we've got to concentrate on our plan of attack."

The rest of the meeting consisted of the resistance discussing their plans for the upcoming attempt to abduct the Tyrantess at the ball that was to occur in a few days time.  It was to be quite possibly the biggest thing they'd ever attempted.  It was their sincere hope that with these plans, which gave the layout and protection data of the entire event, it would prove to be successful.
Sorry for the delay, to the few who might follow this. Got a bit caught up in work and video games. You know how it goes. Plus, chapter 6 required a fair bit of editting. I must've been tired that day. ^^;

Anyways, this marks the last we see of Recon for the moment, and the introduction of the Rebel group. Those who know Tanman's characters might recognize the two faces introduced here, while the single character I introduce, Aust, was originally an Elven Ranger for a DnD RPG a long time ago. Decided to make him into a human here. I've been considering making him related to Robotnik as a bit of an homage to the original RP and the sequel that inspired this one, but I haven't fully decided yet, so I left it out here. I'll decide on that later, I suppose. It's not entirely important, though. Hehe.
Comments1
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
TheTanman's avatar
Tsk, getting slack, missing an upload. Ah well, I'm sure whoever it is that reads this wasn't too worried =P