The Revelers (Serial 1)

Act 1 - Chapter 8: Ari

There is an office at the back of the second floor. Her room is dim, like how I remember her ways of studying. And there she is. The one who Mezos and many others know as The Doc. She's standing behind her silver, semi-circle, metal desk with holograms of cybernetic simulations, molecular structures, and charts floating in front of her view. As I expect, the lights in her office are a low orange hue. She prefers to work in the dim light.

Dr. Williams has changed little. She's always in some lab coat with her glossy pitch-black hair tied back into a bun. Yet, her dark ebony skin gleams with the moonlight from the window behind her.

Dr. Williams turns her head towards us, her sapphire eyes widening and meeting my gaze. "Ari, is that you?" she greets with a slight smile.

"Yes, mom," I say, my eyes watering.

"It's great to see you again." The Doc disengages from her work and walks towards me, slow and careful. She places her cold palm on my cheek.

I place my hand over hers, and my eyes water some more. "It's really you, isn't it?"

"Please don't cry, Ari. Big girls like you shouldn't cry." She let out a smirk.

She's right. I shouldn't, but I am, and the tears won't stop. They won't stop! I close my eyes shut, yet I grip her hand tighter. The tears keep shedding - almost flooding. I have not seen Dr. Williams ever since I joined The Neon City Valkyries. For the longest time, I wondered what happened to her. Was she here the entire time? The whole freaking time? Why is she here? She must know something about CrystalCorp that convinced her to work with Mr. V and The Remnants. Many unanswered questions whirl and jumble in my head. I want to ask them. Yet, I want to savor this moment.

It feels like my eighth birthday. Dr. Williams bought me a toy. I don't remember what it was. I think it was an action figure. Yet, I accidentally broke it a day later. I cried a lot that night, but Dr. Williams was there to console me.

The night after the party, she told me one of my favorite bedtime stories. That story was about an otherworldly girl. She aided the fight against rogue machines that plagued America. This girl would command armies of her own machines piloted by America's last pilots, waging war against robots and machinations from another dimension - another galaxy. The way how Dr. Williams told this story would inspire me to become as heroic as this nameless girl, using whatever resources America had left to battle to the end.

When I moved into the CrystalCorps dorms, I learned during history class that President Lyss Stirling led an army of piloted mechs during the War of Machines. Almost everything during that history lesson lines up with the events of that bedtime story. Well, except for the interdimensional stuff. Perhaps Dr. Williams wants me to be as great as President Stirling.

I open my eyes and release my hand over Dr. Williams's palm. Then I wrap my arms around herself and gave her a tight hug. Three seconds to cherish and embrace, then I release.

"It's been a long time. How are things?" The Doc asks, her voice soothing my troubled mind.

"It's been decent. Dr. Kari is still there, and she continues to coach my War Games team."

"How about Mr. Toleus?" she asks, returning to her standing holographic workstation.

"He's still there too, serving as Dr. Kari's assistant."

The Doc nods. "Splendid. Anyway, I suppose you're wondering why I sent Samza and Mezos to apprehend you."

"Wait, it was your idea?" I ask, brows up, incredulous.

"Absolutely, and what a compelling time, right around the height of negotiations with President Lyss Stirling and CEO Mun Seul-Ki." The Doc taps on virtual buttons on her screen and displays a document. "During The Revelers' last data acquisition run, they seized some hard drives containing emails traded between key Pentagon officials and notable CrystalCorp investors. If you stayed at the labs much longer, then you would have shipped off to the military, but not America's military. No, CrystalCorp's corporate mercenaries."