Hello My Beauties!!!! I really liked the last chapter, even though it was short...did you? I don't really have anything to say here. Enjoy chapter 11! :)
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Chapter 11: Pride and Chivalry
"Ah, you two finally stopped touching each other long enough to travel downstairs? Great!"
Aaron and I stopped at the bottom of the stairs, glaring at Victorian.
I walked up to him and slapped the back of his head. "Stop being a pain," I said. "No one was touching anyone. You did say gather weapons, right?"
Victorian pouted as he rubbed the spot where I hit him gingerly. "Yes," he whined.
"Okay, then. So what is it we need to see?" I asked, shuffling my bookbag.
"Yeah, Fish and Chips, you rushed us down here, so-" Aaron began.
"'Fish and Chips?' Scarlett, you may want to reign your boyfriend in."
"Reign me in? Look, man-"
"Will you two shut up?!" Jarvis yelled, emerging from the hallway. "Stephanie and I could hear you two from the kitchen!"
"Yeah, what's all the arguing about?" She asked, coming in behind Jarvis.
"The two of them are participating in a chest-beating contest,which needs to end." I answered. Both Aaron and Victorian snorted but stayed silent. "It's around 4 o'clock now, meaning we have about 5 hours of daylight left. Wherever it is we want to "explore" needs to be in the area." I continued.
"Well, how about you see the car first? We've got a few things in there you should look at," Victorian suggested.
"Hold on, you guys have a car? That works?" Aaron asked.
"Yes," Stephanie said, cutting off Victorian with a look when he had opened his mouth to answer. In however long she had known him, she obviously knew the idiot would have just gotten Aaron riled up again.
"If we told you specifically, you wouldn't believe it, but, to be frank, they were all just sitting there. Seriously." Jarvis continued.
"They?"
"The Jeeps, Amigo. The Jeeps were just sitting there."
"I got that, J. What do you mean, "'sitting there?'" Aaron shifted the bag hanging from his shoulder. "Explain."
"It really would be easier explained with the actual vehicle in front of us," Stephanie added. "It's kind of a see to believe thing."
"Fair enough. I'm ready to see if everyone else is ready to move," I finished.
"Alright, Lieutenant! Just like old times! It'll be great! Clandestine movements! Stealth! Sneaking-"
"Alex, it won't be clandestine if you keep yelling like that!" Stephanie chided.
Alex?, I thought. He hates just being called Alexander! She calls him Alex?
"Oh! Sorry, Steph! You know-" Stephanie gave him a look and his expression turned sheepish.
"Mademoiselle?" Jarvis called. He was standing near the door of the motel with his arms crossed.
"Victorian, pipe down. Stephanie, I'd like for you and Jarvis to lead us to the...Jeep. You," I pointed to Aaron and paused.
"Me?" He answered with a raised brow.
"Behave," I mouthed. Aaron scoffed and shook his head, but he said nothing.
"Let's go."
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"I present to you, Mademoiselle, the one, and not necessarily only, Jeep!" Jarvis said with flamboyancy.
They had left the car about three quarters of an hour walk away from the motel, and now, Jarvis looked at me like a puppy showing off a new toy.
"Jarvis, mate, we've made it all the way here without a horde attacking. I'd like to keep it that way."
I sent a stare Victorian's way. "You're one to talk."
"Point taken," he grumbled. Aaron chuckled behind me and I looked back at Jarvis.
"So what are we looking at?" I asked pointedly. And I was serious; Jarvis had Aaron and I staring at a standard Jeep Wrangler. Jarvis rolled his eyes and pointed to the dashboard of the vehicle.
"Are you blind, Mademoiselle?!"
"I must be because there's nothing there," I responded.
"Jeez, no one sees..." Jarvis let out more upset grumbling before he gestured to the dash again. "See?"
"I don't see anything, Jarvis. Maybe-"
"Scarlett, look," Aaron said while turning my face back toward the dashboard. An LED screen was now obviously lit, allowing me to see what seemed to be a map on the screen.
"That," Stephanie said, "Is a rough map of the area. This system uses whatever satellite imagery it's able to find and project a basic image of wherever we are. Cool, huh?" she finished proudly.
"You created this?" Aaron asked in awe.
And he was saying he could hack security systems at the Pentagon. Right. If he was still surprised by a tracking system, I doubted he could even type without looking at a keyboard.
"Lad, it's just a GPS." Victorian said with an eyeroll.
My fingers found Victorian's ear, and they flicked it, hard. "Stop it," I commanded.
"This GPS led you to the motel, right?"
"Wrong," Stephanie cut Victorian off with another look. "I modified it. It shows the standard rest stops that should be around but aren't, but, with a couple of tweaks and chips, I got it to track signatures of human DNA. Driving, walking, whatever, if you shed dead skin, cut yourself, drip sweat...give me nearly anything, and I can find you."
"Which, basically, means that one of you led us to the motel. Not the GPS itself." Jarvis finished. Aaron gave a cough, but the "Scarlett!" was clear as day. I sent him a glare and he gave me a shrug and a lopsided smile.
Victorian gave me a look of concern and I waved it off. "I cut myself on a fire escape. I'm fine now," I concluded. One benefit to the injections was accelerated healing rates. While I hated what had happened to me-to us, I couldn't complain about that aspect. It had saved my life all too many times.
"What else?" Aaron asked Jarvis.
"The engine," Jarvis began. He walked to the front of the Wrangler and lifted its hood. "Has some sort of solar-activated programming. We've tried driving it at night; no dice. I mean, we can get it moving, but there's a significant difference between sunshine and moonlight."
"And it doesn't run on petroleum, Love. Not a drop necessary. Believe me, we've looked inside and out. It's strange...but useful," Victorian said, noting my doubtful gaze.
"Did you all leave this here before you got to the motel?" I questioned.
"Yep! Another hitch with the solar is that as soon as we're seeing less sun, the slower she goes. Unless it's a full moon, she won't go very far at night, Lieutenant Blake." Stephanie announced from the inside of the vehicle.
I walked back toward the driver's side and paused when I heard a sound other than my footsteps. "Did anyone hear that?" I asked quietly. Four heads shook in answer and I unsheathed both of my katanas. Aaron, Victorian, and Jarvis all whipped out firearms of sorts and I narrowed my eyes.
"Silencers," the three of them explained in unison.
Giving a slight nod in acknowledgement, I looked at Stephanie and whispered, "Turn it on. We're getting this back to the motel." I stepped away from the off-roader and the trio followed behind me in a line.
My hands sent out three silent phrases and I heard two snorts of derision. At least I knew they were paying attention.
Slow. Stealthy. Shut up.
There was nothing in the area but a small mechanic shop with dirt and gravel as far as an eye could see. I began leading the trio towards the entrance and watched with irritation as both Aaron and Victorian passed by me without a word. I knew their decisions to enter before me were spurred 50% by their concern for my safety and 50% by their ongoing testosterone contest. Idiots. I figured Jarvis' thoughts echoed mine as I heard a soft lip smack from behind. Aaron's hand gripped the handle of the garage door, prepared to hoist it up.
The instant the door hovered above the ground, Stephanie had the Jeep's engine roaring to life, and snarls and growls mixed with the sound of a running motor. The Flunkies spilled out of the garage like beans and bullets were flying through air like rice at a wedding. Any of them that somehow made it past Aaron and Victorian were cut through by me, and Jarvis planted another bullet in them, making sure that once they went down, they stayed down. Harsh pants were coming from my mouth as we finished up the last of the Flunkies.
"You two are imbeciles," I whispered fiercely. "This is not about the two of you!"
Aaron smirked. "Of course not. This attitude you're giving is about your pride. We went ahead of you. You hated it."
My glare had to be deadly because Victorian wasn't saying a word. "Don't. The both of you picked now to be chivalrous. Compare manliness back in one of the bathrooms at the motel." Aaron was challenging me. That's what I hated.
"Right, well, next time, you can breach any garage you like, Love." Victorian added.
I shook my head at them and sheathed my swords once again. Stephanie said nothing as I slid into the passenger's seat and slammed my door shut. Through the back of my mind, I heard the boys climbing into the backseat, with Jarvis whining because he got stuck in the middle. "Oh, come on! I'm a man. An Army man! Men don't sit between other men!"
"Oh, put a stopper in it, lad. Lieutenant isn't coming back here. She'll tear us apart," he mumbled conspiratorially.
"Let's go, Steph," Jarvis said. I was sure he was pouting now. As Stephanie placed the gearshift on "D," I couldn't help but feel I had missed something. The haze of anger I developed was clearing and I frowned slightly. We fought Flunkies. By themselves. That didn't happen. Shouldn't there have been a-
"What in the hell is that?!" Jarvis yelled as he stared out the left window, wide-eyed.
I glanced out of Stephanie's window and rubbed my temples out of aggravation with myself.
"That, Jarvis," I said as I picked up my sword cases once again. "Is the Trucker I obviously failed to determine was here."
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Alright!!!! 11 is done! :) We like? Don't like? Let me know! :) ╭（′▽‵）╭（′▽‵）╭（′▽‵）╯ GO! Keep Flossing, Dearies!
Love,
Swaggerwithwords ♥♥♥♥