Callum returned Kirstene's wry smile with one of his own.? "Was it here, d'ye think?" he asked, following after her until he was able to slip an arm around her waist and pull her close.? "Was it here that we made this little one?" He glanced down at where her belly was just starting to show a visible bulge, then looked up again, a teasing twinkle in his eyes.? "As ah recall, we did get carried away a bit here, out of sight of the others. And more than once if truth be told." Leaning close, the young lord nuzzled his wife's neck gently.? "Ye were a fetchin' sight, clothed in moonlight and naught else, like a bold fairy come to lure me away with yer enticin' charms."

?- Kirstene -

Kirstene turned into his arms and looped her arms around his neck.?His words did things to her. Made her feel so many wonderful things. His touch never ceased to ignite pleasure…desire…love.

Kirstene smiled up into her husband’s eyes. God she loved this man so very, very much. It was there in her eyes, in her touch, in the way she clung to him…needed him. Never in her life did she ever imagine her arranged marriage to him would be this way--filled with such love and devotion and joy. But it was. And she was so very happy.

“I love you with everything in me. Going from two to three willna change that. Besides, I canna wait to see ye love this wee one the way ye love me. You gonna make such a wonderful papa.”

Was…he was…hell! He was just worn the hell out! There was no other way to say it…he just needed a shower, some food and to wrap his arms around Kat. The only thing that wouldn’t change in that order was a shower. The shower was primary!
This was…this was Chaos. He played by their friggin rules and he and the team needed a break. It wasn’t his team…they knew of him, but didn’t know him. He realized that they weren’t going to follow him into hell and that was what this was! The only thing he had going for him was…experience! He had been superheroing for a long time now. But this..even this pulled at the structure of his willpower and after nearly drowning in his past…in his own self-doubt…yeah…he was tapped out!!!

“Work in pairs, this is not a solo mission, remove the heads and heart of the little ones, they feed information to the bigger ones. We will have to work together or we will become more beaten than we are already. Move NOW!” He had no idea who would listen or who would follow he knew only that he couldn’t stand by and see any of them hurt. He would deal with Harrison and his father once this was over, he didn’t see past what was in front of him and he saw them as trying to get them killed after the psychological and physical struggles that they had seemingly all endured.

He looked at Kat and her request. “Yeah…I can!” He said it would only be one, that would take care of one cause he couldn’t use the same trick twice, the machines were truly adaptive. He listened to Kat and smirked at her strategy. Maybe she would be a better leader?!? “Good plan.”

Mia didn’t balk, it was a good plan and set about doing what she could to help and the mudballs were righteous. Even now he couldn’t help but smirk at the thought of her skill. ?Kites and Gen moved to work together and he saw the pair being good at aerial attacks together and he would request later that they work on that in conjunction with one another.

Brandon smirked it he had anything to do with this he would have been proud but he had been so focused on helping everyone else get through the other obstacles that he didn’t think of the end…that didn’t make a good leader in his mind. ?He didn’t need that right now, there was no time for fear or self-doubt, if any one of them got hurt because he was in his mind then he was no good to any of them. He moved to punch to the head of one augmenting his strength to take its head off while pinning the body to the ground. He glanced over at Kites and Gen to make sure they were ok. He felt Kat close by him, making sure she would be able to get the heart out once it went down. Yet he turned to make sure Mia had some cover of protection as well. No one would get hurt on his watch. He wasn’t he punkass Rain always told him he was. He was going to simply do what needed to be done.

He was moving forward keeping everyone inside over the scream of the attacks everyone was doing. ‘Comm-sets. So, they can hear whoever the leader is and change tactics accordingly. Coordinate attacks and move, can’t hesitate. Leave no person defenseless. Mia should have been with Kat for support and he should have been solo or at least a target. It would have allowed the fliers more time to get their tactics down. He was about to blast another when one by one the droids began to combust from the inside out. He frowned wondering what was going on. When the giant bots did the same he looked around really confused.

When the doors opened and the lights came on, he went to check on everyone. ?“Y'all ok?!?” He said thinking this was quite the showing they all had today. Good under the circumstances but a very long way to go…especially him. ‘Totally uphill battle.’ He thought.

(Kat)

Kat gave a nod to Mia when she said she couldn't due fog but mud was doable. "Good" When Brandon said he could bring one down her eyes grew bright and she smiled.. "Let's do this." She caught Kite and Gen head in the other direction. She hoped that between the five of them they might be able to tame down two.

She took cover for a moment while Mia chucked mud balls at the smaller ones. Giving their lenses. If they can't see then it restricts what they can send. Seeing Brandon take another smaller on down she takes the opportunity to get there and start ripping at its plating. Using all her strength she starts to tear through the hull.

It was heavy going. She heard just in time when Gen said something about covering ears. She didn't realize what Gen meant till her ears almost burst from the winged avenger. Folding her ears back as much as she could. The the pain was almost to much. She almost had to stop trying to get the chest open on the robot.

As she continued she felt the chest on it start to buckle a little. She knew it wasn't from her. Jumping off she stood back and watched as the things started to explode from the inside. She then looked around to see the rest doing the same. Finding Brandon she went to him. Standing next to him as the he called for the others to see if they were ok.

Her hearing had started to equal out again when the doors opened and in walked Ireland Harrison and Chord. Kat shook her head slightly and looked to Brandon and whispered. "I take it that this had not been planned." She will follow Brandon’s lead.

(Mia)

So much happened so fast that Mia didn’t have time to think and simply acted on instinct using mud and water to fling at the robots. ?Then suddenly she was covered in muddy water from the one that was knocked over into the electrical lake. ?The robot that she had been flinging mud at suddenly stopped advancing on her and she stopped and stood still for a moment. ?She stared to feel the cold of the water and realized that the robot lost sight of her. ?Her body temp had dropped some and she realized it was trying to find her heat signal and since she wasn’t moving and the mud covering part of it’s “eyes” it couldn’t see her.

She stood still for a few more moments waiting to see what it would do next when all of the sudden the bird boys in the air started screeching. ?“Agh,” she quickly covered her ears, dropped to the ground and began rolling way to find shelter from the robots. ?She realized that this was going to be a loosing battle for them and it was time to just stop. ?She was worn out from the obstacle course and now had no more energy left to mix and fling elements. ?She rolled until she came to some barrels and still covering her ears moved around behind them and once sitting up right looked to see what was happening.

The robot that had temporarily lost sight of her seemed to be standing there watching her roll away, like it was confused that she was retreating. ?It didn’t try and chase her and then suddenly it was dropping to the ground. ?She had watched as the ones that the boys were attacking suddenly grabbed their wings. ?She took her hands away from her ears, briefly to see if the screeching had stopped.

Then all of the robots were collapsing, the lights came up full, the doors opened, and in walked their boss and company. ?She stood up from behind the barrels and waited to see what was next.

[Kites]

As Kites dove at the same bot again, using the speed with which he was hurtling through the air, he hadn't expected that it was going to simply sidestep his attack. ?But it was too late to change the direction of his drop because of all the built-up momentum. ?As his feet hit the ground, he immediately started sliding, but as he threw his wings out in an attempt to counterbalance the forces, he suddenly slipped and fell face first right into the muddy muck below. ?Though some of it managed to cushion his fall, he still hit the floor pretty hard, knocking all the wind and bravado right out of him. ?All that was left was the wave of exhaustion that crashed right back down on top of him. ?But now was not the time to think about it. ?He had to push through this, no matter what.

"Get up, Kites, get up, now! ?He hissed to himself, struggling to get up. ?Wait, Gen! ?Where was Gen?! ?He wildly looked around, trying to get a hold of where she was, not realizing that the bots were slowly circling him. ?Every second he wasted is a second closer that they got to him. ?Suddenly, he heard Gen yelling and as he turned to try and get a fix on her, she let loose a barrage of high pitched, sonic screams. ?He gritted his teeth as he felt extremely sharp pain in his ears, wincing as his hands immediately flew up to cover them, trying to keep the sound out or at least muffle the frequency. ?Before he knew it, however, the two bots flanked him and he suddenly felt four very strong hands grab hold of and squeeze his wings.

"Let-let go of me!" he shouted, trying his hardest to flap them away, but the more he struggled, the more the bots squeezed and held him down. ?It was starting to hurt, so he lashed out, balling his hand up as he slammed one right into one of the bots' faces, immediately regretting the action. ?In that sheer moment of foolishness, he forgot that they were made out of metal and as his fist connected with its face, pain unlike what he's ever experienced in his life raced through his whole arm. ?Yelling out in pain, he dropped to his knees, clutching his hand to his chest. ?Forcing himself to bear through the pain, he looked up just to see another group of bots grab hold of Gen, plucking her right out of the air. ?His heart dropped as he helplessly watched them swing her around, suddenly letting go as she hurtled into the ground. ?"Sh-shit! ?Gen! ?Gen, are you okay?" ?He tried to rush forward, but try as he might to move, he couldn't. ?The bots had a steel handed grip on his wings and they weren't budging one inch, simply waiting for the others to neutralize the rest of their team.

The rest of the team seemed to be doing better. ?At least, neither Brandon nor Kat were caught. ?In fact, it looked like they had made some progress in fighting back against the droids. ?Mia seemed to be able to handle herself, rolling out of the way when one tried to advance at her, skillfully wrapping it in mud in an effort to slow it down. ?However, both he and Gen had failed, and quite spectacularly at that. ?Just when he started to feel despair, Kites felt like his wings were vibrating and when he looked back, the droids were violently shaking. ?Several explosions seemed to ring out from inside their bodies as they suddenly stopped moving and fell away like ragdolls, un-moving and dead. ?As he looked around, the same happened with the rest of them, falling away like leaves in the wind.

"Wh-what the h-hell just h-happened?" he asked, trying to stand up, feeling his legs shake as he did so. ?Just then, the entire training center lit up like Christmas and the doors at the back slid open with a woosh as three people stepped inside. ?Chord, the hologram lady that greeted him in a guest room long ago, and the fiery redhead, Ireland. ?He visibly shrank when he saw her. ?He looked away, head hung in shame, as he waited to hear just how much of a failure she, or they, thought he was.

(Gen)

Suddenly, it was over. ?Gen picked herself up cautiously from the mud where she'd been thrown by one of the Sentinels. Debris from the exploded droids was all around her and she didn't want to get cut by any sharp edges. ?She was exhausted, barely able to stand. Her mud-coated wings felt so heavy it was all the androgyne could do to fold them against her back. And she ached all over, every joint and every muscle. ?She was tough but she could feel pain like anyone else. ?

But worst of all, she felt humiliated. ?Everything she'd tried went wrong. ?Her attacks on the battle droids had failed to stop even one of them for more than a minute or two. ?And her impulsive attempts to disable the cameras had apparently failed as well. ?And worst of all, her use of her sonic power had done far more to disrupt and create problems for her teammates than it had as a weapon against the droids and sentinels.

"Sorry," Gen mumbled, unable to look at the others, her wings drooping behind her. ?"I should've told you I could do that before we started. ?I just... I dunno... wanted it to be a surprise."

Then the doors slid open and Chord, Imogene and... Ireland?... strode into the testing area. Exhausted and humiliated as she was, Gen felt a wave of fury take over her. ?"You guys suck!" she yelled, glaring at Chord and Imogene, her anger overpowering her usual respect for authority, at least for the moment. ?"And it wasn't enough that you had to give us a beat down? You let Ireland watch?" she went on, a flush of fresh embarrassment burning her face beneath the mud. ?Giving one final scream of sheer fury, the androgyne kicked at a detached droid-head, sending it flying across the test area.

(Chord, Imogene, Ireland)

?

“So today was an interesting and eventful day,” Chord said as he trying to sound upbeat and reassure the team as he walked into the room with Ireland to his left and Harrison to his right. He was fully prepared to fall back and let Harrison advise the team in the whatever manner saw fit, which was exactly what he said he would do when he finally wore her down enough for her to agree to come to work alongside of him to whip this ragtag bunch into shape.?

?Harrison was just about to speak when Gen cut her off. Chord’s jaw ticked. The taller older man, placed both his hands in his pockets, a move that both Ireland and Brandon would recognize.?

“I got this Imogen,” He said to Harrison as he came to stand deceptively casually before Gen,

Oh this was not going to be good Ireland thought…

“I have never been big on temper tantrum so let me be very clear that neither I nor Ms. Harrison will tolerate them. Thus if you are given to such useless display of emotions this program…we” he gestured to everything around her, “is not a good fit for you. Furthermore, if you found today hard, good. Get used to it. Each new day from here only get harder.? Understand that this is not the Gen saves the world show and judging by the look of your performance today it appears you think it is. And it for damn sure isn’t the pre-game show for any kind of extracurricular activity your raging hormones might have your brain pre-occupied with.” ?His eyes flicked to Kites.

“This is not some video game. You are not here to live our some hero fantasy. You are not here to eat and get laid.” He said looking first firmly at Gen and then past her to Kites, and then Kat and finally lingering on Brandon with a disappointed look.

“When you walk into this room its real life.? Its test your mettle. Its push your limits. Its learn your weaknesses and test your strengths. It is not play time. Its shut-up, fall back, shut up, stop blaming others for your screw-ups, take some ownership of your mistakes and learn time because what we do here are matters of life and death…for you, your team and civilians. So if today’s activities have your panties in a snit…if you don’t like mine or Harrison’s tactics…the is door right there,” he said stepping aside so that Gen could see there was a clear path to the door with no one blocking her way.

“You can walk out and be about you merry way. None the wiser with our well wishes, otherwise understand your role and the program. And as far as Ireland watching…contrary to what you think,” his eyes landing on Kites. “Ireland is your biggest cheerleader and a wonderful judge of character. And since ?the purpose of today’s exercise was to see what we were working with…if you could adapt and learn. If you were trainable and coachable. We were testing your personal abilities and the ability for you to come together and work together as a team in a high pressure, stressful situations, please understand you failed miserable. If Ireland wasn’t watching, you would still be flying around screaming at unbreakable cameras, potential injuring yourself and your team getting your ass handed to you by battle droids. It was because of her that the bots self-destructed. When neither you or Kites conferred with your team lead about the best way to approach the defeat of the bots...she realized that you were giving the bots the opportunity to learn your movements with your solo continuous attacks. When your team lead failed to do just that...lead... Ireland realized someone was going to get seriously hurt. She is A computer wiz, after asking me...begging me in fact to end the test, she hacked into my computer causing them to self destruct. So make sure you thank her.”

He said moving to the door. “Oh and effective today. Ireland is your new team lead. “

“Wait...what...”Ireland said...she looked at Brandon.?

“Now all of you get washed and changed and eat. i expect anyone who plans to be apart of this team actually be apart of this team to report classroom B first thing tomorrow morning. Good night.” He said gesturing for Imogene to follow him out of the room.?

Once Chord and Imogene we’re gone, Ireland turned to Brandon. “I had no idea he was going to do that. I swear.” She said. “I gotta go but we will talk later.” She said leaving out too.

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Tag: ?Brandon, Kat, Mia, Kites, Gen, with Chord and co posting at random

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