Chapter 8 - Team Willy

The world around Willy swiftly came into view. His consciousness slowly returned to focus on the world engaged around him. He found himself in a familiar room, the Medical Unit Wing in the Vault. He had been in here a few times before, not exactly his cup of tea and biscuits, certainly not a place he would choose to be. Willy sat up, suddenly feeling a jolt of pain cascade throughout his body. He found it restricting to move, the bandages wrapped up around his chest and his right arm. Normally after a few good hours of sleep, Willy’s body was able to rapidly heal at a supernatural rate, but not this time apparently. The damage done in his battle with Xero was far too staking on his being.

Damn, I almost forgot! Willy grimaced, narrowing his eyes toward the door on the other side of the room, unusually far away.

“I wouldn’t venture too far in your condition. Your face must be shed from approaching sunlight!” A lighthearted, patient voice called from the back room. Willy froze up instantly, cutting his eyes slowly to the back room. He swallowed slightly before sitting up in his bed. He heard little footsteps echoing across the hallway, he immediately knew, not only by the voice, but by the slow pace of the footsteps who was treating him, if it weren’t obvious enough by the room stature of assorted picture frames covering the entire room of single close ups of as certain individual’s face. That was the only detail he seen and needed to know.

“Kaidoh,” Willy said slowly, finally turning his full body around to face the man who walked through the room, adorning a crescent style of ornaments, light blue hair styled, twin mirrors attached to both of his robe pockets.

“I’m a doctor, little swan, and you are 100 years too early to be referring to my face without a proper resignation,” Kaidoh said rather sharply, which Willy challenged with a simple scowl. Willy turned away, knowing that in these types of arguments, even Sabre couldn’t beat him. “You took quite a beating there,” Kaidoh stated bluntly, reaching inside of a file cabinet across the room, rummaging through many materials inside. “If Sabre was only a few more minutes late, I might not have been able to save you.”

“Was it really that serious?” Willy asked, staring down at the ground with an endless, unfocused gaze.

“Yeah, your pressure points were completely jammed, and your brain lost signal with your body. Seems your nerve receptors were jammed. Basically, your CPES Aura abilities were completely shot down, and had it not been for my interference and emergency surgery, you surely would have died within the hour. Whoever did that knew what they were doing, indeed. That’s not even mentioning all of your other external injuries. Those six broken ribs were pretty troublesome as well, with a pierced lung and all. Jeez, you’re a mess; so unmanly of you.”

Willy nodded slowly; he was hardly listening to Kaidoh, his thoughts completely focused on something else, Xero, and Clara. He killed her in cold blood, right in front of him. Willy clenched his fist, his silent rage began flaring in him. He couldn’t just sit here sulking, he had to act. Willy slowly stood up, once again, and headed for the door. Kaidoh turned his head toward Willy, pulling out a pill bottle from inside of the cabinet. “Wait up, slow down your trajectory there young swan, and please turn your average face to my attention.”

Willy looked back over his shoulder, as that instant he did, he caught the approaching pill bottle with his right hand. The pure lift of his arm sent a large jolt of pain through Willy’s body. He grimaced, shaking it off. Kaidoh grinned from behind, sitting on Willy’s bed.

“I know how you get in these situations, so just go and bleed to death, but at least you could take those antibiotics.” Kaidoh winked. Willy smiled.

“Thanks Kaidoh.”

“I’m a doctor.”

“So Trav, this is the gang!” Sabre sat on the bar stool holding a beer. Trav stood next to him, glancing around the large lobby.  Large assortments were sorted over the hideout, many tables and chairs rowdily loitered around, many statues of a golden eagle floated above the ceiling. A small crowd began cheering at the new arrival, as beer and smoke dispensed in a wild sense across the room, many fists began flying, chairs crushed, had Trav not ducked, he would have been rammed into an incoming large man who was shattering the glass bottles across the bar table. Another smaller man ran up and slid the big man down the table. He hit his head on a supporting pillar in the room, causing a picture portrait to crash down upon him. Trav watched with widened eyes.

“Uh- what- what the hell?”

“Nah, it’s normal. They often fight when they’re happy,” Sabre said as if it were no big deal at all, taking a sip of his beer bottle. He leaned across the counter, smacking himself in the face, he looked back groggily to Trav.

“You’re already drunk after one drink?! How sensitive can you be?!”

“Amm nawt droonk!” Sabre uttered out almost incoherently. Trav’s eyes widened, pointing at Sabre.

“That’s exactly what a drunken person would say!” Trav exclaimed, leaping across the bar as another man flew past him. Trav crouched down underneath.

“This is crazy! How can these guys be so disruptive?!”

“This is the only life we have now, Trav,” Sabre said, slouching down on his chair, his cheeks suddenly back to normal color. Trav looked up with even more widened eyes, clearly reaching the size of the moon now.

“What the hell?! You’re sober within seconds?!”

“Trav, I don’t think I’ve introduced myself yet,” Sabre said, setting his beer aside. Trav looked up, attempting to tune out all of the noise. Sabre cut his eyes toward Trav casually, without a care in the world. He almost even looked bored. “My name is Sabre, but I’m more known around here as the Golden Eagle of the Rose.” Sabre held up his hand, Trav taking it with a diligent shake.

“Nice to meet you sir,” Trav said, clearly unsure what else to say. He wanted to ask so many questions, but he couldn’t bring himself to. “My name is Travis Reid.” Sabre nodded.

“Right, I know you. There’s a group of people I’d like you to meet Trav. Follow me if you will.” Sabre said, pumping Trav on the shoulder. Trav stood up and followed Sabre out of the room. Trav hit his head lightly tapping himself in the right temple. What was he getting himself into? Things were even more chaotic now than they were a few hours ago, which he could barely remember. It was more than any average person should be able to process.

Sabre walked through the hallway, making a left turn down a red carpeted hallway, which he found strange considering there was no carpet in the lounge room or the other rooms. Trav followed peculiarly, a brow raised the whole way. Sabre opened the door to the end room on the halls, motioning for Trav to come inside. Immediately after Sabre opened the door, Trav held his nose tight with both hands.

“Jesus! What’s that horrid stench?! That is ass at its nastiest!” Trav obnoxiously scowled nasally. Sabre inhaled deeply filling his lungs with the malicious air. Trav literally felt like he was going to pass out, maybe even venture into a stifling coma.

“Yo! Golden-rod! What’s up?!” a loudmouthed girl with sharp features leaned against the center table and chair in the room, wearing a rather uncanny hat and ruby crafted gemstones draping down from the hat on chain. She was wearing a casual red robe, yet was torn in about 50 places. Trav couldn’t make out all of the defining details at that moment due to the reeking aroma, but he did notice a large brew of steam mounting in the kitchen. The room was apparently a small apartment inside of the Vault.

Suddenly the girl’s chair was pulled out from behind her. She fell to the ground on her back. She glared up, her eyes shot up with an infuriated glower. “You asshole! You did that on purpose!” she pointed up at the man behind her, who walked toward the wall.

“Loudmouth Rubie’s reputation exceeds her,” a sapphire haired man leaned against the wall, crossing his arms with a casual lean, a deep blue scarf draped around his neck, he wore a casual black T-shirt underneath his white, blue trim layered jacket. He looked up, meeting eyes with Trav with a glacial iciness. He nodded slowly, gesturing up a quick hand on acknowledgement before turning his attention back to Rubie. “Your ass was in my face. I didn't like it.”

“No one said you had to look at it! I didn’t even want you to look at it Jesse! And couldn’t you just move?! Like you just did?! Was knocking me down even necessary?!” she pouted, while the man, Jesse, looked over at the corner of his eye.

"It's more fun to move you," Jesse said with a unique chill. Trav could have sworn his throat chilled from his words.

“Interesting bunch,” Trav said with a sigh. Sabre smiled.

“’Course, you know, we’re all that’s left of the rebellion. Everyone here is crammed as a exultant family. These three here are the two other comrades of Willy.”

“Three?” Trav took a swift look at Jesse and Rubie, then directed his attention toward the kitchen. He squinted his eyes. In that same instant, a frying pan along with a thick carved chef’s knife lunged forward at an intense speed, the knife merely scrapping Trav’s cheek, while the frying pan hit his face, knocking him against the wall sideways. The knife stuck through the wall next to Trav. He looked up slowly, a quite horrified look upon his face. Jesse looked up nonchalantly, directing his eyes away from the floor toward the kitchen.

A man walked out of the kitchen, as his steps emerged closer, a quake in the floor began to feel more apparent. His footsteps also had a metalized feel, squeaking profusely with each closing step. As his face came into view from the steam, he looked down at Trav. Trav’s eyes widened intensely, attempting to crawl back up using the wall as a measly support.

“What the hell is this guy?! What is up with you people?!” Trav began panting, clutching his chest in a near panic state. Sabre looked up, as if confused.

“What? That’s just Ten. He’s just an android chef.”

Ten appeared, standing tall, over 8 feet tall. His body was an entire metallic canvas, similar to Xero but on a much larger scale. His eyes were completely neon green, with a darker shade of green as a pupil; his body was a rusty red, with a blue eagle painted across the right side of his chest. The most peculiar of all though, he was wearing a party hat with blue ribbons adorned on the top. Trav’s mouth gaped open as he looked up.

“My apologies, Travis Reid,” the android said slowly, his metallic voice nonchalant. “My arm short circuited. You may punish me with a paddle.”

“Alright so, this has to be a dream, all of this. There’s no way this is real life. You’re all just there in my dreams, this is all a dream. Why are you guys hiding like cowards then? You should go out and fight if it means that much to you!” Trav said in disbelief, with a slight terror lifting his voice. After all he had been through the past 24 hours; he felt he had a right to make a judgmental statement.

Sabre and Jesse both looked at Trav, and remained quiet. Rubie leaped over the table with one foot, and tackled Trav outside of the hallway. Jesse only slightly opened his eyes, while Sabre looked on.

“You think what we’ve been going through for the past decade is a dream?! You got a lot of balls to say something like that twerp! Don’t talk like you know everything!” Trav looked up, a blank expression plastered on his face. Inside, he felt completely conflicted, he didn’t know how to react at all. He wanted to believe he was dreaming, but she just tackled him, that hurt. He lost consciousness at the news station; he woke up in pain, more psychological than mental. “Those fiends have stolen away our freedom! Just their presence masks a sense of insecurity and taints all of our hearts! We’ve fought against these monsters for over a decade, and now they’re finally tired of us, they’re going to wipe us out! Before you go and blurt something entirely stupid and judgmental like that, you should think about us, think about how we feel, what you would do in our shoes. This isn’t a dream, this is the harsh reality. If you’re not going to accept it, then go sell yourself to K.I. and get the hell out.”

Trav looked up, resting his head against the scarlet carpet masking the hallway. He placed his hands over his face. “I see.”

Rubbie stood up, walking away from Trav. Trav made a slit in between his fingers to watch her walk away, watch her turn her back on him. “Wait.”

Rubbie stopped.

“You must be in pain right now,” Trav said, relying completely on impulse now. Sabre curiously looked on; Jesse closed his eyes once more. Ten stared apathetically. “You must have been going through a lot. I apologize, I don’t know what I was thinking. Well, I wasn’t thinking, how can I think in this situation?”

“Is this your way of asking for forgiveness?”

“Not at all,” Trav said, slowly sitting up, using the wall to lean on support. “I really couldn’t care less if you ever forgive me in this world, but…” Trav spoke up. “I have made a decision.” Rubbie finally turned around to face Trav, her garnet eyes glared at him with a certain intent he didn’t quite recognize. “Seems Willy was telling me the truth. I do want to help, any way I can.”

“The first thing you can do is man up and stand tall,” Rubbie said, walking back inside of the apartment. “Apparently you’re Willy’s accomplice. If so, I hope he teaches you exactly what it means to fight for us, and how to be a proper man.”

“Very well, Trav, if Ten and Jesse are okay with this, would you like to become a member of the Vault core squadron, Team Willy?”

Trav simply nodded. “I’m in.”

Jesse nodded apathetically. Ten smiled. Sabre chuckled.

“Welcome aboard. Once Willy awakens, we’ll all meet up and discuss what’s next.”

Willy walked through the lobby of the Vault headquarters, his hands in his pockets. He looked around, everyone that was fighting earlier were asleep in awkward positions on the table, floor, and even bar counter. Willy sighed, rubbing the back of his head. He looked at each one of the ones on the floor, and immediately headed in the opposite direction.

“Willy, mind if we talk?” a feminine voice echoed from afar. Willy stopped, turning around, facing the android girl who had saved him from Xero’s wrath in the station, Yuki.

“Yuki?”

“Hi Willy.”

“What are you doing here? You don’t usually lounge around headquarters.” Willy asked casually, slightly tilting his head to his right. Yuki smiled, adjusting her glasses on her face.

“You don’t need to worry, Trav has already settled, and is staying here for the night as well.”

“I see.”

Yuki stood up from the bar stool, walking closer to Willy slowly. Willy stood and watched her approach. Yuki stared into Willy’s eyes, boring through his soul, she was always good at catching him off guard, she was so unpredictable, Willy never knew what she was planning, just like her brother.

“I wanted to see you before I left.”

“Where are you going?” Willy’s eyes widened slightly.

“Away.”

“Broad term. Mind explaining?”

“I’m going away on a mission.”

Willy scowled slightly, Yuki looked on passionately. “If you really cared about us, you’d stay here with us, you know. Yuki, everyone knows about these secret missions.”

Yuki looked down, her cold grey eyes staring with a sad concentration. “I have to do this, not only for my sake, but for Vault’s too. You know how much influence he has, and he could find us, through me.”

Willy shook his head slowly, clearly in disagreement. “You can’t keep doing this forever. You can’t keep doing this to us. Just think about Sabre.”

Yuki paused for a short while, making her way out of the sliding glass doors. She looked back one last time before walking outside. “I’ll do what I have to do. Give Trav my regards.”

Willy nodded. “I’ll tell him everything.”

“Hopefully only everything he needs to know. Meet up with Team Willy, Sabre should have your first assignment with Trav ready.”

“You’ve talked with Sabre?”

“Nope,” Yuki smiled, disappearing outside in the cold brittle storm. The thunder roared, shining a sapphire light through the room, illuminating Willy’s face as he watched Yuki part. Willy closed his eyes, and kicked one of the tables lightly across the floor. He walked inside of the red carpeted hallway.