Hoarder-Of-Stories

Now I sat paralyzed in the back of one of the fleet vans, with the small firearm in my hands as my only weapon. None of the members of the AV team had been given anything bigger than an AK since a training disaster involving another experimental group, though our poor track records as teammates probably contributed to that too. Now I regretted not being on better behavior as the dinky glock glinted while I fidgeted with the trigger mechanism.

We were waiting. By we I mean me and the driver. Though the driver had been mercifully incapacitated before the wheels had left the ground... leaving me to deal with the enemy presence. Since our first encounter, maintaining the distance between us was the only thing that had provided me peace of mind. Up until now, I'd gotten lucky with that too, since our vast... size difference had made that an easy task. However, the tranquility of the past few months had made me and my team reckless.. and lazy.

We were waiting... but waiting for what? If I were more sure of the strength of my own voice, I would have asked the general myself. What did he want from us? From me? Why had he been targeting me? At this point it was no coincidence I'd run into him on so many missions. But I couldn't risk giving him anything. Not my fear nor my curiosity, not even my gaze. As he held the car high in the air, suspended between a gloved thumb and forefinger, I kept my eyes focused on the spot between my boots. A pair of neatly tied laces looked back up at me, hungry for action.

Just as I danced my fingers over the slide, a shadow fell over the car, dimming the interior. I quickly ducked the firearm out of sight into my lap, bowing my head to hide my face from his prying eyes. Well... eye. I caught flashes of his bright- almost white iris out of my peripheral vision as he raised the car to his face to peer inside. He was silent for a few seconds before speaking in his dry, formal way.

"Greetings again, little soldier."

I struggled not to twitch as the nickname hit me like a slap to the face, pressing the gravity of the situation further upon me. It pissed me the fuck off too. But I could stifle my irritation for a few more minutes before I executed my plan.

The glock was pressed close to the bottom of the car, surely out of his sight. I thanked my past self for fiddling with it and loading it prior to this moment now. Any clicks from doing it now would have surely given me away. But for now I still had an advantage, he didn't know I was armed. The way he'd pressed his eye up next to the backseat window presented me with a brilliant opportunity to get the jump on him. While I couldn't necessarily threaten his life with what I had at hand right now, I could definitely do a hit to his vision. And a general that big... definitely values his vision.

As I felt the car shift slightly and his blinking quicken, I anticipated him preparing to speak again- the perfect time to strike. He inhaled and slowly rumbled out his next statement, prompting me to pull the gun to my chest while simultaneously pulling the slide back to arm it.

"You can't kill a god with a glock, little soldier. Do not engage me."

I hadn't even brought it all the way up into the view of the window before he finished his warning. What had given it away? How did he know? Was it the way I was sitting? Where I was looking? My mind was running with potential faults in my execution, but only one question rang the clearest. What was he going to do next?

Even as I finally yielded and turned to face his gaze in horror, I couldn't find an answer. His ambitions, motivations- even emotions seemed unclear as I studied the massive eye lingering beyond the window, which seemed to have been studying me just as intently in return.

It was dry enough here at North Point that visibility would drop if too many people drove through the drier patches at once, so it made sense how I'd missed him before. Now that the spar had ended though, I could see from my distance much better. One bested TITAN soldier lay face-down and still while Lanning knelt above him with a victorious posture. The mech had pinned his opponent's right arm behind his back while kneeling with one leg over the back of his kneecaps to keep him down.

The crowd gathered near them cheered and laughed while some exchanged handfuls of cash, seeming to have made bets on the outcome in advance. I threw one more look out to the sea behind me and the sun was already halfway below the water- which told it was about to get colder with nightfall nearing. From experience, the top of a six-story building was not the most pleasant place at night while dressed in a tank top and shorts. I figured I'd enjoyed enough of my day decompressing in sweet solitude anyways- jumping from roof to roof to avoid my superiors- and I might as well enjoy some socializing while they were out.

I stretched my arms high above my head, linking my fingers to warm up my shoulders just right. Careful not to lose another pair of shoes (and a good chunk of my check with it), I slipped of my sandals before fully opening my wings. Ready to take flight, I slipped off the edge of the roof, steadily angling my primary feathers outward to catch the wind. Without using much energy, I was able to smoothly glide down to the field, making minor adjustments along the way to correct my trajectory. As much as I could tease Lanning about his incompetence in fitness training, he had done an alright job teaching me how to fly.

I zeroed in on a small clearing within the crowd, keeping my knees bent to prepare for the impact. Just before I soared over their heads, I announced my presence with a sharp clearing of my throat, followed by my signature greeting.

"Hey ladies~" I drawled out with a smirk to the almost entirely male crowd, drawing some chuckles, a few scoffs, and the attention I needed to land safely. With a light flap I slowed my descent just enough to touch down, turning my glide into a short stumble and a skip before coming to a complete stop down the path they'd cleared for me.

Glancing over my shoulder I saw several drinks raised in welcome while the crowd coalesced once more as I slipped my sandals back on. Suddenly a rough hand landed my shoulder, almost knocking me over while I was still balancing flamingo style to get my other shoe on.

"Aye Cap, took ya long enough to get down here! Ya just missed it! Yer tin boy 'ere's tryin' out some new moves from tha' old western movie that jus' came out last month- an' call it a hunch but I dun' think Grey's seen it yet!" The heavily accented, older man next to me burst into a fit of laughter at his own joke, pointing at the TITAN soldier to the left of the group that was still lying face down from the resolution of the match. Upon closer inspection, yes, that was indeed Greyson, who seemed to have been on the unlucky receiving end of Lanning's new moves.

"Like you'd do any better in his position," I scoffed at him, throwing him a light punch to the shoulder before he stumbled off to likely retrieve another can of beer. The response solicited another chuckle from those near who'd heard it.

Looking to the sky, away from my regularly sized mates, I saw Lanning with his back turned to us, testing each one of his carefully calibrated mechanical joints while observing the hills. From his prone position, Grey had turned his head to the side to where I could see my reflection in the heavily tinted glasses he wore. A couple more jests and jokes with the lively group, and I had almost weaved my way through the crowd to him before a voice rang out from behind me,

"Hey, I still got money here! Cmon, just one more round before we start PT reruns this week!" Just as quickly as it had shot out, a hand waving a couple bucks in the air darted back into the mass of people- but not before a couple more began to voice their cheers of agreement. Hearing the commotion, Lanning turned around, tilting his head down to us. He'd taken no notable notice of my presence, turning his gaze to Grey with little hesitation. All focus was now on the soldier still recovering in the dust, as Lanning's silence was taken as agreement to engage in another match. As someone who'd experienced the anxiety of peer pressure before, I recognized the situation instantly. The poor guy was obviously beat, just ready to catch some sleep after a day of training.

"Oi guys, guys, I think that's enough," I pushed my way to the front of the crowd, waving my hands in front of me to try and quiet the rising chatter. In the space between the Greyson and the group, I tried to fan my wings out to divert some of the attention away from him.

"It's been a long day, huh? We're uh..." I looked back over at Grey in an attempt to see if I'd judged his situation correctly. The angle of his neck had a relaxed a bit, letting me know I'd been correct. "Yeah, we're done here. Let's pack it up y'all, got lots to do tomorrow-"

"Long day? All you did was skirt your duties Cap! Don't gimme that shit!" A few laughed at the interrupting quip, which was... unfortunately not wrong. I couldn't help but chuckle in admitted guilt, but before I could return to redirecting them back to base again, I was cut off once more with another incriminating chip.

I backed away from the rebellious crowd, which was audibly eager to hang on to the last few minutes of their weekend fun. My attempts to calm them down were quickly drowned out by louder counters, hyping the rest of them up more. I almost resorted to enlisting Grey's help to get my voice heard above the sea of voices until a familiar face stepped out from the crowd. The man I'd met earlier hushed his friends with a few waves of his hands and a charismatic smile as he trotted up next to me.

"Fellas! Fellas! Aye, the gal's right- that's enough. Grey's well beyond earned some peace after bein' so kind as to keep us busy wit' his trainin' 'ere."

His statement resonated with the crowd, carrying the message I'd struggled to get across before. I sighed in relief as I picked up on a few murmurs of agreement and resigned sighs. I'd just inhaled to express my gratitude for his help before he continued,

"So why don't we let Cap 'ere finally carry her weight today 'n fight instead?"

To my horror, his suggestion received equal support as excitement from the spectators, eagerly waving some residual change around without moments to spare to wager up new bets. Before I could shoot this backstabber a scathing glare, he saluted me with another rough pat on the shoulder, before dissolving into the crowd again with a hearty chuckle. Biting my lip as there was no hope for me to negotiate with all the noise, I craned my neck to look up at Lanning, who'd been towering over us the entire time. We held a silent gaze before he broke the silence, seeming to have noticed my posture of surrender.

"Apologies, esteemed colleagues, but I concede that such a pairing would not even yield a sufficient entertainment for you. A hospital visit is more likely."

A series of 'oohs' rose from the observers behind me, as I now turned to completely face the titanic machine looming above me. Now a fight didn't seem so impossible, as long as he kept dishing out insults.

"Uh, wow. Okay. So you're that eager to throw down, huh?" I raised my hands in front of my face, hopping from one foot to the other in a defensive stance. "Fine! Come at me!"

But the advance I expected never came. He simply stood there, looking down at me inexpressive disdain. Possibly disappointment? That would be worse. As it seemed a front wasn't going to coax a fight out of him, I put my hands down, opting for the psychological path instead.

"What? Too afraid to go toe to toe with someone like... an eighth of your size? Just jealous you don't even have toes huh-"

While I was distracted looking at his visor for any emotional response, which was stupid to expect from a robot to even begin with, I hadn't noticed his foot inching closer stealthily. In a flash of steel, he hit me on the side with the toe of his boot, knocking me swiftly to the ground. Ironic.

"Okay- yeah, I see you now." I huffed as I stood up again, dusting my palms off on my shorts. "Jealous as ever! Don't wanna try because you're too caught up in your lil' Pinocchio story, eh? The tin boy wants to be real!"

His posture straightened ever so slightly as snapped my remarks which were... admittedly not that clever. I had to give credit to the man from earlier though, tin boy wasn't a bad nickname. I'd have to write that one down.

"Scrap metal! Silver servant! Aluminum... uh um... whatever the hell! Hah! Fight me like the man you aren't- mano y mano." I held my hands, clenched into fists, up to my face again, ready for a showdown this time.

And again, irony stuck, quite literally as he bent over unexpectedly smoothly at the hips, extending a single finger to poke me in the midsection. I doubled over from the force, bells of alarm ringing in my head as he'd just demonstrated such precise control over his body. The move was perfectly calculated to wind me, yet he was capable of so much worse at the same time. The brunt of the poke had been dealt straight to my chest, directly in the region of my diaphragm to stun my breathing yet nothing else.

The shock forced me to slow down and pay attention to my senses rather than my thoughts. As I struggled to regain my breath, I heard the crowd yapping to my right, some cheering and others groaning in the telltale tones of lost bets. And although faint, I could hear Grey stirring behind me. Had he really been knocked out that whole time? Or was he just now getting invested in the situation? Whatever. All I was really focused on now was the task in front of me.

"Whooh, so that's how it's gonna be, huh?" I staggered to a stand once more, lifting my arms up away from my sides. The dust from my earlier fall still coated the creases of my palms- not the most pleasant feeling. All the motivation to just finish this faster. Lanning similarly reciprocated a readied pose, drawing one foot back and holding hand forward.

"Aight, you wanna go? Let's dance big boy."

A/N

ermmm cringe warning!! 🤓☝️‼️‼️ whatever im not rereading through all that HAHA if yall find anything wrong with it just DM or something ill fix it tomorrow