CHAPTER 8
The Rest of Them

I stood out side my new barracks with my small amount of personal items sluing over my shoulder. That is the one thing I was always thankful for about my form. Military issued uniform and other gear did not apply to me so I always had very little to keep track of.

This is the first day I will be meeting the rest of my squad. The comment that Lorry had made in the transport resurfaced in my mind. I wonder what kind of wacky names the rest of them had.

I reached a taloned had for the door knob and turned it. I stepped into the barracks only to be greeted with silence. It wasn't silent because everyone was eyeing up the fresh meat. It was silent because there was no one in here. Well no one except Lorry who gave me a warm smile.

"Oh hey Shard." She greeted "Sorry to say but the rest of the gang is out and about doing whatever so your stuck with me."

"That's ok I don't mind your company." I said placing my small duple bag in the corner. " But if you don't mind me asking is your... our squad always this punctual?"

Lorry laughed at my obvious show of sarcasm and shuck her head. "Your gonna take back those words when you meet everyone else. Then you'll just think were crazy." She rose from her bunk and walked to the door. "Well shall we go see your future inmates?"

"Gladly." I chuckled.

Lorry Let me into a large complex filled with vehicles of all types. The war machines were either under repair or waiting for their next excursion in the hangers.

"So is one of our squad mates a engineer or something." I asked.

"No he isn't" She chuckled. "But you could say he shares some traits with the things in here."

If my face could show confusion then that's definitely what Lorry saw as she laughed at my face.

We stopped in front of a set of hanger doors that had some graffiti on it. When I leaned in it read 'Only in death does duty end. Even in death I still serve.'. I was going to ask how such graffiti could be overlooked by other officers but Lorry was already sliding the door open.

It was dark inside the hanger we blindly walked into.

"Hey Golem wake up!" Shouted Lorry cupping her hands over the sides of her mouth.

Shortly after I heard a groan and the movement of something very large. The lights started to illuminate a large pile of all kinds of metal. The rest of the hanger had scattered pieces of all kinds strung about the walls and floor space. Against one particular pile rose a massive metal figure. Small gears and other assorted junk fell from his body as he rose too his feet.

"Lorry sometimes I wish you were scared of me like the rest of the marines." Said the giant figure who was presumably Golem.

"Awww." Lorry faked a whine. "But where would be the fun in all the peace and quite you would get."

"God forbid you'd make me happy." Golem glared at her. He walked over to us and shifted his gaze to me once he towered over me. "And who is this fine gentleman?"

I was not sure if he was being sarcastic or being genuinely pleasant, But I decided it was the later.

"My name is Shard I will be joining your squad as of today." I answered with a salute.

"Well it is nice to meet you Shard, and please don't salute me." He said raising a hand to shake mine. "We are all brothers and sisters in arms now."

He wrapped his hand around mine and gently gave it a shake before returning to his piles to begin sorting through them. I stared at him as he walked away until Lorry gave me a poke and pointed outside.

"So what do you think?" She asked when we were walking again.

"About what? How tall he was or him in general?" I asked with a laugh.

"Alright smart guy now you answer both." She said returning my tone with a smirk.

"Ok I think he is at least nine feet tall." I started " But he seems like quite the gentlemen if you take out his massive metal body out of the picture. He's a cyborg right?"

"Yes but a very extreme form of one. The only thing Human about him is his brain that is inside that metal body."

We continued to walk in silence for some time. As we passed the last hanger a red blur rammed into me knocking me too the floor. The thing that rammed into my landed hard on my chest.

"Ouch!" yelled a high pitched voice.

I looked at my chest to she a small girl who looked to be no older then seventeen sitting on my waist holding her head. She wore a a red hooded cloak with a white blouse underneath with a red skirt to go with her cloak. I could see past the hooded girl to see Lorry fighting back laughter and tears of joy.

"Oh sorry mister!" yelled the girl as she sprung off me. "Your not hurt are ya?"

I could not see most of the girls face but I could tell that she was surprise by her mouth gestures.

" I guess not." She said with a smile reviling a tooth that seemed sharper then it should be.

"Well Red good to see your taking the insensitive with the men." Piped up Lorry no longer apple to contain her laughter.

The girl frowned and turned her back to me to face Lorry.

"And what do you mean by that?!" She cried

"Well seeing as you wasted no time to mount our new squad mate is all." She said teasing her. "I feel the need to inform you that 'squad mate' and 'mate' are two completely different things."

Lorry was almost unable to stand let alone breath between her laughter and making fun of this girl who was apparently in my squad. I was trying to wrap my mind on how this young girl was in my squad. She hardly looked to be military material.

"Y-Y-You SLUT LEAVE ME ALONE!." She stammered running down the lane of hangers.

"Alright sweetie see you at the barracks!" she yelled after her still in her teasing tone.

I starred down the road where the girl had disappeared.

"Who was that, and was that really necessary?" I asked hardly hiding my stern tone.

"That was Little Red she is on of our squad mates, and yes. Yes it was." She answered with the signature smirk.

I decided to not press the matter assuming this must be the norm in this small family. We continued to the small section of the base that was used to unwind. We stopped at the entrance to a bar that was called 'Hell's Pit Stop'. On the inside it was poorly lite, and stained from spilled drinks from the floor too the ceiling. It was here I spotted some trouble.

"Well freak whats it gonna be?" asked a marine who clearly had to much to drink.

In most cases this would not be a problem, but he was not alone. He was accompanied by 4 other drunk soldiers trying to pick a fight with a lone man in a dark corner of the bar.

"Ya Frea -hic- k. Another table or -hic- broken bones."

The man did not answer. He took his mug and chugged the remaining contents into his gullet.

"Well for you fine gentlemen I pick operation three." He said with malice. "All of the above but for the other party."

Without warning one marine threw a punch at him. The man deflected it with ease and kicked him in the knee bringing him down into his knee.he then rolled over his back side kicking another in he head and spinning around him to German suplex him on a table. The last three jumped in to help their friends to late while the man took up a defensive stance. However being drunk the marines did not wait for an opening, and as a result one was thrown out a window. The other two were delt with in a quick and elegant fashion with a series of flips.

In the mess of the bar groans of pain could be heard, but the bartender didn't seem to care. Must be a natural occurrence.

"Hell Yay! Black Light you showed em!" Cheered Lorry

Black light turned his gaze to use with his eyes locking on me. He examined me from the shadows, and in turn I examined him.

I could not make out his facial features because he kept it in the darkness of the bar. He wore a button up long sleeve shirt with the sleeves pulled up to his elbows and a messy color. His pants were not standard issue military gear by any means. The pants were more like black fiber of some kind with nozzles sitting at his ankles and knees. There also was some thin tubing embedded underneath the armor with some clear material. Inside the tubes was a luminescent orange fluid. I also noted that there was this same fluid was creeping up his arms and neck. there were some around his eyes as well.

"So he's the new guy?" Black Light asked still eyeing me up.

"Yup" Lorry responded happily.

"Shit!" He said stepping out of the shadows to reveal his short brown hair and a tattoo of a design I had never seen before. "Looks like I owe you fifty bucks."

"What were you two betting on?" I asked as Black Light handed Lorry some cash.

"Oh we had a bet weather you would be the strangest thing to enter our squad." She said still smiling.

'Wow this girl's indecency knows no bounds.'

"Hey Black Light want to come with Shard and I to meet the mighty mage?" Asked Lorry nudging him in the side.

Black Light looked around the destroyed bar before nodding. When we walked out Black Light placed some more money on the bar counter. The bar tender nodded at him almost ritually.

"Wait did you say his name was Shard?" asked Black Light raising a brow.

"Yes I did... Fuck." She reached into her pocket and withdrew the fifty she had just received. Then then placed it into Black Light's hand who gave her a smug grin.

"Really? You bet on my name too?"

"Yes..." said Lorry looking depressed for having to return her winnings to Black Light.

We continued to make small talk as we walked. I soon learned that Black Light had a very dirty mind. He was always cracking sex jokes or something else equally as insulting. Lorry seemed to enjoy it very much while I just starred strait ahead. I also learned that the glowing orange fluid in his armor and flesh was the unexplained substances that was discovered twenty one years ago.

The substance was name "Will" in honor of it's discoverer William Gaze. The Will reacted to the world like nothing ever discovered before. It seemed to be powerful in it's own way, but when scientists went to test on them they found that it was rare for two specimens to have the same effect as another. Some would light fires easily, give off an infinite amount of electricity, while others could absorb an immeasurably amount of damage.

It was at this discover that military groups around the world took interest in it's capabilities. The people they began to infuse them with were called mages or other names similar to that because of there unprintable abilities.

"Were here." Said Black Light motioning to the structure in front of us.

It was the troops training facility. We entered to see a few marries on the training equipment trying to further themselves. Lorry and Black Light walked passed them with out even glancing at them. I followed them into a observatory that overlooked a oval room with one man standing in the middle.

The man fashioned an old pointed hat that sagged bending the tip down, and on the sides covering most of his face, He also wore a tight gray t-shirt with some kind of overalls. The man had glowing blue veins that trailed up his arms and what little I could see of his face. Unlike Black Lights Will veins this man's were many and wide.

The man walked away from the center of the room which means he had finished the simulation before we could watch. He then joined us in the observation room and flashed us a smile.

"You must be the new addition to my squad." He said approaching me. "My name is Albracax" He bowed deeply.

:"My name is Shard. You seem to be quite the powerful mage."

Black Light Scoffed. "You don't know the half of it."

"I am Albracax, but that is enough about me. I am sure you have learned much about my squad, and revealed no info on yourself."

I let out a heavy sigh and got ready to tell them about my abilities. "For starters Just like you and Black Light I was effused with the Will as well. My body reacted very differently as you can no doubt see." I motioned towards myself. "But unlike you can't us it the way you all can. When my body changed into this I lost all ability to do different Will abilities and was restricted to the manipulation of my own body." I sent out a few shards that formed into 7 small cubes and lifted a pen off a near by table in their unnatural magic field. "However in addition to this I am extremely resistant to other's Will and regenerate at a fast rate."

Black Light Whistled at me. "Wow talk about a fair fight."

"Well Shard it is nice to have you in my squad I look forward to working with you." He raised a hand and we Shook.

'They don't seem that bad.'

Author's Note

Ahhhhh those character. Just delicious no?
I am still looking for proof readers but my thanks to bk201z for volunteering.