Mercenaries at the door

[mitochondriaaya]

Sometimes a man simply had to check in on his girls. They'd run a mission in Canada and the college was ENTIRELY on the way back after all...and the team wanted to see the girls too and...

...and Nevada couldn't really shake their last letter from his head. The girls were living with some unvetted young men and that could prove problematic. The helicopter set down in on the school pad (usually used for medivac units) and Nevada swung to the ground, waving off one of the school aides coming out to greet him,

He had an address. And a mission.

And after a quick run, well, a door to knock on. The pair of mercs that had followed him chuckled at the politeness but hey, it never hurt right?

Comments

[mitochondriaaya]

"We'll see after dinner? Homework tonight," Aya conceded.

"It'll be a sacrifice in a good cause," Marc assured with a chuckle."They have to pass you before they poke us!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"I don't mind." Dilan assured Marc, "I get hurt much worse than they can do with needles regularly. I work with things that have spines."

[mitochondriaaya]

"We mind you bleeding too much!" Aya assured.

"We should really look into spine removal as a hobby...' Maya admitted. "Those barbs can be annoying to handle yourself."

[sliceitwithwind]

"I'm used to it." Dilan said, "It's only when they're psychotropic that I have problems."

"This," Braig informed Nevada, "is why my life path is the way it is."

[mitochondriaaya]

"You may be used to it but the people who like you don't like seeing you cut up or injured." Aya pointed out.

Nevada turned to quirk an odd smile at the eldest boy, "I'm starting to understand why." Yes, Dilan was a rather special case and Braig was something of a reality leash on the boy. "It'll be an interesting life."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Oh." The look of bafflement was mostly people other than Braig and Pierce like me. Woah. than anything else.

Braig nodded and took one of Dilan's hands in his own, "Yup. I can't wait."

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya just shook her head softly, bemused at Dilan's response, and went back to leaning bonelessly on Perry who was still talking shop with Pierce. "You've got a good start on things," she admitted at last.

"Liftoff," Nevada noted for those who cared. "Shouldn't be a long flight."

"Which means no movie or snacks," Maya chuckled.

[sliceitwithwind]

"That's fine. We're going for dinner." Braig pointed out.

Dilan just watched. Hee! Flight!

[mitochondriaaya]

"It was a joke," Maya countered with a grin. "Bad one, sorry."

"And you'd make a crap flight attendant anyway," Aya chuckled. "Wake me up when we're there?" Naps were awesome.

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan was lost in the wonder of flight, staring outside with an expression of glee.

Braig said, "Nap sounds good." and leaned against Dilan's shoulder.

"It's amazing...I bet I could code for wings in babies..."

"No, Dilan."

"But flight!"

[mitochondriaaya]

"No Dilan!" The girls and Pierce chimed in with the rest of the helicopter a heartbeat behind when it seemed an important thing to say.

"Just no," Aya sighed.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Oh. Okay." Dilan said, sighing a bit. He never got to do anything fun. Except this. This was fun.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Quality of life," Aya explained quietly. "And you don't touch young sentients, even prenatal ones. They are not open for adjustment." Because the idea made Aya ill to contemplate really. "Please."

"Relax," Maya suggested to her sister. "KAOS is different."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Oh. Right." Dilan nodded to Aya without moving his head away from the window. "No tweaking babies."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Thank you," Aya sighed, relaxing a little. "That makes me happy to hear."

Maya just stared at her sister for a moment, torn between respect for the statement and rolling her eyes.

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan turned his face away from the window long enough to give Aya a brilliant smile, then looked back out. Sky. So awesome.

He was trying to figure out how to give Pierce wings.

[mitochondriaaya]

Pierce did not want wings. Just so Dilan knew.

Aya slid into an easy nap snuggled between her sister and one of her extended family members. Maya chatted with Marc quietly about things shed missed and...then they were there.

The restaurant didn't mind a helicopter in the parking lot...right?

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan shook Braig awake gently, and smiled at Nevada, "Thank you, Mr. Nevada. That was very interesting."

[mitochondriaaya]

"You're welcome Dilan. We'll work on the crossing state and country lines thing before summer break." Nevada swung out and to the ground, holding his hands up to help the girls down. It was just a family habit! "The girls mentioned something about Carnivale?"

"You're great with secrets uncle," Aya laughed. "We love you anyway."

[sliceitwithwind]

"That would be nice." Dilan admitted, smiling at Nevada again, "I'd like to see other places."

Braig grinned at the girls, "He's probably better with them when he's told they're secrets, I'm betting."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Yeah, probably," they admitted, chagrined.

Nevada nodded to the group and offered his arms to the girls. "Like I said, we'll see what can be done. Maybe we can add you as an intern or something, slide you in under the our merc aegis."

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan smiled at him again, "Okay. I'm sure I could be useful."

"He's saying it as a legal fiction, Dilan."

"...I could still be useful."

[mitochondriaaya]

"I do not know if I want to open the way for true interns in the company, it is a dangerous place for people even when they are skilled." Nevada admitted. "But I will consider it." Why not? Odd as the boy may be he could be useful as he said.

"...you just want to recruit someone from the campus so KAOS stops bugging you to come to the career days!" Aya accused.

[sliceitwithwind]

"I go to school at KAOS." Dilan pointed out, the unspoken being that he was quite, quite used to danger.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Different kinds of danger out in the real world," Nevada admitted, then gave a feral smile to the gentleman who wanted to seat them.

"And in the company you need to end up stabbing or singeing yourself less often, your body is an asset of the company." Aya pointed out quietly.

"This is also the argument Nevada used on us so we didn't get tattoos a few years ago." Maya snorted.