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┃🝣 Nickel II 🝣
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xxxxxxJeha had been tending to his flock of little flurries when a shrill cry came from the Orb and Sirius’s green-haired beauty. He gave the shrilling machine a cursory glance before quickly counting his flock. Tutting, the old shepherd began shuffling away, whistling a quick bird call of his own through a gap from a missing tooth. The small animals around him raised their heads and hopped toward him like bouncing clouds of fluff.
xxxxxxA poofy head pushed through the branches of a bush a short while later. “There you are,” Jeha said as he leaned down to brush leaves out of the beast’s coat, “Yer ears ain't hurtin’ are they? That noise was sure a surprise.” By the time the little animal had calmed down, other sounds caught the herdsman’s attention.
xxxxxx“No! Making a new leg is out of the question!” a strange voice exploded from further away. Jeha quietly shushed his flock and inched closer on his walking cane.
xxxxxx“Cal, you know that the metal turns back into the organic substance it originated as. Give her the prosthetic,” a voice growled menacingly.
xxxxxx“Whoever’s there, come on out!” Jeha paused. He wondered if the calm voice was directed at him, but decided it couldn't hurt to reveal himself.
xxxxxx“Don’ mind me. I ain't makin’ a secrit of watchin’ me flurries,” he said, shuffling carefully through the trees. He whistled his flock forward and turned to see the strange voices.
xxxxxxA large boy with more hair than necessary. He stood with arms crossed, glaring at one of the more adventurous members of Jeha’s flock. A young girl with skin that looked shiny and pale. She sat on the ground, facing away from the hairy man as she attached something that looked vaguely like a leg to her left side. A mature young man without whiskers or doubt. That one stared at Jeha with milky eyes in a way that intrigued the herdsman. An older boy who looked red with anger. The red moved back and forth as the boy paced at the edge of the small clearing.
xxxxxxJeha leaned on his staff, observing as the red boy stalked toward him. His mind spun to an ancient ogre looking for a victim, and the thought made him smile, which seemed to make the red turn a shade darker than before.
xxxxxx“What are you doing here?!” the angry one thundered. Jeha opened his eyes as wide as his bushy brows would allow.
xxxxxx“Why, nothin’ at all! I just been takin’ me flurries up t’me shelter for the night. Weather been smellin’ like rain since mornin’,” Jeha said as he leaned down to pat the head of one of his flock affectionately.
xxxxxx“Lead us to your shelter,” the hairy man barked roughly. Before Jeha could respond, the calm one with the milky eyes spoke up.
xxxxxx“Alpha, we must be considerate of the locals,” he admonished. Then, the young man turned to Jeha with a solemn expression. “Please forgive her. We would like to request the use of your shelter, sir,” the man said. Jeha smiled through his confusion, amiably waving for the group to follow him. He had thought this Alpha character was a male, so why did the polite young man call them a she? Jeha shrugged and dismissed the issue. Maybe he had assumed incorrectly. Some of the younger members back home seemed to be changing gender pronouns recently, anyway.
xxxxxxHe chattered at the figures following him, using his staff to climb the familiar and steadily increasing incline. They were slower than the old man, but he noticed that they didn’t seem to tire like most might. There was a worrying presence Jeha could never quite push from his mind, and he found himself glancing into the surrounding brush to look for predators.
xxxxxx“What are these things?” the girl asked as he finished one of his stories. She was looking warily at a hopping ball of fluff, which Jeha found amusing.
xxxxxx“They got soft wool used fer ‘fire re-tar-dant’ stuff. Meat’s a bit too stringy t’eat, though” Jeha said. The young man made a strange motion toward the large lady-man behind the herdsman's back. The herdsman felt the presences of some malignant force grow slightly, and he whistled again to his flock, glad that they were close to his resting place in the mountains. That place was secure, and they could get away from these strange predators he couldn’t see.
xxxxxxThe group finally crested a ridge and beheld the most run down shed among the mountains. “You can't expect us to stay the night here!” one of the members at the back complained. “Cal! Respect,” Alpha almost seemed to growl. Jeha imagined he felt the malignant presences increase, and he raised one brow at the lady-man. He would have to keep an eye on that one.
xxxxxxJeha feigned contentment as he whistled and opened the front door to the little hut. “In you go. You know what t’do inside,” Jeha murmured to his flock. He nudged the last straggler inside and turned to the strangers. “If yer wantin’ a place t’stay overnight, here's where me flurries and me weather storms,” the herdsman said. He may prefer to sleep under the stars, but sleeping in the rain was more of a bother than the enclosed space.
xxxxxxThe polite young man with the white eyes stepped forward cautiously, and the pale female turned and stared at the Orb. Something about her stare caught Jeha's attention, but his pondering thoughts were interrupted by the white-eyed man’s voice. “We humbly accept your invitation,” he declared, and though his voice was soft it carried the weight of a final decision.
xxxxxxCal, the disagreeable one, looked about to burst with indignation, but Alpha reached out a hand to restrain him. Jeha shrank back a little as Cal spun and launched an attack on Alpha. The young man of authority yelled something incomprehensible. The girl made a dash over to Jeha and pushed him through the door to the hut. The last thing the herdsman saw was large and hairy shapes with jaws full of teeth launch into the fray, accompanied by the sounds of snarling beastial cries.
🝢🜢🝢
xxxxxxI turned from my examination of the core as Noble spoke. It was fine by me if there was going to be a roof overhead tonight. My content outlook shifted dramatically, however, as soon as I saw Cal stiffen. I felt my metal rise to the surface. Alpha surely wasn’t going to--
xxxxxxMy thoughts stopped as Cal turned and threw a fist at Alpha. No! This wasn’t good!
xxxxxx“Why would we trust a defect like you?!” Alpha barks, “Commander has only helped us! You should be grateful!”
xxxxxx“Grateful?! You should be grateful I’m even trying to help a -snip- like you!” Project IIA--Bert shouts, his voice shaking dust from the ceiling. His fist flies as the dust falls. From under the table, I see them tumble, then snarling from through the wall.
xxxxxxThe snarling gets louder. More of them. Claws appear. Bert starts turning red. Lab coats drift to the floor, though these ones are red instead of white.
xxxxxxAlpha barks, the noises coming from him sounding ferral. The claws pace backwards slowly, leaving footprints. When I finally crawl out from under the table, the walls look like blades wrent through them and left their gouges into the metal. In shock, I--
xxxxxxNoble's shout shook me from my memories, and I made a run for it. Alpha may control the Hounds’ respect, but their rage was something not meant to be contained. I pushed the old man into his shack and turned to see Noble dodging claws.
xxxxxxI closed the door quickly and turned back to the old man. He trembled slightly as if his age had caught up with his sprightly energy. “Sir? Sir, are you alright?” I asked, tentatively waving a hand in front of him. Could he be in shock?
xxxxxx“This ain’t natural. Normal people don’ fight wit’ demons, or see wit’ blind eyes, or turn t’metal,” Jeha muttered, watching my hand as it moved. I realized what he meant by what he said a moment later and quickly contemplated letting my metal go. No. That would make me seem weak, wouldn’t it. I kept the metal, but gently grabbed the old man’s shoulders and forced him to look at me.
xxxxxx“Tell me you remember The War. It wasn’t all that long ago. What saved the survivors during The War?” I asked, trying to be gentle enough to be respectful while firm enough to get through to the man. He was a native, and so far my best shot at proving my worth. If I could gain his trust, then that was another step closer to the core.
xxxxxx“The War? It was long and dreadful, but Project Anti-Atom saved what was left of the planet,” Jeha said, and it looked to me like he was reciting a story, “The Project changed people t’heroes and gave them powers beyond imagination.” There he stopped, as if he realized what he had said. The herdsman looked at me with confusion and said, “But, Sirius’s little green-haired beauty never done anything but protect. She never fought or squealed before you came.”
xxxxxx“Project VIIIB.10-28, we’ve arrived,” the person with the lab coat says as the car stops. Excited, I jump up out of my seat and toward the door, but someone beats me to it.
xxxxxx“Hey! Hey, everyone! She’s here! She’s here!” they call, and I back away slightly. Her hair looks both green and blue, both bright, and she bounces with excitement outside my door. I am about to step out when a familiar voice cuts through the air.
xxxxxx“Project IB.11-29! Step away from the vehicle! Now!” The lab coat calls from the front seat, and they don’t look happy. The green-haired girl steps back, and I squeal a little as a good bit of the car goes with her. “Put it back,” the Lab Coat says softly. I watch in awe as the metal moves on its own back into the shape of the car, even though the other girl looks a little embarrassed.
xxxxxxContent, the Lab Coat leaves to go talk with some other people in pristine white as I hop out of the car. “That was… Amazing!” I say, wide eyes looking up to the girl in front of me.
xxxxxxI shook my head. It couldn’t be her. She never would have survived the end of The War. It would be nice to see her again, though. “Listen, whatever is living inside that core is the same as us, got that? Just because it hasn’t gotten violent doesn’t mean it won’t,” I said, glaring at the old man in front of me.
xxxxxxI watched in surprise as the old herdsman drew himself up to his full height. He may not have been as tall as Noble, but his presence grew in a way that made me regret whatever I had said to make him this angry.
xxxxxx“Out,” the old man whispered, “Leave me and me flurries in peace.”
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